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Prominent Catholic Bishop Robert Barron is speaking out against a mob of agitators who stormed a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday to protest ICE.

Barron, who leads the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, just southeast of St. Paul, and is the founder of “Word on Fire” Ministries, called the disruption “unacceptable.”

“I don’t care what is animating or annoying you, I don’t care what your political persuasion might be, invading a church is unacceptable and is a violation of religious liberty,” Barron wrote in an X post on Monday.

This comes after dozens of anti-ICE agitators disrupted a service at Cities Church, a Baptist congregation, chanting “Justice for Renee Good” and “Who needs justice, we need justice,” as they stood inside the church.

TRUMP ACCUSES TIM WALZ AND ILHAN OMAR OF USING ICE PROTESTS TO DISTRACT FROM MASSIVE STATE FRAUD

Barron addressed the widespread anti-ICE unrest in Minnesota in a separate X post on Sunday. He wrote, “As a resident of Minnesota and as bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, my heart is breaking over the situation in my home state.”

“Violence, retribution, threats, protests, deep suspicion of one another, political unrest, fear—all of it swirling around all the time,” Barron lamented.

“May I make a modest proposal for exiting this unbearable state of affairs? The Trump Administration and ICE should limit themselves, at least for the time being, to rounding up undocumented people who have committed serious crimes. Political leaders should stop stirring up resentment against officers who are endeavoring to enforce the laws of the country. And protestors should cease interfering with the work of ICE,” he suggested.

REP DONALDS ACCUSES MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS OF STOKING ANTI-ICE UNREST AFTER AGITATORS STORM CHURCH

“And everyone on all sides must stop shouting at one another and demonizing their opponents. Where we are now is untenable. There is a way out,” Barron added.

Department of Justice officials vowed Sunday to open an investigation into the disruption, specifically probing for federal civil rights violations “by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshipers,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi added in a statement Sunday that “attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson also slammed the agitators, saying, “There is no low these radical leftists won’t stoop to.”

FEDERAL JUDGE RESTRICTS ICE AGENTS AMID ONGOING MINNEAPOLIS AREA PROTESTS

Jackson accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of having “whipped these rioters into a frenzy and turned them loose to wreak havoc on Minneapolis.” 

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“Frey and Walz should be ashamed for inciting such chaos, but the Trump Administration will continue enforcing the law,” she added. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Investigative author Peter Schweizer alleges the Mexican government is operating a coordinated influence effort inside the United States, using diplomatic missions, education programs and migrant outreach initiatives in ways he argues go far beyond traditional diplomacy.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Schweizer said his forthcoming book, “The Invisible Coup,” available Tuesday, documents what he describes as “weaponized immigration,” a strategy he claims Mexican officials view as a means to exert political leverage inside the U.S.

“Foreign powers are using migration as a weapon to undermine American sovereignty,” Schweizer said. “Mexico is a clear example of this.”

Schweizer pointed to Mexico’s expansive diplomatic footprint in the United States, noting that the country operates 53 consulates nationwide — far more than most U.S. allies.

US EMBASSIES IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE DIRECTED TO REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS TIED TO MASS MIGRATION

“Those consular officials have been tied up in organizing political activity in the United States, which is a clear violation of their diplomatic status,” said Schweizer, investigative journalist and co-founder, alongside former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, of the conservative think tank Government Accountability Institute (GAI). 

Schweizer alleged that Mexican consular officials have supported or encouraged anti-ICE protests in the U.S., pointing to what he described as instances in which officials praised or took credit for community mobilization following immigration enforcement actions. 

Mexican consulates routinely provide legal assistance and outreach to migrant communities after ICE raids, which Mexican officials characterize as consular protection duties, though critics argue the efforts blur the line between assistance and political activism.

Schweizer also cited the role of Mexico’s so-called “migrant legislators” — elected Mexican officials who reside in the United States and represent Mexicans living abroad — as evidence of cross-border political engagement. While those officials do not hold U.S. office, some have participated in advocacy events in the United States, raising questions among critics about the scope of foreign political activity on American soil.

Schweizer further claimed the Mexican government is actively discouraging assimilation among migrants living in the U.S., pointing to government-produced Spanish-language textbooks distributed to American school districts.

STATE DEPARTMENT YANKS VISAS FROM MEXICAN EXECUTIVES IN MIGRANT SMUGGLING CRACKDOWN

“The Mexican government gives textbooks to school districts in the United States from Los Angeles to Orlando,” Schweizer said. “Those textbooks are designed to make sure that migrant children view themselves as Mexican first, not as Mexican–American.”

Mexican government–produced textbooks are distributed inside the United States through Mexico’s consular network, primarily as donated supplemental materials. The books are published by Mexico’s state textbook authority and are typically made available through consulates, libraries, community centers and, in some cases, schools that request them for Spanish-language or heritage instruction.

According to Schweizer, the textbooks present what he described as a highly politicized version of American history, including depictions of the Mexican–American War that frame the United States as an adversary.

“The textbook describes the United States as the enemy,” he said, adding that school districts may be accepting the materials without closely reviewing their content.

Schweizer also alleged coordination between Mexican diplomatic missions and U.S.-based advocacy groups that he said crosses into American electoral politics. He referenced a 2024 meeting held at the Mexican consulate in Oklahoma City that he said included Mexican diplomatic officials and Democratic Party activists.

“The conversation was about how California had been turned from red to blue, Arizona had been turned from red to blue, and how Republicans were going to ‘find out’ that they were planning to turn the whole country blue,” Schweizer said, citing what he described as a transcript of the meeting. 

“That’s not what diplomatic officials should be engaged in,” he added.

Asked whether such conduct would violate U.S. law, Schweizer said foreign diplomats are prohibited from participating in American elections and argued that expulsion of involved officials would be an appropriate response. 

“We need a zero-tolerance policy,” he said. “We’re gearing up for midterm elections, and based on their history, this should not be tolerated.”

Schweizer also pointed to a Mexican government–backed streaming platform known as Migrant TV, which he said was created to communicate with migrants living in the United States.

“When you look at the content, it was extremely pro-Kamala Harris and very anti-Trump,” Schweizer said, adding that the platform has portrayed ICE officials as Nazis and fascists.

The Mexican government launched TV Migrante, a channel dedicated to giving voice to migrants, in March 2025. The channel is available across Mexico and in the U.S. on digital platforms and some cable packages that include international channels. 

Schweizer argued that Mexico’s approach should be viewed in a broader geopolitical context, drawing comparisons to China’s use of diplomatic missions and affiliated activist groups in the United States. 

“The question is why are we tolerating this?” he said. “I think it’s high time to say enough is enough.”

The allegations come as relations between Washington and Mexico are under strain, with President Trump warning of tougher action against Mexican drug cartels and border security failures. Trump has said the U.S. is prepared to escalate its posture, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has emphasized cooperation and respect for sovereignty.

Sheinbaum has highlighted what she describes as progress cracking down on cartels, declining migration flows and joint security efforts with U.S. officials, while warning against any violation of Mexico’s territorial integrity.

Schweizer said he remains skeptical of those assurances, arguing that migration provides Mexico with both economic and political leverage. 

“More than $60 billion flows from the United States to Mexico in remittances,” he said. “That’s a crucial lifeline.”

In 2024 Mexico received around $62.5 billion from remittances sent from the U.S, according to economists with BBVA Research group. 

