The Trump Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning Democrats and leftists doxxing ICE agents and impeding immigration enforcement operations that it is “not playing games.”  

In response to an online video of a Democratic state representative in Tennessee allegedly stalking ICE agents, DHS said, “This Administration is not playing games with the lives and safety of our ICE officers.” 

The DHS statement claimed that “people doxxing our officers and impeding ICE operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals.”

The statement came in response to a video posted on social media by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., allegedly showing Tennessee Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn “stalking” ICE agents in the Nashville area.

HOUSE GOP TARGETS ANOTHER DEM OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING ICE AMID DELANEY HALL FALLOUT

The video appears to show Behn and another woman in a car saying they were following and “bullying the ICE vehicles and state troopers.”

“This is a win,” Behn said, laughing.

Ogles said that Behn and her companion were “openly admitting they were trying to stall law enforcement from stopping illegal aliens.” Ogles said “this isn’t just reckless, it’s aiding and abetting.”

In response to the incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital “attacks and demonization of ICE have resulted in officers facing a 413% increase in assaults.”

McLaughlin said DHS “has the ability to trace phone numbers and track location information” and that “any individual who participates in the doxxing of our brave federal immigration agents will be identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

ACTING ICE DIRECTOR DEMANDS TIM WALZ APOLOGIZE FOR CALLING AGENTS ‘MODERN-DAY GESTAPO’

DHS and the U.S. Secret Service served a search warrant May 1 on the home of a Los Angeles resident accused of posting fliers in various Southern California neighborhoods with the names, photos, phone numbers and locations of ICE officers working in the region. 

Earlier this year, anti-ICE activists began putting up posters featuring the personal information of ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers working in the Los Angeles and Southern California area. 

The posters include the faces of several ICE agents and say, “These armed agents work in Southern California. ICE and HSI racially terrorize and criminalize entire communities with their policies. They kidnap people from their homes and from the streets, separating families and fracturing communities. Many people have died while locked up in jails, prisons, and detention centers.”

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Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, told Fox News Digital that “whether it’s Tim Walz slandering ICE officers as ‘Nazis’ or members of Congress physically assaulting them, the Democrat party is truly unhinged, and their dangerous behavior is putting lives at risk.

WATCH: DEMOCRAT LAWMAKER CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING FEDERAL AGENTS LAUGHS OFF FUNDRAISING QUESTIONS

“They are defending illegal terrorists and attacking those who are keeping Americans safe,” Jackson added, noting the administration “will hold anyone accountable who commits a crime against [federal law enforcement officials].”

Behn did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

A Texas-based doctor was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for healthcare fraud after he carried out what prosecutors said was a nearly two-decade scheme that involved falsely diagnosing thousands of patients with degenerative diseases and profiting handsomely off their treatments.

Jorge Zamora-Quezada, a rheumatologist licensed to practice medicine in Texas, Arizona and Massachusetts before being stripped of his licenses in each state, raked in hundreds of millions of dollars for the misdiagnoses and treatment he ordered during his roughly 20 years as a medical practitioner. The treatments included punishing rounds of chemotherapy, intravenous infusions, and a battery of other tests, monthly visits, and regular procedures associated with the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic, autoimmune condition for which there is no cure.

The sentencing, and his earlier court appearances, played out at times like a study in contrasts. Prosecutors detailed his extravagant lifestyle, including a private jet, 13 properties across the U.S., including in Aspen and various towns in Mexico, and a Maserati – while the health of the patients he defrauded continued to worsen.  

Prosecutors accused him of taking advantage of vulnerable individuals in Texas, such as teenagers, elderly individuals, and disabled persons, in order to carry out the scheme. Some of them testified at Wednesday’s hearing about the ongoing side effects they suffered as a result of the doctor’s actions, including receiving chemotherapy or IV infusions they did not need. 

AMTRAK BILKED OUT OF $12M BY AT LEAST 119 EMPLOYEES, DOCTORS IN FRAUD SCHEME; MANY STILL ON THE JOB: REPORT

It’s “one of the most egregious” cases of its kind the Justice Department has brought in this space, Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department Criminal Division, told Fox News Digital in a sit-down interview on Wednesday.

That’s because of “all of the various kinds of misconduct rolled into one,” he said, “and because it was pervasive – the scheme lasted more than 18 years.”

“By the time you’re towards the end of the scheme, he knows the consequences some of these things have had on the victims, and he’s going forward anyways,” he said of the doctor.

The Justice Department’s Criminal Division has been prosecuting this case for years. Unlike other departments, it is one of the few where career and political staff alike are largely in lockstep, with goals and cases that transcend partisan politics and seek instead to hold criminals like the Texas doctor accountable. 

Galeotti said he sees the case as emblematic of the Trump administration’s goals to vindicate victims and counter wasteful government spending.

“Even in cases where you don’t see this level of misconduct, where you’re not prescribing someone chemotherapy medicine that doesn’t need it, which obviously sort of stands out on its own, we still have a problem because you were wasting government funds that should be going to actually benefiting patients,” Galeotti said.

A BERLIN DOCTOR HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH THE KILLINGS OF 15 PATIENTS UNDER PALLIATIVE CARE

A separate Justice Department official told Fox News Digital Zamora-Quezada’s case was one of the “most significant” instances of patient harm that he had seen in at least a decade.

“There was testimony about truly debilitating side effects from the medications, things like strokes, necrosis of the jawbone, really the jawbone melting away, hair loss, liver damage,” the official said. 

The doctor’s actions were seen as particularly egregious, in the Justice Department’s telling, because they sought to prey on lower-income communities in Texas, targeting teenagers, elderly persons, and disabled individuals. The doctor also operated in areas with less access to medical care and with fewer native English speakers compared to other parts of the state.

“Of course, it’s always the most twisted when you’re benefiting from someone else’s misfortune – misfortune you caused – and misfortune you used for your own personal enrichment,” Galeotti said.

“They’re the hallmarks of the worst kind of conduct that you see,” Galeotti said.

DOJ PROSECUTOR SUING TRANS MEDICINE WHISTLEBLOWER TAKEN OFF CASE OVER APPARENT CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Zamora-Quezada was convicted by a jury in 2020 of seven counts of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice. His attorneys argued that the fraud was not “pervasive” in the way the government made it out to be, according to public court filings.

Prosecutors said Zamora-Quezada purchased condominium properties in vacation towns, including in Aspen, San Diego, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They said he commuted to his various doctors’ offices in Texas in a Maserati and a private jet, both emblazoned with his initials, “ZQ.” His assets were forfeited after he was charged, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, they said, while Zamora-Quezada was living a life of luxury, out of nearly 100,000 Medicare patients he treated, Zamora-Quezada diagnosed 72.9% of them with rheumatoid arthritis. Prosecutors compared that data to seven other Texas rheumatologists, who cumulatively diagnosed 13% of their patients with the same condition.

Prosecutors asked for $100 million in restitution, but the judge required him to pay $28 million.

