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FIRST ON FOX: President-elect Trump reacted to Mike Johnson’s re-election as speaker of the House, telling Fox News Digital the process brought House Republicans “even closer together,” and said it is a continuation of “Make America Great Again.”

Johnson was re-elected speaker of the House Friday. 

Sources told Fox News Digital that the president-elect was in “constant communication” with House Republicans throughout the process. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said it was “a great honor to have helped.” 

“It is all a great continuation of ‘Make America Great Again,’” Trump said.

MIKE JOHNSON RE-ELECTED HOUSE SPEAKER AS GOP MUTINY THREAT DISSOLVES

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump smiles during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.  (Rebecca Noble)

“Mike Johnson will do a fabulous job as speaker,” Trump said. “House Republican membership was fantastic.”

“This process has brought them even closer together,” he said. “It is all a reflection of the great presidential election of 2024 where we won all seven swing states, the popular vote and everything else there is to win.”

“We will all be working together with total benefit going to the people of our nation,” he said. “Our country will be run with strength and common sense again.”

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He added: “America is back.”

Washington state Democrats appeared to have accidentally emailed their sweeping revenue plans and internal talking points on tax hikes to the entirety of the upper chamber’s members in Olympia, Fox News has learned.

Property tax hikes and a new double-digit tax on firearms are among proposals Washington state Democrats are considering, according to materials originally disseminated to all members by Washington Senate Deputy Floor Leader Noel Frame, D-Seattle, in late December and later obtained by Fox News Digital. 

A document entitled “2025 Revenue Options” and a PowerPoint presentation describing how to talk to constituents in defense of the plan were included in the messages.

The document lists proposed figures for an 11% tax on ammunition and firearms, reclassifying storage unit rentals as a retail transaction and a lift on the property tax levy lid for certain Washingtonians.

A PowerPoint slide, highlighted by Seattle radio host Jason Rantz, described the “Best way to talk taxes” – with a chart of do’s and don’ts for lawmakers.

DEMOCRAT ATTORNEYS GENERAL PREPARE FOR LEGAL BATTLES WITH TRUMP

Do say: “Pay what they owe” – but Don’t say: “Tax the rich” or “pay their fair share” because “taxes aren’t a punishment” the graph read.

It also suggested using the terms “funding” “providing” and “ensuring” when describing the apparent benefits of tax hikes, rather than the term “investing in [X].”

“Avoid centering the tax or talking in vague terms about ‘the economy’ or ‘education’.”

One of the new proposals is that of a “capital assets ownership tax.”

It is described as similar to property taxes, but instead would extend the real estate-type tax to holdings in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments.

“We can ensure that extremely wealthy Washingtonians are taxed on their assets just like middle-class families are already taxed on theirs,” the slide reads.

Another line directs lawmakers to proverbially “identify the villain” that is blocking “progress” and lay out “how we can take action to solve the issue.”

“We have an upside-down tax code that benefits big corporations and the wealthiest few, that was written 100 years ago and desperately needs an update for the 21st century. If we ensure Washington’s wealthiest pay what they truly owe in taxes, the rest of us will have what we need — like affordable health care, housing, and food.”

FLASHBACK: NYPD WARNS ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS THAT A ‘SEATTLE-STYLE OCCUPATION ZONE’ WON’T BE TOLERATED

Rantz said in a column for MyNorthwest.com that the plans accidentally shared present a “direct contradiction” to promises from Democrats during the election cycle and lay out 10 total new taxes on residents.

“These proposals come at a time when the state has seen years of record revenue,” Rantz said, going on to claim some of the “tax schemes” may also be unconstitutional.

He added that capital gains taxes actually discourage growth and potentially lead to reduced job opportunities for the same workers pro-tax Democrats claim to want to help.

One example he presented was the departure of Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos from Washington state. Upon establishing his new Florida residency, one of America’s richest men saved about $1 billion in taxes that also no longer go toward funding the Evergreen State’s programs.

Rantz added that the Washington state Democratic electorate often decries the affordability crisis but then goes on to re-elect the same politicians that exacerbate it.

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Seattle’s Space Needle. (View Pictures/Hufton+Crow/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Additionally, as Democratic Gov.-elect Robert Ferguson is set to take office later this month, State Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, slammed outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee’s 2025 budget proposal.

“This budget is not a serious proposal,” said Couture, the House budget panel’s top Republican.

“Our state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem,” he said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Frame for comment but did not hear back by publication time.

Separate ethics complaints filed by members of Congress and an advocacy group against Justices Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson will not be referred to the Justice Department, federal court officials announced.

The U.S. Judicial Conference said Thomas has agreed to follow update guidelines on listing free private travel and gifts from friends, following previous reporting on undisclosed hospitality.

For her part, Jackson has amended her financial disclosures following complaints about her husband’s consulting income as a physician.

Democratic senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), along with Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), had asked for an investigation by the judiciary itself into undisclosed hospitality provided to Thomas by billionaire friend Harland Crow. ProPublica had reported on several instances of private travel and lodging over the years.

SUPREME COURT CHEIF JUSTICE ROBERTS ISSUES WARNING ON ‘JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE’ WEEKS BEFORE TRUMP’S INAUGURATION

Judge Robert Conrad—who heads the judicial conference policymaking body said in letters to the lawmakers that Thomas had filed amended financial disclosures “that address several issues identified in your letter.” 

And Conrad said that it was not clear whether the judiciary itself could make criminal referrals against a sitting Supreme Court member.

“Because the Judicial Conference does not superintend the Supreme Court and because any effort to grant the Conference such authority would raise serious constitutional questions, one would expect Congress at a minimum to state any such directive clearly. But no such express directive appears in this provision,” Conrad said.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SPENT OVER $100 MILLION ON DEI EDUCATION PROGRAMS OVER LAST FOUR YEARS

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen during sunset. The court rejected a bid earlier Thursday morning that would have stayed the execution of Kevin Underwood.  (Aaron Schwartz/SIPA USA)

Conrad noted that Whitehouse and Wyden had separately asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to name a special counsel to investigate Trump. Garland has not acted yet on that request.

Whitehouse in a statement criticized the Judicial Conference’s decision.

“By all appearances, the judicial branch is shirking its statutory duty to hold a Supreme Court justice accountable for ethics violations,” said Whitehouse.

The complaint filed against Jackson came from Citizens for Renewing America, led by Russ Vought, who was nominated by President-elect Trump to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Questions over ethics– including unreported private travel by some justices, have led the court to adopt its first code of ethics last year.

 United States Supreme Court (front row L-R) Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan, (back row L-R) Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pose for their official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on October 7, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court has begun a new term after Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was officially added to the bench in September.  ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images))

But compliance is left to each of the nine justices, leading to concerns the court is not taking its own ethics enforcement standards seriously.

A two-year investigation by Senate Democrats released last week found additional luxury travel by Justice Thomas in 2021 was not noted on his annual financial disclosure form. 

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Fix the Court, a group which advocates for greater judicial transparency, urged Congress to act. 

“The Conference’s letters further underscore the need for Congress to create a new and transparent mechanism to investigate the justices for ethics violations since the Conference is unwilling to act upon the one method we had presumed existed to do that,” said Executive Director Gabe Roth.

On his way out the door, then-North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper commuted the sentences of 15 individuals on the Tarheel State’s death row.

Cooper, a Democrat whose name has been floated as one of the party’s topline names for the 2028 presidential contest, acted similarly to outgoing President Biden – who caught heat last week for commuting sentences for almost all federal death row inmates.

“These reviews are among the most difficult decisions a governor can make and the death penalty is the most severe sentence that the state can impose,” Cooper said in a statement.

“After thorough review, reflection, and prayer, I concluded that the death sentence imposed on these 15 people should be commuted, while ensuring they will spend the rest of their lives in prison.”

NC TO OVERRIDE DEM VETO OVER COOPERATION WITH ICE AS TRUMP HINTS AT AGENCY REFORM

No executions have occurred in North Carolina since 2006 due to ongoing litigation.

One of the inmates who saw his sentence commuted to life was felony murder inmate Hasson Bacote. Bacote had originally filed suit in 2010 challenging his death sentence under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act – which reportedly allows defendants to challenge sentences if they can determine racial bias. 

Bacote, who is Black, had been convicted of shooting an 18-year-old by a White-majority Johnston County jury.

Rayford Burke, an Iredell County murder convict who received a commutation, also reportedly sought relief under the Racial Justice Act, according to WCNC.

Another commutation recipient, Christopher Roseboro, has been in prison for about 30 years. In 1994, Roseboro was indicted on first-degree rape and other charges stemming from allegations he and another man robbed an elderly neighbor who was later found dead along with evidence she had been sexually assaulted.

The co-defendant, Roger Bell, is already serving a life sentence.

A Union County man, Darrell Strickland, was convicted of manslaughter following a tragic Jan. 1, 1995 argument. He also saw his sentence commuted to life without parole.

PA LAWMAKERS DEMAND SCRANTON STRIP ‘BIDEN EXPY’ NAME, CALLING IT A ‘SCAR’ FOLLOWING ‘KIDS-4-CASH’ SCANDAL

Vincent Wooten, a Pitt County man sentenced for the 1993 murder of Edward Wilson, also saw his sentence commuted, according to the Greenville Daily Reflector.

Wooten, then 20, saw evidence presented at his trial alleging he shot Wilson with a modified-to-automatic AR-15 rifle after a safe, filled with cocaine and cash, was stolen from the mother of Wooten’s girlfriend.

Another commuted convict, Guy T. LeGrande, had been sent to prison following a murder-for-hire incident. LeGrande was later diagnosed with a mental disorder, according to Mother Jones, and had previously claimed to be able to communicate with Oprah Winfrey through a television.

Cooper’s commutations follow Biden’s flurry of orders reclassifying death sentences to life without parole for 37 convicts.

“President Biden has dedicated his career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” the White House said in a December statement.

“He believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder – which is why today’s actions apply to all but those cases.”

A man sentenced to death for a 2003 Tennessee shooting said he was surprised Biden commuted so many convicts’ terms.

“I resolved not to squander this act of mercy, this grace of life. I resolved to be part of Biden’s legacy—by the way I contribute to the betterment of society and prisons,” Rejon Taylor told Newsweek. 

