‘We have made history’: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi to retire

Posted on by Associated Press

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will not seek reelection to the U.S. House, bringing to a close her storied career as not only the first woman in the speaker's office but arguably the most powerful in American politics.

Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years, announced her decision Thursday.

“I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” Pelosi said in a video address to voters.

Pelosi, appearing upbeat and forward-looking as images of her decades of accomplishments filled the frames, said she would finish out her final year in office. And she left those who sent her to Congress with a call to action to carry on the legacy of agenda-setting both in the U.S. and around the world.

“My message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” she said. “We have made history. We have made progress. We have always led the way.” 

Pelosi said, “And now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear.” 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tears her copy of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in 2020.

The decision, while not fully unexpected, ricocheted across Washington, and California, as a seasoned generation of political leaders is stepping aside ahead of next year's midterm elections. Some are leaving reluctantly, others with resolve, but many are facing challenges from newcomers eager to lead the Democratic Party and confront President Donald Trump.

Pelosi remains a political powerhouse and played a pivotal role with California's redistricting effort, Prop 50, and the party's comeback in this month's election. She maintains a robust schedule of public events and party fundraising, and her announced departure touches off a succession battle back home and leaves open questions about who will fill her behind-the-scenes leadership role at the Capitol.

An architect of the Affordable Care Act and a leader on the international stage, Pelosi, who's 85, came to politics later in life, a mother of five mostly grown children. She has long fended off calls for her to step aside by turning questions about her intentions into spirited rebuttals, asking if the same was being posed of her male colleagues on Capitol Hill.

In her video address, she noted that her first campaign slogan was “a voice that will be heard.”

And with that backing, she became a speaker “whose voice would certainly be heard,” she said.

But after Pelosi quietly helped orchestrate Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, she has decided to pass the torch, too.

Last year, she experienced a fall resulting in a hip fracture during a whirlwind congressional visit to allies in Europe, but even still it showcased her grit: It was revealed she was rushed to a military hospital for surgery — after the group photo, in which she's seen smiling, poised on her trademark stiletto heels.

Pelosi's decision also comes as her husband of more than six decades, Paul Pelosi, was gravely injured three years ago when an intruder demanding to know “Where is Nancy?” broke into the couple’s home and beat him over the head with a hammer. His recovery from the attack, days before the 2022 midterm elections, is ongoing.

Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Pelosi faced a potential primary challenge in California. Left-wing newcomer Saikat Chakrabarti, who helped devise progressive superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political rise in New York, has mounted a campaign, and state Sen. Scott Wiener is also reported to be considering a run.

While Pelosi remains an unmatched force for the Democratic Party, having fundraised more than $1 billion over her career, her next steps are uncertain. First elected in 1987 after having worked in California state party politics, she has spent some four decades in public office.

Madam speaker takes the gavel

Pelosi’s legacy as House speaker comes not only because she was the first woman to have the job but also because of what she did with the gavel, seizing the enormous powers that come with the suite of offices overlooking the National Mall. 

The first female speaker of the House.

During her first tenure, from 2007 to 2011, she steered the House in passing landmark legislation into law — the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank financial reforms in the aftermath of the Great Recession and a repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy against LGBTQ service members.

With President Barack Obama in the White House and Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada leading the Senate, the 2009-10 session of Congress ended among the most productive since the Johnson era.

But a conservative Republican “tea party” revolt bounced Democrats from power, ushering in a new style of Republicans, who would pave the way for Trump to seize the White House in 2016.

Determined to win back control, Pelosi helped recruit and propel dozens of women to office in the 2018 midterm elections as Democrats running as the resistance to Trump’s first term.

On the campaign trail that year, Pelosi told The Associated Press that if House Democrats won, she would show the “power of the gavel.”

Pelosi returns to the speaker's office as a check on Trump

Pelosi became the first speaker to regain the office in some 50 years, and her second term, from 2019 to 2023, became potentially more consequential than the first, particularly as the Democratic Party's antidote to Trump.

