New York Republican Rep. George Santos introduced a bill Friday that would prevent the U.S. government from providing financial aid to any country that discriminates or takes legal action against its residents based on sexual orientation.

Titled the ‘Equality and Fiscal Accountability Protection Act of 2023,’ the bill, according to Santos’ office, would ‘require that countries receiving federal aid from the United States protect those based on sexual orientation and for other purposes.’

‘Discrimination against both women and the LGBTQ community is unacceptable,’ Santos said in a statement about the legislation. ‘My bill will send a clear message that the United States will not offer federal aid to countries found to be violating the rights of individuals based on sexual orientation. We as a nation have a responsibility to stand up for the human rights of all people, regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation.’

Under the bill, Santos’ office said the State Department would be required to ‘assess a country’s human rights record before providing federal aid.’

Countries found in violation of certain human rights ‘would be ineligible to receive aid until they take steps to address the issues,’ Santos’ office noted.

Santos introduced the measure after Uganda lawmakers looking to outlaw homosexual activity in the country passed a bill Tuesday prescribing jail terms of up to 10 years for those who have same-sex relations.

Following its passage, the bill, which has received support from a great deal of lawmakers in the country, was sent to the desk of President Yoweri Museveni, who has also expressed support for it. In a recent speech, Museveni accused Western countries of ‘trying to impose their practices on other people.’

The bill creates an offense of ‘attempted homosexuality,’ punishable by up to 10 years jail time. It also creates an offense called ‘aggravated homosexuality,’ which applies to sexual relations among those infected with HIV, minors and other categories. Its punishment is not immediately clear.

The United States currently ‘provides significant health and development assistance to Uganda, with a total assistance budget exceeding $950 million per year,’ according to the State Department’s website.

‘The U.S. mission is working with the government of Uganda to improve tax collection and oil revenue management, and to increase Uganda’s domestic funding for public services and the national response to HIV/AIDS,’ the State Department noted in March 2022.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warned this week that if the law were enacted, Washington would ‘have to take a look’ at imposing economic penalties on Uganda.

‘We’re certainly watching this real closely. And we would have to take a look at whether or not there might be repercussions that we would have to take, perhaps in an economic way, should this law actually get passed — enacted,’ Kirby told reporters.

Kirby noted that this would be ‘really unfortunate’ since most U.S. aid is in the form of health assistance, especially anti-AIDS assistance.

Same-sex relations in Uganda are already criminalized under a colonial-era penal code. Harsh anti-gay legislation enacted in 2014 later was annulled by a panel of judges amid international condemnation. That bill, in its original draft, had called for the death penalty for some homosexual acts.

Asuman Basalirwa, who sponsored the new measure in Uganda, said his bill would punish ‘promotion, recruitment and funding’ related to LGBTQ activities.

Homosexuality is already illegal in more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries.

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and Julia Musto, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this article.

The governor of Idaho has signed into law a bill legalizing the use of a firing squad in state executions.

Gov. Brad Little signed the bill after it was passed on March 20 by a veto-proof majority of the Idaho Legislature.

Under the new law, firing squads will not be the first option and will only be utilized for executions when the drugs necessary for a lethal injection are unavailable.

Idaho is the fifth state in the country to legalize the practice, following Utah, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Mississippi.

The newly legalized execution method could impact the state’s eight current death row inmates and possibly the future of student stabbings suspect Bryan Kohberger. 

He could face death if convicted of any of four first-degree murder charges he faces in the November deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle.

‘The firing squad is the quickest, surest and most error-free and the only technique for which we have skilled and trained professionals,’ says Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno, a leading expert on the death penalty in the U.S.

Denno, who has researched methods of execution for the past three decades, has written seven articles cited by the Supreme Court on the topic, according to her university biography.

In addition to a persistent scarcity of approved lethal injection drugs, the procedure is difficult for a number of reasons.

Condemned inmates often have vein damage due to prolonged drug use, some of them are too obese, and others have too much muscle, she said. Others are so nervous that their veins contract.

In some gruesome cases, executioners are forced to cut into the inmate’s neck or groin to find a place to insert the needle. At times, condemned inmates have even assisted prison personnel in inserting it themselves.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced Saturday that he was released from the rehabilitation facility that was treating him for his recent concussion.

‘I want to sincerely thank everyone for all the kind wishes. I’m happy to say I finished inpatient physical therapy earlier today and I’m glad to be home,’ McConnell said in a statement.