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“They view (immigration) as an opportunity to exert influence and sovereignty into the United States.”

Mexican officials have previously said their consulates exist to provide services and protect the rights of Mexican nationals abroad, and the Mexican government has emphasized its partnership with Washington on security and border enforcement. 

The Mexican embassy could not be reached for comment on Schweizer’s claims. 

President Donald Trump has spent the bulk of his second White House term testing the limits of his Article II authorities, both at home and abroad – a defining constitutional fight that legal experts expect to continue to play out in the federal courts for the foreseeable future.

These actions have included the U.S. capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, who was deposed during a U.S. military raid in Caracas earlier this month, and Trump’s continued fight to deploy National Guard troops in Democrat-led localities, despite the stated objections of state and local leaders.

The moves have drawn reactions ranging from praise to sharp criticism, while raising fresh legal questions about how far a sitting president can go in wielding power at home and abroad.

Legal experts told Fox News Digital in a series of interviews that they do not expect Trump’s executive powers to be curtailed, at least not significantly or immediately, by the federal courts in the near-term.

TRUMP OUSTING OF MADURO DRAWS PARALLELS TO US RAID IN PANAMA – BUT THERE ARE SOME MAJOR CONTRASTS

Like other U.S. presidents, Trump can cite guidance used by then-President George H.W. Bush and others to argue Maduro’s arrest was made within the “national interest” or to protect U.S. persons and property.

Despite near-certain challenges from Maduro – who would likely argue any U.S. arrest in Venezuela is illegal, echoing Manuel Noriega’s failed strategy decades ago – experts say Trump’s Justice Department would have little trouble citing court precedent and prior Office of Legal Counsel guidance to justify his arrest and removal.

U.S. presidents have long enjoyed a wider degree of authority on foreign affairs issues – including acting unilaterally to order extraterritorial arrests. Like other U.S. presidents, Trump can cite guidance published in the late 1980s to argue Maduro’s arrest was made within the “national interest” or to protect U.S. persons and property.

Even if an arrest were viewed as infringing on another country’s sovereignty, experts say Trump could cite ample court precedent and longstanding Office of Legal Counsel and Justice Department guidance to argue the action was legally sound.

A 1989 memo authored by then-U.S. Assistant Attorney General Bill Barr has surfaced repeatedly as one of the strongest arguments Trump could cite to justify Maduro’s capture. That OLC memo states that “the president, pursuant to his inherent constitutional authority, can authorize enforcement actions independent of any statutory grant of power.” It also authorizes FBI agents to effectuate arrests ordered by the president under the “Take Care” clause of the U.S. Constitution, and says the authority to order extraterritorial arrests applies even if it impinges “on the sovereignty of other countries.”

Importantly, federal courts have read these powers to apply even in instances where Congress has not expressly granted statutory authorization to intervene.

DEFIANT MADURO DECLARES HE IS A ‘PRISONER OF WAR’ IN FIRST US COURT APPEARANCE

“When federal interests are at stake, the president, under Article II, has the power to protect them, Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

That’s because Article II, at its core, is “the power for a U.S. president to protect [its] people,” Blackman said. 

“The reason why we detained Maduro was to effectuate an arrest. DOJ personnel and FBI agents were there to arrest him and read him his rights. And the reason why we used 150 aircraft, and all the other military equipment, was to protect the people who were going to arrest Maduro,” he added. “It was a law enforcement operation, but [with] military backing to protect them – so Article II does factor in here, indirectly.” 

Though Trump himself has not cited a legal justification for the invasion, senior administration officials have, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who described Maduro’s arrest respectively, as a mission to indict two “fugitives of justice,” and as a “joint military and law enforcement raid.”

In Minnesota, next steps for Trump are a bit more fraught. 

Trump’s National Guard deployment efforts were stymied by the Supreme Court in December, after the high court halted Trump’s National Guard deployments under Title 10. 

Trump had deployed the federalized troops to Illinois and Oregon last year to protect ICE personnel. But the high court issued an interim order rejecting Trump’s bid, noting that under Title 10, the administration could not federalize the National Guard until it first showed they tried to authorize the regular military to enforce the laws but could not do so. 

Some court watchers have noted that the ruling essentially closes off alternatives for Trump to act.

Instead, Trump could opt to enact his Article II “protective powers” domestically via a more sweeping and extreme alternative.

MIKE DAVIS: WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MINNESOTA IS WHY WE HAVE THE INSURRECTION ACT

This includes the use of the Insurrection Act to call up active-duty U.S. troops and order them deployed to Minnesota and elsewhere. 

The Insurrection Act is a broad tool that gives presidents the authority to deploy military forces in the U.S. when “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable to enforce the laws.” 

Critics note it is a powerful, far-reaching statute that could grant Trump an expansive set of powers to act domestically in ways that are not reviewable by Congress or by the courts.

Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law professor and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General, noted this possibility in a recent chat with former White House counsel Robert Bauer. By “closing off this other statute,” he said, the Supreme Court “may have, some argue, driven the president in the direction of the Insurrection Act because this other source of authority was not available.”

Trump allies, for their part, have argued that the president has few other options at his disposal in the wake of the Supreme Court’s interim ruling.

Chad Wolf, the America First Policy Institute’s chair of homeland security and immigration, told Fox News Digital last week that Trump could have “little choice” but to invoke the Insurrection Act.  

“If the situation on the ground in Minneapolis continues to grow violent, with ICE officers being targeted and injured as well as other violent acts … Trump will have little choice,” he said. 

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Experts are split on to what degree there is a through-line between the two issues.

Blackman, the South Texas College of Law professor, said the “point of connection” in Trump’s actions is the presidential “power of protection” under Article II, which he said applies both abroad and at home. “The president can protect his law enforcement domestically, and he can protect his law enforcement abroad, both under Article II.”

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump warned that he no longer feels obligated to think “purely of peace” as he argued the United States must have “complete and total control” of Greenland.

In a text exchange with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump wrote: “Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also,” he wrote. 

“I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States,” Trump wrote. “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT.”

TRUMP ISSUES STERN WARNING TO NATO AHEAD OF VANCE’S HIGH-STAKES GREENLAND MEETING

Støre confirmed the text message, first reported by PBS, to Fox News. 

The White House could not be reached to weigh in on the exchange. 

“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,” the prime minister said in a statement. “We also support that NATO in a responsible way is taking steps to strengthen security and stability in the Arctic. As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.” 

In a prior message to the U.S. president, Støre, on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, had conveyed opposition to Trump’s proposed tariff increases on Norway, Finland and other countries and requested a phone conversation to de-escalate. 

The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, but she offered the prize to Trump in a White House meeting Thursday. 

JOHNSON: ‘NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND’ FOR TRUMP’S GREENLAND ACQUISITION PLANS AMID MILITARY SPECULATION

The prize is awarded by the Nobel Committee, which is made up of members appointed by the Norwegian parliament and intended to operate independently. 

After Machado handed over her award to Trump, the Nobel Committee released a statement saying: “A laureate cannot share the prize with others, nor transfer it once it has been announced. A Nobel Peace Prize can also never be revoked. The decision is final and applies for all time.”

Trump on Saturday said he would impose an additional 10% tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland, starting Feb. 1, increasing to 25% on June 1, until an agreement is reached for the purchase of Greenland.

US CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VISITS DENMARK AMID BACKLASH OVER TRUMP’S PUSH TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND

Members of the European Union debated the prospect of retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. in Brussels Sunday, but diplomats insisted on the need to seek de-escalation measures with the U.S. first. 

The president has not ruled out the use of force to take the icy, 836,000 square mile island. 

Trump and his advisors have pointed to Greenland’s position between North America and Europe as critical to U.S. missile defense, early-warning systems and Arctic surveillance. The island sits along key air and sea routes that U.S. military planners view as increasingly important as melting ice opens new shipping lanes and expands the theater of great-power competition.

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The administration has also warned that China and Russia have sought to expand their influence in the Arctic through infrastructure investments, scientific outposts and military activity, raising concerns that Greenland could become a foothold for adversaries if the U.S. does not take a more assertive role.

Greenland’s government and Denmark, which retains sovereignty over the territory, have rejected any suggestion of U.S. control, though the U.S. already maintains a military presence there through Pituffik Space Base, a key hub for missile warning and space surveillance.

Fox News’ Madeleine Rivera and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

The latest bipartisan campaign to rein in President Donald Trump’s war authority in Venezuela may have failed, but the lawmaker behind the push has no intention of stopping his pursuit.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., plans to continue his goal of corralling Trump’s policing power across the globe, and believes that he can find support among Republicans to pass a war powers resolution out of the Senate.

“The other thing we’re going to do is this: We’re going to be filing a whole lot more war powers resolutions,” Kaine said after the unsuccessful vote to advance his resolution.

KEY REPUBLICANS FLIP, KILL EFFORT TO RESTRAIN TRUMP’S POLICING POWER OVER VENEZUELA

He argued that this resolution, though unable to make it out of the Senate this time, was similar to a war powers resolution he filed shortly after the strike ordered by Trump in 2020 that killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani.

The resolution garnered eight Republican votes in a GOP-controlled Senate at the time.

“When you do it, and you get Republican votes, it sends a message to the White House,” he said.

Kaine and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who co-sponsored the latest war powers resolution, previously suggested that later attempts to rein in Trump’s war authorities could be focused on Greenland, Iran and Cuba.

SENATE GOP MOVES TO BLOCK DEMS’ WAR POWERS PUSH, PRESERVE TRUMP’S AUTHORITY IN RARE MOVE

Kaine’s optimism comes from the successful vote to curtail Trump’s war powers in Venezuela earlier this month, where five Senate Republicans splintered from their colleagues to advance a resolution that would have required the president to confer with Congress before future military action in the region.

Still, that same cohort was unable to survive a pressure campaign from Senate Republican leadership, Trump and administration officials.

The two lawmakers who reversed their position, Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., did so because of guarantees from the administration, chiefly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that no boots would be on the ground in Venezuela.

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Young received the assurance from Rubio in a letter the day of the vote, when he said that should Trump “determine that he intends to introduce U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities in major military operations in Venezuela, he would seek congressional authorization in advance (circumstances permitting).”

Kaine said that while the outcome was disappointing, and Trump and Senate Republican leadership engaged in a “full-court press unlike any I’ve seen in 13 years here” to stop the resolution from succeeding, the cracks in the foundation were still there. And Kaine believed they were ripe to fracture even further.

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“The way cracks grow is through pressure and the pressure campaign that I sort of decided to launch by use of these privileged motions. I’m going to file every one I can to challenge emergencies, to challenge unlawful wars, to seek human rights reports, arms transfers if they’re wrong,” he said.

The Trump administration extended invitations to Russia and Belarus to join a proposed Gaza “Board of Peace,” officials in both countries said Monday. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Russian President Vladimir Putin is reviewing the invitation.

“President Putin has indeed received an offer through diplomatic channels to join this Board of Peace. We are currently studying all the details of this proposal,” Peskov said, according to Russian state media outlet TASS. “We hope to contact the US side to clarify all the details.”

Belarus’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed receiving an invitation, saying in a post on X that President Donald Trump sent Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko a letter proposing the country become a founding member of the “Board of Peace.”

TRUMP THREATENS HAMAS IF GAZA CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES AS JD VANCE TO VISIT ISRAEL

“We are ready to take part in the activities of the Board of Peace, taking into account and hoping that this organization will expand its scope and authority far beyond the mandate proposed in the initiative,” the ministry said.

Other countries over the weekend, including Argentina, Jordan, Canada, India, Egypt, Hungary and Vietnam, announced they too had received invitations from the White House.

Neither the State Department nor the White House immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about a full tally of all countries invited.

TRUMP’S GRAND PEACE STRATEGY IS BEARING FRUIT, IN MIDDLE EAST AND AROUND THE WORLD

The White House released a statement on Friday outlining the next phase of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, naming senior international figures to oversee governance, reconstruction and long-term development of the enclave.

“The Board of Peace will play an essential role in fulfilling all 20 points of the President’s plan, providing strategic oversight, mobilizing international resources, and ensuring accountability as Gaza transitions from conflict to peace and development,” the statement said in part.

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Trump will chair the board and be joined by a group of senior political, diplomatic and business figures, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and billionaire Marc Rowan, among others.

The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump’s proposed Gaza peace board would require countries seeking a permanent seat to pay a $1 billion fee, according to a draft charter circulated to prospective members.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on X that the composition of a separate “Gaza Executive Board,” which names Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi as appointed members, was not coordinated with Israel and “runs contrary to its policy.”

EXCLUSIVE — Nate Morris says that a staggering contribution by Elon Musk in support of his Republican bid for the Senate in Kentucky “certainly gives us the firepower and the ammo to go the distance, to be able to get out our message.”

Morris, a businessman and political outsider who’s showcasing his support for President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement as he runs for the Senate, spoke first with Fox News Digital after Musk cut a $10 million check to the pro-Morris Fight for Kentucky super PAC.

The contribution by Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, was his largest ever in a U.S. Senate race.

Morris is one of the top three contenders, along with Rep. Andy Barr and former Kentucky Attorney General and 2023 gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron, among a dozen Republican candidates, running to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Senate GOP leader.

PRO-TRUMP POLITICAL OUTSIDER JUMPS INTO 2026 RACE TO SUCCEED SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL

“Elon picks winners. Elon has been the greatest entrepreneur in the history of our world, and people are going to be talking about him for 1,000 years. And he knows success. He knows leadership, and I think this is another example of him putting his money where his mouth is.”

Morris noted that to date, he’s “financed most of the campaign myself, and also with help from small dollars from all over the country that want to stop the McConnell machine and want to send a pro-Trump outside business person to the U.S. Senate.”

‘AMERICA FIRST’ ATTORNEY GENERAL DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM MCCONNELL — HIS FORMER BOSS — AS KENTUCKY RACE DEFINES GOP FUTURE

But he emphasized that “this investment from Elon Musk is going to give our message, our campaign, the opportunity to continue to amplify why we should be the U.S. Senator here in Kentucky, and the kind of Senator we’re going to be.”

Asked why he thought Musk decided to support him, Morris, who had a recent conversation with the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said, “I think he saw an outside business guy and someone that was willing to take on the Mitch McConnell machine, and someone that’s going to tell it like it is, and has experience creating jobs, and I think also, a really tough, hard line immigration policy.”

Musk is also close with Vice President JD Vance, who counts Morris as a personal friend.

