OpenAI has partnered with a new AI initiative led by a group co-founded with outgoing Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry that has pushed left-wing causes and has several board members aligned with Democrats. 

OpenAI, led by CEO Sam Altman, is backing an initiative known as AI 2030, which is aimed at shaping “public dialogue about U.S. competition against China on AI,” Politico reported in October.

The initiative is led by the “non-partisan” think tank American Security Project (ASP), where Kerry was a founding member and served two stints on the board of directors. 

ASP has promoted the idea that climate change is a national security threat, and argued on its website that pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal was a bad idea that “harms national security.” The group previously received a $500,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation “for use by its World War Zero initiative, an effort to achieve action and mobilization through awareness and public education to halt the increase of global carbon emissions.”  The Rockefeller Foundation has dished out tens of millions of dollars to left-wing causes.

BIDEN ISSUES SECOND AI ACTION DURING FINAL WEEK IN OFFICE WITH EXECUTIVE ORDER FAST-TRACKING US INFRASTRUCTURE

Kerry’s former chief of staff David Wade, who gave Hunter Biden rapid response help as the Burisma scandal swirled, currently sits on the board of directors and recently authored an op-ed in The Hill explaining how AI in the U.S. has reached its “Sputnik moment,” outlining the need to compete with China on AI.

Former Obama Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who called then-President Trump an “embarrassment” in 2018, also sits on the board of ASP.

ELON MUSK, AI AND TECH TITANS, VENTURE CAPITALISTS INVITED TO PRE-INAUGURATION DINNER AT DAWN OF TRUMP ERA

Rep, Don Beyer, D-Va., who is also on the board at ASP, has publicly opposed Trump’s tariff policies, calling them “idiotic” and “illegal” in a 2023 press release.

In 2018, ASP promoted an op-ed by Board Member Matthew Wallin in which he criticized Trump’s diplomatic tactics against Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

In 2017, Wallin amplified the debunked media narrative in a post on X, then Twitter, that Trump called White supremacists at the deadly Charlottesville rally “good people.”

Chris Lehane, who serves as OpenAI’s Head of Global Policy, is the author of the infamous and controversial “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” memo promoted by then-first lady Hillary Clinton dismissing the Monica Lewinsky scandal as part of a right-wing media conspiracy. 

Along with being a longtime Democratic Party consultant, Lehane has recently contributed money to help former Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. 

Altman recently followed other tech titans and made a substantial $1 million gift to Trump’s inauguration in his personal capacity, but has faced scrutiny for previous high-dollar donations to left-wing efforts, including a $250,000 donation to a Democratic super PAC and opposition research firm American Bridge during the 2020 election. 

OPENAI CEO SAM ALTMAN RINGS IN 2025 WITH CRYPTIC, CONCERNING TWEET ABOUT AI’S FUTURE

Altman has donated to hundreds of Democrats in recent years compared to just one Republican, Newsweek reported this past summer. He was also recently tapped to be a co-chair for the incoming Democratic mayor of San Francisco’s transition team. 

In addition to hosting a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang at his San Francisco home in late 2019, Altman has donated over $1 million to Democrats and Democratic groups, including $600,000 to the Sen. Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, $100,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and over $150,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He also gave thousands to state Democratic parties and top Democrats in the House and Senate.

In 2014, Altman co-hosted a fundraiser for the DNC at Y Combinator’s offices in Mountain View, California, which was headlined by then-President Obama.

Following Trump’s victory in November, Altman posted on X, “congrats to President Trump. i wish for his huge success in the job.”

“It is critically important that the US maintains its lead in developing AI with democratic values,” he added. 

During Altman’s tenure from 2014 to 2019 as the CEO of Y Combinator, an incubator startup that launched Airbnb, DoorDash and DropBox, he talked about China in multiple blog posts and interviews. In 2017, Altman said that he “felt more comfortable discussing controversial ideas in Beijing than in San Francisco” and that he felt like an expansion into China was “important” because “some of the most talented entrepreneurs” that he has met have been operating there. 

