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Social media users erupted over President-elect Trump’s “dominating” handshake with French President Emmanuel Macron at their meeting in Paris Saturday.

Trump traveled to France to attend the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, his first international trip since winning the 2024 presidential election. Ahead of the event, Trump met Macron, and the two shook hands in a gesture that quickly went viral online.

“President Trump is back to dominating world leaders with his handshake,” one user, George, wrote in a post on X. “Macron is going to need a hand massage after all that twisting and pulling Trump did to him.”

TRUMP MEETS WITH MACRON, ZELENSKYY AHEAD OF THE NOTRE DAME REOPENING CEREMONY IN PARIS

“President Trump manhandles French President Emmanuel Macron with one of the most dominating handshakes I’ve ever seen,” said commentator Drew Hernandez. “We are so back.”

DAVID MARCUS: TRIUMPHANT TRUMP AT NOTRE DAME SIGNALS AMERICA AND THE WEST ARE BACK

Colin Rugg wrote, “7 years later and the handshake battle continues between Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron.”

During a meeting in 2017, during Trump’s first term in office, the two world leaders had a 29-second handshake and appeared to be tugging back and forth as they walked with their wives.

“The Trump-Macron handshake is hilarious,” author John Lefevre said in a post on X. “Because it happened twice. And you know Macron was told to prepare and probably practiced and then still got dominated.”

Trump’s handshakes with world leaders have gone viral over the years, including when he pulled in Russian President Putin’s arm during a handshake at the G-20 Summit in 2019.

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Trump attended the reopening ceremony alongside political figures, including first lady Jill Biden and Prince William.

As Pete Hegseth continues to rally support for his nomination to lead the Department of Defense, a conservative research group has compiled a list of “woke” senior officers they want him to sack should he be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) sent a letter to Hegseth with a list of 20 general officers or senior admirals whom it says are excessively focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and other similar left-wing initiatives. Eight of those 20 are women.

Those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity, and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity. AAF says that focusing on such policies is an impediment to national security, while some miliary leaders have expressed concern about the list.

DOZENS OF PROMINENT VETERANS SIGN ONTO LETTER SUPPORTING ‘OUTSTANDING’ HEGSETH NOMINATION AMID CONTROVERSIES

“The woke takeover of the military is a major threat to our national security,” AAF President Thomas Jones wrote in the letter to Hegseth dated Tuesday and first published by the New York Post.

“As global tensions rise, with Iran on the march, Russia at war, and China in the midst of a massive military buildup, we cannot afford to have a military distracted and demoralized by leftist ideology,” he added. “Those who were responsible for these policies being instituted in the first place must be dismissed.”

The term “woke” is often used in reference to progressive, politically correct stances on race, gender ideology and other hot-button topics.

The group posted on X that the woke leaders need to be fired on day one. “Wokeness has no place in the military,” the group wrote. 

On Friday, the AAF doubled down on its position. 

“Many don’t want to hear this, but it’s the truth: DEI in the military is going to get people killed. STOP IT NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE,” AAF posted on X.

Hegseth, a former Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has embraced Trump’s effort to end programs that promote diversity in the ranks and fire those who reflect those values. He has long railed against the military embracing DEI policies instead of meritocracy, complaining it also diverts focus away from war preparedness. 

TRUMP FLOATS DESANTIS AS POTENTIAL DEFENSE SECRETARY REPLACEMENT IF HEGSETH FALTERS

If confirmed to the role, Hegseth would be in charge of 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the military.

Some of those on the list include Air Force Col. Ben Jonsson, who penned an op-ed in July 2020 demanding his white colleagues “to give a damn” and “address our blind spots around race,” according to the letter.

Also in the AAF crosshairs is Navy vice admiral Jeffery Hughes, who spoke at DEI summit in 2022 and underscored the importance of DEI recruiting “exceptional talent.”

Air Force Maj. Gen. Elizabeth Arledge also made the list and was noted by AAF for making “woke posts” on her social media.

In one post, Arledge shared articles that featured “discussions of whiteness in org[anization] theory and the ways in which whiteness (verb) has become naturalized as the ideal in orgs.”

Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield was also listed and panned for a 2015 speech where she bemoaned that lawmakers in the House of Representatives at the time were 80% males, proclaiming that “our diversity is our strength.”

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, said in a statement that “No policy should be deemed official unless it comes directly from President Trump.”

A defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the list said senior leaders are hoping that once Trump is sworn in, they will be able to discuss the issue further. They are prepared to provide additional context to the incoming administration, the official told The Associated Press, which reports it is not publishing the names to protect service members’ privacy.

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that the list would have “considerable, wide and deep consequences.” He said when military members see people singled out, they will start focusing on their own survival rather than the mission or their job.

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Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump is reportedly considering nominating Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as defense secretary in place of Hegseth amid allegations against him.

But Hegseth brushed off the potential replacement, telling reporters that he was prepared to fight. 

“As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I’m going to be standing right here in this fight, fighting to bring our Pentagon back to what it needs to be,” he said. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

READ THE LETTER BELOW. APP USERS CLICK HERE.

The 13 members of the House’s bipartisan panel investigating the assassination attempt of President-elect Trump huddled around a microphone in the Rayburn House Office Building early Thursday afternoon. The task force had just concluded its hearing exploring what went wrong and how to fix problems at the Secret Service. 

“We tried to set the tone that this was going to be a serious and bipartisan effort,” said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the top Democrat on the task force. “And that’s exactly what you see here. And that’s exactly how it played out.”

“We never identified as Republicans or Democrats. We have identified as task force members,” declared Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Penn., who chaired the effort.

The committee forged common ground about how the Secret Service had failed its mission in Butler, Penn., when gunman Thomas Crooks nearly killed Mr. Trump. They are pleased with some reforms at the Secret Service, such as increased use of drones, automated robot “dogs” on the property of the incoming President’s golf club in Florida and enhanced communication with local law enforcement.

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

Bipartisan lawmakers also expressed frustration that they never got to examine the body of Crooks. They still haven’t determined a motive. Nor have they established whether Crooks worked alone or had help.

“The Department of Justice to this point has not provided this task force with information about the digital devices,” lamented Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., who served on the committee.

“And that’s still a black hole to this day?” asked yours truly.

“Correct,” replied Lee.

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe was the lone witness at the hearing.

He declared “there will be accountability and that accountability is occurring.” Yet he didn’t cite specific examples of discipline.

“It is essential that we recognize the gravity of our failure. I personally carry the weight of knowing that we almost lost a protectee,” added Rowe at the hearing. “I have reflected extensively on the agency’s substandard performance during the advance for the Butler rally.”

That’s all well and good. But no one will remember any of that. And in fact, no one will remember that the committee embodied one of the best examples of significant bipartisanship in Congress in years.

That’s because of a thermonuclear fracas which erupted between Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Tex., and Rowe.

I have covered Congress for decades. I’ve seen former Rep. Bob Walker, R-Penn., slam the gavel down so angrily that the head broke off and spiraled into the well of the chamber. I’ve seen a near fist-fight between lawmakers early in the morning of January 7, 2021, hours after the Capitol riot. Just last year, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., challenged Teamsters President Sean O’Brien to a fight during a hearing. Never mind that Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., chased former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., through the halls on the same day. Burchett said McCarthy elbowed him in the kidneys.

