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Police bigwig accused of driving son's getaway car in gang shooing is sorority sisters with mayor: report
A suburban New York police official accused of driving the getaway car for her son's alleged gang shooting reportedly had connections to the mayor's office when she landed the leadership role.
Court records indicate Jennifer Lackard, 49, and her son Chase, 20, were both arrested by the New York Police Department on Tuesday in connection with a June 29 drive-by shooting at rival gang members near the Bronx Criminal Court.
Prior to her arrest, Lackard worked as the deputy commissioner of wellness for the Mount Vernon Police Department.
NEW YORK POLICE OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF DRIVING GETAWAY CAR FOR SON IN GANG-RELATED SHOOTING
Mount Vernon borders the Bronx, just north of New York City.
Lackard and Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard are Delta Sigma Theta sorority sisters, according to the New York Post.
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In her former position, Lackard was tasked with police reform, civilian complaint review board implementation and officer wellness.
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When she was hired the city said, "Lackard brings a wealth of knowledge and resources to the City of Mount Vernon has worked on the community level as President of the Station of Hope prison re-entry ministry at Grace Baptist Church and organizer of the Re-Entry Meetup for Westchester County since 2015."
NEW YORK POLICE OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF DRIVING GETAWAY CAR FOR SON IN GANG-RELATED SHOOTING
In a 2020 interview with Gothamist, she "acknowledged the leap of faith it took for the department to give her the position," and she had "never worked for a police department," prior to landing the position.
She previously held advisory roles on the Westchester County Probation Advisory Board and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Implementation Task Force.
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In a statement posted on social media, the City of Mount Vernon said in part, "Effective immediately, the City of Mount Vernon has terminated Jennifer Lackard’s employment. The allegations are unrelated to her duties with the Mount Vernon Police Department and do not stem from any conduct associated with the Department or the performance of her official responsibilities."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Patterson-Howard and Delta Sigma Theta for comment.
Attorneys for Jennifer and Chase Lackard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
I got stage 4 cancer in my 40s. My young daughter and husband keep me fighting
When I was first diagnosed with rare metastatic appendiceal cancer in October 2023, my world blew up. It was a diagnosis with no known cure and no specific treatment protocol. Talk about shattered dreams. I had just turned 40 and had been married only three years. My daughter wasn’t even 2 years old yet. I shared the terrifying early days of my diagnosis here on Fox News and how stunned I was to be diagnosed with stage 4 cancer despite having minimal symptoms.
Later, I wrote about my fierce determination to fight for my husband and young daughter because I had "too much to lose." At the time, my entire existence shrunk to a single, desperate objective: Do everything possible to beat cancer.
So, I suited up for battle. Over the past nearly three years, I’ve lost count of the rounds of chemotherapy I’ve endured. Maybe 45? Alongside the chemo came multiple surgeries, constant scans, port placements, hernias, drains, stents, bags, a 30-pound weight loss, and lots of flights back and forth to Texas for a targeted treatment. My life is lived day to day.
And yet, the world doesn't stop turning just because you have stage 4 cancer.
I'M A 40-YEAR-OLD MOM AND WIFE WITH STAGE 4 CANCER. HERE'S WHAT I WANT YOU TO KNOW
All of this medical warfare happens while I am still mothering a spunky 4-year-old girl who is my entire world. It happens while I am trying to be a present wife, take care of a house, work as a journalist, be a supportive daughter to ailing parents, and desperately claw at whatever energy I have left to do the things I love.
The whiplash of these transitions is where the real exhaustion lives. In the span of a single week, I can fly to Texas, sit in a cold, sterile infusion room, fly back to New Jersey, spend two days with my head in a toilet bowl, and then force myself up to play dress-up with my daughter, take her to dance class, buy groceries, and run the everyday errands a healthy person takes for granted. Then, if I'm lucky, my husband, daughter, and I get a brief window to do "normal" family things before the entire brutal cycle resets.
