Former President Donald Trump on Saturday says he was proud to be ‘the most pro-life president’ in U.S. history as religious conservatives marked the first anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v Wade.

Trump was speaking before the Faith & Freedom Coalition Gala in Washington D.C., and noted that he was speaking on the one year anniversary of the Dobbs v Jackson ruling. 

In that ruling, the conservative majority overturned Roe v Wade — which in 1973 ruled that a right to have an abortion was protected by the Constitution. Since the Dobbs ruling a number of laws limiting abortions have been passed at state level.

Trump has been criticized by some pro-life advocates after he called Florida’s law limiting abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy ‘too harsh.’ 

On Saturday, he addressed those who view him as insufficiently pro-life through a story of a woman who defended him to other conservatives by saying ‘his guy ended Roe v Wade.’

Even though the ruling came in 2022 after he left the White House, Trump has been attributed with impacting the decision by his appointment of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court during his time in office. 

Trump welcomed the comparison.

‘And I sort of said that myself, actually. But I’m proud to be the most pro-life president in American history,’ he said.

‘From my first day in office, I took historic action to protect the unborn, very historic. Nobody else did anything near what we did,’ he said.

Trump cited moves including reinstating the Mexico City policy — which barred federal funding going to organizations abroad that perform abortions.

He also took aim at pro-abortion activists, accusing them of wanting ‘unlimited abortion on demand and even executing babies after birth.’

‘They are the radical people when they’re willing to kill a child after birth, they’re willing to take it beyond the nine months. They are the radical people. They are the people that are really in trouble with the Lord,’ he said.

He also emphasized the pro-life message that it often put forward by Christians that all life is sacred — even the lives of those who have not yet been born. 

‘Every child, born or unborn, is a sacred gift from God,’ he said.

The sons of late British businessman and adventurer Hamish Harding remembered their father as a ‘loving’ man with a ‘larger-than-life presence.’ 

Harding, the billionaire founder of Action Aviation, a UAE-based international aircraft brokerage company, was one of five crewmen who perished aboard OceanGate Expedition’s Titan submersible on an ill-fated voyage to see the Titanic wreckage. He and the others died when the submersible suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ shortly after the craft descended to the Titanic, the U.S. Coast Guard said. 

Action Aviation released statements from Harding’s sons giving tribute to their father on social media. 

‘My dad was a tenacious, hard-working businessman but most importantly he was the best father I could have ever asked for,’ said one son. ‘He inspired me more than anyone will ever know, taught me things I’ll never forget, and he meant everything to me. Anyone who ever met my dad will praise his humorous personality, his sheer work ethic, and his constant generosity. My life will be a success if I’m even half the man he is. My dad is gone but I will never forget him.’

The other son praised his father as an ‘avid adventurer, a loving father, family man and a determined and tireless businessman.’ 

‘In all of these areas, he constantly sought to be the best man he could be and did nothing half-way. Constantly full of wisdom and life advice to bestow, he made my brother and I into the people we are today. He was an energetic and charismatic man who by the sheer weight of his personality lifted up and supported everyone around him. His tragic loss will be mourned not only by myself and my family but everyone who had the pleasure to meet him. The world is so much less without his larger-than-life presence and his optimistic spirit.’

Harding was one of five crew members aboard the Titan sub when it lost contact with its surface vessel, the Polar Prince, around one hour and 45 minutes into its dive Sunday morning, about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and around 400 miles southeast of St John’s, in Canada’s Newfoundland.

The other passengers were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, who are members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families; and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French navy officer and leading Titanic expert.

The sub’s disappearance led to an international search and rescue effort that lasted for days before authorities found the remains of the sub using a robotic vehicle. 

‘The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families,’ U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters Thursday. ‘On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.’

Fox News’ Micahel Ruiz and Bradford Betz contributed to this report. 

Senate and House Democrats took to social media Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, taking aim at the ‘six far-right justices’ who delivered the abortion ruling.

The remarks from elected Democrats came amid the gathering of thousands of pro-life advocates in the nation’s capital to celebrate the high court’s ruling last summer, which ended recognition of a constitutional right to abortion and gave individual states the power to allow, limit or ban the practice altogether.

‘In the year since extreme right-wing Supreme Court justices overturned Roe, millions of Americans lost their fundamental right to decide what happens to their own bodies. But in that year, millions more stood up to defend those rights,’ Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wrote in a tweet. ‘They organized, voted, and supported one another. And it is those Americans who give me hope.’

