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Trump administration again urges US Supreme Court intervention on mail ballots

2026-08-12 / Reuters

By Andrew Chung

August 12, 2026 4:24 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

Election workers extract mail-in ballots at the registrar of voters’ office during the California primary election in San Diego, California, U.S., June 2, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Trump executive order would tighten rules around mail ballots
• US judge expanded injunction against Trump directive
• Supreme Court currently weighing Trump request to implement order nationwide

Aug 12 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration ​again asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to intervene to fully ‌implement his executive order restricting the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.

The Justice Department filed a request asking the justices to put on hold a decision made on ​Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that blocks the U.S. Postal Service from nationwide ​enforcement of the directive’s tighter rules for voting by mail.

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Trump, a Republican, signed his ⁠executive order in March after years of calling for restrictions on voting by mail and pushing ​the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud.

Talwani’s decision ​on Tuesday, in a case brought by several voting rights groups and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, effectively expands on an earlier order she issued in June preventing the enforcement of Trump’s order in 23 mostly Democratic-governed ​states and Washington, D.C., which had also challenged the action as unconstitutional.

The administration has already asked ​the Supreme Court to pause the June decision. In its brief filing on Wednesday, the Justice Department ‌urged the ⁠Supreme Court to lift that decision and make clear that the ruling applies to the judge’s action on Tuesday as well.

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The administration contends that the lawsuits are premature as federal agencies have not yet taken any concrete actions that impact the plaintiffs, and so any harm ​they allege is speculative.

Trump’s ​executive order directed the ⁠Department of Homeland Security to compile and transmit to the states a list of U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state, and ​the Justice Department to prioritize investigating and prosecuting state and local ​election officials who ⁠issue ballots to people deemed “not eligible” to vote in federal elections.

It also required the Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list. The Postal Service ⁠recently ​moved to implement Trump’s directive.

In siding with the voting rights groups ​on Tuesday, Talwani wrote that the executive branch of the federal government had no authority to regulate elections, a ​responsibility that the U.S. Constitution assigns to individual states.

blob:https://www.reuters.com/8c172759-970d-4216-b778-d5ac5a0ece70

Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Nia Williams

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. charges 11 for alleged sham marriage scheme to help Chinese nationals gain green cards

August 12, 2026 / 2:26 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— The Justice Department unveiled criminal charges against 11 people on Wednesday, alleging they participated in an “extensive marriage fraud scheme” that involved more than 1,000 “sham marriages” between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens.

The 21-page indictment, secured in New York’s Southern District, alleged that the marriage scheme ran from 2016 to 2026, and was facilitated by defendants Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan and Gang Zheng.

At a press conference announcing the charges, Attorney General Todd Blanche called the case “one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in United States history.”

“This scheme was not a quick fly-by-night operation, but rather a yearslong, multi-million-dollar cottage industry to criminally assist people who would not or legally could not otherwise become citizens of the United States,” Blanche said.

The alleged sham marriages were arranged to help assist Chinese nationals obtain green cards in the United States, the indictment said.

The defendants “used word of mouth, social media, and various forms of advertising to market fraudulent immigration services to foreign nationals — primarily citizens of the People’s Republic of China — including their ability to arrange sham marriages to facilitate fraudulent applications for lawful permanent resident status in the United States,” according to the indictment.

“Foreign nationals paid facilitators as much as approximately $100,000 for assistance in obtaining a sham marriage and applying for a Green Card,” it added. Facilitators of the arrangements, meanwhile, allegedly made a commission of about $5,000.

The indictment included photos of alleged sham marriage ceremonies that prosecutors said the defendants submitted to U.S. immigration officials.

Photos included in the indictment of alleged sham marriage ceremonies submitted in support of immigration applications. Justice Department

“In some cases, these sham wedding ceremonies were held at nearby restaurants, where the foreign nationals and United States citizens changed into traditional Chinese wedding attire, and the facilitator, recruiter, foreign national, and United States citizen invited friends and family to create the appearance of a legitimate wedding,” the indictment said.

While many of the recruiters operated in New York, the indictment alleged they orchestrated the marriages throughout the United States and abroad, in places such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Vanuatu, and the People’s Republic of China.

