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Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton was instrumental in pushing Tulsi Gabbard’s controversial nomination to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI) past its first hurdle in the upper chamber this week, and it took a full court press to do so. 

Gabbard successfully advanced out of the Intel Committee this week, with all Republican members voting in her favor, despite concerns they would not. 

Cotton led the effort with a makeshift Gabbard confirmation “war room” and the enlisted assistance of former rebel Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, as well as former Intel Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, according to a GOP Senate source with knowledge of Cotton’s efforts.

The “cordial and calculated” campaign to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee for DNI saw close work between Gabbard’s confirmation sherpa team, the White House’s legislative affairs team and Vice President JD Vance, a former senator, the source told Fox News Digital.

SENATORS LEAPFROG HOUSE REPUBLICANS ON ANTICIPATED TRUMP BUDGET BILL

The group assisted Gabbard in each step of the process. They helped with questions for the nominee submitted to the committee, queries from lawmakers, hearing preparation and even strategized on a last-minute op-ed to address any lingering concerns, the source said.

Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, penned an op-ed in Newsweek following her hearing, detailing, “Why I Am the Right Choice to Lead the Office of National Intelligence.”

The article addressed a significant point of concern for some undecided Republicans: Her refusal to call NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a traitor. 

FORMER GOP LEADER MCCONNELL FALLS WHILE EXITING SENATE CHAMBER AFTER TURNER CONFIRMATION VOTE

“Given the interest by committee members about whether Edward Snowden should be called a ‘traitor,’ here’s what I shared with the Senate Intelligence Committee in the closed session about why I do not casually throw around that term: Treason is a capital offense, punishable by death, yet politicians like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former US Senator Mitt Romney have slandered me, Donald Trump Jr. and others with baseless accusations of treason,” she wrote. 

SENATE TEES UP TRUMP BUDGET CHIEF PICK RUSSELL VOUGHT FOR FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE

Cotton also reportedly advised the White House on how to be particularly persuasive when it comes to courting senators for their crucial votes. He remained in close touch with Trump’s administration throughout Gabbard’s process leading up to the Intel Committee’s pivotal vote, according to the GOP Senate source.

Sinema, who recently retired from the Senate, spoke to two of her former Senate colleagues, Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, who both ultimately voted to advance Gabbard despite concerns they may not, the source said. Also deployed to speak with committee members was former Trump National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. 

FORMER NFL PLAYER SCOTT TURNER CONFIRMED TO LEAD HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Cotton also kept in contact with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and his office during the process, which appeared precarious for Gabbard at times, as well as held meetings with the intel committee’s Republican members, the source told Fox News Digital.

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Before Gabbard’s committee hearing, Cotton met with the nominee, along with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, committee member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Burr, during which they prepared her for more than an hour to address specific committee Republicans’ concerns, the source said.

Now, Trump’s DNI pick will need to overcome a procedural vote in the full Senate before moving on to a final confirmation vote. However, Gabbard’s success in committee bodes well for her, given she locked down the support of several more hesitant Senate Republicans who are expected to continue supporting her on the chamber floor. 

The climate change movement was issued a massive blow on Wednesday after a trial judge permanently closed a Democrat-charged lawsuit claiming that big oil was to blame for climate-caused damages in the state.

In 2022, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed a lawsuit against the country’s largest oil companies, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, Shell, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, claiming that the fossil fuel industry was worsening the effects of climate change, and therefore, causing damage to the state.

However, the case was tossed out on Wednesday by New Jersey Superior Court Judge Douglas Hurd, who ruled that lawful oil companies could not be held liable for worldwide emissions. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reopened.

“Plaintiffs seek to regulate the nationwide—and even worldwide—marketing and distribution of lawful products on which billions of people outside of New Jersey rely to heat their homes, power their hospitals and schools, produce and transport their food, and manufacture countless items essential to the safety, wellbeing, and advancement of modern society,” said Hurd, who issued the ruling.

ENERGY SECRETARY WARNS AGAINST TREATING CLIMATE CHANGE AS ‘POLITICAL FOOTBALL’: SLOW-MOVING PROBLEM’

Hurd said that the plaintiffs could not justly claim damages caused by nationwide emissions.

ENERGY SEC. WRIGHT OUTLINES DAY 1 PRIORITIES: REFILLING SPR, PROMPTING ‘ENERGY ADDITION, NOT SUBTRACTION’

“Because Plaintiffs seek damages for alleged harms caused by interstate and international emissions and global warming, their claims cannot be governed by state law. Under our federal constitutional system, states cannot use their laws to resolve claims seeking redress for injuries allegedly caused by out-of-state and worldwide emissions,” Hurd said in the decision.

Energy experts told Fox News Digital that the dismissal sends a clear message that “energy policy should be set by elected officials, not litigated into existence by activist lawyers.”

“This ruling is a major victory for common sense and the rule of law. Climate activists have been using the courts to push their radical agenda, but judges are increasingly rejecting these baseless lawsuits that threaten energy security and economic stability,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute and former Texas representative, said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.

Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute and former Trump EPA transition team member, said that similar lawsuits could face the same fate because “the climate controversy is a political, not a legal one.”

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“Although Democrats don’t really understand this, political issues are on the ballot box, not the courtroom,” Milloy said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Platkin’s office for comment.

Social media users are slamming a Democratic senator’s impassioned speech opposing a halt to millions of taxpayer dollars being funneled to controversial, DEI-aligned programs overseas.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke at a rally outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday in protest of Elon Musk’s sweep of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“We will fight their violation of civil service laws. We will fight their violation of civil rights laws. We will fight their violations of separation of powers. We will fight their violations of our Constitution of the United States of America,” Booker said. “We will not shut up. We will stick up. We will rise up.”

Trump’s rapid response team called out Booker for opposing cuts to the agency funding controversial programs, which, according to the White House, gave $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

‘SESAME STREET IN IRAQ’: USAID’S ‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’ SPENDING EXPOSED BY SENATOR

“Why is Cory Booker so angry at the idea of making sure American tax dollars are spent to further the national interest of the United States and not on things like ‘LGBT activism’ in Guatemala?” Team Trump wrote in a post on X. 

“Cory Booker is having an absolute meltdown because we don’t want American tax dollars to be wasted on bizarre projects in foreign countries,” LibsofTikTok wrote.

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

New Jersey state Sen. Mike Testa, a Republican, wrote that Booker is “grandstanding on behalf of foreign pet projects” instead of “standing up for the will of his constituents.”

“New Jerseyans have been kicked in the face and forgotten by their United States Senators for years,” Testa said on X. “We deserve a hell of a lot better.”

“Sen. Cory Booker is BIG MAD that lesbian dance therapy for Ethiopians will no longer be paid for by US tax dollars Why are Democrats like this?” wrote another user, Nick Sorter.

The White House released a detailed report outlining USAID spending over the past few years, including $15 million on contraceptives and condoms that ended up in the hands of the Taliban and another $20 million allocated to fund “Sesame Street” in Iraq.

The funds were awarded by the Biden administration to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called “Ahlan Simsim Iraq” in an effort to reportedly “promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding across ethnic, religious, and sectarian groups.” 

Musk has been leading the charge to expose and cut funding from USAID as part of his spending crackdown at the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency. 

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Hundreds of activists, including several Democratic members of Congress, gathered Wednesday to protest the USAID cuts and criticize Musk’s role in the Trump administration.

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., came out in support of a GOP effort in the upper chamber to get moving on legislation to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

It would be a significant departure from current plans for the House to pass a bill first, amid infighting by House Republicans over spending levels.

