Trump-endorsed Sen Lindsey Graham files for re-election: ‘Nobody is better prepared’
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a Monday post on X that he filed for re-election. “It’s official. I just left my campaign headquarters after filing for re-election. Thanks to all the family, friends and supporters that make this possible,” Graham wrote in the post. President Donald Trump endorsed Graham for re-election last year. GRAHAM SAYS REPUBLICANS WON’T LET DEMS ‘DEFUND’ ICE, CBP AT ‘A TIME WE’RE UNDER SERIOUS THREAT’ “Senator Lindsey Graham has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN. Everyone in South Carolina should help Lindsey have a BIG WIN next year!” Trump declared in part of a March 2025 Truth Social post. Some on the political right pushed back against the president’s move. But others on the right have backed Graham for re-election. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson endorsed Graham last year, describing the senator as “a steadfast conservative leader for South Carolina and our nation.” Graham has served in the U.S. Senate since early 2003. The long-serving lawmaker is a staunch supporter of President Trump’s decision to launch the war against Iran in conjunction with Israel. “Through Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury, @POTUS acted in the nick of time to prevent a nuclear armed Iranian regime. Past administrations failed to effectively confront this threat,” Graham said in part of a Monday post on X. TOP IRANIAN LEADERS ALI LARIJANI, GHOLAMREZA SOLEIMANI KILLED IN STRIKES, ISRAEL SAYS There are some candidates seeking to challenge Graham in the South Carolina Republican U.S. Senate primary. “Senator Lindsey Graham officially filed for re-election today with the South Carolina State Election Commission, formally launching his campaign to continue representing the people of South Carolina in the United States Senate,” a March 16 press release noted. “Following his filing, Senator Graham was joined by family, supporters, volunteers, and campaign staff at his campaign headquarters in Columbia, where he shared his vision for South Carolina’s future and outlined how he plans to continue delivering President Trump’s agenda for communities across the state,” the release added. “Nobody is better prepared to help President Trump protect us from evil than I am. Nobody is better prepared to help him get his agenda through the Senate than I am. Nobody running is better prepared to help our state than I am,” Graham said, according to the release.
Trump says he believes he has ‘honor’ of ‘taking Cuba,’ calls Caribbean island a ‘very weakened nation’
President Donald Trump said he believes he has the “honor” of “taking Cuba” as he described the Caribbean island as a “very weakened nation.” Trump made the remark to Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy on Monday, the same day Cuba plunged into a blackout after its entire electrical grid suddenly suffered a total collapse. “When you say Cuba is next, is Cuba – whatever you do with the military there, it seems like something – will that look more like Iran or Venezuela?” Doocy asked the president in the Oval Office. “I can’t tell you that. I can tell you that they’re talking to us. It’s a failed nation. They have no money, they have no oil, they have no nothing,” Trump responded, before later saying, “I do believe I’ll be the honor of, having the honor of taking Cuba… That’s a big honor.” CUBAN PRESIDENT REVEALS TALKS WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AS FUEL BLOCKADE CHOKES DOMESTIC ENERGY SUPPLY AND ECONOMY “Taking Cuba?” Doocy said. “Taking Cuba in some form. Yeah. Taking Cuba, I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth?” Trump said. “They’re a very weakened nation right now. They were for a long time. A very violent, very violent leaders. Castro is a very violent leader. His brother is a very violent leader, extremely violent. That’s how they governed. They governed with violence. But a lot of people would like to go back.” PROTESTERS TORCH COMMUNIST PARTY HQ IN CUBA; VIDEO APPEARS TO CAPTURE GUNFIRE The Cuban government is in talks with Trump administration officials, the country’s president said Friday, as Havana works to halt a potential regime change as it deals with a widening energy crisis. Cuba’s economy has struggled since the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from his home in Caracas at the start of the year. The Trump administration immediately cut off oil exports to the island. Earlier this month, Trump also vowed to “take care” of Cuba’s regime following America’s focus on Iran. Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Bonny Chu contributed to this report.
