Southeast
North Carolina primed for showdown over Dem AG’s ability to sue Trump
A North Carolina bill could become the nation’s test case on whether a legislature can prevent a politically-opposed state prosecutor from suing the presidential administration on behalf of the state.
The bill, SB 58, would limit present and future North Carolina attorneys general from participating in litigation seeking to invalidate any executive order issued by the president of the United States.
“The Attorney General shall not, as a party, amicus, or any other participant in an action pending before a state or federal court in another state, advance any argument that would result in the invalidation of any statute enacted by the General Assembly,” the bill reads.
“The attorney general shall not… an action that would result in the invalidation of an executive order issued by the President of the United States [or] advance any argument in a pending action that would result in the invalidation of any executive order issued by the president.”
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The bill passed on a party-line vote last week in the GOP-controlled state Senate, and appears primed for consideration by the House — which lost its veto-proof majority by one vote last election.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson has already put his name to several suits against the feds since taking office in January.
Jackson, a Democrat and former member of Congress for the western Charlotte suburbs, has to put politics aside in his role and instead represent the state as a whole, his spokesman, Ben Conroy, said Monday in pushing back on the legislation.
“The attorney general’s duty is to be a nonpartisan shield for the people of North Carolina. Nearly 90 federal executive orders have been issued. Attorney General Jackson has filed four federal lawsuits to protect billions in funding for western North Carolina, our public universities, and rural jobs,” Conroy said.
“In each case, judges across the country have agreed that the federal government’s actions were likely unlawful or unconstitutional. Any legislation that undermines the independence of the Attorney General’s Office is bad for our state and its people.”
In a WCNC interview earlier this year, Jackson defended joining a multi-state lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze, saying the funds add up to billions of dollars for North Carolina.
Jackson said some of that money would go toward victims of domestic violence, veterans, law enforcement and “could really impact FEMA and the recovery work they’re doing in Western North Carolina.”
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Tim Moffitt — who hails from Helene-ravaged Hendersonville — previously described it as a “housekeeping” measure and a response to attorneys general writ-large using the courts to determine public policy.
The Senate-approved bill has been sent to the House Rules Committee, chaired by Majority Leader John Bell IV, R-Goldsboro.
Bell did not respond to a request for comment, but a spokesperson for House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Lenoir, said the people of North Carolina voted for Trump three times, and therefore it is clear where they stand on his governance.
“And, it’s disappointing when Democratic officials try and obstruct his agenda,” spokesperson Grant Lefelar said.
“North Carolina House Republicans are taking a look at several ways to hold the Attorney General accountable for wasting time on partisan lawsuits instead of working to crack down on violent crime and illegal immigration,” Lefelar added.
Fox News Digital also reached out to the bill’s other topline sponsors, including Reps. Eddie Settle, R-Elkin, and Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck.
Bill opponent Sen. Graig Meyer, D-Hillsborough, told the Carolina Journal that Jackson’s power should not be curtailed when “he has the opportunity to defend our state for jobs, for funding, for healthcare, for things that our people desperately need.”
While Democratic Gov. Josh Stein is expected to veto the bill if it reaches his desk, he also did not respond to a request for comment. If House Republicans can get one Democratic vote, they could override any Stein veto.
Fox News Digital also reached out to House Minority Leader Robert Reives II, D-Pittsboro, for his view on the legislation and whether any Democrats might cross the aisle.
Mitch Kokai, a representative for the North Carolina-centric libertarian-leaning John Locke Foundation, said it is “no surprise” GOP leaders are trying to restrain Jackson from continuing to affix his name to lawsuits against Trump.
“The new law also forces Jackson to defer to the general assembly’s lawyers and legal strategy when legislators decide to take part in a courtroom dispute,” he said.
Kokai said an attorney general’s core role is defending North Carolina and fighting in-state scams and crime and that there is “no compelling reason” to use taxpayer resources to “cozy up” to other AGs.
“He can build his resume for the next stop in his political career on his own time,” he said, as Stein, Democratic predecessor Roy Cooper, and prior Democratic Gov. Mike Easley all served as the state’s top lawman before moving into the governor’s mansion.
While in many states the attorney general’s office mirrors the state legislative majority, North Carolina is one of a handful of states where the attorney general and governor are both Democrats, but the legislature is held by the GOP.
Arizona and Wisconsin notably have the same governmental setup as North Carolina but do not appear to have forwarded similar legislation as of yet.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., briefly sparred with “60 Minutes” host Lesley Stahl over what she claimed was “accusatory” behavior from the journalist.
Greene gave her first sit-down interview with Stahl since announcing her resignation from Congress last month. During the segment, Stahl and Greene spoke about the Georgia lawmaker’s apology for taking part in “toxic politics.”