Attorneys for Zamora-Quezada did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The typically calm confines of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee were the site of several clashes Wednesday between Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and Democrats on the panel adjudicating his annual budget request.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., rattled off a list of cancers he claimed Zeldin’s actions at the agency could cause, remarking the New York Republican must be proud of how many regulations he’s slashed in such a short time. 

“Your legacy will be more lung cancer — it’ll be more bladder cancer, more head and neck cancer. There’ll be more breast cancer, more leukemia and pancreatic cancer, more liver cancer, more skin cancer, more kidney cancer, more testicular cancer, or colorectal cancer — more rare cancers of innumerable varieties. That will be your legacy. … My kids are gonna be breathing that air just like yours,” he said.

“If your children were drinking the water in Santa Ana, Mr. Zeldin… maybe you would give a damn,” he said after holding up a glass of water and claiming the EPA’s move toward streamlining its grants and expenditures will lead to a panoply of bad outcomes.

KASH PATEL ENRAGES SCHIFF IN CLINTONIAN BATTLE OVER THE WORD ‘WE’ AND A JANUARY 6 SONG

“You need the money for a tax cut for rich people because you’re totally beholden to the oil industry,” Schiff fumed, accusing Zeldin of unlawful termination of congressionally appropriated grants.

“You could give a rat’s a– about how much cancer your agency causes,” Schiff said, raising his voice as Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., banged the gavel to note his time was up.

Earlier in the hearing, Zeldin clashed with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., over grant reviews and claimed the administrator couldn’t “get [his] story straight.”

Whitehouse appeared to make the claim that the EPA was not individually reviewing each of the grants it was canceling and cited court testimony from Zeldin official Travis Voyles that he had conducted an “individualized review” as of February.

FLASHBACK: SCHIFF, WHO REPEATEDLY CLAIMED EVIDENCE OF RUSSIAN COLLUSION, DENOUNCES DURHAM REPORT AS ‘FLAWED’

“You guys are gonna have to start getting your story straight because there are three completely different statements, and they cannot all be true. It cannot be that Voyles personally himself conducted—”

“He did,” Zeldin cut in.

“… the review of 781 grants—” Whitehouse continued.

“He did; I did,” Zeldin cut in again.

“… and that [Deputy Administrator Daniel] Coogan saw to it that it was individually done,” Whitehouse said as the two men talked over each other.

After some more back-and-forth, Zeldin told Whitehouse that it must be a “crazy concept” for him to consider that more than one person could review the hundreds of grants in question and for more than one per calendar day.

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Zeldin said he and his EPA colleagues have been “busting their a–” to identify waste and abuse and that Whitehouse was only interested in scoring political points.

“I’m using the facts as your employees stated them,” Whitehouse claimed.

“We’re on it every single day, because we have a zero-tolerance policy towards wasting dollars,” Zeldin shot back.

“You don’t care about wasting money,” he went on, adding that he had promised committee member Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., at a prior hearing that he would make reviewing grants in this way a priority of his tenure. “I have to come back here in front of Sen. Ricketts today, and even though you don’t care about wasting tax dollars, Sen. Ricketts does.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., chair of the Committee on Environment and Public Works for comment, but did not hear back by press time.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a House resolution Wednesday to expel Democratic New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver, who the day prior was served with federal charges for assaulting law enforcement officers earlier this month while protesting at a federal immigrant detention center.

“On May 9th, McIver didn’t just break the law, she attacked the very people who defend it,” Mace said in a press release announcing the new House Resolution. “Attacking Homeland Security and ICE agents isn’t just disgraceful, it’s assault. If any other American did what she did, they’d be in handcuffs. McIver thinks being a Member of Congress puts her above the law. It doesn’t. She should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Department of Justice announced federal charges against McIver on Monday, accusing her of allegedly “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement” earlier this month at a Newark-area immigrant detention facility known as Delaney Hall. McIver was there with two other members of Congress to conduct what they claimed were their congressionally mandated oversight duties, as well as the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Ras Baraka, who was subsequently arrested following the incident but later had his charges dropped.

According to the press release, Mace’s resolution notes that the House of Representatives already has precedent for expelling members of Congress who have been charged with serious criminal offenses.

A U.S. appeals court ordered the Trump administration this week to comply with a lower court judge’s order to return a 20-year-old Venezuelan migrant deported from the U.S. to El Salvador in March, marking another setback in legal battles over its use of the Alien Enemies Act.

The 2–1 decision from the 4th Circuit leaves in place U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher’s earlier ruling that Daniel Lozano-Camargo, previously identified in court documents as “Cristian,” must be allowed back into the country.

Gallagher, a Trump appointee, ruled that Lozano-Camargo’s removal violated an agreement that the Department of Homeland Security struck with a group of other migrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children and later sought asylum. DHS agreed not to deport these individuals, who later sought asylum in the U.S. until their cases could be fully adjudicated in court.

The decision paves the way for the Trump administration to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. In the interim, Gallagher has said she will amend her ruling to set a formal timeline for the government to return the 20-year-old migrant to the U.S.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS RETURN OF DEPORTED MIGRANT TO US, REJECTING TRUMP REQUEST

The Justice Department appealed the case to the 4th Circuit earlier this month.

The majority opinion, published Monday night, rejected its request, stressing what judges said was their role in ensuring the courts have the ability to prevent any attempted “degradation of effective judicial review” by the executive branch.

“As is becoming far too common, we are confronted again with the efforts of the Executive Branch to set aside the rule of law in pursuit of its goals,” Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin said, writing for the majority. “It is the duty of courts to stand as a bulwark against the political tides that seek to override constitutional protections and fundamental principles of law, even in the name of noble ends like public safety.” 

“The Government’s breach denied Cristian the benefit of the bargain and the process he was due,” Gregory added.

JUDGE ON WARPATH PRESSES TRUMP DOJ ON ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION, ANSWERS LEAVE COURTROOM IN STUNNED SILENCE

Gallagher ruled in April that the government violated a 2024 settlement between DHS and a group of young asylum seekers, including Lozano-Camargo. Under that deal, DHS agreed not to deport the migrants, all of whom entered the U.S. as unaccompanied children, until their cases were fully heard in court.

Last month, Gallagher said Lozano-Camargo’s deportation was a “breach of contract” since his asylum case had not yet been heard and ordered the U.S. government to arrange for his release. Lawyers for the Trump administration argued Lozano-Camargo was eligible for removal under the Alien Enemies Act, citing his arrest and conviction on cocaine possession charges as recently as January. They also claimed, without evidence, he was a member of a “violent terrorist gang.”

IDENTITY OF SECOND DEPORTED MAN WHO JUDGE WANTS RETURNED TO US REVEALED AS TRUMP ADMIN FIGHTS ORDER

Gallagher reiterated her previous decision this month, emphasizing it has nothing to do with the strength of his asylum request in a nod to two apparent low-level drug offenses. Rather, she stressed, it was a matter of due process. 

