Special Counsel Jack Smith moves to drop Trump election interference case
Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Friday to vacate all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., a widely expected move, but one that stops short of dropping the case against him completely. The filing from Smith was widely expected following Trump’s election to a second term, and is in keeping with longstanding Department of Justice policy against bringing criminal charges against a sitting president. While the case has not been officially dropped, it appears to be moving in that direction. Smith said Friday that his team plans to give an updated report on the official status of the case against Trump on Dec. 2. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS PENNSYLVANIA PROVISIONAL BALLOT RULING, IN A MAJOR LOSS FOR GOP The news is likely a welcome relief for Trump, who vowed to fire Smith “within two seconds” if re-elected—ridding him of both a yearlong legal foe and the criminal charges Trump faced following his loss in the 2020 election. Smith was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate both the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Trump’s keeping of allegedly classified documents at his residence in Florida after leaving the White House in 2020. Fox News reported earlier this week that the Department of Justice had been looking to wind down its criminal cases against Trump in D.C. and Florida, citing an Office of Legal Counsel memo that states it is against Department of Justice policy to investigate a sitting president for federal criminal charges, and is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine. Smith had indicted Trump in D.C. earlier this year on charges stemming from the former president’s alleged efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. He also brought federal charges against Trump in Florida for his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. Former Attorney General Bill Barr told Fox News Digital earlier this week that Smith should immediately halt the federal cases in both D.C. and Florida, citing DOJ policy. While Trump still faces charges from convictions in Georgia and New York, Barr said this week that local prosecutors and judges need to move on from the “spectacle” of prosecuting the president-elect. “Further maneuvering on these cases in the weeks ahead would serve no legitimate purpose and only distract the country and the incoming administration from the task at hand,” Barr said. Next week, the presiding judge in the New York case is expected to announce whether the state will proceed with felony conviction proceedings against Trump in the final months before he takes office, or whether to apply claims of presidential immunity expanded by the Supreme Court earlier this year.
PA Sen-elect McCormick thanks Casey family for decades of service as Democrat declines to concede
Pennsylvania Sen.-elect David McCormick struck a conciliatory tone during his victory speech from Pittsburgh on Friday, thanking now-outgoing Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and his family for their decades of public service to the commonwealth. McCormick said that Casey and his namesake father – a pro-life moderate who served as governor in the 1980s and 1990s – deserve a lot of respect for “serving . . . with honor.” The younger Casey served three terms since defeating conservative Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006. “I want to start with just a message of absolute gratitude: Gratitude to be standing here in this beautiful day in a city that’s meant so much to my family. My dad went to college at Pitt. We had some of the most formative years of our lives here. Three of our girls were born here,” McCormick said. “. . . Gratitude for the people of Pennsylvania for giving us the honor of serving at such a consequential time for our country: Gratitude to the amazing campaign team.” PHILLY FIREFIGHTERS UNION BACKS MCCORMICK IN ‘FIVE-ALARM FIRE’ FOR DEMS The hedge fund executive was born in nearby Washington, Pa., and grew up in Columbia County on the other side of the commonwealth, where his father was president of Bloomsburg University. He joked that he, like Casey, knows what it is like to lose a close election, as cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz narrowly defeated him in the 2022 primary to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. McCormick said he has already spoken with President-elect Donald Trump and is ready to hit the ground running on forwarding the mogul’s agenda in the Senate. “We heard a common refrain: the one message we heard over and over again is we need change. The country is headed in the wrong direction. We need leadership to get our economy back on track to get this horrific inflation under control,” McCormick said. “We need leadership to secure the border to stop this scourge of fentanyl. The most heartbreaking thing we encountered were parents along the way that had lost a child to fentanyl. . . . We learned time and again that the path to unlocking Pennsylvania’s future is is energy.” Nodding again to the tight margin of victory, McCormick pledged to be a senator for all Pennsylvanians: “I don’t care who voted for me and didn’t vote for me.” He also offered outreach to Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose