‘Phantom’ Obamacare accounts spark new crackdown as Oz targets broker fraud
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is urging health insurers to work only with brokers who record their conversations with Obamacare applicants, escalating the Trump administration’s crackdown on unauthorized enrollments that officials say have cost taxpayers billions. Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday that the administration’s anti-fraud task force will be removing 750,000 fraudulent recipients enrolled in Obamacare, saying the move will save American taxpayers $2.2 billion. “These [Obamacare enrollees] are phantom accounts,” Oz told Fox News Digital. “There are no human beings involved in these accounts. BOMBSHELL REPORT EXPOSES HEALTHCARE FRAUD SCHEMES AS TAXPAYERS LOSE UP TO $521 BILLION ANNUALLY He continued, “Why do I think that? We reached out to them. We wanted to know, have you filed any claims? We don’t see anything. Have you ever responded to any questions we’ve asked you? Do you have a Social Security number? Without that, I can’t tell if you made enough money to be on Obamacare or maybe too much to be.” Oz told Fox News Digital that the administration is encouraging health insurance companies to get involved in the anti-fraud push. “From now on, we’re asking insurance companies to work with brokers who record the conversations,” Oz said. “Why wouldn’t you?” he said. “What are you nervous about? What are you worried about? Why don’t you want me to hear what you discussed?” OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT UNCOVERS $500M IN FRAUD AND WASTE IN FEDERAL HEALTH BENEFITS PROGRAMS The move would help create transparency among the recipients who are applying to receive aid through Obamacare, ideally showing that the customer authorizing the transaction is verifiable and actually qualifies for the program. “I’m trying to make sure you had a real discussion to explain the policies and truly tried your best to get the right people in the right programs,” Oz said about the administration’s proposal. “Otherwise, we have massive corporate fraud.” Oz also told Fox News Digital the administration discovered 1.1 million people receiving benefits from Obamacare that did not have a Social Security number. “The 760,000 accounts that we terminated, we took out because the American taxpayers should not be paying fraudulent brokers to lie about people who don’t exist, collect premiums and run away with the money,” Oz said. VANCE TO HOST CONGRESS AT WHITE HOUSE TO DISCUSS LEGISLATIVE ACTION ON FRAUD The Treasury Department has begun handing out refund checks of $500 to roughly 1 million Americans, along with a letter from President Donald Trump slamming the Biden administration for overcharging taxpayers “to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov.” “I don’t know what’s driving this desire to hurt our ability to regulate,” Oz said. “But I can tell you, for sure, we have other tricks up our sleeve to make sure we don’t let the American people get taken advantage of.”
Top Republican unloads on rise of ‘anti-American’ candidates heading into midterms: ‘You got to be kidding’
LEWISTON, MAINE – Rep. Tom Emmer, on the first stop of a 56 district blitz across the country rallying Republican voters, spoke to Fox News Digital about what he describes as an “anti-American” sentiment in the Democratic Party and his party’s message on the economy. “We’re not talking about socialists, these are communists, Marxists and anarchists,” Emmer, the Republican House majority whip, told Fox News Digital this week about the rise of far-left candidates in the Democratic Party. “You got to be kidding. They want us to call them democratic socialists, there’s nothing democratic about these people.” Emmer, who was in Maine campaigning for Republican House candidate Paul LePage, specifically took issue with Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. EL-SAYED, MAMDANI BRANDED ‘HAIR TONIC SALESMEN’ IN BRUTAL JAB FROM TOP HOUSE REPUBLICAN “This guy says ridiculous things like U.S. NFL football is an example of toxic masculinity, he supports a terrorist who believes that America deserved to lose 3,000 people on 9-11, and he’s got this Piker guy who’s just shooting his mouth off on everything anti-American,” Emmer said. “These people are anti-American more than anything else. It’s time that we have great candidates like Paul LePage, which is why I’m here, who loves his state, loves this country and believes in the promise of America. We should be out there celebrating it and