NationalWatch

From a major endorsement of Vice President JD Vance to speculation-sparking appearances by former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom at a major Democratic Party summit, it appears to be game on in the next White House race.

Even though the main campaign focus this year will be on the 2026 midterm elections and the battle for Congress, early moves are underway in the 2028 race to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump.

The starting gun for the next presidential showdown won’t be fired until after November’s midterms. But that’s not preventing the large field of potential White House contenders from making headlines.

Vance, considered by many to be Trump’s heir apparent to eventually take over the MAGA mantle, was endorsed last month by Erika Kirk at an annual summit hosted by Turning Point USA, the increasingly influential and politically powerful conservative group.

VANCE AMPLIFIES HIS 2026 MESSAGE WHILE LANDING KEY 2028 BACKING

Kirk, who took over the reins of Turning Point after her husband and conservative champion Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September, opened the conference by supporting Vance.

“We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible,” in 2028, she said. “Forty-eight” refers to the number of the next president.

The backing of the vice president by Turning Point, which is particularly influential among younger conservatives and whose political arm has built up a powerful grassroot outreach operation, could give Vance a major boost should he decide to run for president in the 2028 election.

SUCCEEDING TRUMP IN 2028: SIX REPUBLICANS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON

A longtime Trump adviser told Fox News Digital that “it wasn’t a surprise to see her endorse, given that while he was still alive, Charlie couldn’t have been more explicit about supporting Vance in 2028.”

And the adviser, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized that Erika Kirk’s backing “reaffirmed that Turning Point’s entire political machinery will be behind him [Vance] if he decides to run. It’s another big get for the vice president and a warning shot to other potential candidates.”

While Vance is considered the clear Republican frontrunner at this extremely early point in the 2028 cycle, other GOP lawmakers appear to be laying down markers.

Two Republicans who tangled with Trump during the party’s contentious 2016 presidential primary — Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky — are increasingly voicing their differences with the president and his administration.

Among the other Republicans to keep an eye on in the new year are Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who was battered by Trump and his allies during the 2024 GOP presidential primaries, Govs. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Brian Kemp of Georgia, and possibly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as a senator from Florida ran unsuccessfully for the 2016 nomination.

Whether the Republicans have a competitive 2028 presidential primary will depend in part on the success of Trump’s second term, whether the economy soars and how the GOP fares in next year’s midterms.

Regardless of those factors, as the part out of power, it’s a sure bet the Democrats will have a wide open race for their party’s presidential nomination.

Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 standard-bearer after then-President Joe Biden exited the race, showcased an edgier stump speech as she railed against both major parties and the political status quo in an address at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) winter meeting in December.

And Newsom landed the red carpet treatment, as he mingled with delegates during the opening day of the DNC’s confab, which was held this year in Los Angeles, home turf to both Harris and Newsom.

DEMOCRATIC HEAVYWEIGHTS TURN HEADS, SPARK 2028 SPECULATION

“Obviously, we must focus on the midterms,” Harris said in her speech. “But Democrats, we must also have a clear vision for what comes after the midterms. And then after Trump. We need to answer the question. We need to answer the question: what comes next for our party and our democracy?”

Expect to see more of Harris in the new year helping Democrats from coast to coast as the party works to win back congressional majorities in the midterms.

And Harris has added more 2026 stops to her book tour promoting “107 Days,” her reflections on her abbreviated 2024 presidential campaign. Among the stops is one in South Carolina, a crucial early-voting primary state in the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating calendar.

While Newsom didn’t address the delegates at the DNC’s general session, he was treated like a VIP as he held meetings and mingled with delegates during the opening day of the winter meeting. And Newsom met with the Democratic Party chairs from New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state, and Nevada, another crucial early voting state.

“We had a great discussion on a wide range of issues,” longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley told Fox News Digital.

Newsom’s stature in his own party has soared this year, thanks to his very vocal and visual pushback against the president, including his viral social media trolling of Trump and his successful California push to counter the Republican congressional redistricting effort.

“Newsom has shown an ability to stand up to Trump in a bold and highly effective manner without shying away from core democratic values,” veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital.

21 DEMOCRATS WHO MAY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028

While both Newsom and Harris made a splash at the DNC winter meeting, they both have plenty of detractors who worry that neither would be electable in 2028 when the Democrats try to win back the White House.

And if one or both of them launch presidential campaigns, they’ll likely be joined by a large crowd of other contenders.

One of those possible White House hopefuls is Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who was also making the rounds during the opening day of the DNC meeting.

There are more than a dozen other Democrats thought to be potential 2028 White House contenders. And most of them have been paying visits to the early voting states, as well as parachuting onto the 2025 campaign trail.

Among them are Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Wes Moore of Maryland and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan; Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut; progressive superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, another leading progressive; and two moderate Democrats, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former White House chief of staff and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

With crucial midterm battles from coast to coast this year, expect to see much more of potential 2028 contenders out on the campaign trail in the months ahead.

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A New Hampshire-based Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely shared that he and activists in the state are receiving fundraising emails on a regular basis from some of the White House hopefuls.

“Every week I receive a dozen,” the strategist said,

As 2025 ends, tensions between China and Taiwan are higher — and more overt — than at any point in recent years, fueled by expanded U.S. military support for Taipei, increasingly bold warnings from regional allies, and Chinese military drills that look less like symbolism and more like rehearsal.

Beijing has spent the year steadily increasing pressure on Taiwan through large-scale military exercises, air and naval incursions, and pointed political messaging, while Washington and its allies have responded with sharper deterrence signals that China now openly labels as interference.

The result is a more volatile status quo — one where the risk of miscalculation has grown, even as most analysts stop short of predicting an imminent Chinese invasion.

A year of escalating pressure

China capped off 2025 with what it described as its largest Taiwan-focused military exercises to date, launching expansive drills in December that included live-fire elements and simulated island encirclement operations.

The exercises followed a familiar pattern seen throughout the year: People’s Liberation Army aircraft and ships operating closer to Taiwan with greater frequency, reinforcing Beijing’s claim of sovereignty while testing Taipei’s response capacity.

Unlike earlier shows of force, the late-year drills were widely interpreted as practice for coercive scenarios short of outright war — particularly a blockade or quarantine designed to strangle Taiwan economically and politically without triggering immediate global conflict.

Chinese officials explicitly tied the escalation to Washington’s actions, pointing to a massive U.S. arms package approved in December — valued at roughly $11 billion and described as one of the largest such sales to Taiwan in years — as proof of what Beijing calls “foreign interference.”

XI JINPING HAILS ‘UNSTOPPABLE’ CHINA AS TRUMP ACCUSES BEIJING OF CONSPIRING AGAINST US

Chinese officials have been unusually blunt in their response.

“Any external forces that attempt to intervene in the Taiwan issue or interfere in China’s internal affairs will surely smash their heads bloody against the iron walls of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a Monday statement. 

The arms package continued the U.S. push to strengthen Taiwan’s asymmetric defenses, including missiles, drones, and systems designed to complicate a Chinese assault rather than match Beijing weapon-for-weapon.

Taipei welcomed the support but remained cautious in its public response, emphasizing restraint while warning that Chinese military pressure has become routine rather than exceptional.

Japan steps into the frame

One of the most consequential shifts in 2025 came not from Washington or Taipei, Taiwan, but from Tokyo.

In November, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made unusually direct remarks linking a potential Taiwan contingency to Japan’s own security, suggesting that an attack on Taiwan could trigger collective self-defense considerations under Japanese law.

The comments marked one of the clearest acknowledgments yet from a sitting Japanese leader that a Taiwan conflict would not remain a bilateral issue between Beijing and Taipei.

China reacted angrily, accusing Japan of abandoning its post-war restraint and aligning itself with U.S. efforts to contain Beijing. The rhetoric underscored a growing Chinese concern: that any move on Taiwan would draw in a widening coalition of U.S. allies.

