Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) efforts to protect religious freedom rights during a House hearing Monday and indicated to lawmakers that she was focused on a range of religions, from Judaism to Islam. 

‘It’s not only Catholics, it’s every religion, and even mosques that were slow-walked under the Biden administration and not allowed to open,’ Bondi said. ‘We will protect every religion in this country.’

The attorney general’s remarks came in response to questions from Rep. Riley Moore, R-W. Va., who asked what budget resources Bondi needed to ‘eradicate anti-Christian bias’ in the department.

Bondi also referenced recent high-profile incidents that appeared to be rooted in antisemitism, including the murder of two people who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. The pair were gunned down in May outside the Capitol Jewish Museum by a man who shouted ‘free Palestine!’ as he was arrested.

Bondi’s nod to mosques was an apparent reference to a handful of blue-leaning states closing all religious buildings as part of their COVID-19 protocols in 2020 during the Trump administration.

The attorney general said she talks ‘almost daily’ with the DOJ Civil Rights Division, which handles discrimination cases, and she commended division head Harmeet Dhillon, who has upended the division and shifted its focus, in part, to religious freedom.

‘They are working to protect people of all religions,’ Bondi said.

Moore also broached a controversial internal memo that originated in the FBI Richmond Field Office under former FBI Director Christopher Wray. The memo, which Congress made public in 2023 after receiving it from an FBI whistleblower, offered a threat assessment of ‘radical-traditionalist Catholics.’

The internal document laid out what the FBI perceived as a pattern of extremism among a small group of Catholics, identifying them as those who opposed modern-day popes, held ‘extremist ideological beliefs,’ and ‘engaged in violent rhetoric.’

The document pointed to three real-life examples of criminal suspects who identified with that sect of Catholicism to illustrate its point, and it used the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-leaning nonprofit, to bolster its assessment. In response to backlash, the FBI retracted the memo. Wray later said he admonished employees involved with making it but also said he did not uncover any ‘bad faith conduct’ among them.

Bondi said during Monday’s hearing that under her tenure, the DOJ will not use the Southern Poverty Law Center as a resource.

More Americans say they oppose rather than support this past weekend’s U.S. military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to a new national poll.

However, the Reuters/Ipsos survey points to a wide partisan divide, with most Republicans supporting President Donald Trump’s decision to launch aerial attacks against Iran in order to prevent the Islamic State from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Thirty-six percent of adult Americans questioned said they supported the airstrikes, with 45% opposed and 18% unsure or skipped answering the question.

However, among Republicans, support for the military strikes stood at 69%, with 17% opposed. Only 13% of Democrats supported the attack, with nearly three-quarters opposed. Among independents, support stood at 29%, with nearly half opposed.

The survey was conducted on Sunday and Monday following the attacks, which the president announced to the nation on Saturday evening. The airstrikes came after more than a week of daily exchanges between Iran and Israel, sparked by an initial Israeli attack on Iranian territory. 

Just over a third of those surveyed (35%) said they approved of how Trump is handling Iran, with half saying they disapprove. There was an expected partisan divide, with 70% of Republicans but only 10% of Democrats and 28% of independents giving the president a thumbs up on his handling of Iran.

Trump announced following the attacks that ‘the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.’

However, some independent experts say that commercial satellite imagery of Iran’s facilities after that attack suggests that Tehran’s nuclear program is far from destroyed.

The poll also indicated that six in 10 believe U.S. airstrikes on Iran will not make America safer, with 36% saying they will make the nation safer. As with the previous questions, there is a wide partisan divide, with just 12% of Democrats, 29% of independents and two-thirds of Republicans saying the strikes will make America safer.

The poll also indicates that four in five worry that Iran may target U.S. civilians in response to the airstrikes.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll questioned 1,132 adult Americans, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

The House of Representatives voted along bipartisan lines to quash a lone progressive lawmaker’s bid to impeach President Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon.

Lawmakers agreed to table the measure in a 344–79 vote. A vote to table is a procedural mechanism allowing House members to vote against consideration of a bill without having to vote on the bill itself.

The resolution was offered by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who was infamously ejected from Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress earlier this year for repeatedly interrupting the president.

A majority of House Democrats joined Republican lawmakers to kill Green’s resolution, a sign of how politically caustic the effort appears to be. Just 79 Democrats voted to proceed with the impeachment vote, while 128 voted to halt it in its tracks.

