NationalWatch

President-elect Trump on Saturday seized on the mysterious drone controversy in New Jersey to mock one-time ally turned nemesis Chris Christie. 

The president-elect, who will take office in just over a month, shared an artificially generated meme of the former New Jersey governor eating McDonald’s with more McDonald’s meals being delivered by drones, mocking his weight on Truth Social and X. 

Christie endorsed Trump in 2016 but was later axed as the head of his transition team. 

Last year, Christie had a short-lived presidential campaign for the 2024 election during which he called Trump a “coward” and a “puppet of Putin,” but he dropped out in January.

TRUMP BRINGS POLITICAL DRAMA TO ARMY-NAVY GAME SIDELINES

President-elect Trump on Saturday seized on the mysterious drone controversy in New Jersey to mock one-time ally Chris Christie.  (Donald Trump/X)

“I want to promise you this, I’m going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again. And that’s more important than my own personal ambition,” he said when he dropped out. 

Christie’s weight has been a frequent target for Trump since their falling-out. Last year, Trump jokingly told a supporter to not call the former governor a “fat pig.” 

Since mid-November, New Jersey residents have been baffled by unexplained sightings of what appear to be drones. 

Chris Christie endorsed Trump in 2016 before their falling-out.  (Reuters/Mike Segar)

NEW JERSEY LAWMAKER CALLS FOR LIMITED STATE OF EMERGENCY TO COMBAT MYSTERIOUS DRONES

The sightings have also been reported in other areas of the country, including military installations, prompting lawmakers to demand answers. 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and law enforcement have said the drones don’t appear to be a threat to public safety. 

On Friday, Trump called for the drones to be shot down if there’s no reasonable explanation for them. 

Photos taken in the Bay Shore section of Toms River of what appear to be large drones hovering in the area at high altitudes in New Jersey Dec. 8. (Doug Hood/Asbury Park Press)

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“Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A New Jersey state Senator is calling on Gov. Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency to ground all drones as a way of getting to the bottom of ongoing reports of unmanned craft swarming the Garden State in recent weeks. 

State Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Republican, told “Cavuto Live” on Saturday that he also wants the FAA to join in the state of emergency as the public becomes increasingly frustrated with a lack of answers as to what is going on in the skies. 

Bramnick says he has contacted Murphy about enacting a state of emergency but has not gotten a response.  

State Sen. Jon Bramnick is calling for a limited state of emergency due to mysterious drone sightings. (Bobby Bank/Getty Images, left, and Doug Hood/Asbury Park Press, right.)

DRONE MYSTERY BEFUDDLES NEW JERSEY OFFICIALS, FRUSTRATES RESIDENTS

“I’ve gotten silence and we met with the state police [who] have no information. Can you imagine? The Department of Defense must have some serious secret if we can’t get any information on car-sized drones flying over our military bases.”

A series of unidentified drone sightings near U.S. military installations and over residences have been spotted in New Jersey since mid-November, including President-elect Trump’s Bedminster golf course, which is causing alarm. Apparent drones have also been spotted in New York City, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, among other states, as well as over three US airbases in the UK.

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby has said many of the purported drone sightings are actually lawfully operated manned aircraft and that there is no evidence of a national security or public safety threat.

Map showing some of the places where mystery drones have been spotted in Northeastern USA in December 2024.  (Fox News)

FORMER GOVERNOR SPOTS MYSTERY DRONES IN MARYLAND, BLASTS FEDS FOR LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday said the government doesn’t have the authority to shoot down drones and believes reports of some sightings are cases of mistaken identity.

The apparent lack of transparency about the situation has fueled conspiracy theories and raised national security concerns that a foreign entity may be behind the mysterious sightings. 

The government’s dismissal of witness reports is also irking residents who believe the government’s answers are insufficient. Some have threatened to take matters into their own hands and shoot them down.

“Every time someone comes out of the top secret briefing, we get the same answer,” Bramnick said. “’Well, we need more information,’ but apparently it’s not a threat. Now, I don’t know how they’re determining that. The Defense Department must be speaking to someone because they’re surely not speaking to any of the residents in New Jersey.”

A photo taken in the Bay Shore section of Toms River of what appear to be large drones hovering in the area at high altitudes in New Jersey on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. The drones seemed to be well above the 400 feet height FAA regulations allow. (Doug Hood/Asbury Park Press)

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“The Department of Defense has to explain why they don’t know what a car-sized drone is doing, where it came from, where it’s going. Is it sinister? Is there some sort of threat? Don’t you think the Department of Defense should have that information? The technology is there.”

Bramnick says that the state does not have the proper equipment or resources to deal with drones. He notes that the Garden State only has two state helicopters, and when one of those choppers was sent up to investigate a drone, its lights turned off and it fled. 

“Now, that’s an indication that the drone is not here for a good purpose, otherwise I assume somebody operating the drone would tell the state police what they’re doing. That’s why we have to ground all drones at this time,” Bramnick added. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave a stern warning to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after a report highlighted how one of Kennedy’s associates had sought to rescind approval for a polio vaccine.

McConnell, a polio survivor, said in a statement that “efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed – they’re dangerous.” 

“Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts,” he added, without naming Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who is President-elect Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. 

NOBEL LAUREATES CRITICIZE RFK JR. HHS NOMINATION OVER ‘LACK OF CREDENTIALS,’ VACCINE STANCE

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., takes a question from a reporter during a news conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 19, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

McConnell’s statement follows a New York Times report on Friday that highlighted how Kennedy’s personal attorney, Aaron Siri, had represented clients in cases that sought to rescind approval for a version of the polio vaccine and others. 

“Like millions of families before them, my parents knew the pain and fear of watching their child struggle with the life-altering diagnosis of polio. From the age of two, normal life without paralysis was only possible for me because of the miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love. But for millions who came after me, the real miracle was the saving power of the polio vaccine,” McConnell said.

RFK JR. WANTS TO CLEAR OUT ‘ENTIRE DEPARTMENTS’ IN THE FDA: ‘THEY HAVE TO GO’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, N.Y. on Aug. 21, 2024.  (Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

“For decades, I have been proud to work with devoted advocates – from Rotary International to the Gates Foundation – and use my platform in public life to champion the pursuit of cures for further generations. I have never flinched from confronting specious disinformation that threatens the advance of lifesaving medical progress, and I will not today. 

The GOP leader was joined by his Democratic counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who demanded that RFK Jr. make his position on the polio vaccine clear.

TRUMP TAPS RFK JR. TO LEAD DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., talks after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Sept. 24, 2024, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

“This would undoubtedly make America sick again,” Schumer said, sharing the Times report on X. “It’s outrageous and dangerous for people in the Trump Transition to try and get rid of the polio vaccine that has virtually eradicated polio in America and saved millions of lives. RFK Jr. must state his position on this.” 

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Reached for comment, a Trump transition team spokesperson said, “Mr. Kennedy believes the Polio Vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied.” 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As President-elect Trump gets ready to return to the White House, a leading Democratic pollster and strategist highlights that her party needs a new game plan to confront the former and soon-to-be future president.

“The 2025 playbook cannot be the 2017 playbook,” Molly Murphy, a top pollster on Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, emphasized as she gave a presentation at the first meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s executive committee since last month’s election.

Trump’s convincing win over Harris — he captured the popular vote and swept all seven key battleground states — as well as the GOP flipping the Senate and holding on to their fragile majority in the House, has Democrats searching for answers as they now try to emerge from the political wilderness.

Murphy, pointing to post-election polls, said most Americans give the president-elect a thumbs up on how he’s handling his transition, and that Trump will return to the White House next month more popular compared to eight years ago, when he first won the presidency. 

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR SPELLS OUT THE PARTY’S 2026 GAME PLAN

Trump arrives to speak at an election night celebration at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

And she noted that voters “give him a pass on the outrageous” comments he continuously makes because they approve of his handling of the economy. 

