Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, led by GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, making the argument that Republicans have a winning hand when it comes to messaging over the government shutdown — even as the stalemate drags on into a 15th day.

To the group’s chair, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., that’s because the ball is solidly in the Democrats’ court.

‘We’re in the second week of a shutdown with no end in sight. Hopefully, the Senate Democrats change their minds and decide to reopen the government. But until then, the Republicans are standing together,’ Harris said.

During the call, members doubled down on support for the clean-spending extension Republicans advanced last month — not just as a matter of policy, but also as a facet of public opinion.

‘I think if the American people understand the truth, they will put pressure on their Democratic senators to actually open up the government,’ McClain said.

Republicans need the support of at least seven Democrats in the Senate to clear the 60-vote threshold to pass spending legislation over a filibuster. The GOP holds 53 seats in the chamber.

Congress remains gridlocked over funding allocations for the 2026 fiscal year which began at the start of October. Although Republicans had advanced a short-term spending plan to keep the government open through Nov. 21, the government entered a shutdown on Oct. 1 when Democrats made it clear they wouldn’t support any spending extension without a key add-on: the continuation of emergency, COVID-era healthcare subsidies set to expire at the end of 2025.

‘We passed it clean, no gimmicks. No gimmicks, no tricks, just at the exact same funding levels, of which, I might add, the Democrats put in place, that they voted for 13 times ago, as recently as March. But Democrats killed it,’ McClain said, referring to the Republican-led stopgap legislation.

Republicans have framed the standoff as a Democrat attempt to take the government hostage over bloated government programs that would add billions to the country’s expenses.

Democrats see the shutdown as a Republican refusal to negotiate over healthcare — one that will spike the monthly premiums of anyone currently relying on the expanded COVID-era subsidies to pay for Obamacare health insurance plans.

Members of the Freedom Caucus said that consideration of some sort of tax-credit extension is still out of the question. 

‘The bottom line is that the COVID-era enhancements have to end. Should we be looking at other reforms to Obamacare to stop the upward spiral of insurance premiums? Sure, we should. But to discuss, again, COVID-era enhancements as the Democrats want to do is a complete nonstarter,’ Rep. Keith Self, R-Tx., said.

That’s of particular focus to the House Freedom Caucus; since its formation in 2015, the group has always had its eye on reeling in government spending.

Some members of the caucus noted that it’s unusual for the group to support a clean-funding extension at levels the group believes are too high to begin with.

‘We’ve given [in] to the Democrats by extending the Biden policies, Biden funding. We could put Republican priorities — Republican funding requests on this, but we didn’t. So, we have already given [in] on this. They are demanding more. Well, not this time,’ Harris said. 

As the shutdown enters a third week, neither side has signaled an intent to blink any time soon.

The Senate will consider spending legislation again on Thursday. If it fails, it will mark the 10th time Democrats have rejected the Republican-led spending extension.

A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from continuing government furloughs, granting a temporary restraining order sought by labor unions that argued layoffs were unlawful during the ongoing government shutdown.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee, ordered the administration not to issue any reduction in force notices to federal employees in ‘any program, project or activity,’ including any bargaining unit or member represented by the unions during, or because of, the shutdown.

‘The evidence suggests OMB and OPM have taken advantage of the lapse in government spending–function to assume all bets are off and that the laws don’t apply to them,’ Illston said.

She further claimed the administration’s actions were ‘…illegal and is in excess of authority and is arbitrary and capricious.’ 

In a court filing Tuesday night, an official with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said more than 4,000 government workers had already received reduction in force notices.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced federal law enforcement will next set its eyes on San Francisco, commending the FBI’s more than 23,000 violent criminal arrests, which he said is more than double the number arrested in the final year of the Biden administration.

During an Oval Office news conference at the White House, Trump said the FBI has ‘destroyed or severely disrupted’ more than 170 organized criminal enterprises and gangs, 1,600 of the most violent gangs, and confiscated more than 6,000 illegal firearms since he was sworn in.

He added he wants to make every city safe, and his focus has turned to San Francisco.

‘These are great cities that could be fixed,’ the president said. ‘I’m going to be strongly recommending … [we] start looking at San Francisco. I think we can make San Francisco one of our great cities. … It’s a mess, and we have great support in San Francisco. … Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted, or shot.’

