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Several Democratic members are planning to boycott the first joint congressional address of President Donald Trump’s second term on Tuesday.

Trump will be addressing members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday evening, but some Democrats are planning to skip the event, including Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who will instead hold a live prebuttal of the speech. 

“I think that State of the Union speech is going to be a farce. I think it’s going to be a MAGA pep rally, not a serious talk to the nation,” Murphy told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“I think Donald Trump is going to spew a series of lies about his alignment with Russia, about what he’s trying to do to allow Elon Musk to essentially monetize the American government to enrich Musk and his billionaire crowd,” Murphy said. “And I’m just not going to be a part of that.”

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Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, will join Murphy for the prebuttal of the speech that will be livestreamed while Trump is speaking.

At least one House Democrat, Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., also said that he is going to be skipping the address. 

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“The notion of half my colleagues rising and standing and enormous clapping for… things that I think are terrible for the American people every couple minutes will not be funny,” Beyer said of the address, according to POLITICO. “I don’t see that I’ll contribute anything to the event.”

House Democrats were asked by the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) ahead of the speech to bring guests who have been “harmed” by the Trump administration, Fox News Digital learned.

“DPCC and Leader Jeffries have encouraged members to bring guests that have been harmed by Donald Trump’s threats to Medicare and SNAP, as well as his Administration’s mass firings of veterans working in our civil service — veterans like Gabe, a disabled Marine veteran and new dad who was working at the IRS as a facilities manager until he was fired last month,” a Democratic aide told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Several Democratic members attending the speech are planning to bring federal workers who have been laid off in recent weeks to protest the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) recent efforts to downsize federal agencies.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., will deliver the Democrats’ rebuttal address after Trump’s speech, focusing her remarks on what actions the administration is currently taking.

“The public expects leaders to level with them on what’s actually happening in our country,” Slotkin said in a statement. “From our economic security to our national security, we’ve got to chart a way forward that actually improves people’s lives in the country we all love, and I’m looking forward to laying that out.” 

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At least eight Democratic lawmakers planned to boycott Trump’s State of the Union address in 2020, including members of the progressive members such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Murphy, Schatz, and Beyer for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday night, revisiting his 2017 congressional address shows both striking parallels and differences to the current political climate, and a prophetic question about what America will become as it rings in its 250th birthday in 2026. 

During Trump’s address in 2017, with Vice President Mike Pence and Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan behind him, Trump opened by acknowledging “threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries” before transitioning to a call for “a renewal of the American spirit.”

“In nine years, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding – 250 years since the day we declared our independence,” said Trump,who was elected to his first term in November 2016. “It will be one of the great milestones in the history of the world. But what will America look like as we reach our 250th year? What kind of country will we leave for our children?”

HOW TO WATCH AND WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S TUESDAY ADDRESS TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS

In one of his first executive actions this year kicking off his second non-consecutive term, Trump signed “Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday,” which will “provide a grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence on July 4, 2026.”

In 2017, Trump continued his first address to the nation after the Obama administration by promising to crack down on illegal immigration, implement an America-first agenda and restore the economy. Noticeably, however, there was no mention of Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) nor “radical” gender ideology. 

“These are kind of common themes when he speaks today, and those are gone,” Tevi Troy, presidential historian and former HHS secretary under the George W. Bush administration, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Those are not there. But that aside, there are a lot of similarities, and at first I was reading and wondering if it could be given in this administration, because there’s a lot of the same stuff.”

“He talks about borders in there, for example, and he talks about unleashing the American economy,” Troy said. “And so the themes are the same, but some of the circumstances have changed.”

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While joint addresses to Congress and State of the Union speeches are typically written well in advance, Trump is known for speaking off the cuff. Troy said Trump may bring up the explosive Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.

“I could see that coming as an improv moment, but it’s probably not in the speech’s written,” he said.

In addition, inflation is going to be on peoples’ minds come Tuesday night.

“No one’s going to blame Trump for DEI or woke or the problems of Biden,” Troy said. “He is in danger at some point in being blamed for inflation. So he’s got to handle that one a little bit more carefully.”

Trump’s 2017 address did not include inflation, but he does mention restarting “the engine of the American economy – making it easier for companies to do business in the United States, and much, much harder for companies to leave our country.” 

TUNE IN: LIVE COVERAGE OF TRUMP’S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS TUESDAY NIGHT ON FOX NEWS

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So far this year, Trump has signed a slew of executive orders, many aimed at bolstering American manufacturing and the domestic economy as well as removing the U.S. from worldwide climate change commitments. 

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, is in the spotlight over a new ethics complaint about votes that ultimately yielded millions for a green nonprofit that pays his wife’s consulting firm. 

Before that, he led an aggressive campaign alleging ethical violations of conservative Supreme Court justices. 

The Democratic senator took particular aim at conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after several instances of undisclosed travel and trips were reported in 2023. “The Supreme Court justices are so deeply ensconced in a cocoon of special interest money that they can no longer be trusted to police themselves without proper process,” Whitehouse claimed at the time. 

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This history of acting as a judicial ethics watchdog for conservative justices has left some calling the latest ethics complaint against Whitehouse from the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) ironic. 

“The irony here absolutely takes my breath away,” Thomas Jipping, senior legal fellow with the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation, previously told Fox News Digital. 

Whitehouse’s office provided a letter to Fox News Digital from the Senate Select Committee on Ethics last year informing another watchdog group, Judicial Watch, that the senator’s actions did not violate “federal laws, Senate rules, or other standards of conduct.” 

The group had filed a similar ethics complaint to FACT. 

“This is a repeat dark money performance, and the previous attempt by a dark money group to plant these same smears was roundly dismissed by Senate Ethics,” Whitehouse spokesperson Stephen DeLeo told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The billionaires and Supreme Court capture operatives behind FACT would like to try to stop Senator Whitehouse from shining a light on what they’ve done to deprive regular people of a fair shake before the Court. But false accusations from far-right special interests and billionaires will not impede the Senator’s pursuit of an accountable, ethical government that responds to Americans’ needs.”

SEE THE STAR-STUDDED LIST OF TRUMP ALLIES DESCENDING ON DC TO CHART FURTHER 100-DAY WINS

The gifts accepted by Thomas from GOP donor Harlan Crow came under severe scrutiny by Democrats, but experts are still at odds over whether they violated the law. 

The post-Watergate-era 1978 Ethics in Government Act dictates that government officials, judges included, should report all gifts over a certain dollar amount that are “received from any source other than a relative.” There are exceptions for “food, lodging, or entertainment received as personal hospitality of an individual.”

