Happy New Year 2025

Tag: Dem

Texas Dem launches first Trump impeachment articles over Gaza

Democratic Rep. Al Green, the Houston, Texas, congressman who made three attempts to impeach President Donald Trump during his first term, initiated his first impeachment effort in 2025.

Green rose to address the House on Wednesday and said “ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not a joke, especially when it emanates from the President of the United States.”

“And [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] should be ashamed, knowing the history of his people, to stand there and allow such things to be said.”

Green went on to say his formal impeachment articles are for “dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done.”

REP. AL GREEN SAYS PRESIDENT IS ‘NO BETTER THAN’ KKK IN WAKE OF ‘LYNCHING’ TWEET

Democratic Rep. Al Green (Roll Call)

Trump had announced Tuesday the U.S. would “take over” war-torn Gaza and allow Palestinians to relocate while it is being essentially repaired.

“I also rise to say that the impeachment movement is going to be a grass up movement, not a top down… I did it before, I laid the foundation for impeachment, and it was done. Nobody knows more about it than I,” Green went on.

“And I know that it time for us to lay the foundation again. On some issues, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all on this issue. I stand alone. But I stand for justice.”

Other Democrats appeared lukewarm to Green’s current bid.

“It’s not a focus of our caucus,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair Peter Aguilar, D-Calif.

Green’s previous attempts were separate from those successful impeachments forwarded by now-California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and others – which related to Trump’s 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the 2021 Capitol riot.

One Green resolution centered on 2019 Trump tweets deriding members of the left-wing Squad, wherein the president remarked “they [should] go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing at the time of one of Green’s previous impeachment attempts, Republican staff posted a banner of the Democrat’s own words:

“I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected,” Green had said.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins – then the panel’s ranking member – listed Green’s comments as one of several in remarks criticizing Democrats for trying to usurp the power of the voting booth through political maneuvering.

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“For Democrats, it has been and will always be, to paraphrase Lewis Carroll: ‘Sentence first, verdict later,’” Collins said at the time.

During the Obama administration, the late Rep. Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C., similarly repeatedly called for President Barack Obama’s impeachment over issues ranging from the use of drones to troop casualties in Syria.

Fox News Digital reached out to Green’s office and was told “it is a matter of time” when the articles would be filed.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].

February 5, 2025
New York Dem vying to replace Stefanik trashed Border Patrol, corrections

The Democratic candidate who will run to replace outgoing Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik in upstate New York can be heard in a resurfaced interview condemning U.S. Border Patrol for apprehending illegal immigrants and disparaging off-duty corrections officers and local American laborers he hired to work on his dairy farm.

Blake Gendebien, the owner and president of Twin Mill Farms in Lisbon, New York, since 2002, was tapped Tuesday to run in an eventual special election in New York’s 21st Congressional District.

The U.S. House seat will be vacated by Stefanik, President Donald Trump’s nominee to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but the powerful House Republican still awaits a Senate confirmation vote. With the special election timeline hanging in the balance, the 15 Democratic chairmen of NY-21 announced their unanimous support for Gendebien, championing him as “an authentic voice that will fight for sensible solutions.”

The Democrats categorized Gendebien, who also serves as vice chairman of the Agri-Mark Dairy Cooperative covering New York and New England, as a husband, father, small business owner and former school board member who “will fight to lower costs and secure our borders.” Celebrating him as “an outsider to the political arena,” they said Gendebien “embodies the voice and grit that distinguishes this district.”

NY DEMS WORKING TO KEEP STEFANIK’S HOUSE SEAT VACANT FOR MONTHS IN LATEST SCHEME AGAINST TRUMP: ASSEMBLYMAN

Blake Gendebien is an upstate New York dairy farmer running for Congress. (Blake Gendebien For Congress)

Republican state leadership, however, quickly condemned Gendebien as a “far-left Democrat,” arguing that the candidate “not only supported Joe Biden’s open border policies, but also bailed out illegals from ICE.”

New York GOP Chair Ed Cox referenced the dairy farmer’s past comments made in a more than hour-long interview with a local newspaper reporter on March 13, 2014.

