Trump’s shadow looms large over heated races one month before Election Day
His name isn’t on the ballot, but President Donald Trump’s unprecedented second-term agenda and the federal government shutdown are top of mind on the campaign trail with one month to go until Election Day 2025. In the spotlight this November are New Jersey and Virginia, the only two states to hold gubernatorial contests the year after a presidential election. The races, which traditionally grab outsized national attention, are viewed as crucial early tests of Trump’s popularity and agenda, and key barometers ahead of next year’s midterm showdowns for the U.S. House and Senate. Also in the political spotlight next month is the ballot box proposition over congressional redistricting in California, the three state Supreme Court contests in battleground Pennsylvania and New York City’s high-profile mayoral election. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS Here’s a closer look at 2025’s top elections. New Jersey Trump is weighing heavily on this year’s ballot box battle for governor of New Jersey. And Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, who enjoys the president’s support, says Democratic nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill is trying to use Trump as a cudgel. “Listen, if you get a flat tire on the way home from work today, she’s going to blame it on the president. There isn’t anything she doesn’t blame on the president,” Ciattarelli argued in a Fox News Digital interview. BLUE STATE REPUBLICAN RIPS DEMOCRATIC RIVAL FOR BLAMING ‘EVERYTHING ON TRUMP’ Sherrill, in a recent fundraising email to supporters, charged, “As Trump has inflicted all this damage on our country, Republican politicians like Jack Ciattarelli have cheered him on every step of the way.” And at their first debate last month, she pointed to Ciattarelli and claimed that “he’ll do whatever Trump tells him to do.” The two candidates have also traded fire over who’s to blame for the federal government shutdown, which is impacting the Garden State. Ciattarelli, pointing to his rival’s vote in Congress, said, “I do know that there’s a bipartisan group of congresspeople that are trying to keep the government open. My opponent has decided not to be part of that bipartisan group, and she voted no. And so here we are.” Sherrill, who has repeatedly linked Ciattarrelli to Trump, placed the shutdown blame squarely on Trump’s shoulders, writing in a social media post, “This is precisely the extreme MAGA agenda that @Jack4NJ wants to bring to NJ.” The two candidates face off next week in the second and final debate in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Ciattarelli, who is making his third straight run for governor and who came close to upsetting Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago, discounted talk that Trump is the dominant issue in the race. And Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics, charged that the Democrats are to blame, as he works overtime trying to link Sherrill to Murphy and the Democrats who’ve long controlled the state legislature in Trenton. The combustible ballot box battle was rocked two weeks ago after a report revealed that the United States Naval Academy blocked her from taking part in her 1994 graduation amid a cheating scandal. Ciattarelli and his campaign are calling on Sherrill, who went on to pilot helicopters during her military career after graduating from the Naval Academy, to release her military records to explain why she was blocked from attending her graduation ceremony. But a second report revealed that the National Personnel Records Center, which is a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, errantly released Sherrill’s improperly redacted military personnel files, which included private information including her Social Security number, to a Ciattarelli ally. The news spurred calls by top Democrats across the country for an investigation. Virginia Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is facing off against former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in the race to succeed GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin is prevented from running for re-election, as Virginia’s constitution does not allow sitting governors to seek consecutive terms. Earle-Sears was born in the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 6. She served in the Marines and is a former state lawmaker who made history four years ago when she won election as Virginia’s first female lieutenant governor. Spanberger is a former intelligence officer in the CIA who won election to Congress in 2018 before securing re-election in 2020 and 2022. The winner in November will make history as Virginia’s first female governor in the commonwealth’s four-century-long history. Additionally, if Earle-Sears comes out on top, she will become the nation’s first Black woman to win election as governor. Trump and his policies are a major issue in the state’s gubernatorial showdown. The president’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been on a mission this year to chop government spending and cut the federal workforce. The moves by DOGE, which was initially steered by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, have been felt acutely in suburban Washington’s heavily populated northern Virginia, with its large federal workforce. And this week’s federal government shutdown, which will likely hit Virginia hard, is also now a top topic in the race. New York City The mayoral election in the nation’s most populous city always grabs outsized attention, especially this year as New York City may elect its first Muslim and first millennial mayor. Democratic socialist 33-year-old state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani’s victory in June’s Democratic Party mayoral primary sent political shock waves across the country. And he’s come under attack from Republicans and from his rivals on the ballot over his far-left proposals. Mamdani is the clear frontrunner in the heavily blue city as he faces off against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who came in a distant second in the primary and is now running as an independent candidate. Cuomo is aiming for a political comeback after resigning as governor four years ago amid multiple scandals. Also running is