New names emerge in Jack Smith’s wide-ranging bid for GOP lawmakers’ phone records, unearthed emails show
FIRST ON FOX: Internal Department of Justice emails obtained by Fox News Digital show prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith sought phone records in 2023 for a wide-ranging group of Republican lawmakers, including newly revealed names such as a current Trump administration official. The email exchanges between prosecutors beginning Jan. 9, 2023, show Smith’s team mapped out a web of House and Senate lawmakers who interacted with key people in Smith’s probe into the 2020 election, including figures like President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led many of Trump’s unsuccessful legal challenges to the election results. New names within the emails obtained by Fox News Digital include Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and then-Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency. “I’d like to seek [the Public Integrity Section’s] concurrence to get phone tolls for several MOCs who had contact with pertinent parties in our investigation,” wrote former DOJ lawyer Timothy Duree. “I’ll keep the timeframe tight—probably October 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.” The emails were part of Smith’s investigation and prosecution of Trump over the 2020 election, which initially began as an FBI probe called Arctic Frost. Ongoing House and Senate Judiciary Committee investigations have revealed through various public disclosures that the Biden DOJ targeted a large web of Republican people and entities with subpoenas during the probe, but the lawmakers’ records requests have become a top source of scrutiny. JACK SMITH DEFENDS SUBPOENAING REPUBLICAN SENATORS’ PHONE RECORDS: ‘ENTIRELY PROPER’ Duree produced 16 names and said he wanted to discuss whether to “subpoena these all at once.” The list included Babin and Biggs and now former Reps. Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, Zeldin and Jody Hice. The list also included Gohmert’s chief of staff Connie Hair, and seven senators whose names were previously revealed through public disclosures, such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Public disclosures previously showed that some of the 16 members’ phone records were indeed subpoenaed, but the new emails with new names, including Babin, Biggs and Zeldin, do not make clear if Smith ultimately executed subpoenas for their phone records. The phone records, also known as toll records, would have included dates, times and phone numbers but not the content of calls and messages. Raymond Hulser, a prosecutor on Smith’s team, responded at one point in the January 2023 email chain by acknowledging the scale of the subpoena request. “And please there’s no hurry this morning, [Duree]” Hulser wrote. “It just occurred to me that before we tell Main we are going to fire off subpoenas for so many members tolls I should make sure Jack’s aware.” DEM REP DEFENDS DOJ OBTAINING GOP SENATOR CALL RECORDS IN 2023: ‘YOU WEREN’T SURVEILLED’ Smith, who has since testified to the House Judiciary Committee about his work, has stood by the subpoenas, saying they were “entirely proper” and followed DOJ protocol. The Republicans who were targeted have, however, condemned the subpoenas as egregious violations of the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which gives Congress members an added layer of immunity from investigations. In addition to members of Congress, public disclosures by the congressional committees revealed that Smith targeted hundreds of Republican-affiliated people and entities as he pursued charges against Trump. Smith eventually brought four criminal charges against the then-Republican presidential candidate alleging he illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election results. But he dropped the case after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DOJ policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. In another email from the January 2023 email chain, Hulser directed Duree to check the Jan. 6 Committee’s report for members who interacted with Trump and Giuliani on Jan. 6, the day of the U.S. Capitol breach, underscoring how Smith’s prosecutors used the investigative work of the committee to help with their probe. Republicans have widely dismissed the since-disbanded Jan. 6 panel as hyper-partisan as it comprised seven Democrats and two vocally anti-Trump Republicans. Hulser later said Smith wanted to “narrow” down the list of 16, leading Duree to provide a bolded list of names “we should get in the first round.” No. 1 on the list, for instance, read “Brian Babin (texts with Meadows; calls with Chip Roy, [Scott] Perry, Ratcliffe, and Meadows).” Other names noted on the list followed a similar structure. Roy and Perry were known targets in Smith’s probe and previously revealed that they had their records subpoenaed by the special counsel’s team. Fox News Digital reached out to a Smith representative for comment, as well as the current House lawmakers mentioned in the emails and Zeldin’s office.
