Although Vice President JD Vance might not agree, many observers saw his barn burner of a capstone speech at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest this weekend in Phoenix as the first major moment of the 2028 presidential election. But was Vance crowned as the nominee? It’s complicated.

Anna, in her 30s and a longtime AmFest attendee, was all in on Vance after the speech.

‘I live in Florida and I love Gov. DeSantis, but he is too right wing for the whole country,’ she told me.

Paul, in his 50s and attending his first TPUSA event, sounded a similar sentiment, saying, ‘Who else is there? I don’t see why we wouldn’t just stick with what is already working.’

Almost everyone I spoke to, and I spoke to a lot of people, shared this view. The exception was Kelli, who is 55 and fiercely proud that her two kids in their 20s have remained staunch conservatives in bright blue Seattle. She likes Vance, but said, ‘I think he has to earn it. We need a real primary.’

Something unique is happening here.

After the 2022 midterm disaster for the Republicans, I asked GOP voters who supported both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis if they wanted everyone to go all in for their guy or if they wanted a fight. Everyone chose the latter, but that isn’t true today.

It isn’t so much Vance himself who is garnering near universal support at AmFest, it is the Trump administration, the team the president has assembled. More so than any presidential election since Vice President Al Gore ran in 2000, this is shaping up to be a race for a third term.

In the English language, we don’t have a lot of pleasant-sounding words for a small group of people who maintain power. Utterances like ‘regime’ and ‘cabal’ come off negative, but there is nothing undemocratic about this idea, it’s just a bit untraditional.

In an age in which Congress can’t pass a resolution to tie its own shoes, many voters are looking to the executive branch for consistency and continuity.

I asked Vance himself about this theory and if he saw himself as running for a third Trump term.

‘Honestly, it feels disloyal to even talk about 2028,’ he said. ‘We’re not even a year in! But yes, I am very much on the team. It’s one of the reasons I think the 2028 talk is so premature.’

‘Consider this hypothetical: If an opportunity is presented that would make Marco Rubio look good, be great for the administration, and wouldn’t really involve me (at least publicly), what do I do?’ Vance continued. ‘If I’m optimizing for 2028, I try to kill the opportunity. If I’m optimizing for the country, for the administration, and to be a good human being, we do it.’

To be completely clear, Vance told me flat out he is not thinking about 2028. But his remarks did suggest, I think correctly, that one way or another, it will be the Trump administration and its policies and priorities that will be on the ballot in 2028, not some new vision.

Aside from his position as No. 2 on the Trump team, the other reason that Vance seems to have the inside track for 2028 is the enthusiasm that young conservative voters have for him.

There were teenagers lined up at 4 a.m. to see Vance. I have a teenager, and getting him out of bed before 10 a.m. on a Sunday is a miracle, but the kids love their vice president, there is just no denying it.

We’re a long way from 2028, and there are a lot of dominoes that still have to fall. But as it approaches, it will be the entire Trump administration not just defending its record in the presidential race, but asking to stay in power.

Trump has brought the conservative movement to the mountaintop, in sight of the promised land. Is JD Vance the man who can take it there? Only time will tell, but if you ask almost anyone at AmFest, the answer is a resounding yes.

A former conservative lawyer-turned-vocal critic of President Donald Trump is jumping into the crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.

George Conway, who was previously married to Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, filed to run in New York’s 12th Congressional District on Monday.

The Manhattan-based district is considered a safe blue seat. Nadler, who served in Congress since 1992, announced in September of this year that he was stepping down amid pressure on older Democrats to make way for a new generation.

Conway was once known in Washington, D.C., as one of the lawyers who worked on Paula Jones’ case when she sued then-President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment.

He also championed conservative causes as a member of the Federalist Society, a right-wing law society.

But in recent years, Conway has made a name for himself as a vehement Trump critic, even while his wife worked as a senior advisor in his White House. George and Kellyanne Conway announced their divorce in March 2023.

Conway was also a founding member of the Lincoln Project, a Republican group that has taken out advertisements and championed causes in direct opposition to Trump.