Murphy, in her comments Friday as DNC leaders huddled at a hotel near the U.S. Capitol, said the Democrats’ mission going forward is to change that perception.

“We want to focus on this term … and tell the story about how this term is worse and things are not going to be good for the American people,” Murphy said.

The Democrats’ message should be “Donald Trump does not care about you. He is going to screw you,” Murphy argued. “As a north star, I think we need to stay focused on … the economy and costs.“

“A lot of people are expecting the price of milk to go back where it was,” Murphy noted. 

TRUMP ALLIES TURN UP THE HEAT ON HOLDOUT GOP SENATORS 

She said Democrats need to borrow a page from the GOP’s 2024 campaign playbook: “We can do what they did to us … even if the economy is stronger, costs are still going to be too high for people.”

And she added that Democrats need to spotlight what she called unpopular parts of the Trump agenda, including “tax breaks for the wealthy” and “letting corporations drive up prices and making you pay for it.” 

The Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) executive committee meets for the first time since the presidential election on Dec. 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)

And she said the party needs to frame Trump’s proposed tariffs on key American trading partners “a sales tax on the American people that will drive up prices,” which was a line that Harris used on the campaign trail.

Murphy also spotlighted that Trump and Republicans made gains with key parts of the Democratic Party’s base – younger voters, Latinos, and Black voters because of the economy, but also because of the Democrats’ “wonky” messaging.

“A lot of times we’re talking about polices,” Murphy said, while Republicans have “culture conversations that create a connection between the party and the people that go beyond polices.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR FRONT-RUNNER OFFERS ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ ADVICE

Murphy argued that “these culture conversations that conservatives have been able to have in an organic way have been able to draw a connection that we know is not supported by policy … and we know that we have a lot of shared values with these working Americans and we need to find ways to have more authentic connection points there.”

Vice President-elect Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican from Ohio, joins Trump during an election night celebration at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 6, 2024. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

DNC chair Jaime Harrison complimented Murphy’s presentation. 

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But, Harrison, who is not running for a second four-year term steering the national party committee, pointed to the next White House race and offered that the party should also target Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance.

“I think it will be a big error on our part if we focus all of our attention on Donald Trump and not JD Vance, particularly as we start to look at the 2028 race,” Harrison highlighted.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis — who was urged by President-elect Donald Trump to run in the special election to replace former Rep. Matt Gaetz in Florida’s 1st Congressional District — hopes to win so he can support the incoming commander-in-chief’s agenda.

Patronis told Fox News Digital during an interview on Thursday that he is eager to run and “support President Trump’s agenda about” eliminating “wokeness” which has “infiltrated” government and society.

“We need common sense,” he said, asserting that it is not currently “very common” in the U.S.

WITH TRUMP PLEDGING ENDORSEMENT, FLORIDA CFO WILL RUN FOR MATT GAETZ’S FORMER HOUSE SEAT

Left: Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis; Right: President-elect Donald Trump rings the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Dec. 12, 2024 in New York City.  (Left: Fox News Digital; Right: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Asked whether he would be interested in joining the House Freedom Caucus if he wins the House seat, Patronis indicated that he would “love to know what they’re all about,” and said that many of the things he is familiar with the group participating in “make sense to” him.

He said, “the citizens of the United States, or in this case District 1, spend their money better than Washington D.C. does.”

Patronis wants the Sunshine State to adopt gold and silver as legal tender and has called for a study on the issue.

HOUSE GOP LEADERS ENDORSE TRUMP-BACKED CANDIDATE JIMMY PATRONIS FOR MATT GAETZ’S OLD SEAT

Gold bars are displayed at Shinhan Bank in Seoul on Jan. 9, 2004. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)

“Gold and silver have been trusted assets for thousands of years, and it makes perfect sense to use them as legal tender. I’m launching this study to determine the best way to get it done,” Patronis said in a statement included in a press release earlier this week. 

He indicated to Fox News Digital that he hopes the study will pave the way for the state legislature to approve legislation “to allow this type of economic freedom right here in the state of Florida.”

In addition to Trump’s backing, Patronis also has scored endorsements from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.

FLORIDA CFO REQUESTS REPORT ON POTENTIAL FOR INVESTING SOME STATE RETIREMENT SYSTEM FUNDS INTO DIGITAL ASSETS

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Election Day for the special election is set for April 1, but Patronis will first face the special Republican primary contest next month.

President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will attend the annual Army-Navy game in Landover, Maryland, on Saturday, and they are bringing some guests who are sure to stir debate. 

In what will be the 125th meeting of the Black Knights and Midshipmen, a source tells Fox that Trump is taking Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth to the highly anticipated football clash, while Vance confirmed on social media that he will have Marine veteran Daniel Penny by his side. 

Penny was found not guilty in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely in New York City earlier this week, a decision which was criticized by some commentators on the left and underscored a divide between crime and mental health.

President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will attend the annual Army-Navy game in Landover, Maryland, on Saturday, and they are bringing some guests who are sure to stir debate.  (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images, left, Andrew Harnik/Getty Images, second from left, Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, second from right, Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, right. )

DANIEL PENNY FOUND NOT GUILTY IN SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD TRIAL

Hegseth is still battling it out to secure his nomination for the top defense role and the dynamics of his appearance will be interesting given Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will also be in attendance. 

DeSantis at one point was touted as a possible replacement for Hegseth, although it is unclear if he will be seated with Trump in a suite.  

Hegseth’s appearance will mark a very public declaration of support from Trump, as some senators are still holding out on committing to his confirmation. 

Hegseth, an Army National Guard and former longtime Fox News host, deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has been the focus of misconduct reports.

Trump’s defense secretary nominee has denied allegations that he mistreated women but did reach a financial settlement with an accuser from a 2017 incident to avoid a lawsuit. He has vowed that he won’t drink “a drop of alcohol” if confirmed as defense secretary.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Defense Secretary, gives a thumbs-up as he walks with his wife Jennifer Hegseth, left, to meet with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

JD VANCE CONFIRMS DANIEL PENNY WILL ATTEND ARMY-NAVY GAME AFTER ACQUITTAL IN SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD TRIAL

Meanwhile, Vance took a swipe at New York City prosecutors for taking on the case in a post on X confirming Penny’s attendance.

“Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Vance wrote. “I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage.” 

Penny, 26, was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the May 2023 subway chokehold death of Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who had barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2.

Marine veteran Daniel Penny will attend the game alongside Vice President-elect JD Vance. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

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Trump attended the game as president in 2018, 2019 and 2020, while he also appeared as president-elect in 2016.

President Biden has never attended the annual clash as president, although he did appear as vice president.

This season has been a banner year for both football programs, adding buzz to the annual rivalry match. The teams have a combined 19 wins this year and with victories over Air Force, the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy will be awarded to the winner of Saturday’s game. 

Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie, Paulina Dedaj and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

The Navy Midshipmen and the Army Black Knights line up for the snap at the line of scrimmage during the first quarter of an NCAA football game at Gillette Stadium on Dec. 9, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass.  (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

President-elect Donald Trump is gearing up for his second White House term just weeks after the abrupt toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria— a pivotal moment that could test Trump’s long-held promises to end U.S. involvement in so-called “forever wars” in the Middle East or putting more American boots on the ground in these countries.

With roughly six weeks to go before he takes office, Trump does not appear to be backing down on his promises of pursuing a foreign policy agenda directed toward prioritizing issues at home and avoiding entanglements overseas.

However, Trump’s promises about ending U.S. military commitments abroad could be tested in Syria, where conditions in the country are now vastly different from Trump’s first term — creating a government seen as ripe for exploitation by other foreign powers, including governments or terrorist groups.

US OIL AND GAS PRODUCERS PRESSURE HOUSE TO PASS PIVOTAL PERMITTING BILL AND GET AMERICA ‘BACK ON TRACK’

U.S. Army soldiers survey an area during a joint patrol in Manbij, Syria, in 2018. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Zoe Garbarino via AP)

“This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved,” Trump said on Truth Social over the weekend, as rebel-backed fighters advanced into Damascus, forcing Assad to flee to Moscow for safe haven. 

