Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has expressed support for the work performed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and condemned any calls to put the kibosh on the federal law enforcement agency.

“ICE performs an important job for our country,” he declared in a post on X, describing “Any calls to abolish ICE” as “inappropriate and outrageous.”

Multiple Republican lawmakers agreed with Fetterman.

FETTERMAN ISSUES ‘DO’ AND ‘DO NOT’ LIST, DOUBLING DOWN ON ANTI-VIOLENCE MESSAGE AFTER CALLING OUT LA ‘ANARCHY’

“Amen,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a post when retweeting his Democratic colleague’s post.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., also expressed agreement with Fetterman’s comments.

“Seconded,” a post on Lee’s @SenMikeLee X account that retweeted Fetterman declares.

“I concur. Thank you Senator,” Mace noted when retweeting Fetterman’s post.

‘NOT A DEMOCRAT’: JOHN FETTERMAN CALLS ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S NYC PRIMARY WIN A ‘GIFT’ TO THE GOP

The post on Fetterman’s @SenFettermanPA X account echoed comments the senator had made previously. 

“ICE agents are just doing their job,” he told Fox News’ Tyler Olson, adding, “I fully support that.” Regarding any Democrats who want to abolish ICE or “treat them as criminals,” Fetterman decried that as “inappropriate” as well as “outrageous.”

But Fetterman has also expressed support for the prospect of amnesty for migrant workers.

DEMOCRATIC SEN. FETTERMAN SHUTS DOWN AOC’S CALL FOR TRUMP’S IMPEACHMENT AFTER IRAN STRIKES

“Absolutely support amnesty for the hardworking, otherwise law-abiding migrant workers. Round up and deport the criminals. We must acknowledge the critical contribution migrants make to our nation’s economy,” he noted in a post on X.

DENVER — Roger Hutson was never a huge fan of Donald Trump.

In 2016, he supported Marco Rubio for president, helping raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for his Republican primary bid.

In 2024, Hutson worked with “No Labels,” a group of Democrats, Republicans and independents, to forge a bipartisan ticket with the express purpose of keeping either Trump or Joe Biden from winning the White House.

Is this “really the best we can do in a country of 330 million people?” Hutson asked in a Denver Post opinion piece after the effort collapsed and another Trump-Biden matchup seemed inevitable. The failure, he suggested, was “a sad commentary on the status of leadership in America.”

But something unexpected happened over the last six months. Trump won Hutson over.

He’s not gone full-fledged MAGA. “No, no, no!” he insisted, scoffing at the notion of driving down the street, Trump flag waving. And he’s not about to jump on JD Vance’s political bandwagon, the likeliest vehicle for extending Trumpism in 2028 and beyond.

“I’m acknowledging the accomplishments of the man in the office,” Hutson said, with emphasis on the White House’s current occupant, whom he supported over Kamala Harris. “I’m very impressed.”

It’s not, as one might suppose, because the Denver oil and gas executive is enamored of Trump’s exhortations to “Drill, baby, drill! (“No, baby, no!” is more like it, as Hutson believes oversupply would drive prices down.)

Rather, Hutson credits Trump with achieving a good deal of what he promised during the 2024 campaign.

Securing America’s borders. Forcing U.S. allies to cough up more for defense. Bringing Iran’s nuclear program to heel. Taking on the country’s unfair trade partners.

He still doesn’t much care for Trump’s abrasive personality, the name-calling and denigrating of people.

But Hutson’s conversion shows that in a country deeply dug into oppositional camps, where political views appear cement-hardened into place, there are still those open to persuasion and even willing to change their minds.

As confounding as that might seem.

::

Hutson, 65, was a Republican his whole life, until leaving the party sometime in the 2010s. Or, more precisely, he felt “the party left me.”

A growing stridency around abortion and same-sex marriage was particularly off-putting to Hutson, who describes himself as a conservative on fiscal issues and a live-and-let-live type on social matters. “If you’re lucky enough in life to find somebody you love,” he said, “God bless.”

Hutson has long been active in civic and political affairs, serving on various boards and commissions under Democrats and Republicans alike. He recalled attending a meeting some years ago when GOP leaders gathered to discuss Colorado’s increasingly blue coloration.

“If winning means nominating an African American lesbian with antennae coming out of her head,” then Republicans should do so, Hutson suggested.

