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FIRST ON FOX: Three leaders at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were placed on administrative leave Tuesday, Fox News Digital confirmed. 

The Office of Management and Budget’s Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta placed Lorelei Salas, the CFPB’s supervision director, and Eric Halperin, the agency’s enforcement chief, and Zixta Martinez, the agency’s deputy director, on administrative leave, a CFPB spokesperson told Fox News Digital Tuesday. 

The resignations come after acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, told employees of CFPB on Monday to not report to work and to “get approval in writing before performing any work tasks.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent briefly served as acting CFPB director before Vought earlier in February, and had also told staffers to halt their work “unless expressly approved by the Acting Director or required by law.”

The CFPB spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Halperin defied Bessent’s order and resigned in response to being placed on leave Tuesday. Halperin was made aware of his leave via an email and responded six minutes later that he was resigning, the New York Post reported earlier Tuesday. 

RUSS VOUGHT, TAPPED AS CFPB’S ACTING DIRECTOR, DIRECTS BUREAU TO ISSUE NO NEW RULES, STOP NEW INVESTIGATIONS

A view of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) headquarters building in Washington, DC, on Feb. 10, 2025.   (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“I write to provide notice of my resignation… Since the building is closed, please provide instructions on how to return my equipment,” Halperin reportedly responded to the email. “Thank you for the opportunity to serve. It was an honor.”

Salas also “sent out an email blast” in response to the notification she also was placed on leave, but did not officially file her resignation, the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

RUSSELL VOUGHT CONFIRMED TO HEAD GOVERNMENT’S LEADING BUDGET OFFICE AFTER DEMS HOLD 30-HOUR PROTEST

The pair is claiming to reporters that they resigned, as opposed to being placed on leave, to “try and save face,” the spox added. 

When approached for comment, a spokesperson for Salas and Halperin told Fox Digital that the Trump administration was working to “sideline” government employees. 

“As we’ve seen many times already, Trump and Musk are trying to sideline dedicated public servants who won’t go along with their plans to break the law,” the spokesperson said. “CFPB staff have a responsibility to protect consumers, and that includes upholding longstanding laws on the books.” 

Three leaders at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were placed on administrative leave Tuesday, Fox News Digital confirmed.  (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Both Halperin and Salas have ties to left-wing billionaire George Soros’ nonprofit, the Open Society Foundation, a CFPB press release from 2021 shows. Halperin served as a senior advisor to Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Program, his biography in a CFPB press release states, while Salas received a government fellowship from the Open Society Foundations. 

FEDERAL WORKERS’ UNION FILES LAWSUITS TO STOP VOUGHT, DOGE ACTIVITY AT CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU

The CFPB is an independent government agency charged with protecting consumers from unfair financial practices in the private sector. It was created in 2010 under the Obama administration following the financial crash in 2008. 

Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has been investigating various federal agencies in February in search of finding and eliminating government overspending, fraud and corruption.

On Friday, Musk posted a message on X, reading, “CFPB RIP,” building anticipation that the agency was the next to face investigation. 

Protests have since been staged outside of the of CFPB headquarters in Washington, including Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who originally proposed the agency, declaring on the streets, “We are here to fight back.”

Protests have since been staged outside of the of CFPB headquarters in Washington, including Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who originally proposed the agency, declaring on the streets, “We are here to fight back.” (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn)

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“This is like a bank robber trying to fire the cops and turn off the alarm just before he strolls into the lobby,” Warren told the crowd on Monday. 

“The financial cops, the CFPB, are there to make sure that Elon’s new project can’t scam you or steal your sensitive personal data,” Warren said. “So Elon’s solution, get rid of the cops, kill the CFPB.”

The White House has fired the inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Fox News has learned.

USAID Inspector General Paul Martin was fired Tuesday, though rather than coming from USAID acting administrator and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the firing reportedly came from the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.

The dismissal comes days after the USAID inspector general published a report that was critical of the Trump administration’s pause on aid.

It also comes a day after USAID warned that the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in humanitarian funds.

DESIGNATED TERRORISTS, EXTREMIST GROUPS RAKED IN MILLIONS FROM USAID, MULTIYEAR STUDY REVEALS

A United States Agency for International Development (USAID) flag in front of the agency’s offices in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

USAID is under fire from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its chair, Elon Musk, investigate the agency’s spending practices and prepare to revamp and potentially shutter the agency. 

The agency announced on its website Feb. 4, that nearly all personnel would be placed on leave by Friday, making a few exceptions for those in roles related to “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.” 

Its overseas missions reportedly had also been told to shut down.

USAID EMPLOYEE SAYS STAFFERS HID PRIDE FLAGS, ‘INCRIMINATING’ BOOKS WHEN DOGE ARRIVED

The Trump administration fired USAID’s inspector general on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File/Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Lawmakers, news outlets and think tanks have dug into past reports related to USAID spending amid the apparent dismantling of the agency, finding countless examples of money channeled to questionable organizations or programs, such as creating a version of “Sesame Street” in Iraq, or funding pottery classes in Morocco.

This week, it was discovered that USAID provided millions of dollars in funding to extremist groups tied to designated terrorist organizations and their allies, according to a report published by Middle East Forum, a U.S. think tank.

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USAID was established in 1961 under the Kennedy administration, operating as an independent agency that works closely with the State Department to allocate civilian foreign aid. 

Under Rubio, the agency could be abolished after its reorganization over the coming days, he said in a letter to bipartisan lawmakers on Feb. 3.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump has found an ally in the Senate, at least on his plan to stop creating new pennies.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., came out in support of Trump’s latest proposal on Tuesday, calling it a “common sense move.” 

The Democrat represents a battleground state that both she and Trump won in 2024. 

SCOOP: TRUMP BUDGET CHIEF VOUGHT TELLS GOP SENATORS $175B NEEDED ‘IMMEDIATELY’ FOR BORDER SECURITY

Trump received some unlikely support for his new penny plan. (Reuters | Getty Images)

Over the weekend, Trump announced that he “instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”

“For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” the president wrote on Truth Social. 

“Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”

NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS

Rosen took to X on Tuesday, writing, “I’m not afraid to embrace a good idea when it comes from the other side of the aisle, and I agree with President Trump on this.”

“Eliminating the penny is a common sense move that’ll save taxpayer dollars,” she said. 

She isn’t the only Democrat who has come out in support of Trump’s idea. 

LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER: THE LITTLE-KNOWN TRUMP NOMINEE WHO MAY NEED TO RELY ON DEMS

Polis also backed the idea. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“As well as saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, there are major environmental benefits to eliminating the penny. This is a great move,” Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., said of the president’s plan. 

Trump’s unlikely Democratic backers come as much of the party has revolted amid his Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to aggressively audit and slash spending at executive branch agencies and departments. 

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., has thrown his support behind President Donald Trump’s quest to acquire Greenland — and has taken a step in Americanizing the country’s name.

Carter introduced a bill on Tuesday proposing that Greenland’s name be changed to Red, White and Blueland. In a press release, the Georgia congressman wrote that “America is back and will soon be bigger than ever” with the addition of the Nordic country.

“President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal,” Carter added.

Carter also published the text of the bill, which is named the “Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025.”

SECRETARY OF STATE RUBIO CONFIRMS BECOMING ACTING USAID CHIEF

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., has thrown his support behind President Donald Trump’s plans to acquire Greenland. (Getty Images)

“Greenland shall be known as ‘Red, White, and Blueland,'” the text states. “Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to Greenland shall be deemed to be a reference to ‘Red, White, and Blueland.'”

Carter has not spoken to Trump about the bill, which had no cosponsors as of Tuesday evening, Carter’s office told Fox News Digital.

