North Carolina GOP town hall turns heated as self-described veteran escorted out by security
A North Carolina Republican Congressman’s town hall event grew heated after a man who identified himself as a veteran stood up and started shouting at him, yelling “you don’t give a f— about me!” before being escorted away by police. The outburst unfolded Thursday night at a college auditorium in Asheville during a gathering hosted by Rep. Chuck Edwards, who serves the state’s 11th District. “In my view, the debt crisis has been largely ignored far too long and the time is now to fix how Washington works. To that end, I was proud to vote recently for the House budget resolution which provides the framework,” Edwards was heard telling the audience before being interrupted by boos and jeers. He then said, “And you wonder why folks don’t want to do these town halls.” Moments later, a man in the audience started shouting at Edwards, saying “You have nothing to say but lies. You’re lying. I’m a veteran, and you don’t give a f— about me!” DEMOCRAT LEADER SWINGS THROUGH GOP-HELD DISTRICTS AFTER ‘CLOWN SHOW PROTESTS’ HALTED TOWN HALLS “You don’t get to take away our rights” the man continued to shout. “You don’t get to do this to us!” The audience in the room applauded as the man was removed from the room by law enforcement. “You f—— touch me again and I’ll lay you the f— out!” the man said before exiting the area. Edwards later said on X that he had a “lively town hall with my constituents in Asheville.” DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR SAYS NEWSOM SHOULDN’T HAVE HOSTED BANNON ON PODCAST Around 300 people attended the 1.5-hour long event, where Edwards answered questions on topics such as cuts orchestrated by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to the Associated Press. “Do you support the annexation of Canada and/or Greenland? And this is a yes or no question, I don’t want you to wander off into the woods, I don’t want to hear about your latest week in your office,” Edwards was asked by one audience member, to which he replied “the short answer to that is no.” Last week, President Donald Trump said “Paid ‘troublemakers’ are attending Republican Town Hall Meetings” and “It is all part of the game for the Democrats.” “We may not agree on every issue, but hearing the concerns of Western North Carolinians and answering your questions will continue to be a priority of mine,” Edwards said.
‘We have never been this close to peace’ since Russia invaded Ukraine, Leavitt tells reporters
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Friday that “we have never been closer to peace,” as the U.S. waits for Russia’s answer on a 30-day ceasefire agreement. Ukraine accepted the deal earlier this week after a meeting with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia, on the condition that Moscow commits to the plan. Leavitt noted that this morning President Donald Trump put out a scathing Truth Social post that included a message urging the Russians to accept the U.S. ceasefire proposal. TRUMP ‘HOPES’ PUTIN AGREES TO CEASEFIRE AS MOSCOW SIGNALS NO TRUCE YET “He is putting pressure on President Putin and the Russians to do the right thing,” Leavitt told reporters. “Yesterday was a productive day for the United States of America and for the world. In terms of peace, we have never been this close to peace.” In celebrating the administration’s success, Leavitt pointed out that yesterday NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised Trump’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war. Rutte told Trump that he “broke the deadlock” in the Russia-Ukraine war with this week’s peace talks in Saudi Arabia and the opening of a “dialogue with the Russians.” ZELENSKYY ACCUSES PUTIN OF TRYING TO STALL CEASEFIRE TALKS, PUSHES TRUMP FOR TOUGHER SANCTIONS “Ukraine, you broke the deadlock, as you said, all the killing and the young people dying, cities getting destroyed. And the fact that you did that, you started a dialogue with the Russians and the successful talks in Saudi Arabia, now with the Ukrainians. I really want to commend you for this,” Rutte said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for tougher sanctions on Russia and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to drag out the peace talks to prolong the war. However, on Thursday, while taking questions from reporters alongside Rutte, Trump said he would prefer peace to sanctions, but noted that there were things the U.S. could do financially that would be “very bad for Russia.” He did not specify what that would entail.