The government is “measuring utility using the wrong yardstick” in this case, she told the administration, adding it is not a case of whether Lozano-Camargo will eventually receive asylum, but the process afforded to him in the interim.

Process, she said, is important for various reasons, noting that even when outcomes in certain criminal cases or trials seem obvious, individuals are still entitled to a trial under U.S. law. 

“We don’t skip to the end and say, ‘We all know how this is going to end, so we’ll just skip that part,'” she said. 

This was also upheld by the judges of the appellate court. 

“The Government’s breach denied Cristian the benefit of the bargain and the process he was due,” Benjamin said, writing for the majority.

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The job of the courts is to “say what the law is,” she said.  “The task is delicate but cannot be shirked.”

It is unclear whether the Trump administration will appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

The marquee event in the run-up to potentially passing the so-called “big, beautiful bill” began at 3 p.m. ET as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and members of the Freedom Caucus headed to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump.

The White House is really amping up the pressure now on the Freedom Caucus. A White House statement says “The Administration strongly supports passage of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” It adds that “President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal. If H.R. 1 were presented to the President, he would sign it into law.”

Fox is told that the House GOP brass would like to pass the bill “today.” There is an increasing scenario that “today” means very late tonight, overnight, or the early hours of tomorrow morning. They are banking on the idea that pressure from the president will force the Freedom Caucus to vote “yes.” They also need to provide a fig leaf for the Freedom Caucus so they can exit these negotiations with a “win.”

HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS HEADING TO WHITE HOUSE AFTER DELAY PLAY ON TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The Freedom Caucus is upset that the SALT Caucus achieved a victory with an increase in the deduction for state and local taxes. So the Freedom Caucus is asking, “where is our deal?”

We expect House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to parachute a “manager’s amendment” or two into the bill at the end. This would be introduced before the House Rules Committee and made a part of the bill. The manager’s amendment is essentially the final change to the bill. The key is to make sure that it sweetens the measure in a way that it drags the final outstanding votes across the finish line.

Here’s the dynamic: House GOP leaders are worried about losing members from an attendance perspective tomorrow. So they feel it’s best to move sooner rather than later. Also, there’s the potential of losing votes the longer this sits open. So Republican leaders want to lock this down as soon as possible. That’s why an overnight/early morning scenario is very much in play right now.

DEMS WARN HOUSE REPUBLICANS WILL PAY PRICE AT BALLOT BOX FOR PASSING TRUMP’S ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Here are the concrete steps which must happen to pass the bill:

– Johnson introduces his manager’s amendment to tweak the bill and court reluctant Republicans to vote yes.

– The Rules Committee incorporates that amendment into the bill.

– The Rules Committee votes on the overall “rule” which sends the “new” version of the bill – with the changes via the manager’s amendment to the floor.

– The House debates the “rule” to set the table for the actual debate.

– The House must adopt the “rule” in order to put the bill on the floor. If the Rules Committee fails to send the rule to the floor or if the GOP stumbles in its effort to get it out of the Rules Committee, they’re stuck. So these two procedural steps are crucial.

– The House then debates the bill on the floor, based on the ground rules approved earlier by the rule.

– Then the House goes to final passage.

Those are a lot of steps. But things can move very fast when they get these things in place in the House. That’s why Republican leaders want the pressure of the president to force the issue in the next 12 to 24 hours.

That said, there is a distinct possibility of this unfolding overnight or in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday.

There is also a possibility that this stalls, and we are staring at a Thursday night/wee hours of Friday scenario, too.

Thoughtful, creative host gifts—because they probably have enough wine. 

​Thoughtful, creative host gifts—because they probably have enough wine. 

The White House threw its weight behind House Republicans’ version of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” Wednesday, pressing lawmakers to vote on the measure “immediately.”

“The Administration strongly supports passage of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill
Act,” the White House said in a statement of Trump administration policy obtained by Fox News Digital.

“This bill implements critical aspects of President Trump’s budgetary agenda by delivering bigger paychecks for Americans, driving massive economic growth, unleashing American energy, strengthening border security and national defense, (and) preserving key safety net programs for Americans who need them, while ending waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending, and much more.”

It comes hours after the conservative House Freedom Caucus called for a delayed vote amid continued disagreements over rollbacks to Medicaid coverage.

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ PASSES KEY HOUSE HURDLE AFTER GOP REBEL MUTINY

“I’m not sure this can be done this week. I’m pretty confident it could be done in 10 days. But that’s up to leadership to decide,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told reporters.

Republicans are working to enact Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party in power to pass sweeping legislation without the minority party’s input by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51.

Their current multi-trillion-dollar bill would advance Trump’s priorities on immigration, taxes, energy, defense, and the debt limit. 

Meanwhile, the national debt continues to climb, surpassing $36 trillion earlier this year.

NATIONAL DEBT TRACKER: AMERICAN TAXPAYERS (YOU) ARE NOW ON THE HOOK FOR $36,213,570,763,720.98 AS OF 5/20/25

The Freedom Caucus is meeting with Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at the White House on Wednesday afternoon in a bid to resolve differences.

Meanwhile, a White House official told Fox News Digital that the administration wants the House to vote on the bill at some point Wednesday.

“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reflects the shared priorities of both Congress and the Administration. Therefore, the House of Representatives should immediately pass this bill to show the American people that they are serious about ‘promises made, promises kept,'” the new White House statement said. 

“President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal.”

HOUSE GOP TARGETS ANOTHER DEM OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING ICE AMID DELANEY HALL FALLOUT

The statement ended by affirming that Trump would sign the legislation into law if it got to his desk – a significant endorsement of House GOP leaders’ plans.

The bill itself is not yet finished, however. Republican leaders have signaled they are including additional provisions via a “manager’s amendment” that are expected to cover Medicaid work requirements and an amended state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap.

House conservatives have been pushing for the bill to include more aggressive cuts to Medicaid — specifically the expanded population who became eligible under the Affordable Care Act — and a full repeal of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its green energy subsidies.

Trump paid a rare visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday where he personally told House Republicans he wanted the bill passed as soon as possible.

The Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, has insisted that it is pushing to enact Trump’s campaign promises to the fullest possible extent..

Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion this week that the U.S. could walk away from supporting Ukraine if peace talks with Russia stagnate could serve as catnip for the Kremlin, according to experts who say Russian President Vladimir Putin might choose to smother progress in hopes of getting America to wash “its hands of the war.”

While President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. may disengage from the negotiations as a last resort if they prove futile, Vance has taken the rhetoric a step further by saying the U.S. is definitely open to doing so. 

“We’re more than open to walking away,” Vance told reporters on board Air Force Two on Monday, just moments before a high-stakes phone call between Trump and Putin. “The United States is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes.”

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned that no one wins if the U.S. steps aside from the talks, except for Russia. 

“It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace because the only one who benefits from that is Putin,” Zelenskyy wrote in a Monday post on X.

