Senate votes to consider former Trump lawyer for lifetime as appeals court judge
The Senate narrowly voted to move forward with considering the nomination of former Trump lawyer Emil Bove to a federal court of appeals on Tuesday. The 50-48 vote saw one Republican break ranks and vote against his nomination, while Democrats have done everything in their power to slow down the nomination. Bove, who currently works at the Justice Department, is nominated to serve on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Democrats have argued that Bove, a former defense attorney for President Donald Trump, is unfit for the role, pointing to allegations that he proposed behind closed doors that the Trump administration could simply ignore judicial orders. Bove denies those allegations. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted with Republicans to move forward but said in a statement that she will oppose Bove’s confirmation on a final vote. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the lone Republican to vote against moving forward with Bove’s nomination. TRUMP CONSIDERS FORMER DEFENSE ATTORNEY EMIL BOVE FOR FEDERAL APPEALS COURT VACANCY “We have to have judges who will adhere to the rule of law and the Constitution and do so regardless of what their personal views may be,” Collins said in a statement. “Mr. Bove’s political profile and some of the actions he has taken in his leadership roles at the Department of Justice cause me to conclude he would not serve as an impartial jurist.” Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee stormed out of the meeting where the committee approved Bove last week. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., attempted to push for more debate time, but Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pushed forward with the vote. “What are you afraid of?” Booker erupted, after Grassley tried to speak over him and hold the vote. “Debating this [nomination], putting things on the record — Dear God,” he said, “that’s what we are here for.” “What are they saying to you,” he said, referring to the Trump administration, “that is making you do something to violate the decorum, the decency and the respect of this committee to at least hear each other out?” TRUMP’S REMARKS COULD COME BACK TO BITE HIM IN ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION BATTLE Booker ended the sharp exchange with Grassley by saying simply, “This is wrong, sir, and I join with my colleagues in leaving,” before streaming out of the committee room. It comes as Trump administration officials have taken aim at “activist” judges they argue are blocking the president’s agenda and preventing him from enacting his sweeping policy goals, including the administration’s crackdown on border security and immigration. Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Coast Guard overhaul takes off amid Trump administration’s immigration, narcotics crackdown
Efforts to overhaul the Coast Guard are gaining traction on Capitol Hill — coinciding with the Trump administration’s endeavor to revamp the service to address illegal migrant crossings and drug seizures. Multiple initiatives to update the Coast Guard are underway in both chambers of Congress, and within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). All seek to elevate the service so it’s on par with the other branches of the military that fall under the Department of Defense, and better equip it to tackle drug and immigration interdiction missions. House legislation authorizing funding for the service through 2029 recently cleared a committee vote and aims to empower the service to conduct these missions, according to Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., a co-sponsor of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025. “The Coast Guard is very similar to law enforcement,” Ezell told Fox News Digital July 16. “It’s going to fight the narcotics epidemic that we have coming into the country. Our Coast Guard officers and men and women are going to really be able to go after that.” INSIDE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S OVERHAUL OF THE COAST GUARD AMID BORDER SECURITY BLITZ Such missions are only increasing for the Coast Guard. DHS announced July 15 that the service had seized a total of 242,244 pounds of cocaine since President Donald Trump took office in January. That amounts to a more than 100% increase in seizures in comparison to the same timeframe in 2024 during the Biden administration, according to DHS. Ezell, along with Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo., Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., introduced the Coast Guard Authorization Act July 2, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the measure July 15, paving the way for the measure to head to the House floor. One of the most significant provisions in the legislation would establish a civilian secretary of the Coast Guard to align more similarly with the other branches of the military that fall under the Department of Defense. