Republicans from the House Oversight Committee released a report outlining what they allege are conflicts of interest, financial mismanagement and oversight failures associated with a Biden-era green energy grant program that sent $20 billion to just 8 different nonprofits.

The money stems from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which budgeted roughly $27 billion to advance clean energy and ‘environmental justice’ under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). An undercover recording of a former Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) political appointee, who described disbursements made through GGRF as akin to tossing gold bars off the Titanic at the end of Biden’s term, was cited by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in February when he announced that the agency would be looking into the matter. Republicans are currently trying to claw back the funds, which they claim were rushed out the door at the end of the Biden administration with little oversight and steered toward Democratic allies. 

‘Today’s report from the House Oversight Committee exposes the Biden administration’s sweeping green energy scheme, designed to funnel tens of billions in taxpayer dollars to enrich Democratic allies and fund partisan, politically motivated projects,’ House Republican Oversight Chairman James Comer told Fox News Digital. ‘Americans deserve better than this green energy scam disguised as environmental justice, and Oversight Republicans will continue to hold the Biden administration accountable to ensure the EPA operates as intended and that taxpayer dollars are spent transparently, responsibly, and in the best interest of the American people.’

The EPA terminated most of these grants after the Trump administration took office, but the move was met with legal pushback from Democrats. However, last week, a federal appeals court judge struck down a lower court’s ruling that blocked the Trump administration’s move to freeze the funds, arguing the administration was acting in accordance with its role to provide ‘proper oversight’ of how funds are distributed.

The EPA has referred the matter to the agency’s inspector general. The Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation are also running concurrent investigations, the EPA has indicated. However, up to this point, no criminal wrongdoing has been uncovered.   

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., declined to comment on the matter. Additionally, several other top ranking Democrats, including the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., did not respond to requests for comment.

However, in an Aug. 11 letter to Zeldin signed by several ranking Democrats, including Clarke, they accused Zeldin of ‘lying’ about the Inflation Reduction Act funding. 

‘Time and again, you have boasted about the unlawful activities EPA is conducting under your leadership without any credible evidence to justify your actions,’ the letter stated.

While there may not be any criminal wrongdoing alleged thus far, the picture painted by the investigation by House Oversight Republicans shows the Biden administration ‘turned the Environmental Protection Agency into a vehicle for rewarding political allies, all while risking the stability of our energy infrastructure,’ according to Comer.

‘Today’s report from the House Oversight Committee exposes the Biden administration’s sweeping green energy scheme, designed to funnel tens of billions in taxpayer dollars to enrich Democratic allies and fund partisan, politically motivated projects,’ Comer added.

The report released by Oversight Republicans details how committee staff reviewed ‘tens of thousands’ of documents produced by the GGRF awardees in question. The documents also included EPA materials for reviewing and awarding the GGRF funds, among other records.

The report shows how the EPA judged the applicants using a scoring system that awarded points for different parts of the nonprofits’ proposals. For example, flawless ‘financial risk management’ awarded a total of 85 points, while flawless ‘legal and compliance risk management’ could provide an applicant up to 40 possible points. Meanwhile, the EPA weighted ‘equity and environmental justice’ the same way it did ‘financial statements’ and more than it weighted good ‘governance’ or ‘legal and compliance risk management,’ among other categories. 

‘By doing so, the EPA all but ensured that the grants would go to President Biden’s political allies. All awardees of the GGRF had ‘climate equity’ or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in place or committed to putting equivalent policies in place,’ the House Oversight report argues. ‘EPA criticized multiple applicants because their targeted reductions in emissions were too low. In other cases, the EPA staff complained that there was not enough ‘environmental justice’ expertise represented in leadership or on the boards of the nonprofits. The Biden EPA insisted on climate equity metrics over merit.’

After receiving their scores, the program provided a ‘reconciliation process’ for EPA staff to discuss their assessments and adjust their scores, according to the Oversight report. The ultimate decision was then passed to a single ‘selection official’ who made the final determination.

