Democrats succeeded Thursday in delaying a committee vote to advance the confirmation of FBI director nominee Kash Patel until next week at least.
The vote, which was supposed to happen at 10:15 on Thursday, was pushed back after Senate Democrats demanded a second hearing from the Trump-aligned former Defense Department official.
In a statement Tuesday night, Grassley said attempts by top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin, Ill., and others to force Patel to testify again were “basesless” as he’d already sat before the committee for more than five hours and disclosed “thousands of pages” of records to the panel, as well as nearly 150 pages of responses to lawmakers’ written questions.
A committee vote on advancing the confirmation of FBI nominee Kash Patel has officially been delayed to next week. (AP)
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Democrats succeeded Thursday in delaying a committee vote to advance the confirmation of FBI director nominee Kash Patel until next week at least.
The vote, which was supposed to happen at 10:15 on Thursday, was pushed back after Senate Democrats demanded a second hearing from the Trump-aligned former Defense Department official.
In a statement Tuesday night, Grassley said attempts by top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin, Ill., and others to force Patel to testify again were “basesless” as he’d already sat before the committee for more than five hours and disclosed “thousands of pages” of records to the panel, as well as nearly 150 pages of responses to lawmakers’ written questions.
A committee vote on advancing the confirmation of FBI nominee Kash Patel has officially been delayed to next week. (AP)
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
After drone video footage surfaced of an apparent cartel-on-cartel gunfight just south of the U.S. border with Mexico, Republican Congressman Chip Roy of Texas is calling attention to the danger still present at the border.
The footage, which Roy obtained from sources on the border, was taken by a cartel drone and shows two sets of vehicles exchanging gunfire near the U.S. border. Video taken by the drone shows the operator eventually drop some type of missile, seeming to eliminate shooters on one side.
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Roy said that the knowledge that cartels own drones with weapon capabilities “open[s] up a whole other frontier that we’ve got to manage and deal with border security.”
“Seeing that and adding it into what we know about the extent to which the cartels are heavily armed and have significant resources… it is indicative of the kind of danger that we’re talking about,” said Roy.
U.S. Border Patrol after agents received gunfire from cartel members in Mexico while patrolling in Fronton, Texas last week.(Texas Department of Public Safety)
This comes just days after U.S. Border Patrol agents exchanged gunfire with suspected cartel members near the U.S.-Mexican border in Fronton, Texas.
“We’re seeing more of that,” said Roy.
He noted that as President Donald Trump and his administration take major steps to crack down on illegal immigration and migrant crime within the U.S., he “would expect the cartels to flex more muscle in Mexico,” requiring the U.S. to work more closely with Mexican authorities to quash any increase in violence.
“They recognize now that they’ve got a United States of America that is serious,” he said. “My guess is they’re not stupid enough to have the kind of overt aggression across our border… I’d speculate that they’re going to try to manipulate a great deal of the police and military forces in Mexico.”
HEGSETH, HOMAN TOUR BORDER AS MILITARY HELPS WITH DEPORTATION FLIGHTS, OPS AGAINST CARTELS
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is seen outside the U.S. Capitol after the last votes before the August recess on Thursday, July 25, 2024(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
In response, Roy said he expects Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will move to “work in good faith with Mexico to strengthen their ability to have the rule of law and root out cartels.“
The congressman, who has introduced legislation to designate cartels “foreign terrorist organizations,” said that Trump’s executive order to do the same is an important step to rooting out the cartel problem both in the U.S. and Mexico.
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“This administration has already had more presence at the border than the entirety of the four years of the Biden administration… The cartels now know that you have a president in the country that means business, and they’re probably trying to figure out what their positioning needs to be.”
ICE ARRESTS UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP CONTINUE IN MIGRANT ‘SANCTUARY’ CITIES
Trump is pictured in front of the US Capitol Building, surrounded by fencing in Washington, D.C., on Friday, January 17, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Trump-Vance Transition Team)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declined to comment on the drone footage.
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A CBP spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “threats and assaults against CBP personnel are taken very seriously.”
“We remain vigilant and stand ready to ensure the safety of our personnel, aliens, and local communities, and the security of our borders,” said the spokesperson.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
WWE superstar Asuka, the four-time world champion, said she has recently felt in danger and has contacted the police regarding fan interactions that have had “romantic” advances involved.
Asuka, whose real name is Kanako Urai, is a Japanese professional wrestler who sent out multiple posts on her X account Wednesday, when she expressed her feelings about recent fan interactions that had been taken too far in her eyes.
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“I’ve been feeling in danger recently,” she wrote on X. “I’ve already consulted the police. At this rate, even if fans approach me at the airport or in the city, I will feel the possibility that something might happen, and it will scare me, making me unable to respond.”
Asuka kneels on Iyo Sky during the triple threat women’s championship match of the WWE Fastlane pro wrestling event on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.(IMAGN)
While Asuka did not talk about a specific interaction she had with fans, she did express her want for fans to stop having “romantic feelings for me.”
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“It’s meaningless – 100% pointless,” she wrote in a separate post.
