Category: USA Politics

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, one of President Donald Trump’s most influential but least public-facing advisers, launched an X account Tuesday to share updates from inside the administration.

“I’m joining X to share occasional updates about the work we do at the White House. We are relentlessly focusing on advancing President Trump’s agenda and delivering on promises to the American people,” her first post read. “I welcome different viewpoints. Follow along for insights and information.”

Her newly formed account has amassed nearly 300,000 followers since its launch this week. Wiles is seen very often with the president, sitting in on high-level meetings and standing by his side at events, but Trump’s chief of staff rarely speaks directly to the public.

WHO IS SUSIE WILES, TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF? 5 THINGS TO KNOW

Her account only follows six users, all media outlets: Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News, The New York Times, and CBS News.

 “NEW MUST FOLLOW: White House Chief of Staff @SusieWiles47,” the White House’s Rapid Response account shared her first post writing. 

JOE CONCHA: MY TOP FIVE ‘CRINGE’ JEAN-PIERRE MOMENTS

The White House directed Fox News Digital to her first post when approached for additional comment. 

Trump made history when he appointed the first woman to serve as his chief of staff, saying Wiles was integral to his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

FOX NEWS POLITICS NEWSLETTER: TRUMP DECLARES HIMSELF VENEZUELA’S ‘ACTING PRESIDENT’

Wiles has been dubbed the “Ice Maiden” by Trump, which he noted in his 2024 victory speech, for hard-nosed approach to handling business. 

Wiles is a longtime Trump ally, first throwing her support behind him in 2015 when she became the Trump campaign’s co-chairwoman in Florida.

“As a card-carrying member of the G.O.P. establishment, many thought my full-throated endorsement of the Trump candidacy was ill-advised — even crazy,” Wiles told the New York Times in a rare public statement back in 2016. 

Fresh off his viral bout with Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin engaged in another heated exchange with Rep. Robert Menendez Jr., D-N.J., during a Tuesday session and afterward appeared to make a cryptic reference to the congressman’s father, who was imprisoned for corruption.

Zeldin and Menendez Jr. sparred over the agency’s policy changes, which the Democratic lawmaker said are exacerbating climate change and related costs, as well as former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s tenure and government waste, as Menendez became increasingly frustrated with the administrator.

In a post on X after the blowup, Zeldin quipped that Menendez Jr. “starts doing some really weird things with his hands when he starts hearing about ‘gold bars’ getting tossed around.”

ADAM SCHIFF TELLS EPA’S LEE ZELDIN HE’LL CAUSE CANCER AFTER SHOUTFEST: ‘COULD GIVE A RAT’S A–‘

Former Sen. Robert Menendez Sr., D-N.J., was dubbed “Gold Bar Bob” by the New York City press after federal prosecutors found gold bars in his home while investigating the corruption scandal that landed him and his second wife behind bars in 2025.

Earlier Tuesday, Menendez Jr. and Zeldin cut each other off as the lawmaker raised his voice during a line of questioning about how Zeldin would have managed New York on the environmental front if he had been elected governor in 2022 and faced with Trump-era policies.

Menendez asked whether Zeldin understood that climate change will reportedly create $45 billion in healthcare costs by 2050 after his agency rescinded an Obama-era “endangerment finding” that had governed greenhouse gas emissions and led to new consumer requirements like automobile “start-stop” features.

Zeldin had previously told DeLauro that she did not understand the Loper Bright Supreme Court decision that his office analyzed in making the change, while telling Menendez the rescission is in line with the Clean Air Act.

Menendez also pressed Zeldin on climate change’s role in Superstorm Sandy, which battered both their home states, and added that if he were governor, he would have to deal with millions in cuts to EPA grants, as well as the Trump administration’s reductions to Medicaid increases and added restrictions on what SNAP benefits the federal government would cover.

Zeldin quipped that it was “interesting” how those questions were posed.

