President Donald Trump gave a rare shout out to longtime critic, Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, on Thursday after he voted to approve plans for the new White House ballroom.

“I would like to thank the hardworking Commissioners and Staff of the National Capital Planning Commission, who just voted overwhelmingly, 8-1, to approve the magnificent White House Ballroom now rising on this Hallowed Ground,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I am pleased to announce that even Board Member Senator Rand Paul, known as an extraordinarily difficult vote, voted a strong YES.”

TRUMP PAUSES OIL EXEC SUMMIT TO PEEK AT WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM’S PROGRESS 

Paul and Trump share a contentious relationship, including Paul being highly critical of Trump’s tariff policies and Trump’s military attacks on Iran. In late March, he was the only Republican to vote in favor of a war powers resolution aiming to limit the president’s ability to continue foreign military intervention.

Trump and Paul have been sparring since the 2015 GOP primary, when they clashed during the first Republican debate in August 2015. The tension has flared since, including Trump calling Paul “sick Wacko” just in November. 

The ballroom still faces legal hurdles. On Tuesday, a federal judge halted the project, ruling that construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom must receive Congressional approval.

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Leon wrote in a 35-page ruling. “No statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS HALT TO TRUMP WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PROJECT; DOJ APPEALS DECISION

The National Capital Planning Commission proceeded with the vote despite the ruling. The commission chair, Will Scharf, said at the start of Thursday’s meeting that the judge’s ruling only prevented construction of the project.

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“We’ll move past that and continue our consideration of the East Wing modernization project,” he said.

The ballroom, which is being funded by private donors, is slated to be completed by 2028. However, the project’s end date remains unknown as the Trump administration plans to appeal the judge’s decision.

U.S. Senate candidate in Nebraska Dan Osborn is reportedly restructuring his campaign following complaints he has been improperly steering funds for personal use to his relatives, including his wife, who, a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleges, received funds illegally via the Osborn campaign, a web of political action committees and consulting firms. 

While paying family members is not illegal under federal election law, there are certain guidelines that must be followed, including that the services rendered are bona fide campaign services, and that they are paid at fair-market value. Fox News Digital reported last month that conservative watchdog Americans for Public Trust filed a complaint with federal election officials alleging the Osborn campaign and two political action committees were engaging in an illegal “scheme” to pay nearly half-a-dozen of his relatives. 

Osborn’s wife was among the relatives at the center of the complaint, having been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars from her husband’s campaigns and his affiliated PACs, both directly and via two political consulting firms she was working for, or had an ownership stake in, according to the complaint. But, on Thursday, Osborn and his wife informed the Omaha-World Herald that she would be stepping away from her roles with the two consulting firms and would be joining her husband’s campaign as its full-time operations manager. 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMPLAINT ALLEGES AOC MISUSED CAMPAIGN FUNDS FOR PSYCHIATRIST SERVICES

“I am not going to let Pete and his cronies dictate who runs my campaign,” Osborn told the Omaha-World Herald. “No one works harder than my wife. Along with running our household and raising our kids, she has been instrumental in running my campaign.” 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, campaign spokesperson John Dolan called the concerns about Osborn’s campaign spending “a joke.”

“Why is a billionaire like Pete Ricketts so afraid of a mechanic?” Dolan questioned, referring to incumbent GOP Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts, whom Osborn is challenging. “Ricketts and his allies are doing what they always do: throwing mud to distract voters from the fact that they’re getting rich while bankrupting the country.”

Osborn has been steadfast that his wife, reportedly a former bar manager, has been an instrumental part of his campaign and that payments have been in line with fair-market value rates. In some cases, Megan has gotten money directly from her husband’s campaign, and in other cases she has received it from two firms, one called Independent Campaigns LLC, which Megan has a one-third ownership stake in, and Dark Forest LLC, which official candidate disclosures show Megan gets compensation from. The firms were being paid for campaign services as well.