Thomas did ultimately revise his disclosure to include trips from 2019 with Crowe.

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Following the report on his undisclosed trips, Thomas said he had been advised they did not need to be reported. 

“Early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable,” he said in a statement released by the Supreme Court at the time. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”

Whitehouse asked that the Department of Justice (DOJ) open a criminal investigation into Thomas, which the U.S. Judicial Conference formally declined to refer to the DOJ in January. 

Thomas was not the only conservative justice to face Whitehouse’s ire; he also targeted Justice Samuel Alito for alleged ethical misconduct. 

Last year, reports emerged about an upside-down American flag at Alito’s home following the 2020 election and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag flying outside his vacation home in New Jersey. Critics quickly jumped on the opportunity to pressure the justice to recuse himself from crucial upcoming decisions regarding then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s criminal cases. 

Alito attributed the upside-down flag to his wife and neighborhood drama. The “Appeal to Heaven” flag is popular among conservatives and is notably featured outside many congressional offices in the U.S. Capitol.

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In an interview at the time, Whitehouse said the flag ordeal “demonstrates why the Supreme Court needs an enforceable code of conduct,” for which he has notably introduced a bill. However, many have pushed back on the idea that the legislature can or should regulate the court. Alito himself weighed in during an interview for the Wall Street Journal last year. 

“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it. No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period,” he said. 

Whitehouse again took him to task for the “improper” interview. “From the outside, it looks like the attorney recruited you to prop up his legal case against our investigation, using the interview to advance the argument he and several colleagues were making,” he claimed, referring to attorney David Rivkin, who interviewed Alito alongside Wall Street Journal editorial features editor James Taranto.

Most recently, the senator attacked Alito over a phone call with Trump regarding a former clerk being considered for his administration. The phone call came as cases involving Trump’s administration were pending in court. 

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“This contact could potentially implicate provisions of the Supreme Court’s new code of conduct and of federal law… We humbly suggest that this incident provides yet another reason for the Judicial Conference and the Court to agree on some sort of neutral fact-finding when a justice’s conduct is questioned,” Whitehouse wrote in a January letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the Judicial Conference. 

“William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position. I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon,” Alito told Fox News’ Shannon Bream. 

Former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., has died at the age of 70, his brother and current House member Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., announced. 

“Defender of the silenced and oppressed, author of the democracy requirement for the lifting of U.S. sanctions against the Cuban dictatorship, and the author of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA). Lincoln’s legacy of achievements will endure for generations, and continues the work of the Congressional Hispalic Leadership Institute (CHLI) which he co-founded in 2003,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart said in a statement about his brother.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart served Floridians as a member of the Republican Party. The Cuban refugee first got into politics by “leading the Florida Young Democrats and running an unsuccessful campaign for the Florida legislature as a Democrat in 1982,” his congressional biography states. 

He formally switched his party allegiance in 1985 and was elected to the Florida legislature in 1986. Then, he “sponsored laws strengthening sentences for crimes against law enforcement officers, increasing penalties for drug-related money laundering, providing low-interest loans for home construction, creating a statewide program to combat substance abuse, and establishing disclosure rules for Florida companies doing business with Cuba,” according to the biography. 

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He was sworn into Congress in January 1993 and served until his retirement in 2010. That same year, his brother Mario won the election to succeed him in the 21st Congressional District. 

Diaz-Balart leaves behind his wife of 48 years, Cristina; his son Daniel; two grandsons and three brothers. He was preceded in death by his first son, Lincoln Gabriel. 

RUBIO SIGNS DECLARATION TO EXPEDITE $4B IN ARMS TO ISRAEL ‘WRONGLY WITHHELD’ BY BIDEN

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“Lincoln’s profound love for the United States, and his relentless commitment to the cause of a free Cuba, guided him throughout his life and his 24 years in elected public service, including 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Mario’s announcement said. “We will miss him infinitely.”

The Pentagon is urging transgender military personnel in the Air Force and Space Force to “separate voluntarily” by the end of the month, saying that individuals with gender dysphoria are “incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”

Troops have until March 26 to resign, according to a memorandum filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia as part of Talbott v. Trump – one of the first lawsuits filed against President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender troops from the military – by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

“Service members eligible for voluntary separation pay will be paid at a rate that is twice the amount for which the service member would have been eligible under involuntary separation pay,” the memo, signed by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn R. DeFilippi on March 1, states.

PENTAGON SAYS TRANSGENDER TROOPS ARE DISQUALIFIED FROM SERVICE WITHOUT AN EXEMPTION

Cross-sex hormone treatments will continue for service members who have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria that began prior to a separate memo issued last week until the “separation is complete” by direction of a Department of Defense medical provider “in order to prevent further complications.”

However, transgender service members are required to adhere to conduct matching their biological sex, “effective immediately,” including in showers, bathrooms and living quarters, until their withdrawal is completed. Physical dress and fitness standards must also match service members’ biological sex, the memorandum states. 

Last week’s internal Pentagon memo states that service members who are transgender or otherwise exhibit gender dysphoria are prohibited from military service unless they obtain an exemption. 

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“The Air Force memo is consistent with this purge of highly accomplished, dedicated transgender service members,” attorney Jennifer Levi of Glad Law told Fox News Digital in a statement Monday. “It is shameful. The memo also demonstrates the chaos and havoc being wreaked by this administration in ways that undermine our national security.”

The Trump administration’s transgender military ban is currently facing legal challenges, and the Justice Department filed a complaint against the presiding judge, Ana Reyes, accusing her of potential bias and misconduct. There are currently a handful of lawsuits specifically challenging Trump’s gender-related executive orders.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Defense and White House for comment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on critics of President Donald Trump’s approach to ending the war in Ukraine on Sunday, saying the president is a “peacemaker.”

Rubio made the comments during an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week,” telling host George Stephenopoulos that Trump is facing attacks simply because he is Trump.

“Shouldn’t we at least try to see if there is a way to end this war in a way that’s acceptable to both sides and is enduring and sustainable? How is that a bad thing?” Rubio said.

“I really am puzzled why anyone thinks that trying to be a peacemaker is a bad thing. It’s only a bad thing when it’s Donald Trump trying to do it. When it’s President Trump. It’s absurd to me,” he added.

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Rubio went on to reject claims that Trump is working to placate Russia and Vladimir Putin, saying all the administration has done is reach out and say, “are you guys willing to talk about peace?”

