Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both issued dire warnings about the pressing need to protect the endangered Syrian Kurdish population under attack by government forces in the war-torn nation.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who earlier this month ordered his army, which reportedly has a large jihadist element, to conquer territory controlled for more than a decade by the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)

Writing on the social media platform X, Graham declared, ‘There is strong and growing bipartisan interest in the U.S. Senate regarding the deteriorating situation in Syria. There is strong consensus that we must protect the Kurds who were there for us in destroying the ISIS caliphate, as well as many other groups.’

Pompeo responded to Graham’s post, stating, ‘Turning our backs on our Kurdish allies would be a moral and strategic disaster.’

The Trump administration is facing criticism from its long-standing ally, the Syrian Kurds, who played a crucial role in the defeat of the Islamic State in the heartland of the Middle East after a U.S. government announcement on social media that seemed to hint that the partnership had ended this past week with the Kurdish-run SDF in northern Syria.

The SDF formed as a bulwark against the rapid spread of the Islamic State’s terrorist movement in 2013. ISIS created a caliphate covering significant territory in Syria and Iraq. Al-Sharaa was a former member of the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department regarding U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as the special envoy for Syria, for a response to his recent statement on X that indicated the U.S. partnership with the SDF was over.

Barrack wrote, ‘The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurds, proved the most effective ground partner in defeating ISIS’s territorial caliphate by 2019, detaining thousands of ISIS fighters and family members in prisons and camps like al-Hol and al-Shaddadi. At that time, there was no functioning central Syrian state to partner with — the Assad regime was weakened, contested, and not a viable partner against ISIS due to its alliances with Iran and Russia.

‘Today, the situation has fundamentally changed. Syria now has an acknowledged central government that has joined the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (as its 90th member in late 2025), signaling a westward pivot and cooperation with the U.S. on counterterrorism.’

Iham Ahmed, a prominent Syrian Kurdish politician, told Fox News Digital, ‘We really wished to see a firm position from the U.S. The Kurdish people are at the risk of extermination. The U.S. does not give any solid or tangible guarantees.’

Ahmed cast doubt on statements like Barrack’s, warning the ‘Syrian army is still consisting of radical factions that no one can trust. Alawites, Christians, Sunnis and Druze cannot trust these factions. We could face massacres, which happened in other Syrian cities.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if the SDF wants Israel to intervene to aid the Kurds as it did to help the Syrian Druze and other minorities last year, Ahmed said, ‘Whoever wants to help us should do so. Today is the day.’ She said ‘the Islamic State is showing itself in the image of an official army. Everyone is threatened now.’

She urged a ‘special status for the Kurdish region’ in northeastern Syria.

Ahmed accused the Erdoğan government of nefarious involvement. 

‘Turkey stands behind the attacks on our region. Turkish intelligence and small groups are leading attacks. Statements from Turkey are encouraging the extermination of our people,’ she claimed.

Fox News Digital sent a press query to the Turkish embassy spokesman in Washington D.C.

The influential president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, wrote on X, ‘Sen. Graham is right. I’ve been discussing the situation in NE Syria with Republican House leaders.  It is not in America’s interest for Islamist forces to seize territory once governed by trusted U.S. allies who protected minorities and advanced religious freedom. 

‘Yet this is happening as Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces move into northeast Syria, displacing the Syrian Democratic Forces — our partners in the fight against ISIS, who lost thousands of fighters, guarded U.S. bases, and detained ISIS prisoners.

‘Before we place trust in al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda insurgent who fought U.S. forces in Iraq and was held at Abu Ghraib, he has to show he is trustworthy.  So far, he is failing the test.’

Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the U.S., had harsh words for the administration, telling Fox News Digital, ‘American officials continue to describe the SDF as a reliable partner in that narrow mission. Washington avoids framing the relationship as a political alliance. The U.S. never intended a long-term political commitment to the Syrian Kurds. It was a military partnership without political guarantees. From Washington’s view, that’s consistency. From the Kurdish view, that’s betrayal.’

She added there has been an announcement of a 15-day extension of a ceasefire.

‘But both the SDF and outside observers noted continued [Syrian] government troop buildups near Kurdish-held areas, signaling that conflict could resume. The Kurds want to have peace and stability through negotiations.’