Karoline Leavitt exiting as White House press secretary, will serve as outside Trump adviser

2026-08-12T15:50:00-0400 / CBS News

Washington — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will be exiting her role at the end of August, switching to a role as a top outside adviser, President Trump announced on Truth Social Wednesday.

The president said she’s leaving so she can spend more time with her family. Leavitt had a baby girl, her second child, in May, and recently returned to the White House.

“Our wonderful White House Press Secretary, and one of my most trusted aides, Karoline Leavitt, will be departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!” Mr. Trump wrote. “Karoline will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections.”

“Karoline has been a real leader in the White House, and has done a phenomenal job fighting for Justice, Liberty, and Freedom, since 2018, including our Historic Re-Election Campaign of 2024,” he continued. “Karoline has been one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office. Thank you, Karoline, for a job well done!”

File photo: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House, July 23, 2026, in Washington. AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

It’s not yet clear who the next White House press secretary will be, or who will fill in during the interim.

Leavitt has been the White House press secretary since the beginning of the president’s second term, and she thanked Mr. Trump for the opportunity to serve in the high-profile role.

“The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary — and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life,” Leavitt wrote. “President Trump has asked me to continue serving as a top advisor to him on the outside, and I will always remain a vocal advocate for MAGA and the Republican Party.”

The Trump White House flat-out lied about his secret plane switch

2026-08-12T17:40:53.615Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/12/politics/trump-lies-plane-switch

President Donald Trump late Tuesday confirmed reporting from the Washington Post, CNN and others that he secretly switched planes in Turkey last month because of a security threat.

“I guess there was a threat out there,” he told reporters. “I didn’t really ask too much about it.”

The president added of the Secret Service and military telling him to switch planes: “I just have to do what they say. They go for safety, and I have to do what they say.”

But the confirmation makes it clear that both Trump and the White House lied about the situation, even after the immediate danger had passed.

It’s one thing not to disclose the ruse in real time — though many would argue that allowing the reporters and administration staff that remained on Air Force One to effectively serve as unwitting decoys, while Trump flew on a smaller military jet, stretches the bounds of what’s acceptable to protect the president. But Trump and the White House went further than just lying to perpetuate a protective ruse. They also denied there was a security threat at all.

They did so when it was first reported that Trump would use his legacy Air Force One — rather than the new, retrofitted one he got as a gift from Qatar — due to security concerns.

Before that story first broke, Trump claimed on social media that he was swapping presidential aircrafts on July 8 “for old time’s sake” and sending the new Qatari-gifted plane meant to be used as Air Force One to the United Kingdom ahead of him “in order to give our Great Military Heroes a chance to appreciate our beautiful new addition to the Air Force Fleet.”

After Trump flew from Turkey to the UK (on what we now know was that third smaller plane) and then re-boarded the new Air Force One for the leg back to the United States, he spoke to reporters and flatly denied a security threat.

“You’re saying there wasn’t a security concern?” a reporter asked.

“No. No. Why would there be?” Trump responded.

Asked if there were “any other issue,” he said: “No.”

When reporters kept asking, he repeatedly deflected.

But it wasn’t just Trump.

White House communications director Steven Cheung issued a somewhat oblique statement at the time defending the security capabilities of the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One.

But then on social media, he ripped into a reporter from MS NOW who had reported the switch to the legacy plane was due to “concerns” about the new Qatari-gifted plane’s security capability “to safely manage a rapidly escalating conflict with Iran.”

His dismissal of that reporting as “complete fake news” and his statement that the reporter “has no idea what she is talking about” were already undermined by the news a couple weeks later that the White House was moving to further secure the new Air Force One. Trump himself confirmed that the plane was being “maxed out.”

And now the president is confirming that he switched planes because of a threat.

The new revelations also sharply undercut what Trump said about Iran’s military capabilities just a few days after returning from Turkey

Appearing on Fox News on July 13, he claimed that Iran’s “entire military is gone.”

“They got nothing,” he added. “They have no Navy. They have no Air Force. It’s all gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone.”

But now we know that, just five days earlier, Trump was forced to switch planes — twice, in fact — because of fears that Iran was capable of striking Air Force One over Turkey.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak reported Wednesday that a person familiar with the matter said the threat involved a shoulder-fired missile — a specific enough threat that officials feared Trump’s life would be at enormous risk if he flew on either version of Air Force One.