Rubio’s appearance comes days after an explosive meeting between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week.

The meeting ended in a shouting match, with Trump arguing Ukraine doesn’t “have the cards” to continue fighting Russia on its own and that a negotiated peace is the best way forward.

Trump later accused Zelenskyy of “disrespecting” the U.S. during their meeting Friday and said the Ukrainian leader was not ready to secure peace for his country.

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“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Friday. “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

Zelenskyy visited Washington amid negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and was expected to sign a minerals agreement that will allow the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals in exchange for support the U.S. has provided the country since Russia’s invasion in 2022.

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Trump instead kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House after their contentious public meeting.

Gov. JB Pritzker and 16 Illinois Democrats sent a letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought on Tuesday demanding the Trump administration release $1.88 billion in federal funding to Illinois. Chair of the Illinois Republican Party Kathy Salvi dismissed it as Pritzker playing politics. 

Pritzker, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Tammy Duckworth and congressional Democrats said in the letter that Illinois is “in danger of needing to pause operations, cancel projects, or lay off staff” if their funding is not restored, leaving a “detrimental impact on vulnerable people, local economies, and the state as a whole.”

The Illinois Republican Party is pushing back on the Democrats’ claims, saying the letter “has no basis.”

“Governor Pritzker is grandstanding for his 2028 run for president instead of focusing on the mess that he’s left with us in Illinois. Since he’s been the governor, now in his seventh budget address, he has raised our budget by $16 billion from a $39 billion budget initially to $55 billion,” Salvi told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. 

ILLINOIS GOVERNOR SAYS TRUMP ADMIN WITHHOLDING $1.88B IN APPROVED TAXPAYER MONEY, AMID RIFT WITH PRESIDENT

Fox News Digital reached out to OMB about the letter, but they did not provide a comment by the deadline of this article. 

“On behalf of our constituents, we are seeking full transparency and accountability on any and all funding that has been paused or interrupted. If the Trump Administration is unable to follow the law and uphold their end of the deal, the people of our state deserve to know,” the Democrats said. 

‘DULY OWED TO US’: BLUE STATE GOVERNOR SAYS $2.1B IN FEDERAL FUNDING RESTORED AFTER SUING TRUMP ADMIN

“He has defied law since day one,” Salvi countered. “This is a sanctuary state. He has caused the higher crime rates we have. He has caused the educational mess that we have here in the City of Chicago. He is not helping with solutions here. He’s distracting and using his weight in Washington to posture against this president and his administration’s agenda in order to catapult his own campaign for president in 2028. And this must be exposed.”

Pritzker also met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in Washington, D.C., this week to push for the release of Illinois’ federal funds. 

“His travel to Washington is a distraction of the mess that he’s led here in Illinois,” Salvi said. 

Salvi said Pritzker is asking for a “blank check” without “any examination of where the money goes.”

“Pritzker’s budget plan faces a $3 billion budget deficit. He has been given a blank check for the last four years. Now, he is being held to account. So, instead of dealing with the problems that he and his administration have caused here in Illinois, which are causing people to flee our state to neighboring states, he decides instead to distract and sue the federal government. Well, I think we need to have an accounting here in Illinois. We, Illinois taxpayers and citizens and families, we require results,” Salvi said. 

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on Tuesday extending the block on the White House Office of Management and Budget’s federal funding freeze. Federal judges had previously issued a temporary restraining order to block the funding freeze. 

Illinois was one of the initial 22 states and Washington, D.C., that sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Jan. 28 to unfreeze federal funds. OMB directed agencies to halt federal funding on Jan. 27 in compliance with Trump’s executive orders. 

Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Penn., in a separate lawsuit, sued the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds on Feb. 13. Shapiro said that $2.1 billion in federal funds had been released and restored to Pennsylvania on Monday. While Shapiro said legal action was necessary to unfreeze his state’s federal funds, he added that his “direct engagement” with the Trump administration had led to the restoration of those funds. 

Pritzker’s letter urged the Trump administration to “follow the law and make good on the government’s promise to deliver hard-earned taxpayer dollars back into Illinois’ economy, workforce and communities.”

The letter claims that many Illinois agencies have been forced to “pause operations, cancel projects, or cut staff” and have reported “their inability to access funds” since the OMB’s funding freeze memo. The letter says there have been “widespread reports of system outages and lockouts that prevented grantees from accessing entitled funding” since Jan 27. 

“Attempted communications with government liaisons were often ignored and public statements from the White House were inconsistent with the experiences of our grantees,” the letter says. 

Illinois Democrats allege that “14 state agencies, boards, and commissions have a total of $1.88 billion in impacted federal funds” that provide “technical assistance for small businesses, provide affordable solar energy for low-income residents, improve roads and bridges, and more.”

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“These funds have been contractually agreed to, allocated, and planned around by their recipients–which include childcare providers, educational institutions, small businesses, community and economic development organizations, and more. Needless to say, the restriction of these funds will have a detrimental impact on vulnerable people, local economies, and the state as a whole,” the letter added.

The letter concludes by asking the Trump administration to answer five questions by March 4, 2025, about the disbursement of federal funds. 

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer put forward a framework for a peace plan between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday, though he acknowledged it relies heavily on assumed U.S. support.

Starmer revealed the plan along with French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday. In a concession to President Donald Trump’s administration, Starmer emphasized that European countries would need to “step up their own share of the burden” toward security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.

Starmer said the U.K. is prepared to deploy boots on the ground in Ukraine as well as air force assets to ensure Russia does not infringe on a peace agreement. He nevertheless stated that the plan would rely heavily on U.S. backing as well.

Macron told French media that European leaders were discussing a plan that would freeze strikes from the air, sea and on energy infrastructure for 30 days in Ukraine. He said the window could be used to negotiate a wider peace deal.

ZELENSKYY MEETS WITH BRITISH PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER IN LONDON FOLLOWING TRUMP OVAL OFFICE CLASH

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy himself has been on damage control since a disastrous meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House on Friday. Zelenskyy has emphasized that he is still willing to sign a rare earth minerals deal with the White House.

The Ukrainian leader remains largely unapologetic, however, saying after Sunday’s meetings in Europe that the “best security guarantees are a strong Ukrainian army.”

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

“The failure of Ukraine would not just mean Putin’s success, it would be a failure for Europe, it would be a failure for the U.S.,” he said.

