Edwin J. Feulner, a prominent figure in the American conservative movement and co-founder and former president of the Heritage Foundation, died on Friday at the age of 83.

Feulner served as the organization’s president from 1977 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2018. He was well known for transforming the once-obscure think tank into one of the most influential policy powerhouses in Washington, D.C.

He was its longest-serving president after helping to create the Washington, D.C.-based think tank in 1973.

‘Ed Feulner was more than a leader—he was a visionary, a builder, and a patriot of the highest order,’ Heritage President Kevin Roberts and Board of Trustees Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby said in a joint statement. ‘His unwavering love of country and his determination to safeguard the principles that made America the freest, most prosperous nation in human history shaped every fiber of the conservative movement—and still do.’

The group had organized Project 2025, a controversial initiative that offered right-wing policy recommendations for the second Trump administration. Feulner co-wrote the initiative’s afterward and he and Roberts met with President Donald Trump ahead of last year’s election. Feulner was also on Trump’s transition team ahead of his first term.

Under his leadership, Heritage instituted a new model of conservative policy advocacy. This helped shape Reagan-era reforms and pushed market-based ideas into political mainstream. Feulner has remained active through Project 2025 and a transition plan for a second Trump term which is drawing praise and criticism for its hardline policy proposals.

An author of nine books and a former congressional aide, he was also involved in various other conservative organizations.

‘Whether he was bringing together the various corners of the conservative movement at meetings of the Philadelphia Society, or launching what is now the Heritage Strategy Forum, Ed championed a bold, ‘big-tent conservatism,” Roberts and Andel-Gaby wrote. ‘He believed in addition, not subtraction. Unity, not uniformity. One of his favorite mantras was ‘You win through multiplication and addition, not through division and subtraction.’ His legacy is not just the institution he built, but the movement he helped grow—a movement rooted in faith, family, freedom, and the founding. ‘

‘His ‘Feulnerisms’ still resonate in the halls of Heritage—where they will always be remembered. ‘People are policy,’ for instance— the heartbeat of his mission—to equip, encourage, and elevate a new generation of conservative leaders, not just in Washington, but across this great country,’ the statement continued. ‘And we still remember his adjuration to never be complacent or discouraged: ‘In Washington, there are no permanent victories and no permanent defeats.”

Roberts and Andel-Gaby vowed to honor Feulner’s life by ‘carrying his mission forward with courage, integrity, and determination.’

‘Thank you for showing us what one faithful, fearless man can do when he refuses to cede ground in the fight for self-governance,’ the leaders said of Feulner.

Heritage did not disclose Feulner’s cause of death.

Feulner is survived by his wife Lina, as well as their children and grandchildren.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on a Brazilian judge after the country’s Supreme Court issued search warrants and restraining orders against former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, his unspecified allies on the court and his immediate family members will face visa revocations, according to Rubio, who criticized what he called a ‘political witch hunt’ against the former president.

‘President Trump made clear that his administration will hold accountable foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States,’ Rubio said in a statement. 

‘Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil’s shores to target Americans,’ he continued.

As part of the court’s orders, Bolsonaro is prohibited from contacting foreign officials, using social media or approaching embassies over allegations he sought the interference of U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the decision issued by Moraes, who cited a ‘concrete possibility’ of him fleeing the country.

Federal police raided Bolsonaro’s home, and he had an ankle monitor placed on him.

Trump has already attempted to pressure Brazil’s officials to help Bolsonaro by announcing a 50% tariff on goods from the country from August 1 in a letter that began by criticizing Bolsonaro’s trial before Brazil’s Supreme Court on accusations of attempting to overturn the last election.

The U.S. president has pushed Brazil to end the case against Bolsonaro, arguing that the former Brazilian leader was the victim of a ‘witch hunt.’

Bolsonaro is on trial before Brazil’s Supreme Court on charges of plotting a coup to stop President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023.

Bolsonaro told Reuters that he believed the orders against him were issued in response to Trump’s criticism of his trial.

The former president described Moraes as a ‘dictator’ and called the latest court orders acts of ‘cowardice.’

‘I feel supreme humiliation,’ he said about wearing the ankle monitor. ‘I am 70-years-old, I was president of the republic for four years.’

Bolsonaro denied any plans to leave the country, but said he would meet with Trump if he could obtain access to his passport, which was seized last year. He also said he had contacted the top U.S. diplomat in Brazil to discuss Trump’s tariff threat.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said on Friday, citing previous comments from Trump, that ‘Bolsonaro and his supporters are under attack from a weaponized court system.’

On Thursday, Trump shared a letter he sent to Bolsonaro.

‘I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you. This trial should end immediately!’ he wrote.

Moraes said in his decision that the restrictions against Bolsonaro were because of allegations that the former president was attempting to have the ‘head of state of a foreign nation’ interfere in Brazilian courts, which the judge called an attack on national sovereignty.

The judge added that Trump’s threats of higher tariffs sought to create a serious economic crisis in Brazil to interfere in the country’s judicial system.

Bolsonaro was also prohibited from contacting key allies, including his son Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman who has been working in the U.S. to gather support for his father.

The former Brazilian president told Reuters he had been talking to his son almost daily and denied any concerted U.S. lobbying effort on his behalf. He said he expected his son to seek U.S. citizenship to avoid returning to Brazil.

A five-judge panel of Brazilian Supreme Court judges upheld Moraes’ decision.

Reuters contributed to this report.

At Attorney General Pam Bondi’s direction, the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday formally moved to unseal long-secret grand jury transcripts from the Jeffrey Epstein case, citing what it called intense public interest in the notorious sex trafficking investigation.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche submitted the motion in Manhattan federal court, urging a judge to release the transcripts from Epstein’s 2019 grand jury proceedings and those from the prosecution of Epstein’s convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, as part of a new transparency push by the department.

