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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., will vote to confirm President Donald Trump’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz, after securing commitments from him regarding transgender treatments for minors and abortion. 

“On this basis, I will vote to confirm him. Now that I am confident that he has moved away from his previous positions, and he’s moved into alignment with the president, I feel comfortable voting for him,” he told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview on Monday. 

The senator revealed that Oz responded to his inquiries and disavowed his past stances on transgender treatments for minors and abortion in a series of posts on X earlier in the day. 

‘BLINDSIDED’: HOW STEFANIK’S TRUMP NOMINATION AS UN AMBASSADOR IMPLODED

Josh Hawley had concerns about where Dr. Oz stands on abortion and transgender treatments for minors. (Reuters)

“Dr. Oz has responded to my questions re: past support for trans treatments for minors & his criticism of right to life. Oz now disavows his previous support for trans surgeries & drugs for minor children. He pledges to ‘end chemical and surgical mutilation of children,’” Hawley wrote on X on Monday. 

“He also walks back past criticism of state pro-life laws, says he supports the Dobbs decision, and is ‘unequivocally pro-life.’ He vows to enforce conscience protections, end the abuse of [the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act], and work to end funding for abortion providers,” he continued. 

“This was really a big shift of position for him,” he explained, adding that he was “delighted” by Oz’s responses. 

“When it comes to the [transgender] issue and the life issue, those are non-negotiable for me, just as I believe they are for the president,” the Missouri Republican explained. “I want to know that these people are 100% clear.” 

HOW TRUMP-BLOCKING JUDGES MANAGED TO GET PAST SENATE JUDICIARY HAWKS

Oz will face a full Senate vote soon.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Every member of the Trump administration is working from the same playbook, President Trump’s playbook, to restore commonsense policies and put an end to left-wing ideological nonsense afflicting our government,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital in a statement. “We look forward to the Senate’s swift confirmation of Dr. Oz so he can join the rest of our all-star team at HHS working to Make America Healthy Again by restoring common sense, transparency, and confidence in our healthcare apparatus.”

Earlier in the month, Hawley sent Oz a list of questions, specifically probing him on those issues. As of last week, Hawley said the nominee hadn’t responded, which the senator called “strange.” 

Oz previously used his television show as a platform for people who supported and promoted transgender treatments, particularly for minors. Specifically, he hosted two transgender children on his show in 2010 in a segment titled, “Transgender Kids: Too Young to Decide?” 

He also expressed concerns about state laws to limit abortion during a 2019 interview on the popular radio show “The Breakfast Club.”

It’s “a hard issue for everybody,” he said at the time. 

And while on “a personal level,” Oz didn’t like abortion, he also believed he should not “interfere with everyone else’s stuff,” he said. 

JOSH HAWLEY BELIEVES HIS BILL CAN STOP ‘RESISTANCE’ JUDGES FROM ‘PROVOKING A CRISIS’

Oz also opposed government jurisdiction on the subject of abortion when he ran for Senate in Pennsylvania as a Republican in 2022.

“I don’t want the federal government involved with that at all,” he claimed during a debate with now-Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. “I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive, to put the best ideas forward, so states can decide for themselves.”

Hawley’s commitments from Oz are just the latest he’s received from Trump nominees as he considers them for confirmation. He previously got assurances from now-Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the same issues. 

REPUBLICANS LOOK TO ABOLISH TSA IN FAVOR OF PRIVATE SECURITY AT AIRPORTS

Makary was recently confirmed.  (Getty Images)

When it came to now-leader of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Dr. Marty Makary, Hawley led a successful campaign to secure the resignation of a top lawyer with the FDA who previously argued in favor of abortion pill access in a high-profile case while in former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ). 

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“I just view my role for those I have to vote on — I want to know that these people are going to align with the president,” Hawley said, noting that he believes Trump has “moved really fast [and] really strong” on the issues. 

The Supreme Court appeared likely to side with a Wisconsin-based Catholic Charities group in its fight with the government over a state ruling it says “distorts” and “undermines” its mission of caring for the sick and poor.

The Trump Justice Department has filed a brief in support of the charity, arguing exemptions in federal tax laws, like the Wisconsin tax law, protect the rights of religious institutions.

The group, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, is appealing a ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that found that because it does not conduct “typical” religious activity, it is not exempt from the state’s costly unemployment payment program.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a Wisconsin law exempting religious nonprofits from the program does not apply to the charity group, because it is not “operated primarily for religious purposes” and serves and employs non-Catholics and does not attempt to convert individuals, they said.

TRUMP MAKES ENDORSEMENT IN ‘IMPORTANT’ WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT RACE

The Supreme Court appeared likely to side with a Wisconsin-based Catholic Charities group in its fight with the government over a state ruling it says “distorts” and “undermines” its mission of caring for the sick and poor. (Ricky Carioti /The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Catholic Charities, however, argues that helping the disabled, elderly and those living in poverty — regardless of their faith — is a core tenet of their religious practice.

The group’s attorney, Eric Rassbach, with the religious liberty law firm Becket, argued during the hearing that Catholic teaching forbids Catholics from conditioning assistance on acceptance of the church’s teachings.

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court got it wrong when it interpreted a state-law religious exemption to favor what it called ‘typical’ religious activity and when it held that helping the poor can’t be religious, because secular people help the poor too,” he said.

The group is seeking to be exempt from the state’s unemployment compensation program so it can join the Wisconsin Catholic Church’s private program, which they say would save them more money than paying into the state program.

POPE FRANCIS’ DOCTORS CONSIDERED ENDING TREATMENT, SAID ‘THERE WAS A REAL RISK HE MIGHT NOT MAKE IT’: REPORT

The nation’s Catholic bishops gather for their annual fall meeting in at the Marriott Waterfront hotel in Baltimore on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023. On Tuesday, the Catholic leaders called for peace in a war-torn world and unity amid strife within their own clerical ranks.  (Tiffany Stanley/AP Photo)

In nearly two hours of often heated debate, a majority on the bench seemed to agree the state engaged in an unnecessary entanglement over defining whether Catholic Charities should be treated differently from other similarly situated secular groups.

Attorneys for Wisconsin faced intense questioning from the justices about the state entangling itself in religious doctrine and practice, thus violating the First Amendment by denying a religious organization an otherwise available tax exemption because the organization does not meet the state’s criteria for religious behavior.

“Isn’t it a fundamental premise of our First Amendment that the state shouldn’t be picking and choosing between religions,” questioned Justice Neil Gorsuch. 

“Doesn’t it entangle the state tremendously when it has to go into a soup kitchen, send an inspector in, to see how much prayer is going on?” he asked.

JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON RAISES EYEBROWS WITH COMMENT THAT FIRST AMENDMENT ‘HAMSTRINGS’ GOVERNMENT

Even some of the court’s liberal justices seemed to have concerns with Wisconsin’s ruling. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Even some of the court’s liberal justices seemed to have concerns with Wisconsin’s ruling.

“There are lots of hard questions in this area,” said Justice Elena Kagan. “But I thought it was pretty fundamental that we don’t treat some religions better than other religions and we certainly don’t do it based on the contents of the religious doctrine that those religions preach.”

“The reason why we’re so worried about entanglement is because it gets us enmeshed in the content of religious doctrine,” she said.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett commented during the hearing that “the problem here is how to figure out what the line is.”

Alan Rock, executive director of the Catholic Charities Bureau, told Fox News Digital that following the hearing, he is “confident the Supreme Court will ensure our freedom to serve all those in need according to our Catholic faith.”

EXCLUSIVE: GROUNDBREAKING NEW PRAYER BOOK DESIGNED FOR DEMOGRAPHIC MOST TARGETED FOR ABORTION

United States Supreme Court (Fox News Digital)

“The state of Wisconsin said that our work isn’t religious. The state denied that our care for those in need is driven by our faith, simply because we serve everyone and do not try to convert those we serve. That view distorts the heart of our mission and undermines our ability to care for the most vulnerable,” he said, adding, “We look forward to the Court’s ruling.”

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Speaking with Fox News Digital after the hearing, Bishop James Powers, head of the Catholic Diocese of Superior, said that Wisconsin is “punishing Catholic Charities for following this example of Christian love.”

“We do not help the needy because they are Catholic — we help them because we are Catholic,” he said. “The Good Samaritan did not ask about the wounded man’s faith: He simply saw a neighbor in need and responded with mercy. That is the model Catholic Charities has embraced since its founding.”

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing to defund an entire county after its leading law enforcement authority vowed to “make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt” deportation operations based on ICE detainers, which he called unconstitutional.

This comes amid the Trump administration’s concerted whole-of-government approach to cracking down on illegal immigration and migrant crime in the United States. 

Bird, a Republican, argues that the sheriff’s self-proclaimed “longtime” stance of interrupting immigration enforcement operations based on detainers “impeded and discouraged cooperation with federal immigration authorities in violation of Iowa law.”

A detainer is a formal request by ICE to other law enforcement authorities to hold an individual the agency has good reason to believe is an illegal alien who poses a threat to the well-being and safety of the community.

ICE officials have said that by refusing to honor detainers, law enforcement agencies put their communities at risk by allowing potentially dangerous illegals back onto the streets.

BLUE STATE SANCTUARY LAWS ENABLED ILLEGAL ‘ABOLISH ICE’ ACTIVIST TO EVADE CAPTURE, SAYS LOCAL DA

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing to defund an entire county after its leading law enforcement authority vowed to “make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt” deportation operations based on ICE detainers, which he called unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall | Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office | John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Despite this, Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx pledged not to cooperate with ICE detainers in a Feb. 4 Facebook post in which he asserted that a detainer is “simply an unconstitutional *request* from ICE.”

In the now-deleted post, Marx encouraged people to contact his office if they encounter “any federal agents” and said he and his staff are “always willing to assist with verifying credentials and the legitimacy of any paperwork federal agents should have to make certain your rights are not being abused.”

