A new House Republican bill would send any person charged and convicted for illegal activity on a college campus to Gaza for at least six months.

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced the bill on Wednesday alongside Reps. Randy Weber, R-Texas, and Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., in response to the ongoing anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses across the country.

Several of those protests have turned violent, with clashes between police and activists, as well as hundreds of activists being arrested across multiple campuses.

While Ogles’ bill text does not mention Israel or the anti-Israel groups, it specifically targets unlawful activity on college campuses after Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants invaded Israel in a surprise attack that killed over 1,000 people. 

Those convicted would be forced to serve a minimum six-month community service sentence in Gaza, where Israel is currently waging a brutal campaign to eradicate Hamas and rescue the remaining Israelis that terrorists took hostage in October.

‘Students have abandoned their classes to harass other students and disrupt campus-wide activities, including university commencement ceremonies nationwide. Enough is enough,’ Ogles told Fox News Digital.

‘That’s why I introduced legislation to send any person convicted of unlawful activity on the campus of an American university since October 7th, 2023, to Gaza to complete a minimum of six months of community service.’

Weber added, ‘If you support a terrorist organization, and you participate in unlawful activity on campuses, you should get a taste of your own medicine. I am going to bet that these pro-Hamas supporters wouldn’t last a day, but let’s give them the opportunity.’

The bill is likely to face uncertain odds in the House, where Republicans hold a razor-thin majority of just one seat. Even if it passed, the Democrat-controlled Senate will almost certainly ignore it.

It is an example, however, of the heightened tensions wracking the U.S. over Israel’s war with Hamas. 

The college protests here have garnered bipartisan criticism from virtually all Republicans and a significant number of Democrats, but progressives have continued to show strong support for the students and other activists on campus.

Comments by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., for example, referring to some Jewish students as ‘pro-genocide’ have earned her a GOP-led censure resolution, filed by Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., on Tuesday.

Her fellow ‘Squad’ member, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., has also been censured for her comments about Israel in the wake of Oct. 7.

Two Republican congressional committee chairmen are again referring ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen to the Justice Department for lying to Congress, Fox News Digital has learned. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., had previously referred Cohen to the Justice Department after Cohen allegedly lied to Congress in a February 2019 hearing. 

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations, making false statements to Congress and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

In a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, obtained by Fox News, Comer and Jordan wrote that much of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s ongoing case against former President Donald Trump is based on testimony from Cohen, whom they called a ‘repeated liar.’ 

In the letter Wednesday, Jordan and Comer remind Garland that Republicans, in February 2019, referred Cohen to the Justice Department ‘for perjury and knowingly making false statements during his testimony’ before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 27, 2019. 

Jordan and Comer said, at the time, members cited ‘six specific lies told by Cohen and urged the Justice Department to take appropriate action.’ 

‘Last year, we learned that Cohen separately lied again before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in a 2019 deposition,’ they wrote. Cohen appeared to admit to being dishonest in Trump’s non-jury civil trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit. 

‘Cohen’s testimony is now the basis for a politically motivated prosecution of a former president and current declared candidate for that office,’ Jordan and Comer wrote. ‘In light of the reliance on the testimony from this repeated liar, we reiterate our concerns and ask what the Justice Department has done to hold Cohen accountable for his false statements to Congress.’ 

Cohen, during his February 2019 testimony, ‘made willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact that were contradicted by the record established by the Justice Department in United States v. Cohen,’ they wrote. Jordan and Comer also said Cohen made statements that were contradicted by witnesses with firsthand knowledge of the subject. 

Those lies, according to Jordan and Comer, included Cohen denying committing various fraudulent acts, to which he had pleaded guilty in federal court. 

Cohen also repeatedly testified that he did not seek employment in then-President Trump’s White House, ‘despite evidence from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York demonstrating that ‘Cohen privately told friends…that he expected to be given a prominent role and title in the new administration.’’ 

Jordan and Comer also said Cohen stated that he ‘did not direct the creation of a Twitter account known as @WomenForCohen, which is contradicted by statements from the owner of the IT firm that created the account for Cohen.’ 

They also said Cohen lied when he said he did not have any reportable foreign government contracts, despite entering into two contracts in 2017 with entities owned in part by foreign governments.

Jordan and Comer said Cohen’s testimony also contradicted various aspects of his written statement, which he submitted in advance of the hearing. Cohen asserted that he committed crimes out of ‘blind loyalty’ to Trump, but Jordan and Comer said that was contradicted by federal prosecutors in federal court. 