“Biden doesn’t realize this now, but his act of mercy will resound through me, bearing fruit that will outlive his time on this earth.”

Some of Biden’s other commutations, including a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, judge jailed in a “kids-for-cash” scandal where juveniles were aggressively prosecuted and sent to for-profit prisons, have sparked bipartisan outrage.

Cooper’s 77 total pardons and commutations over his two terms, however, are dwarfed by the nearly 700 from fellow Democratic Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., who served four terms in two non-consecutive eight-year periods, according to NC Newsline.

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Only three men remain on federal death row after Biden’s actions: Robert Gregory Bowers, Dzhokar Anzorovich Tsarnaev and Dylann Storm Roof. Bowers was convicted in the 2018 Pennsylvania synagogue shooting, Roof massacred several Black churchgoers in South Carolina and Tsarnaev – along with his now-deceased brother Tamerlan — masterminded the Boston Marathon bombing.

Then-North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, was sworn into the governor’s office to succeed Cooper in Raleigh on Wednesday.

The FBI has remained silent on whether it will fire or discipline the agent who initially told the media and public that the shocking New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans was “not a terrorist event,” before the agency quickly backtracked and reported the attack was in fact under investigation as a terror incident. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI’s press office and press secretary on Thursday and Friday, inquiring whether New Orleans field office FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan would face termination or disciplinary action over her initial claim the attack was not connected to terrorism, but did not receive replies. Fox Digital also called the FBI press office on Friday morning but could not leave a message regarding the inquiry as the voicemail box was full. 

After chaos unfolded on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning as New Year’s revelers celebrated the holiday, Duncan spoke during a press conference, declaring the attack was not connected to terrorism. 

“We’ll be taking over the investigative lead for this event. This is not a terrorist event,” Duncan said during the presser. 

FLASHBACK: BIDEN DOWNPLAYS ISIS THREAT TO US, REPEATEDLY SAYS WHITE SUPREMACY ‘MOST LETHAL’ DANGER

FBI Special Agent Aletha Duncan tells the public in a press conference that the attack in New Orleans was not related to terrorism. (Reuters)

During that same press conference, however, the mayor of New Orleans told the media and public that the city did in fact suffer a terror attack. 

“Know that the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack. It’s all still under investigation,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat who has served in the role since 2018, said at the presser. 

On Thursday, the FBI responded to Fox Digital’s request for comment regarding criticisms surrounding Duncan’s initial assessment that the attack was not connected to terrorism, detailing to Fox Digital that, on the day of the attack, the FBI released three different statements that all said that the FBI was investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. 

THE 6 BIGGEST FBI SCANDALS UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

“This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others. The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism,” the FBI said in one of the statements provided to Fox Digital. 

Duncan also said in subsequent press conferences that the attack is being investigated as an act of terror. 

The FBI confirmed this week that the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, had an ISIS flag in his truck at the time of the attack. The FBI added Thursday that Jabbar had been “inspired” by ISIS but that they have not found any evidence that he was directed by ISIS to carry out the rampage. 

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks to the media during a press conference on Jan. 1, 2025 in New Orleans. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran from Texas, was killed after exchanging gunfire with police after plowing a truck through crowds of people. 

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

Conservative lawmakers, Trump allies and voters have slammed the FBI for its handling of the investigation, including Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, arguing that the FBI has put a heightened focus on DEI practices rather than fighting crime. 

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“The FBI has a no-fail mission. There is no room for error. When they fail, Americans die. It’s a necessity that Kash Patel gets confirmed ASAP,” a source close to President-elect Donald Trump added in criticism to Fox News Digital on Thursday morning.

FIRST ON FOX: Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Friday demanding answers regarding the top federal law enforcement agency’s “radical” DEI practices following the shocking New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans.

“While the facts surrounding this unconscionable attack continue to emerge, what we know is deeply troubling: the suspect was in possession of weapons, improvised explosive devices, and an ISIS flag. This horrific incident constitutes a blatant act of terror on the American homeland, and the people of our country deserve to know whether federal law enforcement agencies can sufficiently prevent and respond to such incidents,” Blackburn wrote in her letter to Wray on Friday, which was exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“To that end, I am deeply concerned that—under your leadership—the Bureau has prioritized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives over its core mission of protecting the American people,” the Tennessee senator continued. 

Chaos broke out on New Orleans’s famed Bourbon Street just after 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day, when a truck plowed through crowds of revelers celebrating the holiday. At least 14 people were killed and 30 others injured. 

FLASHBACK: BIDEN DOWNPLAYS ISIS THREAT TO US, REPEATEDLY SAYS WHITE SUPREMACY ‘MOST LETHAL’ DANGER

Christopher Wray testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 12, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)  (Getty Images)

The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a twice-divorced Army veteran from Texas, was armed with a Glock and a .308 rifle during the attack. He was killed after opening fire on police. 

After the attack unfolded on Wednesday morning, Blackburn took to social media to call for the confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, and to admonish current leadership at the agency for allegedly putting a greater focus on DEI practices than “fighting criminals and terrorists.“

New Orleans police and federal agents investigate a suspected terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.  (Chris Granger/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

In her letter to Wray on Friday, Blackburn cited a recent report from a group of retired FBI agents who found “law enforcement and intelligence capabilities of the FBI are degrading because the FBI is no longer hiring ‘the best and the brightest’ candidates,” as well as the hiring of a Chief Diversity Officer at the FBI in 2021, as well as the New Orleans field office hosting a “Diversity Agent Recruiting Event” in July as evidence of the agency’s heightened focus on DEI. 

“Most recently, in a striking example of tone deafness, the New Orleans FBI Field office thought it important to brag on X about how many bracelets its agents had collected. Your decision to prioritize politics, pop culture, or almost anything else over your mission to protect the public has put Americans in harm’s way, and the January 1 terror attack was the inevitable consequence,” Blackburn wrote in her letter. 

THE 6 BIGGEST FBI SCANDALS UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

“Put simply, your focus on woke DEI initiatives at the FBI has endangered our national security and the lives of all Americans. Americans now feel increasingly unsafe because of incidents like the January 1 terror attack, and the FBI’s prioritization of diversity over competence shows that their concerns are well founded. Fortunately, the American people have spoken, and President Trump will soon bring law and order back to our nation,” Blackburn continued. 

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

The FBI took the lead on the case Wednesday, first landing in hot water with Trump allies and voters, including for initially reporting to the public that the attack was not an instance of terrorism.

Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 12, 2023.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We’ll be taking over the investigative lead for this event. This is not a terrorist event,” said New Orleans field office FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan during a Wednesday morning press conference. 

During that same press conference, however, the Democratic mayor of New Orleans contradicted Duncan’s comment and minced no words in detailing that the city faced an act of terror. 

When asked about Duncan’s comment, the FBI directed Fox News Digital on Thursday to three press releases published the day before, detailing that the attack was being investigated as a terror incident. The press releases also detailed that an ISIS flag was found in the suspect’s truck. 

“This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others. The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism,” the FBI said in one of its three statements provided to Fox Digital. 

BIDEN BLASTED FOR CALLING ‘WHITE SUPREMACY’ ‘MOST DANGEROUS TERRORIST THREAT’ AT COLLEGE SPEECH: ‘PURE EVIL’

Blackburn continued in her letter to Wray with five questions surrounding the FBI’s DEI hiring practices, including: How many FBI employees have been hired based on the Bureau’s DEI initiatives; how the DEI initiatives are funded and if any of the FBI’s funds were reallocated to such initiatives; as well as how many individuals were hired during the New Orleans field office’s Diversity Agent Recruiting Event in July. 

Military personnel walk down Bourbon Street, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in New Orleans.  (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

NEW ORLEANS ATTACK: INVESTIGATION CONTINUES FOR POTENTIAL LINKS BETWEEN BOURBON STREET AND TRUMP HOTEL BOMBING

“Has the Bureau recently terminated the employment of any FBI agents who assist the FBI’s National Security Branch counterterrorism and intelligence components?” Blackburn asked in her final questions. “In the online posting about the July 17 event, FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil is quoted as stating that “the diversity of our staff is the most valuable resource we have in . . . keeping Americans safe.” Do you agree with that statement?”

Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies work the scene on Bourbon Street after at least ten people were killed when a person allegedly drove into the crowd in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day on January 1, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dozens more were injured after a suspect in a rented pickup truck allegedly drove around barricades and through a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street. The suspect then got out of the car, opened fire on police officers, and was subsequently killed by law enforcement.  (Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)

Wray announced that he would step down from the FBI at the end of President Biden’s term this month, after Trump nominated Kash Patel to the role. Wray was first nominated under the first Trump administration and was in the midst of a 10-year term that would not have ended until 2027. 

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“Until the President-Elect’s nominee to lead the FBI is confirmed, the American people deserve to know the full extent to which your radical DEI agenda has compromised our national security,” Blackburn wrote to Wray, calling on him to answer her questions by Jan. 10.

A strong majority of Americans believe that President-elect Donald Trump will control illegal immigration, as the president-elect eyes a historic mass deportation campaign and additional border security measures when he takes office this month.

A Gallup poll released Thursday found that 68% of Americans predict that Trump will control illegal immigration. Just 28% of those polled said he would not.

Trump made tackling illegal immigration the cornerstone of his presidential bid, as the country reeled from a historic migrant crisis at the southern border.

TRUMP SAYS HE’S NOT CHANGED HIS MIND ON H-1B VISAS AS DEBATE RAGES WITHIN MAGA COALITION

“We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country,” he said after winning the election in November.

This photo shows migrants at the southern border encountered in Arizona. (U.S. Border Patrol)

Trump has promised to launch the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

The former president has also promised to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to “remove all known or suspected Gang Members, drug dealers, or Cartel Members from the United States” and shift law enforcement to immigration enforcement. He has also promised to resume construction of a wall at the southern border. Construction started in his first administration but was largely stopped by the Biden administration.

Fox Digital has previously reported on plans to increase the use of ankle monitors among those unable to be detained and the possibility of expanding immigration detention near major metropolitan areas. Trump has appointed former acting ICE Director Tom Homan as border czar and nominated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to be the next Homeland Security secretary.