But I have never observed a verbal brawl between a lawmaker and a witness like the Fallon-Rowe tilt.

Both men utterly exploded in anger, barking at each other and jabbing their index fingers.

Various accounts said the two “sparred.” If this was sparring, then Ali versus Frazier was afternoon tea at the Willard.

“You are out of line!” thundered Rowe. “You are out of line, Congressman!”

“Don’t try to bully me!” fumed Fallon. “Don’t try to bully me!”

“Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!” yelled Rowe. “I was there out of respect!”

“Oh, that’s a bunch of horse hockey!” retorted Fallon. “You endangered President Biden’s life! Vice President Harris’s life, because you put those agents out of position!”

CONSERVATIVES WORRY CONGRESS WON’T HAVE ‘SPINE’ FOR SPENDING OVERHAUL AFTER DOGE MEETINGS

Anything of substance about improvements by the Secret Service or after-action reviews fell by the wayside. This was now the main event. And no one would recall much else.

Here’s some context on what lit the fuse to his melee:

From the dais, Fallon held up a picture of President Biden, Vice President Harris, President-elect Trump along with President-elect and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, standing at Ground Zero on 9/11 of this year. Fallon notes that Rowe is in the picture, near the principals. One photo displayed by Fallon even circled Rowe in red.

Fallon asked Rowe whether he was the “Special Agent in Charge” or “SAC” that day. That’s where things spiraled out of control.

“Actually, Congressman, what you’re not seeing is the SAC of the detail out of the picture’s view,” said Rowe.

His voice then grew gravelly with just a splice of disdain.

“That is the day where we remember the more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11,” said Rowe, his verbal timbre rising. “I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. I was there at Fresh Kills (Landfall in New York).”

That’s when Fallon sneered at Rowe.

“I’m not asking you that! I’m asking you if you were the Special Agent in Charge!” hollered Fallon.

“I was there to show respect!” countered Rowe. 

“You were not!” shot back Fallon.

INCOMING GOP SENATE MAJORITY LEADER UNVEILS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA FOR TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S 1ST 30 DAYS

Fallon asserted that Rowe was not serving as a true protective agent that day. He suggested that Rowe essentially shoved other agents out of the way for political purposes – endangering the lives of protectees.

“You know why you were there? Because you wanted to be visible, because you were auditioning for this job that you’re not going to get!” said Fallon.

He suggested that Rowe wanted the “acting” removed from his title.

“Did you have a radio with you? Did you wear a vest? Did you wear a weapon? No,” said Fallon.

“I did, sir!” growled Rowe.

Before the hearing, I asked Rowe whether he wanted to become the permanent Secret Service Director. He didn’t respond.

Fallon alleged that Rowe’s positioning asserts that the lives of President Biden and Vice President Harris were endangered. He implied that lessons have not been learned after the Butler, PA, assassination attempt.

After the hearing, Fallon claimed that Rowe’s positioning at the event was a “vanity project.”

I asked Fallon whether the verbal contretemps would “distract from the bipartisanship.”

“That wasn’t the intent,” Fallon replied.

Fallon pinned the blame on Rowe, saying “he started screaming.”

Rowe left the Capitol complex before reporters could ask for his take on the mayhem.

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I asked Fallon if there was anything else he should expect after the clash.

“If there’s a bag of heroin in my car, or I get a rope around my neck and get un-alive, you’ll know why,” said Fallon.

The Trump assassination attempt is already radioactive. And while the committee tried to focus on the failures and what had gone wrong, all that most people will remember is one of the most volatile quarrels in the history of Congressional hearings.

While Washington is enveloped in battles over President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees, a different but equally raucous appointments battle boiled over this week just 300 miles down US-1 from the nation’s capital.

North Carolina Republicans, seeing their veto-proof supermajority slip away by a single legislative seat in the state House, are trying to override outgoing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s disapproval of a bill that would move gubernatorial authority over the NC Board of Elections to the State Auditor’s office.

The Senate overrode the veto but not without an uproar that led to the gallery being cleared. The House is poised to attempt its complementary override, but the GOP’s plans have hit a snag there.

The proposal was part of a bill chiefly geared toward Hurricane Helene relief, and was lambasted by Democrats as a power grab, in part due to the fact the GOP flipped the executive branch office with Auditor-elect Dave Boliek – but failed to see their gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson best Gov.-elect Josh Stein.

NC OVERRIDES VETO OF ICE-TRUMP AGENCY COOPERATION

However, Robinson – as the Senate’s presiding officer – moved to clear the gallery after raucous protestations and chants of “Shame, Shame, Shame!” erupted above lawmakers preparing to vote on the veto override. Robinson has thus far had to do so twice, according to Carolina Public Press.

As the eventually successful vote was about take place, a woman shouted “[the law] destroys the will of the voter – it’s voter suppression!”

“It restructures the entire state constitution.”

Robinson, without raising his voice, spoke into his mic that the woman was “disrupting … the legislative process.”

When a gallery-watcher shouted that the bill lacked any “reasonable relief for hurricane victims,” Robinson banged his gavel and called out, “Clear the gallery.”

“Everybody’s gotta go,” he said, as police calmly ushered spectators out, threatening those who remained with arrest.

“You can bang that gavel,” one man was heard taunting Robinson as he left.

NC JUDGE SENDS PROSPECTIVE JUROR TO JAIL OVER COVID MASK VIOLATION

State Sen. Natasha Marcus, D-Huntersville, was heard on video captured by the Raleigh News-Observer calling out to Robinson that he could not clear the whole gallery, because many people were respectfully watching the vote, and saying the capitol is “the people’s house.”

Before he vetoed the bill, Cooper told NBC Charlotte that the legislation “really didn’t provide immediate and direct funding to western North Carolina” despite being labeled as Helene relief. He called it a “massive power grab.”

Jim Stirling, a research associate at the North Carolina-based John Locke Foundation, has done a deep dive into the controversy, and his group filed an amicus brief with lawmakers in a recent lawsuit related to the matter.

“It is not under the purview of the governor to execute all laws. The other executive agencies of the executive branch or indeed other executive elected officials are in charge of executing law. Not just the governor,” Stirling said.

“Under [Cooper’s] argument, he says effectively that all appointments must be under him because he’s in charge of executing the law, and he has the power of appointment on this.”

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Overriding the veto, however, could render part of the lawsuit moot, he said.

The lawsuit will “probably need to be restarted based on the argument that these appointments must be under the governor, not any other executive agency (like the auditor),” he said.

Neither Cooper nor Robinson responded to a request for comment. 

In moving election boards’ appointment power to the state auditor’s office, the state board’s activities would remain independent of Boliek and the executive branch, but his office would control its appointments and funding, according to NBC Charlotte.

What would change would be the current Democratic control of the elections board, an official told the outlet. The state auditor would also be able to appoint chairpersons in all 100 Tarheel State counties.

