Author: NOVA Corp

Every Democrat asked during this week’s California gubernatorial debate said they supported providing healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants, a position they took moments after candidates spent several minutes warning that California’s healthcare system is already too expensive and straining families, businesses and the state budget.

“We had a broken immigration system, and now you want to victimize the people who are working here and making the state run,” Democratic candidate and billionaire businessman Tom Steyer said when asked if he supported giving coverage to illegal immigrants after the current California governor, Gavin Newsom, cut it to help reduce the state’s ballooning deficit.

Katie Porter, a former California congresswoman and fellow Democratic candidate for California governor, was asked point-blank about the cost concerns related to providing illegal immigrants with free healthcare coverage.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE COSTS IN BLUE STATE TRIGGERS INTENSE BUDGET DEBATE

“We can’t afford to have people who are sick, who are making the rest of us sick,” Porter responded to the cost question before her Republican opponent, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, interjected, “They shouldn’t be here,” leading Porter to pause and give him a look of bewilderment.

“When anyone doesn’t have care, the rest of us are at risk when people don’t get vaccinations,” Porter continued. “When they don’t go to the doctor, they wind up in the emergency room. They cause longer lines for the rest of us. They make our health care system — they push it to the brink.”

“Immigrants, whether documented or not, work hard. They pay taxes, and sometimes they get injured on the job or their children get sick,” former Biden administration Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said when asked if he supported the measure.

NEWSOM SIGNS $2.8B BAILOUT FOR HEALTHCARE PROGRAM OVERRUN BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“It would be foolish to tell a family that they don’t have access to the pediatrician or the family doc or not be able to use the community health center where it wouldn’t cost us so much to give them help access to good health care,” Becerra continued. 

“Instead, what will happen is that child will get so ill that they will have to take that child to the hospital. And what door do they enter? The most expensive door in the health care system? The emergency room door. Why do that and spend so much money when you can do it up front?”

The remaining Democratic Party candidates on the stage, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, were not directly asked whether they supported providing healthcare to illegal immigrants in the state, nor did they indicate their stances during other portions of the debate that discussed healthcare.

“The actual way we deal with healthcare in this state is to at least stop spending $20 billion a year on free healthcare for illegal immigrants who shouldn’t even be in the country in the first place,” Republican candidate and former Fox News host Steve Hilton said during debate about how to reform the state’s healthcare system.

LAWMAKERS REVEAL WHETHER AMERICANS SHOULD PICK UP THE MEDICAID TAB FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“When are we going to draw the line at any other crime? It’s illegal. They enter the country illegally, we’re not going to incentivize them to come here to take more of the resources that regular Californians aren’t getting,” Bianco added.

Before defending taxpayer-funded healthcare access for illegal immigrants, several of the Democratic candidates were already locked in a fight over who was more committed to government-run healthcare.

Steyer said he supports single payer “absolutely,” while Becerra said California should “try to get to a Medicare for all program.” Porter repeatedly pressed Becerra to be more explicit, asking whether he supported “California having its own state-run single-payer system.”

But the push for expanded coverage came as candidates also acknowledged the cost problem. Steyer said healthcare is “eating up our budget” and “eating up every single family,” while Villaraigosa warned a state-run single-payer system would carry a roughly $500 billion price tag and require approval from the federal government.

“It’s pie in the sky,” Villaraigosa said.

The Department of Justice is offering signing bonuses of up to $25,000 to recruit lawyers across the country to bolster legal battles against what one department official described as “lawless jurisdictions.”

New job postings show the high-dollar bonuses are being offered through the DOJ Civil Division components that handle immigration lawsuits and investigations into transgender medical treatments, two of President Donald Trump’s most contentious priorities, and highlight New York City, Raleigh, San Francisco and Dallas.

The hiring push comes as the Civil Division, the DOJ’s most expansive division led by Brett Shumate, continues the resource-intensive task of defending White House policies in court as it faces hundreds of lawsuits, while also drawing scrutiny for employee departures and reported recruiting challenges. 

