Senate Republicans are still trying to hash out a deal with their Democratic counterparts to push through a package of President Donald Trump’s nominees as their scheduled departure from Washington has come and gone.

Republicans are under pressure from the White House, and their own members, to find a path forward, but Senate Democrats have largely dug their heels into the dirt in opposition in a bid to slow down the confirmation process. Lawmakers are still in town hammering toward a deal, while growing frustrations and weariness simmer in the upper chamber. 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., appeared more upbeat about the state of affairs, despite rumblings that negotiations were faltering.

‘Democrats aren’t negotiating with us, we’re negotiating among ourselves,’ he told Fox News Digital. ‘I think we found, I think we may have found a landing spot.’

Underscoring negotiations with Senate Democrats are threats of rule changes to the confirmation process, which could speed things up but drive a partisan wedge even deeper between the aisles.

Trump had initially called on Senate Republicans to consider canceling their August recess to ram through as many of his nominees as possible. But late Thursday night, he took a more stern tone.

‘The Senate must stay in Session, taking no recess, until the entire Executive Calendar is CLEAR!!! We have to save our Country from the Lunatic Left,’ Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. ‘Republicans, for the health and safety of the USA, DO YOUR JOB, and confirm All Nominees. They should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has been locked in negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., throughout the week to hammer out a deal that would allow lawmakers to vote on a tranche of nominees quickly.

He told reporters Friday evening that he didn’t have a ‘report that adds any certainty to the question of schedule at the moment.’

‘It’s still in flux,’ he said.

Senate Republicans have moved at a rapid pace to add more and more nominees to the calendar, and so far have placed nearly 160 onto the schedule. Should a deal not be reached, and the GOP adheres to Trump’s demands, leaving Washington to return to their home states until early September may be out of the question.

While most Republicans are on board with trying to ram through Trump’s picks, the desire to leave Capitol Hill after a blistering seven-month stretch — where lawmakers have already confirmed over 120 of the president’s nominees — is palpable.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said that the idea that lawmakers would leave town in the next few days ‘seems to have disappeared.’

‘Grumpiness is here already, as you can hear from my tone, but we’re still here. We know the factor of weariness and other commitments outside of Washington, D.C., they work, but there is still a whole set of … nominations that need to be completed,’ he said.  

A bright spot for Republicans is that the resistance to advancing nominees and confirming them is not across the board among Senate Democrats.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Fox News Digital that he has plans for recess, but he’s ready to cancel those if need be.

‘My hope is that we’ll move a number of nominees through and get out fairly soon,’ he said. ‘But I’m not the one doing the negotiating.’

Iran still has the capabilities to enrich uranium — despite U.S. and Israeli strikes — and could restart its nuclear program if it wanted to, Tehran’s foreign minister claimed. 

While the U.S. struck three key Iranian nuclear sites, Israel destroyed much of its air defenses, took out top military commanders and killed at least 13 nuclear scientists and more than 1,000 people, according to figures put out by Tehran. Israel claims it killed 30 senior security officials and 11 top nuclear scientists. 

‘Buildings can be rebuilt. Machines can be replaced, because the technology is there. We have plenty of scientists and technicians who used to work in our facilities,’ Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a recent interview with the Financial Times. 

‘But when and how we restart our enrichment depends on the circumstances.’

Washington maintains that it inflicted significant damage to Iran’s two main uranium enrichment sites, Fordow and Natanz, and fired missiles that rendered the Isfahan facility essentially inoperable, setting Iran’s nuclear program back ‘years.’ 

Now, the world is watching to see whether Iran and the West will be able to come to a deal that ensures Iran does not work towards a nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief. 

Araghchi said the U.S. must offer funds to Iran to compensate for last month’s strikes in order to move forward with negotiations. 

‘They should explain why they attacked us in the middle of . . . negotiations, and they have to ensure that they are not going to repeat that [during future talks],’ Araghchi said. ‘They have to compensate [Iran for] the damage that they have done.’

