Trump hammers AOC Munich stumbles as ‘not a good look for the United States’
President Donald Trump said the way Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez answered questions at the Munich Security Conference “was not a good look for the United States.” The Democratic lawmaker from New York and potential 2028 presidential candidate has been facing criticism for making foreign policy gaffes at the event. In one instance, Ocasio-Cortez appeared to stall for nearly 20 seconds when asked if the U.S. should send troops to defend Taiwan from a possible invasion by China, and in another, claimed Venezuela is below the equator. “By the way, I watched AOC answering questions in Munich. This was not a good look for the United States. I watched Gavin Newscum answering questions in Munich, and this was a bad look for our country,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One on Monday night. “This was a bad – these two people are incompetent, and at least Hillary is competent. She’s just Trump deranged. She was so deranged and she is an angry woman. But I watched the other two speaking and answering basic questions. Look, Gavin has destroyed California, and AOC I never really got her, I never heard her speak very much and they started answering questions. She had no idea what was happening,” Trump continued, referencing Newsom’s and Clinton’s attendance at the Munich Security Conference. RUBIO SHINES ON GLOBAL STAGE WHILE AOC, WHITMER, AND NEWSOM TAKE HEAT “She had no idea how to answer, you know, very important questions concerning the world. But she can’t answer questions concerning New York City either, because New York City [has] got some problems,” Trump also said about Ocasio-Cortez. Fox News Digital has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s and Newsom’s offices for reaction. Ocasio-Cortez was asked on Friday, “Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?” The four-term lawmaker appeared to stall for nearly 20 seconds before offering that the U.S. should try to avoid reaching a clash with China over Taiwan. AOC MOCKED FOR ‘ABSOLUTE TRAIN WRECK’ WEEKEND ON GLOBAL STAGE: ‘MADE A FOOL OUT OF HERSELF’ “This is, of course, a, a very long-standing, policy of the United States, and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point, and we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Ocasio-Cortez also claimed that Venezuela was “below the equator” while criticizing the Trump administration for arresting the nation’s dictator Nicolás Maduro. “It is not a remark on who Maduro was as a leader. He canceled elections. He was an anti-democratic leader. That doesn’t mean that we can kidnap a head of state and engage in acts of war just because the nation is below the equator,” Ocasio-Cortez said. In a post on Truth Social Monday night, Trump said, “AOC and Newscum were an embarrassment to our Nation.” Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser, Lindsay Kornick and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
Election integrity groups press Supreme Court to require ballots by Election Day
FIRST ON FOX: A coalition of election integrity groups is urging the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling that found federal law requires mail ballots to be received by Election Day. The conservative-leaning groups, including the Honest Elections Project and the Center for Election Confidence, filed an amicus brief on Tuesday supporting the Republican National Committee’s challenge to Mississippi’s postmark deadline. They argue that federal law establishing a single Election Day requires ballots to be in election officials’ hands by the close of polls. The case could determine whether similar postmark-based deadlines in 14 states remain valid ahead of the 2026 midterms. Supporters of the RNC’s position say a ruling affirming the lower court would establish a clear standard for when ballots must be received, though curtailing acceptance of late-arriving ballots would not guarantee that election officials won’t still be tabulating ballots in close races beyond Election Day. “Counting ballots that are received after Election Day unnecessarily damages public trust in election outcomes, delays results, and violates the law,” Jason Snead, Honest Elections Project executive director, told Fox News Digital in a statement. Others who signed onto the amicus brief included the American Legislative Exchange Council and Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections. SUPREME COURT SAYS ILLINOIS CONGRESSMAN CAN SUE OVER STATE MAIL-IN VOTING LAWS Oral arguments in the case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, are set for March 23, and a decision is expected by the summer. The case arose from a lawsuit brought by the RNC challenging Mississippi’s practice of counting mail ballots received up to five business days after Election Day if postmarked by that day. The RNC chose to bring the case in the Republican-friendly U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which ruled in the RNC’s favor and found that federal law trumps the state’s deadline and requires ballots to be received by Election Day. At issue is whether statutes establishing a single Election Day mean that all ballots must be received by that day to be valid. The election integrity groups argued that under the Supreme Court’s decision from three decades ago in Foster v. Love, the “final act of selection” must occur on Election Day and that receipt of a mail-in ballot constitutes casting a ballot, which cannot happen after Election Day by that standard. Snead said a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court would “protect the rights of voters and the integrity of the democratic process, and ensure that it is easy to vote but hard to cheat in future elections.” The election integrity coalition argued that allowing ballots to arrive after Election Day can lead to delayed results and can chip away at voters’ confidence in elections. The groups also pointed to recent U.S. Postal Service guidance that warned that postmarks might not reliably reflect when a ballot entered the mail. HOUSE GOP MOVES TO REQUIRE PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP, PHOTO ID TO VOTE IN FEDERAL ELECTION Fourteen states and Washington, D.C., currently count ballots received after Election Day if postmarked on time. Since the 2024 midterm election, four Republican-controlled states, Kansas, Ohio, Utah and North Dakota, have moved to require receipt by Election Day. A ruling upholding the 5th Circuit could invalidate the laws in the 14 states and require ballots to be in election officials’ hands by the close of polls. The decision is expected to affect the 2026 midterms. Military and overseas ballots, which are governed by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, would likely remain unaffected.
