More than a dozen Democratic-led states are accusing the Trump administration of violating a federal court order by sharing Medicaid data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, asking a judge to enforce the ruling.

The states’ complaint asks the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to enforce its existing injunction blocking HHS from sharing Medicaid data with ICE. 

“The Trump Administration appears to be defying a direct court order blocking it from sharing the personal, sensitive data of individuals including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. It’s invasive — and deeply troubling,” said California Attorney General Bonta, who led the coalition of 22 states. “When Californians signed up for Medi-Cal, they did so with the understanding that their data would not be used for purposes unrelated to administering this program. I urge the court to enforce its earlier order and make clear that these guardrails exist for anyone who is lawfully residing in the United States.”

The complaint stems from a lawsuit spearheaded by California in July 2025 against the Trump administration. The lawsuit accused Health and Human Services of violating federal law through its “mass transfer of sensitive Medicaid data” of both lawful permanent and temporary residents. The lawsuit also argued that the sharing of the personal information will likely create a “chilling effect on individuals’ willingness to enroll in Medicaid programs” for which they are legally eligible.

SECOND FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS IRS FROM SHARING ADDRESSES WITH ICE

A federal judge ruled last December that the Trump administration is not allowed to collect the personal information of lawful permanent residents or citizens, but that it can continue to collect basic information from individuals such as addresses, birthdates and immigration status for residents with temporary status. However, the scope of data that can be collected is limited and cannot include sensitive health information. 

The attorneys general accuse Health and Human Services of sharing “a large and complex” set of data on Medicaid recipients with ICE, which is in violation of a federal court ruling allowing the exchange of limited personal information but excluding the information of legal permanent residents. The complaint also accuses the Trump administration of failing to share its criteria for determining if a resident is being “lawfully present.”

CATO Institute Senior Legal Fellow Dan Greenberg told Fox News Digital there is “a strong possibility” that HHS and ICE violated the district court’s order.

LETITIA JAMES SUES HHS OVER TYING FEDERAL FUNDS TO TRANSGENDER POLICY

“The reason this is a strong possibility is that DHHS communications apparently indicate that it shared a ‘large and complex’ dataset of Medicaid recipients with ICE,” Greenberg said. “That phrase suggests that the dataset that was shared with ICE may have included information that is outside the scope of the court order. That is a question of fact: that is why the states are now asking the court to compel the federal government to explain just what was shared and how it is now being used.”

Greenberg also pointed out that the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System database does not “appear to have any simple or direct way to identify/single out immigrants who are undocumented,” making “information-sharing that complies with that court order difficult or impossible.”

“The TMSIS identifies people who are only eligible for emergency Medicaid services, but the problem is that this class of people includes both undocumented and lawfully present immigrants,” Greenberg said. “In short, it is as if the court order said that only some of the information in one particular file should be disclosed, but there is reason to believe that DHHS decided that — because they can’t figure out how to separate out this particular type of information – they may have handed over the whole filing cabinet.”

In addition to California, attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the governor of Kentucky signed on to the complaint.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Health and Human Services for comment.

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A week after President Donald Trump urged Sydney Gruters to run for an open GOP-held congressional seat in Florida, the former executive director of the state’s New College Foundation and wife of Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Joe Gruters declared her candidacy.

“As a working mother of three, I see firsthand how much pressure rising prices are putting on families across Southwest Florida,” Sydney Gruters said as she launched her campaign on Thursday. “From groceries and gas to housing and insurance, too many families, seniors and veterans are being stretched thin. I’m running for Congress to protect our conservative values and fight for the people of this district and give them a strong voice in Washington.”

With Trump’s support, Gruters is considered the clear frontrunner to succeed retiring longtime GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan, her former boss, in Florida’s right-leaning 16th Congressional District, which stretches from Tampa’s eastern suburbs south to Bradenton. Republicans currently control the House 218-214 and will be defending their fragile majority in this year’s midterm elections.

Trump, in a social media post on March 24, emphasized that Gruters would “fight tirelessly.”

RNC CHAIR BETS ON ‘SECRET WEAPON’ TO DEFY MIDTERM HISTORY, PROTECT GOP MAJORITIES

“Should she decide to enter this Race, Sydney Gruters has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, SYDNEY, RUN!” the president declared.

