An embattled lawmaker facing five decades in prison will face the congressional spotlight Thursday during an ethics trial that could result in her expulsion from the House of Representatives.

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., is expected to testify before the House Ethics Committee during a rare public hearing Thursday afternoon. The case is separate from a sprawling federal indictment accusing Cherfilus-McCormick of stealing more than $5 million in disaster relief funds to finance her inaugural congressional run in 2021 and purchase luxury items, including a large diamond ring. The Florida Democrat is also alleged to have participated in a straw donor scheme and conspired to file a false federal tax return.

Cherfilus-McCormick has repeatedly sought to delay the hearing, citing the ongoing federal criminal case and losing her legal representation earlier in March. It is not clear whether the Florida Democrat will be represented by an attorney at the hearing. 

Cherfilus McCormick said in a statement sent to Fox News that she is “deeply disappointed” the bipartisan committee chose to proceed with a trial, alleging a violation of her due process rights.

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“I urge the Committee to follow its own precedents and uphold fairness and not allow this process to be driven by politics or numbers,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight and challenge these inaccuracies, when I am legally able to do so.”

Cherfilus-McCormick has denied wrongdoing after being indicted in November 2025 and pleaded not guilty in federal court. She has repeatedly defied calls from Republicans to resign — a move that would have avoided the ethics hearing and possible expulsion.

According to the indictment, Trinity Health Care Services, a company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, received $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) overpayment from the state of Florida for a COVID-19 vaccine contract.

Rather than return the money, federal prosecutors allege the duo laundered the money through multiple bank accounts to hide its origin.

The House Ethics Committee unveiled a 27-count “statement of alleged violations” against Cherfilus-McCormick that is expected to be presented during the hearing Thursday. 

The hearing itself is extremely rare. It will be the first time the eight-member panel will hold a public hearing against a lawmaker since 2010.

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Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., has said he would move forward with a resolution seeking to expel Cherfilus-McCormick regardless of the trial’s outcome. Under House rules, two-thirds of lawmakers — meaning a swath of Democrats — would need to vote in the affirmative to expel the Florida Democrat. 

“You’re in a situation where you have a sitting member of Congress who’s allegedly stolen over $5 million in taxpayer funds,” Steube told reporters Tuesday. “She should immediately resign instead of going through this process. But she’s going to force us to do this.”

Steube also said a possible recommendation of expulsion from the committee could force Democrats to support his resolution.

“If the committee in a bipartisan manner, it recommends an expulsion that puts the Democratic caucus in a very tough position because you would be undermining your own members on the Ethics Committee.”

But House Democratic leadership, who have largely defended Cherfilus-McCormick, has yet to say whether they would support an expulsion resolution following the hearing’s conclusion. 

Cherfilus-McCormick was among a group of Democrats who stood behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., when he gave remarks on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown outside the U.S. Capitol last week. He responded, “next question,” when asked by Fox News about the expulsion threat on Tuesday.

“I’m not going to prejudge the outcome that they arrive to,” House Democratic Conference Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said Wednesday. “I respect the members of the ethics committee and the work that they have to do.”

Democrats’ refusal so far to condemn Cherfilus-McCormick has prompted sharp criticism from Republicans. 

“So-called ‘Leader’ Hakeem Jeffries talks a big game on corruption, but when it’s one of his own, he suddenly loses his voice,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement. 

Some Republicans have also complained about a double standard with the chamber’s treatment of Cherfilus-McCormick by making comparisons to former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. The scandal-plagued lawmaker was expelled from Congress in 2023 before an ethics hearing or criminal conviction.

“It seems like what happened to George was just like a runaway freight train up here,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said Wednesday. “They didn’t even give George an opportunity to get fully through ethics. And so this one’s been a little bit more deliberate.”

“I think going forward, how this one’s been conducted is how it should go,” Donalds added, referring to the anticipated Cherfilus-McCormick hearing. “It should be deliberate before these kind of judgments just end up on the House floor.”

FIRST ON FOX: Transportation Security Administration (TSA) leadership said airports and the agency will suffer from “longstanding” negative impacts as a result of the current partial government shutdown, even after a spending bill is passed. 

TSA Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl sat down with Fox News Digital to detail how the agency will recover from what has been weeks of forgone pay for TSA officers, leading to what TSA says are the highest security wait times in the history of the agency. 

