Special Counsel Jack Smith proposed to begin former President Donald Trump’s trial in January 2024 for the charges he’s facing in relation to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

‘The Government proposes that trial begin on January 2, 2024, and estimates that its case in chief will take no longer than four to six weeks,’ the filing on Thursday states.

Trump faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Five Democratic state lawmakers have defected to the Republican Party so far in 2023, part of a growing trend experts say is caused by red states becoming redder and blue states becoming bluer.

Ten state lawmakers switched parties in 2023, and six of them switched between major parties, Politico reported. Out of those six defectors from major parties, five switched from Democrat to Republican.

Just two state lawmakers changed political affiliation in all of 2022.

‘In recent decades, the red states have become redder, the blue states bluer and the number of swing states has fallen dramatically,’ William Galston, senior fellow of governance studies at the Brookings Institute, told Politico. ‘When this happens, the minority parties lose power in the legislature and the advantages of being in the majority increase.’

Overall, 173 state lawmakers have switched parties since 1994, and 83 of them were Democrats who switched to the GOP. Just 23 switched to the Democratic Party from the Republican Party.

One of the Democrats who became a Republican this year, West Virginia lawmaker Elliott Pritt, said being a Democrat in a deep red state prevented him from getting anything done.

‘Even if I were to run again and win, I would look at another term of never getting another bill passed, never getting anything done,’ Pritt told Politico. ‘For the time I’m going to be there, I’m not going to sit there and be a lame duck and not get anything.’

West Virginia’s governor, Jim Justice, switched from Democrat to Republican in 2017, and many believe more lawmakers in the state are going to continue defecting to the GOP.

‘In states like ours it’s becoming harder and harder to be a conservative Democrat,’ West Virginia Democratic lawmaker Doug Skaff told Politico. ‘It’s really frustrating. You work really hard to do what’s right and, at the end of the day, you’re in the superminority.’

In North Carolina, party switching had significant consequences after Rep. Tricia Cotham left the Democratic Party in April, giving Republicans the two-thirds majority they needed to overpower a veto from the state’s Democratic governor.

‘The modern-day Democratic Party has become unrecognizable to me and to so many others throughout this state and this country,’ Cotham said at a press conference.

A similar situation occurred in Louisiana this year when state Rep. Francis Thompson switched from Democrat to Republican and gave the GOP the power to override a veto from the state’s Democratic governor.

In July, Democrat Mesha Mainor sparked an uproar within her party after announcing that she would be switching to the GOP.

‘When I decided to stand up on behalf of disadvantaged children in support of school choice, my Democrat colleagues didn’t stand by me,’ Mainor told Fox News Digital. ‘They crucified me. When I decided to stand up in support of safe communities and refused to support efforts to defund the police, they didn’t back me. They abandoned me.’

Republicans online torched President Biden’s $6 billion deal to free American hostages from the Iranian regime.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Biden had negotiated the release of five American hostages from Iran in exchange for a handful of Iranian nationals serving prison sentences for violating sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Sources told the paper that the U.S. also agreed to unfreeze nearly $6 billion of Iran’s assets in South Korea, transferring the funds into an account in the central bank of Qatar.

Republicans blasted the deal online, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Iran ‘shouldn’t profit from holding Americans hostage.’

‘Releasing $6 billion to the butchers in Tehran just so American hostages can go to a different type of prison is a terrible deal,’ Pompeo wrote. ‘Iran shouldn’t profit from holding Americans hostage.’

‘While I welcome home wrongfully detained Americans, unfreezing $6B in [Iranian] assets dangerously further incentivizes hostage taking [and] provides a windfall for regime aggression,’ Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho, tweeted.

‘The Biden Admin must punish those who use Americans as political pawns and work to end this practice,’ he added.

‘The U.S. government should NEVER negotiate with terrorists, let alone fund them,’ New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney tweeted.

‘Now, the Biden administration is giving the Iranian mullahs $6 billion to finance terrorism and oppression of the Iranian people,’ she added.

‘Just when the American people thought Biden’s foreign policy couldn’t get any more disastrous, after his failed Afghanistan withdrawal, he kowtows to Iran,’ Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Republican, wrote. ‘The American people deserve better.’

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the criticism.

The American prisoners include Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz, who the U.S. government says had all beenwrongfully detained on bogus spying charges. The names of the other two were being withheld by their families, but one is said to be a scientist, the other a businessman.