Trump has signaled interest in acquiring Greenland since 2019, calling it a potentially “large real estate deal,” toward the end of his first term. In December, he ramped up calls for the U.S. to acquire the Danish territory and called it a national security issue.

“[F]or purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” the then-president-elect wrote in a Truth Social post at the time.

US FLIES JOINT PATROL WITH THE PHILIPPINES NEAR SHOAL REGION GUARDED BY CHINA

Buddy Carter attends a House Energy and Commerce Environment Subcommittee hearing in 2018. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

At the beginning of February, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen affirmed that Greenland is “not for sale,” but said she was open to the U.S. increasing its footprint in the Arctic region.

“I totally agree with the Americans that the High North, that the Arctic region is becoming more and more important when we are talking about defense and security and deterrence,” Frederiksen said, referencing Chinese and Russian activity in the region. “And it is possible to find a way to ensure stronger footprints in Greenland. They [the U.S.] are already there, and they can have more possibilities.”

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President-elect Trump first proposed purchasing Greenland in 2019 during his first term. (Getty Images)

“And at the same time, we are willing to scale up from the Kingdom of Denmark. And I think NATO is the same. So if this is about securing our part of the world, we can find a way forward.”

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

The Trump administration’s decision to slash overhead costs linked to federally funded research has sparked an immense backlash. But some doctors are praising the move, suggesting it will help “optimize” how taxpayer dollars are used when it comes to scientific research.

A new rule from the Trump administration that went into effect Monday, capped facilities and administrative costs, also known as “indirect costs,” at 15% for federally funded research grants provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). When a grant is awarded to a scientist by the NIH, an additional percentage, on top of the allocated research funding, goes to the facility housing their work to cover these “indirect costs.”

According to an announcement about the new funding cap from the Trump administration, that percentage has historically been around 27% to 28% for each grant. But in some cases, negotiated rates can be as high as 70 to 90%, according to doctors who spoke with Fox News Digital.

UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR HAILS THAT SCIENCE ‘THRIVED’ UNDER HITLER IN ATTACK ON TRUMP’S NIH CUTS

“If that money is cut to 15%, what that means is there’s actually going to be more grants given out to do science. You get more money back to the NIH to give out more science,” said Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.

“It’s about time,” said Dr. Erika Schwartz, the founder of Evolved Science, which is a concierge medical practice in New York City with more than 1,500 active patients. 

“While infrastructure support is necessary, there’s room for more efficient cost management. A reformed funding model could redirect more resources to direct research activities while maintaining essential support services. This could potentially increase the number of funded research projects and accelerate medical breakthroughs, ultimately benefiting patients more directly.”

HHS WILL REEVALUATE PROGRAMS, REGULATIONS TO ENSURE TAXPAYER FUNDS ARE NOT PAYING FOR ELECTIVE ABORTIONS

Dr. Erika Schwartz is the founder of a New York City-based practice, Evolved Science, which utilizes new therapies to improve patient results.

Prasad posited that universities and research institutions have negotiated “sweetheart deals” that allow them to rake in funds that sometimes aren’t even necessary to the research at hand. To demonstrate his point, he explained the numbers for a research institution that has negotiated a 57% rate for indirect costs:

“Let’s say I get $100,000 [for a research project] and I need a laboratory… I get $100,000, and then they still get the $57,000 to the university that goes to the administrators, and presumably the fact that I have a lab bench, and the lights, etc. But now let’s say I do the same $100,000 project, but my project is we’re going to analyze genomic sequences from an online repository. So, I just have a laptop… but they still get the $57,000 even though there’s literally no space being given to this person. There’s no bench, there’s no desk, there’s nothing.”

Prasad added that another “fundamental problem” with these negotiated rates is that the money is not formally budgeted, so “the American people don’t know where that money is going.”

DOGE CANCELS FUNDING FOR FAUCI MUSEUM EXHIBIT

“A famous researcher once said to me, an NIH dollar is more valuable than any other dollar because they can use it for whatever purpose they want. Although, nominally, they’re supposed to use it to keep the lights on and, you know, make the buildings run, but that’s not always the case,” he said.

Dr. Vinay Prasad is a hematologist-oncologist and professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.

David Whelan, a former healthcare writer for Forbes who has spent time working in hospitals and now works in the healthcare consulting space, echoed this concern in a post on X that claimed universities have used indirect research grant payments “to pocket money.” 

“Indirects are just ways for wealthy academic hospitals to pocket money that their investigators won and then create slush for those who are incapable of getting funded on their own,” Whelan wrote. “It’s a huge grift and great place for cuts.”

‘LOST ALL CRTEDIBILITY’: NONPROFIT CEO DELIVERS DEMAND TO TRUMP HHS AMID ‘FAILED’ HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE

The Trump administration’s cap on indirect funding associated with NIH research grants was immediately challenged in court with lawsuits from 22 Democratic state attorneys general and a cohort of universities, which argued the move will “devastate critical public health research at universities and research institutions in the United States.”

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a $9 billion spending cut in response to a new mandate from the Trump administration. (Alamy/Getty Images)

“Once again, President Trump and Elon Musk are acting in direct violation of the law. In this case, they are causing irreparable damage to ongoing research to develop cures and treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, ALS, Diabetes, Mental Health disorders, opioid abuse, genetic diseases, rare diseases, and other diseases and conditions affecting American families,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee. “The Trump Administration is attempting to steal critical funds promised to scientific research institutions funded by the NIH, despite an explicit legal prohibition against this action.”  

In response to the lawsuit from Democratic state attorneys general, a federal judge imposed a temporary restraining order prohibiting NIH agencies from taking any steps to implement, apply or enforce the new rule. 

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The judge’s order also required Trump administration agencies that are impacted by the new rule to file reports within 24 hours to confirm the steps they are taking to comply with the ruling. Meanwhile, an in-person hearing date on the matter has been scheduled for Feb. 21.

President Donald Trump has nominated a Virginia state official to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in his new administration.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump wrote that he nominated Terry Cole to become the next administrator of the DEA. Cole is currently the secretary of public safety and homeland security for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

According to the Virginia government’s website, Cole was previously the chief of staff and executive officer at the DEA’s Department of Justice Special Operations Division, and also served as the DEA’s representative to the National Security Council. The website also notes that Cole worked for the DEA for 22 years, though Trump wrote that he was employed by the DEA for 21 years.

In a social media post, Trump said that he was “pleased” to announce Cole, who will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as his nominee.

NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS

Trump has nominated Terry Cole to become the next administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.  (AP | Virginia.gov)

“Terry is a DEA Veteran of 21 years, with tours in Colombia, Afghanistan, and Mexico City, who currently serves as Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, leading 11 State Public Safety Agencies, with more than 19,000 employees,” Trump’s post read.

Trump also added that Cole holds a degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology, as well as certificates from the University of Virginia and the University of Notre Dame.

“Together, we will save lives, and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN. Congratulations Terry!” the president’s post concluded.

TRUMP NOMINEE TULSI GABBARD CLEARS LAST HURDLE, HEADS FOR FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE

Terry Cole has 22 years of experience working for the DEA. (Virginia.gov)

Trump originally named Florida sheriff Chad Chronister as his first pick to lead the DEA, but Chronister, who serves as the sheriff of Hillsborough County, later withdrew his name from consideration in December.

“To have been nominated by President-Elect @realDonaldTrump to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime,” Chronister wrote in a post on X at the time.

“Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration. There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling.”