Vance’s remark about abandoning mediation between the two countries would only embolden Russia, even though a lack of U.S. involvement still wouldn’t give Putin everything he wants, according to John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program, a nonprofit research institute based in Washington.

For the moment, Moscow still benefits from U.S. involvement in the talks because the Kremlin wants the U.S. to help advance a deal that benefits Russia and alleviates sanctions, Hardie said.

“But, for the Kremlin, the United States washing its hands of the war would be the next best outcome if it means an end or reduction to U.S. support for Ukraine, especially since President Trump may well move to normalize relations with Russia anyhow,” Hardie told Fox News Digital. “So the administration’s threat to walk away risks perversely incentivizing Kremlin intransigence. A better approach would be to ramp up the economic and military pressure on Russia if Putin continues to reject compromise.”

Russia still desires normalization with the U.S., which can only happen if the war ends swiftly and relatively amicably, said Peter Rough, a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute think tank. 

“That reset in relations is a giant carrot the administration is dangling in front of the Kremlin,” Rough told Fox News Digital. “If the U.S. walks away because Russia will not make peace, however, then that carrot disappears as well.”

Rough noted that other administration officials besides Vance, including Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have mentioned the possibility of walking away from a deal, so Vance’s comments don’t necessarily reflect a huge change in policy. And it’s unclear right now what exactly stepping aside would mean.

“The purpose of those comments has been to impress on the Kremlin that U.S. patience is not limitless,” Rough said. 

Vance hasn’t shied away from issuing bold foreign policy statements since becoming vice president. From sparring with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February to appearing to counter Trump when Vance remarked in May that the war in Ukraine was far from over after Trump indicated a deal might emerge soon, Vance has been outspoken in a way most vice presidents haven’t been.

When asked for comment or if there were any concerns about Vance’s Monday statement, the White House referred Fox News Digital to Vance’s office. Vance’s office declined to provide comment when asked if his remarks would encourage Russia to sit the negotiations out and continue its attacks.

WHY ZELENSKYY KEEPS PUSHING NATO MEMBERSHIP EVEN THOUGH TRUMP SAYS IT’S NOT HAPPENING 

Vance has adopted an outspoken approach as vice president, starting off with his fiery February statements at the Munich Security Council in which he asserted that Europe needed to “step up in a big way to provide for its own defense.” 

That boldness has carried over into the Russia-Ukraine negotiations, where Vance has taken a proactive approach, at times appearing to be forging his own path.  

Vance and Rubio engaged in discussions to end the conflict in Ukraine with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome on Sunday, among other issues. Vance and Rubio also discussed the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war with Vatican prelate Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher on Monday. 

Aboard Air Force Two on Monday, Vance said the negotiations had reached “a bit of [an] impasse” between the two countries and that the conflict is not the Trump administration’s war to wage but rather belongs to former President Joe Biden and Putin. 

“There is fundamental mistrust between Russia and the West. It’s one of the things the president thinks is, frankly, stupid, that we should be able to move beyond,” Vance told reporters. “The mistakes that have been made in the past, but … that takes two to tango.”

“I know the president’s willing to do that, but if Russia’s not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to have to say … this is not our war,” Vance said. “It’s Joe Biden’s war, it’s Vladimir Putin’s war. It’s not our war. We’re going to try to end it, but if we can’t end it, we’re eventually going to say, ‘You know what? That was worth a try, but we’re not doing it anymore.'”

TRUMP INSISTS UKRAINE-RUSSIA PEACE DEAL IS CLOSE, BUT MISTRUST IN PUTIN LEAVES EXPERTS SKEPTICAL

Vance’s Monday statement came just before Trump was scheduled to speak with Putin, seemingly undercutting the high-leverage telephone call and also underscoring Vance’s influence over foreign policy matters in the White House. 

Specifically on Ukraine negotiations, Vance has remained outspoken, engaging in confrontation when Zelenskyy visited the White House in February. 

In that exchange, Vance accused Zelenskyy of being “disrespectful” after Zelenskyy pointed out that Putin has a track record of breaking agreements and countered Vance’s statements that the path forward was through diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. 

“Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?” Vance asked at the Oval Office meeting. 

Almost immediately after the U.S. signed a minerals deal with Ukraine on May 1, Vance said the war in Ukraine wouldn’t end in the near future, despite the fact that Trump indicated the previous week that an agreement was on the horizon. 

“It’s not going anywhere,” Vance told Fox News on May 1. “It’s not going to end anytime soon.” 

Still, he characterized the agreement as “good progress” in the negotiations. 

Trump and Putin spoke over the phone Monday to advance peace negotiations to halt the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, just days after Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey to conduct their first peace talks since 2022. 

After the call, Trump said both countries would move toward a ceasefire and advance talks to end the war. 

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested continued U.S. involvement may not be a viable option moving forward, but he has been reticent about specifics on what would actually prompt him to walk away from the talks. For example, Trump said on May 8 in an interview with NBC News that he believes peace is possible but that the U.S. wouldn’t act as a mediator forever.

“Well, there will be a time when I will say, ‘OK, keep going, keep being stupid,” Trump said in the interview. 

“Maybe it’s not possible to do,” he said. “There’s tremendous hatred.”

Still, Trump signaled that the U.S. would take a backseat in the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv after his call with Putin. 

“The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” Trump said in a Monday post on Truth Social. 

Trump has continued to distance the U.S. from the conflict, and he later described the conflict as a “European situation.” 

“Big egos involved, but I think something’s going to happen,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “And if it doesn’t, I’ll just back away and they’ll have to keep going. This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation.”

Trump also doubled down on extracting the U.S. from the war, claiming it didn’t involve U.S. personnel. 

“It’s not our people, it’s not our soldiers … it’s Ukraine and it’s Russia,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday while hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

TRUMP SAYS HE COULD ‘WALK AWAY’ FROM RUSSIA-UKRAINE TALKS, CITES ‘TREMENDOUS HATRED’ ON BOTH SIDES

According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, sanctions against Russia could ramp up in the event Russia fails to cooperate. 

“President Trump has made it very clear that if President Putin does not negotiate in good faith that the United States will not hesitate to up the Russia sanctions along with our European partners,” Bessent said Sunday in an interview with NBC. 

Vance has previously said the concessions that Russia is seeking from Ukraine to end the conflict are too stringent but believes there is a viable path to peace and wants both to find common ground. 

“The step that we would like to make right now is we would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another,” Vance said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington on May 7.

Russia’s demands include Ukraine never joining NATO and preventing foreign peacekeeper troops from deploying to Ukraine after the conflict. Russia is also seeking to adjust some of the borders that previously were Ukraine’s.

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EXCLUSIVE: Bombshell developments continue to emerge about former President Joe Biden’s declining health along with allegations of a White House cover-up. In response, a top Republican is urging the Justice Department to investigate whether any laws were broken in how Biden’s condition was presented to the public.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is expected to write Wednesday afternoon to Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding that the DOJ open a probe into “any potential violations of federal law surrounding the representations made to the American people about the health and wellbeing (sic) of then-President Biden.”