name is already being bandied about in the press as a 2028 Democratic presidential favorite, as well as the GOP-majority state Senate, and state House, which Democrats will reportedly hold onto by one member. A POLITICAL REALIGNMENT IN PA However, Casey’s campaign is not yet conceding the race – which has been called for McCormick by the Associated Press. In a release just prior to McCormick taking the stage, the Casey campaign highlighted two lawsuits McCormick’s team filed in Philadelphia challenging about 15,000 provisional ballots. McCormick’s campaign sought the sequestering of a chunk of those provisional ballots from voters who had cast now-rejected mail ballots nullified “for procedural defects” and provisions that may have non-matching signatures or missing secrecy envelopes, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Deep-red Cambria County remained the only other county with a large proportion of votes outstanding as of Thursday night. However, the sole state House race there yet to be called – in East Taylor – is Democrat-favored. That may translate to a slight edge in Casey’s favor, based on historical electoral patterns. The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat newspaper reported just as McCormick took the stage that the Democrat, state Rep. Frank Burns, will hold his seat. Following the speech, McCormick took a few questions, including one on the lawsuits. “Basically, if you look at all the math and the reason the AP called the races, there’s no path to Senator Casey overcoming my lead. . . . But there are ballots that will continue to be counted and [the] lawsuits [are] just to make sure that there is an adequate number of observers that are overseeing that counting process,” he said. McCormick currently leads by about 30,000 votes, but the race remains within the 0.5% margin that triggers an automatic statewide recount.
GOP congressman-elect reveals ambitious 100-day plan for Trump admin: ‘Not going to get fooled again’
FIRST ON FOX: In his first interview since being elected to the House of Representatives, Arizona Republican Abe Hamadeh spoke to Fox News Digital about what the first 100 days in a Republican-controlled Congress and White House will look like. “Speaker Mike Johnson and the entire Republican leadership team has actually been ahead of its time. They were preparing for this moment, so I know they’re going to hit the ground running with something very historic in the first hundred days,” Hamadeh, elected to represent Arizona’s 8th Congressional district in the House on Tuesday, told Fox News Digital. “That includes beefing up border security and making it permanent. I know election integrity is the top of my list as well, because without secure elections, we can’t have a republic, and so I know that’s going to be top priorities, election integrity, border security, as well as making sure we increase our energy independence, because that’s going to help reduce inflation rather quickly once we start growing the economy.” Hamadeh told Fox News Digital he believes that the Republican House majority, if Republicans indeed hold onto control of the chamber, as many expect they will, is “much better prepared” to move through Trump’s agenda than it was in 2017. TRUMP FLIPS BORDER COUNTY THAT HASN’T VOTED FOR REPUBLICAN IN OVER 100 YEARS WITH MASSIVE 76-POINT SWING Hamadeh added that he expects Democrats, who labeled Trump a “fascist” on the presidential campaign trail, aren’t being honest when they say they will work with Trump and do what they can to help his transition. “They said the same thing in 2016, 2017, after President Trump won and what did they do?” Hamadeh said. “They opened up multiple impeachment inquiries. They tried to derail his presidency with distractions. They had the media, the corporate media, so many of them like the left wing MSNBC and CNN, drive home so many false narratives. So that’s what they’re going to do.” “Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me. And we’re not going to get fooled again.” TRUMP NAMES SUSIE WILES AS FIRST FEMALE WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF IN HISTORY Regardless of what actions Democrats take, Hamadeh told Fox News Digital it is clear that Republicans “absolutely” have a mandate from the American people after Trump’s popular vote victory to go along with an Electoral College landslide. “He does have a mandate from the American people,” Hamadeh said. “The last time the Republican won the popular vote and Electoral College was 2004 with an incumbent president, President George W Bush. You know, the last time it was a non-incumbent, I believe, was 1988 under George H.W. Bush. And he was still at least the VP at the time. So this was a historic mandate. And President Trump, I’m going to support him all the way in Congress and make sure that we’re going to change our country around very quickly.” Hamadeh added that the Republicans “also have to go in there knowing that President Trump has one term.” “You know, it’s pretty liberating feeling, I’m sure, for President Trump. He’s got one term to get the job done. And I intend to be working every single day as the newest member of Congress to make sure we get the America-first agenda passed.” The majority in the House of Representatives appears within reach for Republicans, who have already won control of the Senate and the White House. “We’re almost certainly going to lose the House by a narrow margin,” a senior House Democratic aide told Fox News Digital. “We got our a–es kicked.” Fox News Digital’s Liz Elkind contributed to this report
