A federal appeals judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship for the children of people in the country illegally or temporarily. 

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that a nationwide injunction on the Trump administration’s effort to end birthright citizenship that he issued earlier this year and that was granted to more than a dozen states can stand. 

Sorokin said the ruling was an exception to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited lower courts’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions. The issue is expected to return to the Supreme Court.  

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BAN FOR ALL INFANTS, TESTING LOWER COURT POWERS

Demonstrators hold up a banner during a citizenship rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington May 15, 2025.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Trump and the administration “are entitled to pursue their interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and no doubt the Supreme Court will ultimately settle the question,” Sorokin wrote in his ruling. “But in the meantime, for purposes of this lawsuit at this juncture, the Executive Order is unconstitutional.”

The Trump administration has argued that children born in the U.S. to parents in the country illegally and temporarily are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship. 

Trump signed the birthright citizenship executive order, along with a slew of other orders, on his first day in office in January. 

UPENDING US BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP WOULD HAVE DRASTIC NEGATIVE IMPACT, DEFENDERS WARN

The Trump administration has argued children born in the U.S. to parents in the country illegally and temporarily are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship.  (Getty Images)

On Wednesday, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals also affirmed the lower court’s nationwide injunction, and, earlier this month, a New Hampshire federal judge issued a ruling prohibiting Trump’s executive order from taking effect nationwide in a new class-action lawsuit.

Sorokin disagreed with the Trump administration’s argument that the Supreme Court’s ruling warranted a narrower ruling. 

Olga Urbina and her 9-month-old son, Ares Webster, participate in a protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court over President Donald Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship as the court hears arguments over the order in Washington, D.C., May 15, 2025.  (Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images)

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The plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit argued that Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional because the 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship, and it also threatens millions of dollars in state funding for “essential” health insurance services contingent on citizenship status. 

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The Department of Education is giving five northern Virginia school districts ten days to fix their transgender bathroom policies or face “enforcement action,” the agency said Friday. 

Public school districts in Loudoun County, Fairfax County, Prince William County, Alexandria City and Arlington were all found to be in violation of Title IX after an investigation by the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights that began in February, according to a press release shared Friday. 

The release cited a June ruling by the Supreme Court, which the department said acknowledged that a person’s identification as “transgender” is distinct from a person’s biological sex.

TRUMP ADMIN CRACKS DOWN ON OREGON AND VIRGINIA FOR DEFYING TITLE IX AND WOMEN’S SPORTS EXECUTIVE ORDER

Sign outside a gender-neutral restroom.  (Istock/AndreyPopov)

“The investigation was based on complaints alleging that the [school districts] have similar anti-discrimination policies pertaining to ‘transgender-identifying’ students, which violate the sex-based protections of Title IX,” the release said.

“The [districts] are also the subject of several lawsuits, informal complaints and reports, which allege that students in the (districts) avoid using school restrooms whenever possible because of the schools’ policies and that female students have witnessed male students inappropriately touching other students and watching female students change in a female locker room.”

Craig Trainor, the Department of Education’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, blasted the Biden administration for tolerating such behavior, adding it’s time for “northern Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology” to come to an end. 

The Education Department’s non-compliance finding prompted the agency to issue a proposed resolution agreement whereby each school district can take corrective action to prevent any enforcement actions by the Trump administration. 

That action would require the districts to rescind any policies or regulations allowing students to access bathrooms, locker rooms or other intimate facilities on the basis of their preferred gender identity as opposed to their biological sex.

SCANDAL-PLAGUED SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERRED TO DOJ AFTER ANOTHER TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM CONTROVERSY 

Activists march in support of gender identity-based bathroom access. The Biden-era policies they supported are now being opposed by the Trump administration. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

The districts will also be required under the agreement to issue letters to each school it oversees within its district, explaining that any future policies related to bathrooms, locker rooms or other intimate spaces must separate students on the basis of sex and not gender identity.

The districts would also be compelled under the agreement to adopt “biology-based definitions” of the words “male” and “female” to be used in all practices and policies.   

The Department of Education gave the school districts 10 days to voluntarily agree to these demands or risk “imminent” consequences, including a potential referral to the Department of Justice.

VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT ACCUSED OF RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM CASE

“Today, we at Defending Education are incredibly gratified to learn that a group of Northern Virginia School Districts — many of which were ground zero for the social experimentation of transgender ‘inclusion’ in women’s sports, bathrooms and private spaces — are now facing the music for failing to adhere to the plain text and meaning of Title IX,” said Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and legal fellow at Defending Education.

“As a mother, as a Virginian and as former senior counsel to the assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, I am encouraged to see that this administration is taking the enforcement of long-standing civil rights laws seriously,” Perry continued. 

“Title IX was passed to guarantee women’s educational equality in its myriad manifestations. But intransigent schools in the commonwealth seem to have forgotten that.”

