FIRST ON FOX: Police returned articles of clothing to a Tanzanian fashion designer they obtained while executing a search warrant of disgraced ex-Department of Energy (DOE) official Sam Brinton’s home.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police Department confirmed the clothes were returned to Asya Khamsin, who has alleged Brinton publicly wore clothing she designed, but which was in her bag she reported missing at Ronald Reagan National Airport years ago. In May, MWAA police officers executed a search warrant in connection with the case at Brinton’s Maryland residence.

‘The MWAA Police Department can confirm we returned the victim’s property and police retained photos of the evidence for prosecution,’ MWAA spokesperson Crystal Nosal told Fox News Digital in a statement Tuesday. ‘The case is still under adjudication and we cannot release more detailed information.’

Weeks after the search warrant was executed, Brinton was charged with felony grand larceny of items worth more than $1,000. The preliminary hearing in the case, which was filed in Arlington General District Court, has been delayed until December.

In February, around the same time that MWAA Police learned about Brinton’s alleged theft at Ronald Reagan National Airport, Khamsin told Fox News Digital in an interview that she saw photographs in news articles where Brinton appeared to be wearing clothes with her custom designs. Khamsin added she packed the same clothes in a bag that vanished at the airport on March 9, 2018.

‘I saw the images. Those were my custom designs, which were lost in that bag in 2018,’ Khamsin told Fox News Digital at the time. ‘He wore my clothes, which was stolen.’

Khamsin added that she had flown to Washington, D.C., to attend an event where she was invited to put her clothing on display. However, the disappearance of her bag prevented her from participating. She ultimately filed reports with the MWAA and Delta Air Lines following the incident, but the case went cold.

Then, after seeing the photographs of Brinton and reports that Brinton had allegedly stolen other luggage from airport baggage carousels, Khamsin filed a report with police in Houston where she and her husband live. The Houston Police Department later said it referred the case to the FBI.

‘The MWAA returned to Asyakhamsin various parcels of retrieved clothing after the search warrant was executed. These items were returned in sealed evidence bags,’ Peter Hansen, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney representing Khamsin, told Fox News Digital in an email Tuesday.

In addition, Khamsin filed a civil suit related to the theft against Brinton on Friday.

Meanwhile, Brinton — who made headlines last year after being appointed to the position that oversees nuclear waste policy at the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy as a non-binary gender-fluid person — escaped jail time in two separate cases in Minnesota and Nevada involving luggage thefts.

Police charged Brinton in October with stealing a traveler’s baggage worth a total of $2,325 from the luggage carousel at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport after flying in from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16.

And in early December, Las Vegas prosecutors charged Brinton with grand larceny of an item valued between $1,200 and $5,000. Police accused Brinton of stealing a suitcase with a total estimated worth of $3,670 on July 6 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. The bag contained jewelry valued at $1,700, clothing worth $850 and makeup valued at $500.

Brinton was on an official taxpayer-funded trip to the Nevada National Security Site in Las Vegas at the time of the alleged theft.

Brinton faced up to 15 years total for the two alleged thefts. However, in both cases, the presiding judges ruled jail time wasn’t necessary.

The DOE on Dec. 12 announced that Brinton had left the agency, but wouldn’t comment on the reason for the departure.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., will introduce a bill Wednesday to create hefty federal penalties for illegal migrants who evade U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers during motor vehicle pursuits.

The Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act — named after a Border Patrol officer who died in a vehicle crash in Texas last year during pursuit — proposes making failure to yield to a border patrol officer a felony, according to details of the measure shared first with Fox News Digital. The offense could result in a life sentence if an officer is killed during an apprehension under the proposed bill.

It further requires that the Department of Justice report to Congress about how often they are prosecuting illegal aliens for endangering Border Patrol agents, ‘because these agents are risking their lives on a daily basis and yet they’re serving an administration where the political leadership not only doesn’t have their backs but undermine them on a daily basis,’ Cruz told Fox News Digital in an interview.

