Politics

The Trump administration began handing over documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s case to the House Oversight Committee on Friday, a spokesperson for the panel said.

House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., has committed to making the documents public in the interest of transparency, albeit after a committee review for sensitive information related to Epstein’s victims.

‘The production contains thousands of pages of documents. The Trump DOJ is providing records at a far quicker pace than anything the Biden DOJ ever provided,’ the spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

‘The Committee intends to make these records public after thorough review to ensure any victims’ identification and child sexual abuse material are redacted. The Committee will also consult with the DOJ to ensure any documents released do not negatively impact ongoing criminal cases and investigations.’

The spokesperson added that the Trump DOJ was complying with Comer’s subpoena at a quicker pace than former Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland did in handing over materials related to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into ex-President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.

House investigators originally requested the Department of Justice (DOJ) produce a tranche of files pertaining to the late pedophile and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, by 12 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 19. 

It’s part of a wider bipartisan investigation into the handling of Epstein’s case, which has also reached several former attorneys general, FBI directors, and former first couple Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Comer announced Monday afternoon that he would delay the deadline until Friday in light of the DOJ’s cooperation.

‘Officials with the Department of Justice have informed us that the Department will begin to provide Epstein-related records to the Oversight Committee this week on Friday. There are many records in DOJ’s custody, and it will take the Department time to produce all the records and ensure the identification of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted,’ Comer said in a statement.

‘I appreciate the Trump administration’s commitment to transparency and efforts to provide the American people with information about this matter.’

Requested materials included all documents and communications in the DOJ’s possession relating to both Epstein and Maxwell, as well as files ‘further relating or referring to human trafficking, exploitation of minors, sexual abuse, or related activity.’

Documents relating specifically to the DOJ’s prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell, Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida, and any materials related to Epstein’s death were requested.

The House Oversight Committee asked for the documents to be largely unredacted, according to a subpoena obtained by Fox News Digital, ‘except for redactions to protect the personally identifiable information of victims, for any child sex abuse material as defined by the Department of Justice Manual, and any other redactions required by law.’

The deadline comes a day after former Attorney General Bill Barr was deposed by the House Oversight Committee behind closed doors. Barr was the first person scheduled to appear in the committee’s probe under subpoena.

The Clintons both have separate deposition dates scheduled for October.

Comer was directed to send the flurry of subpoenas after a House Oversight Committee subcommittee panel voted in favor of them during an unrelated hearing in July.

Renewed furor over Epstein’s case engulfed Capitol Hill after intra-GOP fallout over the Trump administration’s handling of the matter.

The DOJ effectively declared the case closed after an ‘exhaustive review,’ revealing Epstein had no ‘client list,’ did not blackmail ‘prominent individuals,’ and confirmed he did die by suicide in a New York City jail while awaiting prosecution.

In response to the backlash by some on the right, Trump directed the DOJ to release grand jury testimony related to Epstein – a request that’s been tied up in courts since then – while Attorney General Pam Bondi had her deputy, Todd Blanche, interview Maxwell in person to uncover any possible new information.

Comer also subpoenaed Maxwell but agreed to defer her scheduled deposition until after the Supreme Court heard her appeal to overturn her conviction.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment but did not immediately hear back.

As the 11th member of former President Joe Biden’s administration appeared before the House Oversight Committee this week, Fox News Digital asked senators on Capitol Hill if former Vice President Kamala Harris should testify next. 

‘I think they should take her behind closed doors and figure out what she knows and what she’s willing to talk about,’ Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said. 

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is leading the investigation into the alleged cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline and use of the autopen during his tenure as president. 

Comer said on Fox News’ ‘The Ingraham Angle’ last month that the ‘odds’ of Harris getting a subpoena to appear before the House Oversight Committee are ‘very high.’ 

While Marshall told Fox News Digital that Harris should testify, he admitted, ‘I don’t think you need her testimony to show Americans what I knew as a physician a long time ago, that Joe Biden had a neurodegenerative disease of some sort.’

