NationalWatch

Multiple conversations are ongoing on Sunday — some in person but most on the phone — as House Republicans try to lock in agreements for the big, beautiful bill.

Three areas are outstanding overall. Two are specific to the Budget Committee, which reconvenes Sunday night.

Republicans are trying to work out a final pact on green energy tax credits, which could be a major payfor in the bill. The other item is work requirements for Medicaid recipients — and when those kick in.

Fox News is told that prospective deals on this front will likely be handshake pacts or “gentlemen’s agreements,” as it was phrased to Fox News.

REPUBLICANS READY LATE-NIGHT SESSION ON TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ AFTER GOP MUTINY

The other issue in question is the SALT deduction. That refers to state and local tax breaks for high-tax states. That provision is of the utmost importance to court the votes of moderate Republicans from New York and California.

The “SALT caucus” wanted a tax write-off, which might cost as much as $600 billion. The new proposal only costs $230 billion. Fox News is told they are trying to forge a compromise which grants a higher SALT deduction at the beginning of the bill’s implementation — and then dials that back over the 10-year budgetary window for the bill.

Remember, this measure must not add to the deficit over that decade-long budgetary timeframe in order to qualify for a special process to avoid a filibuster in the Senate.

Fox is told that nothing will change in the bill before the Budget Committee on Sunday night. The White House is currently addressing how to implement possible changes with a “manager’s amendment” before the Rules Committee later this week. That would finalize and lock in stone the actual text of the bill.

Fox is told that the GOP leadership believes they are certainly within range. The GOP brass is generally feeling good at where they stand, “so long as people don’t start adding things,” said one senior House Republican leadership source.

HOUSE GOP UNVEILS MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The overall goal is to post the text of the bill early this week and go to the Rules Committee on Wednesday with a possible vote on Thursday. But one senior GOP source told Fox the timetable could be expedited with a Tuesday Rules Committee meeting — where changes would be made — and maybe go to the floor on Wednesday.

Now, on to what will likely happen on Sunday night in the Budget Committee:

The resolution, mashing together the text from all the other committees, failed on Friday afternoon. The process can’t move forward unless they get the measure out of the Budget Committee. Hence, Sunday’s 10 p.m. ET meeting.

There will be little if any debate — it’s only about that math. Either the GOP leadership and the White House have satisfied the concerns of those who voted nay or they haven’t. In fact, if things go swimmingly, this could be wrapped up after 20 minutes or so.

Here’s what it will look like:

The first vote is the “motion to reconsider” the failed Friday vote. If that fails, they are stuck.

But if they get over that hurdle, it’s on to an actual re-vote of what failed on Friday. This is the key vote. If the Budget Committee greenlights the package at this stage, it’s on to the Rules Committee this week and then the floor.

There will be five non-binding votes after that key vote on issues we don’t need to worry about.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the timing of a potential face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin regarding a ceasefire deal in Ukraine in an interview that aired Sunday. 

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday while returning to Washington, D.C., from Abu Dhabi that no peace in Ukraine would be reached until he met with Putin in person. The president added in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he planned to speak with Putin on the phone on Monday, followed by a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some NATO leaders. 

Meanwhile, Rubio — who attended Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass in Rome on Sunday — said the Vatican has offered to host a direct meeting between Ukraine, Russia and possibly other parties. 

“Obviously, the Vatican has made a very generous offer to host anything — by the way, not just a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, but any meeting, including at a technical level, you know — any meetings that need to be hosted, they’ve expressed a willingness to do so. So it’s a very generous offer that may be taken up on,” Rubio told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that was recorded on Saturday. “I mean, it would be a site that all parties would feel comfortable. So hopefully we’ll get to that stage where talks are happening on a regular basis, and that the Vatican will have the opportunity to be one of the options.” 

ZELENSKYY SHEDS DETAILS ON MEETING WITH VANCE, RUBIO IN ROME AFTER RUSSIA PEACE TALKS STALL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and Vice President JD Vance, right, greet each other as Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s formal inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on Sunday.  (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Rubio had a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Saturday after Putin was a no-show to a face-to-face meeting the Russian leader called with Zelenskyy in Turkey last week. Despite Putin’s absence, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations did agree to a prisoner exchange of 1,000 people from each side, though a broader ceasefire or peace deal failed to materialize. 

CBS host Margaret Brennan asked Rubio if he spoke with Lavrov about lining up a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin. 

“Well, we talked about a variety of things,” said Rubio. “I wanted to get his readout on his view of how the talks went yesterday. They were not a complete waste of time. For example, there were 1,000 prisoners that are going to be exchanged, and that, from a humanitarian standpoint, is very positive. He explained to me that they are going to be preparing a document outlining their requirements for a ceasefire that would then lead to broader negotiations.”

Rubio said the Ukrainians will be working on their own proposal coming soon, and he hoped proposals from both sides would be “serious and viable.”

“So we’ll have to wait and see. But he wanted me to know, and he communicated in our call, that their side will be working on a series of ideas and requirements that they would have in order to move forward with a ceasefire and further negotiations,” he said.

Rubio said the U.S. is “testing” whether the Russian are just “tapping” them along, as Trump has suggested could be the case. 

From left: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrive for a meeting at the Chigi Palace in Rome on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

ZELENSKYY SPEAKS WITH TRUMP, ALLIES AFTER RUSSIA PEACE TALKS BROKER NO CEASEFIRE

“On the one hand, we’re trying to achieve peace and end a very bloody, costly and destructive war. So there’s some element of patience that is required. On the other hand, we don’t have time to waste,” Rubio said. “There are a lot of other things happening in the world that we also need to be paying attention to. So we don’t want to be involved in this process of just endless talks — there has to be some progress, some movement forward. And if at the end of this, in the next few days, we get a document produced by both sides, and it shows that both sides are… making concessions and being realistic and rational in their approach, then I think we can feel good about continuing to remain engaged.”

“If, on the other hand, what we see is not very productive, perhaps we’ll have a different assessment. I also agree that, ultimately, one of the things that could help break this logjam — perhaps the only thing that can — is a direct conversation between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. And he’s already openly expressed a desire and a belief that that needs to happen, and hopefully that’ll be worked out soon as well,” he added.

Pressed on whether the in-person talks between Trump and Putin were being planned, Rubio reiterated that the president had already made that offer publicly. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, flanked by Tajani’s wife, Brunella Orecchio, left, and Rubio’s wife, Jeanette Dousdebes, right, meet at Villa Madama in Rome on Saturday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

“The mechanics of setting that kind of meeting up would require a little bit of work, so I can’t say that’s being planned as we speak in terms of picking a site and a date,” Rubio said. “But the president wants to do it. He wants to do it as soon as feasible. I think the Russian side has also expressed a willingness to do it. And so, now it’s just a question of bringing them, bringing everyone together, and figuring out where and when and that meeting will happen and what it will be about.”

Rubio joined Vice President JD Vance in meeting with Zelenskyy at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Rome on Sunday. 

Vance and Rubio later met with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for discussions on trade, the war in Ukraine and NATO spending, according to a spokesperson for the vice president. 

“The individual countries within Europe are important allies of the United States. But, of course, we have some disagreements, as friends sometimes do, on issues like trade, and we also have many agreements and many things we can work on together, and I’m looking forward to the conversation,” Vance told reporters at the top of the meeting. 

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After the meeting, the vice president’s office released a statement saying that “the leaders discussed their shared goal of ending the bloodshed in Ukraine and provided updates on the current state of negotiations for a ceasefire and lasting peace.” 

Fox News’ Meghan Tomes and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday defended the “aggressive” timetable he is pushing to advance President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” saying the House remains on track to pass the “historic” legislative package by Memorial Day. 

The House Budget Committee will reconvene at 10 p.m. Sunday night after a vote to advance the more than 1,100-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” failed Friday, when five Republicans sided with committee Democrats to sink Trump’s sweeping tax bill. 

“We’re on track, working around the clock to deliver this nation-shaping legislation for the American people as soon as possible,” Johnson said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” regarding ongoing negotiations. “All 11 of our committees have wrapped up their work, and they spent less and saved more than even we’ve projected initially. This really is a once in a generation opportunity that we have here.” 

WH STUDY WARNS 9 MILLION AMERICANS COULD LOSE HEALTH INSURANCE IN ‘MAJOR’ RECESSION IF TRUMP BUDGET BILL FAILS

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol on May 6, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)

After the bill advances through the budget committee, Johnson said the plan is to move the legislative package to the House Rules Committee by mid-week and then to the House floor by the end of the week “so we meet our initial, our original Memorial Day deadline.” 

“It’s very important for people to understand why we’re being so aggressive on the timetable and why this really is so important,” Johnson said. “This is the vehicle through which we will deliver on the mandate the American people gave us during the last election. You’re going to have historic savings for the American people, historic tax relief for American workers, historic investments in border security.