While her husband, a Florida state senator and top Trump supporter in the Sunshine State, is well known nationally as he steers the RNC, the 44-year-old Sydney Gruters is well known in her district and very familiar with Congress.

SCOOP: HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN ARM LAUNCHES ‘MAGA MAJORITY’ PROGRAM TO BOOST TRUMP-ALIGNED CANDIDATES

Gruters served as Buchanan’s operation director for a decade (2007-2017) and later as district director to GOP Rep. Greg Steube (2019-2023) in the neighboring 17th Congressional District.

In-between her two congressional stints, she served in Trump’s first administration as state director for Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Department of Agriculture.

Prior to launching her congressional campaign, Gruters finished up her tenure as vice president of advancement and executive director of the New College Foundation.

Gruters took her position at the smaller liberal arts state college in Sarasota soon after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis installed a conservative board of trustees at the school. The one-time progressive-minded college subsequently created a classical education curriculum, which emphasizes liberal arts and Western teachings. Last autumn, the college was among the first to sign on to Trump’s education compact, which offers schools federal funding for backing his education priorities.

As she launches her congressional bid, Gruters is also backed by Maggie’s List, a political group that works to elect conservative women to Congress.

Three other Republicans, as well as three Democrats, are also running to succeed Buchanan.

Joe Gruters, in a statement to Fox News Digital, said he’s “incredibly proud of Sydney as she launches her campaign, and it’s an honor to see her earn President Trump’s support. As always, the RNC remains neutral in Republican primaries, so any support I offer will be purely in my personal capacity.”

Trump won 57% of the vote in the district in his 2024 presidential election victory. And Buchanan grabbed nearly 60% of the vote as he won re-election. But the seat may be refigured ahead of this year’s midterms, as the GOP-dominated Florida legislature meets in a special session later this month to deal with congressional redistricting in the red-leaning state.

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Republican leaders are rallying around President Donald Trump’s new approach to end the 47-day Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding lapse — a plan that could make the agency shutdown-proof for the rest of Trump’s term.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Wednesday that DHS will be funded along “two parallel tracks,” meaning that the president’s immigration and border security agenda will receive an influx of money through a party-line reconciliation bill. The rest of DHS is funded through the normal appropriations process.

“We operated under a belief that while our country is in the midst of an international armed conflict, Democrats might finally come to their senses and understand that defunding our homeland security agencies is beyond reckless and very dangerous,” Johnson and Thune wrote in a joint statement. “We cannot allow Democrats to any longer put the safety of the American public at risk through their open border policies, so we are taking that off the table.”

The GOP leaders added that a forthcoming budget reconciliation package will include three years of immigration enforcement and border security funding. That move could prevent Democrats from using the appropriations process as leverage over the president’s immigration agenda for the remainder of his term.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES ERUPT OVER SENATE GOP, WHITE HOUSE DEAL AMID SAVE ACT FIGHT

The GOP leaders’ budget reconciliation push comes as Republican efforts to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through regular order have stalled in the Senate due to widespread opposition from Democrats.

With the Senate’s 60-vote legislative threshold in place, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., effectively has veto power over DHS appropriations if he keeps his caucus in line.

To end the stalemate, Trump asked Republicans Wednesday to draft a budget reconciliation package funding immigration enforcement and border security that could pass both chambers without any Democratic support.

“We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We will not allow them to hurt the families of these Great Patriots by defunding them.”

The president added that he wants the legislation on his desk by June 1.

The budget reconciliation process would allow Republicans to steer around Democratic opposition and pass a DHS funding bill at a simple majority threshold. Republicans narrowly passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act using reconciliation in June 2025 after months of intraparty squabbling.

Though ICE and the Border Patrol received an unprecedented infusion of money through Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill, certain support staff employed by both agencies have not been paid during the seven-week shutdown.

The U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Secret Service have seen a more significant lapse in appropriations, though Trump took executive action to provide back pay to TSA agents reporting to work during the funding lapse.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PASS RIVAL DHS PLAN, SETTING UP SENATE FIGHT AS SHUTDOWN SET TO BECOME LONGEST IN HISTORY

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., indicated to reporters Monday that Trump would ultimately get behind the Senate’s preferred approach. 

