Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is introducing legislation this week that would fully ban coverage of abortion and gender transition care for minors within the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Fox News Digital has learned.

While existing law prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions under the Hyde Amendment, many plans on the ACA exchanges still offer abortion coverage via various state-level loopholes and separate bill schemes. Hawley’s legislation would expressly state that no ACA healthcare plan can cover an abortion procedure, except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the life of the mother.

The legislation would similarly ban plans from offering coverage for gender transition care for minors, both in the form of drugs or procedures.

‘It’s time to ban abortion and gender transitions for minors on the healthcare exchanges,’ Hawley said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘No more loopholes.’

The legislative push comes as the Senate is already set to be focused on the ACA in the coming weeks, with a deadline for extending Obamacare subsidies looming with the Nov. 1 open enrollment date.

Democrats are already raising their voices about pushing through an extension, but Senate Republicans have said they’re open to negotiating a deal on the subsidies — with reforms — only after the government reopens.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his fellow Democrats have blocked Republican attempts to end the government shutdown eight times since Oct. 1. Schumer argues Republicans must come to the table with concessions, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., says the opposition’s demands are unreasonable.

‘Democrats like to whine that Republicans aren’t negotiating, but negotiation, Mr. President, is what you do when each side has a list of demands and you need to meet in the middle,’ Thune said on the Senate floor Tuesday. ‘Republicans, as I and a lot of other people pointed out, haven’t put forward any demands. Only Democrats have made demands. And by the way, very expensive demands.’

Republicans say Democrats are demanding that the Senate undo a total of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts from the ‘big, beautiful bill’ and claw back funding for NPR and PBS to give, in part, to illegal immigrants.

If the shutdown extends past the Nov. 1 deadline, those one ACA coverage plans could see their premiums skyrocket. It would also make this year’s shutdown the longest in American history, eclipsing the previous record set under former President Bill Clinton between late 1995 and early 1996. That shutdown lasted 21 days and was over a budget dispute between Clinton and then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., are pressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), claiming that it may be funded or directed by Hamas or other terrorist groups.

CAIR describes itself as a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization founded in 1994 with chapters across the U.S.

The request comes as President Donald Trump led a ceasefire in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.

Stefanik and Cotton allege CAIR’s historic ties, public rhetoric and activism raise questions about whether the group’s support for Hamas amounts to material support for terrorism.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces U.S. sanctions on terrorist groups and their affiliates, has the authority to investigate whether CAIR’s activities violate federal law, the lawmakers said.

CAIR has long denied accusations of supporting Hamas, saying it ‘does not support any foreign organization or government’ and calling such claims ‘false and Islamophobic,’ according to a statement on its website. The group says its mission is to advocate for Muslim civil rights in the U.S.

Stefanik chairs the House Republican Conference, and Cotton sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Both have pressed for stricter enforcement of anti-terror finance laws in past oversight efforts.

In July, Stefanik criticized the City University of New York for hiring a former CAIR employee. She called the decision unacceptable to New York taxpayers.

She and Cotton say a Treasury probe would ensure no U.S. assets are used to advance the objectives of Hamas.

‘We urge the department to immediately investigate whether CAIR maintains financial links to Hamas that violate U.S. sanctions,’ they wrote.

CAIR did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

At a White House ceremony in the Rose Garden on Tuesday on what would have been her husband’s 32nd birthday, Erika Kirk accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of Charlie Kirk and delivered a powerful, deeply personal tribute to his life and legacy.

‘Thank you, Mr. President, for honoring my husband in such a profound way,’ she began. ‘Charlie always admired your commitment to freedom.’

She offered thanks to the first lady, the vice president, and friends and family ‘watching from all around the world,’ along with Turning Point USA staff and chapters nationwide. ‘You are the heartbeat of this future and of this movement,’ she said. ‘Everything Charlie built lives through you.’

