House investigators’ plan to grill former FBI Director Robert Mueller has hit a snag. 

The House Oversight Committee was set to have Mueller appear before the panel on Tuesday as part of the House’s probe into Jeffrey Epstein. However, a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital that lawmakers ‘learned that Mr. Mueller has health issues that preclude him from being able to testify.’ 

‘The committee intends to withdraw its subpoena,’ the source said. 

Mueller was one of many notable figures, including the Clintons, who House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed to testify before the panel. 

He would have been the second witness appearing in-person before the House Oversight Committee after former Attorney General Bill Barr did so last month.

His closed-door deposition was expected to see at least some lawmakers on both sides attend, with the investigation so far seeing wide bipartisan support in an otherwise highly divided era for Congress.

Mueller was most recently in the headlines for his role as special counsel investigating whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election in favor of President Donald Trump.

That probe, which did not find Trump to have committed any wrongdoing, saw 34 people indicted and eight convictions or guilty pleas, including several people associated with the president.

House investigators were expected to dive into Mueller’s time as director of the FBI. He led the bureau under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, from September 2001 until September 2013.

It was during that window that the federal government first investigated Epstein, something Comer pointed out in his letter subpoenaing Mueller.

‘When you were FBI Director, an FBI investigation of Mr. Epstein led to an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida preparing a draft 60-count indictment of Mr. Epstein in 2007,’ Comer wrote.

‘However, the next year, Mr. Epstein pled guilty in Florida state court to two prostitution offenses, and, in exchange, he and his co-conspirators received immunity from federal prosecution through a non-prosecution agreement.’

That non-prosecution agreement has been widely criticized and is now the basis for Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell to appeal her conviction and 20-year prison sentence before the Supreme Court.

It’s not clear how much of a role Mueller would have had in that agreement. Alexander Acosta, the former Trump labor secretary and U.S. attorney in Florida who signed off on the deal, is sitting down with the House Oversight Committee for a voluntary transcribed interview later this month.

Comer sent out a flurry of subpoenas last month in relation to the Epstein probe. 

Other figures also compelled to appear after Mueller are former FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and ex-first couple Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Russia isn’t backing off from attacking Ukraine and pummeled it with missiles and drones Thursday — just weeks after President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, in an attempt to advance a peace deal. 

The attack could be a signal Putin is utilizing diplomacy to buy himself more time to advance his goals and continue to attack Ukraine, all while avoiding secondary sanctions that the Trump administration has threatened to impose, according to experts. 

The time to act is now, according to Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on cyber issues.  

‘Putin is stringing President Trump along and the added time is helping Russia to continue the bombing campaign against Ukrainian cities,’ Bacon said in a Friday statement to Fox News Digital. ‘The longer Trump refuses to impose secondary sanctions against Russia and send high-end weapons to Ukraine, the more he looks like a simp for Putin. It is beyond time for Trump to have moral clarity and come in strong to help the democracy that is being attacked by the Russian thug.’ 

Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general who is not seeking reelection in 2026, said that discussions with Putin have proven futile and have indicated Putin isn’t serious about a deal. 

‘We’ve seen zero results from the talks as far as Putin being willing to compromise,’ Bacon said. ‘Although I think seeking negotiations was worthwhile initially, it showed Putin does not want peace.’ 

The White House has maintained that Trump has made more progress in two weeks to resolve the conflict than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, did in more than three years, and pointed to Trump’s meeting with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy within days of each other.  

‘President Trump’s national security team continue to engage with Russian and Ukrainian officials toward a bilateral meeting to stop the killing and end the war,’ White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a Friday statement to Fox News Digital. 

Trump announced July 14 that he would sign off on ‘severe tariffs’ against Russia if Moscow failed to agree to a peace deal within 50 days. He then dramatically reduced the deadline to only 10–12 days — which ended Aug. 8. But rather than lay on additional sanctions against Russia, Trump met with Putin a week later in Alaska and hailed the meeting a great success. 

Still, progress stemming from the meeting appears limited. Russia did not agree to a ceasefire, and while Trump initially said a trilateral meeting with both Putin and Zelenskyy was in the works, Russia has shown disinterest in such a meeting. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with NBC News Aug. 22 that no meeting had been scheduled and Putin would only agree to one if certain terms were approved beforehand. That’s not the case, he said. 

‘Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,’ Lavrov said. 

Meanwhile, Russia launched a massive attack employing nearly 600 drones and decoys against Kyiv Thursday, killing more than 20 people. In response, the U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday, per the urging of Ukraine and several other European allies. 

Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia during former President Barack Obama’s administration, said in a post on X that Putin has only escalated attacks against Ukraine following the Alaska meeting, and said Putin is ‘openly mocking’ Trump. 

‘I hope Mr. Trump and his team understand how Putin is spitting in their faces,’ McFaul said in a Thursday post on X. 

