Trump tells Iranians the ‘hour of your freedom is at hand’ as US-Israel launch strikes on Iran

President Donald Trump encouraged the Iranian people to take over their government once the United States and Israel finished “major combat operations” in Iran, marking a dramatic escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The U.S. and Israel launched the joint attack just after 9 a.m. local time in what the Pentagon has dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.”

In video remarks posted to Truth Social, Trump addressed the Iranian people directly and told them to “seize control of [their] destiny.”

“The hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump said. “This will be, probably, your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No President was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a President who is giving you what you want.”

“America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force,” Trump directed at Iranians. “Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.”

While Trump focused some of his message on empowering the people of Iran, he stated that the intent of the operation is to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,” which he described as “vicious” and “very hard, terrible people.”

Trump also said that while there may be American casualties as a result, the mission is “noble” as it is aimed at stopping a “wicked, radical dictatorship” from threatening American national security interests and destabilizing the Middle East.

“I do not make this statement lightly; the Iranian regime seeks to kill,” he said. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties, that often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing it for the future, and it is a noble mission.”

TRUMP ADMIN RAMPS UP ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ IRAN SANCTIONS AHEAD OF NEW ROUND OF NUCLEAR TALKS

Trump noted repeated failed attempts at negotiating a deal with Iran, accusing Tehran of rebuilding its nuclear program and calling it “the world’s number-one state sponsor of terror.”

“It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

TRUMP SAYS HE IS ‘CONSIDERING’ A LIMITED MILITARY STRIKE TO PRESSURE IRAN INTO NUCLEAR DEAL

The president vowed to destroy Iran’s missile infrastructure and annihilate its navy.

“It’s a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon. This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces,” Trump said.

He also called on members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s armed forces and police to lay down their weapons and accept immunity or “face certain death.”

The military operation comes hours after Trump told reporters Friday that he was “not happy” with the state of nuclear negotiations.

The two countries had been engaged in indirect talks, and Trump gave Iran a deadline of roughly 10 to 15 days on Feb. 19 to reach an agreement. During his State of the Union address, he emphasized that his push for a deal was backed by force.

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Trump has repeatedly warned of severe consequences for the Iranian regime if negotiations ultimately failed.

“It’s been mass terror and we are not going to put up with it any longer,” Trump said.

Hegseth announces ban of troops from attending elite universities next academic year

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Friday said he was ordering the “complete and immediate cancellation” of all Department of War attendants at universities like Princeton, Columbia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Brown and Yale, starting with the 2026-27 academic year.

Hegseth added that the ban would also include “many others,” claiming the higher education system has been “poisoned from within from a class of so-called elite universities who’ve abused their privilege and access to this department and utterly betrayed their purpose.”

Hegseth’s announcement comes after he similarly banned active-duty service members earlier this month from attending Harvard starting next year.

He accused the universities of gorging themselves for decades on a “trust fund of American taxpayer dollars only to become factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain.”

He claimed the universities had replaced “the study of victory and pragmatic realism with the promotion of wokeness and weakness.”

“This is not education, this is indoctrination,” he added.

COLUMBIA PULLS PROMOTION FOR CAREER DHS AFTER FACULTY CLAIMS UNIVERSITY IS AIDING ‘AUTHORITARIANISM’

“The Department of War is finished subsidizing the corruption of our own in uniform class,” he said. “We’re done paying for the privilege of our enemies’ wicked ideologies to be taught to our future leaders. We’ve had enough.”

“We cannot and will not send our most capable officers, senior officers, into graduate programs that undermine the very values they have sworn to uphold.”

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Hegseth added that the department would also hold itself accountable, starting with a top-to-bottom review of “our own internal war colleges, ensuring they are once again bastions of strategic thought, wholly dedicated to the singular mission of developing the most lethal and effective leaders and war fighters the world has ever known.”

Spanberger told to cooperate with ICE after illegal alien allegedly murders woman

EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is calling on Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger to ensure local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials by handing over an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record who allegedly killed a woman earlier this week at a Virginia bus stop.

Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, arrested an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone earlier this week on charges of second-degree murder after he allegedly fatally stabbed a woman, Stephanie Minter, 41, who was found dead at a local bus stop with several wounds to the upper body. 

The alleged suspect, Abdul Jalloh, 32, also has a criminal history of more than 30 arrests, according to DHS, including for rape, malicious wounding, assault, identity theft, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, assault and pick-pocketing.   

The request from the Trump administration comes after the newly elected Democratic governor of Virginia signed an executive order to end cooperation between federal immigration officials and state and local law enforcement, a move several Democratic Party governors have taken recently amid President Donald Trump’s move to increase deportation operations around the country. 