Erika added that the Presidential Medal of Freedom itself is rooted in America’s Founding. ‘The very existence of the Presidential Medal of Freedom reminds us that the national interest of the United States has always been freedom,’ she said.

‘Our founders etched it into the preamble of our Constitution, and those words are not relics on parchment. They are a living covenant. The blessings of liberty are not man’s invention. They are God’s endowment.’

She recalled how Charlie wrote about freedom often. ‘He believed that liberty was both a right and a responsibility. And he used to say that freedom is the ability to do what is right without fear. And that’s how he lived,’ Erika said.

‘His name, Charles, literally means ‘free man.’ And that’s exactly who my husband was,’ she continued. ‘From the time I met him, sitting across from him being interviewed about politics, philosophy and theology, I saw the fire in his soul. There was this divine restlessness within him that came from knowing God placed him on this earth to protect something very sacred. He never stopped fighting for people to experience freedom.’

Erika recalled Charlie often saying that ‘without God, freedom becomes chaos’ and that liberty can only survive ‘when anchored to truth.’ She remembered him telling an audience: ‘The opposite of liberty isn’t law. It’s captivity. And the freest people in the world are those whose hearts belong to Christ.’

Looking back at his years building Turning Point USA, she said, ‘While he was building an organization, he was also building a movement: one that called people back to God, back to truth, and a movement that was filled with courage.’

She described him as a man who loved life’s simplest pleasures: quiet walks, shelves full of books and Saturday mornings in the sun with decaf coffee and his phone turned off for the Sabbath. His birthday tradition, she recalled, was mint chocolate chip ice cream, enjoyed only on July 4 and his birthday.

‘Last year, his one birthday wish was to see the Oregon Ducks play Ohio State — and they won,’ she said. ‘Mr. President, I can say with confidence that you have given him the best birthday gift he could ever have.’

Turning to his final moments, Erika shared: ‘It was written across his chest in those final moments on one of his simple T-shirts that always carried a message — this one bearing a single word: freedom. That was the banner over his life.’

She said her husband never told anyone what to say but always encouraged them ‘to think outside of traditional political labels, anchored in wisdom and truth.’

‘Charlie wasn’t content to simply admire freedom. He wanted to multiply it,’ Erika said. ‘He wanted young people to taste it, understand it and defend it. He wanted them to see that liberty isn’t selfish indulgence — it’s self-governance under God.’

Every day, she recalled, he lived with fearless conviction. ‘He didn’t fear being slandered. He didn’t fear losing friends. He stood for truth and stood for freedom. Everything else was just noise to him. And it’s because his confidence in Christ was absolute.’

Erika said Charlie lived ‘only 31 short years on this side of heaven,’ but filled every day with purpose. ‘He fought for truth when it was unpopular. He stood for God when it was costly. He prayed for his enemies. He loved people when it was inconvenient. He ran his race with endurance, and he kept the faith. And now he wears the crown of a righteous martyr.’

She told the audience, ‘Heaven gained what earth could no longer contain — a free man made fully free. To all watching, this is not a ceremony. This is a commissioning. I want you to be the embodiment of this medal. I want you to free yourself from fear. I want you to stand courageously in the truth. And remember that while freedom is inherited in this country, each of us must be intentional stewards of it.’

Before closing, Erika shared her daughter Gigi’s birthday message: ‘Happy birthday, daddy. I want to give you a stuffed animal. I want you to eat a cupcake with ice cream. And I want you to go have a birthday surprise. I love you.’

‘I know that you’re celebrating in heaven today, but gosh, I miss you,’ she said through tears. ‘We miss you and we love you. And we promise we’ll make you proud. Charlie’s life was proof that freedom is not a theory. It’s a testimony. He showed us that liberty begins not in the halls of power, but in the heart of a man surrendered to God.’

She ended with a final tribute: ‘To live free is the greatest gift, but to die free is the greatest victory. Happy birthday, Charlie. Happy freedom day.’

