Category: USA Politics

Retiring Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino revealed one of his few regrets from his time in Homeland Security is that he did not arrest more illegal aliens, according to a recent interview. 

Bovino, who is retiring amid national controversy over his leadership in several high-profile immigration enforcement operations over the past year, told The New York Times he does not regret his aggressive, frontline leadership. He added, “I wish I’d caught even more illegal aliens.”

Turning 57 this week, Bovino has served in the U.S. Border Patrol since the nineties. He is expected to retire at the end of the month.

His decision to depart the agency after three decades comes shortly after he was removed from his prominent role as Border Patrol “commander at large.” As commander, Bovino became the face of President Donald Trump’s deportation operations in cities including Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles. He was regularly criticized by the mainstream media and Democratic politicians, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom accusing him of emulating Nazi secret police.

Despite this, Bovino told the outlet, “We went as hard as we could, but there’s always a creative and innovative solution to catching even more.”

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According to the outlet, Bovino touted the effectiveness of his enforcement tactics, including seeking out illegal aliens on the streets, questioning them openly and arresting those who attempt to interfere with operations.

Much like his leadership style in the interior, Bovino said that as Border Patrol chief of the El Centro Sector in California and Arizona, his goal was to “dominate” the border, not just control it. “We wanted total border domination,” Bovino told The New York Times.

“When you use terms like that, perhaps it scares some of the weaker-minded people. Domination. I want you to dominate that border. I’m not going to ‘control’ it. We’re going to dominate the hell out of that damn place,” Bovino said.

He criticized several of his former superiors as “status quo” bureaucrats holding him and his team back. According to the outlet, he also criticized “border czar” Tom Homan, who replaced him as leader of the Minnesota operation. He ribbed Homan over an alleged bribe, saying, “You’re not going to see me talking to anyone for a bag of money.”

The Department of Justice investigated the alleged bribe and found no credible evidence of wrongdoing. Homan has previously told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, “I did nothing criminal. I did nothing illegal.”

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Despite these critiques, Bovino hailed Trump as the most effective president he served under. He said Border Patrol “got a lot of kudos from the Trumpster.” He also lauded now former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as the “best secretary I’ve ever worked for, bar none.”

In response to Bovino’s comments, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital that “Tom Homan and Rodney Scott are American patriots and career law enforcement officials” and that “they have done an excellent job implementing President Trump’s agenda which has resulted in the most secure border in American history.”

She added that the American people “are safer because of the Trump Administration’s America First policies.” 

She also reiterated her previous statement following the investigation into Homan, in which she said: “This was a blatantly political investigation which found no evidence of illegal activity.”

“It was yet another example of the Biden DOJ using its resources to target President Trump’s allies rather than investigate real criminals and the millions of illegal aliens who flooded our country,” said Jackson.

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For his part, even amid the height of the controversy over the killings of Minnesota activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Trump said the administration’s removal of Bovino was not a pullback.

“Bovino is very good,” Trump told Fox News host Will Cain. “But he’s a pretty out there kind of a guy, and in some cases, that’s good; maybe it wasn’t good here.”

Rather than place the blame for the fatal confrontations on Bovino or federal officers, Trump blamed “paid insurrectionists” and “agitators” for the unsafe operational environment as agents attempted to clear the streets of criminal illegal aliens.

President Donald Trump is urging Sydney Gruters, the wife of Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters, to run for Congress, pledging to endorse her if she runs in Florida’s 16th Congressional District.

“Word is that Sydney Gruters, the wife of our GREAT Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Joe Gruters, is considering launching her Campaign for Congress in Florida’s 16th Congressional District!” Trump wrote in a Tuesday Truth Social post.

“Should she decide to enter this Race, Sydney Gruters has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, SYDNEY, RUN!” the president said.

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GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan, who currently represents the Sunshine State’s 16th Congressional District, is not seeking re-election.

Joe Gruters, who became RNC chair last year, is also serving as a Florida state senator.

