NationalWatch

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening…

–Trump official freezes millions in SBA aid to Minnesota, slams Walz’s policies as breeding ‘endemic’ fraud

–Epstein file drop includes ‘untrue and sensationalist claims’ about Trump, DOJ says

-House GOP tensions erupt after moderate Republicans’ Obamacare ‘betrayal’

Boasberg says Trump must provide due process to CECOT migrants in US or elsewhere

A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to provide due process to a class of Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador in March, and gave it two weeks to detail how it will do so – setting up another high-stakes clash between the White House and the federal courts.

In March, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to halt its plans to immediately use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act wartime immigration law to quickly deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, a Salvadoran maximum-security prison. That did not happen, and the planes landed in El Salvador hours later. 

Boasberg concluded that the Trump administration’s actions were illegal, conducted in defiance of the court, and deprived the migrants in the CECOT class of their due process protections – including prior notice of removal, a “meaningful opportunity” to contest their removal from the U.S., and the ability to dispute their designation as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang…READ MORE.
 

White House

THE FINE PRINT: Trump promises cheaper drugs under TrumpRx, but economists say the long-term costs may be hidden

PAY UP: Trump admin to revive student loan wage garnishments in January 2026 following COVID pause

HOLIDAY ELEGANCE: Trump and first lady go all black for official White House Christmas portrait photo

LEGAL LIMITS: WATCH: Ex-federal prosecutor says DOJ had power to release all Epstein files

World Stage

FAIR COMPETITION: Trump trade crackdown hits cheap food containers from China, Vietnam with massive new duties

Capitol Hill

WASTE WATCH: Rand Paul’s ‘Festivus’ report calls out cocaine dogs, COVID influencers and a mountain of debt

CAPITOL PRESSURE: Senate quietly works on bipartisan Obamacare fix as healthcare cliff nears

FISH VS FLIPPER: Apex predator threatening Northwest salmon sparks rare bipartisan push to ‘kill more’

DOMINOS FALLING: Lawmakers probe SBA loans linked to Minnesota’s $9B fraud scandal: ‘Reckless decision making’

Across America 

SUNSHINE STATE RACE: Boca Raton mayor launches run for Congress touting GOP as ‘party of the middle class’

TERMINAL PROGNOSIS: Former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse reveals stage-4 cancer diagnosis: ‘It’s a death sentence’

BALLOT BATTLE: Republicans have chance to secure governorships in key battleground states next year

PARTY FRACTURE: Cornyn torches Democratic field, says party now ‘ruled by socialists’

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

As the year closes, Republicans are looking to the past for another dance with a partisan exercise that tested the party’s unity and delivered President Donald Trump his crowning legislative achievement of the year.

Budget reconciliation is how congressional Republicans rammed through Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” earlier this year. But it’s a time-consuming, labor-intensive process that laid bare intra-party divisions and nearly exploded before liftoff.

Still, some Republicans want to take another stab at reconciliation, which allows a party in power to advance legislation with just a simple majority in the Senate as long as it adheres to strict, budgetary parameters.

SENATE QUIETLY WORKS ON BIPARTISAN OBAMACARE FIX AS HEALTHCARE CLIFF NEARS

“We can do two more reconciliation bills without a single Democratic vote,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. “Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t welcome Democratic votes, but we can do them without a single Democratic vote.”

Turning once again to reconciliation would help Senate Republicans, in particular, address one of Trump’s desires to kill the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the upper chamber without changing the precedent that Democrats, for years, have threatened to do.

But they need a plan, first.

That would come from Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the de facto maestro of the reconciliation process. His committee was responsible for drafting the budget resolution that unlocked the process in the upper chamber earlier this year, and he is reportedly eying drafting another resolution in the new year.

SEN MURPHY WARNS ‘PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE’ AS CONGRESS PUNTS ON EXPIRING OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES

“It would be political malpractice not to do another reconciliation,” Graham told Semafor.

But many Republicans acknowledged just how difficult reconciliation is, especially after the latest exercise that dominated much of Congress’ attention for the first half of the year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that “it’s always hard, but it’s an option, and one that we’re not ruling in or ruling out.”

“I would say you have to have a reason to do it, you know,” Thune said. “I mean, you don’t just do reconciliation for the heck of it. You got to have a, you know, a specific purpose. And so we’ll see. I mean, that purpose may, you know, may start getting some traction.”

TRUMP’S PUSH TO ‘KNOCK OUT’ FILIBUSTER GAINS NEW GOP TRACTION AS FUNDING DEADLINE NEARS

Kennedy floated using reconciliation to tackle affordability issues, but some see the painstaking process as an avenue to grapple with another issue that has dominated Congress for several months: healthcare.

Lawmakers left Washington, D.C., without a fix to expiring Obamacare subsidies, effectively setting up a drastic hike in out-of-pocket healthcare costs for millions of Americans. There are bipartisan negotiations in the works to deal with the issue when lawmakers return, but Republicans have a gnawing appetite to drastically change the program.

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital that Republicans “have to do something” on healthcare.

“Reconciliation is one pathway to do something, but it also limits what we can do,” Banks said. “So we need bipartisan support to pass something that will help everybody.”

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And Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., who has been critical of Republicans’ inability to get a healthcare solution across the line, told Fox News Digital that reconciliation “may be an answer.”

“The healthcare situation is really, it’s a big deal,” Justice said. “It’s more than difficult, you know? And so we need to, we need to try to fix it. That’s for sure.”

The Department of Education will begin garnishing wages of those with defaulted federal student loans starting in January. 

The Trump administration announced in May that it would resume collections on defaulted federal student loans — including wage garnishments and seizure of Social Security benefits — for the first time since 2020. In March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government paused referring federal student loans to collections. 

Now, the Trump administration has said that it will introduce garnishing wages in early January after providing student and parent borrowers ample heads up to repay their debts. Garnishing wages means that the U.S. government is authorized to order employers to withhold up to 15% of their employees’ wages after taxes, which would contribute toward paying off their student loans. 

“We expect the first notices to be sent to approximately 1,000 defaulted borrowers the week of January 7, and the notices will increase in scale on a month-to-month basis,” a Department of Education spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “All (Federal Student Aid) collections activities are required under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 and conducted only after student and parent borrowers have been provided sufficient notice and opportunity to repay their loans.”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RELEASES OVER $6B IN FROZEN EDUCATION FUNDS TO THE STATES

Meanwhile, Democrats have sought to stop the Trump administration from garnishing wages for student loan borrowers. After the Trump administration announced in May it would resume collections, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced legislation that would suspend the Department of Education’s ability to garnish wages, tax refunds, Social Security checks and other benefits. 

TRUMP STILL NEEDS CONGRESS’ HELP WITH PLAN TO ABOLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

“No one should have their hard-earned wages, tax refunds, and Social Security checks seized by Donald Trump—and our bill would ensure they do not,” Pressley said in a statement in May. “The Trump Administration should not be in the business of picking the pockets of our most vulnerable borrowers, gutting the Department of Education or exacerbating the student debt crisis.”

In May, the Trump administration said that approximately 43 million student borrowers had federal student loan debt, which translated to an outstanding federal student loan balance of $1.6 trillion.

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Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has sought to overhaul and eliminate the Department of Education and shift its functions to other agencies. Should Trump successfully dissolve the Department of Education, he’s indicated that an agency such as the Department of the Treasury could oversee student loans instead. 

Fox News’ Patrick Ward contributed to this report. 

As President Donald Trump rolls out his TrumpRx proposal to cut prescription drug prices, economists are raising questions about what happens when prices are capped and whether short-term savings for consumers come at the expense of future medical breakthroughs.

On Friday, Trump announced deals with nine pharmaceutical companies to lower prices on certain medications for Americans, along with $150 billion in promised new investments in domestic manufacturing and pharmaceutical research.

The announcement builds on the administration’s Trump Rx initiative, a government-run portal designed to steer consumers toward lower-cost prescription drugs offered directly by manufacturers. The program is central to Trump’s effort to tie U.S. drug prices to those paid in other wealthy countries, a policy known as “most favored nation” pricing.

But economists caution that price-lowering agreements don’t eliminate costs and often shift them elsewhere, particularly into reduced drug development, delayed innovation, or higher prices in other parts of the market.

TRUMP SECURES AGREEMENTS WITH MAJOR DRUGMAKERS TO LOWER MEDICAID PRESCRIPTION COSTS FOR AMERICANS

Michael Baker, director of healthcare policy at the American Action Forum, said government price setting shifts costs rather than eliminating them.

“At the most basic level, government price setting only limits what patients pay for a drug — usually reflected in an out-of-pocket or co-insurance payment,” Baker said. “This does nothing to address the overall cost of the drug, which someone still has to pay, nor does it lower the cost associated with development.”

