Sanders, Dem leaders dodge questions on Virginia candidate who joked about shooting GOP lawmaker
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and top Democrats refused to answer whether they believe embattled Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones should drop out over violent text messages he sent, fantasizing about murdering a Republican opponent. The Virginia attorney general race, and gubernatorial race along with it, have been rocked by recent revelations that Jones, a former Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates, has made several violent remarks, including saying he wanted to shoot then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. Though some Democrats, including Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger, have condemned Jones’ messages, Sanders, perhaps the top progressive voice in America, ignored Fox News Digital’s question about the texts and simply walked away. Another prominent progressive, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., also ignored Fox News Digital’s questions about Jones, turning her back on the reporter and stepping into an elevator. MORE DEMOCRATS DODGE VIRGINIA CANDIDATE’S ‘2 BULLETS’ SCANDAL Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., provided some answers, saying, “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t recall exactly what he said, but at least the reflections I got, I thought it was horrible, I really do.” “I don’t know the dynamics of the race, as I’m focused right now on the New Jersey governor’s race. So, I can’t say that I’ve done my due diligence to really understand, but what I will say is what I saw was absolutely horrible,” Kim added. Kim also said, “I hope that in a time right now where there’s so much concern about political violence. We can say that, yes, we need to make sure we’re holding ourselves up to a high standard, especially those in elected office.” Asked if he could say whether Jones should drop out of the race after those violent texts, Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., answered, “I can’t. I’ve got to go.” DEMOCRATS STAND BY VIRGINIA AG HOPEFUL WHO FANTASIZED ABOUT KILLING GOP LAWMAKER Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., also had a similar response, saying, “No, I’m getting a briefing right now,” while a staffer said, “You’re more than welcome to reach out to her office though.” In text messages with another lawmaker, Jones wrote, “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.” Jones wrote in a subsequent text, “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.” In another text exchange with a colleague, Jones said he hoped Gilbert’s children would die. He doubled down in a series of messages, saying that such grief might be “a good thing” if it advanced his politics. LIBERAL MEDIA DOWNPLAYS SCANDAL OF DEM VIRGINIA AG HOPEFUL JAY JONES’ TEXTS FANTASIZING MURDER OF GOP LAWMAKER Though the text revelations have shocked the public and turned the Virginia elections on their head, many Democrats questioned by Fox News Digital have refused to address the scandal or say whether they believe Jones should be disqualified from the race. Asked whether Jones should quit his race, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., answered, “I haven’t given it a thought.” Pressed whether he had read the text messages, which have caused massive political fallout in an already tight Virginia election, Whitehouse said, “I have not.” Prominent Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., simply responded, “I don’t have time at the moment,” and continued to walk away. JOE SCARBOROUGH TELLS DEM CANDIDATE JAY JONES TO LEAVE RACE OVER VIOLENT COMMENTS AGAINST GOP LAWMAKER Speaking with Fox News Digital, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the Democratic senators’ silence “staggering, particularly with the spate of political violence we have seen.” “In my view, the notion that someone advocating for the murder of children because he disagrees politically with their father is manifestly unsuitable for public office, especially the chief law enforcement officer of Virginia, and I wish there were even one Democrat with the courage to say that publicly,” said Cruz.
