Category: USA Politics

Dorothy McAuliffe, the wife of former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, announced Wednesday that she is entering the Democratic primary race for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

“As a mom of five, grandmother, former State Department official & First Lady of Virginia, I’ve spent my life fighting for children, families, and those without a voice,” she wrote in a post on X.

The Associated Press reported that Virginia voters will decide April 21 whether to approve a constitutional amendment establishing a new congressional map. 

McAuliffe would seek to represent the proposed new 7th District stretching from the D.C. suburbs to western Augusta County if the map is approved.

5 VIRGINIA CONGRESSMEN: DEMOCRATS ARE REJECTING VOTERS TO GERRYMANDER OUR STATE

Virginia’s primary elections are scheduled to be held Aug. 4 after the General Assembly moved the date from June to August under legislation signed in February.

Early in-person voting begins June 19, with absentee ballots mailed by that date, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.

“We need a leader who has a record of delivering and can finally bring down costs for families, who will increase access to affordable healthcare, and who will never back down from holding Donald Trump and ICE accountable,” McAuliffe said in a statement to the AP.

“I look forward to traveling this district — from Arlington to Augusta and Prince William to Powhatan — and sharing that vision for this community that I’ve long called home,” she added.

SPEAKER JOHNSON TOUTS TRUMP’S AGENDA AS CRUCIAL BLUEPRINT AHEAD OF MIDTERMS: ‘ON THE BALLOT’

McAuliffe was Virginia’s first lady from 2014 to 2018 and was later appointed by former President Joe Biden as the U.S. Special Representative for Global Partnerships in June 2022.

According to Ballotpedia, incumbent Rep. Eugene Vindman is running in the Democratic primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, along with state Del. Dan Helmer and Alex Thymmons, a U.S. Army veteran.

A top Department of Justice official brushed off a lawsuit brought Tuesday by the Democratic National Committee over the administration’s work on election security, describing the suit as frivolous.

Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon mocked the legal challenge in an X post in response to Marc Elias, a prolific Democratic election lawyer, promoting it.

“Maybe we should all just file lawsuits demanding things we used to ask the tooth fairy for, shall we?” Dhillon said. “This is not how executive power works.”

Dhillon’s remarks came as her division and the Trump administration more broadly have ramped up their focus on election security, demanding voter roll data from states, launching investigations into past elections and pushing for passage of a voter ID bill. 

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP DOJ ACCESS TO OREGON VOTER ROLLS

Democrats have accused the administration of also hiding information about alleged federal deployments at polling places. They cited White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying earlier this year that she could not rule out potential federal deployments, while she added that it’s “not something I’ve ever heard the president consider.” 

The lawsuit, brought in Washington, D.C., seeks records from the DOJ, Department of Homeland Security and Department of War under the Freedom of Information Act about the possible deployments. DNC lawyers said their FOIA requests were triggered last year by “repeat threats to free and fair elections from President [Donald] Trump and his administration.”

The lawsuit was filed against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s intensifying focus on election security. The FBI has pursued expanded inquiries into the 2020 and 2024 elections in at least two battleground states, Georgia and Pennsylvania, and sought extensive voter registration records from state election officials, which critics have argued encroaches on states’ rights.

In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, the Republican National Committee said of the lawsuit that Democrats did not support “commonsense safeguards like voter ID.”

LEAVITT FLIPS SCRIPT ON MEDIA FOR BALKING AT FULTON ELECTION PROBE AFTER YEARS OF PROMOTING RUSSIA CLAIMS

“We’re surprised the DNC actually has any money to file a lawsuit,” RNC election integrity spokeswoman Ally Triolo said, adding that the DOJ was “simply doing its job to fix the election chaos that Democrats across the country have created.”

Triolo said the DNC was filing “fake, nonsensical lawsuits and grasping at straws, leaving only one explanation: they want to cheat in our elections.”

