Politics

Progressive Democrats spoke out against antisemitism following a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national set peaceful protesters on fire at a demonstration to bring Israeli hostages home. 

‘I am horrified by last night’s horrific attack in Boulder,’ progressive Democrat and potential 2028 presidential candidate,Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said on X. ‘My heart is with the victims and our Jewish communities across the country. Antisemitism is on the rise here at home, and we have a moral responsibility to confront and stop it everywhere it exists.’

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who was voted off the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2023 and was hit with a censure resolution in 2024 for alleged antisemitism, condemned the violence on Monday. 

‘I’m holding the victims and families in Boulder, Colorado in my heart,’ Omar said in a social media post. ‘Violence against anyone is never acceptable. We must reject hatred and harm in all its forms.’

While Omar’s censure resolution never passed, the House did vote to censure fellow ‘Squad’ member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., in 2023 for alleged anti-Israel comments. 

‘The violent attack in Boulder is horrific. My heart goes out to all of the victims and their families. Violence has no place in our communities,’ Tlaib said on X.

Two progressive Democrats, who joined Congress in 2022, also slammed the ‘antisemitic attack’ in social media statements. 

‘I am horrified by the antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado,’ Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, who was elected in 2022, said on social media. ‘My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and Jewish communities across the country.

‘Yesterday’s antisemitic attack against those in Boulder, CO calling for the safe return of hostages is deplorable and heartbreaking,’ Rep. Delia C. Ramirez, D-Ill., said on X, condemning both violence against Gaza and violence in our local U.S. communities. 

‘Neither bombing in Gaza nor violence perpetrated in our communities will bring us closer to peace. Only by recognizing our interconnected safety and shared humanity can we carve a path forward. As we hold those affected by the attack close, our nation’s leaders must unite to reject all forms of hate and violence that continue to make us all less safe, and to honor the dignity of every human life,’ she added. 

Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., the first Gen-Z congressman, admitted he should have supported a resolution in 2023 condemning antisemitism on college campuses. He joined the progressive Democrats on Monday who condemned the attack. 

‘I’m horrified to hear about the antisemitic attack in Boulder, just weeks after the shooting of two Israeli embassy officials in DC. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. There is no place for this hatred and violence — and we must keep working to end it. Political and bigoted violence in our country must be denounced swiftly and strongly by all,’ he said. 

One of the original ‘Squad’ members who was elected in 2018, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., added on X on Monday afternoon, ‘The antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado is horrifying and unacceptable. Violence against innocent people is never the answer. It will never bring justice for anyone, and we must do everything to root it out. I pray for the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted.’

The Massachusetts Democrat also spoke out against President Donald Trump on Monday. 

‘Donald Trump wants to sow fear & chaos in our communities so we feel alone & defeated — but we won’t let him. Tune in as I join immigrant justice advocates, local leaders, & impacted families to tell Trump & ICE: Hands off our immigrant neighbors,’ Pressley wrote on X, as she directed her followers to a livestreamed event condemning Trump’s deportation policies.

As of Monday afternoon, ‘Squad’ member, Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania did not condemn the attack on social media. Lee’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is coordinating with his colleagues in the House to push back against Senate Republicans’ efforts to ram President Donald Trump’s wish list of policy desires through the Senate.

In a letter to Senate Democrats on Sunday, Schumer, D-N.Y., laid out a multipronged strategy to inflict as much pain on Republicans as possible in the budget reconciliation process, the legislative strategy the GOP is employing to sidestep negotiating with Democrats to advance the president’s priorities.

While congressional Republicans don’t need Democrats to move the colossal bill to Trump’s desk, Schumer wants to make the process as uncomfortable as possible as Senate Republicans begin a roughly monthlong sprint to put their fingerprints on what Trump deemed a ‘big, beautiful bill.’

The top Senate Democrat is coordinating with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and the top Democrats on crucial House committees to ‘share firsthand insight from their process and key Republican fault lines’ with their Senate counterparts.

‘Based on Senate Republicans’ public comments, it’s clear that if this reckless reconciliation bill passes the Senate it is very likely to contain changes, forcing it to be sent back to the House of Representatives,’ Schumer wrote. ‘That’s why we must be united with our House Democratic colleagues to fight this assault on working families.’

