Rick Jackson, the Republican frontrunner in Georgia’s race for governor, said he didn’t know if there were any illegal immigrants doing landscaping for him at his mansion when pressed during the race’s only debate ahead of the GOP primary next month.

«You claim to be the tough on illegal deportation, but you’ve got illegals working in your backyard as we speak right now,» fellow frontrunner Republican candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, argued. «Who’s the real Rick Jackson?»

Jones’ question directed at Jackson came during a portion of the Monday night debate where candidates got the opportunity to single out one of their opponents for a question. 

Jones zeroed in on criticism that while Jackson claims to be Trump’s biggest ally in the race, he has donated to the president’s rivals, such as Liz Cheney and Nikki Haley, profited off staffing abortion doctors at Planned Parenthood and has hired illegal immigrants to do landscaping at his mansion.

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«First of all, the real Rick Jackson has never taken one dollar from Planned Parenthood. We’ve never taken one dollar from recruiting surgeons to do transgender surgery for underage kids from that standpoint,» Jackson responded. «As far as illegals and so forth, I will absolutely make it the number one place in — Georgia will be number one for deporting criminal illegals. That’s my position and that’s who I am.»

Jackson added that he has «done nothing but give to many pro-life nonprofits,» as he continued his rebuttal. «I give more to nonprofits of crisis pregnancy centers here in Georgia than probably you’ve ever given in your entire life,» Jackson said of Jones.

But Jones didn’t let go of the illegal alien question.

«So, you don’t have any illegals working for you right now?» Jones pressed.

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«I don’t know,» Jackson replied incredulously. «Here’s the reason why — you’re talking about a domestic person that somebody hired — I hired thousands of people a year, Burt, I know you have about six yourself — but I hired thousands of people, other people hired them, we obey the laws, we use [unintelligible] verification,» Jackson replied before Jones interjected.

«It’s just a yes or no answer. I asked him if he has illegals working for him right now. He said he did, and then he said he didn’t, so,» Jones shot back before the moderators moved on.

Burt Jones, then-Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, speaks as Republican Governor Brian Kemp listens at a press conference on November 7, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

Ahead of Monday evening’s election, the New York Post reported on legal documents from a worker’s compensation suit that Jackson was involved in, which reportedly indicated the billionaire businessman had «maintained a long-standing workforce of multiple laborers performing landscaping and property maintenance work for decades, including individuals without work authorization who nonetheless performed continuous employment for the employer.»

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The case, brought against Jackson Investment Group, LLC, and JIG Real Estate, LLC, which is owned by the former firm, reportedly suggested Jackson — the companies’ CEO — had multiple individuals without proper worker verification documents doing his landscaping. 

The documents also showed Jackson said in a deposition that he was unaware that his hires were undocumented immigrants, but he also admitted not vetting new hires using mandatory I-9 verification forms used to ensure people are eligible to work, according to the New York Post.

In other parts of the deposition, Jackson reportedly echoed what he said Monday night, that he was not directly involved with the hiring of workers and only engaged with the landscaping superintendent.

«I know that sounds confusing,» Jackson reportedly explained in his deposition. «But most of our — if we have other employees, we usually hire them through JIG or another entity. I’m talking about if JIG has employees, we hire them through another entity. I’m not sure that we have any direct employees, from a payroll standpoint, out of JIG Real Estate.»

Rick Jackson is running for governor in Georgia, promising to eliminate DEI policies. (Rick Jackson for governor/YouTube screenshot)

Jackson, meanwhile, has said if elected he is committed to going after criminal illegal aliens, adding he «doesn’t care if you’re Muslim or Mongolian, you don’t have the right to force your culture on our country» in a recent campaign advertisement that said «criminal illegals» will end up either «deported or departed» under his leadership.

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When asked about the exchange between Jones and Jackson during Monday night’s debate, Jackson’s campaign told Fox News Digital that, «it’s just like a corrupt politician to attack Rick over someone hired by his landscaper.»

«Rick would never knowingly hire someone in the country illegally and, as governor, he’ll make Georgia No. 1 in criminal illegal deportations,» the campaign spokesperson added. «The takeaway from this debate is the universal agreement that Burt Jones has used his office corruptly to enrich himself and attack his political opponents.»

The upcoming primary election between Jones, Jackson, Attorney General Chris Carr, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and others will take place on May 19.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean appeals court on Wednesday sentenced ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol to seven years in prison for resisting arrest and bypassing a legitimate Cabinet meeting before his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.

The conviction for obstruction of justice and other charges comes on top of a life sentence he has already received on rebellion charges stemming from his baffling authoritarian push, which triggered the most serious crisis for the country’s democracy in decades.

Judge Yoon Sung-sik of the Seoul High Court said the conservative former president sidestepped a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting before declaring martial law, falsified documents to conceal the lapse, and deployed security officials «like a private army» to resist law enforcement efforts to arrest him in the weeks following his impeachment. Former President Yoon stood quietly as the verdict was delivered and made no comment.

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Yoo Jeong-hwa, one of Yoon’s lawyers, called the verdict «very disappointing» and said the legal team would appeal to the Supreme Court. Yoon has also appealed his life sentence.

A lower court in January sentenced Yoon to five years in prison but partially cleared him of abuse-of-power charges tied to the Cabinet meeting ahead of the martial law declaration, finding he was not responsible for the failure to attend of two members who were invited.