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A logo reading DEA Special Agent is pictured in the Office of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)

The DEA is expected to work with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fulfill Trump’s campaign promises of restoring safety at the Southern border. At the end of January, federal agents conducted nationwide roundups of more than 1,200 illegal immigrants accused of committing crimes in the U.S.

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

While the nation anticipates an executive order from President Donald Trump to dismantle the Department of Education, New York Democrats sparked a debate about its legality. The White House says cutting wasteful government funding is “not a crime in a court of law.” 

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y, and Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., held a press conference at a Manhattan public school this week, calling Trump’s plans for the education department “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” The White House said the Democrats are “gaslighting” Americans. 

“Earlier this week, we learned that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order to shut down the Department of Education,” Gillibrand said on Sunday. “This would jeopardize thousands of New York jobs, and billions of dollars in federal funding for New York’s kids, teachers, families and schools. We’re here to show them that we are ready to fight for our kids, fight for our communities and fight for our schools.”

As Trump is expected to take steps this month to defund the Department of Education, Democrats began another week of Trump’s second term protesting the Department of Government Efficiency. The Trump administration dismissed the protests as an attempt “to recover from their embarrassing loss” in November. 

MAXINE WATERS, HOUSE DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ CLASH WITH SECURITY GUARD AT EDUCATION DEPT

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 23: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks about gun violence in the United States during the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on September 23, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

“The Democrats have no plan on how to recover from their embarrassing loss, and it shows. Instead of working to become a party that focuses on the will of the people, they are hell-bent on keeping their heads in the sand and gaslighting on the widely supported mission of DOGE. Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary, Harrison Fields, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER SAYS KIDS WILL BE IN TEACHERLESS CLASSROOMS, WON’T HAVE LUNCH IF DOGE, TRUMP GET THEIR WAY

Gillibrand on Sunday reminded New Yorkers that dismantling the Department of Education would require Congressional approval. 

“What he’s doing is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s unconstitutional and illegal. It’s unconstitutional because Congress is the only body that is allowed to decide how the taxpayer dollars that New Yorkers send to Washington is spent.

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y, and Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., held a press conference at a Manhattan public school this week, calling Trump’s plans for the education department “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”  (Getty/iStock)

Hochul warned New Yorkers that they will pick up the tab if Trump shuts down the Department of Education.

“The largest part of your local property tax bill is your school taxes,” Hochul said. “If that money evaporates from the federal government, where are they going to go? This is going to hit homeowners and businesses, and I want them to be aware of this consequence.”

Students walk to board a school bus in Manhattan’s East Village in New York City.  (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Hochul said defunding the Department of Education could deny students Pell Grants, a federally funded program that helps low-income students pay for college, and New York City’s public school nutrition programs, which provide free breakfast, lunch and after-school meals for students. Hochul urged New York Republicans to speak up in Washington for New York’s public school students. 

“This is an outrage,” Gillibrand added. “The Trump administration is stealing money from our kids, from our teachers and from our schools. These are New York tax dollars.” 

House Democrats were blocked from entering the Department of Education building in Washington, Feb. 7, 2025. (Fox News)

The New York Democrats said shutting down the Department of Education could cost New York’s 2.6 million students almost one billion dollars annually. 

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Hochul and Gillibrand join a growing coalition of Democrats speaking out against Trump’s education plans. Democrats protested outside the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., on Friday, demanding an audience with acting education secretary Denise Carter. Carter is keeping Linda McMahon’s seat warm during her senate confirmation process.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is “welcome at the Pentagon,” telling reporters in Stuttgart, Germany, during his first overseas trip at the helm that the Department of Defense (DoD) will also be reviewing U.S. military posture globally to account for different “strategic assumptions” between President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden.

Upon arriving at the headquarters of U.S. European Command and Africa Command, Hegseth did push-ups, dead-lifts and other PT exercises with the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) – a gesture the secretary, a combat veteran himself, said was meant to interact with the troops directly and hear about their missions, rather than solely communicating through four-star generals. 

Taking questions from reporters afterward, Hegseth, who has vowed to restore the “warrior ethos” at the Pentagon, addressed how Trump has called on NATO members to spend 5% of their GDPs on defense. Asked if the U.S. should also spend that amount, Hegseth said he and Trump share the view that U.S. defense spending should not go below 3% GDP, adding that the current administration ought to spend more than the Biden administration. 

HEGSETH SAYS FORT BRAGG IS COMING BACK, BUT WITH A TWIST

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth talks to the media during his visit to the headquarters of U.S. European Command and Africa Command at the Africa Command at Kelly Barracks in Stuttgart Germany, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025.  (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Hegseth accused the Biden administration of having “historically underinvested in the capabilities of our military,” adding that Trump is committed to “rebuilding America’s military by investing.” 

Asked if he expects Elon Musk to start unilaterally slashing defense programs, Hegseth described the DOGE leader as a “great patriot interested in advancing the America First agenda” who knows “Trump got 77 million votes in a mandate from the American people, and part of that is bringing actual businesslike efficiency to government.” Hegseth spoke of a “partnership” with DOGE to reduce Pentagon waste, agreeing with Musk’s assessment that it could be to the tune of “billions” of dollars. 

But the secretary stressed that spending at the Pentagon did not equate to the “globalist agendas” pursued by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 

“As I said on social media, we welcome Doge to the Pentagon,” Hegseth said. “And I hope to welcome Elon to the Pentagon very soon. And his team working in collaboration with us.” 

Hegseth said, “There are waste redundancies and headcounts in headquarters that need to be addressed. There’s just no doubt. Look at a lot of the climate programs that have been pursued at the Defense Department. The Defense Department is not in the business of climate change, solving the global thermostat. We’re in the business of deterring and winning wars. So things like that.” 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth participates in PT with the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), a U.S. Army Special Forces battalion based in Stuttgart, Germany.  (DefSec Hegseth on X)

NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS

“There’s plenty of places where we want the keen eye of DOGE, but we’ll do it in coordination,” he added, pointing to potential changes in weapons procurement programs as well. “We’re not going to do things that are to the detriment of American operational or tactical capabilities… President Trump is committed to delivering the best possible military.” 

“The Defense Department is not USAID,” Hegseth said. “USAID has got a lot of problems that I talked about with the troops – pursuing globalist agendas that don’t have a connection to America First. That’s not the Defense Department. But we’re also not perfect either. So where we can find billions of dollars, and he’s right to say billions inside the Defense Department, every dollar we save, there is a dollar that goes to warfighters. And that’s good for the American people.” 

Hegseth was also asked if there were plans to shift U.S. forces from Europe to the Indo-Pacific to focus on the Chinese threat. 

“There are no plans right now in the making to cut anything,” Hegseth said. “There is an understanding that we’re going to review force posture across the world.” 

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“President Trump’s planning assumptions are different in many ways, or at least strategic assumptions, than Joe Biden’s,” he said. “We certainly don’t want a plan on the back of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. And what happened on October 7th and the war that was unleashed in Ukraine. You have to manage and mitigate those things by coming alongside your friends in Israel and sharing their defense, and peacefully resolving the conflict in Ukraine. But those shouldn’t define how we orient.” 

On his decision to reverse Biden’s 2023 renaming of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, Hegseth said, “It means Bragg is back. It means the legacy of an institution that generations of Americans have mobilized through and served at is back.” 

“I never called it Fort Liberty because it wasn’t Fort Liberty. It’s Fort Bragg. And so I was honored to be able to put my signature on that,” Hegseth said. The North Carolina base’s original namesake was Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general, but Hegseth said it would now be named after Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II hero who earned the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his courage during the Battle of the Bulge.

A Democratic congressman is facing heat from conservatives on social media after promoting the idea of a “street fight” at a protest pushing back against Elon Musk’s recent efforts to slash government waste through the newly created DOGE office.