EPA CHIEF LEE ZELDIN BLASTS NY TIMES OVER CLAIM AGENCY WILL STOP CONSIDERING ‘LIVES SAVED’ IN POLLUTION RULES

“Because it’s either, or, right — what would you do if you were governor of New York?” Menendez shot back before Zeldin interjected to ask whether Menendez understood how liberal governance has cost New Jersey residents in his state:

“You know how much energy prices are up in New Jersey in the last five years?” Zeldin said before quipping that President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget does not account for “how much [Democrats] are going to raid it.”

Menendez interjected that Zeldin has said “other crazy stuff today” and would move on, to which Zeldin spoke over him to accuse Democrats of “grandstanding” and not allowing answers.

A frustrated Menendez then turned to Chairman Morgan Griffith, R-Va., and asked “Are you going to do anything [about this] at some point?”

When Menendez pivoted to questioning President Donald Trump’s reported policy pledges to the fossil fuel industry, Zeldin shot back to ask whether the Democrat was going to allow him to answer.

“I’m going to start an answer and you’re going to cut me off – that’s how this works, right?”

In response, a fuming Menendez said he wanted to also ask about the Noem-era advertising campaign which he said cost $220 million.

When Zeldin tried to respond, Menendez boomed, “I’m talking.”

“How about the conflicts of interest during the Biden EPA — how about the Gold Bars being thrown off the Titanic?” Zeldin shot back as the two talked over each other, and Zeldin could be heard pressing Menendez on why New Jersey and New York have seen about a 50% spike in energy costs under policies opposed to the Trump administration’s.

EPA CHIEF LEE ZELDIN DOUBLES DOWN AFTER FIERY EXCHANGE WITH REP DELAURO OVER LANDMARK SCOTUS CASES

As Menendez’s time expired, Griffith cut in to say that Zeldin was there solely to address EPA matters.

“He also has a right to answer the question, let’s try to be a little more civil on all parts,” he said.

The gold bars reference cited a prior statement by Zeldin that Biden-era “throwing gold bars off the Titanic are over” and that “self-dealing and conflicts of interest, unqualified recipients, and intentionally reduced agency oversight pose unacceptable risk” in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund were ending under his tenure with the March 2025 termination of $20 billion in funding — a topic Menendez referenced in his criticism.

While some observers heard “gold bars” mentioned in the tense exchange and hearkened back to Sen. Robert Menendez Sr.’s federal case, in which gold bars were found in his possession, an EPA source told Fox News Digital that Zeldin was not directly referencing that scandal.

“When Dems hear the truth, they implode,” Zeldin said in a statement on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Menendez Jr. for comment on the uproar and the mention of gold bars during the exchange.

Justice Clarence Thomas said Wednesday the Supreme Court should go further than its latest Voting Rights Act ruling, arguing the law’s key anti-discrimination provision was divisive and should never apply to redistricting cases. 

“As I explained more than 30 years ago, I would go further and hold that [section two] of the Voting Rights Act does not regulate districting at all,” Thomas, who was joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, wrote in a concurrence.

Thomas’ remarks came as part of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which upheld a finding that one of the state’s majority-Black congressional districts was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. 

The decision had broad implications, serving to narrow section two of the Voting Rights Act, a civil rights-era law making it illegal for voting policies to discriminate based on race. The ruling already restricted states’ ability to use race as a factor when drawing majority-minority districts, but Thomas’ concurrence went further, saying the statute should not be used for redistricting under any circumstance.

CHICAGO MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON TAKES JAB AT CLARENCE THOMAS WHILE DEFENDING CITY’S REPARATIONS TASK FORCE

“Today’s decision should largely put an end to this ‘disastrous misadventure’ in voting-rights jurisprudence,” Thomas wrote, quoting himself from a 1994 concurrence.

Thomas argued the high court’s prior interpretations of section two of the Voting Rights Act have encouraged states to engage in discriminatory race-based map drawing. He said the text of section two covers access to ballots and voting procedures, not how states draw district lines, and that it should therefore not be used in lawsuits about maps.

