Several female Democratic senators were put on the spot Sunday on whether Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., should resign from the Senate amid her ongoing health issues, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., saying time is running out for the 89-year-old to return.

Klobuchar said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ that Feinstein, who hasn’t voted since Feb. 16, ‘sure better’ return to the Senate in time for the vote to raise the debt ceiling this summer. 

‘In this case, we are going to need her vote on the Senate floor eventually,’ she said. ‘We have things like the debt ceiling coming up. But I think what we need to do is take her at her word, she’s recovering from shingles, and make sure she comes back. If this goes on month after month after month, then she’s going to have to make a decision with her family and her friends about what her future holds.’

‘Because this isn’t just about California. It’s also about the nation,’ she continued. ‘And we just can’t, with this one vote margin, and expect every other person to be there every single time. It’s going to become an issue as the months go by, but I’m taking her at her word that she’s going to return.’

Feinstein, who has served in the Senate for over 30 years, was hospitalized for shingles last month and has faced other health issues, including concerning reports related to her mental fitness. She had previously faced calls to resign prior to announcing her intention not to run for re-election earlier this year.

Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Dean Phillips, D-Minn., have led the call for Feinstein to resign.

‘While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people,’ Khanna said last week.

‘Sen. Feinstein is a remarkable American whose contributions to our country are immeasurable,’ Phillips said. ‘But I believe it’s now a dereliction of duty to remain in the Senate and a dereliction of duty for those who agree to remain quiet,’ he wrote.

Meanwhile, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY., took a similar tone as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in suggesting sexism was at play in the calls against Feinstein.

‘Her legacy and her depth of experience is valuable. And we have had so many senators who have had illnesses, whether it’s [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell’s illnesses, or senators who have had strokes. These are issues that – we’re human,’ Gillibrand said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’

‘And we believe that a senator should be able to make their own judgments about when they’re retiring and when they’re not, and they all deserve a chance to get better and come back to work,’ she said. ‘She’s a team player, and she’s an extraordinary member of the Senate. It’s her right. She was voted by her state to be senator for six years, she has the right, in my opinion, to decide when she steps down.’

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ that ‘it’s up to Dianne Feinstein and her family to decide whether she wants to keep on serving.’

‘I certainly wish Sen. Feinstein well, and I’m pleased that she has made the decision to have a fill-in on her seat on the Judiciary Committee,’ Baldwin said. ‘I think that is really an important and responsible thing to do during her absence, because we have President Biden’s nominees waiting for hearings and votes, and we want to keep that moving. But I wish her well and hope she returns to the Senate very soon.’

Feinstein said in a statement Wednesday that she plans to temporarily step down from the Judiciary Committee.

‘When I was first diagnosed with shingles, I expected to return by the end of the March work period,’ Feinstein said. ‘Unfortunately, my return to Washington has been delayed due to continued complications related to my diagnosis.

‘I intend to return as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it’s safe for me to travel. In the meantime, I remain committed to the job and will continue to work from home in San Francisco.’ 

Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

A George Soros-bankrolled prosecutor in St. Louis already mired in allegations of negligence and misconduct was hit with more bad news on Friday, when one of the few remaining prosecutors who handles the city’s most violent felonies abruptly resigned, citing a ‘toxic work environment.’

Natalia Ogurkiewicz, 27, joined the office of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner in 2020 and handled several murder and other felony cases. She initially planned to leave Gardner’s office at the end of the month but announced Friday she was departing early, local media reported.

In her resignation letter, Ogurkiewicz didn’t hold back in lambasting Gardner while explaining her reasons for leaving.

‘As a St. Louis resident, I have lost trust in Kim Gardner from the inside,’ wrote Ogurkiewicz. ‘I do not believe that her leadership can stop the metaphorical or physical ballistics from continuing to fly through our city.’

Gardner is one of the first prosecutors whom Soros, a liberal billionaire and Democrat mega-donor, bankrolled in 2016 and again for her re-election in 2020. She announced last month that she’ll seek a third term.

Ogurkiewicz’s departure is the latest example of persistent staffing issues that have plagued Gardner’s office, which has long been understaffed and now has just five prosecutors left to handle hundreds of violent felonies.

