Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday that an individual attempted to confront Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba on Wednesday night, ‘destroyed property in her office’ and then ‘fled the scene.’

‘Thankfully, Alina is ok,’ Bondi added. ‘Any violence or threats of violence against any federal officer will not be tolerated. Period. This is unfortunately becoming a trend as radicals continue to attack law enforcement agents around the country.’

‘We will find this person, and the individual will be brought to justice. Our federal prosecutors, agents, and law-enforcement partners put their lives on the line every day to protect the American people, and this Department will use every legal tool available to ensure their safety and hold violent offenders fully accountable,’ Bondi also said.

Habba said following the incident that, ‘I will not be intimidated by radical lunatics for doing my job.’

The Justice Department, on its website, said, ‘As Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney to the United States Attorney General,’ Habba ‘is responsible for overseeing all federal criminal prosecutions and the litigation of all civil matters in New Jersey in which the federal government has an interest. 

‘Including the offices in Newark, Camden, and Trenton, Ms. Habba supervises a staff of approximately 155 federal prosecutors and approximately 130 support personnel,’ according to the Justice Department.

Further details about the attack were not immediately available.

Congressional Democrats are warring after one of their own moderates moved to force a vote on formally rebuking a progressive lawmaker, accusing him of undermining the U.S. Constitution with his 2026 announcement.

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., stunned fellow lawmakers on Wednesday evening when she filed what’s known as a privileged resolution aimed at scolding Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García, D-Ill., for a move that effectively appeared to clear a path for his chief of staff to run for his seat.

It brought an onslaught of attacks from García’s fellow progressives, like Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., who accused Gluesenkamp Perez of using it as a distraction from her vote to reopen the government.

‘Going after a strong progressive Latino leader the same day that you vote for a slush fund for Republicans involved in January 6 does not scream democratic values,’ Ramirez wrote on X. ‘It is disappointing that someone willing to compromise working families’ healthcare would use this moment for a cheap political stunt aimed at distracting people from an indefensible vote on tonight’s [continuing resolution].’

García had filed for re-election in late October before abruptly reversing course just before the filing deadline, citing his doctor’s recommendations and a desire to spend time with family. 

His chief of staff, Patty García, ‘quickly mobilized a campaign and became the only Democratic candidate prepared to file,’ according to Fox 32 Chicago.

‘Congressman Chuy García’s stated reasons for retirement are honorable, but his decision to anoint an heir is fundamentally undemocratic. This is the kind of thing that makes folks tune out of electoral politics,’ Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement. ‘Americans bled and died to secure the right to elect their leaders. We can’t expect to be taken seriously in the fight for free and fair elections if we turn a blind eye to election denial on our side of the aisle.’

When reading her resolution of disapproval against García on the House floor, she accused him of ‘undermining the process of a free and fair election’ and said his ‘actions are beneath the dignity of his office and incompatible with the spirit of the Constitution.’

García’s spokesperson responded by saying the congressman followed all proper election guidelines when making ‘a deeply personal decision based on his health, his wife’s worsening condition and his responsibility to the grandchildren he is raising after the death of his daughter.’

‘At a moment like this, he hopes his colleagues, especially those who speak about family values, can show the same compassion and respect that any family would want during a health crisis,’ the spokesperson said.

Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., said he was prevented from speaking out to defend García on the House floor.

‘Some people need to learn how to stay in their lane,’ he wrote on X, accusing Gluesenkamp Perez of a ‘lack of decorum.’

Gluesenkamp Perez found an ally in Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., however, who said on X, ‘Rep Chuy Garcia’s decision to end his re-election at the last second and plant his chief of staff as the only candidate to succeed him was undemocratic and should not be allowed.’

‘Standing against corruption means standing up no matter which political party violates. The House should condemn and steps need to be taken to restore the people’s right to choose,’ Kim wrote.

Michael T. Morley, Florida State University’s election law center director, said that while he sees Gluesenkamp’s point, he doesn’t believe her complaint raises a legal controversy.

‘It’s one thing to talk about general principles of democracy, right? And it’s something else to talk about constitutional restrictions,’ Morley told Fox News Digital. ‘So, on the one hand, yes, if people are intentionally gaming the system, if they’re working together to try to deprive voters of a meaningful opportunity to make a choice among candidates and manufacture situations where only one person is on the ballot — then yes, obviously, I think that that is directly in tension with democratic principles.’

‘But not all democratic principles are embodied in the Constitution. And this is not the sort of situation where current precedent really creates a good mechanism for anybody to bring a challenge.’