Araghchi claimed the so-called 12-Day War ‘proved there is no military solution for Iran’s nuclear program.’

Araghchi also said the strikes had prompted calls from within the regime to weaponize Iran’s nuclear program but claimed Iran would continue to abide by a two-decade-old fatwa banning the production of nuclear weapons. 

‘Anti-negotiation feelings are very high,’ Araghchi said. ‘People are telling me, ‘Don’t waste your time anymore, don’t be cheated by them . . . if they come to negotiations it’s only a cover-up for their other intentions.’’

The minister repeated Iran’s insistence that it would not give up its ability to enrich uranium for civil purposes — a sticking point for Washington. ‘With zero enrichment, we don’t have a thing.’ 

The White House could not immediately be reached for comment on Araghchi’s remarks. 

Israeli officials have admitted that some of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium did survive the attacks.  

European powers have threatenaed to trigger ‘snapback’ United Nations sanctions against Iran if there isn’t a breakthrough in nuclear talks.

Any of the current members of the 2015 nuclear deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — France, the UK, Germany, China, and Russia –  can invoke the snapback mechanism if they determine Iran hasn’t held up its end of the deal. The U.S. can’t trigger the sanctions because it pulled out of the deal and enacted unilateral ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions under Trump’s first administration. 

The U.S. heaped more pressure onto Tehran this week with new sanctions on the nation’s oil network and military drone enterprise. 

European diplomats have been meeting with Iran to relay how it could avoid snapback sanctions, including resuming cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor its compliance with nuclear limits. 

Araghchi said Iran would stop negotiating with Europe if they were to trigger the sanctions. ‘If they do snap back, that means that this is the end of the road for them.’  

Cambodia will nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he helped the country reach a ceasefire agreement to end its border conflict with Thailand.

Sun Chanthol, Cambodia’s deputy prime minister, thanked Trump for bringing peace to the region while speaking to reporters earlier Friday in the country’s capital of Phnom Penh.

Chanthol said the American president deserved to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the highest-profile international award given to a person or organization for doing the most to ‘advance fellowship between nations.’

‘We acknowledge his great efforts for peace,’ Chanthol said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and Pakistani officials said in June they would recommend him for the award for his role in helping to end its conflict with India.

Trump urged a ceasefire last week when he spoke to the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand and threatened that the U.S. would not get back to the ‘trading table’ with the Southeast Asian countries until the fighting stops.

A ceasefire was negotiated in Malaysia on Monday, ending the heaviest conflict between the two countries in over a decade.

‘Numerous people were killed and I was dealing with two countries that we get along with very well, very different countries from certain standpoints. They’ve been fighting for 500 years intermittently. And, we solved that war … we solved it through trade,’ Trump told reporters during his recent trip to Scotland.

Following news of the ceasefire, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that Trump’s direct involvement led to the truce.

‘President Trump made this happen. Give him the Nobel Peace Prize!,’ she said.

The fighting began last week after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers. Each side blamed the other for starting the clashes, which lasted five days.

At least 43 people were killed and more than 300,000 people were displaced on both sides of the border.

‘I said, ‘I don’t want to trade with anybody that’s killing each other,” Trump continued while in Scotland. ‘So we just got that one solved. And I’m going to call the two prime ministers who I got along with very, very well and speak to them right after this meeting and congratulate them. But it was an honor to be involved in that. That was going to be a very nasty war. Those wars have been very, very nasty.’

Chanthol, who also serves as Cambodia’s top trade negotiator, said his country was also grateful to Trump for a reduced tariff rate of 19%.

The Trump administration had initially threatened a tariff of 49% before later reducing it to 36%, a level that would have decimated Cambodia’s vital garment and footwear sector, Chanthol told Reuters.

Reuters contributed to this report.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is investigating whether former President Joe Biden’s closest aides worked to conceal evidence of mental decline in the octogenarian Democrat during his White House term, and whether an autopen was used for executive decisions without his knowledge.