Texas early voting begins ahead of contentious March 3 primary elections
Early voting ahead of Texas’ March 3 primary contests runs from Tuesday, Feb. 17 through Friday, Feb. 27, according to the Texas secretary of state. The Lone Star State’s Republican and Democratic U.S. Senate primaries are being watched nationally, as the GOP seeks to cling to its majority in the chamber. Incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn is facing primary challengers, including notable figures like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt. SHARIA LAW VICTIM WHO FLED SOMALIA ISSUES ENDORSEMENT IN CRITICAL SENATE RACE Cornyn has served in the U.S. Senate for more than two decades — he took office in late 2002. The top contenders in the Democratic primary are U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Texas state Rep. James Talarico. JASMINE CROCKETT’S VULGAR 6-WORD MESSAGE FOR TRUMP IN EPSTEIN PROBE “While people don’t know if their loved ones will come home because they’ve been disappeared by ICE or if there will be accountability for the despicable things in the Epstein files or if they will be choosing between rent, healthcare, or food… some would suggest let’s just do politics as usual… THAT is the exact thinking that got us here,” Crockett wrote in a Monday post on X. “Tomorrow is the first day of early voting, It’s time for the people to be heard, loudly & clearly!” she declared in the post. CROCKETT DISPUTES OPPONENT’S DENIAL OF ‘MEDIOCRE BLACK MAN’ COMMENT, CALLS OUT ‘WELL-INTENTIONED WHITE FOLK’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP If no candidate were to win a majority in a race, there would be primary runoff in May.
Trump task force racks up 500 arrests in January as president brands cartels ‘ISIS of the Western Hemisphere’
EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump’s joint Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) made more than 500 arrests in one month as the interagency operation conducted a “surge” of resources in January. HSTFs, joint operations of DHS’ Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI that partner with other state and local agencies, were established via the president’s day-one executive order, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” “The President’s Homeland Security Task Forces are a landmark achievement that highlight what the federal government can achieve with a leader like President Trump who is willing to slash red tape, increase coordination, and put the safety of the American people first,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. “The January HSTF Human Trafficking Surge made tremendous progress toward getting criminals off the streets and protecting victims,” she said, adding that HSTFs around the country continue similar work every day to fulfill Trump’s pledge to “Make America Safe Again.” TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TOUTS ‘MOST SECURE BORDER IN HISTORY’ AS 2.5 MILLION MIGRANTS EXIT US The January surge sought to stifle the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs and dismantle cross-border smuggling rings with a particular focus on crimes involving children as it utilized any and all available tools to enforce federal immigration laws. During HSTF’s 114 operations in January, 507 people were arrested — 231 facing federal charges and 276 facing state charges — and 16 federal indictments were secured. Authorities seized 1,109 pounds of narcotics, including heroin, fentanyl and meth, as well as six weapons caches. Fifty-two victims identified during the operations were provided about $491,000 in restitution. ICE REVEALS ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ARRESTS IN JUST ONE DAY AFTER ROUNDING UP ‘THUGS’ CONVICTED OF VILE CRIMES A total of 257 victims were successfully identified, with 27 being children. The operation spanned the entire Lower 48, from Atlantic City to San Diego, and included Las Cruces, Raleigh, Miami, Buffalo, St. Paul, Wilmington, Delaware, Key West, and several border towns, including San Ysidro in California, Laredo in Texas, Nogales in Arizona, and Eagle Pass in Texas. Departments involved ranged in size from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Police Department in Cape Charles, Virginia, to the Coast Guard and Border Patrol. In one case last week reported by the Coast Guard, its San Juan station worked with HSTF to apprehend a stowaway smuggler with 10 bales of cocaine in a Puerto Rico harbor. That cache weighed 790 pounds and had a street value of $5 million. “It should now be clear to the entire world that the cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere,” Trump said in christening the HSTF in October. Since its launch, HSTF has partnered with other agencies on several operations, including with the IRS and SDNY.
