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Reporter’s Notebook: Alcohol, not coffee
Republicans control the House and Senate.
But characterizing it as the «Republican Congress» doesn’t do justice to the present circumstances.
This truly is «President Trump’s Congress.»
The president’s relationship with Republican lawmakers is light-years away from the fraught, shotgun marriage of 2017 after he unexpectedly captured the White House. Republicans on Capitol Hill didn’t know what to do with him.
USER’S MANUAL TO WALTZ’S NSA EXIT AND ITS REVERBERATION ON CAPITOL HILL
Former national security advisor Mike Waltz (Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Congressional Republicans «didn’t read the tweets.» They snickered behind his back. They chortled at what they believed were untenable ideas emanating from the White House.
And Trump also didn’t know what to do with congressional Republicans, either.
He and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., formed the Odd Couple of politics.
But Trump’s relationship with then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was even worse.
So they focused on areas of agreement. Congressional Republicans viewed the Trump presidency as a means to an end. They saw an opportunity to pass some of their legislative priorities.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: WHERE WE STAND WITH TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’
President Donald Trump and outgoing Sen. Mitch McConnell have a contentious relationship. (AP Photo; Reuters)
McConnell muscled three of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominees to confirmation, altering the contours of the high court for a generation. Ryan bored deeply into his area of expertise: tax policy. By Christmas 2017, the Republican-led Congress approved the vaunted «Trump tax cuts.»
But they stumbled early on repealing and replacing ObamaCare.
«I will not sugarcoat this. This is a disappointing day for us,» said Ryan when he had to yank an initial plan to end ObamaCare off the floor in the spring of 2017.
The House finally approved a revamped repeal and replace package more than a month later. But the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., torpedoed the effort with his vote against the plan later that summer.
But things are different this time around between Trump and congressional Republicans.
«He’s still the biggest dog in the pound,» said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
Rep. Tim Burchett speaks to reporters upon arrival at a House Republican Conference meeting on Nov. 14, 2023, in Washington. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
So now congressional Republicans are teaming with the president to pass his «big, beautiful bill.»
«We are on track to pass the bill out of the House – as we’ve said from the very beginning – and get it over to the next stage by Memorial Day,» said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t GOP skepticism.
«Seems like that’s a pretty tight timeframe,» said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., of Johnson’s aspirations. «I’m not aware of any consensus, even within one of the bodies. Let alone a bicameral consensus.»
«A July 4 timeframe will be optimistic,» said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. «If we can get this done by the end of July, I would count that as a win.»
But deep divides cleave Republicans.
TRUMP NOMINATES WALTZ FOR HIGH-LEVEL POST AFTER OUSTING HIM AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR
U.S. Capitol at sunset on Jan. 30, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
«I don’t think we’re on the same page even inside the House, much less in the House and the Senate,» said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
Roy questioned what was so magical about finishing the bill by «Memorial Day» or «Independence Day.»
«Christmas? Easter? Memorial Day? July 4th? Does that have anything to do with policy? Hell no. It has to do with what? Jet fumes! People leaving town, right?» argued Roy. «Every single policy, as long as I can remember, is based on that more than it is on policy.»
But some Republicans aren’t convinced Congress is moving fast enough.
President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Feb. 26, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, relayed what he heard from constituents in Ohio.
«People were like, «What’s taking so long?’ They don’t think it’s rushed by any means. They’re like, ‘Where’s the bill?’» said Davidson. «If we don’t get this by mid-June, I think people back home are going to go ‘What are you guys doing?’»
This is why Democrats say Republicans are fretting privately.
«They’re clearly conflicted about Medicaid cuts,» said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. «They’re conflicted about raising the debt ceiling just with Republican votes. They’ve traditionally wanted to get Democratic votes for that and not do it all on their own. But if they do it in the reconciliation bill, they’re going to have to do it all on their own.»
And Republicans are starting to get nervous about the success or failure of the bill. The president – and most congressional Republicans – have banked their entire political calculus on this gambit.
«It’s a job for alcohol. Not coffee,» said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., noting the anxiety now permeating congressional Republicans. «Some of them would make a Valium nervous.»
