分类： 未分类

Sen. Fetterman appears to rule out supporting El-Sayed’s campaign after projected win

2026-08-05T16:52:30.105Z / CNN Politics

By Wolf Blitzer, CNN

Published 12:52 PM EDT, Wed August 5, 2026

Sen. Fetterman appears to rule out supporting El-Sayed’s campaign after projected win

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) joined Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room to react to CNN’s projection that progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed will win the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan. Throughout the campaign, Fetterman criticized several of El-Sayed’s policies, and the two engaged in a public dispute that included name-calling.

Trump administration offers $25 million reward for California-born leader of Mexico’s most powerful cartel

August 5, 2026 / 2:04 PM EDT / CBS/AP

The State Department on Wednesday offered a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Juan Carlos González, or “Pelón,” scaling up pressure on a U.S. citizen who has emerged as the figurehead of Mexico’s most powerful cartel.

The reward was bumped up from $5 million. The Trump administration offered a total of $102 million in rewards for various leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, and restricted the visas of family members and business associates of cartel members.

The State Department said it was aimed at “crippling the organization’s leadership” while President Trump has ramped up pressure on Mexico and other Latin American nations to carry out his security agenda.

CJNG is among eight Mexican cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations. The group was dealt a blow in February when leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, or “El Mencho,” was killed by the Mexican military. The U.S. provided intelligence for the operation, which resulted in a burst in violence in the state of Jalisco.

González, Oseguera Cervantes’ stepson and a dual Mexican and U.S. citizen, is reported to have taken control of the cartel, which is involved in everything from avocado production to drug smuggling. According to the State Department, González was born in Santa Ana, California, on Sept. 12, 1984.

Juan Carlos González, alias “Pelón” U.S. State Department

The reward offers also include up to $15 million for Audias Flores Silva, a.k.a. “El Jardinero” (“The Gardener”); up to $15 million each for Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán, a.k.a. “Sapo,” and Oseguera Cervantes’ son-in-law, Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, a.k.a. “Chorro”; up to $10 million each for Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, a.k.a. “Tripa,” Julio César Montero Pinzón, a.k.a. “El Tarjetas,” and Carlos Andrés Rivera Varela, a.k.a. “La Firma”; and up to $2 million for Griselda Margarita Arredondo Pinzón.

Wednesday’s move comes a few weeks after the Trump administration slapped sanctions on 50 people and companies linked with the cartel, including González. The sanctions froze assets and blocked U.S. financial transactions with those cited.

The cartel is considered the largest in Mexico, with a presence in 21 of its 32 states. Its operations have extended to several countries, including the U.S.

“The United States is hunting down, dismantling, and destroying Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Wednesday.

The Trump administration has ramped up pressure on the government of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to crack down more heavily on cartels, even threatening military action against the groups.

In June, the U.S. Treasury announced a new bank alert targeting the cartel. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on two men and nine companies involved in transportation, financial services and real estate, accused of being tied to a cartel-linked fuel theft ring intended to evade Mexican taxes while generating tens of millions of dollars annually for the cartel.

contributed to this report.

Nuclear experts urge Trump not to let Iran steer talks away from regime’s atomic threat

August 5, 2026 3:32pm EDT / Fox News

IRGC chief Ahmad Vahidi said Iran would continue its program as long as the US and Israel possess nuclear arms

By Efrat Lachter, Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402861388112

Iran using Hormuz talks to delay nuclear concessions, expert warns

The FDD’s Andrea Stricker says Tehran is seeking control of the strategic waterway and sanctions relief before addressing its enriched uranium and nuclear infrastructure.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Iran’s top Revolutionary Guard commander declared Wednesday that Tehran would continue working on nuclear weapons as long as the United States and Israel possess them, intensifying concerns that Iran is using negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz to postpone concessions on its nuclear program.

