Blog

Tomahawks, Tomahawks, Tomahawks. That’s the word buzzing in the ears of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as President Donald Trump weighs providing America’s precision strike missile of choice to Ukraine.   

Since May, Trump has bombed the Houthis in Yemen, obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities and hit narco-terrorist drug boats in the Caribbean.  Putin has to realize that Tomahawks could soon be in the skies over Russia.

What can Ukraine hit with the 1000-mile range Tomahawks? Start with the Shahed drone factory in Tatarstan, and at least 67 Russian airbases. Tomahawks in Ukraine’s hands rip open Russian energy infrastructure to precision attack with no warning.

ZELENSKYY PITCHES TRUMP ON UKRAINE DRONE-FOR-TOMAHAWK MISSILE EXCHANGE AS PRESIDENT WEIGHS ESCALATION CONCERNS

If Ukraine launches Tomahawks, they’ll be flying as low as 100 feet, hugging the terrain, evading radar. TLAMs can each take separate routes at 500 mph then meet up over the Russian target for a coordinated strike.

Trump is baiting Putin. “Hopefully, they won’t need it,” Trump said of the Tomahawks at Friday’s lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. Trump said he’d like to “get the war over without Tomahawks” but then went on to describe the missiles as “very dangerous” and “incredible.”

Here’s the backstory on the Tomahawks, and why Trump is keeping them on the table to pressure Putin.  

Built for the Russian target set

First tested in 1972, the Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile or TLAM was actually developed by the U.S. Navy during the Cold War to attack targets on land in the Soviet Union. In case you haven’t seen one up close, the Tomahawk is 20 feet long but just 21 inches wide.  It looks like a white pole with wiglets, but inside is a powerful turbo-fan engine and sophisticated guidance. Today’s Block IV Tomahawks can be retargeted in flight, and loiter over a target for hours, taking electro-optical scans and waiting for other missiles to arrive before detonating. They carry a unitary warhead for harder targets, or dispense cluster munitions over a wide pattern to hit airfields, for example. (Yes, there was once a nuclear TLAM variant with a 200 Kiloton warhead, but they were placed in storage in 1991 and eliminated in 2010.) 

Air Defense Nightmare 

The presence of Tomahawks in Ukraine will set up an almost insoluble air defense problem for Putin. No way can Russia place air defenses at every remote gas pipeline point or cover all the airbases where planes park out in the open.  

Fast delivery

TLAMs could be in Ukraine in 24 hours. The Army Mid-Range Capability missile system is a tractor-trailer missile launcher that can be driven onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. The Army deployed TLAM launcher 8,000 miles away to North Luzon in the Philippines in under 15 hours last year for a wargame. Trump has plenty of time.  

Deterring Putin. The brutal escalation of mass attacks by Russia led Ukraine to ramp up its drone strikes on Russian energy starting in August. According to a Reuters study, Ukraine’s drones have hit 18 pumping stations, plus 32 strikes on refineries. Ukraine’s Liutyi drones have a range of about 600 miles and carry warheads of about 50 pounds. Mixing in TLAMs would intensify pressure on Russian energy, Putin’s single biggest source of government revenue. Zelenskyy has called Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian energy “the sanctions that work the fastest.”

Don’t worry about depleting TLAM inventory

The U.S. still has about 4,000 Tomahawks in its inventory, and new missiles like the U.S. Navy’s SM-6 are already in action. The U.S. Army deployed its new Dark Eagle long-range hypersonic weapons to Australia in August and will have its first full battery by December. By the way, last year Japan bought 400 Tomahawks for targeting China and North Korea.  

Combat Record

Tomahawks have piled up an incredible combat record since Jan. 17, 1991, when 122 TLAMs hit Iraqi oil and command and control targets at the start of Operation Desert Storm. Eight-hundred TLAMs were fired in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Over the years, Tomahawks have hit targets in Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and, of course, Iran. On June 22, TLAMs hit above-ground “key surface infrastructure targets” in the nuclear complex at Isfhahan, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. The TLAM strikes left the sprawling site visibly damaged and blackened. “We gave it a capper with 30 TLAMS,” as Trump said Friday. 

Putin may yell and scream about Tomahawks for Ukraine. Pay no attention. He’s grumbled about each weapon system, from F-16s to Patriots. And no, Putin does not dare escalate with nuclear weapons in Ukraine, because the wind patterns blow radiation clouds back into Russia.  

As Trump said Friday: “Yeah, its escalation. But we’re going to talk about it anyway.”  

