Donald Trump Poll News

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

Here’s what’s happening…

-Trump says Reagan National Airport crash could have been prevented: ‘CLEAR NIGHT’

-Anti-Trump FBI agent responsible for opening Jack Smith elector case against president: Whistleblower

–Patel flips script on Durbin with Biden reference after being pressed on J6 pardons: ‘Brutal reality check’

Held to the ‘Highest Standards’

President Donald Trump set his sights on DEI standards at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday after a deadly in-air collision at the nation’s capital.

Trump, speaking to reporters in the White House briefing room, highlighted efforts by the Biden administration to lower aviation standards, though he acknowledged that the cause of Wednesday night’s crash has yet to be determined.

“We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system,” Trump said. “Only the highest aptitude — you have to be the highest intellect — and psychologically superior people, were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers.”…Read more

Emergency response units search the crash site of the American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after the plane crashed last night on approach to Reagan National Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. The American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided in midair with a military helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport. According to reports there were no survivors among the 67 people on board both aircraft.   (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

World Stage

KICKED OUT: Israel orders UNRWA to cease operations in country over terror ties: ‘miserably failed in its mandate’…Read more

EMOTIONAL RETURN: Moment IDF soldier is reunited with family seen on video…Read more

Arbel Yehoud’s family hug her upon her release from Gaza on Thursday.  (IDF)

FINALLY FREE: Third round of hostage releases begins as part of Hamas’ Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel…Read more

HELD UP: Netanyahu furious about chaotic handover of Israeli hostages from Hamas…Read more

Capitol Hill

MAKING THE CASE: Internal House GOP memo outlines case for Trump to buy Panama Canal…Read more

BACK FOR MORE: Trump HHS nominee RFK Jr returns to Capitol Hill for round 2 after heated first day of hearings…Read more

TULSI HITS TURBULENCE: Tension builds around Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation with key GOP Senators undecided…Read more

‘FAKE CHRISTIAN’: First-term House Dem attacks WH press secretary Karoline Leavitt as ‘Fake Christian’…Read more

CLOCK IS TICKING: Bipartisan senators target fentanyl classification as lapse approaches…Read more

‘LIES AND SMEARS’: Tulsi Gabbard rails against Dem narrative she’s Trump’s and Putin’s ‘puppet’…Read more

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s choice to be the Director of National Intelligence, arrives to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

‘CORRUPT’: Graham grills FBI nominee Patel over ‘disgusting’ and ‘corrupt’ Crossfire Hurricane probe…Read more

‘VERY TROUBLING’: Top Senate Intelligence Dem grills Gabbard if Edward Snowden is ‘brave’: ‘very troubling’…Read more

DH-YES: Senate confirms Kristi Noem as Trump’s Department of Homeland Security secretary…Read more

‘COUNT ON THAT’: Senate set for confirmation vote on Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department…Read more

FREEZING FUNDS: Risch proposes bill to block US foreign aid from funding abortions…Read more

HAT IN THE RING: Former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers considering GOP Senate run…Read more

CLOSING THE CABINET: Where Trump’s Cabinet nominees stand in Senate confirmation process…Read more

FBI Director nominee Kash Patel, left, HHS nominee RFK Jr, and Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard (Getty)

‘GROTESQUE’: Patel hammers ‘grotesque mischaracterizations’ from Dems amid fiery FBI confirmation hearing…Read more

IN THE HOT SEAT: Gabbard sheds light on Assad visit, expresses shock intelligence community showed no interest at the time…Read more

Across America

‘UNPRECEDENTED’ SITUATION: Los Angeles fire cleanup complicated by ‘unprecedented’ number of EVs with combustible lithium-ion batteries…Read more

CRASH TIMELINE: DC plane crash timeline: Midair collision involves 67 passengers, crew members, soldiers…Read more

‘PERSONAL ATTACKS’: Anti-Israel groups spray paint Columbia University building, ‘cemented’ sewage system…Read more

‘INAPPROPRIATE’ RISK: Army sec nominee questions whether military pilots should train near DC airport…Read more

Daniel Driscoll, insert, and military helicopter, background  (Pool Screen shot /Getty )

PREVENTED: Gabbard says 9/11 likely could have been prevented if not for intelligence ‘stovepiping’…Read more

‘JUST DEVASTATED’: Miracle on the Hudson’s Capt. Sully reacts to deadly DC aircraft collision…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., grilled Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, over Patel’s pro-gun stances.

Asked by Padilla whether Patel believes background checks on firearm purchases are constitutional, during the nominee’s confirmation hearing Thursday, Patel responded that he didn’t know “the in-depths of it,” but believed “that’s what the Supreme Court said.”

“Do you think civilian ownership of machine guns is protected by the Second Amendment?” Padilla fired back.

EX-FBI OFFICIAL WHO SHUT DOWN HUNTER BIDEN LINES OF INVESTIGATION VIOLATED HATCH ACT WITH ANTI-TRUMP POSTS 

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“Whatever the courts rule in regards to the Second Amendment is what is protected by the Second Amendment,” Patel responded.

Padilla explained that his line of questioning was due to an “association” between Patel and the group Gun owners of America, which enthusiastically endorsed Trump’s choice to lead the FBI.

“GOA Applauds Nomination of ‘Fiercely Pro-Gun’ Kash Patel for FBI Director,” the organization said in a press release following Trump’s announcement to tap Patel.

U.S. Senator from California Alex Padilla speaks on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

KASH PATEL, TRUMP’S PICK FOR FBI DIRECTOR, ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON JAN. 6 , QANON, AND MORE

Padilla expressed concern over the enthusiastic endorsement, arguing that the organization has taken “extreme positions” on guns.

“Gun Owners of America has taken extreme positions, including the position that all background checks are unconstitutional and that civilian ownership of machine guns is protected under the Second Amendment,” Padilla said.

Padilla then argued that Patel would be responsible for overseeing some of the country’s most critical gun regulations at the FBI, expressing concern that Trump’s nominee is not up to the task.

Former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of Defense Kash Patel speaks during a campaign rally for President Donald Trump at Findlay Toyota Center on October 13, 2024, in Prescott Valley, Arizona.  (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

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“Let me remind you that as FBI director, you will oversee critical responsibilities related to firearm regulation, you’re administering the national instant criminal background check system. Yes, it’s constitutional, it’s in place, for a reason! You would also regulate the distribution of machine guns to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Policies and programs in place for a reason,” Padilla said.

“Given your hesitancy, given your answers, I am concerned about your ability to do the job when it’s not in alignment with views like Gun Owners of America.”

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, pledged Thursday to work with a top Republican senator on exposing who worked with Jeffrey Epstein in trafficking and exploiting children.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., quizzed Patel about how he would handle the Epstein case. The sex-trafficking financier died in 2019 while awaiting trial. Nearly 200 names that had previously been redacted from court documents in a lawsuit against his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell were made public last year.

However, Blackburn said there is still more to be known, including the names of those who flew on his plane and accomplices.

KASH PATEL FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM SENATOR AFTER BEING GRILLED ON J6 PARDONS: ‘BRUTAL REALITY CHECK’ 

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., questions Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, during Patel’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.  (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

“I want to talk to you about the Epstein case. I have worked on this for years trying to get those records of who flew on Epstein’s plane and who helped him build this international human trafficking sex trafficking ring,” she said.

She used her remarks to take a jab at former Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin.

“Now, earlier, I urged then Chairman Durbin to subpoena those records, and I ended up being blocked by Senator Durbin and Christopher Wray. They stonewalled on this,” she said. “And I know that breaking up these trafficking rings is important to President Trump. So will you work with me on this issue? So we know who worked with Jeffrey Epstein in building these sex trafficking rings?” she asked.