‘We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest,’ National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. ‘While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens – Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private – should have never been detained in the first place.’

‘We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible. Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States,’ the statement added. ‘Until that time, negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom.’ 

‘We are relieved to learn that Iranian authorities have released five U.S. citizens — Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi, and two individuals who at this time wish to remain private — from prison to house arrest,’ State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also said in a statement. ‘We are in touch with the families of U.S. citizens involved, and we continue to monitor these individuals’ health and welfare closely. While we welcome the news of these individuals’ release from prison to house arrest, they should never have been imprisoned in the first place. We continue to work diligently to bring these individuals home to their loved ones. They must be allowed to depart Iran and reunite with their loved ones as soon as possible.’

When asked when the American hostages might be released, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News, ‘We expect this process to take weeks before they return home to U.S.’

According to the Times, Namazi, Sharghi, Tahbaz and a fourth American were transferred from the notorious Evin Prison to a hotel in the Iranian capital of Tehran, where they will be detained for another few weeks before being allowed to board a plane. 

The fifth person, an American woman with dual Iranian citizenship, is said to already have been released on house arrest earlier this year, the Times reported.

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed reporting.

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is renewing its demand for him to receive Secret Service protection following the FBI’s killing of a Utah man who allegedly threatened President Biden, as well as the Wednesday assassination of a presidential candidate in Ecuador.

‘The killing of Mr. [Fernando] Villavicencio proves how volatile the political climate has become,’ campaign manager Dennis Kucinich said in a statement. ‘Yesterday the FBI confronted a man who had threatened President Biden, an incident that led to the man being shot dead by government agents.’

‘Mr. Kennedy has met all criteria for protection. The only conceivable reason he is being denied is because of a conscious decision by the White House to deny him security and damn the consequences,’ he added.

Craig Deleeuw Robertson, a 74-year-old woodworker, was shot and killed during an FBI raid in Provo, Utah, on Wednesday after allegedly making death threats against Biden and other high-profile Democrats.

‘I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghille suit and cleaning the dust off the m24 sniper rifle. welcom, buffoon-in-chief!’ Robertson wrote in a Facebook post just days before Biden visited the state.

A law enforcement source told Fox News Digital that Robertson was holding a weapon. After a standoff, agents opened fire, killing him around 6:14 a.m., Fox News reported Wednesday.

On the same day, Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed in an armed attack at a campaign rally in the capital, Quito, according to the country’s president, Guillermo Lasso, and local media reports.

According to the local reports, Villavicencio, a former lawmaker who had been polling at 7.5%, was shot while leaving the event. Ecuador’s attorney general’s office later reported that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the assassination, and police detained six other people.

According to Kennedy’s campaign, the candidate first filed for Secret Service protection ‘months ago,’ but was denied by the Biden administration last month. 

Kennedy noted the denial on social media, claiming it went against the norms of providing candidates Secret Service protection and citing a 67-page report from ‘the world’s leading protection firm’ that he said detailed ‘unique and well established security and safety risks aside from commonplace death threats’ and justified his need for protection.

Kennedy’s father, the late former Democratic New York senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, the late former President John F. Kennedy, were both assassinated in the 1960s.

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

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz, Adam Sabes and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

President Biden admitted Thursday that Democrats’ signature Inflation Reduction Act wasn’t as much about actually reducing the then-record-high inflation facing the nation as he originally touted to the American people.

‘I wish I hadn’t called it that. It has less to do with inflation than it does providing alternatives to economic growth,’ Biden said during an appearance at a campaign fundraiser in Pary City, Utah.

‘Even when there is inflation there is a way to provide breathing room,’ he added, citing negotiating medical prices as one example.

Biden’s comments are a sharp turn from what he said in July 2022 ahead of the Inflation Reduction Act’s passage through Congress on a party line vote.

‘The Inflation Reduction Act is the strongest bill you can pass. It will lower inflation, cut the deficit, reduce health care costs, tackle the climate crisis, and promote energy security,’ he said.

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

At the time, as the country faced an inflation rate near the highest level in 40 years, multiple analyzes said the bill would not reduce inflation. The Congressional Budget Office said the bill will have ‘a negligible effect’ on inflation in 2022, and in 2023 its impact would range between reducing inflation by 0.1% and increasing it by 0.1%.

Fox News’ Kaitlin Sprague and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

The Texas Department of Public Safety this week caught a confirmed MS-13 gang member with a violent criminal history, including kidnapping and sexual violence, in the latest example of criminals attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.