The new recruitment strategy puts a spotlight on the pressure DOJ is facing to sustain its aggressive legal defense strategy, particularly in blue cities and states that it has accused of undermining federal authority, while also combating narratives that the department is struggling to retain staff.

TRUMP ADMIN UNLEASHES CRUCIAL RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN WITH MASSIVE BONUSES TO BOLSTER ICE RANKS

A DOJ official told Fox News Digital the hiring effort is not reflective of any internal strain but rather a way for the department to “look broader by enticing attorneys around the country who may not have considered” working for a D.C.-based federal agency.

“The Department is expanding resources across the country to combat lawless jurisdictions and nationwide injunctions, and there is a need to attract candidates from those new areas,” the official said, touting that Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act gave the DOJ “millions of dollars to hire more attorneys specifically for those efforts.”

The offers come as blue states, civil rights groups and Democrats flood courts across the country with lawsuits challenging Trump’s efforts to shrink and unify the executive branch, crack down on illegal immigration, implement tariffs and tighten policies surrounding election security and transgender people and more. Lower court judges have often stymied the administration’s work. The DOJ has chosen on rare occasions to raise the adverse rulings on an emergency basis with the conservative-leaning Supreme Court and won some two dozen cases — which represents a vast majority of the cases — when taking that route.

JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA

The Civil Division, which is in charge of defending the civil lawsuits against the administration, has also been offering incentives to current lawyers, according to Bloomberg Law. The outlet said the division was offering new biweekly bonuses up to $220 through Thanksgiving because lawyers “keep fleeing” and because the division was “growing more desperate to stave off further departures of valuable legal minds” who are uncomfortable with Trump’s priorities.

The DOJ official addressed concerns about an employee exodus in a statement to Fox News Digital, after the Financial Times also reported that more than a quarter of its nearly 13,000 lawyers have quit or been fired since the beginning of last year.

JUDGE RESTORES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S BUYOUT OFFER TO FEDERAL WORKERS

The official attributed the departures, in part, to employees taking a “fork in the road” resignation option, which the Trump administration rolled out last year with the stated goal of reducing the size of government.

“This has allowed DOJ to run more efficiently and hire new employees who wholeheartedly believe in the work they’re doing,” the official told Fox News Digital.

Assistant Attorney General Shumate told Fox News Digital in a statement he was “always looking for talented and qualified attorneys to advance President Trump’s priorities and protect the American people.”

“The Civil Division will continue to hire hardworking patriots from across the country and offer appreciation bonuses to our loyal attorneys who remain committed to our mission and upholding the rule of law,” Shumate said.

A “Muslim-only event” at a taxpayer-funded Texas water park has been changed to say “all are welcome,” while encouraging guests to dress moderately after criticism and threats by Gov. Greg Abbott to pull public safety grants.

A local Islamic group rented out the Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark for its annual Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) “Epic Eid” celebration June 1. A flier for the event originally stated that the gathering was a “Muslim only event” that required a “modest dress code.”

Amid the backlash, the organizer of the event, Aminah Knight, said the event was about “creating a space where individuals and families, particularly those who value modest dress and a modest environment, can come together and enjoy a recreational setting comfortably.”

The new poster removes “Muslim only event” and now says “Modest dress only” and replaces the phrase “For Muslims only” with “All are welcome.”

MUSLIM GROUPS, OTHER LEADERS DEMAND ABBOTT RESCIND CAIR’S ‘TERRORIST’ DESIGNATION: ‘DEFAMATORY’

“In response to feedback, we have updated our materials to clearly reflect that this is a modest dress-only event, centered around a respectful and family-friendly environment,” she wrote in a message on the event website.

The event is the third being held at Epic Waters, a city-owned water park funded in part by a voter-approved 0.25% sales tax in the DFW suburb of Grand Prairie.

Initially, the event advertised a “Muslim only event” admission policy that featured halal food and a private prayer area. Women are required to dress in “burkinis,” and men are required to wear swim trunks and shirts.

Although men and women won’t be separated, the event website states that guests should uphold “Islamic etiquette,” just as they do in other mixed-gender spaces.