Gardner, who took office in 2017, had a more than 100% turnover rate for attorneys in her first two years in office and by earlier this year had about half as many attorneys on staff as when she assumed the job. The effect of the high turnover in Gardner’s office has been ‘a state of dysfunction, low morale and dearth of legal wisdom necessary to safeguard the public from potentially dangerous criminals,’ the St. Louis Post-Dispatch previously reported.

A spokeswoman for the Circuit Attorney’s Office told the Post-Dispatch that the office couldn’t speak on personal matters but ‘continues to aggressively recruit and hire attorneys and support staff to serve the people of the city of St. Louis.’

The latest resignation comes as Gardner, a Democrat, is in a legal fight to hold onto her job. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, launched a legal process seeking to fire her, claiming the prosecutor is neglecting her duties by not enforcing the law or protecting public safety.

In her resignation letter, Ogurkiewicz said it was nearly impossible for prosecutors to keep up with the demands of an understaffed office, no matter how many hours they worked, describing an ‘untenable’ workload. Due to the staffing situation, Ogurkiewicz outlined how she had to fill several different roles and therefore spent significant time filing charges or issuing warrants rather than preparing for trials.

In 2021, Gardner came under fire after three murder cases under her purview were dismissed in one week due to prosecutors in her office not showing up for hearings or being unprepared.

More recently, St. Louis prosecutors last week dismissed and refiled charges against two men accused of killing a father and his seven-year-old daughter, likely pushing back the trial by months. According to an investigation by local CBS affiliate KMOV, the reason for the dismissal and refiling is that ‘the prosecutors weren’t ready for trial,’ which had been set to take place in a matter of days.

Dismissing and refiling cases has become increasingly common as Gardner’s understaffed office has struggled to prepare for trials, according to a Post-Dispatch analysis.

Gardner’s office seemed to blame police for having to dismiss and refile the double-murder case: ‘In this case, the CAO [Circuit Attorney’s Office] was not provided evidence in a timely manner due to acknowledged staffing challenges at the police department,’ Gardner spokeswoman Allison Hawk said in a statement.

The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association responded by lambasting Gardner’s office for trying to shift the blame. ‘Police officers shouldn’t be made scapegoats for an overworked, backlogged and mismanaged Circuit Attorney’s Office,’ the union said in a statement.

Ogurkiewicz noted the Circuit Attorney Office’s worsening relationship with St. Louis police during Gardner’s tenure has made prosecutors’ jobs more difficult, writing that ‘ongoing political and ideological conflict [with] the police department has obliterated the necessary teamwork and relationship for an agreed-upon system to exist.’

Ogurkiewicz, who has been subpoenaed in the attorney general’s lawsuit seeking Gardner’s removal, also slammed her former boss for her response to Bailey.

In February, Bailey filed a petition quo warranto, the legal mechanism under state statute that allows the attorney general to remove a prosecutor who neglects her duties. 

‘This is about a quantum of evidence that demonstrates her failure to prosecute cases, failure to inform and confer with victims in cases and failure to file new cases that are referred by law enforcement agencies,’ Bailey told Fox News Digital at the time of the filing.

He separately said in a statement that Gardner is ‘creating’ victims instead of ‘protecting’ them.

Bailey claims that nearly 12,000 criminal cases have been dismissed due to what he calls Gardner’s failures. He also says that more than 9,000 cases were thrown out as they were about to go to trial, forcing judges to dismiss more than 2,000 cases due to what Bailey described as a failure to provide defendants with evidence and speedy trials.

Gardner, who has refused to leave office amid Bailey’s probe, has called Bailey’s efforts a political witch hunt and a form of ‘voter suppression,’ suggesting that racism and sexism are behind some of the criticism against her. On Tuesday, she responded to Bailey’s allegations in a legal filing.

‘His amended petition is a gross power grab, an affront to the liberties of all Missourians and the democratic process,’ said Gardner. ‘If the attorney general or the political interests behind his petition were truly concerned about crime in St. Louis, they would seek to assist with resources.’

Gardner also blamed her subordinates for potential problems in a recent filing, an example of finger-pointing that Ogurkiewicz took issue with in her letter.

