Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said that if the U.S. can finance trillion-dollar wars, it can fund reparations. But Bush’s astronomical $14 trillion reparations proposal would cost nearly seven times that of the Afghanistan war.

The Missouri Democrat introduced her reparations proposal this week to compensate for what she believes are racist government policies that created a wealth gap between White and Black people. 

During a press conference on Wednesday, the ‘Squad’ member said the U.S. has ‘a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans’ to atone for the harm it caused. 

‘Black people in our country cannot wait any longer for our government to begin addressing… all of the harm it has caused since the founding, that it continues to perpetuate each and every day all across our communities, all across this country,’ Bush said during the press conference.

‘Let us speak this truth, uncomfortable as it may be: Our country was not founded on the principle that all people are created equal,’ she continued. ‘It was founded at the expense of the lives, freedom and well-being of Black people, African folks who they stole.’

When a Fox News Digital reporter asked where the federal money would come from for the massive proposal, Bush said they were still hashing out the details. She added that if the country can finance costly wars, it can generate money for reparations.

‘We’re still having those kinds of conversations,’ Bush said. ‘We’re working with this administration, we’re talking with other members of Congress… but I’ll say this, if we can continue to fund these endless wars, or we can continue to put trillions of dollars into forever wars… we’re talking about things that are happening now.’ 

Bush’s proposal would carry a price tag equivalent to almost seven times that of the Afghanistan war. The 20-year war is estimated to have cost the U.S. around $2.3 trillion, according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project. 

Bush’s federal proposal follows a growing push for reparations in several cities, most notably in San Francisco. In 2021, a coalition of progressive city leaders banded together to form Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity (MORE) to provide the federal government with a blueprint for implementing a national program, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

‘Our coalition stands on the belief that cities can — and should — act as laboratories for bold ideas that can be transformative for racial and economic justice on a larger scale, and demonstrate for the country how to pursue and improve initiatives that take a reparatory approach to confronting and dismantling structural and institutional racism,’ the group said of its mission.

MORE has included several heavy-hitting Democratic mayors who have put into motion or implemented reparations pilot programs in their cities, such as former Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Jorge Elorza; St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones; Sacramento, California, Mayor Darrell Steinberg; and former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. 

The White House has refused to say whether President Biden supports reparations for slavery and instead said it is ‘going to leave it there for Congress to decide.’

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

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Michigan’s revenue will be nearly $900 million less this year than forecasted in January due to new tax cuts, state officials said Friday, leaving lawmakers with less money to spend as they work toward the state’s next budget.

The new projections, released Friday at a revenue estimating conference, show that the state’s revenue will be an estimated $883 million lower this year and $1.8 billion lower than previously forecasted next fiscal year.

State Treasurer Rachel Eubanks reiterated that the state’s economy ‘continues to perform really well,’ and that the loss in revenue was as a result of intentional policy changes.

‘We’re projecting revenue growth in the coming years, even with the responsible tax relief, due to our strong economic position, thriving businesses and low unemployment,’ Eubanks told reporters after the new estimates were released.

Even with the slight dip, the state is still flush with cash. State Budget Director Chris Harkins said the state will go into the next fiscal year that begins in October with a surplus of an estimated $7.5 billion.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed a budget earlier this year totaling $79 billion, which would be the state’s highest ever, if approved. Haskins cautioned that it would need to be ‘reduced slightly’ due to the new projections.

Last week, the Michigan House passed a $80 billion budget before the Senate approved its own $79 billion budget. The two chambers will have until July 1 — a self-imposed deadline — to reach an agreement on a final budget.

Democrats will need to garner Republican support for the budget to take effect by the end of the fiscal year in October, even with a two-seat majority in both chambers. Immediate effect requires a two-thirds vote of approval in the state Senate.

An income tax rate reduction triggered earlier this year by high revenues will cost the state an estimated $647 million in revenue the next two years.

Another $600 million in revenue loss annually will come from corporate economic development efforts, with $500 million being sent to the state’s Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund.

The fund has been used to land major economic development project — including a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. plant announced this spring — by offering tax incentive packages.

The new tax policies are expected to continue affecting Michigan’s revenue in the years to come. Whitmer and the Legislature approved in March a significant increase of the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit from 6% to a 30% match of the federal rate, which will cost the state $1.15 billion the next two years.