MUSLIM CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP CAIR SUES TEXAS OVER ABBOTT’S ‘TERRORIST’ DESIGNATION

Abbott blasted the event, calling the initial “Muslim only” policy “unconstitutional” and “religious discrimination.”

“I signed HB 4211 into law — banning Muslim-only no-go zones in Texas,” he wrote on X. “The City must cancel the event and commit to never allowing something like it again by May 11th, or lose $530,000 in state grants. Let this be a lesson to local officials: Facilities funded by ALL taxpayers are not just for a subset of Texans.”

In a letter to Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen, Abbott noted that his Public Safety Office has five active grants with the city and that city leaders agreed to comply with state laws regarding civil rights and discrimination upon accepting the awards.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the water park and the city of Grand Prairie.

A Democratic lawmaker is drawing backlash after saying she spoke with foreign ambassadors about getting oil to Cuba despite U.S. sanctions, defending the outreach as “literally our right and responsibility.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., made the remarks during a recent Seattle briefing following a congressional delegation trip to Cuba, where she discussed the island’s worsening fuel shortages and U.S. policy toward the communist regime.

“I was in conversations with the ambassadors from Mexico and some other places … trying to figure out how to get oil there,” Jayapal said during the briefing, calling the situation on the island “a crisis beyond imagination.”

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Jayapal said the event was part of a broader briefing on the humanitarian situation in Cuba following her recent visit.

“As many of you know, I traveled to Cuba as part of a congressional delegation last month,” she said. “It is part of my role to see how U.S. foreign policy is actually affecting the people in the countries where that policy is being implemented.”

PAIR OF DEMOCRAT LAWMAKERS SLAM ‘BLOCKADE OF FUEL’ TO CUBA, ‘ECONOMIC BOMBING’ AFTER VISIT TO ISLAND

She said she met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, senior government officials, political dissidents, civil society groups and foreign diplomats during the trip.

Video of the remarks circulated widely on X, where users criticized the progressive lawmaker’s comments and raised legal concerns.

REP. JAYAPAL SLAMMED FOR TELLING AMERICANS TO ‘THINK ABOUT WHO PICKED’ THEIR FOOD IN ANTI-DEPORTATION REMARKS

Conservative accounts amplified the clip, including End Wokeness, which claimed she was “conspiring against the U.S.” and suggested her actions could constitute a federal felony. Libs of TikTok wrote that her actions “seems a little like treason to me.”

https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/2052096397344735412

https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2052087119061938528

DEM CONGRESSWOMAN DENIES RHETORIC INCITED ANTI-ICE VIOLENCE, DOUBLES DOWN ON CONDEMNING AGENCY

Social media users also pointed to potential legal implications. “Traitor. She should be prosecuted,” wrote “The Charlie Kirk Show” executive producer Andrew Kolvet on X.

Those claims are political commentary and have not been independently verified, and no investigation or charges have been publicly announced.

Jayapal responded to the backlash in a post on X, writing, “Breaking news: Members of Congress meet with ambassadors of other countries every day. That’s literally our right and responsibility.”

https://x.com/RepJayapal/status/2052112214279037346

Her remarks came as she sharply criticized U.S. sanctions on Cuba, describing them as “economic bombing of the infrastructure.”

“It is illegal. It is against the law,” she said. “This is essentially doing the same thing. It is bombing the infrastructure of Cuba with economic sanctions that essentially ensure that the infrastructure collapses.”

DEM SENATOR’S EL SALVADOR TRIP MIGHT VIOLATE LAW LIBERALS USED AS PRETEXT FOR MICHAEL FLYNN PROBE: CRITICS

The controversy has also prompted discussion of the Logan Act, a rarely used federal law that bars unauthorized individuals from negotiating with foreign governments in disputes involving the United States.

Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, told Fox News Digital the statute has never resulted in a conviction and has been used only sparingly in U.S. history.

“There has never been a conviction under it — in fact, there have only been two indictments, the last one about 174 years ago,” McCarthy said.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REACHING OUT TO DEMOCRAT LAWMAKERS SEEN IN VIDEO TELLING TROOPS TO ‘REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS’

He added that any potential legal exposure would depend on whether a lawmaker took concrete action that violated U.S. sanctions.