“I can tell you right now that the reverberations that will be felt from this will be longstanding. They will continue for days after we get a re-appropriation and funding, particularly for the department for TSA,” Stahl told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “We are already taking proactive measures to make sure that we’re going to get our people paid as quickly as possible.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains unfunded after more than 40 days, leaving TSA screeners and agents missing a full month’s pay. Call-outs have increased to dramatic levels, and DHS says more than 480 people have outright quit the TSA workforce.

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Even after Congress funds the agency, Stahl says it is “going to take time to pay” agents who have been working without pay. 

“There are systems in place, financial systems that are outside of a department that we rely on to again, dispense and disperse funds, salaries to our folks, but it will take some time,” Stahl explained. “But we’re working as quickly as possible with our partners to make sure once we get that money, we’ll hit the ground running and get that into our people’s pockets as quickly as possible.”

TSA’s deputy administrator also expressed concerns about the workforce’s return to airports following a potential funding package, noting the World Cup taking place in the U.S. this year will create an additional strain on air travel security.

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“Last time we saw an increase in 25% of attrition immediately following the first shutdown previously in this fiscal year,” Stahl told Fox News Digital. “We’re concerned, and we have the World Cup coming up as well with an expected six to ten million travelers on top of a busy summer travel season, so we could really be in a difficult position for the long term.”

“It’s going to take time to readjust to get our folks paid,” Stahl added. 

On Wednesday evening, a procedural vote to fund DHS failed, tacking on the previous five times the spending bill had been voted down.

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The bill can only pass with a 60-vote threshold required to break the filibuster. Several Senate Democrats have crossed party lines to support funding the department, but votes have still remained shy of 60. 

Senate Democrats have insisted that revisions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, like the requirement of judicial warrants and the removal of face coverings for agents, be included in the spending bill. 

Senate Republicans have said that if Senate Democrats want reforms, then they must also be willing to fund ICE. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Democrats are “going in circles” while TSA, FEMA and other DHS employees continue to work without pay.

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“They know better,” Thune told reporters after Wednesday evening’s vote. “They’re asking for things that have already been turned down. So it just seems like they’re going in circles.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took to the Senate Floor on Wednesday to punch back at the GOP’s stance. 

“Over the weekend, Democrats had constructive conversations in person with our Republican colleagues,” Schumer said. “They, the Republican colleagues, conceded that some of the reforms, verbally, that we have been looking for, they said these make sense.”

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As the congressional gridlock continues, Stahl said the agency has suspended escort services for members of Congress given their limited resources without funding. 

“We proactively took the step of suspending all members of Congress escort services as just purely when this started to happen, because we fundamentally feel like we should not be expending resources to provide a security screening, expedite security screening to our members of Congress at this time,” Stahl told Fox News Digital. “Our focus is on serving the masses of American people and that’s what we’re going to continue to focus on every single day.”

Last weekend, President Donald Trump deployed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports to provide support to the weakened workforce. Agents have been seen at a number of airports across the country since the deployment.  

When asked how long ICE agents would remain at airports following the passage of a spending bill, Stahl said the agents have alleviated tensions and challenges, though their tenure at airports depends on how quickly normal TSA operations can resume.

“Hopefully, we won’t need them much longer,” Stahl explained. “But again, they’ve been incredibly helpful, and we really appreciate the support from the president and from ICE.”

“It really necessitates and underscores the importance for us to get back in normal order, for the Senate Democrats to fund the Department, [to] fund TSA, so we can get back to normal order,” Stahl added. 

The Trump administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Tuesday that it launched an investigation into a Washington state housing program the agency accused of potentially providing subsidized mortgage assistance to people based on race. 

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission was alerted this week that HUD’s Office for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity would be investigating its Covenant Homeownership Program. The program was established by the state legislature in 2023, which commissioned a report to investigate alleged housing discrimination in the state and how to remedy it. In particular, the program wanted to address racially restrictive housing covenants embedded in the state’s history, which became unenforceable following a Supreme Court ruling in 1948 and were voided altogether in 1969.

The housing program was launched a year later for first-time homebuyers considered “people of color and other historically marginalized communities.” It offered zero-interest loans of up to $150,000 for down payments and closing costs, and the loans did not need to be repaid until the homeowner sold or refinanced the property, according to Seattle King County REALTORS. 