According to the recorded audio reviewed by Fox News Digital, Gendebien voiced frustrations about the labor market in upstate New York. Among his comments, he claimed local correction officers “don’t have much self-worth,” and described North County workers as not having “practical independence and ability to think,” in contrast to his foreign farm laborers.

“Far Left Democrat Blake Gendebien even castigated hardworking North Country workers as ‘awful‘ people who ‘drank too much,’” Cox said in a statement. “This radical Far Left Democrat is a longtime major donor and groupie of leftist, gun-grabbing, Taxin’ Tedra Cobb, a supporter of Kathy Hochul, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and a public supporter of Biden’s inflation policies, which devastated NY21 families. Democrats didn’t do their homework when they selected Blake Gendebien and his catastrophic statements. Republicans will easily hold this seat in the upcoming special election, because the North Country is unquestionably Trump Country.”

In the 2014 interview, Gendebien is heard explaining why he much preferred “Hispanic labor,” generalizing local residents as having drinking problems and being involved in child custody disputes.

“If it weren’t for the Hispanic labor, I wouldn’t be doing this,” Gendebien said while describing the process for milking cows. “So there’s three Hispanic employees. They would need to be replaced by probably six local people. And it’s hard to find one person that does not have domestic abuse problems, alcohol problems, wage garnishments.”

“So when you hire these local guys, all of a sudden you’re bombarded with social program stuff like what do you call it? I don’t even – I’m not in that world, so I don’t know,” he went on. “So the court will call you. Is Brian showing up to work? What is Brian making? He has a child with this girl. He has a child with this girl. He has a court date. He needs to appear on this day. So you’ve got all of these plans and these guys have to leave for court all the time because they’re in custody battles and, what’s it called, child support battles. And they want you to lie and tell that you don’t make this money. And it’s just awful. And they show up late. They show up. They drink too much. There is just no labor force out there.”

Regarding other farm help, Gendebien said he hired a corrections officer.

Rep. Elise Stefanik listens to Sen. Tom Cotton introduce her as she is set to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on her nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations on Jan. 21, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

STEFANIK LOOKS BACK TO FIERY EXCHANGES WITH COLLEGE LEADERS IN SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘WATERSHED MOMENT

“You probably know that they don’t have much self-worth in their jobs as corrections officers, so they’ll work extra time and get maybe three, four weeks’ vacation. And in that vacation they will do things, plumbing or electrician work or something, just so that they feel some self-worth,” Gendebien told the reporter. “So we gave him all hunting rights. You can hunt all 800 acres and he does the work for basically materials. But he also gets some self-worth. He gets the hunting rights, and we get a guy that we trust to do a lot of work and a good deal. He did my house, he did the barn. He did a lot of things.”

At one point, Gendebien complained that a Border Patrol agent took one of his workers, an illegal immigrant, into custody.

“So Border Patrol is up and down this road,” Gendebien relayed to the reporter, according to the audio archived by the Library of Congress. “As far as I know, these guys are illegal. I have all their paperwork, and I’m not obligated to check. Not obligated to E-Verify. So I get the same paperwork from them as I get from anyone else. And we move along. But Border Patrol will profile by skin color, crossing the road and they’ll stop. And then they will interrogate and scream at the person.”

After Border Patrol confronted one farmworker and took him into custody, Gendebien said he called up the high school’s soccer coach, a 30-year Border Patrol agent, who told him that new Border Patrol agents sent to upstate New York from places like Arizona want to make more apprehensions, causing some friction within leadership at their command.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik attends the inauguration of Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque – Pool/Getty Images)

Gendebien said the man told him, “I don’t pick up farmworkers, but we get young men and women from Arizona that are gung-ho, and all they want to do is pick people up. And he said when they bring someone in, we have to support them. We can’t say no because then they’ll want our jobs. They want our senior jobs. So they’ll quickly say, ‘You are, you know, you’re not supporting me with this illegal person.’”

One Christmas Eve, Gendebien said, he bailed out an illegal immigrant for $10,000 so that he had help on the farm over the holiday.

While talking about how his family came to live in North County, Gendebien said his father-in-law was a first-generation Cuban immigrant who was a superintendent of an apartment building in New York City, while his own parents worked in the Peace Corps in South America and got kicked out of Bolivia with other Americans “when it turned communist.” His parents bought a farm in upstate in New York, where Gendebien said they felt like outsiders at the time.