A long weekend away from Washington, D.C., did little to soften Senate Democrats’ resolve as they again blocked an effort to reopen the government for an eighth time Tuesday.

The beginning of mass firings promised by the Trump administration and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought over the weekend also failed to sway Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

One pressure point was alleviated for both sides, however, with President Donald Trump’s directive to move money around at the Pentagon to pay military service members. Their paychecks are due Oct. 15.

Still, another payday, this time for Senate staffers, is fast approaching on Oct. 20.

Both sides are still dug into the same positions that launched the shutdown earlier this month, too. Talks between the opposing factions are still ongoing but have not yet yielded a result that either side is ready to move on.  

Senate Democrats want an extension to expiring Obamacare subsidies before the Nov. 1 open enrollment date, and they argue that unless Congress takes action, Americans that rely on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits will see their premiums skyrocket.

However, Trump appears unwilling to cave into Senate Democrats’ demands, and reupped Republicans’ argument that Democrats wanted to undo a total of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts from the ‘big, beautiful bill’ and clawback of funding for NPR and PBS to give, in part, to illegal immigrants. 

‘I don’t want to bore you with the fact that Schumer said 100 times, ‘You should never close our government,’’ Trump told reporters at the White House. ‘But Schumer is a weakened politician. I mean, he’s going to finish his career as a failed politician, as a failed politician. He’s allowed the radical left to take over the Democrat Party.’

Senate Republicans have said that they’re open to negotiating a deal on the subsidies, with reforms to the program only after the government reopens. And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., for now, has no intention of straying from his plan to continue to bring the House Republicans’ short-term continuing resolution (CR) to the floor again and again.

‘Democrats like to whine that Republicans aren’t negotiating, but negotiation, Mr. President, is what you do when each side has a list of demands and you need to meet in the middle,’ Thune said on the Senate floor. ‘Republicans, as I and a lot of other people pointed out, haven’t put forward any demands. Only Democrats have made demands. And by the way, very expensive demands.’ 

Schumer noted on the Senate floor that every time Thune has put the GOP’s bill on the floor, it has failed. 

‘That means, like it or not, the Republican leader needs to work with Democrats in a bipartisan way to reopen the government, just as we did when we passed 13 CRs when I was majority leader,’ he said. 

The administration’s movement on reductions in force (RIFs) over the weekend, and the lingering threat that thousands of nonessential furloughed federal employees may not get back pay once the shutdown ends have not swayed Senate Democrats.

The same trio of Senate Democratic caucus members, Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine, all broke ranks with Schumer support reopening the government.

‘Donald Trump, come to the negotiating table,’ Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said at a rally outside the OMB on Tuesday. ‘Bring down costs and prices and stop inflicting harm and terrorizing federal employees and the American people.’

While most action on Capitol Hill has ground to a halt as the shutdown continues — the House, for example, has been out of session for over three weeks — the Senate has moved on other legislation, including the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act and a massive package of Trump’s nominees. Thune also teased last week that the defense spending bill could come to the floor soon.

The latest failed attempt comes on the 14th day of the shutdown and all but ensures that the closure will last into at least a third week.

It also puts this shutdown, in particular, into historic territory. While the longest shutdown on record, from late 2018 to early 2019, was under Trump’s first term, it was only partial. A handful of appropriations bills had already passed at the time, including funding for the legislative branch and defense.

But the longest full shutdown happened over two decades earlier under former President Bill Clinton between late 1995 and early 1996. That shutdown lasted 21 days and was over a budget dispute between Clinton and then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

That particular dispute also led to two shutdowns in that fiscal year, the first in November and the second setting the 21-day record. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is seeking testimony from former special counsel Jack Smith about what he says were Smith’s ‘partisan and politically motivated’ prosecutions of President Donald Trump.

Jordan told Smith on Tuesday in a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital to schedule an interview with his committee by Oct. 28. The move comes at the same time congressional Republicans have been raising alarm over the recent revelation that Smith subpoenaed phone records of sitting senators.