This isn’t the only time that Trump’s claims about Iran’s capabilities have been undercut by real-world events. He’s routinely cast Tehran as militarily crippled, but it keeps fighting and prolonging the war. And early in the conflict, Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the United States and Israel had free rein over Iran’s skies — before two US jets were shot down.

Many of the president’s broader claims about Iran and how the war has played out have also fallen apart. As have his assurances that a deal was right around the corner and that Iran had already agreed to key concessions.

The war is a mess — and an unpopular one at that. And the administration keeps giving Americans reason to doubt pretty much everything it says about it.

Tim Scott goes scorched earth on El-Sayed: ‘He’s for Hamas, but he’s against America’

August 12, 2026 3:11pm EDT / Fox News

The NRSC chair ramps up rhetoric against the progressive winner as Republicans eye flipping Gary Peters’ open seat

By Alex Miller Fox News

Published August 12, 2026 3:11pm EDT

Tim Scott goes scorched earth on El-Sayed: ‘He’s for Hamas, but he’s against America’

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the Senate GOP’s election chief, blasted Michigan Senate Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, arguing he was emblematic of Democrats’ shift to the left. He believed that would give GOP nominee Mike Rogers the edge in November.

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FIRST ON FOX: The Senate GOP’s elections chief said Michigan voters have a clear-cut choice: pick a Trump-backed Republican or support an insurgent progressive who is “for Hamas.”

“By going with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, you’re talking about socialism, Marxism, communism, and someone who seems to just not like America,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. “The only thing he’s not against, Hamas. He’s for Hamas, but he’s against America.”

Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and Republicans are ramping up their rhetoric against El-Sayed, who eked out a win to secure the Democratic nomination for Senate in Michigan last week against the more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich.

Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, speaks during a primary election night event Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

They’re pouncing on unearthed hot takes he’s made in the past and his proximity to Twitch streamer Hasan Piker in their quest to paint El-Sayed as a far-left candidate with extremist ties.

Republicans believe that they have a real shot at flipping Michigan’s open seat after Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., opted to retire. Scott and company view former Rep. Mike Rogers, who was the GOP nominee in 2024, as the man to secure the seat.

“I always believe that the wind’s at my back, and I always believed that momentum’s on our side,” Scott said. “And there’s no doubt about it when you look at the underlying conditions that you’d much, much, much rather be Mike Rogers than El-Sayed.”

REPUBLICANS GET THE DEMOCRAT THEY WANTED AS SOCIALIST ABDUL EL-SAYED WINS MICHIGAN SENATE PRIMARY

For starters, Rogers has President Donald Trump’s backing in a state that he won by just over 1 point in 2024, a roughly 4-point swing from 2020, when former President Joe Biden nabbed the state.

Rogers also hasn’t had to deal with a messy primary like his previous run against Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who eked out a victory over the former House Intelligence Committee chair by just over 20,000 votes.

“Two years ago, it was a slog for Mike Rogers. He had a very expensive primary in August, and then essentially a 60-day sprint to the finish line,” Scott said. “This time he has more cash than ever, a better ground game than ever.”

“He is a strong, powerful, positive candidate. He is well known in Michigan. And so what we’re going to see as we head towards the finish line is Michiganders will make the right decision for their future, for America’s future, and it will be Mike Rogers,” he continued. “I will say on the other side, it is not going to the past, it’s going to a different, an alternate universe.”

WATCH: SCHUMER’S ANTI-CORRUPTION SPEECH DERAILED AFTER HECKLER BRANDS HIM ‘GENOCIDAL MANIAC’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., departs after a weekly Senate Democratic Policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 29, 2026.(Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)

El-Sayed, meanwhile, has dealt with the inverse.

He’s just over a week out from a bitter primary fight against Stevens and Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who eventually dropped out roughly a month before the primary election.

He emerged victorious despite being vastly outspent in one of the most expensive primaries ever, and after running a campaign that pushed further left than the Democratic establishment and against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Shortly after his victory, Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who leads Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, went about stitching together the wounds from the primary bloodbath.

“Democrats are united by a common purpose: putting a check on Donald Trump by defeating his Republican enablers and taking back the Senate,” they said in a joint statement. “We look forward to working with Abdul and Democrats across Michigan to win this seat in November.”