Additionally, Putin is onto the fact he can bypass economic consequences, and won’t seriously negotiate a deal unless he must, according to Steven Pifer, who previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine during former President Bill Clinton’s administration. 

‘I think that Putin is, in fact, stringing the president along,’ Pifer told Fox News Digital. ‘Putin still believes he can achieve his goals, vis a vis Ukraine, on the battlefield. And we’re not going to see a serious negotiating attempt by the Russians until Putin is convinced he cannot win on the battlefield, and that continuing to try is only going to mean greater and greater cost — first and foremost, a lot more dead Russian soldiers.’

‘I just don’t see any really serious steps the administration has taken to inflict any punishment on Putin,’ Pifer said. ‘I think Putin’s figured that out, and until Putin is disabused of that notion, he’s going to keep missing deadlines.’ 

Historically, Russia’s demands for a peace deal have included barring Ukraine from ever joining NATO, along with concessions on some of the borders that previously were Ukraine’s.

Peter Rough, a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute think tank, said that because Putin knows the U.S. is eager to end the war, Putin’s peace deal requirements are an attempt to turn up the heat on Ukraine. 

Following Trump’s meeting with Putin and ahead of his meeting days later with Zelenskyy, the U.S. president put the onus on Ukraine to end the war – and said that Ukraine could end the war immediately if it agreed to cede Crimea to Russia, and abandon its bid for NATO membership.

‘Putin managed to sidestep U.S. sanctions in Alaska and is content slogging away in Ukraine,’ Rough told Fox News Digital Monday. ‘But he also recognizes that the U.S. wants this war to come to an end, so he has put forward a proposal intended to appeal to Washington in the hopes that the U.S. will put pressure on Ukraine to accept its terms. If he can divide the transatlantic alliance along the way, all the better. At the very least, it helps him stave off additional U.S. sanctions.’ 

John Hardie, Russia program deputy director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that Putin isn’t interested in agreeing to a deal unless his terms are included in it. In the meantime, Putin is utilizing diplomacy to avoid economic consequences, Hardie said. 

‘I think Putin does want a deal — but only if it’s on his terms,’ Hardie told Fox News Digital Monday. ‘Until that happens, he’s bent on continuing the war, and Russia seeks to use diplomacy to forestall tougher U.S. economic pressure and redirect Trump’s ire from Moscow to Kyiv.’ 

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Ukrainian officials in New York City Friday for ‘very productive and constructive’ talks ahead of Kyiv’s emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, Fox News Digital has learned.

Witkoff met with Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s office of the president and chief of staff, and Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s ambassador extraordinary.

Senior administration officials familiar with the meeting told Fox News Digital that Yermak and Kyslytsya gave Witkoff a status update on the war with Russia and Moscow’s most recent attacks.

Russia launched a large-scale attack on Kyiv Wednesday night, killing at least 17 people, wounding 48 others and damaging buildings, officials in Ukraine said. 

The Ukrainian officials invited Witkoff to visit Ukraine in the future, a senior official told Fox News Digital.

Witkoff is continuing talks with Ukrainian officials, who say they are making progress.

The meeting, according to Trump administration officials, was a status update and a reaffirmation of the goal of getting both Ukraine and Russia to meet to ultimately reach an agreement to end the war.

Witkoff’s diplomatic approach in the highly sensitive talks has been met with praise by Trump Cabinet officials and foreign officials alike. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also touted Witkoff’s work, saying he is ‘a key member of President Trump’s team and plays an indispensable role in advancing the president’s priorities.’

Rubio told Fox News Digital that Witkoff’s ‘unique perspective and innovative approach open new opportunities for diplomacy that were previously unavailable.’ 

‘It’s been remarkable to see him in action and a privilege to call him a colleague,’ Rubio told Fox News Digital.

National Security Advisor to the United Kingdom Jonathan Powell also praised Witkoff’s style.

Powell reflected on his more than 30 years of experience in peace negotiations, telling Fox News Digital that ‘there is a lot of snobbery in diplomacy — that peace can only be made in grand chandelier rooms, with a delegation of tens of officials and decades of diplomatic experience.’

‘But in my experience, the people who are actually successful at making peace operate on their own and concentrate on building trust between key leaders on either side and moving quietly to cut a deal,’ Powell said. ‘Steve Witkoff is exactly that sort of person.’

Powell told Fox News Digital that Witkoff’s experience of ‘making deals in a completely different field,’ along with his ‘charm and optimism, unburdened by the tens of reasons why an initiative cannot work, and a steely focus on getting to a lasting agreement.

‘In the court of this year, Steve has been able to open doors that no one else could and make peace possible in a series of different conflicts which would otherwise have remained insoluble.’

And Jared Kushner, a former senior adviser to Trump during his first administration, told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration’s ‘small, focused teams with the right leadership can achieve great results.’

‘Coming from the deal world, managing several complex deals at the same time is not uncommon,’ Kushner said, touting Witkoff’s ‘commitment, creativity and determination to solve some of the world’s most complex problems.’

