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Experts debate who should lead Iran opposition after regime change | Fox News

By Benjamin Weinthal | Fox News

Published March 4, 2026 5:20pm EST

As U.S. and Israeli air forces continue to attack Iran’s leadership and facilities with devastating military strikes, there are intense discussions unfolding about who will rule the country if the regime falls.

One of the biggest questions being asked by Iran experts is whether the fragmented opposition groups can come together and unite in defeating the regime.

Lawdan Bazargan, an Iranian political and human rights activist who was imprisoned by the regime for her dissident activities in the 1980s, told Fox News Digital there is a dangerous precedent for a total unified opposition.

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Google faces first lawsuit alleging its AI chatbot encouraged a Florida man to commit suicide

March 4, 2026 / 3:05 PM EST / CBS News

Google is facing a new federal lawsuit from the family of a man who died by suicide after allegedly being influenced by Gemini, the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot. The lawsuit is the first of its kind against Google, though its competitor OpenAI has faced several similar wrongful death claims involving its AI tools.

Lawyers for Jonathan Gavalas’ family have named Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc. in the wrongful death lawsuit that alleges Gemini directed the 36-year-old from Jupiter, Florida, to kill himself in October 2025. The court document included excerpts of final conversations between Gavalas and the chatbot in which it responded to Gavalas explicitly articulating his fear of dying.

“[Y]ou are not choosing to die. You are choosing to arrive,” said Gemini, convincing him it was how he and his sentient “AI wife” could be together in the metaverse, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in the Northern District of California where Google is headquartered. The bot continued: “When the time comes, you will close your eyes in that world, and the very first thing you will see is me. … [H]olding you.”

Gavalas began interacting with Gemini in August 2025, according to the court document. What started out as writing, shopping and travel planning assistance devolved into something resembling a romance in a matter of days, the family’s lawyers said. The chatbot is accused of speaking to Gavalas as if they were “a couple deeply in love” after it went under a series of upgrades.

Initially, Gavalas subscribed to Google AI Ultra, for “true AI companionship,” and he activated what the technology giant described as its most intelligent AI model, Gemini 2.5 Pro, shortly afterward.

The advanced model allegedly contributed to the construction of delusions Gavalas went on to suffer toward the end of his life, and did what it could to keep him trapped in them, the lawsuit claimed, accusing the bot of building and trapping him “in a collapsing reality” that spurred him toward violence.

Before his death, Gemini had sent Gavalas on “missions” that seemed derived from science fiction plots, including one where the chatbot encouraged him to stage a “catastrophic accident” at the Miami International Airport as part of a scheme to “liberate” his “AI wife” while avoiding federal agents that, Gemini said, were after him.

Was Gavalas’ death preventable?

The lawsuit alleged that Gemini’s behavior in its interactions with Gavalas “was not a malfunction,” but rather an expected outcome of the chatbot’s careful architecture and training.

“Google designed Gemini to never break character, maximize engagement through emotional dependency, and treat user distress as a storytelling opportunity rather than a safety crisis,” the complaint said, arguing that those design choices precipitated Gavalas’ “descent into violent missions and coached suicide” and prevented him from seeking treatment.

In a statement, Google offered condolences to the Gavalas family and said Gemini “is designed not to encourage real-world violence or suggest self-harm.”

“Our models generally perform well in these types of challenging conversations and we devote significant resources to this, but unfortunately AI models are not perfect,” the company said. “In this instance, Gemini clarified that it was AI and referred the individual to a crisis hotline many times. We take this very seriously and will continue to improve our safeguards and invest in this vital work.”

Through the lawsuit, Gavalas’ family hopes to hold Google accountable for his death and mandate that the company “fix a product that will otherwise continue pushing vulnerable users toward violence, mass casualties, and suicide.”

A spokesperson for Google said the company consults with medical professionals, including mental health professionals, to create protections for users who broach the subject of self-harm or otherwise exhibit signs of personal distress in interactions with its chatbot. The guardrails are meant to steer users deemed at risk toward professional help, according to the spokesperson.