Altman’s résumé and AI efforts have drawn the ire of Trump ally Elon Musk in recent years. Musk said last year, “I don’t trust OpenAI. I don’t trust Sam Altman. And I don’t think we ought to have the most powerful AI in the world controlled by someone who is not trustworthy.”

Musk, who has been involved with a highly publicized legal tussle with Altman, has also said that OpenAI’s ChatGPT function is infected with the “woke virus.”

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot whose core function is to mimic a human in conversation. Users across the world have used ChatGPT to write emails, debug computer programs, answer homework questions, play games, write stories and song lyrics, and much more. 

“It is going to eliminate a lot of current jobs, that’s true. We can make much better ones. The reason to develop AI at all, in terms of impact on our lives and improving our lives and upside, this will be the greatest technology humanity has yet developed,” Altman said in a 2023 interview with ABC News. “The promise of this technology, one of the ones that I’m most excited about, is the ability to provide individual learning — great individual learning for each student.”

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

In recent months, OpenAI has reportedly been quietly pitching its products to the U.S. military and pursuing defense contracts, Forbes reported.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for OpenAI said, “America has to win the AI race, and that is why Americans from both sides of the aisle are united in supporting policies that help the US maintain its competitive edge against China.” 

“ASP is a nearly twenty-year-old bipartisan organization that works with legislators, retired flag officers, subject matter experts, and groups from across the political spectrum to produce high quality research and forge bipartisan consensus on emerging threats to our national security,” an ASP spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“While OpenAI is one of many donors for AI Imperative 2030, we ensure an equal balance of opinions informed by independent experts and Consensus for American Security members, including Julia Nesheiwat, Ph.D., former Trump Homeland Security Advisor, and Neil Chatterjee, former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under Trump. We also recently hosted a roundtable featuring Nazak Nikakhtar, another former Trump official.”

The statement continued, “The primary objective of AI Imperative 2030 is to ensure that the U.S., not China, wins the race for AI supremacy. China aims to surpass the U.S. and lead the world in AI by 2030. We can’t let that happen. President Trump has been a leader in creating bipartisan consensus that the U.S. needs to compete more vigorously with China, and we look forward to working with his administration and the Republican Congress to design effective and cost-efficient policies towards this goal.”

Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum, Cameron Cawthorne and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.

Legal experts slammed President Biden’s announcement declaring the 28th Amendment law as “cynical and irrelevant.”

Biden on Friday released a statement saying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) should be considered ratified and a new addition to the U.S. Constitution. 

“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people. In keeping with my oath and duty to the Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex,” he said. 

BIDEN’S OFFICIAL X ACCOUNT DRAWS MOCKERY WITH REFERENCE TO CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT THAT DOESN’T EXIST

“Biden’s announcement is both cynical and irrelevant,” said former Assistant U.S. attorney and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy. “If he believed what he is saying, he would’ve said it when his administration started, not when he is on his way out the door as a failed, one-term president. 

“More importantly, the president has no constitutional role in the amendment process, so his view carries no weight.”

“President Biden seems intent on moving his administration from the odious to the absurd,” Jonathan Turley, Fox News contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital. “This was an embarrassingly pandering moment to the most extreme elements in his party. It is a position based on a long-rejected and frankly ridiculous foundation.”

When asked about the timing of the announcement by reporters, Biden said Friday, “Because I had to get all of the facts and I contacted every constitutional scholar in the world to make sure it was the right decision.”

The ERA would prohibit discrimination based on gender. It was sent to the states for ratification in 1972, with Congress setting a 1979 deadline for three-quarters of state legislatures to ratify the amendment. The deadline was later extended to 1982. 

DANA PERINO KNOCKS BIDEN’S CONTROVERSIAL FAREWELL ADDRESS

Virginia became the last state to pass the amendment in 2020, pushing the final number of states who had passed the amendment to a total of 38. McCarthy noted that the ERA “was not ratified by the states within the statutorily allotted timeframe.”

“The only way to get it into the Constitution would be to start all over again,” McCarthy said. “Everybody knows this, including Biden. That is why the national archivist has not published it, nor has Biden had the temerity to try to order that that be done.”

Turley also said: “Biden notably stopped short of giving the left what it wanted most: an actual executive order on the ratification. He simply made a declaration and presumably left the matter up to the archivist.”

