Giancarlo Esposito was struggling financially before he landed the role of a lifetime on ‘Breaking Bad.’

Esposito, who portrayed Gus Fring on the hit AMC drama, reached such a low point in life in 2008 he considered arranging his own murder so his family could benefit from a life insurance policy. 

‘My way out in my brain was, ‘Hey, do you get life insurance if someone commits suicide? Do they get the bread?’’ he said during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Jim & Sam show. ‘My wife said, ‘Well that’s kind of tricky’ … She had no idea why I was asking her this stuff.

‘I just started scheming. If I got somebody to knock me off, death through misadventure, they would get the insurance. 

‘I had four kids. I wanted them to have a life. Like, it was a hard moment in time. I literally thought of self-annihilation so that they could survive. That’s how low I was.’

Despite facing bankruptcy and enduring mental anguish, the idea of hurting his family was too much to bear.

‘That was the first inkling that there was a way out, but I wouldn’t be here to be available to it or to be a part of it or to be there for my kids,’ Esposito said. 

‘Then I started to think that’s not viable because the pain I would cause them would be lifelong, and lifelong trauma that would just extend the generational trauma with which I’m trying to move away from. The light at the end of the tunnel was ‘Breaking Bad.’’

Esposito’s role as the corrupt drug kingpin earned him an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actor in 2012 and opened doors to new career opportunities.

‘Breaking Bad’ premiered in 2008, starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn. The drug drama was regularly nominated for awards and earned 16 Emmys before it ended its run in 2013. 

Esposito went on to star in ‘The Mandalorian,’ ‘The Boys,’ ‘Revolution’ and ‘Once Upon A Time.’ He earned two Emmy nominations for his performance in the ‘Breaking Bad’ spinoff, ‘Better Call Saul.’

Iranian leadership is downplaying Israeli strikes against their country, despite previously vowing total war in the event of the ‘tiniest invasion.’

During a Friday speech, President Ebrahim Raisi did not mention the Israeli missile strike launched against the Isfahan region of Iran earlier the same day.

Instead, Raisi focused on justifying Iran’s own offensive attacks.

‘Operation True Promise led to authority, unity and cohesion in the country,’ Raisi said in his speech, according to translations from Iran International English. ‘Today, all political groups and factions believe that this response was necessary and a big honor for the country.’

Operation True Promise is the code name for the Iranian drone missile and drone launch against Israel that took place last week. 

Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel on Saturday in response to an apparent strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria on April 1 that killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals. It was the first-ever direct Iranian military attack on Israel.

Israel, with help from the U.S., the U.K., neighboring Jordan and other nations, successfully intercepted nearly every missile and drone that Iran launched. Israel boasted of a 99% success rate, through the use of its Iron Dome and David’s Sling systems.

Following the Iranian launch, Raisi said the attack was a limited one — and that if Iran was provoked to carry out a bigger attack, ‘nothing would remain from the Zionist regime,’ the official IRNA news agency reported.

The Iranian supreme leader’s decision not to address Israel’s retaliatory strike shows a drastic gap between this previous rhetoric and the country’s disposition moving forward.

Israel and Iran have waged a shadow war for decades, with the war coming to a head over the past few months as Iran has supported Hamas, which carried out the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history on Oct. 7.

An interview with a prominent Kennedy family member was derailed by an anti-Biden protester on Thursday with blood-curdling screams.

Speaking with liberal outlet CNN ahead of her family offering its endorsement of President Biden in Philadelphia, Kerry Kennedy — the sister of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — was overshadowed by a male protester yelling unintelligibly immediately behind her.

The protester appeared only briefly in CNN’s shot of the interview, but video posted on X by a reporter from another outlet captured the man standing behind Kennedy screaming that he has rights and was allowed to be at the event before being physically removed. It was not immediately clear what the man was protesting about.

Following the outburst, the Kennedy family, led by Kerry Kennedy, officially endorsed Biden’s re-election bid. The endorsement came as a snub to RFK Jr., who they say is acting as a ‘spoiler’ to Biden’s re-election chances and could lead to a victory for former President Donald Trump in November.

RFK Jr. reacted to the endorsement in a post on X, praising his family, but also noting that other family members were supportive of and working for his campaign.

‘I hear some of my family will be endorsing President Biden today. I am pleased they are politically active — it’s a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other,’ he wrote. ‘I hold this as a possibility for America, too. Can we disagree without hating our opponents? Can we restore civility and respect to public discourse? I think we can.’ 