KASH PATEL HAMMERS ‘GROTESQUE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ FROM DEMS AMID FIERY FBI CONFIRMATION HEARING 

Jeffrey Epstein mugshot from 2019 after federal authorities filed trafficking charges against him. (Kypros/Getty Images)

“Absolutely, Senator,” Patel responded. “Child sex trafficking has no place in the United States of America. And I will do everything, if confirmed as FBI director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in the past and how we are going to counterman missing children and exploited children going forward,” he said.

Following the exchange between Blackburn and Patel, Durbin requested to respond to Blackburn’s jab at him and accused the Tennessee senator of “falsely” accusing him “of preventing releasing the names of Jeffrey Epstein’s network.”

“My office subsequently reached out to hers to try to identify what records she was actually seeking. We did not receive a response,” he added.

Blackburn fired back and said she had “raised the issue with Chairman Durbin. I had raised it on the floor that we wanted to get these records… You sought not to recognize me.”

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

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Democrats had pointed to Patel’s record and a book, “Government Gangsters,” released in 2023 that claimed that “deep state” government employees have politicized and weaponized the law enforcement agency – and explicitly called for the revamp of the FBI in a chapter dubbed “Overhauling the FBI.”

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., clashed with FBI director nominee Kash Patel during his confirmation hearing on Thursday, particularly over a recording of a song released by Capitol Riot inmates.

Schiff began by asking Patel if he stood by prior testimony that he had nothing to do with the recording of the song, which the Democrat said featured President Donald Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

“[That] is interesting because here’s what you told Steve Bannon on his podcast: ‘So what we thought would be cool is if we captured that audio and then, of course, had the greatest president, President Donald J. Trump, recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we went to a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it, and put it out as a song’.”

Schiff asked Patel why he told Bannon that.

“That’s why it says ‘we’ as you highlighted,” Patel incredulously shot back.

FLASHBACK: SCHIFF, WHO REPEATEDLY CLAIMED EVIDENCE OF RUSSIAN COLLUSION, DENOUNCES DURHAM REPORT AS ‘FLAWED’

“Yeah, and you’re part of that ‘we’ – right – when you say ‘we’ that includes you, Mr. Patel,” Schiff angrily replied.

“Not in every instance.” Patel said, adding he did not personally partake in the recording or mastering of the single.

Schiff was undeterred: “Well, that’s new. So when you said ‘we’. You didn’t really mean you. Is that your testimony?”

“Not unless you have a new definition for the word ‘we’,” Patel said.

Notably, in August 1997, President Bill Clinton was pressed on his sexual relations with intern Monica Lewinsky, and responded with a similar tenor as to which usage of the word “is” was being invoked during grand jury testimony.

MAJOR CHANGES PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 AT FBI

“It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is. If the—if he—if ‘is’ means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement,” Clinton said.

In Thursday’s hearing, however, Patel said he was using the word “we” appropriately, while Schiff said he “promoted the hell out of it” – referencing the inmates’ single.

“I don’t know what that means, but I promoted the heck out of raising money for families in need,” Patel shot back.

Schiff then asked Patel to turn around and address the police officers in the room, claiming the inmates on the recording he purportedly promoted had assaulted them or their colleagues on January 6, 2021.

“I’m looking at you. You’re talking to me,” Patel sternly replied.

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When Schiff asked Patel to “tell them how proud you are” to see Trump pardon all such inmates, Patel said it was “an abject lie – and you know it.”

“I’ve never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement. I’ve worked with these men and women, as you know, you my entire life.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel testified before Senate committees on Capitol Hill Thursday as urgency builds to confirm President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominations. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Health and Human Services (HHS), faced his second day of questioning on the Hill before the Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor & Pensions on Thursday. Kennedy clashed with Democratic senators over abortion and vaccines on Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee, which will vote on his confirmation. 

RFK JR’S CONFIRMATION HEARING GOES OFF RAILS AMID MULTIPLE CLASHES WITH DEM SENATORS: ‘REPEATEDLY DEBUNKED’

Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday as Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director, appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

Tulsi Gabbard arrives to testify during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Jan. 30, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Also on Thursday, Trump’s nominee for Army secretary, Daniel Driscoll, the relatively unknown soldier and former advisor to Vice President JD Vance, fielded questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

Once nominees have testified before relevant Senate committees, that panel votes on whether to recommend the nominee before the full Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., can then file a motion to end Senate floor debate on the nominee, triggering a cloture vote to halt deliberations. Once debate closes, senators make final confirmation votes. 

‘LIES AND SMEARS’: TULSI GABBARD RAILS AGAINST DEM NARRATIVE SHE’S TRUMP’S AND PUTIN’S ‘PUPPET’

For confirmation, a nominee needs a majority in the Senate, or 51 votes. Vice President JD Vance can settle a tie vote, as was the case with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation. 

Rep. Elise Stefanik, nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, arrives for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on Jan. 21, 2025. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Elise Stefanik, nominee for United Nations ambassador, testified before the Foreign Relations Committee last week, and the committee voted to advance her nomination to the Senate floor on Thursday. 

Stefanik joins Trump’s nominees for director of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russ Vought, secretary for Department of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner, and attorney general, Pam Bondi, among those who have been voted out of committee and await a vote on the Senate floor. 

SPARKS EXPECTED TO FLY AT KASH PATE’S SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARING TO LEAD FBI

Agriculture Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins, nominee for Commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and nominee for Small Business administrator, Kelly Loeffler, have testified but await scheduling for Senate committee votes. Kennedy also awaits a vote by the Finance Committee as he testifies before the Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions Thursday. 

President Donald Trump and Sen. Kelly Loeffler attend a campaign rally on Jan. 4, 2021, in Dalton, Georgia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Thune moved to end Senate deliberations for Energy Secretary nominee Chris Wright and Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins. Both nominees await a procedural vote on the Senate floor ahead of the confirmation vote. 

Trump’s nominee for Interior secretary, Doug Burgum, passed the cloture vote on Wednesday and awaits his confirmation vote on the Senate floor. 

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As of Thursday, the U.S. Senate has confirmed seven of Trump’s Cabinet nominations, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Krisit Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Environmental Protection Agency Administration Lee Zeldin. 

Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, pushed back in his confirmation hearing after he was grilled on the president’s pardoning of January 6 rioters.

“So do you think that America is safer because the 1600 people have been given an opportunity to come out of serving their sentences and live in our communities again?” Dem. Sen. Dick Durbin asked Patel in Thursday’s hearing, pressing him on January 6 rioters who assaulted police officers having their sentences commuted earlier this month.

Patel responded with a reference to Biden’s decision in the final hours of his presidency to free Leonard Peltier, a far-left activist convicted in the 1975 murders of two FBI special agents, Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, who were gunned down in a shootout in South Dakota.

“Senator, I have not looked at all 1600 individual cases,” Patel said.

DOZENS OF FORMER FBI AGENTS RALLY AROUND KASH PATEL’S CONFIRMATION: ‘LIVES HAVE BEEN SHATTERED’

Dem Sen. Dick Durbin (Left) and FBI Director nominee Kash Patel (Right) (AP/Reuters)

“I have always advocated for imprisoning those that cause harm to our law enforcement and civilian communities. I also believe America is not safer because President Biden’s commutation of a man who murdered two FBI agents. Agent Coler and Williams family deserve better than to have the man that point blank range fired a shotgun into their heads and murdered them, released from prison. So it goes both ways.”

Durbin responded by downplaying the comparison between Peltier and January 6 rioters.

MAJOR FBI CHANGES KASH PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 IF CONFIRMED AS DIRECTOR

Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during a hearing of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

“Leonard Peltier was in prison for 45 years,” Durbin responded. “He’s 80 years old, and he was sentenced to home confinement. So he’s not free. As you might have just suggested. He killed two FBI agents. That he did, and he went to prison for it and should have. My question to you, though, is, do you think America’s safer because President Trump issued these pardons to 1600 of these criminal defendants, many of whom violently assaulted our police in capital?”

