Category: USA Politics

FIRST ON FOX: Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was caught on a livestream asking a top campaign aide to separate conservative reporters — whom he referred to as “bogeys” — from the rest of the press after a campaign event with Hasan Piker last week. 

The hot-mic moment came as Piker’s crew was live-streaming backstage ahead of the event, when El-Sayed’s communications director Roxie Richner told him and Piker, “We’re going to do the quick scrum with Fox, the Free Beacon and those folks,” prompting El-Sayed to ask, “Could you separate, like, the bogeys, from everyone else?” 

After Richner responded in the affirmative, El-Sayed fist bumped her before Piker swooped in to let the pair know they were being filmed. 

The candid moment followed days of blowback El-Sayed faced for holding an event with Piker, the controversial podcaster who had to walk back comments saying Americans deserved 9/11, justified Hamas’ attacks and slaughter, including rapes, on innocent Israelis, and recently told his followers that “you really don’t need suicide bombing anymore,” because cheap Chinese-made drones can be bought online for anyone who is interested in performing a terror strike.

POPULAR FAR-LEFT STREAMER UNLEASHES PROFANE TIRADE AGAINST VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST REFUGEE IN RESURFACED VID

El-Sayed responded to those concerns by insisting his goal was to ensure his message speaks to a “broader audience” that has felt left out of contemporary politics, during an interview just days before the event with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer. 

He told Hemmer that he was talking to him, despite the fact that they frequently disagreed, for precisely that reason of trying to engage with broader audiences. “When I said I’ll talk to anyone, I meant it. I’ll be on Fox News at 9:15am with Bill Hemmer,” El-Sayed tweeted ahead of his talk with Hemmer earlier this month.

Piker quickly swooped in after the fist-bump was caught on camera to tell Richner and El-Sayed that he was filming. The trio quickly separated, but the camera kept rolling as it followed a visibly bothered Piker. 

“Probably some progress being made,” Piker’s camera operator said after the trio had separated, and the live stream settled back on Piker, who had walked away and began guzzling a bottle of water. “I don’t think so,” Piker responded as he continued guzzling the water bottle. 

Richner, El-Sayed’s staffer seen fist-bumping him, told Fox News Digital that the campaign took questions from a “broad scrum” after the event that day, as well as after a second event held later the same day at Michigan State University. Richner also reiterated El-Sayed’s claims that he welcomes conversations with people of all political stripes. 

“Following both rallies, our campaign took questions in a broad scrum that included all press who attended: local news outlets, student reporters, and national outlets that spanned ideologies,” Richner said. “We go everywhere and talk to everyone.” 

DEM SENATE CANDIDATE TAKES SWIPE AT JOE ROGAN AFTER REFUSING TO DISAVOW HASAN PIKER’S PAST COMMENTS

Since entering the race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, El-Sayed has faced blow back for staking out fringe anti-Israel and anti-law enforcement positions, like abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and blaming Israel for committing “genocide.”

Fox News Digital previously reported how El-Sayed quietly deleted old social media posts he made online espousing support for the “defund the police” movement between 2020 and 2021, including calling the police “standing armies we deploy against our own people.” 

Meanwhile, recently uncovered audio showed El-Sayed didn’t want to publicly say anything about the death of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamanei because he was worried some Michiganders might be “sad” following the terror regime leader’s death.

El-Sayed recently faced criticism for campaigning with Piker, who has been slammed for justifying Hamas’ attacks and slaughter, including rapes, on innocent Israelis, was forced to walk back comments about how Americans deserved 9/11, and told his followers that “you really don’t need suicide bombing anymore,” because cheap Chinese-made drones can be bought online for anyone who is interested in performing a terror strike. Piker sympathizes with communist ideals, but has labeled himself a socialist and Marxist while rejecting communist labels. At the same time, Piker has also described communism as the “honorable end goal” of socialism.