Katie Porter’s third controversial video in one week shows tense exchange with staff over studio lighting
A newly surfaced video shows California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter appearing frustrated with staff members over bright studio lighting, the third controversial video involving the former lawmaker to emerge in just a week. The clip, which is reportedly from 2021 and has been circulating widely on social media, shows then-U.S. Rep. Porter on a Zoom call complaining about harsh studio lighting before a television interview. “Oh, yes, this is why I didn’t want to do — I need the lights off, the bright lights,” Porter says to someone in the room. “I’m so sorry, but I am about to get on. Bernard, I need you to turn these off. … These, that are killing me.” Turning back to the Zoom, she says, “Hang on one second, everybody!” KATIE PORTER CAUGHT ON VIDEO SCREAMING ‘GET OUT OF MY F—–G SHOT!’ AT STAFFER DURING 2021 CALL Someone can be heard speaking in the background, to which Porter responds, “Yes, yes we should have!” Moments later, Porter’s tone becomes less light-hearted as the lights go out entirely. KATIE PORTER INTERVIEW GOES VIRAL AS JOURNALISTS MARVEL AT DEMOCRAT’S MELTDOWN “OK, everybody, I’m … not that dark,” she says. Porter, appearing visibly agitated as she looks around the room, then turns off her computer’s camera and microphone for about 20 seconds before she reappears in a different room. “OK, everybody. I’m sorry about that. I am in a TV studio getting ready to go on Cuomo,” Porter says in the video. “And, so, I had all those studio lights on me, and I couldn’t see myself or see you guys.” The resurfaced clip comes as Porter faces heightened scrutiny after two other viral videos that surfaced earlier this week. CNN PANEL SHREDS HARRIS’ COLBERT INTERVIEW FOR HER LACK OF SOLUTIONS AFTER ‘SIX MONTHS TO FIGURE IT OUT’ On Tuesday, Porter went viral after an interview clip showed her repeatedly lashing out at a reporter and attempting to end the conversation. A second video, obtained by Politico and released Wednesday, showed Porter berating a staffer during a 2021 video call after the individual accidentally walked into her shot. In the clip, Porter is seen speaking with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about energy and climate issues. At one point, a staffer walks into the frame, prompting Porter to snap and yell, “Get out of my f—ing shot!” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Katie Porter did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Shutdown continues as White House slams Democrats
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics coverage. Here’s what’s happening… -Could Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize after the Israel-Hamas deal? -NJ Showdown: Following a bitter debate, Ciattarelli spotlights the disastrous Sherrill interview -Federal judge limits ICE arrests without an arrest warrant or probable cause The White House slammed Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for making a “disgusting and revealing” comment about the ongoing shutdown. Schumer spoke with Punchbowl News, an outlet based in Washington, D.C., and said that as the shutdown continues, things keep getting “better” for the Democrats. “Every day gets better for us,” Schumer reportedly told Punchbowl News. “It’s because we’ve thought about this long in advance, and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30, and we prepared for it… Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.” … Read more FOLLOW THE MONEY: ‘Riot Inc.’: Trump launches ‘whole-of-government’ push to expose Antifa funding networks, dark money sources DEAL OR NO DEAL: Trump teases trip to the Middle East as Gaza peace deal talks continue EXIT STAGE LEFT: Trump predicts Schumer will retire before losing primary to AOC amid shutdown showdown TROOPS HELD HOSTAGE: Senate Democrats block GOP plan again to reopen government as military pay deadline looms PRAYER VS. POLITICS: Hakeem Jeffries leads prayer event over the shutdown after passing on Charlie Kirk vigil ‘FAR-LEFT’ FEARS: GOP blames Schumer for shutdown to appease ‘Marxist flank’ amid AOC primary challenge buzz WAR ON DRUGS: Two Republicans vote with Dems as Senate GOP spikes bid to block Trump’s strikes on drug-smuggling boats NO NUKES: Senate GOP resists ‘nuclear option’ as Dem shutdown standoff deepens ‘IRONCLAD’: Ardently pro-Israel Dem Sen. John Fetterman congratulates Trump for ‘historic peace plan’ ‘FAR-LEFT’ FEARS: GOP blames Schumer for shutdown to appease ‘Marxist flank’ amid AOC primary challenge buzz GROUND ZERO CHAOS: ‘Operation Midway Blitz’: Inside DOJ’s push to tackle crime, illegal immigration in Chicago FEDS DOUBLE DOWN: Noem: Trump administration doubling down with new federal facilities in Chicago, Portland POWER REVERSAL: Democrats flip the script on ‘states’ rights’ in fight against Trump’s National Guard plan TRAVEL TURMOIL: Noem airs clip blasting Democrats for government shutdown in every airport in America GLOVES OFF: ‘Getting desperate’: Governor debate gets personal after Democrat is mocked for cheating scandal NO TROOPS ALLOWED: U.S. soldiers in city streets “makes people less safe,” says Democratic candidate CAPITOL CHAOS: Screaming match erupts between Mike Lawler, Hakeem Jeffries as government shutdown chaos continues Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
‘Untethered from reality’: Lawyers for Trump, Oregon, spar over National Guard deployment in court clash