When there is no end in sight—no definitive light at the end of the tunnel—the weight of that routine feels crushing. Factor in sudden setbacks such as unexpected hospital stays, and any remaining sense of control simply vanishes. Chasing down clinical trials feels like another full-time job.
I'M 41 WITH A HUSBAND AND CHILD. I HAVE TOO MUCH TO LOSE AND WON'T GIVE UP MY FIGHT AGAINST CANCER
This isn't about "staying positive" or "being strong." This is the grueling reality of cancer. You either choose to face it, or you quit and wither away. I refuse to quit, no matter how many roadblocks are thrown in my path. But refusing to quit doesn’t mean I don’t break. I allow myself to cry, and I allow myself to get angry.
Unfortunately, the people closest to me have to witness that raw ugliness. They see the messy tears; they bear the brunt of the moments I snap and scream. It is what it is. Luckily, the people who regularly witness my breakdowns understand the toll of this siege, and they keep showing up for me and my family anyway. I am profoundly grateful that they do.
People often ask why I don’t just take a leave of absence and step away from work, or how I manage to keep parenting through the physical wreckage of ongoing treatment. The answer is simple: These roles are the anchors keeping me tethered to who I am.
I love my job. I often work during my infusions because it is therapeutic; it forces my mind off oncology timelines. And when it comes to parenting, my husband and I are blessed with a smart, empathetic, healthy little girl. But as she gets older, the boundaries of her innocence are tested. We find ourselves having to explain more. We talk about the scars and bumps on my "Frankenstein tummy." We talk about God and angels.
Behind closed doors, my husband and I have to navigate the terrifying conversations you hope you will never have in a lifetime. Sometimes, the heaviest things go entirely unsaid because we are both paralyzed by the exact same fears. That, too, is the reality of fighting cancer with a young child in the house.
Back in 2023, after my first few infusions, I envisioned victory as a traditional finish line: a clean scan, a final treatment, a definitive surgery that removes every cancer cell. Today, I have to accept the reality that those specific victories are unlikely.
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But I have learned that a lack of a cure does not mean a lack of victory. My definition of a "win" has simply evolved.
Now, a win looks like having enough strength to be out on the ice, at the beach or on the ski slopes with my family. It looks like making it through the afternoon without needing a nap before picking up my daughter from school. It’s finishing a workout or staying up late with my husband watching "The Sopranos" reruns. It’s completing normal, everyday tasks.
When I was first diagnosed, a friend who was intimately familiar with cancer told me, "This is just a chapter in your life story." It has turned out to be an incredibly long, gritty, painful chapter. But the truth is, none of us truly know when our story will end.
I am still fighting, still working, and still loving with everything I have—and I am praying for many more chapters to come.
From Iron Dome to Abraham Accords: Congressional trips helped shape 15 years of US-Israel cooperation
For 15 years, dozens of American lawmakers have had the opportunity to see one of the country's most important — and increasingly debated — alliances firsthand. Since 2011, the U.S.-Israel Education Association (USIEA) has brought members of Congress to Israel, giving them an on-the-ground look at the security, technology and geopolitical issues that often come before them in Washington.
USIEA Founder and President Heather Johnston reflected on the organization's 15th anniversary in a conversation with Fox News Digital. She recalled meeting then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor and presenting him with a list of objectives to advance educational trips to Israel for U.S. lawmakers.
"He was flabbergasted because he had been looking for somebody for two years that could lead those tours," Johnston said.
OPINION: THE US-ISRAEL STRATEGIC ALLIANCE – PARTNERSHIP, NOT CHARITY
The organization's first tour included five members of the House Armed Services Committee, and they were shown a brand-new piece of missile defense technology that Johnston said was "just barely off the ground" at the time. The system, known as the Iron Dome, was so new at the time that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to declassify it, so American lawmakers could see the state-of-the-art tech.
Johnston said that the lawmakers were so impressed with Iron Dome's capabilities that they began the groundwork to increase funding for it. Within a matter of weeks after returning to Washington, the five members of the House Armed Services Committee met with 54 members of Congress. The result came less than three months later when the lawmakers succeeded in tripling the budget for Iron Dome.
