Iran said it will hold talks with Russia and China on Tuesday in an attempt to circumvent U.N. snapback sanctions as the deadline for a nuclear agreement looms. 

‘We are in constant consultation with these two countries to prevent activation of the snapback or to mitigate its consequences,’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said during a Monday press briefing, reported Iran International. ‘We have aligned positions and good relations.’

Both China and Russia are signatories of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement that seemingly failed to end Iran’s nuclear ambitions following the U.S. withdrawal from the deal under the first Trump presidency in 2018 and the subsequent nuclear advances Tehran made. 

The news of the impending meeting comes one week after France, Germany and the U.K. announced they would enforce snapback sanctions on Tehran if it fails to enter into a new nuclear agreement by the end of August. 

What would need to be included in a new nuclear deal remains unclear and Iran has not yet renewed nuclear negotiations with the U.S. after Washington levied significant strikes against its top atomic facilities last month in coordination with Israel. 

The snapback mechanism was reserved under the JCPOA and allows any signatory of the agreement to recall stiff international sanctions on Iran to be enforced by all 15 members of the United Nations Security Council – including Russia and China – if Tehran is determined to have violated the terms of the 2015 deal. 

Since the first Trump presidency, the U.S. has threatened the use of snapback sanctions, though Washington can no longer call for the re-implementation of the economic tool as it left the agreement – a decision determined by the U.N. and the other JCPOA signatories. 

But top D.C. officials, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have continued to encourage European allies to use this tool to push Iran to cease nuclear development. 

Iran is also set to hold talks with France, Germany and the U.K. – an alliance also known as the E3 – this Friday, though the window to secure a new nuclear deal is closing despite years of repeated attempts.

‘Snapback at the UNSC remains, not just the Trump administration’s, but the international community’s most powerful political and diplomatic tool against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program,’ Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iranian expert and senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran program, told Fox News Digital.

‘Snapback and a restoration of older, tougher UNSC resolutions that contain arms export prohibitions, missile testing prohibitions, as well as a panel of experts to monitor sanctions compliance, will actually magnify the political and military dividends that the U.S. and Israeli strikes have given,’ he added.

Security experts have been sounding the alarm for months that it will take roughly six weeks for U.N. sanctions to be enforced, largely due to procedural reasons, and the ability to enforce snapback sanctions under JCPOA terms will expire on Oct. 18.

Ben Taleblu also warned that these intense sanctions on Iran could instigate further security threats to the West when it comes to Tehran’s nuclear program, as it could prompt Iran to leave other major international nuclear agreements like the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Former Obama administration officials named in new revelations surrounding the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation have been silent amid allegations they ‘manufactured’ intelligence that led to the opening of the yearslong probe.

On Friday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents revealing ‘overwhelming evidence’ that demonstrated how, after President Donald Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, then-President Barack Obama and his national security team laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe.

Gabbard said the documents revealed that Obama administration officials ‘manufactured and politicized intelligence’ to create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, despite information from the intelligence community stating otherwise.

The new documents name former President Barack Obama, top officials in his National Security Council, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-National Security Advisor Susan Rice, then-Secretary of State John Kerry, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others.

Gabbard, on Monday, sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department related to those findings. DOJ officials did not share further details on whom the criminal referral was for.

Gabbard told Fox News Digital that this ‘is not a partisan issue,’ but one that ‘concerns every American.’

‘The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government,’ Gabbard told Fox News Digital. ‘Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.’

Gabbard said the ‘egregious abuse of power and blatant rejection of our Constitution’ by Obama-era officials ‘threatens the very foundation and integrity of our democratic republic.’

‘No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again,’ Gabbard said. ‘The American people’s faith and trust in our democratic republic, and therefore the future of our nation, depends on it.’

Gabbard added: ‘As such, I am providing all documents to the Department of Justice to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.’

Gabbard’s criminal referral comes just a week after CIA Director John Ratcliffe sent a criminal referral for Brennan.

FBI Director Kash Patel opened a criminal investigation into Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump-Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress, Justice Department sources told Fox News Digital.

None of the former Obama-era officials have responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Former special counsel David Weiss got little support from the Department of Justice (DOJ) when he sought lawyers to help prosecute President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, Weiss told Congress during a recent closed-door interview.