Top counterterrorism official resigns in protest of US war against Iran
The nation’s top counterterrorism official resigned Tuesday in protest of the U.S. war against Iran, saying Tehran posed no imminent threat. Joe Kent said in a post on X, “After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.” “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” he wrote. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” In a pointed letter to President Donald Trump, Kent said the war marked a departure from the administration’s earlier approach to avoiding prolonged conflicts in the Middle East. IRANIAN REGIME SPREADING ANTI-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA ACROSS DOZENS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: REPORT “Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation,” he said, seemingly referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, a series of U.S. strikes in June 2025 on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Kent wrote that in his first term, Trump understood how to “decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars,” citing the killing of former Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. Prior to the current conflict known as Operation Epic Fury, Kent claimed that “high-ranking Israeli officials” and members of the media had deployed a “misinformation campaign” to “undermine” America First. “This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was an clear path to swift victory,” Kent said. The National Counterterrorism Center director reports directly to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and is a top five intelligence community post in any administration. WHY GULF STATES AREN’T JOINING THE WAR AGAINST IRAN — DESPITE ATTACKS ON THEIR SOIL Gabbard, a longtime critic of regime change operations, has been quiet since the Iran conflict. Her office could not immediately be reached for comment on Kent’s resignation. She recently hired Dan Caldwell, a prominent voice for restraint-minded foreign policy, as an advisor to senior intelligence officials, a source familiar with the move confirmed to Fox News Digital. Caldwell was fired from his role as a senior advisor to War Secretary Pete Hegseth during a leak investigation that has not produced public results. A former Army Green Beret and CIA paramilitary officer with 11 combat deployments, Kent ran for Congress unsuccessfully twice with Trump’s backing in the state of Washington before being appointed to his role as counterterrorism chief. Kent’s late wife, Shannon, was a Navy intelligence officer killed in 2019 in an ISIS bombing in Syria. Kent wrote on X Tuesday, “As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people or justifies the cost of American lives.” The White House could not immediately be reached for comment on Kent’s resignation. Taylor Budowich, who departed his role as Trump’s deputy chief of staff in September 2025, claimed on X that Kent was a “crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work.” “This isn’t some principled resignation — he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned,” Budowich wrote on X Tuesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Kent was “clearly wrong.” “I got all the briefings,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “We all understood there was clearly an imminent threat, that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability, and they were building missiles at a pace that no one in the region could keep up with.” Kent’s tenure drew sharp opposition from Democrats during his confirmation, largely over his past political statements and associations, including reported contacts with figures tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, movement and his alignment with election denial rhetoric during his congressional campaigns, but supporters pointed to his extensive combat and intelligence experience. Operation Epic Fury is now in its third week, with sustained air and missile exchanges across the region, including Iranian retaliatory strikes against U.S. forces, Israel, and Gulf states. While the Trump administration initially signaled the operation could last four to six weeks, officials have acknowledged the timeline could stretch longer as Iran continues to resist and regional tensions remain high.
