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Rudy Giuliani’s aides and allies have thrown themselves behind Andrew Cuomo instead of Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa in the race for New York mayor, according to reports.

Joe Lhota, Giuliani’s former deputy mayor and the GOP’s 2013 mayoral candidate, confirmed to the New York Post Thursday he is firmly in Cuomo’s camp.

Lhota, who later served as Cuomo’s MTA chairman and has since changed his party affiliation to Democrat, framed the choice bluntly.

“It’s a choice between a proven manager, a socialist, and a fruit loop,” Lhota told the outlet.

“Of course I’m going to be with Andrew,” Lhota added.

CUOMO OPPONENTS SLAM HIS RE-ENTRY INTO NYC MAYOR RACE, SAY CITY WANTS TO MOVE ON FROM EX GOVERNOR

Anthony Carbonetti, Giuliani’s former chief of staff and a senior adviser to his 2008 presidential campaign, echoed Lhota’s sentiment. 

While praising Sliwa as a “great New Yorker,” Carbonetti said the math simply isn’t there for him to win the race. Instead, they warned, Sliwa risks becoming a spoiler. 

“I don’t want a socialist in charge of a $116 billion city budget,” he said, criticizing Zohran Mamdani’s proposal for fare-free buses as an invitation to turn them into “mobile homeless shelters.”

CUOMO OPPONENTS SLAM HIS RE-ENTRY INTO NYC MAYOR RACE, SAY CITY WANTS TO MOVE ON FROM EX GOVERNOR

Former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served under George W. Bush and is a longtime Giuliani ally, also endorsed Cuomo in an op-ed published by the Staten Island Advance. 

“Our city should not be put at risk of irreversible damage, which it would be if Mamdani is elected,” he wrote, adding that Cuomo is “the most viable alternative.”

Mayor Eric Adams has already stunned the political world by announcing he will not seek re-election. President Donald Trump has also publicly dismissed Sliwa’s chances.

CUOMO, ADAMS TRADE SHOTS OVER WHO SHOULD DROP OUT IN RACE AGAINST MAMDANI FOR NYC MAYOR

“Look, I’m a Republican, but Curtis is not exactly prime time,” Trump said on Fox & Friends in September.

“Joe Lhota has been a Democrat since 2016. He worked for Andrew Cuomo. Big deal,” said Sliwa adviser Rob Cole.

Rudy Giuliani himself, now 81 and still a fixture in GOP politics, has yet to make an endorsement.

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Polling shows Mamdani with about a 20-point lead, but under 50 percent and leaving room for an upset if Cuomo can consolidate Republican and independent voters.

Federal immigration officials say their Portland, Oregon, facility has come under nightly attack, with little help from local police because of political directives from city leaders.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Bill Melugin, Cammila Wamsley, director of Portland’s ICE office, said the facility has faced violence for more than 100 consecutive nights, with Portland police largely absent under guidance from the mayor and city council.

“I just, I can’t figure out what’s happening at the FDA. I’m totally baffled by it,” Wamsley said, describing her frustration at seeing federal staff attacked outside the building while officers inside lack jurisdiction to intervene. “It’s frustrating for us to watch people be attacked on the street and know that we don’t have the authority to be able to really step in unless there’s some nexus to federal law.”

She said nightly protests have escalated beyond chants and signs, with bottle rockets striking the ICE building, rocks shattering windows, lasers targeting officers’ eyes and barricades blocking vehicles.

ANTI-ICE PORTLAND RIOTERS WITH GUILLOTINE CLASH WITH POLICE IN WAR-LIKE SCENES

Wamsley said protesters have followed ICE staff members home and doxxed at least six employees.

“Later, towards the evening and around dark, there are a lot of folks that come up dressed in all black,” she explained. “They are here to wreak havoc. They’ll block our cars, throw paint, damage property and even try to follow our folks home.”

She warned that when crowds swell quickly, the violence becomes more dangerous.

ICE DIRECTOR REVEALS DANGEROUS NIGHTLY ANTIFA ‘BATTLE’ AS TRUMP PREPARES FEDERAL DEPLOYMENT TO PORTLAND

“We’ve seen it before. The folks here can go from a crowd of 50 to a crowd of 1,000 in 30 minutes,” she explained. “Sometimes we only have 20 officers here. We would not be able to defend the building with that show of force.”

