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A Bahamian national who arrived in the U.S. during President Gerald Ford’s administration and was living with a green card while racking up a violent rap sheet before investigators found he voted illegally in the 2020 election, sparking the deportation process, officials say.

The case of Anthony Tyrone Higgs is only the latest in a slew of arrests connected to illegal votes cast in recent elections, as the Trump administration engages in a broader crackdown on election integrity-related crimes.

“This alien was a guest in our country who forfeited his right to be in the U.S. when he committed these violent crimes and voted in the 2020 election,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis exclusively told Fox News Digital on Friday.

ICE ARRESTS PERUVIAN NATIONAL ACCUSED OF ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2024 ELECTION AS DHS CITES SIMILAR CASES

“Any non-citizens who vote illegally in our elections will be arrested and removed. American elections are only for Americans.”

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of DHS, confirmed in a statement that Higgs had illegally voted in the 2020 election.

FORMER KANSAS MAYOR WHO PLEADED GUILTY TO ILLEGAL VOTING TURNS HIMSELF IN TO ICE

HSI’s Atlanta office arrested Higgs in Decatur, Georgia on September 3, and he is currently in the custody of ERO, the ICE subdivision that handles migrant removal operations.

Higgs was admitted into the U.S. in October 1976 as a Lawful Permanent Resident – commonly dubbed a Green Card holder. The Trump DHS has since placed him in proceedings to revoke his immigration status due to his lengthy rap sheet.

TRUMP DOJ UNLEASHES LARGEST DENATURALIZATION EFFORT IN DEPARTMENT HISTORY — AND SAYS IT’S ‘ONLY THE BEGINNING’

“This criminal alien from the Bahamas has a rap sheet for multiple violent crimes, including armed robbery, domestic violence, and assault on a police officer,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.

“On top of all of that, he illegally voted in the 2020 election,” he added.

MORE THAN A QUARTER-MILLION NONCITIZENS MAY BE REGISTERED TO VOTE IN 4 KEY STATES, DHS ALLEGES

Higgs’ record also includes resisting arrest, two counts of grand larceny and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Of the voting-related charge, Mullin said that just one noncitizen casting a ballot is enough to cancel out an American citizen’s vote.

“Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again,” he continued.

DHS also provided several other recent cases of illegal immigrants or ineligible voters committing or being charged with election-related crimes.

In August, Colombian illegal immigrant Carlos Jaramillo-Grajales was sentenced to three years in prison following an ICE investigation that led to a guilty plea in a case where he was found to have committed identity theft to illegally vote in elections for more than 20 years, according to the agency.

“Federal immigration laws serve to safeguard our nation’s borders and protect the integrity of our government,” said Gregory Kehoe, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.

“Those who seek to circumvent, exploit, or break these laws will be prosecuted fully,” he said in an August statement.

In New Jersey, a Slovakian national was found to have illegally voted in the 2022 midterms, according to HSI – which also cited the case of an Australian national accused of illegally casting ballots in both 2022 and 2024 in Louisiana.

Mauritanian national Mahady Sacko was busted by an ICE and FBI partnership in Democrat-run Philadelphia, and charged with voter fraud.

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Sacko allegedly voted illegally multiple times going back to 2008. He was already under an order of removal, DHS said in a statement, stating that he “exhausted all appeals” and an immigration board upheld his removal order as of 2002 but he remained in the country.

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Returning to the case of Higgs, Mullin added in a statement: “Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again.”

President Donald Trump said Saturday during a trip to Ireland that he would love to see the country unified.

The Republic of Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1922, while Northern Ireland, established in 1921, has remained part of the U.K.

“I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I’d love to see it unified. I have friends on both sides, great people. They’re Irish people. How can they be bad, right?” Trump said while on stage with Taoiseach Micheál Martin. “I’d like to see a unified country. I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually.”

He added that the U.K. “will have something to say about it obviously,” but reiterated that unification would be a “great thing.”

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Pennsylvania state Rep. David Maloney, a Republican, is asking President Donald Trump to rename Lake Erie to “Lake Pennsylvania” following similar renaming efforts by the president.

Maloney is preparing a resolution calling on Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to take steps to rename Lake Erie to “Lake Pennsylvania,” arguing that the change is needed to reflect the lake’s modern identity.

“This is Pennsylvania’s only Great Lake. Its modern economy and identity are increasingly tied to the boaters, anglers, families and tourists who come to enjoy it,” Maloney said in a statement. “Ohio has plenty of shoreline. New York already has two Great Lakes. Canada has four others.”

NEW YORK GOV HOCHUL REJECTS TRUMP’S ‘LAKE AMERICA’ RENAMING WITH BLUNT MESSAGE

“Pennsylvania has one. Let’s call it Lake Pennsylvania!” he added.

Lake Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume as well as the shallowest, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The lake has about 12 million people in its watershed, with 10.5 million people in the U.S. and 1.9 million people in Canada.

This comes after Trump signed an executive order last month to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” a rebranding that Canada does not recognize and has firmly rejected.

“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement.

SOUTH PARK CREATORS MOCK TRUMP’S LAKE ONTARIO RENAME AND COMPANY COMPLIANCE IN MOCK STATEMENT

The renaming only applies to the U.S. federal government, meaning Canada, other international bodies and U.S. states are not forced to acknowledge the change. But both Apple Maps and Google Maps changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for U.S. users following Trump’s executive order.

The president has also suggested renaming New Mexico to “New America,” prompting several of the state’s Democratic lawmakers to call on Apple and Google to publicly commit to keeping the state’s current name on their respective maps applications.

Trump has also floated the idea of renaming the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

On his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” but, similar to the Lake Ontario rebranding, the order only applies to the U.S. federal government and does not bind Mexico, other international bodies or private entities.

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Apple Maps and Google Maps also adopted this change for users in the U.S., implementing the update using a region-based approach tailored to the location of the user’s device.

Republicans reached a consensus that Vice President JD Vance solidified his position as the presumptive 2028 presidential candidate with his “Trump-level” smackdown of a foreign flag-waving protester who disrupted his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Vance did not hesitate after a protester interrupted his primetime speech in Dallas on Thursday by waving the flags of the Palestinian Authority and Mexico. He recalled to those watching his speech on TV: “What the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag.”

“Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your a– over there. I’ll buy you the plane ticket,” the VP said, to which the crowd erupted into applause.

“JD Vance just MIC DROPPED a leftist heckler who interrupted him waving a Mexican flag…this place is DEAFENING,” conservative commentator Eric Daugherty wrote on X, adding, “TOTAL PANDEMONIUM.”

CROWD ERUPTS AS VANCE SMACKS DOWN PROTESTER WAVING MEXICAN FLAG: ‘GET YOUR A– OVER THERE’

Popular conservative pundit Benny Johnson called Vance’s quick wit an “epic response.” President Donald Trump supporter and activist Scott Pressler similarly praised Vance for reacting “without missing a beat,” and called it “an iconic moment.”

“This was masterful. A Trump-level move from JD Vance,” wrote Overton, a conservative commentary and news account. “Vice President Vance perfectly handled a protestor waving a Mexican flag at the RNC in Dallas. Then he fired back with a savage one-liner that sent the American Airlines Center into absolute bedlam.”

The moment was capped off with a “USA!” chant from those in the crowd at the GOP Midterm Convention.

Students for Trump co-founder Ryan Fournier wrote, “JD Vance just absolute [sic] WIPED THE FLOOR with a leftist heckler who interrupted his rally waving a Mexican flag.”

“The crowd went completely WILD. Unbelievable energy,” wrote Fournier.

VANCE DECLARES DEMOCRATS ‘PARTY OF HATRED,’ SAYS PARTY HAS MOVED BEYOND BIG GOVERNMENT, CENSORSHIP

“JD Vance just notched the most iconic moment of the RNC when he told a protester waving a Mexican flag exactly what all red blooded Americans were thinking,” wrote Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet.

Commentator Brilyn Hollyhand put it simply, posting on X, “Yea JD for President after this.”

Vance recovered from the interruption quickly, telling the crowd, “Ladies and gentlemen, I had a whole speech written. But I think I’ve got to change it because we just discovered the symbol of the far left — an idiot waving … a Mexican flag at a protest when he should be waving the flag of the United States of America.”

“Now, we all know, of course, that as much as that person might wave around a foreign flag, he’d much rather live in Dallas, or in Cincinnati, or in any one of our great cities than Mexico,” President Donald Trump’s No. 2 continued. “But while we wave the American flag and fight for the American dream, we have to remind ourselves tonight that the good life that is the foundation of this country’s promise is not guaranteed.”

CHARLIE KIRK HONORED AT GOP CONVENTION WITH CALL TO REJECT ‘COMFORTABLE LOSING’

“Every generation of Americans has had to fight for these things when it’s our turn,” he went on.