When asked at his event with Piker whether he would disavow any of the controversial podcaster’s comments, El-Sayed would not, and defended the far-left podcast and internet personality’s emerging position in the Democratic Party.

“It’s an active decision to reach out to people who feel locked out of their politics to have a conversation, just like I’m making an active decision as somebody who is running in the Democratic primary to have a conversation on Fox News,” El-Sayed said to Hemmer about his decision to campaign with Piker. “Just because you invite somebody to campaign with you, or you’re engaging with them, does not mean that you agree with them.”

El-Sayed’s Democratic Party primary election, against a slew of other formidable candidates, will take place in August, followed by the general election in November. 

President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, revealed that he would “welcome” a discussion with Pope Leo XIV amid the administration’s ongoing spat with the Vatican over disagreements on immigration policy and the Iran conflict.

Differing from Vice President JD Vance, who said that “in some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality,” Homan said he is “open to discussion with any of them.”

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Homan, a “lifelong Catholic,” said, “I wish they’d stay out of immigration, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

However, Homan asserted that the pope’s opinion would change if he understood that “illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.”

POPE LEO CALLS OUT TRUMP’S IRAN RHETORIC BEFORE LAST-MINUTE CEASEFIRE EMERGES

“If they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got raped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet, including a 5-year-old boy that baked to death, if they understood the atrocities that happened on the open border, I think their opinion would change,” he said.

Trump’s border czar went on to say that despite intense criticism over the president’s immigration policy, “He’s saving thousands of lives a year because he has a secure border.”

“Where President Trump had the most secure border in the lifetime of this nation, right now, lives are being saved,” he emphasized.

In light of this, Homan said, “I welcome discussion with any of them, because they don’t understand illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.”

“Human traffickers are out of business, right? The cartels are going bankrupt because of that secure border. I wish they’d understand that,” he lamented. “Because if they did, I think they’d have a different opinion.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Holy See for comment.

POPE LEO PICKS NEW VATICAN AMBASSADOR TO US AS TRUMP TENSIONS MOUNT OVER POLICIES

Leo has said that “no one has said that the United States should have open borders” and stressed, “I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.” However, he has also taken a critical tone of the administration’s interior immigration enforcement tactics.

“When people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least, and there’s been some violence, unfortunately, I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said. I think that I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them,” the pope has said.

Trump criticized the pope’s positions on Sunday in a scathing rebuke on Truth Social.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump began in a lengthy post.

“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church,” he concluded.

Regarding the Iran conflict, Trump told reporters, “We don’t like a pope that’s going to say that it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.”

“We don’t want a pope that says crime is OK in our cities. I don’t like it,” Trump added. “I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime.”

BISHOP BARRON SAYS TRUMP ‘OWES THE POPE AN APOLOGY’

In response, Leo told reporters on Monday, “I have no fear of the Trump administration.”

“The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone,” he also said, adding, “I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing. I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems.”

“Too many people are suffering in the world today,” Leo added. “Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.”

For his part, Vance, who has been very vocal about his conversion to Catholicism, told Fox News’s Bret Baier Monday, “I certainly think that in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality… and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.”

Vance, who has visited the Vatican twice as vice president, dismissed the feud, saying, “We certainly have a good relationship with the Vatican, but we’re also [going to] disagree on substantive questions from time to time. I think that’s a totally reasonable thing.”

FIRST ON FOX: On the deadline for Americans to file their taxes, Senate Republicans are targeting Democrats for voting against tax cuts the GOP passed and President Donald Trump signed into law last summer.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, on Wednesday launched ads in seven key Senate battleground races highlighting how “Democrat candidates opposed the Working Families Tax Cuts that led to an 11% increase in Americans’ tax refunds this year.”

The spots, released on Tax Day 2026, were first shared with Fox News Digital.