President Donald Trump kicked off the week with a major breakthrough brokering a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and closed out the week seeking to make progress on the next global conflict: Ukraine. 

Trump met with Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset on Monday, before heading to Egypt where he met with leaders there as well as Qatar, Turkey and other regional powers. The president urged countries in the region to “put the old feuds and bitter hatreds behind us.”

“At long last, we have peace in the Middle East, and it’s a very simple expression, peace in the Middle East,” Trump told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

COULD TRUMP’S GAZA CEASEFIRE PLAN OFFER A BLUEPRINT FOR PEACE IN UKRAINE?

“We’ve heard it for many years, but nobody thought it could ever get there. And now we’re there,” Trump said. 

The peace deal in the Middle East includes a provision to return the hostages that were still in captivity within 72 hours of Hamas signing off on the deal. It also called for Israeli forces to withdraw its troops and a complete disarmament of Hamas.

Now, Trump has said that he will set his sights on resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday at the White House. 

TRUMP WRITES MESSAGE TO ISRAELIS AFTER ALL LIVING HOSTAGES RELEASED BY HAMAS

While Trump said that there is momentum to solve the conflict on the heels of the peace deal in the Middle East, there is “tremendous bad blood” between Putin and Zelenskyy that is stalling a resolution. 

“They have tremendous bad blood,” Trump told reporters. “It’s really is what is holding up I think a settlement. I think we are going to get it done, and we have to make it long-lasting, as I said in the Middle East, everlasting.” 

“The Middle East is a much more complicated situation. You know, we had 59 countries involved, and every one of them agreed. And it’s, you know, it’s sort of amazing. Most people didn’t think that was doable. This is going to be something I really believe that’s going to get done. I had a very good talk yesterday with President Putin. I think he wants to get it done,” Trump said. 

WORLD LEADERS PRAISE ‘LANDMARK’ ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL MEDIATED BY US: ‘NEW HORIZON OF HOPE’

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said that Trump has a big opportunity to make headway on mediating an end to the conflict. 

“President Trump has really showed for the world that he can manage a ceasefire in the Middle East. And that’s why I hope that he will do this. And we will also have such big success. For Ukraine, it’s a big chance, and I hope that President Trump can manage it,” Zelenskyy said Friday. 

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill is pulling out all the stops in the final push ahead of Election Day, campaigning alongside Democratic Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Wes Moore of Maryland, both considered potential 2028 presidential candidates. 

While the Sherrill campaign gears up for high-profile campaign collaborations, former President Barack Obama endorsed Sherrill’s gubernatorial campaign on Friday. 

“This November, we have an opportunity to chart a different path forward — to reject the chaos in Washington and lower costs in New Jersey — and I’m so grateful to have President Obama’s support and endorsement in this race,” Sherrill said in a statement, commending Obama’s leadership on healthcare amid the government shutdown as congressional Democrats seek to extend healthcare premiums set to expire this year. 

Sherrill will rally with Whitmer in Paramus, New Jersey, on Saturday morning. Later, she will join Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin for a “No Kings” rally in Montclair — one of hundreds scheduled across the country in rejection of President Donald Trump’s sweeping, second-term agenda. 

NJ SHOWDOWN: CIATTARELLI PILES ON DEM RIVAL AFTER HEATED DEBATE WITH SCATHING NEW ADS

On Sunday, Sherrill will host a policy roundtable with Moore and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Baraka was one of several Democratic candidates who competed for the New Jersey gubernatorial nomination earlier this year. 

FINAL FACEOFF: DEMOCRAT, REPUBLICAN NOMINEES IN KEY RACE FOR GOVERNOR BLAST EACH OTHER ON DEBATE STAGE

Baraka made national headlines during his campaign when he was arrested for trespassing at Delaney Hall, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility in Newark, while protesting earlier this year. He was later accused of fostering toxic work environments for women.

After the policy roundtable on Sunday, Sherrill and Moore will canvass in Newark before she attends an Oktoberfest event in Hamilton later that day. 

A Fox News survey released Thursday found Sherill ahead of her Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli by 5 points among New Jersey likely voters (50-45%), down from an 8-point lead in late September (50-42%). As the race to replace Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited in the Garden State this year, Sherrill’s edge has tightened over Ciattarelli, within the poll’s margin of sampling error.

New Jersey is one of two statewide elections in the U.S. this year and will be considered a bellwether ahead of competitive midterm elections expected next year. 