The report also claims that the disbursement review process was ‘full of contradictions.’ It says documents showed EPA officials had concerns about the groups receiving the funds related to overly optimistic projections for financial benefits or emissions reductions, lack of access to private capital, high uninsured cash balances, and lack of transparency. Simultaneously, in other documents, the EPA justified the GGRF recipients as entities ‘with track records, staff, risk management policies, and other programmatic capabilities,’ according to the House Oversight report.

One of the groups under scrutiny, Climate United Fund, was established for the purpose of utilizing the GGRF, according to the Oversight report. The report points to claims from EPA staff indicating the group is ‘a new-entity purpose built for the execution of our program plan and does not have a robust reporting history.’

Climate United, reported just $95,557 in assets for fiscal year 2023 but received $6.97 billion from the EPA, representing a 7,293,980% increase in reported assets since 2023, the Oversight report points out.

Other groups also saw similarly significant increases.

Power Forward Communities received $2 billion as part of the GGRF disbursements. The group, not established until after the Biden administration announced the GGRF application process, reported just $100 in assets in its first and only tax filing – meaning that following the $2 billion GGRF award, the entities’ assets increased 2,000,000,000%, according to the House Oversight report.

‘These tired allegations distract from the fact that EPA’s illegal funding freeze will drive up energy costs for hardworking Americans across the country. When household bills are skyrocketing, Congress should be focused on deploying cheap, clean energy technologies rather than resurfacing false claims,’ Brooke Durham, a spokesperson for Climate United told Fox News Digital when reached for comment. ‘Climate United welcomes the opportunity to explain our work and the benefits of the NCIF program to Congress, federal agencies, and to the public.’

The spokesperson also noted that while the Climate United coalition – which is made up of three separate organizations – is new, the organizations that make it up are not.

‘The organizations that make up Climate United have been investing in communities for over 30 years, and are experts in the capital markets who have collectively managed more than $30 billion in institutional and public funds,’ Durham said. She added that the group was proud to tout a 946.5 point evaluation score by the EPA out of a possible 1050 points, which Durham noted was among the highest of all the awardees.

Power Forward declined to comment. However, the group’s CEO, Tim Mayopolous told CBS News last month that the GGRF award process ‘was a highly structured, competitive process that the United States government went through.’

‘The organizations that are part of our coalition that actually do this work – they have been around collectively for nearly a century, and they have invested or disbursed over $100 billion of capital into communities all over America over those years,’ Mayopolous added. ‘We’re not inexperienced people.’    

Climate United, along with some of the other groups in question, are also under fire for allegedly inflating their executives’ salaries and travel benefits in proposed budgets. The CEO’s salary at Climate United was slated to be over $500,000, and at Power Forward $800,000, with an increase to over $900,00 in a year. One group produced a budget that paid its executive staff of seven employees a total of $24,862,419 over three years, according to the report.

Meanwhile, conflicts of interest, which Zeldin has described as ‘blatant,’ were also laid bare in the report. The director of the GGRF selected by the Biden White House was a former policy director at the group that wanted to pay their executive staffers close to a combined $25 million over three years, according to the report. The report says the director had to recuse himself from the award process because of the conflict.   

At Climate United, the group currently staffs a former Biden climate advisor who worked during the last two years of the former president’s term. Their board makeup while pursuing the GGRF award also had ties to the Obama administration. However, Durham contested the implication that there were conflicts of interest, telling Fox News Digital that no staff or board members at Climate United helped with the design of the program, or the selection of the award recipients.

Power Forward’s GGRF application process was also accused of being led by Democrat allies in the Republican Oversight report. Power Forward was founded by executives at nonprofit Rewiring America, co-founded by top Obama administration advisors, the report states. It also claims that Power Forward had planned on awarding Rewiring America with nearly $500,000,000.

‘The nonprofits receiving awards are littered with connections to Biden Administration staff and allies. The executives and board members at some of the GGRF’s awardees even helped write the policies that created the GGRF and are now benefitting from exorbitant salaries provided by taxpayers,’ the House Oversight report states. 