The hallway of a school (iStock)

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The school districts all confirmed receipt of the resolution agreements issued to them by the Department of Education and are conducting a review to determine next steps. They all also expressed a commitment to following federal and state laws while simultaneously fostering a welcoming, inclusive and supportive environment for students.

The Trump administration is releasing roughly $6.8 billion in previously frozen federal funds for K-12 programs, the Department of Education announced Friday. The announcement was made as Secretary Linda McMahon attended the National Governors Association (NGA) Summer Meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) “has completed its review of Title I-C, Title II-A, Title III-A and Title IV-A ESEA funds and Title II WIOA funds and has directed the Department to release all formula funds. The agency will begin dispersing funds to states next week,” department spokesperson Madi Biedermann told Fox News Digital. 

More than 20 Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration earlier this month, describing the Department of Education’s federal funding freeze as unconstitutional and “debilitating” to states just weeks ahead of a new school year.

The bipartisan group of governors, including the NGA’s outgoing chair, Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, and its vice chair, Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, thanked McMahon for unlocking the funding during the NGA’s education session Friday. 

DEMOCRAT AGS SUE TRUMP FOR ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’ FREEZE ON $6.8B IN K-12 SPENDING

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testifies at a House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing on the Department of Education on Capitol Hill May 21, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

“How can we better communicate to make sure that this chaos and uncertainty doesn’t occur again around funding and that people know things earlier?” Polis asked McMahon on the Colorado Springs stage. 

“No guarantees from me that we will eliminate all the communications gaps that do happen, but I can say that part of it is just the transition aspect,” McMahon explained.

The education secretary said the other aspect of the federal funding freeze was that the OMB budget office “took some time to really review the title funding to look at all the programs, etc., before they were released. They were well satisfied. So, now, those funds are going to be going out.”

TRUMP ADMIN SEEKING TO PULL FUNDING FROM LOCAL GOVERNMENTS SLAPPED WITH JUDGE’S PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the National Governors Association’s outgoing chair, discusses American education with Education Secretary Linda McMahon at the NGA Summer meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, July 25, 2025.  (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)

McMahon assured the governors that now that they have reviewed title funding and gone through the process, “we wouldn’t find ourselves in the same situation.”

Several of the governors who attended Polis and McMahon’s education discussion and had the opportunity to ask questions thanked the education leader for returning the federal title funds to the states. 

Polis kicked off the NGA’s summer session in Colorado Springs Friday with his signature policy agenda, “Let’s Get Ready! Educating All Americans for Success.” 

EDUCATION SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON TOUTS COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S $200M SETTLEMENT ‘TEMPLATE’

Education Secretary Linda McMahon delivers remarks at the National Governors Association summer meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, July 25.  (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)

McMahon said she was appreciative of the governors’ questions and comments, and she committed to visiting as many states and speaking with as many governors as possible to grasp the full scope of the country’s diverse educational needs. 

Polis and Stitt said in a joint statement released by NGA that they are “thankful these bipartisan discussions with Secretary McMahon and other key officials during the NGA Summer Meeting led to the distribution of these education funds.”

“This action ensures schools across the nation can maintain essential programs for English language learners, teacher training, and student enrichment as the new academic year begins,” the NGA leaders said, emphasizing that “governors from both parties stand united in prioritizing our children’s education, and we’re proud our advocacy helped secure this vital support for states and districts.”

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital ahead of her remarks, McMahon affirmed her commitment to collaborating with governors as the Trump administration seeks to dismantle the Department of Education. 

“It’s just incredibly important that if we are going to return education to the states, we have to talk to the governors,” McMahon said. 

“Clearly, education is a nonpartisan issue,” McMahon added. “If we’re going to return education to the states, that just means giving them back the part that is now provided by the federal government, and they’re anxious for it.” 

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Trump signed an executive order earlier this year to dismantle the Department of Education, fulfilling one of his key campaign promises during the 2024 presidential election. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

The Trump administration is offering $608 million to states willing to expand migrant detention efforts. 

The money, announced through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) new Detention Support Grant Program (DEP), is aimed at helping states build or enlarge temporary detention facilities modeled after Florida’s Everglades compound known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” according to FEMA documents.

“[Department of Homeland Security] Secretary Kristi Noem has been very clear that Alligator Alcatraz can be a blueprint for other states and local governments to assist with detention,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Friday. 

The funding is part of FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program and is open for applications through Aug. 8, per FEMA’s announcement.

TRUMP SAYS ONLY WAY OUT OF ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ IS DEPORTATION

President Donald Trump is flanked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after arriving at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Fla., July 1. Trump is visiting a migrant detention center in a reptile-infested Florida swamp dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

The program is intended to fast-track construction of secure, temporary detention sites on state or local land, sidestepping long procurement delays. 

Noem has criticized federal contractors as costly and slow, and has encouraged governors to take a more direct role.