Though Schumer and the Democratic establishment didn’t back El-Sayed, Scott contended that his rise was emblematic of the Democratic Party’s lurch to the left, particularly as moderate Democrats have been felled by progressive challengers throughout this midterm election cycle across the country.

“There’s no doubt Abdul El-Sayed represents the worst part of the Democrat Party, which is becoming, unfortunately, the most consistent voice coming out of the Democratic Party,” Scott said.

El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

U.S. indicts former SPLC executive in alleged fraud scheme to funnel donations to white supremacist groups

August 12, 2026 3:52 PM EDT / CBS News

By
Jacob Rosen Justice Department Reporter
Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. He was previously a campaign digital reporter covering President Trump’s 2024 campaign and also served as an associate producer for “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

Read Full Bio

Heidi Beirich, a former executive at the Southern Poverty Law Center, has been charged in a superseding indictment for her alleged role in what the government claims was a fraudulent scheme that duped donors and banks, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.

Prosecutors have accused the SPLC of telling donors and banks the group was dismantling white supremacist and extremist groups, but instead funneling payments to confidential informants in the groups to fund “violent, racist and extremist activities,” court documents said.

The new indictment marks the first time that an individual connected with the civil rights nonprofit has been charged in the case, which the Justice Department announced in April.

The indictment charges Beirich with wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering, and alleges that she oversaw payments to informants, including one with whom she had a “romantic relationship.”

During that alleged relationship with the informant, the indictment says they shared a home and two bank accounts, through which $140,000 flowed from an SPLC-operated account into their joint accounts between 2015 and 2021. She allegedly used some of the funds to pay for personal living expenses, according to the indictment.

In a statement to CBS News, Beirich’s lawyer Michael J. Proctor said that his client is innocent, adding, “this case is without merit.”

“We believe the charges against her and the SPLC are politically motivated, and Dr. Beirich has been targeted in this case because of the important work she has done to combat hate groups and extremists,” Proctor said, adding, “Violent extremists have not stopped or intimidated Dr. Beirich from her vital work during her time at the SPLC or in the six and a half years after she left the SPLC. Dr. Beirich won’t be silenced or intimidated by the government’s false and politicized allegations now.”

Beirich’s arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 19, according to the case docket.

CNN first reported her arrest.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is facing 11 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, with prosecutors alleging it defrauded its donors and duped its banks by creating shell accounts to funnel money to insiders who belonged to the same hate groups it pledged to dismantle.

The Southern Poverty Law Center pleaded not guilty to the charges filed in April.

Beirich previously served as the director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which is the monitoring and research arm of the nonprofit, according to her LinkedIn profile. She rose through the ranks, starting first as a writer in 1999. She left the SPLC in December 2019.

Beirich was not the target of the Justice Department’s original probe, which started in 2018 while Jeff Sessions was attorney general. At the time, the FBI launched a preliminary inquiry into SPLC’s chief financial officer under suspicion she was embezzling money from the nonprofit, CBS previously reported.

The case was expanded to investigate possible tax charges in 2019 under Attorney General Bill Barr, with the focus shifting to the SPLC’s bank accounts and its payments to informants. The CFO at the time controlled those accounts and was part of the probe.

Ultimately tax charges were never filed in the case and to date, that former CFO has not been criminally charged. During the course of the investigation, IRS agents found that the CFO had created the shell bank accounts with assistance from at least some of the bank employees.

At a press conference Wednesday, Attorney General Todd Blanche mistakenly identified Beirich as the SPLC’s “former CFO.”

“I think, as alleged in the indictment, this individual participated in the scheme,” he said. “I believe she was part of the effort to open bank accounts… and make payments to individuals for reasons that were not accurate as described,” he said, before the indictment was available on the public docket.

Earlier this month, a federal judge denied the SPLC’s motion to dismiss the indictment against the group on the grounds of a vindictive prosecution, finding that lawyers for the group “failed to offer some evidence tending to show animus on the part of the prosecutors involved in bringing this case.”

Legal experts have previously said they believe the case contains a number of potential legal defects, noting it is not clear from the language in the indictment itself that donors had in fact been misled or that banks were deceived into taking certain actions due to fraud.

Abbe Lowell, who is defending the SPLC in the criminal case, said in a statement Wednesday that the Trump administration’s attacks on Beirich are “as legally and factually flawed as their previous attacks.”

