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RNC tells Supreme Court to strike down late-arriving ballot laws
Why resist verification?

The Republican National Committee urged the Supreme Court this week to strike down laws that allow states to count late-arriving mail-in ballots, ahead of the midterm election later this year.

The Supreme Court will hear the case Watson v. RNC on March 23, in which Mississippi’s law allowing mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be accepted up to five days later will be under the microscope. The RNC argued in its brief, submitted ahead of arguments, that federal law sets Election Day as the deadline for ballots to be submitted, and that states cannot extend that deadline by enacting late-arriving ballot laws.

“When Congress designated a single ‘day for the election,’ it set a deadline. If a state law extends the election after that deadline, ‘it conflicts with’ Congress’s timing decision ‘and to that extent is void,'” the RNC’s brief to the high court said.

“Since ‘the election concludes when all ballots are received,’ the Fifth Circuit held that Mississippi’s law allowing some late-arriving ballots to be counted is void,” the brief continued.

The RNC also pushed back on Mississippi’s claims that the Election Day set by Congress is the deadline for voters to cast their ballots, rather than a deadline for election officials to receive those ballots.

“Their theory suffers from another flaw too: it makes these preemptive statutes preempt nothing. The parties agree that in setting the uniform election day Congress directed when States could conduct federal elections,” the RNC said in its brief. “But under the Secretary’s and Intervenors’ theory, the ‘election’ is whatever each State says it is. Nothing prevents a State from allowing voters to deliver ballots after the election in whatever manner the States see fit, so long they ‘make their final “choice” on or before that day.'”

“If the election-day statutes say nothing about what must be done on election day, they say nothing at all,” the brief continued. “The Fifth Circuit rightly held that the ‘day for the election’ has a fixed meaning. It doesn’t mean whatever each State wants it to mean. It means the day by which ballots must be ‘received by state officials.'”

The case is expected to have sweeping ramifications for the roughly dozen states with similar late-arriving ballot laws. Opponents of late-arriving ballot laws point to the federal law setting Election Day on a specific date. They also stress how counting ballots that roll in after that deadline undermines public confidence in …

Shutdown clock ticks as Schumer, Democrats dig in on DHS funding demands
What's the endgame here?

Senate Democrats aren't ready to concede in their push for stringent reforms to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and are ready to buck Senate Republicans' plans to avert a partial shutdown. 
Their resistance comes as Senate Republicans and the White House have floated a counteroffer to Democrats’ proposed DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reforms. But the two sides remain far apart on a deal to fund the agency, and they are quickly running out of time.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the top-ranking Senate Democrat on the Homeland Security spending panel, said he would not support another short-term DHS funding extension unless Republicans made meaningful concessions on immigration enforcement.
SCHUMER, JEFFRIES TRASH TRUMP'S DHS PROPOSAL AS 'INCOMPLETE AND INSUFFICIENT'
Murphy also dismissed the White House’s proposal as a list of "sophomoric talking points."
"We had plenty of time, they wasted two weeks," Murphy said. "They still haven't given us any meaningful answer or response." 
His position is shared by several Senate Democrats who have unified around a push to codify a list of 10 DHS reforms. Those include requirements that ICE agents obtain judicial warrants, unmask and display identification, provisions Republicans have labeled red lines.
The standoff follows criticism late Monday from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who rejected President Donald Trump’s counteroffer.
In a joint statement, the leaders said the proposal "is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct." Jeffries added he would not support another short-term funding patch, known as a continuing resolution (CR), Tuesday morning. 
SENATE RACES TO AVERT THIRD SHUTDOWN AS DHS DEAL TAKES SHAPE
Schumer argued that there was plenty of time to hash out a deal. 
"There's no reason we can't get this done by Thursday," he said. 
With Friday's funding deadline approaching, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up a backup plan Tuesday night as the risk of a shutdown grew.
Thune and Senate Republicans have warned since Trump and Schumer finalized a broader funding agreement earlier this month that Congress did not have enough time to negotiate and pass a revised DHS funding bill in just two weeks.
"I understand that, on the other side of the Capitol, the Democrats are already objecting to that, which is no big surprise since they haven't voted for anything yet," Thune said.
"I think there are Democrats in both the House and the …

4 Takeaways From Senate Probe of ‘Arctic Frost’ Data Collection
This is performative politics again.

Telecom executives didn’t give satisfactory answers to senators when asked about assisting former special counsel Jack Smith’s team in scooping up phone data of members of Congress. 