‘I will not work for a leader who makes public statements outright calling her attorneys ‘negligent’ and implying their incompetence,’ wrote Ogurkiewicz. ‘I feel like leading with integrity looks like standing by and supporting staff through all difficulties, not herding them like sheep to a media frenzy slaughter.’

A hearing is set for next week as part of Bailey’s removal effort for Gardner and members of her office to appear before a judge.

Ogurkiewicz, who worked in private practice before joining Gardner’s office, described the Circuit Attorney’s Office as a ‘toxic work environment’ where basic prosecutorial tasks weren’t getting accomplished

Last week, for example, a St. Louis judge sanctioned Gardner’s office for withholding evidence in a double-homicide case and for allowing the suspect out on bond.

‘The court finds that there have been repeated delays by the state in obtaining discovery and providing it to the defense,’ the judge wrote. ‘There has been a lack of diligence on the part of the state in following up and providing discovery to the defendant in a timely fashion. As a result of the state’s actions and lack of diligence, the court grants defendant’s second motion for sanctions.’

That same week, the attorney for a man accused of striking teenage volleyball player Janae Edmonson with his car and causing her to lose her legs entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of his client, but a judge had to print a copy of the indictment for him in court, because Daniel Riley’s attorney told the presiding judge that he had never got a copy of the indictment for his client from Gardner’s Office, so the judge printed one for him while he was in the courtroom, according to local reports.

Edmonson had been visiting St. Louis with her volleyball team. Riley, the man charged with assault, armed criminal action and operating a motor vehicle without a valid license, was out on bail awaiting trial for an armed robbery from 2020 and had violated the terms of his bond at least 50 times, according to local reports.

However, there is no record of Gardner’s office, which is responsible for monitoring compliance with bond conditions and revoking them when those terms are violated, asking for Riley’s bond to be revoked.

The case prompted Bailey to seek Gardner’s removal from office.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., says he will attempt to dismiss claims from Republicans about rising crime rates in New York City as he defends Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg during a field hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee next week.

Slated to take place in the Big Apple on Monday, the committee said this week the hearing will ‘examine how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents.’

But Nadler isn’t on board with the notion that Bragg is responsible for a rise in crime, or if there’s even a rise in crime at all, according to comments he offered to the New York Post.

‘We will show the essentially fraudulent nature of what Jim Jordan and company are claiming about the crime rates in New York and compared to other cities, including Republican-led cities,’ Nadler told the outlet.

Nadler — who represents New York’s 12th congressional district, which includes central Manhattan — also said he will use the opportunity in New York to talk ‘about how this whole hearing is part of Jim Jordan and the Republicans’ general attempts to obstruct justice and to attack the DA in Manhattan and to obstruct justice in the Trump case.’

Despite Nadler’s claim about the ‘fraudulent nature’ of Republican criticism about criminal justice in most populous city in the United States, certain violent crimes have increased in recent years.

Violent felony offense complaints jumped from 35,964 in 2020 to 38,645 in 2021 and then to 45,529 in 2022, according to New York Police Department data released earlier this year. Additionally, the total number of felony offenses — both violent and non-violent — rose from 95,593 in 2020 to 102,741 in 2021 to 126,589 in 2022.

While the city has experienced a recent jump in crime for certain offenses, it is not at a record high like it was in past decades. Previous NYPD data revealed there were nearly 530,000 major felony offenses in 1990 and more than 160,000 major felony offenses in 2001.

Nadler’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on this issue of crime in New York City.

The announcement for the New York City field hearing came less than a week after former President Donald Trump was arraigned for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records following Bragg’s years-long investigation into Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty.

After the indictment, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, accused Bragg of ‘unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority’ and demanded that he testify before Congress.

‘In light of the serious consequences of your actions, we expect that you will testify about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision,’ Jordan wrote in a letter to Bragg last month.

Last week, Jordan subpoenaed former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz to testify on the role he played investigating Trump’s finances before resigning in protest when Bragg initially declined to charge Trump with crimes. Jordan alleged that Pomertantz instigated a political investigation.

Bragg said the subpoena is an ‘unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation’ from House GOP members.

New York City Councilman Robert Holden, a Democrat who has represented New York City’s 30th district since 2018, told Fox News Digital earlier this week that he plans to testify at the Monday hearing that Bragg has contributed to the ‘lawlessness’ on city streets.