“I appreciate Chairman Graham’s leadership in crafting a budget resolution that will unlock the ability to pass a reconciliation bill to secure the border, rebuild our military, and deliver a much-needed down payment on energy security,” Thune told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement. 

“I am supportive of Chairman Graham’s efforts to advance the president’s priorities in the Senate, and I look forward to continuing our conversations with our House colleagues,” he said. 

SENATORS LEAPFROG HOUSE REPUBLICANS ON ANTICIPATED TRUMP BUDGET BILL

Earlier on Wednesday, ahead of a lunch with key Republicans, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., unveiled his plan to advance the bill through a key procedural hurdle next week. The House planned to move a bill this week, but leaders were forced to punt after conservatives balked at what they saw as a low threshold for spending cuts to offset the cost of new funding to implement Republican border and defense policies.

Now, with Thune’s blessing, Graham’s plan is primed to quickly maneuver through the Senate, getting a significant advantage over any competing House GOP efforts. 

Republicans in Washington, D.C., are preparing to use the budget reconciliation process to achieve a wide range of Trump proposals from border security to eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.

The reconciliaiton process lowers the threshold to advance a bill in the Senate from 60 votes to just 51. And with a 53-vote majority in the upper chamber, Republicans are poised to push policies through with only support from the GOP conference.

FORMER GOP LEADER MCCONNELL FALLS WHILE EXITING SENATE CHAMBER AFTER TURNER CONFIRMATION VOTE

At the same time, with razor-thin margins in the House and Senate, the party can afford very few defectors. 

The first step in the crucial budget reconciliation process is marking up and advancing a bill through the Senate and House budget committees.

The budget that is headed to the Senate’s committee would be part of a two-pronged approach, with the first bill including Trump’s priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense.

This plan would see a second bill focusing on extending Trump’s tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) later in the year. 

In a statement, Graham confirmed his plan to move forward on the two-bill plan. His office advised that next week there would indeed be a committee vote on a Fiscal Year 2025 budget resolution, which “will be the blueprint that unlocks the pathway forward for a fully paid for reconciliation bill to secure the border, bolster our military and increase American energy independence.”

SENATE TEES UP TRUMP BUDGET CHIEF PICK RUSSELL VOUGHT FOR FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE

“To those who believe that Republicans should fulfill their promises on border security, mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens: I agree,” Graham said. 

“That is why the Senate Budget Committee will be moving forward next week to give the Trump Administration’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, the money he needs to finish the wall, hire ICE agents to deport criminal illegal immigrants, and create more detention beds so that we do not release more dangerous people into the country. This will be the most transformational border security bill in the history of our country. It’s time to act,” he continued. 

While many Senate Republicans have espoused a preference for two bills to be passed this year through the key budget reconciliation process, they have faced significant opposition in the House, where the House Ways & Means Committee and House GOP leaders have pushed for one large bill with all of Trump’s priorities. 

FORMER NFL PLAYER SCOTT TURNER CONFIRMED TO LEAD HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

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House leaders had intended to make the first move in the process. But the Senate passing their own bill first could essentially force the lower chamber to contend with whatever product comes from the other side of Capitol Hill, instead of dictating their starting point themselves. 

Trump has previously said he preferred one large bill, but avoided demanding it. Rather, the president has left it with Congress, urging them to employ whichever strategy can be carried out quickest.

The Trump administration’s plan to detain some of the most dangerous illegal immigrants arrested in the United States in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could raise legal concerns and challenges, which could slow efforts to deport them to their home countries, experts say. 

President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to prepare the facility to house up to 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens” at the U.S. military base. Flights to the facility began this week. 

Around 150 Marines are at the Naval Station and have set up tents for around 1,000 migrants in the other part of the installation. But those facilities with latrines and showers are not yet ready for an onslaught of 30,000 migrants as promised by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

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

Among the uncertainties of the plan, what’s inevitable is that those detained will most likely file petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, which asks a judge to review the legality of the prisoner’s detention, said Eugene Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School who teaches a course on military law and Guantanamo Bay. 

“Nothing has changed in terms of that basic guideline, which means that the writ of habeas corpus, which is protected by the U.S. Constitution in so many words, applies there,” Fidell told Fox News. “And what that means is that the people who are being taken to Guantanamo as part of the administration’s current effort are going to have access to the United States District Court.”

The first 10 criminal migrants who arrived this week will be held under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) control in a separate wing of the detention facility where the 15 remaining 9/11 military combatants, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 terror attack, are housed.

TRUMP ADMIN DEPORTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CONVICTED OF A CRIME IS WILDLY POPULAR AMONG NEW YORK VOTERS: POLL

The arrival of illegal immigrants to Guantanano will almost certainly result in legal challenges, wrote John B. Bellinger III, adjunct senior fellow for international and national security law at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Unauthorized immigrants transferred (or threatened with potential transfer) from the United States to Guantánamo will file a vast array of legal challenges, providing a lot of business for the courts,” he wrote in an article published Tuesday. “Haitian and Cuban refugees previously held on Guantánamo—as well as many of the terrorism suspects—filed numerous suits challenging the detention and conditions, several of which were ultimately heard by the Supreme Court.”

Hegseth said the administration knows there will be legal challenges but that securing the border requires bold measures. 

“You’ve got the hardened facility for Tren de Aragua, violent gang member types who need that kind of lock down. And then you have on the other side of the island of Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, a place built for migrants, for those who peacefully are going to be extricated out of the United States,” he said. “We know there will be legal challenges.”

“Here’s what we know. What President Trump knows is that border security and internal enforcement is national security. Because we were invaded for the last four years under Joe Biden,” Hegseth added. “Tens of millions of people entered our country. We have no idea who they are. We’re going to find those here illegally, prioritizing those with violent or sketchy past and use Guantanamo Bay as a transit way to remove them and send them back to their home country.”

Bellinger noted that all the prior cases by those detained at Guantanamo involved people detained outside the U.S. Those arrested in the U.S. will be able to file additional claims, he said. 

“Unauthorized immigrants detained in the United States also have a right to counsel and to be visited by a consular official from their country of nationality,” he said. “Such immigrants may claim that their transfer to Guantanamo will interfere with their ability to exercise these rights.”

DOZENS OF ILLEGALS ARRESTED IN TRUMP’S HOME COUNTY IN FLORIDA

In 2008, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision gave anyone sent to Gitmo the right to habeas corpus, meaning anyone at Guantanamo can challenge the legality of their detention. The ruling has played a factor that has slowed the government’s ability to complete the prosecution of Mohammed and the other 9/11 planners.

“This is not a convenient venue,” said Fidell. “It’s not a venue that insulates the government’s activities from the oversight of the federal courts.”

Fidell noted that previous administrations have resisted efforts to get the federal court to exercise oversight of Guantanamo, resulting in a series of court cases, notably the U.S. Supreme Court case of Zadvydas v. Davis, noting that those cases dealing with the indefinite detention of illegal immigrants could apply.  

“What you’re going to see is an intersection of habeas corpus law generally with the very robust body of law that has grown up over the years in the immigration field,” he said. “And the notion that people can be held for prolonged periods of time is one that I think is going to meet with a lot of resistance in the courts.”

