Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., on Friday urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s acting director not to sign off on new guidance that would end routine hepatitis B (HBV) vaccinations for newborns, calling the proposed change “a mistake.”

The comments came after the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted in favor of the recommendation, finding parents should exercise “individual-based decision-making,” in consultation with a doctor, when deciding whether to vaccinate their children for HBV.

For those not receiving the HBV birth dose, the ACIP suggested the initial dose not be administered before the child is two months old.

“As a liver doctor who has treated patients with hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake,” Cassidy wrote in an X post on Friday. “The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, NOT a mandate.”

RFK JR LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO SCHOOL FOR ALLEGED VACCINATION OF CHILD WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT

Cassidy added that before the birth dose was recommended, 20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B. 

Now, he noted, it’s fewer than 20. 

“Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again,” Cassidy wrote. “This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.”

PREVIOUS CDC DIRECTORS ACCUSE RFK JR. OF ENDANGERING ALL AMERICANS IN NY TIMES ESSAY

Cassidy, a physician, targeted Aaron Siri on Thursday, noting the attorney who worked for Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign and has filed petitions to halt certain vaccines “is a trial attorney who makes his living suing vaccine manufacturers.”

“He is presenting as if an expert on childhood vaccines,” Cassidy wrote in an X post. “The ACIP is totally discredited. They are not protecting children.”

In August, Cassidy denounced HHS’ decision to slash funding for mRNA vaccine development, claiming it undermined President Donald Trump‘s mission to make the nation healthy again.

Cassidy’s office and the CDC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

As the only Republican running to replace Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in the special election for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, Randolph Township Mayor Joe Hathaway has the advantage of not needing to bump elbows in a 12-candidate field like his Democratic counterparts.

Sherrill’s gubernatorial win and subsequent resignation from Congress triggered a special election in the blue district. But as a dozen Democrats scramble for their party’s nomination, Hathaway told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that voters will turn to his candidacy to avoid what he referred to as the “chaotic mess” of the Democratic primary.

“The district is ready for a new generation of leadership,” Hathaway said. “That’s what I represent.”

Hathaway told Fox News Digital that New Jersey voters are tired of the political “spin” and “fighting” in Washington, D.C., pitching himself as the generational leader whom voters from across the political spectrum can look to for leadership.

FOX NEWS POLL: NEW JERSEY GOVERNORSHIP REMAINS DEMOCRATIC WITH SHERRILL WIN

“People want someone who is going to put the political nonsense aside and get to work. That’s what I represent, so I think that is going to be an attractive offer for Republicans, for independents, for Democrats, for voters across the board,” Hathaway added.

FORMER HOUSE DEMOCRAT TARGETS TRUMP IN BID FOR POLITICAL COMEBACK

The Republican candidate pointed to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s success in neighboring New York City as an indication that “younger, more progressive leaders of their party [are] moving the Democratic Party toward socialism, toward anti-law enforcement, toward antisemitism, toward bigger government, a bigger system that is still broken.”

But Hathaway said that “centrist, moderate” Democratic voters and those of New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District do not seek that future, drawing a “clear, stark contrast” with his own Republican campaign.

“At the end of the day, voters are going to have to make a decision between which next generation they want representing them,” he said. “I’m trying to represent the next generation of the Republican Party — one built on hard work, on pragmatic common sense solutions to help people to make life better.”

In The Garden State, Hathaway explained that the Democratic Party has been “driving the bus for a long, long time.” While Republicans made some inroads in New Jersey during the 2024 presidential election, New Jersey is widely considered a blue state, and Sherrill has kept its 11th Congressional District blue since 2018.

“We represent that opportunity for people to look into the future and see someone who grew up here, who has lived here, who knows the communities, who knows the small businesses, who knows each community individually and what brings them all together, and has some ideas and has some experience at the local level, making government work better for people here in Randolph,” Hathaway said.

As a 38-year-old father of three, Hathaway said young families and voters have become disillusioned by the American Dream, fighting to make ends meet and earn enough to make a living. The Randolph Township mayor said he jumped into the congressional race to bring a “workhorse mindset down to Washington” and deliver for the “hardworking people of this district.”

“Affordability is the major focus of our campaign,” Hathaway said. “It gets at the core of what we just talked about, the challenges that so many families face here in New Jersey.”

Specifically, Hathaway said he would support tax-elimination for first-time home-buyers because being able to afford a home and start a family is “really what the American Dream is all about at the end of the day.”

The Republican also committed to finding ways to “incentivize roles that equip workers for the jobs of today and for the jobs of tomorrow,” through vocational training and other “in-demand, highly valuable skills that don’t necessarily require all the student loan debt.”

“By the way, it’s probably going to be something you hear on the other side as well. But I think on the other side, their solutions are going to be more government, more dependency, more government, more, more of the same broken system, which I fundamentally disagree with, and I think most voters do, too,” he said.

The special primary election is set for Feb. 5, 2026, and the special general election will be held on April 16, 2026.

Next year’s midterm elections will serve as a litmus test of President Donald Trump‘s sweeping, second-term agenda and will determine whether Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate. New Jersey’s special election will be one of several pulse checks before November’s elections decide the congressional balance of power. 

When asked how Trump’s endorsement would play out in the Garden State, Hathaway said, “I want Republicans of all shapes, colors, sizes across the board. We’re a big-tent party, so we’re going to need all Republicans rowing in the same direction to win this seat and to win this special election on April 16th.”

But the Republican said his first priority is to represent the voters of his district. And while he applauded Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” for raising New Jersey’s State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap and increasing the childcare tax credits, Hathaway clarified that if “there are things that I don’t support that aren’t good for our district, I’ll come out and say that, too.”

The New Jersey Globe reported in July that a bipartisan group of 13 New Jersey representatives and senators sent a letter to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, expressing “grave concern” over a proposed shake-up to Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, New Jersey.

“I know the administration is contemplating the idea of shuttering Picatinny Arsenal, a big military base here in our district here in Morris County. I vehemently disagree with that. I think that would be bad for our national defense. I think it would be bad for the thousands of citizen employees and contractors who work in the Picatinny Arsenal, who are creating the next generation of artillery and military intelligence materials,” he said.