“If the fed’s actions and paperwork are within constitutional parameters (such as proper and valid judicial warrants/court orders) we will assist if needed or requested to ensure their actions are carried out professionally and in the least intrusive fashion possible,” he said.

“If their actions or paperwork are not within constitutional parameters,” he went on, “then we will make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.”

BLUE STATE LEADER SOUNDS ALARM ABOUT ‘PERFECT STORM’ OF DEM IMMIGRATION POLICIES DECIMATING PUBLIC SAFETY

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

Actions the sheriff claimed are not within constitutional parameters include what he called “non-judicially vetted ‘detainers,’” which he claimed “are simply an unconstitutional *request* from ICE or other three letter federal agency to arrest or hold someone.”

Marx claimed that “the only reason detainers are issued is because the federal agency does not have enough information or has not taken the time to obtain a valid judicial warrant.”

“Simply put, they are not sure they are detaining the right person and need more time to figure it out,” he claimed, adding, “these detainers are violations of our 4th Amendment protection against warrantless search, seizure and arrest, and our 6th Amendment right to due process.”

Marx concluded the long post by saying his “long-time stance on not recognizing detainers” and involvement with immigration enforcement will be based on “constitutional standards … not opinions, politics or emotions.”

HOMAN BLASTS BLUE STATE AS REPORT SHOWS IT RELEASING ILLEGALS CHARGED WITH ‘HORRIFIC’ CRIMES ON LOW BAILS

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, filed an official complaint with the attorney general about the sheriff violating a state law mandating law enforcement cooperate with federal immigration authorities. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

In response, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, filed an official complaint with the attorney general about the sheriff violating a state law mandating law enforcement cooperate with federal immigration authorities. This prompted an investigation in which Bird found that, despite his defiant rhetoric, Marx’s office had complied with “every single ICE detainer request” since 2018.

The attorney general gave Marx a deadline last week to amend his statements to comply with state law. When he refused to issue a correction, Bird launched a lawsuit to pull all state funding to Winneshiek County until the sheriff agrees to comply with state law regarding cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

Bird argues that Marx’s post, which she said was “rife with legal and factual errors that discouraged enforcing immigration laws,” violated chapter 27A of the Iowa state legal code.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Polk County District Court, cites section 27A.4 of the Iowa legal code, which states that a county “shall be ineligible to receive any state funds if the local entity intentionally violates this chapter.”

DEMOCRAT MAYOR BLASTED FOR VOWING TO MAKE MAJOR CITY ‘SAFE HAVEN’ FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing to defund an entire county after its leading law enforcement authority vowed to “make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt” deportation operations based on ICE detainers, which he called unconstitutional. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Commenting on her suit, Bird said that “sanctuary counties are illegal under Iowa law.”

“Sheriff Marx was given the chance to retract his statement, follow the law, and honor ICE detainers, but he refused—even at a cost to his home county,” she said. “He left us with no choice but to take the case to court to enforce our laws and ensure cooperation with federal immigration authorities.”

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A representative for the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office declined Fox News Digital’s request for comment, saying the sheriff and office “are unable to provide any comments at this time due to the pending litigation.” 

The Winnishiek County Auditor, Benjamin D. Steines would not disclose how much money the county stands to lose, citing the same litigation.

“Iowa is not a sanctuary for illegal immigration. Anyone who threatens to ‘block, interfere and interrupt’ with immigration enforcement, as this sheriff did, will be held accountable,” Bird told Fox News Digital. 

REPUBLICAN STATE AGS BACK TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER IN COURT FILING: ‘TAXPAYERS ARE ON THE HOOK’

AG Brenna Bird, alongside more than a dozen state AGs, filed an amicus brief supporting President Trump’s exeuctive order ending birthright citizenship. (Getty Images)

She noted that her office “gave the Sheriff an opportunity to fix his state-law violation and cooperate with immigration enforcement, but he refused—knowing that it would cost his home community. All he has to do to end this is fix the problem and follow the law.” 

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“Years of a Biden-Harris border invasion takes a serious toll—even on Iowa, and we’re a long way away from the border,” she went on. “Thankfully, President Trump hit the ground running to secure the border, crack down on drug trafficking, and reduce crime. And as Iowa’s Attorney General, I will keep fighting to ensure our state cooperates with federal immigration authorities to keep our communities safe.”

FIRST ON FOX: A group of influential conservatives and lawmakers is warning the Trump administration that the U.S. does not have the tactical nuclear weapons to fight China if war breaks out in the Indo-Pacific. 

A 13-minute video obtained by Fox News Digital and set for release Thursday by the Heritage Foundation argues the U.S. nuclear arsenal is outdated, with the newest weapons nearly 40 years old – about as modern as a grandpa’s vintage Corvette.

Military experts across Washington have begun gaming out the potential scenario if China invades Taiwan and the U.S. comes to the island democracy’s aid. 

The video opens by putting forth a scenario where China may launch a tactical nuclear weapon to destroy the U.S. Air Force Base at Guam, killing 3,000, in “an attempt to change the tide of the battle in their favor.” 

CHINA WILL DOUBLE ITS NUCLEAR ARSENAL TO OVER 1,000 WARHEADS BY 2030, ACCORDING TO US INTELLIGENCE

Military vehicles carrying DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles travel past Tiananmen Square during the military parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of People’s Republic of China, in Beijing, Oct. 1, 2019. (Reuters/Jason Lee)

“The president wants to respond in kind by targeting a similar Chinese target with our own tactical nuclear weapon. There’s only one problem with all this: we probably couldn’t do such a mission if we tried.” 

The video argues the U.S. has abandoned its buildup of tactical nuclear weapons, which are forceful but smaller and more targeted in their destruction than earth-shattering strategic nuclear weapons. 

Since the end of the Cold War, according to Bob Peters, strategic deterrence fellow at Heritage, the U.S. has “dramatically reduced the number of nuclear weapons around the world, signed multiple arms control agreements with the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, and today has an arsenal that is roughly 85% smaller than the ones it fielded at the height of the Cold War.”

The U.S. removed naval and land-based tactical nuclear weapons from Korea in 1991 and retired the nuclear variants of the Tomahawk cruise missile that were stationed across the Pacific. 

“We had Russia, we thought, under control with the breakup of the Soviet Union. We always thought China would be an economic threat,” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., a top member on the Armed Services Committee, said in the clip. 

IRAN, CHINA AND RUSSIA HUDDLE FOR NUCLEAR TALKS WHILE UN MEETS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS ON POSSIBLE SANCTIONS

China has been building up its missile capabilities, including strategic and tactical nukes. (Reuters/Stringer)

But now, China has tripled its nuclear arsenal over the past five years, and plans to go from 500 to 1,000 warheads by 2030. 

The newest nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal is now over 35 years old, Peters points out, and many are decades older, “meant to be retired and replaced in the 1980s.” 

“Like a 1975 Cadillac bought by our grandfather, we’ve been keeping America’s strategic deterrence on life support,” said Peters. 

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, blamed it on a decades-long focus on the Middle East, at the expense of containing threats in the Indo-Pacific region.

“Part of this is a hangover from what I call endless wars, where, instead of having that strong deterrence, we got involved with, you know, a quarter-century of endless conflict that caused a great toll, both in terms of blood and treasure.” 

China has not only been building up its strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, but its anti-ship nuclear capabilities and its fractional orbital bombardment systems, space-based platforms that can drop munitions, including nuclear ones, from space onto the Earth’s surface. 

WOULD THE US WIN A WAR WITH CHINA OVER TAIWAN? US LAWMAKERS BRIEFED ON THE POTENTIAL OUTCOME

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi earlier this month to discuss nuclear weapons. (Pool via Reuters)

“At the same time, China’s building nuclear-capable long-range hypersonic missiles that could in time be able to deliver nuclear weapons to the American homeland with little to no notice,” Peters warned. 

The video argues that the U.S. has too few tactical nuclear weapons when compared with China – weapons that would offer a forceful response but avoid population-decimating strategic nukes. 

“Right now, we’re preaching about arms control but building nothing,” the video states.  “We must modernize the existing strategic arsenal and replace the decades-old warheads and missiles that were meant to be retired in the 1980s and 1990s.”

“We need a much stronger but modern Navy,” said Roy. “Not built on what K Street contractors are saying they need to be, but rather, what do we actually need?”

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“The world is really watching both allies and adversaries. Is the United States going to accept decline and live in a world in which the Chinese, the Russians, perhaps the Iran regime and the North Koreans can successfully coerce the United States of America to prevent us from moving in the world on terms that benefit the American people in our prosperity and freedom?” said Rebecca Heinrichs, senior fellow with Heritage. 

“The United States must field the military capabilities that will convince the Chinese leadership that today is not the day to pick a fight with the United States or its allies,” said Adm. Charles Richard, former head of U.S. Strategic Command. 

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is shuttering the Biden-era EPA museum located near the White House that “scarcely” saw visitors since it opened in 2024, Fox News Digital learned. 

Zeldin announced Monday afternoon that the National Environmental Museum and Education Center, which opened last year under the Biden administration, will shutter after costing taxpayers millions to build and subsequently drew a lackluster number of visitors. 

“The scarcely visited museum cost a whopping $4 million taxpayer dollars to build in accordance with Smithsonian standards and more than $600,000 annually to operate,” the EPA said of the museum in Monday comment provided to Fox News Digital, describing the museum as the “Biden EPA’s pet project.” “It had less than 2,000 external visitors between May 2024-February 2025 and while the museum was free, the cost to taxpayers per external visitor amounted to nearly $315 per person.” 