‘I’m going to follow the advice of my physical therapists and spend the next few days working for Kentuckians and the Republican Conference from home,’ the statement added. ‘I’m in frequent touch with my Senate colleagues and my staff. I look forward to returning in person to the Senate soon.’

McConnell, who was first elected in 1984, tripped and fell at a private dinner on March 8. He fractured his ribs, in addition to sustaining a concussion.

The Kentucky senator was released from the hospital five days later and moved into an inpatient rehabilitation facility for physical therapy.

McConnell also fell in his Kentucky home in 2019, which fractured his shoulder and required surgery.

McConnell was not the only U.S. senator receiving medical treatment in March. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was also hospitalized during McConnell’s stay. 

Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on February 15 for mental health issues. It is unclear when he will return to the Senate.

‘He’ll be back soon, at least over a week, but soon,’ spokesperson Joe Calvello said Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Two Cuban migrants took to the air to enter the U.S. illegally on Saturday as they used a powered hang glider to fly into an airport in Florida – before being taken into Border Patrol custody after touchdown, authorities said.

Border Patrol agents in the Miami Sector nabbed the two migrants after they landed in the contraption at the Key West International Airport.

Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar said there were no reported injuries in the incident and praised the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office for its assistance. The office said that the incident took place at approximately 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday.

The incident demonstrates the lengths to which some migrants will go to gain access to the United States. Migrants have used a variety of methods to cross the short distance, including small boats, to flee the communist regime in Cuba for decades.

While much of the attention related to border security and illegal immigration has focused on the U.S.-Mexico land border, others have sought to draw attention to both the northern border and the maritime border.

The Miami Sector, where the migrants were caught, has seen an increase in apprehensions from around 1,000 in FY 2020 and FY 2021 to over 4,000 in FY 2022 to more than 5,000 so far in FY 23, which began in October. 

This week, the Homeland Maritime Security Subcommittee held a hearing on securing the often-overlooked border. Chairman Carlos Gimenez said that authorities were doing ‘tireless work’ despite being put into an ‘untenable’ position. He highlighted that, since Aug 2022, nearly 11,000 migrants have been repatriated after attempting to cross the Florida Straits.

Meanwhile, this fiscal year the U.S. has seen an increase in Cubans coming to the U.S. southern land border as well. There were over 220,000 encounters of Cubans at the southern border in FY 2022, up from 38,674 in FY 2021. So far in FY 2023, there have been over 113,000 encounters.

Cubans were one of the nationalities included in a humanitarian parole program expanded by the Biden administration in January that allows up to 30,000 migrants per month from four countries to fly directly into the U.S. That was combined with an extension of Title 42 expulsions to include those who enter illegally.

Minnesota lawmakers on Thursday advanced legislation that would establish the state as a ‘trans refuge’ for children who are seeking transgender medical procedures but who may be denied ‘gender-affirming care’ in other states.

In a party-line 68-62 vote, the Minnesota House passed HF 146, which had been introduced by Rep. Leigh Finke of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Finke is the state’s first transgender lawmaker. 

Democrats supporting the bill say the legislation will protect transgender people, their families and healthcare providers from facing legal repercussions for traveling to Minnesota to obtain cross-sex hormone prescriptions or sex-change procedures. Similar legislation has been introduced in California and other states with Democratic-controlled legislatures, which seek to counter Republican states that have sought to ban transgender procedures for minors. 

‘Gender-affirming care is lifesaving health care,’ Finke told reporters ahead of debate on the bill. ‘Withholding or delaying gender-affirming care can have a dramatic impact on the mental health of any individual who needs it. Rates of depression, suicide, substance abuse are dramatically higher in transgender and gender-expansive individuals who lack access to care.’

HF146 would prevent law enforcement from removing a child from parental custody in accordance with an order from outside Minnesota. 

This legislation is meant to ensure that children undergoing gender transition procedures allowed under Minnesota law cannot be governed by child protection laws of other states. It’s a direct response to neighboring South Dakota, where Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed a law banning puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone treatments, and sex-change operations for transgender individuals under the age of 18. 

Advocates for transgender people say that denying ‘gender-affirming care’ to trans youth inflicts harm on a marginalized group that is already at a higher risk of suicide. 