Wamsley said the Portland Police Department has been slow to respond — and sometimes doesn’t respond at all — because of city policy. She explained that assaults have occurred outside and across the street from the building, but police have either taken too long to arrive or not shown up at all.

“That is not the stance they would take six blocks from here, but it is the stance they take with us because of guidance from the mayor and city council,” Wamsley said.

PORTLAND MAYOR DOUBLES DOWN ON SANCTUARY STATUS AFTER VIOLENT ANTI-ICE RIOT

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Portland mayor’s office and police department for comment.

Still, Wamsley said ICE staff remain committed to their mission despite the unrest.

“The people that work here are here to serve the American public,” she said. “They are here to enforce the same immigration laws we’ve had in place since the 1950s. Nothing has changed in that regard. We come to work every day. We do our job the way we have been doing it, and we’ll continue to do that.”

PORTLAND RAMPS UP PRESSURE ON ICE BUILDING WITH LAND USE VIOLATION NOTICE

Todd Rignel, assistant special agent for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Oregon, said federal agencies are targeting Antifa-linked groups they blame for organizing much of the unrest.

“They’re not just facing HSI. They’re facing the FBI, ATF, DEA, IRS — all of these agencies,” he said. “That’s a force to be reckoned with.”

Portland remains a flashpoint for unrest with the ICE facility at the center of nightly confrontations.

President Donald Trump announced plans to send 200 National Guard troops to Portland to support immigration authorities. Officials said the troops would be stationed near protest areas.

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The warnings follow an attack on an ICE facility in Dallas Sept. 24. Authorities said two detainees were killed and another was hospitalized after a gunman opened fire before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot. 

Investigators said shell casings recovered bore an “ANTI-ICE” message.

Fox News Digital’s Madison Colombo contributed to this report.

Despite pledging to spend $20 million to back younger, more progressive candidates, a PAC led by Democratic activist David Hogg has spent millions of dollars on political consultants, ads, and even fitness classes.

The PAC, Leaders We Deserve, spent just $455,000 to back three candidates in tough Democratic primary races over the first eight months of 2025, Axios reported.

That figure stands in contrast to the roughly $2.5 million spent on consultants, $1.1 million on digital ads, $965,000 on building donor lists, and nearly $5,000 on the fitness class subscription service ClassPass, according to federal campaign filings.

AOC DROPS THOUSANDS ON LUXURY HOTELS WHILE ‘FIGHTING OLIGARCHY’ WITH SANDERS, FILINGS REVEAL

“We provide a wellness benefit to our employees, like many employers across the country,” Kevin Lata, co-founder and executive director of Leaders We Deserve, told Axios. “Our projections show that every $1 we put into these investments will net $3–$5 by the end of the cycle. This helps to make sure every donation goes farther than it otherwise would.”

The group had $1.6 million in the bank at the end of August. Fox News Digital reached out to the PAC.

Leaders We Deserve has contributed to various candidates, including $300,000 to New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

The group also contributed $150,000 to House candidate Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old social media influencer and progressive activist, who lost the Democratic special election primary by 39 percentage points on July 15.

Irene Shin, who lost by a wide margin in a special Democratic primary in June to fill the House seat of the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., also received $5,000.

PRO-MAMDANI SUPER PAC TAKES HEFTY CHECK FROM ULTRA-WEALTHY DONOR DESPITE SAYING BILLIONAIRES SHOULDN’T EXIST

In June, Hogg served as vice chair for the Democratic National Committee, where he ignited a firestorm by pledging to shell out $20 million through Leaders We Deserve to support primary challenges against some older Democrats in safe blue districts.

“I ran to be DNC vice chair to help make the Democratic Party better, not to defend an indefensible status quo that has caused voters in almost every demographic group to move away from us. The DNC has pledged to remove me, and this vote has provided an avenue to fast-track that effort,” Hogg said after the DNC Credentials Committee voted on Monday to elevate a challenge to the vice chairs’ leadership positions.

The high operating expenditures under his leadership were mocked by New York state Sen. James Skoufis after Leaders We Deserve’s second-quarter FEC filings in June.