‘Steve is quick to seek out advice and expertise when he is assessing a situation and evolves his perspectives as the facts change,’ Kushner said.

Reports this week, however, quoted anonymous sources who said Witkoff didn’t have enough experience to handle the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Vice President JD Vance, though, told Fox News Digital that Witkoff has ‘made more progress toward ending the bloodshed in Ukraine than all his critics combined.’

‘He’s a natural diplomat, an experienced negotiator and a true humanitarian,’ Vance said.

Vance blasted those who have criticized Witkoff for simply being ‘threatened.’ 

‘These smears are coming from lifelong bureaucrats who are threatened by Steve’s success and who are basically opposed to a productive peace process,’ Vance said.

Meanwhile, Witkoff’s meeting with officials in New York City comes just hours after Ukraine requested an emergency open briefing at the U.N. Security Council following Russia’s overnight aerial attacks on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine. 

Council members Denmark, France, Greece, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia and the United Kingdom supported the meeting request. 

Reports say Russia used nearly 600 drones and more than 30 ballistic and cruise missiles in the attack this week. 

Russia’s continued attacks come after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier in August. Putin proposed Ukraine cede some territory in exchange for peace. 

Days later, Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several European heads of state at the White House, and he urged Ukraine to accept a land swap deal with Russia. Trump has argued that it is the most efficient way to end the war. 

Trump hosted Zelenskyy along with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. 

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also attended the meeting at the White House. 

Trump is coordinating the next steps in brokering an end to the war and is encouraging Putin and Zelenskyy to meet. 

Trump has said that after Putin and Zelenskyy meet, he will host a ‘trilat,’ which will be a meeting between Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump. 

‘After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,’ Trump said last week. ‘Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine.’ 

But after the latest attack, Zelenskyy blasted Putin, saying Russia ‘chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table. It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war.

‘And this means that Russia still does not fear the consequences,’ Zelenskyy added. ‘Russia still takes advantage of the fact that at least part of the world turns a blind eye to murdered children and seeks excuses for Putin.’ 

Zelenskyy added that it is ‘definitely time for new, tough sanctions against Russia for everything it is doing.

‘All deadlines have already been broken, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy ruined,’ he said. ‘Russia must feel accountable for every strike, for every day of this war. Eternal memory to all victims of Russia.’

Bipartisan anger is brewing over the drama that unfolded at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), with the top members of the Senate’s healthcare panel forming a united front in the midst of the turmoil.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., and the panel’s ranking member, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., dove head first into the issues stemming from the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, which spurred a string of departures from the agency.

Monarez was abruptly fired from her position by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), less than a month after being confirmed by the Senate. Her removal, which her lawyers rejected, appeared to stem from disagreements over vaccines with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vaccine skeptic.

Cassidy was the deciding vote during Kennedy’s confirmation hearing earlier this year.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the president and Kennedy were ‘committed to restoring trust and transparency and credibility to the CDC.’ 

‘We’re going to make sure that folks that are in positions of leadership there are aligned with that mission,’ she said. 

Cassidy agreed with that sentiment. 

‘The president and secretary are right,’ he told Fox News Digital. ‘We need radical transparency. We need to protect the health of our children. The two go together. I am committed to the president’s vision, which is why the HELP Committee will conduct oversight.’

Monarez has since refused to leave the post, with her lawyers arguing that she had neither resigned nor been fired and had not received notification from the president of her removal.

Following news of her ouster, a string of top officials at the CDC announced their resignations, too, including National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Daniel Jernigan, Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Demetre Daskalakis and Director of Public Health Data, Science, Technology Jennifer Layden.

In response to their resignations, Cassidy demanded that the federal government’s vaccine advisory panel, which was filled with Kennedy’s handpicked replacements after he recently booted the original panel members, postpone its scheduled meeting in September.

His demand marks the second time this year that Cassidy called on the panel to halt its meeting.

Cassidy argued Thursday that there were ‘serious allegations made about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] meeting.’

‘These decisions directly impact children’s health, and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted,’ Cassidy said in a statement. ‘If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.’

Daskalakis posted his reason for resigning on X, where he charged that he was ‘unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.’

Meanwhile, Sanders demanded a congressional investigation be opened into the Trump administration’s decision to fire Monarez.

‘We need leaders at the CDC and HHS who are committed to improving public health and have the courage to stand up for science, not officials who have a history of spreading bogus conspiracy theories and disinformation,’ Sanders said Thursday.

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.  

A controversial pro-Palestinian gathering in Detroit is drawing scrutiny for featuring speakers with extremist views—including two former Israeli prisoners released in a Hamas deal—alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a prominent anti-Israel congresswoman.

The second annual ‘People’s Conference for Palestine’ conference, which is being organized by a dozen different pro-Palestinian groups, will begin Friday afternoon and will end on Sunday.

