Senate Democrats are accusing President Donald Trump of trying to meddle in the upcoming election cycle, and Senate Republicans are calling them out. 

The topic of election integrity was again thrust back into the forefront by House Republicans last week, who demanded that voter ID legislation be included in a deal struck by Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to fund the government. 

While that ultimately never came to fruition, the talking point and legislative push have remained. 

Trump has called on Republicans to nationalize elections throughout the week; the FBI conducted a raid on an election hub in Fulton County, Ga. and a cohort from the Senate GOP are pushing for the SAVE America Act to get a shot in the upper chamber. 

Senate Democrats see the moves as laying the groundwork for election interference during the 2026 midterm election cycle — a point that they railed against Trump and Republicans for years. 

‘I think as Trump gets more desperate, he’s looking at ways that he can rig the election anytime a Republican doesn’t win,’ Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. ‘He thinks it’s unfair, and so he wants to tilt the rules to make sure the Democrats don’t win.’ 

‘So yeah, I think we ultimately have to be really vigilant about this,’ he continued. ‘The Constitution is crystal clear, the federal government can’t run state elections, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try.’

The accusation has made Senate Republicans balk, particularly after congressional Democrats raged against the GOP for questions of election integrity following the 2020 election and after Democrats pushed for their own, sweeping election reform packages under former President Joe Biden. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital that Democrats’ charge was ‘ridiculous.’ 

‘Sounds like a conspiracy theory,’ Schmitt said. 

‘I think President Trump cares very deeply about the integrity of our elections,’ he continued. ‘If you ask the American people, they support voter ID by overwhelming numbers. So look, they’ve got some outrage of the week every week.’

Trump’s comments to nationalize elections came first during an interview with former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on his podcast, where the president said, ‘The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over, we should take over the voting in at least many — 15 places.’’ 

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., shot back that a Democratic politician didn’t need to weigh in on the issue because Trump ‘said it with his own mouth.’

‘You can take the president at his own words and believe what he says,’ Slotkin told Fox News Digital. ‘And he’s had an obsession with this issue, certainly an obsession with Fulton County, since he lost the 2020 election, and he’s now weaponizing the federal government because of his obsession.’

But some Senate Republicans have pushed back on Trump’s desire to implement more federal control over elections. 

They argue that it’s a request that runs headfirst into the Constitution, which dictates that elections are run at the state and local levels with little impact from the federal government. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has also thrown cold water on the notion. 

‘Distributed, decentralized elections held at state-level, in my view, are a protection against hacking and other things, so it’s a lot harder to hack 50 systems than it is one,’ Thune said. ‘So, if that’s the issue, I’m a believer in keeping most of those administered — most issues, at least administered by the state. The issue of citizenship, when it comes to voting, would be an exception to that.’

And while there is a push to pass the SAVE America Act, which would include voter ID, proof of citizenship to register to vote, and other reforms, it’s unlikely to survive in the Senate. 

That’s because of the 60-vote filibuster threshold and Senate Democrats’ near-unanimous disdain of the legislation, which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’

Still, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., the three most vocal supporters of the bill, met with Trump to discuss a path forward on Thursday. 

‘It is Democrats bending over backwards to prevent voter ID and proof of citizenship for American elections,’ Lee told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘It is Democrats demanding that nobody ask questions about election security and irregularities. The projection is jaw-dropping.’

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., called out President Donald Trump for a post on Truth Social on Friday, demanding that the president take it down.

The post in question, which Trump put on his Truth Social Thursday night, depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys or apes.

Scott, the only Black member of the Senate GOP, called on Trump to remove the post.

‘Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,’ Scott said. ‘The President should remove it.’

Scott found an unlikely ally in his request in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who similarly called on Trump to take the post down. 

‘Racist. Vile. Abhorrent. This is dangerous and degrades our country — where are Senate Republicans? The President must immediately delete the post and apologize to Barack and Michelle Obama, two great Americans who make Donald Trump look like a small, envious man,’ Schumer said on X. 

Scott and Trump have shared a warm relationship since he ran and ultimately dropped out of the Republican presidential race last year. 

He now chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm tasked with keeping Republicans’ thin majority in the upper chamber and expanding it during the 2026 midterm cycle. 