2 looming deadlines could be key to ending the government shutdown, expert says
With the government shutdown now in day four and no compromise in sight, a federal budget expert says two dates could send things “spiraling out of control”: the first day essential federal workers go without pay and the first day service members miss a paycheck. The next federal worker pay date is Oct. 10 and the next pay date for the military is Oct. 15, according to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and U.S. General Services Administration. Richard Stern, director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at the Heritage Foundation, explained that while both sides are blaming the other for the shutdown, neither wants to be responsible for essential government workers or the troops to miss out on pay, making those dates central to ending the shutdown. Stern explained that while Democratic leaders are attempting to blame the GOP for the shutdown, it was their decision to reject a compromise temporary spending bill that shut down the government. SPEAKER JOHNSON FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM LEADERS WITH STAUNCH WARNING AGAINST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Democrats have insisted that any agreement to keep the government funded must extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) beyond the end of this year, a provision Republicans rejected. Some Democrats have even admitted it was their decision to close the government. In a viral video, Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., said, “We got to make sure Americans have the healthcare that they need, and if that means we’ve got to shut the government down, so be it.” Former Politico reporter Rachel Bade also went on the record recently, saying, “The pressure is just going to skyrocket on Democrats.” “I mean, it’s not just some people who live paycheck-to-paycheck. Most people cannot go without getting a subsequent paycheck. Like, that’s just the reality of things — troops not getting paid,” said Bade. “So, I think over the next, you know, week or so, if it lasts that long, we’re just going to have this … gut-wrenching reminder of what shutdowns mean.” Stern likened the Democrats’ actions to deciding to “stomp [their] feet and make a dramatic situation out of it.” REPUBLICANS ERUPT OVER SHUTDOWN CHAOS, ACCUSE DEMS OF HOLDING GOVERNMENT ‘HOSTAGE’ “Republicans passed a clean seven-week funding bill. They offered them the ability to fund the government for seven weeks and continue negotiations,” he said. “It was superfluous. It really was gratuitous of them to say, no, we demand the shutdown.” “Democrats are asking for a restoration of so-called foreign aid. But a lot of that is money for transgender surgeries and abortions overseas,” Stern continued. “They want more money to go to NPR and PBS, that spread left-wing propaganda. They want other grant money that goes to left-wing causes. But the big ticket item is they want one and a half trillion dollars of extension of a welfare program that largely hands money to very well-off Americans, and included in that, they want to remove anti-fraud provisions that were passed in the one big, beautiful bill. Not only would that increase fraud, but it will actually effectively expand these welfare benefits to legal aliens. So, it’s hard to understand where they’re coming from, but that’s what they’re asking.” “So, at the end of the day, I think they’re going to get the blame that I think they deserve.” President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought have indicated the administration could use mandatory pots of money provided in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act to ensure that service members, Border Patrol agents and other Homeland Security personnel paychecks are not interrupted, which could serve as a lifeline for Democrats, Stern noted. GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN AFTER CONGRESS DEADLOCKS ON SPENDING DEAL Even if this is the case, the White House noted shortly before the shutdown began that the government closure would jeopardize military pay, critical care for veterans, firefighter pay, disaster relief funding and many other programs important to Americans. Either way, Stern said that the longer the shutdown continues, the greater the danger that funding can fail, and essential services start buckling under the pressure. One example of essential federal workers who could be impacted by an extended government shutdown is air traffic controllers and other FAA personnel, who do not receive paychecks during government shutdowns despite being required to work to keep the nation’s flight schedules safe and on time. Though they are eventually paid when the government reopens, extended periods of time without a paycheck lead to stress on both the workers and the overall flight system. SOCIAL SECURITY, AIRPORTS, FOOD STAMPS: HOW ARE YOU AFFECTED DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN? In 2019, on the 35th day of a government shutdown, ten air traffic controllers called in sick in Virginia and Florida, triggering ground stops at LaGuardia Airport in New York and cascading delays at Newark, Philadelphia and Atlanta. “This gets to the question of when do things start spiraling out of control?” said Stern, adding, “Some of these program expirations, as the shutdown drags on, might put more of a fire under Congress on both sides to reach a deal, whatever it means.”