The DOJ is able to send federal officials to monitor polling places to check that federal voting laws are being followed, but concerns have mounted that the federal government will go beyond that. DHS, for instance, has shut down rumors that it would send immigration authorities to polling places.

In its complaint, the DNC alleged that it has “yet to receive a substantive response to any of the FOIA requests at issue,” despite deadlines passing. The DNC lawyers claimed the departments have “violated their duties … to conduct a reasonable search for responsive records [and] to take reasonable steps to release all nonexempt information.”

The lawsuit also referenced statements by Trump, including the president saying he “regretted not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines” after the 2020 election.

The DNC asked the court to force departments to produce all the requested records, as well as to pay the organization back for legal fees.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC on Wednesday morning. 

Republican House candidate Clay Fuller says his playbook for the runoff election for a vacant congressional district in solidly red northwest Georgia that was once held by Marjorie Taylor Greene is simple.

“We’re just going to continue to get that message out about President Trump supporting us, and my experience, being a military officer, an elected district attorney and an America First fighter too,” Fuller told Fox News Digital.

Fuller was interviewed soon after he advanced to the runoff after coming in the top two in the special election in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. He will face off in the runoff with Democrat Shawn Harris, a retired brigadier general and cattle farmer. 

Harris grabbed 37% of the vote, with Fuller at 35% amid a field of 17 candidates, including 12 Republicans.

SPECIAL ELECTION TO FILL MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’S OLD SEAT IN CONGRESS HEADS INTO OVERTIME

Tuesday’s special election and the April 7 runoff are being held as Republicans cling to a razor-thin 218–214 majority in the House.

The congressional seat was left vacant when MAGA firebrand Greene stepped down at the beginning of January. Greene quit Congress with a year left in her term, after a very public falling out with Trump mostly over her push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. 

The GOP cannot afford any surprises and allow the Democrats to pull an upset in a district which extends from Atlanta’s northwest exurbs to Georgia’s northwestern border with Alabama and northern border with Tennessee — that Trump carried by a whopping 37 points in his 2024 presidential victory.

CONSERVATIVE LEADER: MIDTERMS A CHOICE BETWEEN TRUMP’S GREAT PROGRESS’ AND LETTING ‘SOCIALISTS BACK IN’

“President Trump truly matters in Georgia 14,” emphasized Fuller, a local prosecutor and Air National Guard member. 

Trump teamed up with Fuller during a stop in the district in March. Speaking ahead of the president at an event in Rome, Georgia, Fuller described himself as a “MAGA warrior.”

“It’s Christmas every time he’s here,” Fuller told Fox News Digital. “Let’s get him back as many times as we can. I’d love to have him here every day. I know he’s got bigger issues than Georgia 14 to deal with, but I’d love to see him. Let’s get Vice President JD Vance down here. Let’s get everybody down here.”

Fuller was also backed by the deep-pocketed political group Club for Growth, which pushes a pro-growth, limited government agenda.

Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey, pointing to Harris topping the field Tuesday, argued that “Georgians are sick and tired of cost-raising, health care-cutting, failed Republican leadership — and Shawn’s performance tonight is the proof.”

Harris, taking to social media Wednesday, said, “Last night we came out on top in a crowded field and earned our spot in the runoff. That’s no small thing in Northwest Georgia. Now it’s one-on-one on April 7. We’re going right back to work — and we’re going to win again.”

But Harris, who lost to Greene by nearly 30 points in 2024, will face a steep climb in the runoff election.

Democrat sources tell Fox News Digital it’s highly unlikely Democratic-aligned groups will invest resources in the runoff. 

Fuller said he would be reaching out to the other Republican candidates who were on the ballot, including former state Sen. Colton Moore, a vocal Trump supporter who enjoys plenty of support from the far right. Moore finished in third place, with nearly 12% of the vote.

“We know that the Republican Party is going to consolidate around President Trump’s choice. We’re going to drive out the vote,” Fuller said.