Because his family speaks Spanish, Gendebien said they have an advantage compared to other farmers who do not while training foreign workers.

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“But here I speak Spanish, Carmen speaks Spanish, mom speaks Spanish, dad speaks Spanish,” Gendebien said. “So we can explain things to do. And they’re very capable. Incredibly capable of incredibly practical knowledge and capable. A thing that the local kids around here don’t have. They don’t have a practical independence and ability to think and knowledge like these guys do. Which is too bad these other farms aren’t getting that out of them, mainly because of the language barrier.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Gendebien’s campaign, but they did not immediately respond.

Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X: @danimwallace.

February 5, 2025
‘Losing their minds’: Dem lawmakers face backlash for invoking ‘unhinged’ violent rhetoric against Musk

Several Democratic lawmakers drew the ire of conservatives on social media after showing up at a rally against Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts and riling up the crowd with disparaging comments about the Tesla CEO, including calling him a Nazi.

“Elon Musk is a Nazi nepo baby, a godless lawless billionaire, who no one elected,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at a rally outside the Treasury Department where protesters were speaking out against DOGE.

“Elon, this is the American people. This is not your trashy Cybertruck that you can just dismantle, pick apart, and sell the pieces of.”

At one point during her remarks, Pressley said, “We will see you in the court, in Congress, in the streets.”

MEET THE YOUNG TEAM OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERS SLASHING GOVERNMENT WASTE AT DOGE: REPORT

Democrats rallied against DOGE and Elon Musk on Tuesday. (Getty/AP)

“Elon Musk is seizing the power that belongs to the American people,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said while shaking her fist alongside Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. “We are here to fight back.”

“We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es, and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said at the rally.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was also in attendance and told the crowd that Musk’s DOGE efforts are “taking away everything we have.”

“God d—it shut down the Senate!” Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., said. “WE ARE AT WAR!”

Conservatives on social media quickly pushed back on the comments, with some accusing Pressley of inciting violence.

“These people are totally sane…,” Greg Price, Trump ’24 deputy rapid response director, sarcastically posted on X along with a supercut of clips from the rally.

FEDERAL PROSECUTOR VOWS TO PROTECT DOGE STAFFERS FROM ANY ‘THREATS, CONFRONTATIONS’ TARGETING MUSK TEAM

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, with Rep. Maxine Waters, speaks during a rally at the Treasury Department on Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn)

“THIS IS A CALL FOR VIOLENCE!” video journalist Nick Sortor posted on X in response to Pressley. “The DOJ MUST investigate this!”

“Rep Ayanna Pressley just called on her followers to agitate in the streets,” LibsofTikTok posted on X. “Typical Democrat doing what they do best: Calling for violence and chaos.”

“Democrat lawmakers are losing their minds now that their USAID scam is exposed,” conservative influencer Paul Szypula posted on X. “Pressley needs to be censured for inciting violence.”

“Making Jasmine Crockett the face of your party is certainly a choice and one I highly encourage,” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X.

“Rep. Jasmine Crockett is totally unhinged,” conservative commentator Ben Kew posted on X.

“A screeching Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren says Elon Musk is ‘seizing power from the American people’ by not allowing congress members to waste taxpayer money,” Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics, posted on X. “I knew Trump’s 2nd presidency would be good but didn’t realize it would be this good.”

“This sounds like a call for insurrection to me,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted on X in response to McIver. “CC: @TheJusticeDept @FBI.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the office of Reps. Pressley, Crockett and McIver.

The Democrat lawmakers have come out against Musk after he was granted access to a Treasury department called the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which disburses trillions in payments each year, including Social Security checks and federal salaries, through DOGE, which is tasked with reducing federal spending.

Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups,” Musk wrote on X in defense of his actions. “They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once.”

In a letter Tuesday to federal lawmakers, a Treasury Department official said a tech executive working with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency will have “read-only access” to the government’s payment system.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

February 5, 2025
‘Squad’ Dem Ayanna Pressley trashes Elon Musk, calling him a ‘Nazi nepo baby’

“Squad” member Ayanna Pressley blasted business magnate Elon Musk as a “Nazi nepo baby” and “godless, lawless billionaire” during remarks at a rally.

