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A nonprofit organization with the goal of “preserving freedom and bringing ideological balance back to public corporations” released a database outlining a list of Fortune 100 companies that are financially dependent on China and could lose large sums of money if sanctions were ever put in place.

“In this current political climate, there are discussions of the imposition of severe trade tariffs on Chinese goods,” 1792 Exchange explained in a new report released this week. “In addition to tariffs, American sanctions may be placed on American companies doing business in China. For example, if China invades Taiwan, it may result in sanctions like the ones imposed on Russia after the Ukraine invasion. If imposed, our assessment is that American businesses, and investors, could lose a substantial amount of funds.

“This raises a number of serious questions that beg for clear answers. What would the financial impact to these companies be if the U.S. imposes sanctions or tariffs that put both assets and revenue streams at risk? What compromises are being exacted by the CCP in order for these companies to invest in China and do business there? How do those conditions influence their U.S. policies and operations? How do companies reconcile potential moral incongruence when their public policy stance in China is at odds with their U.S.-based behavior?”

The report highlights over 80 companies that currently operate in China and estimates the amount of sanctions they could potentially face in the future, which was calculated “based on balance sheet data, trade data, and sanctions calculation.”

ONE STATE’S NATURAL RESOURCES CAN FINALLY PUT AN END TO AMERICA’S RELIANCE ON CHINA

Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron spoke to Fox News Digital about his new report on Fortune 100 companies invested in China. (Getty Images)

Dozens of companies are included in the report, including Citigroup, Intel, Boeing, Disney, Nike and John Deere.

While many of the companies listed have not fully disclosed the full scope of their China business dealings, some have and in those cases, 1792 Exchange estimated the potential financial liability those companies face from potential sanctions in China during the upcoming Trump administration. 

OPENAI REVEALS AI POLICY PROPOSALS TO BEST CHINA, PROTECT KIDS: ‘THIS IS A RACE AMERICA CAN AND MUST WIN’

A man waves the Chinese national flag as an amateur choir performs in a park in a residential neighborhood in Beijing. (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

In Boeing’s case, the report states that the company earns just under $5 billion annually from China and could face $1 billion in sanctions over a three-year period on average.

Intel, according to the report, earns $18 billion per year from China, which represents 26.54% of its total annual revenue. Sanctions in China could mean $5 billion in penalties for Intel over a three-year period on average, the report concludes.

Citigroup is listed in the database as potentially facing $16 billion per year in sanctions on average from its almost $5 billion per year revenue in China. 

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Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital spoke to Daniel Cameron, former Kentucky Republican attorney general and 1792 Exchange CEO, about the report, and he said he hopes people take away from the data the “staggering amount of money our Fortune 100 companies could lose in the event of sanctions imposed on China.”

Cameron told Fox News Digital he is optimistic that the incoming Trump administration will implement policies that drive American independence from China. 

“My hope is that we’re able to bring a lot of jobs back to this country and more businesses and then make a judgment, a decision to park their operations within the United States,” Cameron said. “That’s good for the American worker and I think particularly through some of the information that we’ve been able to share as it relates to this China risk database, I’m hopeful that again, yes, optimistic that President Trump is going to do right by the United States. He’s going to do right by the American worker and consumer and I’m hopeful that the information that we’ve provided will help the administration, but it will also help CEOs and board leadership and investors be wise about their relationship with China.”

Overall, the companies listed in the report generate over $600 billion in revenue from China on average and would face sanctions totaling over $150 billion on average. 

“Far too many of America’s largest corporations are shielding from the public their involvement with an oppressive communist regime. This failure to provide any corporate transparency is a glaring threat to America’s future,” Cameron said about the data in the report. “Enough is enough. American workers, consumers, and investors should be aware of where these major liabilities lie.”

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is rolling out several new bills to help forward the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) mission once President-elect Donald Trump enters office. 

The senator’s six bills would target telework for federal employees, require agency guidances to clarify they are not laws and mandate early notice ahead of new major policy proposals from federal agencies, among other measures. 

MEET LEADER JOHN THUNE’S ALL-STAR CABINET AS REPUBLICANS TAKE OVER SENATE MAJORITY

Sen. James Lankford is a founding member of the DOGE caucus. (Reuters)

“The American people gave Washington a mandate in November—waste less, save more. Today I’m introducing a first set of bills to follow through on their mandate by prioritizing streamlined regulations, rule-making, and record keeping. It’s time to put government waste in the doghouse and let DOGE get to work,” Lankford said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

DOGE was previously announced by Trump, who tapped billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new advisory board looking to cut government waste. 

SCHUMER DIRECTS DEMS TO PUT PRESSURE ON TRUMP NOMINEES AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION HEARINGS

Elon Musk, left, and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead DOGE. (Getty Images)

Several of Lankford’s DOGE bills focus on federal agencies and their perceived shortcomings. The “Improving Federal Financial Management Act” would address agencies’ performances and evaluate how they stack up when weighed against their financial metrics. 

The “TRUE Accountability Act” would charge agencies with coming up with plans to operate internally if there is ever a crisis. 

SENATE GOP TEES UP CONFIRMATION HEARING BLITZ IN EFFORT TO MEET AMBITIOUS TRUMP TARGETS

President-elect Donald Trump announced DOGE to eliminate government waste. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Additionally, Lankford is including the “ACCESS Act,” which would prohibit minimum education requirements when it comes to government contractor personnel during certain federal contract discussions. 

The Oklahoma Republican’s slew of bills are just the latest from senators in the GOP eager to get involved with DOGE. 

TULSI GABBARD CHANGES TUNE ON CONTROVERSIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOL FOLLOWING GOP LOBBYING

Sen. Joni Ernst is leading the DOGE caucus. (Getty Images)

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The Senate DOGE caucus is being led by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who has been a vocal critic of federal agencies and their telework policies in particular. 

Republicans have sought to introduce many bills ahead of Trump’s inauguration with the hope of getting the process started, so that certain policies can be put in motion shortly after he takes office. 

Boston ICE agents had to arrest a Brazilian illegal immigrant charged with rape and extortion twice because of sanctuary policies in the state of Massachusetts.

An ICE statement published last week said that Boston Enforcement and Removal Operations officials arrested 29-year-old Agnaldo Moreira da Cruz, for the second time in December.

This came after officials in Barnstable County, in Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, twice ignored ICE detainer requests against Moreira da Cruz.

MAJOR BLUE CITY MAYOR SILENT AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT USES SHELTER FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

June 2, 2022: ICE agents conduct an enforcement operation in the U.S. interior. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

According to the ICE statement, the Barnstable County Superior Court not only ignored their detainer requests but also violated the terms of their own agreement by refusing to return Moreira da Cruz to ICE, after obtaining him through a “writ of habeas corpus.”

Moreira da Cruz was originally arrested in August 2023 by police in Yarmouth. He was arraigned in December 2023 and held at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, which is run by the Barnstable Sheriff’s Office, until he was released on June 18, 2024, despite there being an ICE detainer against him. 

ICE tracked down and arrested Moreira da Cruz several months later on Oct. 16 and, after receiving a habeas corpus request, had to again turn him over to the Barnstable Superior Court on Nov. 27. The court then ignored the ICE detainer and released him on Dec. 5.

Moreira da Cruz is charged with a series of violent felonies, including rape and extortion with threat of injury.

BLUE STATE GOV CHANGES TUNE AFTER VOWING TO FIGHT TRUMP DEPORTATION EFFORTS, NOW HOPES HE FIXES BORDER

This split shows Mass. Gov. Maura Healey and a group of migrants at the southern border. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images and Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

“This is not someone you want to release into the community, but twice now our detainers have been ignored,” said ICE. “These decisions have repeatedly put the citizens of Massachusetts at risk of being victimized by an alleged dangerous offender.”

Asked why the ICE detainer was not honored, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Trial Court sent Fox News Digital a copy of the policy followed by the court, which is based on a precedent set by a 2017 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling called “Lunn vs. Commonwealth.”