‘One of the worst consequences of this border crisis is the threat to public safety where traffickers will load a car or truck stacked with illegal immigrants and then engage in high speed chases with Border Patrol agents, or law enforcement, and crash the cars, crash the trucks — and we’re seeing people killed regularly,’ said Cruz, who sits on the immigration and border safety subcommittee.

According to the bill text, obtained first by Fox News Digital, evading Border Patrol officers would become a felony punishable up to two years in prison. If a border patrol agent sustains injuries during a vehicle pursuit of an illegal migrant, the offender may receive a sentence ranging from a minimum of five years to a maximum of 20 years in prison.

In cases where an agent loses their life during the pursuit, the bill prescribes a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, extending to a potential life sentence. Each of these offenses also may carry a fine of up to $250,000.

Cruz said the bill is important because the U.S. is in ‘the middle of the worst illegal immigration crisis our nation’s ever seen.’

The bill is poised to gather momentum in the GOP-led House, with Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, introducing a companion bill to Cruz’s. The level of support among Democrats in the upper chamber, however, remains uncertain.

‘At least today, Senate Democrats have been unwilling to go along with even moderate law enforcement measures to protect life, and to secure the border. And if they continue to vote party lines, you would have to anticipate the Senate Democrats will continue to do so,’ Cruz said. ‘The consequence of that is abundantly clear.’

He added he does ‘not expect any Democrats’ on the Senate Judiciary Committee to support the bill. 

‘That’s a shame because it means that they are prioritizing partisan politics above protecting innocent human life and protecting the communities who were ravaged by their open border policies,’ Cruz said.

On Monday, more than 2,200 migrants were captured on video heading toward Eagle Pass, Texas, overnight in one of the largest border crossings observed by Fox News in the past two years.

After Title 42 public health order was rescinded May 11, the CBP said the U.S. ‘returned to fully enforcing Title 8 immigration authorities to expeditiously process and remove individuals who arrive at the U.S. border unlawfully and do not have a legal basis to stay.’

Although the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security said border crossings dropped anywhere from 50% to 70% after the expiration of Title 42, over the past several weeks, border crossings have reportedly again begun to surge.

A Border Patrol official said that in Arizona and California, border crossings have surged to as many as 2,000 migrants apprehended daily, NBC News reported.

Subsequently, the CBP has been releasing between 100 to 200 migrants per day onto U.S. streets shortly after they cross the border. The CBP also ‘temporarily’ suspended operations at a port of entry near El Paso, Texas, so that the personnel can assist in processing an influx of migrants who have arrived at the border, the agency said.

There were 20,000 migrants in federal custody as of last month, sources told Fox News.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report. 

President Biden on Friday will announce the creation of the first-ever federal office of gun violence prevention in a win for gun control groups, according to multiple reports.

White House Staff Secretary Stefanie Feldman, a longtime Biden aide with expertise on firearms issues, is leading the effort, both the Washington Post and Politico reported, citing officials briefed on the action. Feldman previously worked on the Domestic Policy Council and oversees the gun policy portfolio at the White House. 

Representatives from gun control groups are reportedly involved, including Greg Jackson, the executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund, and Rob Wilcox, the senior director for federal government affairs at Everytown for Gun Safety, according to the Washington Post.

The White House, the Community Justice Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Since Biden took office, gun control groups have lobbied the president for executive action on firearms, including declaring a national emergency on gun violence. 

In January, a coalition of 117 groups sent a letter to the president demanding the creation of a federal office of gun violence prevention, a $5 billion fund for community violence intervention programs, an enforcement of the ban on foreign-made weapons, tighter Federal Trade Commission regulations on firearm marketing, education campaigns on gun safety, and a detailed plan on the enactment of the Safer Communities Act passed last year.

‘Unfortunately, gun deaths and injuries continue to ravage our country, impacting Asian American, Black and Brown communities, and neighborhoods all across the country,’ the groups wrote to Biden. ‘While Congress must continue to prioritize gun violence prevention, you have the opportunity to act boldly by announcing a comprehensive plan of action to reduce gun deaths at the State of the Union on February 7, 2023.’

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law by Biden, was the most significant gun control bill in nearly 30 years. It incentivized states to pass red flag laws and expand background checks for 18- to 21-year-olds. The law was passed in response to mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. 