Ultimately, Hathaway said he is committed to advocating for what’s best for the voters of his district, even if that means being at odds with the administration on a proposal or specific issue that impacts New Jersey.

“Our campaign is going to be something that is attractive to voters of all persuasions because of what we are representing, which is someone who is here to roll up their sleeves, do the work, who doesn’t really quite frankly care about what the political winds are swirling around. It’s about doing the job,” he said.

“I’m still a football player at heart. I’m still a nose guard at heart who just runs in the trenches and tries to make things happen and do the job, so that’s the kind of mentality I’m going to bring to the seat, and I think that’s something that, quite frankly, voters across the board want to see in their representative,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway was born and raised in New Jersey, where he currently serves as mayor of Randolph Township. He graduated from Yale University, where he played football and earned All-Ivy League honors. He began his political career as an aide to former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., and currently manages executive communications and operations in the healthcare industry.

Thirteen Democratic candidates qualified for the primary ballot in the race for Sherrill’s open congressional seat following her gubernatorial win. 

Marc Chaaban, a former congressional staffer for Sherrill, dropped out of the race earlier this week, bringing the tally as of Friday to 12 Democrats vying for the party’s nomination. 

As the only Republican running to replace Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in the special election for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, Randolph Township Mayor Joe Hathaway has the advantage of not needing to bump elbows in a 12-candidate field like his Democratic counterparts.

Sherrill’s gubernatorial win and subsequent resignation from Congress triggered a special election in the blue district. But as a dozen Democrats scramble for their party’s nomination, Hathaway told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that voters will turn to his candidacy to avoid what he referred to as the “chaotic mess” of the Democratic primary.

“The district is ready for a new generation of leadership,” Hathaway said. “That’s what I represent.”

Hathaway told Fox News Digital that New Jersey voters are tired of the political “spin” and “fighting” in Washington, D.C., pitching himself as the generational leader whom voters from across the political spectrum can look to for leadership.

FOX NEWS POLL: NEW JERSEY GOVERNORSHIP REMAINS DEMOCRATIC WITH SHERRILL WIN

“People want someone who is going to put the political nonsense aside and get to work. That’s what I represent, so I think that is going to be an attractive offer for Republicans, for independents, for Democrats, for voters across the board,” Hathaway added.

FORMER HOUSE DEMOCRAT TARGETS TRUMP IN BID FOR POLITICAL COMEBACK

The Republican candidate pointed to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s success in neighboring New York City as an indication that “younger, more progressive leaders of their party [are] moving the Democratic Party toward socialism, toward anti-law enforcement, toward antisemitism, toward bigger government, a bigger system that is still broken.”

But Hathaway said that “centrist, moderate” Democratic voters and those of New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District do not seek that future, drawing a “clear, stark contrast” with his own Republican campaign.

“At the end of the day, voters are going to have to make a decision between which next generation they want representing them,” he said. “I’m trying to represent the next generation of the Republican Party — one built on hard work, on pragmatic common sense solutions to help people to make life better.”

In The Garden State, Hathaway explained that the Democratic Party has been “driving the bus for a long, long time.” While Republicans made some inroads in New Jersey during the 2024 presidential election, New Jersey is widely considered a blue state, and Sherrill has kept its 11th Congressional District blue since 2018.

“We represent that opportunity for people to look into the future and see someone who grew up here, who has lived here, who knows the communities, who knows the small businesses, who knows each community individually and what brings them all together, and has some ideas and has some experience at the local level, making government work better for people here in Randolph,” Hathaway said.

As a 38-year-old father of three, Hathaway said young families and voters have become disillusioned by the American Dream, fighting to make ends meet and earn enough to make a living. The Randolph Township mayor said he jumped into the congressional race to bring a “workhorse mindset down to Washington” and deliver for the “hardworking people of this district.”

“Affordability is the major focus of our campaign,” Hathaway said. “It gets at the core of what we just talked about, the challenges that so many families face here in New Jersey.”

Specifically, Hathaway said he would support tax-elimination for first-time home-buyers because being able to afford a home and start a family is “really what the American Dream is all about at the end of the day.”

The Republican also committed to finding ways to “incentivize roles that equip workers for the jobs of today and for the jobs of tomorrow,” through vocational training and other “in-demand, highly valuable skills that don’t necessarily require all the student loan debt.”

“By the way, it’s probably going to be something you hear on the other side as well. But I think on the other side, their solutions are going to be more government, more dependency, more government, more, more of the same broken system, which I fundamentally disagree with, and I think most voters do, too,” he said.

The special primary election is set for Feb. 5, 2026, and the special general election will be held on April 16, 2026.

Next year’s midterm elections will serve as a litmus test of President Donald Trump‘s sweeping, second-term agenda and will determine whether Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate. New Jersey’s special election will be one of several pulse checks before November’s elections decide the congressional balance of power. 

When asked how Trump’s endorsement would play out in the Garden State, Hathaway said, “I want Republicans of all shapes, colors, sizes across the board. We’re a big-tent party, so we’re going to need all Republicans rowing in the same direction to win this seat and to win this special election on April 16th.”

But the Republican said his first priority is to represent the voters of his district. And while he applauded Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” for raising New Jersey’s State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap and increasing the childcare tax credits, Hathaway clarified that if “there are things that I don’t support that aren’t good for our district, I’ll come out and say that, too.”

The New Jersey Globe reported in July that a bipartisan group of 13 New Jersey representatives and senators sent a letter to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, expressing “grave concern” over a proposed shake-up to Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, New Jersey.

“I know the administration is contemplating the idea of shuttering Picatinny Arsenal, a big military base here in our district here in Morris County. I vehemently disagree with that. I think that would be bad for our national defense. I think it would be bad for the thousands of citizen employees and contractors who work in the Picatinny Arsenal, who are creating the next generation of artillery and military intelligence materials,” he said.

Ultimately, Hathaway said he is committed to advocating for what’s best for the voters of his district, even if that means being at odds with the administration on a proposal or specific issue that impacts New Jersey.

“Our campaign is going to be something that is attractive to voters of all persuasions because of what we are representing, which is someone who is here to roll up their sleeves, do the work, who doesn’t really quite frankly care about what the political winds are swirling around. It’s about doing the job,” he said.

