Author: NOVA Corp

President Donald Trump issued a fresh ultimatum to Iran on Tuesday, demanding that all vessels be allowed to transit through the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on critical infrastructure. The warning comes after weeks of escalating threats and missed deadlines.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “We will find out tonight — one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world,” he added, referencing his 8 p.m. ET deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire and reopen the strait.

Trump’s warning sharply raises the stakes in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow but vital artery for the global energy supply, where disruptions have sent oil and gas prices surging worldwide.

WHY THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ MATTERS AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH ULTIMATUM TO IRAN

The waterway, which lies between Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, is one of the world’s most critical energy choke points, carrying roughly 20 million barrels of oil a day along with about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas.

The strait is also a vital artery for refined fuels, including products like jet fuel.

The latest threat builds on a pattern of deadlines Trump has imposed on Tehran over the strait. Here is a timeline of those demands:

In a Truth Social post, Trump declared that if Iran did not “FULLY OPEN” the strait within 48 hours, the United States would “obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”

Ali Mousavi, Iran’s permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization, responded by saying that the Strait of Hormuz was “open to everyone” except Tehran’s enemies. Meanwhile, other Iranian officials warned that attacks on energy infrastructure would amount to an attack on the Iranian people and would be met with retaliation.

SAN FRANCISCO BECOMES FIRST US CITY WHERE DIESEL PRICES TOP $8 A GALLON

Two days later, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that the U.S. had had “productive” conversations with Iran and that he had ordered the Pentagon to delay any strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.

Iranian officials publicly denied that any talks were taking place.

Trump again extended his deadline — this time by 10 days, to April 6 at 8 p.m. Eastern — saying in a social media post that he was “pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction” at the Iranian government’s request.

WHERE GAS PRICES ARE RISING FASTEST AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH WARNING TO IRAN

Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that “great progress” had been made in negotiations to end the conflict. At the same time, he warned that if a deal was not reached and the Strait of Hormuz was not “immediately” opened, the United States would destroy Iran’s power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island — the country’s main oil export hub — and “possibly all” desalination plants.

Trump said Iran requested a ceasefire, a claim Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson called “false and baseless,” according to the state news agency IRIB.

In a social media post, Trump said the United States would consider a ceasefire only once the strait was “open, free and clear,” adding: “Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”

WHERE GAS PRICES ARE RISING FASTEST AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH WARNING TO IRAN

Trump warned in a Truth Social post that “time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.” 

The post followed several conflicting statements in previous days, in which he alternately criticized allies for not acting to reopen the strait and suggested it would reopen on its own.

In a profanity-laced post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump wrote: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.

“There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—–’ Strait, you crazy b——-, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

“Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” he wrote in a second post.

Vice President JD Vance said that Iran has “two pathways” it can take regarding the conclusion of the war as President Donald Trump’s 12-hour deadline is looming Tuesday for the regime to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power plants and bridges. 

Vance, speaking in Hungary, also said he is praying that the United States is on “God’s side” in its pursuit to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. 

“There are two pathways that this thing is ultimately going to end. First of all, the United States has largely accomplished its military objectives,” Vance said. “There are still some things that we’d like to do, for example, on Iranian ability to manufacture weapons, that we’d like to do a little bit more work on militarily. But fundamentally, the military objectives of the United States have been completed.” 

“I think there really are two pathways, and I’m oversimplifying this a little bit, but I think pathway one is where the Iranians decide they’re going to be a normal country. They’re not going to fund terrorism anymore. They’re going to be part of the world system of commerce and exchange,” Vance continued. “And that’s going to mean much better things for them economically. It’s going to mean better things for the peace and safety of the world. It’s going to mean a lot of good things for a lot of people all over the planet. That’s option A.” 

