NationalWatch

One is a Democrat sporting a hoodie, the other is a Republican wearing a tie, but bipartisan Pennsylvania Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick stand on common ground. 

The two first-term senators from the critical swing state participated in the sixth installment of The Senate Project series on Monday. It was organized by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation and moderated by Fox News’ Shannon Bream.

Sitting across from one another in a full-sized replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber at the Kennedy Institute in Boston, Fetterman towered over McCormick in his signature Carhartt sweatshirt, basketball shorts and sneakers. 

While Fetterman strutted on stage with an approachable wave to the audience, McCormick emerged from the double doors in a well-fitted suit and tie and immediately shook hands with his Democratic counterpart. 

KNIVES OUT FOR FETTERMAN: MAVERICK SENATOR JOINS LONG LINE OF DEMS PUNISHED FOR BREAKING FROM LEFT

Pennsylvania Sens. Dave McCormick and John Fetterman shake hands ahead of The Senate Project discussion. (FOX Nation)

Fetterman, who suffered a stroke and struggled with his auditory capabilities during his 2022 Senate campaign, has again found his health topping national headlines amid renewed concerns about his mental health. 

LEAKS TO MEDIA ABOUT FETTERMAN ARE A COORDINATED SMEAR CAMPAIGN, HILL COLLEAGUES SAY

But Fetterman again dismissed the slew of media reports as a “smear campaign” on Monday. And Republicans have surprisingly rallied behind the Democrat, who has gained a reputation for bucking his own party on top issues like immigration and Israel. 

It’s not just their wardrobes that set the senators apart. While McCormick speaks like a true politician, the Republican is only a few months into his first term serving elected office. McCormick’s background is in the U.S. Army, as under secretary of the treasury for international affairs for President George W. Bush and as CEO of Bridgewater Associates. 

Sens. Fetterman and McCormick found common ground on Monday. (FOX Nation)

Fetterman may have started his career in the insurance industry, but the Democrat has been in politics for almost a decade. He began his political career as mayor of Braddock before serving as lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. 

Despite Fetterman’s years of experience in politics, his wardrobe choice and casual speaking tone set him apart from McCormick’s polished speech. Style points aside, the bipartisan senators found more common ground than not on Monday. They may have different deliveries, but the content of their arguments seem aligned. 

Both Fetterman and McCormick condemned the attack in Boulder, Colorado, this weekend, which authorities are investigating as an act of antisemitism. The Pennsylvania senators have been steadfast supporters of Israel and united to condemn what they call the rise of antisemitism on college campuses. They also agreed with President Donald Trump that Iran should not have nuclear capabilities. 

SWING STATE SENATORS COME TOGETHER IN RARE SHOW OF BIPARTISANSHIP, DEMS AREN’T HAPPY ABOUT IT

On Trump’s steel deal that allows Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel in Pennsylvania, Fetterman and McCormick said they didn’t initially agree but were able to find common ground and deliver a deal for Pennsylvania workers. 

“We sat down within a week or two after I got elected and talked about a bunch of things,” McCormick said. “There’s a number of things we agreed on. We had both taken different positions on this, but we agreed the most important thing was the workers in Pennsylvania. There are a lot of things we disagree on, but the thing we agreed on was [protecting] those jobs in western Pennsylvania.”

Sens. McCormick and Fetterman participated in The Senate Project discussion with Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Monday. (Fox Nation)

McCormick said it’s a bipartisan strategy the Pennsylvania senators have tried to adopt since they started working together this year. 

“We’re looking for ways to find common ground,” McCormick said. “When we disagree, we disagree. But when we can agree, we agree.”

When pushed by Bream about Senate reconciliation on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” McCormick indicated he would vote in favor of the bill while Fetterman said he’s a “no,” highlighting concerns over Medicaid reform. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“We both represent the most purple part of America,” Fetterman said before adding, “We are going to disagree and vote on different things, but for me, it’s about trying to find the things we can win together and deliver those kinds of wins for Pennsylvania and ultimately for America.”

FIRST ON FOX: California has agreed to drop its Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) mandates dictating stringent emissions standards for big rigs, following a year-long court battle with an anti-regulations group whose legal arm is led by former Attorney General William Barr.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Air Resources Board (CARB) executive Steven Cliff agreed in court documents filed Friday to withdraw their ACF mandates, leading the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree) to drop its legal challenge.

In a document signed by Obama-appointed federal Judge Troy Nunley and obtained by Fox News Digital, Cliff and Bonta agreed to present a repeal proposal for the ACF requirements in a public hearing no later than Oct. 31. They also agreed not to retroactively enforce any such regulations.

While a timeline in the court filing cited California had applied for an environmental waiver from the Biden administration in 2023, AmFree originally sued on ground that Sacramento’s regulations violated the Clean Air Act because a waiver was never obtained.

DOZENS OF STATES LOBBY EPA TO DENY CALIFORNIA WAIVER FORCING OUT-OF-STATE STRUCKS TO COMPLY WITH GREEN MANDATE

A traffic jam on the I-405 freeway in Los Angeles (iStock)

The regulations had been in effect since 2024, directing trucking firms to rapidly transition fleets from diesel to zero-emission vehicles. 

At the time, Barr called the move a “threat to our American free enterprise” and suggested the restrictions would lead to “negligible” environmental benefits at best while causing negative economic repercussions.

“This ruling is the final nail in the coffin of California’s crazy attempt to eliminate the traditional trucking sector, and yet another example of Gavin Newsom’s complete failure in California,” said AmFree CEO Gentry Collins.

“Even after the American public resoundingly voted to steer the country in a new direction last November, liberal states like California are hellbent on implementing a green agenda that consumers don’t want and technology cannot support,” said Collins, a former Iowa attorney general.

YOUNGKIN DECLARES INDEPENDENCE FROM CALIFORNIA AS VIRGINIA EXITS EMISSIONS PACT

“AmFree will remain vigilant, holding blue states to account for their misguided crusade that defies common sense and flies in the face of consumer choice and freedom, and ensuring that completely failed politicians like Gavin Newsom eager to run away from their liberal records are reminded of the disastrous policies that occurred on their watch.” 

The group positions itself as a more free-market alternative to the pro-business stalwart U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

One major regional trucking outfit celebrated the news, telling Fox News Digital that firms across the country had a shared interest in seeing California’s mandates be reversed.

“Here in Alabama and also across America, we stand up every day for our members to defend free enterprise and stand against failed policies from states like California,” said Alabama Trucking Association CEO Mark Colson.

“We’re proud to unite with AmFree and our allies on the ground in California to accomplish shared goals and get our economy roaring again.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The nixing of the regs is only the latest in several sudden reversals of green mandates, as Congress has overturned at least three Biden-era EPA waivers that were officially granted to California to allow it to self-regulate its own emissions standards.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, praised the rollback of California’s clean-cars mandate as a win to “protect American workers and consumers from radical and drastic policy.”

“The impact of California’s waiver would have been felt across the country, harming multiple sectors of our economy and costing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process,” Moore Capito said.

The big-rig regulations had required operators of several types of fleets to begin transitioning to zero-emissions tractor-trailers.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom, Bonta and CARB for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: One of four Jewish Republicans serving in the House of Representatives is calling for the federal government to deport the alleged illegal immigrant accused of setting Jewish people on fire in Colorado on Sunday.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., called for both the alleged perpetrator and his family to be kicked out of the United States in an interview with Fox News Digital Monday.

“I’m very angry, if you can’t tell. Many of us have been talking about this stuff for years,” Fine said sternly. “Maybe next time somebody says, ‘Globalize the Intifada, resistance by any means necessary,’ maybe people will take it seriously.”

A man identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman allegedly threw Molotov cocktails and used a “makeshift flamethrower” to set peaceful Jewish activists on fire Sunday, according to officials. He allegedly yelled, “Free Palestine,” while committing the attack.

SUSPECT IN BOULDER TERROR ATTACK DETERMINED TO BE EGYPTIAN MAN IN US ILLEGALLY: FBI 

Rep. Randy Fine, left, is calling for the deportation of the relatives of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, right, the suspect in the Boulder attack. (AP/Reuters)

“The entire Palestinian cause is a lie… The entire justification of the cause is to eradicate Israel and to exterminate Jews,” Fine said.