“I’m still a football player at heart. I’m still a nose guard at heart who just runs in the trenches and tries to make things happen and do the job, so that’s the kind of mentality I’m going to bring to the seat, and I think that’s something that, quite frankly, voters across the board want to see in their representative,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway was born and raised in New Jersey, where he currently serves as mayor of Randolph Township. He graduated from Yale University, where he played football and earned All-Ivy League honors. He began his political career as an aide to former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., and currently manages executive communications and operations in the healthcare industry.

Thirteen Democratic candidates qualified for the primary ballot in the race for Sherrill’s open congressional seat following her gubernatorial win. 

Marc Chaaban, a former congressional staffer for Sherrill, dropped out of the race earlier this week, bringing the tally as of Friday to 12 Democrats vying for the party’s nomination. 

A January 6 defendant who was pardoned by President Donald Trump has ended up in legal trouble again after recently returning to the Washington, D.C. area and wandering the neighborhood of Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a report said. 

Taylor Taranto was previously convicted in connection to threats made against Raskin and former President Barack Obama.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who convicted Taranto in a bench trial earlier this year of charges that he illegally possessed guns and ammunition in his van when he was arrested near Obama’s home in the nation’s capital in 2023, ordered Taranto at a court hearing Thursday to immediately return to his home in Washington state, according to Politico. The outlet cited Nichols as saying he will consider a request from prosecutors to jail Taranto. 

At the hearing, Taranto’s probation officer told the judge that the man was seen by local police near Raskin’s home in Takoma Park, Md., on Tuesday morning, Axios reported. The officer said Taranto was “living out of his van” while in D.C. and streaming on Rumble as a self-described “independent journalist investigating major crimes,” according to the outlet.

BOASBERG REVERSES COURSE ON JAN. 6 DEFENDANTS PARDONED BY TRUMP 

Raskin’s office did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Nichols also convicted Taranto earlier this year of recording himself making a hoax threat to bomb a government building in Maryland. Taranto drew headlines in 2023 when he entered a Maryland elementary school while livestreaming apparent threats to Raskin, who is from the state, Politico reported.

“In a livestream, where Taranto answered questions from his Internet audience, he stated that he specifically chose the elementary school due to its proximity to Congressman (Jamie) Raskin’s home and that he is targeting Raskin because ‘he’s one of the guys that hates January 6 people, or more like Trump supporters, and it’s kind of like sending a shockwave through him because I did nothing wrong, and he’s probably freaking out and saying s— like, ‘Well he’s stalking me,'” prosecutors said at the time. 

TRUMP ISSUES FRESH PARDONS FOR JAN 6 DEFENDANTS, INCLUDING WOMAN ACCUSED OF THREATENING FBI ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Travis Wolf, during a closed court session, argued that Taranto’s return to the Washington, D.C.-area and his renewed livestreaming and erratic behavior raise concerns that he is “on the path” to the same conduct that led to criminal charges against him in 2023, according to Politico. 

Wolf reportedly described mental health concerns and alleged violations of Taranto’s supervised release conditions.

Taranto’s attorney asked for more time to review elements of the case and requested that Taranto be allowed to return home to Washington state to spend time with his family over the holidays, Politico added. 

Taranto swore to drive back to Washington state by noon on Friday, and Nichols said he would decide on the government’s detention request later, according to Politico.

The outlet added that Nichols required Taranto to attend a probation hearing in Washington state on Dec. 10 and said that he is “absolutely prepared” to bring Taranto into custody if any of his orders is violated. 

Fox News’ Louis Casiano, David Spunt and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A Republican state lawmaker who is hoping to dethrone Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in next year’s gubernatorial election charges that on the Democratic governor’s watch, Minnesotans have “had billions of our tax dollars stolen by people who are criminals.”

And state Rep. Kristin Robbins, in an interview with Fox News Digital, argued that Walz “has been an absolute failure” in combating fraud during his two terms as governor.

Walz in recent weeks has been facing plenty of political pressure from state and national Republicans, including President Donald Trump, as authorities investigate a series of multimillion-dollar alleged fraud schemes, including the governor’s handling of a massive relief program that federal prosecutors say devolved into the “largest pandemic fraud in the United States.”

Robbins, the chair of the Minnesota House’s Fraud Prevention and Oversight Committee, has made the issue a top priority of her GOP campaign for governor. She’s one of a handful of leading contenders in a crowded field of Republicans hoping to face off with Walz next November as the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee bids for a third term as governor.

WALZ BEARS ‘FULL RESPONSIBILITY’ FOR $1B FRAUD SCANDAL, GOP CHALLENGER DEMUTH DECLARES

“I’ve been chair of the fraud committee since last January, and this has really been my main focus over the last year of the legislature,” she said. “And even though we’re out of session, I’ve continued to keep the fraud committee having hearings monthly, because this issue is so enormous, we still don’t have our arms around it. So we’re continuing to dig in.”

The first federal charges against alleged fraudsters in the case were filed three years ago. Fast-forward to today and there are now upwards of 75 defendants in the $250 million scheme.

The case revolves around a nonprofit named Feeding our Future, which partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute meals to children.

OMAR ALLIES TIED TO MASSIVE MINNESOTA COVID MEAL FRAUD SCHEME INVOLVING SOMALI COMMUNITY

Prosecutors charged that Feeding our Future and affiliated food distribution sites raked in millions of dollars by submitting fake meal counts and invoices to trick state and federal officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the people charged are of Somali descent. Minnesota has the largest Somali population of any state in the country.

The U.S. Treasury says its investigating whether tax dollars from Minnesota’s public assistance programs made their way to Al-Shabab, a Somali-based affiliate of al Qaeda, which the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

And the Republican-controlled U.S. House, through the Oversight Committee, has opened a probe into Walz’s handling of the relief program.

Robbins argued that under Walz’s watch, “we’ve had billions of our tax dollars stolen by people who are criminals, and Minnesotans don’t have the services they need, and Minnesotans work hard for their money and to see all this money being shipped overseas.”