Patel responded, “Senator, America will be safe when we don’t have 200,000 drug overdoses in two years, America will be safe when we don’t have 50 homicides a day.”

Kash Patel, a former chief of staff to then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, speaks during a campaign event for Republican election candidates (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Conservatives and supporters of Patel on social media praised Patel for his response.

“Brutal reality check,” political commentator and Confirm 47 executive director Camryn Kinsey posted on X.

In his opening remarks, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said, “Public trust in the FBI is low.”

“Only 41% of the American public thinks the FBI is doing a good job. This is the lowest rating in a century,” he continued.

Grassley touted Patel’s experience as a public defender and at the Justice Department, as well as his involvement in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2017 to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.

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Patel has “managed large intelligence and defense bureaucracies, identified and countered national security threats, prosecuted and defended criminals,” Grassley said. “He has done this while fighting for transparency and accountability in the government,” giving him “precisely the qualifications we need at this time” to head up the bureau.

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

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report

The Senate is set for a Thursday confirmation vote for President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. 

The upper chamber voted to advance Burgum’s nomination to a confirmation vote on Wednesday by a 78–20 margin. 

Burgum appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in mid-January, where he told lawmakers that national security issues and the economy were his top two priorities for leading the agency. 

BURGUM GRILLED ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES TARGETED BY TRUMP DURING CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’

Doug Burgum served as governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024. (Saul Loeb)

“When energy production is restricted in America, it doesn’t reduce demand,” Burgum said in his opening statement Jan. 16. “It just shifts production to countries like Russia and Iran, whose autocratic leaders not only don’t care at all about the environment, but they use their revenues from energy sales to fund wars against us and our allies.”

Lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, questioned Burgum on whether he would seek to drill for oil in national parks if Trump asked him to.

“As part of my sworn duty, I’ll follow the law and follow the Constitution. And so you can count on that,” Burgum said. “And I have not heard of anything about President Trump wanting to do anything other than advancing energy production for the benefit of the American people.”

ZELDIN GRILLED BY DEMOCRATS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, TRUMP’S STANCE ON CARBON EMISSIONS DURING EPA HEARING 

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, left, questioned Gov. Doug Burgum, right, on whether he plans to “drill, baby, drill.” (Getty Images)

Burgum served as governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024. He also launched a presidential bid for the 2024 election in June 2023, where energy and natural resources served as key issues during his campaign.

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Burgum appeared during the first two Republican presidential debates, but didn’t qualify for the third and ended his campaign in December 2023. He then endorsed Trump for the GOP nomination a month later ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

Aubrie Spady, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: WASHINGTON—A previously identified anti-Trump FBI agent allegedly broke protocol and played a critical role in opening and advancing the bureau’s original investigation related to the 2020 election, tying President Donald Trump to the probe without sufficient predication, whistleblower disclosures obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley revealed. 

That investigation into Trump was formally opened at the FBI on April 13, 2022, and was known inside the bureau as “Arctic Frost,” Fox News Digital has learned. 

EX-FBI OFFICIAL WHO SHUT DOWN HUNTER BIDEN LINES OF INVESTIGATION VIOLATED HATCH ACT WITH ANTI-TRUMP POSTS 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson shared internal FBI emails and predicating documents — legally protected whistleblower disclosures — exclusively with Fox News Digital. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is seen in the U.S. Capitol after the senate luncheons on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The senators say the documents prove the genesis of the federal election interference case brought against Trump began at the hands of FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault. 

Fox News Digital exclusively reported in 2024 that Thibault had been fired from the FBI after he violated the Hatch Act in his political posts on social media. Previous whistleblowers claimed that Thibault had shown a “pattern of active public partisanship,” which likely affected investigations involving Trump and Hunter Biden. 

Grassley first publicly revealed the existence of the whistleblower disclosures during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee to serve as FBI director, Kash Patel, on Thursday. 

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) questions Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the attempted assassination of Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill, on July 30, 2024. (Umit Bektas)

One email, obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, revealed Thibault communicating with a subordinate agent on Feb. 14, 2022. 

Thibault said: “Here is draft opening language we discussed,” and attached material that would later become part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s elector case. 

Another email, sent by Thibault on Feb. 24, 2022, to a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, John Crabb, states: “I had a discussion with the case team and we believe there to be predication to include former President of the United States Donald J. Trump as a predicated subject.” 

Sources told Fox News Digital, though, that Thibault took the action to open the investigation and involve Trump, despite being unauthorized to open criminal investigations in his role — only special agents have the authority to open criminal investigations. 

Another email, sent on the same day, notes that he would seek approval from Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray to open the case. 

Next, an email on Feb. 25, 2022, sent by a subordinate agent, Michelle Ball, to Thibault states that they added Trump and others as a criminal subject to the case. 

Thibault responded: “Perfect.” 

The fifth email, reviewed by Fox News Digital, reveals Thibault emailing a version of an investigative opening for approval. However, this email did not include Trump as a criminal subject. 

The sixth email, from April 11, 2022, shows Thibault approving the opening of Arctic Frost, and the next email, on April 13, 2022, was from an FBI agent to Thibault stating that the FBI deputy director approved its opening. 

Another email reviewed by Fox News Digital shows Thibault emailing DOJ official John Crabb notifying him that the elector case was approved. 

Crabb responded, “Thanks a lot. Let’s talk next week.”

“Between March 22 and April 13, other versions of the document opening the investigation existed, because a ninth email shows that the FBI General Counsel’s office made edits on March 25,” Grassley said during Patel’s confirmation hearing Thursday. “Was Trump still removed as an investigative subject?  If so, which Justice Department and FBI officials – other than Jack Smith – later added him for prosecution?” 

The email records appear to show that an official in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, Richard Pilger, reviewed and approved the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation, authorizing DOJ to move forward with a full field criminal and grand jury investigation that ultimately transformed into Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Trump-elector case. 

Grassley, in 2021, published a report which raised concerns regarding Pilger’s record at DOJ.

Fox News Digital first reported in July 2022 that Grassley warned Attorney General Merrick Garland that Thibault and Pilger were “deeply involved in the decisions to open and pursue election-related investigations against President Trump.”

GRASSLEY PRESSES DOJ, FBI FOR TRANSPARENCY ON ‘PARTISAN’ POLITICIZATION OF AGENCIES, HUNTER BIDEN PROBE

At the time, whistleblowers told Grassley that the Thibault-Pilger investigation’s predicating document was based on information from “liberal nonprofit American Oversight.” 

In the investigation’s opening memo sent to the upper levels of the DOJ for approval, however, whistleblowers claimed Thibault and Pilger “removed or watered-down material connected to the aforementioned left-wing entities that existed in previous versions and recommended that a full investigation — not a preliminary investigation — be approved.”

Based on Smith’s scope memo, Grassley and Johnson, in 2022, wrote that the Thibault-Pilger investigation was included in the special counsel’s jurisdiction.

They also pointed out that Smith had a prior relationship with Pilger. Smith was in charge of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Unit while Pilger was in charge of the Election Crimes Branch.

Grassley and Johnson, in 2022, began sounding the alarm that Special Counsel Jack Smith was “overseeing an investigation that was allegedly defective in its initial steps and an investigation which his former subordinate [Pilger] was involved in opening.” 

Former Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith, a former Justice Department official, as special counsel in November 2022. 

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

Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith appear in a side-by-side photograph. (Fox News Digital)

HOUSE WEAPONIZATION PANEL RELEASES 17,000-PAGE REPORT EXPOSING ‘TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT’

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

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

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

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

Grassley, during the confirmation hearing on Thursday, said he is requesting “the production of all records on this matter to better understand the full fact pattern and whether other records exist.” 

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

The Senate voted Wednesday by a 78–20 margin to advance President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department — former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — for a final confirmation vote. 

Burgum appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in mid-January, where he told lawmakers that national security issues and the economy were his two top priorities for leading the agency. 