HUD LAUNCHES CIVIL RIGHTS PROBE INTO MINNEAPOLIS OVER RACE-BASED HOUSING PRIORITIES

“Generations of systemic, racist, and discriminatory policies have formed barriers to homeownership for Black, Indigenous, and people of color and other historically marginalized communities in Washington state,” Washington Democrat Jamila Taylor said of the bill to establish the program that she helped introduce. “Historically, redlining, racially restrictive covenants, mortgage subsidies and incentives, and displacement have been explicitly outlined practices. To date, racially restricted covenants have been identified in more than 40,000 property deeds across the state.”

But, according to HUD, applicants in the program do not need to be from low-income areas, as the income ceiling for the program is 120% of the median income for the area. The agency said in order to qualify, applicants have to have a parent or grandparent of Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, or Indian descent. Meanwhile, HUD highlighted persons of European, Japanese, Arab, or Jewish ancestry did not appear to qualify for the program.

HUD also points out, citing directions from the Washington housing commission on how to apply for the Covenant Homeownership Program, that the only application process for the program is to call a hotline where prospective applicants speak to “a Commission-trained lender” who then determines if people meet the program’s eligibility requirements.

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“DEI is dead at HUD. Those who ignore the law and violate the rights of Americans for political purposes will not continue,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner. “I will not stand for illegal racial and ethnic preferences that deny Americans their right to equal protection under the law … Under President Trump’s leadership, HUD will vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act and ensure all Americans have an equal shot at the American Dream.”

A final determination on whether the program violates the Fair Housing Act is still pending, but HUD said in its letter to the Washington State Housing Finance Commission that the public information currently available “strongly suggests” that unlawful discrimination is taking place.

A spokesperson for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission told Fox News Digital that it planned to cooperate with HUD’s requests for information.

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“The Washington State Legislature created the Covenant Homeownership Program with bipartisan support after an extensive stakeholder and community engagement process and it is based on rigorous, independent research by a national firm,” the spokesperson added. “Along with the Covenant Homeownership Program, the Washington State Housing Finance Commission has an array of other programs offering home loans and downpayment assistance for all low- and moderate-income homebuyers, so that everyone can be supported on their homeownership journey.”

Washington is just the latest state to be pressured by HUD over alleged discriminatory housing polices. Earlier this year, the agency opened an investigation into the city of Minneapolis, alleging its housing policies illegally prioritize resources based on race and national origin. Prior to that, HUD also targeted Boston for alleged DEI in its housing programs. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., once said that failing to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was “legislative malpractice” — a position he is now rejecting in the current funding standoff with Republicans.

“We are here today to do a single job, and that should be to fund fully the Department of Homeland Security,” Jeffries said during a 2015 speech on the House floor. 

Jeffries, near the start of his congressional career, urged the Republican-controlled House to pass a “clean” DHS bill that year when the department was on the brink of a partial government shutdown.

“Anything else is an abdication of our responsibility. Anything else is an act of legislative malpractice,” Jeffries said at the time, referring to providing full-year appropriations to the department.

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A decade later, Jeffries has reversed that position, arguing that fully funding DHS would be a failure of Congress. He and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have withheld their votes on a full-year DHS funding bill as they demand various reforms to rein in immigration enforcement.

“Taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not brutalize or kill them,” Jeffries said in February. “The American people know ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is out of control.”

The 39-day funding standoff has snarled air travel across the country as passengers face hours-long wait times at airport security checkpoints due to a shortage of TSA workers. Tens of thousands of DHS employees — including TSA agents — are reporting to work without pay during the shutdown, leading some to call off work or quit altogether.

Some TSA personnel are sleeping in cars and selling blood plasma to make ends meet, Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl said Tuesday.

Jeffries is expected to vote against a full-year DHS measure with a majority of House Democrats this week. The minority leader has repeatedly voted against a “clean” DHS spending measure since the funding lapse began on Feb. 14.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has narrowly steered the legislation through his chamber with largely Republican votes, but the spending measure has stalled in the Senate with nearly all Democrats moving to filibuster it. 

Jeffries, by contrast, is seeking to force a vote on a DHS appropriations bill that would fund the department minus its immigration enforcement functions. 

“We can fund TSA, fund the Coast Guard, fund FEMA, fund our cybersecurity professionals or continue to allow ICE to brutalize and, in some cases, kill American citizens or to violently target law-abiding immigrant families,” Jeffries said during a news conference last week.