The race for the Garden State’s highest office has become increasingly hostile between Sherrill and Ciattarelli in the final weeks ahead of Election Day. And while Trump isn’t on the ballot, he’s loomed large over the New Jersey gubernatorial election.

At last week’s second and final debate, Sherrill charged that her GOP rival had “shown zero signs of standing up to this president. In fact, the president himself called Jack 100% MAGA, and he’s shown every sign of being that.”

Asked whether he considered himself part of the MAGA movement, Ciattarelli said he was “part of a New Jersey movement.”

When asked to grade the president’s performance so far during his second term, Ciattarelli said, “I’d certainly give the president an A. I think he’s right about everything that he’s doing.”

“I think that tells us all we need to know about who Jack Ciattarelli’s supporting. I give him an F right now,” Sherrill responded, as she pointed to New Jersey’s high cost of living.

While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past ten elections.

And Trump made major gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, losing the state by only 6 percentage points, an improvement over his 16-point deficit four years earlier.

Sherrill’s news conference came the day after multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump will hold tele-rallies with Ciattarelli. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

In what’s expected to be a low-turnout election, Trump’s backing could prove crucial for Ciattarelli, who’s making his third run for governor after narrowly losing to Murphy four years ago.

The Trump administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago to protect federal personnel and federal property amid protests over immigration enforcement in the area.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer, Trump’s top Supreme Court lawyer, urged the justices to step in immediately after a judge ruled last week that National Guard troops sent to Illinois by President Donald Trump to combat crime can remain in the state but can’t patrol or deploy to protect federal property. A federal appeals court had refused to put the judge’s order on hold.

U.S. District Judge April Perry said she found no convincing evidence that a “danger of rebellion” exists in Illinois amid Trump’s immigration enforcement push.

TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS CAN STAY IN ILLINOIS BUT FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS DEPLOYMENT

Sauer wrote that the judge’s ruling “intrudes on the president’s authority and needlessly puts federal personnel and property at risk.”

The plea to the nation’s top court further escalates Trump’s standoff with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who have staunchly opposed deploying troops. They have called any deployment unconstitutional and insisted the city is not facing the kind of crime crisis the White House claims.

Eleven protesters were arrested Friday outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, a west Chicago suburb that has become a frequent flashpoint for demonstrations against federal agents in recent weeks.

Trump has already deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Memphis, Tenn., to help curb violent crime. He has said the moved caused crime to plummet in those areas. 

Earlier this week, the president floated the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to tackle violent crime in Chicago and urged Pritzker to “beg for help” from the federal government.

‘UNTETHERED FROM REALITY’: LAWYERS FOR TRUMP, OREGON, SPAR OVER NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT IN COURT CLASH

“I could use it if I wanted to. I could use it — that’s a very simple answer. I’m allowed to use the Insurrection Act,” Trump said, after the question was put to him by a reporter aboard Air Force One. 

The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president authority to deploy active-duty military or federalized National Guard troops inside the country in limited circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, rebellion or obstruction of federal law. It has been invoked about 30 times by roughly 10 presidents, most recently by George H. W. Bush during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, according to The Associated Press.

But on Monday, Trump said he didn’t have to “go there yet” because his administration is “winning on appeal.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“You know, we lose with radical-left judges at the lower level, but we’re winning on appeal. So we’ll see what happens,” Trump said.

The conservative-dominated court has handed Trump repeated victories in emergency appeals since he took office in January, after lower courts have ruled against him and often over the objection of the three liberal justices. 

The court has allowed Trump to ban transgender people from the military, claw back billions of dollars of congressionally approved federal spending, move aggressively against illegal immigrants and fire the Senate-confirmed leaders of independent federal agencies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

New York City organizers embedded in the global intifada to destroy the state of Israel moved Friday to join the controversial “No Kings” protests planned for today, despite the peace deal reached between Israel and Hamas.

“UAW Labor for Palestine” and “NYC Labor for Palestine” quietly posted a call-to-action for the “Palestine Labor Solidarity Contingent” to meet Saturday at 11 a.m. at Duarte Square at the corner of Grand Street and Canal Street in midtown Manhattan and then flow into the #NoKings protests planned to protest President Donald Trump.

They’re not alone. Around the country, anti-Israel blocs are slotting themselves into the “No Kings” protests as a “Palestine Contingent” and “Socialist Contingent,” positioning their messages “front and center,” as Seattle activists put it, “from Providence to Palestine.”