Scott has rarely bucked Trump, positioning himself as a top ally to the president — he was on the short list of possible vice presidential picks before Trump ultimately tapped then Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio. 

However, he has recently broken with the president on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Scott, who also chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said during an interview with Fox Business earlier this week that he didn’t believe Powell had committed a crime during his testimony to the committee last year.

‘I found him to be inept at doing his job, but ineptness or being incompetent is not a criminal act,’ Scott said.

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Senate Democrats are standing firm by their demands to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but Senate Republicans believe they have an ulterior motive: completely defund immigration operations across the country.

‘I’m really concerned that all the Democrats want to do is defund ICE,’ Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital, ‘They want open borders. They don’t want to get rid of criminals.’

Republicans argue the canary in the coal mine came last week when the Senate was advancing a Trump-backed funding deal.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., attempted to pass an amendment that would have stripped the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE of $75 billion, which was summarily defeated on the floor.

‘Every single Senate Democrat voted yes,’ Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said. ‘That’s how radical Democrats have become. The Senate rightly rejected this amendment. The Sanders Amendment exposes Democrats’ open borders goals.’

That money came from President Donald Trump’s marquee ‘big, beautiful bill,’ which shoveled billions to DHS for immigration operations, ensuring the agency is flush with cash for the next three to four fiscal years, regardless of congressional Democrats’ desires to defund it.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital that the money from the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ wasn’t going anywhere. Britt is leading talks for Senate Republicans over the issue.

‘That’s not up for negotiation,’ Britt said.

‘Once again, just like they did in the last shutdown, they would be putting the American people in jeopardy and at a worse place as a result of trying to win on a political posturing or political issue,’ she continued. ‘So look, I plan on going into this with good-faith intentions, and I certainly hope that they will as well.’

As the week has gone on, some Senate Republicans believed that all their counterparts wanted to do was gut ICE. 

When asked if he believed that Democrats’ end goal was to completely defund immigration enforcement operations, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital, ‘100%.’

‘There’s no way we’re going to put handcuffs on ICE to limit what they can do,’ Tuberville said.

Senate Democrats pushed back against the assertion that they wanted to gut the agency, arguing that because of the funding already established by the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ there was little they could actually do to defund immigration operations.

‘I want accountability,’ Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., told Fox News Digital. ‘I want to make sure that there’s oversight. But right now, what I’m seeing is lawlessness and some of the actions and behaviors that should be alarming to all of us, and you know, that’s the underlying factor that we want to address.’

‘It’s not about some game,’ he continued.

Congressional Democrats coalesced around a list of 10 demands, finally unveiling their proposal late Wednesday night. It included several policies Republicans have already spurned, like de-masking ICE agents and requiring judicial warrants.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., balked at the new proposal, and said that ‘there’s just a bunch of stuff in there that’s a nonstarter.’

‘They know that. Now maybe they had to put it in there to satisfy MoveOn.org, or some other special left-wing special interest groups,’ Thune said. ‘But there are a few things that actually there’s probably some room to move on there to negotiate on, but a lot of that stuff, obviously just wasn’t serious.’

Republicans are also mulling turning to another short-term funding patch, given that as of Thursday, their last day in session, they had just eight days left on the clock before the current continuing resolution (CR) for DHS ran out.

But Democrats aren’t keen on supporting another extension — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that Thune and Republicans ‘shouldn’t count on our votes.’

He also pushed back against grumbling Republicans, arguing that negotiations wouldn’t move along unless Republicans revealed what they wanted in return.

‘They have to get their act together,’ he said. ‘We spent three days diligently, seriously coming up with a comprehensive, commonsense plan that police departments throughout the country use. Where are they?’

The Republican National Committee is upping its social media presence and following President Donald Trump’s lead by officially launching a TikTok account, marking a strategic shift for the party as it continues to look to connect with younger voters.

The RNC’s plan to make an impact on the digital front lines involves the official launch of @Republicans on TikTok, which is designed to engage a critical demographic, voters under 30 who may not follow traditional political news but rely heavily on social media for information.

The move comes at the same time polling from Pew Research shows that 63% of Americans aged 18-29 use TikTok. The platform has become an essential battleground for reaching the next generation of voters.

Trump has credited TikTok with being a key part of his election victory in 2024.