Just two days after Independent Campaigns was set up, Osborn’s Working Class Heroes Fund (WCHF) made its first $50,000 payment to the firm, according to the Lincoln-Journal Star. Per Americans for Public Trust’s FEC complaint, Independent Campaigns has received nearly $200,000 from Osborn’s principal campaign, WCHF and another PAC called the League of Labor Voters (LLV), which Americans for Public Trust also alleges is controlled by Osborn.

In total, per the Americans for Public Trust complaint letter, Osborn’s wife has been able to rake in close to $300,000 for herself for things like “strategy consulting” and work reimbursements.

OMAR CALLS GOP PROBE INTO HUSBAND’S $30M BUSINESS SURGE A ‘POLITICAL STUNT’ AS RECORDS DEADLINE PASSES

Meanwhile, the complaint against Osborn’s campaign also includes payments made to two of Osborn’s sisters-in-law, his brother-in-law and his daughter.

Osborn’s daughter, Georgia, a part-time dancer who Osborn says still needs help paying her bills, was given $4,200 from Osborn’s first failed campaign that was defunct at the time. The payment came between when Osborn’s first 2024 campaign lost and before launching his 2026 bid. The money was for “assistant services” from the then-dormant campaign.

“Perhaps the Osborn family is teeming with previously undiscovered, dynastic political talent, akin to the Kennedys or Roosevelts,” states the Americans for Public Trust complaint to the FEC. “Or perhaps Mr. Osborn has realized his ability to funnel large amounts of unchecked campaign cash to his own family.”

According to the Omaha-World Herald, Osborn’s wife will not only no longer be working for the consulting firms she was with previously, but would also be divesting her stake in Independent Campaigns. The outlet also reported that Osborn and his wife indicated she would be paid a salary of $8,000 per month, which is slightly lower than the $9,000 per month that Osborn said his wife was making from multiple income sources prior to beginning work with her husband’s first failed campaign in 2024.

“Dan Osborn only restructured how he pays his wife after we filed a complaint with the FEC that he was running afoul of campaign finance laws,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, told Fox News Digital on Friday. “However, questions still remain regarding his payments to his daughter, his brother-in-law, and two sisters-in-law, and his control over two federal PACs. Rest assured, Osborn may have changed tactics, but he isn’t off the hook in his attempt to funnel campaign cash to his entire family.”

Osborn, who is running as an Independent, has also been criticized for his affiliations with Democrats despite committing to not caucusing with either major party if elected. Osborn is looking to unseat incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., after losing his 2024 challenge against Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. 

A California judge on Wednesday cleared the final legal hurdle in the long-running prosecution of a pro-life activist who alleged in undercover videos that abortion providers were illegally profiting from fetal tissue.

“As promised, the final charge has been DISMISSED and the case completely expunged— —after a couple months’ administrative delay, and a truly bizarre last-minute ‘April Fool’s’ attempt by @PPFA and @NatAbortionFed to overturn the State’s agreement,” Center for Medical Progress founder David Daleiden tweeted on Wednesday, including a previous statement made on the reached settlement.

Daleiden, who alongside undercover journalist Sandra Merritt, faced 15 charges filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in 2017. The charges stemmed from an investigation prompted by former California Attorney General Harris’ office, who left her position as state attorney general in January 2017 after being elected to the U.S. Senate.

APPEALS COURT HEARS MEDICAID FRAUD CASE THAT COULD COST PLANNED PARENTHOOD $1.8 BILLION

In January 2025, Daleiden and Merritt each pleaded no contest to one felony count under a settlement with California, which dismissed the remaining charges. Under the agreement, they faced no jail time, fines, or admissions of wrongdoing.

On Wednesday, San Francisco County Judge Brian Ferrall dropped the last charge against Daleiden and expunged the case. 

In a statement made last year, Daleiden said that the end of “the lawfare launched by Kamala Harris [is] a huge victory for my investigative reporting for the public’s right to know the truth about Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted baby body parts.”