Many Republicans on Capitol Hill have rallied behind Trump’s criticism of Zelenskyy. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called on the Ukrainian leader to resign on Sunday.

“He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change,” Graham said after Friday’s meeting.

TRUMP SAYS ZELENSKYY CAN ‘COME BACK WHEN HE IS READY FOR PEACE’ AFTER FIERY WHITE HOUSE EXCHANGE

Zelenskyy retorted that Graham could weigh in on Ukrainian leadership when he became a Ukrainian citizen, to which Graham responded: “Unfortunately, until there is an election, no one has a voice in Ukraine.”

According to the senator, he doesn’t think Americans saw the Ukrainian president as someone they feel comfortable going “into business with” following the televised dispute.

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Graham also stressed that the Ukrainian-American relationship is “vitally important.” However, he cast doubt on whether Zelenskyy could ever “do a deal with the United States.”

Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Soldiers who return home from combat zones have veterans’ support groups, a plethora of charities and an entire government agency intended to see to their needs for illness and injuries. But contractors who take jobs in those same areas have had no such institutional support – until now.

These workers face the same mental traumas associated with combat deployment, and thousands who have been exposed to burn pits face the same cancers that have claimed the lives of American service members. But before the Association of War Zone Contractors (AOWC) formed this week, they did not have any of the same support groups that take care of veterans, according to the group’s organizers. 

“We’re looking to make sure contractors are seen, heard and counted, because those things haven’t been happening for a long time,” Scott Dillard, co-founder of the new nonprofit, told Fox News Digital.

The American public often forgets that contractors make up much of the workforce on overseas bases. An estimated half of those employed in U.S. positions during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were civilian contractors, not military members.  

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“Some contractors go outside the wire, but many of them are just changing light bulbs, slinging mashed potatoes, cleaning toilets, whatever the case may be. But they’re on these bases, they’re in a hostile environment that gets attacked,” Dillard said. 

Known as “hidden casualties” during the Iraq War, many were convoy drivers who carted supplies across dangerous terrain. More than 8,000 contractors died over two decades in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as did an additional 7,000 U.S. service members, according to a Brown University count. The U.S. government does not thoroughly report contractor deaths, and their families often struggle to receive any compensation. 

“A contractor’s function is kind of an invisible army, and we don’t want that,” said Cory Archibald, another co-founder and former contractor. “The public deserves to know, policymakers need to know in order to make the right decisions, how integrated contractors are in everything that the military does, fully integrated in military operations, and that needs to be understood and acted on.”

Like the veterans’ groups that for decades have advocated for better post-mission care for U.S. troops, AOWC hopes to educate contractors who return home with mental and physical injuries and illnesses associated with their work on the resources currently available to them, and to advocate for U.S. policymakers to streamline the arduous process that comes with filing a claim. 

Thanks to the PACT Act, the VA recognizes an automatic link between 23 different conditions and burn pits. But civilians, whose claims are managed by the U.S. Department of Labor, have to prove a connection between the same medical conditions and deployment. 

Through the Defense Base Act, contracting companies’ insurers are required to cover care for work-related injuries, like the cancers arising in many of those who served on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan in close proximity to burn pits. 

“It’s an adversarial process for contractors,” said Dillard. “The insurer is almost certainly going to deny the claim.” 

For claims that are successful, contractors wait years to see any form of payment. 

For unsuccessful claims, contractors have to retain a lawyer and wait for the litigation process to play out in court. 

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The research behind the PACT Act, which found a direct link to certain medical conditions and the pits used to burn medical waste, arms materials and other things near military bases, focused on service members whose deployments last between a few months and a year and a half. Little research has been done on the effects those pits had on contractors, who in many cases took work on overseas bases for years at a time. 

AOWC’s first order of business is to get names on its burn pits registry to garner data and establish a direct connection between certain illnesses among contractors and exposure to burn pits. Then the group will take that data to policymakers and implore them to make it easier for contractors to get help with care. 

As the military’s size has diminished over the years, U.S. forces have increasingly outsourced work to civilian contractors. And contractors are conveniently left out of the count when the nation’s leaders boast about reducing the footprint of the U.S. military on foreign bases. 

“They say, ‘We’re drawing down the troops.’ Okay, great. But they don’t say that on the backside there’s contractors coming back in,” said Dillard. 

“The fact that all these jobs have been outsourced to private contractors means that the public has less of an understanding of what is the cost of war, because they’re not seeing that reflected in the casualty figures, not just deaths, but also injuries as well,” said Archibald. 

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He said he first recognized the “invisibility” of contractors after serving in the Army and then working as a contractor himself for six years, largely in Afghanistan. 

“I did not know what my rights were,” he said. “I had no clue that there was that help available. And a vast majority of contractors have a similar lack of knowledge.” 

As President Trump prepares to deliver his first address to joint sessions of Congress since taking office in January, here are several of the wildest moments from joint addresses from presidents in the past. 

Dem. Sen. Joe Manchin bucks party to stand and clap for Trump in 2018

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who later became an independent, went viral on social media after he stood when President Trump entered the chamber, and stood and applauded some of Trump’s policy proposals when other Democrats remained sitting.

“That’s the way I was raised in West Virginia. We have respect,” Manchin said about his actions at Trump’s first State of the Union address. “There is some civility still yet. There should be civility in this place.”

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED DURING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S 6TH WEEK IN OFFICE

President Biden blasts GOP lawmakers in 2023 address, prompting jeers from Republicans in the crowd

“Some of my Republican friends want to take the economy hostage — I get it — unless I agree to their economic plans,” Biden said to Congress, prompting a shake of the head from then-GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the background and shouts from the crowd and shots of other Republicans shaking their heads. 

“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans, some Republicans, want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” Biden continued, which caused an even more pronounced shake of the head from McCarthy, who mouthed “no” as Republicans continued to jeer. 

“I’m not saying it’s the majority,” Biden continued, which resulted in even more boos from the raucous crowd. 

“Let me give you — anybody who doubts it, contact my office. I’ll give you a copy — I’ll give you a copy of the proposal,” Biden continued to say over increasingly louder shouting from the crowd, which included GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, stood up and gestured her frustration. ” That means Congress doesn’t vote — I’m glad to see — no, I tell you, I enjoy conversion.”

Biden’s speech continued to devolve from there as Republican outrage interrupted him on multiple occasions. 

Reagan surprises the crowd with first-ever acknowledgment of a guest in the audience

Guests in the audience acknowledged in presidential speeches to joint sessions of Congress have become commonplace in recent years, but President Ronald Reagan’s 1982 address was the first time the practice was rolled out. 

