A top Senate Democrat is accusing the Trump administration of diverting ‘critical resources’ away from fighting crimes such as organized retail theft so the president can carry out a ‘mass deportation agenda.’ 

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the remark during a hearing on Tuesday in which he warned lawmakers about the ‘large scale theft of retail products that are then sold to unsuspecting consumers, often on online marketplaces.’ 

‘Federal law enforcement also has an important role to play, but we must acknowledge this administration has announced different priorities. Instead of combating crimes like I described, the Trump administration has diverted critical resources toward the president’s mass deportation agenda,’ Durbin said. 

‘Homeland Security Investigations, better known as HSI, plays a leading role in combating criminal networks and organized crime, including organized retail theft. But under this administration, HSI has been diverted toward rounding up immigrants, many of whom pose no threat whatsoever to this country,’ Durbin added. 

Durbin cited a recent report saying ‘HSI supervisors have waived agents off new cases so they have more time to make immigration enforcement arrests.’ 

‘One veteran agent said ‘no drug cases, no human trafficking, no child exploitation.’ It’s infuriating. Instead, he said, HSI is ‘arresting gardeners.’ These are not the actions of an administration serious about combating crime,’ Durbin concluded. ‘Diverting federal resources endangers Americans and leaves us less equipped to target and disrupt criminals like those in organized retail theft.’ 

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

During the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, titled ‘Beyond the Smash and Grab: Criminal Networks and Organized Theft,’ chairman and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he has seen a ‘continued rise in organized retail and supply chain crime and the criminal networks that are involved in that criminal activity. 

‘We’ve all seen videos of mobs ransacking stores of thousands of dollars of goods and doing it in a very short period of time,’ Grassley said. 

‘The reality is, some of the worst criminal organizations —  including cartels, terrorists and human traffickers — use this type of crime, funding their misdeeds or launder[ing] ill-gotten proceeds,’ Grassley added, noting that ‘Homeland Security investigators estimate that the average American family will pay more than $500 annually in additional costs, due to the impact of organized retail crime.’ 

Donna Lemm, the chief strategy officer at IMC Logistics, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday that ‘Cargo theft is robbing our supply chain to the tune of $35 billion per year.’ 

‘A few years ago, cargo theft was barely on my company’s radar. In 2021, we had five cargo thefts reported. In 2024, we had 876 cargo thefts reported. That’s a 17,520% increase,’ Lemm said. 

‘Our partner railroads share with us drone footage of thieves cutting air brakes, containers strewn across the desert, and criminals emptying these containers in minutes,’ she added. 

Israel is calling out international organizations and the United Nations for allegedly leaving pallets of aid uncollected while decrying the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

‘Right now, there are thousands of pallets of humanitarian aid already inside Gaza, waiting to be picked up and distributed from the crossings by U.N. agencies and international organizations. Instead of publishing statements about ‘Gaza needing more aid’ or ‘trucks waiting to enter,’ aid can be collected and distributed to the civilian population,’ the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), an Israeli government agency, wrote on X.

In response to a Fox News Digital request for comment on COGAT’s statement, U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Spokesperson Eri Kaneko said the ‘restrictive operational environment’ in Gaza has been making it more difficult to deliver humanitarian services. 

‘Throughout this war, we have been clear that without meaningful safety, security or unimpeded access, large-scale humanitarian operations are impossible,’ Kaneko told Fox News Digital. ‘Planned UN missions to deliver aid and services continue to face significant access challenges, with many either denied outright or obstructed due to unpredictable and lengthy coordination procedures.’

Meanwhile, the GHF joined Israel in its criticisms of the U.N.’s handling of aid to Gaza.

‘No one is limiting the U.N.’s ability to deliver aid—certainly not GHF. In fact, GHF successfully pushed for the U.N.’s reauthorization to operate after Israel reopened access to Gaza,’ a GHF spokesperson told Fox News Digital. ‘The real problem is not access. It’s execution. The U.N. currently has thousands of pallets of aid inside Gaza awaiting distribution because their trucks are consistently looted, hijacked, or overrun by Hamas, armed gangs, or desperate civilians. This is why over 400 U.N. distribution sites sit empty.’

COGAT’s Tuesday statement comes shortly after U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher pushed a statement co-signed by his office declaring that ‘the fuel shortage in Gaza has reached critical levels.’