“I would like to say humbly, I‘m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics,” Greene told CNN in November. “It’s very bad for our country, and it’s been something I’ve thought about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was assassinated, is that we, I’m only responsible for myself and my own words and actions, and I am committed, and I’ve been working on this a lot lately to put down the knives in politics.”
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., gave her first sit-down interview with “60 Minutes” since announcing her resignation. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“But you contributed to that,” Stahl asked Greene Sunday. “You. You, you were out there pounding, insulting people.”
Greene pushed back, claiming that Stahl had contributed to toxic politics herself.
“You’re accusatory, just like you did just then,” Greene said.
“I know you’re accusing me, but I’m smiling,” Stahl responded.
“You’re accusing me,” Greene said. “But we don’t have to accuse one another.”
The two continued to go back and forth, with Greene repeatedly insisting that Stahl should also acknowledge her own contribution to toxic politics.
“I don’t insult people,” Stahl said.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., previously apologized for her role in “toxic” politics. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
“You just, you do in the way you question,” Greene said. “And you are, you’re accusing me right now.”
Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News for comment.
Greene previously sat down with Stahl in April 2023, when the two had a fiery exchange over the congresswoman’s claim that Democrats are the “party of pedophiles.”
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“They are not pedophiles. Why would you say that?” Stahl exclaimed.
“Democrats support — even Joe Biden, the president himself — supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children,” Greene said.
“Wow,” Stahl reacted.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl had a tense exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., over her claim that Democrats were the “party of pedophiles” during an April 2023 interview. (Screenshots/CBS News)
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Greene shocked the political landscape last month when she revealed she would leave Congress Jan. 5. Many believe her abrupt exit was the result of her soured relationship with President Donald Trump.
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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Southeast
FBI’s renewed push in DC pipe bomb case shows how fresh eyes can change a stalled investigation
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Federal agents searching the Virginia home of Brian Cole Jr., accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, carried out a step-by-step operation this week that indicated investigators have re-energized a case that had seen little movement for years.
Cole was arrested in Woodbridge, Virginia, last week after federal investigators identified him as the suspect accused of planting the pipe bombs on Jan. 5, 2021, near the Capitol complex, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). His arrest marked the first major break in a case that had been largely dormant for years.
Retired FBI Special Agent Jason Pack, who previously helped lead Evidence Response Teams, told Fox News Digital the search followed the standard sequence used in explosive investigations, beginning with hazard clearing before evidence work. He said the careful pace shows investigators treating the case as if it had just happened.
The operation began with the standard safety sweep used in federal explosives investigations.
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Brian J. Cole was arrested by the FBI for alleged involvement in the D.C. pipe bomb incident. (Department of Justice)
“Federal agents are following a deliberate and familiar sequence as the search of the Woodbridge residence continues,” Pack said. “The presence of explosive ordnance disposal technicians, bomb techs and specialized K-9 teams indicates that the first priority is safety.”
He explained that investigators must first clear the property of possible explosive hazards to protect personnel and preserve the scene before they can begin collecting evidence.
One of the clearest indications of the work underway came from the metal paint cans agents carried out of the home.
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The FBI is carrying out “court enforced activity” at a home in Woodbridge, Va., after authorities arrested a suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs blocks from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, sources told Fox News on Dec. 4, 2025. (WTTG)
Pack said metal paint cans are a preferred method for collecting and transporting suspected explosive material because they limit contamination and protect volatile samples. The cans also allow forensic laboratories to analyze residues, components and chemical signatures that might connect a device to a specific individual or technique.
Once the scene is declared safe, evidence teams can move inside the home.
FBI Evidence Response Team members, guided by a federal search warrant and its attachments, typically handle the next phase of the search and use those documents to determine what they are authorized to seize.
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The FBI swarmed the home following the suspect’s arrest. (WTTG)
Those categories include explosive components or precursor chemicals; tools or materials used to construct destructive devices; electronic devices such as phones, hard drives and laptops; records, notes or digital communications that could show planning, motive or knowledge; and items that confirm identity, occupancy or control of the residence.
In this investigation, agents are looking for evidence that establishes intent, capability and any links to the explosive devices planted on Jan. 5, 2021.
Once the evidence is collected, it moves into the long analytical phase of the investigation.
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Sketch of Brian Cole Jr.’s first federal court appearance in Washington, D.C. Friday, December 5, 2025. Cole is the lead suspect in the D.C. pipe incident. (Dana Verkouteren)
Any electronics seized will undergo digital forensics to recover communications, searches or location data that may reveal planning or coordination. Laboratories will also examine residues or components to determine whether they match the devices used at the Capitol complex, the RNC or the DNC.
Pack said the search in Woodbridge shows the FBI is treating the investigation as if it had just begun, which he said can “change the entire trajectory” of the case.