LIVE UPDATES: TRUMP DEADLINE FOR IRAN TICKS CLOSER AS ISLAMIC REPUBLIC REJECTS TEMPORARY CEASEFIRE

“Option B is that the Iranians don’t come to the table and they stay committed to terrorism, to terrorizing their neighbors, not just Israel but of course their Arab neighbors too. Then the economic situation in Iran is going to continue to be very, very bad. And frankly, it will probably get worse,” the vice president said. 

“The president also has been very clear that while the Iranians are trying to exact as much economic cost through the Strait of Hormuz, the United States has the ability to extract much greater economic costs on Iran than Iran has an ability to extract costs on us or on our friends in the world,” Vance also said. “So I hope that they’re smart. The president has set a deadline for about 12 hours from now, and the United States, we’re going to find out. But there’s going to be a lot of negotiation between now and then, and I’m hopeful that it gets to a good resolution.” 

HEGSETH TIES IRAN RESCUE TO EASTER STORY AND JESUS CHRIST: ‘A PILOT REBORN’

Vance told reporters Tuesday that his attitude toward military conflict has been to pray that “we are on God’s side.”

“We’re doing this because we don’t want a regime that has committed acts of terrorism to have the world’s most dangerous weapon. Because that would mean a lot of innocent people dead,” Vance said about the war. “I certainly hope that God agrees with the decision that Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon, but I’ll keep praying about it.” 

Vance also accused Iran of unleashing “acts of economic terrorism” that are obstructing the free flow of gas and oil around the world. 

“So they’ve got to know, we’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use. The president of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct,” he warned. 

Vance also confirmed Tuesday that “we were going to strike some military targets on Kharg Island” and “I believe we have done so.”

Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., is mounting a long-shot bid to impeach President Donald Trump as he stares down a primary threat from younger challengers, who seek to thwart his bid for a 15th House term. 

Larson, 77, introduced 13 articles of impeachment against Trump on Monday, citing the president’s military intervention in Venezuela, the deployment of National Guard troops to cities across the country and his executive order to curtail birthright citizenship, among other charges.

Larson also charged Trump with “murder, war crimes and piracy” for ordering a naval blockade around Venezuela targeting U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers ahead of the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and for launching dozens of strikes against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean.

“Through his serial usurpation of the congressional war power and commission of murder, war crimes, and piracy, Donald J. Trump has acted contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of law, liberty, and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States,” the resolution reads in part.

COMPLEX PARTIAL SEIZURE RULED AS CAUSE OF PAUSING EPISODE DURING HOUSE FLOOR SPEECH, DEM CONGRESSMAN SAYS

The resolution has little chance of advancing in the Republican-controlled House or resulting in a Senate trial, even if Larson chooses to force a vote when lawmakers return the week of April 13.

However, Larson’s impeachment push comes as the septuagenarian congressman faces a heated primary challenge from several younger candidates running on a mantle of generational change.

Larson, a senior member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, notably suffered a complex partial seizure while delivering a speech on the House floor in February 2025.

VOCAL ANTI-TRUMP DEM REVEALS WHICH INDUSTRY IS TRYING TO OUST HIM FROM HOUSE SEAT: ‘I WAS A TARGET’

Primary challenger Luke Bronin, 46, a former Hartford mayor and military veteran, has called on Larson to step aside after nearly three decades in the House. Bronin, who is backed by Democratic-aligned veterans groups, outraised Larson during the first two months after launching his insurgent campaign in 2025.

It is unclear whether Larson’s impeachment push is supported by House Democratic leadership. A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Larson is the latest in a string of House Democrats to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump since he began his second term.

Trump has repeatedly warned that Democrats will attempt to impeach him for a third time if the party retakes control of the House chamber in 2027.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., did not rule out that possibility during an interview with MS NOW last week, but added that Democrats would focus on addressing cost-of-living issues.

Fox News Digital reached out to Larson and the White House for comment.

President Donald Trump warned in a Tuesday Truth Social post that an entire “civilization will die tonight,” issuing the ominous message as his threat of a devastating U.S. attack against Iranian bridges and power plants loomed.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump declared in the post.

