Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was ripped on social media over the weekend for suggesting President Donald Trump was partially to blame for a Mexican Navy ship losing control and crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge.

“After being fully briefed on last night’s Brooklyn Bridge accident, one thing is predominantly clear: there are more questions than answers as it relates to exactly how this accident occurred,” Schumer said in a press release after a 150-foot-tall Mexican Navy training ship, Cuauhtémoc, reportedly experienced a mechanical issue before its masts crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two cadets on the ship. 

“Bridges serve as critical transportation arteries for commerce, emergency response, and daily travel, and many span key waterways that are vulnerable to both natural and man-made threats. The Coast Guard plays a crucial role in monitoring and securing these areas, deterring potential terrorist attacks, preventing illegal activities, and responding quickly to emergencies,” Schumer wrote. “At the same time, maintaining the structural integrity and safety of America’s bridges is critical to the economy and the well-being of communities. A failure or attack on a major bridge could disrupt supply chains, endanger lives, and cause massive economic losses. It is unacceptable that the Trump administration is potentially jeopardizing our national and economic security – as well as American lives.”

Schumer went on to point to the DOGE-implemented hiring freeze at the Coast Guard, arguing it could have impeded the Coast Guard’s Vehicle Traffic System, which works in a similar fashion to the air traffic control system.

TRUMP SAYS ‘THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG’ WITH TOP DEMOCRAT HE’S KNOWN ‘A LONG TIME’

Schumer’s claim drew immediate criticism from conservatives on social media as well as the Department of Homeland Security.

“Minority Leader Schumer’s accusations that a hiring freeze led to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Services not being adequately staffed are FALSE,” the official DHS account posted on X. 

“The US Coast Guard has been fully supported and been exempt from hiring freezes. Additionally, this incident had nothing to do with Vessel Traffic Services— when a ship loses propulsion in a high current area, the vessel needs to engage all capabilities to stop and ideally tugs are nearby to support. We encourage Minority Leader Schumer to get his facts straight before he misleads the American people.”

CREW ON MEXICAN NAVY TALL SHIP SEEN CLINGING TO RIGGING AFTER COLLISION WITH BROOKLYN BRIDGE, VIDEO SHOWS

“Mexican vessel: Loses control, hits bridge,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X. “Schumer: I’ll never forgive Drumpf for this!”

“Schumer is a stupid, evil man,” conservative radio host and Fox News host Mark Levin posted on X. 

“I, too, question Donald Trump’s leadership of the Mexican Navy,” substack writer Jim Treacher posted on X. 

“Elon and Trump Derangement Syndrome is out of control,” conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X. “Schumer is trying to pass the blame from the Mexican Navy onto them…”

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“He is an idiot,” senior counsel to Trump’s assistant AG Leo Terrell posted on X. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for comment.

“The U.S. Coast Guard’s New York Vessel Traffic Service was fully functional during the incident, operating in accordance with established procedures to manage commercial traffic and facilitate safe navigation,” a Coast Guard spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

–Pope Leo XIV meets with JD Vance, Marco Rubio

-Trump kicks off 18th week in office with high-stakes calls to potentially broker Ukraine, Russia peace

–Biden speaks out for first time since cancer diagnosis

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to lift a lower court injunction that blocked President Donald Trump’s decision to terminate the protected legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants living in the U.S., in a win for the administration as it looks to deliver on its hard-line immigration enforcement policies.

The decision clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to terminate Biden-era Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for roughly 300,000 Venezuelan migrants living in the U.S. and allows the administration to move forward with plans to immediately remove these migrants, which lawyers for the administration argued they should be able to do.

