President Donald Trump has reported to the West Wing's Situation Room multiple times in recent days as the conflict in Iran comes to a rolling boil and the U.S. considers launching its own attacks on the Islamic Republic over mounting concerns it could produce a nuclear weapon in a short span of time."Yes, I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this that Iran's got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate," Trump told reporters Wednesday on the U.S. potentially striking Iran as it continues trading deadly strikes with Israel. "And I said, why didn't you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction? Why didn't you go? I said to people, why didn't you negotiate with me two weeks ago? You could have done fine. You would have had a country. It's very sad to watch this."Fox News Digital spoke to previous presidential administration officials Fox News host and former Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who served under the first Trump administration, and former National Security Advisor under the first Trump administration John Bolton, who also served as ambassador to the U.N. under President George W. Bush's administration. They both conveyed the serious and historic tone the room and its meetings typically hold.The Situation Room is a high-tech 5,000-square-foot complex in the West Wing of the White House that includes multiple conference rooms. President John F. Kennedy commissioned the complex in 1961 following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba that same year, according to the National Archives. The complex was built in order to provide future presidents a dedicated area for crisis management, and was revamped in 2006 and renovated again in 2023.TRUMP WEIGHS STRIKING IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES: 'I MAY DO IT, I MAY NOT DO IT'"I often would sit there and think about the Osama bin Laden raid," McEnany told Fox News Digital in a phone interview Thursday morning. "This is where we saw our heroic Special Forces take out Osama bin Laden during the Obama administration. And I think we're at another point where similar decisions are being made, and even bigger decisions that may change the course of history are happening right now in that room."Trump again held a meeting in the Situation Room Thursday morning, when he received an intelligence briefing with national security advisers, which followed a Situation Room meeting on Wednesday afternoon, another meeting on Tuesday afternoon with national security advisers and a Monday evening meeting upon his abrupt return from the G7 summit in Canada this week.Top national security officials, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, are among officials who have joined Trump in the meetings as the administration weighs the spiraling conflict.TRUMP, RUBIO CUTTING G7 TRIP SHORT, RETURNING TO DC AS CHATTER INDICATES IRANIANS FLEEING TEHRANBolton explained to Fox Digital in a Thursday morning phone interview that two types of top-level meetings are held in the Situation Room.The first is known as a "principals meeting," he said, which includes Cabinet secretaries, such as the secretary of state and secretary of defense, and is chaired by the national security advisor a role currently filled by Secretary of State Marco Rubio."The principals committee usually meets to try and get everything sorted out so that they know what decisions the president is going to be confronted with," Bolton said. "They try and make sure all the information is pulled together so we can make an informed decision, set out the options they see, what the pros and cons are, and then have (the president) briefed."ISRAEL-IRAN WAR DIVIDES DEMOCRATS, BUT TRUMP'S DIPLOMACY ALSO SPLITTING REPUBLICANSThe second type of Situation Room meeting at the top level are official National Security Council meetings, which the president chairs."He chairs a full NSC meeting, and people review the information, update the situation, and the president can go back and forth with the advisors about asking questions, probing about the analysis, asking for more detail on something, kind of picking and choosing among the options, or suggesting new options," said Bolton, who served as Trump's national security advisor between April 2018 and September 2019."And out of that could well come decisions," he added.NETANYAHU DECLARES ISRAEL 'WILL EXACT THE FULL PRICE' AFTER IRANIAN STRIKE HITS HOSPITAL IN ISRAELMcEnany served as the first Trump administration's top spokeswoman at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Coronavirus Task Force operated out of the Situation Room as COVID-19 swept across the nation."A lot of critical decisions were made during the pandemic," she said. "It's a humbling encounter. Every time you go in, you leave your phone at the door. You go in, I think it's like 5,000 square feet, you're sitting there, there's clocks up from every country around the world, the different time zones. And you're just sitting there as critical decisions are made. And, in my case, it was regarding the pandemic, and there's back and forth, there's deliberation, and these decisions are made with the president there, obviously."She continued that during the pandemic, the task force would spend hours in the Situation Room on a daily basis as the team fielded an onslaught of updates from across the country. Trump frequently received the top lines