The policy stipulates that Trial Court employees “do not have authority to detain an individual based solely” on ICE detainers and those immigrants subject to these requests “shall be processed and handled in the same way that all other individuals coming before the court are processed and handled.”

The policy also states that no court officer or employee may “call or otherwise initiate communication with any ICE official” to notify them that an immigrant is in court custody and that “no ICE official shall be permitted to take an individual into custody pursuant to a civil immigration detainer in a courtroom.”

ICE NABS ILLEGAL MIGRANT ACCUSED OF HEINOUS CRIME AND RELEASED BY MASSACHUSETTS SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials looking to arrest an illegal immigrant with criminal record, raid a home on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022 in Los Angeles, CA.  (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Barnstable Sheriff Donna Buckley told Fox News Digital that Lunn vs. Commonwealth makes it so that “it is unlawful for state and local law enforcement agencies to arrest or detain people solely on the basis of an ICE detainer, beyond the time that the individual would otherwise be entitled to be released from State custody.”

“The Massachusetts sheriffs operate within the scope and parameters of federal, state and local laws and regulations,” said Buckley. “As such, the sheriffs are bound to follow the law of the Commonwealth, and therefore cannot hold an individual based on an ICE detention request alone, if that incarcerated individual is not subject to separate judicially issued detention orders.”

“The sheriffs do not make the law. The sheriffs enforce the law,” she added.

DEM GOVERNOR THREATENS TO USE ‘EVERY TOOL’ TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRUMP-ERA DEPORTATIONS

Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts has said that the state has reached its limit with respect to shelter space. (AP Photo/Steve LeBlanc)

Meanwhile, Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and law and policy expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital, though the Massachusetts courts have the final say in instances such as this, “it’s important to note that’s not necessarily the final word.”

“Immigration is the ultimate federal issue,” said Arthur. “When states interpose themselves in that process, they’re really getting into an area in which they have no expertise based upon anecdote and speculation.”

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He noted that states and localities receive billions of dollars in federal funding every year, which can be made dependent on complying with federal immigration authorities.

“On the one hand, they’re demanding money from the federal government, and on the other hand, they’re telling the federal government that they won’t assist them in a key government duty,” he said. “Congress can always place any conditions that they want on funding, and this is a reasonable condition for them to put in place.”

ICE ARRESTS ALLEGED CHILD SEX PREDATOR, MS-13 GANG MEMBER IN MASSACHUSETTS

L- U.S. Southern border R – President Trump (Getty Images)

Arthur said that he anticipates the Trump administration and incoming border czar Tom Homan will move quickly to push Congress to put such stipulations in place.

“The biggest issue with this is that it places ICE enforcement and removal officers in great danger because, rather than taking custody of a criminal in a secure location, a local jail or a state prison, they have to actually go out on the street. They have to find that person at their house, and that puts their lives at danger,” he explained. “It’s also important to note this is a community safety issue.”

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“If we really want to keep our streets safe,” he went on, “the best way to do that is to take the criminals off the street. And really, that’s what should be happening, and I anticipate you will see a movement, particularly under a second Trump administration, to make that happen.”

Despite the actions by Barnstable County officials, Moreira da Cruz is currently in ICE custody, pending immigration and criminal proceedings.

A Planned Parenthood chapter in Florida allegedly violated its tax-exempt status by providing workspace for the Harris-Walz presidential campaign, according to an IRS complaint filed by a pro-life organization.

40 Days for Life, one of the country’s leading pro-life organizations, filed the IRS complaint in December. It claims to have information about “potentially prohibited political activities that may impact the tax-exempt status” of Planned Parenthood Florida. 

“This is one of the many violations we’ve seen Planned Parenthood do, because we’re physically at these abortion facilities, holding peaceful vigils and offering medical alternatives to abortion. And so because we’re out there, you know, at over 1700 locations, we see a lot of things that Planned Parenthood does,” 40 Days for Life CEO Shawn Carney told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital reached out several times to Planned Parenthood Florida, but did not hear back by the publication deadline.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD OFFERING FREE ABORTIONS, VASECTOMIES AT DNC

40 Days for Life filed an IRS complaint alleging Planned Parenthood may have violated its tax exempt status. (Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“This was clearly noticeable. They were giving out flyers that said Tim Walz Tuesdays, which doesn’t sound like the greatest time in the world, but nevertheless, they were promoting all these events of hosting Walt Harris campaign events and providing their space to do that, which, of course, they did not do for the Republicans. And you just can’t do that as a 501c3. This is very, very basic.”

Last summer, Carney’s group filed a separate complaint about Planned Parenthood’s mobile abortion bus that was operating a few miles from where the Democratic National Convention was taking place. On day one of the DNC, abortion took center stage. Several speakers spoke at length about it being one of the central issues of the Democratic Party’s 2024 platform.

MASSACHUSETTS LAUNCHES $1 MILLION TAXPAYER-FUNDED CAMPAIGN WARNING OF ‘DANGERS’ OF PRO-LIFE PREGNANCY CENTERS 

Planned Parenthood Mobile Clinic outside the Democratic National Convention 2024 (Jamie Joseph/Fox News Digital)

“The pro-abortion angle of running on celebrating abortion was a dismal failure for the Harris-Waltz campaign, but when we filed that, we did get a response that they had received it, and we are hoping and pushing the Trump administration to take up that investigation, because now we have two violations, both of which were obviously against the Trump administration and were heavily politically partisan towards the Democrats, which, of course, as nonprofits, you just can’t do,” Carney said.

The 42-page  IRS complaint also alleges “Planned Parenthood’s activities, in this case, are starkly different from permissible lobbying.” 

MISSOURI LAW BANNING GENDER-CHANGING TREATMENTS FOR MINORS TAKES EFFECT

Enten argued that the only thing current swing state polls show is that the current presidential race is “too close to call.” (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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“The provision of office space juxtaposes its tax-exempt privilege against a politically charged environment, serving as a clear indicator of political endorsement or opposition of particular candidates and parties,” the complaint reads.

Included in the complaint are photographs of campaign staffers walking inside what appears to be the Planned Parenthood office in Sarasota, Florida.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is unveiling a new set of bills that could have child sexual predators facing the death penalty.

“If you are raping someone, if you’re molesting someone, you are essentially murdering their soul. Those people never actually fully recover. I’ve actually sat on a committee with a very prominent [female House Democrat] who actually talked about the fact that she was molested as a child. And so you can see that it impacts and really hurts people,” Luna said.

Two of her three bills, all of which are being introduced in the 119th Congress on Tuesday, would require sentences of death or at least life imprisonment for those charged with a wide range of crimes related to children. 

JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is unveiling a new set of bills on Tuesday. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)

A third bill would require guilty verdicts of rape and sexual abuse against adults to carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years to life in prison.

Luna told Fox News Digital she broached the topic with President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend, who she suggested was enthusiastic about the idea.

“I got the impression that he absolutely is supportive of anything in this sector,” Luna said.

The Florida congresswoman was among the members of the House Freedom Caucus who met with Trump over the weekend at Mar-a-Lago. 

REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE’S MUSK, RAMASWAMY

Luna said President-elect Trump backs her bill. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)

She said they also discussed Trump potentially signing an executive order levying the death penalty for pedophilia-related crimes but that it would likely be impossible to accomplish that way.

“He would be willing to sign an [executive order]. But the fact is, is that it has to go through Congress first. So it would have to come to his desk that way,” she said.

Luna first introduced the bills in the last Congress when Democrats controlled half of Congress as well as the White House. They failed to get much traction, however, and ultimately never saw a House-wide vote.

Luna first introduced her bills in the 118th Congress, but they failed to gain traction. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images/File)

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She suggested that the death penalty aspect could have put some people off of an issue that otherwise could get wide bipartisan support, but she argued that child predators “cannot be rehabilitated.”

“If you are going to continue to push forward in a moral society, [then] you need to ensure that people like this, that are predators, are taken off the streets permanently,” Luna said.