defending it, not tearing it down, that’s why you vote for Paul.” With six weeks to go until Election Day and early voting already underway in a handful of states, the conventional wisdom is that Republicans may be in for some setbacks in the midterms. HOUSE CONSERVATIVES UNLEASH MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR MIDTERM BLITZ AGAINST DEM ‘SOCIALIST’ INSURGENCY As it defends its fragile House and Senate majorities, the GOP is fighting political history, which has traditionally seen the president’s party lose congressional seats during the midterms. It’s also battling high costs at the grocery stores and gas pumps tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran, as well as President Donald Trump‘s underwater approval ratings. But Democrats are saddled with their own issues, from an ideological civil war between the party’s left wing and the establishment that has handed Republicans plenty of political ammunition, to a brand image that’s nothing to brag about. Add to that the Democrats’ major disadvantage as the GOP floods the airwaves with attack ads. Fox News Digital asked Emmer what he would say to Republican voters in the current political climate in terms of defending the administration’s record. “First off, remember, the Biden administration put this economy in the ditch, literally,” Emmer said. “Inflation we hadn’t seen in 40 years. Donald Trump and Republicans in the House and the Senate have been putting this economy back on track. We can talk about all the investment and everything else, but we have to be very sensitive to the fact that $4 gas, $6 diesel is unacceptable, but I would argue it still isn’t enough to vote for a communist.”
WATCH: Dem senators dodge backing Kamala Harris in potential 2028 run: ‘Very messy’
Former Vice President Kamala Harris is leaving the door open to another White House bid in 2028, but Democratic senators aren’t rushing to line up behind their party’s 2024 nominee. “Well, I’ve backed her before, but there’ll be other contenders this time,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “I’ve made no decisions about who I would support.” “I think we’re going to have a very, very, very messy and very big primary,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said. “It’s going to be every Tom, Dick and Harry. And that’s probably where it should be.” HARRIS KEEPS 2028 DOOR OPEN AS SHE HITS MIDTERM CAMPAIGN TRAIL, WARNS ‘28 WON’T MATTER’ WITHOUT 2026 “We’ve got a lot of people who are going to run and I think we should sort that out after the midterms,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said. Harris returned to the campaign trail last week alongside Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, while continuing to leave open the possibility of another White House bid. Asked in Detroit whether she would run in 2028, Harris said she had not decided and urged Democrats to focus on November, warning that “’28 won’t matter” without success in 2026. “We’re focused on 2026,” said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md. “We’re gonna win back the House and the Senate.” She continued, “I love Kamala Harris. I have a very personal friendship and relationship. She’s amazing. I think anybody who wants to run should. She’s obviously very well qualified. We need to focus on ’26.” DEMOCRATS SHY AWAY FROM QUESTIONS ON WHETHER HARRIS SHOULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2028 “This is going to be a wide open primary, and again, that’s democracy at its best,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said. “Everyone who wants to run should be able to run for office here.” Another potential 2028 contender is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who represents the party’s progressive wing. Ocasio-Cortez describes herself as a democratic socialist. NEWSOM ROASTED ONLINE FOR ‘STAGED’ FLY-FISHING INTERVIEW WITH CNN ANCHOR WHERE HE DROPPED MAJOR 2028 HINT California Gov. Gavin Newsom is another potential 2028 contender, although he said last month that he would not run if Harris enters the race. “We should have a lot of candidates running so we have a very broad discussion about the future of this country,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said. A July University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll found Ocasio-Cortez leading the prospective 2028 Democratic primary field in New Hampshire with 22% support among likely Democratic primary voters. Harris registered 5%. Neither Harris nor Ocasio-Cortez has announced a 2028 campaign.