“The Democrats can’t create another shutdown like they did this time,” Hoeven said, if the DHS budget reconciliation bill were to be signed into law.

The North Dakota lawmaker also disputed that a reconciliation package would take several months to put together.

“We’ll get it done as quick as you can,” Hoeven said. “I hope it’s certainly not months.”

A second reconciliation package could prove more difficult in an election year when lawmakers will have to identify spending cuts to pay for the border security and immigration funding. The strategy could also extend the funding lapse for ICE and the Border Patrol for several more months.

Amid both chambers’ planned two-week recesses, Trump told the New York Post on Tuesday he is considering calling Congress back to Washington to find a solution to the DHS shutdown.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that a “skinny reconciliation bill” funding the department would pass both chambers once Congress resumes session in mid-April if a deal has not been reached.

House GOP leadership has previously voiced skepticism about funding immigration enforcement through a budget reconciliation package. Some conservatives have also complained about the precedent of letting Democrats decide which agencies receive funding through the normal appropriations process.

“The problem is that what they’re doing is they’re placing the burden on the Republican Party entirely to make sure that we have border security funding and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, because they’re going to try to force it into a reconciliation bill,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Friday. “That’s a very difficult task. It is a high risk gamble for us to assume that we could do that.”

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President Donald Trump is expected to address the nation at 9 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday about U.S. operations in Iran after one month of combat. 

The message will be an “important update” about the war, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X. 

The president will give an operational update on the mission known as Operation Epic Fury and is expected to reiterate the two-to-three week timeline for a drawdown of the operation that he gave in comments to reporters Tuesday, a White House official told Fox News Digital Wednesday. 

“He will highlight the United States military’s success in achieving all of its stated goals prior to the operation: destroy Iran’s deadly ballistic missiles and production facilities, annihilate their Navy, ensure their terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region and guarantee that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon,” the official added.

US EYES SEIZING IRAN’S OIL LIFELINE — BUT IT MAY NOT CRIPPLE TEHRAN

Trump told reporters Tuesday he expected the mission to end in two to three weeks. He posted on Truth Social Wednesday that Iran had asked for a ceasefire, but the U.S. was not open to negotiation until the Strait of Hormuz is open for shipping. 

“We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear,” Trump said. “Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!” 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said the claim that Iran had asked for a ceasefire was “false and baseless,” according to Iranian state TV. 

Trump has sent mixed signals in recent days, at times suggesting the conflict could end soon while also threatening intensified strikes if Iran does not meet U.S. demands.

The president told multiple news outlets Wednesday he is strongly considering pulling the U.S. out of NATO over frustrations at what he sees as insufficient military support from allied countries in the Middle East. 

“I was never swayed by NATO,” Trump told The Telegraph in an interview published Wednesday.

European nations so far have resisted pressure to offer warships to reopen commerce in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil supply typically passes. The average price of a gallon of gas surpassed $4 Tuesday, a first since 2022. 

Several key European allies have moved to restrict U.S. military access as the Trump administration presses forward with operations against Iran. Spain has closed its airspace to U.S. aircraft tied to strikes and France is imposing limits on certain overflights carrying military supplies.

PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS US COULD FINISH IRAN OPERATION WITHIN TWO TO THREE WEEKS

“We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.”

Administration officials have suggested U.S. objectives in the conflict are nearing completion, raising the possibility that Trump could outline a path toward winding down operations.

At the same time, thousands of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne division and a task force of 2,500 Marines from the USS Tripoli have reached the Central Command theater in recent days, raising speculation of a potential ground invasion. 

The USS George H.W. Bush, an aircraft carrier with 6,000 sailors, deployed Tuesday to join the USS Abraham Lincoln already in theater.

Operation Epic Fury began Feb. 28. 

Since then, U.S. forces have struck more than 12,000 targets inside Iran and damaged or destroyed 155 naval ships, according to the Central Command. Thirteen U.S. service members have died in the operations, and 350 have been injured.  

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President Donald Trump’s Department of Education has launched “yet another investigation” into Fairfax County, Virginia, after police say that an adult illegal immigrant student allegedly groped a dozen minor girls at a high school he attended.