“There would be no criminal case … unless it can be shown that she took some action that violated, or aided and abetted a violation of, the sanctions,” McCarthy said.

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He argued disputes over engagement with foreign governments are more appropriately handled through political accountability rather than criminal law.

CHINA’S SPYING IN CUBA SPARKS ALARM ON CAPITOL HILL AFTER FRESH SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW SURVEILLANCE BUILDUP

The Trump administration has previously described the Cuban government as a national security concern due to its ties to adversarial countries and actors, including relationships with Iran and alleged links to groups such as Hezbollah. The Cuban government has also faced longstanding criticism over political repression and restrictions on free speech.

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The island’s economic conditions have contributed to a surge in migration, with hundreds of thousands of Cubans arriving in the United States in recent years.

Jayapal, who traveled to Cuba in April with Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., has argued U.S. policy is worsening conditions for civilians on the island while also acknowledging concerns with the Cuban government.

CUBAN PRESIDENT ADMITS TALKS WITH TRUMP ADMIN AS FUEL BLOCKADE CHOKES DOMESTIC ENERGY SUPPLY AND ECONOMY

“I do also have criticisms of the Cuban government … In our meetings, I have always raised those,” she said, referencing issues including political prisoners and limits on dissent.

“The Cuban government has sent many signals that this is a new moment for the country,” Jayapal said in a statement following the trip, adding that U.S. restrictions on fuel amount to “cruel collective punishment.”

She has called for lifting the U.S. embargo and removing Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list, while backing legislation to block potential U.S. military action against the country.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Jayapal’s office, the White House and the State Department for comment.

Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) paid more than $67 million in public childcare subsidies over the past eight years to nine day care providers, several of which were confirmed to have been raided by federal authorities last week.

The figure is based on an investigation of state records by local Minnesota news outlet KSTP, which points out that since there have not been any charges, it is unclear how much of this may be fraud. While an exhaustive list of the daycares raided last week has not been released by authorities, public records can confirm several included programs that receive CCAP subsidies.

The investigation of state records found that in the final two years of publicly available data that state payments through the CCAP program to these nine centers more than doubled, growing from around $8 million in 2023 to over $16 million in 2025, while the number of students served remained steady.

UNEARTHED SURVEILLANCE EXPOSES HOW PARENTS WERE ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN MINNESOTA’S DAYCARE FRAUD SCHEME

“I think voters are very frustrated with the entire situation. I don’t think it’s Republican or Democrat — they’re just frustrated,” former state lawmaker, a small business owner and member of the Taxpayer League of Minnesota, Phil Krinkie, told KSTP.

“Just last week, Democrats killed a bill to increase oversight and fraud penalties for child care providers receiving high amounts of CCAP funding, like these nine providers,” the Minnesota House Republican Caucus added on X.

Federal agents issued 22 search warrants at day care and autism centers in Minnesota last week.

Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI, Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, and the Department of Health and Human Service’s Association of Children and Families (ACF) to confirm details of the raids, including whether the nine daycares receiving CCAP funds were part of last week’s operations. Only HHS responded, indicating that “ACF does not comment on ongoing litigation.”

NEW AUDIT EXPOSES FLAWED SYSTEM CRITICS SAY LET MINNESOTA FRAUD TO SLIP THROUGH CRACKS: ‘DIDN’T ACT FOR YEARS’

Former Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson said the scope of the warrants suggests investigators are looking for evidence that publicly-funded services were actually provided, according to KSTP.

“Whether it’s a business, a school, a nonprofit — if something grows that much, you know, makes sense to ask why is it growing that much and how could it grow so fast,” Swanson, who oversaw several Medicaid fraud prosecutions during her time as Attorney General, told KSTP.

“These are federally and state-funded programs,” Swanson continued. “The question is, ‘were services billed to the government that weren’t rendered?’”

CCAP is a publicly funded program for families who cannot afford childcare administered via Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), which also provided the data examined by KSTP. Fox News Digital reached out to DCYF for comment and details about the CCAP program but did not hear back in time for publication.