He noted that beyond political expectations, nothing García did would have prevented a challenger from launching their own bid.

Fox News Digital reached out to Gluesenkamp Perez’s office for an interview.

The postmortems for Republicans’ lackluster results in this month’s spate of elections in New Jersey, Virginia and beyond are in, and while pet theories abound, there is one thing almost everyone agrees on: In the age of President Donald Trump, the GOP does not fare well when he is not on the ballot.

The question for Republicans in tough congressional campaigns across the country is how they can symbolically get Trump on the ballot, and more importantly, get his often reluctant voters to the polls to fill out said ballots.

The best way to achieve this goal is an idea that Trump himself has floated, a midterm national Republican convention that showcases the party’s achievements under Trump’s second term and that makes it crystal clear that Americans won’t just be voting for Congress, but for Trump’s agenda.

The success of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee was a bit overshadowed by assassination attempts and top of the ticket shakeups, but it is widely and rightly regarded as one of the best ever staged, and it made a difference.

The RNC was not only excellent prime-time television that showcased the priorities of the Trump GOP, it was an even better live event on the ground, cornhole courts and bars and restaurants created a festive, even joyous atmosphere.

This live event feeling could be amplified by satellite parties, even if the main convention is in Philadelphia for the 250th anniversary of America, or Chicago, to celebrate the birth of the Republican Party. Every city and town could have its own smaller version.

The power of such live events is something that both President Trump and the late founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, understood intuitively. If the midterm convention could be part Trump rally, part TPUSA party, well, that’s a powerful combination.

The most important reason why a midterm convention is vital is to put Trump front and center in the election. By then his signature One Big, Beautiful Bill Act will have cut taxes on tips and overtime, some of the trillions of new investment will be taking root, and Trump will be able to point to these achievements.

One thing that was notably missing in this most recent off-year election season was any emphasis on the Make America Healthy Again wing of the Trump movement led by Health and Human Services head Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

That was a mistake, Kennedy’s focus on making sure we aren’t poisoning our kids played a massive role in Trump’s 2024 win. A midterm convention could put the issue back on the table, and MAHA moms everywhere back in play.

This convention would also highlight Trump’s all but miraculous closing of the southern border, and celebrate, rather than denigrate, federal officials working to rid the nation of criminal illegal aliens.

Trump’s message would be simple: ‘I’ve got two more years to do what you put me in office to do, but to do it, I need Congress.’

If Republicans get really lucky, then holding a midterm convention might lead Democrats to hold one of their own, an exercise that could not help but betray the deep divisions in their ranks.

Who would speak at the DNC? Who would be welcome? Socialist mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani or Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., or maybe both at once yelling at each other about who’s a Zionist and who’s an antisemite. You see my point?

Trump is perhaps first and foremost a showman. That can be colored as a criticism or assessed as an asset, but it cannot be denied. The best chance that Republicans have in 2026 is to let him put on his show.

Although I am told that conversations have occurred behind the scenes in preparation for a potential midterm convention, it would still be a heavy lift. Usually there are four years to plan these things, not six months. But the Trump movement has the infrastructure and wherewithal to pull it off.

The ‘Trump Rally’ will go down in history, alongside the Lincoln-Douglas debates and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s fireside chats, as one of the most successful forms of political communication our nation has ever seen. My sense is that voters are up for one more encore performance.

Letting Trump be Trump might not just be the best strategy for Republicans in 2026, it might be the only one. And hey, if you’re going to lose anyway, why not go out with a party?

The longest government shutdown in history finally ended on Wednesday night after nearly every member of the House of Representatives raced to Washington to cast their vote.

The threat of air travel delays — fueled in no small part by the fiscal standoff — as well as bad weather in parts of the country forced some lawmakers to find more unconventional routes to ensure they arrived on time.

First-term Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., for example, found himself carpooling more than five hours alongside House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. — a powerful GOP lawmaker more than 50 years his senior.

‘It dawned on me that, for a while there, I was one of the most powerful people in America, because I had the Rules chair, who — we couldn’t start the process of passing this bill until she got here,’ McDowell told Fox News Digital. ‘We had a one-seat majority, and there was two of us. So, you know, there was a lot of pressure to make sure she got here on time.’

Foxx’s committee was responsible for preparing federal funding legislation for a House-wide vote, which it did from just before 7 p.m. Tuesday until around 2 a.m. Wednesday.

‘She just kind of asked, ‘Hey, would you be willing to carpool?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, not a problem at all.’ I’ve got a truck, so I’ve got plenty of room. We could have taken the whole delegation up, just put all the guys in the back,’ McDowell joked.