North Carolina governor signs ‘Iryna’s Law’ after Ukrainian refugee’s brutal train murder
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Friday signed “Iryna’s Law,” which increases checks on criminals getting out on bail and prohibits cashless bail for some violent crimes and most repeat offenders following the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte light-rail train in August. Stein, a Democrat, has said he doesn’t like every part of the bill that was passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature, which also looks to restart executions in North Carolina, but he signed it because it “alerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail. That’s a good thing.” Iryna Zarutska, 23, was killed on Aug. 22, and Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., who had been arrested more than a dozen times, including an armed robbery charge for which he served five years in prison before the fatal train stabbing, has been charged with first-degree murder. RANDOM BLUE CITY STABBING DEATH FUELS NEW BAIL BILL AS ‘ACTIVISTS’ RIPPED FOR LACK OF CRIME CRACKDOWN: EXPERT He was most recently released in January on a misdemeanor charge. “Finally, we are getting dangerous criminals off our streets so we can make sure no one else suffers the heartbreak that Iryna Zarutska’s family endured,” Charlotte-area Republican state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who was involved with the legislation, said in a news release. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have blamed Zarutska’s death on Democrats, accusing them of being soft on crime. “The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including Former Disgraced Governor and ‘Wannabe Senator’ Roy Cooper,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the attack. The violent stabbing sparked outrage, especially after security video showing the attack was released. “We can and must do more to keep people safe,” Stein said in a video posted to social media on Friday. “When I review public safety legislation that comes to my desk, I use one simple test: Does it make people safer?” He said that “Iryna’s Law” alerts the judiciary to take a special look at who could warrant an “unusual” risk for violence before determining their bail. NORTH CAROLINA DEM SAYS ‘NO CORRELATION’ BETWEEN CHARLOTTE TRAIN ATTACK AND ACCUSED KILLER’S REPEATED RELEASES “That’s a good thing and why I have signed it into law.” But, he said he had criticisms of the law, including that it focuses more on a defendant’s ability to post bail rather than the threat they pose, and “more alarming,” he added that a last-minute amendment to the bill that “aims to bring about execution by firing squad in North Carolina. It’s barbaric.” The last execution in North Carolina was in 2006. He stressed that he wouldn’t allow firing squads while he’s governor. The bill doesn’t specifically mention firing squads. He said he was also troubled by the bill’s “lack of ambition or vision. It simply does not do enough to keep you safe.” The governor said he wanted the legislature to pass his comprehensive bill that would add more police officers on the streets, violence prevention measures like keeping kids out of gangs, and would attempt to make sure that people who are violent or mentally ill don’t have access to guns via background checks. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Iryna’s Law” prohibits cashless bail for some violent crimes and for most repeat offenders; it limits the discretion magistrates and judges have in making pretrial release decisions; allows for the state chief justice to suspend magistrates and requires more defendants to undergo mental health evaluations. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
White House pressed about Trump seemingly changing his tune on Project 2025