The EPA museum opened in May 2024 within the William Jefferson Clinton federal building, which is home to the EPA’s headquarters and sits just blocks from the White House. A smaller EPA exhibit previously was showcased in a neighboring federal building ahead of the construction and opening of the National Environmental Museum and Education Center in 2024. 

EPA TERMINATES BIDEN ADMIN’S GREEN GRANTS WORTH $20B, ZELDIN SAYS

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the closing of the National Environmental Museum and Education Center, known as the EPA museum, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“From Love Canal and the founding of EPA more than 50 years ago to the historic funding of our Investing in America agenda, our new museum chronicles our nation’s work to protect public health and the environment – a movement that has transcended political and geographic divides,” Biden-era EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the museum last year.

 “Our work with state, local and Tribal partners has changed people’s lives, it has restored our connection with the environment and our planet, and it will ensure that future generations will continue to have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and clean land to live, work and play on,” he continued. 

Zeldin’s EPA said the museum did not spotlight bipartisan achievements and efforts protecting Americans’ health and the environment, but instead, “the Biden administration chose to curate the museum with a massive gap of recognition between 2014 and January 20, 2021.”

STACEY ABRAMS SLAMMED AFTER DEFENDING $2 BILLION IN BIDEN-ERA EPA FUNDS TO BUY GREEN ENERGY APPLIANCES

A sign for the National Environmental Museum and Education Center in Washington, D.C. (EPA/X)

“There is also a higher priority placed on Democrat Administrations’ work compared to Republican Administrations,” an EPA spokesperson said of the museum. “Biden’s EPA favored the incorporation of a slew of ‘environmental justice’ and climate change content to proliferate the fearmongering tactics of the radical left instead of focusing on the statutory work EPA does daily to deliver clean air, land and water to Americans.” 

LEE ZELDIN LIKENS BIDEN ENERGY ‘SCHEME’ CONNECTED TO STACEY ABRAMS TO ‘THROWING GOLD BARS OFF THE TITANIC’

A breakdown of estimated annual costs to operate the museum, which was provided to Fox Digital, shows taxpayers were expected to foot the bill for an estimated: $123,766.29 in annual cleaning and landscaping costs, $37,899 for audio and visual maintenance, $54,292.99 in annual “artifact storage” costs, $8,900 for “Magnetometer maintenance,” $46,000 for X-ray maintenance, an estimated $123,000 in utility costs, and $207,326 in annual costs to fund two security guards for the museum during operating hours. 

The total annual operating costs totaled just more than $600,000. 

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

The Functional Government Initiative, a government watchdog focused on broadening the public’s awareness of government officials and decisions, celebrated Zeldin’s announcement as a win for taxpayers as funds will return to it intended use for the agency: protecting the environment. 

COMER PROBES NGOS THAT RECEIVED $20B IN BIDEN EPA GRANTS DESPITE ALMOST NO REVENUE: ‘SHADY DEAL’

 Rod Law, Functional Government Initiative’s communications director, said in comment to Fox News Digital Monday. “There is something ironic about the EPA wasting money on a museum about itself when it is supposed to be focused on toxic waste.” 

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has been working with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut costs. (Getty Images/iStock)

“Sadly, promoting special interest climate activism and growing the out-of-touch bureaucracy were hallmarks of the EPA in the Biden administration, and this museum was an unfortunate result of such policy. Administrator Zeldin closing it protects taxpayers, helps return the EPA to its statutory mission of protecting the environment, and abandons past dysfunction and bureaucratic self-promotion,” Law continued. 

TRUMP EPA CHIEF TO ‘CONFRONT CRISIS’ OF MEXICAN SEWAGE POLLUTING SAN DIEGO AREA BEACHES

The New York Times previewed in February that the museum’s fate hung in the balance as the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency went through various federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud, and mismanagement.

Zeldin, a staunch Trump ally, has been on a cost-cutting mission at the agency since he was sworn-in back in January.

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Zeldin has uncovered and cut $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean-energy projects; put the Biden administration’s Clean Power Plan 2.0, which cracked down on power plants, on the chopping block; and terminated hundreds of employees amid the Trump administration’s mission to trim and streamline the federal government of overspending.

The State Department sanctioned six Beijing and Hong Kong authorities who Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “have engaged in actions or policies that have degraded the autonomy of Hong Kong, including in connection with transnational repression targeting individuals residing in the United States.” 

Rubio announced Monday that the actions “demonstrate the Trump Administration’s commitment to hold to account those respondsible for depriving people in Hong Kong of protected rights and freedoms or who commit acts of transnational repression on U.S. soil or against U.S. persons.” 

Those sanctioned include Sonny Chi Kwong Au – the Secretary-General for the Committee for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong – and Raymond Chak Yee Siu, the Police Commissioner of Hong Kong Police Force. The other four sanctioned were identified as Dong Jingwei, Dick Chung Chun Wong, Margaret Wing Lan Chiu and Paul Ting Kwok Lam. 

“Beijing and Hong Kong officials have used Hong Kong national security laws extraterritorially to intimidate, silence, and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas, including a U.S. citizen and four other U.S. residents,” the State Department said. 

45 PRO-DEMOCRACY HONG KONG ACTIVISTS SENTENCED TO UP TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON UNDER CHINA-BACKED LAW 

Raymond Chak Yee Siu, right, who is the Commissioner of Police of the Hong Kong Police Force, embraces his colleague during the Hong Kong Police College’s passing-out parade on March 29, 2025, in Hong Kong, China.  (Hou Yu/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

Lam, according to the State Department, “is the Secretary for Justice, Hong Kong in the Regional Government Ministers category, and has been responsible for or involved in developing, adopting, or implementing, the National Security Law.” 

Last year, Human Rights Watch said the “Safeguarding National Security Ordinance punishes peaceful speech and civil society activism with heavy prison sentences, expands police powers, and weakens due process rights.” 

HONG KONG LAWMAKERS UNANIMOUSLY PASS CONTROVERSIAL SECURITY LAW, GRANTING GOVERNMENT POWER TO CURB DISSENT 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, shown here with President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on March 24, said the actions announced Monday “demonstrate the Trump Administration’s commitment to hold to account those responsible for depriving people in Hong Kong of protected rights and freedoms or who commit acts of transnational repression on U.S. soil or against U.S. persons.”  (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

“As a result of today’s sanctions-related actions, and in accordance with E.O. 13936, all property and interests in property of the sanctioned persons described above that are in the United States or in possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC),” the State Department said. 

“Additionally, all individuals or entities that have ownership, either directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked,” it continued. 

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Paul Ting Kwok Lam speaks in Hong Kong in November 2022. (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)

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“All transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons are prohibited unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or exempt from U.S. sanctions,” according to the State Department. “These prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person and the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.” 

Fox News’ Nick Kalman contributed to this report.

The daughter of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says she is skipping graduate school in protest against the university’s lack of support for student demonstrations.

Hope Walz made the announcement to her followers on TikTok on Sunday, saying she was disappointed with how the institution she had planned to attend dealt with student protests.

“I applied for one school. I kind of had my heart set on it. I am not going to name the institution, but given recent events I am not going to give my money, go into debt for, or support institutions that do not support students and the right to protest and speak out for their communities,” Hope said.

“Students deserve to be protected. I am not worried about if I were to be protected or not at said institution. I am, you know, a privileged white woman. But I am not going to put myself in the position where I am giving money or supporting institutions that don’t support their students,” she added.

VIDEO SHOWS ARREST OF COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL

Tim Walz and his daughter, Hope Walz. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Her announcement comes as universities across the country grapple with how to respond to often-violent anti-Israel protests and the spread of antisemitism on their campuses.

President Donald Trump’s administration has taken an aggressive stance with Columbia University in particular, threatening to withhold federal funding if the institution did not make reforms to combat antisemitism and rampant campus protests.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY YIELDS TO TRUMP ADMIN DEMANDS OVER REVOKED $400M IN FEDERAL FUNDING

A Columbia University graduate speaks before tearing up her degree during a protest on Saturday, March 29. (Freedom News TV)

Columbia agreed to demands from the administration to ban masks for the purpose of concealing identity on campus as well as appoint a senior vice provost to oversee the school’s Department of the Middle East, South Asian and African Studies, as well as the Center for Palestine Studies.

After much violence on campus, Columbia must also hire 36 new campus police officers with the ability to arrest students.

A Columbia student looks at damage to windows of a door at Hamilton Hall at Columbia University on April 30, 2024, in New York City.  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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Columbia was at the heart of 2024’s anti-Israel campus protests, with NYPD officers ultimately breaking up a barricade at Hamilton Hall in a highly publicized raid.

Fox News’ Jasmine Baehr and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump took to social media on Monday, to showcase the speed at which he’s acted during the first two and a half months of his second administration.

“107 executive orders signed in 67 days, more than any in American history,” the president wrote in a social media post.

Trump has been expanding the powers of the presidency, as he has upended long-standing government policy and made major cuts to the federal workforce through an avalanche of executive orders and actions. 

While Trump repeatedly touts his performance steering the nation, the latest public opinion polling suggests Americans may not be so pleased with the job he’s doing as president.

WHERE TRUMP STANDS IN THE LATEST FOX NEWS NATIONAL POLL

President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump stands at 42% approval and 56% disapproval in an AP/NORC released on Monday that questioned adults nationwide March 20-24.

That’s slightly lower than a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted March 21-23, which indicated the president at 45%-51% approval/disapproval.

Trump’s numbers were slightly higher in the most recent Fox News national poll, which was in the field March 14-17. Americans appeared divided on the job the president was doing, with 49% approval and 51% disapproval.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING, ANALYSIS, AND OPINION ON PRESIDENT TRUMP

An average of all the most recent national polls that asked the presidential approval question indicates that Trump’s approval ratings are slightly in negative territory. Trump has seen his numbers edge down slightly since the start of his second term, when an average of his polls indicated the president’s approval rating in the low 50s and his disapproval in the mid-40s.

