Brennan, Strzok, Page subpoenaed as part of federal Russiagate probe: Sources
EXCLUSIVE: A federal grand jury has subpoenaed former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, among others as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, Fox News Digital has learned. Sources told Fox News Digital Brennan; Strzok, the FBI’s former deputy assistant director of counterintelligence; and Page, a former FBI lawyer, were served with federal subpoenas on Friday. Law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital that up to 30 subpoenas will be issued in the coming days relating to the investigation. The grand jury is out of the Southern District of Florida. U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones is supervising the probe. Fox News Digital first reported this summer that Brennan was under criminal investigation. Strzok and Page first came under scrutiny in 2018 when Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz uncovered a series of anti-Trump text messages between them. Both were assigned to work on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team in 2017. Page served on Mueller’s team on a short detail, returning to the FBI’s Office of General Counsel in July 2017. Strzok, though, was removed from the team and was reassigned to the FBI’s Human Resources Division. Prior to serving in the special counsel’s office, Strzok was a top agent in the bureau’s counterintelligence division. Strzok is the FBI agent who, in July 2016, opened the FBI’s initial Russia investigation, which was nicknamed “Crossfire Hurricane” inside the bureau. Page resigned from the bureau in May 2018, and Strzok eventually was fired in August 2018. EX-OBAMA INTEL BOSS WANTED ANTI-TRUMP DOSSIER INCLUDED IN ‘ATYPICAL’ 2016 ASSESSMENT DESPITE PUSHBACK Strzok was fired from the bureau in August 2018 after months of scrutiny regarding the anti-Trump text messages exchanged between himself and Page. During congressional testimony in 2018, Strzok confirmed that he and Page were involved in an extramarital affair. As for the criminal investigation into Brennan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital. Sources, at the time, said that the referral was received and told Fox News Digital that a criminal investigation into Brennan was opened and is underway. DOJ sources declined to provide further details. It is unclear, at this point, if the investigation spans beyond his alleged false statements to Congress. The Brennan investigation came after Ratcliffe, this summer, declassified a “lessons learned” review of the creation of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). The 2017 ICA alleged Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election to help then-candidate Donald Trump. But the review found that the process of the ICA’s creation was rushed with “procedural anomalies,” and that officials diverted from intelligence standards. It also determined that the “decision by agency heads to include the Steele Dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.” The dossier — an anti-Trump document filled with unverified and wholly inaccurate claims that was commissioned by Fusion GPS and paid for by Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC — has been widely discredited. Last week’s review marks the first time career CIA officials have acknowledged politicization of the process by which the ICA was written, particularly by Obama-era political appointees. Records declassified as part of that review further revealed that Brennan did, in fact, push for the dossier to be included in the 2017 ICA. Brennan testified to the House Judiciary Committee in May 2023, however, that he did not believe the dossier should be included in that intelligence product. Ratcliffe was not surprised by the review’s findings, a source familiar told Fox News Digital, given the director’s long history of criticizing Brennan’s politicization of intelligence. But Ratcliffe was compelled to refer aspects of Brennan’s involvement to the FBI for review of possible criminality, the source said. WHITE HOUSE WANTS OBAMA INTEL OFFICIALS ‘HELD ACCOUNTABLE’ FOR ROLE PEDDLING 2016 RUSSIA HOAX The source was unable to share the sensitive details of Ratcliffe’s criminal referral to the FBI with Fox News Digital, but said that Brennan “violated the public’s trust and should be held accountable for it.” The false statements portion of the probe stems from a newly declassified email sent to Brennan by the former deputy CIA director in December 2016. That message said that including the dossier in the ICA in any capacity jeopardized “the credibility of the entire paper.” “Despite these objections, Brennan showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness,” the new CIA review states. “When confronted with specific flaws in the Dossier by the two mission center leaders – one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background – he appeared more swayed by the Dossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.” The review added: “Brennan ultimately formalized his position in writing, stating that ‘my bottomline is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.’” OBAMA ADMIN ‘MANUFACTURED’ INTELLIGENCE TO CREATE 2016 RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE NARRATIVE, DOCUMENTS SHOW But Brennan testified the opposite in front of Congress in May 2023. “The CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the Intelligence Community Assessment,” Brennan testified before the House committee, according to the transcript of his deposition reviewed by Fox News Digital. “And so they sent over a copy of the dossier to say that this was going to be separate from the rest of that assessment.” CIA officials at the time of its creation pushed back against the FBI, which sought to include the dossier, arguing that the dossier should not be included in the assessment, and casting it as simply “internet rumor.” Ultimately, Steele’s reporting was not included in the body of the final ICA prepared for then-President Barack Obama, but instead detailed in this footnote, “largely at the insistence of FBI’s senior leadership,” according to a review by the Justice Department inspector