That didn’t go over well.

But it fit Hutson’s approach to politics.

He grew up an Army brat, moving around the world until his father completed his military career and settled in Golden, Colo., to take a job at a family lumber business. For all the impermanence — packing up and relocating just about every two years — Hutson said his upbringing was in many ways ideal, shaping his outlook to this day.

The military, he said, reflects the best of America: unity, shared purpose, teamwork. “I think it teaches you a lot of tolerance,” he said. “I think it teaches you a lot of acceptance.”

His GOP pedigree came from his father, the Army colonel. But it wasn’t the scorched-earth version of today’s Republican Party, in which Democrats and their philosophy are regarded as the root of all evil.

Long ago, as leader of the Jefferson County Republican Men’s Club, Hutson invited Colorado’s governor, Democrat Roy Romer, to speak.

“I was catching such hell from people. ‘How dare you invite a Democrat to speak to this group?’ ” Hutson remembered being chastised. “And I said, ‘Well, he’s our governor, isn’t he? I think it’d be an honor.’ ”

After some initial puzzlement from the governor’s office — are you sure? — Romer came and spoke, holding just the kind of cross-party conversation that Hutson wishes occurred more often among politicians in worlds-apart Washington.

“I’d love for Trump to have a weekly meeting with [Democratic House leader] Hakeem Jeffries,” Hutson said as he sat high above downtown Denver, his office decor — dark leather, rugged mountain landscape, a display of amber liquids — suggesting a Western cigar bar theme.

“I would love for Trump to sit down weekly with [Chuck] Schumer” — the Democratic Senate leader — or bring Schumer and the GOP Senate leader, John Thune, together and say, “ ‘How do we work our way through this?’ ”

Could you imagine that, Hutson asked, before answering his own question.

Nope. Never gonna happen.

::

Nothing, and no individual, is perfect. But Hutson looks to the bottom line, and he’s willing to accept trade-offs.

Trump is loud and uncouth. But he’s respected on the world stage, Hutson said, in a way the shuffling Biden was not.

Trump may be toying with tariffs — up, down, all around. But at least he’s addressing the country’s one-sided trade relationships in a way, Hutson said, no president has before.

He may be off base calling for a drastic ramp-up of domestic oil production. But in general, Hutson said, Trump’s welcoming message to business is, “What can we do to be more helpful?”

It’s unfortunate that innocents are being swept up in mass immigration raids. But maybe that wouldn’t have happened, Hutson said, if local officials had been more cooperative and criminal elements weren’t allowed to insinuate themselves so deeply into their communities in the first place.

Besides, he said, haven’t Democrats and Republicans both said a secure border and tougher enforcement is needed before comprehensively overhauling the nation’s fouled-up immigration system?

“We need to bring in the workers we need,” Hutson said. “I mean, if somebody’s coming here to work and be a meaningful part of society, God bless, man.”

Not perfect. But, all in all, a better and stronger presidential performance, Hutson suggested, than many with their blind hatred of Trump can see, or are willing to acknowledge.

“I’ve got to look at the results,” Hutson said, “and despite his caustic attitude and behavior, I think he’s done a really, really good job.”

When Barack Obama was elected president, Hutson recalled, one of his Democratic friends, a Black man, said to him, “ ‘Roger, you’ve got a Black president.’ And I said, ‘You know, Kevin, you’re right. And he’s my president, just like he’s your president.

“ ‘We don’t have to agree on everything but, by God, he’s the president of the United States and we respect that office.’ ”

Hutson paused. His eyes narrowed, disapprovingly. “We’ve lost that,” he said.

The discredited document at the center of the criminal investigations into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey was used to open the original Trump–Russia probe in 2016 and used to brief then-President-elect Donald Trump, despite top Obama-era intelligence officials knowing it was filled with unverified “internet rumor.”

The “Steele dossier,” as it’s called, was authored by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. It was funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) through the law firm Perkins Coie.

OBAMA OFFICIALS HAD NO ‘EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE’ OF TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION: HOUSE INTEL TRANSCRIPTS 

After Trump’s 2016 victory and during the presidential transition period, Comey briefed Trump on the now-infamous anti-Trump dossier, containing salacious allegations of purported coordination between Trump and the Russian government. Brennan was present for that briefing, which took place at Trump Tower in New York City in January 2017.

