FIRST ON FOX: The Vance-led anti-fraud task force and the General Services Administration uncovered more than $1.2 billion in suspected COVID-era contract fraud as the White House anti-fraud task force continues its crackdown across the country.

The General Services Administration, along with the Department of Health and Human Services, found that COVID emergency contracting continued after the pandemic emergency officially ended. The agencies also revealed that millions of vaccine contracts were awarded even after the pandemic ended under the Biden administration.

“The COVID emergency ended over three years ago, yet fraudsters continue to weaponize outdated emergency contracts to abuse taxpayer dollars,” GSA Administrator Edward C. Forst told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Vice President Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, GSA uncovered $1.22 billion in suspected fraud across five HHS COVID-era contracts.”

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“GSA will continue to work with the Vice President’s task force to stop improper payments, refer suspected fraud to law enforcement, and fight to recover every dollar,” he added.

While the funding uncovered is not currently tied to criminal charges for contractors, the agencies have pinpointed a significant amount of taxpayer dollars that may have otherwise been distributed for COVID vaccines and other pandemic-related services long after the national emergency ended.

GSA estimates that an estimated 93% of the funding for the contracts has not yet been distributed to vendors, while roughly 6.78% has already been expended. The agency has since suspended payments to contractors as part of the initiative.

“The COVID emergency ended in 2023. The emergency contract advantage didn’t — until now.”

WHITE HOUSE PUSHES ‘WATERSHED’ FRAUD-FIGHTING REFORM IN CONGRESS AS VANCE CONVENES TASK FORCE

White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud Executive Director Scott Brady told Fox News Digital in a statement. “GSA’s review uncovered $1.22 billion in suspected fraud and stopped $41 million more across five HHS COVID-era contracts that kept the emergency label alive long after the emergency was gone.”

Brady said that allocated emergency funding “is a privilege, not a blank check,” while describing contractors who received funding to combat the pandemic at the time as “honest.” He characterized any funding that was distributed beyond the emergency as a “free pass.”

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The announcement comes after the General Services Administration found more than $13 billion in suspected contractor fraud in late August, and the Trump administration has declared a total of more than $245.7 billion has been uncovered since the president took office and that it has prevented an annualized $62.9 billion in fraudulent payments.

The White House anti-fraud task force also says that more than $59.1 billion in indictments and settlements are being enforced.

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The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, has uncovered the most significant amount of fraud at $96.4 billion.

As for the beneficiaries of fraudulent activity, the Trump administration has identified some foreign nationals who have infiltrated the federal contracting system and acquired funds while still residing in their home countries.

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Earlier this month the FBI released a “Most Wanted” list highlighting alleged fraud suspects as the administration continues its broader crackdown on fraud. Officials say the involvement of foreign nationals in multiple schemes has heightened concerns about overseas actors exploiting U.S. government programs.

Among those named is Onur Simsek, a Turkish national whom the FBI believes is living in Turkey. Prosecutors accuse Simsek of leading a defense procurement fraud scheme that secured U.S. military contracts by falsely certifying Turkish-made parts as tested and qualified, potentially rendering critical military equipment inoperable.

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Federal authorities allege Simsek is one of a number of foreign nationals who have infiltrated and exploited U.S. federal funds to obtain taxpayer funds.

In an interview with Fox News Digital last month, Vice President JD Vance said authorities have observed what he described as a “clear pattern” in some fraud cases involving immigrant communities.

“You definitely see patterns in certain communities,” Vance said. “It’ll start as maybe one Somali person takes advantage of the system, or realizes you don’t even have to have children to get money from these programs. You could just claim that you have children, there’s no verification. Then, word spreads like wildfire, and that program gets tapped into by the same members of that community.”

Despite voter fury and rising fuel prices, most Republican senators stayed the course with President Donald Trump and his war on Iran in a vote Thursday.

Though vulnerable Republicans on the campaign trail broke with Trump earlier this week, calling for an “immediate end” to the war, lawmakers on the Hill stuck with him and defeated another attempt by Democrats to rein in his war authorities as the conflict nears the eight-month mark.

Still, there was a group of rebellious Republicans who had consistently voted with Democrats, including Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Rand Paul, R-Ky. New blood was added this time with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

REPUBLICANS BREAK WITH TRUMP TO REBUKE IRAN WAR — BUT IT WON’T CHANGE POLICY

Tillis, who is retiring at the end of the year, argued his decision to vote for the latest war powers resolution came after the administration again blew past a 60-day deadline to involve Congress.