‘For the first time in 130 days, a small amount of fuel entered Gaza this week. This is a welcome development, but it is a small fraction of what is needed each day to keep daily life and critical aid operations running,’ the statement signed by several U.N. agencies read.

In response, COGAT slammed Fletcher, saying that he was either unaware of the work his staff has done on the ground or was ‘spreading lies.’

‘Fuel has been entering Gaza for over a week now for essential humanitarian needs, with your coordination. So, either get updated or stop spreading lies,’ COGAT wrote.

The U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has faced harsh criticism from the international community, even as the organization has surpassed 76 million meals distributed in the Strip. 

‘Each delivery reflects the bravery and dedication of our aid workers, who are operating in some of the world’s toughest humanitarian conditions,’ GHF Interim Executive Director John Acree said in a statement on X.

COGAT did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment in time for publication.

President Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Tuesday morning, amplifying 2024 claims that Schiff committed mortgage fraud by lying about his primary residence for over a decade, which the senator denies.

Trump, in a Truth Social post, labeled Schiff a ‘scam artist’ and claimed he obtained a mortgage for a residence in Maryland in 2009 but only designated it as a second home in 2020 as part of a ruse to snag better rates and terms from the company, which has been in federal conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis.

The president said Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes Division had uncovered the alleged fraud. Schiff obtained the Maryland property in 2009 while he was a congressman and became a senator in January. Schiff called the accusations ‘baseless.’

‘I have always suspected Shifty Adam Schiff was a scam artist. And now I learn that Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes Division have concluded that Adam Schiff has engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud,’ Trump wrote.

‘Adam Schiff said that his primary residence was in MARYLAND to get a cheaper mortgage and rip off America, when he must LIVE in CALIFORNIA because he was a Congressman from CALIFORNIA. I always knew Adam Schiff was a Crook. The FRAUD began with the refinance of his Maryland property on February 6, 2009, and continued through multiple transactions until the Maryland property was correctly designated as a second home on October 13, 2020.’

‘Mortgage Fraud is very serious, and CROOKED Adam Schiff (now a Senator) needs to be brought to justice.’

Trump did not provide any evidence of the alleged fraud. 

When asked about the accusations later on Tuesday, Trump appeared to soften on the specific accusation. 

‘I don’t know about the individual charge, if that even happened, but Adam Schiff is a serious lowlife,’ Trump said.

‘When you said that you want Adam Schiff brought to justice, what does that mean?’ Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked, to which Trump said: ‘I’d love to see him brought to justice.’

Schiff was not barred from listing the Maryland home as his primary residence during his term in Congress, since the Constitution only requires that he be an ‘inhabitant’ of California at the time of his election, not throughout his entire service.

However, Schiff cited two residences, one in California and one in Maryland, as his ‘principal residence’ on multiple mortgage and election forms dating back to 2003, Just the News reported in October. 

In at least three cases — in 2009, 2011 and 2013 — Schiff refinanced his Maryland home and declared it his ‘principal residence,’ while also listing his Burbank, California condo as his primary residence in separate financing documents, the outlet reported. He then changed the notations on his Maryland mortgage to be a secondary residence.

The pattern was first detected by Christine Bish, a Sacramento-based real estate investigator who ran for Congress as a Republican last year. She filed an ethics complaint against Schiff in Congress.

Schiff said Trump’s comments were the latest attempt at political retaliation against his perceived enemies and said it would not distract from ‘his Epstein files problem.’

‘Since I led his first impeachment, Trump has repeatedly called for me to be arrested for treason,’ Schiff wrote on X. ‘So in a way, I guess this is a bit of a letdown. And this baseless attempt at political retribution won’t stop me from holding him accountable. Not by a long shot.’

A spokesperson for Schiff said that the accusations have been debunked.

‘The lenders who provided the mortgages for both homes were well aware of then-Representative Schiff’s Congressional service and of his intended year-round use of both homes, neither of which were vacation homes,’ the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. ‘He has always been completely transparent about this.’

The spokesperson did not say whether the Maryland home was designated as a primary residence. Fannie Mae said it would not be commenting on the claims. 

Trump and Schiff have clashed many times since Trump first became president. 

