FIRST ON FOX: Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has received a slate of 18 new endorsements from Texas Republicans in the latest development in the bitter primary runoff between him and challenger state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Texas Republican congressmen Randy Weber, Nathaniel Moran and Roger Williams, influential GOP state Rep. Matt Shaheen, and former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan are among the latest lawmakers to back Cornyn over Paxton.

This primary has become increasingly bruising, with the rivals lobbing more personal attacks at each other after neither candidate achieved the 50% threshold needed to secure the GOP nomination in the March primary. Meanwhile, the stakes are high for the Republican Party, as Democrats believe candidate James Talarico, a state representative and rising star, has an opening to flip the seat for the first time in decades. Such an upset would be devastating for the GOP’s chances of retaining a majority in the upper chamber and could impact President Donald Trump’s agenda for the remainder of his term.

Cornyn, a top Senate Republican who has held the seat since 2002, responded to the new endorsements by telling Fox News Digital, «I’m honored to have the endorsement of many longtime friends in Texas politics, whom I have gotten to know during our time in office and with whom I’ve been proud to work.»

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The senator said that he has «always worked hard to earn the trust of our elected officials, so we can roll up our sleeves and work together for the betterment of all Texans.»

He added that he looks forward to «continuing our important work together upon my re-election to the United States Senate.»

In total, 30 prominent Republican legislative leaders from Texas have publicly backed Cornyn, evidencing strong support for the incumbent among party leadership. He has received the support of more than 500 current and former Texas elected officials. Outside Texas, Cornyn has also received the backing of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Border Patrol Council.

In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Weber said Cornyn «has been a tireless fighter for Texas energy, standing up for our oil and gas industry and working to unleash American energy dominance.»

Weber said he is «proud» to support Cornyn «because he will continue fighting to protect our energy producers and keep Texas leading the way.»

Shaheen emphasized the importance of the GOP not losing the Senate seat in November, writing, «As someone with a Democrat challenger this November, I understand how vital it is that John Cornyn be our U.S. Senate nominee, otherwise election losses for Republicans could be disastrous.»

He emphasized that Cornyn «has never lost an election,» and said that «with him at the top of the ballot, he will defeat James Talarico and lift up Republicans in down-ballot races.» 

TRUMP WARNS HE WON’T ENDORSE LAWMAKERS WHO OPPOSE SAVE AMERICA ACT

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., (right) joined by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., (left) and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, (center) speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Paxton, who has served as Texas attorney general since 2015, also has strong grassroots support. Last week, Paxton received a slate of 13 new state-level endorsements, including several prominent legislators. This brought his total number of endorsements from Texas Republican leaders to 250, a list that includes congressmen Lance Gooden and Troy Nehls. He has been endorsed by Turning Point USA and the NRA Political Victory Fund.

Fox News Digital reached out to Paxton’s campaign for comment.

After receiving the new endorsements last week, Paxton told Fox News Digital that «the momentum behind our campaign continues to grow stronger every single day.»

He said that «Texans are ready for a change and are ready to be represented by an America First warrior who is going to work tirelessly to help Texas and support President Trump,» adding, «That’s exactly what I’ve done as Attorney General, and it’s what I’ll continue to do as our next United States Senator.»

Noticeably absent from the list of supporters for either candidate is Trump, who, despite saying he likes both, has not officially endorsed. He has hinted that he would endorse «soon.»

He recently suggested that the SAVE America Act, a voting integrity bill being debated in the Senate, will play a role in his endorsement decision.

«A lot has to do with the SAVE America Act,» Trump said, according to NBC News. «A lot is going to determine — Republicans have to get that passed, because that will secure voting in this country.» 

PRITZKER FLEXES POLITICAL MUSCLE IN ILLINOIS SENATE PRIMARY AS 2028 BUZZ BUILDS

President Donald Trump tours the Jungle Room at Graceland, Elvis Presley’s historic estate, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

Cornyn, who co-sponsored an earlier version of the SAVE America Act, recently authored an opinion piece in The New York Post titled «Why the SAVE Act matters more than the filibuster.» In the piece, he advocated for passing the measure through «whatever changes to Senate rules may prove necessary.» This marks a break from his previous support for the filibuster, which many lawmakers consider a necessary guardrail against majoritarian rule.

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Cornyn argued that «the Senate rules will change eventually, whether Republicans like it or not,» and that «this leaves conservatives with two options. We can either unilaterally disarm, or we can stand and fight.»

«We can let the Democrats keep obstructing today and then smash the rules the first chance they get, or we can act now and use the mandate the American people gave this president and this Congress to secure our elections, protect our homeland and bring back common sense,» wrote Cornyn, adding, «The answer is clear: We need to stand, fight and win.»

«Democrats started this fight. Now Republicans should finish it,» said Cornyn. 