A document on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) website shows that Conway registered a principal campaign committee on Monday based in New York City.

What appears to be a campaign website listed on the form, GeorgeConwayForCongress.com, is not yet active as of early Monday afternoon.

The registration also notes he is running in the Democratic primary, which is shaping up to be a crowded race. 

At least 12 people have shown interest in the seat so far. Among the most prominent candidates is Jack Schlossberg, the 32-year-old grandson of John F. Kennedy.

Cameron Kasky, an organizer for the anti-gun group March For Our Lives, is also one of the candidates alongside New York State Assembly members Micah Lasher and Alex Bores.

ABC News legal analyst Jami Floyd and New York City council member Erik Bottcher have also filed to run.

Fox News Digital reached out to the emails associated with Conway’s FEC filing for further comment but did not immediately hear back.

Former President Bill Clinton’s spokesman is calling on the Department of Justice to release any remaining documents related to the former president and Jeffrey Epstein following the DOJ’s document release Friday. 

‘We call on President Trump to direct Attorney General Bondi to immediately release any remaining materials referring to, mentioning, or containing a photograph of Bill Clinton,’ a statement from Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña on Monday reads. 

‘This includes, without limitation, any records that may exist and are subject to disclosure under the Act (Public Law 119–38 enacted Nov. 19, 2025), including grand jury transcripts, interview notes, photographs, and findings by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (as referenced under oath to Congress by President Trump’s first-term Attorney General),’ it continued. 

Clinton’s office said that the DOJ’s partial release of Epstein-related documents Friday allegedly shows ‘someone or something is being protected.’ President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan law in November that required the Department of Justice to release all ‘unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials’ within 30 days of Trump’s signature. 

‘The Epstein Files Transparency Act imposes a clear legal duty on the U.S. Department of Justice to produce the full and complete record the public demands and deserves,’ Ureña continued.

‘However, what the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ Monday afternoon regarding the new statement from Ureña. 

The Friday Epstein drop included a handful of photos of Clinton, including him swimming shirtless, posing with music icons such as Michael Jackson, and other redacted photos showing the former president with unidentifiable individuals. 

When asked about the photos when they initially dropped, Ureña directed Fox Digital to a statement he posted to X.

‘The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,’ he wrote Friday. ‘This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be. Even Susie Wiles said Donald Trump was wrong about Bill Clinton.’

Ureña said there are ‘two types of people’ involved in the Epstein scandal: those who did not know of Epstein’s crimes and cut him out of their lives upon his conviction and a second group of people who ‘continued relationships with him after’ his crimes came to light.

‘We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that,’ the Clinton spokesman continued. ‘Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats.’ 

Files that included victims’ names, child sex abuse materials, classified materials or other materials that could threaten an active investigation were allowed to be withheld or redacted by the DOJ, per the transparency law. 

The Trump DOJ released thousands of files related to the Epstein investigations throughout the years, with the department expected to release additional documents in the coming days. Democrats have slammed the DOJ and Trump over the slow release of the documents following the president signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law. 

‘The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schummer said in a press release Monday, teeing up litigation against the administration over the release. ‘Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law. Today, I am introducing a resolution to force the Senate to take legal action and compel this administration to comply.’

Epstein was a well-connected financier with a lengthy Rolodex of billionaires and celebrities who floated in and out of his orbit across the years. He was convicted of sex trafficking minors in 2008 and served just more than one year of incarceration, which also included a controversial work-release arrangement under a plea agreement. 

He was arrested again in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell by suicide. 

MAGA supporters have claimed that Epstein kept an alleged ‘client list’ of high-profile names that he used to blackmail individuals in a web of sex trafficking and crimes. The Department of Justice announced over the summer, however, that there was ‘no incriminating ‘client list” of prominent individuals involved in an alleged sex trafficking scheme, nor that Epstein blackmailed anyone on such list. 