Indeed, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said much of the debate and subsequent tweaks to the bill would focus on finding deeper spending cuts. The House’s offering set a goal of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, but some Senate Republicans want to hit $2 trillion, while a smaller cohort of fiscal hawks want to go even deeper.

Thune said that Republicans’ main focus during the next month would be ensuring that Trump’s first-term tax cuts are made permanent with the massive bill and not allowed to expire by the end of the year on the Senate floor, marking the Senate’s return on Monday. 

‘We are not going to let that happen, and our biggest focus this month is completing this tax relief legislation with the goal of getting the final bill to the president before the Fourth of July,’ he said. ‘It’s going to be a very busy month, Mr. President.’ 

In all, 10 Senate committees will be tasked with sifting through the massive bill’s contents, which include the president’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt.

Schumer’s edict comes as those committees gear up to make their own revisions to the bill to, in part, fall in line with their own policy and spending desires and to also comply with Senate rules.

He noted that Senate Democrats have been working ‘overtime’ to target a litany of policies in the GOP’s plan that ‘are in clear violation of the reconciliation rules and, in some cases, an assault on our very democracy.’

Some Republicans already have issues with certain policies in the bill, like cuts to Medicaid or the plan to move up the timeline to phase out green energy tax credits ushered in by the Biden administration.

Schumer also prodded Democrats to continue aggressively denouncing the bill on the ground in their home states and districts, arguing that ‘if the American people truly knew how deeply devastating, damaging, and deceitful this Republican plan is, they will reject it.’

‘Republicans’ ‘One Ugly Bill’ is a farce; an attack on the values that make America great,’ he wrote. ‘We know the first four months of Donald Trump’s presidency have been catastrophic for the American people. It is our duty to fight for American families, to stop the damage, and make certain Republicans are held accountable.’

President Donald Trump turned to social media on Monday evening to sell Americans on his vision for the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ calling it an opportunity to turn the U.S. around after what he called ‘four disastrous years’ under former President Joe Biden.

The House passed the spending bill in late May and it is now in the Senate’s hands.

‘We will take a massive step to balancing our Budget by enacting the largest mandatory Spending Cut, EVER, and Americans will get to keep more of their money with the largest Tax Cut, EVER, and no longer taxing Tips, Overtime, or Social Security for Seniors — Something 80 Million Voters supported in November,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social. ‘It will unleash American Energy by expediting permitting for Energy, and refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It will make American Air Travel GREAT AGAIN by purchasing the final Air Traffic Control System.’

The president said the bill includes the construction of The Gold Dome, which he says will secure American skies from adversaries. The bill will also secure the border by building more of the wall and ‘supercharging the deportation of millions of Criminal Illegals’ that he said Biden allowed into the U.S.

‘It will kick millions of Illegals off Medicaid, and make sure SNAP is focused on Americans ONLY! It will also restore Choice and Affordability for Car purchases by REPEALING Biden’s EV Mandate, and all of the GREEN NEW SCAM Tax Credits and Spending,’ Trump wrote. ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL also protects our beautiful children by stopping funding for sick sex changes for minors.’

The Senate returned to Washington on Monday, and in his post, Trump called on his Republican allies in Congress to work quickly to get the bill on his desk before July 4.

In a separate post, Trump addressed what he referred to as false statements about the bill, reiterating that it is the ‘single biggest Spending Cut in History.’

He noted that there will not be any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, adding they will be saved from ‘the incompetence of the Democrats.’

‘The Democrats, who have totally lost their confidence and their way, are saying whatever comes to mind — Anything to win!’ Trump said. ‘They suffered the Greatest Humiliation in the History of Politics, and they’re desperate to get back on their game, but they won’t be able to do that because their Policies are so bad, in fact, they would lead to the Destruction of our Country and almost did.

‘The only ‘cutting’ we will do is for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, something that should have been done by the Incompetent, Radical Left Democrats for the last four years, but wasn’t,’ he concluded.

Senate Republicans will get their turn to parse through the colossal package and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who can only afford to lose three votes.

Congressional Republicans are in a dead sprint to get the megabill — filled with Trump’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt — onto the president’s desk by early July.

If passed in its current state, the bill is expected to add roughly $3 trillion to the national debt, including interest, according to the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget.

