NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Rep. Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who likely harbors national ambitions in 2028, is turning up the volume in his broadsides against Vice President JD Vance, the heir apparent to President Donald Trump.

In two high-profile speeches this week – in the vice president’s home state of Ohio on Monday and Tuesday at Yale Law School, where both politicians earned their legal degrees – Khanna trained his verbal fire on Vance.

Khanna accused Vance of working to “win public adulation by stoking anger and treating legal limits as nuisances to be ignored.” 

While Vance has not called on Trump to ignore Supreme Court rulings, the vice president, in a closely watched social media post two months ago, criticized moves by federal judges to block the Trump administration’s controversial efforts to dramatically downsize the federal workforce. Vance argued that the judges were trying to “control the executive’s legitimate power.” 

RO KHANNA JABS AT JD VANCE IN VICE PRESIDENT’S HOME STATE

“Vance says the president, elected by the people, should tell the court what the Constitution means, and if the court disagrees, let them try to enforce their ruling — that the president, as a co-equal, may simply ignore the court’s judgment of the law,” Khanna argued in his Tuesday speech.

Khanna – spotlighting the controversial case of a Salvadoran citizen (who the Trump administration alleges was an MS-13 gang member) who had lived in Maryland for about 15 years that the Justice Department said was deported to El Salvador due to an “administrative error” – highlighted Vance’s response.

VANCE DOUBLES DOWN AFTER TRUMP ADMIN ADMITS ‘ERROR’ SENDING MAN TO SALVADORAN PRISON

“Let me say this as clearly as I can: JD Vance, your cold indifference to the lives of vulnerable immigrants betrays every principle that this law school was built to uphold,” Khanna charged. “Your affiliation with this law school is now a stain on the degree of every Yale graduate.”

Vance’s political team did not appear to be too concerned about Khanna’s repeated verbal attacks.

“Yawn,” a top political adviser to Vance told Fox News when asked about Khanna’s comments. The adviser described Khanna as an “ankle biter,” which is slang for a relatively minor or irritating person or problem.

Khanna’s speech in New Haven was followed by a day an economic address at the City Club of Cleveland, where the congressman contrasted his vision for America’s “new economic patriotism” with the future of the GOP with Vance at the helm. 

Responding to the visit, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou told Fox News Digital that “Khanna is a far-left socialist from one of the wealthiest and wokest congressional districts in America. He served as an official surrogate for both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. This speech is nothing but another desperate plea for attention from another elitist politician wholly out-of-touch with Middle Class voters like those in Ohio.”

Plenty of Democratic Party leaders have turned up the volume in their pushback against Trump’s sweeping and controversial actions to upend the federal government and policy. Also in the Democrats’ crosshairs is the president’s most visible White House adviser – billionaire Elon Musk – who, through his role steering the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has taken a sledgehammer to the federal work.

However, Khanna is taking the lead among Democrats in shaping Vance – who at this extremely early stage in the 2028 race is viewed as the GOP nomination front-runner – as the Republican bogeyman.

When asked if he was trolling Vance, Khanna said in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of his speech at Yale that the vice president is “trolling all of us. He’s the one who has made the argument that the court should not be listened to,” before adding a litany of other examples. Additionally, Khanna pointed to what he described as Vance’s “dangerous attacks on universities, the Supreme Court and the rule of law.”

Noting rising economic uncertainties and the recent massive stock market sell-off triggered by the initial implementation of Trump’s tariffs on nations across the globe, Khanna suggested that Vance may not have the 2028 Republican nomination to himself.

“Well, after the markets and the economy and the tariffs, I’m not sure he’s going to get the nomination. I think that others may emerge,” Khanna predicted.

He stressed that the vice president “is the one person who is trying to give most argument to MAGA philosophy. He’s the one who’s called the university’s the enemy. He’s the only one who said the Supreme Court should be defied. He’s the one who’s been defending this high tariff policy. And so we need to take on his arguments and offer a counter to defeat them.”

HERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY EVENTUALLY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028

However, when asked if his attacks on Vance were an early 2028 positioning move, Khanna responded that “what I’m doing is providing an intellectual foundation for the Democratic Party.”

Khanna emphasized that “we have to have a whole rebrand of the Democratic Party with a coherent platform and a future-oriented platform, and many leaders need to do that. New leaders, not the old guard. And I hope to be part of that.”

Khanna has been crisscrossing the country the past couple of months, taking a lead in amplifying the Democrats’ message in resisting Trump.

When asked if Democratic Party leaders need to be more vocal, Khanna quickly said yes.

“We need more from our leadership. And you know, if you’re not willing to speak up about someone being snatched away from their home and deported without due process, you probably shouldn’t be in elective office as a Democrat right now,” he said. “We need Democrats speaking out, not just on the economy. We need them speaking out on civil liberties, on the rights of immigrants and on the rights of universities.”

Khanna also praised the recent record-breaking marathon Senate floor speech by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and the large rallies across the country being co-headlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Looking ahead to next year’s midterm elections, when House Democrats aim to topple the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the chamber, Khanna said he will continue his brisk pace on the campaign trail.

“I’m already going out to more red districts. We did three red districts in California. I’m headed out to Pennsylvania. Was invited to go out to Nebraska, to Nevada, down south to South Carolina,” he said. “So we will be campaigning in red districts. 1000s of people are showing up. I’m very, very confident that we’re going to succeed.”

In Khanna’s home state of California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited, and former Vice President Kamala Harris is mulling a 2026 gubernatorial run. 

“I think she would do well in California. She was attorney general. She was a district attorney. A lot of people care about public safety in California, we have to tackle building housing,” Khanna said of Harris. “So she would have a lot of support if she does it. Of course, it’s her decision.”

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey and Emma Woodhead contributed to this report

While American taxpayers are familiar with the annual rigmarole of filing their federal taxes and realizing just how much of their hard-earned money Uncle Sam is taking away, several House Republicans are pushing a proposal to take some things away from the Internal Revenue Service: Guns and ammunition.

The “Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act” would disarm the federal agency, prohibiting the commissioner of internal revenue from using funds to buy, receive or store firearms and ammo, and requiring the transfer of IRS firearms and ammunition to the Administrator of General Services. 

The guns would then be sold or auctioned to licensed dealers and the ammo would be auctioned to the public. 

Proceeds would go to “the general fund of the Treasury for the sole purpose of deficit reduction,” the measure stipulates.

TRUMP SAYS THERE’S A ‘REAL CHANCE’ TARIFFS COULD REPLACE INCOME TAX

The bill states that “there are transferred to the Department of Justice the authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, which shall be maintained as a distinct entity within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, including the related functions of the Secretary of the Treasury.”

Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., introduced the measure, which is backed by three original cosponsors: GOP Reps. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Mary Miller of Illinois, and Clay Higgins of Louisiana. 

The IRS says on its website that its “mission is to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and to enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.”

WHITE HOUSE QUIETLY FLOATS MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKE PROPOSAL IN CONGRESS AS GOP LEADERS SIGNAL OPPOSITION

But Moore claimed that the federal agency has regularly been “weaponized.”