Biden himself asserted to the New York Times that he ‘made every decision’ regarding autopen pardons specifically, and his allies have dismissed the GOP-led probe as a partisan show.

Several ex-senior White House officials are due in the coming weeks, including former press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and ex-White House chief of staff Jeff Zeints.

But Comer’s staff have also met with a number of people so far – some who have said very little, while others have given no information at all.

Below are the eight people who have sat down with House investigators so far:

Neera Tanden

Former White House staff secretary Neera Tanden appeared for a voluntary interview on June 24.

A source familiar with Tanden’s interview said she described having ‘minimal interaction’ with Biden during her sit-down with investigators.

Tanden also said she would submit requests for autopen signatures to members of Biden’s team, but was not aware of what actions or approvals occurred between the time she sent the memo and the time she received it back with the president’s approval, the source said.

Tanden’s lawyer told Fox News at the time that she ‘consistently followed a protocol’ that was used by both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past.

‘That same protocol existed in the Clinton and Obama administrations, which Ms. Tanden learned in discussions with previous staff secretaries from those administrations. She further understood and believed that the same process was followed in the Trump 1 and Bush administrations,’ the lawyer said.

Tanden had been tapped to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) early in Biden’s term, but she withdrew after bipartisan pushback in the Senate.

Kevin O’Connor

Former White House physician Kevin O’Connor was the second ex-Biden administration official to appear when he came in on July 9, and the first to appear under subpoena.

Before serving as White House doctor, however, O’Connor was known to be a close associate of the Biden family for years. 

Investigators were hoping to learn whether O’Connor knowingly obscured signs of advanced aging or loss of mental acuity in Biden. He notably met with a Parkinson’s Disease expert at the White House at one point, according to the New York Times – though the revelations were downplayed by the White House at the time.

O’Connor’s lawyers had attempted to delay his scheduled deposition date over concerns that the scope of the committee’s investigation would violate doctor-patient confidentiality.

He ultimately did appear when Comer rejected his delay request, but O’Connor was in and out of the committee room in less than an hour after pleading the Fifth Amendment to all questions, save for his name.

Ashley Williams

Ashley Williams is a longtime Biden advisor who still works for the former president, according to her LinkedIn. She appeared for a voluntary transcribed interview on July 11.

The close Biden ally’s time with him goes back to assisting then-second lady Jill Biden during the Obama administration, according to a 2019 profile of Biden staffers.

She served as his trip director for the 2020 campaign before being hired to the White House as deputy director of Oval Office Operations and a special assistant to the president.

Williams repeatedly told committee staff during her sit-down that she did not ‘recall’ various things ‘an untold number of times,’ but that she believed Biden was fit to be president today, a source told Fox News Digital.

‘Examples include she could not recall if she spoke with President Biden in the last week, if teleprompters were used for Cabinet meetings, if there were discussions about President Biden using a wheelchair, if there were discussions about a cognitive test, if she discussed a mental or physical decline of President Biden, if she ever had to wake President Biden up and how she got involved with his 2020 campaign,’ the source said.

Anthony Bernal

Anthony Bernal, who was nicknamed Jill Biden’s ‘work husband’ for their close relationship, was the second person subpoenaed to appear. 

Like O’Connor, Bernal’s July 16 deposition lasted less than an hour after he pleaded the Fifth Amendment to investigators.

Bernal served as former Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the First Lady. He also still appears to work for the Bidens, according to LinkedIn, which says he works for Jill Biden specifically.

‘During his deposition today, Mr. Bernal pleaded the Fifth when asked if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the President and if Joe Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health,’ Comer said in a statement after Bernal’s deposition.

Annie Tomasini

Former Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations Annie Tomasini had been scheduled to appear for a transcribed interview, before her counsel requested a subpoena from Comer shortly before her July 18 appearance.

Tomasini followed O’Connor and Bernal’s lead in pleading the Fifth Amendment, which people coming in voluntarily cannot do.

