NationalWatch

The global climate movement is already feeling the sting of the “Trump effect” after green energy policies were a target of President Donald Trump’s first executive orders, according to energy experts who reacted to the president’s first week in office.

Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States Monday, signing numerous executive orders aimed at unraveling former President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.  

“President Trump has not wasted any time to undo Biden’s many climate policies designed to make energy more expensive and less affordable. America and the world can look forward to a brighter future because of the actions that President Trump has started on his first day in office,” Myron Ebell, chairman of the American Lands Council, said in a statement.

But Ebell added that “it’s going to be a long, hard fight because of ferocious opposition” from climate groups.

ENERGY EXPERTS WEIGH IN AFTER CANADIAN PREMIER SAYS SHE WANTS TO DISCUSS KEYSTONE PIPELINE 2.0 WITH TRUMP

This week, Trump signed an executive order to ax the U.S. climate standards, which aimed to reduce emissions 61-66% by 2035. 

Additionally, the president ended the electric vehicle (EV) mandate and withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, a legally binding treaty among more than 190 parties committed to international cooperation on climate change.

TRUMP ELIMINATING LNG PAUSE TO HAVE ‘QUICKEST EFFECT’ ON ENERGY INDUSTRY: RICK PERRY

“President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accords is a victory for American workers and families, rejecting policies that prioritize the Chinese Communist Party’s interests over our own,” said Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute and a former Texas state representative.

“The Paris framework does nothing to mitigate a changing climate but drives up energy costs and burdens Americans with decarbonization mandates rooted in the climate hoax. By making American energy more affordable and accessible, President Trump is benefiting not only our nation but the world.”

Marc Morano, publisher of Climate Depot, a communication platform for climate issues designed by the Committee For a Constructive Tomorrow, a D.C.-based public policy group, said that Trump’s second term “could become one of our lifetimes’ most consequential presidencies.”

“Trump is poised to, once and for all, put a stake through the heart of the U.N. globalist climate change scam,” Morano said in a statement shared with Fox. “The Trump effect is already derailing the U.N. climate summits, canceling EV mandates, disintegrating the Wall Street climate group and Net Zero goals. Trump’s policies could have the effect of collapsing the entire climate house of cards.”

Trump’s executive orders were not accepted by many Democratic lawmakers and climate groups, who criticized the president’s executive orders. 

“It’s the second day of the second Trump presidency, and there are three things we know for sure: there is no energy emergency; there is a climate emergency; and the policies rolled out in these past 24 hours will make the climate crisis worse,” said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress plan on going even deeper on reversing green energy policies enacted over the past four years. Republicans in the House have already introduced legislation to block Biden’s climate standards on household appliances.

President Donald Trump is back in the White House and moving at warp speed to push through his long-awaited agenda with dozens of executive orders, surveying damaged areas in North Carolina and California, and rallying behind his Cabinet nominees to get confirmed.

In his inauguration address on Monday, the new president vowed that things across the country would “change starting today, and it will change very quickly.” And moments later, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich took to social media to tease, “Now, comes SHOCK AND AWE.”

Trump signed an avalanche of executive orders and actions in his first eight hours in office, which not only fulfilled major campaign trail promises, but also allowed the returning president to flex his executive muscles as well as settle some longstanding grievances.

TRUMP UNPLUGGED: WHAT THE NEW PRESIDENT IS DOING THAT BIDEN RARELY DID

The president immediately cracked down on immigration; moved towards a trade war with top allies and adversaries; and reversed many policies implemented by former President Joe Biden, including scrapping much of the previous administration’s federal diversity actions and energy and climate provisions.

HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS UPDATES ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

He also sparked a major controversy by pardoning or commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 supporters who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to upend congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory. Among those whose sentences were commuted included some who violently assaulted police officers on one of America’s darkest days.

Trump also fired some top government officials; made a high-profile, half-trillion dollar tech investment announcement; held unscripted and wide-ranging, informal and impromptu news conferences during his first two days back at the White House; and even renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

The frenetic pace kept up throughout the week, with more executive orders signed and actions taken by Trump and his new administration during the first 100 hours in office.

Amid the fast-paced environment of the first week of the Trump White House, Senate Republicans and the president’s allies are rallying behind his Cabinet nominees and pushing them to get confirmed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Radcliffe were confirmed by the Senate earlier this week, and several other nominees are expected to be confirmed between the weekend and next week. 

On Friday, the president took to the skies, flying to hurricane-ravaged western North Carolina and then on to Los Angeles, where horrific wildfires this month have left a wide path of destruction.

“I think it’s brilliant how they’ve been handling it, to immediately meet the moment with action. It’s exactly what he needs to do and it’s exactly what the people voted for,” veteran Republican strategist Kristin Davison told Fox News.

“Americans vote for decisive, fast action, and true leadership. And Trump understands that more than anyone. I think he and his team knew how important it was out of the gate to show that they heard what the people wanted and are answering with leadership,” she argued.

WATCH: TRUMP SITS DOWN IN OVAL OFFICE WITH FOX NEWS’ SEAN HANNITY

Longtime Republican consultant Alex Castellanos agreed.

“He’s flooding the zone. He’s making a case for action. He’s demonstrating action. He is rallying a wave of American support for a massive transformation of government,” Castellanos, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News. 

Seasoned Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo didn’t dispute Trump’s frenetic actions.

“The pace of this shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Trump made it abundantly clear he was going to act quickly, he was going to act boldly, and he was going to do exactly what he told voters he would do,” he said.

But Caiazzo argued that “the things he is doing is going to directly negatively impact working families from coast to coast. It’s also a signal he has no respect for the rule of law.” 

TRUMP’S AVALANCHE OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Asked if Trump’s actions were what Americans voted for this past autumn, Caiazzo replied, “Of course not. What Americans voted for was cheaper groceries. What Donald Trump is going to give us is a litany of policies that work to deteriorate our institutions, that work to enrich the wealthy and solidify his standing among the oligarchy in this country.”

There’s another reason for Trump’s fast pace — even though he’s the new president, he’s also a term-limited and lame-duck president. And by Labor Day, much of the political world will start looking ahead to the 2026 midterm elections.

“This is his second term. He’s got to move quickly,” Davison emphasized.

Trump’s show of force in the opening days of his second administration is also in contrast to eight years ago, when he first entered the White House.

The president and his team are much more seasoned the second time around, and the supporting cast is intensely loyal to Trump.

