President Donald Trump signed a 45-day extension for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Thursday night after the Senate rejected the three-year extension passed by the House, the White House confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., warned House leaders Tuesday that including a provision in the FISA extension to permanently ban the Federal Reserve from issuing central bank digital currencies (CBDC) would make it “dead on arrival” in the Senate. As Thune suggested, the three-year extension ultimately failed to pass the Senate due to opposition from Democrats.

As a temporary measure, the Senate approved a 45-day extension of the controversial national security law by unanimous consent. Trump subsequently approved the short-term renewal. 

TRUMP-APPROVED PLAN TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SCUTTLED BY SENATE

Once the 45-day period ends, Congress will be forced to begin the FISA extension process all over again.

FISA allows the federal government to compel phone and internet providers to provide information about foreigners using their platforms without a warrant, including communications with American citizens. 

Civil libertarians long have argued that the law undermines the privacy of Americans and potentially violates the Fourth Amendment. Those working in law enforcement and intelligence agencies, meanwhile, maintain that FISA is an indispensable tool in thwarting terrorism, drug trafficking and ransomware attacks.  

HOUSE PASSES FISA RENEWAL IN BIPARTISAN VOTE, PUTTING PRESSURE ON SENATE BEFORE LOOMING DEADLINE

More than 20 Republicans maintained their opposition to the FISA extension, even with the CBDC ban attached. 

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES ERUPT OVER SENATE GOP, WHITE HOUSE DEAL AMID SAVE ACT FIGHT

“We should all be standing up for the Fourth Amendment,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said during a debate over the extension Tuesday. 

Republican leadership included the CBDC ban to appease conservative holdouts concerned that a government-issued digital dollar could expand federal visibility into Americans’ transactions.

A progressive candidate aiming to unseat a vulnerable Republican in a battleground House district is leaning into a politically fraught issue that has dogged the Democratic Party. 

Tina Shah, an ER physician and former Biden administration official, appeared to back taxpayer-funded sex change procedures for minors in a video obtained by Fox News Digital. 

When asked whether children should have the “right to transgender healthcare,” Shah replied, “This is a no-brainer.”

“Healthcare is a right, period,” the New Jersey Democrat added. “It includes transgender children.”  

MODERATE DEM’S TOP AIDE RESIGNS AFTER LAWMAKER’S COMMENTS ON ‘FORMERLY MALE’ ATHLETES

Shah is one of four relatively well-funded Democrats vying to take on Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., in November’s midterm elections. Kean’s suburban swing seat is considered one of the most competitive House districts in the country.

Shah’s apparent embrace of “transgender healthcare” for minors aligns with the views of her former boss, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who denounced Republican-led states cracking down on child sex-change procedures during the Biden administration. Shah served as a senior advisor to Murthy in 2021 and 2022.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans’ campaign arm, sharply criticized Shah’s support for “transgender healthcare” for children in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Radical Democrat Tina Shah said it loud and clear: She’d be a vote for radical policies like sex changes for minors and taxpayer-funded drag queens,” NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said. “Shah is completely out of step with Garden State families.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Shah’s campaign prior to publication.

Shah’s remarks come as some Democrats have blamed the party’s lurch to the left on the issue for its poor performance in the 2024 election.

Major medical groups, which previously offered full-throated support for child sex changes, have also largely retreated from the issue, with the American Medical Association in February saying those procedures should be generally postponed to adulthood. 

Still, Democrats in Congress have not made a clear attempt to calibrate on transgender issues.

Just a handful of Democrats crossed party lines in 2025 to vote for GOP-authored legislation that would have criminalized child sex changes. Kean was among nearly all Republicans who supported the bill.

TOP SCHOOL DISTRICT PUT ON NOTICE AS WATCHDOG GROUP THREATENS LEGAL ACTION OVER GENDER POLICY

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates Kean’s re-election bid a “toss-up.” The election prognosticator downgraded the race for Republicans last year after Gov. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., carried the swing district by two points.