That concern has also been reinforced by U.S. treaty commitments to the Philippines, where Chinese and Philippine vessels clashed repeatedly in the South China Sea throughout the year, raising fears of a multifront crisis.

Washington’s deterrence gamble

For the United States, 2025 was defined by a balancing act — reinforcing Taiwan without triggering the very conflict Washington seeks to prevent.

In addition to the December arms package, U.S. officials repeatedly reaffirmed that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are vital U.S. interests, while avoiding any explicit shift away from long-standing strategic ambiguity.

The Pentagon’s annual report on China, released late in 2025, reiterated that U.S. defense assessments see the Chinese military developing capabilities that could enable it to fight and win a war over Taiwan by 2027 — a benchmark that has increasingly shaped U.S. and allied planning.

U.S. officials, however, have also cautioned that military readiness does not equal intent, warning against treating exercises or procurement timelines as a countdown clock to war.

Is an invasion coming?

The question hanging over the region — and Washington — is whether China is moving closer to launching a full-scale invasion of Taiwan.

The evidence cuts both ways.

On one hand, the scale and sophistication of Chinese military activity around Taiwan has grown noticeably, with drills emphasizing joint operations, rapid mobilization and isolation of the island. Beijing’s rhetoric has also hardened, portraying reunification as increasingly urgent and framing U.S. involvement as an existential threat.

On the other hand, an amphibious invasion of Taiwan would be among the most complex military operations in modern history, carrying enormous political, economic and military risks for China — whose armed forces have not fought a major war since its 1979 invasion of Vietnam.

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Many defense analysts argue that Beijing has strong incentives to continue applying pressure through gray-zone tactics — cyber operations, economic coercion, legal warfare, and military intimidation — rather than crossing the threshold into open war.

The December drills reinforced that view, highlighting blockade-style scenarios that could test Taiwan and its partners without immediately triggering a shooting war.

The road ahead

As 2026 approaches, the Taiwan Strait remains a flashpoint where deterrence and coercion are colliding more frequently and more visibly.

The most widely held assessment among U.S. and regional officials is that while the risk of conflict is rising — particularly as China approaches its 2027 military readiness goals — an invasion is not yet the most likely near-term outcome.

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Instead, the danger lies in sustained pressure, miscalculation, and crisis escalation, especially as more actors — from Japan to the Philippines — become directly implicated in the Taiwan equation.

For now, 2025 ends with no shots fired across the Taiwan Strait — but with fewer illusions about how close the region may be to its most serious test in decades.

One of President Donald Trump’s most controversial moves in 2025 was his deployment of the National Guard to several major U.S. cities to provide security for federal buildings, public places and around law enforcement operations, including deportation operations.

While popular in some areas, Trump’s deployments were met with fierce resistance in some cities, especially in jurisdictions with “sanctuary” laws shielding immigrants from federal authorities. In some particularly controversial instances, the president went around Democratic governors by federalizing the National Guard or deploying troops from friendly states to blue cities.

In 2025, Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, the Chicago area, Memphis and New Orleans.

Here are the cities where residents may see National Guard troops on their streets in 2026.

WHERE THE TRUMP ADMIN’S COURT FIGHT OVER DC NATIONAL GUARD STANDS IN WAKE OF SHOOTING

Chicago

Despite a setback in the form of a Christmas week Supreme Court ruling denying a request to proceed with immediately deploying the National Guard to Chicago, the White House told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration plans to keep working “day in and day out to safeguard the American public.”

“The President promised the American people he would work tirelessly to enforce our immigration laws and protect federal personnel from violent rioters. He activated the National Guard to protect federal law enforcement officers and to ensure rioters did not destroy federal buildings and property,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda.”

With that being said, the Trump administration is likely to continue pushing for National Guard troops to be allowed into Chicago and the legal case is still ongoing.

St. Louis

While announcing a National Guard deployment to Memphis on Sept. 15, Trump hinted at sending troops to the Gateway City, saying, “We have to save St. Louis.”

While speaking with reporters in the Oval Office about the Memphis deployment, Trump said, “We’ll get to St. Louis also.”

The president grouped St. Louis in with Memphis and Chicago as a city suffering from high violent crime and strained local law enforcement, needing federal assistance to restore order.

According to the FBI’s most recent annual crime report, compiled for cities with 50,000+ residents and released in August, St. Louis ranks among the highest in violent crime rates nationally.

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New York

While announcing his temporary federal takeover of D.C. in August, Trump suggested he may also intervene in New York, saying, “We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem.”

Trump also said, “I’m going to look at New York in a little while.”

At the same time, Trump voiced, “I hope they do a self-clean-up.” He expressed, however, that the rise to power of socialist now Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani may necessitate a deployment to “straighten out the city.”

The president has since met with Mamdani in the Oval Office, in a highly publicized meeting in which the two appeared to have worked through their differences. Trump predicted that Mamdani would be a “great mayor.”

“We have one thing in common,” said Trump. “We want this city of ours that we love to do very well.”

Despite this, the possibility of a National Guard deployment to New York remains should the city begin to spiral out of control under Mamdani’s leadership.

PAM BONDI SAYS TRUMP ‘ABSOLUTELY’ HAS AUTHORITY TO INVOKE INSURRECTION ACT TO CURB CHICAGO CRIME

Baltimore

Trump also said that he would send the National Guard to Baltimore to “quickly clean up the crime” if Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore says he needs help.

Moore had earlier invited Trump to attend a public safety walk in the crime-ridden city in September, saying in an Aug. 21 letter that the event would provide an opportunity to “discuss strategies for effective public safety policy.”

“As President, I would much prefer that he clean up this crime disaster before I go there for a walk,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. 

He accused Moore of having a poor record on crime, “unless he fudges his figures on crime like many of the other Blue States are doing.”

Trump added that he did not appreciate the tone of Moore’s invitation.

“But if Wes Moore needs help, like Gavin Newscum did in L.A., I will send in the “troops,” which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the crime,” Trump wrote. He added that Baltimore ranks among the worst cities in the United States for crime and murder.

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California cities

Led by Democratic, pro-sanctuary politicians, America’s most populous state has stood firmly opposed to much of the Trump administration’s actions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom was a fierce critic of Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer despite ongoing unrest and anti-ICE riots in the city.

Despite the pushback, Trump has signaled his willingness to send the National Guard back to Los Angeles as well as to Oakland and San Francisco.

“We have other cities also that are bad. Very bad,” said the president. “You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is.”

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Addressing crime, Trump has said, “Then you have of course Baltimore and Oakland, we don’t even mention that anymore. They are so far gone. We are not going to let that happen. We are not going to lose our cities over this.”

Trump also said, “Look at what the Democrats have done to San Francisco. They’ve destroyed it. We can clean that up, too, we’ll clean that one up, too.”

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

With nearly 9 million residents and the world’s largest financial hub, New York City is about to test a progressive economic vision under Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Proposals such as free buses, city-owned grocery stores and rent freezes have already rattled Wall Street, prompting sharp criticism from Mamdani’s critics. The clash underscores a widening divide between progressive ambitions for the city and the financial sector that has long powered its economy.

Affordability sits at the center of Mamdani’s agenda as he prepares to run America’s largest city. Here’s a breakdown of how he plans to address it.

CONSERVATIVE STATES SEE LOWER INFLATION THAN LIBERAL ONES NATIONWIDE, WHITE HOUSE DATA SHOWS

City-owned grocery stores

Mamdani has committed to creating a “network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit.”

“Without having to pay rent or property taxes, they will reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers. They will buy and sell at wholesale prices, centralize warehousing and distribution, and partner with local neighborhoods on products and sourcing,” Mamdani has promised. 

