Former President Donald Trump’s legal team on Monday appealed a court order that required his former vice president, Mike Pence, to testify as part of the Justice Department’s probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to reports.

The appeal came just days after Pence said he would not contest a subpoena to testify for the special counsel, though he had initially argued that the subpoena violated the ‘speech or debate’ clause of the Constitution.

The speech or debate clause protects U.S. lawmakers from being questioned about comments they make while in the House and Senate. Pence argued the clause protected him due to the vice president’s role as president of the Senate.

Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed that Pence was correct in asserting that the speech or debate clause limits what prosecutors can ask of him, so Pence agreed not challenge the subpoena and testify.

But lawyers for Trump are attempting their own appeal of Pence’s court-ordered testimony in a legal filing that remains under seal.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who filed the subpoena for Pence’s testimony, is looking into both documents and testimony related to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol as well as Trump’s possible mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.

A spokesperson for Pence declined to comment on the Trump appeal.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstorm contributed to this report.

Gov. Phil Murphy has signed an executive order aimed at prioritizing skills and work experience over college degrees for some state jobs in New Jersey.

The order signed Monday directs the state’s civil service commission to identify jobs that require college degrees and determine which should have hiring guidelines revised to emphasize practical skills and experience over academic attainment.

Officials said hundreds of applicants each year are rejected ‘or dissuaded from applying’ due to educational requirements for state jobs with salaries that can top $120,000 per year.

‘Every American should have the ability to attain a good job with growth opportunities and secure their place in the middle class, regardless of whether or not they have a college degree,’ Murphy said in a statement.

Officials said six other states, including Pennsylvania, have taken similar action to de-emphasize college degrees in hiring.

The U.S. is very confident it can protect American interests in the Indo-Pacific as the Chinese military surrounds Taiwan, the White House said Thursday.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby offered the assessment to reporters during a Monday briefing. China is conducting extensive and ongoing military drills around the self-governed island throughout the past week, going so far as to simulate strikes on the island this past weekend.

‘How does the U.S. see these latest Chinese military exercises and is the U.S. confident that Taiwan and help from the U.S. could continue to deter China from a military solution?’ a reporter asked. ‘Their saber-rattling as we call it was a lot more than sabers, and it’s more than rattling.’

‘We’re monitoring the exercises closely, as you might imagine,’ Kirby responded, adding that they were a needless reaction to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s recent visit to the U.S. that sparked angry warnings from China.

‘We’re very comfortable and confident that we have in place, in the region, sufficient resources and capabilities to protect our national security interests in the Indo-Pacific,’ he continued. ‘I would add … there’s no reason for tensions across the Taiwan Strait to devolve into any kind of conflict.’

In total, the Chinese military deployed 71 aircraft and nine naval vessels around Taiwan as of Sunday.

The move comes in reaction to Tsai’s trip to the U.S. and her meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week. The trip was Tsai’s seventh transit of the U.S., and the second time she had met with a U.S. House speaker. Nevertheless, China made threats and warnings ahead of the visit.

Kirby emphasized that China was overreacting to the incident and highlighted Tsai’s past trips to the U.S. and meetings with U.S. lawmakers.

The White House backed up McCarthy’s meeting with Tsai, saying it was not out of the ordinary.

We recently learned a lesson which was more than three decades in the making. 

The lesson partially stems from two seemingly unrelated events.

The world noted the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine at the end of February. And after an air incursion by a spy balloon, saber-rattling over Taiwan and TikTok dance videos blowing up everyone’s phone, the U.S. Congress suddenly grew more serious about China. This culminated in a prime-time House hearing over the winter studying the threat posed by Beijing by a special House committee designed just to study problems between the U.S. and China. 

The Ukraine and China episodes are connected. And they explain a great deal about the Cold War and where the west thought the world was going in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Let’s go back in time.

1989 was a heady period.

It began in the spring when thousands of students and demonstrators crowded Tiananmen Square in Beijing pushing for economic reform, free speech and democracy.

An iconic set of images stands out from Tiananmen Square. A long column of Chinese Type 59 tanks rolls down a massive, tree-lined boulevard near the square. From the left, a lone, unidentified, Chinese man steps out into the street holding satchels in either hand. The man stands stoically as the tanks approach, slowing to a crawl. There is a momentary impasse as the man gestures wildly with his right arm. The tank then maneuvers to the side to drive around the man. But the man gallops to the left, blocking the tanks from passing. The man then stutter-steps, left and right as the tank tries to get around him. ‘Tank man’ finally climbs onto the tank and appears to speak briefly with someone inside the tank. 

