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Senate Republican ‘targeted by Communist China’ in $50 billion lawsuit

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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is being sued by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for tens of billions of dollars in damages for a lawsuit he filed against the country during his time as Missouri’s attorney general.

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Schmitt is being sued by the People’s Government of Wuhan Municipality, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for roughly $50 billion, several years after the lawmaker sued the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit, first obtained by Fox News Digital, accused Schmitt, FBI co-deputy director Andrew Bailey, and the state of Missouri of damaging the reputations of China, Wuhan and the associated research facilities through «malicious vexatious litigation, fabricating enormous disinformation, and spreading stigmatizing and discriminating slanders.»

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Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is getting sued by the People’s Republic of China for $50 billion, which follows a lawsuit he filed against the country in 2020 when he served as Missouri’s attorney general.  (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Schmitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he’d been «banned from Communist China, and now I am being sued and targeted by Communist China in a $50 billion lawfare campaign, and I’ll wear it like a badge of honor.» 

«China’s sinister malfeasance during the COVID-19 pandemic led to over a million Americans losing their lives, economic turmoil that rocked our country for years, and an enormous amount of human suffering, and as Missouri Attorney General I filed suit to hold them accountable,» Schmitt said. «Instead of trying to defend its indefensible behavior, Communist China responded with frivolous lawfare, attempting to absolve themselves of all wrongdoing in the early days of the pandemic.» 

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«This novel lawsuit is factually baseless, legally meritless, and any fake judgment a Chinese court issues in this lawsuit we will easily beat back and keep from being enforced against the people of Missouri or me,» he continued. «This is their way of distracting from what the world already knows, China has blood on its hands.»

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FBI co-deputy Director Andrew Bailey

FBI co-deputy Director Andrew Bailey is being sued, alongside Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and the state of Missouri, by the Chinese government, city of Wuhan and research facilities for his role in a lawsuit filed by Schmitt during the COVID-19 pandemic.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Schmitt, who served as attorney general for the Show-Me state from 2019 to 2023, sued the PRC, several Chinese government ministries, the Communist Party of China, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in early 2020, shortly after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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At the time, Schmitt accused the Chinese government of withholding information on the COVID-19 virus, failing to contain the outbreak of the virus, and actively hoarding high-quality personal protective equipment (PPE) while producing and selling lower-quality PPE for the rest of the world.

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Chinese police patrolling Wuhan Institute of Virology

Chinese police patrolling Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2021. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

That case resulted in an eventual $24 billion judgment earlier this year.

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Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said in a statement that the state stood «undeterred in our mission to collect on our $24 billion judgment that was lawfully handed down in federal court.»

 «I find it extremely telling that the Chinese blame our great state for ‘belittling the social evaluation’ of The Wuhan Institute of Virology,» Hanaway said. «This lawsuit is a stalling tactic and tells me that we have been on the right side of this issue all along.» 

The lawsuit against Schmitt, Bailey, who resigned as Missouri’s attorney general after he was tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as co-deputy FBI director in September, and Missouri contended that the preceding lawsuit, and statements published across a variety of media outlets, led to severe reputational and economic harm.

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They’re demanding that apologies be published in several outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Chinese media outlets. The apologies come with a price tag, too.

Wuhan and the Chinese government demanded compensation of over 356 billion Chinese Yuan, which converts to just over $50 billion dollars.

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Iran executes people, including teens, by hanging

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The Islamic Republic of Iran took the lives of two men convicted of trying to storm a military facility and access an armory in January, the Mizan news outlet of Iran’s judiciary indicated on Sunday, according to Reuters.

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An organization called Iran Human Rights said that the Iranian news agency reported that the two individuals, Mohammad Amin Biglari and Shahin Vahedparast Kolor, were hanged on April 5.

Biglari, a 19-year-old computer science student, Kolor, 30, were arrested with several other individuals on January 8 amid a crackdown against protesters in the nation’s capital city of Tehran, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.

They faced charges that included «‘enmity against God (moharebeh), corruption on earth, arson of public facilities, and assembly and collusion to commit crimes against national security,’» the group indicated.

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TRUMP WARNS IRAN HE MAY STRIKE ‘EVERY POWER PLANT’ AS DEADLINE TO REOPEN HORMUZ NEARS

An Iranian flag is placed amids rubble and debris next to a destroyed residential building near Ferdowsi square in Tehran on March 3, 2026.  ( ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)

Another individual arrested January 8, 18-year-old Amirhossein Hatami, was hanged on April 2, Iran Human Rights noted, citing the Mizan News Agency.

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Ali Fahim, a 23-year-old who was among those arrested on January 8, was executed on April 6, the Hengaw Organization noted on Monday, explaining that the Mizan news agency confirmed the killing. 

«These executions are part of the Islamic Republic’s strategy of survival, waging war against its own people under the shadow of external conflict,» Iran Human Rights Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam noted. «The international community must respond with urgency. The situation of prisoners and the regime’s systematic use of the death penalty as a political tool of repression must be made a central condition in any negotiations or engagement with the Islamic Republic.»

The executions occurred as the U.S. and Israel continue to wage war against Iran.