Lawyers for President Donald Trump and the state of Oregon clashed Thursday before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over Trump’s push to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, a high-stakes showdown marked by sharp accusations that the president’s actions were unlawful and unnecessary. A three-judge panel, composed of two Trump appointees and one Clinton appointee, seemed deeply skeptical of the case made by Oregon Assistant Attorney General Stacy Chaffin, including her assertion that Trump’s descriptions of the violence in Portland were hyperbolic and “untethered from reality.” Judges sharply questioned Chaffin about the specifics of the protests in Portland. Many of them focused on specifics, including dates of protests and number of arrests, in asking why — in the state’s view — these conditions failed to meet the standard needed to justify Trump’s deployment of the National Guard. “I’m not sure even President Lincoln would have been able to authorize the use of force right now” if his actions were to be scrutinized under the “much more stringent reviewability standard” implied by Oregon here, Judge Ryan Nelson, a Trump appointee, interjected loudly, one of several times he cut off Chaffin as she attempted to answer the court’s questions. TRUMP IS THREATENING TO ‘FEDERALIZE’ DC WITH NATIONAL GUARD AND MORE. HERE’S HOW THAT COULD PLAY OUT Chaffin argued that the protests in Portland are a far cry from a definition of a “rebellion,” one of two conditions Trump needs to satisfy to meet the legal pretext for National Guard deployment. The 9th Circuit Court agreed to take up the Trump administration’s request to hear the case just days after a federal judge in Oregon issued a temporary restraining order halting the president from immediately sending Oregon National Guard troops to the city of Portland, describing the action as one that risks “blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation.” Rebellions “are unusual and extreme emergencies,” Chaffin said, noting that the bulk of agents’ complaints on record are focused instead on them being short-staffed. Administrative difficulties “are not a reason to bring the military into the streets of Portland or any other U.S. city,” Chaffin added. Still, the court’s two Trump appointees took a much more critical view of the state’s case during oral arguments, which lasted roughly 90 minutes. BONDI CLASHES WITH DURBIN ON NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT: ‘LOVE CHICAGO AS MUCH AS YOU HATE PRESIDENT TRUMP’ Justice Department attorney Eric D. McArthur, meanwhile, spent the bulk of time reiterating the two tenets of the Trump administration’s core arguments in deploying National Guard troops. The first is that there is a threat of “rebellion” underway, and the second is that the federal government cannot carry out the law without the help of the National Guard. McArthur argued that Portland meets the criteria of an “active threat,” regardless of the weeks that passed between Trump’s June memo authorizing the federalization of National Guard troops and his September attempt to deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland. Asked by the Clinton-appointed Judge Susan Graber whether Trump could hypothetically rely on any violent event that “post-dates” the administration’s National Guard mobilization to justify its deployment, McArthur said yes. “I think we can rely on later evidence to show there was a colorable factual basis for the president’s determination,” he told judges for the 9th Circuit. “It demonstrates the very kind of risk that can materialize at any time with this sort of violent crowd.” The court did not specify when it planned to issue a ruling. In the meantime, dozens of National Guard troops — roughly 200, as lawyers testified Thursday — remain just outside the city’s limits, pending possible deployment. The case is just one of several challenging Trump’s authority to federalize the National Guard over the objections of state and local leaders.
Top insurance CEO in the hot seat after scathing ad campaign exposes China ties
FIRST ON FOX: Consumers’ Research, a leading nonprofit dedicated to consumer information and taking on woke corporations, launched a new campaign Thursday targeting insurance giant Chubb Limited and its CEO Evan Greenberg, alleging “deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” The campaign, which is facing pushback from a Chubb official and a pair of renowned China hawks accusing the nonprofit of misrepresenting Greenberg’s view, is part of a seven-figure initiative titled “China Chubb.” The campaign accuses the insurance company and its chief executive of “cozying up to the CCP” and “using their market power and resources to push a woke, political agenda on the American people.” The effort falls under Consumers’ Research’s Consumers First Initiative, aimed at exposing companies the group claims put politics ahead of consumers. Chubb’s business reaches across 54 countries, including China, territories and all 50 states and employs over 40,000 people worldwide. Consumers’ Research says the campaign will include a national 30-second television advertisement titled “China Chubb,” which will begin airing across the country following the launch. TOP INSURANCE COMPANY IN HOT SEAT AS BLISTERING NEW AD CAMPAIGN EXPOSES ‘RADICAL WOKE IDEOLOGY’ The campaign also features a new website, ChinaChubb.com; a mobile billboard that will circulate throughout Washington, D.C., including