The Department of Justice on Tuesday released nearly 30,000 pages of documents related to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein. This is the latest batch of documents to be released since the DOJ began publishing files on Dec. 19.

The files include a number of revelations, including a psychological assessments from Epstein’s time in prison, a fake passport and his cellmate’s testimony about witnessing the financier’s first apparent suicide attempt. The newly released pages also include a claim made by an unidentified Epstein accuser who said that former President Bill Clinton’s name was used as a way to deter her from coming forward.

Here are some of the top takeaways.

Prison psychology report shows Epstein was deemed ‘low risk’ for suicide days before his death

A Bureau of Prisons psychological assessment released Tuesday by the DOJ showed Epstein was considered to be at ‘low’ acute suicide risk and showed no signs of suicidal ideation just days before his death, according to internal prison records.

The suicide risk assessment, conducted on July 9, 2019, states Epstein was placed on precautionary psychological observation due to the high-profile nature of his case and not because he expressed intent to self-harm.

‘Inmate Epstein adamantly denied any suicidal ideation, intention or plan,’ the chief psychologist wrote in the assessment.

The psychologist noted Epstein appeared ‘polite, calm, and cooperative’ during the evaluation, with ‘organized and coherent’ thoughts and no signs of acute psychological distress. Additionally, the psychologist documented Epstein saying that ‘being alive is fun,’ describing himself as a banker with a ‘big business,’ and expressing confidence in his legal defense.

The report concluded that ‘the Overall Acute Suicide Risk for this Inmate is: Low,’ and, ‘A suicide watch is not warranted at this time.’

Newly shared Bureau of Prisons records shed fresh light on what Epstein’s cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, says he witnessed during the disgraced financier’s first apparent suicide attempt while in federal custody.

‘I was asleep with headphones on when I felt something hit my legs,’ Tartaglione said, according to the memo.

‘I turned on the light and saw Epstein on the floor with something around his neck,’ he told investigators, adding that Epstein appeared unresponsive.

The records state Tartaglione immediately called for help after discovering Epstein on the ground. Correctional officers responded, and Epstein was taken for medical evaluation. Officials later described the incident as an apparent suicide attempt.

The documents also note that Epstein later accused Tartaglione of trying to kill him, a claim Tartaglione flatly denied.

‘That allegation is completely false,’ Tartaglione told investigators. Additionally, Bureau of Prisons officials said there was no evidence to support Epstein’s claim.

Epstein was later removed from the cell and placed under closer observation before his death weeks later in what was ruled a suicide.

Tartaglione was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in 2024 for killing four people, according to prior reporting from Fox News Digital.

Epstein accuser said Clinton’s name was used to deter her from coming forward

A woman who accused Epstein of sexual misconduct said she was warned that his ties to former President Bill Clinton could prevent her from working if she spoke out, according to a sworn attorney-released statement in Tuesday’s DOJ document dump.

In the statement, dated August 27, 2019, the woman identified as Jane Doe alleged that after fleeing an encounter with Epstein at his Manhattan mansion, another woman cautioned her that Epstein ‘knew a lot of powerful people, including Bill Clinton,’ and that refusing him could end her career in the modeling industry.

The accuser said she believed the reference to influential figures was meant to intimidate her and discourage her from coming forward.

The statement does not allege that Clinton participated in or had knowledge of the alleged encounter. Clinton has previously denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein’s fake passport revealed

The latest documents also include a fake passport that Epstein apparently used in the 1980s. The passport appeared to be issued from Austria, with Epstein going by the name ‘Marius Robert Fortelni.’ It listed Saudi Arabia as his place of residence. 

In a 2019 letter to a federal judge over his detention on sex trafficking charges, Epstein’s lawyers justified his use of a false identity. 

‘Eighth, as for the Austrian passport the government trumpets, it expired 32 years ago,’ his attorneys said in the letter. ‘And the government offers nothing to suggest — and certainly no evidence — that Epstein ever used it.’ 

