Former President Donald Trump on Saturday afternoon will make his first public appearance since his federal indictment over his handling of classified documents when he addresses the state Republican conventions in Georgia and North Carolina as part of his 2024 presidential bid.

The 2024 front-runner was indicted Friday on 37 federal counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

The indictment accuses Trump of failing to comply with demands to return classified documents — including plans for a retaliatory attack on an unnamed foreign power — he had gathered in Mar-a-Lago. Other documents include defense and weapon capabilities of the U.S. and details of the U.S. nuclear program.

‘The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,’ the indictment says.

It also accuses him of storing the documents in a bathroom and other places at the residence, and of even bragging and showing off the documents to visitors. In one instance he is said to have told individuals of a document ‘as president I could have declassified it,’ and, ‘Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.’

He is also said to have directed an aide to move boxes of documents demanded by a grand jury subpoena while claiming to have fully cooperated. The FBI opened a criminal investigation into the matter in March 2022.

Trump has dismissed the indictment as ‘election interference’ and a witch hunt.

‘This is the most corrupt administration in history — there has never been an administration so corrupt, and they’re just starting to find it right now,’ Trump told Fox News Digital this week. ‘They are trying to deflect all of their dishonesty by bringing this ridiculous boxes hoax case.’

He added: ‘They’re not going to get away with it.’

Trump is likely to express similar sentiments on Saturday, when he will speak before overwhelmingly supportive crowds who will largely share his belief that the charges are politically motivated.

The indictment adds additional legal turmoil to Trump’s bid for re-election, coming after he was indicted in New York in an alleged hush money scheme earlier this year. He will make his first federal court appearance on Tuesday.

Other Republicans on the campaign trail, including those who have been extremely critical of the former president, have largely declined to attack him over the indictment so far, and have shared the sentiment that the prosecution is politically motivated.

‘The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society. We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation,’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said as news of the indictment emerged.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson and Bill Mears contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: The president of the Navajo Nation told Fox News Digital that he has ordered the tribe’s attorney general to weigh legal action following the Biden administration’s oil-leasing ban impacting Navajo citizens.

Buu Nygren, the president of the Navajo Nation, a federally recognized tribe in the U.S. southwest, said that the Navajo Justice Department was considering pursuing litigation after Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s recent order, and he plans to protest her upcoming visit to the reservation on Sunday. Last week, Haaland banned oil, gas and mineral leasing within 10 miles of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico for 20 years, an action strongly opposed by nearby Navajo communities.

‘To totally disregard those local communities — it’s unfair,’ Nygren told Fox News Digital in an interview Saturday. ‘There’s no need to celebrate putting people into poverty, to celebrate undermining the Navajo Nation’s sovereignty, undermining everything that comes into working with tribes, in this case, Navajo Nation.’

‘I tasked the attorney general to look into all our options, because I want to be doing justice for the local community,’ he continued. ‘As president, I’ve already told my attorney general to look into all the options. So, we’re going to be moving forward with that as well.’

Nygren and other Navajo leaders, in addition to locals, have argued that the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) action banning leasing will harm low-income Navajo citizens who depend on revenue from leasing their allotments within ten miles of Chaco Canyon mainly to fossil fuel companies. 

The allotments date back to the 1900s, when the federal government awarded them to Navajo citizens as a consolation when the tribe’s territory was downsized.

‘Since I’ve entered the legislative body for my Navajo people, I’ve listened to a lot of constituents out in that area and, you know, it’s just emotional distress, psychologically as well, that they’ve talked about this — it really disturbs me to know how much more of a hardship that these folks are going to be experiencing out there,’ Brenda Jesus, who chairs the Navajo Nation Council’s Resources & Development Committee, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.

Jesus led a delegation of Navajo tribal leaders who met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, making their case against the DOI’s ban. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who chairs a House panel on Indian affairs, said the action represented a ‘taking’ of tribal lands and vowed congressional action following her meeting with the delegation.

Overall, there are currently 53 Indian allotments located in the 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Canyon, generating $6.2 million per year in royalties for an estimated 5,462 allottees, according to Navajo Nation data. In addition, there are 418 unleased allotments in the zone that are associated with 16,615 allottees. 

According to the Western Energy Alliance, an industry group that represents oil and gas producers in the area, Navajo members will lose an estimated $194 million as a result of Haaland’s actions.