from the meetings and joined the Situation Room during key decisions amid the spread of the virus."When he was in there, absolutely, there's a deference," she said, referring to how the tone of the room would change upon Trump's arrival. "Yet, you had key officials who spoke up, who were not afraid to give their point of view to him. But I think there's a recognition he's the commander in chief."IRAN STRIKES MAJOR ISRAELI HOSPITAL AFTER CLAIMING ISRAEL HIT ITS ARAK HEAVY WATER REACTORPress secretaries typically do not attend high-profile National Security Council meetings in the Situation Room, but have security clearances and can call into the room if needed, and are given updates from senior officials.McEnany added that press secretaries wouldn't typically want to be in the room for high-stakes talks because "you don't want your head filled with these sensitive deliberations of classified information" when speaking with the media.Bolton explained that for an issue such as Iran, the Situation Room meetings are likely restrictive and include top national security officials, such as the secretary of defense, director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."Sometimes it includes many more people, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Commerce Secretary, things like that," he said. "But in with this kind of decision, it could be very restrictive, so maybe just well, there is no national security advisor but, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, CIA Director, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, maybe the attorney general."Trump's first national security advisor under the second administration, Mike Waltz, was removed from the role and nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to the UN in May, with Rubio taking on the additional role. The White House has also slashed NSC staffing since Trump took office, including after Rubio took the helm.ISRAEL'S 'RESOUNDING' MILITARY CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN COULD BE HISTORIC TURNING POINT, EXPERTS SAYWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held a press conference on Thursday the first since Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iran June 12 and said the next two weeks will be a critical time period as U.S. officials map out next steps."I have a message directly from the president, and I quote: 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future. I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.' That's a quote directly from the president," she said Thursday.Israel launched pre-emptive strikes on Iran June 12 after months of attempted and stalled nuclear negotiations and subsequent heightened concern that Iran was advancing its nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared soon afterward that the strikes were necessary to "roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival."He added that if Israel had not acted, "Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time."Dubbed "Operation Rising Lion," the strikes targeted Iran's nuclear and missile infrastructure and killed a handful of senior Iranian military leaders.IRAN WARNS US JOINING CONFLICT WOULD MEAN ALLOUT WARTrump repeatedly has urged Iran to make a deal on its nuclear program, but the country pulled out of ongoing talks with the U.S. scheduled for Sunday in Oman.ISRAEL SAYS IT HAS AERIAL SUPERIORITY OVER TEHRAN, IRANIAN INTELLIGENCE LEADER KILLED""Iran should have signed the deal I told them to sign," Trump posted to Truth Social Monday evening, when he abruptly left an ongoing G7 summit in Canada to better focus on the IsraelIran conflict. "What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!"Leavitt added during Thursday's briefing that Trump is the "peacemaker-in-chief," while noting that he is also not one to shy from flexing America's strength."The president is always interested in a diplomatic solution to the problems in the global conflicts in this world. Again, he is a peacemaker in chief. He is the peace-through-strength president. And so, if there's a chance for diplomacy, the president's always going to grab it. But he's not afraid to use strength as well," she said.Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for additional comment on the high-level talks but did not immediately receive a reply.

A Texas doctor who was prosecuted after exposing transgender medical treatments being given to children brutally mocked the liberal justices' dissenting opinion in Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti, calling their arguments "insane" and illogical in a scathing thread on X.In a 6-3 ruling Wednesday, the court upheld a Tennessee law banning transgender treatments for minors, with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor issuing the dissent.Dr. Eithan Haim, a general surgeon who formerly worked at Texas Children's Hospital, blasted the three liberal justices for arguing that the state law discriminated based on sex because "male adolescents can receive medicines that help them look like boys," but females can't access medicines that help them look like boys."But that's insane," Haim wrote. "These treatments are meant for diagnosable pathologies in order to restore normal physiology."TRUMP DOJ DROPS CASE AGAINST TEXAS DOCTOR WHO BLEW WHISTLE ON TRANSGENDER MEDICINE FOR MINORS"It would be like saying a patient without cancer but