However, Congress has shown no indication of enacting further gun control legislation supported by the president. The creation of a new office of gun violence prevention serves the dual purpose of contrasting the president’s agenda with the Republican-controlled House and pleasing a key constituency group as Biden ramps up his 2024 re-election campaign. 

Fox News’ Patrick Hauf and Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

President Biden on Friday will announce the creation of the first-ever federal office of gun violence prevention in a win for gun control groups, according to multiple reports.

White House Staff Secretary Stefanie Feldman, a longtime Biden aide with expertise on firearms issues, is leading the effort, both the Washington Post and Politico reported, citing officials briefed on the action. Feldman previously worked on the Domestic Policy Council and oversees the gun policy portfolio at the White House. 

Representatives from gun control groups are reportedly involved, including Greg Jackson, the executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund, and Rob Wilcox, the senior director for federal government affairs at Everytown for Gun Safety, according to the Washington Post.

The White House, the Community Justice Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Since Biden took office, gun control groups have lobbied the president for executive action on firearms, including declaring a national emergency on gun violence. 

In January, a coalition of 117 groups sent a letter to the president demanding the creation of a federal office of gun violence prevention, a $5 billion fund for community violence intervention programs, an enforcement of the ban on foreign-made weapons, tighter Federal Trade Commission regulations on firearm marketing, education campaigns on gun safety, and a detailed plan on the enactment of the Safer Communities Act passed last year.

‘Unfortunately, gun deaths and injuries continue to ravage our country, impacting Asian American, Black and Brown communities, and neighborhoods all across the country,’ the groups wrote to Biden. ‘While Congress must continue to prioritize gun violence prevention, you have the opportunity to act boldly by announcing a comprehensive plan of action to reduce gun deaths at the State of the Union on February 7, 2023.’

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law by Biden, was the most significant gun control bill in nearly 30 years. It incentivized states to pass red flag laws and expand background checks for 18- to 21-year-olds. The law was passed in response to mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. 

However, Congress has shown no indication of enacting further gun control legislation supported by the president. The creation of a new office of gun violence prevention serves the dual purpose of contrasting the president’s agenda with the Republican-controlled House and pleasing a key constituency group as Biden ramps up his 2024 re-election campaign. 

Fox News’ Patrick Hauf and Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

Former President Donald Trump travels to Iowa on Wednesday as he turns up the volume on his campaign in the state whose caucuses lead off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

But Trump returns to Iowa in the wake of controversial abortions comments he made this past weekend that sparked outrage among some in the social conservative community in a state where Evangelical voters play an outsized role in the Republican presidential caucuses. 

Trump, who for months has been the commanding front-runner in the 2024 Republican race, is gunning to take down Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s relentlessly criss-crossed Iowa this summer as he tries to shave points off of Trump’s enormous double-digit lead in the Hawkeye State.

With less than four months to go until the Iowa caucuses, the former president will hold a ‘Team Trump Caucus Commitment’ organizing event with campaign volunteers at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Maquoketa. Later, he’ll give policy remarks at the Grand River Conference Center in Dubuque in front of what his campaign estimates will be a crowd of up to 2,500 people.

Trump’s campaign also highlights that the former president will make four more trips to Iowa next month.

‘Polling shows President Trump leading by nearly 40 points, but as he always tells us, put the pedal to the metal,’ Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung emphasized in a statement. ‘We don’t play prevent defense, and his aggressive upcoming schedule reflects President Trump’s continued commitment to earning support in Iowa one voter at a time.’

The campaign’s also adding a new senior adviser in Iowa. And the former president’s getting support in the state from the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc., which this past weekend launched a more than $700,000 week-long ad buy in Iowa.

Trump’s historic four criminal indictments this year — including two for allegedly trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Biden — appear to have only strengthened his support among likely Republican primary voters.

The latest Fox News national survey in the GOP nomination race, conducted Sept. 9-12, pointed to Trump expanding his already enormous lead over the rest of the field.