“At the same time, we’re restoring American energy dominance, and we’re rebuilding the defense industrial base, and we’re ensuring that programs like Medicaid and SNAP are strengthened for U.S. citizens who need and deserve them and not being squandered away by illegal aliens and persons who are ineligible to receive them and are cheating the system,” he added.

Johnson reiterated that making Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent by 2026 is critical and stressed that the package also eliminates taxes on overtime and tips – a 2024 Trump campaign promise. He said it also includes new tax relief for seniors on Social Security and cuts taxes on “job creators, so that will help everybody across the country at the same time as incentivizing American-made production and manufacturing.” 

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., arrives for a meeting of House Republicans in the Capitol Visitor Center on the budget reconciliation bill on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

HANDFUL OF REPUBLICANS SINK TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ IN KEY HOUSE COMMITTEE

“This is a big thing. We cannot fail, and we’ll get it done for the American people,” Johnson said. 

South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman and Texas Rep. Chip Roy are among critics from Johnson’s own party who say the speaker is not serious about cutting spending. They want work requirements for able-bodied adult Medicaid recipients to be implemented sooner than 2029 – a view Johnson told “Fox News Sunday” that he shares, but the speaker added there is concern over the ability of the states to “retool their systems and ensure the verification process” can be enforced. 

“We’re working through all those details, and we’ll get it done, but I’ll tell you what, this is the largest spending reduction in at least three decades, probably longer. It’s historic,” Johnson said, adding that the package has the support of Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, as well as “nearly 500 organizations across the conservative spectrum” including fiscally responsible groups who believe “that we’ve got to turn the tide in spending.”

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, listens during a mark-up meeting with the House Budget Committee on Capitol Hill on May 16, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“We are. This is our opportunity to do it. It’s once in a generation, as I’ve said, and we can’t squander it,” Johnson said. 

The speaker said that while he is confident he will be able to reach a compromise on the Medicaid work requirement to squash internal disputes, Republican leadership does not expect a single Democrat to vote for the bill. 

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“Which means that they will be on record apparently supporting the largest tax increase in U.S. history, which is what will happen by default after the end of this year if we do not get this job done. We have to accomplish this mission, and we will.,” Johnson said.

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy in Rome Sunday for ongoing peace talks as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues. 

“During our talks we discussed negotiations in Istanbul to where the Russians sent a low-level delegation of non-decision-makers. I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible,” Zelenskyy shared on X of the meeting. 

“We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange. Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war. And, of course, we talked about our joint steps to achieve a just and durable peace,” he continued. 

ZELENSKYY SPEAKS WITH TRUMP, ALLIES AFTER RUSSIA PEACE TALKS BROKER NO CEASEFIRE

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN, MAY 18: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) and United States Vice President JD Vance (R) wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV for a Mass celebrating the inauguration of his pontificate in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on May 18, 2025. (Photo by Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images)

World leaders converged in Rome this weekend for Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass at the Vatican on Sunday, with Vance leading the U.S. delegation. Zelenskyy also attended the mass. 

The meeting comes after Russian and Ukrainian officials held their first direct peace talks in years last week in Istanbul. The two sides, however, failed to reach a ceasefire agreement for a war that has raged since February of 2022. 

Hours after the meeting, a Russian drone strike hit a passenger bus in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday. 

TRUMP SAYS PUTIN IS ‘TIRED’ OF RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Russia and Ukraine did agree to a large prisoner swap during the meeting last week, despite not reaching a ceasefire. 

President Donald Trump said on Friday, during his four-day tour of the Middle East, that he wants to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war “as soon as we can set it up.” 

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) is greeted by US Vice President JD Vance (R) and Seond Lady Usha Vance prior to a Holy Mass for the Beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, in St Peter’s square in The Vatican on May 18, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JACQUELYN MARTIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump added in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he will speak to Putin by phone on Monday, which will be followed by another call to Zelenskyy and NATO leaders as the U.S. continues to work to broker a peace deal between the two nations as negotiations drag. 

TRUMP, AFTER SKIPPING RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE TALKS, WANTS TO MEET PUTIN ‘AS SOON AS WE CAN SET IT UP’

“I WILL BE SPEAKING, BY TELEPHONE, TO PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN OF RUSSIA ON MONDAY, AT 10:00 A.M. THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK,” Trump posted on his Truth Social Saturday.

ROME, ITALY – MAY 18: From left, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pose prior to a meeting at the Chigi Palace on May 18, 2025 in Rome, Italy. U.S. Vice President JD Vance is in Rome to attend the inauguration mass of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin – Pool/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

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“HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END,” Trump said. “GOD BLESS US ALL!!!”

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump‘s nominees consistently engage with Democrats who challenge them in increasingly viral hearing moments that analysts say are not intended as gifts to the media, but red meat for their base.

The media understands Democrats have little power on a Republican-dominated Capitol Hill, according to Bill D’Agostino, senior analyst for the Media Research Center.

“If you were to watch any given night on CNN or MSNBC evening shows, you’ll find a couple of panel discussion segments that are basically just Democratic strategists and the host talking shop,” he told Fox News Digital in a Thursday interview.

“The discussion has focused almost entirely on how can Democrats show their voters that they’re trying to fight this, that they’re trying to make a difference, that they’re resisting the Trump administration.”

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY DEFENDS TRUMP’S FIRING OF INSPECTORS GENERAL

Partisan politics has come to a point, D’Agostino suggested, where constituents send Democrats to Washington to stop Trump at every turn, regardless of ideological alignment or differences.

“Obviously, as the minority party, there’s not much action they can actually offer. So instead, their political futures basically rest on how hard they’re trying to stop Trump.”

One of the most contentious exchanges occurred during FBI Director Kash Patel’s January confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., dug into granular language used by Patel after the Capitol riot in regard to a song released by inmates that featured Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Patel told Schiff he stood by prior testimony that he had had nothing to do with the recording of the song, while the Burbank Democrat grilled him over a comment to former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon about “what we thought would be cool… captur[ing] audio” for the song.

Schiff asked why he said that, and Patel incredulously shot back “that’s why it says, ‘we’ [as opposed to I] as you highlighted.” Patel denied participating in the digitizing of the song.

The exchange was compared to former President Bill Clinton’s grammatical comments about the word “is” during the Monica Lewinsky affair.

During Attorney General Pam Bondi’s confirmation, Schiff was at the fore again, demanding she disclose whether she might prosecute former special counsel Jack Smith over his Trump probe. Bondi repeatedly said she wouldn’t answer hypothetical, and dinged Schiff in response for focusing on Smith while his own California is rife with violent crime.

RFK Jr, left, Kash Patel, center, Adam Schiff, right (Getty)

Bondi also snapped back at Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., after a grilling on the Fourteenth Amendment and citizenship, saying, “I’m not here to do your homework and study for you.”

During Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hearing, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., delved into Hegseth’s multiple marriages and allegations of untoward behavior.

Kaine said Hegseth had “casually cheated” on a former wife shortly after his daughter Gwendolyn was born. Hegseth countered that the situation had been investigated and that Kaine’s claims were “false charges.”

“You’ve admitted that you had sex at that hotel in October 2017. You said it was consensual, isn’t that correct?” Kaine went on, probing further.

BONDI ANNOUNCES ONE OF LARGEST FENTANYL SEIZURES IN US HISTORY

Hegseth also made headlines when he interrupted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., mid-sentence as she criticized the revolving door among military generals, Pentagon chiefs, and defense contractors.

“I’m not a general, senator,” he said, prompting laughter in the gallery.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also had several similar moments, including when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., opened his remarks by speaking about the measles and telling the nominee bluntly, “You frighten people.”

Kennedy also rejected a line of questioning from Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., claiming that he had compared the Atlanta-based CDC’s work to Nazi death camps.

Outbursts and grilling continued in recent oversight hearings, including this past week when Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., got into a tiff with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem about Salvadoran deportee Kilmar Garcia. At one point, Swalwell informed Noem he has a “bull—t detector.”

Mark Bednar, a former top aide to ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was one of many “sherpas” tasked with guiding nominees through the confirmation process, including meetings with senators.

Bednar assisted EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin through his process, which, by comparison to others, was mild.

Zeldin’s hearing actually included some bipartisan joking – like when Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., riffed that Zeldin’s cell phone rang unexpectedly because “the fossil fuel industry” was calling him after a line of questioning on the matter.

SWALWELL WARNS NOEM HE HAS A ‘BULLS—’ DETECTOR DURING HEATED EXCHANGE ABOUT ABREGO GARCIA

Bednar recounted a loud protester in the hall who remained for some time, offering conjecture that the disruptive woman hadn’t yet crossed any legal lines like protesters actually inside hearing rooms like during Kennedy’s confirmation.