Senate Dems clash over why Sec Duffy is reducing flights and air traffic ahead of Thanksgiving
Democratic senators on Capitol Hill offered differing responses as to why they believe Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the call to reduce flights and air traffic ahead of the busy Thanksgiving travel surge. After news broke that Duffy was ordering a 10% reduction in flight capacity at 40 airports across the country, Republicans remained largely unified in their messaging that any chaos caused by the forced reductions fell at the feet of Democrats. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said short of “planes falling out of the sky,” Democrats will not vote to reopen the government. “Democrats are flirting with disaster,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, wrote on X in response to Wednesday’s announcement, adding that there was no choice but to reduce air traffic to keep it safe. Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., appeared to agree in comments he made to reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday about the move, telling them “we’ve got to make sure that flights are safe.” REDUCING AIR TRAVEL CAPACITY AT 40 AIRPORTS IS ‘DATA-DRIVEN’ DECISION, DUFFY SAYS “I don’t question Secretary Duffy,” Kaine added. “He wants to make sure that flights are safe.” Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., had a much more sinister view about Duffy’s motivations for compelling a reduction in air traffic ahead of the busy Thanksgiving holiday. According to Coons, the new directive is an attempt by the Trump administration to “pressure” Democrats to reopen the government without their demands on Obamacare being met. Coons argued that air traffic controllers and other airport personnel have been facing strains since before the shutdown due to cuts from the president’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk. “I think it’s appropriate for us to focus on improving air safety. It is more urgent for us to focus on the health care cliff that is impacting millions of Americans,” Coons told reporters Thursday following Duffy’s announcement. “My impression is this is another attempt at putting pressure on Congress to reopen the government,” Coons added. FLIGHT CHAOS GRIPS US AIRPORTS AS SOME AIRLINES ADVISE BOOKING ‘BACKUP TICKET’: SEE THE LIST Coons was not the only congressional Democrat to chastise the Trump administration for the decision. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., called the move to order a reduction in flights “unprecedented” and insisted the move demanded “more transparency.” “The FAA must immediately share any safety risk assessment and related data that this decision is predicated on with Congress,” Larsen said after news of the reduction. “If we want to resolve issues in the National Airspace System, let us fix health care, open government and pay air traffic controllers.” In response to the directive to reduce air traffic ahead of the holiday, U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman reaffirmed his group’s call for lawmakers to reopen the government or face potential “chaos” during the Thanksgiving surge. “Today’s announcement from Secretary Duffy and Administrator Bedford reinforces that safety is the number one priority in our nation’s air travel system. The decision to reduce scheduled flight capacity, while necessary to keep our skies safe, will inevitably affect the travel experience, leading to fewer flights, longer delays and more disruptions for travelers,” Freeman said. All government shutdowns are irresponsible and this decision underscores the urgent need to reopen the government. The shutdown is putting unnecessary strain on the system, forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the U.S. air travel experience. The fault for this situation rests squarely at the feet of Congress.” Earlier this week, the travel industry trade group sent a letter to leaders in Congress warning of long-term economic impacts that could hurt American workers, businesses and the economy amid the Thanksgiving holiday if the current government shutdown does not come to an end soon. The letter, undersigned by hundreds of tourism and travel industry groups, also warned those planning to fly this Thanksgiving holiday that they could face higher costs and increased wait times, delays and cancellations that could derail family travel plans across the country, if the government shutdown doesn’t end before Thanksgiving arrives. “Last year, during Thanksgiving week, over 20 million passengers took flights in the United States. Thanksgiving is not only a time of national tradition and family connection, but also one of the most economically important travel weeks of the year,” the letter states. “The cost of continued inaction will be felt by families, workers, businesses, and communities in every part of the country.”