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer argued as much when he asked the Supreme Court to lift the injunction this month, arguing in an emergency appeal that a lower court judge had overstepped their authority by blocking the administration from ending the program for certain Venezuelans…READ MORE

LITMUS TEST: Spotlight on Biden’s cognitive decline forces Democrats to run the gauntlet

KUSHNER VOTE: Trump-pardoned real estate mogul Charles Kushner up for key diplomatic post

‘VILE’: Walz ripped for ‘sickening’ use of Nazi era language describing Trump’s immigration policy: ‘Anti-American’

NO CONCERNS: Trump remains confident in White House doctors despite Biden cancer diagnosis

‘HUGE ADVANTAGE’: Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ wins support from police for overtime tax elimination

GRIM NEWS: Obama reacts to Biden diagnosis: ‘Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer…than Joe’

‘NOT SEEKING WAR’: Iranian president calls for negotiation and dialogue as nuclear talks continue

HISTORIC DEAL: UK, Europe strike post-Brexit deal on defense, trade issues

UKRAINE BOMBARDED: Russia bombards Ukraine with drones hours after Trump announces talks with Putin

‘GOD BLESS US ALL’: Trump to call Putin in a bid to end Russia’s ‘bloodbath’ war with Ukraine

FORCED RESET: Trump’s tough policies push UK, EU to significantly expand trade and defense

GAMBLING TAX DOLLARS: Republicans demand probe into DOD’s taxpayer-funded charges at casinos, bars and nightclubs

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: A user’s manual to where we stand with the ‘big, beautiful bill’

BRIDGE TOO FAR: Schumer slammed for claiming DOGE might be to blame for Mexican ship crashing into Brooklyn Bridge

RADICAL TRANSPARENCY: FBI director opens up files on Nashville school shooting to rep for first time

‘ONLY PERSON ARRESTED’: Blue state political battle intensifies after Dem mayor’s arrest at ICE facility: ‘Outraged’

TAKE-HOME PAY DAY: New projection signals good news for families, workers in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Decorated warfighter Ret. Gen. Stanley McChrystal lambasted recent moves at the Pentagon, arguing on Sunday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s focus on rooting out diversity, equity and inclusion is a “distraction.” 

“I think that the DEI thing is, frankly, a distraction. It’s not helpful,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“I am completely aligned with Secretary Hegseth on the idea that we need to defend the nation, that the defense department needs to be as effective as it can be, and that a certain warrior ethos matters,” McChrystal explained. “We just define it differently.” 

The four-star retired Army general challenged the conception that “everybody’s got to look a certain way, got to have biceps of a certain size, there’s got to be a male, straight.”

HEGSETH QUIPS ‘99.9%’ OF DEI INITIATIVES ARE GONE FROM THE MILITARY UNDER TRUMP’S WATCH

He also argued for a more inclusive military. 

“In the counter-terrorist fight, where much of my experience was, it became a meritocracy. You didn’t care what somebody looked like or how old they were, what their gender was or sexual orientation because it was too important to get the job done.

“America needs to harness talent from every corner of our society, everyone.”

McChrystal resigned as commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, only a year into the job, during the Obama administration after a Rolling Stone article attributed scathing comments about President Barack Obama to McChrystal and his aides. 

During his short tenure, McChrystal advocated for a buildup of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

HEGSETH SAYS HE’S UNDOING ‘SOCIAL JUSTICE/BIDEN INITIATIVE’ THAT TRUMP SIGNED INTO LAW

He had wanted 60,000 additional U.S. troops to reverse insurgent “momentum.” Obama offered him 33,000.

McChrystal appeared on CBS to promote his new book, “On Character: Choices That Define a Life.”

“As a nation, our character is our fate. So, what I am trying to do is convince people to start a national conversation on character, with the idea that it starts at the bottom,” said McChrystal. “Not at the top.”

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“Our national leaders are not the cause of the problem. They are the symptom of the problem. The cause is us,” he argued. 

“We’ve always had a problem with certain evil in society and corruption, but I think the fact that we see everything so much now that we normalize it,” McChrystal said. “We start to accept things in celebrities or leaders that frankly, things we wouldn’t have accepted even a generation ago. And that’s our problem.”

The NFL owners are expected to reengage in talks about the polarizing tush push when they meet. Club owners are scheduled to hold meetings later this week in Minnesota.