NEWSOM BAILS OUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD WITH $140M TO KEEP 100 CLINICS OPEN AFTER TRUMP CUTS

In January 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta cast the plea deal as a victory for reproductive healthcare access, saying in a press release that his office had secured felony convictions. Under the agreement, Daleiden and Merritt were required to have no contact with, stay away from, and not name the victims in the recordings, and to obey all laws, including by not making additional unlawful recordings.

DEMOCRATS ESCALATE ANTI-TRUMP LAWFARE BY TARGETING CONGRESS IN PLANNED PARENTHOOD FUNDING FIGHT

“While the Trump Administration is issuing pardons to individuals convicted of harming reproductive health clinics and providers, my office is securing criminal convictions to ensure that Californians can exercise their constitutional rights to reproductive healthcare,” Bonta said in a statement at the time. “We will not hesitate to continue taking action against those who threaten access to abortion care — whether by recording confidential conversations or other means.”

Daleiden released the videos in 2015 of Merritt having conversations with Planned Parenthood leadership and abortionist doctors, who described procedures ensuring fetal organs remain intact and can be harvested. 

In response to the videos, Harris’ office opened an investigation into Daleiden and Merritt for violating the state’s recording law. In April 2016, California’s Department of Justice issued a search warrant and raided Daleiden’s Huntington Beach apartment, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Daleiden accused the raid of being politically motivated at the time. 

The release of the videos pushed the Senate Judiciary Committee to call the Department of Justice to investigate Planned Parenthood Federation of America. No charges were ever brought against the nation’s largest abortion provider.

Daleiden was sued by Planned Parenthood for damages and was ordered in 2019 to pay $2.4 million in damages and more than $13 million in attorney’s fees.

Fox News Digital reached out to Planned Parenthood, Harris, Daleiden, and the National Abortion Federation for comment.

Amid several monumental Cabinet shakeups, President Donald Trump is signaling his continued confidence in Vice President JD Vance by having him address an “unprecedented” problem in Democratic-run states and declaring him the nation’s “fraud czar.” 

Vance announced Thursday his fraud task force busted an alleged $50 million hospice and healthcare fraud scheme in Los Angeles. Following this news, Trump took to Truth Social Friday morning to officially proclaim he was naming Vance fraud czar. 

Trump said Vance’s focus would be “EVERYWHERE” but with a special emphasis on Democratic-controlled states.

“Vice President JD Vance is now in charge of ‘FRAUD’ in the United States,” Trump wrote. “We will call him the ‘FRAUD CZAR,’ and his focus will be ‘EVERYWHERE,’ but primarily in those Blue States where CROOKED DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS, like those in California, Illinois, Minnesota (Somalia beware!), Maine, New York, and many others, have had a ‘free for all’ in the unprecedented theft of Taxpayer Money.”

VANCE ANTI-FRAUD TASK FORCE SUSPENDS 221 CALIFORNIA HOSPICE AND HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS SO FAR

The president called the fraud problems in the U.S. “massive and pervasive” and suggested the implications for the country are enormous.

As fraud czar, “the job (Vance) will be doing, in conjunction with many great people within the Trump Administration, will be a major factor in how great the future of our Country will be,” Trump wrote.

“The numbers are so large that, if successful, we would literally be able to balance our American Budget.”

He emphasized the work Vance already has done in California, writing, “Raids have already started in L.A.” and concluding, “Good Luck JD!”

The president already had placed Vance in charge of the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which is a government-wide crackdown on fraud in federal benefit programs. 

However, Trump’s designation of Vance as fraud czar, an informal title, emphasizes the significance he is placing on the task force and his confidence in Vance to get the job done.

PAM BONDI ALREADY FIRED AS ATTORNEY GENERAL, CABINET OFFICIAL TEED UP AS REPLACEMENT: SOURCES

Trump first announced he would be putting Vance in charge of the “war on fraud,” and the position was solidified by Trump’s executive order establishing the fraud task force and placing Vance at the helm.

The announcement followed reporting revealing allegations of widespread fraud and abuse in Minnesota largely involving the state’s Somali immigrant community. 