DCYF did not give any information to KSTP, either. The local Minnesota news operation had to go to state Rep. Kristin Robbins, chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee in the Minnesota legislature, after the agency ignored its public records request. 

Robbins made the same request, but DCYF did provide the records, documents and data in that case, according to KSTP.

Congressional Democrats hammered Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for lying about his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he admitted his relationship with Epstein lasted longer than he previously disclosed.

Lutnick participated in a voluntary closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about Epstein as part of the panel’s probe into the disgraced financier.

“I feel very comfortable saying that Howard Lutnick is a pathological liar,” Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., said when she left the room in the middle of the Capitol Hill testimony to give reporters an update.

She claimed the Trump official is complicit in “the most egregious cover-up in American history.”

HOWARD LUTNICK FORCED TO FACE JEFFREY EPSTEIN TIES DURING HOUSE OVERSIGHT HEARING

Democratic lawmakers, who have seized on the Epstein saga after largely ignoring it under former President Joe Biden, accused Lutnick of stonewalling their questions during their sit-down.

“If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., insisted. “He’s lost all credibility, and really it’s a shame that the American people don’t get to see what he did there — total lack of truth and lack of honesty.”

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., accused Democrats of lying about Lutnick’s testimony, which he characterized as “very forthcoming” — thought admitted he was not “100% truthful” in the past.

“The only cover-up that I’ve seen on the Oversight Committee is the cover-up of the Democrats trying to cover up our investigations of the Metro Police Department lying about crime statistics, and the cover-up of the Minnesota fraud by Tim Walz and Keith Ellison and the cover-up of the hospice fraud in California,” Comer said, referring to several active probes under his purview.

A source familiar told Fox News that Lutnick told the panel that he only met Epstein three times. Lutnick never saw Epstein with young women or witnessed anything inappropriate with young women, the source added.

Lutnick did not respond to reporters’ questions outside the Oversight Committee room on Wednesday.

HOWARD LUTNICK SHUTS DOWN DEM QUESTIONS OVER JEFFREY EPSTEIN AT BUDGET HEARING

Democrats in Congress have argued that Lutnick’s acknowledgment of a brief lunch visit to Epstein’s Caribbean island in 2012 with his wife, children and nannies after previously claiming he cut off ties seven years earlier undermines his credibility.

Lutnick told the New York Post last year that he had no contact with Epstein after 2005, when he and his wife had a brief meeting in the disgraced financier’s apartment and saw the massage table.

However, Epstein files that were released this year showed that Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein extended well beyond that. The commerce secretary told the House panel that his short visit to Epstein’s island was “unsettling” because he did not know how Epstein’s assistant knew that he and his family were vacationing in the U.S. Virgin Islands at the time.

The two were next-door neighbors from 2005 until 2019, when Epstein died by suicide in a New York correctional center after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges. 

A spokesperson for the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry on lawmakers’ classification of Lutnick’s testimony.

Comer acknowledged Wednesday that Lutnick withheld information about the 2012 lunch with Epstein, but argued that his credibility is up to Americans to decide.

“I haven’t seen wrongdoing in the email correspondence, but he wasn’t 100% truthful with whether or not he had been on the island,” Comer told reporters.

“We’re going to ask him all these questions, and we’ll let the American people judge whether the credibility was damaged or not,” he added.

The Trump administration has largely stood by Lutnick amid calls for his resignation from Democrats and a handful of Republicans, including Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

Comer also said his unprecedented invitation to invite Lutnick, a Cabinet secretary, to appear before the committee shows the bipartisan nature of the Epstein probe.

“There’s never been a chairman bring in Cabinet secretaries of their own party,” he told Fox News. “We have Pam Bondi coming in in a couple of weeks. So, I think people can see that this is a bipartisan investigation. We’re really sincerely trying to get the truth. Our goal is to provide justice for the victims and, hopefully, today will be helpful.”

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled for a transcribed interview with the committee on May 29. Tech billionaire Bill Gates is slated to testify on June 10.

The Seattle City Council president said she works with two budgets — her district’s and “the Black budget” — and urged Black residents to unite as “the most powerful political party” in Seattle.