He also knew that driving Foxx up earlier than most lawmakers had to be there came with sacrifices.

‘Neither of us got to participate in any Veterans Day events in our district, which was a real bummer. But we had an important job to do, and that was make sure our government services and our current troops are getting paid,’ he said.

McDowell said he spent the roughly five-and-a-half-hour drive asking Foxx questions about her work and her own life, which she happily answered.

And the senior House Republican told Fox News Digital that she appreciated the experience herself.

‘I have never had a chance to really sit down with him for a long period of time, so I really welcome the opportunity to get to know him better,’ Foxx said. ‘He told me a lot about experiences he’s had. We talked about things from my side, mostly policy issues, but I did tell him a little bit more about my background.’

Foxx said it was a combination of bad weather in the North Carolina mountains and concerns about flight delays that moved her to contact colleagues about driving up — until she found her schedule most aligned with McDowell’s, and she drove herself to meet him before the long ride.

‘I have to say he’s an excellent driver,’ Foxx said. ‘We stopped in Henderson, North Carolina, and got Chick-fil-A sandwiches — of course, what else would we get? We left there at 11 [a.m.] and we got here at about 4:40 [p.m.].’

Asked if she would do it all again, Foxx said, ‘In a heartbeat.’

Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, also opted to drive instead of fly — a trip that spanned more than 1,000 miles across 15 hours overnight.

Feenstra said he and two staffers ‘took turns driving’ through the night, stopping only for gas and arriving in Washington some time on Wednesday morning before the vote.

‘I had a lot of Veterans Day events. I wanted to make sure that I was in my district for that. And then, once that was completed at 5 last night, we headed this way,’ he said. ‘When that’s your only option, you do it. This job — you’ve got to do whatever you have to.’ 

And Midwestern Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., also took to the roads, but in a different vehicle.

‘Democrats shut the government down over 40 days ago now. And I could not count on air travel,’ he told Fox News Digital. ‘So I talked to my wife for about five seconds and said, ‘I’m getting on the motorcycle and leaving.’ So I did, and I got here on time.’

Van Orden, who first told The Hill of his plans, said he rode through sub-zero temperatures and had to navigate black ice on the roads. At one point, he stopped at a hotel ‘for four or five hours’ when the environment appeared ‘sketchy,’ he said.

‘Someone asked me, ‘Why don’t you just drive a car?’ Here’s why. We only have one car. And I wasn’t going to inconvenience my wife, because she is one of my constituents, and she happens to be my favorite constituent,’ he said.

‘People around here don’t seem to understand that the mission is more important than their personal security or comfort. And if more people in this building took their job more seriously and realized it’s about the American people than not, then we will be a better country.’

As President Donald Trump redirects U.S. resources toward operations closer to home, former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Mike Pompeo warned that America’s adversaries could benefit from a reduced global footprint.

Clinton told an audience Wednesday that she’d heard of internal Pentagon discussions advocating a ‘spheres of influence’ model that would focus U.S. power in the Western Hemisphere while allowing Russia to dominate Eastern Europe and China to control much of East Asia.

‘There seems to be a group within the Pentagon who are advocating for these spheres of influence … I think that’s a disaster. And I think it weakens us vis-à-vis our principal problem, which is… the Chinese Communist Party,’ she said during a discussion at Columbia University.

The remarks come as the Pentagon increases counter-narcotics and maritime security missions across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, expanding the U.S. military presence in the Southern Command region to its largest level in decades — a shift that reflects Trump’s renewed emphasis on prioritizing the Western Hemisphere. 

The U.S. last week said it would withdraw a rotational infantry brigade largely based in Romania, with some forces in Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Clinton, who was an early architect of the Obama administration’s ‘pivot to Asia’ strategy during her 2009–2013 tenure at the State Department, said any retreat from the Indo-Pacific would invite instability and signal weakness to U.S. adversaries.

Pompeo largely agreed, saying the United States should strive for global ‘American hegemony’ rooted in Western values and must never concede leadership to rivals.

‘I agree with almost everything Secretary Clinton said there,’ Pompeo said. ‘I want American values to dominate the world for the next 250 years … I want to influence every sphere of influence.’

Even as the War Department has prioritized a focus on the Western Hemisphere, Secretary Pete Hegseth has promised the U.S. would ‘stoutly defend’ its interests in the Indo-Pacific. 