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of DHS and does not have a top civilian leading the service. Installing a secretary of the service will “streamline some of this red tape that we’ve seen over the years that’s slowed progress down” because he or she will report directly to the White House and Congress — eliminating multiple layers of bureaucracy, according to Ezell. “This person is going to be instrumental in getting things done,” Ezell said. COAST GUARD RESCUES 4 PASSENGERS FROM CAPSIZED BOAT OFF FLORIDA COAST “Coming from my background as a sheriff and the chief of police, I know the importance of coordinating with other agencies to get the job done,” Ezell said. “When you have one person that’s a point of contact who will put all the information out from the president, from the DHS Secretary, it’ll be so much simpler.” Prior to being elected to the House, Ezell served as a law enforcement officer for over 40 years, including serving as sheriff of Jackson County, Mississippi. Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia introduced legislation in the Senate in April that would similarly establish a secretary for the Coast Guard. “The establishment of a Secretary of the Coast Guard is an important step in ensuring our nation’s maritime security is led with the strength and efficiency it deserves to ensure it can fulfill its mission and adapt to any challenges,” Scott said in an April statement. “It’s critical to have a dedicated Secretary for the U.S. Coast Guard working closely with President Trump, our military leaders, and the Department of Homeland Security for a coordinated, successful effort to keep the nation safe,” Scott said. The efforts on Capitol Hill also align with initiatives underway at the Department of Homeland Security to reform the service. In April, the Coast Guard unveiled its new Force Design 2028 plan to revamp the service’s organizational structure, personnel, acquisitions, contracting and technology, in keeping with directives from Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. COAST GUARD AIRLIFTS CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER WHO HAD STROKES 300 MILES OFF HAWAII COAST The proposal aims to beef up the Coast Guard’s force, which currently consists of roughly 43,000 active-duty personnel, and determine which specialties need reinforcement to expand training. The blueprint also calls for a series of changes to better align the Coast Guard with the Department of Defense’s standards for physical fitness, body composition and grooming. The Coast Guard, unlike other military services, does not enforce fitness standards unless personnel are attached to boat crews of law enforcement teams. The initiative comes in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to tackle illegal immigration and drug smuggling, a DHS official familiar with the plan told Fox News Digital in April. “We’ve been making changes practically daily in the service to really keep moving forward,” the official told Fox News Digital in April. “The goal of 2028 is that the transformation of the service will be complete by 2028.”
Brennan directed publication of ‘implausible’ reports claiming Putin preferred Trump in 2016, House found
FIRST ON FOX: The intelligence community did not have any direct information that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to help elect Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, but, at the “unusual” direction of then-President Barack Obama, published “potentially biased” or “implausible” intelligence suggesting otherwise, the House Intelligence Committee found. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a report prepared by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence back in 2020. OBAMA OFFICIALS ADMITTED THEY HAD NO ‘EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE’ OF TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION: HOUSE INTEL TRANSCRIPTS The report, which was based on an investigation launched by former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was dated Sept. 18, 2020. At the time of the publication of the report, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was the chairman of the committee. The report has never before been released to the public, and instead, has remained highly classified within the intelligence community. Fox News Digital obtained the “fully-sourced limited-access investigation report that was drafted and stored in a limited-access vault at CIA Headquarters.” The report includes some redactions. The committee focused on the creation of the Intelligence Community Assessment of 2017, in which then-CIA Director John Brennan pushed for the inclusion of the now-discredited anti-Trump dossier, despite knowing it was based largely on “internet rumor,” as Fox News Digital previously reported. According to the report, the ICA was a “high-profile product ordered by the President, directed by senior IC agency heads, and created by just five CIA analysts, using one principal drafter.” “Production of the ICA was subject to unusual directives from the President and senior political appointees, and particularly DCIA,” the report states. “The draft was not properly coordinated within CIA or the IC, ensuring it would be published without significant challenges to its conclusions.” The committee found that the five CIA analysts and drafter “rushed” the ICA’s production “in order to publish two weeks before President-elect Trump was sworn-in.” “Hurried coordination and limited access to the draft reduced opportunities for the IC to discover misquoting of sources and other tradecraft concerns,” the report states. FLASHBACK: HOUSE INTEL TRANSCRIPTS SHOW TOP OBAMA OFFICIALS HAD NO ‘EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE’ OF TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION The report states that Brennan “ordered the post-election publication of 15 reports containing previously collected but unpublished intelligence, three of which were substandard—containing information that was unclear, of uncertain origin, potentially biased, or implausible—and those became foundational sources for the ICA judgements that Putin preferred Trump over Clinton.” READ THE REPORT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: “The ICA misrepresented these reports as reliable, without mentioning their significant underlying flaws,” the committee found. “One scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard reports constitutes the only classified information cited to suggest Putin ‘aspired’ to help Trump win,” the report states, adding that the ICA “ignored or selectively quoted reliable intelligence reports that challenged-and in some cases undermined—judgments that Putin sought to elect Trump.” The report also states that the ICA “failed to consider plausible alternative explanations of Putin’s intentions indicated by reliable intelligence and observed Russian actions.” The committee also found that two senior CIA officers warned Brennan that “we don’t have direct information that Putin wanted to get Trump elected.” Despite those warnings, the Obama administration moved to publish the ICA. The ICA “did not cite any report where Putin directly indicated helping Trump win was the objective.” OBAMA DENIES TRUMP’S ‘BIZARRE ALLEGATIONS’ THAT HE WAS RUSSIAGATE ‘RINGLEADER’ IN RARE STATEMENT The ICA, according to the report, excluded “significant intelligence” and “ignored or selectively quoted” reliable intelligence in an effort to push the Russia narrative. The report also includes intelligence from a longtime Putin confidant who explained to investigators that “Putin told him he did not care who won the election,” and that Putin “had often outlined the weaknesses of both major candidates.” The report also states that the ICA committed context showing that the claim that Putin preferred Trump was “implausible—if not ridiculous.” The committee also found that the ICA suppressed intelligence that showed that Russia was actually planning for a Hillary Clinton victory because “they knew where (she) stood” and believed Russia “could work with her.” The committee also noted that the ICA “did not address why Putin chose not to leak more discrediting material on Clinton,” even as polls tightened in the final weeks of the election.” The committee also found that the ICA suppressed intelligence showing that Putin was “not only demonstrating a clear lack of concern for Trump’s election fate,” but also indicated “that he preferred to see Secretary Clinton elected, knowing she would be a more vulnerable President.” The declassification of the report comes just days after Gabbard declassified and released documents that included “overwhelming evidence” that demonstrated how, after Trump won the 2016 election against Clinton, then-President Obama and his national security team laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe. Meanwhile, Fox News Digital, in 2020, exclusively obtained the declassified transcripts from Obama-era national security officials’ closed-door testimonies before the House Intelligence Committee, in which those officials testified that they had no “empirical evidence” of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, but continued to publicly push the “narrative” of collusion. The House Intelligence Committee, in 2017, conducted depositions of top Obama intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, among others. The officials’ responses in the transcripts of those interviews align with the results of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — which found no evidence of criminal coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016, while not reaching a determination on obstruction of justice. OBAMA ADMIN ‘MANUFACTURED’ INTELLIGENCE TO CREATE 2016 RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE NARRATIVE, DOCUMENTS SHOW The transcripts, from 2017 and 2018, revealed top Obama officials were questioned by House Intelligence Committee lawmakers and investigators about whether they had or had seen evidence of such collusion, coordination or conspiracy — the issue that drove the FBI’s initial case and later
After meeting with Trump, Republican in key House battleground announces major decision on ‘Fox and Friends’
FIRST ON FOX: Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York will seek re-election in next year’s midterms in his crucial battleground House district, which covers a large swath of New York City’s northern suburbs. Lawler, who announced his news in an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” had been seriously mulling a bid for New York State governor. “There’s no question Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America,” Lawler told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, before adding, “In 2026, she needs to be defeated. But after months of deliberating over this and really working through it, I’ve decided the right thing to do for me and my family and my district is to run for re-election.” His news is seen as a major relief to the White House and congressional Republicans, who are defending