As a result, Baker said, patients ultimately bear those costs through tighter coverage rules, fewer treatment options or reduced future innovation.

“Patients will experience far less of the crown jewel of the U.S. healthcare system that they are currently accustomed to receiving,” he added.

Economists say the effects of permanent price caps would also be felt upstream, in research and development.

“We know for sure that if drug prices are capped permanently below the levels the firm would have set, that will lead to lower incentives for R&D to discover new drugs and bring them to market,” explained Mark V. Pauly, professor of healthcare management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

EXPERTS SAY MEDICAID CHANGES IN ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ ARE ‘COMMON SENSE’ FOR HEALTHCARE POLICY

Pauly added that the impact is expected to be negative, but its scale — including how many drugs might never be developed and their potential value — remains highly uncertain.

“I do not know the answer, but I know for sure no one else does either,” he added.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SOUND ALARM ON HEALTHCARE COSTS

Others argue the administration’s approach avoids the most damaging forms of price control.

Ed Haislmaier, an expert in healthcare policy and markets at The Heritage Foundation, said recent agreements appear to involve companies trading lower prices for benefits such as expanded market access or relief from other costs, including tariffs.

“In such cases, companies are likely calculating that revenue losses from lower prices will be offset by revenue gains from more sales,” Haislmaier told Fox News Digital.

“The kind of government price controls that are most damaging to innovation are ones that limit the initial price a company can charge for a new product. That is the situation in some countries, but fortunately not yet the in the United States,” he added.

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Ryan Long, Paragon’s director of congressional relations and a senior research fellow, suggested that pricing pressure abroad could force foreign governments to shoulder a greater share of drug development costs.

Long said this strategy would lead “to lower prices for American consumers without sacrificing U.S. leadership in biopharmaceutical innovation that leads to new treatments and cures.”

A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to provide due process to a class of Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador in March, and gave it two weeks to detail how it will do so – setting up another high-stakes clash between the White House and the federal courts.

In March, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to halt its plans to immediately use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act wartime immigration law to quickly deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, a Salvadoran maximum-security prison. That did not happen, and the planes landed in El Salvador hours later. 

Boasberg concluded that the Trump administration’s actions were illegal, conducted in defiance of the court, and deprived the migrants in the CECOT class of their due process protections – including prior notice of removal, a “meaningful opportunity” to contest their removal from the U.S., and the ability to dispute their designation as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang.

He ordered the Trump administration to submit to the court by Jan. 5 its plan to provide due process protections to the CECOT class – which he said the administration could do by either returning the migrants to the U.S. to have their cases heard in person, or to otherwise facilitate hearings abroad with members of the class that “satisfy the requirements of due process.”

“On the merits, the Court concludes that this class was denied their due-process rights and will thus require the Government to facilitate their ability to obtain such hearing,” Boasberg said Monday. “Our law requires no less.”

APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN’S DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN ALIEN ENEMIES ACT IMMIGRATION SUIT

The Justice Department is almost certain to appeal the order.

Monday’s ruling adds new clarity to a complex immigration case that began 10 months prior, and which sparked a flurry of appeals, contempt inquiries and open questions as to the status of the CECOT plaintiffs and the ability the U.S. has to order their return.

Boasberg said Monday that the U.S. appeared to be operating with the knowledge that it had some level of constructive custody over the migrants detained at CECOT, citing the terms of an agreement made between the U.S. and El Salvador to house the migrants for at least a one-year period.

He also cited multiple public remarks from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other senior DHS officials, which appear to cast CECOT as an “extension” of U.S. detention facilities.

“These statements strongly undermine the Government’s contention that El Salvador retains complete discretion over what to do with individuals” removed from the U.S., he noted.

JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA

If “secretly spiriting individuals to another country were enough to neuter the Great Writ, then the Government could ‘snatch anyone off the street, turn him over to a foreign country, and then effectively foreclose any corrective course of action,'” Boasberg concluded.

The update comes after the court’s inquiry had been stalled for months, both by appeals court rulings, efforts to shield certain information from the court for national security purposes, and a separate, but related, contempt inquiry.

The CECOT migrants were again moved in July from the Salvadoran prison to Venezuela as part of a broader prisoner exchange that involved the return of at least 10 Americans detained in Venezuela. That step further complicated efforts to ascertain the status of the migrants, some of whom had fled Venezuela and were in hiding.

That made it difficult to contact the migrants from the CECOT class and determine how many of them still wished to proceed with their due process cases, as ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told Boasberg in court last month. 

The ACLU said this month that, of the 252 Venezuelan migrants deported to CECOT in March, 137 of them still wished to move forward with the due process cases.

US JUDGE VOWS TO RULE ‘SOON’ ON ABREGO GARCIA’S FATE AFTER MARATHON HEARING

Still, the new ruling is almost certain to face fierce opposition from Trump officials, who have assailed Boasberg and other judges who have blocked or paused the president’s flurry of executive orders as “rogue, activist” judges, whom they argue are overstepping their authority.

They argue that lower court judges should not have the power to prevent the president from executing what administration officials say is a lawful agenda – though the judges in question have disagreed that the president’s actions all follow the law.

Boasberg, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court, has appeared unfazed by the new level of scrutiny. 

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He told the Justice Department in November that he “certainly intends to determine what happened” on the day the government either intentionally or unintentionally violated his emergency order intended to halt the Alien Enemies Act removals. 

The government, he said, “can assist me to whatever degree it wishes.”

The Trump administration is dropping the hammer on cheap imports of disposable food containers from China and Vietnam, announcing massive trade penalties that experts say will lead to safer products while simultaneously protecting U.S. companies from unfair competition. 

“America continues to thrive when fair competition occurs,” attorney Yohai Baisburd of Cassidy Levy Kent, counsel to the American Molded Fiber Coalition, told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “The Trump Administration is using every tool in the toolbox to enforce U.S. trade laws and cheaters beware because they are coming after you.” 

Baisburd, whose legal background focuses on trade litigation, was reacting to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) announcing recently that its board voted to rule that U.S. industry is materially injured by importing “thermoformed molded fiber products from China and Vietnam.” Baisburd argued on behalf of U.S. companies as the International Trade Commission considered the case. 

Thermoformed molded fiber products are common food containers — including disposable bowls, plates, cups and containers for ready to make meals or take-out containers — made from natural fibers and recycled products, such as wood pulp. The fibers are turned to pulp before they’re molded, and then shaped using heat and pressure. 

CBP ANNOUNCES RECORD-BREAKING $200 BILLION IN TARIFF REVENUE AMID TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ENFORCEMENT PUSH

The U.S. market has been flooded with such products from China and Vietnam, with the nations “dumping” the containers at unfairly low prices that affect American businesses, according to the United States International Trade Commission. 

Following the vote from the ITC, the Commerce Department will issue final antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CVD) duty orders on those imports from China and Vietnam. Antidumping and countervailing duties are special trade penalties — in addition to typical tariffs — that the U.S. imposes on imports found to be unfairly underpriced in order to level the playing field for American companies.

TRUMP SAYS THOSE AGAINST TARIFFS ‘SERVING HOSTILE FOREIGN INTERESTS,’ ‘FULL BENEFIT’ YET TO BE SEEN

The new orders are expected in the coming weeks, with ITC expected to release its report by Jan. 23. 

The duties will include an upward of 540% tax on certain Chinese producers — including a 477%-plus tax for “dumping” alone — and a 260%-plus tax on Vietnamese producers of the thermoformed molded fiber packaging products, ITC data shows.

“The ITC vote will give the U.S. industry at least five years of duties on unfairly traded products from China and Vietnam,” Baisburd said. “The ITC confirmed that the U.S. industry is severely injured by the corrosive impact of Chinese and Vietnamese imports. The ITC also authorized retroactive duties on Vietnamese imports.  This is only one of a handful of times they have done so in the past 25 years sending a message to importers that they cannot surge into the U.S. market to try to get ahead of potential duties.” 

Baisburd said that the upcoming duties will “level the playing field” for U.S. industry against cheap imports. 

“U.S. workers/companies can compete against anyone, anywhere. What they can’t do is outcompete Chinese and Vietnamese government subsidies that violate US trade laws. The duties allow US manufacturers to reinvest in their workers, operations, technology, because they can now compete on a level playing field,” he said. 

The duty orders are separate from the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign nations, Fox News Digital learned. The tariffs are subject to change and negotiation, while the duties are legally binding trade enforcement mechanisms based on investigative findings by the U.S. Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission, and enforced by Border Patrol. The duties are applicable for the next five years minimum and are not subject to presidential discretion, Fox News Digital learned. 