Highlights from President-elect Donald Trump’s first term as president of the United States
President-elect Trump secured a second term in office after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election race. Trump served his first term after winning the 2016 presidential election over Democratic opponent and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump is four years removed from the White House after he lost his 2020 bid for re-election to Joe Biden. WORLD LEADERS REACT TO TRUMP VICTORY ‘ON HISTORY’S GREATEST COMEBACK’ Trump kick-started a third campaign for the presidency in 2022, after announcing his bid for re-election shortly following the midterms. Trump ran on similar issues he focused on during his first term in office, with a secure border and the economy both heavy talking points during his 2024 campaign. Even though Trump has vowed to the American people to continue building on policies and issues that began during his first term, he has also said things will be different this time around. A major difference for Trump as he heads into his second term is his many political connections. Trump, a businessman, was missing political pundits from his Rolodex during his first term as president. FAITH LEADERS REACT TO TRUMP RE-ELECTION: ‘GOD SPARED MY LIFE FOR A REASON’ “I didn’t know anybody [during his first term]. I was not a Washington person. I was rarely there,” Trump told “Hannity” in October. “I know everybody [now]. I know the good, the strong, the weak, the stupid. I know the — I know everybody. And we’re going to make this country great again, and we have to save our country.” Entering Trump’s first days as president, top agenda items will be securing the border, fixing the immigration system and improving the economy. Among the highlights of Trump’s first presidency were trade policies, the appointment of federal judges, increased military and protection for veterans, border and immigration control and criminal justice reform. TRUMP’S VICTORY: HOLLYWOOD ELITE WHO VOWED TO LEAVE US IF HE WON ARE ‘ALL TALK, NO WALK,’ EXPERT SAYS Additionally, Trump’s economic and foreign policies, energy independence and his response to the opoid crisis are woven into his success. During Trump’s first term, he signed trade policies with tariffs on foreign aluminum and steel and led the negotiation of trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, China, Japan and South Korea, according to WhiteHouse.gov. Over 240 federal judges were nominated and confirmed during his presidency, according to NationalArchives.gov. He also appointed Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Trump’s commitment to a strong military and support for veterans was also paramount during his first term. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND GROVER CLEVELAND: HOW PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TRIUMPHANTLY RETURNED TO THE WHITE HOUSE During Trump’s first term, a lot of money was invested in defense, including a $1.3 trillion spending bill, according to the U.S. Department of Defense’s website. The Trump administration also established the Space Force, which was the first new branch of the Armed Forces created since 1947. Support for veterans came from the Trump administration through measures like the VA Mission Act and the signing of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act, nicknamed the “Forever GI Bill” in 2017, which brought updates to Veteran Affairs education benefits, according to an online toolkit included on the Veterans Benefits Administration’s website. During Trump’s first term, efforts began to secure the border, including the construction of over 400 miles of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and ending catch-and-release, according to NationalArchives.gov. TRUMP’S BIG TENT: PRESIDENT-ELECT IMPROVED ON 2020 PERFORMANCE IN 4 COUNTIES WITH BIG MINORITY POPULATIONS Securing the border is an issue Trump ran on during his re-election campaign. “We’re going to fix our borders,” Trump said Wednesday after his win. “We’re going to fix everything about our country, and we’ve made history for a reason tonight.” In terms of criminal justice reform, Trump signed the First Step Act into law in an effort to “improve criminal justice outcomes,” according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website. He also launched the Ready to Work initiative to aid in the connection between employers and former prisoners, according to NationalArchives.gov. Concern about the state of the economy was an issue many Americans shared before they voted during the election. An example of Trump’s economic policy was his signing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act while in office, the largest tax reform package in history, according to NationalArchives.gov. Trump also signed an executive order on agricultural biotechnology during his first term in office, according to the U.S. Department of State’s website, helping to bring new technology to the farming industry throughout the country. TRUMP’S STAMINA AT AGE 78 IMPRESSES THE EXPERTS: ‘MENTAL AND PHYSICAL RESILIENCE’ During Trump’s first term, he moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and also attended a summit with Kim Jong Un in 2018, marking the first time a sitting president met with a North Korean leader, according to WhiteHouse.gov. Trump also removed the United States from the Iran nuclear deal. Trump’s first term also included the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017. Trump also made improvements to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, according to NationalArchives.gov. Trump declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency. In 2018, the Department of Justice announced a $320 million investment to combat the crisis. “President Trump has made ending the opioid crisis a priority for this administration, and under his leadership, the Department of Justice has taken historic action,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a 2018 press release on the U.S. Department of Justice’s website. “Today, we are announcing our next steps: investing $320 million into all three parts of the president’s comprehensive plan to end the epidemic: prevention, treatment and enforcement. We are attacking this crisis from every angle — and we will not let up until we bring it to an end.” Many of the issues Trump focused on during his first term will be priorities during his second term, including the health of the
Trump clinched a higher percentage of Muslim voters compared to Jewish voters in recent election
Despite rhetoric and a track record that would suggest a strong preference for Israel over the Palestinian cause, President-elect Donald Trump lost the Jewish vote by a larger margin than he lost the Muslim vote. Thirty-four percentage points separated Trump from Vice President Kamala Harris among Jewish voters, according to Fox News Voter Analysis. Harris won their support 66% to 32%. Despite Republican attempts to paint Democrats as inconsistent on Israel, Jewish voters only narrowly shifted toward Trump. In 2020, 69% voted for President Biden, 30% voted for Trump. Muslim voters favored Harris by 32 percentage points. Trump won 32% of their vote, while Harris won 63%. In 2020, Biden had won 64% of the Muslim vote, and Trump had won 35%. Trump won a majority of the vote among evangelical Christians, Catholics and Mormons. Some Democrats had worried that third-party candidate Jill Stein could pull the vote of Muslims and others disaffected with Biden’s Middle East policy away from Harris. Four percent of Muslims voted for a third-party candidate. ARAB AMERICANS SOUR ON DEMOCRATS AMID WAR IN MIDDLE EAST: ACTIVIST SAYS TRUMP OUTREACH HAS BEEN ‘SURREAL’ Throughout the campaign, Harris tried to walk a tightrope between both sides as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza dragged on and spilled into Lebanon. She refused to differentiate herself from Biden’s Middle East policy and emphasized that she was committed to Israel’s right to defend itself. Harris has called for a cease-fire for many months and refused to preside over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in April. “This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza,” Harris said last month when Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. She said the war “must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.” “It is time for the day after to begin,” she said. To Palestinian supporters in the U.S., Biden’s criticisms of Israel’s offensive campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon ring hollow when the U.S. continues to provide aid without conditions to the war effort. The Biden team threatened to withhold military aid in October if Israel did not allow more food aid into Gaza but largely continued to provide weapons packages to Israel as the war dragged past the one-year mark last month. TRUMP MAKES ‘PEACE ON EARTH’ APPEAL TO ARAB-AMERICAN VOTERS IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE In May, Netanyahu accused the Biden administration of slow-walking delivery of 2,000-pound bombs due to concerns over their destructive capabilities. “One of the things that we’ve done that I’m entirely supportive of is the pause that we put on the 2000-lb. bombs,” Harris told the National Association of Black Journalists in September. The Trump team, meanwhile, worked to capitalize on Arab American disillusionment with the Biden administration. “We have to get this whole thing over with,” Trump said in Dearborn, Michigan, last week, speaking of the continuing conflict in the Middle East. “We want to have peace. We want to have peace on earth.” On the other hand, Trump has said that for a Jewish American not to vote for him “shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP During his first term, Trump moved the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and helped broker peace deals between Israel and four Arab countries. His campaign frequently suggested that Harris favors the Palestinian cause over the Israelis. However, in April, Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt “Israel is absolutely losing the PR war” and criticized the images being shown of Gaza in ruins. “You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy. And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got to have victory,” Trump said, without directly answering whether he was “100 percent with Israel.”