During the news conference, FBI Director Kash Patel announced ‘Operation Summer Heat,’ which the FBI created to target violent criminals, yielded 8,700 arrests of violent offenders in three months.

More than 2,200 guns and 421 kilograms of fentanyl seized during the operation—enough fentanyl to kill 55 million Americans, according to Patel.

To date, he said the FBI has seized 1900 kilograms of fentanyl—enough lethal doses to kill 127 million Americans alone to date.

‘If you look at the past four years of the Biden administration, [there were] 16,000, 17,000, 15,000, 15,000 … arrests year over year of violent felons in this country,’ Patel said. ‘You have 28,600 arrests of violent felons in just seven months alone because of your leadership and the dedication of the men and women at the FBI who want to go out there and do the job they were prevented from doing. … This number is historic by every metric.’

Patel also highlighted the FBI’s efforts to find missing children, claiming 5,400 were located since January.

‘That is a 30% increase year to date over the last administration,’ he said. ‘Violent crimes against children arrests alone are up 10% [and] gang arrests are up 210% in the last seven months alone. … Mr. President, you said we have to go after the worst of the worst. … This is just the beginning.’

The State Department told Fox News that it is aware of reports Wednesday that two American tourists were attacked in a popular European seaside destination that local media and police said left one person dead and another wounded.

The alleged attack happened early Wednesday in Cascais, Portugal, a coastal resort town about 20 miles west of Lisbon. 

Video taken by Reuters showed blood stains on a sidewalk, where a stabbing had taken place during an attempted robbery, according to media reports.

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the agency takes seriously its commitment to protect U.S. citizens abroad and stands ready to provide consular assistance. 

‘One of the young men died at the scene and the other suffered injuries to his face and arms and was taken to [a] hospital,’ the Portugal Resident newspaper cited the Lisbon Metropolitan Command police force as saying.

The attack was carried out by three suspects who fled the scene in a vehicle, the newspaper added.

Further details about the incident and the identities of the victims were not immediately available. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

Fox News’ Nick Kalman contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a directive ordering the Department of War to keep paying U.S. troops despite the ongoing government shutdown, bypassing Congress after lawmakers failed to reach a funding deal for weeks.

The White House said the move is necessary to protect ‘military readiness’ as the budget standoff stretched into its third week. The order, issued as National Security Presidential Memorandum-8 (NSPM-8), directs the department to use available fiscal year 2026 funds to cover military pay and allowances.

‘The current appropriations lapse presents a serious and unacceptable threat to military readiness and the ability of our Armed Forces to protect and defend our Nation,’ the memo states.

Trump cited his Article II powers as commander-in-chief in issuing the order, which covers active-duty troops and reservists on service orders. The directive instructs officials to use only funds that are legally tied to military pay, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

More than one million service members were expected to miss paychecks starting this week if Congress didn’t act. Trump’s move marks a break from past administrations, which often waited for bipartisan deals instead of intervening directly.

Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital that ‘Trump’s mid-month action was welcome news to the military community. But now that same community is anxious about what happens at the end of the month, where mortgages and rents and car payments all become due.’

‘Democrats were wrong to try to use troop pay as leverage to accomplish their political goals. And it would be wrong, it would be just as wrong, for a Republican to hope that that lack of pay would be a catalyst to get Democrats to acquiesce,’ LaLota said. ‘[Trump is] protecting the troops when Congress won’t.’

The Pentagon has not said which specific accounts will be used. Reports from Roll Call and Reuters indicate the administration has identified roughly $8 billion in unobligated defense funds as potential options.

Critics warn the move could face legal challenges under the Antideficiency Act, which bars spending money not appropriated by Congress. But White House officials argue the law permits spending that has a ‘reasonable, logical relationship’ to the purpose of the original funds: in this case, keeping troops paid.

The directive follows Trump’s Oct. 11 order to keep troop payments flowing during the shutdown. The White House’s latest move Wednesday with Congress still in gridlock could shape government shutdowns for generations to come.

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

President Trump continues to be hailed as a global peacemaker for freeing the Hamas hostages and brokering a ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist group.

By assembling a coalition of countries to stop the two-year-old war, the president melded threats and diplomacy to end – at least for now – the bloody conflict that began with the heinous Hamas massacre of Oct. 7. 

Despite warning signs that Hamas may be unwilling to surrender its weapons, the guns have gone silent and the moving videos of freed hostages embracing their loved ones keep coming. 