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EX-CIA STATION CHIEF REVEALS HOW AGENCY EXPLOITED IRANIAN COMMUNICATION CHANNELS DURING AIRMAN RESCUE

President Trump

US President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 2026.  (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

In a Sunday Truth Social post, President Donald Trump threatened to attack Iranian power infrastructure and bridges on Tuesday.

He demanded that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz.

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WHY THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ MATTERS AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH ULTIMATUM TO IRAN

Smoke plume in Iran

A large plume of smoke rises over Tehran after explosions were reported in the city during the night on March 28, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.  (Getty Images)

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«Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,» the president declared.

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Fuerzas especiales en el territorio y apoyo de la CIA: así fue el peligroso operativo para rescatar a un piloto estadounidense de Irán

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Comandos estadounidenses se desplegaron en lo profundo del territorio iraní para rescatar a un piloto de un caza F-15 derribado, en un operativo que incluyó operaciones de inteligencia de la CIA y la ayuda de Israel. Lo informaron este domingo medios estadounidenses e israelíes.

El presidente Donald Trump anunció que el militar fue recuperado con vida, aunque admitió que se encuentra “gravemente herido”.

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Teherán dijo esta semana que había derribado un caza F-15, el primer avión de combate estadounidense abatido en Irán desde el inicio de la guerra. Washington no confirmó los detalles del hecho.

Uno de los dos tripulantes del caza fue rescatado poco después del incidente, pero el otro seguía desaparecido, lo que llevó a Trump a ordenar una operación de búsqueda y rescate en combate (CSAR).

“Uno de los rescates más audaces de la historia”

Trump declaró a primera hora del domingo que el ejército había “llevado a cabo una de las operaciones de búsqueda y rescate más audaces de la historia de Estados Unidos, en favor de uno de nuestros increíbles oficiales de la tripulación, quien, además, resulta ser un coronel sumamente respetado, y de quien me entusiasma comunicarles que ya se encuentra SANO y SALVO”.

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En un mensaje posterior describió la misión de rescate como “una muestra increíble de valentía y talento por parte de todos”.

El presidente Donald Trump en una exposición sobre la guerra con Irán, desde el Salón de la Cruz de la Casa Blanca. (Foto AP – Alex Brandon – Pool)

Cómo fue el rescate

Los comandos del Equipo 6 de los Navy SEAL (la principal fuerza de operaciones especiales de la Armada estadounidense) recibieron la misión de extraer al aviador, mientras que aviones de ataque lanzaban bombas y abrían fuego contra convoyes iraníes para mantenerlos a distancia, informó una fuente citada por The New York Times.

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Aunque resultó herido, el aviador, un oficial de sistemas de armas, podía caminar y logró evadir la captura en las montañas durante más de un día, según el medio de noticias Axios, que citó a un funcionario estadounidense.

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El piloto no identificado estaba equipado con una pistola, una baliza y un dispositivo de comunicaciones seguras para coordinarse con los rescatistas, señaló The New York Times.

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Según explicó un funcionario del Gobierno a The Washington Post, el militar permaneció escondido en una grieta de una montaña para evitar a las fuerzas iraníes que se acercaban para capturarle.

Sufrió algunas lesiones, pero según informó la BBC, pudo escapar por sus propios medios.

Los comandos estadounidenses que convergían hacia el oficial dispararon sus armas para mantener a las fuerzas iraníes alejadas del lugar del rescate, agregó. Según Teherán, cinco personas murieron en el ataque.

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“Tras el ataque estadounidense-sionista de anoche contra las alturas de Kuh-e Siah, en Kohgiluyeh, cinco personas murieron y siete resultaron heridas”, anunció el gobierno de la provincia de Kohgiluyeh y Boyer Ahmad, informó la agencia Tasnim, vinculada a la Guardia Revolucionaria iraní.

En tanto, Trump aclaró que el piloto “sufrió heridas, pero estará perfectamente bien”. Sin embargo, su segunda publicación afirmó que el aviador había resultado “gravemente herido”, sin ofrecer más detalles.

Un caza F15similar al derribado por Irán (Foto: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha)

Un caza F15similar al derribado por Irán (Foto: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha)

Una operación compleja

La carrera por ver quién llegaba primero al militar desaparecido recrudeció después de que la televisión iraní ofreció una recompensa a quien lo encontrara, mientras que sus fuerzas salían en su búsqueda.

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Además, dos de los aviones estadounidenses destinados a trasladar al aviador y a sus rescatistas a un lugar seguro quedaron inmovilizados en una base remota en Irán y tuvieron que ser destruidos para evitar que cayeran en manos iraníes, informaron The New York Times y CBS.

Las fuerzas estadounidenses utilizaron entonces otros tres aviones de transporte para sacar al aviador y a sus rescatistas de Irán.

El ejército iraní afirmó el domingo que la operación estadounidense para rescatar al aviador había utilizado un aeropuerto abandonado en la provincia meridional de Isfahán.

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Ebrahim Zolfaghari, portavoz del mando central de las fuerzas armadas iraníes, declaró que dos aviones de transporte militar estadounidenses C-130 y dos helicópteros Black Hawk fueron destruidos.