“This charge reflects a desperate government confronting a weak case, scrambling to make something — anything — stick as we approach trial,” he said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/justice-department-charges-southern-poverty-law-center-fraud-extremism-investigations/

Minnesota’s Lieutenant Governor wants a promotion. Will her state’s Covid-era fraud scandal hold her back?

2026-08-12T17:35:46.508Z / CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN
Updated 1:37 PM EDT, Wed August 12, 2026

Minnesota’s Lieutenant Governor wants a promotion. Will her state’s Covid-era fraud scandal hold her back?

Inside Politics

Peggy Flanagan was Lieutenant Governor in Minnesota during the COVID-era fraud scandal that cost taxpayers at least hundreds of millions of dollars. Now she wants to represent her state in the Senate. Sen. Tina Smith—the woman she hopes to replace—says Flanagan has been clear that we “cannot put up with” even a dime of fraud.

3:45 • Source: CNN

Spanberger’s rough rural reception draws Hillary Clinton parallels

August 12, 2026 9:00am EDT / Fox News

State delegate compares governor’s visit to Hillary Clinton’s hot sauce moment, calling it pandering to rural constituents

By Charles Creitz, Eric Mack, Fox News

Virginia Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger was met with loud boos in a brief appearance on stage on the final day of the annual Old Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, Virginia.

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Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger was roasted for her visit to a nearly century-old fiddling convention in southwestern Virginia, with the area’s state delegate comparing her unfavorably to failed presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clinton famously surprised the hosts of New York’s “Breakfast Club” radio program in 2016 when she said she regularly carries hot sauce in her purse — a remark critics said echoed Beyoncé Knowles and amounted to political pandering to Southern and Black voters during her 2016 race against then-businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump.

Del. Wren Williams, a Republican who represents Galax, where the 90th Annual Old Fiddlers’ Convention took place, told Fox News Digital he was proud of constituents who made their feelings about the governor known peacefully but strongly.

DEM GOVERNOR BOOED AT VIRGINIA OLD FIDDLERS’ CONVENTION

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, left; Hillary Rodham Clinton, right.(Mike Kropf/Getty Images; David Dee Delgado Getty Images)

Williams said it was clear to those assembled that Spanberger was trying to “pander” to rural residents, who have pushed back on several of the governor’s priorities, including the judicially halted redistricting effort and a slew of what Richmond Republican leaders have called “the bad bills.”

“[It was] about like Hillary Clinton and her hot sauce – nobody was buying it,” Williams said.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6403213371112

Over the weekend, Spanberger and her public safety chief, Galax native Stanley Meador, were booed after Meador introduced the governor. Meador previously served as special agent in charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office during the “anti-Catholic memo” controversy that drew congressional scrutiny.

Williams told Fox News Digital that people in Galax and surrounding Carroll County — atop the Blue Ridge and just over the border from Andy Griffith’s “Mount Pilot” area of North Carolina — have felt ignored by Spanberger and said their reaction was justified.

SUPREME COURT DEALS BLOW TO VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS IN FIGHT OVER STATE COURT ELECTION MAP RULING

“These are my constituents, the same ones that she just disarmed, tried to force into one single congressional district that represented their political views, and lied every step of the way while jockeying for the national Democratic Party nod for her shot at first female president,” Williams said, referring to another parallel between Spanberger and Clinton.

Galax, currently represented in Congress by Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., would have sat at the edge of the only remaining Republican-held district under Richmond Democrats’ proposed 10-1 congressional map, which a bipartisan group of Virginia Supreme Court justices blocked earlier this year.

Virginia’s top state Republican — whose district is not far west of where Spanberger got booed — told Fox News Digital the incident proved to the governor that her policies run counter to what his neighbors want from Richmond:

“Southwest Virginians have never been shy about standing up for their values and their way of life,” said House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore of Gate City.

“When you try to take away their voice in Congress, go after their Second Amendment rights, and drive up their power bills to pay for a green energy agenda they don’t want and can’t afford, folks are going to let you know how they feel,” he said.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6392984665112

Former Attorney General Jason Miyares, a top figure in the “Vote No” coalition opposing Spanberger’s redistricting effort, said in a statement that the crowd’s response was predictable.