The DOJ previously reported that the evidence shows Epstein did in fact commit suicide, which contradicted speculation on social media that Epstein was murdered in his jail cell in 2019, which set off criticisms among Trump supporters to release further documents on the case, with Democrats joining those calls while invoking questions about Trump’s relationship with Epstein. 

Trump has slammed the calls as part of a ‘Democrat hoax’ while defending that he ‘threw him out’ of Mar-a-Lago after he ‘stole’ employees from the private club in his falling out with Epstein in the 2000s.

Fox News Digital reached out the Department of Justice Monday afternoon regarding Urena’s latest statement, but did not immediately receive a reply.

The Justice Department on Monday appealed the dismissal of its criminal cases against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, making good on its vow to revive both cases despite what appear to be significant legal and procedural hurdles.

Lawyers for the Trump administration appealed both cases Monday to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va. 

‘The power to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 546 during the current vacancy lies with the district court until a U.S. Attorney is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate,’ the Justice Department said in its appeal.

Both appeals challenge a ruling handed down by U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie in November, which found that former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed to her role as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

Because Halligan was unlawfully appointed — and was the sole prosecutor who secured the indictments — Currie ruled that the indictments were invalid and dismissed both cases without prejudice.

‘Ms. Halligan has been unlawfully serving in that role since September 22, 2025,’ Currie said in an opinion filed in both cases. 

‘All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment’ as a result, he said, ‘constitute unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside.’

Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed then to ‘immediately’ appeal the decision, and FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI and Justice Department are exploring other options to keep the case against Comey alive.

James was charged with two counts of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution during her 2020 purchase of a home in Norfolk, Virginia. 

Comey was charged with making false statements to Congress and for obstruction related to his testimony in September 2020. 

Currie dismissed Comey’s case and James’ case ‘without prejudice’ – a detail that left the door open for the government to secure new indictments.

Prosecutors ultimately attempted, without success, to re-indict both Comey and James, prompting new questions about the strength of the case.

Federal prosecutors twice tried and failed to secure a new indictment against James from grand juries in Norfolk and then in Alexandria. Neither effort was successful.

In Comey’s case, a separate judge ordered prosecutors to erase certain evidence – including emails and data – that had played a central role in the Justice Department’s case.

Comey’s case also raises statute-of-limitations concerns, as both charges carried five-year limits that expired Sept. 30 – just three days after Bondi installed Halligan at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

It is unclear whether the judge’s order ‘resets the clock’ on the statute of limitations under a federal law, as Trump’s allies have argued it should. 

Under the same law, a dismissal by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals would trigger a 60-day window for the Trump administration to re-indict Comey.

The Justice Department notified the lower court Monday that it had filed both requests to the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. 

The Department of War announced Monday that the Pentagon is partnering with Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem to deploy Grok across its government systems.

The agency said the ‘frontier‑grade’ capabilities of xAI’s Grok family of models will be integrated into the department’s recently launched AI platform, GenAI.mil. 

As soon as early 2026, the partnership will allow the Department’s 3 million military and civilian personnel to safely access more advanced AI tools for everyday tasks, including handling sensitive government information.

According to xAI, its tools can support administrative tasks at the federal, state and local levels, as well as ‘critical mission use cases’ at the front line of military operations.

‘Today, the War Department officially entered into an agreement with xAI, paving the way for the deployment of its advanced capabilities on GenAI.mil,’ the department said. ‘This move builds on the rapid deployment of cutting‑edge AI across the Department’s 3 million military and civilian personnel.’

The tools will allow employees to use xAI safely on secure government systems for routine work, including tasks involving sensitive but unclassified information, without violating security protocols.

With xAI designed to analyze real-time data, the War Department said the partnership would give personnel ‘a decisive information advantage.’ 

Grok will give personnel access to live information from X, providing the War Department with faster situational awareness around the globe, the department said.

xAI added that the partnership could lead to potential future classified workloads. 

‘Through an ongoing, long-term partnership with the DoW and other mission partners, xAI will make available a family of government-optimized foundation models to support classified operational workloads,’ the company said.

The War Department said that it will continue to scale its AI ecosystem for speed, security and decision superiority.