“In the past administration, there would be logjams and bottlenecks because there were people who didn’t agree with him,” a senior White House source told Fox News. “Now we have a whole infrastructure and staff that’s built around him, in support of him. When he says something, it’s getting done. It’s testament to him and the team that he built.”

Credit is also being given to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who, as co-campaign manager of Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, kept the trains on the tracks.

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“What Susie has done is look at the totality of Trump and found the best players and put them in the best positions to support the president. Trump is surrounded by Trump people who’ve all proven themselves over the years not just to be loyal but ultra-competent operators,” added an adviser, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Chinese Foreign Minister and Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi that the Trump administration will put the “American people first” and advance U.S. interests in its relationship with China, according to a readout of the call from spokesperson Tammy Bruce. 

The meeting was the first between Rubio and Wang since the former Florida senator was unanimously approved by the Senate this week to become President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet official following Monday’s inauguration. 

“The Secretary also stressed the United States’ commitment to our allies in the region and serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea,” Bruce said. “The Secretary also discussed other issues of bilateral, regional, and global importance with his Chinese counterpart.” 

MARCO RUBIO HEADING TO PANAMA ON FIRST TRIP AS SECRETARY OF STATE: ‘WE WON’T CONTINUE TO IGNORE THE REGION’

Wang told Rubio during the call that he hoped he would “conduct” himself well and “play a constructive role in the future of the Chinese and American people and in world peace and stability.” 

He added that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had already set the tone for U.S.-Chinese relations. 

TRUMP, CHINA’S XI SPEAK ON PHONE AHEAD OF INAUGURATION

“The teams of both sides should implement the important consensus of the two heads of state, maintain communication, manage differences, expand cooperation, promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations, and find the right way for China and the United States to get along in the new era,” Wang said.

MARCO RUBIO CLASHES WITH NBC ‘TODAY’ HOST WHEN PRESSED ON TRUMP’S JAN. 6 PARDONS

Trump has threatened China with 10% tariffs on imports over its role in fentanyl trafficking, starting as early as Feb. 1, and Rubio called the country the gravest threat to the U.S. during his confirmation hearing. 

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Trump n Thursday told the World Economic Forum virtually that he and Xi have “always had a great relationship,” and all his administration wants is “fairness. We just want a level playing field.”

They gathered for a moment of silence at 1:19 pm, the moment the bomb exploded.

The attack 50 years ago today was aimed at the heart of American liberty. 

It targeted a place where our nation was forged during the revolution and where George Washington took his leave knowing the future of his new nation was secured.

On December 4, 1783, nine days after the British evacuated New York City, Washington held a banquet at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan to bid farewell to his troops.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, DECEMBER 4, 1783, WASHINGTON BIDS FAREWELL TO HIS TROOPS AT FRAUNCES TAVERN IN NYC

On January 24, 1975, the Puerto Rican separatist group, the FALN, planted a bomb that ripped through the historic site at lunchtime, killing four and wounding more than 50 others in lower Manhattan. Sixty-six-year-old banker Harold Sherburne, 28-year-old businessmen Alex Berger and 32-year-old James Gezork were killed.

“They were really attacking the American people,” says Joe Connor, whose father, Frank, was a 33-year-old banker who was killed in the terrorist attack.

“They attacked Fraunces Tavern because that’s where George Washington bade farewell to his officers after the Revolutionary War, where the Sons of Liberty met and was a symbol of American liberty and justice and freedom, and they couldn’t abide by that.”

Joe was 9 years old the day his father was killed, and in the decades since, he has dedicated his life to bringing justice for his father and the other victims. He is the author of “Shattered Lives: Overcoming the Fraunces Tavern Terror,” which is also now a documentary. Connor has, with other families, elected officials and law enforcement, waged a mission to hold the terrorists to account.

No one has ever been charged in the attack, but the man believed to be the terrorist group’s chief bomb maker, Willie Morales, escaped to Cuba, where he has lived along with an estimated 50 other U.S. fugitives. A bill in Congress named for Joe’s father and New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, who was killed by Black Liberation Army militant Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, who also is on the lam in Cuba, demands Havana return the fugitives.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, OCTOBER 25, 1944, FIRST KAMIKAZE SUICIDE PILOTS ATTACK US NAVY IN WORLD WAR II

“It’s a very concise, clear bill demanding the return,” says Connor. “There has been a mystique about the Castro regime and Che Guevara, of some fanciful romantic view of these people. But they were nothing but Marxist thugs and were waging their own war on the United States for many, many years.”

In his final days in office, former President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the State Department list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

President Donald Trump immediately put Havana back on the list, and in his first term also vowed to put pressure on Cuba to return Morales and the other fugitives.

During his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for Cuba to cough up the criminals who remain on the lam.

“There are fugitives of American justice, including cop killers and others who are actively hosted in Cuba and protected from the long arm of American justice by the Cuban regime. So, there is no doubt in my mind that they meet all the qualifications for being a state sponsor of terrorism,” Rubio said.

Over the last two decades, FALN members have been granted clemency, as if the years that passed lessened their crimes. President Barack Obama commuted the 70-year sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and charged with other crimes. President Bill Clinton offered clemency to the terrorist group’s imprisoned members, which eleven accepted in 1999.

NYPD SAYS ‘NOT A TERRORIST ATTACK’ AFTER 10 SHOT OUTSIDE NYC EVENT SPACE ON NEW YEAR’S DAY

At a ceremony marking the bombing, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the bombing “was terrorism in its purest form, meant to frighten, intimidate, to injure, maim and kill in order to achieve their political purpose.

“For 50 years, no one has been held accountable for this attack, which remains an open investigation by the NYPD and the Joint Terrorism Taskforce,” Tisch said. “Our department never forgets.”

Before the ceremony marking the bombing, there was an emotional luncheon attended by family members, dozens of former FBI agents, survivors of the bombing and others.

Joe Connor’s son, Frank, named for his grandfather and who is studying to be a priest, gave the benediction.

“We remember the four men who were killed 50 years ago today in this very place, and all of those whose lives were cut short by terrorism.”

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Joe noted how the gathering was being held by the door where the bomb, which consisted of ten pounds of dynamite, was placed inside an unassuming briefcase.

“Cuba has to eventually turn these people over, and the only way that will happen is by keeping them on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list and by keeping the pressure on Cuba,” he says. “This is the moment to do it.”