‘Together, we will keep fighting until we restore our reproductive freedom,’ Gillibrand added.

‘A year ago today, six far-right justices on the Supreme Court threw out decades of legal precedent — dismantling the legal freedoms enshrined in Roe v. Wade,’ Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., remarked in a tweet, which included a statement on the matter.

In his statement, Menendez claimed that the ‘majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decided to abdicate their oath to uphold the rule of law in favor of fanning the flames of extremist efforts to end women’s bodily autonomy and unravel the progress we have made as a society.’

Menendez asserted that the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has ‘opened the flood gates to dangerous assaults on reproductive health care and other long-protected freedoms.’

Sharing her thoughts about the issue, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., insisted in a video message that the ruling from the ‘activist Supreme Court’ was ‘devastating for the health, safety and future of millions of women across America.’

‘Having the freedom to control your health care, your body and your future, free from government interference, is a fundamental right,’ she said.

Echoing his colleagues, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., wrote in a tweet that the ‘six extremist Supreme Court justices toppled years of precedent to gut access to abortion.’

‘The decision to have an abortion is a difficult one – and one a woman alone should make. Not pundits, not lawmakers,’ Merkley said. ‘In Oregon, the right to abortion is protected by state law. But our fight continues to codify the right to the full range of reproductive health care for EVERYONE in our country.’

Reflecting rhetoric used by President Biden, Merkely added: ‘Make no mistake: MAGA Republicans and the extremist pundits who are cheering them on are pushing for a national abortion ban – a dangerous proposal that will put patients at risk. I will continue to fight to protect reproductive freedom.’

Also taking aim at the court’s decision, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said that Americans must ‘fight’ to preventing members of the court from ‘imposing a backwards, extreme agenda.’

‘One year ago, a far-right Supreme Court majority overturned the decades-old precedent set by Roe, eliminating the right of women to make their own reproductive decisions,’ Whitehouse wrote in a tweet. ‘We have to fight against the Court imposing a backwards, extreme agenda on our country.’

Similar to that of Baldwin, House Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., shared a video message vowing not to ‘back down’ on the issue of abortion.

‘One year ago today, the right-wing majority of the Supreme Court handed down a radical decision to take away abortion rights from millions of Americans,’ she wrote in a tweet. ‘But we won’t back down. We’ll fight back and ensure this constitutional right is guaranteed.’

‘We now live in an America where generations of people grew up assuming certain things were here to stay now face a future where they have fewer rights than their parents and grandparents,’ Jayapal said in the video. ‘An America where extreme right-wing legislatures are so out of step with their own constituents that they want to take away fundamental freedoms that a majority of the American people support.’

Discussing the ‘choice’ to terminate her own pregnancy at one point in time, Jayapal said the decision to have an abortion should be made only ‘between the individual, their doctor, and the loved ones they choose to consult.’

Two dozen states – Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming – have all implemented laws since the Dobbs ruling, restricting abortions except to save the life of the mother. Most of these states also have exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Several of these state bans are being held up in litigation.

Fox News’ Kristine Parks contributed to this article.

The Department of Defense is refusing to say whether it notified families of the passengers on the Titan submersible after detecting a possible implosion noise immediately after the vessel lost contact with its mother ship.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the U.S. Coast Guard, which led the Pentagon’s unified command for the incident, said it had contacted families when it became aware of the situation and notified them once debris was found days later. However, officials said Thursday, after the debris was found, the U.S. Navy had detected an implosion noise almost immediately after the Titan lost contact on June 18.

‘The Unified Command contacted the families as soon as we were aware of the incident, and we have maintained contact throughout our response,’ Coast Guard spokesperson Anne McGoldrick told Fox News Digital. 

‘As has been our focus through this search, and is policy within the Search and Rescue community, officials will always notify Next of Kin and make every effort to involve the family before information is released to the public,’ McGoldrick said. ‘The families were immediately notified as soon as the debris was identified.’

It remains unclear whether U.S. officials leading the incident response ever notified families on June 18, or in the four subsequent days, that an implosion likely occurred. The Coast Guard, Navy and Department of Defense didn’t respond to follow-up questions from Fox News Digital.

On June 18, the five passengers of the Titan, a submersible managed by exploration company OceanGate, boarded the vessel to dive for a viewing of the Titanic about 900 miles east of Massachusetts. The passengers were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush; British businessman Hamish Harding; Pakistani father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood; and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French Navy officer and Titanic expert.

