The House of Representatives passed its version of Congress’ annual defense bill on Wednesday evening, albeit along stunningly partisan lines.

For decades, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has seen support from a majority of Democrats and Republicans. That’s changed in recent years, however, and the trend appears to have continued with the fiscal year (FY) 2026 bill.

The legislation passed 231-196 after a lengthy series of votes, with 17 Democrats voting in favor and 192 against. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other top Democrats opposed the bill.

Democratic lawmakers had spent hours beforehand railing against GOP-led amendments on mainly transgender issues, including several which were successfully voted into the bill.

Multiple amendments by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., for instance, placing limits on spaces that transgender service academy cadets can access, passed along mostly partisan lines.

Another amendment by Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., aimed at eliminating the preference for motor vehicles using electric or hybrid propulsion systems and related requirements of the Department of Defense, passed with mostly Republicans – although six Democrats joined in approving it as well.

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., introduced an amendment aimed at preventing pride flags or other ideological banners being displayed on military installations, which also passed along nearly partisan lines.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, announced on Tuesday that he would vote against final passage of the bill if certain GOP-led amendments made it into the final piece.

Smith also ripped Republicans for not allowing House-wide votes on solely Democrat-led amendments in the bill, all of which were filtered out when the House Rules Committee was considering the legislation earlier this week.

‘There are a number of problematic amendments included in the rule that focus on divisive topics rather than strengthening our national security. Should these amendments be adopted, I will vote against final passage of the bill,’ Smith said in a statement.
 
‘For 65 years, the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act has been a testament to shared respect for the duty of Congress to provide for the common defense and to place the needs of America’s national security and national defense above politics. The rule undermines this long-standing tradition by failing to include meaningful amendments offered by Democrats to address critical issues.’

Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., earlier spoke out against the amendments targeting transgender issues as well.

‘Many people in this body have received gender-affirming care. Filler is gender-affirming care. Boob jobs is gender-affirming care. Botox is gender-affirming care,’ Jacobs said.

It prompted an angry response from Mace, ‘That is ridiculous! You are absolutely ridiculous.’

Four Republicans voted against the bill in addition to the dozens of Democrats, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., longtime skeptics of foreign aid funding in the NDAA.

Democrats who voted in favor of the bill include Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., Don Davis, D-N.C., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas.

The NDAA is an annually passed bill that sets defense and national security policy goals for the U.S.

The Senate is expected to consider its own version of the bill as well, after which the two chambers must compromise and consider them again before they get to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.

Lawmakers bridged the partisan divide on Wednesday after news that conservative activist Charlie Kirk, 31, was killed from a gunshot wound. 

Prayers for Kirk’s recovery on social media swiftly turned into condolences to his family and a widespread condemnation of political violence from both Republicans and Democrats. 

‘It’s devastating news,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. ‘The idea that political violence has taken one of the strongest voices on the conservative side is a great heartbreak. Charlie was a close friend of mine and a confidant, and he will be sorely missed, and we need every political leader to decry the violence and to do it loudly. The problem is in the human heart, and it’s gotten out of hand.’

‘This is beyond terrible,’ Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said. ‘Charlie Kirk was a husband, father, and son. Violence is never the answer. Sydney and I are keeping the Kirk family in our prayers.’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., addressed Kirk’s death on the Senate floor and said that ‘political violence, which this attack seems to be, has no place in this country — none.’ 

‘I’m deeply disturbed about the threat of violence that has entered our political life, and I pray that we will remember that every person, no matter how vehement our disagreement with them, is a human being and a fellow American deserving of respect and protection,’ he said. 

President Donald Trump confirmed the news on Truth Social and said, ‘No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.’ 

Kirk was shot during an event on his ‘American Comeback Tour’ at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. The university initially said that a suspect was in custody but later announced that the person was released.

Campus police on Wednesday afternoon asked students to call a hotline and be escorted off.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called Kirk ‘an American patriot, an inspiration to countless young people to stand up and defend the timeless truths that make our country great.’ 

‘This murder was a cowardly act of violence, an attack on champions of freedom like Charlie, the students who gathered for civil debate, and all Americans who peacefully strive to save our nation,’ he said. 