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“At this rate, [Hogg] would only have to raise a little over $3 billion in order to get his promised $20 million to primary candidates,” Skoufis wrote on X at the time. “THIS should be the story, folks.”

Lata told Axios that the PAC will have “many more endorsements to announce soon.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., accused the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of endangering women’s health, saying the agency approved another chemical abortion drug without the thorough safety review it had promised.

Hawley argued the move shows both regulatory failure and the influence of a company that refuses to define “woman” in its materials.

“This is shocking. FDA has just approved ANOTHER chemical abortion drug, when the evidence shows chemical abortion drugs are dangerous and even deadly for the mother. And of course 100% lethal to the child,” he wrote on X on Thursday afternoon.

Hawley added, “FDA had promised to do a top-to-bottom safety review of the chemical abortion drug, but instead they’ve just greenlighted new versions of it for distribution. I have lost confidence in the leadership at FDA.”

PRO-LIFE GROUP URGES SENATE TO PRESS RFK JR. ON ABORTION PILL SAFETY, DEMAND SAFEGUARDS RETURN

Evita Solutions describes its mission as to “normalize abortion” and make it “accessible to all.” On its website, the company says it “believes that all people should have access to safe, affordable, high-quality, effective, and compassionate abortion care, regardless of their race, sex, gender, age, sexuality, income, or where they live.”

It adds, “We know that you can make the best choice for your body.”

According to the FDA, Evita received approval in a Sept. 30 letter obtained by Reuters.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Hawley said the FDA’s decision was even more troubling given that its promised safety review has barely begun.

“I just, I can’t figure out what’s happening at the FDA. I’m totally baffled by it,” Hawley said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the FDA and Evita Solutions for comment on the matter.

FDA CHIEF HAS NO ‘PLANS’ FOR ABORTION PILL POLICY CHANGES BUT CONTINUES SAFETY REVIEW

In another post, Hawley blasted the FDA for partnering with a company that “doesn’t even believe there is such a thing as a ‘woman.’”

Evita Solutions now joins GenBioPro in producing the generic version of Mifepristone, the abortion pill originally made by Danco Laboratories. Mifepristone blocks progesterone, a hormone needed to sustain pregnancy, and is followed by misoprostol to complete the process.

The approval comes as abortion drugs face mounting opposition from conservative lawmakers, religious organizations, and pro-life groups.

MORE THAN 20 GOP ATTORNEYS GENERAL CALL ON RFK JR, FDA TO REINSTATE SAFEGUARDS FOR ABORTION DRUGS

Religious groups like Inspire Investing and Alliance Defending Freedom have campaigned against the drug, while the Restoration of America Foundation (ROAF) has pressed lawmakers for accountability.

Last month, ROAF called on the Senate Finance Committee to hold Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accountable at a hearing, demanding answers about the removal of safety protocols for the abortion pill Mifepristone.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, ROAF warned that the rollback leaves women more vulnerable and shifts costs to taxpayers. The group said the Biden-era changes endanger women by allowing abortion pills to be prescribed via telehealth and sent through the mail.

Hawley said the FDA should restore the safeguards put in place under the Trump administration.

“What needs to happen is the FDA needs to get in line with the president’s policy and put back into place the safety regulations President Trump had. Ditch the Biden approach and go back to President Trump’s approach,” Hawley said.

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Under the Biden administration, the FDA for the first time allowed telehealth prescribing and mail-order delivery of abortion pills. Previously, the agency required Mifepristone to be dispensed in person to screen for complications such as ectopic pregnancy.

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Reuters contributed to this report.

A new court filing claims a Democratic candidate for a hotly contested, GOP-held Virginia House of Delegates seat doesn’t live in the district she seeks to represent — a dispute that could shape control of the chamber in 2026.

Three voters in Stafford County went to court to allege candidate Stacey Carroll does not live in the 64th district and instead in the neighboring, Democratic-majority, 23rd – and want her booted from the ballot.

Plaintiffs Stephen Schwartz, Judith Anne Parker and Juliet Schweiter alleged Carroll continues to live near US-1 in Aquia, Virginia – at the southern edge of the 23rd district, but filed to run for office from an address about seven miles southwestward near Stafford Court House, Virginia, in the 64th.

Local residents are asking the court to throw out Carroll’s voter registration at the Stafford address, which they argue would disqualify her from the ballot.