And he emphasized, “Everybody in the field understands that a Democrat cannot represent Georgia 14. It would be a tragedy for Georgia 14, a tragedy for the MAGA movement. And we’re going to rally around as a party and go and win this thing and defeat Sean Harris.”

EXCLUSIVE: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is hammering Democrats over the partial government shutdown as its effects begin to hit millions of travelers at airports across the country.

“This is expected to be one of the busiest spring travel seasons on record. Over 171 million travelers are estimated to fly in the coming weeks, and they expect the agencies responsible for keeping them safe to be fully operational,” Scalise told Fox News Digital.

“The longer Democrats hold the Department of Homeland Security hostage, the longer they’re forcing [Transportation Security Administration (TSA)] agents to work without pay and the worse the pain will be that Democrats inflict on regular Americans.”

It comes as TSA agents, whose agency operates under DHS, are set to miss their first full paychecks next week. And with Democrats continuing to withhold the department’s funding in protest of President Donald Trump’s handling of illegal immigration, the standoff still has no clear end in sight.

STEVE SCALISE RIPS DEMOCRATS FOR ‘PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES’ WITH DHS SHUTDOWN AMID IRAN THREAT

Scalise’s own hometown travel hub, the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, is facing hours-long delays due to the ongoing shutdown.

The airport’s official X account warned travelers to arrive two to three hours before their scheduled departure time earlier this week due to a “shortage of TSA workers” at its security checkpoints owing to “impacts from the federal government’s partial shutdown.”

“The recent chaos at my airport in New Orleans, and airports across the country, is impossible to miss — wait times longer than three hours, lines stretching out to the parking lot,” Scalise said. “It’s ridiculous, shameful, and it never should have happened.”

Scalise said his office was in contact with airport staff about the issue, and that they are concerned about their own welfare as the shutdown continues.

“They’re worried about the impact the shutdown will have on TSA employees and the ability for the airport to get travelers through security and make their flights in a timely fashion,” he said. “This is the third time in six months that TSA agents are being forced to worry about missing a paycheck because Washington Democrats keep using them as leverage.”

The airport in New Orleans is not the only one battling staffing issues because of the shutdown.

TRUMP URGES CONGRESS TO PASS SAVE AMERICA ACT, FULLY FUND DHS AS TSA WORKERS GO WITHOUT PAY

George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas urged travelers to arrive earlier than planned due to fewer airport security lines being open due to personnel shortages. Nearby William P. Hobby Airport asked people to arrive three hours early for domestic flights and four hours early for international flights.

The partial shutdown is in its 25th day as Democrats continue to refuse the GOP’s compromise offers on funding DHS.

Unlike last year’s 43-day government shutdown, however, roughly 97% of the federal budget has been accounted for already. In other words, all agencies but DHS are funded through the remainder of the fiscal year.

But DHS is a wide-ranging department that oversees the TSA, U.S. Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Secret Service, and others.

In addition to travel delays hitting U.S. airports over TSA shortages, the shutdown’s effects have also come into sharper focus as national security threats grow in the U.S. over the Trump administration’s joint operation with Israel targeting Iran.

The House has now twice passed a bipartisan DHS funding bill, the product of bipartisan negotiations in the previous shutdown’s wake. But in the Senate, where Democrats are critical to advancing the legislation past the 60-vote filibuster threshold, progress has all but stalled.

After an illegal immigrant was discovered to have been voting for more than a decade in Philadelphia, immigration experts are warning that the “system can fail” and that loss of voter confidence represents the true “serious threat” to American democracy. 

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said that “the most important thing is perception.”

“People have to believe that their vote counts. And so that’s, I think, a much more serious long-term threat,” said Hankinson. 

“We have a perception in the United States,” he continued, “that elections were free and fair. If even the appearance of impropriety, the appearance of corruption, is bad enough to turn people off, to make people not interested in going to vote, to think, ‘Well, my vote doesn’t count anyway.’ Then that’s really what undermines democracy.”