DEMS URGE BIDEN TO EXTEND CONTROVERSIAL IMMIGRANT PROGRAM; TRUMP SAYS HE’LL CUT IT 

President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump arrive on New Year’s Eve at his Mar-A-Lago Club on Dec. 31, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images)

Other issues which those polled believe Trump will find success with include reducing unemployment (60%), keeping the U.S. safe from terrorism (60%), improving the economy (58%) and keeping the country out of war (55%).

Majorities also believe that Trump will cut taxes, reduce the crime rate and “increase respect for the United States abroad.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

Those polled were less convinced, however, that Trump will improve healthcare (40%), improve the environment (35%) and heal political divisions in the country (33%).

A Fox News Poll in December found that a majority of voters were excited about the incoming administration. At least half said they were hopeful (54%) or relieved (50%), and just under half feel excited (48%).

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The survey found the economy remains the most important issue (34%), with immigration and border security a distant second (21%). No other issue reached double digits, including abortion (7%), which was a top issue all year.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who unsuccessfully sought to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson from the speakership last year, said that she will vote on Friday for Johnson to retain the gavel.

Last year, the congresswoman lambasted Johnson as “the Uniparty Speaker,” asserting that he “is exactly what is wrong with the Republican establishment” and had “done nothing for conservatives and given everything to Joe Biden and Democrats.”

But she now plans to vote on Friday for Johnson to remain in the leadership post.

“Let’s put aside our pride, let’s put aside our egos, and let’s put aside the infighting,” she said in a video, adding that it is time for the GOP to join together and “do whatever it takes to make sure that we deliver the mandate that the American people told us to do.”

DERRICK VAN ORDEN TARGETS CHIP ROY OVER SPEAKERSHIP VOTE: ‘CHIP IS FIGHTING TO KEEP HIS BRAND MARKETABLE’

Left: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center on March 3, 2023 in National Harbor, Md.; Right: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) talks to reporters during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on February 14, 2024 in Washington, DC.  (Left: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Right: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who supported the effort to oust Johnson last year, has declared that he will not support the speaker’s bid to remain in the role.

“You can pull all my fingernails out, you can shove bamboo up in them, you can start cutting off my fingers, I am not voting for Mike Johnson tomorrow,” Massie declared during an appearance on “The Matt Gaetz Show.”

President-elect Donald Trump endorsed Johnson for the job earlier this week.

REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ DEMANDS ‘ASSURANCES’ SPEAKER JOHNSON ‘WON’T SELL US OUT TO THE SWAMP’ 

Left: Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is seen outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024; Right: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks to the press at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., after the Republican Conference meeting on Dec. 17, 2024. (Left: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Right: ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images)

“Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement,” Trump declared in a Truth Social post.

Johnson’s path to victory is precarious, and could be derailed if another Republican opts to join Massie in opposing Johnson’s bid.

Fox News Senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has explained, “The winning candidate must secure an outright majority of all Members voting for a candidate by name.”

MIKE JOHNSON’S SPEAKERSHIP TO BE PUT TO ANOTHER TEST IN 1ST VOTE OF NEW CONGRESS

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson shakes hands with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump onstage at a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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Pergram described a possible scenario in which just two Republicans could prevent Johnson from reaching the threshold necessary to win. 

“So let’s say there are 434 members and all vote for someone by name. The magic number is 218. If Johnson gets the votes of all 219 Republicans, he wins. If Johnson gets 218 votes, he also wins. But 217? No dice,” Pergram noted.

During an interview on Fox Business’ “Kudlow,” Johnson indicated that he believes he’ll win the gavel in the first round of voting and is “hopeful for that.” 

House Speaker Mike Johnson stares down a difficult battle to retain the gavel on Friday, even despite an endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump. 

Despite narrowly hanging on to the GOP majority, Johnson’s speakership hangs in the balance after a series of moves to fund the government that angered conservatives over the effort’s failure to cut spending. 

On the opening day of the 119th Congress, the House will vote on a measure to elect a new speaker, and Americans will catch a rare glimpse of the drama that breaks out on the House floor. C-SPAN has been granted permission to run cameras inside the chamber. 

If every member votes, Johnson can only afford one Republican defection and still hold on to his job. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has already said he will not vote for Johnson.

House Speaker Mike Johnson stares down a difficult battle to retain the gavel on Friday, even despite an endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

While other Republicans have refused to affirm their support for Johnson, none have joined Massie in vowing publicly not to vote for him. 

“I’m going to talk to Mike and raise my concerns. As of right now, I’m still undecided,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital.

Trump this week gave Johnson his “complete and total endorsement,” and the speaker vote will test the hold he has on the new Congress. 

Compounding the pressure is the uncertainty about what a drawn-out speaker race would mean for the incoming president. Congress has never certified a presidential election without a speaker at the helm. 

TRUMP GIVES JOHNSON ‘COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT’ AHEAD OF SPEAKERSHIP FIGHT

Rep. Chip Roy said on X that he is also “still undecided” on Johnson for speaker.

“But something MUST change,” he added. “We cannot allow what happened right before Christmas, where a 1500+ page bill was attempted to be jammed through over our objections … all of which could have been avoided with any serious planning & communication.”

Johnson, however, said that he is confident he will attain enough votes.

“We’re going to get this done,” Johnson told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” on Thursday. “We’re shifting into a brand-new paradigm. We have unified government that begins tomorrow. We have the White House, the Senate, and the House. A totally different situation than we dealt with over the last 14 months since I’ve been speaker. So, we’re excited to deliver on the America first agenda. It begins on day one, and all that begins right here tomorrow.”

Johnson met with several potential GOP holdouts in the speaker’s office on Thursday, such as Reps. Victoria Spartz, Chip Roy, Ralph Norman, Andy Harris, Andy Ogles, Michael Cloud and Eli Crane.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, left, shakes hands with President-elect Donald Trump onstage at a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Last month, Johnson scrambled to pass legislation to avert a government shutdown and once again kick the funding deadline down the road to March. Though he was ultimately successful, the House went through three iterations of a continuing resolution and ultimately settled on one that could pass with the help of Democrats, who made up for the 34 angry GOP defectors. 

Congress balked at the original 1,500-page spending bill then defeated a narrow, 116-page bill – which Trump endorsed. Things got worse when the House only mustered a scant 174 yeas for the Trump-supported bill, with 38 Republicans voting nay. 

JOHNSON ALLIES URGE TRUMP TO INTERVENE AS MESSY SPEAKER BATTLE THREATENS TO DELAY 2024 CERTIFICATION

Circumstances grew even more dire when the House actually voted to avert a holiday government shutdown but passed the bill with more Democrats (196) than Republicans (170). Thirty-four Republicans voted nay.

Rep. Thomas Massie has promised to vote against House Speaker Mike Johnson. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Around a dozen House Republicans have not committed to voting for Johnson, and Fox News projected this week anywhere from four to 10 could ultimately end up voting no. 

“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”

Johnson survived a test to his speakership in May when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., launched a motion to vacate, forcing a vote to reaffirm him as the House’s leader. Eleven Republicans voted against him at that time, with another 10 not voting at all. 

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However, Democrats came to his rescue at that time, a prospect that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has ruled out this time around. 

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report. 

In the 1942 film “Holiday Inn,” legendary crooner Bing Crosby describes the stroke of midnight on New Year’s as “one minute to say goodbye before we say hello.” In 2025, Americans in several states around the country are “saying hello” to many new laws and changes in tax codes.

In West Virginia, for example, residents saw an automatic 2% personal income tax cut taking effect on New Year’s Day.

“If anybody says there’s something [else] that could drive more growth to West Virginia than that, you’re out of your mind,” outgoing Republican governor and Sen.-elect Jim Justice quipped of that particular policy change.

However, other states’ residents may face more proverbially “draconian” policies and regulations. Here’s a look at some of them.

NEW YORK

“Congestion pricing”

The Empire State’s heavily-debated congestion pricing law will take effect on Sunday, Jan. 5. 

While Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair Janno Lieber have been supportive of the change, which charges the average driver crossing or entering Manhattan below Central Park a photo-enforced $9 toll, many New Yorkers remain outraged.

HOCHUL SPURS BIPARTISAN OUTRAGE OVER CONGESTION PRICING

“Congestion pricing, the latest in a long string of tyrannical taxes, has been pressed forward through consistent opposition about the burden on New York families and workers,” several New York Republican federal lawmakers wrote in a December letter.

Meanwhile, Democrats like State Sen. Andrew Gounardes of Bay Ridge had urged the congestion-pricing plan to begin “immediately, before [Donald] Trump can block it.”

Lather up

Visitors to one of the most popular tourism states in the country will no longer be welcomed by travel-sized shampoo and lotion bottles, as they will be prohibited come the New Year. 

The Empire State’s ban took effect on Jan. 1, while a similar ban in Illinois goes into practice on July 1 for larger hotels and Jan. 1, 2026, for smaller ones.

While many hotels across the country have transitioned to affixing bulk shampoo dispensers into shower walls, many tourists still prefer the tiny bottles.

CALIFORNIA

Tax hikes

California’s SB-951 of 2022 stipulated that workers will have slightly more money withheld from their paychecks in 2025. The state’s disability insurance program rate is to increase from 1.1% to 1.2%.

The average California worker will see $8 less per month in their net pay.

Gas prices

California Republicans estimated that new regulations taking effect in the New Year will cause “major sticker shock” for drivers in the Golden State.

“I’m concerned Californians will … be unprepared for the rapid gas spike in 2025, which could be an additional 90 cents per gallon,” said state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones.

CA LAWMAKERS SLAM ‘IVORY TOWER’ ENERGY ‘POLITBURO’ AS GAS PRICE HIKE LOOMS

Jones estimated Californians will pay $900 more over the course of the year for gasoline.

Parental rights

AB-1955, or the SAFETY Act, took effect Jan. 1.

The law prohibits schools from enacting policies that require parental notification if their child changes their gender identity.

In December remarks to FOX-11, bill sponsor Assemblyman Chris Ward said “politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety, and dignity of transgender, nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ youth are on the rise nationwide, including in California.”