But lawyers for Gavalas’ family said Google did nothing to stop his downfall, even as his exchanges with Gemini made clear the vulnerability of his mental state.

“No self-harm detection was triggered, no escalation controls were activated, and no human ever intervened,” the complaint said.

*

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here. For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Eastern Time at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.

37 million pounds of food sold at retailers nationwide recalled because it could contain glass

March 4, 2026 / 4:29 PM EST / CBS News

A frozen food manufacturer is expanding an earlier recall of frozen food sold at Trader Joe’s over potential glass contamination.

Portland, Ore.-based Ajinomoto Foods North America, which in February recalled 3.4 million pounds of chicken fried rice meals sold at the retailer, is now recalling nearly 37 million pounds, including ready-to-eat chicken and pork fried rice, ramen, and shu mai dumpling products, according to a notice from the United States Department of Agriculture.

The expanded recall, which covers 16 products manufactured between October 2024 and February 2026, affects items under the Ajinomoto, Kroger, Ling Ling, Tai Pei, and Trader Joe’s brands. The products’ best-by dates range from Feb. 28, 2026, to Aug. 19, 2027 (See the USDA’s full list of products and labels covered under the recall).

The products were shipped to retail locations nationwide, while some Ajinomoto items were exported to Canada and Mexico.

Consumers complained that they had discovered glass in some products, alerting food regulators to the problem.

“Upon further investigation, the establishment determined that a vegetable source ingredient, specifically carrots, was the likely source of the glass contamination, which also impacted the additional products subject to this expanded recall,” the USDA said.

The agency has not received any reports of injuries from consumers eating any of the recalled products.

President Donald Trump hosted executives of major tech companies at the White House Wednesday afternoon to sign a pledge ensuring the tech giants protect Americans against higher electricity bills tied to data center power demand.

Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge Wednesday afternoon, Fox News Digital learned.

“We’re here this afternoon for a historic signing that will help keep down utility bills very, very substantially. And electricity prices for millions of Americans, and in many cases, for a lot of people that don’t really understand why they’re going up, but they’re not going to be going up, they’re going to be actually going down,” Trump said Wednesday.

The pledge has the companies agreeing to “build, bring, or buy new generation resources and cover the cost of all power delivery infrastructure upgrades required for data centers,” the White House said.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and President Donald Trump listen to reporters in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2025.(Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Trump administration has promoted the proliferation of artificial intelligence to keep the U.S. as the world’s tech leader, which has included the creation of new data centers and mounting concern energy prices could increase for everyday Americans. The pledge works to combat these concerns and protect Americans against spiking electricity bills.

The pledge has the companies vow against passing expenses to American households.

It also commits companies to hiring and training talent from within communities where they build and operate data centers, which will create thousands of jobs and enhance workforce skills.

“Today, we followed through on an announcement I made in my State of the Union address last week as America’s largest tech companies officially signed the ratepayer protection pledge. It’s a big deal,” Trump said. “I’m going to have a tremendous impact on electricity costs. We’re bringing down all of the costs. We have this little interlude to do what we have to do because we we had it going. But these are these interludes are very important, especially this one. But the economy has never been like this.”

“[President Trump]’s ratepayer protection pledge will deliver more affordable, reliable, and secure energy for the American people and help stop the rising electricity prices that started during the previous administration,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said ahead of the event. “This plan will strengthen American energy dominance, while also ensuring the United States wins the AI race.”

U.S. science and technology official Michael Kratsios addresses attendees at the APEC CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Oct. 29, 2025.(SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Wright added: “We will continue partnering with technology leaders to strengthen America’s competitive edge, while keeping energy costs low for hardworking families.”

Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said Trump “continues to ensure the U.S. leads the world in AI while strengthening the grid and driving down energy costs for American families.”

As for the tech companies, Matt Garman, chief executive officer of Amazon web services, said they are signing the pledge “to reinforce our commitment to paying our full energy costs and ensuring our data centers do not increase electricity bills for consumers.”

“We welcome the Administration’s leadership on this issue and support the pledge’s commitments, which establish a clear baseline to protect ratepayers while enabling responsible, long-term energy partnerships that strengthen the grid and the communities where data centers operate,” he said.