He then resumes his human roadblock.

No one really knows what happened to ‘tank man.’

Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping declared martial law to clear the square. It’s unknown exactly how many Chinese were killed or wounded.

But everyone thought this was a seminal moment. The movement by the people was too powerful. Things would eventually trend in a different direction. Perhaps toward democracy.
Then came the fall of 1989. 

The Berlin Wall fell. The Eastern bloc fell. The Soviet Union disintegrated by the end of 1991. 

It was said that ‘western TV signals’ helped undo communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Citizens of those countries would watch reruns of ‘Dallas’ and ‘Miami Vice’ to see how the west lived. It was said that U.S. finally prevailed in the Cold War – not through military might – but with ‘Madonna and Coke.’

McDonald’s opened in Moscow. In the early 1990s, McDonald’s opened more than 4,000 restaurants in China. Business experts noted that at the time ‘one-fifth’ of the world’s potential Coke drinkers and McDonald’s diners resided in China. 

By the late 1990s, even former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev starred in a Pizza Hut commercial.

Experts believed that free trade and capitalism advocated by the west might moderate totalitarian movements and curb dictators. Oppressive regimes would be no match for forces of the market and economic opportunity.

Fast-forward to today.

Russia reverted toward its old ways, punctuated by the death and carnage its war unleashed on Ukraine. 

China is now a cyber-security state. The U.S. Department of Energy believes China may have sparked the coronavirus pandemic, with COVID-19 leaking from a Wuhan lab. Beijing now tracks Chinese nationals on U.S. soil via various ‘police stations’ set up in American cities. We mentioned the spy balloon and TikTok. Military experts believe a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is a high possibility in the coming years.

This is a pretty bleak assessment of the world’s geo-political situation compared to what was anticipated more than three decades ago.

The period the U.S. and the west now enters may be more dangerous than the most icy days of the Cold War. 

‘Over the past three decades, both Democrats and Republicans underestimated (China) and assumed that trade and investment would lead to democracy,’ said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill, the top Democrat on the House China panel. ‘Instead, the opposite happened.’

It’s hard to argue with that assessment.

‘As China’s economy has grown more than ten-fold since gaining access to U.S. and world markets, (China) has among other things, strengthened its authoritarian control at home,’ said Krishnamoorthi. ‘The goal (of China) has become clear, to displace the U.S. and other competitors. Especially in tomorrow’s strategic industries.’

The lesson the U.S. learned? They overstated optimism which brimmed as the curtains fell on the Cold War and democratic movements rustled in China.

The future the west expected in Eastern Europe and China never materialized. It could be argued that the U.S. found itself on a stronger footing near the end of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. That’s because you had two, reasonably equal superpowers. Now, you have a nuclear-armed Russia which eschewed democracy, ruled by an unpredictable Vladimir Putin. That might mean the U.S. and west is worse off in that relationship.

When it comes to China, the U.S. and westernized democracies are definitely worse off. Congress is considering banning TikTok since its technology pierces the privacy of 152 million Americans. There’s a potential threat of war over Taiwan. It’s doubtful the U.S. would sit that one out.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, just visited Taipei. He told colleague Aisha Hasnie that his committee has a ‘license’ to repel an attack militarily with the authorization of a use of force.

‘I think if communist China invades Taiwan, I think that is certainly if the American people support this, the Congress follow,’ said McCaul.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., recently met with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen in California.

When the Chinese embassy in Washington rebuked American lawmakers for heading to Taiwan and McCarthy huddling with Tsai, the Speaker scoffed that Beijing didn’t dictate with whom he would meet.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has been a thorn for China over human rights since a visit to Tiananmen Square in the early 1990s. To describe the relationship between Pelosi and McCarthy as ‘frosty’ does a disservice to Jack Frost. But Pelosi uncharacteristically applauded McCarthy for meeting with Tsai. Pelosi praised her Golden State colleague saying McCarthy should ‘be commended’ for ‘leadership’ huddling with Tsai. 

Now China is conducting military exercises in supposed retaliation for the recent enclaves between U.S. lawmakers and Taiwanese officials.

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu accused Beijing of engaging in what he termed ‘cognitive warfare,’ suggesting that the U.S. might not assist Taipei should China attack. 

‘We are not counting on the U.S. to directly intervene in war,’ said Wu. ‘But, if for Taiwan to be able to defend itself, there’s several things we need. One is for the United States to continue to provide defense weapons for us.’