‘I wasn’t a fan of TikTok, and then I got to use it,’ Trump said last fall. ‘And I became a fan, and it helped me win the election in a landslide.’

The data shows that TikTok was a valuable tool for Trump and his administration. Reuters reported he amassed roughly 3 million followers in just 24 hours after joining the platform and quickly began drawing tens of millions of views. 

In 2025, the White House joined TikTok and quickly gained traction, racking up 5 million followers and 80 million-plus likes as of early January. In addition to launching its own account, the RNC is encouraging Republican candidates across the country to follow its lead and join the platform to engage with voters and level the playing field in a space where Democrats have historically dominated. 

‘President Trump proved how powerful TikTok can be and took decisive action to secure this platform for American users,’ RNC Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital. 

‘Our new account will deliver America First content directly to younger voters who get their news online, and we’re encouraging Republican candidates nationwide to do the same now that the platform is safe.’

Earlier this year, TikTok announced it reached a historic deal to launch a majority American-owned joint venture, a move guided by Trump and aimed at averting a potential U.S. ban on the popular social media app and hoping to alleviate concerns about China’s ability to influence Americans on the app.

‘I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok! It will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World, and will be an important Voice,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Gains by Trump and Republicans in courting younger voters helped the GOP win back the White House and the Senate and hold their House majority in last year’s elections.

Republicans will be hoping to repeat that success in the upcoming midterms as they attempt to hold onto a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives and a three-seat majority in the Senate despite historical trends suggesting Democrats have the advantage.

‘I think the President of the United States is our secret weapon. … He’s laser focused,’ Gruters said in a national digital exclusive sit-down interview with Fox News last month.

Pointing to Trump’s unprecedented agenda during his first year back in the White House, Gruters argued, ‘I think it’s going to pay huge dividends across the board, whether you’re running for governor, Senate, House or whether you’re running for a local seat.’

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

As indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran started on Friday in Oman, remarks from Vice President JD Vance earlier in the week questioning the absence of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from talks have raised a core dilemma for Washington — the person with ultimate authority in Tehran is not sitting at the negotiating table.

In the interview, Vance said, ‘It’s a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with, when you can’t even talk to the person who’s in charge of the country. That makes all of this much more complicated… It is bizarre that we can’t just talk to the actual leadership of the country. It really makes diplomacy very, very difficult,’ he said on Megyn Kelly’s podcast.

The Supreme Leader has no equals

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, has served as Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and remains the country’s highest political and religious authority, with ultimate control over military, security and strategic decisions. That concentration of power means any diplomatic outcome must ultimately pass through him.

Sina Azodi, the director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital that Khamenei’s authority stems from direct control over Iran’s core power centers. ‘He is very powerful because he is the commander in chief of the armed forces and appoints the heads of the IRGC, the Artesh (conventional military), the judiciary and other important institutions.’

Azodi added that protocol and hierarchy also explain Khamenei’s absence from negotiations. ‘Iranians are very adamant about diplomatic protocols — that since other countries don’t have the equivalent rank, he does not participate in any negotiations because his ‘equal’ rank does not exist,’ Azodi said. ‘Even when foreign heads of state visit him, there is only the Iranian flag, and foreign flags are not allowed.’

Iranian sources familiar with internal discussions described Khamenei as operating from a legacy mindset at this stage of his life. ‘The supreme leader sees the confrontation with Washington as defining his historical role and believes Iran can retaliate against U.S. interests in the region. Khamenei is not focused on personal risk and views strategic confrontation as part of preserving his legacy,’ a Middle Eastern source speaking on the condition of anonymity told Fox News Digital.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that Khamenei remains the decisive figure in Iran’s system even as the regime faces pressure at home and abroad.

‘He wields great influence in Iran but also exercises the greatest veto in Iran’s political hierarchy’

‘He wields great influence in Iran but also exercises the greatest veto in Iran’s political hierarchy,’ Ben Taleblu said.

He added, ‘The Iranian strategy… is to raise the cost of war in the thinking of the adversary,’ he said, describing a system that signals willingness to talk while simultaneously preparing for confrontation.

He warned that ‘regimes that are afraid and lethal and weak can still be dangerous,’ and said Tehran may believe threatening U.S. assets could deter a broader war even if such escalation risks triggering a stronger American response.