The mayor of New York City has control over city-run programs, so he can accomplish this goal by securing New York City Council approval.

ATLANTA’S CITY-RUN GROCERY SEES EARLY SUCCESS, SPARKING DEBATE OVER GOVERNMENT’S ROLE

Billionaire John Catsimatidis, owner of Gristedes and D’Agostino’s, the largest independent supermarket chain in New York City, has previously said he would consider moving his corporate office out of New York following a Mamdani win.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has launched a similar pilot program, opening a city-owned grocery store in a neighborhood long classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a low-income, low-access food desert.

Free bus rides

Mamdani has vowed to “permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus and make them faster by rapidly building priority lanes, expanding bus queue-jump signals and dedicated loading zones to keep double parkers out of the way.”

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This proposal would require coordination with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). MTA is a state-run agency which the mayor of New York City does not have direct control over. 

According to City & State New York, Mamdani’s free bus fare promise would require an additional expense, possibly more than $700 million. It’s unclear how Mamdani plans to pay for the additional fee.

Raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030

Additionally, Mamdani has said he wants to raise the minimum wage to $30 an hour in the next four years.

“After that, the minimum wage will automatically increase based on the cost of living and productivity increases,” Mamdani claims on his campaign website. 

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By allowing the City Council to create its own minimum wage law, Mamdani has proposed a way to raise the minimum wage in New York City without the state’s approval. But a state-level increase is unlikely.

Free childcare

Mamdani has also campaigned to provide every New York family that has a child up to 5 years old with free childcare. 

It is unclear how he will finance this proposal, which experts estimate could cost billions of dollars annually. 

He has previously floated a tax increase on the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations to pay for the increased services, which would require state-level approval. 

Freeze the rent

Mamdani has pledged to freeze rents for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments and expand affordable housing using city resources.

While a rent freeze may sound like a straightforward fix to New York City’s affordability crisis, housing experts warn it could backfire by discouraging investment and pushing rents higher in non-stabilized units.

ACKMAN SAYS MAMDANI ‘RIGHT ON PROBLEM, WRONG ON FIX’ IN NYC HOUSING DEBATE

New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos said the policy could deter developers. “I don’t know any investor or builder who would want to build in a city where the mayor is threatening to cap revenues,” Burgos told FOX Business.

Ed Elson, a business analyst and co-host of the “Prof G Markets” podcast, echoed that concern, saying rent freezes undermine supply. “Paradoxically, they disincentivize construction, which causes rents elsewhere to rise,” he said, calling the policy “too good to be true.”

Taxing corporations and NYC’s 1%

Mamdani said he would fund his programs through a “revenue plan” that would “raise the corporate tax rate to match New Jersey’s 11.5%, bringing in $5 billion. And he will tax the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers, those earning above $1 million annually, a flat 2% tax.”

While Mamdani has certainly done the math, a plan like this requires approval from the state legislature and the signature of the governor. 

TREASURY’S BESSENT WARNS NYC: NO BAILOUT UNDER MAMDANI – ‘DROP DEAD’

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has voiced her opposition to tax hikes, which could create some hurdles for Mamdani’s marquee campaign promise.

FOX Business’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump revealed his New Year’s resolution on Wednesday after being asked if he had one.

“Peace. Peace on earth,” he said alongside first Lady Melania Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.

The White House’s official rapid response account on X shared a Fox News post on X featuring the video clip of the president’s comments, writing, “The President of Peace — and the most stunning First Lady in history.”

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The one-year anniversary of the beginning of Trump’s second term is less than a month away — he was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025.

Since taking office, the president has sought to promote peace around the globe, and has presided over a multitude of military actions.

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Trump’s administration has aimed to help broker peace between Ukraine and Russia, and between Israel and Hamas.

With Trump as commander in chief, the U.S. military launched numerous strikes in 2025, some of which included those against vessels of alleged “narco-terrorists.” The U.S. attacked the Islamic Republic of Iran in a bid to derail the rogue regime’s nuclear weapons ambitions, and conducted strikes targeting ISIS in other countries in 2025.

US MILITARY CONFIRMS 5 KILLED IN DEC 31 KINETIC STRIKE ON REPORTED NARCO-TERROR VESSELS

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“President Trump has ushered in a new era of peace through strength. Because of his commitment to the cause of peace around the world, America is respected again on the world stage,” the State Department declared in a post last week on X.

Momentum on a 20-point peace plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine is faltering after President Vladimir Putin accused Kyiv of targeting a residence linked to him, a claim Moscow says leaves little room for compromise at the negotiating table.

The accusation comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing a 20-point peace proposal as a counteroffer to a 28-point framework floated by the Trump administration before Thanksgiving. Zelenskyy was expected to present the plan directly to President Donald Trump during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, part of what he described as “some of the most active diplomatic days of the year.”

Russia claims Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack early Monday against a presidential residence in the Novgorod region, involving 91 long-range drones that were intercepted by Russian air defenses.

Russia’s defense ministry released footage of a masked soldier standing next to drone wreckage it said was recovered from the attack, claiming the drone carried a high-explosive warhead “filled with a large number of striking elements” intended to hit civilian targets.

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The Kremlin has described the site as a presidential residence in the Novgorod region, one of several state-owned properties associated with Putin, though it has not said he was present at the time.

Kremlin officials quickly branded the incident “terrorist” activity, warning it would force Russia to harden its negotiating position. 

“This terrorist action is aimed at collapsing the negotiation process,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday. “The diplomatic consequence will be to toughen the negotiating position of the Russian Federation.”

Zelenskyy’s proposal calls for Western-backed security guarantees resembling NATO’s Article 5, a halt in fighting along current battle lines in contested regions, and the creation of demilitarized zones overseen by international forces — provisions Moscow has long opposed. The Ukrainian plan also rejects formal recognition of Russian control over occupied territory, a key point of divergence from the U.S. framework.

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Ukraine has flatly denied responsibility for the alleged attack. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia has offered no evidence “because there’s none,” accusing Moscow of leaning on a familiar strategy. 

“Russia has a long record of false claims — it’s their signature tactic,” Sybiha said in a post to the social platform X.

Zelenskyy told reporters that Ukraine had discussed the allegation with U.S. officials. “They’ve talked through the details. And we understand that it’s fake. And thanks to their technical opportunities, they can verify that it’s fake,” he said.

Ukrainian officials argue the allegation fits a broader Kremlin playbook: using unproven claims to justify escalation or deflect blame as diplomacy intensifies. Kyiv has warned Moscow may be using the episode to lay the groundwork for new strikes, including against government buildings in the Ukrainian capital, while portraying Russia as the aggrieved party in peace talks.

The dispute has also drawn in Trump, who met with Zelenskyy in Florida Friday and later spoke by phone with Putin. Putin raised the alleged incident during their call.

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“I was very angry about it,” Trump told reporters, adding that the U.S. was still working to determine what actually happened. “We’ll find out,” he said.

Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said on Fox Business that Washington is investigating Russia’s claim. 

“It’s unclear whether it actually happened,” Whitaker said. “We’re going to get to the bottom of the intelligence.”

An appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce in 22 Democrat-led states a provision of a budget bill that cuts off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood clinics that provide abortions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit’s decision came in response to Judge Indira Talwani, a federal judge in Massachusetts, blocking the provision of the bill. A three-judge panel on the circuit court, comprising all Democratic appointees, paused Talwani’s decision, marking at least the second time that the judge has been overruled after siding with Planned Parenthood.

The states, led by California, had argued in a complaint that the funding cuts amounted to “retribution” for Planned Parenthood’s “constitutionally protected advocacy” of abortion access.

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The states’ lawsuit turned on the argument that Congress did not provide enough specifics about the Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, in violation of the Constitution’s spending clause. Talwani, an Obama appointee, was persuaded enough to grant an injunction, but the appeals court paused it, saying the argument was likely to fail.