Map shows glaring scope of auto theft increase in Walz’s Minneapolis: ‘Deterrence problem’
The city of Minneapolis has seen a dramatic increase in auto thefts so far in 2026, causing rising pressure on Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey to address the situation. The worrying trend was highlighted by Crime Watch Minneapolis, a volunteer-operated news organization, which shared a graphic on X showing how widespread the problem has become throughout the city. More than 1,000 auto thefts were reported in January and February of this year in Minneapolis, a city of approximately 430,000 people. This represents an increase of nearly 35% compared to the same period last year, according to Crime Watch Minneapolis. The trend appears to be continuing into March, with at least 14 reported auto thefts between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. on March 14 and six more during the afternoon on that same day, according to the news site. Over the last few months, Walz and Frey have made numerous statements attacking ICE and blaming federal immigration authorities for making the city less safe. Earlier this year, the two were the focus of a Department of Justice investigation into an alleged conspiracy to coerce or obstruct federal law enforcement during U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minnesota. MCDONALD’S LOCKS DOORS TO KEEP OUT INDIVIDUALS WHO PRESENT ‘A RISK’ IN CRIME-RIDDEN MINNEAPOLIS AREA Additionally, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara suggested to local media that Trump’s Operation Metro Surge was a “contributing factor” to the rise in auto thefts because “officers and investigators were consistently pulled from their normal assigned duties.” “This isn’t an ICE problem,” retired Minnesota State Patrol Lt. John Nagel told Fox News Digital. “It’s a deterrence problem.” “As a 30-year law enforcement veteran, I can tell you this: auto theft goes down when city leaders make it a priority and criminals know there will be consequences. We’ve seen that in St. Paul, where focused enforcement drove car theft down sharply, while Minneapolis is back over 1,000 auto thefts in just the first two months of this year.” Nagel, running for Congress as a Republican against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital that Frey and Walz have “spent years making excuses, undermining deterrence, and tolerating a revolving door for repeat offenders—especially juveniles.” WALZ IN THE HOT SEAT AS CRITICS’ PREDICTIONS ON HIS CONTROVERSIAL NEW LAW COME TRUE: ‘CONCERNING TRENDS’ “If you want fewer stolen cars, you need more officers, proactive policing, prosecutors willing to act, and a juvenile system with the capacity to intervene before these kids become career criminals,” Nagel said, referencing the understaffed Minneapolis Police Department that has been severely understaffed since losing 40% of its ranks after the death of George Floyd in 2020. A Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson acknowledged to Fox News Digital that the department “continues to be understaffed” and pointed to differences between Minneapolis and St. Paul, including the policy that MPD does “not pursue stolen vehicles.” The spokesperson also reiterated the claim from Chief O’Hara that Operation Metro Surge was a “contributing factor” and said that the 1,196 auto thefts in the city year to date break down into: “Non-Kia/Hyundai vehicles taken without keys — auto theft up 59%, Kia/Hyundai taken without keys (ignition peeled and punched) auto theft up 25% (313 vs 251), Keys-In auto theft up 18% (291 vs 247) cases. Victim said they left vehicle running, attempted auto theft up 10% — 99 this year vs 90 last year. Car not actually stolen.” “While the recent spike earlier in the year reversed the trend somewhat, the rolling 12-month data still shows that auto thefts remain 38% below their mid-2023 peak,” the spokesperson said, adding that the city “is also seeing signs of a broader nationwide trend involving the use of key-programming technology to steal vehicles.” Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Walz and Frey for comment but did not receive a response. A spokesperson for County Attorney Mary Moriarty told Fox News Digital that motor vehicle thefts are “really tough for police to solve,” noting that only about 3% of cases result in an arrest, making “deterrence much less likely.” The spokesperson added that the office launched an initiative in mid-2023 in response to a spike in car thefts and said University of Minnesota research later found a 58% drop in cases involving teens stealing cars since the program began, though the official said multiple factors likely contributed to the decline. “It takes a very wide-angle lens and adherence/interest in what the data actually indicates to properly address these dynamics,” the spokesperson said.