The donation, which was first reported by Axios earlier on Monday, came last week, according to sources. It’s Musk’s largest single donation he has spent supporting a candidate for federal office, except for Trump.

Musk went all in for Trump in the 2024 election, dishing out nearly $300 million in support of Trump’s bid through America PAC, a Trump-aligned super PAC. Much of the money was used for get-out-the-vote efforts and ads in the crucial battleground states as Trump and then-Vice President Kamala Harris faced off for the presidency.

But Trump and Musk had a major falling out last year, with Musk threatening to form a third party, before patching up their relationship the past couple of months.

FINAL SENATE CANDIDATE CHARLIE KIRK ENSORSED BEFORE HIS ASSASSINATION: ‘WE HAVE TO WIN’

Following a November dinner with the president at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, Musk gave major contributions to the leading GOP-aligned super PACs supporting House and Senate Republicans.

Morris, who launched his Senate bid in June during an interview on Donald Trump Junior’s podcast, held a rally kicking off his campaign with conservative leader and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk. Morris was the final Senate candidate endorsed by Kirk prior to his assassination a couple of months later.

Morris has also been endorsed by a number of other leading MAGA figures, including Sens. Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana, and Steve Bannon, a one-time leading Trump political strategist and host of the popular “War Room” podcast.

Barr campaign manager Blake Gober, responding to the news of the Musk donation, said in a statement, “the more money Nate Morris spends, the more Kentuckians get to see him and the worse he does.”

“Nate Morris spending money made this a two-man race between Andy Barr and Daniel Cameron. Nate Morris spending more money will cement it that way,” Gober argued.

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Eight Democrats, including 2020 Senate nominee Amy McGrath, are running for their party’s nomination in the Senate race in Kentucky.

The primary is scheduled for May 19, and the eventual GOP nominee will likely be considered the clear favorite in November’s general election.

Fox News’ Paige Dukeman contributed to this report.

In his forthcoming book, “Where We Keep the Light,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro writes that the prospect of becoming the vice president for Kamala Harris did not “feel right,” Politico Playbook reported.

“I knew that despite the honor of it, it just didn’t feel right for some reason,” Shapiro noted, according to the outlet.

Regarding the vetting to potentially become Harris’ 2024 running mate, he wrote that “all of the questioning felt unnecessarily contentious,” according to the report, which also noted that he indicated that Harris’ team “didn’t understand where the people who would decide this presidential election really were.”

JOSH SHAPIRO CLAIMS KAMALA HARRIS’ TEAM ASKED IF HE WAS A ‘DOUBLE AGENT FOR ISRAEL

“If we had door A and door B as options, and she was for door A and I was for door B, I just wanted to make sure that I could make the case for door B, and if I didn’t convince her, then I’d run right through a brick wall to support her decision,” he notes in the book, according to The New York Times. “She was crystal clear that that was not what she was looking for.”

Shapiro was “surprised” by the extent to which Harris “seemed to dislike the role” she held as vice president, he indicated in the book, Politico Playbook reported.

SHAPIRO KICKS OFF 2026 RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN AS 2028 WHITE HOUSE BUZZ SWIRLS

“She noted that her chief of staff would be giving me my directions, lamented that the Vice President didn’t have a private bathroom in their office and how difficult it was for her at times not to have a voice in decision making,” Shapiro wrote, according to the Times.

The outlet reported that Shapiro opted to withdraw himself from consideration, and requested to get in touch with Harris to deliver his decision, but was told that “the VP would not handle bad news well and that I shouldn’t push.”

OBAMA WINGMAN ERIC HOLDER DEFENDED WALZ’S VETTING — THEN MINNESOTA’S FRAUD SCANDAL ERUPTED

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Harris ultimately tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate, but the two were soundly defeated by the Republican ticket featuring Donald Trump and JD Vance.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson drew sharp criticism from the Department of Homeland Security after suggesting that a federal immigration operation under Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino disrupted what he said had been the city’s safest summer in decades.

Johnson has been touting recent analysis that 2025 was Chicago’s safest summer in 60 years in terms of violent crime, as the city’s NPR affiliate found a total of 123 murders occurred between June and August last year.

The University of Chicago’s Crime Lab found that violent crime declined across the country, including in the city throughout 2025, but it still had elevated figures versus other major cities globally.

Johnson said last week that those figures were true before DHS kicked off “Operation Midway Blitz” around the first week of September.

SANCTUARY POLITICIANS’ RHETORIC LED TO 1,150% SURGE IN VIOLENCE AGAINST ICE AGENTS: DHS

Johnson said that once ICE and the Border Patrol showed up, crime increased again.

“Chicago had the safest summer since 1965 before Bovino stepped foot in our city,” Johnson said. “Where ICE was most active, crime went up.”

When asked for a response, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Johnson is continuing to “demonize our law enforcement, who are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them.”

TRUMP SAYS CHICAGO CRIME HAS FALLEN DRAMATICALLY DESPITE ‘EXTRAORDINARY RESISTANCE’ FROM LOCAL DEMOCRATS

“The danger and violence our law enforcement has faced in sanctuary cities like Chicago, compared to jurisdictions like Florida, is night and day,” she said, after video surfaced of a woman being promptly detained and arrested after allegedly interfering in a Jacksonville immigration enforcement operation.

“He should turn down the rhetoric and work with DHS to prevent more innocent American deaths at the hands of gang members, murderers, drug traffickers, and rapists who have no right to be in this country,” McLaughlin said, noting that DHS arrested more than 4,500 illegal immigrants with criminal records; many of them violent; during the Midway Blitz operation.

Johnson had countered that the statistics and timing showed his administration “reduced violence in Chicago in spite of ICE.”

TRUMP DECLARES VICTORY IN DEM-RUN CITY DESPITE ‘EXTRAORDINARY RESISTANCE’ FROM SANCTUARY POLITICIANS

Johnson pointed to the case of Mexican national Silverio Gonzalez, who was shot and killed by agents last year. An account from the Chicago Sun-Times reported that ICE determined Gonzalez had allegedly resisted arrest and drove his car toward officers, injuring one.

Rep. Jesus Garcia, D-Ill., who represents the area, later called for a federal investigation.

ICE AGENTS REPORT ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ 3,200% SURGE IN CAR ATTACKS LAST YEAR

Johnson himself had been responding on X to comments from Bovino, who in turn was disputing an assertion from Obama confidant David Axelrod.

“In Chicago, the trail of misrepresentations by DHS was so long, an exasperated federal judge declared ‘it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything’ they represent as fact. That pattern continues in Minneapolis,” Axelrod wrote, citing and linking to a New York Times report of a man shot and injured by a federal agent in Minneapolis days after Renee Good’s death.

In response, Bovino said that “double-digit decreases in violent crime in Chicago speak the truth you’r[e] after.”

“Taking violent illegal aliens off the streets by the thousands seems to bother those who choose illegal aliens over American citizens.”

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That comment led Johnson to cite the 1965 versus 2025 violent crime figures.

“Abolish ICE,” Johnson later wrote on Facebook, posting the contents of his prior comments.

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to dramatically expand the federal government’s ability to denaturalize a citizen with legislation built to withstand challenges in court.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., plans to introduce his Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act to develop a series of wide-ranging legal triggers for the denaturalization process in the wake of the Minnesota fraud scandal.