Marshall has a medical degree from the University of Kansas and practiced medicine for more than 25 years before running for public office. 

‘All you had to do is look at his very fixed, flat face,’ Marshall explained. ‘Look at his gait, the way he walked. He had a shuffled walk. He didn’t move his arms, hardly at all. When he talked, it was very monotone, a very soft voice. He had malingering thought processes. I don’t think it took much to figure that out.’

After listing the former president’s symptoms, the Kansas senator lamented that Biden ‘turned weakness into war,’ creating a national security threat. 

During Biden’s presidency, the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan resulted in the death of 13 U.S. soldiers, Russia invaded Ukraine and Hamas attacked Israel, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza.

But as Republicans demand transparency, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital that he is far more worried about the ‘challenges we face right now,’ particularly on the economy, inflation and the impact of Trump’s tariff policies. 

Meanwhile, Sen. John Hoeven R-N.D., defended the accountability argument, telling Fox News Digital that Americans ‘always want more information and more transparency.’

‘If you’re involved in an administration, you [should] always be willing to come in and say what you did and why you did it, and you know what it’s all about. I mean, that’s how it works, and that’s what the American people want,’ he said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden and Harris for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson criticized on Thursday what she said were the ‘recent tendencies’ of the Supreme Court to side with the Trump administration, providing her remarks in a bitter dissent in a case related to National Institutes of Health grants.

Jackson, a Biden appointee, rebuked her colleagues for ‘lawmaking’ on the shadow docket, where an unusual volume of fast, preliminary decision-making has taken place related to the hundreds of lawsuits President Donald Trump’s administration has faced.

‘This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins,’ Jackson wrote.

The liberal justice pointed to the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of Calvinball, which describes it as the practice of applying rules inconsistently for self-serving purposes.

Jackson, the high court’s most junior justice, said the majority ‘[bent] over backwards to accommodate’ the Trump administration by allowing the NIH to cancel about $783 million in grants that did not align with the administration’s priorities.

Some of the grants were geared toward research on diversity, equity and inclusion; COVID-19; and gender identity. Jackson argued the grants went far beyond that and that ‘life-saving biomedical research’ was at stake.

‘So, unfortunately, this newest entry in the Court’s quest to make way for the Executive Branch has real consequences, for the law and for the public,’ Jackson wrote.

The Supreme Court’s decision was fractured and only a partial victory for the Trump administration.

In a 5-4 decision greenlighting, for now, the NIH’s existing grant cancellations, Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the three liberal justices. In a second 5-4 decision that keeps a lower court’s block on the NIH’s directives about the grants intact, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, sided with Roberts and the three liberals. The latter portion of the ruling could hinder the NIH’s ability to cancel future grants.

The varying opinions by the justices came out to 36 pages total, which is lengthy relative to other emergency rulings. Jackson’s dissent made up more than half of that.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley observed in an op-ed last month a rise in ‘rhetoric’ from Jackson, who garnered a reputation as the most vocal justice during oral arguments upon her ascension to the high court.

‘The histrionic and hyperbolic rhetoric has increased in Jackson’s opinions, which at times portray her colleagues as abandoning not just the Constitution but democracy itself,’ Turley said.

Barrett had sharp words for Jackson in a recent highly anticipated decision in which the Supreme Court blocked lower courts from imposing universal injunctions on the government. Barrett accused Jackson of subscribing to an ‘imperial judiciary’ and instructed people not to ‘dwell’ on her colleague’s dissent.

Barrett, the lone justice to issue the split decision in the NIH case, said challenges to the grants should be brought by the grant recipients in the Court of Federal Claims.

But Barrett said ‘both law and logic’ support that the federal court in Massachusetts does have the authority to review challenges to the guidance the NIH issued about grant money. Barrett joined Jackson and the other three in denying that portion of the Trump administration’s request, though she said she would not weigh in at this early stage on the merits of the case as it proceeds through the lower courts.