Trump, for his part, has acknowledged the foreign policy situation he stands to inherit in 2025 could be more complex than he saw in his first term, especially in the Middle East. 

It “certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now,” Trump told leaders earlier this week in Paris, where he attended a grand reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. 

Here is a rundown of what Trump did in Syria in 2019 and how his actions could be insufficient today.

Current status 

In Syria, the speed at which rebel forces successfully wrested back control of major cities and forced Assad to flee to Moscow for safe haven took many by surprise, including analysts and diplomats with years of experience in the region. 

It is currently an “open question” who is currently in charge in Syria, White House National Security communications advisor John Kirby told reporters earlier this week. 

However, the rebel-led group that ousted Assad is currently designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S., raising fresh uncertainty over whether Trump might see their rise to power as a threat to U.S. national security and whether he might move to position U.S. troops in response.

PATEL ‘READY TO SERVE’ AS FBI DIRECTOR, SEEKS ‘SMOOTH TRANSITION’ AFTER WRAY RESIGNATION NEWS

Then-President Trump delivers remarks to U.S. troops during an unannounced visit to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq in 2018. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

The conditions are also ripe for exploration by other governments and adversaries, which could seize on the many power vacuums created by the collapse of Assad’s regime. 

In the days following Assad’s flight to Moscow, senior Biden administration officials stressed that the U.S. will act only in a supporting capacity, telling reporters, “We are not coming up with a blueprint from Washington for the future of Syria.”

“This is written by Syrians. The fall of Assad was delivered by Syrians,” the administration official said. 

Still, this person added, “I think it’s very clear that the United States can provide a helping hand, and we are very much prepared to do so.” It’s unclear whether Trump will see the situation the same.

Trump’s first term

In October 2019, Trump announced the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, news that came under sharp criticism by some diplomats and foreign policy analysts, who cited fears that the decision risked destabilizing one of the only remaining stable parts of Syria and injecting further volatility and uncertainty into the war-torn nation. 

However, at the time, that part of the country was stable. U.S. troops were stationed there alongside British and French troops, who worked alongside the Syrian Defense Force to protect against a resurgence of Islamic State activity. However, the situation is different now, something that Trump’s team does not appear to be disputing, for its part.

Additionally, while seeking the presidency in 2024, Trump continued his “America first” posture that many believe helped him win the election in 2016 — vowing to crack down on border security, job creation, and U.S. oil and gas production, among other things — incoming Trump administration officials have stressed the degree to which they’ve worked alongside the Biden administration to ensure a smooth handover when it comes to geopolitical issues.

Rebel fighters stand near the Iranian embassy after Syrian rebels announced that they have ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria. (REUTERS/Firas Makdesi)

Unlike his first White House transition, Trump’s preparations for a second presidential term have been remarkably detailed, efficient and policy oriented. That includes announcing nominations for most Cabinet positions and diplomats, and releasing policy blueprints for how the administration plans to govern over the next four years.  

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“For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity that they can play one administration off the other, they’re wrong, and we… we are hand in glove,” Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told Fox News in an interview following Trump’s election in November. “We are one team with the United States in this transition.”

EXCLUSIVE: President-elect Trump won’t be on the ballot in the 2026 midterms, but Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley says that Trump will play a “significant” role in supporting GOP candidates.

Republicans enjoyed major victories in last month’s elections, with Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to win the White House, the GOP flipping control of the Senate from the Democrats, and holding on to their razor-thin majority in the House.

Whatley argued that “as we go forward into this next election cycle, the fundamentals are going to remain the same” during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.

“We need to make sure that we are building our state parties, that we’re building our ground game, we’re building our election integrity apparatus to be in place to make sure that when we get those candidates through those primaries in ‘26, that we’re going to be in a position to take them all the way to the finish line,” he emphasized.

TRUMP KEEPS WHATLEY STEERING REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOLLOWING ‘OUSTANDING’ JOB

Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley gavels in and calls the convention to order on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

But the party in power traditionally suffers setbacks in the following midterm elections. And Trump, who was a magnate for voter turnout, won’t be on the ballot in 2026.

Whatley said that even though he won’t be a candidate, “President Trump is going to be a very significant part of this because at the end of the day, what we need to do is hold on to the House, hold on to the Senate so that we can finish his term and his agenda.”

TRUMP ALLIES TURN UP THE HEAT ON HOLDOUT GOP SENATORS 

And Whatley predicted that “Donald Trump will be very active on the campaign trail for Republicans. And his agenda is the agenda that we’re going to be running on.”

President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee outraised the Trump campaign and the RNC this past cycle, but Whatley is confident that with the party soon to control the White House, Republicans will be even more competitive in the campaign cash race in the midterms.

“We’re pretty excited about where we are in terms of the fundraising that we did throughout the course of this cycle and what we’re going to do going forward,” he said.

Whatley said that his message to donors will be “we were successful in putting Donald Trump into the White House, and we need to carry forward with his agenda by keeping these House majorities and Senate majorities.”

He also pushed back on the persistent questioning of the RNC and Trump campaign’s ground game efforts during the general election.

“We focused very hard on low propensity voters. This was an entirely new system that we put in place over the course of this election cycle. It worked very, very well,” he touted. 

And looking ahead, he said “in a midterm election cycle, low propensity voters are going to, again, be very, very important for us. So, we’re going to continue to focus on building that type of a program.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR FRONT-RUNNER OFFERS ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ ADVICE

Whatley spotlighted that ‘we also focused on outreach to communities that the Republican Party has traditionally not reached out to – Black voters, Hispanic voters, Asian American voters. That’s why we were able to see such seismic shifts towards Donald Trump versus where those blocks had been in 2016 and 2020. We also saw seismic shifts among young voters and women voters because we were talking to every single American voter. Our ground game was very significant.”

Whatley was interviewed a week after Trump asked him to continue as RNC chair moving forward.

In March, as he clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, Trump named Whatley to succeed Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair. Whatley, a longtime ally of the former president and a major supporter of Trump’s election integrity efforts, had served as RNC general counsel and chair of the North Carolina Republican Party. 

Trump is term-limited and won’t be able to seek election again in 2028. Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance will likely be considered the front-runner for the 2028 GOP nomination.

Vice President-elect Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio (left) and President-elect Donald Trump during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., US, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But asked if the RNC will hold to its traditional role of staying neutral in an open and contested presidential primary, Whatley said “we will.”

And he added that “I’m very excited about the bench that we have in the Republican Party right now. You think about all the Republican governors, you think about all the Republican senators, the members of the House that we have, the leaders across the country that have been engaged in this campaign are going to be part of the president’s cabinet.”

Whatley argued that the president-elect’s “America First movement is bigger than Donald Trump. He is the tip of the spear. He is the vanguard of this movement. But. It is a very big movement right now.”

The chairman also emphasized that “Donald Trump has completely remade the Republican Party. We’re now the working-class party. We’re now a party that is communicating and working with every single voter, speaking to every single voter about the issues that they care about. So, as we go into 2028, we are in a great position to be able to continue the momentum of this agenda and this movement.”

The sign outside the New Hampshire capitol in Concord honors the state’s cherished century-old tradition of holding the nation’s first presidential primary in the race for the White House. (Fox News )

Unlike the DNC, which in the 2024 cycle upended the traditional presidential nominating calendar, the RNC made no major changes to their primary lineup, and kept the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary as their first two contests.

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Asked about the 2028 calendar, Whatley said “I’ve not had any conversations with anybody who wants to change the calendar on our side. I know the Democrats did during the course of this election cycle, not sure that it really helped them all that much.”

“We’re very comfortable with the calendar as it is. But as we move towards 2028, we’ll have those conversations,” he added.

Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders are cautiously optimistic heading into the new year with a second Trump administration.