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump, Mamdani front-and-center in Empire State battle
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… -Obama once urged Black men to back Harris — then he, Democrats reversed race rhetoric legacy in 2025 -Duffy says air travel may take ‘days if not a week’ to return to normal, even after shutdown ends -Justice Barrett urges students to ‘take the high road like Erika Kirk’ amid campus hostility President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani are not on the ballot next year, but they are smack in the political spotlight in New York State’s 2026 race for governor. Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, in her first interview after declaring her candidacy for governor on Friday, linked Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to Mamdani, the 34-year-old socialist state lawmaker who won election on Tuesday as New York City mayor. “Kathy Hochul endorsed him and bent the knee,” Stefanik charged in an appearance on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” as she pointed to Mamdani, who she claimed is “a raging anti-Semite, pro-Hamas communist who wants to raise taxes.”…READ MORE. BENEFITS BATTLE: DOJ accuses federal judge of making ‘mockery of separation of powers’ in SNAP appeal RESEARCH DOLLARS: Cornell University to pay $60M in deal with Trump administration to restore federal funding DEAL OR NO DEAL: Trump considers granting Hungary potential exemption on Russian oil just weeks after imposing sanctions COMMANDING RESPECT: Trump says Hungary’s border stance keeps crime down, says Europe ‘flooding’ with migrants DRAGON SETS SAIL: China launches third aircraft carrier as Xi pushes military modernization against US influence STALEMATE SHIFT: Schumer, Dems unveil alternative shutdown plan, ask for one-year extension to Obamacare subsidies ‘WHEELS CAME OFF’: Thune says ‘wheels came off’ as Republicans mull next shutdown move NO DEAL IN SIGHT: Sen Kennedy says shutdown could last 2 more weeks amid ongoing Obamacare dispute ‘TWISTED IRONY’: ‘Twisted irony’: Democrats risk betraying their own pet issues with government shutdown gamble GROUNDED NATION: House Democrat sides with Trump officials on air traffic cuts amid shutdown chaos ‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: Nancy Mace’s ex claims she fabricated sexual assault allegations in plot with friend’s estranged wife: report STOP THE GAMES: Charlamagne Tha God calls on Dems to ‘stop playing politics with people’s lives’ and reopen the government SCANDALOUS CHOICE: Jay Jones’ transition team to be co-led by ex-governor from blackface scandal, abortion outrage UNDER WATCH: ADL launches ‘Mamdani Monitor’ to track NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani over antisemitism concerns Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Key Trump ally jumps into New York governor’s race days after shocking Mamdani mayoral victory
Rep. Elise Stefanik will officially launch her long-anticipated campaign for New York governor on Friday, entering the 2026 race as a Republican challenger to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, multiple sources confirmed to Fox News on Thursday. Stefanik, a top House Republican and one of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies, represents a conservative-leaning district in upstate New York and has been weighing a gubernatorial run for months. “It will be very, very soon and people are very excited,” Stefanik said Thursday in an interview on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” “There’s been an outpouring of support from Republicans, Democrats, independents, all across our great state,” Stefanik touted. “Many Democrats who previously supported Kathy Hochul are lining up in support.” STEFANIK WRITING NEW BOOK AMID GUBERNATORIAL RUN BUZZ Stefanik, a member of the House Republican leadership, for months has repeatedly charged that Hochul is “the worst governor in America.” And Stefanik has blasted Hochul over the governor’s endorsement earlier this autumn of Zohran Mamdani, who this week was elected mayor of New York City. REPUBLICANS AIM TO LINK VULERNABLE DEMOCRATS TO MAMDANI “People are looking for strong, commonsense leadership to be a check on this radical insanity that we’re seeing play out in New York City with Zohran Mamdani as a tax-hiking, defund the police, antisemite socialist,” Stefanik said in her Fox News interview, again linking Hochul to the progressive mayor-elect. Stefanik, who once criticized Trump, has since become one of his staunchest defenders in Congress. After Trump’s White House victory last year, he briefly considered naming Stefanik U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but