‘The terrorists will not win,’ he continued. ‘Charlie will. Please join me in praying for his wife Erika and their children. May justice be swift.’

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., urged, ‘We must collectively find a way forward during these polarized times.’ 

His death follows a wave of high-profile political assassination attempts in an increasingly polarized political environment. 

Trump survived two separate assassination attempts within weeks of each other while running for re-election in 2024. Meanwhile, a gunman in Minnesota shot and killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, while critically injuring another state lawmaker, this past June.

Ryan Routh – accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump when he was a major candidate in the 2024 election at his Florida golf club last year – has chosen to represent himself in court, a decision one legal expert says could prove disastrous.

Cully Simson, a former prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, told Fox News Digital that while the Constitution guarantees the right to self-representation, it’s ‘almost always a mistake.’

‘It really makes no sense for somebody to defend themselves, especially in a serious case,’ he said. ‘They have the right to do it, but it’s not prudent.’ 

Self-representation creates risks and an unusual courtroom dynamic where the judge and prosecutor ‘have to pull their punches’ to protect the record, and essentially ‘protect the defendant from himself.’

A seasoned defense attorney knows how to put prosecutors to the test, forcing them to prove every element of the case and carefully laying the groundwork for potential appeals. When a defendant represents himself, Simson said, that kind of strategy is completely missing.

‘And so what ends up happening is the judge and the prosecutor has to play, in a weird way, a defensive role, in addition to the role of the judge being a neutral and impartial arbiter of the law, and the prosecutor just be the person who advocates on behalf of the government. You have to essentially protect the defendant from himself, and that is so much more difficult,’ he said.

Simson said defense attorneys typically ‘push the envelope’ and force the government to object, but when someone is representing themselves, lawyers hold back ‘because he’s not going to be smart enough or educated enough to object.’

This can sometimes create an atmosphere where a ‘right to a fair trial’ can become skewed – and it’s something law students study, too.

‘That’s that sophisticated point that law students talk about, and lawyers talk about. If you had a public defender or a private defense counsel who wasn’t very good and made a number of mistakes during the trial, if the guy’s convicted, one of the first things on appeal is you’ll claim ineffective assistance of counsel,’ Simson said.

‘You can’t claim ineffective assistance of counsel when you represent yourself.’

When asked if there were any pros to self-representation in a federal trial, Simson said, ‘I guess one pro would be to conduct his defense exactly how he wanted to.’

‘For example, in the Long Island shooter case, no criminal defense attorney was going to let that nut job act out in court and be the wacko he was,’ he said.

As in the notorious 1993 Long Island Rail Road case, convicted killer Colin Ferguson chose to represent himself and even took the witness stand to question his own victims. 

Routh has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer. Prosecutors say he was armed with an AK-style rifle when Secret Service agents stopped him near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach in September 2024.

The trial is expected to last several weeks, but Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon urged both sides to keep proceedings efficient.

Opening statements are tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 11, if the panel is seated on time.

The jury has been seated for the high-profile federal trial of Ryan Routh, the North Carolina man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club last September, when Trump was a leading candidate in the 2024 election.

After three days of jury selection that began Monday, 12 jurors and four alternates were chosen. The panel includes six white women, four white men, one Black woman and one Black man. The alternates are two white women and two white men. Opening statements are set for Thursday morning in Fort Pierce, Florida, where prosecutors are expected to launch their case immediately.

Three groups of 60 potential jurors went through the selection process, where prosecutors and Routh — who is representing himself — asked potential jurors questions to assess if they could fairly participate in the trial. 

During Wednesday’s session, Routh said he wanted to raise an objection due to the prosecution eliminating two potential jurors who were Black.

‘I want to raise that we have a racist situation,’ Routh said. 

But the prosecution said that one of the potential jurors was Haitian and would face language barriers, and that they had no knowledge the other was Black. 

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon eliminated a potential juror for the trial because the woman asserted, ‘I am MAGA.’ According to Cannon, the statement showed ‘self-declared bias.’ 

Another woman was eliminated as a potential juror for saying she ‘only follows God’s law’ on a questionnaire. 