It’s a position that he warned could put Americans in danger during the 2015 speech.

“We’re playing political games at a time when the safety and the security of the American people is being threatened,” Jeffries said regarding the prospect of not passing a full-year DHS bill.

A spokesperson for Jeffries did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts has implemented a policy to ban staffers from betting on prediction markets on issues pertaining to issues such as politics and any information obtained in an official capacity.

“Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-06) today became the first Member of Congress to institute an office-wide policy prohibiting staff from participating in prediction market platforms—such as Polymarket and Kalshi—to trade or hold positions on political, legislative, regulatory, geopolitical outcomes, or any information that is learned in an official capacity,” a Wednesday press release asserted.

Prediction markets allow people to wager on what they expect to happen in the future on a vast array of topics, touching upon areas such as sports, business, politics, world affairs, and pop culture.

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“Prediction markets have become a playground for corrupt insiders who are able to place bets on things like election outcomes, wars, and even the deaths of public figures. This is creating a perverse incentive structure that poses a genuine threat to American society today,” Moulton said in a statement.

“Congressional staff and the Members they work for exist to serve the constituents of the districts they represent, not to profit off of the very policy decisions and world events that we are here to respond to. My office has not, and will not, engage in these trades that run counter to every principle of a clean, honest government that works for the people,” he continued.

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“I will always hold myself and my team to the highest ethical standards, and I call on every single American elected official to do the same,” the lawmaker added.

Moulton has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2015.

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He is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Ed Markey in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary.

A far-left online streamer who has made several controversial statements, including saying, “America deserved 9/11,” has been making several appearances with Democratic lawmakers in recent years, including a top Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, who is set to team up with him next month.

Amid a heated Democratic primary, progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is aligning himself with far-left Democrat figures, hosting an event with controversial streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker at Michigan State University on April 7, according to a press release.

“Get ready. We’re coming,” Piker said in a post to social media, highlighting that the pair would also be joined by Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., another progressive.

The event will also feature unnamed “special guests,” according to the release.

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Like other progressive candidates, El-Sayed has made affordability — and the role of government — key pieces of his campaign. In addition to calling for lowering housing costs, he’s advocated for Medicare for all, opposes corporate tax carve-outs, and supports tuition-free access to higher education, according to his website. His policies have been championed by other progressives he’s appeared with, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rashida Talib, D-Mich.

“You are part of a revolution in media today, which is talking to millions of people who are tuning out of legacy media, and thanks for what you are doing,” Sanders said about Piker last year.

Although El-Sayed has said he rejects political labels like “right” and “left,” his appearances with figures like Piker have crystallized his position among the deep-blue portions of the Democratic Party.

When asked why the campaign had organized the appearance with Piker, the El-Sayed campaign declined to comment.

Piker, a streamer who rose to popularity in 2018 for his political commentary and gaming channel, has drawn attention for a series of incendiary comments and his support for left-wing figures.

In 2019, Piker famously said that “America deserved 9/11,” arguing later that the U.S. had “brought it on itself.” He would later walk it back and call it “inappropriate” after massive backlash online.

In the wake of the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack that incited Israel’s war with Gaza, Piker described Hamas, a terrorist organization, as the “lesser of two evils” in the conflict.

Once, when asked if he supported terrorism, Piker answered by saying, “No, I don’t. I don’t support the state of Israel, and I don’t support the state of the United States of America.”

He also faced backlash for praising the “brave” “mujahideen” who injured Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, who lost an eye in Afghanistan.

“What the f— is wrong with this dude? Didn’t he go to war and like literally lose his eye because some mujahideen—a brave f—ing soldier—fu–ed his eye hole with their di–?” Piker said.

Despite his many controversies, Piker has found a home among far-left figures in the Democratic Party, overlapping with some of El-Sayed’s fellow progressives. Piker has appeared with Ocasio-Cortez in a video urging voters to participate in elections in 2020, interviewed Sanders as a part of the senator’s “Fight Oligarchy Tour” and has appeared in streaming videos with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on a number of occasions.

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Most recently, Piker advocated fiercely for the election of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the self-proclaimed socialist who took Democratic politics by storm in 2025. Like El-Sayed, the two appeared together in New York.

According to the press release for the upcoming event at Michigan state, the pair’s appearance hopes to “re-energize voters, young and old, ahead of the 2026 midterms in Michigan university towns.”