Senate Democrats are ready to break a fragile truce that would avert a partial government shutdown after a Minneapolis man was fatally shot by a border patrol agent on Saturday. 

Congressional Democrats were already leery of backing funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wake of the agency’s presence in Minnesota and beyond, but the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement operation has shattered what little unity they had on the bill. 

Now, Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plan to vote against the legislation, which is currently included in a broader funding package along with five other spending bills. 

Schumer, in a statement on Saturday, said that Democrats tried to get ‘common sense reforms’ in the DHS funding bill, but charged that ‘because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses’ of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

 ‘I will vote no,’ Schumer said. ‘Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.’

Schumer’s play call serves as a blow to Senate Republicans, who worked with their colleagues across the aisle to find compromises in the DHS bill, in particular. It also comes as the deadline to fund the government is rapidly approaching on Friday, Jan. 30. Further complicating matters is the arctic storm ripping across the country, which has already forced the upper chamber to cancel votes on Monday. 

A senior Senate aide told Fox News Digital that Senate Democrats had been for weeks saying that they weren’t interested in shutting the government down again, and had praised the bipartisan nature of the government funding process up until Saturday.

 ‘These bills were negotiated with Dems — they agreed to what’s in them,’ they said.

The agency would be fully funded in the current proposal with several restrictions and reporting requirements that if not met, would act as triggers to turn off certain cash flows. 

Ripping the bill from the current six-bill funding package would cause a domino effect of headaches in Congress, given that any changes to the package would have to go through the House.

The lower chamber is gone until Feb. 2, making the likelihood of a partial shutdown much higher. 

Before the shooting, a handful of Senate Democrats had already made their opposition to the legislation known, including senators Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Kaine, notably, crossed the aisle last year to join a cohort of Senate Democratic caucus members to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

He was not the only member of that group of eight to voice opposition — senators Catherine Cortez Masto, D-N.V., and Jacky Rosen, D-N.M., both came out against the DHS bill’s inclusion in the broader package on Saturday. 

‘My personal guiding principle has always been ‘agree where you can and fight where you must,’ Rosen said in a statement. ‘And I believe this is a time when we must fight back.’

Meanwhile, House lawmakers are on a week-long recess after passing their latest spending package in two chunks — one standalone vote on DHS funding and another wrapping together funding legislation for the departments of War, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development — this past Thursday.

A provision was added to the legislation before it passed the House that would combine the bills into one large package for the Senate to consider at once. It was then expected to be paired with other bills the Senate has not yet considered but which passed the House this month.

Changing that ahead of the Jan. 30 shutdown deadline would mean House lawmakers must return to Washington early to go through multiple procedural hurdles and another vote on the legislation — something House GOP leaders are ruling out, at least for now.

‘We passed all 12 bills over to the Senate, and they still have six in their possession that they need to pass to the president,’ a House GOP leadership source told Fox News Digital on Saturday evening, referring to the lower chamber completing its portion of Congress’ annual appropriations process. ‘We have no plan to come back next week.’

Even if House leaders changed their plans, the impending snow storm would mean lawmakers may not return until Tuesday at the earliest. That would put final passage sometime Wednesday or Thursday, virtually guaranteeing Congress does not complete consideration of the bills until after the Friday deadline.

House GOP leaders would also likely be grappling with attendance issues if they did order a return, with various lawmakers on planned trips and over a dozen busy campaigning for higher office.

A partial government shutdown would mean only agencies that Congress has not yet funded would have to reduce or cease functions — in this case, payment to active duty troops, air traffic controllers, and border patrol agents could all be affected.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected President Donald Trump’s assertion that ‘Canada lives because of the United States.’

‘Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership in the economy, in security, and in a rich cultural exchange,’ Carney said on Thursday while speaking in Plains of Abraham, Québec, during a cabinet retreat. 

‘But Canada doesn’t ‘live because of the United States’,’ he said, referencing Trump’s remark. ‘Canada thrives because we are Canadian. We are masters in our own house. This is our country. This is our future. The choice is ours.’

In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, the White House pointed to Trump’s Truth Social post.

On Thursday, Trump published an open letter to Carney informing him that Canada’s invitation to join the Board of Peace — a U.S.-led council tasked with managing Gaza’s post-war future — had been rescinded.

