NationalWatch

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.” 

“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. 

“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!”

Paul told “Fox News Sunday” last weekend he supports the tax and spending cuts in the bill, which he still slammed as “wimpy and anemic, but I still would support the bill, even with wimpy and anemic cuts if they weren’t going to explode the debt. The problem is the math doesn’t add up. They’re going to explode the debt by, the House says, $4 trillion. The Senate’s actually been talking about exploding the debt $5 trillion.” 

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

The bill narrowly passed the House May 22 and will soon be voted on in the Senate, where Republicans can only afford to lose three votes. 

Others, like Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., have also expressed concerns about the bill. 

TRUMP SLAMS REPUBLICAN ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ OPPOSING BUDGET BILL, PREDICTS MASSIVE US TAX INCREASES IF IT FAILS

Last weekend, Trump told reporters he was open to changes in the bill.

“I want the Senate and the senators to make the changes they want,” he said. “It will go back to the House, and we’ll see if we can get them. In some cases, the changes may be something I’d agree with, to be honest.” 

Along with tax cuts, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act also includes stricter requirements for accessing Medicaid, changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program and no taxes on overtime or tips. 

Democrats have slammed the Medicaid reform section of the bill, mentioning possible cuts as a driving issue ahead of competitive midterm elections in 2026. 

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan analyst for the U.S. Congress, estimates that 8.6 million people in the United States will lose health insurance by 2034 through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Medicaid reform. 

“The Democrats have been focusing on this specific line of attack that 13.7 million Americans are going to lose their health care, and that’s just blatantly false,” Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview this week. 

“Five million of those people are receiving a tax credit under the Affordable Care Act that was passed by the Democrats with a sunset date that was implemented by the Democrats. We’re simply allowing the sunset date to expire as the Democrats originally intended,” Houchin said. 

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CBO estimates that 13.7 million Americans will lose coverage by 2034, which also includes the 5 million Americans who were already about to lose coverage. A number of Democrats have already deployed the figure in campaign messages rejecting Trump’s bill passing in the House.

“I don’t trust the CBO score, nor should the American people, because it’s been proven again and again to be wildly off,” added Houchin, who served on three major committees leading budget markup, including the House Rules, Budget and Energy and Commerce committees. 

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

There was no mistake when the beloved but forlorn accountant Norm Peterson chugged his way into the fictional TV bar “Cheers.”

“Norm!!!” hollered the regulars in unison, ranging from mail carrier Cliff Clavin to “Mayday” Sam Malone, the former Major League pitcher-turned barkeep.

If only former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, or late Rep. Buz Lukens, R-Ohio, had been as recognizable to George Wendt, the actor who played Norm on the sitcom.

REMEMBERING REP. CHARLIE RANGEL — AND A VOICEMAIL I’LL NEVER FORGET

Wendt died last week at age 76. The portly, everyman, “Willy Loman” character Wendt created was one of the most iconic in the history of comedic television. Wendt’s portrayal of Norm earned him six consecutive Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a primetime series.

But during Boehner’s first race for Congress in 1990, Wendt inadvertently manufactured a bizarre and permanent connection to the future Speaker of the House.

In 1989, Lukens represented Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. But WSYX-TV in Columbus, Ohio, secretly recorded Lukens at a McDonald’s speaking with the mother of a teenage girl. Lukens talked to the woman about getting her a government job. He hoped to keep her quiet about his sexual activities with her daughter.

Lukens denied any wrongdoing in public. He was charged and later convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The House Ethics Committee launched an investigation. But Lukens declined to step aside. That teed up a three-way Republican primary between Lukens, the former congressman who represented the district, the late Rep. Tom Kindness, R-Ohio, and Boehner. 

Boehner was a state legislator at the time. The scandal embroiling Lukens created a rare opportunity to head to Washington.

As strange as it seems now, Boehner was the least-known of the three Republican candidates in what turned out to be a brutal primary. But Boehner’s innate political acumen shone through – decades before he would ascend to the Speaker’s suite. 

Despite the scandal, Lukens remained popular in the district. He had served as the congressman decades earlier and returned to the House when Kindness ran unsuccessfully for the Senate against late-Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, in 1986. So with the Lukens scandal, Kindness wanted his job back. And Boehner hoped to capitalize on the opportunity.

BY DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT: BATTLES TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ WILL FACE IN THE SENATE

Can you top a name like that? “Congressman Kindness.” No wonder it was such a challenge for the upstart, future Speaker with the unpronounceable, Teutonic surname.

But Boehner won. And even though he felled Lukens and Kindness, it was not a done deal that Boehner would win the general election.

Boehner ran against Democrat Greg Jolivette, the mayor of Hamilton, Ohio, the biggest city in the 8th Congressional District. Jolivette was best known for changing the name of “Hamilton,” to “Hamilton!” in the 1980s. He also ran Jolly’s Drive-Ins in Hamilton. Imagine 1970s hamburger joints where you can order from your car, bedecked in orange.

But we’re talking about “Cheers” here. Not “Happy Days.”

Wendt was at the height of his popularity during the summer of 1990 as Boehner and Jolivette barreled toward a general election faceoff. So Wendt appeared on late-night TV on “The Arsenio Hall Show.”

Look him up, kids.

Hall’s syndicated show was never going to beat NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” in the ratings. But the program scored major headlines in 1992, when future President Bill Clinton played saxophone on the show in an effort to appeal to a younger demographic, which gravitated to Hall rather than Carson.

Clinton’s appearance was a seminal moment in American politics and may have helped him win the election. Certainly the most important political event on Hall’s show. Wendt’s appearance proved to be the second-most important.

Jolivette was Wendt’s brother-in-law. He periodically parachuted into Ohio’s 8th District to campaign for Jolivette and against Boehner. So Hall asked him about Wendt’s political involvement and Jolivette.

Wendt proceeded to essentially libel Boehner on the air. Wendt never mentioned Boehner by name. But Wendt mixed up Lukens and his sex scandal with Boehner. On national TV, no less.

“The guy he’s running against had some problems a while back,” said Wendt, referring to Jolivette’s opponent, but mixing Boehner up with Lukens. “The guy from the 8th District had some convictions, some felony or a misdemeanor or something. So I think it’s time for a change. One thing’s for sure, I know, Greg’s not going to be a criminal.”

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES CRUCIAL HOURS AS JOHNSON COURTS FREEDOM CAUCUS

Hall is an Ohio native. But he was apparently not versed in the Lukens scandal – even though it was a national story and commanded daily headlines. He didn’t inquire further or correct Wendt. After all, this was a late-night comedy and variety show. Not “Meet the Press.”

A publicist for Hall blamed the issue entirely on Wendt, saying the host has no control over “what (guests are) going to say.”

Things then turned nasty when Boehner’s team put out a statement.