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed about President Donald Trump seemingly changing his campaign position on Project 2025 amid the government shutdown Friday. “During the campaign, President Trump said that he did not know anything about Project 2025. Now, he knows about it. Is that the blueprint for shrinking the government?” Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Leavitt during the press briefing Friday afternoon. Project 2025 is a roughly thousand-page policy proposal crafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank during the 2024 election cycle. THE AGENCY STAFF VOUGHT MIGHT RECOMMEND CUTTING AND WHETHER THE CUTS WILL BE PERMANENT Leavitt made no mention of the policy proposal in her response, arguing any decisions on layoffs of federal government employees or cuts to federal programs are up to the “president and his team and his Cabinet secretaries ultimately decide.” “And the president trusts his Cabinet secretaries to identify where there is waste, fraud and abuse. We pointed out this morning — or Russ Vought tweeted about this morning — a Chicago rail project that was canceled,” Leavitt said. “We paused $2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects, specifically the Red line extension and the Red and Purple modernization projects, and it’s because the administration is concerned that the Biden administration was handing out taxpayer dollars to pay for this construction based on DEI.” “DOT is reviewing the race-based contracting on unconstitutional grounds,” she said. “And in the meantime, the Department of Transportation funds for these projects are on hold. So I guess this answers both of your questions. This would be an example of that.” Project 2025 became a lightening rod of criticism among Democrats during the 2024 election, as the Harris–Walz campaign claimed it was rife with “dangerous” policies stretching from abortion to the economy. WHITE HOUSE SAYS FEDERAL LAYOFFS COULD HIT ‘THOUSANDS’ AHEAD OF TRUMP, VOUGHT MEETING Trump denied knowing details about the policy blueprint from the campaign trail. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump said in July 2024. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” On Thursday, after the government shutdown, Trump posted to Truth Social that he was set to meet with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) chief Russell Vought, describing him as the man of “PROJECT 2025 Fame.” Vought was one of the architects behind the Project 2025 policy proposal. TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE DEMANDS AGENCIES MAP OUT MASS LAYOFFS AHEAD OF POTENTIAL SHUTDOWN “I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump posted on Thursday, setting of renwewd criticsms of Project 2025. Leavitt’s comments come as Trump and OMB map out a plan to roll out layoffs and cut government programs amid the government shutdown.
Trump admin reviewing Portland federal funding amid anti-ICE clashes, journalist’s detention
The Trump administration announced a review Friday of federal funding to Portland, Oregon, following violent anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) clashes there, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt vowing, “We will not fund states that allow anarchy.” The review comes after conservative journalist Nick Sortor was taken into custody late Thursday night while documenting the protests in Portland — something Leavitt described as an “extremely troubling incident.” She said the Department of Justice spoke with Sortor Friday morning and “will be launching a full investigation into his arrest.” “This incident is part of a troubling trend in Portland, where left-wing mobs believe they get to decide who can visit and live in their city. It is not their city. It is the American people’s city and President Trump is going to restore that,” Leavitt said. “I just spoke with the president about this, and he has directed his team here at the White House to begin reviewing aid that can potentially be cut in Portland. We will not fund states that allow anarchy.” “There will also be an additional surge of federal resources to Portland immediately, including enhanced Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resources. Law and order will prevail, and President Trump will make sure of it,” she added. PORTLAND POLICE ARREST CONSERVATIVE JOURNALIST ON ANOTHER NIGHT OF CHAOTIC ANTI-ICE CLASHES Since early June, “Antifa terrorists have laid siege to the ICE field office in South Portland,” Leavitt said Friday. “These radical left-wing lunatics have violently breached the ICE facility by using a stop sign as a battering ram, hurled explosives and other projectiles at law enforcement, repeatedly assault and dox officers, berate their law-abiding neighbors, and have even rolled out a guillotine in front of the ICE facility,” she told reporters. Leavitt said Sortor was “taken into custody by the Portland police after he was ambushed by