Appearing on Fox, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., declared he’d ‘be very much open to using U.S. forces to defend Taiwan.’

But some Republicans are resistant to the U.S. supporting Ukraine. Most lawmakers from both sides back U.S. help for Taiwan. Where the public stands about American involvement in a shooting war with China is unclear. But don’t forget that there’s significant fatigue from two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, the Senate just voted to repeal two war authorizations for Iraq, one dating all the way back to the early 1990s.

So reconsider that optimism about the future three decades ago. 

‘For the time being, it’s still up to us to decide if that’s the future we want for our children. But it won’t be for much longer,’ said House China committee chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., at the prime-time hearing. ‘Time is not on our side. Just because this Congress is divided, we cannot afford to waste the next two years lingering in legislative limbo or pandering for the press.’

The future is now. 

And that bright future everyone hoped for 30 years ago may seem a lot darker today.

Democrats were dealt another blow from within their own ranks this week as yet another state lawmaker declared he was leaving the party.

According to a Monday report by The Advocate, a Louisiana-based newspaper, state Rep. Jeremy LaCombe announced he had left the Democratic Party and would be registering as a Republican.

It was not immediately clear what prompted LaCombe’s departure, however he is now the second Louisiana Democrat in less than a month to switch party affiliations, and the third nationwide after another state lawmaker in North Carolina did the same.

Last month, Louisiana state Rep. Francis Thompson gave Republicans in the state House a supermajority after he switched his party affiliation, and earlier this month, North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham gave Republicans in the state House a supermajority with her switch as well.

The switches come as President Biden faces a near-record low approval rating among key groups, including women (43% now vs. 42% low), voters ages 45+ (41% vs. 39% low), suburban voters (41% vs. 39% low), rural voters (31% vs. 30% low) and Democrats (81% vs. 78% low) – Democratic men in particular (79% vs. 78% low), according to a recent Fox News poll.

Biden is also at a low mark of 41% approval among suburban women. 

Additionally, a separate recent poll found that only a third of Americans believed Biden deserved to be re-elected in 2024.

Fox News’ Dana Blanton contributed to this report.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on Monday joined Democrats in their call for the Biden administration to ignore a Texas judge’s ruling on the abortion medication known as mifepristone, blasting the court decision as ‘unconstitutional.’

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled late Friday that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone was unlawful, a decision that effectively banned the sale of the drug. But the issue became a legal quagmire when the Texas ruling was followed within hours by a conflicting court decision out of Washington state that ordered the FDA to maintain the drug’s availability.

On CNN Monday, Mace said she agrees with Democrats who say that Biden should ignore the Texas decision: ‘It’s not up to us to decide as legislators … whether or not this is the right drug to use or not, No. 1, so I agree with ignoring it at this point.’

Asked by Fox News Digital why she believes the FDA should brush off the Texas ban, Mace said the decision was unlawful because the judge based his decision on an invalid law.

‘I disagree with the ruling,’ she said. ‘The judge used a law from 1873, which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional in 1983. And so the entire basis for the ruling, I would argue, was unconstitutional in that regard.’

She took it a step further in a separate interview with Fox News Digital and accused her fellow Republicans of being ‘on the wrong side of history’ on abortion rights, clarifying that she is pro-life.

Mace declined to say whether she was worried about whether ignoring the Texas judge would set a dangerous legal precedent. But she did say these sorts of decisions are being made, pointing to Missouri officials in a county who passed an ordinance to break its ties with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) after claiming the body was unconstitutional.

‘Look at Camden County in Missouri, I mean, they’re ignoring the ATF, saying that they’re unconstitutional,’ Mace said. ‘Both sides are fighting things that they believe are unconstitutional.’

‘Both sides fight things that they believe are unconstitutional,’ she added. ‘If it’s OK for one side, it should be OK for both sides. And I think that’s what we’re missing here in this argument.’

‘The other thing that we’re missing, too, is that [Republicans] are not on the right side of history, if we’re going to take the extreme position on this issue, because the vast majority of Americans are not with us on that. They’re just not,’ the moderate GOP lawmaker said.

On Monday, the Biden administration stepped up its fight against the Texas ruling by filing a request for a stay on the order that’s backed by the FDA and Health & Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Several Democrats spoke in favor of that decision. For example, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., both called on the Biden administration to ignore the abortion pill decision, which prompted criticism from Republican lawmakers over the left’s disregard for the judiciary.

‘The left is continuing its assault on the rule of law,’ Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital. ‘Whether it’s packing the Supreme Court, indicting the former president on flimsy charges or urging the administration to ignore a federal judge’s ruling, the left has made it clear they have contempt for the rule of law and care only about power.’