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The U.S. Border Patrol has agreed in a legal settlement to not set up interior checkpoints in a northern New Hampshire town just under 100 miles from the Canadian border before Jan. 1, 2025.

The agreement announced Friday settled a 2020 lawsuit over the use of the checkpoints in Woodstock, where the American Civil Liberties Union claimed that border agents conducted illegal searches and seizures that led to the arrest of American citizens for violating state drug laws that had nothing to do with immigration.

‘Border Patrol’s interior checkpoint operations are unlawful and invasive, and this settlement means the people of northern New England will continue to be free from these unconstitutional searches and seizures in Woodstock until January 1, 2025,’ Gilles Bissonnette, the legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, said in a news release.

The lawsuit arose from a 2017 case in which 16 people were stopped at a checkpoint on Interstate 93 during a three-day operation that was staffed by Border Patrol officers and local police. They were charged by the state with possession of small amounts of drugs.

In the original complaint, the ACLU said that during the operation in late August 2017 no individual was charged with having unlawfully crossed the border from Canada.

Two of the people apprehended at the Woodstock checkpoint sued. One of them, Jesse Drewniak, a U.S. citizen from Hudson, was returning home from a fishing trip in the White Mountains when he was arrested on a minor drug charge.

A state judge concluded that the primary purpose of the checkpoint was the detection and seizure of drugs, making it ‘unconstitutional under both state and federal law.’ Prosecutors later dismissed the charges.

The settlement announced Friday only applies to Border Patrol checkpoints in Woodstock, said Stephanie Gomory of the Vermont ACLU.

‘The ACLU of Vermont — along with our colleagues in New Hampshire and Maine — will be ready to challenge Border Patrol should they resume these unconstitutional practices in the future,’ she said in an email.

In a statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said both sides in the lawsuit reached a ‘mutually beneficial resolution.’

The Border Patrol ‘remains committed to efficiently and effectively utilizing its resources to halt the entry of potential threats into the United States,’ the statement said.

Under federal law, the Border Patrol can enforce immigration laws within 100 miles of the country’s borders. Over the years the agency has set up similar checkpoints in the three northern New England states, but it hasn’t done so since 2019, the ACLU said.

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U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., will spend a whopping $6 million on commercial ads in key presidential primary states, despite not yet officially entering the race, a senior official on his team said Friday.

Scott will spend an initial $5.5 million to run television ads statewide in Iowa and New Hampshire through the first GOP presidential debate, the official told Fox News Digital. The sizable purchase includes broadcast TV, cable, satellite and radio.

The figure would be the largest purchase of any 2024 Republican presidential candidate to date.

Additionally, Scott will launch a seven-figure digital ad campaign through that period, the official said.

Scott has not yet joined the 2024 Republican primary, although he is expected to do so next week. He launched an exploratory committee for a potential bid in April when he said he would ‘never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional.’

The ad buy comes just ahead of a ‘special announcement’ Scott is scheduled to make at Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday, May 22.

The South Carolina school is Scott’s alma mater.

Despite not yet joining the race, Scott spent time in both Iowa and New Hampshire earlier this month.

The South Carolina senator hosted a town hall in Waukee, a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, on May 6. That same week, he also headlined a town hall at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire.

Scott has also held campaign-style events in South Carolina, which holds the third contest in the Republican presidential primary schedule.

‘I see that America is starving for positive, optimistic leadership,’ Scott told CBS News in April.

He also said he intends to be a unifying candidate who is focused on solutions more ‘than anything else.’ Scott added that he hopes to share the story of his own humble upbringing, which he says represents the importance of the American Dream.

‘I want to provide that alternative not to any specific candidate, but for the American people,’ Scott told the outlet. ‘The difference between me and others, I believe, is that my focus is on the fact that I used to be a kid who didn’t see a future. I used to be a kid that was angry about the cards that I was dealt. I was blessed by a mother who never surrendered. I was blessed by a mentor who always loved and supported my ideal self. And it’s because of those two individuals that I now have greater faith in the future for others.’

