FIRST ON FOX: Nearly 50 House Republicans are writing to President Donald Trump backing Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after Kristi Noem’s ouster.

The pragmatist GOP Main Street Caucus is taking a formal stance, endorsing Mullin on Monday, as well as backing a targeted crackdown on illegal immigrant criminals in the U.S.

It’s a rare formal statement by the House Republican group, led by both Chairman Mike Flood, R-Neb., and Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., and signed by 47 other GOP lawmakers.

“Senator Mullin has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to border security. His familiarity with the legislative process and his longstanding support for pro-America policies make him well-suited to lead DHS at this critical moment,” the letter said. “We are confident he will bring the focus and discipline necessary to further our shared priorities.”

FETTERMAN BACKS TRUMP’S DHS PICK MULLIN AS ‘NICE UPGRADE’ IN BREAK WITH DEMOCRATS

Trump tapped Mullin to lead the department last week while announcing that Noem would no longer serve in his Cabinet. He instead established a new role for her as special envoy at a new Trump-created initiative called Shield of the Americas.

The vast majority of Republican lawmakers immediately hailed Mullin’s nomination, particularly as criticism was steadily growing of Noem’s handling of DHS.

Among the most volatile chapters in her tenure occurred during Trump’s immigration operation in Minneapolis, which inspired bipartisan calls for restraint amid city-wide protests over the federal agent-involved killing of two U.S. citizens.

MULLIN PROMISES TO EARN DEM VOTES AS GOP COLLEAGUES POUNCE ON HIS SEAT

Trump responded to the uproar by upending federal leadership there, replacing Noem-empowered Greg Bovino of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) with border czar Tom Homan.

The Main Street Caucus letter revealed that more than two dozen lawmakers in the group met with Trump’s Homan last week while praising his handling of immigration enforcement across the country.

“As members of the Republican Main Street Caucus, a group of more than 85 House conservatives focused on governing and producing legislative results, we write to express our strong support for the work of Tom Homan and his efforts to strengthen our nation’s immigration enforcement in his role as White House Border Czar,” the letter said.

“Last week, approximately two dozen members of our caucus met with Mr. Homan to discuss the current state of immigration enforcement and the steps necessary to strengthen public safety while restoring confidence in federal immigration law.”

Among the agreed-upon initiatives, the letter said, was keeping Trump’s immigration crackdown focused on people who commit crimes within the U.S.

“First, enforcement efforts should remain focused on the worst criminal offenders. Prioritizing the removal of individuals who pose the greatest threats to public safety ensures that federal resources are used effectively while protecting American families and communities,” they wrote.

TEAMSTERS BOSS PRAISES MULLIN DHS NOMINATION DESPITE PAST HEATED HEARINGS

It’s a notable point given past criticism of DHS, from both sides of the aisle, about indiscriminate targeting of undocumented people in places like federal courthouses during routine immigration appointments.

They also called for the repeal of policies in sanctuary jurisdictions that “undermine public safety and hinder lawful immigration enforcement” and giving federal authorities “access to local jails before criminal aliens are released.”

“Finally, we agreed there should be clear communication from ICE to the American people and to Congress regarding its success in deporting the worst criminal offenders—individuals with records of assault, battery, rape, DUI, and other serious crimes,” the letter said.

The lawmakers added that “Homan’s approach reflects those principles, and we believe his leadership will continue to strengthen the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws in a targeted and effective manner.”

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday blasted a federal judge’s order requiring it to immediately improve conditions at its ICE processing facility in Baltimore — including reducing the number of detainees held there at one time, and improving access to food, hygiene, and medical care — telling Fox News Digital that the court’s determination of any “subprime” conditions or overcrowding are “false.”

“Illegal aliens in custody are provided food, water, blankets, and hygiene products,” a spokesperson for DHS said Monday, alleging that ICE “has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” including access to “comprehensive” medical care.

The characterization comes hours after a federal judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction Monday ordering ICE to either drastically improve conditions at its Baltimore processing center or find a new facility to “humanely” and legally hold the migrants before transferring them to a longer-term detention center. 

BIDEN-APPOINTED FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TRUMP’S ‘THIRD COUNTRY’ DEPORTATION POLICY IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin, a Biden appointee, sided with plaintiffs Monday in ruling that Baltimore’s holding center conditions are “unhygienic, unsanitary,” and ultimately, unconstitutional. 

Rubin used a 67-page preliminary injunction to carefully tick through a long list of egregious conditions alleged by lawyers for plaintiffs over the last 10 months, including allegations of squalid, unsanitary holding, severe overcrowding, and a lack of medical screening, access to medical care, and necessary treatment — which the judge noted could lead to liability issues, or “in the worst-case scenario, fatalities.”