Kennedy contends he’s not worrying. But says that even after another two months of hand-wringing, the Senate «won’t reach consensus. Nor will the House.»
But who will forge common ground?
«The president is going to have to be the arbiter because he’s going to put his muscle behind this to sell it,» observed Kennedy.
The sides are much more in sync. But this bill is such a behemoth that 53 Senate Republicans and 220 House GOPers won’t be able to sort this out on their own. They will look to the president to solve this.
«What do you think is the difference between Republicans and how they responded to President Trump during his first term? And what you see now?» yours truly asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
«I think they are much more afraid of him now. He’s done much more in terms of threatening them in both privately and even publicly,» replied Schumer. «They don’t know what to do. They’re between a rock and a hard place. On the one side, Trump threatens. On the other side, there are the American people who hate what Trump is proposing.»
I posed a similar interrogative to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«Can you characterize the difference in the response from congressional Republicans to President Trump this time around, compared to 2017? They seemed a little skeptical of him in 2017. That’s not the case now,» I observed.
«We all watched what happened in November and the mandate he got from the American people. It was clear. It was decisive,» said Thune. «A lot of us who served with him in the last term also saw the effects and the results of a lot of the decisions that he made with respect to policy. And they were the right ones. And in the end, he was proven right when it came to the economy, the border and national security.»
The point is that Trump enjoys a very different Congress compared to the one he tangled with in 2017. It’s Trump’s Congress now. GOPers will generally do what he asks. But when it comes to the tax cut and spending package, Trump must ultimately make the decisions on specific items he wants in the legislation. The question is whether the president will eventually rule things in or out. Trump’s Congress will respond to that.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks at his Michigan rally commemorating the first 100 days of his second term. (Getty Images)
«He has been clear to all of the members that this is critical for him. He wants his one big, beautiful bill,» said House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., on Fox. «I wouldn’t want be the one that stands in the way of the president on his agenda.»
But this won’t be easy. Expect a challenging few months.
Kennedy may be right. This is one for alcohol. Not coffee. Grab a dram of the Glenlivet and Lagavulin. Shelve the Starbucks and Nescafe.
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That is, unless the tariffs spiked the price of liquor and coffee too much.
If that’s the case, just drink water.
Congress,House Of Representatives,Senate,Politics
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Former special counsel Jack Smith is standing by his 2023 decision to subpoena several Republican lawmakers’ phone records, calling the move «entirely proper» and consistent with Justice Department policy.
Smith said through his lawyers in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital that the subpoenaed data, known as toll records, belonging to eight senators and one House member were carefully targeted to support his investigation into President Donald Trump’s alleged subversion of the 2020 election.
«As described by various Senators, the toll data collection was narrowly tailored and limited to the four days from January 4, 2021 to January 7, 2021, with a focus on telephonic activity during the period immediately surrounding the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol,» Smith’s lawyers wrote Tuesday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
JACK SMITH INVESTIGATORS NEED TO ‘PAY BIG’ FOR JAN. 6 PHONE RECORDS PROBE, WARNS SEN. GRAHAM
Former special counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on an unsealed indictment, including four felony counts against President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, in Washington. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Toll records do not reveal the contents of phone calls but instead reveal when calls were made and to whom.
Smith’s lawyers said that although Grassley, who brought the subpoenas to light, has not reached out to Smith, they felt compelled to write to the chairman to address claims from Republicans that Smith improperly spied on lawmakers.
Grassley responded to the letter, saying he would continue an unbiased probe into Arctic Frost, the name of the FBI investigation that led to Smith’s election-related prosecution of Trump.
«I’m conducting an objective assessment of the facts&law like he says he wants So far we exposed an anti-Trump FBI agent started the investigation/broke FBI rules &only REPUBLICANS were targeted SMELLS LIKE POLITICS,» Grassley wrote on X.
The targeted senators included Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
In addition to the eight senators, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Tuesday that he recently discovered Smith also attempted to subpoena his toll records but that his phone company, AT&T, did not hand them over.