Thomas, an appointee of President George H. W. Bush, has long advocated gutting the Voting Rights Act provision. The conservative justice, the second Black justice in history after Justice Thurgood Marshall, said in the 1994 case, Holder v. Hall, that people who use section two of the law to claim redrawn districts have diluted racial minorities’ votes are reading it incorrectly.

“The assumptions upon which our vote dilution decisions have been based should be repugnant to any nation that strives for the ideal of a color blind Constitution,” Thomas wrote at the time.

REVISITING JUSTICE SCALIA’S SAME-SEX MARRIAGE DISSENT: PROPHETIC OR INFLAMMATORY?

The majority opinion, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, stopped short of Thomas’ position. Alito wrote that while compliance with the Voting Rights Act could sometimes involve the use of race, Louisiana was not required to create a second majority-Black district, meaning its map was unconstitutional.

“‘Our acceptance of race-based state action has been rare for a reason,’” Alito wrote, saying Louisiana had “no compelling interest” in packing Black voters into the district.

The yearslong case arose from Louisiana’s redistricting efforts after the 2020 census, during which the state added a second majority-Black district after a lower court said the Voting Rights Act required it. That new map was then struck down as a racial gerrymander, setting up the new lawsuit that rose to the Supreme Court.

The three liberal justices argued in a dissent, authored by Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, that the majority’s decision, and Thomas’ more stringent view, stripped protections against diluting racial minorities’ votes. The decision “renders Section 2 all but dead letter,” Kagan wrote.

“Under the Court’s new view of Section 2, a State can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power,” she wrote.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that if he has a chance to speak with King Charles during a 9/11 memorial event in New York City on Wednesday, he’d ask the British monarch to return a controversial 105.6-carat diamond to India.

Mamdani was taking questions from reporters when he was asked what he’d say if King Charles happened to stop and chat at the event, a wreath laying at Ground Zero to honor those killed on 9/11 ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

“You know, if I was to speak to the King separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond,” Mamdani said, after first saying that he was focused primarily on the evening’s memorial event.

The diamond, which is now set in the crown of the Queen Mother that was worn by Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI and mother to Queen Elizabeth II, has a controversial history.

EVERY STOP ON KING CHARLES, QUEEN CAMILLA’S US VISIT: HERE’S WHERE THEY’RE TRAVELING IN AMERICA

The Koh-i-Noor, which means “Mountain of Light,” was likely discovered in South India in the 13th century and is believed to have changed hands countless times over the following centuries.

In 1849, the gem wound up in Britain’s possession following its annexation of the Punjab and forcing its 10-year-old king to sign the Treaty of Lahore, requiring him to hand sovereignty — and the diamond — over to the British, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

DEADLY DIAMONDS AND CURSED CROWNS

The diamond became part of Britain’s Crown Jewels and was worn by several queens before it was set in the front of the crown of the Queen Mother worn by Queen Elizabeth, in which the gem has remained as it sits on display in the Tower of London.

India is one of several countries that have pushed for Britain to return the gem. Other countries laying claim to famous diamond include Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

So far, neither Britain nor the Royal Family has given any indication that the diamond would be returned.

When a bullet grazed President Donald Trump’s ear, Congress immediately launched investigations into how a gunman was able to pull the trigger. Two attempts later, and lawmakers are now less interested in taking swift action.

There have been few calls to hold hearings or launch probes into the latest incident as conspiracies swirl online after the third alleged assassination attempt over the weekend at the White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner.

“I just happen to think it’s — for the most part, it’s a waste of time,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. “Security held. The guy didn’t get through. Wasn’t even close.”

REPUBLICANS EYE PICKING UP $400M TAB FOR TRUMP’S BALLROOM AS SOME DEMS OPEN TO ‘DISCUSS’ IDEA

Top lawmakers on the House Oversight and Senate Judiciary committees met with Secret Service Director Sean Curran this week for briefings, but have so far stopped short of calling for hearings or full-scale investigations.