Earlier this month, the DOJ and FBI issued a memorandum describing an ‘exhaustive review’ of their Epstein investigative files. That internal review sought to determine if any evidence could justify charging additional individuals, but it concluded that ‘no such evidence was uncovered’ against any uncharged third parties. 

Since the memo’s July 6 release, officials say, public interest in its conclusions has remained high.

While the department maintains it stands by the memo’s findings, the filing emphasizes that ‘transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.’ Given the intense public interest, the DOJ told the court it is moving to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts to shed light on its investigative work in the Epstein matter.

The DOJ said it will work with prosecutors to redact all victim names and personal identifying information from the transcripts before any release. 

‘Transparency in this process will not be at the expense of our obligation under the law to protect victims,’ the motion assured.

Epstein, 66, was indicted by a New York grand jury July 2, 2019, on sex trafficking charges. Just over a month later, on Aug. 10, 2019, he died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and the case was dismissed.

Epstein’s longtime confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, was indicted by a grand jury in 2020 on multiple counts related to trafficking and coercing minors.

She was convicted in December 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Maxwell’s convictions were upheld on appeal in 2024, and she is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review her case.

Grand jury proceedings are ordinarily secret by law, or as the motion says, ‘a tradition of law that proceedings before a grand jury shall generally remain secret.’ But the filing notes this tradition ‘is not absolute.’

Federal courts have recognized ‘certain ‘special circumstances’’ where releasing grand jury records is appropriate even outside the usual exceptions, like when a case holds significant public or historical importance.

The DOJ argues Epstein’s case is exactly such a special circumstance given its unparalleled notoriety.

‘Public officials, lawmakers, pundits, and ordinary citizens remain deeply interested and concerned about the Epstein matter,’ the motion notes. 

The motion points out that a Florida judge last year ordered the release of some Epstein grand jury records after concluding the financier was ‘the most infamous pedophile in American history’ and that the facts of Epstein’s case ‘tell a tale of national disgrace.’

By the DOJ’s account, the sealed grand jury transcripts are ‘critical pieces of an important moment in our nation’s history,’ and ‘[t]he time for the public to guess what they contain should end.’ 

The motion stresses that Epstein’s death means any privacy interests on his side are now ‘substantially diminished.’ And even though Maxwell is still fighting her conviction, prosecutors said the extraordinary public scrutiny around the Epstein saga justifies pressing ahead with unsealing now.

For these reasons, the DOJ is urging the court to conclude that the Epstein and Maxwell cases qualify as matters of public interest and to grant the unsealing of the grand jury transcripts while lifting any protective orders. 

The unsealing would shine unprecedented light on one of America’s most notorious criminal cases, a move the department says is legally justified and necessary in the name of public accountability.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Mike Ruiz contributed to this report.

During a celebratory dinner at the White House with a number of Donald Trump’s GOP allies, including several Republican lawmakers from Congress, the president signaled that 10 more hostages in Gaza would be ‘coming very shortly.’

The dinner was largely focused on touting the achievements Republicans have had over the last six months, but while praising his administration’s work on foreign policy, Trump commented about the hostages. 

‘Gaza – we got most of the hostages back,’ Trump said when his comments turned to the Middle East. ‘We’re going to have another ten coming very shortly. And we hope to have that finished pretty quickly,’ the president added.

So far, the U.S. has brought home five total American hostages captured by Hamas, three of whom were alive, two of whom were dead. Two Americans reportedly still remain in captivity, in addition to dozens of other non-Americans.

The rest of Trump’s address Friday night mostly included praise for Congressional Republicans over their work passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with the president stating he doesn’t ‘think anybody’s ever come close to’ passing such sweeping legislation with such a small majority. 

In particular, Trump thanked by name Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, Republican Policy Committee Chair Shelly Moore-Capito, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham.

‘Nobody’s done so much, so fast. And probably you could say, with so few votes,’ Trump praised. ‘You stayed in session for a marathon ten consecutive weeks, and that’s the longest of any Senate in 15 years. And you held over 400 votes, more than any Senate in 35 years. And they were successful votes. And just a few weeks ago, we had the biggest victory of them all. When you passed the one big beautiful bill.’ 

The president also lauded Republicans for all the work they have done on immigration, border security, foreign diplomacy, speedy cabinet nominations, deregulation and spending cut efforts, calling out Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff specifically for their work on U.S. foreign diplomacy.

Top of mind Friday night was the GOP recission package as well, which Trump praised the passage of. Trump did not indicate when he would sign the GOP bill, but did note that ‘we have numerous other recissions coming up, adding more, many more $10 billion dollars to it.’

Meanwhile, Trump also predicted that, in 2026, the GOP majority ‘is going to be stronger in both the House and the Senate.’ Typically, conventional wisdom predicts that the party that won the presidency will not typically perform as well two years later during the midterm elections. 

‘I don’t understand why they say that when you win the presidency, you always almost automatically lose the midterms, because nobody’s had a more successful period of time than we have,’ Trump told the crowd of attendees at the White House Friday evening. ‘Based on that, we should do great.’

Trump added Friday that ‘We achieved more in six months than almost any administration could accomplish in eight years.’

‘And we’re going to have a lot of good six months left. We’re going to have a six and another six and another six. So we’ll keep going,’ he continued. ‘Over the next year and a half, we’ll have an incredible record to share with the American people,’ he continued. ‘As long as we continue to keep our promises to the voters, Americans will continue to stand by our side.’