identifies as having cancer is being discriminated against because a doctor is refusing to give them chemotherapy," he mocked.He also criticized the liberal justices for claiming the majority opinion "contorts logic" while offering the aforementioned argument."They have the audacity to claim the majority opinion contorts logic while they rely on anti-logic," Haim wrote.Haim rebuked the justices for behaving as if they were "certified, practicing doctors" while defending puberty blockers, one of the transgender treatments at the center of the high-profile case.After the justices argued that children who identify as a different gender than their "sex identified at birth" should be allowed to take puberty blockers, Haim trashed the declaration as "sheer medical lunacy.""It is not real. It has no basis in objective, observable reality," he chastised. "It has as much legitimacy as your local Voodoo witch doctor - like using a rabbit's foot to treat a hemorrhaging carotid artery."YOUNG WOMAN WHO REGRETS GENDER TRANSITION CELEBRATES SUPREME COURT DECISION ON YOUTH TRANS TREATMENTSHaim accused the justices of not paying attention during oral arguments by citing "debunked" talking points about the safety of puberty blockers from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), an organization that sets standards of care for transgender medicine."This is the same organization whose legitimacy was completely decimated during the oral arguments," he mocked.Haim also hit the justices for calling "gender-affirming care" a "matter of life and death" for some patients, which, he pointed out, even ACLU attorney Chase Strangio had to admit during oral arguments had no impact on rates of completed suicides."This is like a judge endorsing a guilty verdict in a murder case after finding out the victim is still alive," he wrote.The doctor said there was even more "anti-logic and WPATH propaganda" from the justices he didn't mention before sounding the alarm about what that means for the justices sitting on the highest court in the nation."Although we won this case, we should not fail to appreciate the severity of the situation," he warned. "These judges sit on the highest court in our country yet live in a reality informed by fantasy. This is not a good state of affairs," he concluded.Haim was prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department after he leaked documents to the media that revealed Texas Children's Hospital in Houston was performing transgender medical procedures on minors through May 2023. Hospital leadership had announced it had stopped providing sex-change surgeries and puberty blockers the year before, after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled it constituted child abuse under state law.He was indicted on federal charges for obtaining protected individual health information for patients that were not under his care and without authorization.The charges were dropped by the DOJ just days after President Donald Trump took office."The United States has finally agreed to drop the case against Dr. Haim, and the Court just granted dismissal," Marcella Burke, attorney for Eithan Haim, told Fox News Digital in January. "The case has been dismissed with prejudice so that the federal government can never again come after him for blowing the whistle on the secret pediatric transgender program at Texas Childrens Hospital."The Supreme Court's press office did not immediately return a request for comment.CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPFox News' Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.

Sean "Diddy" Combs' former assistant testified Friday about "intense" conditions while working for the disgraced music mogul.Brendan Paul began working for the "Last Night" rapper in late 2022 up until March 25, 2024 the day Combs' Los Angeles and Miami homes were raided as part of a human trafficking investigation.Paul, a former Syracuse basketball player, claimed that Combs wanted his employees to move like "Seal Team 6," and his mission was to make sure Combs was always happy. Paul allegedly used Adderall and cocaine to stay awake while employed and would go long periods without sleeping once for up to three days.DIDDY'S ALLEGED DRUG MULE TAKES THE STAND WITH IMMUNITY DEAL; TRIAL REVEALS DARK SECRETPaul was the fifth person to receive immunity in exchange for his testimony in Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial.He told Christine Slavik of the U.S. Attorney's Office that Kristina "KK" Khorram, Combs' former chief of staff, "basically ran the enterprise" for the Bad Boy Records founder. Paul said he initially packed "a lot of joints" for Combs in the early days of his employment and would then travel ahead of Combs to "advance locations," he testified.DIDDY'S SEX TRAFFICKING, RACKETEERING TRIAL FORCED INTO DELAY DUE TO JUROR ISSUEPaul claimed he was instructed to buy drugs for the "Victory" rapper and once purchased more than $4,000 worth of marijuana from a former assistant, Phillip Pines. He testified to purchasing drugs like ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine for his boss.LIKE WHAT YOURE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSPaul became embroiled in Combs' legal drama in April 2024, after he was named in a lawsuit filed by Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones against the disgraced mogul. The music producer claimed Paul worked as a "mule" for Combs, procuring and distributing "drugs and guns." The former college basketball star was then charged with felony cocaine possession, which was later dropped.