Ward, D-San Diego, said school districts had wrongly adopted policies to “forcibly out” students and that parents should love their children unconditionally in all cases.

COLORADO

Immigrant health insurance coverage requirements

A 2022 bill relating to health insurance coverage for Coloradans regardless of immigration status will take effect next month, according to the Denver Post.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS NARROWLY REJECT $18-PER-HOUR MINIMUM WAGE

HB-1289 requires the state to provide “full health insurance coverage for Colorado pregnant people who would be eligible for Medicaid and the children’s basic health plan (CHIP) if not for their immigration status and continues that coverage for 12 months postpartum at the CHIP federal matching rate,” according to the bill text.

DELAWARE

Abortion

As of July 2025, Delaware colleges will be required to provide emergency abortion access and contraception or direct the patient to an external facility, according to the Wilmington News-Journal.

A law is also primed to take effect in the First State that mandates insurance coverage and eliminates deductibles for abortion procedures, according to multiple reports.

State Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Blades, ripped the new law after it passed the legislature earlier in 2024.

“This is a procedure you want my tax dollars to pay for. I’m sorry, I think this is evil,” he said.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Stop light

Washington, D.C., will institute a ban on right-turns-on-red within District boundaries. The law is a rare regulation in a blanket context, with New York City being one of the few other major cities with a similar law.

Signage denoting the otherwise tacit law is typically posted when entering New York City from highways like Major Deegan or one of the city’s many river crossings, but it is often lacking on the hundreds of small streets on the grid that traverse into Westchester or Nassau Counties.

In the same vein, the District of Columbia reportedly lacks funding for signage on most of the streets entering the nation’s capital from Maryland or Virginia, which may or may not affect enforcement, according to reports.

The $385,000 in district funds allocated to notifying residents and drivers of the law was never identified, a DDOT official told WTTG.

Bird watch

D.C.’s Migratory Local Wildlife Protection Act of 2023 imposes a new building restriction as of Jan. 1.

Permit applications or glazing alterations will require bird-friendly materials on exterior walls and fenestration within 100 feet of grade level, according to WTTG.

The district is also one of a handful of places where the sales tax will see an increase. In the capital’s case, it will rise to 6.5%.

MINNESOTA

Firearms

Minnesota will institute a ban on “binary triggers” on personally owned weapons, according to reports. That is, the function that allows a gun to fire multiple rounds with one press of the trigger.

RHODE ISLAND

Vaping ban

The Ocean State is set to enact a ban on sales of and possession-with-intent-to-sell flavored vape products in 2025. The law is currently facing litigation but will be able to preliminarily go into effect, according to the Providence Journal.

VERMONT

Global warming

Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act, which initiates limits on greenhouse gas emissions, will take effect in the New Year.

It requires a 26% reduction in 2025 emissions reduction versus 2005 levels, according to the Vermont Public.

The law, however, also opens the state up to legal action from green groups and more if it fails to reach the required reduction level. 

That aspect led Republicans to question the new law. Gov. Phil Scott vetoed the bill in 2020, saying it does not propose or create a good framework for “long-term mitigation and adaptation solutions to address climate change.”

Meanwhile, Vermont Republican Party Chair Paul Dame recently said it opens up the state and taxpayers’ money to undue risk from such lawsuits.

“These goals were unattainable given the currently available technology, but now the state is getting dragged in to court for completely avoidable reasons,” Dame told Fox News Digital.

OREGON

No coal in your stocking

Oregon’s HB-4083 will direct the state onto a path toward divesting in coal firms and market instruments that include coal interests.

PENNSYLVANIA

The laws that weren’t

With many states, like those above, enacting tax hikes, new regulations and the like, Republicans in states with divided government are expressing cautious optimism that their trend of bucking liberal legislative interests can continue.

While Vermont’s Scott has seen key vetoes like the Global Warming Solutions Act overridden by the Democrat-dominated legislature, some states have the opposite dynamic where a Republican-majority chamber stymies the goals of Democrats.

With the state Senate in Republican hands, the State House one vote short of a 50-50 split and the governorship held by Democrats, Republicans expressed relief that legislation such as a 100% carbon-neutral 2050 Clean Energy Standard did not make it to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk.

In the gun control realm, both an assault weapons ban and proposed repeal of the state Stand Your Ground Law drafted by state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bristol, died in the legislature.

“It is time we take an evidence-based approach to our gun policy. ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws encourage gun violence. As such, it is time that we repeal ‘Stand Your Ground’ here in Pennsylvania,” Santarsiero said in a memo.

Another bill enacting a firearms “Red Flag Law” languished through the legislative term.

A policy that would fund cost-free telephone calls from state prisoners also did not make it through, as did a bid for an “abortion protection package.”

FLASHBACK: PA LAWMAKERS DRAFT BILL TO DIVERT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ‘GHOST FLIGHTS’ TO WILMINGTON

Those and several other top-line “draconian” bill failures are a product of GOP persistence, said state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg.

“With a Democrat governor and Democrat House, the state Senate is the last line of reason to prevent Pennsylvania from becoming like California,” the 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee told Fox News Digital on Monday.

“There has been a litany of extreme legislation coming from Democrats.”

As chair of the Emergency Preparedness committee, Mastriano added that the “most egregious” no-pass in 2024 was legislation to address Pennsylvanian effects from the biohazardous East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.

Mastriano, along with state Sens. Elder Vogel Jr., R-Beaver, and Michele Brooks, R-Pymatuning, drafted legislation in July to exempt disaster relief payments from state taxes in one case.

That bill did not make it out of the legislature.

Republicans in the state also lamented the failure of the latest effort to withdraw Pennsylvania from a national “RGGI” Greenhouse Gas pact entered into by former Gov. Tom Wolf.

“Leaving our environmental and economic destiny to the whims of RGGI’s New England states is just bad policy for Pennsylvania,” State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Williamsport, said after the Senate approved the eventually-failed bill.

“It is time to repeal this regulation and focus on putting forth commonsense, environmentally responsible energy policy that recognizes and champions Pennsylvania as an energy producer.”

“Pennsylvania’s greatest asset is our ability to produce energy,” State Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Latrobe, added in a statement.

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MINIMUM WAGE HIKES

Minimum wage hikes are also primed to take effect in several states.

Washington, Connecticut and California are set to see $16 per hour or higher as the minimum wage for most workers. Rhode Island’s will rise to $15, Maine’s to $14.65, Illinois to $15 and Vermont will go to $14.

More than a dozen states, including Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Utah, Tennessee and Mississippi, retain the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

Republicans are expected to change House rules and make it more difficult to oust a speaker of the House, just one year after a single GOP lawmaker initiated the first-ever removal of a member from the position.

Former Rep. Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the House in January 2023 but was not elected on the first ballot. It took lawmakers four days and 15 votes to finally find consensus and back McCarthy for the position, but the infighting did not stop there.

House rules currently allow for one lawmaker to have the ability to introduce a motion to vacate the speakership and initiate a vote on the floor. So, when former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced a motion to vacate McCarthy from the top House post, a vote was initiated, and enough support resulted in his ousting.

Current House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. (Getty Images)

However, House Republicans are seeking to change this rule and make it harder to vacate the chamber’s top post in the future.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RACE FOR SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

McCarthy’s ousting led to the chamber being without an official speaker for two months in 2023, raising the question whether one lawmaker alone should be given the ability to introduce such a motion.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson listens during a news conference following the Republican conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 17, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura)

Under the new proposed House rules package released on Wednesday, Republicans are seeking to alter the rules to require that a lawmaker obtain eight co-sponsors in order to introduce a motion to vacate the speakership.

HEALTHY LIVING, PARTY UNITY, AND ‘TIME TO SMELL THE ROSES:’ CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS’ NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

According to the rule, a member and their co-sponsors must be in the “majority party,” meaning that only Republicans, who currently have the majority, hold the power to introduce a vacate motion for the next two years.

Former Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the speakership on Oct. 4, 2023. (Valerie Plesch/Getty Images)

The rule was blasted by Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who said that the proposed changes would “shield the Speaker from accountability to the entire chamber.”

“The American people did not vote for whatever the hell this is — and you better believe that Democrats will not let Republicans turn the House of Representatives into a rubber stamp for their extremist policies,” McGovern said, according to Axios. 

Rep. Jim McGovern said that the proposed changes would “shield the Speaker from accountability to the entire chamber,” Axios reported. (Tom Williams)

The proposed rules package is set to be voted on once a speaker is elected and the 119th Congress is gaveled in. The first speaker vote is set to take place this Friday.

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Current House Speaker Mike Johnson is seeking re-election for the position. There is currently one GOP member, Rep. Thomas Massie, who said that he would not vote for Johnson. However, the speaker recently received a roaring endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump.

President-elect Donald Trump claimed this week that he has not changed his mind about the controversial H-1B visa program and that the U.S. needs “smart people” coming into the country, amid a furious intra-Republican debate on the visa program.

“I didn’t change my mind. I’ve always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country, and we need competent people,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday evening. “We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in. We’re going to have jobs like we’ve never had before.“

The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations and is overwhelmingly used by the tech industry. However, it has long been controversial for some conservatives, who say it is abused by tech companies to bring in cheap, predominantly Indian, labor to replace American workers.

ERIC SCHMITT BLASTS ‘ABUSE’ OF H-1B VISA PROGRAM, SAYS AMERICANS ‘SHOULDN’T TRAIN THEIR FOREIGN REPLACEMENTS’

President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USAs AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on Dec. 22, 2024 in Phoenix. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

The program hit the headlines last week when Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, argued for the importance of foreign workers for tech companies.

“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk said on X.

That re-opened a rift between those on the right over the program and whether it is being used to attract the best talent or being used by companies to bring in cheaper labor, who are tied to their job by the visa.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said on Fox News Sunday that H1-B visas are being “abused.”

“I think the abuses of the H-1B program have been evident, where you have sort of the sons and daughters of those factory workers who lost their jobs, got white collar jobs as accountants, and they’re, you know, training their replacements, the foreign workers who are undercutting their wages,” he said.