Former White House lawyer says Trump will not use DOJ ‘for political purposes,’ but to implement ‘his agenda’
Former White House attorney Mark Paoletta took to social media Thursday to say that President-elect Donald Trump “will not use the DOJ for political purposes” but rather for “implementing his agenda.” Paoletta, who previously served as counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence and general counsel for the Office of Management & Budget in the executive office during the Trump administration, was responding to a CNN reporter stating that the Department of Justice has “operated historically as an independent entity.” “Constitution vests our ELECTED President with ALL executive power, including DOJ. He has the duty to supervise DOJ, including, if necessary, on specific cases. Our system does not permit an unaccountable agency,” Paoletta wrote on X. WHERE DO TRUMP’S LEGAL CASES STAND AFTER MASSIVE ELECTION WIN? Paoletta cited Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion in Trump v. United States, wherein the Court held that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, but not for unofficial acts. In the majority opinion, Roberts wrote “the Constitution vests the entirety of the executive power in the President.” He went on to say, “The President has a duty to supervise the types of cases DOJ should focus on and can intervene to direct DOJ on specific cases. He is the duly elected chief executive and he has every right to make sure the executive branch, including the DOJ, is implementing his agenda.” Paoletta then gave examples as to how Trump could use the DOJ during his next term, including directing the “DOJ to significantly increase resources to prosecute criminals at the highest charging level and to seek maximum sentences” and extending resources towards deportation efforts and “against sanctuary cities who defy and obstruct federal law enforcement efforts.” TRUMP LAWYERS MOVE TO DISMISS JACK SMITH 2020 ELECTION CHARGES, CLAIM HE WAS UNLAWFULLY APPOINTED Paoletta clarified, however, that despite such actions, Trump will not use the DOJ “for political purposes.” “Just because you are a political opponent” does not mean one gets “a free pass if you have violated the law,” Paoletta wrote. Paoletta then said Democrats, in contrast, “went after President Trump solely to punish him because he was a political opponent,” stating that they “invented crimes, twisted statutes, abused their offices and power, all to stop him and destroy him.” FLORIDA SUES DOJ FOR BLOCKING PROBE OF TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: FRUSTRATED ‘AT EVERY TURN’ “The President should supervise and direct the DOJ to implement his agenda, which was voted on and supported by a landslide majority of the American people on November 5th,” Paoletta wrote. The DOJ announced on Wednesday it was seeking to wind down two federal criminal cases against Trump ahead of his second term. Justice Department officials cited a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel filed in 2000, which upholds a Watergate-era argument that asserts it is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for the Justice Department to investigate a sitting president. Trump was also prosecuted at the state level after his first term in office, aside from the two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump pleaded not guilty in all of his cases. Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
Trump’s former Education secretary says she is ‘very open’ to discussion about returning to previous post
Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos revealed she is open to the prospect of returning to her former post in 2025 under the new Trump administration. After being elected to a second, non-consecutive term in the White House, President-elect Donald Trump is tasked with filling his administration with people who will help shape his agenda over the next four years – including who will lead the Education Department. “I have been really clear about what I think needs to be the agenda, which is to get the federal tax credit passed and to de-power the Department of Education. If President-elect Trump wanted to talk to me, I would be very open to talking,” DeVos told Education Week newspaper on Thursday. DeVos was appointed by Trump as education secretary in 2017. “But I think there’s also a lot of folks [who could do the job well],” she added, detailing what an ideal candidate for the position might look like. HERE ARE THE MOST TALKED-ABOUT CANDIDATES FOR TOP POSTS IN TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION “I think about an ideal secretary of education, what their experience might be. A governor who’s led in their state on education reform issues. That would be a very good profile. Someone who could do the things that need to be done, could come in and hit the ground running,” she said. “The federal Department of Education is a labyrinth, a maze, and I think someone who has accomplished real reforms on a state level would be really fit and suitable for that position.” UNIVERSITIES COME UNDER FIRE FOR CANCELING CLASSES, PROVIDING SAFE SPACES TO STUDENTS UPSET BY TRUMP’S VICTORY DeVos served as Education secretary for nearly Trump’s entire term, but she resigned the day after Jan. 