“As long as the United States and Israel possess nuclear weapons, we will continue working on them for our national security,” IRGC commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi said, according to a translation of remarks circulating Wednesday. “If they disarm, we will disarm.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by vowing that Israel would continue preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, with or without a diplomatic agreement.

WHO IS AHMAD VAHIDI? IRAN’S NEW IRGC CHIEF TIED TO GLOBAL ATTACKS AND ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ IDEOLOGY

A map shows damage to Iran’s Fordow nuclear site after being struck by the United States in Operation Midnight Hammer on June 22, 2025.(Fox News)

“Today, we heard the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Vahidi, explicitly declare Iran’s intention to continue developing nuclear weapons — ‘continue,’ as he put it,” Netanyahu said at a ceremony marking the reinterment of Shimon and Rivka Herzl, the grandparents of the founder of modern day Zionism, Theodor Herzl.

“Well, as prime minister of Israel, I too am determined to continue — to continue preventing Iran from possessing nuclear weapons,” he said.

Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump as Israel’s greatest friend in the White House and expressed appreciation for the two countries’ joint efforts against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Israel’s existence is not subject to negotiation,” Netanyahu said. “With an agreement or without an agreement, I am determined — we are all determined — to do whatever is necessary to ensure our security and our future.”

NETANYAHU’S ISRAEL GRAPPLES WITH TRUMP-IRAN DEAL AS DETAILS REMAIN UNCLEAR

President Pezeshkian said Iran would rebuild the nuclear facilities targeted by the US, and make them stronger in 2025.(Iranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The exchange came as nuclear experts urged Trump to keep Iran’s nuclear program at the center of negotiations, warning that Tehran could use the Hormuz crisis to secure sanctions relief and other concessions before addressing its remaining nuclear capabilities.

Trump told “Fox News at Night” on Tuesday that military force remained an option if Iran abandoned the talks, while insisting Tehran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“If they back out again, they’re going to get hit really hard,” Trump told Fox News’ Trace Gallagher. “They know that. They understand that. I have no choice. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple.”

“The hard hit is yet to come, and hopefully we won’t have to use it,” he added.

Trump said negotiators held an “all-day negotiation” Tuesday and described the discussions as “very good.” He has said the talks would initially focus on reopening the Strait of Hormuz before turning to Tehran’s nuclear program.

TRUMP WARNS IRAN WILL BE HIT ‘REALLY HARD’ IF NUCLEAR NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE AGAIN

A satellite view shows an overview of the Natanz nuclear facility and Pickaxe Mountain, near Natanz, Iran, June 30, 2026(Vantor/Handout via Reuters)

Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program, said that sequence could play directly into Iran’s strategy.

“It is in the Iranians’ interest to steer the negotiations toward the issues that they most care about,” Stricker told Fox News Digital, including securing major US concessions over Hormuz and “maintaining control of that crucial waterway that has proven a lifeline for Tehran to survive this war.”

She said Iran would also seek oil sanctions relief, and potentially relief from all U.S. sanctions, before addressing the nuclear file.

“If Tehran is able to structure the talks that way, and I’m concerned that Trump appears to be going along with that approach, there may be little left in terms of leverage to get big concessions from the Iranians on the nuclear file down the line,” Stricker said.

There is evidence that Tehran has sought to sequence the talks in its favor. Axios reported in April that Iran proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war before beginning nuclear negotiations, potentially reducing U.S. leverage over enrichment and Iran’s enriched-uranium stockpile.

President Donald Trump (R) speaks alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a model of Air Force One on the table, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on April 7, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The Washington Post later reported that Tehran was focused on preserving its leverage over Hormuz rather than engaging deeply on major nuclear restrictions.

Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, agreed Iran is seeking to capitalize on the leverage it gained by disrupting maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The current focus on the Straits of Hormuz is not surprising. Iran is looking to capitalize on leverage gained by disrupting maritime traffic through the waterway and test if Trump is willing to negotiate in good faith,” Davenport told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP WARNS IRAN FIGHTING ISN’T OVER AS HE VOWS US WILL ‘WIN’ AS TALKS FADE

Satellite imagery taken on January 30, 2026 shows a new roof over a previously destroyed building at Natanz nuclear site.(2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via REUTERS)

She said Tehran understands that any durable agreement will ultimately have to address its nuclear program, but said that”At the end of this conflict, Iran will still possess the capabilities necessary to build a bomb,” Davenport said, “The relevant knowledge and nuclear expertise cannot be bombed away.”

“Tehran retains key materials and technologies necessary to build a bomb,” she added. “If left unchecked, the nuclear program will be a source of instability and renewed conflict, even if Iran does not resume more proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities.”

A proposed agreement between Iran and Oman could give Tehran some control over ships entering the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters Wednesday. One regional source described the arrangement as a concession that had already been made, although the precise meaning of Iranian “control” remained under negotiation.

Iran is also seeking fees from ships traveling through the waterway, according to Reuters, while Washington has opposed both Iranian control and mandatory transit charges.

Stricker said postponing the nuclear issues would allow the regime to preserve its remaining enriched-uranium stockpiles and avoid fully dismantling its nuclear infrastructure.

She said Iran also wants to avoid accounting for its past nuclear weapons-related work or committing to end uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing.

Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran, on April 29, 2024.(Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Leaving them as a last-order issue in the negotiations likely means that we will not see the Iranians make big concessions and make a solid nuclear deal,” Stricker said.

Davenport said the administration should prioritize restoring access for inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency before beginning detailed nuclear negotiations.

“The IAEA has not visited key Iranian nuclear sites in more than a year,” she said. “It remains unclear how much of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure remains and where any gaps might be in trying to account for Iran’s nuclear materials.”

She said renewed inspections would give Washington a clearer picture of Iran’s remaining facilities and materials, while helping negotiators design a verification regime capable of addressing any gaps.

Davenport also recommended pairing sanctions relief with specific, verifiable Iranian steps rather than negotiating one sweeping package.

“A series of smaller deals could build confidence in the process,” she said.

Stricker urged the administration to link every concession involving Hormuz, sanctions or the U.S. blockade to a measurable Iranian step on the nuclear file.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The U.S. military has been enforcing a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, even during the ceasefire.(U.S. Central Command)

“The best approach to ensure a solid deal is to make the nuclear issues just as important as the Strait of Hormuz, removing the blockade and other top Iranian priorities,” she said.

Efrat (Effie) Lachter is a reporter for Fox News Digital with more than 15 years of experience covering conflict, global affairs, human rights and political accountability.She has directed and produced more than 200 documentary segments across more than 40 countries, documenting conflicts, humanitarian crises, corruption, human trafficking, gender-based violence and the human stories behind major world events.

Lachter’s reporting has taken her into conflict zones and crisis areas across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. Her work has included uncovering human trafficking networks, revealing an ISIS underground torture prison in Syria, documenting the war in Ukraine and interviewing senior political figures and world leaders. She was also among the Western journalists who entered Russia after the war began to bring testimonies from Putin’s opposition. Lachter is the recipient of the 2022 Peres Center for Peace Award and was a 2023–2024 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan. She also won two Rockower Awards for Excellence in Reporting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and a master’s degree in political science.

Senate confirms Erica Schwartz as CDC director

August 5, 2026 / 3:43 PM EDT / CBS News

By Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving the CDC its first official director in nearly a year.

Schwartz was confirmed Wednesday by a vote of 51 to 44. The CDC has been without a Senate-confirmed director since late August 2025, when former director Susan Monarez was ousted just 29 days into the job. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya had also been serving as acting CDC director since February.

Schwartz, a retired Navy rear admiral, is a former deputy surgeon general with extensive experience overseeing the U.S. Coast Guard’s health care system.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University, an M.D. from Brown University, and a law degree from the University of Maryland. She has experience responding to pandemics, including outbreaks of Ebola and H1N1, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Schwartz will be the first Black woman to run the CDC.