Most recently, Jordan and Comer said, was in October 2023, when Cohen ‘admitted to lying to Congress’ during his testimony in the Letitia James case against Trump. 

When asked if he was being ‘honest’ in front of the House Intelligence Committee in February 2019, Cohen testified: ‘No.’

‘So you lied under oath in February of 2019? Is that your testimony?’ Trump attorney Alina Habba asked him.

‘Yes,’ Cohen replied.

The revelation prompted current House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and committee member, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., in October to refer Cohen again to the DOJ for perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress. 

Just last week, Turner and Stefanik doubled down on their calls for another DOJ investigation into Bragg’s ‘star witness.’ 

‘Currently, Manhattan’s popularly elected District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, is using Cohen as his star witness in an ongoing criminal prosecution of President Donald Trump,’ Jordan and Comer wrote, noting that Bragg’s case ‘relies heavily on Cohen’s testimony and credibility.’ 

But the lawmakers said, in short, ‘to prosecute President Trump, Bragg has revived this ‘zombie’ case relying on a known — and convicted — liar and his testimony at a congressional hearing in which he lied at least six times.’ 

Jordan and Comer stressed that Bragg, ‘a popularly elected, partisan prosecutor, is using this convicted liar to carry out his politically motivated prosecution of a former president.’ 

‘Therefore, we again request that the Justice Department investigate whether any of Mr. Cohen’s testimony warrants another charge’ for violating the law, they wrote. 

‘Congress cannot perform its oversight function if witnesses who appear before its committees do not provide truthful testimony,’ Jordan and Comer wrote. 

The unprecedented criminal trial for Trump is ongoing. Cohen is expected to be called to testify. 

Cohen arranged the $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. 

Trump, later, made several payments of $35,000 to Cohen, who was his personal attorney at the time. Bragg is trying to prove those payments, which totaled $420,000, were a reimbursement for the hush money payment. 

But Trump defense attorneys say that the $35,000 payments were ‘not a payback,’ but instead, legal payments. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said it was not falsifying a record for a bookkeeper to note a payment as ‘legal expense’ while paying a legal fee.

‘They call it a legal expense — and that’s what it was. It was a legal expense,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘It was legal fees paid to a lawyer — that’s called a legal expense.’ 

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. 

The charges are related to alleged payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump.

Bragg must convince the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to alleged hush money payments, but that he did so in furtherance of another crime: conspiracy to promote or prevent election, which is a felony.

On their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are misdemeanor charges.

Republican lawmakers revealed ‘troubling allegations’ against President Biden’s embattled special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, who is said to have stored classified material on a personal email account and cellphone that were later accessed by a ‘hostile cyber actor.’

The top Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees sent a letter to the State Department on Monday requesting confirmation of their findings against Malley, who was placed on unpaid leave last June and had his security clearance suspended amid a State Department investigation for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

The letter, which was obtained by Fox News Digital, was addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and included a handful of allegations against Malley that stemmed from an investigation launched by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member James Risch, R-Idaho, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas. 

‘We remain deeply frustrated by the Department’s lack of responsiveness to our requests for information needed to conduct appropriate oversight,’ the lawmakers told Blinken in the letter, which was first reported by the Washington Post. ‘Due to the Department’s evasiveness and lack of transparency, we have worked to glean information from other sources. Our own investigations have uncovered the following information and troubling allegations. We ask that you confirm the information we have learned.’

The two Republican lawmakers added, ‘Specifically, we understand that Mr. Malley’s security clearance was suspended because he allegedly transferred classified documents to his personal email account and downloaded these documents to his personal cell phone. It is unclear to whom he intended to provide these documents, but it is believed that a hostile cyber actor was able to gain access to his email and/or phone and obtain the downloaded information.’

The GOP lawmakers also asked Blinken for additional information regarding the exact reasoning behind Malley’s suspension, as well as the classification levels of the documents he stored on his personal devices and accounts that were said to have been hacked.

Among the many questions, the Republicans asked Blinken was whether Malley sent classified material to individuals who lacked security clearances and whether the alleged cyber actor was affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG), the Iranian military, or intelligence services.

The lawmakers also requested information on how Malley’s personal email and/or cellphone were hacked, as well as whether the Biden administration has plans to allow Malley to return to the State Department.