Capitol Hill and Chubb’s Washington office; and a targeted digital push with sponsored content on social media platforms and online news outlets. The ad campaign received a sharp rebuke from a Chubb spokesperson, who called it “completely dishonest” in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Evan has called out China’s authoritarian approach and predatory practices. He has repeatedly called for the U.S. to stand up and defend its interests,” the spokesperson said. Robert O’Brien, former National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, also pushed back on the ad in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I’ve worked with Evan Greenberg for several years now on American relations with China,” O’Brien said. “In my dealings with Evan, he has been a proponent of U.S. interests in the region. Through its operations in China, his company has contributed to shrinking the U.S. trade deficit.” However, a Fox News Digital review found that Greenberg has personal and professional entanglements with the CCP, including meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and offering public statements praising the CCP’s global vision. Earlier this year, Greenberg reportedly attended China’s prestigious China Development Forum alongside executives like Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and Mastercard’s Michael Miebach. The annual forum, which includes delegates from all over the world, also includes access to dozens of top CCP officials, according to a list of delegates released earlier this year. During this same week, Greenberg was pictured in a press release posted by the Chinese government showing him shaking hands with Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a top CCP position. The press release paraphrased Greenberg saying, “U.S.-China relationship is the most significant bilateral relationship in the world.” In 2024, Greenberg was photographed not only shaking hands with Xi in Beijing as Chair of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He was also offering glowing remarks about China’s “resilience and vitality.” THINK TANK FOUNDER FACES SCRUTINY OVER CHINA CORPORATE TIES DESPITE DECOUPLING ADVOCACY “China’s exceptional economic growth and transformation over the past decades speak to its strong resilience and vitality,” Greenberg said. In November 2023, he introduced Xi at a San Francisco event. “Like many others in this room, I believe that a strong and prosperous China that supports and invests in the international system can be a force for good in the world,” Greenberg said at that event. “We are gathered today to gain insight from President Xi into his vision for the future of his country and of the relationship between the United States and China. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in warmly welcoming President Xi Jinping.” That same month, Evan Greenberg was elected board char of the National Committee onU.S.-China Relations after having been “an exemplary” board member and officer of the National Committee and “supporting the Committee’s mission.” The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations sold $40,000 tickets to Americans and American businesses to sit at Xi Jinping’s table during the welcome banquet in San Francisco featuring several other senior CCP officials and guests, which got slammed in a scathing letter from the House Select Committee on the CCP. In 2022, Xi sent personal greetings to a gala honoring Greenberg. Meanwhile, Greenberg sits on the advisory board of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, an institution tied directly to China’s national security and defense apparatus. That university operates under a wing of the Chinese government known for defense tech development, a connection that would likely raise red flags for any U.S. executive overseeing sensitive insurance data. Greenberg is not the only prominent American business leader serving on that board, a group that includes Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Greenberg has also called on the U.S. to “tone down rhetoric about Taiwan” and slammed efforts to contain the CCP as “self-isolating” and doomed to fail. In shareholder letters, he’s warned against treating U.S.-China competition as a “new cold war” and labeled some American trade protections as “wrongheaded” and “unwise.” Greenberg has acknowledged the complicated nature of the Taiwan situation, however. “Taiwan presents the most proximate risk of conflict for the U.S.-China relationship,” he said in 2022. “Beijing has made its ambition clear that it wants to pull Taiwan into its orbit and, increasingly, is matching resources to its ambitions. Washington is improving coordination with allies to collectively deter China from using force, while at the same time supporting Taiwan’s efforts to improve its self-defense.” Also in 2022, Chubb secured Chinese government approval to acquire majority control of Huatai Insurance Group, a Chinese firm with over $10 billion in assets. That stake has since grown to 85.5%. Meanwhile, Greenberg’s father, Hank Greenberg, orchestrated business deals and meetings with CCP officials, including a Xi-endorsed event ahead of a key U.S.-China summit. That same
Democrats try to flip the script on ‘states’ rights’ to defy, upend Trump’s National Guard plan