RAMASWAMY ENDORSES WINSOME EARLE-SEARS FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR, RALLY PLANNED NEXT WEEK IN SWING SUBURB

That address is reportedly registered to another family, and a 1966 Virginia court ruling puts the burden of proof-of-residency on the voter registrant or ballot applicant, according to the Virginia Mercury.

While a seemingly local matter, the result of the case could have wide-ranging implications for the final tally on Election Day as all 100 House of Delegates seats are up for grabs and Democrats achieved the rare accomplishment of running candidates in all of them – including reliably Republican seats in far-flung rural regions like St. Charles, Big Stone Gap and Tazewell.

COURT SHUTS DOWN REDISTRICTING FIGHT IN KEY SWING STATE — HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS

If her candidacy stands, Carroll will face Republican Del. Paul Milde of Stafford in a district that narrowly went for President Donald Trump in 2024 by just under two points.

If she is found to truly live in Aquia, her home-district seat would be that of Democratic Del. Candi King of Prince William; a much safer and more suburban seat that went for former Vice President Kamala Harris by about 66-31.

A tie loses in the House of Delegates, meaning Republicans need only three seats to win back the majority, but cannot afford to lose tight ones like Milde’s.

‘DON’T MARYLAND MY VIRGINIA’: YOUNGKIN, 2025 GOP TICKET RALLIES TOGETHER FOR FIRST TIME AHEAD OF KEY ELECTION

Democrats won back the House of Delegates in the last election in 2023, scoring a 52-48 majority. Republicans currently have one vacancy after House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Luray, resigned to now-briefly become U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.

Carroll’s chances of flipping Milde’s seat give Republicans an additional roadblock in their quest to take back the chamber.

They are also fielding other tightly contested races, including in Hampton Roads.

LONE MARYLAND GOP CONGRESSMAN WARNS REDISTRICTING COULD CUT WHITE HOUSE TIES FOR ENTIRE STATE

Del. A.C. Cordoza, R-Poquoson, is the only Black Republican in the chamber and represents a district Harris narrowly won.

Republicans are laser focused on the seat, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and lieutenant gubernatorial candidate John Reid have all stumped for Cordoza.

Like exurban Stafford, Hampton Roads is perennially competitive: Democrats tend to have the edge in state races, while Republicans, such as incumbent Rep. Jennifer Kiggans, often prevail in federal contests.

DEMS WANTED TO DRAW EVERY REPUBLICAN OUT OF MARYLAND BUT NOW LAMBAST TEXAS REDISTRICTING

Earle-Sears previously shocked the area in 2001 by winning an otherwise routinely-Democrat-held seat in Virginia Beach – launching her into the commonwealth’s political conscience.

Several other seats in the region – which also includes Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Chesapeake and Isle of Wight – are seen as potential pickups for the opposing party.

Reid’s race is also expected to weigh heavily on Republicans’ chances of controlling Richmond beyond the governor’s seat.

While Democrats control the upper chamber, Earle-Sears is statutorily the tie-breaking vote.

Divided similarly to the House, the Senate’s partisan future may hang in the balance depending on whether Reid can defeat state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield.

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Reid would break ties in favor of Republicans, meaning they only need to win back two more Senate seats. Hashmi would do the opposite, meaning the GOP would need three.

Fox News Digital reached out to Carroll’s campaign for comment.

A conservative watchdog says Trump’s much-hyped DOGE cuts are a drop in the bucket compared to America’s ballooning entitlement spending.

OpenTheBooks, a conservative fiscal watchdog group, released a report on Thursday showing that mandatory spending for Medicare and Social Security vastly outweigh any cuts to discretionary spending ushered in by the Trump administration.

The report was released as lawmakers clash over government funding, with the fight centered on Democratic plans to expand Obamacare.

“Government shutdowns offer taxpayers a much-needed reality check on the massive scale of federal spending and our unsustainable debt and deficits,” OpenTheBooks CEO John Hart said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Policymakers need to wake up and take a much closer look at safety net spending, which is the largest share of our budget and is highly susceptible to fraud.”

WHITE HOUSE MEMO SAYS DEMOCRATS’ PLAN COULD SPEND $200B ON HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS 

Of the $6.9 trillion spent by the federal government in 2024, $912 billion went to Medicare and $1.5 trillion went to Social Security, according to OpenTheBooks. 