“The debated issue here is not defendants’ legitimate governmental interest; it is that defendants apparently dispense with even rudimentary decent, humane treatment of civil detainees, and so too their constitutional rights as a result,” Rubin said in the preliminary injunction, which applies to all current and future detainees at the holding facility operated by Baltimore’s ICE Field Office. 

She sided with plaintiffs in ruling that the conditions in Baltimore are “unlawfully punitive” and reflect a “deliberate indifference to the health, safety, and medical needs” on behalf of the government, in violation of the Fifth Amendment and due process protections granted under the U.S. Constitution.

Rubin also rejected the notion that ICE detainees and illegal immigrants are not entitled to due process, citing the Supreme Court precedent under Zadvydas v. Davis, which holds that such protections apply to “all ‘persons’” within the U.S. “including [noncitizens], whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary, or permanent.” 

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital that migrants detained at the ICE holding center in Baltimore are granted “comprehensive” health care, including “medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care,” and rejected claims made by plaintiffs and the judge.

“This is the best healthcare tha[t] many aliens have received in their entire lives,” the spokesperson added. 

Rubin, in the court order, does not appear to back that contention. 

 ‘BLANKIES,’ ICE TACTICS AND LUXURY JETS: TOP MOMENTS FROM NOEM’S HOUSE TESTIMONY

“This is not a case of a prisoner lacking access to a clean toilet for a period of days, nor is it a case where a pretrial detainee cannot shower and is not provided with hygiene items …” Rubin said in the preliminary injunction, which comes after one year of status hearings, amended complaints, and declarations provided to the court from Trump administration officials and others.

“Rather, the conditions here are compounded: civilly detained people are stuffed into unclean cells by the dozens, without basic hygiene essentials, while exposed to a virtually open unclean toilet (and those detained making use of same),” Rubin said.

“These conditions woefully fail to comport with ‘contemporary standards of decency,” she continued.

DHS also rejected claims of inadequate medical care, including complaints from plaintiffs’ lawyers and cited by the court in which individuals with serious medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV, leukemia, and broken bones were denied medications or medical attention. 

Government records cited by the judge show that between February and September 2025, just eight out of 3,250 detainees held at the Baltimore ICE facility had been transported to a hospital for medical needs.

Rubin is not the first federal judge to order U.S. immigration officials to immediately improve conditions at ICE processing centers or “holding” centers across the country during Trump’s second presidential term. 

FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING

In August, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued an emergency order requiring ICE to swiftly address allegations of filthy, overcrowded cells and prolonged stays at an ICE processing facility in New York City. The following month, he slapped ICE with a more lasting preliminary injunction seeking to codify those changes.

And in Minnesota, a federal judge last month issued a temporary restraining order requiring ICE to grant detainees at its Whipple Federal Building holding center access to counsel, attorney-client visits, and a 72-hour notice period before transferring detainees out of the state. 

The administration has not yet indicated whether it will appeal the judge’s ruling. Still, DHS officials sharply rejected the allegations of improper treatment, telling Fox News Digital that being in detention “is a choice.” 

“We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App,” they said, noting that the U.S. “is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport,” as former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem noted during congressional testimony last week.

“If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return,” they added.

An Arizona state lawmaker revealed Monday that federal authorities subpoenaed him for records related to the 2020 election, marking the second publicly confirmed jurisdiction the Department of Justice is investigating over the matter.

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, said in a social media post he received the subpoena for material related to the state Senate’s 2020 audit last week and complied with it.

“Late last week I received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County,” Petersen wrote. “The FBI has the records. Any other report is fake news.”

The request represents an expansion of a federal probe tied to 2020 after the DOJ initially targeted Fulton County, Georgia. The development also comes as President Donald Trump has grown increasingly outspoken about election security in the lead-up to the 2026 midterms, renewing his attention on disputes stemming from the last presidential race.

FBI AGENTS SEARCH ELECTION HUB IN FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA

Petersen made the revelation after President Donald Trump shared a Just the News report about the subpoena on Truth Social, writing, “Great!!! FBI secretly seizes election records from Arizona’s largest county as voting probe expands.”

Multiple U.S. officials confirmed the election probe to Fox News, saying the DOJ is looking at a large tranche of Arizona data from 2020 and 2024.

The White House directed Fox News Digital to the FBI on Monday when asked for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, an elected Democrat, said the new investigation was based on claims that courts and state investigators have proven wrong.

“What the Trump administration appears to be pursuing now is not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry,” Mayes said in a statement. “It is the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies.”

JUDGE DISMISSES 2020 ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE AGAINST TRUMP

The subpoena comes as the president increasingly focuses on election security ahead of the 2026 midterms, telling Congress in a social media post on Sunday that he will not sign any legislation into law until it passes the SAVE America Act.