Dems hand GOP fresh midterm weapon by opposing widely used voter ID
Senate Democrats’ recent rejection of voter ID is giving Republicans fresh ammunition in the midterm fight, putting them on the opposite side of a practice that is common across the country and broadly popular with voters in both parties. Republicans have developed a cynical view of why Democrats won’t play ball with voter ID, arguing that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus don’t want to give the GOP a win heading into the midterm elections. “Democrats are gonna vote against it because they don’t want to give the president a win,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital. “They don’t want to give Republicans a win. They’ll screw the country and stuff.” DOZENS OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS REJECT BILL FUSING CONGRESSIONAL STOCK BAN WITH FEDERAL VOTER ID Republicans’ latest attempt to pass a federal voter ID law, which was paired with another popular issue to ban insider trading in Congress, comes months after initially launching their push to pass the SAVE America Act, a high priority for President Donald Trump that Schumer and Democrats have time and again rejected. Earlier this year, Democrats argued that voter ID isn’t so bad, it’s just how Republicans were approaching it that they disagreed with — Schumer dubbed the SAVE America Act “Jim Crow 2.0” and contended it would disenfranchise Black and Brown voters. “Democrats support voter ID,” Schumer said on a press call earlier this year. “In fact, we included it, and it is included, in our Freedom to Vote legislation several years ago.” INSIDE THE SENATE’S CHAOTIC ALL-NIGHTER THAT LEFT TRUMP’S SAVE AMERICA ACT ON THE SHELF But as the months have dragged on, an issue that voters overwhelmingly support has become a place for Democrats to dig their heels into the dirt against. Requiring identification to vote is already a practice in 36 states. Of those, 23 require photo ID, while 13 accept another form of identification, such as a bank statement. Nine of those states have Democratic senators. “We already have it,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Fox News Digital. “I mean, Virginia has a voter ID law that our citizens really like.” “Virtually every state has a voter ID law,” he continued. “So, what, there has to be a one size fits all federal thing for states [that[ are already doing this?” SCHUMER, DEMOCRATS SAY THEY SUPPORT VOTER ID, THEN BLOCK GOP AMENDMENT TO REQUIRE IT Republicans say that the Democratic resistance has a more nefarious intent. Requiring voter ID would allegedly nuke some of their voter base, illegal immigrants, and therefore lower their chances of winning in federal elections. “Well, it’s evident Democrats want to make it easier to cheat,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital. ” Republicans want to make it easier to vote, make sure nobody’s cheating. And that’s where we are on this voter ID, an 80/20 issue or not even more.” Barrasso argued that identification is required in several mundane instances of life, from boarding a plane to buying a beer — and even to get into some rallies held by Democratic candidates during this election cycle. “They’re complete hypocrites on this,” Barrasso said. “But [what] we need to do is elect more Republicans to be able to win these elections and make sure we have people here that see what the American people see, which is, you have to have a photo ID to vote.”
Trump launching ‘Super Intelligence Force’ to ensure American dominance
President Donald Trump announced Sunday the creation of a new federal “Super Intelligence Force” tasked with coordinating the government’s efforts to keep the United States at the forefront of rapidly developing artificial intelligence technology. The new force, known as SIF, will coordinate federal engagement with consumers, public-interest and religious groups, critical infrastructure providers and technology companies, Trump said in a Truth Social post. “The Super Intelligence Force is tasked with coordinating the effort of the Federal Government to ensure that America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence,” Trump wrote. TRUMP ANNOUNCES NEW ‘AI FORCE,’ VOWS TO PROTECT INDUSTRY AS AI CZAR ANNOUNCEMENT NEARS Trump said the technology “is bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and the Internet” and would “protect the interests, and improve the lives, of all Americans.” The president said the effort will be led by senior administration officials and report directly to him and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. TRUMP REBRANDS AI, REJECTS ‘GLOBALIST SCHEME’ TO CONTROL TECH Last week, Trump officially renamed artificial intelligence to “Super Intelligence” across the executive branch, following a high-level summit with top tech leaders at the White House. Trump, who has opposed imposing formal guardrails on SI, said at the time that the tech executives signed a “morally binding” document he dubbed the White House Accord on Super Intelligence. “They almost viewed it as a separate kind of constitution,” Trump said of the tech leaders. “When they signed that, it meant a lot.” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on X later that day that he viewed the summit as a “positive step.” “I think it’s a significant positive step that the leaders of every major American lab have committed to implementing robust internal controls and multiple layers of audits and reviews,” Zuckerberg wrote. Fox Business’ Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
GOP Senate candidate’s estranged wife confirms who she’s voting for amid divorce proceedings
Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton is addressing the “elephant in the room,” saying she’ll vote Republican this November without mentioning one GOP candidate by name: her estranged husband, Ken Paxton. Angela Paxton, who filed for divorce from the Texas Republican Senate candidate last year on “biblical grounds,” says in a new political ad that she will back the Republican ticket on Nov. 3, arguing that keeping the seat in GOP hands outweighs concerns about any individual candidate. “People have asked my thoughts about this election, and turns out, I have some,” she says in the ad. “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.” GOP FORTRESS IS UNDER THREAT IN ONE KEY RED STATE, AND THESE VOTERS COULD DECIDE WHETHER IT FALLS “In a general election, it’s not as much about the individual players on the team; it’s about getting the whole team across the finish line,” she continues. “Either we hold every Republican seat, or we hand the future of Texas to the other team.” “That’s why I’m voting for the Republican ticket on Nov. 3,” she adds. “Let’s hold the line together.” The ad does not mention Ken Paxton by name, but its message comes as the Republican Senate candidate faces a tight general election contest against Democrat James Talarico. The latest Fox News Poll, released Thursday, found Talarico with 51% support among Texas likely voters and Paxton with 49%, a difference within the poll’s margin of sampling error. The same poll found 50% of likely voters preferred Republican control of the U.S. Senate, compared with 49% who preferred Democratic control. Angela Paxton has previously signaled that maintaining Republican control of the seat takes precedence over her feelings about the individual candidate. During an address to the Texas Federation of Republican Women in September, she similarly framed the issue as the “elephant in the room” and told the audience that “it’s not the people, it’s the seat.” REPUBLICAN CAVALRY ARRIVES FOR KEN PAXTON AS BIG-BUCKS TEXAS OFFENSIVE OPENS CASH FLOODGATES “We have more control over that seat and the future when we control the seat, when it’s still in the family, even if we’re mad at them,” she said at the time, drawing laughter from the audience. “If we lose it to the other team, the nuances that we want to fix with maybe a certain candidate are nothing compared to what it’s going to take to get it back,” she added. GEORGE W BUSH RAISES MONEY FOR REPUBLICANS, BUT NOT KEY SENATE CANDIDATE Angela Paxton filed for divorce from her husband in July 2025 after 38 years of marriage. In the filing, she alleged that Ken Paxton had “committed adultery” and said their marriage had “become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities.” She separately announced the divorce on social media, saying she had filed “on biblical grounds.” “I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation,” she wrote. “But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.” The new ad was funded by Texas PAC, a political action committee affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Ken Paxton also has the support of President Donald Trump and financial backing from the president’s MAGA Inc. political action committee as well as Elon Musk’s America PAC. Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
GOP rising star helped topple Trump-backed incumbent. Now he’s caught leadership’s eye