"Our commitment to the security of Israel is rock solid. And as I've said to the Prime Minister in every single one of our meetings, the United States will always have Israel's back when it comes to Israel's security," Obama said at the time.
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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Netanyahu credited Johnston and USIEA with helping strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance.
"For 15 years, Heather Johnston and USIEA have stood proudly for Israel and for the right of the Jewish people to live in our ancestral homeland," Netanyahu said. "USIEA helped secure support for important American-Israeli joint projects, which contributed to the benefit of the great American-Israeli alliance."
The Iron Dome funding increase would become one of the many milestones Johnston points to when firsthand exposure preceded major congressional action on U.S.-Israel cooperation. Over the course of 15 years, USIEA expanded its trips as the alliance evolved through multiple administrations, the Abraham Accords and the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman described the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem over the last 15 years as an "EKG," saying that it involved "lots of ups and downs."
"I think if you sort of drew a trend line, it's gotten very strong," he told Fox News Digital.
HOLY LAND BATTLE: SOLOMON'S POOLS BECOME FLASHPOINT IN FIGHT OVER ISRAEL'S BIBLICAL HERITAGE
Friedman said he interacted with USIEA after his nomination as he worked to educate himself on the ties between the U.S. and Israel. During his interactions with the organization, he was struck by USIEA's focus on practicality.
"They were deeply schooled and understood what needed to get done," he said, citing efforts ranging from Iron Dome funding to establishing an FDA office in Israel.
Friedman argued that over time American lawmakers increasingly saw Israel as a country that delivered "real value to the United States in terms of technology, medicine, national security." He believes both sides of the aisle, outside of hot-button issues, have seen that the U.S. and Israel had much to gain from each other.
Current U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee echoed that assessment, arguing that many Americans underestimate the full extent of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
"I don't think most Americans really fully comprehend the depth of the partnership that the U.S. and Israel has," he told Fox Digital.
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Huckabee noted that this partnership played out in a variety of areas, including military cooperation, especially as both worked to stop the Iranian regime from gaining nuclear arms.
"During the two different operations against Iran both last summer — 2025 — and then this year, the six and a half weeks starting in late February, our planes were flying wingtip to wingtips and our military operations were basically a room full of people both Israeli and American whose joint operations were truly something to behold," he said.
But Huckabee said the value of organizations like USIEA extends beyond showcasing military cooperation. He argued that bringing lawmakers to Israel allows them to see realities on the ground that can be difficult to grasp from Washington alone.
"A lot of the lies about Israel are completely debunked pretty quickly," Huckabee said.
As one example, Huckabee pointed to Israel's Arab citizens serving in senior positions throughout society, including in the Knesset, on the Supreme Court and in the Israel Defense Forces, saying those experiences often challenge preconceptions held by visitors.
Looking ahead, Johnston said she believes the organization's mission is becoming more important as the U.S.-Israel relationship expands beyond the traditional sense of cooperation.
"A lot of what we do is very pioneering. We're not just bringing on education that already exists and showing them what already exists in the collaboration, but really showing them what is to come," she said.
Democratic socialist Francesca Hong has former child star, OnlyFans model in senior campaign role: report
Former child actress and OnlyFans model Renee Olstead is reportedly serving in a senior role on Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong's gubernatorial campaign ahead of next week's Democratic primary.
Olstead, who also goes by Renee Faust, is serving as Hong's deputy campaign manager, according to The Heartland Post. Hong, a Democratic socialist, is among the candidates competing in next week's Democratic gubernatorial primary.
The outlet reported that Olstead has worked as a paid campaign operative since at least January. Her X bio reads "HONG 4 GOV" and links to Hong's get-out-the-vote page.
Her social media account also features photos from campaign events, and The Heartland Post reported that she has coordinated logistics for high-profile surrogates, including streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker.
