An appellate court is poised to decide a case that supporters and opponents of abortion access are closely watching because the decision could put Planned Parenthood, a prolific abortion vendor, on the hook for up to $1.8 billion.

A full panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit heard oral arguments Thursday in the years-long case, which centers on Planned Parenthood’s use of Medicaid funds in Texas and Louisiana.

Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of March for Life, told Fox News Digital the ‘stakes couldn’t be higher’ and that the lawsuit could bankrupt Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit with hundreds of clinics across the country.

‘Planned Parenthood is facing a repayment obligation of close to $2 billion because it continued to fill its coffers with taxpayers’ money even after two states had already disqualified it,’ Lichter said. ‘If that obligation stands, it will strike a serious — even existential — blow to Planned Parenthood’s national operations and potentially change the abortion landscape in this country forever.’

The case comes after Texas and Louisiana stripped Planned Parenthood affiliates of their Medicaid qualifications in response to activist David Daleiden releasing video footage showing Planned Parenthood staff discussing selling aborted fetal tissue.

Daleiden faced a lawsuit and prosecution for illegally recording the staff, but his footage set off a firestorm in the pro-life movement and caused it to ramp up its efforts to weaken the nonprofit.

Planned Parenthood, however, sued Texas and Louisiana and initially won an injunction that allowed it to keep receiving the Medicaid reimbursements. But the decision was reversed on appeal years later.

An anonymous litigant then brought a new lawsuit on behalf of the two states seeking to claw back the millions of dollars Planned Parenthood had collected while the injunction had been in place.

Court papers indicate that the potential money Planned Parenthood could now owe — reimbursement of the Medicaid dollars it collected plus various multipliers — could add up to $1.8 billion. The exact dollar amount would be determined by a jury in the lower court.

But Planned Parenthood and the anonymous litigant, named in court papers as ‘Alex Doe,’ are now waiting to see where the conservative 5th Circuit will land.

The issue before the 5th Circuit’s en banc panel is about whether Planned Parenthood had immunity when it collected the four years’ worth of Medicaid dollars. Planned Parenthood has argued it has immunity because its counsel advised it to collect the payments during the injunction period.

Thursday’s oral arguments came after a three-judge panel for the 5th Circuit comprising two Republican-appointed judges and one Democrat-appointed judge sided with Planned Parenthood.

Susan Manning, general counsel for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, blasted the Texas and Louisiana lawsuit as a ‘politically-motivated’ attempt to put the nonprofit out of business.

‘This baseless case has only one goal: to shut down Planned Parenthood and deny patients access to sexual and reproductive health care,’ Manning said in a statement this year. ‘Planned Parenthood health centers are nonprofits that provide essential, high-quality health care to more than 2 million people nationwide every year.’

Separately, pro-life activists made progress in their mission to defund Planned Parenthood this year when Congress voted to strip the nonprofit of Medicaid funding at the federal level for a one-year period.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit sided against Planned Parenthood in a lawsuit over the measure.

The United Nations on Friday failed to adopt a resolution brought by China and Russia that would have extended sanctions relief for Iran for another six months under the nuclear deal.

The vote was 4 to 9, with Algeria, China, Pakistan and Russia in favor and Denmark, France, Greece, Panama, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, the United Kingdom and the United States against.

Guyana and South Korea abstained.

The vote came after Britain, France and Germany triggered the deal’s ‘snapback’ measure, which reinstates sanctions on Iran following stalled talks on its nuclear program.

The sanctions, which will go into effect unless there’s a last-minute deal Friday, will include freezing Iranian assets abroad, halting arms deals with Tehran and penalizing any development of Iran’s ballistic missile program. 

‘We had hoped that European colleagues and the U.S. would think twice, and they would opt for the path of diplomacy and dialogue instead of their clumsy blackmail, which merely results in escalation of the situation in the region,’ Dmitry Polyanskiy, deputy Russian ambassador to the U.N., said during the meeting.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, had also been meeting with his French, German and British counterparts in the lead-up to the U.N. vote. 

A European diplomat told The Associated Press the meeting ‘did not produce any new developments, any new results.’

On Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, also said Iran would not ‘surrender to pressure’ and that negotiations with the U.S. would be a ‘dead end.’ 

In an interview on Friday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called the decision ‘unfair, unjust and illegal.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A Trump administration official was physically assaulted by a ‘deranged leftist’ inside the United Nations Thursday afternoon during the gathering of the UN General Assembly, Fox News Digital has learned.

An official working in international relations for the Department of Health and Human Services was in New York City serving in a support role for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the department’s leadership team at UNGA.

‘An HHS official was followed into a bathroom, recorded, physically assaulted and verbally accosted by a deranged leftist at the UN who somehow entered the venue past multiple layers of security,’ White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital. ‘Thankfully, the official is safe, and the lunatic was arrested, but this is part of a disturbing and dangerous set of failures by the UN after their sabotage of President Trump ahead of and during his speech.’

Kelly told Fox News Digital that the U.S. Secret Service will investigate ‘how this violent protester was admitted into a major national security event.’

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that the individual has been charged with assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon. The individual was released from custody at 7:30 p.m. Friday night, the source said. The individual is expected in court next on Nov. 13. 

‘The UN must answer why these highly concerning incidents continue to happen against the president and his staff,’ Kelly said.

‘We are outraged that a member of the U.S. delegation was physically assaulted inside of UN Headquarters the afternoon of September 25,’ a U.S. UN spokesperson told Fox News Digital. ‘This attack must be addressed swiftly, and consequences must be felt.’