‘The allegations we have been privy to are extremely troubling and demand immediate answers,’ the lawmakers concluded in their letter to Blinken. ‘These allegations have substantial impact on our national security and people should be held accountable swiftly and strongly.’

President Biden tapped Malley in January 2021 to try to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, under which Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program to make it harder to obtain a nuclear weapon in return for economic sanctions relief. In 2018, President Trump opted to kill the deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Malley stepped back from his State Department role shortly before Iran’s release of five U.S. citizens to house arrest as part of a deal under which they would eventually leave Iran and $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea would be unfrozen.

Malley confirmed last June that his clearance was being investigated, but said he was confident of a positive outcome.

‘I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave,’ Malley said to Fox News at the time. 

‘While I am on leave from the State Department, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with the next generation of public servants,’ Malley said in the statement. ‘I look forward to my time at Princeton and returning to government service in due course.’

A spokesperson for the State Department confirmed to the New York Post on Tuesday that Malley remains on leave and that the department has given Congress information on personnel inquiries related to Iran policy. The spokesperson did not, however, comment on the allegations revealed in the letter to Blinken from Risch and McCaul.

Former President Trump’s Super PAC has launched a @MAGA TikTok — the first entity connected to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to join the video sharing social media platform, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Make America Great Again Inc. (MAGA Inc) has launched @MAGA, with officials connected to the PAC telling Fox News Digital TikTok will be yet another social media vehicle to distribute Trump campaign messaging, rapid response, and content supporting Trump’s 2024 election efforts. 

‘There’s millions of voters on TikTok, and @MAGA will deliver President Donald J. Trump’s pro-freedom, pro-America agenda every day with the facts and stories that matter,’ MAGA Inc. CEO Taylor Budowich told Fox News Digital. 

TikTok is facing a potential ban in the U.S. over concerns about its parent company, ByteDance, and ties to the Chinese Communist Party. President Biden signed into law a bill that would force a ban on the app in the U.S. if TikTok doesn’t find a non-Chinese-controlled owner. Trump himself came out against the potential ban, though he is not on the platform himself.

‘We aren’t trying to set policy, we are trying to win an election,’ Budowich said. ‘Big Tech, including Google and Facebook, is actively interfering with our elections, that’s an unfortunate reality.’ 

But Budowich said they ‘will not cede any platform to Joe Biden and the Democrats who are trying to destroy our country.’ 

‘We will ensure President Trump’s America First agenda will be brought to every corner of the internet and every precinct of this country,’ Budowich said. 

The PAC’s first TikToks highlight the economy under President Biden, and says if Trump is elected, there will be an economic ‘boom.’ Another is aimed at Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and calls out his record and past support of Democrats like Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. 

MAGA Inc. is already active on X, previously known as Twitter. MAGA Inc. has used its @MAGAIncWarRoom account on the platform to post opposition research and rapid responses since the GOP primaries, and will continue through the general election. 

Though the Biden White House is not on TikTok — the app is not permitted on government devices due to national security concerns — the Biden campaign has an account. 

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit earlier this week in federal court seeking to block a new U.S. law mandating that the social media platform be sold to a company without ties to the Chinese Communist Party. 

The bill, passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by Biden last month, forces ByteDance, which is based in China, to sell the app or be banned in the United States. 

Lawmakers accuse the platform of being a risk to U.S. national security, collecting user data, and spreading propaganda. 

TikTok’s lawsuit argues that such a divestiture cannot happen, noting the Chinese government’s own demands relating to TikTok.

The lawsuit argues that divestiture ‘is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally…. There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere.’

Critical to ByteDance’s argument is that the Chinese government ‘has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States.’

The lawsuit goes on to say that TikTok has already spent $2 billion on efforts to protect the data of American TikTok users, of which there are roughly 170 million.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew signaled the legal battle late last month.

‘Rest assured – we aren’t going anywhere,’ CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a video posted moments after Biden signed the bill. ‘The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again.’

Despite the new law, Biden’s campaign said they will stay on the video sharing platform. 

Several House Democrats facing tough re-election fights have accepted funds from a major political family that bankrolled a number of groups participating in the anti-Jewish protests sweeping across college campuses and in cities across the country.

According to FEC data, members of the prominent Pritzker family, the extremely wealthy owners of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, have given hundreds of thousands of dollars this election cycle to a number of those vulnerable Democrats, as well as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and House Majority PAC — two organizations tasked with winning a majority in the House of Representatives.