“The rallies will highlight the campaign’s commitment to economic justice, student debt relief, workers rights and more,” the press release reads.

Michigan will hold its Senate primaries on Aug. 4, according to its secretary of state website.

Fox News Digital reached out Piker and Summer Lee.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, signed legislation on Wednesday to limit the use of face coverings for law enforcement, including federal ICE agents, 

The law, which requires officers to present identification before detaining someone, comes as some federal agents have sought to hide their identities during immigration raids in communities across the country.

Sherrill, who was sworn into office in January, said the mask restriction is part of an effort to ensure the safety of residents of the Garden State.

“I can’t believe we have to say this, but in the United States of America, we’re not going to tolerate masked roving militias pretending, pretending to be well-trained law enforcement agents,” she said.

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The law is part of a package that the governor said will “protect people’s privacy and their rights” and “strengthen trust between law enforcement and our communities.”

Democrats in Congress and in various state legislatures have sought for months to adopt measures that would ban immigration agents from wearing masks to hide their identities, arguing that such legislation is needed to ensure transparency.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, also signed a law earlier this month limiting face coverings for ICE agents.

The Department of Homeland Security has criticized efforts to unmask ICE agents, including calling the new Washington state measure “irresponsible, reckless and dangerous.”

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“To be crystal clear: we will not abide by this unconstitutional ban,” the department said at the time.

Sherrill’s signature on Wednesday comes as she continues to target the Trump administration’s immigration raids. Earlier this year, she announced a portal to allow residents to upload photos and videos of ICE agents conducting immigration operations.

“If you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out, we want to know,” Sherrill said at the time. “They have not been forthcoming. They will pick people up, they will not tell us who they are, they will not tell us if they’re here legally, they won’t check. They’ll pick up American citizens. They picked up a five-year-old child. We want documentation, and we are going to make sure we get it.”

“We saw people in the street with masks and no insignia. So not accountable at all, hiding from the population — and we saw again and again an undermining of what law enforcement should do to keep people safe,” she added.

The Trump administration is also suing New Jersey over Sherrill’s executive order last month that prohibits federal immigration agents from making arrests in nonpublic areas of state property, including correctional facilities and courthouses. The order also blocks the use of state property as a staging or processing area for immigration enforcement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Trump administration has made new criminal referrals to the Department of Justice targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James, Fox News has confirmed.

The referrals, submitted by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, allege potential insurance fraud tied to properties linked to James and have been sent to U.S. attorneys in Florida and, reportedly, Illinois for review.

“The Department of Justice can confirm that referrals were received by our U.S. Attorney Offices,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News.

One of the referrals obtained by Fox News alleged “suspected homeowners insurance fraud.”

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The criminal referral was transmitted to Jason Quinones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who will determine whether to move forward with a prosecution. His office would then need to seek a grand jury indictment.

The referral comes after bank fraud charges against James were dismissed late last year by a Clinton-appointed judge, and a grand jury in Virginia later refused to re-indict her.

The judge threw out the indictments against James and former FBI Director James Comey after finding they were illegitimate because they were brought by an unqualified U.S. attorney.

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In one of the criminal referrals, Pulte said it appears that James “may have falsified information on her homeowners insurance application” to a Fort Lauderdale-based company, Universal Property Insurance.

The referral cites social media posts from Mike Davis, a longtime attorney and ally to President Donald Trump.

Pulte stated that based on the post from Davis, the New York attorney general “may have made false representations that her property would be unoccupied five months out of the year.”

According to the post, that information may be false, Pulte said.

“The house was, in fact, occupied year-round by her niece,” he continued.

“As such, it appears Ms. James may have defrauded the Florida-based insurance company,” Pulte added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to James’ office and her attorney for comment.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement Wednesday with Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor to President Donald Trump, over a legal battle tied to his contacts with a Russian diplomat during the Mueller probe. 

Official court papers seen by Fox News Digital do not disclose the financial terms of the settlement, but the government is said to be paying Flynn approximately $1.2 million to resolve the matter, The Associated Press reported. 

The agreement concludes a lengthy legal saga stemming from the Russia investigation.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to giving false statements to the FBI about his communications with Russia’s ambassador to the United States.

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Those discussions included Russia’s response to U.S. sanctions and a United Nations Security Council resolution regarding Israel. 