Fox News Digital asked Hong's campaign to confirm Olstead's title and responsibilities, when she began working for the campaign, whether she is a paid employee and her qualifications for the role. The campaign responded with a statement but did not directly address each question.
"Renee Faust is a licensed mental health clinician who has spent her career providing care to trafficking survivors," the campaign said. "Since joining the campaign in December, she has helped build the largest grassroots campaign in Wisconsin history. The right-wing politicians attacking her are the same ones who want government dictating women's health care decisions."
Olstead previously founded the Coalition for American Sex Workers (CASW – LOCAL 304), which advocates for decriminalization and other policy changes affecting sex workers.
Last year, Hong and three other state representatives presented Olstead with an official Wisconsin State Assembly citation recognizing her advocacy for sex workers' rights and her selection as "Penthouse Pet of the Year" in 2024.
The campaign did not directly respond to a separate question from Fox News Digital asking Hong to explain her decision to participate in presenting Olstead with the citation and what she intended to recognize.
Hong has also pursued legislation that would decriminalize prostitution involving adults and establish a sex workers' bill of rights.
Wisconsin Family Action, a conservative advocacy organization based in Madison, criticized Olstead's involvement in Hong's campaign.
"Wisconsinites deserve to have serious people leading the state. It is unbelievable to see that the likely Democratic nominee for governor has an active sex worker leading her campaign," Daniel Degner, president of Wisconsin Family Action, said in a statement. "Voters deserve to know whether if Hong is elected, she will elevate a porn star to leadership in her administration."
Hong has previously expressed support on social media for progressive proposals including abolishing the U.S. Senate and defunding the police, though she has recently distanced herself from some of those positions in interviews ahead of Tuesday's gubernatorial primary.
Hong faces Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, former Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan and Democratic state Sen. Kelda Roys in the primary.
Hong also faced renewed scrutiny over a since-deleted 2020 X post calling to "cancel Thanksgiving" in order to "stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed Indegenous [sic] folx and women."
She recently distanced herself from the post, telling Politico that Thanksgiving is her "favorite holiday" and that she does not want to cancel it.
"My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving," Hong told Politico Playbook. "Yep, I don't want to cancel it. I actually love it."
Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Charlotte career criminal records himself punching woman in unprovoked attack, posting to social media: police
A North Carolina man accused of punching a woman in a Charlotte sidewalk attack and allegedly posting video of the encounter on social media had been arrested at least nine times since 2023, records show.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said 32-year-old Di-Quan Schafar Hunt was arrested Thursday after officers responding to an attempt-to-locate call were shown a social media account containing videos detectives had already been investigating.
Officers determined one video depicted an assault reported July 30 in the 400 block of East Boulevard in the Providence Division. Police said the suspect punched a woman on a sidewalk before fleeing.
Hunt was taken to a local medical facility for treatment, police said. After his release, he will be transferred to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
The victim was taken to a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Fox News Digital reviewed videos posted to the social media account. One appeared to show a woman being chased until she took cover behind a vehicle. A comment from the account read, "Ahhhh feels GOOD!!!"
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Another video shows the person filming confronting a woman before the camera jolts and the sound of an apparent punch can be heard. The woman is then shown on the ground as the person behind the camera continues to taunt her and appears to strike her again.
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It was not immediately clear whether either clip was the video police tied to the July 30 assault, whether the women in the footage had been identified or whether detectives are investigating the other videos as potential crimes.
CMPD said its investigation remains active and asked anyone with information about incidents connected to the social media account or its videos to contact Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
Mecklenburg County arrest records show Hunt was arrested at least nine times between October 2023 and December 2025.
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Most recently, a December 2025 arrest record lists charges of assault with a deadly weapon, communicating threats, second-degree trespass and two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. The booking entry does not describe the underlying allegations or identify an alleged victim.
WATCH: North Carolina politician says Democrats are coddling criminals
Records also list a September 2025 simple-assault charge and a March 2025 charge of assault on a female. In 2024, Hunt was arrested in cases involving alleged violations of a domestic-violence protective order, breaking or entering and injury to personal property.