The Pritzker family has, at the same time, given to organizations involved with the anti-Jewish protests, which have received widespread condemnation and resulted in thousands of arrests, Politico reported over the weekend.

According to the report, the Pritzkers founded the Libra Foundation, a group that funds smaller, more narrow nonprofits, many of which have been active in the anti-Israel protests. Well-known Democrat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, while having given a significant amount to Democrats seeking re-election, is not specifically connected with the funding of the group.

One such group, the report said, is the Climate Justice Alliance, which has taken part in marches and used the term ‘Genocide Joe’ to criticize President Biden and his approach to Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

Another is Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity, which, according to Politico, has promoted anti-Israel demonstrations, and another is the Immigrant Defense Project, which participated in a protest in Washington, D.C., earlier this year that ended in a number of arrests.

The Pritzkers, alongside liberal billionaire George Soros, are also funders of the Tides Foundation, a left-wing organization that funds other small progressive groups, including Adalah Justice Project, a participant in the protest at Columbia University that was broken up last week, Politico reported.

In addition to the DCCC and House Majority PAC, the list of Democrats receiving money from the Pritzkers includes Reps. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska; Mike Levin, D-Calif.; Eric Sorensen, D-Ill.; Sharice Davids, D-Kan.; Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Susan Wild, D-Pa.; Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.; Chris Deluzio, D-Pa.; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.

Fox News Digital has reached out to each of those candidates, the DCCC, the House Majority PAC and members of the Pritzker family for comment.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign said, ‘Marie is a steadfast supporter of Israel‘s right to defend itself and led the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act in Congress to provide vital military aid to Israel in its fight against Hamas and Iran. She opposes political violence and angry mobs, whether organized by the far-left or far-right.’

Former President Trump appears to be showing some support for a key demand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has made of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., amid her threats to force a House-wide vote on the GOP leader’s ouster.

Greene took to social media on Tuesday evening to share a photo of a document shared with her by Trump. It shows an image of a reporter’s X post citing Johnson’s comments in a Tuesday morning press conference that the House was ‘looking very intently’ at ways to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the former president.

Underneath the post is what appears to be Trump’s handwriting with the brief inscription, ‘Great!’ followed by his signature.

Greene’s office told Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning that the message was sent to Greene by Trump. Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Trump for further comment.

‘I’m fighting for President Trump, our Republican majority, and every person who believes in our America First agenda. Proud to have the support of President Trump, and he has mine!’ Greene wrote when sharing the message on X.

Defunding the special counsel’s office is one of several demands Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., shared with Johnson earlier this week.

Johnson, who has insisted he is not negotiating with the GOP rebels, similarly appeared to show support for the idea while downplaying their role in promoting it.

‘There’s discussion this week, as there has been for a long, long time, about what is the most effective way for Congress to take the reins of that and ensure that the special counsels are not abusing the law themselves,’ Johnson said Tuesday morning. ‘There’s a lot of ideas about that. Discussions this week are nothing new, but we’re looking very intently at it because I think the problem has reached a crescendo.’

The most likely place for that funding battle would be the looming fiscal year 2025 government funding talks, but Republicans face an uphill battle getting it across the finish line. Any proposal to defund Smith’s probe is likely to die in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Massie and Greene, along with Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., are threatening to force a House-wide vote on Johnson’s ouster via a procedure known as a motion to vacate the chair. 

The push has fallen mostly flat among the House Republican conference, however, where even the speaker’s critics in the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus have shown little appetite for another three weeks of chaos like what followed the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Trump himself has voiced support for Johnson both publicly and privately amid Greene’s ouster threats.

‘It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do,’ Trump said earlier this month to radio host John Fredericks, citing Johnson’s razor-thin House majority. ‘I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on NATO when I said NATO has to pay up… It’s a tough situation when you have. I think he’s a very good man. I think he’s trying very hard.’

He also referenced the November elections just six months away.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., another Trump ally, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday, ‘I was with President Trump over the weekend. He’s with Mike Johnson.’

‘He thinks he’s doing his best in a difficult situation,’ Meuser said when asked for details of their conversation. Of the motion to vacate, Meuser said of Trump, ‘I think he would prefer that not to occur right now.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment on Greene’s push.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Tuesday reignited his call to debate former President Trump, suggesting ‘perfect neutral territory’ at the upcoming Libertarian Party convention as the venue. 

In a message on X, RFK Jr. acknowledged how both he and Trump are already scheduled to speak at the convention on May 24 and 25 in Washington, D.C.