TOM HOMAN CALLS DESIGNATING CARTELS AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS A ‘GAME CHANGER’

In the Zadvydas case, the high court ruled that the plenary power doctrine doesn’t allow the indefinite detention of immigrants under order of deportation whom no other country will accept. The case stems from Kestutis Zadvydas, who was a resident alien in the U.S. and was ordered deported in 1994 because of his criminal record. Zadvydas was born to Lithuanian parents in Germany, but was not a citizen of either country, neither of which would accept him. 

In 1995, he filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a federal court, which was eventually granted and he was released under supervision. The government appealed and the ruling was overturned.  

From 1991 to 1993 and from 1994 to 1996, part of the base at Guantanamo was used to house large numbers of Haitians and Cubans who fled their countries on boats and rafts to claim asylum in the U.S.

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In addition to legal challenges that could slow the deportation process, housing these migrants could cost taxpayers millions of dollars. 

“There’s a theatrical dimension to this. But this is it. This is an operetta for which the seats are extremely expensive,” Fidell said. “We know that it is costing the taxpayers a fortune to keep Guantanamo open for the handful of people being tried by the military commission, as well as the even smaller handful of people who are simply being held pending repatriation or being sent somewhere that will accept them who are long-term detainees.”

“Congress is going to have to appropriate some money because it’s not going to be free for the taxpayers,” he added. “I think this is a battle that’s going to be fought out not at Guantanamo. It’s going to be fought out at John Marshall Place in Washington, D.C., where the federal court sits.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is refusing to attend the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Johannesburg this year, in protest of the South African government’s controversial land seizure bill.

The bill, which was signed last week, permits South African authorities to expropriate land “for a public purpose or in the public interest,” promising “just and equitable compensation” to those impacted by the bill. Although the majority of South African citizens are Black, most landowners are White — and this disparity has been a topic in South Africa for years.

The law also allows expropriation of land without compensation, but only in circumstances where it is “just and equitable and in the public interest.”

The G-20 summit is scheduled to kick off on Nov. 22 — but in a social media post on Wednesday, Rubio wrote definitively that he “will NOT” be there.

US FOREIGN AID IS SUPPOSED TO SERVE AMERICAN INTERESTS, SAYS MARC THIESSEN

“South Africa is doing very bad things,” Rubio’s X post read. “Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability.'”

“In other words: DEI and climate change,” the Republican added. “My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.”

President Donald Trump‘s administration has been vocally critical of the land seizure bill. In a Truth Social post, Trump called the situation a “massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum.”

RUBIO HEADS TO PANAMA, LATIN AMERICA TO PURSUE TRUMP’S ‘GOLDEN AGE’ AGENDA

“It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention,” Trump wrote in a post. “The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”

The South African government has coolly responded to the Trump administration’s accusations, denying that any unjust confiscation has occurred.

“We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement. “We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters”.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, South African analyst Frans Cronje proposed that Trump alluded to the ongoing killing of farmers in South Africa when he talked about certain classes of people being treated “very badly.” The attacks have been perpetuated against both White and Black farmers.

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“President Trump’s recent comments on land seizures in South Africa cannot be divorced from his past comments on violent attacks directed at the country’s farmers,” Cronje said. “Whilst these comments have often been dismissed as false, the latest South African data suggests that the country’s commercial farmers are six times more likely to be violently attacked in their homes than is the case for the general population.” 

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

The former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., announced Wednesday his intention to run against Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calling the Democratic Party “paralyzed and unprepared” for President Donald Trump’s second term in office. 

In a lengthy message on X, Saikat Chakrabarti said he decided to run against the former House speaker, who is seeking a 21st term, after “watching Trump and Elon (Musk) freely unleash chaos in their illegal seizure of government.”

“It’s become clear to me that the Democratic Party needs new leadership,” he wrote. “I don’t understand how DC’s Democratic leaders are so paralyzed and unprepared for this moment after living through President Trump’s first term — and after Trump and Elon warned us exactly what they planned to do.”

PELOSI DEMURS ON IF ‘EVERYTHING IS OK’ BETWEEN HER AND BIDEN: ‘YOU’D HAVE TO ASK HIM’

While Chakrabarti said he respects the Democratic leader, the country has dramatically changed since her early days in Washington. He noted that Pelosi intervened to block Ocasio-Cortez from becoming chair of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

“When Nancy Pelosi was first elected to Congress, you could buy a home on a single income. A summer job could pay for college,” he wrote. “Republicans believed in climate change and respected election results. Now, the things that defined the American Dream — being able to afford health care, education, a home, and raise a family — are impossible for most people.”

He added that the Republican Party is “overtly conspiratorial and anti-democracy.” 

AOC’S ‘RED LIGHT DISTRICT’ PLAGUED BY CRIME AS DEMOCRAT WHO HELPED HER RISE TO POWER SAYS SHE ‘DISAPPEARED’

“The Democratic Party needs to stop acting like it’s competing against a normal political party that plays by the rules, and it needs a bold vision for how to raise living standards, quality of life and security for all Americans,” he said. “America is stuck, and Americans want real solutions that are as big as the problems we face.”

In his campaign, Chakrabarti said he plans to talk about problems that need solving for San Francisco, the U.S. and the Democratic Party. 

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Chakrabarti, who helped manage Ocasio-Cortez’s upstart 2018 campaign, left his chief of staff position in 2019 after drawing the ire of Democrats when he publicly criticized party moderates during policy spats between progressive members and party leadership.

That year, he tweeted that Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, one of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress, enabled a racist system after she voted in favor of a Senate border bill not backed by progressives. A month later, Chakrabarti described centrist Democrats who blocked a liberal-backed emergency border bill as the “new Southern Democrats.”

They “certainly seem hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s,” he wrote in a now-deleted post.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Pelosi. 

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced a new deal with the government of Panama that will eliminate charge fees for U.S. government vessels.

“The government of Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees for U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal,” the State Department wrote in an X post Wednesday night.

The new agreement will save the U.S. government millions of dollars a year, officials noted.

CHINA’S INFLUENCE ON PANAMA CANAL POSES ‘ACUTE RISKS TO US NATIONAL SECURITY,’ SEN CRUZ WARNS

Panama President José Raúl Mulino promised on Sunday to end a key development deal with China after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

During his visit, former Florida Senator Rubio wrote in a post on X that “the United States cannot, and will not, allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area.” 

President Donald Trump, who has openly criticized the six-figure premiums imposed on U.S. ships traveling through, has suggested repurchasing the canal.

‘TAKING IT BACK’: INTERNAL HOUSE GOP MEMO OUTLINES CASE FOR TRUMP TO Y PANAMA CANAL

It was built over decades by the U.S., but was later handed over to Panama during the Carter administration.

A newly introduced bill called the “Panama Canal Repurchase Act” would give Trump and Rubio the authority to negotiate with Panama to repurchase the canal.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS INTRODUCE BILL TO REPURCHASE PANAMA CANAL AFTER TRUMP RAISES CONCERNS OF CHINESE CONTROL

More than 70 percent of all vessels traveling through the canal are inbound or outbound to U.S. ports, according to the State Department. It is also a key transit point for U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Defense vessels. 

Ships would need to travel 8,000 additional miles around South America to avoid using the pathway.

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Fox News Digital requested comment from the State Department, but did not immediately receive a response as of Wednesday night.

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

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is seeking to reverse the last-hour commutations for death row murderers last month by former President Joe Biden, directing state officials to pursue the death penalty against the inmates.

Bondi, who was confirmed Wednesday, sent out a letter about the commutations to Department of Justice (DOJ) employees Wednesday, accusing Biden of “undermin[ing] our justice system and subvert[ing] the rule of law” by granting the commutations.