WATCH: DEM WITNESS ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘POPULATION PURGE,’ KENNEDY FIRES BACK: ‘YOU TRIGGER MY GAG REFLEX’

Earlier this week, Fox News Digital learned that Mahady Sacko, a Mauritanian citizen and illegal immigrant, allegedly voted in every federal election since 2008. He has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and charged with voter fraud in Philadelphia. This comes as congressional lawmakers fiercely debate the SAVE Act, a measure proponents say would strengthen election integrity laws. 

Despite being given a removal order in 2000, Sacko, 50, registered to vote in 2005 and falsely stated on several occasions that he was a U.S. citizen, authorities allege. The voting records showed that he cast ballots in the general elections in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. In addition, he voted in the 2016 and 2020 primary elections, prosecutors said. 

Hankinson said that while he believes such cases are more isolated and are not widely prevalent in the U.S., it is a “potentially big problem, and it’s one that’s very easy to fix.”

“The average Joe who does vote doesn’t think he’s setting fire to his ballot. He thinks it’s actually going to count for something. That’s what’s at risk here,” Hankinson continued, adding, “That I think is a long-term serious threat to our democracy.”

Meanwhile, Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of the election integrity research group True the Vote, told Fox News Digital that “an illegal alien allegedly voting in every presidential election since 2008 is proof the system can fail — and we have no reliable, codified way to determine how many others may be doing the same.”

“Millions could be voting illegally, but we don’t know because comprehensive voter roll audits are being fought tooth and nail, instead of being standard operating procedure,” she went on. “What’s most disturbing is how vicious the fight has become to block analyses, stop audits, and shut down even the most basic questions about eligibility and voter record maintenance.”

“That kind of resistance leaves millions of Americans with the unmistakable impression that something is very wrong in our system, and that feeling, that loss of trust, is likely the biggest impact of all.”

SPARKS FLY AS GOP SENATOR REACTS TO BIDEN ADVISOR’S ‘I DON’T KNOW’ ANSWER ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LAW

She posited that “we should treat voter rolls the way serious industries treat sensitive record management.” She suggested bringing in independent third-party auditors, setting clear state and national standards, and using real-time verification of identity, residency, and citizenship as a matter of routine.

“The data exists, the technology exists, and other sectors use it every day — what’s missing is political will to apply those same basic safeguards to our elections,” she said.

On the other hand, in a statement shared with Fox News Digital, David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), said, “We have a very good sense of the depth of the problem here” and “it is extremely rare that noncitizens get registered, and it is infinitesimally rare that they vote.”

CEIR released its latest review of noncitizen registration and voting claims last month. That review concluded, “CEIR continues to find that sweeping allegations about noncitizen registrations or voting appear to arise from misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, or outright fabrications about complex voter data.”

Becker said that President Donald Trump’s “own Department of Homeland Security has checked more than 49 million voter records, and they themselves admit that 99.98% of those records represented confirmed citizens.”

He added that “in several states that are politically aligned with President Trump, the number of alleged noncitizen voters has precipitously dropped when subjected to scrutiny.”

“We see consistently that the number of potential or confirmed noncitizens registered is very small, and those who are voting are even smaller,” he said.

FBI ARRESTS ALLEGED MS-13 MEMBER ACCUSED IN EL SALVADOR PASTOR’S KILLING

However, Hans von Spakovsky, a former commissioner at the Federal Election Commission and a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, told Fox News Digital, “The point is that we have an honor system currently with most states doing absolutely nothing to verify citizenship. And we have hundreds of close elections all the time in this country where even a small number of aliens could make the difference in an election.”

He shared information from his 2024 testimony to Congress in which he said that findings based on official registration records of thousands of aliens showed they are registered in various jurisdictions, including Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and sanctuary cities like Philadelphia and Chicago.

Despite these reports, he said, “virtually no prosecutors have expressed any interest in investigating and potentially prosecuting these aliens.”

“The indicators that it is occurring are there, and it is important to understand that every vote by an alien cancels and effectively voids the vote of a citizen,” he said.