“Find me a single person who yells, ‘Fee Palestine,’ who says they’re OK with Israel existing. You won’t find them. Find someone who says, ‘Globalize the intifada,’ who thinks Israel should exist. This is a philosophy built on evil. And this is what happens when we don’t do anything about it.”

Fine told Fox News Digital that House Republicans’ massive tax and spending reconciliation bill – President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” – would give the White House resources to help mitigate such risks.

“President Trump needs the resources to round up and deport every single illegal immigrant, everyone – number one, starting with the family of Mohamed, who’s sitting at home illegally in Colorado right now.”

The immigration status of Soliman’s relatives – and whether he has family in the U.S. – is not immediately clear.

Several people were injured in the Boulder attack, but no fatalities were announced so far. (KDVR)

But the Department of Homeland Security said Monday morning that the suspect was in the U.S. illegally. Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X, “He entered the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired on February 2023. He filed for asylum in September 2022.”

It comes after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources told Fox News that Soliman is an Egyptian immigrant who overstayed a visa but then was given a work permit during the Biden administration.

Eight people aged 52 to 88 were injured in the attack, including a Holocaust survivor. No fatalities have been reported so far. The activists were marching in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Soliman has been hit with multiple charges, including murder in the first degree.

“Jews were burned alive in the United States in 2025. We got burned 80 years ago, and we said, ‘Never again.’ And I’ll be damned if I let this continue,” Fine said.

US POLITICIANS, JEWISH GROUPS CONDEMN ‘HORRIFYING’ BOULDER TERROR ATTACK 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

He also called on Congress to pass his recent legislation that would make religion a protected class on college campuses, and for the U.S. to “cut off” Qatar’s financial influence in the U.S.

Asked how he would accomplish that, Fine pointed out he had previously been given the nickname, “Hebrew Hammer.”

“I didn’t come up with it, but they gave it to me for a reason,” Fine said.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Progressive California Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign has agreed to pay a $68,000 fine after an investigation found it violated multiple election rules.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) said the longtime House lawmaker’s 2020 campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, ran afoul of several campaign finance laws in a tranche of documents released Friday.

The FEC accused Citizens for Waters of “failing to accurately report receipts and disbursements in calendar year 2020,” “knowingly accepting excessive contributions” and “making prohibited cash disbursements,” according to one document that appears to be a legally binding agreement that allows both parties to avoid going to court.

DEMS FUME OVER ‘DUE PROCESS’ FOR ABREGO GARCIA DESPITE LONG HISTORY OF PARTY BUCKING THE LEGAL PRINCIPLE

Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, was accused of violating campaign finance rules. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Waters’ committee agreed to pay the civil fine as well as “send its treasurer to a Commission-sponsored training program for political committees within one year of the effective date of this Agreement.”

“Respondent shall submit evidence of the required registration and attendance at such event to the Commission,” the document said.

Citizens for Waters had accepted excessive campaign contributions from seven people totaling $19,000 in 2019 and 2020, the investigation found, despite the maximum legal individual contribution being capped at $2,800.

The committee offloaded those excessive donations, albeit in an “untimely” fashion, the document said.

Waters’ campaign committee also “made four prohibited cash disbursements that were each in excess of $100, totaling $7,000,” the FEC said. 

The investigation focused on Rep. Maxine Waters’ 2020 campaign finances. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

The campaign committee “contends that it retained legal counsel to provide advice and guidance to the treasurer and implemented procedures to ensure the disbursements comply with the requirements of the Act.”

Leilani Beaver, who was listed as Citizens for Waters’ attorney, sent the FEC a letter last year that maintained the campaign finance violations were “errors” that “were not willful or purposeful.”

Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, has served in Congress since 1991.

The new movements in the probe were first reported by OpenSecrets.

MAXINE WATERS FLOATS DEPORTING MELANIA TRUMP IN ANTI-DOGE DIATRIBE

It is not the first time, however, that Waters has generated public scrutiny.

In 2023, a Fox News Digital investigation found that Waters’ campaign paid her daughter $192,300 to pay for a “slate mailer” operation between Jan. 2021 and Dec. 2022.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

It was reportedly just one sum out of thousands that Waters had paid her daughter for campaign work.

A complaint that Waters’ campaign had accepted illegal campaign contributions in 2018 was overwhelmingly dismissed by the FEC in a 5-1 vote.

Fox News Digital reached out to Beavers, Waters’ congressional office and Citizens for Waters for comment.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations have begun talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, less than 24 hours after a massive Ukrainian drone attack struck Russian airfields.

The two delegations entered Ciragan Palace in Istanbul alongside a group of senior Turkish officials. It is the second round of peace talks to take place in the three years since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Images from the event show many of the Ukrainian delegation wearing military uniforms, while the Russian group exclusively wore suits. 

Details of the meeting are not expected to be made public until after its conclusion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be meeting face-to-face, however. 

GEN. KELLOGG REVEALS WHAT CONCERNS HIM ABOUT RUSSIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo/Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Ukrainian forces destroyed 40 aircraft in the drone attack this weekend, which an official says took more than a year to orchestrate. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the attack on Sunday, saying it struck five airfields.

The operation saw drones transported in containers carried by trucks deep into Russian territory, he said. The drones reportedly hit 41 planes stationed at several airfields on Sunday afternoon, including A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M aircraft, the official said.

PUTIN MASSES 50,000 TROOPS ON UKRAINE’S NORTH FRONT AS TRUMP AGAIN AGREES TO MEET RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN LEADERS

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan chairs Turkiye-Russia-Ukraine Trilateral Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 2, 2025.  (Murat Gok/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Moscow has previously used Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range bombers to launch missiles at Ukraine, while A-50s are used to coordinate targets and detect air defenses and guided missiles.

A series of explosions also struck bridges in Russia near Ukraine’s border on Saturday, though Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the attacks.

Ukrainian soldiers from the 115th Brigade Mortar Unit conduct mortar training, as members of the Anti-UAV unit test an FPV drone inhibitor in Lyman, Ukraine. (Photo by Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A highway bridge over a railway in the Bryansk region was blown up at 10:50 p.m. on Saturday night just as a passenger train carrying 388 passengers to Moscow was passing underneath, Russian investigators said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Just four hours later, a railway bridge over a highway was blown up in the neighboring Kursk region, showering the road with parts of a freight train, the investigators said.

EXCLUSIVE: Over the last several years, a few dozen diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultant groups have racked up over a hundred million dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts from K-12 schools across the country, a new report by Defending Education found.

The report, shared with Fox News Digital, details how 41 DEI consultant groups garnered millions in taxpayer-funded contracts from 303 school districts and public education entities from 2021 until now.

In total, the groups collected over $123 million from public schools in 40 states. The report found public school DEI contracts in both red and blue states, from Florida and Alabama to California and Washington.

Erika Sanzi, a spokesperson for Defending Education, described the schools-consultants partnership as a “total racket that makes schools worse” and often takes no consideration of age-appropriateness in curricula.

THE ‘GRADING FOR EQUITY’ PROPOSAL IS ABOUT LOWERING STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS, EXPERT SAYS

Over the last several years, a few dozen consultant groups have racked up over a hundred million dollars in tax-dollar contracts from K-12 schools across the country, a new report found. (Getty)

According to the report, the biggest winner in the scheme was Amplify, a firm that provides professional development and curricula to school districts, which scored a total of over $70,500,000.

The report states that in a now-scrubbed statement on its website, Amplify said its mission is to “make education, and thereby the world, more equitable and accessible” and to “help teachers support their students in constructing, questioning, expanding, and strengthening knowledge of where they come from and who they are becoming.”

In response, a representative for Amplify told Fox News Digital that the group “publishes textbooks and other instructional materials that help students learn reading, math and science” and that “there is no place anywhere in Amplify’s products, or in the training programs about how to use them, for ideologies or political agendas.” 

The representative said “our programs help students learn how to think, not what to think.” 

The report highlights another consultant group, Adjusted Equity Solutions, which it says is associated with the Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute, that claims to help schools challenge “whiteness and hegemonic epistemologies in school,” use “equity audits to measure student inclusiveness, policy, and practice” and serve as “advocate and social activist for community-based causes in both the school and neighborhood community.” 

MAHA REPORT RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT CHILDHOOD CHRONIC DISEASE

Students arrive at Benson High School for the first day of hybrid instruction for middle and high schools on April 19, 2021, in Portland, Oregon. (Carlos Delgado/AP Images for Portland Public Schools)

This group took in over a million dollars from public schools during the study period.