But Bednar said that many of the other nominees faced Democrats who would rather make a show than “be diplomatic and deliberative over policy.”

“I think that is a big indicator to me that the left has no substantive answers for rebuttals to President Trump’s agenda or Republicans’ agenda. And that, to me, is a sign that if you’re a Republican, that that’s encouraging — the public’s on your side, and the far left has been unable to formulate a rational, level-headed response, much less not even be able to articulate one.”

Fox News Digital reached out to other sherpas but did not hear back.

Meanwhile, Bednar said that it has been interesting to watch the hearing disruptions evolve into larger scenes with similarly little substance or long-term gain.

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“I thought I was very rich and pun intended, that Cory Booker delivered a record-breaking speech that the Democrats were basically just grasping for anything to kind of count as a win, even though it didn’t really amount to anything,” he said, after the New Jersey Democrat held an unofficial filibuster – as there was no legislation being held up – for more than a day.

That speech, however, precipitated several fundraising emails from the left, Bednar said, which bolstered D’Agostino’s claim about playing to the base.

“If it’s a session day in D.C., and Republicans are in charge, there’s going to be liberal agitators protesting; as the sky is blue,” Bednar quipped.

Fox News Digital reached out to Schiff for comment but did not receive a response by press time. 

President Donald Trump called himself the “fertilization president” during Women’s History Month, but some experts cited claims that “baby bonuses,” such as the $5,000 plan Trump floated, have been tried in the past and had mixed results.

Singapore, Hungary and Australia are three examples of countries where such programs have been instituted.

Singapore has been subsidizing parenthood for decades, with the latest endowment per child reaching S$ 11,000 (US $8,000) as of 2023, but the tiny Asian nation still has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.

Gabriella Hoffman, an official at the Independent Women’s Forum, wrote on social media that baby bonuses did not work in Hungary.

DNC VICE CHAIR SLAMS TRUMP AS ‘PUNK’, WOULD-BE DICTATOR AT FIERY PA TOWN HALL

President Donald Trump has floated the idea of a baby bonus for new parents. (Getty/iStock)

“Why would we replicate this here?” she asked. 

That country, led by Trump-favored President Viktor Orban, also incentivizes its residents to have more kids, including through tax breaks for families with three or more offspring. Hungary’s birth rate rose slightly about a decade ago but returned to and remains close to one.

Australia’s program began in 2004 and indexed to inflation in 2008 what was then an A$ 5,000 (US $3,180) for parents per birth. The government’s self-reported birthrate statistic was about 1.5 as of 2023.

Paula Lantz, a social demographer from the University of Michigan, told the Guardian that in the U.S., the percentage of families having more than one child has dropped and that “there is something else going on” – including non-financial considerations like quality of life effects.

An official at the liberal Center for American Progress told the outlet she had a child a few months ago and that the promised $5,000 credit “wouldn’t do much” even with good insurance and paid occupational family leave.

OBAMA SLAMS PRO-TRUMP MEN AT PHILADELPHIA RALLY WHILE SPRINGSTEEN WARNS GOP NOMINEE IS ‘AN AMERICAN TYRANT’

Andrea Ippolito, founder of maternal health tech platform SimpliFed, told Fox News Digital that while the $5,000 is a “nice boost,” the initiative “just lightly scratches the surface of the support that is needed for families, especially in the early years with childcare and healthcare support that is largely missing from the postpartum care experience.”

“In order to increase the birth rate, much more is needed to support and ensure that both mom and baby’s health is prioritized,” Ippolito said. “That means both physical health needs (which are not right now as demonstrated with doubling the preeclampsia rate doubling) and mental health needs.”

On the other hand, Emily and Nathan Berning – co-founders of crisis-pregnancy support site LetThemLive.org, said that the baby bonus touted by Trump “is a positive step, but it doesn’t go far enough.”

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“Financial aid after delivery is helpful, but the real need is stability throughout pregnancy—rent, food, counseling, and emotional support,” the Bernings said. “If we want to raise birthrates and protect children, we must act earlier and ensure no woman feels forced into a decision out of fear or isolation.”

They touted the benefits of pregnancy clinics that are founded by both pro-life and pro-choice advocates, saying that is how to prioritize “compassion over politics.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a proposal for the feds to provide $1,000 in an account for each American child.

The “Invest America Act” would create “a private tax-advantaged account,” and Cruz said in a statement last week the investments can be placed in a broad, low-cost fund that tracks the S&P 500, growing tax-deferred until the individual reaches age 18. Distributions after age 18 would be taxed at the capital gains rate.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cruz for any comment on claims from critics that past iterations of the accounts have not been successful.

Fox News Digital also reached out to the White House for comment on criticisms.

FIRST ON FOX — A legal group closely aligned with President Donald Trump is joining a federal court battle in Washington, D.C., to overturn a Carter-era consent decree that bars the government from using merit-based hiring, a resolution that, if overturned, would dissolve one of the most influential civil service decisions of the last 40 years.

The America First Legal Foundation (AFL), a group aligned with Trump, has filed a federal complaint in Washington, D.C., that aims to dismantle what it calls a dated and illegal effort to promote diversity in federal hiring that sidelines more qualified candidates.

“America is missing out on top talent because of an illegal, 44-year-old consent decree,” Nick Barry, senior counsel at AFL, told Fox News Digital. “We must move back to merit-based evaluations. Race and other immutable traits have no place in that process.”

JUDGE ON WARPATH PRESSES TRUMP DOJ ON ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION, ANSWERS LEAVE COURTROOM IN STUNNED SILENCE

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. Miller founded America First Legal after Trump’s first term.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The lawsuit targets the Luevano consent decree, an agreement that Black and Hispanic plaintiffs struck with the government under President Jimmy Carter in 1981. The settlement ended merit-based hiring practices for federal government agencies and required written tests to be replaced with alternative assessments.

Critics of these alternative assessments, including AFL and the firm Boyden Gray, PLLC, which joined the complaint, argue they are clunky and outdated solutions that illegally promote an unfair system of race-based hiring. 

“We must move back to merit-based evaluations,” Barry added. “Race, color and other immutable characteristics have no place in that evaluation.” 

The Office of Personnel Management had previously asked the court to end the Carter-era system, an effort that AFL and Boyden Gray now join, arguing it violates Supreme Court precedent. 

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and U.S. Homeland Security advisor, right, speaks as President Donald Trump delivers a speech on his 100th day in office at Macomb County Community College Sports Expo Center in Warren, Mich., April 29, 2025. (Jeff Kowalsky /AFP via Getty Images)

“Being able to recruit the best and brightest to work in Washington returns dividends for the country by doing more with less,” AFL Vice President Dan Epstein told Fox News Digital. “That is what all Americans deserve from their government.”

AFL’s backing could bring new momentum to OPM’s attempt to end these hiring practices in the federal government. But it’s also likely to be met with a fair degree of criticism. 

Though efforts to end or replace the 40-year-old alternative assessment systems aren’t exactly radical, the filing comes as the Trump administration continues to clash with government employees over agency budget cuts and workforce reductions.

The case, if heard in court, could reignite debate across the country over race-conscious hiring practices. 

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

Demonstrators participate in a protest at the statehouse April 5, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (Sean Rayford/Getty)

America First Legal, though not officially part of the Trump administration, was founded by longtime Trump advisor Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s most vocal advocates for tougher immigration enforcement, dismantling DEI programs and ending affirmative action in public education. Miller stepped down from AFL before rejoining the White House in 2025.

The effort also comes at a time when many federal agencies have struggled to cope with a massive loss of personnel and institutional knowledge due to funding cuts and other orders from DOGE, the quasi-government efficiency agency headed up by billionaire Elon Musk. 

Still, AFL sees its effort as supporting OPM and ending what it argues is a virtually “impossible” standard to create a broadly used merit-based civil service exam. 

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“Public service is a public trust,” Epstein said. “Presidential administrations from both parties have long advocated ending unaccountable bureaucracies that fail to do a good turn for the American people.”

Neither OPM nor the White House immediately responded to Fox News’s request for comment on the new court filing or on their views on the existing hiring practices. 

The White House on Saturday released a study estimating that 8.2 to 9.2 million more Americans could be without health insurance as a result of an ensuing recession if President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on the budget does not pass. 

The finding comes from a White House Council of Economic Advisers memo titled, “Health Insurance Opportunity Cost if 2025 Proposed Budget Reconciliation Bill Does Not Pass.” 

The research assumes that the U.S. had approximately 27 million uninsured people in 2025. If the budget bill does not pass, that could increase to approximately 36 million uninsured people, far closer to the approximately 50 million people who were uninsured before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, in 2010, according to the memo.

