Roughly 11 months have passed since former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster in October 2023. Now, his successor, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is navigating the same fraught political web on government funding that amounted to one of McCarthy’s ‘final struggles’ – but it is not yet clear that he will meet the same fate.

House Republicans are huddling for a conference-wide call on Wednesday, when Johnson is expected to roll out his plan for avoiding a government shutdown by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. 

The plan, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, would extend the current fiscal year’s government funding levels through March and would be paired with a GOP bill requiring proof of citizenship to be part of the voter registration process, multiple sources told Fox News Digital.

However, at least three House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital would not commit to voting for such a short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR). Meanwhile, others questioned the wisdom of spending the few weeks in session before Election Day on a bill virtually certain to die in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Most conservatives and Trump allies in the House, however, have emphatically backed the plan.

‘Certainly conservatives, spending hawks, frankly any Republican that doesn’t want to give Democrats or the kind of…uniparty the pen in December, so we want to kick spending into the new year,’ Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, explained to Fox News Digital. ‘Certainly kicking it to March gives us that benefit. And then we should have a robust fight over whether or not we should be very clear that only citizens are voting.’

Five Democrats voted with Republicans earlier this year to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, but it has since been stalled in the Senate. The White House is also opposed.

Roy, however, was also part of last year’s doomed effort to pass a conservative CR with House Republicans’ marquee border security bill attached – one that was similarly panned by Democratic leaders. 

That CR failed in late September after 21 Republicans, mainly opposed to a CR on principle, voted against it. 

McCarthy was then forced to put a ‘clean’ funding extension on the House floor hours before a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1, which was later the public catalyst for his ouster by eight fellow House Republicans.

When asked whether he was concerned about history repeating itself, Roy said, ‘Last year, I had good friends that fell on both sides of that divide. But I think there’s one considerable difference, and that is President Trump has publicly called for us to fight.’

Trump urged House Republicans to leverage a shutdown to get a CR with the SAVE Act passed on Monica Crowley’s podcast earlier this week.

Additionally, with the November House races expected to run close in many key districts, these weeks could be Republicans’ last chance to try to force through conservative priorities before Democrats possibly win back control of the chamber.

However, with the slim chances of it being taken up by the Senate or White House, the possibility of a government shutdown just before Election Day could put those same vulnerable Republicans in a tight spot.

‘Whether it passes the House or not is irrelevant and those who are pushing for SAVE to be included know that. Or maybe they don’t. I’m not sure which is worse,’ one senior House GOP aide told Fox News Digital. 

However, Roy suggested he was not worried about a potential shutdown, arguing his constituents ‘don’t give two flying s—s’ about the politics of government funding.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., similarly said, ‘I’m worried about a stolen election…the legacy media makes these shutdowns worse than they are.’

Meanwhile, like last year’s conservative CR, it is not clear this spending patch will even have enough support within the GOP to pass.

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., a House Freedom Caucus member in his final term who voted both against last year’s conservative CR and for McCarthy’s ouster, is already against the plan.

‘It’s disingenuous and dishonest to even do, because there’s no one in Congress that believes that by attaching the SAVE act to the CR…we’re going to get the SAVE Act passed,’ Rosendale, who has never supported a CR, told Fox News Digital. 

He also said the play violates House GOP leaders’ pledge for single-subject legislation.

However, he would not say if he would support ousting Johnson over it.

‘I think people keep doing the same thing, hoping they will have different results, because there’s different people doing it,’ Rosendale said.

When pressed on Johnson multiple times, Rosendale said, ‘There’s plenty of people that you can go, they’re more than glad to make comments about other members and about leadership. All I know is what I’m going to do.’

Burchett, another anti-McCarthy rebel, said he would ‘lean towards supporting’ the CR but would not commit.

He said, however, that Johnson was not in danger of being ousted, adding, ‘A lot of other things went on’ before ‘one of the final struggles’ about spending in McCarthy’s case.