SCOOP: Hegseth orders removal of Army public affairs chief amid broader Pentagon purge
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has ordered Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his current job serving as chief of Army public affairs and chief advisor to Driscoll, who currently is in Geneva serving on the negotiating team to end the Ukraine war, Fox News has learned. Butler served as the head of public affairs for the Joint Chiefs when Gen. Mark Milley was chairman, and was slated to receive his first star. His name appeared for two years in a row on an Army list of 34 officers selected for promotion. That list has been held up by Hegseth for nearly four months because he reportedly has concerns about four to five officers selected by the Army board, but by law he cannot remove them from the list. Butler volunteered to take his name off the promotion list if it would help unlock the other promotions, according to an Army official. Driscoll, an Army veteran and close ally of Vice President JD Vance – he attended Yale Law School with the vice president – had resisted Hegseth’s pressure to fire Butler for months because of his ongoing contributions to the transformation of the Army. HEGSETH MOVES TO CENSURE SEN MARK KELLY, REVIEW HIS RETIREMENT RANK AND PAY OVER ‘SEDITIOUS VIDEO’ “We greatly appreciate COL Dave Butler’s lifetime of service in America’s Army and to our nation,” Driscoll said in a statement. “Dave has been an integral part of the Army’s transformation efforts and I sincerely wish him tremendous success in his upcoming retirement after 28 years of service.” Butler traveled with Driscoll to Ukraine in November 2025 to help jump-start negotiations. The demand by Hegseth came Thursday, Fox News has learned. Hegseth entered the Pentagon in 2025 and immediately began firing top officers or forcing them into early retirement without giving a reason or for cause: Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who was serving as chief of naval operations; Gen. CQ Brown, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. James Mingus, who was serving as vice chief of the Army; Gen. Douglas A. Sims, director of the Joint Staff; Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin; Gen. James Slife, vice chief of the Air Force; and Gen. Timothy Haugh, director of the National Security Agency, among others. The unexplained firings have led to fear, uncertainty and an unwillingness to speak up among senior military leaders. FIRED UNDER TRUMP, FORMER MILITARY OFFICERS LAUNCH DEMOCRATIC BIDS FOR CONGRESS One of the Army’s best communicators, Butler served alongside the nation’s tiered special operations units on countless missions overseas attached to the Army’s Delta Force from 2010 to 2014. He served as the public affairs officer to Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from 2015 to 2018. He worked as the public affairs officer for Gen. Scott Miller when he was Joint Special Operations Command commander from 2016 to 2018, and then, at Miller’s request, served in Afghanistan when Miller deployed there from 2018 to 2019. Butler served as the chief spokesman and director of communications for all U.S. and NATO forces during that time that Miller served as the top four-star general in Afghanistan. A former four-star commander who once commanded U.S. Special Operations said Butler was “the consummate professional, the most competent Public Affairs officer I have ever worked with and a gifted practitioner of strategic communications.” During the Army’s 250th birthday celebrations in 2025, President Donald Trump recognized Butler by name for helping the Army chief to organize the parade in Washington, D.C.
Trump remembers Jesse Jackson as ‘good man,’ ‘force of nature’
President Donald Trump issued a Truth Social post on Tuesday, reflecting on Rev. Jesse Jackson in the wake of the 84-year-old civil rights leader’s death. Trump said he knew Jackson “well” and described him as “a good man.” “The Reverend Jesse Jackson is Dead at 84. I knew him well, long before becoming President. He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and “street smarts.” He was very gregarious – Someone who truly loved people!” the president said in the post. REV JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER AND RAINBOW PUSH FOUNDER, DIES AT 84 “Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way,” Trump continued. “I provided office space for him and his Rainbow Coalition, for years, in the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street; Responded to his request for help in getting CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM passed and signed, when no other President would even try; Single handedly pushed and passed long term funding for Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), which Jesse loved, but also, which other Presidents would not do; Responded to Jesse’s support for Opportunity Zones, the single most successful economic development package yet approved for Black business men/women, and much more,” the president added. “Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. He had much to do with the Election, without acknowledgment or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand. He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed!” Trump concluded. Jackson’s family described him as a “servant leader.” ‘GODFATHER’ STAR ROBERT DUVALL DEAD AT 95 “Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the family noted in a statement. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by,” the statement said. Jackson had been suffering from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, according to a Rainbow PUSH Coalition press release issued last year. REV JESSE JACKSON RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER TREATMENT FOR RARE BRAIN DISORDER CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “He has been managing this neurodegenerative condition for more than a decade. He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; however, last April, his PSP conduction was confirmed,” the release noted.