Contributing to the slide, the economy and jitters that Trump’s tariffs on America’s top trading partners will spark further inflation, which was a pressing issue that kept former President Joe Biden’s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency.

President Donald Trump speaks at an event in the State Dining Room at the White House, March 27, 2025. (Pool via AP)

Only 40% of those questioned in the AP/NORC poll gave the president a thumbs up on the job he’s doing steering the economy, with 58% saying they disapprove.

And Trump stood at 38% approval and 60% disapproval on how he’s handling trade negotiations with other countries. A slew of Trump’s proposed tariffs are expected to go into effect on Tuesday.

Inflation was arguably the top issue that boosted Trump to victory in last November’s presidential election, and it remains critical to his political fortunes.

“If prices remain high, he’s going to have trouble,” warned Daron Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas who serves as a member of the Fox News Decision Team and is the Republican partner on the Fox News poll.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST INFLATION NEWS FROM FOX BUSINESS

But the AP/NORC does have some good news for the president. It’s the latest survey to indicate an increase in the percentage of Americans who are optimistic about the direction of the country.

Thirty-eight percent of those questioned said the country’s headed in the right direction, up from 28% in January at the end of Biden’s term in the White House. The jump is mostly fueled by a 34% surge in Republicans saying the country’s headed on the right track.

According to the poll, Trump’s favorable rating is underwater at 42%-54% favorable/unfavorable.

As with his approval rating, there’s a massive but expected partisan divide.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk speak to reporters near a red Model S Tesla vehicle on the South Lawn of the White House, March 11, 2025. (Pool via AP )

But Trump’s favorable ratings are superior to Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and Tesla and Space X chief executive, and White House advisor whose controversial moves downsizing the federal government as he steers the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have grabbed tons of attention.

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According to the poll, Musk’s favorable rating stands at 36%, with 55% seeing him in an unfavorable light.

A Yale University Law School associate research scholar was terminated after failing to disclose information about her alleged ties to Samidoun Network, a Canada-based group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

Iranian-born Helyeh Doutaghi was fired Friday, three weeks after being put on administrative leave after allegations were made that she was part of the Samidoun Network, classified as “a sham charity” by the federal government for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S-designated terrorist organization.

“Over the last three weeks, Yale has repeatedly requested to meet with Ms. Doutaghi and her attorney to obtain clarifying information and resolve this matter,” Yale spokesperson Alden Ferro said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “Unfortunately, she has refused to meet to provide any responses to critical questions, including whether she has ever engaged in prohibited activity with organizations or individuals that were placed on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list (‘SDN List’).”

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY YIELDS TO TRUMP ADMIN DEMANDS OVER REVOKED $400M IN FEDERAL FUNDING

Anti-Israel protesters march ahead of the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 18, 2024. (Fox News Digital )

As such, the university terminated Doutaghi, effective immediately, over her “refusal to cooperate” with their investigation. The university, which saw its fair share of anti-Israel protests last year and a large-scale graduation walkout, noted her short-term employment was already set to expire in April. 

Doutaghi was appointed deputy director of the Law and Political Economy (LPE) Project at the unversity in October 2023. According to her bio on the Palestine Center for Public Policy website, her “research explores the intersections of the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), encompassing Marxian and postcolonial critiques of law, sanctions, and international political economy.”

She is also an incoming post-doctoral fellow at the University of Tehran, according to the website, where her focus will be “completing her manuscript on Iranian sanctions regime and neoliberalism.”

HAWLEY BLASTS ‘INSANE’ LIBERAL ATTORNEY DURING SENATE HEARING ON CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM

Yale graduates stage a walkout during the commencement ceremony in New Haven, Connecticut, May 20, 2024. (Richard Harbus for Fox News Digital)

The allegations about Doutaghi were first made by Jewish Onliner, a Substack “Empowered by A.I. capabilities,” according to its X account.

“Rather than defend me, the Yale Law School moved within less than 24 hours of learning about the report to place me on leave,” Doutaghi wrote in a statement on X earlier this month. “I was given only a few hours’ notice by the administration to attend an interrogation based on far-right AI-generated allegations against me, while enduring a flood of online harassment, death threats, and abuse by Zionist trolls, exacerbating ongoing unprecedented distress and complications both at work and at home.”

Doutaghi said she was “afforded no due process and no reasonable time to consult” with her attorney.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT RESIGNS AFTER MONTHS OF MOUNTING PRESSURE OVER ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS

Anti-Israel protests at Yale University and the University of Michigan. (Fox Detroit; Fox News Digital)

The termination of Doutaghi comes as the Trump administration has been clamping down on allegations of antisemitism across Ivy League schools. 

Several students holding visas or green cards have since filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, alleging First Amendment violations.

“Immediate action will be taken by the Department of Justice to protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities,” a White House fact sheet on the executive order said. 

Trump also vowed to deport Hamas sympathizers and revoke student visas. 

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Columbia University student and anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil was among the first students to face allegations from the Trump administration over his green card application, in which he was accused of omitting details about his employment history.

The administration subsequently pulled $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, citing its handling of anti-Israel protests on campus last year. The Ivy League school announced on Friday it would implement significant policy changes to comply with the administration’s demands.

President Donald Trump earned a wave of backlash from the political right after endorsing Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. for re-election last week.

A torrent of replies flooded Trump’s Truth Social post as people disagreed with the president’s move, including retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who very briefly served as national security advisor during Trump’s first term. 

“Not someone I can get behind. I’ll go to the gates with you but I won’t take one step forward with him,” Flynn wrote.

Trump declared in the Truth Social post that Graham has his “Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election” and that the senator “WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN.”

Negative sentiment about the senator and Trump’s endorsement also appeared on X.

TRUMP ENDORSES SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM FOR RE-ELECTION: ‘HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN’

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Sen. Lindsey Graham has his “Complete and Total Endorsement” last week. (Left: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Right: Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

“Sorry… I am not with Trump at all with this one. Not one bit,” conservative commentator and crack Trump impressionist Shawn Farash tweeted.

“Just say NO to Lindsey Graham,” conservative commentator Chad Prather wrote.

Townhall columnist Scott Morefield opined, “Trump endorsing Lindsey Graham, in a state where an eggplant with an R beside their name would win, with the promise that he ‘will not let us down’ no less, while at the same time castigating real, non-RINO conservatives like Chip Roy, Bob Good & Thomas Massie, just shows that, while we should appreciate how he’s running the country, his ‘endorsements’ should be taken with a heavy grain of salt.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., hauled in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations this month after Trump trashed him on Truth Social for opposing a government-funding measure to avert a partial government shutdown.

“HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him,” Trump vowed. “He reminds me of Liz Chaney [sic] before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!)”

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday, Massie likened Graham to former Rep. Liz Cheney.

“I don’t begrudge anyone for an endorsement, but Senator Graham is objectively the ideological twin of Liz Cheney,” Massie said in the statement.

Graham’s campaign manager Mark Knoop said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday, “Senator Graham shares President Trump’s frustration with Rep. Massie. Rep. Massie has become the most reliable vote for Democrats on critical issues opposing President Trump’s agenda.”

TRUMP PLEDGES TO ‘LEAD THE CHARGE’ AGAINST REP. MASSIE, LIKENS HIM TO LIZ CHENEY

Former President Donald Trump gestures as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., addresses the crowd during a 2024 election campaign event in Columbia, S.C., on Jan. 28, 2023 (LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump attacked conservative House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, last year, declaring in a Truth Social post, “The very unpopular ‘Congressman’ from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory – All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself.”

While Trump wanted the debt ceiling raised, Roy indicated in a December tweet, “Currently, I’m against raising the debt ceiling without major spending cuts/reform. Congress needs to feel the pain of their actions and confront reality.”

Fox News Digital reached out to request a comment from the congressman, but no comment was provided by his office. The White House also declined to provide comment on the president’s endorsement of Graham. 

“There’s no bigger endorsement than President Trump’s and Senator Graham is honored to have his support. He has earned it. Senator Graham looks forward to playing golf this weekend with Trey Gowdy and President Trump. When it comes to conservative organizations endorsing Senator Graham, stay tuned,” Knoop said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday.

Figures from pro-life groups are slated to appear at a press conference on Monday as the groups back Graham’s re-election bid, according to a campaign press release provided to Fox News Digital.

IF PLUG IS PULLED ON UKRAINE IT WILL BE ‘WORSE THAN AFGHANISTAN,’ SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM SAYS

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Graham, who thanked Trump for the endorsement in a post on X, has also shared another post with a video highlighting the president’s support.

“President Trump is on team Graham,” a voiceover declares during the video, describing Graham as “a conservative leader, trusted by Trump, endorsed by Trump.”

But while Trump, who previously endorsed Graham in 2020, is on the senator’s side, time will tell whether voters share the same sentiments.

While Graham decisively won his 2020 primary with more than 67% of the vote, he was met with a chorus of boos when he spoke at a Trump rally in his own state of South Carolina in 2023.

The lawmaker, who has served in the Senate for more than two decades, is up for re-election in 2026.

Since its establishment in 1979, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has shaped federal student loan policies, which have, in turn, influenced the rising cost of an education and the loans to pay for it. As President Donald Trump moves to significantly downsize, and eventually shutter, the DOE, one expert says a completely private loan system would work better than shifting administration to other government agencies.

“The Clinton administration introduced the direct loan program, so this was kind of the competitor to the quasi public-private system, where now the government was going to be the one issuing the loans, and both systems kind of coexisted for a couple years, until 2010, when we got Obamacare, and that basically used some of the paper profits from switching all the loans to government loans to help pay for Obamacare,” Cato Institute expert Andrew Gillen told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

“And so, ever since 2010, we’ve been in the government-lending exclusively area,” he added.