But while still towering over his rivals, Trump’s lead in the latest surveys in Iowa, as well as New Hampshire and South Carolina, two other crucial early voting states in the Republican nominating calendar, is not as overwhelming.

‘It’s closer in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina than it is nationally, but it’s not close,’ said David Kochel, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns.

‘These things do break late. There’s a lot of stuff we haven’t seen or heard yet. Whether it’s Trump’s trials, which I don’t think are going to move any numbers against him. Whether it’s future debates. Whether it’s something we can’t foresee now,’ Kochel noted. ‘The door’s still open, but it’s not as wide open as it was.’

Trump’s made seven trips to Iowa so far this year, including a quick swing through the State Fair last month and an appearance earlier this month at a fraternity house in Ames before attending the annual Iowa-Iowa State college football game.

His campaign touts that they added over 2,250 signed caucus pledge cards during Trump’s most recent Iowa trip, bringing the total collected to more than 27,500. And they highlight that they’ve recruited over 1,000 precinct captains for January’s caucuses.

But Trump’s visits to the state can’t compare to frequency some of his rivals travels, such as DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

With the clock ticking towards January, Iowa based Republican strategist and presidential campaign veteran Jimmy Centers emphasized that ‘at some point the rest of the field has to make a stronger and more compelling argument as they why them. Why are we changing horses from the former president…They have to speak more directly to that point and start doing it soon.’

But Trump appears to have handed his rivals some ammunition over the combustible issue of abortion.

Trump declined to endorse a specific number of weeks after which abortion would be banned, with some exceptions, and he refused to say whether he feels the issue should settled at the state or federal levels, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press.’

‘We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it,’ Trump said. ‘And both sides are going to come together and both sides — both sides, and this is a big statement — both sides will come together…I think both sides are going to like me.’

Trump also once criticized Republicans who take too hard an abortion stance, saying ‘You’re not going to win on this issue.’

And he called the six-week abortion ban DeSantis signed into law in Florida ‘a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.’

Firing back, DeSantis said in an interview with Radio Iowa that ‘Donald Trump may think it’s terrible. I think protecting babies with heartbeats is noble and just and I’m proud to have signed the heartbeat bill in Florida and I know Iowa has similar legislation,’

‘I don’t know how you can even make the claim that you’re somehow prolife if you’re criticizing states for enacting protections for babies that have heartbeats,’ DeSantis stressed.

Scott, who to date has mostly avoided criticizing Trump, said during a campaign stop Monday in Iowa that ‘President Trump said he would negotiate with the Democrats and walk back away from what I believe we need, which is a 15-week limit on the federal level.’

Popular conservative GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa – who earlier this year signed a similar six-week ban into law – on Tuesday defended her measure, saying ‘It’s never a ‘terrible thing’ to protect innocent life.’

Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of the Family Leader, an influential faith-based organization in Iowa, took to social media to charge that the former president Donald Trump ‘has shown his true colors.’

‘The scripture states out of the heart, the mouth speaks. I think  @realDonaldTrump revealed his heart on @MeetThePress,’ Vander Plaats argued.

And he warned that Trump’s ‘let’s make a deal’ on the #SanctityofHumanLife ‘ could lead to the former president ‘losing his base’ in Iowa.

Vander Plaats, who is far from a Trump supporter, is likely to endorse one of the former president’s rivals in the coming months.

Trump took to his Truth Social network on Tuesday to defend his record, writing, ‘I was able to do something that nobody thought was possible, end Roe v. Wade.

‘Like Ronald Reagan before me, I believe in the three exceptions for Rape, Incest, and the Life of the Mother. Without the exceptions, it is very difficult to win Elections, we would probably lose the Majorities in 2024, and perhaps the Presidency itself, but you must follow your HEART!’ Trump wrote.

And he reiterated past comments that ‘In order to win in 2024, Republicans must learn how to talk about Abortion. This issue cost us unnecessarily, but dearly, in the Midterms…’

Nicole Schlinger, a veteran Iowa-based conservative operative and strategist who is well-connected with evangelical groups, told Fox News that Trump ‘was the most pro-life president in our lifetime. He gave us the justices that gave us Dobbs, and we’re grateful for that.’