“We, like a lot of viewers, are confused about the conversation last night. We don’t know if they were talking about Congressman Lukens’ problems or perhaps the theft complaint filed with the Hamilton (Ohio) Police against Greg Jolivette,” said the Boehner campaign.

Jolivette’s campaign argued this was an old allegation and it wasn’t true. They then demanded that Boehner fire Barry Jackson, Boehner’s campaign manager. Jackson called the episode “cheap gutter politics.”

Boehner himself pinned the case of mistaken identity on Wendt. He believed the actor should have been more responsible for what he said on national TV.

Boehner didn’t fire Jackson. Jackson worked with Boehner for years and later served as his chief of staff when he became House speaker.

Wendt’s gaffe was not fatal for Boehner. Even though there were nearly as many Democrats as Republicans registered in the 8th District in those days, it had elected Republicans for years. And Boehner vanquished Jolivette 61-39 percent in the general election.

The rest is history for Boehner.

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Fast-forward to today. Boehner took to X after the actor’s death. The former Speaker explained how Wendt was the brother-in-law of his opponent and “went on a late-night TV show and said some tough things.” 

Boehner said that Wendt was “confusing me with someone else. He called later to apologize and we had a great conversation. Raising a glass tonight to the man America will always remember as Norm.”

Or, as they might say on the show, “Cheers.”

Elon Musk confirmed on Saturday he is not taking ketamine, an anesthetic drug, after suspicious reports from news outlets and a bizarre video of Musk playing with a spoon at dinner resurfaced online.

The video, filmed in March, appears to show the 53-year-old tech mogul balancing spoons at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

“Watch the video—even the Secret Service looks embarrassed,” the account wrote in the post.

“I’m not on ketamine ffs,” Musk replied.

TRUMP SMACKS DOWN NBC REPORTER’S SUGGESTION OF A RUBIO-MUSK CLASH, CALLS HIM A ‘TROUBLEMAKER’

The public response comes days after a New York Times report claimed Musk “juggled drugs and family drama” while on the campaign trail.

NYT reporters alleged Musk overused ketamine, leading to bladder issues. 

The report also cited erratic behavior, which supporters have attributed to his Asperger’s diagnosis.

MUSK OPENS UP ABOUT DINNER PARTY THAT SOURED WHEN TRUMP’S NAME WAS INVOKED: ‘LIKE METHAMPHETAMINE AND RABIES’

In a White House news conference on Friday, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Musk in the Oval Office about the scathing report.

Before Doocy could finish asking his question, Musk sarcastically shot back, “Oh, wait, wait, wait. Is the New York Times… is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on Russiagate? Is it the same organization?”

ELON MUSK OPENS UP ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE WITH ‘TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME’ DURING ‘HANNITY’ EXCLUSIVE

Doocy replied, “I’ve got to check my Pulitzer counter.”

Musk interjected, “it is,” and President Donald Trump, sitting beside Musk, agreed.

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“I think the judge has ruled against New York Times for their lies about the Russiagate hoax, and that they might have to give back that Pulitzer Prize,” Musk countered. “That New York Times? Let’s move on.”

Musk could not immediately be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.

The White House on Saturday said it is in Iran’s “best interest to accept” its proposal on a nuclear deal following a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the country is swiftly increasing its stockpile of near weapons-grade enriched uranium. 

“President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Special Envoy [Steve] Witkoff has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it’s in their best interest to accept it. Out of respect for the ongoing deal, the administration will not comment on details of the proposal to the media.” 

The IAEA’s report said Iran had increased its stockpile to 900.8 pounds of uranium enriched by up to 60% as of May 17, a nearly 50% increase since the agency’s last report in February, which put the stockpile at 605.8 pounds. 

The report said Iran is “the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such material,” which is a “serious concern.”

IRAN CONDEMNS AUSTRIA OVER REPORT ON ADVANCED NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

The IAEA added that just 92 pounds of 60% enriched uranium is enough to produce an atomic bomb if it is enriched to 90%. 

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but U.S. intelligence agencies say the country has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a joint statement that the report was based on “unreliable and differing information sources,” claiming that it was biased and unprofessional. 

The statement added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its disappointment about the report, which was prepared by imposing pressure on the agency for political purposes, and expresses its obvious objection about its content.”

On Thursday, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that he was unsure a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal could be imminently reached.

“Iran is sincere about a diplomatic solution that will serve the interests of all sides. But getting there requires an agreement that will fully terminate all sanctions and uphold Iran’s nuclear rights — including enrichment,” he wrote. 

IRAN FOREIGN MINISTER VOWS NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT WILL CONTINUE ‘WITH OR WITHOUT A DEAL’

Oman Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi presented the Trump administration’s first formal proposal in Tehran Saturday, which calls for Iran to cease all uranium enrichment and for a regional consortium that includes Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states and the U.S. for producing nuclear power, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the document. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also put out a rare statement on a Saturday about the IAEA’s report, calling it “grave.”

“The agency presents a stark picture that serves as a clear warning sign: Despite countless warnings by the international community, Iran is totally determined to complete its nuclear weapons program,” Netanyahu’s office said. 

“The report strongly reinforces what Israel has been saying for years — the purpose of Iran’s nuclear program is not peaceful. This is evident from the alarming scope of Iran’s uranium enrichment activity. Such a level of enrichment exists only in countries actively pursuing nuclear weapons and has no civilian justification whatsoever.

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“The report clearly indicates that Iran remains in non-compliance of its fundamental commitments and obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and continues to withhold cooperation from IAEA inspectors. The international community must act now to stop Iran.”

The Trump administration recently pulled Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA administrator, alluding that he was not in “complete alignment” with the president’s agenda.

“The Administrator of NASA will help lead humanity into space and execute President [Donald] Trump’s bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars,” White House Assistant Press Secretary Liz Huston told Fox News Digital on Saturday.

Huston added it is “essential” that the next leader of NASA “is in complete alignment” with President Trump’s “America First” agenda.

A replacement will be announced directly by Trump “soon,” according to the White House.

ASTRONAUTS TO STAND WITH NASA ADMINISTRATOR NOMINEE JARED ISAACMAN AT SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARING

Isaacman is the billionaire founder and CEO of Shift4 payments, a credit card payment processing company.

He reportedly dropped out of high school as a teen, using a $10,000 check from his grandfather to form his tech business.

SPACEFLIGHT FIRST PRIVATE SPACEX POLAR MISSION SPLASHES DOWN NEAR CALIFORNIA

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., who introduced Isaacman to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, described him as “a successful innovator, entrepreneur, pilot, and astronaut.”

“Jared believes in NASA’s core mission,” Sheehy told Fox. “He has the experience and skillset to ensure we continue to lead in the greatest frontier ever known, and I look forward to adding NASA administrator to his already remarkable resume.”