“When energy production is restricted in America, it doesn’t reduce demand,” Burgum said in his opening statement Jan. 16. “It just shifts production to countries like Russia and Iran, whose autocratic leaders not only don’t care at all about the environment, but they use their revenues from energy sales to fund wars against us and our allies.” 

TRUMP ENERGY NOMINEE HECKLED BY CLIMATE PROTESTERS, DERIDED BY DEM SENATOR AS ‘ENTHUSIAST FOR FOSSIL FUELS’

Former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is sworn in during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of the Interior, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2025. (Saul Loeb)

Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, questioned Burgum on whether he would seek to drill for oil in national parks if Trump asked him to.

“As part of my sworn duty, I’ll follow the law and follow the Constitution. And so you can count on that,” Burgum said. “And I have not heard of anything about President Trump wanting to do anything other than advancing energy production for the benefit of the American people.”

BURGUM GRILLED ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES TARGETED BY TRUMP DURING CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, left, questioned Gov. Doug Burgum, right, on whether he plans to “drill, baby, drill.” (Getty Images)

Additionally, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., questioned whether Burgum backed repealing credits for electric vehicles that may be in jeopardy under the Trump administration. 

“I support economics and markets,” Burgum said.

Burgum served as governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024. He also launched a presidential bid for the 2024 election in June 2023, where energy and natural resources served as key issues during his campaign. 

ZELDIN GRILLED BY DEMOCRATS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, TRUMP’S STANCE ON CARBON EMISSIONS DURING EPA HEARING 

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum served as governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024.  (Mike Segar/Reuters)

Burgum appeared during the first two Republican presidential debates, but didn’t qualify for the third and ended his campaign in December 2023. He then endorsed Trump for the GOP nomination a month later ahead of the Iowa caucuses. 

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Aubrie Spady, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is back on Capitol Hill for a second day of Senate confirmation hearings after a grilling by Democrats during a contentious first day.

Kennedy will take questions on Thursday in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

On Wednesday, in front of the Senate Finance Committee, which will vote on Kennedy’s confirmation, there were plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments by the vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump.

But Kennedy’s uneven performance didn’t appear to do damage to his confirmation, as no Republican on the panel voiced opposition to his nomination to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health. Those agencies include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

MULTIPLE OUTBURSTS AT COMBUSTIBLE RFK JR CONFIRMATION HEARING

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on his nomination to be HHS secretary on Jan. 29, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Democrats on the committee repeatedly pointed to Kennedy’s controversial vaccine views, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research.

They also spotlighted Kennedy’s service for years as chair or chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit organization he founded that has advocated against vaccines and sued the federal government numerous times, including a challenge over the authorization of the COVID vaccine for children.

“Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks and charlatans, especially when it comes to the safety and efficacy of vaccines. He’s made it his life’s work to sow doubt and discourage parents from getting their kids life-saving vaccines,” Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the panel, charged in his opening statement.

WATCH: RFK JR WARNS THAT AMERICA’S HEALTH IS IN ‘GRIEVIOUS CONDITION’

The senator also pointed to past Kennedy vaccine comments in podcasts, including one from 2020 when he said he would “pay anything” to be able to go back in time and not vaccinate his kids.

“Are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine? Or did you lie on all those podcasts?” Wyden asked.

Pushing back in a heated exchange, Kennedy said the statements he made on podcasts have “been repeatedly debunked.”

And he vowed he would do nothing to prevent Americans from obtaining certain vaccines.

“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking anything,” Kennedy said.

Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado accused Kennedy of “peddling half-truths, peddling false statements.”

RFK JR ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF PUSHING DISHONEST NARRATIVE

And Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who has known Kennedy for decades, dating back to their days as law school students and roommates at the University of Virginia, told his friend, “Frankly, you frighten people.”

Kennedy was also heckled multiple times near the start of the hearing.

As Kennedy delivered his opening comments and said, “News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I am neither. I am pro-safety,” a protester shouted, “You lie.”

The heckler was led out of the hearing room by Capitol Police, as was a second protester minutes later.

And another protester was spotted in the audience holding a sign reading, “Vaccines Save Lives, No RFK JR.” 

A protester holds up a sign reading, “Vaccines save lives,” as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 29, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

The 71-year-old Kennedy, a scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot campaign for the Democrat presidential nomination against President Joe Biden in April 2023. But six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House.

Kennedy made major headlines again last August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy – who were both assassinated in the 1960s – Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders due in part to his high-profile vaccine skepticism.

Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS.

Now-President Donald Trump welcomes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a campaign rally on Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In the two months since Trump’s announcement, it’s not just Democrats who’ve raised questions about Kennedy’s confirmation. Social conservative Republicans took issue with his past comments in support of abortion rights.

“My belief is we should leave it to the woman. We shouldn’t have the government involved, even if it’s full term,” Kennedy said as he ran for president. 

But since endorsing Trump, Kennedy has walked back his stance on abortion. And in an exchange Wednesday with Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Kennedy said, “I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy.”

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a former two-time Democrat presidential candidate, argued that Kennedy made a “major U-turn” on abortion.

Kennedy seemed to struggle when answering questions about how he would reform Medicare and Medicaid, the massive government healthcare programs used by millions of older, disabled and low-income Americans. He made misstatements on how Medicaid works, with senators offering corrections.

“I don’t have a broad proposal for dismantling the program,” Kennedy said of Medicaid.

And he said Trump hadn’t asked him to cut the program but rather “asked me to make it better.”

Kennedy, whose outspoken views on Big Pharma and the food industry have also sparked controversy, vowed that “if confirmed, I will do everything in my power to put the health of Americans back on track.”

While Democrats may find common ground with Kennedy’s aim to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases, Kennedy lamented that they oppose him because he’s Trump’s nominee.

“Now they’re against me because anything that President Trump does, any decision he makes, has to be lampooned, derided, discredited, marginalized, vilified,” Kennedy said.

RFK JR LIKELY TO BE CONFIRMED AS HEALTH SECRETARY, FOX NEWS MEDICAL ANALYST PREDICTS

With Republicans controlling the Senate by a 53-47 majority, Kennedy can only afford to lose the support of three GOP senators if Democrats unite against his confirmation. During Wednesday’s hearing, no Republicans appeared to oppose the nomination.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina appeared to lean into the Democrats’ attacks on Kennedy by asking, “I got a real quick question for you: Are you a conspiracy theorist?”

Kennedy answered that it “is a pejorative that’s applied to me mainly to keep me from asking difficult questions of powerful interests.”

GOP Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, a chemical engineer, noted that there were several Republican doctors on the committee.

“We believe in science. I’m thankful that you do, too,” Daines said.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who said he had a “frank conversation” with Kennedy about immunizations when they met this month, didn’t ask about vaccines during the committee hearing. Instead, he kept his questions about federal healthcare programs, including Medicare.

Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin took aim at Democrats on the committee for what he claimed was “hostility on the other side. … I’m disappointed with it.”

Following Wednesday’s hearing, Democrats kept up their criticism.

“I think you saw today that he’s not backing down from any of his really crazy, loony conspiracy beliefs,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters.

And Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who is thought to be one of the few Democrats who may support Kennedy’s confirmation, said, “I don’t think it went well for him.”

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But GOP Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, who sits on the Finance Committee, pointed to Democrats on the panel and said, “I understand their concerns about vaccines. I think Bobby put those concerns to bed.”

And Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana told reporters that Kennedy “did great today. I expect him to do great tomorrow.”

President Donald Trump suggested the horrific collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., late Wednesday could have been prevented. 

“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time,” Trump posted on Truth Social early Thursday morning. 

“It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

LIVE UPDATES: AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANE, MILITARY HELICOPTER COLLIDE NEAR REGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT IN WASHINGTON, DC

Emergency response units assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan National Airport (DCA) around 9 p.m. local time. The jet was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines, and it departed from Wichita, Kansas. 