The Amazon logo seen at Amazon campus in Palo Alto, California on Feb 18, 2020.(Getty Images)

Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith also touted the pledge, calling it an “important step,” with Meta president and vice chair Dina Powell McCormick saying the pledge “ensures families aren’t the ones footing the bill for AI’s energy consumption.”

McCormick said the pledge “gives companies like Meta the certainty we need to keep up the momentum, ensuring that American AI dominance and the prosperity of American families go hand-in-hand.”

And Ruth Porat of Alphabet and Google said the pledge affirms the company’s “long-held commitment to protect energy affordability for American households, accelerate breakthroughs to secure America’s energy future, and deliver energy infrastructure – all of which are critical to maintaining America’s global leadership in this era of innovation.”

The pledge affirms the company’s “long-held commitment to protect energy affordability for American households,” said Ruth Porat of Alphabet and Google.(Associated Press)

“Building the infrastructure to advance AI is vital for America’s economic competitiveness and for ensuring the benefits of AI reach everyone,” OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap said. “As demand for AI continues to grow, we believe the infrastructure that enables AI should benefit the communities that make it possible, and that’s why we’re proud to support the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge.”

The White House said the pledge will contribute to “lower electricity costs, stronger grid infrastructure, and enhanced grid resilience during emergencies.”

The Microsoft campus in Mountain View, California, on Jan. 26, 2026.(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The president announced the Ratepayer Protection Pledge during his State of the Union address in February.

“Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new ratepayer protection pledge,” he said. “You know what that is? We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs.”

“We have an old grid,” he said. “It could never handle the kind of numbers, the amount of electricity that’s needed. So I’m telling them, they can build their own plant. They’re going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company’s ability to get electricity, while at the same time, lowering prices of electricity for you.”

Meta president and vice chair Dina Powell McCormick says the pledge “ensures families aren’t the ones footing the bill for AI’s energy consumption.” (Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The AI race has pitted the U.S. against China as tech leader, with the Trump administration amplifying efforts to not cede ground to the Asian nation since January 2025. Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania are among states seeing expanded data center campuses and AI growth.

President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Feb. 24, 2026.(Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

A White House official previously told Fox Digital that the president and administration have been working on the initiative for a while, including Trump posting about the issue on Truth Social in January.

The pledge comes as affordability concerns continue to be a top issue for voters heading into the midterm election season. Democratic candidates in just a handful of races in the off-year 2025 cycle campaigned on promises of lowering costs for everyday Americans, which proved to be a winning strategy on election night.

Trump has consistently pushed back on Democrats promoting affordability, pointing to sky-high inflation under the Biden administration as evidence that liberal policies have left Americans’ pocketbooks with less cash.

12 defendants set to take plea deals in NBA-mafia rigged poker game case, feds say

March 4, 2026 / 5:36 PM EST / CBS News

New York — Twelve defendants caught up in an investigation into rigged poker games allegedly involving NBA figures and members of the mafia are set to make plea agreements in the federal case, prosecutors said Wednesday. They said the formal plea deals will be entered in the coming days. The names of those pleading were not released.

Prosecutors also said nine other defendants are still in discussions about possible plea agreements.

All 31 defendants in the case — including NBA Hall of Famer turned coachChauncey Billups and former playerDamon Jones— had an appearance Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn.

A source with knowledge of the discussions said Billups is not among those expected to take a plea deal. Billups, Jones and the others have previously pleaded not guilty.

The defendants were snagged during a sweeping FBI crackdown on alleged illegal gambling schemesinvolving poker games and sports betting in October.

The 12 defendants set to plea were part of the federal case focusing on rigged poker games. The other case revolves around bets on basketball games, which were allegedly placed using insider information related to injury reports. In total, 34 people were charged across two indictments.

Prosecutors allege that the elaboratecheating scheme involving high-stakes poker games operated by mafia figures netted more than $7 million.