‘In any case, Epstein – an affluent member of the Jewish faith – acquired the passport in the 1980s, when hijackings were prevalent, in connection to Middle East travel,’ the letter continued. ‘The passport was for personal protection in the event of travel to dangerous areas, only to be presented to potential kidnappers, hijackers or terrorists should violent episodes occur.’

Epstein requested ‘razor to shave,’ complained of lack of water weeks before death, document shows

Documents indicate that Epstein requested a razor to shave while in federal custody just weeks before his death, while also raising a series of complaints about his detention conditions.

In a July 30, 2019 internal communication labeled ‘Inmate Epstein,’ Epstein asked for a razor and requested access to water during attorney conferences, saying the available machine ‘does not have water’ and that he was becoming dehydrated, according to the document.

The same email notes Epstein claimed he did not receive all of his prescribed medications after being placed on psychological observation, and said he had not slept well in 21 days due to the absence of his CPAP machine. Epstein also complained about noise in the Special Housing Unit, warning he could suffer ‘psychological trauma’ from the conditions.

Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this report.

President Trump has faced unprecedented lawfare, including four indictments, two impeachments and countless lawsuits aimed at keeping him from power, confiscating his wealth and even putting him in prison for life. The most stark example? The FBI’s August 2022 raid of his Mar-a-Lago property. This week, we learned that even FBI agents did not believe there was probable cause for the sham raid.

The Fourth Amendment is fundamental to our Republic. The government cannot search or seize one’s home, office, papers or person without probable cause. Usually, authorities must obtain a search warrant prior to searching or seizing.

When the raid on Mar-a-Lago became public, lawfare opponents were horrified, for we had crossed the Rubicon. FBI agents rummaged through Trump’s personal effects and took his passport. They staged photos of folders supposedly containing classified information haphazardly strewn about and the Justice Department under then-President Biden released them to the media to cast Trump in a negative light.

The material in question consisted of records that Trump was allowed to maintain under the Presidential Records Act. A battle started between Trump and the National Archives, which wanted some of the documents. Biden’s White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su waived executive privilege, allowing the Biden Justice Department to begin an investigation. The Justice Department obtained a warrant to search for and seize the records, and Trump was indicted for allegedly unlawful retention of classified materials the following year.

The entire process was corrupt. First, the records were under Secret Service protection. Former presidents receive federal funds for secure office space so that they can maintain classified records. Former presidents, prior to Biden’s disgraceful decision to lock out Trump, were entitled to receive classified intelligence briefings. Trump allowed government officials to come to Mar-a-Lago to view the records and was opposed only to turning them over.

Second, the motive for the return of the records had nothing to do with security concerns. Trump had many records concerning Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the official name for the Obama-Clinton Russian Collusion Hoax. The 2016 campaign of Hillary Clinton cooked up the claim that Trump colluded with Russia to hack Clinton’s emails. Trump sued Clinton and the Democratic National Committee based on the Russia investigation.

Third, the warrant was a sham because the magistrate was not neutral and detached. Magistrate Judge Bruce Rinehart of the Southern District of Florida signed the warrant. Just six weeks earlier, Rinehart had recused himself from the Trump/Clinton lawsuit. The reason was obvious: Rinehart, while a civilian in 2017, had written a Facebook post viciously bashing Trump. The Biden Justice Department ran to a blatantly biased judge in order to procure the warrant.

This week, through documents released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, we learned that even agents in the FBI’s Washington Field Office did not think that probable cause existed for the raid. The involvement of the Washington Field Office itself is scandalous. The alleged crime occurred in the Southern District of Florida. Yet, Biden special counsel Jack Smith used a D.C. grand jury to obtain subpoenas. D.C. voted for Trump’s opponents at a clip of 90% or more during the last three elections. Smith also went to shamelessly leftist D.C. Chief District Judges Beryl Howell and James Boasberg to obtain favorable rulings. Smith only indicted Trump in the Southern District of Florida because he feared that a D.C. conviction would get reversed over improper venue.

Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon invalidated Smith’s appointment on constitutional grounds. Then, Trump won a decisive electoral victory last November, and Smith ended his ignominious witch hunt, fleeing back to Europe.