There were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the American Airlines flight and three Army soldiers on the Black Hawk. Those aboard the plane included “several members” of U.S. Figure Skating, including athletes, coaches and family members who had just attended the U.S. Figure Skating Championships held in Wichita from Jan. 20 to Jan. 26. 

The exact number of injuries and fatalities has not yet been confirmed. 

REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT CRASH: MILITARY BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER COLLIDES MIDAIR WITH AMERICAN AIRLINES JET

Emergency service vehicles stand near the site of the crash after American Eagle flight 5342 collided with a helicopter while approaching Reagan Washington National Airport and crashed in the Potomac River, outside Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, 2025. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

At the time of the crash, Reagan National Airport reported clear skies, visibility of 10 miles and winds sustained out of the northwest at 16 mph, gusting to 26 mph. The temperature was 50 degrees.

Nearly 300 first responders deployed to the freezing Potomac River, where the wreckage of the plane lies partially submerged for search and rescue operations, but hope of finding survivors is fading. The temperature in the river was 37 degrees on Wednesday night. 

AMERICAN FIGURE SKATING MEMBERS, RUSSIAN OLYMPIANS ABOARD PLANE IN REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT CRASH

A boat works the scene near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Vice President JD Vance took to social media Wednesday night to address the collision and urge prayer for those involved. 

“Please say a prayer for everyone involved in the mid-air collision near Reagan airport this evening. We’re monitoring the situation, but for now let’s hope for the best,” he said. 

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The National Transportation Safety Board, FAA and the U.S. Army have each launched probes into the deadly collision. 

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials will hold a press conference at 7:30 a.m. ET Thursday at Reagan National Airport. 

“Tonight, as our first responders continue their efforts, we are sending our love and prayers to the families, loved ones, and communities who are experiencing loss during this terrible tragedy,” she wrote on X. 

The airport remains closed until 11 a.m. this morning following the nearby collision last night between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter. 

“What a terrible night this has been,” Trump said. “God bless you all!”

Fox News’ Greg Wehner, Jen Griffin, Bradford Betz Gabriele Regalbuto and Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Tulsi Gabbard doesn’t currently have enough votes to advance out of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The former Democrat representative’s nomination to be director of national intelligence (DNI) under President Donald Trump is in danger as she lacks enough Republican support on the committee, sources confirmed.

Before heading to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote, Trump’s picks all have hearings and their nominations are voted on at the committee level. Gabbard’s confirmation hearing will take place at 10 a.m. Thursday.

SCOOP: KEY GOP SENATOR WHO HESITATED ON PETE HEGSETH PUSHES KASH PATEL FOR FBI

Gabbard’s nomination could be in danger if she doesn’t get enough votes to advance. (Getty Images)

So far, no Trump nominees have failed to advance out of their respective committees. 

A senior Intel Committee aide confirmed to Fox News Digital that Gabbard does not currently have a majority of its members’ votes, which are necessary to move to the full Senate. 

According to the source, half of the Republicans on the coveted committee are not sold on Trump’s DNI pick. 

A Senate source familiar told Fox News Digital, “Some members are undecided.”

“Not true that [they] are NOs,” they clarified. 

The source confirmed that the undecided senators in question are Republicans. 

‘SQUEEZED BY RISING COSTS’: DEMOCRAT JACKY ROSEN LEADS BIPARTISAN BILL TO ADDRESS CHILDCARE AFFORDABILITY

Trump picked Gabbard to be director of national intelligence. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

A spokesperson for Gabbard told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Anonymous sources are going to continue to lie and smear to try and take down the President’s nominees and subvert the will of the American people and the media is playing a role in publishing these lies. That doesn’t change the fact that Lt. Col. Gabbard is immensely qualified for this role and we look forward to her hearing.”

The senior committee aide shared that the reasons for GOP uncertainty include her previous Section 702 stance, her past meeting with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and her past defense of Edward Snowden.

“It’s about judgment,” they said. 

Gabbard will likely need every Republican vote to move past the committee, assuming Democrats will vote against her. 

DOGE CHAIR JONI ERNST TAKES ON FOOD STAMPS IN NEW BILL TO HOLD STATES ‘ACCOUNTABLE’

Cotton is chair of the committee. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., serves as chair of the committee alongside other Republican members Jim Risch of Idaho, Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Jerry Moran of Kansas, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Todd Young of Indiana.

Lankford recently came out in support of Gabbard after she reversed her position on a controversial intelligence gathering tool known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Neither the White House nor Cotton’s office provided comments to Fox News Digital in time for publication. 

Fox News Digital reached out to multiple Republican Senate offices for comment. 

SENATE TO KICK OFF RFK JR, KELLY LOEFFLER CONFIRMATION HEARINGS FOR TOP TRUMP POSTS

Lankford said he supported Gabbard after her 702 stance changed. (Reuters)

As Gabbard’s confirmation fate hangs in the balance, there is reportedly a push by some Trump-aligned Republican senators to waive the committee’s rules in order to open the vote on Gabbard’s nomination, as Politico reported. This would mean each senator’s vote is accessible to the public. 

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The Intel Committee’s rules stipulate that the vote is conducted in a closed meeting and a tally is released afterward. The vote is expected to go forward in a closed manner, in accordance with the rules.

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, is expected to trade barbs with lawmakers in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. 

Patel, a former public defender, Department of Justice official and longtime Trump ally, will join the Senate committee at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, when lawmakers are anticipated to grill the nominee on plans detailed in his 2023 book to overhaul the FBI, his crusade against the “deep state” and his resume, as Democrats argue the nominee lacks the qualifications for the role. 

The president and his allies, however, staunchly have defended Patel, with Senate Judiciary member Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., arguing that Democrats are “fearful” of Patel’s nomination and confirmation due to “what he’s going to reveal” to the general public. 

“They are very fearful of Kash Patel, because Kash Patel knows what Adam Schiff and some of the others did with Russia collusion, and they know that he he knows – the dirt on them, if you will – and I think they’re fearful of what he’s going to do and what he’s going to reveal,” Blackburn said on Fox News on Sunday. 

WHO IS KASH PATEL? TRUMP’S PICK TO LEAD THE FBI HAS LONG HISTORY VOWING TO BUST UP ‘DEEP STATE’

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, is expected to trade barbs with lawmakers in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Patel, a New York native, worked as a public defender in Florida’s Miami-Dade after earning his law degree in 2005 from Pace University in New York City.  

Patel’s national name recognition grew under the first Trump administration, when he worked as the national security advisor and senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence under the leadership of Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Patel became known as the man behind the “Nunes Memo” – a four-page document released in 2018 that revealed improper use of surveillance by the FBI and the Justice Department in the Russia investigation into Trump. 

Patel was named senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council in 2019. In that role, he assisted the Trump White House in eliminating foreign terrorist leadership, such as ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019 and al Qaeda terrorist Qasim al-Raymi in 2020, according to his biography. His efforts ending terrorist threats under the Trump administration came after he won a DOJ award in 2017 for his prosecution and conviction of 12 terrorists responsible for the World Cup bombings in 2010 in Uganda under the Obama administration. 

Following the 2020 election, Patel remained a steadfast ally of Trump’s, joining the 45th president during his trial in Manhattan in the spring of 2024, and echoing that the United States’ security and law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, need to be overhauled.

‘JUST LIKE TRUMP’: ISIS MURDER VICTIM KAYLA MUELLER’S PARENTS ENDORSE PATEL FOR FBI FOLLOWING MILITARY OP ROLE

Kash Patel worked as a public defender in Florida’s Miami-Dade after earning his law degree in 2005 from Pace University in New York City.   (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Patel underscored in his 2023 book, “Government Gangsters,” that “deep state” government employees have politicized and weaponized the law enforcement agency – and explicitly called for the revamp of the FBI in a chapter dubbed “Overhauling the FBI.”