“The IRS has consistently been weaponized against American citizens, targeted religious organizations, journalists, gun owners, and everyday Americans,” Moore asserted, according to a press release. 

“Arming these agents does not make the American public safer. My legislation, the Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act, would disarm these agents, auction off their guns to Federal Firearms License Owners, and sell their ammunition to the public. The only thing IRS agents should be armed with are calculators.”

HAWLEY URGES REPUBLICANS TO CUT TAXES FOR WORKING-CLASS VOTERS WHO ‘PUT TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE’

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In an April 15 post on X Moore noted, “Tax Day is a great reminder that it’s time for the IRS to stop wasting our taxpayer dollars stockpiling guns and ammo.”

The Trump administration is mulling a proposal that would slash the State Department budget by $27 billion – nearly in half – and shutter smaller embassies and consulates across the globe. 

The proposal calls for the elimination of funding for more than 20 international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and the Organization of American States, a diplomatic source in possession of the document told Fox News Digital. 

The U.S. contributed around $13 billion to the United Nations in 2023 and around $3.5 billion to NATO. The proposed budget calls for allocating $2 billion for “America First” priorities. Those coffers could be used for “specific partners” like India and Jordan, according to the document, or broader priorities, like the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. 

However, a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday, “there is no final plan, final budget.” 

PETE MAROCCO, MASTERMIND BEHIND DISMANTLING OF USAID PROJECTS, LEAVES STATE DEPARTMENT

The proposal is an early draft and has to pass layers of approval within the administration before it even gets to Congress. Congress can then take it as an outline but ultimately draw up its own budget figures. 

The foreign service travel budget and benefits would be scaled back, and the Fulbright scholarship program would be eliminated.

The document calls for a 2% reduction in diplomatic security, cuts to the inspector general’s office and the closure of smaller embassies in countries such as the Maldives, Malta, Luxembourg and the Central African Republic.

It also proposes a 54% cut to global public health funding, with carve-outs for malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis, and a complete elimination of international peacekeeping funds.

When asked about the budget plan during a State Department briefing, spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, “Throughout the history of the United States, everyone has a budget plan and everyone has ideas for budgets. And every president has a budget plan and sends it to Congress. And then Congress either accepts it or they have their own ideas, which happens more often than not.”

“There is no final plan, final budget,” she emphasized. 

The Trump administration has moved quickly to dismantle foreign aid, eliminating nearly 90% of USAID projects and merging the agency with the State Department and defunding “soft power” institutions like Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting networks. 

STATE DEPARTMENT WILL ABSORB REMAINING USAID PROGRAMMING AS INDEPENDENT AGENCY IS DISMANTLED

The White House budget is set to be transferred to Congress next month before the Republican-led House and Senate get to work on passing appropriations bills for each agency of government. 

Meanwhile, agencies are expected to present their own plans for reorganization to the White House this week, outlining what cuts they believe are necessary to further shrink the federal government. The State Department has not yet publicly detailed its plans for downsizing. 

As reports of the cuts emerged, Democrats warned that U.S. adversaries would fill the vacuum left by America around the world. 

The cuts “would leave our country alone and exposed and allow China and Russia to fill the vacuum made vacant by this administration,” according to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, N.H., top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. 

“Why in the world would we cut funding for NATO at a moment when war is raging in Europe and security threats on the continent grow?” she added.

It is not clear whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio endorses the initial proposal. “I want to hear from Secretary Rubio directly,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, Hawaii, top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that handles State funding, calling the reports “deeply troubling.”

President Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against Harvard University on Wednesday, saying the institution is a “joke.”

Trump spoke out on social media Wednesday after Harvard refused to comply with requirements from the Department of Education (DOE) to address antisemitism and other issues on campus. He also blasted Harvard for hiring Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot, the former mayors of New York City and Chicago respectively.

“These two Radical Left fools left behind two cities that will take years to recover from their incompetence and evil. Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,'” Trump wrote.

“Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress,” he continued. “Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges. Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”

HARVARD WON’T COMPLY WITH TRUMP ADMIN’S DEMANDS AMID THREATS OF CUTTING FEDERAL FUNDING

Trump’s administration withheld $2.2 billion in federal funding from Harvard after the university refused to work with the DOE.

In a statement on Monday, Harvard University President Alan Garber said the terms of the agreement make “clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner.”

TRUMP ADMIN SLASHES OVER $2.2B IN FUNDING TO HARVARD AFTER SCHOOL DEFIES DEMANDS

“Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the intellectual conditions at Harvard,” Garber wrote.

Trump and other prominent Republicans have also proposed taxing the endowments of Harvard and other Ivy League schools. Harvard holds an endowment of over $50 billion, while the other seven Ivy League schools total nearly $140 billion in endowments.

MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE

“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’” Trump wrote earlier this week.

“Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” the president added. 

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has also proposed taxing Ivy League schools to offset the costs of passing tax cuts for working-class Americans.

FIRST ON FOX: Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn sent a letter Tuesday to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) calling on the medical school to comply with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs at educational institutions. 

The letter comes after VUMC reportedly took steps to hide many of its DEI resources as opposed to getting rid of them, following the president’s Executive Orders.

Consumers Research, a conservative nonprofit that was following medical schools’ responses to Trump’s orders on ending DEI discovered that VUMC was taking steps to hide some of theirs behind password-protected web pages. In response to criticism, a VUMC spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time that it was undergoing “a thorough review” of its programs to figure out “where revisions may be required to remain in compliance, including updating information on websites and other public platforms.”

VANDERBILT MED CENTER ‘HIDING’ DEI RESOURCES BEHIND PASSWORD-PROTECTED WEB PAGES: REPORT

According to an updated review, VUMC’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion website remains behind a password-protected web page. Same with the DEI web page on VUMC’s Department of Medicine website, resources touting “climate care is health care,” and a web page for the school’s “Inaugural Climate Change Action & Sustainability Summit.” Other resources which had previously appeared to be hidden behind password protected web pages – rather than deleted – such as a YouTube video about “The War on DEI,” appear to have been deleted since criticism over the matter was unleashed against the school.

“Offices such as the Office of Health Equity, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Office for Diversity Affairs are seemingly still active,” Blackburn said in her letter. “These offices have advocated for ‘collectively addressing systemic inequities’ and ‘confronting structural racism.’” Among the priorities of this program, was to hire “diverse biomedical researchers,” Black burn pointed out. 

Blackburn also noted that VUMC was the recipient of more than $66 million this fiscal year from the National Institutes of Health – alone. Meanwhile, VUMC has invested over $17 million to support its “DEI and Belonging Program,” she said. 

“This is only one of many examples of VUMC investing in DEI initiatives instead of lifesaving medical research,” Blackburn’s letter continued. “Additionally, VUMC’s track record on embracing harmful woke initiatives is grim,” Blackburn added. “VUMC has previously performed sex-change surgeries on minors before suspending the program after public outrage.”