The bill’s primary purpose is to require voters nationwide to show physical identification to prove citizenship to vote in federal elections. The version of the bill Trump is pushing would also ban mail-in ballots except for the military and in other extenuating circumstances.

Maricopa, Arizona’s most populous county, was a hotbed for accusations of voter fraud in 2020. Fulton County, Georgia, faced similar accusations, with the DOJ launching a separate investigation into the 2020 election earlier this year. 

Trump lost Arizona in 2020 by about 0.3 percentage points. The president refused to concede, and his legal team brought a series of lawsuits alleging vote-counting irregularities, but none were successful.

Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump’s declaration that he won’t sign any new bills until the Senate passes voter ID legislation threatens to derail his own legislative priorities and sideline confirmation of the newest addition to his Cabinet. 

Trump wants Senate Republicans to ram the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act through the upper chamber with the talking filibuster, even at the cost of the Senate’s most valuable commodity: floor time.

“It must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,” Trump said on Truth Social. 

SCHUMER ONCE BLOCKED TRUMP’S MOVE TO FILL THE NATION’S OIL RESERVES, NOW HE WANTS THEM OPENED

But that comes as the Senate is wrestling with reopening the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which entered its fourth week of being shut down. A White House official told Fox News Digital that Trump was “referring to other bills, not DHS funding.”

“If the Democrats do the right thing and pass funding for DHS, the president will, of course, fund the agency,” the official said. 

Trump’s edict and push for the Senate to turn to the talking filibuster has intensified the pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who has vowed to have a vote on the bill, but could not guarantee it would pass. 

When asked about the growing campaign from both Trump and social media to use the talking filibuster, Thune said, “A lot of that is, it’s in that kind of, you know, paid influencer ecosystem.” 

“But there’s a lot of support for it,” Thune said. “Like I said, we’re, I think, for the most part, not everybody, but there’s a lot of really strong support among Republican senators for the policy. But the process and how do you ultimately try and get a result is still unclear to me.” 

SCHUMER, DEMS HOLD FIRM ON DHS FUNDING DESPITE NOEM’S BOMBSHELL OUSTING

Republicans are also working to advance a massive affordable housing package that Trump backs, to consider a likely supplemental spending package to resupply munitions for the conflict with Iran, and go through the confirmation process for Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., the president’s latest pick to lead DHS.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., noted that the top priority for the GOP right now is funding DHS.

“The Democrats have blocked that right now,” Barrasso told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “And the greatest threat to the American people today is terrorism.”

And while the SAVE America Act is supported by most Senate Republicans, it’s not an easy bill to pass in the upper chamber, given the hardline stance Senate Democrats have taken against it. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reiterated that the bill is “Jim Crow 2.0. It would disenfranchise tens of millions of people.”

“If Trump is saying he won’t sign any bills until the SAVE Act is passed, then so be it: there will be total gridlock in the Senate,” Schumer said on X. “Senate Democrats will not help pass the SAVE Act under any circumstances.”

THUNE GUARANTEES VOTER ID BILL TO HIT THE SENATE DESPITE SCHUMER, DEM OPPOSITION: ‘WE WILL HAVE A VOTE’

Turning to the talking filibuster is unlikely, too, because of a major fear among Republicans it would dominate floor time for hundreds of hours of debate. But another factor is that there may not be unity among Republicans to kill amendments put forth by Senate Democrats. 

Further complicating matters is which version of the SAVE America Act Trump wants. 

House Republicans advanced the SAVE America Act last month, which would require voter ID to vote, proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, mandate states to actively verify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls, expand information sharing with federal agencies, including DHS, to verify citizenship and create new criminal penalties for registering noncitizens to vote.

But Trump asked Republicans to “GO FOR THE GOLD” with a bill to show voter ID and proof of citizenship, nix mail-in ballots except for military service members or people with illnesses, disabilities or travel issues, no men in women’s sports and “NO TRANSGENDER [MUTILATION] FOR CHILDREN!”

That version of the bill would again have to go through the House before making its way to the Senate. Whether it could survive either chamber is an open question. Thune acknowledged that Trump wanted a modified iteration of the bill, but still remained firm that the talking filibuster, or nuking the current filibuster, likely weren’t going to happen. 

“The one thing I’ve said all along is, and I’ve told him and others that I can’t guarantee an outcome. I can’t guarantee a result,” Thune said. “If the result is only achieved by nuking the legislative filibuster, we don’t have the votes to do that. And so that’s just not a realistic option. And I’ve made that clear to anybody who’s asked.”