EMMER SLAMS WALZ, DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY OVER ALLEGED RETALIATION TIED TO MINNESOTA FRAUD

“Minnesotans now own a resort in Kenya. They own an apartment in Nairobi. They own a culinary school in Ohio,” she said. “It’s ridiculous, the things our money has been wasted on, and so I’m grateful to our federal partners who are prosecuting these cases, but we have to have a new governor who’s going to have a no fraud, no excuses culture.”

Walz, speaking to reporters on Thursday, pledged to “tackle the issue of fraud, of people defrauding the people of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota. We know now that those programs have been paused. We have an independent auditor from the outside. We’ve enacted new powers that we have to stop payments and to be able to make sure that that snapshot of what’s there is. The people who did it will go to prison.”

“My goal is to make sure that those going forward have much better tools, much more safeguards around programs,” the governor added.

But Robbins charged that Walz and his administration “are very late to this. They have stepped up recently, but the things that they’ve done, they already had the authority to stop payment when there were credible allegations of fraud. They already had authority to do prepayment reviews and close down some of these programs.”

ILHAN OMAR GIVES BLISTERING RESPONSE TO TRUMP AFTER HE CALLS HER AND OTHER SOMALI MIGRANTS ‘GARBAGE’

“They haven’t been doing it until we really have been holding their feet to the fire and exposing all the fraud,” she emphasized.

Trump has repeatedly blamed Minnesota’s Somali population for the fraud. On Tuesday, he called immigrants from Somalia “garbage” and claimed they “destroyed Minnesota.”

Last month, the president announced he was ending temporary deportation protections for Somali immigrants in Minnesota and claimed that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State.”

Walz on Thursday called Trump’s comments “vile racial racist lies” and “slander towards our fellow Minnesotans.”

Asked about the president’s comments, Robbins said, “the bulk of the fraud that we’ve uncovered so far is in the Somali community. And one of the reasons the fraud has perpetuated based on whistleblowers who reach out to me is that they were afraid to say that out loud, because they were afraid of having political retribution or being called racist.”

“So we do have to say that. Say it out loud. Most of the fraud is in the Somali community,” she added.

But Robbins also emphasized that “most of the best whistleblowers are also in the Somali community. Both things are true. So certainly, that’s where most of the fraud is. But also there’s a lot of people in the Somali community who want to clean it up.”

Robbins told Fox News Digital that her efforts taking aim at the fraud may boost her bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

“I certainly know where all the problems are and how this massive fraud scandal has been allowed to flourish under Tim Walz,” she said. “I think I can speak directly to it and take him on, directly on the debate and on the details. I think I’m most qualified.”

And Robbins added, “I’m also most qualified to solve it when I’m governor. So I’ve already rolled up my fraud plan of how we were going to standardize internal controls, how we’re going to have an Office of Inspector General, how we are going to hold employees in the state accountable. So I think I will be the one who can solve the problem for Minnesota.”

Robbins, who was first elected to the Minnesota House in 2018, represents a purple district in the Minneapolis suburbs. She has touted that in the crowded field of GOP gubernatorial contenders, she’s the “only conservative Republican who’s a proven winner in the suburbs.”

Robbins served as Minnesota state chair of former U.S. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s 2024 Republican presidential campaign.

And on Thursday, Haley praised Robbins in a fundraising email to supporters.

“We have to stop Tim Walz and elect a leader who will fight to end this corruption!” Haley wrote. “Kristin Robbins has spent her career fighting fraud and she’ll do the same as governor.”

A Republican state lawmaker who is hoping to dethrone Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in next year’s gubernatorial election charges that on the Democratic governor’s watch, Minnesotans have “had billions of our tax dollars stolen by people who are criminals.”

And state Rep. Kristin Robbins, in an interview with Fox News Digital, argued that Walz “has been an absolute failure” in combating fraud during his two terms as governor.

Walz in recent weeks has been facing plenty of political pressure from state and national Republicans, including President Donald Trump, as authorities investigate a series of multimillion-dollar alleged fraud schemes, including the governor’s handling of a massive relief program that federal prosecutors say devolved into the “largest pandemic fraud in the United States.”

Robbins, the chair of the Minnesota House’s Fraud Prevention and Oversight Committee, has made the issue a top priority of her GOP campaign for governor. She’s one of a handful of leading contenders in a crowded field of Republicans hoping to face off with Walz next November as the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee bids for a third term as governor.

WALZ BEARS ‘FULL RESPONSIBILITY’ FOR $1B FRAUD SCANDAL, GOP CHALLENGER DEMUTH DECLARES

“I’ve been chair of the fraud committee since last January, and this has really been my main focus over the last year of the legislature,” she said. “And even though we’re out of session, I’ve continued to keep the fraud committee having hearings monthly, because this issue is so enormous, we still don’t have our arms around it. So we’re continuing to dig in.”

The first federal charges against alleged fraudsters in the case were filed three years ago. Fast-forward to today and there are now upwards of 75 defendants in the $250 million scheme.

The case revolves around a nonprofit named Feeding our Future, which partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute meals to children.

OMAR ALLIES TIED TO MASSIVE MINNESOTA COVID MEAL FRAUD SCHEME INVOLVING SOMALI COMMUNITY

Prosecutors charged that Feeding our Future and affiliated food distribution sites raked in millions of dollars by submitting fake meal counts and invoices to trick state and federal officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the people charged are of Somali descent. Minnesota has the largest Somali population of any state in the country.

The U.S. Treasury says its investigating whether tax dollars from Minnesota’s public assistance programs made their way to Al-Shabab, a Somali-based affiliate of al Qaeda, which the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

And the Republican-controlled U.S. House, through the Oversight Committee, has opened a probe into Walz’s handling of the relief program.

Robbins argued that under Walz’s watch, “we’ve had billions of our tax dollars stolen by people who are criminals, and Minnesotans don’t have the services they need, and Minnesotans work hard for their money and to see all this money being shipped overseas.”

EMMER SLAMS WALZ, DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY OVER ALLEGED RETALIATION TIED TO MINNESOTA FRAUD

“Minnesotans now own a resort in Kenya. They own an apartment in Nairobi. They own a culinary school in Ohio,” she said. “It’s ridiculous, the things our money has been wasted on, and so I’m grateful to our federal partners who are prosecuting these cases, but we have to have a new governor who’s going to have a no fraud, no excuses culture.”