Last month, owners tabled the vote on a proposal to ban the play that became the Philadelphia Eagles’ calling card over the past couple of seasons.

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Following April’s annual meetings in Florida, ESPN reported that the vote on the infamous play was an even split. Sixteen votes in favor of keeping the tush push and 16 votes for banning it would leave the proposal to outlaw the play eight votes short of passing. Per NFL policy, a proposal requires 24 votes to pass.

DESMOND WATSON, DUBBED ‘THE TUSH PUSH TERMINATOR,’ TURNING HEADS AT BUCCANEERS ROOKIE MINICAMP

“My personal opinion? I think they should ban it,” Luvu told NFL Network. “But I know the argument’s going to be about, ‘Hey, you guys have to stop it. Don’t get us in short yardage,’ and whatnot.”

Luvu then suggested the tush push was a cheap play and compared it to a rugby scrum.

“But it’s kind of like a cheapo play. … That’s pretty much a scrum in rugby. That’s how I kind of look at it. And we’ve got to have a scrum, too, on the other side. And the scrum is, we have a cadence where we all go at once. It’s not like you hard count and this and that, where now you’re getting us — or myself — jumping over the pile thinking that you’re going to snap the ball. That’s just my own personal opinion, and I’m going to leave it at that.”

Luvu, who plays linebacker for the Commanders, was flagged on three consecutive snaps late in January’s NFC Championship game. He jumped over the line of scrimmage while the Eagles were lined up near the goal line for their signature tush push.

The third penalty prompted one of the game’s referees to announce, “Washington has been advised that at some point the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again.”

The Eagles defeated the Commanders in the NFC title game and advanced to Super Bowl LIX. Philadelphia’s dominant performance in the game ended the Kansas City Chiefs’ hopes of winning three consecutive championships.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

An Indiana man who was convicted of killing a police officer two decades ago is set to be the second person executed in the state since 2009. 

Benjamin Ritchie, 45, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at the Indiana State Prison on Tuesday, May 20, before sunrise, “unless there’s last-minute court action,” according to the Associated Press. 

Ritchie has been on death row for over 20 years for the 2000 fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney.

Ritchie was 20 when he and others stole a van in Beech Grove, near Indianapolis, the outlet reported. He shot the 31-year-old police officer and father of two daughters five times during a foot chase, killing him. He was also on probation at the time for a 1998 burglary conviction.

INDIANA CARRIES OUT FIRST EXECUTION IN 15 YEARS AFTER INMATE CHOOSES BEN & JERRY’S ICE CREAM AS LAST MEAL

“Officer William Toney lost his life 25 years ago serving the community he lived in,” the Beech Grove Police Department shared in a statement with Fox News Digital. 

“Taking a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution and laws of this great state, so that its citizens may lead a peaceful life. His life was violently taken from him by an individual whose actions adversely affected the innocent and ripped at the very fabric that holds society together,” the statement continued.

The Indiana Law Enforcement Memorial site added that Toney’s life was taken one day before his 32nd birthday. 

Last Wednesday, the Indiana Parole Board rejected a clemency plea from Ritchie, who had petitioned the board to commute his death sentence to life without parole. 

Attorneys for Ritchie had argued he suffered from brain damage due to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder and mistreatment as a toddler, FOX 59 reported. As a result, at the time of the shooting, he lacked the capacity “to process information quickly or make appropriate decisions in a complex situation he was unfamiliar with,” according to an expert who spoke during the clemency hearing.

SOUTH CAROLINA CONVICT INCHES CLOSER TO FIRST US DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD IN 15 YEARS

“I’ve ruined my life and other people’s lives, and I’m so sorry for that night,” Ritchie told the parole board, the AP reported. “You can’t take back what you did.”

Relatives of Toney also spoke at a clemency hearing last week, urging officials to move forward with the execution. 

“It’s time. We’re all tired,” Toney’s widow said at the clemency hearing, per the AP. “It is time for this chapter of my story, our story, to be closed. It’s time for us to remember Bill, to remember Bill’s life, and not his death.”