Rep. Tlaib will speak alongside several individuals accused of espousing antisemitic rhetoric, including a professor who has compared Jews to Nazis, a journalist who quipped about Hamas kidnapping ‘several dozen hipsters’ at ‘some sort of rave’ on Oct. 7, 2023, and a high-profile activist who once said Israel is ‘built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else’ and lost her position on the board of a major philanthropic organization amid antisemitism complaints.

Tlaib, herself, has been no stranger to criticism about her anti-Israel views either. She was censured in 2023 by her colleagues in Congress over alleged inflammatory rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war. The censure followed several comments from Tlaib that drew backlash, including her use of the phrase ‘From the river to the sea,’ a slogan that many Israel supporters consider a call for the destruction of Israel. 

Tlaib also came under fire in 2023 for being part of a secret Facebook group for many years that glorified terrorists following the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The congresswoman will be joined at the conference by two former prisoners held by Israel who gained their freedom through an Israeli prisoner swap with Hamas. One of those individuals, Hussam Shaheen, was sentenced by Israeli authorities to almost 30 years in prison during the early 2000s for murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The other former prisoner, Omar Assaf, was formerly an official of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The DFLP is not a U.S.-designated terror group, but it has been targeted by U.S. sanctions.

Other attendees of this weekend’s conference include Raja Abdulhaq, who is listed on the conference’s website as the co-founder of the Quds News Network (QNN), which was suspended from Twitter in 2019 for alleged ties to terrorism, a company spokesperson reportedly told the Times of Israel. Subsequently, other major social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, all took steps to restrict QNN’s presence on their platforms. 

Wesam Ahmed, another speaker, is listed as a ‘human rights advocate’ with Al-Haq, an entity accused by the Israeli government of having ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Meanwhile, Michigan-area activist and former candidate for Congress, Huwaida Arraf, is also slated to speak. Arraf is known for being a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which has previously been investigated by the FBI for possible ties to terrorists. In 2021, Arraf also penned an article which promoted using violent tactics against Israelis. 

‘The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics — both nonviolent and violent,’ she wrote at the time. ‘But most importantly it must develop a strategy involving both aspects.’

However, when reached for comment, Arraf shot back at criticism that she may be antisemitic, arguing any accusations of such are ‘meant to smear and silence Palestinians and anyone who dares to speak up for their rights.’ 

‘My record is clear,’ she added. ‘I have spent my life opposing all forms of racism, discrimination, and oppression. Conflating criticism of a government with hatred of a people is dishonest and dangerous—it weaponizes antisemitism instead of confronting it.’

A Michigan high school principal was forced to apologize to students and parents in 2023 after Arraf went off script at a ‘diversity assembly’ and reportedly attacked Israel.

Multiple university professors accused of antisemitism will also be at the event with Tlaib. One of them, Hatem Bazian, came under fire by his university, the University of California – Berkley, in 2017 after he shared an anti-Israel cartoon that drew widespread backlash for comparing Jews to Nazis, among other tropes.

‘Mom, look! I is chosen! I can now kill, rape, smuggle organs & steal the land of Palestinians yay #Ashke-Nazi,’ read the caption of a political cartoon shared by Bazian, the chairman of American Muslims for Palestine and the co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine.

The caption was layered over an image of an orthodox Jewish individual who was juxtaposed next to an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un wearing a kippah and other traditional Jewish garb. That photo was also layered with its own caption: ‘Donald Trump: Now my nukes are legal & I can annex South Korea & you need to start paying me 34 billion a year in welfare.’

In 2015, Bazian, whose SJP group has fueled anti-Israel riots on college campuses, raised alarm bells when he called for an ‘intifada in this country that changes fundamentally the political dynamics in here,’ which is widely interpreted as calling for violence against Jews. He went on to say, ‘They’re gonna say some Palestinian being too radical – well, you haven’t seen radicalism yet.’

Another speaker at the event, journalist Eugene Puryear, has been slammed for trivializing Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that killed over a thousand innocent Israelis.

‘As you might have seen, there was some sort of rave or desert party where they were having a great time, until the resistance came in electrified hang gliders and took at least several dozen hipsters,’ Puryear said on Oct. 8, one day after the attack, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League.

Linda Sarsour, who had to walk-back her remarks after stating Israel ‘is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else,’ and lost her seat on the board of the Women’s March amid allegations of antisemitism, will make an appearance as well on Friday afternoon. Sarsour previously denied the allegations of antisemitism that came during her time with the Women’s March.

‘Ask them this, how can you be against white supremacy in America and the idea of being in a state based on race and class, but then you support a state like Israel that is based on supremacy, that is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else,’ Sarsour asked a crowd in 2019, according to Israeli news outlet Haaretz.

Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student who the Trump administration tried to deport for allegedly inciting anti-Israel violence on his campus, will also be in attendance.

In addition to the speakers, the organizers added special programming geared for kids. ‘We’re proud to introduce a two-day Children’s Program for ages 6–12, featuring engaging activities and an educational curriculum that explores Palestinian history, culture, and resistance,’ the conference’s website says.

