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President Donald Trump said he will not drop tariffs on China to get Beijing to come to the negotiating table. 

The president discussed his stance on the tariffs, which he defended, in an interview with NBC’s “Meet The Press” recorded Friday from his Mar-a-Lago estate. He claimed that 

“They said today they want to talk. Look, China, and I don’t like this. I’m not happy about this. China’s getting killed right now,” Trump told host Kristen Welker. “They’re getting absolutely destroyed. Their factories are closing. Their unemployment is going through the roof. I’m not looking to do that to China now. At the same time, I’m not looking to have China make hundreds of billions of dollars and build more ships and more Army tanks and more airplanes.” 

“You’re not dropping the tariffs against China to get them to the negotiating table?” Welker asked. 

Trump responded, “No.”

CHINA OPEN TO TALKS WITH TRUMP ADMIN ON LOWERING TARIFFS, MINISTRY SAYS

President Donald Trump speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House during an event on “Investing in America” on April 30, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Trump was joined by CEOs to highlight their companies during the event.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“At some point, I’m going to lower them, because otherwise you could never do business with them,” he added later. “And they want to do business very much like their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.” 

Trump pushed back on the premise of Welker’s question about whether he’d consider relief for small businesses. The president said the NBC host should consider larger businesses, such as the car industry, that “are going to make a fortune” because of his tariff plan. Trump also declined to rule out making some tariffs permanent, claiming the U.S. could expect $9 trillion worth of new investments since he took office. 

CHINESE OFFICIAL REPORTEDLY SEEKING TALKS WITH TRUMP ON FENTANYL INGREDIENTS AMID TRADE WAR

He noted that Apple and other tech companies, as well as automobile companies, such as Toyota, Honda, General Motors and Stellantis, have made multi-billion-dollar commitments to bring their plants to the United States. 

The Chinese government has assembled a list of American products that would be exempt from its 125% tariffs on U.S. goods, Reuters reported last week. Beijing already has exemptions for some U.S. pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines. 

Trump also declined to rule out a potential recession in the short term, though he promised the “greatest economic boom in history.”

“Is it okay in the short term to have a recession?” Welker asked. 

“Look, yeah. . . . Everything’s okay,” Trump responded, arguing that the U.S. economy is in a “transition period” and “we’re going to do fantastically.” 

“Are you worried about a recession?” Welker asked.

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping

To that, Trump responded flatly, “No.” 

“Are you worried it could happen? Do you think it could happen?” she pressed. 

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“Anything can happen,” Trump said. “But I think we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country. I think we’re going to have the greatest economic boom in history.” 

Democrats rallying around illegal immigrant KIlmar Abrego Garcia are facing a narrative reckoning as allegations of violent and criminal behavior mount against the man they made a poster child in the fight against President Trump’s mass deportations.

In recent weeks, evidence has emerged that Abrego Garcia beat his wife and was caught trafficking migrants during his time living illegally in Maryland. He has since been deported to El Salvador, where several Democrats, including Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, have rushed to meet with him and decry what they say was a lack of due process extended to him.

“The fact that they went to the mat for this guy just shows exactly who they are,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Saturday. “That they are people who don’t put America first. They don’t care about our citizens and protecting our communities. So, I’m glad that the onion’s been peeled back and that their true motivations have been revealed, and this is just one of the cases that we’re getting off the streets.”

Van Hollen has led the surge of Democrats traveling to El Salvador since April, after Abrego Garcia was deported to the country in March and sent to its notoriously high-security prison equipped to handle violent gang members, known as CECOT. The Trump administration has repeatedly cited court and police documents showing that the El Salvadoran man was not only in the U.S. illegally, but also connected to the MS-13 gang and that his wife had sounded the alarm to police about his violence.

ABREGO GARCIA’S WIFE BEGGED JUDGE FOR PROTECTION ORDER, SAYING ‘HE SLAPPED ME’: AUDIO

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office holding a photo of the tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s knuckles that the White House says are affiliated with the MS-13 terrorist group. (Donald Trump TRUTH Social)

Democrats and the media had characterized Abrego Garcia as a “family man” and a “Maryland man” who was wrongly deported back in March and the following weeks. 

Van Hollen met last month with Abrego Garcia and advocated for his release, declaring that the deportation risks “the constitutional rights of everyone who resides in the United States of America.” Van Hollen’s trip sparked other left-wing lawmakers to also make the trip south, including Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California last month. At one point, Dexter pledged to remain in El Salvador until Abrego Garcia was brought back to the U.S.

But Democrats have gone largely silent amid a flood of newly unearthed evidence against Abrego Garcia.

‘I AM AFRAID’: ANOTHER PROTECTIVE ORDER FILING AGAINST DEPORTED ‘MARYLAND MAN’ CHAMPIONED BY DEMS SURFACES

 In this handout provided by Sen. Van Hollen’s Office, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) meets with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (L) at an undisclosed location on April 17, 2025, in San Salvador, El Salvador. Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident, was illegally deported by the Trump administration and has been held in prison in El Salvador since March 15.  (Sen. Van Hollen’s Office via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Thursday that new court records show Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed a protective order against her husband in August of 2020. The order said their shared son and stepchildren needed protection from Abrego Garcia, accusing him of verbal and physical abuse against her and mental abuse against her children. 

The protection form described an incident in November 2019 when Abrego Garcia allegedly grabbed Vasquez Sura “by the hair in the car,” “dragged” her “out of car and left [her] in the street.” She wrote that he also “broke” her son’s tablet, “broke doors” in the house, pushed her against a wall, broke a phone and a television and damaged the walls that spring.

TENNESSEE BODYCAM OF ‘MARYLAND MAN’ TRAFFIC STOP SHOWS TROOPERS’ HANDS TIED DESPITE SMUGGLING CLUES

Audio recordings allegedly of Vasquez Sura asking for the protection order in 2020 have also surfaced.

“On Wednesday, he hit me, like around like, three in the morning, he would just wake up and like, hit me,” Vasquez Sura told the court in the recordings, Fox Digital previously reported. 

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia traffic stop (Tennessee Highway Patrol)

Vasquez Sura said that while she was trying to escape Abrego Garcia, she saw a neighbor walking their dog and screamed “help.” Vasquez Sura said Abrego Garcia then “grabbed me from my hair, and then he slapped me.”

Vasquez Sura asked for the petition to be rescinded, however, saying her family wanted to take part in their son’s birthday, and Abrego Garcia “also agreed to continue counseling and if not [he’s] willing to sign divorce papers.” 

The 2020 protective order is the second publicly-known order filed against Abrego Garcia. Vasquez Sura filed a separate protective request against her husband in 2021, accusing him of repeatedly hitting her. 

“At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me,” she told a Prince George’s County, Maryland, court, Fox Digital previously reported. 

“In November 2020, he hit me with his work boot,” she added of the alleged attacks. “In August 2020, he hit me in the eye leaving a purple eye.”

DEM SENATOR SAYS ABREGO GARCIA SITUATION ‘NOT GOING TO END WELL’ FOR TRUMP, ARGUES HE’S ‘UNDERMINING’ FREEDOM

His wife, however, has since publicly defended him and addressed the domestic violence allegations following the revelation of the first protective order request. 

Department of Justice attorneys on Friday said they are unaware of Maryland immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts after he was deported to a Salvadoran prison last month. (Fox news)

“After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order, in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,” she said in a statement last month. 

The Trump administration and conservatives have come out in full force condemning Democrats for supporting an illegal immigrant accused of gang ties, human trafficking and domestic violence. Trump designated violent gangs such as MS-13 and Tre de Aragua as terrorist organizations in his second administration. 

“I think it’s bizarre that you see these Democrat politicians making a pilgrimage down there … to sit there with this guy, because I never have seen those Democrat politicians meet with angel moms who’ve lost kids because of illegal alien crime,” Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Fox News last week.

MARYLAND GOVERNOR SAYS HE WON’T TRAVEL TO EL SALVADOR FOR ABREGO GARCIA

“This is a person that was a clear and present danger to the safety of the American people. And it is … a sad reflection on the state of our media and many of the outlets represented in this room that you obsessively try to shill for this MS-13 terrorist. Well, no coverage occurred in your papers about any of the Americans that were raped and tortured and murdered by the illegals that Biden was importing into our country,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said during a White House press briefing on Thursday. 

Democrats have amplified the argument that the Trump administration has thwarted Abrego Garcia’s right to due process amid the mounting evidence that the so-called “Maryland Man” was wrongfully deported. 

California Sen. Alex Padilla told CNN last week that Democrats are more focused on Abrego Garcia’s due process and ensuring he receives a fair court battle, and not on the individual. 

“I think our advocacy here has a little bit less to do with him individually and more the process,” Padilla said. “The lack of due process that this administration continues to act with. The laws are clear in this country, even if you are undocumented, you have the right to due process.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries allegedly called on Democrats last week to slow their visits to and comments regarding El Salvador, though his office vehemently denied he made such a request to colleagues, saying “House Democrats will never stop fighting for the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ and Padilla’s offices for comment on Sunday regarding the ongoing condemnation from conservatives and the Trump administration over Democrats advocating on behalf of Abrego Garcia and Padilla’s comments outlining how the party is working to protect due process, but did not immediately receive replies. 