“Governor Spanberger booed in Galax. Turns out when you break your campaign promise, attempt a leftist power grab pushing an unconstitutional gerrymandering effort in order to silence rural Virginia voices, coupled with massive tax increases, it results in a frosty reception,” Miyares said.

WATCH: SPANBERGER KNOCKED FOR ‘BAIT AND SWITCH’ HYPOCRISY AS POPULARITY PLUMMETS AMID REDISTRICTING FIASCO

“Spanberger finally had to face the music,” another Virginia user wrote on X.

Other critics contrasted Democrats’ strength in Northern Virginia with opposition to Spanberger in more rural parts of the state.

“These folks booing are showing how the vast majority of those of us in Virginia feel… not those communists in the blue suburbs of DC,” Diane Cheesbrough wrote on X.

“She needs to go and take Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Eugene Vindman with her.”

TRUMP BLASTS SPANBERGER AHEAD OF VIRGINIA MEETINGS, SAYS STATE FACES TAX BASE EXODUS LIKE NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393380610112

Radio host Scott Adams added that rural voters “are not forgetting” the redistricting controversy.

“Southwest Virginia just delivered the message in person,” he said.

“Virginians are done with her,” added former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

Some observers, however, credited Spanberger with going to Galax and Carroll County despite her weak electoral support in the area.

VIRGINIA VOTERS CEMENT SWING DISTRICT REMATCH AFTER DEMS’ REDISTRICTING FAIL

“Abigail Spanberger lost the independent city of Galax 68 to 32 and showed up anyway,” said Democratic strategist Matt Royer.

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https://www.foxnews.com/video/6392797954112

“A Republican would have tucked tail and stayed at home when it comes to events in places they lost, like Jason was yesterday. She won Virginia by 15 and still went to one place that booed her. That is the job.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger and Clinton for comment.

Dem in key swing race missed nearly half her state House votes while taking taxpayer salary: ‘No show’

Records show the Democrat skipped 348 of 773 floor votes in 2022 despite later stressing the importance of leaders showing up

August 12, 2026 11:10am EDT / Fox News

By Kiera McDonald , Andrew Mark Miller

Democrat House hopeful called Iowa a ‘backwater’ over transgender sports bill

Christina Bohannan warned in 2021 that Iowa would become a ‘backwater’ if lawmakers barred transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports. Iowa enacted the ban in 2022. (Credit: YouTube/City of Iowa City — April 2, 2021)

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FIRST ON FOX: Former Democratic state Rep. Christina Bohannan missed nearly half of her votes in Iowa’s House of Representatives during her final year in office as she campaigned for a congressional seat in the battleground district, records show.

In 2022, Bohannan missed 348 of 773 floor votes, or about 45% of all votes, according to the legislature’s records, despite stressing the importance “for leaders to show up” three years later.

Bohannan is running for Congress in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, a race the Cook Political Report ranks as a “toss up” in November as Republicans attempt to preserve their razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

Some of the skipped votes involved bills addressing protections for sexual abuse victims, volunteer firefighters and first responders, Iowa’s dairy industry, agricultural programs, emergency 911 services and juvenile justice reform.

IOWA DEM WHO TOUTED ‘STRONG WORK ETHIC’ MISSES MORE THAN HALF OF HER HOUSE VOTES

Former Iowa Democratic state Rep. Christina Bohannan missed nearly half of her state House votes while campaigning for Congress, records show.(Iowa Legislature ; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Liberal Christina Bohannan says leaders should ‘show up’ and then is a no-show herself,” Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Missing half your job while collecting your taxpayer-funded paycheck isn’t leadership worthy of a promotion. It’s the kind of performance that would get you fired anywhere else.”

The absences stand in contrast with Bohannan’s past comments. In an Oct. 6, 2025, post on X, she wrote that she had the “honor of speaking” with more than 100 voters at a candidate forum representing five Iowa counties.

“At a time when so much is uncertain, it’s more important than ever for leaders to show up and talk directly with Iowans,” she added.

Similarly, in a 2021 interview with Bleeding Heartland, an Iowa politics blog, Bohannan was described as planning to spend “a lot of time on legislative work during the 2022 session” with the rest of her efforts focused on her congressional campaign.