Reagan’s speech came just weeks after Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into Washington’s 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River shortly after taking off in an accident that killed 78 people. 

Three people survived the crash thanks to civilians on the ground who rushed to their aid, including Congressional Budget Office assistant Lenny Skutnik, who stripped off his shoes and clothes and dove into the frigid waters.

Reagan honored Skutnik in his speech, which made honoring people in the crowd a more common theme in the years to come. 

“Just 2 weeks ago, in the midst of a terrible tragedy on the Potomac, we saw again the spirit of American heroism at its finest — the heroism of dedicated rescue workers saving crash victims from icy waters,” Reagan said. “And we saw the heroism of one of our young government employees, Lenny Skutnik, who, when he saw a woman lose her grip on the helicopter line, dived into the water and dragged her to safety.”

Rep. Boebert heckles Biden over Afghanistan withdrawal during 2022 address

“You put them in, 13 of them,” GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert shouted at Biden as he talked about Afghanistan veterans who ended up in caskets due to exposure to toxic burn pits. Boebert was referencing the 13 U.S. service members killed during Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. 

Boebert was wearing an outfit that said “Drill Baby Drill” in opposition to Biden’s energy policies and her outburst drew some boos from the audience.

At another point, Boebert and Greene started chanting “build the wall” when Biden was talking about immigration. 

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

 Rep. Joe Wilson yells ‘You lie!’ at President Obama

One of the most remembered outbursts from a State of the Union address came in 2009 when South Carolina GOP Congressman Joe Wilson interrupted President Obama’s address, which at the time was far less common than it later became. 

“There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants,” Obama said, talking about his controversial Obamacare plan. “This, too, is false. The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”

“You lie!” Wilson shouted from his seat on the Republican side of the chamber, causing widespread yelling from other members in the audience.

Wilson later apologized to Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. 

“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill,” Wilson said in a written statement. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”

Speaker Pelosi tears up Trump’s 2020 speech

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sparked a social media firestorm and cemented herself in State of the Union infamy in February 2020 when she stood up and tore Trump’s speech into pieces after he had finished.

When Fox News asked Pelosi afterward why she did it, she responded, “Because it was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.” She added, “I tore it up. I was trying to find one page with truth on it. I couldn’t.”

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Pelosi’s outburst came on the heels of Trump’s first impeachment trial, which ended in a Senate acquittal the day after the speech.

“Speaker Pelosi just ripped up: One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. The survival of a child born at 21 weeks. The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller. A service member’s reunion with his family. That’s her legacy,” the White House tweeted after Pelosi tore up the speech, referencing individuals who Trump mentioned during his address.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw, Joseph Wulfsohn and Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A House GOP lawmaker is unveiling legislation on Monday to memorialize President Donald Trump on U.S. currency.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-TX, told Fox News Digital he would be introducing a bill to put Trump’s likeness on the $100 note after his current term.

“President Trump could be enjoying his golden years golfing and spending time with his family,” Gill said. “Instead, he took a bullet for this country and is now working overtime to secure our border, fix our uneven trade relationship with the rest of the world, make America energy independent again and put America first by ending useless foreign aid.”

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

He said that replacing Benjamin Franklin with Trump on the $100 bill “is a small way to honor all he will accomplish these next four years.”

If passed, his bill would direct the treasury secretary to release a “preliminary design” of the bill by the end of 2026, with a goal of circulating the notes beginning in 2029.

GOP LAWMAKER CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL HEARING OVER DC PLANE CRASH

Gill, class president of the first-term House Republicans, has been an outspoken Trump supporter since he came to Congress earlier this year.

His legislation comes after a similar push last week by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., to put Trump’s face on a new $250 note. That bill has the backing of three other House conservatives.

But changing faces on U.S. currency is not an easy task. The last time it was done was in 1929, when Andrew Jackson replaced Grover Cleveland on the $20 note.

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The Obama administration’s plans to replace Jackson’s face with Harriet Tubman’s never materialized after Trump took office for his first term.

The Biden administration resumed the effort in 2021, but it was not completed.

Current U.S. law would also need to be changed to allow for living people to be depicted on currency.

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized his former national security advisor on Sunday and said the U.S. government should spend less time worrying about Russian President Vladimir Putin amid Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

Trump made the comments Sunday night in a pair of posts on his social media platform Truth Social after Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as Trump’s national security adviser during his first administration, criticized the president for “coddling Putin” while putting increased pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“H.R. MCMASTER IS A WEAK AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE LOSER!” Trump wrote.

ZELENSKYY SAYS IRE WITH TRUMP BEGAN WITH PRO-TRUMP RHETORIC

“We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe!” he said in a follow-up post.

McMaster had criticized Trump and Vice President JD Vance after their meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. During the negotiations, Trump and Vance heavily criticized the Ukrainian president in a tense exchange between the two countries’ leaders before the U.S. president cut the meeting short and sent Zelenskyy on his way.

RUSSIA REVELS IN OVAL OFFICE SPECTACLE AFTER ZELENSKYY SPARS WITH TRUMP, VANCE

“It is impossible to understand why President Trump and Vice President Vance seem determined to put more pressure on President Zelensky while they seem to be coddling Putin – the person who inflicted this terrible war in Ukraine,” McMaster said Friday on X.

The blowup in the Oval Office was sparked by Zelenskyy’s request for security guarantees as the war continues after Russia invaded Ukraine more than three years ago.

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Russian leaders and Russian state media appeared joyous after the testy exchange.

But several leaders from Europe and elsewhere came to Zelenskyy’s defense after the exchange, and the Ukrainian president thanked each of them for their support on social media.

EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Republicans are eyeing an additional fight over the state’s law requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, hoping that the Trump administration will voice its support for the law after a defeat in an appeals court this week.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the findings of a district court regarding the 2022 Arizona laws that enabled officials to require proof of citizenship to vote in state and federal elections, saying they were “unlawful measures of voter suppression.”

The lawsuit was brought by the DOJ, nonprofits, the DNC and the Arizona Democratic Party. The Supreme Court in August allowed the enforcement of restrictions that block people from voting in state and local elections, but those who have registered without that proof could still vote in presidential and congressional elections with a different federal form.

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

Senate President Warren Petersen told Fox News Digital that he believed the latest ruling was “brazen” as it found that the law had discriminatory intent, something he said the Supreme Court had not found.