Holden said he is a life-long New Yorker who has had his ‘issues’ with Bragg since he took over as DA in January 2022.

‘When Bragg came in, he issued that ridiculous edict that he was not going to prosecute smaller crimes,’ Holden said. ‘What do we have in New York City? We have lawlessness on the streets.’

Additionally, Holden said he has ‘never seen the lawlessness we are seeing now.’

Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy and Brooke Singman contributed to this article.

Donald Trump Jr. defended beer conglomerate Anheuser-Busch on his podcast Thursday, urging listeners not to continue boycotting the company.

Trump claimed that the company was too ‘iconic’ to continue boycotting, and that the executives have learned a lesson.

‘So here’s the deal. Anheuser-Busch totally sh*t the bed with this Dylan Mulvaney thing. I’m not, though, for destroying an American, an iconic company for something like this,’ Trump Jr. said.

The beer company has faced intense criticism in recent weeks following the announcement it was partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

‘When I actually look into it, I’m not gonna blame the whole company for the inaction or the stupidity of someone in a marketing campaign that got woke as hell,’ Trump said of the collaboration on Thursday.

Trump cited Anheuser-Busch’s record of donating slightly more to conservative politicians than liberal ones as reason to keep buying their beer.

‘The company itself doesn’t participate in the same leftist nonsense as the other big conglomerates,’ Trump said. ‘Frankly, they don’t participate in the same woke garbage that other people in the beer industry actually do, who are significantly worse offenders when I looked into it. But if they do this again, then it’s on them! Then, screw them.’

Mulvaney, a trans activist and social media influencer who gained prominence when given an opportunity to interview President Biden about LGBTQ issues in 2022, revealed earlier this month that the beer company sent packs of Bud Light with her face printed on the cans as part of an ad for the beer company’s March Madness contest and as a way to celebrate a full year of ‘girlhood.’

Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth published a lengthy statement Friday, hoping to tamp down the animosity aimed at Bud Light and its parent company. 

‘We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,’ Whitworth said. ‘My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another. 

He added, ‘As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage.’

The statement received criticism from both sides of the transgender issue, with social media users asking what the message was supposed to be.

An official with the Chinese Embassy in the United States emailed a staff member of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, expressing China’s ‘grave concern’ with an upcoming hearing on the origins of COVID-19.

In an email sent on Friday at 2:15 a.m., Li Xiang, the Chinese Embassy’s liaison to Congress, emailed the staff member regarding the subcomittee’s hearing on April 18, which is titled ‘Investigating the Origins of COVID-19, Part 2: China and the Available Intelligence.’

‘I am Counselor Li Xiang with the Chinese Embassy in the US. I am reaching out to express our grave concern regarding the COVID-19 Origins hearing to be chaired by Congressman Wenstrup on next Tuesday. According to the announcement, the hearing is to examine ‘China’s complicity in the COVID-19′ crisis and hold China accountable. We firmly oppose it,’ Xiang wrote in the email.

A spokesperson for the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic told Fox News Digital that the Chinese Embassy’s attempt to silence the subcommittee’s work is ‘absurd.’

‘What is China trying to hide? The Embassy’s attempt to silence the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19 is absurd, and it will not work. Holding China accountable for its role in this crisis is an essential part of preparing our country to address future national security threats and pandemics. Chairman Wenstrup is committed to examining all intelligence related to where and how this pandemic began. The members of the Select Subcommittee will not stop or stall their investigation on account of ‘grave concerns,’ foreign intimidation, and baseless opposition,’ the spokesperson said.

The hearing on April 18 will feature testimony from Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Feith.

This isn’t the first time that the Chinese Embassy has attempted to pressure lawmakers who seek information on where the virus began.

In March, Xiang sent a letter to the chief of staff for Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., saying that the lawmaker’s bill to declassify information regarding the origins of COVID-19 were an act of ‘political manipulation.’

‘I am reaching out to express our grave concern regarding the ‘Covid-19 Origin Act of 2023′ (S.619), which falsely claimed that the Covid-19 coronavirus originated from Wuhan Institute of Virology, accuses China of blocking international investigations, refusing to share information and lacking transparency etc. and required the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID–19. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns this,’ the letter states.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who at one time was widely discussed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, took the far left to task for being soft on crime, arguing progressives are hurting the very people they claim to represent with their approach to criminals.