This week, Fox News Digital spoke to leaders from various faith communities, many of whom expressed hope the incoming administration would lead in the right direction but wary that President-elect Trump would still prove himself.

“There are some [Jewish] communities that feel positive and optimistic, and there are some communities that feel extremely concerned,” said New York City Rabbi Jo David, who has a private rabbinic practice.

President-elect Trump and a rosary (AP Photo/Evan Vucci/BrianAJackson via iStock)

“I think there’s a mixed reaction, but there’s a skeptical optimism,” said Haris Tarin, vice president of policy and programming at the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

BIBLE SALES SURGE THANKS TO FRESH EDITIONS, NEW BUYERS LOOKING FOR ‘THINGS THAT FEEL MORE SOLID,’ REPORT FINDS 

Lorenzo Sewell, senior pastor at 180 Church in Detroit, said Trump has the opportunity to go down as “the greatest president in history” if he plays his cards right. “Only thing he needs to do is righteously regulate [the appropriate] resources.”

Samuel Rodriguez is lead pastor at New Season, a prominent U.S. megachurch, and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He echoed the sense of hope that some faith leaders are feeling looking toward Inauguration Day. 

A mother and girl fold hands in prayer on a Bible together. (iStock)

“I believe we’ll see a stronger emphasis on protecting religious freedom and ensuring that faith communities are empowered to thrive,” Rodriguez said. “Policies that respect the role of faith-based organizations in society — whether they’re feeding the hungry, educating children or advocating for life — will likely take center stage. I also anticipate an administration that values the contributions of people of faith, not as something to tolerate but as an essential cornerstone of our nation.”

With respect to the Jewish community, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and director of Global Social Action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said antisemitism, particularly on social media and on college campuses, and the “embrace of the Hamas narrative,” are a top priority. 

FOX NEWS ‘ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED’ NEWSLETTER: TRUMP’S WARNING TO HAMAS GIVES HOSTAGES’ FAMILIES NEW HOPE 

A sign at the University of Chicago’s anti-Israel encampment includes slogans like “Break open the gates, globalize the intifada” and “We will honor all our martyrs.” (Joseph A. Wulfsohn/Fox News Digital)

“We expect and hope for a completely different approach on the part of the incoming administration,” Cooper said. “We expect that the billions and billions of sanction relief that President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have given to the terrorist-sponsoring regime in Iran, that’s going to come to an end.”

Cooper also said building on and advancing the Abraham Accords, a series of bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, will be important.

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For Tarin, the biggest hope among the Muslim community, he says, is that there is not a repeat of the 2020 order by Trump that prevented people from certain Muslim countries from coming to the U.S.

“No. 2, the hope is that all Americans, including American Muslims, their civil rights and civil liberties and the issues that they’ve been advocating for are protected. No. 3, the hope is for a cease-fire and the end to the conflict in the Middle East and specifically in Gaza,” Tarin said. 

He added that it would be beneficial if Trump embraced parts of the Biden administration’s national strategy on Islamophobia. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump-Vance transition team for comment but did not receive a response.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, indicated that she’s not wedded to the Republican label, but noted that she has never abandoned it.

Murkowski, who made the remarks at a conference for the No Labels group, claimed that she’s “more of a Ronald Reagan … Republican than I am a Trump Republican. And … some would say, well you’re not really a Republican at all,” she noted. 

But the senator said “you can call me whatever you want … I’m not attached to a label. I’d rather be that no label.” 

Murkowski said she’d prefer being known as someone who seeks to “do right by this state and the people that I serve regardless of party.”

ANTI-TRUMP GOP ALASKA SENATOR DOESN’T SHOOT DOWN NOTION OF BECOMING INDEPENDENT

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, speaks during a news conference about high gas prices at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 18, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“In fact, I think I am more comfortable with that identity,” she noted, than with an “identity … as a Republican, as a party person.”

But later during her remarks, Murkwoski noted that she’s never ditched her GOP label.

“I am still a Republican,” she said, noting, “I’ve never shed my party label.”

DESANTIS WELCOMES FLORIDA STATE LAWMAKER TO REPUBLICAN PARTY AS SHE DITCHES DEMOCRATS

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, speaks during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Special Diabetes Program in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2023. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for JDRF)

President-elect Trump urged a crowd in Alaska in 2022 to “dump the horrific RINO senator Lisa Murkowski,” using the acronym that stands for “Republican in name only.” 

In late 2002, Frank Murkowski, who had just departed the U.S. Senate to serve as governor, appointed his daughter Lisa Murkowski to fill the Senate vacancy. 

She has since won election to the Senate multiple times, including in 2022 when she defeated Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka.

TRUMP ENDORSES MURKOWSKI PRIMARY OPPONENT KELLY TSHIBAKA

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, arrives for the Senate Republican leadership elections at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C, on Nov. 13. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Earlier this year, Murkowski endorsed former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley during the GOP presidential primary.

A Montana law banning transgender surgeries for minors will remain temporarily blocked following a state Supreme Court ruling that a Republican lawmaker is calling an “egregious example of hyperpartisanship.” 

The justices sided with a lower court judge who found that the law — which sought to prohibit the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria — likely violates Montana’s constitutional right to privacy. 

Republican Sen. John Fuller, who sponsored the bill before it was signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte in April 2023, told The Associated Press that the decision on Wednesday “is an egregious example of the hyperpartisanship of the Montana Supreme Court.” 

He criticized the courts for upholding the “ability to sterilize and mutilate children” and denying protection to children “from unscientific and experimental drugs and operations that have grown increasingly evident as a danger to children.” 

SUPREME COURT TO WEIGH STATE BAN ON TRANSGENDER ‘MEDICAL TREATMENTS’ FOR MINORS 

Transgender rights activists hold signs as they march through the University of Montana campus in May 2023 in Missoula, Montana. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The ruling came on the same day the United Kingdom announced that “existing emergency measures banning the sale and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones will be made indefinite, following official advice from medical experts.” 

“Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. The independent expert Commission on Human Medicines found that the current prescribing and care pathway for gender dysphoria and incongruence presents an unacceptable safety risk for children and young people,” Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said in a statement. 

In Montana’s case, transgender youth argued the law would ban them from continuing to receive gender-affirming medical care, violating their constitutional rights to equal protection, the right to seek health care and the right to dignity. The state Supreme Court upheld the injunction based on the right to privacy, which court rulings have said includes the right to make personal medical decisions free from government interference. 

Montana is one of at least 26 states that have passed bans on gender-affirming medical care for minors and most face lawsuits. Some bans have been temporarily blocked by courts, while others have been allowed to take effect. Fifteen states have enacted protections for gender-affirming medical care for minors. 

“Today’s ruling permits our clients to breathe a sigh of relief,” Akilah Deernose, the executive director of the ACLU of Montana, said in a statement. “But the fight for trans rights is far from over. We will continue to push for the right of all Montanans, including those who are transgender, to be themselves and live their lives free of intrusive government interference.” 

INCOMING REPUBLICAN SENATOR REVEALS HOW HE WILL ‘STRAP ROCKET-BOOSTERS’ TO TRUMP’S AGENDA IN NEW CONGRESS 

Demonstrators gather on the steps of the Montana State Capitol in Helena, Montana, in March 2021. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

The case against the Montana law now goes to trial before District Court Judge Jason Marks, with the state attorney general’s office telling the AP it looks forward to defending the law. 

“In upholding the district court’s flawed decision to temporarily block a duly enacted law, the Supreme Court put the wellbeing of children — who have yet to reach puberty — at risk by allowing experimental treatments that could leave them to deal with serious and irreversible consequences for the rest of their lives to continue,” spokesperson Chase Scheuer said to the news agency. 

In a majority opinion, Justice Beth Baker wrote that the law, titled Senate Bill 99, blocks “lawful medications and procedures administered by competent and licensed health care providers,” according to The Washington Examiner. 