Thune guarantees voter ID bill to hit the Senate despite Schumer, Dem opposition: ‘We will have a vote’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is ready to put Senate Democrats to the test on voter ID legislation. The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act has earned the backing of 50 Senate Republicans, including Thune, which is enough to break through a key procedural hurdle. Whether it can pass from the Senate to President Donald Trump’s desk is, for now, an unlikely scenario if lawmakers take the traditional path in the upper chamber. Still, Thune wants to put Democrats on the spot as midterm elections creep closer. “We will have a vote,” Thune told Fox News Digital. SCHUMER SAYS DEMS WILL FIGHT VOTER ID PUSH ‘TOOTH AND NAIL,’ BALKS AT DHS ROLE IN ELECTIONS His comments came as he crisscrossed his home state of South Dakota, where he and Republicans in their respective states are out selling their legislative achievements as primary season fast approaches. Thune viewed the opportunity of a floor vote as a way to have Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus explain to voters why they would block a legislative push to federally enshrine voter ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote. “We will make sure that everybody’s on the record, and if they want to be against ensuring that only American citizens vote in our elections, they can defend that when they have to go out and campaign against Republicans this fall,” Thune said. COLLINS BOOSTS REPUBLICAN VOTER ID EFFORT, BUT WON’T SCRAP FILIBUSTER But the political makeup of the Senate will prove a tricky path to navigate if Republicans want to pass the bill. Though the majority of the Senate GOP backs the bill, without at least a handful of Senate Democrats joining them, it is destined to fall victim to the 60-vote filibuster threshold. And Schumer has time and again made clear that he and the majority of Senate Democrats view the legislation, which passed the House last week, as a tool of voter suppression that would unduly harm poorer Americans and minority groups. So Senate Republicans are looking at their options. One, which Thune already threw cold water on, is nuking the Senate filibuster. The other is turning to the talking, or standing, filibuster. It’s the physical precursor to the current filibuster that requires hours upon hours of debate over a bill. FETTERMAN SLAMS DEMOCRATS’ ‘JIM CROW 2.0’ VOTER ID RHETORIC AS PARTY UNITY FRACTURES Some fear that taking that path could paralyze the Senate floor. Thune acknowledged that concern, having previously made it himself, but noted another wrinkle. “A lot of people focus on unlimited debate, and yes, it is something that could drag on for weeks or literally, for that matter, months,” Thune said. “But it’s also unlimited amendments, meaning that every amendment — there’s no rules — so every amendment will be 51 votes.” He argued that there are several politically challenging amendments that could hit the floor that would put members in tough reelections in a hard spot and possibly cause them to pass, which “could also be very detrimental to the bill in the end.” Thune didn’t shut down the idea of turning to the talking filibuster, especially if it ended in lawmakers being able to actually pass the SAVE America Act. But in the Senate, outcomes are rarely guaranteed on politically divisive legislation. “I think that, you know, this obviously is a mechanism of trying to pursue an outcome, but I don’t know that, in the end, it’ll get you the outcome you want,” Thune said. “And there could be a lot of ancillary damage along the way.”