Amid delicate plea deal negotiations between Hunter Biden and Weiss in 2023, Weiss said he asked the DOJ deputy attorney general’s office for a team of trial lawyers and received a single resume, according to a transcript of the interview reviewed by Fox News Digital.

‘Actually, as I think about the sequencing, I had started to reach out myself directly to offices or people that I knew and make my own inquiries,’ Weiss told House Judiciary Committee staff of his struggle to hire lawyers for the sensitive job of trying the president’s son.

Weiss appeared on Capitol Hill for the interview in June as part of the committee’s inquiry into the DOJ’s years-long investigation and prosecution of Hunter Biden.

Now no longer a DOJ employee, Weiss spoke candidly for hours with the committee, shedding new light on his interactions with the Biden DOJ and giving fresh insight into why Hunter Biden was never charged with certain violations.

Who is David Weiss?

Weiss was appointed U.S. attorney of Delaware during the first Trump administration and began investigating Hunter Biden at that time. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland made Weiss special counsel in August 2023 after a plea agreement with Hunter Biden fell apart.

Republicans had accused Weiss of offering Hunter Biden a ‘sweetheart’ plea deal that involved only misdemeanors. But in an unusual move, a judge rejected the deal, leading Weiss to instead bring two successful indictments against the then-first son, one for illegal gun possession and another for nine tax charges, including three felonies.

Weiss came under enormous scrutiny by Republicans and Democrats for his handling of the investigation, which had become a hyper-political national news story centered on the salacious behavior and wrongdoings of Hunter Biden, a recovering drug and alcohol addict, and allegations that Joe Biden was complicit in his son’s crimes.

Republicans claimed Weiss was not tough enough on Hunter Biden, while Democrats said he was being treated more harshly than a typical defendant because he was the president’s son. Joe Biden ultimately granted an unconditional pardon to his son, a move widely criticized by members of both parties.

Weiss gets ‘one resume’

Weiss said during the interview that he was ‘fortunate enough to obtain a couple very excellent prosecutors,’ a reference to the two DOJ attorneys who handled trial preparations for Hunter Biden.

But, Weiss also indicated that when he first requested lawyers in the spring of 2023, he had to be self-sufficient in finding them and that the deputy attorney general’s office was unhelpful. Weiss noted he did not deal directly with former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco at all and assumed she was recused from Hunter Biden’s cases.

Weiss said that at one point he ran into the director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, which handles recruitment, at an event and asked if any hiring progress had been made.

Weiss did not ‘have a whole lot of success’ during that conversation, he said.

‘What do you mean, you didn’t have success? … They didn’t give you lawyers?’ a committee aide asked.

‘I got one resume,’ Weiss replied.

The aide asked, ‘Nobody wanted to come prosecute Hunter Biden?’

‘I don’t want to say that because I don’t know that they weren’t trying to find people,’ Weiss said. ‘All I know was I didn’t get a whole lot of resumes.’

Weiss eventually gained two attorneys, Leo Wise and Derek Hines, who went on to secure a conviction by a jury in Delaware after a week-long trial on gun possession charges and a guilty plea to all nine of Hunter Biden’s tax charges.

A committee aide pressed Weiss on why he felt there was ‘such a drought’ of help at DOJ headquarters.

‘As I said a moment ago … I did not receive a lot of resumes in response to my initial request,’ Weiss said, noting that eventually the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section assisted him.

Asked if the Public Integrity Section helped him because Weiss proactively reached out, Weiss replied, ‘Probably.’

Burisma tax years and FARA

For his testimony, the Trump DOJ gave Weiss permission in a letter to talk to Congress about Hunter Biden’s cases. The department noted, however, that it could not authorize Weiss to talk about the former first son’s confidential tax information.

Weiss suggested, though, that he would have charged Hunter Biden for the 2014 and 2015 tax years if he could have.

‘To the extent I can put together — and this is general — a case that involves more years than not and allows me to more fully develop allegations about a course of conduct and a scheme, that’s better for the prosecution,’ Weiss said. ‘So it’s not like I’m looking to cut out years generally when you’re pursuing a tax investigation.’

During the years in question, Hunter Biden was raking in $1 million per year as a board member of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father, then vice president, was overseeing foreign policy with Ukraine. The scenario became ripe for questions about conflicts of interest, in part because of suspicious interactions between Hunter Biden and the Obama State Department.