The digital ads come as the GOP works to protect its slim 53-47 Senate majority in the midterms when the party in power typically faces political headwinds and loses congressional seats. The GOP also faces a rough political climate fueled by persistent inflation, rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran, and Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

EXCLUSIVE: HOUSE REPUBLICANS TARGET ‘VULNERABLE’ DEMOCRATS FOR VOTING AGAINST TAX CUTS

But Republicans have for weeks spotlighted the tax cuts, which they insist will give them a political boost with voters in the midterms.

“Working families across the country have enough on their plates, but Democrats like Jon Ossoff go to Washington and fight to take more money out of their pockets,” NRSC Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez argued, as she pointed to Ossoff, the first-term senator from Georgia whom Republicans view as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election this year.

Rodriguez also emphasized that “President Trump and Senate Republicans are working tirelessly to deliver for working families, including higher take-home pay and lower taxes.”

DEMOCRATS BUILD MOMENTUM, BUT SENATE REPUBLICANS STILL IN DRIVER’S SEAT IN BATTLE FOR MAJORITY

The spots, backed by a modest buy, will also run in Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Ohio.

The narrator in the ads emphasized that “President Trump and Senate Republicans delivered real savings for hard-working families” and accused Democrats of “opposing tax cuts for first responders, rejecting tax savings for service workers, and denying more money for senior citizens.”

The tax cuts were a key component of Republicans’ massive domestic policy measure, which passed nearly entirely along party lines in the GOP-controlled House and Senate.

The law is stuffed full of Trump’s 2024 campaign trail promises and second-term priorities, including extending the president’s signature 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, said, “I suspect Tax Day doesn’t rank high on Americans’ favorite days of the year, but I’d wager that a lot more Americans were pleasantly surprised this year when they went to file their taxes because thanks to Republicans Working Families Tax Cuts bill, a lot more Americans kept a lot more of their hard-earned money this year.”

Democrats have criticized the tax cuts, arguing they disproportionately benefit the wealthy and corporations.

Earlier this year, DSCC Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Fox News Digital that due to the “very harmful climate that President Trump is creating, we have all the makings of a blue wave.”

The NRSC’s ads targeting Democrats follow positive spots it released last month spotlighting “the success of the Working Families Tax Cuts.”

And the NRSC points to internal polling that it says shows that an overwhelming majority of voters are more likely to support candidates that fight for Republican economic initiatives.

But other surveys indicate that Americans are far from pleased with the amount they pay in taxes.

A record 70% of voters questioned in a Fox News national poll conducted late last month said the taxes they pay are “too high,” marking an 11-point increase from a year earlier, and the highest level of dissatisfaction since the question was first asked in 2004.

The new ads from the NRSC are part of a major push by the GOP this week to spotlight the tax cuts.

On Tuesday, as Fox News Digital first reported, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm, launched ads targeting 28 potentially vulnerable Democrats in the midterms for voting against the tax cuts.

Speaker Mike Johnson held a tax cut event on the Capitol steps on Wednesday morning. And hours earlier, in an interview on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” Trump touted to host Maria Bartiromo that “the refunds are really significant, and it makes it less complicated to do your tax return. Much less complicated.”

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s political collapse amid scandal was sudden.

With sexual assault and harassment allegations mounting, the Democratic representative who was one of the leading contenders in California’s 2026 campaign for governor dropped out of the race on Sunday. Two days later, he resigned from Congress.

The congressman’s stunningly swift collapse comes seven years after a then 38-year-old Swalwell made a short-lived and highly unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination.

OUT THE DOOR: SWALWELL STEPS DOWN AFTER 13 YEARS IN CONGRESS

“We’re getting close. I’ve got staff in Iowa. We’re hiring in New Hampshire, South Carolina right now. I’m starting to put together the infrastructure that you need. But I see nothing but green lights on this journey so far,” an optimistic Swalwell said in a January 2019 Fox News Digital interview.

The soon-to-be candidate was in New Hampshire courting supporters and activists in the state that for a century held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

SWALWELL ACCUSERS REVEAL WHY THEY CAME FORWARD

Swalwell officially launched his campaign during an April 8, 2019, appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

SWALWELL ISN’T THE ONLY MEMBER OF CONGRESS WHO RESIGNED TUESDAY AMID SCANDAL

His campaign slogan was, “Go Big. Be Bold. Do Good.” And Swalwell made gun control and student debt reform key components of his presidential platform.