Miscommunication and confusion about a Defense Department manifest resulted in Mexico rejecting a U.S. deportation flight transporting illegal immigrants to that country this week.

Mexico was ready to accept the deportees and would have if not for the paperwork, a senior State Department official told Fox News. 

Citing two U.S. defense officials and a third person familiar with the situation, NBC News reported that two Air Force C-17s bound for Guatemala carrying about 80 people each flew deportees Thursday night out of the U.S. 

A third flight bound for Mexico never took off after Mexico declined to consent to the landing, the report said. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C. 

‘NATIONAL EMERGENCY’: TRUMP DECLARES AMBITIOUS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Flying deportees into a foreign country requires the cooperation of that nation’s government. Cooperation was not an issue, Fox News was told. 

Around 2,000 illegal immigrants were deported to Mexico on Thursday, both on the ground and in the air. In addition Mexico detained roughly 5,000 migrants within its borders.

The incident occurred as tensions over the Trump administration’s tough illegal immigration policies have strained relations between the countries. 

TRUMP GOES TOE-TO-TOE WITH SANCTUARY CITIES OVER DEPORTATION AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN SET TO BEGIN

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said she opposes Trump’s executive orders to combat illegal immigration, including reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires migrants to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims play out in the U.S. 

Before taking office this week, Trump promised mass deportations, initially targeting criminal illegal immigrants and tougher immigration standards and vetting procedures. 

The State Department official told Fox News that Mexican cooperation has been successful all week, and that Mexico has agreed to re-implement the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Trump also ordered 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border to boost the military presence there. 

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In recent days, federal immigration authorities have made hundreds of arrests, including gang members and others with criminal histories, as part of Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was one of three Republicans to vote on Friday against Pete Hegseth, who was narrowly confirmed as defense secretary in the new Trump administration.

The other Republican “no” votes came from moderates Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, forcing Vice President JD Vance to break the 50-50 tie to confirm President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Pentagon.

“The most consequential cabinet official in any Administration is the Secretary of Defense,” McConnell wrote, explaining his opposition to Hegseth. “In the face of the gravest threats to U.S. national security interests since World War II, this position is even more important today.”

“Major adversaries are working closer together to undermine U.S. interests around the world,” he said. “And America’s military capabilities and defense industrial capacity are increasingly insufficient to deter or prevail in major conflict with China or Russia, especially given the real risk of simultaneous challenges from other adversaries like Iran or North Korea.”

PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, had faced questions ahead of his confirmation over his infidelity, allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking, his previous comments opposing women serving in combat roles in the military and his leadership abilities.

Married three times, Hegseth has admitted he was a “serial cheater” before he became a Christian and married his current wife, Jenny. He also originally said he opposed women in combat, before later saying that he only opposes standards for women in combat that are different from those for men. Hegseth has additionally denied the sexual assault allegations and has said he would abstain from alcohol as defense secretary. 

McConnell said “dust on boots” in reference to Hegseth’s military service “fails even to distinguish this nominee from multiple predecessors of the last decade. Nor is it a precondition for success. Secretaries with distinguished combat experience and time in the trenches have failed at the job.”

“Effective management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests,” the senator said. “Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test. But as he assumes office, the consequences of failure are as high as they have ever been.”

MODERATE REPUBLICAN MURKOWSKI WON’T BACK TRUMP PICK HEGSETH FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY

McConnell stressed that Hegseth, in his testimony before the Armed Services Committee, “did not reckon with this reality” that the U.S. “faces coordinated aggression from adversaries bent on shattering the order underpinning American security and prosperity.”

“President Trump has rightly called on NATO allies to spend more on our collective defense. But the nominee who would have been responsible for leading that effort wouldn’t even commit to growing America’s defense investment beyond the low bar set by the Biden Administration’s budget requests,” McConnell said.

The senator also said Hegseth’s testimony lacked “substantial observations on how to defend Taiwan or the Philippines against a Chinese attack, or even whether he believes the United States should do so.” McConnell said Hegseth failed “to articulate in any detail a strategic vision for dealing with the gravest long-term threat emanating” from China.

McConnell additionally noted a lack of “substantive discussion” of “countering our adversaries’ alignment with deeper alliance relationships and more extensive defense industrial cooperation of our own.”

“This, of course, is due to change,” McConnell said. “As the 29th Secretary of Defense, Mr. Hegseth will be immediately tested by ongoing conflicts caused by Russian aggression in Europe and Iranian-backed terror in the Middle East. He will have to grapple with an unfinished FY25 appropriations process that – without his intervention – risks further harming the readiness of our forces.”

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“By all accounts, brave young men and women join the military with the understanding that it is a meritocracy,” he added. “This precious trust endures only as long as lawful civilian leadership upholds what must be a firewall between servicemembers and politics. The Biden Administration failed at this fundamental task. But the restoration of ‘warrior culture’ will not come from trading one set of culture warriors for another.”

An executive order President Donald Trump signed Friday will overturn two Biden memorandums and reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which forbids using taxpayer dollars to fund nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.

The Mexico City Policy, initiated by the Reagan administration, has been rescinded by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican president since its creation.

During the Biden administration, the Pentagon paid for service members to travel over state lines for abortions, and Veterans Affairs medical centers were allowed to offer abortion counseling and abortion procedures for service members and their beneficiaries, Fox News Digital previously reported.

PRO-LIFE PROTESTERS PARDONED BY TRUMP, FOX CONFIRMS

The administration also provided abortion access to migrants detained at the border, offering transport of unaccompanied pregnant children to states without abortion restrictions.

The White House said that, for nearly five decades, Congress annually enacted the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent federal funding of elective abortion, “reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice.”

BLUE STATE ‘RESISTANCE’ REPORTEDLY STOCKPILING ABORTION PILLS IN PREPARATION FOR ANOTHER TRUMP TERM

“However, the previous administration disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs,” the White House wrote in a statement. “It is the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”

Biden’s Presidential Memorandum, Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad, was signed Jan. 28, 2021, and alleged the policy’s restrictions negatively affected women’s reproductive health and undermined U.S. partnerships in global health efforts.

Trump’s order rescinds two Biden executive actions that promoted access to abortions and included abortion in the definition of “reproductive healthcare.”

The language in the new order clarified the memorandum is “not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) told Fox News Digital the policy “will decrease abortion access in countries around the world.”