“Tinkering in the minds of other people’s children is big business and countless K-12 schools across the country are active participants,” Sanzi said. “They pay big bucks to enter into contracts with ideologues and activists who, in turn, gain access, directly or indirectly, to a captive audience of young minds.”

Speaking with Fox News Digital via Zoom, Sanzi said that “rather than this being a focus on sort of academic interventions, it’s a lot of jargon that so far has not proven itself to be measurable. And there’s really not much evidence, if any, that any of this is helping students or helping schools or helping staff.”

EDUCATION SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON PUSHES BACK ON CLAIMS THAT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ‘DOESN’T CARE ANYTHING ABOUT THE LAW’

Sanzi said that though these DEI groups couch their activities in agreeable terms like “belonging” and “empathy,” they often end up being a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“At first, you’re thinking lesson on empathy, like that’s good,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want their child to be empathetic? We want that. Until you realize that the lesson on empathy is going to be about something like a little girl in her bathroom at school, a staff member who’s trans, so biologically male, but identifies as female, comes into the restroom with her. She naturally feels uncomfortable because that’s a very natural feeling in a circumstance like that. But she’s told that she needs to have ‘empathy’ for this grownup who identifies as female, right? And that her discomfort is the problem… That feeling discomfort in that situation is wrong or makes her un-empathetic.”

Morning sun lights the front of the Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., Feb. 4, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

The Trump Department of Education has warned state education departments in all 50 states that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding.

Despite this, Sanzi said many of these consultant groups have adjusted by scrubbing references to DEI on their websites and using other words to describe the same thing. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“We see a lot of renaming,” she said. “So, they might say, ‘Well, we’re getting rid of our DEI office or we’re getting rid of our equity officer.’ [But] the proof will be in the pudding because what we notice often is that you’ll see a switch, like suddenly we hear the word belonging a lot more now. And so the question becomes, ‘Are you getting rid of it? Or are you just rebranding it and shifting it somewhere else and taking it off your website?’” 

“What many people don’t understand is that the founders of these consultant companies and the people who run them and the practitioners are activists. They are ideologues,” she went on. “They have every right to believe that what they’re transmitting is the right thing, but in a public-school setting that is required to maintain viewpoint diversity, these really have no place, not only because of the cost, not only cause it’s public money, not only because they’re not very transparent about what they’re doing, but also because they are really trying to push an ideological agenda on other people’s children.”

The Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s time as the face of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has come to an end following the expiration of his time as a special government employee. 

Since January, Musk has been heading up DOGE, which was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget through efforts to slash spending, government programs and the federal workforce.

But how will the Trump administration look at DOGE now that Musk is gone?

So far, there are no signs that DOGE is being dismantled or that its efforts will be reversed, and former DOGE employees are infiltrating other areas of the Trump administration. Plus, President Donald Trump signaled that Musk could return in some capacity, although he did not dive into specifics. 

“Elon’s really not leaving,” Trump said Friday in the Oval Office. “He’s going to be back and forth … it’s his baby. And I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things. But Elon’s service to America has been without comparison in modern history.”

MUSK CONFIDENT DOGE WILL SAVE $1 TRILLION AS GOVERNMENT COST CUTTING CONTINUES

Elon Musk holds the key to the White House, a gift received from President Donald Trump, at a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

DOGE’s efforts to cut waste have led to roughly $175 billion in savings due to asset sales, contract cancellations, fraudulent payment cuts, in addition to other steps to eliminate costs, according to a May 26 update from DOGE’s website. That translates to roughly $1,086.96 in savings per taxpayer, according to the website. 

Meanwhile, Musk signaled that despite his departure as a special employee, DOGE would only continue to pick up steam and that DOGE is now an essential aspect of the federal government. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“This is not … the end of DOGE, but really the beginning. My time as a special government appointee necessarily had to end,” Musk said Friday in the Oval Office. “The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time. The DOGE influence will only grow stronger. I liken it to a sort of person of Buddhism. It’s like a way of life, so it is permeating throughout the government. And I’m confident that over time, we’ll see $1 trillion of savings, and a reduction in $1 trillion of waste, fraud reduction.” 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: THE BUDGET CUTS MUSK COULDN’T COMPLETE AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE

Elon Musk, left, receives a golden key from President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

The White House has said that DOGE leadership following Musk’s departure will continue through members of Trump’s Cabinet. 

“The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s Cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday at a White House press briefing. 

“The entire Cabinet understands the need to cut government waste, fraud and abuse,” Leavitt said. “And each Cabinet secretary at their respective agencies is committed to that. That’s why they were working hand in hand with Elon Musk. And they’ll continue to work with their respective DOGE employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies. So surely the mission of DOGE will continue, and many DOGE employees are now political appointees and employees of our government.”

DOGE STAFFING SHAKEUP AS ELON MUSK HANGS UP HIS HAT, WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS

President Donald Trump, right, is joined by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and his son, X Musk, during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

A senior White House official previously told Fox News Digital that DOGE is now part of the “DNA” of the federal government, and that the agency will continue to function as it has done so far. 

“The DOGE employees at their respective agency or department will be reporting to and executing the agenda of the president through the leadership of each agency or department head,” the official said.

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., slammed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s move to give the green light to Moderna’s mNEXSPIKE COVID-19 vaccine.

“Not MAHA at all!!!,” the congresswoman wrote in a post on X, using the acronym for the phrase “Make America Healthy Again,” calling the move “Unreal.”

“MNEXSPIKE is approved for use in individuals who have been previously vaccinated with any COVID-19 vaccine and are 65 years of age and older, or 12 years through 64 years of age with at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19,” an FDA letter to Moderna notes.

GREENE CALLS FOR YANKING FDA APPROVAL OF COVID-19 VACCINES: ‘CAUSING PERMANENT HARM AND DEATHS’

Chair of the Subcommittee on Delivering On Government Efficiency (DOGE) U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., presides over a hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee in the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington, D.C.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

According to a Moderna press release, CEO Stéphane Bancel said that “COVID-19 remains a serious public health threat, with more than 47,000 Americans dying from the virus last year alone.”

The company describes itself as “a leader in the creation of the field of mRNA medicine.”

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE AIRS FRUSTRATIONS, WARNS THAT SHE REPRESENTS A ‘NOT HAPPY’ REPUBLICAN BASE

Greene has previously spoken out against COVID-19 vaccines, saying their FDA approval should be nixed.

“COVID-19 vaccines should have never received approval and they’ve known the entire time how bad the side effects are and deaths caused by them. It’s time to do the right thing. Stop the COVID-19 vaccines,” she declared in part of a tweet in March.

TRUMP ALLY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE SAYS SHE WON’T RUN FOR SENATE WHILE BLASTING DEMS AND FELLOW REPUBLICANS

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The congresswoman is currently serving her third term in the House of Representatives.

Nearly 1,000 people gathered at Main Beach in Santa Cruz, California, on Saturday for a Pride Month protest aimed squarely at President Donald Trump.

Participants formed a massive human banner that spelled out “Resist!” in rainbow colors as part of a demonstration organized by Indivisible Santa Cruz County. 

The 220-foot-wide display, with letters reaching 70 feet high, was designed by longtime left-wing activist Brad Newsham.

Organizers described the event as a peaceful act of resistance and a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.

SEATTLE MAYOR ACCUSED OF LYING AFTER BLAMING CHRISTIAN RALLY FOR PARK VIOLENCE

Left: Protesters hold signs reading “Peace,” “Love,” and “Freedom.”
Right: Beachgoers gather near coastal homes along the cliffs at Main Beach in Santa Cruz, California. The area was the site of a large-scale protest against President Donald Trump organized as part of the city’s Pride celebration. (iStock and Getty Images)

“It’s very important, the more people [who] can show our neighbors, our politicians in the world, that nonviolent resistance is the way to express our dissatisfaction with the way our country’s going,” said event organizer Becca Moeller to Lookout Santa Cruz.

But just above the colorful banner was a very different kind of message: “86 47,” a phrase many interpreted as a call to “get rid of” the 47th President of the United States.

In slang, “86” typically means to cancel, eliminate, or even destroy. Combined with “47,” the number now associated with President Trump’s second term, the phrase has raised alarms among critics who say it crossed a line.