‘The GGRF was a huge step for the Left in realizing the Green New Deal. The program is a National Green Bank that will flood the economy with billions in taxpayer dollars to fund partisan projects regardless of whether they merit investment or not.’

The federal trial of Ryan Routh, the accused would-be assassin of President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club last year, is scheduled to begin Thursday. 

After several rounds of jury selection that began Monday, a panel of 12 jurors — along with four alternates — were seated Wednesday. The group includes six White women, four White men, one Black woman and one Black man. The alternates consist of two White women and two White men.

Opening arguments are scheduled for Thursday at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, where prosecutors are expected to move swiftly into presenting their case.

Roughly 180 people were summoned for jury duty in three waves of 60. Both prosecutors and Routh, who has declined public defense and has chosen to self-represent, questioned candidates to determine whether they could serve impartially.

Routh peppered prospective jurors with offbeat questions, asking about Ukraine, the war in Gaza and even what they would do if a turtle crossed the road while they were driving.

The most recent high-profile federal defendant to represent themselves was Dylann Storm Roof, the mass murderer responsible for the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting. Roof briefly represented himself in the federal death penalty phase of his trial in 2016. He requested to proceed pro se and was allowed to do so for part of the proceedings before ultimately reverting to court-appointed counsel.

By the end of Tuesday, the court had already dismissed more than 70 of the initial 180 prospective jurors, many citing strong opinions about Trump, connections to law enforcement or concerns about impartiality in a highly politicized case. 

Routh has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer. Prosecutors say he was armed with an AK-style rifle when Secret Service agents stopped him near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach in September 2024. The attempt came just months after Trump was shot and narrowly survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.

The trial is expected to last two to four weeks with Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon at the helm of the trial.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats have announced they are probing the FBI over whether Director Kash Patel is willfully refusing to disclose information related to Jeffrey Epstein.

‘Who exactly are you protecting by refusing to release the Epstein files? In 2023, on Benny Johnson’s podcast, you were asked why the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was ‘protecting the world’s foremost predator’ by refusing to release the Epstein client list. Your answer: ‘Simple. Because of who’s on that list,” Democratic lawmakers, led by ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., wrote.

‘Now that you are the Director of the FBI, you know precisely who is implicated in the Epstein files, yet you refuse to release them. Who are you protecting and why?’

The letter pointed to several occasions where Patel called for transparency in Epstein’s case, including his statement soon after taking the role, ‘There will be no cover-ups, no missing documents, and no stone left unturned — and anyone from the prior or current Bureau who undermines this will be swiftly pursued.’

‘Strangely, all these promises appear to have collapsed once you determined who was actually in the files,’ the Democrats wrote.

They also referenced a New York Times report that detailed hundreds of people pouring over thousands of documents related to Epstein.

‘This frantic review by nearly 1,000 agents of over 100,000 pages of investigative material apparently revealed no information worthy of disclosure to the American public— however, at least some information from the review was shared with President Trump. In May, Attorney General Bondi reportedly informed President Trump that his name indeed appeared repeatedly in the Epstein files,’ the letter said.

‘Obvious questions abound: why were so many agents tasked with reviewing documents that were never released? What specific instructions were they given during the review? What information did these agents uncover that led DOJ and FBI to reverse their promise to release the files, and how are these decisions related to the President?’

President Donald Trump himself denied being told that his name was in any files related to Epstein in late July.

‘No, I was never, never briefed. No,’ the president said at the time.

It was never reported in what context Trump’s name may have appeared, however. It’s known that the two were friendly before a falling out in the early 2000s, though Trump has never been implicated in any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes.

Trump himself directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, and Attorney General Pam Bondi subsequently had her deputy interview Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in a Florida prison.

Trump has also called the furor surrounding Epstein a ‘hoax’ on multiple occasions.

The DOJ has since turned over thousands of documents related to Epstein to the House Oversight Committee.

Convicted sex offender Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting prosecution on federal sex trafficking charges and the GOP base has fractured over the administration’s handling of the case.

The divisions stem from a DOJ memo released in July that said, ‘This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’ There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.’