“The commutations also robbed the victims’ families of the justice promised — and fought hard to achieve — by the Department of Justice,” Bondi wrote. “The Department of Justice is directed to immediately commence the following actions to achieve justice for the victims’ families of the 37 commuted murderers.”

Bondi said the DOJ will move to first “explore opportunities to provide a public forum for the victims’ families to express how the commutations affected them personally,” calling it an “important step” in building trust and achieving accountability.

FBI AGENTS GROUP TELLS CONGRESS TO TAKE URGENT ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST POLITICIZATION 

Then Bondi said she would direct U.S. attorney’s offices to pursue death sentences against the commuted inmates using state law rather than federal law. She said this step would take place “after consultation with the victims’ families and other interested parties” and only “where appropriate and legally permissible.”

“The Capital Case Section shall assist the United States Attorney’s Offices in implementing this directive,” Bondi’s letter stated. 

TRUMP’S ULTIMATUM TO FEDERAL WORKERS: RETURN TO OFFICE ‘OR BE TERMINATED’

“Third, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is directed to ensure that the conditions of confinement for each of the 37 commuted murderers are consistent with the security risks those inmates present because of their egregious crimes, criminal histories, and all other relevant considerations,” she added.

In a late-December decision, Biden removed 37 inmates from federal death row and reclassified their sentences to life without the possibility of parole. 

At the time, the White House said the move would prevent President-elect Donald Trump’s administration from “carrying out the execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice.”

“The President’s criminal justice record has transformed individual lives and positively impacted communities, especially historically marginalized communities,” the White House statement said at the time. “In the coming weeks, the President will take additional steps to provide meaningful second chances and continue to review additional pardons and commutations.”

Biden only left three mass murderers on death row: Charleston, South Carolina, church shooter Dylann Roof; Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, the gunman responsible for the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in 2018.

Bondi, a former prosecutor and Florida state attorney general, has previously said her main goal as AG is to root out political influence and weaponization from the DOJ.

“America will have one tier of justice for all,” she said at the time.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has recently become the target of Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts to slash government waste and spending, bringing increased scrutiny to the record of Samantha Power, the agency’s administrator during almost the entire Biden administration.

Power, who previously served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017 in the Obama administration after serving on his National Security Council, took the reins of USAID in the early days of the Biden administration and was tasked with overseeing the tens of billions of dollars budgeted for foreign aid. 

“One of the most pressing challenges facing our nation is restoring and strengthening America’s global leadership as a champion of democracy, human rights, and the dignity of all people,” then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said in a statement at the time of Power’s appointment. “Few Americans are better equipped to help lead that work than Ambassador Samantha Power.”

Power was directly involved in the Obama administration’s surveillance of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and sought to obtain Michael Flynn’s redacted identity using an “unmasking” request on at least seven occasions, Fox News Digital previously reported, despite testifying under oath before the House Intelligence Committee that she had “no recollection” of ever making such a request even once.

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

Fox News reported in 2017 that Power was “unmasking” at such a rapid pace in the final months of the Obama administration that she averaged more than one request for every working day in 2016, and she even sought information in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration, according to multiple sources close to the matter.

Power’s tenure at USAID was also not without controversy, even from her own party, including an incident in which she faced a public revolt from current and former staff in 2024 over her support of Israel.

Critics also took issue with her repeatedly meeting with influential liberal foundations while serving in her role at USAID, which Fox News Digital reported in 2023, included George Soros’ Open Society Foundations at least two times, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at least five times, and meetings with several other powerful groups like Ford and Rockefeller foundations. 

Power’s supporters say she has played a critical role in providing U.S. assistance to war-torn areas like Ukraine and Gaza along with aiding the relief of humanitarian crises that have developed in places like Haiti, Armenia and Sudan. 

“The best testament to USAID’s contribution is the surge in PRC-backed and Russian-backed propaganda maligning USAID and our work around the world,” Power said in an exit interview with Politico last month. “And it’s really picked up a lot over the last year and a half. We counted 81 malicious and false propaganda campaigns, really dedicated campaigns, aimed at denigrating USAID and our reputation. So we’re doing something that is getting on their nerves.”

USAID HAS ‘DEMONSTRATED PATTERN OF OBSTRUCTIONISM,’ CLAIMS TOP DOGE REPUBLICAN IN LETTER TO RUBIO

Power, who is married to former Obama administration official and professor Cass Sunstein, added, “We are an agency that has thousands of people around the world representing the United States, both because it’s in the interests of the American people to have health systems that are more secure and can spot infectious diseases and tackle them, to change regulations so it’s easier for American businesses to invest, but also to show up and to show the importance of investing in the partnership — and not investing in a manner that just leaves countries saddled with debt.”

USAID has been increasingly questioned by Republicans over its alleged funding of research relating to the coronavirus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, as well as millions in aid that supports LGBT rights abroad and dozens of millions of dollars for migrant crises in other countries, like the nearly $45 million slated to provide emergency food assistance and economic support for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.

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

Democrats counter that the agency plays a vital role in U.S. national security interests and say it should remain independent. They point to the work USAID did to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War, a sphere of influence that could remain a concern amid China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Tech billionaire and DOGE Chair Elon Musk has been on a warpath against USAID, which is an independent U.S. agency that was established under the Kennedy administration to administer economic aid to foreign nations, as he leads DOGE’s mission of cutting government fat and overspending at the federal level. 

Musk announced in an audio-only message on X over the weekend that “we’re in the process” of “shutting down USAID.”

“On Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST) all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs,” USAID’s website currently says. “Essential personnel expected to continue working will be informed by Agency leadership by Thursday, February 6, at 3:00pm (EST).”

A Fox News Digital review of USAID’s recent history shows that it has repeatedly been accused of financial mismanagement and corruption long before Trump’s second administration, with spending that took place under Power’s reign likely to continue to be a focus of conversation with Republicans.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter to Power in October 2024, sounding the alarm on the “likely misuse of more than one billion dollars in U.S. humanitarian aid sent to Gaza since October 2023,” Fox Digital reported at the time. 

A Syrian national named Mahmoud Al Hafyan, 53, was charged in November 2024 for allegedly diverting more than $9 million in U.S.-funded humanitarian aid to terrorist groups, including the Al-Nusrah Front. The Al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, is a designated terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda, according to the State Department.

The Government Accountability Office published a report in 2023 finding that both USAID and the National Institutes of Health directed taxpayer funds to American universities and a nonprofit organization before the money found its way to Chinese groups, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Eight auditors and employees for the USAID inspector general’s office sounded the alarm to the Washington Post in 2014 that negative findings surrounding the agency’s work were removed from final reports and audits.

Trump repeatedly proposed slashing the nation’s foreign aid budget for USAID and the State Department during his first administration, including proposing in his first year in office to slash the budgets by 37%, which Congress rejected. 

“With $20 trillion in debt, the government must learn to tighten its belt,” Trump said in 2017 while advocating for the cuts.

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Power sat down with late-night host Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night and defended USAID’s work and warned against shutting it down, claiming that children overseas in line for tuberculosis treatment were told to go home as a result of Trump’s executive order.

“Programs that were running, the people we’re depending on, in some cases, for life-saving medicine, like medicine, if you have HIV, that keeps you alive, quite literally,” Power told Colbert. “Or if you’re in Sudan and you have a child who’s wasting away because of malnutrition, a miracle paste, a peanut paste that USAID provides brings that kid back from the brink of death. All of those programs are shuttered.”