Earlier this month, former FBI Chief James Comey posted a similar message in the sand, but instead of kelp, they were shells. He has since removed the post after widespread criticism and action by law enforcement.

SEATTLE MAYOR BLAMES CHRISTIAN RALLY FOR INSPIRING VIOLENT ‘ANARCHISTS’ WHO ‘INFILTRATED’ COUNTER-PROTEST

Beachgoers enjoying a sunny day with tents and umbrellas along the coastline, houses situated on the cliff in the background, Santa Cruz, California, June 22, 2024.  (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

“We don’t need a king. We want to go back to the way we were. We want to make America kind again,” said protester Beth Basilius to Lookout Santa Cruz.

While the event promoted “kindness” and inclusivity, the imagery told a more conflicted story.

“They claim they want to make America ‘kind’ again, but then they spell out ‘86 47’ in the sand. That’s not kindness — that’s a coded call to eliminate someone they disagree with. It’s hypocritical,” said Mike LeLieur, chair of the Santa Cruz County Republican Party to Fox News Digital.

LeLieur said local conservatives face growing hostility from the political left.

“We’ve had vehicles vandalized, tires slashed, and windows broken. I was forced off the road and attacked just for having a Trump sticker. At our State of the Union watch party, we were swarmed by angry protesters. It’s been nonstop hostility — and these are the same people who call themselves the ‘Party of Peace.’”

Aerial view of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with various amusement rides and beachgoers on a sunny day, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, California, June 22, 2024. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Just 8.5% of voters in the city of Santa Cruz are registered Republicans, according to the most recent data from the California Secretary of State.

Despite the message written in the sand, some participants insisted the demonstration was rooted in compassion.

“We want to go back to the way we were. We want to make America kind again,” said protester Beth Basilius to Lookout Santa Cruz.

Supporters of the protest claimed that “86 47” was a symbolic rejection of Trump’s agenda, not a literal threat. But critics say that argument falls flat in a political climate where coded language carries real-world consequences.

“In California — and especially in Santa Cruz County — the left is creating a political environment of non-acceptance and persecution,” said Daniel Enriquez, a representative of the California Republican Assembly. “It’s consistent with the goals of socialist movements throughout history.”

Jenny Evans, co-leader of Indivisible Santa Cruz County, defended the event.

“When a great number of people come out to do something like this, it just is one more thing to show that we’re not all saying, ‘Fine, fine. We’ll go along with whatever you want,’” she said to Lookout Santa Cruz.

The event was also part of Santa Cruz’s 50th Pride celebration. Participants were instructed to dress in matching rainbow colors, coordinated with fabric laid out across the beach starting at 7 a.m.

The protest was peaceful, but critics say calling for kindness while displaying “86 47” sent a message that was anything but.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Indivisible Santa Cruz County did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – China’s rampant theft of intellectual property from American institutions and industry must be thwarted as the U.S. battles to remain the world’s economic and military leader – but America cannot completely decouple from the economic behemoth, Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.

The key, according to Rounds, is maintaining China as a key trade partner without giving them access to America’s technology, including artificial intelligence and computer chips.

“In doing so, maybe we’ll restrict their ability to actually be able to have a market that they can create their own stuff with. They’ll be using ours. And in using ours, they’ll be our standards,” Rounds told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library during the Reagan National Economic Forum on Friday in California. 

“Let’s not necessarily just totally divest. Let’s see if we can have an influence on them and the rest of the world as well when it comes to standards for AI and other technological advances in the future,” he added. 

Rounds was among the conference panelists who spoke on the threats China poses as President Donald Trump addresses the country’s chronic trade deficit with foreign nations, and his optimism for the future as the U.S. sprints to remain the world’s economic and military leader. 

SPY SURGE SPARKS TRUMP VISA CRACKDOWN ON CHINESE STUDENTS

South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds was a panelist for the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum in California. (Getty Images)

Rounds’ remarks focused on keeping the U.S. in the driver’s seat of the world’s economy, which he explained is deeply entwined in technological advances and bucking Chinese theft of intellectual property, while also acknowledging and combating how China has advanced into a “near-peer competitor” with the U.S. from a military standpoint. 

‘NO REASON’ FOR NEW NUKES: TRUMP FLOATS DISARMAMENT TALKS WITH CHINA, RUSSIA

“We’ve got to do a better job of protecting the intellectual properties that we’ve got. The most advanced types of technologies that we have, everything we can do to slow down their connection with that, protecting against that infiltration or de-filtration of really good information that, right now, they’re stealing from us on a regular basis,” Rounds said during a panel called “China and the U.S.: When Trading Partners are also Great Power Competitors.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. (Fox News Digital )

He added that China has no qualms about stealing U.S. intellectual property – which is understood as intangible creations, such as patents for inventions or trade secrets such as tech algorithms. Rounds recalled a recent conversation with an ambassador to China who told him their culture does not understand “how someone can own an idea.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last Wednesday that the U.S. will begin “aggressively” revoking visas of Chinese students, most notably those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party who are trained at U.S. schools, but return to China or feed U.S. information to China. 

China has stolen billions in intellectual property on an annual basis, Sen. Mike Rounds says. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Rounds said the country needed a pause on admitting Chinese nationals with CCP ties into elite U.S. schools until an enforceable agreement is in place protecting intellectual property and processes from Chinese capture. 

“We have Chinese students that come in here, and then they [maintain] ties back home. And even if they want to stay here, one of the challenges we have is that their family may very well be coerced into requiring them to come back home again. And if that’s the case, any of the knowledge that we’ve helped them to develop here goes back home with them,” Rounds said. 

“Until such time as we’re able to address that, and until such time as we’re able to be assured that the information that they’re getting here, the data that they are catching here, the knowledge that they gain here isn’t going to be used against our young men and women in the future, we want to slow this down a little bit. Let’s just take a break. Let’s not be bringing in these Chinese students that have ties with the Chinese Communist Party, until we have some kind of agreement in place that is enforceable,” he said. 

South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds was a panelist for the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum in California. (Fox News Digital )

Rounds explained during the Reagan library forum that protecting U.S. intellectual property from Chinese theft has a ripple effect on U.S. efforts to remain the world’s military leader as China seeks parity with America. 

STATE DEPARTMENT SAYS IT WILL ‘AGGRESSIVELY REVOKE’ VISAS OF CHINESE STUDENTS

“[China is] a strategic challenger for us on the military side. They are a near-peer competitor. And they have an advantage over us in one particular way: They are unified in terms of when Xi Jinping wants to move, it’s not just the government that moves, but the entire rest of their economic activity is required to move the way that he wants them to move. We don’t have that here. And so for us, we have to recognize that challenge. Now, I’m not suggesting we go the direction that they go, but we have to recognize their ability to move very, very quickly,” he said. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping listens during a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 14. (AP/Minh Hoang)

The Trump administration leveled tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods in April, and China retaliated against the president’s “Liberation Day” policies with tariffs of its own. China and the U.S. reached a preliminary trade agreement last month, which Trump said China violated in a Truth Social post on Friday. 

TRUMP CALLS OUT PUTIN, ACCUSES CHINA OF NOT HONORING TRADE DEAL TERMS DURING 19TH WEEK IN OFFICE

“I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” he wrote. 

President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Rounds explained that the U.S. is in the midst of reaching a favorable trade deal while also acknowledging China has stolen billions of dollars in intellectual property for its own advantage. 

“We do, right now, really close to about a half a trillion dollars a year in economic activity with China today, but they steal about $600 billion in intellectual property on an annual basis. And so we have this dichotomy of trying to do good trade and at the same time recognizing that they’re stealing our property,” he said. 

Rounds said the floodgates of accepting and leveraging AI have not yet opened in the U.S., as many Americans are still hesitant to trust the technology. In mere months and years, however, he said the health industry will see massive overhauls, aided by tech that can quickly identify cancer or diagnose diabetes and Alzheimer’s. This will lead American culture to accept AI and rally the private sector’s proliferation of it, he said.

HOUSE CHINA COMMITTEE ZEROS IN ON LATEST CCP EFFORTS TO STEAL AMERICAN AGRICULTURE IP

“I think what the American people want to see is, what’s in it for them? What improves their quality of life? I think one of the most critical issues – that would really be one of the easiest to get into – is talking about health care. And I firmly believe that Americans will see AI as a benefit to them rather than as a challenge when we start to see cures for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancers. And those are all within reach,” Rounds told Fox Digital. 