“We know the resolution’s not gonna pass, but it is important to start saying, ‘We deserve an update. You better start treating — Congress can be an assistance with this war effort, if you inform us,’” Tillis said.

To Tillis’ point, the resolution that failed in the Senate, which passed in the House with seven Republican defectors, would have headed to the president’s desk, where it likely would have been vetoed. And without a veto-proof majority, the effort wouldn’t have teeth legally. However, it will hurt on the airwaves in the ads to come.

GOP CRACKS WIDEN OVER IRAN WAR AS VULNERABLE CANDIDATES BREAK WITH TRUMP, DEMAND ITS END

Thursday’s vote comes as Republicans are getting an earful about the war, particularly over skyrocketing gas and diesel prices, on the campaign trail. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged that fuel prices are a growing issue for Americans.

“Well, I think people are, there’s voter fatigue with high gas prices and high diesel prices in my part of the world,” Thune said.

“So, that’s a frustration, it’s an economic frustration, and that’s why, again, I hope the administration is laser-focused on trying to get the [Strait of Hormuz] open, get the shipping lights opened up, and help out with that global energy supply, because that ultimately will get prices down,” he continued.

Three vulnerable Republicans running for toss-up seats this week, Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, former Rep. Mike Rogers in Michigan, and Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, all requested that the fighting come to an “immediate end” as the war grows in unpopularity with their voters.

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Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who has acted as the self-anointed traffic cop for the deluge of Democratic war powers resolutions over the last several months, diagnosed the defections as a by-product of reports that U.S. bombs had fallen on an Iranian school and that diesel costs are “going up and up and up.”

“They are listening to their constituents. They should [have] listened to them before now, because their constituents were saying, ‘Don’t get into this thing,’” Kaine said. “But they’re finally listening to them. And nothing makes you listen as much as an election staring you in the face.”

But Trump isn’t swayed by the effects that the conflict could have on the midterm elections as the GOP fights to keep power in Congress.

“The Republican Party is running, and I’ll be helping them, but I am not running,” Trump told reporters this week. “I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran. It doesn’t even enter my mind. The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

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Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephen Descano is facing a forceful rebuke from a former federal prosecutor who extensively criticized his record after announcing her bid to unseat him.

Descano, a Democrat, has faced criticism over what opponents describe as lenient prosecutorial decisions, particularly in serious cases involving illegal immigrant suspects. Former federal prosecutor Brittany Dunn-Pirio said that if there weren’t systemic problems in his office, she would want to work there.

“If this office were doing its job, I wouldn’t be running against it. I’d be applying to work for it. But it isn’t,” Dunn-Pirio said on her new campaign website after Washington, D.C.-area media reported her bid late Wednesday.

VIRGINIA DEMS SPLIT ON DOJ PROBE OF SOROS-BACKED DA ACCUSED OF GIVING ‘SWEETHEART DEALS’ TO ILLEGAL ALIENS

“I’m a Democrat. This race isn’t about whether reform was right. It’s about whether the office can tell the difference between a first-time nonviolent offender who deserves a second chance and a violent or sexual offender who doesn’t,” Dunn-Pirio said on her website.

“It’s about whether deadlines are met, evidence is given to the defendant and victims are spoken to.”

VIRGINIA DEM DEFENDS SOROS-BACKED PROSECUTOR FROM DOJ PROBE AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGING ALLEGATIONS

Fox News Digital reached out to Descano and Dunn-Pirio for further comment.

Descano campaign spokesman Nathan Kiker defended the incumbent’s record, telling Fox News Digital that “Steve Descano has spent his tenure proving that you can reform the justice system and keep our community safe at the same time.”

“Today, Fairfax County is recognized as the safest large county in the nation because Steve focused on accountability and the root causes of crime rather than failed policies of the past. We are proud to put that record before the voters,” Kiker said.

Dunn-Pirio also pointed to “botched sexual assault cases” and prosecutors declining to meet with victims, along with her contention that the justice system too often favors the “well-connected.”

One case that has drawn the scrutiny of Descano’s office involves Abdul Jalloh, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone charged with murdering Stephanie Minter. Minter was stabbed and killed at a Hybla Valley bus stop in February after Jalloh had cycled through the criminal justice system following numerous previous arrests.

Descano has pushed back on claims that his office simply allowed Jalloh to walk free, telling Congress his prosecutors obtained convictions against him “wherever possible.”