Pete Hegseth is set to take the hot seat before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday in a hearing that is sure to break out into fireworks. 

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Hegseth to shake up the Pentagon as his defense secretary, but the former Fox News host has been entangled in controversies that Democrats on the committee can be expected to question him about. 

“Democrats certainly aren’t going to make this a walk in the park by any means,” one Republican aide said. 

“You’ll see Democrats are pretty organized, they’re thinking strategically to make sure everything is covered, and it’s not a hearing that gets overly repetitive,” one senior Democrat aide told Fox News Digital. 

HOW THE SUPREME COURT CONFIRMATION PROCESS WORKS

“I don’t think it’s going to be particularly hostile, but I do think it will be very tough. It’s going to focus a lot just on what we should expect of a nominee for this job and where he falls short,” the aide went on. “There are questions about the things he’s done, his character and his leadership.” 

Hegseth will be the first of Trump’s controversial change agent picks to face questioning from lawmakers.

Republicans can be expected to play defense, framing Hegseth as a decorated combat veteran who will hold the military accountable after years of failed audits and DEI initiatives. 

With little hope of winning any Democrat votes, Hegseth will have to woo moderate Republicans who have previously expressed skepticism about his nomination. 

Democrats are expected to hammer him over his past conduct and his qualifications to lead the government’s largest agency, which employs 3 million people.

Pete Hegseth is set to take the hot seat before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday in a widely anticipated hearing. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

HUNDREDS OF VETERANS TO DESCEND ON DC TO MARCH IN SUPPORT OF PETE HEGSETH’S CONFIRMATION

The 44-year-old Army National Guard veteran, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is relatively young and inexperienced compared to defense secretaries past, having retired as a major. But Republicans say they don’t want someone who made it to the top brass, who’s become entrenched in the Pentagon establishment. 

Hegseth is sure to face questions about a sexual assault accusation from 2017. He’s acknowledged paying his accuser an undisclosed sum to keep quiet at the time for fear of losing his job, but he denies any non-consensual sex took place.

Former employees at veterans’ groups Hegseth used to run have accused him of financial mismanagement and excessive drinking, according to a New Yorker report, and NBC News reported that his drinking “concerned” colleagues at Fox News. 

Hegseth denies the accusations and said he would not drink “a drop of alcohol” if confirmed to lead the Defense Department. 

The hearing, which kicks off at 9:30 a.m., will be packed with veterans who traveled to Washington, D.C., to support Hegseth in the face of attacks.

For weeks, Hegseth has been visiting Capitol Hill to meet with senators, including those who are skeptical of him. Last Wednesday, he met with the top Armed Services Committee Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and the meeting apparently didn’t go well. 

“Today’s meeting did not relieve my concerns about Mr. Hegseth’s lack of qualifications and raised more questions than answers,” Reed said in a statement.

Hegseth retired from the Army National Guard in 2021. (Fox News)

Hegseth must first win a majority in a vote of the Armed Services Committee, made up of 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats, meaning one Republican defection could tank the vote.

He then needs to win a simple majority on the Senate floor, meaning he can afford to lose no more than three Republican votes. 

“I think he kind of knows that all he needs is Republican votes to get from now into the job,” said a Democrat aide. “His job is to just keep his head down and not say something that would create an opening for these [Republicans], many of whom I really don’t think want to vote for him, to have a reason to revisit that. So I expect that he’s going to try to say very little and say it very calmly and politely.”

In committee, all eyes will be on Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a veteran herself who at first seemed hesitant about Hegseth. After two meetings with the nominee, Ernst said she would support him through the confirmation process and looked forward to a fair hearing. She didn’t commit to voting for him. 

Senators will also take a fine-toothed comb to Hegseth’s lengthy record of public comments on TV and across the five books he’s written. 

One such belief is that women should not fight in combat roles. 

“Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military, especially not in combat units,” he wrote in his most recent book, “The War on Warriors,” published in 2024.

Hegseth has been courting votes on Capitol Hill for weeks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“Men are, gasp, biologically stronger, faster and bigger. Dare I say, physically superior,” Hegseth added.

PETE HEGSETH SAYS HE HASN’T HEARD FROM WEST POINT SINCE EMPLOYEE ‘ERROR’ DENYING HIS ACCEPTANCE

On a Nov. 7 episode of the Shawn Ryan podcast, which aired mere days before Hegseth was tapped to serve as Defense Secretary, the nominee said, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.”

Hegseth later told Fox News in December that women are some of the U.S.’ “greatest warriors.” 

“I also want an opportunity here to clarify comments that have been misconstrued, that I somehow don’t support women in the military; some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors out there are women,” he said.

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Female service members “love our nation, want to defend that flag, and they do it every single day around the globe. I’m not presuming anything,” he added.

FIRST ON FOX: Longtime Democrat fundraiser and Kamala Harris critic Lindy Li was named this month to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fundraising committee, an about-face that she says has been met with overwhelming support from donors, including from some longtime contributors to the Democratic Party vying to get a spot at the table.

Li’s appointment to the Trump fundraising committee was previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital. It comes just weeks after Li announced her decision to leave the Democratic Party last month, citing what she described as its broader culture of finger-pointing, vitriol and blame in the aftermath of the 2024 elections. 

Li herself endured a torrent of criticism and calls to exit the party after she criticized certain spending decisions made by Harris’s campaign, despite having raised millions on its behalf and donating several Philadelphia-area buildings to the campaign. She in turn voiced concerns about party leadership “permitting no dissent, no criticism” and failing to learn from their wide losses in the House, Senate and presidential elections.

For Li, her departure from the DNC’s national fundraising committee has been an eye-opening one. She told Fox News in an interview this week that she was approved as a member of Trump’s inaugural fundraising committee just three days before many of the events reached capacity, forcing the committee to block access, if only for the near-term, in hopes of securing a bigger venue. 

When she told the donors that they were at capacity, she noted, some responded by doubling their offer in hopes of gaining access. 

DNC FUNDRAISER TAKES AIM AT ‘VINDICTIVE’ TORRENT OF CRITICISM OVER HEGSETH COMMENTS

President-elect Donald Trump and wife Melania Trump walk along Pennsylvania Avenue before his swearing-in for his first term. Trump is preparing for his second inauguration in 2025, for which he has raked in record-high fundraising numbers. (Evan Vucci/USA Today Network)

“The demand has just been unprecedented,” Li said of the response from donors. “Honestly, Biden and Harris never had this issue. They never had to turn people away.”

Fox News Digital was told that donors offering as much as $1 million to the inaugural committee have been turned away due to space limitations, as first reported by the New York Times. Since then, the inaugural committee said they are working to find a bigger location for some of the events in order to meet the intense and growing demand.

To date, Trump’s inaugural committee has raised a record-shattering $170 million in donations, with proceeds used to fund both the inauguration weekend and longer-term projects, such as a presidential library.

HARRIS CAMPAIGN STILL ASKING FOR DONATIONS WEEKS AFTER MASSIVE LOSS TO TRUMP

Lindy Li seen in a 2015 photo (Charles Ommanney/Washington Post via Getty Images)

For donors, their contribution earns them access to an inauguration weekend agenda of highly exclusive VIP events before the Inauguration Day ceremony, including intimate dinners, black-tie galas and sit-downs with Cabinet nominees. It’s an opportunity to make inroads and gain influence in an incoming administration. 

And ahead of Trump’s second term, many are shelling out big-time to do so. 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are all among the tech executives who announced within the past month that they plan to donate at least $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.

For Li, a prominent fundraiser whose experience is largely rooted in the Democrat world, pivoting to raising money for Trump’s inauguration has been easier than expected. 

Li formerly served as a member of the DNC’s national fundraising committee, a membership that requires raising “millions of dollars” on behalf of Democrat candidates.  

Still, she said, the inaugural committee donations and enthusiasm surrounding them feels unprecedented.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Li said in an interview of the funding raised, which could roughly triple the amount raised by Biden in 2021 and exceeds Trump’s first inaugural committee, which raised roughly $117 million.