COP KILLER DIES AFTER ‘BOTCHED’ FIRING SQUAD EXECUTION; WITNESS IN THE ROOM REVEALS HOW IT HAPPENED

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said he followed the recommendation of the board and would allow the execution to proceed. 

“After carefully reviewing the unanimous recommendation from the State Parole Board, I have decided to allow the execution of Benjamin Ritchie to proceed as planned for May 20,” Braun wrote in a statement. 

Ritchie’s attorneys are challenging that decision in federal court and have also filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the AP, noting that the jury did not receive accurate information about Ritchie’s brain damage.

Ritchie’s execution would mark the second inmate to be put to death in Indiana in 15 years, according to the AP. 

Indiana resumed executions in December after a year-long hiatus due to the scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide, the AP reported. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Former Biden COVID advisor and Obamacare architect Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel said Monday that former President Joe Biden likely had cancer since the beginning of his presidency, if not before.

Biden’s office confirmed in a statement on Sunday that he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that “was characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.” 

Based on the advanced state of the cancer, Emanuel, an oncologist, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Biden would most likely have had the cancer for “more than several years.”

Host Joe Scarborough stopped him to clarify, “So this is not speculation. If you have prostate cancer that has spread to the bone, then most certainly you are saying he had it when he was President of the United States.”

MEDICAL EXPERT ‘ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED’ BY TIMING OF BIDEN’S PROSTATE CANCER DIAGNOSIS

“Oh, yeah. He did not develop it in the last 100-200 days,” Emanuel said. “He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. I don’t think there’s any disagreement about that.”

Scarborough pointed out how some men over the age of 70 choose not to get a prostate exam but added “most men aren’t President of the United States.” 

Emanuel said that it’s often a discussion between patients and doctors but agreed it’s concerning when it involves a sitting president.

“President Obama had this test. President Bush had this test. It is a little surprising that the doctor didn’t take it. And if he took it and didn’t report it, and it was elevated, that is another case of doctors not being straightforward with us – we’ve had several of them with President Trump, especially around his COVID diagnosis – and if that is true, that would be very troubling,” Emanuel said.

CNN’S AXELROD SUGGESTS DISCUSSIONS AROUND BIDEN’S MENTAL ACUITY SHOULD BE SET ASIDE AMID CANCER DIAGNOSIS

He added that it was possible for a test to miss this stage of cancer but called it “unlikely.”

“Either they didn’t test for it, or they test for it [and] they didn’t report it. And we didn’t get the information as a public,” Emanuel said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment.

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Dave Navarro is speaking in no uncertain terms about the future of Jane’s Addiction.

Navarro, guitarist for the popular rock band, spoke to Guitar Player about the onstage fight between him and frontman Perry Farrell that took place last September, telling the outlet that the incident “forever destroyed” the band.

“I have to speak in broad strokes here, because there are other individuals involved, and it’s still very tender and unresolved,” he began.

JANE’S ADDICTION CANCELS TOUR AFTER DAVE NAVARRO, PERRY FARRELL’S ONSTAGE FIGHT

“There was an altercation onstage, and all the hard work and dedication and writing and hours in the studio, and picking up and leaving home and crisscrossing the country and Europe and trying to overcome my illness — it all came to a screeching halt and forever destroyed the band’s life. And there’s no chance for the band to ever play together again,” Navarro shared.

“I have to say that’s my least favorite gig, without throwing animosity around, and without naming names and pointing fingers, and coming up with reasons.”

Navarro explained that before that fateful concert, the band was “gelling, really, for the first time” because they were older and more settled. He called the shows they played during that tour “some of my favorite Jane’s Addiction gigs of all-time.” He’d been forced to sit out on touring with the band for two years due to a battle with long COVID, and first returned to performing with Jane’s Addiction that May.

“There was no ego issue; it was just four guys making great music, just like we did in the beginning. I was just us on a stage, with people going f—ing crazy,” he told Guitar Player.