A top national figure in the bail industry warned of the dangers behind a Virginia bill heading to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk that would remove bond requirements for previously convicted felons.

Virginia state Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Charlottesville, drafted HB 357, which critics say makes it easier for criminals to get out of jail on an unsecured bond. The bill passed both chambers in Richmond along party lines.

In comments to Fox News Digital on Monday, National Association of Bail Agents President Michelle Esquenazi said she was familiar with the Virginia legislation and that it will only serve to erode public safety.

“We believe any time recidivist offenders are released due to unsecured bail policies, it puts communities in direct danger,” Esquenazi said. “Many are unaware of how secured bonds insulate public safety throughout the United States of America.”

ICE NABS IRANIAN NATIONAL WITH RAPE, SODOMY CONVICTIONS AFTER VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS MOVE TO CURB COOPERATION

“This bill is in direct contrast to the needs of all communities in Virginia, whether they are Republican, Democrat, or Independent.”

Esquenazi said criminals don’t choose victims based on political ideology and that policymakers have failed to understand that bringing criminals to justice should be nonpartisan.

While Callsen did not respond to requests for comment, similar legislation in recent years has often come about as a wish for offenders to receive “second chances” — a dynamic Fox News Digital asked Esquenazi about.

“The secured bail industry is an industry of second chances,” she said.

“However, if you’re going to continue to commit crime, policymakers have to understand and take into account that committing crime is not a mandate. It’s a career choice.”

VIRGINIA GOV SPANBERGER CUTS TIES WITH ICE IN FEDERAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION

Policies like HB 357 serve to give recidivists more than just second but third and subsequent chances because a second chance is “only a title,” which the policies themselves far exceed, she said.

Justice Forward Virginia, a progressive criminal justice reform group focused on advancing related legislation, listed the bill in its section of 2026 priorities. The group did not respond to a request for comment.

Callsen’s bill removes language from Code of Virginia § 19.2-123 governing “Release of accused on unsecured bail or promise to appear” that currently states any person arrested for a felony or who is on bond for an unrelated arrest or on parole may only be released upon securing a secured bond.

Instead, it retains only language providing preestablished conditions of release for that offender.

Other critics took to X, including Club For Growth’s Andrew Follett, who posted a passage from Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn about a civilian being punished more for being caught with a concealed knife than a felon for whom it would be “mere misbehavior; tradition” — and commented that “Democrats have a crush on criminals — it isn’t more complicated than that.”

“Under leftist ideology, society is responsible for crime, not individuals,” Follett said.

“Or, [Virginia House] Speaker Don Scott is preparing for his next arrest,” quipped another X user.

Scott, D-Portsmouth, served more than 7 years of a 10-year 1994 sentence for federal crack cocaine-related charges — and was one of thousands of convicts who had their rights to vote and serve in office restored by GOP Gov. Robert F. McDonnell in 2013.

After former President Biden pardoned him in 2025, Scott said that his “journey from being arrested as a law student to standing here today as the first Black Speaker of the House of Delegates in Virginia’s 405-year history is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and transformative power of second chances,” according to Hampton Roads’ ABC affiliate.

Senate Republicans are accusing their Democratic counterparts of playing “political games” as the caucus appears ready to escalate the standoff over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

There’s been little movement to reopen DHS during the weekslong partial shutdown, leading to outcry from Republicans over long wait times and missed flights at airports across the country. Some Democrats are threatening to continue their blockade of DHS funding unless serious action is taken to rein in President Donald Trump’s war powers in the Middle East. 

“We shouldn’t let Republicans debate other legislation until they bring a war authorization to the United States Senate,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told NOTUS on Monday.

Murphy, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel overseeing DHS funding, has helped lead his party’s push to withhold funding for the department absent sweeping reforms to immigration enforcement.

SENATE DEMS REFUSING TO BUDGE ON DHS FUNDING MAY CAUSE HEADACHE FOR WORLD CUP TRAVELERS

His new threat to freeze Senate business over Trump’s Iran strikes underscores that some Democrats are prepared to extend the funding fight despite mounting impacts on air travel. 

The Senate rejected a bipartisan resolution last week that would have narrowed Trump’s ability to launch future strikes on Iran. However, Murphy is signaling that Democrats’ attempts to limit the president’s power to wage war against Iran are just getting started. 

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., the chair of the Senate Homeland Security funding panel, scoffed at Murphy’s edict.

“The delay tactics we’re seeing from Democrats don’t change the fact that, because of their political games, lines at airports are growing, and the people tasked with keeping our homeland safe are being forced to do so without a paycheck,” Britt said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Britt, who Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., tapped to lead DHS negotiations with Senate Democrats, accused her counterparts of refusing to sit down with Republicans as the partial shutdown enters its fourth week. 