Fox News Digital reached out to the conference for comment on its list of speakers, but did not immediately receive a response. Fox News Digital also reached out to several of the speakers for comment but, with the exception of Arraf, did not immediately hear back.

Fox News’ Cameron Cawthorne and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report

Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, has signed a new congressional map into law, securing an additional five Republican-leaning U.S. House districts ahead of competitive midterm elections expected in 2026. 

Abbott’s signature on Friday marks the culmination of a partisan redistricting debate that has captivated the country’s attention and inspired an eye-for-an-eye effort by California Democrats. 

‘Today, I signed the One Big Beautiful Map into law,’ Abbott said on X. ‘This map ensures fairer representation in Congress. Texas will be more RED in Congress.’

The Republican-controlled Texas House and Senate passed the new map through their respective chambers last week, following weeks of Lone Star State Democrats breaking quorum and fleeing the state to avoid a redistricting vote. 

And Republicans in the state were not shy about the reason why they wanted to tweak the map. 

Sen. Phil King, R-Texas, who carried the map in the Senate, contended that while the map created more competitive districts, he believed they would be won by Republicans during the 2026 midterm election cycle. 

‘[House Bill 4], I believe, should elect more Republicans to the U.S. Congress, but I’m here to tell you, there are no guarantees,’ he said.

Texas Democrats aren’t shy about their plans to challenge the map in court, either. 

Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder lauded state Democrats for their attempts to block the process and charged that Texas Republicans ‘have effectively surrendered Texas to Washington, D.C.’

‘This isn’t over — we’ll see these clowns in court,’ Scudder said. ‘We aren’t done fighting against these racially discriminatory maps, and fully expect the letter of the law to prevail over these sycophantic Republican politicians who think the rules don’t apply to them.’

Abbott pushed for the creation of a new map to adhere to President Donald Trump’s desire to not see a repeat of the 2018 election cycle, when Democrats handily regained the majority in the House and acted as a foil to the president’s legislative goals toward the end of his first term. 

The Texas map seeks to maintain the Republican majority in the U.S. House next year. Republicans managed to pass Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ through Congress this year, fulfilling many of his 2024 campaign promises, including immigration and green energy reform and tax cuts. Democrats are already using the megabill as fodder for their 2026 campaigns, particularly on Medicaid cuts. 

Repeating a similar legislative achievement for Trump would face even more hurdles if Democrats win control of the House. 

But Abbott and the Texas GOP’s effort could be in vain, given that California Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats passed their own new map, which added five new Democratic-leaning seats in a bid to cancel out Trump’s demands. 

However, the new California map is not yet official, and must be approved by voters in November to be enacted. 

‘The People of California will be able to cast their vote for a Congressional map. Direct democracy that gives us a fighting chance to STOP Donald Trump’s election rigging,’ Newsom said on X. 

While Republicans control a supermajority in deep-red Texas, Democrats were still needed to create a quorum in the House to actually move the process along.

Dozens of Texas Democrats fled the state to stall the process, creating a national media frenzy and generating support from Democratic donors, including groups linked to George Soros and Beto O’Rourke, to help pay for their fines, travel and lodging.

But Texas Republicans Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dustin Burrows sought nationwide civil arrest warrants for the Texas House Democrats who broke quorum, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, requested the FBI track them down and the DOJ launch an investigation into the political action committees funding their escape.

Democratic leaders announced early last week they would return for the second special session following California’s plan to redraw its maps to soften the blow from the Lone Star State, ending the blockade and allowing Republicans to charge ahead. 

Texas House Democrats accused the GOP of crafting a map that was illegal and racially discriminatory, and they tried and failed on the House floor to add amendments to the bill that would have halted the process. Despite Democrats’ best efforts, Texas House Republicans shot down a dozen amendments to the bill and passed it last Wednesday evening.

‘Members, it breaks my heart to see how this illegal and rigged mid-decade redistricting scheme is dividing our state and our country,’ Rep. Chris Turner, a Democrat, said. ‘This is Texas, it’s not Washington D.C. The impulses of outside politicians and their billionaire backers shouldn’t dictate what we do in this chamber, in this House.’

Rep. Todd Hunter, a Republican who wrote the bill for the new map, countered that four of the five new districts were ‘majority-minority Hispanic,’ noting that each of the new districts now trended Republican. Still, he had no qualms as to why Republicans were pursuing changes to the congressional maps. 

‘The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward, [to] improve Republican political performance,’ he said. 

The Democrats’ blockade ended last week, when Abbott called for a second special session after their demands for California to also begin a redistricting cycle were met in an effort to nullify the map Texas Republicans were creating.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle panned the White House’s move to cancel billions in foreign aid funding as illegal, and warned that it could have dire consequences on the fast-approaching deadline to fund the government.

The White House on Thursday notified Congress of the administration’s intent to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid funding through a ‘pocket rescission.’