Las vallas que se ven alrededor del edificio de la Corte del Distrito Sur de Nueva York –instaladas desde el miércoles— es un signo de que algo importante pasará este jueves. Todavía no había salido el sol en Manhattan y periodistas y curiosos ya hacían fila frente a la sede judicial para intentar ingresar a la sala donde se presentará Nicolás Maduro, el ex dictador venezolano que solía aparecer en público a diario y que ahora permanece en una cárcel de alta seguridad en Brooklyn tras ser capturado en un operativo militar relámpago de Estados Unidos.

Decenas de cámaras de televisión de todo el mundo –prohibidas dentro del recinto—ya estaban instaladas desde temprano en la vereda, listas para registrar la llegada en medio de fuertes medidas de seguridad de Maduro y su esposa Cilia Flores, que se presentarán cerca del mediodía ante el juez Alvin Hellerstein, de 92 años.

Algunos en la fila estaban desde el día anterior, instalados con pequeñas carpas en la vereda. Otros, avivados de la expectativa, vendían el lugar en la hilera a nada menos que 50 dólares la hora.

A Maduro no se lo ve desde el 5 de enero, cuando compareció vestido de presidiario a su primera audiencia en este mismo edificio, donde se declaró inocente de los tres cargos por los que se lo acusa y dijo que era “un perseguido político”: conspiración para cometer narcoterrorismo; importar cocaína y poseer armas de guerra.

Flores, por su parte, está acusada de otros cargos relacionados: dos de conspiración para importar cocaína, uno de conspiración para poseer armas y otro de posesión de armas.

Su hijo, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, ya adelantó que se verá un fuerte cambio físico en su padre, que aparentemente adelgazó varios kilos. “Nicolasito” anticipó que el presidiario se mantiene “con mucho ánimo” y “mucha fuerza” y que se lo verá “delgado, más atleta, está haciendo ejercicio todos los días”.

No se sabe si es porque realmente hace ejercicio o por las duras condiciones de su encierro. El Centro de Detención Metropolitano de Brooklyn, o MDC por sus siglas en inglés, donde Maduro está recluido, ha sido criticado durante años por condiciones descritas como peligrosas e inhumanas.

Algunos abogados y detenidos han llegado a describir el centro como un “infierno en la Tierra” en medio de acusaciones de condiciones insalubres, inseguridad y aislamientos prolongados. El alimento escasea y han habido denuncias de comidas “infestadas de gusanos”.

Lo cierto es que muy pocos podrán verlo, salvo quizás desde lejos en la vereda. No habrá cámaras de televisión ni de fotos en el recinto, tampoco teléfonos y solo un dibujante podrá retratar el nuevo semblante de Maduro.

Este segunda audiencia se centrará en la moción para desestimar el caso que presentaron los abogados de Maduro y Flores, quienes alegan que el Departamento del Tesoro interfiere en su derecho constitucional a la defensa al negarles el acceso a fondos del Estado venezolano para cubrir los honorarios de sus equipos legales.

Según el abogado de Maduro, Barrick Pollack, “el gobierno de Venezuela, en virtud de sus leyes, tiene la obligación de sufragar los gastos de defensa del señor Maduro”. El letrado plantea que la Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros del Departamento del Tesoro (OFAC, por sus siglas en inglés) prohíbe la recepción de fondos para gastos de defensa provenientes del gobierno de Venezuela.

“Como consecuencia de ello, el sr. Maduro, quien carece de fondos propios para contratar asistencia legal, está siendo privado de su derecho constitucional a contar con un abogado de su elección”, alegó el abogado en un escrito presentado el mes pasado.

El otro tema en el que se centrará la audiencia es una petición de la Fiscalía para impedir que se comparta la evidencia del caso de Maduro y Flores con las otras cuatro personas mencionadas en la acusación: el poderoso ministro del Interior y Justicia Diosdado Cabello; el ex gobernador y ex ministro Ramón Rodríguez Chacín; Nicolás Maduro Guerra y Héctor Guerrero, señalado como presunto líder de la banda transnacional Tren de Aragua.

El Gobierno estadounidense argumenta que existe un «riesgo real de violencia» y que el entorno de Maduro podría utilizar la información para identificar y tomar represalias contra testigos y sus familias en Venezuela.

La expectativa en Nueva York es grande y también en Venezuela, donde hace más de 80 días que no se ve al hombre que fue omnipresente por años. Allí ahora gobierna su vice Delcy Rodríguez, que se ha convertido en una fiel aliada de Donald Trump.

EXCLUSIVE: As U.S., Israeli and allied forces continue to intercept the vast majority of Iranian missiles and drones, a new report and expert analysis reveal a growing concern behind the headline success: the cost and sustainability of the defense itself.

More than 90% of Iranian projectiles have been intercepted during the war, according to a report obtained by Fox News Digital from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), thanks to a layered regional air defense system built during years of coordination.

But beneath that success lies a widening imbalance that could shape the next phase of the conflict.

The report highlights a critical trend: Iran’s least expensive weapons are proving the most disruptive and are draining costly U.S. and Israeli interceptors.

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The current air defense architecture, integrating U.S., Israeli and Arab systems, has proven highly effective at stopping incoming threats. Early warning systems, shared radar coverage and pre-positioned assets have allowed multiple countries to work together to defeat Iranian missiles and drones.