The Education Department announced Monday that it is opening the investigation following reports “from 12 high school girls who have credibly accused one male student — an illegal immigrant — of sexual assault.”

This comes after outraged Fairfax County parents expressed disgust, frustration and fear about Fairfax County High School’s handling of complaints alleging that 18-year-old illegal alien Israel Flores Ortiz groped several girls from behind on school grounds.

According to the department, this is the latest in a “long list of investigations” it has opened into schools in deep blue Northern Virginia.

LINDA MCMAHON SAYS FEDERAL TAX CREDIT SCHOLARSHIP WILL HELP PARENTS MOVE THEIR CHILD OUT A ‘FAILING SCHOOL’

Flores Ortiz, 18, is facing 13 counts of assault and battery for allegedly inappropriately touching female classmates at a Fairfax County school. 

Fairfax police were alerted on March 5 by Fairfax High School about reports of multiple assaults on campus. An arrest warrant was issued, and Flores Ortiz turned himself in on March 7. He is currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Flores Ortiz is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was released into the U.S. under the Biden administration in 2024. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a detainer has been filed for him by federal authorities and that he could face removal from the country.

Parent Stacy Langton told Fox News Digital last week that “it’s terrifying as a parent, because when I send my daughters to school, I think they’re safe in the care of the school.”

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO LEAVE BUILDING AFTER 40 YEARS AS PART OF EFFORT TO ELIMINATE GOVERNMENT AGENCY

“And in this case, they absolutely were not safe, and I don’t know what parent wouldn’t be completely distraught at the idea that their daughters could be getting sexually battered while they’re changing classes,” said Langton.

A spokesperson for Fairfax County Public Schools confirmed the investigation, telling Fox News Digital that it “received the complaint yesterday and is reviewing it.” 

The spokesperson said that the school system is “prepared to fully cooperate with the U.S. Department of Education’s inquiry.”

“We are grateful to our law enforcement partners and are continuing to work closely with them as their investigation into this matter moves forward,” the spokesperson said, adding, “to maintain the integrity of the ongoing investigation, we cannot share additional details at this point.”

They said that “in addition to the law enforcement investigation, Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid has requested that FCPS retain an independent outside law firm to conduct a comprehensive review of this matter.”

The spokesperson shared that the firm McGuireWoods “will conduct this thorough, objective, and independent review.”

“The goal is clear: to establish a definitive understanding of what occurred, when it occurred, and confirm that all policies, procedures, and regulations were properly followed,” the spokesperson said, adding, “The safety of our students and staff remains a top priority.”

The system previously released a statement saying that it prioritizes the safety of students and staff.

“While Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is unable to comment on specifics due to federal and state privacy laws, we prioritize student and staff safety, and we fully investigate any time someone shares that an incident has occurred at school, or that they do not feel safe at school,” the district said at the time. 

GOP DISRUPTOR COUNTERS BIDEN’S STUDENT LOAN BAILOUTS WITH PLAN TO SHIFT COSTS AWAY FROM TAXPAYERS

In addition to the Fairfax County incidents, the Department of Education said it is investigating several other incidents in Northern Virginia schools involving female students filing complaints about inappropriate conduct in female-only spaces by men allowed in under gender identity policies.

The department said that “Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology, race-based admissions systems, far-Left indoctrination, and unlawful discrimination has inflicted immeasurable harm on our students,” adding, “It must stop.” 

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion and Taylor Penley contributed to this report.

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A Rhode Island Democratic state representative is facing blowback on social media after claiming that a mural of Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian woman whose brutal murder while riding a North Carolina train sparked national outrage, doesn’t reflect the “values” of the city of Providence.

“Ultimately, we want to make sure that every community member who calls Providence home feels safe,” Rep. David Morales told local media about a mural of Zarutska facing calls to be removed from the exterior of an LGBTQ+ club in downtown Providence.

“We can both agree that this mural behind us does not reflect Providence’s values nor does it reflect the creativity that we would want to see in our city.”

The lawmaker’s comments immediately sparked negative reactions from conservatives on social media after they were posted by the conservative influencer account End Wokeness in a post that has been viewed over 1 million times. 