Democrat lawmakers took part in a rally against DOGE on Tuesday outside the Treasury Department, arguing that Musk’s actions are unconstitutional and a threat to Democracy. 

“My heart is with the people out on the street outside USAID, but my head tells me, ‘Man, Trump will be well satisfied to have this fight,’” veteran strategist David Axelrod, who served with Power in the Obama administration, said this week. “When you talk about cuts, the first thing people say is: Cut foreign aid.”

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall, Emma Colton and Gregg Re contributed to this report

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

Here’s what’s happening…

–You’re hired! Here’s who passed Congress’ Trump cabinet test and how stormy their hearings were

-Drone footage shows possible cartel on cartel activity near U.S. southern border

–Bondi sworn in as attorney general with mission to end ‘weaponization’ of Justice Department

Stunned Staffers

Staffers and contractors who work with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were stunned and angered after President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – the government accountability unit headed by billionaire Elon Musk – effectively shut down the $40 billion agency on Monday.

One USAID staffer who wished to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital that 80% of staff across its bureaus learned they lost access to the agency’s systems on Monday morning, including travel, communications, classified information and databases – leading to questions about how to repatriate American citizens in some of the most dangerous places in the world should the need arise.

Staffers also feel they were “left high and dry” and “have no idea what to do or where to turn” after being “abandoned by Congress and the government,” the source said, adding they felt the agency was “hostilely taken over by DOGE.”…Read more

DOGE

‘OBSTRUCTION’: USAID has ‘demonstrated pattern of obstructionism,’ claims top DOGE Republican in letter to Rubio…Read more

‘BIG MONEY FRAUD’: DOGE targets Medicare agency, looking for fraud…Read more

DOGE HOUSE: White House calls Democrat criticism of DOGE ‘unacceptable’ and ‘incredibly alarming’…Read more

‘DOGE FEVER’: States from NJ to TX draft similar initiatives as federal leaders celebrate…Read more

White House

GAZA DEPLOYMENTS?: Trump not committing to putting US troops in Gaza…Read more

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Authorities nab White House fence climber just two weeks into Trump’s new term…Read more

STRATEGY SESSION: Trump to holding Oval Office meeting with Texas Gov. Abbott over ‘securing the southern border’…Read more

EO BLOCKED: Second federal judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order…Read more

‘DASTARDLY DEEDS’: Texas Dem launches first Trump impeachment articles over Gaza…Read more

World Stage

DEPORTED: Washington sends first group of Indian migrants with US military plane to home country…Read more

‘WAKE UP CALL’: Foreign policy experts split on whether Trump will follow through with Gaza takeover: ‘It’s a wakeup call’…Read more

Capitol Hill

FILLING THE CABINET: Trump’s commerce pick with crypto ties advances to Senate floor…Read more

HOUSE OF CARDS: GOP rebels push for $2.5 trillion cuts in Trump budget bill during tense closed-door meeting…Read more

SNOOZE YOU LOSE: Senators set to leapfrog House Republicans with anticipated budget plan…Read more

VOUGHT ADVANCES: Senate tees up Trump budget chief pick Russell Vought for final confirmation vote…Read more

MCCONNELL FALLS: Former GOP leader McConnell falls while exiting Senate chamber after Turner confirmation vote…Read more

THE COMING ‘RECKONING’: Trans lawsuit lobbed against Trump admin based on ‘faulty interpretations’: Legal expert…Read more

‘LOSING THEIR MINDS’: Dem lawmakers face backlash for invoking ‘unhinged’ violent rhetoric against Musk…Read more

‘RESTORING PEACE’: Johnson says Trump’s Gaza takeover proposal could be ‘bold step’ in restoring peace…Read more

‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’: Dems’ ‘delay tactic’ to ‘malign’ Patel and stall FBI confirmation dismissed as ‘baseless’ by top Senate leader…Read more

Across America 

CLIMATE CHANGES: Trump’s executive order forces NJ to cancel its first offshore wind farm…Read more

ENERGIZED PRIORITIES: Energy Sec. Wright outlines ‘Day 1’ priorities: Refilling SPR, promoting ‘energy addition, not subtraction’…Read more

LACK OF ‘SELF-WORTH’: New York Democrat eyeing Stefanik’s seat ripped Border Patrol, corrections officers in resurfaced interview…Read more

GOVERNOR HARRIS?: Major California Democrat predicts Kamala Harris would be ‘field-clearing’ if former VP runs for governor…Read more

TOUCHDOWN: Former NFL player Scott Turner confirmed to lead Housing and Urban Development…Read more

‘SORELY NEEDED’: Nassau County executive on police officers assisting with immigration enforcement…Read more

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

West Point has disbanded a number of identity-based clubs at the military academy to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and new Pentagon guidance, Fox News has confirmed. 

Some of the clubs no longer sanctioned by the university include the Asian-Pacific Forum, the Korean-American relations seminar, the Latin Cultural Club, the National Society of Black Engineers Club and the Society of Women Engineers Club. 

The U.S. Military Academy communications office said the clubs had been dissolved because they were affiliated with the DEI office. 

“In accordance with recent guidance, the U.S. Military Academy is reviewing programs and activities affiliated with our former office of diversity, equity and inclusion,” the office told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The clubs disbanded yesterday were sponsored by that office.”

‘INCOMPETENCE’: REP BANKS RIPS WEST POINT AS SCHOOL APOLOGIZES FOR ‘ERROR’ SAYING HEGSETH WASN’T ACCEPTED

Trump has instituted sweeping policies to eradicate DEI across the federal government since taking office. 

A dozen clubs were disbanded, according to the memo, while other clubs have had their activities paused until the directorate of cadet activities can review and revalidate their status. 

WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY DROPS ‘DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY’ FROM MISSION STATEMENT

“More than one hundred clubs remain at the U.S. Military Academy, and our leadership will continue to provide opportunities for cadets to pursue their academic, military, and physical fitness interests while following Army policy, directives, and guidance.”

The memo, circulated around the university and verified by Fox News Digital, says such clubs are no longer permitted to “use government time, resources or facilities.” 

READ THE MEMO BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

Last year, the Supreme Court eliminated race- and gender-based admissions policies at universities but left a carve-out for military institutions like West Point. It later rejected a challenge to the exceptions for military academies, allowing their affirmative action programs to move forward. 

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote late last month in a memo that DEI practices are “incompatible” with the values of DOD and instructed the Pentagon to stop celebrating “identity” months like Black History Month and Pride Month. 

Democratic Rep. Al Green, the Houston, Texas, congressman who made three attempts to impeach President Donald Trump during his first term, initiated his first impeachment effort in 2025.

Green rose to address the House on Wednesday and said “ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not a joke, especially when it emanates from the President of the United States.”

“And [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] should be ashamed, knowing the history of his people, to stand there and allow such things to be said.”

Green went on to say his formal impeachment articles are for “dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done.”

REP. AL GREEN SAYS PRESIDENT IS ‘NO BETTER THAN’ KKK IN WAKE OF ‘LYNCHING’ TWEET

Trump had announced Tuesday the U.S. would “take over” war-torn Gaza and allow Palestinians to relocate while it is being essentially repaired.

“I also rise to say that the impeachment movement is going to be a grass up movement, not a top down… I did it before, I laid the foundation for impeachment, and it was done. Nobody knows more about it than I,” Green went on.

“And I know that it time for us to lay the foundation again. On some issues, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all on this issue. I stand alone. But I stand for justice.”

Other Democrats appeared lukewarm to Green’s current bid.