Jasmine Crockett defends her security guard who was killed in police standoff, wanted for impersonating cop
The man who worked security for Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, but was killed in a standoff with SWAT last week was accused of impersonating a police officer and other offenses, although the congresswoman is defending him, saying his criminal history does not include any violent offenses. The suspect, who was identified as Diamon-Mazairre Robinson, 39, was shot and killed by Dallas Police SWAT officers on Wednesday. He had barricaded himself inside a vehicle in the garage of a children’s hospital after Dallas Police officers tracked him while investigating an active warrant. Police deployed tear gas to force him out before the suspect exited the vehicle and pointed a gun at officers, leading officers to shoot him. The suspect did not fire his gun, and no officers were injured. Dash camera footage of the incident at Children’s Medical Center Dallas was released on Monday. JASMINE CROCKETT’S ALLEGED SECURITY GUARD KILLED IN STANDOFF WITH DALLAS SWAT TEAM: REPORTS He was wanted for impersonating a law enforcement officer and had claimed to be one while recruiting for his business that placed off-duty officers in security jobs. Robinson was driving a replica undercover car with stolen U.S. government plates, often wore fake police uniforms pretending he was a federal agent and created a fraudulent business where he used fake identifying information to hire legitimate police officers for off-duty jobs. Dallas Police also said 11 firearms were recovered during their investigation, including the handgun he was holding during the shooting, which was reported stolen. He was also not using his real name, going by the alias “Mike King.” “The agencies that he reported to work for do not exist. So dignitaries, basically special dignitary police, that agency does not exist within the federal government. So that’s who he portrayed to be. There was no actual federal agency that he worked for that existed. He was very good at hiding his true identity … He had been living like this for many years,” Dallas Deputy Police Chief William Griffith said on Monday. Robinson has a lengthy criminal history, with arrests going back as far as 2010. He has been charged with offenses such as theft and violating probation. Crockett came to the defense of her former security guard, releasing a statement on Monday saying her office was unable to find any violent offenses in his “limited criminal history.” “We are saddened and shocked by some of the concerning revelations. Our team followed all protocols outlined by the House to contract additional security. We were approved to use this vendor who also provided security services for additional entities in the local community and worked closely with law enforcement agencies including Capitol Police,” she said in the statement. The congresswoman said, “the fact that an individual was able to somehow circumvent the vetting processes for something as sensitive as security for members of Congress highlights the loopholes and shortcomings in many of our systems.” JASMINE CROCKETT CAMPAIGN REPORTEDLY KICKED ATLANTIC WRITER OUT OF RALLY FOR BEING A ‘TOP-NOTCH HATER’ “This is incredibly alarming, especially for those members who receive high volumes of credible and sophisticated death threats,” she said. “This situation reiterates the need for Capitol Police to provide security for members of Congress, especially under this administration’s new normal of inciting attacks on those who dare to speak out. We are fortunate that this is someone who used those loopholes without malice. Furthermore, after an initial review of the limited criminal history of Diamon Mazairre Robinson in Dallas County, we’ve been unable to locate any violent offenses.” The progressive lawmaker added that “there was never any reason to suspect that he wasn’t who he held himself out to be,” saying he never endangered her team, worked diligently, coordinated with local law enforcement and maintained positive relationships throughout the community.” “What we’re now learning about his past doesn’t fit the person we came to know as Mike King,” she wrote. “His death evokes a range of emotions. Our hearts grieve the loss of someone we knew and the lost good that could have come from his redemption.”