‘Democrats: When you ignore crime, you hurt the people you represent,’ Cuomo tweeted Thursday, along with a clip from Quake Media, the platform that hosts his podcast ‘As a Matter of Fact.’

The video, titled ‘Ignoring Crime: The opposite of progress,’ was posted to Cuomo’s YouTube channel.

‘The far left doesn’t want to talk about crime,’ said Cuomo. ‘They don’t want to hear the word crime spoken.’

‘There is no crime problem,’ the former governor added, using apparent sarcasm. ‘It’s all Republican propaganda.’

Cuomo then said crime most affects low-income and minority communities — the same people, he argued, Democrats should represent.

‘Do you know who are the victims of crime?’ he asked. ‘Over 70% black, brown, and poor. So, tell me, who does the Democratic Party really represent if not the Black, brown, and poor? And when you refuse to address the issue of crime, the people who are paying the price are the Black, brown and poor. They’re paying the price for your far-left politics.’

Cuomo’s comments come as some retail stores across the country are shutting their doors, citing crime as a key reason. 

This month, for example, a California beauty store closed after it was robbed or burglarized a dozen times. In Portland, Oregon, a clothing shop permanently shut down last year after facing a string of break-ins that has left the store financially gutted, according to a note posted to the front of the store. 

‘Our city is in peril,’ a printed note posted on Rains PDX store read. ‘Small businesses (and large) cannot sustain doing business, in our city’s current state. We have no protection, or recourse, against the criminal behavior that goes unpunished. Do not be fooled into thinking that insurance companies cover losses. We have sustained 15 break-ins … we have not received any financial reimbursement since the 3rd.’

Walmart has also closed several locations in Portland and Chicago, in part for financial reasons but also seemingly due to crime. The closures came after Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned last year of rising crime’s devastating impact on retail stores.

‘Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,’ McMillon told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ in December. He added that if the crime wave is not halted soon and if prosecutors don’t bring charges against shoplifters, ‘prices will be higher, and/or stores will close.’

In Philadelphia, convenience store chain Wawa permanently closed locations and shortened the hours at some suburban stores due to crime.

Republicans have been quite critical of progressive prosecutors in Democrat-run blue cities, arguing they’re soft on crime and contributing to high crime rates in major cities.

In a striking move last year, San Francisco voters ousted progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin in a recall vote focused on his soft-on-crime policies, which included prosecuting significantly fewer felonies and misdemeanors than his predecessors. Boudin had said he wanted to abolish cash bail and end ‘mass incarceration.’

In St. Louis, city prosecutor Kimberly Gardner currently faces widespread backlash for pursuing similar policies — including an effort by Missouri’s attorney general to remove her from office.

Washington, D.C. also made national headlines recently for unsuccessfully attempting to implement a dramatic overhaul of its criminal code. Republicans and many Democrats complained that the proposal would ease criminal penalties in a city that is already suffering from rising crime rates.

Cuomo saw his political star in the Democratic Party rise as the COVID-19 pandemic raged and lockdowns were in full force in 2020. The governor’s candid daily press briefings and forceful action to shut down New York earned him national acclaim from many in his party, and President Biden even called him the ‘gold standard’ for governors. Members of the media pushed the prospect of Cuomo running for president. Some even called him the ‘acting president’ during former President Trump’s tenure.

Behind the scenes, however, a series of events were taking place that led Cuomo to resign from his office in disgrace.

In March 2020, Cuomo issued a directive for nursing homes to accept elderly patients with COVID-19. Thousands of people subsequently died in New York’s nursing homes.

Cuomo’s administration radically underreported the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in nursing homes. In January 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a damning report showing the extent of the damage. 

Months later, James released another report concluding that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women, including current and former employees. The report also found that Cuomo oversaw a workplace culture ‘rife with fear and intimidation.’

Cuomo resigned in August 2021. On his first full day as the former governor, his successor acknowledged the state had suffered nearly 12,000 more deaths from COVID than Cuomo publicly acknowledged.

Last month, a former Cuomo aide who had accused the ex-governor of sexual harassment in a federal lawsuit filed another lawsuit against New York, alleging the state government is accountable for Cuomo’s harassment and for the actions of other aides who didn’t act on the matter once it was reported.