“And this fall, the Democrats are running candidates who will tell your children what they’re allowed to say, how they’re allowed to live, and importantly, who they ought to hate, because that’s what the Democrat Party is about in 2026,” Vance continued. “It’s not about you, it’s about foreign fraudsters, and it’s about who they hate. And we got to send their a–es back in November.”

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Speculation has swirled over who will be the heir to Trump’s MAGA throne in 2028. The consensus so far among Republicans appears to be split between Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — but a lot could change before the next presidential election.

DALLAS – Twenty-five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Angela Mistrulli said, “It feels like forever, but it also feels like yesterday.”

Mistrulli, whose father was killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City, is the founder of American Victims of State-Sponsored Terrorism (AVSSTU), which represents victims and families impacted by terrorist attacks.

She spoke with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the Republican midterm convention, where she and other 9/11 family members, Gold Star families, and families of civilian victims were pressing to meet with political leaders on an urgent mission as the clock ticked towards a critical deadline.

BROOKLYN TEACHERS WHO WITNESSED 9/11 AS CHILDREN REVEAL WHAT THEY WANT THE NEXT GENERATION TO REMEMBER

“Congress created the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund. It was supposed to be a place for all victims to be able to go and receive some sort of relief. It was a lifeline to over 22,000 victims,” Mistrulli explained. “Unfortunately, that fund has run dry, and September 30 is the fiscal deadline for Congress to act in order for victims to receive relief.”

Established in 2015, the USVSST Fund has provided over $10 billion to victims harmed by international state-sponsored terrorism, including personal representatives for those who lost their lives from acts of terrorism such as the 9/11 attacks.

Mistrulli emphasized that 25 years after the 9/11 attacks, “We are still fighting for justice, transparency, recognition, and relief that Congress promised us.”

“We’re here not only to memorialize the 25th anniversary of 9/11, but also to try to get some face time with these leaders and these higher ups to be able to discuss this urgent and critical topic,” she added.

9/11 MUSEUM UNVEILS EXHIBITION FOR GENERATION TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER THE ATTACKS: ‘CALLED EVERYBODY TO LEAD’

With the fiscal year cutoff approaching Sept. 30, Congress would need to authorize additional funding for victims holding unpaid terrorism judgments to be paid. A bipartisan group of lawmakers from New York introduced a bill in July that would require the U.S. Department of the Treasury to loan $3 billion annually to the fund for fiscal years 2027, 2028 and 2029.

The bill, H.R. 9795, was named after Mistrulli’s father — the Never Forget the Victims of Terrorism: Joseph D. Mistrulli and Alan Kleinberg USVSST Fund Solvency Act.

The Department of Justice has acknowledged that available USVSST funds remain insufficient to fully compensate victims’ claims that have been and are anticipated to continue to grow.

Mistrulli and members of the AVSSTU were at the midterm convention to push to influence members of Congress in voting to authorize continued funding for victims as the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks concludes the week of convention activities in Dallas.

Their effort paid off, as they met Thursday evening with President Donald Trump.

“Meeting with the President last night, it was clear to me how genuinely empathetic he was to our fight for American victims of state-sponsored terrorism. He listened, and I could tell this isn’t just a policy issue to him, it felt personal,” Mistrulli told Fox News Digital on Friday.

“We are now working with members of the Administration on a legislative path forward this year for the USVSST Fund, which is a vital lifeline for over 22,000 American victims of terrorism, including 9/11 families,” she added. This is about our moral obligation to victims and our promise to never forget.”

GEORGE BUSH WELCOMES TOP OFFICIALS TO HIS HOME STATE FOR 9/11 REMEMBRANCE ON 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF ATTACKS

The AVSSTU team was invited to participate in the 9/11 25th anniversary commemorations held in Dallas.

“This is a hard one this year. 25 years. It feels like forever, but it also feels like yesterday, and it’s also disappointing because I feel like our country has come so far away from who we were on September 12th,” Mistrulli said. “It’s also exhausting that it’s been 25 years of us fighting for justice.”

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“We have now been divided as a nation and my wish to everyone out there as we commemorate this anniversary, memorialize, never forget by coming back together.”

Twenty-five years after nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, families waiting to see the accused plotters brought to justice are confronting another extraordinary possibility: They may still never see a verdict.

A military judge has scheduled alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants to go on trial June 5, 2028, nearly 27 years after the attacks. But the date remains tentative, and a recent ruling barring prosecutors from using statements Mohammed made to FBI agents has underscored the legal obstacles still threatening the case.

“It’s like an open sore, and that sore gets even more hurtful when we get to anniversaries,” John Ryan, former chief of department with the Port Authority Police who spent nine months working on the recovery operation at Ground Zero, told Fox News Digital.

JUDGE THROWS OUT KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S 9/11 CONFESSION IN ALREADY LONG WAIT FOR TRIAL

Ryan is among the victims’ families and first responders who have watched the prosecution drag through years of litigation over evidence obtained after the defendants were subjected to torture in CIA custody, a collapsed plea agreement, repeated changes in military judges and a mountain of unresolved pretrial motions.

“Here we are 25 years later, and I’m still involved in this aspect of that here because we still have not convicted or taken to justice the five people that are being held at Guantánamo Bay,” Ryan, who later became a commander with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, said. “The planners, KSM and the others that are in custody, are awaiting trial.”

Mohammed and three other defendants have been held by the U.S. for years without facing trial for their alleged roles in the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people. A fifth defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, is being handled separately after being found mentally incompetent to stand trial.

A military judge recently barred prosecutors from using statements Mohammed made to FBI agents in 2007, finding that the statements were tainted by the coercive treatment he had experienced in U.S. custody. The government chose not to appeal the ruling, saying an appeal could jeopardize the June 5, 2028, trial date.

The judge set the trial 18 months after the prosecution’s proposed January 2027 start to give the defense and government time to work through a long list of unresolved legal disputes. He is the fifth military judge to oversee the case since the defendants were arraigned in 2012.

For families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, the years of delay have become another part of the trauma.

I LOST MY WIFE ON 9/11; PLEASE LET THIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY BELONG TO THE FAMILIES

Sean Passananti, whose father was killed on the 100th floor of the North Tower, said the passage of time has made the case feel increasingly detached from the scale of the crime.

“It feels really like a twilight zone and unbelievable that we have to fight for justice for the worst terrorist attack that ever happened on our soil,” Passananti said. “It doesn’t feel real. It’s unexplainable.”

SON WHO LOST FATHER IN 9/11 ATTACKS SHARES POWERFUL LESSONS 25 YEARS LATER: ‘I’M STILL HERE’

Passananti said he has attended the memorial ceremony every year but one since the attacks.

“I wish I wasn’t here, obviously, but I feel like I have to be here every year,” he said.

Dennis McGinley, whose older brother Danny worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower, said the delays have kept his family from closing a painful chapter.

“President Trump has a unique, historic opportunity here to be a hero, be our champion, finally close the books on this American nightmare, which is now becoming an American embarrassment,” McGinley said.

McGinley described the families’ grief as an injury that keeps reopening.

“It is like the wound never healed, and every year we get salt poured back into that wound,” he said.

Ryan said he lost 37 police officers he had worked with during his career, along with civilian colleagues at the Port Authority. After the recovery operation, he moved into counterterrorism work. He said he expected the 9/11 case to remain part of his professional life, but not for this long.

“The fact is that they’ve all admitted their involvement. It’s not a question of guilt. It’s just a question of the process and the fact that the process has taken 25 years,” Ryan said.

The case has been moving through the military commissions since the defendants were arraigned in 2012. By then, Mohammed had already spent nearly a decade in U.S. custody.

He was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held for years at CIA “black sites,” where he was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, including repeated waterboarding.

Mohammed and the other defendants were transferred to Guantánamo in 2006.

The treatment of the defendants in CIA custody has become one of the central obstacles in the prosecution.

Defense attorneys have argued that statements obtained after the defendants were tortured cannot be considered voluntary. Prosecutors have argued that later statements made to FBI agents by a “clean team” should be admissible.

The recent ruling excluding Mohammed’s 2007 FBI statements dealt another blow to that effort and highlighted a problem that has followed the case for years: whether prosecutors can separate evidence gathered later from the coercive interrogations that came before it.

The case has also been disrupted by changes in judges, the coronavirus pandemic and a failed plea agreement.

In 2024, the defendants reached plea agreements that would have required them to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences rather than face the death penalty. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin withdrew the agreements, prompting another round of litigation. A federal appeals court later blocked the defendants from entering guilty pleas under the withdrawn deals.

Years earlier, the Obama administration had tried another route.