Currently, Cooper – and would-be Stein – also appoint the state board’s members, who must consist of three majority-party and two minority-party individuals.

Attempts to move appointment powers away from the governor’s office have been subject to lawsuits in recent months and years. The most recent ruling, in Cooper v. Berger, held that an attempt to move appointment powers to the legislature unlawfully infringed on the executive branch’s express power in that regard.

A prior case, McCrory v. Berger – bearing the name of Cooper’s predecessor, Republican Gov. Patrick McCrory – resulted in a state supreme court ruling holding that some appointments made by legislators violate separation of powers.

In the state House, three Republicans from the Helene-ravaged western part of the state voted against the bill, with one, Rep. Mark Pless of Canton, saying it had nothing “that was going to send money to the many needs in Western NC – it was simply moving money from one account to another.”

Pless, however, said the election board appointments portion appears “allowable by the legislature,” according to FOX-8. The veto-override in the lower chamber, therefore, could come up just short if the trio do not change their original positions.

FIRST ON FOX: Fresh off ousting longtime Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester, Republican Sen.-elect Tim Sheehy is outlining his priorities for the next Congress and outlining what his party’s agenda will look like in the Senate. 

“I ran to make Montana affordable again and make America strong again,” Sheehy, who defeated Tester in Montana by seven points in a key race that helped Republicans flip the Senate, told Fox News Digital about his plans to move forward President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda. 

“That means a secure border, safe streets, cheap gas, cops are good, criminals are bad, boys are boys, and girls are girls. For too long, status quo politics in Washington have led our country to the brink, and it is past time to rein in our runaway federal bureaucracy, cut waste, restore common sense, and build a transparent government that is actually accountable to everyday Americans.”

Sheehy said he plans to “strap rocket-boosters to the Trump agenda” when he takes office in January in order to “get our country back on track.”

JEFF BEZOS TELLS ELITE AUDIENCE HE’S ‘VERY OPTIMISTIC’ ABOUT TRUMP’S ANTI-REGULATORY AGENDA

“My promise to every Montanan is simple: As your senator, I will always fight for Montanans, put America First, and do the right thing in office because it’s the right thing for Montana and America.” 

Part of getting the country back on track, according to Sheehy, is immediate action at the southern border. 

“We’ve got to seal the border on day one, and that’s exactly what President Trump has vowed to do,” Sheehy said. “In the Senate, we must support the America First agenda and pass enduring legislation that will finally put an end to the senseless border crisis that flooded our communities with drugs and crime the last four years.” 

Republicans across the country campaigned on the economy and specifically the issue of inflation and raising costs, which Sheehy said would be a top focus for him in the Senate. 

INCOMING GOP SENATE MAJORITY LEADER UNVEILS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA FOR TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S 1ST 30 DAYS

“One of my top priorities is working to bring down prices for families and boost real wages for the hardworking Americans – farmers, miners, loggers, truck drivers, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters – who put food on our tables and keep our economy running,” Sheehy said. 

“That means we must bring back our resource economy, especially in Montana, because we do it better, safer, and more efficiently here in America than anywhere else, and we must unapologetically put an end to the radical, job-killing Green New Deal agenda that has devastated our forestry, mining, and energy exploration industries. We must unleash American energy across the board.” 

Sheehy told Fox News Digital that protecting public lands, a key issue in a state like Montana with large swaths of rural areas, will be at the top of the agenda. 

“Another key priority will be protecting our communities and public lands from wildfires,” Sheehy explained. 

“As recently as August, I was water-bombing fires and protecting our communities. I know firsthand the devastation wildfires can cause and have a unique perspective on how the federal government has failed on this issue. I will fight for Montanans to be able to better manage our own federal lands and ensure radical environmentalists aren’t steering our federal policy when it comes to public lands.” 

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Sheehy, a combat veteran, told Fox News Digital that when it comes to foreign policy, it is critical for the military to focus on winning wars as opposed to social issues. 

“As a combat veteran myself, who is married to a combat veteran, I know we must rebuild our military, ensure our forces are ready to fight and win wars, and prioritize combat lethality – not social initiatives – for our brave men and women in uniform to keep them and our great nation safe,” Sheehy said. 

Republicans will head into the next Congress holding a 53-47 Senate majority along with razor-thin control of the House of Representatives.

Trump reportedly called into a Tuesday meeting to speak with the Republican senators as they discussed legislative priorities, as he will have to work closely with the chamber to move forward his own agenda. 

“He was thrilled with his victory,” Sen. John Barrasso, R–Wyo., said of Trump’s call, the Hill reported. “We have a mandate and an opportunity to do the sorts of things that we campaigned upon in terms of lowering prices, in terms of the border, in terms of getting America back on track.”

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report

Former President Obama declared that if “one side” attempts to cement “a permanent grip on power” through “suppressing votes,” “politicizing” the military or weaponizing the judiciary and criminal justice system to target opponents, “a line has been crossed.”

His comments came even as many Americans believe that President-elect Trump has been unfairly targeted in unwarranted politically motivated cases. 

Obama made the comments during a speech on Thursday during the Obama Foundation’s Democracy Forum. The speech marked his first public remarks following the 2024 election.

“You see, it’s easy to give democracy lip service when it delivers the outcomes we want. It’s when we don’t get what we want that our commitment to democracy is tested,” he said.

‘DEPORTER-IN-CHIEF’ OBAMA SURPASSED DEPORTATIONS UNDER TRUMP’S FIRST TERM

During his first term in office, Trump was acquitted in the Senate after two separate but ultimately unsuccessful impeachment efforts, and in the wake of his White House tenure, he has been slapped with multiple indictments, which many viewed as lawfare against the Republican figure.

While some Republicans have advocated for President Biden to be impeached, the GOP has not done so, even with control of the House chamber.

During the speech, Obama also advocated for “pluralism.”

“It means that in a democracy we all have to find a way to live alongside individuals and groups who are different than us,” he said.

Obama’s remarks came after Biden made a comment earlier this year that many perceived as him referring to Trump supporters as “garbage.” In a post on X, Biden distanced himself from the remarks and claimed he was referring to the “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage” instead.

‘OBAMA BROS’ TRASH BIDEN FOR MAKING DEFENDERS LOOK ‘STUPID’ WITH HUNTER PARDON: ‘TYPICAL, LYING POLITICIAN’

Democrats have consistently launched invective against Trump — including Biden, who said that the Republican was a “genuine danger to American security” — but it was Trump who was the target of several assassination attempts in the run-up to the 2024 election.

Obama, in his remarks, insisted that he is “convinced that if we want democracy as we understand it to survive,” people must work for a renewed dedication to pluralist principles. 

“Because the alternative is what we’ve seen here in the United States and in many democracies around the globe: Not just more gridlock, not just public cynicism, but an increasing willingness” among “politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way, to use the power of the state to target critics, and journalists, and political rivals, and to even resort to violence” to obtain and retain power. 

OBAMA RELEASES ELECTION DAY VIDEO SAYING ‘THIS IS GOING TO BE CLOSE’

The former president added that bridge building represents the “best tool” to create “lasting change.”