‘FAILURE’S NOT AN OPTION’: TRUMP BUDGET BILL WILL BE ‘BIG’ HELP FOR SENIORS, TOP HOUSE TAX-WRITER SAYS

President Donald Trump during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., May 6, 2025. (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo)

The memo says the estimate is “based on the assumption that states which expanded Medicaid with relatively generous eligibility will pull back to meet balanced budget requirements and try to provide more unemployment support during a severe recession.” It also qualifies its conclusions by saying the analysis assumes “no policy countermeasures,” which the White House describes as a “very unlikely but plausible worse case” scenario. 

The White House projects that the expiration of the 2017 Trump tax cuts in 2026 and other shocks would trigger a “moderate to severe recession.” The economic advisers report that a “major recession” would result in reduced consumer spending as a result of higher individual taxes, lower small business investment and hiring as a result higher pass-through individual taxes, global confidence shock including concerns about U.S. competitiveness, and dollar deflation tightening credit and pushing real interest rates higher. 

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump dances at a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Oct. 15, 2024, in Atlanta.  (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

GOP REBEL MUTINY THREATENS TO DERAIL TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ BEFORE KEY COMMITTEE HURDLE

According to the advisers’ “upper bound” estimate of the impact of not extending the Trump tax cuts, U.S. GDP could contract by approximately 4% over two years – similar to the 2008 recession. Unemployment could increase by four percentage points, resulting in approximately 6.5 million job losses. Of those 6.5 million job losses, 60% had employer-sponsored insurance, so the White House projects approximately 3.9 million people would lose coverage and become uninsured as a result. 

The memo also anticipates a loss of individual and marketplace coverage, as those already without employer-sponsored insurance are no longer able to afford to purchase insurance themselves. The White House expects a 15% drop from approximately 22 million enrolled in 2026 to approximately 3.3 million losing coverage. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, May 6, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)

Without the passage of the “big, beautiful bill,” Medicaid and ACA subsidized plan enrollment could experience 10% enrollment frictions, resulting in approximately 500,000 to 1 million people losing or failing to gain coverage, the memo states. The expiration of the 2017 Trump tax cuts would disproportionately affect non-citizens, gig workers and early retirees, according to the White House. The advisers assess that individuals in those working classes without employer-sponsored insurance would no longer be able to afford coverage as a result of a recession, leading to 500,000 to 1 million insurance losses among “vulnerable segments.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is laboring to get the “One Big Beautiful Act” through the House by a self-imposed Memorial Day deadline despite divisions among Republicans, who maintain control of the lower chamber by a razor-thin margin. 

The 1,116-page bill includes more than $5 trillion in tax cuts, costs that are partially offset by spending cuts elsewhere and other changes in the tax code, and would make permanent the tax cuts from Trump’s first term. 

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It also realizes many of Trump‘s campaign promises, including temporarily ending taxes on overtime and tips for many workers, creating a new $10,000 tax break on auto loan interest for American-made cars, and even creating a new tax-free “MAGA account” that would contribute $1,000 to children born in his second term.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

In an emotional and widely shared moment, President Donald J. Trump spoke directly with Edan Alexander, the 21-year-old American-Israeli soldier who was recently freed from Hamas captivity, during a phone call captured on camera and released by the White House.

“Mr. President,” Alexander greeted Trump at the start of the call, visibly moved. “You’re the only reason I’m here. You saved my life.”

The phone conversation, which took place while Alexander was recovering at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, came just days after his dramatic release from Gaza, where he was held hostage for over 580 days following his abduction by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

HAMAS CAPTIVITY SURVIVORS APPEAL TO NETANYAHU, TRUMP AFTER EDAN ALEXANDER’S RELEASE

Edan Alexander speaks with loved ones following his release.  (IDF)

President Trump greeted Edan with a bit of humor and humility, saying “I’m very nervous talking to you, Edan, because you’re a much bigger celebrity than I am.”

Trump also expressed American solidarity and the administration’s commitment to bringing all hostages home while on the call.

“You’re an American, and we love you,” Trump told Alexander. “We’re going to take good care of you. And your parents are incredible. I saw your mother. She was pushing me around a little bit—putting a lot of pressure on me.”

“Like a good mom!” exclaimed Edan’s mother in the background.

AMERICAN HOSTAGE EDAN ALEXANDER RELEASED BY HAMAS AFTER MORE THAN 580 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY

Edan Alexander hugs a loved one following his release. (IDF)

The heartfelt exchange was posted online by the official White House account and has quickly gone viral, drawing praise from across the political spectrum for its display of humanity and international unity.

Alexander’s release came amid intensified U.S. diplomatic pressure and quiet negotiations, coordinated in part by senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler. 

Trump had previously signaled his determination to secure the freedom of American citizens held abroad and made Alexander’s case a top priority.

Edan Alexander with IDF soldiers after his release. (IDF)

The Alexander family issued a statement thanking President Trump directly, along with the negotiation team and the Israeli Defense Forces, calling the outcome “a miracle rooted in strength, diplomacy, and prayer.”

Edan Alexander’s homecoming has reignited calls to bring home the remaining hostages still held in Gaza. 

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A coalition of 65 former hostages recently signed a letter urging both President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “build on this breakthrough” and intensify efforts for a comprehensive agreement to ensure every hostage’s safe return.

Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledged the success of this combined effort, stating, “This was achieved thanks to our military pressure and the diplomatic pressure applied by President Trump. This is a winning combination.”

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

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino issued a sharp and public condemnation of the bureau’s former director, James Comey, Saturday, accusing Comey of disgracing the agency as authorities investigate Comey’s controversial “86 47” Instagram post.

In a statement posted to X, Bongino said Comey’s actions are another example of failed leadership that continues to haunt the agency.

“Former FBI Director James Comey brought shame to the FBI badge, yet again, this past week,” Bongino wrote. “The Director and I spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning up messes left behind by former Director Comey. And his latest actions are no exception.”

TRUMP SAYS COMEY KNEW ‘ASSASSINATION’ MEANING BEHIND DELETED SOCIAL MEDIA POST

James Comey, former director of the FBI, pauses during a Bloomberg Television interview in Salzburg, Austria, June 21, 2019. (Alex Kraus/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Comey, dismissed by President Donald Trump in 2017, sparked outrage after posting a photo to social media Thursday showing seashells arranged to say “86 47,” a phrase widely understood to mean to “get rid of” the 47th president. Though Comey later deleted the post and claimed it was misunderstood, many, including Trump, say the meaning was clear.

“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant,” Trump said Friday on Fox News. “If you’re the FBI director, and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination,’ and it says it loud and clear.”

Comey offered a follow-up statement online, saying he “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence” and that it “never occurred to me.”

Bongino strongly rejected that explanation, describing it as part of a larger pattern of misconduct. In his post, Bongino wrote:

FORMER FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY MEETS WITH SECRET SERVICE AFTER CONTROVERSIAL ’86 47′ POST

Dan Bongino at Fox News Channel Studios June 18, 2019, in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

“As the Deputy Director of the FBI, I am charged, standing with Director Patel, with managing the most powerful law enforcement agency in the world. The Director and I are also responsible for looking at grave mistakes made by people within the FBI in the past, and ensuring they never happen again.”

He stressed the FBI’s continuing commitment to supporting federal law enforcement partners investigating any threats involving public officials, past or present.

“While the FBI does not have primary investigative responsibility for investigating threats against the POTUS, and we do not make prosecutorial decisions, we do have the ability and authority to support other federal agencies for violations of federal law,” Bongino said. 

“And we certainly have a responsibility to comment on matters involving former FBI officials, and allegations of law-breaking.”

The U.S. Secret Service has already interviewed Comey about the incident. FBI Director Kash Patel said in a separate statement that the bureau is “in communication with the Secret Service and Director Curran.”

Bongino noted that this latest controversy is part of a general legacy of dysfunction inherited from Comey’s leadership, which he and Patel are working to fix from the inside out.

“As I’ve stated in the past, I cannot post openly about all the things the Director and I are doing to reform the enterprise, but I assure you, they are happening,” Bongino wrote. “Sadly, many of those agenda items are the result of former Director Comey’s poor decision-making and atrocious leadership.

“And to those who doubt me, I assure you, when you see what the Director and I see from the inside, it’s even worse.”

The FBI seal inside the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, D.C. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Bongino said he chose to post his statement now because his scheduled interview with FOX Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, which will air Sunday on “Sunday Morning Futures,” was recorded earlier in the week, before the Comey post was made public.

“I’m addressing this now, rather than on our interview with Maria Bartiromo [Sunday], because we recorded that interview earlier in the week prior to the incident with Comey,” he explained.

He closed with a message to the country that echoed his support for the law enforcement community and the reforms underway at the FBI.

“God bless America, and all those who defend Her,” he said.