Trump has drawn praise from leading Democrats (the Clintons), virtually all the media (which he thanked), and the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, James Carville and Bill Maher.

Then he came home.

Government employees aren’t being paid under the two-week-old shutdown that Trump engineered, in the sense that he refused to seriously negotiate with Democrats worried about the prospect of soaring Obamacare premiums.

The president, as he threatened to do, has cut or frozen almost $28 billion for projects largely based in Democratic-led cities and states, according to a New York Times analysis. That includes giant transportation projects in New York and Chicago.

Trump imposed a new round of layoffs on the Department of Education, targeting the Office of Civil Rights and the Special Education unit – which, following earlier firings, will be down to about six staffers, a 95% reduction since he took office.

He refused to take questions from ‘ABC fake news,’ but called on one of its female reporters, turned to a chuckling JD Vance and said, ‘I just like to watch her talk.’ He then said, ‘Good job. Thank you, darling,’ ignoring what she had asked.

What a stark contrast.

Why is the man capable of such steely leadership abroad insisting on being such a divisive figure at home?

He fervently believes that keeping an iron grip on his MAGA base is how he got elected and crucial to his political health. When Democrats attack his actions, it thrills most of his Republican supporters.

There were also those two horrifying assassination attempts last year.

Trump often complains that he is a victim – of relentlessly unfair media coverage, left-wingers calling him a Nazi and a dictator and lawfare investigations that produced four indictments against him.

As he sees it, he is counterpunching – simple as that. And he definitely has a major point.

Of course, no president has ever ordered the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents, as with the indictments of James Comey and Letitia James. That shatters any remaining notion of DOJ independence.

Trump even took issue with a glowing Time cover story on the ceasefire – ‘His Triumph’ – because he didn’t like the picture, in which the lighting washed out part of his hair. 

And then there’s the handling of scandals.

One case of blatant partisanship, on both sides, is the Politico disclosure of group chats by Young Republican groups that drip with racist, anti-Semitic and violent content.

In 2,900 pages of leaked documents, the participants – all fervent Trump supporters – described Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people.’ They talked about sending their opponents to the gas chambers that would reflect ‘the Hitler aesthetic,’ where they would be killed. A woman who is New York’s national committee member said: ‘I’m ready to watch people burn now.’

These are mainly not college kids, but party operatives, government staffers and one state senator, who under the rules, must be under the age of 40. Three participants have been ousted from their political jobs.

The national federation, which has 15,000 members, said: ‘we are appalled by the vile and inexcusable language … Such behavior is disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican.’

I bring this up because of the reaction at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

A White House spokesperson told Politico that ‘Only an activist, left-wing reporter would desperately try to tie President Trump into a story about a random groupchat he has no affiliation with.’ To be sure, this cannot be blamed on the president in any way.

But, it does reflect how fringe views have infiltrated at least a small minority of younger party members.

What’s striking is the way in which the vice president dismissed the ugliness. 

Vance focused instead on Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general, who was revealed to have texted a colleague in the legislature about his fantasies of killing the then-speaker, Todd Gilbert. ‘Two bullets to the head,’ Jones wrote. Chilling.

‘This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat,’ Vance said, ‘and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia.’

Trump also weighed in, saying that Jones wanted to see a ‘Republican legislator in Virginia shot in the head and to see his children murdered… pretty amazing.’

Now let me say it is beyond disgustingly pathetic that top Virginia Democrats haven’t pulled their support for Jones, and that he hasn’t been driven out of the race. It’s indefensible.

But it’s also a classic case of whataboutism, with each party’s leaders – there are some exceptions – focusing on the other side’s misconduct. 

Vance went a bit further yesterday, saying, ‘the reality is that kids do stupid things. Especially young boys, they tell edgy, offensive jokes.’ Again, they’re not just boys.

In the Middle East, Trump was trying to bring combatants together. In America, he is the chief combatant, doing whatever it takes to wield and expand his power.

Many politicians strive for unity, if only to win more converts to their side. That has never been Trump’s style, dating back to his days as a real estate developer and then as a candidate. His default setting is to fight.

Right now, Bibi Netanyahu loves Donald Trump. So do those who voted for him in a sweeping election victory. But the president has shown little interest in winning over his detractors.

It has been a turbulent yet inspiring year for Koreans. A declaration of martial law last winter plunged the nation into uncertainty, but what followed was not chaos – it was the reaffirmation of a people’s unshakable faith in democracy. 