Bohannan served one term in the Iowa House from 2021 to 2023 before launching her first campaign for Congress.

BATTLEGROUND DEM CALLED PATRIOTISM ‘SENSITIVE AND CONTROVERSIAL’ DURING DEBATE OVER THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Christina Bohannan, candidate for Iowa’s first congressional district, listens during a roundtable on affordable housing Oct. 23, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa.(Iowa City Press-Citizen)

She is challenging incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, for a third time in the 1st Congressional District, which includes Davenport and Iowa City, after losing by about seven points in 2022 and roughly 800 votes following a recount in 2024.

But Bohannan remained on the state’s legislative payroll during that period. According to state legislative records, Iowa lawmakers earned a $25,000 annual salary in 2022, plus $175 per day per diem for up to 100 days, or $17,500.

The Democratic lawmaker has also faced mounting criticism for her past comments and middle-class messaging on the campaign trail.

‘QUEEN OF DEI’ RUNNING FOR CONGRESS RIPPED HER RURAL STATE AS ‘BACKWARDS’ ON PODCAST

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, attends a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center after a meeting of the House Republican Conference Dec. 16, 2025.(CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital previously reported that Bohannan warned Iowa could be seen as “backwards” over limits on diversity training at public schools and universities and “look like a backwater” over restrictions on transgender athletes.

Other reports revealed that Bohannan and her husband owned a waterfront Sarasota, Florida, condo valued between $500,001 and $1 million, in addition to a $1.55 million Iowa City home while campaigning as a hard-working, middle-class advocate who understands what it’s like “to still struggle to put food on the table.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Bohannan’s campaign for comment.

Kiera McDonald is a Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.

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New power axis in the making? Three military heavyweights lock arms, complicating Abraham Accords strategy

August 12, 2026 9:53am EDT / Fox News

Analysts question whether the agreement challenges US-backed security architecture or complements American partnerships

Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan pact signals new regional security model, Saudi expert says

Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian says the alliance complements US interests by increasing burden-sharing rather than challenging the Abraham Accords.

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A new defense pact linking Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan is fueling debate over whether the three countries are laying the groundwork for a competing regional bloc — potentially challenging the U.S.-backed architecture built around Israel and the Abraham Accords — or simply creating a new model of burden-sharing among American partners.

The three countries, all with longstanding security ties to the United States, enter the pact with different interests — but together they could begin shifting the region’s balance of power.

Saudi Arabia signed a Strategic Defense Agreement with the United States in November 2025 and was designated a major non-NATO ally, but Riyadh did not secure the treaty-level, Article 5-style U.S. defense guarantee it had long sought, making the new pact a potential hedge against uncertainty over Washington’s future security commitments.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state, gains greater energy security, Saudi investment and regional influence, while offering significant military capabilities — although whether its nuclear deterrent extends to its partners remains unconfirmed. Turkey, already a NATO member, gains a larger market for its growing defense industry and additional strategic weight as tensions with Israel rise.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (L), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (R) sign a trilateral joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on August 7, 2026.(TUR Presidency /Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Taken together, the arrangement gives three U.S. partners greater ability to build deterrence on their own — potentially easing Washington’s security burden while also giving them more independence from it.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on Aug. 7. A joint statement said the pact was intended to “strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression” and stipulated that an armed attack against one country would be regarded as an attack against all three.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan went further the following day, telling Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency that the agreement was “technically the same” as NATO’s Article 5 mutual-defense provision, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all. Fidan said, however, that the countries would consult on the degree and form of assistance provided following an attack, with operational details still to be determined by a new ministerial committee. The alliance will also establish a general secretariat based in Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported Aug. 8.

Fidan said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants the alliance to eventually expand beyond its three founding members and identified Egypt as a potential participant. He said negotiations over the pact had been underway for two years and eight months.

Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly has pushed back on suggestions that the agreement represents the creation of a new sectarian or military bloc, saying it is not connected to nuclear ambitions or an arms race. Turkish officials have similarly said the pact is defensive and not directed against Iran or any other country.

Iran, meanwhile, played down the pact as a threat to Tehran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Aug. 10 that Iran saw no reason to be concerned that the agreement was directed against it, telling Reuters that the pact reflected a regional shift toward countries relying more heavily on their own security capabilities rather than outside powers.