Schmitt’s legislation is designed to bolster the government’s ability to strip a naturalized person of their citizenship, but it does not stop at targeting just fraudsters.

FEDERAL OFFICIALS TO HALT MORE THAN $10B IN FUNDING TO 5 STATES OVER NON-CITIZEN BENEFIT CONCERNS: REPORT

The SCAM Act creates a 10-year window, post-naturalization that, if a person were to hit a series of triggers, would lower the threshold for the federal government to strike their citizenship and begin the deportation process.

Among the acts that would fall under the scope of Schmitt’s legislation are whether a person defrauded a federal, state, local, or tribal government of $10,000 or more, committed espionage, committed an aggravated felony, or is affiliated with a foreign terrorist organization.

The lawmaker argued that people who trigger those requisites “must be denaturalized because they have proven they never met the requirements for the great honor of American citizenship in the first place.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS EYE RECONCILIATION TO ADDRESS MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

“The rampant fraud uncovered in Minnesota must be a wakeup call,” Schmitt said. “People who commit felony fraud, serious felonies, or join terrorist organizations like drug cartels shortly after taking their citizenship oaths fail to uphold the basic standards of citizenship.”

Schmitt’s legislation specifically targets the “good moral character” factor in the naturalization process, which requires a person to engage in moral and ethical conduct for up to five years before applying for citizenship.

The bill would automatically and retroactively undermine that key step in the naturalization process and contends that the aforementioned acts committed post-naturalization act as proof that a person never qualified for citizenship in the first place.

HOUSE GOP WHIP URGES CITIZENSHIP REVOCATIONS TIED TO MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEMES

It also has a built-in mechanism to deal with challenges to the legislation in court, specifically to automatically switch out the 10-year window — if found unconstitutional — with a five-year window.

His legislation also has the backing of the White House and was lauded by White House deputy chief of staff for policy and President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller, who charged that the “Somali fraud scandal is one of the greatest financial scandals in American history.”

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Prosecutors digging into the sprawling Minnesota fraud scandal estimate upward of $9 billion in stolen funds and have charged several native-Somali residents in connection with the boondoggle.

“The Somali fraud scandal is one of the greatest financial scandals in American history,” Miller said. “All Somali refugees, or any other immigrants, who have committed fraud against the United States must be immediately denaturalized and deported.”

President Donald Trump asserted in a Sunday night Truth Social post that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota should either be locked up in jail or sent to Somalia.

“There is 19 Billion Dollars in Minnesota Somalia Fraud. Fake ‘Congresswoman’ Illhan Omar, a constant complainer who hates the USA, knows everything there is to know. She should be in jail, or even a worse punishment, sent back to Somalia, considered one of the absolutely worst countries in the World. She could help to MAKE SOMALIA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump declared in the post.

Omar, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2019, was born in Somalia and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

“ICE is removing some of the most violent criminals in the World from our Country, and bring them back home, where they belong. Why is Minnesota fighting this? Do they really want murderers and drug dealers to be ensconced in their community? The thugs that are protesting include many highly paid professional agitators and anarchists. Is this really what Minnesota wants?” the president asked in a Sunday Truth Social post.

TRUMP ACCUSES TIM WALZ AND ILHAN OMAR OF USING ICE PROTESTS TO DISTRACT FROM MASSIVE STATE FRAUD

“The crooked Governor and ‘Congresswoman’ Omar, who married her brother, don’t mind because it keeps the focus of attention off the 18 Billion Dollar, Plus, FRAUD, that has taken place in the State! Don’t worry, we’re on it!” he added in the post.

ILHAN OMAR LASHES OUT AT ‘SICK’ REPUBLICANS FOR INVESTIGATING HER ALLEGED MARRIAGE TO BROTHER

Omar recently drew criticism for referring to the nation as the “U.S. God—- States.”

“No member of Congress should *ever* refer to our country as the ‘U.S. G*ddamn States,’” GOP Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah wrote in a post on X, asking, “What should be the consequence of saying that?”

ILHAN OMAR REFERS TO ‘US GOD—- STATES’ DURING IMPASSIONED REMARKS ABOUT ICE

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Business tycoon Elon Musk replied, “Whatever the penalty is for treason.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s office on Monday to request comment on the Truth Social post.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina announced on Sunday that he met with Israel’s Mossad Director David Barnea.

“Just met with my good friend David Barnea, Director of Mossad. Wow, these people are clever. God Bless America. God Bless Israel,” Graham wrote in a post on X, which includes a photo of himself and Barnea smiling and giving a thumbs up.

The Mossad’s website explains, “The institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad) is a national organization responsible for covert activity abroad.”

LINDSEY GRAHAM RETURNS TO ISRAEL FOR TALKS WITH NETANYAHU AMID MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS

“Lindsey Graham holds secret talks with MOSSAD boss in Israel,” RT wrote in a post on X while sharing a screenshot of the U.S. lawmaker’s post about meeting with the Israeli official. “Is he speaking for all of America?”

The outlet’s website states, “RT is an autonomous, non-profit organization that is publicly financed from the budget of the Russian Federation.”

Graham shared the RT post and wrote, “To my Russian friends, chill out. I’ve known David for a very long time. He’s looking to buy property in South Carolina and I wanted to give him my two cents’ worth. In case you haven’t noticed, President Trump is in charge.”

LINDSEY GRAHAM CALLS FOR US TO USE ‘ANY MEANS NECESSARY’ TO STOP THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE KILLING OF IRANIANS

Graham also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials during his trip to the Jewish state.

“Great visit with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team at one of the most consequential moments in recent memory. America has no better friend than the State of Israel,” Graham said in a post on X.

LINDSEY GRAHAM SPEAKS AGAINST PENDING EXECUTION OF 26-YEAR-OLD IRANIAN PROTESTER: ‘THIS REGIME MUST FALL’

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Graham previously met with Netanyahu in Israel last month.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Sunday that the U.S. is engaged in an “ongoing war” with Venezuela following what he described as recent U.S. actions involving the country.

During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Paul said the U.S. continues to be in conflict with Venezuela over its oil.

“That is an act of war, it’s an ongoing war, to continue to take their oil, ongoing war, to distribute it,” Paul said.

“I still hope it works out for the best, but we are still involved in an active war with Venezuela,” he continued.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FILES SEIZURE WARRANTS TARGETING SHIPS TIED TO VENEZUELAN OIL TRADE: REPORT

The senator added that “we still have hundreds of ships with a 100% blockade of the coast.”

This comes after the U.S. operation to attack Venezuela and arrest its president, Nicolás Maduro, and the Trump administration’s subsequent seizing of an oil tanker from the country.

Venezuela is one of the biggest producers of oil, and its oil industry has become a focus of the Trump administration. Officials said oil sales to the U.S. will start immediately with an initial shipment of about 30 million to 50 million barrels and that the shipments will continue indefinitely.

“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump previously wrote on Truth Social.

Trump has also said that the U.S. would continue “running” Venezuela for much longer than a few months. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have said it will take time for Venezuela, now led by interim acting President Delcy Rodriguez, to reach a place where it can hold elections.

More than half of U.S. voters oppose the Trump administration running Venezuela, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University.

Paul is part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who want to limit Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela after the U.S. military’s recent move to strike the country and capture Maduro, which the Kentucky Republican has said amounts to war.