Two years ago, when a gunman tried and failed to assassinate Trump on the campaign trail in Butler, Pa., two major bipartisan investigations were launched to address failures by the Secret Service and other agencies and find out how a gunman got so close to ending Trump’s life.

And in the case of Ryan Routh, who was caught with a rifle in another attempt against Trump while he was golfing at his club in Florida just months after the shooting at Butler, lawmakers folded that investigation in with their ongoing inquiry into the first attack.

Following the weekend shooting at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner, where a gunman was foiled while attempting to enter a packed ballroom where Trump, his Cabinet, Vice President JD Vance and several journalists sat, lawmakers aren’t rushing to figure out what happened this time.

Trump’s appearance on Saturday marks the first time he decided to go to the dinner while serving as president — he has been twice in the past. He also promised at a press conference after the dinner was canceled to reschedule the event within the next 30 days.

The alleged shooter, Cole Allen, bolted past a security check point with a rifle, handgun and several knives on his person. But the Secret Service was able to neutralize the suspect before he ever entered the ballroom where Trump was sitting.

Still, some Republicans are demanding that the incident be given a thorough review, or at least a hearing.

REPUBLICANS SCRAMBLE TO FUND SECRET SERVICE AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AMID RECORD-BREAKING SHUTDOWN

“I mean, this is the third assassination attempt on the life of the president in two years,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital. “You know, we need to look carefully at all of the procedures and protocols.”

Hawley wants Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., to hold a hearing on presidential security in the aftermath of the shooting.

The very same committee led an investigation into the Butler attempt and determined that the shooting was preventable and caused by a series of failures in security protocol, planning, and funding, among several others.

The bipartisan investigation landed on more than 40 recommendations for actions that should be taken in the future to prevent a repeat.

Paul didn’t appear ready to rush into a hearing on the matter. He told Fox News Digital that lawmakers investigated that attempt for over a year and believed that the probe “arrived at several bits of wisdom, insight, and advice.”

“I think there will be items from this that need to be reviewed and made better,” Paul said. “We’re gonna get a briefing from the Secret Service on what to learn from this attempt, and we’ll decide after that if we need to do anything further. But absolutely, the Secret Service needs to investigate and see what they can do to make the president safer.”

REPUBLICANS RUSH TO GREEN-LIGHT WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM FOLLOWING THIRD TRUMP ASSASSINATION SCARE

Like Hawley, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., has several questions about how a gunman was able to blow past security measures and fears what could come next.

“When is it going to be a suicide bomber? When is it going to be an army of people behind the one person that went in and blow up the whole building? Look, that’s where we are, and I have questions about the three assassination attempts,” Norman told Fox News Digital.

Meanwhile, there is a growing wave of skepticism online about whether the latest attempt on Trump’s life was even real. Many users are claiming that the incident was “staged.”

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital that “some of these people need … serious help.”

Moreno was comfortable that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles would lead a “necessary and important conversation” about the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner incident, but rebuked any attempt by Democrats to push for answers.

“If there’s a Democrat having that conversation, you can shut the f— up given that they won’t fund [the Department of Homeland Security],” Moreno said.

Democratic lawmakers, who have frequently accused President Donald Trump of acting like a “king” upon his return to the White House, were brutally mocked on Tuesday for applauding and warmly greeting King Charles III during his joint address to Congress. 

“Quite the confusing scene on the House floor today. Many of Congressman Hamadeh’s Democratic colleagues, who have spent months chanting ‘No Kings,’ just gave one a standing ovation,” Arizona Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh’s office posted to X.

The “No Kings” protests began on Presidents Day in February 2025 as a backlash to the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency and broader efforts to shrink the federal government. The movement broke into the national spotlight in June of that year, when Trump’s military parade celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary gave demonstrators a new focal point for their claims that Trump was conducting himself more like a monarch than a president. 