The DHS request asking Virginia officials to cooperate with ICE also comes after an illegal immigrant allegedly murdered someone just days after being released from jail for a separate crime in December.

“We are calling on Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Virginia’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this murderer and violent career criminal from their jail without notifying ICE,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. 

“This illegal alien’s murder of an innocent, beautiful American woman came less than 24 hours before Governor Spanberger’s demonization of ICE law enforcement. This heinous criminal is a perfect example of why we need cooperation from sanctuary jurisdictions and the importance of third country removals for the safety of the American people.”

Spanberger’s representatives did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Jalloh entered the United States illegally in 2012, according to DHS, and immigration officials lodged an immigration detainer against him in 2020, whereupon he was granted a final order of removal by a judge who said he could be removed to any country other than Sierra Leone. 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WITH PRIOR DEPORTATION SHOOTS DEPUTY IN CHEST, DIES AFTER EXCHANGE: DHS

DHS indicated that ICE cooperation to ensure Jalloh’s deportation is evident after a case Fox News covered in December when a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, Marvin Morales-Ortez, 23, allegedly killed a man just a day after Fairfax County jail officials let him go. 

The immigrant from El Salvador had been in custody on charges of malicious wounding and brandishing a gun, but police released him after the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, led by George Soros-backed prosecutor Steve Descano, dropped the charges. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s office to inquire about why the man had not been handed over to ICE. 

The sheriff’s office said, “ICE was aware of Morales-Ortez’s incarceration and elected not to seek a judicial warrant to ensure he remained in custody.

“The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office follows all local, state and federal laws when determining whether a person is subject to release from the ADC,” the sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital at the time. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is automatically notified any time a person is booked into the ADC.”

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The same sheriff’s office did not get back to Fox News Digital’s media inquiry for this story on DHS urging officials to cooperate with federal officials. 

Once booming coastal state sees 180,000 depart in half-decade stretch

A major high-tax blue state has seen a significant population loss due to domestic out-migration over the last five years, new research found.

Massachusetts recorded a net loss of about 182,000 residents to domestic out-migration from April 2020 to July 2025, according to an analysis of the state’s workforce by the Pioneer Institute. The free market think tank noted the population decline is equivalent to losing roughly one and half Cambridges in that period.

“With domestic out-migration levels growing prior to the pandemic and remaining significantly elevated beyond it, it is clear out-migration is a structural phenomenon that is here to stay and not just a byproduct of remote work and the pandemic,” the report explained.

“Those leaving tend to be younger, between the ages of 26 and 34, and the loss of their economic activity will affect the state for decades to come,” it continued. “Out-migration could lead to population loss and a reduction in the labor force in 2026 as immigration is expected to drop sharply.”

BOSTON OFFICIALS EXPLORE CITY-RUN GROCERY STORES TO COMBAT RISING FOOD PRICES: REPORT

The Pioneer Institute noted that the state’s labor force reached 3.9 million in 2024, which marked the largest year-over-year increase since 2018. The growth was mainly fueled by record international migration, which added 230,000 new residents from 2022 to 2024.

Private sector employment in Massachusetts remains below its 2019 levels, and private sector employment has declined by 18,000 jobs (or -0.55%) since January 2020. 

Over that same period, U.S. private sector job growth topped 5% while fast-growing states like Florida, North Carolina and Texas all exceeded 10%, per the institute’s analysis.

OVER 20 STATES ECONOMIES ARE IN OR NEAR RECESSION, MOODY’S FINDS

The statewide unemployment rate in Massachusetts has risen to 4.8% as of December, continuing a steady climb from a post-pandemic low of 3.2% in April 2023, the institute found.

Massachusetts’ unemployment rate remains above neighboring states like Connecticut (4.2%), Rhode Island (4.3%), Maine (3.2%), New Hampshire (3.1%) and Vermont (2.6%).

The Pioneer Institute noted the number of job openings in the state has also declined to 145,000 in November 2025, a decrease of 50% from the pandemic era peak of 338,000 in May 2022. Additionally, the unemployed-to-jobs ratio topped 1 for the first time since the pandemic in October 2024.

NORTHEAST SUBURB BEATS OUT ENTIRE COUNTRY FOR HOTTEST HOUSING MARKET IN 2025

Massachusetts retained its status as the most educated state in the U.S. as of 2024, with 53.4% of its population 25 and older holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the report. The next most educated states identified in the report were Vermont (50.9%), New Jersey (47.8%) and New Hampshire (47%).