The lawfare waged against Trump, his aides, his supporters, and even members of Congress, most blatant during Operation Arctic Frost, where nearly a dozen senators had their phone records seized, threatened to destroy the Republic. The lawfare perpetrators failed, however, and it is time for legal accountability in the form of an indictment for conspiracy against rights pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 241.

The government searched a former president’s home without probable cause to seize records in order to protect a corrupt former presidential candidate and to end the future political prospects of Trump. And the government procured the search warrant from a biased judicial disgrace who had no business anywhere near any case involving Trump. What occurred is a stain on the judiciary and the nation. Justice must, and will, come.

President Donald Trump’s newly appointed envoy to Greenland said Tuesday the administration wants to open a dialogue with residents of the territory, stressing the U.S. is not seeking to ‘conquer’ the island.

During an appearance on Fox News’ ‘The Will Cain Show,’ Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who was tapped as special envoy to Greenland by Trump on Sunday, said discussions must be had with Greenlanders to understand what they want moving forward.

‘What are they looking for? What opportunities have they not gotten? Why haven’t they gotten the protection that they actually deserve?’ Landry said.

Landry added that the U.S. ‘has always been a welcoming party,’ and that the Trump administration is not going to ‘go in there trying to conquer anybody’ or ‘take over anybody’s country.’

Landry’s comments came after Danish leaders sharply criticized Trump after he announced the appointment of the new special envoy to Greenland, a territory controlled by Denmark.

‘We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law,’ Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement Monday. ‘They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.’

Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday that Landry ‘understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.’

On Tuesday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called Trump’s comments ‘completely unacceptable,’ adding that he would summon the U.S. ambassador.

The Danish kingdom, he wrote on Facebook, is ‘sovereign and cannot accept that others question it.’

Trump has previously expressed ambitions for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, posting on Truth Social in December 2024 that ‘ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity’ for national security purposes.

In another post from January 2025, Trump said Greenland is an ‘incredible place,’ and its people will ‘benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation,’ before declaring, ‘MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!’

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

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

As the year closes, Republicans are looking to the past for another dance with a partisan exercise that tested the party’s unity and delivered President Donald Trump his crowning legislative achievement of the year.

Budget reconciliation is how congressional Republicans rammed through Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ earlier this year. But it’s a time-consuming, labor-intensive process that laid bare intra-party divisions and nearly exploded before liftoff.

Still, some Republicans want to take another stab at reconciliation, which allows a party in power to advance legislation with just a simple majority in the Senate as long as it adheres to strict, budgetary parameters.

‘We can do two more reconciliation bills without a single Democratic vote,’ Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. ‘Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t welcome Democratic votes, but we can do them without a single Democratic vote.’

Turning once again to reconciliation would help Senate Republicans, in particular, address one of Trump’s desires to kill the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the upper chamber without changing the precedent that Democrats, for years, have threatened to do.

But they need a plan, first.

That would come from Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the de facto maestro of the reconciliation process. His committee was responsible for drafting the budget resolution that unlocked the process in the upper chamber earlier this year, and he is reportedly eying drafting another resolution in the new year.

‘It would be political malpractice not to do another reconciliation,’ Graham told Semafor.

But many Republicans acknowledged just how difficult reconciliation is, especially after the latest exercise that dominated much of Congress’ attention for the first half of the year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that ‘it’s always hard, but it’s an option, and one that we’re not ruling in or ruling out.’

‘I would say you have to have a reason to do it, you know,’ Thune said. ‘I mean, you don’t just do reconciliation for the heck of it. You got to have a, you know, a specific purpose. And so we’ll see. I mean, that purpose may, you know, may start getting some traction.’

Kennedy floated using reconciliation to tackle affordability issues, but some see the painstaking process as an avenue to grapple with another issue that has dominated Congress for several months: healthcare.

Lawmakers left Washington, D.C., without a fix to expiring Obamacare subsidies, effectively setting up a drastic hike in out-of-pocket healthcare costs for millions of Americans. There are bipartisan negotiations in the works to deal with the issue when lawmakers return, but Republicans have a gnawing appetite to drastically change the program.