The charge stemmed from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and possible links between Trump campaign officials and Russian figures.

Mueller, a former FBI director who led the bureau from 2001 to 2013, later served as special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, a probe that shadowed much of Trump’s presidency.

He brought charges against multiple Trump associates, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Flynn. 

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His final report detailed extensive contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, but did not establish a criminal conspiracy. Flynn later sought to withdraw his guilty plea and accused federal prosecutors of acting in bad faith.

By 2019, he claimed innocence, citing alleged FBI misconduct.

Although Flynn was pardoned by Trump in late 2020, he filed a lawsuit in 2023 seeking at least $50 million in damages, alleging wrongful and malicious prosecution. 

He argued the case, brought by what he described as a “virulently anti-Trump leadership” within the FBI, cost him tens of millions of dollars in business opportunities and future earning potential.

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Under the previous administration, the DOJ moved to dismiss Flynn’s complaint. Now, under Attorney General Pam Bondi, a critic of the Russia probe, the department changed course. 

In a statement, the DOJ called the settlement an “important step in redressing” what it described as a “historic injustice,” The Associated Press reported. 

A spokesperson said the department will pursue accountability to ensure such “weaponization of the federal government” does not recur.

According to a notice of settlement filed in the Middle District of Florida, the case will be dismissed with prejudice once Flynn confirms receipt of the funds, preventing the claims from being refiled. 

The filing states each party will bear its own legal costs and that the court will not retain jurisdiction over the agreement.

In a statement Wednesday, Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said: “The Department of Justice’s reported decision to pay out more than $1 million of taxpayers’ dollars to Michael Flynn is as outrageous as it is indefensible.”

Warner also described the settlement as one that “sends exactly the wrong message to our adversaries, to our intelligence professionals, and to the American people. 

“It undermines the rule of law, demeans the work of the men and women who safeguard our national security, and suggests that accountability depends on who you are and who you know, not what you’ve done.”

The DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The U.S. is positioning ground-capable forces in the Middle East as Iran rejected a ceasefire proposal Wednesday, a shift that gives Washington new — though limited and high-risk — options for potential operations inside Iran. 

Military experts say the deployments are not a precursor to a large-scale invasion, but instead position the U.S. for targeted, short-duration missions — options that have taken on new relevance as diplomatic off-ramps narrow.

In recent days, the Pentagon has moved ground-capable forces into the region, including around 1,000 paratroopers, with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division — among them the 1st Brigade Combat Team, a core component of the military’s Immediate Response Force rapid-response unit designed to deploy on short notice to crises anywhere in the world — along with a few thousand Marines and sailors assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and its Amphibious Ready Group, led by the amphibious assault ship Tripoli.

Marine expeditionary units and airborne forces often are among the first U.S. units deployed in a conflict, designed to rapidly establish an initial presence and respond to emerging crises.

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The White House has emphasized the deployments are meant to preserve flexibility as the conflict evolves — a posture that now carries greater weight after Iran rejected a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal.

“The president likes to maintain options at his disposal,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday at a White House press briefing. “It’s the Pentagon’s job to provide those options to the commander in chief.” 

Lawmakers on the Armed Services Committees emerged from a classified briefing on Iran Wednesday expressing frustration over a lack of clarity from the administration.

“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why they’re being considered,” House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told reporters. “We’re just not getting enough answers.”

“Let me put it this way, I can see why he might have said that,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mo., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in agreement.

Military experts said the types of forces being deployed point to a more limited set of options on the ground. 

“It is not for the type of ground invasion that we saw in Iraq,” James Robbins, Institute of World Politics dean and former special assistant to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, told Fox News Digital. “There simply aren’t enough troops.” 

The U.S. already maintains roughly 40,000 troops to 50,000 troops across the Middle East, with recent deployments adding several thousand more forces, including Marines and airborne units.

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment. 

If U.S. forces were used inside Iran, experts say operations likely would focus on specific, high-value objectives rather than holding territory. 

One likely focus would be along Iran’s southern coast near the Strait of Hormuz — a critical global shipping lane that would become a central pressure point in any limited U.S. ground option. 

Iranian forces have positioned missiles, drones and naval assets throughout the region, creating a persistent threat environment for any operation.

“The most logical step is to try to secure the straits by taking some key positions inside Iran,” Ehud Eilam, a former official with Israel’s Ministry of Defense, told Fox News Digital.