DEM REP DEFENDS DOJ OBTAINING GOP SENATOR CALL RECORDS IN 2023: ‘YOU WEREN’T SURVEILLED’
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
The Republicans have broadly claimed they were inappropriately spied on, and compared Arctic Frost to the Watergate scandal.
Smith’s lawyers emphasized the normalcy of seeking out phone records and said that public officials are not immune from investigation.
Smith brought four criminal charges against Trump alleging he illegally attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but he dismissed the charges after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DOJ policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents.
Former special counsel Robert K. Hur testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2024, in Washington. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Former special counsel Robert Hur sought toll records during his investigation into former President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents. The DOJ subpoenaed phone records of former Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, who is serving prison time after he was convicted in 2024 of corruption charges.
The first Trump administration subpoenaed phone records of Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and then-Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and dozens of congressional staffers from both parties as part of a leak investigation.
Former DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz warned in a report about the leak probe that lawmakers’ records should only be subpoenaed in narrow circumstances because it «risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch.»
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Smith’s lawyers also disputed FBI Director Kash Patel’s accusations that he attempted to hide the subpoenas «in a lockbox in a vault,» noting that the former special counsel mentioned subpoenaing senators’ records in a footnote of his final special counsel report.
«Moreover, the precise records at issue were produced in discovery to President Trump’s personal lawyers, some of whom now serve in senior positions within the Department of Justice,» Smith’s lawyers said.
Read Smith’s letter below. App users click here.
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Incluso M. Night Shyamalan —conocido por hacer películas más oscuras como Sexto sentido y Señales”— a veces busca la luz. “Acabo de terminar tres películas realmente oscuras, Viejos, Llaman a la puerta y Trampa, que son historias muy intensas donde los personajes son súper, súper oscuros y complicados, y quería hacer algo diferente”, dijo el director.
Encontró una oportunidad interesante para colaborar en una nueva novela de romance sobrenatural llamada Remain junto a Nicholas Sparks. Sí, ese Nicholas Sparks: el rey de los dramas románticos como Diario de una pasión y Un paseo para recordar.
Los libros coescritos son una tendencia candente en el mundo editorial en este momento. Reese Witherspoon y Harlan Coben tienen una nueva novela. James Patterson se ha asociado con Bill Clinton y Dolly Parton en libros. Sin embargo, esta colaboración es diferente en que Shyamalan escribió el guion y Sparks aceptó escribir una novela basada en esa historia. Una película de Remain —protagonizada por Jake Gyllenhaal y Phoebe Dynevor— ya terminó su producción y se estrenará el próximo año.
“No creo que nadie haya hecho lo que acabamos de hacer, que fue tomar la misma historia e ir simultáneamente a hacer nuestras cosas por separado”, dijo Sparks. “No es de manera lineal. Son dos personas haciendo dos formas de arte diferentes a partir de la misma historia. Confié en él al 100% para hacer la mejor versión cinematográfica posible de esa historia y él confió en mí”.
Ambos se cruzaron hace años cuando le preguntaron a Shyamalan si querría adaptar la novela de Sparks El diario de una pasión en una película. El trabajo terminó en manos de Nick Cassavetes, pero Shyamalan dijo que la obra de Sparks “siempre representó algo mágico para mí”. Significaba algo para él que le confiaran una historia tan querida.
En una entrevista conjunta, Nicholas Sparks y M. Night Shyamalan hablan sobre trabajar juntos, películas de terror y ensalada de pollo. Las respuestas han sido editadas por claridad y brevedad.
—Al principio, ustedes dos trabajando juntos parece una pareja poco probable, pero los géneros sobrenatural y romántico tienen mucho en común.
SPARKS: No somos los primeros en incursionar en esto. La película más grande de 1990 fue Ghost. Shakespeare solía poner fantasmas en sus obras.
SHYAMALAN: Creo que el amor es un concepto sobrenatural. Es una mitología en la que todos creemos, pero sigue siendo una mitología, una mitología sobrenatural de que existe “el indicado”. El “destinado” que conoces en la cafetería y sabes que estaba destinado a ser, y luego todas las cosas que suceden porque se conocieron.