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital that Republicans ‘have to do something’ on healthcare.

‘Reconciliation is one pathway to do something, but it also limits what we can do,’ Banks said. ‘So we need bipartisan support to pass something that will help everybody.’

And Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., who has been critical of Republicans’ inability to get a healthcare solution across the line, told Fox News Digital that reconciliation ‘may be an answer.’

‘The healthcare situation is really, it’s a big deal,’ Justice said. ‘It’s more than difficult, you know? And so we need to, we need to try to fix it. That’s for sure.’

The recently launched ‘GenAI’ tool for U.S. service members and Department of War workers is a ‘critical first step’ in the future of warfare, according to a military expert.

This month, the Pentagon announced the launch of GenAI.mil, a military-focused AI platform powered by Google Gemini. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the platform is designed to give U.S. military personnel direct access to AI tools to help ‘revolutioniz[e] the way we win.’

On Monday, the Department of War also announced that the Pentagon is further integrating Elon Musk’s xAI Grok family of models into the GenAI platform, allowing employees to use xAI safely on secure government systems for routine work, including tasks involving sensitive but unclassified information.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Emelia Probasco, a Navy veteran, former Pentagon official and senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, explained that the tool will help train Department of War service members and civilians on the use of artificial intelligence in their everyday workflow, preparing them for further integration of AI in military matters.

Probasco said the tool will have a ‘big impact’ on the everyday functioning of the Department of War.

‘Prior to the rollout of this new website and having Gemini 3 available to the force, folks were either using sort of a tool that wasn’t as capable … or even worse, they were sort of going to their home computers and trying to do various things on their home computers, which they’re not supposed to do, but it was probably happening,’ Probasco explained. ‘Now they’ve got a more secure environment where they can experiment with these tools and really start to learn what they’re good for and what they’re not good for.’

While Probasco said she does not believe the tools, such as the GenAI platform, ‘fully changes war,’ she thinks ‘it’s the critical first step in training so that we know how to use it well.’

She said that the Department of War has ‘made it very clear in the past year that they want to forge ahead and be innovative and try new things and adopt AI.’

The GenAI tool, Probasco said, gives the department a type of sandbox to experiment with for still bigger innovations to come.

‘There are responsible people in the department who are trying to figure out what is the best use of this tool. Let’s try lots of experiments in sort of sandboxes or in safe places so that when a conflict comes, we are ready and ahead, frankly, of any adversary who has started to play with the tools,’ she explained.

Probasco said the Department of War understands that adversaries such as China are also developing and experimenting with artificial intelligence. Indeed, this month, President Donald Trump announced he would be partially reversing a Biden-era restriction on high-end chip exports, permitting Nvidia to export its artificial-intelligence chips to China and other countries.

The H200 chips are high-performance processors made by Nvidia that help run artificial intelligence programs, like chatbots, machine learning and data-center tasks. 

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill voiced that they are split over the decision, with some seeing the move as a dangerous concession and others as strategic.

Either way, Probasco said ‘we have lots of evidence’ that China ‘is doing rapid experimentation [with AI] across all domains of warfare.’

‘And it’s not, can I use a chatbot, but rather, ‘Can I gather up lots of information to start to target individuals for espionage?’ For example, [and], ‘Can I use data to create more sophisticated cyber-attacks?’’ she explained.

‘There is this sort of dynamic of a race between the two sides trying to figure out how to adopt it,’ she explained.

Though important, Probasco said the GenAI tool is ‘not going to necessarily be the weapon system that gains [the U.S.] an advantage.’

She assured the AI tool that will truly give the U.S. a military advantage ‘is underway,’ but said ‘that’s not the sort of thing you just roll out for every service member to use.’

‘It’s important to remember that using a chatbot to help you think through certain problems or do talking points is not what’s going to win the war. There are much more sophisticated military systems that use generative AI; they use other kinds of what’s called ‘good old-fashioned AI.’ There are lots of other techniques that militaries need to use,’ she said.