In Weiss’s final special counsel report, he dodged explaining why he brought charges of failure to pay taxes and tax evasion against Hunter Biden only for the tax years after 2015, citing Joe Biden’s pardon. Now, Weiss said, he would be more willing to talk about it if he were legally allowed to do so.

Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, pressed Weiss, saying the ‘political aspects of Burisma’ raised ‘glaring’ questions about the prosecutorial decisions made for the years for which Hunter Biden avoided charges.

‘I understand,’ Weiss replied. ‘Absolutely. Yes. And I wish that I could address it. But it’s my understanding that, for me to trip into 2014 and ’15 is a violation of [U.S. code].’

Weiss also told the committee his team had no serious discussions about charging Hunter Biden under a foreign lobby law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

‘We just couldn’t put together a sufficient case,’ Weiss said.

Iran on Monday confirmed it will not give up its nuclear enrichment program in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, set to air at 6 pm on Monday’s ‘Special Report.’ 

Araghchi confirmed that the U.S.’s top ambition in preventing Tehran from further developing a nuclear weapon by blocking all enrichment capabilities is unlikely to come to fruition, despite threats of intense international sanctions.

‘We cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,’ Araghchi said. ‘Our enrichment is so dear to us,’ he told Bret Baier, anchor and executive editor of Special Report, in a clip released before the full interview airs.

The foreign minister confirmed that the extent of the damage to its nuclear facilities caused by the U.S. strikes last month was ‘serious,’ but he would not comment on whether any enriched uranium survived the strikes.

‘Our facilities have been damaged – seriously damaged,’ Araghchi said. ‘The extent of which is now under evaluation by our atomic energy organization.

‘But as far as I know, they are seriously damaged,’ he added, noting that the damage has also currently ceased all enrichment capabilities for the time being. 

Iran has maintained that it was not seeking a nuclear weapon, but in the lead up to the Israeli and U.S. strikes, security experts were sounding the alarm that Tehran was likely capable of producing at least one nuclear weapon in a matter of days, and several warheads in a matter of weeks. 

While nuclear enrichment is a process needed for nations that also rely on nuclear power, Iran’s nuclear energy usage amounts to less than one percent of the nation’s energy consumption. 

The U.S. has suggested that given the low amounts of nuclear energy which Iran relies on, it should join a consortium that could potentially involve nations like the UAE and Saudi Arabia for its enriched uranium needs for civil nuclear power use. 

But Iran has repeatedly rejected this proposal, with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also referring to Tehran’s capabilities as a source of national pride just last month.

‘The number of countries in the world that have achieved a complete nuclear fuel cycle is perhaps fewer than the number of fingers on a person’s two hands,’ Khamenei said in early June. ‘We’re capable of producing nuclear fuel starting from the mine and all the way to the power plant.’

But Iran also faces immense international sanctions and even greater arms restrictions should it fail to reach a nuclear agreement by the end of August – though it is unclear if that agreement must include the U.S. or just European nations including France, Germany and the U.K., also referred to as the E3.

Iranian officials will not only be meeting with its top allies and chief adversaries to the West, Russia and China, on Tuesday, but Tehran is also set to hold talks on Friday with officials from the E3.

Washington and Tehran have yet to resume talks following the U.S. strikes last month.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is blasting people within her own party for ‘lying’ about her position during a key round of government funding votes late last week.

‘Google is free. If you’re saying I voted for military funding, you are lying. Receipts attached,’ Ocasio-Cortez wrote alongside several screenshots showing her vote ‘no’ on Republicans’ military funding bill.

‘Drag me for my positions all you want, but lying about them doesn’t make you part of the ‘left.’ If you believe neo-nazis are welcome and operating in good faith, you can have them!’

The New York City Democrat got broadsided from her left over her vote on a specific amendment aimed at blocking U.S. funding for Israel’s Iron Dome, though it did not make it into the final bill – which Ocasio-Cortez voted against.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) criticized the progressive firebrand for voting against an amendment by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to block $500 million in Congress’ annual defense spending bill that was aimed at helping fund Israeli missile defense systems.