Green, who has threatened to impeach Trump before, said his latest bid is aimed at the president’s strikes on Iran from over the weekend.

‘I did not come to Congress to be a bystander while a president abuses power and devolves American democracy into authoritarianism with himself as an authoritarian president,’ Green said in a statement Tuesday morning.

‘President Trump’s unauthorized bombing of Iran constitutes a de facto declaration of war. No president has the right to drag this nation into war without the authorization of the people’s representatives.’

Other progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called for Trump’s impeachment over the strikes in Iran.

Trump mocked those progressives in a lengthy Truth Social post Tuesday, taunting them to ‘make my day.’

‘She better start worrying about her own Primary, before she thinks about beating our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, whose career is definitely on very thin ice!’ Trump wrote. ‘She and her Democrat friends have just hit the Lowest Poll Numbers in Congressional History, so go ahead and try Impeaching me,’ he posted.

The push has put House Democratic leaders in a difficult spot as well. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sidestepped questions on progressives calling to oust Trump during a press conference Monday.

‘A tool that’s on the table right now is to continue to demand that the administration present itself before the United States Congress and make the case to the American people as to why this extraordinary step has been taken. That’s step one,’ Jeffries said.

‘Step two is for the War Powers Resolution, whether that’s the one that has already been introduced or others that may subsequently be introduced, for those resolutions to be debated on the House floor, as should have occurred already. And then we’ll see where we’re at thereafter.’

Pressed again on whether he was taking calls for Trump’s impeachment seriously, Jeffries said, ‘This is a dangerous moment that we’re in, and we’ve got to get through what’s in front of us. And what’s in front of us right now is the Trump administration has a responsibility to come to Congress, justify actions for which we’ve seen no evidence to justify its offensive strength in Iran.’

Hours after President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, the fragile agreement nearly collapsed as hostilities flared before the truce took effect.

Despite the president’s announcement, Israel continued its military campaign — launching attacks before the ceasefire’s scheduled start 12 hours later. Iran retaliated with a deadly rocket barrage on a hospital in Be’er Sheva, killing at least four people. 

Israel began preparing a full-scale response before the president stepped in.

Trump, visibly frustrated as he departed for the NATO Summit in the Netherlands, blamed both sides — but especially Israel. ‘Israel. Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Speaking to reporters while boarding Marine One, the president added, ‘[Iran] violated it, but Israel violated it too. Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out, and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel.’

He continued, ‘When I say, okay, now you have 12 hours — you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them.’

Timeline: A Ceasefire in Crisis

6 p.m. ET / 1 a.m. Tel Aviv: Trump Announces Ceasefire Agreement

Trump posted the ceasefire terms on Truth Social.

‘It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a complete and total ceasefire (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in-progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered ended… During each ceasefire, the other side will remain peaceful and respectful.’

According to Trump, Iran would begin the ceasefire at hour 12. Israel would follow at hour 24. A global salute to the ’12 Day War’ ending would follow. 

3 a.m. Tel Aviv: Israel Strikes Targets in Iran

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office confirmed that Israel launched a major assault hours ahead of the ceasefire starting, hitting central Tehran. ‘We attacked forcefully in the heart of Tehran, hitting regime targets and killing hundreds of Basij and Iranian security forces,’ the statement read.

Iranian media confirmed nine casualties in the northern Gilan province. Fars News Agency said, ‘Four residential buildings were completely destroyed and several neighboring houses were damaged in the blasts.’

Just Before 7 a.m.: Iran Retaliates with Missiles

In response, Iran launched missiles at Be’er Sheva just minutes before the ceasefire took effect. Four people were killed, and several others were injured in the strike on a hospital.

7 a.m.: Ceasefire Begins Amid Tensions

Trump once again took to Truth Social.

 ‘The ceasefire is now in effect. Please do not violate it!’

7:06 a.m. and 10:25 a.m.: More Missiles Fired

Despite the ceasefire, Iran fired three additional missiles in the hours following. The projectiles were either intercepted or landed in open areas without causing casualties.

Israel Launches Counter-Response

Israel destroyed a radar installation near Tehran and was preparing a broader offensive before Trump publicly expressed his anger.

‘I’m really unhappy about Israel going out this morning… because of the one rocket that didn’t land — perhaps by mistake. You know what we have? We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing. Do you understand that?’ the president told reporters.

