A Fox News host uncorked a bizarre on-air tirade against Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, calling him a "demon in human skin."Emily Compagno appeared to lose her composure on Friday's edition of "Outnumbered" while discussing Talarico, a 37-year-old state representative now in a statistical tie with embattled Republican nominee Ken Paxton. Compagno was reacting to a conservative PAC attack ad featuring Talarico calling the American flag a "complicated" symbol for many Americans."Every single voter [in Texas] needs to understand exactly who they would vote into office, which is an anti-business, anti-commerce, anti-capitalist, anti-Texas Texan," Compagno railed.She then escalated sharply."This person is a demon in human skin, and they need to make sure he does not go anywhere — to the nation's capital, where he can actually do some real damage other than his horrible words that he keeps spewing," she said.A Talarico spokesman responded that the campaign could confirm the candidate is "in fact a human, and not a demon in human skin."The outburst lands as the race tightens into a genuine toss-up. A New York Times/Siena survey released Monday found Paxton and Talarico deadlocked at 47 percent among likely voters, with Talarico leading 58-31 among independents and 61-29 among Hispanic voters.Paxton defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in a May 26 primary runoff after President Donald Trump threw his backing to the state's scandal-plagued attorney general. Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 before being acquitted by the state Senate, and he has faced years of criminal securities fraud allegations and accusations of abusing his office.Trump himself has appeared unsettled by Talarico's rise. In a Truth Social post after the runoff, the president refused to use the Democrat's name, instead branding him "Alfred E. Neuman" and "the worst TEXAS candidate I have ever seen."On "Outnumbered," Compagno added that Talarico's past remarks were "patently disqualifying for any American senator."Compagno on Talarico: This person is a demon in human skin pic.twitter.com/BM5nohCvxT— Acyn (@Acyn) July 3, 2026
Republican Liz Murrill was indicted for the alleged intimidation of New Orleans elected officialsSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Louisiana’s highest court has granted a stay of the proceedings in a criminal indictment targeting the state’s attorney general, in the latest twist of a high-stakes political battle between Republican state leaders and Democrats who govern its most famous city, New Orleans.Liz Murrill, a Republican who is Louisiana’s first female attorney general, was slapped with a 16-count indictment on Thursday by a New Orleans grand jury charging her with intimidation and malfeasance. The charges effectively accused her of trying to intimidate New Orleans officials who fought a law passed by Republican legislators to overhaul the city’s courts. Continue reading...
An ex-GOP operative flagged how Trump is killing what he once touted as his "best" deal at the expense of his supporters.During an episode of The Bulwark Podcast, Tim Miller described Trump's plans concerning the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which Trump negotiated and boasted about during his first term."The Trump administration decided not to renew the USMCA," Miller noted. "Which is pretty interesting because Donald Trump said that was the best agreement we've ever made, the best trade deal of all time."While "it's strange that they would not renew the best trade deal of all time," Miller explained, "They're now going to do yearly reviews where Trump shakes down the leaders of Mexico and Canada...not great."According to Miller, Trump will ditch the USMCA in favor of an arrangement where the U.S. conducts annual reviews of trade with Mexico and Canada. He predicted that the new arrangement would likely hurt American farmers, who supported Trump."The farmers, it's one hit after another for the farmers, who, it seems like, every Trump policy is like it's almost like an elaborate plot to see how much he can p— off the farmers and still run up the numbers in rural America," Miller said.Miller's guest on the show, New Yorker writer Susan Glasser, agreed."As far as the farmers go, Donald Trump loves to provide evidence that his ride or die supporters will be there no matter how much he humiliates them," Glasser said. "No matter how much he backs away from policies that would support him, no matter how much he fails to deliver the things that he said he would deliver. That to Trump, that's the ultimate sort of political own, and he loves that move."