‘An arms embargo means keeping all arms out of the hands of a genocidal military, no exceptions. This is why we oppose Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’[s] vote against an amendment that would have blocked $500 million in funding for the Israeli military’s Iron Dome program,’ the DSA said over the weekend.

The DSA noted she did vote against the defense funding bill itself, thereby ‘voting against funding for the imperialist military-industrial complex and the Israeli genocide.’

The group added, however, ‘We were further deeply disappointed by her clarifying statement on her position on the Iron Dome.’

‘Along with other US-funded interceptor systems, the Iron Dome has emboldened Israel to invade or bomb no less than five different countries in the past two years,’ the DSA said.

‘The fact that Representative Ocasio-Cortez acknowledges that Israel is carrying out this genocide makes her support for military aid all the more disappointing and incongruous. We urge the representative to continue voting against the Iron Dome, whether it is part of a larger defense spending bill or as a stand-alone bill.’

The DSA commended Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Summer Lee, D-Pa., and Al Green, D-Texas, for voting against the amendment.

Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign and congressional office for comment.

She posted on X after the vote, ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene’s amendment does nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza. Of course I voted against it.’

‘What it does do is cut off defensive Iron Dome capacities while allowing the actual bombs killing Palestinians to continue. I have long stated that I do not believe that adding to the death count of innocent victims to this war is constructive to its end,’ she said.

‘That is a simple and clear difference of opinion that has long been established. I remain focused on cutting the flow of US munitions that are being used to perpetuate the genocide in Gaza.’

The clash exemplifies how Israel continues to drive an ideological wedge within the Democratic Party. 

It’s not the first time Ocasio-Cortez caught heat from the progressive base for failing to take a critical enough stance on Israel.

In 2021, the New York Democrat cried on the House floor after voting ‘present’ on funding Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

‘Yes, I wept,’ she wrote in an open letter to constituents after the incident. ‘I wept at the complete lack of care for the human beings that are impacted by these decisions. I wept at an institution choosing a path of maximum volatility and minimum consideration for its own political convenience.’

The overall bill that passed last week calls for $832 billion in defense funding for fiscal year 2026.

That’s separate from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), another annual bill that sets defense and national security policy each fiscal year – essentially detailing how those funds will be spent.

Greene’s amendment to strip $500 million going toward Israeli missile defense programs lost in a lopsided 6-422 vote.

Senate Republican leadership is weighing whether to cancel, or shorten, their upcoming August break following President Donald Trump’s request to stay in town and finish confirming his outstanding nominees. 

Over the last six months, the Senate has moved at a breakneck pace to confirm the president’s nominees all while facing resistance from Senate Democrats. So far, 96 of Trump’s nominees have been confirmed. Still, there are 136 outstanding nominations on the upper chamber’s calendar that haven’t made it over the finish line.

Year in and year out, lawmakers typically escape from the Hill for the entire month of August, either recuperating from months in Washington, D.C., or selling their legislative accomplishments to people back home.

But Trump on Sunday called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to keep lawmakers in town to finish their work on confirming his slew of outstanding nominees.

‘Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories over the past two weeks and, indeed, 6 months, will cancel August recess (and long weekends!), in order to get my incredible nominees confirmed,’ Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. ‘We need them badly!!! DJT’

Thune said he had spoken with the president about the August recess issue, but did not say whether the entire break would be canceled. A senior GOP aide told Fox News Digital that discussions over shortening the August recess were already happening before Trump’s request.

‘We’re thinking about it,’ Thune said. ‘We want to get as many noms through the pipeline as we can. And honestly, it’d be nice to have Democrats who actually would kind of act more according to historical precedents when it comes to this.’

The remaining spots that need to be filled run across nearly every facet of the federal government, including positions in the Defense Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Commerce Department and a slew of ambassadors, among others.

Among the remaining nominees are some familiar faces from the 2024 election and beyond, including Hung Cao, who ran against Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and was nominated as Navy undersecretary; Donald Trump Jr.’s ex-fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was tapped to be the U.S. ambassador to Greece, and former Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., who was nominated to be Federal Transit administrator.

Thune accused Senate Democrats of being obstructionist and noted that so far, not a single nominee has been approved through the fast-track voice vote or unanimous consent processes. Indeed, every nominee has been put to a floor vote. Only Secretary of State Marco Rubio received a near unanimous, 99 to 0, vote.