Monarez, her predecessor, testified that she was pushed out of the agency because she declined to follow Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine recommendations, which she said were not based on science.

Schwartz enters the job amid concerns about the Ebola outbreak in Africa, and as the Trump administration faces criticism over vaccine recommendations.

Alan He contributed to this report.

Court confirms that temporary deportation protections for Haitians are no longer in place

2026-08-05T16:51:46.493Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/05/politics/haiti-temporary-deportation-protections-tps-no-longer-in-place

A federal judge on Wednesday officially allowed the Trump administration to end temporary deportation protection for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, marking the final step, for now, in a months-long case that made its way to the Supreme Court.

The announcement from US District Judge Ana Reyes comes more than a month after the high court reversed a ruling she made earlier this year that halted the government’s plans to end a program, known as Temporary Protected Status, for Haitians who fled the country in recent years amid political unrest and on the heels of natural disasters.

“The court’s order, which had stayed the effective date of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Termination of the Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status pending judicial review, is no longer in effect,” Reyes wrote in a brief order.

The order puts to bed a lingering question that had caused confusion among the roughly 350,000 Haitians benefiting from the program. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in late June, it remained unclear when, exactly, the protections would be officially gone.

“As a result of today’s order implementing the Supreme Court’s decision, Haitian TPS holders – all of them non-criminals – can no longer legally work, and many are subject to removal to Haiti, which continues to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world,” said Geoff Pipoly, an attorney representing the Haitian TPS holders who brought the legal challenge.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement had already started to target TPS holders, including Haitians, whose status was set to expire, according to two sources familiar with the plans. Wednesday’s order paves the way for the administration to start deporting them back to a country that the State Department has repeatedly warned is dangerous and unstable.

“We’re going after them right now,” DHS Secretary Markwaye Mullin told NewsNation this week. “These individuals can either self-deport or we’ll arrest you and send you back. It’s that simple.”

In recent days, some Haitians have been called into ICE offices to be fitted with ankle monitors, which is an alternative form of detention long used by ICE that also restricts the movements of immigrants.

Some of those who had benefited from the program may not be affected by its undoing if they were pursuing other immigration relief, like asylum or other claims for legal status.

The case being overseen by Reyes will still continue in the meantime, with the Haitians continuing to press their claim that the administration acted with discriminatory intent when it nixed the protections, which allowed the Haitians to live and work in the US.

In several other cases challenging the administration’s decision to end TPS for people from Ethiopia, Burma and South Sudan, judges have in recent weeks blocked the administration from moving forward with its plans while they weigh new legal claims, sparking public backlash from the Trump administration, which argues that the status was only ever meant to be temporary.

The Supreme Court’s decision earlier this summer said that federal courts do not have the power to review challenges to the Homeland Security secretary’s decision to end TPS for a slew of countries based on claims the administration didn’t follow proper legal procedure. Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, had partially based her decision on a finding that then-Secretary Noem skirted the law when she ended the program.

The judge also concluded that the decision was likely fueled by racial animus toward Haitians, but the high court said the present evidence before her in the case did not support that finding. Now, attorneys for the Haitians will continue looking for additional evidence to strengthen their argument.

“Nothing in the decision suggests that the plaintiffs here cannot try to marshal the additional evidence necessary to prove their equal protection claim,” lawyers for the migrants told Reyes in a court filing last month.

https://www.cnn.com/

Jake Tapper presses Homeland Security Secretary Mullin on the safety of deportation flights to Haiti

The loss of the Haitian TPS holders will hit the elder care industry, including nursing homes and home care agencies, particularly hard.

Even before Wednesday’s decision, some nursing homes started letting go of these staffers when their work authorization ended early last week.