‘Last night, President Trump CANCELED $4.9 billion in America Last foreign aid using a pocket rescission,’ the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said on X. ‘[President Donald Trump] will always put AMERICA FIRST!’

The pocket rescissions package obtained by Fox News Digital includes cuts to a variety of foreign aid programs over several fiscal years that the administration argued did not comport with Trump’s agenda.  

Included are roughly $520 million in cuts to Contributions to International Organizations account, over $390 million in cuts to the Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities account, $322 million from the Democracy Fund, $445 million from the Peacekeeping Operations account and over $3 billion from Development Assistance.

The rescissions process allows the president to make a request to Congress to cancel already approved funding within a 45-day period. Lawmakers successfully went through that exercise earlier this year when they approved $9 billion to be slashed from public broadcasting and foreign aid.

However, a pocket rescission is designed to skirt that 45-day window by coming so close to the end of a fiscal year that lawmakers wouldn’t have time to weigh in. And the White House’s maneuver is already giving Senate Republicans and Democrats heartburn.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement that the move was an ‘apparent attempt to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval.’

She also argued that the Government Accountability Office found that under the Impoundment Control Act, the law that governs rescissions, this style of pocket rescission was illegal.

‘Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,’ she said.

‘Instead of this attempt to undermine the law, the appropriate way is to identify ways to reduce excessive spending through the bipartisan, annual appropriations process,’ Collins continued. ‘Congress approves rescissions regularly as part of this process.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the OMB and the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Lawmakers will also have to grapple with how the pocket rescissions will affect negotiations to keep the government open. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., already warned that further attempts to claw back congressionally approved funding would be a bridge too far for Democrats.

Prior to the announcement, Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., imploring both to meet with them to discuss the looming Sept. 30 deadline. 

In the letter, they specifically asked if more rescissions were coming.

Now, Schumer charged that the ‘unlawful ‘pocket rescission’ package is further proof President Trump and Congressional Republicans are hellbent on rejecting bipartisanship and ‘going it alone’ this fall.’

‘As the country stares down next month’s government funding deadline on September 30th, it is clear neither President Trump nor Congressional Republicans have any plan to avoid a painful and entirely unnecessary shutdown,’ Schumer said in a statement.

‘In fact, it seems Republicans are eager to inflict further pain on the American people, raising their health care costs, compromising essential services and further damaging our national security,’ he continued. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denied Palestinian leaders visas to attend next month’s United Nations General Assembly, citing longstanding U.S. law that prohibits recognition of Palestinian statehood and sanctions the Palestinian Authority for so-called ‘pay for slay’ payments to terrorists.

According to internal documents reviewed by Fox News, Rubio signed off on recommendations that would block visas for senior officials of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), including PA President Mahmoud Abbas. 

‘In compliance with the laws and national security interests of the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the upcoming UN General Assembly,’ State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement on Friday. 

‘Before they can be taken seriously as partners for peace, the PA and PLO must repudiate terrorism, lawfare campaigns at the ICC and ICJ, and the pursuit of unilateral recognition of statehood.  The PA Mission to the UN will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters agreement.  The United States remains open to re-engagement should the PA/PLO demonstrably take concrete steps to return to constructive engagement.  The Trump Administration does not reward terrorism.’ 

The move prevents Palestinian leaders from addressing the annual U.N. gathering in New York next month, a stage they have frequently used to advance unilateral recognition of statehood.

The decision stems from findings under the Palestinian Liberation Organization Commitments Compliance Act (PLOCCA) and the Middle East Peace Commitments Act (MEPCA), which determined the PA and PLO were out of compliance with U.S. commitments by ‘unilaterally declaring Palestinian statehood; glorifying violence; promoting antisemitism; and providing material support to terrorists.’ The sanctions mandate an automatic denial of visas for at least 180 days.

While the United States has previously denied visas on a case-by-case basis — including for members of the Iranian delegation — officials acknowledged in the documents that Washington has never before barred an entire delegation from attending the U.N. General Assembly. The internal guidance argues that the unprecedented step is justified because Palestinian leaders plan to use the September forum to push a ‘constitutional declaration’ of independence, a move the U.S. views as a major propaganda victory for Hamas and a threat to ceasefire talks in Gaza.

The recommendations call for rejecting visa applications from Palestinian officials, declining a waiver for Abbas himself, and revoking visas issued before July 31 for PLO and PA members. However, the guidance makes one exception: permanent staff and dependents at the Palestinian U.N. Observer Mission would be allowed to remain under U.S. obligations to the U.N. Headquarters Agreement.

U.S. officials wrote that granting waivers ‘would undermine the credibility’ of existing sanctions and embolden the PA to pursue unilateral recognition efforts. By contrast, enforcing the visa bans was described as a ‘low-cost, high-impact action’ to reinforce U.S. policy.

Since 2012, Palestinian representatives have held non-member observer status at the U.N., a designation that allows them to participate in debates but not vote. While the U.S. has pledged under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement not to obstruct travel for official U.N. business, the documents argue that the PA’s use of the General Assembly to advance statehood recognition falls outside routine mission work and poses a direct challenge to U.S. national interests.