RAND PAUL SAYS GOP COLLEAGUES ‘DON’T GIVE A S— ABOUT THESE PEOPLE IN THE BOATS’: THEY ‘SAY THEY’RE PRO-LIFE’

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The group attempted to pass a War Powers resolution last week to block the president from additional intervention without congressional approval, but the effort failed in the Senate.

“The only problem about a war powers vote now is that, since it hasn’t happened, there are a lot of Republicans who say, ‘Oh, that’s prospective. I’m not going to tie his hands prospectively,'” Paul said on Sunday. 

“The problem is, if you wait until after an invasion, whereas the administration argues, we don’t know it’s a war until we count the casualties. That’s sort of a crazy definition of war, because our job is to initiate or declare war,” he added.

A month after President Donald Trump scrapped free national parks entry on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Gov. Gavin Newsom is responding – opening more than 200 California state parks for free to honor Dr. King while calling out Trump’s move.

Last month, the Trump administration reshaped when Americans can enter national parks for free, scrapping Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth and National Public Lands Day from the 2026 calendar.

In their place, the administration added a slate of historically themed or presidentially themed dates. Flag day – which also happens to be Trump’s birthday – becomes a fee-free day for the first time, along with Constitution Day, the 110th anniversary of the National Park Service and the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt.

Newsom announced Friday that, ahead of the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, he is directing California State Parks to offer free admission at more than 200 participating parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP SUES TRUMP FOR REPLACING NATIONAL PARK PASS PHOTO WITH HIS OWN IMAGE

“While Trump works to erase Dr. King’s legacy, California will honor it,” Newsom said in a press release. “Dr. King taught us that ‘darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.’ While the Trump administration tries to erase his legacy and turn national parks and monuments into places of exclusion and fear, California answers with light.”

“That’s why I’m announcing free entry at California State Parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026 – because Dr. King’s legacy deserves to be honored, not erased,” Newsom continued. “I’m encouraging all Californians to get outside on MLK Day, spend time in nature, reflect on Dr. King’s legacy, and reaffirm our commitment to advancing civil rights for all.”

Free entry applies to vehicle day-use fees only and is available at more than 200 participating California state parks statewide, according to the governor’s office.

NATIONAL PARK GIFT SHOPS ARE ORDERED TO PURGE BIAS-DRIVEN DEI AND WOKE MERCHANDISE

Free vehicle entry is being made possible by the California State Parks Foundation rather than taxpayer dollars. The foundation’s investment is intended to keep the state parks running while also planting seeds for a lifetime of connection to the state’s “natural and cultural treasures,” Newsom’s office said.

Democratic leaders framed the move as a direct rebuke of the Trump administration’s actions.

TRUMP ADDS HIS BIRTHDAY AS FREE NATIONAL PARK DAY WHILE AXING MLK DAY AND JUNETEENTH

“As the federal government eliminates fee-free park days for holidays that celebrate Black history, California continues to revel in the glory of our civil rights pioneers,” state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson said. “Opening our parks for everyone to enjoy encourages loved ones to come together, give back, and honor Dr. King’s legacy while enjoying the natural beauty of the Golden State.”

Some of the parks offering free entry include Big Basin Redwoods, Half Moon Bay, Sugarloaf Ridge, Doheny, Wildwood Canyon Park Property, Folsom Lake, Bidwell Mansion and Lake Oroville.

Some parks will still require a fee, including off-highway vehicle recreation areas, parks with per-person or tour fees such as Hearst Castle and locations operated by partner organizations.

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A full list of participating parks is available at parks.ca.gov/MLKDay2026.

The wife of a once-detained American citizen was released this week after being held for more than a year in a Venezuelan prison following their arrest while traveling to the South American nation to meet her family. 

Renzo Humanchumo Castillo, a Peruvian- American who was detained for close to a year by Venezuelan authorities, told Fox News Digital that his Venezuelan wife, Rosa Carolina Chirino Zambrano, as well as her friend and the taxi driver they were with, were released after being imprisoned and charged with espionage due to their contact with him. 

He spoke with Zambrano following her release, he said, their first contact since December 2024 when they were confronted by Venezuelan authorities near the country’s border with Colombia. 

TRUMP PLANS TO MEET WITH VENEZUELA OPPOSITION LEADER MARIA CORINA MACHADO NEXT WEEK

“It was surreal,” Castillo recalled of the conversation. “She got teary, you know, but she was like… ‘hey baby, I’m out.’ Now my main concern is how do I get her here with me.”

Castillo, who lives in Southern California, was detained after crossing the border into Venezuela, along with his wife and her friend, who were in a taxi. After being questioned at length by Venezuelan authorities, he was charged with terrorism and conspiring to kill Nicolas Maduro, then the country’s president, who was recently captured by U.S. forces in a daring military operation. 

“They got me as a professional hitman sent by the CIA, and (that) I was there to overthrow the government and kill Maduro and Diosdado (Cabello),” Castillo said.

Diosdado Cabello, known as the “octopus,” runs Venezuela’s security apparatus and is considered one of the country’s most feared government figures. The U.S. has accused him of narco-terrorism and several other crimes. The State Department has issued a $25 million reward for his arrest and conviction.

“Cabello, he presented me on the news, and then he put me on a chart saying that I came here to overthrow the government,” Castillo said. “Me and some other Americans.”

After spending months in Venezuela’s notorious “El Rodeo” prison, Castillo was freed in a prisoner swap in July 2025. However, his wife remained in detention. 

FROM SANCTIONS TO SEIZURE: WHAT MADURO’S CAPTURE MEANS FOR VENEZUELA’S ECONOMY

Castillo said he was initially questioned by Venezuelan authorities who accused him of being a “commando” or some kind of military operator.

A search of his cell phone only heightened their suspicions when they found images of him wearing a protective vest and other tactical gear. However, Castillo said he works in private security and executive protection and has never served in the military. 

The gear was used for work, he said. 

He was eventually detained and transferred to “El Rodeo” where he endured beatings and other forms of torture, he said. In one instance, he was hung by his arms like a piñata and beaten. 

“They had me hanging. And like my feet were still kind of touching the floor,” he said. “They just hit me for maybe at least five to eight hours, just hanging… just not even questions anymore. But you can feel the joy, how much they wanted to hit me, hurt me, you know?”

Castillo got in trouble several times while at the prison, he said, for speaking out of a window in his cell where he would sometimes get updates on events outside the facility. Stressed about not knowing what happened to his wife, he went on a hunger strike in an effort to write a letter to her, he said. 

TRUMP TO MEET WITH VENEZUELA’S OPPOSITION LEADER AFTER PRAISING ‘TERRIFIC’ MADURO LOYALIST

Castillo met Zambrano during a visit to Peru to reunite with old classmates from grade school. One night, he went to a bar with friends where the pair met and struck up a friendship. 

That was followed by multiple trips to Peru, where she lived, before they got married. On his last journey, the couple met in Colombia and traveled via road to her home country to meet his in-laws for the first time, Castillo said. 

After crossing the Colombia-Venezuela border, they were separately detained and their misfortune began. 

Since Zambrano is a Venezuelan citizen, she was not part of the prisoner swap that freed her husband. Despite now being free, she remains under the watchful eye of the Venezuelan government, Castillo said. 

In the meantime, Castillo is working to get Zambrano to California. He said he plans to reach out to the State Department. Despite his wife’s citizenship status, his optimism heightened following Maduro’s capture earlier this month. 