Joy Hollingsworth, president of the Seattle City Council and representative of District 3, told attendees at the State of Africatown 2026 conference how she has advocated for the “Black budget” to be reflected in the city’s general budget. The public town hall, focused on advancing Seattle’s Black community, was held in late February, but Hollingsworth’s remarks were resurfaced by Seattle talk show host Jason Rantz.

“So, I got two budgets every time I go to council member Dan Strauss every year. I have a district three budget and then a black budget,” Hollingsworth told the audience.

Hollingsworth’s remarks came just days before Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson ordered city agencies to cut their budgets for next year by 5% to 10%. Seattle is facing a projected budget deficit of $140 million for the 2026 fiscal year.

KEY TRUMP AGENCY UNLEASHES PROBE ON BLUE STATE OVER POTENTIAL RACE-BASED MORTGAGE AID: ‘DEI IS DEAD’

During the address, Hollingsworth talked about how she assembled roughly 70 Black residents to testify last year on the city’s budget, dubbing it “Black Budget Day.”

“It is important that they see us, that they hear us, that we just don’t show up for certain things that we are down here advocating for us,” Hollingsworth said of Black Budget Day. “There are political parties in Seattle and I believe that if black people come to together, we can be the most powerful political party in the city of Seattle. We have to coalesce our power.”

Rantz invited Hollingsworth on his radio show to explain what she meant by the term “Black budget,” suggesting that whether she meant it as a literal budget or a term used for political branding, it’s still a “problem.”

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“But we’d rightly call out a ‘white budget,’” Rantz wrote. “And it’s worth asking why Hollingsworth doesn’t appear eager to offer other constituencies their own budget. Perhaps she doesn’t care enough about Asians or Latinos?”

Rantz said that Hollingsworth canceled the interview with his station, but in a statement to Fox News Digital Hollingsworth said the Black budget refers to “targeted investments and resources directed toward historically impacted communities in Seattle.”

“This is about addressing long-standing challenges in public safety, infrastructure, small business support, clean and safe parks, roads and sidewalks, and workforce development,” Hollingsworth said.

“In Seattle, we need to stay focused on delivering the city basics,” Hollingsworth continued. “That’s what communities across our city are asking for and what they want to see government deliver on every day. We are focused on the fundamentals of local government, safe streets, reliable infrastructure, responsive city services, and clean public spaces.”

Asked what percentage of Seattle’s $8.9 billion budget should be allocated for the “Black budget,” Hollingsworth said in an email: “8.9 billion dollars. The city’s budget.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has taken a critical tone toward maverick Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., urging him to “get back to what he was elected to do” as a Democrat.

While speaking on CNN this week, Shapiro, another rumored 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, appeared exasperated about Fetterman amid reports that he is receiving pressure to jump ship on the party.

“Look, I don’t know what Sen. Fetterman is going to do,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I know that Pennsylvanians voted for a Democrat to represent them in the United States Senate.”

“So, I think he needs to honor that and continue with his service to Pennsylvania, and, hopefully, get back to what he was elected to do and reflect the will of the people,” he added.

KNIVES OUT FOR FETTERMAN: MAVERICK SENATOR JOINS LONG LINE OF DEMS PUNISHED FOR BREAKING FROM LEFT

Fetterman’s relationship with Shapiro has cooled since his election. The senator wrote in his book, “Unfettered,” released last November, that he and Shapiro “no longer speak” with one another. He wrote that the relationship deteriorated into an “ugliness” from which “we have never recovered.”

Fetterman has stirred up significant controversy by backing portions of President Donald Trump’s agenda. Notably, Fetterman is one of just six Democratic senators who represent states that Trump won in the 2024 election.

He was the lone Democrat to vote in favor of advancing Trump’s new pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, former Sen. Markwayne Mullin. During the prolonged government shutdown fight last year, Fetterman voted with Republicans to reopen the government, explaining his vote was choosing “country over party.”

In 2025, he voted with Republicans about 26% of the time, according to Congress Vote Tracker.