Cuomo is also currently facing another lawsuit over nursing home deaths in New York during the pandemic, with the plaintiff alleging that Cuomo’s pride and ‘unmitigated greed’ had led to needless deaths.

The lawsuit was filed by Sean Newman in a Brooklyn federal district court. Newman is married to Janice Dean, who works for Fox News Channel as a senior meteorologist. Newman’s parents died in early 2020 at nursing homes in the state amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

EXCLUSIVE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his family visited first lady Casey DeSantis’ hometown in Troy, Ohio, this week, touring her elementary school and paying a visit to a favorite local diner for hamburgers and milkshakes between political events in the Buckeye State.

The governor and first lady, along with their children Madison and Mason, took a trip down memory lane Thursday between speaking events for the Republican governor in Akron and West Chester Township.

According to DeSantis’ office, the family visited K’s Hamburger Shop, a favorite local eatery of Casey DeSantis growing up, and met with employees and diners. They also looked through the first lady’s yearbook over burgers and milkshakes.

Later, they toured Heywood Elementary School, meeting teachers and staff before finding Casey DeSantis’ class picture from her days as a student and the classroom where her mother taught as a speech pathologist.

Ron and Casey spoke to a crowd of 900 at a dinner hosted by the Butler County Republican Party. The governor also spoke to a crowd at the Summit County GOP’s Lincoln Day Breakfast in Akron, Ohio.

DeSantis, a former congressman, saw his popularity soar among conservatives across the country over the past three years due to his forceful pushback against COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and fighting against the media, corporations and teachers unions while improving the state’s economy. He won re-election by a comfortable 19 points last year.

DeSantis is widely considered an eventual candidate for president in 2024 and has already been the target of attacks from former President Trump, the polling front-runner for the GOP nomination next year.

After visiting Ohio Thursday, DeSantis gave speeches Friday in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Manchester, New Hampshire. The governor didn’t mention his anticipated presidential campaign in his speech in New Hampshire, other than to repeat his frequently used line that ‘I have only begun to fight.’

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The Democrats in the Oregon state legislature were excoriated by the legislature’s Republican leaders for passing the ‘most extreme abortion and gender-altering legislation in our nation’s history’ out of committee.

Thursday saw Oregon House Bill 2002A expanding abortion access and ‘gender-affirming treatment’ pass through the Beaver State’s Joint Committee on Ways and Means on Thursday without any Republican support.

Oregon Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp and House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson released a lengthy statement condemning the passage of the bill out of committee.

‘Tonight, during the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, despite uncertain facts and unanswered questions, Oregon Democrats passed the most extreme abortion and gender-altering legislation in our nation’s history,’ the GOP leaders wrote.

‘The legislative manipulation witnessed tonight was too fast and too extreme for Oregon. In less than an hour of debate in tonight’s meeting, without public input and minimal time for Q&A, Democrat leadership forced this bill through knowing that there will be no further opportunity for public input,’ they continued.

‘During the committee meeting, Democrat committee leadership audibly gasped when Legislative Counsel confirmed that 10-year-olds would be able to get abortions without parental knowledge under the legislation they were ‘intimately involved with crafting,’’ the lawmakers wrote.

Knopp and Breese-Iverson said that as ‘Democrat committee leadership stated tonight, Republicans ‘should have known this was coming’ and prepared accordingly.’

‘We did know, we did prepare, we did come equipped with thorough questions,’ the GOP leaders said. ‘They simply could not answer them and would not give us more time.’

‘If this policy was truly a well-crafted, well-vetted Democrat priority, why were government attorneys unable to answer the questions asked of them tonight with even an ounce of certainty?’ they asked.

The lawmakers noted there ‘are 73 days left in this Legislative Session’ and said the ‘time constraint argued by the Democrats is self-imposed,’ as they ‘are in the majority, and they set the agenda.’

‘House and Senate Republicans will continue to stand for the safety of children and the rights of parents,’ Knopp and Breese-Iverson said. ‘This is a day we won’t soon forget.’

The bill would shield patients and providers from civil or criminal liability as more states ban abortion following the Dobbs ruling and allow a person to sue someone who interfered with their receipt of reproductive health care.