Earlier this year, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., supported delaying all the president’s nominees who lack unanimous support in the upper chamber, effectively triggering floor votes for each. He also used an arcane Senate procedural move to stall federal prosecutors in committee.

‘This is something that we’re very committed to, and we’re going to be looking at all the options in the next few weeks to try and get as many of those across the finish line as we can,’ Thune said. 

A judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from stripping some Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood after Congress and President Donald Trump agreed to partially defund the nonprofit through passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said in her order partially granting a preliminary injunction that the bill unconstitutionally punishes Planned Parenthood member organizations that do not provide abortions. 

The injunction will risk ‘at most minimal harm—financial or otherwise’ to the Trump administration while the lawsuit proceeds, Talwani, an Obama appointee, wrote.

The judge’s order appears to apply to some but not all Planned Parenthood facilities. The nonprofit said in a statement that it viewed Talwani’s order as a partial win and remained ‘hopeful’ that the judge would take further judicial action down the line.

‘This isn’t over,’ the organization said. ‘While we’re grateful that the court recognized the harm caused by this law, we’re disappointed that not all members were granted the necessary relief today.’

Talwani’s order arose from a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a massive budget bill that passed Congress this month with no Democrat support. Trump signed the bill into law on July 4.

A provision in the bill stripped Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, which the nonprofit said could force it to close about 200 of its 600 facilities and deprive about half of its customers, more than one million people, of services that do not include abortion.

Planned Parenthood attorneys noted in court filings that Medicaid typically does not cover abortion.

The attorneys argued that the bill would cause cancer and sexually transmitted infections to go undetected, especially for low-income people, and that more unplanned pregnancies would occur because of a lack of contraception access. They said the consequences of losing Medicaid funding ‘will be grave.’

Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys had previously argued in court filings that the purpose of the budget provision was to stop ‘federal subsidies for Big Abortion’ by freezing federal funds for certain Medicaid recipients who provide abortions. Weakening Planned Parenthood has been one of the pro-life movement’s leading priorities since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Talwani granted a temporary restraining order two weeks ago in favor of Planned Parenthood. The judge initially offered no explanation for her decision, a move that led to widespread backlash among Republicans who described it as judicial overreach. Days later, Talwani offered more context in a subsequent order.

The preliminary injunction will partially leave in place the pause on defunding Planned Parenthood indefinitely, but the Trump administration is likely to appeal the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

The judge noted that her injunction applied to Planned Parenthood entities that do not provide abortion services or receive less than $800,000 in annual Medicaid reimbursements.

DOJ attorneys had previously argued to the court that blocking a measure that was passed by Congress and signed by the president was an extraordinary move and unjustified.

‘Beyond the futility of the claims on the merits, Planned Parenthood fails to demonstrate imminent irreparable harm to justify an injunction, asserting only classically reparable economic injury and irrelevant potential harm to patients, who are third parties not before this Court,’ DOJ attorneys wrote.

President Donald Trump slammed Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., calling the lawmaker ‘the worst Republican Congressman’ in a Monday night Truth Social post, while noting that he is seeking a challenger he can support against the incumbent lawmaker.

‘Thomas Massie, the worst Republican Congressman, and an almost guaranteed NO VOTE each and every time, is an Embarrassment to Kentucky. He’s lazy, slow moving, and totally disingenuous – A real loser! Never has anything positive to add. Looking for someone good to run against this guy, someone I can Endorse and vigorously campaign for!’ Trump declared in the post.

The president’s post linked to a video by MAGA KY targeting the congressman for ouster. ‘Let’s fire Thomas Massie,’ the voiceover declares.

Fox News Digital reached out to Massie early on Tuesday morning, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Massie, a fiscal hawk, voted against passage of the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Trump has been a vociferous critic of the congressman.

In a Truth Social post last month, the president asserted that Massie ‘is not MAGA,’ and declared, ‘we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I’ll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard.’

Billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk has indicated that he will donate to support Massie’s re-election bid.

From ‘super genius’ to ‘CRAZY,’ President Donald Trump has changed his tune about SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a matter of months, while the tech mogul has backpedaled his support for the Republican Party and called for a new, third American political party instead. 

Musk unveiled the creation of the so-called ‘America Party’ after Trump signed into law his massive tax and domestic policy bill, which Musk staunchly opposed due to concerns that it would increase the federal deficit.