Meanwhile, OpenTheBooks highlights, the rescission package passed by Congress in July, which largely focused on cuts to the United States Agency for International Development, saved around $9 billion and DOGE cuts saved taxpayers around $150 billion. 

“The amounts of disputed savings in 2025 pale in comparison to our spending on safety net programs,” the OpenTheBooks report states. “If the flow of money in the federal government could be viewed from a jet cruising at 30,000 feet, Medicare would the Mississippi River and Social Security would be the Columbia River while USAID and ‘woke’ spending programs would be barely visible, tiny streams.”

‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’: DOGE’S TOP FIVE MOST SHOCKING REVELATIONS

In particular, OpenTheBooks zeroed in on just one aspect of Medicare funds — those that are allocated for prescription drug coverage. The fiscal watchdog found that the top 1,000 providers in the system are linked to more spending in 2024 — $10.9 billion — than was saved by the July rescission package. According to OpenTheBooks’ findings, the top ten providers are associated with nearly the same amount of savings ushered in by the Trump administration’s $1.1 billion in cuts to PBS and NPR.   

“We are not implying that any of these providers are engaging in anything other than lawful conduct on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries,” the report asserts. “Yet, it is also true that healthcare spending in the United States is grossly inefficient and fraudulent at a large scale. In June, the Department of Justice charged 324 defendants for defrauding Medicare of $14.6 billion. Meanwhile, last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that insurers ‘pocketed $50 billion from Medicare for diseases no doctor treated.’”

OpenTheBooks’ report argues that if American taxpayers want to understand the costs, benefits, vulnerabilities and potential savings, related to federal government spending, then they must fight for transparency.

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“When taxpayers see where their money is flowing, especially in times of heated debates and shutdowns, they can hold policymakers accountable to better direct its flow,” the report concludes. 

EXCLUSIVE: As federal agencies hunker down for what could be a protracted government shutdown, Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., is introducing a bill to make sure that Americans’ flights can continue on schedule no matter how long the closure lasts.

With the busiest time of the year for air travel quickly approaching and tens of millions of Americans expected to fly in the coming months, an extended government shutdown could have catastrophic impacts on flight safety as well as Americans’ travel plans.

To combat this, Bean introduced a bill, the “Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2025,” which would ensure that America’s air traffic controllers and essential Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel continue to be paid, even during a shutdown.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Bean’s office called the bill a “preemptive strike against chaos in the control tower, ensuring that the backbone of our aviation system doesn’t buckle under political gridlock.”

13 TIMES DEMOCRATS VOTED FOR A SHORT-TERM CONTINUING RESOLUTION UNDER BIDEN

The statement explained, “This isn’t just about paychecks. It’s about keeping our skies safe, our flights on time, and our economy airborne.”

Air traffic controllers and other essential FAA personnel do not receive paychecks during government shutdowns despite being required to work to keep the nation’s flight schedules safe and on time. Though these federal workers are eventually paid when the government reopens, extended periods of time without a paycheck lead to stress on both the workers and the overall flight system.

In 2019, on the 35th day of a government shutdown, ten air traffic controllers called in sick in Virginia and Florida, triggering ground stops at LaGuardia Airport in New York and cascading delays at Newark, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Bean’s bill is aimed at making sure something like that does not happen again.

WHITE HOUSE PREPARES FOR ‘IMMINENT’ FEDERAL LAYOFFS AFTER DEMOCRATS FORCE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

If passed, the bill would make funds in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund not otherwise appropriated available for use to continue paying air traffic controllers and safety inspectors up to 30 days without Congress needing to act, according to a draft of the bill obtained by Fox News Digital. The funds used would then later be paid back by the official appropriation once it is passed by Congress.

By essentially borrowing funds from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which is funded by airline ticket and fuel taxes and other taxes, the FAA and Americans’ air travel would be shielded from the brunt of a government shutdown.

TRUMP TOUTS ‘REBUILDING AND MODERNIZATION’ OF US AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, BLASTS BUTTIGIEG FOR HAVING ‘NO CLUE’

“While Congress continues negotiations on funding the federal government, I hope we can all agree: The people who keep America’s skies running should be paid on time,” Bean told Fox News Digital.