President-elect Donald Trump, left, and Elon Musk pose for a photo during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MOVES TO CHANGE H-1B GUEST WORKER PROGRAM TO PRIORITIZE HIGHER-WAGE APPLICANTS

Trump has previously shown skepticism about the H-1B visa program. During his 2016 presidential campaign, he promised to tackle the abuse of the program and pointed to allegations of companies forcing Americans to train their cheaper replacements.

“The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay. I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements,” he said in 2016.

“I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions,” he said.

He also said that his companies use the H-1B program “and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it.”

Elon Musk listens as President-elect Donald Trump addresses a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

His administration immediately began looking into reforms to the H-1B visa program, and, in 2020, it proposed a sweeping rule that would prioritize the selection of higher wage applicants for the approximately 85,000 visas allocated annually.

That rule would have required that registrations at the highest of four wage levels get to apply for the visa allocation first. Once those at the highest level have applied, then the process would turn to level III, and so on until the spaces are filled.

“Put simply, because demand for H-1B visas has exceeded the annual supply for more than a decade, DHS prefers that cap-subject H-1B visas go to beneficiaries earning the highest wages relative to their [Standard Occupational Classification] codes and area(s) of intended employment,” the rule says.

TRUMP SAYS HE IS A ‘BELIEVER’ IN H-1B VISAS FOR SKILLED WORKERS AS RIGHT SPARS ON IMMIGRATION: REPORT 

The rule was not put into effect due to the Biden administration, which abandoned it and has since proposed a rule of its own. However, it was greeted favorably by immigration hawks. Other rules put forward during the Trump administration proposed narrowing the definition of “specialty occupation” and making changes to the way the “prevailing wage” is set in order to make sure U.S. wages are not undercut.

The incoming Trump administration has not said specifically what it will do in terms of H-1B and whether it will resurrect its first-term efforts. However, Musk proposed “raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically. “

“I’ve been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform,” he said on Saturday.

At the same time, Trump told the New York Post that the program is “great.”

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“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump said.

“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Spending on contracting and supplies is the second-biggest major spending group for the federal government, according to usaspending.gov. More than $1.1 trillion was spent on deals negotiated by the government to hire contractors for work. The category has increased by 19% from five years ago. 

“We expect massive cuts of all federal contractors and others who are overbilling the federal government,” said DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy on Fox Business’ Sunday Morning Futures.

Contracting commercial companies for government goods and services dates back to the late 1700s. Over the years, laws have streamlined the process and helped make contracts more competitive. 

“We’re on the side of change. We got started by helping the Navy and then the Army get ready for World War Two to move faster, to do things better,” Booz Allen Hamilton CEO Horacio Rozanski said. “Now we’re the largest player in AI and cyber in the federal government, and we’re very proud of that whole history. But that’s a whole history of change. My sense is we’re ready for change. The country voted for it, and we need to see it happen.”

VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS ‘ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION’ AMID OUTRAGE OVER DOGE FEDERAL WORKFORCE CUTS, GOP LEADER SAYS

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are heading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Booz Allen Hamilton is among the largest government contractors. In 2024, the company had more than $8 billion worth in agreements from agencies like the Defense Department, the General Services Administration and the National Science Foundation. 

“One of the things we’ve been talking about for years is this notion of outcome-based contracting. Instead of trying to figure out what does everything cost and how to do it. Let’s define an outcome, something that the government really needs, and let private industry compete for that,” Rozanski said. 

Federal agencies are responsible for negotiating the best deal for the government, but contractors have a history of overcharging. In 2014, a Defense Department Inspector General report showed that the agency was charged as much as 831% for spare parts. Another more recent audit found a 7,943% markup on a soap dispenser sold to the Air Force. 

Military contractors are only required to provide an explanation for prices if the contract is worth more than $2 million. If an item is labeled as “commercial,” companies do not have to justify prices. 

‘WE’RE GOING TO GUT THE FISH’: REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE’S MUSK, RAMASWAMY

In 2023, Booz Allen Hamilton agreed to pay $377.45 million to settle allegations that the company improperly billed commercial and international costs to its government contracts. 

“I think part of the challenge is the system. This system is built to manage risk and to get things done with the lowest risk possible. It is not built for speed,” Rozanski said. “We need DOGE to succeed in shifting towards efficiency, towards effectiveness. It’s what our clients want, it’s what we want. Will there be winners and losers in that? Of course. I expect I want Booz Allen to be a winner in that. But at the end of the day, we need to compete.”

The Department of Defense obligated around $550 billion to government contracts in 2024, more than half of all government spending on contractors. Some analysts estimate the department could save millions by streamlining negotiations. 

“They’re for reducing some of the bureaucracy, but they’re also for understanding that there is a difference. To paint the entire federal government, the giant DMV is not fair,” Rozanski said. “There are all these areas where more can be done to do it faster, to do it better or to not do it at all, to get things done.”

Some small businesses say that DOGE likely won’t have an impact on their work. 

“From a sort of an efficiency standpoint, we all of us have to operate at the optimum level of efficiency,” Arkisys co-founder Dave Barnhart said. “I’m not quite sure that’ll have an effect, because we’re essentially already operating as quickly as we possibly can within the U.S. government.”

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: A DOGE IN THE FIGHT

Arkisys has a contract with the Space Development Agency, a part of Space Force. (Arkisys)

Arkisys has a contract with the Space Development Agency, which is part of the Space Force. The Port would give service providers, making repairs in space, a permanent station to deliver cargo or supplies. The federal government has specific contracts set aside for small businesses that helps level the playing field. 

“This particular arena of space and most especially the domain that we are talking about, which is servicing, that is doing something to a spacecraft in space after its launch, hasn’t been done before. It’s a wide-open research area. All kinds of innovation can happen,” Barnhart said. 

Other small business owners say they believe DOGE could help make the contracting process move faster. 

“One day you come up with the idea quickly. You got to get the funding and you got to develop it,” Aspetto co-founder Abbas Haider said. “You put in your white paper, that’s phase one funding. Then it’s phase two funding, then it’s phase three funding. By the time you’re on phase two, it’s months. Someone else has probably already copied your idea or already done something similar. So, why would I go to the government for those funding?” 

Instead of applying for specific contracts the government needs, Aspetto sells its high-tech body army products to various agencies within the U.S. government. 

“In our case, we’re just going to go ahead and take the risk and fund it ourselves, because it would just move things a lot faster,” Haider said. 

Aspetto makes bullet-resistant clothing, women’s body armor and K9-bullet-proof vests. The company has contracts with the Defense Department, the State Department and NASA. The FBI is also outfitting U.S. Border Patrol agents with Aspetto products. 

“I do believe they’re going to focus on innovation. If you’re going to compete with countries like China, you have to focus on innovation,” Haider said. 

NASA contributes most of its funding to contractors to develop innovative products for space travel. In 2024, the agency allocated more than 76% of its budget to contracts. 

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“With the right incentives, the private industry can also bring existing technologies that have already been proven in the private sector to the government to make that happen faster,” Rozanski said. “I really believe that there’s a significant opportunity to save money, to do it faster.”

The FBI under the Biden administration’s leadership has faced repeated scandals over the last four years, including in the waning days of the administration when a suspected terror attack rocked New Orleans early on New Year’s Day morning.

Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was nominated by Trump in his first administration, announced last month that he would step down from his post, clearing the path for Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, to rally support for his confirmation process in earnest ahead of Trump’s inauguration this month. 

As President Biden’s administration comes to a close, Fox Digital revisits some of the top scandals the FBI has faced in the last four years. 

New Orleans police and federal agents investigate a suspected terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day on Wednesday. (Chris Granger/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

FBI initially reports New Year’s Day attack ‘not a terrorist event’

Chaos broke out on New Orleans’ famed Bourbon Street just after 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day when a truck plowed through crowds of revelers, leaving at least 15 dead and dozens of others injured. 

The FBI took the lead on the case and landed in hot water with conservatives and others for initially reporting to the public that the attack was not an instance of terrorism before ultimately backtracking. 

NEW ORLEANS ATTACK: INVESTIGATION CONTINUES FOR POTENTIAL LINKS BETWEEN BOURBON STREET AND TRUMP HOTEL BOMBING

“We’ll be taking over the investigative lead for this event. This is not a terrorist event,” said New Orleans field office FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan during a Wednesday morning press conference. 

During that same press conference, however, the mayor of New Orleans contradicted Duncan’s comment and minced no words in detailing that the city faced an act of terror. 

“Know that the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack. It’s all still under investigation,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.

The FBI soon backtracked from its position that the attack was not an act of terror, releasing statements throughout the day that they were investigating the matter as related to terrorism, including confirming that an ISIS flag was found on the suspect’s vehicle that plowed through the crowds. 

“This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others. The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism,” the FBI said in one of its three statements provided to Fox Digital.

The FBI’s handling of the matter, however, has sparked outrage from elected officials, Trump allies and voters on social media.

Matthias Hauswirth of New Orleans prays near the scene where a truck slammed into a crowd of people on New Orleans’ Canal and Bourbon streets on Wednesday. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

“The FBI has a no-fail mission. There is no room for error. When they fail, Americans die. It’s a necessity that Kash Patel gets confirmed ASAP,” a source close to Trump told Fox News Digital on Thursday morning. 

Other conservatives and Trump allies railed against the FBI on social media, claiming the FBI has focused resources on issues such as DEI training and hiring instead of investigating and preventing crime.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and other conservatives also took issue with the FBI for allegedly responding to the suspect’s home in Texas after the media had already staked out the property. 

“The FBI didn’t show up to the NOLA suspect’s address until 1pm today. We were on scene before. No one came out of the home or answered the door,” New York Post reporter Jennie Taer posted to X on Wednesday.

Blackburn responded to the Post reporter by saying the FBI had “failed” its mission as the nation’s top law enforcement agency. 

“The fact that a reporter has better intel than the FBI tells us all we need to know. The FBI has failed its core mission,” Blackburn posted. 

The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was armed with a Glock and a .308 rifle during the attack and was killed after opening fire on police. Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen who lived in Texas, is believed to have acted alone, the FBI announced Thursday. 

Trump slammed Biden and his administration’s policies for the attack. 