The lawsuit was one of several that stemmed from Congress passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s funding cuts to certain Medicaid recipients who provide abortions. Trump signed the bill into law on July 4, and the cuts were set to last for one year.

Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, said in a separate lawsuit in the summer that the provision unconstitutionally aimed to punish the nonprofit for its views, pointing to celebrations from Republican lawmakers about defunding Planned Parenthood specifically.

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Lawyers for Planned Parenthood said that stripping their client’s Medicaid funding would force it to close a portion of its roughly 600 facilities and deprive more than 1 million people, about half of its customers, of services that do not include abortion. Talwani sided with Planned Parenthood and was overruled by the appeals court in that case as well.

Medicaid does not typically cover Planned Parenthood’s abortion services, and the abortion giant has repeatedly emphasized that its clinics also provide other services, including screening for certain cancers and sexually transmitted infections and offering contraception.

In the case brought by the states, the Trump administration argued that the bill’s budget restrictions were standard and approved by the legislative and executive branches.

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“Congress enacted a routine restriction on the use of federal funds—something it does in every budget cycle,” Trump Department of Justice lawyers wrote. “The Medicaid statute contains dozens of limits on how States may use federal funds. … When the States agreed to participate in Medicaid, they knew that they would have to abide by such conditions.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the California attorney general’s office for comment.

President Donald Trump revealed Wednesday how soon an Arc de Triomphe-style monument will be constructed in the nation’s capital to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.

Trump on Wednesday said the construction of the monument, nicknamed the “Arc de Trump,” will begin “sometime in the next two months,” according to a report from Politico.

“It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it,” Trump reportedly told the outlet during a phone call from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. “They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch.”

The newest monument, which resembles Paris’ historic Arc de Triomphe, will be bankrolled privately, with funds left over from the new White House ballroom project, Fox News Digital previously reported.

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The exact location of the new landmark has not yet been confirmed, though the report notes it may be situated near the Lincoln Monument.

Details about the amount of time it will take to build, the cost of construction, the funding amount and who is heading the project have not yet been released by the White House.

Trump signed Public Law 116-217 in December 2020 authorizing the Women’s Suffrage National Monument to be built on federal land in Washington, D.C., leading to the subsequent signing of the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Location Act during former President Joe Biden’s final week in office.

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The Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation (WSNMF) announced Dec. 4 it received final and unanimous approval from the National Capital Planning Commission for a permanent two and a half acre site on the National Mall in Constitution Gardens, according to the foundation’s website.

Foundation leaders noted the women’s suffrage monument went through a “multi-step, rigorous review process,” including gaining approval from the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts.

The foundation also completed a public comment period with the National Park Service as part of the public scoping process, according to its website.

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It is unclear if Trump’s newest proposed monument received similar approval.

The Women’s Suffrage National Monument will be located at the intersection of 19th St. and Constitution Avenue NW, and the next project phase will focus on creative development and design.

“The enthusiasm behind this project has been inspiring,” WSNMF President and CEO Anna Laymon wrote in a Dec. 4 statement announcing final approval. “We are so grateful for the dedicated support from so many who made this possible, including President Trump; President Biden; our honorary chairs Mrs. Melania Trump, Dr. Jill Biden, Mrs. Michelle Obama, Mrs. Laura Bush, and Secretary Hillary Clinton; our bipartisan and bicameral Congressional sponsors, Senator Blackburn, Senator Baldwin, Congresswoman Lesko, Congressman Neguse and their dedicated staffs; our incredible Board of Directors; and all our partners and supporters.”

TRUMP BREAKS GROUND ON MASSIVE WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PROJECT WITH PRIVATE FUNDING FROM ‘PATRIOTS’

The most recent major monument built on the National Mall was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, which was completed in 2011.

The granite memorial was inspired by a line from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered nearby on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” in 1963.

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

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

Former special counsel Jack Smith undercut claims made by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide and Jan. 6 Committee witness, while testifying in a recent deposition to Congress.

Smith told the House Judiciary Committee this month that he evaluated Hutchinson’s explosive claims as part of his investigation and prosecution of President Donald Trump related to the 2020 election, according to a transcript published Wednesday. 

Smith said they had deficiencies because Hutchinson did not offer firsthand information.

Asked during the deposition how he would have approached cross-examining Hutchinson, Smith said he would have moved to prohibit a portion of her testimony from being used.

JACK SMITH DENIES POLITICS PLAYED ANY ROLE IN TRUMP PROSECUTIONS AT HOUSE HEARING

“If I were a defense attorney and Ms. Hutchinson were a witness, the first thing I would do was seek to preclude some of her testimony because it was hearsay, and I don’t have the full range of her testimony in front of me right now, but I do remember that that was a decent part of it,” Smith said.

Smith was also asked about specific claims Hutchinson had made, including that Trump was aware that some of his supporters would be armed at his rally and that Trump attempted to grab the steering wheel of his driver out of anger.

Hutchinson “was a second or even thirdhand witness,” Smith said, adding that other witnesses gave “different perspectives” than her. 

“We interviewed, I think, the people she talked to, and we also interviewed, if my recollection is correct, officers who were there, including the officer who was in the car,” Smith said. “And that officer, if my recollection is correct, and I want to make sure I’m right about this, said that President Trump was very angry and wanted to go to the Capitol, but the version of events that he explained was not the same as what Cassidy Hutchinson said she heard from somebody secondhand.”

Smith noted that “a number of the things that she gave evidence on were secondhand hearsay, were things that she had heard from other people and, as a result, that testimony may or may not be admissible, and it certainly wouldn’t be as powerful as firsthand testimony.”

Hutchinson became a key witness in the Democrat-led Jan. 6 Committee’s investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack, testifying privately several times and publicly. Her testimony dominated headlines, but her claims became a point of scrutiny for Republicans, who found the committee’s work lacked credibility because its only Republican members were two vocal anti-Trump lawmakers.

Hutchinson served as a top aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the final months of Trump’s first presidency, giving her an inside look at internal discussions among White House officials in the aftermath of the 2020 election. 

JACK SMITH SUBPOENAED FOR DEPOSITION WITH HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

In a highly publicized hearing in June 2022, Hutchinson testified under oath about what she said were warnings inside the White House about the possibility of violence on Jan. 6 and Trump’s alleged awareness that some supporters attending his rally would be armed.

In another claim that was later disputed by other witnesses, Hutchinson also recalled conversations about how Trump attempted to grab the steering wheel from a U.S. Secret Service agent because he wanted to go to the Capitol and not the West Wing.

Hutchinson testified that she was told that the president “said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now,’ to which [the agent] responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel.”

Hutchinson had not mentioned that particular story in any of her prior interviews with the committee. She later said she withheld it at the direction of her former lawyer, Stefan Passantino.

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Smith was asked about Hutchinson as part of a more than eight-hour closed-door deposition this month that centered on his investigations and prosecutions of Trump related to the 2020 election and Trump’s alleged retention of classified material.

Smith defended his investigative practices, including subpoenaing Senate and House lawmakers’ phone data. He also defended some of his prosecutorial decisions, including seeking gag orders against Trump and bringing an unusually slimmed-down superseding indictment against Trump after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had some presidential immunity protections.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday outlined a list of its accomplishments during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office, arguing that the agency has ended the political weaponization it says existed under the Biden administration.

The DOJ claimed in a statement posted on X that it has “turned around” the agency, restoring fairness and law enforcement priorities.

“Instead of keeping Americans safe, the Biden DOJ weaponized its power against political opponents: conservatives, parents, pro-lifers, Christians, and most of all, President Trump,” the DOJ stated.

The DOJ said that after President Trump inherited a justice system it described as “in chaos,” he charged the department with restoring “integrity, accountability and equal justice under the law.”