‘Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,’ Musk said in a July 5 X post. 

While there is an appetite for a third party in the U.S., Musk’s so-called America Party is not likely to pick up steam and the tech mogul would have better luck driving reforms in the Republican Party, according to experts. 

‘Elon’s effort will go nowhere,’ Republican strategist Matt Gorman said in an email to Fox News Digital. ‘But I don’t doubt it’ll make a lot of consultants rich in the process.’ 

Meanwhile, Gorman said candidates undoubtedly would prefer an endorsement from Trump over financial backing from Musk – the largest donor in the 2024 election cycle who contributed approximately $295 million to Republicans. 

‘If given a choice between a Trump endorsement or $20 million in ads from Elon, it’s not even a contest,’ said Gorman, who previously served as the communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. ‘They’d take the Trump endorsement every single time.’

Political columnist Kristin Tate said that while Musk was helpful in driving public support from wealthy Silicon Valley Americans for Trump, it’s unlikely these same tech leaders would abandon Trump and follow Musk instead. 

‘Trump is the beating heart of the Republican Party right now,’ Tate said in an email to Fox News Digital. 

‘Elon Musk would be better off trying to shape politics from within the Republican Party,’ Tate said. ‘A third party effort is doomed to fail. Most of President Trump’s supporters see the effort as hostile to Trump and will not support Musk. Meanwhile, all Democrat voters have been conditioned to despise Musk, so they will not support him either.’ 

Tate said Trump and Musk should attempt to repair their relationship because ‘both men bring something important and unique to the GOP. 

‘By leaving Trump, and the GOP generally, Musk will chisel off a small fraction of Republican Party voters – a fraction that will not be nearly big enough for his new party to win elections, but could be a spoiler for Democrats in elections with extremely tight margins,’ Tate said. 

Alex Keyssar, a history professor at Harvard Kennedy School of public policy, said that given dissatisfaction with the two-party system right now, it’s possible that more third-party candidates could win state and local elections. But it’s unclear if that would translate over to national elections because the rules governing elections and who may appear on ballots pose additional limitations for those candidates, he said. 

‘There’s a lot of popular sentiment looking for something else that is creating pressures for a third party,’ Keyssar told Fox News Digital. ‘In that sense, Elon Musk is on to something.’ 

Still, voters don’t appear interested in a third party affiliated with Musk. While 49% of U.S. voters said they would consider joining a third party, 77% said they weren’t on board if Musk created it, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. 

Musk’s relationship with Trump first started to unravel, at least publicly, in May toward the end of Musk’s tenure overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

Shortly after Musk’s exit from DOGE, the two traded barbs over the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ where Musk said Trump wouldn’t have won the 2024 election without his backing. Likewise, Trump accused Musk of going ‘CRAZY’ over cuts to the electric vehicle credits that benefit companies like Tesla, and said Musk had been ‘wearing thin.’

Meanwhile, Trump isn’t counting on Musk’s political party taking off anytime soon, and told reporters July 6 that he believed another party ‘just adds to confusion.’ 

‘Third parties have never worked, so he can have fun with it – but I think it’s ridiculous,’ Trump said. 

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner blasted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for spending billons of dollars renovating the Fed’s headquarters amid a housing crisis he said Powell is helping perpetuate.

The Federal Reserve’s headquarters has been undergoing a major renovation that has been plagued by cost overruns and now has a price tag of $2.5 billion. Meanwhile, the Trump administration faults Powell for not cutting interest rates, even with inflation seemingly under control.

‘It’s rich that an unelected bureaucrat like Powell is wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on building renovations while Americans struggle to buy homes due to high mortgage rates, which are directly impacted by his refusal to lower interest rates,’ Turner told Fox News Digital. 

HUD became the first Cabinet agency to announce a move out of Washington, D.C., with Turner reporting in June that the department was moving to the already existing National Science Foundation (NSF) in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. Turner said the move will free up millions in taxpayer funds that were spent on the massive, longtime HUD headquarters at D.C.’s L’Enfant Plaza that also included ‘health hazards, leaks, and structural and maintenance failures’ for staffers. 