RED STATE LAWMAKERS WARNED ABOUT ALLEGEDLY ACCEPTING ‘DEI DOLLARS’ FROM HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: WATCHDOG

VUMC was investigated by Tennessee’s Attorney General’s Office in 2023 amid allegations that a doctor at VUMC was manipulating medical billing codes to evade insurance coverage-limitations for transgender treatments. The investigation followed a video released in 2022, which allegedly showed a VUMC doctor touting transgender surgeries for minors as “huge money makers” and telling anyone with a religious objection to providing them should quit.

“President Trump has been clear on this issue. His recent executive orders correctly prohibited DEI programs at federally funded research institutions and ended the recognition of gender identity apart from biological sex,” Blackburn concluded in her letter.

“As a beneficiary of federal funding, VUMC has a responsibility to align with the President’s executive orders and return to a focus on lifesaving research as opposed to woke DEI initiatives. Instead of covering up VUMC’s DEI initiatives, I urge you to comply with President Trump’s effort to responsibility allocate taxpayer dollars and immediately cease all DEI initiatives.”

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The Senator told Fox News that “discriminatory” DEI programs, such as those at VUMC, actually serve to “do more harm than good.” She also urged VUMC to “put Tennesseans first” by fully complying with the president’s Executive Orders.

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, VUMC said, “Vanderbilt University Medical Center is eliminating all DEI programs and is fully complying with Executive Actions on DEI. Shortly after the Executive Orders were issued, VUMC began removing related content on internal and external websites to reflect the termination of these programs. VUMC will continue to comply with federal mandates and directives.”

Texas will likely have its own Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) very soon after lawmakers passed a bill to create an efficiency office within the governor’s office. 

The bill, known as Senate Bill 14 (S.B. 14) and inspired by Elon Musk’s DOGE, would create a new Texas Regulatory Office which aims to streamline state regulations and eliminate unnecessary rules.

An advisory panel would also be established to work with the governor and help Texas state agencies cut red tape, eliminate unnecessary or burdensome rules and make regulations more cost-effective and transparent. The panel would be made up of business owners, researchers, state agencies and the public.

DOGE UNCOVERS MASSIVE VA CONTRACT FOR ‘SALARY SURVEY DATA AND ANALYSIS’ — SAYS IT CANCELED IT, SAVING MILLIONS

S.B. 14 has passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature and is heading to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk to be signed into law. Abbott has not publicly stated whether he will sign the bill.

The bill was authored by Weatherford Republican Phil King while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said previously that it would help save taxpayers money and grow the Texas economy by “cutting red tape.”

JASON CHAFFETZ: DEMOCRATS HAVE MADE A FATAL ERROR OPPOSING DOGE

“I prioritized SB 14 because President Trump’s creation of the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ inspired me to find ways Texas can save taxpayers and businesses money by cutting burdensome regulations,” Patrick said, according to Fox 26.

“The Texas Miracle will continue long into the 21st century because our common-sense, conservative approach to regulation will keep Texans prosperous and our economy strong.”

The bill also requires agencies to write rules in plain language, reduce paperwork and fees, and justify new rules with clear cost and benefit analyses. It also gives courts more power to challenge agency interpretations of laws, shifting legal authority away from agencies.

Additionally, it requires the development of an interactive website where the public can easily search for agency rules and forms as well as regulatory information by topic, industry, or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

The Elon Musk-led DOGE has shaken up federal bureaucracies and uncovered billions of dollars in wasteful spending. Through canceling contracts, workforce reductions and more, DOGE says it has so far saved taxpayers $155 billion. 

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is urging his Republican colleagues to double down on tax cuts for the working-class Americans who make up President Donald Trump’s base.

Hawley told Fox News Digital in an interview that tax cuts are “what Republicans are good at,” calling specifically for changes to the payroll tax. He says Americans should be able to apply income tax credits like the child tax credit, the mortgage deduction and charitable deduction, to their payroll taxes.

Hawley, who first made the push in a Tuesday op-ed for the Washington Post, says he has spoken with Trump about the potential tax breaks and the president is “very supportive.”

“These are the people who put Trump in the White House,” Hawley told Fox, referring to Americans who earn less than $80,000 per year.

ELON MUSK DUNKS ON SEN CHUCK SCHUMER, DECLARING ‘HYSTERICAL REACTIONS’ DEMONSTRATE DOGE’S IMPORTANCE

Debate over tax policy is raging in Washington as Republicans weigh what to put in Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill. Many Republicans support re-upping the 2017 tax cuts, but there are calls for more changes.

Some Republicans, including the White House, have even flirted with raising taxes on the uppermost brackets in order to offset costs.

“We’ve got this incredible national debt, and so at some point you’ve got to address the elephant in the room,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told the New York Times on Tuesday. “Can’t tell you if it’s going to happen or not.”

Hawley has also said he would support raising some taxes to offset cuts in lower tax brackets if the president makes a push for it.

TRUMP OPEN TO SENDING VIOLENT AMERICAN CRIMINALS TO EL SALVADOR PRISONS

He proposed to Fox that one path toward raising more revenue would be to start taxing the endowments of America’s largest universities.

MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE

Trump’s administration is already engaged in a pitched battle to reform America’s top educational institutions, threatening to withhold federal funding if they do not adequately address anti-Semitism and other issues on their campuses.

Harvard, the university that has pushed back the hardest on Trump’s administration, has an endowment of roughly $53 billion.

The other seven Ivy League schools have endowments totaling over $139 billion.

Regardless of offsets, however, Hawley says the top priority should be securing tax breaks for the people who voted Trump into office.

Hawley emphasized this focus in his op-ed for the Post, quoting Reagan-era columnist Robert Novak.

“God put the Republican Party on Earth to cut taxes.”

Police forcibly escorted at least six people out of a town hall being held by GOP Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday night and were forced to deploy a taser against two of the individuals.

Reporters on the ground at the event in Georgia indicated there were at least six protesters escorted from the town hall within minutes of it starting. Three of the individuals were eventually charged by police for their involvement in the disruption, including one for disorderly conduct, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 

“Put your hands behind your back!” a police officer can be heard in a video of the incident shared on social media by CBS News reporter Jared Eggleston. “F— off –” the man can be heard yelling as he disappeared off-screen behind a wall, before a loud bang could be heard followed by the sound of a taser.

VIOLENT ATTACKS FROM ANTI-MUSK, ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTERS PLAGUE NATION, COMPEL GOP LAWMAKERS TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS 

A second bang from another taser going off could be heard shortly thereafter.

Different videos from the event show a handful of others being escorted out, with some leaving on their own volition and others having to be literally dragged out by police. 

“Free Garcia,” one protester could be heard saying as they were exiting in a video posted to X, referring to Kilmar Ábrego García, who has been at the center of a deportation controversy after a federal judge said the Trump administration wrongly deported him with a group of Venezuelan gang members. 

“Free Kilmar!” another could be heard screaming repeatedly on video as they were escorted out.

PRO-LIFE JOURNALIST ASSAULTED ON STREET ASSIGNS BLAME TO DEMOCRATIC RHETORIC

At moments, as police escorted the protesters out of the town hall, Green engaged with the disruptors.  