As ranking member and later chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Schiff became the public face of the congressional probe into the now-debunked theory that Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. Schiff repeatedly suggested there was ‘ample evidence’ of collusion, even when the Mueller report later stated it did not establish a criminal conspiracy. Trump and his Republican allies repeatedly accused Schiff of leaking classified information during the investigation.

Schiff also served as the lead House impeachment manager during Trump’s first impeachment trial, stemming from the president’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while Schiff was also a member of the House Select Committee on Jan. 6, which investigated Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol. Schiff voted to impeach Trump both times. 

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, on Tuesday called on Israeli authorities to ‘aggressively investigate’ the killing of Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian American who was reportedly beaten to death by a gang of extremist settlers in the West Bank village of Sinjil on Friday.

‘We have asked Israel to aggressively investigate the murder of Saif Mussallet, an American citizen who was visiting family in Sinjil when he was beaten to death in the West Bank,’ Huckabee wrote on X. ‘There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act. Saif was only 20 years old.’

According to the family, Musallet was visiting the West Bank from Tampa, Florida, to reconnect with relatives and visit family-owned farmland. 

‘This is an unimaginable nightmare and injustice that no family should ever have to face,’ the family said in a statement. ‘We demand the U.S. State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes.’

Israeli military officials said the confrontation began when Palestinians threw rocks at settlers, lightly injuring two. IDF forces were deployed to the area and used non-lethal crowd control methods, the army said.

So far, no Israeli suspects have been arrested in connection with the killings. Two Israeli minors detained on Friday night for suspected involvement in public disturbances were later released to house arrest. A reserve soldier questioned by the military police over the shooting during the incident was also released.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Musallet was fatally beaten during an attack by settlers in the area. Another man, 23-year-old Mohammed al-Shalabi, was shot in the chest and also killed during the same incident. 

Sources in the Israeli police told Haaretz newspaper that the lack of an autopsy and the fact that the bodies were not transferred to Israeli authorities may complicate the investigation.

A military court also released Abdullah Hamida, a Palestinian resident arrested during the settler raid, criticizing police conduct. During the hearing, the police representative admitted he was unaware that any Palestinians had been killed, and incorrectly claimed the only wounded were settlers.

The State Department acknowledged awareness of the incident but declined further comment, Reuters reports, citing ‘respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones.’

Senate Republicans agreed to make changes to President Donald Trump’s multi-billion-dollar clawback package to help win over holdouts, but by shrinking the overall size of the cuts in the process.

Lawmakers left a meeting with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought on Tuesday afternoon and announced that about $400 million in proposed cuts to a global AIDS and HIV prevention program would be stripped from the legislation, dropping the total clawbacks in the president’s rescission package to $9 billion.

The original proposed slashes to the Bush-era President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) rattled some Senate Republicans, who warned publicly and privately that they would not support the package if the cuts remained.

But lawmakers agreed to carve out the spending cuts with an amendment, and Senate leadership is hopeful that the change will corral enough holdouts to support the bill during a test vote later Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., can only afford to lose three Republicans during the partisan process.

Thune said after the meeting that there was ‘a lot of interest among our members’ in seeing the PEPFAR cuts removed, and expressed hope that if lawmakers in the upper chamber could advance the bill, then House Republicans would be open to the modification.

The top Senate Republican is eyeing the first test vote on the bill later on Tuesday evening, with another vote to kick off 10 hours of debate shortly after.

The changes to PEPFAR also come after Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., got guarantees that roughly $10 million would go toward rural radio stations on reservations, which was his primary concern, with cuts now redirected toward the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS.

However, whether the changes are enough to sway key holdouts, like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, remains to be seen.

A senior administration official pushed back against the narrative surrounding the proposed PEPFAR cuts, and told Fox News Digital that the clawbacks were geared toward limited program cuts targeted at ‘LGBTQ education and capacity building — not core life-saving care.’

‘We’re already working with countries and other partners to ensure that they shoulder a greater share of the burden where they can,’ the official said. ‘We continue to make targeted investments in mother-to-child prevention, and other key areas of focus.’

Sen. Eric Schmitt, who has acted as a bridge between the White House and Senate on the rescission package, said that the administration supported the change, but was still unsure if there were enough votes to get the package across the line.  

‘I’m not in the prediction business, but we’re hopeful we’ll move forward here,’ the Missouri Republican said.