ultimately backed off amid concerns that her departure would shrink the GOP’s razor-thin House majority. It has been more than two decades since a Republican last won a New York gubernatorial race. The last was former Gov. George Pataki’s re-election in 2002. COULD THIS TRUMP ALLY BREAK THE GOP’S 20-YEAR LOSING STREAK IN THIS KEY STATE? Hochul, meanwhile, could face a tough re-election fight. A former lieutenant governor, Hochul took office in 2021 after Democrat Andrew Cuomo resigned amid multiple scandals. She defeated then-Rep. Lee Zeldin by just over six points in 2022 to win a full four-year term. But Zeldin’s showing was the best by a Republican gubernatorial nominee since Pataki won re-election to a third term in 2002. Meanwhile, Trump, who lost New York by 23 points in the 2020 presidential election, trimmed his deficit by 10 points last November. Hochul, a moderate Democrat from Buffalo, is facing a primary challenge from New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, in a very rare move by a lieutenant governor to primary challenge a sitting incumbent. Stefanik is expected to hammer Hochul as she focuses her campaign on the issue of affordability. “People are very concerned about affordability and I have a strong record of delivering for families,” she highlighted in her Fox News interview. And she charged that Hochul had made New York “the most unaffordable state in the nation. We have the highest taxes, the highest energy prices, the highest utility prices, the highest grocery prices, and rent that continues to skyrocket.” Democrats notched double-digit victories this week in New Jersey and Virginia, emphasizing affordability as a top issue. Stefanik said those results show Republicans must put forward a clear economic vision. “You have to have a vision, and you have to put forth policies to make your state affordable again,” she said. “We are going to win the affordability message because her [Hochul] record is making it the most unaffordable state in the nation.” But New York State Democratic Party Spokesperson Addison Dick charged that “Elise Stefanik is a rubber stamp in Washington for Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda that is raising costs, gutting health care, and defunding New York schools, hospitals, and police.” And Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe charged that “from gutting health care to backing cost-raising tariffs, Stefanik’s record as Trump’s cheerleader in chief could not be more toxic with New York voters.” Earlier this year, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York seriously mulled a run for governor. But Lawler announced in July that he would seek re-election and forgo a gubernatorial run. Stefanik, however, has already begun assembling a seasoned campaign team that includes veteran Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who served as chief pollster for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. But Stefanik may not have the Republican nomination to herself. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Trump ally who was re-elected this week, may be eyeing a run for governor, GOP sources in New York confirmed to Fox News.
Left-wing candidate who lashed out at GOP senator with death threats failed to advance in local race
The Helena, Montana city commissioner candidate who made headlines for lobbing threats and wishing a painful cancer death on Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., in an expletive-filled voicemail, failed to crack the threshold of the top 2 candidates. Haley McKnight made national headlines earlier this week after audio of her voicemail she left for the senator in July came to light. The voicemail came from over the summer, shortly after Sheehy voted with his Republican colleagues to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping tax and spending package from Republicans that angered many Democrats, including McKnight, following its passage. “Hi, this is Haley McKnight. I’m a constituent in Helena, Montana,” McKnight started off in her voicemail, a recording of which was obtained and verified by Fox News Digital. “I just wanted to let you know that you are the most insufferable kind of coward and thief. You just stripped away healthcare for 17 million Americans, and I hope you’re really proud of that. I hope that one day you get pancreatic cancer, and it spreads throughout your body so fast that they can’t even treat you for it.” WHAT JAY JONES’ VICTORY MEANS FOR DEMOCRATS AND THE ‘NEW ERA OF VIOLENT RHETORIC,’ ACCORDING TO EXPERTS The anger didn’t stop there, either. During the roughly minute-long voicemail that phone logs reportedly show came on the afternoon