Westminster Communities of Florida terminated 12 Haitian TPS holders who worked as certified nursing assistants (CNAs), dining services staffers and housekeepers in its continuing care facilities. It will replace them with temporary workers, as needed, Amanda Birch, chief human resources officer, told CNN.

But the shift isn’t easy, Birch said.

“It’s disruptive to residents, as well, to have new team members come in that they don’t really know — when they develop relationships with these prior team members over the years,” she said.

Some of the TPS holders have hired attorneys in hopes of applying for another status that will give them work authorization, she said. Some plan to move to Canada, where they have relatives.

Another long-term care provider on the East Coast told CNN early last week that she would not lay off any of her 32 Haitian TPS holders until she is compelled to do so. Six of the staffers work in the provider’s assisted living facility and the rest in the nursing home. Many are CNAs, while others work in dietary and support roles. Several have worked for the provider for more than 20 years.

It’s hard to hire CNAs, and most of these staffers are immigrants, said the provider, who asked CNN not to use her or her facility’s name so as not to attract the attention of immigration officials. As the US population ages, even more CNAs will be needed.

Also, residents and their families depend on and appreciate the work that the Haitian TPS holders do, the provider said. She pointed out the multitude of letters of praise she’s received about one longtime employee.

“This is a person who does an important job that no one else wants to do,” the provider said. “We’re going to send her back to a place that’s unfamiliar, that’s war torn, that’s dangerous. A woman who’s paid taxes, who’s raised her children here, who has established roots here. For what? What are you trying to do?”

In addition to the elder care industry, Haitian TPS holders also work in the hospitality, retail and restaurant sectors — all of which will have to contend with the sudden loss of workers.

Nearly 190,000 Haitian TPS holders were employed in early 2025, according to an analysis by FWD.us, a policy and advocacy organization focused on immigration that supports TPS for Haitians. They contribute an estimated $5.9 billion to the US economy, as well as pay $1.6 billion in federal, payroll, state and local taxes.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Can a Michigan progressive who left the Democratic Socialists of America just last month win in a purple district?

2026-08-05 1:39 PM EDT / CNN Politics

By Manu Raju, CNN

Progressive activist William Lawrence boxed out his two moderate primary opponents to win the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s 7th district, which President Trump carried in 2024. But until last month he says he was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America—a membership he let lapse, he says, to prove to his voters that he is focused on “the issues that bring us together.”

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/05/politics/video/inside-politics-michigan-seventh-district-democrat-william-lawrence

Political newcomer seeks to unseat twin of Trump impeachment foe in swing Virginia district

August 5, 2026 10:58am EDT / Fox News

Republicans hope to flip Virginia seat held by Rep Eugene Vindman, whose brother testified in first impeachment trial

By Peter D’Abrosca Fox News

Douglas Ollivant decisively beat two fellow political newcomers in the Republican primary contest to take on incumbent Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., in November.

Vindman, whose twin brother is a high-profile foe of President Donald Trump, currently represents Virginia’s 7th Congressional district, a seat previously held by the state’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

The Republican primary race between Ollivant, Rick Smithers and Philip Harding was unique in that none of the candidates had held elected office before, though two have government experience. The lack of reliable polling made it difficult to foretell who would emerge triumphant — but Ollivant ran away with victory, earning 56.6% of the vote compared to Harding’s 30.7% and Smithers’ 12.8%.

A voter casts their ballot at a polling location.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

THE BALLOT BOX SHOWDOWNS THIS MONTH THAT YOU NEED TO WATCH

Ollivant is a retired Army officer who served as the National Security Council director for Iraq during the George W. Bush administration. He worked as a national security analyst and consultant after that.

Smithers is a pastor and construction business owner who branded himself as the biggest outsider in the race.

Harding is a businessman with a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. He also earned his graduate degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

All three candidates have generally aligned themselves with Donald Trump, though the president did not endorse anyone in the race.

FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: DEMOCRATS LEAD IN THE HOUSE, BUT REDISTRICTING KEEPS THE GOP IN THE GAME

According to FEC data, Ollivant had the cash advantage, raising $251,134. Harding raised $125,916 before primary Election Day, and there was no reported fundraising data for Smithers.

Rep. Eugene Vindman is speaking out against the U.S. move to halt some weapon shipments to Ukraine.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, located in the northeastern part of the state and encompassing Culpeper and Fredericksburg east into Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and parts of Prince William County, is considered a true swing state.

Vindman, who ran unopposed this time around, won the vacant seat by only three points.

SCOOP: HOUSE REPUBLICANS TARGET DOZENS OF VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS ON EVE OF TAX FILING DEADLINE

As Democrats hope to retain the seat in November, Republicans are eyeing it as a potential flip, which would be a welcome pickup as the GOP fights tooth-and-nail to keep control of Congress, a historically difficult feat for the party in power during a midterm election year.

Vindman’s twin brother Alexander is a longtime foe of Trump. Alexander Vindman is a former military official, and the then-National Security Council director for European affairs testified against Trump during the first failed impeachment attempt in 2019.

National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 19, 2019, during a public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trump’s efforts to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents.(Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

Alexander is an ardent defender of Ukraine, and became a central figure of the impeachment attempt, claiming that in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump attempted to make military aid for the embattled European nation contingent on an investigation into the Biden family’s involvement in Ukrainian business activities.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Ultimately, the impeachment failed, and both Alexander and Eugene Vindman were removed from the National Security Council.

Alexander Vindman later became a frequent anti-Trump guest on CNN and MSNBC, as well as on the left-wing podcast circuit.

Peter D’Abrosca is a politics reporter at Fox News Digital.

Grocer-turned-lawmaker says Mamdani’s government-run stores ‘might not even last a year’

August 5, 2026 9:00am EDT / Fox News

Rep Mike Rulli says the $70M plan for government-funded stores in all five boroughs will crush small businesses

By Elizabeth Elkind, Fox News

Rep. Mike Rulli, R-Ohio, whose family owns Rulli Brothers grocery stores, spoke with Fox News Digital about President Trump’s call on stores to lower prices, and New York City’s government-run grocery stores.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

A former grocer is joining the chorus of criticism against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan for government-run grocery stores, arguing it would harm hundreds of small businesses forced to compete with them.

“That supermarket will just bleed red the entire time it’s open, from the first time you turn the key until it closes,” Rep. Mike Rulli, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital. “And I would bet the farm there’s no way these grocery stores last more than five years — they might not even last a year.”

Rulli grew up with his family’s Ohio-based grocery store chain, Rulli Brothers, which is now run by his brothers.

EXPERTS SCORCH MAMDANI’S GROCERY PLAN AS AN ‘ILLUSION’ THAT WILL HAVE TAXPAYERS FOOTING THE BILL

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani holds up bananas as he speaks at a food distribution center on July 27, 2026, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Rulli said his family’s small but thriving two-location business has given him an appreciation for the challenges facing small business owners in New York City, whom he argued would be harmed by competition from Mamdani’s city-run stores.

“You will put hundreds of these small businesses out of business. And a lot of these businesses are owned by immigrants,” Rulli said. “So I mean, I don’t think the mayor could possibly have asked for a worse situation.”

NY GOVERNOR HOPEFUL VOWS SHOWDOWN WITH MAMDANI OVER SOCIALIST AGENDA: ‘I WILL STOP HIM’

Mamdani, the Democratic socialist mayor of New York City, unveiled a plan for government-funded grocery stores while on the campaign trail. The city has since committed $70 million to constructing one store in each of the five boroughs, with an aim to open all five by 2030.

Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, testifies during a House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials hearing on “Rail safety in the aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment” in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 2024.(Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Mamdani discussed the agreement during a recent news conference, saying, “Once a month, our five city-run grocery stores will set prices for this core set of goods at 30% below typical retail prices.”