Approximately an hour and 45 minutes into the dive, the Titan lost contact with the mother ship it had launched from. In the days following, the Coast Guard spearheaded a comprehensive search-and-rescue effort involving private sector and Canadian entities, and regularly updated the public on the estimated amount of oxygen left on board the Titan.

On Wednesday, the Coast Guard said it had heard ‘underwater noises’ in the search area, which some believed to indicate the Titan was stuck below the surface with its passengers trapped.

But on Thursday, the Coast Guard announced that it had discovered a ‘debris field’ in the area where the submersible was believed to have been lost. Officials then told reporters during a press conference that the debris was ‘consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,’ suggesting that the Titan had imploded instantaneously when it had lost contact days earlier.

‘Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families,’ Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said. ‘On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.’

Shortly after Mauger’s comments, though, a Navy official confirmed to Fox News Digital that a top secret acoustic detection system heard sounds consistent with an implosion near the site of the Titanic around the time the Titan lost contact on June 18.

‘While not definitive, this information was immediately shared with the Incident Commander to assist with the ongoing search and rescue mission,’ a Navy official told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital reporters Bradford Betz, Lucas Tomlinson, Michael Ruiz, Anders Hagstrom and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is urging the House to look into impeaching President Biden after an IRS whistleblower on the Hunter Biden probe told Congress that the president’s son invoked his father to pressure a Chinese business partner through WhatsApp and claimed the elder Biden was in the room while he was making deals.

Asked at what point the investigation and problems pertaining to Hunter Biden turn into an issue for the president, which could lead to impeachment efforts by Republicans, Cruz said: ‘It is right now.’

‘Look, this WhatsApp is direct evidence of Joe Biden abusing his government power to enrich his son, and, assuming 10% for the big guy, to enrich himself,’ Cruz continued. ‘Remember, this WhatsApp says ‘we want to know.’ This is not just me, Hunter, just mooching off my dad. . . . Of course the House needs to investigate it, but the stunning thing is what the IRS whistleblower says is [Department of Justice], Merrick Garland prevented an investigation even into this message.’ l

Garland has denied that there was any interference in the Hunter Biden probe.

Cruz’s remarks came during a new episode of the senator’s podcast, which is called Verdict with Ted Cruz.

Cruz discussed allegations from an IRS whistleblower released by House Republicans this week, where an investigator on the Hunter Biden probe claimed there had been unprecedented efforts to prevent investigations into Joe Biden during the 2020 campaign and into his presidency.

Whistleblower Gary Shapley Jr. — who oversaw the IRS probe into the president’s son — said the IRS had obtained a WhatsApp message dated July 30, 2017, from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, CEO of Harvest Fund Management, in which Hunter alleged that he was with his father and named him to put pressure on Zhao to fulfill a commitment.

‘And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.’

‘I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father,’ Hunter Biden reportedly said.

‘This WhatsApp directly ties Joe Biden to the millions of dollars coming from communist China,’ Cruz said. ‘Now, it is possible Hunter Biden was lying, it’s possible Joe Biden wasn’t next to him. It’s possible Joe Biden was not going to inflict official damage on the Chinese if they didn’t pay him and his son millions of dollars. That’s possible, but you know what, we don’t know if it’s true or not. Why? Because, according to the whistleblower, they didn’t investigate, and they were prohibited from investigating. They were prevented from even asking the question.’

‘Let me be clear: This, on the face of it, is obstruction of justice,’ he said. ‘And if Merrick Garland issued that order, he is the one blocking the investigation, and I think there’s real evidence of Merrick Garland being guilty of obstruction of justice.’

Cruz, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has served in the Senate since 2013, said, ‘If you had a single Democrat who gave a flying flip about the rule of law, we would have a hearing right now with Merrick Garland in front of us, under oath, asking about this WhatsApp,’ he said. ‘We would ask to see every document, we would ask to see every email, we’d ask to see every communication between DOJ and the investigators. We would put the IRS whistleblowers on the stand, under oath to testify about it, and we would confront Merrick Garland with that.’

‘The chances of the Senate Judiciary Committee doing that are zero, because [chairman] Dick Durbin doesn’t care,’ he added. ‘No Senate Democrat cares, but the House does, so that is the only hope for investigating this.’