“So, to see them just completely ignore the Supreme Court is pretty unprecedented, even for the liberal and mostly overturned court in the nation,” he said.

Petersen made it clear that Republicans defending the law intend to appeal.

“The key provisions of this bill are that we want to make sure that only citizens are voting in our elections,” he said. “This is an issue that our citizens overwhelmingly support.”

‘LOUD AND CLEAR’: BORDER STATE’S LEGISLATURE MOVES TO BACK TRUMP’S ICE ON DEPORTATION

Petersen and his counterpart in the state House have written to the DOJ asking for the Trump administration to inform the courts that it has changed its position on proof of citizenship. While the Biden administration was opposed, the Trump administration has been more favorable to making sure that proof is provided of citizenship to vote.

“So, we’re asking them as we move forward on our appeal that they change their position and that they’re engaged so that we get a good outcome for the citizens of Arizona and, quite frankly, for the whole country,” he said.

“I think it makes a big difference when the federal government is on the same page that we’re on,” he said.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

It isn’t yet clear whether the appeal will be to the Ninth Circuit or whether they will go directly to the Supreme Court. Petersen said the Republicans “want to bring to the Supreme Court’s attention that [the 9th Circuit] essentially overruled the Supreme Court.” But he also said that they are continuing litigation.

He said that if it weree to go to the high court, he feels very confident about the GOP’s chances.

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“This court seems to be very sensible and rational. And these are common-sense things. It’s just common sense that only citizens should be able to vote in our elections,” he said.

A top Canadian diplomat is sounding the alarm about President Donald Trump’s plan to follow through on levying tariffs on Canadian imports, arguing that the move will cause both countries to lose.

“If you put too many barriers in front of trade, if you put too many taxes and tariffs in front of trade, you slow everything down, you lay people off, you lose jobs, you lose prosperity,” Bob Rae, Canada’s permanent Ambassador to the United Nations, said during an appearance on MSNBC Sunday.

The comments come after Trump confirmed on Thursday that his 25% tariff would go into effect on March 4, reasoning that dangerous drugs such as fentanyl were still spilling over the U.S. border with Canada at an alarming rate.

MIKE ROWE SAYS TRUMP POLICIES WILL LEAD TO SHORT-TERM PAIN, BUT LONG-TERM GAIN

“The proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled. China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date. The April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump had initially agreed to a 30-day pause on the tariff plan to allow time for negotiations between Canada and the U.S. on how to better secure the border, though the president argued Thursday that not enough had been done in order to stop the flow within the 30-day window.

“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA,” Trump said.

The trade war between the two countries comes as Canada will also be transitioning to new leadership in the coming months after current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in January that he would step down and end his nine-year run leading the country.

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE NOM INEE DEFENDS TRUMP TARIFFS IN COMMITTEE HEARING

Trudeau said that he would remain in office until the Liberal Party can choose a new leader, while parliament would be suspended until March 24.

Whoever emerges as Canada’s new leader will have to resume negotiations with Trump over tariffs, something Rae said the Canadian side doesn’t see the logic of.

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“This is something we will weather through. We’ll have to deal with it. It is going to cost jobs on both sides of the border, and I think that’s something that everybody has to understand,” Rae said during his appearance on MSNBC. “What’s the logic of increasing the price for everyone? We don’t see the logic of it, and that’s why we’re continuing to try to persuade the American government that they should think again and reflect hard on what the costs and benefits of this trade are and also what the cost of benefits, and lack of benefits of increasing tariffs is going to be.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Chief European Union diplomat Kaja Kallas rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that the European Union was made to “screw” the United States on Sunday.

Kallas made the comment while speaking to CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” arguing the EU is fundamentally about maintaining peace.

“Europe is a peace project. You know, it was created so that we wouldn’t have wars between the members of the European Union, and we haven’t had any. And, of course, also to do things together, cooperate more,” Kallas said.

“You know, coming from a country that joined the European Union 20 years ago. Then, we were actually, you know, pushed by the Americans, you know, [saying] you will not get into NATO, but Europe, the European Union, is something that you should join because it’s, it’s a good project also for transatlantic relations. So I was quite surprised to hear a comment like that,” she added.

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

Kallas went on to affirm the wide base of support for Ukraine in Europe, and that she has been coordinating with French President Emanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“The fight that Ukraine is having is not only about Ukraine sovereignty, but it’s much, much broader. It’s about freedom of the free world, really. It is about the world where international law applies and the world where might does not make right,” she said.

The official went on to argue that the U.S. and Europe could grind the Russian war machine to a halt via economic pressure.

“We shouldn’t overestimate the power of Russia and underestimate our own power,” she argued. “We know that their economy is not doing well. I mean, their inflation is over 20%, their National Fund is almost completely depleted.”

TRUMP SAYS UKRAINE RARE EARTH MINERALS DEAL WILL LEAD TO ‘SUSTAINABLE’ FUTURE BETWEEN US, UKRAINE

“They don’t have the same revenues from gas and oil that they used to to fund the war machine. So actually, if we concentrate our efforts, we can put the pressure so that they would stop the war,” she continued.

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Kallas’ comments come after Trump blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a White House meeting on Friday. He insisted that Ukraine doesn’t “have the cards” and must sue for peace rather than relying on an indefinite flow of aid from the U.S.

The rapid reduction of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border calls into question a key Democratic talking point during the 2024 campaign, when party leaders blamed then-former President Donald Trump for helping kill bipartisan border legislation that they argued was the only way to secure the border.

“President Trump’s fast and successful border security proves Biden’s false claim of needing the Senate’s border insecurity bill was nothing more than Biden’s attempted power grab to codify his open border tools and hamstring a future president who wanted to enforce the law,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital.

The comments come as evidence continues to mount that Trump’s policies have rapidly improved the situation at the southern border, including news last week that single-day border apprehensions had hit a 15-year low, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents encountering only 200 aliens at the border on February 22.

“President Trump and Secretary Noem have sent a clear message to illegal aliens: Do not come to our country. You will not be allowed in. And if you get in, we will hunt you down and deport you,” a DHS spokesperson said in a release at the time.

TRUMP REPORTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AT HISTORIC LOWS DURING FIRST FULL MONTH IN OFFICE

That news came just days after Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks told CBS News in an interview that southern border crossings were down 94% from the same period last year, a staggering number he credited to the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown.