RESCUED NASA ASTRONAUTS DELIVER MESSAGE TO TRUMP, MUSK AFTER ‘INCREDIBLE’ NINE MONTHS IN SPACE

“For nearly 70 years, the United States has been at the forefront of space exploration,” he continued. “President Trump knows how critical it is to reinvigorate NASA so we can once again lead the world to new heights, and that’s why he chose exactly the right man for the job: Jared Isaacman.”

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

Fox News Digital’s Preston Mizell and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

As more reports emerge about former President Biden’s alleged cognitive decline during his time in office, a Republican senator has made an explosive new claim: that Biden would sometimes get lost in a closet inside the White House while serving as commander-in-chief.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., made the stunning claim on “Hannity” Friday, citing an unnamed Secret Service whistleblower who Hawley said was assigned to Biden.

“He [Secret Service member] told me that Biden used to get lost in his closet in the mornings in the White House,” Hawley said. “I mean, the guy literally stumbling around in the White House residence couldn’t find his way out of his own closet. The president of the United States. I mean, this is outrageous. We were lied to.”

BIDEN FAMILY MISLED PUBLIC, CONCEALED DETAILS ON SON BEAU’S CANCER DIAGNOSIS, NEW BOOK SAYS

Hawley said the claims were made to him while the senator was investigating the attempted assassination of Trump at a presidential campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. A gunman’s bullet grazed the ear of then-candidate Trump while one attendee, Corey Comperatore, was fatally struck. 

Hawley said the brewing scandal about the Biden administration’s use of an autopen to sign executive orders amounts to “one of the worst constitutional crises of our country’s history.”

“We need to find out who actually signed off, so to speak, on all those autopen signatures and all of those pardons and all of those clemencies.”

BIDEN SAYS HE COULD ‘BEAT THE HELL OUT OF’ AUTHORS OF NEW BOOK ARGUING HIS COGNITIVE DECLINE

“It’s a rogue’s gallery of crooks and criminals and terrible people, rapists and others, I mean who actually was doing that, we know it wasn’t Biden, he didn’t know anything about it. “we’ve got to figure out who was actually in charge cos it sure as heck wasn’t Joe Biden.”

President Trump on Friday said the autopen is going to become “one of the great scandals of all time” and said he can’t’ believe that a competent Biden would have ever signed off on many of his executive orders, particularly in terms of the border.

WATCH: Rand Paul warns Biden admin may have a ‘catastrophe they can’t contain’

House Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, launched an investigation earlier this month aimed at determining whether Biden, who was in declining health during the final months of his presidency, was mentally fit to authorize the use of the autopen. Comer said this week he was “open” to dragging Biden before the House to answer questions about the matter if need be.   

Last week, Comer sent out letters to five of the former president’s closest confidants, including his former doctor in the White House, seeking further answers about Biden’s cognitive health while in office. All five have made contact with the Oversight Committee, but Comer has threatened subpoena power if they refuse to testify.  

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Hawley, meanwhile, also railed against left-wing media for failing to press the president or his office on instances of physical and mental lapses Biden showed while in public. The news comes as a new book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson details the length at which those closest to Biden apparently went to cover up his limitations while in office.

“The press has a huge role in this… They’re supposed to report the truth,” Hawley said. “It’s what you do every night. It is not what the liberal media did though. They sold this country out for years and they did it for power and they need to be held accountable as well.”

Fox News’ Alec Schemmel contributed to this report. 

The Trump White House released a video on Friday marking the end of Elon Musk’s time working with the administration. The billionaire has been leading the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) since January.

The video, which was posted on multiple social media platforms, is a highlight reel, starting with Musk’s endorsement of President Donald Trump in July 2024, just after the then-candidate was nearly assassinated, and goes up to his last day in D.C. 

WHITE HOUSE DISCLOSES WHO WILL LEAD DOGE EFFORTS AFTER MUSK’S DEPARTURE

In addition to the video, the White House published several posts on X thanking Musk for his service, including a list of “DOGE Wins,” which include saving American taxpayers $170 billion, canceling approximately 523,000 active U.S. government credit cards/accounts it uncovered in an audit, cleaning up records at the Social Security Administration, among other initiatives.

During a joint news conference on Friday, Trump awarded Musk a “key to the White House.” The White House quoted the president as saying that “Elon’s delivered a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington… Elon Musk’s service to America has been without comparison in modern history.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE AFTER ELON MUSK’S DEPARTURE? ‘ONLY JUST BEGUN’

Another Republican leader joined Trump in recognizing the changes Musk worked to implement in Washington.

House Speaker Mike Johnson thanked Musk for his “selfless, patriotic service” and praised both the billionaire and DOGE, saying they “dug through the bureaucracy and shined a light on MASSIVE waste, fraud, and abuse.”

“They have saved the American people BILLIONS of dollars, and are updating old and inefficient systems across the federal government — all while providing Republicans with a list of targets of pointless programs that Congressional action will address.”

MUSK OFFICIALLY STEPS DOWN FROM DOGE AFTER WRAPPING WORK STREAMLINING GOVERNMENT

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While some wonder about the future of DOGE, the Trump administration is insisting that the department will go on without Musk at the helm. The Tesla founder addressed this question as well just as Trump marked 100 days in office. He told a small group of reporters that “DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism. You wouldn’t ask who would lead Buddhism. Is Buddha needed for Buddhism?”

A few days before the end of his White House tenure, Musk vowed in a post on X to go “back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” a big switch from the Lincoln Bedroom, where the billionaire allegedly slept multiple times. However, Trump teased that even though it was Musk’s last day, it wasn’t “really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way.”

Former First Lady Michelle Obama is facing backlash after saying that creating life is “the least” of what a woman’s reproductive system does. 

On the latest episode of the podcast “IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson,” the former first lady and her brother were joined by OB/GYN Dr. Sharon Malone, whose husband, Eric Holder, served as Attorney General under former President Barack Obama. During the discussion, the former first lady lamented that women’s reproductive health “has been reduced to the question of choice.” 

“I attempted to make the argument on the campaign trail this past election was that there’s just so much more at stake and because so many men have no idea about what women go through,” Obama said. She went on to claim that the lack of research on women’s health shapes male leaders’ perceptions of the issue of abortion.

MICHELLE OBAMA AND ERIC HOLDER’S WIFE BONDED OVER BEING ‘RELUCTANT SPOUSES’ TO FAMOUS MEN

“Women’s reproductive health is about our life. It’s about this whole complicated reproductive system that the least of what it does is produce life,” Obama added, “It’s a very important thing that it does, but you only produce life if the machine that’s producing it — if you want to whittle us down to a machine — is functioning in a healthy, streamlined kind of way.”

In the same episode, the former first lady seemed to scold Republican men by saying that the men who “sit on their hands” over abortion are choosing to “trade out women’s health for a tax break or whatever it is.” Obama also criticized Republican women, suggesting they voted for President Donald Trump because of their husbands.

“There are a lot of men who have big chairs at their tables, there are a lot of women who vote the way their man is going to vote, it happened in this election.”