“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!” he added.

TRUMP DEADLINE FOR IRAN TICKS CLOSER AS ISLAMIC REPUBLIC REJECTS TEMPORARY CEASEFIRE

Iranian official Alireza Rahimi put out a video message urging “all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors” to create human chains around power plants, The Associated Press reported.

In a prior Truth Social post issued on Easter Sunday, the president had threatened a Tuesday attack on the Middle Eastern country’s power plants and bridges.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F[—]in’ Strait, you crazy b——-, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” the president declared in the post.

IRAN WAR NEARS ‘COMPLETION’ AS TRUMP EYES DEADLINE — WHAT THE ENDGAME COULD LOOK LIKE

During remarks on Monday, Trump indicated the U.S. has “a plan… where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock.”

“We don’t want that to happen,” he said.

Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who quit last month over his opposition to the Iran war, warned on Tuesday that the president’s proposed course of action would threaten America’s status as the world’s top superpower.

ILHAN OMAR CALLS TRUMP AN ‘UNHINGED LUNATIC,’ URGES BOOTING HIM OUT OF OFFICE

“Trump believes he is threatening Iran with destruction, but it is America that now stands in danger. If he attempts to eradicate Iranian civilization, the United States will no longer be viewed as a stabilizing force in the world, but as an agent of chaos—effectively ending our status as the world’s greatest superpower,” Kent wrote in a post on X. “This would upend our economy and shatter the global order. The process is already underway, yet we still have time to avert catastrophe if Trump finds the courage to pursue serious negotiations rather than reckless rage and destruction.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken pride in making Florida a leader among red states, but he acknowledged Monday that it was behind in banning cousin marriages, which he is hoping will be outlawed in the near future.

“Florida doesn’t ban cousin marriage: That’s a hanging curveball for us to do; we need to do that,” DeSantis, famously a fan of baseball, said at a Tampa signing ceremony on another new law empowering state officials to designate groups as terrorist organizations and expel students who support them.

DeSantis urged state lawmakers to ban marriage between first cousins, reopening debate over a practice that remains legal in Florida but is barred in most states.

“Other states have done it,” DeSantis continued. “I don’t know why we wouldn’t, but obviously that feeds into some of the stealth jihad that we see, when you’re allowing things like that. It’s things that are coming in from other cultures that are not consistent with the United States culture, and certainly our culture here in Florida.”

GOP GOVERNOR LAYS OUT PLAN TO ‘PURGE’ TERRORISTS AND TERROR SUPPORTERS FROM STATE

Florida already bans marriages involving close relatives such as siblings, parents, grandparents, nieces and nephews, but first cousins are not on the prohibited list.

The governor’s push follows the failure of HB 733, a 2025 proposal that would have added first cousins to the ban starting July 1. Supporters of such a measure cite public health concerns tied to a higher risk of genetic disorders, while critics argue the issue falls under personal freedom and private family decisions.

REPUBLICAN SAYS ‘MUSLIMS DON’T BELONG IN AMERICAN SOCIETY,’ DRAWS FIERCE DEMOCRATIC BACKLASH

DeSantis teased future action on a cousin marriage ban last month.

“For some reason the ban on cousin marriages was dropped during the legislative process,” DeSantis wrote on X. “Stay tuned.”

FLORIDA DESIGNATES MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AND CAIR AS FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS, DESANTIS SAYS

This is DeSantis’ last legislative session as governor, as he terms out at the end of this year, but there remains the possibility he could call for a special session to reintroduce the effort, if not HB 733, Florida Politics reported Monday.

“Now, there were some things that were a part of this package that we may need to add in upcoming, because I think there were some things that we really need,” DeSantis said, calling it an “important” issue for American culture and immigration law.

“We have got to stop as a country importing people that reject the values of this country, and that’s just been going on for a long time,” he added.