Democrats have since seized on the discord with newfound calls for transparency in Epstein’s case, which Republicans have panned as hypocrisy.

An FBI public information officer declined to comment on the letter when the bureau was reached by Fox News Digital.

Vice President JD Vance shared a deeply personal remembrance of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University. In a lengthy post on X, Vance honored his late friend as a man of ‘courage,’ ‘faith’ and profound loyalty.

Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, was a close confidant of Vance’s both personally and politically. Their friendship stretched from early skepticism about Donald Trump in 2016 to the heights of the 2024 campaign trail.

Vance’s candid social media reflection gave a rare glimpse into Kirk’s influence not only on the conservative movement but also on the very formation of the Trump-Vance team.

‘Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind,’ wrote the Vice President. ‘Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives.’

‘Charlie was one of the first people I called when I thought about running for senate in early 2021. We talked through everything, from the strategy to the fundraising to the grassroots of the movement he knew so well. He introduced me to some of the people who would run my campaign and also to Donald Trump Jr.’

Kirk, a longtime advocate for young people in the conservative movement, was described by Vance as pivotal to President Trump’s decision-making process in his selection as running mate in 2024.

‘When I became the VP nominee—something Charlie advocated for both in public and private—Charlie was there for me… Charlie was constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers,’ Vance added.

He also highlighted the father-of-two’s strong faith in Christ, saying, ‘Charlie genuinely believed in and loved Jesus Christ. He had a profound faith. We used to argue about Catholicism and Protestantism and who was right about minor doctrinal questions. Because he loved God, he wanted to understand him.’

His ‘true,’ friendship and loyalty were valued by Vance, with the Vice President recalling Kirk as ‘a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him.’

Vance also credited Kirk with helping power the Trump movement in 2024, noting that ‘so much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene.’

After reports came out Wednesday afternoon, the Vice President said he spoke with President Trump about Kirk candidly.

‘I was talking to President Trump in the Oval Office today, and he said, ‘I know he was a very good friend of yours.’ I nodded silently, and President Trump observed that Charlie really loved his family,’ said Vance. ‘The president was right.’

‘I was in a meeting in the West Wing when those group chats started lighting up with people telling Charlie they were praying for him. And that’s how I learned the news that my friend had been shot,’ recalled Vance.

Vigils were held across the country following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an event in Utah on Wednesday.

Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition before he was later pronounced dead.

Politicians, faith leaders, fellow conservative activists and others mourned Kirk’s death, with some announcing vigils to stand against political violence in the wake of his murder.

Turning Point USA campus chapters at colleges across the country organized vigils on Wednesday night for the organization’s founder.

‘In response to the reprehensible and senseless murder of Charlie Kirk, we are gathering tonight at Westlake Park in Seattle at 7:30PM for a time of prayer, worship, and solitary as we take a stand against the senseless political and religious violence in America,’ Russell Johnson, lead pastor at The Pursuit in Washington state, wrote on X announcing his church’s vigil.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-MT, said there would be a prayer vigil at a church on Capitol Hill on Wednesday night.

‘I invite Montanans to join us in prayer and spirit praying for Charlie, his family and our divided nation. We must heal,’ he wrote on X.

In Arizona, the group Catholics for Catholics said a rosary vigil would be held Wednesday night.

‘Charlie Kirk’s local Catholic community gathers to pray the Rosary for the Eternal Rest of his soul,’ the group wrote on Instagram.

‘Charlie was our friend,’ the post added. ‘His family are our neighbors. He attended our Church. We loved him and America loves him too. It’s time now for us to pray and ask for Our Lady to usher his soul into heaven.’

The New York Yankees held a moment of silence ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers to honor Kirk.

‘Before tonight’s game we held a moment of silence in memoriam of Charlie Kirk. Kirk founded the youth activist group ‘Turning Point USA’ and had become a fixture on college campuses,’ the team said on X.

Kevin Smith, founder of the conservative media company The Loud Majority, also announced a vigil scheduled for Saturday in New York.