‘As the Committee continues its oversight, your testimony is necessary to understand the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law enforcement,’ Jordan wrote.

Jordan’s request comes amid Republicans intensifying their focus on Smith, who brought criminal charges against Trump over the 2020 election and classified documents but later dropped them because of a Justice Department policy that advises against prosecuting sitting presidents.

The request to appear for a transcribed interview marks the first instance of Congress summoning Smith after the former special counsel spent more than two years investigating and prosecuting Trump. The president has repeatedly targeted Smith, referring to him as ‘deranged,’ a ‘thug’ and a ‘sleazebag’ and calling Smith a ‘criminal’ who should be arrested.

Jordan also made a broad request for all records from Smith on his work related to Trump. If Smith were to resist the requests for an interview and documents, Jordan could subpoena him. Fox News Digital reached out to Smith’s lawyers for comment.

The Senate is also ramping up its scrutiny of Smith. Last week, 18 Senate Republicans, led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, demanded that the DOJ and FBI release documents on Smith’s decision to subpoena phone companies for toll records of eight Senate Republicans, material that could be protected by grand jury rules.

The senators said they had ‘serious constitutional concerns’ about the subpoenas and that the DOJ should ask courts to unseal the records if needed. Seeking toll records is a routine part of an investigation and sheds light on when calls were placed and to whom. They do not provide any details about the contents of phone calls or messages.

Jordan called the subpoenas and his recent discovery that the FBI monitored Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., before seizing his phone ‘abusive surveillance.’

Jordan also raised numerous other concerns he said he had with Smith’s probes, including the controversial execution of a search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in 2022 to seize boxes that allegedly contained classified material. Jordan also took issue with a gag order Smith sought against Trump in court after prosecutors raised concerns that threats Trump’s targets were receiving were a result of the president’s rhetoric.

‘These actions undermined the integrity of the criminal justice system and violated the core responsibility of federal prosecutors to do justice,’ Jordan wrote.

Congressional Democrats from Maryland and Virginia warned on Tuesday that they would sue over the administration’s planned firings and threats of no back pay for furloughed workers.

Both have been used as pressure points by the White House to get Senate Democrats to budge from their dug-in position and vote to reopen the government, but until late last week, no direct action had been taken.

Late last month, the OMB circulated a memo that there would be reductions in force (RIFs) beyond the typical furloughs during a government shutdown. It had remained a threat until last week, when OMB Director Russ Vought announced on X on the 10th day of the shutdown, ‘The RIFs have begun.’ 

Flash forward to Day 14, and Senate Democrats from Maryland and Virginia, states home to tens of thousands of federal employees, showed no signs of caving from their shutdown position despite the firings.

‘When they tell you when they tell you that the shutdown is making them fire these federal employees, do not believe it for a moment,’ Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said. ‘That is a big lie. It is a big fat lie. It is also illegal. And we will see them in court.’

The lawmakers also railed against threats that furloughed federal workers would not receive back pay. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that roughly 750,000 nonessential federal employees could be furloughed, and their estimated back pay could cost up to $400 million per day.

The threat runs counter to a law President Donald Trump signed in 2019 that required furloughed workers to receive back pay in future shutdowns.

‘The idea that he doesn’t understand that everybody has to get paid back shows maybe how short his memory span is, or how [he] arbitrarily wants to pick and choose,’ Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said.

While the lawmakers threatened actions in the courts, Rob Shriver, who formerly served as acting director of the Office of Personnel Management under the Biden administration before taking a position at the non-profit legal services and public policy research organization Democracy Forward, said that a lawsuit was already in motion.

‘As soon as Russ Vought tweeted on Friday, we were on our way back to court to file an emergency motion to stop those unlawful RIFs right in their tracks,’ Shriver said. ‘A hearing on that motion is tomorrow, and no matter what happens, we will continue to fight these illegal RIFs.’