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“We can’t afford to let a government shutdown disrupt the backbone of our aviation system,” he added. “That’s why I introduced legislation to ensure our air traffic controllers are paid, and the FAA operates with no interruptions. It’s about protecting public safety and standing up for the aviation professionals who keep our country moving.”

The Trump administration sent a memo to Congress Thursday saying that the United States is now “in a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, which administration officials have designated as “terrorist organizations.”

“The President directed these actions consistent with his responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to his constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct foreign relations,” the memo states. 

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates. 

Virginia’s Democratic attorney general nominee dodged possible jail time for driving 116 mph by logging 1,000 hours of community service — half with his own political action committee and the rest with the NAACP — after repeated court delays, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

The documents show former Del. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, was caught driving 116 mph on Interstate 64 in New Kent, Virginia – about halfway between Richmond and Newport News.

Typically resulting in up to a one-year prison sentence, Jones received several deferments of his court date for various attested reasons before a judge agreed to accept 1,000 completed hours of community service instead of a tougher punishment.

In January 2024, Jones’ political action committee, Meet our Moment (MOM) – which says it recruits and trains minority Democratic candidates to run for Virginia offices – and the Virginia chapter of the NAACP both attested Jones completed 500 hours of community service each.

VIRGINIA AG CANDIDATE JAY JONES CONVICTED OF RECKLESS DRIVING, CALLS IT ‘MISTAKE’

The letter from MOM is signed by Lesley Shinbaum Stewart, who identified herself as “executive director.” News reports have also described Shinbaum Stewart as Jones’ “unofficial chief of staff” as recently as 2021.

Records shared with Fox News Digital showed Jones’ campaign paid Shinbaum Stewart’s consulting firm more than $100,000 since 2020, and that a few days after the letter was filed, Jones made an additional $6,000 payment.

Shinbaum Stewart could not immediately be reached and the Jones campaign did not respond to multiple inquiries.

Virginia law states court-ordered community service may include unpaid work for a non-profit or government agency, with a source familiar questioning whether MOM’s registration as a PAC satisfies that requirement.

VIRGINIA AG FLAMES OPPONENT FOR SUPPORTING SEX-CHANGE ID LAW HE BLAMES FOR LATEST PEDOPHILE CASES

Rev. Cozy Bailey, writing on behalf of the NAACP in the second letter, said Jones’ 500 hours of volunteer work there “provided support in a variety of ways that benefited our organization tremendously.”

The documents contained no time sheets verifying the hundreds of service hours with either group, and Fox News Digital has asked the New Kent County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office whether such records exist.

New Kent Commonwealth’s Attorney Scott Renick said that Jones’ case occurred near the end of Virginia’s COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and advisories.

Many defendants convicted of traffic and other minor offenses were steered toward community service instead of jail time, due to factors such as mandatory testing, facility crowding, and pandemic-related concerns.

Renick said New Kent gets a lot more cases relating to speeding and reckless driving than some others in the region due to the straight-arrow nature of I-64 through the otherwise rural county – which plays into those considerations. 

He also said it is often up to a defendant’s attorney to verify hours filed with the court as community service.

A source familiar with the situation noted Jones’ 1,000 hours would also add up to nearly 20 hours per week over a year’s time for an otherwise very busy figure who served some time as Justice Department prosecutor during the Biden administration.

That role was referenced in one of the several legal documents obtained by Fox News Digital that asked the court in New Kent to postpone his court dates one after another for various reasons before his attorney sent the court the two letters as proof of service hours.

Jones had retained a Norfolk law firm where he had been an attorney before moving to public practice in Washington around the time of the case.

Two days before he was to appear before a judge for the first time on the reckless driving charge, Jones informed the court through attorney Andrew Protogyrou there had been an understanding with the court that “no one needs to appear” that day and that the matter would be postponed until April 26.

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Days before that next court date, another letter obtained by Fox News Digital indicated parties had agreed to move the hearing to July.

After an attorney suffered a death in the family, the court date was moved to October.

Prior to the October date, Jones wrote to the court that his then-role of deputy U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia “requires [his] physical presence” in Washington on the day of the trial – with the future candidate providing his direct supervisor’s information as backup.