Emerson Lopez Fugon, an MS-13 gang member from Honduras, was arrested by Texas DPS Rangers Special Operations after he was found hiding on a train near Eagle Pass, Texas.

Fugon is a registered sex offender.

MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, was established in Los Angeles by Central American immigrants and has expanded across the continent, particularly in Northern Triangle countries like El Salvador and Guatemala. 

It is known for its particularly horrific and gruesome crimes, and its motto is said to be ‘mata, viola, controls,’ which means ‘kill, rape, control.’

It’s the latest capture by Texas as part of Operation Lone Star, an effort launched by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 to boost resources and law enforcement at the border in response to the ongoing migrant crisis.

‘If not for @TxDPS & Gov. @GregAbbott_TX’s Operation Lone Star, Lopez Fugon, a confirmed MS-13 gang member w/ a violent criminal history, would have made it further into the interior,’ Texas DPS spokesperson Chris Olivarez said in a statement. 

‘It’s the men & women who proudly wear the Texas Tan that are on the front lines arresting criminals & protecting our state & country.’

It’s the latest threat identified at the southern border as law enforcement and Border Patrol tackle the thousands of migrants coming to the U.S. each day.

Fox News obtained images this week that showed suspected cartel gunmen coming across the border, clad in body armor and toting rifles.

That came after DPS drone operators in Eagle Pass spotted an armed smuggler carrying a long gun and guiding a group of illegal immigrants across the Rio Grande.

Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced this week that six sex offenders were nabbed by Border Patrol over the weekend, along with one gang member and one convicted felon.

‘All had extensive criminal histories as repeat offenders,’ he said.

FIRST ON FOX: Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he didn’t think it was ‘necessary’ to appear at a hearing Thursday regarding new charges related to classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. 

Asked during a round of golf at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club why he chose to waive the court appearance, Trump responded, ‘I didn’t feel it was necessary.’

The comments from Trump came as he entered a not guilty plea to the new charges.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard formally accepted the plea from Trump, who told the judge in court papers last week he is not guilty and waived his right to appear at Thursday’s hearing. Trump’s aide Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of Mar-a-Lago, were both present for the hearing.

Nauta also pleaded not guilty to the superseding indictment. De Oliveira was unable to enter a plea in the case because he still has not secured a Florida-based attorney, which is required under local court rules. His arraignment was pushed back a second time and is now scheduled for Tuesday.

De Oliveira and Nauta appeared in federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, on an updated indictment brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, alleging they schemed with the Republican former president and current 2024 GOP front-runner to try to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance video sought by investigators.

Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira face charges that include conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case stemming from secret government documents found at Trump’s Palm Beach club after he left the White House in 2021. 

De Oliveira made his first court appearance in the case last week when he was released on $100,000 bond but could not be arraigned without retaining a Florida lawyer. Nauta’s arraignment had also been delayed several times due to similar circumstances.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in three different cases this year as he tries to reclaim the White House in 2024. The Republican has denied any wrongdoing and has characterized all the cases against him as politically motivated.

Trump pleaded not guilty in Washington, D.C., federal court last week in a second case brought by Smith that accuses Trump of conspiring with allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The updated indictment in the documents case raises allegations about surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Trump is alleged to have asked for the footage to be deleted after FBI and Justice Department investigators visited in June 2022 to collect classified documents he took with him after leaving the White House.

The former president and his team deny the new allegations and have publicly stated that the footage was turned over to authorities.

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden on Thursday is expected to ask Congress for billions of dollars of additional funding for Ukraine’s defense, a move that will lead to drama in the fall given heavy GOP opposition to the unchecked war funding seen under Biden over the last 18 months.

‘It’s definitely a very big point of contention,’ a senior House GOP aide told Fox News Digital.

While there’s broad support for supplemental Ukraine aid in the Senate, it will be an uphill battle in the House, where Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., promised his narrow majority that he would not bring a supplemental Ukraine funding bill to the floor. Many conservatives, still bristling from McCarthy’s debt limit deal with President Biden, have been vocally opposed to giving Kyiv more money without more accountability.

‘He can go with Democrats, but then the speaker puts himself in a tough spot if he chooses to do that,’ the aide said.

Last month, 70 House Republicans voted for an amendment in the annual defense bill that would cut off all funding to Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a Russian invasion for a year and a half.