TRUMP’S SIGNATURE TARIFFS HANG ON KEY QUESTION ABOUT CONGRESS’ POWER BEFORE SUPREME COURT

Other presidential administrations have used antidumping and countervailing duties to level the playing field for U.S. companies, including the Biden administration touting in 2024 that it leveled more than 30 new antidumping and countervailing duties on steel-related products alone. 

Baisburd argued that the Trump administration broadened its tool chest for an all-encompassing approach to protecting U.S. manufacturing. 

“The Trump Administration is taking advantage of all the enforcement tools available across the Federal government to support U.S. manufacturing.  We are seeing increased customs enforcement (both civil and criminal), a new DOJ Trade Fraud Taskforce, and greater scrutiny of supply chain shifts that circumvent duties,” the attorney said. 

In addition to business concerns about the Asian nations boxing out the U.S. market for food service containers, health concerns also have simmered. China and Vietnam have been identified as nations that produce containers with “forever chemicals,” or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs). An ITC report published in 2024 found that while some foreign nations claim products are PFAs-free, studies indicate that it is not always true, while the U.S. “generally produces PFA-free products.”

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The vote marks the third recent trade ruling that affects disposable food service containers. The U.S. Department of Commerce ITC issued antidumping and countervailing duties on disposable aluminum containers, pans, trays and lids imported from China and elsewhere, as well as leveling antidumping and countervailing duties on low-cost white paper plates from China, Thailand and Vietnam in March. 

EXCLUSIVE: Federal Small Business (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler sent a letter Tuesday to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz alerting him that her agency will “halt” more than $5.5 million in annual support to resource partners in the state “until further notice.”

The move comes as Walz and his administration grapple with billions of dollars in social services fraud diverted to everything from sham nonprofits to the Somali terror group Al-Shabaab. U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Thursday a “significant amount” of $18 billion worth of programmatic Medicaid funding was likely lost to fraud.

“I am notifying you that effective immediately and until further notice, the SBA is halting the disbursement of federal funds to SBA resource partners operating in the state of Minnesota, totaling over $5.5 million in annual support,” Loeffler wrote Walz on Tuesday.

TRUMP CABINET OFFICIAL CALLS ON WALZ TO RESIGN OVER MASSIVE FRAUD SCANDAL IN SCATHING LETTER: ‘SHAME ON YOU’

“This action is the result of a fundamental breakdown in the public trust. Under your leadership, Minnesota failed to safeguard taxpayer dollars, and SBA will not continue to place federal resources at risk in a state where oversight measures are ignored and accountability is abandoned.”

Loeffler blamed Walz for making the Land of 10,000 Lakes the “epicenter” of the largest fraud scandal of the COVID-19 pandemic era, and that recent criminal convictions of Somalis and other figures prove such fraud is “endemic” to St. Paul’s vast welfare curriculum.

She cited Thompson’s calculations, saying that the Somali fraud network netted $1 billion in its Minneapolis-centered fraud scheme and that at least half of certain Medicaid funding programs subsidized by Minnesota taxpayers have been “pocketed by criminals” – assessing the final figure at at least $9 billion.

HOW FEARS OF BEING LABELED ‘RACIST’ HELPED ‘PROVIDE COVER’ FOR THE EXPLODING MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

She noted the USDA – which facilitates SNAP and other programs – as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have launched probes into the scandals.

At least $2.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds issued during the pandemic were tied to the Somali fraud scheme, the SBA said.

Another $430 million in PPP subsidies – totaling 13,000 individual loans – had been flagged as fraudulent but funded anyway, including some that were among those loans altogether forgiven during the Biden administration, Loeffler wrote.

INSIDE MINNESOTA’S $1B FRAUD: FAKE OFFICES, PHONY FIRMS AND A SCANDAL HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

“The volume and concentration of potential fraud is staggering, matched in its egregiousness only by your response to those who attempted to stop it,” she told Walz.

“When legislators and whistleblowers raised concerns about potential abuse during the pandemic, your Administration resisted oversight, refused accountability, and allowed the misconduct to metastasize.”

Loeffler faulted Walz for dismissing some criticisms of his administration’s “generosity” as “racism.”

MEET MINNESOTA’S FRAUD ‘MASTERMIND’ ACCUSED OF PLAYING ‘GOD,’ WIELDING ‘FAKE’ RACISM CLAIMS IN SOMALI SCANDAL

Walz previously said that fraudsters in Minnesota will go to prison, and that “I don’t care what color you are [or] religion you are,” but followed up by saying that critics “demonizing an entire population” is “beneath that,” according to PBS.

SBA will immediately halt $2.22 million in Small Business Development Center awards, $450,000 in women’s business center awards, $2.6 million in “microloan” awards – the entire 2025 disbursement – and about $550,000 in other disbursements.

Loeffler called Minnesota’s fraud scandals the consequence of “socialist policies deliberately designed to pump out welfare funding without oversight or accountability.”

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“SBA’s responsibility is to taxpayers and small business owners, not to criminals or the politicians who enable them — We will continue to do what you did not: protect federal dollars on behalf of the American people,” she said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz for any comment on general sentiments expressed in the letter about the fraud scandal and his handling of it.

FIRST ON FOX — Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, a strong House supporter of President Donald Trump, on Tuesday announced her candidacy for the Senate in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis.

Hageman’s campaign launch comes four days after Lummis announced that she wouldn’t seek re-election in next year’s midterms for a second six-year term representing the solidly red western state in the Senate.

If she wins next year’s election, Hageman would give Trump another top supporter in the upper chamber of Congress.

REPUBLICAN SEN. CYNTHIA LUMMIS MAKES A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT

“President Trump’s America First movement made it popular to say you want to Make America Great Again, and he continues to deliver on that promise,” Hageman said in a statement and launch video announcing her candidacy. “It would be a great honor to keep advancing the America First agenda in the Senate, as it has been in the House.”

Hageman, a water and property rights attorney, grabbed national attention in 2022 when, with Trump’s support, she ousted then-Rep. Liz Cheney in the Republican primary for the state’s at-large congressional seat.

SENATE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS HIS 2026 MIDTERM STRATEGY

Cheney had become a top Trump target after being just one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the president after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cheney went on to serve in a leadership role in the Democratic-steered committee that investigated the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s 2020 White House victory.

Hageman, who won nearly 70% of the vote in the general election, was also backed by Trump in her landslide 2022 congressional re-election victory, and a possible endorsement of Hageman by the president as she now bids for the Senate would hardly be surprising.

THE GOP’S TAKE ON HIGH-PROFILE SENATE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES: ‘THEY’RE IN SHAMBLES’

Lummis, in explaining her decision not to seek re-election, pointed to this autumn’s divisive government shutdown.

“Deciding not to run for re-election does represent a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I’ve come to accept that I do not have six more years in me,” the senator wrote in her statement.

Hageman, in launching her campaign, praised Lummis.

“Cynthia Lummis leaves a legacy of over four decades of principled, conservative leadership, and Wyoming and America are better for it,” Hageman said. “I thank her for her distinguished and admirable service, and pledge to also bring honor to the office she held, should the people of Wyoming make the decision to elect me to the United States Senate.”

Hageman, who has been a leader in the Western Caucus, a coalition of Republican lawmakers from western states in both chambers of Congress, is a fourth generation Wyomingite. In launching her campaign, she pledged to carry on the fight for conservative ideals and the protection of Wyomingites’ natural rights and liberties.   

“I will always defend Wyoming’s ability to access, manage and use our natural resources to fuel our economy. We must ensure that Wyoming remains a leader in energy and food production to help us maintain our way of life,” she said in her statement.

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Hageman becomes the first major Republican to launch a Senate campaign.

Two-term GOP Gov. Mark Gordon is thought to be mulling a potential Senate bid.

Republicans dominate statewide elections in Wyoming. 

Trump carried the state by 46 points in his White House victory last year, and GOP Sen. Tom Barasso won re-election last year by 51 points.

If the Department of Justice (DOJ) wanted to release every Jeffrey Epstein-related document they had on file, they had the firepower to do so, a former assistant U.S. attorney argued.

The DOJ has faced bipartisan criticism over its initial release of heavily redacted Epstein files, which lawmakers argue fell short of the requirements of a recently passed transparency law.

“The Department of Justice has all the resources in the world, right? I mean if they wanted to put 1,000 lawyers on this to review the documents and get them ready for the production, they could have,” Sarah Krissoff said.

“And they don’t appear to have done that,” she added.