‘NO KINGS’ ORGANIZER DISCOURAGES VIOLENCE FOLLOWING COAST-TO-COAST ARRESTS

The alignment underscores a strategic pivot in the global intifada’s next phase, experts say, carrying the anti-Israel message into any high-energy civic protest, even after Hamas agreed to a ceasefire by linking “Free Palestine” to domestic fights like ICE, police and “fascism.”

Billionaire donor George Soros is reportedly funding many of the organizations leading the “No Kings” protests, like Indivisible, whose co-founders, Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, received a $3 million two-year grant last year from Soros’s Open Society Foundations for “social welfare activities.” Details about the “Palestine Contingent” weaving into the “No Kings” protests raises new questions about the way big Democratic donors like Soros are funneling nonprofit dollars into a professional protest industry that is fractious, divisive and partisan, potentially in violation of tax and nonprofit laws.

‘NO KINGS’ MOVEMENT AND WHAT IT WANTS: INSIDE THE MESSAGE DRIVING SATURDAY’S NATIONWIDE PROTESTS

Behind the emotion and patriotic imagery of the protests, a Fox News Digital investigation revealed that the movement’s polished “pro-democracy” branding masks a coordinated network of Democratic tax-exempt nonprofits and labor unions, political action committees, coalitions and for-profit protest consultants that include some of the most virulent activists against Israel, including self-declared socialist groups like the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Democratic Socialists of America and Students for a Democratic Society. 

According to a public database of the protest’s organizers, compiled by the Pearl Project, a journalism initiative, the protest’s “partners” include 265 mostly nonprofit organizations, including some anti-Israel groups, like Jewish Voice for Peace, exploiting their nonprofit benefits to wage a political war against the sitting president. Their nonprofit status shields them from paying taxes on most of their total annual revenues of $2.9 billion, even while they engage in partisan work they aren’t supposed to be doing. Critics say they are allegedly skirting, if not violating, tax and nonprofit laws. Event organizers didn’t return requests for comment.

“They call it ‘No Kings,’ but what they’ve built is an empire of tax-exempt organizations doing the Democratic Party’s work on the taxpayer’s dime,” said Jennica Pounds, a computer scientist who runs a platform, DataRepublican.com, following the money on these organizations. “They are using every excuse in the book, from immigration to Israel, to rage-bait America. There is nothing ‘charitable’ about their professional protest enterprise, and they should be investigated for fomenting so much hate in America behind the shield of ‘charity work.’” 

Already, Trump has said that he has directed the Justice Department to investigate possible violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has opened an investigation that follows the money to anti-Israel groups, including some of the groups who will be bringing their protest signs to the “No Kings” demonstrations. 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital, “The Trump administration and the Republican Congress are committed to countering this network of left-wing violence.”

Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson called the protests a “hate America rally.” Indeed, on June 14, at the “No Kings” protest in Philadelphia, activists from the “Palestinian Contingent,” including activists from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Democratic Socialists of America, hissed as a woman sang the national anthem. 

“Booooo! Boooooo!” they yelled, covering their faces in keffiyehs, carrying Palestinian flags and heckling bystanders, “Zionist!” 

While organizers insist the movement transcends party lines, its structure tells a different story. 

The protest network’s official “partners” include 24 Democratic political action committees that make no secret of their partisan agenda, dedicated to electing Democratic politicians. Among them are the mega-organizing group Indivisible Action, Hollywood Democrats and the Democratic National Committee’s Washtenaw County Democratic Party in Michigan, Westside Democratic Headquarters in Los Angeles, Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club in northern California, 504 Democratic Club and College Democrats of America.

“They call it ‘No Kings,’ but what they’ve built is an empire of tax-exempt organizations doing the Democratic Party’s work on the taxpayer’s dime.” – Jennica Pounds, of DataRepublican.com

The motto of Field Team 6, another political action committee, is “Register Democrats. Save the World.” However, those PACs are just one layer of a much larger partisan infrastructure. 

About one-third, or 79 groups, behind the “No Kings” protests hold 501(c)(3) status, meaning their donors receive tax deductions while the groups face strict restrictions to do “charitable” work, not political work. They are supposed to be nonpartisan. Yet most have clearly stated political agendas. 

On its donation page, one of the protest partners, “Build the Resistance,” states a partisan mission to “fight against autocracy, fascism, and donald [sic].” Donations go to Oil and Gas Action Network, a 501(c)(3) that reported $1.9 million in revenues in its last tax filing.

Another 100 are 501(c)(4) political nonprofits that may do limited lobbying but still cannot devote themselves primarily to political work. Meanwhile, 24 are 501(c)(5) labor union nonprofits, like the labor unions marching against Israel in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area, that also have limits on the amount of political work they can do.