Trump questions Newsom’s fitness for White House, citing his dyslexia
President Donald Trump on Monday questioned California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s fitness for higher office, citing his learning disability. Trump was speaking with reporters in the Oval Office when he talked about requiring identification to vote in elections and the resistance from Newsom and other Democratic elected officials. “That’s how crazy it’s gotten with a low IQ person, you know, because Gavin Newsom has admitted…that he has learning disabilities,” Trump said. “Honestly, I’m all for people with learning disabilities. But not for my president…I think a president should not have learning disabilities.” GAVIN NEWSOM SPOX TELLS REPORTER ‘F— OFF’ WHEN ASKED FOR RECORDS OF HIS DYSLEXIA DIAGNOSIS “I know it’s highly controversial to say such a horrible thing,” he added. “Gavin Newsom admitted that he has learning disabilities, dyslexia. Everything about him is dumb.” Newsom, who is widely believed to have White House ambitions, has spoken about his dyslexia, a neurologically-based learning disability that makes it difficult to read, according to the International Dyslexia Association. “You’ve never seen me read a speech, because I cannot read a speech,” Newsom said in Atlanta last month while promoting his memoir: “Young Man in a Hurry.” “I haven’t overcome dyslexia. I’m living with it.” Trump also criticized Newsom for his remarks at that same Atlanta event. “I’m not, you know, I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to impress upon you, I’m like you. I’m no better than you,” Newsom told Mayor Andre Dickens at a book tour event. NEWSOM RIPPED FOR ‘RACIST’ VIRAL CLIP TELLING BLACK MAYOR ‘I’M LIKE YOU’ BEFORE TOUTING POOR SAT SCORE “You know, I’m a 960 SAT guy. And, you know, and I’m not trying to offend anyone, you know, ‘trying to act all there if you got 940,’” he continued. “Literally a 960 SAT guy, you’ve never seen me read a speech. Because I cannot read a speech. Maybe the wrong business to be in.” Republicans criticized the governor for allegedly talking down to a mostly Black audience. “So now, on top of everything else, I call him a racist because it happened to be a black audience,” Trump said Monday. “I will tell you this, I think it was the worst interview I’ve ever seen of any human being in my life.” At the time, Newsom’s office defended his comments in a previous statement to Fox News Digital. “First MAGA mocked his dyslexia and now they’re calling him racist for talking about his low SAT scores. This is MAGA-manufactured outrage,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said. “The Governor has said this publicly for years — including with Charlie Kirk and dozens of other audiences. The same people who excused or ignored Trump’s racist ape video can go f— themselves.” Fox News Digital has reached out to Newsom’s office.
Trump lawyer in Jack Smith case draws conservative backing after DOJ praise rattles ‘elite’ legal conference
President Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer received swift backing from conservative legal figures online after facing pushback at a recent American Bar Association (ABA) conference for praising the Trump Department of Justice. Attorney John Lauro, who defended Trump in special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election case, said the DOJ was “in a better place” under Trump, causing fellow panelists and audience members to shudder, according to a Bloomberg Law report of the event. Lauro told Fox News Digital in a brief phone call on Monday that the event “was a highly triggered environment.” “I called out the ABA and other elite legal organizations for not condemning the prior administration in holding political sham trials and show trials, particularly the one directed at President Trump, where the Biden administration wanted to put him on trial in 90 days, which is shorter than it takes for a traffic ticket to get worked through in D.C.,” Lauro said. LABOR DEPARTMENT ORDERS LAWYERS TO CUT TIES WITH ABA, SLAMS GROUP AS ‘RADICAL’ ACTIVIST FORCE The tense panel put a spotlight on the Trump administration’s ongoing fight with the ABA as it spurred DOJ officials and lawyers to voice their disdain for the organization. “The ABA is trash and I’m proud to never have been a member,” Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon said. “Its stunt trashing Judge [Robert] Bork did it for me.” “As if we needed anymore proof of the absolute disgrace that is the ABA,” wrote Associate Deputy Attorney General Diego Pestana. “John Lauro, one of the best trial attorneys in the country and patriot, treated terribly for simply daring to voice a view contrary to the liberal white collar bar.” Lauro said during the panel, held at a conference in San Diego, that he had “the unique experience of representing a political figure who was probably more abused by the criminal justice system in America than any other political figure ever.” “Everything that has gone on in the