MAMDANI’S CITY GROCERY PLAN COULD LEAVE TAXPAYERS PAYING FOR EVERY BANANA

While the plan has been cheered by progressives, it has been panned by business groups such as the Multicultural Business Coalition, which the New York Post reported was threatening to sue Mamdani.

Rulli, noting that grocery stores already operate on thin profit margins, said Mamdani’s government shops will likely be “operating at a loss the entire time.”

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402735785112

“When you think about the grocery industry, [it] runs on about 27% gross. That’s before you pay your bills. Once you pay your bills, you’re about one-and-a-quarter, one-and-half-percent net,” he said.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

That, he argued, would make it a drain on taxpayers as long as they remained open.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“This is the biggest mistake the mayor has made,” Rulli said.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Secret FBI probe cast Trump as possible Russian asset after Comey firing, memos show

2026-08-05 10:57 EDT / Fox News

The investigation, launched after Comey’s firing, examined national security concerns over alleged Russian ties, according to the documents

By Ashley J. DiMella Fox News

Published August 5, 2026 10:57am EDT

Trump calls Comey a ‘dirty cop’ and a ‘crooked man’

President Donald Trump criticizes former FBI Director James Comey, calling him a ‘dirty cop’ and a ‘crooked man’ in light of his indictment.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/53fc99a4-5df4-49ef-847c-b4dd1439f654

Listen to this article

1 min

The White House released newly declassified FBI memos showing that the bureau opened a 2017 counterintelligence investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey was connected to Russia.

The investigation, codenamed “Oxferd Comma,” opened after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, according to the White House’s release. It is unclear as to why the word “Oxford” was seemingly misspelled.

The probe was launched due to national security concerns about whether Trump himself was a Russian asset, the documents allege.

Former FBI Director James Comey.(Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Investigators sought to determine whether Trump was “directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and/or a violation of federal criminal statutes,” according an FBI memo on May 16, 2017, jump-starting the investigation.

“In addition, this investigation will also seek to determine whether President Trump and others yet to be named obstructed and/or conspiracy to obstruct any associated FBI investigation,” the same memo added.

Comey was appointed by then-President Barack Obama, serving as FBI Director from 2013 to 2017.

He oversaw the launch of the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation in July 2016 after receiving information that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos had suggested Russia possessed damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

Comey also ran an investigation into Clinton about the use of her private email servers and sent a letter to Congress days before the 2016 election saying the FBI had discovered emails that “appear to be pertinent.”

Trump later fired Comey after taking office, with the administration initially citing his handling of the Clinton email investigation.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for additional comment on Wednesday.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.

Dems’ leftward lurch gets legs as El-Sayed’s Michigan Senate victory sparks party debate

2026-08-05 10:30 EDT / Fox News

Far-left candidate backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would make history as first Muslim US senator

By Paul Steinhauser Fox News

Published August 5, 2026 10:30am EDT | Updated August 5, 2026 6:00am EDT

Abdul El-Sayed, the farl left Democratic Senate nominee in battleground Michigan, delivers an olive branch to moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, who he narrowly edged in the primary.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

DETROIT, MI – Abdul El-Sayed’s victory over moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s high-stakes Democratic Senate primary is a massive boost for the party’s left-wing in its ideological battle with the center-left establishment.

It also gives instant ammunition to Republicans aiming to flip a crucial battleground Senate seat the Democrats must hold as part of their midterm push to win back control of the chamber.

Republican nominee former Rep. Mike Rogers, in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of the primary, argued that El-Sayed is “way too extreme for Michigan. I mean, Abdul, he has his own special sauce of crazy.”

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402851515112

Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan Abdul El-Sayed takes aim at Republican rival former Rep. Mike Rogers as midterm battle instantly ignites

MEET THE FAR LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN THE 2026 MIDTERMS

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402686175112

El-Sayed is a far-left figure backed by progressive champions and socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and other members of the Squad.