ERA: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

The national archivist is responsible for making constitutional amendments official. The archivist had previously declined to certify the amendment, citing a 2020 opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel of the DOJ (OLC) that “affirmed that the ratification deadline established by Congress for the ERA is valid and enforceable.”

“The OLC concluded that extending or removing the deadline requires new action by Congress or the courts. Court decisions at both the District and Circuit levels have affirmed that the ratification deadlines established by Congress for the ERA are valid,” the National Archives said in a statement in December. “Therefore, the Archivist of the United States cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment. As the leaders of the National Archives, we will abide by these legal precedents and support the constitutional framework in which we operate.”

“This is just pandering,” McCarthy said. “It will have no lasting significance.”

Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens is stepping down from his role as head of the agency – telling Fox News that his agents have given 100% in difficult conditions, including some of the worst conditions he’s seen in his entire career.

Owens, who was promoted to Border Patrol Chief in 2023, is retiring in April. Texas Border Czar Mike Banks will be tapped to be the next chief. 

Owens spoke to Fox News about his time as chief during some of the most intense moments of the crisis at the southern border. He said it was “bittersweet” because it is the end of a chapter in his life.

TOP BORDER LAWMAKER PUSHES TO DECLARE BLOODTHIRSTY GANG A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION: ‘TAKE THE GLOVES OFF’ 

“But at the same time, it’s a happy one because I feel like I made my difference, and it’s time to hand it off to the next generation.”

Fox asked him about the surge in border crossings his men and women dealt with – including the surge in 2021 in Del Rio and overwhelming numbers at Eagle Pass, Texas. 

“I hadn’t seen anything like that. And it’s that was as bad as I had seen it in my entire career. And at every moment, the men and women are trying to find a way to take care of that so that they could get back out there on patrol and keep the bad actors from coming in,” he said.

He described how Border Patrol agents would go from performing CPR on babies to going after a gang member or convicted felon.

“That takes a toll on anybody. And what I saw was those men and women deal with that not just once in a while, but daily and every single day. No matter how frustrated they got, they get up the next morning, they put that uniform on and they went out there and they give 100%. I owed them 100% as well,” he said.

As for Banks, Owens said he considers him a friend and said that he is “confident and optimistic about our future with him at the helm.”

“He loves the Border Patrol just like I do. And he’s going to keep his focus on the mission of keeping this country safe from harm,” he said.

Owens also said he has “never seen a situation where I would say the border is secure.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

“Because for me, a secure border means if something bad tries to come into this country, I’m going to be able to detect it and stop it. There’s too many gaps and vulnerabilities today that still exist on our border,” he said.

Outgoing DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas praised Owens in a statement, saying he “embodies the ethos of the United States Border Patrol – ‘Honor First.’ 

“Chief Owens has dedicated his life to public service. Throughout his career in the Border Patrol – from his first assignment at Calexico Station to his command of the elite BORTAC unit in El Paso, from his leadership of the USBP Academy to the Laredo Sector, Del Rio Sector, Washington, D.C., and many duty stations in-between – he has always stepped up and stepped in whenever the challenges have been greatest, and wherever his talents have been most needed. He rose through the ranks of the Border Patrol by virtue of his extraordinary leadership and his bravery, integrity, and decency,” he said.

“It is these qualities that made Chief Owens the best and right person to lead the Border Patrol during an intensely difficult time. I am grateful that he accepted the challenge, just as he has accepted so many others throughout his distinguished law enforcement career. The Border Patrol, and the Department of Homeland Security, are stronger today because of Chief Owens,” he said.

The announcement comes days before President-elect Trump will take office, and is expected to launch a mass deportation operation as well as renewed efforts to ramp up border security. On Friday, Kristi Noem, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, faced her confirmation hearing. 

During that hearing, she also pledged to secure the border, including promising to end the use of the CBP One app and related parole programs introduced by the Biden administration.

The Treasury Department announced this week that it had recouped more than $31 million in fraud and improper payments to dead people during just five short months of having access to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) federal death database. 