current administration must be looked at from the eyes of a man who was victimized by the criminal justice system,” Lauro said. Among those rallying behind Lauro was also Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan, who said the ABA “represents a hyperpartisan faction.” “That’s fine! But they should play no role in law school accreditation (or judicial selection),” Wessan said. Former DOJ official Jeff Clark, an un-indicted co-conspirator in the 2020 election case, called Lauro “a bold man of principle.” WHO ARE THE 6 CO-CONSPIRATORS NAMED IN TRUMP’S JAN. 6 INDICTMENT? HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW Another social media user, an anonymous Georgia-based legal commentator, said that while he disagreed with Lauro’s comments, he was “jealous” that Lauro “had the opportunity to tell a room of the type of haughty, effete defense lawyers who hang around at ABA conferences to go f— themselves. He should have taken it.” Lauro’s remarks had elicited pushback from participants. Nancy Gertner, a Harvard University law professor and retired federal judge, responded that any issues surrounding Trump’s prosecutions did not “justify the fracture of American democracy.” Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner said: “I wanted to thank Mr. Lauro for admitting the emperor has no clothes. The rule of law is dead because the people in this room and the Department of Justice pissed off President Trump.” “I can’t believe that you think that that’s normal or good that one person can dictate who the Department of Justice investigates and indicts,” lawyer and panel moderator Sandy Weinberg said. Republicans have long argued the ABA promotes Democrat-aligned viewpoints and that its institutional presence in the legal world is a disadvantage to conservatives. The ABA’s website showcases work that includes support for “LGBTQ+” initiatives, abortion access, stricter gun control measures, and diversity, equity and inclusion. The ABA has also taken a stance against Trump, condemning what its president described as the administration’s “wide-scale affronts to the rule of law.” JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TELLS AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION IT WILL NO LONGER COMPLY WITH RATINGS FOR JUDICIAL NOMINEES The ABA has for decades wielded enormous power, weighing in on nominations of federal judges, engaging in litigation and helping firms across the legal industry with recruitment. One arm of the ABA also handles law school accreditation. Under Trump, several departments and agencies, including the DOJ and Department of Labor, have told political appointees they cannot affiliate with the ABA in their official capacity. The DOJ, meanwhile, moved to terminate more than $3 million in federal grants to ABA programs, though a judge ruled the move was unconstitutional. Attorney General Pam Bondi told the ABA last year that the DOJ would not give advanced notice to the organization about judicial nominees, a reversal of a decades-long practice of allowing the organization to rate the nominees before they advance in the Senate. Fox News Digital reached out to the ABA for comment.
Cornyn clashes with progressive Rep Greg Casar in heated airport face-off over DHS shutdown
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, got into a heated exchange Monday afternoon over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding after the progressive lawmaker attempted to interrupt the senator’s news conference. “Why don’t you tell the Democrats to vote to pay these poor people,” Cornyn told Casar, referring to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees who missed their first full paychecks due to the shutdown on Friday. “Let’s do it,” Casar, chair of the left-wing Congressional Progressive Caucus, responded. “No, you do it,” Cornyn shot back. “I’ve voted for it time and time again.” SCHIFF, BOOKER DEFLECT ON SHUTDOWN BLAME AMID TERROR CONCERNS, THOUSANDS OF DHS WORKERS WITHOUT PAY The shouting match comes as the DHS shutdown entered its fifth week Monday, with negotiations to end the stalemate appearing to stall in recent weeks. Senate Democrats near unanimously blocked a Republican effort Thursday to fully fund the agency, citing opposition to spending measures that do not rein in immigration enforcement. Cornyn, who is vying against Attorney General Ken Paxton, R-Texas, in a runoff election for a fifth Senate term, held a news conference outside the Austin airport on Monday to protest Democrats’ refusal to fully fund DHS. Casar, who represents the Austin area, crashed the event before Cornyn arrived. The airport is currently advising passengers to arrive at least 2.5 hours before departure due to a shortage of TSA workers. Cornyn also brought lunch to TSA employees who are reporting to work without pay — a gesture that Casar criticized. “Instead of bringing people burgers, he should bring them their paychecks,” Casar told reporters in response to the Whataburger haul following the