their razor-thin House majority in the 2026 midterms. Top House Republicans as well as President Donald Trump had urged Lawler to seek re-election, and Fox News confirmed that Lawler met with Trump last week at the White House to discuss his 2026 plans and other issues. WHY MIKE LAWLER TOLD A HOUSE DEMOCRAT TO ‘F—OFF’ “While I fundamentally believe I am best positioned to take on Kathy Hochul and offer New Yorkers a real choice for Governor, I have made the decision to run for re-election to the House and continue the important work I’ve been doing over the past two and a half years,” Lawler shared in a statement with Fox News Digital Wednesday morning. Lawler, who represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, is currently one of only three House Republicans who represent seats carried by then-Vice President Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. Democrats are targeting his district in the midterms as they aim to retake the House majority. Their job in flipping the seat would have been made easier if Lawler had decided to run for governor. TRUMP ALLY STEFANIK SIGNALS RUN FOR NEW YORK GOVERNOR If he had run for governor, Lawler would likely have faced off for the GOP nomination against Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents a district in northern New York. Stefanik, who is a top House Trump ally, is gearing up for her own campaign against Hochul, who Republicans consider vulnerable. Stefanik released a statement Wednesday morning as the news broke, calling Republicans “more unified than ever in our mission to fire the Worst Governor in America Kathy Hochul in 2026” and Lawler a “great, effective, and hardworking Representative for New York’s 17th Congressional District.” “As I have previously stated, I am focused on supporting strong Republican local and county candidates on the ballot this November to lay the groundwork with a strong team for next year. I will make a final decision and announcement after this year’s November election which we are all focused on,” Stefanik added. Trump in May endorsed Lawler’s congressional re-election, in a move seen as a likely indicator of the president’s support for a gubernatorial run by Stefanik, who represents a red-leaning House district. Lawler, a one-time Republican political strategist, won election in 2020 to the New York State Assembly by defeating a Democratic incumbent. He grabbed national attention in the 2022 midterm elections by narrowly defeating incumbent Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who at the time was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Democrats, who are both targeting his district and defending their New York governorship, were quick to criticize Lawler’s decision Wednesday morning. “Mike Lawler caving to Donald Trump before his campaign even starts proves he’s too weak to take on Governor Hochul – and he knows it,” New York State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs said in a statement, arguing New York voters will reject Lawler “no matter where his name shows up on the ballot.” And Democratic Governors Association (DGA) spokesperson, Kevin Donohoe, trolled Lawler on Wednesday morning, “Donald Trump has officially killed Mike Lawler’s dream of becoming governor of New York and given the GOP gubernatorial nomination to his top D.C. ally Elise Stefanik. Our condolences.” Hochul herself chimed in, writing on X, “This is the same Mike Lawler who caved to Trump the minute he asked to rip away New Yorkers’ healthcare. Of course he doesn’t have the spine to face me,” in reference to Medicaid reform included in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
AI arms race: US and China weaponize drones, code and biotech for the next great war
From drone swarms to gene-edited soldiers, the United States and China are racing to integrate artificial intelligence into nearly every facet of their war machines — and a potential conflict over Taiwan may be the world’s first real test of who holds the technological edge. For millennia, victory in war was determined by manpower, firepower and the grit of battlefield commanders. However, in this ongoing technological revolution, algorithms and autonomy may matter more than conventional arms. “War will come down to who has the best AI,” said Arnie Bellini, a tech entrepreneur and defense investor, in an interview with Fox News Digital. U.S. planners now consider Taiwan the likely locus of a 21st-century great power conflict. Though America doesn’t formally ally with Taiwan, it has steadily armed the island and shifted its forces to focus on the Indo-Pacific. CHINA IS EXPLOITING OUR GOVERNMENT’S TECH WEAKNESS. WE NEED A RAPID REBOOT The Pentagon is responding with urgency, and nowhere is that transformation more visible than in the U.S. Army‘s sweeping AI overhaul. Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership, the Army has launched a $36 billion modernization initiative aimed directly at countering China in the Indo-Pacific. By 2026, each of its 10 active combat divisions will be equipped with roughly 1,000 drones, dramatically shifting the battlefield from crewed helicopters to autonomous systems. Army leaders highlight that legacy weapons and bureaucratic lag are incompatible with future warfare. The new push includes AI-assisted command-and-control, real-world testing under challenging conditions in places like the Philippines and a rapid feedback model to keep doctrine updated. Beyond hardware, AI may prove most powerful in prevention. Bellini believes U.S. cyber espionage, combined with AI, could strike preemptively. “The United States is the very best at cyber espionage and cyber warfare… once you combine [that] with AI, you can stop a war before it even happens.” This could involve infiltrating Chinese naval systems via cyber-AI tools and neutralizing threats before ships ever set sail. AI isn’t just about machines — it’s changing biology too. The U.S. military is exploring AI-driven trauma care, synthetic blood and regenerative medicine to save lives. However, China may be pushing the envelope further. “China has been one of the more forward-leaning countries in using biotech within its military,” defense strategist Jack Burnham said. “In military hospitals, there is significant research on gene editing … some of this might be dual-use.” Reports from intelligence chiefs and former DNI John Ratcliffe suggest China may be experimenting with gene-edited soldiers, raising alarms about the ethical gray zone of AI-biotech integration. HOUSE BIPARTISAN BILL DIRECTS NSA TO CREATE ‘AI SECURITY PLAYBOOK’ AMID CHINESE TECH RACE “The future of warfare is not going to be with people,” Bellini predicted. “It’s going to be robots. It’s going to be drones. And it’s the synchronization.” Tesla is developing its “Optimus” robot, he noted, complete with an AI-optimized “brain” to complete chores that are “dangerous, repetitive and boring” in warehouses, homes and even hazardous facilities like nuclear plants. CEO Elon Musk has spoken out against using Optimus as a “killer robot,” but still, foreign adversaries worry about the potential for dual use. China has imposed export restrictions on the rare-earth magnets needed for Optimus actuators, specifically requesting assurances that the units won’t be used for military purposes. U.S. forces are already simulating this future in AI-enhanced war games. Through these exercises, commanders learn to operate at AI pace — modeling logistics, battlefield flows, and adversaries at an unprecedented scale. “AI is really good at modeling logistics… visualizing and integrating vast quantities of data… [creating] a more immersive experience at a much larger scale,” Burnham said. “These AI opponents are like intelligent enemies you’re playing against in a war game,” explained Dr. Randall Hill, executive director of the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies. “It’s important to train not just with AI but also about AI — so soldiers understand where to trust it and where its limits are.” Hill’s team is developing tools like PAL3, a personalized AI teaching assistant for military trainees that adapts to individual learning speeds. “It’s about helping both humans and machines understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” he said. The U.S. insists on a “human-in-the-loop” for lethal AI decisions — but China may not, experts warn. “Here in the U.S., we are focused on ethical and legal decisions on the battlefield… our adversaries… might not be as worried about keeping a human in the loop,” said RJ Blake, a former defense official. Hill echoed this concern, emphasizing the need for AI systems to be interpretable and stress-tested rigorously. “We need protocols aligned with American values,” he said. “The AI must be explainable and capable of justifying its conclusions — and humans must recognize when those systems are outside their trained boundaries.” As AI redefines warfare — from cyber and command systems to autonomous weapons and biotech — it’s not just a war machine being built. It’s a system of systems, blending digital, physical and biological domains. Should Beijing move against Taiwan, the battlefield may no longer be measured in tanks or missiles — but in algorithms, networks and gene sequences.
WATCH: DEI efforts were rebranded at 2 red-state colleges to skirt Trump orders, staffers admit
Staff at two of Tennessee’s most prominent universities — Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee — were caught on undercover recordings admitting to rebranding their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in an effort to sidestep Republican-led bans. Despite state and federal orders aimed at dismantling DEI initiatives, school officials described a deliberate strategy to rename, repackage and quietly preserve these controversial programs under new labels like “access and engagement” and “belonging and community.” “It’s a chess game,” Will Eakin, a coordinator for UT’s “Access & Engagement” office, said in a recording obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. “We had to take our current programming and our future programming and make sure that it aligns so that we can do the work that we’re trying to do, while also catering to the Department of Education, the federal,” the staffer went on, adding, “The biggest thing is using language as a tool for protection.” The staffers at UT also boasted about how good the school’s government relations team is at helping guide staff and faculty on how to deal with anti-DEI legislation at the state and federal levels. FEDERAL JUDGE SLAPS TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ON MISSISSIPPI DEI BAN “We have an incredible government relations team,” Eakin said. He claimed that UT President Randy