‘During her deposition today, Ms. Tomasini pleaded the Fifth when asked if Joe Biden, a member of his family, or anyone at the White House instructed her to lie regarding his health at any time,’ Comer said in a statement after her deposition.

‘She also pleaded the Fifth when asked if she ever advised President Biden on the handling of classified documents found in his garage, if President Biden or anyone in the White House instructed her to conceal or destroy classified material found at President Biden’s home or office, and if she ever conspired with anyone in the White House to hide information regarding the Biden family’s ‘business’ dealings.’

She first worked for Biden as a press secretary when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as a U.S. senator from Delaware.

Ron Klain

Ron Klain served as Biden’s chief of staff for the first two years of his White House term and played a key role in preparing him for his disastrous 2024 presidential debate against former President Donald Trump.

Klain told investigators that he believed Biden’s memory got worse over time, but he still had the ability to govern, a source familiar with his interview told Fox News Digital.

The source said Klain also claimed to have heard concerns about Biden’s political viability from both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Biden’s own national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, by 2024, though it’s not clear if those concerns are tied to his mental acuity nor that they spoke to Klain together.

A spokesperson for Sullivan vehemently denied the account.

Klain also told investigators that Biden appeared tired and ill before the 2024 debate, the source said.

In a letter requesting his appearance, Comer quoted Klain as cutting Biden’s debate prep short last year, ‘due to the president’s fatigue and lack of familiarity with the subject matter,’ adding that Biden ‘didn’t really understand what his argument was on inflation,’ citing a POLITICO report from earlier this year. 

Steve Ricchetti

Former counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti sat down with House investigators earlier this week on voluntary terms.

Unlike the vast majority of others before him, who did not acknowledge media gathered outside the committee room, Ricchetti told Fox News’ Chad Pergram that ‘of course’ Biden was up to the job of president.

Ricchetti’s interview was also the longest by far – running roughly eight hours on Wednesday.

A source familiar with Ricchetti’s sitdown described him as ‘combative and defensive’ during exchanges with House Oversight staff.

Ricchetti asserted he had personal relationships with Jill Biden and Hunter Biden in addition to the former president, the source said.

His own family had relationships with the Biden administration as well – three of his four children worked in the Treasury, State Department and in the White House.

The longtime Democratic operative and lobbyist was one of two longtime trusted aides reportedly with Biden in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, when he drafted his bombshell letter announcing he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

Mike Donilon

Former senior advisor to the president Mike Donilon is the latest member of Biden’s inner circle to appear before House investigators, sitting down with them voluntarily on Thursday for roughly five hours.

Donilon first began working for Biden in 1981 as a pollster when Biden was the junior U.S. senator from Delaware.

Alongside Ricchetti, he was one of two Biden aides who were present when he drafted his announcement dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

Donilon told investigators he received $4 million to work for Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign and would have gotten $4 million more if Biden had won, a source told Fox News Digital.

He staunchly defended Biden during his interview, the source said, accusing Democrats of overreacting in the wake of Biden’s debate.

Donilon told investigators Biden is ‘a leader who was deeply engaged and in command on critical issues,’ according to his opening statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

‘Every president ages over the four years of a presidency and President Biden did as well, but he also continued to grow stronger and wiser as a leader as a result of being tested by some of the most difficult challenges any president has ever faced,’ Donilon said.

Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

The typical time that broadcast networks report on the advertising world is just before Super Bowl Sunday, to give viewers an advance peek at what companies will be shelling out millions to display. The clothing company American Eagle just scored a marketing coup with ad with White actress Sydney Sweeney making a sly joke about her ‘genes’ and her jeans. 

‘Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,’ cooed the actress. ‘My jeans are blue.’ This quickly spurred outrage from purple-haired TikTokers and leftist websites complaining about ‘centering Whiteness’ and ‘fascist propaganda.’ 