MICHELLE OBAMA URGES PARENTS NOT TO TRY TO BE FRIENDS WITH THEIR CHILDREN

The “Becoming” author’s remarks drew criticism from pro-life activists, including Danielle D’Souza Gill, the wife of Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas. The couple announced the birth of their second child earlier in May. 

“Motherhood is the most beautiful and powerful gift God gave women. Creating life isn’t a side effect, it’s a miracle. Don’t let the Left cheapen it,” D’Souza Gill wrote in a post on X.

Isabel Brown, a content creator and author, also slammed the former first lady as a “supposed feminist icon.”

“I am SO sick [and] tired of celebrities [and] elitists attempting to convince you that your miraculous superpower ability to GROW LIFE from nothing is somehow demeaning [and] ‘lesser than’ for women,” Brown wrote.

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At the time of this writing, Obama’s podcast is ranked 51 on Apple Podcasts and doesn’t appear on the list of the top 100 podcasts on Spotify. However, it is ranked 91 on the list of 100 trending podcasts on Spotify. The entire episode with Malone is available on YouTube, where it currently has just under 41,150 views so far.

Two Democrats who’ve spent decades in Congress this week became the latest in their party to face primary challenges from much younger opponents.

Longtime Democratic Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election next year for a 24th two-year term in Congress.

If he does, he will face a primary challenger who is making Hoyer’s age — the congressman turns 86 next month and would be 89 at the end of his next term — a centerpiece of his campaign.

Meanwhile, 78-year-old Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts—first elected to Congress nearly half a century ago—announced last October that he would seek another six-year term in the Senate. He is now facing a primary challenger who has criticized what he calls the senator’s “absence” in pushing back against President Donald Trump.

DEMOCRATS’ VICE CHAIR IGNITES CIVIL WAR, TARGETING ‘ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL’ INCUMBENTS IN PRIMARIES

Harry Jarin, 35, a volunteer firefighter and emergency services consultant, said Thursday in a new video announcing his candidacy, “If you live here in southern Maryland, I want to ask you a tough question. Do you really think that Steny Hoyer, at 89-years-old, is the best person to represent us?” 

“Here’s the bottom line: You don’t put out a fire by sending in the same people who let it spread. Send in a firefighter,” Jarin said. “Maryland deserves a new generation of leadership, and I’m ready to take up the fight.”

And in an interview with Fox News Digital, Jarin said: “I think we’re facing a really serious constitutional crisis… Congress has really declined as an institution over the last three or four years. Congress has surrendered a lot of its legislative power under the Constitution over to the executive branch. I think that’s been very corrosive to our political system.”

Asked about his motivation to primary challenge Hoyer, Jarin said, “It’s not just about getting someone younger and fresher in. It’s getting someone in who understands the need to revitalize Congress as an institution.”

Fox News reached out to Hoyer’s office for a response, but a spokesperson declined to respond.

Hoyer, who first won his seat in Congress in a 1981 special election, from 2003 to 2023, was the second-ranking House Democrat behind Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He served as House Majority Leader from 2007-2011 and from 2019-2023, when the Democrats controlled the chamber.

Along with Pelosi, Hoyer stepped down from his longtime leadership position at the end of 2022 but remained in Congress.  

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

“I think all of us have been around for some time and pretty much have a feel for the timing of decisions. And I think all three of us felt that this was the time,” Hoyer told CNN at the time, as he referred to the moves by the top three House Democrats — Pelosi, Hoyer and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. — to step down from their leadership roles.

Hoyer has long been a major backer of the Democrats’ top issues, and during his second tenure as House majority leader, he played a crucial role in the passage of then-President Joe Biden’s so-called American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

He represents Maryland’s Democrat-dominated 5th Congressional District, which covers a region known as Southern Maryland, and includes the suburbs south and east of Washington, D.C., a sliver of suburban Baltimore and Annapolis, as well as rural areas farther south. 

Hoyer, who suffered a minor stroke last year, is the latest high-ranking House Democrat to face a primary challenge from a younger opponent.

Pelosi and Reps. Brad Sherman of California and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois have drawn primary challenges, with Schakowsky later announcing that she will no longer run for re-election.

Jarin told Fox News that when he spoke with voters in the district about Hoyer, they had concerns about the incumbent’s age.

“The main reaction I got when I asked people about Steny Hoyer was first and foremost his age,” Jarin said. “The idea that he would be close to 90 years old at the end of the next term is just a little bit nuts for people. I think people are starting to process how extreme a situation that is.”

The primary challenges come as Democrats are still trying to regroup following last November’s election setbacks, when the party lost control of the White House and their Senate majority, and came up short in their bid to win back the House.

The party’s base is angry and energized to push back against the sweeping and controversial moves by Trump in the four months since he returned to the White House.

Additionally, while much of that anger and energy is directed at fighting the White House and congressional Republicans, some of it is targeted at Democrats whom many in the party’s base feel aren’t vocal enough in their efforts to stymie Trump.

Concurrently, other longtime and older House Democrats in safe blue districts are facing the possibility of primary challenges.

This, after newly elected Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg last month pledged to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to back primary challenges against what he called “asleep at the wheel” House Democrats — lawmakers he argued have failed to effectively push back against Trump.

The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the horrific 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.

Jarin said that “we have reached out to David Hogg. We’ve been in communication.”

But Hogg told The Washington Post last month that he wouldn’t support primary challenges against Hoyer, Pelosi or Clyburn.

As for his ability to raise money for his campaign, Jarin said, “I do come from a political family.”

He noted that his husband was a major donor and bundler for former President Joe Biden’s successful 2020 campaign and also served as a DNC finance director, and that his uncle had “been a big bundler for Democratic causes for a long time.”

“I think a lot of donors realize that this is a problem but may not be able to say it out loud for fear of repercussions,” he argued.

Jarin said that he’s received “some pushback from donors for concerns of prioritizing more marginal districts” instead of pouring resources into swing seats as the party aims to win back the House majority in 2026.

“My message to them has been that putting extremely elderly politicians like Steny Hoyer back into office for a 24th term sends a message to voters across the country that Democrats are just the party of status quo and clearly that message has not been working,” he said.

In Massachusetts, first-time candidate Alex Rikleen — a father, former teacher and fantasy sports writer, this week launched a primary challenge against Markey.

While Rikleen didn’t spotlight the senator’s age, he did argue that “Markey, like many other Democrats, has stood silently by as [Senate Democratic Leader] Chuck Schumer surrenders Democrats’ leverage” in battling Trump.

Rikleen said that he is “stepping forward to challenge an incumbent because Democrats have shown us that they are not going to change course on their own…in this perilous moment, I believe we need dramatic action now and we are not getting it from our current Democratic leaders.”

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And while he said that “Sen. Markey has been a fantastic leader on progressive policy throughout my lifetime and he is better than most at standing up for others. In a normal political environment, I’d proudly continue voting for him,” he argued that “this is not a normal moment. Better than most is not good enough.”