Some Democratic lawmakers encouraged or joined the protests, with conservative social media commenters pointing out what they viewed as hypocrisy on Tuesday as Democrats applauded a king. 

‘AMERICA IS BACK’: LAWMAKERS RALLY AROUND TRUMP AFTER ‘PHENOMENAL’ JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

“I’m hearing no Democrats plan to attend King Charles’ speech because ‘No Kings.’ They’d never be gaslighters,” said Republican Florida Rep. Randy Fine posted to X. 

The official White House X account posted a photo of Trump with Charles seemingly trolling the left, captioning the pic, “TWO KINGS.”

FIT FOR A KING? EX-PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU WEARS SNEAKERS TO SEE KING CHARLES’ THRONE SPEECH

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was seen smiling and snapping photos of Charles on Tuesday. She was among lawmakers who have joined the “No Kings” protests. 

“Minnesota showed up in huge numbers today and it was a delight to address the largest #nokings rally in the country,” she posted to Instagram in March, accompanied by footage of a “No Kings” protest. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s office for any comment on the matter. 

KING CHARLES HEADS TO TRUMP WHITE HOUSE AS AMERICA MARKS 250 YEARS SINCE BREAKING FROM THE CROWN

Actor Tim Allen even weighed in, posting a photo of Charles in front of Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Ron Johnson, R-La., at the podium.

“Would have been funny to see the facial reactions of an actual King with a no Kings parade yelling at him,” said Allen.

One video went viral, with over 4 million views, showing top Democrats such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., standing up to applaud the king.

“NO KINGS! Am I doing it right, Democrats?” said conservative commentator Steve Guest on X.

“Seems kind of embarrassing for an actual King to get cheered by No Kings people,” wrote co-host of “The Big Money Show” Brian Brenberg.

The king and Queen Camilla will conclude their trip on Wednesday, returning to the UK.

Charles’ address to Congress was a historic moment. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was the first and only other British monarch to address a joint meeting of Congress when she did so in 1991.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is one step closer to averting a lapse in a controversial surveillance program after GOP privacy hawks fell in line to back a procedural measure amid weeks of infighting.

House lawmakers approved a test vote teeing up a three-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for a vote on final passage as early as Wednesday evening. The procedural measure also includes a Senate-passed budget resolution funding immigration enforcement for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term and mammoth agriculture and nutrition legislation known as the farm bill. 

GOP leadership held the vote open for more than two hours as they worked to flip dozens of conservative holdouts. Every Republican present ultimately voted yes during the marathon session in a major victory for Johnson.

Johnson could afford to lose just a handful of GOP defections given House Republicans’ razor-thin majority.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES SKEPTICAL AS SENATE DEAL SACRIFICING DHS SPENDING REACHED: ‘NON-STARTER’

The successful procedural vote came after a sustained lobbying campaign from the Trump administration and Republican leadership to sell GOP privacy hawks on an extension of the spy law.

“This is by far the most collaborative effort that I’ve seen on FISA, and we’ve had a number of these kinds of fights,” Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, a leading FISA skeptic, told reporters earlier this week. “So I think it’s a very collaborative work product, and that’s why I say I support it.”

“It’s not to say I don’t think there’s other reforms that I would support, but I think this is a good win, and we should focus on a broader set of reforms that apply way beyond the scope of 702,” the Ohio Republican added.

House conservatives also appeared to soften their opposition after leadership included language permanently banning central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in the procedural measure.

GOP privacy hawks have long pushed for adding a CBDC ban to a legislative vehicle, casting it as a necessary effort to ward off government surveillance.

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has warned that any FISA renewal bill with CBDC language is “dead on arrival” in the Senate. 

“They know that,” Thune told reporters Tuesday, referring to House Republicans.

The Senate could also move to pass a rival FISA plan and force the House to swallow it ahead of Thursday’s deadline to extend the spy law.