MEET JOE GRUTERS, THE TRUMP ALLY NOW AT THE HELM OF REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE

“I am deeply honored to have the endorsement of President Donald J. Trump,” Sydney Gruters noted, according to Florida Politics. “His leadership transformed our country and continues to inspire millions of Americans who believe in putting America First. I’m especially committed to advancing policies that lower the cost of living for hardworking families across our community. I’m grateful for his support and look forward to making an announcement about the path ahead very soon.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Gruters, who is the executive director and vice president of advancement of the New College Foundation.

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“A Highly Successful Civic Leader and Public Servant, Sydney has dedicated her life to serving her Community, and she and her family are fierce advocates for our Movement to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post. 

“As your next Congresswoman, Sydney will fight tirelessly to Grow our Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Military/Veterans, Safeguard our Elections, Champion School Choice, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment.”

A progressive Chicago lawmaker issued an apology Tuesday after facing backlash for suggesting a slain college student was in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”

Last Thursday, Sheridan Gorman, 18, of Westchester County, New York, was gunned down while taking a walk with friends around 1:30 a.m. along Chicago’s lakefront.

Alderwoman Maria Hadden sparked outrage on social media after she suggested in an interview with Fox 32 Chicago that the Loyola University Chicago student was in the “wrong place at the wrong time” and that she may have “startled” the individual who shot and killed her.

The local Democrat’s comments were slammed as insensitive and also prompted a response from Gorman’s family, who referenced her remarks.

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Hadden, a progressive ally of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, released a statement Tuesday saying her interview on Fox 32 had “gone viral on conservative media,” and that her comments were in response to a question comparing Gorman’s murder to a separate 2018 case.

“In an effort to make sense of a senseless situation, I said things that landed wrong with some people,” she said. “My comments were never intended to blame the victim or to imply that Sheridan should not have been out enjoying the park or that it was her fault that she was shot.

“In the interview, I tried my best to share what limited information I had with our community as fast as possible while helping to address the fears people had about the shooting,” Hadden continued. “I sincerely apologize for any additional pain that my comments may have caused.”

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She added, “The fact that some media outlets are intentionally creating sound bites to misconstrue my words during this tragedy is also unfortunate.”

Gorman’s family referenced Hadden’s remarks from the Fox 32 interview, saying the slain college student “deserved the future that was stolen from her.”

“What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to the idea of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not an abstraction. This is the loss of a daughter. The loss of a sister. The loss of a future filled with milestones that will now never come. Our family is forever changed.”

CHICAGO LAWMAKER RIPPED OVER ‘DISGUSTING’ RESPONSE TO COLLEGE STUDENT KILLED BY ALLEGED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

The family added: “We cannot accept a world where moments like this become something people grow used to. We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to violence. When we begin to accept these tragedies as inevitable, we all become vulnerable to them. Apathy is not harmless—it allows these moments to repeat.”

Jose Medina-Medina was arrested and charged with Gorman’s murder.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Medina is an illegal immigrant who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration before being apprehended and released into the country.

DHS said the 25-year-old Venezuelan national was previously arrested for shoplifting in Chicago.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

A Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate is pushing a “permanent” federal ban on Muslim immigration, arguing Islam is incompatible with American law and values.

Former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, who launched his gubernatorial bid in the Sunshine State last summer, said Tuesday he would propose and promote a federal ban on Muslim immigration that is “permanent and comprehensive.”

“We have to be realistic and be honest that the long-term compatibility of Islam in this country does not exist,” he said. “We cannot have long-term compatibility with the American Constitution and with the American way of life.”

Renner added that anyone with terrorist ties, who has defrauded taxpayers or who has been convicted of a serious crime should be denaturalized and deported.

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Renner made the comments during a news conference while speaking in front of a “No Sharia Law” sign. Sharia law is a religious legal framework derived from Islamic texts that governs aspects of life for some Muslims.

The gubernatorial candidate pointed to the passage of a bill in the Florida Legislature prohibiting the use of certain foreign laws, including Sharia law, in state courts.

Renner asserted that “only American law can be used in American courts and that should go without saying.”