Jackson was dissatisfied with this partial denial of the Trump administration’s request, saying it was the high court’s way of preserving the ‘mirage of judicial review while eliminating its purpose: to remedy harms.’

Hours of interviews between Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and a federal prosecutor were released by the Department of Justice on Friday afternoon. 

During the recorded sessions in which the convicted sex offender, who was found guilty for her role in Epstein’s crimes, was granted immunity, she made several interesting claims. 

Here are 10 top takeaways. 

Claims there is no client list

Maxwell denied the existence of a black book with Epstein’s clients on it – and least to her knowledge. 

‘There is no list,’ she told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. 

Maxwell said she believed the origin of rumors that there was a list came in 2009 after Epstein had finished a 13-month sex trafficking sentence in Florida, and a lawyer at Rothstein Adler involved in a civil suit against him called the FBI to say he had a ‘piece of evidence’ that belongs to Epstein.

That was ‘the list,’ she claimed, adding that she believes he became a confidential informant to the FBI.

She said he obtained the list through a sting operation involving Epstein’s former butler, who said in a deposition he had ‘handwritten notes, or a journal, whatever.’ 

Doesn’t believe Epstein killed himself

Maxwell said she doesn’t believe Epstein killed himself when he was found hanging in his New York jail cell in 2019. 

‘I do not believe he died by suicide, no,’ she told Blanche when asked. 

She added that she didn’t have any speculation about who could have killed him, but claimed the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is rife with mismanagement. 

‘If it is indeed murder, I believe it was an internal situation,’ she said, adding she didn’t believe his death was a way to silence him. 

‘I do not have any reason to believe that,’ she told Blanche. ‘And I also think it’s ludicrous because if that – I also happen to think if that is what they wanted, they would’ve had plenty of opportunity when he wasn’t in jail. And if they were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would’ve been a very easy target.’

Never saw President Donald Trump do anything inappropriate

Maxwell said while she believes President Trump (before he was president) and Epstein were friendly, she didn’t think they were ‘close.’

‘I think they were friendly, like people are in social settings. I don’t — I don’t think they were close friends or I certainly never witnessed the president in any of — I don’t recall ever seeing him in his house, for instance.’ she said. ‘I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting.’

She added, ‘I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way. The president was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.’ 

Former President Bill Clinton never went to Epstein’s island 

Maxwell claimed that former President Bill Clinton, whose name has previously been linked to Epstein, ‘absolutely never went’ to Epstein’s Caribbean island where sex trafficking of young girls took place. 

She added, ‘I can be sure of that because there’s no way he would’ve gone – I don’t believe there’s any way that he would’ve gone to the island, had I not been there. Because I don’t believe he had 16 an independent friendship, if you will, with Epstein.’ 

She also said that Clinton was her friend, not Epstein’s, and that she knew him through the Clinton Global Initiative and was part of the inception of the organization. 

Calls Epstein ‘disgusting,’ but doesn’t believe he’s guilty of everything he was accused of 

Maxwell called Epstein ‘disgusting’ in the interview but said she doesn’t believe he was guilty of all the accusations. 

‘I do believe that Epstein did a lot of, not all, but some of what he’s accused of, and I’m not here to defend him in any respect whatsoever,’ Maxwell told Blanche. ‘I don’t want to, and I don’t think he requires, nor deserves any type of protection or – from me in any way, to sugarcoat what he did or didn’t do.’

She added, ‘This is one man. He’s not some – they’ve made him into this – he’s not that interesting. He’s a disgusting guy who did terrible things to young kids.’

Never saw Prince Andrew do anything inappropriate and believes the photo of him with accuser Virginia Giuffre is fake

Maxwell told Blanche that she also never saw Prince Andrew do anything inappropriate while she was with him, adding that she believes the infamous photo of the prince with his hand around accuser Virginia Giuffre when she was 17 isn’t real. 