During Monday’s session, Routh’s questions for potential jurors included their views on the war in Gaza, their position on the U.S. potentially acquiring Greenland as the president has floated, and how they would act if they were driving and spotted a turtle in the middle of the road.

In response, Cannon labeled them ‘politically charged,’ and said that they were unnecessary for jury selection. 

Prosecutors claim that Routh sought to kill Trump for weeks, and staked out a spot in shrubbery on Sept. 15, 2024 when a Secret Service agent detected him pointing a rifle at Trump while the then-presidential candidate played golf at his West Palm Beach country club. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, but abandoned his weapon at the scene after the Secret Service agents opened fire. 

Routh was later apprehended by the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office on the I-95 interstate in a black Nissan Xterra. 

Routh faces federal charges including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, as well as assaulting a federal officer and various gun violations. The charges carry a potential life sentence if the jury finds him guilty. Meanwhile, Routh has maintained he’s innocent and pleaded not guilty to all federal charges, in addition to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder. 

Routh was previously convicted of felonies in North Carolina in 2002 and 2010. 

The court has allocated four weeks for Routh’s trial, although it is expected to wrap up sooner. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph, Olivianna Calmes, Jake Gibson, Heather Lacey and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Vigils were held across the country following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an event in Utah on Wednesday.

Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition before he was later pronounced dead.

Politicians, faith leaders, fellow conservative activists and others mourned Kirk’s death, with some announcing vigils to stand against political violence in the wake of his murder.

Turning Point USA campus chapters at colleges across the country organized vigils on Wednesday night for the organization’s founder.

‘In response to the reprehensible and senseless murder of Charlie Kirk, we are gathering tonight at Westlake Park in Seattle at 7:30PM for a time of prayer, worship, and solitary as we take a stand against the senseless political and religious violence in America,’ Russell Johnson, lead pastor at The Pursuit in Washington state, wrote on X announcing his church’s vigil.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-MT, said there would be a prayer vigil at a church on Capitol Hill on Wednesday night.

‘I invite Montanans to join us in prayer and spirit praying for Charlie, his family and our divided nation. We must heal,’ he wrote on X.

In Arizona, the group Catholics for Catholics said a rosary vigil would be held Wednesday night.

‘Charlie Kirk’s local Catholic community gathers to pray the Rosary for the Eternal Rest of his soul,’ the group wrote on Instagram.

‘Charlie was our friend,’ the post added. ‘His family are our neighbors. He attended our Church. We loved him and America loves him too. It’s time now for us to pray and ask for Our Lady to usher his soul into heaven.’

The New York Yankees held a moment of silence ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers to honor Kirk.

‘Before tonight’s game we held a moment of silence in memoriam of Charlie Kirk. Kirk founded the youth activist group ‘Turning Point USA’ and had become a fixture on college campuses,’ the team said on X.

Kevin Smith, founder of the conservative media company The Loud Majority, also announced a vigil scheduled for Saturday in New York.

President Donald Trump, officials in his administration, other U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle, foreign leaders and sports figures were among those who came out in mourning Kirk and condemning acts of political violence.

‘The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said on X that the attack on Kirk was ‘disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,’ adding: ‘In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.’

‘Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X. ‘A lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization.’

‘Condolences to his family and the young people of this country,’ Bruce Pearl, Auburn University’s men’s basketball coach, said on X. ‘Many in our Auburn student body are horrified tonight, you young patriots who love our country like Charlie. For now let’s morn, keep the violent rhetoric down and then live our best lives, committed to making this country better.’

Kirk leaves behind his wife, Erika Lane Frantzve, and two children.

Vice President JD Vance shared a deeply personal remembrance of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University. In a lengthy post on X, Vance honored his late friend as a man of ‘courage,’ ‘faith’ and profound loyalty.

Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, was a close confidant of Vance’s both personally and politically. Their friendship stretched from early skepticism about Donald Trump in 2016 to the heights of the 2024 campaign trail.

Vance’s candid social media reflection gave a rare glimpse into Kirk’s influence not only on the conservative movement but also on the very formation of the Trump-Vance team.