“They were willing to build it and do it much quicker than some of the other vendors,” Noem said of Florida. “And it was a real solution we’ll be able to utilize if we need to.”

Florida’s facility was built in just eight days on remote Everglades land at the Dade-Collier Airport. It holds up to 3,000 migrants and is surrounded by fencing, swamp, and natural barriers. 

During a July 1 visit, President Donald Trump praised it as “so professional, so well done,” calling it “a model we’d like to see in many states.” 

“We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation,” he added.

RED STATES CONSIDER ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ SPINOFFS AS WH URGES THEM TO FOLLOW DESANTIS’ LEAD: ‘LOTS OF BEARS’

Workers install a sign for Alligator Alcatraz, an immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades, in Collier County, Fla. (Getty Images)

Florida officials confirmed they are seeking FEMA reimbursement to help cover the camp’s estimated $450 million annual operating cost. State officials say the site qualifies for federal funding under the new grant guidelines.

According to Noem, five states are currently in talks with DHS about building similar detention facilities. 

“We’ve had several other states that are actually using Alligator Alcatraz as a model for how they can partner with us,” she said during a recent news briefing.

President Donald Trump speaks with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as they tour a migrant detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” in Ochopee, Fla., July 1. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

“I hope my phone rings off the hook from governors calling and saying, ‘How can we do what Florida just did?’”

The new funding comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aims to double detention capacity. 

ICE reported more than 56,000 migrants in custody as of June, the highest since 2019, and is targeting 100,000 beds by the end of the year, according to DHS planning materials.

Funds will be distributed by FEMA in partnership with Customs and Border Protection, according to DHS’ posting.

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FEMA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Greg Norman, Emma Colton, and Mara Robles contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: A pro-life group is celebrating a “tremendous victory” after Planned Parenthood announced two of its facilities in Houston, Texas, will be shutting down this fall, as Republican lawmakers continue to target the organization.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, 40 Days for Life CEO and founder Shawn Carney, a Houston resident, expressed “both personal and professional elation” at the shuttering of the facilities, including the 78,000-square-foot clinic that he said was the largest abortion facility in the Western Hemisphere.

“This is massive news for the pro-life movement and shows the direction that Planned Parenthood is going, which is down,” Carney said.

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast — which runs six clinics in the Houston area and two in Louisiana — will close its Prevention Park and Southwest centers on Sept. 30, while the other Houston facilities will be acquired by the organization’s largest Texas affiliate.

FEDERAL JUDGE PARTIALLY BLOCKS LAW BANNING ADULTS FROM HELPING MINORS GET OUT-OF-STATE ABORTIONS

A pro-life group is celebrating a “tremendous victory” after Planned Parenthood announced that two of its Houston facilities would be shutting down. (Getty Images)

This comes amid several closures of Planned Parenthood facilities in various states, including New York, where the organization is selling its only Manhattan health center building for $39 million.

Facilities in GOP-led states with abortion restrictions, including Texas, have also been forced to cease procedures following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe V. Wade and sent decisions regarding abortion back to the states.

“Now they are closing the largest abortion facility in the world,” Carney said. “Their flagship. They’re very proud of it in Houston, Texas. They’re finally closing it, and it’s unbelievable.”

The company cited rising costs, staffing shortages and low reimbursement rates as the reasons for closing the two Houston facilities. GOP officials in recent years have made repeated attempts to shut down Planned Parenthood, even after nearly all abortions were banned under Texas law.

The Trump administration has sought to impose funding cuts to Planned Parenthood that could lead to the closure of additional facilities. A provision in a GOP-backed bill would end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from the program in 2023.

A judge granted a preliminary injunction earlier this week blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood member organizations that either do not provide abortions or did not meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast will close its Prevention Park and Southwest centers on Sept. 30. (Getty Images)

Carney said 40 Days for Life has prayed and held vigils outside the Houston mega-facility since 2006.

“Countless people have gone out, offered alternatives. We’ve had pro-life buses outside to do free ultrasounds. There have been so many lives saved, but to be honest, it just seemed like they were Goliath and it didn’t matter if we were David,” he said, adding that the “behemoth” facility even provided late-term abortions at one point. “They were just going to always be open and always be victorious.”

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM DEFUNDING SOME PLANNED PARENTHOOD FACILITIES 

Carney described the closing of the facilities as a “tremendous victory” for the pro-life movement and said it represents “one of the biggest victories that we’ve had” following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“Planned Parenthood has always been very top-heavy in D.C., and that’s been a weakness for the pro-life movement. But once [the court] sent it back to the states, it was sending it back to the place where the pro-life movement was the strongest, which was the grassroots,” he said.

The company cited rising costs, staffing shortages and low reimbursement rates as the basis for the closing of the two facilities. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

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The closure of the two Houston facilities shows “more than anything else” that “the pro-life movement is built for a post-Roe America,” Carney said, adding that Planned Parenthood is not a “monster that can’t go away.”