Tulsi Gabbard lists ‘recent examples of unauthorized leaks’ from intelligence community, announces crackdown
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced a crackdown on leaks within the intelligence community. Gabbard — a former Democratic congresswoman turned Trump-supporting Republican — was sworn in to the DNI post last month. “Our nation’s Intelligence Community must be focused on our national security mission. Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people, and will not be tolerated,” she declared on Friday in a thread on X TULSI GABBARD’S WARNING TO SENATE ON SYRIA PROVES PROPHETIC AS AL QAEDA-LINKED REGIME SLAUGHTERS MINORITIES “Unfortunately, such leaks have become commonplace with no investigation or accountability. That ends now. We know of and are aggressively pursuing recent leakers from within the Intelligence Community and will hold them accountable,” Gabbard added. She then listed several “recent examples” of intelligence community leaks: GABBARD SAYS BIDEN ADMIN IGNORED ‘HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE’ CHATS HAPPENING AT NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCIES She concluded the thread by warning that unauthorized disclosure of classified material is a breach of the law and will be handled accordingly. “I’m grateful that @DNIGabbard is working to end leaking and the weaponization of the Intelligence Community. Another promise made and promise kept,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a post. TULSI GABBARD SWORN IN AT WHITE HOUSE HOURS AFTER SENATE CONFIRMATION CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, tweeted, “Restore an intelligence community that fits within the Constitution, and stays focused on America’s national security.”
Sununu says ‘door is not closed’ on ’26 Senate run in battleground New Hampshire: ‘I would win’
NEWFIELDS, N.H. – Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is keeping the door open to a possible Republican run next year in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu, who enjoys a large national profile, thanks to his regular appearances the past few years on the cable news networks and Sunday talk shows, emphasized that the “door is not closed,” when asked on Fox News Radio’s “The Guy Benson Show” if he’s considering a Senate run. And Sununu, who was elected and re-elected to four straight two-year terms as governor of the key New England swing state, touted on Thursday that if he were to run, “I would win, by the way.” WHY THIS LONGTIME DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ISN’T RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION NEXT YEAR The 78-year-old Shaheen, the first woman in the nation’s history to win election as governor and as a U.S. senator, announced this week that she would retire at the end of next year rather than seek a fourth six-year term in the Senate. ONLY ON FOX NEWS: SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS HOW MANY SEATS HE’S AIMING FOR IN 2026 Even before Shaheen’s announcement, her seat in New Hampshire was considered one of the GOP’s top pick-up opportunities in the 2026 midterms – along with Michigan, where Sen. Gary Peters is also retiring, and Georgia, where Republicans consider first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff vulnerable – as Republicans hope to expand their current 53-47 majority. Sununu, in 2021, expressed interest in running for the Senate against his predecessor as governor, Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan, who was up for re-election in 2022. And the popular governor was heavily courted by national Republicans to take on Hassan. But on Nov. 9, 2021, Sununu announced that he would instead run for a fourth term as governor, upsetting many Republicans in the nation’s capital. TOP POLITICAL HANDICAPPER REVEALS DEMOCRATS CHANCES OF WINNING BACK THE SENATE MAJORITY And he heavily criticized the Senate. “When you look at what their (senators) job is and what a governor’s job is . . . it’s not even close. I can’t tell you how many senators told me, ‘You’re just going to have to wait around a couple of years to get anything done.’ Can you imagine me sitting around a couple of years,” Sununu emphasized at the time. “They debate and talk and nothing gets done. . . . That’s not the world I live in.” Fast-forward to this past year, and Sununu repeatedly said he wouldn’t seek to run for the Senate in 2026. In a November interview with Fox News Digital, the then-governor reiterated what he had first said in a July interview. “Definitely ruling out running for the Senate in 2026. Yeah, definitely not on my dance card,” Sununu said in an interview along the sidelines of the Republican Governors Association winter meeting in Florida. The 50-year-old Sununu, who when he was first elected in 2016 was the nation’s youngest governor, was asked again about a 2026 Senate run in a Fox News Digital interview in early January, in his last full day in office. SUNUNU OPENS UP ABOUT WHAT’S NEXT AFTER HE FINISHES HIS TERM AS GOVERNOR “I’m not planning on running for anything right now. I’m really not, at least for the next two, four, six years,” he emphasized. “Who knows what happens down the road, but it would be way down the road and nothing, nothing I’m planning on, nothing my family would tolerate either short term.” Sununu, in his interview on Thursday, cautioned that while he’s keeping the door open to a potential 2026 campaign, “I’m not saying it’s a high probability. Can’t wait to jump in. Definitely