Trump makes historic SCOTUS appearance for birthright citizenship case
President Donald Trump is making a historic appearance at the Supreme Court on Wednesday to listen as justices weigh his executive order to curb birthright citizenship. No sitting president has attended oral arguments at the high court before, underscoring the weight Trump has placed on the landmark case, which could upend more than 100 years of precedent that has allowed most babies born in the U.S. to receive automatic citizenship. Attorney General Pam Bondi accompanied Trump at the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning. “I have listened to this argument for so long, and this is not about Chinese billionaires, or billionaires from other countries who all of a sudden have 75 children or 59 children in one case, or 10 children becoming American citizens. This was about slaves,” Trump told Fox News’ Peter Doocy in the Oval Office on Tuesday of the case. SUPREME COURT PREPARES TO REVIEW TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP At issue in the case is the language in the 14th Amendment that says anyone born in the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is automatically a citizen. Trump noted that the provision was a relic of the Civil War. “It had to do with the babies of slaves,” Trump said. “It didn’t have to do with the protection of multimillionaires and billionaires wanting to have their children get American citizenship. It is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s been so badly handled by legal people over the years.” BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP SUPPORTERS GET THE LAW WRONG BY IGNORING OBVIOUS EVIDENCE Trump’s order would change the scope of birthright citizenship, which allows babies born to noncitizens in the United States to automatically receive U.S. citizenship, except in the cases of those born to foreign diplomats. Lower courts have uniformly rejected Trump’s policy and blocked it through injunctions in class-action lawsuits. Trump has argued that as part of his immigration crackdown, he wants to curtail abuses of the 14th Amendment, which can include foreigners traveling to the United States strictly to give birth with no intention of legally settling in the country. The amendment also incentivizes migrants to enter the country illegally to give birth and rewards pregnant women already living illegally in the country by imparting citizenship to their children, the administration has said. HOW TO MAKE PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION PAUSE STICK IN COURT Trump is expected to look on as John Sauer, his solicitor general, makes the case to the justices that they should side with the president. Traditionally, only the justices and the lawyers arguing the case speak during oral arguments. An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer will argue against Trump’s executive order before the high court on Wednesday. In a statement, an ACLU executive director said that Trump could “watch the ACLU school him in the meaning of the Constitution” and that the organization would “be glad to sit alongside of him.”
Sanders-backed NJ Dem accused of hiding from voters as skipped forums pile up
A progressive House candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is under fire for dodging in-person debates with her GOP opponent ahead of an April special election, prompting accusations that she is reluctant to defend her far-left platform before voters. Republican candidate Joe Hathaway is ripping his Democratic opponent, Analilia Mejia, for agreeing to a virtual debate — after repeatedly declining a series of face-to-face opportunities. The candidates are scheduled to participate in a live virtual forum sponsored by the New Jersey Globe on Wednesday evening. “Unfortunately, when my opponent dodges and lies about debates, it limits the opportunity for a head-to-head matchup with two weeks left in the election,” Hathaway said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “For now, she can hide behind a screen, but she cannot hide from her record.” The special election winner will fill an open seat vacated by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who resigned after winning the state’s 2025 governor’s race. The outcome will be closely watched for its potential impact on House Republicans’ razor-thin majority. WHERE SANDERS AND AOC BACKED PROGRESSIVE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE ANALILIA MEJIA STANDS ON KEY ISSUES Hathaway’s blistering criticism comes after Mejia repeatedly declined debate opportunities