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTERNearly six weeks after the trial began, prosecutors indicated they would rest their case by Friday. The rapper's legal team recently told Judge Arun Subramanian it will need between two and five days to present its case, a stark contrast to its initial request of up to two weeks with witnesses on the stand.Combs was charged with racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution in a federal indictment unsealed Sept. 17.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rahm Emanuel, in his most public comments to date about 2028, is confirming that he's considering a run for the next Democratic presidential nomination.The former Chicago mayor, White House chief of staff in former President Barack Obama's administration, and former congressman from Illinois said this week in an interview with Crain's Chicago Business that "I'm looking at the (Democratic) field, and most importantly, what I have to contribute.""I have been there," Emanuel added in an interview Thursday on CNN. "I have something I think I can offer. But I havent made that decision."Emanuel, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Japan the past four years during former President Joe Biden's administration, noted that "if I said I wasnt, it wouldnt be true. If I said I have decided, that also wouldnt be true."2028 WATCH: HERE ARE 21 DEMOCRATS WHO MAY RUN FOR PRESIDENTEmanuel, who worked as a policy adviser in the 1990s in then-President Bill Clinton's administration and who later steered the Democrats' capture of the House majority in the 2006 election, has been seen for months as a possible contender for what is likely to be a wide-open and crowded 2028 Democratic presidential nomination race.SIX REPUBLICANS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON IN THE 2028 WHITE HOUSE RACEAnd since returning from Japan at the end of the Biden administration, Emanuel has been offering blistering assessments of the Democratic Party, in the wake of last November's stunning setbacks when the party lost control of the White House, the Senate, and failed to win back the House majority from the GOP.Emanuel called the Democratic Party's brand "toxic" and "weak and woke" in a profile piece last month in the Wall Street Journal."If you want the country to give you the keys to the car, somebodys got to be articulating an agenda thats fighting for America, not just fighting Trump," he told the Wall Street Journal.EMANUEL WARNS DEMOCRATS HAVE BECOME THE PARTY OF PUNKSIn his interview with Crain's, Emanuel urged Democrats to return to "kitchen table issueswe have to go back to how we won. Focus on middle-class economics and values."But the moderate Emanuel has long earned the ire of the progressive wing of the party. He was heavily criticized by many on the left over a decade ago for his handling, as Chicago mayor, of the police murder of Laquan McDonald, which grabbed national attention.And progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, in 2021, tried to block confirmation of Emanuel's ambassadorship over long-held allegations he tried to cover up the McDonald shooting.

A Florida-based former snitch for the DEA has been charged with extorting major cocaine traffickers from overseas, according to federal court documents.Jorge Hernandez, a 57-year-old nicknamed "Bowling Ball," spent the past 25 years helping the feds knock down kingpins, according to The Associated Press, which profiled him for his role as a witness in a DEA corruption trial in 2023.Beginning in 2020, he allegedly pretended to be a paralegal and solicited payoff money from drug runners hauling in kilos from Colombia and the Dominican Republic.US GOVERNMENT TAKING DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT APPROACH USING TERRORISM CHARGES AGAINST DRUG CARTELS: FBI ALUMHernandez's alleged targets were already awaiting extradition to the United States to face criminal charges when the FBI says he approached them with the scheme, claiming that he would bring them "the best legal team in the United States" and land sentences of just a few years in prison for suspects facing 10 years to life.Part of that time served, he allegedly told them, would be in an apartment.BONDI, PATEL ANNOUNCE SEIZURE OF OVER $509M IN COCAINE LINKED TO CARTELSAs part of the process, he allegedly obtained a legitimate paralegal certification and used it to meet with jailed suspects in unrecorded attorney visits.Read the criminal complaint:When they did not receive light sentences, he blamed the FBI and the traffickers' own lawyers according to the criminal complaint.He allegedly took bribes in the form of cash, vehicles and real estate and other expensive goods -- threatening the drug runners' family members if they didn't pay up. He raked in between $4 and $6 million, according to prosecutors.One of the traffickers offered his mother's house as collateral, which he told Hernandez was 70% paid off, according to the complaint.In a dispute over $200,000, Hernandez allegedly told another trafficking suspect that "he should pay because freedom does not have a price."Hernandez is currently on federal probation until May 2027 for a money laundering conspiracy, according to court documents.