CLINTON TEAM DEMANDS TRUMP DOJ RELEASE ‘ANY REMAINING’ DOCS RELATED TO FORMER PRESIDENT, EPSTEIN

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Krissoff, who worked as a prosecutor for almost 14 years in the Southern District of New York, described key differences between the Epstein files and the normal redaction process that attorneys grapple with. Those distinctions make it unclear who would have had final say about the information the DOJ released on Friday as the agency attempted to follow through on the requirements laid out by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. 

That law, passed by Congress last month and signed by President Donald Trump on Nov. 19, gave the DOJ just 30 days to make its documentation of Epstein public. It included some exceptions for protecting the identity of victims.

Despite the thousands of files that became publicly available at the end of last week, the DOJ’s first trove sparked criticism from some lawmakers and viewers online outraged that the department hadn’t released them all at once.

“They are hiding a lot of documents. That would be very helpful in our investigation,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., a member of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN on Monday morning. 

SCHUMER ACCUSES DOJ OF BREAKING THE LAW OVER REDACTED EPSTEIN FILES

Although she remains skeptical of the department’s effort, Krissoff noted that what the DOJ’s been asked to do goes far outside the norm for disclosures.

“There is no real mechanism in the law that the public can just access documents because they’re interested in them, right? In this case, this law is requiring the DOJ to make these things public because so many members of Congress are interested in this issue,” Krissoff said.

In the cases she’s been a part of, Krissoff said redactions usually came down to meticulous negotiations between the prosecution and the defense. Sometimes deliberations drilled into individual sentences or words.

“This situation is a little different because it’s unclear, you know, who is still working on this from the original case team. And so, the question is: who at the Department of Justice reviewed these in connection with the redactions here?” Krissoff said.

She said whole case files rarely get released to the public beyond what shows up in court filings — and what’s there usually serves the narrow purposes of the prosecution. In Epstein’s case, the public’s interests extend beyond any potential conviction of Epstein himself. Epstein died in 2019 while incarcerated on suspicion of sex-trafficking minors. His death, ruled a suicide, cut short his prosecution and left behind questions about whether he facilitated illegal sexual encounters for his vast social network. 

Photos released by the DOJ last week lack context and do not, on their own, implicate anyone depicted in them of wrongdoing. 

DOJ RESTORES TRUMP PHOTO TO EPSTEIN FILES AFTER DETERMINING NO VICTIMS DEPICTED

“The case file often implicates many other people that are not charged in the crimes. So, there may be 15 people charged in a drug ring. You’ve only charged one or two people; you don’t want to impugn those other people who have not been charged by releasing information showing their involvement in this drug ring,” Krissoff said.

“The last thing you want to do is put that neighbor’s information or his name or even his statement out there,” Krissoff said.

She believes that there’s a danger in forcing disclosure of an ongoing case simply because of great public interest and setting a precedent for that to become a regular occurrence. In her view, it could disrupt ongoing investigations of the future that draw intense public interest.

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The DOJ said it will continue to release its documents on Epstein on a rolling basis. It has not announced when they expect to continue their release of the Epstein files.

While next year’s midterms will determine whether Republicans can keep control of Congress after winning big in 2024, there are also a slate of gubernatorial elections, several that are toss-ups, which could have equally wide-ranging impacts.

Three states with Democratic Party governors, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, are currently listed as “toss up” races across multiple high-profile election polling groups, such as The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball. Meanwhile, Republicans will have to defend the governorship in Georgia and Nevada, two other races considered a “toss up” by some, while others are giving Republicans a slight advantage. For example, Nevada and Georgia are considered a “toss up” in The Cook Political Report’s latest polling that came out Dec. 20, but they are listed as “lean Republican” by Sabato’s Crystal Ball. 

“Whether it’s Aaron Ford vacationing instead of doing his job in Nevada, Katie Hobbs tanking Arizona’s economy, or Jocelyn Benson letting non-residents vote in Michigan, Democrats are not sending their best to gubernatorial races next year,” Regional Communications Director Delanie Bomar told Fox News Digital. “Republicans have a track record of winning these states and we will do so again next year.” 

TIM SCOTT TELLS MAGA VOTERS TRUMP ‘IS ON THE BALLOT’ AS GOP FIGHTS TO GROW SENATE MAJORITY IN 2026   

In Arizona, Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs will have to maintain her seat against long-time House Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and David Schweikert, R-Ariz., as well as attorney Karrin Taylor Robson, who lost to Kari Lake in the GOP primary for governor in 2022.

In 2024, Hobbs was investigated for involvement in an alleged “pay-for-play” scheme after a report revealed a group home business that looks after vulnerable children was approved for a rate hike after it donated big to her inauguration and the Arizona Democratic Party. However, Hobbs has pushed back against the allegations, arguing she was not personally involved in the rate decision. The controversy is still under criminal investigation by both the Arizona Attorney General and the Maricopa County Attorney, and the Arizona House also launched its own inquiry last month into the matter. Hobbs, who has had a lengthy political career dating back to 2010, has been criticized for how she treats her staff and who she hires, but also has a history of being able to rake in campaign funds and run successful elections. 

In Michigan, Democratic Party Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will be term-limited out. Her Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, is among the front-runners to take over Whitmer’s seat. Earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported about Benson’s attendance at a “unity” dinner that featured decor threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump and equating his supporters with Nazis. Republican Michigan lawmakers have called on the Trump Justice Department to monitor Michigan’s 2026 elections, arguing there is an “inherent” conflict associated with Benson, who is Michigan’s top election official, running while overseeing the state’s elections.  

DESANTIS WARNS GOP FACES ‘ISSUE’ KEEPING TRUMP VOTERS ENGAGED IN FUTURE ELECTIONS

Wisconsin’s Democratic Party Gov. Tony Evers announced his retirement in July, indicating he will not seek a third term under the state’s unlimited term limit rules. As a result, the seat is up for grabs, with House Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wisc., and Wisconsin County Executive Josh Schoemann, among the GOP front-runners. On the Democrat side, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, current Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, and Wisconsin County Executive David Crowley find themselves at the top of the heap.

Courtney Alexander, a spokesperson for the Republican Governor’s Association, pointed out how voters view governors’ races “through a unique prism” following Trump’s first year of his second term. “They see that Republican-led states are more affordable and safer, while Democrat-led states are among the most expensive and have allowed their cities to become hellscapes of crime and homelessness,” Alexander told Fox News Digital. “Americans have already voted with their feet, and that tells us everything we need to know about what to expect in 2026 — Democrats running at the gubernatorial level have records they cannot defend.”

Georgia and Nevada will have to be defended by Republicans if they hope to add to their GOP gubernatorial headcount. Georgia, which historically has been a Republican stronghold, has seen Democratic Party wins in the last several years, making it a place for hard-fought elections. Current Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is being term-limited. It was being mulled he might go to the U.S. Senate, but Kemp later waved off the rumors.

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In 2026, there will be a total of 36 gubernatorial elections held on Nov. 3, 2026. The primaries for these races will be held at various times ahead of the scheduled general election date.  

While not seen as a tough race for Republicans, Florida’s primary race has the ingredients for something interesting. The Sunshine State’s current GOP governor, Ron DeSantis, will be term-limited and it is unclear who DeSantis desires to be his replacement after President Donald Trump endorsed GOP Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. Thus far, DeSantis has not embraced Donalds as the best person to take over his office, like Trump. Rather, DeSantis has publicly hinted his wife, Casey DeSantis, could be a formidable contender. “She would do better than me,” DeSantis told reporters earlier this year while discussing speculation about Florida’s first lady succeeding him. “There’s no question about that.”

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

As President Donald Trump’s administration continues its controversial policy of conducting deadly attacks against vessels it alleges are involved in drug trafficking, U.S. Southern Command announced another strike on Monday.

“On Dec. 22, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” a post on X states. 

There was one “narco-terrorist” confirmed to have been killed in the attack, according to SOUTHCOM.

US MILITARY STRIKES NARCO-TERRORIST VESSELS IN LATEST EASTERN PACIFIC DRUG TRAFFICKING OPERATION

“Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. One male narco-terrorist was confirmed killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the post, which features footage of the attack, reads.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted U.S. Southern Command’s post on his personal X account.

SOUTHCOM SAYS 8 NARCO-TERRORISTS KILLED IN LATEST EASTERN PACIFIC LETHAL KINETIC STRIKES

Trump has indicated that the U.S. will start conducting strikes on land.

PENTAGON WON’T RELEASE ‘TOP SECRET, FULL, UNEDITED’ VIDEO OF SEPTEMBER DRUG BOAT STRIKE, HEGSETH SAYS

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“And soon we’ll be starting the same program on land. The land is much easier,” Trump said on Monday, claiming that each of the “boats that we knocked out saved 25,000 lives.”