It’s clear that the protests are all about politics. The protest’s own internal online “toolkit” mentions Trump 12 times and describes the mobilization explicitly as a direct stand against “the Trump administration,” “Trump and his enablers,” “President Trump’s authoritarian takeover” in a partisan-centered campaign.

In Rhode Island, the “Free Palestine Contingent” activists will march “FROM PROVIDENCE TO PALESTINE” to “FIGHT FASCISM! FIGHT GENOCIDE.” It connects the battles against ICE law enforcement officers and the battles of Palestinians, noting, “Military occupations and ICE violence are wreaking havoc in Black and brown communities in D.C., L.A., Chicago — and here in Providence. On the streets of U.S. cities, the same weapons and surveillance technologies the Israeli military has used to devastate Gaza are being used in escalated ways against us. What we allow fascists to do in Palestine, they will do to the entire world — and it is our duty to resist them and fight for a free Palestine.

In northern California, activists at “Bay Area Labor 4 Palestine” and Service Employees International Union Local 1021 announced yesterday, “The fight for a liberated Palestine is not over and cannot be ignored,” over a graphic for the “No Kings” protest. They instructed followers to “Bring flags, signs, keffiyehs and art” to the “No Kings” march in Oakland, Calif., at Wilma Chan Park off Jackson Street. 

In New York City, the “Palestine Labor Solidarity Contingent” said its message would be very specific: “STOP ARMING ISRAEL! FUND OUR COMMUNITIES, NOT GENOCIDE & OCCUPATION! END ICE, MILITARY & POLICE TERROR…HANDS OF VENEZUELA!”

Across the country, in Washington state, activists from “Seattle Against War” yesterday celebrated local organizers adding an anti-Israel activist, Tariq Ra’ouf, to the official #NoKings speaker lineup, noting it will be a “great opportunity for us to support the demands of Palestinians from the belly of the beast!”

The Party for Socialism and Liberation’s local chapter in Syracuse, N.Y., posted a similar poster with the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, which has Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as its political candidate in New York City.

In Charlotte, N.C., the local chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation put out a call to members to assemble at 10 a.m. tomorrow for the local #NoKings protest at First Ward Park: “JOIN THE PALESTINE CONTINGENT @ THE ‘NO KINGS’ RALLY…MEET AT THE PLAYGROUND.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

With local partners, including the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Jewish Voice for Peace, activists at the Party for Socialism and Liberation noted that, post-ceasefire, they will “continue to fight for a free Palestine.” Some of the groups in the Palestine Contingent are part of the wider network of publicly acknowledged partners of the protests, like 50501.

In Eugene, Ore., activists with the Party for Socialism and Liberation are rallying members to meet the “Socialist Contingent” at the corner of Mill Road and Eighth Avenue to “march for a free Palestine” and get ICE officers “OUT of our communities.”

In Portland, a local Palestinian American activist announced, “The Nakba Is Still Not Over!” in a reference to the “humiliation” over the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. She summoned activists to the “No Kings” protests: “‼️SHOW UP FOR PALESTINE‼️”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has once again instructed House lawmakers to remain in their home districts next week, keeping attention — and heat — in Washington on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for over a month.

A clerk in the House of Representatives announced on Friday that Johnson is designating Oct. 20 through Oct. 23 as a “district work period,” meaning no votes or House hearings are expected to be held for that time.

It’s part of the pressure strategy Johnson has implemented against Democrats amid the ongoing government shutdown, which is barreling into a fourth week with the GOP’s federal funding plan stalled in the Senate.

The House GOP passed its federal funding plan on Sept. 19, a seven-week extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 government spending levels, called a continuing resolution (CR). 

SCREAMING MATCH ERUPTS BETWEEN HAKEEM JEFFRIES, MIKE LAWLER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CHAOS CONTINUES

It was aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a longer-term deal on FY 2026 spending.

But Democrats, infuriated by being sidelined in the talks, are threatening to reject any deal that does not include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of December.

Democrats reason that millions of Americans are expected to see their healthcare premiums skyrocket even before the subsidies themselves expire at the end of this year, and with no plan in place.

Republican leaders have signaled openness to having those discussions at a later date — albeit not without reforming the system — but are holding firm to their demand that the CR be passed without any partisan policy riders attached.

Johnson told reporters earlier on Friday that he would give House members 48 hours’ notice before they had to return for any votes, something he’s stated both publicly and privately for weeks.