‘You can’t pound your chest on going after people in poverty,’ Nygren told Fox News Digital. ‘I don’t know who would want to celebrate that. Personally, I think that’s, I don’t know, you got to not have a heart if you’re going to put people that are already impoverished in third-world-country conditions and barely have enough to pay for gas, food, laundry, the daily necessities — to put them into an even tougher situation.’

‘To me, I don’t know how anybody could sleep with that thought,’ he said. ‘Come to Navajo. It’s tough. Everybody’s struggling, everybody’s trying to make a dollar, literally.’

Haaland is expected to visit Chaco Canyon on Sunday to celebrate the action. Nygren said that Navajo citizens are planning to peacefully protest the event and that he has even faced calls to block the interior secretary’s access to Navajo roads.

‘You shouldn’t celebrate beating up people in poverty,’ Nygren said.

Nygren also noted that the Biden administration failed to offer any economic proposal to account for the income losses the Chaco land withdrawal would create for Navajo allottees. 

In addition, Nygren criticized Haaland for not properly consulting the Navajo Nation and the communities near Chaco Canyon that would be most impacted by the action. The tribe previously endorsed a five-mile buffer zone to protect the site while ensuring future drilling on oil-rich allotments, but has said that Haaland never considered the compromise.

‘For her to go all over the country and the world to talk about tribal sovereignty and tribal communities and this and that. But then when it comes down to it, to put tribal sovereignty into question. Actions speak louder than words, in my opinion,’ he said. 

While DOI stated Friday that the action won’t impact existing leases or production on them, opponents of the ten-mile buffer zone said it would indirectly make Indian-owned allotments worthless. Because drilling on the Navajo allotments requires horizontal crossings that pass through federal land impacted by the ban, the action effectively ends all drilling in the area, they argued.

President Biden hosted a ‘Pride Month 2023’ event on the White House lawn Saturday, decorating the area with rainbow motifs and the ‘Progress Pride flag.’

The event, hosting performers and speakers representing LGBT causes, acclaimed the Pride community as ‘the bravest and most inspiring people’ and an ‘example’ for the US and the entire world.

‘Outside the gates of this house are those who want to drag our country backwards, and so many battles yet to be braved. But today, we’re not here to be strong. We’re not here to be courageous. Even though for so many of you, just coming to this event is an act of bravery,’ said First Lady Jill Biden.

‘Every day that you’re alive and someone loves you is a miracle,’ Jill Biden said, quoting feminist author Rita Brown. She added, ‘And when you leave here to go back to the place that needs so much change, take that miracle with you.’

The first lady was followed by Scarlett Harvey, a health and fitness coach from Houston, Texas. 

Harvey told the crowd outside the White House that she has experienced discrimination as a lesbian mother in a conservative state and thanked Biden for his support of LGBT movements before giving the podium to the president.

‘Happy Pride Month!’ Biden told the crowd. ‘Happy Pride Year! Happy Pride Life!’

A ‘Progress Pride Flag’ was hung on the balcony of the White House for the event, flanked by two American Flags.

During his speech, the president repeated an anecdote he has told frequently in the past — claiming that when he was a child he witnessed two men kissing and turned to his father for an explanation.

Biden claims his father told him, ‘It’s simple, Joe. They love each other.’

He also specifically noted his intense support for ‘LGBTQ children’ and ‘transgender children.’

The president went on to call the LGBT community ‘the bravest and most inspiring’ people he’s ever met, calling them an example for the entire world to follow.

‘You’re some of the bravest and most inspiring people I’ve ever known. And I’ve known a lot of good folks,’ Biden said. ‘You set an example for the nation — and quite frankly for the world.’

‘You know, we all move forward when we move together with your joy, with your pride lighting the way,’ the president continued. ‘So today, let us proudly remember who we are — the United States of America.’

Biden was followed by a musical performance by singer Betty Who — however, the president, who was shaking hands off-stage, was called back up to the stage by the first lady.

The president did not make it back to the stage before the performance began, and the audience was told he would be back afterward to say a few words.

Biden did not reappear after Betty Who’s performance, but the singer was thanked and received a hug from the first lady.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 Friday to advance an ordinance that would officially make it a ‘sanctuary city’ for immigrants. 

The ordinance in California’s largest city would prohibit ‘city resources, property, or personnel from being utilized for any federal immigration enforcement, and related matters,’ according to a record of the vote on the City Council’s website. 