Rounds added during the forum that when Americans personally feel how their quality of life has improved due to AI, “that’s when we’ll really see the push across the country to develop AI at a rate that you’ve never seen before by the private sector, as well.”

“That’s what’s going to keep us ahead of China,” he said. 

Red flags flutter in front of the Great Hall of the People on March 4, 2022, in Beijing, China. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

The forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, which is nestled in California’s Santa Susana Mountains and the Simi Hills, kicked off on Thursday evening, and featured more than a dozen discussions and panels focused on the economy, artificial intelligence, U.S. defense strategies, the energy sector and more across Friday. Banking leader Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin were among those who joined Rounds in addressing the nation’s economic health. 

The Reagan library’s retired Air Force One jet is showcased in a pavilion. (Fox News Digital)

“The Reagan Library does an excellent job working on defense issues, and now they’ve also opened up a seminar basically working on economic issues critical to the United States. And so to come in here and to work with other people that care about the economic well-being of our country, this is an excellent place to do it.… So it’s an opportunity for me to really learn what’s going on and what other people are thinking about our economy in general,” Rounds told Fox Digital of the forum. 

JPMORGAN’S JAMIE DIMON CALLS ON US TO STOCKPILE BULLETS, RARE EARTH INSTEAD OF BITCOIN

A statue of the former president at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

The conference comes as the Senate works to pass the Big Beautiful Bill, which is a sweeping multitrillion-dollar piece of legislation that advances Trump’s agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. Rounds said the legislation must pass or Americans will see their taxes spike. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“We don’t have a choice. We have to pass the bill to get the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act back in place on a permanent basis. If we don’t do that, the average American family is going to see about a $2,400 a year increase in their taxes. So we have to do something. And it’s critical that we pass this bill. We’re going to work with the House. We’re gonna get this deal done. The Senate will put their mark of approval on it, but nonetheless, we want to do everything we can as quickly as we can to take care of this so that we can get on to other things. The president has made it very clear he wants to get this done. We want to help in that regard. This is our job,” he said. 

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., criticized the Trump administration for “sowing chaos” in communities while announcing that a member of his staff was handcuffed and briefly detained at his New York City office last week.

Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were responding Wednesday to reports that protesters were inside Nadler’s district office in Manhattan. At the time, a protest was taking place outside an immigration courthouse in the same facility as the congressman’s office. 

“Based on earlier incidents in a nearby facility, FPS officers were concerned about the safety of the federal employees in the office and went to the location to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those present,” a Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP DHS ISSUES WARNING AFTER ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS ATTEMPT TO DISRUPT ARREST

Rep. Jerry Nadler criticizes Trump administration after his staff member was detained by DHS officers during protests in New York City, calling for an end to intimidation tactics. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The officers were let inside and came upon four people, the spokesperson said. 

“Officers identified themselves and explained their intent to conduct a security check, however, one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office, the spokesperson added. “The officers then detained the individual in the hallway for the purpose of completing the security check. All were released without further incident.”

In a video of the arrest posted online, the officers were heard saying that Nadler’s staff were “harboring rioters” and that they were conducting a check. The staff member being arrested can be heard crying during the incident. 

In a statement released Saturday, Nadler said the DHS officers “forcefully” entered his office before handcuffing a member of his staff.

NOEM DISMISSES JEFFRIES’ WARNINGS AS DHS CONSIDERS ARRESTS OF DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS AFTER ICE FACILITY CLASH

“President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are sowing chaos in our communities, using intimidation tactics against both citizens and non-citizens in a reckless and dangerous manner,” Nadler said. 

“The decision to enter a Congressional office and detain a staff member demonstrates a deeply troubling disregard for proper legal boundaries,” he added. “If this can happen in a Member of Congress’s office, it can happen to anyone–and it is happening,” Nadler said, in part.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has accused President Donald Trump of “sowing chaos” after his staff member was briefly handcuffed and detained at the congressman’s office last week.  (AP)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Nadler further called on Trump and DHS to halt “these dangerous tactics” and to abandon the expedited removal process, which he said denies due process for illegal immigrants and U.S. citizens. 

“While no arrests were made and the situation was quickly deescalated, I am alarmed by the aggressive and heavy-handed tactics DHS is employing in New York City and across the country,” he said. 

President Donald Trump shared a post on social media this weekend claiming that President Joe Biden died in 2020 and was replaced with clones.

Trump shared a link to the post from his personal account on Truth Social on Saturday. The post originated from a small account on the platform responding to discussions about Biden’s health.

“There is no Joe Biden – executed in 2020,” the post says. “Biden clones, doubles and robotic engineered soulless, mindless entities are what you see.”

“Democrats don’t know the difference,” it adds, before listing a litany of hashtags.

POLITICAL WORLD REACTS TO FORMER PRESIDENT BIDEN’S ‘AGGRESSIVE’ CANCER DIAGNOSIS: ‘INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT’

President Donald Trump shared a social media post claiming that President Joe Biden had been “executed” in 2020 and replaced with clones. (Win McNamee/Pool via REUTERS, Getty Images)

Trump added no words of his own to the post, merely sharing the link on his personal account.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Trump shared several links to Truth Social posts without offering his own commentary Saturday night. Most of the posts detailed Trump’s efforts to return steel manufacturing to the U.S.

JOE BIDEN DIAGNOSED WITH ‘AGGRESSIVE FORM’ OF PROSTATE CANCER WITH METASTASIS TO THE BONE

President Trump shares a post on Truth Social.

The Saturday post comes amid new controversy over Biden’s health while in office. Speculation has exploded in the days since Biden announced he has stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, a diagnosis that typically takes years to develop.

The nature of the diagnosis has led to speculation that members of the previous administration were aware of the cancer but withheld information about it from the public, even as they attempted to run Biden for a second term.

Former President Joe Biden shared an image of he and his wife Jill after it was announced he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. (X.com/@JoeBiden)

Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump were “saddened” to learn of Biden’s diagnosis and wished him a “fast and successful recovery” in a post on social media this weekend.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis,” Trump wrote. “We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”

Conservatives are mocking Sen. Cory Booker for delivering an alleged “Nazi salute” to California Democrats, while quipping the New Jersey Democrat won’t get the same scrutiny Elon Musk did when he raised his arm to MAGA supporters in January. 

“NEW: Democrat Senator Cory Booker appears to do a ‘Nazi’ salute in front of a large crowd of Democrats. I’m looking forward to the wall to wall coverage from the ‘honest’ and totally not biased media,” Trending Politics co-owner Collin Rugg posted to X, accompanied by footage of the gesture. 

“If Elon Musk is a Nazi for doing this gesture…  Cory Booker is one too. Sorry, I don’t make the rules,” X user Angela Belcamino posted. 

Booker traveled to the Los Angeles area on Saturday, where he addressed the California Democratic Party’s convention, calling on supporters to “stand up” to President Donald Trump and repeating a handful of messages he delivered during his marathon 25-hour speech on the Senate floor in March railing against Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency, and the Trump administration for its alleged attacks on “Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy.”

ELON MUSK’S MOTHER URGES HIM TO SUE CNN, OTHER NEWS OUTLETS FOR PEDDLING ‘NAZI SALUTE’ NARRATIVE

Sen. Cory Booker addressed the California Democratic convention at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“Real change does not come from Washington. It comes from communities. It comes from the streets. It comes from the people who’s standing up and have shown over and over again – against the powerful, against the elected, against the rich – that the power of the people is greater than the people in power,” Booker said on Saturday to the California Democrats. 

He capped off his roughly 15-minute speech with a gesture where he placed his right hand on his chest before raising it to the crowd. 

Musk delivered a similar gesture in January on Trump’s inauguration day, which yielded dozens of headlines from mainstream media outlets that Musk delivered a “Nazi-style salute” to Trump supporters. Liberals and critics frequently attacked Trump while he was on the campaign trail by calling him a Hitler-esque fascist, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, who compared Trump to the German dictator during a town hall in October. 

BOOKER CONCLUDES RECORD 25-HOUR SPEECH AGAINST TRUMP, MUSK, MARKING THE LONGEST EVER ON THE SENATE FLOOR

Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images )

Conservatives and others pounced on the footage of Booker, asking if media outlets would accuse the New Jersey Democrat of gesturing like a Nazi. 