“This far-reaching policy defunds health organizations in other countries that provide abortion services or information, even for victims of sexual assault,” CRR said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “Many of these critical organizations will likely shutter as a result or be forced to stop providing or even talking about abortion services.”

CRR representatives also referenced the administration’s Geneva Consensus Declaration Friday night, which is a joint initiative to “secure meaningful health and development gains for women; to protect life at all stages; to defend the family as the fundamental unit of society; and to work together across the UN system to realize these values,” according to a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The CRR called the declaration “an anti-reproductive rights and anti-LGBTQ political statement” that “intentionally misrepresents itself as an official international agreement, and attempts to undermine the broad legal basis for reproductive rights as human rights.”

“The reinstatement of President Trump’s Global Gag Rule (GGR) and rejoining of the Geneva Consensus are direct assaults on the health and human rights of millions of people around the world,” said Rachana Desai Martin, CRR chief government and external relations officer. 

“We saw the devastating impact of the GGR during the last Trump administration when contraception and vital reproductive services were cut off,” Martin added. “There was a spike in pregnancy-related deaths, reproductive coercion and gender inequality worldwide. Many clinics and health programs shuttered, leaving vulnerable populations with nowhere to get birth control, pregnancy care and other vital health services.”

Live Action, a global human rights movement dedicated to ending abortion, posted on X after the order was signed.

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“The Mexico City policy which ensures American tax dollars do not fund killing children internationally through abortion has been reinstated by President Trump!” the post said.

Fox News Digital requested comment from Planned Parenthood and Physicians for Reproductive Health but did not immediately receive a response.

The nomination of Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., to be the next Homeland Security secretary defeated a key hurdle in the confirmation process on Friday night, advancing to a final vote later this weekend. 

Her confirmation vote is expected to take place early Sunday morning. 

PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE

If confirmed, Noem will become the fourth of President Donald Trump’s picks to be advanced out of the Senate, behind Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and incoming Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. 

Votes that are expected soon after Noem’s are those for Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent, followed by Transportation Secretary pick Sean Duffy. 

MODERATE REPUBLICAN MURKOWSKI WON’T BACK TRUMP PICK HEGSETH FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY

The South Dakota governor is expected to receive bipartisan support for her confirmation to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Her nomination advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) by a vote of 13-2. Only two Democrats voted against her. 

TIM SCOTT EMPHASIZES ‘RESULTS’ OVER RECONCILIATION PROCESS AS HE STAYS OUT OF DEBATE

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“I was the first Governor to send National Guard troops to Texas when they were being overwhelmed by an unprecedented border crisis,” Noem told the committee during her confirmation hearing last week. 

“If confirmed as Secretary, I will ensure that our exceptional, extraordinary border patrol agents have all the tools and resources and support they need to carry out their mission effectively.”

The Senate voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee, Pete Hegseth, as defense secretary on Friday night after a high-tempered battle to sway lawmakers in his favor that was almost derailed by accusations about his behavior. 

The final vote came down to the wire: three Republicans opposed, making for a 50 to 50 vote. Vice President JD Vance was needed to break the tie in the upper chamber. 

The Senate’s two moderate Republican women: Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted no. As did Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former GOP leader. 

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis’ support was not a given, and he did not reveal his stance until the vote was already underway. He ultimately said he would back Trump’s pick, giving him enough support to be confirmed with Vance’s tie-breaking vote. 

MODERATE REPUBLICAN MURKOWSKI WON’T BACK TRUMP PICK HEGSETH FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY

In her reasoning, Murkowski cited infidelity, “allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking” and Hegseth’s previous comments on women serving in the military. 

The behaviors he has admitted to alone, she said, show “a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces.”

Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), the nonprofit advocacy group at the center of many of the accusations brought up during Hegseth’s confirmation hearing, praised his confirmation in a statement. 

“The confirmation of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense presents a real opportunity to prioritize the security and prosperity of our citizens, champion prudence and effectiveness in our defense strategy, and focus our Department of Defense on America’s most vital interests,” the statement read. 

The New Yorker reported in December that Hegseth was forced out of CVA, the group he once ran, over allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety and personal misconduct. 

All Democrats opposed the confirmation, a far cry from an earlier vote this week, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confirmed unanimously, 99-0.

Hegseth will now lead the government’s largest agency, having long promised to root out Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) measures across each branch. 

HEGSETH CLEARS SENATE HURDLE AND ADVANCES TO A FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE

The Pentagon under Trump, however, has not waited for a confirmed secretary. 

This week, the commander of the Air Force‘s 613th Air Operations Center in Hawaii, who had advocated for more women in roles like her own, was removed from her position. Gen. Kevin Schneider, commander of Pacific Air Forces, relieved Col. Julie Sposito-Salceies from the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, “due to loss of confidence in her ability to command the organization.”

Shortly after Trump took office, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the first uniformed woman to lead any military branch, was removed from her position. 

Trump this week also nominated former Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier and former Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller to top Defense Department posts – both men who were deeply critical of the Biden administration’s policies at the Pentagon. 

Lohmeier, who had been nominated to serve as undersecretary of the Air Force, was fired as commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force base, after he wrote a book and appeared on podcasts claiming Marxism had infiltrated the armed forces and criticizing diversity policies.

Scheller made headlines for posting videos in uniform criticizing senior military leaders over the Afghanistan withdrawal. Scheller, the new senior advisor to the Department of Defense Under Secretary for personnel and readiness, was sent to the brig and court-martialed over the clips. 

Hegseth’s nomination was dealt a last-minute hurdle earlier this week when reports emerged that his ex-sister-in-law alleged he had abused his second wife. 

On Tuesday, Fox News obtained an affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, which alleged he had an alcohol abuse problem and at times made his ex-wife, Samantha, fear for her safety. Danielle Hegseth was previously married to Pete Hegseth’s brother and has no relation to Samantha.

KEY SENATE CHAIRMAN CRITICIZES ‘ANONYMOUS SOURCES WITH ULTERIOR MOTIVES,’ STANDS BY HEGSETH NOMINATION

But Danielle Hegseth added that she never witnessed any abuse herself, physical or sexual, by Pete against Samantha. 

Samantha Hegseth has also denied any physical abuse in a statement to NBC News.

Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker said in a statement Wednesday night that reports “regarding a confidential briefing on the FBI background investigation of Pete Hegseth that I received last week are starkly and factually inaccurate,” and that he stands by Hegseth’s nomination.