Records show he is a felon with at least six additional misdemeanor convictions in Mecklenburg County.
The records also list a felony charge of malicious conduct by a prisoner and a resisting-a-public-officer charge. The available booking records do not state the outcomes of the cases, and charges are not convictions.
Schumer said ‘Democrats support voter ID’ — then every Senate Democrat voted against GOP bill
Senate Democrats blocked a key component of the SAVE America Act that, in the past, they have supported.
During the wee hours of Saturday morning, Senate Republicans tried and failed to get Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his colleagues to back a stripped back voter ID bill amid a spree of last-minute legislative business.
But Senate Democrats, including Schumer, have for years espoused support for identification to vote. Several states with Democratic senators have voter ID laws, too.
SCHUMER, DEMOCRATS SAY THEY SUPPORT VOTER ID, THEN BLOCK GOP AMENDMENT TO REQUIRE IT
"Democrats support voter ID," Schumer said in March. "In fact, we included it, and it is included, in our Freedom to Vote legislation several years ago."
Schumer and his entire caucus voted against the bill from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, nonetheless. Requiring identification is already the practice in 36 states. Of those, 23 require photo ID, while 13 accept another form of identification, such as a bank statement. Nine of those states have Democratic senators.
It was the last stand of the night for the Senate, which is gearing up to leave Washington, D.C., for several weeks of valuable campaign time in vulnerable incumbents’ home states.
SENATE REPUBLICANS PUSH ELECTION DAY DEADLINE FOR CALIFORNIA'S MARATHON BALLOT COUNTS
And it comes as Republicans have so far tried and failed to find a path forward for the SAVE America Act, which Democrats, along with a handful from the GOP, have blocked numerous times in a variety of configurations.
Husted’s bill would have prohibited state and local election officials from providing a ballot to vote in federal elections unless a person provided a valid form of identification.
Husted’s bill teed up a plethora of options, including an unexpired driver’s license with a photo, an unexpired state-issued ID card with a photo, a valid passport, a valid military or veteran ID with a photo or an unexpired tribal ID with a photo.
It’s also not the first time Democrats have blocked it. In March, Republicans tested their support of voter ID for the first time in a vote to attach Husted’s bill to the SAVE America Act. It failed on party lines then, too.
TRUMP KEEPS CALLING THUNE DESPITE PUBLIC FIGHT OVER SAVE AMERICA ACT
After it became clear that President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority was not going to be passed nor even considered before lawmakers exit Washington, D.C., Republicans opted to take one last crack at Democrats' resolve.
"We've got many Democrats, who have said, ‘I’m just fine with voter ID,’" Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. "Voter ID is a major component of SAVE America, and they've said that over and over again when we had it on the floor in late February and early March."
"It was the argument that I heard from many of these people, as it was on the floor for hours and hours at a time, saying, ‘I'm okay with voter ID, don't like this,’" he continued. "So we're gonna find out where they are."
Lee has been the loudest supporter of the SAVE America Act in the Senate, pushing and prodding his colleagues on X to get on board with passing the package.
Republicans had a chance earlier in the night to begin the work of crafting a version of the SAVE America Act with a budget blueprint that, if successful, would have teed up the partyline budget reconciliation process, but were called to stand down by Trump.
Now, they don’t return until early September, just weeks out from a midterm election that could reshape the balance of power in the Senate.
Former Miss North Carolina USA says conservative Christian values played role in losing crown
Former Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse is speaking out after being stripped of her crown weeks before the Miss USA pageant, saying she believes her conservative Christian values played a role in the decision.
The Miss USA Organization announced Aug. 5 that Boltinhouse had been stripped of her title. Chairman Thom Brodeur did not specify the conduct behind the decision but said the organization "does not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia nor language that strips any person of their dignity," adding that the conduct occurred "over an extended period of time."
The decision ended Boltinhouse's reign just weeks after she won the state title and less than three weeks before she was scheduled to represent North Carolina at the 75th annual Miss USA pageant on Aug. 27.