“Pluralism is not about holding hands and singing ‘Kumbaya.’ It is not about abandoning your convictions and folding when things get tough. It is about recognizing that in a democracy power comes from forging alliances and building coalitions and making room in those coalitions not only for the woke but also for the waking,” he said.

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Obama served two consecutive terms spanning from early 2009 through early 2017, when he was succeeded by Trump.

Special Counsel Jack Smith is required to submit to the Justice Department a report summarizing the results of his dual investigations into President-elect Trump — an action that will put a formal end to his two-year probe and one that will punt all next steps, including whether to make public the results of the report, to outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Smith — a longtime prosecutor who worked in The Hague and at the Justice Department, including as chief of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section — was tapped by Garland in 2022 to investigate both the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Trump’s keeping of allegedly classified documents at his Florida residence. 

Justice Department regulations mandate that a special counsel submit to the attorney general a confidential report detailing the findings of their investigation after it is concluded, and explaining any prosecution or declination decisions they reached as a result of the probe.

In Smith’s case, the prosecution decision is immaterial, given Trump’s status as president-elect and longstanding Justice Department policy against bringing criminal charges against a sitting president. 

TIM WALZ ADMITS HE WAS SURPRISED BY ELECTION DEFEAT: ‘THOUGHT THE COUNTRY WAS READY’

But he still must outline the investigation and its findings in his report to Garland, who will then decide whether to share it publicly. 

Notably, Garland has opted to release the reports from two other special counsels whose investigations concluded during his tenure — publishing both the summary reports submitted by John Durham, who was tapped by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to review law enforcement and intelligence gathering during the 2016 presidential campaign and the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, as well as the final report from Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney whom he tapped in 2023 to investigate President Biden’s handling of classified documents.

These reports were made public at the same time as they were shared with members of Congress. But it is unclear whether Garland will move to do the same with Smith’s findings, given their sensitivity and Trump’s status as president-elect.

The Justice Department declined to respond to Fox News’s request for comment on the status of the report or whether Garland plans to share it publicly. 

Smith has long pointed to Dec. 2 as the deadline for his team to submit their final status reports to the federal judges in the D.C. and the 11th Circuit Courts summarizing the results of their investigations into the cases against Trump, which were dismissed without prejudice late last month.

Under Justice Department regulations, a special counsel is required at the conclusion of their work to “provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached.”

TRUMP’S AG PICK HAS ‘HISTORY OF CONSENSUS BUILDING’

Garland has the authority to decide whether to make Smith’s report public before Biden leaves office, or whether to punt it to the incoming Trump administration. 

It is unclear how he will act, however, and the Justice Department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for more information on the matter.

Smith had indicted Trump in D.C. earlier this year on charges stemming from the former president’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election outcome, and his team also brought federal charges against Trump in Florida in the classified documents case. 

Trump, for his part, had railed against the special counsel investigation as a politically motivated “witch hunt” and vowed during his presidential campaign to fire Smith “within two seconds,” if elected. Smith, for his part, is expected to resign before Trump’s inauguration, and his team of prosecutors has moved in recent weeks to wind down their cases against Trump.

‘IT’S A SETBACK’: DEMOCRATS CRITICIZE BIDEN OVER HUNTER PARDON

Late last month, Smith filed motions to vacate deadlines in both cases against Trump following his election, citing an Office of Legal Counsel memo that states it is against Department of Justice policy to investigate a sitting president for federal criminal charges and is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine. 

They have also cited a July Supreme Court decision that widened the criteria for immunity for sitting presidents.

Smith’s team stressed in their most recent court filing that their motion to vacate the case is based solely on the Office of Legal Counsel policy, and not on the merits of the investigation itself.

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“That prohibition 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 Government stands fully behind,” Smith’s office wrote in their motion to dismiss the election interference case.

“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed. But the circumstances have,” they added. 

President-elect Trump is in Europe this weekend for his first overseas trip since his commanding victory in last month’s presidential election.

Trump will meet with Emmanuel Macron after the French president invited him to attend Saturday’s star-studded VIP event for the official reopening of the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral, five years after a devastating fire wrecked the centuries-old Paris landmark.

First Lady Jill Biden will also attend the ceremonies, but it’s Trump who will be holding court with world leaders.

The president-elect’s appearance will serve as Trump’s unofficial return to the global stage, and it is another reminder that he is quickly becoming the center of the world’s attention.

TRUMP RETURNING TO EUROPE FOR FIRST TIME SINCE ELECTION

“This is without question a major moment in French history and the fact that Macron wanted to share it with Trump speaks to the significance of what Trump is achieving even before he gets to the Oval Office again, said Brett Bruen, a public affairs and strategic communications veteran, and former U.S. diplomat who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

“He is being feted quite literally in Paris with all the glitz and glamour,” Bruen, president of the Global Situation Room, added.

WHY BIDEN’S PARDON OF HIS SON HUNTER IS A POLITICAL GIFT FOR TRUMP

And Bruen and other analysts give credit to Macron for inviting Trump to this weekend’s festivities.

“This is a really smart move by Macron to get things rolling in the right direction when it comes to U.S.-French relations under Trump,” he said. “But let’s also not forget the fact that Macron is both badly weakened in his own country and on the European continent…[Macron] may see in Trump an opportunity to restore his lost luster as the European leader who can most effectively engage with the new American president.”

Trump has taken a slew of calls in the weeks since the November election from international leaders congratulating him on his White House victory. 

The trip to Paris comes a week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hastily made an unannounced stop in Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump after the president-elect threatened a trade war with Canada and Mexico. 

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS SAY THEY’RE THE ‘LAST LINE OF DEFENSE’ AGAINST TRUMP

Trump argued that Canada had failed to prevent large amounts of drugs and undocumented people from crossing the northern border into the U.S. and also pointed to America’s massive trade deficit with Canada.

According to reporting from Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump suggested to Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state.

Trump has also weighed in recently on a number of international conflicts. In the volatile Middle East, the president-elect warned this week in a social media post that there would be “ALL HELL TO PAY” if Hamas does not release all the hostages held in Gaza before he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

News of Trump’s invitation to Paris came earlier this week as President Biden was on a history-making trip to Angola, as he became the first American president to visit the sub-Saharan African nation.

But Biden, likely on his last overseas trip before Trump takes over in the White House next month, is already being overshadowed on the world stage by his predecessor and successor.

“While President-elect [Trump] is still weeks away from taking the oath of office, loyalties and the attention of world leaders has shifted to the incoming President and from Washington to Mar-a-lago with breathtaking speed,” Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and president of New England College, told Fox News.

Matt Mowers, a veteran GOP national public affairs strategist and former diplomat at the State Department during Trump’s first administration, made the case that “Biden’s essentially been a lame duck” for months and that “world leaders have been shifting their gaze to the next administration.

While members of the Biden White House would likely disagree with such sentiments – especially after the current administration played a large role in hammering out the cease-fire that halted fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah – it is undeniable that world leaders have already started to engage directly with the incoming president and administration.