DEPORTED ‘MARYLAND MAN’ CHAMPIONED BY DEMS WAS PULLED OVER DRIVING CAR BELONGING TO HUMAN SMUGGLER

While Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar told a Daily Caller reporter last week, “I think you should f— off” when asked whether she believed that more Democrats should travel to El Salvador to advocate for Abrego Garcia. 

Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally from his home country of El Salvador in 2011 and was issued a deportation order in 2019, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters at the White House.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Abrego Garcia was suspected of partaking in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report previously obtained by Fox News. The report also stated that “official law enforcement investigations” revealed that Abrego Garcia was a member of the notorious gang MS-13, which Trump has designated as a terror organization.

Abrego Garcia was pulled over by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper on Dec. 1, 2022, after he spotted the car speeding and not remaining in its lane, according to the Homeland Security Investigations report. 

The trooper noticed eight individuals in the car with Abrego Garcia, who said he had begun driving three days prior from Houston to Temple Hills, Maryland, via St. Louis to “perform construction work,” Fox Digital previously reported. The report states that the trooper suspected the group was involved with a human trafficking incident, as there was no luggage in the vehicle. 

Documents further revealed that Abrego Garcia was driving a black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban that he said belonged to his “boss.” The Suburban was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as belonging to Hernandez Reyes, who pleaded guilty to human smuggling after being caught in Mississippi in a car with passengers from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, Fox Digital previously reported. 

DEPORTED ILLEGAL ALIEN AND SUSPECTED MS-13 GANG MEMBER TRANSFERRED FROM NOTORIOUS EL SALVADORAN MEGA-PRISON

Body camera video, obtained by Fox News Digital through a public records request last week, showed the Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers pulling over Abrego Garcia, who had eight other individuals in his car. 

“How many rows have you got in here? Four seats? Four rows of seats?” a state trooper can be heard saying in the video. “Did y’all put an extra one in? Huh? Did yall put another one in no? They come like this I’ve never seen one with that many seats in it.”

Abrego Garcia’s legal team responded to the new bodycam footage in a comment to Fox Digital on Sunday, saying it did not constitute evidence of a crime. 

“I have represented Kilmar Abrego Garcia for more than a month, and this bodycam video is the first time I’ve heard his voice. He has been denied the most basic protections of due process—no phone call to his lawyer, no call to his wife or child, and no opportunity to be heard,” Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the lead attorney for the case.

“As an attorney, I see no evidence of a crime in this footage. But the point is not the traffic stop—it’s that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court. Bring him back to the United States, return him before the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019, and let him speak for himself,” Sandoval-Moshenberg continued. 

Gang members in a cell at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca, in San Vicente, El Salvador on April 4, 2025. ((Photo by Alex Pena/Anadolu via Getty Images))

“He’s hauling these people for money,” one state trooper said.

The Homeland Security Investigations report also notes that in October 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit identified Abrego Garcia as a member of MS-13.

NEW AUDIO REVEALS ABREGO GARCIA’S ALLEGED ABUSE OF HIS WIFE

The deportation has been wrapped up in court proceedings since March, with a Maryland federal judge ordering the Department of Justice to “take all available steps to facilitate” his return to the U.S., which was a ruling upheld by an appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The Trump administration, however, contends that it “cannot guarantee success in sensitive international negotiations” with El Salvador to secure the release. 

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“The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in the Trump administration’s Supreme Court petition last month, the New York Post reported. 

Fox News’ Stepheny Price, Peter Pinedo, Michael Dorgan and Adam Sabes contributed to this report. 

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is facing a massive overhaul to slash staffing down to Reagan-era levels and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year, agency chief Lee Zeldin announced on Friday. 

“This reorganization will bring much-needed efficiencies to incorporate science into our rulemakings and sharply focus our work on providing the cleanest air, land, and water for our communities,” Zeldin said in a press release on Friday. 

Zeldin announced that he is on a mission to save taxpayers an estimated $300 million annually by next year through an office overhaul that he said will maintain the EPA’s focus on protecting human health and the environment while “recommitting” the agency to “common sense policies.” 

The EPA employs roughly 15,000 full-time workers, which Zeldin said he is working to bring down to levels “near those seen when President Ronald Reagan occupied the White House,” according to a video announcement of the office overhauls. There were 11,400 EPA staffers in 1984 under the Reagan administration, Reuters reported. 

35 DEMOCRATS VOTE WITH GOP TO BLOCK BIDEN RULE ALLOWING NEWSOM’S GAS CAR BAN

Lee Zeldin on Capitol Hill for his Senate confirmation to serve as EPA administrator.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The EPA said the Office of the Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and Office of Water will all face restructuring. 

Zeldin said he will reorganize the agency’s research office to shift its focus on “statutory obligations and mission-essential functions,” including by creating a new office called the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.

The new office will “prioritize research and put science at the forefront of the agency’s rulemakings and technical assistance to states. At the program level, the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention will add more than 130 scientific, technical, bioinformatic and information technology experts to work directly on the backlog of over 504 new chemicals in review that are beyond the statutorily required timeframe. And they’re also going to address the backlog of over 12,000 reviews that are well beyond the expected review timelines in the pesticides program,” Zeldin said. 

EPA CHIEF TAKES ON MEXICAN ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FLOWING INTO US WATERS WHERE NAVY SEALS TRAIN

President Ronald Reagan at Durenberger Republican convention rally, 1982  (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The EPA will also create the Office of State Air Partnerships within the Office of Air and Radiation, which Zeldin said will streamline resolving air permitting concerns across the state, local and tribal levels.

“EPA is also creating the Office of Clean Air programs that will align statutory obligations and mission essential functions based on centers of expertise to ensure more transparency and harmony in regulatory development. Similarly, changes to the Office of Water will better align the development of regulations, guidance and policy with the science that underpins it,” Zeldin added of another new office in the agency shakeup. 

PETA, ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS PRAISE TRUMP ADMIN FOR PHASING OUT ‘CRUEL TESTS ON DOGS’ AND OTHER ANIMALS

Zeldin underscored that when he took the reins of the agency earlier this year, he “inherited a workforce that didn’t come into the office.”

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House on Mar. 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The two leaders met as the Trump administration has once again put the military alliance between the United States and Western Europe in question.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“In 2024, the record high day of attendance at EPA headquarters in D.C., clocked in around 37%. Upon President Trump’s swearing in, we immediately ended COVID-era remote work,” Zeldin said. 

SCOOP: BIDEN-ERA GRANT PROGRAM DESCRIBED AS ‘GOLD BAR’ SCHEME BY TRUMP EPA ADMINISTRATOR UNDER SCRUTINY

The former New York congressman added that EPA’s budget and awards in granted last year alone, under the Biden administration, sat at $63 billion — though it had previously been funded to the tune of between $6 billion and $8 billion a year, he said. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, D.C.  (Getty Images )

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“We are going to massively reduce this excess spending. We owe it to the American taxpayer to be as efficient as possible. We’ve already started to make significant progress by re-examining grants and contracts, real estate footprint, travel costs, staff and more. With the help of DOGE, EPA has identified and canceled more than $22 billion in grants and contracts. These are direct savings for the American people,” Zeldin said. 

The U.S. could withdraw from peace talks with Ukraine and Russia if the two sides show no progress, President Donald Trump says.

Trump made the comments during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, telling host Kristen Welker that there is “tremendous hatred” between Ukraine and Russia.

The president says he remains hopeful a peace deal is possible, but confirmed that the U.S. would not remain a mediator indefinitely.

“I do believe we’re closer with one party. And maybe not as close with the other, but we’ll have to see,” Trump said. “Five thousand soldiers a week on average, are dying. They’re not American soldiers. But I want to solve the problem.”

ZELENSKYY SPEAKS OUT AFTER PUBLIC SPAT WITH TRUMP, VANCE, SAYS DUSTUP ‘BAD FOR BOTH SIDES’

U.S. President Donald Trump says there is “tremendous hatred” between the Russian and Ukrainian sides. (REUTERS/Nathan Howard)

“How long do you give both countries before you’re going to walk away?” Welker asked.

“Well, there will be a time when I will say, okay, keep going, keep being stupid,” Trump replied.

“Maybe it’s not possible to do,” he added. “There’s tremendous hatred. Just so you understand, Kristen, we’re talking tremendous hatred between these two men and between, you know, some of the soldiers, frankly, between the generals, they’ve been fighting hard for three years. I think we have a very good chance of doing it.”

Trump says the US may withdraw from peace talks if Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy do not cooperate. (SERGEI ILYIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The interview comes just days after Trump blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioning whether his Russian counterpart has any interest in peace.

TRUMP INSISTS UKRAINE-RUSSIA PEACE DEAL IS CLOSE, BUT MISTRUST IN PUTIN LEAVES EXPERTS SKEPTICAL

Trump spoke up on social media last week after Russian forces launched missiles into Ukrainian cities.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak in Rome, where they both attended Pope Francis’ funeral on April 26, 2025. (Vatican and Ukraine Ambassador to Holy See)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also appeared to temper expectations for a major peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia last week.