‘I believe it’s literally a fake photo,’ she said of the picture, purported to have been taken at her former London townhouse. ‘I do not know that they met.’

Giuffre died of suicide earlier this year. She had accused the royal of forcing her into sex inside Maxwell’s home in London’s ritzy Belgravia neighborhood. The prince was relieved of his royal duties amid fallout from the scandal but has always denied allegations of wrongdoing. He agreed to pay Giuffre an undisclosed settlement in 2022 and to donate to her charity for crime victims.

Maxwells claims she has memory problems after being on suicide watch for 2 years

Maxwell claimed to Blanche her ‘memory’s not as good as it was’ because she was kept on suicide watch at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after her arrest for nearly two years, and she was woken up every 15 minutes. 

She said because of her memory lapses she had taken notes before the interviews, and throughout the interview still struggled to recall many details. 

Claims Epstein had a heart condition and told her he couldn’t have sex often

Maxwell said that when she traveled with Epstein, they slept in the same bed, but he told her he had a heart condition and couldn’t have sex frequently. 

‘Which meant that he didn’t have intercourse a lot, which suited me fine, because I actually do have a medical condition, which precludes me having a lot of intercourse,’ she told Blanche. 

She added that she didn’t know the exact nature of the condition, but he liked ‘other forms of sexual activities.’

Claims Epstein never loved her and said she wasn’t his type and that he told people to lie to her 

Maxwell told Blanche she and Epstein had a friends with benefits relationship while she was working with him, but at one point Epstein said that one of his associates didn’t want to be seen with her too much because of her father’s company’s embezzlement accusations. 

But she said she believed that was all a ruse just to keep her from traveling with Epstein. 

‘Today – not contemporaneously, but today I don’t believe that that’s even true. I think it was used as a means to not have me travel with him to Ohio or whatever. It was just a way to park me,’ she said.

She added that after her arrest during the legal discovery process she saw evidence that ‘he would actively tell other people to lie to me or conceal things from me, and that he never loved me and I wasn’t his type.’ 

Claims Epstein took testosterone, which altered his character 

Maxwell also claimed that in the late ‘90s, Epstein started taking testosterone, ‘and that altered his character.’

While discussing the frequency at which he got sexual massages, she said the testosterone both made him more ‘aggressive’ and she thought it likely ‘altered his desires.’

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking of minors. 

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the chain of southern-style restaurants with a gift shop that lines highways across America, has gotten a makeover. Their logo has lost the ‘Old Country Store’ tagline, as well as the iconic man in a chair resting his arm on a barrel in favor of the words Cracker Barrel in text only. Inside, per patron videos of remodeled locations, gone is the dark nostalgic feel replaced with a sterile renovation. The knick-knacks have gone from quirky kitsch from yesteryear to something you might see in a suburban craft store. 

While the company’s CEO has said that initial reaction to these changes was positive, the verdict across social media was very much the opposite. The new look removes the old-school charm and character that was central to the brand’s identity for decades. 

Cracker Barrel is just the latest in a string of companies, including Jaguar more recently and even Coca-Cola in the mid-’80s with their New Coke rollout, to violate the critical principle of making sure that you do not alienate your loyal customer base. 

I wear many hats in business and have more than 20 years of experience as an advocate for loyal customers and clients in business, working in an outsourced CCO (Chief Customer Officer) function and sharing my proprietary customer loyalty models via speeches and consulting with both the biggest companies in the world and a variety of small and mid-sized businesses. And I firmly believe that one of a company’s most important assets isn’t listed on its balance sheet: the company’s loyal customers. 

Loyal customers are easier to sell more to, both in frequency of purchases and upsells, because they already love your business and have often given you permission to communicate with them and build a relationship. They are also excellent advocates for generating new business via their own advertising efforts — word of mouth, posts on social media and more. 