“It’s not a focus of our caucus,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair Peter Aguilar, D-Calif. 

Green’s previous attempts were separate from those successful impeachments forwarded by now-California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and others – which related to Trump’s 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the 2021 Capitol riot.

One Green resolution centered on 2019 Trump tweets deriding members of the left-wing Squad, wherein the president remarked “they [should] go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing at the time of one of Green’s previous impeachment attempts, Republican staff posted a banner of the Democrat’s own words:

“I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected,” Green had said.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins – then the panel’s ranking member – listed Green’s comments as one of several in remarks criticizing Democrats for trying to usurp the power of the voting booth through political maneuvering.

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“For Democrats, it has been and will always be, to paraphrase Lewis Carroll: ‘Sentence first, verdict later,’” Collins said at the time.

During the Obama administration, the late Rep. Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C., similarly repeatedly called for President Barack Obama’s impeachment over issues ranging from the use of drones to troop casualties in Syria.

Fox News Digital reached out to Green’s office and was told “it is a matter of time” when the articles would be filed.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

After drone video footage surfaced of an apparent cartel-on-cartel gunfight just south of the U.S. border with Mexico, Republican Congressman Chip Roy of Texas is calling attention to the danger still present at the border.

The footage, which Roy obtained from sources on the border, was taken by a cartel drone and shows two sets of vehicles exchanging gunfire near the U.S. border. Video taken by the drone shows the operator eventually drop some type of missile, seeming to eliminate shooters on one side.

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Roy said that the knowledge that cartels own drones with weapon capabilities “open[s] up a whole other frontier that we’ve got to manage and deal with border security.”

“Seeing that and adding it into what we know about the extent to which the cartels are heavily armed and have significant resources… it is indicative of the kind of danger that we’re talking about,” said Roy.

MEXICAN CARTELS TARGETING BORDER PATROL AGENTS WITH KAMIKAZE DRONES, EXPLOSIVES AMID TRUMP CRACKDOWN: REPORT

This comes just days after U.S. Border Patrol agents exchanged gunfire with suspected cartel members near the U.S.-Mexican border in Fronton, Texas.

“We’re seeing more of that,” said Roy.

He noted that as President Donald Trump and his administration take major steps to crack down on illegal immigration and migrant crime within the U.S., he “would expect the cartels to flex more muscle in Mexico,” requiring the U.S. to work more closely with Mexican authorities to quash any increase in violence.

“They recognize now that they’ve got a United States of America that is serious,” he said. “My guess is they’re not stupid enough to have the kind of overt aggression across our border… I’d speculate that they’re going to try to manipulate a great deal of the police and military forces in Mexico.”

HEGSETH, HOMAN TOUR BORDER AS MILITARY HELPS WITH DEPORTATION FLIGHTS, OPS AGAINST CARTELS

In response, Roy said he expects Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will move to “work in good faith with Mexico to strengthen their ability to have the rule of law and root out cartels.“

The congressman, who has introduced legislation to designate cartels “foreign terrorist organizations,” said that Trump’s executive order to do the same is an important step to rooting out the cartel problem both in the U.S. and Mexico.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“This administration has already had more presence at the border than the entirety of the four years of the Biden administration… The cartels now know that you have a president in the country that means business, and they’re probably trying to figure out what their positioning needs to be.”

ICE ARRESTS UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP CONTINUE IN MIGRANT ‘SANCTUARY’ CITIES

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declined to comment on the drone footage. 

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A CBP spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “threats and assaults against CBP personnel are taken very seriously.” 

“We remain vigilant and stand ready to ensure the safety of our personnel, aliens, and local communities, and the security of our borders,” said the spokesperson. 

The Democratic candidate who will run to replace outgoing Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik in upstate New York can be heard in a resurfaced interview condemning U.S. Border Patrol for apprehending illegal immigrants and disparaging off-duty corrections officers and local American laborers he hired to work on his dairy farm. 

Blake Gendebien, the owner and president of Twin Mill Farms in Lisbon, New York, since 2002, was tapped Tuesday to run in an eventual special election in New York’s 21st Congressional District. 

The U.S. House seat will be vacated by Stefanik, President Donald Trump’s nominee to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but the powerful House Republican still awaits a Senate confirmation vote. With the special election timeline hanging in the balance, the 15 Democratic chairmen of NY-21 announced their unanimous support for Gendebien, championing him as “an authentic voice that will fight for sensible solutions.” 

The Democrats categorized Gendebien, who also serves as vice chairman of the Agri-Mark Dairy Cooperative covering New York and New England, as a husband, father, small business owner and former school board member who “will fight to lower costs and secure our borders.” Celebrating him as “an outsider to the political arena,” they said Gendebien “embodies the voice and grit that distinguishes this district.” 

NY DEMS WORKING TO KEEP STEFANIK’S HOUSE SEAT VACANT FOR MONTHS IN LATEST SCHEME AGAINST TRUMP: ASSEMBLYMAN

Republican state leadership, however, quickly condemned Gendebien as a “far-left Democrat,” arguing that the candidate “not only supported Joe Biden’s open border policies, but also bailed out illegals from ICE.”  

New York GOP Chair Ed Cox referenced the dairy farmer’s past comments made in a more than hour-long interview with a local newspaper reporter on March 13, 2014. 

According to the recorded audio reviewed by Fox News Digital, Gendebien voiced frustrations about the labor market in upstate New York. Among his comments, he claimed local correction officers “don’t have much self-worth,” and described North County workers as not having “practical independence and ability to think,” in contrast to his foreign farm laborers.

“Far Left Democrat Blake Gendebien even castigated hardworking North Country workers as ‘awful‘ people who ‘drank too much,'” Cox said in a statement. “This radical Far Left Democrat is a longtime major donor and groupie of leftist, gun-grabbing, Taxin’ Tedra Cobb, a supporter of Kathy Hochul, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and a public supporter of Biden’s inflation policies, which devastated NY21 families. Democrats didn’t do their homework when they selected Blake Gendebien and his catastrophic statements. Republicans will easily hold this seat in the upcoming special election, because the North Country is unquestionably Trump Country.”

In the 2014 interview, Gendebien is heard explaining why he much preferred “Hispanic labor,” generalizing local residents as having drinking problems and being involved in child custody disputes. 

“If it weren’t for the Hispanic labor, I wouldn’t be doing this,” Gendebien said while describing the process for milking cows. “So there’s three Hispanic employees. They would need to be replaced by probably six local people. And it’s hard to find one person that does not have domestic abuse problems, alcohol problems, wage garnishments.” 

“So when you hire these local guys, all of a sudden you’re bombarded with social program stuff like what do you call it? I don’t even – I’m not in that world, so I don’t know,” he went on. “So the court will call you. Is Brian showing up to work? What is Brian making? He has a child with this girl. He has a child with this girl. He has a court date. He needs to appear on this day. So you’ve got all of these plans and these guys have to leave for court all the time because they’re in custody battles and, what’s it called, child support battles. And they want you to lie and tell that you don’t make this money. And it’s just awful. And they show up late. They show up. They drink too much. There is just no labor force out there.” 

Regarding other farm help, Gendebien said he hired a corrections officer. 

STEFANIK LOOKS BACK TO FIERY EXCHANGES WITH COLLEGE LEADERS IN SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘WATERSHED MOMENT

“You probably know that they don’t have much self-worth in their jobs as corrections officers, so they’ll work extra time and get maybe three, four weeks’ vacation. And in that vacation they will do things, plumbing or electrician work or something, just so that they feel some self-worth,” Gendebien told the reporter. “So we gave him all hunting rights. You can hunt all 800 acres and he does the work for basically materials. But he also gets some self-worth. He gets the hunting rights, and we get a guy that we trust to do a lot of work and a good deal. He did my house, he did the barn. He did a lot of things.” 