Shah entered April with nearly $1.4 million in the bank, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. Navy veteran Rebecca Bennett and businessman Brian Valera, who are also vying for the Democratic nomination ahead of the June primary, have posted similar fundraising numbers.

Kean’s campaign notably dwarfs the field with roughly $3.4 million cash on hand. 

The GOP incumbent, who fended off a competitive Democratic challenge in 2024, has come under recent scrutiny for a prolonged absence from Congress due to an unspecified health issue.

Kean has missed 52 roll call votes in the House since March 17, amounting to a 100% absence rate, according to GovTrack, a website that monitors congressional activities. 

“My doctors continue to assure me that my recovery will be complete and that I will be back to the job I love very soon,” he said in a statement last week. “I expect to return to a full schedule and be at 100 percent.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is ramping up efforts to crack down on food stamp fraud nationwide, targeting what officials say is a loophole allowing some wealthy individuals to qualify for government benefits.

Secretary Brooke Rollins posted on X this week that a single state has 14,000 individuals on SNAP benefits who also drive luxury vehicles like Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis. 

She warned fraudsters the USDA is working to close a loophole under the Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility policy used to qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits despite having the financial means to purchase cars for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Rollins told Fox Business this week that the department is “getting very, very close to being able to fix that” loophole.

FOOD-STAMP FRAUD NUMBERS EXPOSE WHICH STATES ARE DRAINING THE MOST TAXPAYER DOLLARS

SNAP, the largest federal anti-hunger program in the United States, has long been a target of conservatives pushing for reforms, and Rollins spoke to “The Ingraham Angle” on Thursday night to shed light on just how widespread some of the issues are.

“We’ve found 500,000 people getting more than one benefit illegally. We found 244,000 dead people. This is just the red states,” Rollins said about what she’s discovered going through the data from the states that have agreed to provide it since her first day on the job.

“We have arrested 895 different people in the last year for illegally using the food stamp system and, of course, now we’re talking about what is happening with that money.”

USDA data shows 4.2 million fewer food stamp recipients during President Trump’s first year in office as the administration continues to crack down amid reports from all across the country that food stamps are being misused.

NEW SNAP WORK REQUIREMENTS TAKE EFFECT IN MORE STATES UNDER TRUMP-BACKED LAW

“Food stamp waste and fraud is out of control,” Republican congressional candidate in Orange County and CAL DOGE Director Jenny Rae Le Roux told Fox News Digital. “California alone loses nearly $14 million every day from SNAP to EBT skimming, out-of-state and country beneficiaries and eligibility lapses at a time when technology exists to close every gap, quickly.”

In March, Fox News Digital reported on a Minnesota man, Rob Undersander, who said that despite being a millionaire, he was able to qualify for food stamps. Undersander has been sounding the alarm on the issue ever since and has testified on the issue in Minnesota and before Congress.

“Reintroducing basic guardrails like an asset test is a commonsense step to restore integrity, ensure benefits go to those who truly need them and protect the long-term viability of the program,” America First Policy Institute Health & Harvest Campaign Director Matt Schmid said in March. 

“This isn’t about taking help away. It’s about making sure SNAP works the way it was intended to.”

Additionally, the USDA issued a press release Thursday outlining the “reorganization” plan Rollins has within the SNAP program, which includes moving food nutrition resources and staff out of Washington, D.C. to other cities like Indianapolis, Dallas, Denver and Kansas City.

A USDA spokesperson told Fox News Digital Friday the announcement “aligns with the Food and Nutrition Administration’s mission, to nourish those in need through financially sound programs that promote health and work, as well as champion the productivity of American agriculture.”

“As the Food and Nutrition Administration begins its refocusing of operations, all 16 federal nutrition programs will continue without disruption. Pertaining to Indianapolis, it has a lower cost of living, one of the top airports in the country, and has excelled at innovative program delivery.”

Ultimately, the administration says the reforms will end up helping the people who depend on the assistance the most.