Rubio argued it was “silly” to put a specific date or timeline on when the U.S. might pull out from mediation, but he said this will be “a very critical week.”

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Days later, the White House signed a rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine, a months-long priority for Trump.

White House officials celebrated on social media after a horse named Sovereignty beat out its rival Journalism at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Sovereignty trailed most of the race and didn’t make a big move until near the final turn to edge out Journalism, the favorite horse going into the race, and secure the victory.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was one Trump administration official who took note of the outcome on social media.

“Sovereignty > Journalism,” Hegseth wrote. “On the track. And in 2025 America.”

HEGSETH, SIGNAL QUESTIONS DOG WALTZ AS POTENTIALLY PERILOUS UN AMBASSADOR CONFIRMATION HEARINGS LOOM

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, also appeared to reference the race in a social media post.

“In the Trump Administration, sovereignty will ALWAYS win,” Miller wrote.

Sovereignty, ridden by jockey Junior Alvarado, wins the 151st Kentucky Derby, Saturday, May 3, 2025, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. (Diane Bondareff/AP Content Services for Longines)

Journalist Logan Hall called the victory a “powerful omen.”

The Trump administration is no stranger to bouts of friction with the media. 

Hegseth has been the subject of recent scrutiny after The New York Times reported that he shared details of a March military airstrike against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen in a chat on the Signal app that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.

Hegseth has defended himself against the report, calling the controversy an attempt to “sabotage” President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Hegseth accused “disgruntled former employees” of “trying to save their a–” by peddling stories, arguing that the mainstream media’s focus should instead be on “the decimation of the Houthis, how [the U.S. is] pushing back the Chinese, how we have a new defense area at the southern border.”

WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF RAILS AGAINST REPORTERS OVER MS-13, TDA COVERAGE

Miller also went head-to-head with reporters at a White House briefing last week, admonishing them over their coverage of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua violence in the U.S.

Miller accused some members of the media of trying to “shill” for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused MS-13 member the Trump administration deported to El Salvador.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Thursday in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

He also accused the press of only covering the sexual assault and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray by two alleged Tren de Aragua members in June 2024 because Trump “shamed” them.

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“Most of your papers never covered her story when it happened, to the extent that you covered it at all, it was because President Trump forced you to cover it by highlighting it repeatedly over and over again,” Miller said. “He had to shame you into covering it.”

Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley, Diana Stancy and Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump downplayed rumors that he intends to seek a constitutionally prohibited third term in the White House on Sunday.

Trump addressed the issue during an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, telling host Kristen Welker that he has no plans to pursue another term.

“So many people want me to do it,” Trump said when Welker asked about a third term.

“It’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do. I don’t know if that’s constitutional,” he added. “But this is not something I’m looking to do.”

NOEM RIPS DEMOCRATS OVER SUPPORT FOR DEPORTED MIGRANT

President Donald Trump says pursuing a third term in the White House is “not something I’m looking to do.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Welker then pressed Trump about who he believes could be a successor to the MAGA movement once he leaves office, and Trump referenced both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“There’s a lot of them that are great,” he said of his political allies. “I also see tremendous unity. But certainly you would say that somebody’s the VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage.”

Trump says Vance could have an “advantage” in taking up the MAGA mantle after Trump leaves office. ((Fox News / Special Report))

The wide-ranging interview went on to address illegal immigration, where Trump emphasized that he has no plans to end his emergency declaration relating to immigration.

“We have an emergency. We have a massive emergency overall,” Trump told Welker.

FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING

Trump’s administration says illegal border crossings have dropped roughly 96% compared to President Joe Biden’s term in office, though the White House’s deportation programs have faced legal troubles.

President Donald Trump’s administration says illegal border crossings have dropped roughly 96% percent compared to the Biden administration. (Border image: Getty / Trump image: AP)

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“The border now is not the emergency,” Trump said. “The border is — it’s all part of the same thing though. The big emergency right now is that we have thousands of people that we want to take out, and we have some judges that want everybody to go to court.”

Just ahead of Trump’s 100th day in office last week, the White House claimed there had been 139,000 deportations since his inauguration.

A Trump-appointed judge appears to have drawn the ire of President Donald Trump after blocking the administration’s “unlawful” use of the Alien Enemies Act.

U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. stated that he would not prevent the administration from deporting individuals in the U.S. illegally but that the Alien Enemies Act could not be used as a basis to expel alleged gang members from the country. Rodriguez is the first judge to rule against the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged gang members. 

“The question that this lawsuit presents is whether the President can utilize a specific statute, the AEA, to detain and remove Venezuelan aliens who are members of [Tren de Aragua]. As to that question, the historical record renders clear that the president’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms,” Rodriguez — who was appointed by Trump in 2018 — wrote in his order.

ICE agents and President Donald Trump (Trump-Vance Transition Team, ICE)

FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING

Trump expressed his anger about the decision in a pointed Truth Social post, questioning how judges could block the deportation of “criminals, including murderers.”

“Can it be so that judges aren’t allowing the USA to deport criminals, including murderers, out of our country and back to where they came from? If this is so, our country, as we know it, is finished,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday. “Americans will have to get used to a very different, crime-filled, LIFE. This is not what our founders had in mind!!!”

While it is not clear whether the post was a direct response to Rodriguez’s order, the judge’s decision is the most recent regarding illegal immigration and deportation.

ICE arrests 81 illegal aliens as part of joint federal law enforcement operation in Kentucky, of which 25 are also charged with felony criminal offenses. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

NOEM RIPS DEMOCRATS OVER SUPPORT FOR DEPORTED MIGRANT

Just ahead of Trump’s 100th day in office, the White House claimed there had been 139,000 deportations since the president took office.

During his campaign, Trump promised a swift and harsh crackdown on illegal immigration, which had become a focus under the Biden administration. In March, the administration took a controversial Biden-era app and added a “self-deport” feature, allowing illegal immigrants to voluntarily leave the country rather than facing ICE.

ICE agents arrested seven illegal immigrants during a workforce operation raid. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said in a cabinet meeting on Trump’s 100th day in office that the president had “completely reversed” the situation at the border. She added that DHS had refocused the Coast Guard on “border and drug interdiction,” noting that cartels have increasingly used maritime smuggling routes in response to stricter immigration enforcement.

EXCLUSIVE: Vice President JD Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance and their young children are adjusting well to life as the Second Family, with the vice president telling Fox News Digital that they are trying to “deliver as much normalcy to the kids in a very abnormal situation.” 

Vance sat down for an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital this week. 

EXCLUSIVE: VANCE PREVIEWS TRUMP’S PLANS TO ‘JUICE THE ECONOMY,’ END RUSSIA–UKRAINE WAR IN NEXT 100 DAYS

Vice President JD Vance and Second family disembark Marine Two at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Thursday, April 17, 2025, and boards Air Force Two en route to Rome, Italy.

“Everyone is adjusting well—they are doing very well,” Vance said. “It’s different, right?” 

“My seven-year-old son Ewan, he’s adjusting, but he’s also aware of all of it,” Vance said. 

“And then we have our five-year-old son, Vivek, who I think is a little bit less aware of it,” Vance continued. “To him, it’s just fun. He has a bunch of Secret Service agents to play with, and he gets to go wherever he wants to, and he really likes that.” 

“And Mirabel, who’s three, has no idea what’s going on,” Vance said of his youngest. 

Vance shared a photo of Mirabel, which he and his wife display in their home in the Naval Observatory, “in her pajamas reviewing this Indian troop formation.” 

Vice President JD Vance and Usha Vance participate in a departure ceremony at Jaipur International Airport in Jaipur, India, Thursday, April 24, 2025, before boarding Air Force Two for Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. (Official White House Photo by Emily J. Higgins)

EXCLUSIVE: JD VANCE EXPLAINS WHY MEETING POPE FRANCIS HOURS BEFORE HIS DEATH WAS ‘A SIGN FROM GOD’

“It’s so funny—it’s maybe my favorite photo of the entire 100 days that we’ve had so far—it’s very cute,” Vance said. “So, you sort of see different levels of kids’ understanding of it.” 

Vance said the children “have a good school situation.” 

“We have good friends here, and they spend a lot of time at the White House,” Vance said. 

“Of course, our primary residence—we still have our home in Cincinnati—but our primary residence is the Naval Observatory,” Vance said. “It’s very isolated, so it’s nice, because, for the kids, it’s not like growing up in a fishbowl.” 

Vice President JD Vance and Second family disembark Marine Two at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Thursday, April 17, 2025, and boards Air Force Two en route to Rome, Italy.

EXCLUSIVE: VANCE REVEALS ‘EMPOWERING’ ASPECTS OF TRUMP’S LEADERSHIP THAT ENABLES ‘TRUST’ AND SQUASHES ‘TURF BATTLES’

Vance said the children “have a lot of room to run around.” 

“There aren’t cameras everywhere, and it feels very, very private—very normal for the kids—which is all we could ask for,” Vance said. 

As for his wife, Vance said “each second lady approaches the role differently—there’s not like, a manual that says—this is how you will be second lady.” 