not.” As for his change of mind from his steadfast no to a slight maybe, Sununu said that “some folks in New Hampshire especially, and some of our mutual friends in Washington, D.C., have asked me to at least keep the door open and reconsider, and I am.” As for his timetable for making a decision, Sununu said on Friday in an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” that he would “take a few weeks to think about it.” Sununu isn’t the only Republican mulling a Senate bid in New Hampshire. Former Sen. Scott Brown, of Massachusetts, who later narrowly lost to Shaheen in New Hampshire in the 2014 election, is seriously considering a 2026 run. FORMER TRUMP AMBASSADOR EYES SENATE RETURN Brown, who served four years as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand during President Donald Trump’s first administration, has been holding meetings with Republicans across New Hampshire for a couple of months and has met multiple times with GOP officials in the nation’s capital. Brown recently met with top Trump administration political officials at the White House, sources tell Fox News Digital. Brown, who told Fox News Digital late last year that he was seriously considering a Senate run, took aim at Granite State Democrats, arguing that “they’re just completely out of touch with what we want here in New Hampshire. And the more I think about it, I think we can do better.” Sununu, who’s long been known for his frenetic pace and his confidence on the campaign trail, highlighted, “I know how to run. I know how to win. . . . I think we’ve got a great record here. I just know my voters, and they know me. . . . And so, if I really wanted to do this, I have no doubt we could be very, very successful. I know that sounds arrogant. . . . I don’t care. I’m just saying things are the ABCs of me winning.” On his past criticism of how the Senate functions, Sununu noted that “there’s something that definitely changed from when I really didn’t want to do it in ’22 to today. You know, specifically just the priority. I mean, back then, I had Republicans in the U.S. Senate telling me balancing budgets didn’t matter,” Sununu elaborated. And he argued that “clearly that has changed.”
Nancy Pelosi urges senators to oppose key spending bill, risking shutdown
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and several key Democrats are urging Senate Democrats to risk a government shutdown by opposing a must-pass spending bill being considered on the Senate floor today. Instead, Pelosi, who represents San Francisco and is a leading Democrat in the House, is urging senators to back a shorter-term funding extension that would allow more time for negotiation. The Senate will take a key procedural vote on Friday afternoon to potentially tee up final passage of a crucial stopgap government spending bill – known as a continuing resolution (CR) – to avoid a partial shutdown as time runs out. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed that he would vote for the House-passed CR, because “a shutdown would be a gift” for President Donald Trump and Republicans. DEMOCRATS FACE PRESSURE TO ACT AND AVOID A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Pelosi, a leading Democrat in the House, however, is saying the bill presents a “false choice.” “Donald Trump and Elon Musk have offered the Congress a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank check that makes a devastating assault on the well-being of working families across America,” she wrote on X. “Let’s be clear,” she went on, “neither is a good option for the American people. But this false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable.” Pelosi commended House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Democrats for overwhelmingly voting against the bill. DEMOCRATS BLAST SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER FOR BACKING GOP SPENDING BILL She said that Democratic senators “should listen to the women” in Congress. “Appropriations leaders Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray have eloquently presented the case that we must have a better choice: a four-week funding extension to keep government open and negotiate a bipartisan agreement,” said Pelosi. “America has experienced a Trump shutdown before – but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse,” she said. “Democrats must not buy into this false choice. We must fight back for a better way. Listen to the women, For The People.” Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a billionaire and another elected official seen as a leading Democrat voice, is also urging Senate Democrats to oppose the bill. DEM GOVERNOR TO HEADLINE MAJOR FUNDRAISER IN KEY PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY STATE STOKING 2028 SPECULATION “Democrats have the power to stop the cessation of power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and they should use it,” he said in a press release. He slammed congressional Republicans for having “abdicated their responsibility” to keep Trump’s power in check. “America was founded on the concept of checks and balances, but Republicans in Congress have decided to bend their knee to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their cronies who seek to gut our government from the inside out. It is dangerous,” he said. “Democrats have the ability to force bipartisanship and bring the two sides together to make a budget that reflects priorities we all ought to share,” he added. “I urge a no vote on the Continuing Resolution.”