“The protest is outside. Thank you very much,” Greene said. “If you were to sit and listen, you’re welcome to listen. Everyone across the aisle – Democrats, Independents,” she added while someone was being escorted out.  

“I’m glad they got thrown out,” Greene said following the event. “That’s exactly what I wanted to see happen … This isn’t a political rally or a protest. I held a town hall tonight. You know who was out of line? The protesters.” 

The disruption at Greene’s rally follows increased volatility at local GOP town halls. Things have gotten tense enough that the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., has told his fellow Republicans to temporarily refrain from holding in-person town hall events. 

Citing the uptick in “Democrat threats of violence,” GOP Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman followed Hudson’s advice and moved all of her in-person town halls online. The move came after an incident in which an attendee of one of her in-person events followed Hageman as she left and initiated a physical confrontation with her staff, eventually requiring police to intervene.

Green was only one of a handful of GOP members that decided to do an in-person event amid the current ongoing legislative recess, according to NBC News.

Vice President JD Vance asserted that he and President Donald Trump will not allow the “illegal migrant invasion” that occurred during President Joe Biden’s White House tenure to be ratified via “fake legal process.”

He suggested that if the people crying “lack of due process” regarding the deportation of illegal aliens do not have a proposed solution that allows the nation to remove at least several million illegal aliens annually, they do not actually want to achieve border security and expel the illegal immigrants.

“When the media and the far left obsess over an MS-13 gang member and demand that he be returned to the United States for a *third* deportation hearing, what they’re really saying is they want the vast majority of illegal aliens to stay here permanently,” Vance wrote in the lengthy Tuesday night post on X.

TWO VENEZUELAN ILLEGAL ALIENS CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING, TORTURING, ATTEMPTING TO KILL WASHINGTON STATE WOMAN

“Here’s a useful test: ask the people weeping over the lack of due process what precisely they propose for dealing with Biden’s millions and millions of illegals. And with reasonable resource and administrative judge constraints, does their solution allow us to deport at least a few million people per year?” he noted.

“If the answer is no, they’ve given their game away. They don’t want border security. They don’t want us to deport the people who’ve come into our country illegally. They want to accomplish through fake legal process what they failed to accomplish politically: The ratification of Biden’s illegal migrant invasion. President Trump and I will not stand for [it],” Vance declared.

PAM BONDI CALLS OUT ‘DETACHED FROM REALITY’ DEMS FOR DEMANDING ALLEGED MS-13 GANG MEMBER BE RETURNED TO US

The vice president asserted that American voters elected the Trump administration to fix the illegal immigration issue.

“Consider that Joe Biden allowed approximately 20 million illegal aliens into our country. This placed extraordinary burdens on our country–our schools, hospitals, housing, and other essential services were overwhelmed. On top of that, many of these illegal aliens committed violent crimes, or facilitated fentanyl and sex trafficking. That is the situation we inherited,” he wrote.

BORDER CROSSINGS HIT RECORD LOW IN MARCH THANKS TO ‘VIGILANT’ WORK OF AGENTS: REPORT

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“The American people elected the Trump administration to solve this problem. The President has successfully stopped the inflow of illegal aliens, and now we must deport the people who came here illegally,” he declared.

It’s too bad there are no cameras allowed in federal courtrooms, because I really would like to see Mark Zuckerberg testify.

He was the leadoff witness in the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Meta, and that in itself was news.

The clash is the most sweeping attempt to dismember the world’s biggest social network, and goes to the heart of how competition is defined.

HAWLEY DEMANDS ZUCKERBERG TESTIFY ON ALLEGED TIES BETWEEN META, CHINA

Not since the government broke up AT&T more than four decades ago has a mega-corporation faced the prospect of being torn apart.

The suit was filed in the first Trump term (the president couldn’t stand Facebook at the time), aggressively pursued by Joe Biden, and now has finally come to trial in a Washington courtroom.

Trump once told me Facebook was such a threat to society that he used it as justification for flip-flopping on his effort to ban TikTok. 

But since he won a second term, Zuck, like many tech bros, has been cozying up to the new sheriff in town, including a $1-million donation to the president’s inaugural.

There are reports that when the man who runs Facebook recently met with Trump, he asked about the possibility of dropping the lawsuit. Obviously, it didn’t work.

The focus of the trial is Zuckerberg’s decision to buy Instagram and WhatsApp when they were small start-ups.

FACT-CHECKING DIRECTOR WARNS OF ‘CRISIS’ AS META, TRUMP’S DOGE CUTS THREATEN THEIR ‘HONORABLE, PATRIOTIC’ WORK

The FTC’s lead lawyer questioned Zuckerberg about a platform meant to foster ties between family and friends to a concentration on showing users interesting third-party content through its news feed.

“It’s the case that over time, the ‘interest’ part of that has gotten built out more than the ‘friend’ part,” Zuckerberg said. He added that “the ‘friend’ part has gone down quite a bit, but it’s still something we care about.”

Translation: Screw the friends. Very 2010s. We’ve moved on.

Zuckerberg spoke slowly – at least according to reporters who were there – and he was back on the hot seat yesterday. FTC lawyers pressed him on a stack of emails he had sent:  

“We really need to get our act together quickly on this since Instagram’s growing so fast.

“Instagram has become a large and viable competitor to us on mobile photos, which will increasingly be the future of photos.”

WHISTLEBLOWER TELLS SENATE COMMITTEE THAT META UNDERMINED US NATIONAL SECURITY TO COZY UP TO CHINA

“If Instagram continues to kick ass on photos, or if Google buys them, then over the next few years they could easily add pieces of their service that copy what we’re doing now.” Which was a flop called Facebook Camera.

In yet another message, Zuck called Instagram’s growth “really scary,” saying “we might want to consider paying a lot of money for this.” Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, and two years later spent $19 billion on WhatsApp.

In an email to Tom Alison, head of Facebook, Z offered alternatives:

“Option 1. Double down on Friending. One potentially crazy idea is to consider wiping everyone’s graphs and having them start again.”

Alison responded: “I’m not sure Option #1 in your proposal (Double-down on Friending) would be viable given my understanding of how vital the friend use case is to IG.”

Now we come to the fascinating part.

It’s not breaking news that Mark’s judgment can be flawed. Remember when he insisted that virtual reality would be the next big thing? 

But he argues that Meta has all kinds of rivals in the “entertainment” area, such as X, TikTok and YouTube – and he easily could have added Snap, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBO’s Max. It’s all about the battle for eyeballs now. There are only so many hours in the day. Mindshare is everything.

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES

And with group chats all the rage, Meta doesn’t do well on that kind of interaction, with Instagram as a possible exception.

Now of course it’s in Zuckerberg’s self-interest to testify that he competes with anything that has a screen. But it’s not that far off the mark. Keep in mind that Meta has 4 billion active monthly users.

I sure wish we could see the embattled CEO making the case that he’s awash in a vast sea of rivals. 

President Donald Trump’s high-tech moonshot may hit a Texas-sized speed bump — and it’s coming from his own party.

Trump’s AI initiative, dubbed “Stargate,” aims to build 20 ultra-powerful data centers across the country. Backed by heavyweights like OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and the UAE-funded MGX, the project represents a $500 billion bet on the future with Texas chosen as ground zero for the first 10 centers.