The motion had previously been approved by the City Council’s Civil Rights, Equity, Immigration, Aging and Disability Committee and the Public Safety Committee, and asks the city attorney to write a draft making LA a ‘sanctuary city,’ FOX 11 reported. 

‘For many people in Los Angeles who have been advocating for the city to become an official sanctuary city for many years, this is a long overdue process,’ Council member Nithya Raman, who was one of three members who introduced the motion, said.

Eunisses Hernandez, who also introduced the motion, said before the vote Friday, ‘This represents a message to our immigrant communities that you are important to us, we care about you, we know that you represent the nervous system of this city, the heart of this city and we got your back.’ 

Hernandez later tweeted, along with a video of her Friday remarks, ‘Today, our motion to draft legislation that would permanently enshrine sanctuary policies into City law was approved by City Council, a huge step forward in making Los Angeles a true Sanctuary City.’ 

Along with Raman, Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martínez, who also co-introduced the motion, Council members Kevin DeLeon, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Heather Hutt, Paul Krekorian, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Curren D. Price, Monica Rodriguez, and Katy Yaroslavsky all voted yes on the motion, while Bob Blumenfield and John Lee were absent. 

‘One in ten Angelenos are undocumented, and this community needs to be able to trust the government and access critical services just like anyone else,’ Soto-Martínez tweeted Friday. 

LA CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS INTRODUCE ‘SANCTUARY CITY’ LEGISLATION 

He added: ‘As immigrants across the country are facing increasing attacks from Republicans trying to use them as political pawns, it’s more important than ever to codify protections for our neighbors and ensure that LA is a true Sanctuary City.’ 

The motion was first introduced in March and would codify a similar 2017 directive issued by former L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti after former President Trump took office. 

The motion would also reportedly also instruct the city to prohibit inquiring about or collecting information about an individual’s immigration status, engaging in investigation or enforcement related to an individual’s immigration status, providing immigration authorities access to any non-public areas without a valid search or arrest warrant and providing access to city databases or any individual’s personal information or other data to federal immigration authorities. 

While the City Council previously passed a resolution that declared Los Angeles a ‘city of sanctuary,’ The Los Angeles Times reported it was a symbolic gesture that offered no legal protections.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the City Council’s members. 

Fox News’ Julia Musto contributed to this report. 

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Former President Donald Trump on Saturday tore into the federal indictment accusing him of mishandling classified documents, accusing Democrats of a ‘political hit job’ against him as he alleged a double standard in the administration of justice.

‘They took one charge, and they made it 36 different times. And we have a thug who is in charge. This is a political hit job, Republicans are treated far differently at the Justice Department than Democrats,’ he said in the speech at the Georgia Republican state convention.

The 2024 front-runner was indicted Friday on 37 federal counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

The remarks mark his first public remarks since the indictment. He will make another speech later Saturday to the North Carolina GOP state convention.

The indictment accuses Trump of failing to comply with demands to return classified documents — including plans for a retaliatory attack on an unnamed foreign power — he had gathered in Mar-a-Lago. Other documents include defense and weapon capabilities of the U.S. and details of the U.S. nuclear program.

‘The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,’ the indictment says.

It also accuses him of storing the documents in a bathroom and other places at the residence, and of even bragging and showing off the documents to visitors. In one instance, he is said to have told individuals of a document, ‘as president, I could have declassified it,’ and, ‘Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.’

He is also said to have directed an aide to move boxes of documents demanded by a grand jury subpoena while claiming to have fully cooperated. The FBI opened a criminal investigation into the matter in March 2022.

Trump, allies and even other 2024 presidential candidates have dismissed the charges as politically motivated, and contrast it with what they believe is lighter treatment of more serious offenses by Democrats.

‘The ridiculous and baseless indictment of me by the Biden administration’s weaponized Department of Justice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country,’ Trump said. ‘This vicious persecution is a travesty of justice.’

He also took aim at President Biden directly, accusing him of ‘trying to jail his leading political opponent and opponent that’s beating him by a lot in the polls, just like they do in Stalinist Russia or communist China.’

Biden asserted he had no involvement with the Justice Department’s probe into the Trump documents as he took questions at the White House Thursday, before Trump’s indictment. 