He continued: ‘And I see my responsibility of sharing the good news of who we can be because we have been. If we can unite this country around the solutions, focusing more on those solutions than anything else, it’s my only path forward, and it’s the one I’ve chosen.’

The South Carolina senator is also a ferocious fundraiser, who would enter the race with roughly $22 million in his campaign coffer – something that could make him stand out in a growing field of Republican candidates.

Several Republicans have already launched bids to be their party’s nominee, including frontrunner and former President Donald Trump, who announced his intention to seek the presidency for a third time immediately after the November elections last year.

Former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who shares allies and donors with Scott, has also already launched a 2024 presidential campaign.

Larry Elder, who challenged Gavin Newsom for the California governorship, also joined the race earlier this month, as well as former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence have not yet officially joined the race, but they are expected to do so.

On the Democratic side, President Biden officially announced his re-election campaign and has said he intends to keep Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate.

He is being challenged by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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Generative artificial intelligence systems are already making it easier for scammers to con elderly Americans out of their money, and several senators are asking the Biden administration to step in and protect people from this quickly emerging threat.

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., the top Republican on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, spearheaded a bipartisan letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday that asks for an update on what the agency knows about AI-drive scams against the elderly and what it is doing to protect people. The letter, signed by every member of the Senate committee from both parties, asks about AI-powered technology that can be used to replicate people’s voices.

The letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan warned that voice clones and chatbots are allowing scammers to trick the elderly into making them believe they are talking to a relative or close friend, which leaves them vulnerable to theft.

‘In one case, a scammer used this approach to convince an older couple that the scammer was their grandson in desperate need of money to make bail, and the couple almost lost $9,400 before a bank official alerted them to the potential fraud,’ the Senate letter said. ‘Similarly, in Arizona, a scammer posing as a kidnapper used voice-cloning technology to duplicate the sounds of a mother’s crying daughter and demand ransom.’

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Braun said ‘imposter’ scams lead to about $2.6 billion in losses every year, and he said the elderly are particularly at risk now that scammers have access to voice-clone technology.

‘We’re getting calls into our constituent services line back in Indiana already where this is coming in and happening to some extent,’ Braun said. He added that imposter scams can be done without using a fake voice but warned that ‘AI makes it even easier because it’s like talking to your grandkid.’

Braun’s staff said they have also heard a complaint about a scam that used a voice that sounded like movie and pop star Jennifer Lopez. Braun recalled a Senate hearing this week in which Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., opened the hearing on AI with an AI-generated voice that sounded like him, reading off an AI-generated script, and said scammers have access to these same tools.

‘When you can replicate a voice to the extent I couldn’t tell if that was Sen. Blumenthal or a replication – it sounded exactly like him – just imagine,’ Braun said. ‘That is a tool that the scammers never had.’

The FTC has made it clear it will use its authority to protect consumers from AI to the extent it can as Washington policymakers look to expand their regulatory oversight of this new technology. The Senate letter to the agency suggested that the FTC update its ‘educational and awareness’ materials to help seniors understand that scammers may be looking to fleece them out of their money using AI-generated voices.

Braun said FTC efforts to create these sorts of public service messages is a good start, adding that the Senate Special Committee on Aging maintains a hotline on scams against the elderly that he expects to soon start hearing complaints about voice-clone technology. He said the reports collected by the committee could feed into legislative efforts.

Braun predicted that Washington is likely to take up more regulatory efforts in the future on AI, and it didn’t go unnoticed that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other industry officials who testified on AI this week seemed to be inviting more federal oversight.

‘I’ve never seen any new technology, new business, where the people that created it have been more worried about how you use it,’ he said. ‘They’re worried that if they’re going to get any monetary value out of it, they are going to have to make sure it’s well-regulated.’

‘I just think there’s no way that AI can go unchecked, and I’m glad to see the people … on the forefront are thinking the same way,’ he said.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that he is one of only three ‘credible’ options in contention for the White House in 2024, and that former President Trump’s chances at winning were ‘not great,’ according to a report by The New York Times.

‘You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing,’ DeSantis reportedly told donors on a call organized by Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting him. ‘Biden, Trump and me.’ 

‘And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states, which is not great for the former president and probably insurmountable because people aren’t going to change their view of him,’ he reportedly said.