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Bongino, a former NYPD officer and longtime Secret Service agent, was appointed deputy director of the FBI earlier this year. 

His leadership under Director Kash Patel reflects a broader effort by the Trump administration to restore accountability and integrity to the FBI after years of what many see as politically motivated misconduct.

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

The Democratic Party is finally saying the quiet part out loud: “Biden should not have run again.”

Revelations about President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and his administration’s alleged cover-up have returned to the national conversation ahead of next week’s release of CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson’s book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a 2024 presidential campaign surrogate for President Joe Biden, and considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, acknowledged on Wednesday that Biden should not have run for a second term. 

And Beto O’Rourke, one of Biden’s 2020 Democratic primary competitors and the former congressman from Texas, joined the criticism this week, accusing Biden’s re-election campaign of failing future generations of Americans. 

REP RO KHANNA TEES UP 2028 RIVALRY DURING POINTED SPEECH IN JD VANCE’S HOME STATE

Former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke (left) and potential 2028 presidential candidate Rep. Ro Khanna said President Joe Biden should not have run for re-election in 2024.  (Getty Images)

When pressed by Martha MacCallum on “The Story” on Wednesday about campaigning for Biden in 2024, Khanna said he hadn’t had the full picture of Biden’s health and mental acuity ahead of his disastrous debate performance, but he admitted, “We should be honest as a party that we made a mistake.”

DEM RISING STAR EYES VANCE AS KEY LONG-TERM THREAT: ‘NEEDS TO BE DEFEATED’

“I do think it’s important that, given what has come out, that we take accountability,” Khanna said. “Obviously, he should not have run,” Khanna said. 

Responding to a series of interview clips from early 2024, when Khanna affirmed Biden’s intention to run for re-election and described the president as “fully coherent,” Khanna said he had been telling the truth. 

“Of course, I didn’t have the full picture,” Khanna added. 

Khanna was a campaign surrogate for Biden in 2024 before he dropped out of the race.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

O’Rourke took Khanna’s call for Democratic accountability a step further on “Pod Save America” this week, calling Biden’s decision to run for re-election in 2024 a “terrible mistake.”

“Just to be clear: Biden should not have run again. And to be even more clear: He failed this country in the most important job that he had,” O’Rourke said. 

“In fact, the entire rationale for his presidency the first time, and the rationale he tried to sell us on for his attempt to run for re-election, ‘Only I can stop Donald Trump.’ And he failed to do that, and it’s not just you and me, but our kids and grandkids and the generations that follow that might have to pay the price for this. We might very well lose the greatest country that this world has ever known,” O’Rourke said.

Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke speaks to attendees during a “Our Fight, Our Future” rally at The Millennium bowling alley on October 2, 2024, in Austin, Texas (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

An excerpt from Tapper and Thompson’s book released by Axios this week revealed that Biden’s declining health was “so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair, but they couldn’t do so until after the election.”

In hindsight, Khanna and O’Rourke agreed that Democrats should have had an opportunity to launch their own presidential bids. And now that President Donald Trump has returned to the White House, and an already crowded field of potential 2028 Democratic candidates are mulling presidential campaigns, they said it’s important to take accountability for 2024. 

“Obviously, there should have been an open primary. And, I don’t think that’s very difficult that Democrats should just be straight up that he should not have run, now that we have all the facts. There should have been an open primary. I think to move on and move forward, it’s important to take accountability and be straightforward with the American people,” Khanna said.

O’Rourke said America’s future could be in the balance “in part because of the decision that Biden, and those around him, made to run for re-election instead of having an open primary where the greatest talent that the Democratic Party can muster could be on that stage to have a competition of ideas, and track-record and vision and really excite, not just Democrats, but the people of this country who did want change. I mean, if anything was clear coming out of 2024, they wanted change.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., was a campaign surrogate for President Joe Biden in 2024.  (Getty Images)

The once-2020 Democratic presidential candidate, who is 52 years-old, said the Democrat’s Biden failure creates a credibility problem. 

“I think that credibility problem is going to persist up until when Democrats say, ‘We f—ed up, and we made a terrible mistake,'” O’Rourke said. 

Despite O’Rourke’s comments this week, he said in an email to supporters through his voting rights organization, Powered by People, last February that, “Donald Trump is the single greatest threat to our democracy. Our best chance to defeat him is to support Joe Biden in this election.”

“Amy and I voted for him in the Texas primary . . . and are looking forward to voting for him again in November,” he added. “This president has done an extraordinary job of improving our economy, confronting the climate crisis, reducing childhood poverty and fending off the very worst of Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s mounting attacks on our most fundamental freedoms.”

Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan defended his former boss this week, while acknowledging that Biden’s disastrous debate performance was shocking.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Another young Democrat and Biden’s former National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, continued to defend his former boss at Politico’s Security Summit on Thursday, dismissing an allegation that Biden had forgotten his name, and defending his leadership as commander-in-chief. 

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“What happened in that debate was a shock to me,” Sullivan admitted. “I think it was a shock to everybody.”

A Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Former President Joe Biden lashed out against special counsel Robert Hur over a report in which he described the longtime lawmaker as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

The part of Hur’s report that most angered Biden was the suggestion that the then-president could not remember when his son, Beau, died. However, new audio obtained by Axios sheds light on Biden’s lapses in memory.

In February 2024, Biden and several high-profile Democrats — as well as media personalities — attacked Hur. During a press conference on Hur’s report, Biden said, “There’s some attention paid to some language in the report about my recollection of events. There’s even a reference that I don’t remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that?”

Audio from then-President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur reveals that he, and not the special counsel, brought up Beau Biden’s death. (Getty Images)

CONSERVATIVES REACT TO LEAKED BIDEN AUDIO ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ‘THIS IS PAINFUL’

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris slammed Hur in February 2024, saying his report was “gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate.” She also suggested that it was “clearly politically motivated.” Harris recalled Biden’s alleged sharpness at the time, noting that Hur’s interview took place on Oct. 8, 2023 — just one day after Hamas’ attack on Israel. Harris said she was “in almost every meeting” with Biden and that he was “in front of and on top of it all.”

Reps. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., grilled Hur when he testified on Capitol Hill in March 2024. Both lawmakers attempted to get Hur to say that his report “exonerated” Biden — which he did not do. Then–Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also criticized the special counsel, suggesting that Hur knew his description of Biden would “ignite a political firestorm,” something Hur denied.

Former special counsel Robert K. Hur testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. Hur investigated U.S. President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and published a final report with contentious conclusions about Biden’s memory. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

JONATHAN TURLEY: BIDEN NOT THE ONLY LOSER REVEALED BY SHOCKING HUR AUDIO

Former Obama advisor David Axelrod also criticized the report, calling it a “shiv the special counsel stuck into the Biden reelection campaign,” according to CNN.

On Friday, Axios published a bombshell report that included audio recordings from Biden’s interview with Hur, something the previous administration refused to release. The audio includes long pauses in which Biden struggled to recall the dates of several major events, including when President Donald Trump was elected to office for his first term, his son’s death or his exit from office as vice president.

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Since his report was released, Hur has seen two key moments of vindication aside from Friday’s report. The first came when the transcript of his interview was released in March 2024. At the time, the White House refused to release the audio, citing fears of AI deepfakes. Hur appeared to receive further vindication when Biden had his disastrous debate against then-candidate Trump in June 2024. Less than a month after the debate, Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Harris.  

President Donald Trump spent his 17th week as commander-in-chief visiting the Middle East, marking his first major overseas trip of his second term. 

The president left Washington, D.C., Monday for Saudi Arabia, followed by a visit in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. 

The president’s trip comes amid the continuing war between Israel and Hamas, ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, and his plans to broaden his first administration’s Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab League nations such as the United Arab Emirates. 

TRUMP CONDEMNS ‘INTERVENTIONALISTS,’ PITCHES ‘MORE HOPEFUL FUTURE’ IN MIDDLE EAST SPEECH

Trump arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, early Tuesday morning, with the nation sending fighter jet escorts to welcome Air Force One to the ground and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greeting Trump on the tarmac, which was adorned with a lavender-colored carpet.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at King Khalid International Airport Royal Terminal in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025.  (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)

Upon his arrival to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump was also met with a mobile and operational McDonald’s truck. 

The president, during a speech in Riyadh shortly after meeting with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, vowed to continue America’s partnership with the Saudi Arabian government, but also called for peace in the Middle East, urging the region to pursue economic development rather than Iran’s “self-destructive” path. 

“If the responsible nations of this region seize this moment, put aside your differences and focus on the interests that unite you, then all humanity will soon be amazed at what we will see here in the geographic center of the world, and the spiritual heart of its greatest faiths,” Trump said.