While the spotlight traditionally shifts from the outgoing to the incoming president, Mowers argued that “it is more pronounced this time because the difference in the Biden and Trump approach to foreign policy is so different.”

Mowers emphasized that Trump is already aiming “to shape world events” by “being bold, not timid, in the statements he’s putting out, and the world is already reacting to that kind of American strength.”

“World leaders that want to get something done… have to engage with Trump,” he added.

Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist who served at the State Department during Trump’s first term, told Fox News that “the world is demanding leadership” and that “the Oval Office has been replaced by Mar-a-Lago.”

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Lesperance, pointing to Biden’s swing through Africa, noted that lame duck presidents’ final weeks are “usually filled with celebratory moments and efforts to cement one’s legacy. Often the focus is on their role on the world stage on behalf of America and its allies.’

However, he argued that “Biden’s pronouncements on Ukraine, Gaza and the importance of climate change go largely ignored by world leaders. Instead, they focus on Trump’s picks for his foreign policy team and pronouncements about changes in U.S. foreign policy position. It’s pretty evident that while Biden attempts a victory tour, the world has turned the page.”

In 2025, the Trump administration and Congress are poised to represent a significant realignment of political power, moving its focus from the East and West coasts to the heartland after decades of coastal dominance.

Republicans chose Sen. John Thune of South Dakota as majority leader of the upper legislative chamber.

President-elect Trump nominated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead Homeland Security and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as secretary of the interior. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., figures to hold a top cybersecurity subcommittee post.

In that regard, Dakota State University President José-Marie Griffiths, who has advised Noem, Burgum and other regional figures, particularly on cybersecurity issues, said it’s about time the region received attention.

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“These people all have a worldview that’s much larger than just the middle of the country, obviously. But it’s nice to know that the voices of the people in this part of the country will be heard and presumably considered and taken into account on a larger scale,” she said.

During Bill Clinton’s first run for president, his top strategist James Carville called Pennsylvania “Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in the middle,” which led to “Pennsyltucky” becoming part of the national lexicon as a punchline.

Recent legislative leaders also hailed largely from California and New York with Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell being an exception.

In her interview with Fox News Digital, Griffiths added that the idea of bringing more prominence both institutionally and occupationally to the heartland does have a few proponents on the coasts.

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She noted Rep. Ro Khanna’s past comments about expanding his district’s “Silicon Valley” economy to other underserved parts of the country. The Democrat visited rural Kentucky and West Virginia to support emerging tech programs and to study how the private sector and federal funds can enhance such efforts.

“No person should be forced to leave their hometown to get a new economy job,” Khanna previously said.

On Friday, Griffiths added that in the 7,000-person town of Madison, South Dakota, where she lives and works, people are happy with their environs and don’t wish to relocate to Khanna’s California or commercial hubs like New York with its population of 8.3 million.

“We have a tremendous number of really good young people in this part of the world,” she said. “They want to [stay] here, and we want to make sure that there’s opportunity for them to do the kinds of work that they’re well qualified for.”

Griffiths isn’t the only South Dakotan anxious to see what the new year brings for her region.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., who represents the entire state in Congress, spoke briefly on the matter after a meeting with DOGE figureheads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy Thursday.

One proposal from DOGE proponents is to shift bureaucratic power outside of Washington, D.C., to areas where its work is relevant and people can interact better with agencies.

“The U.S. Forest Service should be moved to Rapid City, South Dakota,” Johnson said.

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“The Black Hills of South Dakota offer an incredible natural resource, and it is a forest that has faced all of the major challenges facing our forests across this country. I would tell you the people in the Black Hills love that forest, and they want to make sure that it exists for generations.”

Johnson said it would be easier to move the agency, founded by former Pennsylvania Republican Gov. Gifford Pinchot and long anchored in Washington, closer to the areas it affects.

Meanwhile, Griffiths said that with Noem potentially succeeding Alejandro Mayorkas, a South Dakotan will be primed to shift more attention to the issue of cybersecurity in the regionally relevant agriculture sector.

“Not only does she have the borders to protect, but there’s a strong cybersecurity component to her mandate there. And then Doug being in Interior and chairing that Energy Council energy consortium will be very, very interesting because that also goes to support the efforts in terms of having the United States retain its lead role in new and emerging technologies,” Griffiths said, noting DSU is a STEM university.

To the north, Mark Jorritsma of the North Dakota Family Alliance, which works to “strengthen faith, family and freedom” and works closely with state leaders, said he is also encouraged by the federal leadership shift.

“We are excited that the Dakotas will have an even more significant influence on the path our country takes,” Jorritsma said Friday.

“President-elect Trump continues to show his support for things that have made our country great — an abundance of resources and energy, the importance of the agricultural sector and an emphasis on faith, family and freedom.

“We look forward to strong leadership by these individuals, representing not only the Midwest, but advancing the values that have been foundational to the success of our entire nation.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Burgum, Noem, Rounds and Thune, but did not receive responses by press time. 

The National Police Association (NPA) announced on Friday its endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, praising his record of “transparency” and “accountability” they say makes him well-positioned to head up the nation’s sprawling law enforcement agency. 

In a statement Friday, the NPA—a nonprofit group that represents more than 240,000 U.S. police officers— praised Patel’s “distinguished career” both as a former federal prosecutor and legal liaison to the Joint Special Operations Command.

“The law enforcement community knows that effective leadership at the FBI is essential for building public trust and enhancing coordination across all levels of policing,” the group said. “Kash Patel’s proven record of leadership, expertise in counterterrorism and intelligence, and ability to navigate complex legal and operational challenges make him the ideal candidate to restore faith in the FBI’s mission and ensure it remains a steadfast ally to our nation’s police forces.

“We are confident that under his stewardship, the FBI will thrive in its vital mission to protect and serve the American people,” the group added.

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Patel is a close ally of the president-elect and served in the first Trump administration both as a deputy assistant and as the senior director for counterterrorism. 

Trump announced earlier this month that he plans to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and nominate Patel as his replacement. Wray could also voluntarily vacate the position on his own before Trump’s inauguration, though he has not yet said whether he plans to do so.

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“This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social announcing his plans to nominate Patel.

Still, replacing a sitting FBI director is a controversial move. FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms, allowing them, in theory, to operate without political pressure and interference from a sitting president.

Trump also selected Wray during his first term as president to replace former FBI Director James Comey, whom he fired less than four years into his tenure. Trump praised Wray at the time as a “fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity.”

Patel’s nomination has also sparked criticism from some circles, who have cited his earlier vows to prosecute journalists and career officials at the Justice Department and FBI that he sees as being part of the “deep state.”

Those fears were not shared by the NPA, however. In their statement, the group said Patel’s appointment would mark a “pivotal moment for law enforcement and public safety across the United States.”

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His leadership “will bring a renewed focus on collaboration, ethical standards, and the relentless pursuit of justice,” they said.

President Biden participated in the national Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Washington D.C. on Thursday night in what will be his last time attending the annual event before he exits the White House next year to make way for President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office.

“Merry Christmas America!” Biden declared during remarks at the tree-lighting event.