“Any plan that is based on the geopolitical and historical realities of the region, is comprehensive and inclusive, and correctly identifies the enemy and the threat, has a chance of helping to strengthen security and prevent instability and abuses by the Zionist enemy and its allies,” Baghaei said, referring to Israel.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Pakistani government for comment but did not receive responses in time for publication.

Sinan Ciddi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and director of its Turkey program, told Fox News Digital that he remains skeptical that the pact currently amounts to a NATO-style alliance.

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“Does it have teeth? Is it a serious deterrent? Is that a serious collective defense pact? Is it a Muslim NATO? We’re not actually sure yet,” Ciddi said.

Ciddi said each of the three countries enters the pact with different incentives. For Saudi Arabia, he sees it as a hedge against doubts over the reliability of U.S. security guarantees; for Pakistan, it offers greater energy security, Saudi investment and added regional prestige; and for Turkey, it creates new opportunities for defense cooperation and a larger market for its arms industry. Ankara also gains additional deterrent weight as its tensions with Israel grow, he argued.

“I would say that this pact is much more targeted towards closer economic and commercial ties rather than substantive NATO-like security ties,” Ciddi added.

Saudi Arabia rejects the suggestion that the agreement represents a turn away from Washington.

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Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is received by Deputy Governor of Mecca region, Prince Saud bin Mishaal bin Abdulaziz upon his arrival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, August 6, 2026.(SPA Saudi Pess Agency via Reuters)

“The United States remains to be our primary strategic partner,” a Saudi source told Fox News Digital on background, saying the kingdom’s expanding ties with Pakistan and Turkey should not be viewed as coming at the expense of its relationship with Washington.

The Saudi source also rejected descriptions of the agreement as a “Muslim NATO” or Sunni alliance and said it was not directed against Israel, Iran or any other particular country. Asked whether the pact represented a Saudi move away from normalization with Israel, the source said, “It’s not related in any way.”

Aziz Alghashian, a senior non-resident fellow at the Gulf International Forum, offered a similar interpretation.

“I don’t think it’s a counterweight to the Abraham Accords,” Alghashian told Fox News Digital.

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Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, ahead of the expected signing of a defense deal between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, August 7, 2026.(Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via Reuters)

Instead, Alghashian described the agreement as part of Saudi Arabia’s longer-term diversification of strategic relationships.

“I think it’s actually a supplementation. It’s complementary to the United States,” he said, arguing that greater cooperation among regional partners could provide increased burden-sharing for Washington.

From Pakistan’s perspective, the agreement offers both military and political advantages, Raza Rumi, distinguished lecturer at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at CUNY, told Fox News Digital.

“Pakistan gains strategic depth, greater leverage in the Gulf and a more formal place in an emerging regional security architecture,” Rumi said, pointing to potential cooperation on defense production, technology transfers, intelligence, training and air and missile defense.

But he cautioned against interpreting the pact’s mutual-defense language too literally.

“Seriously, but not literally as an Article 5-style guarantee, at least not yet,” Rumi said. Its credibility, he added, will depend on whether the countries develop joint planning, command structures and procedures for responding to crises.

Rumi also warned against assuming the Middle East is already dividing into two fixed camps. India, however, is watching the new alignment closely. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said Aug. 11 that it was examining the pact’s implications for national security and regional peace and stability, adding that New Delhi would take “whatever necessary steps are required” to safeguard its interests.

“These states are hedging, not choosing permanent blocs,” he said.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (L), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C), and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (R) sign a trilateral defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on August 7, 2026.(Turkish Presidency / Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Ciddi, on the other hand, argued that the agreement reflects “serious reservations” among regional countries about U.S. security guarantees. His greater concern is that even a militarily weak pact could encourage opposing alignments to harden.

“Security pacts beget more security pacts,” Ciddi said, arguing that Israel, Greece, Cyprus and potentially India could deepen their own cooperation in response.

“You’re buying security, but you’re also creating tension,” he said. “That’s where I think the harm comes in.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on November 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Calling the pact a direct counterweight to the Abraham Accords or the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor would therefore be “premature,” Rumi argued. But he said a broader competition is emerging over the region’s future — between U.S.-backed economic integration involving India, Israel and the Gulf and efforts by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan to develop greater strategic autonomy.

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.