President Donald Trump, officials in his administration, other U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle, foreign leaders and sports figures were among those who came out in mourning Kirk and condemning acts of political violence.

‘The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said on X that the attack on Kirk was ‘disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,’ adding: ‘In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.’

‘Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X. ‘A lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization.’

‘Condolences to his family and the young people of this country,’ Bruce Pearl, Auburn University’s men’s basketball coach, said on X. ‘Many in our Auburn student body are horrified tonight, you young patriots who love our country like Charlie. For now let’s morn, keep the violent rhetoric down and then live our best lives, committed to making this country better.’

Kirk leaves behind his wife, Erika Lane Frantzve, and two children.

The jury has been seated for the high-profile federal trial of Ryan Routh, the North Carolina man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club last September, when Trump was a leading candidate in the 2024 election.

After three days of jury selection that began Monday, 12 jurors and four alternates were chosen. The panel includes six white women, four white men, one Black woman and one Black man. The alternates are two white women and two white men. Opening statements are set for Thursday morning in Fort Pierce, Florida, where prosecutors are expected to launch their case immediately.

Three groups of 60 potential jurors went through the selection process, where prosecutors and Routh — who is representing himself — asked potential jurors questions to assess if they could fairly participate in the trial. 

During Wednesday’s session, Routh said he wanted to raise an objection due to the prosecution eliminating two potential jurors who were Black.

‘I want to raise that we have a racist situation,’ Routh said. 

But the prosecution said that one of the potential jurors was Haitian and would face language barriers, and that they had no knowledge the other was Black. 

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon eliminated a potential juror for the trial because the woman asserted, ‘I am MAGA.’ According to Cannon, the statement showed ‘self-declared bias.’ 

Another woman was eliminated as a potential juror for saying she ‘only follows God’s law’ on a questionnaire. 

During Monday’s session, Routh’s questions for potential jurors included their views on the war in Gaza, their position on the U.S. potentially acquiring Greenland as the president has floated, and how they would act if they were driving and spotted a turtle in the middle of the road.

In response, Cannon labeled them ‘politically charged,’ and said that they were unnecessary for jury selection. 

Prosecutors claim that Routh sought to kill Trump for weeks, and staked out a spot in shrubbery on Sept. 15, 2024 when a Secret Service agent detected him pointing a rifle at Trump while the then-presidential candidate played golf at his West Palm Beach country club. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, but abandoned his weapon at the scene after the Secret Service agents opened fire. 

Routh was later apprehended by the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office on the I-95 interstate in a black Nissan Xterra. 

Routh faces federal charges including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, as well as assaulting a federal officer and various gun violations. The charges carry a potential life sentence if the jury finds him guilty. Meanwhile, Routh has maintained he’s innocent and pleaded not guilty to all federal charges, in addition to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder. 

Routh was previously convicted of felonies in North Carolina in 2002 and 2010. 

The court has allocated four weeks for Routh’s trial, although it is expected to wrap up sooner. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph, Olivianna Calmes, Jake Gibson, Heather Lacey and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The House of Representatives passed its version of Congress’ annual defense bill on Wednesday evening, albeit along stunningly partisan lines.

For decades, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has seen support from a majority of Democrats and Republicans. That’s changed in recent years, however, and the trend appears to have continued with the fiscal year (FY) 2026 bill.

The legislation passed 231-196 after a lengthy series of votes, with 17 Democrats voting in favor and 192 against. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other top Democrats opposed the bill.

Democratic lawmakers had spent hours beforehand railing against GOP-led amendments on mainly transgender issues, including several which were successfully voted into the bill.

Multiple amendments by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., for instance, placing limits on spaces that transgender service academy cadets can access, passed along mostly partisan lines.

Another amendment by Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., aimed at eliminating the preference for motor vehicles using electric or hybrid propulsion systems and related requirements of the Department of Defense, passed with mostly Republicans – although six Democrats joined in approving it as well.

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., introduced an amendment aimed at preventing pride flags or other ideological banners being displayed on military installations, which also passed along nearly partisan lines.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, announced on Tuesday that he would vote against final passage of the bill if certain GOP-led amendments made it into the final piece.