During a press briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, «More than 9,000 enemy targets have been struck to date … Iran’s ballistic missile attacks and drone attacks are down by roughly 90%,» she said, adding that U.S. forces have also destroyed more than 140 Iranian naval vessels, including nearly 50 mine layers.

A surge of U.S. assets before the war, including Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), batteries, Patriot systems, two carrier strike groups and roughly 200 fighter aircraft, helped absorb Iran’s opening salvos and maintain high interception rates, according to JINSA’s report.

But Ari Cicurel, associate director of foreign policy at JINSA and author of the report, said focusing only on interception percentages misses the bigger picture.

«Overall high missile and drone interception rates have been important but only tell part of the story,» Cicurel told Fox News Digital. «Iran came into this war with a deliberate plan to dismantle the architecture that makes those intercepts possible. It has struck energy infrastructure to upset markets and used cluster munitions to achieve higher hit rates.»

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Israel’s air defense targets Iranian missiles in the sky of Tel Aviv in Israel,  on June 16, 2025. (MATAN GOLAN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Danny Citrinowicz, a Middle East and national security expert at Institute for National Security Studies and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said that imbalance is at the heart of the problem. 

«There needs to be a change in the equation,» he told Fox News Digital. «The Iranians are launching drones that cost around $30,000, and we are using missiles that cost millions of dollars to intercept them. That gap is a very problematic one.»

He added that the same dynamic applies to ballistic missiles.

«Building a missile in Iran may cost a few hundred thousand dollars, while the interceptor costs millions, especially when we talk about systems like Arrow,» he said. «It’s easier and quicker to produce missiles than it is to build interceptors. That’s not a secret.»

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from the city of Ashkelon, Israel, Oct. 9, 2023.  (Amir Cohen/Reuters)

This cost imbalance is feeding into a broader concern: interceptor depletion.

The JINSA report warns that stockpiles across the region are already under strain. Some Gulf states have used a significant portion of their interceptor inventories, with estimates suggesting Bahrain may have expended up to 87% of its Patriot missiles, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have used roughly 75% and Qatar has used roughly 40%. 

Israel is also facing mounting pressure. While officials have not publicly confirmed stockpile levels, the report notes signs of rationing, including decisions not to intercept certain cluster-munition threats in order to conserve more advanced interceptors.

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The remains of a Russian-made, Iran-designed Shahed-136 drone, known in Russia as a Geran-2, are displayed with other recovered drones, glide bombs, missiles and rockets in Kharkiv on July 30, 2025. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)

Citrinowicz said that dynamics become more acute the longer the war continues.

«We are now several weeks into the war, and even if the salvos are limited, the issue of interceptors becomes more significant over time,» he said.

Iran has adapted its tactics accordingly, shifting from large barrages to smaller, more frequent attacks designed to maintain constant pressure while gradually draining defensive resources.

These persistent salvos, even if limited in size, force defenders to remain on high alert and continue expending interceptors, accelerating the depletion of already finite stockpiles.

The report underscores that drones pose a unique challenge compared to ballistic missiles.

Unlike missiles, which rely on large launchers and leave detectable signatures, drones can be launched from mobile platforms and can fly at low altitudes that make them harder for radar systems to detect.

For example, A Shahed-136 weighs roughly 200 kilograms and launches from an angled rail mounted on a pickup truck, after which the crew can quickly relocate. That simpler launch profile makes it easier for Iran to disperse, conceal and fire under pressure, the report stated.

Iran also has incorporated lessons from the war in Ukraine, deploying more advanced drones, including those guided by fiber-optic cables that are immune to electronic jamming, and faster variants powered by jet engines.

These innovations complicate interception timelines and increase the likelihood of successful strikes, even against otherwise effective defense systems.

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Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, June 15, 2025. (REUTERS/Tomer Neuberg)

Despite these challenges, the report emphasizes that the defensive architecture has not failed.

«The architecture has held, but the trajectory is moving in the wrong direction,» Cicurel said. «Reversing it requires moving assets to where the pressure is greatest, hunting Iranian launchers and drones more aggressively, and convoying ships through the Gulf.»

Even with high interception rates, the broader impact of the attacks is being felt.

Iranian strikes on energy infrastructure and shipping have driven oil prices higher and disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, demonstrating that air defense alone cannot prevent economic and strategic consequences.

The emerging picture is not one of failing defenses, but of a system under growing strain.

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An explosion is reported near the U.S. Consulate and the Erbil International Airport area, where a U.S. military base is also located, in Erbil, Iraq, with fire breaking out and thick smoke rising following the blast, on march 12, 2026.  (Ahsan Mohammed Ahmed Ahmed/Anadolu via Getty Images)

As long as Iran can produce cheap drones and missiles faster than the U.S., Israel and their partners can produce interceptors, the balance may gradually shift.

«As long as the war continues,» Citrinowicz said, «the key question will be whether Iran can produce missiles faster than we can produce interceptors.»