Germany parties agree plan for spending boost, debt brake overhaul
The plan calls for a $545bn fund for infrastructure spending. Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has announced a deal to drastically overhaul the country’s debt rules to allow a boom in defence and security spending as well as 500 billion euros ($545bn) in infrastructure investment in the next 12 years. Merz’s conservatives and their prospective Social Democratic coalition partners reached an agreement with the Greens party on Friday to exempt spending above 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence and security – including civil protection, intelligence and “aid to countries under illegal attack” – from the nation’s constitutionally enshrined debt brake. “Germany is back,” Merz said, adding that the agreement signalled to partners and adversaries Berlin’s willingness to defend itself. The debt brake has been the hallmark of Berlin’s fiscal policy since it was introduced by former Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2009 and limited new borrowing to 0.35 percent of GDP. Economists and investors have long urged Germany to reform its debt brake to free up investment and support an economy that has contracted for the past two years. Advertisement Friday’s deal was reached as US President Donald Trump pivots away from supporting Ukraine in its fight to repel Russia’s invasion amid strains in ties between Washington and the European Union. Concerns over the future direction of US foreign policy have fuelled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly ramp up its military funding amid signs of increasing Russian aggression. “Any further delay” in boosting [defence] spending “would be irresponsible”, Merz said during a parliamentary debate on Thursday. “In view of the alarming security situation in Europe in every respect and the growing economic challenges in our country, far-reaching decisions … cannot be postponed any longer,” he told lawmakers. But Friday’s deal follows several days of often acrimonious debate, during which members of the Greens had threatened to withhold their support, citing insufficient action on the environment in the plan. Their votes were necessary to achieve the two-thirds majority in the German parliament needed to modify the debt brake. Merz – whose conservatives finished first in February elections – said that after talks with the Greens, it had been agreed that 100 billion euros ($108bn) of the infrastructure fund would be dedicated to climate protection measures. His incoming government is eager to get the spending plans approved before the newly elected parliament convenes at the end of March. In the new chamber, the far-right Alternative for Germany and the far-left Left party, which oppose the plans, would have the numbers to block the measures. Advertisement Both parties have filed legal challenges against the spending plans at the Federal Constitutional Court, arguing there will be insufficient time for consultations. Adblock test (Why?)
Columbia expels, suspends students after government threats: What we know
Columbia University has expelled, suspended or revoked degrees of students who occupied a campus hall during pro-Palestinian demonstrations in April 2024, the university said on Thursday. Students were issued with punishments based on the “severity of behaviour at these events” and past infractions, if any, a statement from Columbia read. The move is the university’s response to a crackdown on student activists in the United States who led pro-Palestine demonstrations last year amid Israel’s war on Gaza, and called for their schools to cut financial ties with Israel. It also comes after the government cut $400m in federal funding for Columbia on March 7. The university was one of 60 institutions threatened with further cuts in a letter from US authorities this week. Here’s what we know about the threat to Columbia and how it has responded: What does the US government’s letter to Columbia and other universities say? On March 10, the US Department of Education sent letters to 60 institutions, informing them they were under investigation for “antisemitic harassment and discrimination” and warning them of potential law enforcement actions if they don’t “protect Jewish students”. Advertisement Prominent institutions such as Columbia, Harvard and Princeton were among the schools which received the notice. All 60 schools benefit from US federal funding. The letter cited Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which the education department said mandates universities to “protect Jewish students on campus, including (by providing) uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities”. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was quoted as saying in the missive: “The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better.” SHALOM COLUMBIA: The Trump Admin, led by @USEDgov and the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (@TheJusticeDept, @HHSGov, & @USGSA), has canceled ~$400M in federal grants to @Columbia over its failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. pic.twitter.com/CavoXbhhvx — The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 7, 2025 Earlier, on March 7, the Department of Education announced a $400m funding cut to Columbia specifically, citing a “failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment”. The school was a major hub during a wave of campus protests that swept the US last year as Israel’s war on Gaza escalated. On April 30, a group of students, staff and alumni occupied Hamilton Hall, an academic building on campus, before being forcibly cleared by New York police on request of the university’s