‘This announcement marks another milestone in America’s AI revolution, and the War Department is driving that momentum forward,’ the department said. 

‘These two new partnerships are part of our longstanding support of the United States Government and xAI’s mission to bring the best tools and technologies available in industry to benefit our nation,’ xAI added.

The collaboration marks another chapter in Elon Musk’s long-running relationship with government initiatives.  

Musk previously helped lead the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, where he briefly reformed operations and cut excess spending within the federal government. 

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) internal watchdog has confirmed that the agency’s publicly reported phone service data was accurate and that performance improved during fiscal year 2025, according to a new audit completed after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioned whether the figures could be trusted.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the SSA’s national 800-number telephone metrics and found that the data the agency released to the public was correct, and that overall service improved during fiscal year 2025, according to a draft audit report provided to agency leadership ahead of public release. The report did not issue any recommendations to the agency.

The review was initiated after Warren expressed concerns in June about long wait times and the reliability of SSA’s phone performance data. She formally requested an audit on July 24, prompting SSA Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano, who serves under President Donald Trump, to agree to an independent review by the watchdog.

The audit found that SSA served 68 million callers during fiscal year 2025, either through live agents or automated systems, a 65% increase from the prior year. Average wait times fluctuated early in the year but improved steadily, according to the audit, ending the fiscal year at roughly seven minutes in September after peaking at about 30 minutes in January.

The metric cited by the agency, known as Average Speed of Answer, measures only the time callers actively wait on hold before speaking to an employee and does not include time spent waiting for callbacks.

‘Last year, people waited 40 minutes on the phone, and now they’re in single digits. We’re doing twice as many calls,’ Bisignano said.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Bisignano said the audit confirmed what agency leadership had been reporting publicly about improvements in service levels.

‘Senator Warren was completely wrong in everything that she was saying, and it’s now been proven out,’ Bisignano said, citing the watchdog’s finding that SSA’s publicly reported telephone metrics were calculated accurately.

Bisignano said he welcomed the audit and was confident the data would withstand independent scrutiny.

The inspector general’s report concluded that SSA’s telephone performance improved during fiscal year 2025 largely because of operational changes, including the rollout of a new cloud-based telecommunications platform, expanded automation and staffing realignments. The platform, implemented in August 2024, allowed SSA to increase call capacity, expand self-service options and monitor performance in real time, according to the report.

The watchdog also confirmed that SSA’s internal data-verification process ensured accuracy by comparing raw data with reported metrics and working with vendors to resolve any discrepancies. The audit found no evidence that the agency misrepresented its national 800-number performance.

Bisignano said improvements were driven by a combination of technology, process changes and workforce adjustments.

The report explains that SSA experienced especially high call volumes between January and March 2025 due to Medicare and tax-related questions, as well as the implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, which affected more than 3.2 million beneficiaries. 

Despite the surge, the agency reduced average wait times over the course of the year.

The audit also found that about 25 million calls during fiscal year 2025 ended without callers receiving service, either because callers disconnected, did not answer callback attempts or encountered busy signals. Those calls were not included in the agency’s wait-time metrics.

Automation played a growing role in absorbing the surge. According to the audit, automated systems handled an average of nearly 2.9 million calls per month in fiscal year 2025, up from about 300,000 per month the year before. Automated services allowed callers to complete common tasks without speaking to a live agent, reducing pressure on phone lines.

The inspector general also reviewed how SSA calculates its Average Speed of Answer metric, which measures the time callers actively wait on hold before speaking to an employee. The audit clarified that callers who accept a callback are counted as having zero active wait time, a methodology that reduces the average but does not include the time callers wait to receive callbacks.

Bisignano said transparency about how the numbers are calculated is essential.

‘We figured out how to leverage technology, process engineering, and human capital,’ he said.

Staffing changes also contributed to the turnaround. Early in fiscal year 2025, the number of employees available to answer national 800-number calls declined by about 13%. By July, SSA began assigning roughly 1,000 field office employees each day to help handle national call volume. The audit found that this coincided with sharp improvements in wait times, with Average Speed of Answer dropping from about 13 minutes in June to roughly 7.5 minutes in July.