6. “I think President Trump in his second term is going to do a great service and great things to focus on families and students,” DeVos said when asked about her sudden resignation. “If you recall, my resignation was specifically out of concern for putting myself in the seat of young kids and families.” In April, the Department of Education finalized its changes to Title IX aimed to prohibit discrimination based on sex and gender identity in federally funded institutions. Republican critics have slammed the rule change, saying it will enable biological male athletes in schools to compete on women’s sports teams. “The second Trump administration needs to clarify these issues promptly and put an end to allowing this invasion into women’s sports,” DeVos said. Trump has suggested that he is going to close the Department of Education when he takes office, but DeVos said it would not be that simple. “Let’s just say, four decades of data show us that all this federal intervention does not work, has not worked,” she said. “I think more and more folks today are realizing that than they did [when Trump took office], and I think it’s ripe for discussion about how that happens and how the Department of Education is de-powered.” “The federal Department of Education has not worked for students. It’s worked for political interests, but it has not worked for students,” DeVos added. While on the campaign trail, Trump suggested former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy or former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin could be contenders for the top education position. Fox News’ Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
Capital city Democratic mayor, prosecutor indicted in undercover bribery sting
The Democratic mayor of Mississippi’s capital and its top county prosecutor were indicted Thursday amid an FBI sting operation regarding allegations that city officials were accepting payments in order to sweeten future real estate deals. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens II and Jackson City Councilman Aaron Banks were hit with charges of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, honest services wire fraud and money laundering, according to the Department of Justice. Lumumba, son of the late Republic of New Afrika leader Chokwe Lumumba, released a video statement denying ever accepting a bribe and calling the indictment a “political prosecution” intended to “destroy [his] . . . reputation.” “Jackson residents, it is with great disappointment that I come before you. My legal team has informed me that federal prosecutors have, in fact, indicted me on bribery and related charges,” he said. FLASHBACK: DOBBS LEAK AN ‘EGREGIOUS ACT’: MISSISSIPPI ATTORNEY GENERAL “There is no coincidence, and its timing being just before the upcoming mayoral race. My legal team will vigorously defend me against these charges. Again, while I am disappointed, I am not deterred, so I ask for your patience and your prayers during this process. Thank you.” DOJ criminal division chief Nicole Argentieri said following the indictment that public officials who abuse their positions of power to “enrich themselves undermine public confidence in government.” “The Justice Department is committed to restoring that confidence by working with its law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute public corruption.” The indictment alleges that between October 2023 and May 2024, Owens facilitated monetary bribes to Jackson officials on behalf of two people posing as Tennessee developers who were in fact FBI undercover agents. “Owens instructed the developers that, for their project to succeed, they needed to secure the support of certain public officials in Jackson through bribery,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. He was later accused of making false statements to an FBI agent. Banks, the councilman, allegedly solicited a $50,000 bribe, including an initial $10,000 cash payment, for future votes supporting the development in the Mississippi capital. MISSISSIPPI 2024 ELECTION RESULTS The three officials were in a bugged room on a yacht in Broward County, Florida, negotiating what they believed to be the developers’ payments when they were caught, according to the local Mississippi Clarion-Ledger. Prior to heading south, Owens reportedly told the mayor that he had done background checks on the “developers” and said, “they’re not FBI, by the way.” One undercover agent reportedly asked the officials to move forward a deadline for an “SOQ,” or statement of qualifications, required for the planned hotel development, and Lumumba reportedly went ahead and made a phone call. Another agent then handed the mayor five checks worth $50,000 total. After returning to Mississippi, the funds were reportedly deposited in the mayor’s campaign account, according to the paper. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I am not guilty, and so I will not proceed as a guilty man,” Lumumba later told supporters at a public appearance, according to NBC News. Owens said the indictment is a “horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation.” “We think the truth has to come out that cherry-picked statements of drunken locker room banter is not a crime,” he said after pleading not guilty.