GOP WHIP: ‘AMERICA-HATING TERRORISTS’ SHOULD LOSE CITIZENSHIP UNDER SCAM ACT

DeSantis pointed to the recent arrest of the niece and grand niece of late Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani by federal agents following Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s termination of their lawful permanent resident (LPR) status.

“How do they get to where she was even here to begin with?” the governor asked. “What is it about our laws or administrative bureaucracy over what, I think, a period of four or five years?”

TEXAS GOV ABBOTT DECLARES CAIR, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AS TERRORIST GROUPS, PREVENTING LAND PURCHASES

DeSantis’ newly signed law empowers the state’s chief of domestic security, governor and cabinet to designate any organization they determine engages in extremist acts as a “terrorist organization.”

After such a designation, the group can be forcibly dissolved and face a freeze on state funding, according to the legislation. It also says students shall be expelled from their institution if they “promoted a domestic terrorist organization or a foreign terrorist organization.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

An investigation is “underway” to determine who leaked to the press that one of the two American airmen was still missing after their fighter jet was shot down in Iran on Good Friday, a White House official told Fox News Digital.

During a Monday afternoon press conference centered on the successful rescue mission, President Donald Trump said his administration is working “very hard” to determine who the leaker is, which he said put the missing pilot at greater risk.

“We think we’ll be able to find it out because we’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘National security, give it up or go to jail,’” Trump said.

“When they did that, all of a sudden the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life. And it also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him.”

TRUMP CALLS RESCUE OF DOWNED AIR FORCE PILOT AN ‘EASTER MIRACLE’

The Military Times attributed an X post by Israel’s N12 News reporter Amit Segal as the first to break that one of the “crew members was successfully rescued,” citing a Western source around 11 a.m. Friday.

But another Israel N12 News reporter, Barak Ravid, wrote an article for Axios that was published hours before Segal’s X post, which shared that one pilot was rescued and another was still missing. Ravid cited his sources as “an Israeli official and a second source with knowledge.”

“An American fighter jet was shot down by Iranian fire. A search is underway to locate the two crew members, according to a source familiar with the details. Read my article at @axios,” Ravid posted on X.

The New York Post reported that shortly after Ravid posted his story on X, Segal posted in his Telegram channel “Search operation in Iran — for two American crew members.”

While Segal shared in his Telegram channel Monday that he was the first to break the news of the missing airman, he walked back his statement to the New York Post.

“I’m not sure I was the first,” Segal said. “And anyway — I will protect my sources.”

MAURO COMPARES IRAN RESCUE OF MISSING COLONEL TO MADURO CAPTURE, CREDITS INTELLIGENCE PREPARATION

CBS News, the Washington Post and Reuters reported hours later on the missing airman but cited U.S. officials as their sources.

Trump called the “leaker” a “sick person,” claiming that they will face jail time.

“They put this mission at great risk,” Trump said. “They put that man at great risk, and they put the hundreds of people that went in looking for him, because everyone now knows that we’re going in.”

Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News, the Washington Post, Reuters and Israel’s Channel 12 for comment. Axios declined to comment at this time.

As President Donald Trump’s administration pushes back against radical leftist gender ideology, the Department of Education is taking aim at agreements from prior administrations.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has rolled back provisions of resolution agreements stemming from previous administrations, unshackling schools from unlawful enforcement of Title IX, according to the department.

“Today, the Trump Administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior Administrations imposed on schools in its relentless pursuit of a radical transgender agenda,” Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement.

EDUCATION SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON ACCUSES CRITICS OF HAVING ‘TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME’

“While previous Administrations launched Title IX investigations based on ‘misgendering,’ the Trump Administration is investigating allegations of girls and women being injured by men on their sports team or feeling violated by men in their intimate spaces,” she added.

“Today is yet another demonstration of the Trump Administration’s commitment to uphold the law, protect our students, and restore common sense. No longer will the federal government force educational institutions to violate the law or punish them for upholding it,” Richey declared.