U.S. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, second lady Usha Vance, their children Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, Barron Trump, and Viktor Knavs attend a rally on the inauguration day of Trump’s second Presidential term, inside Capital One, in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2025.  (Mike Segar/REUTERS)

“I think what Usha has done is she has focused on some issues she cares about and she is very involved in the Kennedy Center—she really likes the arts and that is a project that she’s taken on,” Vance explained, adding that she plans to “take on additional projects.” 

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“But she also is a mom,” Vance said. “And the kids are really young, and she saw this as an opportunity to try to deliver as much normalcy to the kids in a very abnormal situation.” 

He added: “But she’s doing well, and she really likes it—I think the role suits her and she’s having fun. She’s amazing.” 

In a significant legal victory for the Trump administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has granted a stay on a lower court’s order that had mandated the reinstatement of over 1,000 Voice of America (VOA) employees and the resumption of full broadcasting operations.

“This is a huge victory for President Trump and his Article II powers granted in the United States Constitution. It’s also a victory for US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and VOA,” Kari Lake, a USAGM senior advisor to the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital following the court’s decision Saturday.

The decision allows the administration to proceed with its efforts to restructure USAGM and its affiliated broadcasters.

“We are eager to accomplish President Trump’s America First agenda which has always been to modernize and make our government efficient while cutting waste, fraud, and abuse,” Lake explained to Fox News Digital. 

VOICE OF AMERICA RESTORED BY JUDGE AFTER TRUMP DISMANTLED TAXPAYER-FUNDED OUTLET IN MARCH

An executive order led to the administrative leave of approximately 1,300 Voice of America employees and the termination of numerous contracts,  (Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Now that we have a favorable ruling in the appeals court, we look forward to accomplishing the plan we’ve always had; to bring VOA into the 21st century.”

The appeals court’s 2-1 ruling Saturday emphasized the judiciary’s deference to executive authority in matters concerning federal employment and contractual decisions.

The court noted that the district court likely lacked jurisdiction to interfere with the administration’s personnel actions and funding decisions, particularly regarding grant agreements with non-federal entities like Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

VOICE OF AMERICA EMPLOYEES FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AFTER PRESIDENT DISMANTLED AGENCY

The Voice of America (VOA) news service center in Washington D.C. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

This follows Trump’s March 14 executive order (EO), which aimed to dismantle USAGM operations. 

“Voice of America has been out of step with America for years. It serves as the Voice for Radical America and has pushed divisive propaganda for years now,” a senior White House official told Fox News Digital at the time. 

The order led to the administrative leave of approximately 1,300 VOA employees and the termination of numerous contracts, effectively pausing the broadcaster’s activities for the first time in its 83-year history.

“Unfortunately, the frivolous litigation actually stalled the ability to streamline archaic practices and redundant programs at VOA,” Lake told Fox News Digital. “The use of lawfare hurt the agency and its employees more than it helped.”

Fox News contributor, legal analyst and constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley also shared news of the ruling on X, posting, “The D.C. Circuit just issued a major ruling in favor of the Trump Administration that lifted a stay on the Administration’s decision to terminate contracts and positions at Voice of America.”

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Saturday’s decision came as VOA employees reportedly had access restored to their computers on Friday after federal Judge Royce Lamberth’s April 22 ruling in favor of the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction against Trump’s EO, which the administration promptly appealed.

The court’s ruling can be read here.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a school choice bill into law on Saturday that will allocate $1 billion for a voucher program that allows parents to use public funds to pay for their child’s private school tuition.

The program’s implementation caps off a yearslong effort by Republicans who have been advocating for school choice. Voucher supporters have long focused on Texas, where previous efforts failed amid resistance from Democrats and rural Republicans.

Last month, President Donald Trump called on state lawmakers ahead of a key vote on the bill to finally send the measure to Abbott’s desk. The Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 2 by a party-line 19-12 vote on April 24 after the state House approved the bill by an 86-63 vote the week before.

“When I ran for reelection in 2022, I promised school choice for the families of Texas,” Abbott said before signing the bill at the governor’s mansion. “Today, we deliver on that promise.”

LIBERAL SUPREME COURT JUSTICES GRILL RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION IN LANDMARK SCHOOL CHOICE CASE

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a school choice bill into law on Saturday. (REUTERS/Callaghan O’hare)

Abbott was joined by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, state House Speaker Dustin Burrows, bill author and state Sen. Brandon Creighton, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, school choice advocates and students and their families.

“From here forward, [Texas students] will have unlimited potential and unlimited options in education to pursue for the rest of their path and education and what their families do best, and that in of itself was worth the journey,” Creighton said.

Texas joins more than 30 other states that already have similar programs. The Lone Star State will have the largest voucher program in the country.

School vouchers have been Abbott’s main focus this year, following last year’s election cycle in which he called for Republican primary voters to remove from office GOP lawmakers who voted against a similar bill in the last legislative session that the governor had supported.

‘BAD FOR PARENTS’: SCHOOL CHOICE SUPPORTERS PROTEST EXCLUSION OF RELIGIOUS CHARTER IN SUPREME COURT CASE

The Lone Star State will have the largest voucher program in the country. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)

Supporters of the bill say it will give parents more options by allowing them to take their children out of poor-performing public schools in favor of alternative public or private school choices.

“Gone are the days that families are limited to only the schools assigned by government,” Abbott said. “The day has arrived that empowers parents to choose the school that is best for their child.”

Democrats and Republicans in rural districts who have criticized the program argue that it will pull financial resources from Texas’ public school students and subsidize the private education of wealthy families.

“Let’s be clear: this bill is only best for the richest people in the state, and rural Texas especially will get the shaft,” Texas Democratic Party chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement. “To top it all off, Abbott’s school shut-downs are in full-swing with no end in sight.”

Texas joins more than 30 other states that already have similar programs. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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Starting next school year, families can receive $10,000 per year to help pay for their child’s private school tuition or costs for home-schooling and virtual learning programs. Children with disabilities can qualify for as much as $30,000 per year.

The program will be capped at $1 billion for the first year and cover up to 90,000 students. But by 2030, it could cost up to $4.5 billion per year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Queens, N.Y.: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., threw down the gauntlet to Tom Homan on Friday after the border czar previously threatened to refer her to the Justice Department for giving advice to migrants on how to avoid being deported. 

Ocasio-Cortez told attendees at a Queens town hall event that she was not afraid of the words from the immigration hardliner in the wake of her office hosting a “Know your Rights” webinar in February. Homan has suggested her actions might be illegal and may impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportations. 

“Tom Homan said he was going to refer me to DOJ because I’m using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutional protections. To that I say: Come for me, do I look like I care?” Ocasio-Cortez told a cheering crowd.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaking at a town hall in Queens, left, and Tom Homan. (David Dee Delgado/Getty, Jim WATSON / AFP, right. Images, left, )

HYSTERICAL TOWN HALL ATTENDEE INTERRUPTS AOC, YELLS ABOUT ‘GENOCIDE’ IN GAZA: ‘YOU’RE A LIAR!’

Ocasio-Cortez asserted that there was “nothing illegal about it and if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me.”

In February, Ocasio-Cortez’s office hosted a live webinar advising migrants in her district about their rights if they come face to face looking to deport them.

People were recommended to ask for warrants, record searches if ICE came calling and were given tips on how to differentiate between different warrants ICE agents are likely to carry.

That led to Homan suggesting the New York Democrat could be crossing a line.

“I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So maybe AOC is going to be in trouble now,” he said after the event.

“What she needs to do is read the statutes enacted by Congress… because it’s a crime to enter this country illegally,” the Trump border czar said separately on “Sunday Morning Futures.” 

Tom Homan, White House border czar, said in February that the lawmaker may have crossed a line. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

AOC CLAIMS ‘WE ARE ONE’ IN CAMPAIGN-STYLE VIDEO DESPITE YEARS OF INVOKING RACE, GENDER IN POLITICS

“Not only that, but when you harbor and conceal and impede law enforcement, that’s a felony. What she’s doing, she says she’s educating everybody on their constitutional rights, and we all know they’ve got constitutional rights, but what she’s really doing… she’s trying to teach them how to evade law enforcement.”

Ocasio-Cortez on Friday also attacked the Trump administration’s approach to border security and immigration, referring to its deportation of Venezuelan gang members as “sanctioned kidnappings.”

“I don’t even want to call them deportations. They are sanctioned kidnappings in many circumstances,” the congresswoman told attendees. “They do not have carte blanche to enter. If they do want to knock on your door, or knock on anyone’s door — including your workplace — you can tell them, ‘Show me a warrant. Show me a judicial warrant.’ And if they don’t show you a warrant, you can say they can come back with a warrant. You have the right to turn them away.”

Ocasio-Cortez was speaking to a packed auditorium full of hundreds for attendees. Those who couldn’t get in sat in an overflow room across the hall. 

An attendee shouts at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during a town hall gathering about her stance on the Israel/Palestine conflict on May 2, 2025 in New York City.  (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Attendees gave the progressive lawmaker a warm reception and, bar one disruptor, appeared fully supportive of her legislative agenda and her representation of the district to date. Many questions from the audience centered around local issues, calls for a minimum wage hike, how to improve air quality as well as asking her how she plans on tackling the Trump administration. 