“Will Corey Booker be plastered all over msm with headlines claiming he’s a ‘Nazi’?” The Post Millennial’s X account posted, accompanied by footage of the gesture. 

DEM SENATOR SAYS PARTY BRAND IS ‘REALLY PROBLEMATIC’ AND LED TO THE LOSS OF TRUST OF WORKING-CLASS VOTERS

“Here’s a list of all the news networks who have not covered Cory Booker’s salute: – NYTimes – CNN – Washington Post – MSNBC – NPR – USA Today – Reuters – Axios – ABC News Every single one of them wrote stories on Elon Musk’s ‘salute’… …do you get it yet?” former government scientist Matt van Swol posted to X. 

Musk responded to van Swol: “Legacy media is one big psy op.”

Sen. Cory Booker speaks at the California Democratic convention at the Anaheim Convention Center on Saturday, May 31, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

ELON MUSK’S OFFICIAL ROLE AT TRUMP’S DOGE ENDS, BUT HIS POLITICAL IMPACT LINGERS AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

“Cory Booker is a straight up NAZI! WOW,” conservative X user Gunther Eagleman posted. 

Other X posts included direct comparison between Musk’s wave in January and Booker’s gesture on Saturday. 

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House, May 30, 2025. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Cory Booker was obviously just waving to the crowd. Anyone who claims his wave is the same as Elon Musk’s gesture is operating in bad faith. The differences between the two are obvious to anyone without an agenda,” Booker spokesperson Maya Krishna-Rogers told Fox News Digital on Sunday when asked about the gesture. 

Booker did not appear to join fellow liberals in comparing Musk’s wave to a Nazi salute in January, although he has previously slammed Trump as “worse than a racist,” accusing him in 2019 of using “racist tropes” as “a weapon to divide our nation against itself.” 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Sunday that he would support President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” if the debt ceiling hike was removed.

Paul told CBS’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan that he and three other Republican senators will hold out against the bill unless it is modified. 

“I think there are four of us at this point, and I would be very surprised if the bill at least is not modified in a good direction,” Paul said. 

“I want the tax cuts to be permanent. But at the same time, I don’t wanna raise the debt ceiling five trillion,” he continued, adding, “The GOP will own the debt once they vote for this.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS EYE CHANGES TO TRUMP’S MEGABILL AFTER HOUSE WIN

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol after the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Thursday, May 22, 2025.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc )

Trump on Saturday warned Paul would be “playing right into the hands of the Democrats” if he votes against the bill.

“If Senator Rand Paul votes against our Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, he is voting for, along with the Radical Left Democrats, a 68% Tax Increase and, perhaps even more importantly, a first time ever default on U.S. Debt,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday afternoon. 

TRUMP WARNS RAND PAUL HE’S PLAYING INTO ‘HANDS OF THE DEMOCRATS’ WITH ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ OPPOSITION

President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., he would be “playing right into the hands of the Democrats” if he votes against Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”  (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“Rand will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, and the GREAT people of Kentucky will never forgive him! The GROWTH we are experiencing, plus some cost cutting later on, will solve ALL problems. America will be greater than ever before!”

Next week, Senate Republicans will get their turn to parse through the colossal package and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who can only afford to lose three votes.

The US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Sunday, May 18, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Congressional Republicans are in a dead sprint to get the megabill — filled with Trump’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt — onto the president’s desk by early July.

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and Alex Miller contributed to this report.

New Jersey voters will choose their Democrat and Republican nominees for governor on June 10, closing out competitive primary contests that could have major implications for the Garden State. 

It’s a crowded field on both sides of the aisle as six Democrats and five Republicans are vying for the chance to replace Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited this year. 

Democratic candidates include Newark mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop, New Jersey Education Association president Sean Spiller, former New Jersey Senate president Steve Sweeney and U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherill.

2021 Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, radio personality Bill Spadea, New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and political outsider Justin Barbera are among the Republican candidates. 

DEM LAWMAKER FUNDRAISES OFF FEDERAL ASSAULT CHARGES AFTER ICE FACILITY CONFRONTATION: ‘DOING MY JOB’

Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill, left, and Republican Jack Ciattarelli, right, are among the leading gubernatorial candidates ahead of the New Jersey primary.  (Getty Images)

Democrat and Republican candidates have evoked President Donald Trump’s name during their gubernatorial campaigns, as Democrats position themselves as the most anti-Trump and Republicans try to be the most pro-Trump. 

REP. MIKIE SHERRILL SUGGESTS THIRD TRUMP IMPEACHMENT AS SHE CAMPAIGNS TO BE NEXT NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR

New Jersey is one of just two gubernatorial elections in 2025, along with Virginia. Both races will be used by politicians and pundits to gauge how Americans are responding to Trump’s second term ahead of the midterm elections next year. 

Trump outperformed in the Garden State in 2024, according to Fox News Voter Analysis. 

While Vice President Kamala Harris won New Jersey in 2024 as expected, Trump gained a nearly five-point improvement from his 2020 vote share and Harris’ support dropped by about five points. He gained across New Jersey, with his largest swings in the northeast corner of the state. Hudson and Passaic counties lead the pack.

Trump arrives for his campaign rally in Wildwood Beach on May 11, 2024, in Wildwood, New Jersey. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Trump held a large “Make America Great Again” rally on the Jersey Shore during his 2024 presidential campaign as he told the crowd that New Jersey was in play, despite its reputation as a reliable blue state. 

Republican gubernatorial candidates have been eager to play up their relationships with Trump and cast their campaigns as the most aligned with Trump. But the president endorsed Ciattarelli on Truth Social earlier this month – a blow to Ciatarelli’s closest competitor, Spadea.

Ciattarelli is leading the pack of Republican candidates with 42% of New Jersey registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton/SSRS Garden State Panel poll conducted from April 1 to April 10. Spadea comes in a distant second, with 12%. Four percent of Republicans said they preferred Bramnick, 3% chose Barbera, and no one chose Kranjac. Four percent say they don’t prefer any of the candidates.

Ciattarelli landed Trump’s endorsement earlier this month.  (Getty Images)

This is the leading Republican’s third consecutive gubernatorial bid. Ciattarelli lost by a hair to Murphy in 2021 and has framed his candidacy as a referendum on the Democrat policies that have driven New Jersey for the past eight years. 

Meanwhile, the Democrat candidates have walked a fine line between building on Murphy’s legacy and promising to change the status quo in Trenton. Like Murphy, Democrat candidates have rejected Trump’s executive orders, crackdown on illegal immigration and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts. 

The same poll found Democrats were more split about their leading candidate. 17% of registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents said they prefer Sherrill and 12% said they support Fulop, which is within the margin of error. Spiller picked up 10%, Baraka had 9% and Sweeney landed 7% of the vote. Four percent didn’t prefer any of the candidates. 

Baraka speaks after exiting a courthouse on May 15, 2025, in Newark, New Jersey. (Getty)

Democratic candidates threw their support behind Baraka this month when he was arrested for trespassing at an ICE facility in Newark. The Department of Homeland Security called it a “beyond bizarre political stunt,” but Baraka has maintained that he did nothing wrong. 

As the New Jersey primary comes to a head next month, the Garden State has dominated national headlines this year. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) has experienced multiple FAA system outages, prompting concern among fliers and air traffic controllers. 

And a New Jersey transit strike created more travel mayhem when railways closed last week. Not to mention the large sinkhole that shut down Interstate 80, redirecting even more New Jersey travelers and commuters. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

In-person early voting runs Tuesday, June 3, to Sunday, June 8. Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, and received by the county Board of Elections on or before the sixth day after the close of the polls. In-person voting on election day, Tuesday, June 10, will be from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Fox News’ Remy Numa contributed to this report.

White House Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett says he remains “very, very confident” that courts will support President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.

Hassett made the statement during a Sunday morning appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” telling host George Stephanopoulos that the White House still expects “Plan A” to work out.

“And so we’re very thrilled. We are very confident that the judges would uphold this law. And so I think that that’s Plan A, and we’re very, very confident that Plan A is all we’re ever going to need,” Hassett said.

“But if, for some reason, some judge were to say that it’s not a national emergency when more Americans die from fentanyl than have ever died in all American wars combined, that’s not an emergency that the president has authority over – if that ludicrous statement is made by a judge somewhere, then we’ll have other alternatives that we can pursue as well to make sure that we make American trade fair again,” he added.