At one point, Gendebien complained that a Border Patrol agent took one of his workers, an illegal immigrant, into custody. 

“So Border Patrol is up and down this road,” Gendebien relayed to the reporter, according to the audio archived by the Library of Congress. “As far as I know, these guys are illegal. I have all their paperwork, and I’m not obligated to check. Not obligated to E-Verify. So I get the same paperwork from them as I get from anyone else. And we move along. But Border Patrol will profile by skin color, crossing the road and they’ll stop. And then they will interrogate and scream at the person.” 

After Border Patrol confronted one farmworker and took him into custody, Gendebien said he called up the high school’s soccer coach, a 30-year Border Patrol agent, who told him that new Border Patrol agents sent to upstate New York from places like Arizona want to make more apprehensions, causing some friction within leadership at their command. 

Gendebien said the man told him, “I don’t pick up farmworkers, but we get young men and women from Arizona that are gung-ho, and all they want to do is pick people up. And he said when they bring someone in, we have to support them. We can’t say no because then they’ll want our jobs. They want our senior jobs. So they’ll quickly say, ‘You are, you know, you’re not supporting me with this illegal person.'” 

One Christmas Eve, Gendebien said, he bailed out an illegal immigrant for $10,000 so that he had help on the farm over the holiday. 

While talking about how his family came to live in North County, Gendebien said his father-in-law was a first-generation Cuban immigrant who was a superintendent of an apartment building in New York City, while his own parents worked in the Peace Corps in South America and got kicked out of Bolivia with other Americans “when it turned communist.” His parents bought a farm in upstate in New York, where Gendebien said they felt like outsiders at the time. 

Because his family speaks Spanish, Gendebien said they have an advantage compared to other farmers who do not while training foreign workers. 

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“But here I speak Spanish, Carmen speaks Spanish, mom speaks Spanish, dad speaks Spanish,” Gendebien said. “So we can explain things to do. And they’re very capable. Incredibly capable of incredibly practical knowledge and capable. A thing that the local kids around here don’t have. They don’t have a practical independence and ability to think and knowledge like these guys do. Which is too bad these other farms aren’t getting that out of them, mainly because of the language barrier.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Gendebien’s campaign, but they did not immediately respond.

The Senate’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee voted Wednesday by a 12–7 margin to advance the nomination of President Donald Trump’s pick for the Small Business Administration (SBA) administrator to the Senate floor. 

Kelly Loeffler, a prominent business executive and philanthropist who served as a senator from Georgia for two years, appeared before the committee on Jan. 28 and pledged to donate her annual $207,500 salary to charity. 

Loeffler and her husband, Jeff, created a Fortune 500 financial services and technology company together. 

“Like President Trump, Senator Loeffler left behind a successful career in the private sector to advance the America First agenda,” Loeffler spokeswoman Caitlin O’Dea told Fox News Jan. 28. “Should she be confirmed, she will continue the practice of donating her federal salary to charities and nonprofits across the country — and put her full focus on working to make the Small Business Administration a gateway to the American Dream for entrepreneurs across the country.” 

TRUMP CABINET NOMINEE LOEFFLER PLEDGED TO DONATE SALARY IF CONFIRMED 

Loeffler, whose net worth is estimated at roughly $1 billion, previously donated her annual Senate salary of $174,000 between 2019 and 2021 to more than 40 Georgia charities and nonprofits. 

Those organizations included food banks, faith groups and organizations opposed to abortion, foster care/adoption groups as well as organizations promoting health care, agriculture, education, law enforcement and disaster relief. 

Loeffler also sparred with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, during her confirmation hearing over the Trump administration’s announcement that it would freeze federal funds and grants. 

On Jan. 27, the Office of Management and Budget released a memo ordering a pause on all federal grants and loans aiming to eradicate “wokeness” and the “weaponization of government” to improve government efficiency.

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

The White House pulled the memo on Jan. 29, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the move didn’t equate a “recission of the federal funding freeze.” 

Markey asked Loeffler whether she believed the move was lawful or not, amid concerns from members of Congress that the Trump administration attempted to circumvent Congress and withhold funds. 

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“I fully agree with President Trump’s decision to stop wasteful spending,” Loeffler told Markey. “It resulted in a landslide victory that many Americans were waiting for relief against excessive government spending.” 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

A second federal judge moved to block President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship Wednesday, with the judge saying no court has yet sided with the administration on the issue.

“Citizenship is a most precious right, expressly granted by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,” U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman wrote in her ruling.

This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.

“Didn’t Earn It,” or “Definitely Earned It?”

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is standing firm on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies, despite mounting pushback against the controversial programs and initiatives.

Some online commentators labeled Scott as a “DEI mayor” in the wake of the Baltimore Bridge collapse last year when a container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, resulting in six people losing their lives. 

Scott, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he saw the attacks on him as part of a broader backlash against Black Americans and other historically disenfranchised groups in leadership. He said he rejects the premise and insists he was duly elected to lead the Charm City. He was reelected to office in November after defeating Republican challenger Shannon Wright.

AFRICAN AMERICAN GROUPS CALL FOR DITCHING ‘RACIST’ FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, NAMING NEW BRIDGE AFTER LATE CONGRESSMAN

Scott is now doubling down on DEI and said he is launching a “Definitely Earned It” campaign for Black History Month, which is taking place throughout February. The term is a play on the words “Didn’t Earn It,” which opponents of DEI use to highlight what they say is its lack of meritocracy baked into DEI. 

He said he wants to set the record straight on DEI policies, which he views as enacting American values.

“Because we have to be bigger and Blacker and louder than ever,” Scott told The Associated Press in an interview addressing why he is launching the campaign. 

“We cannot allow that darkness to try to come and overtake our light, because darkness can’t overtake light, only light can overcome darkness. Don’t run away, don’t hide, don’t shrink in the moment, be who you are and push back in every single way that you can.”

Scott said that his “Definitely Earned It” campaign will be an expansion of Black History Month, highlighting the impact Black people have had on the country.

MARYLAND’S RISING STAR DEM GOVERNOR FACES FIRST NATIONAL TEST AFTER BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSE

“We’ll be noting that these people weren’t DEI — well, that they were DEI, but DEI in the sense that they definitely earned it,” Scott told The AP. 

“They earned every single thing that they accomplished because it wasn’t given to them. We can show people what it truly means when you have to work 10 times as hard, when you have to work through systems that were built up for you to fail, when you have to make sure that you leave the door open for other folks coming behind you. And in my case, DEI means duly elected incumbent, but I also definitely earned it.”

The Trump administration is on a mission to gut all programs and initiatives associated with DEI within the federal government, arguing it has lowered standards and promoted a woke agenda.   

In his first week back in office, Trump signed an executive order ending DEI offices and initiatives across the federal workforce. Last week, Trump signed two executive orders banning “radical gender ideology” and DEI initiatives from all branches of the U.S. military.

TRUMP DOD CREATES TASK FORCE TO ABOLISH DEI OFFICES THAT ‘PROMOTE SYSTEMIC RACISM’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth zeroed in on the controversial programs too, releasing a memorandum last week stating that DEI is incompatible with Department of Defense (DoD) values, and created a task force to address the abolition of the program.