Walz, speaking to reporters on Thursday, pledged to “tackle the issue of fraud, of people defrauding the people of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota. We know now that those programs have been paused. We have an independent auditor from the outside. We’ve enacted new powers that we have to stop payments and to be able to make sure that that snapshot of what’s there is. The people who did it will go to prison.”

“My goal is to make sure that those going forward have much better tools, much more safeguards around programs,” the governor added.

But Robbins charged that Walz and his administration “are very late to this. They have stepped up recently, but the things that they’ve done, they already had the authority to stop payment when there were credible allegations of fraud. They already had authority to do prepayment reviews and close down some of these programs.”

ILHAN OMAR GIVES BLISTERING RESPONSE TO TRUMP AFTER HE CALLS HER AND OTHER SOMALI MIGRANTS ‘GARBAGE’

“They haven’t been doing it until we really have been holding their feet to the fire and exposing all the fraud,” she emphasized.

Trump has repeatedly blamed Minnesota’s Somali population for the fraud. On Tuesday, he called immigrants from Somalia “garbage” and claimed they “destroyed Minnesota.”

Last month, the president announced he was ending temporary deportation protections for Somali immigrants in Minnesota and claimed that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State.”

Walz on Thursday called Trump’s comments “vile racial racist lies” and “slander towards our fellow Minnesotans.”

Asked about the president’s comments, Robbins said, “the bulk of the fraud that we’ve uncovered so far is in the Somali community. And one of the reasons the fraud has perpetuated based on whistleblowers who reach out to me is that they were afraid to say that out loud, because they were afraid of having political retribution or being called racist.”

“So we do have to say that. Say it out loud. Most of the fraud is in the Somali community,” she added.

But Robbins also emphasized that “most of the best whistleblowers are also in the Somali community. Both things are true. So certainly, that’s where most of the fraud is. But also there’s a lot of people in the Somali community who want to clean it up.”

Robbins told Fox News Digital that her efforts taking aim at the fraud may boost her bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

“I certainly know where all the problems are and how this massive fraud scandal has been allowed to flourish under Tim Walz,” she said. “I think I can speak directly to it and take him on, directly on the debate and on the details. I think I’m most qualified.”

And Robbins added, “I’m also most qualified to solve it when I’m governor. So I’ve already rolled up my fraud plan of how we were going to standardize internal controls, how we’re going to have an Office of Inspector General, how we are going to hold employees in the state accountable. So I think I will be the one who can solve the problem for Minnesota.”

Robbins, who was first elected to the Minnesota House in 2018, represents a purple district in the Minneapolis suburbs. She has touted that in the crowded field of GOP gubernatorial contenders, she’s the “only conservative Republican who’s a proven winner in the suburbs.”

Robbins served as Minnesota state chair of former U.S. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s 2024 Republican presidential campaign.

And on Thursday, Haley praised Robbins in a fundraising email to supporters.

“We have to stop Tim Walz and elect a leader who will fight to end this corruption!” Haley wrote. “Kristin Robbins has spent her career fighting fraud and she’ll do the same as governor.”

Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, a far-left Democrat who nearly unseated Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in 2022, launched a campaign for governor on Tuesday.

Barnes enters the race to replace retiring Gov. Tony Evers, D-Wis., as the likely frontrunner in a crowded Democratic primary field. But unlike his lesser-known rivals, Barnes brings the baggage of a nationalized, multimillion-dollar Senate race that exposed years of radical positions and a record Republicans have already used to define him statewide.

Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wisc., the most high-profile Republican in Wisconsin’s upcoming gubernatorial contest, on Tuesday took a “trip down memory lane on why far-left extremist Mandela Barnes would be WRONG for Wisconsin.”

“Mandela Barnes is a far-left extremist. The fact that he is the Democrat frontrunner shows just how radical and out of touch the party has become. Wisconsinites rejected him in 2022, and they will do it again in 2026,” Tiffany said in a statement. 

MANDELA BARNES ANNOUNCES BID FOR WISCONSIN GOVERNOR AFTER NARROW 2022 SENATE LOSS

Fox News Digital reported extensively on Barnes during the 2022 midterm elections before he lost by one percentage point to Johnson in a race that exposed vulnerabilities likely to plague his upcoming gubernatorial run.

MANDELA BARNES HAS LONG HISTORY WITH GROUP THAT SEEKS TO BAN GANG DATABASES, MAKE WISCONSIN A SANCTUARY STATE

From ties to groups who called for defunding the police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to drafting legislation to ban hollow-point bullets and assault rifles, here’s a look back at the storylines that dominated Barnes’ Senate campaign.

Fox News Digital reported in October 2022 that Barnes has a long history with a liberal nonprofit group that aims to defund the police, get rid of law enforcement gang databases, treat 24-year-old criminals as juveniles and make Wisconsin a sanctuary state.

Barnes served on the board of directors for Citizen Action of Wisconsin (CAW) from 2014 through 2018 and was its secretary in 2017 and 2018. The group endorsed Barnes’ campaign in June 2022, and he said he was “proud” to have its support.

“We’ve worked together for a long time now, and I’m excited about the idea that we can finally get rid of Ron Johnson together,” Barnes said on CAW’s podcast, “Battleground Wisconsin,” in June 2022.

“You are someone who has been a part of our movement and a part of Citizen Action for a number of years,” the podcast host responded. “Your agenda aligns with us.”

CAW describes itself on its website as a social justice group working to “improve the lives and life prospects of all working class Wisconsinites, but at the same time disproportionately benefit communities of color because they are the most economically marginalized and impoverished.”

Fox News Digital reported in September 2022 that Barnes has repeatedly advocated for cutting the state’s prison population in half, eliminating cash bail and other progressive criminal justice reforms.

Before entering public office, Barnes previously worked as an organizer for Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope, a Milwaukee-based social justice group, when he teamed up with another organization, Wisdom, to launch a 2012 initiative aimed at cutting Wisconsin’s prison population in half.

The initiative, called the 11×15 Campaign, sought to reduce the state’s prison population to 11,000 inmates by 2015, Barnes told local media at the time.