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has spent weeks criticizing President Donald Trump‘s threats to deploy National Guard troops to the city — a stance that some Republicans call a sharp reversal from the Democratic Party’s long-held opposition to “states’ rights” arguments. While the legality of Trump’s actions remains to be seen — his federalization efforts are being reviewed by several federal and appeals courts this week — the move has sparked a fierce debate across party lines. Democrats, for their part, have denounced the move as unlawful and beyond the scope of Trump’s authority. “The president has declared war on poor people,” Johnson said during a press conference, responding to Trump’s plan to send National Guard troops to Chicago. His comments followed a series of warnings from Democratic governors and mayors who argue that federalizing Guard units is both unnecessary and an unlawful intrusion into local authority. Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators argue that Democrats are contradicting their past stance on state sovereignty. “Democrats were out of touch with reality the moment they said they don’t need President Trump’s help; everything is fine in Chicago,” Gianno Caldwell, a Chicago native and founder of the Caldwell Institute of Public Safety, told Fox News Digital. PRITZKER SUES TRUMP TO BLOCK NATIONAL GUARD ACTION IN ILLINOIS “When you look at the numbers, you look at the crime, 75% of the murders that are committed in Chicago are going unsolved. Seventy-five percent — that is a serious issue, a systemic issue that Chicagoans are dealing with on a daily basis,” Caldwell said. Caldwell also pointed to a 2012 clash over the Obama administration’s Secure Communities program, which required local police to share fingerprint data with federal immigration agents. Republicans at the time accused Obama of hypocrisy for suing Arizona over strict immigration enforcement while taking no action against Democratic-led Chicago and Cook County, which sought to limit cooperation with federal authorities. But others disagree, especially on claims of hypocrisy. “However you want to characterize it,” the accusations of hypocrisy “are a symptom of the poverty of our current political debate,” George Derek Musgrove, a history professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County told Fox News Digital in an interview. “A lot of liberal Democrats, not conservative Democrats, in the 1960s, 1950s, and before that, were critics of states’ rights because segregationists were using the principle of federalism or states’ rights as a sort of ‘watchword’ to protect segregation,” Musgrove said. “Today, the president is walking away from the idea of states’ rights because he wants to punish Democratic cities,” Musgrove said. Trump, for his part, has characterized the actions as necessary to crack down on violent crime and to help carry out his administration’s policy priorities, including immigration enforcement. But Democratic mayors, including Johnson, have rejected the notion that their cities are in the throes of violence necessary to warrant a military response. Johnson has emphasized the progress Chicago has made in reducing violent crime. (Homicides in Chicago have fallen 28% so far in 2025 compared to the same point last year, according to data from the city’s police department, and down by roughly 50% compared to 2020, when violent crime in many major U.S. cities peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic.) Ultimately, Musgrove told Fox News Digital, the question of “hypocrisy” is too simplistic and fails to capture the broader context, principles and policies at stake in a given political moment. TRUMP IS THREATENING TO ‘FEDERALIZE’ DC WITH NATIONAL GUARD AND MORE. HERE’S HOW THAT COULD PLAY OUT “It obscures what we’re really talking about. It walks away from the question of whether or not what the president is doing is legal,” he said. “And it sort of shifts to this issue of hypocrisy, rather than dealing first with the fact [of whether] this is a legal question that can be decided in a court of law, based on legal principles.” To that end, more clarity is expected soon. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is slated to review Trump’s ability to deploy troops to Oregon on Thursday — and regardless of how they rule, the matter is widely expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court. BONDI CLASHES WITH DURBIN ON NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT: ‘LOVE CHICAGO AS MUCH AS YOU HATE PRESIDENT TRUMP’ Trump also has the ability to invoke the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that gives the president additional powers in a national emergency. Invoking that law would bring to the fore a whole host of new legal considerations, and Trump has suggested he would invoke the law if needed as recently as this week. “If I had to enact it, I’d do it,” Trump told reporters Monday. “If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.” Democratic leaders have also vowed to take action of their own to combat what they describe as unlawful overreach by Trump. Both California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker threatened Monday to withdraw their states from the National Governors’ Association if the group fails to condemn Trump’s deployment of other states’ National Guard troops to their jurisdictions. Asked by reporters Tuesday about the troop deployment, Trump defended his decision, saying only: “If you look at Chicago, Chicago’s a great city where there’s a lot of crime.” “And if the governor can’t do the job, we will do the job,” he added.