Rubio’s decision marks a historic departure from the U.S. practice of accommodating U.N. participation, setting up a likely clash with international bodies and U.S. allies that continue to recognize Palestinian representatives.

The move follows decades of friction between Washington and the United Nations over Israel-related issues, most especially after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. 

The United States has used its Security Council veto power dozens of times to block resolutions critical of Israel — more than any other permanent member has used its veto for a single ally.

As we settle into the second Trump administration, eyes are already turning toward 2028. With President Donald Trump barred from a third elected term by the 22nd Amendment, the Republican nomination looks like a coronation for Vice President JD Vance. Polling shows Vance dominating the GOP field, with 46% support in a recent survey. That’s far ahead of potential challengers.

Vance, the Ohio senator and author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ embodies the Trumpian blend of populism, economic nationalism and cultural conservatism that has reshaped the GOP. Operationally, his run would extend Trump’s legacy, focusing on border security, trade deals favoring American workers and an America First foreign policy.

On the Democratic side, the picture is murkier. The list of potential nominees reads like a progressive wish list: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.., and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

Nationally, an Emerson College poll from June 2025 pegs the race as wide open with former V.P. and 2024 Democratic nominee Kamala Harris fading quickly. Early polls for the 2028 nomination reveal a crowded field of far-left contenders, with Newsom emerging as a frontrunner in recent weeks. A Newsweek analysis of state-level polling shows Newsom leading in at least two key states, including his home turf of California as well as Ohio, where he reportedly commands strong support among Democratic voters.

Other polls, such as one from Zeteo and Data for Progress in April 2025, show Buttigieg, Booker and Ocasio-Cortez leading in scenarios without Harris. But Newsom’s name recognition and fundraising prowess give him an edge — especially with Newsom’s high-profile, but likely doomed effort to redistrict California via ballot initiative this November.

In America’s two-party system, winning the presidency hinges on capturing the Electoral College, which rewards candidates who appeal to the center. Candidates typically tack toward the commonsense center in general elections, shedding primary extremism to court swing voters in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

But Democrats have struggled with this since 1968, when the Vietnam War radicalized the elite left, pulling the party away from the mainstream. 

The result? Four blowout elections out of five contests: 1972, Richard Nixon with 520 Electoral College votes to George McGovern with 17; 1980, Ronald Reagan, 489 to Jimmy Carter, 49; 1984, Ronald Reagan 525 to Walter Mondale, 13; 1988, George H.W. Bush 426 to Mike Dukakis, 111. 

Bill Clinton’s two elections in the 1990s were anomalies fueled by George H.W. Bush’s infamous ‘no new taxes’ pledge break, which alienated conservatives, and H. Ross Perot’s third-party run (fueled by personal animus towards Bush), which siphoned votes from Bush. 

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) played a huge role as well, as it pushed for a moderate and electable nominee. Even so, Bush’s sky-high popularity (the result of the crushing victory against Iraq in 1991 in the Gulf War) caused many popular Democrats not to run for the nomination.

Clinton won two general elections with 43% of the popular vote in 1992 and 49% in 1996. Importantly, Clinton governed with centrist moves like welfare reform and a balanced budget (though largely due to the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994)—policies that today’s Democrats would decry as right-wing.

Fast-forward to today, and the Democratic Party is adrift. The influence of progressives, supercharged during President Barack Obama’s eight years, has made it nearly impossible to nominate someone who can win nationally. 

The Democratic Party base demands fealty to identity politics, open borders and climate extremism. This alienates working-class voters who flipped to Trump in 2016 and stayed Republican thereafter. Polls consistently show Americans rejecting these positions: majorities support border walls, favor energy independence over green mandates and oppose defunding the police.

Newsom exemplifies this dilemma. As California’s governor, he’s presided over skyrocketing homelessness, rapidly rising energy prices and a population exodus — policies that play well in San Francisco, but flop in Pennsylvania.

Early in 2025, Newsom made a rare nod to the center, stating during a podcast that allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports is ‘deeply unfair’ and an ‘issue of fairness.’ Newsom’s remarks align with public sentiment; surveys show 80% or more of Americans oppose transgender athletes in female competitions, viewing it as a commonsense protection for women’s opportunities. 

Newsom quickly backpedaled amid backlash from party activists. By April, he downplayed the remarks as unplanned and in May he supported rule changes allowing more transgender participation in state events — despite controversy.

Newsom’s flip-flop under left-wing pressure reveals the bind: Stray from the left and you risk the nomination. Stick to it and you lose the general.

A few Democrats hint at moderation, like Khanna of California. Khanna, a progressive who co-chaired Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign has carved out bipartisan ground on issues like tech regulation and manufacturing revival. He’s advocated for bringing jobs back to America, echoing Trump-era themes and called for Democratic unity amid ideological excesses. 