CHARLOTTE RAIL MURDER SUSPECT LINKED TO INMATE RELEASE APPROVED UNDER EX-DEM GOVERNOR, GOP ALLEGES

“What are his values?” Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is reportedly involved in the mural project, posted on X.

“He cites people wanting to be ‘safe’ as a reason to destroy a mural on a private building meant to honor a murdered woman,” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. “You can’t imagine how crazy Democrats are in these blue bastions. You think what you see on MSNBC is nuts? It’s even worse in their bubble cities.”

“Honoring the memory of a Ukrainian immigrant who had her throat slit on public transportation by a repeat offender with 14 prior arrests doesn’t reflect Providence’s values????” Defending Education communications director Erika Sanzi posted on X.

“What ‘value’ does the mural not reflect?” Republican Rep. Chip Roy posted on X.

“Iryna’s death highlights the consequences of warped policies that keep violent criminals out of jail,” Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts posted on X. “Memorializing her reminds us that those policies create more victims and should be eliminated. Telling that those aren’t Rep. Morales’ ‘values.’”

“True,” Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz posted on X. “Dems would prefer a mural celebrating her murderer.”

“Providence had a George Floyd mural and nobody called it divisive,” GOP strategist and commentator Mehek Cooke posted on X. “Iryna got murdered by a man arrested over a dozen times, and a city couldn’t let her face stay on a wall because the donor list was inconvenient. We means-test grief now.”

CNN commentator Scott Jennings referred to Morales as a “deranged lunatic” in a post on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Morales’s office for comment but did not receive a response.

Morales responded to Musk on X in a post clarifying what his “values” are. 

“Not to exploit the death of a refugee to push an agenda centered around fear and division,” Morales wrote. “My values, like many of our neighbors in Providence, is to protect our immigrant neighbors from ICE’s state-sanctioned violence and supporting our refugee neighbors with authentic care.”

CHARLOTTE LIGHT-RAIL STABBING MURDER SPURS LANDMARK CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM FROM NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICANS

The mayor of Providence, Democrat Brett P. Smiley, has also spoken out against the mural.

“The murder of the individual depicted in this mural was a devastating tragedy, but the misguided, isolating intent of those funding murals like this across the country is divisive and does not represent Providence,” Smiley said. “I continue to encourage our community to support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than further divides us.”

Zarutska, a 23-year-old refugee who fled her country after the Russian invasion, was brutally stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack while riding the Lynx Blue Line light rail in Charlotte, N.C., last year. 

The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, is charged with violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death, which is a capital offense under federal law.

Records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction show Brown has a prior criminal history, including convictions for larceny, breaking and entering and armed robbery. He served five years in prison starting in 2015.

Zarutska’s death prompted questions about soft on crime policies adopted by many Democratic-run cities. President Donald Trump spotlighted the killing during his State of the Union address last month. 

“Iryna was riding home on the train when a deranged monster, who had been arrested over a dozen times and was released through no-cash bail, stood up and viciously slashed a knife through her neck and body,” Trump said.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

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Vice President JD Vance has long been seen as the heir apparent to President Donald Trump and his MAGA and America First base. While Vance remains the hypothetical clear front-runner ahead of the start of the 2028 White House race, which won’t ignite until after this year’s midterm elections, Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears to be on the rise.

Thanks to an increase in his responsibilities and public profile, most recently around the U.S. operation in Venezuela and the month-long strikes against Iran, Rubio has seen his support for a possible presidential bid soar in recent weeks.

The latest example — Rubio’s strong second-place finish this weekend in the 2028 Republican presidential nomination straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

WHITE HOUSE RACE UNDERWAY: WITH 2026 LOOMING, BOTH PARTIES ARE ALREADY PLAYING FOR 2028

Rubio, who was one of more than a dozen Republican contenders who ran and lost to Trump in the tumultuous 2016 presidential race, grabbed 35% of the vote at CPAC when the straw poll results were announced this past weekend, up from a mere 3% a year earlier.

Vance, who is popular with MAGA and America First groups, finished first at 53%. While the vice president saw his support slightly edge down from 61% last year, Vance’s numbers are higher than any one else in CPAC presidential straw poll history other than Trump.

