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Wisconsin voters decide to enshrine voter ID law in state constitution: 'Big win for Republicans'

Wisconsin will enshrine the state's voter ID law in the state constitution after voters approved the proposal on Tuesday.

The Associated Press called the vote at 9:48 p.m. EST.

Wisconsin already requires that voters have photo ID in order to participate at the polls, but the measure now elevates that law to a constitutional amendment. 

VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SUPPORT PHOTO ID REQUIREMENT TO VOTE, NEW POLL SAYS

President Donald Trump celebrated the law being added to the state constitution on Truth Social after the vote was called Tuesday night.

"VOTER I.D. JUST APPROVED IN WISCONSIN ELECTION. Democrats fought hard against this, presumably so they can CHEAT. This is a BIG WIN FOR REPUBLICANS, MAYBE THE BIGGEST WIN OF THE NIGHT. IT SHOULD ALLOW US TO WIN WISCONSIN, LIKE I JUST DID IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, FOR MANY YEARS TO COME!" the president wrote.

Nine states, including Wisconsin, require that voters present photo ID, though Wisconsin's requirements are the strictest, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. There are laws in 36 states requiring or requesting that voters show some sort of identification, the NCSL said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

2025/04/01 22:51

Liberal wins first major 2025 statewide battleground election in race turned into Trump-Musk referendum

WAUKESHA, Wis. — The liberal-leaning candidate is projected to win a high-profile and historically expensive election in Wisconsin on Tuesday, protecting progressive majority control of the battleground state's Supreme Court, which is likely to rule on crucial issues like congressional redistricting, voting and labor rights, and abortion.

The Associated Press projects that Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford will defeat Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general who currently serves as a state circuit court judge in Waukesha County. Schimel, the conservative-aligned candidate in the race, was endorsed by President Donald Trump.

With a massive infusion of money from Democrat-aligned and Republican-aligned groups from outside Wisconsin, which turned the race into the most expensive judicial election in the nation's history, the contest partially transformed into a referendum on Trump's sweeping and controversial moves during the opening months of his second tour of duty in the White House.

Also front and center in the electoral showdown was someone who, along with Trump, was not on the ballot: billionaire Elon Musk, the president's top donor and White House adviser.

REPUBLICANS SWEEEP SPECIAL ELECTIONS IN FLORIDA, TO HOLD ONTO TWO GOP-HELD CONGRESSIONAL SEATS

Schimel conceded minutes after the race was called, telling supporters in suburban Milwuakee that he had called Crawford and that "the numbers aren't going to turn around and we're not going to pull this off."

"We'll get up to fight another day. But this wasn't our day," he added.

Musk, the world's richest person and chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, who has taken a buzz saw to the federal government workforce as he steers Trump's recently created Department of Government Efficiency, dished out roughly $20 million in the Wisconsin race through aligned groups in support of Schimel.

And Musk, in a controversial move, handed out $1 million checks at a rally in Green Bay on Sunday evening to two Wisconsin voters who had already cast ballots in the contest and had signed a petition to stop "activist judges."

Wisconsin's Democrat state attorney general sued to block the payments, but the state Supreme Court refused to weigh in.

WHY ELON MUSK HANDED OUT MILLION DOLLAR CHECKS IN WISCONSIN 

Calling the election a "super big deal," Musk said it was critical to the Trump agenda.

"I think this will be important for the future of civilization," he said. "It’s that significant."

Musk wasn't the only mega-donor on the right playing in the Wisconsin showdown.

Shipping magnates Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, who are among the biggest conservative contributors in the nation, also provided millions in support of Schimel and the Wisconsin GOP.

"If you told me six months ago this was what was going to happen, I would not have believed it. But yeah … some parts of this are way beyond my control anymore," Schimel said in a Fox News Digital interview during a bus tour stop Monday just outside Green Bay.

Schimel, who launched his bid 16 months ago, added that "other people can treat this how they want. If they think they want to make it a referendum on the president or Elon Musk, so be it."

"This is a referendum on Wisconsin," he said. "Can we restore objectivity to the Wisconsin Supreme Court?"

BIG-MONEY WI HIGH COURT RACE WILL HAVE NATIONAL EFFECTS, AS REDISTRICTING, UNIONS, TRANS ISSUES AT STAKE

Schimel also leaned in to the endorsement from Trump. A TV ad running in the closing stretch of the race spotlighted that voting for Schimel would protect Trump's agenda. The candidate also wore a "Make America Great Again" hat at some campaign stops during the final weekend ahead of the election.

Schimel spotlighted his final blitz to reach out to voters.

"We are doing six to eight rallies every single day in cities across the state," he said. "People are turning out in huge numbers, and we’ve got other surrogates going out around the state where we’re not, doing the exact same thing. It’s absolutely about getting those voters out."