She also seemed to take a jab at Tesla’s Cybertruck.

“Elon Musk is a Nazi nepo baby, a godless lawless billionaire, who no one elected. Elon, this is the American people. This is not your trashy Cybertruck that you can just dismantle, pick apart, and sell the pieces of,” she declared.

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS SLAM ELON MUSK’S ACCESS TO TREASURY DEPARTMENT: ‘WE ARE AT WAR’

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on “the disparate impact of school disciplinary policies and practices on Black and brown girls in K-12 public schools,” on Sept. 19, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

A video shared on the congresswoman’s @RepPressley X account shows her and others chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go.”

In a post on the lawmaker’s @AyannaPressley account, Pressley had called Musk “a Nazi nepo baby who breaks everything he touches,” claiming, “Right now he’s locked himself in a room with grandpa’s Social Security check.”

Musk backed President Donald Trump during the 2024 election and is now spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort to expose government waste.

ELON MUSK DUNKS ON SEN CHUCK SCHUMER, DECLARING ‘HYSTERICAL REACTIONS’ DEMONSTRATE DOGE’S IMPORTANCE

“Doge has not looked at, nor is there any interest in, private financial data. What would we even do with it? The outgoing payment review process just looks at potential fraud and wasteful spending to organizations. Corrupt politicians are the ones complaining. I wonder why?” Musk has noted in a post on X.

The Treasury Department has noted that “the ongoing review of Treasury’s systems is not resulting in the suspension or rejection of any payment instructions submitted to Treasury by other federal agencies across the government.”

SENATOR SENDS MESSAGE TO DEMS UPSET OVER ELON MUSK’S DOGE TEAM: ‘GET USED TO THIS’

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“Currently, Treasury staff members working with Tom Krause, a Treasury employee, will have read-only access to the coded data of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems in order to continue this operational efficiency assessment,” the department noted.

“Mr. Krause is conducting this effort in coordination with veteran career Treasury officials, and all operational processes continue to be conducted only by career Treasury staff in accordance with all standard security, safety, and privacy standards,” Treasury noted. “In order to allow him to perform this function, he has been hired as an expert/consultant by the federal government and designated in a role commonly used across Administrations—a ‘special government employee’ —pursuant to applicable law.”

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

February 5, 2025
Left-wing billionaires bankroll Dem super PAC plotting to win back working-class voters: ‘This is a priority’

The top super PAC supporting House Democrats has created a $50 million fund aimed at finding ways to win back working-class voters thanks to some of the richest Democrats in the country.

“We’re laying a marker down now,” Mike Smith, president of the House Majority PAC, told the New York Times about his group’s “Win Them Back Fund,” which was created to appeal to working-class voters that shifted away from the party in the November election.

“This is a priority.”

The list of donors to the House Majority PAC over the last few years includes several Democratic billionaires such as businessman Michael Bloomberg, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, and Linked In co-founder Reid Hoffman.

FAREED ZAKARIA ARGUES THAT DEMOCRATS MAY WANT TO ‘STOP TRYING’ TO WIN OVER WORKING-CLASS VOTERS

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Michael Bloomberg (Getty)

FEC records show that Bloomberg gave $13 million to the PAC between 2023 and 2024 to go along with $3 million from Pritzker and $2 million from Steyer.

Hoffman gave over $1.5 million to the PAC, according to FEC records.

Other high-profile donations to the House Majority PAC include $10 million from philanthropist Fred Eychaner, $3.5 million from investor Stephen Mandel Jr., and $2 million from software developer Chris Wanstrath.

The PAC announced it will target roughly a dozen specific races, including GOP Reps. Nick Begich in Alaska; Eli Crane, in Arizona’s 2nd District; David Valadao, California’s 22nd District; Ken Calvert, California’s 41st District; Gabe Evans, Colorado’s 8th District; Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa’s 1st District; John James, Michigan’s 10th District.