‘The protections outlined in HF 146 are vital for health care providers, who can continue to provide gender-affirming health care to their patients consistent with best practices, without fear of interference or punishment from other states,’ said Jess Braverman, Legal Director for Gender Justice. ‘Parents are being forced to make an impossible decision, between staying in their homes and risking their child’s health and safety, or uprooting their lives and relocating, often at great personal cost. We can do our part to help by making it clear that if families move to Minnesota, they and their children will be protected under the law.’ 

However, conservative groups and family law attorneys warn that the legislation is written in such a way as to open the door for Minnesota parents to lose custody of their children if they refuse to provide them with transgender care. 

‘The most insidious aspect of this bill is the language that adds children who are being denied ‘gender-affirming care’ (defined as everything from therapy to hormone blockers, to transition surgery) to what amounts to the definition for a child ‘in need of protection or services’ in Minnesota, allowing the courts to take ‘emergency custody’ of the child,’ said Bob Roby, a licensed attorney in Minnesota with more than 30 years experience in family and juvenile court.  

Roby has studied HF 146 extensively in preparation to testify before legislative committees. He said that the way the bill is written, categorizing a child being denied transgender care alongside abuse, turns laws meant to protect children on their head. 

‘This kind of court power has a long-standing precedent in Minnesota for keeping children safe. When a child is at risk of being harmed by a parent or custodian, the State has immediate authority to remove and protect the child from harm. Without this, there would be no way to protect children in those situations,’ Roby told Fox News Digital in an email. ‘To add children who are being denied ‘gender affirming care’ to the definition of children in need of this kind of drastic emergency action is obviously unwarranted.’

Roby observed that courts do not recognize parental rights or any other right where a child is being abused. He accused the state legislature of ‘criminal negligence’ for failing to consider the impact of HF 146. 

Renee Carlson, General Counsel of True North Legal, a legal initiative of Minnesota Family Council, warned that the bill as written will ‘create confusion and increased litigation for the courts, while stripping parents of their fundamental rights, disregarding informed consent, and encouraging young children on a dangerous path to serious lifelong biological and medical consequences.’

Transgender issues are highly controversial, with strong feelings on both sides. Hundreds of supporters and opponents of the legislation protested at the state Capitol building as lawmakers debated the bill. Black signs with white text said, ‘Protect Kids’ as dozens yelled, ‘Vote no!’ Others shouted back, ‘Vote yes!’ and held signs with colors from the trans flag — baby blue and pink — that read, ‘You belong here.’

Whether gender-affirming care is right for minors has become a major flash point in the culture wars across the country. The unicameral Nebraska Legislature gave preliminary approval earlier Thursday to a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Georgia’s governor, Republican Brian Kemp, signed a ban Thursday. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, another Republican, did so Wednesday. The Missouri Senate gave preliminary approval to a ban Tuesday. Bans were enacted earlier in South Dakota, Utah and Mississippi.

The ‘trans refuge’ bill, which seeks to counter those efforts, now heads to the Minnesota state Senate, where Democrats hold a one-seat majority. A similar bill is awaiting further action there after receiving a hearing last month. The chief Senate author, Sen. Erin Maye Quade, of Apple Valley, told the Associated Press that she expects a floor vote there soon.

The Associated Press and Fox News’ Timothy Nerozzi contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is blackballing anyone who works for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to a new report.

Justin Caporale, who helps lead the advance team for the former president, has put out the word that anyone who staffed a recent DeSantis book tour will be considered ‘persona non grata,’ RealClearPolitics reported Friday.

A ‘top Trump ally,’ meanwhile, said the prohibition would apply to more than just junior aides who set up folding chairs and hung banners at DeSantis events.

‘It’s a time for choosing,’ the source reportedly said. ‘If you work for Ron DeSantis’ presidential race, you will not work for the Trump campaign or in the Trump White House.’

The reported threat comes amid an escalating war of words between Trump, who’s announced a 2024 presidential campaign, and DeSantis, who has not announced a White House bid but is still widely considered Trump’s chief competition in the Republican primary.

For several days Trump has been increasingly attacking DeSantis, perhaps most intensely in a statement this week in which he called the governor ‘average’ and better at public relations than governing.

DeSantis, for his part, has begun striking back. In a new interview with journalist Piers Morgan this week, DeSantis jabbed Trump over his style, character, and leadership, saying there’s ‘no daily drama’ in the governor’s office.