Later in the call, DeSantis reportedly told participants, ‘the corporate media wants Trump to be the nominee,’ citing the criticism leveled at him by journalists and current presidential candidates.

When reached for comment, DeSantis’ political team said they had nothing to share concerning the report. However, the Trump campaign told Fox News the governor’s comments show he is being fooled by his consultants.

‘Ron DeSantis is having a no good, very bad week with two devastating losses on Election Day, and letting Disney steamroll him. Everything he is saying is exactly what consultants tell candidates to manipulate and bamboozle them,’ Trump spokesperson Stephen Cheung said, referencing DeSantis’ ongoing fight with Disney and losses by candidates he endorsed in multiple elections on Tuesday.

DeSantis is expected to officially enter the 2024 race for the White House next week after months of buildup and speculation, according to sources familiar with the governor’s decision.

The sources say he will file formal paperwork with the Federal Election Commission next week to declare his candidacy for president – news that was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Once he announces, DeSantis will join an increasingly crowded Republican field that includes Trump, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, conservative radio host Larry Elder, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Special Counsel John Durham found that there was never any information to justify opening the FBI’s original investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election – a finding that contradicts years of commentary from Trump’s opponents.

Durham was appointed to investigate the origins of that probe, known inside the FBI as ‘Crossfire Hurricane,’ just weeks after then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller completed his years-long investigation that yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between Trump and Russia.

Here are some of the key players who furthered the Trump-Russia narrative:

Hillary Clinton, Clinton Campaign, DNC

Hillary Clinton was the Democrat presidential nominee in 2016. Her campaign, in coordination with the Democratic National Committee, spent $40 million to fund an anti-Trump dossier that contained allegations of purported coordination between Trump and Russia.

Clinton and her campaign also worked to stir up a plan to tie Trump to Russia in an effort to distract from the investigation into her use of a private email server and alleged mishandling of classified information.

Then-CIA Director John Brennan learned of Clinton’s plan, and on July 28, 2016, he ‘expeditiously’ briefed then-President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden and other top national security officials.

During that meeting, Brennan briefed Obama and officials on the proposal from Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisers ‘to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.’

In 2016, the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 campaign.

In his report this week, Durham said the FBI ‘failed to act’ on a ‘clear warning sign’ that the bureau was the ‘target’ of a Hillary Clinton-led effort to ‘manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes’ ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Clinton’s campaign was also behind the creation of allegations that linked Trump to Russia’s Alfa Bank.

According to testimony from her campaign manager, Robby Mook, during a trial out of Durham’s investigation last year, Hillary Clinton herself approved the dissemination of unproven and subsequently debunked information to the media that alleged a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank.

Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele

Opposition research firm Fusion GPS commissioned the anti-Trump dossier. It was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer, and paid for by the Clinton campaign and the DNC through law firm Perkins Coie.

Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias testified that he personally hired Fusion GPS.

The dossier, which has been widely discredited, played a critical role in the investigation into Trump and his campaign.

The Justice Department inspector general revealed that the unverified anti-Trump dossier helped serve as the basis for controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants obtained against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

Michael Sussmann

Michael Sussmann, Clinton’s lawyer at Perkins Coie, was charged by Durham but found not guilty of making a false statement to the FBI.

The charges came after Sussmann presented to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker ‘purported data and ‘white papers’ that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel’ between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which has ties to the Kremlin.

During Sussmann’s trial last year, Durham said Sussmann’s delivery of the Trump-Alfa Bank allegations to the FBI was part of the Clinton campaign’s plan to create an ‘October surprise’ against then-candidate Donald Trump.

The government moved to admit a tweet from Clinton dated Oct. 31, 2016, as evidence, which stated, ‘Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.’

Clinton also shared a statement from adviser Jake Sullivan that said, ‘This could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow. Computer scientists have uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.’

‘This line of communication may help explain Trump’s bizarre adoration of Vladimir Putin and endorsement of so many pro-Kremlin positions throughout this campaign,’ Sullivan’s 2016 statement continued. ‘It raises even more troubling questions in light of Russia’s masterminding of hacking efforts that are clearly intended to hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign.’

Former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok

Peter Strzok, who served as the deputy assistant director of counterintelligence, launched the investigation on July 30, 2016, and James Comey was the director of the FBI when it began.