“With the Biden ‘Open Border’s Policy’ I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe. That time has come, only worse than ever imagined. Joe Biden is the WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA, A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Earlier Thursday, when approached for comment on the criticisms of its handling of the attack, the FBI directed Fox News Digital to its three previous statements on the attack that described it as an act of terror but did not comment on the New Orleans’ agent saying Wednesday that the attack was not connected to terrorism. 

“An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations,” one FBI statement said.

“The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism. We are aggressively running down all leads to identify any possible associates of the subject,” the statement added.

This view shows Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Trump slams Wray for ‘illegal raid’ on Mar-a-Lago

Approximately 30 armed FBI agents converged on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in August 2022 to execute a search warrant regarding classified documents in the former president’s possession. 

The unprecedented raid included agents rifling through former, and upcoming, first lady Melania Trump’s wardrobe. The agents seized 33 boxes of documents. 

“He invaded my home. I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I’m very unhappy with the things he’s done. And crime is at an all-time high. Migrants are pouring into the country that are from prisons and from mental institutions, as we’ve discussed. I can’t say I’m thrilled,” Trump said of Wray during an interview with NBC that aired Sunday. 

Earlier this year, it was revealed the Biden administration authorized the use of deadly force during the raid. The jarring revelation added fuel to the fire of conservatives slamming the raid, though the FBI clarified that the same language was used in a similar search warrant for President Biden’s Delaware home.

SPECIAL COUNSEL, IRS WHISTLEBLOWERS SAY DON’T BUY BIDEN ‘SPIN’ ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN LEGAL SAGA

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who called for Wray’s resignation in a scathing letter last month, argued there were “serious questions” about the raid, considering that Trump had been cooperating with investigators with regard to the classified documents. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster/File)

“This raid occurred despite serious questions about the need for it. President Trump apparently was cooperating with the investigation, notwithstanding liberal press reports. He voluntarily turned over 15 boxes of documents months before the FBI’s drastic escalation,” Grassley continued, adding that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton never faced such a raid “even though she and her staff mishandled highly classified information while using a non-government server.”

Trump, in reaction to Wray’s resignation, again railed against the “illegal” raid on Mar-a-Lago.

RAID ON TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO ESTATE QUESTIONED BY SOME LEGAL SCHOLARS

“Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America. They have used their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of which will never be able to recover from what has been done to them,” he wrote on Truth Social. 

Wray testified before the ​​House Judiciary Committee in July and said he “would not call it a raid” on Mar-a-Lago, instead saying the FBI conducted “the execution of a lawful search warrant.”

GRASSLEY RIPS WRAY’S ‘FAILED’ LEADERSHIP AT FBI WITH 11 PAGES OF EXAMPLES IN BLISTERING ‘NO CONFIDENCE’ LETTER

(Anadolu Agency via Getty Images/File)

The FBI’s ‘Richmond memo’ on traditional Catholics 

In January 2023, conservative lawmakers slammed an internal FBI memo from the Richmond field office titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”

The memo identified “radical-traditionalist Catholic[s]” as potential “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” and said that “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) in radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology almost certainly presents opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development.”

The memo was rescinded, but lawmakers scrutinized Wray as to why Americans were targeted due to their religious beliefs, which defies the U.S. Constitution. 

Twenty Republican lawmakers in a letter to Wray last year said the memo “singled out traditional Catholics for their pro-life views, accusing RTCs of ‘hostility towards abortion-rights advocates’ in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision.”

“This specific call out to pro-life views is of even greater concern, considering the slow rate of investigation and response to the violent attacks that a number of pro-life pregnancy centers and Catholic Churches have experienced since the Dobbs decision was leaked in May of last year,” they wrote.

But Wray said at a 2023 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that “We do not and will not conduct investigations based on anybody’s exercise of their constitutionally protected religious [expression].”

HEAVILY REDACTED RECORDS SHOW FBI’S TARGETING OF CATHOLICS WENT BEYOND WHAT IT CLAIMED: WATCHDOG

The FBI also came under fire durin​​g Wray’s tenure when the FBI raided a home and arrested a pro-life man in Pennsylvania in 2022.

Mark Houck, a Catholic father of seven who would often pray outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic, was arrested at his rural Pennsylvania home in Kintnersville by the FBI. The arrest stemmed from an altercation he had with a Planned Parenthood escort in Philadelphia in October 2021. Houck was accused of pushing the abortion clinic escort, who allegedly verbally harassed Houck’s 12-year-old son outside the clinic.  

The Biden administration alleged Houck violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person provides reproductive health care. 

Houck was acquitted by a jury last year after arguing that he was protecting his son. He and his wife, Ryan-Marie, argued that the FBI used excessive force during the arrest, filing a lawsuit against the DOJ this year alleging the arrest followed a “faulty and malicious investigation.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein/File)

Parents outraged over DOJ targeting school board meetings 

The DOJ and FBI were heavily criticized by parents nationwide in 2021 when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo directing the FBI to use counterterrorism tools related to parents speaking out at school board meetings against transgender-related issues and critical race theory curricula.

The memorandum followed the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sending a letter to President Biden and asking that the federal government investigate parents protesting at school board meetings, claiming school officials were facing threats at meetings. 

The NSBA requested that parents’ actions be examined under the Patriot Act as “domestic terrorists,” sparking Garland’s eventual memo, which did not use the phrase “domestic terrorist.”

“After surveying local law enforcement, U.S. Attorney’s offices around the country reported back to Main Justice that there was no legitimate law-enforcement basis for the Attorney General’s directive to use federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources to investigate school board-related threats,” the House Judiciary Committee stated in an interim report on the memo last year. 

Garland testified before the Senate last year that the memo “was aimed at violence and threats of violence against a whole host of school personnel,” not parents “making complaints to their school board,” but the memo set off a firestorm of criticism from parents nonetheless. 

HOUSE JUDICIARY SUBPOENAS FBI DIRECTOR WRAY ON TARGETING OF PARENTS AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS

“The premier law enforcement agency of the United States of America, the FBI, was used as a weapon by the DOJ against parents who dared to voice their concerns at the most local level: their school board,” Moms for Liberty founder Tiffany Justice told Fox News Digital last year. 

President Biden (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File)

Allegations of Biden family corruption not investigated

In Grassley’s blistering 11-page letter to Wray last month, he slammed the FBI for acting as an “accomplice to the Democrats’ false information campaign” surrounding his investigation into “alleged Biden-family corruption.”

Grassley said the FBI “sat on bribery allegations” against Biden when he served as vice president, as well as Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and Ukrainian officials. 

“Consistent with that FBI failure, yet another glaring example of FBI’s broken promises under your leadership is its inexcusable failure to investigate bribery allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, while strictly scrutinizing former President Trump. You’ve repeatedly claimed you would ensure the FBI does justice, ‘free of fear, favor, or partisan influence.’ The FBI under your watch, however, had possession of incriminating information against President Biden for three years until I exposed the existence of the record outlining those allegations, but did nothing to investigate it,” he wrote. 

BIDENS ALLEGEDLY ‘COERCED’ BURISMA CEO TO PAY THEM MILLIONS TO HELP GET UKRAINE PROSECUTOR FIRED: FBI FORM

At question in the investigation was an FBI-generated FD-1023 form that allegedly described a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions. Grassley ultimately acquired the document through legally protected disclosures by Department of Justice whistleblowers. 

That document reflects the FBI’s interview with a “highly credible” confidential human source who described meetings and conversations they had with an executive of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings over the course of several years, starting in 2015. Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma at the time. 

Biden denied the accusations, calling the bribery allegations a “bunch of malarkey” last year. 

“Still, to-date, the DOJ and FBI have neither answered whether they investigated the substance of the FD-1023, nor have they provided an explanation for any effort undertaken to obtain the financial records and other pieces of evidence referenced within the document,” Grassley wrote to Wray on Monday. “This sounds a lot like Director Comey’s leadership of the FBI, which was nothing short of shameful.”

FIVE MOST SIGNIFICANT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE BIDENS IN FBI FD-1023 FORM

When asked about Grassley’s letter last month, the FBI said it “has repeatedly demonstrated our commitment to responding to Congressional oversight and being transparent with the American people.”

“Director Wray and Deputy Director Abbate have taken strong actions toward achieving accountability in the areas mentioned in the letter and remain committed to sharing information about the continuously evolving threat environment facing our nation and the extraordinary work of the FBI.”

Former President Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents after being shot at during a rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)

Wray suggests Trump was hit by ‘shrapnel’ during first assassination attempt

Trump faced a shocking assassination attempt in July while giving a speech at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The shooter, perched on the roof of a nearby building, fired a series of shots that grazed Trump’s right ear and wounded two rally attendees. Local father and volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore was fatally struck while protecting his family.

Wray came under criticism regarding the assassination attempt when he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and cast doubt on whether a bullet actually struck Trump. 

“I think with respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear,” Wray said at the hearing.

Trump blasted him online for the comment.

“FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday that he wasn’t sure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass, or a bullet (the FBI never even checked!), but he was sure that Crooked Joe Biden was physically and cognitively ​​’uneventful’ – Wrong!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in July. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray (Samuel Corum/Getty Images/File)

​​”No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a “bullet wound to the ear,” and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!”

The FBI later confirmed a bullet, “​​whether whole or fragmented,” struck Trump.

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

During his first term as president, Donald Trump saw the height of a violent civil war in Syria, a resurgence of Islamic State activity, and a rise in ISIS-inspired attacks both abroad and on U.S. soil.

Eight years later, many of these bogeymen have returned.

In the last eight weeks, Syrian rebels launched a lightning offensive, wresting back control of the country and then of its capital—forcing longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia for safe haven. Like Trump’s first term, the instability in the Middle East has prompted fresh questions over if, or what role the U.S. should play in Syria—amid concerns that failing to act will further open the power vacuum in Syria, making it ripe for exploitation by Islamic State militants and other terrorist groups.

And on Wednesday, U.S. authorities scrambled to investigate and respond to two separate attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas. Despite taking place thousands of miles apart, both are being investigated as possible acts of terrorism—a glaring indicator that the threat of homegrown extremism remains just as pervasive as ever. 