Boyd, “though he is a Republican, cares deeply about access and engagement, and he has been fully committed to the work of DEI and access and engagement, and he works very closely with government relations when they go to Nashville.” “Because our government relations team is so good, they know which bills to be mindful of, how to best prepare and everything. And so here we are. These committees and task forces and offices were built back in 2020, and they’re still up and running,” said Eakin. The staffer added that a few years ago, when state officials were beginning to scrutinize universities’ DEI practices, the government relations team and other university leaders took steps to “get ahead of the curve” to “make sure the access and engagement, which is DEI, could maintain itself.” “So they changed the language so that the state government couldn’t put a magnifying glass on us,” the UT staffer added. DHS CANCELS $18.5 MILLION IN BIDEN-ERA GRANTS DESIGNATED TO FUND LGBTQ AND DEI PROGRAMS A spokesperson for the University of Tennessee told Fox News Digital in a statement that the person in the recording “does not speak on behalf of the University of Tenenssee and their statements contain significant misrepresentations.” “We reject any insinuation that the university has failed to act in good faith in its efforts to meet all legal requirements. Our commitment remains clear: we are fully compliant with state and federal laws, and our focus continues to be on creating a respectful environment that aligns with our mission of access and success for all students,” the school said. Meanwhile, at Vanderbilt, another major university in the state, an academic coach at the school’s “Center for Student Wellbeing” said that though the names of their offices may have changed, their DEI missions have not. ”At one point, you know, everybody, like different universities, were under investigation for their, like, DEI practices and stuff like that. So, that’s why I think the naming has changed,” said Ivie Carmouche, an academic coach in Vanderbilt’s Center for Student Wellbeing. “We’re in the Center for Student Wellbeing – like I said, we have things that clue people in and let people know that this is a safe space for everybody,” she said, adding, “Belonging and Communities is like as close to that DEI work you can probably get. Previously, they were the Center for Social Justice and Identities.” DEI-FUELED INVESTING IS ‘IDEOLOGICAL COERCION’ OF SHAREHOLDERS, MISSOURI AG WARNS AMID NEW PROBE When asked whether the renamed university center was still doing DEI work, Carmouche responded, “Yeah.” “The language will be different because we have to kind of be strategic. But there’s a lot of collaborations with them, KC Potter House, Black Cultural Center, Women’s Center, like even in the Women’s Center, they’re very open and welcoming to all gender identities.” “When I say different, it just looks different now because the language has had to change. Students Center for Belonging Communities is kind of like the DEI,” she added. A Vanderbuilt spokesperson said, “We are aware of recent covert recordings by external groups on university campuses nationwide. At Vanderbilt, we are fully compliant with all applicable federal and state laws. Any comments by individual employees that suggest otherwise do not reflect university policy and are being reviewed through appropriate channels.”
Florida AG invites people to alert his office if their ex is in US illegally: ‘We’d be happy to assist’
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has invited people to tip off his office if their ex is in the U.S. illegally. “We recently got a tip from someone whose abusive ex overstayed a tourism visa. He is now cued up for deportation. If your ex is in this country illegally, please feel free to reach out to our office. We’d be happy to assist,” Uthmeier wrote on X. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security retweeted Uthmeier’s post and shared the phone number for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line. FLORIDA AG ASKS SUPREME COURT TO ALLOW HIM TO CONTINUE ENFORCING CONTROVERSIAL IMMIGRATION LAW “From domestic abuser to deported loser. ICE Tip Line: 866-DHS-2-ICE,” the DHS post reads. Uthmeier took office as the Sunshine State’s attorney general earlier this year after being tapped for the role by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL HELD IN CONTEMPT AFTER CHALLENGING COURT’S BLOCK ON IMMIGRATION LAW The governor had the opportunity to place Uthmeier in the post because he picked Ashley Moody, who had been serving as Florida attorney general, to replace Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate. Rubio departed the Senate because President Donald Trump selected him to serve as Secretary of State. “Florida sets the standard for assisting the Trump administration in enforcing federal immigration law,” Uthmeier wrote in another X post on Tuesday. FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS HE IS WORKING TO MAKE HIS STATE THE SAFEST PLACE TO RAISE A FAMILY “Great job, FHP!” he added. He made the comment when retweeting a post from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which read, “In Martin County, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested 6 Guatemalan nationals at one traffic stop. If you’re an illegal immigrant in the state of Florida, it’s time to go.”