If the claims made in the WhatsApp message are accurate, they starkly contradict President Biden’s repeated insistence that he had no knowledge of son Hunter’s business dealings.

Asked Friday by a reporter whether the WhatsApp message undermines the president’s claims that he had no knowledge of his son’s overseas activities, National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby replied, ‘No, and I’m not going to comment further on this.’

A Hunter Biden attorney said in a statement Friday, ‘Any verifiable words or actions of my client, in the midst of a horrible addiction, are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family.’

White House Counsel’s Office spokesman Ian Sams said, ‘As we have said many times before, the President was not in business with his son.’

‘As we have also said many times before, the Justice Department makes decisions in its criminal investigations independently, and in this case, the White House has not been involved,’ Sams continued. ‘As the President has said, he loves his son and is proud of him accepting responsibility for his actions and is proud of what he is doing to rebuild his life.’

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday warned against the possible ouster of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that the successor to the Russian strongman could be ‘far worse.’

‘A big mess in Russia, but be careful what you wish for. Next in may be far worse!’ he said on Truth Social.

Trump spoke amid an ongoing situation in Russia in which the Wagner private Russian military force was marching to Moscow in what appeared to be a significant challenge to Putin’s leadership, 16 months into the war against Ukraine. The column of paramilitary fighters later announced that it would turn around to avoid bloodshed.

In Moscow, the government threw up private checkpoints, armored vehicles and other security measures ahead of the Wagner army, marking a stunning and potentially explosive sign of division within Russia over Putin’s leadership.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the commander of the group, had accused military leaders of botching the war in Ukraine and said he had 25,000 troops under his command. The force made its way 60 miles into Russia, claiming to have taken control of the city Rostov-on-Don, from which Russian military command has coordinated its attack on Ukraine.

Prigozhin targeted Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu specifically, accusing Russian government forces of attacking Wagner field camps in Ukraine with rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery, and has previously called for the minister’s ouster.

‘This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,’ Prigozhin said.

Putin, meanwhile, called the rebellion ‘treason’ and promised harsh consequences for those involved.

‘All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,’ Putin said. ‘The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.’

However, Prigozhin later appeared to defuse the situation by announcing that the march had been halted, and that forces were retreating to the field camps in Ukraine as part of a deal brokered by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. It is not clear what the deal entails.

In audio posted to social media, Prigozhin said that while his troops were just 120 miles from Moscow, he chose to turn back to avoid ‘shedding Russian blood.’

A statement from the Belarusian government claimed, ‘At the moment, an absolutely profitable and acceptable option for solving the situation is on the table, with security guarantees for the Wagner PMC fighters.’

In the U.S., National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge on Friday night said, ‘We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.’

Fox News’ Peter Aitkin and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A handful of House Democrats refused to say this week whether they believe women should be allowed to have an abortion up until the moment of birth.

Asked by Fox News Digital whether they would support any limitation on abortion, four Democrats – Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Adam Schiff of California, Juan Vargas of California and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia – would not answer the question.

With the exception of Vargas, the Democrats largely ignored the abortion questions altogether, just ahead of the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Vargas, although he did not answer the question directly, told Fox News that he believes ‘women should be able to chose their own healthcare’ and that he ‘shouldn’t decide for them.’

House Republicans were also asked the same question, with Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Nick Langworthy of New York weighing in on the subject.

‘I don’t believe in abortion at all,’ Burchett said outside the Capitol. ‘I think it’s murder. You got a little baby . . . and there’s no excuse.’

Referencing his Democratic colleagues, Burchett said, ‘This bunch here has pushed it til after birth, and we tried to defeat the bill, but Democrats were in control.’

Asked the same question, whether he believes abortion should be permitted up until the moment of birth, Langworthy told Fox, ‘Absolutely not.’

‘I come from the state of New York, we have abortion on demand, and I think it’s one of the great treacheries of our time that we have abortion that has been legalized right up until the ninth month, right up to the moment of birth. And there’s no way to slice it . . .  that is murder.’

The questioning to lawmakers from both sides of the aisle comes as pro-life organizations and causes rally in the nation’s capital to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Thousands of pro-life activists are expected to join the ‘National Celebrate Life Day’ rally in D.C. over the weekend.

One year ago Saturday, the Supreme Court effectively ended recognition of a constitutional right to abortion and gave individual states the power to allow, limit or ban the practice altogether.