While it is a challenge for companies to continually grow, and publicly traded companies are under even more pressure to do so, mathematically, growth becomes harder if you are losing customers from your key customer base. 

If you make your customers believe you do not care about them and their relationship with your brand and company, it is going to be very difficult for you to be successful in your business. This is the stark reality many businesses who have sought out new customers have faced lately. It’s fine to reach new customers, but you must do it carefully and in a way that doesn’t simultaneously burn goodwill with your existing customers. 

New customers should never be treated better or given more weight than existing, loyal customers. 

In my own social media post resharing a video of a Cracker Barrel dining room remodel, I received thousands of interactions. Among the majority comments from long-time customers expressing their displeasure at the changes, one other comment stood out. The poster said, ‘I don’t eat there but it looks nice to me.’ 

And that is the crux of the issue. The poster is not a customer, and based on the comment, is not likely to become a customer. So, seeking her approval is not a revenue-enhancing win for the company. Maybe it gets some ROE (return on ego) points for the marketing team, but it doesn’t get ROI (return on investment) for shareholders.  

For Cracker Barrel, losing character in a time when corporatization is making everything around us bland and soulless feels like something enjoyable from the past is being killed off. And for a brand which has been based on nostalgia — from their décor to their nostalgic candy and wares in their adjacent store — it doesn’t make a lot of sense.  

I am a long-time Cracker Barrel patron. I stop in whenever I am on the road. And as a long-time customer, as well as business advisor and executive, I can tell you that Cracker Barrel’s logo was not their issue.  

My last stop in was in June on a road trip. I noted that I hadn’t been there in a while prior, because I hadn’t been on the road much. And in a moment where convenience is a part of the equation and DoorDash has taken hold of younger generations, it is harder to get touchpoints with a brand, even if you want them. This is a much bigger strategic endeavor that Cracker Barrel needs to think through. 

My other issue was the menu. They had taken off my favorite item and their hashbrown casserole tasted off — the food overall wasn’t as fresh as I had experienced in the past. In my social media post, there were several comments about a decline in food quality over recent years. Making the menu and food quality rock-solid is critical for a restaurant, particularly when consumers are trying to stretch their dollars. 

Cracker Barrel isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last company to fall into the trap of thinking that all change is good. Companies should be bringing their customer voices to the table, which can be accomplished with a CCO whose job it is to know the customers well and advocate for them within the company or other loyalty specialist advising.  

Loyalty is hard to build and easy to lose. Companies always want to attract new customers, but that isn’t effective if relationships with existing customers aren’t nurtured at the same time. 

Andrew Roth, president of the State Freedom Caucus Network, helms an organization fighting to help conservatives win and wield control of state governments across the nation.

‘There is a swamp in all 50 states. There are 50 swamps,’ Roth told Fox News Digital during a Tuesday interview, noting that ‘liberal Republicans’ join with Democrats to expand government.

This ‘uniparty’ phenomenon exists in the U.S. Congress and in every state, Roth indicated, asserting that in red states many Democrats cannot win elections unless they don the Republican label.

‘They say they’re good on guns, and babies, and a few other things, but then they get in there, and they vote like liberals, growing government[.] ‘ Roth noted. 

He said that while the goal of state freedom caucuses is to slash taxes and government, the first step is exposing ‘deceitful lawmakers for who they are. And then once you can do that, then you can hopefully start getting good people elected and then cut the budget, cut taxes, cut spending,’ he explained.

So far, the organization boasts freedom caucuses in 13 of the 50 states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and Idaho – but deep red states like Texas and Florida are conspicuously absent from the list. 

Asked whether this is because there are not enough conservative legislators in those states to form a freedom caucus, Roth replied, ‘That’s absolutely correct,’ explaining, ‘In Texas I could probably say there’s only one or two House members, and in Florida I’m not even sure I can say two.’

There are ‘zero’ conservative state lawmakers in the Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi state legislatures, he said.