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, compared the Democrats leading the demand to the southern Democrats of the last century who were resisting the civil rights movement.

‘Like Southern Democrats against civil rights in the 1950s, progressive Democrats today are demanding that a federal agency ignore a legal ruling they don’t like,’ the Texas conservative wrote on Twitter.

A battle over a $1 billion transmission line that won all regulatory approvals only to be rebuked by state residents in a referendum now comes down to nine regular folks.

In a rare move, a jury is being asked to decide a complicated constitutional matter — whether developers have a vested right to complete the 145-mile project, which would supply Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid.

The constitutionality of the statewide referendum on the project depends on the jury’s decision on the narrow vested-rights issue. And the case could turn on a simple majority of jurors.

‘We’re not aware of a similar instance in which the fate of a large energy asset rests in the hands of a jury. This is an unusual circumstance,’ Timothy Fox, vice president of Clear View Partners, an energy research firm in Washington, D.C., said before the trial began Monday.

The courtroom was packed Monday.

Attorneys for groups opposed to the project and the state attorney general’s office, which is charged with upholding the referendum, suggested to jurors on Monday that developers rushed construction with a goal of winning vested rights and nullifying the referendum.

But John Armando, lawyer for the developers, said the construction schedule was put in place years earlier, and that the case is ‘about fundamental fairness, about vested rights, about protection of property rights against retroactive laws.’

Last year, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court breathed new life into the stalled project when it ruled the retroactive nature of the statewide vote to stop the project would violate the developers’ constitutional rights if substantial construction already had begun in good faith before the referendum. Construction started in January 2021, about 10 months before the referendum in which 59% of voters rejected the project.

Justice Michael A. Duddy could have made the fact-finding determination himself. But he ruled in favor of project opponents, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine, who asked for a jury to make the determination. The judge seated nine jurors and two alternates.

Central Maine Power’s parent company and Hydro Quebec teamed up on New England Clean Energy Connect, which was unveiled in 2017 with a goal of supplying up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid. That is enough electricity for 1 million homes.

It’s one of two proposed large-scale transmission projects aimed at tapping hydropower from Quebec. The other would provide electricity to New York City.

Early on, developers envisioned smooth sailing because the transmission path would mostly follow existing corridors, with only a new 53-mile (85-kilometer) section crossing sparely populated woods to reach the Canadian border.

But the project encountered opposition each step of the way even as it received all necessary regulatory approvals. Developers already had begun cutting trees and setting poles for months when the governor asked for work to be suspended after voters rejected the project in November 2021.

Supporters say bold projects such as this one, funded by ratepayers in Massachusetts, are necessary to battle climate change and introduce additional electricity into a region that is heavily reliant on natural gas, which can cause spikes in energy costs.

Critics say the project’s environmental benefits are overstated — and that it would harm the woodlands in western Maine.

In Maine, two lawsuits over the project went before the Supreme Judicial Court, which ultimately upheld a lease for a 1-mile portion of the proposed power line that crossed state land.

The constitutional issue will likely end up back before the Supreme Judicial Court regardless of the outcome of the judge’s decision after the jury trial.

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, one of two Black Democratic lawmakers expelled last week from the GOP-led statehouse, is being sent back to the Legislature. 

The Nashville Metropolitan Council voted unanimously Monday to restore Jones to office, less than a week after GOP lawmakers stripped him of his seat. 

Republicans expelled Jones and fellow Democratic lawmaker Justin Pearson over their role in a gun-control protest on the House floor in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville. Pearson could be reappointed as early as Wednesday by the Shelby County Commission.

A third Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, was targeted for expulsion as well, but was spared by a single vote. Johnson, who is White, has suggested that race was a factor in why Jones and Pearson were ousted but not her.

Republican lawmakers justified splitting their votes by saying Johnson had less of a role in the protest — she didn’t speak into a megaphone, for example.

Political tensions rose when the three joined with hundreds of demonstrators who packed the Capitol to call for the passage of gun-control measures just days after six people — including three children — were killed in a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville. 

As protesters filled galleries, the lawmakers approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn and participated in a chant. 

GOP leaders have said the expulsions — a mechanism used only a handful of times since the Civil War — were necessary to avoid setting a precedent that lawmakers’ disruptions of House proceedings through protest would be tolerated.

Jones’ appointment is on an interim basis. Special elections for the seats will take place in the coming months. Jones and Pearson have said they plan to run in the special election.