In 2009, the administration announced that Mohammed and four other defendants would be prosecuted in federal court in Manhattan. That plan was abandoned after fierce opposition from New York officials and lawmakers who raised security and logistical concerns.

The case was moved back to the military commissions at Guantánamo, where it has remained.

The delays have left the accused plotters aging at a detention complex that has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars while producing no verdict in the 9/11 case.

The criminal prosecution is separate from the civil lawsuit that 9/11 families have brought against Saudi Arabia, although the two proceedings intersect in the families’ broader search for a full accounting of the attacks.

The military commission is focused on whether Mohammed and the other defendants planned and carried out the terrorist operation. The civil case examines whether Saudi government employees or agents helped two hijackers establish themselves in the United States.

A trial in the civil case could force testimony and the release of evidence that families believe may clarify how the plot was supported before the attacks. The Saudi-related allegations, however, are not the charges at issue in the Guantánamo prosecution.

Ryan said the passage of time means the case now spans two generations of victims’ families: people who were children when the attacks happened and are now adults and older parents and grandparents who fear they may never live to see a verdict.

If the current schedule holds, the proceedings would begin June 5, 2028, almost 27 years after the attacks and 16 years after the defendants were arraigned.

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“Our justice system isn’t designed to work that late,” Ryan said. “It’s designed to produce justice in a fair time. And the emphasis needs to be on the victims as opposed to the five enemy combatants.”

An Afghan woman accused of supporting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day 2024 has been deported to her home country in the first successful use of a specialized federal court established by Congress — the U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) — 30 years ago to determine whether a non-citizen is an “alien terrorist.”

Nazira Haji Zada, 47, was sent back to Afghanistan after recently admitting to the ATRC that she was an “alien terrorist” and waving an appeal, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“This landmark case, resulting in the prompt removal of this alien terrorist to her country of origin, is a win for national security and the rule of law,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. 

“Those who support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States, and this first-ever case before the ATRC shows how the [DOJ] will use every tool at its disposal to protect our country.”

TRUMP TURNS TO ‘ZOMBIE’ COURT AFTER BOASBERG POINTED TO IT IN DEPORTATION FIGHT

Zada’s son and son-in-law, Abdullah Haji Zada and Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, were previously convicted for their part in the alleged plot. The men were arrested in October 2024 after allegedly buying guns and ammunition from an undercover FBI agent.

They later admitted to buying AK-47 rifles to carry out a mass shooting on behalf of the Islamic State. Zada’s son was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Tawhedi is awaiting sentencing, according to the DOJ. 

Zada, who had been living as a permanent resident in Fort Worth, Texas, is not allowed back in the U.S. again. The court had issued an order of removal for Zada on Aug. 20.

EXCLUSIVE: 25 YEARS AFTER 9/11, ICE SAYS MORE THAN 2K KNOWN OR SUSPECTED TERRORISTS HAVE BEEN DEPORTED

FBI Director Kash Patel called Zada’s deportation a “historic and vitally important step in our work to protect the U.S. homeland from terrorism.”

He added, “An individual who supported a plot by ISIS-sympathizing family members to commit an attack in America has paid the price for that. She came to our country, betrayed it, and has now lost the right to live here and enjoy our democratic freedoms. This FBI and our Justice Department partners will protect the American people from the threat of terrorism, using all means necessary.”

The family allegedly began selling their possessions to raise money for the attack, and the family bought one-way tickets to Kabul, except for her son and Tawhedi.

FBI ARRESTS 3 MEN WHO ALLEGEDLY PLEDGED ALLEGIANCE TO ISIS, FUNDED DRONE ATTACKS TARGETING US TROOPS OVERSEAS

Haji Zada’s attorneys said her decision to consent to removal “should not be seen as an endorsement of this court’s legitimacy.”

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“Dragging lawful permanent residents into court but refusing to show them or their attorneys the evidence that will be used against them is a plain violation of due process,” defense lawyers said in a statement Friday. 

“We are confident that the Alien Terrorist Removal Court will be struck down as unconstitutional as soon as a judge is asked to address the issue.”

The court’s authority was given by Congress in 1996, but Zada’s deportation is the first time it’s been used.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A proposal backed by Vice President JD Vance to subsidize stay-at-home parents with up to $9,000 per child annually would invite government intrusion and undermine the initiative’s original purpose of encouraging work and independence, according to a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.

In a one-page document, Advancing American Freedom (AAF) urged conservatives to oppose the plan, which it said would “expose the sanctity of the family to government intrusion, punish work, and create new avenues for fraud.”

Vance is pushing for the expansion of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which was created during the Clinton administration to help low-income and working-class families pay for childcare. Currently, the program provides about $9,000 per child annually, with funds typically paid directly to childcare providers.

CONSERVATIVES CAN FIGHT THE RISE OF SOCIALISM BY DEFENDING THE AMERICAN FAMILY

Under Vance’s draft plan, families with a stay-at-home parent earning below state income limits could receive up to $9,000 per child annually. To qualify, a married couple must feature one spouse who stays at home while the other works at least 35 hours a week.

Unmarried couples and non-working single parents would not be eligible.

“Parenting is the most difficult job in the world. Vice President Vance is right to focus on the family,” AAF president Tim Chapman told Fox News Digital. “Unfortunately, as sympathetic groups around the movement have noted, this particular proposal would do more harm than good: opening up the family to government audits, benefit cliffs, dependency and new disincentives to work.”

AAF looks forward to the continued debate about family policy and the future of the conservative movement, Chapman added.

EXCLUSIVE: VIDEO SHOWS MICHIGAN LAWMAKER TOURING DAYCARE IN $1.1M TAXPAYER FUNDING PROBE

Currently, roughly 870,000 families — 80% of whom are single parents, predominantly mothers — receive up to $9,000 a year per child, the AAF said. Expanding eligibility to stay-at-home parents, the group warned, could create more competition for already limited resources. The CCDF is already stretched thin, with nearly one-third of states having waitlists, according to AAF.

Vance’s plan would require an auditable “childcare service,” the group said, and could open the door to fraud if not properly monitored.

“We generally like these kinds of different creative proposals. There’s no job that’s more difficult than raising kids,” John Shelton, the vice president of policy at AAF, told Fox News Digital. “And so that’s a laudable thing, but the devil’s in the details.”

“What should be this opportunity for celebration and excitement could actually end up being this huge setback where you get a $1,000, $5,000 bonus, and suddenly you lose out on access to north of $10,000 depending on how many kids you have,” he added. “That’s a disincentive to work to kind of grow and get promoted. That is not the kind of conservative ideal for how these programs should work.”

NEWT GINGRICH: WANT TO REFORM MEDICAID? ACCOUNTABILITY IS THE WAY FORWARD

Furthermore, stay-at-home spouses would be penalized for taking on remote, part-time, or gig work, and families could take a financial hit for receiving a raise or promotion at work.

“Welfare’s goal is to get people into work and off of welfare,” the AAF said. “This proposal would do the opposite.”

PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY WAS RIGHT: AMERICA MUST PUT BABIES AND MOTHERS FIRST

Supporters argue stay-at-home parents should receive financial support on par with families that use subsidized childcare services.

“Parents who hand their kids to commercial day care get subsidy payments, while parents who bear the toil, expense, and opportunity cost of raising their kids at home currently get ZERO,” Roger Severino, vice president of the Heritage Foundation, wrote on X. “It’s illogical and unjust and this proposal would level the playing field.”

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Shelton praised the Trump administration’s intent, but argued the policy’s execution falls short.

“I give the administration [an] A for effort, but a C or a D for implementation of what we’ve seen so far,” he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Vance’s office for comment.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were given multiple warnings that 9/11 organizer Osama bin Laden and his terror network were planning to hijack large commercial jets in an effort to attack the United States, according to a batch of files released by the Trump administration on Friday.

The reports, contained in previously classified documents from presidential daily briefs (PDBs) and high-level CIA intelligence memorandums, noted that operatives had already evaded security checks during a trial run at an unidentified New York airport three years before members of al-Qaeda took down the World Trade Center.

The plotters aimed to leverage hijacked flights to demand the release of imprisoned extremists, including Shaykh ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman and Ramzi Yousef.

USS COLE COMMANDER RECALLS CHILLING 9/11 WARNING AT CIA JUST 20 MINUTES BEFORE FIRST PLANE HIT

“Some members of the bin Ladin network have received hijack training, according to various sources, but no group directly tied to bin Ladin’s al-Qa’ida organization has ever carried out an aircraft hijacking,” a Dec. 4, 1998 presidential daily briefing states. “Bin Ladin could be weighing other types of operations against US aircraft.”

Months before the December 1998 briefing, a Sept. 10, 1998, PDB memorandum noted that bin Laden’s preferred option was to strike on U.S. soil in Washington, D.C. That report warned that the terror network responsible for the East Africa embassy bombings could possibly fly a plane packed with explosives into an American city.