‘It’s perfect neutral territory for you and me to have a debate where you can defend your record for your wavering supporters,’ Kennedy wrote to Trump. ‘You yourself have said you’re not afraid to debate me as long as my poll numbers are decent. Well, they are. In fact, I’m the only presidential candidate in history who has polled ahead of both major party candidates in head-to-head races.’ 

‘So let’s meet at the Libertarian convention and show the American public that at least two of the major candidates aren’t afraid to debate each other,’ he added. ‘I asked the convention organizers and they are game for us to use our time there to bring the American people the debate they deserve!’ 

Kennedy said he was ‘grateful’ to Trump for ‘calling attention to the rigged polling methodologies that biased DNC-influenced media have used against you.’ 

‘We have this concern too, and I’m happy to show you the deceptive methodologies used by DNC-allied pollsters who pretend that I’m in single digits. You have correctly characterized these as ‘fake polls,” he said. 

Kennedy pointed to polling results from Zogby, an analytics firm he contracted. The independent presidential candidate said that poll shows Trump beat President Biden ‘handily’ in a head-to-head matchup.

‘I crush him as well, by even more. And against each other, I beat you in a nail-biter,’ RFK Jr. claimed. ‘In a three-way, you are ahead but I’m coming up strong. Two new polls (CNN and Quinnipiac) have me above the 15% debate threshold. Another (Activote) has me at 26% among young voters. And you and I are tied among America’s 70 million Independents.’ 

RFK. Jr. said he is also drawing a lot of voters from former Trump supporters who are ‘upset that you blew up the deficit, shut down their businesses during Covid, and filled your administration with swamp creatures.’ 

Six months before Election Day, Biden and Trump – the presumptive Democrat and Republican nominees – are locked in the first contest in 112 years with a current and former president competing for the White House. Kennedy, meanwhile, has increasingly been challenging Biden and Trump to debate him in recent weeks, hoping to bring his independent candidacy more mainstream.  

Kennedy’s campaign remains determined to get him on the ballot in all 50 states. So far, RFK Jr. is on the ballot in 10 states, The Hill reported. 

Either Biden or Trump would be the oldest president ever sworn in on Inauguration Day.

Trump is in the midst of the first of potentially four criminal trials and facing felony charges. The Constitution does not prevent him from assuming the presidency if convicted — or even if he is in prison.

Biden, who will turn 82 years old just weeks after Election Day, Nov. 5, is already the oldest president in U.S. history; Trump is 77.

Privately, Democratic operatives close to the campaign worry constantly about Biden’s health and voters’ dim perceptions of it, according to The Associated Press. In recent weeks, aides have begun walking at Biden’s side as he strolls to and from Marine One, the presidential helicopter, on the White House South Lawn in an apparent effort to help mask the president’s stiff gait.

Still, neither party is making serious contingency plans, assuming the general election matchup is all but set. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Congressional Republicans are applying pressure to both National Public Broadcasting (NPR) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) amid NPR’s bias scandal. 

A series of letters to both entities have been sent from both House and Senate Republicans, requesting action to ensure NPR’s integrity and address the allegations of ideological bias made by senior editor Uri Berliner, who has since left the organization. 

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce requested NPR CEO Katherine Maher to appear Wednesday for an Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on the allegations. 

‘The Committee has concerns about the direction in which NPR may be headed under past and present leadership,’ Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., wrote. 

However, a spokesperson for NPR told Fox News Digital in a statement that Maher would not be joining the subcommittee to testify. She is willing to testify on a different date, the spokesperson added. 

‘NPR respects the committee and its request and has offered to testify on a date in the near future that works for the committee and Maher,’ the spokesperson said. ‘NPR has a previously scheduled and publicly posted all-day meeting of its board of directors on that date, Maher’s first such meeting since she joined NPR just six weeks ago. These meetings are scheduled more than a year in advance.

‘Maher is therefore unable to attend this week’s hearing and has communicated that to the committee and proposed alternate dates. Maher will provide written testimony in her absence,’ the spokesperson continued. 

A spokesperson for the House Energy and Commerce committee told Fox News Digital Maher’s choice not to testify on Wednesday ‘speaks volumes.’

‘The chair looks forward to reviewing her thorough and transparent responses to the committee’s letter,’ the spokesperson said. 

A spokesperson for Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., did not say whether she is concerned by the allegations made against NPR or if she would invite Maher to testify in the Senate. 