“This will be a congressional fight, a constitutional fight, a legal fight, and on days like this a street fight, yes we will stand,” Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who has represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District since 2020, said at a rally in Baltimore on Monday outside the Social Security Office. 

Mfume, who was elected to fill the seat of the late Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, added that DOGE stands for “the department of government evil.”

Conservatives on social media were quick to criticize Mfume. They accused him of inciting violence and wondered aloud why more media outlets weren’t picking up the comments. 

‘DOGE BOYS’: DEMS FUME OVER SPENDING CUT SPREE AT RALLY OUTSIDE TRUMP’S NEXT POTENTIAL TARGET

Rep. Mfume called for a “street fight” at an anti-DOGE rally on Monday. (Getty)

“A ‘street fight’ to stop cuts to wasteful spending?” GOP Sen. Mike Lee posted on X. “Those are fighting words. And they’re not honorable words.”

“Remember when Trump pumped his fist and said fight after someone almost blew his brains out and the press claimed it was a call to violence?” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. “Meanwhile…”

“You can almost hear the Democrat party’s 31% approval rating slide further down a hill with clips like this,” Republican communicator Matt Whitlock posted on X. “Not only are Democrats openly promoting political violence, they’re promoting political violence over funding trans surgeries in South America.”

MEET THE YOUNG TEAM OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERS SLASHING GOVERNMENT WASTE AT DOGE: REPORT

Rep. Kweisi Mfume at a hearing on Capitol Hill, March 8, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“WATCH: @RepKweisiMfume (D-MD) riles his supporters up for a ‘street fight’ against President Trump’s agenda on rooting out government waste and corruption,” the Trump White House’s rapid response team posted on X. 

“So @realDonaldTrump, what’s the plan for dealing with Congressional members who are inciting violence?” Women For America First Executive Director Kylie Jane Kremer posted on X. ” This has to stop & there should be consequences for any MOC who continues to do this.”

“Dems calling for a ‘street fight,” the American Firearms Association posted on X. “Never give up your firearms because we all know these Communist Dems are thirsty for blood!”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Mfume spokesperson said, “Congressman Mfume was talking about going neighbor to neighbor and person to person to fight to win the hearts, minds, and souls of disaffected voters who didn’t participate in the last election or who are turned off by the current process.”

“He believes everybody needs to be engaged and you have to be able to fight where people are to talk with them and to get them engaged and bring them back to the fold.”  

The spokesperson added that Mfume is “not opposed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.”

“He is the Ranking Member of the United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations and that has been a focus of his bipartisan work alongside Subcommittee Chair Pete Sessions for the last two years. Congressman Mfume supports many things to make government run better, including ending cost overruns at the Department of Defense, tackling the underworld of fraud and improper payments associated with government spending, and establishing a scorecard within agencies which measures their ability to curb waste – he has worked with at least a dozen inspector generals on these issues.”

The Trump administration appears primed to target the Social Security Administration as part of its DOGE efforts, Fox News Digital previously reported, prompting strong pushback from Democrats who have largely opposed DOGE, arguing it represents a constitutional crisis and a threat to democracy.

“We have one simple message, which is: Elon Musk, keep your hands off our Social Security,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told the crowd in Baltimore. 

MAXINE WATERS, HOUSE DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ CLASH WITH SECURITY GUARD AT EDUCATION DEPT

Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Over the last 21 days, we have seen Elon Musk conducting illegal raids on federal agencies with his DOGE crew,” the senator said. “This is a recipe for corruption by the DOGE boys.”

Musk and other Republicans have argued that a significant amount of waste exists in the federal entitlement system and pushed back on the accusation that legitimate benefits will be taken away. 

“At this point, I am 100% certain that the magnitude of the fraud in federal entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc) exceeds the combined sum of every private scam you’ve ever heard by FAR,” Musk recently posted on X. “It’s not even close.”

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“On no planet does @DOGE want to take away anyone’s Social Security check,” Sen. Lee posted on X. “And on no planet is violence warranted by what @DOGE is actually trying to do—stop waste, fraud, and abuse in government.”

Musk responded to Lee’s post by saying, “Yeah, I can’t emphasize this enough! The goal of auditing the Social Security Administration is to stop the extreme levels of fraud taking place, so that it remains solvent and protects the social security checks of honest Americans!”

Fox News Digital previously reported that, according to Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, SSA disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough “to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023.”

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report

President Donald Trump welcomed Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday, a visit that comes amid contentious discussions between the U.S. and Arab nations about relocating Palestinian refugees to Jordan and other neighboring Arab countries to rebuild Gaza. 

Trump unveiled plans on Feb. 4 that the U.S. would seek to “take over” the Gaza Strip in a “long-term ownership position” to deliver stability to the region during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

However, Trump’s proposal prompted swift backlash from Arab countries, including Jordan, and Egypt announced plans on Sunday for an emergency Arab Summit to discuss “new and dangerous developments” regarding the resettling of Palestinians on Feb. 27. 

Trump doubled down on his plans though in an interview that aired Monday with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier and said that he expects Abdullah ultimately will choose to let in Palestinians. 

“I do think he’ll take, and I think other countries will take also,” Trump told Baier. “They have good hearts.”

TRUMP NOT COMMITTING TO PUTTING US TROOPS ON THE GROUND IN GAZA, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

President Donald Trump welcomed Jordanian King Abdullah II, pictured here, at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025. (Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images)

However, Trump also issued a warning that withholding aid to Jordan could happen should Jordan refuse to take in Palestinian refugees. The U.S. distributed nearly $1.7 billion in foreign aid to Jordan in fiscal year 2023, according to the State Department. 

“Yeah, maybe, sure why not,” Trump said when asked. “If they don’t, I would conceivably withhold aid, yes.”

Trump welcomed Netanyahu to the White House on Feb. 4 and disclosed his plans to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” Trump told reporters. 

“Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Trump said. “Do a real job. Do something different. Just can’t go back. If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for 100 years.”

He also said “all” Palestinians would be removed from Gaza under his plan, although White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the next day their removal would be “temporary” during the rebuilding process. 

Even so, Trump told Fox News on Monday that Palestinians would not return to Gaza under his plan. 

TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABLIZE MIDDLE EAST

Sen. John Thune, S.D., pictured here, did not appear publicly startled by President Donald Trump’s proposal for Gaza. (Getty Images)

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill shared mixed reactions to the plan. 

“I’m speechless, that’s insane,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told Jewish Insider on Feb. 4. 

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However, Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., did not appear fazed by the remarks. 

“I think he wants to bring a more peaceful, secure Middle East and put some ideas out there,” Thune told reporters on Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump‘s newly sworn-in top Cabinet members are asking Congress to provide more resources to continue the administration’s full court press to secure the border and facilitate large-scale deportations. 

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi penned a letter to top appropriators in the House and Senate, pleading with them to designate more funds to the cause of securing the U.S. southern border. 

“The American people strongly support sealing our borders and returning to a lawful immigration system,” Noem, Hegseth and Bondi told the lawmakers in the letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. 

LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER: THE LITTLE-KNOWN TRUMP NOMINEE WHO MAY NEED TO RELY ON DEMS

Members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet leading his border security efforts are asking Congress for more resources. (Reuters)

“Even if the price of some of these measures may seem high, they are nothing when compared to the costs our country is facing in the long term of continuing the status quo,” they explained. 

According to the Trump Cabinet officials, their departments need a variety of resources to continue securing the border at the current level. 