AMERICA BUILT A FORTRESS AFTER 9/11. THEN THE THREAT STARTED HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Throughout 1998, U.S. intelligence agencies tracked bin Laden’s movements and support system, while identifying associates and sympathizers operating across several states, including New York, California, Texas, Michigan, and Florida, the documents state.

The warnings spanned two presidential administrations. An Aug. 6, 2001, PDB delivered to Bush informed him that the FBI uncovered patterns of suspicious activity inside the U.S. consistent with preparations for hijackings or other attacks, as well as recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

KASH PATEL REVEALS THE CHILLING HOLIDAY TERROR PLOTS FBI FEDERAL AGENTS QUIETLY STOPPED

“Al-Qa’ida members — including some who are US citizens — have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks,” that document states.

“After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington,” it said.

AT GROUND ZERO, 9/11 FAMILIES TURN TO TRUMP AS OBAMA’S OLD DECISION RESURFACES

Weeks before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a daily brief for Bush said that the FBI was conducting around 70 field investigations throughout the U.S. that it believed were related to bin Laden.

The documents were released as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to shed light on what intelligence agencies knew before the attacks.

“Today I authorized the release of 71 Presidential Daily Briefs to honor the lives of those killed on 9/11, along with CIA officers who subsequently gave their lives to the fight,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement posted on X.

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In his second administration, Trump has also released classified files on the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.

On a cloudy morning at the site where two sprawling towers once stood, the loved ones of New Yorkers killed on 9/11 gathered with a message for President Donald Trump: Release the unredacted files they believe could implicate Saudi Arabia.

Vice President JD Vance attended the ceremony alongside former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo were also among those in attendance.

The message was delivered on the main stage by Terry Strada, whose husband, Tom, was killed in the attacks. Speaking from the memorial stage, Strada accused successive administrations of protecting Saudi Arabia instead of supporting the 9/11 families.

Strada called out President Barack Obama, who was at the memorial, for vetoing the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, in 2016. Congress later overrode the veto, allowing 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia over its alleged role in the attacks.

TRUMP SET TO HONOR 9/11 VICTIMS, FIRST RESPONDERS AT PENTAGON ON 25TH ANNIVERSARY

“Administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families,” Strada said. “They withheld evidence. They vetoed JASTA. They broke promises, both public and private. It has been one betrayal after another.

“President Trump can still change that”

She urged the president to tell Saudi leaders “that if they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through.”

“Please carry that message back,” another speaker said, addressing Vance. “Stand with the families. Stand with the survivors.”

The remarks drew applause from the crowd.

“Administration after administration has not done anything for us. In fact, they’ve blocked, blocked us every step of the way of getting justice,” Dennis McGinley, whose older brother Danny worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower, told Fox News Digital.

“President Trump has a unique, historic opportunity here to be a hero, be our champion, finally close the books on this American nightmare, which is now becoming an American embarrassment. It’s got to start.”

The appeal came as families marked the 25th anniversary of the attacks with a renewed push for accountability from Saudi Arabia, which they accuse of helping two of the hijackers establish themselves in the United States. The kingdom has repeatedly denied involvement.

The families’ claims center on Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who helped hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar obtain an apartment in San Diego, and Fahad al-Thumairy, an accredited Saudi diplomat and imam at the King Fahd Mosque in California who had numerous contacts with al-Bayoumi.

The 9/11 Commission documented the men’s connections but did not conclude that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials supported the plot. Its report also said investigators found no evidence that another Saudi national, Osama Bassnan, gave money to the hijackers.

Newly released investigative material and evidence presented in a long-running civil case have intensified scrutiny of those connections. In August 2025, U.S. District Judge George Daniels allowed claims against Saudi Arabia to proceed, finding that the families had presented enough evidence to move toward trial. The ruling did not determine that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the attacks.

The families say that legal ruling, along with additional FBI and British intelligence material, gives Trump an opportunity to release more records and help resolve what they view as a 25-year-old betrayal.

SON WHO LOST FATHER IN 9/11 ATTACKS SHARES POWERFUL LESSONS 25 YEARS LATER: ‘I’M STILL HERE’

For Passananti, the demand was inseparable from his own loss. His father, Horace Robert Passananti, was working on the 100th floor of the North Tower. Passananti was 32 when he called his father after hearing that a plane had struck the building.

He never heard from him again.

Passananti said he has attended the ceremony every year but one since the attacks.

“I wish I wasn’t here, obviously, but I feel like I have to be here every year,” he told Fox News Digital.

Passananti, who is affiliated with the group 9/11 Justice, said families want those responsible for the attacks held accountable.

“We’ve really been on our own — the families — trying to obtain evidence,” Passananti said. “We’ve gotten really no help from our government. We feel like they’ve put Saudi Arabia ahead of the 9/11 families, and we’re hoping that will change.”

TRUMP CONFIRMS PENTAGON PLANS FOR 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 ATTACKS, DISPUTES REPORT ON GROUND ZERO ABSENCE

He described the delays in the case as “a twilight zone.”

“It feels really like a twilight zone and unbelievable that we have to fight for justice for the worst terrorist attack that ever happened on our soil,” Passananti said. “It doesn’t feel real. It’s unexplainable.”

Trump has previously acknowledged that questions remain unanswered about the attacks. In 2022, while defending his decision to host a Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament at his New Jersey club amid protests from 9/11 families, Trump said, “Nobody has gotten to the bottom of 9/11.”

But Trump has not publicly said whether he supports releasing additional files concerning Saudi Arabia’s alleged ties to the hijackers.

“President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history, which is why he authorized the declassification and release of hundreds of pages of documents related to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The President will always pay tribute to the American heroes we lost in the tragic September 11 attacks, their beautiful family members, and to the acts of heroism that defined that fateful day when the unbreakable spirit of the American people prevailed,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

McGinley worked across the Hudson River and called his brother after seeing the first plane hit, believing it was a small aircraft. His brother told him it was a passenger jet and described seeing people jumping from the neighboring tower. McGinley asked Danny if he was evacuating, and he said he’d been told to remain in place just before the South Tower was hit.

McGinley never spoke to him again.

“It is like the wound never healed, and every year we get salt poured back into that wound,” McGinley said.

The families’ calls for answers extended beyond those killed on the day of the attacks. Relatives of first responders who later died from cancer and other illnesses linked to toxic exposure also gathered at the memorial to honor their loved ones.

Jen Nilsen, whose husband died in the attacks, said the pain remains as strong as ever 25 years later.

“It doesn’t change at the 25th year,” Nilsen said. “The pain is still there.”

Nilsen said she returns to the memorial because “this is where he is.”

Her message to younger generations was simple.

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“Never forget,” she said. “Even though years go on, you never forget. You never get over it. The hurt is always there. The pain is always here.”

ARLINGTON, Texas — During his whirlwind trip to Texas to rally Republican voters ahead of November’s elections, President Donald Trump on Thursday made a pit stop to honor America’s bravest warriors the day before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The intimate gathering was held at the National Medal of Honor Museum, where Trump also met privately with the Medal of Honor recipients who were present.

Trump also signed legislation clearing the way for a new monument honoring the award’s recipients on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., before addressing roughly 100 guests, including 16 of the nation’s 65 living Medal of Honor recipients.

REPUBLICANS HEAD TO DALLAS WITH ONE MISSION: DEFY HISTORY AND WIN BIG

“It’s very special for all of us,” Trump said. “It’s special for me to be here, and it’s an American treasure devoted to the best and bravest warriors of our country. And frankly, it’s really the best they’ve ever produced.”

The event was a stark contrast to the tens of thousands to whom Trump had addressed about 13 hours prior at the GOP midterm convention, a half hour away in Dallas.

DAVID MARCUS: IN DALLAS, GOP SEEKS UNITY ON 9/11, KIRK ANNIVERSARIES

Charlotte Jones, daughter of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, is the chairman of the museum’s board of directors and served as the event’s emcee. Her father beamed with pride as he sat front-and-center, which Trump noted from the stage.

High-ranking Republican politicians, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, were among the high profile guests who huddled in the room for the event.

Both Jones and Troy Bertram, the CEO of the new center, stressed that the National Medal of Honor Museum (NMOH) typical is not just a war museum.

“We are not a military history museum,” Bertram told Fox News Digital. “We are storytelling around the humans, about their courage, their sacrifice. Who they were before what they became.”

Trump’s speech struck a tone of admiration for the men honored by the museum.

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“They stormed into hellfire and crushed America’s enemies,” the president said. “They had bravery like few people could even think of having. They carried the wounded out of battle and on their own backs, and carried them back and forth … They stood in the way of bullets, purposely just standing just like this and taking bullets, and it’s amazing.”