But Markey has been very visible this year, as he attended protests and rallies across Massachusetts. And last month he traveled to Louisiana to urge the Trump administration to release Rumeysa Ozturk, a student at Massachusetts’ Tufts University who was handcuffed while walking on a street by masked Department of Homeland Security agents and detained at an ICE facility.

And Markey took to social media on Thursday to once again defend Harvard University in its battle with the Trump administration, pledging that “Massachusetts will not be bullied.” 

Elon Musk showed up to the Oval Office on Friday to bid farewell to his official role in the Trump administration, but it wasn’t just the mark he made with DOGE that raised eyebrows.

It was the black one under his right eye. 

Social media lit up during the livestreamed event as eagle-eyed viewers noticed what appeared to be a fresh bruise under Musk’s eye, prompting speculation about everything from a gym mishap to a political dust-up. 

The assembled press couldn’t resist asking the obvious: “What happened to your eye?”

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

“Well, I wasn’t anywhere near France,” Musk quipped, poking fun at headlines regarding French President Emmanuel Macron, who was caught on camera being shoved by his wife last week. “I didn’t know the first lady of France isn’t a lieutenant.”

Then came the real story.

“No, I just was horsing around with little X,” Musk said, referring to his five-year-old son, X Æ A-Xii. “And I said, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face.’ And he did. Turns out even a 5-year-old punching you in the face… actually does this.”

President Donald Trump jumped in immediately. “That was X that did that?”

FLASHBACK: TOP FIVE WILDEST MOMENTS FROM ELON MUSK’S DOGE TENURE AS IT COMES TO AN END

“Yeah,” Musk replied.

“X could do it, if you knew X,” Trump said with a grin.

The whole exchange, captured during Musk’s Oval Office farewell event, quickly became the moment of the day, a lighthearted pause in a sendoff marking the end of Musk’s 130-day stint as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk didn’t let the black eye distract from his message.

“This is not the end of DOGE,” he told reporters. “Only the beginning.”

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According to a May 26 update on DOGE’s official site, the department racked up over $175 billion in savings during Musk’s tenure, mostly through asset sales, canceled contracts, and cracking down on fraud. That translates to an estimated $1,087 saved per taxpayer.

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

President Donald Trump put Russian President Vladimir Putin on notice, and issued some harsh words to China and their ongoing trade negotiations during his 19th week in office. 

“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former Russian president, responded in kind and issued his own words of caution to the U.S. 

“Regarding Trump’s words about Putin ‘playing with fire’ and ‘really bad things’ happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!” Medvedev wrote.

WHITE HOUSE REVEALS POSSIBLE PENALTIES ON PUTIN AMID PEACE PUSH: ‘WHATEVER IT TAKES’

Trump’s remarks come as Russia has ramped up its attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, and as the U.S. has sought to distance itself from the conflict between the two countries. Meanwhile, Trump said on Wednesday that time is limited for Putin to get serious about coming to the negotiating table and engage in peace talks. Otherwise, the U.S. might adopt a different approach, he said. 

“We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently, but it will take about a week and a half to two weeks,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Here’s what also happened this week:

Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs

Trump accused China of violating an initial trade agreement that Washington and Beijing were hashing out in May. Following those negotiations, both countries agreed that the U.S. would cut down its tariffs against Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, and China would reduce its tariffs against U.S. imports from 125% to 10%.

But Trump said that China hasn’t followed the terms of the agreement, without disclosing specifics. 

“The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US,” Trump said in a social media post Friday. “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”

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

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said after Trump’s post in an interview with CNBC that China had failed to remove its non-tariff barriers, as outlined in the deal. 

“The United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow-rolling their compliance which is completely unacceptable and has to be addressed,” Greer said on Friday. 

Meanwhile, China pressed the U.S. to reverse course and urged the U.S. to address its own mistakes. 

“China once again urges the US to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva,” Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a Friday statement.

Golden Dome access for Canada? 

Canada also could receive protection from Trump’s so-called Golden Dome — if it becomes part of the U.S. Trump has long pushed for Canada to become the 51st state, along with expressing interest in acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal. 

TRUMP CLAIMS CANADA ‘CONSIDERING’ OFFER OF FREE GOLDEN DOME IN EXCHANGE TO BECOME 51ST STATE

“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State,” Trump said in a Tuesday social media post. 

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Trump has long touted setting up a Golden Dome, a defense shield initiative for the U.S. akin to the one Israel has protecting itself.

“This is the Trump Train, next stop: Ronald Reagan National Airport,” could be the conductor’s call on Washington, D.C.’s commuter rail system if one Florida GOP congressman has his way.

Rep. Greg Steube drafted “The Make Autorail Great Again (MAGA) Act,” which would withhold $150 million in federal funding from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) until it is renamed “WMAGA” – or the Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access, in honor of President Donald Trump.

It would also require the METRO rail system – six color-coded lines encompassing about 130 miles of track – to be renamed the “Trump Train.”

DUFFY SLAMS MTA OVER FACT-CHECK OF ANTI-ISRAEL MOBS’ GRAND CENTRAL TAKEOVER

Steube called upon a 1966 District of Columbia law granting congressional “consent” for the interstate compact and ensuing establishment of WMATA.

“WMATA has received billions in federal assistance over the years and continues to face operational, safety, and fiscal challenges,” Steube said in a statement.

“In the spirit of DOGE, this bill demands accountability by conditioning federal funding on reforms that signal a cultural shift away from bureaucratic stagnation toward public-facing excellence and patriotism.”

The day-to-day operations of WMATA and the METRO, including fares and routings, are controlled by its board – not Congress. It also receives funding and recommendations from the three state/district stakeholders.

DOT SAVES TAXPAYERS OVER $60M BY TERMINATING TEXAS HIGH-SPEED-RAIL CONTRACT

WMATA’s board consists of two members from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, plus two appointed by the federal government.

Steube called WMATA a “struggling institution” in need of a “fresh identity,” particularly ahead of global events scheduled in the region, including the 2027 NFL Draft and FIFA World Cup matches.

Fox News Digital reached out to WMATA as well as Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., for comment.

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Several METRO stations already sport political names, though they often coincide with nearby sites – including for former President Ronald Reagan, ex-Secretary of State John Dulles, Pierre L’Enfant and Pierre DuPont.

A move to rename the entire METRO system in honor of a dignitary, however, has never been tried previously.

President Donald Trump said that he thinks Joe Biden didn’t really agree with many of his administration’s lax border security policies, instead suggesting that those surrounding the former president took advantage of his declining faculties and utilized an autopen feature in the White House to pass radical directives pertaining to the border.

The comments came during a press conference from the Oval Office on Friday, during which Trump signaled that investigators are zeroing in on exactly who authorized officials in the White House to sign important documents for Biden using the autopen. 