Trump Intervenes — Israel Pulls Back

After a direct call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump persuaded the Israeli leadership to halt further military actions. The Israeli Defense Forces ordered fighter jets to stand down and return to base.

Lawmakers are anxious that the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran may not hold, but many are not ready to call for regime change in the Islamic Republic.

President Donald Trump on Monday announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a truce, but as the evening carried into the wee hours of Tuesday morning, whether that peace would last came into question.

Israel had reportedly geared up for a retaliatory bombing run against Iran, and Trump accused both of breaking the newborn truce. On Tuesday morning, the president put out a sharp reprimand against both countries.

‘We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing,’ he told reporters.

On Capitol Hill, in the immediate wake of the ceasefire announcement, lawmakers were already looking at the deal skeptically but had confidence that the president’s negotiating power would ensure the fragile truce was not shattered.

‘I remain hopeful,’ Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. ‘I trust the president. He’s been right on everything, and he’s the only president that’s been able to bring Iran and Israel to the table in this manner. So I’m going to hope and pray that this works, and if it doesn’t, then we know Trump will act decisively.’

Trump’s announcement came on the heels of a weekend strikes with bunker-busting bombs that the White House says obliterated Iran’s nuclear program. Many lawmakers stood firm last week that the entire point of supporting Israel in their bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic was to ensure that Iran could not make or obtain an atomic weapon.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital that it was the groundwork Trump laid in his first term with the Abraham Accords and his recent visit to Saudi Arabia that could help solidify a lasting ceasefire between the two sides.

‘All you can do is just trust that because of the events that have happened, I mean, Iran … their conventional weapons have been decimated, their platforms have been decimated,’ he said. ‘Their nuclear program has been obliterated. So they’re at the table because of that.’

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told Fox News Digital that Iran has ‘typically never done what they said they would do.’

However, he believed that with the pressure from both the U.S. and Israel, and because Trump was willing to use force — which he described as the president showing he ‘means business’ — things could be different.

‘I think they’re going to come to the table now, and they’re in a very weak position, so it’s different, but their track record is very bad,’ he said. ‘You can’t count on what they say. So this goes back to the Reagan ‘trust but verify.’ Anything we negotiate with them has to be verifiable, and certainly that’s how the administration is going to approach it.’

However, even with a ceasefire, the Iranian regime remains unchanged. A shared sentiment among many lawmakers, however, was that if regime change were to take place in Tehran, it would have to be up to the Iranian people, not the U.S. government.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who is pushing for his war powers resolution to get a vote in the upper chamber, warned, ‘Do we really want to get in another regime-change war?

‘We changed Iran’s regime in 1953 by leading a coup against their prime minister,’ Kaine said. ‘And that’s one of the reasons why the U.S.-Iran relationship is so bad 70 years later. Do we really want to do that again?’

Indeed, the U.S.-backed toppling of then-Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh opened the door for Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to take control of Iran. However, by 1979, the Islamic Revolution took place and removed Pahlavi from power and saw the birth of the current regime.

Rep. Jack Bergman, a retired Marine general, laid out his position against regime change in more succinct terms. ‘It’s not our role.’

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., lauded the president’s action over the weekend and said he believed the strikes had put negotiations on a path that could lead to a ‘generational shift’ regarding the future peace and stability of the Middle East and Western World.

Still, he noted that ‘regime changes can break one or two ways, but it would be hard to do worse than what is there today.’

‘I’m cautiously optimistic, but we’re not there yet,’ he continued.

Not every lawmaker shared the same feelings, however.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., told Fox News Digital that he believed the U.S. should take a stronger posture when it comes to regime change in Iran.

‘I’m a Navy SEAL commander who spent time there, and buried a lot of my friends,’ he said. ‘While the attack was brilliant, and it was deceptive, and it made a statement, etcetera, etcetera, I don’t think Iran will bend. I think it’s going to take regime change.’

President Donald Trump dared progressive ‘Squad’ member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to try and impeach him over the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, after she had suggested such a measure.

‘Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the ‘dumbest’ people in Congress, is now calling for my Impeachment, despite the fact that the Crooked and Corrupt Democrats have already done that twice before,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

Trump said the ‘reason for her ‘rantings’ is all of the Victories that the U.S.A. has had under the Trump Administration.’ 

‘The Democrats aren’t used to WINNING, and she can’t stand the concept of our Country being successful again,’ he wrote. 