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“And that gig, September 13th, in Boston, ended all of that. And for that reason, that is my least favorite gig that I have ever played.”

JANE’S ADDICTION ISSUES UPDATE AFTER FRONTMAN PERRY FARRELL PUNCHES GUITARIST DAVE NAVARRO ONSTAGE

Navarro added that with the band, “The experiences are there, but the potential of having those types of experiences ended that night. And so, you know… it is what it is.”

During the Sept. 13 concert, videos taken by fans showed Farrell approaching Navarro, seemingly upset. He shoved Navarro with his shoulder, then advanced on him. Navarro held him back with a forearm to his chest, but Farrell threw a punch before one of the band’s techs intervened.

Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, addressed the issue in a social media post at the time, offering a firsthand account of the incident. She claimed that her husband had been growing frustrated because he felt like the volume had been too loud and that his voice was being drowned out. She also wrote that he had been struggling with tinnitus and a sore throat for several nights.

She said that Farrell “lost it” when fans in the front row began complaining that they couldn’t hear him sing. According to her, the band began a song before he was ready, and “by the end of the song, he wasn’t singing, he was screaming just to be heard.”

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She crowned Eric Avery, the bass guitarist for Jane’s Addiction, the winner of the brawl, explaining that after Farrell was pulled away from Navarro, he approached Farrell from behind, then “put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times.” Avery then apologized to the audience and ended the show.

Days later, Jane’s Addiction shared a statement announcing that read in part, “Due to a continuing pattern of behavior and the mental health difficulties of our singer Perry Farrell, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to discontinue the current US tour. Our concern for his personal health and safety as well as our own has left us no alternative. We hope that he will find the help he needs.”

At the time, Farrell shared a statement with Fox News Digital that read, “This weekend has been incredibly difficult and after having the time and space to reflect, it is only right that I apologize to my bandmates, especially Dave Navarro, fans, family and friends for my actions during Friday’s show. Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”  

A representative for Farrell did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Navarro’s latest statements.

FIRST ON FOX: Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon slammed international criticism from the U.K., France and Canada over Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists.  

Responding to the criticism, Danon told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the Jerusalem Post conference in New York that while Israel values international law, it will not stop fighting Hamas until all hostages are released. 

“We have 58 hostages in Gaza. This war will not end when the hostages are left behind. We will bring all of them back,” Danon said, emphasizing Israel’s determination to finish the war and bring home those held captive. Danon also expressed frustration that the international community has not placed more pressure on Hamas over the hostages, urging those countries to make stronger statements on their behalf.

The joint statement issued by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada condemned Israel’s military operations in Gaza, criticizing the humanitarian situation and calling for an immediate ceasefire. The statement also urged Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, specifically calling on the Israeli government to engage with the United Nations to resume aid in line with humanitarian principles and to push for the release of all hostages held by Hamas.

ISRAEL TURNS TABLES ON UN OFFICIAL CLAIMING ‘GENOCIDE’ IN GAZA WITH BASIC QUESTIONS

Danon also took issue with remarks made by Tom Fletcher, the U.N.’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who accused Israel of committing genocide during his speech before the U.N. Security Council. Fletcher criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, stating that most of the region was either under Israeli military control or subjected to displacement orders.

“What Mr. Fletcher said at the Security Council was unacceptable and shameful, accusing us for committing a genocide. He knows better than that. That’s a libel and I expect him to take back those words and apologize. We will not work with him until he will make it clear that Israeli isn’t committing a genocide. We have no intention for that, he knows that. We are doing our best to defeat the terror group Hamas. We will defeat Hamas, but blaming us for committing such atrocities, that is something we cannot accept from any U.N. official.”

ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER SLAMS UN, CALLS IT ‘ROTTEN, ANTI-ISRAEL, AND ANTISEMITIC BODY’

Regarding the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the recent opening of the borders to allow aid trucks into Gaza after two months, Fletcher commented on X, calling Israel’s temporary permission to deliver limited aid a “drop in the ocean.” 