Democrats are expected to take back Congress in the midterm elections and Republicans are already plotting a preemptive strike ahead of that takeover to protect the White House.President Donald Trump's scandals are stacking up, from the files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, the push for a $1.8 billion slush fund, the bulldozing of the East Wing of the White House, the funding for the East Wing of the White House, the Kennedy Center debacle and a slew of other money-making schemes. Semafor reported Thursday that one way Republicans could hit back is by conducting their own parallel investigations. "Doing so would amount to an unusual assertion of power from the House minority, which historically has almost no ability to enforce any of its own investigative requests," reporter Nicholas Wu conceded. James Mandolfo, a law firm partner who handled the GOP's investigation of then-President Joe Biden's family said, “If the Democrats take the House in November, the Republican minority will be among the strongest in history because they likely will have the Trump administration backing them on core issues that they remain aligned on." Normally, the committees would have no power to enforce subpoenas or make demands to cooperate with a private GOP investigation. Mandolfo suggested Trump get his Justice Department involved and use the power of the federal government to go after anyone who refuses to do what he wants. "The Trump administration could take action against those companies/institutions that don’t comply with any requests from the minority," said Mandolfo. It's unclear what would happen if such individuals fought back in court.Semafor explained that such a plan doesn't solve a problem Republicans could continue to face: division within their own party. "There was friction between some Oversight Committee Republicans and the Justice Department earlier this Congress, after the GOP-controlled panel voted to subpoena then-Attorney General Pam Bondi in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation," the report said. The Democratic investigations will likely be conducted within each congressional committee, but there could also be special investigative committees, similar to the Jan. 6 committee.
The Senate voted for and against ending the war with Iran on two consecutive days, with President Trump lashing out at four GOP senators who had voted for a resolution barring any future U.S. military activities against Iran, and the administration arguing that the resolution is unconstitutional.
After losing the birthright citizenship case at the Supreme Court, President Trump's aides and MAGA allies quickly pivoted to a new plan: blocking pregnant foreign women from entering the United States.Why it matters: The proposal would open a new immigration battle over pregnancy, travel and citizenship, shifting the conversation from challenging the rights of children born in the U.S. to restricting who can enter the country.State of play: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a Trump executive order that sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. whose parents are not citizens was unconstitutional.Immediately after that decision, MAGA figures like Federalist founder Sean Davis suggested the U.S. bar pregnant foreign women from entering the country, an idea also floated by administration figures.Trump advisor Stephen Miller told Jesse Watters Tuesday after that court decision that America must "think very carefully about who you let into your country, even on a temporary basis," because children born to noncitizens can become U.S. citizens and access the social safety net."There's a lot of things we're gonna have to take a hard look at," he said.What they're saying: "President Trump remains totally committed to protecting the value of natural-born American citizenship which is why, following yesterday's ruling, he directed Congress to take immediate action to address this," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios in an emailed statement. "The Department of Justice will also prioritize investigations of birth tourism schemes. The Trump Administration has many tools to safeguard American citizenship." Zoom out: So-called birth tourism occurs when visitors come to America specifically to give birth to ensure their child receives U.S. citizenship.The Justice Department released a memo Tuesday that urged prosecutors to investigate the practice.Zoom in: "The criminal laws of the United States already prohibit conduct inherent to so many of these so-called 'birth tourism' schemes," Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald wrote in the memo posted to X. "For example, many such schemes start with a false visa application – with lies about the purpose or duration of one's travel to the United States."McDonald added that many of these cases could be prosecuted under visa fraud, but prosecutors should consider wire fraud, health care fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft charges.By the numbers: The government doesn't track the number of babies born to foreign visitors, but outside estimates put the figure between 20,000 to 26,000 cases per year.For context, 3.6 million babies were born in America in 2025, per the Centers for Disease Control, making birth tourism relatively rare.Worthy of your time: The push comes as the U.S. rallies around its World Cup team, which features several players who would not be eligible to represent America without birthright citizenship.That includes striker Folarin Balogun who scored half the team's goals in its opening game. Trump hasn't directly endorsed banning pregnant visitors, but his first administration actively targeted birthright tourism.He also appeared to reference birth tourism in a Truth Social post Tuesday that sarcastically congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping after the Supreme Court decision."I would like to congratulate President Xi, and the Great Country of China, on their massive Birthright Citizenship WIN!"Go deeper: Scoop: Trump to target "birth tourism" in new immigration fightEditor's note: This story has been updated with comment from the White House.