‘I have never once, not one single time, suggested to the Justice Department what they should do or not do relative to bringing a charge or not bringing a charge,’ Biden said. ‘I’m honest.’

The indictment adds additional legal turmoil to Trump’s bid for re-election, coming after he was indicted in New York in an alleged hush money scheme earlier this year. He will make his first federal court appearance on Tuesday.

Other Republicans on the campaign trail, including those who have been extremely critical of the former president, have largely declined to attack him over the indictment so far, and have shared the sentiment that the prosecution is politically motivated.

‘The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society. We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation,’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said as news of the indictment emerged.

Trump on Saturday sought to cast the upcoming presidential contest as a choice not just between Democrats and Republicans, but between the ‘deep state’ and democracy.

‘Either we have a deep state or we have a democracy. We’re going to have one or the other. And we’re right at the tipping point,’ he said.

‘And either they win or we win. It’s very simple. They win or we win,’ he said.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday picked up the endorsement of fellow Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt for the GOP’s 2024 presidential primary — marking a key endorsement for DeSantis as he seeks to replace former President Donald Trump as the frontrunner.

‘Governor DeSantis is a strong conservative and principled leader, and I am proud to endorse him for president,’ Stitt, the governor of Oklahoma, said in a statement.

Stitt praised DeSantis’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the Florida governor ‘did not surrender states’ rights and individual liberties over to groupthink.’

‘In this election cycle, Oklahomans will remember that DeSantis was one of the few who never backed down in the face of adversity, because DeSantis operated with dogged conviction and shared our values for a limited government and free country,’ he said.

Stitt went on to praise DeSantis as having ‘boldly delivered results for the people of Florida that laid the groundwork for a booming economy, an education system focused on student outcomes, and better infrastructure for working families.’ 

‘To deliver these same results all across America and unwind the disastrous liberal mandates of the Biden administration is going to demand a candidate who can win and keep winning as a two-term president. I am confident that leader is Ron DeSantis,’ he said.

Stitt’s backing is the latest pickup for DeSantis in the Sooner State. Earlier this week, 20 Oklahoma state legislators, as well as former NASA administrator and congressman Jim Bridenstine, announced their support for DeSantis’ bid.

The endorsement marks a key voice of support from a governor with a reputation as a strong conservative. Stitt made Oklahoma the first state to ban abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and has also signed legislation authorizing the ‘constitutional carry’ of firearms in the state.

FORMER NEW JERSEY GOV CHRIS CHRISTIE LAUNCHES SECOND BID FOR WHITE HOUSE

Last year, he signed legislation barring males from participating in women’s sports and this year banned all sex reassignment procedures for minors in the state, including irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies.

The endorsements come as DeSantis seeks to close the gap on Trump, who polls show as the clear front-runner for the nomination. Meanwhile, the field is getting larger with the recent entries of both former Vice President Mike Pence and former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie into the 2024 field.

DeSantis has sought to contrast his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic with Trump’s. The DeSantis campaign this week debuted an AI-generated image depicting Trump hugging Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Trump has shot back, recently saying that Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ‘did better’ at handling the pandemic than his fellow Republican.

North Carolina Republican delegates voted Saturday to censure U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis for allegedly straying from conservative values with his stances on immigration and LGBTQ+ rights.

At the state party’s annual convention in Greensboro, delegates accused the senator of violating key principles of the Republican platform. The censure needed two-thirds majority to pass, and there were 1,801 voting delegates present.

Tillis, who has served in the Senate since 2015, is known for his willingness to compromise with Democrats on issues such as immigration, gun violence and LGBTQ+ rights. He worked on the Respect For Marriage Act last year, which gave federal protections to interracial and same-sex marriages.

Tillis also supported funding for red flag laws, which give state courts power to remove firearms from people who may pose a threat to others or themselves. 

‘We need people who are unwavering in their support for conservative ideals,’ 81-year-old delegate Jim Forster told the Associated Press. ‘His recent actions don’t reflect the party’s shift to the right – in fact, they’re moving in the exact wrong direction.’

But other delegates disagreed with the censure, fearing it would divide Republicans further. State Senator Jim Burgin told the Associated Press that the vote sets a dangerous precedent for the party. 

‘I believe that a mob mentality doesn’t do us any good,’ North Carolina State Senator Bobby Hanig argued. ‘Senator Tillis does a lot for North Carolina, he does a lot for the coastal communities, so why would I want to make him mad?’