One of those warriors in question was Army Lt. Col. William Swenson, a man of steely resolve who serves on the museum’s board.

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His heroic 2009 actions in Afghanistan, where he fought during Operation Enduring Freedom, earned him the highest military decoration awarded by the U.S. government in 2013, presented by then-President Barack Obama.

Pinned down by the enemy during a seven-hour battle in the Ganjgal Valley of the country’s Kunar Province, Swenson saved lives by making multiple trips into active combat zones, pulling wounded soldiers to safety and loading them onto helicopters for evacuation.

“The president and our commander-in-chief has been a strong supporter of this project,” Swenson told Fox News Digital. “He continues to be a strong supporter of this project, and having him as involved as he is going to be a great contribution to get the monument done to standard, on time and to start signaling the messaging to the American people what’s important about service.”

The 47th president is working with private donors to build the new monument in Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial, in honor of recipients of nation’s highest military award for heroism in battle. He previously signed the Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act, officially clearing the path for its construction.

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“When he died, Woody was the last surviving recipient from World War II, [he] had one of the most dangerous jobs of war, and that’s operating a flamethrower,” Trump said, speaking of the man for whom the bill was named.

“In the Battle of Iwo Jima, he carved a path to American victory — literally carved a path so soldiers could get in and win through a deadly gauntlet of enemy strongholds. And back and forth he went. He just kept going back and forth,” Trump continued.

Williams was one of about 300 flamethrowers in Iwo Jima, a famed and defining battle in the war’s pacific theater. The late soldier’s family members were in the audience, and were fondly acknowledged by the president.

“America will never, ever forget what they did and what they risked and how much they risked, [and] what they meant to their families and what they’ve meant to our country, Trump concluded. “I want to thank you all once again.”

Swenson described the importance of of remembrance.

“What we do to ensure that we have common history, common beliefs, is we have monuments and we have museums, we have our mythology that tells us who we are as Americans and what we will continue to be in the future,” he said. “Without this mythology, we don’t have that narrative.

The fact that the event was held the day before the 25th anniversary of 9/11 wasn’t lost on him, either.

He described the tragedy as a “seminal event” for him, which happened just as he was finishing college, that shaped his entire future. Swenson spent 22 years in the Army following the attack.

“The United States is forged in fire,” he said. “We’ve had revolutions, we’ve had civil wars, we’ve had global conflicts, we’ve had civil strife. There will always be challenges to our freedom and to our country, and it’s up to us to move forward from those events and create that more perfect union.”

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“That said, we must always learn from these events to help better prevent them, and also to honor the sacrifice of the service members who fought in these conflicts, and also understand how we as citizens can create a better country that does not have these problems — that does not have these challenges. It’s our responsibility to future generations to prevent that.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., were lambasted Friday for appearing to share a moment of levity at the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan during the solemn reading-of-the-names of victims.

Mamdani was already facing criticism from some 9/11 victims’ families over his attendance when a television feed showing the reading of victims’ names cut from a young man sobbing at the memorial to the mayor and congresswoman appearing to grin and laugh as they spoke, though their conversation was inaudible.

“Disgraceful,” said Steve Guest, a former top staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “AOC and Mamdani look happy.”

MAMDANI HEADS TO 9/11 MEMORIAL DESPITE 110,000-SIGNATURE PUSH FROM VICTIMS’ FAMILIES TO STAY AWAY

“They always show us who they really are,” another critic on X said.

Others critics were more direct. 

“Why the f— are these two laughing?” asked Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

FAMILIES OF 9/11 VICTIMS’ MESSAGE TO MAMDANI: ‘PLEASE DO NOT COME’ TO MEMORIAL CEREMONY

However, a top member of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s entourage claimed on X the video was taken out of context.

“The videos of [them] laughing are not true. I was standing next to them the whole time,” tweeted Michael Ragusa, reportedly head of Giuliani’s security as of 2025, according to WPIX-11.

“The camera just caught her greeting him hello. Multiple other politicians were laughing and joking behind me. Republicans and Democrats.”

The Pittsburgh Republican Committee suggested on X that the sight was one of the reasons 9/11 victims families didn’t want the mayor there, while former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt also sounded off.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI URGED TO SKIP NEW YORK CITY’S 9/11 MEMORIAL: ‘VILE ANTISEMITE’

“While normal Americans cry, commie Mamdani and AOC laugh it up at the 9/11 memorial in New York,” Pratt said.

“They hate you. They hate your country. They enjoy your misery. We cannot allow these people to have power.”

A New York City lawmaker added that she was outraged to see Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez acting that way.

“After thousands of families of victims of terror beg Mamdani not to show up, he stands there and laughs while families weep,” said Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, R-Brighton Beach. “This is NYC’s Mayor.”

RETIRED PORT AUTHORITY OFFICERS TELL MAMDANI, HOCHUL TO STAY AWAY FROM GROUND ZERO ON 9/11

Richard Sementa, better known as “Mr. Producer” for Mark Levin’s national radio show, tweeted, “Un-freaking believable.”

Juanita Broaddrick called Mamdani and AOC “two disgusting degenerates” on X.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who continues to criticize democratic socialists and opponents of Israel, called the mayor “Jihad Mamdani” and said that he and the congresswoman should not be anywhere near Ground Zero.

“They do not mourn this country, they mock it,” he tweeted. “Have some damn respect.”

“As the names of Americans murdered on September 11th are read aloud at Ground Zero, AOC and Mamdani are laughing and smiling together,” said Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.

“There is a time and a place for politics. This isn’t it. Ground Zero is sacred ground.”

“September 11 is not a photo op, it is not a networking event,” said Hunt.

Separately, Mamdani was seen at other points standing somberly between New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and New York First Gentleman William Hochul Jr.

But critics continued pointing out what one called the “jarring split-screen” of the mayor joking around with Ocasio-Cortez a split-second after the mourner was seen sobbing over the shadow “fountain” at the footprint of the Twin Towers.

“What exactly is funny?” asked former Trump White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.

Former NYPD cop and Fox News contributor Paul Mauro tweeted what he envisioned the two discussing.

“Zo[hran]: You’re not buying into this ‘never again’ bull— are you? AOC: ‘No, not me,’ Hilarity ensues.”

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It was not immediately clear what the two politicians were chatting about at the moment.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez for comment.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s presence at Friday’s 9/11 remembrance at Ground Zero drew criticism from some in the city, including one former police officer who said the mayor “probably should have skipped it” and another mourner who called his appearance “disrespectful” and “very offensive.”

Mamdani has faced criticism over his associations with controversial political and online figures, as well as his decision to appoint Ramzi Kassem as his administration’s chief counsel. Kassem previously represented a Guantánamo detainee linked to an al Qaeda terrorist plot. Former New York Republican Gov. George Pataki, 9/11-era FDNY Commissioner Thomas von Essen and others called on Mamdani to skip the ceremony.

“He showed up anyway. It does bother us,” Walter Matuza, whose father Walter was killed that day, told Fox News Digital.

MAMDANI HEADS TO 9/11 MEMORIAL DESPITE 110,000-SIGNATURE PUSH FROM VICTIMS’ FAMILIES TO STAY AWAY

Matuza said he was part of the group of victims’ families that initiated the petition to keep Mamdani away.

He cited Mamdani’s association with streamer Hasan Piker, who once said America “deserved 9/11,” as well as Mamdani’s appointment of Kassem.

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Matuza, of Staten Island, said his father was one of dozens at Carr Futures brokerage who died after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower just above their 92nd floor offices.

Mike, a former New Jersey police officer, told Fox News Digital he recalled watching the terror unfold on television from across the Hudson – and later came to Manhattan to help relieve exhausted NYPD officers stuck at their posts.

“Based on the rhetoric that he’s used in the past. Yeah, he probably should have skipped it,” Mike said of Mamdani.

He added that Mamdani’s appointment of Kassem also troubled him, saying the mayor could’ve handled the situation in a “whole different way.”

FAMILIES OF 9/11 VICTIMS’ MESSAGE TO MAMDANI: ‘PLEASE DO NOT COME’ TO MEMORIAL CEREMONY

“But, he did it and unfortunately people aren’t going to forget it.”

Another mourner called Mamdani a “communist” when asked about his appearance on Friday, adding that the memorial was “not supposed to be a political event.”

Steven, who traveled all the way to New York from Hobe Sound, Florida, to attend the remembrance, lambasted Mamdani’s presence as “disrespectful” and “offensive.”

ZOHRAN MAMDANI URGED TO SKIP NEW YORK CITY’S 9/11 MEMORIAL: ‘VILE ANTISEMITE’

“I’ve been following that over the past couple weeks and I saw that I think they had upwards of 700,000 New Yorkers requesting him not to be here. I mean, as the mayor, I would assume he has the right to be here…. But who he represents and the people he’s affiliated with… I feel that he should stay away. I don’t feel that his presence here is wanted, and I think he should honor that as a human being.”