But a new Texas bill, Senate Bill 6, could delay or derail that momentum. 

The legislation adds a six-month regulatory review on top of an existing 6–18-month timeline, while also requiring new fees and mandatory backup generators, doubling approval time and inflating costs.

EXCLUSIVE: WHITE HOUSE ROLLS OUT IMPLEMENTATION OF AI FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEE RECORDS

And while the legislation is pitched as a safeguard against another Winter Storm Uri-style blackout, Trump allies warn it could torpedo a generational opportunity.

“This bill would be a serious roadblock to the president’s vision,” said Vance Ginn, president of Ginn Economic Consulting and former chief economist at the White House Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. 

“It’s a misguided effort that’s rooted in fear: fear of energy scarcity, fear of AI, fear of the future.”

According to Ginn, the bill’s hefty requirements, including a $100,000 grid connection fee and a so-called “kill switch” that would let the Electric Reliability Council of Texas cut power to data centers, could end up pushing these billion-dollar projects out of Texas entirely.

“These companies aren’t just using energy,” Ginn said. “Many of them actually put excess electricity back onto the grid. So instead of hurting Texas, they help stabilize it.”

Stargate has already broken ground in Abilene, but the next 10 data centers are still up in the air. If Texas becomes too costly or complicated, experts warn the back half of the project might never happen — even as rival states like Wyoming and Tennessee court businesses without Texas’s infrastructure.

WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CHIEF WARNS CHINA IS ‘CATCHING UP’ IN AI RACE

“The Texas legislature should be working in lockstep with President Trump to build out AI infrastructure, not throwing up barriers,” Ginn added. “The AI revolution is here. If Texas fumbles this, it will fall behind.”

The bill’s sponsor, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, insists the legislation won’t hurt Trump’s agenda. “Senate Bill 6 actually ensures President Trump’s Stargate Plan is a success,” Patrick said in a statement. “We are in lockstep with the president on his goal to make America number one, and dominate China on AI, data centers, and cryptocurrency.”

Even with a Trump endorsement for Patrick’s re-election, Trump-aligned economists say the state is playing a dangerous game.

“We’re already seeing signs of this,” Ginn warned. “Microsoft has pulled back on projects. Investors are nervous. And meanwhile, China’s forging ahead.”

A Chinese startup called DeepSeek has made headlines for rolling out cutting-edge AI models in record time, triggering fresh anxiety about America’s standing in the global AI arms race.

“This isn’t just about innovation,” Ginn said. “This is national security. If we’re six months behind China, we may never catch up.”

Trump has backed up his AI push with hard policy, including a 10% blanket tariff on all imports and a steep 125% tariff on Chinese goods, announced just last week. But those tariffs could also raise the price of key data center components, from steel to electrical transformers.

Despite the tradeoffs, the Trump administration sees Stargate as a cornerstone of 21st-century American leadership in everything from education to healthcare.

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“Texas should be leading,” Ginn said. “We can’t let fear of the unknown hold us back.”

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy announced Tuesday that a $150 million federal grant had been finalized to construct a new port of entry facility and road for the San Diego-Baja California border.

As part of the agreement for the grant, Green New Deal requirements from the Biden administration, including a zero-emission vehicle charging provision, will be removed.

The DOT called the requirements a waste of taxpayer funds, taking away from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) mission toward national security.

DOT SAVES TAXPAYERS OVER $60M BY TERMINATING TEXAS HIGH-SPEED RAIL CONTRACT

The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry project was awarded a grant from the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects program in September 2022, though the project never moved forward.

“Thanks to the prior administration’s lack of focus, this critical project sat in limbo for two years. No more. We moved to finalize this deal so we can help protect our Southern border and crack down on drug trafficking while preventing tax dollars subsidizing pointless Green New Deal priorities,” Duffy said. “This department will continue to clear the previous administration’s unprecedented grants backlog and deliver results.” 

The $150 million investment will give the CBP new state-of-the-art inspection facilities, as well as a commercial vehicle enforcement facility.

DC TRANSIT POLICE OFFICER STABBED AT TRAIN STATION AS SEC SEAN DUFFY ARRIVES TO TALK SAFETY: ‘UNACCEPTABLE’

The deployment of intelligent transportation technologies to help manage traffic demand through dynamic tolling will also be included, which the DOT said will increase inspection efficiency and bolster cross-border trade.

TRANSPORTATION SEC SEAN DUFFY SLAMS BLUE-STATE GOVERNOR, SAYS CRIMINALS ‘CONTINUE TO TERRORIZE’ CITY RESIDENTS

DOT added that the project will reduce congestion, bring economic benefits and spur job creation across Southern California.

The nearly 3,600 trucks that cross the border at Otay Mesa and Tecate Ports of Entry, which are currently operating at full capacity, will have an alternative crossing once the project is complete.

The project comes after the Trump administration inherited over 3,200 grants which were promoted by the Biden administration but never followed through on, according to the DOT.

“This unprecedented backlog of unobligated grants delayed critical investments in communities across the country,” the DOT said in a news release. “Under Secretary Duffy’s leadership, the Department is working diligently to accelerate the distribution of these long-overdue funds and address core infrastructure projects.”

The Defense Department’s (DOD) deputy chief of staff was placed on administrative leave on Tuesday, following the steps of another Pentagon official earlier in the day.

Darin Selnick, the deputy chief of staff for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been removed, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News.

Selnick is under investigation for the same leak probe that saw Hegseth aide Dan Caldwell escorted out of the Pentagon by security. Both Selnick and Caldwell are on administrative leave.

According to the Pentagon’s website, Selnick is a retired Air Force officer who has worked extensively in veterans’ affairs organizations.

“Mr. Selnick leverages his extensive government and non-government experience advocating for veterans to position Service members for productive post-separation lives from the first day they put on a uniform,” the biography states.

GENERAL WHO HELPED TRUMP DECIMATE ISIS TERRORISTS IN FIRST TERM CONFIRMED AS JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN

Both Selnick and Caldwell worked for Concerned Veterans for America in the past, a group formerly led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Reuters reported that Caldwell was placed on leave for an “unauthorized disclosure,” as part of an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents.

The probe was announced last month, and concerned itself over “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.” 

HEGSETH QUIPS ‘99.9%’ OF DEI INITIATIVES ARE GONE FROM THE MILITARY UNDER TRUMP’S WATCH

“The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,” DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in a memo at the time. “This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.”

An official told Politico that the leak concerned Panama Canal plans and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon, among other matters.

More information about the leak is unknown, and there is currently no evidence to connect Caldwell or Selnick to that leak.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Former President Joe Biden, while reflecting on his youth and witnessing segregation firsthand, referred to Black students as “colored kids” in his first major address since exiting the Oval Office. 

“We lived in an apartment complex, and she’d [Biden’s mom] drive us only about half a mile to Holy Rosary School in Claymont. But it was so dangerous, she wouldn’t let us walk up,” Biden said Tuesday evening while delivering a speech on the Social Security Administration before a disability advocacy conference in Chicago. 