‘Very difficult to say what Khamenei’s mindset is, but I think that he, along with other senior officials, think that the current conflict is not an isolated phenomenon but rather the continuation of the June 2025 conflict and the recent protests, which he called ‘an American coup,’’ Azodi told Fox News Digital.

‘I think that he thinks that the U.S. is definitely after a regime change and that needs to be resisted at all costs,’ he added.

Inside Iran, frustration with Khamenei has become increasingly visible, according to a journalist reporting from within the country.

‘What people want more than anything else is for Khamenei to die… I hear it every day, everywhere I go — why doesn’t he die?’ the journalist told Fox News Digital.

‘He is perceived as God’s representative, while leaders of enemy states are viewed as representatives of Satan, which is why he never meets with them.’

‘You just open the Twitter of Iranians… the tweet is, why don’t you die? And everybody knows who we are talking about. So a nation is waiting for him to die.’

The journalist said many Iranians no longer believe political reform is possible and instead see generational change as the only turning point.

Iranian journalist in exile, Mehdi Ghadimi, told Fox News Digital that, ‘The Islamic government considers itself obligated to enforce Islamic law across the entire world. They harbor hatred toward Iranians and Jews, whom they regard as enemies of Islam,’ he explained, ‘In such a structure, the leader is seen as more than a political ruler; he is perceived as God’s representative, while leaders of enemy states are viewed as representatives of Satan, which is why he never meets with them. If dialogue or compromise were to take place, his sacred image would collapse in the eyes of his supporters.’

He continued, ‘For this reason, groups labeled as ‘moderate,’ ‘reformist,’ or ‘pro-Western’ are created so that the West can negotiate with them,’ Ghadimi added. ‘No one within the structure of the Islamic Republic thinks about anything other than defeating the Western world and establishing Islamic dominance globally. The diplomats presented to Western politicians as moderates are tasked with using diplomacy to buy time for Khamenei.’

The negotiations come amid heightened regional tensions, U.S. military deployments and unresolved disputes over Iran’s nuclear program and missile capabilities.

Regional analysts say that for the U.S., the central challenge remains unchanged. Diplomats can negotiate, but the final decision rests with one man — a leader shaped by decades of confrontation with the United States, focused on regime survival and determined to preserve his legacy even as Iran enters a new round of talks.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that some cartel drug traffickers operating in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility have halted narcotics activity following recent U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean.

‘WINNING: Some top cartel drug-traffickers in the @SOUTHCOM AOR have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean,’ Hegsth wrote in a post on X.

Hegseth credited President Donald Trump with directing the military actions, calling the effort a lifesaving deterrent.

‘This is deterrence through strength. @POTUS is SAVING American lives,’ he wrote.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina praised the military action, writing on X, ‘Well done @SecWar and to all under your command. We must continue to verify and monitor. We can’t trust drug cartels.’

The Trump administration has been pursuing a policy of conducting deadly attacks against vessels of alleged ‘narco-terrorists.’

SOUTHCOM announced a strike that killed two on Thursday.

‘On Feb. 5, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Two narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,’ Southern Command noted in a post on X.

The film ‘Melania,’ a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, made nearly $8 million on its opening weekend, making it the highest-grossing documentary in a decade. It’s a huge win for the first lady and a crushing defeat for those rooting against her.

The director of ‘Melania,’ Brett Ratner, has previously helmed Hollywood blockbusters such as ‘Rush Hour’ and ‘X-Men: The Last Stand.’ The fact that Ratner is already an established brand in Hollywood is noteworthy. During the first Trump term, it would have been unlikely that a Hollywood director would take a chance on a documentary about Melania Trump. Ratner still took a risk making the film, because Hollywood is traditionally lockstep on politics and quick to cut off anyone who steps outside the line. It’s easier to make a film like this in 2026 than it was in 2017, but only marginally so.

The film is a soft-focus look at Melania Trump’s life as first lady, offering a glossy, feel-good glance into what people normally don’t get to see inside the private first lady’s life. Still, it wouldn’t have mattered what was in the film — the media would have hated it anyway.

The reviews in the mainstream press aren’t so much scathing as personal. Variety called the film a ‘cheeseball infomercial of staggering inertia,’ while The Guardian noted it was ‘dispiriting, deadly and unrevealing’ and ‘unredeemable.’