All the other potential Republican 2028 White House candidates in the new straw poll scored in the low single digits in the informal survey of CPAC attendees.

HILLARY CLINTON’S RETURING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE – BUT NOT FOR 2028

The CPAC straw poll follows recent numbers from the Saint Anselm College Survey Center in New Hampshire, the state that has long held the first primary in the GOP presidential nominating calendar, that also showed Rubio surging. And a handful of national polls have also pointed to a rise in support for a hypothetical Rubio bid.

The results are fuel for intrigue over what some in the Republican Party see as a budding rivalry between Rubio and Vance, who describe each other as friends.

“His overall favorability is going up because voters see him as a capable and steady person in the president’s cabinet, and Trump supporters are reacting,” New Hampshire Institute of Politics Executive Director Neil Levesque, who oversees the Saint Anselm poll, told Fox News Digital.

Partially fueling Rubio’s rise is Trump, who has lavishly praised his secretary of state.

The president recently declared that Rubio would go down as “the greatest secretary of state in history.”

Trump has also promoted a Vance-Rubio ticket — calling it “unstoppable” a few months ago—but has not said who should be at the top of the ticket.

But the president did say last year that Vance is “most likely” his heir apparent. “In all fairness, he’s the vice president,” Trump added.

While Vance has demurred when questioned about 2028, he has built a political team of advisers who, if he runs as expected, would quickly build out a presidential campaign.

Rubio, who is crisscrossing the globe as part of job requirements, doesn’t have a similar group of political aides. And Rubio has said he’ll back Vance if the vice president launches a 2028 campaign.

“If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio told Vanity Fair late last year.

Regardless, Republican sources confirm to Fox News that a group of GOP donors who support the secretary of state are quietly working on ways to boost Rubio’s political profile.

That’s not sitting well with some in the president’s political orbit.

“Vice President Vance is the future of the Republican Party and Marco Rubio is one of his closest friends in the administration,” an operative in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News.

“The divisive stories from some donors trying to cause chaos are not helpful,” the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized.

Vance has also weighed in, telling Fox News’ Martha MacCallum last month that “Marco is my closest friend in the administration.”

And the vice president, in his interview on Fox News’ “The Story,” added, “I think it’s so interesting the media wants to create this conflict where there just isn’t any conflict.”

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Kyrsten Sinema could be forced to shell out tens of thousands of dollars in damages for an affair she had with her former bodyguard after his estranged wife sued the former senator under a 19th century law that allows jilted spouses in a handful of U.S. states to sue for a broken heart.

The so-called “alienation of affection” lawsuits are currently recognized in just six U.S. states — including North Carolina, where Sinema’s former bodyguard, Matthew Ammel, had lived with his now-estranged wife, Heather Ammel, for roughly a decade. 

The complaint against Sinema accused her of engaging in “intentional and malicious interference” in Ammel’s marriage and sought $25,000 in damages from Sinema as a result of the allegedly “willful and wanton” conduct.

KYRSTEN SINEMA RIPS SENATE DEMOCRATS FOR APPARENT FLIP-FLOP ON FILIBUSTER NOW THAT THEY NEED IT

In order to succeed in the lawsuit, plaintiffs must satisfy a difficult burden of proof. First, that the marriage had real affection and a viable relationship before any third-party involvement; second, that the “love and affection” were destroyed, or significantly diminished; and third, that the defendant in question directly “caused the destruction of that marital love and affection.”

Perhaps for this reason, the complaint spares no detail: it ticks through an extemporaneous timeline of Ammel’s relationship with Sinema, as a member of her security detail, a member of her staff, and later, as her romantic partner.

According to the complaint, Sinema sent suggestive messages to Matthew Ammel repeatedly over Signal, the encrypted messaging app, months before he and his wife officially split.

“I keep waking up during my sleep and reaching over for your arms to hold me,” Sinema told Ammel via Signal in June 2024, according to the complaint — around the same time Ammel allegedly stopped wearing his wedding ring.

On another occasion, Sinema offered to “work on” Ammel’s back with a Theragun, and allegedly suggested that he bring MDMA on a work trip and offered to “guide him through a psychedelic experience,” though Sinema said she has “no recollection” of those messages. 