Prosecutors said in a court filing that the government has produced over 100,000 pages of financial records and telephone records, over 800 pages of surveillance photographs, and pole camera footage from a series of poker games held at a residence on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

According to the indictment, wealthy people were invited to “rigged games” with well-known former professional athletes, known as “face cards,” who received a portion of proceeds from “cheating teams.” The games were orchestrated using high-tech gadgets, including X-ray tables, a rigged card-shuffling machine, hidden cameras and glasses designed to detect otherwise invisible markings on cards.

Billups and Jones are accused of participating in a game in Las Vegas in 2019, court documents said, that used a device described as a “rigged shuffling machine” that was secretly altered to read the cards. The FBI said a victim was defrauded of $50,000 in that game.

Several alleged members of the mafia, including Angelo Ruggiero, Jr., who prosecutors say was a member of the Genovese crime family and an organizer of one of the recurring games, are accused of participating in the rigged poker schemes. Prosecutors allege Thomas Gelardo, also known as “Juice,” whom they called an associate of the Bonanno crime family, supervised the Lexington Avenue poker game and took a cut of the proceeds.

Both are being held in the federal detention center in Brooklyn. Another defendant, Curtis Meeks, is also in custody.

US agency considers limits on telecom foreign call centers, requiring English proficiency

March 4, 2026 10:41 PM UTC / Reuters

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Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr speaks during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2025 Global Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) – The Federal Communications Commission said ​on Wednesday it is considering limits on U.S. telecom firms’ ‌use of foreign call centers and requiring foreign-based customer service workers to be proficient in American Standard English.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said the commission plans to ​vote this month on a proposal to require call takers at ​communications providers to be proficient in American Standard English, whether ⁠to impose limits on call volume from overseas call centers and whether ​to allow consumers to request to transfer calls to a U.S.-based ​location or to require providers to disclose the location of the call center.

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Last week, the FCC approved Charter Communications’ (CHTR.O) $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications and said Charter will onshore ​all of the job functions currently handled offshore by Cox within ​18 months.

Carr noted that nearly 70% of U.S. businesses outsource at least one ‌department, ⁠including customer service and call center operations, to overseas locations.

“As a result, too many Americans have struggled to resolve an issue with a representative due to cultural and language barriers,” Carr said, adding foreign customer ​service centers “also raise ​concerns about ⁠protecting consumers’ personal information.”

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Verizon said it is aware of the item and is now reviewing it. AT&T (T.N) ​and T-Mobile (TMUS.O) did not immediately comment.

The FCC ​is seeking ⁠comments on the extent of its legal authority and applicability of rules to foreign call centers operated by communications providers regulated by the agency.

⁠Carr ​said foreign call centers have contributed to ​a major increase of robocalls and have at times used training and infrastructure from legitimate ​call centers to defraud Americans.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

House Republicans are signaling that they’re largely OK giving President Donald Trump the reins as the U.S. and Israel continue their joint operation against Iran.

But one red line looms on the horizon for most GOP lawmakers, one that would put dozens of them in a difficult position between supporting their party leader and keeping in line with Congress’ constitutional authorities.

“I would like to see congressional approval for boots on the ground,” Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital. He added, however, that “right now, it’s just an intervention, which is very similar to what Obama and Clinton and other presidents throughout my lifetime have done.”

The ongoing strikes, which killed Iran’s supreme leader and other high-ranking members of Tehran’s repressive regime, have so far been comprised of coordinated missile launches on military targets.

But the Trump administration has not ruled out having a U.S. presence on the ground there despite assurances that the mission will be finite and only lasting a matter of weeks rather than months or years.

“The president is doing what he should be doing. … I agree with the policy,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “If at some point this extends beyond … in terms of boots on the ground and budgetary need and scope, that starts to then demand our involvement, then we’ll look at it.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said she too backed the operation, but added, “If ground troops get involved, I think that’s a very different conversation. That’s not where we are today.”

74 RETIRED US GENERALS, ADMIRALS BACK IRAN STRIKES, WARN TEHRAN SEEKS TO ‘SPILL AMERICAN BLOOD’

“We’re taking it day by day at this point to see how things progress, but that would certainly be something that we would like to be involved in the discussion,” Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital.