In the film, it’s true we see Melania in her beautiful outfits and flawless makeup, but we also see her as the woman behind the man.

In one scene in the film, Melania advises the president to include the word ‘unifier’ in his inaugural speech. On Jan. 20, as he said the words, ‘My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier,’ the president turned around to look at his wife. Of course, Melania wants her husband to be both a peacemaker and a unifier. She is rooting for him to succeed because it helps us all. A vicious media refuses to concede that she may want what is best for the country.

The film portrays a marriage where the first lady cares about her husband, worrying about his security on Inauguration Day and expressing relief when festivities are moved indoors. This portrayal flies in the face of the frequent commentary claiming the marriage is in name only. Why would the first lady care about her husband’s safety if she’s only in the union for glory or money? The New York Times counted how many days Melania has spent in the White House during this term, and Trump biographer Michael Wolff has claimed, without evidence, that they are separated. This film answers those accusations and rumors directly, in Melania’s own words.

In a 2018 interview with ABC, Melania was asked about her marriage and said, ‘I know people like to speculate and media like to speculate about our marriage. It’s not always pleasant, of course. But I know what is right and what is wrong and what is true or not true.’

She does, and she shows it in this film.

On the review site Rotten Tomatoes, the film ‘Melania’ is setting another kind of record: the largest discrepancy between the scores of film reviewers and filmgoers in the site’s history. It makes sense, since most of the reviewers went into the film with a rating in mind, whether or not they actually enjoyed the movie. The people who spent their money to go watch their first lady on the screen were going to be more honest, even if some were swayed by their enthusiasm for their president.

The media has three more years of the Trump administration and Melania Trump. They can stop having outbursts about the first lady and give her a fair hearing — something more than half the country would commend. Or they can continue to descend into irrelevance, as everyone knows even their panning of a film will be political. The choice is theirs.

Iran seized two foreign oil tankers in the Persian Gulf Thursday, accusing them of smuggling fuel and detaining 15 foreign crew members ahead of high-stakes U.S.–Iran talks Friday in Oman.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said it intercepted the two ships near Farsi Island, claiming they were carrying about 1 million liters of smuggled fuel, Reuters reported.

The crews, made up of 15 foreign nationals, were taken into custody and referred to Iran’s judicial authorities, according to Iranian state media.

The IRGC alleged the vessels were part of an organized fuel-smuggling network that had been operating in the region for several months.

Iranian officials said the ships were identified through intelligence monitoring and seized during coordinated naval operations in the Persian Gulf, a vital artery for global energy markets.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Iranian authorities framed the operation as a significant blow to illegal fuel trafficking, though they did not immediately disclose the vessels’ nationalities or destinations.

The seizures come as Iranian rhetoric toward the U.S. has grown hostile.

Ezzatollah Zarghami, a former Iranian minister and ex–state broadcaster chief, issued a warning, threatening violence in the Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil and petroleum product consumption passes.

‘I am sure that the Strait of Hormuz will be the place of massacre and hell for the U.S.,’ Zarghami said Thursday.

‘Iran will show that the Strait of Hormuz has historically belonged to Iran. The only thing the Americans can think of is playing with their vessels and moving them from one place to another.’

Zarghami later repeated the threat, calling the Strait a potential ‘killing field’ for American forces and signaling Iran’s willingness to escalate amid mounting regional pressure.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet Iranian officials in Oman Friday.

The pair are traveling from Abu Dhabi after two days of talks related to Russia and Ukraine.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday that Friday’s talks were still on, stating ‘diplomacy is always [Trump’s] first option.’

President Donald Trump has warned that the U.S. could use military force to secure the Diego Garcia air base in the Chagos Islands if any future deal threatens access to the joint U.S.-U.K. installation.

Trump made the comments Thursday in a Truth Social post while also signaling his willingness to move past tensions with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after what he described as ‘very productive discussions’ about the Indian Ocean base.

Emphasizing the base’s strategic importance, Trump said the role of Diego Garcia was essential to U.S. national security.

‘It is the site of a major U.S. military base, strategically situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean and, therefore, of great importance to the national security of the United States,’ Trump wrote.