‘The chair is focused on getting a five-year reauthorization passed,’ the spokesperson said, referencing the FAA re-authorization bill that has a deadline of May 10. 

CPB has also been the recipient of letters scrutinizing its grant funding to NPR amid the scandal. Both Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have sent such letters. 

Asked by Fox News Digital for comment on the letters and any concerns the corporation might have over the revelations at NPR, CPB simply replied on Tuesday it ‘has confirmed receipt of Senator Cruz’s letter and will reply in a timely manner.’

The allegations of ideological bias in NPR’s newsroom have also led to bills being discussed in both chambers and introduced in the House to cut the organization’s funding. 

One such attempt by House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., would stop NPR from receiving federal funding, while also preventing public radio stations with federal grants from using them to buy content from or pay dues to NPR.

Berliner’s scathing essay addressing his concerns with his employer was published roughly one month ago, on April 9. Among other revelations, Berliner discovered that the NPR Washington, D.C., newsroom held zero Republicans, compared to 87 Democrats. 

The Biden administration has paused shipments of two types of precision bombs to Israel in response to U.S. opposition to Israeli forces’ operation in Rafah, according to a U.S. official.

One shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs the administration says might be used in Rafah has been placed on hold.

‘The U.S. position has been that Israel should not launch a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering with nowhere else to go,’ the U.S. official said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

‘We have been engaging in a dialogue with Israel in our Strategic Consultative Group format on how they will meet the humanitarian needs of civilians in Rafah, and how to operate differently against Hamas there than they have elsewhere in Gaza,’ the official continued. ‘Those discussions are ongoing and have not fully addressed our concerns. As Israeli leaders seemed to approach a decision point on such an operation, we began to carefully review proposed transfers of particular weapons to Israel that might be used in Rafah. This began in April.’

Following this review, the U.S. decided last week to pause a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to the official, who said the administration is ‘especially focused’ on the end-use of the 2,000-pound bombs and ‘the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza.’

A final determination has not yet been made on how to proceed with this shipment.

‘For certain other cases at the State Department, including Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits, we are continuing the review,’ the official said.  None of these cases involve imminent transfers – they are about future transfers.’

The official also emphasized that these shipments do not have anything to do with the Israel supplemental appropriations passed last month.

‘All are drawn from previously appropriated funds, some many years ago,’ the official said. ‘We are committed to ensuring Israel gets every dollar appropriated in the supplemental. In fact, we just approved the latest tranche of Foreign Military Financing: $827 million worth of weapons and equipment for Israel.’

The statement from the U.S. official comes after two Israeli officials told Axios that U.S.-manufactured ammunition to Israel was paused last week for the first time since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against the Jewish State.

On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces announced that it had gained operational control of the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing after troops began a ‘precise counterterrorism operation’ in eastern Rafah aimed at killing Hamas terrorists and dismantling ‘Hamas terrorist infrastructure within specific areas of eastern Rafah.’

Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report.

If Stormy Daniels succeeded yesterday in convincing a jury that she had a one-night sexual encounter with Donald Trump, it was by delving into the details.

At the same time, she acknowledged that Trump did nothing to pressure her into having sex in 2006 and that she sought him out the following year. The porn star has never described their alleged one-nighter as anything other than consensual sex, though Trump insists it never happened.

That may not matter in a trial that ultimately turns on an allegation of falsified business records, but this does:

Daniels says that in exchange for a $130,000 payment – and there’s no factual dispute that Michael Cohen sent her the money – she signed a non-disclosure agreement that required her to lie.  

‘I could not tell my story, he could not tell his story. We had to pretend we didn’t know each other.’ And that, of course, is a serious ding to her credibility.

Even reporters in the Manhattan courthouse said it was hard to know how this was playing with the jurors. Stormy made jokes they didn’t laugh at, and spoke so quickly that she repeatedly had to be admonished to slow down, so the court reporter could keep up.

Here’s what Daniels said happened that fateful night:

They met briefly at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament; she was 27, making and directing X-rated films, and he was about 60. Daniels says she knew little about him and had never seen ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’

She saw him again at the gift shop, as documented by a photo that the world has seen a billion times.

Bodyguard Keith Schiller asked if she’d have dinner with Trump; she says she replied ‘F*** no.’ But Schiller got her cell number (he’s in her contacts) and asked again by text.

Daniels’ publicist urged her to go, in what I find the funniest line of the day: ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?’