“Since its inception, SNAP has helped our most vulnerable citizens afford the essential and nutritious food they need,” Rollins and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in a Fox News op-ed in March. “At least, that is what the program is supposed to do.

“Over time, however, SNAP has been taken advantage of, allowing many to game the system and leaving millions of vulnerable Americans without healthy, nutrient-dense food options.”

Fox News Digital’s Katelyn Caralle contributed to this report.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., pushed back against criticism of U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner over his “Nazi tattoo” and past online comments, arguing that Platner’s behavior may be linked to PTSD stemming from his deployment to Afghanistan and that he deserves a second chance.

Platner, an Army and Marine Corps veteran, is vying to unseat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Now that Maine Gov. Janet Mills suspended her Senate campaign Thursday, Platner has become the leading Democratic candidate in Maine’s U.S. Senate race.

In an interview with Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer, Van Hollen described Platner as a candidate that “can beat Susan Collins” and appeal to a broad coalition of supporters, particularly blue-collar workers, labor groups and Native American tribes. Van Hollen said although Platner has had his “ups and downs,” he has proven able to connect with voters.

SEE IT: BILLBOARDS EMERGE AS GOP CAMPAIGN TROLLS ‘FAKE INDEPENDENT’ SENATE CANDIDATE WITH SOCIALIST THEME

“The dude has a Nazi tattoo,” Sherman asked. “How do you view that?” He went on to suggest that would be “disqualifying” to run for office.

“Let’s take a couple issues, including the comments he’s made in the past,” Van Hollen said. “I mean, he’s been very clear that he went into combat on behalf of the United States. He went through a really rough period, a PTSD-type period.”

“He himself said there are lots of things he’s done and said that he completely regrets, and I do believe people should have second chances and that people can learn from their mistakes, and I think he’s been doing that,” Van Hollen continued.

In October, Platner told reporters that a tattoo on his chest resembling the Totenkopf, a skull-and-crossbones symbol associated with Nazi police, had been covered.

In past Reddit posts, Platner said he was a “communist,” accused rural White Americans of being racist and stupid, and said police officers were “bastards.” Platner said he was seeking “to get a rise out of people” with his Reddit posts.

Platner has received the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and shares his vision of implementing socialist policies like “Medicare-for-all” and dismantling the billionaire class.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito pushed back on claims this week that ending deportation protections for Haitian migrants was racially motivated, pressing an attorney to explain how that argument works when the policy has been applied broadly to migrants from many countries.

“You have a really large — you have a really broad definition of who’s White and who’s not White,” Alito, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said during oral arguments, challenging a claim leveled by the migrants’ lawyer that the Trump Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intentionally targeted non-White migrants when it decided to terminate their temporary protected status (TPS).

The exchange came as the Supreme Court weighed a high-stakes case over the Trump administration’s authority to end TPS protections for tens of thousands of Haitian and Syrian migrants. 

The high court’s decision could strip their legal protections and have similar implications for hundreds of thousands of other migrants, meaning DHS could then move to detain and deport them.

TRUMP FOES MELT DOWN THAT SCOTUS IS UNLEASHING ‘RACIAL TERROR’ ON US WITH ICE RAID RULING

Congress created temporary protected status as a form of protection for migrants fleeing war and natural disaster, and the law requires DHS officials to periodically review whether an origin country qualifies under those terms.

Attorney Geoffrey Pipoly, representing migrants during oral arguments, argued the courts had some authority to review DHS’ temporary protected status decisions and that the government’s decision to end the protected status for Haitians, in particular, did not follow the law because it was driven by racial bias against “non-White immigrants.”

“The president has disparaged Haitian TPS holders specifically as undesirables from a ‘s—hole country,’ and days after falsely accusing them of ‘eating the dogs and eating the cats of Americans,’ he vowed that he would terminate Haiti’s TPS, and that is exactly what happened,” Pipoly said.

Alito grilled the lawyer over the claim, noting the government’s temporary protected status terminations applied to a range of countries.

“Do you think that if you put Syrians, Turks, Greeks and other people who live around the Mediterranean in a lineup, do you think you could say those people, that all of them, are they all non-White?” Alito asked.