Pompeo directed particularly harsh words at China, even as U.S.–China relations show tentative signs of easing after Trump’s recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

‘We shouldn’t use the word competition and the Chinese Communist Party in the same sentence… The Chinese Communist Party wants to cut our heads off,’ he said, adding, ‘They killed 10 million people and didn’t lose a moment’s sleep when a virus was foisted around the world.’

Pompeo, who served as secretary of state and CIA director in the first Trump administration, also claimed that China had given its blessing to North Korea to send troops to assist Russia in its war on Ukraine.

‘There are 13,000 North Koreans on the ground inside of that conflict today,’ he said. ‘They did not go there without Xi Jinping asking Chairman Kim… to go.’

Clinton, meanwhile, accused congressional Republicans of staying silent when the White House oversteps its power, citing Trump’s repeated extensions of a deadline for TikTok to divest or face a U.S. ban.

‘Their tongues must be totally bitten off because they don’t speak out,’ Clinton said.

She warned that social media is now shaping — and in some cases distorting — public opinion, posing ‘a huge danger to democracy.’ Clinton also said TikTok was ‘found by a bipartisan decision of Congress to be controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.’

Pompeo echoed that concern. ‘I’m worried about the fact that we’ve got social influencers on TikTok that are shaping your minds, and that that’s controlled by the Chinese Communist Party to a significant degree,’ he said. 

The pair of former officials found common ground years after Pompeo vowed to release more of her emails in the run-up to the 2020 election. Trump had expressed disappointment that Pompeo’s State Department had not released more of the emails Clinton famously sent from a private server during her time leading the department.

‘We’re doing it as fast as we can’ Pompeo told Fox News at the time, while predicting ‘there will be more to see before the election.’

‘It’s pathetic,’ Clinton had told The New York Times of Pompeo’s promise.

Pompeo has also been critical of Clinton’s ‘failures’ related to Benghazi and ‘rampant corruption.’

: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith allegedly sought the private, personal cellphone records of then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy as part of his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, Fox News Digital has learned.

Smith also sought the private phone records of now-former Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas.

Fox News Digital exclusively reviewed the document that FBI Director Kash Patel recently shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson containing the explosive revelations. Grassley and Johnson have been leading a joint investigation into Smith’s ‘Arctic Frost’ probe.

According to the document, Smith, on Jan. 24, 2023, allegedly sought the ‘toll records for the personal cell phones of U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (AT&T) and U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (Verizon.)’

The information was included as part of a ‘Significant Case Notification’ drafted by the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division May 25, 2023.

‘Jack Smith’s radical and deranged investigation was never about finding the truth,’ former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News Digital. ‘It was a blatant weaponizing of the Justice Department to attack political opponents of the Biden administration. Perhaps no action underscores this point more than the illegal attempt to access the phone records of sitting members of the House and Senate — including the Speaker of the House.’ 

‘His illegal targeting demands real accountability,’ McCarthy continued. ‘And I am confident Congress will hold hearings and access documents in its investigation into Jack Smith’s own abuses.’ 

‘At the same time, I will ask my own counsel to pursue all areas of redress so this does not happen to anyone else,’ McCarthy said. 

The revelations come after Fox News Digital exclusively reported in October that Smith and his ‘Arctic Frost’ team investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots were tracking the private communications and phone calls of nearly a dozen Republican senators as part of the probe, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.

An official told Fox News Digital that those records were collected in 2023 by Smith and his team after subpoenaing major telephone providers. 

Smith has called his decision to subpoena and track Republican lawmakers’ phone records ‘entirely proper’ and consistent with Justice Department policy.

‘As described by various Senators, the toll data collection was narrowly tailored and limited to the four days from January 4, 2021 to January 7, 2021, with a focus on telephonic activity during the period immediately surrounding the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol,’ Smith’s lawyers wrote in October to Grassley.

Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., have been investigating the matter, and seeking answers from major telephone providers.

In AT&T’s response to Grassley, it noted that Smith sought phone records for two members of Congress.

Fox News Digital has learned that AT&T informed Grassley’s staff that one of the members was Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, but refused to disclose the second member.

The newly declassified document reviewed by Fox News Digital appears to reveal that the second member of Congress that Smith sought records from AT&T for was McCarthy, R-Calif. 

Fox News Digital obtained AT&T’s response to Grassley, in which the company notes that Smith sent them a grand jury subpoena that included a request for phone records associated with two members of Congress.

‘However, when AT&T raised questions with Special Counsel Smith’s office concerning the legal basis for seeking records of members of Congress, the Special Counsel did not pursue the subpoena further, and no records were produced,’ AT&T told Grassley.