These include additional law enforcement officers; military personnel, including Active Duty and State and National Guard; aircraft and additional means of transportation to facilitate deportations; both materials and workers to finish construction of “a permanent barrier” at the border; additional immigration judges to quickly decide cases and clear the backlog; and more facilities to detain illegal immigrant waiting for deportation. 

TRUMP NOMINEE TULSI GABBARD CLEARS LAST HURDLE, HEADS FOR FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE

Immigrants are seen boarding a U.S. military aircraft. The White House announced that “deportation flights have begun” in the U.S. (White House)

The correspondence to congressional leaders comes as a March 14 spending bill deadline approaches, and the chambers are expected to lay out a new spending deal to avoid a partial government shutdown. 

Passing a spending bill next month with satisfactory border funding could prove difficult, however, because 60 votes will be needed in the Senate. That means the Republican conference cannot pass it single-handedly and will need the support of several Democrats to get it done. 

SCHUMER REVEALS DEM COUNTER-OFFENSIVE AGAINST TRUMP’S DOGE AUDIT

The U.S. Capitol. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

The letter from Noem, Hegseth and Bondi also coincides with congressional Republicans’ efforts to put together a budget deal with provisions for border security and pass it in an expeditious manner. However, the House and Senate GOP have begun to butt heads on how to go about the key budget reconciliation process and whether to pursue one big bill with all of Trump’s priorities or to use a two-bill approach, with another being passed later in the year to address Trump’s tax agenda. 

By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, reconciliation allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold.

TRUMP’S KEY TO CABINET CONFIRMATIONS: SENATOR-TURNED-VP VANCE’S GIFT OF GAB

Sens. Susan Collins, right, and Patty Murray are the GOP and Democrat leaders of the Senate appropriations committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Fox News Digital reached Senate Committee on Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ranking Member Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Senate Committee on the Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., but did not immediately receive responses. 

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans lawmakers are renewing efforts to gut federal funding to NPR and PBS amid the Trump administration’s upheaval of the federal bureaucracy.

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., is leading a bill in the House of Representatives that would halt taxpayer dollars from going to either media broadcaster and reroute existing federal funds to reducing the national debt, according to legislative text previewed by Fox News Digital.

“As a former newspaper owner and publisher, I understand the vital role of balanced, non-partisan media. Unfortunately, these taxpayer-funded outlets have chosen advocacy over accuracy, using public dollars to promote a political agenda rather than report the facts,” Tenney told Fox News Digital.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

House Republicans are targeting PBS and NPR with new legislation. (Getty)

The legislation’s Senate counterpart is being led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who told Fox News Digital, “Americans have hundreds of sources of news and commentary, and they don’t need politically biased, taxpayer-funded media choosing what they should see and hear. PBS and NPR are free to compete in the marketplace of ideas using donations, but their public subsidy should end.”

Republicans have long targeted NPR and PBS, accusing both outlets of sharing a liberal bias while receiving government funding.

Less than 1% of NPR’s funding comes directly from the federal government, though other funding comes indirectly from grants and dollars allocated to local member stations who then pay fees back to NPR. More than a third of its funding comes from corporate sponsorships.

Rep. Claudia Tenney introduced the bill on the House side. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

PBS also gets a mix of federal funds through other avenues.

However, the GOP’s demands to end federal allocations to both outlets now come at a time when the executive branch is fervently searching for places to block government spending that does not align with the Trump administration’s agenda.

Elon Musk, who is leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, has been critical of NPR in the past.

“Defund NPR. It should survive on its own,” Musk wrote on his X platform earlier this month.

‘WE’RE THE GOLD STANDARD’: GOP LAWMAKER CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL HEARING OVER DC PLANE CRASH

Sen. Mike Lee is leading the bill in the upper chamber. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

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Soon after he acquired X, Musk briefly hit NPR with a “State-Affiliated” media label, which is normally reserved for the media arm of authoritarian governments.

Tenney’s bill is one of multiple efforts targeting NPR and PBS during this Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who chairs the DOGE subcommittee under the House Oversight Committee, said she wants the heads of each organization to come testify before her new panel.

President Donald Trump‘s nominees to run the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are part of a group of scientists who just launched a new research journal focused on spurring scientific discourse and combating “gatekeeping” in the medical research community. 

The journal, titled the Journal of the Academy of Public Health (JAPH), includes an editorial board consisting of several scientists who complained of facing censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

JAPH’s co-founders include Martin Kulldorff, a former Harvard Medical School professor who is a founding fellow at Hillsdale College’s Academy for Science and Freedom, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of health policy at Stanford University who is also Trump’s nominee to be the next NIH director. Kulldorff and Bhattacharya became known during the pandemic for authoring The Great Barrington Declaration, which sought to challenge the broader medical community’s prevailing notions about COVID-19 mitigation strategies, arguing that – in the long run – the lockdowns that people were facing would do more harm than good.

CDC STAFF TOLD TO REMOVE TERMS LIKE ‘NON-BINARY,’ ‘THEY/THEM,’ ‘PREGNANT PEOPLE’ FROM PUBLIC HEALTH MATERIAL

Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon and public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, who is Trump’s nominee to be the next director of the FDA, is on the journal’s editorial board as well.  

Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, left, appears alongside Johns Hopkins University’s Dr. Marty Makary. (Getty Images/Fox News)

JAPH is adopting a novel approach by publishing peer reviews of prominent studies from other journals that do not make their peer reviews publicly available. The effort is aimed at spurring scientific discourse, Kulldorff said in a paper outlining the purposes of the journal’s creation.

The journal will also seek to promote “open access” by making all of its work available to everyone in the public without a paywall, he said, and the journal’s editorial leadership will allow all scientists within its network to “freely publish all their research results in a timely and efficient manner,” to prevent any potential “gatekeeping.”

“Scientific journals have had enormous positive impact on the development of science, but in some ways, they are now hampering rather than enhancing open scientific discourse,” Kulldorff said. “After reviewing the history and current problems with journals, a new academic publishing model is proposed – it embraces open access and open rigorous peer review, it rewards reviewers for their important work with honoraria and public acknowledgment and it allows scientists to publish their research in a timely and efficient manner without wasting valuable scientist time and resources.”

‘WHAT A RIPOFF!’: TRUMP SPARKS BACKLASH AFTER CUTTING BILLIONS IN OVERHEAD COSTS FROM NIH RESEARCH GRANTS

Kulldorff, Bhattacharya, Makary and others on the new journal’s leadership team have complained that their views about the COVID-19 pandemic were censored. These were views that were often contrary to the prevailing ideas put forth by the broader medical community at the time, which related to topics such as vaccine efficacy, natural immunity, lockdowns and more.

(Censorship was a common complaint from medical researchers like Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. Martin Kulldorff, who were among the few scientists who promoted ideas like herd immunity and challenged the efficacy of lockdowns and vaccine mandates.)

“Big tech censored the [sic] all kinds of science on natural immunity,” Makary said in testimony to Congress following the pandemic. During his testimony, Makary also shared how one of his own studies at Johns Hopkins during the pandemic that promoted the effectiveness of natural immunity, which one scientific journal listed as its third most discussed study in 2022, “was censored.”

“Because of my views on COVID-19 restrictions, I have been specifically targeted for censorship by federal government officials,” Bhattacharya added in his own testimony to Congress the same year.

Kulldorff, who has also complained about censorship of his views on COVID-19, argued he was asked to leave his medical professorship at Harvard that he held since 2003, for “clinging to the truth” in his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

CONSERVATIVE LAW FIRM LAUNCHES PROBE INTO FIVE MAJOR UNIVERSITIES FOR ALLEGED ‘CENSORSHIP REGIME’

Dr. Martin Kulldorff is a former Harvard Medical School professor. (Getty Images)

“The JAPH will ensure quality through open peer-review, but will not gatekeep new and important ideas for the sake of established orthodoxies,” Andrew Noymer, JAPH’s incoming editor-in-chief told Fox News Digital. 