Vought argued that it was still ‘substantially the same package,’ and noted that the Senate had to work its will on the bill.

Lawmakers have until Friday before the stroke of midnight to get the bill on the president’s desk, or else the holds that the White House has on the billions in funding will end.

‘This is multi-year funding, it has to flow,’ Vought said. ‘If we’re outside of the 45-day window, we have to remove our hold on the money. So we will not implement the cuts if this is if this vote doesn’t go our way.’

A bipartisan duo bent on imposing strict sanctions against Russia are giving President Donald Trump some runway after his latest, hardened stance against Moscow.

Senators Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have pressed for stringent sanctions against Russia and its energy trade partners, and they have been working to refine their bill to meet requirements from the White House that give Trump more flexibility.

The bill had been sidelined by congressional Republicans’ push to pass the president’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ and had been eyed for a vote possibly by the end of the month.

But Trump’s announcement that he would levy 100% tariffs against Moscow unless Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to end the war with Ukraine has likely again stalled that plan, and the bipartisan pair isn’t mad about it.

‘It sounds like right now the president is going to attempt to do some of this on his own,’ Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters. ‘If at some point the president concludes that it makes sense and adds value and leverage that he needs in those negotiations to move the bill, then we’ll do it. We’ll be ready to go.’

The president’s warning came after he agreed to sell weapons to NATO, which, in turn, would be sent to Ukraine to resupply their dwindling stocks.

‘We’re pleased that the president sort of buys into that way of doing business. We’ll continue to work with the White House to see if we can provide him a tool that Congress has been working on,’ Graham said.  

Their bill would slap up to 500% tariffs on countries buying energy products from Moscow in a bid to kneecap Russia’s war machine by imposing duties on oil, gas, uranium and other exports, largely purchased by China and India, which account for nearly three-quarters of Moscow’s energy business.

But that doesn’t mean that work on the bill has ceased. Graham noted that having Congress’ blessing ‘is good for the president’ and could help him legally and politically.

‘But between the weapons flowing and sanctions through tariffs on the table, I think we can say today was a game changer that we’ve been waiting on and hoping for, and on day 51 you want to know what happens,’ Graham said. ‘Call the Ayatollah.’

Blumenthal lauded Trump’s shift and gave him credit ‘for seeing through the mocking and flouting by Vladimir Putin.’ He argued that the bill, which has dozens of co-sponsors in the Senate and backing by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had already made an impact and noted that Trump’s move was like a ‘hammer.’  

‘Our bill is a sledgehammer,’ Blumenthal said. 

Constitutional legal scholar Randy Barnett admonished Democrats’ rhetoric claiming democracy is at risk under the Trump administration when ‘the biggest constitutional scandal in US history’ played out under the Biden administration with the use of the autopen. 

‘For all the talk of a ‘constitutional crisis’ or threats to ‘our democracy’ having the executive branch systematically run by unknown subordinates of a mentally incompetent president is the biggest constitutional scandal in US history – it’s called into question the legality of official acts done in his name but without proper authority,’ Barnett posted to X Monday. 

‘Southern secession was a ‘constitutional crisis,’’ Barnett added in a follow-up message Tuesday. ‘This is a constitutional scandal.’ 

Barnett, a Georgetown University law professor who serves as the director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, was referring to an interview former President Joe Biden conducted with the New York Times defending his use of an autopen. Biden said he orally approved a long list of clemency and pardon actions at the end of his tenure, but that his aides used the autopen to officiate the actions. 

Amid the Biden autopen controversy, Democratic lawmakers and left-wing media pundits have continued slamming Trump as a threat to democracy – which was a common talking point during the election cycle – and claiming his actions as president, such as deporting illegal immigrants and revoking visa privileges for some foreign students, have thrown the U.S. into a constitutional crisis. 

Biden told the Times that he was aware of every pardon ahead of leaving office in 2024, which included clemency and commutation actions related to 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders in his final weeks in office alone. 

‘I made every decision,’ Biden told the Times in a phone interview earlier in July that was published Sunday. He added that staff used the autopen for the pardons and commutations ‘because there were a lot of them.’

‘Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed,’ the Times reported. ‘Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence.’