‘Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The board was inaugurated in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, though Carney had already left, according to The Associated Press.

Tensions between Carney and Trump flared as world leaders met in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum. Both Trump and Carney took swipes at each other in their respective speeches.

During his address on Tuesday, Carney did not mention Trump by name, but rather he said that ‘rules-based order is fading,’ referencing the U.S.

He admitted that there were benefits to US. leadership on the world stage, but painted the entire concept of a rules-based international order as a falsity that is actively failing. Additionally, in his address, Carney urged middle powers, like Canada, to assert themselves and take the opportunity to ‘build a new order that embodies our values.’

When delivering his address on Wednesday, Trump did not shy away from taking aim at Carney. He said that Canada ‘should be grateful’ because the country gets ‘a lot of freebies’ from the U.S., though he did not say what he was referring to.

‘I watched your prime minister yesterday, he wasn’t so grateful,’ Trump said. ‘Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.’

The friction between Trump and Carney underscored a growing rift between the two. In his address to a cabinet retreat, Carney framed it as a moment for Canada to assert its own power and build a future based on its own values.

Fox News Digital reached out to Carney’s office for comment.

As Americans brace for massive winter storms expected to impact more than 170 million people across the U.S., President Donald Trump mocked what he described as ‘environmental insurrectionists’ in a Truth Social post on Friday.

‘Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before,’ Trump said in the post.

‘Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain — WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???’ he quipped.

‘A significant, long-duration winter storm will bring widespread heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain from the Southern Rockies to New England through Monday. Widespread travel disruptions, prolonged power outages, and vast tree damage is likely,’ the National Weather Service noted in a Friday post on X.

In a Truth Social post last year, the president declared, ‘I (WE!) just won the War on the Climate Change Hoax.’ 

Trump’s post addressed a recent essay by Bill Gates. In the essay, Gates wrote, ‘Although climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries — it will not lead to humanity’s demise. People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.’

‘Bill Gates has finally admitted that he was completely WRONG on the issue,’ Trump wrote at the time. ‘It took courage to do so, and for that we are all grateful.’ 

Former Democratic President Joe Biden repeatedly addressed the issue of climate change during his White House tenure.

In his 2023 State of the Union Address, Biden claimed there is a ‘climate crisis’ that is ‘an existential threat.’

In a Truth Social post the night of Biden’s 2023 speech, Trump asserted, ‘His Climate Change statements, they can no longer use Global Warming because that doesn’t work anymore, will bankrupt our Country, and bring us into the Third World status, which we’re getting closer and closer to anyway.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate Democrats are beginning to peel off from their leadership, upping the ante for another government shutdown.

Disputes over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding, fewer restrictions on President Donald Trump’s authority and a possible headache with a previous, controversial provision could set the stage for another government shutdown.

Senate Republican and Democratic leaders don’t want to idly fall into another government shutdown, given that Congress just exited the longest closure in history a few short months ago. They have differing reasons, but for now, Republicans and Democrats agreed that the best option was to fund the government.

While the powers that be may have a momentary truce, it’s rank-and-file members who could drive Washington, D.C. to the edge of another shutdown.

Many of the issues lie within the DHS funding bill, which Democratic negotiators argued included several wins in their quest to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That bill passed through the House Thursday, with tepid support from House Democrats.

Only seven broke from their colleagues, a sign that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his leadership team will have their work cut out for them in the upcoming week. And now, they’ll have to wrangle Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who on Friday announced in a statement that he would not back the broader package.

Kaine wanted to see a much broader swath of constraints baked into the behemoth funding package, including safeguards against Trump’s war powers, the firing of federal workers, and DHS and ICE retribution against his home state.

‘We are not living in normal times,’ Kaine said. ‘The president is acting chaotically and unlawfully, and we shouldn’t give his deranged decisions the imprimatur of congressional approval by passing this legislation without significant amendment.’

Kaine’s defection is particularly notable, given that he was one of a handful of Senate Democrats who crossed the aisle to reopen the government last year.

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that there were up to 10 Senate Democrats who might not vote for the package or any funding bills from Republicans in general. That complicates the math needed to reach 60 votes.