“I don’t like dividing the people of the world into these groups.”

Alito began to test Pipoly on which bucket he would sort various nationalities into, White versus non-White, leading Pipoly to argue that the bar for finding racial animus was low.

SCOTUS TO REVIEW TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

“Irrespective of how you do the classification … bare dislike of an unpopular group is a sufficient basis,” Pipoly said.

The case is centered on whether courts can review the government’s TPS decisions and the processes that went into reaching those decisions. Migrants’ lawyers have also made arguments that DHS officials failed to properly assess a country’s conditions or relied on unlawful factors, such as whether termination was of national interest.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) told the Supreme Court those decisions are not subject to judicial review and fall solely under the purview of the executive branch. The DOJ warned that allowing challenges could open the door to widespread litigation over immigration policy. 

The migrants’ lawyers, meanwhile, argued in court papers that the DOJ had taken an “extreme position that would insulate flagrantly unlawful executive action from judicial review.”

COURT OF APPEALS TO HEAR ORAL ARGUMENTS IN HIGH-PROFILE DEPORTATION SUIT INVOLVING VENEZUELAN NATIONALS

The conservative justices appeared largely sympathetic to the Trump administration’s arguments, while the liberal justices zeroed in on whether Homeland Security’s alleged racial bias could be unconstitutional.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama appointee, suggested Trump’s public claim that migrants are “poisoning the blood of America” would be a violation of constitutional prohibitions on discrimination by the government, since it was “showing that a discriminatory purpose may have played a part in this decision” to end temporary protected status. 

Homeland Security has already terminated the legal status of migrants from six countries, including Venezuela and Honduras, moves that the Supreme Court temporarily greenlit through previous emergency requests. The high court is making a decision on the merits regarding the Haitians and Syrians, meaning it will carry finality and could apply more broadly.

The status of migrants from seven other countries remains on hold while the case is pending, including more than 6,000 Syrian and almost 350,000 Haitian migrants, as well as those from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Yemen, Somalia and South Sudan.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling by the end of June.

Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security lambasted Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the state’s refusal to cooperate with ICE after an illegal immigrant convicted of child sexual abuse was released from jail despite calls for state officials to turn him over to federal authorities.

Both Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have repeatedly criticized the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement posture, with the mayor comparing President Donald Trump’s America to Jefferson Davis’ Confederacy.

Johnson has accused Trump of “declar[ing] war on Chicago” and using DHS as a “private, militarized, occupying force,” while pledging to fight them in the streets, the legislature and the judiciary. The state operates under the Illinois TRUST Act, a law championed by Springfield Democrats and signed by former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner that prohibits the use of state and local resources for most civil immigration enforcement purposes.

“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,” Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

NOEM, IN ILLINOIS, CALLS OUT GOV. PRITZKER, CHICAGO’S MAYOR OVER THEIR HANDLING OF CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“Where is the investigation into his own policies that allowed this pedophile to be released from jail and be loose in Illinois communities?” she added of the Hyatt Hotels heir and potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.

Bis called on Pritzker to “end this insanity and stop releasing pedophiles into our communities.”

DHS told Fox News Digital exclusively that ICE officers went to Chicago and arrested Guatemalan national Erik Giovanni-Quiroa, who had been released from jail after his ICE detainer was ignored following a conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a five-year-old child.

DUFFY GIVES ILLINOIS 30-DAY ULTIMATUM AFTER AUDIT FINDS 1 IN 5 NONCITIZEN TRUCK LICENSES ISSUED ILLEGALLY

Giovanni-Quiroa, who also had a 2011 firearm-battery conviction, was given a three-year sentence on the pedophilia charge but ICE instead encountered him on the streets.

Last week, ICE conducted a targeted vehicle stop and arrested Giovanni-Quiroa after his detainer was denied, forcing agents to locate him themselves.

Officials said Giovanni-Quiroa refused to stop and briefly fled before being placed in federal custody.