“They are very, very vulnerable. When you look at the New York closing and the Houston closing, this is what that represents. All the nonsense about other services and serving women and helping low-income women. Because when you take away abortions or you offer alternatives, they close, and they close their most prosperous locations,” he said.

President Donald Trump arrived in Scotland late Friday for a working trip where he is expected to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer amid ongoing trade negotiations between the U.S. and the U.K., as well as visit several of his properties there. 

“We’re meeting with the prime minister tonight,” Trump told reporters Friday before departing for Scotland. “We’re going to be talking about the trade deal that we made, and maybe even improve it.”

“We want to talk about certain aspects, which is going to be good for both countries,” Trump said. “More fine-tuning. Also, we’re going to do a little celebrating together, because, you know, we got along very well. U.K.’s been trying to make a deal with us for like, 12 years, and haven’t been able to do it. We got it done, and he’s doing a very good job, this prime minister. Good guy.”

TRUMP HEADS TO SCOTLAND TO TALK GOLF, POLITICS AND TRADE

President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at Glasgow Prestwick Airport on July 25, 2025, in Prestwick, Scotland. 

In May, the U.S. and the U.K. announced the two countries had agreed to a major trade deal, which marked the first historic trade negotiation signed following Liberation Day, when Trump announced widespread tariffs for multiple countries April 2 at a range of rates.

Trump, who is slated to remain in Scotland until Tuesday, is also scheduled to visit his golf courses in Turnberry and Aberdeen while abroad. 

Here’s also what happened this week:

Federal Reserve visit 

Trump visited the Federal Reserve headquarters Thursday, as he has ramped up digs at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. 

Trump accompanied other administration officials for a tour of the headquarters, following $2.5 billion in renovations to the building. The massive project has attracted scrutiny from lawmakers and members of the Trump administration, including the president, who suggested the huge renovation could amount to a fireable offense. 

“I think he’s terrible … I didn’t see him as a guy that needed a palace to live in,” Trump said July 16. “But the one thing I would have never guessed is that he would be spending two and a half billion dollars to build a little extension onto the Fed.”

FOUR KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM TRUMP’S VISIT TO THE FEDERAL RESERVE WITH POWELL

President Donald Trump speaks with Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell (right) as he visits the Federal Reserve in Washington, July 24, 2025. 

On Thursday, the two briefly sparred over the cost of the renovation, but Trump told reporters afterward that the two had a “good meeting” and that there was “no tension.” Trump also shut down speculation he might oust Powell, claiming such a move would be unnecessary. 

The Federal Reserve, the United States central bank, oversees the nation’s monetary policy and regulates financial institutions. 

Trump historically has railed against Powell, calling him names like “numskull” and “too late.” Likewise, Trump has expressed ire toward Powell for ignoring requests to lower interest rates. 

“Well, I’d love him to lower interest rates, but other than that, what can I tell you?” Trump said Thursday. 

Rescissions package signing

Trump signed into law Thursday his roughly $9 billion rescissions package to claw back already approved federal funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting. 

The rescissions measure revoked nearly $8 billion in funding Congress already approved for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a formerly independent agency that provided impoverished countries aid and offered development assistance.

The rescissions package also rescinds more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides federal funding for NPR and PBS.

TRUMP SIGNS $9B RESCISSIONS PACKAGE INTO LAW, REVOKING FUNDING FOR FOREIGN AID, NPR

Liberals reacted strongly to Congress’ recent vote to strip federal funding from NPR and PBS. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

The Trump administration’s battle with Democrat-controlled jurisdictions and their sanctuary polices suffered a blow on Friday when a federal judge in Chicago dismissed a case challenging their legality.

Judge Lindsay Jenkins of the Northern District of Illinois, a President Biden appointee, granted the defendants’ motion for dismissal, ruling that the city’s ordinances are lawful protections not subject to federal enforcement mandates.

The Trump Justice Department, in a February filing, accused the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago of unlawfully interfering with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration as it aims to carry out mass deportations. 

U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins in Illinois has dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that sought to block Chicago’s limits on cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities. (Getty; U.S. Senate)

TRUMP DOJ SUES NEW YORK CITY OVER LONG-STANDING SANCTUARY IMMIGRATION POLICIES

Sanctuary cities or sanctuary policies limit co-operation between local officials and law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The Trump administration has long railed against the measures, arguing they make such areas a haven for criminal illegal immigrants and contribute to increased crime.

The Justice Department alleges these laws violate the U.S. Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause” under the Tenth Amendment, which states that federal law preempts state and local laws that may conflict with it.

But Jenkins rejected the argument, ruling that states retain significant powers not explicitly granted to the federal government.