Trump also acknowledged that the U.K. struck what he called ‘the best deal he could make’ under a controversial agreement to transfer sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius while leasing Diego Garcia back for at least 99 years.

‘However, if the lease deal, sometime in the future, ever falls apart, or anyone threatens or endangers U.S. operations and forces at our base, I retain the right to militarily secure and reinforce the American presence in Diego Garcia,’ Trump warned.

‘Let it be known that I will never allow our presence on a base as important as this to ever be undermined or threatened by fake claims or environmental nonsense.’

The comments marked a slight shift in tone from Trump, who in January criticized the U.K.-Mauritius deal as an ‘act of great stupidity’ and an ‘act of total weakness,’ accusing Britain of surrendering a critical military asset.

Diego Garcia serves as a hub for long-range bombers, logistics, intelligence collection and military communications across the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific and Africa, hosting around 2,500 U.S. and military and civilian personnel.

The island base has been used for long-range U.S. operations such as in Afghanistan and in Yemen.

According to Reuters, Downing Street had confirmed Trump and Starmer discussed Diego Garcia during a recent call and agreed to safeguard the base’s continued operation.

‘Turning to Diego Garcia, and the deal the U.K. has secured to maintain control of the U.S.-U.K. military base to protect national security, the leaders recognized its strategic importance,’ a No. 10 spokeswoman said.

‘The leaders agreed their governments would continue working closely to guarantee the future operation of the base and speak again soon.’

Under the agreement, British taxpayers are projected to pay roughly £35 billion [$47 billion] over the next century, including annual payments of about £160 million [$216 million] to Mauritius, according to public estimates.

Britain has also agreed to approximately £3 billion [$4 billion] in compensation over the life of the deal, with an option to extend the lease for an additional 50 years.

The agreement has also drawn criticism from Britain’s Conservative Party, which argues the deal weakens the U.K.’s strategic position and risks undermining long-standing security ties with the U.S.

Mauritius has said its sovereignty over the islands is ‘unequivocally recognized’ under international law and has called for swift implementation of the agreement.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, a Downing Street spokesperson also said in January the U.K. is continuing efforts to ‘allay any concerns’ in Washington.

‘We will continue to engage with the U.S. on this important matter and the importance of the deal to secure U.S. and U.K. interests,’ the spokesperson said. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and Downing Street for comment.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is urging U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to launch an investigation into Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson over her attendance at the Grammy Awards on Sunday amid anti-ICE rhetoric from celebrities and artists at the event. 

Jackson was in attendance at this year’s politically-charged event because of her nomination for narrating the audiobook version of her memoir, ‘Lovely One.’ 

However, critics said Jackson clapped as various speakers criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

‘While it is by no means unheard of or unusual for a Supreme Court justice to attend a public function, very rarely—if ever—have justices of our nation’s highest Court been present at an event at which attendees have amplified such far-left rhetoric,’ Blackburn wrote in a letter to Roberts. 

Blackburn, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for an investigation into whether Jackson’s actions violate the high court’s Code of Conduct and would require her to recuse herself from certain cases. 

‘To that end, in the interest of a fair-minded, impartial, and independent federal judiciary, I urge you to initiate an investigation into Justice Jackson’s attendance at this event and if her participation in any way would require recusal from matters that will come before the Court,’ her letter states. 

Attendees at the awards were seen wearing ‘ICE Out’ lapel pins, and some winners spewed anti-ICE rhetoric such as ‘No one is illegal on stolen land’ and ‘F— ICE.’

Jackson’s appearance at the event raises questions considering the court is slated to take on cases revolving around the Trump administration, including birthright citizenship and immigration. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Blackburn’s office and the Supreme Court. 

In her letter, Blackburn noted that Democrats and the news media have smeared Republican-appointed justices to the court as ‘corrupt’ and ‘partisan.’

She recalled how Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI., wrote a letter to Roberts urging him to ensure that conservative Justice Samuel Alito would recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot because his wife put up a Revolutionary War-era flag at their home.

‘Unlike these meritless claims against Justice Alito and Justice Thomas, there are serious questions regarding Justice Jackson’s participation in such a brazenly political, anti-law enforcement event and her ability to remain an impartial member of the Supreme Court,’ Blackburn wrote.