Tillis spokesperson Daniel Keylin defended the senator’s conservatism to Fox News Digital, citing his support for conservative legislation.

‘He will never apologize for his work passing the largest tax cut in history, introducing legislation to secure the border and end sanctuary cities, delivering desperately-needed funding to strengthen school safety and protecting the rights of churches to worship freely based on their belief in traditional marriage,’ Keylin said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has named Drug Enforcement Administration Inspection Division head Erik Smith as the state’s next highway patrol superintendent.Smith’s predecessor, Herman Jones, retired amid sexual harassment allegations and federal lawsuits over policing practices.Smith, an Ellsworth, Kansas native, will take office on July 7. Until then, Lt. Col. Jason DeVore will head the department.

The Kansas governor chose a high-ranking U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official Friday to head the state highway patrol, replacing a retiring superintendent who is facing federal lawsuits over the agency’s policing and allegations that he sexually harassed female employees.

Gov. Laura Kelly’s appointment of Erik Smith came on retiring Superintendent and Col. Herman Jones’ last day. Until Smith can take over as superintendent July 7, patrol Lt. Col. Jason DeVore, who also was named as a defendant in the sexual harassment lawsuit, pursued by five patrol employees.

Smith has strong ties to Kansas. He is a native of the small central Kansas town of Ellsworth, holds a criminal justice degree from Friends University in Wichita, and served nine years with the Sedgwick County sheriff’s office, also in Wichita, before joining the DEA. He has been chief of the DEA’s Inspection Division since 2021.

Smith’s appointment must be confirmed by the Kansas Senate next year. Lawmakers are out of session for the year, but a committee of Senate leaders will determine this summer whether Smith can serve as acting superintendent until a confirmation vote.

Kelly had faced pressure from the Republican-controlled Legislature to dismiss Jones, but he announced in February that he would retire. In announcing Smith’s appointment, Kelly made no mention of the allegations surrounding Jones and the patrol and thanked Jones for his 45 years in law enforcement. In a statement released by the governor’s office, DeVore thanked Kelly for her ‘steadfast support’ of the agency.

A federal judge is considering the legality of a patrol tactic known as the ‘Kansas two step,’ in which troopers make traffic stops and then draw out their interactions with drivers, allegedly so that they get time to find incriminating information or get a drug-sniffing dog to the scene. The judge had a trial last month in a lawsuit that argues that troopers use the tactic even when they have no reasonable suspicion of a crime.

Critics contend that the patrol targets motorists coming from other states where marijuana is legal. Kansas is among the few states with no legalized form of marijuana.

Meanwhile, a trial is scheduled in September in the sexual harassment lawsuit against Jones, DeVore and the state, alleging that the female employees faced a hostile work environment.

Jones has denied allegations of improper conduct, and Kelly has stood by him, telling The Topeka Capital-Journal in December that the state conducted two independent investigations and found ‘no substance to the allegations.’

Jones and DeVore settled a third lawsuit last year, filed by two majors who alleged that they were pushed out of the patrol in 2020 in retaliation for helping female employees file sexual harassment complaints. The patrol restored the two men to their previous positions, and they received more than year’s worth of back pay.

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House Republicans should be cooking with gas right now.

A debt ceiling crisis behind them, Republicans turned their attention to shielding the public from a federal intrusion into the kitchen. GOPers howled for months about potential regulation, if not prohibition, of gas stoves due to environmental concerns from the left. So Republicans drafted two bills to protect gas stoves.

If only some Republicans would let House Republicans even debate Republican bills about gas stoves.

Here’s what happened:

A conservative faction of House GOPers feel betrayed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. They don’t like the debt ceiling pact McCarthy forged with President Biden to avoid a federal default. They abhor the fact that more Democrats than Republicans – way more – voted for the debt ceiling measure. That’s even though McCarthy managed to convince about two-thirds of all House Republicans to vote in favor of a plan to suspend the debt limit.

Political observers were skeptical McCarthy could thread such a needle: carve a deal with the President yet maintain credibility with a wide swath of House GOPers. It was quite an achievement by McCarthy.

But, in the eyes of some conservatives, McCarthy’s success barely flickers like a pilot light.