Earlier Thursday, Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Republicans to join him in opposing the former Fox News host and Army national guardsman. 

HEGSETH LAWYER SLAMS ‘FLAWED AND QUESTIONABLE AFFIDAVIT’ FROM EX-SISTER-IN-LAW

“Hegseth is so utterly unqualified, he ranks up there [as] … one of the very worst nominees that could be put forward,” Schumer said.

Hegseth, who has been married three times, has admitted he was a “serial cheater” before he became a Christian and married his current wife, Jenny. 

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The 44-year-old Army National Guard veteran, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is relatively young and inexperienced, compared to defense secretaries in the past, retiring as a major. But Republicans say they don’t want someone who made it to the top brass who’s become entrenched in the Pentagon establishment. 

President Donald Trump declared a national emergency after touring the devastation of the Los Angeles fires with residents who were personally impacted by the disastrous event.

Trump traveled to Southern California on Friday to survey the damage from the recent wildfires that destroyed over 10,000 structures in the Los Angeles area and tragically took the lives of nearly 30 people. 

Trump took an aerial tour of the area before his landing, with images showing the once ritzy neighborhood in ashes.

The president and first lady Melania Trump then experienced the damage up close, meeting with local law enforcement and members of the community for a tour of the destroyed Pacific Palisades neighborhoods.

‘FEMA IS NOT GOOD’: TRUMP ANNOUNCES AGENCY OVERHAUL DURING VISIT TO NORTH CAROLINA

“Not even believable,” Trump told reporters on site.

Trump sat down for a roundtable with LA Mayor Karen Bass and other state officials. When the president entered the room, individuals were heard chanting “USA, USA, USA!” Bass greeted the president and said that his presence was welcomed.

“This is an honor to be with you,” during the meeting, saying that homeowners told him that they want to rebuild their homes in the area. 

Trump said he would sign an executive order to open up the water valves in the area.

“I don’t think you can realize how rough, how devastating it is until you see it,” Trump said of the wildfire damage. “The federal government is standing behind you, 100%.”

Trump said that he is going to waive federal permits for rebuilding in the area. “I’m gonna be the president to help you fix it,” he said. “We’re going to waive all federal permits… Because a federal permit can take 10 years… we don’t want to take 10 days.”

LOS ANGELES AGENCY REVEALS ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT OF DEADLY WILDFIRES AS INFERNOS STILL RAGE

After the fires broke out, Trump blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic city policies for the damage, citing their forest and water management policies. 

Newsom was waiting for Trump on the tarmac when he exited Air Force One and was seen shaking hands with the president in their first face-to-face encounter since the inauguration. 

“Thank you first for being here. It means a great deal to all of us,” Newsom told Trump after they met on the tarmac of LAX in Los Angeles just after 3 p.m. local time. “We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help.” 

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Speaking about his meeting with Newsom, Trump said that “we had a good talk, a very positive talk.”

Trump traveled to North Carolina to tour the hurricane damage, before heading to California for his first visit to the state since becoming president.

The Department of Education has dismissed 11 complaints related to “book bans” and eliminated a Biden-era position tasked with investigating school districts and parents, the agency announced Friday. 

The department said it was ending Biden’s “Book Ban Hoax” regarding complaints that alleged that the removal of age-inappropriate, sexually explicit or obscene materials from school libraries created a hostile environment for students.

It also eliminated the “book ban coordinator,” which investigated school districts and parents “working to protect students from obscene content.”

GOP SENATOR DEBUTS BILL TO ABOLISH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOLLOWING TRUMP CAMPAIGN PROMISE

“By dismissing these complaints and eliminating the position and authorities of a so-called ‘book ban coordinator,’ the department is beginning the process of restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. 

“The department adheres to the deeply rooted American principle that local control over public education best allows parents and teachers alike to assess the educational needs of their children and communities.

“Parents and school boards have broad discretion to fulfill that important responsibility,” Trainor added. “These decisions will no longer be second-guessed by the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.”

Six pending allegations were also dismissed. 

TRUMP WANTS TO DISSOLVE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. EXPERTS SAY IT COULD CHANGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The DOE called the book removals “meritless” and based “upon a dubious legal theory.” The agency began investigating the complaints Jan. 20, finding that school districts and parents have “established commonsense processes by which to evaluate and remove age-inappropriate materials.”

The first complaint was filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Feb. 23, 2022, against the Forsyth County School District in Georgia. The complainant alleged the district violated Title IX and Title VI by removing eight books from the school library because they contained sexually explicit content, the DOE said. 

The OCR’s office in Atlanta sought to have the complaint dismissed, but the Biden administration overruled a determination that the complaint had no merit, the agency said. The school district agreed to a resolution under threat of further federal intervention, officials said.

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“This included requiring the district to post a statement in all of its middle and high schools that embraced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” the OCR said. “The department will terminate the agreement and any obligations under it.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom thanked President Donald Trump on Friday for coming to Southern California to tour the devastation left by the fires this month, marking their first face off since starting an ongoing online feud over the wildfire damage.

Trump traveled to Southern California on Friday to scope out damage from the recent wildfires that destroyed thousands of acres and more than 10,000 structures in the Los Angeles area, and claimed the lives of nearly 30 people.

Newsom was seen waiting on the tarmac for Trump before he exited Air Force One. The two shook hands, and Trump appeared to tug on his arm – a power move he has been known to pull on world leaders.

“Thank you first for being here. It makes a great deal to all of us,” Newsom told Trump after they met on the tarmac of LAX in Los Angeles just after 3 p.m. local time. “We’re going to need your support, we’re going to need your help.” 

TRUMP TO VISIT CALIFORNIA AFTER RIPPING ‘IDIOT’ NEWSOM ON WILDIFRE; CRITICS BASH CRIME, HOMELESSNESS, SPENDING

He added that Trump was with California “during COVID, I don’t forget that.” 

The encounter marked the first face-to-face interaction Newsom and Trump have had since he was sworn in as president on Monday. 

‘FEMA IS NOT GOOD’: TRUMP ANNOUNCES AGENCY OVERHAUL DURING VISIT TO NORTH CAROLINA

Trump said he believed he appreciated Newsom coming out to greet him after he arrived, adding “I think you’re going to see some very good progress” on the fire recovery.

“We want to get the problem fixed,” Trump said. “It’s like you got hit by a bomb.”