FIRST ON FOX: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rolled out a new platform, backed by artificial intelligence, that will streamline publicly accessible reporting of negative or unexpected health effects linked to medicines, vaccines, cosmetics, animal food and other consumer products.

The FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) began operation Tuesday and will consolidate outdated systems used to process millions of adverse event reports and produce results in real time for consumers to access online. 

“The FDA’s fragmented adverse event systems have wasted taxpayer dollars and created large blind spots in our post-market surveillance,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary told Fox News Digital in a statement. “We’re addressing this critical issue by conducting a major modernization initiative on an accelerated timeline.” 

“Moving forward, the FDA will have a single, intuitive adverse event platform that will better equip us and any interested researcher to access key data and insights about the safety of products on the market,” Makary added.

DR. MAKARY, DR OZ: PEOPLE TALK ABOUT LOWERING HEALTHCARE COSTS, BUT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS DOING IT

Adverse event reports are critical to determining the safety and effectiveness of certain drugs and products after they are approved for clinical trials and reach the wider consumer market, though the agency says the reports have been undermined due to current inefficient infrastructure.

The general concept of AEMS is that consumers will be able to access the new website and search for FDA-approved cosmetics, drugs, vaccines, or foods that have adverse effect reports as they are reported by healthcare professionals, consumers, manufacturers, and user facilities for medical devices. 

The agency estimates that roughly 6 to 7 million adverse event reports per year are evaluated through a seven database system. The FDA says that the collective cost of utilizing the database is an estimated $37 million bill to taxpayers. AEMS is expected to save the FDA approximately $120 million over the next five years, according to the agency.

FDA CLEARS FIRST AT-HOME BRAIN DEVICE FOR DEPRESSION

The new website will be more accessible than the current quarterly report issued by the agency, and senior sources at the FDA told Fox News Digital they saw a 3,000% increase in users in a pilot program that launched last September.

“Consolidating the FDA’s adverse event systems and converting to real-time publication was challenging, but made possible by a highly aggressive schedule,” the FDA’s Chief AI Officer Jeremy Walsh told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The team executed with perfection and delivered the biggest technical transformation in agency history. This is the new FDA.”

The legacy systems that are currently in place include the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS),  Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), which will be replaced with the new system effective immediately. 

In May, the AEMS will also replace the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE), Human Foods Complaint System (HFCS), and Center for Tobacco Products Adverse Event Reporting System (CTPAE).

Each one of these systems will be integrated into the new AEMS, with artificial intelligence assisting for manual data entries and coding adverse events. 

Sources at the FDA told Fox News Digital that the next phase of the rollout will be implementing a front-end system that makes it easy for reports to be submitted. The agency estimates that 80% of reports are never entered due to the complexity of filing a report — potentially resulting in some untold side effects never being made public. 

President Donald Trump, who is backing challenger Ed Gallrein over incumbent GOP Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District Republican primary, highlighted his endorsement again on Tuesday ahead of his planned Wednesday visit to the Bluegrass State.

Trump then followed that up by targeting Massie again in a Wednesday morning Truth Social post.

“I predict that ‘Representative’Thomas Massie will go down as the WORST Republican Congressman in the long and fabled history of the United States Congress, even worse than Crazy Liz Chaney, Cryin’ Adam Kinzinger, and Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown (Remember, Green turns to Brown under stress!). They are all misfits and losers, but Massie, who is running against a great American Patriot in the Kentucky Primary, will hopefully lose BIG. I LOVE KENTUCKY!!!” the president declared in the Wednesday morning Truth Social post.

In a text message to Fox News Digital, Massie wrote, “It was actually Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who teamed up with Trump in March of 2020 to try and defeat me.”

TRUMP STIRS GOP PRIMARY DRAMA WITH VISIT TO MASSIE’S KENTUCKY HOME TURF

In a post on X, Massie wrote, “I predict ‘President’ DJT will begrudgingly sign my beautiful Epstein Files Transparency Act, causing beleaguered princes and ambassadors and prime ministers and CEOs around the world to be arrested or resign in total shame. Oh wait, that already happened.”