In the letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Cornyn cited the May 18 report from Biden’s camp that he is battling late-stage aggressive prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones.

“This announcement follows the publication of news reports calling into question the former president’s capacity and awareness during his time in office,” Cornyn said as other Biden critics questioned what then-White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor knew while treating the president.

TEXAS LAWMAKERS SEEK TO GET FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT FOR BIDEN ERA BORDER CONTROL EXPENSES

In the letter, Cornyn expressed concern that Biden’s “associates,” including O’Connor, misrepresented or made “material omissions” to the public about his mental and physical fitness.

Conservatives beat the drum of Biden’s alleged senility for years but were often lambasted by the mainstream media for questioning the White House’s line on the matter.

“I fear the American people were deliberately misled about President Biden’s health. Instead of providing full transparency, which is the obligation of the commander-in-chief, important information was kept secret,” Cornyn wrote.

“I do not have confidence in the former president’s aides and staff, including medical staff, or their ability to be honest and straightforward about President Biden’s cancer diagnosis.”

ARIZONA KAMALA HARRIS RALLY SPEAKERS COURT ‘JOHN MCCAIN REPUBLICANS’

He noted how President Donald Trump assented to calls that he take a cognitive test to demonstrate fitness for office while contrasting that with Biden’s refusal, which famously resulted in a tense exchange with a CBS News correspondent when the then-president asked, “Why the hell should I take a test?” and asked if the Black news anchor was “a junkie” who might want to undergo a test for cocaine in his system.

Cornyn contrasted White House claims that Biden was “fit for duty” with revelations, including those in a CNN anchor’s new book, that he was only capable of working “four to six good hours” per day.

“These positions are in direct conflict,” Cornyn will tell Bondi, adding that despite having the world’s best medical care at his fingertips, Americans have been asked to “accept coincidence after coincidence” involving his health.

He also cited the 25th Amendment, which he noted provides Americans an insurance policy that their government can continue to function if the infirmity or death of a president should occur.

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“These actions potentially impacted the trust the American people have in their government and weakened us on the world stage.”

He cited a report from earlier this week that White House staff had secretly discussed the possibility that Biden would be confined to a wheelchair while still putting on a brave face to the public.

Former President Franklin Roosevelt, stricken by polio, conducted the nation’s business from a wheelchair.

“I encourage the Department to conduct a full investigation and ensure that no federal laws were violated during the previous administration,” Cornyn concluded.

Fox News Digital reached out to a Biden representative for comment.

Before President Donald Trump’s dramatic reveal of the “Golden Dome” missile defense project on Tuesday, the proposal wasn’t even on the radar of many lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Several senators told Fox News Digital they had received no briefing on the initiative’s costs – and some hadn’t heard of it at all.

“I don’t support blank checks. I haven’t seen the cost figures,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. 

Two senior members of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, one Republican and one Democrat, asked, “what’s Golden Dome?” in response to questions about the project Trump commissioned in January. 

CHINA ACCUSES US OF ‘TURNING SPACE INTO A WARZONE’ WITH TRUMP’S GOLDEN DOME MISSILE DEFENSE PROJECT

Trump’s sweeping plan – pitched as an American version of Israel’s Iron Dome – carries an ambitious price tag and timeline. He’s floated a $125 billion estimated cost and says it could be built in three years, by the end of his term. A government funding package moving through Congress, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, includes $25 billion to jumpstart the project.

But defense experts and even some Republican allies anticipate the cost to be much higher. 

“This is not going to be a $25 billion or $35 billion project. It will likely cost in the trillions if and when Golden Dome is completed,” said Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., who announced plans to form a Golden Dome Caucus during a recent Washington Times defense industry event earlier this month. 

Sheehy warned that simply scaling up Israel’s Iron Dome to protect the U.S. is “a fundamentally different technological proposition.”

“The challenges don’t scale linearly with the size of Israel, which is the size of New Jersey,” he added.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated the project could cost around $500 billion – though some believe even that figure is likely too low.

CBO estimated that the space-based interceptors portion of the dome could cost at least $161 billion but up to $542 billion. But it didn’t account for any ground-based interceptors in that cost. 

“I’ve been 34 years in this business, and I’ve never seen an early estimate that was too high,” said Space Force chief of space operations Gen. Chance Saltzman. “We don’t always understand the full level of complexity until you’re actually in execution, doing the detailed planning.”

LASERS, SPACE RADARS, MISSILE INTERCEPTORS: DEFENSE LEADERS LAY OUT VISION FOR TRUMP’S ‘GOLDEN DOME’ PROJECT

Some Republican lawmakers suggest the potential benefits outweigh the massive spending required.

“It might very well prevent a war,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-N.D., said. “When we talk about spending billions on defense, that is small compared to one single major war – not only in trillions of dollars, but in bloodshed.”

Once a missile is launched toward the U.S. homeland, the Golden Dome system aims to detect it, and orbital systems would aim to hit the missile during its “boost” phase, either with a laser or a kinetic interceptor. Otherwise, ground-based systems could deploy to knock it off its path.  

Others noted competing defense priorities.

“That’s gonna be a long, drawn-out process, and it’s gonna cost a lot of money,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. “Right now, we’re redoing our missile silos… we’re transitioning to different types of warfare. If we’re gonna do [Golden Dome], we do it the right way.”

Supporters of the plan argue that technological advances have dramatically lowered the cost of missile defense, enough to potentially flip decades-old strategic assumptions.

Chuck DeVore, a defense expert at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and former Reagan administration official, said the old logic – that it’s always cheaper to build offensive missiles than defenses – may no longer apply.

“That calculation is changing now,” DeVore said. “With low-cost orbit launches and inexpensive electronics, it may actually be less expensive to defend against nuclear missiles than to build them. If that’s the case, we’re at a truly revolutionary inflection point.”

DeVore also warned that traditionalists in the defense establishment may push back.

“You’re going to see people defending the status quo,” he said. “They’ll say we need that money for more conventional defense – more divisions, more jet fighters, maybe another aircraft carrier.”

Still, DeVore argued that a homeland missile defense system is overdue.

“The ability to truly defend the homeland and save American lives is better than mutual assured destruction – especially in an age of nuclear proliferation where we can’t always be sure where the threat is coming from.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., agreed on the project’s importance, even as he said he hadn’t been briefed on the cost and needs of the project. 

“I think it’s the most important thing we could do to keep our homeland safe.”

Donald Trump Jr. is not ruling out the possibility of a political future, but asserts that he has no interest in making a run “anytime soon.”

At the Qatar Economic Forum, he fielded a question about the possibility of running for office after his father steps down. 

During his response he did not close the door on the prospect, saying, “I don’t know. Maybe one day … that calling is there.”

LESS THAN 4 MONTHS INTO TRUMP’S 2ND TERM, DEMS ARE ALREADY EYEING THE 2028 RACE

But he asserted in a post on X that he is not at all interested in pursuing office in 2028.