Antifa and was defending himself from these assaults.” “But instead of arresting these violent mob members, night after night after night, who are ravaging this community, the police arrested a journalist who was there trying to document the chaos,” she added. ICE DIRECTOR SAYS PORTLAND FACILITY FACES VIOLENCE WITH ‘LITTLE HELP FROM LOCAL POLICE’ Leavitt declared that President Donald Trump “will end the radical left’s reign of terror in Portland once and for all,” and that the president has directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland and any ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa and other left wing domestic terrorists.” Sortor was charged with disorderly conduct in the second degree following his arrest late Thursday. “This was as big of a surprise to me as it was to everybody else. All of a sudden, you know, I’m being jumped by Antifa thugs,” Sortor told Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin following his release. “I get back up, I stumble away and go back toward cops where I think, you know, at least, all right, well, maybe that’ll be a safer place for me to go… never suspected that I was going to be the target of the arrest, that they were coming in to me.” A Portland Police Bureau spokesperson told Fox News Digital that among those arrested Thursday “was an individual known to have a significant social media presence, as well as others representing a range of political viewpoints.” “As with all such situations, arrests are based on observed behavior and probable cause — not political affiliation or public profile. Formal charges will be determined by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office,” the spokesperson added. “PPB remains committed to protecting public safety, upholding the rights of all individuals to lawfully assemble, and enforcing the law impartially.”
Mamdani torched over ‘destructive’ plan to axe NYC gifted program for kindergartners
Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral opponents ridiculed his plan to phase out the city’s gifted program for public school kindergartners. Mamdani, the New York City Democratic mayoral nominee, would embrace former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2021 plan to phase out the gifted program for elementary schools if elected this November, according to The New York Times. Mamdani said he would halt the gifted program for incoming kindergartners next fall, while former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa said they would keep it. “Zohran Mamdani’s latest proposal to eliminate New York City’s Gifted & Talented program is not just another political stunt — it’s destructive and emblematic of a deeper problem in today’s Democratic Party — the surface level appearance of a solution is sufficient,” Cuomo, who is trailing Mamdani by 18 points in the latest Fox News survey of New York City registered voters, said in a statement Thursday. But Sliwa said Mamdani and Cuomo are “two peas in a pod,” arguing that Cuomo is a “chameleon trying to fool New Yorkers.” Sliwa accused the former governor of staying silent while de Blasio initially tried to phase out the gifted program in 2021. NEW POLL REVEALS MAMDANI STILL HOLDS COMMANDING DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD OVER RIVALS IN NYC MAYORAL RACE Sliwa only garnered support from 11% of New York City registered voters in the latest Fox News survey. Among registered voters, Mamdani earned 45% support, while Cuomo picked up 27%, Sliwa maintained 11% and Mayor Eric Adams had 8%. Adams, who like Cuomo was running as an independent, dropped out of the race last week, heating up an already contentious mayoral election. “Why take away from our kids the very opportunities that helped shape your own future?” Adams asked in response to Mamdani’s plan to slash the gifted program. NEW POLLS REVEAL MAMDANI HAS COMMANDING LEAD OVER RIVALS WEEKS FROM ELECTION DAY Adams has expanded the elementary Gifted & Talented program during his tenure, a reversal of de Blasio’s plan to phase out the program and stop testing 4-year-olds. “The era of judging 4-year-olds based on a single test is over,” de Blasio proclaimed at the time, likening the gifted program to “the segregation of students if they’re labeled as ‘gifted.’” But Adams rejected that notion in a statement on Thursday, arguing it “gave thousands of Black and Brown kids a real shot to