JIMMY FAILLA: TRUMP HAD A SECRET WEAPON WITH WORKING CLASS VOTERS. AND LEGACY MEDIA WILL NEVER RECOVER

House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 26, 2023. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“One of the major roadblocks we have faced as a party has been declining support among a multi-racial group of working class voters,” HMP said in a press release this week. “That’s why HMP is today launching a 2026 Win Them Back Fund focused on ensuring that we win back working class voters across the congressional battlefield. “

“While Democrats at the Presidential level have consistently lost ground with working class voters for over the last decade, House Democrats like Reps. Adam Gray, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Don Davis, and Gabe Vasquez continue to overperform with this crucial bloc of voters. Their victories demonstrate that House Democrats can win back this coalition of voters with the support of strategic investments in recruitment, research, and programming.”

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Former President Donald Trump arrives at an election night watch party, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Evan Vucci/AP)

In a statement to Fox News Digital regarding the billionaires’ support, House Majority PAC communications director CJ Warnke said, “The Trump administration is currently being run by Ghislaine Maxwell’s BFF Elon Musk and the richest, most elite, and out-of-touch men on the planet.”

“Their plan is to steal benefits from hardworking Americans and enrich themselves even further, and House Democrats will put an end to their scams and schemes,” he continued.

A long list of polls, pundits and politicians have publicly concluded since the November election that the Democratic Party shifted away from working-class voters during the presidential campaign, causing Republican victories in key House and Senate races along with President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., posted on X after the election. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

February 4, 2025
‘Authoritarian’: Furious NY House Republicans send warning to Dem leaders in war over Stefanik seat

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans in New York’s congressional delegation are up in arms over reports that state Democrat leaders are considering legislative routes to delay the special election to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.

The six GOP lawmakers signaled they would seek intervention from the Department of Justice (DOJ) if the alleged legislative maneuver runs afoul of federal law.

“Your clear attempt at playing political games to limit Republican numbers in the House of Representatives is overreaching, corrupt, and undemocratic,” reads a letter led by Reps. Mike Lawler and Nick Langworthy.

“We demand you cease any and all such attempts to change this law, and in preparation of this conspiratory, corrupt act that clearly threatens the constitutional rights of American citizens, we will also be alerting the Department of Justice.”

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS

New York House Republicans are putting Gov. Kathy Hochul on notice after alleged efforts to delay the special election to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik. (Getty Images)

The letter was also signed by New York Republican Reps. Nicole Malliotakis, Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino and Claudia Tenney.

Their pressure on New York’s Democrat leaders is backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who told “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning, “This is open political corruption by state officials in New York.”

“They’re going to try to disenfranchise over 750,000 New Yorkers who live in that 21st District. It’s unconscionable,” he said.

New York lawmakers in the state Senate and Assembly met last week to discuss a rules change that could keep Stefanik’s seat empty until at least June, according to the New York Post.

Stefanik was tapped to be President Donald Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and is expected to easily pass a Senate confirmation vote. She and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s departure from Congress leave the House with a razor-thin GOP majority, leaving no room for Republican dissent to pass any legislation without Democrat support.

The letter noted that Stefanik could be confirmed “as early as this week,” which would leave residents of New York’s 21st Congressional District without representation in the House until the seat is filled.

President Donald Trump picked Stefanik to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. (Getty Images)

The deep-red district is almost certainly going to stay in Republican control, as is the case with Waltz’s former Florida seat.

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis acted quickly to set special elections for April, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has been silent.

Under current state law, Hochul has 10 days after Stefanik’s resignation to call a special election within a further 70 to 80 days.

But the rule change would reportedly consolidate the special elections date with the June primary race, allegedly in the name of saving resources and time.

GOP LAWMAKER CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL HEARING OVER DC PLANE CRASH

“Your claims that you’re doing this to be cost-effective or to promote equity are laughable and will do nothing more than leave every New Yorker in the 21st district with no representation in the House for additional months,” the GOP lawmakers wrote.

“Your scheme to alter the schedule for the special election is a serious abuse of power that is more alike to election processes in authoritarian countries than anything we see in the United States.”

They argued that any delay would run afoul of the Constitution’s clauses on filling House vacancies as well as Supreme Court precedent.

“Any delay or postponement in calling a special election to fill a vacancy in the House of Representatives is not just undemocratic, but it is unconstitutional as well,” they wrote. “It would be reminiscent of other failed efforts regarding New York’s elections in recent years, such as the unconstitutional attempts to gerrymander New York’s congressional districts.”