McCarthy did not make himself available for an interview when asked by Fox News Digital. Johnson’s office also would not comment on the record about the CR.

The Department of Justice on Tuesday unsealed criminal charges against Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and other leaders of the brutal organization over the ‘terrorist atrocities’ of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel.

The criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death. 

It also accuses Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of providing financial support and weapons, including rockets, that were used in the attack.

The complaint marks the first time that U.S. prosecutors have formally called out the masterminds of the Oct. 7 massacre. 

‘The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’ operations,’ Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a video address. ‘These actions will not be our last. The Justice Department has a long memory. We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans – and those who illegally provide them with material support – for the rest of their lives.’

Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking hundreds more hostage. 

Tuesday’s charges come days after Israel Defense Forces recovered the bodies of six hostages – including 23-year-old Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin – in the tunnels beneath Rafah in the Gaza Strip.  

Hamas chief Sinwar is believed to be hiding out somewhere in Hamas’ vast tunnel network beneath Gaza. It’s unclear how much contact he has with the outside world.

Sinwar was appointed the overall head of Hamas after the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and sits atop Israel’s most-wanted list. 

Other Hamas leaders charged include Haniyeh; Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza who helped plan last year’s attack and who Israel says was killed when fighter jets struck an underground compound in central Gaza in March; Khaled Mashaal, another Haniyeh deputy and a former leader of the group; Mohammed Deif, Hamas’ longtime shadowy military leader who is thought to be dead after an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza in July; and Ali Baraka, Hamas’ head of external relations.

The DOJ said at least one person – whose name they did not specify in the complaint – is ‘expected to be first brought to and arrested in the Southern District of New York.’

Fox News’ David Spunt and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former President Trump plans to plead not guilty to the revised charges in the federal election inference case against him, a new court document shows.

According to a court filing obtained by Fox News, Trump signed an entry of not guilty plea. In the document, which was filed on Tuesday, Trump also waived his right to be present at his arraignment.

‘I authorize my attorneys to enter a plea of not guilty on my behalf to each and every count of the superseding indictment, Doc. 226,’ the document says. ‘I further state that I have received a copy of the superseding indictment and reviewed it with my counsel.’

The case pertains to Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Last week, the former president was indicted and given revised criminal charges by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who alleges that the Republican candidate pressured former Vice President Pence to reject legitimate electoral votes, in addition to mounting fake electors in key states that went to President Biden, to attest to Trump’s electoral victory.

Smith revised the charges after a recent Supreme Court ruling extended presidential immunity for official White House acts in a 6-3 decision. 

The recent indictment retains the criminal charges against Trump, including 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. Trump had previously pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Speaking with Shannon Bream during Sunday’s episode of ‘Fox News Sunday,’ Trump said he had ‘every right’ to do what he did after the 2020 presidential election.

‘Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it?’ Trump said.

Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign released a statement blasting Trump on Monday and claimed that the Republican candidate’s recent comments ‘make it clear that he believes he is above the law.’

‘Now, Trump is claiming he had ‘every right’ to interfere in the 2020 election. He did not,’ a Harris campaign spokesperson said in the statement.

Reuters and Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

House Republican leaders are vowing to push back on anti-Israel protests that are once again taking over college campuses as students return for the fall semester.

It comes as activists have already begun defacing property and staging demonstrations at Columbia University in New York City, which was a hotbed of controversial activity in the spring.

‘There should be a zero tolerance policy for antisemitic violence on campus that targets Jewish students. If universities won’t hold protestors accountable, Congress will,’ Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital. ‘Just last month, we subpoenaed several Columbia University officials, and we will continue our investigations and take action on the floor as students return to campus.’

GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., similarly said, ‘Columbia University has repeatedly enabled radical pro-Hamas mobs, putting Jewish members of their community at risk and allowing antisemitic hate to take root at a once acclaimed institution. House Republicans will use every tool at our disposal to demand immediate action from Columbia University on behalf of the Jewish students who want to pursue their education without fear.’