Danon stressed that the aid was only granted to NGOs that ensure Hamas does not infiltrate their ranks or loot aid intended for civilians.

“Let’s stick to the facts,” Danon said. “We are still expecting a retraction of the inappropriate libel that you asserted last week at the Security Council.”

In a briefing today, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, also referenced the statement by Fletcher, who stressed that the scale of aid is still insufficient to meet the overwhelming needs of the population. He called for more crossings to be opened and for the simplification of procedures to ensure a regular flow of aid, emphasizing that without such measures, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza would continue to worsen.

Danon also addressed the future of humanitarian aid in Gaza, specifically in response to proposals for replacing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) with a new U.S.-backed aid mechanism. 

“We decided that UNRWA will not have anything connected to Israel. They know it, the U.N. knows it,” he said, criticizing the U.N.’s role in the region. He voiced support for the U.S. initiative, calling it a welcome step toward addressing Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. “I cannot understand how anyone can boycott a humanitarian effort,” he added. “If those people in the U.N. care so much about the humanitarian crisis, they should take part in these efforts, not boycott them.”

Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this article.

President Donald Trump is considering Justice Department official Emil Bove, his former defense attorney, for a U.S. appeals court vacancy — a controversial nomination that would come as he continues to attack so-called “activist” judges for blocking his agenda.

Bove, 44, is among those Trump is considering for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

There are currently two vacancies on the court — increasing the odds that Bove’s name could be floated by Trump. If confirmed, he would serve a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.

Bove’s name is not the only one being considered, familiar sources say, and conversations are believed to be in the early stages.

JUDGE ON WARPATH PRESSES TRUMP DOJ ON ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION, ANSWERS LEAVE COURTROOM IN STUNNED SILENCE

Prior to his installation at the Justice Department, Bove spent nearly 10 years as a U.S. prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.

He also defended Trump in two of his criminal trials following his first term in the White House.

In each of these roles and at DOJ, Bove’s hard-charging tactics have solidified his reputation as a fierce, loyal and, at times, aggressive leader. 

At the Justice Department, Bove has emerged as the man behind some of the administration’s most contentious actions — prompting some officials to resign rather than carry out his marching orders.

Shortly after taking office, he sent a memo threatening state and city officials with criminal charges or civil penalties if they failed to comply with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration or slow-walked their orders on enforcement. 

“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands,” Bove said in the memo.

TRUMP’S REMARKS COULD COME BACK TO BITE HIM IN ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION BATTLE

It was Bove who ordered federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York to file a motion to dismiss charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

That order prompted a string of resignations from personnel, including acting U.S attorney for the section Danielle Sassoon to leave DOJ rather than drop the case.

Bove, along with Edward Sullivan from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, eventually signed on to the motion themselves. 

Fox News also reported earlier this year that Bove was behind an exhaustive questionnaire sent to FBI agents detailing their roles in the Jan. 6 investigations. 

Questions ranged from agents’ participation in any grand jury subpoenas to whether the agents worked or responded to leads from another FBI field office or if they worked as a case agent for investigations.

FBI AGENTS GROUP TELLS CONGRESS TO TAKE URGENT ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST POLITICIZATION

Former Justice Department officials have cited concerns that the probe or any retaliatory measures carried out as a result could have a chilling effect on the work of the FBI, including its more than 52 separate field offices.

The group cited in particular the order from acting then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to terminate the entire FBI senior leadership team and the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office. 

Bove would face a highly uncertain path to confirmation if nominated. The news comes at a time when Democrats have sharply excoriated what they argue are Trump’s attempts to install loyalists to head up the DOJ and FBI. 

The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Michael A. Ledeen, a major American historian and intellectual, died after suffering a series of small strokes on Sunday at his daughter’s house in Texas. He was 83 years old. Ledeen was a vigorous participant in contributing to the demise of the communist Soviet Union and its Iron Curtain allies in Eastern Europe.

Ledeen served as a special advisor on terrorism to President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, Alexander Haig, and later worked as a consultant for the National Security Council. Writing for the Asia Times, author and journalist David P. Goldman argued that Ledeen’s “personal contribution to America’s victory in the Cold War is far greater than the public record shows.” 