However, Massachusetts was among the 10 lowest states – 43rd – on the Tax Foundation’s 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index.

“The states in the bottom 10 tend to have a number of issues in common: complex, nonneutral taxes with comparatively high rates,” the report said.

Job categories that saw the most growth from 2019 to 2024 in Massachusetts were heavily focused on life sciences, including biochemists (+218%), bioengineers (+182%) and biological technicians (+37%). Chemical equipment operators and tenders (+504%) and logisticians (+88%) also saw notable increases, as did family medicine physicians (+61%).

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Among the occupations that saw the steepest declines were among those that could be subject to automation and artificial intelligence, including clerks (-30%), secretaries (-29%), cashiers (-20%) and customer service representatives (-17%).

Demi Moore debuts dramatic bob, stuns fans with striking transformation

Demi Moore has gone viral after debuting a dramatic transformation for Milan Fashion Week.

The 63-year-old actress was photographed looking almost unrecognizable at the Gucci FW26 Fashion Show, which was held at Palazzo delle Scintille on February 27.

Moore showed off a blunt bob, styled in a way that appeared wet. This was a stark change from her signature long black hair. She tied her all-black leather look together with large, oversized sunglasses. Moore wore pointed black heels to the fashion show.

Moore’s Chihuahua, Pilaf, had one of the best seats of the night and sat on her lap during the fashion show. Stars such as Kate Moss, Emily Ratajkowski, and Karlie Kloss headlined the runway for Gucci’s Fall/Winter 2026 show. Models Alex Consani, Amelia Gray and Elsa Hosk also walked.

“The Substance” star’s stylist, Brad Goreski, uploaded a video of Moore just before she left for the Gucci show. He recorded Moore, head to toe, explaining that her entire outfit was Gucci.

Thousands of Instagram users commented on the post, praising the star for her look.

“Love the hair! 😍,” one user wrote.

Another added, “She looks so much better with this hairstyle ❤️.”

“The hair looks amazing! It’s been so long for so long and this just looks so fresh!” another person wrote.

Another user made a play on her latest movie, suggesting she looks younger than she did before. “Did you take the substance?” the user asked.

Another user seemed to agree, writing, “Oh man, 😞, she took the substance. Well, as long as she is happy. 👍”

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Moore previously debuted a new hair look for Gucci and cut bangs in October. “Bangs — now and then. Thank you @gucci for letting me bring back the fringe for the first time since the Striptease days!” she wrote, including a photo from the time she filmed the iconic 1996 movie.

DEMI MOORE OVER THE YEARS: PHOTOS

In January, she opened up to People about switching up her look — specifically rocking a bob in Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman.”

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“I like leaving room to play,” she said, adding that her hair “has lived many lives.”

The biggest hair transformation that gave her a new perspective on beauty was when she shaved her head for her role in “G.I. Jane” in 1997. Moore told the outlet that the look “probably was the most illuminating experience and one that deepened my appreciation for my hair!”

Moore told the outlet that no matter what, she will always return to her signature long hair.

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“It feels most like me. Being able to change my look with wigs and pieces feeds my need for change, but at the end of the day, I love taking it down, seeing my hair fall past my waist. It’s like coming home,” she told People.

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Bill Clinton breaks silence on infamous hot tub photo during Epstein testimony, sources say

Former President Bill Clinton broke his silence on the now-infamous photo of himself in a hot tub that was among the millions of pages in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Jeffrey Epstein files release.

Clinton was asked about the photo, which appears to show him and a woman whose identity has been redacted, during his closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Friday. 

He said in response to questioning that he did not know who the woman was and that he did not have sex with her, multiple people who were granted anonymity to speak freely confirmed to Fox News Digital.

One of the sources said Clinton intimated that the photo depicted a public hotel pool and that no one pushed back or questioned it.

The deposition concluded after roughly six hours, with Republicans praising the former president for being forthcoming with his answers.

Clinton was in the hot seat for the committee’s bipartisan investigation into the late financier and sex trafficker for what is expected to be an all-day session of questions into his relationship with Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Republican Oversight Committee member Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., said Clinton had been “quite candid, probably more candid than his attorneys were comfortable with” and lauded the bipartisan approach lawmakers took to the sitdown. 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., meanwhile, floated that she believed Epstein was an intelligence asset running an operation targeting both Clintons.

“I do believe, and I’m sure some people on this committee also believe, that Jeffrey Epstein was an intelligence asset and running some form of a honeypot operation,” Luna said. “I do believe that President Clinton, as well as the Secretary, were potentially targets of that operation, and we will leave it at that.”