“For the Marines, it would probably be somewhere along the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf, around the straits or nearby to establish a base of operations,” Robbins said.

Trump has said the U.S. Navy could escort commercial tankers through the waterway if necessary, as Iranian threats have disrupted traffic in one of the world’s most critical energy choke points. But no plans have been enacted to do so, according to officials. 

But even limited objectives would be difficult to secure or sustain under constant threat.

“It’s a large gulf and there’s lots of places you could drop a mine or shoot a cruise missile from or shoot a drone from,” said Adm. Kevin Donegan, former commander of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. 

Beyond coastal positions, U.S. forces could be used for short-duration missions targeting specific military assets — such as missile launch sites, radar systems or other infrastructure that cannot be fully neutralized from the air.

AFTER THE STRIKES, HOW WOULD THE US SECURE IRAN’S ENRICHED URANIUM?

Eilam said special operations forces could also be used for targeted missions inside Iran, including striking military infrastructure or capturing key personnel.

“They may come and capture a certain objective, destroy some Iranian radar, or some Iranian facility, take some generals into captivity,” Eilam said.

Such operations would be aimed at degrading Iran’s capabilities and supporting broader air and naval operations, rather than holding territory.

Some experts noted that small special operations teams can operate inside Iran without public visibility, making it difficult to assess the full scope of current activity.

One potential objective for ground forces would be securing Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. 

Nuclear experts have insisted that the material could not be destroyed by airstrikes alone — a presence on the ground would be essential. 

Robbins said U.S. troops could be used to secure nuclear material or facilities — but not under active fire. 

“That would have to be more under a permissive environment,” Robbins said. “It could not really well be done under fire.” 

Iran is believed to have roughly 970 pounds of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, though international inspectors say they can no longer verify the size or location of that stockpile. 

In past conflicts, U.S. forces have been tasked with securing weapons sites or sensitive materials even in unstable or contested environments, particularly during and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when specialized units conducted extensive searches of hundreds of facilities.

Any such operation in Iran would be complex. Key nuclear facilities are hardened, dispersed, and in some cases buried deep underground, making them difficult to access or secure quickly.

Experts cautioned that some of the more aggressive scenarios being discussed — such as seizing Iran’s key oil export hub at Kharg Island — are unlikely to be pursued.

While such a move could, in theory, choke off a major source of revenue for Iran, they said similar effects could be achieved through less exposed means.

“You could achieve that desired outcome just by constraining the flow that comes out of Kharg after it gets outside the Gulf,” Donegan said.

Robbins also questioned the strategic value of seizing the island.

“To what end would be the question,” he said. “I don’t see an endgame to seizing Kharg.”

Experts warned that occupying territory like Kharg would expose U.S. forces as fixed targets while creating major logistical challenges, requiring continuous resupply under the threat of Iranian missile and drone attacks.

“Occupying territory creates a vulnerability, because you now become a target,” Donegan said.

Instead, they said U.S. forces are better suited for limited operations ashore that do not require holding ground.

“Doing something ashore to eliminate things, because you have to be on the ground to do it, and leaving — that’s also a capability,” Donegan said.

The buildup also has included increased activity from U.S. military transport aircraft, including C-17 and C-130 airlifters used to move troops and heavy equipment into the region, part of the logistical groundwork that would be required for any potential ground operations.

Behind the scenes, Iranians likely are preparing for all contingencies in a ground war. Iranian officials dismissed Trump’s talk of “productive” negotiations as “psychological warfare” and negotiations weren’t happening. 

Iranian Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a military spokesperson, mocked the U.S. attempts at a ceasefire deal Wednesday in a video statement, asking, “Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?”

Any U.S. ground operation targeting Kharg Island would face an environment Iran already has prepared and militarized. 

The island is not just an oil hub but a coastal military hub. Recent U.S. strikes hit more than 90 Iranian military targets on the island, including missile storage bunkers and naval mine facilities.

Iran has been moving additional forces and air defenses, as well as laying traps, at Kharg for weeks in preparation for a potential U.S. operation to seize the island, sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN.

Beyond the island itself, Iranian forces have increased military readiness across the region. 

Reporting shows the repositioning of missile units, expanded air defense activity, and increased naval patrols in the Strait of Hormuz — part of a broader effort to disperse assets and reduce vulnerability to strikes.