SOROS-BACKED DA’S LAX ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION POLICIES LED TO ‘PREVENTABLE’ BUS STOP STABBING MURDER: COMPLAINT

Dunn-Pirio previously served as a prosecutor in Frederick County, Virginia, and as a federal prosecutor in the district covering Lexington, Kentucky. She said she resigned from the DOJ in 2025 after working on COVID-related fraud and similar cases.

“I couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected while prosecuting average Americans for the same conduct,” she said, according to a release obtained by FairfaxNow.

She also said Descano’s office has spent too much time “failing the people I care about.”

A carousel on her new campaign website highlights cases that have drawn public scrutiny of Descano, including:

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“We need a Commonwealth’s Attorney who can make this office work,” Dunn-Pirio said. “Every person in Fairfax should feel safe, and every person in Fairfax should be able to trust the office that’s supposed to protect them.”

Descano’s campaign did not immediately respond to an additional request for comment on Dunn-Pirio’s criticism.

Dunn-Pirio, most recently an associate at the civil litigation firm Harman, Claytor, Corrigan & Wellman, served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Kentucky for two years before resigning in November 2025. At the Justice Department, she specialized in COVID relief fraud and public corruption cases, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“Most recently I was a federal prosecutor, and I resigned from the Justice Department because I couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected while prosecuting average Americans for the same conduct,” Dunn-Pirio said.

Before becoming a federal prosecutor in 2023, Dunn-Pirio served as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Frederick County, an assistant attorney general in the state criminal appeals courts and a law clerk to Judge Randy Bellows in Fairfax County Circuit Court.

Dunn-Pirio emphasized that she is a “cradle Democrat,” distinguishing her candidacy from a challenge to Descano from the political right.

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The Department of Homeland Security called out dozens of Democrats and members of the media for “spreading lies” about a recent ICE officer-involved shooting in Austin, while a former agency director suggested the political response may be by design.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national whom DHS says is an illegal immigrant in the U.S., was shot by an ICE agent during a chase Sunday. Perez was arrested and taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and listed in stable condition. The shooting has prompted protests in Austin and criticism from Democrats.

On Tuesday, more than 100 Democratic members of Congress signed a letter demanding Perez’s release and saying he “is not receiving the care he needs in detention” and “still has the bullet lodged in his body.”

In a separate statement, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said “despite losing movement on his left side and having a bullet lodged next to his spine, ICE has forced Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez out of the hospital and back to the South Texas ICE Processing Center.” Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, called ICE “liars with masks” and demanded the agency leave Austin.

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In response, DHS posted on X that “sanctuary politicians and the media wasted no time in spreading lies” and that “no amount of smears and false narratives will slow down ICE from doing its job to arrest illegal aliens from our communities.”

DHS called the claim that ICE refused to remove the bullet from Perez’s body “false.” The agency said ICE “does not and would not advise, nor be the authority on, a medical procedure for an illegal alien at a hospital.” Addressing reports that Perez was denied pain medication and made to sleep on the floor, DHS said Perez is “receiving medical care around the clock, including pain medication,” and that after being released from the hospital, he slept on a bed a few hours after arriving at ICE’s detention facility.

The agency also disputed statements from Perez’s lawyer that Perez entered the country legally and has a work permit. DHS said he “entered the country illegally under the Biden Administration” and “had no valid work permit, had no protective status, and had a final order of removal from a Department of Justice (DOJ) Immigration Judge.”

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DHS said ICE “will not be slowing down nor leaving Austin.”

“DHS is tasked with enforcing the laws passed by Congress. We do not pick and choose which laws to enforce or where to enforce them. We will continue to enforce our nation’s laws,” the agency said.

Former acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey, who served toward the end of President Donald Trump’s first term, suggested some of the political pushback was by design.

“The irony of it all is, with these ICE incidents, it’s not just coincidental that the Democrats are against ICE performing their function of enforcing immigration laws… they don’t want them actually doing their jobs,” Fahey said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

“They try to build these situations up to try to get negative attention toward ICE and more political pressure on them and advance their political agenda.”

Fahey suggested the Democratic Party’s “whole goal” is an open Mexican border and mass amnesty. He argued that Democrats’ response to the Austin incident shows they do not want what he considers responsible enforcement, but no enforcement.