“Finding that these same Policy provisions constitute discrimination or impermissible regulation would provide an end-run around the Tenth Amendment,” the judge wrote. “It would allow the federal government to commandeer States under the guise of intergovernmental immunity — the exact type of direct regulation of states barred by the Tenth Amendment.” 

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, along with other federal law enforcement agencies, attend a pre-enforcement meeting in Chicago, Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. ( Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

MAYOR JOHNSON WARNS TRUMP AGAINST DEPLOYING FEDERAL TROOPS FOR IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN IN CHICAGO

The Chicago City Council passed an ordinance in 2012 that stops city agencies and employees from getting involved in civil immigration enforcement or helping federal authorities with such efforts. The Illinois legislature passed a similar state law, known as the TRUST Act, in 2017.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he was pleased with the decision and that the city is safer when police focus on the needs of Chicagoans.

 “This ruling affirms what we have long known: that Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance is lawful and supports public safety. The City cannot be compelled to cooperate with the Trump Administration’s reckless and inhumane immigration agenda,” he said in a statement.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, left, said he was pleased with the decision and that the city is safer when police focus on the needs of Chicagoans. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, left, and Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images, right.)

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The Trump administration has sued several jurisdictions over their sanctuary policies, including a filing this week against New York City. The administration has also sued several New Jersey cities, as well as Los Angeles.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the federal government was left with no choice but to protect New Yorkers by filing the suit.

“If New York’s leaders won’t step up to protect their citizens, we will,” she wrote on X. 

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a slew of documents this month, revealing that Obama administration officials “manufactured” intelligence to push the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard talks to reporters in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House July 23, 2025, in Washington, DC., after releasing newly declassified documents about the Trump-Russia collusion “hoax.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Fox News Digital)

Here’s a look at the newly declassified records:

Declassified Presidential Daily Brief

Documents revealed that in the months leading up to the November 2016 election, the intelligence community consistently assessed that Russia was “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means.”

One instance was on Dec. 7, 2016, weeks after the election. Then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s talking points stated, “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the U.S. presidential election outcome.”

Fox News Digital obtained a declassified copy of the Presidential Daily Brief, which was prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, with reporting from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, FBI, National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, State Department and open sources, for Obama, dated Dec. 8, 2016.

President Barack Obama speaks with reporters in the Oval Office July 19, 2016, after a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

“We assess that Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent U.S. election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure,” the Presidential Daily Brief stated. “Russian Government-affiliated actors most likely compromised an Illinois voter registration database and unsuccessfully attempted the same in other states.”

But the brief stated that it was “highly unlikely” the effort “would have resulted in altering any state’s official vote result.”

“Criminal activity also failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes,” it stated. 

The brief noted that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed that any Russian activities “probably were intended to cause psychological effects, such as undermining the credibility of the election process and candidates.”

The brief stated that cyber criminals “tried to steal data and to interrupt election processes by targeting election infrastructure, but these actions did not achieve a notable disruptive effect.”

Fox News Digital obtained declassified, but redacted, communications from the FBI in the Presidential Daily Brief, stating that it “should not go forward until the FBI” had shared its “concerns.”

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan appear at a public hearing in Washington. (Reuters/Gary Cameron )

Those communications revealed that the FBI drafted a “dissent” to the original Presidential Daily Brief. 

OBAMA ADMIN ‘MANUFACTURED’ INTELLIGENCE TO CREATE 2016 RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE NARRATIVE, DOCUMENTS SHOW

The communications revealed that the brief was expected to be published Dec. 9, 2016, the following day, but later communications revealed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “based on some new guidance,” decided to “push back publication” of the Presidential Daily Brief. 

“It will not run tomorrow and is not likely to run until next week,” wrote the deputy director of the Presidential Daily Brief at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, whose name is redacted. 

The following day, Dec. 9, 2016, a meeting convened in the White House Situation Room, with the subject line starting: “Summary of Conclusions for PC Meeting on a Sensitive Topic (REDACTED.)”

The meeting included top officials in the National Security Council, Clapper, then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-National Security Advisor Susan Rice, then-Secretary of State John Kerry, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others, to discuss Russia.

President Obama, accompanied by Secretary of State John Kerry, meets with veterans and Gold Star Mothers to discuss the Iran nuclear deal in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington Sept. 10, 2015. (AP Images)

The declassified meeting record, obtained by Fox News Digital, revealed that principals “agreed to recommend sanctioning of certain members of the Russian military intelligence and foreign intelligence chains of command responsible for cyber operations as a response to cyber activity that attempted to influence or interfere with U.S. elections, if such activity meets the requirements” from an executive order that demanded the blocking of property belonging to people engaged in cyber activities.

After the meeting, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Clapper’s executive assistant emailed intelligence community leaders tasking them to create a new intelligence community assessment “per the president’s request” that detailed the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.”

“ODNI will lead this effort with participation from CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS,” the record states.