NJ Showdown: Ciattarelli piles on Dem rival after heated debate with scathing new ads
FIRST ON FOX — Hours after a fiery final debate in New Jersey’s competitive and combustible 2025 showdown for governor, Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli took aim at Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, over her surge in wealth during her years in Congress. In two new ads that were shared first with Fox News on Thursday, Ciattarelli spotlighted a widely panned appearance by Sherrill on a popular radio show where she struggled to explain her wealth. The release of the ads came the day after Ciattarelli, after being accused of contributing to tens of thousands of opioid deaths in New Jersey, fired back that Sherrill “broke the law,” as he pointed to a fine she paid four years ago for failing to timely disclose stock trades, as members of Congress are required to do under federal conflict-of-interest law. TRUMP LOOMS LARGE OVER 2025 ELECTIONS In the ads, Ciattarelli said “as governor, I have a plan to fix our state. In Congress, the only thing Mikie Sherrill fixed was her bank account.” The spots then use clips of Sherrill from her May interview on Charlamagne tha God’s popular “The Breakfast Club” radio program. “So I think we made money,” Sherrill says in one clip when asked about reported millions in money she and her husband, a multinational investment bank senior manager, made in stock trades. In the other ad, she says, “I haven’t. I. I don’t believe that I did, but I’d have to go see what, what that was alluding to.” HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS Ciattarelli, in the ads, then argues, “Come on. Who wouldn’t know if they made $7 million. New Jersey needs a governor who gets it. Mikie Sherrill doesn’t. I do.” The Ciattarelli campaign told Fox News Digital that it will spend $2 million to run the ads on broadcast and cable TV and streaming. At Wednesday’s debate, Ciattarelli once again spotlighted the $400 fine Sherrill paid. “I’ve never broken the law,” he said. “She had to pay federal fines for breaking federal law on stock trades and stock reporting.” Sherrill, firing back, said, “This is the same old misinformation that he continues to promote, because he knows that I don’t trade in individual stocks, he knows I’ve gone above and beyond that. He also knows he promotes some garbage number, but he actually knows so much about my finances because they’re all to the dollar.” Questions over Sherrill’s wealth were first raised by her rivals earlier this year in the Democratic primary race. But her responses in “The Breakfast Club” interview amplified the controversy, as the Ciattarelli campaign and allied Republican groups heavily criticized the four-term federal lawmaker. BLUE STATE REPUBLICAN RIPS DEMOCRATIC RIVAL FOR BLAMING ‘EVERYTHING ON TRUMP’ The claims by Ciattarelli have been amplified in recent weeks as the race between the two candidates has become increasingly bitter and personal. Sherrill’s campaign has denounced the attacks, with spokesman Sean Higgins saying that his candidate had been transparent and argued that Ciattarelli, who is also a multimillionaire, was not. “Mikie does not own or trade individual stocks, and has gone ‘above and beyond’ releasing the exact values of her finances to the dollar,” Higgins said in a statement. Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics and winning election as a state lawmaker, is making his third straight run for New Jersey governor. And four years ago, he grabbed national attention as he came close to upsetting Murphy. It was during the 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli’s connection to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017. “You’re trying to divert from the fact you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda,” Sherrill charged. “I think our kids deserve better. I think the people you got addicted and died deserve better than you.” VOTERS REACT TO FINAL NEW JERSEY GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE Ciattarelli responded, saying, “With regard to everything she just said about my professional career, which provided for my family, it’s a lie. I’m proud of my career.” “Shame on you,” Ciattarelli added. Sherrill shot back, “Shame on you, sir.” Cittarrelli then blamed the fentanyl crisis on former President Joe Biden’s “open border” policies. And at a post-debate news conference, he claimed the attack by Sherrill was “a desperate tactic by a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate.” Sherrill, asked after the debate if she had proof directly linking Ciattarelli to the opioid deaths, told reporters, “I guess he’s not really expressed anything about this. I think there’s a lot we don’t know. I think he continues to not be very transparent about it.” The two candidates also battled over the improper release of Sherrill’s military records and why she was barred from attending her 1994 Naval Academy graduation, and support for President Donald Trump. And they took shots at each other over key issues, including New Jersey’s sky-high energy costs, property taxes, immigration and the ongoing federal government shutdown. New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial contests the year after a presidential election, which means the races traditionally grab outsized national attention. And this year’s ballot box showdowns are viewed as crucial early tests of Trump’s popularity and second-term agenda, and are considered key barometers ahead of next year’s midterm elections for the U.S. House and Senate. The winner of next month’s election in New Jersey will succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past ten elections. And in the 2025 race, political history favors both parties. The party that wins the White House tends to lose the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections the following year, which favors the Democrats.