The loudest applause came when Ocasio-Cortez voiced her opposition to a proposed new casino at Citi Field, which would be part of new sports and entertainment park. It has gotten approval from the New York City Council, although the congresswoman said she doesn’t have a say in the matter since it’s a state issue as well as not being in her district.

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The event was mostly uneventful except for an early disruption by a protester who began shouting at Ocasio-Cortez about the “genocide” in Gaza.   

“I am a healthcare worker and I want to know what you’re doing about the genocide in Gaza,” the protester started shouting at the congresswoman.

“Shame! Shame! Shame!” the audience began shouting at the disruptor. Audible “boos” could be heard as well before she was eventually led out by security.

Fox News’ Alec Schemmel and Taylor Penney contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump appears to have his eye on a new gig after being back in the Oval Office for just over 100 days. 

On Friday, the president posted an AI-generated image of himself as the pope on Truth Social, and it has gone viral. Less than a week prior to the post, Trump was in Rome attending the funeral for the late Pope Francis. As the Vatican searches for a new pontiff, it seems Trump is jokingly throwing his hat in the ring.

President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as the pope on Truth Social on Friday, May 2, 2025. (@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social)

TRUMP JOKES HE’D LIKE TO BE POPE, ‘NUMBER 1 CHOICE’ — THEN NAMES A REAL CONTENDER

The post was met with a wide range of reactions—from some who found it funny to others who said it was offensive.

Townhall columnist Dustan Grage dismissed critics, saying that most of those he saw complaining about the post were atheists and that their opinions didn’t matter.

“Memes depicting Trump as Christ have been and always will be called out as blasphemy. The Pope picture is actually funny. Calm down, folks,” Grage wrote.

Meanwhile, Democratic activist and influencer Harry Sisson accused “MAGA” of electing a “man-child.”

President Donald Trump holds an ‘Investing in America’ event in the White House in Washington, D.C., April 30, 2025.  (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

CONCLAVE ‘VERY, VERY DIFFERENT’ FROM US ELECTIONS; ‘ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN’, ACCORDING TO EXPERT

Earlier this week, when asked about who he would want to see take over the Vatican, Trump joked that he wanted to be pope.

“I’d like to be pope. That’d be my number one choice,” Trump said, before clarifying that he was joking and naming a possible option — Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. 

Cardinals, including Dolan, are set to gather at the Vatican for the conclave on May 7, when they will vote for the next pope. However, unlike secular elections, candidates for pope focus on prayer and reflection rather than campaigning.

Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan walks to talk to the media after holding morning mass after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, New York City, April 21, 2025. (Adam Gray/Reuters)

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“Last time in 2013, when we had the opening prayer—because prayer is extraordinarily important—we had a reflection given by a wonderful Franciscan preacher,” Dolan told Martha MacCallum on “The Story.” “He said, ‘Eminences, you’re all scared because you have a tough job to elect the next pope. … Let me put your mind at ease. It’s easy. The Holy Spirit has already chosen the next pope. Your job is to find out who it is’.” 

Contenders to replace Pope Francis include Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle; Cardinal Peter Erdo; Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu; Cardinal Raymond Burke; and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.

The reelection campaign of Governor Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz., has tapped someone with a penchant for slamming white people, despite being white himself. 

Hobbs, a vocal progressive and anti-Trump leader, brought Michael Beyer on as her 2026 reelection campaign communications director in April despite his history of going after people because they are white, and not just Republicans either.

A look through Beyer’s X account shows the staffer levying criticism on social media as early as 2014 against a range of demographics, all with one thing in common – they’re white.  

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Far-left Governor Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz., is raising eyebrows after deciding to hire a campaign spokesperson known for spreading anti-white rhetoric. 

Beyer has accused the “religious right” of being united through “a belief in white supremacy,” blasted self-professed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders’ voters for having “white entitlement” and accused Taylor Swift and other “white people” of “romanticizing the conquest of Africa.”

Beyer has also espoused anti-gay rhetoric targeted at gay white Republicans, positing in a social media post about the leader of one of the longest-standing pro-gay GOP nonprofits in the country that it was “unclear” whether he was “just a bunch of twinks standing on top of each other hiding in a trench coat.” In another post, Beyer complained there were too many “white men” in a 1980’s news segment about HIV, while in another Beyer suggested “white suburban voters” in Louisiana “had taken over” the local newspaper.

Sen. Bernie Sanders and pop star Taylor Swift have been among the targets of Beyer’s offensive X posts. (GETTY IMAGES/FOX NEWS)

The Arizona governor’s recent hire is just the latest in a series of tumultuous staffing issues Hobbs has faced as governor. In 2022, it was reported that in just five months two-thirds of Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign staff left, with several describing their work on the campaign as “emotionally abusive.” Meanwhile, Hobbs has also been forced to fire past employees over inflammatory social media posts.

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“White evangelicals are the only group that predominantly wants anti-gay discrimination, poll shows,” Beyer posted on then-Twitter in 2017, along with a link to a blog from Slate. “Once again, it is a belief in white supremacy that unites the Religious Right,” he added in his tweet. 

In addition to blaming religious conservatives for being racist, Beyer also said in 2015 that Republicans in general “thinks [sic] they only have to answer to white voters.” In a subsequent post, Beyer slammed Secretary of State Marco Rubio for only appealing to “whites” after allegedly “romanticizing U.S. colonialism.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is another of Beyer’s targets. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

Turning to liberals, Beyer has also had choice words for white Bernie Sanders supporters, saying in a 2016 post on Twitter that they all have “white entitlement.” He suggested in another post around the same time that the only reason Sanders won New Hampshire during the 2016 election was because the state is “91% white.”

In 2015, Beyer went after Taylor Swift and other “white people” for “romanticizing” colonialism. “Only white people would be the people romanticizing the conquest of Africa,” Beyer said in a 2015 post, referring to Swift’s song “Wildest Dreams” that debuted around the same time. His post was in response to a separate tweet Beyer posted that included a link and title of a NPR op-ed with the headline: “Taylor Swift Is Dreaming Of A Very White Africa.”

SOUTHERN BORDER STATE GOVERNOR TAKES ON CARTELS AND SECURITY WITH SIGNING OF EXECUTIVE ORDER

Despite Beyer’s numerous claims suggesting white people are racist, he contended in 2017 that “white people are very bad at identifying racism/racists.” 

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs gives a brief speech prior to President Joe Biden’s remarks at the Tempe Center for the Arts on September 28, 2023 in Tempe, Arizona. Biden delivered remarks on protecting democracy, honoring the legacy of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and revealed funding for the McCain Library. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Hobbs campaign to question whether it would be reconsidering its decision to hire Beyer, but never received a response. 

Beyer himself did not respond when reached for comment, either. 

In addition to Beyer, Hobbs has a history of hiring other staffers who have made controversial remarks on social media. She has also had an issue with high turnover in her office.

ARIZONA SHERIFF PRAISES TRUMP PRIORITIZING BORDER SECURITY: ‘DRASTIC DIFFERENCE’

One of Hobbs’ former press secretaries was fired in 2023 after posting an image of a lady drawing two pistols from her hip, which included the caption “Us when we see transphobes.” The social media post came the same day a gender-confused individual opened fire at an elementary school in Nashville, after which some critics cited the person’s gender dysphoria as a possible catalyst for the horrific event. 

Hobbs’ office has also been impacted frequently by an unusually high turnover rate among her staff. In 2022, it was reported that two-thirds of Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign staff left across a period of just five months, with some of the departing staff describing their work on the campaign as “emotionally abusive.”

The culture was apparently so bad, the staffers said, they had to upend their lives mid-election to seek employment elsewhere. 

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Hobbs has lost staffers in the middle of ongoing legislative sessions, and, in 2023, Hobbs’ legislative director resigned just hours before the release of the state’s budget.

At least one of Hobbs’ staffers went from their job on her campaign to another job with Arizona politics.

While many public policy leaders believe implementation of REAL ID requirements across the country will bolster national security, some more libertarian critics say the Bush-era protocol could come at a cost to individual liberty and bigger government, with one expert telling Fox News Digital it essentially sets up a de facto national ID system and treats law-abiding Americans with suspicion.

When Congress debated REAL ID in 2005, libertarian Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, strongly opposed the move, positing that it constituted a national ID card that had no limitations on what type of information could be stored on it, posing a significant threat to American civil liberties.

After being signed into law, the implementation of REAL ID was repeatedly postponed during administrations of both political parties, including the first Trump administration during the height of the COVID pandemic. This year, however, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set a new deadline for obtaining a REAL ID of May 7. Having REAL ID-compliant identification will be required to board domestic commercial airline flights and to access some federal facilities like courthouses or military bases.

So, should citizens be concerned about getting a REAL ID? Fox News Digital spoke to two policy experts, one supportive and one critical, for their views.

WHAT IS REAL ID? DEADLINE APPROACHES FOR NEW IDENTIFICATION CARDS REQUIRED TO FLY DOMESTICALLY

When Congress was voting on REAL ID in 2005, prominent libertarian Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, strongly opposed the move, positing that it constituted a “national ID card” that had no limitations on what type of information could be stored on it, posing a significant threat to American civil liberties. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images | Fox News Digital)

What are the benefits?