with Hathaway that he accepted, the Hathaway campaign told Fox News Digital. Proposed debates sponsored by Montclair High School, On New Jersey, Fairleigh Dickinson University and New Jersey Spotlight News ultimately fell through after Mejia did not accept the invites, according to the Hathaway campaign. Mejia, who narrowly upset a crowded field of challengers in February’s Democratic primary, has also faced backlash for appearing to misrepresent her rationale for backing out of a separate debate opportunity with local chapters of the left-leaning League of Women Voters. The New Jersey Democrat said she rejected the debate invite — co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey — because the group was “unable to commit” to having a person of color as the moderator. The woman-led group fired back in a statement accusing Mejia of lying, saying their intended moderator would have been a person of color. Mejia’s primary objection was not being able to control the selection process herself, according to the group. BALLOT BOX SHOCKER: PROGRESSIVE BACKED BY SANDERS, AOC ON VERGE OF UPSET IN DEM CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARY “We were asked to provide a campaign with a list of potential moderators for approval,” Jennifer Howard, LWV president, said in a release. “This is a request that the League of Women Voters cannot accommodate. Our nonpartisan stance does not permit a candidate to influence the selection of the moderator.” Hathaway, a Randolph Township councilmember who faces an uphill battle to win the Democratic-leaning district, slammed Mejia for backing out of the planned debate. “If she is willing to lie about something as simple as a debate, what other lies can we expect to hear from her tomorrow?” Hathaway told Fox News Digital. “We will show a clear contrast between the practical common-sense leadership that I am running on, and the dangerous, radical, and socialist policies of my opponent,” he added. When asked to comment on Monday, a spokesperson for the Mejia campaign said, “All Joe Hathaway does is complain. We will see him tomorrow.” The Mejia campaign previously told Fox News Digital that she accepted the New Jersey Globe debate because the outlet met her diversity requirements and was closely following the race. Mejia, a staunch progressive who served in a senior role in Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is a vocal critic of Israel. The winner of the special election will face voters again in November for a full two-year term.
Lawmaker says Iran targeted him in phishing attack disguised as TV interview
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., said an alleged Iranian state actor recently targeted him with a phishing scheme disguised as a television interview request, in what he described as an apparent effort to access his personal email account. “A skilled impersonator created something appearing just like Newsmax to attempt to do an interview with me,” Fine told Fox News Digital in an interview, explaining that his staffer began interacting with the message in email, as the office normally does, before realizing “the links didn’t work.” The phishing scheme was allegedly designed to gain access to his personal Google account, Fine explained. TRUMP SAYS ‘WE’VE GOT OUR EYES ON’ IRANIAN SLEEPER CELLS IN US The incident comes after President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran in February, sparking an ongoing battle that the president has said will end in a matter of weeks as tensions continue flaring. The Trump administration argued Iran’s nuclear program and missile capabilities posed an urgent threat ahead of the U.S. and Israel launching joint strikes. Fine said he did not “think the timing was coincidental” and that the alleged cyberattack occurred “literally the day after combat operations began.” The episode underscores heightened concern among U.S. intelligence officials about potential cyber and physical threats tied to the U.S.