CALIFORNIA UNDER INVESTIGATION BY TRUMP ADMIN FOR ALLEGEDLY HIDING ‘GENDER IDENTITY’ OF KIDS

Morning sun lights the front of the Department of Education building in Washington, February 4, 2025. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Initially, after Trump signed an executive order in March dismantling the DOE, the administration proposed transferring the $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio to the Small Business Administration (SBA). However, recent developments indicate that the Treasury Department may assume responsibility for federal student loans. 

The Trump administration is also proposing to transfer Pell Grants and Title I funding to other federal agencies, effectively reducing the department’s role in overseeing major educational programs.

“If we just transfer student loans to the Treasury and don’t change anything else about the system, I don’t think this would have any real impact,” Gillen said. “So, all of these loan terms are already set by Congress, and so simply changing the administrative home of who oversees the paperwork in the background, that’s not going to have any impact.”

The current system encourages “bad investments” by funding students or education without a realistic expectation of repayment, Gillen said. Instead, private lenders, who prioritize repayment risk, would likely avoid financing such loans. He suggested that moving to a private system would provide better incentives for both colleges and students, as universities would face pressure to produce students who can repay their loans, and students would be more likely to choose fields that lead to successful careers.

NEWSOM’S ‘UNFAIR’ REMARK ON GIRLS’ SPORTS BELIES RECORD AS GOVERNOR: ‘ABSOLUTE BULLS—‘

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier after President Donald Trump moved to dismantle her agency. (Fox News / Special Report)

The government has made it difficult to discharge student loans through bankruptcy, Gillen added, with only a few exceptions, but this rule doesn’t apply to private lenders. 

“There are a couple of things we can do to encourage private lenders to basically be willing to make those loans. So, one is clarifying how bankruptcy law works with these income-driven loans,” he said. 

Some lawmakers have made efforts to address this issue. Democratic Reps. Steve Cohen, Danny K. Davis, and Eric Swalwell reintroduced the Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act, seeking to make private student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy, similar to other types of consumer debt.

STUDENT LOANS, PELL GRANTS WILL CONTINUE DESPITE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT DOWNSIZING, EXPERT SAYS

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon attends the executive order signing ceremony to reduce the size and scope of the Department of Education in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Currently, the government can garnish wages without needing to go through a lawsuit, making the process more efficient and less costly, which would be beneficial for private lenders as well.

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The 1990s saw the introduction of income-driven repayment plans, starting with the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan in 1994 under former President Bill Clinton. These plans allowed borrowers to repay loans based on their income, extending the loan term and increasing the total interest paid. While they provided immediate financial relief, they also led to higher long-term costs for some borrowers.

By fiscal year 2024, the DOE held approximately $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, issuing $85.7 billion in new loans, with $45.3 billion allocated for undergraduate education and $40.4 billion for graduate education.

President Donald Trump’s 11th week in office is slated to focus heavily on tariffs, including the roll-out of the president’s promised “Liberation Day,” when his reciprocal tariffs will be announced. 

“Liberation Day, I call it Liberation Day in America,” Trump said from the White House last week, previewing April 2. “You’ll be seeing tariffs. And I think I’ve been very fair. I have them set. But I think I’ve been very fair to countries that have really abused us economically for many, many decades.” 

For weeks, April 2 has been touted as the day when Trump’s trade policy emphasizing “America First” will be laid out in earnest and end the U.S.’ reliance on goods made overseas. He is expected to roll out his reciprocal tariff plan on Wednesday, which will likely match other countries’ higher tariff rates and aims to counter other trade barriers like burdensome regulations, value-added taxes, government subsidies and exchange rate policies and to negotiate with some countries to reduce those barriers.

“For DECADES we have been ripped off and abused by every nation in the World, both friend and foe. Now it is finally time for the Good Ol’ USA to get some of that MONEY, and RESPECT, BACK. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social of April 2 earlier in March. 

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED DURING TRUMP’S 10TH WEEK IN OFFICE

The tariffs on Wednesday follow Trump already leveling a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports, 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico, and a 20% tariff on goods from China. 

Another 25% tariff on all cars imported into the U.S. will also take effect late Wednesday of this week. 

TRUMP SAYS HE ‘COULDN’T CARE LESS’ IF FOREIGN AUTOMAKERS RAISE PRICES OVER TARIFFS: ‘WE HAVE PLENTY’

President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (JIM WATSON,EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump is also expected to hold another conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week after the two world leaders also spoke last week as Trump and his administration continue working to help hash out a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine amid the ongoing war.

On Sunday, however, Trump told NBC News that he is “pissed off” with Putin after the Russian president slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s leadership last week. Russia also carried out a series of attacks on Ukraine over the weekend amid ongoing talks to reach a potential peace agreement. 

TRUMP SAYS HE IS ‘PISSED OFF’ WITH PUTIN OVER LACK OF PEACE PROGRESS: REPORT

“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump told NBC News.

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” he continued. “There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.”

Trump added that his anger will “dissipate quickly” if Putin “does the right thing.”

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Oct. 1, 2024. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)

This week, Trump is also expected to assess options for his “Golden Dome” missile-defense project, according to Defense One. Trump signed an executive order in January to build a “a next-generation missile defense shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks.” Trump dubbed the system the “Golden Dome” earlier this month, which is a play on Israel’s air defense system, called the “Iron Dome.”

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Trump’s 11th week in office follows a break-neck pace of executive orders and actions since Jan. 20. Trump has signed at least 106 executive orders alone, which surpasses the number of executive orders signed by his predecessors in their respective first years in office since the Carter administration. 

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Eric Revell contributed to this report.

Kash Patel has spent his first month as FBI director cracking down on some of the Trump administration’s top law enforcement priorities, including violent crime, gang activity and drug trafficking – all while managing to avoid much of the high-profile controversy that has embroiled some other senior national security officials.

His early moves have earned him accolades from Republicans in Congress, who have been quick to praise Patel’s first weeks in office, including his effort to move quickly and share certain documents long requested by majorities on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

“Under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Bureau is working aggressively each and every day to find violent criminals, no matter where they are, and bring them to justice,” Patel told Fox News Digital in reflection on his first few weeks heading up the bureau.

“Any success thus far is a credit to the brave men and women of the FBI and our state and local law enforcement partners who do amazing work to execute the mission,” he added.

Just five weeks after his confirmation as FBI director, here are some of Patel’s earliest – and most significant – wins. 

JUDGE FIGHTING TRUMP OVER EL SALVADOR DEPORTATIONS ASSIGNED TO LAWSUIT OVER SIGNAL CHAT LEAK

FBI agents next to the FBI logo. Photos by Getty and AP, illustration via Fox News Digital. (AP/Getty Images)

Arrest of top MS-13 member 

The FBI this week announced the arrest of the top U.S. MS-13 leader, 24-year-old Salvadoran national Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos.

Santos was captured in Woodbridge, Virginia, and was charged with being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. 

Officials told Fox News this week that Santos is one of the top three leaders of the MS-13 gangs in the U.S.

Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, and Patel both watched the arrest take place from a nearby tactical operation center. 

In an interview with Fox News, Bondi praised the team for executing a “clean, safe operation” and credited FBI personnel for getting “one of the worst of the worst of the MS-13 off the streets this morning.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are seen in this March 5 photo shared by the U.S. Department of Justice.  (U.S. Department of Justice. )

‘Most wanted’ fugitive arrests

Patel announced last week that since Jan. 20, the FBI has apprehended three fugitives from the FBI’s top 10 Most Wanted list – an achievement that he said on social media is the result of good leadership and hard work from bureau personnel. 

The individuals captured include Arnoldo Jimenez, accused of murdering his wife in Burbank, Illinois, in 2012; Donald Eugene Fields II, charged with child sex trafficking and child rape charges in federal and state court, respectively; and Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, another MS-13 leader arrested in Mexico last week and extradited to the U.S., where he was charged with racketeering, conspiracy, conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, narco-terrorism conspiracy and alien smuggling conspiracy. 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION INVOKES STATE SECRETS ACT ON HIGH-PROFILE DEPORTATION CASE

Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. (Reuters)

Roman-Bardales had been a fugitive for nearly three years prior to his arrest and is believed to be a founding member of the MS-13 leadership structure in the U.S., where he helped direct the group’s unlawful activities in the U.S., El Salvador, and elsewhere for roughly 20 years. 

Patel praised the arrests in a post on X, noting that the successes of the FBI are “not an accident.” 

“When you let good cops be good cops, this is what happens,” he said. “This administration is giving the new FBI and AG Bondi the resources to get the job done — and we won’t stop.”

Narcotics crackdown 

The FBI under Patel successfully raided and arrested 22 members of a narcotics trafficking ring in Lubbock, Texas, believed to be tied to violent drug cartels based in Mexico.

The operation comes as Patel and Bondi have moved to crack down on narcotics and drug trafficking as part of Trump’s agenda for his second White House term. 

In a post on X, Patel praised the work of the FBI’s Dallas Field Office, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

“These are the operations that mean safer streets for American families,” Patel said. “And we are just getting started.” 

MORE THAN HALF A MILLION LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL BACK PATEL AS FBI DIRECTOR

Hundreds protest outside a Tesla showroom on March 8, 2025. Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) (Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Tesla arrests

The FBI and U.S. Department of Justice have worked in tandem to crack down on a wave of vandalism targeting Tesla dealerships, charging stations, and individual Tesla cars in the U.S. – actions that Bondi described in a press conference earlier this month as acts of “domestic terrorism” punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Individuals have been arrested in recent weeks for setting fire to, and shooting at, Tesla cars and dealerships across the country, vandalizing charging stations and carving graffiti, including anti-Trump messages, into personal vehicles.

The crimes have prompted a federal crackdown pursued by FBI and DOJ leadership. 