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He added that he would also end all funding for schools that promote what he described as Sharia law concepts.

Renner said he would pursue legislation designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis previously issued an executive order last December designating the groups as FTOs, but a federal judge issued a temporary injunction citing First Amendment concerns, according to The Floridian.

In his announcement, Renner cited a “recurring pattern of conflict and violence” in the years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including a recent shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia that left one person dead and two others injured.

The suspected shooter, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, was a former Army National Guard soldier convicted of supporting ISIS, according to the DOJ.

“The simple fact is while there may be people in this country that will live peaceably with us, as a system there will continue to be increased division, increased conflict, and increased violence, which we have seen over the decades since 9/11, and we have to be realistic about that and put a stop to it so that we protect Americans,” Renner said. “That is the first order of business for any governor or any elected official and that is what I will do as governor.”

DeSantis, who is serving his second consecutive term, is not permitted to run again in 2026. President Donald Trump has previously backed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds for the job.

New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill attended a Ramadan event at a Paterson mosque led by an Imam who fought deportation for years over alleged ties to Hamas.

Sherrill posted photos of her visit to the Islamic Center of Passaic County on social media, wearing a hijab and taking selfies. In one image, she is seen speaking with the mosque’s longtime leader, Imam Mohammad Qatanani.

“Thank you to the Islamic Center of Passaic County for welcoming me to join their celebration as the holy month of Ramadan comes to a close,” she wrote. “I wish our Muslim neighbors a safe, joyous, and peaceful Eid al-Fitr.”

Qatanani, a Palestinian-born cleric, has been at the center of a decades-long immigration battle after federal authorities sought to deport him, citing alleged ties to Hamas and claims he failed to disclose a prior detention in Israel. He has denied those allegations, saying he was detained but never convicted.

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As Fox News previously reported, the federal government moved to remove Qatanani from the U.S. beginning in the mid-2000s, arguing he made misrepresentations on his green card application and raising national security concerns tied to Israeli records.

An immigration judge ruled in Qatanani’s favor in 2008, finding the government’s evidence unreliable and giving little weight to Israeli court documents used to support the allegations, according to court records . The judge also found the government had not proven Qatanani engaged in terrorist activity.

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Court records further raised concerns about the reliability of statements attributed to Qatanani, including whether they may have been obtained under coercive conditions. Subsequent rulings over the years continued to favor him.

A federal appeals court ultimately blocked his deportation in 2025, ruling immigration officials acted improperly in attempting to reverse his legal status.

MUSLIM CLERIC IS IN US COURT FIGHTING AGAINST DEPORTATION

The [Board of Immigration Appeals] exceeded its authority when it attempted to undo Qatanani’s adjustment to LPR status by using an agency regulation in a manner inconsistent with the procedures set out by Congress,” the court wrote.

The decision focused on legal process rather than resolving the underlying allegations, finding federal authorities failed to follow required procedures after missing deadlines to challenge a key ruling granting him permanent residency.

It is unclear whether Sherrill was aware of Qatanani’s legal history at the time of her visit. Fox News Digital has reached out to the governor’s office for comment.

Illinois’ Democratic Governor JB Pritzker recently highlighted the calm of Chicago’s shore with Lake Michigan in a video he posted across his social media platforms — a nearby area where an illegal alien shot and killed a college student last week.

“Lots of runners coming by,” Pritzker said in a video he posted to Facebook last September.

“Lakefront path, Lakefront Trail — absolutely gorgeous. Just gorgeous. Look at that overpass. A great lakefront.”

The tone of the resurfaced clip clashes with the death of Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old Loyola University student who was shot to death near Tobey Prinz Beach Park, an area included in Chicago’s Police District 24.

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Pritzker’s walk went viral on social media when several viewers online criticized the governor for his characterization of the shoreside area.

“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker & Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson haven’t posted anything about the murder of Sheridan Gorman, allegedly at the hands of a Venezuelan illegal alien,” Fox News Congressional Correspondent Bill Melugin posted on X. “Last year, Pritzker made a video from the lakefront she was killed at, mocking claims that it wasn’t safe.”