The Florida governor also drew a clear contrast with Trump when it came to the COVID pandemic, saying he would’ve ‘fired’ Dr. Anthony Fauci if he were president at the time.

When asked in a separate interview Thursday whether he would join a potential ticket as Trump’s running mate, DeSantis responded, ‘I think I’m probably more of an executive guy … We’re able to make things happen, and I think that’s probably what I am best suited for.’

The next day, Trump said he’s never thought of asking DeSantis to be his running mate, calling it a ‘very unlikely alliance.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump campaign and DeSantis’ office for comment.

Former Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over his focus on potentially prosecuting former President Donald Trump and suggested the move is politically motivated.

‘I don’t understand why Bragg is putting such emphasis on this case,’ the former governor told WABC Radio on Friday night. 

‘A person breaks the law I get it, but on the state side this is a misdemeanor case. It’s really a federal case because he needs it to be a campaign finance fraud case which is a federal case and that’s what Bragg is going to have to do to get a felony out of this.’

Cuomo said that the public is generally ‘cynical’ and ‘when they see prosecutors bringing these political cases’ it just ‘affirms everybody’s cynicism.’

‘I think it’s all politics and that’s what I think the people of this country are saying,’ Cuomo continued. ‘It just feeds that anger and that cynicism and the partisanship. It’s a coincidence that Bragg goes after Trump and Tish James goes after Trump and Georgia goes after Trump? That’s all a coincidence? I think it feeds the cynicism and that’s the cancer in our body politic right now.’

Despite the comments about Bragg’s motivation, Cuomo says he does believe an indictment will be handed down next week while bringing up the old adage that district attorneys can ‘indict a ham sandwich’ if they want to.

‘I’m sure they’ll get an indictment,’ Cuomo said.

Bragg has been widely criticized by Republicans for attempting to indict Trump in connection with the alleged ‘hush money’ payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 that many legal experts have concluded is a weak and politically motivated case.

Top House Republicans have demanded in the form of a letter that Bragg testify to Congress about the indictment and turn over documents related to the case warning that the indictment could ‘erode confidence in the evenhanded application of justice and unalterably interfere in the court of the 2024 presidential election.’

Bragg’s office responded defiantly to that letter saying that ‘we will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law.’

Bragg sent a letter to the Republicans saying that their inquiry was ‘an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty.’

Republicans pushed back on that letter with another letter on Saturday arguing that their actions have a legislative purpose and noting that Bragg did not deny their accusations that the case is politically motivated.

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

Rep. Nancy Pelosi this week publicly called out San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone after he barred her from communion in the churches he oversees.

‘I have a problem with my archbishop – well, the archbishop of the city that I represent – but I figure that’s his problem, not mine,’ the former speaker of the house said in an interview with Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice in Washington, D.C., noting that she had five children in six years. 

Pelosi, 82, said she asks congress members who are pro-life if they have had as many kids in the span of six years. ‘You want to talk about this subject, OK? We go right to the one issue, because everything else, we are pretty much in sync when it comes to the social compact of the Catholic bishops and the rest. But they are willing to abandon the bulk of it because of one thing and that’s the fight that we have.’ 

In a letter published last May, Cordileone wrote that Pelosi should not present herself at Mass and said that priests would not allow her to receive communion if she did attend. 

‘I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance,’ Cordileone wrote in the letter. 

SUPPORT AMOUNTS AMONG US BISHOPS BARRING PELOSI FROM RECEIVING COMMUNION 

The Archbishop added that he had previously written to Pelosi on April 7, and stated that ‘should you not publicly repudiate your advocacy for abortion ‘rights’ or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.’ 

Pelosi did not comply with these requests, according to Cordileone’s May letter. 

Last summer, Pelosi did receive communion at the Vatican in a mass marking the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul presided over by Pope Francis. 

Pelosi called the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year an ‘insult’ to women. 

‘It’s a slap in the face to women about using their own judgment to make their own decisions about their reproductive freedom,’ she said at the time, adding that it would be ‘on the ballot’ in the 2022 midterms.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Pelosi and the archbishop for comment. 

Fox News’ Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence appeared to take a jab at President Biden over a congressional investigation into his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings in China and Ukraine.

‘The American people deserve to know what was going on here. They deserve to hold this president and this administration accountable,’ Pence said in an interview Friday on Fox Business’ ‘Mornings with Maria.’