In an interview Friday with the Carolina Journal, Boltinhouse called losing the title a "blessing in disguise."
MISS NORTH CAROLINA USA LOSES CROWN AFTER ORGANIZER CONDEMNS 'RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA, TRANSPHOBIA'
"I'm very much at peace and I'm actually glad it happened to me and not some other young lady that, you know, maybe just probably wouldn't make it through what I'm going through right now," Boltinhouse said. "The scrutiny, my family behind it as well. But I will say that I'm very much at peace and I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know who I am and I know what I can become."
Boltinhouse said a confidentiality agreement prevents her from discussing the circumstances that led to her losing the title, but she said she believes her political and religious views played a role.
"I believe and think I was stripped from my title because of my political stance and my belief system as a conservative Christian woman," she said.
"I'm proud of my faith. I'm proud of my standards. I'm a proud conservative woman, but a Christian woman. I'm a God-fearing woman," Boltinhouse added.
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Asked whether she believed being conservative was disqualifying in the pageant system, Boltinhouse said people should be free to express their political beliefs.
"I believe that everyone has a right to say what they want to say and feel the way they want to feel," she said.
Boltinhouse said she did not know whether her support for President Donald Trump played a role in the decision.
"I don't know. I don't know. All I can say from the information that I have today and what I believe and I think is honestly I don't know," Boltinhouse said. "I wasn't really given anything."
Despite losing her crown, Boltinhouse said she forgives the organization and hopes other women will view her experience as encouragement to stand by their beliefs.
"Hopefully see me as an example," she said. "To always stand for what you believe, no matter what, no matter where, no matter what you do."
"I speak to the women that even are not conservative, that they have the right to speak the way that you feel, no matter what platform, no matter what belief system that you may have," she added.
Myla Hadley, the first runner-up in the state competition, will represent North Carolina on the national stage "with our full confidence and our support," Brodeur said in a previous statement.
Brodeur said the decision was made in consultation with Boltinhouse, her state directors and the Miss USA Organization. He also emphasized that the organization did not view accountability as justification for personally attacking Boltinhouse.
"There is a young woman at the center of this," Brodeur said. "She has been named, examined, and judged in public in a way that most of us would not survive, and she is still a human being with a family, a future, and a life ahead of her that is longer than this part of her journey."
"I have never believed that accountability requires cruelty, or that holding a line means enjoying the fall of the person who crossed it," he continued.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Miss USA Organization for additional comment.
Fox News Digital's Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
MIKE DAVIS: Chuck Grassley's behind-the-scenes work proved decisive in Todd Blanche confirmation fight
By voting to confirm Todd Blanche as the 88th Attorney General of the United States, Senate Republicans delivered a major victory for President Donald Trump, the American people and the rule of law. Blanche will fulfill President Trump’s mandate to Make America Safe Again. The key cabinet confirmation provides much-needed unity and momentum for Trump and Senate Republicans — and a good opportunity for Trump to hard-reset his relationship with the Senate, so they can go on offense this fall.
Blanche’s proven track record as the deputy and acting attorney general leaves no doubt that Trump nominated the right man, at the right time, for the right job. But with full Democrat opposition, Blanche’s confirmation process was tougher than it should have been given his unmatched experience and sterling qualifications. Blanche is a longtime former federal prosecutor in the most prestigious U.S. attorney’s office and Big Law partner in New York City who put everything on the line to defend Trump against Biden’s unprecedented, republic-ending lawfare. Blanche helped Trump beat this. Trump now sits in the White House instead of a federal prison cell, running our country instead of appealing his bogus convictions.
For the last 17 months, Blanche has brought reforms and accountability to the Justice Department — so the Democrats’ politicized and weaponized injustice never happens again. These reforms and accountability must and will continue. Blanche will continue to take the Justice Department back to its most crucial basics: arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning violent criminals, government fraudsters and other real criminals — instead of hunting down parents, Christians and other political opponents like we witnessed under the Obama and Biden Justice Departments.