Federal judge limits ICE arrests without warrant, probable cause
A federal judge Tuesday ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents violated a federal consent decree when arresting nearly two dozen illegal immigrants at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings in Chicago federal court extended the consent decree that limits immigration agents’ authority to make warrantless arrests until February 2026. Cummings also ordered ICE to start making monthly disclosures of how many warrantless arrests agents make each month. The ACLU of Illinois and other Chicago immigration advocates sued the Department of Homeland Security and ICE in March, alleging that the January arrests of at least 22 people violated a 2022 consent decree that bans ICE from arresting people without warrants or probable cause. TRUMP SAYS CHICAGO MAYOR, ILLINOIS GOVERNOR ‘SHOULD BE IN JAIL FOR FAILING TO PROTECT’ ICE OFFICERS “Today’s decision makes clear that DHS and ICE — like everyone else — must follow the Constitution and the law,” Michelle García, deputy legal director at the ACLU of Illinois and co-counsel in the case, said in a statement. “The federal government’s reckless practice of stopping, harassing and detaining people — and then finding a justification for the action must end.” Trump deployed Texas National Guard troops in Illinois this week for an initial 60-day period to help with his administration’s crime crackdown and deportation rollout. CHICAGO MAYOR CREATES ‘ICE-FREE ZONES’ TO BLOCK FEDERAL AGENTS FROM CITY PROPERTY Chicago has sought to thwart ICE’s deportation efforts, with Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker filing a lawsuit Monday that attempted to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Illinois. Johnson and Pritzker have clashed with Trump over immigration enforcement and the president’s decision to send National Guard troops to the state to protect federal personnel and property amid escalating anti-ICE protests in Broadview, Illinois. Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey and Alexandra Koch, along with The Associated Press, contributed to this report.
Unearthed records torpedo Cori Bush’s new claim about ‘billions’ in funding she delivered to district
FIRST ON FOX: Former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who just launched a comeback bid for her old seat, claimed she brought “billions of dollars” home to Missouri’s 1st Congressional District while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, but public records reviewed by Fox News Digital tell a different story. During her failed re-election campaign last year, Bush’s fundraising claims for St. Louis skyrocketed from $41 million to $2 billion in less than a month. “I’m proud to have delivered home over $2 BILLION and counting,” Bush claimed on April 19, 2024. But less than a month prior, on March 28, 2024, Bush’s campaign submitted language for an ad, which ran for a month beginning on April 3, 2024, touting just $41 million in “community project funding since 2021.” Her campaign has not responded to Fox News Digital’s request to explain the 4,778% increase. ‘SQUAD’ DEM LAUNCHES COMEBACK HOUSE BID AFTER ANTI-ISRAEL VIEWS TORPEDOED CAMPAIGN: ‘WE NEED A FIGHTER’ Federal contract and grant records published by the Departments of Defense and Justice and reviewed by Fox News Digital show that a majority of that funding came from those agencies. NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR FACES NET WORTH QUESTIONS AS VIRAL CLIP RESURFACES While in Congress, Bush consistently voted against National Defense Authorization funding, which between Feb. 1, 2021, and May 1, 2024, included $48,812,351 in Department of Defense funding for research at Washington University, Saint Louis University and Vandeventer Place Research Foundation, which are all located in St. Louis. Bush’s claim that she delivered more than $2 billion to her district seems to include the nearly $49 million in DOD research grants that she voted against. Through National Defense Authorization funding between 2021 and 2024, Missouri’s 1st Congressional District also received at least $6,020,147 from the Department of Justice to increase police department headcounts, provide overtime pay or purchase new equipment. The district also benefited from $1,286,634,821.76 in Defense Department contracts, primarily for missiles, military aircraft and drone purchases with The Boeing Company. Bush was also one of six Democrats who voted against former President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed through Congress in 2021 as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Much of the government funding that flowed into Bush’s district during her tenure supported programs at odds with her progressive platform. Bush has a long record of calling to “defund the police,” and in 2020, also called to “defund the Pentagon.” The former “Squad member” announced last week that she is mounting a comeback congressional bid more than a year after losing her Democratic primary to a more moderate challenger. While campaigning for re-election in May 2024, Bush said she was proud “to have delivered more than $2 billion” for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District. On Friday, while launching her comeback bid, Bush more ambiguously touted that she “brought billions of dollars home directly to our community.” “St. Louis deserves a leader who is built different,” Bush announced in a video shared on social media. “That’s why I’m running to represent Missouri’s 1st District in Congress. We need a fighter who will lower costs, protect our communities, and make life fairer. I’ll be that fighter.” The “Squad” member was ousted in the Democratic primary in Aug. 2024 by St. Louis County prosecutor Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., who is a more moderate candidate and had the backing of pro-Israel groups that spent millions to unseat Bush. Democratic Majority for Israel President Brian Romick criticized Bush’s inconsistency with her St. Louis fundraising numbers in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Cori Bush lied to her constituents last year when she claimed she brought back billions to the district and it’s brazen that instead of owning up to it, she just said it again in her launch video. Cori Bush lost because she was an ineffective Member of Congress and lies like this only remind the voters of that,” Romick said. “I ran for Congress to change things for regular people,” Bush said in the campaign launch video. “I’m running again because St. Louis deserves leadership that doesn’t wait for permission, doesn’t answer to wealthy donors and doesn’t hide when things get tough.” Bush was first elected to Congress in Nov. 2020, quickly joining the ranks of the progressive “Squad,” including Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who were elected in 2018. The Missouri progressive was re-elected in 2022, but she became the second member of the “Squad” to lose her Democratic primary last year after Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., also lost to a more moderate pro-Israel Democrat. Fox News Digital reached out to Bush’s campaign multiple times for comment.