Trump said Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘test scores’ will show that ‘she is NOT qualified for office but, nevertheless, far more qualified than Crockett, who is a seriously Low IQ individual, or Ilhan Omar, who does nothing but complain about our Country, yet the Failed Country that she comes from doesn’t have a Government, is drenched in Crime and Poverty, and is rated one of the WORST in the World, if it’s even rated at all. ‘

The president was referring to Rep. Jasmine Crockett, the Texas Democrat who called Trump ‘the mo-fo’ who is ‘occupying the White House’ during a 21-minute social media video rant about the U.S. strikes in Iran. He was also referring to another progressive, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who recently claimed Trump is turning the United States into one of the ‘worst countries’ in the world. The congresswoman originally came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia.  

‘How dare ‘The Mouse’ tell us how to run the United States of America!’ Trump wrote. ‘We’re just now coming back from that Radical Left experiment with Sleepy Joe, Kamala, and ‘THE AUTOPEN,’ in charge. What a disaster it was!’ 

Trump said Ocasio-Cortez should be forced to take the same cognitive test that he completed at Walter Reed Medical Center as part of his annual physical. 

‘As the Doctor in charge said, ‘President Trump ACED it,’ meaning, I got every answer right,’ Trump wrote. ‘Instead of her constant complaining, Alexandria should go back home to Queens, where I was also brought up, and straighten out her filthy, disgusting, crime ridden streets, in the District she ‘represents,’ and which she never goes to anymore.’ 

Trump addressed how Ocasio-Cortez is reportedly weighing a primary run against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in 2028. Ocasio-Cortez won re-election in November and next defends her House seat in the 2026 midterms. The congresswoman has come under fire for perceived inaction against a notorious ‘Red Light’ prostitution strip and illegal street vendors plaguing her migrant-heavy district in New York City.

‘She better start worrying about her own Primary, before she thinks about beating our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, whose career is definitely on very thin ice!’ Trump wrote. ‘She and her Democrat friends have just hit the Lowest Poll Numbers in Congressional History, so go ahead and try Impeaching me, again, MAKE MY DAY!’ 

Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday condemned what she called Trump’s ‘disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers.’

‘He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,’ the democratic socialist wrote on X. ‘It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.’ 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called the prospect of caucusing with Democrats an ‘interesting hypothetical,’ but she fell short of fully committing to doing so if the Democrats pick up three seats in the 2027 midterms. 

‘It’s an interesting hypothetical,’ Murkowski said on the ‘GD Politics’ podcast with Galen Druke. ‘You started off with the right hook here, is if this would help Alaskans.’ 

The senator is promoting her new book, a memoir titled, ‘Far From Home.’ She was repeatedly asked if she would caucus with Democrats if the party divide in the upper chamber of Congress becomes 50-50 after the next election. 

‘That’s why this book is kind of scary, because now people know what motivates me, and it’s this love for Alaska and what I can do,’ she said. ‘So, that’s my primary goal. I have to figure out how I can be most effective for the people that I serve.’

Murkowski said the ‘problem’ she had with Druke’s hypothetical was that ‘as challenged as we may be on the Republican side, I don’t see the Democrats being much better.’ 

She said the Democrats also have policies that she inherently disagrees with. 

‘I can’t be somebody that I’m not,’ Murkowski said, describing how she received pressure to run as a Libertarian after narrowly losing the GOP Senate primary in 2010. She went on to win as a write-in candidate in a historic victory, launching her Senate career. ‘I can’t now say that I want this job so much that I’m going to pretend to be somebody that I’m not. That’s not who I am.’  

Druke, arguing that Murkowski would not have to become a Democrat to caucus with them, asked, ‘Is there world in which by becoming unaligned or an independent that you could help Alaskans, you’d consider it?’  

‘There may be that possibility,’ she said, noting that the Alaska legislature currently features a coalition with members of both parties.

‘This is one of the things that I think is good and healthy for us, and this is one of the reasons people are not surprised that I don’t neatly toe the line with party initiatives, because we’ve kind of embraced a governing style that says if you’ve got good ideas, and you can work with her over there, it doesn’t make any difference if you’re a Republican or Democrat,’ Murkowski said. ‘We can govern together for the good of the state.’ 

‘If Democrats won three seats in the next election and offered you a way to pass bills that benefit Alaskans if you caucused with them, you’d consider it?’ Druke pressed. 