Swalwell’s ‘I should be working’ gym, pool videos resurface as Dem rival hammers his missed House votes
One of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s, D-Calif., top Democratic opponents in the race for California governor unleashed a “savage” campaign ad using Swalwell’s own words against him. Billionaire gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer, who was also unsuccessful in running for president in 2020, used multiple videos Swalwell posted on social media during the 2025 government shutdown by the pool and at the gym as an attack on his missed votes in Washington, D.C. The Swalwell videos, which were initially intended as an attack on Republicans and blaming them for why he wasn’t working during the 40+ day shutdown, repeatedly say, “I should be working.” “Eric Swalwell’s job is to vote in Congress,” the ad starts out in between videos of Swalwell in the pool and at the gym telling his followers that he “should be working” right now. “In 2025, Eric Swalwell missed 95 votes. That’s more than Rep. Raul Grijalva missed. Rep. Grijalva died in March 2025.” UNEARTHED PHOTO OF SWALWELL MEETING WITH TOP CCP OFFICIAL RAISES ALARM BELLS: ‘VERY DISTURBING’ According to GovTrack.US, Swalwell missed 102 out of 139 roll call votes, or 73%, between Sept. 19, 2025 and Feb. 9, 2026. In late November, he announced his run to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom as California’s next governor. In Steyer’s ad, the billionaire’s campaign claims Swalwell has missed 68% of votes since declaring his candidacy. “He hasn’t been showing up to work, and now he’s asking for a promotion,” the advertisement concluded, as it continued showing clips of Swalwell bench pressing and talking about how he should be in a suit on Capitol Hill and not pumping iron. ICE DIRECTOR FLIPS SCRIPT ON SWALWELL AFTER DEM LAWMAKER DEMANDED HIS RESIGNATION “Savage,” Democratic commentator Kaivan Shroff posted on X. “Steyer going negative on Swalwell this early is the latest piece of evidence Dem primaries this cycle are going to be nastier than they’ve been in a while,” senior Huffington Post editor Kevin Robillard posted on X. “Brutal ad,” Washington Free Beacon reporter Jon Levine posted on X. Swalwell began posting these videos last summer, complaining that Republicans had sent him home for political reasons. “I should be working right now. I should be in Congress. I should be voting to lower your costs. But, instead, I’m in a pool because Republicans sent everyone home because they don’t want to release the Epstein files,” Swalwell said in a late July video he posted to his social media accounts from a glistening pool on the water. “We could be working to lower your costs, make sure healthcare is affordable, and make sure we are restoring the rights of everyone in our community. I should be working right now.” “Swalwell has, however, kept constituents informed of his workouts even if he is not actually working,” Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley posted on X last summer. “It turns out that the shutdown was not the problem since he is being outvoted by deceased colleagues.” According to Swalwell and other Democrats, at the time, Republicans sent everyone in Congress home early to avoid voting on an Epstein transparency app, later passed. However, Republicans said that Democrats were trying to ram through measures already being pursued by the executive branch at the time. The pool video was part of a series of other “I should be working right now” videos from Swalwell at the time, including one he took while throwing out the first pitch for his hometown’s minor league baseball team and another one of him bench pressing 135 pounds at the gym. Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell and his representatives for comment on the criticism about him missing votes, but did not hear back in time for publication.
Tom Emmer blasts Democrats’ double standard on SAVE Act: ‘They require photo IDs’ at their own DNC
EXCLUSIVE: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., is accusing Democrats of being hypocritical in their opposition to Republicans’ latest election integrity bill. The No. 3 House Republican ripped the rival party after nearly all of them voted against the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act last week, specifically over its provision mandating federally accepted photo identification at the polls. It’s also sometimes referred to as the “SAVE Act.” “These guys are doing the same old broken record about voter suppression,” Emmer told Fox News Digital. “Why aren’t they screaming about photo IDs at the airport? Why aren’t they screaming about photo IDs when you check out a book at the library?” NOEM BACKS SAVE AMERICA ACT, SLAMS ‘RADICAL LEFT’ OPPOSITION TO VOTER IDS AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP Emmer pointed out that a photo ID was required for attendees to watch former Vice President Kamala Harris accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for the White House in Chicago last year. “By the way, if they think it’s voter suppression, why do they require photo IDs at the Democrat National Convention to get in?” Emmer said. “I mean, I think Americans are so much smarter than these people can understand, can let themselves understand,” he said. The SAVE America Act passed the House on Wednesday with support from all Republicans — an increasingly rare sight in the chamber — and just one Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas. A previous iteration of the bill, just called the SAVE Act, passed the House in April of last year with support from four House Democrats. Whereas the SAVE Act would have created a new federal proof-of-citizenship mandate in the voter registration process and imposed requirements for states to keep their rolls clear of ineligible voters, the updated bill would also require photo ID to vote in any federal election. That photo ID would also have to denote proof-of-citizenship, according to the legislative text. DEMOCRAT CLAIMS SAVE ACT WOULD BLOCK MARRIED WOMEN FROM VOTING; REPUBLICANS SAY THAT’S WRONG Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have both panned the bill, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling it “voter suppression” and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., dismissing it as “a modern-day Jim Crow.” Jeffries also specifically took issue with a provision that would enable the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to initiate removal proceedings if an illegal immigrant was found on a state’s voter rolls, arguing DHS would weaponize the information. But voter ID, at least, has proven to be a popular standard in U.S. elections across multiple public polls. A Pew Research Center poll released in August 2025 showed a whopping 83% of people supported government-issued photo ID requirements for showing up to vote, compared to just 16% of people who disapproved of it. A Gallup poll from October 2024 showed 84% of people supported photo ID for voting in federal elections.