The ‘Revolution of Light,’ culminating in the peaceful election of a new government, reminded the world that the Republic of Korea’s constitutional order rests not on the will of any ruler, but on the collective conscience of its citizens. 

Some observers abroad have mistaken the intensity of Korea’s political transition for fragility or deviation from democratic norms. In truth, such intensity is the very pulse of democracy itself. Our debates are often fierce, our elections passionately contested, yet our institutions endure. That resilience – born of experience, sacrifice, and civic discipline – is Korea’s greatest democratic asset.

Since taking office, President Lee Jae Myung has acted swiftly to reinforce the foundations of democracy at home and to renew the Republic of Korea’s partnership with the United States. In word and deed, President Lee has recognized the vital importance of the ROK-U.S. alliance and strengthened pragmatic cooperation with President Donald Trump, and put our interlocking security and economic objectives, and shared values at the heart of his agenda. 

This approach reflects Korea’s confidence as a mature democracy and responsible global partner. President Lee views the alliance not merely as a legacy of the past, but as a living partnership, adapting to new challenges – from regional security and economic cooperation to advanced future technology.

This vision was clear at their August summit, where the two leaders spoke with candor and mutual respect, underscoring their shared determination to build what they called a ‘Future-Oriented Comprehensive Strategic Alliance.’ President Trump’s remark, ‘We’ve gotten along very well,’ captured the new tone of trust shaping this alliance. 

President Lee and the whole of the Korean government have meticulously ensured that even as we focus on restoring our democratic system, we not flail for one second in our responsibilities as friend and ally.  This makes certain commentaries – portraying Korea’s new leadership as undemocratic, illegitimate or even hostile to religion – so bewildering and saddening. Such claims, often repeated in online forums and even on opinion pages, bear little resemblance to facts and hinder our joint efforts for real solutions. 

Let’s set the record straight: The government of the Republic of Korea was democratically elected. President Lee prevailed in a fair and transparent vote recognized around the world for meeting the highest election standards. Neither Korea’s independent judiciary nor its opposition parties objected to the result. 

Since then, the principles of the rule of law have been scrupulously observed. Ongoing legal proceedings concerning the previous administration’s declaration of martial law and other alleged abuses of power are being conducted by independent prosecutors appointed by the National Assembly – not by the Presidential Office. These legal proceedings demonstrate the rule of law, not the erosion of it.

Equally unfounded are recent claims that the new government is ‘anti-Christian.’ Such narratives appear to arise from ongoing investigations into bribery allegations involving church funds, but for people familiar with Korea, the notion of prejudice is demonstrably absurd.

Christianity, along with Buddhism and other faiths, has played an integral role in Korea’s social and cultural life. Christian missionaries helped establish many of the nation’s leading educational and medical institutions, countless Christians sacrificed their lives for Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule. 

Today, a large share of Korean population identifies as Christian, with millions of both Protestants and Catholics contributing to the fabric of Korean society. These individuals, like people of all faiths, continue to play a vital role in civic life, community service and the pursuit of national unity.

President Lee himself is a man of Christian faith. He and his administration have the deepest respect for freedom of religion and expression, which our Constitution enshrines. They, like all Koreans, are unambiguously proud of the legacy of Christianity and believe freedom of religion in the Republic of Korea rivals that of any place in the world.

To portray legitimate, lawful efforts to restore democratic order as a campaign against Christianity is not only misleading, but it undermines Christian legacy and respect for religious freedoms that are central to Korea’s democratic values.

As Koreans committed to democracy, vigorous debate and even disagreement are more than welcomed. It is what the new Korean government strove so vigorously to safeguard these past four months. But mischaracterizing all that has occurred does nothing to advance mutual understanding or produce real solutions for the Koreans and Americans alike.

The Republic of Korea and the United States have sustained our alliance through eight decades of bravery and sacrifice. Today’s challenges require nothing less. Under President Lee’s government, Americans can be assured that they have a friend and partner who shares core values and is committed to the success of both of our nations. 

Look no further than their summit on Aug. 25 where the two leaders ushered in the era of a ‘Future-oriented Comprehensive Strategic Alliance’ – one that looks confidently toward a more secure, democratic and prosperous future for both nations. Korea’s story is not one of uncertainty but of conviction: that a free people, tested by history, can renew both their democracy and their alliance with courage and grace.