Simon Hankinson, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital that requiring additional documentation to obtain a REAL ID will have a significant impact on identifying and cracking down on terrorism and other illegal activity in the U.S., including illegal immigration.

By requiring a REAL ID to fly, Hankinson explained that IDs offered by liberal states to illegal immigrants will no longer allow those illegals to easily move about the country unchecked.  

He pointed to the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, in which several of the al Qaeda terrorists involved had obtained valid state licenses, which were accepted for boarding their flights.

And while Hankinson acknowledged that concerns about data privacy are legitimate, he pointed out that most Americans already have much of their information stored in databases such as that of the Social Security Administration.

‘WE’RE SIMPLY NOT READY’: REAL ID ROLLOUT COULD TRIGGER NATIONAL HEADACHE, STATE LAWMAKER WARNS

Some women are having a hard time getting their REAL ID due to marriage name changes. (iStock; Fox News Digital)

Hankinson said the government will have to be held to the highest standards to uphold citizens’ privacy. Still, he compared the risk-reward scenario posed to the nation by REAL ID to nuclear power.  

“If it’s done right, you can mitigate the risks, and you can have, like France, 75, 80% of your power from nuclear power plants,” he said. “If you cut corners, and you put the wrong people in charge and you take risks, then you end up with Chernobyl.”

What are the concerns?

But Jim Harper, a senior fellow of digital privacy and constitutional law at the American Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital that though REAL ID is not technically a national identification card, since it is issued by individual states, obtaining one enters private citizens into a national database, effectively making it a national identification system.

“REAL ID is a national ID system. And historically, national ID systems have been used for terrible things,” he said. “We want to make sure that we don’t position ourselves in the United States ever to have that much authority reside with the government. And so, for two decades now, I’ve been arguing against REAL ID, simple as that.“

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A display on a TV at an airport advertises REAL ID. (Fox News)

What is the problem with being entered into a national system? Harper explained that his concern is that setting up such a system treats American citizens as suspects before they have committed any crimes.

He granted that the dangers of REAL ID are “not as urgent” as something like the Patriot Act, which was passed in the wake of 9/11 and significantly expanded the scope and powers of law enforcement and intelligence operations in the U.S., but that it similarly expands the ability of the government to control and monitor its citizenry.

“I reject the idea of having law-abiding American citizens put into a national I.D. system because they might be terrorists. That’s not the way we do law enforcement in this country, to treat people as suspects from go,” he said. “I don’t think natural born citizens should, should be put into a national I.D. system for immigration control. That’s the that’s the problem of illegal immigration being visited on the citizen. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.”

In his view, the “burden” of the reasons for having a national ID “all falls on the citizen, on the individual who’s not accused of any crime or any wrongdoing. That’s not the way to do it.”

WHAT DID THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION, 9/11 COMMISSION SAY ABOUT REAL ID LEGISLATION?

Starting May 7, passengers will be required to have a REAL ID or other compliant identification in order to travel.  (iStock)

What should I do?

Harper predicted that the federal government will ultimately bend on enforcing REAL ID requirements and continue to “kick the can down the road” as they have done for two decades. 

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What’s more, according to both Hankinson and Harper, citizens in most states will still have other options available to them if they want to opt out of getting a REAL ID.

In the end, the decision of whether to obtain a REAL ID or to accept the risks of not doing so rests with individual citizens. 

An adjunct professor at Harvard spoke out Thursday after the Ivy League university’s president, Alan Garber, apologized as scathing internal reports exposed that antisemitism and Islamophobia were prevalent on campus. 

Eugene Litvak, who teaches at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that one of the nation’s top universities “was not ready” for the anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic behavior that has plagued Harvard since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

“Obviously, I was really, really upset,” Litvak told Fox. “What happened at Harvard after October 7th, and [at] the university, in my opinion, again, that’s my personal opinion, the university was not ready to face these kinds of challenges. None of the universities were ready.”

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Harvard is suing the Trump administration.

“I’m commending, actually, the letter from the president of the university,” the Harvard professor added. “What I really like, in science, we say that you cannot solve any problem unless you formulate it. So he formulated the problem in his letter. He acknowledged that there is a problem. Otherwise, nothing would happen.”

Harvard president Alan Garber apologized in a letter Tuesday after internal reports unveiled antisemitism and Islamophobia’s presence at the Ivy League school. Garber described the findings as “disturbing.”

HARVARD PRESIDENT APOLOGIZES FOR FAILURE TO ADDRESS ANTISEMITISM, ISLAMOPHOBIA AFTER NEW REPORTS RELEASED

“I think that’s a step in the absolutely right direction,” Litvak told Fox News Digital. “I would like to see the fruits of it. But again, I was very, very pleased because of the acknowledgment that there is such a problem.”

Despite Garber’s apology and admission, President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social Friday stating that the administration will be “taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” noting “It’s what they deserve!” 

The Trump administration announced it was freezing over $2 billion in grants and contracts after Harvard University said it would not comply with federal demands regarding antisemitism. (AP Images)

In addition to solving the troubling culture of one of America’s top universities, the Harvard School of Public Health professor also stressed the importance of addressing the imminent danger publicly funded healthcare programs like Medicaid and Medicare face. Litvak, who serves as President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Optimization (IHO), noted that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts to the government would not harm the programs.

“I think Medicare and Medicaid are facing danger, regardless of what DOGE is doing,” Litvak explained. “Medicare actually is going to become insolvent in 2036. It’s very close. And Medicaid is not in the best position. I can tell you, we have, last year we had 4.9, this year I believe we would have more than $5 trillion spending.”

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The professor stated that reducing government spending, similar to DOGE cuts, on healthcare can be a solution to the looming crisis.

“I agree with the goal to reduce waste. It was a very timely call for waste reduction. It’s much-needed, the Harvard professor added. “Before doing that, if I were making decisions, before firing people, I would say, ‘how can we improve the efficiency of what we already have?’”

Litvak said he supports the move to “reduce waste.” (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

While Litvak pushes for change in the public healthcare space, a dark cloud continues to hang over the Boston-based university as tensions between the Trump Administration and the Ivy League school have shown no signs of cooling down. 

A lawsuit over $2.2 billion in frozen research grants is still ongoing, and the funds may likely be held up into the summer. Harvard president Alan Garber said the “consequences” of the decision to withhold grants would be “severe and long-lasting”, and may impact work similar to that which Professor Litvak is hoping to accomplish. 

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In response to the suit, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital in April that the “gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end.”

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

Last month, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked key parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order on election integrity – a move that underscores how deeply divided the country remains over what “election integrity” really means..

Though the executive order Trump signed was titled, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” the Democratic National Party (DNC), which led a group of plaintiffs in challenging the order in federal court, argued that it was an attempt to encroach on elections and disenfranchise voters. 

In the end, both sides won out – sort of, and at least for now.  Here’s what to know about the case in question:

TRUMP ASKS SCOTUS TO STRIP PROTECTED STATUS FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS

President-elect Trump dancing at AmericaFest in Arizona following the election. (Rick Scuteri/Associated Press)

Why did the judge block a portion of the order?

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ultimately left in place three key parts of Trump’s executive order, including a provision requiring states not to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day, in a partial victory for the Trump administration. 

But she sided with Democratic plaintiffs in blocking, for now, both a new proof-of-citizenship requirement for federal voter registration forms and a provision directing election officials to verify the citizenship of would-be voters.

Voters work on their ballots at a polling place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Simi Valley, Calif.  (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Does she have the authority to do so? 

Unequivocally, yes. That’s exactly the problem modern presidents face when trying to make lasting policy changes through executive orders – a tactic increasingly favored by both Democrats and Republicans.

It’s a risky way to govern for two reasons. The first is that these orders can just as easily be overturned by the next commander-in-chief (as has been on display under the last four administrations). 

They also risk being halted in federal courts, where U.S. judges are explicitly tasked with serving as a check on the president, and are free to pause or halt such orders from taking force, should they determine they are outside the scope of the executive branch’s authorities. 

That also doesn’t mean that district courts need to have the final say on the matter.

TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON VOTING BLOCKED BY FEDERAL JUDGES AMID FLURRY OF LEGAL SETBACKS

The E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House is seen early in the morning on Dec. 10, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (David Ake/Getty Images)

Kollar-Kotelly stressed last month that voter registration laws and the ability to regulate elections are set by Congress and by individual states, not the executive branch.

Both states and Congress can pass laws so long as they do not “needlessly impose” an undue burden on voters under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

But the executive branch, which does not share in these abilities to make and pass election-related laws, is not entitled to the same standard of legal review, according to the judge. 

“Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States – not the President – with the authority to regulate federal elections,” Kollar-Kotelly said in her ruling.

JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA

Next steps

The Trump administration is, of course, free to appeal the decision to higher courts, should it choose to do so. 

“President Trump will keep fighting for election integrity, despite Democrat objections that reveal their disdain for commonsense safeguards like verifying citizenship,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in response to the ruling last month.