‘This is a big, big problem’ he noted, ‘and I don’t think enough people realize how bad it is.’

Roth indicated that the organization provides a state director in each freedom caucus state – those directors help read legislation, offer vote recommendations, work with other groups, and help with organizing and strategizing, he explained.

Roth noted that Louisiana state Sen. Blake Miguez, a Republican who belongs to that state’s freedom caucus, is challenging incumbent GOP U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy. 

A judge on Thursday found that Alina Habba was unlawfully serving in the role of acting U.S. attorney of New Jersey after President Donald Trump sidestepped typical processes to keep her in charge.

Judge Matthew Brann said Habba has not been the rightful temporary U.S. attorney for New Jersey since July 1, a ruling that follows two criminal defendants in New Jersey challenging her appointment in court, alleging it was unconstitutional.

‘Faced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not,’ Brann wrote in a 77-page order.

Habba, Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, had been serving as interim U.S. attorney, but when her term expired last month, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi used loopholes in federal vacancy laws to install her as ‘acting’ rather than ‘interim’ U.S. attorney.

One of the defendants in the district, Julien Giraud, alleged that the moves violated his constitutional rights because of the string of unconventional actions it took to attempt to keep Habba in the role.

Brann, an Obama appointee serving in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, agreed and found Habba could not prosecute Giraud or another defendant who challenged Habba’s position.

Brann is presiding over the matter after the chief judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers New Jersey and Pennsylvania, decided the case presented too much of a conflict for New Jersey’s federal judges.

The New Jersey judges made the rare decision to decline to extend Habba’s term and instead appointed career attorney Desiree Grace to the job. Trump and Bondi fired Grace, withdrew Habba’s nomination as permanent U.S. attorney and then reinstated Habba as acting U.S. attorney, which they said kept Habba in charge for at least another 210 days under federal statute.

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokeswoman for Habba for comment.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The latest addition to the pool of Democrats seeking to challenge Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is doubling down on Zohran Mamdani-style socialism, says the chief of Maine’s Republican Party.

Democrat Graham Platner launched his campaign highlighting his history as an Army and Marine veteran as well as an oyster farmer, but state GOP chief Jason Savage told Fox News Digital that rural accolades aren’t policy positions. He pointed to Platner’s hiring of a top Mamdani adviser, Morris Katz, to produce his campaign launch video.

In that video, Platner rails against the ‘oligarchy’ and endorses universal healthcare. His website features messaging that claims the U.S. has a ‘billionaire economy,’ and that – if elected – Platner would view it as a key part of his job ‘to dismantle’ it.

‘Graham Platner is Maine’s Mamdani,’ Savage told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘He brought in the Mamdani team to support his campaign. He’s out doing a lot of work with socialist groups.… He’s a Bernie bro.’

‘What we’re seeing here is the exporting of the Mamdani ideology to the state of Maine because they think that they can gain ground in a small state where things aren’t as expensive,’ he added.

‘You can look through Graham Platner’s donor history, and you can see that he donated to Harris for President, Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar,’ he continued, arguing that far-left candidates are a major threat to the Democratic Party.

Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

‘If common-sense Democrats, and then the leadership like [Sen.] Chuck Schumer don’t do something and say that isn’t the future of our party, then they’re gonna run in a bunch of these races. and we’re gonna beat them,’ he said.

Savage argued that the Democratic Party’s embracing of the far-left is a ‘double-edged sword.’ He said Democratic candidates can’t succeed without the ‘extreme wing’ of the party, and now ‘they’ve created a monster that they don’t have the ability to control.’

‘In the long run, it’s going to be catastrophic for them. I mean, Graham Platner advocates for allowing men to be in girls’ and women’s sports,’ Savage said. ‘He advocates for all sorts of policies that are very, very unpopular, and the Democrats can’t say anything to stop that.’

The Democratic challenger list against Collins is growing, and reports say those already in office are trying to tap Janet Mills, the state’s 77-year-old Democratic governor, for the seat.