‘My campaign, which many of my family members are working on and supportive of, is about healing America — healing our economy, our chronic disease crisis, our middle class, our environment, and our standing in the world as a peaceful nation. But this will only happen if we heal our national conversation, and move from rage and fear into love and respect,’ he added.

Last month, the Democratic National Committee launched an effort to silence the threat to Biden’s re-election from third-party candidates, namely Kennedy, in the form of a team that is expected to actively combat them with legal challenges and opposition research.

Since its inception, members of the team have posted near-constant criticism of RFK Jr. on social media and have frequently referred to him as a ‘spoiler’ candidate. They have also claimed that Kennedy is in cahoots with Trump in order to help him win.

Earlier this month, the DNC accused RFK Jr.’s campaign of acknowledging its role as a ‘spoiler’ after a woman associated with the campaign was captured on video discussing campaign strategy and how Trump could win the state of New York with the independent candidate on the ballot in November.

According to video reviewed by Fox News Digital, a self-identified Kennedy campaign staffer told a room of Republicans in New York that the only way Trump could win the traditionally Democrat state in November was with Kennedy on the ballot.

‘If it’s Trump vs. Biden, Biden wins. Biden wins six days, seven days a week. With Bobby in the mix, anything can happen,’ the staffer said.

A third House Republican lawmaker is jumping on board the effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., over his plan for foreign aid.

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., released a statement shortly after Johnson’s plan – four bills that amount to $95 billion in spending – survived a key procedural vote on the House floor with more Democratic support than Republican.

He bashed House GOP leaders for not linking his foreign aid proposal, particularly a bill sending money to Ukraine, to U.S. border security measures – frustration shared by other conservative foreign aid skeptics who voted to block the plan from getting a vote on final passage.

‘[R]ather than spending the resources to secure our southern border and combating the invasion of 11 million illegals and despite repeated promises there would be no additional money going to Ukraine without first securing our border, the United States House of Representatives, under the direction of the Speaker, is on the verge of sending another $61 billion to further draw America into an endless and purposeless war in Ukraine,’ Gosar said in a statement.

‘I have added my name in support of the motion to vacate the Speaker. Our border cannot be an afterthought.  We need a Speaker who puts America first rather than bending to the reckless demands of the warmongers, neo-cons and the military industrial complex making billions from a costly and endless war half a world away.’

He signed onto a resolution filed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., last month in protest of Johnson’s handling of foreign aid and government spending, known as a motion to vacate – under current House rules, just one lawmaker is needed to file it to trigger a House-wide vote on booting the speaker.

Greene refused to discuss the motion to vacate with reporters after the foreign aid vote on Friday. She posted on X soon after, however, ‘And now there are three. Thank you to [Paul Gosar] for cosponsoring my motion to vacate Speaker Johnson!’

House leaders do not have to put Greene’s resolution up for a vote unless she files it at ‘privileged,’ at which point it’s required that lawmakers act on it within two legislative days.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., signed onto Greene’s resolution earlier this week after a closed-door GOP lawmaker meeting where he threatened to call for Johnson’s ouster if he did not step aside after the House floor vote on his foreign aid plan, expected on Saturday.

Johnson has faced furious pushback from the right flank of his conference over most of his plan, particularly sending $60 billion to Ukraine, which has become a politically fraught topic for much of the GOP.

Those same foreign aid hawks have objected to some of the Israel funding being aimed at humanitarian aid in Gaza, though its inclusion was critical to winning Democratic support. In a victory for Republicans, however, it prevents any of the Israel-Gaza funding from going toward the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a Palestinian refugee agency alleged to have ties to Hamas.

Conservative rebels also decried House GOP leaders’ decision to combine the four bills into one before sending it to the Senate, arguing it amounted to the same $95 billion foreign aid package the Democrat-majority chamber passed earlier this year and which House Republicans oppose. Johnson has argued that packaging them together for the Senate would prevent them from neglecting the Israel bill at a time when the issue has divided the Democratic Party.

In the end, more Democrats supported advancing the package to a final vote than Republicans – the numbers were 165 and 151, respectively.

‘I would say that I definitely understand the sentiment,’ Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., one of the Republicans who voted to block the rule, told reporters about threats to oust Johnson. ‘I’ve told the speaker myself, the American people don’t expect us to win all the time, but they expect us to fight. They don’t see us doing that. They don’t see him doing that.’

However, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., one of eight House Republicans who voted to oust Johnson’s predecessor in early October, told reporters it was ‘not the most prudent’ time to boot another leader.