Swalwell was one of 20 Democratic presidential candidates who qualified and took part in the first round of debates, which were held over two nights in June 2019.

But failing to poll above 1% and facing the prospect of failing to make the stage at the second Democratic presidential debate, Swalwell suspended his campaign on July 8, 2019, just three months after declaring his candidacy.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is facing a brewing conservative revolt ahead of a high-profile vote on reauthorizing the government’s warrantless surveillance powers. 

House GOP leadership is up against an April 20 deadline to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., support a clean 18-month extension of the government’s spying powers, but key conservative lawmakers want guardrails added to the program.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said Tuesday that she would oppose a test vote scheduled to occur Wednesday afternoon that would advance the renewal measure to a vote on final passage. House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., also predicted Tuesday in an interview with Punchbowl News that the test vote would fail if leadership did not tack on additional reforms demanded by GOP privacy hawks.

Section 702 permits the federal government to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals abroad, even when those individuals are communicating with American citizens.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: GOP PUSHES ELECTION SECURITY BILL DESPITE SLIM ODDS, AS TRUMP PRESSURE LOOMS

Conservative lawmakers — and many in the Democratic caucus — are pushing for an amendment to prohibit the warrantless surveillance of Americans. But when Democrats on the House Rules Committee tried to add an amendment from Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., incorporating warrant requirements, Republicans on the panel voted it down.

House Democrats are also not expected to supply the necessary votes during the anticipated procedural vote, which tends to be party-line. In that scenario, Johnson would be able to lose just a handful of GOP defections.

Other Republicans, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have pledged to vote “no” unless the Trump-backed election measure, known as the SAVE America Act, is added to the bill.

GOP RIPS FISA COURT FOR TAPPING EX-BIDEN ‘DISINFORMATION’ LAWYER TO ADVISE ON SURVEILLANCE

Despite potential GOP holdouts, Trump has urged Republicans to “UNIFY” during the critical votes.

The Trump administration has warned about potentially catastrophic effects for national security if lawmakers fail to renew the program, especially as the conflict with Iran continues.

In a letter to Congress on Monday, Gen. Dan Caine said that “the loss or reduction of FISA Section 702 authorities would increase risk to the Joint Force, degrade our worldwide combat lethality, and significantly impair the U.S. security.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe attended a House GOP conference meeting on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to back a clean extension.

“There’s a lot at stake,” Ratcliffe told Fox News.

Prior FISA skeptics have also touted the more than five dozen reforms that Congress made to the program in 2024 to justify their support for a clean extension.

“In light of the progress that has been made and the threats we face, we think a temporary short-term extension of the program makes sense,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Tuesday. “But again, 2026 is not 2024 and a short-term clean extension of the 702 part of FISA law is an acceptable outcome for the situation that we find ourselves in.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

A federal judge ordered Delaware officials to turn over confidential employer and employee data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), delivering a legal defeat to former President Joe Biden’s home state in a dispute over immigration enforcement.

U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly ruled that the Delaware Department of Labor (DDOL) must comply with a federal subpoena seeking wage reports and employee records from 15 businesses as part of an investigation into the suspected hiring of undocumented workers.

Delaware officials argued they could refuse the request and warned that compliance would harm worker reporting and state programs, but Connolly rejected that position.

“This is a political argument; not a legal one,” Connolly wrote. “This Court is not the proper ‘forum in which to air [DDOL’s] generalized grievances about the conduct of government.’ It would be wholly inappropriate for me to consider this line of argument, and I decline to do so.”

DOJ SUES NEW JERSEY OVER EXECUTIVE ORDER LIMITING ICE COOPERATION, EXPANDING SANCTUARY STATUS

The records include employees’ names, Social Security numbers and wages reported to the state as part of its unemployment insurance system.