Trump’s announcement comes the day after news broke that the president was removing Attorney General Pam Bondi from her role at the Department of Justice, a move that political analyst Jonathan Turley said hit Washington, D.C., like a “thunderclap.”

JD VANCE RELEASING BOOK ABOUT FAITH JOURNEY, CONVERSION TO CATHOLICISM

Just weeks before that, the president also removed former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 

There are widespread rumors of Trump being displeased with several other high-ranking members of his Cabinet, though he has not publicly said so himself.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Vance’s office for comment. 

FIRST ON FOX: Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is calling on Trump administration officials and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership to testify before a commission he created targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations conducted in the state. 

Pritzker sent a letter to White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, border czar Tom Homan, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE director Todd Lyons, former DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, and Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott among others. 

“I established the Illinois Accountability Commission to preserve the truth and document how Donald Trump and his accomplices violated the rights of Illinoisans and terrorized our communities during Operation Midway Blitz,” Pritzker told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“These officials should answer directly to the people of Illinois for the chaos and violence they unleashed,” Pritzker added. “Regardless of whether these officials are still in their roles or not, the people of Illinois demand accountability from them all.”

IGNORED ICE DETAINERS ‘PUT LIVES AT RISK,’ DHS SAYS, TARGETING NEWSOM, PRITZKER, HEALEY

The letter, obtained by Fox News Digital and signed by former Clinton-appointed Judge Rubén Castillo for U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and chairman of the Illinois Accountability Commission, calls on recipients to testify at public hearings on April 27 or April 28.  

The White House blasted Pritzker, telling Fox News Digital that the commission is nothing more than a “political stunt” for the Illinois governor to try to boost his name for a potential presidential run. 

“JB Pritzker is a total slob who would rather dream up political stunts for his doomed-to-fail Presidential campaign than actually help Illinois residents,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital.

ICE CHIEF FIRES BACK AT ‘100% FALSE’ SANCTUARY CITY ‘HARASSMENT’ CLAIMS

“If this slob spent half as much time addressing crime and public safety concerns in Chicago as he did pandering to radical leftists, Chicagoans would be much safer,” Jackson added. “The Trump Administration, and our heroic ICE officers, will unapologetically remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American streets whether Pritzker likes it or not.”

The letter specifies events which the commission deems an inappropriate show of force from federal agents and says one of the goals of the commission is to “ensure meaningful accountability.”

“Reports from residents, legal advocates, journalists, and elected officials describe communities across Illinois as being subject to aggressive federal enforcement tactics during Operation Midway Blitz,” the letter reads. “These reports include the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas-González in Franklin Park, the shooting of Marimar Martinez, the repeated deployment of tear gas in residential neighborhoods, the detention of U.S. citizens, and large-scale military-style raids in peaceful civilian communities.”

ANGEL PARENTS SLAM ILLINOIS SANCTUARY LAWS AFTER ‘PREVENTABLE’ TRAGEDY IN STUDENT’S DEATH

DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis responded to Fox News Digital’s inquiry slamming Pritzker for “[refusing] to do his job” and noted the recent killing of Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old college student who was murdered by an illegal migrant in Chicago last month. 

“Governor Pritzker continues to refuse to do his job to protect his citizens from illegal alien crime and instead chooses to smear our law enforcement,” Bis said. “Where is his investigation into his own policies that allowed Sheridan Gorman’s killer to be released from jail to go on and commit her heinous murder?”

McLaughlin was also quick to punch back at what she described as the “wannabe Ministry of Truth.”

“I’ll appear before JB Pritzker’s wannabe Ministry of Truth the day he ends Illinois’ sanctuary policies — the very policies that protected Sheridan Gorman’s killer and those criminal illegal aliens responsible for the deaths of Katie Abraham, Chloe Polzin and too many other American victims,” McLaughlin told Fox News Digital.

In response to the lack of interest by current and former Trump administration officials to attend the hearings, a Pritzker spokesperson said former officials specifically “are too scared” to attend. 