leadership. Advertisement How has Columbia responded? What action has it taken against students? Columbia has not publicly responded to the letter from the education department. However, in a statement to staff and students on March 10, Columbia’s interim president Katrina Armstrong said funding cuts would impact “research and critical functions of the University”, and would affect staff and students. About a quarter of the university’s more than $6bn yearly operation costs are met by federal grants. Then, on Thursday, Columbia announced that students involved in last year’s Hamilton Hall protest have received multiple-year suspensions or outright expulsions following the university’s investigations. The months-long process was carried out by the school’s University Judicial Board, and included hearings for each student involved. “Columbia is committed to enforcing the University’s Rules and Policies and improving our disciplinary processes,” the university said. March 13, 2025 University Statement Regarding UJB Determinations: https://t.co/C8Hn518ZId pic.twitter.com/dgr71AzMeX — Columbia University (@Columbia) March 13, 2025 Others who have since graduated will have their degrees revoked, it added. The names and precise number of students sanctioned by the judicial board were not revealed. According to The Associated Press news agency, several other students have been notified by university officials that they are also under investigation for sharing social media posts in support of Palestinian people or joining “unauthorised” protests. Advertisement ‘Dangerous times’: How have students and others reacted? In an opinion published in the university’s publication Columbia Daily Spectator in February, a body of student workers accused the university’s leadership of not taking a stand. “The Student Workers of Columbia sent you a letter asking for assurance that Columbia would protect noncitizen students, faculty and staff. In response we received a vague reply from your office, which seemed to reference a completely different topic. Rather than standing up for the Columbia community, the University’s leadership has stood by or, worse, accelerated and enabled these threats,” the body wrote. Columbia University authorities this week warned students at the institution’s journalism school about posting on social media, according to reporting by The New York Times. Non-US citizens were especially warned to avoid publishing about Gaza or Ukraine. “If you have a social media page, make sure it is not filled with commentary on the Middle East,” the journalism school’s dean, Jelani Cobb told students. “Nobody can protect you … these are dangerous times,” he added. “History shows that a university that does not advocate for the academic freedom of its own members is opening itself to further attacks on academic freedom in the future,” said historian Eraldo Souza dos Santos, who is currently affiliated with Cornell University. “Columbia seemingly not only ignored Khalil’s calls for protection, but also has been willing to collaborate with the current administration in its efforts to criminalise dissent on campus. Advertisement “It should, instead, be trying, within its own capacities, to offer legal and public-facing support to a generation of students who belong to the same long struggle against segregation and apartheid that took shape between the 1960s and 1980s,” he told Al Jazeera. Demonstrators hold placards as they protest on the day of a hearing on the detention of Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City on March 12, 2025 [Jeenah Moon/Reuters] What happened in the lead-up to all this? Authorities have also cracked down directly on students involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations. Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student who acted as student negotiator with university authorities
Residents near Ukraine’s frontline sceptical of ceasefire deal
[unable to retrieve full-text content] People in a town near the frontline in Ukraine’s Sumy region have told Al Jazeera they are mistrustful of US peace deal.
Pentagon calls Mark Milley ‘corpulent’ as it kicks off review of physical fitness and grooming standards
Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot lobbed a shot at the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mark Milley, as he explained Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s new review of physical fitness and grooming standards. “Unfortunately, the U.S. military’s high standards on body composition and other metrics eroded in recent years, particularly during the tenure of former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, who set a bad example from the top through his own personal corpulence. Secretary Hegseth is committed to restoring high standards, and this review is the first step in doing so,” Ullyot said in a statement to Fox News Digital. The Pentagon revoked Milley’s security detail and clearance in late January. The review comes after the secretary has voiced concerns that fitness standards have eroded, and questioned whether mismatched standards for men and women are affecting readiness. SECRETARY HEGSETH SAYS THE DOD DOES NOT DO ‘CLIMATE CHANGE CRAP’ The memo specifically calls out protocols for beards. It directs the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness to look at “existing standards set by the Military Departments pertaining to physical fitness, body composition, and grooming, which includes but is not limited to beards.” The memo directs the review to examine how standards have changed since 2015. “Our troops will be fit – not fat. Our troops will look sharp – not sloppy. We seek only quality – not