Making reference to some of the blame he had placed on Newsom and other California Democrats for not being properly prepared to handle the fires, he added, “We’ll get it permanently fixed so it can’t happen again.”

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Trump has spent the last several weeks blaming Newsom and Democratic leadership for the extent of the wildfire damage, citing fire management and water policies. 

“Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump charged in a social media post on Jan. 8.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is leading a bipartisan amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to validate a lower court ruling preventing nuclear waste from being deposited in his state.

Cruz, along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, wants the top court to uphold a lower court ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) lacks authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities. 

They argue the proposed location of the nuclear waste sites poses “an enormous threat to the country’s security and economic well-being.”

The case, NRC v. Texas, will decide “whether the Commission has authority to issue the license under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 or the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.”

TOP TRADE ASSOCIATION SENDS LETTERS CALLING ON BIG CHANGES IN THREE KEY DEPARTMENTS: ‘UNLEASH AMERICAN ENERGY’

The Supreme Court in October agreed to take up the case after the Biden administration appealed a Fifth Circuit decision holding that the NRC lacked authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities. The license, which was granted to the Biden administration and a company to build a waste storage facility in western Texas, was challenged by Texas and New Mexico.

Interim Storage Partners planned on operating the nuclear storage facility in Andrews County, Texas, a decision that spurred backlash because of the facility’s location within the Permian Basin. 

“The Permian Basin is our nation’s leading oil- and gas-producing region and a critical pillar of America’s energy security,” Cruz told Fox News Digital in a statement. “I support the State of Texas in opposing the NRC’s federal overreach and will keep fighting to ensure West Texas remains the energy power house it is today.”

The brief argues that placing the storage facilities near the Permian Basin makes the area “an enticing target for adversaries,” therefore threatening the oil-producing region. The brief says neither the parties hoping to operate the facilities nor the NRC are “equipped to consider the broader ramifications” of placing the facilities in the area. 

ALASKA LEADERS CHEER TRUMP OIL AND GAS DRILLING EXECUTIVE ORDER

Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cueller and Republican Reps. August Pfluger and Ronny Jackson have also joined Cruz’s brief. 

“Energy independence is national security, which is why I support the scale-up of all reliable and economical energy sources, including nuclear, to meet our rising energy demand,” Arrington said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “However, I will not allow Washington to impose its will on West Texas regarding the temporary disposal of high-level nuclear waste simply because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can’t — or won’t — finalize permanent storage elsewhere.”

Arrington said Texas “and the people of Andrews should make the decision” rather than “some nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.”

The amicus brief states that the location of the waste sites — while “remote” — “present an enormous threat to the country’s security and economic well-being.”

“Energy security is national security. That adage remains as true now as it did in the 1970s, when OPEC strategically curtailed its oil supply to the United States,” the filing continues. 

BIDEN HAD NO IDEA HE SIGNED NATURAL GAS EXPORT PAUSE, JOHNSON SAYS

“And although we’ve come a long way since then — building up domestic energy production capacity and decreasing dependence on fossil fuels — recent events are a vivid reminder of the importance of energy independence,” the amicus continued. “They’ve also shown that the Permian Basin has global importance.”

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The high court is set to hear oral arguments in the case in early March.

An order barring commuted Jan. 6 defendants from entering Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Capitol could raise constitutional challenges, one legal expert says. 

In a filing Friday, Judge Amit P. Mehta specified the order applied to “Defendants Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerchel, and Joseph Hacket,” whose sentences were commuted. Those pardoned are not subject to the order.

Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, was previously seen in the Capitol complex’s Longworth House Office Building. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy.

PRO-LIFE PROTESTERS PARDONED BY TRUMP, FOX CONFIRMS

The order states, “You must not knowingly enter the District of Columbia without first obtaining the permission from the Court.” It adds, “You must not knowingly enter the United States Capitol Building or onto surrounding grounds known as Capitol Square.”

The filing says the order is effective as of Friday at noon. Later that day, the Justice Department filed a motion seeking to lift the order.

“If a judge decided that Jim Biden, General Mark Milley, or another individual were forbidden to visit America’s capital — even after receiving a last-minute, preemptive pardon from the former President— I believe most Americans would object. The individuals referenced in our motion have had their sentences commuted — period, end of sentence,” Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Martin said in a statement.

“This is a very unusual order,” Jonathan Turley, Fox News Media contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital. “The judge is relying on the fact that the sentences were commuted, but the defendants did not receive full pardons.”

COMMUTED JAN. 6 DEFENDANTS BARRED FROM DC, CAPITOL BUILDING BY FEDERAL JUDGE

Ron Coleman, counsel at Dhillon Law Group, called the order “novel.”

“It is unclear what basis the court would have to assert jurisdiction over someone who has been pardoned for the conviction that is presumably the basis for the order or what the legal grounds are for making Washington, D.C., the kind of national capital, like Moscow in the old USSR, that a citizen needs permission to enter,” Coleman said.

NANCY PELOSI SLAMS TRUMP’S ‘SHAMEFUL’ PARDONS OF JAN. 6 DEFENDANTS

Turley said that although the new order could “prove a factor” in President Donald Trump extending a full pardon to those with commuted sentences, “it’s not clear whether an order will prompt Trump to reconsider his decision to offer only commutations.”

Turley noted that the order could raise constitutional challenges, including First Amendment implications. 

“I think the court is effectively barring these individuals from being able to associate or petition government officials without the prior approval of the court,” Turley said. “That could raise questions under the First Amendment.

“I expect this will be challenged by these individuals.”

Trump pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 defendants earlier this week after promising to do so at his inaugural parade.

DOJ CONSIDERS CHARGING 200 MORE PEOPLE 4 YEARS AFTER JAN. 6 CAPITOL ATTACK

Trump signed off Monday on releasing more than 1,500 people charged with crimes from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol. The order required the Federal Bureau of Prisons to act immediately on receipt of the pardons.

Those pardoned in his initial order included Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman who faced a sentence of 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.

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Fox News’ David Spunt, Diana Stancy and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: When Joan Bell, 76, was given the news she was one of the pro-life activists pardoned by President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon, she was in disbelief.

“I didn’t know if that meant we would get out in a few weeks or a few months, or what. I didn’t really know, but I knew we got pardoned,” Bell, a grandmother of eight, told Fox News Digital Friday. “Well, then I ran upstairs because I had a rosary every evening.”