However, Brennan and Comey knew of intelligence suggesting Clinton, during the campaign, was stirring up a plan to tie Trump to Russia, documents claim. It is unclear whether the intelligence community, at the time, knew that the dossier was paid for by Clinton and the DNC.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, when he served as director of national intelligence under the first Trump administration, declassified Brennan’s handwritten notes memorializing that meeting, which were exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October 2020.

On July 28, 2016, Brennan briefed then-President Barack Obama on a plan from one of Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisors “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service,” the notes said. 

Comey, then-Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were at the Brennan–Obama briefing.

“We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from (REDACTED),” read Brennan’s handwritten notes, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October 2020. “CITE (summarizing) alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.”

After that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the subject line: “Crossfire Hurricane.”

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated, “The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate.”

FBI LAUNCHES CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS OF JOHN BRENNAN, JAMES COMEY: DOJ SOURCES

“Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date,” the memo continued. “An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”

The FBI did not open an investigation into the matter, and instead, continued with its counterintelligence investigation into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 campaign. That investigation, which was opened July 31, 2016, was referred to inside the bureau as “Crossfire Hurricane.”

Brennan and Comey are now under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump-Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress, Justice Department sources told Fox News Digital.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of alleged wrongdoing by former CIA Director John Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel, pictured here, for potential prosecution, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Ratcliffe referred evidence of alleged wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital.

The sources said that the referral was received and told Fox News Digital that a criminal investigation into Brennan was opened and is underway. DOJ sources declined to provide further details. It is unclear, at this point, if the investigation spans beyond his alleged false statements to Congress.

As for Comey, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital that an investigation into the former director is underway but could not share details of what specifically is being probed.

The full scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey is unclear, but two sources described the FBI’s view of the duo’s interactions as a “conspiracy,” which could open up a wide range of potential prosecutorial options. 

The Brennan investigation comes after Ratcliffe recently declassified a “lessons learned” review of the creation of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). The 2017 ICA alleged Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election to help then-candidate Trump. However, the review found that the process of the ICA’s creation was rushed with “procedural anomalies,” and that officials had diverted from intelligence standards. 

It also determined that the “decision by agency heads to include the Steele Dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.” 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe sits with his hands folded in the Situation Room on June 21, 2025. (The White House via X)

The review marks the first time career CIA officials have acknowledged politicization of the process by which the ICA was written, particularly by Obama-era political appointees.  Records declassified as part of that review further revealed that Brennan did, in fact, push for the dossier to be included in the 2017 ICA.

Brennan testified to the House Judiciary Committee in May 2023, however, that he did not believe the dossier should be included in that intelligence product.

EX-OBAMA INTEL BOSS WANTED ANTI-TRUMP DOSSIER INCLUDED IN ‘ATYPICAL’ 2016 ASSESSMENT DESPITE PUSHBACK

Ratcliffe was not surprised by the review’s findings, a source familiar told Fox News Digital, given the director’s long history of criticizing Brennan’s politicization of intelligence. However, Ratcliffe was compelled to refer aspects of Brennan’s involvement to the FBI for review of possible criminality, the source said.

The source was unable to share the sensitive details of Ratcliffe’s criminal referral to the FBI with Fox News Digital but said that Brennan “violated the public’s trust and should be held accountable for it.”

The false statements portion of the probe stems from a newly declassified email sent to Brennan by the former deputy CIA director in December 2016. That message said that including the dossier in the ICA in any capacity jeopardized “the credibility of the entire paper.”

“Despite these objections, Brennan showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness,” the new CIA review states. “When confronted with specific flaws in the Dossier by the two mission center leaders – one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background – he appeared more swayed by the Dossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.”

The review added, “Brennan ultimately formalized his position in writing, stating that ‘my bottomline is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.’”

However, Brennan testified the opposite in front of Congress in May 2023.

“The CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the Intelligence Community Assessment,” Brennan testified before the House committee, according to the transcript of his deposition reviewed by Fox News Digital. “And so they sent over a copy of the dossier to say that this was going to be separate from the rest of that assessment.”