‘Those are already in the works, and they’ve been in the works for years,’ Probasco explained, adding, ‘That’s not going to be rolled out in a big public announcement where everybody can play with it.’

Obamacare subsidies that have dominated the conversation on Capitol Hill are set to expire after Congress failed to act, but a cohort of bipartisan senators are quietly working to find a solution for when lawmakers return next year.

It has engulfed Congress since September and played a starring role in the longest-ever government shutdown. And both Republicans and Democrats tried, and failed, to pass their partisan plans to either extend or replace the Biden-era enhanced tax credits.

They are guaranteed to expire, and millions of Americans who use the subsidies are set to experience hikes to their out-of-pocket costs for healthcare that can vary widely depending on the state.

Still, some in Congress haven’t given up on the issue.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, held bipartisan confabs last week as lawmakers readied to leave Washington, D.C., to hash out a framework for an Obamacare fix that could meet the desires of both sides of the aisle.

There are several political landmines that the group will have to overcome, like Democrats’ demands for a relatively clean, multiyear extension of the subsidies and Republicans’ desires to add income caps and anti-fraud measures.

‘We have some momentum to enact a bipartisan bill that includes reforms,’ Collins said. ‘As you know, Senator Moreno and I convened an ideologically diverse group of both Democratic and Republican senators who met for nearly two hours on Monday night, and we’re now working on drafting a specific bill to incorporate those conversations that will include reforms as well as the two-year extension.’

The plan has yet to see the light of day, but Collins and Moreno both already have a public proposal, as do several other lawmakers in the upper chamber.

Their original plan, released earlier this month, would extend the subsidies by two years, put an income cap onto the subsidies for households making up to $200,000 and eliminate zero-cost premiums as a fraud preventive measure by requiring a $25 minimum monthly payment.

That initial offering could give a glimpse into the final product, but there are still hurdles to getting a bill on the floor that could pass.

Namely, Senate Republicans are largely against any kind of extension to the subsidies without major reforms and a built-in off-ramp to wean off the credits, which they say are rife with fraud and funnel money directly to insurance companies rather than patients.

There’s also another wrinkle in the House, where Democrats and a handful of Republicans rebelled to force a vote on their own extension to the subsidies. That bill is expected to get a vote next month.

Lawmakers see it as changing the dynamic of negotiations in the Senate, but whether it ever makes it to a vote in the upper chamber is an open question.

‘Well, we’ll see,’ Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. ‘We’ll obviously cross that bridge when we come to it.’

Some Republicans in the upper chamber see the momentum building in the House as a pressure point on them that could further drive the conversation around the subsidies and, more broadly, healthcare.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said, ‘It will apply pressure on us, which isn’t a bad thing.’

‘I’m ready to start talking about healthcare at any time,’ Kennedy said. ‘I just don’t, I mean, I’m a pragmatist. I live in the real world, and I just don’t see a lot of appetite to make reforms. I just don’t — I see the vast majority of my Democratic colleagues just want an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies.’

And Senate Democrats welcome the development, given that the House’s plan mirrors their own, three-year extension of the subsidies, which already failed in the upper chamber earlier this month.

‘Well, it seems to me the basic proposition is, is it progress or not? And I think it is, because what we have felt all along is the only timely tool is the tax credits,’ Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said.

As President Donald Trump rolls out his TrumpRx proposal to cut prescription drug prices, economists are raising questions about what happens when prices are capped and whether short-term savings for consumers come at the expense of future medical breakthroughs.

On Friday, Trump announced deals with nine pharmaceutical companies to lower prices on certain medications for Americans, along with $150 billion in promised new investments in domestic manufacturing and pharmaceutical research.

The announcement builds on the administration’s Trump Rx initiative, a government-run portal designed to steer consumers toward lower-cost prescription drugs offered directly by manufacturers. The program is central to Trump’s effort to tie U.S. drug prices to those paid in other wealthy countries, a policy known as ‘most favored nation’ pricing.

But economists caution that price-lowering agreements don’t eliminate costs and often shift them elsewhere, particularly into reduced drug development, delayed innovation, or higher prices in other parts of the market.

