A staffer for Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, allegedly lied about being an attorney at least 11 times for detainees at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in an effort to meet with them and sneak in cell phones. 

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons informed Escobar in a letter dated Thursday about Benito Torres, a senior caseworker on the congresswoman's staff.

Lyons said Torres lied about being a lawyer for detainees in ICE custody at the Camp East Montana facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso. 

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"The available evidence demonstrates your staffer, a senior caseworker named Benito Torres, misrepresented himself as counsel for detainees in ICE custody, violated clear detention standards and security protocols prohibiting the use of cellphones inside ICE facilities, improperly met with multiple detainees, and falsely claimed to ICE personnel such use had been approved by the agency," Lyons wrote. 

"As a result of bringing a cell phone into the Camp East Montana facility, contrary to facility visitation policy, Mr. Torres’ misrepresentation that he is a licensed attorney to gain access to detainees, his improper meetings with groups of detainees, and his assertions to ICE personnel about the origins of his visit, Mr. Torres is herby [sic] prohibited from accessing any ICE facility."

An image of a sign-in log shows Torres allegedly claiming to be a "lawyer" visiting a "client." ICE records show that Torres first misrepresented himself as a legal professional in September 2025, Lyons said. The most recent incident happened on Jan. 30. 

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During that visit, Torres was confronted by a facility administrator and admitted that he was not an attorney and was visiting as a private person. The confrontation happened after officials in the facility became aware of someone passing a phone to multiple detainees, the letter states. 

Lyons has requested that Escobar provide written responses to several questions, including whether Torres was employed by the legislator on the dates he visited the ICE facility, if he is a licensed attorney and if she was aware of his alleged actions. 

Lyons also asked Escobar if she condones such behavior and whether she will hold Torres accountable. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Escobar's office. Escobar has called Camp East Montana "disastrous and inhumane" and has demanded that it be shut down. 

"The United States already has the largest immigration detention network in the world, and these added facilities serve only as tools for the administration’s inhumanity," she wrote in a March X post on X, in which she criticized the "chronic substandard conditions" at the migrant facility. 

Other congressional staffers have tried similar ploys to access ICE facilities in the past. In November, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., fired a staffer who claimed to be an attorney for an illegal immigrant in an effort to facilitate his release. 

Edward York claimed he was legally representing Jose Ismeal Ayuzo Sandoval. Sandoval, a Mexican citizen, had a DUI conviction and was previously deported four times to Mexico. 

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr called on local TV stations to "rebalance" the airwaves Wednesday, urging them to move away from some national network programming in favor of patriotic content.

Appearing on the "Pod Force One" podcast, Carr discussed a shifting power dynamic where local stations are reclaiming control from Hollywood. He specifically pointed to last year’s local blackout of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" as an example of the shift.

"They’ve amassed a tremendous amount of power," Carr told reporter Miranda Devine, referring to legacy broadcast networks.

"They’ve effectively turned those local TV stations into mouthpieces for the foie gras, oftentimes, that they’re producing in New York and Hollywood."

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Carr explained that a "north star" for the Trump administration’s broadcasting reforms is correcting what it sees as a left-leaning media slant. He noted the agency is looking to "rebalance" that skew.

"We want to empower those local TV stations to actually stand up for their local communities," Carr said.

"And if New York or Hollywood is pushing programming that they don’t think is a good fit, then they can take action."

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This local power was exerted in September after comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show was pulled off the air after his remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. 

Kimmel suggested the suspect was a Trump supporter, saying, "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."

Disney suspended Kimmel for several days but eventually allowed his return. However, ABC affiliates Nexstar and Sinclair continued to pull the program from their schedules in protest. The stations resumed airing the show after a public apology from the comedian.

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"I think that was a really good thing," Carr said of the Kimmel ban. "It was the first sign in many, many years of a local TV station actually pushing back on New York and Hollywood, and we want to see a lot more of that." 

The FCC is also pushing for proactive patriotic content. In February, it launched the "Pledge America Campaign," which encourages broadcasters to feature more "pro-America" content ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday.