The petition had garnered more than 110,000 signatures at the time, according to the petition’s tally.

Steven called Kassem’s appointment “hideous” and added that the youngest generation who does not remember or did not live through 9/11 are suffering from “incorrect information” and do not understand the reality of the terror attack.

He said he will educate his children on 9/11 so that they do not go down the same ideological road.

Attendee John told Fox News Digital that Mamdani does have a right to attend.

John said he lost friends including at now-Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s Cantor-Fitzgerald firm – which lost more than 650 people; the most of any company in the Twin Towers that day – and that as long as Mamdani is respectful to the fallen Americans being remembered, he is “fine” with the Democrat attending.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for comment.

In a prior statement, the mayor said he is proud of New York and “love[s] this city [and] country.”

“[W]hat I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11, and a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers.”

During the ceremony, footage captured Mamdani approaching and greeting his 9/11-era predecessor, Republican Rudolph Giuliani.

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The two could be seen appearing to exchange brief pleasantries before Giuliani turned and sat down and an aide began speaking to the incumbent mayor.

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All living former presidents reportedly attended the ceremony, as President Donald Trump instead visited the Pentagon’s remembrance before departing for County Clare, Ireland from nearby Andrews Air Force Base.

It’s a twofer in the Senate.

Senators return to Washington Monday for the first time since the wee hours of Aug. 8. The Senate’s slated to meet for three weeks before heading home for the midterms – if the session even goes that long.

There are a lot of items senators want to tackle. But only two big ones are lined up for test votes right now.

The first legislative vote is locked in. It’s a procedural vote on a measure to regulate cryptocurrency. That comes Tuesday afternoon. The bill needs 60 votes to be in play.

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There’s no bigger advocate for cryptocurrency than President Trump. He’s pushing for the Senate to move legislation.

“We ended the war on crypto once and for all,” said the President. “Now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act.”

Let’s clarify what the Clarity Act does. The measure clarifies federal rules for digital currencies and tokens. The framework would divide oversight between two regulators: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC). Approval of the bill would be the first step toward establishing guardrails for cryptocurrency.

“We passed the Clarity Act in the House last summer with 78 Democratic votes. It’s now time for the Senate to join us,” said House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., on Fox Business.

The package has bipartisan support. But there’s a roadblock coming from the Democrats.

“The one remaining significant issue, I think, is the ethics provision,” said Hill.

President Trump’s own financial disclosure report reveals he earned $1.4 billion on cryptocurrency last year alone. That’s why Democrats want specific rules for the Trump family and crypto.

“It basically exempts the President from any kind of ethical constraints. And that’s just not going to fly in the Democratic caucus,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., says the bill is too closely aligned with what the President and his industry allies want.

“Yes. We need crypto legislation. But not this legislation that has been written by this industry,” said Warren. “I just don’t see how anyone, Democrat or Republican, moves forward on this bill.”

That’s why many doubt the measure can score 60 votes twice to break a filibuster. The naysaying aggravates cryptocurrency advocates.

“This is the right bill at the right time and it’s time to vote,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wy.

She argues that crypto supporters bowed to demands to firm up ethics rules.

“In 2023, we added 100 pages with stronger consumer protection provisions. Yet we got feedback from colleagues that they wanted more. So again, we listened. Today, this bill that was under 300 pages is more than 600 pages. That’s hundreds of pages built over 11 months of daily bipartisan negotiations in windowless rooms where colleagues from both parties shared their priorities and we worked diligently to incorporate them,” said an exasperated Lummis.

Warren argues that the bill makes it easier for drug runners and terrorists to fund their operations – without a literal paper trail.

TED CRUZ URGES SENATE TO STAY IN WASHINGTON UNTIL PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT PASSES THIS WEEK

Lummis says if the U.S. doesn’t establish its cryptocurrency blueprint, digital assets could flee overseas.

“These companies can go to Singapore, Switzerland, the UAE and have a well understood clear set of regulations,” said Lummis.

So that test vote is locked in. But it’s rare to pass a major financial regulatory measure this close to the midterms. And if Democrats prevail in November, that could create friction with the White House.

The Senate also expects a test vote before the end of the September on a bill to regulate money in college sports. But there’s no specific agreement on a date for that roll call tally.

You know the old saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity? Well, the “bad” publicity surrounding college football could potentially provide this legislation a boost.

President Trump implored senators to stay in Washington to finish the bill last month. But it wasn’t ready. However, controversies over former pro players heading back to college – to say nothing of clock maintenance at the University of Michigan – could prod skeptical senators to give this measure another look.

Let’s start with LSU tight end Dae’Quan Wright. If you can keep up with him.

Last year, Wright played for current LSU head coach Lane Kiffin last year at Ole Miss – before Kiffin abandoned his squad late in the season for the Tigers. Wright decided to go pro. The Philadelphia Eagles picked him in up in the spring. But then waved Wright early last month. The Cleveland Browns then signed Wright. He dressed for a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. Never played a snap. Then the Browns cut him.

So, Wright headed back to school. But this time, at LSU.

“I’m just putting on a college uniform again and going out there and having fun and embracing my opportunity,” said Wright.

A judge then cleared Wright and former Ole Miss defensive lineman Zxavian Harris to play for LSU this fall. But in between, Harris appeared in preseason camp with the New Orleans Saints – before the team waived him.

Drew Rosenhaus is Wright’s agent. He believes his client had no other option after his brief cup of coffee in the pros.

“His contract with the NFL was terminated,” said Rosenhaus. “If he was still able to play in the NFL, he would be there.”

Chaos like this is prodding lawmakers to try to regulate intercollegiate athletics.

“It’s not fair to the high school kids coming out to play college ball if you suddenly have colleges that are going and recruiting from the NFL,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Cruz teamed up with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Commerce panel, to craft the college athletics regulation measure.

One big restriction: the legislation limits athletes to one transfer.

“The transfer portal is out of control. You have athletes transferring two, three, four times. You have essentially no eligibility rules. So you have athletes competing six, seven, eight years. You have 28-year-olds competing against 17-year-old kids,” said Cruz.

The constant darting around from school to school worries the Trump Administration, too.

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“It’s a crazy system, man,” said Vice President JD Vance to colleague Lucas Tomlinson. “When I was growing up…you would get some loyalty, between the athletes and the fan bases. You would know the names of the people who played for your team because they were there for three or four years.”

The Cruz/Cantwell package also caps money schools can use for name, image and likeness, or NIL. And, considering the recent contretemps, the legislation bars athletes from going pro. Then reversing field to college.

The White House tapped legendary former Alabama football coach Nick Saban to push for passage of the bill.

“Join the winning team today and help Congress protect this American tradition,” says Saban in the commercial now airing around the country.

But even if the bill gets through the Senate, it faces an unclear path in the House. The House returns to session Monday, too. But it’s unclear how long its Members will stick around with the midterms looming.

“I’ve had coach Saban in my office and we’ve talked about this and he’s right,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “I think Congress is ready to act. But it takes take both chambers.”

In other words, just like there’s a play clock in football, there’s a play clock in Congress, too.

“I appreciate the exuberance of our Senate colleagues,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. “But I don’t know if there’s enough days to to get this done.”

Time may be the enemy of both the cryptocurrency bill and the college athletics bill. Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill with one foot practically out the door, headed back toward the airport.

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It’s a Senate twofer. But if things don’t sail smoothly on either or both bills, there may be little reason to anchor lawmakers to Washington. And if lawmakers don’t address these bills now, potential legislative fixes may evaporate until the new Congress begins in January.

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., warned Friday of “racial terror” and “widespread modern-day lynchings” in the U.S. as she joined dozens of Democrats demanding that the DOJ and FBI investigate hanging deaths of Black Americans.

Multiple official findings in several recent cases show that law enforcement or medical examiners ruled the deaths suicides, while at least one very recent death remains under a homicide investigation.

AOC alleges there is systemic racial bias at the agencies, while fellow progressive lawmaker Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., called the hangings a “national crisis” in a letter to the agencies that she spearheaded.

MS RACHEL SPEAKS OUT ON BLACK HANGING CASES AS RALEIGH DEATH IS DECLARED SUICIDE

“This year, there have already been 10 reported hangings of Black people in the U.S. I’ m proud to have signed onto Rep. Pressley’s letter to address these widespread modern-day lynchings and put a stop to this racial terror,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X in support of the call.

Pressley warned in her letter that “Black folks are being found hanged in America” and insisted: “We cannot stand by while strange fruit hangs from trees across the country.”