“To pick one example, in my own sub-field of infectious disease epidemiology, we have in the past few years seen too little published scholarship on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. Academic publishing as it exists today is too often concerned with preservation of what we think we know, too often to the detriment of new ideas.”

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Bhattacharya and Makary did not wish to comment on this article.

President Donald Trump has the highest approval rating now compared to any point during his first term in office, according to a new poll. 

Forty-seven percent of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance in the less than a month since he was sworn in as the 47th president, the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center found. 

While that’s higher than at any point while he served as the 45th president, Trump’s inaugural approval rating sinks below that of most other presidents since Ronald Reagan. George W. Bush’s approval rating early in his second term, however, was about the same as that of Trump now. 

TRUMP PARDONS FORMER ILLINOIS GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH: ‘HE WAS SET UP BY A LOT OF BAD PEOPLE’

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The poll, conducted Jan. 27 to Feb. 2 among 5,086 adults, found nearly three in ten adults, or 28%, view Trump’s actions as better than expected, while 36% said they have been what they expected. 

His actions are viewed as worse than expected by 35% of adults. 

Americans are fairly evenly split over how they believe Trump’s White House will affect the federal government. The survey found 41% of adults said they believe Trump’s administration will improve the way the federal government works, and 42% said they believe the state of the federal government will worsen with him in office. 

President Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump stand for the National Anthem during the Super Bowl LIX Pregame at Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana.   (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation)

Public opinion on Trump’s agenda remains starkly divided along partisan lines. The poll found 67% of Republicans, including those who lean red, support all or most of Trump’s plans and policies. For Democrats and those who lean blue, 84% support few or none. Almost an identical share of Republicans, 76%, said Trump will improve the way the federal government operates, as Democrats, 78%, said Trump will make the federal government run worse. 

NOEM: ‘GET RID OF FEMA THE WAY IT EXISTS TODAY’

For Republicans, 53% viewed Trump’s recent actions as better than expected, while the poll found 60% of Democrats view the president’s accomplishments as worse than expected. 

As Trump enters his fourth week back in office, his efforts to slash wasteful federal government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have caused a stir in Washington. 

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

His threat of tariffs against Canada and Mexico and levied against China over the flow of deadly fentanyl across American borders has similarly raised concerns. Trump’s angling for the Panama Canal and Greenland amid the increasing Chinese presence in the Western Hemisphere, as well as his administration overseeing a collapsing ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in the Middle East have put the world on notice. 

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Trump’s advisers are expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week in Munich as the war with Russia stretches into its third year. Raging wildfires in California, a deadly military helicopter-passenger jet collision in D.C., and the continuing aftermath of last year’s hurricane devastation in the southeast, particularly in North Carolina, are putting Trump’s new Cabinet chiefs to the test on the domestic front, as is Trump’s crackdown on criminal illegal immigration. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime suggested relations between Washington, D.C., and Moscow are on “the brink” of collapse this week.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made the announcement during a Monday press conference. Ryabkov reiterated Putin’s stance that there would be no peace in Ukraine unless the country dropped its ambitions to join NATO and ceded Russian-occupied regions.

“We simply imperatively need to get … the new U.S. administration to understand and acknowledge that without resolving the problems that are the root causes of the crisis in Ukraine, it will not be possible to reach an agreement,” Ryabkov said.

While President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he has spoken to Putin, a spokesman for the Russian leader declined to confirm the call this week.

ZELENSKYY WANTS NUKES OR NATO; TRUMP SPECIAL ENVOY KELLOGG SAYS ‘SLIM AND NONE’ CHANCE

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime says relations with the U.S. are on the “brink” of a breakup. (Left: Evan Vucci/AP / Right: Photo by VYACHESLAV PROKOFYEV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he expects to have “many more conversations. We have to get that war ended.”

“I hate to see all these young people being killed. The soldiers are being killed by the hundreds of thousands,” he added.

TRUMP’S FOURTH WEEK IN OFFICE COULD INCLUDE MEETING WITH ZELENSKYY, IRONING OUT STEEL DEAL

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to meet with Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference later this week after confirming on Friday he is ready to “do a deal” with President Donald Trump.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy President of Ukraine talks with media during a European Council Meeting. (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)

According to an interview with Reuters, Zelenskyy said he was ready to supply the U.S. with rare-earth minerals in exchange for Washington’s continued backing of its war effort.

“If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelenskyy said. 

The Ukrainian president has made clear he is also open to engaging in peace talks with Russia to end the three-year-long war, though possible terms for securing a peace deal remain varied and unknown. 

A view of destroyed armored vehicles and tanks belonging to Russian forces after they withdrew from the city of Lyman in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. (Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Though Zelenskyy has said he is looking for “guarantees” when it comes to future security assurances for the war-torn country.

These security assurances will likely need to be more than a formal handshake paired with a signed document, as Russia has twice violated its last agreement with Ukraine, known as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.

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Zelenskyy apparently first floated the idea of trading Ukraine’s mineral resources – roughly 20% of which are located in now Russian-controlled territory, including half of the rare-earth variety – under his “victory plan” first presented to Western allies last fall, reported Reuters. 

Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., both announced that they would vote to confirm former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence.

In a party-line vote on Monday, Murkowski, Cassidy, and the other Republican senators who voted opted to move forward with the confirmation process by supporting cloture, while the members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted opposed cloture. 

“I will vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence,” Murkowski declared in a post on X. 

TRUMP NOMINEE TULSI GABBARD CLEARS LAST HURDLE, HEADS FOR FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE

Left: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, June 1, 2023; Center: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii, leaves a meeting with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, at the Hart Senate Office Building on Dec. 18, 2024 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; Right: U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., attends a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Aug. 5, 2022 in Washington, D.C.  (Left: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Center: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Right: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“While I continue to have concerns about certain positions she has previously taken, I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency, while still enabling the ODNI to continue its essential function in upholding national security,” the senator continued. 

“As she brings independent thinking and necessary oversight to her new role, I am counting on her to ensure the safety and civil liberties of American citizens remain rigorously protected.”

Murkowski voted against confirming Pete Hegseth to serve as Defense Secretary last month. 

JOHN FETTERMAN REVEALS HOW HE’LL VOTE ON TRUMP’S TULSI GABBARD AND RFK JR. NOMINATIONS

“President Trump chose Tulsi Gabbard to be his point person on foreign intelligence,” Cassidy said in a statement. “I will trust President Trump on this decision and vote for her confirmation.”

Gabbard, who served in Congress from early 2013 to early 2021, announced in 2022 that she was leaving the Democratic Party. 

THE CONFIRMATION JUGGERNAUT: HOW TRUMP IS GETTING EVERYTHING HE WANTS IN BUILDING HIS CABINET

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Last year she backed Trump in the 2024 presidential contest and announced she was joining the Republican Party.

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Labor, former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., has left Republicans in the Senate with some questions over her pro-union stances, but at the same time, she has generated some interest from pro-labor Democrats. 

In particular, the moderate Republican will need to explain to Republicans her support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), a controversial piece of legislation that was proposed a few years ago. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that “support for the PRO Act is not something that most Republicans have tolerated in the past, but I think she’s attempted to address that, and my hope is that she can further clarify her position on some of those issues when she goes through the hearing process.”