“FISA is critical to our national defense and our national security,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Fox News. “If we lose FISA, we lose the ability to defend this country the way that it should be defended. We use that information to find out what the bad guys are doing, where they’re at, what they’re looking to attack, what their strategies are.”

“I know we’ve got folks out there that are concerned about protecting Americans and so forth,” Rounds added. “We really need them to take a look at the other side of this, which is, are you going to hurt Americans?”

‘HELL WEEK’ IN WASHINGTON: A LOOK AT HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ CURRENT BIND, AND HOW WE GOT HERE

Johnson is also seeking to clear the Senate budget resolution funding immigration enforcement and the farm bill before the end of the week.

Leadership has scheduled votes on both measures, but it is not clear if House Republicans will support either bill without modifications. 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., secured an amendment to strip out controversial pesticide language from the farm bill, arguing it would block lawsuits against some pesticide manufacturers.

“On behalf of all the moms and dads that aren’t in office, I am not going to be bullied into supporting a bill that is providing protections and immunity to corporations that are responsible for giving children and adults cancer,” Luna wrote on social media. “This is literally above party affiliation.”

Trump has urged House Republicans to quickly pass the Senate’s budget blueprint to fund immigration enforcement.

“It is imperative that Congress immediately fund DHS and its critical operations to protect the Homeland,” the White House Office of Management and Budget wrote in a memo to Hill offices on Tuesday that was obtained by Fox News Digital. “Failure to pass the budget resolution will jeopardize paychecks for the DHS personnel that keep the Homeland safe.”

EXCLUSIVE: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was absent from a state fraud hearing on Tuesday, and the Republican lawmaker leading the hearing believes he was in the building at the time — and the reason for his absence, according to the lawmaker, was the governor’s “arrogance.”

“I think he just feels above it all and doesn’t need to answer to the people of Minnesota,” state Rep. Kristin Robbins, chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital after Walz was a no-show at the committee’s hearing on Tuesday seeking more answers in the massive fraud scandal that has enveloped the state in recent years.

“The only reason he testified in D.C. is because he was under subpoena. And, you know, he doesn’t have to come to our committee. I expected him to. I really did, because Minnesotans are owed an explanation of how billions of our tax dollars could be stolen on his watch.”

GOP LAWMAKER UNVEILS WALZ ACT AFTER BILLIONS LOST IN MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

Robbins says the committee reached out on March 9 asking Walz to speak at one of several hearings this week, including Tuesday, and that at 6 p.m. on Monday he informed the committee he wasn’t attending.

Walz was scheduled to deliver his final State of the State address in the Minnesota State Capitol on Tuesday night, leading Robbins to believe he was in the building that afternoon, but still didn’t attend the hearing.

“He was in the building!” Robbins posted on X.

NAME OF WALZ’S NEW 3-WORD PAC DRAWS IMMEDIATE ONLINE MOCKERY

“I cannot defend his arrogance that he would not come and answer questions for the historic, unprecedented level of fraud in our state and in the country,” Robbins told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment. 

Walz delivered his final State of the State address on Tuesday night and Robbins reacted to that speech in her interview with Fox News Digital.

“It was ridiculous,” Robbins said about Walz’s comments on the fraud scandal. “He somewhat said, ‘Oh the buck stops with me,’ but then he immediately pivoted to blame everyone else.”

Walz touted his efforts to crack down on fraud during his speech while claiming that red states have more fraud than blue states and suggesting the legislature needs to do more to adopt his proposal to fight fraud.

“We’ve created additional checks and balances,” Walz said. “We’ve brought on more investigators, more auditors, more law enforcement agencies, as well as an outside firm to take a look at high-risk programs. People who have ripped us off are getting caught and they are going to jail, just like today.”

Walz’s reference to “today” was in relation to federal raids carried out across Minneapolis earlier that day, which the governor faced criticism over, including from FBI Director Kash Patel, after he seemingly took credit for actions the federal government says it directed and orchestrated.