The bill prohibits health care providers from disclosing minor patients’ use of ‘reproductive health care information or services’ to their parent or legal guardian without authorization from the patient.

The measure would allow doctors to provide reproductive health care services, including abortion, ‘to any person without regard to the age.’

‘If a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacist or naturopathic physician provides reproductive health care information or services to a minor as described in ORS 109.640 (2), the physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacist or naturopathic physician may not disclose to the minor’s parent or legal guardian information regarding the information and services provided unless: (a) The minor has authorized the disclosure in writing; (b) The disclosure is authorized under ORS 192.567; or (c) The disclosure is otherwise required by federal law.’

A spokesperson for the Oregon Senate Democratic Caucus told Fox News Digital this ‘bill protects Oregonians’ basic rights and freedoms, specifically the right to make decisions about their own bodies.’

‘This is a right our state has protected for decades. We’re taking common sense steps to restore the rights Oregonians’ had before Roe was overturned,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘This bill does not tell doctors or patients what medical decisions to make, nor change parental consent protocols, nor allow doctors to go against standard medical procedure.’

‘Following standard process, this bill has been thoroughly vetted by multiple committees, subject-matter experts, and the public,’ they continued. ‘Republicans followed these same procedures when they were in the majority.’

Additionally, the bill would require gender-affirming care that is medically prescribed to be covered under insurance. 

Oregon Democrats made the bill one of their top priorities after Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.

Democrat Rep. Tawna Sanchez did not immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has charged itself with damaging the habitat of threatened and endangered birds it is legally bound to protect.The Garden State’s Division of Fish and Wildlife was sent a violation notice for unauthorized habitat construction for the American woodcock, which unwittingly displaced barred owl and red-shouldered hawk populations in Gloucester County.’This never should have happened. They must also take steps to improve their clearly inadequate internal review process and meaningfully engage the public,’ New Jersey Conservation Foundation head Tom Gilbert said.

New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection has charged itself with damaging habitat for threatened and endangered birds that it was supposed to protect.

The work was designed to create habitat for one species of bird, but actually wound up destroying habitat for two others.

The department acknowledged it sent a violation notice and threatened penalties against its own Division of Fish and Wildlife regarding unauthorized work in February and March at the Glassboro Wildlife Management Area in Clayton, Gloucester County.

It was unclear how any penalties might work when the DEP is both the accuser and the accused. It also was not immediately clear whether any money might actually change hands. The department did not respond to questions about potential fines.

The work involved the clearing of vegetation and disturbance of soils on nearly 3 acres of what the state calls ‘exceptional resource value freshwater wetlands.’ Before the work was done, this land was considered suitable habitat for the barred owl, which is listed as a threatened species, and the red-shouldered hawk, an endangered species.

The project also cleared and disturbed an additional 12 acres of land near wetlands known as transition areas, which also are protected.

The DEP refused Friday to discuss how the work happened without authorization.

On its website, the department wrote on Feb. 1 that the work sought to create 21 acres of habitat for the American woodcock, a member of the sandpiper family that uses its long, narrow beak to forage for earthworms in damp soil. The project was designed to create ‘meadow habitat.’

But in doing so, the state destroyed mature oak and pine forests in and near wetlands, and filled in some wetlands, four conservation groups said in a letter to the department in early March complaining about the work. The agency issued the violation notice on April 6.

‘The wetland soil and flora that were previously undisturbed have been destroyed, and the mature forest that was already habitat for numerous rare species of plants and birds was clear-cut logged,’ the groups wrote. ‘All trees have been cut, and all stumps bulldozed.’

Tom Gilbert, a leader of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, said, ‘This never should have happened. They must also take steps to improve their clearly inadequate internal review process and meaningfully engage the public.’

Jaclyn Rhoads, assistant executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, commended the state for owning up to its mistake, but said the DEP should provide a list of current projects on its website for public review.

‘It is because of the public that we were able to stop further destruction of this landscape,’ she said.

Agency spokesman Larry Hajna said the Fish and Wildlife Division’s Bureau of Land Management must implement appropriate soil conservation measures within 10 days and submit a plan within 30 days to restore the site. That must include removal of wood chips placed there.