Federal investigators said the records will help identify potentially fraudulent Social Security numbers, compare reported employees to workers observed onsite and detect off-the-books labor.

Connolly, a Trump-appointed judge, wrote that the subpoena was lawful, relevant to a legitimate investigation and not overly burdensome for the state to fulfill.

The subpoena seeks 30 records covering two quarters for the 15 businesses, which the judge said would not be burdensome for the state to produce.

He also dismissed Delaware’s argument that sharing the data would harm its unemployment insurance system, calling the claim unsupported.

“I am neither willing nor able to adopt DDOL’s cynical view of the State’s employers,” Connolly wrote.

FEDERAL JUDGE WHO ORDERED NO WARRANTLESS ICE ARRESTS IN COLORADO ASSERTS DOJ NOT COMPLYING

The ruling marks a setback for Delaware in its battle over ICE’s access to state labor data, as the federal government moves to expand immigration enforcement.

The court said Delaware officials ignored the subpoena and failed to respond even after a follow-up warning from federal prosecutors.

Delaware’s newly appointed U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wallace said the ruling reinforces that federal law applies broadly.

“We are gratified that the court recognized the simple truth at the core of this case: federal law applies to everyone, whether they are a state or private entity, and whether they agree or disagree with the federal government’s policy priorities,” Wallace told the Delaware News Journal.

The dispute escalated after Delaware ignored multiple ICE subpoenas in early 2025, prompting the federal government to sue for enforcement. State officials have not said whether they plan to appeal.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Delaware Department of Labor, the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware and DHS and ICE for comment.

Read the ruling below.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation on Tuesday setting Aug. 18 as the date for a special election to fill the congressional seat vacated by Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress on Tuesday.

“I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim and order that a special election shall be held on the 18th day of August 2026, within the 14th Congressional District of the State, to fill the vacancy in the office of the U.S. House of Representatives from said district resulting from the resignation of Representative Eric Swalwell,” the proclamation declares.

Members from both sides of the political aisle had called for Swalwell to resign or else face expulsion due to accusations against him of sexual misconduct and rape.

SWALWELL OUT AMID SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS AFTER 13 YEARS IN CONGRESS

The Democrat, who had been running in the Golden State’s gubernatorial race, announced Sunday night that he was suspending his campaign.

On Monday, he announced that he planned to resign from Congress.

SWALWELL ACCUSERS DETAIL EXPERIENCES WITH LAWMAKER AFTER HE ANNOUNCES HIS RESIGNATION FROM CONGRESS

Swalwell’s resignation letter was read in the House on Tuesday.

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations made against me,” Swalwell’s letter read, in part.

FORMER SWALWELL ALLY SAYS LONGTIME FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM ‘CLOUDED MY JUDGEMENT’ AS RUMORS SWIRLED IN DC

The resignation came after he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than a decade, having taken office in 2013.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a series of gun-control bills Tuesday, toughening a proposed assault-firearms ban before sending it back to lawmakers, which drew immediate backlash from Republicans and is likely to draw a constitutional objection from the Justice Department.

The Democratic governor’s changes to House Bill 217/Senate Bill 749 remove the word “fixed” from part of the bill’s definition of an assault firearm, which could sharply expand the range of semi-automatic rifles and pistols swept into the ban, Republicans say.

“If there was any doubt that Gov. Spanberger was coming for our firearms, this substitute removes it,” House of Delegates Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, told News WCYB 5 in a statement. “Not only does it keep in place the de facto ban on some of the most common firearms in Virginia, it goes further and appears to create a ban on any firearm that can accept a magazine of more than 15 rounds.

“That includes the vast majority of firearms in Virginia that are in common use for legal purposes.”

ATLANTA TEEN ARRESTED FOR MURDER AFTER FATAL SHOOTING OF 12-YEAR-OLD INSIDE HOME

The U.S. Department of Justice warned in a letter released Friday that the measure raises constitutional concerns and threatened legal action if the state enforces a ban that infringes on protected firearms.