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But its next steps remain unclear. To date, the administration has not appealed the matter, and officials have not said definitively whether they plan to do so.

EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump will host a military parade in June to honor military veterans and active-duty service members and commemorate the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The parade is scheduled for June 14, the 250th birthday of the United States Army and Trump’s birthday. 

President Donald Trump salutes at a campaign rally March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio.  (AP/Jeff Dean)

TRUMP TO CREATE TASK FORCE TO PLAN ‘EXTRAORDINARY CELEBRATION’ FOR 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICA’S INDEPENDENCE

The parade will have reenactors, equipment and more from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War/Desert Storm and the Global War on Terror (Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria). It will also feature active-duty service members and students at U.S. military academies.

President Donald Trump salutes as he participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate Memorial Day May 25, 2020, in Arlington, Va. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

“The president is planning an historic celebration of the Army’s 250th birthday that will honor generations of selfless Americans who have risked everything for our freedom,” White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley told Fox News Digital. 

“Exactly 250 years ago, the first American patriots died for the cause of Independence. We owe our freedom to them and to every solider who has given their life for our nation in the 2½ centuries since.” 

The parade comes after Trump, in January, signed an executive order creating “Task Force 250,” which is focused on coordinating the plans and activities celebrating the 250th anniversary of American independence. The 250th anniversary of America’s founding is July 4, 2026.

“As one of the first events of the year-long celebration of our 250th anniversary, this commemorative parade will be a fitting tribute to the service, sacrifice and selflessness of the brave men and women who have worn the uniform and devoted their lives to defending the greatest experiment in liberty known to man,” Vance told Fox News Digital. 

The White House is coordinating closely with the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Parks Service and a number of other agencies to plan the parade.  (Alex Brandon/Pool via Reuters)

TRUMP WHITE HOUSE RELEASES VIDEO SERIES LEADING UP TO AMERICA’S 250TH BIRTHDAY: ‘ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE’

The White House is coordinating closely with the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Park Service and a number of other agencies to plan “this spectacular event honoring our veterans, active-duty service members and military history,” an official told Fox News Digital. 

“We love our military and take great pride in honoring our warfighters,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Digital. “In celebration of 250 years of the U.S. Army, we will throw the biggest and most beautiful military parade in our nation’s history.” 

Meanwhile, the task force is coordinating “the plans and activities of federal agencies for an extraordinary celebration of the 250th Anniversary of American Independence.” 

“We love our military and take great pride in honoring our warfighters,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Digital.  (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Task Force 250 builds upon the U.S. Bicentennial Celebration half a century ago. The celebration “emphasized national renewal of our founding ideals after a period of national unrest and division,” the White House told Fox News Digital.

AHEAD OF TRUMP SPEECH TO CONGRESS, FLASHBACK TO 2017 ADDRESS ASKING ‘WHAT WILL AMERICA LOOK LIKE’ AT 250

In the lead-up to the major 2026 celebration, the White House has celebrated the anniversaries of major events in America’s founding, including the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give me Death” speech in March, the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous ride in April and the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. 

The executive order that established the task force also reinstated executive orders from Trump’s first administration, establishing the National Garden of American Heroes, a statuary park memorializing 250 historically significant Americans.  (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/AFP via Getty Images)

The executive order that established the task force also reinstated executive orders from Trump’s first administration, establishing the National Garden of American Heroes, a statuary park memorializing 250 historically significant Americans, and commissioning artists for the first 100 statues. 

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The National Garden of American Heroes honors “American heroism” after dozens of monuments to Americans, including presidents and Founding Fathers, were toppled or destroyed and never restored.

The order also reinstated an order to protect American monuments, memorials and statues from destruction or vandalism.

The White House said America’s 250th anniversary will “afford an opportunity to unite the American people around their shared history and common future as a nation.”

During Trump’s first term, he held a unique “Salute To America” event on the Fourth of July in 2019, which was different from typical Independence Day celebrations put on by past presidents. 

The event included a prominent display of military hardware with tanks parked near the National Mall and military flyovers by an array of aircraft. It also included an address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial from the president and the typical fireworks display.

The House Freedom Caucus described President Donald Trump’s budget proposal as “a paradigm shift,” and members of the conservative group expressed support for the president’s plan.

“This is how you break the Swamp. Passing MAGA Republican priorities in reconciliation with Republican votes — ending Democrats’s leverage against the President in appropriations to fund the Left’s wasteful, woke and weaponized bureaucracy. The FY26 budget is a paradigm shift,” the Freedom Caucus declared in a post on X.

The president is seeking to decrease non-defense discretionary spending and boost funding for defense.

TRUMP ADMIN RELEASES BUDGET BLUEPRINT IN PUSH FOR DEFENSE SPENDING BOOST

President Donald Trump delivers a speech marking his 100th day in office at the Macomb County Community College Sports Expo Center in Warren, Mich., April 29, 2025 (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump “is proposing base non-defense discretionary budget authority $163 billion — 22.6 percent — below current-year spending, while still protecting funding for homeland security, veterans, seniors, law enforcement, and infrastructure,” Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought indicated in a message to Senate Committee on Appropriations Chair Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

“For Defense spending, the President proposes an increase of 13 percent to $1.01 trillion for FY 2026; for Homeland Security, the Budget commits a historic $175 billion investment to, at long last, fully secure our border. Under the proposal, a portion of these increases — at least $325 billion assumed in the budget resolution recently agreed to by the Congress — would be provided through reconciliation, to ensure that our military and other agencies repelling the invasion of our border have the resources needed to complete the mission,” he explained.

TOP SENATE ARMED SERVICES REPUBLICAN SAYS TRUMP OMB’S BUDGET ‘SHREDS TO THE BONE’ MILITARY CAPABILITIES

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, attends President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol March 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, has expressed support for the president’s proposal.

“This budget re-aligns federal spending to the priorities of the people: a secure nation, making America healthy again, a Justice Department combatting crime and not weaponized against the people, and common sense,” the congressman declared in a statement.

TRUMP SAYS PUBLIC ENTITLEMENTS LIKE SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICAID WON’T BE TOUCHED IN GOP BUDGET BILL

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“Combined with our joint efforts to rescind other wasteful spending and deliver a reconciliation bill that will extend and expand the Trump tax cuts while reforming Medicaid and other programs to reduce deficits, we are poised to deliver prosperity, freedom, and strength to the American people,” he said.

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., another member of the House Freedom Caucus, referred to Trump’s proposal as “a game-changing budget,” in a post on X, asserting it “is exactly what Republicans were elected to deliver: securing the homeland, cutting the federal government, and crippling the deep state.”

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., described the president’s budget as “a bold step toward fiscal responsibility.”

A former top advisor to ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is not meeting the moment in the current Trump era.

“Trump is just giving us all this incredible red meat. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s like the biggest gift any party has been given by the opposition, and we’re just squandering it, to a degree,” former Pelosi advisor Ashley Etienne told Politico’s Deep Dive podcast. 

Etienne helped Pelosi oversee Democrats’ messaging during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. She also previously worked for former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.

She said Jeffries was “doing well” in many areas and said she had “a tremendous amount of respect” for the New York Democrat but signaled that he was missing opportunities on anti-Trump messaging.

WATCH: AOC LEAVES DOOR OPEN FOR 2028 PRESIDENTIAL BID AS CAMPAIGN BUZZ SOARS

A former advisor to ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi shared criticism of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership. (Getty/Reuters)

“He gave a speech this morning. I don’t have any talking points in my phone about what he said. And I’m going to be doing TV and this interview all day. That’s a failure,” Etienne said.

“How do you get to discipline if you’re not telling people what the hell you want them to say? At least emphatically, at least tonally.”

Jeffries’ allies pushed back against that characterization, pointing out that intraparty friction was taking attention away from Trump’s low poll numbers and Republicans’ policies.

“Donald Trump’s approval ratings are plummeting, and he’s bringing House Republicans down with him. Extreme MAGA Republicans have been forced to delay their plans to advance Trump’s centerpiece legislative priority due to intense backlash against their scheme to enact the largest cuts in history to Medicaid and food assistance. Let’s keep the main thing, the main thing,” Jeffries spokesperson Christiana Stephenson told Fox News Digital.

Just Friday morning, Jeffries released a statement hammering House Republicans for having to delay part of their legislative work to advance Trump’s agenda.

But Etienne’s comments are a notable rebuke from a former senior Democratic leadership aide to one of the party’s most powerful current officials, which comes after months of Democrats being plagued by infighting over messaging woes.

Etienne noted that Democrats had scored several wins on the messaging front, like having “successfully demonized Elon Musk” and Sen. Cory Booker’s recent record-breaking filibuster speech.

But she singled out liberals’ protests during Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress as an “embarrassing” setback for the party and Jeffries.

Etienne said the Democratic protests during Trump’s speech were ‘embarrassing.’ (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)

“If you look at the headlines post-the speech, even during the speech, it was more about Democrats and Democrats protesting rather than what Trump was actually saying. And in those kind of moments, you don’t want to become the story. You want Trump to be the story,” Etienne said.