AT&T also stressed that the company ‘has not produced any records or other information to Special Counsel Jack Smith’ relating to ‘any member of Congress.’

‘Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation looks more and more out of control with each passing day,’ Grassley told Fox News Digital. ‘Based on my oversight, it was a fishing expedition that swept up Republicans in and out of Congress, from top to bottom.’ 

‘Arctic Frost’ was opened inside the bureau April 13, 2022. Smith was appointed as special counsel to take over the probe in November 2022. 

An FBI official told Fox News Digital that ‘Arctic Frost’ is a ‘prohibited case,’ and that the review required FBI officials to go ‘above and beyond in order to deliver on this promise of transparency.’ The discovery is part of a broader ongoing review, Fox News Digital has learned.

Smith, after months of investigating, charged President Donald Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request. 

Smith’s case cost taxpayers more than $50 million. 

Smith did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The six House Democrats who broke ranks with party leadership by voting in favor of legislation that ended the government shutdown are now opening up about their actions, with one saying, ‘The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress.’

Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Jared Golden of Maine, Adam Gray of California, Don Davis of North Carolina, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Tom Suozzi of New York were the six who voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill by a 222 to 209 margin. President Donald Trump then signed the legislation late Wednesday night, putting an end to the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

‘Americans can’t afford for their Representatives to get so caught up in landing a partisan win that they abandon their obligation to come together to solve the urgent problems that our nation faces,’ Gluesenkamp Perez wrote on X. ‘The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress. None of my friends who rely on SNAP would want to trade their dinner for an ambiguous D.C. beltway ‘messaging victory,’ and I’m glad this ugly scene is in the rearview mirror.’

The bill keeps funding the government at the same levels during fiscal year 2025 through Jan. 30 to provide additional time to hash out a longer appropriations measure for fiscal year 2026. The measure also funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that more than 42 million Americans rely on through September. The program provides non- or low-income individuals or families the ability to purchase groceries on a debit card.

‘I just voted to reopen the government, pay federal workers, and get food assistance and other critical programs up and running again,’ Golden said Wednesday.

‘Now, with the shutdown ended, Congress should take immediate action to extend expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that keep health insurance plans affordable for millions of Americans. We still have a window to pass bipartisan legislation to extend these credits,’ he also said.

Gray said in his own statement that, ‘No parent should have to choose between feeding their children and keeping the lights on because someone in Washington thinks chaos is a negotiating tactic.’

‘That’s why I voted for a bipartisan agreement that takes food assistance off the table for an entire year. So when the next shutdown happens (and in this divided Washington, there is always a next shutdown) the president cannot use hungry kids as bargaining chips again. This agreement also protects veterans, small business owners, and federal workers from being turned into political weapons,’ he said.

Suozzi noted in his statement that the ‘airport situations are becoming untenable, and government workers have gone without pay for too long.’

‘If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are willing to work together to address this health insurance affordability crisis by extending the premium tax credits, then we will have accomplished something meaningful,’ he continued. ‘If we are not successful, it will deal yet another blow to the already eroding trust in Washington, D.C., and it will be clear who failed to deliver.’

Davis released a statement on X saying in part that he voted to reopen the government ‘to support my constituents, alleviate the suffering of our families as the holidays approach, and bring vital resources to eastern North Carolina.’

Cuellar said he voted to reopen the government ‘so we can get critical programs back on track,’ adding, ‘this stability is especially important for our border communities, where so many families depend on federal agencies to keep trade, travel and public safety moving.’

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

Longtime civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson was hospitalized Wednesday, his organization announced in a statement.

Jackson, 84, was admitted to the hospital and under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no cure.

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a progressive organization Jackson formed in 1996 by merging two groups he founded earlier, said he has been managing his PSP condition for more than a decade.

‘He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; however, last April, his PSP condition was confirmed. The family appreciates all prayers at this time,’ the organization said.

Jackson announced his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017.

‘After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson’s disease, a disease that bested my father,’ he said at the time. ‘Recognition of the effects of this disease on me has been painful, and I have been slow to grasp the gravity of it.’

The longtime political activist and Baptist minister who worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has faced several health challenges in recent years, including gallbladder surgery and hospitalization due to COVID-19.

Jackson announced his retirement as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 2023, naming Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III as the organization’s new leader.

Former President Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Larry Summers maintained regular contact with Jeffrey Epstein years after he was convicted on prostitution-related charges, documents released by House Republicans on Wednesday revealed.