It’s June 2026 and the summer’s intense heat is slowly creeping across the East Coast. In Florida, a different kind of heat is threatening to burn Republicans — a firestorm of political backlash that could at best force the GOP to spend millions more in the midterms, and at worst cost the party what should be a safely red House seat. Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., was one of the first to sound the alarm publicly about embattled Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., and the scandals that could have sandbagged his re-election chances. It’s an unusually bold move for a first-term congressman, particularly when all of the House GOP leadership and the White House were still publicly backing Mills. But Haridopolos’ plan was well-executed — and with the help of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Mills went down as one of only four Republican incumbents to lose a primary in the 2026 midterm cycle. Republican election watchers saw the loss with some relief, privately feeling better about their chances with former journalist Ryan Elijah, who Haridopolos recruited to run, against Democratic former NASA official Bale Dalton. And Haridopolos was there with Elijah both figuratively and literally. The former local news anchor said he was “right there in the front row” during the primary debate. REPUBLICANS MOVE TO OUST EMBATTLED FLORIDA GOP LAWMAKER IN BITTER PRIMARY FIGHT “Not only was he there, he was kind of like the spin room. He did a lot of the media interviews, and that was huge for us,” Elijah told Fox News Digital. TRUMP’S SUPPORT DOESN’T SAVE SCANDAL-PLAGUED LAWMAKER IN PRIMARY Haridopolos told Fox News Digital, “I recognized that Cory Mills was absolutely going to lose a general election against a solid Democrat candidate. And so I went to the leadership and, of course, the president’s team and said, look, we need to find a way for Mills to step aside.” “Unfortunately, Mr. Mills was not willing to step aside. And so I let the leadership and the president know that I’d be helping someone else in the primary,” he continued. “It was not the easiest thing to do, taking on a colleague. But … this is a team sport and all of us need to work together.” WATCH: CORY MILLS BLASTS DOJ PROBE AS ‘POLITICAL OP’ AHEAD OF FLORIDA PRIMARY “Team sport” is an analogy that the Florida Republican has used frequently, and one that he’s used to try and define his tenure in the House. It’s paid off for him so far, with Haridopolos having forged close relationships with both House GOP leaders and his peers. “He’s a trusted ally and somebody you can count on. He delivers. You never have to worry about where he’s going to be,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., who has known Haridopolos for roughly two decades, told Fox News Digital. The two politicos first forged a relationship in their respective state houses. When Haridopolos said he would launch a campaign for Congress, Scalise said he told him, “I want to be your first check … I want to support you.” And in his short time so far, he’s already been entrusted to lead a House panel. Haridopolos is chair of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s space subcommittee, a fitting position for someone whose district is home to the Kennedy Space Center despite his junior status. The Florida freshman said space has long been a passion of his, dating back to his efforts as a state lawmaker to bring the shuttle program back to his backyard. NASA’S ARTEMIS FOLLOW-UP MISSION ‘RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER’ AFTER SUCCESSFUL LUNAR FLIGHT “So many people were concerned that we’d go back to the post-Apollo days, which are very detrimental to the economy of Central Florida. And so at that time, Rick Scott was governor … We decided that we needed to not just rely on NASA but start pushing for public-private partnerships,” Haridopolos said. The U.S. has seen an unprecedented resurgence of success in space in the last two years, partly propelled by the public-private partnerships that Haridopolos is pushing. NASA completed its historic Artemis II mission just this year, sending four astronauts around the moon and back in the first such mission in decades. PETER NAVARRO: TRUMP’S ARTEMIS VISION IS NOW FLYING — AND CHINA IS PAYING ATTENTION “I’m really confident that in two years we’ll be landing back on the moon,” Haridopolos said. That’s also due in no small part to the federal government investing in the new space race, after the Trump administration initially proposed a roughly 24% cut to NASA’s budget in May 2025. Haridopolos, seeing space as another frontier for national security, was alarmed. He told Fox News Digital at the time that he would seek a “constructive conversation with the White House” about a higher figure. “I’m not sure what that number will be in the end, but in my conversations with the president about space, he’s absolutely committed to it,” he said in May 2025. Eventually, President Donald