“I urge my Democratic colleagues to stop putting politics above people and do what’s right for the security of our nation,” she said. “That starts with having a conversation so that we can find a pathway forward.”

DHS SHUTDOWN TRIGGERS TSA ‘EMERGENCY MEASURES’ AS LAWMAKER WARNS AIRPORTS COULD FEEL ECONOMIC PAIN

Airports nationwide reported a spike in absences among Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees on Monday. Roughly 50,000 TSA personnel — who are employed by DHS — are reporting to work without pay after receiving just a fraction of their salaries last week. 

The agents will not receive another paycheck until the partial shutdown ends. 

The New Orleans airport on Monday advised passengers to arrive at least three hours before their flight, citing a shortage of TSA employees. Passengers traveling through the Houston airport system have also been urged to arrive four to five hours before their departure.

“The shutdown is having very real consequences, and hardworking federal aviation workers, the airline industry and our passengers are being used as a political football once again,” Chris Sununu, CEO of Airlines for America and former New Hampshire governor, said in a statement. “This is simply unacceptable and un-American.”

TSA employees were also forced to forgo pay during the record-breaking government shutdown in late 2025.

A majority of Democratic lawmakers in both chambers voted to continue the DHS shutdown last week despite new security concerns over Trump’s military operation in Iran. The bipartisan measure that Democrats overwhelmingly opposed would fund DHS through the remainder of the fiscal year.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has demanded that federal immigration officers stop wearing masks and obtain judicial warrants before entering homes and businesses, among other reforms, in order to unlock funding for the agency.

Senate Democrats and the White House have been negotiating, but a deal has yet to materialize. The last counteroffer from the administration came nearly two weeks ago but has so far not been accepted by congressional Democrats. 

Some Republicans hoped that Trump’s decision to tap Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to lead DHS could soften Democrats’ opposition, but the party has continued to take a hard line against funding the agency. Democrats had advocated for outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s ouster as part of their numerous demands.

A Democratic blockade of Senate business would jeopardize the passage of a bipartisan housing bill aimed at growing the supply of affordable homes, which is currently under consideration in the upper chamber. Trump-endorsed voter ID legislation would also be impacted, but Democrats were already expected to widely oppose the measure, known as the SAVE America Act.

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

A House lawmaker from deep-blue California is leaving the GOP effective immediately, cutting Republicans’ slim margin even thinner, his office confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., had already announced his intention to run as an Independent candidate in a Democrat-leaning district in the November midterms, but he is now deciding to take on the new political identity early.

“This last week, we registered under no party preference in California,” Kiley told local reporters, according to a recording obtained by Fox News Digital. “I’m also today asking the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives to have that reflected in the official roster…so I will be the sole Independent member of the House of Representatives.”

House Republicans are already dealing with a razor-thin majority of just one vote, which is expected to grow to a two-vote margin after a special election in a deep-red Georgia district this week.

TOP MARYLAND DEMOCRAT DEFIES JEFFRIES ON MID-CYCLE REDISTRICTING PUSH TO BOOT STATE’S LONE REPUBLICAN

Kiley said he would still caucus with Republicans, however, in order to retain his committee assignments in the House.

“The rules of the House of Representatives essentially force you, as an administrative matter, to caucus with one party or the other, which, by the way, I don’t think is a good thing,” Kiley said.

“For example, your committee assignments run through the parties, and so it really, you know, forces you to be associated in that administrative sense with one caucus or another in order to function and be able to serve your constituents in the House.”

Kiley’s decision to run as an Independent comes after his current seat in California’s 3rd congressional district was redrawn to lean more heavily toward Democrats. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential White House candidate for the 2028 cycle, led the charge in redrawing the maps to more heavily favor Democrats despite the objections of Golden State Republicans. 

It was a direct response to Texas Republicans passing a new congressional map that could give the GOP an edge in as many as five new seats.

DOJ URGES SUPREME COURT TO BLOCK CALIFORNIA MAP, CALLS NEWSOM-BACKED PLAN A RACIAL GERRYMANDER

Kiley had introduced legislation to ban mid-decade redistricting when both fights were ongoing and sharply rebuked the effort by both parties. 

He also carved out an independent streak months before formally dropping the GOP, becoming one of the party’s most vocal critics of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for both refusing to wade into the redistricting fight and for keeping the House out of session during the entire 43-day government shutdown last year.

Kiley announced in a statement last week that he would now run in California’s newly redrawn 6th congressional district, which the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates a “D+5.”

“It’s true that I was fully prepared to run in the new 5th, having tested the waters and with polls showing a favorable outlook in a ‘safe’ district. But doing what’s easy and what’s right are often not the same. And at the end of the day, as much as I love the communities in the 5th district that I represent now — and as excited as I was about the new ones — seeking office in a district that doesn’t include my hometown didn’t feel right,” Kiley said.