Ahead of Trump’s second term, the violence—and the unexpected collapse of Syria’s authoritarian regime— have prompted new questions as to how the U.S. might act.

BOMB-MAKING MATERIALS FOUND AT NEW ORLEANS AIRBNB POTENTIALLY TIED TO BOURBON STREET TERRORIST: REPORT
 

Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies work the scene on Bourbon Street after at least ten people were killed when a person allegedly drove into the crowd in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day on January 1, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dozens more were injured after a suspect in a rented pickup truck allegedly drove around barricades and through a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street. The suspect then got out of the car, opened fire on police officers and was subsequently killed by law enforcement.  (Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)

Options for Trump

Trump, for his part, has long opposed the idea of involving U.S. troops in foreign wars. In 2019, he ordered the complete withdrawal of all military personnel in Syria’s north.

He reiterated that view in a post last month on Truth Social, saying the U.S. should “have nothing to do with” the situation in Syria.

“Let it play out,” he said. 

It’s unclear whether, or to what degree, this week’s deadly attacks may have swayed Trump’s decision. Fourteen people were killed in New Orleans early Wednesday morning by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas native and U.S. army veteran who had driven from Houston to Bourbon Street in a rented pickup truck, plowing through crowds of people massed outside the famed string of bars to celebrate the new year. Jabbar himself was fatally shot by police.

FBI officials said that Jabbar, who had affixed an Islamic State flag to the rented vehicle, was “100% inspired by ISIS” in carrying out the terrorist attack, though it remains unclear whether he has any legitimate ties to the group.

Jabbar had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and is believed to have joined the group this past summer, officials said. He was also seen on surveillance footage planting two explosive devices in coolers along the corners of Bourbon and Orleans Streets, and another intersection nearby, though both were later rendered safe by bomb squad teams.

Separately, the FBI said they are investigating a Las Vegas explosion carried out in a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas as a possible act of terrorism. 

The suspect in that case, Matthew Alan Livelsberger, had been a member of the U.S. Army’s elite special forces unit prior to the explosion, and FBI officials raided a house in Colorado Springs on Thursday that they said they believe could be connected to the case.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE TRUMP INAUGURATION

Investigators search the rental home used by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, January 2, 2024.   (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

Should Trump opt to maintain his longtime opposition to U.S. intervention in “foreign wars,” there are other options he could take to try to crack down on violent domestic attacks. This could include cracking down on immigration— a policy long embraced by Trump and many Republicans in Congress—to prevent possible threat actors from crossing the border.

In fact, the Department of Homeland Security told reporters in June that it had identified more than 400 migrants from Central Asia and other countries who had been smuggled into the U.S. by ISIS-linked smuggling groups over the last three years, prompting a flurry of new arrests and “subjects of concern” designations.

DHS officials said the arrests, first reported by NBC, were made out of “an abundance of caution,” and noted at the time that they had not identified any credible threats to the U.S. by the migrants, who may have simply been attempting to find a way to cross into the U.S. 

Still, a border crackdown might not be enough to solve the problem, made especially complex by the role of lone-wolf threat actors and individuals who become radicalized online.

At least 10 people are reported dead after a driver plowed a car into a group of people on Bourbon Street.  (WVUE)

A pervasive threat 

The FBI has focused heavily on the risk of terrorism posed by domestic and homegrown violent extremists, as it noted in its most recent “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland” report. 

These small groups or individuals pose the biggest risk to national security, the report noted—often using easily accessible weapons, such as guns and cars, to attack so-called “soft targets,” or groups of civilians gathered en masse at accessible locations.

The “greatest, most immediate international terrorism threat to the homeland” are individuals who have lived primarily in the U.S. and who carry out actions inspired by, but not at the express direction of, a foreign terrorist organization such as ISIS, the law enforcement agency said. 

Early in December, the FBI and other authorities warned of a heightened risk of vehicular attacks by lone-wolf offenders during the holidays, noting in a shared bulliten that threat actors have “plotted and conducted attacks against holiday targets” in previous years, with likely targets including public places with “perceived lower levels of security” holding large gatherings.

The threat is also not going away. Trump’s first term as president saw multiple attacks carried out by individuals pledging allegiance to ISIS or other jihad groups—even if they had not been operating at the direction of the group itself. These individuals were responsible for the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, the 2017 New York City truck attack, a 2017 machete attack at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, and many more acts of violence.

Vehicular attacks have also increased: Since 2014, there have been at least 16 vehicular ramming attacks in the U.S. and Europe carried out by individuals practicing jihad, according to a report from the think tank New America.

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And since 2020, the number of domestic terrorism investigations conducted by the FBI has more than doubled—a staggering rate that indicates both the scope and the complexity of the growing problem.

Speaking to reporters at a press briefing on Thursday, FBI officials said the suspect in the New Orleans attack, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was “100% inspired by ISIS.” 

“First and foremost, let me be very clear about this point,” the FBI Assistant Director of Counterterrorism, Christopher Raia, told reporters. “This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act.” 

President-elect Trump announced several appointments to his administration Thursday, including the team that will work with his nominee for the U.S. Treasury, Scott Bessent.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Ken Kies will serve as assistant secretary for tax policy.

Kies, who has worked as a tax lawyer for 47 years, has served as the chief of staff for the Joint Committee on Taxation and the chief Republican tax counsel of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Also joining the team is Alexandra Preate, who Trump appointed as senior counsel to the secretary.

TRUMP PICKS MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COMMISSIONER KEVIN MARINO CABRERA FOR PANAMA AMBASSADOR

Alexandra Preate attends the American Federation of Arts Annual Gala and Cultural Leadership Awards at Guastavino’s May 4, 2022, in New York City.  (Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Trump said Preate is an accomplished executive in public relations.

Trump appointed Hunter McMaster to serve as the director of policy planning and Daniel Katz was appointed to serve as chief of staff.

Katz, Trump wrote, is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a graduate of Yale. Katz also served as a senior adviser at the Treasury Department.

Trump’s appointment as deputy chief of staff in the Treasury Department is Samantha Schwab, who worked in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs during the president-elect’s first term.

GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?

President-elect Trump smiles during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix, Ariz. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

“All of them are incredible, hardworking Patriots, who will work tirelessly to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump said of the team.

In addition to the Treasury Department appointments, Trump announced that Benjamin Leon James will serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Spain.

“Benjamin is a highly successful entrepreneur, equestrian, and philanthropist. He came to the U.S. from Communist Cuba at 16-years-old, with only five dollars in his pocket, and proceeded to build his company, Leon Medical Centers, into an incredible business,” Trump wrote. 

“He has helped support many worthy causes, like La Liga Contra el Cancer, and important Medical Research at Johns Hopkins and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.”

HOW PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP COULD PULL OFF ‘THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY’ AS HE ENTERS OFFICE

Former President Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Bozeman, Mont., Aug. 9. (AP/Rick Bowmer)

Trump also appointed Joe Popolo to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands.

Popolo helped transform the Freeman Company into what Trump called “the world’s leading live event brand experience company.”

Popolo also serves as founder and CEO of Charles & Potomac Capital, LLC; the chairman of the board of Pinnacle Live, LLC; and, as a board member of Ondas Holdings.

“Joe is an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner, and also a recipient of the Dallas Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO Award,” Trump wrote. “He is a proud graduate of Boston College, a member of their Board of Regents, and also, a Patron of the Arts in the Vatican Museum.”

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Trump also appointed Cora Alvi to serve as his deputy chief of staff.

Alvi, Trump wrote, most recently worked as the national deputy finance director for Donald J. Trump for President Inc.

President Biden awarded the leaders of the former Jan. 6 House Select Committee, former Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Mississippi Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson, the second-highest civilian medal for their “exemplary deeds of service for their country,” according to the White House.

“The Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others. The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice,” the White House detailed in a statement Thursday. 

The White House announced 20 people across the nation would receive the Presidential Citizens Medal on Thursday, including Cheney and Thompson, who Biden lauded as “intrepid” and holding a “steadfast commitment to truth.” 

“Throughout two decades in public service, including as a Congresswoman for Wyoming and Vice Chair of the Committee on the January 6 attack, Liz Cheney has raised her voice—and reached across the aisle—to defend our Nation and the ideals we stand for: Freedom. Dignity. And decency. Her integrity and intrepidness remind us all what is possible if we work together,” the White House said in its statement of Cheney. 

FBI SHOULD PROBE ‘POTENTIAL’ LIZ CHENEY ‘WITNESS TAMPERING’ IN JAN 6 MATTER, HOUSE REPUBLICANS SAY

Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Dec. 19, 2022. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is shown at left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“Born and raised in a segregated Mississippi, as a college student inspired by the Civil Rights movement, Bennie Thompson volunteered on campaigns and registered southern Black voters. That call to serve eventually led him to Congress, where he chaired the House January 6th Committee—at the forefront of defending the rule of law with unwavering integrity and a steadfast commitment to truth,” the statement on Thompson read. 

Thompson served as the chair of the Jan. 6 select committee, with Cheney serving as the vice chair. The Jan. 6 committee was founded in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by supporters of Trump ahead of President Biden officially taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House.

The committee concluded its 18-month investigation in 2023, after Republicans regained control of the House, and sent referrals to the Justice Department recommending that Trump be criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the lead-up to his supporters breaching the Capitol.

‘RIDICULOUS’: CHENEY RESPONDS TO TRUMP FLOATING JAIL TIME FOR J6 COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol holds a hearing on June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The committee was composed of seven Democrats and two Republican lawmakers, Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom are no longer in office. 

Incoming Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., reacted to Biden’s decision to award Cheney with the medal in a comment to Fox Digital on Thursday, slamming her as a former elected official who “represents partisanship and divisiveness.”

“President Biden was either going to pardon Liz Cheney or give her an award. She doesn’t deserve either. She represents partisanship and divisiveness, not Wyoming,” he said.

Republican elected officials and President-elect Donald Trump have railed against the committee and its leaders for years, with a recent Republican House report calling on the FBI to investigate Cheney for “potential criminal witness tampering” related to her role on the former select committee.