“It’s unfortunate that former Trump officials with more free time on their hands are too scared to face the American people and answer questions,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “If they spent so much time touting the operation’s ‘achievements,’ then they should have no problem defending it.”

Noem was removed as DHS secretary in March and tasked to lead Trump’s new special envoy for the “Shield of the Americas.” Her departure was reportedly the result of a controversial $220 million ad campaign and the deaths of two American citizens who were killed by DHS agents during ICE operations.

Former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin was confirmed by the Senate following Noem’s departure and was sworn in as DHS secretary on March 24.

FIRST ON FOX: The State Department has added business formal dress code guidance to its internal policy manual for the first time, establishing department-wide standards for employee attire.

The changes, implemented in recent days in the Foreign Affairs Manual — the department’s central repository for policies — mark the first time the agency has formally codified expectations for how diplomats and staff should dress in official settings.

“Representing the United States of America is an honor — and this new policy ensures our diplomats project credibility, respect, and the dignity of the nation we serve,” Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson told Fox News Digital.

The updated policy applies broadly across the department for both civil service and foreign service employees.

DEPARTMENT TO ASK FOR BONDS OF UP TO $15,000 FOR VISA APPLICATIONS FROM A DOZEN MORE COUNTRIES

The move underscores a broader recalibration at the State Department, where Trump administration officials have sought to impose clearer standards around discipline, appearance and adherence to policy. 

A State Department official said the change was driven in part by concerns that some diplomats had been dressing “pretty informally” in recent years. 

“This should have happened a long time ago,” the official said. 

The formal dress code represents a shift away from Biden-era personnel policies that prioritized flexibility and cultural inclusivity, toward a more uniform and prescriptive standard for how U.S. diplomats present themselves.

“Appropriate attire and appearance will depend on the duties performed, the work environment, and the level of interaction with foreign interlocutors and other external stakeholders,” reads the manual, viewed by Fox News Digital. “For staff participating in meetings or other official engagements with foreign interlocutors, dress is Business Formal and personal appearance is polished and professional unless otherwise specified.”

The dress code update follows other recent changes to how the State Department evaluates and manages its workforce, including revisions to hiring and promotion criteria for Foreign Service officers. 

Earlier in 2026, the department replaced diversity, equity and inclusion-related benchmarks with a new core precept focused on “fidelity,” emphasizing adherence to U.S. government policy and chain-of-command authority.

Under the updated guidance, mid- and senior-level diplomats are expected to demonstrate loyalty by “zealously executing U.S. government policy” and resolving ambiguity in favor of leadership direction, according to internal documents previously reported by Fox News Digital.

Those changes came alongside broader efforts to restructure the department’s workforce, including plans to reduce staffing and consolidate offices, signaling a shift toward more standardized expectations for diplomatic personnel. The addition of a formal dress code marks the latest step in that direction.

President Donald Trump announced a Department of Justice shakeup on Thursday, ousting Attorney General Pam Bondi and looking to name her permanent successor. 

Trump tapped Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to fill the role in an acting capacity, but other names, like Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin’s, have swirled since the announcement of Bondi’s departure, which was first reported by Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

Blanche, Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, could serve as acting attorney general for up to 210 days. Trump is staring down the possibility of Senate Republicans shrinking or losing their majority in the midterms, which could complicate the president’s ability to secure a nominee’s confirmation if he waits too long to replace an acting official.

KARL ROVE: TRUMP DROPPED BONDI, BUT THE REAL POLITICAL FIGHT IS JUST BEGINNING 

Contenders for attorney general, one of the most prestigious and influential, yet least secure jobs in Washington, would also need to win over tough but critical votes from current senators. 

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the committee tasked with vetting attorneys general, ruled out anyone who defended the 2021 U.S. Capitol breach in a CNN interview Thursday.

“The threshold for somebody following Pam Bondi ends the moment I hear they said one thing that excused the events of January the 6th,” Tillis said.