And Schimel also got a boost from the conservative powerhouse organization Americans for Prosperity. The group said its grassroots army has connected with nearly 600,000 voters in Wisconsin since last November's election.

Trump, who narrowly carried Wisconsin in both of his White House victories, said the state is important because its Supreme Court can settle disputes over election outcomes.

"Wisconsin’s a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin," the president said Monday at the White House. "Winning Wisconsin’s a big deal, so, therefore, the Supreme Court choice … it’s a big race." 

Schimel's camp and other conservatives repeatedly argued that a continuation of the liberal majority on Wisconsin's high court could lead to unfavorable congressional redistricting in the state, which could spell doom for two Republican lawmakers: Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil, chair of the House Administration Committee.

TRUMP, OBAMA, WEIGH IN ON HIGH COURT SHOWDOWN IN KEY BATTLEGROUND

Asked about the conservatives shining a spotlight on potential congressional redistricting, Crawford told reporters on Monday that "it's just not appropriate for me as a judge to express a view on that, especially on an issue that someday could come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court again. That's why I don't speak to the issue."

Tuesday's election was the first statewide contest held since Trump returned to the White House, and it was an opportunity for plenty of voters to vent against the president and his policies.

Crawford enjoyed a surge in fundraising, thanks in part to an energized base eager to resist Trump and Republicans.

"People are really motivated and want to make sure that we protect the Wisconsin Supreme Court," Crawford said in a Fox News Digital interview after a rally in Madison on the eve of the election.

BATTLEGROUND STATE SHOWDOWN: DEMOCRATS TARGET ELON MUSK

Crawford argued that voters "don’t want to see some outsider, some billionaire, come in and try to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is what Elon Musk is trying to do."

At her rally, Crawford said "this election is going to determine all of our fundamental rights and freedoms."

But Crawford also benefited from outside money, with roughly $2 million infused into the race by left-leaning financier George Soros, long a boogeyman of the right. Billionaire progressive Gov. JB Pritzker of neighboring Illinois has also spent big bucks in the race to support Crawford.

"I have gotten some generous contributions, and we’ve raised a lot of money in this race," she told Fox News. "But just to put that in perspective, in the last two months, Elon Musk has spent more than we have raised over the 10 months of this entire campaign, so his spending dwarfs that of any individual in any state supreme court ever and certainly one in Wisconsin."

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Crawford and Schimel were battling to succeed liberal-leaning justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who has served on Wisconsin's highest court for nearly three decades. Liberal-aligned justices held a 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court heading into Tuesday's election.

The showdown drew some top surrogates to Wisconsin, including progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and MAGA star Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son.

2025/04/01 22:18

Elon Musk visits CIA headquarters to discuss DOGE cuts

Elon Musk visited Central Intelligence Agency headquarters on Tuesday to discuss his government efficiency program. 

The visit was the first for Musk since the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is charged with rooting out wasteful federal spending and shrinking the government. 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe who invited Musk, posted a photo of him and the tech billionaire at the spy agency headquarters. 

ATLANTIC REPORTER PUBLISHES MORE TEXTS ABOUT ATTACK ON HOUTHI TARGETS 

"Had a great visit and meeting with @ElonMusk to discuss his ideas and progress so far in making our government more efficient!" Radcliffe wrote. "I look forward to working with Elon and his team to ensure that CIA remains the premier intelligence Agency in the world."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the CIA

In the first months of the Trump administration, Musk and DOGE have attempted to slash government spending, including offering buyouts to and laying off workers en masse.

TRUMP TEAM’S SIGNAL CHAT LEAK SPARKS DEBATE OVER SECURE COMMUNICATIONS 

Musk met with NSA chief Gen. Timothy Haugh last week to discuss the Trump administration's priorities, Politico reported. 

Earlier this month, the CIA fired some probationary employees and recent hires, according to the New York Times.

However, on Monday a federal judge in Virginia blocked the Trump administration’s move to fire more than a dozen intelligence agency employees who worked on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

2025/04/01 21:55

'JFK' director Oliver Stone calls on Congress to reopen investigation into Kennedy assassination

Filmmaker Oliver Stone urged legislators in Washington, D.C., Tuesday to reopen the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and reassess everything from the crime scene to the courtroom, including the rifle and bullets used, fingerprints and the autopsy.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order since returning to the Oval Office in January to release the long-concealed materials about the assassination of Kennedy and records on the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The 80,000 pages of JFK files were released March 18, giving experts and conspiracy theorists a trove of material to prove or disprove how Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 22, 1963.

In his opening statements Tuesday, Stone, whose 1991 film "JFK" examined the investigation into Kennedy's assassination, raised an issue with the CIA's handling of files he requested to see regarding the assassination.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES HE WILL RELEASE 80,000 JFK ASSASSINATION FILES ON TUESDAY, GOING TO BE 'VERY INTERESTING'

"Although mandated by law from the Central Intelligence Agency, which operated and still operates as a taxpayer-funded intelligence agency that arrogantly considered itself outside our laws," Stone said, "they say things like, ‘We will get back to you on that,’ and they never do.