Pelosi regularly stood up to and defeated Trump during his first term.

Trump was impeached by the House — twice — first in 2019 for withholding U.S. aid to Ukraine as it faced a hostile Russia at its border and then in 2021 days after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Senate acquitted him in both cases.  

Pelosi stood up the Jan. 6 special committee to probe Trump's role in sending his mob of supporters to the Capitol, when most Republicans refused to investigate, producing the 1,000-page report that became the first full accounting of what happened as the defeated president tried to stay in office.

After Democrats lost control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections, Pelosi announced she would not seek another term as party leader.

Rather than retire, she charted a new course for leaders, taking on the emerita title that would become used by others, including Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California during his brief tenure after he was ousted by his colleagues from the speaker's office in 2023.

Trump foe Boasberg hit with articles of impeachment

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, is formally introducing impeachment articles against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Tuesday for his role in the "Arctic Frost" probe.

Republican allies of President Donald Trump have been criticizing Boasberg after news broke that he was the judge who signed off on subpoenas and other measures in former special counsel Jack Smith’s probe.

"Chief Judge Boasberg has compromised the impartiality of the judiciary and created a constitutional crisis. He is shamelessly weaponizing his power against his political opponents, including Republican members of Congress who are faithfully serving the American people within their jurisdiction," Gill told Fox News Digital.

"Judge Boasberg was an accomplice in the egregious Arctic Frost scandal where he equipped the Biden DOJ to spy on Republican senators. His lack of integrity makes him clearly unfit for the gavel. I am proud to once again introduce articles of impeachment against Judge Boasberg to hold him accountable for his high crimes and misdemeanors."

MAJOR PHONE CARRIERS REVEAL JACK SMITH'S SUBPOENAS FOR REPUBLICAN SENATORS' RECORDS

Gill's resolution accused Boasberg of one count of abuse of power, according to text obtained first by Fox News Digital.

"Ignoring his responsibility to wield the power of his office in a constitutional manner, Chief Judge Boasberg granted Special Counsel John L. Smith authorization to issue frivolous nondisclosure orders in furtherance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation project codenamed ARCTIC FROST," the text said.

"These nondisclosure orders covered Members of Congress who were acting in accord with their legislative duties and privileges guaranteed by Article 1, Section 6, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution."

WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP'S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?

The redacted Arctic Frost documents were made public late last month by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. They included subpoenas of phone records for 10 senators and one House lawmaker, and gag orders sent to Verizon and AT&T instructing them not to notify lawmakers of the subpoena. Verizon complied, but AT&T did not.

Both the subpoenas and gag orders were signed by Boasberg, according to the documents — a detail that prompted fresh criticism and indignation from Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who blasted the investigation as "worse than Watergate" and a gross violation of prosecutorial powers.

Under the Stored Communications Act, federal judges exercise discretion in signing off on such orders — they are not automatic. It is unclear what materials Boasberg would have reviewed in this particular case before authorizing the tolling records of the senators, as much of the information and materials in the probe remain classified or are heavily redacted. 

Republicans named in the subpoenas have argued they are potential violations of the speech or debate clause of the U.S. Constitution, which protects lawmakers from being arrested or questioned by law enforcement for things they say or do in their legislative roles. 

Those protections are not absolute, however, and the clause remains the subject of ongoing, spirited debate over the separation of powers and what degree of protection members of Congress should enjoy from the other two branches of government.

It is not the first time Boasberg has caught negative attention from Trump or his allies.

The federal judge was the target of Republican impeachment threats earlier this year after he issued an order temporarily pausing Trump’s migrant deportation flights to El Salvador.

Gill and other GOP lawmakers pushing impeachment resolutions backed off of those threats after House Republican leaders suggested it was not the most potent route to affect change.