A former Wayne County Health Department director, El-Sayed, if elected in November, would make history as the nation’s first Muslim senator. He is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for “Medicare-for-all” a major component of his campaign.

He has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is a vocal critic of Israel amid its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians. El-Sayed, who served as a top surrogate on Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has also vowed not to accept PAC donations.

El-Sayed’s primary election victory has some wondering if the party of the late Rep. John Dingell, who was famously known as the “Dean of the House” during his historic tenure in Congress, and his wife Rep. Debbie Dingell, the current dean of the Michigan congressional delegation, has broadly shifted to the left, or if this is a one-off election dynamic.

MIKE ROGERS ARGUES ABDUL EL-SAYED IS ‘A SPECIAL SAUCE OF CRAZY’

“It’s not all that clear that the party has shifted that far to the left,” Matt Bennett, one of the leaders at the Third Way, a leading center-left Democratic organization, told Fox News Digital.

Pointing to the increasing visceral opposition to President Donald Trump by Democrats across the country, Bennett said the primary results in Michigan may be “a unique situation where candidates matter.”

“And in this moment Democratic voters everywhere are very very angry at Trump and they’re flipping over the tables and taking it out on the establishment and Haley, for better or worse, has run as the establishment.”

Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and political science professor at Michigan State University, pointed to what he called a “recruitment failure.”

“Stevens was no one’s first choice,” Grossman said of Stevens, as he referred to unsuccessful efforts to recruit term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to launch a campaign in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

Noting growing opposition among Democrats nationwide to Israel’s ongoing military operations against Hamas in Gaza, and the massive amounts of outside money spent in the historically expensive Senate primary by groups aligned with pro-Israel interests to help Stevens and target El-Sayed, Grossman added “this was a terrible year to be running the most pro-Israel candidate available.”

More than $80 million was spent on the primary, making it the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination contest in history. Much of the money came from outside groups supporting Stevens or opposing El-Sayed. The largest spender was United Democracy Project, a political action committee aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is best known by its acronym AIPAC.

El-Sayed said his victory is easy to understand.

Speaking with Fox News Digital on Sunday, he said “our job is to listen to folks, as it has been since we kicked off this campaign… to understand the challenges people have in their lives.”

“I think the people are telling us that they want money out of politics. Money in your pocket, Medicare-for-all,” he emphasized. “You know, endorsements don’t vote. People vote. And I think right now people are voting with their feet.”

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402685079112

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed shrugs off Haley Stevens’ establishment endorsements: ‘Endorsements don’t vote. People vote.’

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a leading group on the left, referred to El-Sayed narrow margin over Stevens and told Fox News Digital that “any win against $60 million dollars of outside spending by AIPAC and corporate interests is a giant win and sets us on a path of proving our case in November to shake up the system.”

The progressive-versus-establishment battle also played out in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, a Republican-controlled swing seat that is among roughly two dozen races expected to help determine control of the House.

William Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement climate advocacy group, edged out two more moderate Democrats. Lawrence was backed by Sanders and El-Sayed, as well as several prominent progressive groups. He will face Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in the general election.

The party’s internal battle was also on display in Michigan’s heavily Democratic 13th Congressional District.

Rep. Shri Thanedar, who was supported by top House Democratic leaders, was narrowly defeated by state Rep. Donovan McKinney. McKinney was backed by Sanders, El-Sayed and “Squad” members Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania.

Bennett noted that Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan crushed a more progressive rival in the 2024 Senate primary before winning the general election by a razor-thin margin over Rogers in a state that President Donald Trump narrowly carried.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

And Bennett and Grossman pointed out that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who won the Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, and Attorney General Dana Nessel, who was renominated, are far from left-wingers.

“The party hasn’t shifted far to the left but this particular primary did,” Bennett argued, as he referred to El-Sayed’s victory over Stevens.

Paul Steinhauser covers the national campaign trail from coast to coast for Fox News