FLASHBACK: NEWLY DECLASSIFIED INTEL DOCUMENT NOTED STEELE DOSSIER CLAIMS HAD ‘LIMITED CORROBORATION’

CIA officials at the time of its creation pushed back against the FBI, which sought to include the dossier, arguing that the dossier should not be included in the assessment, and casting it as simply “internet rumor.” 

Ultimately, Steele’s reporting was not included in the body of the final ICA prepared for then-President Obama, but instead detailed in this footnote, “largely at the insistence of FBI’s senior leadership,” according to a review by the Justice Department inspector general and later the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Christopher Steele is a former MI6 agent who set up Orbis Business Intelligence and compiled a dossier on Donald Trump. (Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images )

However, back in June 2020, Ratcliffe, while serving as director of national intelligence, declassified a footnote from the 2017 ICA, which revealed that the reporting of Trump dossier author Steele had only “limited corroboration” regarding whether then-President-elect Trump “knowingly worked with Russian officials to bolster his chances of beating” Clinton and other claims.

FLASHBACK: DNI DECLASSIFIES BRENNAN NOTES, CIA MEMO ON HILLARY CLINTON ‘STIRRING UP’ SCANDAL BETWEEN TRUMP, RUSSIA

The footnote, also known as “Annex A” of the 2017 ICA, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in June 2020, spanned less than two pages and detailed reporting by Steele. The footnote made clear the internal concerns officials had over that document. 

“An FBI source (Steele) using both identified and unidentified subsources, volunteered highly politically sensitive information from the summer to the fall of 2016 on Russian influence efforts aimed at the US presidential election,” the annex read. “We have only limited corroboration of the source’s reporting in this case and did not use it to reach the analytic conclusions of the CIA/FBI/NSA assessment.”

“The source collected this information on behalf of private clients and was not compensated for it by the FBI,” it continued. However, the annex notes that Steele’s reporting was “not developed by the layered subsource network.”

“The FBI source caveated that, although similar to previously provided reporting in terms of content, the source was unable to vouch for the additional information’s sourcing and accuracy,” the annex states. “Hence this information is not included in this product.”

FBI IGNORED ‘CLEAR WARNING SIGN’ OF CLINTON-LED EFFORT TO ‘MANIPULATE’ BUREAU FOR ‘POLITICAL PURPOSES’

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz also reviewed the inclusion of Steele’s reporting in the ICA during his review of alleged misconduct related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Horowitz said that the unverified dossier helped serve as the basis for controversial FISA warrants obtained against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. 

One-time advisor to then-President-elect Donald Trump Carter Page addresses the audience during a presentation in Moscow on Dec. 12, 2016. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

His report, released in late 2019, found that there were “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in FISA warrants for Page. Those warrants relied heavily on Steele’s reporting, despite the FBI not having had specific information corroborating allegations against Page that were included in Steele’s reporting.

Fox News Digital has learned that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordered that information surrounding FISAs for Page will be reviewed and used by the FBI and Justice Department as part of their investigations. 

The FBI and CIA declined to comment.

Neither Brennan nor Comey immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Former special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the FBI’s original “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation. After nearly two years, Mueller’s investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.

John Durham was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the “Crossfire Hurricane” probe. (Screenshot/HouseJudiciaryCommittee)

WHITE HOUSE WANTS OBAMA INTEL OFFICIALS ‘HELD ACCOUNTABLE’ FOR ROLE PEDDLING 2016 RUSSIA HOAX

Shortly after, John Durham was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the “Crossfire Hurricane” probe.

Durham found that the FBI “failed to act” on a “clear warning sign” that the bureau was the “target” of a Clinton-led effort to “manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes” ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

“The aforementioned facts reflect a rather startling and inexplicable failure to adequately consider and incorporate the Clinton Plan intelligence into the FBI’s investigative decision-making in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation,” Durham’s report states.

“The Office showed portions of the Clinton Plan intelligence to a number of individuals who were actively involved in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Most advised they had never seen the intelligence before, and some expressed surprise and dismay upon learning of it,” Durham’s report states. “For example, the original Supervisory Special Agent on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Supervisory Special Agent-1, reviewed the intelligence during one of his interviews with the Office.” 

Durham added, “After reading it, Supervisory Special Agent-I became visibly upset and emotional, left the interview room with his counsel, and subsequently returned to state emphatically that he had never been apprised ofthe Clinton Plan intelligence and had never seen the aforementioned Referral Memo.”