Boasberg’s role in ‘Arctic Frost’ probe sparks fury from GOP senators, despite local rules

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Republican senators issued a torrent of criticism against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg this week after it was revealed that he had signed off on subpoenas and gag orders issued as part of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation — though a cursory review of court rules suggests it is far less provocative than lawmakers have claimed.

Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., were among the Republicans who blasted Boasberg as an "activist" judge, and Cruz, for his part, suggested Boasberg should be impeached. 

"My assumption," Cruz fumed, is "that Judge Boasberg printed these things out like the placemats at Denny's — one after the other."

MAJOR PHONE CARRIERS REVEAL JACK SMITH'S SUBPOENAS FOR REPUBLICAN SENATORS' RECORDS

At issue were subpoenas and gag orders issued by former special counsel Jack Smith's team as part of its probe into President Donald Trump's actions in the wake of the 2020 election. 

The redacted documents were made public this week by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

They included subpoenas of phone records for 10 senators and one House lawmaker, and gag orders sent to Verizon and AT&T instructing them not to notify lawmakers of the subpoena. (Verizon complied, AT&T did not.) 

Both the subpoenas and gag orders were signed by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, according to the newly released documents — a detail that prompted fresh criticism and indignation from some of the Republicans in question, including Cruz, who blasted the investigation in question as "worse than Watergate" and a gross violation of prosecutorial powers.

Blackburn blasted Boasberg as an "activist" judge. Some lawmakers further argued for his impeachment as a result of his involvement. 

In fact, his role in the process is far from surprising. 

WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP'S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?

Local rules for the federal court system in D.C. explicitly state the chief judge "must hear and determine all proceedings before the grand jury." The subpoenas and gag orders signed by Boasberg were signed in May 2023 — roughly two months into his tenure as the chief judge for the federal court.

It's unclear whether Sens. Cruz or Blackburn were aware of this rule, and they did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

But it's also not the first time Judge Boasberg previously noted his oversight of these matters as the chief judge for D.C. — including in the special counsel probe in question. 

Boasberg explained the rule in question in June 2023, when he granted, in part, a request from media outlets to unseal a tranche of redacted documents related to the subpoena and testimony of former Vice President Mike Pence in the same probe. (He explained in a lengthy public memo that he did so because the press movant were seeking record that Pence himself had discussed publicly.) 

Still, the controversy comes as Boasberg has found himself squarely in Trump’s crosshairs, after he issued a temporary restraining order in March blocking Trump’s use of a 1798 wartime law to deport hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

Until that point, however, Boasberg had largely avoided making headlines. 

JACK SMITH DEFENDS SUBPOENAING REPUBLICAN SENATORS’ PHONE RECORDS: ‘ENTIRELY PROPER’

A graduate of Yale, Oxford University and Yale Law School, Boasberg clerked for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals before joining the Justice Department as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C.

He was tapped in 2002 by then-President George W. Bush to serve on the D.C. Superior Court, where he served until 2011, when he was nominated by President Barack Obama to the federal bench in D.C. in 2011. 

His confirmation vote soared through the Senate with a 96-0 vote of approval, including with the support of Sen. Grassley and other Republicans named in the subpoena. 

Boasberg in 2014 was appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to a seven-year term on the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA Court, comprised of 11 federal judges hand-selected by the chief justice. 

Former special counsel Jack Smith, for his part, has since defended his decision to subpoena the Republican lawmakers' phone records, which Fox News Digital reported includes phone records for a four-day period surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 

They did not include the contents of phone calls or messages, which would require a warrant, but they did include "[call] detail records for inbound and outbound calls, text messages, direct connect, and voicemail messages" and phone number, subscriber, and payment information.

 His lawyers told Senate lawmakers in a letter earlier this month that the decision to do so was "entirely proper" and is consistent with Justice Department policy.

Fox News's Ashley Oliver contributed to this report. 