excel.” “That’s progress we should be building on, not tearing down. Expand it to more children, not fewer. And let’s be real, you went to a specialized high school,” Adams wrote to Mamdani on X on Friday. Mamdani attended the Bronx High School of Science, a specialized high school in the Bronx. His campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s comment request. When asked to clarify his position on the program during a press conference on Friday, Mamdani clarified that kindergartners, specifically, should not be separated by a test. “For kindergartners, we should not have a Gifted & Talented program that is separating them on the basis of that assessment,” Mamdani said, without elaborating on his stance on the Gifted & Talented entry point for third-graders. Adams’ plan includes two entry points into the Gifted & Talented program: kindergarten and third grade. “My commitment is solely on the question of kindergartners,” Mamdani said. But Mamdani told The New York Times that he would renew de Blasio’s plan, which eliminated the Gifted & Talented test, opting for a universal test in second grade. “I will return to the previous policy. Ultimately, my administration would aim to make sure that every child receives a high-quality early education that nurtures their curiosity and learning,” Mamdani said. In a statement released Thursday, Cuomo said, “Our kids deserve clarity, not chaos, when it comes to their education.” “If there are tens of thousands of applications for limited G&T spots, parents are telling you something: They want more of it, not less. The answer isn’t to say good riddance to those families. If there are issues with how young children are selected, then fix that and expand opportunities — give more at the start of education and more on-ramps later. Don’t eliminate the program,” Cuomo said. The former governor said “eliminating opportunities for excellence doesn’t help underserved kids, it perpetuates the problem,” adding that the Democratic Party has a tradition of providing “more opportunities for historically marginalized students to access these programs.” Cuomo said, if elected mayor, he wants to double the number of specialized high schools in New York City, expand prep programs for underserved neighborhoods and preserve the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test.
Michelle Obama cites ‘quite the journey’ with Barack Obama in anniversary message
Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama both shared anniversary messages Friday to celebrate 33 years of wedded bliss. Both shared the same image of the couple together on X within a minute of each other. “The best decision I ever made was marrying you, @MichelleObama,” the former commander in chief wrote. “For 33 years, I’ve admired your strength, grace, and determination — and the fact that you look so good doing it all. Happy anniversary!” KAMALA HARRIS BOOK REVEALS MARITAL RIFT WITH DOUG EMHOFF DURING CAMPAIGN “We’ve been on quite the journey over the last 33 years—and yet, I love you even more today than the day we said ‘I do.’ Happy anniversary, @BarackObama! I’m so lucky to go through life with you,” Michelle Obama wrote. The former first couple has shared several milestones online over the years. In 2023, on the pair’s 31st anniversary, the former president, 64, posted a tribute calling his wife “brilliant, kind, funny and beautiful.” Michelle Obama, 61, wrote, “I love going through life with you by my side.” ASHLEY BIDEN FILES FOR DIVORCE FROM HUSBAND, HOWARD KREIN, AFTER 13 YEARS OF MARRIAGE: REPORTS The pair met in 1989 while they worked together at a Chicago-based law firm. Michelle was assigned to be his mentor to help him adjust as a summer intern. Michelle Obama explained what attracted her to her husband during an August episode of the podcast she shares with her brother, Craig Robinson, IMO. “The first kind of sparky kind of feeling I felt actually was when I talked to him on the phone, and he had his Barack Obama voice,” she explained. “The voice was sexier than the image I had of him. So, I was sort of like, ‘Oh, I didn’t expect this.’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “And he was older, so he was self-assured,” she added. “So, we had a great conversation, but all I had was a picture, and it wasn’t a great picture of him.” The pair share two daughters, Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24.