Later that month, Fox News Digital also reported that Barnes was endorsed by a radical anti-police group that has called for defunding and disbanding law enforcement, as well as abolishing ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

On its website, Color of Change PAC celebrated Barnes’ experience as a former field organizer and state representative, as well as the current lieutenant governor of the state, while calling for voters to make him the first Black senator from Wisconsin.

The group touts itself as the “nation’s largest online racial justice organization,” and has engaged in sharp rhetoric aimed at law enforcement, as well as policing policies and institutions it claims are “racist.”

And in August 2022, Fox News Digital reported that Barnes chaired a government climate change task force that recommended anti-racism education.

The so-called Task Force on Climate Change — which Evers created and appointed Barnes to lead in October 2019 — was designed to develop strategies for the state’s government to pursue to combat climate change. Barnes and the task force’s other members delivered a final report more than a year later in December 2020 which laid out 55 solutions to fight global warming and promote “environmental justice.”

“In order to address this crisis and the environmental injustices associated with it, we must take urgent action, and we must ensure those actions are equitable and inclusive—anything less will continue the long pattern of environmental racism we have witnessed in this country,” Barnes said in a statement after the report was published.

Barnes has a lengthy list of policy goals on his freshly launched gubernatorial campaign website, which includes commitments to banning assault weapons, making “Roe v. Wade the law of the land” and fighting back against President Donald Trump’s “tariff disaster.”

Upon launching his campaign, Barnes said he is running because “this moment demands bold leadership for Wisconsin.”

When reached for comment, Barnes told Fox News Digital that as lieutenant governor, “I’ve had a strong record supporting and delivering resources to give law enforcement the tools and training they need to keep our communities safe and keep violent criminals off our streets, so I obviously disagree with any group calling to defund the police.”

“As someone who lost several close friends to gun violence growing up, I believe deeply and personally that everyone has a right to feel safe in their community, and as Governor I’ll work closely with law enforcement to protect Wisconsinites. Meanwhile Donald Trump pardoned a high-profile drug trafficker just this week,” Barnes said, referring to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. 

His campaign also emphasized Barnes’ “strong record supporting law enforcement funding to keep Wisconsin communities safe.”

Fox News Digital’s Jessica Chasmar, Brandon Gillespie and Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.

Congress wants to seize the reins and take greater control of U.S. military action in the Caribbean, as the Trump administration’s strikes in the region’s waters come under intense scrutiny. 

While some lawmakers have been questioning the legality of strikes that the administration says aim to cut down on the flow of drugs into the U.S., the attacks have attracted heightened scrutiny amid revelations that U.S. forces conducted a second strike killing alleged drug smugglers Sept. 2 – after a first strike left survivors. Lawmakers have voiced concerns about the legality of that strike. 

From introducing new legislation restricting funds for the Trump administration’s operations in the region, to urging the White House to release video footage of the second strike, there is mounting interest from Democrats and some Republicans to reassert its power to formally initiate military conflict.

Bolstered Congressional oversight could likely prompt the Trump administration to exercise more caution regarding land strikes, and potentially pivot and employ new strategic tactics, according to experts.

SEN KENNEDY BLASTS ‘HYSTERICAL’ COLLEAGUES, SAYS CARTEL STRIKE CRITICS ‘EXCEEDED THE LIMITS OF THEIR MEDS’ 

“At this point I think we have to assume that increased Congressional oversight will make military action inside Venezuela less likely, unless the White House presents a clearer case for it,” Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council international affairs think tank, said in an email to Fox News Digital Monday. 

Trump has spoken for weeks about potentially conducting land operations within Venezuela, and said Wednesday that strikes on land would start happening “very soon.” 

Katherine Thompson, a senior fellow in defense and foreign policy studies at the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute, said that while she doesn’t anticipate that the administration will back away from its broader border security mission, she said that the administration will likely “shift their tactics” amid the “pain” of enhanced scrutiny from Capitol Hill.

TOP DEM BLASTS TRUMP’S CARTEL STRIKES, SAYS ADMIN OVERSTEPPING WAR POWERS 

Consequences that lawmakers on Capitol Hill could employ include limiting funds for operations in the region, or failing to get behind any nominees that are still awaiting confirmation, Thompson said. 

“I think in order to avoid some of those more harsh political punishments, the administration will likely have to shift its strategy,” Thompson said. 

For example, Thompson said she anticipated that Trump would exercise greater caution regarding potential land strikes within Venezuela, given the possibility both chambers of Congress could pass a joint resolution of disapproval via the War Powers Act opposing military activity in the region.

US ESCALATION WITH MADURO HALTS DEPORTATION FLIGHTS TO VENEZUELA 

“Even if he vetoed it, if it looked like Congress had a veto proof majority, that would be a pretty huge indictment to face,” Thompson said. 

To mitigate the sting of some of these actions from Capitol Hill, Thompson said that the administration could propose an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to back military action in the region, where the administration could make the case that the strikes are within the scope of deterrence and that there is an imminent threat to the U.S., Thompson said. 

An AUMF is a resolution that Congress approves, granting the executive branch the ability to employ military force against identified targets. 

The Trump administration has leveled a military buildup in the Caribbean and has taken unprecedented steps — including deploying the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford — to the region as part of Trump’s war against drugs. Likewise, the administration has conducted more than 20 strikes targeting these alleged drug boats since September. 

The move also puts greater pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to step down, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in October that he believes Trump has made the decision that “it’s time” for Maduro to go. 

The White House has refused to comment on whether it is pursuing a regime change in Venezuela, although it does not acknowledge Maduro as a legitimate head of state and claims he is the leader of a drug cartel. For example, the Trump administration increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest in August to $50 million. 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS BACK TRUMP’S VENEZUELA MOVES FOR NOW AS ESCALATION UNCERTAINTY LOOMS 

The White House told Fox News Digital Thursday that as commander-in-chief, Trump has “full authority to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country.”

“As President Trump has said, all options are on the table as he works to combat the scourge of narcoterrorism that has resulted in the needless deaths of thousands of innocent Americans,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “All of these decisive strikes have been in international waters against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores.”

Democrats have moved swiftly to limit the Trump administration’s activity in Venezuela, and members from both sides of the aisle have pushed for greater investigation into the second Sept. 2 strike. 