The senior aide said they expect the supplemental request to be tied to a request for U.S. disaster relief funding, which could draw out some hesitant GOP votes. They also anticipated the likely funding for Ukraine to be between $13 billion and $18 billion, a smaller sum compared to the roughly $43 billion given by the U.S. so far. The White House did not respond to an inquiry confirming those details on Wednesday.

‘It won’t be $40 billion [in total]. If it is, I think that that is definitely [dead on arrival]. But they might be able to squeak through to a smaller one,’ the senior GOP aide said.

But wary conservatives who have wielded outsized power in the House GOP conference are already coming out against the expected announcement.

‘We can’t continue shoveling money out the door to support this conflict with no accountability or transparency,’ Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital. ‘There are no strings attached and no plans to even define what victory looks like. Americans have had enough of Washington running headlong into endless wars.’

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., accused Biden of having misaligned priorities and indicated he would not support additional funding.

‘Americans are struggling under ‘Bidenomics,’ watching a border invasion bring crime … and witnessing a corrupt two-tiered justice system, and this President wants billions more [funds] for Ukraine. Put Americans first,’ Good said in a statement online.

A second House GOP aide told Fox News Digital, ‘I don’t think there’s a lot of appetite for additional Ukraine funding right now.’

Even Republicans who have supported Ukraine aid in the past are cautious. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday night, ‘I want the details of any supplemental funding request before I make a decision … Ukraine’s independence is in our national security interest, and I want to do what we feasibly can do, but I have no idea what the president is requesting.’

The House returns from its six-week August recess on Sept. 12, at which point McCarthy will have less than a month to pass the remaining 11 of his 12 promised spending bills before Sept. 30. If Congress fails to act on spending before the fiscal year ends, the government could risk a partial shutdown.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters this week that attaching supplemental Ukraine aide to a continuing resolution for federal spending is a possibility.

A continuing resolution would simply extend the current spending priorities for a certain amount of time. Republicans across the spectrum have opposed that option, calling it an extension of the Democrat policies of the last Congress.

‘I think people were mad enough at him about the deal that he cut with the White House on the spending,’ the senior GOP aide said of McCarthy. ‘Like, those conference meetings were intense after that – on both sides, you had the folks that were supportive of McCarthy angry at the people that weren’t and vice versa. I think it just gets worse if he decides to wrap it up into a [continuing resolution].’

‘The only way that happens and it’s not DOA is if McCarthy is like, ‘Look, I’m just going to pass it with Dems. And then I think you have a motion to vacate the chair pretty quick, personally,’ they said, referring to the option of calling up a vote to kick McCarthy out of the job and find a new speaker.

Fox News Digital reached out to McCarthy’s office for his reaction to Biden’s expected request but did not hear back.

President Biden and top administration officials touted actions this week that they argued protect tribal interests, just months after moving to block oil drilling that sustains Native American communities.

On Tuesday, Biden designated the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, blocking off a million acres of public lands for a wide range of uses. The president, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack attended a ceremony later in the day where they remarked the action protects Native American culture.

‘I made a commitment as president to prioritize respect for the tribal sovereignty and self-determination, to honor the solemn promises the United States made to tribal nations to fulfill federal trust and treaty obligations,’ Biden remarked. 

‘I’ve pledged to keep using all that available authority to protect sacred tribal lands,’ he continued. ‘My administration has worked alongside tribal leaders, including many of you who are here today, to keep that promise.’

Biden also argued that establishing the Grand Canyon as a national park years ago was a means to ensure Native Americans were denied access to their own land.  

Haaland added that the move to designate the lands as a national monument demonstrates the importance of ‘recognizing the original stewards of our public land.’

‘Feeling seen means being appreciated for who we are — the original stewards of our shared lands and waters. It means investing in our people and recognizing the power of Indigenous Knowledge as a key part of collaborative conservation,’ she posted on X following the ceremony. 

‘And it means making sure that Indigenous wisdom and perspective informs our decisions, so that together we will usher in a future that our grandchildren deserve to inherit.’

However, in early June, Haaland finalized a ban on fossil fuel leasing within 10 miles of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park located near San Juan County, New Mexico. While she said the move would protect the sacred and culturally significant site, leaders of the nearby Navajo Nation argued it will wreak economic devastation on tribal members who rely on leasing the land for income.

Navajo leaders also warned that the federal government failed to properly consult them on the action. They said Haaland never seriously considered their compromise solution and potentially neglected her legal duty to protect rights of Navajo allottees.