By the end of April, the DEP intends to issue a notice of penalty assessment.

Fish and Wildlife will propose additional environmentally beneficial measures, which will be subject to a public comment period, Hajna said.

Pentagon files leaker Jack Teixeira faces a lengthy prison sentence and hefty fines for his crime, but any sentence will depend on the full impact of the leaked information. 

‘If he downloaded 50 documents at one time, they could charge him with the retention of 50 documents or they could do 50 different charges of retention,’ Cully Stimson, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Navy JAG, told Fox News Digital. ‘There’s sort of an art in how you charge these things or how you indict these things.’

FBI agents arrested Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guardsmen, at a home in North Dighton, Massachusetts, on Thursday in relation to a trove of classified documents that have been leaked online in recent months.

President Biden has said nothing leaked was ‘of great consequence,’ but White House national security spokesman John Kirby warned Wednesday, ‘We don’t know what else this individual or individuals might have and might still release.’  

Prosecutors on Friday charged Teixeira with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and willful retention of classified documents. He did not enter a plea and was ordered detained pending a hearing set for Wednesday, April 19, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, used the 1917 Espionage Act when discussing charges against Teixeira, which would carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison – ten years for the first charge, and five for the second. 

‘This criminal complaint gives us a hint, a big hint, about what the government thinks they have, what he did and where they’re going,’ Stimson said. He explained that if the case is as ‘cut and dry’ as the current facts indicate, the case will not take long to try. 

‘You can predict what a defense would be here,’ he continued. ‘This is a young, confused man. He was lonely. He had no one outside his little chat group to see this. He trusted them. He’s not a foreign agent. He’s not acting at the behest of a foreign agent. He’s a young guy. There’s no reason to ruin his life.’

The evidence may be so clear that Pentagon files leaker Jack Teixeira’s guilty sentence is just a matter of time, but the scope of his punishment depends on how damaging the leak proved to be – meaning that nothing is off the table, including the death penalty. 

‘In federal law, depending on how this is charged and depending on what they find out in their exploitation and collection of evidence – if, for example, we found out that the disclosures resulted in the death or deaths of individuals, and that was reasonably foreseeable, I can envision a hypothetical, factual scenario where the government asks for capital punishment.’ 

He pointed to the case of Chelsea Manning, who downloaded hundreds of thousands of files and gave them to WikiLeaks, who subsequently published the documents in full. The leak included the identities of people in Afghanistan who were helping the U.S. military. 

‘It was reasonably foreseeable that the Taliban and al-Qaeda would hunt those Afghan translators and others down and kill them, and in fact, that’s what happened,’ Stimson said. ‘But we didn’t know that at the beginning of the case, and we don’t know yet the full extent of what [Teixeira’s] done, and we don’t know the full extent of the damage that these disclosures have done.’

Biden has publicly opposed execution as a method of punishment, but his Department of Justice pushed for the use of capital punishment in the case of the Boston Marathon bomber, seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that vacated the decision. 

Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, claimed that the disclosures could have a ‘destructive impact’ on the country’s ability to collect intelligence.

‘It takes years to recruit human sources who are willing to betray their country and steal secrets from his/her country’s government and provide them to the United States,’ she explained. ‘It takes years and billions of dollars to map out access to adversarial (or allied) networks and systems, in order to intervene in their communications,’ Koffler said.

‘Now, some of these sources and channels will be patched up, closed and unusable by U.S. spy agencies. And massive amounts of taxpayers’ money will be wasted,’ she added. ‘Overall, the impact of this leak is disastrous.’

The evidence against Teixeira, who shared the documents with a small group of friends in a private online chat server, creates what Stimson referred to as a ‘slow plea,’ in which the guilt is ‘so overwhelmingly obvious that the defense can either try the case if the defendant wants to have a trial, or they just seek the best plea they can get and get it over with.’

‘You’re either an authorized recipient of classified information or you’re not – there’s no gray zone,’ Stimson added. ‘It doesn’t matter if you have a super secret cabal of little gamer weirdos and there’s only 12 or 15 or 25 in your little weirdo group.’

‘If they haven’t been vetted by the government and given top-secret security clearances, it doesn’t matter if it’s private or not: It matters whether it’s authorized to receive classified information.’