“And FWIW, I’ve always said, while I’ll never 100% rule it out down the line, I have ZERO interest in running for office in 28 or anytime soon,” he said in a portion of that post.

TRUMP STORE SPARKS BUZZ AND DEBATE WITH NEW TRUMP 2028 MERCHANDISE

Donald Trump Jr. is President Donald Trump’s eldest child.

The president just began his second term about four months ago.

JD VANCE ASKED ABOUT POTENTIAL 2028 PRESIDENTIAL RUN IN ‘FOX & FRIENDS’ EXCLUSIVE

There have been two father-son pairs in U.S. history who both served as president: George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

President Donald Trump evoked Elon Musk during his Oval Office meeting with South Africa’s president on Wednesday, during talks about the ongoing attacks white farmers in the country are facing.

Trump went back and forth with President Cyril Ramaphosa over whether what is occurring in South Africa is indeed a “genocide” against white farmers. At one point, during the conversation, a reporter asked Trump how the United States and South Africa might be able to improve their relations. 

The president said that relations with South Africa are an important matter to him, noting he has several personal friends who are from there, including professional golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, who were present at Tuesday’s meeting, and Elon Musk.

DEMS SLAM ELON MUSK, MELANIA TRUMP WITH XENOPHOBIC ATTACKS: ‘GO BACK TO SOUTH AFRICA!’

Unprompted, Trump added that while Musk may be a South African native, he doesn’t want to “get [him] involved” in the ongoing foreign diplomacy matters that played out during Tuesday’s meeting. 

“I don’t want to get Elon involved. That’s all I have to do, get him into another thing,” Trump said to light laughter. “But Elon happens to be from South Africa. This is what Elon wanted. He actually came here on a different subject — sending rockets to Mars — OK? He likes that better. He likes that subject better. But Elon’s from South Africa, and I don’t want to talk to him about that. I don’t think it’s fair to him.”

Musk, who was present at the Oval Office meeting Tuesday, has been an open critic of his native-born country’s government and has described the ongoing conflict there as a “genocide.”

HOUSE DEM BLASTED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ ELON MUSK RANT TELLING HIM TO ‘GO BACK TO SOUTH AFRICA’

Ahead of the meeting with Ramaphosa earlier this month, Musk-owned X garnered backlash over its AI chatbot, Grok, providing unsolicited responses about attacks against white farmers in South Africa. 

Musk’s artificial intelligence company, which makes the technology for Grok, said following complaints that an “unauthorized modification” to Grok’s algorithm is the reason why it kept talking about race and politics in South Africa, according to the Associated Press.

It’s the first time in nearly a decade that a special counsel is not investigating something related to a sitting or former president, but the remnants and revelations of past special counsel probes continue to break through the news cycle.

Every attorney general-appointed special counsel since 2017 has now released their reports, issued their indictments, received their verdicts, shuttered their offices, disassembled their teams and returned to their government or private sector roles.

Essentially, they’ve all moved on. 

BIDEN INTERVIEW AUDIO REVEALS WHO BROUGHT UP BEAU’S DEATH – AND IT WASN’T HUR

First, in 2017, there was Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was investigating whether members of the first Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

Then, in 2019, there was Special Counsel John Durham, who was investigating the origins of the Mueller investigation and the original FBI probe into then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign. 

Soon, it was 2022, and Special Counsel Jack Smith began investigating then-former President Trump for his alleged improper retention of classified records held at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after his presidency. Smith also began investigating events surrounding the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Next up, in 2023, Special Counsel Robert Hur was appointed and began investigating now-former President Joe Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records, which occurred during his vice presidency as part of the Obama administration.

DURHAM FINDS DOJ, FBI ‘FAILED TO UPHOLD’ MISSION OF ‘STRICT FIDELITY TO THE LAW’ IN TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE

Later in 2023, David Weiss, who had served as U.S. attorney in Delaware and had been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, was appointed special counsel to continue his yearslong investigation into the now-former first son.

At this point, those investigations have all come to their resolutions: Mueller, in 2019, found there was no collusion; Durham, in 2022, found that the FBI ignored “clear warning signs” of a Hillary Clinton-led plan to inaccurately tie her opponent to Russia using politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research; Smith, in 2022, charged Trump but had those charges tossed; Hur, in 2023, opted against charging Biden; Weiss, in 2023, charged Hunter Biden, who was convicted and later pardoned by his father.

But the curiosity surrounding those investigations that dominated headlines for the better part of a decade remains, largely because of so many loose ends and the prevalence of unanswered questions.

A trickle, sometimes more like a flood, of information and news related to those probes continues to seep into the news cycle.

On Friday night, audio of Biden’s interview with Hur was made public. Hur closed his investigation in 2024 without charging the then-president and infamously described him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”

Some congressional lawmakers had demanded the release of the audio of Biden’s interview amid questions about the former president’s memory lapses and mental acuity.

BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEW

The audio – as expected, based on the transcript of the interview released in 2024 – showed Biden struggling with key memories, including when his son, Beau, died; when he left the vice presidency; and why he had classified documents he shouldn’t have had.

In a throwback to another special counsel investigation, the United States Secret Service last week paid a visit to former FBI Director James Comey after he posted a now-deleted image on social media that many interpreted as a veiled call for an assassination of Trump.

Comey on Thursday posted to Instagram an image of seashells on the beach arranged to show “86 47” with the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”

Some interpreted it as a coded message, with “86” being slang for “get rid of” and “47” referring to Trump, who is the 47th president.

TRUMP SAYS COMEY KNEW ‘ASSASSINATION’ MEANING BEHIND DELETED SOCIAL MEDIA POST

Comey later deleted the post and wrote a message that said, “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

Comey was the FBI director who, in 2016, allowed the opening of the bureau’s original Trump-Russia investigation, known inside the FBI as “Crossfire Hurricane.” Trump fired Comey in May 2017. Days later, Mueller was appointed as special counsel to take over that investigation, thus beginning the string of special counsels.

Durham investigated the origins of the FBI probe and found that the FBI did not have any actual evidence to support the start of that investigation. Durham also found that the CIA, in 2016, received intelligence to show that Hillary Clinton had approved a plan to tie then-candidate Trump to Russia; intelligence that the FBI, led by Comey, ignored.

DECLASSIFIED TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE DOCS TO DATE: WHAT TO KNOW

On July 28, 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed then-President Barack Obama on a plan from one of Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisers “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.” 

Biden, Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were in the Brennan-Obama briefing, according to the Durham report.

After that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a counterintelligence operational lead (CIOL) to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok with the subject line “Crossfire Hurricane.”

Fox News first obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated, “The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate.”

DURHAM: FBI IGNORED ‘CLEAR WARNING SIGN’ OF CLINTON-LED EFFORT TO ‘MANIPULATE’ BUREAU FOR ‘POLITICAL PURPOSES’

“Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date,” the memo continued. “An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”

By January 2017, Comey had notified Trump of a dossier, known as the Steele dossier, that contained salacious and unverified allegations about Trump’s purported coordination with the Russian government, a key document prompting the opening of the probe. 