The ruling came in the court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which involved a Mississippi law that banned abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Republican-led state of Mississippi asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a lower court’s ruling that stopped the 15-week abortion ban from taking effect.

‘We end this opinion where we began. Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,’ Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court’s opinion.

Earlier this year, 210 Democrats voted against legislation that would require immediate medical attention for babies who are born alive after an attempt was made to abort them.

Fox News’ Peter Kasperowicz contributed to this report.

A U.S. judge on Friday blocked a new Florida law restricting drag performances, the third time this month federal courts have enjoined laws backed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that concern gender or LGBTQ matters.

In all three cases, the issues supported by DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, lost on grounds the laws appear to infringe on people’s constitutional rights.

In Friday’s decision, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell of the Middle District of Florida granted an injunction preventing the state from enforcing a law that bans minors from attending obscene live performances, calling it too broad.

The judge refused to dismiss the law entirely, meaning the underlying lawsuit challenging it will go forward.

The governor’s office said the judge was ‘dead wrong’ and predicted the state would win on appeal.

‘Of course it’s constitutional to prevent the sexualization of children by limiting access to adult live performances,’ DeSantis spokesperson Jeremy Redfern said in an email.

Hamburger Mary’s, an Orlando bar and restaurant that presents drag show performances, comedy sketches and dancing, filed the lawsuit in response to a law DeSantis signed in May.

Hamburger Mary’s argued the law was written so broadly as to have a ‘chilling effect’ on First Amendment rights to free speech guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The judge agreed, finding the plaintiff was likely to succeed at trial on First Amendment grounds.

‘Florida already has statutes that provide such protection (from obscene performances). Rather, this statute is specifically designed to suppress the speech of drag queen performers,’ Presnell wrote.

While many drag performers are gay, the genre has grown increasingly mainstream. Opponents of drag have associated it with wider LGBTQ issues that conservatives consider contrary to traditional values.

DeSantis has been at the forefront of a conservative campaign restricting LGBTQ rights.

On Wednesday, another judge struck down a Florida rule and a statute that banned state Medicaid payments for transgender health care.

That same judge on June 6 partially blocked Florida from enforcing its recent ban on people under 18 receiving gender care, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

In both cases, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida cited 14th Amendment guarantees to equal protection under the law.

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New York City spent approximately $50,000 in a one-year period to resettle dozens of migrants in different parts of the U.S. — including Florida and Texas — as well as other countries, including South American nations and even China.

The city spent $50,000 between April 2022 and April 2023 to rehouse 114 migrant households to states across the country, according to data obtained by Politico. The top three states were Florida (28 households), Texas (14) and North Carolina (6). The outlet also reported that five households were sent to other countries, including Peru, China, Ecuador and Venezuela.

The existence of transportation programs out of the city for migrants are neither new nor hidden. The city in September announced the formation of Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers, which provide services to migrants including ‘settlement options’ via family connections both in and outside of the Big Apple.

‘We found that people had other destinations, but they were being compelled only to come to New York City, and we are assisting in interviewing those who seek to go somewhere else,’ Adams said in February. ‘Some want to go to Canada, some want to go to warmer states, and we are there for them as they continue to move on with their pursuit of this dream.’

But the data from Politico comes after Adams and other Democratic leaders across the U.S. have hammered the governors of Florida and Texas for their resettlement programs that transport migrants to so-called ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions like New York City, Washington D.C., and California.

Critics have denounced the Republican governors for what they say is the weaponization of immigrants as part of a political stunt and have accused them of misleading migrants to get them on the transports against their will. Governors have rejected those claims and said that the transports are voluntary.

In a statement to Politico, a spokesman for Texas Gov. Abbott noted recent comments by Adams in which he called busing migrants ‘morally bankrupt.’

‘Where is all the outrage and condemnation from the White House and Democrats for one of their own sending migrants out of town, out of state, and even out of the country?’ Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said.

But NYC officials rejected the comparison, saying that the tickets being bought are not part of a chartered service, unlike what Texas does, and the city busses migrants to other parts of New York State. Officials have also cited cases where people were sent to NYC who didn’t want to be there.