Later, Obama officials “leaked false statements to media outlets” claiming that “Russia has attempted through cyber means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election.”

Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice speaks at the J Street National Conference in Washington in April 2018. (Getty Images)

By Jan. 6, 2017, a new Intelligence Community Assessment was released that, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “directly contradicted the IC assessments that were made throughout the previous six months.” 

Intelligence officials told Fox News Digital that the ICA was “politicized” because it “suppressed intelligence from before and after the election showing Russia lacked intent and capability to hack the 2016 election.” 

Officials also said it deceived the American public “by claiming the IC made no assessment on the ‘impact’ of Russian activities,” when the intelligence community “did, in fact, assess for impact.” 

“The unpublished December PDB stated clearly that Russia ‘did not impact’ the election through cyber hacks on the election,” an official told Fox News Digital.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testifies during a congressional hearing in Washington. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

FBI LAUNCHES CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS OF JOHN BRENNAN, JAMES COMEY: DOJ SOURCES

The official also said the ICA had assessed that “Russia was responsible for leaking data from the DNC and DCCC,” while “failing to mention that FBI and NSA previously expressed low confidence in this attribution.” 

Officials said the intelligence was “politicized” and then “used as the basis for countless smears seeking to delegitimize President Trump’s victory, the years-long Mueller investigation, two Congressional impeachments, high level officials being investigated, arrested, and thrown in jail, heightened US-Russia tensions, and more.”

Declassified House Intelligence Committee Report

A report prepared by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2020 said the intelligence community did not have any direct information that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to help elect Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, but, at the “unusual” direction of then-President Barack Obama, published “potentially biased” or “implausible” intelligence suggesting otherwise.

The report, based on an investigation launched by former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was dated Sept. 18, 2020. At the time of the publication of the report, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was the chairman of the committee.

The report has never before been released to the public and instead has remained highly classified within the intelligence community.

Fox News Digital obtained the “fully-sourced limited-access investigation report that was drafted and stored in a limited-access vault at CIA Headquarters.” The report includes some redactions.

BRENNAN DIRECTED PUBLICATION OF ‘IMPLAUSIBLE’ REPORTS CLAIMING PUTIN PREFERRED TRUMP IN 2016, HOUSE FOUND

The committee focused on the creation of the Intelligence Community Assessment of 2017, in which then-CIA Director John Brennan pushed for the inclusion of the now-discredited anti-Trump dossier despite knowing it was based largely on “internet rumor,” as Fox News Digital previously reported.

According to the report, the ICA was a “high-profile product ordered by the President, directed by senior IC agency heads, and created by just five CIA analysts, using one principal drafter.”

President Obama nominates John Brennan as CIA director during a ceremony at the White House Jan. 7, 2013. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

“Production of the ICA was subject to unusual directives from the President and senior political appointees, and particularly DCIA,” the report states. “The draft was not properly coordinated within CIA or the IC, ensuring it would be published without significant challenges to its conclusions.”

The committee found that the five CIA analysts and drafter “rushed” the ICA’s production “in order to publish two weeks before President-elect Trump was sworn-in.”

“Hurried coordination and limited access to the draft reduced opportunities for the IC to discover misquoting of sources and other tradecraft concerns,” the report states.

The report states that Brennan “ordered the post-election publication of 15 reports containing previously collected but unpublished intelligence, three of which were substandard — containing information that was unclear, of uncertain origin, potentially biased, or implausible — and those became foundational sources for the ICA judgements that Putin preferred Trump over Clinton.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a government meeting at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence Aug. 7, 2024. (Sergei Bobylyov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

“The ICA misrepresented these reports as reliable, without mentioning their significant underlying flaws,” the committee found.

“One scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard reports constitutes the only classified information cited to suggest Putin ‘aspired’ to help Trump win,” the report states, adding that the ICA “ignored or selectively quoted reliable intelligence reports that challenged — and in some cases undermined — judgments that Putin sought to elect Trump.”

The report also states that the ICA “failed to consider plausible alternative explanations of Putin’s intentions indicated by reliable intelligence and observed Russian actions.”

The committee also found that two senior CIA officers warned Brennan that “we don’t have direct information that Putin wanted to get Trump elected.”

Despite those warnings, the Obama administration moved to publish the ICA.

The ICA “did not cite any report where Putin directly indicated helping Trump win was the objective.”

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump participate in the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis Oct. 9, 2016. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

The ICA, according to the report, excluded “significant intelligence” and “ignored or selectively quoted” reliable intelligence in an effort to push the Russia narrative.

The report also includes intelligence from a longtime Putin confidant who explained to investigators that “Putin told him he did not care who won the election,” and that Putin “had often outlined the weaknesses of both major candidates.”

The report also states that the ICA omitted context showing that the claim that Putin preferred Trump was “implausible —if not ridiculous.”