Demonstrators hold a sign that reads “Democracy Dies Here,” on the steps of the Montana State Capitol in Helena, Montana, in April 2023. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP)

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“SB 99 affords no room for decision-making by a patient in consultation with their doctors and parents,” she reportedly added. “The statute is a complete ban, prohibiting individualized care tailored to the needs of each patient based on the exercise of professional medical judgment and informed consent.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Left-wing nonprofit ProPublica is facing renewed scrutiny after an email exchange related to its recent unpublished story on Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth was released on Thursday.

A media firestorm began earlier this week when Hegseth revealed on X that ProPublica, which he called a “Left Wing hack group” was planning to publish a “knowingly false report” that he was not accepted by West Point in 1999. Attached to the post was a photo of Hegseth’s acceptance letter signed by West Point Superintendent Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, U.S. Army.

ProPublica editor Jesse Eisinger responded to the post, explaining that West Point public affairs had told the outlet twice that Hegseth hadn’t applied.

“We reached out,” Eisinger wrote. “Hegseth’s spox gave us his acceptance letter. We didn’t publish a story. That’s journalism.”

TIDE TURNS IN FAVOR OF TRUMP DOD PICK PETE HEGSETH AFTER MATT GAETZ FAILURE

Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, left, and West Point Military Academy, right (Getty)

After intense criticism from conservatives online, with some questioning why ProPublica did not press West Point on the inaccurate information and publish a story on that aspect, Eisinger posted a lengthy X thread outlining the steps ProPublica had taken researching the story claiming and touting how they “care about accuracy” and being “intellectually honest” and had given Hegseth a “fair chance to respond to all of the salient facts in the story.”

Questions about ProPublica’s journalistic standards intensified shortly afterward when Daily Caller published an email from reporter Justin Elliot reaching out to Hegseth’s lawyer, giving him an hour to respond to the allegation that he never went to West Point and asking, “Why did Mr. Hegseth say he got into West Point when that is not true?” 

SAMUEL ALITO SLAMS PROPUBLICA AS ‘MISLEADING’ AHEAD OF REPORT ALLEGING CONFLICT OF INTEREST FROM SCOTUS BENCH

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Defense, makes his way to a meeting with Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., in the Russell building on Tuesday, December 3, 2024. (Tom Williams)

“How can Mr. Hegseth be Secretary of Defense given that he has made false statements about getting into the military’s most prestigious academy?” Elliot asked.

That email drew the ire of many on social media, who took issue with the accusatory tone of the email and the small window to respond to such a serious allegation, which suggested the story had already been completed without hearing Hegseth’s side.

“ProPublica did not contact Pete Hegseth to get the full story,” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. “They contacted him to claim he was a liar while demanding a response within one hour not to offer his side, but to ask why he ‘lied’ and what else he ‘lied’ about.”

“This isn’t ‘journalism.’ It’s unethical garbage.”

“***Nothing*** in Jesse’s 11-tweet thread even hinted that ***this*** is how ProPublica actually approached the story— taking the falsehood from West Point, repeatedly asserting to Hegseth that he was a liar & implying he is unfit for SecDef, & giving him just one hour to respond,” journalist Jerry Dunleavy posted on X. 

“ProPublica’s Editor-in-Chief claimed that they gave @PeteHegseth a fair chance to respond to the West Point story because they ‘care about accuracy,’” Trump 2024 Rapid Response Director Greg Price posted on X. “According to this unhinged email obtained by @reaganreese, they straight up accused him of being a liar and gave him a one hour deadline to respond.”

REPUBLICAN MILITARY VETS IN CONGRESS ARE ON A MISSION TO GET HEGSETH CONFIRMED

West Point cadets salute as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III arrives for the 2021 West Point Commencement Ceremony in Michie Stadium.  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a ProPublica spokesperson said, “Reporters do their job by asking tough questions to people in power, which is exactly what happened here. Responsible news organizations only publish what they can verify, which is why we didn’t publish a story once Mr. Hegseth provided documentation that corrected the statements from West Point.”

Fox News Digital reached out to West Point asking whether any disciplinary actions had been taken against the staffers for providing false information and why procedures had not been in place to prevent that kind of error. 

West Point directed Fox News Digital to its previously issued statement. 

“A review of our records indicates Peter Hegseth was offered admission to West Point in 1999 but did not attend. An incorrect statement involving Hegseth’s admission to the U.S. Military Academy was released by an employee on Dec. 10, 2024.  Upon further review of an archived database, employees realized this statement was in error. Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the Class of 2003. The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error.”

In a letter to West Point this week, Republican Congressman Jim Banks wrote, “It is outrageous that West Point officials would so grossly interfere in a political process and make false claims regarding a presidential nominee.”

“Even in the unlikely scenario of OPA mistakenly making false claims not once but twice, it is an unforgivable act of incompetence that OPA did not make absolutely sure their information was accurate before sharing it with a reporter.”

This week’s ProPublica controversy comes after the nonprofit, which has received millions of dollars from liberal foundations, faced strong criticism for its reporting on conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, which critics referred to as “hit pieces.”

Associate Justice Samuel Alito joins other members of the U.S. Supreme Court as they pose for a new group portrait in October 2022. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

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“Journalistic inquiry into the private dealings of public officials is essential for our democracy. But honest inquiry applies the same standard to all people rather than single out those with whom one disagrees,” Gretchen Reiter, senior vice president of communications at Stand Together, told Fox News Digital last year regarding ProPublica’s reporting on Thomas.

ProPublica’s reporting on Alito prompted the justice to write a Wall Street Journal op-ed where he wrote, “ProPublica has leveled two charges against me: first, that I should have recused in matters in which an entity connected with Paul Singer was a party and, second, that I was obligated to list certain items as gifts on my 2008 Financial Disclose Report. Neither charge is valid.”

ProPublica stood by its reporting on Alito but acknowledged there are “lessons for ProPublica in this experience.”

A top New Jersey lawmaker is proposing legislation to form a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Garden State, modeling it after the one Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are forming at the federal level.

“We need it more” than Washington, Senate Minority Whip Joe Pennacchio, R-Boonton, said. 

“We’re mirroring what the federal government and what those two gentlemen are doing.”

Pennacchio, who also previously worked under former Republican Gov. Donald DiFrancesco on economic development, said NJDOGE would take on a state budget that has increased 60% in the past seven fiscal years.

DRONE ACTIVITY NEAR TRUMP-BEDMINSTER, PICATINNY ARSENAL SPURS NJ FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS

NJ State Senate Minority Whip Joe Pennacchio, R-Morris. (New Jersey State Senate official photo)

“A lot of those increases were one-shots, when they borrowed money during the period of COVID. You’re not going to get that back. … They haven’t even spent it all. Those one-shots, they’re all gone.

“I’ve seen estimates of a budget deficit next year of maybe $4 billion. Next year is the governor’s race. We will have a new governor, and regardless of who comes in — Republican or Democrat — it would be nice to have a committee together to give them a blueprint of what we can or should not do.”

He said the state does have a “red tape” commission set up by former Gov. Chris Christie to trim regulations, adding it hasn’t borne results.

“Every dollar we save is $1 less that [Trenton] has to raise taxes,” Pennacchio said. 

Pennacchio’s committee, if approved, would consist of one member from the state Treasury, one from the Chamber of Commerce, the top Republican and Democrat from the Senate and General Assembly and one public member appointed by the governor.

DOGE-MEETS-CONGRESS: GOP LAWMAKER LAUNCHES CAUCUS TO HELP MUSK ‘TAKE ON CRAZYTOWN’

Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy (Getty)

“[N]ot only can we start to chip away at our exacerbated affordability crisis by cutting wasteful spending and ensuring efficiency, we can also ease the financial burden for our constituents across the Garden State by lowering the onslaught of taxes and fees,” Pennacchio said.

At least one other state senator is planning to endorse the idea but has not yet done so publicly. Fox News Digital also reached out to representatives of the General Assembly for their reaction to the senator’s legislation.