“Governor JB Pritzker posted this video of the Chicago lakeside to brag about how safe it is. Sheridan Gorman was just killed there by a Venezuelan immigrant his state law PROTECTED,” End Wokeness, a popular conservative account, wrote in a X post.

“> crosses the border illegally > released into the country by Biden > arrested for shoplifting > released back onto the street > murders an innocent girl,” former Trump White House staffer Greg Price wrote.

“Pritzker posted this video bragging about how safe Chicago’s lakeside is — right where Sheridan Gorman was just killed by a Venezuelan illegal his state law protected. Unreal,” another account wrote.

MY DAUGHTER WAS KILLED, AND I WARNED SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES WOULD COST LIVES AGAIN

The area has improved in the categories of thefts, burglary and motor vehicle theft in recent years, according to recent police reports. However, reporting for murder, sexual assaults and aggravated battery have gone up, according to crime stats from March.

District 24 has reported three murder cases, 19 sexual assaults and 32 aggravated battery incidents so far in 2026.

The district has the second-most murders of any district of the six districts included in Chicago’s Area 3, which covers a significant chunk of the city’s northern side.

In Gorman’s case, authorities charged Jose Medina, a Venezuelan national, with her murder.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Medina had already been apprehended for shoplifting in Chicago but had been released in June 2023.

Even before that, Medina had been apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol in May 2023. He was also allowed to walk free then.

“Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.

“We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods.”

The office of Governor Pritzker did not respond to a request for comment on the Chicago shoreside area and its crime rates.

Florida Democrats on Tuesday flipped control of a long-vacant Republican-held state House seat in a Palm Beach-anchored district that includes Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s home turf.

The Associated Press reports that Democrat Emily Gregory defeated Republican Jon Maples in a special election in Florida’s House District 87, in the race to fill the seat left vacant last August, when GOP state Rep. Mike Caruso resigned to become Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller.

The ballot box battle was one of three special legislative elections being held in GOP-dominated Florida on Tuesday. And while the contests won’t change the balance of power in the state legislature, where for more than a quarter-century Republicans have held majorities in both the House and Senate chambers, bragging rights were up for grabs in the president’s home district.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Maples was backed by Trump, who moved his primary permanent residence in 2019 from Trump Tower in New York City to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. He is also backed by a number of top Sunshine State Republicans.

“There is a very important Special Election tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24th, for Florida State House District 87 in beautiful Palm Beach County — JON MAPLES HAS MY COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!” the president wrote in a social media post on Monday evening.

The 43-year-old Maples, a financial planner and former Lake Clarke Shores Council member who, during his years at Palm Beach Atlantic University was an all-American athlete, made cutting taxes and government spending, reducing regulations, promoting private sector job creation and advancing school choice.

Gregory, a 40-year-old Army spouse, owns and runs a Jupiter-based fitness center for pregnant and postpartum women. The first-time candidate made affordability, increasing public education, tackling rising property insurance and housing costs, and access to healthcare key parts of her campaign.

Maples was the favorite heading into the special election, thanks to his fundraising advantage in a district that leads to the right. Trump carried the district by roughly 10 points in his 2024 re-election victory. Palm Beach County was once firmly blue until a GOP surge in recent cycles.

Senate Republicans again didn’t budge against Senate Democrats’ bid to handcuff President Donald Trump’s war powers in Iran.

Senate Democrats again forced a vote on a war powers resolution to rein in Trump’s military authority in Iran, which Senate Republicans again blocked. It’s also been less than a week since Democrats triggered a war powers resolution in their bid to force the Trump administration to publicly explain the ongoing conflict.

The resolution, this time from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., was blocked on a largely party-line vote, save for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who joined all Senate Democrats to advance the measure.

It’s part of a flood-the-zone strategy Senate Democrats are taking to force Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to testify publicly before the Senate. Earlier this month, Murphy and a cohort of Senate Democrats unveiled their plan to force votes on five war powers resolutions.