This has left many in the Democratic Party frustrated, including Shapiro. On a recent episode of the “Talk Easy” podcast with Sam Fragoso, Shapiro asserted, “I’ve got no beef with John” but said, “John’s got a lot of questions that I think he needs to answer for the people of Pennsylvania.”

“I think there’s a lot of people who want to know kind of what happened, why he does some of the things he does,” he continued.

In February, Shapiro declined to say whether he would support Fetterman if he seeks re-election in 2028, saying, “I don’t know if he’s running for re-election. I think he needs to decide if he’s running, and then we’ll make a decision from there.”

FETTERMAN BREAKS WITH DEMOCRATS OVER SHUTDOWN, VOWS TO PUT ‘COUNTRY OVER PARTY’

Shapiro is not the only major Democratic leader who has criticized Fetterman in recent months. Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta slammed Fetterman in April, labeling the senator “a mess.”

“Almost every day now my US Senator comes on this site to attack his constituents and many people who worked hard to elect him. Suggesting that they have ‘derangement syndrome’ for opposing this administration. You’re a mess @JohnFetterman,” Kenyatta wrote in an X post.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has also called out Fetterman over his response to the war in Iran and said on CNN in April that he “knows better.”

This comes as Politico reported Monday that some Republicans were trying to persuade Fetterman to change his party affiliation.

DNC VICE CHAIR ATTACKS DEMOCRATIC SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN: ‘YOU’RE A MESS’

However, Fetterman told the outlet in an interview, “I’m a Democrat, and I’m staying one.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Fetterman and Shapiro for additional comment.

Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump warned nearly a year ago that the District of Columbia may have been reporting “fake crime numbers” when he deployed the National Guard to the nation’s capital.

Now, the Metropolitan Police Department is embroiled in scandal, as 13 officers have been placed on leave, with some already undergoing termination, according to MPD Interim Chief Jeffrey Carroll, as an ongoing probe into alleged manipulation of statistics unfolds.

“Our Internal Affairs Bureau has completed an investigation into crime reporting,” Carroll said. The MPD did not immediately respond to a Tuesday request for comment. “This investigation was reported — it was referred to us earlier this year from the United States Attorney’s Office.”

Senior officials, including an assistant chief and district commander, are among those being scrutinized, according to reports.

DC POLICE ACCUSED OF MANIPULATING CRIME STATS AS FEDERAL PROBE FINDS THOUSANDS OF MISCLASSIFIED CASES

Trump received heavy blowback from District officials and Democratic lawmakers for dispatching the Guard to the area after declaring on Truth Social that “DC gave fake crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety.”

Trump claimed that until the Guard arrived, Washington was the least safe city in the U.S. “and perhaps the world.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for further comment, while House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer took credit for the developments leading up to the suspensions.

“These terminations are a direct result of the Oversight Committee’s work exposing dangerous efforts by DC Police leaders to artificially lower crime rates,” Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement.

Meanwhile, several Democrats, including those in the District, have lambasted Trump for his actions.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., slammed the White House in August, saying the president’s use of federal law enforcement within her city is a “disproportionate overreaction” and “offensive.”

WHITE HOUSE FIRES BACK AS TRUMP’S USE OF DC POLICE FOR CRIME CRACKDOWN IS PLACED IN THE CROSSHAIRS BY DEMS

Council members on the District Council — where there are no Republicans — called Trump’s behavior off-base and extreme.

District of Columbia District Attorney Brian Schwalb also sued the feds for an “unlawful attempt to take over [MPD]” and the Justice Department’s Home-Rule order to the District in that respect.

Schwalb’s office said in a statement at the time that Trump had no right to supplant then-chief Pamela Smith, with the AG adding that his actions represented a “hostile takeover.”

“The Administration is abusing its limited, temporary authority under the Home Rule Act, infringing on the District’s right to self-governance and putting the safety of DC residents and visitors at risk,” Schwalb said, further calling the move the greatest threat to the District’s “home rule” provisions of self-governance.

In a profane response a month later to the Guard’s presence, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., declared Congress would never provide consent to Trump’s actions in Washington.

“No f—ing way,” he said in response to a question on extending the National Guard’s tenure.