The president had declared in part of a Truth Social post on Tuesday, “Captain Ed Gallrein has my Complete and Total Endorsement against ‘Congressman’ Thomas Massie — He only votes AGAINST the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left. Unlike ‘lightweight’ Congressman Massie, a true hater of Israel, and a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET KENTUCKY DOWN!” 

“Someone’s upset to learn Woke Eddie left the Republican Party when Trump won the nomination! Here’s today’s Truth Social post. It’s just a copy and paste from several months ago. Says Ed ‘filed today,’ which isn’t even possible since the filing deadline passed in January,” Massie wrote in a Tuesday post on X.

Massie on Tuesday posted a document on X that he said was Gallrein’s voter registration card — the document shows Gallrein registering as an independent in May 2016. 

“Here’s Ed’s Voter Registration card documenting when he abandoned the GOP to protest Trump securing the nomination just days before,” Massie wrote in the post.

In a text message to Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning, Massie said of Trump’s Tuesday post, “His Truth Social post was recycled from months ago, but our ad is brand new. We’ll be running the ad in this X post on TV and radio today,” Massie wrote, pointing to a post that features a campaign ad attacking Gallrein over his party affiliation history.

Massie’s campaign ad claims that Gallrein switched his registration back to the Republican Party in 2021.

GOP REP MASSIE JOINS DEMOCRATS IN OPPOSITION TO US IRAN STRIKES

“I was proud to vote for President Trump all three times and donate in 2020 and 2024, unlike Thomas Massie who campaigned against him in 2024 and sides with the Democrats to vote against President Trump every week in Congress,” Gallrein said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

PATRIOT OR ‘PATHETIC RINO’? MAVERICK REPUBLICAN THOMAS MASSIE TRADES ‘AMERICA FIRST’ LABEL FOR ‘AMERICA ONLY’

Trump is slated to appear at an event in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday.

A Tuesday post on Gallrein’s X account said, “President Donald Trump is coming to Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District this Wednesday to support Ed Gallrein for Congress.”

When asked about the visit, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told Fox News Digital, “President Trump will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his Administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable.”

In a text message to Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning, Massie wrote, “I have other previously scheduled events in the district today, including a visit to two public schools that are about 3 hours from the President’s speech.”

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report

U.S. forces destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said, in what officials described as a move to prevent Iran from disrupting one of the world’s most critical maritime choke points.

The strikes come as oil traffic through the strait remains at a near standstill, threatening a corridor that carries roughly 20 million barrels per day — about one-fifth of global consumption — and squeezing Gulf exporters like Iraq and Kuwait that rely on the narrow passage to ship their primary source of revenue.

Prior to taking out the mining vessels, Trump demanded Iran remove them “IMMEDIATELY!” warning that if it doesn’t, “the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before.”

U.S. officials have long warned that Iran maintains a significant naval mine inventory and has rehearsed tactics designed to threaten commercial shipping in the Gulf. The destruction of the vessels appears aimed at stopping any potential deployment before mines could be laid in shipping lanes.

US SIGNALS READINESS TO ESCORT TANKERS THROUGH HORMUZ AS TRAFFIC THINS, BUT NO MISSION HAS BEEN LAUNCHED

The Strait of Hormuz, bordered by Iran to the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south, is a critical artery for global energy markets. Even the threat of mining operations can further disrupt traffic and spike insurance and shipping costs.

It was not immediately clear whether any mines had already been placed in the water before the U.S. action. Citing intelligence sources, CNN reported Iran had laid a few dozen mines in the strait in recent days and had the capability to place hundreds more. 

Since Friday, seven vessels, including four tankers and three bulk carriers, have passed through the strait, according to data from trade intelligence platform Kpler.

THE WAR HITS HOME: WHY FINANCIAL PAIN AND ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY THREATEN TRUMP’S DRIVE TO TOPPLE IRAN’S REGIME

The U.S. Navy has been weighing escorts for commercial ships through the strait. 