Murkowski said in response that a coalition is ‘not foreign to Alaskans,’ but it is at the federal level in the U.S. Senate.

‘I’m evading your answer, of course, because it is so, extremely hypothetical, but you can tell that the construct that we’re working with right now, I don’t think is the best construct,’ Murkowski said, adding: ‘Is it something that’s worthy of exploration?’ 

Murkowski joked that Druke was trying to ‘make news’ and said the rank-choice voting system in Alaska means candidates are more likely to get elected if they are not viewed as wholly partisan.

‘It is a different way of looking at addressing our problems rather than just saying it’s red and it’s blue,’ she added. 

Druke hammered the senator again, saying, ‘Was that a yes? There’s some openness to it?’ 

‘There’s some openness to exploring something different than the status quo,’ she said. 

Murkowski, one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 riot, recently called the July 4 deadline that GOP leadership wants to pass Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ by ‘arbitrary.’  

‘I don’t want us to be able to say we met the date, but our policies are less than we would want,’ Murkowski told Axios. ‘Why are we afraid of a conference? Oh my gosh.’ 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are hesitant about going to conference with the upcoming debt ceiling ‘X date’ approaching and the party lines so tight. 

Murkowski, a critic of Trump’s foreign policy, particularly on Ukraine, told the Washington Post that she was in a ‘lonely position’ in the Senate, and sometimes feels ‘afraid’ to speak up among Republican colleagues out of fear of retaliation. 

‘We used to be called the world’s greatest deliberative body,’ she told the Post in a recent interview promoting her book. ‘I think we’re still called it, but now I wonder if it’s in air quotes.’

President Donald Trump, fresh off announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, is off to The Hague, Netherlands for the yearly summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a conference where he’s hoping to drum up another foreign policy win by pushing European leaders to increase defense spending.

The president is expected to land in the Netherlands on Tuesday and return to the White House on Wednesday. 

It’s Trump’s first NATO summit since becoming president for a second term. In the past, he’s railed against NATO members for ‘freeloading’ off U.S. military protection. This time, European allies are eager to prove him wrong. 

NATO reached an agreement for all nations to boost their defense spending to five percent of their gross domestic product, except Spain. 

Trump initially made the demand, which is expected to be finalized at the summit. 

‘This summit is really about NATO’s credibility, and we are urging all of our Allies to step up to the plate and pay their fair share for transatlantic security,’ U.S. NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker said.

Spain complicated the consensus when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez demanded an exemption from the new spending target – which would be a sharp increase from the 2 percent target Spain has had trouble meeting. 

‘We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defence investment, but we are not going to do it,’ Sanchez said. 

Trump is expected to meet with Rutte and other world leaders and hold a press conference. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also expected to attend, continuing his push for Ukraine’s admission into the alliance and its collective defense pact.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte boasted that allies were ‘stepping up to equal sharing of responsibility for our shared security.’

Trump has said he does not think the U.S. needs to hit the 5% target. ‘I don’t think we should, but I think they should,’ he told reporters last week. 

The President’s time at the summit will be brief, spending approximately 24 hours on the ground. His meetings ‘will focus on issues of shared concern and reaffirm the United States strong ties with our allies and partners,’ according to an administration official.

But they come after Trump can boast of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. 

‘It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

Rutte has suggested NATO would stand behind the U.S. after Iran launched a counterstrike on its air base in Qatar, following American attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites.

‘My biggest fear would be for Iran to own and be able to use a nuclear weapon,’ Rutte told reporters ahead of the summit.

He defended the U.S. strikes on Iran after being asked about parallels between the U.S. and Russia when it invaded Ukraine in 2022. 

‘This is a consistent position of NATO: Iran should not have its hands on a nuclear weapon,’ he said. ‘I would not agree that this is against international law — what the U.S. did.’

Rutte had wanted the summit to be a show of NATO unity to Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. But conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran makes the conference less predictable. 

The Iraq War in 2003 deeply divided NATO: France and Germany were opposed to the invasion while Britain and Spain joined the coalition forces. 

The Trump administration’s successful surprise strikes on Iran on Saturday night were executed without issue after the National Security Council saw massive overhauls earlier in 2025, and the national security advisor was replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to fulfill an additional job role that critics said would likely end in failure. 