The committee is expecting donations to climb higher to upwards of $200 million, according to estimates shared with Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP ANNOUNCES NEW CABINET DEPUTIES AS INAUGURATION DATE DRAWS NEAR

Lindy Li, a former DNC finance committee member, speaks to ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ after the 2024 elections. (Fox News)

Asked whether it was difficult to build out a base of Republican donors less than a month after leaving the Democratic Party, Li told Fox News that she is dealing with many of the same financial contributors.

“These are Democratic donors,” she said. 

While Li noted they aren’t among the most liberal Democrat donors she has worked with, “They’re still donating,” she said. 

“They’re still so eager and willing to come to the table.”

Many, she said, share in the belief that Trump has been “great for the business community” and hope to build on that in future conversations with the administration.

And even donors who have been wait-listed or turned down from attending the VIP events during the inaugural weekend due to the lack of space have expressed interest in working with the administration in the future.  

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Just yesterday, she said, a donor noted, “‘You know, even if we can’t can’t come this time, please let us know the next time that we can show our support.'”

The reception as a whole has been “overwhelmingly positive,” Li said of the response from donors. “The enthusiasm is just through the stratosphere.”

The Justice Department made public Volume I of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his now-closed investigations into President-elect Donald Trump, days before he is set to be sworn into office. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland released the first volume, which focuses on the election case against Trump, of Smith’s report on Tuesday at midnight after back-and-forth in the federal court system.

An opening letter from Smith to Garland said that it is “laughable” that Trump believes the Biden administration, or other political actors, influenced or directed his decisions as a prosecutor, stating that he was guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution.

“Trump’s cases represented ones ‘in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain,’” Smith said, referencing the principles.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH FROM RELEASING FINAL REPORT

A split image featuring US Attorney General Merrick Garland, President Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images | Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In the lengthy report, Smith said his office fully stands behind the decision to bring criminal charges against Trump because he “resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power” after he lost the 2020 election.

Smith said in his conclusion that the parties were determining whether any material in the “superseding indictment was subject to presidential immunity” when it became clear that Trump had won the 2024 election. The department then determined the case must be dismissed before he takes office because of how it interprets the Constitution.

“The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report stated.

In an early Tuesday morning post on Truth Social, Trump called Smith “desperate” and “deranged” for releasing his “fake findings” in the middle of the night.

APPEALS COURT WILL NOT BLOCK PARTIAL RELEASE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S TRUMP REPORT

Garland appointed former Justice Department official Jack Smith as special counsel in November 2022. 

Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the DOJ’s public integrity section, led the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether the former president obstructed the federal government’s investigation into the matter. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Smith was also tasked with overseeing the investigation into whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Smith charged Trump in both cases, but Trump pleaded not guilty.

FLASHBACK: ATTORNEY GENERAL GARLAND NAMES SPECIAL COUNSEL TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP ON MAR-A-LAGO DOCUMENTS, JAN. 6

The classified records case was dismissed in July 2024 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. 

Special Prosecutor Jack Smith recently requested to dismiss charges he brought against Trump in a case alleging his interference in the certification of the 2020 election. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Smith charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington D.C. in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request. 

FLASHBACK: TRUMP SAYS HE ‘WON’T PARTAKE’ IN SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATION, SLAMS AS ‘WORST POLITICIZATION OF JUSTICE’

This month, though, Cannon temporarily blocked the release of Smith’s final report. A federal appeals court reversed her ruling, allowing the Justice Department to make Smith’s report public. 

Former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.  (Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In the classified records probe, Smith charged Trump with 37 federal counts including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements. Trump pleaded not guilty. 

This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and partially redacted by the source, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.  (Department of Justice via AP)

FLASHBACK: FBI SAID IT HAD ‘PROBABLE CAUSE’ TO BELIEVE ADDITIONAL CLASSIFIED DOCS REMAINED AT MAR-A-LAGO, AFFIDAVIT SAYS

Trump was also charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of the investigation: an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts. 

In the 2020 election case, Smith charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; violation of an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Trump pleaded not guilty. 

The cases brought by Smith against Trump never made it to trial in either jurisdiction. 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump walks to speak to the press at the end of the day during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 7, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images)

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Despite efforts by Trump attorneys to prevent the report’s release, Attorney General Merrick Garland had maintained that he would make at least one volume of Smith’s report public.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

A Washington state Democrat is floating a policy to help protect unemployed illegal immigrants who are unable to receive unemployment benefits.

The news comes as President-elect Trump and his border czar-designate Thomas Homan signal a crackdown on illegal immigration and talk of “mass deportation” plans in a reversal of the Biden-era status quo.

State Sen. Rebecca Saldaña is introducing a bill that would ensure Washington residents legally ineligible to work in the U.S. – a group for which illegal immigrants compose the vast majority – have access to assistance.

Saldaña, of Seattle, declined to comment further on her bill to Fox News Digital, but a representative for the lawmaker noted she had previously highlighted “undocumented workers’ … substantial contributions to Washington’s economy.”

BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS WREAKING HAVOC ON K-12 SCHOOLS SAYS TOP GOP LAWMAKER

That group collectively paid almost $400 million in unemployment taxes over the past 10 years, and the bill will aim to ensure those who pay into the system are able to rely on it when they need to, her office said.

The representative said Saldaña has reintroduced similar legislation during both Democrat and Republican administrations in the past because the “inequities in our immigration system” are systemic and longstanding.

Saldaña has previously argued that providing unemployment benefits to undocumented workers who qualify will help stabilize the workforce and prevent future cases of poverty and homelessness due to job loss.

It will therefore have lasting positive effects on the Evergreen State’s economy, her office said.

Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said he had not seen the text of the bill as of Monday afternoon but was aware of the proposal itself.

CALIFORNIA BILL AIMED AT MAKING IT EASIER FOR MIGRANTS TO BUY HOMES MAKES MAJOR ADVANCEMENT

“We have a lot of work to do on immigration, both on undocumented immigrants and on legal immigration in our state. That’s largely a federal issue,” Braun said.

“I look for the folks in D.C. to handle [the immigration issue] and for us [in state government] to stay clear.”

Under federal law, illegal immigrants are not eligible to apply for work permits and, therefore, unable to register or file for unemployment compensation. Neither are individuals with expired work authorizations and dependents of people living in the U.S. under several visa classifications.

The excluded visa classes include O – “extraordinary ability”; R – Religious worker; and F – student visas.

According to a 1985 memo from the Department of Labor, “an alien must be legally authorized to work in the United States to be considered ‘available for work’ – Therefore, an alien without current, valid authorization to work from the INS is not legally ‘available for work’ and not eligible for benefits.”

The memo referred to the INS, or Immigration and Naturalization Service, a predecessor entity to today’s Department of Homeland Security.

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Washington State Capitol (Getty)

Elsewhere in the U.S., the Colorado Office of New Americans allows undocumented workers to access a “Benefit Recovery Fund” to help those who have been “separated from employment through no fault of their own” and meet several other specifications.

In California, however, Democrat lawmakers sought to offer assistance similar to that Saldaña is seeking but were blocked by fellow liberal Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom vetoed that legislation in September and also blocked a proposal that would have allowed illegal immigrants better access to home loans and mortgages.

FIRST ON FOX: Special Counsel David Weiss blasted President Biden in his highly-anticipated report on his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden, saying the commander-in-chief’s characterizations of the probe into his son were “wrong” and “unfairly” maligned Justice Department officials, while admitting that the presidential pardon made it “inappropriate” for him to discuss whether any additional charges against the first son were warranted. 

Fox News Digital obtained a copy of Weiss’s final report after his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden.

The Justice Department transmitted the report to Congress on Monday evening. 

Weiss, in his report, chided President Biden for his Dec. 1, 2024 decision to grant his son a “Full and Unconditional Pardon” covering nearly eleven years of conduct, including conduct related to both convictions the special counsel obtained. 

Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses stemming from Special Counsel David Weiss’ investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. 

HUNTER BIDEN: A LOOK AT HOW THE SAGA SPANNING OVER SIX YEARS UNFOLDED

The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, but his father, President Biden, pardoned him on all charges in December. 

Weiss, in the report, blasted the president’s decision to pardon but also the press release that was sent out to the public that “criticized the prosecution of his son as ‘selective,’ ‘unfair,’ ‘infected’ by ‘raw politics,’ and a ‘miscarriage of justice.'”

“This statement is gratuitous and wrong,” Weiss wrote in his report. “Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.” 

Weiss also pointed to a comment made by Judge Mark C. Scarsi, who said: “The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 1, but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history.” 

“These prosecutions were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics,” Weiss wrote in his report. “Eight judges across numerous courts have rejected claims that they were the result of selective or vindictive motives.” 

Weiss added: “Calling those rulings into question and injecting partisanship into the independent administration of the law undermines the very foundation of what makes America’s justice system fair and equitable. It erodes public confidence in an institution that is essential to preserving the rule of law.” 

In another section of the report, Weiss notes that, in light of the presidential pardon, he “cannot make any additional charging decisions” and said it would be “inappropriate” to discuss “whether additional charges are warranted.” 

“Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,” Weiss wrote. “The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.” 

Weiss added: “The President’s characterizations are incorrect based on the facts in this case, and, on a more fundamental level, they are wrong.” 

The federal investigation into Hunter Biden began in November 2018. 

Hunter Biden, son of President Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 3, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

But it wasn’t until 2023 that whistleblowers from the IRS, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, brought allegations of politicization in the federal probe of Hunter Biden to Congress. 

The two alleged that political influence had infected prosecutorial decisions in the federal probe, which was led by Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who they said had requested to become a special counsel. 

BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE

After Shapley and Ziegler testified publicly, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel to continue his investigation of the first son and, ultimately, bring federal charges against him in two separate jurisdictions — Delaware and California. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed investigator David Weiss as special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation. (Fox News)

Justice Department regulations require Weiss to transmit any final report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has pledged to release as much as possible to the public. 

The Justice Department and Special Counsel Weiss’ office declined to comment. 

Meanwhile, President Biden’s pardon of his son came after months of vowing to the American people that he would not do so. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks with reporters during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Washington, as Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, left, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, look on. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

But last month, the president announced a blanket pardon that applies to any offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. 

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“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” Biden said. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

Biden added, “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.” 

Late Monday, Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, issued a response to Weiss’ report to Fox News: “Like all his court filings, David Weiss’ 27-page report continues to ignore some of the major mysteries of his 7-year investigation. Mr. Weiss conveniently omits his proposal to resolve this investigation in 2023 with a pair of misdemeanors and a diverted gun charge recommended by career prosecutors. Mr. Weiss also fails to explain why he reneged on his own agreement, a reversal that came at the 11th hour in court as he and his office faced blistering attacks from Republicans and his then filing unprecedented charges for someone with no aggravating gun factors who had paid his taxes in full years before the charges were filed. Finally, and most curious, Mr. Weiss fails to clarify why he and his prosecutors pursued wild – and debunked – conspiracies about Mr. Biden by a Russian agent that prolonged this investigation and ultimately cost taxpayers millions of dollars. What is clear from this report is that the investigation into Hunter Biden is a cautionary tale of the abuse of prosecutorial power.”

Democratic lawmakers are claiming the severity of the Los Angeles wildfires was a result of climate change, despite reports that the city’s fire hydrants ran out of water and the fire department’s budget was slashed just weeks before the Palisades fire destroyed thousands of homes and burned more than 15,000 acres.

Several fires broke out across the Southern California mountains in early January, quickly spreading to coastal residential areas and destroying more than 10,000 homes and structures. 

As the fires gained national attention, Democratic lawmakers across the country began to claim it was climate change rather than state policies that caused the disastrous fire damage.

“And what has happened is that climate change has dried out our foliage, our flora. And coupled with these massive winds, these 50 to 100 miles an hour winds that happen every year around this time, a little ember can turn into a massive fire,” Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif., who represents a district not far from the raging fires, told NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.”

LA COUNTRY CUT FIRE BUDGET WHILE SPENDING HEAVILY ON DEI, WOKE ITEMS: ‘MIDNIGHT STROLL TRANSGENDER CAFE’

Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Ethan Swope)

“Climate change has wreaked havoc on us,” Min said.

After the fires engulfed the Los Angeles mountains, it was reported that local fire hydrants were not producing water and that the firefighter funding had recently been cut by millions.

Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged these reports, and demanded an independent investigation be conducted into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) regarding the lack of water in the middle of the crisis, but Democratic lawmakers shifted the blame away from state leaders.

“The scale of damage and loss is unimaginable. Climate change is real, not ‘a hoax.’ Donald Trump must treat this like the existential crisis it is,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a social media post on Wednesday morning.

Homes along Pacific Coast Highway are seen left in ashes from the Palisades Fire, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Malibu, Calif.  (Mark J. Terrill)

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said that the state leaders who don’t acknowledge climate change as a crisis, who are commonly Republican, are at fault. 

“I’m so heartbroken at the devastation that’s continuously inflicted upon our country & the world & elected ‘leaders’ are ignorant, impotent, or just incompetent to doing the smart thing, which is to acknowledge that climate change is real & start to solve it,” Crockett wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Jan. 8. 

Another Democratic lawmaker, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, said in January that he was “glad to be working with Gov. Newsom and helping CA, ravaged repeatedly by the effects of climate change.”

Senator Bernie Sanders said that “the scale of damage and loss is unimaginable. Climate change is real, not ‘a hoax.’ Donald Trump must treat this like the existential crisis it is.” (Elaine Cromie/Bloomberg)

Months before the fires broke out, Los Angeles city officials cut the fire department budget by $17.6 million, while hundreds of thousands of dollars were being allocated to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the state.

Celebrities immediately began pointing fingers at city leadership for investing in programs such as a “syringe exchange” program that gives sterile syringes to homeless drug addicts, instead of more funding for fire prevention efforts.

“We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared. Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits,” actress Sara Foster wrote in a post on X. 

Monstrous wildfires ravaged coastal cities in California in January. (AP)

On the same platform, Khloé Kardashian called out the city’s Democratic mayor, writing, “Mayor Bass you are a joke!!!!”

Rick Caruso, founder of a real estate company and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, suggested that forest management could have mitigated the fires.

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“We knew the winds were coming. We knew that there was brush that needed to be cleared 20 years ago,” Caruso, founder of a real estate company and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, told the LA Times. “This fire could have been mitigated — maybe not prevented.”

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

-Elon Musk, AI and tech titans, venture capitalists invited to pre-inauguration dinner at dawn of Trump era

-These are the 2025 elections to watch as Trump returns to White House

–Senate GOP tees up confirmation hearing blitz in effort to meet ambitious Trump targets

Special Counsel Report Can Go Public

A federal judge cleared the way for the release of the special counsel report on President-elect Trump’s election interference case on Monday.

Judge Aileen Cannon approved the release of the first of two volumes of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation in her Monday ruling. Cannon will consider releasing the second volume, which relates to Trump’s handling of classified documents, on Friday.