of July 1, McKnight launches into insults about Sheehy’s fertility and his children, before warning the senator not to “meet me on the streets.” “I hope you die in the street like a dog,” McKnight continued. “One day, you’re going to live to regret this. I hope that your children never forgive you. I hope that you are infertile. I hope that you manage to never get a boner ever again.” In an interview with Fox News Digital, McKnight questioned the timing of her voicemail’s release, but Sheehy’s office told a local news outlet it had not been aware of the threatening voicemail sent to them over the summer until just recently. As the headlines documenting McKnight’s expletive-filled voicemail reverberated nationally, she was gearing up for a local election Tuesday night alongside all the nationally recognized races that took place that day, including the race for Virginia and New Jersey governor, which both saw Democratic Party victories. And it wasn’t just those two races – Democrats saw a blue wave Tuesday with victories in all the high-profile races, as well as most of the lesser-known ones too. VIRGINIA SLAMMED FOR ‘TRULY DEMONIC’ ELECTION THAT EXCUSED POLITICAL VIOLENCE TO SPITE TRUMP, CRITICS SAY But that blue wave wasn’t enough to carry local candidates like McKnight to victory. She garnered only 20% of the vote, falling in third among a field of four candidates. Those who beat McKnight to obtain the two city commissioner seats up for grabs were Melinda Reed and Ben Rigby. Reed obtained 36.5% of the vote, while Rigby garnered 31.2%. The candidate who came in fourth garnered 11.5% and write-ins got 0.52% of the vote. Speaking to Fox News earlier in the week about her voicemail, McKnight answered “no comment” when pressed if she stood by her rhetoric. She did note that her intention was not to threaten, or hurt, the senator, but added that she believed her rage was justifiable. “I wanted to drive home the struggles that people that I know are going through because of his policies. I think people were kind of shocked at my specificity, but these are things that are affecting people in my community,” McKnight told Fox News Digital, adding that Sheehy was spending too much time blocking the release of “the Epstein files” as opposed to understanding the struggles Montanans are going through. Fox News Digital reached out to McKnight to inquire about whether she thought her voicemail had any impact on the outcome of her election. Once again, McKnight replied, “No comment.”
State Department revoked more than 80K nonimmigrant visas this year, including 8K student visas
The Trump administration said it has rescinded tens of thousands of nonimmigrant visas since January, pointing to criminal activity as the primary reason. The State Department announced Thursday that 80,000 visas have been revoked this year, noting this is more than twice the number revoked last year. More than 8,000 student visas were among those affected. LABOR UNIONS SUE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING OF VISA HOLDERS The top reasons for these revocations were assault, theft and driving under the influence, according to the State Department. These three crimes accounted for nearly half of the revoked visas this year. The agency said it pulled more than 16,000 visas for DUIs, more than 12,000 for assault and more than 8,000 for theft. “Promises made, promises kept,” the State Department wrote on X, adding that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “will always put the safety and interests of the American people first.” TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO VET LEGAL IMMIGRANT APPLICANTS FOR ‘ANTI-AMERICANISM’ AND ANTISEMITISM The State Department may revoke a visa for reasons such as indicators of an overstay, criminal activity, a threat to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity or providing support to a terrorist organization. The administration has broadly defined support for terrorism to include criticism of U.S. support for Israel and the Jewish State’s military action and support for Palestinians. The federal government has previously used this as a justification to cancel visas. Since Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration has searched for online posts to target foreigners for the potential rescinding of their visas. On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order to ensure visa holders “do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.” Over the summer, the State Department said it would start asking applicants to make their social media accounts public for government monitoring and that interviews with applicants would determine who may pose a threat to national security.