While Trump has managed to reduce the numbers through his executive authority, many Democrats spent 2024 arguing that the continued crisis at the border was the result of Trump and his allies in the GOP tying the president’s hands by resisting a bipartisan border bill that was working its way through the Senate early in the year and was favored by former President Joe Biden.

“Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends,” Biden said in February after the bill failed to pass.

“Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation, because that’s the only way to actually get the kind of system we have now that’s broken, fixed. To hire more Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, more judges. But, Republicans left me no choice,” Biden said in June while announcing new executive actions on border security Republicans argued didn’t go far enough to alleviate the crisis.

That blame game continued throughout the 2024 campaign, with top Democratic leaders piling on Trump for helping kill the legislation they claimed was vital to ending the crisis.

‘HE IS DELIVERING’: TRUMP’S FIRST MONTH FLIPS SCRIPT ON RADICAL BIDEN-HARRIS BORDER POLICIES

“If my Republican colleagues truly believe the system is broken, why did they vote against a bill that would have provided more immigration judges, more asylum officers, and had the support of the very conservative Border Patrol Union?” then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shumer asked in a May press release on border security.

“When Americans ask this year who is to blame for the continued mess at the border, they should listen to the words that came from Donald Trump himself,” Schumer added.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris took the torch and continued to blame Republicans for the crisis after rising to the top of the Democratic ticket, arguing that the legislation would have fixed the issues at the border if not for Trump’s intervention.

“Donald Trump got word of this bill that would have contributed to securing our border,” Harris said during an August interview. 

“He preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem,” Harris said during a September debate with Trump. “Because he believed that it would not have helped him politically, he told his folks in Congress, ‘Don’t put it forward.’”

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“He killed the bill, a border security bill that would have put 1,500 more agents on the border,” she added.

But Ries argued that not only did Trump’s executive actions help alleviate the crisis once he took office, but Democrats had another legislative option all along in border security legislation that had already passed through the Republican-controlled House.

“The Senate could’ve passed HR-2, the Secure the Border Act … the House had already passed it, and it was collecting dust on the Senate’s desk,” Ries said.

A left-wing political party tapped Democratic California Rep. Lateefah Simon, a longtime friend and mentee of former Vice President Kamala Harris, to deliver its response to President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday. 

“I’m honored to speak on behalf of the Working Families Party,” Simon said in a statement last week. “We need a government that is run by and for working people, not billionaires—and that’s what the WFP is fighting for. When I see what’s happening in our country right now, it’s essential that we—as Members of Congress—are showing up for our communities and reminding people that it doesn’t have to be this way.”

The Working Families Party, which is a small left-wing political party, has featured Rep. Ayanna Pressley, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib to deliver its response to a president’s joint address to Congress in previous years.  

CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS PAC BACKS CANDIDATE WHO SIGNED ‘BLACK NEW DEAL’ DEMANDING REPARATIONS

Simon is a freshman congresswoman representing California who has shared a long friendship with former 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. She spoke to NPR ahead of the November election last year, detailing that she and Harris first met back in the early 2000s when Harris worked in the San Francisco City Attorney’s office.

“I really believed in her. The young women that I worked with believed in her. But never in a million years did I think that I would work for her,” Simon told NPR back in August. 

‘I LOVE YOU’: LONGTIME HARRIS ALLY HAS BEEN FRIENDS WITH CCP GROUP’S TOP EXEC FOR OVER A DECADE

She recounted that Harris had encouraged her to earn a college degree, asked her to join her team when she was San Francisco district attorney, given her career advice, and even officiated at her wedding ceremony. 

Simon recalled that when Harris offered her a job in the DA’s office, she said: “You can either carry this bullhorn on your back for the rest of your life, demanding that elected officials work for you and the young people that you care about, or you can become a part of my team, and we can actually deconstruct some of these inequities.”

Simon went on to cement her status as a social justice advocate in California across the years, including amid the defund-the-police movement of 2020. While serving as board president for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in 2020, she advocated for “defunding and abolishing” policing standards on public transportation in favor of unarmed ambassadors. 

Fox News Digital also previously reported that Simon has had a more than decade-long friendship with a top executive of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) front group, including heaping praise on the executive on X. 

Simon won her election to serve as California’s 12th congressional district representative in November, taking the reins from former Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, and has since been identified as a “rising star” in the Democratic Party by liberal media outlets. 

Harris officiated Simon’s congressional swearing-in ceremony in January, when Simon lauded her “mentor” as a pivotal influence in her career. 

UNEARTHED REPORT REVEALS POWERFUL HARRIS ALLY ‘WILLING TO SHARE’ RESOURCES FROM BLACK BUSINESSES WITH CCP

“I am so honored to have my mentor and former boss, Vice President Kamala Harris,” Simon said on January 7. “Since our time together in the district attorney’s office in San Francisco, the vice president has played an integral role in shaping my public service career, and I have learned so much from her.

“She has also paved the way for women across the nation like me who aspire to serve their country at the highest levels. It was a special moment to stand with her today, look her in the eye and begin my journey as the Congresswoman for California’s 12th District.”

Trump is set to address Congress at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, his first joint address since returning to the Oval Office in January. The speech – which is not officially called a “State of the Union” speech as Trump has not been in office for the last year – comes just days after a fiery meeting between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. 

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The Democratic Party will also issue a response speech to Trump, tapping Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin to speak to voters late Tuesday evening after Trump’s speech wraps up. 

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the Department of Defense (DOD)’s civilian workforce to comply with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) productivity email, listing five things they accomplished after initially telling them not to reply.

On Sunday, Hegseth released a video message explaining the shift.

“Our civilian patriots who dedicate themselves to defending this nation working for the Department of Defense are critical to our national security,” Hegseth said. “As we work to restore focus on DOD’s core warfighting mission under President Trump’s leadership, we recognize that we cannot accomplish that mission without the strong and important contributions of our civilian workforce.”

Musk, who’s heading up DOGE, shared Hegseth’s video on X, writing, “Much appreciated @SecDef Hegseth!” He also included a saluting emoji and an American flag emoji. 

DOD TELLS CIVILIAN WORKFORCE TO IGNORE ELON MUSK’S REQUEST TO REPORT PRODUCTIVITY

Hegseth signed a memorandum on Friday to all DOD civilian employees, ahead of an anticipated email expected to be sent from the DOD on Monday requesting the five bullet points of accomplishments.

OPM’S SECOND EMAIL TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ASKS WHAT THEY DID LAST WEEK—AND ADDS A NEW REQUIREMENT: REPORT

Hegseth told employees to reply to the email within 48 hours and include their accomplishments and add their supervisors as recipients.