President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Truth Social Saturday evening announcing the U.S. military carried out successful strikes on a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities as tensions and conflict heightened between Iran and Israel since June 12. 

‘A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan,’ Trump said from the White House in an address to the nation just hours after the Truth Social announcement. ‘Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.’ 

By Monday evening, Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Trump declaring the ’12 Day War’ was over following the U.S. strikes. 

The operation, which was also praised by Pentagon brass as a total success, was executed after the Trump administration slashed the National Security Council and replaced former national security advisor Mike Waltz with Rubio, who currently serves four different roles within the administration. 

Democratic lawmakers and former National Security Council staffers seethed against potential and finalized cuts to the council, alleging that Trump was politicizing and potentially crippling national security. 

The Trump administration and its supporters, however, viewed the overhauls as the president coming through on his campaign promise to strip Washington of the ‘deep state’ and streamline the office. 

The National Security Council operates within the White House to advise the president on foreign policy issues. 

It is chaired by the president, with other members including the vice president, the secretaries of state, treasury and defense, and the assistant to the president for national security affairs. Other staffers on the council include foreign policy experts who frequently join the team on loan from the Pentagon or State Department.

The Trump administration has made a handful of cuts to the National Security Council since Inauguration Day, most notably trimming roughly half of the National Security Council’s 350-person team in May, Fox Digital previously reported. Waltz, who served as Trump’s national security advisor for roughly 100 days, was removed from the post May 1 and named Trump’s nominee to serve as ambassador to the U.N. following a Signal chat leak with a journalist. 

Following Waltz’s departure, Trump named Rubio as his acting national security advisor, and he carried out a massive overhaul to the office, including trimming it of more than 100 staffers ahead of Memorial Day. 

‘The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State,’ a White House official told Axios in May as Rubio took a hatchet to the NSC staff. 

A White House official told Fox Digital on Monday that Rubio’s joint roles have allowed for ‘greater coordination between the State Department and White House,’ which they said has led to ‘more efficient execution of the president’s foreign policy agenda.’ 

Democrats, however, predicted that Rubio serving simultaneously as chief of the State Department and Trump’s national security advisor, would prove to be a failure. They argued that he would be unable to juggle the high-profiled roles, in addition to serving as acting archivist of the U.S., as well as acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

‘There’s no way he can do that and do it well, especially since there’s such incompetence over at DOD with Pete Hegseth being secretary of defense and just the hollowing out of the top leadership,’ Illinois Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth said on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ last month. ‘There’s no way he can carry all that entire load on his own.’

‘I don’t know how anybody could do these two big jobs,’ Democrat Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said Sunday on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’

Fast-forward less than two months; Trump and his national security team executed ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’ in Iran, which has received widespread support among Republicans and a handful of Democrats. Historic critics of the president, such as Democrat New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, however, have railed against the operation as bypassing congressional authority. 

‘The success of Operation Midnight Hammer speaks to the unmatched capabilities of the United States military, as well as President Trump’s brilliant foreign policy strategy, which included working closely with his national security team to flawlessly execute this mission and obliterate Iran’s ability to possess a nuclear weapon,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox Digital on Monday. 

‘As usual, Democrats and the legacy media were wrong – President Trump has rightfully placed immense trust in his top officials, including Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth, and Director Gabbard, to help him make the world safer,’ she added. 

Trump repeatedly met with the National Security Council and other administration leaders between June 12 and last Saturday, when the strikes were ordered on Iran. 

Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Vice President JD Vance were fixtures of the discussions, with photos showing them criss-crossing in and out of the White House last week as they reported to the Situation Room to meet with the president. The trio of U.S. officials flanked Trump as he addressed the nation about the operation Saturday night. 

‘For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America. Death to Israel.’ They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs,’ Trump said in his address Saturday with the trio standing behind him. ‘That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate, in particular.’

‘Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,’ Trump said. ‘And Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.’ 

The operation itself was cloaked in secrecy and took Iran and the world by surprise. Trump had said on Thursday – via comment from press secretary Karoline Leavitt – that he would make a decision on Iran within two weeks, which signaled a longer time frame than 48 hours for such a mission. 

There were no media leaks or speculation that such strikes were imminent, while earlier on Saturday, six B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri were spotted en route to a U.S. Air Force base in Guam, which signaled the U.S. was likely making moves on Iran, but not in just mere hours from when news broke of the stealth bombers. The bombers were later revealed to be decoys. 

Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held a press conference Sunday from the Pentagon, where they celebrated that strategic deception and misdirection played a key role in the operation. 

‘At midnight Friday into Saturday morning, a large B-2 strike package comprised of bombers launched from the continental United States,’ Caine said on Sunday. ‘As part of the plan to maintain tactical surprise, part of the package proceeded to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy – a deception effort, known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders here in Washington and in Tampa.’ 

Hegseth said in his remarks before the media Sunday morning that the U.S. military had leveraged ‘misdirection’ and total secrecy, aside from top national security officials, to carry out the strikes ‘without the world knowing at all.’

‘It involved misdirection and the highest of operational security. Our B-2s went in and out of… these nuclear sites, in and out and back, without the world knowing at all,’ Hegseth said. ‘In that way, it was historic.’

It was the longest B-2 spirit bomber mission since 2001, the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown and the largest B-2 operational strike in U.S. history, Hegseth and Caine said during the Sunday press conference. 

Rubio spoke to the media on Sunday morning shows, telling ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ host Maria Bartiromo that the ‘most important thing’ Iran should realize following the strikes is ‘the game is up’ and it’s time for peace. 

‘They have played the world for 40-something years with these nuclear talks and delaying things… they’re not going to play President Trump, and they found out last night that when he says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it. And he doesn’t want to do it. It’s not his first choice, but it’s the only choice. That’s the choice the Iranian regime left us, because they play too many games,’ he said. 

Trump celebrated on Monday evening in another Truth Social post that Iran and Israel had reached a ceasefire deal and that the 12 Day War had ended.

‘On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR.’ This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!’ he wrote. 

Tensions are still flared in the Middle East, as both Israel and Iran accuse each other of violating the ceasefire on Tuesday morning, with Trump urging them to put down their weapons while triumphantly declaring Iran’s nuclear capabilities have been crippled. 

‘IRAN WILL NEVER REBUILD THEIR NUCLEAR FACILITIES!’ Trump posted on Tuesday morning while heading to a NATO summit at the Hague in the Netherlands.

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

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has bowed out of the race to become the top Democrat on a key committee that is currently probing former President Joe Biden’s alleged mental decline.

Democratic firebrand Crockett was gunning to become the next ranking member, a title given to the senior member of the minority party, on the House Oversight Committee.

‘It was clear by the numbers that my style of leadership is not exactly what they were looking for, and so I didn’t think that it was fair for me to then push forward and try to rebuke that,’ Crockett told reporters.

House Democrats held the election during their weekly closed-door caucus meeting Tuesday morning.

However, in a smaller election by a key House Democratic panel on Monday night, Crockett and two others lost to Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Crockett signaled she came in last of the four, telling reporters on Tuesday, ‘They were clear that I was the one that made the least sense in their minds.

‘I accept that, and I think that you have to make sure that you are going to be able to work with leadership if you are going to go into a leadership position,’ she said. ‘I think the people may be disappointed, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to move forward in this country, we’ve got ot move forward for this world, and I don’t want to be an impediment.’

She promised to still be ‘loud and proud’ and a ‘team player’ for Democrats.

The House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., played a marquee role in the last Congress as Republicans pursued an impeachment inquiry against the previous president.

Comer’s panel is back in the headlines now for another Biden-focused probe, this time looking into allegations that former senior White House aides covered up signs of the elderly leader’s cognitive decline.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is expected to act as a foil to Republicans’ anti-Biden pursuits.

In addition to those issues, however, the committee is also charged with overseeing the federal workforce and the U.S. government’s ownership and leases of federal buildings – both key matters as President Donald Trump and Republicans seek to cut government bloat.

Crockett is already a member of the committee and has been known to make headlines during its hearings. She infamously got into a spat with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during an oversight hearing last year after Greene mocked Crockett as having ‘fake eyelashes.’

Crockett retorted that Greene had a ‘bleach blonde, bad-built butch body.’

However, in her pitch to House Democrats, Crockett styled herself as a serious but potent messenger.

‘Our work cannot be solely reactive. We must also be strategic in laying the groundwork to win back the House majority,’ she wrote in a letter earlier this month. ‘Every hearing, every investigation, every public moment must serve the dual purpose of accountability and must demonstrate why a House Democratic majority is essential for America’s future.’

The previous ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., died late last month after battling esophageal cancer.