“Things are bad. There’s no denying it,” he wrote in the book. “The FBI has gravely abused its power, threatening not only the rule of law, but the very foundations of self-government at the root of our democracy. But this isn’t the end of the story. Change is possible at the FBI and desperately needed.” 

“The fact is we need a federal agency that investigates federal crimes, and that agency will always be at risk of having its powers abused,” he wrote, advocating the firing of “corrupt actors,” “aggressive” congressional oversight over the agency and the complete overhaul of special counsels. 

FORMER TRUMP OFFICIALS REJECT WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIM THAT FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL BROKE HOSTAGE PROTOCOL

Patel adds in his book: “Most importantly, we need to get the FBI the hell out of Washington, D.C. There is no reason for the nation’s law enforcement agency to be centralized in the swamp.”

Trump heralded the book as a “roadmap” to exposing bad actors in the federal government and said it is a “blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government.”

Patel has spoken out against a number of high-profile investigations and issues he sees within the DOJ in the past few years. He slammed the department, for example, for allegedly burying evidence related to the identity of a suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties in Washington, D.C., a day ahead of Jan. 6, 2021.

‘BEACON OF SELFLESSNESS’: ISIS VICTIM KAYLA MUELLER HONORED AT CONGRESSMAN’S SWEARING-IN 10 YEARS AFTER DEATH

Patel has also said Trump could release both the Jeffrey Epstein client list and Sean “Diddy” Combs party attendee lists, which could expose those allegedly involved in sex and human trafficking crimes. 

Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin, Amy Klobuchar and Mazie Hirono, who sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Getty Images)

Senate Democrats received an anonymous whistleblower report that was publicly reported Monday alleging Patel violated protocol during a hostage rescue mission in October 2020, an allegation Trump’s orbit has brushed off. 

The whistleblower claimed that Patel leaked to the Wall Street Journal that two Americans and the remains of a third were being transferred to U.S. custody from Yemen, where they had been held hostage by Houthi rebels, before the hostages were actually in U.S. custody. Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, obtained the whistleblower report. 

A transition official pushed back on the report in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, saying Patel has a “track record of success.”

‘WHEN THEY FAIL, AMERICANS DIE’: TRUMP SOURCE BLASTS FBI, URGES SWIFT CONFIRMATION OF KASH PATEL AS DIRECTOR

“Mr. Patel was a public defender, decorated prosecutor, and accomplished national security official that kept Americans safe,” the official said. “He has a track record of success in every branch of government, from the courtroom to congressional hearing room to the situation room. There is no veracity to this anonymous source’s complaints about protocol.”  

Kash Patel has spoken out against a number of high-profile investigations and issues he sees within the DOJ in the past few years. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Alexander Gray, who served as chief of staff for the White House National Security Council under Trump’s first administration, called the allegation “simply absurd.”

Patel’s nomination comes after six of Trump’s nominees were confirmed by the Senate, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth – who also was viewed as a nominee who faced an uphill confirmation battle. 

NATIONAL SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATION SLAMS STATE OF POLICING UNDER BIDEN, THROWS FULL SUPPORT BEHIND PATEL FOR FBI

The Senate schedule this week was packed with hearings besides Patel’s, with senators grilling Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday and also holding the hearing for Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to serve as director of national intelligence. 

Kash Patel is a former public defender, Department of Justice official and longtime ally of President Donald Trump. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

Patel heads into his hearing armed with a handful of high-profile endorsements, including the National Sheriffs’ Association and National Police Association. 

Carl and Marsha Mueller, the parents of ISIS murder victim Kayla Mueller, also notably endorsed Patel, Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Tuesday. Patel helped oversee a military mission in 2019 that killed ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, who was believed to have repeatedly tortured and raped Kayla Mueller before her death in 2015. 

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Patel “loves his country. He loves the people of this country,” Marsha Mueller told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview via Zoom on Monday morning. “To us, you know, he is a person that we would go to for help. And he is so action oriented.” 

“Just like Trump,” Carl Mueller added to his wife’s comments on Patel’s action-motivated personality.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

The former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was reportedly escorted out of her office Monday after she “refused to comply” with her termination – though the USDA denies that she was forcibly removed.

Phyllis Fong, who has worked for the USDA for 22 years, was fired on Friday, but she reportedly told her colleagues that she planned to continue working. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Fong was removed by security officials and “refused to comply” with her termination.

Before her firing, the government employee said she believed that the newly inaugurated Trump administration was acting improperly by terminating officials so suddenly.

In an email obtained by Reuters, Fong said the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) had “taken the position that these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are not effective at this time.”

INSPECTOR GENERAL DISMISSED BY TRUMP CALLS MASS FIRINGS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY

Phyllis Fong, who has worked for the USDA for 22 years, was removed from the agency on Monday. (Getty Images | USDA)

The USDA, however, denied that security officials were involved in the incident in an email to Fox News Digital on Wednesday night.

“According to an internal security report, Phyllis Fong departed the USDA premises on Monday, January 27 of her own accord,” a spokesperson said. “She was accompanied by two friends who she paused to take selfies with on her way out. Security officials did not play any role in her departure.” 

Fong, who was appointed as inspector general by President George W. Bush, also worked for the CIGIE from 2008 to 2014, after being elected the council’s first chairperson. According to the USDA’s website, Fong’s job as inspector general involved “audits, investigations, and other oversight activities relating to USDA’s programs and operations.”

“The Office of Inspector General (OIG) provides leadership in promoting economy and effectiveness in USDA programs and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse,” the description reads. “Ms. Fong’s priorities as IG have been to focus OIG’s resources on the protection of public health and safety related to USDA’s mission and operations, and to improve the management and financial integrity of the Department’s programs.”

Since Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has fired several government employees across dozens of agencies. Inspectors general are one of many targeted employees, along with those in DEI roles.

On Saturday, a White House official told Fox News that 17 independent watchdogs at various federal agencies were sacked late Friday. The inspectors general worked for the Defense Department, State Department and Energy Department, in addition to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs and more.

TRUMP SAYS IRON DOME CONSTRUCTION WILL BE ‘IMMEDIATE,’ SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER

U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At the time, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed concern that the sudden firings may have violated federal law that requires the president to give 30 days’ notice to Congress of intent to fire independent watchdogs, according to The Associated Press.

“There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so,” Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. “I’d like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the 30 day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress.”

Donald Trump headlines a Republican National Committee spring donor retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, on May 4, 2024. (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

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Fox News Digital reached out to Fong and the White House for comment.

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson and Chris Pandolfo and Reuters contributed to this report.

The latest confirmation hearings for President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees were packed with fiery exchanges with lawmakers, interruptions from protesters, and tearjerking testimonies that came as the Senate works to fill out the president’s administration.

Several candidates under consideration to head key positions in the Trump administration were grilled by lawmakers during their Senate confirmation hearings on Wednesday.

The hearings were off to a fiery start with the Senate Finance Committee’s questioning of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services. The Senate also held confirmation hearings for Howard Lutnick, Trump’s longtime friend, who he picked to head the Department of Commerce, and Kelly Loeffler, who is being considered to lead the Small Business Administration (SBA).

1. Democratic senator to RFK Jr.: ‘You frighten people’

During the heated confirmation hearing of Kennedy, Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., told the Trump nominee that he frightens people, specifically referring to his stance on vaccines. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s choice to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite)

“Americans are going to need to hear a clear and trustworthy recantation of what you have said on vaccinations, including a promise from you never to say vaccines aren’t medically safe when they, in fact, are, and making indisputably clear that you support mandatory vaccinations against diseases that will keep people safe,” Whitehouse said during the hearing. “You’re in that hole pretty deep.”

Whitehouse then referenced a recent measles outbreak in Rhode Island as he pressed Kennedy on his vaccine stance.

“Frankly, you frighten people,” Whitehouse told the Trump nominee. 

However, Kennedy pushed back on the claims that he is anti-vaccine, noting that all his children are vaccinated. 