“There were hardly any Black people in Scranton at the time … and I was only going into fourth grade. And I remember seeing kids going by, at the time called colored kids, on a bus going by,” Biden added in his anecdote to explain the importance of civil rights laws to him and why he got involved in politics. 

The 46th president was reflecting on how his family moved from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Wilmington, Delaware, when he was in fourth grade and how he witnessed segregated schools in the nation’s second-smallest state. 

BIDEN RETURNS TO PODIUM FOR FIRST TIME TO SLAM TRUMP’S SOCIAL SECURITY PLANS: ‘WRECK IT SO THEY COULD ROB IT’

“They never turned right to go to Claymont High School,” Biden said of Black students not attending a White school. “I asked my mom why? Why? In Delaware, they’re not allowed to go to school in public school with White kids.

“And it sparked my sense of outrage as a kid, just like it does [now].” 

The Supreme Court effectively ended segregation in public schools across the country in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. 

BIDEN AIDES ‘SCRIPTED’ EVERYTHING, ALLOWED HIS FACULTIES TO ‘ATROPHY,’ NEW BOOK CLAIMS 

The former president joined the Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled (ACRD) conference in Chicago Tuesday evening, where he received the “beacon of hope award” for his accomplishments as president and addressed the gathering about the Social Security Administration, including attacking the Trump administration for its policies. 

“Why are these guys taking aim at Social Security now?” Biden asked, referring to the Trump administration. “Well, they’re following that old line from tech startups. The quote is ‘move fast, break things.’ They’re certainly breaking things. They’re shooting first and aiming later.

“The result is a lot of needless pain and sleepless nights.” 

Biden added that the Trump administration is looking to “wreck” Social Security to “rob it.” 

“My friend, Gov. O’Malley, knows what they’re really up to. He says, and I love his quote, ‘They want to wreck it so they could rob it.’ They want to wreck it so they could rob it. Why do they want to rob it? In order to deliver huge tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations and keep it going. They want to make permanent the 2017 tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefits the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations. That’s going to cost $5 trillion. Where are they going to get $5 trillion to pay for (it) when they continue to run the deficit up?

BIDEN’S TEAM HID THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS HEALTH ALL ALONG: WH PRESS SEC

“What they always do … by running up the national debt, No. 1. Then by taking the money from someplace else. What are the two big pots of money out there in raw numbers? Social Security and Medicaid. …. Republicans, these guys are willing to hurt the middle class and the working class in order to deliver significant, greater wealth to their already very wealthy. Who in the hell do they think they are?” 

The Trump administration has cut about 7,000 Social Security Administration staffers since taking office as part of its mission to cut government fat and bureaucracy and realign agencies with “America First” policies. Democrats have slammed President Donald Trump over the cuts, claiming he will cut Social Security benefits to seniors. 

The White House has repeatedly rejected claims that the Trump administration will cut such benefits, vowing to “always protect” Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.

The Trump administration’s official Social Security X account responded after the speech that “Biden is lying to Americans,” before providing a detailed list of “facts,” including that Trump has repeatedly pledged to protect benefits and that no field office has been closed since Jan. 20. 

The ACRD conference was billed as the 46th president’s first public speech since leaving the White House. Biden however, has delivered other public remarks since Jan. 20, Fox Digital found, such as speaking at the National High School Model United Nations in March, but those events received little media coverage. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James has been hit with shocking allegations by the Trump administration, accusing her of mortgage fraud.

In documents obtained by Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, accusing James of mortgage fraud.

FHFA Director William Pulte said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that James appears to have falsified records in order to meet certain lending requirements and receive favorable loan terms.

Pulte cited a property in Virginia that James allegedly claimed as her principal residence, and a property in New York that she claimed as a four-unit structure instead of five, which he said could mean she was able to get a different and more favorable loan.

COURT NAMES NEW JUDGE IN TRUMP CIVIL FRAUD CASE BEFORE REASSIGNING PREVIOUS JUDGE HOURS LATER

Fox News contributor and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Ingraham the irony of James getting accused of falsifying records is “perfectly crushing.”

“This is a person who prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress, and among the charges that were brought in New York, in just the civil but the criminal case, was making false or misleading statements to financial institutions,” Turley said. “As for James, if we apply the Letitia James standard that she created, there’d be little question here. This seems pretty straightforward.”

He explained that the Trump administration is saying this was not her principal residence because, as a New York elected official, she has to say her principal residence is in New York.

‘PLAYING WITH THE COURTS’: TRUMP ADMIN HIT WITH DOZENS OF SUITS AFTER YEARS OF PRESIDENT CONDEMNING ‘LAWFARE’

James is also accused of stating that her father is her husband in order to file as a married couple, Turley added.

“The Supreme Court just stated earlier in March, in a case called Thompson, that they want to see knowing false statements under sections like 10-14, not just misleading statements,” Turley said. “These are misleading statements: either it’s your principal residence or it’s not. Either you’re married to your father or he’s your father.”

The DOJ and James did not respond to Fox News on the matter.

The issue has been prosecuted in the past, but as Turley said on the Ingraham Angle, the “documents themselves are quite damning.”

‘ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY’: LEGAL EXPERTS SHRED NY V. TRUMP AS ‘ONE OF THE WORST’ CASES IN HISTORY

The New York Post reported that the documents show that the property James purchased with her father had both parties listed as “husband and wife” in 1983 and 2000.

“While this was a long time ago, it raises serious concerns about the validity of Ms. James representations on mortgage applications,” Pulte reportedly wrote.

James brought forth a civil fraud suit against President Donald Trump, the Trump Organization and its senior leadership in 2022, frequently sitting in the courtroom throughout the proceedings, and celebrated the prosecution of Trump in the Manhattan criminal trial over the 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump was ordered to pay a $454 million civil fraud judgment in James’ lawsuit against him, which is currently on appeal. 

So far in 2025, James has spearheaded at least five legal actions against the Trump administration, including leading a coalition of state attorneys general to sue the federal government to halt DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s internal systems, as well as another lawsuit related to the Trump admin slashing grant funding to research institutions and universities. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

White House aides are quietly floating a proposal within the House GOP that would raise the tax rate for people making more than $1 million to 40%, two sources familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital, to offset the cost of eliminating tips on overtime pay, tipped wages, and retirees’ Social Security.

The sources stressed the discussions were only preliminary, and the plan is one of many being talked about as congressional Republicans work on advancing President Donald Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process.

Trump and his White House have not yet taken a position on the matter, but the idea is being looked at by his aides and staff on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile House GOP leaders including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have publicly opposed the idea of any tax hikes.

TRUMP OPEN TO SENDING VIOLENT AMERICAN CRIMINALS TO EL SALVADOR PRISONS

“I’m not a big fan of doing that. I mean, we’re the Republican Party and we’re for tax reduction for everyone,” Johnson said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

One GOP lawmaker asked about the proposal and granted anonymity to speak candidly said they would be open to supporting it but preferred a higher starting point than $1 million.