Listeria outbreak surfaces after Trump’s CDC cuts key program

Posted on by Oliver Willis

A listeria outbreak tied to prepared food products has caused at least six deaths and more than 25 hospitalizations. The outbreak is occurring roughly four months after the Trump administration halted a program that monitored the food supply for problems like listeria.

The Listeria monocytogenes contamination has been linked to precooked pasta supplied by Nate’s Fine Foods Inc. to supermarket chains like Walmart, Kroger, Trader Joe’s, and Sprouts, which then used the pasta in prepared foods. Consumption of contaminated food can cause listeriosis, an infection that can lead to vomiting, fever, headache, and diarrhea, and can be deadly for children, pregnant women, people over 65, and others with compromised immune systems.

Despite the danger a listeria outbreak can pose to the public, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July significantly scaled back the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, or FoodNet, which monitors for foodborne illnesses.

This image provided by the Food and Drug Administration shows an example of a precooked pasta meal that Demers Food Group voluntarily recalled on Oct. 1, after a sample of a supplier's linguine pasta tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

As of July 1, FoodNet stopped monitoring for listeria as well as campylobacter, Yersinia, cyclospora, shigella, or vibrio, according to NBC News. Only two pathogens continue to be monitored—salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.

At the time, the CDC claimed in a memo that a lack of funding was the issue for the cutbacks. Rather than scale up funding for FoodNet, the Trump administration has since increased money for deportation operations and other priorities.

When the cutbacks were uncovered, experts sounded the alarm. Elaine Scallan Walter, a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, told The New York Times, “We’re really gutting one of the cornerstones of food safety.”

The CDC falls under the purview of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is led by anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In September, a coalition of 22 food-safety groups called on Trump to fire Kennedy, citing his promotion of anti-science beliefs and policies throughout the agency.

During the Trump administration, a measles outbreak has spread across the U.S., and Kennedy is well known for his advocacy against vaccination. Kennedy’s claims about the purported dangers of medicine like Tylenol has prompted congressional calls for his impeachment and removal.

It remains to be seen what other preventable illnesses will kill even more Americans following the decisions made by Trump and Kennedy.

Trump team goes full racist with timeline of White House history

Posted on by Emily Singer

In yet another sign that the Trump administration is filled with the absolute worst human beings, they created a website Thursday to build support for President Donald Trump's hideous and corrupt ballroom.

The website includes a “major events timeline,” which seems normal at first, highlighting the history of White House projects— including its reconstruction after the 1812 fire, the additions of the West Wing in 1902 and the East Wing in 1942, and President Harry Truman’s “total reconstruction” in 1948.

Notably, all of these changes to the White House were done with approval from Congress and historic preservation boards, unlike Trump's ballroom monstrosity.

The last real entry on the timeline is President Richard Nixon’s 1970 conversion of the White House swimming pool into the press briefing room. After that is just a bunch of unhinged garbage thrown together by Trump’s knuckle-dragging minions.

A screenshot of some of the asinine “major events” on the White House’s timeline.

Next on the timeline is a photo from 1998 of President Bill Clinton with White House intern Monica Lewinsky labeled, “Bill Clinton Scandal.”

"President Bill Clinton's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky was exposed, leading to White House perjury investigations. The Oval Office trysts fueled impeachment for obstruction,” it reads.

The East Wing is demolished to make room for President Donald Trump’s ballroom monstrosity. 

Then there's an utterly racist image of President Barack Obama that appears to be from a trip he took to Kenya in 2006, though it’s labeled on the timeline as occurring in 2012.  

"Obama hosts members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that promotes Islamist extremism and has ties to Hamas. The Muslim Brotherhood is a designated terrorist organization by nearly a dozen nations,” it says.

Of course, using a totally unrelated image to make Obama look like a scary Muslim is racist beyond words.