On Tuesday, July 29, ABC’s ‘Good Morning America First Look’ was already employing the word ‘backlash.’ Anchor Rhiannon Ally began: ‘Time to check the pulse, we begin with the backlash over a new ad campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney.’ Co-anchor Andrew Dymburt added ‘in one ad, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress talks about genes as in DNA being passed down from her parents.’ 

Then Ally lowered the boom: ‘The play on words is being compared to Nazi propaganda with racial undertones.’ Robin Landa, a professor of advertising at Kean University in New Jersey, brought the leftist theme: ‘The pun ‘good genes’ activates a troubling historical association for this country. The American Eugenics Movement and its prime between 1900 and 1940 weaponized the idea of good genes just to justify White supremacism.’ 

In other interviews, Landa took the eugenics thing to its illogical conclusion, that one could suspect the American Eagle company was not just promoting ‘White genetic superiority,’ but a movement that ‘enabled the forced sterilization of marginalized groups.’ Most people just saw them selling their jeans as sexy. 

At least Dymburt suggested the backlash wasn’t economic: ‘Despite that backlash, American Eagle stock has been soaring.’ 

But was there any serious ‘backlash’ beyond the Left? TMZ.com cited anonymous sources inside American Eagle claiming ‘the ad campaign is creating tremendous buzz and their independent polling shows the vast majority of folks — around 70% — find the commercial appealing.’ 

On the CBS News streaming channel, business reporter Jo Ling Kent relayed ‘American Eagle’s new ad campaign, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, is coming under fire for what was supposed to be a clever play on words.’ It couldn’t be ‘clever’? 

Did this company know and expect that purple-haired leftists would cry Nazi and that would lead to an avalanche of social-media impressions and debates? It’s hard to argue they stumbled into this, not knowing what a blonde, White actress using wordplay about ‘genes’ could cause. 

On NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ on Wednesday, co-host Steve Inskeep discussed the Sweeney ads with Metaforce marketing guru Allen Adamson. Inskeep explained ‘There was some social media commentary. ‘Oh, there’s something racist about this.’ And I get that, I understand people raising that. But I think there’s also something real here — isn’t it? — in that advertisers do think about the race and ethnicity, the look of the people they choose to pitch their products to us.’ 

Adamson claimed: ‘For years, the tide was flowing in a different direction. There was a pressure on advertisers to diversify, to show people in ads that usually were not shown in ads because that was unusual. All the ads had a sort of ‘Leave It to Beaver’ old-fashioned look.’ 

The ‘Beaver’ line is overdoing it, but advertisers after the George Floyd riots absolutely worked hard to diversify the actors in their ads. It’s not offensively ‘woke’ to have minorities of all kinds selling you Eggo waffles or McDonald’s burgers. That’s all still too capitalist for the left-wingers. But having a White actress joke about race clearly grabbed attention. 

On the CBS News streaming channel, business reporter Jo Ling Kent relayed ‘American Eagle’s new ad campaign, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, is coming under fire for what was supposed to be a clever play on words.’ It couldn’t be ‘clever’? 

The NPR anchor suggested Trump was part of the formula: ‘So if people were going for diversity in past years, are advertisers going for some other look now that the politics of the country are a little different?’ Adamson said yes, because ‘advertising needs to disrupt the norm.’ 

On Wednesday night’s ‘Late Show’ on CBS, Stephen Colbert actually hinted that the leftist backlash was a little strident. ‘Some people look at this and they’re seeing something sinister, saying that the genes-jeans denim wordplay in an ad featuring a White blond woman means American Eagle could be promoting eugenics, White supremacy and Nazi propaganda. That might be a bit of an overreaction — although Hitler did briefly model for Mein Kampfort Fit Jeans.’ Colbert added: ‘How do you say ‘badonk’ in German?’ 

The broadcast networks didn’t launch too heavily into this ad campaign, perhaps suspicious of being part of a sneaky advertising plot, as Brian Stelter tried to call it a ‘nontroversy.’ Sometimes, an ad for jeans is all about selling jeans. 