Freelance photographer Andrew Leyden shared photos of the ceremony, writing on X, “As he left the National Christmas Tree lighting, @POTUS removed his stocking cap, bent over to look at the press and then asked ‘You’re still here?’ It was very cold and windy tonight.” 

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“For a bit of context– as the night went on and temperatures dipped, Biden put on a wool stocking cap. When it came off static electricity + wind. It happens,” he noted in another post.

“Biden’s entire presidency summed up in a hairdo,” one X user quipped.

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Biden — whose decades-long Washington career has spanned more time than the length of some Americans’ entire lives — in 1987 commented on a Washington Post piece that suggested he had undergone a hair transplant. 

“Guess,” Biden said when asked to confirm the matter, according to the outlet. “I’ve got to keep some mystery in my life.”

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While Biden suggested prior to the presidential election that Trump represented a “genuine danger to American security,” the outgoing president is slated to attend Trump’s inauguration next month.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the progressive Democrat from New York, has launched a bid to serve in the top Democratic role on the House committee leading investigation efforts into the federal government.

In a letter to her fellow lawmakers on Friday, AOC announced her candidacy to serve as ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability for the 119th Congress, a position currently held by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

The “Squad” member, in her pitch to colleagues, noted that her focus would be to lead a Democratic effort against the incoming administration under President-elect Trump.

“This is not a position I seek lightly,” the congresswoman wrote in the letter. “The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one. Now, more than ever, we must focus on the Committee’s strong history of both holding administrations accountable and taking on the economic precarity and inequality that is challenging the American way of life.”

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“In the 119th Congress, Oversight Committee Democrats will face an important task: we must balance our focus on the incoming president’s corrosive actions and corruption with a tangible fight to make life easier for America’s working class,” she continued. 

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AOC’s announcement comes just days after Raskin, the committee’s current ranking member, announced he would be seeking the top Democratic post again during the next Congress.

AOC will also be competing for the seat against Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who recently declared his bid for the Oversight role.

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Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., currently serves as chairman of the committee, which focuses on ensuring efficiency and accountability within the federal government and its agencies. 

Republicans have big plans for spending cuts next year, but some GOP lawmakers are doubting Congress can muster the momentum for significant changes.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom President-elect Trump tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory panel on cutting spending and the national debt, were on Capitol Hill Thursday for a series of meetings with lawmakers on how Congress and the White House can work together to achieve that goal.

And while that advisory panel is chiefly aimed at what executive actions Trump could take, lawmakers are conceding that significant, lasting change must be achieved through legislation. And some Republicans are skeptical they can get there.

“The problem’s in that room,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., referring to other GOP lawmakers who met with Musk and Ramaswamy. 

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“These guys, you know, they talk real tough,” but they did not vote in ways he believed showed they were serious about cutting spending.

“You don’t see a lot of that. Now, when is that going to start? Is it going to start just because Elon and Vivek [address us]?” Burchett asked. “I just worry about us losing steam. … We’ve got to get some guts, and people have got to hold us accountable.”

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Retiring Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., told Fox News “a lot of members” stood up to suggest ways to “save money” during Thursday afternoon’s brainstorming session with Republicans and the DOGE duo.

“One would think more of them would have been willing to vote, cast votes on the floor of the House in order to do those things early,” Bishop added.

The DOGE discussions have opened up longstanding wounds within the House GOP, whose members spent a significant amount of the 118th Congress battling among themselves over how to navigate government funding and other fiscal issues. 

The national debt recently surpassed $36 trillion.

A senior House GOP aide expressed optimism about the new goal but added that Musk and Ramaswamy were “swinging for the fences.”

“The hard part is once they find the stuff to cut, I think it’s Congress who has to do the actual cutting, right?” the aide said.

Another senior GOP aide said, “The mission of DOGE is worthy and absolutely necessary, but nothing is going to change. We aren’t going to cut spending like we [have to] to get our fiscal house in order, and we aren’t going to slash waste at any significant level.”

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Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, also skeptical, told Republicans at Thursday’s meeting they needed to “grow a spine” to actually move meaningful spending cuts.

“I’ve said to my colleagues, ‘If you can’t print money, if, literally, it was banned today, what would you do?’ You would do what you do for your home budget. You would say, ‘Well, we can’t take a vacation here. I can’t get a fancy new car because I need to get braces for my child,'” Roy told WMAL radio host Larry O’Connor.

“We don’t ever do that, and, until we do, all of the DOGE waste-cutting in the world won’t help. We’ve got to do both. We need the waste-cutting, but we need Congress to grow a spine.”

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Some Republicans are skeptical of having Musk and Ramaswamy lead the charge.

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“They had no game plan — a wish list that they’re giving to Santa and the American people that will never be even remotely accomplished,” one GOP lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital of Thursday’s meeting.

The GOP lawmaker called DOGE a “magical department that has been erected out of thin air,” and pointed out its logo was heavily inspired by a cryptocurrency known as “dogecoin” that Musk has backed.

“They’re going to run into a brick wall called ‘members of Congress who know how to do our job,’” the lawmaker said.

The University of Michigan is the latest public university to dismantle its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) as part of its faculty requirements, making it one of several universities this year to roll back DEI initiatives.

“The University of Michigan will no longer solicit diversity statements as part of faculty hiring, promotion and tenure,” the school said in a news release Thursday.

University of Michigan Provost Laurie McCauley announced the decision to stop using the diversity statements following an Oct. 31 recommendation from a faculty working group, the university said. The group reportedly criticized the statements “for their potential to limit freedom of expression and diversity of thought on campus.”

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“As we pursue this challenging and complex work, we will continuously refine our approach,” McCauley said.

The university chose not to implement two other recommendations from the working group: integrating DEI content into teaching, research and service statements, and enhancing training on how to write and assess them.

Several other public universities this year have also rolled back their DEI initiatives and requirements. 

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Following Senate Bill 17 being signed into law this year, Texas public universities eliminated DEI offices, DEI-related positions and mandatory DEI training. This included layoffs and restructuring at institutions like the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M. 

The University of North Carolina system redirected millions from DEI initiatives to public safety and discontinued DEI programs on campuses in May. The state also prohibited mandatory diversity statements for job applications in academia​.

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Iowa’s three public universities — the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa — began eliminating DEI offices and reallocating funds after a state law was passed earlier this year.

Last year, Florida’s restrictions on DEI in public universities were part of a broader set of education reforms implemented under Gov. Ron DeSantis, following the passage of legislation targeting DEI programs.

Universities aren’t the only institutions rolling back DEI initiatives, and during his campaign, President-elect Trump vowed to eliminate DEI programs in federal agencies. In 2020, then-President Trump issued an executive order to ban “divisive” training for federal contractors. And the House Oversight Committee held a hearing last month about dismantling DEI policies. 

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“It is a multibillion-dollar industry that pushes a left-wing, far-left ideological orthodoxy in essentially every area of American life, which is why I’ve begun to call it the ‘DEI enterprise,’ instead of just DEI, so that people have a sense of what I’m talking about,” Devon Westhill, a constitutional and civil rights attorney, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris administration has encouraged DEI initiatives across several sectors of the federal government. In 2021, President Biden widened an executive order directing agencies to assess and “remove barriers” to equal opportunity through DEI policies. Another executive order signed that year was a government-wide initiative to embed DEI principles in federal hiring.