Smith suspended his investigations into Trump after the president-elect secured his return to the White House in November…Read more

Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to give remarks on a recently unsealed indictment including four felony counts against former U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

White House

CALLS FOR CEASEFIRE: Biden calls for immediate ceasefire in call with Israel’s Netanyahu…Read more

‘MORE PURPOSEFUL AND BIGGER’: Sullivan claims Biden admin leaves Russia, China and Iran ‘weaker,’ America ‘safer’ before Trump hand-off…Read more

World Stage

‘DISTRACTING’: Trudeau says 51st state is distraction from Trump tariff threat, acknowledges facing ‘successful negotiator’…Read more

Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, from left, Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Portugal’s president, during the funeral service of late former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. Washington gathered to pay tribute to Jimmy Carter on Thursday, bringing together political rivals in the wake of a rancorous election to honor a former president praised by both parties for his humility and decency.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

‘MUTUAL IMPORTANCE’: Canadian leader meets with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, discusses energy relationship…Read more

GRASS IS GREENER: Trump’s House GOP allies unveil bill to authorize country’s purchase…Read more

Trump Transition

BANKING BREAKS WITH CLIMATE: Wall Street breaks from net zero climate alliance ahead of Trump term…Read more

TRUMP TAX CUTS: Major push to protect, renew Trump tax cuts launched by powerful conservative group…Read more

‘HE IS TRULY EVIL’: Trump ally Steve Bannon pledges to ‘take… down’ Elon Musk…Read more

US President-elect Donald Trump, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. (R) watch a fight during UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York, on November 16, 2024. US President-elect Donald Trump was greeted by chanting fans as he attended the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight bout at New York’s Madison Square Garden on November 16. Trump entered the arena shortly before the start of the main card accompanied by UFC chief executive Dana White, who was a prominent backer during his election campaign. Several political allies of Trump were also in attendance including entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been asked by Trump to lead efforts to cut government inefficiency. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images) (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)

GLIMMER OF HOPE: Wife of detained American in Afghanistan meets with Trump’s national security adviser…Read more

‘BATTLE-PROVEN’: Hegseth was ‘incredibly talented, battle-proven leader,’ military evaluations show…Read more

Capitol Hill

ENDING ‘LOOPING’: Sen Ernst renews push for bill ending illegal immigration ‘loophole’ as Congress takes action…Read more

FIRESTORM: The political firestorm that’s about to singe Capitol Hill…Read more

NOT GOING EASY: Schumer directs Dems to to put pressure on Trump nominees ahead of confirmation hearings…Read more

A rigorous week of confirmation hearings will begin on Tuesday. (Reuters)

NEW DAY: Meet Leader John Thune’s all-star cabinet as Republicans take over Senate majority…Read more

Across America 

AN ENDURING DEPARTMENT: The Department of Education through the years: A look at long-term trends of pitiful student performance…Read more

SILENCE IS DEAFENING: Major blue city mayor silent after illegal immigrant uses shelter for criminal activity…Read more

BEHIND THE CURTAIN: Trump tasks blue state Republicans with ‘homework’ as GOP plots massive conservative policy overhaul…Read more

JOB CHANGE: DNC hires former Harris staffers behind @KamalaHQ for social media response to Trump…Read more

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Wisconsin State Fair Expo in West Allis, Wis., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

ACTBLUE DONATIONS: Newsom defends fire response with fact-check site linking to Dem Party fundraising platform…Read more

GRANITE SPLIT: NH bill would divide presidential electors by district: ‘We want voters to feel their vote counts’…Read more

‘LOUD AND CLEAR’: State conservatives demand action on noncitizen voting: ‘Time for Congress to listen’…Read more

‘HARM AND DISTRESS’: ACLU Colorado warns law enforcement to not cooperate with ICE…Read more

POLLUTION SOLUTION?: Cap-and-trade returns: NY plans to force big oil to ‘invest’ in ‘green’ by paying for emissions…Read more

‘WITHOUT ROADBLOCKS’: Newsom suspends CA environmental law to eliminate ‘roadblocks’ for wildfire victims rebuilding homes…Read more

BORDER TO BLAZE: Man arrested near LA fires with possible blowtorch is an illegal immigrant: ICE sources…Read more

ACTBLUE DONATIONS: Newsom defends fire response with fact-check site linking to Dem Party fundraising platform…Read more

Governor Gavin Newsom, left, and LA wildfires, right (Getty)

HALF-BAKED IDEA: New NYC ‘char broil’ rule would force restaurants to cut emissions by 75%…Read more

APPEAL SHOT DOWN: Supreme Court makes decision on gun law challenges in Delaware, Maryland…Read more

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

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is meeting with Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Democrats on Monday evening to discuss the confirmation hearing for controversial Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth — just hours before its set to take place. 

A Senate Democratic source confirmed the last-minute meeting to Fox News Digital. 

Schumer and other Democrats have made their opposition to the former Fox News host clear in the days leading up to the hearing, which is the first to take place of all President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees. 

MEET LEADER JOHN THUNE’S ALL-STAR CABINET AS REPUBLICANS TAKE OVER SENATE MAJORITY

Schumer is meeting with committee Democrats hours ahead of the hearing. (Reuters)

The meeting, first reported by Axios, comes after the New York Democrat urged his fellow caucus members to grill Trump’s nominees in their upcoming hearings and force them to go on record about controversial Trump agenda items, per a Senate Democratic source. 

The source added that Democrats are planning to lay the groundwork to say that they warned about Trump’s Cabinet picks early on. 

SCHUMER DIRECTS DEMS TO PUT PRESSURE ON TRUMP NOMINEES AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION HEARINGS

Hegseth was chosen to be Trump’s Secretary of Defense.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In floor remarks on Monday, Schumer said, “Unfortunately, Mr. Hegseth’s background is deeply troubling, to put it generously. We have all read the reports about his radical views, his alleged excessive drinking, the allegations about sexual assault, and his failures in the financial stewardship of multiple organizations.”

Hegseth has denied all allegations, including those suggesting financial mismanagement, sexual assault and alcohol consumption. 

The Secretary of Defense nominee’s spokesperson did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

SENATE GOP TEES UP CONFIRMATION HEARING BLITZ IN EFFORT TO MEET AMBITIOUS TRUMP TARGETS

Schumer has criticized Hegseth over various allegations.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Democrats on SASC include Ranking Member Jack Reed, D-R.I., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Tim Kaine, D-Va., Angus King, I-Maine, Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.

TULSI GABBARD CHANGES TUNE ON CONTROVERSIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOL FOLLOWING GOP LOBBYING

Sen. Jack Reed and Sen. Debbie Fischer during a Senate hearing. (Reuters)

Reed and Hegseth met last week for a notably brief discussion. Afterward, the SASC ranking member said in a statement, “Today’s meeting did not relieve my concerns about Mr. Hegseth’s lack of qualifications and raised more questions than answers.” 

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“As with any nominee for this critical position, Mr. Hegseth must undergo the same high-level of scrutiny as prior Secretary of Defense nominees,” he added. 

“Lone actors” pose the greatest threat to safety during the upcoming presidential inauguration events, according to U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger. 

He referenced two incidents last week on Capitol Hill where people sought to “disrupt” congressional proceedings with potentially violent tactics. 

An estimated 250,000 ticketed guests will attend the formal inauguration on Jan. 20, according to law enforcement.

That will be supplemented by another 25,000, who law enforcement expect will attend various demonstrations going on around the Capitol on Inauguration Day. The inauguration and its accompanying events have been designated a “National Special Security Event,” the highest federal protective status an event can receive, authorities said. 

“The biggest threat, I think, for all of us remains the lone actor,” Manger said Monday. “Just in the past week, while President Carter was lying in state, we had two lone actors show up at the Capitol: one trying to bring in knives and a machete; another one who was trying – what I believe – to disrupt the proceedings by setting their car on fire down in the peace circle area.” 

“Capitol Police were able to interdict these folks before they had a chance to do any harm. But that threat of the lone actor remains the biggest justification for us being at this heightened state of alert throughout the next week.” 

TRAVEL TIPS FOR ATTENDING PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP’S INAUGURATION AS EXPERTS WEIGH IN

People take their places as a rehearsal begins on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 12, 2025, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

Manger’s remarks came during a Monday press conference with federal and local law enforcement officials, including leaders from the Metropolitan Police Department, the Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police, during which they discussed their preparation for the inauguration. 

Representing the FBI was the assistant director in charge of the agency’s Washington field office, David Sundberg, who said the FBI was “not currently tracking any specific or credible threats to the inaugural ceremony or to the Capitol complex.”