‘I really am emotionally distraught for our constituents that have been impacted by this,’ Brenda Jesus, who chairs Navajo Nation Council’s Resources & Development Committee, told Fox News Digital at the time. ‘The proper government-to-government tribal consultation has never really taken place at all. We’re just really advocating on behalf of our constituents. That wasn’t really considered – tribal sovereignty.’

And Buu Nygren, the president of the Navajo Nation, a federally recognized tribe in the U.S. southwest, said days later that the Navajo Justice Department was considering pursuing litigation against the federal government in response to the move. He lamented the impact it would have on low-income Navajo citizens who depend on revenue from leasing their allotments within ten miles of Chaco Canyon.

Overall, there are currently 53 Indian allotments located in the 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Canyon, generating $6.2 million per year in royalties for an estimated 5,462 allottees, according to Navajo Nation data. In addition, there are 418 unleased allotments in the zone that are associated with 16,615 allottees. 

According to the Western Energy Alliance, an industry group that represents oil and gas producers in the area, Navajo members will lose an estimated $194 million as a result of Haaland’s actions.

The allotments date back to the 1900s, when the federal government awarded them to Navajo citizens as a consolation when the tribe’s territory was downsized.

‘To totally disregard those local communities — it’s unfair,’ Nygren told Fox News Digital. ‘There’s no need to celebrate putting people into poverty, to celebrate undermining the Navajo Nation’s sovereignty, undermining everything that comes into working with tribes, in this case, Navajo Nation.’

In addition, other tribes dependent on oil, gas and coal production have taken aim at the Biden administration for its policies targeting fossil fuel production broadly.

Roughly 20% of the nation’s total oil and natural gas reserves, 30% of domestic coal reserves west of the Mississippi River and additional natural minerals — altogether worth about $1.5 trillion — are on Native American lands, according to a study from think tank Property and Environment Research Center. Still, the vast majority of those resources remain undeveloped.

‘Air, water and energy are so foundational to our economy. I believe in the right that all property owners have to develop what belongs to them in any way that they want,’ Daniel Cardenas, the chairman of the National Tribal Energy Association and a member of the Pit River Tribe, previously told Fox News Digital. ‘That’s why it’s important to fight for. To make sure it doesn’t get taken away.’

‘A war on coal is a war on Crow,’ added Conrad Stewart, the director of energy and water for the Crow Nation of Montana.

A Wisconsin socialist Democrat former lawmaker said that police officers ‘have neither dignity nor value’ in recent Facebook comments.

Wisconsin Democrat former state Rep. Ryan Clancy, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and now a Milwaukee supervisor, went after police in the Facebook comments section responding to a user.

‘All work had dignity and value, Lis Marie* Even trolling (sic),’ Clancy said ‘What is it that you do?’

‘*Not cops, though,’ he added.

‘So for the record you just state a Police Officer’s job has NO VALUE OR DIGNITY,’ the user replied. ‘Just want you to verify that before I pass that along to some who might enjoy hearing it.’

Clancy said the user was ‘entirely correct’ and that police officers ‘may be perfectly fine individuals, but their jobs have neither dignity nor value.’

‘I’m not sure how you’ve been obsessed about my social media for as long as you have and seem surprised by this,’ Clancy wrote. ‘[And] once more, what is it you do again? Or is trolling your full-time volunteer position?’

Clancy was arrested in 2020 during the George Floyd riots and filed a suit with the Milwaukee circuit court about the charges, claiming police brutality.

‘That’s not how quotation marks work. I did not attack individual police officers as having neither dignity nor value,’ Clancy told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

‘Policing as an institution, as a legacy of ‘slave catching’ and union busting, has neither dignity nor value,’ he continued. ‘It is inherently racist, classist and cannot be reformed.’

The comments come as crime in the U.S. continues to rise.

A teenage girl was arrested on assault charges after footage of her attack on a Nevada family riding the New York City subway while on vacation went viral last week, police said.

The 16-year-old, whom the New York Police Department has not named due to her age, turned herself in around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday to the 6th Precinct in Manhattan, close to the scene of Thursday’s West 4th Street station beatdown.

The teen was charged with two felony counts of assault, the NYPD told Fox News Digital. 

Video captured the teen battering 51-year-old Sue Young in front of her husband and 11-year-old twin daughters and hurling racial epithets at the unsuspecting Asian tourists, according to PIX 11. 

Fox News Digital Christina Coulter’s contributed reporting.