The letter, addressed to Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, was signed by Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez and about 50 Democrats. They demanded a “thorough, transparent, and comprehensive federal investigation into every hanging death of a Black individual across the United States,” arguing that federal agencies have failed for decades to adequately investigate such deaths.

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One 2026 case involved the death of a 21-year-old Atlanta man who had gone missing. He was later found hanging from a tree in a Cobb County park, where officials ruled out foul play and deemed the death a suicide, according to Atlanta’s NBC affiliate.

Another 2026 case involved Delta State University student Demartravion Reed in Mississippi. Officials “determined the cause of death to be a hanging and the manner of death as suicide.”

At the time, the case reopened old memories of the murder of Emmett Till, according to reports. Till was a Black teen kidnapped and murdered by White men not far from the site after he was falsely accused of flirting with a White woman in 1955.

15-YEAR-OLD BLACK TEEN’S MURDER REVEALS THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT WHITE GUILT IN AMERICA

A Grio report on Pressley’s letter also referenced the hanging deaths of a 58-year-old man in Albany, N.Y., and a 39-year-old man in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

The Albany Police Department said Earl Smith’s death was “ruled a suicide” and investigators found “no evidence” of criminal activity.

“The Albany Police Department is aware of concerns posted on social media suggesting that criminal activity was involved with this incident, which has understandably caused public concern,” the department said.

A preliminary investigation of the Wisconsin man’s death also indicated suicide, according to Brookfield’s police chief cited by the Waukesha County Freeman.

At least one case remains under homicide investigation, according to reports.

Tasia Fortune was found hanging outside an abandoned house in Jackson, Mississippi, CNN reported Thursday. Authorities later questioned Terence Bernard Anderson, the father of one of her children, and arrested him on unrelated weapons charges, according to several reports.

AOC SLAMS ‘OPPRESSED’ TRUMP STATES WHILE TOUTING NYC SERVICES DESPITE $5B DEFICIT AND TRANSIT CRIME SPIKE

The lawmakers’ characterization also drew criticism on social media.

“Those community notes are stacking up,” one critic said, as X’s crowdsourced correction indicator included several wire reports and media links disputing Ocasio-Cortez’ claims.

“There should be some sort of penalty for willfully lying on social media, especially for a politician,” another claimed.

Former Energy Department official Matt Van Swol posted to X, “In the last ‘lynching’ of a Black woman, the media conveniently left out the prime suspect in the case was her Black boyfriend. Zero White people are lynching Black people in America today.”

WATCH: SQUAD DEMOCRAT SPEAKS OUT AFTER TEEN FOUND SHOT DEAD AT HUSBAND’S BOSTON PROPERTY

Former Senate staffer Matt Whitlock added that “every death is a tragedy, but what do you think ‘widespread’ means if only one of these was actually a homicide. Not sure you’ve landed the point about ‘racial terror’ with this.”

X’s crowdsourced Community Notes feature also pointed readers to law-enforcement and medical-examiner findings in several of the cases, stating that most high-profile hanging deaths it identified in 2025 and 2026 had been ruled suicides and that one remained under homicide investigation.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, the DOJ and the FBI for comment.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., remembers exactly where he was when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was a senior in high school. I was in Mr. Ponzi’s government class. And that’s when the first plane hit. And one of the other teachers came in and was telling Mr. Ponzi about it,” he told Fox News Digital. “We all thought it was a little plane. And then we went to the next class. And then the second plane hit, and everybody realized that stuff was wrong.”

Twenty-five years later, Garbarino leads a congressional committee that oversees a Cabinet department created explicitly after the terror attack. He’s warning that Congress needs to change how it deals with potential threats to avoid another tragedy of that scale.

“Being chairman of the committee, being a New Yorker, it’s one of those things you focus on, and you want to make sure another 9/11 doesn’t happen, and doesn’t ever happen again. And that’s my goal. That’s my priority,” he said.

9/11 IS BECOMING HISTORY. MY GENERATION MUST MAKE SURE AMERICA NEVER FORGETS

“Congress is very good at being reactive… We don’t want another 9/11. So if I could leave my fingerprints on something here, it’s the fact that the focus, Congress’ focus on national security, Congress’ focus on homeland security or safety, is that we address an issue before something happens.”

HOW 9/11 TRANSFORMED SYNAGOGUE SECURITY INTO A NEW REALITY FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

He said Congress needed to get into the habit of passing laws ahead of time, “instead of being like, ‘Oh my God I can’t believe this happened, how did this happen, let’s fix it now.'”

“That’s why 9/11 happened. 9/11 happened because our intelligence agencies, they were siloed, they were not sharing information. I don’t know if it was a complacency or whatever, but there were a lot of problems,” Garbarino said. “I don’t want to fall into that same complacency.”

Garbarino represents New York’s 2nd Congressional District, part of Long Island’s south shore. As a suburb of New York City, its residents are deeply attuned to that tragedy 25 years ago.

“We have people that lost loved ones that day that are still dealing with it 25 years later,” Garbarino said. “So the scar is still there.”

His district and others are also still dealing with illnesses stemming from that day, including first responders who bravely rushed to the collapsing twin towers.

“There are now more people that have died from 9/11-related illnesses than died on the actual day. So it’s a day that keeps taking people away from us,” Garbarino said.

“You have firemen who, 9/11 was their first call. They were 21, 22 years old. They’re now 47… And a lot of these, some of these cancers, they take a while to take hold, and they’re now just getting sick.”

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN 9/11 AND ACCELERATED AGING

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed legislation led by Garbarino and others to address a projected funding shortfall for the World Trade Center Health Program, which helps survivors pay for their medical treatment.

He said nearly all congressional districts across the country have at least one person participating in the program, a testament to how widespread the tragedy’s effects are.

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“People moved out of New York, people who came from all over the country after 9/11 to help, they all went back home, they also got sick. So this does affect the entire country,” Garbarino said.

The Trump administration is intensifying its efforts to target of foreign nationals accused of defrauding the U.S. government, as the FBI and other federal agencies pursue suspects operating from overseas.

Last week, the FBI released a “Most Wanted” list highlighting alleged fraud suspects as the administration continues its broader crackdown on fraud. Officials say the involvement of foreign nationals in multiple schemes has heightened concerns about overseas actors exploiting U.S. government programs.

Among those named is Onur Simsek, a Turkish national whom the FBI believes is living in Turkey. Prosecutors accuse Simsek of leading a defense procurement fraud scheme that secured U.S. military contracts by falsely certifying Turkish-made parts as tested and qualified, potentially rendering critical military equipment inoperable.

FBI LAUNCHES ‘MOST WANTED FRAUDSTERS’ LIST AS DOJ CHARGES OHIO DEFENDANTS IN $30M MEDICAID SCHEME FOR KIDS

Federal authorities allege Simsek is one of a number foreign nationals who have infiltrated and exploited U.S. federal funds to obtain taxpayer funds.

In a statement, General Services Administration Administrator Ed Forst pointed to Simsek’s alleged conduct while discussing the administration’s efforts to combat fraud.

“Simsek’s alleged procurement fraud deprived taxpayers of value, denied honest businesses fair opportunity, and diverted critical resources from American warfighters,” Forst said. “Under President Trump and Vice President Vance, GSA will continue working relentlessly to identify and hold accountable those who try to cheat the federal marketplace and steal from the American people.”

The General Services Administration Office of Inspector General has assisted in the investigation, according to the agency.

WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES INTERACTIVE MAP TRACKING BILLIONS IN SUSPECTED FRAUD

Foreign nationals have become a focus of the administration’s broader fraud investigations, including scrutiny of an alleged Medicaid and child care fraud scheme involving members of Minnesota’s Somali community that sparked clashes between federal agents and protesters earlier this year.

In an interview with Fox News Digital last month, Vice President JD Vance said authorities have observed what he described as a “clear pattern” in some fraud cases involving immigrant communities.

“You definitely see patterns in certain communities,” Vance said. “It’ll start as maybe one Somali person takes advantage of the system, or realizes you don’t even have to have children to get money from these programs. You could just claim that you have children, there’s no verification. Then, word spreads like wildfire, and that program gets tapped into by the same members of that community.”

EXCLUSIVE: FBI ADDS ALLEGED COVID FRAUDSTER ACCUSED OF TAKING $5M FROM KIDS’ MEAL PROGRAM TO MOST WANTED LIST

According to the Justice Department, Simsek and his co-conspirators used a U.S.-based front company between April 2019 and February 2022 to obtain contracts to supply parts for Navy submarines, Marine Corps armored vehicles, Army M-60 tanks and other military equipment. Prosecutors allege the parts were manufactured in Turkey, then repackaged to conceal their country of origin before being sold to the U.S. government.