‘THEY’RE EMBARRASSING US’: NATIONAL GUARD PRESENCE IN DC SPARKS FIERY CAPITOL CLASH

Schumer called Trump’s move an attempted distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein files saga.

Fox News Digital reached out to Schwalb, Holmes-Norton, Schumer, the White House and the MPD for comment.

A representative for Schwalb acknowledged Fox News Digital’s inquiry and said the attorney general’s office would respond soon.

Meanwhile, the MPD’s union boss welcomed the news, saying his members “warned that this toxic culture of coercion, fear, and corruption left thousands of cases uninvestigated, denied victims justice, gaslit residents, and endangered public safety.”

“Forensic teams were not dispatched, evidence went uncollected, detectives were never notified, and dangerous criminals walked free. All while the public was fed falsified Daily Crime Report (DCR) numbers,” Gregg Pemberton said.

Former Rep. Katie Porter, a Democratic candidate in California’s crowded gubernatorial primary, is facing backlash after saying illegal immigrants are driving population growth in the state — a claim long advanced by Republicans.

“The job of the California governor is to protect every single Californian,” Porter said after being asked if she would work with federal authorities to deport illegal immigrants at Tuesday’s California gubernatorial debate. 

“The sanctuary state policy is designed to make sure that our state resources, the taxpayer dollars, the public servants that we have, are focusing on doing their jobs — which is not cooperating with the federal immigration authorities.”

KATIE PORTER INTERVIEW GOES VIRAL AS JOURNALISTS MARVEL AT DEMOCRAT’S MELTDOWN 

“These are Californians, they contribute to our economy, they pay taxes, and they’re one of the only ways that our state has been growing in recent years,” Porter said of illegal immigrants.

Gunther Eagleman, a popular right-wing X account, accused Porter of saying “the quiet part out loud,” by stating that illegal immigrants have mitigated population decline in California.

Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have accused Democrats of resisting efforts to deport illegal immigrants because it could cost them seats in the House of Representatives. Illegal immigrants counted by the Census help determine the total number of House seats a given state is entitled to when the chamber is reapportioned every ten years.

“So she’s saying Cali has too many seats in the House?” another X user said in response to Porter’s comment.

While Trump and others have attempted to add a citizenship question to the Census in an effort to remove non-citizens from calculations determining the number of House seats each state has, the Constitution does not mention citizenship status in relation to congressional apportionment.

NEW POLL REVEALS MAJORITY OF CALIFORNIANS OPPOSE THIS KEY BENEFIT FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“California is cooked: Katie Porter says criminal illegal aliens are ‘one of the only ways California has been growing in recent years,” Republican communications operative Steve Guest wrote on X. “Democrats have been in total control of [California] for the past 16 years.”

An estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants entered California from 2021 to 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Between July 2021 and July 2023, California’s overall population grew by just under 20,000, per data published by the California Department of Finance.

“Thats because all the billionaires, millionaires big business and anyone that can afford it is leaving [California] faster than you pouring a pot of boiling hot potatoes on your ex partners head,” one X account wrote, responding to Porter and alluding to an allegation of domestic violence against the gubernatorial candidate.

SKYROCKETING HEALTHCARE BUDGET FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HAUNTS BLUE STATE TAXPAYERS 

California saw a net population loss of 215,542 from domestic migration in 2025, compared to a net gain of 125,473 from foreign migration that same year, according to the state’s Department of Finance. Migration out of California has cost the state billions of dollars per year in tax revenue, according to California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Other critics seized on Porter’s assertion that illegal immigrants benefit California’s economy.

“If you think the best way to promote economic growth involves letting in illegal aliens, you’re doing it wrong,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote. 

California’s illegal immigrants paid roughly $8.5 billion in state and local taxes during 2022, according to an estimate from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Conservative critics argue that illegal immigrants consume more than that in public services, such as education and subsidized healthcare, though the costs of such things are difficult to quantify.

Some studies, including a report recently published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, have also found that illegal immigration causes the cost of living to go up by increasing demand for housing. 

“I contained myself well I think,” Sheriff Chad Bianco, one of the two Republicans who participated in the gubernatorial debate, chimed in.