President-elect Trump expressed public support for embattled defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth Friday, and the nominee said he had a “substantive conversation” with Sen. Joni Ernst. 

Hegseth, a former National Guard officer, has been meeting with Republican senators this week to rally support as allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking have surfaced. He has denied any wrongdoing. 

Ernst has not committed to voting for Hegseth. 

“Looks like Pete is doing well now,” Trump told Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” Friday. “I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He’s a young guy with a tremendous track record, actually. Went to Princeton, went to Harvard. He was a good student at both, but he loves the military. And I think people are starting to see it. So, we’ll be working on his nomination along with a lot of others.”

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Trump confirmed he still has confidence in Hegseth.

“He’s a very smart guy,” Trump said. “I’ve known him through Fox, but I’ve known him for a long time. I mean, he’s basically a military guy. I mean, every time I talk to him, all he wants to talk about is the military.”

Trump said that while he didn’t have assurances from senators that his nomination would be confirmed, he believes he will get it through. 

“I’ve had a lot of senators calling me up saying he’s fantastic,” Trump said. 

Asked by Welker about the allegations of excessive drinking, Trump said, “Well, I’ve spoken to people that know him very well, and they say he does not have a drinking problem.” 

INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY ADDRESSES TRUMP’S SUPPORT OF HEGSETH

Trump also supported Hegseth on Truth Social on Friday, writing, “Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep. He was a great student – Princeton/Harvard educated – with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that.”

Hegseth wrote on his X account Friday: “I just had another substantive conversation with Senator Ernst, I appreciate her sincere commitment to defense policy, and I look forward to meeting with her again next week.”

Ernst also called their meeting “constructive” on her account, adding that the two plan to meet again next week. 

“Pete Hegseth and I will continue our constructive conversations as we move forward together in this process. We plan to meet again next week. At a minimum, we agree that he deserves the opportunity to lay out his vision for our warfighters at a fair hearing,” she said. 

Vice President-elect JD Vance also told reporters Friday that Hegseth has the incoming administration’s full support and won’t face a “sham hearing before the American media.”

TRUMP FLOATS DESANTIS AS POTENTIAL DEFENSE SECRETARY REPLACEMENT IF HEGSETH FALTERS

“Pete Hegseth is going to get his hearing before the Senate Armed Forces Committee, not a sham hearing before the American media,” Vance told reporters while in North Carolina. “We believe Pete Hegseth is the right guy to lead the Department of Defense. That’s why Trump nominated him. We’re not abandoning this nomination.

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“I fully support Pete. I think Pete’s going to get confirmed, and we are completely behind him. I have talked to Joni [Ernst]. I’ve talked to a number of my colleagues about this nomination and about other nominations. All I’m asking is people actually allow the Senate nomination process to work. We do not determine important government officials based on anonymous sourcing from the American media.”

San Diego County will soon vote on a resolution to block all county cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including letting them know about the release of criminal illegal immigrants — coming just weeks before the Trump administration is expected to launch a historic deportation campaign.

The resolution would go further than the state’s sanctuary law, which generally limits law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE, and represents a hardline stance against all cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. 

The new resolution, which will see a vote on December 10 as part of the county’s “commitment to social justice and inclusion,” will say that the county will not provide assistance or cooperation to ICE “including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use County facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes, expending County time or resources responding to ICE inquiries or communicating with ICE regarding individuals’ incarceration status or release dates, or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities.”

ANOTHER MAJOR BLUE CITY DOUBLES DOWN ON VOW TO OBSTRUCT TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION PLAN

“When federal immigration authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Border Patrol, coerce local law enforcement to carry out deportations, family members are separated and community trust in law enforcement and local government is destroyed,” an overview of the resolution claims. “Witnesses and victims who are undocumented or who have loved ones who are undocumented are afraid to come to the County for help, which includes calling local law enforcement. This puts the public safety of all San Diegans at risk.”

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas said that California’s current sanctuary laws restricting ICE deportations don’t go far enough.

“While the California Values Act significantly expanded protection from deportation to California residents, it fell short of protecting all residents, because it allowed agencies to still notify ICE of release dates and transfers individuals to ICE without a warrant in some circumstances,” she said.

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She argues that the “loophole” has resulted in some illegal immigrants being transferred to ICE custody or ICE being notified of their release. The resolution is similar to a 2019 policy adopted in Santa Clara County.

“By avoiding active cooperation with ICE, including through specific notification to ICE of the release dates of immigrants, the County avoids treating a group of individuals differently solely on the basis of their immigration status,” she says.

Republican San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who opposes the resolution, says he believes the resolution will pass, given the Democratic makeup of the board of supervisors. He said he believed the move was in line with a broader effort by the state to “Trump-proof” the state, and called it a “knee-jerk” reaction. 

“This is going to really impede different agencies and working together to make sure that everyone’s safe, even the immigrants that are here now that have come across the border. This is going to hurt their communities even worse,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“I think this is going to allow more criminals who are here illegally to stay in San Diego County, and to get away with these kinds of crimes to where law enforcement can’t work with immigration or with ICE on a much broader group of crimes. So, it’s going to allow more rampant crime here and make our cities and our communities less safe.”

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Multiple officials at state and local level across the U.S. have said they will not cooperate with the upcoming deportation campaign by the new Trump administration. In Boston this week, the city council unanimously voted for a resolution to protect illegal immigrants from “unjust enforcement actions” and restricting Boston police from cooperating with ICE. 

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However, some Republican states have said they will help the administration in its plans, with Texas going a step further and offering land on which to stage the deportation operation.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was bombarded with questions from reporters in the first televised press briefing since President Biden pardoned son Hunter Biden.

She also spoke to reporters earlier this week from Air Force One. 

“The statement that he put out on Sunday when he made this decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, it’s in his own voice,” Jean-Pierre said after she was asked about Hunter Biden’s pardon by an Associated Press reporter. 

“I think it takes you through his thinking. And he did. He wrestled with this. He wrestled with this, and again, he said in his statement, in his own voice, that he made that decision this past weekend.” 

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The president and Jean-Pierre said unequivocally when asked over the summer that the president would not pardon his son. 

Jean-Pierre insisted “circumstances have changed.”

“Republicans said they weren’t going to let up, weren’t going to stop,” she said. “Recently announced Trump appointees for law enforcement have said on the campaign that they were out for retribution, and I think we should believe their words, right? We should believe what they say.” 

She added that the president said in his statement that Hunter and the Biden family had been through “enough.”

“And he wrestled with these circumstances, the change in circumstances, ultimately, and the combination of that … certainly led to the president changing his mind and issuing this pardon,” she explained. 

But reporters continued to press her on the issue, asking whether the American people were owed an apology. Jean-Pierre appeared to evade the question, instead urging people to read the president’s statement. 