The upcoming week of events will be secured similarly to the two high-profile National Special Security Events from last week, the presidential election certification and the late President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, authorities indicated. However, the inauguration will get a little extra support from roughly 4,000 local law enforcement officers who have volunteered to help and an estimated 7,800 National Guard soldiers who will deploy to the nation’s capital. In total, according to the Secret Service’s special agent in charge of the agency’s Washington field office, Matt McCool, a total of about 25,000 law enforcement officers will be on duty.

Members of the U.S. military Joint Honor Guard parade as they rehearse ahead of the upcoming presidential inauguration in front of the White House on Jan. 12, 2025.

ABBOTT ORDERS FLAGS AT FULL-STAFF FOR TRUMP’S INAUGURATION DESPITE ONE MONTH ORDER TO HONOR CARTER

The inauguration will get extra concrete barriers and more than 30 miles of anti-scale fencing, which is more than has been used for any National Special Security Event in the past. 

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela A. Smith said that the district is expecting to see 12 different First Amendment demonstrations during the inauguration. Smith said that while the “MPD will ensure your right to peacefully protest,” they “will not tolerate any violence.”  

“I want to reiterate – as I always have – that violence, destruction and unlawful behavior will not be tolerated,” Smith said Monday. “Offenders will face swift and decisive consequences.”

The Washington Monument and the White House are visible as workers assemble a media riser and the presidential inauguration parade review stand along Pennsylvania Avenue on Oct. 25, 2024.

When asked by a reporter what the biggest difference was between this inauguration and the last in 2021, McCool said there is a “slightly more robust security plan.”

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“We’ve learned,” McCool said. “This is our fifth NSSE this year in the Washington field office. We’ve done 83 NSSEs, each one we take a look at, and if there’s areas where we need to improve, we do it. But what I can tell you is that we are 100% confident in the plan that we have put in place for this inauguration that the public and our protectees will be safe.” 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary, laying out a bevy of accusations and about 100 questions that she expects him to answer at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.  

Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, penned the 33-page letter last week to Hegseth. It describes why she thinks he is “unfit” to serve, referring to him at one point in the letter as “an insider threat” due to a tattoo Hegseth has that Warren claims is tied to “right-wing extremism.” 

“Your confirmation as Secretary of Defense would be detrimental to our national security and disrespect a diverse array of servicemembers who are willing to sacrifice for our country,” Warren writes in the letter. “I am deeply concerned by the many ways in which your behavior and rhetoric indicates that you are unfit to lead the Department of Defense.”

ARE PETE HEGSETH’S TATTOOS SYMBOLS OF ‘CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM?’

The letter starts off with accusations against Hegseth that include claims of financial mismanagement during his work operating two nonprofits, and accusations of heavy drinking and sexual assault. 

The Massachusetts Democrat accused Hegseth of “gross mismanagement” in running up debt and using business funds at the nonprofits he ran for personal expenses. She cited past colleagues of Hegseth’s who claimed to be privy to what took place. Warren also claimed in her letter that some of Hegseth’s past colleagues had shared he may potentially have a drinking problem, citing “at least 11 separate incidents in which [Hegseth has] been described as drinking excessively or inappropriately in public.” Warren asks in the letter if Hegseth would resign if he were to be caught drinking again.  

NEW GOP SENATOR TEARS INTO DEMS ‘SEEKING TO DELAY’ PETE HEGSETH DOD CONFIRMATION  

Warren also went after Hegseth’s policy positions in the letter, several of which were made during media appearances and in books. 

Warren slammed Hegseth for previous comments about women in the military, including remarks he made that only men should be allowed in combat roles. Warren questioned Hegseth about other aspects of women in the military as well, including whether he thinks single women in the military should have access to birth control.

Secretary of Defense Nominee Pete Hegseth, left, and Senator Liz Warren, right. (Getty)

Hegseth, an advocate for getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the military, was slammed by Warren in her letter for calling for the firing of “any general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI woke s–t,” during a podcast interview in November. 

Warren added that in addition to potentially firing Defense Department officials promoting DEI, she also detailed fears about Hegseth’s willingness to help aid Trump in going after his political opponents. In one of Warren’s questions, she requested that Hegseth share his thoughts on the 2020 election and whether he believes Trump won, or lost fairly. 

At one point in the letter, Warren highlighted that Hegseth had been removed from President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 because of concerns he was “an insider threat” following reports that his tattoo with the words “Deus Vult,” was allegedly a “Christian expression associated with right-wing extremism.”

AMERICAN HEROES MAKE POWERFUL MOVE AHEAD OF HEARING FOR TRUMP’S PENTAGON PICK

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, makes his way to a meeting with Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., in the Russell building on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)  (Tom Williams)

Other sections seek to harp on Hegseth’s alleged unwillingness to work with allies, including those within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Warren suggested Hegseth will not adequately support considering his “skepticism” over aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Warren devoted an entire line of questioning to whether Hegseth will “undermine” veterans’ benefits, and questioned what Hegseth might do to the Department of Defense Education Activity, the part of the agency that educates troops’ children.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump Transition spokesperson Bran Hughes said that Hegseth “looks forward to answering Senators’ questions and detailing his many qualifications at his hearing tomorrow.”

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“Senator Warren’s letter to Pete Hegseth is exactly what the American voters rejected on November 5,” Hughes said. “Instead of focusing on ‘woke’ policies that have weakened our national defense, the voters gave a mandate to rebuild our military, and that’s exactly what a reform-minded Secretary of Defense like Pete Hegseth will do. Senator Warren’s letter proves why ideologically driven college professors have no place driving their social agenda at the Department of Defense.”

Efforts to reach Warren for comment for purposes of this story were unsuccessful. 

FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate are reviving a push to require that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) beds be filled before illegal immigrants are released from custody – a bill named after 12-year-old murder victim Jocelyn Nungaray.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, are re-introducing the “Justice for Jocelyn Act.”

The bill would require that every ICE detention bed be filled before any releases of illegal immigrants into the interior. Even if they are filled, the bill would require DHS to exhaust all additional measures before releasing migrants into the interior, including enrolling them in continuous GPS monitoring via ankle bracelets or similar devices.

CRUZ VOWS TO MAKE ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION PUSH AT GOP CONVENTION AFTER CHILD MURDERED: ‘SPEAKING FOR JOCELYN’ 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images/File)

The bill is named for Nungaray, who was killed last year. Two illegal immigrants face capital murder charges and are accused of luring her under a bridge, tying her up and killing her before throwing her body into a river. 

Officials confirmed they were in the country illegally. One arrived in March and the other in May. Both were released on an order of recognizance pending their immigration court hearings. 

“Last year, I began the fight for justice for 12-year-old Jocelyn. The aliens responsible for her murder crossed the southern border illegally and should have been detained by ICE,” Cruz told Fox News Digital.

“Democrats’ reckless open-border policies prevented ICE and Border Patrol agents from acting, left thousands of detention center beds empty, and allowed these criminals to go free. Congress should act with urgency to ensure no other American family ever has to endure what Jocelyn’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, has been forced to face,” he said. “Standing alongside Alexis in this fight for justice has been an immense privilege, and I will not stop fighting until our communities are safe and justice is served.”

“I am proud to join my Texas colleague in the Senate, Senator Ted Cruz, in reintroducing the Justice for Jocelyn Act,” Nehls said in a statement. “Jocelyn Nungaray’s death was entirely preventable. The Justice for Jocelyn Act would improve the detention and tracking of illegal aliens released into the United States and would put the safety of the American people first.” 

DA TO SEEK DEATH PENALTY AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ACCUSED IN NUNGARAY MURDER CASE 

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas (Nathan Howard/File)

“Congress, meaning the House and Senate, must immediately pass this legislation and get it to President Trump’s desk as soon as possible,” he said.

The bill is one of a number of bills being introduced in Congress that focuses on cracking down on illegal immigration. Last week, the House passed the Laken Riley Act, which would require the detention of illegal immigrants charged with theft-related crimes. It has also advanced in the Senate.