Lawyers for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon testified on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law about why they willingly cooperated with investigators’ demands, without notifying the Republican senators targeted.

Smith’s team gathered the toll data as part of his investigation into Donald Trump’s challenge to the 2020 election outcome, an operation dubbed “Arctic Frost.”

The Justice Department gained a nondisclosure order for the subpoena, meaning the members of Congress did not have to be notified that their phone records were being collected for the investigation.

Late last year, Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released Smith’s subpoenas issued in 2023.

Smith’s subpoenas, directed at 34 individuals and 163 organizations, sought broad information, including the communications of several Republican senators, conservative organizations, and multiple individuals supporting Trump’s 2020 reelection. 

Here are four key takeaways from the hearing. 

1. ‘Worst Weaponization of Government in American History’

Subcommittee chairwoman Marsha Blackburn said Smith will have to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee for “the worst weaponization of government in American history.”

“I’m determined to ensure that Jack Smith is held accountable to prevent another Arctic Frost from happening again,” Blackburn said. 

“Jack Smith took a page out of the old Russian playbook by saying, Give me the man, and I will give you the case against him. In this case, the man was President Trump, and hundreds of conservative Americans who supported him,” Blackburn said.

2. ‘Didn’t Bother’

Several senators noted that AT&T did not provide the information to Smith’s investigators upon realizing the potential clash with separation of powers laws.

AT&T began asking questions upon realizing that data on Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had been subpoenaed.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., asked David McAtee, AT&T’s senior executive vice president and general counsel, how the company flagged this.

“It was fairly obvious the subscriber name was Ted Cruz for Senate, so we put it together,” McAtee replied. 

Hawley noted a nondisclosure order didn’t stop AT&T from asking questions of the investigators. He later turned to Chris Miller, senior vice president and general counsel for Verizon, to ask, “Why didn’t you do any of this?”

“At that time, we did not train our subpoena analysts to do a searching inquiry into the subscriber associated with a particular number,” Miller answered. 

“You just didn’t bother to try and associate the phone number with any name?” Hawley followed.

“Senator, we respect the privacy of our customers,” Miller said. 

“Apparently not, because you turned over every piece of information from every senator sitting on this dais who got any illegal subpoena,” Hawley said. 

3. ‘Double Standard’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said …

New Jersey Democratic primary runner-up vows to oppose any candidate endorsed by AIPAC
Confidence requires clarity.

Former Rep. Tom Malinowski vowed Tuesday to oppose any candidate backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee following his defeat in the Democratic primary in New Jersey‘s 11th Congressional District.

Malinowski conceded the congressional special election primary to progressive activist Analilia Mejia on Tuesday after Mejia notched 889 votes more than Malinowski in her comeback win. Malinowski, the former representative from New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, lost his bid after AIPAC spent over $2.3 million in attack ads against him. Malinowski praised Mejia’s “positive” and “inspiring” campaign but also railed against AIPAC in his concession post.

“The outcome of this race cannot be understood without also taking into account the massive flood of dark money that AIPAC spent on dishonest ads during the last three weeks,” Malinowski said. “I met several voters in the final days of the campaign who had seen the ads and asked me, sincerely: ‘Are you MAGA? Are you for ICE?'”

AIPAC spent about 58.6% of its funds in support of Democratic candidates in the 2024 election cycle compared to the 38.5% it spent on Republican candidates, according to Open Secrets.

When reached for comment on Malinowski’s statement by the Washington Examiner, AIPAC spokeswoman Deryn Sousa said, “AIPAC is a bipartisan grassroots organization.”

“Our six million members will be very active this election cycle supporting Democrats and Republicans who strengthen the U.S.-Israel partnership and opposing those—of either party—who may seek to undermine it,” Sousa said.

AIPAC aired the negative ads against Malinowski following his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s handling of the war in Gaza and Malinowski’s refusal to rule out conditioning aid to Israel. But Malinowski, whom AIPAC formerly endorsed in his prior congressional races, has maintained a pro-Israel stance and support for funding Israel’s defense, according to the New York Times.