After finishing her prayers and Bible study with other inmates, Bell, a lifelong pro-life advocate, was told by several other inmates that her husband, Christopher Bell, was on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show saying she was indeed one of the 23 others pardoned.

PRO-LIFE PROTESTERS COULD FACE UP TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON: ‘POLITICAL WITCH HUNT’

“That was overwhelmingly beautiful,” Bell recalled. “Everyone was clapping.” She was then told by a guard to pack up her things for her release later that evening. 

“We are so grateful to Trump. And to just feel the fresh air, God’s beautiful air, just wonderful,” Bell said. “Just being out and being with my husband, my son, just glorious. There are no words to describe that kind of freedom.” 

She added that she and her husband will take a “second honeymoon” soon. 

Bell, who lives in New Jersey, was sentenced to more than two years in prison in November 2023 for participating in a “blockade,” conspiring with other activists at a Washington D.C. abortion clinic in October 2020, according to President Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ). 

PRO-LIFE ACTIVISTS FOUND GUILTY ON CONSPIRACY CHARGES FOR 2020 ‘RESCUE ACTION’ AT DC CLINIC

Prosecutors from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia argued the pro-life activists violated the 1994 FACE Act, a federal law that prohibits physical force, threats of force or intentionally damaging property to prevent someone from obtaining or providing abortion services.

The activists were sentenced by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a Clinton appointee, and immediately detained.

While signing the pardons Thursday, just a day before Friday’s annual March for Life rally, Trump said, “They should not have been prosecuted.” 

PRO-LIFE PROTESTERS PARDONED BY TRUMP, FOX CONFIRMS

“Many, many of them are elderly people,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “They should not have been prosecuted. This is a great honor to sign this. They’ll be very happy.”

Bell, along with Paula Paulette Harlow, Jean Marshall and John Hinshaw, were all around 70 years old when they were imprisoned.

“That he personally knew our case is so touching,” Bell said of Trump. “I want to give him a hug.”

Attorneys from the Thomas More Society formally requested pardons from the Trump administration earlier this month for the 21 pro-life advocates the law firm was representing. 

“The heroic peaceful pro-lifers unjustly imprisoned by Biden’s Justice Department will now be freed and able to return home to their families, eat a family meal and enjoy the freedom that should have never been taken from them in the first place,” Steve Crampton, senior counsel of the Thomas More Society, said in a statement. 

“These heroic peaceful pro-lifers were treated shamefully by Biden’s DOJ, with many of them branded felons and losing many rights that we take for granted as American citizens.”

In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Crampton said it was hard to find a “fair jury” and that most of the jurors were either Planned Parenthood donors or pro-choice advocates in the cases. He called Washington, D.C., the “most pro-abortion city in America.” 

“She can say her pro-death words, but we weren’t allowed to say pro-life words,” Bell said of the judge in the trial. Nonetheless, she said it was more “heartbreaking” to be prosecuted for her religious beliefs.

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This week, Trump also took action to pardon over 1,000 Jan. 6 rioters who were imprisoned, along with numerous other executive orders related to immigration and cryptocurrency and orders to declassify the MLK and JFK files.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division for comment. 

When President Donald Trump lands in California on Friday to survey the devastating wildfires that have ravaged metropolitan Los Angeles this month, the state’s Democratic governor will be among the officials greeting him.

But Gov. Gavin Newsom is showing up uninvited.

“I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the president, welcome him, and we’re making sure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him,” Newsom told reporters on the eve of Trump’s stop in Los Angeles.

Since the fires, which have killed nearly 30 people and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, broke out earlier this month, Trump has repeatedly criticized Newsom’s handling of the immense crisis. He has accused the governor of mismanaging forestry and water policy, and pointing to intense backlash over a perceived lack of preparation, he has called on Newsom to step down.

UNINVITED NEWSOM SAYS HE’LL BE ON TARMAC TO GREET AND BRIEF TRUMP

“Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump charged in a social media post on Jan. 8, as he repeated a derogatory name he often labels the governor.

And in his first Oval Office interview since returning to power in the White House, Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity this week, “This fire was just raging, and then it would catch to another area, another area, another area.”

“It took a week and a half — and I’ve never seen anything like it. We look so weak,” Trump argued in the appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity,” as he pointed towards his repeated claim that a main reason the blazes raged was because firefighters didn’t have access to water.

TRUMP PLEDGES FEMA OVERHAUL DURING STOP IN HURRICANE RAVAGED WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Trump and some top Republicans in Congress have pushed toward placing conditions on continuing the massive federal wildfire aid to California in order to force policy changes.

Newsom on Thursday signed a $2.5 billion state relief package. But California will need much more help from the federal government.

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down from the north to the south,” Trump said in his Fox News interview.

Newsom, the governor of the nation’s most populous state, one of the Democratic Party’s leaders in the resistance against the returning president, and a potential White House contender in 2028, has pushed back, as the two larger-than-life politicians trade fire.

The governor has noted that reservoirs in the southern part of California were full when the fires first sparked, and has argued that no amount of water could tackle fires fueled by winds of up to 100 miles per hour.

Newsom has also charged Trump has spread “hurricane-force winds of mis-and-disinformation.

And in a letter to Congress last week, Newsom emphasized that “our long national history of responding to natural disasters, no matter where they occur, has always been Americans helping Americans, full stop.”

The wildfires are far from the first time Newsom and Trump have taken aim at each other. Their animosity dates back to before Trump was elected president the first time in 2016, when Newsom was California’s lieutenant governor.

The verbal fireworks continued over the past two years, as Newsom served as a top surrogate on the campaign trail for former President Biden and then former Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden as the Democrats’ 2024 standard-bearer last summer.

Following Trump’s convincing election victory over Harris in November, Newsom moved to Trump-proof his heavily blue state.

“He is using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,’ but I just overwhelmingly won the Election,” Trump responded.

While pushing back against Trump’s attacks amid the wildfires, Newsom also knows he needs to work with the president.

Newsom, who two weeks ago invited Trump to come to California to survey the damage, said in a statement on Monday following the inauguration ceremony, “I look forward to President Trump’s visit to Los Angeles and his mobilization of the full weight of the federal government to help our fellow Americans recover and rebuild.”

He emphasized “finding common ground and striving toward shared goals” with the Trump administration.

“In the face of one of the worst natural disasters in America’s history, this moment underscores the critical need for partnership, a shared commitment to facts, and mutual respect – values that enable civil discourse, effective governance, and meaningful action,” the governor said.