Before the special council session began, a couple of hundred people gathered in front of the Nashville courthouse, and more were pouring in. Some held signs reading, ‘No Justin, No Peace.’ Inside the courthouse, a line of people waited outside the council chambers for the doors to open.

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s spokesperson, Doug Kufner, indicated that whoever is appointed to the vacancies by the Nashville and Shelby County governments ‘will be seated as representatives as the constitution requires.’

House Majority Leader William Lamberth and Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison said they would welcome back the expelled lawmakers if they are reinstated.

‘Tennessee’s constitution provides a pathway back for expulsion,’ Lamberth and Faison said in a joint statement. ‘Should any expelled member be reappointed, we will welcome them. Like everyone else, they are expected to follow the rules of the House as well as state law.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Senate Democrats are demanding Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts open an investigation into Justice Clarence Thomas over what they decry as his ‘misconduct’ detailed in a ProPublica report published last week.

The liberal outlet’s report accused Thomas of improperly receiving lavish vacations from Republican mega donor Harlan Crow, which reportedly included taking trips across the world on the latter’s yacht and private jet without disclosing them. 

In a Monday letter, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., along with every Democrat on the committee, cited the report as proof that Thomas has not upheld the ethical standards set for a Supreme Court justice.

‘The report describes conduct by a sitting Justice that he did not disclose to the public and that is plainly inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any person in a position of public trust,’ the letter read. ‘The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has legislative jurisdiction over Federal courts and judges, has a role to play in ensuring that the nation’s highest court does not have the federal judiciary’s lowest ethical standards.’ 

‘You have a role to play as well, both in investigating how such conduct could take place at the Court under your watch, and in ensuring that such conduct does not happen again. We urge you to immediately open such an investigation and take all needed action to prevent further misconduct,’ it added.

Experts, however, have dismissed the ProPublica report as political hit piece, and explained that justices are permitted to accept invites to properties of friends for dinner or vacations without paying for it or disclosing it.

‘This is just grasping at straws by the left that is desperate to tear down Justice Thomas because he now has a working originalist majority on the court,’ Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy and The Joseph C. and Elizabeth A. Anderlik Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital following the report’s release.

‘This is politics. Plain and simple,’ he added.

Constitutional law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley told Fox News Digital that until recently, ‘even lower court judges were not required to report such trips under a personal hospitality exception.’

‘Justice Thomas would not have been required to report the trips under the prior rule,’ Turley said. ‘Once again, the Democrats and the media appear to be engaging in the same hair-triggered responses to any story related to Thomas. This includes the clearly absurd call for an impeachment by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.’

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller and Matteo Cina contributed to this report.

Chasten Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s husband, snapped back at Americans boycotting Anheuser-Busch’s decision to make transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney the star of one of its latest Bud Light commercials.

On Monday, Chasten turned to Twitter  to speak to those boycotting the blue-canned, frothy alcoholic beverage.

‘If you’re upset about a beer company supporting civil rights, you might want to start bottling your tears,’ Buttigieg tweeted. ‘LGBTQ people drink water, too. Gonna boycott that next?’

Buttigieg was referring to criticism of the beer company’s decision to celebrate and partner with Mulvaney, a social media influencer famous for her ‘365 Days of Girlhood.’

The trans activist revealed earlier this month that Anheuser-Busch sent packs of Bud Light with the trans activist’s face on the can, as a way to celebrate Mulvaney’s first full year of ‘girlhood.’

The announcement received a significant amount of criticism, and some called the ad campaign another attempt to push gender propaganda.

In fact, conservative rocker Kid Rock was seen opening fire on several Bud Light cases in a viral video, and many have called to boycott Bud products.

Country star Travis Tritt announced that he is dropping all Anheuser-Busch products from his hospitality rider. Tritt added that many other stars are doing likewise, but not announcing it publicly.

Buttigieg’s tweet also received staunch criticism.

One Twitter user posted, ‘Goodness this is a stupid tweet…,’ while another replied to Buttigieg’s tweet by says, ‘So ‘civil rights’ for you consists of a man taking a woman’s position because he perpetuates the most regressive stereotypes of what a misogynist thinks it means to be a woman? [Dually] noted.’

Buttigieg recently spoke out against the GOP for banning sexually-explicit books from school libraries and passing laws against transgender drugs and medical procedures for minors. 

In March, he joined ‘The View,’ telling the hosts it is an ‘extremely dangerous time’ in American history.

He went on to say, ‘it’s been a very well-coordinated, well-funded effort to attack the LGBTQ+ community, specifically with the book bans.’