GOP reaches key 50-vote threshold for Trump-backed voter ID bill as Senate fight looms
Senate Republicans now have enough support within their conference to pass Trump-backed voter ID legislation, but a major hurdle remains. The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act has secured the backing of 50 Senate Republicans, following a pressure campaign by the White House and a cohort of Senate conservatives over the past several weeks. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has led the charge in the upper chamber, ramping up his efforts last week as the bill moved through the House. SCHUMER SAYS DEMS WILL FIGHT VOTER ID PUSH ‘TOOTH AND NAIL,’ BALKS AT DHS ROLE IN ELECTIONS Lee told Fox News Digital that he was “ecstatic” about the progress made in shoring up support for the legislation and hoped the Senate would move as quickly as possible to consider it. “I would love to see us turn to it next week, perhaps the day after the State of the Union address,” Lee said. “I think that would be good timing. But I think this needs to get done sooner rather than later.” That multifaceted campaign — both on social media and behind closed doors in the Senate — proved successful, drawing support from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and several others. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, became the 50th senator to back the bill. That gives Republicans the internal support they need to advance the legislation procedurally, but only if they turn to the standing, or talking, filibuster. Before leaving Washington, D.C., for a weeklong break last week, Lee and other supporters, including Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., pitched the voter ID proposal and potential pathways to pass it to colleagues. “We had some good senators stand up and say, ‘No, we got to fight for this,’” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “I’m with them. We need to fight for this.” COLLINS BOOSTS REPUBLICAN VOTER ID EFFORT, BUT WON’T SCRAP FILIBUSTER Still, the effort faces heavy resistance from Senate Democrats, who are nearly unified in their opposition. The only potential outlier is Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has pushed back against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., characterization of the bill as “Jim Crow 2.0” but has not said whether he would ultimately support the SAVE America Act. Despite that possibility, Schumer and most of his caucus plan to block the legislation. “We will not let it pass in the Senate,” Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We are fighting it tooth and nail.” Not every Senate Republican is onboard, either. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has announced she will vote against the measure, while Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have not signed on as co-sponsors. One option to bypass Democratic opposition would be nuking the filibuster and its 60-vote threshold — a move some congressional Republicans argue has effectively become a “zombie filibuster,” since legislation can be blocked simply by withholding votes rather than holding the floor. HARDLINE CONSERVATIVES DOUBLE DOWN TO SAVE THE SAVE ACT Despite previous pressure from President Donald Trump to eliminate the filibuster, the move does not have the votes among Republicans to succeed — a point Thune underscored last week. “There aren’t anywhere close to the votes — not even close — to nuking the filibuster,” Thune said. That leaves a return to the standing, or talking, filibuster — the precursor to today’s procedural hurdle. Under that approach, Senate Democrats would be required to hold the floor and publicly debate their opposition, as senators did for decades before the modern filibuster became standard practice. The idea appears to be gaining traction among some Republicans, though critics warn it could effectively paralyze the upper chamber for days, weeks or even months, depending on Democrats’ resolve. Lee said that many senators he’s spoken with are open to the idea, and that those who were reluctant didn’t believe it wouldn’t work. “I understand why people might have questions about a procedure that we’re not familiar with,” Lee said. “It doesn’t mean we don’t have to do it, because we do.” Meanwhile, Trump has suggested he could take matters into his own hands if Congress cannot pass the SAVE America Act. In a Truth Social post last week, Trump called the legislation a “CAN’T MISS FOR RE-ELECTION IN THE MIDTERMS, AND BEYOND.” “This is an issue that must be fought, and must be fought, NOW! If we can’t get it through Congress, there are legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted,” Trump wrote. “I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order.”