“There is absolutely no possibility for others to interfere in my private life.”
It is worth noting this is not the first time a WWE star has dealt with fans who take their love for the sport and brand too far.
Asuka battles in the Women’s Money in the Bank match during Money in the Bank at Dickies Arena.(Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)
Fellow star Sonya Deville had an obsessed fan of hers drive from his home in South Carolina to Tampa Bay, Florida, where she lived, with the intent of abducting her. The man, Phillip Thomas, carried a knife, zip ties, duct tape and mace, and broke into her home.
A plea deal was ultimately struck for 15 years in prison in 2023 after the incident in 2020, when Thomas was charged with attempted kidnapping, aggravated stalking and armed burglary.
Asuka, 43, has not been wrestling of late, as she suffered an injury in May 2024, which required knee surgery.
Asuka during Wrestlemania Night 2 at SoFi Stadium.(Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)
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Asuka is the longest-reigning NXT women’s champion, and she’s also won the Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank in her career, which began in 2015.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.
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EXCLUSIVE – Newly appointed U.K. ambassador to the U.S., Lord Peter Mandelson, is readying himself to take up the top job of preserving the “special relationship” long championed by London and Washington, but first he’s looking to set the record straight.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Mandelson, when asked about previous comments he made regarding the recently re-elected president, including in 2019 when he said President Donald Trump was “a danger to the world,” said his opinion of the president had changed.
“I consider my remarks about President Trump as ill-judged and wrong,” he said. “I think that times and attitudes toward the president have changed.”
Peter Mandelson, former Labour MP and European commissioner, speaks to the media following the result of the EU referendum, in London, June 24, 2016.(Reuters/Stefan Wermuth)
TRUMP’S WORLD LEADERS CLUB: WHO’S IN AND WHO’S LOOKING TO SALVAGE TIES
“I think that he has won fresh respect,” he added in reference to Trump’s second election as president. “He certainly has from me, and that is going to be the basis of all the work I do as His Majesty’s ambassador in the United States.”
The incoming ambassador’s comments come amid reports that the U.K.-U.S.’s “special relationship” could be put to the test, and Mandelson’s appointment may be blocked by the White House.
Mandelson rejected these claims and said, “I’ve heard nothing from the president or the White House or anyone working for him that suggests that there’s going to be any difficulty about my appointment.”
But speculation on the reliability of the U.S. in that trans-Atlantic relationship remains high following comments made by officials from Trump’s campaign, as well as by close ally and tech titan Elon Musk.
Musk, who engaged in a social media spat leveled at British Prime Minster Keir Starmer earlier this month, is not in Trump’s Cabinet, but he has been charged with overseeing the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Despite the negative social media banter by those who have Trump’s ear, the president and Starmer engaged in an apparently friendly phone call over the weekend – suggesting Trump may look to prioritize the U.S.-U.K. partnership.
Elon Musk speaks with former President Donald Trump during a campaign event, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania.(Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
AS UK REPRESENTATIVE, I WANT TO MAKE OUR ALLIANCE WITH THE US GREAT AGAIN
“They’re not Siamese twins, President Trump and Prime Minister Starmer, but they’re both pragmatic people. They know where each is coming from, they want to find common ground,” Mandelson said. “I feel very optimistic. I feel very upbeat about the relationship that they’re both going to have.”
Mandelson is the first non-career diplomat to take up the job as chief U.K.-U.S. liaison in over half a century. That could prove beneficial for Mandelson when up against Trump, who has long strayed from engaging in traditional diplomacy.
“The president isn’t a career diplomat, and I’m not a career diplomat,” Mandelson said. “I came into politics to change things for the better for people, and so did he.
“We share a similar, if not identical, outlook on the world and motivation in politics. But I think above all, we believe in something which is really special between our countries,” he added, pointing to the enduring relationship between the U.S. and U.K.
Mandelson said his chief priorities will be to work with the U.S. on trade, technological developments and defense partnerships – particularly in the face of adversarial powers like China.
“I think that the United States and Britain, working together, can outsmart and keep ahead of the curve as far as China is concerned,” the incoming ambassador said. “[Trump] wants a dialogue with China, he wants to do deals with China. But he’s also not going to be naive about China.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses members at the Labour Party in Liverpool, England, on Tuesday.(AP)
“We face a challenge together from China, and we’ve got to make sure that we are able to deter that challenge or that threat when they’re having aggressive intents toward us,” he added.
Mandelson championed the trilateral alliance shared by the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, established with the intent of countering China’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific.
“Security in the Euro-Atlantic area depends on making sure that China is kept at bay in its own region,” he said. “China has the right to prosper, to generate higher standards of living for its own people, but not at the expense of others.”
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Mandelson argued that despite international apprehensions over certain security uncertainties under the Trump administration, the U.K. does not share in these concerns.
“There are so many threats and challenges the world is facing at the moment. It takes courage, somebody, sometimes, who’s prepared to be argumentative and, indeed, disruptive, not just take business as usual,” he detailed.
“Frankly, I think President Trump could become one of the most consequential American presidents I have known in my adult life,” Mandelson said.