“Before our eyes, a new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts and tired divisions of the past, and forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos; where it exports technology, not terrorism; and where people of different nations, religions, and creeds are building cities together, not bombing each other,” he added.

Trump’s speech came after he and Salman signed several economic agreements totaling $600 billion in trade deals. The agreements could help create up to two million U.S. jobs, Trump said.

Several of the agreements tracked with previously stated ambitions by both Washington, D.C., and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, particularly when it comes to defensive deals. 

President Donald J. Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court on May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Getty Images)

SAUDIS DEPLOY MOBILE MCDONALD’S FOR TRUMP’S TRIP TO THE KINGDOM

But as for Iran, Trump, during his Saudi Arabia speech, also warned the Islamic Republic of a “massive maximum pressure” campaign if it did not come to a nuclear agreement with the U.S. 

“As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be profound,” Trump said. “If Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch… we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero.”

“Iran can have a much brighter future, but we will never allow them to threaten America and our allies with terrorism or a nuclear attack,” Trump said. 

Trump had announced a 60-day time frame to reach an agreement with Iran over its illegal atomic weapons program. The first U.S. negotiating session with Iran commenced April 12. 

President Donald J. Trump speaks with Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al Thani as he departs the Al Udeid Air Base for Abu Dhabi on May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Iranian officials for a fourth round of nuclear talks over the weekend. 

TRUMP HITS IRAN’S POCKETBOOK AS HE DANGLES A CARROT IN MIDDLE EAST SPEECH

The nuclear talks were “difficult but useful,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, offered more, describing the talks as being both indirect and direct, The Associated Press reported.

An “agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements,” the U.S. official said. “We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future.”

The Trump administration has said the flawed 2015 Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, did not prevent Iran from building an atomic bomb. 

Trump, throughout his visit, made stark warnings to Iran — verbally, and through sanctions. 

Just shortly after dangling a carrot of a “brighter future” for Iran, the Treasury Department gave a taste of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign and sanctioned more than two dozen firms operating in Iran’s illicit international oil trade. 

TRUMP HITS IRAN’S POCKETBOOK AS HE DANGLES A CARROT IN MIDDLE EAST SPEECH

Trump said Iran has the nuclear “proposal.” 

“But more importantly, they know they have to move quickly or something bad — something bad is going to happen,” the president said. 

Next, the president traveled to Qatar, where he signed a series of agreements with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha.

Trump and his motorcade were greeted by dozens of mounted camels after his plane landed in Qatar Wednesday morning as he continues his four-day trip to the Middle East. 

The agreements there involved a purchasing agreement by Qatar for Boeing aircraft, as well as letters of intent and “joint cooperation” between Qatar and the U.S. The emir also signed an intent agreement to purchase MQ-9 drone aircraft.

President Donald Trump is greeted by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as he arrives on Air Force One at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025.  (Alex Brandon/AP)

Al Thani said he had a “great” conversation with Trump prior to the signing ceremony Wednesday, adding that the agreements have elevated the U.S.-Qatar relationship to “another level.”

The president then met with U.S. service members at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and cited “substantial pay raises” for U.S. troops in his 2026 budget. 

“You are without a doubt the greatest fighting force in the history of the world,” Trump said. “And as your commander-in-chief, I’m here to say that America’s military will soon be bigger, better, stronger and more powerful than ever.” 

Next, the president traveled to the United Arab Emirates for his final stop — a visit that marked the first time a U.S. president has traveled to the nation in nearly 20 years, following President George W. Bush’s trip in 2008.

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world, was illuminated in red, white and blue in honor of President’s historic UAE visit. 

Trump visited the Grand Mosque, a rare visit for a U.S. president, and was gifted the UAE’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Zayed, by UAE’s President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. 

President Donald Trump is presented the Order of Zayed, the UAE highest civilian distinction, from UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday, May 15, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  (AP/Alex Brandon)

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The president wrapped up his visit to the United Arab Emirates with a visit to the Abrahamic Family House, which encompasses a mosque, a church, a synagogue, and a forum, and served as a community for inter-religious dialogue and peaceful co-existence.  

As of this week, Trump has signed 148 executive orders since his inauguration in January, including a whopping 143 within his first 100 days as president, dwarfing the number of executive orders signed by his predecessors stretching back to at least President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton, Morgan Phillis and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: The top tax-writer in the House of Representatives is arguing that President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will be “big” for American taxpayers as well – including seniors.

House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and other Republicans on the panel spent months negotiating behind closed doors on how to enact Trump’s tax policies.

Among those is an added $4,000 deduction for Americans aged 65 or older. Seniors with income of less than $75,000 as single filers, and less than $150,000 as joint filers, would be eligible for the full deduction, which then would begin to phase out.

“So, that’s on top of their guaranteed deduction, and that’s per person . . . anyone who has total earnings of $75,000 a year or less is going to be made completely whole, so all the low-income and middle-income seniors on Social Security will be paying zero on Social Security in the long run,” Smith told Fox News Digital, while adding of others, “most of them will be paying much less.”

ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION

President Donald Trump is pushing Republicans to pass his “big, beautiful bill” (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process, which lowers the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51 for certain pieces of fiscal legislation, to advance a vast bill full of Trump’s priorities on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt.

Because the House already operates under a simple majority, reconciliation allows the party in power to pass sweeping legislation while sidelining the other side, in this case, Democrats.

Trump has directed congressional Republicans to permanently extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), as well as implement new policies eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and retirees’ Social Security.

But the law that established the reconciliation process, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, also specifically forbade direct changes to Social Security via the process.

Smith said Republicans’ had added $4,000 tax deduction as a way to make them “completely whole.”

BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY

House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., is helping craft the tax portion of the bill. (Tom Williams)

Rather than seeing that tax relief month-to-month, however, Smith said it would come in people’s yearly tax returns.

He argued that it was more beneficial for lower-income seniors as well, giving added relief to those whose incomes were too low to pay Social Security taxes in the first place.

“Under the rules of reconciliation, you cannot touch Social Security directly. What we did is to make sure that they get . . . tax relief for any senior who makes less than $75,000 per year,” Smith said. “It’s not that we didn’t want to do it, it’s that it cannot be done under the rules of reconciliation, or you wouldn’t qualify for the 51-vote threshold over in the United States Senate.”

“But the tax relief they will receive is an added tax cut, and that will make up for what they have paid in Social Security tax.”

The White House also endorsed Smith’s plan despite its departure from Trump’s initial campaign pitch.

“The one, big, beautiful bill not only delivers permanent tax cuts and bigger paychecks, but it secures a historic tax break for seniors on Social Security,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said. “This is another promise made, promise kept to our seniors who deserve much-needed tax relief after four years of suffering under Bidenflation.”

The $4,000 tax deduction, which would be in effect from the 2025 through 2028 tax years, would be on top of the higher standard deduction that people above age 65 already receive. 

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It would not be a tax credit, reducing tax liability directly regardless of tax brackets. A deduction reduces taxable income and is dependent on the taxpayer’s rate.

But for single seniors making up to $75,000, and married seniors making less than $150,000, qualifying for the $4,000 deduction, it would likely provide some relief for millions of taxpayers across the country.

“It’ll be a wash of what their Social Security tax would’ve been,” Smith said, adding later in the interview: “Failure’s not an option. We’re going to get this done.”

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, is once again calling on his colleagues in the House to impeach President Donald Trump, saying the president has “devolved American democracy into authoritarianism.” 

“I pen this communique with a heavy heart, driven by a conscience that will not allow me to ignore my well-founded, strong pre-election condemnation of Donald John Trump as a threat to American democracy that has now become our reality,” Green wrote in a letter urging his colleagues to impeach the president.

Green argues that, contrary to what many believe, there does not need to be a constitutional crisis in order to impeach a president.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was removed from the House chamber for disrupting Trump’s speech.  (REUTERS/AP)

HOUSE DEMOCRAT ANNOUNCES ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST TRUMP

On Thursday, he filed H. Res. 415, “Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors.”

In the articles of impeachment, Green claims that Trump has engaged in authoritarian rule, violated due process, denigrated federal judges and ignored court orders, including ones from the Supreme Court. He also claims that Trump condoned “untruthful statements” against the Court’s opinion regarding the deportation of accused MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Trump gives his joint address to Congress and is interrupted by Rep Al Green protesting his cuts to multiple government programs. March 4th (AP)

TOP HOUSE DEMS SAY THEY’LL JOIN GOP TO QUASH TRUMP IMPEACHMENT EFFORT

“An authoritarian does not have to commit a codified statutory offense to be impeached. The constitutional law that authoritarian President Trump would have Congress use to impeach a federal judge for ruling against him (Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution) is the same law that has been used, and can be used, to impeach him again for making his threats to democracy a reality,” Green wrote in the articles of impeachment, He then vowed to “use that law again.”