He said in the video that the responses would be collected within the department to satisfy the requirement sent out by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

OPM sent an email last weekend, seeking the same five bullets, though the DOD’s Office of Personnel and Readiness told its civilian workforce to ignore the request.

ELON MUSK SAYS ‘BAR IS VERY LOW’ AFTER ORDERING FEDERAL EMPLOYEES TO FILL OUT PRODUCTIVITY REPORTS OR RESIGN

The DOD is taking a different approach to the request this week after working with OPM to get better guidance on what is expected.

“The Department of Defense initially paused this directive … but now requires all DOD civilian employees to submit five bullets on their previous week’s achievements,” Hegseth said in his memorandum.

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He told employees Monday’s email is something DOD employees should respond to, though responses should not include sensitive or classified information.

Hegseth also said non-compliance may lead to further review. 

The mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City are prepping for a high-stakes hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government.

“Sanctuary mayors owe the American people an explanation for city policies that jeopardize public safety and violate federal immigration law by releasing dangerous criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets,” House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a press release announcing the hearings, which are set to take place Wednesday.

The hearing, which will take place in front of a full committee, comes as so-called sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, have come under increasing scrutiny since President Donald Trump regained control of the White House in January.

While Trump has seemingly made quick work of the situation at the southern border, attention has turned to his promised mass deportation efforts, a process that can be helped along if state and local agencies work hand-in-hand with federal authorities.

BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN SENDS MESSAGE TO FAR-LEFT OFFICIALS PUSHING BACK AGAINST MASS DEPORTATIONS: ‘GAME ON’

But some cities have for years now taken the opposite approach, refusing to comply with federal enforcement measures such as detainers placed on illegal immigrants by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Those sanctuary policies have often generated controversy, most notably in the wake of a handful of high-profile crimes committed by illegal immigrants who were allowed to duck deportation proceedings.

“These reckless policies in Democrat-run cities and states across our nation have led to too many preventable tragedies,” Comer said in the release. “They also endanger ICE agents who are forced to take more difficult enforcement actions in jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.”

Now the mayors of four of the biggest sanctuary cities will attempt to justify their policies in front of what could be a hostile Congress, with one report from Politico noting that the mayors will be seeking to sidestep the kind of “embarrassing” episode that plagued several Ivy League presidents who were testifying about antisemitism on their campuses in 2023.

The report notes that all four mayors have been working with advisers and lawyers and prepping to redact documents ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, with the thought of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill being ousted in the aftermath of her appearance at the 2023 hearing fresh in mind as they seek to avoid similar missteps.

TRUMP BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN VOWS TO PROBE LEAK THAT STIFLED ICE RAID TARGETING VENEZUELAN GANG IN COLORADO

The hearing could sway the political futures of Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, New York’s Eric Adams, Boston’s Michelle Wu, and Denver’s Mike Johnston.

Yet the Politico report notes that not all of the mayors will be so quick to cast aside their support for sanctuary laws.

“I just want to make sure that people understand that [this is] a city that has been established by immigrants and migrants who were formerly enslaved,” Johnson told reporters last week when speaking of Chicago. “It’s the global capital of the world, and we’re going to continue to show up at our very best.”

Adams, meanwhile, may try to tout his recent cooperation, including his decision to sign an executive order that allowed ICE agents back into New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex.

That move drew the ire of Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., who threatened to have Adams removed from office, though she later backtracked from that plan for the time being and instead vowed reforms aimed at reigning in the mayor’s power in the city.

Just how those answers sit with members of the committee remains to be seen, though Comer promised that the four mayors would be pressed for answers.

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“The policies in Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City prioritize criminal illegal aliens over the American people,” Comer said in the release. “This is unacceptable and their leaders must be held accountable. We will press these mayors for answers and examine measures to enforce compliance with federal immigration law.”

European leaders are grappling with how to handle icier relations with the U.S. since President Donald Trump regained control of the White House this year.

“The Europeans have a serious problem of readiness … that they’re trying to fix, but it takes time,” Camille Grand, a former NATO official who is now with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said in a Washington Post report Sunday. “If Trump decides ‘I’m going to pull out U.S. troops from Germany because I’m upset with the trade imbalance,’ that’s much more complicated to manage than to say we have a plan to do this within X years.”

The comments come as European leaders have become increasingly anxious about the future of the security of the continent in the second era of Trump, with the Washington Post reporting that leaders are wary that the American president is too friendly with Moscow and that they widely expect him to pull back roughly 20,000 U.S. troops that were deployed to the continent by former President Joe Biden in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“I would not be surprised if at some point [those troops] go back to their home base in America,” a NATO diplomat told the outlet while noting that those troops were sent to Europe at the height of an emergency and that their exit “would be, so to speak, a return to normalcy.”

WORLD LEADERS BACK ZELENSKYY FOLLOWING TRUMP, VANCE OVAL OFFICE SPAT

The current number of U.S. troops in Europe has fluctuated between 75,000 and 105,000 since 2022, according to data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), with the higher end of that number being a result of the surge of forces into the region ordered by Biden.

But fears persist that those numbers could fall even more rapidly than expected under Trump, despite assurances from Trump administration officials that there are no imminent plans for a large reduction of forces on the continent.

Those fears have been buoyed by recent events, including Vice President JD Vance’s remarks at a security conference in Munich in which the American leader scolded European leaders for their alleged break from shared values such as freedom of speech and Trump’s widening rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

However, American presidents from both parties have been warning European leaders for more than a decade of the potential shift of troops away from the continent as the U.S. seeks to focus more effort on confronting the emerging threat of China in the Indo-Pacific, leaving Europe in charge of a greater share of its own security.

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Indeed, the U.S. military footprint in Europe has already fallen drastically since the end of the Cold War, the CSIS data shows. At the height of hostilities between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. had nearly 500,000 troops deployed to the continent. There were still roughly 350,000 U.S. troops in Europe at the start of the 1990s and the end of the Cold War, a number that fell further to more than 100,000 at the turn of the century.

Despite the consistent warnings, European leaders now fear that the timeline to move troops from the continent could accelerate further under Trump, leaving holes in European security countries they are not yet able to fill.

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“I just worry that, given, frankly, President Trump’s mercurial nature … how much confidence really can Europe have in any degree of American protection and defense,” Nigel Gould-Davies, a former British diplomat and senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Washington Post.