-Iran conflict, particularly against high-profile political figures. The FBI confirmed earlier in March that an Iran-linked hacker group known as the “Handala Hack Team” breached Director Kash Patel’s personal email account. A bureau spokesperson said in a statement at the time that while the compromised information was “historical in nature” and contained no government data, the FBI had taken all “necessary steps to mitigate potential risks.” According to Fine, he learned about the alleged cyberattack aimed at him when U.S. Capitol Police contacted him and said the outreach likely originated from an Iranian state actor. Fox News Digital reviewed a copy of the correspondence, showing its email was spelled “news-max.org.” Correspondence to Fine, also reviewed by Fox News Digital, confirmed that USCP said they had information that the outreach to Fine’s office could have originated from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and that the police wanted to set up a call with the FBI Cyber Task Force to further examine the matter. DHS REMAINS UNFUNDED AS IRAN SLEEPER CELL FEARS SPIKE NATIONWIDE AMID SECURITY WARNINGS “They proactively reached out to us,” Fine said, adding that he then reported the incident to the FBI and was told by the bureau that agents were “familiar with these actors in Iran.” The FBI declined to comment. A source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that when the incident happened, the FBI was able to connect with Fine and opened an investigation into the matter. The status of the probe is publicly unknown. Fine emphasized that he felt targeted by Iran and noted a broader surge in threats against him, including verbal threats and what he said was a recent separate incident of an impersonator approaching his home. “I was clearly targeted. It wasn’t random,” Fine said, asserting that he was “the most visible Jewish Republican politician in America.” MYSTERY DRONES FLY NEAR DC-AREA MILITARY BASE AS IRAN TENSIONS ESCALATE Fine said that while he does not believe the alleged attackers could have gathered much information from his Google account based on his limited use of it, “the worst-case scenario is … they might be able to track my actual location,” which he said made him fear for his life. Fine described the incident as “very stressful.” Fine, a self-described “Hebrew Hammer” known for his staunchly pro-Israel positions, has advocated aggressive military action in Gaza and praised Trump’s joint offensives with Israel in Iran. Fine, in a statement shortly after the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, characterized the mission as one rooted in saving western civilization. “We are with you, Mr. President. We will cut off the head of the snake of Muslim terror, Bring lasting peace to the Middle East, And save the Iranian People. Bombs away,” Fine said. “The Muslim terrorists that run Iran have just indiscriminately fired rockets not just at the Jews of Israel, but 700,000 Americans who live there, 180,000 Christians who live there, at the ‘Dome of the Rock,’ the third holiest site in Islam, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, site of Jesus’s crucification. We are fighting back against this evil.” Fox News Digital reached out to Newsmax, Google and USCP on Tuesday for any additional comment.
Trump says he’s considering pulling US out of NATO over Iran war stance
President Donald Trump said he is strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO over the alliance’s refusal to join his administration’s efforts in the Iran conflict, according to a report. “I was never swayed by NATO,” Trump told The Daily Telegraph in an interview published Wednesday. The president, long a critic of the military alliance, which has been pivotal in maintaining global order since World War II, said reconsidering the matter was “beyond consideration.” “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way,” Trump told the British outlet. MORE KEY US ALLIES BLOCK MILITARY FLIGHTS AS IRAN WAR RIFT WIDENS WITH TRUMP The comments come after European nations reportedly rejected Trump’s request that allies send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply travels. Iran has threatened or moved to restrict access to the strait in reaction to the U.S. offensive against Iranian targets, raising concerns about global energy markets and economic stability. “Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey,’ you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic,” Trump said. “We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.” TRUMP WARNS NATO OF ‘VERY BAD’ FUTURE IF ALLIES DON’T HELP SECURE STRAIT OF HORMUZ The president also criticized the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not participating in the conflict. “You don’t even have a navy. You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work,” Trump said. Responding to the president’s comments, Starmer said Britain is “fully committed to NATO,” calling it “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.” Starmer told reporters that “whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I am going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions I make.”