‘We’re six months before the election, we’ve got a two or three vote margin. There’s a far greater degree of uncertainty in that situation than there was back in September,’ Good said.

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee say they’ll field a massive team of 100,000 lawyers and volunteers in the key battleground states to monitor and possibly challenge the counting of votes in November’s election.

In a statement released Friday morning, the Trump campaign and the RNC touted the launch of what they called ‘the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation’s history.’

The program is expected to be a crucial part of what the RNC calls its ‘commitment to ensuring transparency and fairness in the 2024 elections.’

‘Election integrity is the foundation of our democracy,’ recently installed RNC chair Michael Whatley said in a statement. ‘Through this unprecedented program, we are mobilizing lawyers and volunteers who are committed to preserving the sanctity of our elections.’

The Trump campaign and the RNC say that they plan to deploy what they describe as ‘aggressive attorneys’ to monitor voting machine testing, early voting, Election Day voting, mail-in ballot processing, and canvassing, audits and recounts following the election.

According to the announcement, the plans also call for hotlines in the battleground states, which poll watchers and concerned voters can call to report potential problems.

‘Lawyers will guide poll watchers through the appropriate election code and provide clarity on how various issues should be answered, resolved or escalated,’ according to the announcement. ‘This system will be operational from the first day of early voting through election day – and afterward if necessary.

A majority of states enforce rules regulating partisan monitoring at polling sites, in order to prevent voter intimidation and obstruction of voting. While partisan monitoring is permitted, it isn’t allowed to interfere in the voting process other than to report issues.

The new program underscores the former president’s emphasis on election integrity. For years, Trump has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that his 2020 election loss to President Biden was due to massive voter fraud. And he has been indicted in two criminal cases for his alleged efforts to undermine and overturn those election results.

The former president and his allies have also claimed that Democrats will try to rig the 2024 election.

‘Having the right people to count the ballots is just as important as turning out voters on Election Day. Republicans are now working together to protect the vote and ensure a big win on November 5th!’ Trump said in a statement.

The RNC — under then-chair Ronna McDaniel — announced in October that it planned to recruit and train tens of thousands of poll workers and watches in the crucial battleground states in the 2024 election.

After Trump became the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, he installed Whatley as RNC chair, and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair. Whatley and Lara Trump, as well as RNC chief counsel Charlie Spies, hammered out the new program.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s $95 billion foreign aid proposal survived a key test vote Friday morning, setting House lawmakers up to consider its four individual components sometime Saturday.

In a stunning break from modern historical precedent, more Democrats voted for the GOP proposal than Johnson’s fellow Republicans.

Democrats bucked party norms to support the plan through a procedural hurdle known as a ‘rule vote’ after conservative foreign aid skeptics defected from Republicans to try to block the plan. It passed 316-94, with 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans in favor.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee that advanced the proposal on Thursday night, said before the Friday vote, ‘Democrats are providing the votes necessary to advance this legislation to the floor, because at the end of the day, so much more is at stake here than petty [brinkmanship].’

The rule vote now sets up debate on the four individual bills followed by amendment votes and four votes on passage sometime Saturday. It’s highly unusual for Democrats, or any opposition party, to cross the aisle on a rule vote, but it underscores the urgency that lawmakers on both sides feel about sending aid to foreign allies.

The 55 Republican dissidents on this latest rule vote illustrate the fractured House Republican Conference that Johnson is trying to manage, with the House Freedom Caucus and their allies having wielded outsized influence for much of this term. 

Three of the four bills fund Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. A fourth bill includes national security priorities like the House’s recently passed crackdown on TikTok’s ownership, as well as the REPO Act, which would liquidate seized Russian assets and give that funding to Ukraine.

Johnson’s push for foreign aid has infuriated members on the right of his House GOP conference, putting added pressure on the Louisiana Republican as he also navigates a historically slim majority.

Earlier this week, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., threatened to oust Johnson if he did not step aside after a House vote on his foreign aid plan. Massie is now signed onto Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s, R-Ga., motion to vacate resolution, which, if deemed ‘privileged’ by Greene, would force the House to begin voting on Johnson’s potential ouster within two legislative days.

Massie said during debate ahead of the final vote, ‘I’m concerned that the speaker’s cut a deal with the Democrats to fund foreign wars rather than to secure our border.’

Greene’s amendment to strip all Ukraine funding from the foreign aid bill is slated to get a vote on Saturday ahead of the vote on final passage.

Former President Trump warned of the consequences of losing his presidential immunity argument, saying that if he loses that protection, so will ‘crooked’ President Joe Biden. 