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“We’re not going to let the Senate be silent until they make at the very least that commitment,” Murphy said at the time. “I don’t think they can defend this war.”

Whether either Hegseth or Rubio is forced to testify before the Senate Armed Services and Senate Foreign Relations panels, respectively, remains in the air, given that neither committee chair has made the move to request the administration officials appear.

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The latest attempt to cuff Trump’s war powers comes as his strategy in Iran dramatically shifted in a moment of whiplash from the weekend to Monday.

Over the weekend, Trump warned that unless Iran fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. would “hit and obliterate” the nation’s power plants. 

But then Trump shifted gears Monday and announced that the U.S. and Iran had been engaged in “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East,” which the Iranian government denied. 

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Meanwhile, Congress is still awaiting a supplemental funding package from the administration that could be to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. Some Republicans want to cram that funding, which could be as high as $200 billion, into another reconciliation package.

That vehicle could get busy fast, given that they are also eyeing reconciliation as a means to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and to pass portions of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who has led the charge on several war powers resolutions in the last several months, said that “the numbers that they’re talking about are pretty staggering in the sense of what they say about how this is going to go on.”

And as far as letting up on war powers, Kaine said Democrats were ready to keep going round for round.

“But we’re going to keep forcing war powers resolution votes,” Kaine said. “Have you seen enough? Have you seen enough? Have you seen enough? … We’ll probably have at least one a week, and continue to ask our colleagues, ‘okay, have you seen enough yet?’”

Conservative critics are accusing former special counsel Jack Smith of improperly coordinating with two federal judges after Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released documents Tuesday showing Smith’s team interacted with the pair during the Trump investigations.

“Democrat DC U.S. district judges illegally worked in secret with Biden Special Counsel Jack Smith to bring charges against President Trump,” Article III Project founder Mike Davis claimed on X as details of the documents emerged on Tuesday. 

Smith’s investigations led to criminal charges against President Donald Trump over the 2020 election and alleged retention of classified documents. Trump called the investigations a “witch hunt,” while Republicans widely condemned the charges as an abuse of power designed to take out the then leading Republican presidential candidate.

The documents released by Grassley included notes about a briefing Smith’s team gave Attorney General Merrick Garland on Jan. 13, 2023, just after Garland appointed Smith as special counsel. The notes referenced meetings with Judges Beryl Howell and James Boasberg of Washington, D.C., both Obama appointees and Trump nemeses known for their high-profile adverse rulings against the president.

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“She liked our approach of pursuing the executive privilege litigation in an omnibus fashion,” Smith’s team wrote in reference to Howell, according to the documents. Omnibus motions allow for consolidated, rather than piecemeal, litigation and are typically used by lawyers to streamline court filings. Smith’s team frequently sought permission from the court to pierce executive privilege, a presumptive right that a president and his aides have that gives their communications a layer of legal privacy.

The briefing notes also referenced a forthcoming meeting with Boasberg on March 18, 2023, the day after he was set to become chief judge, succeeding Howell. The White House responded in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“We have long known that Judge Boasberg is a far-left judicial activist trying to undermine the President’s lawful authority, this is just further proof,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “President Trump has restored integrity to the Department of Justice that Joe Biden and his administration weaponized to target their political opponents – including President Trump himself.”

Sen. Ted Cruz’s office told Fox News Digital the Texas Republican thought the meetings with the judges were significant, a remark that came after Cruz led a Senate hearing on the Trump cases on Tuesday. Cruz in the hearing declared Smith’s work a “modern Watergate” scandal that was expansive and hyper-political, sweeping up personal information, such as phone records, belonging to hundreds of Republican entities and individuals.

A Republican congressional investigator told Fox News Digital the meetings with the judges merited further scrutiny.

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Smith’s team wrote in the briefing notes for Garland that Howell was aware that an omnibus executive privilege motion was coming “and loves the idea.” Smith’s team listed out nearly a dozen former Trump officials, such as Mark Meadows and Ken Cuccinelli, who would be included in the consolidated motion. The notes referenced five other, separate executive privilege motions that were already making their way through the court process, signaling that an omnibus motion would be a reduction in paperwork for the court.