The Trump administration is giving California's federally funded sex education program 60 days to remove all references to gender identity or face potential termination of its funding.California's Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant has been under scrutiny by the Trump administration since at least March, when the HHS's Administration for Children and Families (ACF) requested the federally funded state-operated program send copies of its curriculum and other relevant course materials to them for review.According to ACF, the probe was initiated to ensure the state's sexual education programming is medically accurate and age-appropriate. The agency said in a Friday notice sent to California's PREP program, reviewed by Fox News Digital, that following its examination of the program's curriculum and other teaching materials, it found a litany of subjects and language within the course materials deemed to fall outside the program's "authorizing statute," in particular references to "gender ideology." As a result, ACF said it halted their review for "medical accuracy," since the content it found is not statutorily allowed in the first place. 4-H FEDERALLY FUNDED CAMPS UNDER FIRE FOR CABINING KIDS, ADULT COUNSELORS BY 'IDENTITY'"The Trump administration will not tolerate the use of federal funds for programs that indoctrinate our children," said ACF's acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison. "The disturbing gender ideology content in Californias PREP materials is both unacceptable and well outside the programs core purpose. ACF remains committed to radical transparency and providing accountability so that parents know what their children are being taught in schools."Among the materials ACF found, which it now wants to be removed, was a lesson for middle school-aged students that seeks to introduce them to the concepts of transgenderism."Weve been talking during class about messages people get on how they should act as boys and girlsbut as many of you know, there are also people who dont identify as boys or girls, but rather as transgender or gender queer," the lesson states to students. "This means that even if they were called a boy or a girl at birth and may have body parts that are typically associated with being a boy or a girl, on the inside, they feel differently."DOJ CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION SETS TITLE IX DEADLINE FOR CALIFORNIA ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES IN GIRLS' SPORTSACF flagged parts of the curriculum for high school-aged students as well, which gets into topics like differentiating between "social transitioning" and "medical transitioning." The high school-aged materials also include instruction on what it means to be "non-binary" and language that tells students "gender-identity" is "essentially a social status."Teacher training materials part of the California PREP program were among other aspects of the California sex-ed curriculum that were flagged by ACF."All people have a gender identity," the teacher training materials state. They also instruct educators to refer to people who follow the biological marker they are "assigned at birth" as "cisgender" and adds that those who are not "cisgender" may identify as "non-binary, agender, bigender, genderfluid, [or] genderqueer."In ACF's notice, the agency pointed out that under the authorizing statute that established California's PREP program, it is defined as a program designed to educate young people mainly on abstinence, contraception and avoiding sexually transmitted infections, like HIV/AIDS.CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS PRAISE TRUMP ADMIN'S PROBE INTO STATE ALLEGEDLY HIDING KIDS' 'GENDER IDENTITY'"The statute neither requires, supports nor authorizes teaching students that gender identity is distinct from biological sex or that boys can identify as girls and vice versa," ACF's notice to California PREP states."We are aware that this curricula and other program materials were previously approved by ACF," the notice continues. "However, the prior administration erred in allowing PREP grants to be used to teach students gender ideology because that approval exceeded the agencys authority to administer the program consistent with the authorizing legislation as enacted by Congress."California now has 60 days to remove all gender ideology references from its PREP curricula and other program materials, and then it must resend its materials for approval by ACF. If California fails to make the necessary changes requested by the Trump administration, the agency says it has the authority to withhold, disallow, suspend or terminate the federal grant currently funding California's PREP program.

Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Dennis Santana took a swing at a fan during Thursday nights doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers after saying the individual "crossed the line."The incident took place near thevisitors bullpen during the seventh inning of the second game. Santana declined to discuss specifics of what prompted the altercation."You guys know me I'm a calm demeanor type of person," Santana said through an interpreter after the game.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM"I've never had any issues for any of the teams I've played for. This guy crossed the line a few times."He was pressed further but declined to elaborate on what prompted him to jump and swing at the fan in the stands."He crossed the line, and I'd like to leave it at that. I've never had anything like this happen in my eight years in baseball."CONTROVERSIAL NATIONAL ANTHEM SINGER AT DODGERS GAME SAYS SHE'S RECEIVED DEATH THREATSMultiple videos shared online showed Santana approaching the area where the fan was standing. He appeared to be standing next to a security guard or officer and pointed in the direction of the fan before leaping and taking a swing. He was pulled back by a teammate before leaving the bullpen.ADetroit Tigers spokesperson confirmed toThe Athletic that the fan was ejected from the game.Santana said he spoke to manager Don Kelly and expressed "regret" for his reaction, adding, "You know I'm a professional."Santana entered the game in the ninth inning, pitching to one batter before the game was delayed by rain. The Pirates won, 8-4.The Associated Press contributed to this report.Follow Fox News Digitalssports coverage on X, and subscribe tothe Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