A former top advisor to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was ousted amid a high-profile leak investigation, has been hired to work under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, according to a source familiar with the move.

Dan Caldwell's return to a sensitive intelligence role comes less than a year after he was publicly accused of leaking classified information — allegations that have never been publicly substantiated — and as the Trump administration navigates an escalating war with Iran. 

The hiring also places a prominent advocate of a more restrained U.S. foreign policy inside the intelligence apparatus at a moment of growing internal tension. 

Earlier Tuesday, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned, citing opposition to the Iran war and arguing Tehran, Iran, did not pose an imminent threat to the United States, a rare public break from within the administration.

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A source familiar with the move described Caldwell’s new position as an "administrative role" focused on internal management and coordination rather than directly shaping intelligence assessments or national security policy. However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) plays a central role in coordinating intelligence across 18 agencies and shaping the president’s daily intelligence briefing.

The source said Caldwell has completed a polygraph test and passed a series of background and security checks and is in the onboarding process.

Gabbard's office could not immediately be reached for comment. 

A recent Quinnipiac poll found the war is dividing Americans just as it is those within the administration: 53% of those surveyed opposed the military intervention, while 40% supported it. 

Caldwell's hiring signals the apparent end of a leak investigation that began in April 2025, when Caldwell and two other senior Pentagon officials, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, were abruptly fired and escorted out of the Pentagon. All three aides have denied any involvement in leaks, and no public evidence has been produced to support the allegations. 

Hegseth said at the time the three aides would be investigated for leaking and suggested there was evidence of wrongdoing, but none of the men were ever charged, and Caldwell retains his security clearance.

The Pentagon has not disclosed whether the investigation remains active or has concluded. 

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Fox News Digital previously reported that the three aides had clashed with chief of staff Joe Kasper, who was also later removed from his role. 

Hegseth continued to accuse the aides of leaking even after their departure, saying at the time, "Those folks who are leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president's agenda and what we're doing. And that's unfortunate."

Caldwell, a Marine Corps veteran and prominent voice in the restraint-minded foreign policy sphere, advised Hegseth primarily on European issues and has been outspoken against prolonged U.S. military involvement overseas. His views align with a faction inside the administration that has long warned against entering another major Middle East conflict.

That debate has taken on new urgency as the U.S. enters its third week of war with Iran, and as Gabbard — who built much of her political identity opposing regime-change wars — has remained largely quiet publicly about the conflict despite overseeing the nation’s intelligence apparatus.

After his firing, Caldwell suggested the trio’s removal may have been tied to internal power struggles. 

"We threatened a lot of established interests inside the building and outside the building," he said.

The Pentagon declined to comment on Caldwell’s hiring and the status of the investigation. The Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations did not respond to a request for comment. 

A 22-year-old Christian influencer says more young Americans are rediscovering faith as frustration with "fake stuff" and social media culture drives a search for deeper meaning.

"We’re tired of fake stuff. We’re tired of fluff," Bryce Crawford said Monday on "Fox & Friends."

"We're fed fluff through our phones, through desires, through whatever we think is going to satisfy. Every human being is on a quest for love, and we try to fill that void with different things, and I think people are naturally understanding, 'Wait, this thing isn't working anymore. This isn't going how I thought it was going to go,' so ultimately, people don't just want a truth, they want the truth and that would be Jesus."

Crawford is helping trailblaze a faith revival among young adults by spreading the gospel in the streets and to millions of followers on his social media accounts.

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After growing up in a Christian household, he fully committed to Christ and found peace in Jesus' word after battling anxiety and depression as a teen.

"When I was 17, I planned on making an irrevocable decision with my life because I thought that was the only way to get the pain to go away," he said.

"And the night I was going to make an irrevocable decision, Jesus supernaturally encountered me, and I prayed a prayer. I said, 'Jesus, if you're real, take away my anxiety and depression,' and I haven't had it since that day."

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That was over five years ago, he shared, and that moment placed his "foot in the door" to give his life to Christ.

Crawford is also leading the charge with his "I Love Jesus" tour – traveling from state to state, city to city, to help spread the gospel and give people a space to unify behind a Christian message.