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Getting here wasn’t easy. There were bumps in the road and moments when the confirmation looked like it could stall. The reason it didn’t, and the reason Blanche is now America’s confirmed attorney general, is Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
When the nomination hit headwinds from Senators John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., both of whom raised good-faith concerns, it was Grassley who stepped in. He meditated. He bridged the gap. He kept all parties at the table. And he got the deal done.
Likewise, when Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., had principled objections to DOJ policy, he worked with Grassley, other Senate colleagues and the Trump administration to find a workable resolution. Susie Wiles, Trump’s highly respected White House chief of staff, is always the invaluable glue.
Blanche closed the deal with his personal diplomacy, as he demonstrated to Cassidy he is uniquely qualified. Cassidy deserves great credit for his willingness to put his country over personal differences. That’s what the Senate process looks like when it works. And it worked here because the right people were in the right roles.
No one did more to get Blanche confirmed than Grassley. Grassley works; Grassley delivers — especially for Trump. Whether it is nominations, taxes, trade or almost all the rest of Trump’s greatest Senate accomplishments, Grassley is the key. He never brags about it. Grassley just quietly works hard and gets the job done.
This is Grassley’s fourth Republican attorney general he’s confirmed as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He brought more than four decades of institutional knowledge and experience from working on more than fifteen attorney general nominations since joining the committee. Grassley knows how to move a nomination through a committee full of competing agendas and a swamp press corps hungry for a Republican scalp.
In a town full of politicians looking to take credit for others’ work, Grassley stands out. He’s a work horse, not a show horse. Grassley exemplifies Iowa humility, so someone else has to brag for him. Blanche is now attorney general thanks to Grassley. And now Blanche can get back to work, fully Senate confirmed, continuing to help Trump Make America Safe Again.
The numbers don’t lie. The U.S. is approaching the lowest murder rate recorded since at least 1900. That’s according to the FBI’s own data, backed by the Council on Criminal Justice’s finding of a 21% drop in homicides from 2024 to 2025, with another 18% drop in the first half of 2026. We are living through a historic collapse in violent crime on President Trump’s watch.
Migrant encounters at the southern border hit their lowest level in more than 50 years, down from over two million under Biden to numbers not seen since 1970, according to Pew Research. We have control of our borders. Drug smuggling networks are being dismantled. Human traffickers are being prosecuted. Dangerous criminals — the ones Obama and Biden were too busy targeting conservatives to actually pursue — are being put away.
Biden and Obama treated the Department of Justice as a political weapon. And they pointed it at Trump. They pointed it at his allies. They pointed it at parents at school board meetings. They pointed it at Christians. Real criminals walked free while Democrats weaponized federal law enforcement against their political enemies for non-crimes. That ends with Todd Blanche.
Blanche is bringing real accountability — not the partisan, weaponized kind Obama and Biden practiced. He is reversing the politicization of the DOJ, not continuing it. His priorities are clear: prosecute illegal aliens, human traffickers, drug traffickers and dangerous criminals. Protect the American people. Hold bad actors accountable, including the ones in government. Never use the DOJ as a partisan sword. Ever. Again.
Trump made a bold choice in nominating Blanche. Not because Blanche isn’t qualified — he’s more qualified than anyone else for this role. But because the left was going to come at him hard, re-litigating every case and every decision. They tried. It didn’t work.
Trump’s instinct was right, as usual. He saw in Blanche what those of us in this fight have always seen: a man of genuine courage, deep experience and unshakeable commitment to the rule of law.
Blanche is the right man, for the right job, at the right moment in American history. He is a bold and fearless warrior for the Constitution who gave up millions in future earnings to stand in a courtroom and defend President Trump against the most weaponized, politically-motivated legal assault in American history. He bled for this fight and he won. That is the kind of person you want running the Department of Justice. And now the Senate has confirmed him.
America deserves a DOJ that fights for Americans, not for the political class, not for Democrat donors, not for the deep-state bureaucrats who spent decades building a machine that answers to no one. Blanche is going to change that. He already has.