“And I also thought it was a problem for Mr. Jeffries. I mean, it really says a lot about how people value his leadership. He asked for no protest. And what did they do? They protest 50 different ways.”

AOC CLAIMS ‘WE ARE ONE’ IN CAMPAIGN-STYLE VIDEO DESPITE YEARS OF INVOKING RACE, GENDER IN POLITICS

Both Pelosi and Jeffries’ offices told Politico that the latter often seeks the former’s input, and Jeffries’ spokesperson pushed back on Politico’s reporting that House Democratic leaders were seeking to move past Pelosi and that Jeffries was not doing enough to help Democratic groups with messaging. 

One of those groups, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), pushed back on the assertion they were not hearing enough from Jeffries.

PCCC sent out a press release that read, “Today, in a POLITICO article we are not interested in dwelling on, a former Pelosi staffer attacked Hakeem Jeffries. PCCC co-founder Adam Green said, ‘We hear more from Jeffries than we ever heard from Pelosi.’”

Meanwhile, a House Democratic aide told Fox News Digital that Jeffries held “multiple calls” previewing his earlier speech on Trump’s first 100 days in office, as well as talking points “emphasizing the Leader’s message that President Trump’s first 100 days have been a disaster for the American people.”

Stephenson, Jeffries’ spokesperson, also posted on X of Politico’s report, “Can anyone tell me how grandstanding like this is anything other than a gift to Republicans?”

But House Republicans’ elections arm was quick to pounce on the discord as well.

“Hakeem Jeffries is the so-called leader of a team that doesn’t fear him, doesn’t follow him, and now, doesn’t even pretend to respect him,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement. 

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And Democratic strategist Julian Epstein, a former chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized Jeffries’ leadership but said that Trump was not Democrats’ main problem.

“He’s not a particularly effective speaker, gives no sense of direction or purpose, seems intent on not offending anyone, and has a leadership style that seems extremely passive,” Epstein said.

“The Democrats in the House just seem like a big blob that goes wherever gravity takes them, and right now gravity is taking them to the hard protest left. But no matter who the leader is, if the Democrats are selling a product that voters don’t like, it won’t matter.”

Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The same day that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz exited his job at the White House, President Donald Trump announced a new job offer for the former Florida congressman: United Nations ambassador. 

But there are some hurdles Waltz must clear first before the New York job is his — including undergoing a Senate confirmation process amid scrutiny after the Atlantic magazine exposed a Signal group chat that his team had set up to discuss strikes against the Houthis in March. 

And receiving full support from the slim Republican majority in the Senate isn’t guaranteed, and not all Republicans got on board backing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Vice President JD Vance ultimately cast the tie-breaking vote securing Hegseth’s nomination. 

Democrats appear hungry to use Waltz’s nomination as a forum to air grievances against other foreign policy leaders in the Trump administration — particularly Hegseth. 

NEXT US NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR? HERE’S WHOM TRUMP MIGHT PICK TO REPLACE WALTZ 

U.S. national security advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stand, as U.S. President Donald Trump meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Feb. 24, 2025.  (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

Still, Waltz’s nomination to represent the U.S. at the U.N. will likely attract support from establishment Republicans in the Senate who weren’t on board with Hegseth in the Pentagon, given that the ideological divide between these Republicans and Waltz is much smaller than it was in Hegseth’s case, according to one Florida GOP source.

“He’s been able to thread the needle really, really well between traditional conservative foreign policy voices and the more populist America First policy voices,” the Florida GOP source said of Waltz.

HEAT ON WALTZ

Waltz, who previously represented Florida’s 6th congressional district, is a retired Army National Guard colonel and former Green Beret who served four deployments to Afghanistan and earned four Bronze Stars — the fourth-highest military combat award, issued for heroic service against an armed enemy. 

While Waltz and Hegseth both were embroiled in the Signal chat discussing strike plans against the Houthis, Hegseth has attracted more of the heat, at least publicly, stemming from the incident. Democrats have called for Hegseth’s resignation as a result of the chat, but staffers at the White House — including Waltz — have openly backed Hegseth and shut down reports that the administration is seeking his replacement. 

But Waltz could get his turn attracting the ire of lawmakers as Democrats find an opportunity to openly grill him in front of the Senate, amid displeasure with Trump’s foreign policy and national security agenda. 

“The second hundred days of national security under President Trump will apparently be just as chaotic as the first hundred,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said in a statement to Fox News Digital about Waltz’s departure from the White House. 

“President Trump’s consistent hirings, firings and upheaval sap morale from our warfighters and intelligence officers, degrade our military readiness, and leave us less prepared to respond to threats from our adversaries,” Coons said. “American citizens at home and around the world are less safe because of President Trump’s non-existent national security strategy.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., also took aim at Waltz — although she labeled Hegseth the worst offender affiliated with “Signalgate.”  

MIKE WALTZ, OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STAFFERS OUT IN LATEST TRUMP PURGE FOLLOWING SIGNAL CHAT LEAK

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., also took aim at former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz — although she labeled Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth the worst offender affiliated with “Signalgate.”   (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Took them long enough. Mike Waltz knowingly made an unclassified chain to discuss classified matters,” Duckworth said in a Thursday X post ahead of Waltz’s U.N. ambassador nomination. “But of all the idiots in that chat, Hegseth is the biggest security risk of all—he leaked the info that put our troops in greater danger. Fire and investigate them all.”

In addition to the Signal chat, Waltz’s exit from the White House was tied to several other issues. For example, Axios reports that Waltz treated White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles like “staff,” and his disrespect rubbed her the wrong way. 

“He treated her like staff and didn’t realize he’s the staff, she’s the embodiment of the president,” a White House official told Axios. “Susie is a deeply loyal person and the disrespect was made all the worse because it was disloyal.”

Waltz reportedly discussed different roles he could take on following his stint at the White House with Wiles, according to CBS News. Waltz was reportedly offered jobs, including the ambassador to Saudi Arabia, but ultimately settled on U.N. ambassador. 

A spokesperson for the National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

NEXT STEPS

With Waltz out as national security advisor, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will temporarily step into that role. 

While Trump originally nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to represent the U.S. at the U.N., he rescinded her nomination in March, citing that the House could not afford to lose another Republican seat. 

Stefanik’s nomination lagged in the Senate in comparison to other U.N. ambassador nominees, including Trump’s first U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. The Senate confirmed Haley in January, just after Trump’s first inauguration. 

While the exact timeline for a potential confirmation vote in the Senate is unclear, the first hurdle that Waltz must clear is a confirmation vote out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Although it is uncertain when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will schedule the nomination hearing for Waltz and the subsequent vote, the committee said his nomination is a “priority.” 

“The committee has been working at a historically fast pace and this nomination will be a priority moving forward,” a GOP staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told Fox News Digital. 

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Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., meets with Republican Sen. John Barasso of Wyoming.  (Office of Rep. Elise Stefanik)

The 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly is scheduled for September 9, so there are a few months for Waltz’s confirmation to play out, the Florida GOP source said. That means that Waltz could take a few months off, start the confirmation process in June or July and wrap up his confirmation by September at the latest, the source said. 

“He’s got plenty of time. So, this isn’t a looming fight that’s going to happen next week,” the Florida GOP source said. “This is going to play out probably in June or July, which by then, people are going to forget about the Signalgate stuff, or at the very, very least, they’re going to forget about Mike Waltz’s role in it.” 

But there are a few Republican wildcards in the Senate who have voted against several of Trump’s nominees, most prominently Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who voted against Hegseth, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.  

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in January.  (J. Scott Applewhite/the Associated Press)

A spokesperson for McConnell did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Other Republicans who have opposed Trump nominees include Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, both of whom voted against Hegseth, as well as Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, both of whom voted against Chavez-DeRemer.  

Aside from former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., whom Trump initially nominated to serve as attorney general, Trump’s entire cabinet has been approved. Gaetz withdrew his nomination amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct and drug-use allegations. 

Despite opposition from Democrats, and possibly a few Republicans, it appears unlikely that any fire that Waltz will face will sink his nomination. 

“The reality of it is, the president can lose three votes in the Senate, and the vice president can still vote to break a tie,” the Florida GOP source said. “There’s no way he’s probably going to lose three votes.”

Meanwhile, other Republicans have openly stated they endorse Waltz’s nomination, including Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Risch, R-Idaho, who lauded Trump’s decision to nominate Waltz for the role. 

Vice President JD Vance sits for an interview with Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier in South Carolina, where he addressed Waltz’s nomination to represent the U.S. at the United Nations.  (Fox News/Special Report)

“Great choices. America is safer and stronger under President Trump and his national security team,” Risch said in a Thursday X post. “I thank Mike Waltz for his service as NSA, and look forward to taking up his nomination in our committee.” 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also posted on X on Friday that Waltz would be confirmed “for sure.” 

Vance also voiced support for Waltz and billed the nomination as a “promotion,” pushing back on any suggestions that Waltz’s removal amounted to a firing. 

“Donald Trump has fired a lot of people,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier Thursday. “He doesn’t give them Senate-confirmed appointments afterward. What he thinks is that Mike Waltz is going to better serve the administration, most importantly, the American people in that role.”

Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.