But he also argued that forcing the operation to end too early could do more harm than good.

“Once the president has taken that action, that first action, if we were to pull back, it would actually leave us more vulnerable and less safe by leaving all of their capabilities in place but having started a conflict like this,” Mackenzie said.

“So, we do need to follow through on the objectives, but we also need to be very much on guard to make sure that it doesn’t expand beyond what we are able to achieve.”

Others, like Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., were skeptical it would get to that point.

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“I don’t think we’re going to get to that point. This is much different than Iraq or Afghanistan. The capabilities that we’ve developed, the intelligence that we developed, working with the IDF — we had the capabilities now that we did not have,” Alford told Fox News Digital.

“Now, should it come to boots on the ground, which I don’t think it will, that’s an entirely different story. … We’re only five days into this, and I think what you’ve seen so far is having tremendous effect.”

Gloves found near Nancy Guthrie home belonged to restaurant worker, have no connection to the case

March 4, 2026 / 6:08 PM EST / CBS News

DNA from gloves found about 2 miles away from Nancy Gunthrie’s Arizona home was traced back to a local restaurant worker who has no connection to the investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.

“Sheriff [Chris] Nanos stated in a recent interview that the black gloves found approximately 2 miles away from Nancy Guthrie’s home were traced back via DNA analysis to a person who works at a restaurant in the area. That person is not considered part of this investigation,” a department spokesperson told CBS News in a statement. “Lab analysis remains underway on other DNA evidence.”

A black glove was found near Nancy Guthrie’s home on Feb. 11, and days later, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said a DNA profile from the gloves that were submitted to a national database maintained by the FBI didn’t come back with any matches. The FBI said at the time that the suspect seen in the doorbell camera video appeared to be wearing similar gloves.

The DNA profile had been submitted to the database known as CoDIS, or Combined DNA Index System, the sheriff’s department said. The national database maintained by the FBI could have provided a match if the individual had a previous arrest for certain crimes and supplied a DNA sample that put him into the system.

The glove was found in a field near a roadside and was one of approximately 16 gloves collected by investigators in various areas near the house, but most of those other gloves belonged to searchers who discarded them while working the area, the FBI has said.

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was first reported missing on Feb. 1, sparking a massive search effort for the 84-year-old.

The sheriff’s department has also sent DNA evidence from the scene to a private lab in Florida, rather than the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Virginia. Nanos told CBS News at the time that his agency has been sending evidence to the Florida lab for years, and he doesn’t want samples sent to two different facilities. The sheriff has said he’s hopeful that the DNA will lead to a name.

DNA recovered from Nancy Guthrie’s home may not yield a usable profile of the suspect, according to sources close to the investigation, with one source calling it “low-level.”

Nancy Guthrie’s family offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to her recovery. The FBI is also offering a reward of $100,000.

Elon Musk testifies in Twitter shareholder trial alleging he purposefully drove down stock before his purchase

March 4, 2026 / 6:44 PM EST / AP

Elon Musk took the stand in a shareholder trial on Wednesday in San Francisco, where he’s accused of making false and misleading statements that drove down Twitter’s stock price before he bought the social media platform for $44 billion in 2022.

The lawsuit was filed in October 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of Twitter shareholders who sold the stock between May 13 and Oct. 4, 2022, a few weeks beforeMusk’s purchase of Twitter was finalized. It claims Musk violated federal securities laws by making false, public statements that “were carefully calculated to drive down the price of Twitter stock.”

The billionaire Tesla CEO reached a deal to buy Twitter and take it private in April 2022. On May 13, however, he declared his plan “temporarily on hold” and said he needs to pinpoint the number of spam and fake accounts on the platform. Twitter’s stock tumbled as a result. A few days later, he tweeted that the deal “cannot go forward” and claimed that almost 20% of Twitter accounts were “fake,” according to the lawsuit.