Despite being long viewed as a reliably “blue” state, New Jersey came within about four points of electing Donald Trump instead of Vice President Kamala Harris. Political analysts pointed to the results as evidence of a tidal shift in public opinion toward government spending, among other subjects.

GOP LAWMAKER TORCHES OFFSHORE NJ WIND PROJECTS AS MD MAYOR BLASTS ‘STAR WARS’ BACKDROPS

Trump twice won Morris County and flipped Passaic County in 2024, parts of which Pennacchio represents. The lawmaker said his constituents are on board with his NJDOGE proposal and that they’ve similarly recognized disparities in the funding support they receive from Trenton.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump Transition for comment on the plan.

“My district is a district that is getting the bills. Schools in my district are seeing cuts while schools in other districts are not seeing cuts,” Pennacchio said.

“It is stuff like this that we should look at. … If the legislature sees fit that they still want to subsidize this nonsense, then that’s fine. They’ll be on record.

“Let’s greet the next new governor with outlines of what they can do, where there are cost savings, where things can be eliminated; that will stimulate the economy, maybe decrease taxes on the people.”

The 2025 field for that governor’s race is packed, with several top names in both partisan primaries.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, former Senate Leader Steve Sweeney and representatives Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer round out the Democratic choices.

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Truck driver and former state Sen. Ed Durr, Sen. Jon Bramnick, conservative journalist Bill Spadea and 2021 gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli are the top names on the Republican side.

State Sen. Robert Singer, R-Lakewood, also joined Pennacchio’s call for a NJDOGE.

“With President Trump’s plan to bring business back to the U.S., New Jersey has the chance to lead the charge. It’s time to restore our state’s manufacturing glory with high-paying jobs,” Singer said.

“Let’s make New Jersey the blueprint for the Make America Work Again movement, starting with a statewide DOGE.”

The New Jersey Capitol in Trenton (iStock)

Recently, large drones have been spotted across Pennacchio’s district, making nationwide news.

Pennacchio slammed the feds for offering Jerseyans few answers on the aircraft, saying that when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in 2001, government officials knew right away who orchestrated it.

“We even had some face time with the Department of Homeland Security (about the drones). They were useless. … They should be ashamed of themselves. The FBI director, he checked out. [Christopher Wray] already announced that he’s leaving. … So who’s minding the store here?”

The Biden administration’s aggressive regulatory stance towards big businesses has stymied growth, a cohort of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and other business sector experts expressed to Fox News Digital. 

Earlier this week, Albertsons abandoned its $25 million merger with fellow grocery store chain Kroger, after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), led by President Biden appointee Lena Khan, sought to challenge the buyout, arguing it would stifle competition and raise prices. The challenge and the merger’s eventual failure is the latest example of the Biden administration’s offensive against big business. 

“We have literally had offers from strategic buyers to buy us, and we go to our counsel and the counsel says, ‘Don’t even try. The FTC will absolutely flag this thing, and you will spend tens of millions of dollars and be stuck in a bureaucratic hell answering questions in court for a year,” said venture capitalist Ravin Gandhi, a former CEO who has been involved in multiple merger and acquisition deals and maintains a stake in a number of startups. 

‘GOV’T KNOWS BEST’: BIDEN ADMIN BREAKS OBAMA RECORD FOR FILLING FEDERAL REGISTER WITH MOST REGULATIONS

“Lena Khan was explicit in talking about even mid-market M&A as a vehicle for monopoly. And anyone who has built a business and sold it, like I have, knows that’s ridiculous.”

The headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., is seen on Nov. 18.

The chilling effect described by Gandhi has been echoed by other analysts, who say that the Biden administration’s rhetoric and policies have required businesses to take matters into their own hands by abandoning or restructuring their transactions in the face of FTC and Department of Justice antitrust concerns. An analysis by international law firm Morgan Lewis found that under Biden, the vast majority — nearly three-quarters — of all transactions in which the government sought more details from companies about a proposed merger were subject to enforcement action.

“America wants a different choice,” said Cardone Capital CEO Grant Cardone. “This idea that Joe Biden is going to make the world more competitive is a red herring.”  

Cardone, too, expressed frustration over regulatory battles with the Biden administration, noting that they have made it “almost impossible for people to do business.” 

Cardone Capital CEO Grant Cardone attends Gateway Celebrity Fight Night 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona, on April 27.

Several other business leaders, venture capitalists and people with detailed knowledge of mergers and acquisitions echoed the concerns shared by Gandhi and Cardone that business growth has been stymied.

“The FTC’s aggressive antitrust enforcement under the Biden administration has significantly dampened M&A activity, particularly in the tech sector,” said Kison Patel, a financial tech entrepreneur and the host of “M&A Science,” a podcast about mergers and acquisitions. “For example, one Fortune 10 tech company has scaled back its deal making from 30 to fewer than five transactions.” 

CONSTRUCTION TRADE GROUP LEADERS LOOK FORWARD TO NEW LEADERSHIP UNDER TRUMP: ‘RELIEF ON THE HORIZON’

Armen Martin, a veteran merger and acquisitions attorney, added that in talking to venture capitalists, he had heard optimism about FTC Commissioner Khan’s exit. She will be replaced by President-elect Trump’s nominee for FTC Commissioner, Andrew Ferguson. 

“I think you will see a lot more M&A activity under the Trump administration as companies feel more confident that the government won’t get involved,” Martin said.

President Trump holds gold scissors as he cuts red tape tied between two stacks of papers representing the government regulations of the 1960s and the regulations of today in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 14, 2017.

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Meanwhile, in a statement to Fox News Digital, FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar said that the recently blocked grocery store merger “makes it clear that strong, reality-based antitrust enforcement delivers real results for consumers, workers, and small businesses.”  

“Today’s win protects competition in the grocery market, which will prevent prices from rising even more,” he added.

Washington, D.C.-area restaurants once again will not be free from politics as the Trump team prepares to settle into the nation’s capital for a second term. 

Food workers inside the Beltway are prepared to refuse service and cause other inconveniences for members of the incoming Trump administration, but this is not the first time the administration and allies will have to deal with harassment while sitting down to dinner.

In September 2018, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his wife were harassed at Fiola, an upscale Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C. Protesters confronted them over Cruz’s support for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his contentious confirmation hearings. Videos circulated online showing demonstrators shouting at the couple, chanting, “We believe survivors.” Cruz and his wife eventually left the restaurant due to the altercation.

WASHINGTON, D.C., POLITICAL BAR TAKES DOWN REPUBLICAN SYMBOL AFTER FIERCE BACKLASH

Ted Cruz was heckled out of a Washington D.C. restaurant by a group of protesters opposing the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh in September 2018. (Smash Racism DC)

This incident was part of a broader wave of confrontations involving Trump administration officials and allies over the summer that year.

As such, in June 2018, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen was confronted by protesters at MXDC Cocina Mexicana, a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., over the Trump administration’s family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. Protesters chanted, “Shame!” and called her a “villain,” forcing her to leave.

Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller, known for his role in shaping immigration policy, recounted an incident when he went to pick up an $80 sushi order from a restaurant near his apartment that same month. As he left, the bartender followed him outside, called out his name and, when Miller turned around, gave him a double middle finger. He threw away the sushi out of fear someone in the restaurant had tampered with the food, the New York Post reported at the time.

DC FOOD WORKERS VOW TRUMP OFFICIALS WON’T FEEL WELCOMED WHEN DINING OUT IN NATION’S CAPITAL

President-elect Donald Trump. (Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)

Also in June 2018, the owner of The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, asked then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave, citing opposition to the Trump administration’s tough immigration policies. 

Industry veterans, bartenders and servers in the nation’s capital told the Washingtonian this week that resistance to the Republican figures in the progressive city was inevitable and a matter of conscience. 