He said helping others welcome the gospel as he did starts with being "intentional" in asking questions.

"[People are] not a statistic. I'm not going out there to treat them like a stat to go home and brag about. They're a human being that's made in the image of God," he said.

"So we want to be intentional and ask questions. But we ask the tough questions, too: Do you have a faith? What do you think happens when we die? Do you believe in Jesus? [What are] your thoughts on Him? Everyone has a perspective of Jesus. It's just, do we believe that he is God? And if he is God, then he's worthy of our lives and worship."

Crawford said the Christian resurgence among fellow Gen Zers stems from people "waking up to the truth" and realizing that Christ is the "only thing that can satisfy" them.

"We've lived for so many different things, different people, relationships, substances, different vices, and it doesn't fulfill us," he said.

"So people understand that we need something eternal and perfect that can sustain that, and Jesus is alive and active, and He is doing that in people's hearts who are hungry and ready to receive Him."

Tori Spelling said this week that throughout her career, tabloids and fans have made "horrific" claims that she’s had plastic surgery she didn’t get done.

"Since I was 17, since before there was internet, wow, there was the Enquirer, The Globe, it was like the tabloid paper magazines," the 52-year-old told Dr. Terry Dubrow while they were discussing plastic surgery on her "MisSpelling" podcast on Monday.  

"And the Globe came out with something when I was 17," she said. "I had started ‘90210’ and gotten famous. And they were like, ‘She’s had all this plastic surgery.’ So, they did something like that to a 17-year-old."

Spelling said the Globe claimed she had gotten a new chin and cheek implants, but all she had actually gotten was a nose job.

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She remembered her dad, producer Aaron Spelling, told her not to worry about the story, saying the tabloids would move on to another celebrity next week, but she said it’s stung her whole life.

"At 17, it crushed my whole soul," she said. "I never unsaw that. I never unheard it. I was like a 17-year-old girl that was like 'OK, am I pretty? I’m trying to find myself in this world, but I’m on TV.' I was in high school for real."

In the age of social media, Spelling admitted it still hurts her feelings when people speculate about her.

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"It’s horrific. I’m 52, I’ll be 53 in May, and I purposefully go the other way because everyone says — every photo I put up, people say, ‘Stop with the filler!’ I’m like, 'I’m not!'" she said. "I don’t know — I guess at this point, I should be like f--- it and have my whole face done because they already say I’ve had it done. So, it’s like I can’t win, but I don’t know why that keeps me from doing stuff."

Spelling said she usually doesn’t respond when people make untrue comments, but can’t always help herself.

"I find myself sometimes, though, being like, ‘No! it’s not true! Have I had filler in the past? Yes — I don’t have filler right now. I have Botox,' and like telling them what I have. Like why am I — it’s like I’m scared to like — like, ‘No, I haven’t had all that done.’"

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Spelling has previously detailed her experience getting breast implants at a strip mall after a recommendation from a friend who was a stripper.

"I was 19, so I was like, ‘This isn’t Beverly Hills, what’s happening?’ I was confused. I was best friends with Alicia Silverstone and Carmen Electra, and they were taking care of me [after the surgery]. I can’t even make this stuff up."

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She added, "He was a fine doctor, it was just like an outpatient center in a strip mall."

She described her natural breasts as an A plus to a B-cup, adding that she had "just wanted to make them fuller."

Spelling said she had just gotten them done again, joking, "Third time will be the charm."

"I think my body doesn’t like to take foreign things," she explained. "I think they’re OK now. My whole intention of getting them redone was to go smaller ‘cause, like looking back to the ‘90s, I was like, 'I liked my boobs. I wish I had just kept them. They’re really great.'"

Comedian Bill Maher pressed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday over his opposition to U.S. involvement in Iran, challenging the Democrat on what he would do if he were commander-in-chief and had been given knowledge that Iran would soon have nuclear weapons.

"Our chief negotiator said they were talking to Iran up until the war started. He said their opening salvo at the negotiations, ‘We’re a couple of weeks away from having 11 bombs.’" Maher said during the latest installment of "Real Time." 