Robbins told Fox News Digital Walz’s proposals will do “nothing but create more bureaucracy” and said the Republican proposals are more “serious” to actually address the issue.

“He can keep gaslighting people but nobody buys it anymore,” Robbins said.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., failed to show up to speak before the same committee earlier this month over questions surrounding her ties to individuals and locations implicated in the Feeding Our Future scandal in Minnesota. 

Omar’s absence prompted Robbins to send a letter to Omar demanding answers to a variety of questions by May 5, Fox News Digital first reported.

Robbins, who is currently running for Minnesota governor, told Fox News Digital the committee has not heard back from Omar’s office as of Tuesday.

“They do have till May 5, so I’m hoping they will. But, you know, they ghosted us all the way up to the hearing, so I don’t know if they will respond,” Robbins said. “But again, this isn’t just because we’re the legislature, it’s because we are representing the taxpayers who deserve answers from their public officials. And the fact that they don’t deign to come and answer questions on the record and just think that they can be above it all, it’s really an affront to Minnesotans.”

A 30-year-old man with a long prior rap sheet was arrested on charges of burglarizing a Virginia church last week in a county judicial system led by one of the country’s most high-profile George Soros-backed prosecutors, who is now under congressional scrutiny.

The suspect, Akuamoa Boateng, had a slew of prior charges — some dropped — brought by the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, which is under congressional scrutiny for its prosecutorial discretion involving career criminals and illegal immigrants who go on to commit crimes, including the recent murder of a woman at a Mount Vernon-area bus stop last month.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano agreed to appear alongside Sheriff Stacey Kincaid before Congress as lawmakers are set to examine the county’s policies.

DEM SENATOR WARNS DEPORTATION COULD LET VIRGINIA WOMAN’S ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT KILLER ‘ESCAPE ACCOUNTABILITY’

Boateng’s court records in Virginia’s state database show several prior cases and a handful of upcoming hearings, as Fairfax County Police officers otherwise tracked him down in this church burglary case in less than 24 hours.

Officers who responded to the church on Ox Road just south of Fairfax city found damaged property and the appearance of items having been stolen.

Officials said a church vehicle was also stolen, which detectives tracked to Hybla Valley, outside Alexandria, using license plate readers.

Boateng, of Lorton, was arrested, and stolen items were found in the vehicle. He was charged with burglary, auto theft, larceny with intent to sell, felony destruction and possession of Schedule I and Schedule II drugs and held without bond.

ICE MAKES MAJOR ARREST AFTER SOROS-BACKED PROSECUTOR MADE CONTROVERSIAL PLEA DEAL

Court filings for an individual matching Boateng’s first and last name, age, residence and reported birthdate revealed a startling rap sheet in the dense, heavily Democratic county.

Boateng has prior arrests on charges including alleged drug possession, obstruction, burglary, a bomb threat and cases of malicious wounding. A representative for Descano noted the state’s bomb threat statute includes other charges than bomb threats, and there was no mention of a bomb in that incident.

Malicious wounding in Virginia is a felony similar to attempted murder involving intentional serious bodily injury, and can include conduct prosecutors argue was carried out with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill.

For some of his recent charges, an individual matching his name and birth date has upcoming preliminary hearings for drug possession and petit larceny this summer.

He was found guilty of entering a structure to commit assault and battery but had four months of a 12-month sentence suspended, according to state records.

Bomb threat charges were dropped after an arraignment, bond and preliminary hearings in 2025 and 2026.

‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ MECCA OF MINNEAPOLIS OVERRUN WITH VIOLENCE, ‘FAILED LEADERSHIP’: FORMER AG CANDIDATE

He was found guilty of disorderly conduct in February but had his sentence suspended.

Virginians for Safe Communities posted to X that Boateng accrued dozens of other charges and had assault and gun possession charges dropped, based on court system data.