HOUSE PASSES TRUMP-BACKED PLAN TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

But while his House GOP conference is holding largely united behind him, there are several Republicans growing uncomfortable with the lengthy recess period.

Both Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., expressed concern about the extended time at home during a private call among House Republicans earlier this month.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., has been more public with his pushback. He told MSNBC live on television Wednesday, “It is absolutely unacceptable to me and I think only serves further distrust.”

And Rep. Dave Valadao, while not explicitly pushing back on Johnson’s decision, told Fox News Digital that he was “kind of torn on that” before blaming Senate Democrats for putting the GOP in this situation.

Meanwhile, Rep. Johnny Olszewski, D-Md., the lone House Democrat who was in the chamber when the district work period was declared, criticized Johnson for keeping the chamber out of session.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Congress has been absent here in the House for almost a month when there are critical conversations that need to be happening about reopening the government, lowering the cost of healthcare for millions of Americans, and also moving forward on critical issues,” Olszewski said.

In a sign of a likely lengthy shutdown, the Senate is preparing to hold a standalone vote next week on paying government workers who are forced to work during the shutdown, including active-duty military members.

Asked by reporters if the House would come back to vote on the measure if it passed the Senate, Johnson said Friday, “If we have a viable path, yes, but I suspect the Democrats are going to bat it down again.”

Several Democrat senators seemed ready to expand COVID-era Obamacare tax credits holding up spending legislation needed to reopen the government — but less willing to grapple with what that would mean for the country’s expenses.

“I’ll disagree with the framing of deficit increase,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said when asked about the program’s implications for the country’s bottom line.

Others, like Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., declined to respond.

The country plunged into a shutdown at the beginning of the month when lawmakers failed to agree on a short-term spending extension that would have funded the government through Nov. 21. But the disagreement wasn’t about the package itself. In 2021, Congress temporarily expanded eligibility for Obamacare’s enhanced premium tax credits subsidies, meant to help Americans pay for their health insurance plans amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. That increased eligibility sunsets at the end of 2025. Democrats have made the program’s continuation a key condition in support for any spending package.

Republicans need at least seven Democrats to advance spending legislation in the Senate, where Republicans must clear the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. The GOP holds 53 seats in the chamber.

OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES AT CENTER OF DEM SHUTDOWN FIGHT ‘FUEL’ HEALTHCARE COST INFLATION, CONSERVATIVES SAY

According to the Committee of a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal policy think tank, continuing the expanded credits could cost upwards of $30 billion annually.

Where Republicans see the expiration as an opportunity to return government spending to pre-COVID levels and shrink the national deficit, Democrats have expressed alarm over recipients who could face an abrupt end to their federal assistance.

“You have literally millions of Americans who will no longer be able to afford their health insurance or will be thrown off health insurance when the tax credits that make the Affordable Care Act affordable expire at the end of this year,” Coons said, referring to the 2010 health care reforms that put Obamacare into law.

Other Democrats pointed to healthcare as the key consideration at play.

“Republicans need to restore healthcare to the American people. That’s my position,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said.

Findings by KFF, a healthcare policy think tank, indicate that over 90% of the 24 million Obamacare enrollees make use of the enhanced credits.

DEMOCRATS BLAME GOP FOR OBAMACARE WOES TIED TO PANDEMIC-ERA SUBSIDIES

Democrats have voted against reopening the government 10 times since the start of the shutdown.

Lawmakers like Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, have pushed back on Democrat opposition, noting that the credits were always designed to be temporary — and that Democrats were the ones who included the sunset provision to begin with.

“This is a pre-determined crisis by the Democrats,” Curtis said. “They’re the ones who put the expiration date on these.”

That’s also the position of Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.

“My concern is that [the credit expansion] was done during the pandemic, because of the pandemic. The pandemic is over. As a result, you’ve got people making $300,000 on a subsidy.”

“So, what we need to do is get the government open, not hold the American people hostage and start talking, because there will be some people that are hurt,” Boozman added.

MODERATE DEM UNDERCUTS JEFFRIES ON OBAMACARE COMPROMISE AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN WEARS ON

Boozman isn’t the only Republican concerned about both: ballooning government costs and the Americans who would have to adjust their payments to afford healthcare without the subsidies.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has cautioned against sudden shifts to healthcare programs, said talks to advance both priorities haven’t made much progress. 

“I’m trying to figure out a way that we can ensure that healthcare coverage for Americans remains, and we’re not making much headway this week,” Murkowski said. 