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee argued that presidential immunity is essential to the proper functioning of the presidency in a Friday post to his Truth Social account. 

‘Without presidential immunity, it would be impossible for a president to properly function, putting the United States of America in great and everlasting danger!’ he posted, in all capital letters. ‘If they take away my presidential immunity, they take away crooked Joe Biden’s presidential immunity.’ 

The Supreme Court of the United States is expected to hear arguments on presidential immunity Thursday, and eventually rule on whether Trump is immune from prosecution on charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference investigation. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to charges brought by Smith, and has claimed presidential immunity. 

Trump said that without immunity from prosecution, the presidency ‘will lose its power and prestige, and under some leaders, have no power at all.’ 

‘The Presidency will be consumed by the other Branches of Government. That is not what our founders wanted!’ he wrote. 

In another post, Trump argued that if a president does not have immunity, ‘the Opposing Party, during his/her term in Office, can extort and blackmail the President by saying that, ‘if you don’t give us everything we want, we will Indict you for things you did while in Office,’ even if everything done was totally Legal and Appropriate.’ 

‘That would be the end of the Presidency, and our Country, as we know it, and is just one of the many Traps there would be for a President without Presidential Immunity,’ Trump posted. 

Pointing to his presidential predecessors, and 2020 and 2024 opponent Biden, Trump said: ‘Obama, Bush, and soon, Crooked Joe Biden, would all be in BIG TROUBLE.’ 

‘If a President doesn’t have IMMUNITY, he/she will be nothing more than a ‘Ceremonial’ President, rarely having the courage to do what has to be done for our Country,’ Trump continued, calling for the protection of presidential immunity. ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’ 

Trump added that if immunity is not granted to a president, ‘every president that leaves office will be immediately indicted by the opposing party.’ 

‘Without complete immunity, a president of the United States would not be able to properly function,’ he said again.

Trump posted about the issue on his Truth Social platform while he sat in a New York City courtroom for day four of his criminal trial stemming from charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 

Bragg charged Trump last year with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges are related to alleged hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts. 

Trump and his attorneys sought to delay the trial, which began Monday, until after the Supreme Court ruled on the issue of presidential immunity on April 25. That request was denied. 

Trump is required to be in court every day for the criminal trial, which is expected to last through early June. Court for the criminal trial is expected for every day except Wednesdays, and Monday, April 29. 

Trump and his attorneys argued that the former president should be able to attend the Supreme Court arguments on immunity next Thursday, but Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the trial, denied that request as well. 

‘Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there, but a trial in New York Supreme Court … is also a big deal,’ Merchan said this week, rebuffing Trump lawyer Todd Blanche’s request.

Merchan added, ‘I will see him here next week.’

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has said it would fast-track the appeal, and a ruling on the issue of presidential immunity is expected by mid-June. 

Trump’s criminal trial on charges brought against him by Smith has been put on hold pending resolution on the matter. 

Smith charged the former president with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Those charges stemmed from Smith’s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and any alleged interference in the 2020 election result.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in August.

This will be the second time this term the Supreme Court will hear a case involving the presumed Republican presidential nominee. 

Last month, the Supreme Court sided unanimously with the 2024 presumptive Republican nominee in his challenge to Colorado’s attempt to kick him off the 2024 primary ballot. 

The high court ruled in favor of Trump’s arguments in the case, which will impact the status of efforts in several other states to remove the likely GOP nominee from their respective ballots. 

The court considered for the first time the meaning and reach of Article 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars former officeholders who ‘engaged in insurrection’ from holding public office again. Challenges have been filed to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot in over 30 states.

Israel carried out limited strikes in Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.

Here are the key facts you need to know about the latest escalation of violence between the two countries.

1. Where did the strike hit?

Fox News confirmed there have been explosions in Iran’s Isfahan province, which is where Natanz, one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, is located. 

A well-placed military source has told Fox News that the strike was ‘limited.’

2. How much damage did the attack cause?

Following the attack, Iranian state media stated that the nation’s atomic sites were ‘fully safe’ and had not been struck by the missiles.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations affiliate watchdog organization, later confirmed ‘there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites.’

There have been no reports of large-scale damage or casualties.

3. How will Iran respond?

A senior Iranian official reportedly told Reuters on Friday that Tehran has no immediate plans to strike back.

That official said ‘the foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed,’ and ‘the discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack.’ 

Iranian state media reportedly has been downplaying Friday’s strikes. A well-placed military source has told Fox News that the strikes were ‘limited.’ 