On Sept. 9, 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan had the information about Hillary Clinton’s plan forwarded to Comey and Strzok with the subject line: ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’

‘The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate,’ he said in a memo.

‘Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date,’ the memo continued. ‘An exchange [REDACTED] discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.’

The memo was heavily redacted.

Durham said the FBI ‘failed to act’ on this information, and he said the bureau was a ‘target’ of Clinton’s effort to ‘manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes’ ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

But Durham’s team could not charge anyone related to omission or failure to act on the ‘Clinton Plan Intelligence.’

‘Whether these failures by U.S. officials amounted to criminal acts, however, is a different question,’ Durham’s report said.

Strzok was ultimately chosen to join Mueller’s team, but he was removed and eventually fired from the FBI after months of scrutiny regarding anti-Trump text messages with former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

The two were also assigned to the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and handling of classified information, a case that was nicknamed ‘Midyear Exam’ or ‘MYE’ inside the bureau. Page resigned from her post as FBI counsel in May 2018, and Strzok was fired from his post in August 2018.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe also played a key role in legitimizing the Steele dossier.

The 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russian election interference revealed that the Steele dossier had, at the time, only ‘limited corroboration.’ CIA officials at the time argued the dossier should not be included in the assessment, casting it as simply ‘internet rumor.’

But McCabe said he wanted to include it in the ICA for Obama. McCabe told the DOJ’s inspector general’s office he believed the Steele reporting needed to be included in that ICA because ‘President Obama had requested ‘everything you have relevant to this topic of Russian influence.’’

McCabe argued that including it as an appendix was simply ‘tacking it on’ in a way that ‘would minimize’ the information and prevent it from being properly considered – despite Comey’s assertion that Steele’s reporting was ‘not ripe enough, mature enough, to be a finished intelligence product.’

Ultimately, ‘the FBI’s view did not prevail,’ and the final ICA report included Steele’s reporting only as a short summary in an appendix.

McCabe testified before the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 and admitted that the FBI had ‘not been able to prove the accuracy of all the information.’

‘You don’t know if it’s true or not?’ a House investigator asked, to which McCabe replied, ‘That’s correct.’

Obama administration officials

Top Obama administration officials repeatedly and publicly pushed the Trump-Russia collusion narrative but ultimately admitted in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee that they knew of no ’empirical evidence’ of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Top Obama officials were questioned over whether they had or had not seen evidence of collusion, coordination or conspiracy – the issue that launched the FBI’s initial ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ probe and later Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

‘I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election,’ former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified in 2017. ‘That’s not to say that there weren’t concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence. … But I do not recall any instance where I had direct evidence.’

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power was asked about the same issue. Power replied, ‘I am not in possession of anything – I am not in possession and didn’t read or absorb information that came from out of the intelligence community.’

‘I don’t recall intelligence that I would consider evidence to that effect that I saw … conspiracy prior to my departure,’  Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice testified.

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch also said that she did ‘not recall that being briefed up to me.’

‘I can’t say that it existed or not,’ Lynch said, referring to evidence of collusion, conspiracy or coordination.

EXCLUSIVE: Democrats spared no time going after the Republican nominee in the pivotal race for Kentucky governor following a brutal primary season, this time with a tough-on-crime stance that could widely appeal to voters in the deep-red state.

Tuesday’s primary elections saw incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who polls show is one of the most popular governors in the country, sail to an easy victory, while Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron endured an onslaught of negative ads and a fierce proxy battle between his party’s top presidential contenders.

In a six-figure television ad buy, a group backed by the Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA) called Defending Bluegrass Values is taking aim at what it’s calling Cameron’s refusal to address the early release of violent criminals by Beshear’s predecessor, former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

‘When former Gov. Matt Bevin gave more than a dozen violent criminals early release from prison, Attorney General Daniel Cameron promised he’d look into it,’ the ad, titled ‘Outrage,’ says. It references Bevin’s controversial pardons of a number of criminals convicted of murder and rape in 2019 as he prepared to leave office.

‘But for three years, Cameron has refused to appoint a special prosecutor, even as some of the criminals were arrested for new crimes. Cameron passed the buck, and Kentucky got hurt,’ the ad says.