KYRSTEN SINEMA’S SWITCH TO INDEPENDENT DESCRIBED AS ‘GUT PUNCH’ TO DEMOCRATS: ‘NO WIGGLE ROOM’

At times, Heather was herself a party to the relationship, before and after the affair allegedly began. In 2023, she traveled to Las Vegas to attend a U2 concert with her husband and Sinema where they drank Dom Pérignon wine in Cindy McCain’s suite, according to the lawsuit. 

The two also traveled to Miami for a Taylor Swift concert in October 2024 — which the three attended out of “concern” for Ammel’s children, according to copies of the affidavit reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

It was the same month that Heather Ammel allegedly confronted Sinema directly by responding to one of her Signal messages. 

“Are you having an affair with my husband? You took a married man away from his family,” she wrote, according to the complaint. Sinema has since acknowledged having received the message.

The lawsuit accuses Sinema of acting with “deliberate” interference in the marriage of her bodyguard and his now-estranged wife, who argued that the former lawmaker seduced him and thus “wrongfully and maliciously” deprived her of the “warmth, companionship” and love of their marriage.

The relationship between the two is not in dispute: Sinema, who served in the Senate from 2019 to 2025, has since acknowledged her relationship with her former bodyguard, though she argued the case should be dismissed for a lack of jurisdiction, since the affair in question took place “exclusively outside” the boundaries of the Tar Heel state, according to her lawyers.

While these lawsuits have become increasingly rare in the 21st century, they are not unheard of — and plaintiffs in the state have at times won eye-popping payouts for such claims. 

In 2010, a jury in North Carolina awarded plaintiff Cynthia Shackelford a total of $9 million in compensatory and punitive damages for an “alienation of affection” lawsuit brought against her husband’s alleged mistress. More recently, 2018, a Durham County judge ordered some $8.8 million in damages be paid out to BMX show owner Keith King from the man he said stole his wife — and ruined his company.

TRUMP-BACKED AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERHAUL CLEARS SENATE, WHILE HOUSE GOP RAISES RED FLAGS

Sinema, for her part, says the relationship between the two became “romantic and intimate” beginning in May 2024, during a trip to Sonoma, California, and said they were subsequently “physically intimate” in the months that followed, including in Phoenix, Arizona; Aspen, Colorado; and New York City. 

They were not, her lawyers stressed, intimate within the physical bounds of North Carolina prior to the dissolution of Ammel’s marriage.

The judge presiding over the case ordered the plaintiff, Ammel, to file a response to Sinema’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit by mid-April.

Matthew Ammel filed for divorce from his wife earlier this year.

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As expected, the motion failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. Only 175 members of parliament backed the motion, while 360 voted against and 18 abstained.

Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, the lead sponsor of the motion, had criticized among other things the Commission’s refusal to disclose text messages between von der Leyen and the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The decision-making has become opaque and discretionary, and raises fears of abuse and corruption. The cost of obsessive bureaucracy of the European Union such as (tackling) climate change has been a huge one,” Piperea told the parliament on Monday.

During the debate on her leadership, von der Leyen defended her record in parliament, rejecting criticism of her management of the pandemic and asserting that her approach ensured equal vaccine access across the EU.

Although the censure motion had little chance of success, it was a political headache for von der Leyen as her Commission negotiates with US President Donald Trump’s administration to try to prevent steep US tariffs on EU goods.

It was the first time since 2014 that a Commission president has faced such a motion. Then President Jean-Claude Juncker also survived the vote.

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These were some of the striking scenes at a mass protest last week against gentrification and the rising cost of living in the Mexican capital city, which some have blamed on an influx of foreigners from the United States and Europe.

While the demonstration was largely peaceful and reflected growing anger about inequality in the Mexican capital, those who vandalized stores in the city’s wealthier neighborhoods and used anti-immigration language were criticized by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as being xenophobic.

“No to discrimination, no to racism, no to classism, no to xenophobia, no to machismo, no to discrimination. All human beings, men and women, are equal, and we cannot treat anyone as less,” Sheinbaum said at a Monday press conference.

The US Department of Homeland Security, which has been carrying out an immigration crackdown in the US, reacted to Friday’s protests with an ironic post on X: “If you are in the United States illegally and wish to join the next protest in Mexico City, use the CBP Home app to facilitate your departure.”