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The letter also cited a 2009 New York State Court of Appeals ruling that special elections to fill a vacancy should occur in the “shortest space of time reasonably possible.”

“The citizens of New York’s 21st Congressional District are constitutionally entitled to representation in the House and it is our hope that these reports have little basis in reality. If not, we strongly urge you to abandon this absurd, shameful scheme to deny representation for more than 750,000 New Yorkers and maintain current state election laws,” the lawmakers wrote.

Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul’s office as well as the offices of New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

February 4, 2025
NJ Dem gubernatorial candidates vow to impede ICE pursuit of illegal aliens

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New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidates vowed to help illegal immigrants avoid President Donald Trump’s ICE raids during the Garden State’s first primary debate of the year.

Five out of six candidates raised their hands when Joey Fox, New Jersey Globe political reporter and debate moderator, asked the Democrats on stage if they “believe that one of the goals of the next governor should be protecting immigrants in New Jersey, even those who are here illegally.”

Rep. Mikie Sherrill did not raise her hand, instead responding, “We should protect people in New Jersey, especially with the Constitution.”

NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR HOUSES MIGRANT AT HIS HOUSE, TELLS FEDS ‘GOOD LUCK’ TRYING TO GET HER

ICE agents arrested seven illegal immigrants during a workforce operation raid. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

The question sparked less of a debate and more of a united front as candidates vowed to stand up to Trump, committed to comprehensive immigration reform, and vowed to prioritize humanity in the deportation process.

TRUMP SIGNS LAKEN RILEY ACT INTO LAW AS FIRST LEGISLATIVE VICTORY IN NEW ADMINISTRATION

President Donald Trump signs the Laken Riley Act at the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

However, candidates found shakier ground when discussing the Laken Riley Act, the first bill Trump signed into law during his second term that detains illegal immigrants who are accused of committing dangerous crimes.

“If you are a murderer, a criminal, a rapist, if you’re breaking into people’s homes in the middle of the night with a gun while the kids are sleeping, and you’re undocumented, you shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be in the state, you shouldn’t be in this country.” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who voted in support of the Laken Riley Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Despite Gottheimer’s support for the act, he was careful to distinguish “innocent undocumented people” from those who commit violent crimes. “When I’m governor, I’m going to use the full force of the state to stop” Trump from rounding up “innocent undocumented people” at restaurants, churches and schools, the congressman clarified.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer speaks after the Democratic gubernatorial debate at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on Feb. 2, 2025. (AP/Mike Catalini)

The Trump administration doesn’t recognize such a distinction. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last Tuesday that anyone in the United States illegally is considered a criminal.

“They illegally broke our nation’s laws, and, therefore, they are criminals, as far as this administration goes,” Leavitt said in a now viral moment. “I know the last administration didn’t see it that way, so it’s a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal. But that’s exactly what they are.”

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop didn’t share Gottheimer’s support for the Laken Riley Act, calling it “dangerous.”

“The Laken Riley Act served to undermine the authority of the attorney general here in New Jersey,” Fulop said. “It is a very dangerous piece of legislation as it relates to autonomy of the governor and the attorney general here, and it should not have been supported.”

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka speaks after the Democratic debate in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on Feb. 2, 2025. (AP photo/Mike Catalini)

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a vocal opponent of the ICE raids authorized in his city during Trump’s first week in office, took opposition to the bill a step further.

“You can’t say you support immigrants in New Jersey but vote for the Laken Riley Act,” Baraka said. “We need to stop having this conversation about people being murderers and killers and rapists and criminals. We know that’s a lie. There is no crime wave of immigrants in New Jersey.”

Baraka went as far as to say Trump’s political agenda is rooted in “White supremacy and racism.”

“It’s interesting that we keep saying that people are here illegally when we keep moving the goalpost,” Baraka said. “If we take away all of the pathways that people become documented citizens of the United States and then say they’re illegal, it’s a problem. We cannot risk the Fourth and 14th Amendment to push this political agenda that Donald Trump has really based in White supremacy and racism.”