Thankfully, Trump and Grassley made sure he got the chance.
Blanche survives Republican defectors as Trump gets his new attorney general
Once thought doomed, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department has survived the Senate and now will take the helm as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was confirmed early Saturday morning as part of a mad blitz by lawmakers to wrap up their work and jet from Washington, D.C. Now, he’ll officially replace Pam Bondi as attorney general.
Blanche, who is Trump’s former personal lawyer, nearly saw his confirmation hopes go up in smoke as Republicans struggled to swallow his role in rolling out the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization and sweeping IRS audit immunity for the president and his family.
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However, a last-minute ally emerged: Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who announced on Friday that he would back Blanche’s confirmation after spending days keeping tight-lipped on his decision.
Though he was concerned about weaponization at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and just how binding an agreement to nix the anti-weaponization fund and limit Trump’s audit immunity would be, he argued that having a Senate-confirmed attorney general was a better option than a placeholder.
"Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this," Cassidy said on the Senate floor. "But the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general, who may not run the department effectively under President Trump."
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Still, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined all Senate Democrats to oppose Blanche’s confirmation.
Murkowski announced her opposition hours before Cassidy’s lifeline. She contended that despite Blanche’s trek to Alaska and numerous meetings with him, she could not support him to be the next attorney general.
She was worried about his connection to the anti-weaponization fund, a weaponized Justice Department, Blanche’s role in the Epstein Files release, and the uncertain future of the fund, which several Republicans have raised concerns about over whether taxpayer dollars would flow to rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration," Murkowski said. "I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case."
Collins raised similar concerns earlier in the week, and was the first Republican out of the gate to cast doubt on Blanche’s chances of confirmation.
"While I believe Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice has become increasingly political," Collins said. "Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department’s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation."
Schumer caves, hands Republicans shutdown win after months of uncertainty
The Senate advanced its solution to avert a government shutdown on Saturday, capping off several months of hand-wringing that, if given the chance, Senate Democrats would use a shutdown to score political points in November.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus relented, and stayed true to the bargain they struck with Republicans to keep the government funded well past Election Night and into early December.
The about-face, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital, appeared to be a political calculation on Schumer and Democrats’ part.
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"I think they didn't want to spend the next, well … three months defending attacks from Republicans about wanting to shut the government down," Thune said.
"I mean, I think there was a narrative starting to build out there based on what's happened the last 12 months, which I think, they probably — you know, these guys are political animals," Thune continued. "I'm assuming those guys are polling all the time."
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And Schumer claimed victory over the process, arguing that Democrats "for months" wanted to keep the government open, and had scored key concessions from the Trump administration on an ensuing rule change to federal grants in the bipartisan continuing resolution (CR).
"We want to reach across the aisle and hammer out a budget that delivers for the American people," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "Today, [this] CR gives us the breathing room necessary to work out a budget that helps make life more affordable to working families and reigns in Trump's rampant chaos, his rampant corruption."
However, Republicans have been messaging for months that congressional Democrats wouldn’t bat an eye at shutting the government down again. In the Senate, efforts have been made to inflict pain on lawmakers should another shutdown happen, like agreeing to forego their paychecks in the event of a closure.
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That follows two government shutdowns that etched their way into the record books at 43 and 76 days, respectively, but the political winds didn’t appear to be in Democrats’ favor this go-round, the top Senate Republican said.
"And I think they see an issue set that works for them going into the fall election, and I think they view a government shutdown or the prospect of not funding the government as creating uncertainty that perhaps didn't help their chances," Thune said.
While the shutdown fight is over in the Senate, for now, it will continue on in the House.
And if passed, it will give lawmakers breathing room to continue stalled negotiations to fund the government through the appropriations process. However, by then, Congress will be in the post-midterm election lame duck period. And dependent on the swing of the political pendulum, there may not be much appetite to reach a broader funding deal.
"Us having a budget done on December 11? It takes on whiffs of frozen hell, donkeys flying," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. "I mean, it's probably not gonna happen."