“If AIPAC backs a candidate – openly or surreptitiously – in the June NJ-11 congressional primary, I will oppose that candidate and urge my supporters to do so as well,” Malinowski said. “The threat unlimited dark money poses to our democracy is far more significant than the views of a single member of Congress on Middle East policy.”

AIPAC had endorsed former New Jersey Lt. Gov. Taesha Way in the 11-person Democratic primary. But after Way only took 17.4% of the vote last week, while Malinowski received 27.7% …

Trump DOJ appointee Thomas Albus tapped to lead Fulton County search warrant fight
Law enforcement shouldn't be political.

The Justice Department has installed a Missouri-based U.S. prosecutor to head the Trump administration’s election probe in Fulton County, Georgia, according to recent court records, marking the latest instance in which an out-of-state prosecutor has been tasked with a leading role in a politically charged case.
The involvement of Thomas Albus, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, was revealed last month when he signed off on a Fulton County search warrant that authorized the FBI’s raid of a key Georgia election hub. The warrant authorized federal agents to seize a broad range of election records, voting rolls, and other data tied to the 2020 election, according to a copy reviewed by Fox News Digital.
The news, and the timing of Albus’ appointment, have sparked questions over the scope of the effort, including whether it is a one-off designed to shore up election-related vulnerabilities ahead of the midterms or part of a broader test case for expanded federal authority.
It also prompted Fulton County officials to sue the FBI earlier this month, demanding the return of the seized ballots.
COMEY SEEKS TO TOSS CRIMINAL CASE CALLING TRUMP PROSECUTOR 'UNLAWFUL' APPOINTEE
The FBI's decision to order the raid remains unclear, adding further uncertainty as to why Trump may have tapped Albus.
But the scope of the case is significant. Fulton County officials told reporters this month that FBI agents were seen carrying some 700 boxes of ballots from a warehouse near the election hub and loading them into a truck.
More answers could be revealed soon. The judge assigned to rule on Fulton County's motion ordered the Justice Department to file by 5 p.m. Tuesday the arguments it made in its effort to obtain the search warrant. 
But it's unclear how much information will be revealed as many of the documents are widely expected to remain under seal. 
Still, the installation comes as Fulton County emerged as "ground zero" for complaints about voter fraud in the wake of the 2020 presidential elections, including from Trump, who lost the state to former President Joe Biden by a razor-thin margin.
And while it's not the first time Trump's Justice Department has sought to assign prosecutors to issues outside their district lines, unlike other efforts, the legality of Albus's role in the district is likely to be upheld. 
Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly tapped Albus last month to oversee election integrity cases nationwide, according to multiple news outlets. 
The DOJ did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment on the nature of his role …

Schumer thumbs nose at short-term DHS deal: ‘No reason we can’t get this done’
Same show, different day.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) won’t commit to more short-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security as Republicans seek more time to strike a deal on immigration enforcement.

“There’s no reason we can’t get this done by Thursday,” Schumer said in a Tuesday afternoon press conference, giving Republicans two more legislative days to negotiate changes to federal officer conduct.

Democrats have submitted a set of proposals after the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, among them a ban on face masks and new use-of-force standards for agents. But they quickly rejected a White House counterproposal for reforms on Monday, calling it light on details and “insufficient” to moderate DHS’s enforcement tactics.

“We need legislative language that will rein in ICE and end the violence,” Schumer said. “Their proposal didn’t come close to doing that.”

Schumer declined to say outright whether he would oppose a DHS extension ahead of a Friday shutdown deadline, but his comments mark the closest he’s come to siding with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who is refusing to fund DHS for any period of time without “dramatic” guardrails.

“The Republicans are trying to stall for time,” Jeffries told reporters on Tuesday. “The time for dramatic change is upon us. No more delay.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has been making the case for a short-term extension to “keep people at the table,” pointing to the White House counterproposal as evidence that good-faith negotiations are underway.

He conceded that the White House would have “nonnegotiables” and that Democratic red lines were also complicating talks, but he insisted to reporters on Tuesday that there is still a “deal space” and that another funding patch would give negotiators the room to find it.

“I don’t know how much more time would be required, but I think it’s fair to say that it’s going to take some amount of time, and we should at least extend the continuing resolution to allow for that,” Thune said.