“It was that moment when, inside of me, I felt I was going to be able to see my wife again,” he said. “The chances of me seeing my wife again just went from like, from nothing to like a hundred. It really lifted my spirit.”

3 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM TRUMP’S PUSH TO PUT US OIL FIRMS BACK IN VENEZUELA

“It took Americans and it took foreigners to be kidnapped for the world to put eyes on Venezuela,” he said. 

On Tuesday, Venezuela’s interim government released at least four Americans imprisoned during Maduro’s regime. The release was the first involving U.S. citizens since Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces. 

“We welcome the release of detained Americans in Venezuela,” a State Department official said Tuesday. “This is an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.”

On Wednesday, Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez said she spoke with President Donald Trump by phone during a “long and courteous” conversation. The pair discussed a “bilateral work agenda for the benefit of our peoples, as well as pending matters between our governments.”

On Truth Social, Trump said topics of discussion included oil, minerals, trade and national security. 

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“This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be a spectacular one FOR ALL. Venezuela will soon be great and prosperous again, perhaps more so than ever before!” he wrote. 

Castillo praised the Trump administration for addressing the Maduro regime and his action in Venezuela.

“I feel like the current administration is doing the hard work that it hasn’t been done,” he said. “Those things that sometimes people don’t want to see and are afraid to say, well, they’re doing it now. And I am very thankful to the administration. I’m very thankful to my president. Very thankful to (Secretary of State) Marco Rubio, because they did all of this. They got us out.”

Greenland rarely draws global attention. But as ice melts and great powers inch closer, the world’s largest island has become a strategic prize — one that caught President Donald Trump’s eye long before most Americans were paying attention.

A semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, Greenland is home to a key U.S. military base and has become increasingly important to global security and trade as melting ice opens new shipping lanes and access to natural resources.

That shift underscores the serious geopolitical calculation behind Trump’s interest in the island’s location, military value and the rapidly changing Arctic.

TRUMP’S PUSH TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND SPARKS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA FRENZY ON REMOTE ISLAND

Greenland is divided into five municipalities, with most of its roughly 56,000 residents living in small coastal towns, leaving the island’s vast interior largely uninhabited. Put another way, Greenland has roughly one person for every 1,000 soccer fields of land. 

Greenland’s sparse population is largely a product of its geography. Roughly 80% of the island is covered by an ice sheet formed about 3 million years ago, leaving vast areas of the territory uninhabitable.

Despite its small population, Greenland occupies a landmass comparable to global powers. By land area, it ranks among the world’s largest territories — a scale that has drawn attention from countries such as the United States, Russia and China as competition in the Arctic intensifies. It is nearly the size of Alaska and Texas combined.

Greenland’s location off Canada’s northeastern coast places it at the heart of Arctic defense planning. The U.S. has maintained a military outpost in northwestern Greenland since 1953 at the Pituffik Space Base, now operated by the U.S. Space Force.

Russia also maintains several military installations in the region, while China has sought greater access since declaring itself a “near-Arctic state” in 2018.

But geography isn’t the only reason Greenland draws global interest. Retreating Arctic ice is opening shipping lanes around the island that could significantly shorten trade routes between North America, Europe and Asia, adding an economic layer to its strategic importance.

The changing landscape has also drawn attention to Greenland’s deposits of rare earth elements and other critical minerals essential to modern technology, renewable energy and military systems.

TRUMP THREATENS TARIFFS ON COUNTRIES OPPOSING GREENLAND TAKEOVER PLANS

Rare earth elements — a group of 17 minerals — sit at the center of modern economies and militaries. They allow electronics to be smaller, more powerful and more efficient and are especially important in high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, generators and precision guidance systems.

Their importance is even more pronounced in defense, where rare earths are used in missile guidance, radar, sonar, satellites and advanced aircraft. Because many of these applications have no easy substitutes, access to rare earths directly affects military readiness and technological advantage.

The world’s largest rare earth deposits are found in China, Vietnam, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Greenland and the United States. But China dominates the supply chain, accounting for roughly 60% of global mining and more than 90% of processing capacity.

The United States lacks a reliable, end-to-end supply chain for rare earths, leaving it dependent on foreign sources. 

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As the U.S. and European Union seek to reduce their reliance on China, Greenland has emerged as a potential counterweight to Beijing’s dominance and a focal point in the competition over critical minerals.

Whether the Trump administration is able to strike a deal to take over Greenland remains unclear. But as ice melts and competition in the Arctic intensifies, the island’s strategic importance is only likely to grow.

The Nobel Foundation weighed in Sunday after Venezuela’s opposition leader gifted her Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump.

Maria Corina Machado gave her Peace Prize to Trump during a meeting at the White House last week. The Nobel Foundation pushed back on the legitimacy of such a transfer on Sunday, however.

“One of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration. The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who ‘have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,’ and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize,” the foundation wrote in a statement.

“A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed,” the statement continued.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT MACHADO PLEDGES TO RETURN TO VENEZUELA, SEES ‘ALARMING’ INTERNAL CRACKDOWN

Machado explained her decision to give Trump her award in an interview with Fox News.

“He deserves it,” Machado told “FOX & Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. “It was a very emotional moment.”

Machado said she presented the prize to the president on behalf of the Venezuelan people, crediting him for the historic work he did in liberating the country from its dictator Nicolás Maduro.

UNITED NATIONS ‘UPSET’ THAT TRUMP TOOK ‘BOLD ACTION’ TO IMPROVE VENEZUELA, SAYS UN AMB. MIKE WALTZ

“[Venezuelans] appreciate so much what he has done for, not only the freedom of the Venezuelan people, but I would say the whole hemisphere,” she said.

As a long-time Maduro critic, Machado has been vocal in supporting Trump’s unprecedented removal of the disgraced Venezuelan leader, prompting her to credit him with the prize for the historic capture.

Trump appeared pleased and gratified by Machado’s gesture.

“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”

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The Norwegian Nobel Institute had tried to shut down the transfer before Machado met with Trump earlier this month.

“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others,” the institute said in a statement. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”

President Donald Trump lashed out at Minnesota Democrats on social media Sunday, saying they were using the ongoing federal operations to distract from the state’s massive fraud issue.

Trump made the statement on his Truth Social media platform, saying federal agents in Minneapolis and St. Paul were targeting “violent criminals.”

“ICE is removing some of the most violent criminals in the World from our Country, and bring them back home, where they belong. Why is Minnesota fighting this? Do they really want murderers and drug dealers to be ensconced in their community? The thugs that are protesting include many highly paid professional agitators and anarchists. Is this really what Minnesota wants?” Trump wrote.

Trump went on to call out Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., saying they “don’t mind because it keeps the focus of attention off the 18 Billion Dollar, Plus, FRAUD, that has taken place in the State!” 

“Don’t worry, we’re on it!” Trump added.

MINNESOTA NATIONAL GUARD PLACED ON STANDBY TO SUPPORT LAW ENFORCEMENT AS PROTESTS TURN VIOLENT

Federal agents have faced harassment and protests from agitators in Minnesota in recent weeks. Federal prosecutors are investigating both Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for allegedly impeding law enforcement efforts in the blue state.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News the duo’s anti-ICE rhetoric was teetering on a federal crime.