"Nothing of importance has been revealed by the CIA in all these years," he continued, adding other records show illegal criminal activities in every facet of U.S. foreign policy in nearly every country on Earth. "Just to begin, Cuba, Vietnam, Indonesia, Egypt, South America, the Middle East. We could write a whole separate history of our country from the viewpoint of the countries, yet we do not know and are not allowed to know anything about the CIA's true history of the United States, which is almost, I believe, the real story."

He then called for the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, chaired by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., to reopen the investigation into Kennedy’s assassination, picking up what the Warren Commission failed to do.

WEEKS AFTER EPSTEIN FILE FALLOUT, A NEW DEADLINE LOOMS IN THE RELEASE OF THE RFK AND MLK FILES

The Warren Commission, after an investigation, found no evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald or Oswald's assassin, Jack Ruby, were part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign, to kill the president. It said at the time that one bullet that struck Kennedy passed through him and struck Texas Gov. John Connally, hitting his back, thigh, chest and wrist.

Critics of the commission’s findings call it the "magic bullet theory."

"I ask the committee to reopen what the Warren Commission failed miserably to complete," Stone said. "I ask you in good faith, outside all political considerations, to reinvestigate the assassination of this President Kennedy, from the scene of the crime to the courtroom … which never happened, but which means the chain of custody on the rifle, the bullets, the fingerprints, the autopsy that defies belief, and that if it were a murder, we'd have given to the poorest man dying in a gutter. 

"Let us reinvestigate the fingerprints of intelligence all over Lee Harvey Oswald, from 1959 to 1960 – his violent death in 1963 — and, most importantly, this CIA, whose muddy footprints are all over this case, a true interrogation."

FBI UNCOVERS THOUSANDS OF UNDISCLOSED RECORDS CONNECTED TO JFK'S ASSASSINATION

Stone spoke about Deputy CIA Director James Angleton, who, before he died, talked about Allen Dulles, Richard Helms and others he referred to as the "Grand Masters."

"He did say, ‘If you were in a room with them, you were in a room full of people that you had to believe would deservedly end up in hell. I guess I will see them soon,’" Stone said. "This is our democracy. This is our presidency. It belongs to us. Treat us with respect."

Stone said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter in January that Trump deserved "praise" for the order to release the JFK assassination files.

Despite pleas to open the investigation, the FBI notes on its website that after conducting some 25,000 interviews and running down tens of thousands of investigative leads, "the FBI found that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone."

Oswald was killed shortly after the Kennedy assassination.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

2025/04/01 21:44

Milwaukee polling places running out of ballots amid 'historic turnout' by voters

The City of Milwaukee is running out of ballots due to "historic turnout" on Tuesday night, as Badger State residents stand in line at polling places to decide whether the Wisconsin Supreme Court will lean conservative or liberal.

FOX 6 Milwaukee reporter Jason Calvi reported the developments on Tuesday night. At least seven polling sites have run out of ballots, per the Milwaukee Elections Commission. 

The sites are expecting more ballots soon, though the polls closed at 8 p.m. Milwaukee officials also noted that Wisconsin residents in line by 8 p.m. are still eligible to vote.

"We are working diligently to replenish ballots," the Milwaukee Elections Commission wrote on Facebook.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO CHOP DOWN MAGNOLIA TREE PURPORTEDLY PLANTED BY ANDREW JACKSON: 'MUST COME TO AN END'

The Wisconsin Supreme Court currently has a 4-3 liberal majority. 

The court race has attracted attention across the country, as both Democrat and Republican-aligned groups from outside Wisconsin have dedicated money and resources to swaying the race. It's been interpreted as a referendum on President Donald Trump's second administration so far. 

Notably, Tesla CEO Elon Musk hosted an America PAC town hall in Green Bay on Sunday night, where he handed two $1 million dollar checks to two voters who signed a petition against "activist judges."

TRUMP ADMIN REVIEWING BILLIONS IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS, GRANTS FOR HARVARD AMID ANTISEMITISM ALLEGATIONS

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul unsuccessfully asked for an emergency injunction to stop Musk from handing out the checks, but the state's highest court declined to hear Kaul's arguments. 

"The reason for the checks is that, it's really just to get attention," Musk said while holding a gigantic check. "It's like, we need to get attention… somewhat inevitably, when I do this… it causes the legacy media to, like, kind of lose their minds."

Musk's attorneys maintained that the payments are "intended to generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or against any candidate."

Fox News Digital's Sophia Compton and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

2025/04/01 21:27

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