The “War Dogs” -style scheme was also allegedly in collaboration with Yuksel Senbol, who was sentenced to prison for conspiracy to defraud in 2024. An arrest warrant for Simsek was ordered in Tampa, Florida in October 2023.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to Simsek’s arrest and conviction.

WHITE HOUSE EXPOSES ‘TRANSSHIPMENT SCAM’ COSTING US UP TO $26B, POINTS FINGER AT CHINA

In late July, the FBI arrested Khalid Ahmed Satary, who FBI Director Kash Patel said participated in a conspiracy that fraudulently billed Medicare more than $547 million for medically unnecessary genetic tests between 2016 and 2019.

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“The arrest of Khalid Ahmed Satary and return to the U.S. is the third Most Wanted Fraudster capture from this FBI and our partners in just five weeks — continuing the historic run of success for this new initiative,” Patel told Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon on Friday, honoring the victims and first responders who lost their lives that day.

“As a proud New Yorker, President Trump has spoken about his own experiences watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.

“On the 25th anniversary of this tragic day, the president will remember those who were killed at the hands of evil terrorists, honor their loved ones, and pay tribute to the brave first responders who put their lives on the line to rescue their fellow Americans,” Kelly added.

TRUMP CONFIRMS PENTAGON PLANS FOR 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 ATTACKS, DISPUTES REPORT ON GROUND ZERO ABSENCE

Trump will attend a 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon, while Vice President JD Vance will commemorate the attacks at the World Trade Center site in New York. Other administration officials will gather in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, ensuring the White House has a presence at all three sites tied to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Vance will join former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in New York for a remembrance ceremony.

Last year, Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended a 9/11 commemoration at the Pentagon and issued a Patriot Day proclamation calling for flags to be flown at half-staff.

He later attended a Yankees-Tigers game featuring tributes to the victims in the Bronx, New York City.

FIRST ON FOX: TRUMP’S 9/11 TRIBUTE TO FEATURE MASSIVE PIECE OF GROUND ZERO HISTORY AT WHITE HOUSE’

During his first term, Trump attended the Pentagon for a memorial in 2017 and 2019, then spent 9/11 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania in 2018 and 2020.

Trump was a real-estate developer in New York City at the time of the attacks and watched the tragedy unfold in real time. 

“I have a window that looks directly at the World Trade Center, and I saw this huge explosion. I was with a group of people and I really couldn’t even believe it,” Trump said in a phone interview with WWOR-TV channel 9 on the tragic day.

9/11 TAUGHT US DEADLY LESSONS. 25 YEARS LATER, WE NEED A NEW MODEL TO PREVENT ATTACKS

WHERE TUNNEL TO TOWERS’ STEEL ACROSS AMERICA TOUR WILL STOP AHEAD OF 9/11

On Tuesday, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation brought its “Steel Across America” tour to Trump’s doorstep at the White House, where the 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower was on display.

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The steel beam has served as a traveling memorial to the victims and first responders of 9/11, offering pop-up events across 21 states leading up to the anniversary of the tragic day.

The highest court in Massachusetts has publicly rebuked a district court judge over her role in a case involving an illegal immigrant who evaded arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

For Judge Shelley Joseph, the decision brings to a close a legal saga that began on April 2, 2018, when Jose Medina-Perez left the Newton District Court through a rear courthouse exit all while an ICE officer was waiting in the lobby to take him into custody.

The Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling centered on a sidebar with Medina-Perez’s attorney and the prosecutor during which Joseph instructed her clerk to shut off the courtroom’s recording system.

“The respondent’s statements during that conversation, including her proposal to detain Medina-Perez overnight in State custody, and her conduct in instructing the clerk to turn off the courtroom audio recording system, created an appearance of impropriety in violation of her duties,” according to the Thursday ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court.

FORMER WISCONSIN JUDGE HANNAH DUGAN AVOIDS JAIL TIME FOR OBSTRUCTING ARREST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

The Supreme Judicial Court’s reprimand came after a hearing officer for the Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended such an action.

However, the high court ruled that Joseph was unaware Medina-Perez’s attorney, David Jellinek, had devised a plan to help his client evade ICE by escorting him to the courthouse lockup, where the court officer would release him through a rear sally port exit. The court also found that Joseph neither explicitly nor implicitly approved of that plan.

Medina-Perez, of the Dominican Republic, had been in Joseph’s courtroom to be arraigned on a fugitive-from-justice charge that originated in Pennsylvania.

Joseph found there wasn’t enough evidence to tie Medina-Perez to the Pennsylvania warrant, and prosecutor Shannon Jurgens recommended he be released without bail on two drug charges he was facing.

FEDERAL JUDGE IN NEW YORK TIES TRUMP ADMIN HANDS ON ARRESTS AT IMMIGRATION COURTS

Joseph then released Medina-Perez on his own personal recognizance and set a pre-trial conference date for the drug possession case.

In April 2019, roughly a year later, Joseph and the court officer who let Medina-Perez out through the back door were indicted on charges of obstruction of justice.

That case was dropped in 2022 after Joseph agreed to refer herself to the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by Massachusetts judges.

The commission concluded that Joseph “engaged in willful judicial misconduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, as well as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial officer.”

After her federal indictment, Joseph was suspended from the bench and unable to work for three years.

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Joseph’s attorney, Elizabeth Mulvey, said last year during a commission hearing that the case had been distorted in the media, with many coming to believe that her client “let an illegal immigrant out of the door,” according to The Associated Press.

In a statement to the AP on Thursday, Mulvey said it has been an “incredibly long and difficult eight years for Judge Joseph.”

“We are grateful to the hearing officer who undertook this monumental task and pleased that his efforts have shown that this was a baseless federal prosecution from the beginning and solely the work of the defense lawyer involved,” Mulvey said in a statement. “Judge Joseph is thankful for everyone who stood by her and looks forward to rejoining her colleagues.”

Joseph, who remains a judge, was assigned in December to administrative duties in the Boston Municipal Court.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Thursday that he hopes Republicans in the U.S. lose both the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections, suggesting that voters should punish President Donald Trump for his moves to escalate the ongoing trade war with Canada.

“Hopefully, he’s going to lose the Senate. He’s going to lose Congress. I hope so, and hold him accountable,” Ford said.

“But we’ll see how that goes. We aren’t going to interfere in the U.S. election,” he continued.

Ford has become one of Trump’s most outspoken critics in Canada, accusing the president of attempting to move Ontario’s businesses and jobs across the border to the U.S.

CANADIAN PM TELLS TRUMP TO ‘STOP TRYING TO BE TOUGH’ IN TRADE FIGHT

“He’s not reliable at all,” Ford said. “He could make a deal today and then change his mind. And we’ve seen that over and over again.”

Ford said he still believes Trump would like to reach a deal before the midterms and that Canada should return to the negotiation table as soon as possible.

“I truly believe President Trump wants a deal before the midterms,” Ford said. “I could be wrong, but I think it’s best that we sit down and get a deal.”

Ford’s comments come just days after the U.S. escalated the trade dispute by banning some Canadian dairy products and motorcycles as well most alcoholic beverages after Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect on about $20 billion in U.S. goods.

Trump also took efforts to remove Canadian products from large, long-term U.S. government contracts.

Last year, Trump abruptly ended trade talks with Canada after the Ontario government broadcast an anti-tariff TV ad in the U.S., using quotes from former Republican President Ronald Reagan’s criticism of tariffs.

Trump and Ford have repeatedly exchanged personal jabs over the trade war.

NEW YORK GOV HOCHUL REJECTS TRUMP’S ‘LAKE AMERICA’ RENAMING WITH BLUNT MESSAGE

Ford mocked Trump for keeping a portrait of Reagan near his desk while pushing for tariffs the former president had opposed, telling The Associated Press that Reagan would be “throwing up on him from the picture if he knew what was going on.”

Trump, meanwhile, has criticized Ford as “the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford.”

The U.S. president further escalated tensions with Canada when he signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” a rebranding that Canada does not recognize.

Canada, other international bodies and U.S. states are not forced to follow the renaming, but the order adds to the ongoing tensions between the two countries.

Ford said on Thursday that Trump had unintentionally strengthened Canada by forcing it to cut its dependence on the U.S.

“The only two good things Donald Trump has ever done for Canada” were that “he woke us up” and “he united the country like I’ve never seen before,” Ford said.

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested on Thursday that his country may hold off on further retaliation against Trump’s latest trade measures, describing them as “relatively modest” compared to earlier U.S. moves.

He said his government was still studying the U.S. measures and acknowledged they could have significant consequences for companies and industries, but he said that some of the new U.S. tariffs replaced others that the Trump administration had removed.

“We also recognize that, in the context of other things that the U.S. administration has done … that these are relatively modest measures,” Carney said at a cabinet retreat in Banff, Alberta.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.