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital, ‘It’s no wonder the pro-terrorist mob is back at Columbia — the Democrats have enabled and empowered the antisemites in their party.’

Emmer said House Republicans would ‘continue to send a resounding message’ of support for Israel and for Jewish students in the U.S.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., meanwhile, urged the White House to speak out against the protests as well.

‘It is the first day of class at Columbia University and the pro-Terrorist, antisemitic mob is already back,’ Johnson wrote on X. ‘The Biden-Harris Administration should condemn this mob immediately.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response.

At least one protester was arrested during the Manhattan demonstrations on Tuesday, video shows. Footage also shows activists pushing barricades, and a second person was taken into custody outside of Columbia’s sister school, Barnard College.

Republicans have seized on Israel as a unifying issue for their own party as the left continues to fracture over U.S. relations with its close Middle Eastern ally.

Moderate Democrats, however, have pointed to the primary losses of anti-Israel progressives as proof that the left is capable of policing its own anti-Semitism problem.

After the United Kingdom paused some arms shipments to Israel on Monday, it’s not entirely clear whether Vice President Kamala Harris could follow the same path. 

The Democratic presidential candidate is under intense pressure from progressives to get tough on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the war with Hamas drags on for nearly a year. 

Harris insists she’s committed to Israel’s defense. But as a peace deal continues to evade the war in Gaza, Harris has declined to answer questions on whether the U.S. could use its soft power in halting weapons shipments to a top ally in the Middle East to affect policy change under her leadership.

Last week, Harris was pressed on whether she would do anything differently from President Joe Biden with Israel and the war in Gaza. She answered in the negative, but quickly pivoted to the need for a peace deal. 

The Harris campaign did not respond to a request from Fox News Digital on whether halting weapons shipments would be on or off the table if Harris takes the White House. 

‘President Biden has tried unsuccessfully to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. He’s been doing it for months and months, along with you. Would you do anything differently? For example, would you withhold some U.S. weapons shipments to Israel?’ CNN’s Dana Bash asked the vice president on Thursday. 

‘Let me be very clear. I’m unequivocal and — and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself,’ she said, before detailing the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and noting ‘too many Palestinian civilians have been killed.’ 

Some 42,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict since October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. 

‘We have to get a deal done. This war must end,’ she went on. ‘Let’s get the hostages out. Let’s get the ceasefire done.’

‘But no change in policy in terms of arms and — and so forth?’ Bash pressed again. 

‘No. We have to get a deal done. Dana, we have to get a deal done. When you look at the significance of this to the families, to the people who are living in that region — a deal is not only the right thing to do to end this war but will unlock so much of what must happen next.’

‘I remain committed, since I’ve been on Oct. 8, to what we must do to work toward a two-state solution where Israel is secure and in equal measure the Palestinians have security and self-determination — and dignity.’

Israel said last week the U.S. had shipped more than 50,000 tons of arms and military equipment since war broke out in October. Congress passed a bill that included $26 billion in arms assistance for Israel and aid for Gaza in April. 

The United Kingdom on Monday paused dozens of weapons exports to Israel over concerns those arms could be used to violate international law. 

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told lawmakers on Monday that the decision related to about 30 of 350 export licenses for equipment that includes parts for military aircraft and drones and items used for ground targeting.

Lammy said the British government believes the equipment ‘is for use in the current conflict in Gaza’ and represents a ‘clear risk’ that some could be used to ‘commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.’

Back home, Netanyahu is under attack from all sides after it was revealed that six Israeli hostages were found dead in a Hamas tunnel. Protesters took to the streets to demand a hostage deal over the weekend. Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli-American whose parents made an emotional plea for a hostage deal at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last month, was among the dead.

President Joe Biden replied ‘no’ over the weekend when asked if Netanyahu is doing enough to secure the hostages. 

Over the weekend, Biden and Harris worked on a hostage deal with their negotiating team as the news of the additional deaths broke.