Trump signed into law a spending bill that included $24.4 billion for NASA — rather than the initial $18.8 billion proposal — and approved an additional $9.9 billion in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told Fox News Digital that Haridopolos “understands that so much of America’s future in space runs through Florida and Kennedy Space Center.” “He is serious about the mission, willing to engage on the hard issues, and always focused on how we can move the ball forward,” Isaacman said. Before his political career began, Haridopolos was a history professor at what is now Eastern Florida State College. He was born to an American mother and Greek immigrant father, and is currently married to Stephanie Haridopolos — a physician by profession who has spent the last several months as acting surgeon general. But despite his accomplishments and connections, Haridopolos’ name is not one that has garnered headlines in the way that more bombastic House Republicans have in their
Trump says polls ‘don’t account for one thing,’ as he pledges to defeat communists ‘once and for all’
President Donald Trump vowed that Republicans will overcome their disadvantage in the polls now that he is on the campaign trail on Saturday night. Trump held a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday and told a cheering crowd that the polls hadn’t accounted for him campaigning personally. “On election night, Ohio is going to prove that America does not belong to those who hate it. America belongs to those who love it,” Trump said. TRUMP TOUTS ‘GOLDEN AGE’ AT OHIO RALLY, URGES VOTERS TO DELIVER GOP MIDTERM WINS “These fake polls, they don’t account for one thing. They don’t account for the fact that Trump is out campaigning. They never thought this was good. They never thought this was going to happen,” he added. A recent Fox News Poll found Democrats have a wider path to victory than Republicans in the House of Representatives. Democrats are projected to win 215 seats compared to 201 for the GOP, meaning the left only needs three more victories out of the 19 possible toss-up races to clinch a majority. Republicans would need to win at least 17 of those races. 10 DEMOCRAT-HELD HOUSE SEATS REPUBLICANS COULD FLIP TO SAVE THEIR MAJORITY “With you at my side, we have always prevailed and prevailed by a lot and got record setting votes and record setting victory,” Trump said. “We’ve won every battle. We’ve defeated every hope. We’ve overcome every threat. And now we are on the cusp of beating the communists, socialist, radicalized lunatics and villains once and for all. We’re going to put them down once and for all.” A new memo being sent to Republicans across the country, first obtained by Fox News Digital, revealed four key topics that the House GOP is focusing on in the final four weeks before Election Day: the border, fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars, the economy and public safety. Republicans are also seeing political opportunity in the far-left insurgency that’s gripped the Democratic Party during its primary cycle, warning that socialists are pushing the party further left than the majority of Americans. SOCIALISTS ARE HELPING GOP CAMPAIGNS HEADING INTO NOVEMBER The economy, including high grocery and gas prices, has become a central issue in the 2026 election cycle. Democrats have seized on Americans’ struggle with cost-of-living as a political cudgel against Republicans, particularly using Trump’s tariffs on allies like Canada and his war in Iran as arguments against the GOP. Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Iran could move shadow war in a dangerous direction, experts warn on back of two possible terror attacks
The FlyDubai stabbing is contributing to concerns that Iran could increase covert and deniable attacks as the conflict with the United States and Israel drags on. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, meanwhile, said there are “strong indications” Iran played a role in a suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford, the British air base used by U.S. forces during operations against Iran. Counterterrorism police have since arrested a dual UK-Iranian national on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts. The two suspected attacks are raising questions over whether Iran’s war strategy is shifting, but experts caution not to treat the incidents as equally indicative of Iranian involvement — or evidence yet that Tehran has changed its tactics. FLYDUBAI PILOT SHOWED WORLD ‘THE HIGHEST FORM OF COURAGE,’ INDIA’S PM SAYS President Donald Trump said early information he has received points to a possible Iranian connection to the attack aboard