“I think the autopen is going to become one of the great scandals of all time, because you have somebody operating it, or a number of people operating,” Trump told reporters. “I knew Joe Biden, Joe Biden wasn’t in favor of opening up borders, letting 21 million people into this from prisons and mental institutions and gang members. He wasn’t into that at all. And, you know who signed these? Who signed these orders, proclamations and all of the different things that he signed that said our country so far back?”

WATCHDOG FINDS ‘NO EVIDENCE’ BIDEN KNEW OF CRUCIAL CLIMATE EOS, DEMANDS ANSWERS ON WHO SIGNED AUTOPEN

House Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, launched an investigation earlier this month aimed at determining whether Biden, who was in declining health during the final months of his presidency, was mentally fit to authorize the use of the autopen. Comer said this week he was “open” to dragging Biden before the House to answer questions about the matter if need be.   

“I understand he signed almost everything with an auto-pen. It’s a very dangerous thing. It really means you’re not president,” Trump added in his comments to reporters Friday.

Trump pointed to Biden’s legacy as a “sort of a moderate person,” to explain his reasoning why he thinks Biden was not in favor of all of his administration’s open border policies, adding that “he wasn’t a person that would allow a murderers to come into our country.”

REP. JAMES COMER SPOTLIGHTS BIDEN ADMIN’S ‘RECORD OF DISHONESTY’ AHEAD OF AUTOPEN PROBE

“I don’t believe it was Joe Biden, I really don’t,” Trump reiterated. “He wasn’t a person that was in favor of transgender for anybody that wanted it, to take kids out of families, etc., etc.”

A new book, an audio transcript of Biden’s special counsel testimony, and a shocking cancer diagnosis have all renewed focus on how Biden’s cognitive decline may have been worse than the public knew.

Last week, Comer sent out letters to five of the former president’s closest confidants, including his former doctor in the White House, seeking further answers about Biden’s cognitive health while in office. All five have made contact with the Oversight Committee, but Comer has threatened subpoena power if they refuse to testify.  

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“Look, I would love to ask Joe Biden a lot of questions, but right now, we’re starting with the staffers who were operating the autopen,” Comer said, according to the New York Post. “We’re going to bring the physician, Dr. O’Connor, in, because he definitely was not telling the truth about Joe Biden’s health.”

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino made headlines this week when he revealed the bureau was “closing in” on suspects involved in planting two pipe bombs near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a sign that the bureau may soon solve the nagging, four-year mystery.

“The second we got in, I put a team on it and I said, ‘I want answers on this,’” Bongino told “Fox & Friends.” “And I’m pretty confident that we’re closing in on some suspects.”

Law enforcement discovered the two pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committees’ headquarters around the same time that thousands of rioters a few blocks away began to descend on the Capitol in protest of the 2020 election results.

A faction of President Donald Trump‘s base has since raised questions about the timing of the pipe bomb incident and security failures surrounding it and speculated that the Biden administration was not forthright to the public about the facts of the case. Prior to being sworn in, Bongino was a leading voice perpetuating that notion.

FBI ‘CLOSING IN’ ON SUSPECTS IN CASE OF DC PIPE BOMBS PLACED ON EVE OF JAN 6

A former Secret Service agent and podcast host, Bongino told listeners of his popular right-wing show that the FBI lied about the pipe bomb incident because the bureau did not want people to know it was an “inside job.” 

Now as deputy director, Bongino is facing pressure from supporters and critics alike to release new details about the case.

What do we know about the suspect?

Video footage released by the FBI shows an unidentified person placing the pipe bombs near the two headquarters more than 16 hours before law enforcement found them.

The suspect is seen wearing a gray hoodie, Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers, a face mask, glasses, and gloves.

FBI REOPENING INVESTIGATION INTO COCAINE FOUND AT BIDEN WHITE HOUSE

Prior to the administration change in January, the FBI also unveiled a minor last-minute detail that the suspect’s height was about 5-foot-7.

Who found the pipe bombs?

A woman who is a Capitol Hill resident alerted a security guard that she spotted the first pipe bomb in an alley behind the RNC headquarters while she was out retrieving her laundry around 1 p.m.

Security footage showed her running from the area of the washer and dryer and notifying the guard. That set off a furious search that led officers at the DNC headquarters to discover a second pipe bomb there.

Were the pipe bombs active?

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general report published last year revealed the two explosive devices were “viable” and “could have detonated, causing innocent bystanders to be seriously injured or killed.”

FBI RELEASES VIDEO SHOWING JANUARY 2021 PIPE BOMB SUSPECT PLANTING DEVICE OUTSIDE DNC, RNC OFFICES IN DC

The bombs included one-hour timers. An FBI official said they did not believe the timers could have detonated the bombs since the time had already elapsed when the bombs were found, according to the DHS report.

That report and an investigative report released by House Republicans revealed that then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at one point came within feet of the pipe bomb by the DNC.

What leads has the FBI received?

The FBI has said it has received more than 600 tips, and it continues to offer a $500,000 reward for any successful leads.

The House Republicans’ report noted the FBI initially investigated a person who searched on the internet for “pipe bomb DC” and a person who had recently purchased the Nike shoes seen in the surveillance footage.

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The report noted, however, that the pace of the FBI’s inquiry dropped off after about a month as a result of leads drying up.

President Donald Trump fired the director of the National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet, for being a “strong supporter” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Trump announced the termination in a post on Truth Social on Friday afternoon.

“Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am hereby terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” the president wrote. “She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position. Her replacement will be named shortly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

A White House official told Fox News Digital that Sajet had donated $3,982 to Democrats, including presidential campaigns for former President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Sajet also reportedly donated to other Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.

DEMS ERUPT AFTER REPORT OF TRUMP FIRING LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS: ‘A DISGRACE’

The White House also pointed to the gallery’s photo of Trump, which was curated by Sajet. The caption of the photo reads, “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials. After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”

The White House official also said it was ironic that Sajet said, “We try very much not to editorialise. I don’t want by reading the label to get a sense of what the curator’s opinion is about that person. I want someone reading the label to understand that it’s based on historical fact.”

The National Portrait Gallery did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.

WHITE HOUSE VOWS TO IMPLEMENT ‘SYSTEM OF MERIT’ IN US, DISMANTLE DEI ‘STRANGULATION’

According to the National Portrait Gallery website, Sajet was the first woman to serve as the director of the National Portrait Gallery, and she spent time in the role looking for ways to put her experience and creativity at the center of learning and civic awareness.

Prior to taking the position, Sajet was the president and CEO of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and held other positions at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Her biography notes that she was born in Nigeria, was raised in Australia and is a citizen of the Netherlands. She came to the U.S. with her family in 1997.

DEFUNDING DEI: HERE’S HOW THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS UNDONE BIDEN’S VERY PRIZED PROGRAMS

While speaking at the Richardson Symposium: Racial Masquerade in American Art and Culture, at the National Portrait Museum on Nov. 4, Sajet told a crowd that she was asked what she spent most of her time on, to which she answered, “identity politics.”