A revolt among right-wing Republicans blocked the House from even considering the dual gas stove bills on Tuesday. After two days of unsuccessful negotiations with the rebel Republicans, McCarthy and the GOP brass canceled votes in the House until next Monday.

House Republicans prepped the gas stove bills for debate early this week. Most bills headed to the House floor require what’s called a ‘rule’ before debate commences. The ‘rule’ sets the guidelines for how the House debates the legislation. That includes time restrictions and if any amendments are in order. The House must first adopt the rule before starting debate on the underlying legislation. No rule, no debate.

What is past is prologue.

There were a few tense moments on the House floor last week when the House prepared to bring the debt ceiling package to the floor for debate. Remember that House GOPers can only lose four of their own and still pass a measure without help from the Democrats. More than two dozen Republicans voted nay on the the ‘rule’ for the debt ceiling package. Defeating the rule would have stymied the House and prevented the underlying legislation from ever hitting the floor. But after the vote wore on, a trove of Democrats sat on the sidelines, not casting their ballots. With the vote on the rule failing, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., then held up a green voting card in the chamber. That was the signal to ‘release’ Democrats to vote in favor of the debt ceiling rule and make up the GOP deficit.

The rule passed, depositing the debt ceiling bill on the floor for debate.

However, the Republican majority would earn no such bailout from Jeffries and Democrats on the gas stove bills. A band of arch-conservatives didn’t inform the GOP brass of their plans to vote no on the rule for the gas stove measures. They ultimately tanked the rule – blocking the House from even initiating debate on legislation which the party designed to show up the Biden Administration.

And so commenced two days of backdoor meetings between various Republicans, McCarthy and other top GOP leaders about how to quell the uprising.

There were even suggestions of sniping between McCarthy and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. It’s not absolutely clear that the duo is on the same page. Fox has been told for months to watch Scalise should McCarthy stumble in the Speakership.

It’s notable that Scalise was not part of the debt ceiling negotiations. McCarthy conscripted two lieutenants for the job: House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. and Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., for the job. When asked about scheduling questions, McCarthy often replies ‘that’s a question for the Majority Leader.’ That’s absolutely true. The floor schedule is Scalise’s purview. But it’s unclear if McCarthy’s response is an attempt to stay in his lane or pawn off potential problems to Scalise.

After the sessions with recalcitrant GOPers, McCarthy finally declared a timeout on Wednesday. He dismissed the House with hopes of having things back to normal on Monday.

The House Rules Committee has teed up a meeting for Monday afternoon on a measure backed by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., to block a rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on pistol braces. Gun rights advocates note that disabled persons use pistol braces. They argue the government is infringing on Second Amendment rights by enforcing the ATF rule.

The Clyde bill is tied to the center of the controversy among some conservatives. Fox was told there was a problem gaining support for his legislation. Thus, it wasn’t ready for the floor. But conservatives claim there was retaliation by the leadership against Clyde. They contend the GOP leadership refused to bring the pistol brace legislation to the floor because Clyde voted against the rule on the gas stove bill this week.

McCarthy has tried to remain outwardly positive in his conversations with the press corps after the lengthy meetings with fellow Republicans. He trotted out a familiar line – used by both Democrats and Republicans – when their respective parties suffered internal strife. The Speaker said the GOP would have a ‘family discussion.’

‘I’m not going to get upset. I’m not going to get frustrated in this process. I know this job is not an easy job. I didn’t seek it because it’s easy. I like the challenge,’ said McCarthy.

However, the Speaker conceded he was baffled by the dissent.

‘I’m not quite sure what they’re concerned about,’ said McCarthy.

Fox is told there is anger at both McCarthy and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.. Massie is a member of the Rules Committee. Massie voted for the ‘rule’ to allow the debt ceiling bill to come to the floor. Had Massie not greenlighted the debt ceiling bill in the Rules Committee, the GOP would have lacked the votes to jettison the measure to the floor. That enrages members of the Freedom Caucus.

‘Massie’s been co-opted by the leadership,’ said one House conservative source.

Fox is told that some GOP members told Massie it’s time that he remove the debt clock pin he wears from his lapel after supporting the debt ceiling package.

‘The Rules Committee is not working the way it should,’ griped one Freedom Caucus member.

So the House is back at it on Monday. Scalise has tentatively returned the gas stove measures to the House’s docket for Tuesday. We’ll see if Republicans are indeed cooking with gas by then.

Or, the whole thing could explode.