The Department of Education listed Cape Henlopen School District, Delaware Valley School District, Fife School District, La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, Sacramento City Unified and Taft College.

DETRANSITIONER CHLOE COLE ACCUSES MEDIA OF ‘TRYING TO SUPPRESS’ COVERAGE OF TRANSGENDER SHOOTERS

“OCR is rescinding portions of six resolution agreements that were reached through the illegal, heavy-handed manipulation of Title IX. The Department will therefore no longer monitor or enforce these agreements,” the department said.

A settlement that Delaware Valley School District had with the Obama administration required the district to allow students to utilize restrooms that matched their gender identity, according to The Associated Press.

In February, the Trump administration sent the district a letter saying it was rescinding the settlement. 

The administration required the district to rescind antidiscrimination protections for transgender pupils, the AP reported.

HARVARD ALUM PRAISES TRUMP ADMIN TARGETING UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS POLICIES, HANDLING OF ANTISEMITISM

The school board voted last month to alter its transgender student policies to comply with the administration’s requirements, the outlet reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it had discovered “significant national security and public safety risks” in U.S. vetting processes, calling the system “wholly inadequate,” just days before two relatives of slain terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani were taken into custody in Los Angeles.

The arrests of Soleimani’s niece, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, and grandniece, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, left many asking how close family associates of one of the most well-known terrorists in the world could gain lawful permanent status in the U.S. A USCIS internal review announced just days before the arrests may shed some light on that.

On March 30, USCIS issued an alert that, through an ongoing comprehensive review of pending workloads and benefit applications, it had “ascertained that prior screening and vetting measures were wholly inadequate.”

The agency said that “many applicants for naturalization and lawful permanent residence were not sufficiently vetted.” As a result, USCIS said applications were approved and individuals were naturalized who “should not have been.”

PARENTS OF MACDILL BOMB SUSPECTS ARE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, DHS WARNS OF BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP DANGERS

“These gaps,” said USCIS, “expose the United States to significant national security and public safety risks and compromise the integrity of the immigration system.”

In light of these risks, USCIS announced that the agency was issuing a hold and review of all pending asylum applications and benefit applications filed by aliens from high-risk countries. USCIS said the hold and review was in accordance with several executive orders and presidential proclamations by Trump mandating stricter screening and vetting.

US BLOCKS 10K NARCOTERRORISTS AS TERROR WATCHLIST SWELLS BY 85K IN 2025

In a policy memo announcing the hold and review, USCIS said it would conduct a comprehensive re-review, potential interview, and re-interview of all aliens from high-risk countries of concern who entered the United States on or after the day former President Joe Biden took office. The agency noted that “when appropriate,” it would “extend this review and re-interview process to aliens who entered the United States outside of this timeframe.”

Then, on Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he had revoked green cards belonging to Soleimani’s grandniece after their association with the notorious Iranian military leader was discovered. Rubio said that Soleimani Afshar “is also an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the ‘Great Satan.’” He said that both were in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pending removal.

Soleimani, the late head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed by a drone strike ordered by Trump in 2020.

The White House declined to comment on Soleimani Afshar and Hosseiny’s arrests, referring Fox News Digital to the State Department. In turn, the Department of State referred Fox News Digital to the Department of Homeland Security.

Acting Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital that both entered the U.S. in 2015. Soleimani Afshar entered on a tourist visa in June, while her daughter, Hosseiny, entered in July on a student visa. Both were granted asylum status by a judge in 2019.

Bis said that Soleimani Afshar became a green card holder under the Biden administration in 2021, giving her permanent lawful status. Two years later, in 2023, Hosseiny also got her green card, gaining permanent lawful status.

According to Bis, Soleimani Afshar even filed a naturalization application last July. On her application, Soleimani Afshar disclosed that she had traveled to Iran at least four times since being issued a green card. Bis said these trips to Iran “illustrate her asylum claims were fraudulent.”