“When the governor or the mayor threaten our officers, when the mayor suggests that he’s encouraging citizens to call 911 when they see ICE officers, that is very close to a federal crime,” Blanche said.

MINNESOTA DEPT OF CORRECTIONS DISMISSES DHS NARRATIVE ABOUT THEM NOT COMPLYING WITH ICE

Bondi added on X, “A reminder to all those in Minnesota: No one is above the law.”

Walz responded to the news on Friday by accusing the Trump administration of “weaponizing the justice system.”

“Two days ago, it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly,” Walz wrote in an X post. “Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.”

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Frey also weighed in on social media, asserting he “will not be intimidated.”

“This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, local law enforcement, and residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our city,” Frey wrote on X. “I will not be intimidated. My focus remains where it’s always been: keeping our city safe.

Former Missouri “Squad” Rep. Cori Bush, who is seeking to reclaim the seat she lost in 2024, recently complained on social media that Congress doesn’t prioritize public transit funding—even though she once was part of a cohort of radical lawmakers who voted against a bill providing billions for transit improvements because it didn’t allocate enough money for their far-left agenda.

Bush was just one of five other Democratic Party lawmakers, all part of the progressive group dubbed “The Squad,” who voted against the 2021 bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, despite it allocating up to $108 billion for public transit investments. Bush and her other far-left colleagues at the time wanted more money to also be allocated to environmental and social programs, like funding for universal pre-K, Medicare and Medicaid expansions, affordable housing, green infrastructure, a Civilian Climate Corps, and also included oil drilling and leasing bans.

At the time of “The Squad’s” stand against the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Bush argued that she “didn’t come to Congress to allow [her constituents’] priorities to be put on a shelf.”

Meanwhile, Bush lamented to her followers on social media last week – amid her run to regain her position in the House – that funding for public transit is not prioritized in Congress. She implied this was a major problem because transit funding, Bush said, “is essential in meeting the most basic needs” of her constituents.

UNEARTHED RECORDS TORPEDO CORI BUSH’S NEW CLAIM ABOUT ‘BILLIONS’ IN FUNDING SHE DELIVERED TO DISTRICT

“Reliable transit service is essential in meeting the most basic needs of St. Louis,” Bush said to her social media followers. “Unfortunately, transit funding is not prioritized in Congress. That changes when I return to Washington, as I’ll continue fighting for legislation that benefits us.”

Republican campaign experts balked at Bush’s stump message to voters, including longtime campaign strategist Colin Reed, who noted how “Campaign rhetoric has a nasty habit of colliding with contradictory votes from the past, and undermining politicians’ credibility and trust.”

In her social media post complaining about the lack of emphasis on public transit funding in Congress, Bush included an image of her at what appears to be a bus stop touting how she “introduced legislation to fund bus and light rail projects at a greater scale.” 

While previously in Congress, Bush introduced two public transit-related bills, the Bus Rapid Transit Act and the Light Rail Transit Act, which sought to establish federal grant programs through the Federal Transit Administration to provide funding for upgrading transit infrastructure nationwide.

MEET THE NEW ‘SQUAD’: THE NEXT GENERATION OF TRUMP-ERA PROGRESSIVE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES 

When reached for comment and asked to explain the discrepancy between her complaints about Congress not prioritizing public transit funding, and Bush’s own neglect of such funding when other measures were on the chopping block, her campaign said the former congresswoman was “clear and consistent” in explaining that her ‘no” vote was because the bipartisan infrastructure bill was decoupled from the left’s Build Back Better bill that contained an array of aggressive social and environmental policies.  

“Universal pre-K, expanded Medicare, the Child Tax Credit, and lower prescription drug prices were all policies that Missouri’s 1st District sent the Congresswoman to DC to win,” a Bush campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “She’s been clear and consistent on this: her vote was because the infrastructure bill was uncoupled from Build Back Better, which contained those policies. With so much on the line for St. Louis and the nation, the Congresswoman wanted to fight for more, not settle for less.”

Bush rose to political prominence as a Black Lives Matter activist during the 2014 Ferguson, Missouri protest following the police officer involved shooting death of Michael Brown. In 2020, Bush upset longtime incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr., becoming the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress. 

During her time on Capitol Hill, she aligned with “Squad” politicians like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who have been advocates for radical proposals to defund the police, socialize medical care, push environmental justice and more.

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“If this is the best Cori Bush has to offer the same Missouri voters who already bounced her out of office, the sequel is shaping up to have a similar ending to the last campaign,” Reed said of Bush’s campaign stumping ahead of her upcoming election in November.

“No wonder Cori Bush restricts comments on her X account posts, because her hypocrisy knows no bounds and deserves to be called out by the American people,” Mark Bednar, who served as head of communications for now-former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, told Fox News Digital.

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“Whether it’s driving an SUV but demanding everyone else must live under the Green New Deal, spending thousands on private security while calling to defund the police, or now trying to hide from her own voting record, Cori Bush’s hypocrisy is nothing short of jaw-dropping,” Bednar continued. “The voters of St. Louis have already rejected her once, and it shouldn’t be a surprise if it happens again this election cycle.”

President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to “take out” the Republican leader of the Indiana Senate after he resisted a new congressional map the president had championed.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that Indiana Senate Majority Leader Rod Bray had “betrayed” the Republican Party after his chamber voted down a new map last month that would have created two more right-leaning congressional districts in the state.

The president said he would partner with David McIntosh, a former Indiana congressman who helped found two political groups, the Federalist Society and the Club for Growth, to target Bray.

“I was with David McIntosh of the Club for Growth, and we agreed that we will both work tirelessly together to take out Indiana Senate Majority Leader Rod Bray, a total RINO, who betrayed the Republican Party, the President of the United States, and everyone else who wants to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote in the post.

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He added, “We’re after you Bray, like no one has ever come after you before!”

McIntosh, a longtime conservative figure, said he was on board with Trump’s game plan.

“President Trump and I are aligned,” he wrote on X. “Rod Bray is going down.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Bray’s office for comment.

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Trump has launched redistricting efforts across the country ahead of this year’s midterms, and Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push.

In December, the Indiana Senate voted 31-19 against a new congressional map, with 21 Republicans joining 10 Democrats in voting against the measure. If approved, the districts of two Democratic representatives would have been eliminated.

The redistricting bill passed the Indiana House 57-41, with a dozen GOP lawmakers voting against the measure, but Republican leaders in the Senate had resisted Trump’s efforts to draw new congressional maps.

Bray had repeatedly said there wasn’t enough support in the chamber to move forward with redistricting, but Trump continually pressured Bray and others on the fence leading up to the vote, saying they “need encouragement to make the right decision.”

In a social media post on the eve of the vote in the state Senate, Trump blasted Bray, vowing that he’d do everything within his power to oust Bray and Republicans who voted against the redistricting bill in their GOP primaries.

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The president had called state lawmakers about the bill, and Vice President JD Vance visited the state twice last fall to discuss redistricting.

After the Virginia state Senate greenlit a constitutional amendment on Friday that would allow the Democrat-controlled legislature to redraw the state’s U.S. House maps ahead of the midterm elections, Vance also took aim at Bray.

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“I’d like to thank @bray_rodric for not even trying to fight back against this extraordinary Democrat abuse of power,” he wrote on X. “Now the votes of Indiana Republicans will matter far less than the votes of Virginia Democrats. We told you it would happen, and you did nothing.”

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