“America has never been able to separate a person’s appearance from their potential,” she said. “Our history is filled, and continues to be, with examples of hatred, discrimination, fear, and alienation.”

She then talked about a moment on Dec. 7, 1972, when she “suddenly felt” the world was going to come together and do away with “petty differences” while thinking holistically about what it meant to be a human.

That was the day astronaut Jack Schmidt of Apollo 17 snapped a picture of the earth and coined it the “Blue Marble.”

“Well, that utopian vision feels very, very far away today in the terrifying wake of the most uncivil, mistrustful, racially insensitive, sexually exploitative, factually untruthful, digitally manipulated, secretive and inflammatory election of the modern era,” she said.

“The National Portrait Gallery, as I’ve mentioned, is all about identity politics, whether it is to defend the label text that says President Eisenhower was cautious on civil rights or explaining why only 25% of women were historically considered cool or standing firm or not, allowing Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, to be removed from the Smithsonian or even outlining why we show the portrait of Sylvia Rivera, the transgender activist in the galleries,” Sajet later said during the same speech.

Hours after taking the Oath of Office on Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate all DEI programs from the federal government.

A day later, the president directed the Office of Personnel Management to notify heads of agencies and departments to close all DEI offices and place those government workers in those offices on paid leave. 

Earlier this month, Trump fired Shira Perlmutter, who was in charge of the U.S. Copyright Office, which came just days after terminating the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. The termination was part of the administration’s ongoing purge of government officials who are perceived to be opposed to Trump and his agenda.

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Both women were notified of their termination by email, The Associated Press previously reported.

Hayden tapped Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October 2020.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

With Elon Musk leaving his role at the White House as head of the Department of Government Efficiency and President Donald Trump saying DOGE’s work will continue, the question now in Washington is who will take the reins to become Musk’s successor.

Musk, who has led Trump’s waste-cutting task force from Inauguration Day until now, announced his departure in an X post this week, saying: “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,”

Musk said the DOGE mission “will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

So, who will take Musk’s place? Right now, no one.

A senior White House official previously told Fox News Digital that “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.”

‘AMERICAN HERO’ OR ‘FAILURE’: ELON MUSK’S DOGE DEPARTURE DIVIDES CAPITOL HILL

The official said DOGE is now part of the “DNA” of the federal government, and that it will keep operating as it already has. 

Speaking with reporters on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that “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.”

These statements cast doubt on whether any singular individual will succeed Musk as the DOGE chief. However, if Trump finds a DOGE successor necessary and decides to shift gears, who could fill Musk’s shoes?  

Amy Gleason

While Musk was never an official federal employee, Amy Gleason, a little-known government employee who also worked in the first Trump administration, has been serving as the official acting chief of the United States DOGE Service (USDS) since February.

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

If the president decides to steer clear of any public-facing DOGE chief, it seems likely that he will keep Gleason on as a more behind-the-scenes DOGE leader at USDS.

Gleason, 53, is a career official who was recognized by the Obama administration as a “champion of change” for her work with several nonprofits researching and raising awareness about a rare autoimmune disorder known as Juvenile Myositis. Gleason previously worked in the first Trump administration in what was then called the U.S. Digital Service before leaving to work at Russell Street Ventures, which was founded by Brad Smith, another DOGE leader.

Keeping Gleason on as DOGE chief would allow the president to keep the agency’s efforts alive while following the structure of each cabinet head leading their own waste-cutting programs.

Russell Vought

As director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought has already been a central figure in DOGE’s waste-cutting efforts.

STATE DEPT SAYS DOGE’S CHANGES WILL BE PERMANENT AMID MUSK’S DEPARTURE

The Wall Street Journal reported that Vought already has plans to continue Musk’s efforts, even in his current role as OMB head. Vought is a close ally of Trump and a much more subdued personality than Musk, making him appear as a likely pick to take over DOGE. 

However, Vought does come with his own political baggage, with many on the left labeling him a “Christian nationalist” and criticizing his role as a co-author of Project 2025. Still, he was successfully confirmed by the Senate in his current role as OMB director.

Vivek Ramaswamy

A one-time GOP presidential candidate-turned key Trump ally, Vivek Ramaswamy, has been widely reported as a top contender to replace Musk at the helm of DOGE. Ramaswamy co-led DOGE alongside Musk for a short period at the start of Trump’s second term. However, he stepped down from his DOGE leadership role in February to begin his run for Ohio governor.

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Though Ramaswamy shares Musk’s and Trump’s vision for cutting government waste, it would seem unlikely he would rejoin the DOGE team any time soon with his eyes on winning the keys to the Ohio governor’s mansion in 2026.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrapped up his time as the public face of DOGE in a press conference with President Donald Trump on Monday, leaving behind a total estimated $175 billion in government cost-cutting over the past few months. 

The $175 billion in savings from slashing government contracts, selling assets, identifying improper payments, and other cost-cutting measures amounts to $1,086.96 per each individual taxpayer, according to the DOGE website. 

The cuts took place all across the government, highlighted by a complete dismantling of USAID, where 83% of the agency’s programs and 5,200 contracts were canceled following the conclusion of a six-week review by DOGE.

Trump discussed some of the other more significant cuts in the Friday press conference.

FLASHBACK: TOP FIVE WILDEST MOMENTS FROM ELON MUSK’S DOGE TENURE AS IT COMES TO AN END

“$20 million for Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East,” Trump said. “Nobody knows what that’s all about. Nobody’s been able to find it. $8 million for making mice transgenders. So they spent $8 million in making mice transgender. And those are better than many others. I could sit here all day and read things just like that.”

While some outlets, including The New York Times and BBC News, have disputed DOGE’s $175 billion estimate and argued the true number is smaller, Musk told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that the savings will continue to build, and he is confident the total cuts will amount to $1 trillion in the coming years. 

WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE AFTER ELON MUSK’S DEPARTURE? ‘ONLY JUST BEGUN’

“The DOGE influence will only grow stronger,” Musk said. “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.”

Additionally, Musk said that the DOGE cuts would soon hit the $200 billion threshold for fiscal year 25-26.

From the start, DOGE was hit with not only a tsunami of negative press and outraged Democratic lawmakers, but also a series of lawsuits, which bogged it down in protracted legal battles as Musk struggled to reach his original estimates of $1-2 trillion in cuts. 

This, coupled with the reality of most of the major end cuts requiring congressional approval to carry out, relegated DOGE’s impact on cutting around the edges of the big programs and agencies it likely would have liked to eliminate entirely.

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Musk was asked on Friday what the biggest “roadblock” was for him at DOGE.

“It’s mostly just a lot of hard work,” Musk responded. “It’s really not any one person or Congress. It’s going through really millions of line items and saying just each one of them makes sense or does not make sense.”