BIDEN ADMIN SETS NEW TARGET TO TRIPLE US NUCLEAR CAPACITY FROM 2020 LEVELS

Protesters march in reaction to the upset election of Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the race for President of the United States on Nov. 12, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

“You expect the masses to just ignore RFK eating at Le Diplomate on a Sunday morning after a few mimosas and not to throw a drink in his face?,” said Zac Hoffman, a Washington, D.C., restaurant veteran who is now a manager at the National Democratic Club.

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Not every liberal hospitality sector worker in the report planned to protest the incoming administration while doing their job, however. 

A bartender named Joseph said while he was disappointed by the election results, he was looking forward to higher tips with more Republicans in Washington.

Fox News Digital’s Kristine Parks contributed to this report.

An uptick in alleged drone sightings along the East Coast touched off a flurry of panicked calls for investigation on Friday from residents and state lawmakers, even as public officials stress the aircraft in question are, in fact, being flown lawfully, and a retired port authority aviation expert tells Fox News Digital that fears are overblown.

The drone complaints began pouring in last month in New Jersey, where witnesses and residents first began reporting drone sightings off of coastal areas, including off of Cape May, a scenic town located outside of Atlantic City.

More recently, lawmakers in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland have reported new alleged drone sightings in their home states, with some witnesses alleging the aircraft in question have been the “size of cars” or seen flying above sensitive infrastructure or in restricted airspace.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, told reporters on Friday he had written to President Biden to share his concerns about the fresh reports of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) sightings in New Jersey airspace, and called for more federal resources to investigate the issue.

“It has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity,” Murphy wrote in the letter.

DRONE MYSTERY: NEW JERSEY HOMEOWNERS THREATEN TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS IF GOVERNMENT DOESN’T ACT

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Other lawmakers in the state have gone even further, calling for the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to join in their investigations into the unmanned aircraft, with one Garden State lawmaker urging the objects be “shot down” if necessary.

​​”We are literally being invaded by drones,” Pequannock Mayor Ryan Herbwe told reporters on Wednesday night following a town hall meeting in New Jersey. 

“We have no idea who is doing [this] and where they’re coming from.” 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., issued a statement on Friday citing concerns “about the potential for these unmanned aerial vehicles — many of which are as large as a car — to disrupt air traffic and, more alarmingly, to be used maliciously to threaten national security.”

These remarks have added to a growing collective sense of panic — but a panic that many in the law enforcement community say is both unfounded and unnecessary. 

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby sought to assuage these fears, stressing during a press briefing Thursday that there is “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus.” 

Others in the law enforcement community also echoed this sentiment. Retired Port Authority Police Detective Lt. John Ryan told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday that the uptick in activity is likely due to two things.

HOMEOWNERS THREATEN TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS IF GOVERNMENT DOESN’T ACT

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is seen next to a photo of reported drones in Connecticut. Blumenthal is among the lawmakers who have pushed for action on the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

The first, he said, is that drones are a fast-evolving technology that has seen a boom in both recreational and commercial use in the U.S. in the last 10 years. Federal data on drone registration reflects this sharp uptick in use, most if not all of which is legal.

Federal data on drone registration reflects this sharp uptick in use: As of October of this year, there were more than 790,000 drones registered with the Federal Aviation Association (FAA), and nearly 400,000 registered commercial drones. 

That’s “just to give you an idea” of the magnitude of the number of legal drones in the U.S., said Ryan, whose extensive police career included serving for a decade as the emergency service special operations commander at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, and then later, the chief officer of the Port Authority, whose role includes oversight of all transportation facilities, including Kennedy, LaGuardia and all other airports and ports in the area.

SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH REQUIRED TO SUBMIT TRUMP FINDINGS TO DOJ BEFORE LEAVING. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

A map showing drone sightings around New Jersey.

The second mistake, Ryan said, is that the individuals in question are asking the wrong authorities for help.

“The mistake I see people making is that they’re going to the wrong agencies and asking these questions,” he added.

The FAA is the federal body tasked with registering drones and other U.S. aircraft. It’s also the one tasked with monitoring recreational and commercial drone use in the U.S.

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“In New Jersey, they’ve been asking the FBI, they’ve been asking the Department of Homeland Security — they’ve been asking everybody except the people that they should be asking,” said Ryan.

The Pentagon also reiterated this view, noting that an initial assessment had shown the drones were not from another country, and were not shot down because they were not deemed a threat to national security.

Kirby echoed this sentiment on Thursday. Asked whether the U.S. would consider banning drone use in U.S. airspace, he told reporters, “I don’t know that we’re at a stage right now where we’re considering that” as a policy option.

President-elect Trump on Friday posted a message on his Truth Social account that contrasted his 2023 mugshot with his Time magazine cover.

Trump was named Time’s Person of the Year this week, which included a cover and an in-depth interview as he prepares to take office for the second time. 

“How it started, how it’s going,” Trump wrote with his mugshot on the left side and his Time cover on the right. 

TRUMP SPEAKS ON BEING NAMED TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR FROM THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE

“How it started, how it’s going,” Trump wrote with his mugshot on the left side and his Time Magazine cover on the right on Truth Social.  (Donald Trump/Truth Social)

Trump’s mugshot was taken in May 2023 when he was processed at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta after being indicted on election racketeering charges.  

The magazine announced Trump, who faced an assassination attempt last summer and won the first nonconsecutive U.S. presidential term since Grover Cleveland in the 19th century, had been named its Person of the Year Thursday. 

TRUMP PROMISES ‘TREMENDOUS INCENTIVE’ ON TAXES DURING SECOND TERM 

President-elect Trump speaks at a reception at the New York Stock Exchange after being named Time’s Person of the Year for the second time Dec. 12, 2024, in New York City.  (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Trump, in a ceremony after the announcement, called it an “honor.” 

‘Thank you very much for doing it,” he said. “Thank the whole group at Time. Really professional people.” 

Trump, during a ceremony after the announcement, called it an “honor.”  (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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He was first named the magazine’s Person of the Year after his first presidential win in 2016. 

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

– Dem claims Trump wielding nuclear strike authority ‘should terrify you’ —  then people point out the obvious

– Tren de Aragua being used as tool of Maduro regime, says former high-ranking Venezuelan military officer

– ‘Politically motivated’ FBI treated conservatives like domestic terrorists on Wray’s watch: whistleblower

Biden’s Conahan Commutation 

President Biden has sparked anger among Pennsylvanians after he commuted the sentence of a corrupt judge who was jailed for more than 17 years after he was caught taking kickbacks for sending juveniles to for-profit detention facilities.

In what came to be known as the kids-for-cash scandal, former Judge Michael Conahan shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and shared $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit lockups. Another judge, Mark Ciavarella, was also involved in the illicit scheme, the effects of which are still felt today among victims and families. 

The scandal is considered Pennsylvania’s largest-ever judicial corruption scheme with the state’s supreme court throwing out some 4,000 juvenile convictions involving more than 2,300 kids after the scheme was uncovered…Read more

Joe Biden, Kids for cash scandal clemency case (CHRIS KLEPONIS/AFP via Getty Images))

White House

ANOTHER ROUND: Biden administration announces $500M aid package to Ukraine…Read more

‘ADDRESS THE BIAS’: Biden admin launches national strategy to combat Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate…Read more

FINAL VERDICT: Negative economic and political ratings for Biden as he exits…Read more

President Joe Biden speaks about his administrations economic playbook and the future of the American economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FINAL STRETCH: White House says to ‘expect more’ climate funding before President Biden leaves office…Read more

Trump Transition

SYRIA QUANDARY: Trump’s pledge against ‘forever wars’ could be tested with Syria in hands of jihadist factions…Read more

Then-President Donald Trump delivers remarks to U.S. troops in an unannounced visit to Al Asad Air Base, Iraq in 2018. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

‘FEEL THE PAIN’: Canadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country…Read more

Capitol Hill

‘WE SHOULD KNOW’: Sen. Booker ‘frustrated’ by lack of transparency about drones, says it’s causing ‘misinformation to spread’…Read more