Bondi faced a series of public missteps during her time as attorney general. They involved her failure to tamp down bipartisan criticism about the DOJ’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking cases and her inability to find enough evidence to bring reliable criminal charges against politicians viewed as Trump’s political foes aside from former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who was indicted for mishandling classified documents.

Asked for comment about possible contenders to succeed Bondi, a White House spokesperson pointed to Trump’s Truth Social post from Thursday announcing Bondi’s exit and Blanche as her interim replacement.

Trump did not rush to tease a permanent replacement when he announced that Blanche would be filling in, leaving the incoming acting attorney general to effectively try out for the permanent role.

Blanche could persuade Trump to nominate him and the Senate to confirm him in the coming months, having both proven his loyalty to Trump while retaining traditional bona fides as a longtime lawyer in the Southern District of New York and in private practice. He left a prestigious New York law firm in 2023 to defend Trump against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and special counsel Jack Smith.

“Our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday.

PAM BONDI FACES BIPARTISAN SUBPOENA OVER FRUSTRATION WITH DOJ’S RELEASE OF EPSTEIN FILES

Blanche’s direct involvement in those cases could present tricky conflicts of interest as the DOJ pursues investigations into the people involved with prosecuting Trump, and Democrats have made clear that Blanche is, in their view, a top culprit in the department’s handling of the Epstein files.

Trump has spoken with Zeldin about potentially serving as attorney general, including this week, Fox News Digital reported Thursday.

One downside for the president, however, would be that Zeldin’s transition to attorney general would require two major confirmation hearings, one for Zeldin and one for a new EPA administrator. One source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that Zeldin was interested in the job. 

A vocal contingent online has urged Trump to promote Dhillon from the head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division to attorney general.

“That’s up to the president,” Dhillon told Fox News Digital when asked about the prospect. “I’m flattered to be mentioned by many online, but it’s his choice and I serve at his pleasure only.”

Several conservative influencers sang Dhillon’s praises on X upon Bondi’s firing. Scott Presler said she would be an “exceptional” attorney general. Mike Cernovich said Dhillon was “filing civil rights lawsuits on behalf of Trump supporters who were attacked by ANTIFA. In 2016. Who was around in 2016?”

Trump tapped Pirro, a close ally, to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., the most high-profile of the 93 in the country.

A former Fox News host, judge and district attorney, Pirro has risen to the occasion, filling the jobs of ousted prosecutors and promoting her role in reducing violent crime in the nation’s capital.

Still, Pirro’s seen some hurdles, including failing to convince grand juries to indict six Democratic lawmakers and a man who stood accused of throwing a sandwich at an immigration officer. Pirro reduced the man’s charge, but a jury acquitted him. 

Trump told New York Magazine Pirro was “fantastic” when asked if she would replace Bondi. Fox News Digital reached out to Pirro’s office for comment.

TRUMP CABINET SHAKEUP EXPANDS AFTER NOEM EXIT, BONDI FIRING — WHO’S UNDER PRESSURE NEXT?

Schmitt, the former attorney general of Missouri, was on Trump’s first shortlist for attorney general and is now making the rounds as an option again.

As a state attorney general, Schmitt led high-profile litigation against the Biden administration, including a closely watched jawboning lawsuit challenging the federal government’s involvement in social media censorship. The Supreme Court sidestepped weighing in on the case, but last month Missouri and Louisiana notched a victory by reaching a settlement with several government agencies.

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

Several conservative influencers also floated Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, as an option, but Lee poured cold water on the idea on Friday, saying on X, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Other long-shot options include Alina Habba, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Habba promoted her tight relationship with Trump online on Friday, but one source said Habba was happy in her current role as a DOJ senior advisor, while another said she was not having active conversations about the job but had not been ruled out as a possibility.

DeSantis’ name made the rounds online, and the Florida governor, whose stardom rose during COVID-19 but faltered during his failed presidential run, remains constantly in touch with the White House. Fox News Digital reached out to his office.