Most recently, authorities on Thursday announced federal charges against a 36-year-old Las Vegas resident accused of setting fire to vehicles at a Tesla collision business in Nevada earlier this month. Video footage obtained by authorities shows an individual using Molotov cocktails to set the Teslas on fire, using an AR-30 rifle to shoot bullets into the vehicles, and spray-painting the word “resist” onto the individual cars. 

Las Vegas authorities described the crime as a “targeted” attack on the Tesla facility. 

“As promised, acts of violence and vandalism will not be tolerated, and today law enforcement personnel acted quickly to arrest an individual on charges including arson,” Patel said Thursday in a press release announcing the federal charges. “Under Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, we will continue to pursue these investigations with the full force of law and will bring to justice anyone responsible for these attacks.”

Terrorist money laundering stopped

This week, the Department of Justice announced the successful disruption of a major cryptocurrency financing scheme believed to be used to launder money to Hamas – a significant victory for the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and Cyber Division and the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office, which ran point on the investigation.

The financing ring purportedly controlled by Hamas was used by the terrorist group to launder more than $1.5 million in virtual cryptocurrency from donors since October 2024, according to FBI and Department of Justice personnel.

Supporters were encouraged to make donations to Hamas via an encrypted group chat and complex money laundering system, authorities said. 

FBI AGENTS SUE TRUMP DOJ TO BLOCK ANY PUBLIC IDENTIFICATION OF EMPLOYEES WHO WORKED ON JAN. 6 INVESTIGATIONS

FBI Director Kash Patel is seen waiting for an extradition flight that was carrying Muhammed Sharifullah.  (Justice Department)

In total, the FBI seized $201,000 in cryptocurrency assets from the group, including another $112,000 from three exchange accounts registered in the names of Palestinian individuals living in Turkey and elsewhere. The important success comes as Hamas has increasingly embraced cryptocurrency and encrypted communications to better evade detection.  

The U.S. Treasury Department believes that Hamas has been using crypto to launder its money since at least 2020, taking advantage of the decentralized and unregulated nature of the digital currency.

These early victories are a signal of strength for the bureau as it seeks to shed what it sees as unfair perceptions of weaponization or politicization, and pursue key priorities under the Trump administration.

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson praised Patel’s job performance, telling Fox News Digital, “The FBI and our law enforcement partners have delivered on multiple key initiatives just within the first month, but the work is only beginning.”

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“Director Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino have built an extremely formidable FBI team committed to delivering on the promises of building public trust, engaging with congressional partners to increase transparency, and pursuing violent criminals in every corner of the earth,” Williamson said.

“We’re just getting started.”

Fox News’s Anders Hagstrom, David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

The Trump administration’s Signal group chat leak was a “sloppy” move that put Democrats on offense for the first time since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Sunday.

Warner made the statement during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” telling host Shannon Bream that it is an insult to the American people for Trump officials to claim the information discussed in the group chat wasn’t classified.

“This was so inappropriate. This was so sloppy. You know, Signal [is] fine, but don’t put classified information. If this had been any military officer or intelligence officer and they’d done that, they’d be fired,” Warner said.

Warner fell short of stating that the information in the group chat made it “criminal,” as his colleague Sen. Richard Blumenthal has claimed.

ELON MUSK TAPPED TO HELP LEAD INVESTIGATION INTO SIGNAL CHAT LEAK: WHITE HOUSE

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., says Democrats are on offense after the Trump administration’s Signal chat leak. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)

The encrypted messaging app Signal is now under the spotlight after it was revealed that top national security leaders had been in a group chat discussing plans to strike terrorists in Yemen. The chat also mistakenly included the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. The chat was made public by a first-hand account of the group chat published by Goldberg in an article last week.

The Trump administration has maintained that no classified information was shared in the chat, doubling down on Wednesday that the Atlantic’s story was a “hoax” after Goldberg published specific texts from the chat.

JUDGE FIGHTING TRUMP OVER EL SALVADOR DEPORTATIONS ASSIGNED TO LAWSUIT OVER SIGNAL CHAT LEAK

The messages included Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth outlining that combat aircraft were set to take off and strike drones were ready for the operation, which were accompanied by timestamps.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he did not share classified plans to strike Houthi targets in a Signal group chat on March 26, 2025.

The use of Signal, though not in the context of war or military operations, has become increasingly more prevalent within the D.C. Beltway in recent months. 

The app grew in popularity after it was discovered in October 2024 that Chinese-linked hackers were targeting cellphone data in the U.S., including data belonging to Trump and and Vice President JD Vance during the campaign, Politico reported last week.

Years before the Signal leak involving the Trump administration and subsequent outrage from Democrats and other critics, Democrats had repeatedly touted Signal as an additional precautionary measure against potential hacks.

An image of a woman holding a cell phone in front of the Signal logo displayed on a computer screen. (Getty Images)

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Democrats have emphasized in the fallout from last week’s leak that they do not object to the Trump administration’s use of Signal, only the sharing of classified information via the app.

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report

President Donald Trump slammed U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg and other “radical left judges” for reportedly working to hamper his ability to serve as president through legal orders preventing the deportation of violent illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. 

“People are shocked by what is going on with the Court System. I was elected for many reasons, but a principal one was LAW AND ORDER, a big part of which is QUICKLY removing a vast Criminal Network of individuals, who came into our Country through the Crooked Joe Biden Open Borders Policy! These are dangerous and violent people, who kill, maim and, in many other ways, harm the people of our Country,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday morning. 

“The Voters want them OUT, and said so in Record Numbers. If it was up to District Judge Boasberg and other Radical Left Judges, nobody would be removed, the President wouldn’t be allowed to do his job, and people’s lives would be devastated all throughout our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” he added. 

JUDGES EXTEND ORDERS AGAINST DEPORTATION FLIGHTS, INCLUDING WARTIME ACT ON VIOLENT VENEZUELAN GANG MEMBERS

President Donald Trump and U.S. District Judge James Boasberg (Getty)

Trump’s message comes after Boasberg, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., extended a restraining order on Friday against the use of the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, by the Trump administration to deport violent gang members with alleged ties to gangs, such as Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA).

Boasberg ruled the extension will run through April 12.

EL SALVADOR TAKES IN HUNDREDS OF VENEZUELAN GANG MEMBERS FROM US, EVEN AS JUDGE MOVES TO BLOCK DEPORTATIONS

Guards escort inmates allegedly linked to criminal organizations at the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) on March 16, 2025, in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Salvadoran Government via Getty Images)

A separate federal judge in Boston, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, blocked the deportation of migrants to countries where they have no existing relationship without a chance to go to court to contest that move.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 allows deportation of natives and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing, and has been invoked three times before, during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

The apartment building in the Bronx where suspected Tren de Aragua members were arrested on Dec. 5. (Google Maps)

On March 15, Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to halt its deportations of illegal immigrants under the wartime powers act. 

Planes carrying hundreds of suspected gang members, however, had already flown from the U.S. to El Salvador, where the nation’s president had offered to take illegal immigrants of any nationality facing deportation in the U.S. in February, booking the illegal aliens in his country’s notorious prison system. 

EL SALVADOR AGREES TO ACCEPT US DEPORTEES OF ANY NATIONALITY FOLLOWING MEETING WITH RUBIO

Inmates at CECOT, where hundreds of members of the MS-13 and 18 Street gangs are being held, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Jan. 27, 2025. (Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images)

APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN’S DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN ALIEN ENEMIES ACT IMMIGRATION SUIT

The Trump administration filed an emergency request for the U.S. appeals court to intervene in the case, and called on the Supreme Court last week to lift the judge’s block to deporting illegal aliens under the wartime act. 

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“This case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country – the President, through Article II, or the judiciary,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the Supreme Court. “The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the president. The republic cannot afford a different choice.”

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch, Breanne Deppisch and Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report. 

Protests unfolded outside of Tesla showrooms across the country this weekend over Elon Musk’s role helping lead President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, sparking questions to fly as to who is funding the purported “grassroots” demonstrations. 

“Who is funding and organizing all these paid protests?” Musk posted to X early Sunday morning, accompanied by a video clip of podcast host Joe Rogan discussing left-wing protests in recent days. 

A “Tesla Takedown” movement formed in recent days, with more than 200 protests planned on Saturday in the U.S., and another few hundred planned protests in Canada and Europe as part of the “global day of action.” In the U.S. the protests slated for Saturday were promoted by actors, filmmakers, congressional legislators, academics and activists who led a “mass mobilizing call” last week to rally support, and described in the media as a “grassroots” effort to buck Musk and Trump, while working to tank Tesla’s stock. 

Tesla locations have faced violence in recent weeks as Musk and his DOGE team investigate federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud and mismanagement, while critics accuse the Trump administration of creating an “oligarchy” by tapping the billionaire to help streamline federal government operations. 

DOGE is a temporary cross-departmental organization that was established to slim down and streamline the federal government. The group will be dissolved on July 4, 2026.

FEDS ON ALERT FOR TESLA ‘GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION’ AFTER NATIONWIDE VIOLENCE LEADS TO ARRESTS

Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduces the Cybertruck at Tesla’s design studio on Nov. 21, 2019, in Hawthorne, California. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

The protests on Saturday were billed as “nonviolent” and showcased people line dancing outside Teslas stores while holding anti-swastika and anti-Musk signs. Others protested for a couple of hours outside of Tesla dealerships, local media outlets reported, with some holding signs reading “DON’T BUY SWASTICAR,” or “Nobody elected Elon.”

THE LOUDEST SILENCE: TOP DEMOCRATS REMAIN MUM AMID VIOLENT ATTACKS ON TESLA

The U.S. protests on Saturday stretched from New York to Maryland to Texas to California. Many of the rallies saw dozens of protesters, while larger protests, such as one in Chicago, drew crowds of over 100 people, and another in New York drew hundreds of protesters, various media reports show. 