“This letter provides formal notice that the Civil Rights Division will commence litigation in the event the Commonwealth of Virginia enacts certain bills that unconstitutionally limit law-abiding Americans’ individual right to bear arms,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon wrote in the letter to Virginia Democrat Attorney General Jay Jones before Spanberger’s moves Tuesday. “Specifically, SB 749, as written, would require Virginia law enforcement agencies to engage in a practice of unconstitutionally restricting the making, buying, or selling of AR-15s and many other semi-automatic firearms in common use.

“The Second Amendment protects the rights of law-abiding citizens to own and use AR-15 style semiautomatic rifles for lawful purposes,” she added, citing the unanimous Supreme Court opinion that the AR-15 is “both widely legal and bought by many ordinary consumers.”

Dhillon said her division “will seek to enjoin any attempt to infringe the right of law-abiding Virginians to acquire constitutional protected arms[.]”

“@SpanbergerForVA is on notice: 2A rights SHALL NOT BE infringed,” Dhillon wrote Friday on X. “We are closely watching—in the event any unlawful legislation is enacted, we will sue. @CivilRights will protect the 2A rights of law-abiding citizens in Virginia.”

DESANTIS URGES FLORIDA LAWMAKERS TO BAN COUSIN MARRIAGES, LINKS PRACTICE TO ‘STEALTH JIHAD’

Undaunted, Spanberger moved forward framing the law as a public-safety push, saying the state is trying to balance Second Amendment rights with efforts to reduce gun violence.

“I grew up in a family where responsible gun ownership was expected, and I carried a firearm every day as a former federal agent,” she wrote in a statement. “I support the Second Amendment. But gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in America, and that should motivate all of us to ask ourselves what we can do to mitigate this harm.

“This is why I’ve made amendments to provide clarity for both responsible gun owners and law enforcement, making clear what these changes mean in practice — as Virginians safely purchase and store their firearms,” she continued. “These commonsense steps will help keep our families, our communities, and our law enforcement officers safe.”

GUNS AND GANJA: SUPREME COURT SKEPTICAL OF FEDERAL LAW BANNING FIREARM POSSESSION FOR REGULAR MARIJUANA USERS

The bill would ban the future sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of covered firearms and magazines over 15 rounds, while exempting firearms legally owned before July 1, 2026. It would create a Class 1 misdemeanor for violations and impose limits on how grandfathered firearms could later be transferred or sold.

The legislation now heads back to the General Assembly, which must decide whether to accept Spanberger’s amendments.

DESANTIS CALLS FOR IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE FOR RELEASING SEX OFFENDER WHO THEN ALLEGEDLY KILLED STEPDAUGHTER

Spanberger also signed several other gun-related bills without changes, including House Bill 21, which requires firearm manufacturers, dealers and distributors to adopt “reasonable controls” aimed at preventing illegal sales and misuse. The law also opens the door for civil action by the attorney general, local governments and private individuals if a firearm industry member’s actions or omissions are alleged to have contributed to public harm.

She also signed House Bill 110, which bars leaving a firearm in plain view inside an unattended vehicle, and House Bill 40, which bans the manufacture, sale, transfer and possession of unserialized homemade firearms, commonly known as ghost guns.

“In all, the General Assembly has forwarded to you over 20 bills that restrict Second Amendment rights,” Dhillon’s warning to Jones concluded. “I urge you to reconsider allowing any bill that would infringe on the lawful use of protected firearms by law-abiding citizens to become law.

“In an effort to avoid unnecessary litigation, the Second Amendment Section stands ready to meet and confer with attorneys in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.

“The Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens shall not be infringed.”

FIRST ON FOX: The anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance has suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies suspected of fraud in Los Angeles, with a total fraud estimate of more than $600 million.

The number of suspensions is a roughly 539% increase from the 70 reported by Fox News Digital at the beginning of April. 