Ernst demands $2T in federal cuts, urges Trump team to ‘make DC squeal’ amid shutdown fight
FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican has a list of more than a “trillion dollars worth of ideas ripe for a trim” as the federal government shutdown continues. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has so far announced his plans to withhold nearly $30 billion in federal funding to blue states and cities, while Senate Democrats continue to block Republicans’ efforts to reopen the government. And Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has some ideas for even deeper cuts. In a letter to Vought, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Ernst laid out a plan that could result in over $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending. HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN Her letter comes as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most Senate Democrats have remained steadfast in their opposition to the GOP’s short-term funding extension. “Schumer’s Shutdown has provided a golden opportunity to slash waste, fraud and abuse in Washington,” Ernst said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “There is no one more fitting to lead the charge than Russ Vought.” “I have compiled a comprehensive list of more than $2 trillion of nonessential government expenditures that should be put on the chopping block to put taxpayers first, make Washington squeal and deliver a more efficient government,” she continued. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SPARKS GOP PLAN TO PENALIZE LAWMAKERS WITH NEW SALARY TAX Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus, which borrowed its moniker from tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wants to target tens of billions in expired and unexpired COVID-19 pandemic funding, consolidate unused federal office space and prevent taxpayers from “subsidizing” the roughly $400 million per day in backpay owed to furloughed nonessential federal workers. She also wants to go after nearly $1.6 trillion in unspent funding “stashed away in secret slush funds,” clawback billions in the Biden-era electric vehicle charging station program, railroad projects in blue states, end research into “silly science projects” like shrimp on treadmills, and streamline “duplication and unnecessary overlap within” the Department of War, among many others. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENTERS 3RD DAY AS SENATE STALEMATE OVER OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES DRAGS ON “This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I will be providing many more recommendations soon,” Ernst wrote in the letter. “My team and I stand ready to help you make some prime cuts during this Schumer Shutdown.” Meanwhile, there appeared to be no off-ramp in sight to end the now three-day government shutdown. Senate Democrats are also unfazed by Vought and President Donald Trump’s desire to target their states and cities with cuts, with many arguing that the administration was already carrying out those tactics. Still, Senate Republicans hope that enough Democrats peel off and vote to reopen the government. So far, three members of the Democratic caucus have done so — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine.
US strikes another alleged drug-trafficking boat near Venezuela, killing 4
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Friday the U.S. military conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a narcotrafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations traveling off the coast of Venezuela, killing four men aboard. No U.S. forces were harmed in the U.S. Southern Command operation, which was ordered by President Donald Trump, according to Hegseth. “The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics—headed to America to poison our people,” Hegseth wrote in an X post. TRUMP ORDERS ‘LETHAL KINETIC STRIKE’ ON DRUG TRAFFICKING BOAT IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS, THREE KILLED The secretary said military intelligence, “without a doubt,” confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narcoterrorists, and they were operating on a known narcotrafficking transit route. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the boat was “loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE.” US MILITARY CARRIES OUT SECOND STRIKE ON VENEZUELAN NARCOTERRORISTS IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS The strike follows a series of hits in September on boats suspected of carrying narcotics along known narcotic trafficking passages. On Sept. 2, U.S. forces struck a vessel linked to Tren de Aragua in the southern Caribbean, killing 11 suspected gang members. Subsequent drug-smuggling boat strikes on Sept. 15 and Sept. 19 killed a total of six people, Fox News Digital previously reported. US BOLSTERS MILITARY PRESENCE IN CARIBBEAN NEAR VENEZUELA AMID TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO HALT DRUG TRAFFICKING Hegseth noted the strikes will continue “until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!” The Trump administration in February designated drug cartel groups, including Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel, as foreign terrorist organizations. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
Longtime Trump ally Lewandowski flirts with primary challenge against GOP governor