But she added ‘what he does next matters and negotiating weeks of human life with Democrats does not seem like what Evangelical caucus goers wanted when they asked for those justices.’

‘It remains to be seen but this could be one of those moments where we say the tide turned,’ Schlinger predicted. ‘I think it could and it should motivate Evangelical caucus goers to take a second look. I think the door’s open for another candidate, but it’s up to someone to walk through it.’

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A former Republican lawmaker was sentenced to 22 months in prison for insider trading on Tuesday.

Stephen Buyer, 64, who served as a U.S. representative from Indiana from 1993 to 2011, was convicted earlier this year for operating off insider information after leaving office. In addition to incarceration, Buyer was ordered to forfeit the $354,027 he had gained with the trades in addition to a $10,000 fine.

Buyer’s conviction arose from his purchase of stocks in Navigant, a management company that one of Buyer’s clients, Guidehouse, was set to purchase weeks later. He also purchased shares of Sprint after learning of the company’s non-public plans to merge with T-Mobile.

‘Stephen Buyer was convicted by a jury of twice engaging in insider trading.  He abused positions of trust for illicit personal gain, and today he faced justice for those acts.  No insider trader is above the law, and we will continue to bring those who undermine the fairness and integrity of our markets to justice,’ U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Tuesday.

Buyer,64, is scheduled to report to prison on November 28.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman also accused Buyer of obstruction of justice for providing false explanations for his trades to the court.

Buyer, a lawyer and Persian Gulf War veteran once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs committee and was a House prosecutor at then-President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial.

Buyer’s lawyers had urged Berman to limit his sentence to home confinement and community service.

Prior to sentencing, the defense told the court that Buyer, who once made as much as $2.2 million in a year, has suffered so much from the cost of litigation that he and his wife have sold most of their assets, including their home, condo and two cars, and his wife will have to return to the workforce at age 65.

Prosecutors had previously pushed for Buyer to pay an additional $1.4 million to cover the cost of legal fees for both sides, but the judge ruled against it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A former Republican lawmaker was sentenced to 22 months in prison for insider trading on Tuesday.

Stephen Buyer, 64, who served as a U.S. representative from Indiana from 1993 to 2011, was convicted earlier this year for operating off insider information after leaving office. In addition to incarceration, Buyer was ordered to forfeit the $354,027 he had gained with the trades in addition to a $10,000 fine.

Buyer’s conviction arose from his purchase of stocks in Navigant, a management company that one of Buyer’s clients, Guidehouse, was set to purchase weeks later. He also purchased shares of Sprint after learning of the company’s non-public plans to merge with T-Mobile.

‘Stephen Buyer was convicted by a jury of twice engaging in insider trading.  He abused positions of trust for illicit personal gain, and today he faced justice for those acts.  No insider trader is above the law, and we will continue to bring those who undermine the fairness and integrity of our markets to justice,’ U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Tuesday.

Buyer,64, is scheduled to report to prison on November 28.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman also accused Buyer of obstruction of justice for providing false explanations for his trades to the court.

Buyer, a lawyer and Persian Gulf War veteran once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs committee and was a House prosecutor at then-President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial.

Buyer’s lawyers had urged Berman to limit his sentence to home confinement and community service.

Prior to sentencing, the defense told the court that Buyer, who once made as much as $2.2 million in a year, has suffered so much from the cost of litigation that he and his wife have sold most of their assets, including their home, condo and two cars, and his wife will have to return to the workforce at age 65.

Prosecutors had previously pushed for Buyer to pay an additional $1.4 million to cover the cost of legal fees for both sides, but the judge ruled against it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump travels to Iowa on Wednesday as he turns up the volume on his campaign in the state whose caucuses lead off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

But Trump returns to Iowa in the wake of controversial abortions comments he made this past weekend that sparked outrage among some in the social conservative community in a state where Evangelical voters play an outsized role in the Republican presidential caucuses. 

Trump, who for months has been the commanding front-runner in the 2024 Republican race, is gunning to take down Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s relentlessly criss-crossed Iowa this summer as he tries to shave points off of Trump’s enormous double-digit lead in the Hawkeye State.