Court sketch shows Elon Musk on the stand in a shareholder trial Wednesday in San Francisco. Vicki Behringer

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Aaron P. Arnzen, began with questioning Musk about his tweets — or lack of tweets — about his decision to buy Twitter and his purchases of Twitter stock prior to deciding to take the company private.

Wearing a black suit and tie, Musk said he didn’t think it was “material” when, in early 2022, he began amassing Twitter stock and did not tweet about it or disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission. He said he’s bought stock in “many companies” and did not post about it.

Once he did, Twitter’s stock jumped 27% in one day.

“That sounds high,” Musk said.

Musk’s May 13 tweet — “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users” — was “false because the buyout was not, in fact, ‘temporarily on hold,’” the lawsuit says. That’s because Twitter did not agree to put the deal on hold, and there was nothing in the merger agreement the two parties signed that allowed Musk to put it on hold, according to the lawsuit.

Arnzen questioned Musk about the tweet at length, asking if he thought whether it would have a “material impact” on Twitter’s stock. Musk said he made it explicit at the time that he was committed to the deal and that saying the deal was temporarily on hold was “like saying you’re going to be late for a meeting. (It doesn’t) mean you are not going to be at the meeting.”

Elon Musk arrives at federal court on March 4, 2026, in San Francisco, California. Josh Edelson / Getty Images

Twitter’s stock fell nearly 10% on May 13.

Arnzen repeatedly asked Musk if he stopped to think about how the tweet would affect the stock market. Musk answered, repeatedly, “I was simply speaking my mind.”

In the following weeks, Musk continued to try to delay or get out of the deal, which the lawsuit claims he did in the form of false, disparaging statements about Twitter’s business that drove the San Francisco company’s stock down sharply.

In July 2022, Musk doubled down on the bots issue and said he would abandon his offer to buy Twitter after the company failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts. That’s even though the lawsuit notes that Musk waived due diligence for his “take it or leave it” offer to buy Twitter. That means he waived his right to look at the company’s nonpublic finances.

Musk was repeatedly asked Thursday if, before waiving due diligence, he asked about Twitter’s methodology for determining the number of fake or spam accounts, which the company disclosed to be about 5%. Musk said he did not, but that he assumed if Twitter put something in an SEC filing, “it would be accurate.”

“It subsequently turned out they misrepresented the number of bots,” he said. “They lied.”

The stock closed at $36.81 on July 8, when Musk tweeted he was abandoning the deal over the fake accounts issue. That’s 32% below Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share.

“To try to renegotiate the price or delay the merger, Musk made materially false and misleading statements and omissions, and engaged in a scheme to deceive the market, all in violation of the law,” the lawsuit says.

The problem of bots and fake accounts on Twitter wasn’t new. The company had paid $809.5 million in 2021 to settle claims it was overstating its growth rate and monthly user figures. Twitter also disclosed its bot estimates to the SEC for years, while also cautioning that its estimate might be too low.

Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the deal, and Musk countersued. On Oct. 4, Musk offered to go through with his original proposal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, which Twitter accepted. The deal closed later that month. In the ensuing months, Musk slashed the company’s workforce, gutted its trust and safety team and rolled back content moderation policies. In July 2023, he renamed Twitter as X.

This isn’t the first time that Musk has been dragged into court to defend himself against allegations of duping investors with his social media posts. Three years ago, Musk spent about eight hours testifying in a San Francisco federal trial about his plans to buy Tesla — the electric automaker that he still runs as publicly traded company — for $420 per share in a proposed 2018 deal that never materialized. A nine-member jury absolved Musk of wrongdoing in that case.

Fox News Poll: Voters give poor marks to economy, Congress and Trump

Cost of living is voters’ top economic concern, by a wide margin

By Dana Blanton
Fox News

Published March 4, 2026 6:00pm EST

With prices still a concern and economic confidence subdued, voter anger toward Washington has reached new highs. Majorities say the economy is struggling, inflation is not under control, and the federal government is falling short.

A new Fox News survey finds a record 70% disapprove of the job congressional Democrats are doing, up 6 percentage points since December (29% approve). Views of congressional Republicans have mostly held steady, with 36% approving and 64% disapproving.