Smith also ripped Republicans for not allowing House-wide votes on solely Democrat-led amendments in the bill, all of which were filtered out when the House Rules Committee was considering the legislation earlier this week.

‘There are a number of problematic amendments included in the rule that focus on divisive topics rather than strengthening our national security. Should these amendments be adopted, I will vote against final passage of the bill,’ Smith said in a statement.
 
‘For 65 years, the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act has been a testament to shared respect for the duty of Congress to provide for the common defense and to place the needs of America’s national security and national defense above politics. The rule undermines this long-standing tradition by failing to include meaningful amendments offered by Democrats to address critical issues.’

Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., earlier spoke out against the amendments targeting transgender issues as well.

‘Many people in this body have received gender-affirming care. Filler is gender-affirming care. Boob jobs is gender-affirming care. Botox is gender-affirming care,’ Jacobs said.

It prompted an angry response from Mace, ‘That is ridiculous! You are absolutely ridiculous.’

Four Republicans voted against the bill in addition to the dozens of Democrats, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., longtime skeptics of foreign aid funding in the NDAA.

Democrats who voted in favor of the bill include Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., Don Davis, D-N.C., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas.

The NDAA is an annually passed bill that sets defense and national security policy goals for the U.S.

The Senate is expected to consider its own version of the bill as well, after which the two chambers must compromise and consider them again before they get to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.

Lawmakers bridged the partisan divide on Wednesday after news that conservative activist Charlie Kirk, 31, was killed from a gunshot wound. 

Prayers for Kirk’s recovery on social media swiftly turned into condolences to his family and a widespread condemnation of political violence from both Republicans and Democrats. 

‘It’s devastating news,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. ‘The idea that political violence has taken one of the strongest voices on the conservative side is a great heartbreak. Charlie was a close friend of mine and a confidant, and he will be sorely missed, and we need every political leader to decry the violence and to do it loudly. The problem is in the human heart, and it’s gotten out of hand.’

‘This is beyond terrible,’ Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said. ‘Charlie Kirk was a husband, father, and son. Violence is never the answer. Sydney and I are keeping the Kirk family in our prayers.’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., addressed Kirk’s death on the Senate floor and said that ‘political violence, which this attack seems to be, has no place in this country — none.’ 

‘I’m deeply disturbed about the threat of violence that has entered our political life, and I pray that we will remember that every person, no matter how vehement our disagreement with them, is a human being and a fellow American deserving of respect and protection,’ he said. 

President Donald Trump confirmed the news on Truth Social and said, ‘No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.’ 

Kirk was shot during an event on his ‘American Comeback Tour’ at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. The university initially said that a suspect was in custody but later announced that the person was released.

Campus police on Wednesday afternoon asked students to call a hotline and be escorted off.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called Kirk ‘an American patriot, an inspiration to countless young people to stand up and defend the timeless truths that make our country great.’ 

‘This murder was a cowardly act of violence, an attack on champions of freedom like Charlie, the students who gathered for civil debate, and all Americans who peacefully strive to save our nation,’ he said. 

‘The terrorists will not win,’ he continued. ‘Charlie will. Please join me in praying for his wife Erika and their children. May justice be swift.’

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., urged, ‘We must collectively find a way forward during these polarized times.’ 

His death follows a wave of high-profile political assassination attempts in an increasingly polarized political environment. 

Trump survived two separate assassination attempts within weeks of each other while running for re-election in 2024. Meanwhile, a gunman in Minnesota shot and killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, while critically injuring another state lawmaker, this past June.

Ryan Routh – accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump when he was a major candidate in the 2024 election at his Florida golf club last year – has chosen to represent himself in court, a decision one legal expert says could prove disastrous.

Cully Simson, a former prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, told Fox News Digital that while the Constitution guarantees the right to self-representation, it’s ‘almost always a mistake.’

‘It really makes no sense for somebody to defend themselves, especially in a serious case,’ he said. ‘They have the right to do it, but it’s not prudent.’ 