Descano’s office confirmed that Boateng “attacked both his parents in their home, causing injuries” in a 2023 case, and that the prosecutor’s office takes family violence “extremely serious[ly]” and successfully obtained a protective order, jail time and mental health treatment for the suspect.

The prosecutor’s office implicitly pushed back on assertions of being soft-on-crime and cataloged some of the actions taken against Boateng in that and other cases:

“The defendant pled guilty to two counts of family assault and battery and was sentenced to 1 year with 6 months suspended for each charge and was subject to a two-year protective order. After being released, he violated his probation, the commonwealth prosecuted him, and 8 months of his suspended sentence was reimposed. The commonwealth also prosecuted and convicted him for a separate instance of violating the Family Protective Order.”

Descano’s office also cited several such cases in November 2025 — describing “numerous incidents over a short period of time” that were resolved “in tandem” and saw Boateng convicted on five total charges in February — while confirming that county prosecutors are also pursuing four new cases, including a July court date.

Descano will make his first Capitol Hill appearance May 14 as House Republicans press him on the county’s immigration policies following a murder tied to a repeat illegal immigrant offender. The Democratic prosecutor rose to power with heavy financial backing from the Soros family’s Justice and Public Safety PAC, part of a network of political organizations supported by Hungarian-born billionaire and committed progressive mega-donor George Soros.

Stephanie Minter’s case spurred federal oversight and calls for legislative reforms, and Minter’s family is now also backing a recall effort against Descano that could threaten his tenure, according to local reporting.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau will produce a report “in short order” after reviewing multiple state-level investigations at the White House’s request to determine whether any are connected.

“Those investigations are collectively being looked at by the FBI pursuant to (the) President, the White House’s request,” Patel told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. “So we’re reaching out. We’ve already done it, we’re engaged. They’re all state cases, but we’re looking to see if there’s any connections, and we’re going to have a final report here in short order.” 

He poured cold water on the idea that all the cases of mysterious deaths and disappearances that have resurfaced in recent weeks are connected — noting that some are not even scientists — but said the FBI is “just trying to do our homework.” 

“We are trying to make sure, was there a connection? Did they, were they all working on the same thing or not? Those questions we’re answering right now with our state and local partners, and we’ll produce a report shortly.”

TWO MORE TRUMP ALLIES SAY BIDEN FBI SECRETLY SEIZED THEIR DATA AMID ‘WEAPONIZATION’ CONTROVERSY 

At least a dozen cases involving scientists and others tied to government and defense research have drawn renewed attention in recent weeks, as federal authorities work to determine whether any are connected. The cases — which span disappearances, confirmed homicides and deaths previously ruled accidental — have circulated widely online and prompted questions about whether a broader pattern could pose a national security concern.

The FBI declined to say how much of the report would be made public, noting the matter remains an active investigation.

President Donald Trump also has acknowledged the cases, saying his administration is working to determine whether the incidents are connected.

“I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half,” Trump said to reporters April 16. “I just left a meeting on that subject.”

“The White House continues to coordinate across the interagency in order to investigate these events and provide transparency to the American people. We will not get ahead of the investigation,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital Wednesday. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration has said it is aware of reports involving personnel across its labs and facilities and is reviewing the matter.

At least a dozen cases involving scientists and defense-linked personnel have drawn renewed attention in recent weeks.

They include the disappearance of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William “Neil” McCasland, who oversaw classified research programs and vanished from his New Mexico home earlier in 2026, and the death of NASA-affiliated engineer Joshua LeBlanc, whose body was found in a burned vehicle hours after he was reported missing.

Also among the cases is Monica Jacinto Reza, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer who disappeared while hiking in California, and Melissa Casias, a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee who vanished in New Mexico after leaving work.

Another case revealed by Fox News Digital involves Army biochemist Jude Height, whose 2022 death was ruled accidental after he was struck by a vehicle, but has since drawn renewed scrutiny from family members and former colleagues who say key details remain unexplained.

Authorities have not indicated that any of the cases are connected.