Goldman noted that the Reagan administration, in 1983, sent Ledeen, a scholar of Italian history and fascism, to meet Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi to convince the Italian leader to allow the U.S. to deploy Pershing missiles to counter rising Soviet jingoism. Goldman added, “The incident reflects the high trust that Ledeen commanded in the Reagan administration and the strategic role that he played.” 

TRUMP SAYS US HAS GIVEN IRAN PROPOSAL FOR NUCLEAR DEAL

After Italy accepted the Pershings, the then-Social Democratic German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who was reluctant for his nation to be first to house Pershing missiles, agreed to Reagan’s demand. 

Leeden was a fan of former anti-communist American philosopher Sidney Hook, who declared during the Cold War that “Freedom is a fighting word.”

Ledeen would take his hard-charging world view against a new set of U.S. enemies after the ground zero of communism was defeated: radical Islamism in Iran, North Korea’s totalitarian regime, and Arab and Latin American despots bent on the eradication of the U.S.

In 2003, while working as the resident scholar in the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, Ledeen wrote about former President George W. Bush’s Axis of Evil (Iran, North Korea and Iraq), “Most commentators ridiculed the very idea of the Axis of Evil, just as they laughed at Reagan’s description of the Soviet Union as an Evil Empire. The deep thinkers laughed at Reagan, and then somberly warned that such language was not only misguided but provocative, as if the Kremlin would be more aggressive as a result of the president’s speech.”

Ledeen stressed the importance of American leadership breeding inspiration among dissidents trapped in totalitarian systems: “The greatest of the Soviet freedom fighters, from [Vladimir] Bukovsky to [Natan] Sharansky, have since written about the surge of hope they felt when they saw that the American president understood why they were fighting.” 

He would bring his same intellectual freedom toolkit to his principal worry in this century: the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ledeen garnered enormous respect and praise from Iranian dissidents seeking to dissolve the theocratic regime in Tehran, the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism, according to the U.S. State Department.

His wife, Barbara, told Fox News Digital about her late husband, “My only regret is that he didn’t outlive the regime.”

IRAN’S LONG TRAIL OF DECEPTION FUELS SKEPTICISM OVER NEW NUCLEAR DEAL AS TALKS CONTINUE

Leeden did not advocate military intervention in Iran. He was in the business of replicating Reagan’s anti-Soviet playbook for Iran’s clerical regime. 

He told Fox News Brit Hume in 2005 that “the Western world, and in particular the United States” needs to support political prisoners in Iran and demonstrations against the regime. 

He told Hume, “We should be giving money to the various … Farsi-language broadcasters, some here, some in England, some in Sweden and so forth, some in Germany, to go on the air and share with the Iranian people the now-demonstrated techniques for a successful, nonviolent revolution.”

He coined the phrase “Faster, please!” for his widely read blog at PJ Media to denote the great urgency to dismantle America’s enemies and stop Islamist-animated terrorism.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, paid tribute to Ledeen in a post on X. He wrote in part, “Michael’s understanding of the American people and the Jewish people formed the basis of his abiding faith in the future of America and Israel and in our enduring alliance and friendship.”

Ledeen was born in Los Angeles in 1941 and authored numerous books on national security, including “Perilous Statecraft: An Insider’s Account of the Iran-Contra Affair.” He earned a Ph.D. in history and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His academic advisor at Wisconsin was the prominent historian George Mosse, who fled Nazi Germany because of antisemitism. 

Ledeen cultivated a new generation of academics, journalists, think tank scholars and authors at his Chevy Chase home. His residence became a kind of informal salon for intellectuals and foreign policy types who had freshly arrived in Washington, D.C.

He was also a top-level bridge player and won a national championship, the Truscott/U.S.P.C. Senior Teams. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, Simone, who served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense during the first Trump administration, and his two sons, former Marine Corps officers Gabriel and Daniel.