The dossier was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer, and commissioned by Fusion GPS. Clinton’s presidential campaign hired Fusion GPS during the 2016 election cycle.

DOJ RECOMMENDED AGAINST TRUMP PROSECUTION ON OBSTRUCTION IN MUELLER PROBE: NEWLY RELEASED 2019 MEMO REVEALS

It was eventually determined that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded the dossier through the law firm Perkins Coie.

Durham, in his report, said the FBI, led by Comey, “failed to act on what should have been – when combined with other incontrovertible facts – a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election.”

But that intelligence referral document is just one of many that tells the real story behind the investigation that clouded the first Trump administration. 

And Trump has taken steps to ensure the American public has full access to all the documents. 

Trump, in late March, signed an executive order directing the FBI to immediately declassify files concerning the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. 

The FBI is expected to release those documents in the coming weeks. 

As for the other special counsels, Smith recently had his own moment in the news cycle.

FLASHBACK: DURHAM TESTIFIES THAT THE FBI IGNORED HILLARY CLINTON PLAN TO LINK TRUMP TO RUSSIA

FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday disbanded a public corruption squad in the bureau’s Washington field office. That was the same office that aided Smith’s investigation into Trump.

As for Weiss, after the release of the Biden audio tapes calling further into question the former president’s mental acuity, some, including Trump, are now calling for a review of the pardon of Hunter Biden.

Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses stemming from Weiss’ investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, 2024, but his father, then-President Biden, pardoned him on all charges in December 2024.

HUNTER BIDEN: A LOOK AT HOW THE SAGA SPANNING OVER 6 YEARS UNFOLDED

Trump alleged in a Truth Social post in March that former President Biden’s pardons were “void” due to the “fact that they were done by Autopen.” 

“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump wrote.

“In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime,” Trump added.

Weiss, in his final report, blasted then-President Biden’s characterizations of the probe into Hunter Biden, which Weiss said were “wrong” and “unfairly” maligned Justice Department officials. He also said the presidential pardon made it “inappropriate” for him to discuss whether any additional charges against the first son were warranted.

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying to Congress about his decisions made during the COVID-19 pandemic while serving as governor, a source familiar with the probe confirmed to Fox News.

The New York Times first reported that the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington opened the inquiry into Cuomo about a month ago after senior officials in the DOJ demanded an indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams for corruption charges be dismissed.

The DOJ declined to comment to Fox News.

The Trump administration is now in an unusual spot of ending a criminal case against Adams while opening a new case into Adams’ main rival within months of each other.

Cuomo is running in the Democratic primary to serve as the next mayor of New York City, while Adams is seeking re-election as an independent candidate.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN ASKS TRUMP DOJ TO CRIMINALLY PROSECUTE EX-NEW YORK GOV ANDREW CUOMO

“We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now? The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple—something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against,” Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s spokesperson told Fox News. “Governor Cuomo testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political.”

The former governor was grilled by Republican lawmakers last year about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. House Republicans subsequently recommended the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against him. They accused him of intentionally lying to Congress during the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the excessive number of nursing home deaths.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., referred Cuomo to President Donald Trump’s Justice Department for criminal prosecution. 

BILL MAHER SUGGESTS ANDREW CUOMO’S NURSING HOME SCANDAL MAY COST HIS NYC MAYORAL CAMPAIGN

Cuomo – the Democratic scion now considered the current frontrunner in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary in June – was first referred to the Biden Justice Department for criminal prosecution in October 2024. 

Former Rep. Brad Wenstrup, then-chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said Cuomo made “multiple criminally false statements” to Congress about his handling of the 2020 COVID-19 nursing home death scandal. 

Cuomo, who was governor at the time, issued a March 2020 directive that initially barred nursing homes from refusing to accept patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. The directive was aimed at freeing up beds for overwhelmed hospitals. 

More than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients were released from hospitals into nursing homes under the directive, which was later rescinded amid speculation that it had accelerated outbreaks. 

SECOND COVID NURSING HOME DEATH’S CASE AGAINST CUOMO TOSSED

The eight plaintiffs in the case argued that their loved ones contracted COVID-19 in nursing homes and died as a result of the directive. They accused Cuomo and his administration of being civilly liable for their deaths as well as being liable for failing to accurately report the number of nursing home deaths in New York state that resulted from the virus. 

Cuomo has previously said that the directive was based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance at the time.

A report released in March 2022 by the New York state comptroller found Cuomo’s Health Department “was not transparent in its reporting of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes” and it “understated the number of deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50%” during some points of the pandemic. 

In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi last month, Comer said “to our knowledge, the Biden Administration ignored this referral despite clear facts and evidence.” He requested that Bondi review the referral and “take appropriate action.” 

“Andrew Cuomo is a man with a history of corruption and deceit, now caught red-handed lying to Congress during the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home tragedy in New York,” Comer said in a statement Monday. “This wasn’t a slip-up – it was a calculated cover-up by a man seeking to shield himself from responsibility for the devastating loss of life in New York’s nursing homes. Let’s be clear: lying to Congress is a federal crime. Mr. Cuomo must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The House Oversight Committee is prepared to fully cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation into Andrew Cuomo’s actions and ensure he’s held to account.” 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump appeared to distance the U.S. from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine — just two days after speaking over the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Trump, who called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Monday after speaking to Putin, told reporters Wednesday that the conflict didn’t involve the U.S., despite the fact that the U.S. has adopted the role of mediator between the two countries since Trump came into the White House in January. 

“It’s not our people, it’s not our soldiers … it’s Ukraine and it’s Russia,” Trump said in the Oval Office Wednesday while hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

Trump also mentioned speaking with Zelenskyy while the Ukrainian president was traveling to South Africa. Zelenskyy visited Ramaphosa in April, but cut his trip short amid attacks from Russia against Kyiv. 

“I called Zelensky and they said, he’s in South Africa. I said, what the hell is he doing in South Africa?” Trump said. 

Ramaphosa responded that Zelenskyy was talking with South Africa speaking with him about securing peace. 

“He’s trying to make peace,” he said. 

Trump also said Wednesday he believed he “made a lot of progress” with Putin in his Monday call, during which both countries ultimately agreed to a ceasefire and to advance peace talks. However, Trump also indicated that both Moscow and Kyiv would need to take the lead on future talks. 

“The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” Trump said in a Monday post on Truth Social. 

Trump and other members of his administration have signaled in recent weeks that the U.S. is willing to step aside from peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv. For example, Vice President JD Vance said Monday that the discussions between the two had reached a bit of an “impasse” and that the U.S. was “more than willing” to step aside from the talks. 

“There is fundamental mistrust between Russia and the West. It’s one of the things the president thinks is, frankly, stupid,” Vance told reporters Monday. “That we should be able to move beyond. The mistakes that have been made in the past, but … That takes two to tango.” 