2. Protesters disrupt RFK Jr. hearing

Kennedy’s Senate confirmation hearing was disrupted by several protesters who snuck into the Senate Finance Committee hearing room. 

After Kennedy told lawmakers that he is not against vaccines, one protester stood up and was heard shouting, “You lie.”

3. Lutnick gets emotional talking about brother’s tragic 9/11 death

Howard Lutnick, who was introduced by Vice President JD Vance, shared an emotional story about his brother being tragically killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

Lutnick’s brother, Gary, was tragically killed while working at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, along with 657 of the Lutnick brothers’ friends at their financial firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, the commerce nominee described during the hearing. 

Lutnick said that he took his son to kindergarten that day, sparing his life. 

Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s choice to be Secretary of Commerce, appears before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee for his confirmation hearing, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

“The company was located on the top five floors of the World Trade Center. I still can’t say it without being emotional, sorry, but no one in the office survived,” he said on Wednesday, appearing to hold back tears.

“I made the decision that I’ve made enough money in my life,” Lutnick said. “I can take care of myself. I can take care of my family. It is now my chance to serve the American people.”

4. RFK Jr. refutes claim he compared CDC to ‘Nazi death camps’

Kennedy and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., went back and forth after the Democratic senator claimed the Trump nominee previously likened the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to “Nazi death camps.”

Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock speaks onstage during the ‘Vote GA Blue’ concert on Dec. 28, 2020, in Stonecrest, Georgia.  (Paras Griffin)

“You compared the CDC work to Nazi death camps. You’ve compared it to sexual abusers in the Catholic Church. You’ve also said that many of them, as in the direct quote, belong in jail,” Warnock said during the hearing on Wednesday. 

Asked if he stands by the statements, Kennedy refuted the claim. 

“I don’t believe that I ever compared the CDC to Nazi death camps. I support the CDC. My job is not to dismantle or harm the CDC. My job is to empower the scientists,” Kennedy said. “I never said it.”

Warnock read a transcript of Kennedy’s remarks at a conference making the reference, but the HHS nominee further defended the intent of his statement.

“I was comparing the injury rate of children towards other atrocities,” Kennedy said. “I wouldn’t compare the CDC to Nazi death camps.”

5. SBA defends Trump after senator claims he ‘acted illegally twice’ this week

SBA pick Kelly Loeffler got into a heated exchange with a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee while defending Trump against Democratic claims that he “acted illegally” twice in the past week.

“The president has already acted illegally twice in the last 5 days. He fired the inspectors general. That was illegal, under the law. He froze all funding on Monday night. That was also against the law,” Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts claimed during his questioning of Loeffler.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., waits for Vice President Mike Pence to arrive for her swear-in reenactment for the cameras in the Capitol on Monday, Jan. 6, 2020.  (Getty Images)

“So it’s not as though he won’t ask you to do something that is illegal and unconstitutional, he’s been doing it all week. And this is the first week,” he added.

However, Loeffler immediately came to the defense of Trump and doubled down on her support of the president’s recent actions.

“If I could just, for the record, note that these were not illegal actions,” Loeffler told the committee. “I support the president’s actions. It’s in his right to select members of the executive branch, that’s what he’s doing. And he’s certainly in the right to stop wastefully spending as most presidents do when they come in to pause wasteful spending.”

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Markey began speaking over Loeffler as she defended the president before changing the subject.

Fox News’ Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is going all in for President Donald Trump’s controversial FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, despite being considered a wildcard vote ahead of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s nomination. 

In a significant show of support, Tillis will introduce Patel in the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing Thursday morning. His speech will be short and sweet, Tillis explained. 

“I will be sharing about 700 words on his background, his upbringing, his work as a prosecutor, his work in the administration,” the Republican shared in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. 

‘SQUEEZED BY RISING COSTS’: DEMOCRAT JACKY ROSEN LEADS BIPARTISAN BILL TO ADDRESS CHILDCARE AFFORDABILITY

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., left, is going all in on Kash Patel, right, after waiting until the last minute to support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (Getty Images)

The senator will also distribute several versions of a Patel-themed bingo game to his colleagues on the committee. 

The “K$H Bingo” game includes subjects Tillis expects to be brought up by Democrats during the hearing. The sheet includes subjects such as “Deep State,” “Enemies List” and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), among others. 

Tillis created a bingo sheet for a Senate Judiciary hearing. (Fox News Digital)

“I’m also going to be providing a bingo card because I know what everybody else is going to bring up,” he said. “We know what the words are. And they already started it, because when they ran out of things to attack [attorney general nominee] Pam Bondi on, they started attacking Kash.”

DOGE CHAIR JONI ERNST TAKES ON FOOD STAMPS IN NEW BILL TO HOLD STATES ‘ACCOUNTABLE’

Patel has been meeting with senators on Capitol Hill. (Getty Images)

“We know what they’re going to do. And I want to make it clear to them there’s no Perry Mason moment,” the North Carolina senator said. “I’m not going to let innuendo and rumors rule the day. I’m going to hold them accountable.”

Tillis’ hard push for Patel to be advanced and confirmed by the Senate comes just days after Hegseth’s confirmation came down to his vote, which wasn’t at all assured to be in Hegseth’s favor. 

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It wasn’t until several minutes after the Hegseth vote had already begun that Tillis released a statement revealing he would support him. He previously told reporters he was still doing due diligence after new allegations surfaced against the nominee. 

Hegseth’s former sister-in-law had claimed in an affidavit that Hegseth abused alcohol and made his ex-wife, Samantha Hegseth, fear for her safety. Tillis told reporters only hours before the confirmation vote he was looking for any corroborating evidence regarding the allegations. 

Hegseth was confirmed after Vice President JD Vance, left, broke the tie. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

Hegseth answered additional last-minute questions from Tillis, which proved to be to the senator’s satisfaction, since he ultimately voted yes and secured Hegseth’s confirmation. 

“Look, I have an obligation to one person in advise and consent, and that is the President of the United States. I take it seriously,” the senator explained. 

GARY PETERS, DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM TRUMP STATE, WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION

Tillis waited until the last minute to share his stance on Hegseth. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“I take it very seriously,” he reiterated. “I did with Pete. I ultimately voted for him and had to dispose of the allegations or assess the allegations that came at the eleventh hour.”

The North Carolina Republican also shared that he thinks his support will be beneficial for Patel. 

“I believe I’ve established — even though I can be a pain to some people — as tedious as I can get with completing my due diligence. I think that it brings with it a certain amount of credibility, and that’s why it’s so important to me. I have to be consistent,” Tillis said. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday announced that her agency had canceled a Biden-era extension of deportation protections for Venezuelan migrants — accusing her predecessor of tying the hands of the Trump administration.

In a notice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it has vacated a Jan. 10 decision by then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to extend a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation to Venezuelan nationals by 18 months.

“Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are in Temporary Protected Status, which meant they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months,” Noem said, announcing the move on “FOX and Friends.” “And we stopped that today.”

MAYORKAS EXTENDS DEPORTATION SHIELD FOR EYE-POPPING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS AHEAD OF TRUMP ADMIN

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on her nomination to be Secretary of Homeland Security on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 17.  (Saul Loeb / AFP)

TPS grants protection from deportation and allows work permits for nationals living in the U.S. from countries deemed unsafe for them to be returned. Mayorkas announced extensions for TPS for Venezuela, as well as El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine for an additional 18 months.

Venezuela’s extension applied to approximately 600,000 nationals already covered by TPS, but would not allow new applications. The extension would have further complicated the Trump administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants from Venezuela, which has been a focus given the rise of Tren de Aragua (TDA), a bloodthirsty street gang from Venezuela.