“The new 6th district is Democratic-leaning but open-minded. While this will be a more challenging race, I believe we can build a winning coalition for common sense. Thanks to all for your encouragement and patience.”

PALM BEACH, Fla. — National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair Sen. Tim Scott says he remains “incredibly optimistic” the GOP can not only hold but expand its current 53–47 majority in the fall 2026 midterm elections.

But as Republicans battle stiff political headwinds as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms, and as the GOP faces a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation and President Donald Trump‘s underwater approval ratings, Scott isn’t sugar-coating things.

“There’s no doubt the climate has gotten more and more difficult by the day, it seems like at times,” Scott said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at an annual economic conference in Florida hosted by the Club for Growth, an influential and politically potent conservative political group that pushes for fiscal responsibility.

Scott in early February gave fellow GOP senators some straight talk about the party’s chances in the midterm elections, when he briefed his colleagues at a closed-door meeting, according to sources in the room.

STRATEGY SESSION: TRUMP TEAM HUDDLES ON MIDTERM MESSAGING 

The NRSC chair told Fox News Digital in December 2025 that in the battle for the majority, “54 is clearly within our grasp right now, but with a little bit of luck, 55 is on our side.”

Asked again in his Fox News Digital interview Saturday, Scott said, “I think we have a possibility of more than 53 seats.”

MAJORITY AT RISK? — THESE SIX GOP HELD SENATE SEATS MOST AT JEAPARDY

“The good news is we have a president who made promises, he’s been keeping those promises, and we have been able to recruit the highest quality candidates anyone could want in every single battleground state,” Scott said. 

Highlighting seats the GOP’s aiming to flip, Scott pointed to Georgia, where Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in 2026. He also spotlighted open Democratic-held seats in battleground Michigan, swing state New Hampshire and blue-leaning Minnesota.

GOP CALLS TRUMP ITS ‘SECRET WEAPON’ — BUT POLLS SHOW WARNING SIGNS HEADING INTO MIDTERMS

Scott said he’s “incredibly optimistic, not only about holding the majority, but still expanding the majority through Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire and even Minnesota, we have a strong candidate.”

The candidate he was referring to in Minnesota is former NBC Sports reporter turned conservative activist and commentator Michele Tafoya.

But Democrats are targeting Maine, where longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election in the blue-leaning northern New England state, and battleground North Carolina, where Republicans are defending an open seat in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis.

Democrats are also trying to flip GOP-held Senate seats in Texas, Ohio, Alaska and Iowa, which are all red states.

“Voters are sick and tired of Trump and Senate Republicans’ toxic agenda raising prices and threatening their health care,” the rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) emphasized in a social media post. “Voters across the country are ready to send Senate Republicans packing this November.”

PAXTON SAYS HE’S STAYING IN THE RACE EVEN IF TRUMP BACKS CORNYN

In Texas, the NRSC is backing longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn, who is now facing off with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a MAGA firebrand, in a costly and combustible primary runoff.

Trump said in early March, following the primary election where no candidate in the crowded Republican field cracked 50% to win the nomination, that he would soon make an endorsement.

The NRSC and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who is also backing Cornyn, are concerned that a Paxton victory could give the Democrats a path to flipping the red seat, thanks to the state attorney general’s political baggage, including a plethora of past scandals and a current messy divorce.

“The one thing we know about John Cornyn is he will win Texas. If you want to have the clearest path of victory, John Cornyn is your guy,” Scott said. “President Trump is the only person that can make that a reality immediately through this runoff process.”

Scott said “we hope and pray” that Trump will endorse Cornyn. But he added: “The president is going to do what the president is going to do. I won’t pretend to influence his final decision, but I will say, I’m certainly praying for John Cornyn to be our our nominee.”

TRUMP ARGUES GAS PRICES SPIKE IS TEMPORARY

Oil prices have shot up in the week and a half since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, instantly resulting in higher costs for gasoline across America. That’s a major concern for Republicans in a midterm election cycle where the economy, and specifically affordability, is the top concern of voters.

“I think the economy will continue to get better month over month,” an optimistic Scott predicted. “I think the rest of this year we’ll see unfolding good information, good facts about why the American people should focus on the Republican Party and keep us in the majority.”

And with the annual tax filing deadline just more than a month away, Scott touted the numerous tax cuts kicking in this year in the GOP’s sweeping “big, beautiful bill,” which Trump signed into law in summer 2025. 

Scott touted “a bigger tax return for millions of Americans, that’s great news. The more they see more money in their pockets, and the more they attribute it to the Republican Party, the better we’re going to do this election season.”