The audit did not evaluate service levels or wait times at local Social Security field offices.

Beyond wait times, the audit found that service quality remained high. About 87% of callers who responded to post-call surveys said their issue was resolved on the first contact. The survey results reflect feedback from callers who reached an SSA employee and do not include callers who only used automated services.

Bisignano said the improvements matter most for seniors and beneficiaries who rely on Social Security services.

‘We’re investing in Social Security and servicing the American public at a level they’ve never been serviced before,’ he said. ‘We’ll meet you where you want to be met: on the phone, in the field offices or on the web.’

He added that people who haven’t called the agency recently may be surprised by how much has changed.

‘What would surprise them the most is how quickly they can get their phone call answered,’ he said.

Looking ahead, Bisignano said the agency plans to continue expanding digital services and reducing backlogs, including in disability claims, while maintaining accountability through ongoing oversight.

‘Expect us to always have double-digit improvements in every metric we have,’ he said. ‘This is just the beginning.’

The OIG report in full can be read here.

‘The bottom line is that Donald Trump’s Social Security chief lied about call wait times to cover up his customer service mess,’ Sen. Warren said in an email to Fox News Digital. ‘This new watchdog report reveals that true wait times were more than three times higher than what Commissioner Bisignano claimed, and tens of millions of callers were simply unable to get help on the phone at all.’

The Federal Communications Commission announced on Monday that it would ban new foreign-made drones, citing national security concerns.

The FCC said it was adding uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and their critical components made in China and other foreign countries to its ‘covered list’ that features equipment that has been determined to pose an ‘unacceptable risk’ to U.S. national security and the safety of Americans. Specific drones or components would be exempt if the Pentagon or Department of Homeland Security determined they did not pose such risks.

The distinction prohibits the products from being sold or imported in the U.S. The order does not apply to technology that has already been sold in the U.S.

The agency said that allowing foreign-made UAS and component parts to be sold in the U.S. ‘undermines the resiliency of our UAS industrial base, increases the risk to our national airspace, and creates a potential for large-scale attacks during large gatherings,’ citing upcoming events such as the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

‘Criminals, terrorists, and hostile foreign actors have intensified their weaponization of these technologies, creating new and serious threats to our homeland,’ the FCC said in its notice.

The announcement comes a year after a defense bill was adopted that raised national security concerns about Chinese-made drones, which have been used in farming, mapping, law enforcement and filmmaking.

The bill called for stopping two Chinese companies — DJI and Autel — from selling new drones in the U.S. if a review found they posed a risk to U.S. national security.

A spokesperson for DJI said in a statement that it is ‘disappointed’ by the FCC’s decision and that ‘no information has been released regarding what information was used’ in the government’s determination to add its drones and component parts to the covered list.

‘Concerns about DJI’s data security have not been grounded in evidence and instead reflect protectionism, contrary to the principles of an open market,’ the statement said.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party praised the FCC’s move, saying it ‘strongly supports’ the decision.

‘It will help safeguard our national security, protect the American people, and wind down the unacceptable national security threat posed by DJI and other Chinese drones,’ the committee wrote on X.

‘Taken together with the Administration’s recent executive actions to accelerate domestic drone commercialization, this sends an unmistakable signal to American industry: The U.S. is open for drone innovation—and American manufacturing will be rewarded,’ it added.

Arthur Erickson, chief executive officer and co-founder of the Texas-based drone-making company Hylio, told The Associated Press that the departure of DJI would provide more opportunity for American companies like his to grow. He said new investments are coming in to help him boost production of spray drones, which farmers use to fertilize their fields, and it will bring down prices.

But Erickson also called it ‘crazy’ and ‘unexpected’ that the FCC would expand the restrictions to all foreign-made drones and their components.

‘The way it’s written is a blanket statement,’ Erickson said. ‘There’s a global-allied supply chain. I hope they will clarify that.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.