Fox News Digital’s Amy Nelson, Pilar Arias, Brie Stimson and Alex Miller contributed to this report.

A report from Axios has indicated that the United States plans to allow Iran to continue limited low-level uranium enrichment on its soil for an unspecified period of time. 

On Saturday, the Trump administration presented its first formal proposal to Tehran in an attempt to sign a nuclear deal with the country, but did not share any details of the proposed deal publicly. ‘President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb,’ Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said over the weekend. ‘Special Envoy Witkoff has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it’s in their best interest to accept it.’

The report, from Axios, cited two sources familiar with the Trump administration’s ongoing negotiations with Iran. The White House did not deny the details of Axios’ reporting when Fox News Digital reached out for confirmation. 

Instead, a White House official responded with a statement calling the terms of the deal ‘very tough’ and insisted the terms of the deal prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

‘President Trump is speaking the cold, hard truth. The terms we gave Iran were very tough and would make it impossible for them to ever obtain a nuclear bomb,’ the official said. 

Media reports Monday said that Iranian officials were planning to reject the U.S.’s proposed deal. The new details reported by Axios might serve to assuage some of the Iranians’ concerns, but could also anger some Republicans, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have all expressed that they only want zero nuclear enrichment as part of the deal – in addition to full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program.

Axios reported that the details of the proposal described to them indicated that Iran would not be allowed to build any more new enrichment facilities, must ‘dismantle critical infrastructure for conversion and processing of uranium,’ and would be forced to halt any new research and development on nuclear centrifuges. However, according to the details of the proposal reported by Axios, Iran will be allowed to participate in a regional enrichment consortium under certain conditions. 

For example, Iran will only be able to develop domestic enrichment capabilities for civilian purposes only, according to Axios. Meanwhile, after signing the agreement, Iran would be forced to reduce its enrichment concentration to 3% and shut down all underground enrichment facilities for an agreed-upon time period by both parties.

The new proposal also seeks to develop auditing and oversight mechanisms to ensure Iran follows the rules of the agreement. 

Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court has reached a decision to allow nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people to update their birth certificates.

The action was brought about by six non-binary individuals born in Puerto Rico who filed a lawsuit claiming that ‘the Commonwealth’s current Birth Certificate Policy violates the right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, according to the court filing.’

The court’s decision will now allow people who identify as nonbinary or gender-nonconforming to select ‘X’ as their gender marker on birth certificates.

In the filing, the court explains that there would be no rational basis to deny the request.

‘The current Birth Certificate Policy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico arbitrarily distinguishes between binary and nonbinary individuals and subjects nonbinary individuals to disfavored treatment, without any justification for doing so. In such cases, it is the duty of the federal courts to intervene, to guarantee the equal protection of all persons under the law,’ it states.

Pedro Julio Serrano, president of Puerto Rico’s LGBTQ+ Federation, called Friday’s ruling a historic one that upholds equality, according to the Associated Press.

The defendants named in the case opposed the request, arguing that ‘the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has a legitimate interest in maintaining vital records and statistics regarding its citizens.’

The filing argued that this argument ignores the fact that the Commonwealth already permits its citizens to amend information on their birth certificates, including modifying the gender marker.

The legislators have already enacted legislation to ensure that, in the case of modifications, the original, unaltered birth certificates are preserved by the state.

Puerto Rico joins at least 17 U.S. states that permit their residents to include the nonbinary or gender-neutral sex on their birth certificates.

Millions of South Korean voters are casting their ballots on Tuesday for a new president in a snap election following the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yoon, a conservative, faces trial on rebellion charges over his short-lived martial law declaration in December.

Pre-election surveys suggested Lee Jae-myung, Yoon’s liberal archrival, appeared poised to coast to victory due to public frustration over the conservatives in the wake of Yoon’s martial law decree.

The main conservative candidate, Kim Moon Soo, has struggled to win over moderate swing voters, as his People Power Party grapples with internal feuding over how to view Yoon’s actions.

Over the past six months, large crowds of people rallied in the streets to either protest against Yoon or come to his support.

The winner of the election will immediately be sworn in as president on Wednesday for a single, full five-year term without the typical two-month transition period. The new president will face significant challenges, including a slowing economy, U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and North Korea’s nuclear threats.