—Night, dices que te acercaste a Gyllenhaal a principios de año para este papel. Cuando lo hiciste, ¿le dijiste que también habría una novela escrita por Sparks?
SHYAMALAN: Debo haberlo hecho. Pero fue un momento tan inusual porque había terminado de escribir el guion, presioné guardar, corrí para subirme al auto e ir a Nueva York para el cumpleaños de mi hija. En el auto suena el teléfono, y es Jake. Y yo, “¿Qué pasa, amigo?” No habíamos hablado en cinco años, o más. Y él dice, “Me encantaría estar en una de tus películas”. Y yo respondí, “Eso es tan raro. ¿Dónde estás?” Y él, “Estoy en Nueva York”. Le dije, “Bueno, yo voy a Nueva York. ¿Quieres tomar un té?”
Tuve la corazonada de que el universo estaba haciendo algo. Así que llamé a mi asistente. Le dije, “Imprime el guion”. Así que solo estábamos tomando té y poniéndonos al día. Y él me contaba lo enamorado que está y lo feliz que está y enamorado. Y le dije, “¿Sabes qué? Toma”. Se quedó en shock. Me llamó dos días después y dijo, “Estoy dentro. Me encanta”. Fue una especie de cosa extraña y hermosa.
—¿El libro sigue el guion al pie de la letra o viceversa?
SPARKS: Como cualquier adaptación, no. Lo primero que dije cuando leí su guion fue, “Oye, esto es genial. Por supuesto, no se parecerá en nada a mi novela. Es completamente diferente”. Night dijo básicamente lo mismo.
SHYAMALAN: Creo que para el público será muy interesante. Podrán señalar las diferencias y preguntar, “¿Por qué Nicholas hizo eso con el personaje y la historia de fondo? ¿Por qué Night hizo esto?” Nuestro diálogo no es el mismo.
—Night, estamos en temporada de Halloween. ¿Hay alguna película —además de las tuyas— que recomiendes ver?
SHYAMALAN: El exorcista, por supuesto, siempre está ahí. Está Juego de inocentes. La casa embrujada, la película de 1963 de Robert Wise. Y la película japonesa Cure.
Fuente: AP
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Australian prime minister’s plane makes emergency landing in St Louis after leaving Washington
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The plane carrying Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had to make an emergency landing Tuesday night after leaving Washington, D.C.
The aircraft, a Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A, diverted and landed safely at the St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri, an Australian Defence spokesperson confirmed to Fox News.
«Our highest priority is providing support to the injured member and request that their privacy be respected,» a statement said.
Officials told local FOX 2 that a crew member was struck in the head by luggage, and it was believed to have fallen from an overhead bin.
TRUMP THREATENS ‘MASSIVE’ CHINA TARIFFS, SEES ‘NO REASON’ TO MEET WITH XI
President Donald Trump, right, shakes the hand of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Monday, October 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Evan Vucci)
That crew member reportedly suffered a concussion and was taken to the hospital.
Albanese’s plane had left Joint Base Andrews at 5:15 p.m., FOX 2 reported, and the emergency landing happened around 7:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump and Albanese signed a critical minerals deal at the White House on Monday as the U.S. had been eyeing the continent’s rich rare-earth resources. This, at a time when China is imposing tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals abroad.
TRUMP ADMIN SLAMS CHINA’S ‘GLOBAL POWER GRAB’ ON RARE EARTHS, THREATENS TRIPLE-DIGIT TARIFFS
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gestures during a press conference in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 12, 2024. (Mark Baker, File)
The two leaders described the agreement as an $8.5 billion deal between the allies. Trump said it had been negotiated over several months.
«In about a year from now we’ll have so much critical mineral and rare earth that you won’t know what to do with them,» said Trump, boasting about the deal. «They’ll be worth $2.»
Xenotime is a rare earth element that can be found in Australia. (Getty Images )
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Albanese added that the agreement takes the U.S.-Australia relationship «to the next level.»
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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