REP LOUDERMILK BLASTS JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE FOR TARGETING HIM: ‘THERE IS A WAR ON THE TRUTH IN THIS COUNTRY’

Former Philadelphia Police Chief Al Schmidt testifies in front of Congress. (Jabin Botsford/Pool via REUTERS/File)

“Based on the evidence obtained by this Subcommittee, numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, the former Vice Chair of the January 6 Select Committee, and these violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” stated a report released last month by House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight Chair Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. “Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge.”

Cheney and Thompson both slammed the report in comments to Fox Digital last month. 

DONALD TRUMP SAYS HE’LL PARDON JAN 6 RIOTERS ON DAY 1: ‘ACTING VERY QUICKLY’

“The January 6th Committee’s hearings and report featured scores of Republican witnesses, including many of the most senior officials from Trump’s own White House, campaign and Administration,” Cheney said. “All of this testimony was painstakingly set out in thousands of pages of transcripts, made public along with a highly detailed and meticulously sourced 800 page report. Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘Interim Report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did. Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously.”

President Biden (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File)

Cheney had served as the third-highest ranking Republican in the House but was ousted from her role as GOP conference chair by her colleagues in 2021. Cheney lost her 2022 primary run for re-election to Trump-backed Rep. Harriet Hageman. 

HOUSE GOP REPORT ALLEGES JAN 6 COMMITTEE ‘DELETED RECORDS AND HID EVIDENCE’

The report followed speculation that Biden could grant Cheney a presidential pardon ahead of leaving the Oval Office. Late last year, Trump renewed his longstanding criticisms of Cheney and the Jan. 6 committee, suggesting she and Thompson could face jail time. 

“Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps,” he said in an interview with NBC. “They deleted and destroyed all evidence.”

“And Cheney was behind it. And so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee,” he continued. “For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail.”

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The Presidential Citizens Medal is the second-highest honor a civilian can receive from the president, after the Presidential Medal of Freedom, according to the Associated Press. 

New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar acted alone and planted “remote detonator” explosives inside coolers in two nearby locations in the French Quarter, just a few hours before he drove a pickup truck at a high rate of speed into a crowd of people celebrating New Year’s on Bourbon Street, President Biden said at a news conference Thursday.

“We have no information that anyone else was involved in the attack,” Biden said during a news conference about his administration’s 235 judicial confirmations. “They’ve established that the attacker was the same person who planted the explosives in those ice coolers in two nearby locations in the French Quarter, just a few hours before he rammed into the crowd with his vehicle. They assessed he had a remote detonator in his vehicle to set off those two ice chests.”

NEW ORLEANS ATTACK: INSIDE BOURBON STREET TERRORIST’S HOUSTON HOME

President Biden says the New Orleans attacker acted alone and had a remote detonator for explosives. (Associated Press)

Biden stated that federal agents are investigating potential links to the Las Vegas explosion, also probed as a terror attack, and urged them to “accelerate” their efforts. Fourteen people were killed, and Jabbar died in a shootout with police. 

“As of now, they’ve just been briefed,” Biden said. “They have not found any evidence of such a connection thus far. I’ve directed them to keep looking.” 

The FBI identified Jabbar as the driver who crashed a rented truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. The bureau told congressional lawmakers on Thursday that it had zero information about Jabbar prior to his attack. They also said that while Jabbar has said he was “inspired” by ISIS, investigators have not found any evidence that he was directed by ISIS.

INVESTIGATORS USE TATTOO, PHOTOS TO IDENTIFY SUSPECT BEHIND CYBERTRUCK EXPLOSION AT TRUMP HOTEL

Authorities patrol Bourbon Street as it is reopened in New Orleans on Thursday after a man drove a truck into crowds of New Year’s revelers on Wednesday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

New Orleans hospitals treated a total of 37 victims who were injured in Wednesday’s attack. LCMC Health has not stated how many of those injured have since been discharged, nor has it clarified the condition of those still hospitalized.

Authorities had been investigating a potential military connection between Jabbar and the Las Vegas suspect, who law enforcement identified to The Associated Press as Matthew Livelsberger.

“As you know, there’s also an FBI investigation in Las Vegas. We are following up on all potential leads and not ruling anything out,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division Christopher Raia told reporters Thursday. “However, at this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas.”

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Jabbar, a U.S. native born in Texas, had previously served in the U.S. military. Authorities are still investigating how and when he became radicalized.

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

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

Here’s what’s happening…

– What to know about the race for Speaker of the House

– Trump says he’s not changed his mind on H-1B visas as debate rages within MAGA coalition

– Biden gives presidential medal to Liz Cheney ahead of Oval Office exit

Trump Allies Blast FBI, Demand Quick Senate Action to Confirm New Chief

President-elect Donald Trump’s allies are excoriating the FBI for its initial characterization of the brutal car attack in New Orleans as not terror-related, before the nation’s top federal law enforcement agency backtracked and launched a terrorism investigation allegedly connected to ISIS. 

“The FBI has a no-fail mission. There is no room for error. When they fail, Americans die. It’s a necessity that Kash Patel gets confirmed ASAP,” a source close to Trump told Fox News Digital on Thursday morning. 

Early Wednesday morning, chaos broke out on Bourbon Street in New Orleans as New Year’s Eve revelers partied on the streets. The suspect, later identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, is accused of ramming a truck into the crowds on the beloved and famed party street, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens of others. Jabbar, who was armed with a Glock and a .308 rifle, was killed after opening fire on police. 

As details filtered to the public on Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials, including the FBI, held a press conference where a special agent initially told the public that the attack was not related to terrorism…Read more

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) asks a question during an oversight hearing to examine the Federal Communications Commission on June 24, 2020in Washington,DC. – The hearing was held by the Senate Committee for Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (Photo by Jonathan Newton / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NEWTON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) PHOENIX, ARIZONA – DECEMBER 22: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. The annual four day conference geared toward energizing and connecting conservative youth hosts some of the country’s leading conservative politicians and activists. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images) CHARLOTTE, USA – OCTOBER 10: Kash Patel at the Team Trump Bus Tour in Charlotte, United States on October 10, 2024. (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Getty Images)

New Year’s Day Terror 

‘RADICALIZATION’: New Orleans terror suspect’s brother says attack is sign of ‘radicalization’…Read more

NEW ORLEANS: What we know about the victims of New Orleans terrorist attack…Read more

A New Orleans police vehicle blocks the entrance to Bourbon Street, near the site where people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 2, 2025.  (REUTERS/Octavio Jones)

AIRBNB LINK: Bomb-making materials found at New Orleans Airbnb linked to Bourbon Street terrorist: report…Read more

WAR ON TERROR: New Orleans, Las Vegas suspects latest in long line of military radicals…Read more

ISIS INFLUENCE?: Pro-ISIS group called on Muslims to conduct NYE attacks ahead of New Orleans massacre…Read more

SIGNS OF TERROR: NYC protesters follow New Orleans attack by calling for ‘intifada revolution’ hours after rampage…Read more

LAS VEGAS: Las Vegas police say Cybertruck that exploded at Trump hotel had fuel containers large firework mortars…Read more

Flames rise from a Tesla Cybertruck after it exploded outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Jan. 2025. (Alcides Antunes/via REUTERS)

SUSPECT IDENTIFIED: Suspect behind Cybertruck that exploded at Trump hotel identified as active-duty U.S. Army soldier…Read more

World Stage 

CHRISTIANS TARGETED: Christians increasingly persecuted worldwide as ‘modern and historical factors converge’…Read more

Trump Transition

2025 SHOWDOWNS: As Trump returns to the White House, these are the elections to watch in 2025…Read more

VICTORY RALLY: Trump to headline ‘victory rally’ in nation’s capital on eve of inauguration…Read more

President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump arrive on New Year’s Eve at his Mar-A-Lago Club on December 31, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump continues to fill posts in his upcoming administration ahead of his January 20 inauguration. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images)

‘LIVES DEPEND ON IT’: Republicans push for prompt Trump confirmations in wake of New Orleans attack…Read more

Capitol Hill

‘NO WAY IN HELL’: Derrick Van Orden targets Chip Roy over speakership vote: ‘Chip is fighting to keep his brand marketable’…Read more

SPEAKER STRUGGLE: Mike Johnson gets public GOP Senate support ahead of tight House speaker vote…Read more

Speaker Mike Johnson giving press conference and speech with gavel (Getty)

CHANGING THE RULES: House Republicans move to change rules for vacating speakership one year after McCarthy’s ousting…Read more

Across America

SPOKE TOO SOON?: Hochul’s Christmastime boast of safer subway came amid string of alarming violent attacks…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

A U.S. Army soldier has been charged with selling confidential phone records. 

Cameron John Wagenius, 20, was charged by federal authorities in Texas with two counts of unlawful transfer of confidential phone records information on Dec. 20 and the indictment was unsealed this week. 

Wagenius was a soldier at Fort Cavazos in Texas. Court records didn’t specify his rank. 

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He was allegedly linked to the online handle Kiberphant0m, which was part of several high-profile data breaches, including the Snowflake data hacking, and which claimed to have hacked President-elect Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ phone records, Reuters reported, citing cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs.  (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images; Annabelle Gordon/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

He was allegedly linked to the online handle Kiberphant0m, which was part of several high-profile data breaches, including the Snowflake data hacking, and which claimed to have hacked President-elect Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ phone records, Reuters reported, citing cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs. 

The alleged AT&T call logs for the 2024 presidential candidates were posted online in November, according to The Verge, which noted that the call logs had not been verified as genuine. 

The indictment didn’t give details on the hacking. 

Illustration of a scammer hacking into someone’s phone  (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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The indictment accuses Wagenius of selling “confidential phone records” online. 

“We are aware of the arrest of a Fort Cavazos soldier,” Fort Cavazos told Fox News Digital. “III Armored Corps will continue to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies as appropriate.” 

“We are aware of the arrest of a Fort Cavazos soldier,” Fort Cavazos told Fox News Digital. “III Armored Corps will continue to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies as appropriate.”  (U.S. Army)

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment. 

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Wagenius will next be extradited to Seattle where the case is being handled.

Reuters contributed to this report.