Trump border czar Tom Homan slams ‘former first drug addict’ Hunter Biden over inflammatory immigration rant
Trump border czar Tom Homan fired back Tuesday night at Hunter Biden for a recent profanity-laced rant against President Donald Trump’s policies on illegal immigration. “I don’t really care what the former first drug addict thinks,” Homan told Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle.” “I just thank God every morning I wake up we got President Trump in the Oval Office. And because of President Trump, in seven weeks we got the most secure border in this nation’s history. “And now we’re arresting public safety threats and national security threats every day across this country,” he continued. “We’ve already arrested three times the number of criminals that Biden did in the same timeframe.” BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN’S MESSAGE TO ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS: ‘YOU WANT SOME? COME GET SOME’ Biden recently sat down with “Channel 5” podcaster Andrew Callaghan for a wide-ranging discussion of his father’s presidency, his drug use and other topics. During the interview, he slammed Trump as a “f—— thug” and compared his deportation agenda to Nazi Germany. “There is a minority group that those in power, that came into power through democratically elected means, are going to target this minority group because they’re stealing all the jobs,” Biden said. “And what we’re going to do is we’re going to send masked men to this marginalized group, and we are going to take them, put them on planes, put them on buses, put them on trains, and send them to a prison camp in a foreign country,” he continued. HOMAN ACCUSES DEMS, MEDIA OF PUSHING ‘FAKE’ STORIES ABOUT ICE AFTER AGENTS CLASH WITH CALIFORNIA RIOTERS “What am I describing right then? Am I describing Germany? Or am I just describing the United States right now? Because I will tell you what. You think that the prison in El Salvador is not a f—ing concentration camp, you’re out of your f—ing mind.” Biden infamously revealed to “CBS Sunday Morning” in 2021, that he would smoke “anything that even remotely resembled crack cocaine,” including “more Parmesan cheese than anyone you know.” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele also responded to Biden via a post on X, also referring to Biden’s history of drug use. “Is Hunter Biden sniffing powdered milk?” Bukele asked, adding a clip from the interview. Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
New Jersey’s ban on privately operated ICE detention centers struck down by court
A U.S. appeals court struck down a law in New Jersey that prevented the federal government from contracting with private firms to operate immigration detention centers across the state. The court’s 2-1 ruling marked a victory for President Donald Trump and his administration during their ongoing illegal immigration crackdown across the country. One of the Trump administration’s efforts has been to expand a network of detention centers in preparation for the deportations of dangerous illegal aliens. The court’s ruling also means CoreCivic Corp., a private prison firm, can continue to operate the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, which is one of the centers ramping up deportations. DEM REP TO PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGES FOR INCIDENT AT NEWARK ICE FACILITY In the decision, U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, who was appointed to the post by Trump, wrote, “Just as states cannot regulate the federal government itself, they cannot regulate private parties in a way that severely undercuts a federal function.” Bibas added that the law “interferes with the federal government’s core power to enforce immigration laws.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a law in 2021 that barred CoreCivic from renewing its agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to continue operating the Elizabeth Detention Center. DEM REP MCIVER EXPECTED TO MAKE FIRST COURT APPEARANCE AFTER NEWARK INCIDENT CoreCivic ultimately sued the state, resulting in a district court judge siding with the private firm. The state then appealed the ruling to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court and received a decision counter to what it had hoped. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin expressed disappointment about the decision in a post on X on Tuesday. DEM LAWMAKERS DEFEND ‘STORMING’ OF ICE FACILITY, SAY TRUMP ADMIN IS ‘LYING AT ALL LEVELS’ “As recent events at Delaney Hall underscore, entrusting detention to for-profit companies poses grave risks to health and safety, and as the dissenting judge noted, States retain broad latitude to protect the health and safety of people within their borders – particularly where, as here, there is no conflict with federal legislation,” Platkin wrote, in part. Platkin added he is evaluating the next steps in the case. CoreCivic’s Ryan Gustin told Fox News Digital that the company has “played a limited but important role” in the U.S. immigration center at the Elizabeth facility for more than 25 years. “We appreciate that we’ve had the opportunity to present our positions to the courts and are grateful to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals for reaffirming the federal government’s discretion to rely on the Elizabeth Detention Center to support its vital mission,” Gustin said. DEM CONGRESS MEMBERS STORM NEW JERSEY ICE PRISON TO CONDUCT ‘OVERSIGHT VISIT’: ‘PEOPLE DESERVE DIGNITY’ Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was hit with a federal indictment for allegedly obstructing Homeland Security agents during an incident outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark on May 9. McIver and two other members of Congress said they were conducting a congressional oversight visit that coincided with an immigration protest when a clash ensued with federal agents. According to the DOJ, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was allowed into the facility’s secured area and refused to follow federal agents’ warnings to leave. When officers tried to arrest him, McIver allegedly put her arms around the mayor and “slammed her forearm” into one officer while grabbing another and using both of her forearms to forcibly strike the second officer. McIver has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Grieving mom testifies about Marine vet son’s death at hands of violent illegal aliens
In testimony to Congress on Tuesday, a mother shared the heartbreaking details of how her son, a U.S. Marine veteran, was gunned down by illegal immigrants on their property in South Texas under the Obama administration. Marie Vega, a legal immigrant from Mexico, shared the harrowing experience in testimony in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee’s hearing on “Biden’s Border Betrayal” on Tuesday. According to Vega’s testimony, her family was enjoying a barbecue on their property in La Feria, Texas, when two illegal immigrants “ambushed” them without any warning in July 2014. “Our beautiful day turned into a nightmare when two criminal illegal aliens decided to ambush us in an attempt to steal both four-wheel drive trucks. The two illegals jumped out of the stolen vehicle they were driving, and without hesitation or a warning, they began shooting at us,” she shared. ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ARRESTED IN NATIONWIDE CRIMINAL ILLEGAL-ALIEN CRACKDOWN: DHS Her son and husband attempted to return fire. But in the attack, her son, Javier “Harvey” Vega Jr., a former Marine and Border Patrol officer, was killed. Her husband, meanwhile, suffers from permanent injuries from the incident. Besides the death and physical injuries her family sustained, she said that she, her daughter-in-law and young grandchildren were left traumatized. “Open borders have consequences,” Vega said. “And you can see from what I have experienced because of the crimes committed by illegals, the pain lives with us for the rest of our lives.” Vega said she attempted to protect her grandchildren and watched helplessly as her son was shot in the chest. Through tears, Vega asked, “Do you know what it is like to see your son go down after being shot? Do you know what it is like to hear the gunshots, bullets whizzing past you? Do you know what it’s like when your mind is trying to process everything, telling your grandchildren to duck while thinking your son is on the ground with a bullet in his chest? “Do you know what it’s like to hear your son’s last words to his father? ‘Keep shooting, Dad.’ Keep shooting were his last words,” she asked, adding, “That should never have happened.” ILLEGAL ALIEN WHO RAPED, IMPREGNATED HIS OWN DAUGHTER AT GOVERNMENT-RUN SHELTER LEARNS PRISON SENTENCE She called the ordeal a “nightmare,” saying, “Had my husband and I not returned fire, the illegals would have killed everyone there, leaving no witnesses.” According to Vega’s testimony, the two illegals had prior criminal records, had menaced other neighbors in their community and had been previously deported. She said that she continues to live with “survivor’s guilt” and struggles to sleep at night because of the trauma. “11 years is how much I have struggled to survive without my baby,” she said. “11 years I have lived with flashbacks during every waking moment. 11 years we have celebrated the boys’ birthdays, graduations, weddings, starting new families, new careers, and amazing accomplishments, without my baby. “Illegal aliens have impacted American lives in a very negative way,” Vega went on. “They have no regard for human life. As I witnessed firsthand, the illegals that killed Harvey also shot my husband in the back and shot at innocent children and women. My grandbabies and their friend were only eight and 11 years old. Take a moment and imagine your child or grandchild witnessing this horror.” TRUMP’S TREASURY DEPARTMENT TARGETS DANGEROUS VENEZUELAN PRISON GANG WITH SANCTIONS ON 6 TOP LEADERS She concluded that “had our immigration laws been enforced, our son would be here.” “Barack Obama failed me, my family and our community and our nation,” she said. Addressing the senators on the subcommittee, Vega said, “You took an oath to uphold the Constitution and work for we the people. That means working with your fellow politicians regardless of which side of the aisle you are on. You are supposed to work together, representing us, ensuring that those coming in are obeying our immigration laws. They need to be properly vetted, not only for their safety, but yours and ours.”