‘The Texas governor chartered buses to New York City and placed asylum seekers, many of whom did NOT want to come here, on multi-day journeys without food, limited water, few bathroom breaks, and no medical attention,’ a City Hall spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

‘Our teams meeting buses cared for people who were dehydrated, malnourished, and, in many cases, saying they did not want to come to New York City. We heard reports of asylum seekers tagged with barcodes, prevented from getting off the bus along the journey, and being forced to sign papers they did not fully understand. In contrast, New York City has, as we have discussed very publicly for months, worked to connect individuals with friends, family, and networks whether in New York City or outside of it. We are not coercing people to leave, we are not suggesting or recommending locations, and we are not presenting any kind of false choice. We are helping people who want to reconnect with loved ones or communities do so.’

But the controversy taps into the ongoing debate about migrant transportation and the ethics involved in doing so. Border states like Texas have argued that they need to protect their communities from a historic influx of migrants and believe it justified to send them to jurisdictions that call for policies that they say have encouraged the crisis.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently defended his transports to California after Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California officials accused his state of ‘kidnapping’ migrants.

‘These sanctuary jurisdictions are part of the reason we have this problem because they have endorsed and agitated for these types of open-border policies,’ DeSantis said. ‘They have bragged that they are sanctuary jurisdictions.’

‘I don’t think we should have any of this. But if there’s a policy to have an open border then I think the sanctuary jurisdictions should be the ones that have to bear that,’ he said. ‘We’re not a sanctuary in Florida.’

Numbers released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last week showed that there were over 204,000 migrant encounters at the southern border in May alone, bringing the total encounters for the fiscal year to over 1.6 million.

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was on Capitol Hill on Thursday, courting conservative lawmakers with his ‘anti-woke’ platform as the crowded 2024 Republican primary heats up.

Ramaswamy attended a roundtable held by the House Anti-Woke Caucus led by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., which also included conservative members like Reps. Kevin Hern, R-Okla.; Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo.; Kat Cammack, R-Fla.; and Mike Waltz, R-Fla., among others. 

It does not appear that the event netted him any new GOP backers, however, Ramaswamy insisted it was not why he traveled to the Hill, telling Fox News Digital that it was to spread his message that ‘wokeness’ was a ‘quiet cancer.’

‘My goal today was actually not to seek endorsements. My endorsement strategy is actually let the people come to me, who actually agree with the vision that I have,’ he said in response to Fox News Digital’s question on his goal for the visit and whether he’d won any support there. 

‘The goal here was in my capacity as a citizen, not even as a candidate today, but a relationship that I’d begun with many people in this movement the last several years, to speak up on behalf of a quiet cancer that threatens to kill the American Dream that allowed me to achieve everything I have in my life.’

Some lawmakers in attendance, like Waltz and Hageman, had already thrown their support behind former President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid — by far considered the most likely primary winner. Poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight projects Ramaswamy’s current support at 2.5%, and while he’s netted some state-level backers, he has yet to be endorsed by a sitting federal legislator.

But it has not deterred Ramaswamy, who pledged to speak to anyone who wants to discuss his campaign.

‘Today I’m actually happy to announce coming out of this meeting, I’ll be the first person to sign the ‘Talk to Anyone’ pledge. We in this movement will not just talk to certain wings of the media. And so I’m proud to lead the way, and I’ll be the first signatory of this new pledge coming out of the discussion we had today. That left wing media, right wing media, university campuses, Black communities, White communities, it doesn’t matter. I’m the first to sign the pledge that we in our movement will talk to anybody, and practice what we preach when it comes to free speech,’ he said.

Ramaswamy told the gathered lawmakers earlier in the session, ‘The way we defeat the woke agenda is by diluting it to irrelevance with a vision of what it means to be an American and why you’re proud to be American.’

‘One myth perpetuated by the media is that the Republicans fighting against wokeness can’t define it. I can tell you that’s false,’ he said. ‘Wokeness refers to a philosophy in America, which says that your identity is based on the color of your skin, your race, your gender, or your sexual orientation, and that you’re either oppressed or you’re an oppressor, depending on your genetic characteristics. And furthermore, that you have to do everything you can even through the private sector, to correct for those injustices to have left defines it, it’s how the right should define it.’

The businessman-turned-politician was at one point forced to defend his position when asked whether he believed racism played any role in societal divisions today. 

‘There is no winner in the oppression Olympics in America. The only loser is America itself in the end, so at some point, I think we have to stop driving with our eyes in the rearview mirror,’ Ramaswamy said. ‘I think the right way we do that is by ceasing and stopping this obsession with our skin-deep diversity and differences and start celebrating our true strength, not our diversity, but what united us across those diverse attributes — that American dream.’