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“He wrestled with it,” she reiterated. “He wrestled with it and made this decision. That’s what I can tell the American people.

“I think the American people understand, and I think they understand how difficult this decision would be. And I would actually add, and I think it’s important to note here, as you’re asking me these questions — important questions to ask — that there was a poll, a U.S. Gov poll that came out that, some of you all reported on it.

“And it said 64% of the American people agree with the pardon — 64% of the American people. So, we get a sense of where the American people are on this. Obviously, it’s one poll, but it gives you a little bit of insight. Sixty-four percent is nothing to sneeze at.” 

She noted that some legal experts have said “no one would be criminally prosecuted with felony offenses with these facts,” claiming Hunter Biden was politically targeted.

Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony charges related to illegally owning a gun while being a drug user. He also pleaded guilty in a federal tax case. 

She was also asked if the president has concerns about his credibility regarding the pardon and about allegations he “misled the public.” 

“Virtually no one would be criminally prosecuted with family offenses, with these facts. Whether it’s absent aggravated factors, similar charges are rarely brought,” she said, again pointing to Biden’s statement.

One reporter also noted that Biden has received “swift criticism” from members of his own party who call it a “setback,” worrying that President-elect Trump and Republicans could use the pardon against them in the future. 

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“He’s going to focus on the American people,” Jean-Pierre responded when asked if he felt the need to respond to Democratic criticism. 

Texas Democratic Rep. Greg Casar, the newly elected chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, spent years as a City Council member in Austin and led the charge to strip funding from local law enforcement — at one point bragging about it on social media.

“We did it!!” Casar wrote on X after legislation he drafted in the Austin City Council passed, resulting in a more than $100 million cut in local police funding and an end to three incoming cadet classes. The measure passed unanimously in 2020 after a stint of police shootings involving people of color. 

Casar on Thursday was elevated to the highest-ranking leadership position for progressives in the House of Representatives, following a unanimous vote from his peers in the caucus. The move comes as Democrats continue to conduct a forensic analysis following the election, many of whom have called on the party to take a more centrist approach in the future. 

Casar’s history as a public official, particularly at the local level, does not illustrate moderation, according to Dennis Farris, president of the Austin Police Retired Officers Association. 

“‘Far-left radical’ is a really good way to describe what he did in [Austin],” said Farris.

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In 2017, Casar led a charge to reject a mutually agreed upon contract between the City of Austin and the Austin Police Association, setting off a wave of retirements and hiring issues due to the uncertainty around job security and benefits for officers. Meanwhile, in 2020, Casar led the drafting of legislation to strip more than $100 million in funding to the police department, which included the elimination of funding from three planned police cadet classes. Instead, the reallocated funds went to programs related to abortion access, affordable housing and food security. 

Shortly thereafter, the City of Austin began redirecting certain 911 calls to mental health professionals. Additionally, last year, a shortage of officers compelled police in Austin to ask residents to dial 311, instead of 911, if they got robbed near an ATM. 

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During his time as a City Council member in Austin, Casar also authored two “Freedom City” resolutions, which eliminated the use of discretionary arrests for certain non-violent crimes and required police to inform people that they are legally allowed to deny requests for immigration papers. Other policies Casar supported in his position as City Council member included a ban on non-lethal police munitions and certain chokeholds.

As a member of Congress, Casar has continued putting pressure on Austin’s police officers, as well. 

Last year, he called on the Department of Justice to conduct oversight into “the Department’s policies and practices of excessive and lethal use of force, racial discrimination, and discrimination against people with mental health conditions.”

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“There was a thought in 2020 that the Democrats were actually going to flip the Texas House, and Casar was used in several campaign ads by Republicans all over the state. Democrat friends of mine thought the ‘defund the police movement’ was the reason that Democrats didn’t win,” Farris said. “I’ve spoken to several Democratic friends of mine, and they will tell you that [Casar] was a hindrance to the state-level Democrats in 2020.”

Following last month’s elections, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was among a score of Democratic lawmakers who argued the party has lost its centrist, working-class base.

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“There is more to lose than there is to gain politically from pandering to a far left that is more representative of Twitter, Twitch, and TikTok than it is of the real world,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said following the election. “The working class is not buying the ivory-towered nonsense that the far left is selling.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the same day as Casar’s caucus election victory, NBC News published a story about the sophomore congressman in which he echoed much of the analysis from other Democrats that an intra-party shift is necessary.   

“We are now at a place where we have to put winning way above being right all the time,” he told the outlet. “It’s less of a left-right fight and more of a getting back to a Democratic Party that’s for everyday people, no longer being seen as preachy or disconnected.”

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Nonetheless, during a press conference following his victory, Casar said, “If the Democratic Party was a little more like Chairwoman [Washington Rep. Pramila] Jayapal and a little less like [West Virginia Sen.] Joe Manchin, I think we would have won this election.” Jayapal is the outgoing chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has similarly led efforts to defund the police.

Fox News Digital reached out to Casar’s office for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.

President-elect Trump announced last week that he intends to nominate former White House aide and longtime ally Kash Patel to serve as FBI director, potentially making him the only U.S. president to have fired and installed two separate FBI directors in the middle of their 10-year terms. 

“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Trump said in a social media post announcing his intent to nominate Patel for FBI director. 

“He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.”

Patel is a close ally of the president-elect and served in the first Trump administration both as a deputy assistant and as the senior director for counterterrorism. He was endorsed on Friday by the National Police Association, which praised Patel’s record of “transparency” and “accountability” that it said makes him well-positioned to head up the nation’s sprawling law enforcement agency. 

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Still, news of Trump’s plans to nominate Patel was met with criticism — if not shock — from others in the law enforcement community. 

That’s because replacing a sitting FBI director is a controversial move that breaks with the express purpose of the role, which, under post-Watergate laws, mandated that directors are nominated for 10-year terms: an express length of time designed to allow the directors — at least in theory — to operate outside political pressure or interference from a sitting president.

Trump sent shock waves through the law enforcement community in 2017 when he fired then-FBI Director James Comey, who at the time was less than four years into his 10-year term. Trump also personally selected current FBI Director Christopher Wray — whom he praised at the time as a “fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity” — to replace him.

For Trump to install Patel as FBI director, two things must happen: Wray must exit the job, and Patel must earn Senate confirmation. 

How Wray will leave remains unclear. 

He could opt to voluntarily vacate the position on his own before Trump’s inauguration, though he has not yet said whether he plans to do so. If Wray does not voluntarily vacate his position, Trump could be the only president in U.S. history to have fired and installed two separate FBI directors.

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Patel must also be confirmed by the Senate, though it is likely that the Republican-led chamber will move to approve him for the role.

Patel’s nomination has sparked early criticism from some Democrats ahead of his confirmation hearing, who have cited his previous vows to prosecute journalists and career officials at the Justice Department and FBI that he sees as being part of the “deep state.” He has since attempted to clarify some of those remarks.

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Only one other FBI director has been fired in U.S. history: William Sessions, a Reagan appointee who was widely disliked both for being an ineffective leader and for using his post to commandeer limousines and private government flights for personal business, among other things.