Then there is Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who is a member of Schumer’s leadership team and the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, who said he won’t support the DHS bill, arguing that it does not go far enough to restrict DHS Secretary Kristi Noem or Trump.

Murphy, who was involved in negotiations for the bill, said in a statement that he understood that his colleague ‘had a hard job — no new budget for DHS is going to cure all the rampant illegality happening within the department.’

‘Democrats have no obligation to support a bill that not only funds the dystopian scenes we are seeing in Minneapolis but will allow DHS to replicate that playbook of brutality in cities all over this country,’ Murphy said.

Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Katie Britt, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital in a statement that ‘importantly, this bill contains no Democrat poison pills.’

‘I’m hopeful my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will do what’s right and not further politicize this process,’ Britt said.

Still, leaders on both sides are hopeful that the weight of the broader package, which will include defense funding, is enough to keep lawmakers in line and avoid a shutdown.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who is the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, argued that while the package was not exactly what she and Democrats had hoped for, it was good enough to support.

That’s because she and congressional Democrats were able to bake in their own restrictions on funding that would not be adhered to if Congress again has to turn to another short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR).

‘While there’s a whole lot more I wish these bills would have addressed, these compromise bills protect critical investments in the American people, reject truly heartless cuts that would have undone decades of progress —and they are a significantly better outcome than another year-long CR,’ Murray said. ‘I look forward to ensuring they get signed into law.’

As President Donald Trump aims to build a ballroom at the White House, federal Judge Richard Leon on Thursday reportedly asked Justice Department lawyers to point to what authority allows the president to engage in a construction project at the White House.

‘Where do you see the authority for the president to tear down the East Wing and build something in its place?’ the judge asked, according to The Washington Post. 

While the outlet reported that Leon said he could issue a decision next month, NBC News reported that the judge promised that he would issue a decision in February.

Attorney Thad Heuer, who represents the National Trust for Historic Preservation, contended that the president lacks the constitutional power to rip down the East Wing and build a ballroom, according to NBC News, which quoted Heuer as saying, ‘He’s not the owner.’

The outlet reported that the judge seemed to be leaning in the direction of pausing the project.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Friday.

‘The president didn’t want $400 million in taxpayer money to be used for this,’ Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth said, according to NBC News. 

‘He wanted to use donations,’ Roth noted.

The project began last year at the behest of Trump, but he has asserted that it is being funded by private donations, not taxpayer dollars.

‘I am honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project underway — with zero cost to the American Taxpayer!’ Trump declared in an October Truth Social post. ‘The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for Generations to come!’ 

House conservatives are reviving various pushes to impeach judges accused of blocking President Donald Trump’s agenda after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., gave his tacit approval earlier this week.

‘I just spoke to him on the House floor, and he’s still in support, so we’re going to push to move forward on at least one,’ Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital in the early evening on Thursday.

Ogles was among the conservative Trump allies who led the push to impeach judges last year as the administration engaged in legal battles with federal courts across the country over various rulings.

He previously introduced impeachment articles against U.S. District Judge John Bates for blocking a Trump executive order targeting transgender recognition under federal law, as well as District Judge Theodore Chuang after his ruling to stop a crackdown on foreign aid by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Neither of those impeachment resolutions or others targeting several other judges went anywhere at the time, however. House GOP leaders made clear they believed impeachment was an impractical way to deal with what Republicans saw as ‘activist judges’ trying to influence policy rather than interpret law.

Johnson and other leaders instead favored a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to limit district judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions. That bill passed the House along partisan lines last year but was never taken up in the Senate.

The speaker sounded more enthusiastic about impeachment during his press conference on Wednesday, telling reporters, ‘I’m for it.’

He named U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, specifically, who’s been targeted by Republicans after rulings on several key immigration cases involving Trump’s policies, including flying migrants to El Salvador and other countries instead of detaining them in the U.S.

Boasberg more recently raised GOP ire when it was revealed that Boasberg had signed off on decisions that allowed for the seizure of some Republican lawmakers’ phone records in former special counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost probe.

A resolution to impeach Boasberg led by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, gained traction among conservatives last year, and the Texas Republican told Fox News Digital he was heartened by Johnson’s comments on Thursday.