“Obviously, at times when you cut expenses, those who are receiving the money, whether they receive, whether they’re receiving that money legitimately or not. They do complain, and you’re not going to hear someone confessing that they received money inappropriately. Never. They’re going to always say that they received money appropriately for a report. Of course, naturally, that’s what you’d expect.”

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump offered his marital advice to French President Emmanuel Macron, after video footage was released of Macron’s wife, Brigitte, pushing the French leader in the face. 

“Make sure the door remains closed. That is not good,” Trump told reporters Friday. “No, I spoke to him, and he’s fine, they’re fine. Two really good people I know very well. And, I don’t know what that was all about, but, I know him very well, and they’re fine.” 

MACRON DISMISSES VIRAL MOMENT WITH WIFE AS ‘JOKING AROUND’ AFTER DISINFORMATION CLAIMS BACKFIRE

Trump’s comments come after video footage from the Associated Press emerged where Macron and his wife exited a plane upon landing in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday as part of a southeast Asia tour. The video depicts Macron at the door of the plane, and a woman’s hands appearing to shove him in the face. 

The couple, who have been married since 2007, were subsequently photographed departing the aircraft together. 

Meanwhile, Macron’s office later said the couple was engaging in a playful moment at the time of the incident. 

EMMANUEL MACRON’S WIFE SEEN SHOVING HIM IN THE FACE IN VIRAL CLIP AS FRANCE’S FIRST COUPLE ARRIVES IN VIETNAM

“It was a moment where the President and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around. It’s a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists,” Macron’s office said in a statement Tuesday. 

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The French leader met his now wife, Brigitte, while still a student in high school and she was a married teacher.

Macron visited Trump at the White House in February. He was the first European leader to visit the White House after Trump’s inauguration for his second term. 

FRANCE’S MACRON MEETS WITH TRUMP AT THE WHITE HOUSE

A government employee in Virginia accused of attempting to share classified information with a foreign country was held pending a detention hearing, and could face up to life in prison, or even death, depending on the details of the case brought against him, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Virginia-based Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick ordered that 28-year-old Nathan Laatsch be held pending a detention hearing scheduled for June 4.

Laatsch allegedly attempted to transmit classified national defense information or documents to a foreign government.

Depending on the details of the case, Laatsch faces “any term or years, or life…or even death,” according to DOJ prosecutor Gordon Kromberg.

US IT SPECIALIST ARRESTED AFTER ATTEMPTING TO SHARE CLASSIFIED INFORMATION WITH FOREIGN GOVERNMENT: DOJ

Laatsch, an IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) since 2019, appeared in court on Friday wearing street clothes, which were presumably the same clothes he wore when he was arrested the day before.

He was arrested after the FBI received a tip in March that someone was willing to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government.

Laatsch was a civilian employee in the DIA’s Insider Threat Division and held a top-secret security clearance, according to the DOJ. 

FORMER US ARMY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST SENTENCED FOR SELLING SENSITIVE DOCUMENTS TO CHINESE NATIONAL

An email to the FBI said that the person — later identified as Laatsch — didn’t “agree or align with the values” of the Trump administration and would be willing to share classified information that he could access, including “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.”

Laatsch communicated with an FBI agent, whom he believed to be a foreign government official, multiple times and would confirm that he was ready to share classified information that he transcribed onto a notepad at his desk, the DOJ said. He allegedly exfiltrated the information from his workspace multiple times over a three-day period in preparation.

The FBI set up an operation at a northern Virginia park where Laatsch was to deposit classified information “for the foreign government to retrieve,” according to the DOJ. He was observed by the FBI on or around May 1 depositing an item at the specified location.

PENTAGON LEAKER JACK TEIXEIRA RECEIVES 15 YEARS FOR SECRETS LEAK

Once he left, the DOJ said FBI agents retrieved a thumb drive from the area found to contain a message from Laatsch and multiple typed documents with information portion-marked for Secret or Top-Secret levels. His message allegedly indicated that he was sharing “a decent sample size” of classified information to demonstrate the types of things he has access to.

On May 7, after Laatsch learned that the thumb drive had been retrieved, he allegedly sent a message to the undercover agent appearing to say that he was seeking something in exchange for providing the information.

The following day, he specified that he was interested in “citizenship for your country” because he didn’t expect things in America “to improve in the long term,” the DOJ said. He also allegedly said he was “not opposed to other compensation,” but not in a place where he needed “material compensation.”

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Laatsch was told on May 14 by the FBI agent that the “foreign government” was ready for additional classified information. Between May 15 and May 27, he transcribed more information and began to remove it from the building by folding the notes and hiding them in his clothing.

On Thursday, Laatsch arrived at a prearranged location in northern Virginia to drop the information off to the “foreign country.” He was arrested once the FBI received the documents.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said that the Biden administration “strangled” the state of Alaska with restrictions and red tape that was beyond levels imposed on North Korea, Iran and Venezuela combined. 

“Alaska, a state that has had more sanctions, more restrictions on production of oil and gas in Alaska than everything we did to Iran and Venezuela and North Korea if they produced any combined. You know, the last administration just strangled Alaska. This awesome state of immense natural resources,” Wright said from the Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California. 

Wright joined the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum on Friday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to celebrate President Donald Trump‘s executive orders “unleashing American energy” and how the administration is tackling regulations that have prevented the growth of coal and nuclear energy in recent history. Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo moderated the energy-focused panel. 

He pointed to the Gulf of America and Alaska as two key areas for American energy growth, most notably in the Last Frontier State. 

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“Alaska has been this great resource. It boomed and then it’s been strangled. The idea is we export oil from the north slope of Alaska, comes by pipeline to southern Alaska, and then exported,” he said. “We want to build a pipeline from the north slope of Alaska that brings natural gas, not just oil. And then an oil, a natural gas export terminal on the southern coast of Alaska that in six days can sail to Tokyo or Taiwan or Korea. And then down to our allies in East Asia. So they’re getting energy from us. But it would be awesome and great from a geopolitical stance to have a very short supply chain between a huge industrial American facility and our allies in East Asia.”

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Wright added that the Gulf of America is a key area of the country to build massive export terminals, where American energy can be exported to foreign nations. 

“The export terminals today are almost entirely on the Gulf of America, on the Texas and Louisiana coast. And they’re there because you can build things there. The natural gas comes from Pennsylvania, Ohio or North Dakota or Texas or Oklahoma. The gas comes from all over. But that’s where you can build these giant facilities to export it,” he said. 

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Wright added that America was recently the largest importer of oil in the world, but has since become the largest exporter.

“We were, not long ago, the largest importer of oil in the world and the largest importer of natural gas in the world. Today, we’re the largest exporter of natural gas and a net exporter of oil,” he continued. 

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“Who’s the biggest importer of oil in the world and the biggest importer of natural gas in the world? Both China. We have an incredible energy system advantage over China. But we should use it not just to the benefit of our country, but to bring security and tight alliances with our allies as well.”