TWELVE STATES SUE TRUMP OVER TARIFFS, CLAIMING THEY’RE ‘ILLEGAL’ AND HARMFUL TO US ECONOMY

White House Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett defended President Donald Trump’s tariff plan on Sunday. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Hassett’s appearance comes after a federal court struck down Trump’s tariffs in a ruling last week, only for an appeals court to issue a temporary stay protecting the tariffs during litigation.

The appeals court ruling paused a decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), thus allowing Trump to continue to enact the 10% baseline tariff and the so-called “reciprocal tariffs” that he announced April 2 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. 

The CIT had ruled unanimously to block the tariffs the day before.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS 5 TRUMP TARIFF EXECUTIVE ORDERS

President Donald Trump has used the threat of tariffs throughout his opening months in office. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Members of the three-judge panel who were appointed by Trump, former President Barack Obama and former President Ronald Reagan, ruled unanimously that Trump had overstepped his authority under IEEPA.

They noted that, as commander in chief, Trump does not have “unbounded authority” to impose tariffs under the emergency law.

President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled Make America Wealthy Again at the White House in Washington, D.C. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

For now, the burden of proof shifts to the government, which must convince the court it will suffer “irreparable harm” if the injunction remains in place, a high legal standard the Trump administration must meet.

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report

Former President Joe Biden‘s inner circle considers first lady Jill Biden one of the most powerful first ladies in history, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson reveal in their new book, “Original Sin.”

Jill Biden, a PhD whom White House staffers called “Dr. B” for short, was a reluctant political spouse in the early days of her husband’s political career. During his presidential campaigns and into his presidency, the first lady became his staunchest defender and a “political partner in addition to a spouse,” Thompson and Tapper wrote. 

“Dr. B was a strong, protective force in the White House. She was also, without question, one of the chief supporters of the president’s decision to run for reelection, and one of the chief deniers of his deterioration,” the authors wrote. 

President Donald Trump‘s White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Jill Biden should have to answer for her complicity in the “cover-up” of Biden’s cognitive decline. 

JILL BIDEN SHOULD HAVE TO ANSWER FOR ‘COVER-UP’ OF FORMER PRESIDENT’S DECLINE, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

Then-President Joe Biden and then-first lady Jill Biden arrive in Marine One at East Hampton Airport on June 29, 2024 in East Hampton, New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Leavitt pointed to how Jill Biden jumped in to defend her husband during their joint interview on “The View” this month as evidence the former first lady is still covering for her husband. 

‘INTENSELY LOYAL’ JILL BIDEN AIDE DESPISED BY WHITE HOUSE STAFFERS, NEW BOOK CLAIMS

As Biden’s sister, Valerie “Val” Biden Owens, and his adult children, Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden, stayed away from Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, Jill Biden took on a more prominent role, the book revealed. 

“She weighed in on potential hires and reviewed many of the campaign ads before they were aired. She campaigned hard and peppered aides with questions about how many reporters would be at her events,” Tapper and Thompson said. 

Jill Biden sat for job interviews for White House aide candidates, and she “kept score” of which staffers were most loyal, with the help of her most trusted aide, Anthony Bernal, the book revealed. 

The White House began referring to Jill Biden’s “spousal programming” events on foreign trips, and her team would request talking points, which Tapper and Thompson said some national security officials found strange. 

Then-first lady Jill Biden and her senior advisor Anthony Bernal arrive at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 7, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“[Bernal] had already begun planning the first lady’s 2025 international travel schedule,” Tapper and Thompson said.

The first lady made an off-hand comment to French President Emmanuel Macron at a state dinner in 2022 about the difficult nature of campaigns and how she needed to stay in shape. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, overheard and found it odd, according to “Original Sin.”

“Alexandra then turned to the president and asked if they should toast to another campaign. He looked back at her like he didn’t understand. Alexandra thought her mom looked shocked. Everyone quickly gathered themselves. With Macron, they toasted to four more years,” the authors said. 

Dr. B was particularly sensitive when asked about Biden’s age and ability, according to the authors. 

After Biden’s consequential debate performance in the summer of 2024, The Associated Press reported that Jill and Hunter Biden were urging the president to continue his re-election campaign. Sources told AP the family “questioned how he was prepared for the debate by staff and wondered if they could have done something better.”

Then-President Joe Biden looks down as he participates in the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections with then-former President Donald Trump at CNN’s studios in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)

“Hunter privately talked about it as being the family against the world. People sensed a more manic quality in him post-debate. He was determined to save his dad,” according to Tapper and Thompson. 

Soon after the debate, Jill Biden joined Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., on the campaign trail. After defending the president’s re-election campaign to reporters, Stabenow brought up some of her colleagues’ concerns about Biden continuing in the race. 

JILL BIDEN ACCUSED OF ‘ELDER ABUSE’ BY WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST FOR PUSHING HUSBAND TO SEEK RE-ELECTION

“The First Lady didn’t answer the senator’s implied question, but she later fumed about it to White House staffers,” the book alleged. 

A week later, Gov. Josh Shapiro, from the pivotal battleground state of Pennsylvania, told the president, “I have some concerns.” However, before Biden could fully respond, the first lady was ushering him away. 

“Jill fumed with resentment about all the Democrats who she considered friends now pushing Biden out. She knew she had blundered in the aftermath of the debate with her belittling praise. She was only trying to help her husband in his moment of need. In the end, she told Biden: ‘This is your decision. This is for you to decide,’” according to the book. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden’s cognitive decline and his inner circle’s alleged role in covering it up.

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

House Republicans eked out a win in May with their advancement of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” filled with negotiations and compromises on thorny policy issues that barely passed muster in the lower chamber.

Next week, Senate Republicans will get their turn to parse through the colossal package and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who can only afford to lose three votes.

INSIDE THE LATE-NIGHT DRAMA THAT LED TO TRUMP’S TAX BILL PASSING BY 1 VOTE

President Donald Trump listens to a question during an event to present law enforcement officers with an award in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 19. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Congressional Republicans are in a dead sprint to get the megabill — filled with Trump’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt — onto the president’s desk by early July.

Trump has thrown his support behind the current product, but said during a press conference in the Oval Office on Friday that he expected the package to be “jiggered around a little bit.”

“It’s going to be negotiated with the Senate, with the House, but the end result is it extends the Trump tax cuts,” he said.

“If it doesn’t get approved, you’ll have a 68% tax increase,” the president continued. “You’re going to go up 68%. That’s a number that nobody has ever heard of before. You’ll have a massive tax increase.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has an identical margin to Johnson, and will need to cultivate support from a Senate GOP that wants to put its own fingerprints on the bill.

Senators have signaled they’d like to make changes to a litany of House proposals, including reforms to Medicaid and the timeline for phasing out green energy tax credits, among others, and have grumbled about the hike to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap pushed for by moderate House Republicans.

SCOOP: HOUSE GOP MEMO HIGHLIGHTS REPUBLICAN WINS IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference following the Senate Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 11. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Thune said many Republicans are largely in favor of the tax portion of the bill, which seeks to make Trump’s first-term tax policy permanent, and particularly the tax policies that are “stimulative, that are pro-growth, that will create greater growth in the economy.”

Much of the debate, and prospective tweaks, from the upper chamber would likely focus on whether the House’s offering has deep enough spending cuts, he said.

“When it comes to the spending side of the equation, this is a unique moment in time and in history where we have the House and the Senate and the White House and an opportunity to do something meaningful about controlled government spending,” Thune said.

The House package set a benchmark of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.

Some in the Senate GOP would like to see that number cranked up marginally to at least $2 trillion, largely because the tax portion of the package is expected to add nearly $4 trillion to the deficit, according to recent findings from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

“There’s just so many great things in this bill,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital. “The only thing I would like to do is try to cut the spending, and I would love to take a little bit from a lot of places, rather than a lot from just one place.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON CLASHES WITH RAND PAUL OVER ‘WIMPY’ SPENDING CUTS IN TRUMP’S BILL 

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., after the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on May 22. (CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Others, like Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., want to see the cuts in the package return to pre-pandemic spending levels, which would amount to roughly a $6 trillion slash in spending.

Johnson has remained unflinching in his opposition to the current bill, and warned that “no amount of pressure” from Trump could change his mind.