Khanna critiques ‘woke’ politics as weakening the party, positioning himself as a bridge-builder. Yet even he supports progressive staples like ‘Medicare for All’ and aggressive climate action, limiting his appeal beyond the base.

Barring an economic or foreign crisis, the Democrats’ leftward drift dooms them. Vance, inheriting Trump’s coalition and likely expanding it, starts with advantages in the Rust Belt and Sun Belt. 

History shows parties win by claiming the center. Republicans have mastered that under Trump. Democrats? Their left-wing tidal lock leaves them wholly unable to see, much less voice, commonsense policies.

There is no question that President Donald Trump is deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize. Nations, statesmen and elected officials around the globe have seen the fruits of his labor to bring peace to different hemispheres. 

The big question is, ‘Is there a real pathway for President Trump to actually receive the Nobel Peace Prize?’ I believe there is. But it’s a pathway that must be flawlessly executed. 

And in doing so, it’s important to understand the history of the Nobel Peace Prize and the actual process for awarding it. We can also gain insight from how a former Trump appointee led an international organization to receive it. And we can learn from how a former Republican president worked to end a war and received the Nobel Peace Prize despite protests from Norwegian and Swedish politicians and media.

The Nobel Prizes were established by the will of the famed Swedish industrialist and inventor, Alfred Nobel. Nobel was the inventor of dynamite and, at the time of his death in 1896, was the owner of Bofors, the Swedish armaments manufacturer. 

I personally became intrigued with the Nobel Prizes while doing consulting work for Bofors in the late 1990s and visiting Karlskoga, Sweden, a number of times.

Nobel’s will provided for prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. A Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was added in 1968. The original prizes have been awarded since 1901. 

In his will, Nobel provided that the prizes were to be awarded by different Swedish entities, with the exception of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was to be awarded ‘by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting [Parliament].’ Today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is responsible for selecting Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, it should surprise no one that historically its members have been former members of Parliament and cabinet ministers.

Only ‘qualified nominators’ can submit a name for the Nobel Peace Prize. These include members of national assemblies, national governments, current heads of state, previous recipients, certain university professors and directors of peace research institutions. 

This explains why President Trump has been nominated by numerous members of Congress, several nations, heads of state and university professors. Nominations are due on Jan. 31 each year, followed by a multi-stage selection process. The winner is announced in early October, with the award ceremony taking place on Dec. 10 every year at Oslo City Hall.

Make no mistake, this is a very political process. I served for a number of years on the board of the Norwegian-American Foundation. I remember when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Barack Obama for ‘the promise’ of his vision. My Norwegian friends were flabbergasted. 

The running joke in Norway was that he received it because a couple of left-wingers on the Committee wanted a chance to meet him and have a photo-op. In Trump’s case, you actually have a president who has resolved conflicts and helped to bring peace to different regions of the world.

In addition to the formal nominations, I believe there are key actions supporters of President Trump can undertake to maximize his chances. Consider these: 

, the former NATO secretary-general, is back in the current Labour government’s cabinet serving as finance minister. Following Trump’s victory last November, Stoltenberg said that during Trump’s first term, they had ‘established a good and reliable working relationship.’ He further noted that they ‘got things done,’ and that ‘NATO had become stronger.’ A former Labour prime minister, he could be helpful with one or two members of the committee. In fact, committee member Gry Larsen is a member of the Labour Party and served as state secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when Stoltenberg was prime minister. 

, founded by former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, is considered much less political than the Norwegian Nobel Institute. It has a history of actually being in the field promoting peace and strengthening democratic political institutions and processes. I met with him as he was laying the foundation for the center and heard his vision. An ordained Lutheran minister, he’s the former head of the Christian Democratic Party. Current committee member Anne Enger served as Bondevik’s deputy during his first term as prime minister. And committee member Kristin Clemet served as Bondevik’s minister of education during his second term.

Either through the ambassador when he’s confirmed, or through the current charge d’affaires, the embassy needs to take a proactive role in making the case for President Trump to the Norwegian media and institutions. 

: Former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley received the prize as the Trump-appointed executive director of the World Food Program (WFP) in 2020. The WFP had been nominated numerous times over 40 years, but it was under a Trump appointee’s leadership that it finally happened. Insights on how Beasley and the WFP interacted with Norwegian authorities can be helpful. 

: The Republican president received the Nobel Peace Prize despite protests from liberal Norwegian politicians and Swedish media. His efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War were too meritorious and couldn’t be ignored. Likewise, President Trump supporters can make a similar case with the conflicts that he has helped to end. The embassy can play a big role in articulating this.

On the merits, President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. But this is a political process, and his supporters need to work the process. 

A Norwegian friend reminded me that the prize is supposed to consider achievements over a period of time. He pointed to President Trump’s brokering the Abraham Accords during his first term as laying a foundation for real peace in the Middle East. 

He’s right. President Trump’s achievements during his first term, combined with what he’s done so far in his second term, have earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.