Jordan demands Smith retain all records related to Trump prosecutions as special counsel’s office winds down
FIRST ON FOX: The House Judiciary Committee is concerned that special counsel Jack Smith and prosecutors involved in the investigations of now President-elect Donald Trump will “purge” records to skirt oversight and is demanding they produce to Congress all documents related to the probes before the end of the month, Fox News Digital has learned. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., penned a letter to Smith on Friday, obtained by Fox News Digital. TRUMP VOWS TO LEAD ‘GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA’ IN VICTORY SPEECH: ’FIX EVERYTHING’ “The Committee on the Judiciary is continuing its oversight of the Department of Justice and the Office of Special Counsel. According to recent public reports, prosecutors in your office have been ‘gaming out legal options’ in the event that President Donald Trump won the election,” they wrote. “With President Trump’s decisive victory this week, we are concerned that the Office of Special Counsel may attempt to purge relevant records, communications, and documents responsive to our numerous requests for information.” Jordan and Loudermilk warned that the Office of Special Counsel “is not immune from transparency or above accountability for its actions.” “We reiterate our requests, which are itemized in the attached appendix and incorporated herein, and ask that you produce the entirety of the requested material as soon as possible but no later than November 22, 2024,” they wrote. Jordan and Loudermilk are demanding Smith turn over information about the use of FBI personnel on his team — a request first made in June 2023 — and whether any of those FBI employees “previously worked on any other matters concerning President Trump.” They also renewed their request from August 2023, demanding records relating to Smith and prosecutor Jay Bratt visiting the White House or Executive Office of the President; a request from September 2023 for records related to lawyer Stanley Woodward—who represented Trump aide Walt Nauta; a request from December 2023 for communications between Attorney General Merrick Garland and the special counsel’s team; and more. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LOOKING TO WIND DOWN TRUMP CRIMINAL CASES AHEAD OF INAUGURATION The Justice Department is looking to wind down two federal criminal cases against President-elect Trump as he prepares to be sworn in for a second term in the White House — a decision that upholds a long-standing policy that prevents Justice Department attorneys from prosecuting a sitting president. DOJ officials have cited a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel filed in 2000, which upholds a Watergate-era argument that asserts it is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for the Justice Department to investigate a sitting president. It further notes that such proceedings would “unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the Presidency.” “In light of the effect that an indictment would have on the operations of the executive branch, ‘an impeachment proceeding is the only appropriate way to deal with a President while in office,’” the memo said in conclusion. Smith was leading an investigation into the alleged retention of classified records. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from that probe. The case was eventually tossed completely by a federal judge in Florida, who ruled that Smith was improperly and unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith also took over an investigation into alleged 2020 election interference. Trump also pleaded not guilty, but his attorneys took the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court to argue on the basis of presidential immunity. The high court ruled that Trump was immune from prosecution for official presidential acts, forcing Smith to file a new indictment. Trump pleaded not guilty to those new charges as well. Trump attorneys are now seeking to have the election interference charges dropped in Washington, D.C., similarly alleging that Smith was appointed unlawfully.