TRUMP-ERA SOUTHERN BORDER SEES MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS PLUMMET BY OVER 60% AS NEW POLICIES KICK IN

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks to Politico Magazine senior writer Ankush Khardori during Politico’s annual AI and Tech Summit in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 17, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“We signed an executive order within the Department of Homeland Security in a direction that we were not going to follow through on what [Mayorkas] did to tie our hands, that we are going to follow the process, evaluate all of these individuals that are in our country, including the Venezuelans that are here and members of TDA,” she said.

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The announcement came a day after Noem oversaw an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in New York City, where officers have been targeting criminal illegal immigrants. That operation is part of a broader nationwide effort to deport illegal immigrants throughout the U.S. DHS has made a flurry of moves to empower ICE officers, including taking Biden-era limits off expedited removal powers and canceling the use of parole. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, signed a slew of executive orders concerning border security and illegal immigration.

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“Listen, I was in New York City yesterday, and the people of this country want these dirtbags out. They want their communities to be safe. It was so amazing to me to see people walk by us on the street early in the morning and just say, ‘Thank you. Thank you for being here,’” Noem said. “So this is part of our plan to make sure that we’re protecting America, keeping it safe again, just like President Trump promised.”

Lawmakers across the U.S. expressed sympathy and grief after a passenger plane collided with a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport in the Washington, D.C. area on Wednesday night.

A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet operating as an American Airlines flight collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter approaching Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, around 9 p.m. local time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The flight left Wichita, Kansas, earlier that day.

The passenger flight was carrying 60 people, but officials have not confirmed the exact number of injuries and fatalities. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who started work on Monday, said that he was aware of the incident in a post on X.

“DoD actively monitoring,” Hegseth’s tweet read. “Poised to assist if needed. Prayers for all involved.”

REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT CRASH: MILITARY BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER COLLIDES MIDAIR WITH AMERICAN AIRLINES JET

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that he was at the FAA building and investigating the incident. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also shared a message from President Donald Trump on Wednesday night.

“I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport,” the statement read. “May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., expressed sorrow after hearing of the crash.

“Our prayers are with all families impacted by the tragic plane crash that just took place here in DC,” Luna’s post read. “Incredibly heartbreaking.”

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears said that she was keeping all those impacted in her prayers.

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A collision took place near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday. (Fox News Digital)

“My office is following the breaking and tragic news of a collision at @Reagan_Airport,” the lieutenant governor wrote. “We pray for the victims, first rescuers, and all those impacted.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X that she was “deploying every available US Coast Guard resource for search and rescue efforts in this horrific incident at DCA.”

“We are actively monitoring the situation & stand ready to support local responders,” the former South Dakota governor wrote. “Praying for the victims and first responders.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the FAA and American Airlines for more information.

An Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair with an American Airlines jet at Reagan Washington National airport.  (EarthCam)

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Authorities are actively investigating the crash.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Conservatives on social media rallied around Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday as the Trump nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) faced questions from senators in his confirmation hearing.

“RFK crushed it,” conservative commentator Charlie Kirk posted on X. “Very proud of him. Confirm him, now!”

“RFK killed it today,” RNC national committeewoman Amy Kremer posted on X.” So proud of him! LFG.”

“RFK Jr is crushing this hearing,” former GOP Rep. Scott Taylor posted on X. “Dems look unhinged and very petty. America is sicker, more obese, and more unhealthy than ever. Something has to change!”

‘WHAT A JACKA–‘: CONSERVATIVES HAMMER DEM SENATOR’S ‘DRONING MONOLOGUE’ DURING RFK JR HEARING

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Getty Images)

“The room ERUPTED in applause IMMEDIATELY after RFK Jr’s confirmation hearing concluded,” conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on X. “Confirm him.”

Former NCAA swimmer and conservative commentator Riley Gaines posted on X that “the Dems embarrassed themselves today.”

RFK JR RIPS DEM SENATOR FOR PUSHING ‘DISHONEST’ NARRATIVE ON PAST VACCINE COMMENTS: ‘CORRECTED IT MANY TIMES’

Robert Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, sits in a meeting with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 9. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

“Confirm RFK!!!!” Gaines wrote.

“Absolute masterclass,” Trump 2024 Deputy Rapid Response Director Greg Price posted on X during the hearing.

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Former President Donald Trump arrives at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 6, 2024. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Verbal fireworks exploded minutes into the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, the first of two straight days of congressional confirmation hearings for the controversial vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump.

Kennedy repeatedly insisted that he was not “anti-vaccine” and slammed multiple Democratic senators for pushing a “dishonest” narrative against him that he has “corrected” on national television many times. Democrats on the committee pointed to a slew of past comments from the nominee in which he questioned or disparaged COVID shots and other vaccines.

Kennedy returns to Capitol Hill on Thursday for a hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. It is considered a courtesy hearing as only the Senate Finance Committee will vote on Kennedy’s confirmation.

With Republicans controlling the Senate by a 53-47 majority, Kennedy can only afford to lose the support of three GOP senators if Democrats unite against his confirmation. During Wednesday’s hearing, no Republicans appeared to oppose the nomination.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: DORAL, Fla. — Leaders within the House GOP’s largest caucus are drawing a red line in congressional Republicans’ budget talks.

The Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) steering group is calling for any budget reconciliation plan to ultimately lead to reductions in the U.S. deficit, which occurs when the federal government’s spending outpaces its revenues in a given fiscal year.

“Reconciliation legislation must reduce the federal budget deficit. Our national security depends on our ability to bring about meaningful fiscal reform,” the official position, first obtained by Fox News Digital, said. 

RSC leaders met behind closed doors at House Republicans’ annual retreat to hash out their stance. GOP lawmakers were at Trump National Doral golf course in Florida for three days of discussions on reconciliation and other fiscal deadlines looming on the horizon.

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The Republican Study Committee, led by Rep. August Pfluger, is taking an official policy stance on reconciliation talks

They have been negotiating for weeks on how to use their razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate to pass massive conservative policy changes through the budget reconciliation process.

By reducing the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to a 51-seat simple majority, reconciliation allows a party in control of both congressional chambers to enact sweeping changes, provided they are relevant to budgetary and fiscal policy.

At 178 members, RSC is House Republicans’ largest inter-conference group. It often acts as the House GOP’s de facto “think tank” on policy matters.

The group is being led this year by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas. Its previous chairman is Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., who was recently elected House Republican Policy Committee chair – an example of RSC’s close ties to GOP leadership.

Republican lawmakers have their work cut out for them this year as they work to unify for congressional leaders’ preferred timeline for the reconciliation process.

Republicans are working on enacting President Donald Trump’s agenda (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday that he intends to have a House-wide vote on an initial budget resolution in late February.

But once Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., departs for the Trump administration as expected, House Republicans will not be able to afford any defections to pass legislation along party lines. In the Senate, the GOP can lose two lawmakers to still meet the 51-vote threshold.

And President Donald Trump outlined several specific policies he wants Republicans to include in their reconciliation legislation – including no taxes on tips or overtime pay and more funding for the U.S.-Mexico border – which could add to the federal deficit if not paired with significant spending cuts.

Republicans have floated various ways to achieve those cuts, including adding work requirements to federal benefits and rolling back progressive regulations enacted during the Biden administration.

Johnson said he wanted Republicans’ final product to be deficit-neutral or better.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT DOGE AND ITS QUEST TO SLASH GOVERNMENT WASTE, SPENDING

\Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has said he is aiming for a reconciliation bill that will be deficit-neutral (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“Anything we do, is going to be deficit-neutral at least, and hopefully deficit-reducing, because we think we’ve got to change that trajectory,” he said on Wednesday. “So that is part of the healthy discussion we’ve been having. And everyone has lots of opinions about that, of course. And, the opinions are welcomed.”

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The U.S. is running a cumulative deficit of $710 billion in fiscal year 2025 so far, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. It’s $200 billion more than the same period in FY 2024.

Meanwhile federal revenues were $1.1 trillion through December, a decrease of 2% from the same period prior, the group said.