A straw poll taken at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest this weekend revealed that conservatives are, as a spokesman described, “all in” for Vice President JD Vance running for president in 2028. 

Asked who they would like to see as the Republican presidential nominee in 2028, the vast majority of respondents, 84.2%, answered Vice President JD Vance. Far behind Vance was Rubio at 4.8% and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 2.9%.

Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for TPUSA, told Fox News Digital that the poll portrays a clear picture of the state of the conservative movement. 

From the responses, Kolvet said it is clear that “the movement is all-in for JD Vance in 2028, winning the most support in the history of our poll.”

VANCE SAYS ‘AMERICA FIRST’ MOVEMENT REJECTS ‘PURITY TESTS,’ WELCOMES CRITICAL THINKERS

Kolvet explained,”There are bright dividing lines in the conservative movement right now, so we wanted to get clarity on where the base is on these hot-button issues in Turning Point Action’s official AmericaFest 2025 straw poll.” 

“We wanted to get a real read on where the base is at after Charlie’s assassination, and a few things really jump off the page,” he said. 

The most popular Trump administration accomplishment amongst conference attendees was securing the border, with nearly 60% of respondents answering this, while 22.2% of respondents answered deportations.

Conference attendees also shared that winning the midterms and radical Islam are among their top concerns.

A wide margin believed that the conservative movement’s top priority in 2026 should be winning the midterms. Per the poll, 63.9% of AmFest attendees believed the conservative movement should be prioritizing winning the midterms, which would preserve Republicans’ majorities in the House and Senate.

POLICY GROUP PRAISES TRUMP’S 100 GLOBAL WINS SINCE TAKING OFFICE, FROM CARTEL CRACKDOWNS TO PEACE DEALS

The next highest priority, according to attendees, was voter integrity/voter ID at 9.3%. Other priorities were the affordability crisis at 8.1%, mass deportations at 5.3% and accountability for the deep state/lawfare at 4.2%.

Asked what the biggest threat is facing America, 31,008 responded “radical Islam.” In close second was socialism and Marxism at 30,387. Third was mass migration, with 28,223 saying that is the greatest threat to America, and fourth was the economy and affordability at 27,315.

Related to mass migration, 89.5% of poll respondents said they would support a moratorium on new immigration into the United States.

Attendees were also questioned on their feelings about Israel. Over half, 53.4 percent, said they see Israel as “one ally out of many,” while a third said they see Israel as America’s “top ally” and 13.3 percent said they believe Israel is “not an ally.” 

The poll also revealed what members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet are most popular and unpopular amongst the conference’s heavily conservative audience.

According to the poll, which was taken by Big Data Poll, the Trump Cabinet member with the strongest job performance approval rating amongst AmFest attendees is Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, as 83.3% of conference attendees voiced they strongly approve of him.

A total of 94.7% of AmFest attendees said they either strongly or somewhat approve of Hegseth.

As War secretary, Hegseth has been one of the most vocal Trump Cabinet members, with such actions as changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, expunging DEI from the military and targeting cartel drug boats in the Caribbean.

TRUMP CABINET WIVES REVEAL RARE GLIMPSE INTO PRESIDENT’S ‘ONE BIG TEAM’ APPROACH

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. received similarly high approval ratings from the AmFest attendees at 76.6% and 80.8%, respectively. Kennedy received the highest overall approval rating from AmFest attendees, with 96.8% saying they either strongly or somewhat approve of him.

The Cabinet member with the highest disapproval rating was U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom 13.4% of attendees said they strongly disapprove of and 15.6% said they somewhat disapprove. Despite this, most poll participants, 64.8%, still said they either strongly or somewhat approve of Bondi’s job performance in the Trump administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, another highly vocal and prominent Trump Cabinet member who has spearheaded the administration’s deportations and border security efforts, received broad approval with 90.1% of participants saying they either strongly or somewhat approve of her job performance.

FOX NEWS POLL: MAJOR INCREASE IN POSITIVE VIEWS ON BORDER SECURITY

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy both received approval ratings in the 80s.

Poll participants had less to say about Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collin, with between 28 and 39% of respondents saying they were unsure about their job performance.

According to the poll, 88.3% of respondents self-identified as Republican and 94.7% identified as conservative.

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Commenting on the poll, Kolvet said that conservatives “see Israel as an important ally of the United States despite so much chatter to the contrary” and “they love the job that Secretaries Hegseth, Rubio, and RFK Jr. are doing, but they harbor skepticism about the DOJ.” 

“Above all,” Kolvet said that conservatives “are laser focused on winning the midterms and fixing mass migration, which they clearly see as connected to the rise of radical Islam, socialism, and crime.” 

He added that “it’s clear that immigration remains the key to energizing the base ahead of the midterms.” 

Florida’s Catholic bishops made an appeal on Monday for a pause in immigration enforcement for the Christmas holidays, but the White House said operations will continue.

The appeal to President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was issued by Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski and signed by seven other members of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“The border has been secured,” Wenski wrote. “The initial work of identifying and removing dangerous criminals has been accomplished to a great degree. Over half a million people have been deported this year, and nearly two million more have voluntarily self-deported.”

“At this point, the maximum enforcement approach of treating irregular immigrants en masse means that now many of these arrest operations inevitably sweep up numbers of people who are not criminals but just here to work,” he continued. “It should be noted that a significant majority of those detained in Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal background.”

US CATHOLIC BISHOPS PRESIDENT SAYS DEPORTATIONS INSTILLING ‘FEAR’ IN ‘WIDESPREAD MANNER’: ‘CONCERNS US ALL’

He noted that migrant sweeps sometimes include people with legal authorization to be in the U.S. and that surveys show Americans believe immigration enforcement operations are going too far.

“Eventually these cases may be resolved, but this takes many months causing great sorrow for their families … A climate of fear and anxiety is infecting not only the irregular migrant but also family members and neighbors who are legally in the country,” Wenski said.

“Since these effects are part of enforcement operations, we request that the government pause apprehension and round-up activities during the Christmas season,” he said. “Such a pause would show a decent regard for the humanity of these families. Now is not the time to be callous toward the suffering caused by immigration enforcement.”

The White House did not directly address the appeal for a holiday pause, but did say that enforcement activities would be business as usual.

“President Trump was elected based on his promise to the American people to deport criminal illegal aliens. And he’s keeping that promise,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Wenski, like many other Catholic leaders, has been an outspoken advocate for treating illegal immigrants humanely.

DHS PACKAGES LATEST ICE ARRESTS AS ‘CHRISTMAS GIFT TO AMERICANS’

In September, he joined other Catholic leaders on a panel at Georgetown University criticizing the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown for splitting up families, inciting fear and upending church life.

Wenski also cited the contributions illegal immigrants make to the U.S. economy.

“If you ask people in agriculture, you ask in the service industry, you ask people in health care, you ask the people in the construction field, and they’ll tell you that some of their best workers are immigrants,” Wenski said. “Enforcement is always going to be part of any immigration policy, but we have to rationalize it and humanize it.”

Wenski has joined the “Knights on Bikes” ministry, an initiative led by the Knights of Columbus that brings attention to the spiritual needs of migrants held at immigration detention centers, including “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades. He recalled praying a rosary in the scorching heat outside its walls before receiving permission just days later to celebrate Mass inside the facility.

“The fact that we invite these detainees to pray, even in this very dehumanizing situation, is a way of emphasizing and invoking their dignity,” he said.

Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a “special message” in which they slammed Trump’s mass deportation agenda and the “vilification” of illegal immigrants, expressing concern over the fear and anxiety immigration raids are stoking in communities, as well as the denial of pastoral care in detention centers.

CHARLOTTE CHURCH DEPICTS ICE ARRESTING HOLY FAMILY IN TRUMP-ERA NATIVITY SCENE

The special message was endorsed by Pope Leo XIV and Bishop Ronald Hicks, who the pontiff recently named as the next archbishop of New York, replacing conservative Cardinal Timothy Dolan as the leader of the country’s second-largest Catholic diocese. Dolan announced earlier this year he would resign upon turning 75, which is required by Catholic law.

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“I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have,” Leo said last month. “If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice.”

The pope has previously urged local bishops to speak out on social justice concerns and has suggested that people who support the “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” may not be pro-life.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Federal Communications Commission announced on Monday that it would ban new foreign-made drones, citing national security concerns.

The FCC said it was adding uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and their critical components made in China and other foreign countries to its “covered list” that features equipment that has been determined to pose an “unacceptable risk” to U.S. national security and the safety of Americans. Specific drones or components would be exempt if the Pentagon or Department of Homeland Security determined they did not pose such risks.