An Obama-appointed federal judge’s attempt to rein in immigration enforcement in Chicago backfired after a federal appeals court ruled she overstepped her authority and “effectively established the district court as the supervisor of all Executive Branch activity in the city of Chicago.”

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit tossed out Judge Sara Ellis’ preliminary injunction and dismissed the appeal in a sharply worded 2-1 decision.

The panel, comprising two Trump appointees and a Reagan appointee, said the lower court’s injunction was “overbroad” and “constitutionally suspect.” It faulted the judge for applying the order not just to specific officers but “the entire Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, as well as anyone acting in concert with them.”

Ellis had issued a lengthy 233-page opinion explaining why she granted the class-wide preliminary injunction against Homeland Security and Justice Department authorities carrying out immigration enforcement in Chicago. Her order followed a string of clashes between protesters and agents during Operation Midway Blitz, the effort launched last year by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration and street crime in Chicago.

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Ellis justified the injunction by saying it was not novel and that it only ordered federal agents to follow current DHS policies regarding use of force and body-worn cameras.

“In other words, the Court’s order should break no new ground, and indeed it tracks similar orders entered in other crowd control cases across the country,” Ellis said.

The appeals court had previously paused her injunction, warning that its “practical effect” was “to enjoin all law enforcement officers within the Executive Branch.”

The order, the panel said, required federal officers to submit “all current and future internal guidance, policies, and directives” for judicial review, which the appellate court said improperly intruded on the separation of powers.

The panel reiterated that point when vacating Ellis’ injunction, saying that “federal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch” and that the district court “likely abused its discretion by issuing such a sweeping injunction.”

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The panel’s order came after the plaintiffs, who included groups of protesters and journalists, had also already moved to dismiss their own lawsuit, saying that Operation Midway Blitz had largely ended. The panel said it felt it was still necessary to address Ellis’ order to prevent it from “spawning any legal consequences.”

Judge Frank Easterbrook, the Reagan appointee on the panel, dissented, arguing that only the appeal should have been dismissed since both sides had asked for that.

The majority, however, said that also throwing out the injunction was “the best way to wipe the slate clean” in what it called an “extraordinary case.”

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, said the appellate court “delivered a haymaker” to Ellis.

In a statement, Attorney General Pam Bondi called the 7th Circuit’s decision a “huge legal win.”

“President Trump is trying to protect American citizens while local elected officials REFUSE to do so. [DOJ] attorneys were proud to argue this case,” Bondi said. “We will continue fighting and WINNING for the President’s law-and-order agenda.”

Former longtime federal prosecutor Bill Shipley said on X the panel effectively told Ellis, “You don’t get to run DHS and DOJ.”

Still, some critics found the 7th Circuit’s ruling excessive and commended Ellis for being thorough.

“Ellis was one of the only judges who did anything about the series of escalating abuses from CBP,” CATO Institute’s David Bier wrote on X. “She investigated and found numerous instances of perjury, constitutional violations, and other crimes. This unnecessary lecture from the 7th circuit amounts to: stop it.”

In a little over a year, the United States has carried out dozens of airstrikes on vessels in the Caribbean tied to alleged narco-trafficking networks, launched sustained operations against Houthi forces in the Red Sea, captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, struck Iranian nuclear facilities and now embarked on an extended military campaign aimed at degrading Tehran’s missile, drone and command infrastructure.

The tempo marks one of the most assertive stretches of American force projection in recent years, spanning Latin America, the Middle East and critical maritime corridors.

For War Secretary Pete Hegseth, it also represents a striking turn. 

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Just before the 2024 presidential election, he described himself as a “recovering neocon,” expressing regret over his support for Iraq-era interventionism and warning against open-ended wars. 

Several analysts say the defining feature of the administration’s approach may be less about ideological evolution and more about alignment and execution.

“Unlike in Trump one, everyone in Trump’s cabinet now — Hegseth, Rubio, etc. — understands that the president is the boss,” said Matthew Kroenig, a defense strategist at the Atlantic Council. “In Trump 1.0 you had some Cabinet officials who thought their job was to save the Republic from Trump, the so-called adults in the room. And so I think it’s pretty clear the president wanted to go in this direction, and I think Hegseth sees himself as supporting the president’s vision.”

That cohesion has coincided with a pattern of risk-taking. 

Several of the administration’s most consequential military moves, from Venezuela to the Houthis to the current Iran campaign, carried the potential for escalation.

Some strategists say the relative absence of early blowback from those interventions may have reinforced the administration’s willingness to escalate into the Iranian theater. 

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“I’m not sure I would have advised this,” Kroenig said of the Iran operation. “It is pretty risky, but it’s going well so far.” 