TULSI GABBARD WARNS OF ‘DIRECT THREAT’ FROM SUSPECTED TERRORISTS NOW LIVING IN UNITED STATES

Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, explained that under current law, the bar for asylum claims in the U.S. is “pathetically low.”

“Some immigration judges apply the standards properly; others are incredibly lax, for altruistic or ideological reasons,” he told Fox News Digital.

He said the Soleimani relatives most likely “made a case that they were being persecuted by the Iranian regime.”

“This wouldn’t be impossible — there are relatives of dictators and bad guys who do oppose their own families. But it appears these women didn’t — they supported the regime, its proxies, and policy. They reportedly returned for visits.”

“Children of regime apparatchiks from China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, and every other country with a communist, dictatorial, repressive regime come here to college, buy houses, get jobs, and stay,” he said, adding, “Some are running away from their home regime and could have legitimate claims to asylum. Most are here spending their parents’ money. Scumbags from all over the world rail against the West but they want the New York, Miami, and London lifestyle for their families to enjoy with the money they loot from their own people.”

USCIS, which is a component of DHS, said that in light of its discoveries, it is developing a “layered vetting plan.” The agency said this plan will incorporate classified and unclassified information, as well as expanded criminal history checks, identity verification, and ad hoc security checks with the purpose of closing security gaps.

The agency also said it has compiled information on each country listed in the travel ban proclamations and is working with the State Department to identify risk factors, including indicators of fraud, public safety, or national security risks.

Bis emphasized that “it is a privilege to be granted a green card to live in the United States of America.”

She added that “if we have reason to believe a green card holder poses a threat to the U.S., the green card will be revoked.”

The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Justice Department to dismiss the criminal conviction against President Donald Trump’s former adviser, Steve Bannon — a symbolic, but significant move in one of the highest-profile prosecutions tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot and resulting congressional probe. 

In a brief, unsigned order, justices tossed an appeals court ruling that upheld Bannon’s criminal contempt conviction, sending the case back down to a district court judge for dismissal. 

The order clears a key legal obstacle for the Trump administration to dismiss Bannon’s criminal conviction completely.

EX-FBI AGENTS INVOLVED IN ARCTIC FROST PROBE SUE FOR WRONGFUL TERMINATION

The reversal is largely symbolic. Bannon, a longtime Trump ally and former White House adviser, was convicted in 2022 on two criminal charges of contempt of Congress stemming from his refusal to testify before a House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. 

He had already served a four-month prison sentence for the convictions in 2024, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the guilty verdict handed down by the jury and declined to rehear the case.

Bannon had also been ordered to pay more than $6,000 in fines in connection with the conviction.

The Supreme Court, for its part, declined at the time to grant his emergency application to further postpone jail time.

FBI AGENTS SUE TRUMP DOJ TO BLOCK ANY PUBLIC IDENTIFICATION OF EMPLOYEES WHO WORKED ON JAN. 6 INVESTIGATIONS

In vacating the appeals court order, justices on the high court removed a key legal obstacle preventing the Trump administration from dismissing Bannon’s conviction. 

Bannon’s lawyers had argued at the time that he had been acting on the advice of his counsel in refusing to comply with Congress. 

They also attempted to argue claims of executive privilege, though the latter sparked skepticism from House lawmakers, who noted that Bannon had departed the White House in 2017, several years before the riot took place.

It is unclear how long it might take to formally dismiss the case at the district court level. 

The Justice Department in February asked the Supreme Court to allow them to dismiss Bannon’s conviction and remand his case back to the district court to do so. They told the high court they had concluded the prosecution was no longer in “the interests of justice.”

The unanimous Supreme Court order did not have any dissents.

FBI AGENTS GROUP TELLS CONGRESS TO TAKE URGENT ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST POLITICIZATION 

Still, the request and resulting order represents a stark about-face from the Biden-led Justice Department, which had argued to the Supreme Court in 2024 that Bannon had acted “with total noncompliance” in avoiding the House investigators. They had urged the high court to deny Bannon’s bid to delay prison time. 