White House marks Holy Week, Easter with days of prayer centered on religious liberty
FIRST ON FOX: The White House is marking Holy Week with days of prayer and worship, including President Donald Trump participating in a number of events to honor Easter and celebrate the “right to religious liberty.” “President Trump will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life and protecting faith in our public square,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital of the White House’s Holy Week events. “Millions of Christians across the country will celebrate Jesus Christ conquering death, freeing us from sin, and unlocking the gates of Heaven for all of humanity, and the President is proud to join Americans during this blessed holiday.” A White House official told Fox News Digital that the president on Wednesday will attend the White House Easter Lunch in the East Room. TRUMP GATHERS CEOS FOR UNPRECEDENTED FAITH, ECONOMY MEETING TO RENEW US ‘SPIRITUALLY AND FINANCIALLY’ The event will feature worship and prayer, and choral performances from the Free Chapel Choir, led by Pastor Jentezen Franklin on the saxophone. The event will also include prayers from Reverend Franklin Graham, Bishop Robert Barron, Pastor Paula White and others. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will attend the White House Easter lunch. Erika Kirk is also expected to attend the White House Easter lunch, a White House official told Fox News Digital. Next, on Wednesday evening, at 5:00 p.m., White House staff are invited to attend a Catholic Mass in the Indian Treaty Room. The mass will be celebrated by Father Frank Mann. FLASHBACK: WHITE HOUSE PLANS ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ HOLY WEEK AS TRUMP HONORS EASTER WITH ‘THE OBSERVANCE IT DESERVES’ On Thursday, Holy Thursday, a White House official told Fox News Digital that all White House staff are invited to attend a worship service in the same room. That service will feature Rev. Franklin Graham, Pastor Jentzen Franklin, Pastor Paula White and White House Faith Office Director Jenny Korn. A White House official also told Fox News Digital that President Trump is expected to issue a presidential proclamation honoring Holy Week. “President Trump wishes Christians across America and around the world a very happy Easter. He is risen, indeed!” Rogers added in a comment to Fox News Digital. The president is also expected to post video messages on his Truth Social account to celebrate Easter and Passover. A White House official told Fox News Digital that Passover events will take place next week. Passover begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 1 and ends at sundown on Thursday, April 9. The White House Passover event will take place April 6 in the Indian Treaty Room. Edan Alexander, who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for more than 500 days following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, and his family will be in attendance. Alexander was the last living American hostage released last year. Faith has been a focal point of Trump’s second term, including signing an executive order in February 2025 establishing a White House Faith Office. The office empowers faith-based entities, community organizations and houses of worship “to better serve families and communities,” according to the White House. The office is housed under the Domestic Policy Council and consults with experts in the faith community on policy changes to “better align with American values.”
Trump to attend Supreme Court as justices weigh birthright citizenship order in high-stakes test
The Supreme Court on Wednesday will weigh the legality of President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. — a landmark court fight that could profoundly impact the lives of millions of Americans and lawful U.S. residents. Trump himself will also be attending the Supreme Court oral arguments in a sign of his interest in the case. His attendance marks the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president has attended oral arguments. At issue in the case, Trump v. Barbara, is an executive order Trump signed on his first day back in office. The order in question seeks to end automatic citizenship — or “birthright citizenship” — for nearly all persons born in the U.S. to undocumented parents, or to parents with temporary non-immigrant visas in the U.S. The stakes in the case are high, putting on a collision course more than a century of executive branch action, Supreme Court precedent, and the text of the Constitution itself — or, more specifically, the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment. Trump administration officials view the order, and the high court’s consideration of the case, as a key component of his hard-line immigration agenda — an issue that has become a defining feature of his second White House term. FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BAN FOR ALL INFANTS, TESTING LOWER COURT POWERS Opponents argue the effort is unconstitutional and unprecedented, and could impact an estimated 150,000 children born in the U.S. annually to noncitizens. A ruling in Trump’s favor would represent a seismic shift for immigration policy in the U.S., and would upend long-held notions of citizenship that Trump and his allies argue are misguided. It would also yield immediate, operational consequences for infants born in the U.S., putting the impetus on Congress and the Trump administration to immediately act to clarify their status. Here’s what to expect ahead of today’s oral arguments: Justices will weigh Trump’s executive order 14160, or “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” The order directs all U.S. government agencies to refuse to issue citizenship documents to children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants, or children born to parents who are in the U.S. legally