For example, Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced a piece of legislation Thursday called the Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act of 2025, which would bar the Trump administration from using federal funding to conduct military strikes within or against Venezuela unless it receives congressional approval. 

“We shouldn’t stumble into an unnecessary war with Venezuela — risking U.S. servicemembers’ lives — with no congressional authorization and incomplete information about the Administration’s objectives, its legal rationale, and the potential consequences of a long-term conflict that could drive migration and irreparably fracture Venezuela,” Kaine said in a Thursday statement. 

GOP FRACTURES OVER HEGSETH’S ‘DOUBLE-TAP’ CARIBBEAN STRIKE AS CONGRESS PROBES LEGALITY 

Even so, the measure does not place restrictions prohibiting the U.S. from acting in self-defense against an armed attack or threat of an imminent armed attack. 

The legislation also comes directly after the introduction of another war powers resolution to curb the Trump administration’s ability to conduct strikes in the Caribbean. 

While previous war powers resolutions have failed to garner support for passage in recent months, Kaine, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a war powers resolution Wednesday to bar Trump from using U.S. armed forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela.

TRUMP WARNS US MAY LAUNCH LAND OPERATIONS INSIDE VENEZUELA ‘VERY SOON,’ SAYS REGIME SENT ‘KILLERS’ TO AMERICA

These actions come after the Washington Post wrote a report Friday claiming that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth allegedly ordered everyone onboard the alleged drug boat to be killed in a Sept. 2 operation. The Post reported that a second strike was conducted to take out the remaining survivors on the boat. 

The White House verified Monday that a second strike had occurred that day, but disputed that Hegseth ever gave an initial order to ensure that everyone on board was killed, when asked specifically about Hegseth’s instructions.

The White House also said Monday that Hegseth had authorized the head of U.S. Special Operations Command Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley to conduct the strikes, and that Bradley was the one who ordered and directed the second one.

GOP SAYS TRUMP FACING TOUGHER SCRUTINY FOR CARIBBEAN STRIKES THAN OBAMA DID FOR DRONE PROGRAM 

Bradley, who was serving as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command at the time of the strike, appeared before lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday for a closed-door briefing. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told reporters afterward that Bradley “was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all.”

“He was given an order that, of course, was written down in great detail,” said Cotton, who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

Even so, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said that the briefing with Bradley only exacerbated his concerns about the strikes — and urged Trump to follow through on his agreement to release the video footage of the second strike.

HEGSETH BACKS SPECIAL OPS CHIEF’S ‘COMBAT DECISIONS’ IN DEADLY CARIBBEAN STRIKE AHEAD OF CLASSIFIED BRIEFING 

“I am deeply disturbed by what I saw this morning,” Reed said in a statement Thursday. “The Department of Defense has no choice but to release the complete, unedited footage of the September 2nd strike, as the President has agreed to do.” 

“This briefing confirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump Administration’s military activities, and demonstrates exactly why the Senate Armed Services Committee has repeatedly requested — and been denied — fundamental information, documents, and facts about this operation,” Reed said. “This must and will be the only beginning of our investigation into this incident.”

Reed also said that he and Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., have asked for the executive orders authorizing operations and full videos of the strikes, and other documentation as part of their oversight efforts. 

Meanwhile, the White House routinely has defended the legality of the strikes in recent months, and has backed Bradley. For example, Hegseth said Tuesday that carrying out a subsequent strike on the alleged drug boat was the right call.

Altogether, the Trump administration has conducted at least 21 strikes near Venezuela. 

The most recent confirmed attack occurred Nov. 15. Hegseth said Tuesday that although there has been a pause in strikes in the Caribbean because alleged drug boats are becoming harder to find, the Trump administration’s crusade against drugs will continue.

“We’ve only just begun striking narco-boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they’ve been poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said Tuesday. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Maryland‘s voter rolls are coming under House Republican scrutiny after it was discovered that an illegal immigrant serving as a superintendent of a massive school system in Iowa was fraudulently registered to vote in Maryland, Fox News Digital learned. 

House Committee on House Administration chair Bryan Steil, R-Wisc., and Vice Chair Laurel Lee, R-Fla., sent a letter to Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis on Thursday demanding answers regarding Ian Andre Roberts’ registration to vote in the state despite not holding U.S. citizenship. The House Administration Committee oversees House operations and oversight and also is charged with considering proposals to amend federal election law. 

Roberts’ voter registration documents have faced intense scrutiny from conservatives, including when a Maryland county board of elections released redacted versions of the files in November that blacked out how Roberts answered the citizenship question. 

“The Committee is concerned about the integrity and accuracy of Maryland’s citizenship verification processes, and therefore the state’s voter rolls. To assist the Committee’s oversight of this matter, please provide the following information as soon as possible,” the letter read, hitting the election chief with 10 questions related to the state’s voter role vetting process and the prevalence of illegal immigrants on voter rolls. 

LEGAL THREAT CRACKS OPEN VOTER RECORDS FOR ILLEGAL SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT NABBED BY ICE

The committee is pressing for details, asking: “Is Roberts still a registered voter in Maryland?;” “Has Mr. Roberts ever voted in Maryland? If yes, what election(s) did he participate in?;” “Was Mr. Roberts ever mailed an absentee ballot? If yes, for which election(s)?” and “How does the State Board of Elections fulfill their obligations under 52 U.S.C. §20507 to conduct a general program to remove ineligible voters from the rolls?”

Maryland is a Democratic state, with the party controlling the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general and both chambers of the state legislature.

Roberts worked in Baltimore City Schools between August 2001 and June 2010, including serving as a teacher, resident principal and principal at various points across his career in Maryland, local media previously reported. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Roberts, who originally is from Guyana, in September. Roberts was working as the superintendent of the Des Moines, Iowa, public school system at the time of his arrest, which sparked widespread interest and concern that an illegal immigrant was in such a high-profile position despite his employment authorization card expiring in 2020. 

The arrest opened the floodgates to investigations into Roberts’ past, including uncovering a lengthy criminal history in the U.S. that stretches back to 1996, when he was charged with criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell in New York. 

Roberts also was discovered to be a registered voter in Maryland. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal or state elections.

Maryland, along with five other states, was additionally hit with a lawsuit earlier in December filed by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division for “failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request,” according to the DOJ. 