Congressional Republicans and the White House have been tight-lipped about the contents of the White House’s counterproposal, suggesting the back-and-forth is more than a partisan exercise. But Jeffries said on Tuesday that Trump wasn’t willing to go far enough to win Democratic votes in the House.

He claimed that the White House has rejected tighter warrant requirements, independent investigations of possible misconduct, and other demands in the Democrats’ …

House Democrat draws laughs by likening sharia to Project 2025 at judiciary hearing
Are they actually going to vote on something real?

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) likened Islamic religious practices to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.

The Republican-convened hearing, “Sharia-Free America,” was called to examine what GOP lawmakers described as efforts to impose sharia, the Islamic moral and legal code derived from the Quran, in U.S. communities. 

“That sounds like a Middle Eastern version of Project 2025,” Cohen said as he criticized the warning of sharia’s influence in the United States.

Cohen’s comments came after Robert Spencer, a fellow of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and witness at the hearing, explained the Muslim Brotherhood memorandum, which details the organization’s plan to eliminate and destroy Western civilization from within by their own hands and give it to Islamic believers. 

The remark prompted audible laughs from some lawmakers in the chamber. 

Cohen tried to land a laugh earlier in his allotted time during a back-and-forth exchange with Spencer.

“Sir, I’ve got the floor. You’re not [Attorney General] Pam Bondi,” Cohen said.

Cohen said he was “confused about this hearing,” arguing that Congress was devoting time to a perceived threat rather than what he described as more pressing constitutional issues. He cited concerns of presidential power, civil rights violations, and violence by law enforcement.

“We’ve got so much to deal with,” Cohen said. “And we’re talking about sharia law.”

Committee Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX) said the hearing was intended to highlight what he and his fellow Texans see as a growing problem that has not received sufficient attention. 

“Sharia encourages violence, silences dissent, rejects religious freedom, and subjugates women and children,” Roy said to begin the hearing. “Let’s be clear, this is not about having the freedom of worshiping a religion of one’s choosing, such as Islam, but forcing a foreign legal code that is incompatible with our laws and legal system that provides unwanted consequences to the American people, everything we’ve fought against for more than 250 years.”

For example, sharia permits polygamy and domestic violence, both of which are illegal in the U.S. 

ICE LEADER TODD LYONS DECLINES TO DEFEND KRISTI NOEM AMID CALLS FOR HER RESIGNATION

GOP members also pointed to proposed Muslim-led developments in Texas, including planned residential communities, as examples of what they described as efforts to create enclaves governed by religious norms.

Democrats, …

AI power players pour cash into competitive primaries as 2026 midterms heat up
Unelected doesn't mean harmless.

FIRST ON FOX — A political group backed by leading AI companies and innovators is starting to dip into its formidable war chest to back candidates in competitive primaries in this year's midterm elections.
Fox News Digital has learned that the group, called Leading the Future, is infusing half a million dollars to launch an ad blitz in support of former Defense Department official Laurie Buckhout, who is running in next month's GOP primary in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District in the race to challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Donald Davis.
The ad buy is the first major campaign spending by Leading the Future, which is backed financially in a personal capacity by OpenAI President and Co-founder Greg Brockman and his wife Anna, as well as Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that is a major investor in OpenAI.
Leading the Future announced recently that it and associated organizations had raised over $125 million in commitments and had over $70 million cash on hand at the start of this year.
THE AI WARS BEGIN WTIH NEW SUPER BOWL ADS
The groups say the infusion of money into the North Carolina primary, where early voting begins next week, is just an appetizer.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS ON OFFENSE: AIM TO EXPAND MAP WITH MORE GOP TARGETS 
"This is only the beginning of what we expect will be sustained engagement at both the state and federal levels throughout the 2026 cycle," Leading the Future co-strategists Zac Moffatt and Joe Vlasto said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
They emphasized, "It is critical that we identify and support lawmakers who recognize the urgency of this moment and the responsibility policymakers have to enact a national regulatory framework that ensures the United States remains the global leader in AI innovation, wins the race against China and protects the safety of kids, users and communities."
WAR DEPARTMENT TO PARTNER WITH OPENAI 
They pledged, "As more candidates emerge to champion policies that harness the economic benefits of AI and reject attempts to hinder American innovation, Leading the Future will stand alongside them as a committed supporter."
Two of those races where Leading the Future plans to play are in Illinois.
The group plans to spend seven figures in the open-seat Democratic primary in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District, in support of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and in the state's 8th Congressional District, where they're backing former Rep. Melissa Bean.
Among the other AI-world initial contributors to Leading the Future are Joe Lonsdale, an entrepreneur and venture …