Republicans currently control the majority of the Senate by a 53-47 margin. Democrats would need to flip four seats in the 2026 midterm elections to take the majority. 

A spokesperson for Collins told Fox News Digital that Platner is ‘just another progressive entering the race.’

Fox News’ Pilar Arias contributed to this report 

The White House made headlines this week by finally joining TikTok. As someone who has been urging Republican leadership to modernize our outreach to young people for years, I believe this is a long-overdue step in the right direction. But joining TikTok isn’t enough on its own. To win over the next generation of voters, this White House must go further — and faster.

President Trump’s political comeback in 2024 wasn’t a fluke. It was built on connecting with youth voters in ways no Republican had ever tried before. When he tapped me to come on as chair of the RNC’s inaugural Youth Advisory Council in 2023, I told party leaders bluntly that the days of relying on a Sunday newspaper ad to deliver the GOP’s message were over. My generation doesn’t read the classifieds — we scroll feeds. We share memes. We stream podcasts. We are digital natives, and any party serious about winning our support has to meet us where we are.

That’s exactly what President Trump did. He embraced new platforms, leaned into long-form podcasts, and even launched a TikTok account that quickly became the fastest-growing account in the platform’s history. The results spoke for themselves. Nationally, 46% of Gen Z backed Trump in 2024, a 10-point surge from 2020. In Wisconsin, Republican support among 18-to-29-year-olds jumped from 36% in 2020 to 48% in 2024. That is a generational shift in motion.

But the work is far from over. The GOP holds the House at 218 seats — a razor-thin margin — and the results showed clear divides among young voters. Young men trended right while young women leaned left, especially on issues like abortion. The takeaway is obvious: Republicans can’t take their foot off the gas when it comes to modern youth outreach. 

And here’s the truth: if Republicans don’t stay in the game, others will. My peers are not only watching President Trump — they’re also listening to progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. and even far-left figures like democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who could soon be mayor of New York City. 

Many in Gen Z are flirting with socialism because those voices are showing up online and on campus in ways conservatives too often don’t. If the White House and the GOP want to cement Gen Z gains, they need to get in the game now — not two years from now.

Here are three ways the White House can seize this moment:

1. Launch a White House Podcast — The Modern Fireside Chat

One of the biggest turning points in 2023 came when Trump started appearing on popular podcasts. These weren’t 7-minute cable news hits clipped for social media. They were long, unfiltered, authentic conversations lasting up to three hours. And they reached tens — sometimes hundreds — of millions of people, many of them first-time voters.

Young Americans are drowning in student debt, struggling to afford eggs, and working two jobs. They’re not paying for cable bundles. They’re streaming on YouTube and Spotify. That’s why podcasts were so effective — because they met people where they already were.

Now that he’s back in the Oval Office, President Trump should take it further by hosting a monthly White House podcast. Thirty minutes, once a month. It would be the modern equivalent of FDR’s fireside chats: a direct, unfiltered line from the president to the people. That kind of accessibility would deepen his connection with young voters and bypass the hostile filter of legacy media.

2. Take a Campus Speaking Tour

This May, just before he walked on stage to deliver the commencement address at the University of Alabama, I had the opportunity to meet with President Trump one-on-one. I told him directly: my peers don’t just want to see their president online — they want to see him on campus.

The impact of a campus speaking tour would be enormous. Universities are the beating heart of Gen Z political culture. Too often, conservatives have ceded that ground to the Left. But when Trump goes into these spaces — whether it’s a stadium filled with graduates in Alabama or a rally near a college town — students show up. And they listen.

The Kamala Harris campaign’s approach to keeping their monopoly on Gen Z last November was a political consultant’s fever dream: using trendy phrases like ‘joy’ in messaging, posting TikTok trends, and bringing our A-List celebrities. Up until that point, they executed the perfect made-in-a-lab playbook to win over my peers, but there was just one problem: she screamed at us instead of talking to us. 