In his opening statement this morning, Clinton told lawmakers that he had “no idea” of Epstein’s crimes.

“Now, let me say what you’re going to hear from me. First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that, at the end of the day, matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos,” Clinton said, according to his prepared opening remarks.

“I know what I saw and more importantly, what I didn’t see. I know what I did and more importantly, what I didn’t do. I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong.”

Clinton also warned lawmakers, “You’ll often hear me say that I don’t recall,” but said he would not speculate when asked questions.

“That might be unsatisfying, but I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of. This was all a long time ago, and I’m bound by my oath not to speculate or to guess. This is not merely for my benefit, but because it doesn’t help you for me to play detective 24 years later,” Clinton said.

Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., suggested he had an abundance of questions for the former president ahead of the deposition.

“I think everyone’s seen that there are a lot of photos that have been released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as well as the Epstein estate. There are a lot of email correspondence that included President Clinton,” Comer said when asked what he needed to hear.

“Secretary Clinton confirmed this yesterday: Jeffrey Epstein was in the White House 17 times while Bill Clinton was president. We know that Bill Clinton flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane at least 27 times. So those are questions that we’re going to ask.”

But Clinton said in his opening remarks that he would not have ridden on the plane if he knew the illicit things that took place there.

BILL CLINTON FACES HIGH-STAKES HOUSE GRILLING IN EPSTEIN PROBE AFTER HILLARY BLASTS ‘FISHING EXPEDITION’

“As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I have not flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing — I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals,” Clinton said.

“But even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause. We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long, and by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him.”

Comer also said questions would pertain to Epstein and to Clinton’s relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, the late financier’s accomplice who is serving out a prison term in Texas after being convicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

Comer told reporters that his list of questions for Clinton had “increased” in the wake of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s own deposition before the committee on Thursday.

“Mrs. Clinton deferred a lot of questions to her husband today. There were at least a dozen times when she said, ‘You’ll have to ask my husband that. I can’t answer that,'” the chairman said.

He said that many of those deferrals had to do with the Clintons’ nonprofit work.

“There are so many examples in the evidence the Department of Justice released, in correspondence where Epstein bragged about how involved he was initially in setting up the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation,” he said.

“We asked those questions to Secretary Clinton yesterday, and she kept saying she was in the Senate at that time. She wasn’t focused on it. ‘You’ll have to ask my husband.’ So a lot of the Clinton Global Initiative questions yesterday went unanswered because Mrs. Clinton deferred to her husband.”

The former president defended his wife during his opening statement as well, telling lawmakers that “before we start, I have to get personal.”

“You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing. She has no memory of even meeting him,” Clinton said. “She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties. Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her, was simply not right.”

President Donald Trump was also asked about Clinton’s testimony on Friday and told reporters, “I don’t like seeing him deposed.”

Clinton’s deposition began a few minutes after 11 a.m. on Friday, a person familiar with planning told Fox News Digital.

Comer said at the meeting’s conclusion that it was a “very productive deposition” and said Clinton “answered every question, or attempted to answer every question.”

“We asked both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton where we should go from here as a committee, because we’re sincere about trying to get the truth to the American people and hold some bad actors accountable,” Comer said.

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Neither of the Clintons has been accused of anything related to Epstein’s crimes. But the former president’s name appears multiple times in documents released by the DOJ and the House Oversight Committee pertaining to the investigation into Epstein.

Like his wife’s testimony, Clinton will speak to the committee behind closed doors and under oath. 

The interview will be transcribed, with a video likely to be released within a week of its conclusion.

Biden takes aim at Trump over his State of the Union speech: ‘Never acknowledged them’

Former President Joe Biden on Friday accused President Donald Trump of attempting to “erase the truth” and squandering the United States’ role as the leader of the world.

“It’s not just my record Trump’s trying to erase,” Biden told South Carolina Democrats, while talking about the president’s efforts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

“He’s trying to erase fairness, equity, history, the truth,” he continued, citing incidents in which information about slavery has been removed or altered from museums and national parks since Trump took office.  

“Great nations don’t bury the truth, Biden balked. “They face it. This is a great nation.”

Last summer, Trump wrote that “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”

He also ordered a review of the Smithsonian to make sure its exhibits align with celebrating “American exceptionalism.”

Biden — the guest of honor at Friday’s “thank you” event organized by state Dems who helped resuscitate his presidential campaign six years ago — claimed the U.S. is currently living in “dark days.”