VANDAL STRIKES CYBERTRUCK, TESLA OWNER HITS BACK

“Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly,” the Action Network, a left-wing advocacy group, described the nationwide protests online. 

Weekly demonstrations continue outside of Tesla stores to protest Elon Musk and his role at the Department of Government Efficiency, March 29, 2025, in the West Village neighborhood of New York City. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

“Rally attenders must be peaceful and nonviolent,” another left-wing group, Indivisible, described a protest in New Jersey, which included directions on what to chant at passersby. “No vandalism of Tesla cars or stores; or insults of Tesla drivers permitted! When Tesla drivers pass we will chant, ‘Sell your Tesla, Trade it in! instead of booing. STAY OFF THE ROADWAY! It is legal for protesters to be on the sidewalk but NOT to be on the roadway or block entrances to businesses, including Tesla. STAY OFF TESLA PROPERTY! We are not allowed on any private property. Indivisible policy forbids engaging with counter protesters (and other protestors) this is for the safety of all people.”

A local news outlet, media personalities and conservative critics have speculated that the recent anti-Tesla protests are embroiled in “astroturfing,” which is defined by Merriam-Webster as a campaign “falsely made to appear grassroots.” 

DISABLED TESLA OWNER TARGETED IN VANDALISM, SAYS ANTI-MUSK PROTESTERS ARE JUST ‘HURTING FAMILIES’

Protesters rally outside a Tesla showroom in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Brian Kaiser/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“I know when something is AstroTurf. Fun fact: I was among the first reporters (if not first) to put the concept of ‘Astro Turf’ lobbying into the pages of the Wall Street Journal as an international trade reporter,” former Wall Street Journal correspondent Asra Nomani posted to X after reporting on a Tesla protest last Saturday in Tysons, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C.

TESLA TAKEDOWN: ANTI-MUSK PROTESTERS MOBILIZE FOR GLOBAL DAY OF PROTEST AT HUNDREDS OF TESLA LOCATIONS

“While local #TeslaTakedown protests may appear spontaneous and community-driven, they are the product of well-funded, tightly coordinated campaigns led by national political organizations like the Indivisible Project, http://MoveOn.org, and professional protest firms,” Nomani continued. 

Nomani authored a piece in the Fairfax Times titled, “Local #TeslaTakedown reveals ‘grassroots’ protests are AstroTurf.”

“These groups use digital platforms, pre-scripted chants, pre-printed signs, and nationwide toolkits to manufacture the appearance of grassroots activism, and the messages on Tyco Road mirror the language of protests nationwide. This kind of organizing is known as ‘AstroTurfing’ – a term used to describe top-down efforts that mimic authentic, bottom-up civic engagement,” she continued on X.

Podcast host Joe Rogan, in a clip shared by Musk, speculated that protesters in past days were receiving money to take part in the anti-Tesla protests. 

A banner in front of a Tesla store in Berlin-Reinickendorf, Germany, on March 29, 2025. (Jörg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty Images)

“For a lot of losers, a lot of people who don’t have things going well in their life, and I was a loser at many points in my life, is somebody called me up and said, ‘Hey man, want to make 400 bucks an just go to this Kamala Harris rally?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s go,'” “Joe Rogan Experience” released on Saturday. 

MUSK SHOULD ‘NOT BE SURPRISED’ WHEN POLITICS ‘COME FOR’ HIS BUSINESS, DEM REP SAYS

“They were giving out $1,000 bucks for people to protest, I think it was Tesla. They had like the rules of engagement if someone comes after you… are you organizing gangs? Are you guys paying money for people and then literally saying to them, ‘Here’s what happens if you engage in violence?’ Why is that even on the table? I thought this was peaceful protesting,” he continued, noting he has not seen any reports of pro-Tesla individuals waging violence. 

Five Tesla vehicles were set on fire and shot at in what police are investigating as a “targeted attack” in Las Vegas on March 18. (Hal Sparks via Storyful)

Other X users took to social media to speculate and accuse the Tesla protests of being an example of astroturfing. 

“ASTROTURF: Rep Jasmine Crockett is working with the Soros-backed paid protest group ‘Indivisible’ to organize canned protests at Tesla stores across the US. Here the Democrat congresswoman is asking for Elon to be ‘taken down’ for her birthday,” popular conservative X account Amuse posted to X. 

“NEW: Tesla protesters stop protesting at the Southlake Texas Tesla store the moment clock read 12 PM, according to @Carlos__Turcios. ‘They all immediately left the minute it was 12:00 pm.’ Odd,” Trending Politics co-owner Colin Rugg posted to X. 

TESLA GROUP LEADER WARNS VIOLENT PROTESTS AGAINST CAR OWNERS ARE JUST THE ‘STARTING POINT’

Reports that some protesters packed their bags at exactly noon in Texas sparked further accusations of “astroturfing,” including one user who responded to Rugg saying, “Paid astroturf. This entire op is fake. Follow the money.” 

Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed that violent protesters who attack and cause damage at Tesla showrooms will face the full force of the law. (Hal Sparks via Storyful)

Seattle radio host Jason Rantz shared a photo on X showing a Tesla protester holding a sheet of scripted chants to reportedly deliver during a demonstration, which Musk called “interesting” in a response X post. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Indivisible, the Action Network and MoveOn.org regarding the astroturf speculation on Sunday morning, but did not immediately receive comment. 

The protests on Saturday were overwhelmingly peaceful. Department of Justice chief Pam Bondi previously vowed earlier this month that violent protesters who attack and cause damage at Tesla showrooms and other properties will face the full force of the law. 

Baltimore area residents protest the Trump administration and Elon Musk at a Tesla car dealership, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” Bondi said. “Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.”

A Las Vegas man was arrested earlier this month for his alleged involvement in a Molotov cocktail attack on a Tesla property. The suspect in that case faces a bevy of felony charges, including three counts of arson, three counts of possession of an explosive device, five counts of shooting into a car and four counts of destroying personal property, according to local police.

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Musk remarked on X on Saturday that it is “insanely ironic” that “the people shooting bullets into Tesla stores, burning down cars and generally being violent are calling me a Nazi when I have done literally zero violence at all.”

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is trying to back out of a rare earth deal with the U.S., adding if he does that he is going to have “some problems.”

“I think Zelenskyy, by the way, he’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal, and if he does that, he’s got some problems – big, big problems,” Trump said while speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday. “We made a deal on rare earths, and now he’s saying, ‘well, you know, I want to renegotiate the deal.’ He wants to be a member of NATO. Well, he was never going to be a member of NATO. He understands that, so, if he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems.”

Zelenskyy said last month that Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement on minerals and security with the U.S. at any time, noting that the agreement is seen as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees.

Zelenskyy’s statement came after a visit to the White House where the two leaders were expected to sign an agreement on rare Earth minerals. But the visit turned sour, and Zelenskyy was kicked out of the president’s home with no deal in hand.

TRUMP SAYS INTEL PAUSE ON UKRAINE HAS BEEN ‘JUST ABOUT’ LIFTED; SAYS TARIFFS WILL MAKE AMERICA RICH

Trump told reporters on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to back out of a rare earth mineral deal.

While speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said he and his team were making progress on a ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia.

One reporter asked if Trump would say his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin was at its lowest point.

The president said no, adding he did not think Putin was going to go back on his word for a partial ceasefire. He also said deals are made with people whether you like them or not.

TRUMP EXEMPTS MEXICO FROM TARIFFS FOR USMCA GOODS UNTIL APRIL 2

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with members of the Security Council via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 13, 2024.  (Aleksey Babushkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo)

Trump explained that Putin had said some things over the last few days about Zelenskyy not being credible, adding he was not happy about that. But, Trump added, he thinks Putin is going to be good. He also said he would not want to put secondary tariffs on Russia.

The U.S. put secondary tariffs on Venezuela, which Trump said has had a “very strong impact.”

“You know that every ship just got out and left. A lot of them left. They dropped the hoses right into the ocean, and they left. They didn’t want to be there for a minute because they didn’t want those tariffs to catch on,” Trump said. “But they didn’t want me to see them there. So, Venezuela and secondary tariffs, all secondary tariffs, are very strong, because essentially it says if you disobey our orders, you cannot do business in the United States of America, and that’s the catch.”

Trump said he plans to hit all the countries across the board with tariffs.

TRUMP TO PUT TARIFF EXEMPTIONS ON CERTAIN GOODS FROM CANADA, MEXICO

President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro delivers the annual address at Teatro Teresa Carreno on January 15, 2025 in Caracas, Venezuela. ((Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images))

“If you look at the history, and you look at what’s happened to us…take a look at trade with Asia, and I wouldn’t say anybody is doing it as fairly or nicely,” Trump said. “We’re…going to be much more generous than they were to us.”

Trump also addressed questions about possibly running for a third term, which earlier in the day he said he was “not joking” about.

Initially, Trump told reporters he was not looking at a third term, noting that people have spoken with him about a possible third term.

EMMANUEL MACRON CALLS ‘EMERGENCY MEETING’ FOR EUROPEAN LEADERS TO DISCUSS TRUMP: REPORT

US President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

He said the 2020 election, in which he lost to now former President Joe Biden, was “totally rigged,” but he would not take credit for a third try.

Trump also said his administration has had the best 100 days than any other president.

“I was with some very important people today, and they said they’ve never seen turnaround as fast as this,” he said.

As reporters continued to press him about a third term, though, Trump quickly shot them down.

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“I don’t want to talk about it,” he told one reporter. “I don’t want to talk about a third term now. We have a long time. We have almost four years to go.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously decided not to hear a last-minute attempt by the state attorney general seeking to prevent Elon Musk from giving away million-dollar checks on Sunday.