The distinction prohibits the products from being sold or imported in the U.S. The order does not apply to technology that has already been sold in the U.S.

The agency said that allowing foreign-made UAS and component parts to be sold in the U.S. “undermines the resiliency of our UAS industrial base, increases the risk to our national airspace, and creates a potential for large-scale attacks during large gatherings,” citing upcoming events such as the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

FLORIDA TO USE HUNDREDS OF CONFISCATED CHINESE-MANUFACTURED DRONES AS TARGET PRACTICE FOR US MILITARY

“Criminals, terrorists, and hostile foreign actors have intensified their weaponization of these technologies, creating new and serious threats to our homeland,” the FCC said in its notice.

The announcement comes a year after a defense bill was adopted that raised national security concerns about Chinese-made drones, which have been used in farming, mapping, law enforcement and filmmaking.

The bill called for stopping two Chinese companies — DJI and Autel — from selling new drones in the U.S. if a review found they posed a risk to U.S. national security.

A spokesperson for DJI said in a statement that it is “disappointed” by the FCC’s decision and that “no information has been released regarding what information was used” in the government’s determination to add its drones and component parts to the covered list.

“Concerns about DJI’s data security have not been grounded in evidence and instead reflect protectionism, contrary to the principles of an open market,” the statement said.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party praised the FCC’s move, saying it “strongly supports” the decision.

HEGSETH TEARS UP RED TAPE, ORDERS PENTAGON TO BEGIN DRONE SURGE AT TRUMP’S COMMAND

“It will help safeguard our national security, protect the American people, and wind down the unacceptable national security threat posed by DJI and other Chinese drones,” the committee wrote on X.

“Taken together with the Administration’s recent executive actions to accelerate domestic drone commercialization, this sends an unmistakable signal to American industry: The U.S. is open for drone innovation—and American manufacturing will be rewarded,” it added.

Arthur Erickson, chief executive officer and co-founder of the Texas-based drone-making company Hylio, told The Associated Press that the departure of DJI would provide more opportunity for American companies like his to grow. He said new investments are coming in to help him boost production of spray drones, which farmers use to fertilize their fields, and it will bring down prices.

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But Erickson also called it “crazy” and “unexpected” that the FCC would expand the restrictions to all foreign-made drones and their components.

“The way it’s written is a blanket statement,” Erickson said. “There’s a global-allied supply chain. I hope they will clarify that.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former President Bill Clinton‘s spokesman is calling on the Department of Justice to release any remaining documents related to the former president and Jeffrey Epstein following the DOJ’s document release Friday. 

“We call on President Trump to direct Attorney General Bondi to immediately release any remaining materials referring to, mentioning, or containing a photograph of Bill Clinton,” a statement from Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña on Monday reads. 

“This includes, without limitation, any records that may exist and are subject to disclosure under the Act (Public Law 119–38 enacted Nov. 19, 2025), including grand jury transcripts, interview notes, photographs, and findings by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (as referenced under oath to Congress by President Trump’s first-term Attorney General),” it continued. 

Clinton’s office said that the DOJ’s partial release of Epstein-related documents Friday allegedly shows “someone or something is being protected.” President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan law in November that required the Department of Justice to release all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” within 30 days of Trump’s signature. 

SCHUMER ACCUSES DOJ OF BREAKING THE LAW OVER REDACTED EPSTEIN FILES

“The Epstein Files Transparency Act imposes a clear legal duty on the U.S. Department of Justice to produce the full and complete record the public demands and deserves,” Ureña continued.

“However, what the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection.”

A spokesperson for the DOJ shot back that the statement’s assertions were “ridiculous” later on Monday.

“This is a ridiculous and false assertion,” the DOJ told Fox Digital when asked about Ureña’s statement. “Bill Clinton is desperate to point fingers at anyone to distract from the photographs of him. The Department of Justice will continue to release thousands of pages of material, and no redactions will be made to protect any famous or politically sensitive people.”

The Friday Epstein drop included a handful of photos of Clinton, including him swimming shirtless, posing with music icons such as Michael Jackson, and other redacted photos showing the former president with unidentifiable individuals. 

When asked about the photos when they initially dropped, Ureña directed Fox Digital to a statement he posted to X.

“The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,” he wrote Friday. “This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be. Even Susie Wiles said Donald Trump was wrong about Bill Clinton.”

Ureña said there are “two types of people” involved in the Epstein scandal: those who did not know of Epstein’s crimes and cut him out of their lives upon his conviction and a second group of people who “continued relationships with him after” his crimes came to light.

“We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that,” the Clinton spokesman continued. “Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats.” 

Files that included victims’ names, child sex abuse materials, classified materials or other materials that could threaten an active investigation were allowed to be withheld or redacted by the DOJ, per the transparency law. 

Trump was asked about the number of photos showing Clinton from the DOJ’s Friday release, saying: “I hate to see photos come out of him, but this is what the Democrats, mostly Democrats and a couple of bad Republicans, are asking for.”

“There were a lot of people that are angry about all of the pictures of other people, you know, but I think it’s terrible. Look, I don’t like the … I like Bill Clinton. I’ve always gotten along with Bill Clinton, have been nice to him. He’s been nice to me. We’ve always gotten along. I respect him,” Trump said Monday while taking questions from the media surrounding his shipbuilding announcement. 

“Everybody was friendly with this guy, either friendly or not friendly,” Trump said of Epstein, noting he was also in Epstein’s orbit before he “threw him out” of Mar-a-Lago back in the 2000s. “He was all over Palm Beach and other places. The head of Harvard was his best friend, Larry Summers, and Bill Clinton was a friend of his, but everybody was.”

DOJ RESTORES TRUMP PHOTO TO EPSTEIN FILES AFTER DETERMINING NO VICTIMS DEPICTED

The Trump DOJ released thousands of files related to the Epstein investigations throughout the years, with the department expected to release additional documents in the coming days. Democrats have slammed the DOJ and Trump over the slow release of the documents following the president signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law. 

“The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schummer said in a press release Monday, teeing up litigation against the administration over the release. “Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law. Today, I am introducing a resolution to force the Senate to take legal action and compel this administration to comply.”

Epstein was a well-connected financier with a lengthy Rolodex of billionaires and celebrities who floated in and out of his orbit across the years. He was convicted of sex trafficking minors in 2008 and served just more than one year of incarceration, which also included a controversial work-release arrangement under a plea agreement. 

He was arrested again in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell by suicide. 

WOMAN WHO FILED A COMPLAINT AGAINST EPSTEIN TO CLINTON FBI VINDICATED AFTER DOJ RELEASE OF FILES

MAGA supporters have claimed that Epstein kept an alleged “client list” of high-profile names that he used to blackmail individuals in a web of sex trafficking and crimes. The Department of Justice announced over the summer, however, that there was “no incriminating ‘client list'” of prominent individuals involved in an alleged sex trafficking scheme, nor that Epstein blackmailed anyone on such list. 

The DOJ previously reported that the evidence shows Epstein did in fact commit suicide, which contradicted speculation on social media that Epstein was murdered in his jail cell in 2019, which set off criticisms among Trump supporters to release further documents on the case, with Democrats joining those calls while invoking questions about Trump’s relationship with Epstein. 

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Trump has slammed the calls as part of a “Democrat hoax” while defending that he “threw him out” of Mar-a-Lago after he “stole” employees from the private club in his falling out with Epstein in the 2000s.

Fox News Digital reached out the Department of Justice Monday afternoon regarding Urena’s latest statement, but did not immediately receive a reply.

Over the past year, Fox News Digital has extensively reported on controversies surrounding “radical” teachers and administrators at universities across the country pushing far-left agenda items and sparking outrage from parents’ rights groups about liberal indoctrination on college campuses. 

As the Trump administration’s ICE raids cracking down on illegal immigration made headlines in Chicago, Fox News Digital was first to report on University of Chicago associate professor Eman Abdelhadi, who was arrested for aggravated assault at an anti-ICE rally and unloaded on former Vice President Dick Cheney upon the news of his death.

Universities across the country have faced scrutiny for continuing to push Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion curriculum despite the Trump administration’s crackdown on the practice. In Florida, Fox News Digital first reported that Dr. Haywood Brown, associate vice president of academic affairs at the University of South Florida, touted in an unearthed recording how he has been avoiding DEI laws while attacking state and federal officials, including top White House official Stephen Miller.

Brown resigned shortly after Fox News Digital’s reporting after pressure from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said in a statement, “Our office has immediately ensured his relationship with our university system has ended.”

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“I love breaking rules,” UNC Asheville dean of students Megan Pugh said in an undercover video produced by Accuracy in Media and first reported by Fox News Digital in June as the administrator described how DEI is still alive and well at the school but, “you gotta keep it quiet.”