Green is the second member of Congress to issue articles of impeachment against Trump in the president’s second term. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., also called for Trump’s impeachment, but he later withdrew the bill after getting backlash from party leadership. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., reportedly called the bill “idiotic,” according to Axios. However, Nadler was previously a sponsor of the measure.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., May 6, 2025. (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo)

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In his letter, Green made it clear that he was not afraid to “stand alone” against Trump.

“I encourage all members to vote with their conscience. As for me, I stand where I have stood on impeachment, which is a question of conscience, even when the odds are against me — it is better for me to stand alone than not stand at all — it won’t be the first time,” Green wrote.

Green has never been silent about his opposition to Trump, even making multiple attempts to impeach the president during his first term. In March 2025, he was removed from Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress after he heckled the president. He was eventually censured for the protest.

With the Supreme Court hearing its first case Thursday relating to nationwide injunctions – federal district court judges issuing rulings that affect the entire country – several proponents of a plan to end the practice are speaking out. 

Senate Judiciary Committee member John Kennedy, R-La., said it appears to be a case of the “tail wag[ging] the dog,” in that it is the judiciary’s job to adjudicate the law, not create it.

“When Congress makes a law, the federal judges are supposed to follow it. When the president exercises his power under Article II, judges are supposed to follow it, so long as it’s lawful,” Kennedy said.

“They can’t just overturn it because they don’t agree with it, and that’s what a lot of these federal judges are doing.”

SEN JOHN KENNEDY: WHY SCOTUS SHOULD SEIZE OPPORTUNITY TO ELIMINATE UNIVERSAL INJUNCTIONS

Sens. Tommy Tuberville, left, John Cornyn, center, John Kennedy, right (Getty)

In a Fox News Opinion piece this week, Kennedy noted “universal injunctions” have been around since the 1960s, when judges began enjoining the government from enforcing certain policies against “anyone, anywhere” – adding they let a judge say “sayonara” to laws, regulations or even whims of a president they don’t like.

Kennedy noted that there have only been 27 such injunctions from JFK through Y2K. 

A review showed none was lodged against Presidents George H.W. Bush or Bill Clinton – but began to creep in during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.

With nearly 100 rulings against President Donald Trump in his one-and-an-eighth terms, Kennedy said some judges seem to want to “rewrite the Constitution every other Thursday, to advance some social or economic agenda that they can’t get by the voters: But the law is the law.”

“And a universal injunction was created out of whole cloth. There’s no statutory basis for a universal injunction,” the Louisianan said, echoing the analysis in his op-ed.

Given his penchant for often colorful and probing questions of judiciary appointees, Kennedy was also asked how an unfavorable ruling from the Supreme Court could affect nominee choices and further politicize the process.

“All the nominees in front of us are going to be asked about universal injunctions, I can tell you. And if they try to dodge and bob and weave and run like a hound on the treeline, when it’s my turn to question them I’m not going to let them. I’m not asking how they would rule in a particular case, but I want to know what they think the legal basis is for a universal injunction, because there is none: I want to hear what they had to say.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville – who joined Kennedy and others in supporting Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley’s Judicial Relief Clarification Act (JCRA) to end the practice – said such “woke” judges should consider retiring their robes.

SENATOR WARNS OF ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL OVERREACH’ AHEAD OF SCOTUS SHOWDOWN

“President Trump campaigned on a promise to deport dangerous criminals and won in a landslide. In just four months, he has already delivered the most secure border in American history,” Tuberville told Fox News Digital.

“Unfortunately, we have radical left judges who are allowing their personal beliefs to supersede the will of 77 million Americans who voted for President Trump and his agenda,” the former Auburn football legend added.

“If a judge wants to make political decisions, they should run for office. Otherwise, they should focus on upholding the Constitution and enforcing the law.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also said he supports the JCRA, calling nationwide injunctions “a real problem.”

“[A] single federal judge can essentially stop a popularly elected president dead in his tracks by a temporary restraining order, which doesn’t just deal with the parties in front of the judge, but literally the whole nation.”

“If the Supreme Court doesn’t do it in the context of this birthright citizenship case, then Congress needs to continue to pursue this via Senator Grassley’s bill and other means.”

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While the case argued Thursday involves an injunction with regard to the interpretation of birthright citizenship in the law, Cornyn said that the court will determine the scope of that particular order, but that the idea of nationwide injunctions is being abused.

For his part, Grassley previously told Fox News Digital that such injunctions “are an unconstitutional abuse of judicial power.”

Despite a flurry of polling so far this year indicating the Democratic Party’s favorability sinking to record lows, veteran Democratic strategist and pundit James Carville remains optimistic, as he points to recent ballot box victories by his party.

“You can’t discount people winning elections,” Carville told Fox News Digital this week.

Carville spoke the day after a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was the latest to spell trouble for the Democratic Party, six months after they suffered setbacks up and down the ballot at the hands of now-President Donald Trump and Republicans.

The Democratic Party has been in the political wilderness since last November’s elections, when Republicans won back control of the White House and the Senate and defended their fragile House majority. And Republicans made gains among Black and Hispanic voters as well as younger voters, all traditional members of the Democratic Party’s base.

ON THE RISE: NEW POLL INDICATES TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATINGS EDGING UP

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2024. The latest public opinion polls indicate the Democratic Party sinking to new favorability lows. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

According to the survey, only about one-third of Democrats are very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party. That’s a steep decline from last July, when around six in 10 Democrats said they were optimistic. The survey, conducted May 1-5, points to an increase in optimism among Republicans, with 55% more optimistic about the future of the GOP, up from 47% last summer.

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Since Trump’s return to power earlier this year, an increasingly energized base of Democrats is urging party leaders to take a stronger stand in pushing back against the president’s sweeping and controversial agenda during the opening months of his second administration. And their anger is directed not only at Republicans, but also at Democrats they feel aren’t vocal enough in their opposition to Trump.

And that’s fueled the plunge in the Democratic Party’s favorable ratings, which have hit historic lows in several recent surveys.

The Democrats’ ratings stood underwater in the most recent Fox News national poll at 41% favorable and 56% unfavorable in a survey conducted April 18-21.

That’s an all-time low for the Democrats in Fox News polling. And for the first time in a decade, the party’s standing was lower than that of the GOP, which stood at 44% favorable and 54% unfavorable.

The figures were reversed last summer, when Fox News last asked the party favorability question in one of its surveys.

The Democratic Party’s favorable ratings were well in negative territory in a Pew Research national survey — 38% favorable, 60% unfavorable — conducted in early April and at 36% favorable, 60% unfavorable in a Wall Street Journal poll in the field a couple of weeks earlier.

And national polls conducted in February by Quinnipiac University and in March by CNN and by NBC News also indicated the favorable ratings for the Democratic Party sinking to all-time lows.

Confidence in the Democratic Party’s congressional leadership sunk to an all-time low, according to a Gallup poll conducted early last month.

The confidence rating for Democrats’ leadership in Congress stood at 25% in the survey, which was nine points below the previous low of 34% recorded in 2023.

And the semi-annual Harvard Youth Poll, which was released late last month, indicated that approval ratings for Democrats in Congress among Americans aged 18-29 nosedived.

“I don’t doubt any of that’s true,” Carville told Fox News. “But there’s one thing: We’re winning elections left and right as we’re talking about how the Democratic number or image is low.”

John Ewing, Jr., the Democrat-aligned mayoral candidate in Omaha, Nebraska, seen here shaking hands with voters on May 8, defeated the Republican-aligned longtime mayor to become the city’s first Black mayor.  (Megan Nielsen/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

John Ewing, Jr., a Democrat, this week ousted a longtime Republican mayor in Omaha, Nebraska, a blue dot in a reliably red state. Ewing will become Omaha’s first Black mayor.

Last month, the Democrat-aligned candidate comfortably defeated the Republican-aligned candidate in a Wisconsin state Supreme Court election. The high-profile and expensive campaign grabbed plenty of national attention and outside money.

Democrats have also performed very well so far this year in special elections, including flipping red state Senate seats in Iowa and Pennsylvania.

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In addition to looking back, Carville also pointed ahead to November’s gubernatorial election in Virginia, where Democrats hope to win back the governor’s office in Richmond.

“Let’s see what’s going to happen in Virginia,” said Carville, who first grabbed national attention for his work as a lead strategist on former President Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign.

And Carville predicted that “we’re going to win that.”

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett sparred with U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer Thursday, pressing him on whether the Trump administration would follow federal court precedent. The exchange quickly became one of the day’s most talked-about moments and could reignite criticism of Barrett from Trump allies.

The back-and-forth took place Thursday during oral arguments in a case related to President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship with a specific focus on whether lower courts should be able to block executive actions from taking effect nationwide. 