Still, despite the threats from the administration, there has been little progress toward reopening the government. The Senate will again vote on House Republicans’ continuing resolution (CR) Tuesday night, which has so far failed seven times. Both sides are firmly rooted in their positions.

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., want a firm deal in place to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies before open enrollment begins on Nov. 1, while Senate Republicans argue that they are open to negotiating a deal only after the government reopens.

And the actions and threats from the Trump administration appeared to only further steel Democrats’ resolve on the issue.

‘The message we have today is very simple, very simple,’ Van Hollen said. ‘Donald Trump and Russ Vought: stop attacking federal employees. Stop attacking the American people and start negotiating to reopen the federal government and address the looming healthcare crisis that is upon us.’

The Trump administration is seeking to cool tensions between the U.S. and China, after Beijing unveiled plans to impose export controls on rare-earth magnets and after the U.S. threatened more stringent tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation. 

Rare-earth elements are used in products such as electric cars, household appliances, lithium batteries and camera lenses — and are critical to national security because the magnets are key components in many weapons systems.

The export controls directly affect the defense supply chain since the magnets are used in F-35 fighter jets, Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines, Tomahawk missiles and radar systems, among other platforms.

A Virginia-class submarine is outfitted with more than 9,200 pounds of rare-earth elements, while F-35 fighter jets contain more than 900 pounds, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

China plays a critical role in producing these elements. It is responsible for mining roughly 60% of the world’s rare earth minerals and processing nearly 90% as of 2024, according to CSIS.

China unveiled plans Thursday to expand export controls to include five additional rare-earth metals — holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium — adding to seven previously restricted in April.

Gracelin Baskaran, the director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at CSIS, said that the export controls will require all foreign companies to secure Chinese approval to export magnets that contain even small amounts of rare earth elements from China, or were made using Chinese technology. 

‘China’s new rules mark its toughest move yet against the defense sector. Beginning December 1, 2025, firms linked to foreign militaries – including the United States – will be largely denied export licenses,’ Baskaran said in a Monday email to Fox News Digital. 

China said that it imposed the new restrictions due to national security concerns, claiming that the rare-earth elements have ‘dual-use properties for both civilian and military applications,’ according to a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. 

China’s plans are testing relations between the U.S. and China, following a few months of relative calm between the two. But China’s announcement received pushback from Republicans and Democrats serving on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, who are pushing for action to penalize China.

Committee chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said in a Thursday statement that the new export controls amount to ‘an economic declaration of war,’ and that every American would suffer. 

‘China has fired a loaded gun at the American economy, seeking to cut off critical minerals used to make the semiconductors that power the American military, economy, and devices we use every day including cars, phones, computers, and TVs,’ Moolenaar said in a statement. 

Moolenaar sent a letter to Trump in September urging him to act against China’s dominance in rare-earth magnets and to consider limiting Chinese airline access to U.S. and allied airports until Beijing lifts the restrictions.

Ranking member of the committee, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., also said that the U.S. must find alternatives so the country doesn’t depend so much on China for the magnets. 

‘The United States and allies must redouble efforts to diversify supply sources, strengthen partnerships, and invest in domestic processing to reduce our reliance on the Chinese Communist Party for essential minerals,’ Krishnamoorthi said in a Friday statement. 

In response to China, the Trump administration threatened to impose tariffs on Chinese goods by 100% and warned he might cancel his meeting later in October with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Even so, Trump attempted to defuse the situation Sunday, and chalked up Beijing’s plans to impose new export controls to a ‘bad moment.’ 

‘Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment,’ Trump said in a Sunday social media post. ‘He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!’

Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. said Monday that it ‘firmly rejects’ new U.S. restrictions and sanctions against Beijing, and will ‘do what is necessary to protect its legitimate rights and interests.’ 

‘Threatening high tariffs is not the right way to deal with China,’ the Chinese Embassy said in a Monday social media post. ‘The U.S. should correct its approach and act on the common understandings the two presidents reached in their phone calls.’ 