With less than four months to go until the Iowa caucuses, the former president will hold a ‘Team Trump Caucus Commitment’ organizing event with campaign volunteers at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Maquoketa. Later, he’ll give policy remarks at the Grand River Conference Center in Dubuque in front of what his campaign estimates will be a crowd of up to 2,500 people.

Trump’s campaign also highlights that the former president will make four more trips to Iowa next month.

‘Polling shows President Trump leading by nearly 40 points, but as he always tells us, put the pedal to the metal,’ Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung emphasized in a statement. ‘We don’t play prevent defense, and his aggressive upcoming schedule reflects President Trump’s continued commitment to earning support in Iowa one voter at a time.’

The campaign’s also adding a new senior adviser in Iowa. And the former president’s getting support in the state from the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc., which this past weekend launched a more than $700,000 week-long ad buy in Iowa.

Trump’s historic four criminal indictments this year — including two for allegedly trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Biden — appear to have only strengthened his support among likely Republican primary voters.

The latest Fox News national survey in the GOP nomination race, conducted Sept. 9-12, pointed to Trump expanding his already enormous lead over the rest of the field.

But while still towering over his rivals, Trump’s lead in the latest surveys in Iowa, as well as New Hampshire and South Carolina, two other crucial early voting states in the Republican nominating calendar, is not as overwhelming.

‘It’s closer in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina than it is nationally, but it’s not close,’ said David Kochel, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns.

‘These things do break late. There’s a lot of stuff we haven’t seen or heard yet. Whether it’s Trump’s trials, which I don’t think are going to move any numbers against him. Whether it’s future debates. Whether it’s something we can’t foresee now,’ Kochel noted. ‘The door’s still open, but it’s not as wide open as it was.’

Trump’s made seven trips to Iowa so far this year, including a quick swing through the State Fair last month and an appearance earlier this month at a fraternity house in Ames before attending the annual Iowa-Iowa State college football game.

His campaign touts that they added over 2,250 signed caucus pledge cards during Trump’s most recent Iowa trip, bringing the total collected to more than 27,500. And they highlight that they’ve recruited over 1,000 precinct captains for January’s caucuses.

But Trump’s visits to the state can’t compare to frequency some of his rivals travels, such as DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

With the clock ticking towards January, Iowa based Republican strategist and presidential campaign veteran Jimmy Centers emphasized that ‘at some point the rest of the field has to make a stronger and more compelling argument as they why them. Why are we changing horses from the former president…They have to speak more directly to that point and start doing it soon.’

But Trump appears to have handed his rivals some ammunition over the combustible issue of abortion.

Trump declined to endorse a specific number of weeks after which abortion would be banned, with some exceptions, and he refused to say whether he feels the issue should settled at the state or federal levels, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press.’

‘We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it,’ Trump said. ‘And both sides are going to come together and both sides — both sides, and this is a big statement — both sides will come together…I think both sides are going to like me.’

Trump also once criticized Republicans who take too hard an abortion stance, saying ‘You’re not going to win on this issue.’

And he called the six-week abortion ban DeSantis signed into law in Florida ‘a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.’

Firing back, DeSantis said in an interview with Radio Iowa that ‘Donald Trump may think it’s terrible. I think protecting babies with heartbeats is noble and just and I’m proud to have signed the heartbeat bill in Florida and I know Iowa has similar legislation,’

‘I don’t know how you can even make the claim that you’re somehow prolife if you’re criticizing states for enacting protections for babies that have heartbeats,’ DeSantis stressed.

Scott, who to date has mostly avoided criticizing Trump, said during a campaign stop Monday in Iowa that ‘President Trump said he would negotiate with the Democrats and walk back away from what I believe we need, which is a 15-week limit on the federal level.’

Popular conservative GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa – who earlier this year signed a similar six-week ban into law – on Tuesday defended her measure, saying ‘It’s never a ‘terrible thing’ to protect innocent life.’

Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of the Family Leader, an influential faith-based organization in Iowa, took to social media to charge that the former president Donald Trump ‘has shown his true colors.’