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Veteran California-based political scientist Jack Pitney at Claremont McKenna College noted that “this is a very difficult balance” for Newsom.

“As a governor of California, he needs to work with the president to get federal aid for the state. As a national political figure, he feels pressure to attack Trump. It’s hard to do both of those at the same time,” Pitney told Fox News.

Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming, who aims to unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., during the Bayou State’s 2026 U.S. Senate contest, assailed the incumbent as a “RINO Republican” during an interview with Fox News Digital, using the acronym that abbreviates the phrase “Republican in name only.”

Fleming, who served as a U.S. House lawmaker from early 2009 through early 2017, was one of the founding members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. 

He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2016 and held several posts during the first President Donald Trump administration. In 2023, with Trump’s endorsement, he won election to serve as the Pelican State’s treasurer.

When asked by Fox News Digital to name some lawmakers he largely aligns with ideologically, Fleming mentioned GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris of Maryland, as well as Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah.

RFK JR. ‘WRONG’ ABOUT VACCINATIONS, GOP SENATOR SAYS

When asked whether there are any federal departments or entities that he would like to see fully abolished, Fleming replied that if there are any federal entities he thinks should be eliminated, he said, “First on my list would be the Department of Education.”

Regarding the debt ceiling, he said if he were in office, he would seek to “leverage” debt ceiling increases to lower spending, adding, “I don’t think we should raise the debt ceiling.”

Fleming indicated that he supports foreign aid in some cases.

“I do believe in some level of foreign aid, particularly military foreign aid, when it’s in the best interest of the people of the United States,” he noted, suggesting that the U.S. should assist Taiwan and Israel. 

Fleming said that America must “be careful about” involving itself in affairs abroad. Pointing to Afghanistan and Iraq, he said, “We seem to win the wars but lose the peace.”

Fleming indicated that he is supportive of the TikTok ban that passed last year, because he does not believe it is “wise for us to allow the Chinese or any other foreign power, or even our own government, to spy on us through our social media.” He opined that the social media platform should be banned until it is no longer under the influence of the Communist Chinese Party government of China.

PRO-TRUMP IMPEACHMENT REPUBLICAN SEN BILL CASSIDY TARGETED FOR OUSTER BY FREEDOM CAUCUS FOUNDING MEMBER

In Louisiana’s jungle primary system, candidates of various parties run against each other, and if any candidate wins the majority, they win election to the role — but if no candidate gets the majority, the top two finishers compete in a runoff.

When Cassidy ran in 2014, he placed second in a field that included seven other candidates, advancing along with incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu to a runoff, which Cassidy won.

When Cassidy was re-elected in 2020, he won the majority and avoided a runoff, defeating a field of more than a dozen other candidates.

Cassidy was one of the seven GOP senators who voted to convict President Trump after the 2021 House impeachment in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump had already departed from office by the time of the February Senate vote, and the number of senators who voted to convict ultimately fell short of the threshold necessary for conviction.

During a CNN appearance that the outlet shared on social media in 2023, Cassidy said he thought Trump should drop out of the presidential contest, though the lawmaker noted that the decision was up to Trump, who he said would lose to President Joe Biden based on the polls at the time.

HEGSETH BACKED BY LOUISIANA SEN. BILL CASSIDY TO LEAD THE PENTAGON UNDER TRUMP

After Trump had become the presumptive GOP presidential nominee last year, Kristin Welker asked Cassidy on “Meet the Press” whether he would endorse Trump. The senator responded by saying that he planned to vote for a Republican for president.

Cassidy in June pledged to work with Trump if the candidate returned to the White House. 

“Just met with my colleagues and President Trump. I was elected to work for Louisiana and the United States of America. I commit to working with President Trump if he is the next president—and it appears he is going to be—to make things better for all,” the senator said in a statement at the time.

He congratulated Trump and Vice President JD Vance on their inaugurations earlier this week.

“Today, the American people start winning again. Republicans are going to secure the border, unleash American energy, and protect American manufacturing,” he noted in the statement. “Congratulations to President Trump and Vice President Vance. Let’s get to work!”

The lawmaker, who has served in the U.S. Senate for just over a decade, previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Trump endorsed Cassidy when the senator sought re-election in 2020, thanking him for supporting the Make America Great Again agenda, and praising his “outstanding” work representing Louisianans and Americans at large.

“THANK YOU @BillCassidy for all of your support with our #MAGA Agenda. You are doing an outstanding job representing the people of Louisiana & the U.S.A. You have my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump declared in a post.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Cassidy campaign spokesman said of Fleming, “He came in 5th place last time he ran for Senate in 2016 and currently has $500k in campaign debt.”

According to a Cassidy campaign press release, the senator “raised another $1 million across his reelection, leadership, and joint fundraising committees in the fourth quarter of 2024, bringing his campaign cash-on-hand to over $6.5 million.”

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The Fleming campaign responded to the Cassidy spokesperson’s comment in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The senate campaign loan is 100% owed to Treasurer Fleming, personally,” Fleming’s campaign noted. “With regard to placement, Sen Cassidy ran against a weak Republican and a politically-wounded Democrat who had voted for Obamacare among other things. And, he had the backing of the entire Republican Party.” 

“Treasurer Fleming ran in an open seat against 23 opponents of all parties, some of whom divided his political base geographically as well as ideologically,” the statement continued. “Sen. John Kennedy ultimately won Fleming’s senate race as he was also the Louisiana State Treasurer and had run for the Senate before as Fleming is currently. What truly matters at this time is that Senator Cassidy voted to convict President Trump in the second impeachment trial during Trump’s first term. Had Trump been convicted, it would have foreclosed any possibility to reelect Trump leading to either a second Biden term or a Kamala Harris Presidency.”

President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that he has terminated the security detail provided to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the taxpayer’s expense.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) requested security for Fauci in 2020 to protect him from threats he received as the top health official and public spokesperson during the COVID-19 pandemic. But that detail was pulled on Thursday night, CNN first reported.

Trump was asked about the decision Friday while visiting Asheville, N.C., to tour areas impacted by Hurricane Helene.

“I think, you know, when you work for government, at some point your security detail comes off and, you know, you can’t have them forever,” Trump said.

“We took some off other people too, but you can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life because you work for government,” he added.

Trump earlier revoked the security clearances of 51 intelligence officials who had wrongly claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” as well as the details provided to former national security advisor John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.