‘We’re going to do everything we can to push that forward. I mean the reality is that Boasberg has been acting as an agent of the Democrat Party for quite some time now,’ Gill said. ‘I’m thrilled to see the speaker get on board. I think his leadership will be crucial in getting this passed.’

Gill said it was still early to predict whether it would see a House-wide vote but said his office was in contact with Johnson’s office about the measure, which he said was ‘moving in the right direction.’

A source familiar with his effort told Fox News Digital that his resolution to impeach Boasberg gained two new House GOP co-sponsors after Johnson’s comments this week.

Other House Republicans who supported the push last year indicated they would do so again.

‘I’d be all for it,’ Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital. He said of Boasberg specifically, ‘I think he’s one of the most forthright judicial activists on the bench and that’s not why he was put on the bench.’

Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., said Johnson expressing support could strengthen the push.

‘There’s a lot of respect for Speaker Johnson, especially as a constitutional lawyer — he’s someone that a lot of people have a lot of confidence in,’ Stutzman told Fox News Digital. ‘The fact that he’s willing to step out there as a Speaker of the House, it says a lot.’

Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital, ‘I think there’s more of an appetite and less of a hesitation than there was earlier in the Congress. We had an agenda. We didn’t want to be distracted with potential impeachment, but I think now, as we’re realizing things are not getting better, the people around the nation are expecting us to hold this judge and others like him accountable.’

But not all Republicans were as enthusiastic.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., who was supportive of the GOP’s judicial impeachment fervor last year, told Fox News Digital Thursday that he was not sure it could survive the committee process needed before a House-wide vote.

House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, said ‘everybody has to be willing to consider impeachment’ as a power of Congress but said he did not know the details of the specific initiatives.

‘I will reinforce how much I like Issa’s bill. It moves it away from political rhetoric into, ‘Hey, let’s do something substantive here,” Moore told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s a pretty innovative solution in a very sound way.’

Democrats and other critics of the impeachment push have called it an unwarranted persecution of a co-equal branch of government, but supporters say it’s well within Congress’ right to use the impeachment process when they believe abuses have taken place.

Air Force One experiencing a minor mechanical issues as President Donald Trump began his trip to Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday evening proved his point that the U.S. needs to update its presidential plane, the White House told Fox News Digital. 

‘The minor mechanical issue proves that President Trump was right again,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly tolf Fox News Digital. 

‘The new Air Force One will be a welcome donation to the United States Air Force, not just for the President, but for the entire Air Force One crew,’ she added. 

The Department of Defense in May 2025 formally accepted a 747 jetliner from Qatar to serve as a new Air Force One, which can serve as a replacement for the two current Air Force Ones. 

The new jet will be set to take to the skies in the summer of 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, following the Pentagon retrofitting the jet and combing through it for security and spying devices. 

Both Democrats and Republicans criticized Trump after he announced the Department of Defense planned to accept the jumbo jet from the government of Qatar in May 2025, arguing the gift is riddled with both espionage concerns and constitutional questions. 

‘The Air Force remains committed to expediting delivery of the VC-25 bridge aircraft in support of the Presidential airlift mission, with an anticipated delivery no later than summer 2026,’ an Air Force spokesperson told the outlet. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House Thursday for additional comment on the matter. 

Air Force One experienced a ‘minor electrical issue’ after takeoff at 10:20 p.m. and returned ‘out of an abundance of caution,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday evening. 

Reporters on the flight said the lights in the cabin went out before the plane returned to Maryland around 45 minutes into the trip. 

Leavitt joked aboard the plane that a Qatari jet sounded ‘much better’ at the moment, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Trump recently left Davos, Switzerland, after attending the World Economic Forum, which attracted foreign government leaders, celebrities and business titans to discuss the world’s economy. Trump’s trip came as he pressures European nations to ink a deal that would hand control of Greenland to the United States from the Kingdom of Denmark. 

The plane’s issue comes after a yearslong saga by Trump raising concerns that the current presidential plane is decades old and in need of repairs, while pinning blame on Boeing for failing to swiftly build a new fleet. 

‘We’re very disappointed that it’s taking Boeing so long to build a new Air Force One,’ Trump said during a press conference in May. ‘You know, we have an Air Force One that’s 40 years old. And if you take a look at that, compared to the new plane of the equivalent, you know, stature at the time, it’s not even the same ballgame.’ 