Other Senators hinted that talks were advancing in some way but declined to describe them.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I’m not getting engaged right now, because I may or may not be involved in any negotiations on what the ultimate resolution of this will be. At this point, until the Democrats open the government, I’m not going to discuss details,” Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said.

Both chambers of Congress left Washington, D.C., for the weekend. The Senate will return Monday.

The federal judge assigned to oversee the criminal case against former Trump national security advisor John Bolton is an Obama-era appointee who made headlines during both Trump administrations for halting or pausing some of his most sweeping executive orders. 

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, a 2014 appointee to the federal bench in Greenbelt, Maryland, is far from the only judge whose rulings have been viewed by Trump allies as unfavorable to the administration. Dozens of judges have issued temporary orders and injunctions during Trump’s second term aimed at pausing or blocking certain directives while courts consider their merits.

But Chuang is noteworthy for being the judge who in 2017 issued a nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s revised “travel ban” from taking force. The March 2017 executive order suspended travel for 90 days from six majority-Muslim countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — and paused the entry of asylum seekers for 120 days.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO PAY ‘UNLAWFULLY’ RESTRICTED USAID FUNDS

Chuang ruled that Trump’s order was likely motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment, describing it as a revised “realization” of Trump’s “long-envisioned Muslim ban,” which he had floated repeatedly during his first presidential bid.

“Simply because a decisionmaker made the statements during a campaign does not wipe them from the ‘reasonable memory’ of a ‘reasonable observer,’” he said in the injunction, which was quickly appealed to the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. 

Shortly after Trump took office in January, Chuang again drew the administration’s ire when he blocked Trump and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from continuing efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. In a 70-page ruling, he said the actions likely violated the U.S. Constitution “in multiple ways.”

The preliminary injunction was the first to attempt to constrain DOGE, which at the time had already cut 98% of USAID staffers. The 4th Circuit also set aside Chuang’s ruling on appeal several weeks later, clearing the way for DOGE to continue its efforts to gut USAID. 

Chuang has also presided over lesser-known cases, including temporarily suspending in-person requirements for women who were seeking the morning-after pill during the COVID-19 pandemic. That decision was later reversed by the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision.

SCOTUS RULES ON NEARLY $2 BILLION IN FROZEN USAID PAYMENTS

Trump’s executive actions and orders have sparked 220 lawsuits since January, according to a litigation tracker from Lawfare Media. 

Many of the early actions were blocked by federal judges, including Chuang, through emergency orders or temporary injunctions pending review.

(Court watchers and legal experts attribute this imbalance to congressional inaction, which has prompted an increase in executive orders by the last four presidents and, in turn, more judicial review.)

Like other federal judges who have held up Trump’s agenda, if only temporarily, in his second term, Chuang’s orders have been castigated by the president’s allies and some Republicans in Congress.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Earlier this year, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced a House resolution seeking to impeach Chuang and five other federal judges who had challenged Trump administration actions. (The attempt prompted a stern warning from the New York City Bar Association, which cited “grave concerns” about the effort.)

Bolton appeared Friday in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., where he pleaded not guilty to 18 counts.

Bolton’s indictment makes him the third Trump foe to have been indicted in federal court in as many weeks, following the high-profile indictments brought against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. But his case has not touched off the same concerns or allegations of political retribution as the others.

The investigation into Bolton’s handling of classified materials moved forward in part during the Biden administration, and career prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office signed off on the charges — a contrast to the cases against Comey and James, which were brought by Trump’s former attorney Lindsey Halligan.

A magistrate judge ordered Bolton released on the condition that he remain in the continental United States and surrender his passport, which he did. His next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 21.

The Kremlin has suggested that Russia and the United States build a “Putin-Trump” rail tunnel under the Bering Strait to link the two nations, according to a proposal from one of President Vladimir Putin’s top investment officials.

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), outlined the idea Thursday, Reuters reported. 

‘ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE’: B-2 BOMBER, F-35 ESCORT SET STAGE FOR TRUMP-PUTIN TALKS IN ALASKA

The plan calls for a 70-mile rail and cargo tunnel to be built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company within eight years at a projected cost of $8 billion. The project, Dmitriev said, would be funded by Moscow and “international partners.”

“The dream of a U.S.–Russia link via the Bering Strait reflects an enduring vision — from the 1904 Siberia–Alaska railway to Russia’s 2007 plan,” Dmitriev wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “RDIF has studied existing proposals, including the U.S.–Canada–Russia–China railroad, and will support the most viable.”