Michael Baker, director of healthcare policy at the American Action Forum, said government price setting shifts costs rather than eliminating them.

‘At the most basic level, government price setting only limits what patients pay for a drug — usually reflected in an out-of-pocket or co-insurance payment,’ Baker said. ‘This does nothing to address the overall cost of the drug, which someone still has to pay, nor does it lower the cost associated with development.’

As a result, Baker said, patients ultimately bear those costs through tighter coverage rules, fewer treatment options or reduced future innovation.

‘Patients will experience far less of the crown jewel of the U.S. healthcare system that they are currently accustomed to receiving,’ he added.

Economists say the effects of permanent price caps would also be felt upstream, in research and development.

‘We know for sure that if drug prices are capped permanently below the levels the firm would have set, that will lead to lower incentives for R&D to discover new drugs and bring them to market,’ explained Mark V. Pauly, professor of healthcare management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pauly added that the impact is expected to be negative, but its scale — including how many drugs might never be developed and their potential value — remains highly uncertain.

‘I do not know the answer, but I know for sure no one else does either,’ he added.

Others argue the administration’s approach avoids the most damaging forms of price control.

Ed Haislmaier, an expert in healthcare policy and markets at The Heritage Foundation, said recent agreements appear to involve companies trading lower prices for benefits such as expanded market access or relief from other costs, including tariffs.

‘In such cases, companies are likely calculating that revenue losses from lower prices will be offset by revenue gains from more sales,’ Haislmaier told Fox News Digital.

‘The kind of government price controls that are most damaging to innovation are ones that limit the initial price a company can charge for a new product. That is the situation in some countries, but fortunately not yet the in the United States,’ he added.

Ryan Long, Paragon’s director of congressional relations and a senior research fellow, suggested that pricing pressure abroad could force foreign governments to shoulder a greater share of drug development costs.

Long said this strategy would lead ‘to lower prices for American consumers without sacrificing U.S. leadership in biopharmaceutical innovation that leads to new treatments and cures.’

Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest is very much like a circus, and I mean that in the best possible way. A circus can travel anywhere, put up its tents and put on a show.

The scale of last weekend’s event in Phoenix was nothing short of monumental, with 31,000 in attendance. That isn’t so far off of the estimated 50,000 souls who went to the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

To put it bluntly, TPUSA, along with other organizations, are capable of producing a much-needed midterm convention and a city like Phoenix, which hosted the conservative confab admirably, is exactly where it should be held.

As I’ve written in this column before, a midterm GOP conventionmidterm GOP convention, though a tad unconventional as a concept, is exactly what Republicans need to put Trump and his policy wins front and center before the electorate.

John and Lucy, a couple in their 40s who I met at the event, told me it was their first AmFest.

‘The energy is amazing,’ Lucy said. ‘I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t expect this.’

John concurred, saying, ‘This is like a rock concert, fireworks and loud music, I think it gets everyone pumped up.’

The atmosphere at AmFest was a whizzing and whirring technicolor explosion of light and sound, all resounding toward the goal of forwarding the conservative movement.

There is little doubt that 10 minutes at a pulsating and intense live event like Amfest – or a Trump rally – is worth 10 days of on-screen ads. It hits attendees in each of their five senses, and 50,000 may not sound like much, but that’s a veritable army to send back home in an off-year election.

One eager young conservative I met, Matt, who is studying finance in grad school and sports what might now be called the TPUSA mustache, told me, ‘I’d totally go to a midterm convention. Hell, I’d just go for the parties.’

That may sound a bit shallow to some, but it also sounds like exactly the kind of positive energy that a winning political movement needs.

When it comes to the question of where to hold a midterm convention, Phoenix can teach would-be convention planners a lot about the key question of location, location, location.

In places like New York City or Chicago, AmFest would have brought out hundreds of protesters, including many of the dangerous Antifa variety. Even vastly smaller events like a recent Mom’s For Liberty conference in Philadelphia attracted angry mobs.

In Phoenix, I never saw more than a dozen or so, and they were far more silly than menacing.