‘The scripture states out of the heart, the mouth speaks. I think  @realDonaldTrump revealed his heart on @MeetThePress,’ Vander Plaats argued.

And he warned that Trump’s ‘let’s make a deal’ on the #SanctityofHumanLife ‘ could lead to the former president ‘losing his base’ in Iowa.

Vander Plaats, who is far from a Trump supporter, is likely to endorse one of the former president’s rivals in the coming months.

Trump took to his Truth Social network on Tuesday to defend his record, writing, ‘I was able to do something that nobody thought was possible, end Roe v. Wade.

‘Like Ronald Reagan before me, I believe in the three exceptions for Rape, Incest, and the Life of the Mother. Without the exceptions, it is very difficult to win Elections, we would probably lose the Majorities in 2024, and perhaps the Presidency itself, but you must follow your HEART!’ Trump wrote.

And he reiterated past comments that ‘In order to win in 2024, Republicans must learn how to talk about Abortion. This issue cost us unnecessarily, but dearly, in the Midterms…’

Nicole Schlinger, a veteran Iowa-based conservative operative and strategist who is well-connected with evangelical groups, told Fox News that Trump ‘was the most pro-life president in our lifetime. He gave us the justices that gave us Dobbs, and we’re grateful for that.’

But she added ‘what he does next matters and negotiating weeks of human life with Democrats does not seem like what Evangelical caucus goers wanted when they asked for those justices.’

‘It remains to be seen but this could be one of those moments where we say the tide turned,’ Schlinger predicted. ‘I think it could and it should motivate Evangelical caucus goers to take a second look. I think the door’s open for another candidate, but it’s up to someone to walk through it.’

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A Virginia Democratic congresswoman has deleted a post supporting House of Delegates candidate Susanna Gibson following an online sex act scandal in what some on social media are calling an attempted ‘clean up.’

‘Fantastic night supporting @SusannaSGibson with @SCVanValkenburg and @SenatorHashimi as we prepare for the start of early voting in Virginia THIS month,’ Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger posted on social media on Sept. 8. 

‘These Virginians truly care about getting things done for their communities, protecting our rights, and growing our economy.’

As of Tuesday, that post was deleted from Spanberger’s social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Days after Spanberger’s post, Gibson found herself at the center of a scandal after a Washington Post report revealed that she had streamed online sex acts with her husband while soliciting her followers for ‘tips’ that would go ‘to a good cause.’

Some on social media described Spanberger’s deleted tweet as an attempt to scrub Democratic support of her campaign from the internet. 

‘Virginia Dem Rep. Abigail Spanberger has DELETED her tweet where she said she had a ‘fantastic night supporting’ Dem candidate Susanna Gibson who talked about forcing unsuspecting hotel staff to take part in her porn & solicited payments on publicly live-streamed videos so users could ‘watch me pee,’’ conservative strategist and former Sen. Ted Cruz spokesperson Steve Guest posted online.

Guest also posted that it appears a Virginia newspaper has scrubbed a Gibson op-ed from its website.

Spanberger’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Some on the left, including one of the most prominent Democrats in the Virginia state Senate, have stood by Gibson.

Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas called on her followers to donate to Gibson’s campaign after the controversy and ‘make this the biggest fundraising day’ of her campaign.

Gibson, a 40-year-old mother of two who works as a nurse practitioner, has remained defiant amid the pushback from the scandal and described the discovery of the online posts as ‘an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me and my family.’

‘It won’t intimidate me, and it won’t silence me,’ Gibson added. ‘My political opponents and their Republican allies have proven they’re willing to commit a sex crime to attack me and my family because there’s no line they won’t cross to silence women when they speak up.’

The Biden administration is pushing back against a demand by a conservative legal group that it reveals information about the illegal immigrants being considered for arrest and deportation, including their terror, cartel and gang affiliations — arguing that, among other concerns, it could violate their privacy rights.

America First Legal in 2021 filed a Freedom of Information Act request for weekly reports of proposed enforcement actions submitted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to headquarters before they could arrest or deport those illegal immigrants. 