Voting began at 6 a.m. at more than 14,000 polling stations nationwide. Polls will close at 8 p.m., and observers say a winner could be declared as early as midnight.

As of 2 p.m. local time, more than 13 million people had cast their ballots. Roughly 15 million also voted during last week’s two-day early voting period, meaning voter turnout stood at 65.5%. South Korea has 44.4 million eligible voters.

On Tuesday, Lee, whose Democratic Party led the legislative effort to oust Yoon, urged voters to ‘deliver a stern and resolute judgement’ against the conservatives over Yoon’s martial law declaration.

In one of his final campaign speeches on Monday, Lee argued that a victory by Kim would represent ‘the return of the rebellion forces, the destruction of democracy and the deprival of people’s human rights.’ He also vowed to revitalize the economy, reduce inequality and ease national divisions.

Kim, a former labor minister under Yoon, warned that a win by Lee would allow him to hold excessive power, launch political retaliation against opponents and legislate laws to protect him from various legal troubles, as his party already has control of parliament.

Lee ‘is now trying to seize all power in South Korea and establish a Hitler-like dictatorship,’ Kim said at a rally in the southeastern city of Busan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the debt limit increase included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is still a deal-breaker for him, saying it goes against conservative values, despite discussions with President Donald Trump about his concerns. 

Paul told reporters on Monday that the bill will increase the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, the largest debt increase in the U.S.

‘We have never raised the debt ceiling without actually meeting that target,’ he said. ‘So you can say it doesn’t directly add to the debt, but if you increase the ceiling $5 trillion, you’ll meet that. And what it does is it puts it off the back-burner. And then we won’t discuss it for a year or two.’

‘So I think it’s a terrible idea to do this,’ he added. 

Paul said he spoke with Trump about his concerns over the legislation during a ‘lengthy discussion,’ but that Trump ‘did most of the talking.’ 

‘I’ve told him I can’t support the bill if they’re together,’ Paul said. ‘If they were to separate out and take the, debt ceiling off that I very much could consider the rest of the bill.’

Paul noted that Congress voted to continue spending to avert a government shutdown. 

‘During the campaign, Republicans said they were against Bidennomics and Bidenflation and Biden spending. When March, we renewed the Biden’s spending levels,’ Paul said. ‘So the spending levels we live under now are Biden-GOP spending levels. They’ve all come into agreement.’

‘But come the end of September, when our fiscal year ends, the deficit is going to be $2.2 trillion. That’s just not conservative,’ he added. ‘They’re borrowing 5 trillion. That means they’re anticipating the following year being over 2 trillion as well. So it’s just not a conservative thing to do.’

Over the weekend, Trump warned Paul would be ‘playing right into the hands of the Democrats’ if he votes against the bill.

‘If Senator Rand Paul votes against our Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, he is voting for, along with the Radical Left Democrats, a 68% Tax Increase and, perhaps even more importantly, a first time ever default on U.S. Debt,’ he wrote on his Truth Social platform. 

‘Rand will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, and the GREAT people of Kentucky will never forgive him! The GROWTH we are experiencing, plus some cost-cutting later on, will solve ALL problems. America will be greater than ever before!’ he added. 

Next week, Senate Republicans will get their turn to go through the bill and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

The FBI is urging members of the public to tip them off about any facilities or individuals who ‘mutilate’ children with surgeries ‘under the guise of gender-affirming care.’

The federal law enforcement agency shared the message Monday on social media.

‘Help the FBI protect children. As the Attorney General has made clear, we will protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of gender-affirming care,’ the posts on X and Facebook read. ‘Report tips of any hospitals, clinics, or practitioners performing these surgical procedures on children at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.’

Chloe Cole responded to the FBI’s post on X by noting, ‘I’m a detransitioner and I’ve spoken personally with hundreds of others that have been seriously injured by this practice. We want to see this burnt to the ground.’

President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year titled ‘Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.’ 

The order noted, in part, that ‘it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.’

In an April memo, Attorney General Pam Bondi noted, ‘The Department of Justice will not sit idly by while doctors, motivated by ideology, profits, or both, exploit and mutilate our children. Under my watch, the Department will act decisively to protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of care.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department on Tuesday morning, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.