“I have been the fresh set of eyes on cold cases, and I worked them as if the crime happened that morning,” he said. “The initial investigators often do excellent work. A new perspective simply asks different questions and sometimes spots the detail that finally brings the guilty to justice.”
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The suspect is seen walking outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters moments before placing one of two pipe bombs discovered near party offices in Washington, D.C. (FBI)
Pack said the U.S. Attorney’s Office is responsible for obtaining the warrants and court orders that move an investigation from suspicion to proof.
“When the immediate danger has passed, older cases often end up folded into the stack of files handled by overworked Assistant United States Attorneys who are already juggling emergencies of their own,” he said. “That can slow down warrants and subpoenas, not because anyone is dragging their feet, but because they are drowning in urgent matters.”
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The same pressures hit FBI agents, Pack said, as new threats emerge each day and older cases get pushed back while “investigators run to the sound of guns.”
“There are only 12,000 FBI agents in the world, and that small group is responsible for handling every threat that comes our way,” Pack said. “When leadership pours fresh resources back into a case, the whole machine turns forward again. Sunlight finds what shadows hide, and a second look often makes all the difference.”
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Cole had his first court appearance Friday after being arrested the day before and charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with maliciously attempting to destroy property using explosive materials.
He has been speaking with investigators and reportedly admitted to planting the devices and expressing doubts about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, a source close to the investigation told Fox News.
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Two in three Charlotte, North Carolina, residents say they feel less safe today than they did a year ago, according to a recent survey, as the city reels from two train stabbings.
More than 930 people responded to a survey that the Queen City recently completed before hiring its new police chief, Stella Patterson. Residents overwhelmingly said they want a proactive police force, not a reactive one, with 66% saying they feel less safe.
The results come as Charlotte contends with another stabbing on its light rail system, months after the stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.
On Friday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officers responded to a call regarding assault with a deadly weapon. When they arrived, they found the victim, identified as Kenyon Kareem-Shemar Dobie, with a stab wound, according to warrants.
Oscar Solorzano, 33, was arrested in connection to a stabbing on a Charlotte, North Carolina light rail. (Mecklenburg County Jail)
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Oscar Gerardo Solorzano-Garcia, 33, of Honduras, was arrested after the stabbing and charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with serious injury, breaking/entering a motor vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon and intoxicated/disruptive behavior, according to multiple Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources and arrest warrants obtained by Fox News Digital.
On Monday morning, Solorzano appeared in court, where he was denied bond. The 33-year-old appeared via Zoom in an orange jumpsuit where he was charged. Authorities revealed that Solorzano, prior to the Dec. 5 attack, was banned by Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS).
CMPD noted Dobie was in critical but stable condition when he was taken to a hospital.
The victim told WRAL News that he saw Solorzano yelling at an older woman before Solorzano handed his bike to another passenger and said: “I’m about to show you who I really am.”
“I wasn’t trying to be a macho man,” Dobie said in a TikTok post from his hospital room. “But what I won’t allow is you to attack random people for no reason, especially the elderly.”
Dobie said he jumped up and told Solorzano to leave everyone alone. He said Solarzano then grabbed his hands and stabbed him as he tried to grab him back.
Police in North Carolina have charged a 33-year-old man from Honduras with critically injuring another person in a stabbing on a Charlotte commuter train, just a few months after a Ukrainian refugee was murdered. (WJZY)
According to court documents, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Solorzano broke into a railroad car “with the intent to commit a felony,” while carrying a large fixed-blade knife.
While intoxicated, he challenged Dobie to a fight, cursing and shouting at others using “unintelligible and slurred words,” according to court documents.
He was booted from the country by the Trump administration in March 2018 on a deportation order and reentered illegally during the Biden administration at the Texas border in March 2021, DHS sources said.
WATCH: Migrant who was deported twice accused of Charlotte light rail stabbing
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Solorzano was deported a second time by the Biden administration and reentered illegally as a got-away at an unknown time and location.
Solorzano has a prior conviction for robbery in the U.S. and prior arrests for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and false ID, DHS sources said.
Court records indicate he had known aliases, including Solorzano-Garcia, Oscar Herardo and Kevin Garcia.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks alongside a photo of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was allegedly killed by Decarlos Brown Jr., on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the White House, Sept. 9, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
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The stabbing attack comes months after Zarutska, 23, was fatally stabbed on a LYNX Blue Line light rail while on her way home from work from a local pizzeria shop.
Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, who is accused of killing Zarutska, was charged with violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death, a capital offense under federal law.
Brown had a history of violent crime, including assaults and robberies, and had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yet he was still free and walking the streets.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the city of Charlotte and the CMPD for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Alexander Koch and Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Chelsea Torres contributed to this report.
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