Among the over 20,000 pages of documents released by House Republicans was a series of email exchanges ranging from 2016 to 2019 between Epstein and Summers that suggest a cozier relationship between the two than previously known. The email exchanges include banter about an unknown woman as well as discussions about politics and President Donald Trump.

On March 3, 2019, just months before his arrest, Epstein and Summers, who was also president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006 and served as the director of former President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council from 2009 to 2011, exchanged emails in which they discussed Summers’ correspondence with an unknown woman.

In an email to Epstein, Summers wrote of his interaction with the woman, saying: ‘We talked on phone. Then ‘I can’t talk later’. Dint (sic) think I can talk tomorrow’. I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u are. And then I said. Did u really rearrange the weekend we were going to be together because guy number 3 was coming’ She said no his schedule changed after we changed our plans. I said ok I got to go call me when u feel like it. Tone was not of good feeling. I dint want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits.’

Epstein replied just minutes later, saying, ‘shes smart. making you pay for past errors. ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.’

Months before that, in November 2018, Summers forwarded Epstein an email from a woman he had corresponded with the comment: ‘Think no response for a while probably appropriate.’

Epstein replied, ‘She’s already begining to sound needy nice.’

On July 15, 2018, Epstein emailed Summers, ‘new york soon?’

‘Unsure. What is up’ Summers replied.

The next day, Epstein wrote, ‘wed presidnt [sic] of united nations, interesting person for you.’

Shortly after midnight, Summers replied, ‘Do the Russians have stuff on Trump? Today was appalling even by his standards.’

Epstein replied: ‘My email is full with similar comments… he thinks he has charmed his adversary… he has no idea of the symbolism — he has no idea of most things.’

In another exchange from 2017, Epstein wrote, ‘I have met some very bad people ,, none as bad as trump. not one decent cell in his body.. so yes- dangerous.’

In a November 2016 email to Epstein, Summers wrote: ‘Spend zero effort on anything about me w trump. Seeing his approach to conflict of interest, his Putin proximity, and his mindless response on Castro death I’m best off a million miles away. Until they are deeply humbled by the f—ups that are sure to come, I serve myself and country best by doing nothing that involves loyalty to them.’

A month before, Epstein emailed Summers, ‘trump roles (sic) out Clintons four accusers. recall our dinner?’ To which Summers replied just hours later, ‘No. what happened? R u about to be dragged in?’

Summers was previously known to have a connection to Epstein. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 on another exchange in which Summers asked Epstein for advice on fundraising for a project by his wife, Harvard professor Elisa New.

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Summers but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.

A bill to end the record-breaking U.S. government shutdown is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk after more than 42 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government passed in the House Wednesday evening, ending the weeks-long fiscal standoff that has largely paralyzed Congress since Oct. 1. Republicans on the House floor erupted in cheers when the bill prevailed while the majority of Democrats quietly exited the chamber.

The White House said Trump would sign the bill at 9:45 p.m. this evening.

Six Democrats voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill with a 222 to 209 margin. The Democrats who voted in favor of the legislation are Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Adam Gray, D-Calif., Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash, and Don Davis, D-N.C.

When the House took its initial vote on federal funding legislation on Sept. 19, just one Democrat — Golden — voted with the GOP.

The vast majority of House Democrats opposed the bill, however, including their senior ranks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

‘House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,’ Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote, however.

‘I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,’ Johnson said. ‘It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.’

Some drama threatened to crack House GOP unity earlier in the day, however, as some Republicans in the lower chamber seethed over a last-minute provision added to the bill that allows senators whose communications were tapped during former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe to sue the federal government for $500,000 each.

Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Austin Scott, R-Ga., and Morgan Griffith, W.Va., all shared concerns with the measure but said they would not extend the government shutdown over it.

Johnson appeared to placate their and others’ concerns, at least for now, with a promise to vote next week on separate legislation repealing that provision.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told reporters he would vote against the bill over its inclusion, however.

‘I’m not voting to send Lindsey Graham half a million dollars,’ he told reporters.

He and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the final bill, but their opposition was not enough to sink legislation.

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

‘What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?’ Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. ‘We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.’

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, criticized Democrats for prolonging the shutdown for little payoff.

‘They literally got absolutely nothing except for a total and complete surrender, that accomplished nothing more than hurting American families,’ he said.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

It also includes full-year federal spending for the Department of Agriculture, the legislative branch, and the Department of Veterans Affairs — three of 12 annual appropriations bills that Congress is tasked with passing annually.

‘There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, ‘I think we can.’