A spokesperson later told Fox News Digital that Pugh is no longer employed by the university. 

Stacey Patton, a professor of journalism at Howard University, called on White political allies to emulate vigilante mass murderer John Brown in a controversial blog post, Fox News Digital reported in October.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk sparked numerous examples of professors on college campuses justifying, downplaying or making controversial statements about his death, which Fox News Digital reported on extensively.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA SITE WARNS OF A ‘WHITENESS PANDEMIC,’ URGES WHITE PARENTS TO ‘RE-EDUCATE’

Less than 24 hours after Kirk was killed, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of New Hampshire, took to social media to criticize the slain conservative leader.

Fox News Digital was first to report on George Washington University administrator Anthony Pohorilak, who is no longer employed by the school after posting on social media his theory as to why Kirk’s murder was “fair.”

Fox News Digital reported on other professors disparaging Charlie Kirk at the University of Pennsylvania, Fort Hays State University, Louisiana State University and several other universities. 

Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, found itself facing criticism from professors on college campuses, including from Rutgers University professor Tia Kolbaba, who signed an online petition that sought to disband the school’s Turning Point USA chapter from campus. 

At the University of Oklahoma, Fox News Digital reported on a professor who uses she/they pronouns facing disciplinary action after flunking student Samantha Fulnecky on an essay wherein Fulnecky invoked her Christian beliefs and the Bible.

UNCOVERED DOCS SHOW TOP TEACHERS UNION GUIDING GENDER TRANSITIONS, BASHING CONSERVATIVES: ‘INSANE ASYLUM’

Fox News Digital extensively reported on a professor at Rutgers University, known as “Dr. Antifa,” who made headlines for fleeing the United States earlier this year and is set to teach a history seminar on communism next spring.

The professor, Mark Bray, is best known for his book, “Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook,” published in 2017, and once portrayed doxing as a legitimate tactic for use against political opponents in his seminal work. 

In September, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill placed a professor who is a member of a far-left gun club on administrative leave, Fox News Digital exclusively reported.

The professor, Dwayne Dixon, was later reinstated after the school “found no basis to conclude that he poses a threat to University students, staff and faculty, or has engaged in conduct that violates University policy.” 

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In Chicago, at a “No Kings” protest where residents rallied against President Trump, a staff member from Wilbur Wright College was captured on video calling for federal immigration agents to be shot. A school spokesperson later said the institution “does not tolerate violence” and that the staffer is no longer employed.

Just this week, Fox News Digital reported on University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Gabriel Rodriguez and leaked PowerPoint lessons from a first-year education course showing extreme left-wing bias on the topic of illegal immigration, as well as race and gender.

Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca and Preson Mizell contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) internal watchdog has confirmed that the agency’s publicly reported phone service data was accurate and that performance improved during fiscal year 2025, according to a new audit completed after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioned whether the figures could be trusted.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the SSA’s national 800-number telephone metrics and found that the data the agency released to the public was correct, and that overall service improved during fiscal year 2025, according to a draft audit report provided to agency leadership ahead of public release. The report did not issue any recommendations to the agency.

The review was initiated after Warren expressed concerns in June about long wait times and the reliability of SSA’s phone performance data. She formally requested an audit on July 24, prompting SSA Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano, who serves under President Donald Trump, to agree to an independent review by the watchdog.

The audit found that SSA served 68 million callers during fiscal year 2025, either through live agents or automated systems, a 65% increase from the prior year. Average wait times fluctuated early in the year but improved steadily, according to the audit, ending the fiscal year at roughly seven minutes in September after peaking at about 30 minutes in January.

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The metric cited by the agency, known as Average Speed of Answer, measures only the time callers actively wait on hold before speaking to an employee and does not include time spent waiting for callbacks.

“Last year, people waited 40 minutes on the phone, and now they’re in single digits. We’re doing twice as many calls,” Bisignano said.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Bisignano said the audit confirmed what agency leadership had been reporting publicly about improvements in service levels.

“Senator Warren was completely wrong in everything that she was saying, and it’s now been proven out,” Bisignano said, citing the watchdog’s finding that SSA’s publicly reported telephone metrics were calculated accurately.

Bisignano said he welcomed the audit and was confident the data would withstand independent scrutiny.

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The inspector general’s report concluded that SSA’s telephone performance improved during fiscal year 2025 largely because of operational changes, including the rollout of a new cloud-based telecommunications platform, expanded automation and staffing realignments. The platform, implemented in August 2024, allowed SSA to increase call capacity, expand self-service options and monitor performance in real time, according to the report.

The watchdog also confirmed that SSA’s internal data-verification process ensured accuracy by comparing raw data with reported metrics and working with vendors to resolve any discrepancies. The audit found no evidence that the agency misrepresented its national 800-number performance.

Bisignano said improvements were driven by a combination of technology, process changes and workforce adjustments.

The report explains that SSA experienced especially high call volumes between January and March 2025 due to Medicare and tax-related questions, as well as the implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, which affected more than 3.2 million beneficiaries. 

Despite the surge, the agency reduced average wait times over the course of the year.

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The audit also found that about 25 million calls during fiscal year 2025 ended without callers receiving service, either because callers disconnected, did not answer callback attempts or encountered busy signals. Those calls were not included in the agency’s wait-time metrics.

Automation played a growing role in absorbing the surge. According to the audit, automated systems handled an average of nearly 2.9 million calls per month in fiscal year 2025, up from about 300,000 per month the year before. Automated services allowed callers to complete common tasks without speaking to a live agent, reducing pressure on phone lines.

The inspector general also reviewed how SSA calculates its Average Speed of Answer metric, which measures the time callers actively wait on hold before speaking to an employee. The audit clarified that callers who accept a callback are counted as having zero active wait time, a methodology that reduces the average but does not include the time callers wait to receive callbacks.

Bisignano said transparency about how the numbers are calculated is essential.

“We figured out how to leverage technology, process engineering, and human capital,” he said.

Staffing changes also contributed to the turnaround. Early in fiscal year 2025, the number of employees available to answer national 800-number calls declined by about 13%. By July, SSA began assigning roughly 1,000 field office employees each day to help handle national call volume. The audit found that this coincided with sharp improvements in wait times, with Average Speed of Answer dropping from about 13 minutes in June to roughly 7.5 minutes in July.

The audit did not evaluate service levels or wait times at local Social Security field offices.

Beyond wait times, the audit found that service quality remained high. About 87% of callers who responded to post-call surveys said their issue was resolved on the first contact. The survey results reflect feedback from callers who reached an SSA employee and do not include callers who only used automated services.

Bisignano said the improvements matter most for seniors and beneficiaries who rely on Social Security services.

“We’re investing in Social Security and servicing the American public at a level they’ve never been serviced before,” he said. “We’ll meet you where you want to be met: on the phone, in the field offices or on the web.”

He added that people who haven’t called the agency recently may be surprised by how much has changed.

“What would surprise them the most is how quickly they can get their phone call answered,” he said.

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Looking ahead, Bisignano said the agency plans to continue expanding digital services and reducing backlogs, including in disability claims, while maintaining accountability through ongoing oversight.

“Expect us to always have double-digit improvements in every metric we have,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

The OIG report in full can be read here.

“The bottom line is that Donald Trump’s Social Security chief lied about call wait times to cover up his customer service mess,” Sen. Warren said in an email to Fox News Digital. “This new watchdog report reveals that true wait times were more than three times higher than what Commissioner Bisignano claimed, and tens of millions of callers were simply unable to get help on the phone at all.”

President Donald Trump announced a new fleet of ships Monday, known as the “Golden Fleet,” as he revealed he approved plans for two new “very large battleships.”

“As you know, we’re desperately in need of ships. Our ships are some of them have gotten old and tired and obsolete,” Trump said, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan.

Trump said the new ships would be “100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,” in an address from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Renderings behind the president showed the new “Trump class,” including one named the USS Defiant. 

“We haven’t built a battleship since 1994. These cutting-edge vessels will be some of the most lethal surface warfare ships … other than our submarines.”

Trump said the Navy would immediately start procuring two ships, working up to 10 and eventually 20 ships to 25 ships in total, and would aim to have the first two within two and a half years. 

Trump described the ships as heavily armed platforms combining missiles and traditional naval guns, arguing that gun-based firepower could deliver combat effects at a fraction of the cost of missiles. Each ship would displace more than 30,000 tons to 40,000 tons and serve as a flagship of the U.S. fleet, he said.