Bis said “sanctuary” politicians in Illinois and elsewhere continue to wrongly protect criminal illegal immigrants and allow them to reoffend and perpetrate additional crimes against Americans.

ICE previously called on Illinois law enforcement to begin honoring ICE detainers, as Director Todd Lyons wrote to Attorney General Kwame Raoul noting that DHS says more than 4,000 illegal immigrants are in state custody.

Giovanni-Quiroa illegally entered the U.S. under the second Bush administration and has been essentially a beneficiary of the aforementioned TRUST Act.

In the heat of “Operation: Midway Blitz” in June, Raoul published a memo reiterating key provisions of the law as a “refresher for Illinois law enforcement agencies.”

“It is important to note, however, that although the Illinois TRUST Act prevents the use of state and local resources for civil immigration enforcement purposes, it does not prevent law enforcement officers from taking action to maintain peace and ensure public safety within their jurisdiction,” Raoul wrote.

“Although some provisions of federal immigration statutes are criminal, deportation and removability are matters of civil law, not criminal law [and] whether an individual is lawfully present in the United States is a question of federal civil immigration law.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Raoul for comment on the current case, as well as Pritzker and Johnson.

When Rauner signed the TRUST Act in 2017, he said it would “continue Illinois’ history of welcoming immigrants and help law enforcement focus on stopping violent crime and protecting Illinois residents.”

In that statement, Rauner also cited a federal court decision from the Chicago-based Northern District of Illinois in which an Obama-appointed judge whom President Joe Biden later promoted to an appeals court found flaws in ICE’s detainer process.

Judge John Z. Lee said in his 2019 order in Jimenez-Moreno v. Napolitano that immigration detainer orders exceeded DHS’ statutory authority but he also acknowledged a Philadelphia federal court ruling that ICE detainer requests do not violate the Tenth Amendment as alleged.

Henrilynn Ibezim, a former Democratic mayoral candidate in New Jersey, pleaded guilty to forging nearly 1,000 voter registration applications during the 2021 Democratic primary, New Jersey’s Office of the Attorney General announced Thursday.

During the 2021 Democratic primary for Plainfield, New Jersey’s mayoral seat, Ibezim allegedly brought a garbage bag filled with around 1,000 falsified voter registration applications to a post office in Elizabeth, New Jersey, with the intention of mailing them to Union County’s registration commissioner.

Of the 1,000 applications, most were completed with the handwriting of only three or four people, according to the attorney general. None of the slips were marked as completed by somebody other than the voter whom they were supposed to represent.

Ibezim also attempted to coach a witness who helped him fill out the applications on how to respond to law enforcement questions, telling the witness not to “admit anything,” the attorney general’s office previously said.

Despite his efforts, Ibezim, who was running on the Unity Party ticket, received only 103 votes in the primary and lost to Plainfield’s current Mayor Adrian O. Mapp.

SELF-PROCLAIMED DEMOCRATIC ‘SUPER MAYOR’ ORDERED TO COURT AS SCANDAL-PLAGUED TENURE UNRAVELS

Ibezim pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree forgery Monday as part of a plea agreement with the attorney general’s office. He had originally been charged with eight counts of various criminal offenses, including election fraud and witness tampering, but those charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Prosecutors will recommend that Ibezim serve probation as punishment, according to the statement. He is due for sentencing in June.

“My office is determined to ensure elections are fair and that their outcomes are determined by the will of the voters,” Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement.

MEET ANALILIA MEJIA, THE SANDERS-AOC BACKED PROGRESSIVE WHO JUST WON ELECTION TO CONGRESS

“It is crucial to our system of government that those who engage in illegal and bad-faith conduct during elections be held accountable. Failing to do so opens the door to a loss of public confidence in the democratic process,” she concluded.

A political firestorm erupted this week after a Washington, D.C., internal police email appeared to reprimand rank-and-file officers for body camera footage allegedly showing them “finess[ing]” their way out of making arrests on reasonable grounds.