an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight, where a co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the aircraft with more than 180 people aboard. The United Arab Emirates and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have described the FlyDubai incident as terrorism, but UAE authorities have not publicly attributed the attack to Iran. Neither investigation has publicly established that the Iranian government directed the attacks, and Iran has denied involvement in the Fairford case. Daniel Byman, director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Fairford case fits more closely with Iran’s recent use of hired operatives and other intermediaries. “The attack on the airbase in the United Kingdom does fit more recent patterns,” Byman told Fox News Digital, while stressing how much remains unknown about the investigation. RUBIO CONFIRMS ‘FOREIGN ACTOR’ INVOLVED IN UK TERROR PLOT The FlyDubai attack would be a more significant departure. “That is quite different, and that is something that Iran in the past, at least we haven’t seen Iran do,” Byman said. “It is plausible to me that Iran is involved, but that seems like much more of a stretch based on Iran’s traditional way of operating.” But the uncertainty surrounding the attacks also illustrates part of the appeal of the broader strategy Iran has spent decades developing: using proxies, covert operatives, criminal networks and other intermediaries to threaten adversaries far beyond its borders while making Tehran’s own role more difficult to establish. Matthew Levitt, a former Treasury and FBI counterterrorism official who now directs the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute, said Iran has increasingly sought to put more distance between itself and the people carrying out overseas operations. “Typically Iran does not admit that it’s involved in these types of attacks because it wants reasonable deniability,” Levitt said. “There are several advantages for Iran to using terrorism,” Byman said. “One is that there is often a degree of deniability.” “Terrorism gives Iran a lot more reach,” he added. Levitt, however, put the distinction with conventional warfare more bluntly. “If Iran shoots a drone or a missile at you, you know where it came from and you know where to shoot back,” he said. “But if Iran uses proxies, and recruits people and does things in a covert manner, it might not be so easy to point a finger back at Iran or to know exactly who did it.” That capability matters in part because Iran does not have the conventional military strength to match the United States and its allies directly, Levitt said. “They just don’t have the capability to fight soldier to soldier, airplane to airplane in an all-out kinetic war, but they’re extremely effective at asymmetric warfare, at covert terrorist activity, if that’s what this proves to be,” he said. UK AIRBASE TERROR SUSPECTS BEING RELEASED ON BAIL AS IRAN DENIES CONNECTION Recent U.S. prosecutions have shown how far that playbook can extend. Federal cases have accused Iranian operatives of seeking to recruit hitmen to kill U.S. officials and using Eastern European organized crime figures in a murder-for-hire plot targeting Iranian-American journalist and dissident Masih Alinejad in New York. Those operations relied on the same basic advantage: Tehran could pursue targets overseas without launching a conventional attack that immediately identified Iran as the aggressor. The question now is whether the current conflict gives Iran reason to push that strategy further. Levitt said Tehran could pursue overseas plots in an effort to pressure Western governments to end the conflict by demonstrating that Iran can impose costs far beyond the conventional battlefield. And if Fairford and FlyDubai are ultimately tied to Tehran, he said, they would stand out because they involve harder targets and potentially more ambitious tactics than the assassinations, kidnappings, shootings and smaller-scale bombings Iran has more commonly pursued overseas. “Perhaps this is the new normal, and Iran wants to demonstrate that it can exact a higher cost,” Levitt said. Byman, however, pointed to several reasons Tehran could exercise restraint. Iran already has other ways to pressure Washington and its allies, while a terrorist attack against Americans could backfire by uniting U.S. public opinion behind further escalation against Tehran, he said. U.S. and Israeli strikes against senior Iranian intelligence and security officials may also have disrupted some of the networks Tehran would need for overseas operations. “If Iran wants to go further, then terrorism does become more of an option,” Byman said.