“They seem to have doubled down on [the ‘mass amnesty’ agenda] after the 2024 election, which in some respects is surprising,” he said. “My opinion is their motive is… for the people here open the border because they think that will help them electorally currently and in the future – and all the other stuff is just noise to help achieve that.”

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Asked about Casar’s demands that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin “preserve every piece of evidence,” suspend the agent in question and brief Congress, Fahey said it would be irresponsible for DHS to brief Congress before the investigation is complete.

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“That’s mostly going to be a distraction,” he said. “Congress wants to exercise oversight over this particular instance. I think the more appropriate thing would be after DHS has concluded their investigation [for] all of that [to be] done. I don’t think the secretary would have any issue preserving evidence. I think they’ll be doing that anyway.”

“I don’t think that’s a concern. But turning stuff over for hearing this early seems premature at the least,” he said.

Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is in the middle of a competitive race as he seeks re-election this year in red-leaning Alaska in a midterm showdown that’s one of roughly a dozen that will determine if the GOP keeps control of the Senate.

Working against Sullivan as he runs for a third six-year term in the Senate is not only a rough political climate facing Republicans but also Alaska’s unique electoral system, which includes four candidates from an open primary advancing to the general election and ranked-choice voting.

Alaska is the only state in the nation to have a “top four” primary system in which candidates advance regardless of party affiliation. And it’s one of only two states, along with Maine, to use ranked choice voting for statewide and federal races.

Defenders of the system say it gives independent voters more choices, weakens party control and encourages candidates to appeal beyond their base.

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Alaska GOP Chair Carmela Warfield has repeatedly referred to the state’s electoral system as a “MESS” in social media posts.

“It’s hurting the Republican Party,” veteran GOP strategist Mary Marslender told Fox News Digital.

Sullivan is battling former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola. The two candidates combined received over 90% of the primary vote.

But Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher and registered Republican whom Marslender and supporters of the senator call “Decoy Dan” is also on the general election ballot.

A conservative nonprofit group, Americans for Public Trust, claimed that the other Sullivan, who is not related to the senator, was working with Democrats to confuse voters. The Peltola campaign and Daniel J. Sullivan both denied the allegation. 

The Alaska Division of Elections disqualified him from the ballot, but the decision was overturned first by an Alaska Superior Court judge and later by the state Supreme Court.

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There is also a third Republican on the Senate ballot: Gerald Heikes. He advanced to the general election when the fourth-place primary finisher, Democrat David Leslie, withdrew from the race.

Marslender claimed that the current system has “become an easy way for the Democrats to game the system.”

Pointing to Daniel J. Sullivan’s inclusion on the general election ballot, she said, “That never would have been allowed in the previous old system. … But because there’s an open primary, he was allowed to be on the ballot.

“Republican primary voters under the old system wouldn’t have voted for him, and he wouldn’t have been in there.”

With ranked-choice voting, voters rank candidates by preference, and if nobody receives a majority of first-choice votes, additional counting rounds occur until someone reaches a majority. 

Marslender said there’s a perception that Republicans would unite around the incumbent senator in the general election.

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But, she said, in Alaska, which is the nation’s largest and most remote state, “It’s really hard to get a statewide message out” due to “the geographical challenges.”

Alaskans for Better Elections, which supports the system, has been holding events to help voters better understand how it works.

“Alaska’s election system celebrates our independence, giving us the freedom to vote for the person who is best for the job,” the group highlights on its website.

The Senate race wasn’t the only contest impacted by the current system. There were also eleventh-hour withdrawals that rocked the races for governor and the U.S. House, which also cast a shadow on the state’s unique voting process.

Alaska voters get to weigh in when they cast general election ballots to either keep or scrap the current system.

Matt Schultz, a Democrat who suspended his congressional bid before the primary, supports keeping the system. But he told the AP, “We need to make things much more transparent and predictable and understandable by the general public so that we can truly have trust in our democracy again.”

Republican Lesil McGuire and Democrat Tom Begich, former state lawmakers who were both eliminated in the primary for governor, defended the system.

“Let’s be clear: We would have faced challenges and might not have advanced in a traditional closed or semi-closed primary. Our election system was not designed to guarantee anyone a win. It was designed to solve a problem: elections in which a narrow, more partisan slice of voters decided the November ballot, resulting in hyperpartisanship that limited progress,” they wrote in an opinion piece in The Anchorage Daily News.

“We don’t support our current system because it was good for us as candidates; we support it because it’s good for us as Alaskans.”