The next postponement date was December 5, for which a delay was requested due to Jones’ wife being called out of town and the resulting child care needs.

On Jan. 23, 2023, a letter from Protogyrou – who had been appearing at another client’s trial around that time – submitted the two letters to the court attesting to Jones’ community service for his PAC and for the NAACP.

Additionally, Jones paid $1,601 in fines and a document viewed by Fox News Digital showed a “Jerrauld Charles Corey Jones” had completed an 8-hour online remedial driving course around that time.

Fox News Digital reached out to MOM, the Virginia NAACP, Jones’s campaign and Protogyrou’s firm for further comment.

EXCLUSIVE: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is accusing Democrats of lying in their denials that they’re pushing to give healthcare back to illegal immigrants.

“The idea that you would want illegal aliens to be paid benefits by U.S. taxpayers is unconscionable,” Johnson said Wednesday.

The top House Republican sat down with Fox News Digital for an interview on the first full day of the ongoing government shutdown, hours after Senate Democrats again rejected the GOP’s proposal to keep federal agencies funded at fiscal year (FY) 2025 levels through Nov. 21.

Republicans’ accusations that Democrats are trying to reverse GOP changes to the Medicaid system in favor of illegal immigrants has been a particularly significant flashpoint in the fight, with those on the left attacking that claim as a lie.

GOP ACCUSES DEMS OF RISKING SHUTDOWN TO RESTORE ‘ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE’

But Johnson pointed out that Democrats’ own counter-proposal for a funding bill included a provision that would have entirely reversed Republicans’ recent Medicaid changes in the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) signed into law on July 4.

“What we’re trying to do is strengthen Medicaid, and one of the very important things we had to do is make sure that the more than 1 million illegal aliens who were collecting that were not allowed on the program,” Johnson said.

“So when they say they want to repeal the healthcare provisions of the OBBB, it’s that and it’s the rural hospital fund. We put $50 billion into a fund to prop up our rural hospitals, and that would do real damage [if ended].”

People in the U.S. without legal status are already barred on a federal level from accessing benefits like Medicaid.

And Democrats, who are also pushing for any funding deal to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year, have insisted that they’re fighting to preserve healthcare for Americans.

Republicans’ bill installed a 20-hour-per-week work requirement for certain able-bodied people on Medicaid, even for U.S. citizens, which Democrats objected to.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., meanwhile, told CNN on Wednesday of the illegal immigrants claim, “Taxpayer dollars cannot be spent on Medicaid or Medicare or the Affordable Care Act related to undocumented immigrants, and not a single Democrat has raised the issue of trying to reverse that federal law. What we are trying to do is save the healthcare of the American people, lower their costs and cancel these cuts.”

Yet 14 states and the District of Columbia, all of which use a mix of federal and state dollars to fund Medicaid, allow some level of state-funded healthcare coverage for residents without legal immigration status. Those programs are active in places that expanded their Medicaid populations under Obamacare, formally called the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

SHUTDOWN EXPLAINED: WHO WORKS, WHO DOESN’T AND HOW MUCH IT COSTS

Hospitals are also given federal dollars to cover Emergency Medicaid funding, which is available to people who meet all Medicaid eligibility requirements except for immigration status in cases of dire immediate need.

The OBBB reduces the amount of federal dollars those hospitals get, however.

The GOP policy bill also strengthens guardrails around who can get Medicaid coverage, barring certain groups of asylum-seekers and refugees who otherwise would have qualified for some level of coverage.

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Republicans argue that millions of people who entered the U.S. illegally were improperly granted at least temporary legal status under former President Joe Biden, and so should not qualify for the same benefits as other legal immigrants — a point Johnson suggested during his interview as well.

“President Biden added all those people onto the rolls, and he kept the border open for four years,” Johnson said. “They put them on taxpayer benefits.”

While Biden did enact significant restrictions on asylum and illegal entry across the border toward the end of his term, his loosening of Trump administration-era restrictions in 2021 is accused of helping precipitate a record number of illegal immigrants entering the U.S.

“Illegal aliens can’t get Medicaid, but that has only been true since July 4, and the reason that is a true statement is because we passed it into law and all the Democrats voted against it,” Johnson said. “So they want to reverse what we did. I mean, that’s just plain and simple.”