Former Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that under President Donald Trump, the alleged “weaponization” of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal agencies against American citizens has come to an end. In a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, Bondi accused the Biden administration of targeting Trump and his family through politically motivated prosecutions, calling it the “ultimate weaponization” of federal power.
“We are investigating so many things at the Department of Justice,” Bondi said. “What they did to President Trump, what they did to his family — that was the ultimate weaponization. No longer.” Bondi promised accountability for those she claims misused government power, stating, “No one in this country is above the law.”
Amid rising concerns about urban crime, a new AP/NORC poll shows 81% of U.S. adults view crime in major cities as a serious issue. In response, Trump invoked Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act to take temporary control of the city’s police. The move has received bipartisan support in Washington, including from Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Police Union.
Support is growing for federal law enforcement to assist local police, with 55% of Americans approving military or National Guard involvement. The poll also found Trump’s handling of crime receives higher approval (53%) than his performance on immigration, the economy, or foreign policy.
As Trump pushes to expand federal crime-fighting efforts, Republicans in Congress are backing legislation to tighten control over D.C. and restore public safety.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Newsmax on Monday that once the government shutdown ends, House Republicans are readying ideas to tackle rising healthcare costs.
The House on Sept. 19 passed a clean continuing resolution 217-212 that would fund the federal government through Nov. 21, but the measure quickly stalled in the Senate amid a broader fight over Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The pandemic-era subsidies, which were created by Democrats, are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, the outlet reported.
During an appearance on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren,” Speaker Mike Johnson declined to specify when the House might consider a bipartisan Senate proposal to fund the federal government through January 30.
The Senate advanced the measure Sunday night by clearing a key procedural hurdle, though a final vote is still expected to take place in the coming days.
Johnson noted that House Republicans had included provisions to address rising healthcare costs in their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but said Democrats ultimately removed them during negotiations
“The problem is that we are subsidizing very wealthy insurance companies,” Johnson said. “That is not helping costs go down. It’s driving premiums up even higher. So, Republicans want to fix the broken system.
“We don’t want to throw good money at a broken and failing system. And the Affordable Care Act has been that since it was signed into law, passed by the Democrats alone back in 2010,” the Louisiana Republican added.
“We’ve got to reduce the cost of healthcare and the cost of living, and Republicans are the ones that have the ideas to do that,” he said.
Johnson stated that the OBBB included a provision which, according to him, would have decreased healthcare premiums by 12.7%.
“But the Democrats fought to take it out of the bill,” he said. “So, if they cared so much about healthcare costs, they shouldn’t be fighting provisions like that.
“We’re putting together some ideas that will drive the premiums down because healthcare is too expensive in this country. It’s too expensive because the Democrats built a system that doesn’t work. So, we need to look at the root causes of the costs that have skyrocketed and address that for the people,” Johnson told Van Sustren.
“Merely subsidizing something is not the is not the answer. When the government subsidizes something, it almost always means it’s not working. And that’s the problem,” he said.
With the subsidies set to expire on Dec. 31, Johnson said, “it’s an urgent matter for us, and it has been, which is why we put it into the bill that we passed in the early summer. And the Democrats fought to take it out.”
“So, we’re reintroducing some of these ideas,” he said. “There’s a lot of ideas on how to drive the cost down, and we have November and December to work on that.
“We’re going to have to get a bipartisan consensus on some of this. And so, we’ll be presenting our ideas and putting them on the table,” he continued.
“The Democrats, this is very important to point out, they don’t have any reform ideas at all. Their argument is they want a completely unreformed continuation. They would do it permanently, most of them on government just subsidizing the insurance companies. And that is not the solution,” he said.
“We’re going to be educating the population, and along the way, as we do this, come up with reforms that will actually solve the problem and not make it worse.”
Johnson, in a separate interview with Fox News, urged GOP members of the House to return to Washington before an expected vote on a measure to reopen the government on Wednesday.
“We’re going to plan on voting, on being here, at least by Wednesday,” Johnson said. “It is possible that things could shift a little bit later in the week, but right now we think we’re on track for a vote on Wednesday. So we need you here.”
In a fiery Senate showdown that left the chamber buzzing, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana took direct aim at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer during a heated debate over proposed Trump-era spending cuts. The tense exchange, which some aides later described as “the moment Schumer froze,” quickly became the talk of Capitol Hill — a verbal sparring match that highlighted growing divisions not just between parties, but within the Democratic ranks themselves.
The confrontation began as the Senate reconvened to discuss a revised federal spending plan that included partial restorations of Trump-era budget caps. Kennedy, known for his sharp wit and southern drawl, took the floor and immediately challenged Schumer’s leadership on fiscal responsibility. “Mr. Leader,” he said, turning toward Schumer, “you keep saying we can’t cut a penny without hurting people, but the American people are already hurting because Washington won’t stop spending.”
Schumer, initially smiling, attempted to respond with statistics about job growth and social investment. But Kennedy interrupted with his trademark humor. “Chuck, you could balance this budget if you just stopped paying consultants to tell you how to spend more,” he quipped, drawing laughter from Republicans and awkward silence from several Democrats. Reporters in the press gallery noted that Schumer paused for several seconds — long enough for Kennedy to add, “I’ll take that silence as agreement.”
What followed was an unusually candid back-and-forth between two of the Senate’s most recognizable figures. Schumer defended Democratic spending priorities, arguing that the proposed cuts would “cripple essential services, harm working families, and roll back progress made since 2020.” Kennedy countered that the nation’s $35 trillion debt was “a bipartisan monument to cowardice” and accused Democrats of “treating taxpayer money like Monopoly cash.”
At one point, the Louisiana senator cited statements from former President Donald Trump advocating for targeted spending reductions to protect Social Security and defense while trimming bureaucracy. “Even Trump got this part right,” Kennedy said. “You don’t fix Washington by pouring more syrup on bad pancakes.” The jab elicited chuckles across the chamber — even from a few Democrats who tried to hide their smiles.
For several minutes, Schumer appeared visibly frustrated. He shuffled his papers, attempted to pivot to infrastructure funding, and eventually yielded the floor without his usual closing remarks. Aides later downplayed the moment, saying the Majority Leader “simply wanted to move debate forward.” But within minutes, clips of the exchange flooded social media under the tag #SchumerFroze, garnering millions of views.
Political commentators quickly seized on the spectacle. Conservative outlets praised Kennedy for “slicing through Washington doublespeak,” while liberal pundits accused him of “grandstanding over substance.” Yet even some Democrats privately admitted that the senator’s performance was, in one staffer’s words, “a masterclass in Senate theater.”
As the debate closed, Kennedy summed up his case in one final soundbite: “We don’t need more speeches about compassion — we need receipts for how you’re spending our money.” The chamber fell quiet. Whether or not Schumer truly “froze,” the moment captured a growing public frustration with both parties’ handling of the nation’s finances — and reminded Washington that sometimes, one sharp tongue can silence an entire room.