Grassley says secret subpoenas for lawmakers’ call logs undercut congressional protections
Equal justice apparently isn't equal anymore.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) accused the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden of secretly subpoenaing phone records tied to sitting members of Congress during a politically sensitive Jan. 6, 2021, investigation, saying the effort bypassed constitutional safeguards and blocked lawmakers from asserting their rights.

Grassley made the remarks at a two-hour hearing on Tuesday of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, chaired by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), during which senior legal executives from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile testified about how they responded to subpoenas issued during the Biden-era Arctic Frost investigation. That inquiry served as the backbone for what ultimately became former special counsel Jack Smith‘s indictments against then-former President Donald Trump during the Biden era.

Sen. Judiciary Cmte. Chair @ChuckGrassley on the Arctic Frost probe: " [Jack] Smith's deceitful conduct was a substantial intrusion… If this happened to my Democratic colleagues, they'd be as rightly outraged as we Republicans are."
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 10, 2026

Arctic Frost was the internal name for the federal investigation into efforts surrounding Trump’s challenge to the 2020 election and the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The investigation began inside the FBI in April 2022, before the appointment of a special counsel, and was overseen by then-FBI Washington Field Office assistant special agent in charge Timothy Thibault, a senior counterintelligence official later removed from the bureau after internal findings of political bias.

The investigation, which gained written approval by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and then-FBI Director Chris Wray, was later taken over by Smith, whose team ultimately brought criminal charges against Trump. As part of that inquiry, prosecutors sought phone “toll records” — metadata showing which phone numbers contacted one another and when, but not the content of the calls.

Smith’s office and the Biden DOJ used court-authorized nondisclosure orders to secretly obtain phone records associated with sitting lawmakers, preventing Congress from intervening or invoking constitutional protections.

“They intentionally hid their activity from members of Congress,” Grassley said in opening remarks. “That deceitful conduct was a substantial intrusion into the core constitutional activity of constitutional officers.”

Republicans grill phone companies over …

Fulton County FBI raid prompted by Trump 2020 election lawyer’s criminal referral
Confidence requires clarity.

A referral by a lawyer who assisted President Donald Trump‘s efforts to challenge his 2020 election defeat, Kurt Olsen, led to a recent FBI raid that seized 2020 election ballots from Fulton County, Georgia.

A newly unsealed 22-page affidavit by FBI agent Hugh Raymond Evans shows the FBI, during the Jan. 28 raid, sought a search warrant as part of a criminal investigation into whether alleged irregularities in Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 presidential election were intentional and violated federal law.

The Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center is seen Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Georgia, near Atlanta, as FBI agents search at the main election facility. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

“The FBI criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity,” Evans wrote in the affidavit, which was filed in federal court in Atlanta and unsealed Tuesday. The affidavit also identifies Georgia State Election Board member Janice Johnston, a supporter of Trump who has questioned the county’s handling of the election, as a secondary source of information for the investigation.

Evans said investigators were examining whether election improprieties in Fulton County amounted to violations of federal statutes governing the preservation of election records and the knowing deprivation of a fair election. The affidavit does not accuse any specific individual of wrongdoing.

The filing was unsealed by U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee after the chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and the county Board of Registration and Elections sued last week seeking the return of the seized ballots.

Federal prosecutors submitted the affidavit in support of a search warrant authorizing agents to seize physical ballots from the 2020 general election in Fulton County, including absentee ballots, as well as tabulator tapes from every voting machine and voter rolls documenting absentee, early, and Election Day voting.

Evans wrote that following the Nov. 3, 2020, election, “there were many allegations of electoral impropriety relating to the voting process and ballot counting in Fulton County, Georgia,” noting that while some claims had been disproven, others had been substantiated through admissions by the county.

“The tabulator machines used by Fulton County are designed to create and save a scanned image of each ballot,” Evans wrote. “Fulton County has admitted that it …