The New York Times editorial board pointed the finger at President Donald Trump on Friday following another incident of deadly political violence.In a new editorial, the board said Trump is the chief individual to blame for America sliding into an era marked by political violence."Although Mr. Trump has been a personal victim of this violence, he also deserves particular responsibility for our angry culture," the board declared.MINNESOTA LAWMAKER HAPPENED TO BE ON VACATION WHEN MASKED SUSPECT KNOCKED ON DOORThe headline read, "The Nation Encourages Political Violence by Allowing It to Seem Normal."The Times published the piece days after the deadly shootings that claimed the lives of Minnesota state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and resulted in the wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, last weekend.The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, was arrested on Sunday following a two-day manhunt in Minnesota after he allegedly posed as a police officer and killed the Hortmans. The previous day, he carried out a related attack against Hoffman and his wife.Boelter was found with a cache of weapons, including at least three AK-47 assault rifles and a 9mm handgun, along with a manifesto that listed 70 names and addresses, some of which belonged to other public officials.The Friday editorial argued that this latest politically motivated attack represents a "surge in political violence during the Trump years" that has imperiled not only American lives but also our countrys collective memory."SUSPECTED MINNESOTA LAWMAKER ASSASSIN VANCE BOELTER CAPTUREDThe board recounted several high-profile instances of political violence that have occurred in America in the last decade, listing the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., in 2017, the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot, the attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosis, D-Calif., husband, and the two assassination attempts on Trump, as part of the "grim catalog of political violence in recent years."It declared that "Fear has become a fact of life for politicians," elsewhere noting that "Democrats and Republicans alike have been the victims" of attacks driven by "demonizing comments" that people "on both the firth and the left engage in."The board then blamed Trump for this, justifying the point in stating, "He uses threatening language in ways that no other modern president has. He praises people who commit violence in his name, such as the Jan. 6 rioters, many of whom he has pardoned, despite their attacks on police officers and others. He sometimes seems incapable of extending basic decency to Democrats."CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE"Instead of calling Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota to express condolences about the killings of two of his friends, Mr. Trump insulted Mr. Walz," the piece stated, adding, "It is no coincidence that hate crimes have surged, according to the F.B.I., during Mr. Trumps decade as a dominant political figure."Other Democratic Party leaders have made the same argument about Trump in the days since the Minnesota lawmaker shooting. Figures like former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pointed to the president when asked this week what has led to more violent incidents that seem to be politically motivated.The Trump administration has rejected these statements, with White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson telling Fox News Digital earlier this week, "Democrats are wrong to exploit this tragedy and blame President Trump President Trump the survivor of two assassination attempts is uniting the country through patriotism, prosperity, and success. Radical Democrats must stop with their divisive, violent rhetoric."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The embattled former Chicago suburb "super mayor" has announced her latest business venture as her legal woes continue to pile up following a tumultuous time in office.Tiffany Henyard, the former Democratic mayor of Dolton, has announced she is peddling a "tell-all" autobiography, titled "Standing on Business."In a Facebook post, the disgraced politician vowed "the real story is coming" while sharing a link to pre-order the book - which boasts a price tag of $99 and is reportedly the first of a three-part series - from a self-publishing website.FORMER DEM 'SUPER MAYOR' PLEADS THE FIFTH AFTER FAILING TO PRODUCE PUBLIC RECORDS IN COURT"From mommy moves to making history, [Henyard] is not just showing up," she wrote. "Shes standing on business."However, the former mayors constituents appeared less than pleased, taking their opinions online to voice their skepticism of Henyards latest business venture."Still trying to hustle money!" one commenter said in the Dolton Politics Facebook Page."Michelle Obamas bestseller was cheaper than this mess," another poster wrote. "The unmitigated gal!"SELF-PROCLAIMED DEMOCRATIC 'SUPER MAYOR' ORDERED TO COURT AS SCANDAL-PLAGUED TENURE UNRAVELSHenyards attorneys did not immediately respond to Fox News Digitals request for comment.Henyards announcement comes as she faces several legal woes stemming from her time as Dolton mayor and Thornton Township supervisor after her reelection bid proved unsuccessful.Earlier this month, Henyard pleaded the Fifth in a court hearing over