The rallies in Mexico City mirror protests that have erupted in cities like Barcelona and Paris against skyrocketing costs, which have been blamed on overtourism, short-term home rentals, and an influx of people and businesses with higher purchasing power.

Frente Anti Gentrificación Mx, one of several groups that helped organize the protest on Friday, compared gentrification on its social media to a new form of colonization in which “the state, institutions, and companies, both foreign and local, provide differential treatment to those with greater purchasing power.”

Anti-gentrification activists say thousands of people in the Mexican capital have been forced out of their homes in recent years as tourists and remote workers, many of whom are believed to be American, take over popular neighborhoods like Roma and Condesa.

But a spokesperson for Frente Anti Gentrificación Mx pushed back against Sheinbaum’s suggestion that their campaign was xenophobic, saying the demonstration was meant to highlight the plight of those priced out of their homes and to demand reforms from the government.

“In Mexico, housing costs have risen 286% since 2005 … while real wages have decreased by 33%,” said Morales, citing data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography and the Federal Mortgage Society.

She acknowledged that many people have been moving to Mexico for a variety of reasons, from the appeal of its culture to the relative affordability of its houses. At the same time, she urged potential newcomers to consider how such a move could affect the local community.

Not a new phenomenon

Immigration is not the sole cause of Mexico City’s gentrification, which is a phenomenon that has happened for decades, say experts.

“In the debates, there’s a confusion about gentrification being when foreigners arrive. And that’s not true,” activist and lawyer Carla Escoffié said, noting that other causes include inequality, deficiencies in housing policy and land privatization.

“Not all foreigners gentrify, nor are only those who gentrify foreigners, nor is a significant migration process necessary for gentrification to occur. Gentrification is based on inequalities in such a way that it’s not the same thing,” she added.

But the arrival of short-term rentals like Airbnb, and remote work policies during the pandemic, have turbo-charged the gentrification debate in recent years.

“Since 2020, a new phase of gentrification has begun, one that has worsened,” said Escoffié. “It’s been driven by digital nomads and short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.”

Airbnb defended its activities in Mexico City on Tuesday, saying it helped generate more than $1 billion in the local economy last year, and arguing that guests who booked accommodations also spent money on shops and services in the capital.

Mexico City’s government signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO in 2022 to promote the capital as “a global hub for digital nomads and creative tourism.” Sheinbaum, who was the mayor of Mexico City at the time, presented the initiative as a way to boost the local economy.

The appeal was especially attractive for US citizens, who can stay in Mexico without a tourist visa for less than six months before requiring a special temporary residency permit, according to experts. In 2022, 122,758 temporary residency permits were granted to foreigners for Mexico, according to the National Institute of Migration, up from 97,825 in 2019.

But for many residents, the Mexico City initiative was another sign of the displacement happening around them.

A global trend

Anger about gentrification is not unique to Mexico City. Local governments from tourist destinations in Europe, such as Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon and Berlin, have announced restrictions on short-term rentals in the past decade.

Barcelona’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, the government will scrap the licenses of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals in the popular tourist destination.

Residents in the Catalan capital have documented how renting by the day is more profitable for landlords than renting by the month, which has triggered evictions and the transformation of homes into short-term tourist accommodations.

In Mexico City, Airbnb has over 26,500 listings, according to the rental platform, many of which are concentrated in the areas most affected by gentrification. These listings are concentrated in the central neighborhoods of Condesa, Roma, Juárez and Polanco, according to Inside Airbnb, a project that provides data about Airbnb’s impact on residential communities.

In response to mounting criticism and the protests of 2022, the local government introduced new regulations, but experts argue they fall far short.

Airbnb, meanwhile, says the city needs regulations that support home sharing, not prohibition. It argues that many people in Mexico City rely on the platform as a financial lifeline, with 53% of its hosts saying the service helped them stay in their homes and 74% of hosts saying it helped cover essential expenses.

Activists are now bracing for when Mexico opens its doors to soccer fans for the next World Cup in 2026, which Morales fears could result in the state prioritizing business dealings over residents. “Given the critical state we’re in, who would come up with this?” she asked.

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