The committee also found that the ICA suppressed intelligence that showed that Russia was actually planning for a Hillary Clinton victory because “they knew where (she) stood” and believed Russia “could work with her.”

The committee also noted that the ICA “did not address why Putin chose not to leak more discrediting material on Clinton, even as polls tightened in the final weeks of the election.”

The committee also found that the ICA suppressed intelligence showing that Putin was “not only demonstrating a clear lack of concern for Trump’s election fate,” but also indicated “that he preferred to see Secretary Clinton elected, knowing she would be a more vulnerable President.”

Declassified Hillary Clinton section of House Intelligence Committee Report

One section of the declassified House Intelligence Committee report states that the material in Putin’s possession included Russian intelligence on Democratic National Committee information allegedly showing that senior Democratic leaders found Clinton’s health to be “extraordinarily alarming.” 

“As of September 2016, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service had DNC information that President Obama and Party leaders found the state of Secretary Clinton’s health to be ‘extraordinarily alarming,’ and felt it could have ‘serious negative impact’ on her election prospects,” the report states. “Her health information was being kept in ‘strictest secrecy’ and even close advisors were not being fully informed.” 

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service also allegedly had DNC communications that showed that “Clinton was suffering from ‘intensified psycho-emotional problems, including uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression, and cheerfulness.'” 

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine ,appear onstage with their families at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 28, 2016. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“Clinton was placed on a daily regimen of ‘heavy tranquilizers’ and while afraid of losing, she remained ‘obsessed with a thirst for power,’” the report states.

The Russians also allegedly had information that Clinton “suffered from ‘Type 2 diabetes, Ischemic heart disease, deep vein thrombosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.’”

HILLARY CLINTON AIDE DISMISSES TULSI GABBARD’S CLAIMS AS ‘RIDICULOUS’

The Russians also allegedly possessed a “campaign email discussing a plan approved by Secretary Clinton to link Putin and Russian hackers to candidate Trump in order to ‘distract the American public’ from the Clinton email server scandal.” 

Gabbard, during the White House press briefing Wednesday, said there were “high-level DNC emails that detailed evidence of Hillary’s, quote, psycho-emotional problems, uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression and cheerfulness, and that then-Secretary Clinton was allegedly on a daily regimen of heavy tranquilizers.” 

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A tranquilizer is a drug used to reduce mental disturbance, such as anxiety and tension. Tranquilizers are typically prescribed to individuals suffering from anxiety, sleep disturbances and related conditions affecting their mental and physical health. 

A Clinton aide dismissed the claims as “ridiculous.” 

Neither Clinton nor Obama responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. 

A Texas man has filed a landmark federal wrongful death lawsuit against a California abortion provider, alleging the physician “murdered” his unborn children by mailing abortion pills across state lines. 

The case, Rodriguez v. Coeytaux, marks the first of its kind to test how far pro-life litigants can go to sidestep blue state abortion shield laws using century-old federal statutes and Texas civil code.

Filed July 20 in the Southern District of Texas, the lawsuit accuses Dr. Remy Coeytaux of aiding illegal self-managed abortions in 2024, by mailing abortion-inducing drugs to Galveston County, Texas, where they were allegedly used to end two pregnancies. 

Plaintiff Jerry Rodriguez claims his girlfriend’s estranged husband purchased the pills from Coeytaux through a Venmo transaction and pressured her to take them, ending two pregnancies Rodriguez says were his.

FEDERAL JUDGE PARTIALLY BLOCKS LAW BANNING ADULTS FROM HELPING MINORS GET OUT-OF-STATE ABORTIONS

An ultrasound image from Jan. 18, 2025, allegedly shows Jerry Rodriguez’s unborn son. Filed as Exhibit 2 in Rodriguez v. Coeytaux in the Southern District of Texas. (Image filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas)

At the heart of the suit is an alleged $150 Venmo payment to “Remy Coeytaux MD PC” labeled “Aed axes,” followed by his girlfriend’s name. The lawsuit states Rodriguez interprets “Aed axes” to be a phonetic spelling of “Aid Access,” a network that helps women obtain abortion pills. 

Rodriguez alleges the first abortion occurred in September 2024, at the home of his girlfriend’s mother, and the second in January 2025, at the home of her estranged husband. Ultrasound images from January, attached as Exhibit 2, are offered as proof of a second pregnancy. According to the complaint, the baby was a boy.

Rodriguez is seeking over $75,000 in damages, certification of a national class of “fathers of unborn children,” and a permanent injunction barring Coeytaux from mailing abortion drugs in violation of state or federal law.

MEDICAL GROUPS URGE KENNEDY, FDA TO REEXAMINE BROAD APPROVAL OF ABORTION DRUGS

Mifepristone (Mifeprex) and Misoprostol, are two drugs used in a medication abortion. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

The complaint’s legal foundation has drawn attention. The lawsuit revives the long-dormant Comstock Act, an 1873 federal anti-obscenity law banning the mailing of abortion-related materials. Though unenforced for over a century, the Comstock Act remains on the books. 