A joint statement issued by the U.S., U.K. and a dozen other Western nations on Thursday called out Iran’s attempts to ‘kill, kidnap and harass’ foreign citizens by working with criminal networks abroad. 

The Western nations highlighted that dissidents, Jewish citizens and journalists, as well as current and former government officials, were being targeted by Iranian intelligence agents in countries across Europe and North America in a direct violation of national sovereignty.

‘We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty,’ the statement, also backed by Canada, Germany and France, said. 

‘We consider these types of attacks, regardless of the target, as violations of our sovereignty,’ the statement, posted by the U.S. Virtual Embassy of Iran, added. ‘We are committed to working together to prevent these actions from happening and we call on the Iranian authorities to immediately put an end to such illegal activities in our respective territories.’

More than a dozen nations condemned Iran’s actions as ‘unacceptable,’ including Albania, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

The statement, which served not only as an international rebuke, was also an alert to citizens across the European and North American continents of the hostile activities Tehran is pursuing. The warning comes as geopolitical tensions remain high following the Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran last month.

Reports have long suggested that Iran has increasingly engaged in covert malign behavior to target foreign citizens.

Not only was Iran found to be behind an attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election, but it was also found to be behind a slew of Europe and US-based attacks last fall, reported Reuters. 

The U.K. has also reported more than 20 incidents since 2022 of Iran-linked plots to kill or kidnap British nationals or individuals on British soil – the majority of whom were Iranian dissidents.

Journalists and activists have been targeted in the U.S. by Iranian murder-for-hire schemes and kidnapping plots for years, particularly in the wake of the 2022 mass protests that broke out following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was killed following her arrest in Iran for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab. 

Tehran has repeatedly denied its involvement in the murder-for-hire and abduction plots. 

From shampoo and sunscreen to tampons, many personal care products on American shelves contain chemicals linked to cancer, infertility, and hormone disruption—ingredients that are banned or restricted in the European Union and other countriesDespite these alarming associations, no federal law in the U.S. requires companies to disclose potentially harmful ingredients. Only California mandates limited transparency, leaving most Americans in the dark about what they’re putting on—and absorbing into—their bodies.

For Tiah Tomlin-Harris, a two-time survivor of triple-negative breast cancer, that lack of transparency was a wake-up call. Diagnosed before age 40 with no genetic predisposition, Tomlin-Harris began asking hard questions: Where is this coming from? Genetic testing came back negative, placing her among the 80–90% of breast cancer patients whose illness isn’t linked to family history. Her background as a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry gave her a unique perspective—and a critical eye for labels.

‘I started to dig into the causations,’ she told FOX. ‘The first thing I did was remove every single product in my house—from hair care to dish detergent. I went back to grandma’s remedies—baking soda, vinegar—because I didn’t know what was safe anymore.’ As she researched, she realized just how many widely used beauty and hygiene products are packed with potentially harmful chemicals.

While Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed for the removal of toxic additives in processed foods, he has yet to tackle the personal care industry. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary admits the agency is in a ‘deregulatory mindset,’ saying, ‘[We’ve] been regulating too much.’

That mindset has led to an explosion of consumer-driven tools like Yuka and Clearya, apps that scan barcodes and analyze ingredient safety using AI. ‘Most people are shocked,’ said Julie Chapon, Yuka’s co-founder. ‘They assume green packaging means safety.’

Tomlin-Harris emphasized the disproportionate impact on women of color, particularly Black women. ‘We spend nine times more on beauty products than any other demographic, yet these products often contain the most harmful ingredients—parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, benzene. These aren’t just linked to cancer. They’re weakening chemotherapy drugs. They’re disrupting hormones. They’re impacting fertility—for men and women.’

A found carcinogens in 10 of the top braiding hair brands, many of which are marketed to Black women and girls.

Janet Nudelman, Director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, agrees that consumers are often left choosing ‘between protecting against skin cancer versus increasing their risk of breast cancer’ because of harmful ingredientsDr. Leonardo Trasande, whose studies highlight the health hazards of common chemicals, called the current system ‘rigged to produce chemical exposures that are toxic to our hormones.’ The consequences, he warns, are societal: higher healthcare costs and lifelong reproductive and developmental health problems.