Pence was asked by host Maria Bartiromo about an investigation by the House Republican majority into the younger Biden’s business connections with companies in China and Ukraine and whether those ties influenced decisions by Joe Biden during his years as vice president in President Barack Obama’s administration or during his current tenure in the White House.

The younger Biden served on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings from 2014 to 2019 and also worked on investments with Chinese companies. Republicans zeroed in on those dealings as Joe Biden successfully ran for the White House in 2020.

And the scrutiny of Hunter Biden has intensified since the GOP won back the House majority in November’s midterm elections. Democrats repeatedly charge that the Republican-led investigation is a political ploy to weaken the president.

Pence, who is likely to launch a White House run in the coming weeks or months, appeared to take a shot at Biden, saying, ‘I can’t really relate. I mean, when I was vice president, my son wasn’t sitting on the board of foreign corporations. He was sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet, serving the United States in the Marine Corps.’

The former vice president regularly mentions his son, Michael, as well as his son-in-law who serves in the Navy in speeches and interviews.

Hunter Biden served in the U.S. Navy Reserve but was discharged shortly after his commissioning due to a failed drug test. Biden’s struggles with drug addiction have been well documented.

Former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the president’s son who died from a form of brain cancer in 2015, was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard who served in the Iraq War.

President Biden on Friday officially announced a new deal with Canada for both countries to be able to turn back illegal migrants at their shared border — as well as a new global effort to combat fentanyl smuggling.

Fox News Digital previously reported that the agreement means that migrants who attempt to cross illegally between ports of entry into either country will be returned, which officials anticipate will deter irregular migration at the U.S.-Canada border. It updates a 2004 Safe Third County Agreement, which did not deal with illegal immigration.

Additionally, Canada is committing to accept an additional 15,000 migrants over the next year from the Western Hemisphere, as part of its commitments made under the Los Angeles Declaration last year — which committed nations to a regional response to the migration crisis. 

Such a move would be accepted to lessen the pressure facing the U.S. southern border, which has faced a historic migrant surge since 2021.

In a speech to the Canadian Parliament on Friday, Biden said he applauds Canada’s commitment to take 15,000 migrants as part of the regional response to the crisis.

‘At the same time, the United States and Canada will work together to discourage unlawful border crossings and fully implement the updated Safe Third Country agreement,’ he said. ‘Finally, as we advance our shared prosperity and security must never lose sight of our shared values, because our values are the linchpin holding everything else together. Welcoming refugees and seeking asylum seekers is a part of who Canadians and Americans are.’

The agreement marks a diplomatic victory for President Biden, who had championed a regional approach to the crisis when he unveiled the Los Angeles Declaration at the Summit of the Americas last year along with other leaders.

‘We know that safe, orderly and legal migration is good for all our economies,’ he said. ‘But we need to halt the dangerous and unlawful ways people are migrating and the dangerous ways. Unlawful migration is not acceptable, and we’ll secure our borders, including through innovative, coordinated actions with our regional partners.’ 

The move comes amid an increase in migrant encounters at the northern border which, while not as substantial as the historic surge being seen at the southern border, has left some authorities overwhelmed, with one sector reporting an 846% increase. Fox News recently reported that Border Patrol was appealing for volunteers to deal with the surge, which was attributed to ‘Mexican migrants with no legal documents.’

There were over 109,000 migrant encounters at the northern border in FY 2022, up from 27,000 in FY 2021. The border, which is 5,525 miles, only has 115 ports of entry. 

It comes after the administration announced a new rule last month that when implemented will bar illegal migrants at the southern border from claiming asylum if they have entered through another country without claiming asylum there first.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and Canada renewed their commitments to thwarting the trafficking of deadly drugs like fentanyl — which is primarily trafficked from Mexico into the U.S. and is responsible  for over 70,000 U.S. deaths a year.

In his remarks, Biden called fentanyl, which is 50-100 times more potent than morphine and can be fatal in small doses, a ‘killer.’

‘And almost everyone knows someone who has been affected by this, lost a child or lost a friend. Canada and the United States are working closely with our partner Mexico to attack this problem at every stage and the precursor chemicals shipped from overseas to the powders to the pills to the traffickers moving into all of our countries.’

Biden said that the U.S. and Canada are announcing ‘a commitment to build a new global coalition of like-minded countries led by Canada and the United States to tackle this crisis.’

‘This is about public health,’ he said.