Trump says more nations lining up to join Abraham Accords after Kazakhstan
President Donald Trump said more countries are lining up to join the Abraham Accords in an effort to normalize relations with Israel. Kazakhstan is expected to join the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, which had formalized relations with the Jewish state. On Thursday, Trump said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan. NETANYAHU TO SKIP TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST PEACE SUMMIT IN EGYPT AS NEW REGIONAL DYNAMICS TAKE SHAPE “Kazakhstan is the first Country of my Second Term to join the Abraham Accords, the first of many,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is a major step forward in building bridges across the World. Today, more Nations are lining up to embrace Peace and Prosperity through my Abraham Accords.” The Abraham Accords were first signed in 2020 in an effort to broker ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors. TEAM ISRAEL GYMNASTS SPEAK OUT AFTER BEING BARRED FROM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS BY INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT Trump signaled that more nations, including Syria, may be joining the Abraham Accords, with Saudi Arabia at the forefront of efforts to expand the historic Israel-Arab normalization pact. Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected to meet with Trump at the White House next week, followed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman Nov. 18. In January 2021, Sudan signed a U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords declaration, but those efforts have since been derailed by internal political unrest. “We will soon announce a Signing Ceremony to make it official, and there are many more Countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH,” Trump wrote. “So much more to come in uniting Countries for Stability and Growth — Real progress, real results. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”
Travel industry sounds alarm over how shutdown will impact Americans ahead of Thanksgiving
Hundreds of tourism and travel industry groups are warning those planning to fly this Thanksgiving holiday that if the government shutdown doesn’t end before the holiday arrives, passengers could face higher costs and increased wait times, delays and cancellations that could derail family travel plans across the country. The groups, collectively under the banner of the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group representing the U.S. travel industry, also warned in a letter to leaders in Congress of long-term economic harm to American workers, businesses and the economy amid the Thanksgiving holiday if the current government shutdown does not come to an end soon. The trade group estimates America’s travel economy has already lost $4 billion due to the shutdown. Earlier this week, the U.S. Travel Association sent a letter to Senate leaders John Thune and Chuck Schumer and their counterparts in the House, Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries, urging the leaders to come to an agreement and pass “a clean continuing resolution” that will reopen the government after weeks of a shutdown that has been the longest in history. Democrats and Republicans have been gridlocked over whether to approve enhanced tax credits for Obamacare passed during the COVID-19 pandemic. FLIGHT CHAOS GRIPS US AIRPORTS AS SOME AIRLINES ADVISE BOOKING ‘BACKUP TICKET’: SEE THE LIST The letter warned that the longer the government is shut down, the more money the travel economy will lose, leading to negative downstream economic effects. Additionally, the letter, signed by nearly 500 travel and tourism industry organizations, warned that the longer the shutdown remains, the more strain airports will face from staffing shortages, which, if exacerbated further, could lead to major “chaos” as families try to fly for the Thanksgiving holiday. “Last year, during Thanksgiving week, over 20 million passengers took flights in the United States,” the letter to congressional leaders states. “Thanksgiving is not only a time of national tradition and family connection, but also one of the most economically important travel weeks of the year. “Travel spending during the holiday generates billions of dollars in economic activity, supporting jobs, local tax bases, and small businesses nationwide. A continued shutdown is likely to significantly suppress travel demand and spending, creating a real threat to American workers, businesses, and the overall economy. FAA’S REDUCTION PLAN EXPECTED TO IMPACT THOUSANDS OF FLIGHTS ACROSS 40 AIRPORTS “The American people expect and deserve a fully functioning federal government during the peak holiday travel season,” the letter continued. “Congress must act without delay to pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government immediately and ensure full federal operations are restored in advance of the Thanksgiving travel period. The cost of continued inaction will be felt by families, workers, businesses, and communities in every part of the country.” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced this week that his agency would order a 10% cut in flights across 40 major U.S. airports, citing air traffic controller shortages and safety concerns, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. In response to the directive, U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman said while the decision showed that safety is the No. 1 priority for the travel industry, it will nonetheless “inevitably affect the travel experience, leading to fewer flights, longer delays and more disruptions for travelers.” “All government shutdowns are irresponsible, and this decision underscores the urgent need to reopen the government,” Freeman added. “The shutdown is putting unnecessary strain on the system, forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the U.S. air travel experience. The fault for this situation rests squarely at the feet of Congress.”