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“In 2025, the DOJ returned to its core mission: upholding the rule of law, vigorously prosecuting criminals, and keeping the American people safe,” the department wrote.

The announcement comes as the Trump administration continues to face legal challenges and the Justice Department faces potential legal action after missing a statutory deadline deadline to release documents related to Jeffrey Epstein under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The DOJ outlined 10 “wins” since President Trump took office on Jan. 20, including efforts to pursue major fraud cases, particularly in Minnesota, which it described as “rife with fraud.”

MIKE DAVIS: JUSTICE IS COMING FOR PERPETRATORS OF ARCTIC FROST

According to the DOJ, 98 people have been charged — including 85 individuals identified as being of Somali descent — in Medicaid fraud and related case programs, leading to 64 convictions to date.

The statement outlines actions taken to roll back policies it said were targeting conservatives and parents, reduce crime nationwide, increase law enforcement activity in major cities, seize record amounts of illegal drugs and secure favorable rulings at the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that the bureau is working to restore trust in federal law enforcement.

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“Dismantling public corruption is a top priority of our leadership team here — we’ve worked day and night on that mission and will continue to do so until justice is done,” he wrote.

The Justice Department said more enforcement actions are planned in 2026, signaling an escalation of arrests, court victories and action “against those who threaten the safety and well-being of the American people.”

New York City socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was officially sworn in as mayor in a midnight ceremony by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The early Thursday morning event was a private ceremony where Mamdani was accompanied by family members at the Old City Hall Station, a decommissioned subway station with deep historical roots.

In a press release, the Mamdani transition team said the midnight swearing was chosen to be at a location symbolizing how the subway system is the “lifeblood of New York” and a “reminder of the city Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is fighting for: a city built by and for New Yorkers.”

“When Old City Hall Station first opened in 1904 — one of New York’s 28 original subway stations — it was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples’ lives. That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past, nor must it be isolated only to the tunnels beneath City Hall: it will be the purpose of the administration fortunate enough to serve New Yorkers from the building above,” Mamdani said in the press release.

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“When I take my oath from the station at the dawn of the New Year, I will do so humbled by the opportunity to lead millions of New Yorkers into a new era of opportunity, and honored to carry forward our city’s legacy of greatness.”

Mamdani used a Quran during his swearing-in ceremony, according to his campaign, making him the first Muslim mayor of NYC and the first to be sworn in using a Quran.

On Thursday afternoon, Mamdani will be sworn in publicly by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders after opening remarks are delivered at his 1 p.m. inauguration by another progressive ally, Dem. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

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Typically, inauguration tickets are given out to roughly 4,000 people but the Mamdani transition team says all New Yorkers will be invited to the inauguration and a block party immediately following.

The 1 p.m. inauguration will take place on the steps of City Hall.

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Mamdani soundly defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in early November, capping off a rapid political ascent that started with single-digit support when he announced his mayoral campaign in October 2024.

President Donald Trump railed against alleged social services fraud in Minnesota during remarks at his New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday.

“Can you imagine they stole $18 billion,” Trump said. “That’s just what we’re learning about. That’s peanuts. And California is worse, Illinois is worse and sadly New York is worse.”

Trump continued, “We’re going to get to the bottom of all those. It was a giant scam.”

Trump added that he saw Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., on television earlier Wednesday talking about the alleged fraud involving the Somali community.

VP DEBATE FOOTAGE OF WALZ TOUTING STATE SUPPORT FOR DAYCARES GOES VIRAL AMID MINNESOTA FRAUD ALLEGATIONS

“He was talking about the Somalia population and not very nicely,” Trump said.

Trump’s comments came as Minnesota has been hit with widespread fraud allegations, with losses estimated at up to $1 billion, and federal prosecutors have indicted and charged dozens of people in connection with the alleged fraudulent activity.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a stark warning Wednesday that “people will be in handcuffs” as fallout expands from widespread fraud allegations under Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

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“President Trump is not going to let Governor Walz off the hook,” Leavitt said on “Fox & Friends.”

Walz has come under scrutiny since the fraud issue came to light, and has publicly acknowledged the problem while pledging to address it, saying the situation “is on my watch” and that he is “accountable” for fixing it.

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Leavitt added that the Trump administration has increased federal resources to Minnesota, with multiple agencies conducting investigations relating to the alleged fraud.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would freeze all child care payments to Minnesota, amid mounting scrutiny over accusations of fraud involving child daycare centers across Minnesota.

President Donald Trump’s early second-term blitz against “woke” ideology, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, have rippled far beyond Washington, D.C., as companies roll back such policies. 

But the left-wing credos could come roaring back to public view under a rebranding, the president of American Principles Project (APP) told Fox News Digital. 

“DEI is still alive. It’s not dead yet. It’s bleeding, right? We’ve got blood here, but we know it’s vulnerable,” Terry Schilling, the president of conservative nonprofit and advocacy group the American Principles Project, told Fox News Digital in a December Zoom interview. “But they’re still in charge of the admissions offices and colleges. They’re still in charge of HR departments, and they’re still largely a part of Silicon Valley.”

American Principles Project has documented the cultural shifts in recent years to embrace DEI initiatives, which conservatives argue replace merit with race and identity preferences that effectively penalize some Americans at work and at school through the expansion of bureaucracy and ideological pressure. Schilling said that while the “woke” push seen under the Biden era is retreating under the Trump administration, it is still alive and could make a return. 

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“DEI is retreating,” Schilling said in the interview. “But I think that it’s important that we recognize that DEA is not disbanding, it’s rebranding.”

Trump swiftly moved to drop the hammer on DEI and woke initiatives upon his return to office in January, including signing an executive order on day one, titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” which directed federal agencies to stamp out DEI-style programs across the federal government. The following day, Trump signed a second order aimed at “restoring merit-based opportunity,” including changes for federal contracting and related compliance.

“We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector and our military. And our country will be woke no longer,” Trump said from the dais in Congress in March, celebrating his administration’s achievement just a few months into the job. 

Schilling said Trump turned DEI on its head upon his return to the Oval Office, pointing to his executive orders as death knells heard at the highest echelons of corporate America down to public school classrooms.

“Trump winning the election had a lot to do with this,” Schilling said. “You’re seeing all these CEOs of major tech companies and companies abroad coming to the White House, kissing the ring. They know who’s in power and they’re willing to make deals to get their projects over the finish line. And that’s all great. We should use that. We should us that momentum to further cement opposition to DEI.”

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Silicon Valley has long been viewed and criticized as a powerful weapon used to silence conservatives — such as when social media platforms suppressed news reports on former first son Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election — with top tech CEOs signaling a Trump-era pivot this year as they work to ink deals to expand their businesses amid the artificial intelligence boom. 

“President Trump’s executive orders did so much to cut back against DEI, banning DEI throughout the entire federal workforce, banning schools from using and tying federal funds to whether or not schools are implementing racist policies like DEI has done a lot to curb it,” Schilling said. 

“However, these guys are lying in wait,” he added. 

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Massive American staple company Target announced the conclusion of DEI goals after a three-year initiative, while Disney also made changes such as removing DEI-related terms from its annual business reports. Cracker Barrel, after a bruising backlash to its branding overhaul earlier in 2025, scrapped remodel plans and reverted to its old logo, with Fox Digital previously reporting the chain eliminated DEI programs as part of its latest changes.

“DEI is an employment issue,” Schilling said. “It’s keeping a large amount of Americans who deserve to have good lives and good incomes out of the workforce simply because they have the wrong color of skin.”

Democrats generally support DEI policies as they see them as a way to expand opportunity and reduce discrimination in hiring, promotion and education, especially for groups they argue have faced historic barriers. Left-wing lawmakers stretching from members of the Congressional Black Caucus to Democrat 2025 political candidates, such as New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, have slammed or campaigned against Trump’s roll-back of DEI policies. 