President Donald Trump’s first campaign manager and longtime ally, Corey Lewandowski, is weighing a primary challenge next year against Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. “Everyone says being a Governor is the best job in Politics. I agree,” Lewandowski wrote in a social media post Thursday evening. Lewandowski’s news comes as Trump’s political team appears to turn up the heat on Ayotte over her resistance to the president’s push for mid-decade redistricting in order to protect the GOP’s fragile House majority in the 2026 midterm elections. There’s long been interest by some state Republican lawmakers in redistricting to make New Hampshire’s First Congressional District more GOP-friendly. Democrats have controlled both of the state’s U.S. House seats for nearly a decade. REDISTRICTING BATTLE: MISSOURI GOVERNOR SIGNS NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP INTO LAW And it’s possible the Republican-controlled New Hampshire legislature passes and sends to Ayotte’s desk a redistricting bill early next year. Ayotte’s predecessor, former Gov. Chris Sununu, three years ago, vetoed a new congressional map passed by Statehouse Republicans. ABBOTT CLEARS FINAL REDISTRICTING HURDLE AS TEXAS SENATE PASSES NEW TRUMP-APPROVED MAP The current governor has pushed back against the pressure campaign over redistricting. “I don’t think the timing is right for redistricting. And as I look at where we are and the things we should be focusing on, this is not something that I support doing at this point,” Ayotte told WMUR-TV last month. Ayotte’s team did not respond to a Fox News request for comment. A longtime New Hampshire-based Republican political strategist told Fox News “this comes down to whether or not the president is seriously interested in changing the outcome of this race. We’ll know a potential run would be serious if we hear from the White House that the president is driving this train.” “Otherwise I think this is more a case of firing a shot across the governor’s bow to get her attention in the hopes of getting her to actively consider signing legislation that would change the congressional districts across New Hampshire,” added the strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely. Two Republican-dominated states, Texas and Missouri, have already passed new congressional maps which combined could swing six House seats from blue to red. And nearly a half-dozen other right-leaning states are considering similar moves, after lobbying from the president and his team. It’s part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in next year’s midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections. The social media post by Lewandowski followed a report from Politico that he was considering a gubernatorial run next year. Republican sources confirmed the report to Fox News. The Windham, N.H., resident served as Trump’s campaign manager during the 2016 presidential primaries before being replaced during the general election campaign. But Lewandowski has remained close to Trump over the years, held senior adviser roles in the 2020 and 2024 campaigns, and keeps in regular contact with the president. Lewandowski, who for years served as a top outside adviser to then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, now serves as a senior adviser at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where Noem is Trump’s DHS secretary. This isn’t the first time Lewandowski has considered a statewide run in New Hampshire. In the 2020 election cycle, he flirted with a run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. And in early 2021, he teased a possible 2022 run for governor months ahead of popular GOP Gov. Chris Sununu’s launch of his successful re-election bid. New Hampshire, along with Vermont, are the only two states in the nation to hold gubernatorial elections every two years. “I’ve known Corey a long time. If he’s passionate about something, then he’ll fight to the end to get it and I think he’s passionate about the people of New Hampshire and being governor is probably the best way he can serve them,” New Hampshire native Joshua Whitehouse, who worked with Lewandowski on the 2016 campaign and who’s a veteran of the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. While Lewandowski would likely grab support from MAGA world if he runs for governor, his past political baggage could come back to hurt him. After facing allegations he made unwanted sexual advances towards a Republican donor’s wife at a 2021 charity event, he was pushed out of his job steering a top pro-Trump super PAC. Lewandowski later cut a deal with prosecutors in the case after he was charged with misdemeanor battery. Trump’s spokesperson said at the time that Lewandowski “will no longer be associated with Trump world.” And Noem’s spokesperson at the time said Lewandowski “will not be advising the governor in regard to the campaign or official office.” But he quickly worked his way back into both Trump and Noem’s political orbits. Lewandowski was also charged in 2016 after yanking the arm of a reporter at a Trump campaign event, but the charges were later dropped. The New Hampshire Democratic Party took aim at both Lewandowski and Ayotte in a statement. “Corey Lewandowski and Kelly Ayotte are two sides of the same extreme coin: Republican hardliners who have zero problem bending at the knee for Donald Trump and letting him steamroll New Hampshire families,” longtime state party Chair Ray Buckley claimed.