Justice Barrett, a Trump appointee, grilled Sauer about the administration’s stance toward lower court rulings, which followed similar lines of inquiry from her colleagues on the bench. 

“I want to ask you about a potential tension,” she began, before stopping to correct herself. “Well, no, not a potential tension, an actual tension that I see in answers that you gave to Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Kagan.”

JUSTICE KAGAN SNAPS AT TRUMP LAWYER IN MAJOR CASE: ‘EVERY COURT HAS RULED AGAINST YOU’

President Donald Trump, alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, left, and Secretary of Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick, right, speaks to reporters as he signs an executive order to create a U.S. sovereign wealth fund in the Oval Office of the White House Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Barrett then asked Sauer if the Trump administration “wanted to reserve its right to maybe not follow a Second Circuit precedent, say, in New York, because you might disagree with its opinion?” 

“You resisted Justice Kagan when she asked you whether the government would obey” such a precedent, she said.

Sauer responded, “Our general practice is to respect those precedents. But there are circumstances when it is not a categorical practice, and that is not …”

Barrett interrupted, asking if that is the Trump administration’s practice or “the long-standing practice of the federal government?” 

Sauer replied that it is “the long-standing policy of the Department of Justice.”

“Really?” she asked. 

SUPREME COURT TAKES ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: JUSTICES SEEMINGLY SPLIT ON LOWER COURT POWERS

“Yes, as it was phrased to me, we generally respect circuit precedent, but not necessarily in every case,” Sauer said. “Some examples might be a situation where we are litigating to get that circuit precedent overruled and so on,” he added later. 

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about this week,” Barrett stressed, pointing to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that Trump’s birthright citizenship order is unconstitutional. 

“And what do you do the next day, or the next week?” she asked.

“Generally, we follow this,” Sauer said, which provoked a somewhat incredulous response from the justice.

“So, you’re still saying generally?” she asked him. “And you still think that it’s generally the long-standing policy of the federal government to take that approach?” 

Protesters demonstrating against President Donald Trump’s during the early months of his second presidential term, and President Donald Trump signing an executive order at the White House. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Thursday, May 15, on a case involving Trump’s birthright citizenship executive orders. (Getty Images)

The remarks sparked divided political reactions on social media, with Democratic strategist Max Burns noting, “Trump Solicitor General D. John Sauer tells Justice Amy Coney Barrett that Trump ‘generally’ tries to respect federal court decisions but he has the ‘right’ to disregard legal opinions he personally disagrees with. Coney Barrett seems to be in disbelief.”

“John Sauer just said the quiet part out loud: unless the Supreme Court tells them directly, Trump’s team might ignore lower court rulings,” said Seth Taylor, a 2024 DNC delegate. “That’s not governance – that’s constitutional brinksmanship.”

“Amy Coney Barrett (ACB) is proving once again she may the the worst SCOTUS pick ever by a Republican,” conservative commentator and podcast host Cash Loren said on social media. 

“She has a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. … Yet you can hear her disdain for the Trump administration.”

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

Demonstrators hold up signs during a protest against President Donald Trump at the Washington Monument in Washington April 5, 2025.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Earlier this year, Barrett sided with three of the Supreme Court’s liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts in rejecting, 5-4, the Trump administration’s request to block billions in USAID money for previously completed projects. 

The decision sparked fierce criticism from Trump supporters, who have attempted to label Justice Barrett an “activist” justice and someone who has been insufficiently loyal to the president who tapped her for the high court. 

Others have pointed out her track record as a reliably conservative voter and the fact the court has lifetime appointments to allow justices to ostensibly act without undue political interference. 

Trump later said he had no knowledge of the attacks against her, telling reporters, “She’s a very good woman.” 

“She’s very smart, and I don’t know about people attacking her. I really don’t know.” Trump added. 

The court ruling could come in a matter of days or weeks. But it will likely hinge closely on the votes of two Trump appointees, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Barrett, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News Friday. 

Overall, he said of the hearing, “it got pretty sporty in there.”

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“There were some lively moments, at least lively for the Supreme Court,” he said, before noting the justices to watch are Gorsuch and Barrett.

“Justice Barrett is probably the greatest concern right now for the Trump administration,” Turley said. 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., recently claimed that widely-criticized negotiations with Qatar over a $400 million Air Force One temporary replacement gift began under the Biden administration – not after President Donald Trump took office.

“What no one is talking about is [that] this same 747 has been in negotiations for a year,” Mullin said on CNN Wednesday.

“The Biden administration is the one that started these conversations. It didn’t start underneath the Trump administration – why? Because we need a back-up for Air Force One.”

Mullin said there is no current backup plane for Air Force One, which is about 40 years old. A recent backup was retired from service due to “structural issues,” the senator said.

HOUSE DEMOCRAT CALLS FOR ‘IMMEDIATE’ ETHICS PROBE OF QATARI PLANE GIFT TO TRUMP

“The fact is, this conversation started with Qatar with Biden a year ago,” he said.

Mullin had been privy to a recent conversation with the Qataris when the information about the Biden administration’s reported role was gleaned, according to a spokesperson.

Mullin said he would give the media “a pass” for not knowing about the reported Biden-era negotiations with the Doha government.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani dismissed the controversy in an interview with Fox News’ “Special Report,” noting that his country had originally purchased the plane from “an American company”—Boeing.

“I don’t see a point out of this [debate],” al-Thani said, adding it is a “really unfair accusation that Qatar is trying to buy influence.”

For his part, Trump has pushed back on claims of corrupt intent in potentially accepting the gift from Doha on behalf of the U.S.

He rejected allegations from Democrats like Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, who complained to the Government Accountability office that the deal is a “flying grift” and violates the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibiting public officers from accepting presents or titles from royalty or foreign governments.

TRUMP TEASES ‘VERY, VERY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT’ AHEAD OF MIDDLE EAST TRIP, CARNEY SAYS HE’S ‘ON EDGE OF MY SEAT’

“The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. 

“It is a gift from a nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive.”

Trump also said it would be foolish not to acknowledge the U.S.’ cost savings in the interim.

Trump said the plane would be given to the Pentagon, not himself – while Mullin and other defenders argued there was no such kerfuffle when the U.S. accepted the Statue of Liberty as a gift from the French government in the 1870s.

In the Mullin interview, CNN host Jake Tapper said Congress had authorized that particular gift.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin also gave the U.S. a large teardrop-shaped sculpture memorializing the murdered Americans. 

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President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with former President Joe Biden at Trump’s inauguration. (Getty)

It currently sits at the Cape Liberty cruise port in New Jersey – in sight of Ground Zero – but Putin’s name was scrubbed from it by Bayonne officials after he invaded Ukraine.

Fox News Digital reached out to a representative for Biden for comment.

Former President Joe Biden joked that he was a “young man” during an October 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur over his mishandling of classified documents, newly released audio shows.

Axios released audio on Friday from Biden’s interviews with Hur in which the then-president appeared to struggle to remember when his son Beau died, when he left office as vice president, what year President Donald Trump was elected to his first term or why he had classified documents that should not have been in his possession.

In addition to Biden’s memory lapses, the recordings showed him slurring his words and muttering when speaking to Hur.

BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEW

Transcripts of the interviews — conducted on Oct. 8 and 9, 2023 — were released on March 12, 2024.

On the first day of the interview, Hur stressed the importance of answering truthfully and urged Biden to make his best effort to recall the events in question, which the prosecutor acknowledged happened years ago.

“I’m a young man, so it’s not a problem,” Biden, now 82, jokingly responded.

“Okay, great. Glad to hear it,” Hur replied. 

BIDEN REPEATEDLY SAYS ‘I DON’T REMEMBER’ REGARDING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS IN NEWLY RELEASED HUR INTERVIEW AUDIO

Former President Joe Biden addresses the Classroom to Career Summit in the East Room of the White House on November 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Hur, who was appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents, said in his report, released on Feb. 5, 2024, that he declined to bring charges against the president, in part, because a jury would find him a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” The report acknowledged that the documents were “willfully” obtained by Biden during his time as vice president and as a senator.

“I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve been president, and I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation,” Biden said when questioned by Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy days after Hur released his report. 

The special counsel’s report, in addition to Biden’s gaffe-prone public appearances, amplified pressure from Republicans who said he lacked the mental fitness needed to serve as president.

President Joe Biden speaks during the Greek Independence Day in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 4, 2024. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Democrats and Biden’s White House initially criticized Hur for his report, insisting the then-president was “sharp” and that the special counsel was politically motivated.

Later in 2024, during Biden’s re-election campaign, Democrats urged him to drop out of the race over his performance in the June presidential debate against Trump, citing his age and mental acuity. Biden formally dropped out of the presidential race in July and finished his term. His vice president, Kamala Harris, was defeated by Trump in November’s general election.