Iranian missile launches have declined in volume. Regional allies have not broken ranks. 

Whether that constitutes strategic success, however, depends on the metric.

Justin Fulcher, a former Pentagon adviser to Hegseth, argued the early phases of the campaign reflect what he described as a “return to strategic clarity.”

“Deterrence is only credible when our allies actually believe that if President Trump says something, we will back it up,” Fulcher said. “This is a validation of Secretary Hegseth and President Trump’s leadership.”

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Hegseth, a former Army officer who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has argued that the current campaign bears little resemblance to those conflicts.

“This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both,” Hegseth said at a press conference in early March. “Our generation knows better and so does this president.”

In a separate interview, he added, “This is not a remaking of Iranian society from an American perspective. We tried that. The American people have rejected that.”

Danielle Pletka, a senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute think tank, said the campaign has unfolded largely as expected.

“I think things have gone reasonably well,” Pletka said, pointing to degraded air defenses and what she described as repeated miscalculations by Iran. “All they’ve really done is made everybody quite mad, and that was a really bad calculation on their part.”

At the same time, she cautioned against interpreting the administration’s actions as part of a fixed doctrine.

“I don’t think that it is doctrinal,” Pletka said. “I think this is ad hoc.”

Some longtime Trump supporters have said the current conflict is not what they expected from Trump, who campaigned on ending wars and “America First.”

“It feels like the worst betrayal this time because it comes from the very man and the admin who we all believed was different and said no more,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wrote on X. “Instead, we get a war with Iran on behalf of Israel that will succeed in regime in Iran. Another foreign war for foreign people for foreign regime change. For what?” 

In Pletka’s view, the president has shown a pattern of attempting diplomacy first and shifting to force only when he concludes negotiations are unserious. She argues that posture distinguishes the current moment from past interventions.

She also emphasized that much of the operational credit belongs to the professional military.

“The planning behind this is credit to the U.S. military and to the CENTCOM commander and to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” she said.

That distinction complicates efforts to attribute the current posture solely to Hegseth’s personal worldview. While the defense secretary has become a public face of the administration’s deterrence messaging, the execution of high-tempo campaigns rests heavily with career military leadership. 

Some critics argue the administration has yet to clearly articulate an end state for the Iran campaign.

“Pete Hegseth needs to check with his boss on what the objective is,” former national security advisor John Bolton recently said on CNN. “How does Hegseth explain that we’ve already changed the regime, which wasn’t our objective? I think the Pentagon top leadership, civilian top leadership, needs some attitude adjustment. I think the military’s doing fine, but I wonder about the civilian leadership.”

The White House pushed back forcefully on criticism of the campaign. 

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said Monday that Hegseth “is doing an incredible job leading the Department of War,” pointing to what she described as the “ongoing success of Operation Epic Fury” and other missions. 

Kelly said Iranian retaliatory attacks “have declined by 90 percent because the Department of War is destroying Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities,” and added that Hegseth works “in lockstep with President Trump every day” to ensure the U.S. military “continues to be the greatest, most powerful fighting force in the world.”

The Pentagon echoed that assessment. 

“Operation Epic Fury continues to advance with overwhelming success and precision,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said, describing a “resolute, full-spectrum campaign” aimed at the “total dismantlement of Iran’s terrorist network or its unconditional surrender.”

Others see the moment in broader historical terms.

Peter Doran, a foreign policy analyst, described the campaign as a potential attempt to “end a 47-year war” waged by the Islamic Republic against the United States, but on Washington’s terms.

“This is a clear effort to end a 47-year war that Iran has been waging against the United States,” Doran said.

He argued that visible American military performance could reverberate beyond the Middle East, particularly in Beijing.

“They look good,” Doran said of U.S. forces. “That will serve, I hope, as a disincentive for adventurism.”

If the operation ultimately succeeds in significantly degrading Iran’s military infrastructure, Doran argued, it could reshape the Middle East and expand diplomatic opportunities such as broader Arab-Israeli normalization.

“It changes everything in the Middle East,” he said.

Yet even supporters acknowledge that long-term effects remain uncertain. In Venezuela, Maduro’s removal marked a dramatic shift in U.S. policy, but the governing apparatus he built remains largely intact. 

Degrading missile stockpiles and drone infrastructure in Iran may buy time, but whether it produces durable deterrence or simply postpones reconstitution remains to be seen.

For now, the administration’s willingness to take calculated risks and its ability to avoid immediate escalation have reinforced the perception of restored American assertiveness. Whether that assertiveness translates into lasting strategic gains will likely define Hegseth’s tenure far more than the rhetoric that preceded it.

Hegseth and the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.