‘Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind,’ wrote the Vice President. ‘Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives.’

‘Charlie was one of the first people I called when I thought about running for senate in early 2021. We talked through everything, from the strategy to the fundraising to the grassroots of the movement he knew so well. He introduced me to some of the people who would run my campaign and also to Donald Trump Jr.’

Kirk, a longtime advocate for young people in the conservative movement, was described by Vance as pivotal to President Trump’s decision-making process in his selection as running mate in 2024.

‘When I became the VP nominee—something Charlie advocated for both in public and private—Charlie was there for me… Charlie was constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers,’ Vance added.

He also highlighted the father-of-two’s strong faith in Christ, saying, ‘Charlie genuinely believed in and loved Jesus Christ. He had a profound faith. We used to argue about Catholicism and Protestantism and who was right about minor doctrinal questions. Because he loved God, he wanted to understand him.’

His ‘true,’ friendship and loyalty were valued by Vance, with the Vice President recalling Kirk as ‘a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him.’

Vance also credited Kirk with helping power the Trump movement in 2024, noting that ‘so much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene.’

After reports came out Wednesday afternoon, the Vice President said he spoke with President Trump about Kirk candidly.

‘I was talking to President Trump in the Oval Office today, and he said, ‘I know he was a very good friend of yours.’ I nodded silently, and President Trump observed that Charlie really loved his family,’ said Vance. ‘The president was right.’

‘I was in a meeting in the West Wing when those group chats started lighting up with people telling Charlie they were praying for him. And that’s how I learned the news that my friend had been shot,’ recalled Vance.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats have announced they are probing the FBI over whether Director Kash Patel is willfully refusing to disclose information related to Jeffrey Epstein.

‘Who exactly are you protecting by refusing to release the Epstein files? In 2023, on Benny Johnson’s podcast, you were asked why the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was ‘protecting the world’s foremost predator’ by refusing to release the Epstein client list. Your answer: ‘Simple. Because of who’s on that list,” Democratic lawmakers, led by ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., wrote.

‘Now that you are the Director of the FBI, you know precisely who is implicated in the Epstein files, yet you refuse to release them. Who are you protecting and why?’

The letter pointed to several occasions where Patel called for transparency in Epstein’s case, including his statement soon after taking the role, ‘There will be no cover-ups, no missing documents, and no stone left unturned — and anyone from the prior or current Bureau who undermines this will be swiftly pursued.’

‘Strangely, all these promises appear to have collapsed once you determined who was actually in the files,’ the Democrats wrote.

They also referenced a New York Times report that detailed hundreds of people pouring over thousands of documents related to Epstein.

‘This frantic review by nearly 1,000 agents of over 100,000 pages of investigative material apparently revealed no information worthy of disclosure to the American public— however, at least some information from the review was shared with President Trump. In May, Attorney General Bondi reportedly informed President Trump that his name indeed appeared repeatedly in the Epstein files,’ the letter said.

‘Obvious questions abound: why were so many agents tasked with reviewing documents that were never released? What specific instructions were they given during the review? What information did these agents uncover that led DOJ and FBI to reverse their promise to release the files, and how are these decisions related to the President?’

President Donald Trump himself denied being told that his name was in any files related to Epstein in late July.

‘No, I was never, never briefed. No,’ the president said at the time.

It was never reported in what context Trump’s name may have appeared, however. It’s known that the two were friendly before a falling out in the early 2000s, though Trump has never been implicated in any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes.

Trump himself directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, and Attorney General Pam Bondi subsequently had her deputy interview Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in a Florida prison.

Trump has also called the furor surrounding Epstein a ‘hoax’ on multiple occasions.

The DOJ has since turned over thousands of documents related to Epstein to the House Oversight Committee.

Convicted sex offender Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting prosecution on federal sex trafficking charges and the GOP base has fractured over the administration’s handling of the case.

The divisions stem from a DOJ memo released in July that said, ‘This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’ There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.’

Democrats have since seized on the discord with newfound calls for transparency in Epstein’s case, which Republicans have panned as hypocrisy.

An FBI public information officer declined to comment on the letter when the bureau was reached by Fox News Digital.