Self-representation creates risks and an unusual courtroom dynamic where the judge and prosecutor ‘have to pull their punches’ to protect the record, and essentially ‘protect the defendant from himself.’

A seasoned defense attorney knows how to put prosecutors to the test, forcing them to prove every element of the case and carefully laying the groundwork for potential appeals. When a defendant represents himself, Simson said, that kind of strategy is completely missing.

‘And so what ends up happening is the judge and the prosecutor has to play, in a weird way, a defensive role, in addition to the role of the judge being a neutral and impartial arbiter of the law, and the prosecutor just be the person who advocates on behalf of the government. You have to essentially protect the defendant from himself, and that is so much more difficult,’ he said.

Simson said defense attorneys typically ‘push the envelope’ and force the government to object, but when someone is representing themselves, lawyers hold back ‘because he’s not going to be smart enough or educated enough to object.’

This can sometimes create an atmosphere where a ‘right to a fair trial’ can become skewed – and it’s something law students study, too.

‘That’s that sophisticated point that law students talk about, and lawyers talk about. If you had a public defender or a private defense counsel who wasn’t very good and made a number of mistakes during the trial, if the guy’s convicted, one of the first things on appeal is you’ll claim ineffective assistance of counsel,’ Simson said.

‘You can’t claim ineffective assistance of counsel when you represent yourself.’

When asked if there were any pros to self-representation in a federal trial, Simson said, ‘I guess one pro would be to conduct his defense exactly how he wanted to.’

‘For example, in the Long Island shooter case, no criminal defense attorney was going to let that nut job act out in court and be the wacko he was,’ he said.

As in the notorious 1993 Long Island Rail Road case, convicted killer Colin Ferguson chose to represent himself and even took the witness stand to question his own victims. 

Routh has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer. Prosecutors say he was armed with an AK-style rifle when Secret Service agents stopped him near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach in September 2024.

The trial is expected to last several weeks, but Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon urged both sides to keep proceedings efficient.

Opening statements are tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 11, if the panel is seated on time.

All but two Senate Republicans banded together to kill a surprise push from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to force the release of the ‘Epstein files.’ 

Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined Senate Democrats in voting against the move from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to table Schumer’s amendment to Congress’ annual defense authorization bill. 

Schumer announced on the Senate floor on Wednesday that he planned to file an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all the files and documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

He later told reporters that his amendment was effectively the same as the discharge petition in the House being pushed by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

‘There’s been so much lying, obfuscation, cover-ups,’ Schumer said. ‘The American people need to see everything that’s in the Epstein files. And my amendment would make that happen.’

The Epstein drama that has gripped the House has so far been more muted in the Senate, with only a pair of dust-ups between Sens. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., in late July, plus a push from Senate Democrats to eat away floor time last month.

But Schumer’s surprise move to file an amendment and force a vote on it comes as Republicans and Democrats are negotiating the annual defense bill, and further, trying to find a middle ground on a government funding extension ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.

A Senate Republican source told Fox News Digital that Schumer’s move was ‘an extremely hostile act.’

‘We were actively involved in bipartisan negotiations and this could jeopardize that,’ the source said.

The Epstein fervor reignited, however, when a card from the late pedophile’s ‘birthday book’ was revealed earlier this week that was allegedly sent by President Donald Trump.

The card, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, featured a message and drawing and has what appears to be Trump’s signature at the bottom, and it was sent to the House Oversight Committee by the Epstein estate.

The White House has vehemently denied the veracity of the card and also disputed that it was Trump’s signature.

When asked why Democrats never released the files when former President Joe Biden was in power, Schumer pivoted back to Trump.

‘Look, the bottom line is the American people need to see this,’ Schumer said. ‘Donald Trump has lied about this. There was no picture. There was no drawing. There have been so many lies, so much prevarication, so much cover-up.’

‘The American people, Democrats, Independents, Republicans are demanding it be made public,’ he continued. ‘And it should be. We hope Republicans will vote for it. They should.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back.