‘Failed experiment’: Experts reveal why Soros-backed policies took beating in deep blue state
The progressive crime agenda, largely pushed by liberal mega donor George Soros, suffered a major defeat in deep blue California this week after voters soundly rejected progressive prosecutors and policies, which experts tell Fox News Digital represents a major sea change. “I think that this is broader than just a message from people who care about crime,” Cully Stimson, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and co-author of the book “Rogue Prosecutors: How Radical Soros Lawyers Are Destroying America’s Communities,” told Fox News Digital. “This is a massive mandate and cry for help from the general population that we want our state back. We want our counties back, and we want our cities back and that our failed social experiments have had enough time, and they’re an absolute, abysmal failure.” California voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of Prop 36 on Tuesday, which rolled back key provisions of Proposition 47 which was advertised by Democrats in the state as progressive crime reforms that would make the state safer. NEW PRISON DATA BLOWS UP NARRATIVE THAT LOW-LEVEL DRUG OFFENDERS ARE FILLING UP US PRISONS: EXPERTS But in the last several years, retail chains and mom-and-pop shops have been hit hard by theft, smash-and-grab robberies and organized retail crime gangs, while cities like San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles have been ravaged by rises in property crime and retail theft. “For too long, Gavin Newsom, George Gascón and Democrat leaders have been trying to tell voters not to believe what they were seeing when it comes to crime,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told Fox News Digital. “They wanted to gaslight the public into thinking that our eyes have been lying to us. Well, the people have spoken in an overwhelming fashion. The results in the LA DA race and the Prop 36 race make it clear that Californians are done with the Democrats’ soft-on-crime experiments that put our communities’ safety at risk.” When Proposition 47 passed in 2014, it downgraded most thefts from felonies to misdemeanors if the amount stolen was under $950, “unless the defendant had prior convictions of murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes.” LOS ANGELES DA GEORGE GASCON DEFENDS RECORD ON CRIME: ‘I KNOW HOW TO KEEP COMMUNITIES SAFE’ Every single county in the state voted in favor of Prop 36, which won by an overall margin of 70.4% to 29.6% with 54% of the votes on Thursday. “You see all of these Walgreens, the first In N Out Burger to close, all these CVS in downtown San Francisco and L.A closing, these mom-and-pop shops closing because you’re literally telling people you can steal up to $950, and nothing’s going to happen to you,” Stimson told Fox News Digital. “Nobody with an ounce of common sense, left or right, thinks that that is a good idea. That is not reimagining criminal justice. That is a cancer unleashed on society under the fig leaf of reform.” Progressives suffered another major loss in the city of Los Angeles, where District Attorney George Gascón, backed by Soros, was defeated by former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman as crime was seen as a top issue of the election cycle. CALIFORNIA CRIME CRISIS: DOZENS OF CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS HANDED ‘GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD’ ON TECHNICALITY‘ Stimson told Fox News Digital that Gascón’s policies were essentially a “middle finger” to victims and that the “Achilles heel” of the progressive prosecutor movement continues to be the “invalidity and lack of common sense” that leads “directly to rising crime rates.” “That’s why Gascón is going to go down as the worst DA in the history of the county, maybe the country,” Stimson said. After losing his re-election campaign, Gascón suggested that it was part of a “rightward shift across America” that he called “heartbreaking.” “Democrats have a long road ahead, but the work is more vital than ever, and our commitment will not waver,” Gascóon said. “Nevertheless, I have called Mr. Hochman and wish him the best as Los Angeles County’s next district attorney. I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past four years and grateful to the communities who have been and will always be the heart of criminal justice reform.” Gascón, who was a co-author of Prop 47, was ushered into office in 2020 amid a reckoning over police misconduct and national calls for criminal justice reform. His directives – such as the elimination of cash bail, not seeking the death penalty and refusing to try underage defendants charged with violent crimes as adults – were panned by critics as being too soft on crime. CALIFORNIA CITY EXPERIENCING ‘PERFECT STORM’ OF CRIME AND SCANDAL: ‘VACUUM OF LEADERSHIP’ In another loss for Soros-backed prosecutors in the Golden State, Alameda County, California, District Attorney Pamela Price was recalled early Wednesday, less than two years after taking office, following backlash for her alleged soft-on-crime approach. Oakland Democratic Mayor Sheng Thao, who faced heat from her constituents amid rising crime, grand theft auto street muggings, was also ousted from office after her recall effort passed with 65% of the vote. In San Francisco, where crime has been a major concern with voters, Democratic Mayor London Breed lost her re-election campaign. “I don’t think this has really cabined to people who cared about crime,” Stimson said. “This is just we want our beautiful state back. We want our beautiful cities back. And your cancerous failed social experiment, your social pandemic that you’ve unleashed on us is gone. We’re done. We’re done with this. And that’s what’s happening.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “So, Pamela Price, losing, getting recalled. That’s a no-brainer. George Gascón losing 2 to 1. That’s a no-brainer. Prop 36 passing, that’s a no-brainer because it was the epitome of stupid and a hard thing for people to acknowledge is that Trump didn’t win because Black men are misogynists and Hispanic men are misogynists. Gascón didn’t lose because Black men are misogynist and Hispanics are misogynists. Price wasn’t recalled because of that. Prop 36