The Treasury Department issues billions of payments every year, including benefit payments, federally funded state-administered payments and other miscellaneous payments. Sending those funds and others by accident to people who are dead has been a long-standing problem within the federal government, according to fiscal watchdog group OpenTheBooks.

In 2020, the Government Accountability Office estimated that during the first round of COVID-19 stimulus checks, $1.4 billion was sent to dead people. Across all three rounds of stimulus checks during the pandemic, nearly $3.6 billion went to dead people, according to OpenTheBooks.

GAO CHIEF SAYS IRS KNEW IT WAS SENDING STIMULUS PAYMENTS TO DEAD PEOPLE

The SSA is the only government agency with a database that records the deaths of U.S. citizens. In 2023, as part of an omnibus appropriations bill, Congress granted access for the Treasury Department, on a temporary basis, to have access to the database to help prevent improper payments to dead people. The temporary basis is set to expire in 2026.

“While this should have been a no-brainer for a long time, it’s promising to see some taxpayer funds being recouped with basic communication among executive agencies,” said John Hart, executive director of OpenTheBooks. “Too often the left hand just doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, and it’s resulted in trillions of dollars in improper payments.”

COMER REPORT REVEALS BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN’S ‘RAMPANT WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE’

Hart blamed the nearly $4 billion in COVID-19 stimulus payments sent to dead people on the Internal Revenue Service’s failure to check the SSA’s death database. 

He also pointed out how, in addition to improper payments through the stimulus check program, the Small Business Administration also sent more than $3 billion more to dead people in the form of forgivable loans “to entities on the Treasury Department’s ‘Do Not Pay’ list.”

“Today’s news is a step in the right direction, but there are miles to go before we break even,” Hart said.

After news of the recovered payments was announced, Fiscal Assistant Secretary David Lebryk noted that the results were “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Congress granting permanent access to the Full Death Master File will significantly reduce fraud, improve program integrity, and better safeguard taxpayer dollars,” he said. 

As Senate confirmation hearings for several of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks get underway, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is particularly eager to see former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed as the nation’s top law enforcement official.

“Pam Bondi did a terrific job at her confirmation hearing,” Cruz told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday. “She’s going to be confirmed. She will be the next attorney general. And I believe, actually, every one of the Trump cabinet nominees is going to be confirmed.” 

Cruz said that Bondi, who also was a personal lawyer to Trump, “may be the single most important cabinet nominee President Trump has made.”

BONDI SPARS WITH SCHIFF AT TESTY CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘YOU WERE CENSURED’

“And the reason for that is under Joe Biden, tragically, we have seen the Department of Justice politicized and weaponized in a way that there is no precedent in our nation’s history for how they turned the Department of Justice and the FBI into an arsenal to go after the president’s political enemies,” Cruz said.

During Bondi’s hearing on Wednesday Cruz qasked her whether she would investigate the thousands of unaccounted-for migrant children who have entered the United States. 

Bondi responded, “Yes, Senator.”

When asked whether he was confident that she would follow through on that if confirmed, Cruz said, “I am.”

“These were unaccompanied minors, little girls, little boys that came into this country that were in the custody of the federal government, and the federal government handed them over to adults,” Cruz said. “Many of the adults were not relatives, and they have now lost them. They don’t know where they are.” 

‘MASTERCLASS’: BONDI FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM SENATOR AFTER SUGGESTING SHE WILL WEAPONIZE DOJ

Republican lawmakers have been critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the illegal migrant crisis over the past four years. 

Shortly after Trump’s electoral victory in November, House Republicans grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra over the administration’s process used to vet sponsors.

Speaking before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement, Becerra testified about his department’s Refugee Resettlement Office, which is charged with caring for, and placement of, unaccompanied migrant children.

Republican subcommittee members accused the Biden administration of rushing migrant children out of HHS custody and into the hands of unvetted sponsors, who sometimes exploited and abused them.  

Cruz said that he also asked Trump’s pick for HHS secretary, RFK Jr., to conduct an investigation of lost migrant children, “because we have an obligation,” he said.

“Those were children in the custody of the government,” Cruz said. “We have an obligation to go and protect those kids.” 