Bevin was narrowly defeated by Beshear in Kentucky’s 2019 gubernatorial election, the same year Cameron won his race for attorney general. Upon entering office, Cameron said the pardons were something his office would look into.

Cameron did ask the FBI to investigate the pardons in 2020, including one that was alleged to be ‘improperly’ issued because the family of the man receiving the pardon gave money to Bevin’s campaign. Bevin denied the donations had anything to do with the pardon, and the FBI has not said whether there was any wrongdoing on his part.

A number of the criminals who received pardons from Bevin were arrested again.

‘If Daniel Cameron covered for Matt Bevin’s appalling and corrupt pardons of violent criminals — even as some of these criminals were getting arrested again — why would Kentuckians trust him as their governor?’ DGA communications director Sam Newton told Fox News.

‘Instead of passing the buck again, Daniel Cameron must finally answer for why he sided with Bevin and his cronies instead of Kentuckians by refusing to get to the bottom of this dangerous scandal.’

Republicans are viewing the race between Cameron and Beshear as a prime flip target considering Beshear is one of the nation’s few Democratic governors of a red state and the only Democrat holding statewide office in Kentucky other than his lieutenant governor, who ran on the same ticket. 

The GOP has its work cut out for it, however, as it tries to refocus its attention from the contentious primary toward the general election.

FIRST ON FOX: A trio of House Republican lawmakers led letters to 25 Biden administration agencies regarding their telework programs.

House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., Government Operations and Federal Workforce subcommittee chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., sent letters to 25 agencies about their remote work policies.

‘Hard-working Americans across this country show up to work every day and the federal government workforce their taxes fund must follow their lead,’ Comer said in a press release exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. ‘Even though the pandemic is over, the Biden Administration is allowing telework levels far above those that existed pre-pandemic.’

‘This is occurring in an apparently indiscriminate, unaccountable manner, without oversight from the White House or the Office of Personnel Management – whose Director could not tell members what portion of federal employees are teleworking when she appeared before the Committee in March,’ Comer continued.

‘This is unacceptable and U.S. taxpayers deserve better,’ he added. ‘Federal workers must show up to work in-person and the Oversight Committee will hold agencies accountable when their employees do not show up to work for the American people.’

Sessions said in the release that the ‘COVID emergency is over – and most Americans have been back to work for many years.’

‘Taxpayers expect the same from public servants, but telework policies and outcomes are unclear across the federal government,’ Sessions said. ‘These letters will provide necessary information to allow for increased oversight and transparency.’

‘We are taking deliberate steps to ensure taxpayers are receiving value from their government,’ the Texas Republican added. ‘I welcome federal agencies’ response and engagement in this process.’

Boebert said that while ‘many hard-working Americans were working through the pandemic, federal bureaucrats were lounging at home and not even logging in to their computers.’

‘Shockingly, more than three years past the start of the pandemic, numerous public servants are still teleworking and only going into the office one day per week, all at the expense of the American taxpayer,’ Boebert said in the release.

‘I have heard from countless constituents who did not get their tax returns back on time, who did not get their passports in a timely manner, and who did not get benefits from the VA because federal employees were teleworking,’ she continued.

‘The House Oversight and Accountability Committee and I are demanding transparency from federal agencies on their secretive telework policies so that the American people know what exactly their tax dollars are funding and how their public servants are serving them,’ Boebert added.

In the letters, the lawmakers note that the Biden administration ‘has allowed agencies to continue levels of telework and remote work that are significantly higher than before the pandemic’ but ‘has not provided current data about the specific amount of telework occurring within federal agencies or across the entire federal workforce.’

‘Furthermore, it has provided no objective evidence concerning the impact of elevated telework on agency performance –including any deleterious impacts,’ the lawmakers wrote.

‘We therefore seek information on the level of telework in your agency, how you have tracked its impact on performance, and what that impact has been,’ the Republicans continued.

Several Republican lawmakers from the House Oversight Committee joined Comer, Sessions, and Boebert on the letters, including Reps. Lisa McClain of Michigan, Byron Donalds of Florida, and Tim Burchett of Tennessee.