But beyond that, it’s not even clear that the Muslim Brotherhood even went to the White House at all. News reports at the time say that Muslim Brotherhood officials met in Egypt with White House aides—not Obama himself. But if they did, is that any worse than Trump planning to meet with the literal Taliban at Camp David?

The timeline then returns to real events with the 2020 construction of the tennis pavilion by first lady Melania Trump before again launching into offensive and unhinged “events.”

Next is an image of Hunter Biden shirtless and smoking a cigarette in a bathtub labeled, "Cocaine Discovered."

"During Biden’s administration, a U.S. Secret Service agent discovered a small, zippered plastic bag containing cocaine in the West Wing entrance lobby. Speculation has pointed to Hunter Biden, an admitted drug user. Additional evidence includes a laptop, seized in 2019, which contains photos of frequent drug use alongside emails about foreign business dealings (Ukraine, China) involving his father, Joe, while he was Vice President," the entry reads.

The White House Rose Garden is paved over to create a gathering spot for President Donald Trump to host dinner parties with his billionaire donor pals.

Of course, it was never determined whose cocaine it was, as it was found in a highly trafficked area where tours are given and could have been anyone’s—including visitors. The Secret Service closed an investigation into the incident without determining a perpetrator. 

Then the timeline takes potshots at transgender people—the right’s new favorite punching bag—by highlighting Trans Day of Visibility.

"The Biden/Harris administration hosts transexuals at the White House in 2023, and goes on to establish the 'The Transgender Day of Visibility' on the same day as Easter Sunday in 2024," it says.

The fact that this trash is on an official White House website is so beyond the pale. And yet, the Trump administration is very proud of this infantile timeline.

"NEW on WhiteHouse.gov—The White House Major Events Timeline," the Trump War Room wrote on X alongside the absolutely unhinged images.

We are living in the worst timeline—literally.

Andrew Cuomo campaign walks back controversial attack ad targeting Mamdani voters

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo's campaign is walking back an AI-generated ad that depicted opposing voters as criminals and vagrants on Thursday.

The ad depicts supporters of rival candidate Zohran Mamdani committing crimes like burglary, looting, drunk driving and human trafficking. The campaign posted the ad Wednesday night before quickly taking it down.

Mamdani called the ad "just disgusting" in a response on social media.

Cuomo campaign spokesman Rich Azzopardi told the New York Times that the video was "posted in error" and "wasn't done yet."

MAMDANI RIPPED BY RIVALS FOR UNPOPULAR STANCE DURING FIERY NYC DEBATE: 'YOU WON'T SUPPORT ISRAEL'

The Cuomo and Mamdani campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

The ad's release came around the same time that Cuomo, Mamdani and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa participated in a mayoral debate Wednesday night.

FBI AGENTS FROM '93 WTC ATTACK BLAST MAMDANI FOR EMBRACING RADICAL IMAM

Mamdani and Sliwa took the opportunity during Wednesday's debate to drill down on past sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo, the former governor of New York, ahead of an impeachment inquiry that preceded Cuomo's 2021 resignation.

TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM FIERY NYC MAYORAL DEBATE: 'HE LITERALLY HAS NEVER HAD A JOB'

Cuomo was also hit by Mamdani over accusations he has – while in public office – failed to meet with Muslim constituents and only began doing so amid pressure from his mayoral campaign, and over his alleged poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York after Cuomo was party to issuing guidance forcing nursing homes and long-term care facilities to admit COVID-19-positive patients.

Cuomo, in turn, targeted Mamdani over controversies that have embattled his campaign. Cuomo blasted the self-proclaimed socialist over his lack of experience, ties to radical politics, and past radical comments about law enforcement, Israel and the situation in Gaza.

"My main opponent has no new ideas. He has no new plan.… He's never run anything, managed anything. He's never had a real job," Cuomo said of Mamdani during the debate. Cuomo also branded Mamdani as someone who has proven to be "a divisive force in New York," pointing to past incidents that have garnered Mamdani heat from critics. 

Fox News' Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.