“President Trump made a bunch of promises,” Johnson said at an event in Wisconsin on Wednesday. “My promise has been, consistently, we have to stop mortgaging our children’s future. OK, so I think there are enough [Republicans] to slow this process down until the president, our leadership, gets serious about returning to a pre-pandemic level.”

Others are concerned over the proposed slashes to Medicaid spending, which congressional Republicans have largely pitched as reform efforts designed to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the program used by millions of Americans.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The House package would see a roughly $700 billion cut from the program, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and some Senate Republicans have signaled that they wouldn’t support the changes if benefits were cut for their constituents.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., warned in an op-ed for The New York Times last month that cutting benefits was “both morally wrong and politically suicidal.” Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, raised concerns about what proposed cuts to the program would do to rural hospitals in her state. 

“I cannot support proposals that would create more duress for our hospitals and providers that are already teetering on the edge of insolvency,” she said. 

With the early moves heating up in the 2026 battle for the House majority, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) chair argues President Donald Trump and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate are “doing incredible damage to working families and to our country.”

And with the GOP defending a razor-thin majority in the House in next year’s midterm elections, Rep. Suzan DelBene, the DCCC chair, noted, “We only need three more seats.”

“We have 35 districts in play across the country where we have opportunities,” DelBene said in a Fox News Digital interview last week in the nation’s capital, pointing to the Republican-held seats the DCCC is targeting.

“We are on offense. We are fighting for the American people and for the important issues they care about, and Democrats are united in doing that.”

HOUSE DEMOCRATS PREDICT REPUBLICANS WILL PAY PRICE FOR PASSING TRUMP’S ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks at a news conference with other members of House Republican leadership in Washington, D.C., May 6, 2025. The GOP is defending its razor-thin House majority in the 2026 midterm elections. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

While the party in power after a presidential election — currently the GOP — typically faces political headwinds and loses House seats in the following midterms, the 2026 map appears to favor Republicans.

“The battlefield is really laying out to our advantage. There are 14 Democrats who won seats also carried by Donald Trump. There are only three Republicans in seats that were carried by [former Vice President] Kamala Harris. So, that tells me we’re going to be on offense,” Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chair, told Fox News Digital at the start of the 2026 cycle.

WHAT THE HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE CHAIR TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT TRUMP’S ROLE IN THE MIDTERMS

DelBene countered that “the reason we have opportunities is because people are outraged, because they do want to see someone come into office who is going to fight for their communities and not just be blindly loyal to a president.”

And pointing to the small bite House Democrats took out of the GOP’s majority in the 2024 elections, she added that “those are the types of candidates that won in our districts last cycle. It’s a reason we actually gained seats in 2024 and is absolutely the reason why we’re going to take back the majority in 2026.”

But Hudson noted he has a powerful ally as he works to keep control of the House.

“The president understands that he’s got to keep the House majority in the midterm so that he has a four-year runway instead of a two-year runway to get his agenda enacted,” Hudson said. “He’s been extremely helpful to us, and we appreciate it.”

And the Democrats are facing a polling dilemma because the party’s ratings have been sinking to historic lows in a number of national surveys so far this year.

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

HEAD HERE TO CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS

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.

But there is a silver lining for the Democrats.

The Fox News poll indicated that if the 2026 midterm elections were held today, 49% of voters would back a generic Democrat in their congressional district, with 42% supporting the generic Republican candidate.

The Democrats also have another problem — the possibility of primary challenges against longtime and older House lawmakers in safe blue districts.

Recently elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg last month pledged to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to support primary challenges against what he termed “asleep at the wheel” House Democrats who he argued have not been effective in pushing back against Trump.

The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the shooting seven years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, to spend money against fellow Democrats ignited a firestorm within the party.

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg, seen here Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago, is pledging to support primary challenges against older House Democrats in blue districts. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

In response, DelBene said, “Democrats across the country are united in taking back the House.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Asked by Fox News if the move by Hogg would force the DCCC and allied super PACs to divert money and resources from competitive districts in order to defend incumbents in safe blue districts from primary challenges, DelBene responded, “I think everyone knows how important it is that we take back the House, and folks are focused in helping make sure that we do that in districts all across the country.”

But the dispute is giving the GOP ammunition.

In response to the intra-Democratic Party feud, NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella argued, “No Democrat is safe. A political earthquake is underway, and the old guard is scrambling.”

As the Department of Government Efficiency enters a new era with the departure of Elon Musk on Friday, it has caused numerous changes in recent months on matters of immigration and border security.

“DOGE has helped to transform the Federal government by eliminating waste and bloat that has been ignored for years. DOGE is playing a key role in eliminating millions of taxpayer money being misspent, including contracts for illegal alien facilities that sat empty during the Biden Border invasion and funding for hotel rooms to house illegal gang members. DOGE’s mission to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse continues!” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, told Fox News Digital in a statement on Friday.

In February, the Department of Homeland Security announced that they had gutted an $83 million contract for “an empty illegal alien facility during an invasion at the southern border” and the $80 million in FEMA funding to provide lodging for illegal immigrants in New York City, like the Roosevelt Hotel.  

DOGE STAFFING SHAKEUP AS ELON MUSK HANGS UP HIS HAT, WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS

DOGE leader Elon Musk has been hit with 96% negative coverage on ABC, NBC and CBS evening newscasts, according to the Media Research Center.  (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

In March, a contract to resume wall construction along seven miles of the border was cleared by DOGE.

“Secretary Noem announced that we officially awarded the first [DOGE] approved contract to restart construction on President Trump’s border wall,” DHS posted on March 17.

DOGE also posted to X in April that it had found that many illegal immigrants who were on the FBI’s terror watchlist and those who have a criminal history were taking out public benefits. Four on the terror watchlist and 901 other “paroled aliens” were “collecting Medicaid,” 41 received unemployment benefits, 22 got student loans from the federal government and 409 got a “net” tax refund in 2024, according to the department. The cost of the tax refunds was $751,000, Medicaid cost $276,000, and the student loans totaled out to $280,000, the department said. 

TOP 5 MOST OUTRAGEOUS WAYS THE GOVERNMENT HAS WASTED YOUR TAXES, AS UNCOVERED BY ELON MUSK’S DOGE

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is sworn in during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on her nomination to be Secretary of Homeland Security, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP)  (Getty Images)

“Under the Biden administration, it was routine for Border Patrol to admit aliens into the United States with no legal status and minimal screening,” the post stated. “So far, CBP identified a subset of 6.3k individuals paroled into the United States since 2023 on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center watchlist or with criminal records. These paroles have since been terminated with immediate effect. Despite having no other legal status, paroled aliens are able to file for work authorization and receive social security numbers.”

Outside of immigration and border security, DHS said the Coast Guard is expected to save $32.7 million by scrapping an information technology system that was deemed “ineffective.” In a video posted in May about the partnership between DOGE and DHS, it said the funds are going to “frontline operations.”

“Another win for government efficiency at DHS!” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement to Fox News Digital in April.

TRUMP, MUSK GET SUPPORT FROM FORMER NFL STAR AMID CRITICISM OVER DOGE CUTS, OTHER ISSUES

This image shows the border wall separating Mexico from the U.S. in San Diego Sector. (Fox News)

“Continuing the crucial work of DOGE, the Coast Guard eliminated an ineffective IT program, saving over $32 million and focusing its resources where they’re most needed to protect the homeland. The USCG continues to deliver on the President’s priorities, maximizing its efficiency while securing our borders and maritime approaches,” Noem added.

DHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also recently announced a planned crackdown on illegal immigrants’ use of public housing benefits. 

And last month, DHS announced that, in the spirit of cracking down on “waste, fraud and abuse,” it was ending FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

DOGE DISCOVERS THE BIDEN-MAYORKAS ILLEGAL MIGRATION FUNDING MACHINE

White House border czar Tom Homan speaks with reporters at the White House, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP )

“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement at the time. “Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, we are committed to ensuring that Americans in crisis can get the help and resources they need.” 

Fox News reached out to DHS for additional comment. The changes come as President Donald Trump made major policy changes during the early days of his second term, which has led to a sharp decrease in encounters at the border and a continued crackdown on illegal immigrants with a criminal background in the U.S. interior. 

In total, DOGE has estimated it has saved $175 billion for taxpayers so far.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner and Preston Mizell contributed to this report.