“It is wrong to sit up here and have a debate about crime that immigrants create which we know is not true. The crime is making sure people don’t have access to the American dream because of what they look like, the country they came from, the language that they speak, and the zip code that they live in. We know that’s what’s happening, and we have to stop it now,” Baraka continued.

Officers from Border Patrol and the FBI conduct immigration enforcement in El Paso, Texas on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (FBI)

Former New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney said New Jersey should stand up to Trump’s deportations, emphasizing the lack of legal search warrants in these ICE raids. However, Sweeney agreed that someone with a criminal record who enters the United States or “someone that breaks the law in this country shouldn’t be in this country,” calling it a “privilege.”

“With Donald Trump, we all should stand and oppose what Donald Trump’s doing. He’s breaking the law. He’s doing it illegally. He’s doing it without legal search warrants. It’s horrible what he’s doing.” Sweeney said.

“I support what President Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden did. Both of those presidents happen to be Democrats who deported more people than Donald Trump ever did, but they did it with humanity and compassion and they did it the right way. We don’t want to round up people that haven’t done anything wrong, but people that broke the law in this country, I’m sorry they need to leave it… They’re breaking the laws, and we should hold them accountable,” Sweeney added.

Former state Senate President Steve Sweeney speaks after the Democratic debate on Feb. 2, 2025. (AP photo/Mike Catalini)

New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller echoed Sweeney’s distaste for Trump’s inhumane deportations, telling New Jerseyans they should be scared.

“They’re coming for all of us, and that should scare every single one of us. That’s unacceptable. That’s what we stand up and fight back against,” Spiller said.

Despite taking a hard line against President Trump, the Democratic candidates recognized immigration reform as a necessity.

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“I think that what’s missing in the conversation so many times is basic humanity,” Sherrill said. “We desperately need comprehensive immigration reform. We need to make sure people have a pathway to citizenship who are here, who are working hard, who are paying taxes, DACA recipients, TPS recipients. We also need better border security. We need to know what’s coming across our border.”

February 3, 2025
Dem bill blames LA wildfire damage on fossil fuel emissions, holds oil and gas industry liable

California Democrats are attempting to make state oil and gas companies pay for damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires, claiming that fossil fuel emissions are to blame for the deadly disaster.

A new Democrat-introduced bill, the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act, if passed, would allow for “victims of climate disasters,” such as the L.A. fires, and insurance groups to sue oil and gas companies for damages under the claim that their emissions fueled the raging fires.

Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener, who introduced the bill this week, said that fossil fuel companies should pay for fire damage, because they are “driving the climate crisis.”

“Californians shouldn’t be the only ones to pay the costs of devastating climate disasters. From last year’s floods to the fires in LA, we know that the fossil fuel industry bears ultimate responsibility for fueling these disasters,” state Sen. Scott Wiener wrote in a post on X announcing the legislation.

TRUMP MEETS WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, FIRE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO SEE LA WILDFIRE DAMAGE FIRST HAND

Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a building on Sunset Boulevard amid a powerful windstorm on Jan. 8, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Apu Gomes)

The bill, which received the backing of several state lawmakers, comes as Democrats have attempted to blame the recent fires on climate change rather than state and city policies, which have faced heightened criticism in the weeks following the deadly blaze.

Just months before the wildfire, the city of Los Angeles slashed the fire department funding by over $17 million. The L.A. fire chief said that there are “not enough firefighters in L.A. County to address four separate fires of this magnitude.”

NEWSOM THANKS TRUMP FOR COMING TO CALIFORNIA TO TOUR FIRE DAMAGE IN TARMAC FACE-OFF

“We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared. Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits,” actress Sara Foster wrote in a post on X. “@MayorOfLA @GavinNewsom RESIGN. Your far-left policies have ruined our state. And also our party.”

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tour a fire-affected area in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2025. (Mandel Ngan)

Trump used the power of his pen this week to sign an executive order to override the state’s environmental policies in order to create more water availability in the L.A. area.

In the executive order issued on Sunday, Trump called on federal agencies to override regulations potentially limiting water availability in the area, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which seeks to minimize water infrastructure to protect certain fish species, such as the Delta smelt.