a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from her time at the helm."The smear campaign against Tiffany Henyard, which began while she was in office, continues even now that she is out of office," her attorney, Beau Bridley, previously said in a statement to Fox News Digital.CRITIC OF EMBATTLED DOLTON, ILLINOIS MAYOR SEES BUSINESS DESTROYED BY SUSPICIOUS FIRE: OFFICIALSHenyard was previously held in contempt of court after she failed to hand over public documents related to the lawsuit. Her attorney subsequently acknowledged the former mayor does not have the requested documents, with an Illinois judge ruling Henyards legal team can submit an affidavit in its place."The mayor has no document that the plaintiff seeks," Bridley said. "This matter is going to be resolved with a simple affidavit. The whole hearing was much ado about nothing."The lawsuit was initially filed by the Edgar County Watchdogs Inc. in response to the organization suing Henyard and the Village of Dolton for failing to produce financial records after the documents were requested under federal FOIA laws.'SUPER MAYOR TIFFANY HENYARD SKIPS DOLTON MEETINGS AS CONTROVERSIAL TENURE NEARS QUIET END"We had little doubt Ms. Henyard would use losing the election as an excuse not to produce the documents," Edward "Coach" Weinhaus, attorney for Edgar County Watchdogs, previously said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Invoking the Fifth Amendment for a criminal investigation was an added wrinkle. The Watchdogs will keep looking for the documents even if the voters might have inadvertently thrown out the documents with the mayor."Henyard initially made national headlines in April 2024 after officials in her administration were served with subpoenas from the FBI in response to an alleged corruption investigation, FOX 32 Chicago reported. Henyard, however, was never charged.In response to the FBIs investigation, village trustees voted to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightful to investigate Henyards spending during her time as mayor, with the meeting spiraling into chaos as Henyards supporters clashed with her opponents.SELF-PROCLAIMED DEMOCRATIC SUPER MAYOR ORDERED TO COURT AS SCANDAL-PLAGUED TENURE UNRAVELSThe financial probe reportedly revealed the villages bank account fell from its initial $5.6 million balance to a $3.6 million deficit.Earlier this year, Henyard subsequently lost the citys mayoral primary to Jason House, who was sworn into office in May.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPOn the same day of her election loss, federal authorities slapped the Village of Dolton with a subpoena demanding records tied to a land development project allegedly tied to Henyards boyfriend.Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Former President Joe Biden slammed critics of Juneteenth as he spoke Thursday at an AME church service in Galveston Island, Texas the city where, on June 19, 1865, Gen. Gordon Granger issued the final federal orders enforcing emancipation at a time before telephones.Biden criticized the idea that Juneteenth is not worthy of federal holiday status. He also recalled visiting the Black community in Northeast Wilmington often while growing up in Claymont suggesting he visited the underserved neighborhood after attending early-morning Catholic Mass in Greenville, Del.He also appeared to stop himself before slamming President Donald Trump by name mentioning "this guy" then pausing to make the Sign of the Cross to applause from the congregants."I used to chair the African Affairs subcommittee," Biden claimed. "I've been to the origins of where slavery started [in Africa]. And to listen to them talk about it now, how things are changing. We have to remember, our country is founded on the promise of freedom; freedom for everybody," he said.ALASKA SENATOR LITERALLY TEARS UP BIDEN'S ENERGY ORDERS, BOOSTS WH EFFORTS TO LEVERAGE ARCTIC LNG IN ASIA TRADE"So, the events of Juneteenth are of monumental importance to the American story," he said, calling slavery "Americas original sin."Of the holidays critics, he said, "They dont want to remember but we all remember the moral stain. . . . ""Well, I took the view as president, we need to be honest about our history, especially if there's been any time going ever to erase our history. Not just here, but, this guy--" he added, trailing off and signing himself."Too many people are trying to erase our history, especially in the face of ongoing efforts to erase history from our textbooks and our classrooms."He went on to implicitly criticize Trump for returning southern military bases to their former names. However, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently noted in congressional testimony that the rescission of the base renamings does not return them to the namesakes of the Confederate generals but to other U.S. military heroes with the same surname."[D]arkness can hide much but can erase nothing," Biden said. "The Scripture tells us faith without work is dead."SPEAKER JOHNSON QUESTIONS WHETHER BIDN KNEW WHAT HE WAS SIGNING WITH TRANS VISIBILITY DAY PROCLAMATIONBiden then suggested Black Americans and other minorities are still facing roadblocks to the ballot box six decades after the Civil Rights Act."Stop those who try to make it more difficult to vote, and help people register to vote. Let's reach out to our families, our friends, our neighbors, remind them how critical it is," Biden said.For his part, Trump said Thursday the additional federal holiday enacted by Biden is costing the U.S. "billions of dollars to keep all of these businesses closed.""Soon well end up having a holiday for every working day of the year."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPSome other leaders, like West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, issued Juneteenth proclamations but kept state offices open on the nations newest federal holiday.Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.