Jonathan Mitchell, the attorney behind Texas’s heartbeat law (SB8), represents Rodriguez in the case. He argues that Dr. Remy Coeytaux violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461 and 1462, the federal Comstock Act, by knowingly using the mail to send abortion-inducing drugs from California to Texas.

The suit also alleges Coeytaux committed felony murder under Texas Penal Code § 19.02 by knowingly aiding an illegal abortion. It cites multiple violations of Texas law, including statutes that require abortion drugs to be administered only by in-state physicians, after informed consent and a mandatory ultrasound, and only at licensed abortion facilities. Coeytaux, who is not licensed in Texas, allegedly met none of those requirements.

PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT CONFRONTS HIGH ABORTION RATES THREE YEARS LATER AFTER DOBBS

People for and against abortion demonstrate before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Allison Robbert/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The case is already being seen as a strategic test of blue state abortion shield laws. States like California, New York, and Washington have passed measures to protect their abortion providers from legal risks when treating out-of-state patients.

But Rodriguez’s legal team avoided those roadblocks by filing a civil wrongful death suit directly in federal court, a move some legal scholars say could offer a new route for anti-abortion plaintiffs to reach providers beyond their own state’s borders.

As of Friday, court records show Coeytaux had not filed a response to the complaint, and he has not made any public statements about the case. 

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Pro-abortion groups are expected to contest both the interpretation of the Comstock Act and the standing of private citizens to bring wrongful death claims tied to out-of-state telehealth prescriptions.

If the case survives early procedural hurdles, it may offer a new template for pro-life litigants to target the supply chain of abortion pills three years after Dobbs was decided at the Supreme Court.

Coeytaux did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., believes it’s “weird” that the Trump administration has not released documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, but at one point, it was the last thing on her mind.

Democrats have searched for an opening to sharpen their messaging against Republicans, and have pounced on the administration and their colleagues across the aisle to release the documents. But Republicans have questioned why their counterparts didn’t have the same energy when former President Joe Biden was in office.

In a recent interview on PBS’ “Firing Line,” Slotkin, who has emerged as a leading voice in the Democratic Party, said that while she did not know what was in the documents, it was odd that President Donald Trump and his administration had not released them.

‘LOUDER BY THE HOUR’: SENATE GOP WANTS THE EPSTEIN DRAMA TO END, BUT DEMOCRATS AREN’T LETTING IT GO

Sen. Elissa Slotkin rehearses the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025, in Wyandotte, Michigan.   (Paul Sancya – Pool/Getty Images)

“The president and his allies have created so much anticipation about these files at this point, it’s just weird that they’re not releasing them, right? The president fomented this,” she said.

But nearly five years ago, ahead of Biden’s eventual victory and a Democratic trifecta in Washington, the issue of Epstein was not a priority for the lawmaker, who at the time was in her first term in the House.

In a video from 2020 obtained by Fox News Digital, Slotkin said that diving into the connections between former President Bill Clinton and Epstein were not “front of mind.”

The sentiment came in response to a question about why there had been little mention of allegations that Clinton was in the trove of documents related to Epstein. She argued that there were more pressing issues at the time, like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout spurred by it.

SENATE REPUBLICAN DEMANDS STATE, FEDERAL COURTS ‘IMMEDIATELY UNSEAL ALL’ EPSTEIN DOCS

Trump’s relationship with Epstein has come under more scrutiny as his DOJ under Attorney General Pam Bondi recently alleged that there is no Epstein “client list.” (Getty Images)

“In the face of those problems, I will be honest, I don’t spend a ton of time looking into connections between Bill Clinton and other people, because that doesn’t help my constituents every single day, right? And my job is to focus on those issues,” she said.

“I have no special knowledge of those issues, but my job is to focus on the things that affect people’s pocketbooks and their kids, and if I’m not making positive progress towards that, I’m not doing my job,” she continued. “And so, I can’t answer your question, because that’s not where I live and where I focus.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Slotkin for comment for this report but did not hear back.

‘NOT GOING AWAY’: INSIDE THE EPSTEIN DRAMA THAT’S THROWN HOUSE GOP INTO CHAOS

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton.  (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Congressional Democrats, and some Republicans, have pushed for more transparency from the Trump administration on the release of a trove of documents, known as the so-called Epstein files, in a saga that has engulfed Capitol Hill for much of July.

The furor in Congress stemmed from a Justice Department memo released earlier this month that declared the Epstein case closed, and has not lost steam in the time since.

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Epstein intrigue paralyzed the House, causing House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to send lawmakers home early as a bipartisan swell grew to uncover the documents. 

The Senate has been less chaotic. Still, Senate Democrats have ramped up their messaging against the administration, while many Senate Republicans would prefer to focus their attention elsewhere.