It’s worth noting that the local news channels did choose to focus almost as much attention on this bedraggled band of apparently unemployed naysayers as they did the tens of thousands inside the event.

Funny that.

But around the clean and very pretty downtown of soft light and perfect temperatures, one felt little to no resentment or pushback at the sudden flood of red MAGA hats and sparkly Trump outerwear. Everything was cool.

I asked one of my Uber drivers, a longtime Phoenix resident, why he thought the city was so welcoming in this way.

‘Nobody is uptight about politics. Everyone has weird ideas, we have weird politicians,’ he told me, laughing at his own joke for moment before adding, ‘It’s always been like this.’

Phoenix is not the only prime location for a midterm convention. Oklahoma City is another, as is Nashville. These are thriving places with better than average governance that truly do highlight the accomplishments of the Trump administration.

JD VanceJD Vance told the crowd at AmFest, ‘Why do we penalize corporations that ship American jobs overseas? Because we believe in the inherent dignity of human work and every person who works a good job in this country.’

The best place to sell that very popular message is in the smaller American cities where the jobs are being created, not one of the great metropolises still clinging to the dream that one day everyone can just work for the government.

As of now, the GOP has somewhere just north of seven months to put together a midterm convention, but the good news is that it is also flush with campaign cash. And the conservative movement has organizations like TPUSA that are capable of coming together to pull it off.

If Republicans want to hold onto Congress and give Trump a runway for his final two years, then their first priority for the coming fall should be to bring the circus back to town.

Former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska announced on Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with metastatic stage-four pancreatic cancer, candidly calling it ‘a death sentence.’

‘This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,’ Sasse wrote in a post on X.

‘Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do,’ he continued.

Sasse, who is just 53 years old, noted, ‘I’ve got less time than I’d prefer.’ 

But he also expressed his eternal hope, noting that he is a Christian.

‘As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come,’ he wrote. 

‘Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say ‘hope’ when what we mean is ‘optimism.’ To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son,’ he noted.

‘Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet,’ he wrote.

Sasse served in the Senate from early 2015 through early 2023, then went on to serve as president of the University of Florida.

Last year he stepped down from the helm of the university, pointing to his wife’s epilepsy diagnosis.

‘My wife Melissa’s recent epilepsy diagnosis and a new batch of memory issues have been hard, but we’re facing it together,’ he noted in explaining his move last year. ‘Our two wonderful daughters are in college, but our youngest is just turning 13. Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights. I need to step back and rebuild more stable household systems for a time.’

Vice President JD Vance was among those who responded to Sasse’s grim cancer announcement on Tuesday.

‘I’m very sorry to hear this Ben. May God bless you and your family,’ Vance wrote.

Sasse noted in his message, ‘I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.

‘But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given’ (Isaiah 9),’ he wrote.

For years, Washington has spoken about reducing its Middle East footprint, yet analysts told Fox News Digital that 2025 proved the opposite: American force — not retreat — reshaped the region.

Blaise Misztal, vice president for policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), said the past year confirmed a long-standing strategic lesson. ‘2025 underscored what Middle East watchers have long known, and U.S. policymakers never seemed to want to admit: that strength is the currency of the realm and there is no substitute for U.S. leadership,’ he said.

Israeli political analyst Nadav Eyal said the shift was unmistakable. ‘What we have seen in 2025 is an increased role of the United States, rather than a withdrawal,’ Eyal said. ‘It delivered a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza. It brought a certain level of stability in Syria. We see increased cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.’

‘The idea that the U.S. is out of the Middle East is just out the window,’ he added.

Gaza: The ceasefire and the hostages

During 2025, the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire that ended the two-year war in Gaza and returned all Israeli hostages except for the body of Ran Gvili, which still remains in Hamas’ hands. The deal was initially met with deep skepticism inside Israel. 

President Donald Trump traveled to both Israel, where he addressed the Knesset, and Cairo to finalize the agreement, coordinating with Arab leaders and mediators in a complex process that included an exchange of Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons for hostages.