“I know the president’s willing to do that, but if Russia’s not willing to that then we’re eventually just going to have to say… This is not our war,” Vance said. “It’s Joe Biden’s war, it’s Vladimir Putin’s war. It’s not our war. We’re going to try to end it, but if we can’t end it we’re eventually going to say, you know what? That was worth a try, but we’re not doing it anymore.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

President Donald Trump has officially accepted Qatar’s Boeing 747 jet gift to be refitted as Air Force One, the Pentagon revealed. 

“The Secretary of Defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,” chief spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed to Fox News. “The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States. For additional information, we refer you to the United States Air Force.”

News of the deal prompted concerns from lawmakers, both over how to retrofit a foreign nation’s plane to serve as a mobile Oval Office with the highest levels of security and over what Qatar might want from Trump in return for the gift. 

TRUMP CLARIFIES OWNERSHIP OF AIRCRAFT IN DEFENSE OF QATAR’S GIFT

Trump ally Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has said the plane poses “significant espionage and surveillance problems” while liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., declared, “Trump cannot accept a $400 million flying palace from the royal family of Qatar. Not only is this farcically corrupt, it is blatantly unconstitutional.”

“Qatar is not, in my opinion, a great ally. I mean, they support Hamas. So what I’m worried about is the safety of the president,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told reporters last week. 

When asked about the latest news, Trump told a reporter at the White House, “They’re giving the United States Air Force a jet, okay, and it’s a great thing.” 

“You’re a terrible reporter. You don’t have what it takes to be a reporter,” he said.  

TRUMP VISITS QATAR AS COUNTRY’S JET OFFER PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON NATION’S GROWING INFLUENCE IN WASHINGTON

He boasted that he secured $5.1 trillion in investments during his trip to the Middle East last week. 

Earlier, Trump had said of the criticisms, “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump wrote. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.”

Trump in 2018 awarded Boeing a $3.9 billion fixed-price agreement to manufacture two new jets, after months of haggling over the price. The jets were supposed to be delivered in 2024, but the project is around five years behind schedule and already $2.5 billion over budget. 

Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump ripped an NBC reporter for questioning over the Department of Defense accepting a jumbo jet from Qatar to serve as Air Force One. 

“The Pentagon announced that it would be accepting a Qatari jet to be used as Air Force One,” an NBC reporter asked Trump during a press event during the South African president’s Wednesday visit to the White House. 

“What are you talking about? You know, you ought to get out of here,” Trump responded. 

The question regarding the Qatari jet was asked immediately following Trump directing his staff to lower the lights and show video footage of the treatment of white farmers in South Africa during his meeting with the African nation’s president. 

The Trump administration began welcoming white Afrikaners from South Africa to the U.S. in the past week as they face “unjust racial discrimination” in their home country, according to the administration. 

“What does this have to do with the Qatari jet?” Trump shot back at the reporter, believed to be NBC News’ Peter Alexander, before slamming NBC News for trying to divert the meeting’s topic from genocide in South Africa. 

ESPIONAGE, CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS ABOUND FROM TRUMP DETRACTORS, ALLIES OVER QATARI JET OFFER

“They’re giving the United States Air Force a jet. Okay? And it’s a great thing. We’re talking about a lot of other things. It’s NBC trying to get off the subject of what you just saw,” Trump said. “You are a real … you know, you’re a terrible reporter. Number one, you don’t have what it takes to be a reporter. You’re not smart enough. But for you to go into a subject about a jet that was given to the United States Air Force, which is a very nice thing.”

“They also gave $5.1 trillion worth of investment in addition to the jet. Go back, you ought to go back to your studio at NBC because, Brian Roberts and the people that run that place, they ought to be investigated. They are so terrible the way you run that network. And you are a disgrace. No more questions from you,” Trump continued. 

“His name is Peter something. He’s a terrible reporter,” Trump added as he began calling on other reporters for questions. 

FLASHBACK: DEM CRITICAL OF TRUMP’S QATARI JET GIFT RODE CAMEL IN EXPENSES-PAID 2021 TRIP TO GULF EMIRATE

Fox News Digital reached out to NBC News for comment on the matter but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Fox News confirmed earlier Wednesday that the Department of Defense had formally accepted a 747 jetliner from Qatar.

Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized Trump after he announced the Department of Defense planned to accept a jumbo jet from the government of Qatar earlier in May, arguing the gift is riddled with both espionage concerns and constitutional questions. 

HOUSE DEMOCRAT CALLS FOR ‘IMMEDIATE’ ETHICS PROBE OF QATARI PLANE GIFT TO TRUMP

At the heart of Democrats’ concern over the matter is the emoluments clause in the Constitution, which states: “No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

It’s questionable if the emoluments clause even applies to the president, however, as the Constitution typically stipulates when a clause specifically affects a president and cites the title, such as in the impeachment clause, Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, previously told Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP CLARIFIES OWNERSHIP OF AIRCRAFT IN DEFENSE OF QATAR’S GIFT

“The clause was specifically inserted because of concerns by the Founders at the Constitutional Convention over corruption of our foreign diplomats, especially by the French government,” von Spakovsky explained. “It is questionable whether the emoluments clause even applies to the president since he is not named and the Constitution usually names the president when a provision applies to him. That is why the impeachment clause specifically provides that it applies to the ‘president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States.’ If ‘officers’ of the U.S. included the president, there would be no need for him to be separately listed.” 

Von Spakovsky said that if the plane is a government-to-government gift — meaning if Qatar gifted the plane to the Department of Defense and not as a personal gift to the president — the Trump administration is likely in the legal clear to accept the gift. 

“If this gift is being considered as a gift to the government of the U.S., there is no legal issue to consider, since there is no constitutional or legal problem with such a gift. If this is a personal gift to the president, the Justice Department would be weighing the constitutional issue I have raised — whether the emoluments clause even applies to the president,” he said. 

TRUMP DEFENDS QATAR JUMBO JET OFFER AS TROUBLED BOEING FAILS TO DELIVER NEW AIR FORCE ONE FLEET

Trump and his administration had previously and repeatedly defended that the jet would be gifted to the Department of Defense, and used as a temporary Air Force One as Boeing has not yet delivered a new fleet of Air Force ones. 

“We’re very disappointed that it’s taking Boeing so long to build a new Air Force One,” Trump said during a press conference on drug prices Monday morning. “You know, we have an Air Force One that’s 40 years old. And if you take a look at that, compared to the new plane of the equivalent, you know, stature at the time, it’s not even the same ballgame.” 

“When I first came in, I signed an order to get (the new Air Force One fleet) built,” he continued. “I took it over from the Obama administration, they had originally agreed. I got the price down much lower. And then, when the election didn’t exactly work out the way that it should have, a lot of work was not done on the plane because a lot of people didn’t know they made change orders. That was so stupid, so ridiculous. And it ended up being a total mess, a real mess.”