‘The explosion this morning in the sky of Isfahan was related to the shooting of air defense systems at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage,’ Iranian army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi was quoted by The Associated Press as saying. 

4. What has Israel said about the strike?

Israel and its government have been notably quiet leading up to and following the retaliatory strike on Iran. 

‘Israel will do whatever it needs to defend itself,’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement before the Israeli strike. ‘[Foreign leaders] have all sorts of suggestions and advice. I appreciate that. But I want to be clear: Our decisions we will make ourselves.’

Former Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus wrote on X following the strike that while Iran appears to downplay the strike, he ‘think[s] they’ve gotten the message.’

5. Was the U.S. involved in the strike on Iran?

The United States has denied any involvement in the strike, having pleaded with Israel for days to respond with restraint against Iranian strikes.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when asked about Israel’s strikes on Iran Friday, said, ‘I’m not going to speak to that except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operations.’

‘What we’re focused on, what the G7 is focused on, and again, it’s reflected in our statement and in our conversation, is our work to de-escalate tensions, to de-escalate from any potential conflict. You saw Israel on the receiving end of an unprecedented attack,’ he added. ‘But our focus has been on, of course, making sure that Israel can effectively defend itself, but also de-escalating tensions, avoiding conflict.’

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz, Jennifer Griffin, Greg Norman and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

The House of Representatives is voting on whether to proceed with Speaker Mike Johnson’s $95 billion foreign aid proposal on Friday after it cleared its first key procedural hurdle with Democratic help.

The Friday morning vote is a test vote of sorts for the four foreign aid bills, known as a ‘rule vote.’ If successful it will allow lawmakers to debate each of the individual four bills and vote on their final passage on Saturday.

Three of the four bills fund Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. A fourth bill includes national security priorities like the House’s recently passed crackdown on TikTok’s ownership as well as the REPO Act, which would liquidate seized Russian assets and give that funding to Ukraine.

Democrats had to help bail the GOP-led proposals on Thursday night in the face of conservative opposition. The Rules Committee, the final barrier before legislation traditionally gets a House-wide vote, spent all day considering the bills before advancing their ‘rules’ package in a 9-3 vote.

It’s highly unusual for Democrats, or any opposition party, to cross the aisle on a Rules Committee vote as well as a House-wide rule vote. But it underscores the urgency that lawmakers on both sides feel about sending aid to foreign allies.

The three conservatives on the panel — Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. — all voted against the measure; an equally unusual move that’s become common in the 118th Congress, where members of the House Freedom Caucus and their allies have wielded outsized influence in Republicans’ thin majority by blocking procedural hurdles such as this. Democrats’ support will be critical for the rule vote and potentially even final passage of the bills. 

Johnson has faced furious pushback from the right flank of his conference over most of his plan, particularly sending $60 billion to Ukraine, which has become a politically fraught topic for much of the GOP.

Those same foreign aid hawks have objected to some of the Israel funding being aimed at humanitarian aid in Gaza, though its inclusion was critical to winning Democratic support. In a victory for Republicans, however, it prevents any of the Israel-Gaza funding from going toward the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a Palestinian refugee agency alleged to have ties to Hamas.

Conservative rebels also decried House GOP leaders’ decision to combine the four bills into one before sending it to the Senate, arguing it amounted to the same $95 billion foreign aid package the Democrat-majority chamber passed earlier this year and which House Republicans oppose. Johnson has argued that packaging them together for the Senate would prevent them from neglecting the Israel bill at a time when the issue has divided the Democratic Party.

Earlier this week, Massie threatened he’d move to oust Johnson from the speakership if he did not step aside after having the House vote on his foreign aid plans. One GOP lawmaker who was present at the closed-door meeting where it happened told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Johnson challenged him to do so.

Massie is now signed onto Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate resolution, which, if deemed ‘privileged’ by Greene, would force the House to begin voting on Johnson’s potential ouster within two legislative days.

Some discussion over whether to raise the threshold needed to call a motion to vacate — currently just one member can call for it — ended with Johnson backing off of the controversial move after it enraged GOP rebels and spurred new ouster threats.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., suggested to reporters earlier that a wide swath of rank-and-file Republicans supported the idea; but Johnson denied having such conversations earlier on Thursday when asked by Fox News Digital.

‘Recently, many members have encouraged me to endorse a new rule to raise this threshold. While I understand the importance of that idea, any rule change requires a majority of the full House, which we do not have. We will continue to govern under the existing rules,’ Johnson said on Thursday evening.