Significant brands such as Walmart, McDonald’s, Amazon, Ford and Lowe’s have all begun rolling back DEI initiatives in response to a cultural shift that included customer backlash, pressure from conservative-leaning groups and activists, and possible legal ramifications. 

DEI came into sharp focus again last week when President Donald Trump said the DC plane crash disaster — between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet colliding midair near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport — was caused by DEI, though he acknowledged that the cause of the crash has yet to be determined.

Trump highlighted efforts by the Biden administration to lower aviation standards and said he believed DEI played a factor because he has “common sense.”

Scott said he faced backlash over the Baltimore Bridge collapse without any justification.

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He noted that the bridge was built before he was born, built by very few minorities and the ship was not piloted by a Black person. 

“What these folks who unfortunately think that way think is that unless you are a straight white male from a certain background — because I want my poor white brothers and sisters to understand that they’re not talking about them either, right — unless you are from a certain background, wealthy historic families with straight white Christian men, then you should never be in a position of power and that your thoughts and opinions don’t matter,” Scott said. 

“And that is the saddest part of it all.”

Fox News’ Alexandra Koch and Breck Dumas contributed to this report.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is arguing that President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk’s actions constitute “illegal seizures of power,” sparking a “constitutional crisis.” 

In an interview with National Public Radio, Murphy condemned efforts by the White House Office of Management and Budget to freeze funding already approved by Congress, as well as the Trump administration moving to review, restructure and potentially abolish parts of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as thousands of federal employees face lay-offs, and U.S. taxpayer-funded programs are suspended around the globe. 

Murphy said Democrats should not support “a single nominee” appointed by Trump and “should not grant expedited process to any nominees until this crisis passes.” 

“I worry that the American public is not going to rise up against this seizure of power if they see Democrats collaborating with Republicans on the floor of the Senate on a regular basis to pass legislation or support nominees,” Murphy said. “That’s the essential thing that has to happen here. The people of this country need to start showing up. And we saw that happening this weekend. I saw town halls for my colleagues packed to the gills. Yesterday, we did a press conference outside of USAID that must have had 500 people at it. But I think you’re going to start to see people drawing a line here that will put pressure on Republicans.” 

SECRETARY OF STATE RUBIO CONFIRMS BECOMING ACTING USAID CHIEF

The senator said his Republican colleagues should also feel pressure to speak out against the administration. 

“The focus has to be on Republicans right now and why they have been completely and utterly silenced,” Murphy said. “I do not want all of the pressure to be on Democrats to figure this out when Republicans should care just as much about democracy as Democrats do.”

“The president of the United States does not have the power unilaterally to suspend all federal programs,” Murphy said. “He certainly does not have the power to suspend those programs and then decide on his own which entities get money and which don’t. The president doesn’t have the power to do that because that’s an extraordinary power to be invested in one person. The president could use that power to send money to his friends, to deny money to his enemies, to send money only to Republican states and not to Democratic states. The founders thought that that was a corrupting power that one person should not have.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

USAID MISSIONS OVERSEAS ORDERED TO SHUT DOWN, STAFF BEING RECALLED: REPORT

Murphy also accused Trump of being in violation of court orders by refusing to turn the spending back on. As for USAID, the senator said Trump “has gone as far to essentially shutter the entire agency, laying off 60% of the people in many bureaus, telling employees yesterday that none of them should show up for work.” 

“That is unconstitutional” the senator said, speculating that Trump “may be making a guess” that the U.S. Supreme Court will give him the power to shutter agencies. 

“I don’t think that we should just let the hyperbole sit on the side, because when people hear the President of the United States say that there’s corruption at USAID. When they hear Elon Musk say it’s a criminal enterprise, and it goes uncontested by either the media or Democrats, they believe it. I mean, that’s just an outright lie,” Murphy said. “So the president and his billionaire advisers are literally making things up out of thin air because they want to seize control of federal government spending so that they can reward their friends and Elon Musk’s friends and punish their enemies so as to suppress political dissent and destroy democracy in this country. That’s why this is a constitutional crisis.” 

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“Right now our highest priority is making sure that democracy survives this assault on the Constitution,” Murphy said. “I can only speak for myself. I can’t tell you what every single Democrat is willing to do. I’m not going to vote for any more nominees. We are also vigorously pursuing court actions to try to shut down many of these illegal seizures of power. And I do think so far, Republicans have not joined us. But if we are able to muster real public sentiment against these seizures of power, I think that that may be enough to get Republicans to join us and on many of these nominations and pieces of legislation we ultimately don’t need. 20 Republicans remain and just a handful.” 

Singer and songwriter Joy Villa, well-known for her contentious attire at Grammy Award shows, strutted the red carpet once again on Sunday in a gown that served up a strong message.

Villa was spotted at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in a gold dress and necklace dispersed with images of the DOGE Shiba Inu dog meme, a necklace featuring his face and a red hat that read “The hat stays on.”

“I was kind of a walking meme,” Villa told Fox News Digital. “Obviously, I’m a MAGA girl and MAGA and crypto are starting to bridge the gap.”

JOY VILLA TURNS HEADS WITH PRO-LIFE OUTFIT AT THE GRAMMYS

“Cryptocurrency represents freedom,” she added. “We can disengage from the big banks. As artists, we can dictate our own financial independence.”

The dress was tailored by atelier dress designer Andre Soriano, who also curated the controversial “Make America Great Again” dress Villa first wore to the 2017 Grammys.

“I’ve had people try to snatch my MAGA hats off,” Villa said.

Villa said that among the vicious rhetoric she has received since expressing her support for President Donald Trump and his policies eight years ago are threats of sexual assault and death in addition to racial slurs. Despite having experienced vocal and physical backlash, Villa said the hat sends a message of her courage, resilience and vibrancy.

‘MAGA’ DRESS DESIGNER FORCED TO REMOVE TRUMP SIGNS FROM BUSINESS, RESIDENCE WHEN ‘KAREN’ CALLED POLICE

“I don’t worship Trump, but I worship Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, and I know that God gave me a voice to speak in Hollywood as an artist, as an actress, as a musician,” Villa told Fox News Digital. “The red carpet is my battlefield.”

A focal point of Villa’s conservative messaging at high-profile events is her religious devotion.

“I shared Jesus Christ with every single person I interviewed and none of them posted that,” she said.

“America needs to bless God because the fight is not over yet,” she added. “We got to stop aborting babies. We got to put prayer back in schools. Nobody needs to have their religion demonized and, for some reason, you can say every other name at the Grammys or the red carpet awards except for Jesus Christ.”

SINGER JOY VILLA MAKES A POLITICAL FASHION STATEMENT AGAINST PLANNED PARENTHOOD

While Villa’s remarks about religion were passed over by the media, her message in support of the deportations of illegal immigrants in the U.S. was publicized.

“I’m a proud Afro-Latina,” she said. “I know being in the Latina community, being a woman of color, I know how much illegal immigration hurts us, and people won’t talk about that.”

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has acted on his promise of mass deportations and cracked down on illegal immigration. This has included ending deportation protection for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and deporting thousands of illegal immigrants to Mexico.

“It is a crime to come here illegally,” Villa said. “I’ve traveled to 39 countries and in every single one of them I had to get the proper documentation and show my ID.”

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Villa scrutinized actress Selena Gomez for taking to social media recently to cry about President Trump’s swift action removing illegal immigrants.

“Girl, sit all the way down,” Villa said. “You are an American citizen and those are not your people.”

“Deport everyone who’s coming here illegally,” she said.