Paxton is an unlikely choice, according to another source. The Texas attorney general, once impeached over bribery allegations but acquitted by the state Senate, has Republican enemies in the upper chamber who would be needed for votes come confirmation time.

Tom Fitton, president of the conservative Judicial Watch, told Fox News Digital the attorney general “need not be a lawyer.”

“I would support most anyone if there were a serious commitment to massive reform, transparency, etc.,” Fitton said. “The agency should be shrunk, transformed and defanged.”

Justice Connection, a group comprising many former DOJ employees who resigned or were fired under Trump, warned against a nominee who would mimic Bondi’s allegiance to Trump.

“Replacing [Bondi] with a more competent attorney general who — like her — believes their sole client is the president and not the country may just make things worse,” Stacey Young, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.

Katelyn Caralle contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A bipartisan pair of top-ranking senators want to know why sanctioned Russian officials were in Washington, D.C., and given access to the Capitol and meetings with administration officials as wars in Iran and Ukraine rage on.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, raised counterintelligence concerns over the recent visit of a delegation of Russian Duma members, all of whom are sanctioned for “conduct deemed to be harmful to U.S. national security.”

“The delegation came onto U.S. soil for one purpose: to advance the Kremlin’s strategic aims — including gathering additional useful intelligence,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

TRUMP EYES NEXT ATTORNEY GENERAL AS KEY GOP SENATOR SIGNALS POTENTIAL ROADBLOCK

“They did not come to engage in dialogue or pursue democratic aims,” they continued.

The lawmakers argued that Duma members “include Kremlin subordinates who have committed numerous cyber and ransomware attacks on Americans and have facilitated war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.”

“Remarkably, they are now helping Iran target U.S. military and diplomatic personnel across the Middle East,” Wicker and Shaheen wrote.

SENATE TO QUESTION TRUMP INTEL LEADERS ON IRAN WAR AFTER TOP OFFICIAL QUITS IN PROTEST

Several members of the Russian Duma visited Washington, D.C., late last month on a trip organized by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. She was joined by Reps. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., and Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, for a meeting with the delegation.

Luna later gave them a tour of the Capitol after posing for photos outside the United States Institute of Peace.

“As representatives of the world’s two greatest nuclear superpowers, we owe our citizens open dialogue, the exchange of ideas, and open lines of communication,” Luna said on X following the meeting. “We will continue to foster this dialogue and push for peace in support of this [administration’s] efforts, as well as economic opportunity.”

GRAHAM SAYS RUSSIA SANCTIONS BILL ‘NEVER GOING BACK ON THE SHELF’ AFTER TRUMP BACKS PUSH

Wicker and Shaheen noted that the Duma members were “far from innocent participants in a cultural exchange.”

“It included Vyacheslav Nikonov, who in 2023 referred to the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as the ‘Fourth Reich’ on Russian television. Mikhail Delyagin has advocated for destroying Ukraine’s energy sector. Boris Chernyshov once claimed that Russian retaliatory strikes were ‘an expression of our hatred [of Ukraine],’” they wrote.

Wicker and Shaheen demanded that Rubio and Bessent explain why sanctions were waived for the Russian officials’ visit, what meetings the delegation had with Trump administration officials, what counterintelligence assessments were conducted on the visiting Russians, and provide a complete manifest of who traveled from the Russian Federation.

The lawmakers wrote that the delegation’s visit came “at a time when Russia’s intentions are unambiguously clear.”

“Numerous public reports have cited Russian support for Iran’s military targeting of American service members in the Middle East,” they wrote. “European intelligence agencies have reported that Russia intends to attack NATO member states in the coming years. And [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has made it clear that peace in Ukraine is a mirage. His singular ambition for Ukraine is to erase its existence.”

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was treated for dehydration at a hospital after a previously undisclosed March 20 incident in Philadelphia, sources told Fox News. 

He was not admitted and returned home the same night without complications.