The news came just before the Tesla CEO was set to host an America PAC town hall in Green Bay on Sunday night. Musk handed over $1 million checks to two voters who signed a petition against “activist judges.”

“The reason for the checks is that, it’s really just to get attention,” Musk said while holding a gigantic check. “It’s like, we need to get attention….somewhat inevitably, when I do this….it causes the legacy media to, like, kind of lose their minds.”

Badger State voters elect Wisconsin Supreme Court justices to 10-year terms, and Musk was there to support candidate Brad Schimel, a Republican former state attorney general.

DOGE DEPUTY, TREASURY SECRETARY DISH ON CRUSADE TO PULL THE IRS OUT OF ITS ‘REALLY BIG HOLE’

The Wisconsin Supreme Court made a decision in Elon Musk’s favor on Sunday. (Getty Images | iStock)

In a bid for an emergency injunction on Sunday, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul asked the 4-3 liberal-majority court to reach a decision “as soon as possible but no later than the planned event on Sunday evening.” 

Kaul argued that Musk’s giveaway violates state election laws, though the two recipients of Musk’s forthcoming checks have already voted.

“The offer to pay $1 million to two Wisconsin electors, conditioned on their having voted in the upcoming election, is a violation of Wisconsin Statute § 12.11, which prohibits offering ‘anything of value’ in exchange for “vot[ing] or refrain[ing] from voting,” the attorney general’s filing stated.

“Wisconsin law prohibits offering anything of value to induce anyone to vote,” Kaul continued. “Yet, Elon Musk did just that.”

ELON MUSK, DOGE TEAM OFFER UNPRECEDENTED PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF TRUMP’S COST-CUTTING DEPARTMENT

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford are seen before a televised debate Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Milwaukee.  (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

In court filings, Musk’s attorneys maintain that the payments are “intended to generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or against any candidate.”

Schimel told “Fox News Sunday” that he does not control “any of the spending from any outside group, whether it’s Elon Musk or anyone else.”

“That’s exactly what I’ve committed to anybody, whether it’s President Trump, Elon Musk or any donors and donors or supporters or voters in Wisconsin,” the candidate added. “That’s my commitment.”

It is unclear if Schimel will attend the rally. In a statement on X, Musk wrote that “entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges.”

Musk was subjected to a failed injunction request to stop his handouts of $1 million to Wisconsin voters. (AP Images)

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“I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to 2 people to be spokesmen for the petition,” Musk added.

The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz and Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.

CHARLES TOWN, W.V. – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said this week it was fitting he chose Martinsburg, West Virginia, for his first trip to promote the “MAHA” agenda, saying his iconic political family has a unique history in the Mountain State.

Kennedy recalled former New York Democratic Gov. Al Smith – in whose honor a famous annual Catholic Archdiocese-affiliated dinner is held in New York City – and how he incidentally forced the country to reckon with anti-Catholic biases.

Despite being a popular governor in New York who preceded President Franklin Roosevelt in Albany, Kennedy noted Smith’s foray into the presidential arena led to political strife and “a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan” in parts of the South.

Smith lost to Republican President Herbert Hoover “catastrophically,” Kennedy said – as Smith had only won Massachusetts, Rhode Island, five Deep South states and running-mate Sen. Joseph Robinson’s Arkansas.

RFK JR BACKS WV PUSH FOR SNAP WAIVERS, WORK MANDATES UNDER ‘MAHA’

“And people all felt, the pundits all felt, that America would never elect a Catholic president,” Kennedy said.

So when John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, his nephew recalled, the Massachusetts Democrat knew he had to win West Virginia – the state with a then-record-low 2% Catholic population, and where much of the anti-Smith vote in the region during the 1928 cycle came from.

“It was critical for my uncle’s campaign that he win this state to show the country that a Catholic could win the presidency,” Kennedy said.

“He came down in West Virginia, and his objective was to shake the hands of every person in West Virginia. And I think he came very close.”

“And my parents came down; my uncle, my aunts – luckily we have a lot of Kennedys” – he interjected to audience laughter – “and they spent time really getting to know the people of West Virginia and understanding the issues in the state and problems and those things stayed with them throughout his presidency and on Election Day.”

JFK ultimately beat Republican Richard Nixon by seven points in the Mountain State, considered a major upset.

WV GOV SIGNS RILEY GAINES ACT

“He always believed that he would not be president if he had not won this state – and he never forgot that relationship; that bond that he had for the people of this state.”

Kennedy said that prior to becoming HHS secretary, much of his anti-pollution work took him to West Virginia, particularly coal country in the southern part of the state.

Now, he said, his new role allows him to continue fighting a different type of pollution and “giving people a chance to live healthier lives.”

At the event, he and Gov. Patrick Morrisey unveiled a first-in-the-nation policy banning food dyes and certain preservatives in school lunches, with a statewide sunset in 2028.

Morrisey also signed a document seeking a waiver from Kennedy’s office to prohibit SNAP food stamps from being used to buy soda, and instituting work requirements for eligibility.

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Gov. Al Smith attends the World Series at the Polo Grounds, New York, on Oct. 4, 1922. (Paul Thompson/FPG/Getty Images)

“Today we’re here to focus on making West Virginia healthy,” Morrisey told reporters after Kennedy’s speech.

He went on to unveil an “order” of sorts implementing the “Mountaineer Mile,” and added the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement officially began in West Virginia that afternoon.

West Virginia is first in obesity rates, with the nearby District of Columbia considered 51st and therefore the healthiest by that metric. Morrisey said he and Kennedy want to change that.

“We’re cleaning up our foods, promoting exercise, and putting the ‘Nutrition’ back into SNAP,” the governor said.

He also instituted the Mountaineer Mile initiative – urging every Mountaineer to walk at least one mile each day. 

To that end, Morrisey posted photos on social media of the sunset view from his own Mountaineer Miles walked near his home in the evenings since.

WASHINGTON – In a wide-ranging interview last week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright discussed how the U.S. can bring nuclear power to the fore for both energy and defense purposes, starting with rebooting otherwise dormant “pit” production.

Under the first Trump administration, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sought to meet the Pentagon’s goal of manufacturing 80 such pits – spherical hulls of plutonium sized from a grapefruit to a bowling ball – according to the UK Guardian.

Wright suggested he wants to see the plan realized, as the same Energy Department laboratory in New Mexico where J. Robert Oppenheimer helped develop the atom bomb is reportedly working to return to earnest pit production.

The U.S. has never imported plutonium pits but also hasn’t done any such major manufacturing since the end of the Cold War.

ENERGY CHIEF SLASHES RED TAPE EARLY IN TERM

“But those existing weapons stockpiles, like anything else, they age with time. And so, we’ve realized we’ve got to restore the production of plutonium pits in our complex,” Wright said.

“We’ve built one in the last 25 years, and we’ll build more than 100 during the Trump administration,” he pledged.

Bolstering pit production along with a less military-minded nuclear technology are a priority of Wright’s tenure, he said.

Wright said he is working to reopen the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan, which closed a few years ago.

Another major plant, Indian Point on the Hudson River opposite Haverstraw, N.Y., that had helped power New York City was notably closed under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. There has been little effort there, however, to see a reopening.

In addition to the large-scale plants, Wright said the Energy Department seeks to forward SMR or Small Modular Reactor technology, which he said could be groundbreaking in terms of powering underserved communities and important or sensitive sites that may be far from established large-scale plants.

“Nuclear weapons and nuclear power started in the United States. We built a whole bunch of power plants. And by the mid-80s, we essentially stopped building them,” he said.

RFK JR TALKS KENNEDY HISTORY ON FIRST TRIP AS HHS CHIEF

Radioactive waste sealed in large stainless steel canisters is stored under five feet of concrete in a storage building at the Savannah River Site near Barnwell, S.C. (AP)

“Part of our goal is to bring this to make it more efficient to build things in America again. But one thing with nuclear technology is things that you have to build on-location have become slower to build, and therefore way more expensive to build.”

SMRs alleviate that pressure, as materials needed to build the plants can be shipped and assembled on-site on a much smaller scale, but with a potential for per-capita greater power output.

Unlike “stick-building a house” in terms of a large-scale plant, implements for an SMR can be made in a factory and are more mobile.

A data center, military base or state concern could essentially file to have an SMR installed on-site, giving a greater domestic power source and a better overall grid.

“There’s great private capital, capital that’s been around the innovations to design these plants. But again, you got this slow-moving, bureaucratic central government that’s still got to permit them and allow them to approve. So the nuclear renaissance has been talked about for years. And the Trump administration were actually going to start it,” Wright said.

“That is, simplifying the regulatory regime. We just sent out a request for a proposal to fund efforts to speed these along. And actually there was a similar one sent out a while ago for the Biden administration. They hadn’t gotten responses back.”

States that seek to benefit from SMRs have been vocal in support of that technology.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a bill in 2022 seeking to promote the construction of SMRs, saying that “micronuclear technology has a potential role to play in providing low-cost, reliable power for communities, remote villages and resource development projects.”

“This bill will update state law to allow us to pursue the possibilities.”

Asked about opposition to nuclear energy, including the closure of Indian Point, Wright said that like almost any other topic, it is vulnerable to politicization.

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Plant Vogtle is a two-unit nuclear power plant located in Burke County, near Waynesboro, Georgia. (Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)

“It just makes no sense at all,” he said. “It has by far been the safest way to produce energy in the entire history of the American nuclear industry.”

“I know exactly how many people have died from nuclear energy: Zero.”

Wright said nuclear power has an “incredibly small footprint,” and echoed President Donald Trump’s criticisms of relying too heavily on wind and solar.

“You get the energy whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. But like any industry, it needs to be alive and vigorous so that supply chain is going; and not building nuclear plants in our country for decades means we’ve lost that industrial capacity. So, we’ve got to stand it back up again.”