SENATE DEMS TO JOIN REPUBLICANS TO ADVANCE ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION BILL NAMED AFTER LAKEN RILEY

On Monday, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, re-introduced “Sarah’s Law,” which would require the detention by ICE of illegal immigrants charged with killing another person. 

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The incoming Trump administration is expected to launch a “historic” mass deportation operation when it enters office next week, and it will have the backing of Republicans in the House and Senate. 

A committee of the California legislature has indefinitely postponed its planned first hearing in a special session called to “Trump-proof” the state and bolster its legal defense in case of attacks from the incoming administration.

KCRA first reported that the Assembly Budget Committee’s Tuesday hearing, is now off the docket.

The committee’s chairman, Democratic Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, represents one of the districts impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires and is currently under evacuation orders. Democrats were previously hoping to have legislation passed by Inauguration Day.

LA COUNTY CUT FIRE BUDGET WHILE SPENDING HEAVILY ON DEI, WOKE ITEMS: ‘MIDNIGHT STROLL TRANSGENDER CAFE’

California’s Capitol in Sacramento (Visions of America/Joe Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

State lawmakers also made changes to legislation connected to former President Trump on Friday as the Los Angeles wildfires continue to ravage the region. They suggested creating a website to track lawsuits between California and the Trump administration, set guidelines for using $25 million in extra funding for the state Department of Justice’s legal battles, and proposed $25 million in grants for immigration services.

“This Special Session funding agreement cements California’s readiness to serve as a bulwark against Trump’s extremist agenda. During the last Trump Administration, California successfully defended reproductive freedoms, attacks on our immigrant communities, LGBTQ civil rights, and threats to our environment, from the unlawful assault launched by the Trump Administration,” Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener said in a press release. 

‘IS NOW THE RIGHT TIME … TO FIGHT DONALD TRUMP?’: CA HOUSE SPEAKER DODGES FIERY QUESTIONING FROM REPORTER

Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Ethan Swope/AP)

Shortly after Trump’s electoral victory, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a special legislative session to bolster the state’s legal fund in case of attacks from the Trump administration. 

Trump hit back at Newsom after the announcement, saying on his Truth Social account, “He is using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,’ but I just overwhelmingly won the Election.”

Between 2017 and 2021, California’s Department of Justice filed 122 lawsuits against Trump administration policies, spending $42 million. In one case, the federal government was ordered to repay California nearly $60 million in public safety grants, according to Newsom’s office.

‘DEVASTATING’: CALIFORNIA HAD RECORD RAINFALL LAST YEAR, BUT LACKED INFRASTRUCTURE TO STORE IT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom tours the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on Jan. 8, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

While California filed over 100 lawsuits, Trump’s administration only brought four major lawsuits against the state. In 2018, the Trump DOJ sued over three sanctuary state laws limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and over California’s state-level net neutrality law.

In 2019, Trump also filed a lawsuit against California’s vehicle emissions standards, attempting to revoke California’s ability to set its own emissions rules. The Trump administration also sued California over its controversial independent contractor law, AB 5, in 2020. 

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Fox News Digital did not hear back from Newsom’s office for comment by press deadline.

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has selected four top Republican allies to be part of his unofficial cabinet as he looks to make his own impression on the upper chamber after taking the mantle from longtime GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 

The new Republican leader has tapped Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, to advise him in his new role and sit in on key leadership meetings. 

McConnell had his own group of personally selected senators that joined him for meetings. At times, that included Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Katie Britt, R-Ala., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb.

SCHUMER DIRECTS DEMS TO TO PUT PRESSURE ON TRUMP NOMINEES AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION HEARINGS

Thune succeeded McConnell as Republican leader. (Getty Images)

Weekly leadership meetings are also routinely attended by elected leaders in the conference, such as Senate President Pro-Tempore Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Senate Republican Conference Chairman Cotton, Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Republican Conference Vice Chair James Lankford, R-Okla., and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C.

Each of the members of Thune’s new informal team brings their own style and priorities along with them. 

Marsha Blackburn

Blackburn brings with her the advantage of her ties to President-elect Trump and his sphere of influence. The Tennessee Republican has her finger on the pulse of the “Make America Great Again” movement and, in this capacity, can help keep the leadership team be as plugged in as possible. 

She can also attempt to bridge any gaps between the group of conservative Republicans that clashed with McConnell, namely Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, as Blackburn has aligned with them on several issues. 

In a statement, Blackburn told Fox News Digital, “My role helping Leader Thune will be to move forward the President’s nominees and ensure we are championing the President’s agenda in the Senate to Make America Great Again.” 

SENATE GOP TEES UP CONFIRMATION HEARING BLITZ IN EFFORT TO MEET AMBITIOUS TRUMP TARGETS

Each of Thune’s informal advisers bring different strengths to the table.  (Reuters)

Steve Daines

Fresh off of a stint as chairman of the NRSC, during which he helped elect a Republican Senate majority, Daines will also bring to the table his great relationship with Trump and the team he’s bringing with him to the White House. The senator also sits on the finance committee, which will be front and center during the tax debate that Trump has made one of his top priorities. Republicans are planning to extend key provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as they are set to expire this year. Daines will be a key medium between the committee and leadership and they work to accomplish Trump’s agenda. 

Also sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), the Montana Republican brings key knowledge of the intersection of policy and politics, as Trump and the GOP set out to accomplish as much as they can in the first 100 days of his administration—including action on several global issues. 

“Senate Republicans are ready to get to work enacting President Trump’s agenda of a secure border, lower taxes, safe cities, lower prices, affordable gas, an end to reckless spending and strong national security. I look forward to working with Leader Thune and the rest of our colleagues to deliver these wins to the American people,” Daines said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

TULSI GABBARD CHANGES TUNE ON CONTROVERSIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOL FOLLOWING GOP LOBBYING

Mullin is a key ally of Trump who is well connected in both the House and Senate. (Markwayne Mullin for Senate )

Markwayne Mullin

Mullin has made himself invaluable to his colleagues as a key link between Trump, the House of Representatives and the Senate. He was the first senator to publicly endorsed Thune for the leader role, and he previously was part of his deputy whip team. His solid relationship with Trump is expected to help guide relations between the chamber and the incoming president. Notably, Mullin was one of Trump’s 2024 campaign surrogates, traveling with both the president-elect and Vice President-elect JD Vance, as well as assisting Republican Senate candidates across the country. 

“It’s an honor to be included at Senator Thune’s leadership table,” Mullin told Fox News Digital in a statement. “From border security and slashing regulations to funding our military and extending tax relief, Leader Thune is the right person to lead the Senate effort to implement President Donald J. Trump’s America First agenda. I’m proud to be in this fight with him. As the Leader often says, ‘if someone else is in a better position to take the shot, you always make the extra pass.’ That’s how we intend to govern this majority. It’s all hands on deck to deliver for the American people, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve.”

‘DELAYING AND OBSTRUCTING’: TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN HITS BACK AS DEM CALLS FOUL ON TRUMP CONFIRMATION HEARINGS

John Cornyn

As a 22-year veteran senator and a former leadership member, Cornyn brings crucial experience to Thune’s leadership team. The Texas senator is a member of the all-important budget committee and is expected to make passing a budget and reining in federal spending one of his priorities in this capacity. He’s also a member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus, which will help facilitate the new advisory board announced by Trump. DOGE will be led by billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Now at the helm of the Senate, House and presidency, Republicans have their best shot in years to dictate spending levels. 

Cornyn has spent more than 22 years in the Senate. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In recent floor remarks, Cornyn outlined his priorities for this Congress. “We have an opportunity to pass huge wins for President Trump and more specifically, for the American people, and that comes first through the budget reconciliation process. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” he emphasized. 

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“We can’t let this go to waste by not taking this occasion to finally address our skyrocketing debt,” he said. 

Cornyn concluded, “We have a lot of work to do, but this is an incredible opportunity that I trust we will not squander.”