‘There is absolutely no doubt that without President Trump’s intervention, this could have lasted much longer, or maybe not have ended at all, or ended in tragedy,’ Eyal said, adding that the administration fundamentally changed what had been considered possible.

‘He expanded the realm of possibilities,’ Eyal said. ‘If someone had told us six months earlier that this would be the framework of the deal, and that all the living hostages would be back home within 72 hours, we would have said it’s a great idea, but Hamas would never agree.’

According to Eyal, the breakthrough came from Israeli military pressure combined with U.S. insistence and regional coordination. ‘The military pressure put by Israel, enabled by the White House, together with the White House’s insistence and the enlistment of Qatar and Turkey, is what made the breakthrough,’ he said.

Misztal also argued that the outcome was not the result of diplomacy alone. ‘The relative calm that the region is now enjoying, after two years of war, is not the result of diplomacy, which failed on its own to stop Iran’s nuclear advance or convince Hamas to return Israeli hostages,’ Misztal said. ‘It is the result of Israeli and U.S. willingness to use force, and do so together in pursuit of common objectives.’

‘Operations Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer, coupled with the Israeli strike in Doha, unlocked the path to peace,’ he added.

The ceasefire remains fragile but intact, with the U.S. now deeply involved in shaping the postwar phase in Gaza.

Regional shockwaves

On Dec. 8 last year, after Israel defeated Hezbollah, the Assad regime in Syria collapsed, signaling a dramatic shift in the regional balance of power.

That momentum carried into 2025. Operation Rising Lion known as the 12-day war, underscored Israel’s air superiority, with Israeli aircraft striking Iranian military infrastructure and eliminating senior IRGC commanders.

The campaign also highlighted the depth of U.S.-Israel coordination, culminating in a U.S. strike that targeted Iran’s nuclear program and curtailed Tehran’s ability to support its proxies.

Eyal said Iran now faces a period of profound uncertainty. ‘Iran will, without doubt, try to rebuild its influence after its proxy system was shattered,’ he said. ‘It was defeated in war with Israel and lost most of its nuclear program.’

Two questions now dominate. ‘Can Iran rebuild its alliances, its prestige and its sources of power, like the nuclear program or air defenses, and stabilize itself again as a regional power?’ Eyal asked. ‘The deeper question,’ he added, ‘is what happens to the regime.’

He described Iran as increasingly unstable, with a devastated economy and growing public discontent. ‘It seems like almost everything is ripe for a substantial change in Iran,’ he said. ‘Whether the Islamic Republic can survive without significant reform, or whether there will be a coup or counterrevolution, will take us well into 2026.’

‘The sands of the Middle East are always shifting’: What to expect in 2026

Eyal said the past year forced a reckoning about Hamas’ future. ‘In 2025, Israelis, and to a certain extent countries in the Middle East, woke up from a fantasy that Hamas would cease to exist completely as a functioning body,’ he said.

‘Everybody understands there will be some sort of presence of Hamas, and unfortunately, they will hold some sort of armed power,’ Eyal added. ‘The question is, to what level can you reduce it?’

At the same time, he stressed the scale of Hamas’ losses. ‘In 2025 they suffered tremendous defeats and were wiped out as a functioning military body,’ Eyal said. ‘This is the year in which it happened.’

‘Even after losing half of Gaza, with Gaza devastated, and the hostages returned, they are still functioning as a military organization,’ he added. ‘That means they are incredibly resistant or flexible.’

Misztal warned that the calm will not hold without sustained U.S. engagement. ‘The sands of the Middle East are always shifting,’ he said. ‘Today’s calm will not last without consistent effort applied to uphold it.’

He warned that 2026 could see renewed pressure from multiple fronts. ‘Adversaries will seek to reassert themselves and find new advantages,’ Misztal said. ‘Iran will test the boundaries of U.S. and Israeli patience and ISIS or other Sunni extremists may seek a spectacular attack to mark their comeback.’

‘These will all be tests for the U.S. appetite to continue applying the ‘peace through strength’ approach,’ Misztal said. ‘If Washington takes its eyes off the region, the progress of the last year might quickly be lost.’