quotas,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X late on Wednesday. HEGSETH ORDERS REVIEW OF MILITARY FITNESS AND GROOMING: ‘OUR ADVERSARIES ARE NOT GROWING WEAKER’ “That will be part of one of the first things we do at the Pentagon – is reviewing that in a gender-neutral way – the standards ensuring readiness and meritocracy is front and center,” Hegseth promised in January. In December 2015, the military opened up all combat roles to women. In a podcast interview shortly before he was tapped as secretary, Hegseth said the U.S. “should not have women in combat roles.” But during his confirmation hearing, he clarified that in ground combat roles, women should have to meet the same standards as men. DOGE INITIAL FINDINGS ON DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DEI SPENDING COULD SAVE $80M, AGENCY SAYS “Whether it is a man or woman, they have to meet the same high standards,” he said. “In any place where those things have been eroded, or courses or criteria have been changed to meet quotas . . . that’s the kind of review I’m talking about. Not whether women should have access to ground combat.” The review could possibly lead to changes to the Army Combat Fitness Test, which is currently scored under age- and gender-specific requirements. That became the Army’s standard fitness test in 2023, after decades of a physical fitness test that imposed the same standards on men and women. The current test requires men ages 17-21 to run two miles in 22 minutes, and women of the same age to do it in 23 minutes and 22 seconds. The service branches began making accommodations for recruits who don’t meet physical fitness standards in recent years as a way to address the recruiting crisis. The Army and Navy offered pre-boot camp training for those who did not meet physical fitness or testing scores. But those recruits had to meet the same standards in order to graduate from training courses and serve. “When I was in the Army, we kicked out good soldiers for having naked women tattooed on their arms, and today we are relaxing the standards on shaving, dreadlocks, man buns, and straight-up obesity,” Hegseth wrote in his book ‘The War on Warriors.’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Piece by piece, the standards had to go … because of equity,” he added. The service branches have begun allowing troops to sport different hairstyles, in large part due to female service members who argued that the constant tight, low bun was leading to hair loss. In recent years, the Army has begun allowing cornrows and twists after female service members argued that the hairstyles were cheaper and easier to maintain.
Anna Paulina Luna escalates DOJ standoff over Epstein docs, unveils SHRED Act
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wants federal agents caught destroying or concealing government documents to be eligible for a life sentence in prison. Luna, who is leading a task force on the declassification of government records, is introducing a new bill called the Stopping High-level Record Elimination and Destruction (SHRED) Act of 2025. It would levy a mandatory sentence of 20 years to life for any government official or employee of the Department of Justice (DOJ) found to have concealed, removed, or mutilated federal records, according to bill text previewed by Fox News Digital. Federal law currently dictates that anyone found knowingly destroying, falsifying, or obstructing government records “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States” is eligible for a fine or up to 20 years in prison. ‘TIPPING THE SCALES’: HOUSE GOP LEADERS RIP ACTBLUE AFTER DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT HIT WITH SUBPOENA Any custodian of public records found to be destroying or concealing those records could be fined up to $2,000 or face up to three years in prison, or both. Luna’s push for increased penalties comes amid her continued standoff with the Trump administration over the declassification of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy Jr., among others. Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have repeatedly vowed to lead with transparency, including on the subjects of Epstein and Kennedy. However, Luna told Fox News Digital earlier this week that she had not had significant communications with the DOJ about her task force matters. “The DOJ has not been really responsive,” she said Tuesday. “Even if they are, you know, conducting a criminal investigation, you should probably pick up the phone and call us, and not talk about it on the news.” GOPERS PRESS FOR THE RELEASE OF JFK, EPSTEIN FILES: HERE’S WHY THEY’RE NOT OUT Conservative influencer Benny Johnson reported on whistleblower allegations within the last month that rank-and-file agents within the FBI were destroying documents in a bid to block Patel’s work Meanwhile, there has been a tidal wave of pressure from the right for Bondi and Patel to declassify documents about Epstein. An initial round of information, first released to conservative influencers at the White House, was blasted for containing no meaningful evidence implicating anyone in the deceased pedophile’s crimes. Bondi told Fox News host Mark Levin earlier this month that she was misled on the Epstein documents, and that she was alerted after that initial release to the Southern District of New York “sitting on thousands of pages of documents” that she was not in possession of. She said Americans would see “the full Epstein files,” adding, “We will have it in our possession. We will redact it, of course, to protect grand jury information and confidential witnesses, but American people have a right to know.” The DOJ was not able to immediately return a request for comment by Fox News Digital.