but with temporary, non-immigrant visas. The order would apply retroactively to all newborns born in the U.S. after Feb. 19, 2025. Trump’s executive order prompted a flurry of lawsuits in the days after its signing. Critics argued that, among other things, the order violated the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to “all persons born … in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Lawyers for the Trump administration, meanwhile, centered their case on the “subject to jurisdiction thereof” phrase, which they argue was intended at the time of its passage to narrowly “grant citizenship to newly freed slaves and their children” after the Civil War, and has been misinterpreted in the many years since. U.S. Solicitor General D. Sauer urged the high court to take up the case last October, arguing that a pair of lower court rulings were overly broad and relied on the “mistaken view” that “birth on U.S. territory confers citizenship on anyone subject to the regulatory reach of U.S. law became pervasive, with destructive consequences.” “Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people,” he said. TRUMP TO BEGIN ENFORCING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER AS EARLY AS THIS MONTH, DOJ SAYS He also argued that the lower court rulings overstepped, and “invalidated a policy of prime importance to the president and his administration in a manner that undermines our border security.” Justices on the high court will have no shortage of strings to pull on in considering the executive order or questioning lawyers during oral arguments. The Supreme Court will use Wednesday’s arguments to weigh — to varying degrees — the text of the 14th Amendment, legal precedent, and text of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, among other issues cited by Sauer, the ACLU, and authors of the dozens of amicus briefs filed to the court since it agreed to review the case last fall. Legal experts told Fox News Digital that they expect Sauer could be in for an uphill battle in convincing a five-justice majority to unwind more than 125 years of precedent and text at issue in the case. Despite their consensus, however, the court’s conservative bloc will still face thorny issues in reconciling more than a century of court precedent with the narrower reading of the 14th Amendment embraced by the Trump administration. Justices are likely to focus closely on precedent in the Supreme Court case, United States v. Wong Kim Ark — a 1898 ruling in which the Supreme Court ruled that the son of two Chinese immigrants born in the U.S. was indeed a U.S. citizen. The case is widely considered to be the modern precedent for birthright citizenship, including related cases heard by the high court in the decades since. Others cited the text of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act statute passed by Congress, which essentially mirrors the text of the 14th Amendment in conferring legal status to persons born in the U.S., as yet another argument that could tip the scales in the migrants’ favor. “I can think of at least five reasons off the top of my head why the Supreme Court should say that the citizenship clause means today what it has always meant,” Amanda Frost, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law who specializes in immigration and citizenship issues, told Fox News Digital. SUPREME COURT SIGNALS IT MAY LIMIT KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE “There is text. There is original public understanding, which certainly includes Wong Kim Ark, but also five or six Supreme Court cases after that,” Frost said. “There is executive branch practice for the last century,” she added, “which is relevant as well when you’re interpreting the Constitution, and
EXCLUSIVE: Unearthed videos expose how Trump-endorsed candidate championed DEI in university hiring process
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., a Trump-endorsed Senate candidate in Louisiana, is saying that she will ensure diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies will be rooted out of schools in her state if she wins. However, Letlow’s past remarks and actions as a university faculty member, such as promises to open a DEI office if hired as a university president, and her past praise for DEI nationwide, have thrown these promises into question. In a 2020 video from Letlow’s hiring process, when interviewing to be the president of the University of Louisiana Monroe, Letlow called the school’s record on faculty gender diversity “shameful,” praised DEI efforts around the country, said she wanted to open the school’s first DEI division and suggested that, if hired, she would want “a person around the table that is cognizant and fighting for diversity, equity and inclusion before any decision is made for the university.” In January, The Daily Caller first reported that, prior to serving Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, Letlow was in a communications position at UL Monroe, where she helped push DEI initiatives aimed at “diversifying marketing and comms teams” and “establish[ing] diverse content.” She also signed a statement embracing diversity as one of UL Monroe’s “core values” shortly after the death of George Floyd. GOP BILLIONAIRE TRYING TO WOO TRUMP’S SUPPORT IN KEY GEORGIA RACE BANKROLLED HIS 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RIVALS “I was able to go to eight different universities and see some amazing work that other universities have already started – and you don’t even have to keep it to Louisiana, you can go nationwide to see the amazing effort people have been doing for years to address these issues,” Letlow told a panel interviewing her for the UL—Monroe presidency in 2020, in response to a question concerning the percentage of tenured female faculty. “So, one of the first things I would do – I believe we need a division