There’s a difference between standing on stage next to Beyoncé and thinking that’s all you have to do to win over America’s youngest voters, and actually taking the time to fly to college campuses and throw out hot dogs in the student section like President Trump did in Tuscaloosa last October.

Remember when the world was shocked when Trump descended on the Bronx for a rally in a territory Republicans never talked about much less visited? That same feeling of excitement–of an unseen community being seen–could happen again if the president held a speech on Harvard’s campus. 

Imagine a presidential speaking tour that takes him to major universities across the country, not just red states but swing states where young voters could decide the balance of power in 2026. Hearing directly from the president of the United States, not filtered through CNN or MSNBC, would cut through the noise and give students a chance to engage with conservative ideas firsthand.

3. Keep the TikTok Account Active

Trump’s TikTok account broke records as the fastest-growing in the platform’s history. That momentum cannot go to waste now that the campaign is over. TikTok is where millions of young Americans spend their time, and the White House should treat it as a permanent tool for outreach, not just a campaign gimmick.

Behind-the-scenes videos, short policy explainers, and even lighter content showing the human side of the presidency would reach audiences that traditional news outlets will never touch. TikTok’s algorithm thrives on authenticity, and the White House has the chance to use it as a window into The People’s House — not just a political stage.

President Trump’s youth outreach strategy helped rewrite the rules of American politics. It showed Republicans that Gen Z isn’t a lost cause. In fact, we are trending conservative faster than any recent generation. But winning our support takes effort. It takes consistency. And it takes meeting us where we live — online and on campus.

Joining TikTok is a good move, but it must be the beginning, not the end. A monthly White House podcast, a presidential campus tour and a daily energetic presence on TikTok would send a clear message: this president isn’t just talking at young people — he’s talking with us. That’s how you prevent Gen Z from drifting toward AOC or Zohran Mamdani and instead lock in a generation for the conservative movement.

The Trump administration scored a major victory in the Supreme Court Thursday as the justices, in a 5-4 order, cleared his administration to slash more than $783 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants tied to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, LGBTQ issues and other hot-button topics.

The unsigned majority order said NIH ‘may proceed with terminating existing grants’ while leaving in place a partial block on issuing new directives. 

The move delivers a political win for Trump’s broader push to roll back DEI programs across the federal government.

The decision overturns rulings by lower courts that had blocked the cuts. In June, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts called the administration’s actions ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and said NIH had ‘failed to provide a reasoned explanation’ for cutting grants midstream. The 1st Circuit upheld her injunction in July, setting up Trump’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Justice Department argued in its July 24 filing that leaving the injunction in place ‘forces NIH to continue funding projects inconsistent with agency priorities’ and warned the order ‘intrudes on NIH’s core discretion to decide how best to allocate limited research funds.’

Opponents framed the cuts as ideological. The American Public Health Association warned that ‘halting these grants would devastate biomedical research across the country, disrupting clinical trials and delaying urgently needed discoveries’ and said ‘the administration has offered no scientific basis for these cancellations — only ideology.’ 

A coalition of Democrat-led states led by Massachusetts argued that ‘patients should not be collateral damage in a political fight.’

News outlets stressed the stakes of Thursday’s decision. 

The Associated Press described the ruling as the court letting Trump cut $783 million in research funding ‘in an anti-DEI push.’ 

Reuters reported that ‘the Supreme Court in a 5–4 order cleared the way for the Trump administration to cut diversity-related NIH grants, though it left in place part of the ruling blocking new restrictions.’

Research groups warned of the cuts’ fallout. The Association of American Universities said the cuts ‘risk chilling scientific inquiry by discouraging researchers from pursuing politically sensitive topics.’ 

Scientists cautioned the decision could derail progress on diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, even as the broader legal fight continues in the 1st Circuit and may return to the Supreme Court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.