The briefing notes also mentioned recent meetings between the special counsel’s team and top FBI officials. The FBI “has been very responsive,” Smith’s team wrote. The team mentioned “precedent-setting issues we face in areas of executive privilege [and] Speech or Debate,” a possible reference to Smith testing the separation of powers by seeking the potentially privileged material from those in Trump’s orbit.

Independent journalist Julie Kelly, an outspoken critic of the Biden DOJ, observed on X that Smith’s team interacted with the judges. Kelly suggested the judges were “in cahoots with Biden DOJ to rubber stamp, even advise, any strategy set forth by Jack Smith.”

Attorney Bill Shipley, a longtime federal prosecutor who represented dozens of Jan. 6 defendants, wrote on X that he did not find much about the memo “noteworthy,” saying it was “clearly” designed to bring Garland up to speed following the holidays and Smith’s new appointment. Shipley also noted how Howell and Boasberg were chief judges, meaning any grand jury matters were required to go through their offices.

Shipley noted, however, that he felt Howell notoriously ruled against the Trump administration and that her eager approval of an omnibus motion represented a desire for her to make decisions before her tenure as chief judge expired in March 2023.

“What troubles me in the text of the memo is the suggestion — which was borne out by events that followed — that Judge Howell desired to resolve all the issues involving witness privilege before she stepped down as Chief Judge,” Shipley wrote, though he noted that her decisions were appealable.

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Smith has repeatedly stood by his work, testifying to Congress that it was aligned with DOJ policies and nonpartisan. 

A Smith representative declined to comment on the latest document release.

Howell’s and Boasberg’s chambers did not respond to requests for comment.

Some Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents are selling their blood plasma to make ends meet as the 38-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown drags on, acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told reporters Tuesday.

“We got folks sleeping in cars,” Stahl told reporters at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, referring to TSA employees. “I talked to a single mother recently who has a three-year-old child with special needs and can’t afford to pay for childcare for that three-year-old child.”

Stahl also said some agents are having “blood drawn to afford gas to come to work.”

The bleak situation comes as TSA agents nationwide have been forced to report to work without pay during the prolonged funding lapse. More than 50,000 TSA personnel will miss their second full paycheck of the shutdown if the funding lapse is not resolved by Friday.

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Though talks to end the shutdown have ramped up in the past 24 hours, Stahl warned that the impact funding lapses have on TSA agents would continue to worsen if the shutdown does not end soon.

“It’s a dire situation,” Stahl said. “The longer our folks don’t get paid, the more they’re going to not be able to come into work and the more they’re going to quit altogether.”

The shortage of TSA workers at major travel hubs across the country has led to hours-long wait times at airport security checkpoints. Stahl said the ongoing spring break travel season could exacerbate airports’ staffing constraints.

More than 400 TSA agents have quit since the shutdown began on Feb. 14.

“This again is going to get worse before it gets better if Senate Democrats particularly don’t act and don’t act soon,” he said, adding that a mass exit of TSA workers hurts the agency’s ability to prepare for the upcoming FIFA World Cup later this summer.

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GOP lawmakers have blasted their Democratic colleagues for withholding support for a full-year DHS funding bill as the party demands reforms to immigration enforcement. They argue that TSA agents — in addition to thousands of other DHS workers employed by various sub-agencies — are victims of Democrats’ hardball tactics.

“The men and women who work for TSA agents are American heroes,” Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., said at Reagan National airport Tuesday. “Would you still be at your job if you were facing a third paycheck of not getting paid?” 

TSA agents were also forced to work without pay during the record-breaking 43-day shutdown in fall 2025.

Democrats, by contrast, have blamed Republicans for opposing legislation that would fund DHS — including TSA — minus the department’s immigration enforcement functions. 

President Donald Trump laid into Democrats Tuesday when asked about TSA agents working for over a month without their salary.

“They’ll do anything to hurt our country so they can try and win the midterms,” Trump said

Fox News Digital reached out to TSA for comment.