“Where there is fraud, the task force will find it,” a spokesperson for Vance told Fox News Digital. “We will not stop until every hard-earned taxpayer dollar goes toward the honest Americans who deserve them.”

A White House official doubled down on Vance and the task force’s commitment to rooting out fraud, and sent a stark warning to those suspected of fraudulent activity.

VANCE TAPPED AS ‘FRAUD CZAR’ AS TRUMP TARGETS BLUE STATES OVER TAXPAYER THEFT

“To all fraudsters: good luck trying to hide from the Vice President’s task force,” the White House official told Fox News Digital. “[The anti-fraud task force is] reviewing and pursuing every possible lead. These suspension numbers, and the dollar values saved, are only going to increase.”

The rising numbers add to the $259.5 million in Medicaid funds to Minnesota that Vance and CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced plans to block in February. 

The move followed Gov. Tim Walz’s January decision not to seek a third term, made amid growing scrutiny of fraud in state programs.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY FACES SCRUTINY AFTER ALLEGED WIDESPREAD HOSPICE FRAUD EXPOSED

The dramatic increase in suspected fraud and the more than half-billion in potential fraudulent activity is revealed by the anti-fraud task force as Democratic legislators in California are advancing a bill that would impose steep fines and potentially criminal charges for exposing information about immigrant service workers.

Nick Shirley, an independent journalist who is known for exposing the Quality “Learing” Center and various other fraudulent healthcare centers largely owned and operated by Somali immigrants in Minnesota, lashed out at the bill, as he has recently set his sights on exposing fraud in California. 

“California is trying to pass a bill that would criminalize investigative journalism with misdemeanors, $10,000 fines, imprisonment, and content takedown,” Shirley posted to X. “The proposed bill is titled AB 2624 and was made after I exposed mass fraud by immigrant groups in America.”

CALIFORNIA FRAUD CONCERNS RAMP UP AS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MASSIVE SCHEME USING TAXPAYERS AS HIS ‘PIGGY BANK’

“Under AB 2624, government-funded entities like the Somali ‘Learing’ Daycare centers would be protected from being exposed if they operated inside California,” Shirley added. “The enemy truly is within. When our politicians would rather protect fraudsters and illegal migrants, it’s time for us to stand up or face mass oppression from the traitors who ‘rule’ over us.”

The bill has already passed through one committee in the California assembly in an 11-2 vote. 

AB 2624 was introduced by Democratic assemblywoman Mia Bonta, who is the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

‘WE’RE COMING AFTER YOU’: DR. OZ REVOKES MEDICARE ACCESS FOR LA DOCTOR TIED TO $71M HOSPICE BILLING

The bill’s official title states it is intended for the “privacy for immigration support services providers,” though GOP critics have dubbed the legislation the “Nick Shirley Act” after Shirley’s engagement with suspected fraud in California. 

“This bill expands the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home program to allow designated immigration support services providers, employees, and volunteers who have experienced harm or threats of violence because of their work with immigrants to register allowing them to keep their addresses out of public records,” the California Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection committee hearing synopsis describes the legislation.

DOCTOR DENIES KNOWING ABOUT RAMPANT LA-AREA MEDICARE FRAUD USING HIS PROVIDER NUMBER

The California Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection is chaired by Assemblywoman Bonta.

Bonta has argued that “doxxing” businesses “isn’t journalism” and told KSBW8 that “this is a time when we absolutely need to make sure that people are able to be protected as they seek to do the good work to protect our immigrant communities.”

Republican California Assemblyman Carl DeMaio blasted the bill, saying it attempts to “intimidate” journalists.