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg acknowledged Trump’s dissatisfaction with the speed of building two Boeing 747 jumbo jets in February 2025, and said the company was working to speed the process along. The U.S. government continues to hold a contract with Boeing for the planes, with the Air Force reporting in December 2025 that the first jet should be delivered by mid-2028, according to Air and Space Forces Magazine. 

Trump had railed against a government deal with Boeing to build a new fleet of Air Force Ones ahead of his first administration, posting on social media in December 2016 that the ‘costs are out of control, more than $4 billion’ to build the two aircraft.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report. 

Iran’s top prosecutor pushed back Friday on a recent announcement from President Donald Trump that Iran canceled more than 800 executions, alleging that the president’s remarks are ‘completely false.’ 

Trump wrote on Truth Social last week, ‘I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!’ 

However, Iran’s top prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi, said Friday that, ‘This claim is completely false; no such number exists, nor has the judiciary made any such decision,’ according to The Associated Press. 

‘We have a separation of powers, the responsibilities of each institution are clearly defined, and we do not, under any circumstances, take instructions from foreign powers,’ Movahedi reportedly added in comments published by the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency.

When asked for reaction Friday, a White House official told Fox News Digital that Trump is monitoring the situation in Iran very seriously and that all options remain available if the regime in Tehran executes protesters. 

The official added that following Trump’s warnings to Iran, demonstrators who were set to be sentenced to death there were not. 

The White House official also said Trump believes this is good news and is hoping the trend continues.

‘What I will say with respect to Iran is that the president and his team have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week. 

As of Friday, there have been 5,032 deaths during the crackdown against anti-government protesters in Iran, the AP reported, citing the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Iran’s government offered its first death toll Wednesday, saying 3,117 people had been killed. It claimed that 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began Dec. 28 were civilians and security forces, with the rest being ‘terrorists.’ 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is taking a big step toward holding its first-ever midterm convention.

The RNC on Friday approved a change to the party’s rules that would allow Chair Joe Gruters to convene a convention during a midterm election year.

National political conventions, where party delegates from around the country formally nominate their party’s presidential candidates, normally take place during presidential election years.

But with Republicans aiming to protect their narrow control of the Senate and their razor-thin House majority in this year’s elections, President Donald Trump announced in September that the GOP would hold a convention ahead of the midterms ‘in order to show the great things we have done’ since recapturing the White House.

As first reported by Fox News Digital, the rule change was adopted Thursday evening by the RNC’s Rules Committee during the party’s winter meeting in Santa Barbara, California.

The full RNC membership, meeting Friday during the confab’s general session, approved the rule change in a unanimous vote.

A memo obtained by Fox News Digital highlighted ‘the possibility of an America First midterm convention-style gathering aligned with President Trump’s vision for energizing the party this fall.’

And speaking with reporters on Friday, Gruters called the convention a ‘Trump-a-palooza’ where ‘we can really highlight all the incredible things that this president has done.’

But the president’s approval ratings remain well underwater, with many Americans giving him a big thumbs down on the job he’s doing with the economy and the issue of affordability.

‘Trump has historically low approval ratings because he has put America last, sold out working families to hand out favors to billionaires, and made life unaffordable,’ Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin told Fox News Digital in a statement.

The party in power, in this case the Republicans, normally faces stiff political headwinds in the midterms. And the hope among Trump and top Republicans is that a midterm convention would give the GOP a high-profile platform to showcase the president’s record and their congressional candidates running in the midterms.

Gruters, in a statement to Fox News Digital, touted that the RNC’s winter meeting ‘shows how completely united Republicans are behind President Trump and our efforts to win the midterms. The RNC has been aggressively focused on expanding our war chest, turning out voters and protecting the ballot in this fall’s elections. We’re building the operation needed to protect our majorities and give President Trump a full four-year term with a Republican Congress.’

Details on the date and location of the midterm convention will come at a later date and will likely be announced by the president.

But a Republican source told Fox News Digital it’s probable the convention would be held at the same time as the RNC’s summer meeting, which typically occurs in August.

The DNC may also hold a midterm convention. Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last summer that Martin and other party leaders were quietly pushing the idea of a convention ahead of the midterms.

Democrats held a handful of midterm conventions in the 1970s and 1980s.