The federal government is slowly responding. The Safer Beauty Bill package, reintroduced in Congress, seeks to ban toxic ingredients, increase ingredient disclosure and protect vulnerable populations like hairstylists, nail technicians, and women of color. But for now, consumers are largely left to protect themselves.

FDA Commissioner Makary insists change is coming: ‘We’re doing an inventory of all chemicals in the food supply to see how we can make it safer.’ Still, advocacy groups say the U.S. is far behind the EU in regulating cosmetic safety.

Industry representatives push back. The Personal Care Products Council asserts: ‘PCPC and our member companies are fully committed to upholding the highest standards of safety, quality and transparency.’

But for advocates like Tomlin-Harris, promises aren’t enough. ‘This isn’t just a women’s issue,’ she said. ‘It’s a people’s issue. Men are affected. Children are affected. Our entire population is being exposed to chemicals we didn’t consent to, and we’re paying the price.’

Her message is clear: ‘We need transparency. We need regulation. And we need accountability from the companies creating these products. It’s time to detox our routines, demand safer alternatives and prioritize our health.’

Changes to the confirmation process are on the table as frustrations among Senate Republicans continue to fester while Senate Democrats continue their blockade of President Donald Trump’s nominees.

Republicans have spent much of the week working deep into the night to confirm nomination after nomination, but Democrats have yet to relent and allow for any speeding up of the process.

That reality, and a request from Trump to consider canceling the fast-approaching August recess to ram through more of his nominees, has the Senate GOP mulling changes to the rules, like shortening the debate time on nominees or bundling together some picks.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., charged that Democrats’ blockade of Trump’s nominations was ‘Trump derangement syndrome on steroids.’

‘If we’re going to do something, we’re going to look at how we would make a modification to our rules to ensure that we can’t have the kind of delay and obstruction and blocking that the Democrats are currently using,’ Thune said.

Changing the rules, however, could open the door for Democrats to take advantage of the modifications and set a new precedent for the confirmation process.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Fox News Digital that Senate Democrats were just playing by the same rules that Republicans operated under when they had the majority.

‘I think that’s the only way to — a do unto others situation,’ he said. ‘And I warn them: things that sound so appealing now to make a quick change in the rules, they may soon have to live with.’

However, Senate Republicans did play ball, for the most part, with their counterparts when former President Joe Biden was in the White House. This time four years ago, Biden had 49 civilian nominees confirmed by a voice vote, a much faster and simpler process that didn’t require a full vote on the Senate floor.

And during Trump’s first term, he had five civilian nominees confirmed by voice vote. While the Senate has now confirmed over 100 of the president’s nominees, more and more of his picks — over 160 and counting — are being added to the Senate’s calendar, and Republicans are hoping that Democrats agree to a deal to move a package of nominees through the Senate.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., believed his colleagues were inclined to make changes to the rules in the face of continued Democratic resistance.

‘I think it is a big mistake where we are now,’ he said. ‘Push is going to come to shove. If there is no negotiation and no settlement before that, I believe that the rules will change.’

Some Republicans, like Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., are not too concerned about changing the precedent in the Senate, given that over the last several years the nomination process has deteriorated into a partisan stand-off.

‘I’m happy to change the precedent to allow any president, Republican or Democrat, to be able to staff his administration,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital. ‘I think the confirmation system is completely out of control. I can’t imagine our Founding Fathers really thought the Senate ought to be able to advise consent on hundreds and hundreds of positions. It’s ridiculous.’

Meanwhile, Trump targeted Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, for not doing away with ‘blue slips,’ a longtime Senate practice that effectively gives senators the ability to veto district court and U.S. attorney nominees in their home states.