“We’re looking at a range of options there and will figure out how to solve problems as they come to us,” Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told Fox News Tuesday. 

The world is watching to see whether the Navy will step in to try to free up shipping. Immediately after an inaccurate and since-deleted post from Energy Secretary Chris Wright claiming the Navy had escorted a tanker, oil prices fell nearly 12%.

European allies are moving in as well: France sent two frigates to join a European Union-led escort mission for ships through the strait, though their arrival timeline is unclear.

While U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has claimed the U.S. and Israel have “total air dominance” over Iran’s skies, that doesn’t mean the threat from missiles and drones is entirely eliminated yet. 

The Navy won’t escort tankers until Iran’s missile and drone threat is eliminated, retired Gen. Jack Keane told FOX Business. 

“Makes no sense in terms of the risk when we’re going to finish them off entirely in a few weeks,” he said.  

Recognizing the squeeze on prices around the globe, Trump announced Monday the U.S. would remove oil-related sanctions. 

“We are also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices,” he said during a press conference. “So in some countries, we’re going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out. Then, who knows, maybe we won’t have to put them on.”

The United States currently maintains sanctions affecting oil Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Syria and North Korea. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail what that relief would look like. A 30-day waiver was already recently issued for Russian oil stranded at sea to reach India.

A naval mine costing only a few thousand dollars can cripple or even sink a $2 billion U.S. destroyer. 

The danger is not theoretical: In 1988, USS Samuel B. Roberts nearly sank after striking an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf. 

Mine-laying operations are often conducted covertly at night using small vessels such as fishing dhows or fast-attack craft, allowing mines to be deployed with little warning and potentially devastating consequences.

In a sharp break from his long-standing defense of the Senate filibuster, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, urged Republicans Wednesday to enact “whatever changes” necessary to send a Trump-backed voter ID bill to President Donald Trump’s desk before November’s midterm elections.

Cornyn, who is locked in a fierce runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is pressing Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE (Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility) America Act — even if it means scrapping the chamber’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.

His appeal marks a significant reversal for the Texas Republican, who long argued the filibuster served as a safeguard against Democrats advancing sweeping left-wing priorities with a simple majority.

“For many years, I believed that if the U.S. Senate scrapped the filibuster, Texas and our nation would stand to lose more than we would gain,” Cornyn wrote in a New York Post op-ed Wednesday morning. “But when the reality on the ground changes, leaders must take stock and adapt.”

TRUMP REVEALS TOP ISSUES GOP SHOULD FOCUS ON TO SECURE MIDTERMS VICTORY: ‘I’VE NEVER BEEN MORE CONFIDENT’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is expected to put the SAVE America Act to a vote in the Senate next week, but the measure could fail on the floor given widespread opposition from Democrats. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is also facing a weeks-long shutdown over Democrats’ refusal to fund the agency absent vast reforms to immigration enforcement.

Under Senate rules, both pieces of legislation would have to overcome the 60-vote threshold — meaning buy-in from some Democrats — to survive a key procedural vote before final passage.

“Today, Democrats are weaponizing the Senate’s rules to block the SAVE America Act, defund the Department of Homeland Security and hurt the American people — all to spite President Donald Trump,” Cornyn wrote.

“After careful consideration, I support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary for us to get the SAVE America Act and Homeland Security funding past the Democrats’ obstruction, through the Senate and on the president’s desk for his signature,” Cornyn added.

Trump has repeatedly called on the Senate to pass the voter ID bill, calling it the “number one priority” during an address to House Republicans on Monday.

The House-passed legislation would require proof-of-citizenship to vote in federal elections, impose voter ID requirements and require states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls. Trump has asked Republicans to add provisions that crack down on mail-in ballots, prohibit biological males’ participation in women’s sports and ban child sex-change procedures. 