LIZ PEEK: AMERICA EXPECTED ONE THING FROM TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION. IT GOT ANOTHER

“Our future is literally on the line,” he said. “We have to be unapologetic about fighting for our country.”

Biden also issued a warning about the upcoming midterms, claiming that Trump is “trying to steal the election because he knows he can’t win your vote, so he’s going to do everything he can to prevent you from wanting to vote. … Mark my words. I hope I’m wrong.”

He said the more that voters see of Trump, the “less they like him.”

SPEECHWRITERS SPLIT AFTER TRUMP’S RECORD-BREAKING SOTU: ‘LIVING IN HIS OWN REALITY’ VS. ‘RESOUNDING SPEECH’

“They don’t like that he’s raising health care costs, fighting against the Affordable Care Act, and they sure as hell don’t like what they saw in Minnesota: Mass ICE agents pulling people out of their homes and literally murdering two people in the street,” he swiped.

 Biden, 83, added, “They don’t believe the president should be king or dictator.”

He said because of this, Democrats are winning in places “you’d never expect.”

BIDEN TO HEADLINE NATIONAL BAR ASSN GALA DESPITE SON HUNTER’S DISBARMENT, ALONG WITH CROCKETT, TISH JAMES

“So, we have reason to be hopeful, because time and again throughout history, in the moments of great crisis, Americans have summoned the better angels of our nature and brought our country back from the abyss.”

Biden also predicted that Democrats would take back both the Senate and House of Representatives in November.

Biden boasted that he knew more heads of state than any other president in history, adding, “Americans knew they had a president who believed in, respected and followed the Constitution.”

Citing a Pew Research Poll that he said showed a “dramatic drop in our reputation around the world,” he claimed, “We’re no longer the way we were.”

He added if the U.S. doesn’t lead the world, it could be Russia or China that does.

Biden also blasted Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday for what he left out.

“The guy talks for almost two hours but never mentioned the anniversary of Putin invading Ukraine,” Biden admonished. “Never once.”

He also noted that the president didn’t mention Renee Good or Alex Pretti, the Americans who were killed by ICE agents earlier this year in Minneapolis, “or offer even a word of solace to their families.”

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“He doesn’t offer a word of support, even recognition to Epstein’s victims sitting in front of him during the entire time,” Biden said, mentioning the Jeffrey Epstein survivors who were in the audience for the speech. “He never acknowledged them.”

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

Trump stays mum on Texas Senate bloodbath as $110M burns in GOP primary

The Texas Senate primary for Republicans is a bloodbath, and President Donald Trump isn’t wading in.

Trump, who appeared in Corpus Christi, Texas, to tout his energy agenda Friday, had the opportunity to stake his claim in the contentious race and endorse a candidate. 

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the longtime incumbent fending off seven challengers.

But the real race is between Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.

All three were in attendance at Trump’s rally, reminiscent of the made-for-TV spectacles that dominated his successful 2024 election campaign. Yet Trump didn’t endorse any of them as Election Day in the primary fast approaches.

Trump acknowledged all three — he paired Cornyn and Paxton and mentioned Hunt later in his remarks. He noted that they were all engaged in an “interesting election.”

“They’re in a little race together,” Trump said of Cornyn and Paxton. “You know that, right? A little bit of a race. It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people, too.”

HUNT FILES POLICE REPORT AGAINST CORNYN CAMPAIGN STAFFER OVER ALLEGED FAMILY ‘DOXXING’ INCIDENT

Cornyn is running for a fifth term in the Senate and fighting for his political life in a nasty primary election that Trump has time and again refused to weigh in on. He’s got the full weight of Senate Republican leadership behind him, too.

Paxton, who has faced headwinds with scandals over the years, has strongly aligned himself with the president and built a coalition of conservative backers in the House, including Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who brought him to Trump’s State of the Union earlier this week.

And while the trio duke it out, money is being burned at a record pace. So far, a whopping $110 million has been spent on the Senate primaries, and $88 million of that has been dumped into the GOP contest, according to data from AdImpact.

CORNYN WARNS PAXTON WOULD BE ‘KISS OF DEATH’ FOR GOP AS BLOODY PRIMARY RACE RAMPS UP

Given the crowded field, it’s likely the race will head to a runoff, which will turn into a brutal sprint until late May. Paxton believes he could come out on top with at least 50% of the vote come March 3, while Cornyn is eying the long game.

The coveted Trump endorsement could put either over the top in ruby red Texas. And he may be close to picking his favorite.

Ahead of the event, Trump was asked if he had decided who to endorse.

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“Pretty much,” he told reporters.

But when asked if he would say who, he said, “No.”