on this campus, a division of diversity, equity and inclusion, with leadership that goes all the way to the top with a full staff because our issues are so great.” During Letlow’s hiring process to potentially be the next president of UL—Monroe, she also spoke in a video meant to introduce herself to students, during which Letlow called herself a “strong and progressive leader” as the result of many years in higher ed. The GOP primary race in Louisiana for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, between Letlow and incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has become a battle over who is more pro-Trump – and DEI has been a major proving point. “While Liberal Letlow was pushing DEI policies at ULM, calling herself a ‘strong and progressive leader,’ Senator Cassidy was working with President Trump and others to secure billions of dollars for the state and bring conservative policies to Louisiana,” said a spokesperson for Cassidy’s campaign. “From no boys in girls sports, to co-sponsoring the Save America Act, the HALT Fentanyl Act, and the Working Families Tax Cuts.” Cassidy himself has been accused of being anti-Trump, and when reached for comment on the matter, Letlow’s team argued that “any honest account of DEI in this race has to include Cassidy’s record vs Julia’s record.” MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE SAYS TRUMP, GOP ‘GOVERNED AMERICA LAST,’ PREDICTS MIDTERM LOSSES Letlow holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from UL Monroe. According to her LinkedIn profile, she also held multiple positions at the university, first from 2007 to 2011 and then again from 2014 to 2021. These positions include the director of marketing and communications from 2015 to 2018, executive director of external affairs and strategic communications from 2018 to 2019, and executive assistant to the president for external affairs and community outreach from 2019 to 2021 for the university. In 2020, Letlow wanted to become UL Monroe’s president, during which she was subject to numerous interviews. One included questioning from a panel of UL Monroe officials, which was posted publicly on YouTube. “Study after study has shown that the more diverse an organization is in its leadership, the more successful it is, and in businesses that converts to actual financial success,” one questioner from the panel began when probing Letlow. “In academia, you know, it’s in the way — all the ways, the metrics that it’s supposed to succeed in a community, and yet we see a lot of slowness in change … so my question is, how would you go about supporting diversity and equity in the faculty ranks?” In response to the question, which focused specifically on the percentage of tenured female faculty at a university with a majority female student body, Letlow lamented that “we have an issue on this campus,” and promised to create a new DEI division to assist. “There would need to be a strategic plan put in place on how to address those concerns that you just raised, and those metrics and those numbers, because they are shameful, truly, and I believe that having that strong [DEI] division, having that leadership, if you have a person around the table that is cognizant and fighting for diversity, equity and inclusion before any decision is made for the university, then that’s how you change. That’s how you recruit more faculty,” Letlow responded. “There are a lot of people on this campus who have never heard of unconscious bias. They don’t know that it exists,” she continued. BIG BUSINESS PULLS BACK FROM LGBTQ CORPORATE RANKINGS IN DRAMATIC ONE-YEAR SLIDE “I was looking at the numbers – we have 8% African-American faculty women on this campus. That’s not enough,” Letlow added later. “That does not reflect our student population, and so that would be number one for me. I’m glad you asked that question.” Letlow’s remarks, which have been publicly available on Youtube but have only 218 views as of Tuesday, add fodder for critics like Cassidy who say she is not sufficiently an opponent of DEI. However, Letlow recently told local media that Cassidy’s claims that she
President Trump says US could finish Iran operation within two to three weeks
President Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday that the U.S. will finish attacking Iran within two to three weeks. The president indicated that he thinks within that time frame, “We’ll leave.” “I had one goal: They will have no nuclear weapon. And that goal has been attained. They will not have nuclear weapons,” the president said. “But we’re finishing the job. And I think within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple a days longer, to do the job,” he said. “Now it’s possible that we’ll make a deal before that.” TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER OVERHAULING MAIL-IN VOTING IN MAJOR ELECTION INTEGRITY PUSH “We’ve set them back. It’ll take 15 to 20 years for them to rebuild what we’ve done to ‘em. They have no navy. They have no military. They have no air force. They have no telecommunications. They have no anti-aircraft systems. They have no leaders. You know their leaders are all gone. That’s why we have regime change. We have nice new leaders,” he said. The president mounted the U.S. war against Iran more than four weeks ago in conjunction with Israel. US ATTACKS ISFAHAN IN IRAN AS GAS PRICE AVERAGE TOPS $4 Americans have since faced a significant surge in fuel prices, with the AAA national average for regular gas spiking to $4.064 as of April 1. Trump is slated to deliver an address to the nation on Wednesday night. MARCO RUBIO WARNS IRAN WANTED TO BE THE ‘NEXT NORTH KOREA’ AS HE SEES ‘FINISH LINE’ IN CONFLICT In a Tuesday post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that “Tomorrow night at 9PM ET, President Trump will give an Address to the Nation to provide an important update on Iran.”