SCHUMER REVEALS DEM COUNTER-OFFENSIVE AGAINST TRUMP’S DOGE AUDIT

Trump’s nominee for labor secretary could see Democrats help her get over the finish line. (Reuters | Getty Images)

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act was championed by Democrats and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters upon introduction. But others, such as most Republicans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposed it. 

The legislation would effectively kill state-level laws that prohibit employers and unions from requiring workers to pay union dues as a condition of their employment. 

Chavez-DeRemer will have her hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Wednesday. 

One committee member she’ll have to answer to is Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has already said he doesn’t plan to support her. 

“Her support for the Pro Act, which would not only oppose national right to work, but it would preempt state law on right to work. I think it’s not a good thing, and it’d be sort of hard for me since it’s a big issue for me to support her. So I won’t support her,” the senator previously told reporters. 

TRUMP’S KEY TO CABINET CONFIRMATIONS: SENATOR-TURNED-VP VANCE’S GIFT OF GAB

Paul plans to vote against the nominee. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

This puts Chavez-DeRemer in a difficult position, as she will need to rely on Democrats to help her advance out of the HELP committee favorably if Paul follows through on his commitment to voting against her. 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., who is far from the most pro-union Republican in the upper chamber, is full speed ahead in favor of Trump’s pick as Chavez-DeRemer gears up for her hearing and eventual committee vote. 

In a phone interview with Fox News Digital, he explained that he and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien were involved in Trump’s selection of her for the key Cabinet role. Mullin further detailed the significance of union members in Trump’s winning 2024 election coalition. 

He claimed Democrats have “come to us and actually said this is actually a really good pick” because it puts them in a difficult position and is hard to vote against with her support among labor unions. 

INSIDE SEN TOM COTTON’S CAMPAIGN TO SAVE TULSI GABBARD’S ENDANGERED DNI NOMINATION

Mullin is a close ally of Trump. (Markwayne Mullin for Senate)

The senator didn’t give away any names of Democrats that might see her appeal, however. 

Paul previously predicted he wouldn’t be the only one unwilling to back her in the Republican conference.

“I think she’ll lose 15 Republicans and she’ll get 25 Democrats. She’s very pro-labor, she might get all the Democrats. Who knows? So, we’ll see,” he said. 

If his vote leaves her nomination tied at the committee level, it could still be reported and scheduled for a floor vote, but without a favorable recommendation. In this case, she would need to amass 60 votes in the full Senate to move on to confirmation. 

LEADER THUNE BACKS SENATE GOP BID TO SPEED PAST HOUSE ON TRUMP BUDGET PLAN

Chavez-DeRemer is a former Republican congresswoman. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

With her appeal among labor groups, Chavez-DeRemer may manage to put together a 60-plus bipartisan coalition to be confirmed. 

While Paul predicted more than a dozen GOP defectors, Mullin said the real number is likely much smaller.

“I haven’t heard from any other Republicans that are a ‘no.’ Rand is the only one,” he said. 

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“I don’t think his numbers are accurate, even close,” the Oklahoma Republican added. 

A representative for Chavez-DeRemer did not provide comment to Fox News Digital.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided millions of dollars in funding to extremist groups tied to designated terrorist organizations and their allies, according to a report published by Middle East Forum, a U.S. think tank.

“The Middle East Forum’s multi-year study of USAID and State Department spending has uncovered $164 million of approved grants to radical organizations, with at least $122 million going to groups aligned with designated terrorists and their supporters,” the conservative think tank wrote in its report published Feb. 4. 

“Billions more of federal dollars have been given to leading American aid charities which have consistently failed to vet their terror-tied local partners, and show little interest in improving their practices, to the apparent indifference of the federal government.”

The Middle East Forum’s report focuses specifically on funds from USAID and the State Department that wound up in the hands of radical groups and organizations tied to terrorism.  

USAID EMPLOYEE SAYS STAFFERS HID PRIDE FLAGS, ‘INCRIMINATING’ BOOKS WHEN DOGE ARRIVED

Elon Musk leads the Department of Government Efficiency. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

RUBIO PAUSES FOREIGN AID FROM STATE DEPARTMENT AND USAID TO ENSURE IT PUTS ‘AMERICA FIRST’

The think tank reported that among its top findings, USAID was found to have given more than $900,000 to a “Gaza-based terror charity” called Bayader Association for Environment and Development. The funding began in 2016, and its most recent allocation was made just days before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

USAID is under fire from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency and its chair, Elon Musk, left, investigate the agency’s spending practices and prepare to revamp and potentially shutter the agency. (Getty Images)

Bayader describes itself as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that works “to build a civil society” on the Gaza Strip. 

“Founded in 2007, shortly after Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip, Bayader operates in close cooperation with the Hamas regime. Its 2021 annual report notes ‘coordination’ and ‘meetings’ with Hamas’s Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture,” the report found. 

‘VIPER’S NEST’: USAID ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION, MISMANAGEMENT LONG BEFORE TRUMP ADMIN TOOK AIM

The funds were secured through other NGOs, such as Catholic Relief Services and medical groups. 

“​​But USAID coordinates directly with Bayader as well,” according to the report. “USAID officials have praised Bayader’s work on social media, and even visited Bayader’s offices, where one senior USAID official, Jonathan Kamin, received an award from the terror-linked charity.” 

The report also found that USAID approved a $12.5 million grant in 2024 to the American Near East Refugee Agency, which is also “a long-standing partner” of Bayader. The American Near East Refugee Agency is an NGO that was established in 1968 in an effort to assist refugees following the Arab-Israeli War. 

Rockets are launched from Gaza City toward Israel. (Hatem Moussa/Associated Press)

The report found staffers with the NGO have repeatedly and publicly posted “violent ideas, without apparent censure from top charity officials.” The comments on social media posted by employees include: calling on God to “erase the Jews,” expressing support for the “brave prisoners” in Israeli jails during the Hamas-Israel war, and describing Oct. 7, 2023, as a “beautiful morning.”

Sam Westrop, the director of the Middle East Forum’s counter-extremism project, Islamist Watch, posted a highlight thread on X of the report’s findings, describing the examples as “horrifying.”

“USAID won’t even tell us how much they gave the Unlimited Friends Association, a Gaza terror charity which operates with help from Hamas. The head of the charity promises to ‘cleanse’ their land of ‘impure Jews,’” Westrop posted in the thread of an example. 

USAID CLOSES HQ TO STAFFERS MONDAY AS MUSK SAYS TRUMP SUPPORTS SHUTTING AGENCY DOWN

USAID is under fire from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency and its chair, Elon Musk, investigate the agency’s spending practices. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)

“USAID gave millions to Islamic Relief, whose Gaza branch openly works with senior terrorist officials in Gaza, including Hamas politburo member Ghazi Hamad. who promised that Hamas would repeat Oct 7 attacks ‘time and again until Israel is annihilated,’” he posted in another example from the report. 

USAID funds totaling $125,000 were found in the hands of the Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) in 2015, despite the U.S. Treasury designating the group a global terrorist organization in 2004 due to its ties to Osama bin Laden. 

WHITE HOUSE FLAGS TOP USAID BOONDOGGLES UNDER ELON MUSK’S MICROSCOPE

The report continued that USAID “undoubtedly knew of ISRA’s terrorism activities. In 2010, the executive director of ISRA’s U.S. branch (IARA-USA) and a board member pleaded guilty to money-laundering, theft of public funds, conspiracy, and several other charges. The plea was listed on USAID’s own website,” the report found. IARA-USA stands for the Islamic American Relief Agency.

The funds were directed to ISRA via an evangelical charity called World Vision that works to provide clean water to areas of Sudan, according to the report. 