Biden also pardoned Anthony Fauci, former chief medical advisor to the president; former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley; and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. Less than half an hour before Trump became president, Biden also pardoned members of his family, including his brothers James B. Biden and Francis W. Biden, sister Valerie Biden Owens and brother-in-law John T. Owens. 

Autopen signatures are produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature.

The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project first investigated the Biden administration’s use of an autopen earlier in 2025 and found that the same signature was on a bevvy of executive orders and other official documents, while Biden’s signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature.

The use of the autopen follows years of mounting concern that Biden’s mental acuity and health were deteriorating, which hit a fever pitch during the 2024 campaign cycle following the president’s disastrous debate performance against Trump. Biden ultimately dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024, and endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place.  

Since reclaiming the Oval Office, Trump has balked at his predecessor’s use of the autopen, claiming Biden’s staff allegedly used the pen to sign off on presidential actions unbeknownst to Biden. 

‘I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing, I guarantee you,’ Trump said Monday when asked about Biden’s interview with the Times. 

Biden’s interview follows Trump sending a memo to the Department of Justice in June directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Biden administration aides conspired to deceive the public about his mental state, and simultaneously used an autopen to sign key presidential actions. 

‘In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority,’ Trump wrote in his letter. ‘This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.’

Biden said in his New York Times interview that Trump and other Republicans are ‘liars’ for claiming he was incapacitated as president and that his aides used the pen for official presidential actions. 

‘They’re liars. They know it. They know, for certain. I mean, this is – look, what they, they’ve had a pretty good thing going here. They’ve done so badly. They’ve lied so consistently about almost everything they’re doing. The best thing they can do is try to change the focus and focus on something else. And this is a – I think that’s what this is about,’ he said. 

Senate Republicans are gearing up to advance a multibillion-dollar clawback package from President Donald Trump, but dissent among the ranks threatens to stymie the process.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., intends to put Trump’s $9.4 billion rescissions package, which would scrape back congressionally approved funding for a variety of so-called ‘woke’ programs that fund foreign aid and public broadcasting.

However, a handful of Senate Republicans have raised a fuss over $8.3 billion in cuts from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS.

The bill is expected to have its first test vote on Tuesday, but questions remain about whether Thune has the votes.

Senate Republicans are set to meet with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, who became a near-constant presence on the Hill during the budget reconciliation process, in a bid to shore up support among concerned lawmakers.

Publicly, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have expressed reservations about the package, particularly over proposed cuts to the Bush-era President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the public broadcasting fund.

Collins said she still had concerns about the bill, and was coy about whether she would support its advancement — when asked if she’d vote to move it along, she smiled as the Senate elevator door shut. 

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., was similarly concerned about the bill because of slashes to public broadcasting that could have negative effects on tribal radio stations in rural areas, but he moved to back the bill after getting guarantees that roughly $10 million in Green New Deal money could be shifted to help pay for grants to keep the stations afloat. 

However, he was unsure if there was enough support to move the bill through its first test. 

‘I don’t have a head count on it, but my concerns have been taken care of,’ he said. 

And there are more lawmakers who have privately expressed their hangups about the bill. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said that there were ‘several members’ who have raised issue with the package, and he too would like more information on the inner workings of the spending cuts. 

‘It’s important that we succeed on this package, because I hope this is just a warm-up for what should be tens of billions of dollars worth of rescission,’ he said. 

Thune can only afford to lose three votes and will receive no help from Senate Democrats in another hyper-partisan process.

An amendment process coming in the form of another vote-a-rama is expected, but changing the bill could have consequences in the House, where Republicans are warning their colleagues in the upper chamber to stomach the clawbacks as proposed by the White House.

Thune said he and his leadership team have been discussing issues with the package and trying to make possible changes to the legislation before it hits the floor.

‘I’m fine with it as is, but I think we have colleagues who would like to see some perhaps modest changes made, so we’re trying to find out if there’s a path forward that gets us 51 and stays consistent,’ he told reporters.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed Anthony Bernal, who served as chief of staff for first lady Jill Biden and as an assistant to President Joe Biden, to testify at a deposition Wednesday.

Bernal refused to appear for a transcribed interview on June 26 as part of the Oversight Committee’s investigation into the alleged cover-up of Biden’s mental decline and potentially unauthorized use of autopen for pardons and other executive actions.