The president said the battleships would be equipped with advanced weapons, including hypersonic missiles, electric rail guns and high-powered laser systems, as well as nuclear-capable sea-launched cruise missiles currently under development. Trump also said the ships would feature state-of-the-art defensive systems and carry what he described as “tremendous numbers of missiles.”

Trump denied that the ships were meant to counter China. 

“It’s a counter to everybody. It’s not China, we get along great with China,” Trump said. “I have a great relationship with President Xi and it’s not China. It’s, just everybody you don’t know who comes along, but, we just wanted peace through strength.”

The announcement comes amid an ongoing debate within defense circles over the future of the U.S. fleet, with recent naval strategy emphasizing submarines, unmanned systems and more distributed surface forces.

Some defense planners have argued that large surface ships can be more visible and vulnerable targets in modern, missile-heavy conflicts, while others argue larger platforms can provide greater firepower, endurance and command-and-control capabilities.

He pointed to World War II-era shipbuilding as a model, noting that the U.S. once produced multiple ships per day, compared with what he described as today’s slower production pace.

Trump also tied the battleship announcement to a broader push to accelerate U.S. defense production. He said he plans to meet next week with major defense contractors to demand faster delivery timelines, increased capital investment in new factories, and limits on stock buybacks and executive compensation.

“We make the best equipment in the world, but they don’t make it fast enough,” Trump said, arguing that companies should reinvest profits into production capacity rather than dividends and buybacks.

“I mean, I have sold more planes than any president by far times, probably 20. So every time I go someplace, I sell 100 planes,” he said. “And I’m always having to say five years, six years, seven years helicopters, Apache helicopters, many years.”

The announcement comes at a time when the Trump administration has elevated shipbuilding to a White House–level priority, establishing a dedicated office to oversee maritime industrial policy and signaling a broader push to expand U.S. naval capacity.

Defense leaders for years have warned that the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base has struggled to keep pace with demand, citing workforce shortages, fragile supplier networks, aging infrastructure, and persistent delays at major shipyards.

Navy leaders have long pointed to shifting requirements and design changes after construction has begun as another factor driving delays and cost growth in major shipbuilding programs.

In April, Trump signed an executive order declaring the erosion of America’s shipbuilding and maritime workforce a national security risk, directing a government-wide overhaul aimed at expanding domestic shipbuilding, stabilizing long-term funding, strengthening the workforce and countering China’s dominance in global ship production.

Inside the Navy, Phelan has echoed that urgency, warning that the service must “act like we’re at war,” with shipbuilding and weapons production speeds. He has moved to overhaul the Navy’s acquisition culture, launching a new Rapid Capabilities Office designed to cut development timelines, enforce accountability and push new technology into the fleet faster than traditional Pentagon procurement allows.

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U.S. officials warn the shipbuilding crunch is colliding with an enormous capacity gap with China: the Office of Naval Intelligence has assessed that China has roughly 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the United States, a disparity that has helped Beijing expand its fleet far faster than American yards can produce new hulls.

While U.S. officials say the Navy retains a technological edge in areas such as undersea warfare and carrier operations, they warn that China’s growing fleet size and industrial capacity are narrowing that advantage.

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The U.S. Navy currently operates about 294 warships, while China now fields the world’s largest navy by hull count, with more than 370 ships in service.

At the same time, several of the Navy’s marquee programs have struggled with delays and cost growth, including the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine, the Virginia-class attack submarine and the Constellation-class frigate, which has faced schedule pressure amid design and requirements changes.

More than 125 congressional Democrats are pushing the Trump administration to withdraw a proposed rule that would open the door to denying a person a green card if they use public assistance, including Medicaid or food stamps.

“This proposal punishes families for caring for their children. It would scare parents away from health care, food assistance, and early education that U.S. citizen children are legally entitled to, putting kids at risk and destabilizing entire communities,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement to The Hill.

“Congress never intended public charge to be used this way, and we are demanding DHS withdraw this harmful proposal before it inflicts real and lasting damage on American families,” Espaillat added.

The Department of Homeland Security‘s proposal would rescind a rule adopted in 2022 under the Biden administration that reinstated a long-standing but relatively narrow definition of “public charge.”

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The 2022 rule defined a “public charge” as someone “primarily dependent” on government assistance, particularly people receiving cash assistance for income maintenance or nursing home care at government expense. Most non-cash benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps did not count toward a public charge determination under that rule.

DHS’ new proposal argues that the Biden-era policy is a “straitjacket” on immigration officers that prevents them from considering “all factors and information relevant to an alien’s likelihood at any time of becoming a public charge.”

Opponents of the Trump administration’s proposed rule change fear it would open the door to widespread rejection of green cards for people who would otherwise qualify and that it would lead immigrants to not seek assistance they could qualify for over concerns that it could impact their green card applications.

If the proposal is finalized, the Trump administration would not have a formal definition of what it means to be a public charge. This would give immigration officials broader discretion to consider a wider array of factors and potentially additional types of benefits in determining what constitutes a public charge, moving away from the narrow “primarily dependent” factor that was included in the 2022 rule.

In urging the federal government to abandon the proposal, 127 Democrats said the rule would create “immediate and widespread uncertainty,” according to The Hill.

The Democrat lawmakers argue in formal comments that immigration officers would be forced to make a public charge determination with little guidance.

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“Removing these definitions invites arbitrary decision-making and creates significant risk that adjudicators will rely on factors that Congress has not authorized,” the lawmakers wrote to DHS.

“The proposed rule contains no assurance that adjudicators will refrain from considering benefits received during periods when the federal government expressly stated that such benefits had no immigration consequences,” they continued.

The lawmakers also said the proposed rule opens the door to penalizing people who previously used assistance programs when there was no risk for accessing the benefits.

“Families seeking adjustment of status — including refugees, survivors of domestic violence or trafficking, children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned, and others whom Congress has long exempted from punitive public charge treatment — cannot navigate a system where the rules shift without warning and where past, lawful conduct that the federal government had stated was permissible could be reinterpreted as a negative factor,” they wrote.

“To be very clear, the proposed rule will trigger a massive chilling effect, driving eligible families away from essential assistance in health care, nutrition, childcare, and education, with the heaviest harm falling on U.S. citizen children,” the lawmakers said.

Another group of Democrats also submitted comments taking issue with the plan to change the longstanding definition of a public charge.

“Since the term was first codified as an immigration restriction in 1882, it has been consistently interpreted to mean an individual who is, or is likely to become, primarily dependent on the government for his or her care (i.e., someone who is effectively a ‘charge’ or ward of the state),” Rep. Jaime Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the top Democrat on their respective chambers’ Judiciary committees, said in comments signed by additional lawmakers, according to The Hill.

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“Over the years, the method for determining such ‘primary dependence’ has changed, but the principle itself has remained steadfast,” they added.

Under the 2019 public charge rule issued during Trump’s first term, immigration officers were instructed to reject applicants who used public programs.

The Department of War announced Monday that the Pentagon is partnering with Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem to deploy Grok across its government systems.

The agency said the “frontier‑grade” capabilities of xAI’s Grok family of models will be integrated into the department’s recently launched AI platform, GenAI.mil. 

As soon as early 2026, the partnership will allow the Department’s 3 million military and civilian personnel to safely access more advanced AI tools for everyday tasks, including handling sensitive government information.

According to xAI, its tools can support administrative tasks at the federal, state and local levels, as well as ‘critical mission use cases’ at the front line of military operations.

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“Today, the War Department officially entered into an agreement with xAI, paving the way for the deployment of its advanced capabilities on GenAI.mil,” the department said. “This move builds on the rapid deployment of cutting‑edge AI across the Department’s 3 million military and civilian personnel.”

The tools will allow employees to use xAI safely on secure government systems for routine work, including tasks involving sensitive but unclassified information, without violating security protocols.

With xAI designed to analyze real-time data, the War Department said the partnership would give personnel “a decisive information advantage.” 

Grok will give personnel access to live information from X, providing the War Department with faster situational awareness around the globe, the department said.

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xAI added that the partnership could lead to potential future classified workloads. 

“Through an ongoing, long-term partnership with the DoW and other mission partners, xAI will make available a family of government-optimized foundation models to support classified operational workloads,” the company said.

The War Department said that it will continue to scale its AI ecosystem for speed, security and decision superiority.

“This announcement marks another milestone in America’s AI revolution, and the War Department is driving that momentum forward,” the department said. 

“These two new partnerships are part of our longstanding support of the United States Government and xAI’s mission to bring the best tools and technologies available in industry to benefit our nation,” xAI added.

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The collaboration marks another chapter in Elon Musk’s long-running relationship with government initiatives.  

Musk previously helped lead the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, where he briefly reformed operations and cut excess spending within the federal government.