Alito, 76, attended a Federalist Society dinner that evening and reported feeling lightheaded, prompting his security detail to recommend a precautionary hospital visit. Sources said the justice has had no issues since.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

ActBlue, a central piece of the Democratic Party’s fundraising infrastructure, potentially misled Congress when it said it was adequately vetting incoming donations, according to a new report released this week.

The head of ActBlue, a major nonprofit fundraising platform that helps steer donations to left-wing candidates and causes, wrote in 2023 to Congress — in response to concerns about the platform’s ability to vet foreign donors — that it was taking all the necessary steps to ensure it was following the rules to ensure money from foreign sources were not making it through, according to a Thursday report from The New York Times. 

However, behind the scenes, ActBlue’s attorneys at Covington & Burling were expressing grave concerns that ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones’ claims in her letter to Congress were misleading and could open up the platform to significant legal risk, the report said.

ActBlue was already facing scrutiny from Trump, with him calling on the Justice Department last year to investigate the group over concerns the platform was allowing straw and foreign donations, which are barred by federal election laws. The fundraising platform has also been targeted by several congressional probes led by Republican House Committees.

SENATE HOPEFUL WITH DEEP DEM TIES SLAPPED WITH SCATHING COMPLAINT TARGETING ALLEGED FAMILY PAYOUT ‘SCHEME’

The concern from ActBlue’s legal counsel was found by the Times after reviewing memos between ActBlue and its legal counsel, resignation letters, and other communications. The Times also held interviews with ActBlue employees on the basis of anonymity. 

The memos reportedly communicated that claims to Congress by Wallace-Jones, indicating that ActBlue had a multi-layered vetting framework and processed contributions with foreign mailing addresses only if the donor supplied a U.S. passport number, were not fully accurate. Wallace-Jones also reportedly wrote in her letter that ActBlue’s framework would contact donors to request their U.S. passport information in order to process donations and would return any money when they could not reach the donor. However, this was also reportedly not happening on a consistent basis, according to The Times’ reporting.

“It can be alleged that ActBlue accepted and/or facilitated the acceptance of foreign-national contributions into American elections,” one memo reportedly stated. “In addition, because ActBlue’s staff was aware that its system was not as robust as necessary, it could be alleged that these violations were ‘knowing and willful,’ a standard that both increases the penalties the F.E.C. might seek and gives the Justice Department jurisdiction for a potential criminal investigation.”

FOREIGN BILLIONAIRES FUNNEL $2.6B TO US ADVOCACY GROUPS TO INFLUENCE POLICY, WATCHDOG REPORT CLAIMS

“An aggressive prosecutor may view the November 2023 letter not just as a false statement but as an effort to conceal the foreign contributions,” ActBlue’s legal counsel wrote, The Times reported.

The concerns about Wallace-Jones’ statements to Congress and what to do subsequently resulted in behind-the-scenes chaos at the political fundraising nonprofit, including a slew of departures at ActBlue that were reported publicly by The Times. Additionally, the relationship between ActBlue and its legal firm, Covington & Burling, which is known for representing some of the most high-profile political clients in the United States, was ultimately severed amid disagreements over whether Wallace-Jones’ claims in 2023 were the fault of the legal counsel,or ActBlue, according to the Times’ reporting on Thursday. 

“We have complete confidence in the legal advice our lawyers provided to ActBlue,” a Covington spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

ActBlue did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment in time for publication. 

In May, ActBlue put out a press release informing people about “what’s really happening and what you need to know,” pertaining to the investigation into ActBlue’s vetting mechanisms. The press release called it a “myth” that the platform allows foreign nationals to illegally contribute donations.

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“While ActBlue has always had strong measures in place that have successfully prevented illegal foreign donations, beginning in 2025 we have gone even further,” the press release states. “We now require that Americans living abroad be physically present in the United States to make a contribution on our platform, despite campaign finance laws allowing citizens to contribute to campaigns while living abroad.”

Trump called on the DOJ early in his term to return a report within 180 days to him about the status of its findings into ActBlue. However, according to The Times, that report has never been made public. The outlet added that three investigations by GOP-led House committees remain ongoing.