MOVING ON UP: Top GOP rebel angles for key House leadership-backed committee post…Read more

‘SHOULD BE SHOT DOWN’: Sen. Blumenthal says mysterious drones spotted recently ‘should be shot down, if necessary’…Read more

PELOSI: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi injured, hospitalized while traveling to Luxembourg…Read more

‘HORRIFIC RINO’: GOP Sen. Murkowski says she’s ‘not attached to’ GOP label, but is ‘still a Republican’…Read more

‘ACT DECISIVELY’: Senate Dems demand Biden extend protections for illegal immigrants ahead of Trump admin…Read more

Across America

‘PREVENTABLE’ CRIME: DA to seek death penalty against illegal immigrants accused in Nungaray murder case…Read more

‘EQUALLY ANGRY’: Legislators across political spectrum ‘equally angry’ over handling of drone sightings: New Jersey lawmaker…Read more

SHOCKING DEATH THREATS: WV lawmaker arrested after threatening to kill entire region’s delegation over caucus beef…Read more

‘EGREGIOUS HYPERPARTISANSHIP’: Montana Supreme Court blocks ban on transgender surgeries, prompting outcry from GOP lawmaker, supporters…Read more

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers argued that Assembly Bill 377 “ignores” a 2015 policy created by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) to govern the eligibility of transgender high school athletes in the state. (ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)

THEORIES RUN WILD: Drone experts rule out US government experiment, unsure of other New Jersey drone phenomenon theories…Read more

LEFT-WING ATTACK: Climate justice group has deep ties to judges, experts involved in litigation amid claims of impartiality…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Two Chinese spies and a Chinese national who was charged for disseminating child pornography were part of a White House prisoner swap as Biden’s presidency nears the end.

On Nov. 22, Biden granted clemency to Yanjun Xu, Ji Chaoqun and Shanlin Jin. 

Their releases were part of a prisoner swap that returned three wrongfully detained Americans from Chinese custody: Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung. 

The three Americans returned to the U.S. before Thanksgiving.

CHINA DENIES NEW REPORRT LINKING CCP TO FOUR SITES IN CUBA ALLEGEDLY USED TO SPY ON THE US

Mark Swidan was arrested in China in 2012 on drug charges the U.N. says aren’t legitimate. (Mark Swidan Family)

Harrison Li holds a photo of his father, Kai Li, in Palo Alto, Calif., in January. (AP/Jeff Chiu)

Xu and Chaoqun were both Chinese nationals who were convicted of espionage in the U.S. 

Xu, according to a release from the Department of Justice, was the first Chinese government intelligence officer ever to be extradited to the United States to stand trial and was sentenced to 20 years.

According to court documents, Xu targeted American aviation companies, recruited employees to travel to China, and solicited their proprietary information, all on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

BIDEN LEAVING OFFICE WITH LOWEST APPROVAL IN 16 YEARS, FOX NEWS POLLING SHOWS

In one example, noted in court documents, Xu attempted to steal technology related to GE Aviation’s exclusive composite aircraft engine fan module – which no other company in the world has been able to duplicate – to benefit the Chinese state.

The Department of Justice said that Xu openly discussed his effort to steal U.S. military information in addition to commercial aviation trade secrets.

Yanjun Xu, the first Chinese spy extradited to the US for trial, was convicted in 2021 on counts of conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and trade secret theft. (U.S. District Court)

A federal jury in Chicago in September 2023 convicted Ji Chaoqun, 31, of conspiracy to act as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Security without notifying the U.S. attorney general, acting as a spy in the U.S., and lying on a government form about his contacts with foreign agencies. (Fox 32)

Chaoqun was arrested and convicted after working with Xu on behalf of the CCP.

The federal agency said that Xu recruited and “handled” Chaoqun, who was stationed in Chicago during the duration of the scheme.

The DOJ said that Xu directed Chaoqun to collect “biographical information on people to potentially recruit to work with them.”

“Xu’s handling and placement of a spy within the United States to obtain information regarding aviation technology and employees is yet another facet of Xu’s egregious crimes towards the United States and further justifies the significant sentence of imprisonment he received today,” said U.S. Attorney Parker at the time of the pair’s conviction.

Jin was serving his sentence after being convicted of possessing more than 47,000 images of child pornography while a doctoral student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 2021.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the latest developments in Syria from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on December 8, 2024, in Washington, DC.  (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

Biden commuted on Thursday the sentences of 1,499 people. He is also pardoning 39 individuals who were convicted of non-violent crimes.

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President-elect Trump is set to take office in a little over a month, on January 20. He has said that he will immediately pardon people convicted of participating in the January 6, 2021, riot in the U.S. Capitol.

A top Team Trump official disclosed the moment that “really set the campaign on a trajectory to victory” – the day President-elect Donald Trump arrived in Columbiana County, Ohio, to survey the East Palestine train derailment.

“The ripples from that day do not get enough attention,” White House communications director-designate Steven Cheung said on X, formerly Twitter, in retweeting an op-ed making that assertion.

In February 2023, a Norfolk-Southern train hauling caustic industrial chemicals – including vinyl chloride – derailed in a small community near the Pennsylvania border, causing immediate chaos and long-lasting, widespread damage to the region.

A controlled burn held shortly after the derailment released toxic phosgene into the air.

WHISTLEBLOWER ALLEGES MISTAKES IN INITIAL EAST PALESTINE DISASTER RESPONSE

Steven Cheung (inset) and Donald Trump. (Getty)

On February 23 – Ash Wednesday – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, hosted Trump at the site, where the former and future president highlighted Americans “forgotten” by President Joe Biden – who had not yet shown up and would not visit for several more months.

The Republican mogul handed out “Trump”-branded water and met with local officials. Meanwhile, officials in both Ohio and Pennsylvania were also visibly working to hold the railroad accountable.

In his tweet, Cheung was responding to an op-ed by Pittsburgh-based Washington Examiner writer Selina Zito, who covered the crisis at the time.

Zito wrote that Trump’s arrival had happened at a political nadir for the Republican, following the 2022 midterm losses and amid a then-close presidential primary race with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

She noted in a tweet that it was Vance – his future running mate – who brought him to the site.

Trump’s mantra of “you are not forgotten” to Rust Belt residents too often forgotten by Washington helped change minds in the area, Zito wrote, quoting a local resident who said she had “switched parties because of the way he spoke directly to the concerns.”

“I have voted for him both times since then,” the woman, who owns an East Palestine farm, said.

TRUMP VISITS EAST PALESTINE, HANDS OUT TRUMP-WATER: ‘WE STAND WITH YOU’

Former President Donald Trump, with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, departs after greeting supporters and touring water pumps at Little Beaver Creek during a visit to East Palestine, Ohio. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty)

Trump told residents that day that “in too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal.”

The disparity between Trump’s eagerness to “show up” and Biden’s apparent putting-off of a visit to East Palestine helped turn the tide in the Republican’s favor, the column continued.

“100%,” Cheung wrote in his tweet.

Trump’s former running mate, Mike Pence, also called out Biden at the time, saying he was “AWOL” and remarking to Fox News that the Delaware Democrat’s policies had “derailed the economy of East Palestine long before that train came through.”

On the Pennsylvania side of the line, both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his then-former gubernatorial opponent, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, also responded quickly to the derailment.

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Shapiro lodged a criminal referral at the time, and Mastriano led hearings that hosted affected residents along the Ohio border wherein Norfolk-Southern CEO Alan Shaw notably no-showed.

“It is very disheartening to hear that these alleged delays and botched response approaches took place – especially since those in East Palestine, Ohio, and areas in my district here in Pennsylvania have been dealing with the aftermath of this derailment for over a year now,” state Sen. Elder Vogel Jr. told Fox News Digital at the time, after a whistleblower had spoken out about alleged mistakes from Biden’s EPA response – which the agency disputed.