TRUMP AG PICK PAM BONDI WOULD ‘MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN’ WITH ‘BACK TO BASICS’ DOJ APPROACH: FORMER COLLEAGUE 

Bondi has secured the support of current and former state attorneys general across the country, as well as more than 100 former top Department of Justice officials. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on her nomination in the coming days. 

If the committee approves the nomination, the full Senate will then schedule a vote to confirm her appointment. Although an exact date for the final confirmation vote has not been announced, it is anticipated to be within the next two weeks.

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

Kristi Noem, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was questioned Friday about how she would work with “border czar” Tom Homan and who is in charge of securing the U.S. border. 

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., asked Noem at her Senate confirmation hearing who is “going to be in charge of the border,” saying he was uncertain about how her role relates to Homan’s.

“Well, the president will be in charge of the border. It’s a national security issue. And the president is in charge of this country and has made a promise to the American people, and we will fulfill his agenda,” Noem replied.

TRUMP DHS PICK NOEM PLEDGES TO END CONTROVERSIAL APP USED BY MIGRANTS ON ‘DAY ONE’

Kim said it was a “good answer” but sought clarification, asking what the division is between her and Homan.

“I’m trying to get a better sense of who is in charge,” he said.

Noem called Homan “an incredible human being.”

NOEM BOASTS OUTPOURING OF POLICE, BORDER UNION SUPPORT FOR DHS CHIEF

“He is an adviser to the president, the border czar. I obviously will be, if nominated and confirmed, and put into the position of being the Department of Homeland Security secretary and responsible for the authorities that we have in the actions that we take,” she said.

Kim pushed back by quoting remarks by Homan saying he would be making decisions on border security and deportations.

“So, I just raise that as a concern of mine, because not only is that about the function of our executive branch, but also the capabilities of this committee to be able to properly do our constitutional duties for oversight, the ability for us to be able to have that conversation, we can talk to you, engage with you,” he said.

“If he is going to be making decisions, then he should come before this committee as well.”

Noem responded by saying that she and Homan “work very well together and talk and communicate all the time. And we’ll be working together on a daily basis when we’re in our positions under the new administration. And I would say there’s no authority being planned to be taken away from the department or myself if I’m in the role.”

Debates over President-elect Trump’s inaugural crowd size notably generated controversy back in 2017, with the White House insisting the media underreported Trump’s numbers.  

With his swearing-in now being moved indoors because of harsh winter weather, Trump is likely to avoid any questions about attendance this time around.

Fox News on Friday learned that Trump’s inauguration would be moved indoors because of icy temperatures forecast for Washington, D.C. on Monday. Trump announced that he had ordered his inaugural address and other ceremonial prayers and speeches be held in the United States Capitol Rotunda to protect people from harm. 

“The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

TRUMP TO BE INAUGURATED INSIDE: LAST CEREMONY HELD INDOORS WAS REAGAN’S IN 1985

“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way. It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th (In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly!),” he continued. 

Trump also said the Capital One Arena will be open Monday for live viewing of his inauguration “and to host the Presidential Parade.” 

“I will join the crowd at Capital One, after my Swearing in,” Trump wrote. 

RNC CHAIR WHATLEY VOWS TO BE ‘TIP OF THE SPEAR’ TO PROTECT TRUMP AFTER COASTING TO RE-ELECTION VICTORY

The Inaugural Committee confirmed Trump’s statements, saying the ceremony would be moved inside the U.S. Capitol to the Rotunda, a committee spokesperson said. 

With attendees no longer being able to gather outside in the cold, any photo op for Trump and a record crowd is likely out of the picture, and so is any chance for people to dispute Trump’s claimed crowd size like in 2017. 

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer lambasted the press shortly after Trump’s first inauguration, accusing media outlets of inaccurate reporting on the crowd size. 

The day after the inauguration, Spicer said “photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way, in one particular tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall.”

ELON MUSK SLATED TO SPEAK AT TRUMP PRE-INAUGURATION RALLY: REPORT

He also said at the time that “Inaccurate numbers involving crowd size were also tweeted. No one had numbers, because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put any out.”

“These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong,” Spicer said. 