White House brutally mocks Kamala Harris’ ‘cackle’ after former VP drops F-bomb, suggests admin is ‘crazy’
The White House issued a blistering response to former Vice President Kamala Harris after she suggested the administration is filled with “crazy” “mother—ers.” “Kamala Harris should listen to an audio recording of her cackle of a laugh before calling anyone crazy,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital in a Tuesday statement. Desai was responding to clips spreading like wildfire on social media of Harris speaking at an invite-only event in Los Angeles Monday where she took an apparent jab at the Trump administration while addressing “There’s so much about this moment that is making people feel like they’ve lost their minds. When, in fact, these mother—ers are crazy,” Harris said Monday during an event in Los Angeles called “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation.” KAMALA HARRIS PLAYS UP COZY RELATIONSHIP WITH HILLARY CLINTON AS WEDGE WITH BIDEN WIDENS “I call this, ‘The Freedom Tour,’” she added, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Harris did not identify the Trump administration by name during her remarks. Her comments followed her discussing why she wrote her latest memoir, “107 Days,” which walks readers through the unprecedented 2024 election, when then-President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and passed the mantle to Harris as the Democrat Party attempted to thwart a second Trump administration. “One of the other reasons I wrote it is history is going to write about this,” Harris told attendees. “And it was important to me that that be told with my voice being present. And I would say that that everyone, we are living history right now. And you all as storytellers are living this. You’re not passive observers. You know that. You’re living it.” “And I’m gonna ask you that all the emotions that we are feeling, give those emotions, give that experience to those people that you are writing about and writing for. It gets back to my point about helping people just put a label on it, even if it doesn’t change the circumstance,” she continued. KAMALA HARRIS’ BOOK, MEDIA TOUR SLAMMED BY LIBERAL CRITICS AS ‘EMBARRASSING’ AND ‘UNHELPFUL’ Harris is in the midst of a book tour to promote the memoir, making stops in New York City, Houston, San Francisco and other cities before also taking the tour to Canada and the U.K. later in October and November. The event in Los Angeles was not included on her official book tour agenda. “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation” is an annual event in Los Angeles that brings together “creators of culture – television writers, artists, producers, executives, and digital storytellers” to cultivate a “meaningful connection between those shaping pop culture and those driving social change,” according to the event’s website. KAMALA HARRIS COMPLAINS ABOUT ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ LACK OF SUPPORT FROM BIDEN’S COMMS TEAM, INNER CIRCLE Harris’ laugh and public remarks that were dubbed “word salads” by critics have long been mocked by Trump’s orbit, including President Donald Trump calling Harris “laughing Kamala” from the 2024 campaign trail, as well as the campaign running ads spotlighting Harris’ laugh and instances of her past rambling remarks at the time. “She’s worse than Bernie Sanders,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News in July 2024, just days after Biden dropped out of the race. “Now, she’s trying to come back. She got rid of the laugh, I noticed. I haven’t seen the crazy laugh. She’s crazy. That laugh? That’s a laugh of a crazy person. But I noticed she’s not using that laugh anymore. Somebody convinced her, ‘Don’t, just don’t laugh. Don’t laugh under any circumstances.’” Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ office for additional comment related to her “crazy” comment in Los Angeles and the White House’s response but did not receive replies.