The proposal came after President Donald Trump reportedly spoke by phone with Putin and agreed to meet in Budapest to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine.

ALASKA GOVERNOR HOPES FOR END TO UKRAINE WAR AS STATE PREPARES FOR HISTORIC TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT

The Bering Strait separates Russia from Alaska. The small Diomede Islands — one controlled by Russia and the other by the U.S. — sit in the middle of the strait, and are separated by 2.4 miles, Reuters reported.

Dmitriev suggested The Boring Company as the builder, citing its tunneling technology as a way to dramatically cut costs.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Imagine connecting the U.S. and Russia — the Americas and Afro-Eurasia — with the Putin-Trump Tunnel, a 70-mile link symbolizing unity,” Dmitriev wrote in a post directed at Musk. “Traditional costs are $65B+, but @boringcompany’s tech could reduce it to less than $8B. Let’s build a future together.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa faced off in their first general election debate on Thursday night, and, with no live audience, supporters flooded 50th Street outside 30 Rock, cheering on their preferred candidates with campaign signs and lobbing verbal attacks at their opponents. 

With less than three weeks until Election Day, the debate gave voters their clearest side-by-side look yet at the candidates vying to lead the nation’s largest city.

On the debate stage, candidates made commitments to delivering affordability and public safety for New Yorkers. Outside the venue, while speaking to Fox News Digital, Mamdani supporters told Fox News Digital they are ready for change, while those cheering on Cuomo said they were voting for him for his experience. 

“He’s very experienced,” Emily, a Cuomo supporter who lives in Brooklyn, told Fox News Digital. “I feel that he’s going to keep our city safe and that he is going to keep small businesses alive and that he just has the right amount of experience for the job.”

TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM FIERY NYC MAYORAL DEBATE: ‘HE LITERALLY HAS NEVER HAD A JOB’

New York state Sen. Robert Jackson, who was cheering on Mamdani from across 50th Street, said Cuomo already had his chance to deliver for New Yorkers as governor, telling Fox News Digital Cuomo “was not the leader that we wanted. He never came through on it.”

On the flip side, Jackson praised Mamdani for getting New Yorkers excited about politics, explaining that he loved Mamdani’s “straightforward” and “no nonsense” policies.

MAMDANI RIPPED BY RIVALS FOR UNPOPULAR STANCE DURING FIERY NYC DEBATE: ‘YOU WON’T SUPPORT ISRAEL’

However, both Emily and Anthony Braue, a Bronx union worker, said Mamdani’s policies are driving their support for Cuomo. 

“Giving away free stuff is not the answer,” Brau said, telling Fox News Digital he appreciates how Cuomo supports union workers, wants to build infrastructure in New York City and make it a safer place to live. 

Emily added that Mamdani is “not experienced,” and his “policies seem too extreme.”

“Nothing’s free. Giving free stuff means the hard-working people’s taxes are going to pay for the free stuff,” Braud said. “There’s nothing free. It never works out. It might be a good selling campaign pitch, but I don’t think it’s the right thing.”

Braue said he couldn’t understand why members of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, a union supporting hospitality workers, were across the street cheering for Mamdani. Ahead of the debate, the New York City Police Department designated three respective pens for supporters to gather. 

“I don’t know exactly what they’re doing over there,” he said. “They should be on this side with the rest of the union workers, but everyone’s got their own opinion. They’re entitled to it.”

After Thursday night’s debate, Mamdani met with a roundtable of union workers at the Service Employees International Union headquarters Friday morning in Manhattan. 

“The reason I support Zoran Mandani is because he’s a make-it-make-sense politician,” SEIU member Pedro Francisco told Fox News Digital ahead of the debate. “He really understands what this city needs. The city needs to be affordable for all of us.”

While acknowledging that Cuomo is a “great politician” with great ideas, Francisco said, “Cuomo was the past, Zohran is the present and the future of New York City.”

Jim Golden, a 67-year-old New Yorker, agreed that “it’s time for a change, simple as that.”

“We’ve screwed up this city enough, and it’s time to let some other people try and fix it. It’s a mess,” he said. 

Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa all greeted their supporters ahead of the debate on Thursday night, with Mamdani sparking the most raucous commotion as he marched through a gaggle of reporters and glad-handed his supporters lined up along a police barricade. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Thursday’s mayoral debate was hosted by NBC 4 New York/WNBC and Telemundo 47/WNJU, in partnership with Politico. Election Day is Nov. 4 in New York City in the race to replace Mayor Eric Adams, who suspended his re-election campaign last month.