altercation. Casar, however, has repeatedly voted against a full-year DHS appropriations bill that would fund the salaries of TSA employees through the end of September. The Texas Democrat has instead pushed for a standalone measure to fund TSA while leaving the immigration enforcement-related functions of DHS without funding. Republicans have characterized that proposal as a nonstarter, arguing that every individual employed by DHS — including those working for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — should be paid. House Democrats are expected to force a vote as early as this week on legislation that would fund the non-immigration portions of DHS. SWALWELL PRESSED ON DEMOCRATS’ RESISTANCE TO FULLY FUNDING DHS AMID IRAN THREAT Roughly 300 TSA officers have resigned and absences have more than doubled since the shutdown began, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday. The departures come after many TSA employees — who often live paycheck to paycheck — were also required to work without pay during a 45-day shutdown in fall 2025. “At some point, when you’re not getting your paycheck, people are going to have to look for ways to support their families, which means they’ll be leaving the TSA for other employment,” Cornyn said Monday. “And that’s unacceptable.” Lawmakers are guaranteed their pay under the Constitution, though some members of Congress have deferred their salaries in solidarity with federal employees. Cornyn also excoriated Casar for declining to back a full-year DHS funding bill after a terrorist shooting at an Austin bar left the city reeling. The country has also seen terror-related attacks in New York City, Norfolk, Va., and West Bloomfield, Mich., over the past week. “How about all the terrorist attacks like we’ve seen down on Sixth Street?” Cornyn told Casar. “You want those to continue? These people are keeping us safe. Tell the Democrats to vote for funding the DHS.” Fox News Digital reached out to Casar’s office for comment.
Trump Kennedy Center’s board votes unanimously to approve $257M renovations and two-year closure
Plans to shutter the Trump Kennedy Center were made official through a board of trustees vote on Monday afternoon, setting up a two-year renovation process that some Democratic lawmakers believe should have required more congressional input. The board unanimously approved the changes, according to a source familiar with the vote. The source also said the board had set July 6 as the official closure date, installed Matt Floca, the center’s vice president of facilities operations, as the new president of the Trump Kennedy Center and ended its exclusive affiliation with the Washington Opera. The overhaul will include fixes to the building’s heating, ventilating, air-conditioning systems and elevators, among other structural renovations, according to plans for the project submitted to Congress. BOARD VOTES KENNEDY CENTER TO BE RENAMED ‘TRUMP-KENNEDY CENTER,’ LEAVITT SAYS Allocations for the project, set aside in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, are set to cost $257 million. Last year, Trump installed a hand-picked set of board members, leading Democratic critics to condemn the center’s management and its renovation as direct control from the White House. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., an ex officio member of the board, blasted Monday’s vote, arguing the renovations were made unilaterally. “Unfortunately, recent actions by the president and certain board members have treated the center like a personal vanity project, including firing career management staff, removing trustees and sidelining ex officio members who are meant to provide congressional oversight,” Warner said on Monday. GRAMMY WINNER ACCUSED OF CAVING TO ‘WOKE MOB’ AFTER KENNEDY CENTER CANCELLATION Ex officio members provide lawmakers input on the management of the Kennedy Center. Ric Grenell, the now-former Kennedy Center president, pushed back on characterizations from Democrats, stating that lawmakers have had multiple opportunities to speak into the process. EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP-LED KENNEDY CENTER NEARLY DOUBLES FUNDRAISING FROM BIDEN ERA, SMASHING RECORD WITH $23M HAUL “We gave all that information to Congress. It was in the Big Beautiful Bill. We didn’t just come up with the $257 million number. We actually gave them specifics as to what needed to be fixed,” Grenell said. “My reaction is — last summer we gave you this information, you could have joined any number of the tours we were giving to members of Congress.” Earlier this year, President Donald Trump framed the renovations as key restorations. “Subject to board approval, I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of success, beauty, and grandeur, is to cease entertainment operations for an approximately two-year period of time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in February. Trump promised the center would return with a “grand reopening” after the renovations are complete.