The letters went to the heads of various agencies and departments in the federal government, including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

House Republicans representing New York are taking aim at state Democrats and the Biden administration over the Empire State’s migrant surge — as migrants have been housed in school gyms and as the Democratic leaders are also attempting to put pressure on Republicans over the crisis.

‘It is absolutely unacceptable that Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, and President Joe Biden are sacrificing America’s children’s safety and happiness to prioritize the needs of illegals,’ Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, told Fox News Digital. ‘This is why Republicans passed the strongest border security package in our nation’s history.’

New York City has been dealing with a massive migrant crisis for over a year as migrants have flooded into the city, including those who have been assisted with transports from Texas.

The issue hit the headlines again this week when it was revealed that the Big Apple has started housing migrants in public school gyms, sparking anger and protests. Mayor Eric Adams said the move was ‘drastic’ but said the city is out of options. The city has also caused controversy by busing hundreds of migrants to Rockland County and Orange County. There have also been reports of homeless veterans being booted from hotels to make room for the influx in upstate New York.

‘We are carrying this entire burden. This national problem is being laid in the lap of New Yorkers,’ Adams told Fox 5 New York on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an interview with Spectrum News that the state is ‘helping [Adams] find places that will be welcoming.’ 

‘I want to make sure the Democrats, Republicans, everyone understands the challenges we’re facing right now,’ the governor added. 

Hochul also addressed the Republican majority in Congress during the interview, asking them to pledge $1 billion to help the city as well as allowing illegal immigrants to work.

NYC FACES IRE OF RESIDENTS OVER PLAN TO HOUSE MIGRANTS IN BROOKLYN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GYM 

‘Republicans in Congress, in charge of the House, have the ability to allocate more money. Why don’t you match what New York state did? Give us a billion dollars for New York,’ she said. ‘Help us with the money, help us with the work authorization. And then we’ll get through this much sooner.’

It echoes calls from the Biden administration, who have accused Republicans of failing to provide funding for additional border measures — while also calling on Congress to pass an immigration reform bill, which includes an amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

‘The fundamental reason why we have a challenge at our border, and we’ve had this challenge many a time before is because we are working within the constraints of a broken — a fundamentally broken immigration system. And we also are operating on resources that are far less than those that we need and that we’ve requested,’ DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week

But Republicans have accused the Biden administration of fueling the crisis with its policies — including the ending of Trump-era border measures and the reduction of interior enforcement. In New York, Republicans have attributed the crisis in part to ‘sanctuary’ policies put into place at the city and state level.

‘The unmitigated disaster New York is now experiencing is a direct result of President Joe Biden’s open border agenda and Governor Kathy Hochul’s policies, which have made New York a magnet for illegal immigrants,’ Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-NY, told Fox in a statement. ‘It is outrageous that she now wants the American people to subsidize New York’s failed sanctuary city policies. New York City’s ‘right-to-shelter’ policy, in particular, was never intended to be applied in this context. Upstate New York counties that stand for the rule of law should not be forced to pay the price for those that have embraced dangerous and illegal sanctuary city policies.’

‘We are a compassionate nation, one with rules and laws that no one is above,’ Rep. Nick LaLota, R-NY, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement. ‘Those who entered the country illegally, or who are manipulating our asylum laws, should not displace law-abiding taxpayers from their government services. Veterans, the homeless, the mentally impaired, and other Americans in need deserve better.’

Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-NY, called on Hochul to push President Biden to adopt ‘stronger border security measures’ to address the cause of the crisis.

‘We are facing a crisis that impacts communities represented by Democrats and Republicans,’ he said. Our solution must be bipartisan. I urge Gov. Hochul to work with leaders at all levels of government and across party lines on this issue.’

Meanwhile, there were also further signs of discord between Democrats on the issue. Mayor Eric Adams was asked Tuesday by a news anchor: ‘Where the heck is the president of the United States.’

‘That’s a good question,’ Adams said. ‘I think we all should be asking why this is happening to a city that was turning itself around and will continue to do so. This should not be happening to New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and the other big northern cities.’ 

‘And really, it should not be happening to El Paso or Brownsville, Texas. No city should be carrying this burden. This is a national problem, and it needs a national solution,’ the mayor said. 

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady, Jeffrey Clark, Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.