They said the reaction was “mixed” among other House Republicans. But not all House GOP lawmakers are privy to the discussions, and it’s not immediately clear how wide the proposal has been circulated.

Nevertheless, it signals that Republicans are deeply divided on how to go about enacting Trump’s tax agenda.

MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE

Extending Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and enacting his newer tax proposals is a cornerstone of Republicans’ plans for the budget reconciliation process.

By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party in power to skirt opposition to pass a sweeping piece of legislation advancing its own priorities – provided the measures deal with tax, spending, or the national debt.

Extending Trump’s tax cuts is expected to cost trillions of dollars alone. But even if Republicans use a budgetary calculation to hide its cost, known as current policy baseline, they will still have to find a path forward for new policies eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay, and retirees’ Social Security checks.

Hiking taxes on the ultra-wealthy could also serve to put Democrats in a tricky political situation in forcing them to choose between supporting Trump’s policies and opposing an idea they’ve pushed for years.

The top income tax rate is currently about 37% on $609,351 in earnings for a single person or $731,201 for married couples. 

But raising the rate for millionaires could be one way to pay for Trump’s new tax policies.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., one of the deficit hawks leading the charge to ensure new spending is paired with deep cuts elsewhere, said “That’s one possibility.”

“What I’d like to do is I’d actually like to find spending reductions elsewhere in the budget, but if we can’t get enough spending reductions, we’re going to have to pay for our tax cuts,” Harris told “Mornings with Maria” last week.

“Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the highest tax bracket was 39.6%, it was less than $1 million. Ideally, what we could do, again, if we can’t find spending reductions, we say ‘Okay, let’s restore that higher bracket, let’s set it at maybe $2 million income and above,’ to help pay for the rest of the president’s agenda.”

But Johnson’s No. 2, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., again poured cold water on the idea Tuesday.

“I don’t support that initiative,” Scalise told “Mornings with Maria,” though he added, “everything’s on the table.”

“That’s why you hear all kind of ideas being bounced around. And if we take no action, then you’d have over 90% of Americans see a tax increase,” Scalise warned.

Bloomberg News was first to report House Republicans’ 40% tax hike proposal.

When reached for comment, the White House pointed Fox News Digital to comments by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier on Tuesday when she said Trump had not made up his mind on another proposal to raise the corporate tax rate.

“I’ve seen this idea proposed. I’ve heard this idea discussed. But I don’t believe the president has made a determination on whether he supports it or not,” Leavitt said.

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

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced a plan to restrict the types of food that can be purchased with food stamps, becoming one of the first governors to seek federal permission to ban items like soda and candy from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

At a news conference at the Arkansas Capitol Tuesday, Sanders said her administration had submitted a waiver request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that would prohibit the use of SNAP benefits for soft drinks, artificially sweetened candy and snacks made with flour, while expanding eligible items to include hot rotisserie chicken, which is currently excluded.

“Right now you can use food stamps to buy a soft drink or a candy bar from a gas station, but you can’t use them to buy an Arkansas-raised hot rotisserie chicken from a grocery store,” Sanders said. “That’s the definition of crazy.”

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins praised Sanders’ move in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Gov. Sanders is confronting childhood disease head on, and it starts with what families consume,” Rollins said. “Today’s waiver announcement is a welcome one, and I look forward to moving through the approval process swiftly. I encourage more states across the nation to follow the bold lead of states like Arkansas as we Make America Healthy Again.”

KENNEDY APPLAUDS ‘VISIONARY’ INDIANA GOVERNOR’S MAHA EXECUTIVE ORDERS

The waiver request is part of the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” or MAHA agenda, which seeks to address chronic disease and healthcare costs by reforming federal nutrition programs.

“We finally have a president who, along with Secretary Rollins, has put a laser focus on solving America’s chronic disease epidemic,” Sanders said. “Reforming food stamps is a great place to start.”

Trump’s policies on food and health are taking the spotlight in his second administration, with a shift toward state-driven solutions focused on prevention rather than treatment. The MAHA initiative is led in part by Rollins and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also appeared Tuesday at a similar SNAP reform announcement in Indiana.

Speaking in Arkansas, Rollins praised the state’s leadership. 

“What we are doing here today is affirming the value of federalism in all aspects of governance,” she said. “No federal bureaucrat can understand the needs of Arkansas families better than their own governor.”

Rollins added that SNAP reform was a key issue for Trump. 

“This is one of the things he campaigned on, and this is what the American people voted for,” she said.

Sanders said the program, originally designed to fight hunger, has been twisted by outdated regulations and perverse incentives. 

“One third of our state has diabetes or is prediabetic,” she said. “We’re paying for it on the front end and the back end.”

The waiver would affect nearly 350,000 Arkansas residents enrolled in SNAP and is scheduled to take effect in July 2026 if approved. 

According to Sanders, 23% of SNAP spending, or $27 billion per year, is used on soft drinks, candy and desserts, while the state spends $300 million annually treating chronic illness through Medicaid.

WHOLE MILK SHOULD BE BACK AT SCHOOLS, EXPERTS SAY: ‘NUTRITION SCIENCE HAS EVOLVED’

“This is not about taking anything away,” she said. “It’s simply saying that taxpayers are no longer going to cover the cost of junk food like candy and soft drinks.”
 
Rollins praised Arkansas’s SNAP reform plan as a bold step toward improving public health, calling Sanders “courageous” for addressing childhood disease through nutrition. 

“We are working to realign USDA and every taxpayer dollar around what is the best and most effective spend,” Rollins said. 

Arkansas Department of Human Services Secretary Kristi Putnam noted that the same state agency running SNAP also manages Medicaid. 

“In one program, we’ve subsidized foods that we know make people less healthy. In the other, we’re devoting significant resources to treating the same conditions brought on by unhealthy food,” she said. “This makes no sense.”

Critics, including the Food Research and Action Center, have argued the restrictions are punitive and unsupported by data. Trade groups representing beverage and candy manufacturers have also criticized the move. 

As reported by The Associated Press, American Beverage accused officials of “choosing to be the food police,” while the National Confectioners Association called the plan “misguided.”

Sanders addressed concerns about food costs, noting her administration’s work to eliminate the state grocery tax. 

“I think you’d be hard-pressed to say that you’re gonna be better off having purchased a pack of Skittles and that your hunger is gonna be satisfied after that purchase,” she said.

Rollins stressed that funding levels for SNAP would not change. “It just opens up the opportunity to buy better and more healthy food moving forward,” she said.

The Arkansas waiver request was formally submitted Tuesday and includes a 30-day public comment period. The USDA and the governor’s office are expected to begin coordination on implementation details this week.

“We’re hopeful that this gets done very quickly,” Sanders said.

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Gov. Sanders’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A federal judge told Trump lawyers they must expeditiously comply with her requests in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident wrongfully deported to El Salvador last month, as she weighs next steps in the politically charged case.

U.S. Judge Paula Xinis told Trump administration lawyers Tuesday that they will have two weeks to comply with discovery requests in the case of Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident deported to El Salvador last month in what Trump officials have acknowledged was an “administrative error,” demanding the government spend time detailing with what, if any, steps it is taking to facilitate his release and return to the U.S.

“Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments,” Xinis told lawyers at the Tuesday evening hearing.

She also said she would issue an order in writing directing the government to show her how they have complied with her order to facilitate the release of Abrego-Garcia from El Salvador.

After the two-week period, she will weigh the discovery submissions and determine whether or not the government acted in good faith — or whether there is evidence that could preempt potential contempt proceedings.

JUDGE BOASBERG POISED TO HOLD TRUMP ADMIN IN CONTEMPT, TAKES DOWN NAMES OF DHS OFFICIALS: ‘PRETTY SKETCHY’

Xinis stressed at the outset of the hearing that, in her view, the Supreme Court had “already spoken” in ordering the U.S. to facilitate the release of Abrego Garcia and resume his immigration proceedings as if he were never removed.

“We’re going to do it in a targeted way, but we’re not going to spend a lot of time doing it,” Xinis said of the discovery process, which she stressed will move fast. 

Lawyers for the Justice Department said in response that they objected to her view of the Supreme Court’s ruling, and the expedited discovery — an objection she dryly quipped in response she would note for the record.

“Just so everyone knows what my current thinking is, Abrego Garcia already won his injunctive proceedings,” Xinis told Trump lawyers at the outset of the hearing. “We’re here today to talk about scope of the remedies.”

“You made your jurisdictional arguments. You made your venue arguments,” Xinis told Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign. “You made your arguments on the merits. You lost.”

Just minutes before the hearing, DHS acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara said in a court filing that, should he be returned to the U.S., DHS would take him into custody and remove him to another third country, citing his alleged MS-13 membership.

The hearing comes after government lawyers failed to comply with multiple directives updating the court on his location and custodial status, as well as efforts taken to facilitate his return — a lack of compliance Xinis previously described as “extremely troubling.”

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

Xinis planned to weigh these developments as the court considers next steps in the case, including whether to pursue civil contempt proceedings against the administration.

Lawyers for Abrego Garcia argued Tuesday that there is no evidence to show the Trump administration has taken any steps to date to facilitate his return to the U.S. as soon as possible, as ordered by Xinis and upheld by the Supreme Court last week. 

“The Supreme Court order requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” his lawyers wrote.

To date, they noted, the government’s updates “do not indicate that any steps have been taken to comply” with the federal and Supreme Court rulings.

The administration’s apparent refusal to act — or even to clarify Abrego Garcia’s location — has pushed the case to a boiling point, raising the prospect that Xinis could move to hold the Trump administration in civil contempt.

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

The hearing is the latest in a flurry of legal battles centered on Trump’s ability to deport certain migrants from the U.S. to El Salvador. 

Most recently, two federal judges in Texas and New York agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration‘s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act law to immediately remove some migrants from U.S. soil, siding with plaintiffs’ contention that allowing removals under the law would likely cause immediate and irreparable harm.

In Brownsville, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. cited a “substantial likelihood” that the individuals in question “could not be returned to the United States” if deported.

In addition to filing incomplete status updates and refusing to answer questions about Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts or efforts to secure his return, Trump officials suggested at the White House on Monday that the U.S. lacks the authority to bring him back.

APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN’S DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN ALIEN ENEMIES ACT IMMIGRATION SUIT

Asked Monday about progress in returning Abrego Garcia to U.S. soil, Trump officials said his return was “up to El Salvador” and that the U.S. would “provide a plane” — appearing to ignore a court order to facilitate his return.

“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters. “That’s not up to us.” 

This contention was backed by other Cabinet officials, including White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and by Salvadorian President Bukele himself.

“How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?” Bukele told reporters Monday during a sit-down with President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials.

“Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous,” he said.

As of this writing, the Trump administration has not returned any of the individuals who have been sent to El Salvador’s sprawling, high-security prison, including any Venezuelan nationals who may have been mistakenly identified as members of the Tren de Aragua gang, as well as Abrego Garcia.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-CDC eyes narrower COVID-19 vaccine guidance ahead of 2025–2026 season

-Top Republican warns families of ‘largest tax hike in history’ next year if Trump budget fails

–Biden to address disability advocates in first major speech since leaving White House

A top advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was escorted out of the Pentagon on Tuesday and placed on administrative leave, according to a Defense Department official. 

Reuters first reported Caldwell had been placed on leave for an “unauthorized disclosure” of information amid an investigation into Pentagon leaks. An official confirmed to Fox News Digital that Reuters’ reporting is accurate but declined to comment on an ongoing investigation. 

Caldwell previously worked at restraint-minded think tank Defense Priorities and Concerned Veterans for America, a group formerly led by Hegseth. A foreign policy realist, he has argued that the U.S. should dramatically reduce its footprint in Europe and pull out forces in Iraq and Syria…Read more

‘NEED TO COMPLY’: SCOTUS should hold Trump admin in contempt over deported Salvadoran migrant

DEPORTATION BATTLE: Trump admin defies court over Maryland deportation, ignites legal showdown

‘SUPPORTING SICKNESS’: Trump says Harvard should lose its tax exempt status, be treated as ‘political entity’ amid funding dispute

CHECKMATE: Trump admin strikes deal for new state-of-the-art border checkpoint in California

ROLLING BACK: Trump directs agencies to follow Supreme Court rulings, as he continues to rein in administrative state

‘HIGHER SECURITY’: Top Trump agency reveals key reason why REAL ID will be enforced

DISMISSED: Judge greenlights DOJ’s motion to drop gun case against Salvadoran, accused MS-13 leader

BEST BROS: El Salvador’s Bukele after friendly White House meeting with Trump: ‘I miss you already, President T’

‘BAD MEDICINE’: Schumer calls on Leland Dudek, acting commissioner of SSA, to resign

GREENE DAY: Marjorie Taylor Greene brings town hall to Harris-won Georgia county, shrugs off possible ‘outbursts’

CASH DASH: House Republican campaign arm touts ‘unstoppable momentum’ with record fundraising haul

‘BIG BOOST’: GOP senator reveals why Trump’s ‘complete and total endorsement’ will be crucial for his midterm race

COMEBACK KID: First Mexico-born rep targets indictment-plagued Democrat in House GOP comeback bid

‘DEEP DIVISIONS’: AOC tells rally goers don’t let Republicans ‘trick’ them into identity politics, stoking racial divisions

‘KAMALA’S PLAYBOOK’: Social media erupts after AOC debuts another ‘strange’ accent at rally: ‘Kamala’s playbook’

WAR OF THE WORDS: Left-wing lawmaker calls Trump MAGA’s ‘buffoon of a leader’: ‘Thank me later’

DEPARTMENT DISMANTLED: Shapiro leads lawsuit against Trump admin for pulling COVID-era school funding

BILLION-DOLLAR BAILOUT: Newsom signs $2.8B bailout for healthcare program overrun by illegal immigrants

BY THE NUMBERS: ICE using Social Security records to aid Trump push to deport illegal immigrants

VISA CRACKDOWN: ACLU of Indiana sues Trump admin, claims DHS violated rights of foreign students

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