‘HUD’s move isn’t about me – our workforce deserves to be in a building that is safe and that fits our workforce. NSF was never able to fully fill their building to occupancy and will move into a building that best fits their workforce. Instead of spending nearly a half-billion dollars on renovating 10 floors of basement with perpetual leaks, HUD and GSA are saving the taxpayers money – something that Chairman Powell, sitting in his ivory tower, thinks he is above – andputting Americans first,’ Turner continued. 

Speculation has swirled that President Donald Trump could try to oust the Fed chief ahead of his term officially ending in May 2026 due to his reluctance to lower the federal funds target rate, which would lower borrowing costs for Americans. The Fed in June held its benchmark interest rate range between 4.25%-4.5%, which Trump has argued stifles American economic growth. 

The Fed, which sets monetary policies and oversees banks, has said decisions on interest rates are rooted in its data-dependent approach to managing inflation and economic growth. It acts independently, meaning it does not require approval from the president or Congress when enacting policies. 

Trump has amplified his criticisms of Powell in recent weeks, arguing that he already should have lowered interest rates, while calling him a ‘numbskull’ along with the nickname ‘Mr. Too Late.’ At the recent NATO summit in Canada, Trump said during a press conference that Powell is ‘terrible’ and is a ‘very average mentally person’ who has a ‘low IQ for what he does.’

Trump said recent, over-budget renovations at the Fed headquarters, the Marriner S. Eccles Building, ‘sort of is’ a ‘fireable offense.’

‘I think he’s terrible. I think he’s a total stiff. But the one thing I didn’t see in him is a guy that needed a palace to live in,’ Trump told reporters last week.

‘You talk to the guy. It’s like talking to – nothing. It’s like talking to a chair. No personality, no high intelligence, no nothing. But the one thing I would have never guessed is that he would be spending $2.5 billion to build a little extension.’

Democrat lawmakers have slammed Trump’s attacks on Powell over the Fed building’s updates, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren taking a swipe at Turner for moving HUD to Virginia. 

‘If Trump were serious about lowering interest rates, he would rein in his chaotic tariffs,’ Warren said earlier this month during a speech at the Exchequer Club in D.C. ‘Instead, he is threatening to fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve. When his initial attempts to bully Powell failed, Trump and Republicans in Congress suddenly decided to look into how much the Fed is spending on building renovations.’

HUD is expected to save $22 million per year on operating and maintenance costs by moving out of the Robert C. Weaver Building, while the government is expected to pull in a hefty sum when the building is officially sold due to its prime location in the nation’s capital. 

The agency’s new home at NSF is anticipated to cost the government $35 per square foot, compared to the $86 per square foot at the Weaver building, including operations and maintenance, Fox Digital learned. 

The federal government had spent $90 million on repairs for the massive Weaver building in the last 15 years, Fox Digital learned, but the building has ‘deteriorated well beyond the point of cost-effective repair, creating significant financial obligations for the federal government if occupancy is maintained,’ HUD reported in June. 

The Federal Reserve on Sunday morning declined comment when asked about Turner’s remarks to Fox Digital.

The Fed’s website includes a frequently asked questions page regarding the building’s renovations, including underscoring that the Fed’s board ‘takes the responsibility to be a good steward of public resources,’ and is subject to a handful of safeguards to ensure transparency. 

 ‘The Federal Reserve Chair testifies to each house of Congress twice per year on monetary policy. During two sequential days of hearings, members of the House and Senate have the opportunity to question the Fed Chair on any topic, and then submit questions in writing after the hearings. As part of these hearings, the Federal Reserve publishes a semiannual Monetary Policy Report, detailing recent economic and monetary policy developments,’ the page states. 

Trump, who appointed Powell during his first presidential term, has meanwhile continued slamming Powell on social media for the current interest rates he said are ‘choking’ the housing market for Americans. 

‘Too Late,’ and the Fed, are choking out the housing market with their high rate, making it difficult for people, especially the young, to buy a house,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday. ‘He is truly one of my worst appointments. Sleepy Joe saw how bad he was and reappointed him anyway.’

‘The USA is Rockin’, there is VERY LOW INFLATION, and we deserve to be at 1%, saving One Trillion Dollars a year on Interest Costs. I can’t tell you how dumb Too Late is – So bad for our Country!’

Fox News Digital’s Eric Revell and Amanda Macias contributed to this report.