A World Vision official told Fox News Digital when asked about the report that the charity earned approval to work in Sudan “to help build a better world for the most vulnerable children and their families” and that it takes “compliance obligations seriously.”

“As soon as we became aware that a local partner, Islamic Relief Agency, might be on the list of organizations banned from transactions by the United States, we suspended the grant and asked the US Government to confirm its status,” the official said. “We would never knowingly put those we serve or our staff at risk by working with a partner on the list of banned organizations. We exist to help build a better world for children and their families, serving in the name of Jesus Christ. We have no evidence that any of our funds have been used for anything other than urgent humanitarian work.” 

“As a Christian humanitarian organization, we do not compromise our beliefs nor commitment to integrity as we work with governments throughout the world,” the official said. “It is not easy to operate in fragile contexts, yet this is where the Lord is calling us.  We remain committed to our vision of bringing life in all its fullness to vulnerable children around the world.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Bayader, the American Near East Refugee Agency and Catholic Relief Services but did not receive replies. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press)

USAID is under fire from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its chair, Elon Musk, investigate the agency’s spending practices and prepare to revamp and potentially shutter the agency. USAID is currently led by interim director Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

The agency announced on its website on Tuesday, Feb. 4, that nearly all personnel would be placed on leave by Friday, making a few exceptions for those in roles related to “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.” Its overseas missions reportedly also had been told to shut down.

Lawmakers, news outlets and think tanks have dug into past reports related to USAID spending amid the apparent dismantling of the agency, finding countless examples of money channeled to questionable organizations or programs, such as creating a version of “Sesame Street” in Iraq or funding pottery classes in Morocco. 

USAID was established in 1961 under the Kennedy administration, operating as an independent agency that works closely with the State Department to allocate civilian foreign aid. Under Rubio, the agency could be abolished after its reorganization over the coming days, he said in a letter to bipartisan lawmakers on Feb. 3. 

“In consultation with Congress, USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus, and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the Agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law,” Rubio wrote.

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Musk, meanwhile, has posted on X that USAID is a “criminal organization” and that it is “time for it to die.”

The Trump administration is appealing a federal judge’s order to unfreeze federal funding in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. 

The motion comes hours after a federal judge from Rhode Island ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to unfreeze federal funds once again, claiming the administration did not adhere to his previous order to do so. 

U.S. District Judge John McConnell filed a new motion Monday ordering the Trump administration to comply with a restraining order issued Jan. 31, temporarily blocking the administration’s efforts to pause federal grants and loans. 

McConnell’s original restraining order came after 22 states and the District of Columbia challenged the Trump administration’s actions to hold up funds for grants such as the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant and other Environmental Protection Agency programs. But the states said Friday that the administration isn’t following through and funds are still tied up.  

“Each executive order will hold up in court because every action of the Trump-Vance administration is completely lawful,” Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement to Fox News. “Any legal challenge against it is nothing more than an attempt to undermine the will of the American people.

The Office of Management and Budget released a memo Jan. 27 announcing plans to issue a temporary pause on federal grants and loans. While the White House later rescinded the memo on Jan. 29, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the move didn’t equate a “recission of the federal funding freeze.” 

Specifically, McConnell’s motion calls for the Trump administration to restore withheld funds appropriated in the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act that passed during the Biden administration in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The motion also calls on the Trump administration to restore funding for institutes like the National Institutes of Health. 

‘CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS’: THE IMPOUNDMENT ACT TAKES CENTER STAGE AFTER RUSSEL VOUGHT’S CONFIRMATION 

The Trump administration unveiled an Office of Management and Budget memo on Jan. 27 ordering a pause on federal funds and grants.  (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

The motion filed Monday asserts that states have provided evidence that there are still instances where the federal government has “improperly” frozen funds and failed to distribute appropriated federal funds. 

While the motion says the Trump administration claims these actions were done to “root out” fraud, McConnell said that the “freezes in effect now were a result of the broad categorical order, not a specific finding of possible fraud.”

“The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country,” the judge wrote on Monday. 

LEAVITT PUSHES BACK ON MEDIA’S ‘UNCERTAINTY’ ABOUT FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Jan. 31, 2025, in Washington.  (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

McConnell said in his original order that evidence suggested the White House’s rescission of the OMB memo may have been done in “name-only” in order to “defeat the jurisdiction of the court.” 

As a result, McConnell said Monday that the Trump administration must “immediately restore frozen funding” until the court hears and decides the preliminary injunction request. 

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Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha praised McConnell’s ruling and said the order “confirmed what we have been saying from the beginning.”

“It is now time for the Administration to come into full compliance,” Neronha said in a statement Monday. “This is a country of laws. We expect the Administration to follow the law. Our Office and attorneys general across the country stand ready to keep careful watch on the actions of this Administration that follow, and we will not hesitate to go back to Court if they don’t comply.”

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report. 

The hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus has released its own proposal to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process.

The plan would pair a debt ceiling increase and increased border security funding with deep spending cuts through welfare work requirements and rollbacks on progressive Biden administration initiatives.

It’s a sign that House GOP leaders have still not found consensus within the conference on a path forward, despite ambitious plans to get a bill through the chamber at the end of the month.

House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use their congressional majorities to pass a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

The House Freedom Caucus during the 118th Congress (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)

By reducing the Senate’s threshold for passage from one-third to a simple majority, where the House already operates, Republicans will be able to enact Trump’s plans while entirely skirting Democratic opposition, provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters.

GOP lawmakers want to include a wide swath of Trump priorities from more funding for border security to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages.

But fiscal hawks have also demanded the package be deficit-neutral or deficit-reducing. Congressional leaders can afford little dissent with their razor-thin majorities and guaranteed lack of Democratic support.

The Freedom Caucus’s plan would follow through on conservatives’ pleas for deep spending cuts, pairing $200 billion in annual new spending for the border and national defense with $486 billion in spending cuts for the same 10-year period.

It would also include a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling, something Trump demanded be part of Republicans’ fiscal negotiations.

Spending cuts would be found in codifying rollbacks to the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandates and imposing Clinton administration-era work requirements for certain federal benefits, among other measures.

Republicans are working to pass President Trump’s agenda via reconciliation. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

The legislation leaves out one critical component of Trump’s reconciliation goals – the extension of his 2017-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

House GOP leaders and Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee had pushed for them to be included alongside border security, debt ceiling, defense and energy measures in one massive reconciliation bill. 

They argued that leaving them for a second bill, which the House Freedom Caucus plan would do, will allow Trump’s tax cuts to expire at the end of this year before Congress has time to act.

The two-track approach is also favored by Senate Republicans, who are moving forward with their own plan this week.

Conservatives on the House Budget Committee pushed back against GOP leaders’ initial proposals for baseline spending cuts to offset new spending in the reconciliation plan, forcing the House to punt on plans to advance a resolution through the House Budget Committee last week.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., later announced plans to advance his own proposal through his committee by Thursday.

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS

“”The biggest loser this weekend wasn’t at the Super Bowl, but rather the American people,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. “The clock is ticking, and we are no closer to a budget deal, which is why the House Freedom Caucus released our Emergency Border Control Resolution Budget to secure our border and address Trump’s America First Agenda.”

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House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., said in a statement, “Given the current delay in the House on moving a comprehensive reconciliation bill, moving a smaller targeted bill now makes the most sense to deliver a win for the President and the American people.”

Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, said, “The American people voted for Donald Trump to see action – not for Congress to sit on its hands while our short window to pass his America-First agenda closes.”

Supporters of the two-bill approach have said it would secure early wins on issues Republicans agree most on while leaving more complex matters like tax cuts for the latter half of the year.