He had previously confirmed he would appear for the interview, but when the White House Counsel’s Office notified him it was waiving executive privilege, Bernal said he would no longer appear for the interview.

‘It’s abundantly clear that Anthony Bernal – Jill Biden’s so-called ‘work husband’ – never intended to be transparent about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and the ensuing cover-up. With no privilege left to hide behind, Mr. Bernal is now running scared, desperate to bury the truth,’ Comer said. 

Two recent books about the Biden administration have painted an unflattering picture of Bernal’s political rise. 

By proxy, the first lady’s top aide became one of the most influential people in the White House, according to ‘Original Sin,’ a book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson. 

‘He would not be welcome at my funeral,’ a longtime Biden aide told the authors. 

Operating in a White House anchored in loyalty, Bernal wielded loyalty as a weapon to weed out the defectors, Tapper and Thompson said. 

And Bernal earned a reputation for trash-talking fellow aides, as ‘some even described him as the worst person they had ever met,’ Tapper and Thompson said. 

Jill Biden and Bernal worked in tandem, keeping score of ‘who was with them and against them,’ according to Tapper and Thompson. 

A former White House staffer fired back against Tapper and Thompson’s allegations about Bernal in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

‘A lot of vignettes in this book are either false, exaggerated, or purposefully omit viewpoints that don’t fit the narrative they want to push. Anthony was a strong leader with high standards and a mentor to many. He’s the type of person you want on a team – he’s incredibly strategic, effective, and cares deeply about the people he manages,’ the former White House staffer said in May. 

‘2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,’ released last week by Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdor of The Washington Post, outlines how Bernal’s political influence grew alongside Jill Biden. 

‘He quickly bonded with Jill Biden and never left her side, becoming unflinchingly loyal to her and using his proximity to her to exert power wherever he decided. It was often unclear if the opinion he was expressing was his own or the first lady’s. Sometimes, when donors or voters asked her questions, Bernal would jump in to answer,’ the authors said. 

Lindy Li, a former DNC fundraiser and Democratic insider who had a front-row seat to Biden’s presidency, told Fox News Digital, ‘People like Anthony Bernal. I saw him running the White House like he was in charge, like he was a king. It’s just so amazing now to see him dodge a subpoena and completely dodge accountability. He can run, but he can’t hide. His name is going to go down in infamy forever.’

Li said Bernal ‘followed Jill around like a dog.’ However, Li clarified that he ran the East Wing more than the West Wing. She said Bernal was among those running the White House during Biden’s presidency.

Democratic strategist Michael LaRosa, who served as press secretary to Jill Biden, told Fox News Digital that, ‘No one spent more time, whether it was in the motorcade, on the plane, in the private residence at the White House, Camp David, and at both houses in Delaware, nobody spent more personal time around them and their family and the Biden family than Anthony.’

Bernal and a Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on this article. 

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

Secretary Pete Hegseth pulled senior Defense Department officials from the Aspen Security Conference for promoting the ‘evil of globalism.’ 

Military commanders were set to speak at the conference, which begins on Tuesday, as has been tradition through Republican and Democratic administrations. 

But Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson told Just the News the secretary’s office believes the conference ‘promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States.’

Wilson added that DoD ‘has no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home.’ 

The forum will host other Trump administration officials: Adam Boehler, presidential envoy for hostage response, and Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Syria. 

It will also hear from some contentious Biden administration officials – Jake Sullivan, former national security advisor, and Brett McGurk, a former National Security Council coordinator. 

Mark Esper, Trump’s former acting defense secretary, and David Petraeus, who was briefly CIA director under President Barack Obama, will also be speaking, along with Condoleezza Rice, a national security advisor and secretary of state during the Bush years. 

‘Senior Department of Defense officials will no longer be participating at the Aspen Security Forum because their values do not align with the values of the DoD,’ chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. 

‘The Department will remain strong in its focus to increase the lethality of our warfighters, revitalize the warrior ethos, and project Peace Through Strength on the world stage. It is clear the ASF is not in alignment with these goals.’

The Aspen Institute said in a statement on the Pentagon withdrawal: ‘For more than a decade, the Aspen Security Forum has welcomed senior officials – Republican and Democrat, civilian and military – as well as senior foreign officials and experts, who bring experience and diverse perspectives on matters of national security.’

‘We will miss the participation of the Pentagon, but our invitations remain open.’