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Campaña de engaños

Según informes, la CIA difundió una campaña de engaños dentro de Irán con versiones de que las fuerzas estadounidenses estaban sacando al aviador del país por vía terrestre.

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Fue la CIA quien localizó al piloto y compartió su ubicación con la Casa Blanca para que Trump ordenara la misión de rescate, dijo EFE. La prensa israelí dijo que la inteligencia de su país también contribuyó en la acción.

Las labores de búsqueda estuvieron marcadas por fuego cruzado entre los helicópteros estadounidenses desplazados y los iraníes que se encontraban en tierra.

El Pentágono desplegó aviones C-130, helicópteros de rescate y decenas de aeronaves que volaban con perfil bajo y lento, a muy baja cota para evitar radares y bajo la amenaza de ser derribados.

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Irán aseguró hoy que durante esta operación derribó cuatro aeronaves estadounidenses.

(Con información de AFP y EFE)

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GOP races to pass ICE, Border Patrol funding bill as priorities pile up, divisions emerge

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A party-line tactic to ram legislation through Congress and bypass the Senate filibuster has become a dumping ground for Republicans’ legislative priorities throughout the year.

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Now, as Democrats refuse to fund immigration operations, Republicans are once again readying a budget reconciliation package. The hard part will be getting enough of the GOP on the same page to craft a bill that can pass and survive the strict rules underpinning the process.

Republicans used the same process to pass President Donald Trump’s «big, beautiful bill» last year. It’s a time-consuming, labor-intensive legislative maneuver that nearly blew up and could fail unless both the Senate and House align on what exactly they want to include.

SENATE PASSES BILL TO FUND MOST OF DHS AFTER HOUSE GOP CAVES

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President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

Trump officially backed using reconciliation again this week as a way to skirt Democrats’ refusal to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as Congress inches closer to ending the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.

Trump demanded that Republicans get the bill on his desk by June 1.

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«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 said on Truth Social.

Still, Republicans have viewed reconciliation as a vehicle to tackle fraud, affordability, Trump’s tariff authorities, additional tax provisions, healthcare, funding for the Iran war, supplemental agriculture spending and election integrity measures in the months since passing the «big, beautiful bill.»

DHS SHUTDOWN BREAKTHROUGH COMES AT COST FOR REPUBLICANS AS FUNDING FIGHTS NEARS END

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republicans need to «keep our expectations realistic.» (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has warned that if reconciliation is going to work — especially given the limited timeframe lawmakers have to start and finish the process — Republicans need to «keep our expectations realistic.»

«Our theory of the case behind all this was to keep that thing as narrow and focused as possible, and that maximizes the speed at which we can do it and the support for it,» Thune said.

«There will probably be some attempts to add things,» he continued. «There are things out there that, obviously, many of us are interested in. But on a reconciliation vehicle like this — which we need to move with haste, as the president has pointed out — it’s probably not a likely magnet for all these other issues.»

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Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told voters at an event this week in South Carolina that he is eyeing two new reconciliation packages, which could ease concerns about cramming all the GOP’s priorities into one massive bill.

GOP RAILS AGAINST ‘S— SANDWICH’ DEAL AS ALL EYES TURN TO HOUSE TO END DHS SHUTDOWN

Lindsey Graham walking through a hallway toward the chamber.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., walks to the Senate chamber for votes after meeting behind closed doors with fellow Republicans on the Homeland Security budget stalemate, at the Capitol in Washington, March 26, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

«We want to do it quick — ICE, Border Patrol — fund it as much as you can, multi-year,» Graham said. «Then there’s another one coming. I just made news. There’s another one coming in the fall, and that’s going to be about going after fraud.»

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House Republicans spent their recent policy retreat earlier this year pushing a so-called «reconciliation 2.0,» gearing up to load the package with several provisions that could drain time and struggle to earn support in the Senate — where strict guidelines could kill proposals entirely if they don’t comply with the rules.

The Republican Study Committee (RSC), which has long called for a second reconciliation bill, also wants to add proposals addressing affordability concerns.

«We support pursuing funding for military readiness and Homeland Security through this legislative process, while simultaneously codifying the president’s agenda to deliver lower costs for working families,» the RSC Steering Committee said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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Some Republicans are also pushing to include the latest policy fight: the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The voter ID and citizenship verification legislation has no chance of passing the Senate given unified Democratic opposition.

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It’s also unlikely to survive the Senate’s reconciliation rules, which allow only provisions that directly impact spending.

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«I think we have to set our sights a little bit lower on this reconciliation bill,» Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital. «It’s got to be targeted to fund ICE for 10 years — I think that’s the number one thing for us. If we can nibble at the edges of the SAVE Act, that would be great, but the parliamentarian is not going to let us do the SAVE Act. That’s just an impossibility.»

Some of the loudest proponents of the bill in the House GOP acknowledge that adding the SAVE Act to reconciliation would be a challenge — largely because they would prefer to keep the bill intact and push it through the Senate.

«Look, it’s time for them to do a walk-and-talk and filibuster, and let’s make this thing happen,» Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said. «The American people are watching — piecing it together just to try to get a piece.»

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