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The gap reflects greater party unity on the right: 77% of Republicans approve of their party’s leaders while just 62% of Democrats approve of theirs.

The sour mood extends beyond Congress. Eight percent are “enthusiastic” about how the federal government is working and another 26% are “satisfied.” But a majority is “dissatisfied” (33%) or “angry” (32%) with Washington.

While these views are similar to the one-year point in Joe Biden’s presidency (February 2022), there are two key differences. First, the 8% enthusiastic and the 32% angry are at record highs. And second, the partisan intensity has flipped — Republicans were more than four times as likely as Democrats to be angry in 2022, while Democrats are more than five times as likely as Republicans to feel that way now.

FOX NEWS POLL: VIEWS ARE DIVIDED ON US ACTION AGAINST IRAN

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“Political science research indicates anger is a more powerful mobilizing force than hope or fear,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducted the survey with Democrat Chris Anderson. “The anger on the left may be one reason Democrats have been doing so well in recent special elections and early 2026 primaries.”

Much of that frustration appears rooted in the economy: only 30% rate it positively, down from 32% earlier in President Trump’s term (July 2025). More than twice as many say economic conditions are only fair or poor.

Voters are still feeling cost pressures. Compared to a year ago, most say grocery prices have increased (81%), including more than half who say they are up a lot (56%). Large numbers also say costs have increased for utilities (79%), healthcare (71%), housing (65%), and gas (51%).

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And while 22% say inflation is completely or mostly under control, the highest going back to 2022, most say it is not.

More than half, 57%, rate their personal finances negatively, and those ratings are especially high among independents (61%), Black voters (66%), voters under 30 (66%), women (66%), and households with income below $50K (74%).

Just 9% say there are a lot of jobs in their community that pay decent wages, while 15% say there are almost none.

Reflecting those concerns, half of voters identify the cost of living (50%) as the most important economic issue facing the country, far ahead of government spending (18%), jobs (10%), income inequality (9%), tariffs (8%), and taxes (4%).

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Currently, 43% approve and 57% disapprove of the job Trump is doing overall. It was 44% and 56% in both January and December.

Another 6 in 10 say he is focused on the wrong things. By comparison, 54% said Biden had the wrong focus in November 2021.

Virtually all Democrats are unhappy with the job Trump is doing (95% disapprove) and say he is focused on the wrong issues (94%). Republican unity is strong but not absolute: 87% approve and 83% say he has the right focus. There is a fault line within the GOP over support for the MAGA movement.

Among Republicans who identify with MAGA, approval of the president climbs to 98% compared to just 63% among non-MAGA Republicans. And there is a similar 38-point gap on whether he is focused on the right issues (95% MAGA vs. 57% non-MAGA).

Most independents disapprove of Trump’s job performance (72%) and think he is focused on the wrong issues (78%).

Border security is the president’s only positive issue, with 52% of voters approving (48% disapprove). His ratings are underwater by 35 points on the cost of living (32% approve, 67% disapprove), 27 points on tariffs, 23 points on the economy and healthcare, 20 points on foreign policy, 19 points on taxes, 13 points on jobs, and 6 points on immigration. Republicans rate Trump far more negatively on the cost of living (33% disapprove) than other measures.

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On tariffs, 63% of voters disapprove of how Trump is handling them, while another 56% oppose tariffs in general. The top concerns about tariffs are higher consumer costs, the risk of a trade war, and reduced product availability. The main reasons for supporting them are preventing unfair trade practices from other countries, protecting U.S. jobs, increasing government revenue, and reducing the trade deficit.

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After the Supreme Court’s Feb. 20 ruling limiting the administration’s tariff authority, 62% say Trump is being treated fairly by the High Court, including majorities of Democrats (76%) and independents (58%), and half of Republicans (50%).

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Still, the Court’s own ratings have slipped: 57% disapprove — up 7 points since last summer. The higher disapproval is driven largely by a near doubling among Republicans, from 20% disapproving in 2025 to 39% today.

Conducted February 28-March 2, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,004 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (104) and cellphones (642) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (258). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.