Supreme Court kicks off new term with fresh questions over its legitimacy and its future
The Supreme Court begins its new term Monday, with renewed public and political concern over their recent rulings, the justices’ personal safety and even their future makeup. Chief Justice John Roberts, surrounded by his eight colleagues, will call the court into public session precisely at 10 a.m. EDT with a pair of scheduled oral arguments. Their first case from the bench will be a major one: a federal-state environmental dispute over holding oil and gas companies liable for climate change harms. Other high-profile appeals are already on the argument docket: NEWSOM PROMISES NEW LEGAL FIGHT AFTER TRUMP GETS SUPREME COURT VICTORY ON MAIL-IN VOTING But the Supreme Court under Roberts’ leadership continues to struggle against negative public attitudes over their reputation as a non-political actor upholding the law and Constitution. “The chief justice is in a tough position in that he is an institutionalist and a traditionalist at a time in our nation’s history where a lot of institutions and traditions have come under pressure like they haven’t in a long time,” said Thomas Dupree, a leading appellate attorney and former top Justice Department official. “And so in many ways, he is trying to kind of buck a lot of the tide right now by really insisting and hewing to these traditions of the institutions that have governed Washington for a long time.” The new term will feature more constitutional disputes over the power of the executive, with current or anticipated fights over immigration, federal bureaucracy reforms and possibly the White House ballroom and Kennedy Center construction projects. And if recent history is any predictor, the justices are likely to offer a mixed, nuanced series of rulings both for and against President Donald Trump’s ambitious agenda. The last term saw him and his allies lose over sweeping reciprocal tariffs, birthright citizenship and removal of Federal Reserve governors; but prevail on various immigration policies, mid-decade redistricting and political gerrymandering, and federal campaign spending. For the most part, the 6-3 conservative majority has greenlighted the administration’s power, especially in a series of preliminary decisions from its so-called “shadow docket” that allow Trump to move ahead – for now – on a range of issues. The Trump Justice Department has won over 70-percent of its emergency cases before the Supreme Court since 2025 – applications that ask a challenged executive policy be enforced temporarily, while the larger issues are further litigated in the lower courts. Those included new federal rules for verifying a voter’s citizenship status ahead of the November midterms; and approval for continued construction of the ballroom. Decisions in Trump’s second term have him and Republican lawmakers sharply criticizing their judicial losses on one hand, and Democratic leaders sounding the alarm when their side does not prevail. The judiciary has always weathered such criticism, but the personal tone of the attacks has only increased, as have the calls for sweeping accountability. Those on the right have demanded impeaching federal judges who block White House policies, while those on the left have renewed calls for drastic changes to the court’s structure. The president himself amped up the tensions dramatically, after losing a key decision over federal efforts to restrict mail ballots for the midterm elections. In a wild Truth Social post, he took aim at the three members he appointed to the bench – Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. “These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves,” wrote Trump after the September 14 ruling, adding, “The Court’s inability and unwillingness to do the right thing for our Country will go down, in a very negative way, in the annals of History.” Those on the left have their own beefs. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told the National Association of Black Journalists that “dramatic Supreme Court reform is necessary…there’s a variety of different options that are on the table and I think that we can’t foreclose any single one of them.” As the midterms approach, angry and energized Democrats hoping to take control of the House and maybe the Senate have tried to rally the base during the midterm races. Among their proposals are renewed calls for 18-year term limits for the justices, expanding the number on the bench to 13 or more from the current nine and an independently-enforced code of ethics. All this has added to increasing public perception the high court is motivated by something other than its constitutional obligations. A Washington Post/Ipsos poll in July found 46-percent of Americans think the justices rule on Trump administration policies based on their political views, while just 25 percent see the court as ruling based on the law. Gallup’s July poll showed the Supreme Court’s job approval slumped to a record low of 33 percent and a record high 61-percent disapproval, driven by a steep drop in Republicans’ backing of the court since last year. And the most-recent Fox News survey revealed a 38-percent public job approval for the court, and a record high 45-percent believing the justices are too conservative. That was up from 34-percent in 2022, and a low of 16-percent in 2015 and 2010. Numbers aside, the amplified partisan rhetoric is having real-world consequences. Several federal judges have told Fox News that budget shortfalls have compromised their physical security, at a time when they say threats against members of the bench have become more concerning. The U-S Marshals report 370 threats made to federal judges as of July 1, a 31-percent year-over-year increase. “Extraordinary safety measures” have been taken in some cases by federal law enforcement, one federal judge told Fox News, without offering details. While “criticism is fair game, intimidation is a different thing entirely,” Justice Elena Kagan told a congressional panel in July. “When political figures of any stripe are trying to intimidate judges and justices to do things that they like rather than the things that they don’t, that’s where we really have crossed a