The Seoul High Court reversed that acquittal, finding him guilty on all counts and ruling that he violated the rights of those two as well as seven other Cabinet members who weren’t notified by convening only a select few to simulate a formal meeting.

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South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2025. (Lee Jin-man/AP)

Though brief, Yoon’s Dec. 3, 2024, martial law decree threw the country into a severe political crisis, paralyzing politics and high-level diplomacy and rattling financial markets. The turmoil eased only after his liberal rival, Lee Jae Myung, won an early presidential election in June.

Yoon was suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024, after being impeached by the liberal-led legislature and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025.

Following his suspension from office, he refused to comply with a Seoul court’s warrant to detain him for questioning, setting up a standoff in which dozens of investigators arrived at the presidential residence in early January 2025 but were blocked by presidential security forces and vehicle barricades. He was detained later that month, released by another court in March, and was then re-arrested in July.

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally outside the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, on April 29, 2026. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

He remained in custody after that as a series of criminal trials, which are continuing, began.

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Wednesday’s ruling came a day after the same court increased to four years the sentence of Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, for charges including accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church, which sought political favors from Yoon’s government, and involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally outside the Seoul High Court in Seoul on April 29, 2026. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

Prosecutors in a separate trial last week also requested a 30-year prison term for Yoon over allegations that he deliberately tried to escalate tensions with North Korea in 2024 by ordering drone flights over Pyongyang as he sought to create justifiable conditions for martial law at home.

A Pennsylvania hearing on transgender sports legislation erupted in chaos Monday, as Republicans accused Democrats of trying to sidestep votes on two related bills.

Pennsylvania became a focal point of the transgender sports debate in 2022, as UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas competed against female athletes including the University of Kentucky’s Riley Gaines. Since then, conservatives have sought to codify the separation of biological sexes in scholastic sports and public restrooms nationwide.

The top Republican on the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee told Fox News Digital that the scene captured on official video showed the Democratic chairman trying to «re-refer» two bills to the House Health Committee without fully explaining which bills he was citing.

Ranking member Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Chambersburg, said that Republicans ultimately determined the two bills focused on separating scholastic athletes by biological sex and that Democrats resisted any debate before sending them to another committee to restart the process.

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«It’s fascinating. But the key is, in the legislative process, whether it be on the House floor or in any committee meeting, they’ll say the number of the bill and then they’ll give a title or brief description of the bill before anyone votes on it. You don’t just call up a bill by number,» Kauffman told Fox News Digital in a Tuesday interview.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Timothy Briggs was doing just that in a Monday hearing, Kauffman said.

Briggs, D-King of Prussia, sought to move two bills out of the committee quickly, announcing that all Democrats would vote to re-refer them while identifying the measures only by bill number.

Republicans said they were unaware of the bills’ contents because their titles were not read as Briggs tried to re-refer them to the House Health Committee.

Briggs asked the clerk to call the roll for the «sole purpose of referring [them] to the Health Committee» and added that «all Democrats will be voting ‘Yes’.»

«Could we kinda know what the bills are?» interjected Kauffman, before someone in the gallery called out that they were related to transgender athletes in children’s sports.

HB 158 is the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act from Rep. Barb Gleim, R-Mechanicsburg, and HB 1849 is the related Dads Defending Daughters Act by Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga.

Briggs sighed and began to speak before Kauffman continued.

«We can’t vote on a re-referral when we don’t even know what the title of the bill is. Obviously, you don’t want us to know what the title of the bill is,» he said, chuckling as Briggs cut in that the committee is «running out of time.»

Kauffman quipped that if he ever pulled such a move as chairman, Briggs’ caucus would have «lost your mind.»

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After another pointed exchange between Briggs and Kauffman, the Democrat ordered the clerk to call the roll on the bills and then claimed aloud that some Republicans were refusing to vote.

One of those named, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz of Lock Haven, objected after learning the bills’ true identities:

«Now you’re deciding how we’re voting?» said Borowicz, who co-sponsored Gleim’s bill.

«We might as well be better off in the Russian Duma at this point,» Kauffman added as Briggs plowed through their objections and tried to move past the two bills.

The blow-up showed that Democrats are «petrified of this issue [so much] that they broke legislative protocol, parliamentary norms and everything I’ve learned in this legislature in 20 years,» Kauffman told Fox News Digital.

He said that if the bills were moved to another committee without first being voted out of his own, the parliamentary «clock» would restart and Democrats could continue moving the measures through committee without taking a direct vote on the underlying transgender sports issue.

Kauffman said the kerfuffle was indicative of the national debate over transgender sports, calling it an «80-90%» issue in favor of separating youth athletes by sex.

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Kauffman added that Democrats will eventually have to confront the issue because the state Senate is advancing its own transgender sports bill, which will be taken up by the House.

«It’s a mom and dad issue. It’s a biological fact issue. So we’re going to keep at it,» he said, adding that critics are «cater[ing] to the far-progressive fringe» of their party and «generally don’t care what the people want.»

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Fox News Digital reached out to Briggs for a response to the situation.

A representative for the King of Prussia Democrat said he was «regrettably unavailable» for comment.

The clash came just weeks after a Republican lawmaker’s attempt to define «woman» in a Women’s Month resolution led Democrats to pull the commemoration.

Fox News Digital’s Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.