April showdowns: 4 key races to watch this month that will test Trump, GOP grip on power
After kicking off in March, the 2026 primary calendar takes a break this month before returning with a vengeance in May. But that doesn’t mean there’s a dearth of consequential elections in April. Special U.S. House contests in Georgia and New Jersey, a state Supreme Court election in battleground Wisconsin, and a Virginia referendum that is the latest face-off between President Donald Trump and Republicans and Democrats in the high-stakes congressional redistricting wars — with the House majority on the line — will all draw national attention this month. Here’s a closer look at the four ballot box showdowns. TRUMP-BACKED FULLER ADVANCES IN RACE TO FILL MTG’S CONGRESSIONAL SEAT Trump-backed Republican House candidate Clay Fuller faces off with Democratic candidate Shawn Harris to fill a vacant congressional district in solidly red northwest Georgia that was once held by MAGA firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene. Harris, a retired brigadier general and cattle farmer, and Fuller, a local prosecutor and Air National Guard member, were the top two finishers in a field of 17 candidates, including 12 Republicans, in the early March special election. With no candidate topping 50%, Harris and Fuller advanced to a runoff. SPECIAL ELECTION TO FILL MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’S OLD SEAT IN CONGRESS HEADS INTO OVERTIME The special election comes as Republicans cling to a razor-thin 218–214 majority in the House. That means the GOP cannot afford any surprises or allow Democrats to pull an upset in a district that extends from Atlanta’s northwest exurbs to Georgia’s northwestern border with Alabama and northern border with Tennessee, which Trump carried by 37 points in his 2024 presidential victory. Fuller, who is expected to consolidate the Republican vote that was divided in the first round, is considered the clear frontrunner in the race. But if Harris holds Fuller’s margin to the mid-teens or less, national Democrats will argue the election is the latest in the 14 months since Trump returned to the White House in which they’ve overperformed. The congressional seat was left vacant when Greene stepped down at the beginning of January. Greene quit Congress with a year left in her term, after a very public falling out with Trump mostly over her push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. While officially a non-partisan contest, state Supreme Court elections in the Midwestern battleground have become extremely partisan in recent years. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL With the court’s majority on the line in last year’s contests, outside money poured in and out-of-state door knockers blanketed Wisconsin. One of the biggest spenders was Trump ally Elon Musk, who headlined a rally days before the election and donned a cheesehead hat worn by fans of the Green Bay Packers. Democrats won that election by a larger-than-expected margin and currently hold a 4-3 majority on Wisconsin’s highest court. With a conservative justice retiring, the majority isn’t at stake in this year’s election, although liberals with a win could expand their majority to 5-2. But if the conservative candidate wins, or keeps it close, the GOP may claim a moral victory. Republican Joe Hathaway, a local mayor, is hoping to pull off an upset in the special election to fill the congressional seat left vacant after now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill stepped down after winning last November’s gubernatorial election. Hathaway, who was unopposed in February’s primary, faces off in the election against Democrat Analilia Mejia, a progressive organizer backed by left-wing champions Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Mejia pulled off an upset, narrowly edging out front-runner former Rep. Tom Malinowski in a field of 11 candidates. The face-off was one of the latest between progressives and more mainstream Democrats. The 11th Congressional District in northern New Jersey‘s New York City suburbs was once the kind of seat where Republicans excelled at the ballot box. Hathaway, who has pointed out his differences with Trump, is the type of Republican who could attract crossover voters. Add in that Mejia may be too far to the left for some voters in the district, and there’s a chance for some intrigue on Election Day. Voters in Virginia are casting ballots on a Democrat-pushed referendum that would give the competitive state up to four more left-leaning U.S. House districts in time for this year’s midterm elections. That could result