"If you were the president, and you got that information, you would still do nothing?" 

Shapiro quickly rejected the notion.

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"No. What I would do, and what the President of the United States failed to do, was be clear with the American people about what the hell we were doing here," he said.

"Was the plan to go after the nuclear weapons? The weapons, by the way, he said were destroyed… seven months ago. Was the plan to go and do regime change? In which case, who the hell is going to take over? I don't think the son [Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei] is any better than the father. Was the plan to go in there later, but you got forced because Netanyahu forced your hand?" 

"I think if you don't have clarity about why you're going in, you have no way of knowing how the hell to get out," he added, his remarks met with applause.

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Maher also pushed back on the Pennsylvania Democrat's suggestion that the rationale for the war remains unclear.

"We've lost 13 American soldiers in a war that the American people and, by the way, most of the global community, has no idea why the hell we went there in the first place," Shapiro said.

"I think people have an idea," Maher countered.

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"What was the reason we went in?" Shapiro asked.

"Everything you said – the nukes, regime change, and just to reshuffle the deck in the Middle East. Nothing ever really was going to get better until that regime went away," Maher replied, prompting chuckles from the audience.

Maher then added, "But we'll see what happens."

Shapiro noted that he was morally opposed to the Iranian regime's actions that placed Americans in harm's way, stating that he never viewed the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a "good person" and that he is "not shedding a tear" for regime members who were killed.  

"[The ayatollah] chanted, for five decades, ‘Death to America.’" These are people who blew up and killed Americans. These are not good people…" he said. 

"What I am saying, though, is, if you are the commander-in-chief, you have a responsibility to the people you send into harm's way, a responsibility to the American people to explain why it is you're doing what you're doing and how the hell you get out of it once the mission is accomplished…

"The president has yet to look the American people in the eye and explain that, and that is a failure of leadership," he added.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Shapiro's statements but did not immediately hear back. 

Senate Republicans are gearing up for a floor battle over Trump-backed voter ID legislation, but another GOP senator plans to oppose it.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., won’t support the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a decision that could throw a wrench into the GOP’s plan to force Senate Democrats into tough vote after tough vote next week.

"I'm a no," Tillis said. "I'm going to do everything I can to prevent it from even moving forward."

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He did offer an alternative, arguing that if Republicans were "serious" about voter ID, they’d consider legislation that incentivized states to use the practice in exchange for federal funding. If not, the money would go toward ensuring "election integrity" oversight.

"Who could be against that? You know, and then rock on, California, if you want to enable ballot harvesting," Tillis said. "Make sure you do it on your nickels, because we're going to spend the money to oversee the elections to make sure you did it legally."

His resistance to the bill comes after President Donald Trump demanded that Republicans ram the bill through Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats’ blockade with a talking filibuster.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republicans landed on a plan to put the bill on the floor that doesn’t take the route of a talking filibuster, given that there isn’t enough unity among Republicans to block Democrats’ amendments that could drastically change the bill.

However, that process is in the spirit of the talking filibuster and will allow Republicans to load up amendments on the floor for a marathon debate session. Still, it won’t lower the threshold to pass the bill with just a simple majority, something the talking filibuster would have done.

Republicans know it’s destined to fail and are trying to shift blame to Schumer and Democrats with their floor strategy.

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But Tillis, who was a co-sponsor of the bill’s predecessor called the SAVE Act, disagreed with the changes Trump proposed to the legislation, which included banning mail-in ballots with limited exceptions, halting men in women’s sports and stopping transgender surgeries for minors.

"You know, taking the language from the White House without understanding the state-by-state implications, politically and procedurally, just doesn't sound like we're letting the people at the tip of the spear — that's these people running for re-election — define what we should be voting on next week," Tillis said.

Tillis joins Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in opposing the bill. Their defection, coupled with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., announcing on CBS’ "The Takeout with Major Garrett" that he wouldn’t support the legislation in its "current state" over Trump’s criticism of mail-in balloting, gives the GOP a razor-thin margin of error in trying to even open debate on the bill.