The spokesperson told Fox News Digital that ‘the UN itself recognizes that it has lost its way.’

‘Now, it has devolved into an arena where an American delegation member is harassed and assaulted,’ the spokesperson said. ‘If you can’t keep people safe in your own building, how can you claim to be the world’s diplomatic center?’

The spokesperson called the incident ‘unacceptable,’ and told Fox News Digital that the United Nations ‘will use every available resource to support the U.S. Secret Service into their investigation of this incident.’

‘We know the UN needs dramatic reform and now must also immediately implement a thorough review of the UN’s security operations,’ the spokesperson said. ‘The UN’s failures are evident worldwide, and now in its own halls.’

The U.S. UN spokesperson added: ‘Enough is enough.’

The official recounted her experience of being followed, harassed, and physically assaulted inside the United Nations in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.

The official told Fox News Digital that she was walking down the hallway at the UN when a woman began berating her and shining a bright light in her face.

‘It was very disorienting,’ the official said. ‘Once I took a step back and regained my footing, it didn’t stop. I realized what was happening. I realized I was being yelled at and that the light was also a recording device.’

The official tried to get away from the woman who was screaming derogatory and pro-Palestinian comments at her as she followed closely behind.

The official said the woman called her a ‘fascist’ and a ‘Nazi.’ 

‘The insults changed to specific insults,’ the official said, telling Fox News Digital that she went into the women’s bathroom to get away, but that the woman kept following her.

‘Her yelling turned into screaming—hyper-aggressive insults,’ the official said. 

The official tried to hide in a bathroom stall, but told Fox News Digital that the woman was pushing and trying to get into the stall. Once the official was able to close the door, the woman put the camera over the door of the bathroom stall to continue filming the official and screaming. 

The official waited for the screaming to stop, and exited the stall, hoping the woman had left, but the woman was waiting for her at the door, and continued to follow her into the hallway, continuing to yell at her and shine the light in her face. Eventually, the official was able to get away.

The official told Fox News Digital the incident lasted approximately 10 minutes.

‘It felt very political in nature,’ she said. ‘Secretary Kennedy gets a tremendous number of bows and arrows and threats that he deals with, but it seems that it’s not enough, and it is trickling down.’

She added: ‘That’s a scary thing for the team. But we’re more empowered, and we have amazing leadership.’

Fox News Digital has learned that the woman was arrested by the New York City Police Department. It is unclear whether she is still in custody.

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

The United Nations did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

President Trump reacted to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, telling Fox News Digital during an exclusive interview that he ‘placed a cloud over the entire nation’ with the bureau’s ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ probe.

Comey, on Thursday evening, was indicted by a grand jury on two counts, alleged false statements within jurisdiction of the legislative branch and obstruction of congressional proceeding.

‘What they did was so terrible and so corrupt,’ Trump told Fox News Digital, referring to those involved in the Trump-Russia probe. ‘We had a great administration, though.’

Former Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok formally opened the Trump-Russia investigation, known inside the bureau as ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ on July 31, 2016.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017. Days later Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the Crossfire Hurricane probe.

‘He is a very corrupt person. He was absolutely a terrible man for what this country stood for,’ Trump told Fox News Digital.

‘Comey placed a cloud over the entire nation, and actually, the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax made it very difficult,’ Trump said. ‘It could have caused wars.’

Fox News Digital exclusively reported in July that Comey was under criminal investigation by the FBI. 

Fox News Digital also exclusively reported that former CIA Director John Brennan is under criminal investigation related to the Trump–Russia probe. 

When asked whether Brennan should be charged as well, the president told Fox News Digital: ‘We’ll have to see what happens.’

‘It is up to the Justice Department, but I can tell you, it is a group of people that was very disappointing,’ the president said. ‘This makes Watergate look like peanuts.’ 

He added: ‘They tried to destroy our country.’

Comey’s case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The indictment alleges that Comey obstructed a congressional investigation into the disclosure of sensitive information in violation of 18 USC 1505.

The indictment also alleges Comey made a false statement when he stated he did not authorize someone at the FBI to be an anonymous source. According to the indictment, that statement was false. 

His arraignment is set for 10 a.m. on Oct. 9, in Alexandria Courtroom 600 before District Juge Michael S. Nachmanoff.

‘No one is above the law,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X. ‘Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case.’

FBI Director Kash Patel took to X to say, ‘Today, your FBI took another step in its promise of full accountability.’

‘For far too long, previous corrupt leadership and their enablers weaponized federal law enforcement, damaging once proud institutions and severely eroding public trust,’ Patel wrote. ‘Every day, we continue the fight to earn that trust back, and under my leadership, this FBI will confront the problem head-on. Nowhere was this politicization of law enforcement more blatant than during the Russiagate hoax, a disgraceful chapter in history we continue to investigate and expose.

‘Everyone, especially those in positions of power, will be held to account – no matter their perch.’

Meanwhile, after nearly two years, former Special Counsel Robert 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.

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.

‘Indeed, had the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation as an assessment and, in turn, gathered and analyzed data in concert with the information from the Clinton Plan intelligence, it is likely that the information received would have been examined, at a minimum, with a more critical eye,’ the report continued.

Durham, in his report, said the FBI ‘failed to act on what should have been — when combined with other incontrovertible facts — a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election.’

In an Instagram post on Thursday, Comey acknowledged that he and his family have known for years that there are costs to standing up to President Donald Trump.

‘We couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way,’ he said. ‘We will not live on our knees and you shouldn’t.’

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.