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The order comes just weeks after Trump accused Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., of caring more about protecting an endangered fish species than the state’s residents amid the wildfires.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

January 31, 2025
Climate activists break with Dem Party as leadership meeting interrupted by protesters

Environmental groups appear to be breaking with the Democratic Party after protesters disrupted a recent leadership meeting, which comes as the party attempts to regain its footing after suffering defeat in the 2024 presidential election.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) held a candidate forum on Thursday evening in Washington, D.C., ahead of their upcoming election to determine who will lead the campaign arm into the next election cycle.

While the event was intended to showcase some of the party’s potential new faces, it was interrupted by several protesters, including climate activists from the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led, left-wing climate action organization, who demanded the DNC establish a working election strategy for the party after the 2024 loss.

“What will you do to get fossil fuel money out of Democratic politics? We are facing a climate emergency!” Fox News Digital heard one protester shout.

AFTER STINGING ELECTION DEFEATS, DNC EYES RURAL VOTERS AS KEY TO 2026 MIDTERM SUCCESS

Hecklers are seen being removed by Georgetown University security at the DNC chair election debate at Georgetown University on Jan. 30 2025. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser)

Other protesters made calls for the DNC chair candidates to bring back the party’s ban on corporate PAC and lobbyist donations.

“To defeat Trump, the Democratic Party needs to loudly and proudly take a stand against billionaires and show voters that Democrats are the only party ready to fight for working people,” Adah, an activist from the Sunrise Movement who made an interruption, said in a statement issued by Sunrise.

DNC HIRES FORMER HARRIS STAFFERS BEHIND @KAMALAHQ FOR SOCIAL MEDIA RESPONSES TO TRUMP

“That’s how we will win back young voters and working class voters and defeat Trump,” Adah added.

Nominees for the DNC chair position at the DNC chair debate at Georgetown University on Jan. 30 2025. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser)

About a dozen protesters interrupted and were kicked out of the event — the final meeting ahead of Saturday’s DNC election.

The Democratic candidates and moderates grew frustrated with the protesters who were interrupting the event.

Jason Paul, a candidate running for DNC chair, said the protesters were “hijack[ing] the whole evening” and turning the event “into scream night.”

The eight candidates vying for Democratic National Committee chair sit for a forum that was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

“I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of it,” former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley told reporters after the event. “They’re going to be on this planet a lot longer than I am, and if they stop caring passionately about the planet, then we have no hope at all. So it didn’t bother me.”

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Eight candidates are running to serve as chair of the DNC next cycle, including O’Malley, Wisconsin chair Ben Wikler, Minnesota chair Ken Martin, and former two-time Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.

The DNC chair election will be held Saturday.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

January 31, 2025
Kash Patel turns tables on Dem senator with viral response: ‘You’ve got two minutes’

Conservatives on social media praised Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, after a thorny exchange with Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar during his confirmation hearing Thursday.

“That’s a general statement and a mischaracterization of what I said,” Patel told Klobuchar in response to questioning about a past quote that the senator suggested showed Patel believes some U.S. Capitol Police officers lied under oath during the Jan. 6 hearings.

“I encourage you to read the rest of the interviews,” Patel added. “This is why snippets of information are often misleading and detrimental to this committee’s advice and consent.”

Klobuchar responded, “If you consent, I would love to have five hours of questions, and then I could read the whole transcripts.”

KASH PATEL HAMMERS ‘GROTESQUE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ FROM DEMS AMID FIERY FBI CONFIRMATION HEARING

Kash Patel, left, and Amy Klobuchar, right (AP)

“You’ve got two minutes,” Patel responded.

“Wow,” Klobuchar replied before moving to another topic.

KASH PATEL FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM SENATOR AFTER BEING GRILLED ON J6 PARDONS: ‘BRUTAL REALITY CHECK’

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing at the Capitol in Washington Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Numerous conservatives on social media praised Patel for his “sass” during the exchange.

“Amy Klobuchar continues to get outmaneuvered by Kash Patel at every turn of this committee hearing,” Townhall.com columnist Dustin Grage posted on X.

“Damnnnn,” Mark Levin show producer Rich Sementa posted on X. “Kash Patel For The Win.”

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“SAVAGE,” conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on X.

“My favorite moment from this hearing,” former Trump campaign fundraiser Caroline Wren posted on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Klobuchar’s office for comment.

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

January 30, 2025