The order also comes as Trump, in his second term, has moved to unwind many of the investigations brought by the Justice Department under then-President Joe Biden — including the convictions brought in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. 

Shortly after taking office last year, Trump issued a blanket pardon to more than 1,500 persons convicted or charged in connection with the events of the day. 

His administration has also terminated a growing list of FBI agents assigned to the Jan. 6 investigation, prompting a wave of wrongful termination lawsuits, including one filed as recently as last month. 

The White House tore into Democrat activist and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Monday after she argued President Donald Trump‘s executive order seeking to rein in mail-in voting was “illegal.”

“Has Stacey Abrams conceded the multiple elections she lost yet or is she still pretending to be Governor?” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. “Election integrity has always been a top priority for President Trump, and the American people sent him back to the White House because they overwhelmingly supported his commonsense election integrity agenda.”

The comment was in response to Abrams, who said during an appearance on MS NOW over the weekend that Trump’s order would disenfranchise voters, resurfacing long-held tensions with the president amid his latest push to enhance voter security ahead of the midterms. Abrams previously ran for Georgia governor twice and refused to formally concede her 2018 election. 

“It is patently illegal, and it is entirely in the playbook of voter suppression that Republicans, including Donald Trump, have been using for the last decade or so,” Abrams said.

STACEY ABRAMS TOUTS 10 STEPS TO AUTOCRACY, SAYS ‘DO NOT LET PROPAGANDA WIN’

Trump’s order, called “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” directs the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration, in coordination with state leaders, to create a list of citizens, and then directed the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver mail-in ballots to people on the list.

“The president will do everything in his power to defend the safety and security of American elections and to ensure that only American citizens are voting in them – that’s only controversial for Democrats like Stacey,” Jackson added.

Abrams founded Fair Fight Action after her 2018 loss to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, saying Georgia’s election system suppressed voters. The group was later ordered to reimburse the state more than $200,000 in legal costs after an unsuccessful lawsuit. 

Separately, Abrams-linked advocacy groups have faced campaign-finance and nonprofit-compliance scrutiny, including a Georgia Ethics Commission case involving the New Georgia Project and a 2025 IRS complaint targeting Fair Fight Action.

Abrams has since criticized Republican-led voting initiatives at the federal and state level as relics of the Jim Crow era and designed to disenfranchise racial minorities.

“The Constitution gives to the states the authority to determine how elections are held,” Abrams said. “What the Republican regime is upset about is that democracy has been working.”

Trump criticized Abrams as far back as 2018 over her stance on voting, accusing her of wanting “illegal aliens to vote.” Abrams “opposed requiring proof of American citizenship at the ballot box,” Trump said at the time.

Trump has long argued that noncitizen voting, which is illegal, is a widespread problem in U.S. elections. In addition to his executive order, Trump has urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act before the 2026 elections to impose a physical identification requirement on people registering to vote, though it lacks the needed support from Democratic senators to advance in the upper chamber.

While the White House has framed Trump’s executive order as an effort to bolster election integrity, Abrams and other critics argued it intruded on state authority and would unfairly suppress votes.

“The biggest risk for Americans right now is that we see these as piecemeal, and we don’t recognize it’s part of a pattern,” Abrams said. “This is step 10 in an authoritarian playbook. You end democracy.”

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Abrams also alleged that the executive order would serve to create a master list of voters, effectively usurping state control over voter registration lists and federalizing elections.

“The creation of a database … should terrify all of us,” Abrams said. “That is an attempt to do national surveillance.”

In addition to Abrams’ criticisms, roughly two dozen states and voting rights groups filed lawsuits seeking to block the executive order, arguing Trump’s directives violated the Constitution by encroaching on states’ authority to administer elections.

Fox News Digital reached out to an Abrams representative for comment.