Schilling warned that upcoming elections could undo the progress Trump has made in eliminating DEI policies at the federal level, pointing to the 2028 presidential election. 

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“They are lying in wait for the next Democrat president like Gavin Newsom, like JB Pritzker. There’s really no doubt that if another Democrat gets into office, they’re not just going to undo everything President Trump did to curb all the racism through DEI programs. They going to ramp it up. They gonna do it even more so than Barack Obama did and Joe Biden did. So we’ve got to continue to fight this,” Schilling said. 

The American Principles Project president continued that ending DEI and woke ideology for good requires conservative Republicans winning elections and conservative voters to talk with their feet with boycotts if a corporation leans into promoting left-wing policies, underscoring DEI is an economic issue, in addition to a cultural one. 

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“If we really want to save the future, DEI must be killed, because it’s not just about the culture, it’s just not about racism,” he said. “It’s so much more. It’s the economy, it’s the future of America, it’s our families, it is our children, and so we really need to remain eternally vigilant until it’s obvious that DEI is never coming back.” 

A whiskey sour for the distilled spirits industry. 

Consumers are souring on drinking alcohol.

And that’s one of a host of complex reasons why Jim Beam is placing its main distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, on ice for at least a year.

Claudia Coffey knows Kentucky bourbon country as well as anyone. She’s a podcaster and bourbon insider.

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“Bourbon is Kentucky, right? We love horse racing in Kentucky. We love bourbon in Kentucky. It’s the reason that 2.7 million people come to visit the Commonwealth every single year,” said Coffey. “It’s some of the biggest news to come out of Kentucky in quite some time, and this is one of the most iconic brands in bourbon.”

Not everyone has heard of Willett or Four Roses when it comes to bourbon. But Jim Beam is Americana. Ubiquitous. Kind of like McDonald’s or Coke. 

Americans are imbibing less — down 6% from just two years ago. And more than 16 million barrels of Kentucky spirits — including bourbon and rye — are aging in warehouses across the state. Distillers are paying taxes on those barrels while they age.

It’s an issue of supply and demand. But the problem is not exclusive to Jim Beam.

“It’s not a question of who’s shutting down production,” said Charlie Prince, who runs the Drammers Whiskey Club. “It’s a question of who is admitting it.” 

Overseas distillers like Midleton in Ireland, which makes Jameson, and Highland Park in Scotland all reduced production recently because of a glut of bourbon, whiskey and Scotch on the market.

However, observers say tariffs and the trade war with Canada hit Jim Beam especially hard.

“Ten percent of Kentucky bourbon sales were going to Canada, and that has dropped to almost zero,” said Prince. “In Canada, that has been taken on as a kind of a national mission for Canadians, saying, ‘Let’s buy Canadian’ and push back against the politics they don’t like coming from the U.S. And, so, you see stores just pulling all American products and banning them in some provinces. So, that’s definitely a political response.”

Democrats quickly latched onto the tariff argument.

“Thousands of Kentuckians power the bourbon industry. We will all feel the impact of this,” declared Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky. “It’s hard to overstate just how devastating Trump’s tariffs are for America’s signature spirit.”

RECORD LOW NUMBER OF AMERICANS REPORT DRINKING ALCOHOL, AND NEW TEETOTALERS ARE EXPLAINING WHY

But one industry observer believes that tariffs are a single ingredient in a complex economic cocktail. Jessica Spector is a professor at Yale who studies the history and culture of liquor and spirits.

“Anybody that tells you that they have an explanation, ‘Oh, it’s tariffs,’ or ‘Oh, it’s post-pandemic retraction,’ is giving you a too simplistic explanation,” said Spector. “It’s unclear what impact the tariffs are having and will have in the future. People have argued over tariffs for a long time. As long as there has been trade, there have been arguments over tariffs. It’s unclear whether the tariffs are sort of the coup de gras to an industry that was already suffering.”

Spector says yes, Generation Z drinks less and uses cannabis more. There are also health concerns. But the spirits industry has witnessed shifts before. She says people moved from brown liquor to vodka in the 1970s because it was seen as healthier.

“They also jogged more and did a lot more cocaine because that was seen as more health conscious. So, it gets really complicated when you break things down generationally,” said Spector.

But the tariffs remain extraordinarily controversial. The Trump administration says tariffs are here to stay.

“Tariffs are going to be part of the policy landscape,” United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Fox. “We know they’re successful.”

But the tariffs may also evaporate.

The Constitution grants Congress the authority to tax and impose tariffs. President Trump used emergency powers to levy global tariffs earlier this year. That’s why this issue wound up at the Supreme Court. Attorneys argued the case in October.

“Canada is one of our closest allies. I think it would be hard to find Canada engaging in unfair trade practices because we have what used to be called the NAFTA agreement, between Canada, the United States and Mexico to bring down all the trade barriers between the countries,” said University of California law professor John Yoo.

Based on the oral arguments, Yoo believes the high court will halt the Trump-imposed tariffs under the premise that the U.S. faces a national emergency. 

“Canada will immediately benefit, and you’ll be able to find your choice of American bourbons on Canadian store shelves,” said Yoo.

FREEDOM AND FACTS, NOT FEAR, SHOULD FRAME AMERICA’S CHOICES ON ALCOHOL

In fact, Yoo believes the Supreme Court could issue its ruling sooner rather than later — especially if it nixes the tariffs. That’s because of all the duties and fees that might be levied on products for months — and then reversed.

It’s important to note that Jim Beam will continue operating two other distilleries for the time being. And Spector says Generation Z prefers cocktails. So, that could force the industry to shift what it produces.

Now here’s a little tidbit you probably won’t learn any place else.

Roam any distillery in Scotland, be it Dalwhinnie in the Highlands, Glen Scotia in Campbeltown, GlenGrant in Speyside or Bowmore on Islay, and you will find distillers aging Scotch in Jim Beam barrels. 

It’s not just Jim Beam barrels that you will find in Scotland. It’s also Buffalo Trace. Heaven Hill. Woodford Reserve. Wild Turkey. Congress only allows American distillers to use American oak barrels once for producing bourbon. So, Scotch distillers overseas love to get their hands on a good bourbon barrel to age their spirit.

The barrels may partially impart a vanilla flavor into the expression, stemming from “vanillans” in the wood.

The trend of using American bourbon barrels for Scotch began in the 1940s after the U.S. market came back online following the end of Prohibition. Distillers in Scotland began using sherry barrels to age their spirits prior to that (hence, the rich meaty flavors you get from Macallan). Sherry is still prevalent despite a decline in people consuming sherry these days. But fewer bourbon barrels from a big producer like Jim Beam now could alter the taste of Scotch in about 15 to 20 years.

That said, demand for Scotch is down like bourbon. So, some of these may even out.

It’s worth noting that Suntory Global Spirits owns Jim Beam. It was known as Beam Suntory until recently. Suntory also owns major Scotch labels like Bowmore, Admore, Laphroaig, Auchentoshan and Glen Garioch. The pipeline of barrels from Jim Beam was a good proposition for Suntory to age Scotch.

So, it’s possible that, down the road, Scotch distillers may age some of their expressions in barrels that once contained something else — other than Kentucky bourbon. And that’s where the flavor profile will evolve.

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It’s also impossible to know the market trends and what people will be interested in drinking in 15 to 20 years. And, so, whatever distillers put into a barrel now might not match market trends in the future. 

In fact, perhaps people will revert to drinking bourbon and Scotch. And the market glut now may switch into a spirits famine where products consumers want are hard to find.

Though touting himself as the peace president, President Donald Trump has not been afraid to unleash lethal rocket strikes on U.S. enemies when he feels the need arises.

In 2025, Trump ordered strikes on nine different countries and regions in the interest of furthering U.S. national security.