The news comes as the Trump administration cracks down on crime in the District of Columbia at the federal level. While crime rates have steadily declined from a peak in 2023, the nation’s capital continues to suffer per-capita violent crime at higher rates than the national average, according to FBI data.

The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that its brass had rescinded an email sent by the captain for Sector 2 of the Sixth Police District, which covers areas north of Marion Barry Avenue and east of the John Philip Sousa Bridge.

“We are seeing more and more BWCs [body-worn cameras] where officers are not making arrests where probable cause or RAS [reasonable amount of suspicion] is apparent. This is leading to complaints to IAD (internal affairs division) and OPC, and it is also leaving victims and complainants unprotected by the police,” wrote Capt. Jerome Merrill.

CRIME-RIDDEN BLUE CITIES STRUGGLE TO COMBAT SHRINKING POLICE FORCES AS FEDS STEP IN TO CLEAN UP CHAOS

Merrill’s letter, first obtained by Washington’s CBS affiliate, said the situation is getting many police officials in trouble for failing to recognize or correct classifications of interactions with the public.

“Please do not try and finesse your way out of an arrest it is not worth the consequences I assure you,” the memo said, urging police to make arrests or apply for warrants before detectives need to follow up on them.

The department told Fox News Digital the information in the email was “incorrect” and that MPD is investigating.

Asked about the situation and whether arrests can be made on reasonable suspicion in any context, former Supreme Court Chief of Police Ross Swope told Fox News Digital that the distinction is “not only typical of most departments, it is the law.”

Swope, who served for decades with the MPD and later wrote texts on police ethics and internal operations, said probable cause requires more than reasonable suspicion.

“It requires a higher degree of certainty,” he said. “[Probable cause] is when the facts and circumstances within an officer’s knowledge would lead a reasonable person to believe that a crime has been committed for which a summary arrest may be permitted.”

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He said Merrill may have viewed body cams and believed in his own view that arrests should have been made, but that he was wrong to instruct officers to make arrests based solely on reasonable suspicion.

Fox News Digital also reached out to the D.C. Police Union for comment but did not receive a response.

But Union President Gregg Pemberton told the CBS affiliate after the fact that he essentially, independently, agreed with Swope.

“The Union has reviewed Captain Merrill’s email and determined that the reason that our members are not making arrests based on reasonable articulable suspicion is because that’s illegal,” Pemberton told the outlet.

“We would expect a captain of a police patrol district to know that, but unfortunately, this command staff official has proven himself uninformed and incapable of managing police operations in the District of Columbia,” he added.

Katie Wilson, Seattle’s new self-proclaimed socialist mayor, sparked a social media firestorm after she gave her take on reports that millionaires are fleeing Washington state due to taxes and various far-left policies.

While speaking at a forum at Seattle University earlier this month, the new Democratic mayor said, “I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are like super overblown.”

“And the ones that leave, like, bye,” she continued, waving her hand and laughing. Though the line drew laughs and applause from those in the auditorium, it did not go over as well online, as conservatives quickly blasted the new Seattle mayor.

“Seattle’s Socialist Mayor responds to exodus of wealth from Washington State by saying “BYE” … then laughing. We’re doomed,” wrote Brandi Kruse.

MAMDANI’S RACIAL EQUITY PLAN A HIDDEN ‘MOVING THE GOALPOSTS’ PLOY TO JUSTIFY MASSIVE GOV EXPANSION: EXPERT

Kruse’s post has been seen over 4 million times on social media as of Friday morning.

Popular conservative account “End Wokeness” also posted on X, writing, “Mayor Wilson seems to welcome the idea of a wealth exodus from Seattle. This is the FA part. FO coming soon.”

“Enjoy, Seattle,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X.

SOCIALIST MAYOR-ELECT REVEALS WHY SHE EMBRACED HER PARENTS GIVING HER MONEY AS A 43-YEAR-OLD

“What do socialists think happens when the most productive, highest revenue driving members of their tax base leave their jurisdictions?” Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts posted on X.