in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats in the state’s U.S. House delegation, up from their current 6-5 edge. With three weeks until Election Day, early voting is surging, according to officials, with turnout outpacing early voting from last autumn’s general election. Despite being vastly outraised by Democrats, Republicans see positive signs in early turnout. Republicans call the Democrats’ redistricting effort an “unconstitutional power grab.” Democrats counter that it’s a necessary step to balance out partisan gerrymandering already implemented in other states by the GOP. Virginia is the latest redistricting battleground, with Florida on deck, to alter congressional maps ahead of November’s elections. Republicans are defending their razor-thin House majority in the midterms, and Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win back control of the chamber. That means the redistricting efforts in Virginia and other states may very well decide which party controls the House next year.
Trump admin unlawfully terminated legal status of migrants who used Biden-era app, judge rules
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration unlawfully terminated the legal status of thousands of migrants who had been allowed to temporarily live in the U.S. after using an app expanded by the Biden administration to schedule appointments with immigration officials. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston ordered the administration to reverse its move last year to revoke the legal status of migrants who used the CBP One app. The app was used under former President Joe Biden starting in 2023 to address the crisis at the border by allowing some migrants to make appointments to seek asylum, with many paroled into the country for up to two years, but President Donald Trump moved to shut down the app when he returned to the White House last year. Burroughs found that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security acted unlawfully in April of last year when it sent mass emails to many of the roughly 900,000 people who entered the country using the app, informing them that it was “time for you to leave the United States.” VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS, PROGRESSIVE GROUP SUE TRUMP AFTER NOEM NIXES BIDEN-ERA ‘PROTECTED STATUS’ “The regulations do not give the agency unfettered discretion to terminate parole,” Burroughs wrote. “When Defendants terminated the impacted noncitizens’ parole without observing the process mandated by statute and by their own regulations, they took action that was ‘not in accordance with law,’” the judge added. The Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, one of the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the ruling, saying it “brings long-awaited relief after months of fear and uncertainty.” Democracy Forward, another group that helped bring the legal challenge, also praised the judge’s decision. FEDERAL JUDGE UPHOLDS TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS “Today’s ruling is a clear rejection of an administration that has tried to erase lawful status for hundreds of thousands of people with the click of a button,” the group’s president, Skye Perryman, said in a statement. “Our clients followed the law: they waited, registered, were inspected, and were granted parole under the law. The Trump-Vance administration’s effort to tear that status away overnight was unlawful and cruel — and today, the court rejected that harmful and destabilizing policy,” the statement added. A DHS spokesperson said the ruling was an example of “blatant judicial activism” that interfered with Trump’s authority to determine who remains in the country. “Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect our national security,” the spokesperson said in a statement. The ruling came after a class-action lawsuit filed in August by three individuals from Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti who argued the Trump administration’s effort to remove them from the country represented an abrupt, unlawful move to pull parole status and work authorization from migrants. The Trump administration had argued that Biden overstepped parole authority by broadly awarding the status instead of granting it on a case-by-case basis. Burroughs said when DHS sent out termination notices to migrants, it failed to comply with requirements to provide a record showing an official had determined that the purposes of parole had been served. “Accordingly, the parole terminations exceeded the agency’s statutory authority and contradicted the procedures set forth in its own regulations,” the judge wrote. Reuters contributed to this report.