This approval process took effect with the implementation of new guidance from DHS which narrowed ICE priorities to focusing on recent border crossers, public safety threats and national security threats. Information in those weekly reports includes names, addresses, visa information, and any gang, cartel or terror affiliations.

In its document production to AFL, DHS significantly redacted much of the personal identifying information. AFL has challenged this in a U.S. District Court, and DHS is in turn seeking to have that denied.

‘ICE compiled the Spreadsheet Report for law enforcement purposes, and disclosure of noncitizens’ names, court case numbers, A-numbers and other identifying numbers, dates of birth, residential addresses, gang, cartel, and terrorist group affiliations, and monikers would seriously invade personal privacy without serving the public interest in understanding ICE’s operations,’ the agency argued in an August court filing.

‘ICE properly withheld gang, cartel, and terrorist group affiliations of noncitizens under Exemption 7(C), because disclosure would invade noncitizens’ personal privacy without any countervailing public interest,’ it said addressing the affiliations specifically.

Separately, it argued that the disclosures overall would ‘disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations and would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations that could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law.’

But in a court filing on Friday, AFL pushed back against those arguments, saying ICE had not identified any such law enforcement technique that would be implicated, and arguing that the records were created for political, not law enforcement, purposes. It also argued that the public’s right to know about the potential gang ties of those in the approval process outweighed any privacy rights of the immigrants involved.

‘The Court should reject the notion that cartel and gang members have any privacy interest in hiding their identity under FOIA, and thus no balancing is required. But even if the Court proceeds to balancing, the Plaintiff should prevail because the interests of a cartel member to be free from harassment cannot outweigh the American public’s right to know about matters of public safety,’ the filing says.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, AFL Vice President and General Counsel Gene Hamilton said that the American people ‘have every right to know the criminal history or gang affiliations of illegal aliens in the United States.’ 

‘The simple fact is that every single crime they commit is a crime that wouldn’t have happened if our immigration laws were enforced, and the privacy interests of a cartel member or a gang member can never outweigh the need of the American people to know what is happening in their own country,’ he said.

The administration has faced significant legal challenges over its ICE enforcement, with the Supreme Court ultimately deciding in the administration’s favor this year over a major case challenging the guidelines after states challenged it on the basis that it had led to a sharp drop in deportations. DHS said it does not comment on pending litigation.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said when the case was decided that the guidelines have been ‘effectively applied by [ICE] officers to focus limited resources and enforcement actions on those who pose a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security.’ 

‘The Guidelines enable DHS to most effectively accomplish its law enforcement mission with the authorities and resources provided by Congress,’ he said.

The lawsuit by AFL marks the latest battle that conservative groups and Republicans in Congress and at the state level have launched in order to receive more information from the administration about issues such as the ongoing crisis at the southern border and the enforcement policies of the administration. Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday that 25 governors have urged President Biden to provide more data and information on migrant releases into the interior, as well as numbers on deportations and asylum claims. DHS officials have previously rejected accusations of a lack of transparency, pointing to responses to over 1,400 letters and dozens of witnesses across multiple congressional hearings, including over 8,000 pages of documents. 

But Matt O’Brien, director of investigations at the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), told Fox News Digital that his organization has been facing similar issues that AFL has faced in getting information, and said it coincided with the administration’s policies becoming more known to the public.

‘They have been increasingly resistant to releasing any kind of information. We’ve asked them for policy documents, which should be a matter of public record in a lot of instances, and they’ve never been published the way they should have, and they won’t release them on FOIA requests. So this has been an ongoing problem, and it’s really not the way the government of the United States is supposed to work.’

Former ICE Director Thomas Homan, who served under multiple administrations and is now a senior fellow at IRLI, told Fox News Digital that he believes that data is being withheld for political reasons.,

‘I truly believe as a guy who used to be the director of ICE, the guy who has been with ICE most of my career, that this administration has personally been nontransparent because of data that’s going to embarrass this administration,’ he said. ‘It’s going to show that they’re not enforcing the law the way they should be enforcing the law. And the number of arrests of criminal aliens is way below prior years. So this is their way of using a privacy declaration as a way to hide their failure.’