Here are the countries, groups and regions that felt the power of the U.S. military in action this year.

Somalia terrorists targeted

Throughout the year, the U.S. has continued to conduct airstrikes against ISIS factions and al-Shabab in Somalia.

According to a U.S. Africa Command statement, a Feb. 1 airstrike targeting a series of cave complexes in northern Somalia killed 14 ISIS-Somalia operatives, including Ahmed Maeleninine, a key ISIS recruiter, financier and external operations leader responsible for deploying militants into the U.S. and across Europe.  

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Houthis in Yemen

Thousands of miles from U.S., sovereign territory, the Trump Department of War unleashed lethal strikes on Iran-backed Houthi terror fighters in Yemen as part of a mission dubbed “Operation Rough Rider.” The strikes were in response to attacks against U.S. military and commercial vessels traveling through the Red Sea.

Sean Parnell, a spokesperson for the Department of War, said in May that U.S. Central Command strikes had been carried out since March and had “hit over 1,000 targets, killing Houthi fighters and leaders and degrading their capabilities.”

Parnell called the strikes “hugely successful.” On May 6, the Houthis agreed to a ceasefire with the U.S., and the fighters have not carried out any attacks on U.S. vessels since, though they have targeted ships from other nations.

Top ISIS leader killed in Iraq

On March 13, U.S. Central Command carried out an airstrike in Iraq’s Al Anbar province that killed the No. 2 ISIS leader, Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, and another ISIS operative.

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Midnight Hammer targets Iran’s nuclear capabilities

At Trump’s direction, the U.S. military launched a strike on three Iranian nuclear sites in a mission that went from June 21-22.

During the operation, “Midnight Hammer,” B-2 stealth bombers departed from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and dropped over a dozen bunker buster bombs and launched more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles on key Iranian nuclear sites.

According to the Pentagon, the strikes decimated Iran’s nuclear capabilities and led to a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. The operation, however, was highly controversial, with some Democratic lawmakers accusing Trump of escalating tensions and downplaying the effectiveness of the strikes.

Iran launched a counterattack on the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, but there were no reported casualties.

Cartel drug boat strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific

As part of what the Department of War dubbed “Operation Southern Spear,” the U.S. unleashed 33 strikes on allefed drug boats traveling in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing over 100 traffickers.

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The strikes garnered significant criticism, with some Democrats accusing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth of war crimes. The Pentagon described the operation as a counter-narco-terrorism campaign against designated terror organizations “taken in defense of vital U.S. national interests and to protect the homeland.”

Operation Hawkeye in Syria

In response to two U.S. service members being killed in Syria, the U.S. unleashed Operation Hawkeye Dec.19. U.S. and allied forces employed more than 100 precision munitions targeting over 70 known ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites across central Syria, resulting in the deaths or detention of 23 terrorist operatives.

Hegseth called the airstrikes “a declaration of vengeance” in direct response to the ISIS attack that took place on Dec. 13 in Palmyra, Syria.

According to Central Command, U.S. and partner forces in Syria have conducted operations during the last 12 months that resulted in more than 300 terrorists being detained.

Christmas night strikes in Nigeria

On Christmas night, the U.S. launched strikes on ISIS-linked military forces in coordination with the Nigerian government in Sokoto State in northwestern Nigeria.

Trump said he ordered U.S. airstrikes in northwest Nigeria against ISIS militants who, he says, “have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years.”

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Trump takes drug war to Venezuela proper

Following months of escalation with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, this week Trump appeared to suggest the U.S. carried out a strike on drug operations inside Venezuela.

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Speaking with reporters Monday, he said, “There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”

The Washington Monument will transform on New Year’s Eve into the “world’s tallest birthday candle in honor of our Nation’s 250th birthday,” according to the national Freedom 250 organization. 

The monument will be illuminated with projections depicting America’s history, focusing on the American founding and its future, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Wednesday. Likewise, the monument will turn into a 250-foot birthday candle as part of a countdown to 2026. 

“The illumination of the Washington Monument marks the beginning of a momentous year for our nation — 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” Keith Krach, CEO of Freedom 250, said in a press release. “We invite every American — and every friend of America — to join this historic celebration of the triumph of the American spirit.”

Freedom 250 is a national, nonpartisan organization President Donald Trump created dedicated to spearheading events to celebrate America’s 250th birthday in 2026, coordinating with the White House and other federal agencies to plan events to commemorate the anniversary.

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The viewing is free and open to the public and will continue through Monday with different projections displayed on the monument each night. Projections will start Wednesday for New Year’s Eve and will continue until just after midnight and will run from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on subsequent evenings. 

Narrated videos that will appear on the monument will focus on discovery, the American Revolution and independence, Western expansion, the Industrial Revolution and the modern times and future for the U.S. 

The event is designed to serve as the “first signature moment” in a series of events to celebrate the anniversary and will feature a drone and fireworks show on New Year’s Eve, according to Freedom 250. Testing for the event began earlier in December, with previews of the projections visible on the monument. 

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Other events Freedom 250 will hold to remember America’s birthday include a Great American State Fair in June and a parade of ships from more than 30 countries in New York Harbor for the Fourth of July. 

America250, a nonpartisan commission that Congress created in 2016 to prepare for America’s 250th birthday, also announced that it is commemorating the special year in New York on New Year’s Eve. 

The group said that, after midnight Eastern Standard Time, the New York City Times Square Ball will be lit up in red, white and blue, and 2,000 pounds of red, white and blue confetti will be released. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Wednesday sanctioned four companies operating in Venezuela’s oil sector and identified four oil tankers as blocked property, saying the move targets oil traders involved in alleged sanctions-evasion that helps finance Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

Treasury said the vessels, some described as part of a “shadow fleet” serving Venezuela, “continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro’s illegitimate narco-terrorist regime” in Tuesday’s press release.

“President Trump has been clear: We will not allow the illegitimate Maduro regime to profit from exporting oil while it floods the United States with deadly drugs,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “The Treasury Department will continue to implement President Trump’s campaign of pressure on Maduro’s regime,” he added.

Treasury said the sanctions block property and interests in property of the designated entities within U.S. jurisdiction and generally prohibits Americans from transactions involving them.

VENEZUELA ACCUSES US OF ‘PIRACY’ AFTER SEIZING MASSIVE OIL TANKER

The action follows U.S. measures against Venezuela’s state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA).

OFAC designated PDVSA in January 2019 under Executive Order 13850, and President Trump later took additional steps to block PDVSA in August 2019 under Executive Order 13884, Treasury said.

Treasury said Wednesday’s move also complements actions announced Dec. 11 and Dec. 19 targeting PDVSA-linked officials, associates and vessels.

SECOND TANKER SEIZED NEAR VENEZUELA AS US ENFORCES OIL BLOCKADE

OFAC designated Corniola Limited and Krape Myrtle Co LTD and identified the tanker NORD STAR as blocked property. OFAC also designated Winky International Limited and identified ROSALIND, also known as LUNAR TIDE, as blocked property. OFAC designated Aries Global Investment LTD and identified the tankers DELLA and VALIANT as blocked property, Treasury said.

Treasury said blocked property within U.S. jurisdiction must be reported to OFAC, and warned that violations of U.S. sanctions may result in civil or criminal penalties.

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Treasury said the goal of sanctions is to bring about a positive change in behavior, noting there is a formal process for seeking removal from an OFAC list consistent with U.S. law.

The National Guard will be removed from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, for now, following efforts to reduce crime in those Democratic-run cities, but it was “only a question of time” when troops will return, President Donald Trump said Wednesday after a series of legal setbacks. 

“We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Portland, Los Angeles, and Chicago were GONE if it weren’t for the Federal Government stepping in.”

The National Guard was deployed to the cities in an effort to curb crime, which Trump said had gotten out of control in those cities. 