“Socialists are driven by hate for the rich, not concern for the poor,” Manhattan Institute scholar Daniel Di Martino posted on X.

“This is the reaction of a spoiled child whose parents paid her bills up until the point that she became mayor… She has no grasp of reality or economics,” comedian Tim Young posted on X. “Seattle is extra cooked.”

Discovery Institute Senior Journalism Fellow Jonathan Chose posted on X, “Seattle, you voted for this.”

“This clip will live in infamy,” the Washington State Republican Party posted on X. “@MayorofSeattle Katie Wilson is not only unfit to be mayor, she lacks grace and gratitude. Perhaps, she’s the one who should leave #Seattle.”

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

Wilson shocked many political observers when she was elected Seattle’s mayor last year, and many chalked up her victory to her ability to tap into a similar voting bloc that socialist Zohran Mamdani used on his way to becoming New York City’s next mayor.

Earlier this month, Fox News Digital reported on city advocates who say they are struggling to find solutions as homelessness and open-air drug use spread across Seattle’s streets, amid growing concerns about the direction of Wilson’s new administration.

“You can just see the foil is like blowing down the sidewalks like autumn leaves,” Andrea Suarez, founder and executive director of We Heart Seattle, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

“Very common to see property damage of our parks and shared spaces. You can see Narcan is used to reverse an overdose, so you’ll see cartridges. But at least we’re remodeling the bathroom to be gender-neutral. I’m not [kidding] you, that’s where our priorities are.” 

Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum and Rachel Del Guidice contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Minnesota Republican lawmaker Kristin Robbins, chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, announced on Friday she is ending her gubernatorial campaign to replace embattled Gov. Tim Walz.

“It was not a tough decision to get into the race 10 months ago,” Robbins exclusively told Fox News Digital. “We could not allow Tim Walz to have a third term in Minnesota. He’s destroyed our state, and we had to stop him, and so, I think I made a great case for that, and because of all my work on the fraud committee he got out nine months ahead of schedule, which is great.”

Robbins continued, “Once Senator Klobuchar became sort of the anointed candidate to replace him, I just think the establishment kind of circled the wagons and, you know, it became a challenging endeavor, and I’m a realist, and I am a numbers person, and when I look at the math, I don’t see a path for me to win.”

Weeks after Walz dropped his re-election bid in January amid a massive fraud scandal that unfolded during his watch, Sen. Amy Klobuchar jumped into the race, bringing her deep political backing and name recognition with her as the presumptive nominee for the Democrats.

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Robbins told Fox News Digital she determined it was better to “bow out” and find a “new way to contribute” due to love of her state and the realization that there are “many ways to serve.”

In terms of what’s next, Robbins says she hasn’t had the time to give that much thought but said she is focused on closing out the current legislative session and said “there’s a lot of big things going on in the front committee.”

“I know where the bodies are buried,” Robbins said about the fraud situation, pointing out that there is much more work to be done to get answers on how the billions of dollars in fraud was allowed to go unchecked for so long.

MN LAWMAKER TAKES ACTION TO GET ANSWERS ON OMAR’S ALLEGED FRAUD TIES AFTER SHE SKIPS KEY HEARING: ‘GHOSTED US’

With Robbins exiting the race, the Republicans vying to win the gubernatorial primary include Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, healthcare executive Kendall Qualls, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and several other lesser known candidates.

Robbins told Fox News Digital she will “not be endorsing anyone.”

“That will be up to the voters to decide, and I wish all the other candidates well,” Robbins said.

Ultimately, Robbins says her “overwhelming thought” is “gratitude” when she looks back on her campaign.

“I am so grateful for the last ten months of going all over the state meeting Minnesotans from every walk of life and to have had the privilege to run for governor and meet all these amazing people and hear their stories, be inspired by what they want for Minnesota,” Robbins said. “I am just so grateful and so privileged.”

Robbins says that going forward, the “answers” are not going to come from the capitol in St. Paul, but rather “from the communities and from the people” and she “looks forward to plugging into that.”