The president said ‘we’re very close’ to securing a hostage deal that all sides could agree to, though such a deal has evaded negotiators for months. ‘Hope springs eternal,’ he said.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is convinced that American voters care more about having secure elections than the politics of a possible government shutdown, he said Tuesday, 

‘My constituents want [honest elections], they want a secure border, they don’t really give two flying s—s about the government funding,’ Roy told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Members of Congress will be back in Washington, D.C., next week after their summer recess, returning with just three weeks to find an agreement to avoid a partial government shutdown by Oct. 1.

It’s all but certain that a short-term funding extension called a continuing resolution (CR) will be needed to buy negotiators more time to hash out spending priorities for fiscal 2025.

Roy and other conservative rebels in the House have been pushing Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to pair a CR with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill to require proof of citizenship for registering to vote. 

But the SAVE Act has been deemed a nonstarter by the White House and Senate Democrats, and both sides are wary about the optics of a partial government shutdown just weeks before Election Day.

Roy declined to say whether he would support a shutdown but told Fox News Digital the blame would be on Democrats rather than Republicans.

‘I’m not going to play the shutdown game … the press wants to make it about a shutdown. Democrats want to make this about a shutdown,’ Roy said. ‘Our point is pretty simple. We’re offering to fund the government – all manners of sin, by the way, in that government…we’re willing to do that, but these guys need to make sure our elections are secure.’

‘If [Democrats] want to shut the government down, that’s on them.’

Two sources told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that pairing the bill with a CR through March is at least one plan being discussed by House GOP leadership. 

Johnson’s office did not return a Friday request for comment on the record on whether that would be his plan. Fox News Digital followed up on Tuesday.

Former President Trump said on Monica Crowley’s podcast last week that House Republicans should ‘shut down the government’ if such a proposal isn’t passed.

Meanwhile, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., previously said he would support a CR through December but cast doubt on whether the SAVE Act would be attached, noting any final product would have to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate.

But Roy’s comments are an early warning sign that the fight to fund the government in the next fiscal year could be as messy as last year’s protracted battle that resulted in the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Republican presidential nominee former President Trump is outperforming his 2020 support among Hispanics, who prefer him on immigration during the 2024 race, according to a new poll. 

Hispanic voters give Trump a 42% to 37% advantage over Democrat presidential candidate Vice President Harris regarding immigration policy, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows. 

Among the broader electorate, 46% preferred Trump on immigration over the 36% who preferred Harris, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on Aug. 21-28. 

Hispanics, described as a diverse and fast-growing section of the electorate in the United States, prefer Harris’ approach over that of Trump by 18 points for health care and 23 points for climate change, according to the poll. On the economy, the survey found registered voters overall prefer Trump’s platform over that of Harris by 45% to 36%. 

But Trump and Harris drew equally on the economy among registered Hispanic voters, garnering 39% support from that base each. 

That means Democrats have gained some ground since Biden backed out of the race. In May, Reuters/Ipso polling showed Biden behind Trump by four points among Hispanic voters regarding the economy. 

Trump’s performance among Hispanics overall looks to see a significant improvement compared to 2020. Harris currently has a 13-point lead among registered Hispanic voters, the poll showed. The Hispanic vote went to Biden by 21 points four years ago, according to a 2020 Pew Research exit poll analysis. A 2020 Fox News Voter Analysis, conducted in partnership with the Associated Press, showed 35% of Hispanic or Latino voters preferred Trump while 63% preferred Biden.

In 2022, Census Bureau data showed Hispanics made up about 14% of voting-age U.S. citizens, an increase from the 9% for 2005-2009, Reuters reported. 

‘The Latino vote is probably the most pure swing group of voters in America right now and will be for a long time,’ Chuck Rocha, a Democrat strategist who advised Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, told Reuters.

‘Hispanics have historically strongly favored the Democratic Party, so for Trump to be breaking even with Harris on the economy has to be seen as a win for him,’ said Giancarlo Sopo, a Republican strategist who handled Trump’s 2020 media outreach to Hispanic voters.