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Sunday that the U.S. was not given a heads up on the increased export controls, and said that China ‘deferred’ a call from the U.S. on the matter after Washington learned about the move from public sources. 

However, China and the U.S. upping the ante in their trade war hasn’t totally derailed talks between the two countries. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the U.S. and China engaged in ‘substantial communications’ over the weekend, and that Trump and Xi’s meeting in October is still expected. 

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips and Alex Schemmel contributed to this report. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced a global effort to nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize as phase one of the recent Middle East peace agreement goes into effect.

‘I’m proud to tell you that together with my friend, Speaker Ohana of the Israeli Knesset, the equivalent of our Congress, we’re going to embark upon a project together to rally speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world so that we will jointly nominate President Donald J. Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize,’ Johnson said Tuesday. ‘No one has ever deserved that prize more, and that is an objective fact.’

He made the announcement during his daily government shutdown news conference on the 14th day of the ongoing fiscal standoff between Democrats and Republicans.

Johnson opened the press conference praising Trump for helping strike the deal that is aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas.

‘There will be more to share on this in the weeks ahead, but today marks the start of this effort that we’ll embark upon together, this joint parliamentary project,’ he said.

‘And I’m honored to do it alongside our ally and my counterpart in Israel in leading that effort.’

Trump was in Egypt on Monday for the signing of the historic peace deal alongside other world leaders from Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Both Israel and Hamas also began taking the first steps of the peace process by releasing people held by their respective sides. All 20 living Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas were released, while Israel began releasing Palestinian prisoners it held within its own borders.

Trump has received praise from both sides of the aisle for his role in the U.S.-brokered agreement.

‘I thought it was remarkable. I saw a video last night of one of the released hostages who made the point that as soon as the election was held in November in the United States, Hamas began to treat him and his fellow hostages much better,’ Johnson said. 

‘They fed them better. They respected them more. They changed the tone of how they treated them. They no longer spit upon them. As he said in his own words, elections have consequences.’

Lawyers for James Comey told a federal judge in Alexandria on Tuesday that they plan to file a motion early next week to formally dismiss his criminal case, citing what they argued is President Donald Trump’s ‘unlawful’ appointment of former White House aide Lindsey Halligan as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia shortly before Comey’s indictment.

The filing is part of a broader effort by Comey’s legal team to have the criminal case tossed. His lawyers told the judge overseeing the case last week they planned a separate motion to dismiss the case on grounds of vindictive prosecution.

Tuesday’s filing is not a formal motion but a notice to the court that they plan to challenge Halligan’s appointment as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District. Doing so will require an ‘out-of-district judge’ to hear the motion, as they noted in the filing.

The move is part of a broader salvo from Comey’s legal team to have his criminal case tossed, amid what they say is a politically motivated effort pursued by a lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, who formerly worked as Trump’s personal lawyer and White House aide.

Trump in September announced he would install Halligan as the top prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, replacing interim attorney Erik Siebert who resigned under pressure to indict both Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Comey’s lawyers previously suggested that Halligan’s appointment, three days before his indictment, could strengthen their motion to dismiss.

‘We think that’s an unlawful appointment,’ Comey’s lawyers said. 

Comey’s criminal case has emerged as a political lighting rod, punctuating years of public broadsides and quietly simmering tensions between Trump and his onetime FBI director, whom he fired in 2017, less than halfway through Comey’s ten-year tenure as FBI director.

Comey used his memoir, ‘A Higher Loyalty,’ and subsequent public appearances to take umbrage against Trump and publicly criticize the actions he took during his first term. Trump has continued to assail Comey and scrutinize his tenure at the FBI, including by reportedly pressing for the investigation and empaneling of a grand jury. 

Halligan ultimately secured the indictment from a grand jury in Alexandria just days before the statute of limitations ran out in bringing the case.

Halligan, a former insurance attorney in Florida, has said that the charges against Comey ‘represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust.’  

‘No one is above the law,’ she told reporters last month.