DEMOCRATS TRY TO FLIP THE SCRIPT ON ‘STATES’ RIGHTS’ TO DEFY, UPEND TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD PLAN

California, Illinois and Oregon responded with lawsuits seeking to block the move, arguing that federalizing the troops was an unlawful overreach. Federal judges eventually blocked the deployments.

Fox News Digital has reached out to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, as well as the mayors of Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago. 

In a tweet, Newsom said Trump’s federalization of the National Guard was illegal. 

“About time @realDonaldTrump admitted defeat,” he said. “We’ve said it from day one: the federal takeover of California’s National Guard is illegal.”

In his post, Trump said the federal government would be back, “in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again.”

TRUMP SAYS HE’D CONSIDER INVOKING INSURRECTION ACT AS COURTS, GOVERNORS SEEK TO BLOCK HIS CRIME CRACKDOWN

“Only a question of time! It is hard to believe that these Democrat Mayors and Governors, all of whom are greatly incompetent, would want us to leave, especially considering the great progress that has been made???” he added. 

The National Guard typically operates under the control of governors, but can be called into federal service by the president only under certain circumstances.

On Dec. 10, a federal judge blocked the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles and ordered them returned to the control of Newsom.

As of Dec. 28, Chicago recorded 412 murders, down from 585 in the same time frame in 2024, according to police data. 

“Chicago recorded the fewest homicides in 2025 than in any year this century, with totals far below previous spikes. The city hasn’t recorded figures this low since the mid 1960’s,” Johnson wrote Wednesday on X. 

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Portland saw reoccurring anti-ICE protests in late 2025, with demonstrators clashing with authorities. 

In Los Angeles, federal authorities were sometimes met with violent resistance during anti-ICE protests earlier in the year as the Trump administration tamped up its mass deportation program targeting criminal illegal immigrants. 

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani‘s campaign confirmed on Wednesday he will make a historical move on New Year’s Day, using the Quran during his swearing-in ceremony.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old Ugandan-born socialist, will be the first Muslim mayor of New York City and the first mayor to be sworn in using the Quran, the central religious text of Islam.

New York Attorney General Letitia James will host a private midnight ceremony at Old City Hall Station, a historical decommissioned subway station, before he is sworn in during a public inauguration on the steps of City Hall by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Thursday afternoon.

He will use two family Qurans, as well as one that belonged to writer and Puerto Rican activist Arturo Schomburg, who built the foundation for Harlem’s Schomburg Center for research in Black culture.

MAMDANI PICKS EDUCATOR WHO WORKED TO DISMANTLE GIFTED & TALENTED PROGRAM AS NYC SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR 

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is expected to deliver opening remarks at the latter event, which will be free and open to the public.

Mamdani defeated former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican gubernatorial candidate Curtis Sliwa in November, after campaigning on affordability and socialist policies including rent freezes, city-run grocery stores, and free buses and childcare.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., refused to endorse Mamdani during his campaign, though it is unclear if the choice was tied to Mamdani’s 2023 arrest while protesting the war in Gaza outside Schumer’s Brooklyn home.

NYC MAYOR-ELECT TELLS RESIDENTS HOW TO RESIST ICE AGENTS KNOCKING AT THEIR DOOR IN NEW VIDEO

Mamdani has openly voiced his belief that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is “genocide,” denying Israel is a Jewish state and failing to condemn the violent slogan “globalize the intifada.”

During his time at Bowdoin College, he founded the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.

Though he promised to protect Jewish New Yorkers, he announced on Tuesday the city’s next top attorney would be Ramzi Kassem, who defended convicted al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi and Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who is accused of leading antisemitic demonstrations on campus.

Al-Darbi was convicted of conspiracy in connection with the fatal 2017 al Qaeda terrorist bombing of a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, and was transferred in 2018 by the Trump administration into Saudi Arabian custody. Khalil was released, but his case remains ongoing.

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During a news conference announcing Kassem’s appointment, Mamdani said, “I will turn to Ramzi for his remarkable experience and his commitment to defending those too often abandoned by our legal system.”

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller, Deirdre Heavey and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

At least two major West Coast cities are rethinking their so-called harm reduction policies that have sought to address addiction, signaling that these areas are overhauling their strategy to combat the drug crisis as addiction challenges persist. 

While cities including San Francisco and Seattle have previously adopted policies to distribute “safer” drug supplies like clean foil and pipes that could be used to smoke fentanyl or other substances, these cities are now implementing a new approach that imposes new limitations on the distribution of these supplies. 

Seattle’s City Council passed its 2026 budget in November and included a provision that will “preclude any City support for the purchase or distribution of supplies for the consumption of illegal drugs, with the exception of needles.”

The provision was championed by City Council Member Sara Nelson, who said that while she supports needle exchange programs because they reduce the spread of diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, she said she doesn’t see the benefit in using public resources to “help people get high” by distributing certain drug supplies.

BLUE CITY DA SAYS REPEAT DRUG OFFENDERS ‘WILL NOT RESPECT THE LAW’ UNDER CURRENT SYSTEM 

“I fail to see, however, the harm that’s being reduced by distributing supplies such as pipes and foil that are used to consume deadly drugs like meth and fentanyl,” Nelson said during a Nov. 16 budget committee meeting. “To me, it feels like it’s giving a loaded gun to somebody who is suicidal.” 

Seattle isn’t the only city taking such steps to scale back how it distributes “safe” drug supplies to its community. 

Earlier in 2025, San Francisco unveiled a new policy that would require individuals to receive treatment counseling — or be connected with such services to receive treatment options — before receiving any drug use supplies from the city or city-funded programs. Additionally, the new policy barred providing these supplies in public spaces.

TRUMP UNLEASHES ‘TOUGHEST FENTANYL CRACKDOWN IN HISTORY’ AS GOP VOWS ‘CONSEQUENCES’ FOR CHINESE PRODUCERS 

The policy went into effect April 30, and applied to any city-funded public health program that provided drug use supplies like sterile syringes and smoking kits.

“We can no longer accept the reality of two people dying a day from overdose. The status quo has failed to ensure the health and safety of our entire community, as well as those in the throes of addiction. Fentanyl has changed the game, and we’ve been relying on strategies that preceded this new drug epidemic, which ends today,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement in April. “Our new policy will connect individuals to treatment quickly, and that is a big step toward reclaiming our public spaces.”

Seattle’s City Council elections and San Francisco’s mayoral races are officially nonpartisan. However, both cities have strongly backed Democrats in state and local elections. 

TRUMP POSTPONES FEDERAL TROOP DEPLOYMENT TO SAN FRANCISCO 

Meanwhile, these drug policy changes aren’t popular with proponents of “harm reduction” policies. For example, Laura Guzman, executive director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition, said there may not be enough resources to comply with San Francisco’s new rule. 

“It’s mandating or putting as a condition for people to receive life-saving supplies, to actually have long conversations about treatment that may not be available,” Guzman said in April, according to CBS News. “People who know in the field — researchers, doctors — are saying this is not good policy. We’re actually going against the grain because what we’re trying to do is have the perception that there is no drug use on the streets. But it’s not public health, it’s not science-based.  It’s exactly the opposite of what we know works.”

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Although both Washington’s King County, which includes Seattle, and San Francisco had fewer drug overdose deaths in 2024 than in 2023, the numbers for both cities are higher in comparison to 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

For example, 635 people died due to accidental drug overdoses in 2024 in San Francisco — down from the 810 that died in 2023, but up from the 441 that died in 2019, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. 

Drug overdose deaths are also down nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in February a nearly 24% decline in drug overdose deaths in fiscal year 2024, in comparison to the previous fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has taken an aggressive approach to combat the influx of drugs into the U.S. For example, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December designating illicit fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction.”