“The Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the Maryland Board of Elections is a stark reminder of the deep-seated issues plaguing our voter registration system,” Republican state delegate Matt Morgan, who is chair of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, said of Maryland’s voter roles to Fox Digital. 

“For years, we’ve heard dismissals that non-citizens voting ‘never happens,’ yet Ian Andra Roberts’ story is irrefutable proof to the contrary. These revelations highlight serious flaws that undermine public trust and the integrity of our elections. The Maryland Freedom Caucus supports the DOJ’s efforts to protect our democracy by ensuring only citizens vote,” he continued. 

HEAVILY REDACTED VOTING RECORDS FOR SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT NABBED BY ICE SPARK OUTRAGE

The Roberts saga heightened in November after the American Accountability Foundation filed a public records request to obtain Roberts’ voter registration documents. The Prince George, Maryland, Board of Elections returned heavily redacted documents that blacked out Roberts’ sex, whether he checked the citizenship box, his date of birth and other information.

Conservative legal group Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) sent the board a warning letter shortly after to provide unredacted versions of the documents or face a potential court battle. The county board complied in December, revealing Roberts fraudulently stated he was an American citizen on the documents. 

“When election officials attempt to hide eligibility records, the public loses the ability to verify that the law is being followed,” Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections CEO and President Justin Riemer said in a December press release of the unredacted version of the files. “Once the records were produced, we saw just how weak Maryland’s safeguards really are. This is unfortunately all too common around the country and federal laws do little to help stop noncitizens from registering to vote.”

The Maryland State Board of Elections previously said Roberts did not vote in elections. 

“Records released by the Maryland State Board of Elections confirm that a noncitizen has successfully registered to vote in Maryland on at least two occasions,” Steil and Lee continued in the letter. “The situation prompts ongoing concerns that states are not verifying the citizenship of registrants. Oversight of federal elections is critical to inform potential legislative reforms and safeguard the integrity of federal elections. The Committee is therefore seeking information from the Maryland State Board of Elections.” 

DEM SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR DROPS SENATE BID AFTER ‘RADICAL EMPATHY’ BACKLASH OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUPERINTENDENT

The letter also took issue with the heavy redactions to Roberts’ documents when they were initially released. 

“Mr. Roberts repeatedly claimed U.S. citizenship and remained a registered voter in Maryland for years, despite leaving the state over a decade ago,” they wrote. “The American Accountability Foundation filed a public records request for Mr. Roberts’s voter registration application. The original release of the documents contained heavy, intentional redactions, including Mr. Roberts’s answer to the citizenship question. The subsequent release of Mr. Roberts’s application still redacts crucial information such as the source of his voter registration application.” 

The committee leaders argued that the “recurring redactions suggest that Maryland is either concealing an accidental voter registration of an illegal alien or withholding information about its failure to verify citizenship.” 

The county board of elections told Fox News Digital Wednesday that “the Prince George’s County Board of Elections adheres to all legal and statutory requirements under the Federal and State Election Laws, as well as the processes and requirements set forth within the Maryland Code of Regulations (COMAR.)”

“Following a review of the (Maryland public information act) request by legal counsel, and after consultation with the Maryland State Board of Elections, given consideration to the NVRA statutory laws as well as the accompanying reported Federal Cases addressing the subject of Election Board voter information disclosures, it was determined that some of the information in question concerning Mr. Robers could not be redacted. The situation concerning the previously redacted information was immediately rectified,” election administrator Wendy Honesty-Bey said in an email to Fox News Digital. 

Roberts was taken into the U.S. Marshall’s custody and will face prosecution, the Department of Homeland Security said in October. 

SEARCH FIRM BEHIND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUPERINTENDENT SELECTION RECRUITS TOP SCHOOL LEADERS NATIONWIDE

Roberts’ arrest, itself, also was mired in controversy. He attempted to flee law enforcement officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and was found to be in possession of $3,000 in cash, a Glock 9 mm pistol and a hunting knife at the time of his arrest. 

Roberts was criminally charged Oct. 2 with being an illegal alien in possession of firearms, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

The charges are his latest in a lengthy rap sheet that goes back to 1996. 

Roberts first arrived in the U.S. in 1994, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and faced a charge for third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle in Queens, New York, in 1998 that was later dropped, a 2012 conviction for reckless driving in Maryland, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and other weapons charges in 2020, and a 2022 conviction for unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in Pennsylvania. 

The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked Roberts’ education license following his arrest, and he is no longer permitted to serve as a superintendent in the state. The district is now suing the executive search firm that helped hire Roberts for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, general negligence and is also seeking monetary damages, Fox Digital previously reported. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Roberts’ attorney for any updates on the case. 

“We’re reviewing all allegations at this point to determine their veracity,” Brandon Brown, an attorney for Roberts, told Axios in October. 

President Donald Trump on Thursday hired a new architect to lead the next phase of the White House ballroom project.

Trump tapped Shalom Baranes Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based architectural firm to oversee the ballroom design effort.

“As we begin to transition into the next stage of development on the White House Ballroom, the Administration is excited to share that the highly talented Shalom Baranes has joined the team of experts to carry out President Trump’s vision on building what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office — the White House Ballroom,” White House Spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.

Ingle added, “Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project.”

WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS TO REPORTS TRUMP NAMED NEW BALLROOM AFTER HIMSELF

Trump initially chose McCrery Architects to design the ballroom. McCrery will remain a valuable consultant on the project, a White House official told Fox News.

Construction started on the ballroom in October, leading to the demolition of the White House’s historic East Wing.

The project is being privately funded at an estimated cost of $300 million, up from a $200 million estimate in July when the project was unveiled.

FIRST LADY DOLLEY MADISON WOULD HAVE HAD A BALL WITH TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE RENOVATIONS

Trump provided an update on construction during a cabinet meeting Tuesday, saying, “I wouldn’t say my wife is thrilled.”

“She hears pile drivers in the background all day, all night,” he said.

The president said the overhaul has been needed for 150 years, adding, “I think it’s going to be the finest ballroom ever built.”

The White House previously said the long-envisioned addition will be designed to host large gatherings and state visits, and will be completed before the end of Trump’s term.