While the indictment drew praise from some Trump officials and allies, it also prompted criticism from others, who said the case shows the lengths Trump is willing to go to punish perceived political foes.

The notice from Comey’s lawyers was not the only significant development in his case this week.

Hours earlier, the federal judge assigned to his case, Judge Michael Nachmanoff, rejected the Justice Department’s request to limit Comey’s access to ‘protected’ discovery materials being used by prosecutors in the criminal case. 

Nachmanoff said in an order that the government is obligated to share with Comey and his lawyers the discovery materials in the case, including those designated as ‘protected.’

Blocking Comey’s access to these materials would ‘unnecessarily hinder and delay’ his ability to prepare for his criminal case, he said.

‘Protective orders addressing the confidentiality and privacy interests of others should not override a defendant’s right to a fair trial,’ Nachmanoff added.

Further, he said, the government’s proposed order ‘does not sufficiently define the information constituting ‘Protected Material,’ thereby making it overbroad.’

The order resolves, for now, one of several public skirmishes that have emerged in the days since Comey was indicted last month in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, on one count of allegedly making a false statement to Congress during a Senate hearing in 2020, and one count of obstruction connected to the same event.

At issue most recently was whether Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by Trump during his first White House term in 2017, should be granted access to certain discovery materials in his criminal case. 

Halligan asked the judge to restrict his access to discovery materials, citing their sensitive nature and concern about them remaining in the hands of defendants.

She argued the action has long precedent in the Eastern District of Virginia — the Alexandria-based federal court where many national security and intelligence cases are tried — calling it a ‘common practice.’

Comey’s lawyers filed their objection almost immediately. 

They argued that Comey is a Virginia-licensed attorney who himself is ‘admitted to practice law in the Eastern District of Virginia,’ and who has already ‘been entrusted with some of the most sensitive and highly guarded information in the country,’  including during the Bush administration, when he served as the Deputy Attorney General  and as FBI director — a role he held for nearly four years before Trump fired him in his first White House term.

‘To assert now, that he cannot be trusted with receiving discovery in his case controverts his long career of distinguished government service at the highest levels,’ his lawyers said. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, asked former special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday to sit for an interview about what he said were Smith’s ‘partisan and politically motivated’ prosecutions of President Donald Trump.

Jordan told Smith in a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital to schedule the closed-door testimony with his committee by Oct. 28. The move comes at the same time congressional Republicans have been raising alarm over the recent revelation that Smith subpoenaed phone records of sitting senators.

‘As the Committee continues its oversight, your testimony is necessary to understand the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law enforcement,’ Jordan wrote.

Jordan’s request comes amid Republicans intensifying their focus on Smith, who brought criminal charges against Trump over the 2020 election and classified documents but later dropped them because of a Justice Department policy that advises against prosecuting sitting presidents.

The request to appear for an interview marks the first instance of Congress summoning Smith after the former special counsel spent more than two years investigating and prosecuting Trump. The president has repeatedly referred to Smith as ‘deranged,’ a ‘thug’ and a ‘sleazebag’ and said Smith is a ‘criminal’ who should be arrested.

Jordan also made a broad request for all records from Smith on his work related to Trump. If Smith were to resist the requests for an interview and documents, Jordan could subpoena him. Fox News Digital reached out to Smith’s lawyers for comment.

The Senate is also ramping up its scrutiny of Smith. Last week, 18 Senate Republicans, led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, demanded that the DOJ and FBI release documents on Smith’s decision to subpoena phone companies for toll records of eight Senate Republicans, material that could be protected by grand jury rules.

The senators said they had ‘serious constitutional concerns’ about the subpoenas and that the DOJ should ask courts to unseal the records if needed. Seeking toll records is a routine part of an investigation and sheds light on when calls were placed and to whom. They do not provide any details about the contents of phone calls or messages.

Jordan called the subpoenas and his recent discovery that the FBI monitored Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., before seizing his phone ‘abusive surveillance.’