Grassley said that he was ‘offended’ by Trump’s attack, but didn’t appear to budge on the blue slip issue. However, Grassley did ignore blue slips in 2017 to hold hearings for a pair of the president’s judicial nominees during his first term.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital that he didn’t know why Republicans wouldn’t want to have normal scrutiny and debate over their nominees.

‘Trump says jump and Senate Republicans ask how high, which is really sad for an institution with such a great sense of tradition and self-respect,’ he said.

The White House made digs at former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a Thursday press briefing, saying she’s the reason Congress is eyeing a measure to ban all lawmakers from trading stocks. 

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump accused Pelosi of accruing her wealth ‘by having inside information’ in stock trading.

‘The reason that this idea to put a ban on stock trading for members of Congress is even a thing is because of Nancy Pelosi,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. ‘I mean, she is rightfully criticized because she makes $174,000 a year. Yet she has a net worth of approximately $413 million. In 2024, Nancy Pelosi’s stock portfolio — this was a fascinating statistic to me — grew 70% in one year in 2024.’ 

‘I think the president stands with the American people on this,’ Leavitt said. ‘He doesn’t want to see people like Nancy Pelosi enriching themselves off of public service and ripping off their constituents in the process.’ 

Pelosi addressed Trump’s comments during an interview Wednesday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, where she herself accused Trump of ‘projecting.’ 

‘That‘s ridiculous,’ Pelosi said Wednesday. ‘In fact, I very much support the stop the trading of members of Congress. Not that I think anybody is doing anything wrong. If they are, they are prosecuted, and they go to jail. But because of the confidence it instills in the American people, don‘t worry about this.’ 

‘But I have no concern about the obvious investments that have been made over time,’ Pelosi said. ‘I‘m not into it. My husband is, but it isn‘t anything to do with anything insider.’ 

Pelosi spokesman Ian Krager said in a statement to Fox News Digital: ‘Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks and has no knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.’ 

The lawmaker previously has come under scrutiny for insider trading, including in 2022 after Paul Pelosi purchased more than $1 million in shares of semiconductor company Nvidia prior to Congress voting on a subsidy to the industry. The purchase was revealed in a disclosure filing from Nancy Pelosi’s office. 

The issue has received renewed attention after the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Wednesday passed the Honest Act that Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has championed. 

The measure, which Hawley first introduced as the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act, or PELOSI Act, would bar all lawmakers and their spouses from trading stocks in office. 

Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. 

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff are slated to visit Gaza Friday, after both met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday in Israel to discuss ways to provide food and aid to Gaza. 

‘Special envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee will be traveling into Gaza to inspect the current distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground,’ Leavitt told reporters Thursday. ‘The special envoy and the ambassador will brief the president immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region.’ 

‘President Trump is a humanitarian with a big heart, and that’s why he sent special envoy Witkoff to the region in an effort to save lives and end this crisis,’ Leavitt said.  

Leavitt’s comments come as President Donald Trump has pushed back against Netanyahu’s repeated statements denying a starvation crisis in Gaza. 

For example, Netanyahu flat out rejected claims there is any starvation crisis in Gaza in a social media post Monday. 

‘There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza, and I assure you that we have a commitment to achieve our war goals,’ Netanyahu said in a Monday X post. ‘We will continue to fight till we achieve the release of our hostages and the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities. They shall be there no more.’

When asked if he agreed with the Israeli prime minister, Trump appeared to cast doubt on Netanyahu’s assessment of the situation. 

‘Based on television … those children look very hungry,’ Trump said Monday in Scotland. ‘But we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up. …Some of those kids are — that’s real starvation stuff.’ 

Trump also pledged to work with European allies and establish ‘food centers’ in Gaza to address the issue. 

Meanwhile, ceasefire talks in Qatar recently crumbled, and the U.S. and Israel claimed afterward that Hamas wasn’t interested in finding an agreement. 

Trump addressed the ongoing conflict Thursday, pushing for Hamas to surrender and release hostages immediately in order to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

‘The fastest way to end the humanitarian crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!’ the president said in a post on Truth Social Thursday.