CALIFORNIA BUILDING WITH DOZENS OF HEALTH CARE, HOSPICE PROVIDERS RAISES EYEBROWS AMID FRAUD SPECULATION

“California Democrats are trying to intimidate citizen watchdog journalists and protect waste and fraud happening in far-Left-wing NGOs,” DeMaio said in a statement. “AB 2624 can only be described as the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ — a bill designed to silence citizen journalists exposing fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

“Instead of fixing the fraud problems being uncovered, Sacramento politicians are trying to shut down the people exposing them,” DeMaio added. “AB 2624 would allow activists and taxpayer-funded organizations to demand the removal of video evidence — even if it captures misconduct in plain view — and threatens journalists with massive financial penalties.”

Fox News Digital reached out to both Mia and Rob Bonta, Shirley and DeMaio, but did not receive responses in time for publication.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche tore into Judge James Boasberg on Tuesday, accusing him of targeting DOJ attorneys, after an appellate court rebuked the Obama-appointed judge for a second time in an ongoing immigration case.

“Today’s decision by the DC Circuit should finally end Judge Boasberg’s year-long campaign against the hardworking Department attorneys doing their jobs fighting illegal immigration,” Blanche said in a statement.

The criticism from Blanche, newly appointed as acting AG by President Donald Trump, intensified scrutiny of a judge frequently in the president’s crosshairs after a D.C. federal appeals court panel issued a 2-1 decision blocking, yet again, Boasberg’s contempt investigation into Trump officials.

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Other Republicans and conservative legal experts echoed Blanche’s remarks, underscoring how Boasberg, chief judge of the D.C. federal court, has been a repeated thorn to Trump’s agenda.

“Another day, another reversal of Judge Boasberg,” wrote George Mason University law professor Rob Luther.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., resurfaced Republicans’ calls for Boasberg’s impeachment, an effort that is currently stalled in the House.

“The D.C. Circuit ruled Boasberg’s contempt crusade against Trump officials is an ‘improper investigation’ and ‘clear abuse of discretion,’” Schmitt said. “He tried to imprison Trump officials for deporting Venezuelan gang members. I’m calling on the House: Impeach Rogue Judge Boasberg.”

In addition to raising the possibility of criminal contempt against Trump officials, an offense punishable by fines, jail or other sanctions, Boasberg recently blocked the DOJ’s ability to subpoena Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, alleging the investigation’s “sole purpose” was to pressure the Fed to lower interest rates.

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The two judges who ruled against Boasberg on contempt were Trump appointees Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, while Judge Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee, dissented. Rao in her opinion accused Boasberg of abusing his authority, bolstering the right’s broader concerns about judicial overreach.

“The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy,” Rao wrote. “These proceedings are a clear abuse of discretion, as the district court’s order said nothing about transferring custody of the plaintiffs and therefore lacks the clarity to support criminal contempt based on the transfer of custody.”

The comment from Blanche, who Trump chose to replace Pam Bondi earlier this month, referenced the prolonged nature of the case, which has largely proceeded in Boasberg’s courtroom and has led to numerous adverse rulings by the judge and heated courtroom moments where he has grilled DOJ attorneys over their knowledge, or lack thereof, of immigration officials’ actions.

Boasberg had launched contempt proceedings last year after accusing the Trump administration of defying a temporary restraining order instructing the government to return Venezuelan migrants to the United States after they were flown under the Alien Enemies Act to the notorious, high-security CECOT prison in El Salvador over allegations they were members of the gang Tren de Aragua.

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Trump had made the controversial decision to invoke the act to bypass typical immigration proceedings and quickly deport the migrants. The Supreme Court tossed out Boasberg’s restraining order, saying that while the migrants’ due process rights may have been violated, the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued on behalf of the migrants, should have brought habeas corpus claims in the courts where the migrants were last detained.

The D.C. Circuit Court shut down Boasberg’s initial contempt effort, but upon discovering that former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had allegedly ordered government officials to ignore Boasberg’s order, Boasberg opened a new, more narrowly tailored contempt probe, which the D.C. panel terminated on Tuesday.

The ACLU could appeal the decision to a full bench of judges on the appellate court while the broader case proceeds.

Fox News Digital reached out to an ACLU attorney and Boasberg’s chambers for comment.