Supreme Court hands Trump victory on transgender passport policy change
The Supreme Court cleared the way for the State Department to require people to state their biological sex on new or renewed passports, a victory for the Trump administration as it aims to tighten policies involving transgender people. The high court found in a 6-3 order temporarily greenlighting the policy that a lower court in Massachusetts had erred in blocking it. “Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth—in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,” the majority wrote in the unsigned order. TRUMP ADMIN ASKS SUPREME COURT TO ALLOW IT TO ENFORCE PASSPORT SEX DESIGNATION POLICY The three liberal justices dissented. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee, blasted her Republican-appointed colleagues in a lengthy dissent for what she said had become a “routine” of siding with the Trump administration on the emergency docket. The majority “fails to spill any ink considering the plaintiffs, opting instead to intervene in the Government’s favor without equitable justification, and in a manner that permits harm to be inflicted on the most vulnerable party,” Jackson wrote, adding that transgender people have been permitted to state their preferred gender on passports for more than three decades. The class action lawsuit, brought by a dozen self-described transgender, nonbinary or intersex people on behalf of themselves and others in their situation, will continue to proceed through the lower courts. The plaintiffs had argued in court papers that passports should “reflect the sex [people] live as and express, rather than the sex they were assigned at birth.” SUPREME COURT REJECTS SOUTH CAROLINA’S BID TO ENFORCE TRANSGENDER BATHROOM BAN Solicitor General John Sauer wrote on behalf of President Donald Trump that passports effectively communicate information to foreign governments and private citizens cannot force the president to communicate in a way that defies his foreign policy preferences and “scientific reality.” The policy, which reversed the Biden administration’s allowance of an “X” gender option on passports, was implemented as part of a string of executive orders Trump issued when he took office aimed at requiring transgender people to identify as their biological sex in certain situations, including in gender-exclusive sports and in the military. Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated that the high court had handed the Department of Justice roughly two-dozen wins this year on the emergency docket, sometimes referred to as a shadow or interim docket, where cases are fast-tracked so that the Supreme Court can potentially offer temporary resolutions until the merits of the cases are examined. “Today’s stay allows the government to require citizens to list their biological sex on their passport,” Bondi said on social media. “In other words: there are two sexes, and our attorneys will continue fighting for that simple truth.”
Senate Republicans block bipartisan effort to halt military action, drug boat strikes in the Caribbean
Senate Republicans blocked an attempt to end President Donald Trump’s ability to continue attacks against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., forced a vote on a war powers resolution that would have halted the Trump administration’s strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug boats. Kaine, along with senators Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced the resolution earlier this month after Trump signaled he would authorize strikes on Venezuelan soil. They argued that the strikes, and possible intervention on the ground, shouldn’t be able to continue without congressional authorization. TRUMP UNLEASHES US MILITARY POWER ON CARTELS. IS A WIDER WAR LOOMING? Despite the strikes on alleged drug boats giving members on both sides of the aisle heartburn, the push failed largely along party lines except for Paul and a defection by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who voted for a previous resolution to block Trump’s strikes in the Caribbean earlier this month. Trump earlier this month acknowledged that he authorized the CIA operations in the region for two reasons; that Venezuela had “emptied their prisons into the United States of America” and that drugs were flowing in from the country. “We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea,” Trump said. “So, you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also.” SENATORS LOOK TO BLOCK TRUMP FROM ENGAGING IN ‘HOSTILITIES’ IN VENEZUELA In their resolution, the trio contended that whether United States forces should be engaged in hostilities within or against Venezuela should be answered following a full briefing to Congress and the American public of the issues at stake, a public debate in Congress, and a congressional vote as contemplated by the Constitution.” So far, the administration has carried out 16 strikes against vessels in the region that led to a death toll of 66 people. Trump earlier this week ordered that the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford head to the Caribbean as part of his administration’s ongoing fight against drugs. WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS TO REPORTS OF TRUMP PREPARING TO HIT MILITARY TARGETS INSIDE VENEZUELA The failed vote also came after congressional leaders and chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees were briefed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Wednesday as part of a bid by the administration to clue lawmakers in on the rationale behind the strikes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after the briefing, “What we heard isn’t enough. We need a lot more answers.” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair James Risch, R-Idaho, said he was “fully satisfied” by the briefing, adding the administration has a “good legal justification for what they’re doing.” “The president really ought to be congratulated for saving the lives of young American people,” Risch said.