Trump has also threatened not to sign any legislation into law until the SAVE America Act clears the Senate. The White House later clarified that DHS funding was not included in the president’s ultimatum.

TRUMP, THUNE CLASH ON VOTER ID ULTIMATUM AS GOP REMAINS DIVIDED ON PATH FORWARD

“We can either unilaterally disarm, or we can stand and fight,” Cornyn wrote. “The answer is clear: We need to stand, fight and win.

Both Cornyn and Paxton are vying for Trump’s endorsement ahead of the late May runoff election that will decide who will face Democratic candidate James Talarico, a Texas state senator, in the November general election. Trump said last week that he would “soon” back a candidate, but he has yet to issue an endorsement. Cornyn, who has served in the upper chamber since 2002, is seeking his fifth Senate term.

Paxton said last week that he would consider exiting the race if the Senate were to circumvent the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act.

“The SAVE America Act is the most important bill the U.S. Senate could ever pass, and I’m committed to helping President Trump get it done,” Paxton wrote. 

Despite Cornyn’s new openness to filibuster reform, the SAVE America Act still faces an uphill battle in the Senate. The bill passed the House last month in a vote mostly along party lines.

Thune, a supporter of the SAVE America Act, has repeatedly said that the votes do not exist to scrap the 60-vote filibuster and advance the voter ID measure.

The majority leader has also warned against using the talking filibuster — a little-used maneuver preferred by some conservatives — arguing that approach would have unintended consequences and risks jamming the Senate floor for an indefinite period.

“The votes aren’t there for a talking filibuster,” Thune said Tuesday.

“I’m the person who has to deliver sometimes the not-so-good news that the math doesn’t add up, but those are the facts and there’s no getting around it,” he continued.

Jeremy Carl, President Donald Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, withdrew his nomination Tuesday after facing bipartisan criticism over past comments about race, religion and Israel.

Carl, a conservative commentator and senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, wrote on X he lacked the unanimous Republican support needed to advance his nomination out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was nominated to the State Department role by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“I am withdrawing my nomination for consideration as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs,” he wrote Tuesday afternoon. “I am tremendously grateful to President Trump for nominating me and then (upon expiration of my original nomination) renominating me for this role, and I am also grateful to Secretary Rubio and his team for their continued support throughout this long and time-consuming process.”

Republicans hold a 12-10 majority on the panel, meaning a single GOP defection would result in a tie vote and block the nomination from moving to the full Senate.

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“Unfortunately, at this time this unanimous support was not forthcoming,” Carl wrote, adding that he did not want the administration to “waste valuable time and energy” attempting to change the outcome.

During his confirmation hearing last month, senators pressed Carl on previous remarks concerning “White identity,” immigration and Israel. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, said afterward that Carl was not the “right person to represent our nation’s best interests in international forums,” citing what he described as anti-Israel views and insensitive comments about Jewish people.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., questioned Carl about his references to “White identity” and what he believed was being “erased.” Carl responded that he was concerned about the erosion of what he described as a majority American culture due to mass immigration, saying he stood by those comments. Murphy later called him a “legit White nationalist” on social media.

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Carl rejected that characterization, saying he is “not a White nationalist” and that his remarks referred to a broadly shared American culture that people of all backgrounds could embrace.

“Unfortunately, for senior positions such as this one, the support of the President and Secretary of State is very important but not sufficient,” Carl added on X. “We also needed the unanimous support of every GOP Senator on the Committee on Foreign Relations, given the unanimous opposition of Senate Democrats to my candidacy, and unfortunately, at this time this unanimous support was not forthcoming.”

The position Carl was nominated for oversees U.S. engagement at the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. He previously served as a deputy assistant interior secretary during Trump’s first term.

“I remain extremely confident in President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and the rest of the outstanding team at State (a group of leaders that includes many close friends),” Carl concluded on X. “I know they will continue to pursue a foreign policy that puts America first, and that they will work to ensure America is able to exercise its power and influence in the world like never before.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment and has not heard back.

Reuters contributed to this report.