When she was taken to the penthouse, Trump was in silk pajamas. She says she told him to change.

Daniels described the room in detail, beautiful heavy furniture, in an attempt to prove she was there.

He asked about her family and how she got into adult movies. (Daniels testified earlier that ‘my mother was very neglectful, disappearing for days at a time.’)

Were there STD tests? She said she told Trump she’d never tested positive.

There was a very brief conversation about Melania: Trump said she was very beautiful, and added: ‘We don’t sleep in the same room.’

Stormy testified she snapped at Trump when he showed her a business magazine with him as the cover boy:

‘Are you always this rude? Are you always this arrogant and pompous? You don’t even know how to have a conversation.’ She looked at the magazine and said: ‘Someone should spank you with that.’

He played the ‘Apprentice’ card, saying she should come on his show. Stormy wasn’t buying it, saying NBC would never put on a porn star: ‘Even you don’t have that much power.’

She recalled Trump saying: ‘You remind me of my daughter, smart blonde and beautiful, people always underestimate her.’

Okay, enough small talk (there was two hours’ worth). 

Daniels crossed the bedroom to go to the bathroom, where she went through his toiletry bag.When Daniels came out, she testified, ‘he was on the bed, wearing boxers and a T-shirt.’

Here’s where it got dramatic: ‘I felt the room spin and blood leave my hands.’ How had she misread the situation? (Right, someone who is paid for sex had no idea?)

Stormy says she ‘blacked out,’ though she hadn’t been drugged.

‘There was an imbalance of power. He was bigger and blocking the way.’ But, ‘I was not threatened verbally or physically.’

Somehow she transitioned, after the blood leaving her hands, to saying ‘I had my clothes and my shoes off. I removed my bra.’ They were in the ‘missionary position.’ How does that square with her earlier freakout?

Judge Juan Merchan sustained the first of several defense objections to her description of the position. Daniels also said the action was brief, that he didn’t use a condom, and that she didn’t enjoy it.

More telling, in my view, is that the porn star stayed in touch with the man she says blocked her from leaving the room. She went to his launch of a vodka product the next spring, wanting to maintain a relationship because the possibility of an ‘Apprentice’ appearance was still in the air. 

She saw him again that summer in L.A., went to his hotel bungalow with her boyfriend stationed outside. ‘He kept trying to make sexual advances,’ putting his hand on her leg. She says she lied and claimed she was having her period.

Not shockingly, Trump later called, said he’d been overruled and couldn’t get her on the show.

A key moment, which Daniels has alleged before, is that an unknown man came up to her in a parking lot in 2011 and threatened her if she ever revealed the encounter with Trump. Of course, that makes the account impossible to fact-check.

In the final stretch of the 2016 campaign, Daniels was approached about the $130,000 payment, told that this way her husband would not find out. She kept saying she wasn’t interested in money, but was more than happy to take the six-figure deal.

When the Wall Street Journal exposed the hush money scheme in 2018, with no comment from Daniels, she says her life turned into ‘chaos’ and she was ‘ostracized.’

On cross-examination, the defense quickly scored points. Trump had called her ‘horseface.’ Did she ‘hate’ Trump? Yes. Does she want him to go to jail? If he’s convicted, ‘absolutely.’

Daniels lost a defamation suit she filed against the former president, but lost last year and was ordered to pay $120,000 and another $121,000 in attorneys’ fees. She vowed never to pay. 

In just a few minutes, given her harsh responses, the Trump defense painted her as an angry person with a sizable ax to grind against their client. 

The bottom line: Stormy Daniels said things that were both favorable and unfavorable to Donald Trump. Whether the jury views her as being candid or implying Trump was a predator may not matter much, except for the part about lying as part of the NDA for which Trump eventually reimbursed Michael Cohen for ‘legal expenses.’  

The Trump defense moved for a mistrial after the lunch break, saying the only reason for such prejudicial questions, ‘aside from pure embarrassment, is to inflame the jury.’

The judge, naturally, rejected the request, while agreeing there were some things that would have been ‘better left unsaid’ but the defense also shares responsibility.

Earlier, prosecutors called a Random House executive as a way of getting some of Trump’s book statements into the record. Some examples:

‘When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can.’

‘All the women on ‘The Apprentice’ flirted with me.’

And this goes more to the core legal charge:  

‘When you sign a check yourself, you’re seeing what’s really going on inside your business. If people see your signature at the bottom of the check… they screw you less.’

That is, screw in the business sense.