The Washington Post reported at the time that Trump had called the acting director of the National Park Service on his first day in office to dispute the photos circulating online of his inaugural crowd size. 

President Biden also faced crowd-size barriers during his inauguration in 2021 due to coronavirus restrictions in place. His ceremony was sparsely attended and included former presidents and first ladies. Attendees wore face masks and many failed to abide by social distancing guidelines, with several seen high-fiving and hugging. 

The last inauguration ceremony to be moved indoors was President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in January 1985. Reagan took the oath of office at the White House the day before the ceremony, while public events the following day were held inside due to temperatures hitting 7 degrees with a windchill of -40. 

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo, Peter Doocy, Chad Pergram and Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.

Freshman GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno ripped the Biden administration’s immigration policy in his first hearing in the Senate as President-elect Trump’s DHS secretary nominee Kristi Noem sat in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

“Just to be clear, Laken Riley would be alive today if you had been the secretary of Homeland Security?” Moreno asked Noem during her confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Friday. 

“Senator, my hope is that that would be true, yes,” Noem responded, as the Laken Riley Act is being debated in the Senate with the aim of preventing crimes like the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered last year by an illegal immigrant, who was sentenced to life without parole. 

During his line of questioning, Moreno implemented a theme of asking Noem about the Mayorkas immigration record and whether the illegal immigration statistics would continue under her watch. 

‘DEEPLY DISGUSTED’: GOP SENATOR SHREDS BIDEN ADMIN IN SCATHING LETTER ON NEW IMMIGRANT DEPORTATION SHIELD

“So, I think sometimes, in D.C., we tend to complicate things,” Moreno told Noem. “There is a current secretary of Homeland Security, so why don’t we take this opportunity to do a little job review and compare and contrast him to you? So just if you don’t mind, I’ll ask you some questions, and you can give me an answer. Secretary Mayorkas allowed about 400 people on a terror watch list to come into this country illegally. If you were confirmed as secretary of Homeland Security, how many people on the terror watch list would you allow into this country?”

Noem responded that she would “work every single day” to make sure the number is “zero.”

“When you look at the 382 that Joe Biden has let in, and the policies continue, is shocking and needs to be changed immediately,” Noem said. 

“Mayorokas let in about 12,000 murderers. How many would you target to let into this country?” Moreno asked.

TRUMP, CHINA’S XI SPEAK ON PHONE AHEAD OF INAUGURATION

“My goal every day would be to have no murderers allowed into this country,” Noem said. 

“Mayorkas let in 16,000 rapists. How many would you target to let in?” Moreno continued. 

“I would work to make sure there was none let into this country,” Noem answered. 

Moreno continued by asking Noem about the 600,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions let in by Mayorkas, and she responded by saying that any migrants with criminal convictions would be “immediately removed.”

Noem also told Moreno that the practice of flying hundreds of thousands of migrants into the United States on jets would halt under her tenure. 

“And how many illegals will you plan to house in luxury hotel rooms in Manhattan, at a cost of $6,000 per month?” Moreno asked.

“Clearly, senator, during this election, the American people said they did not support that and that that would not be a part of this new administration,” Noem said. 

“I’m going to end my time with a startling statistic and actually a challenge to the Democrat Party,” Moreno said after asking Noem to confirm other aspects of the Biden administration immigration policy that she would halt.

“When Mayorkas was confirmed, every single Democrat voted to confirm him, and six Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in that confirmation. If we get to the vote, hopefully, chairman, we could do that Monday, because we cannot wait one single day without you being in charge of that department. We should have 100 percent, 100 senators vote for your confirmation. This will be the litmus test in my mind as to whether we have a Democrat Party that’s actually serious about doing bipartisan things like securing this country and protecting our citizens.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading 22 other attorneys general in suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a new rule that would fine the oil and natural gas sector for methane emissions that exceed a certain level. 

The GOP states are alleging the new rule, which was established in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is “arbitrary, capricious, [and] an abuse of discretion.” The complaint against the EPA is scant on details, other than asserting the new rule is “unlawful” because “the final rule exceeds the agency’s statutory authority.” 

While the Supreme Court has articulated a very narrow authority on how Congress can delegate its legislative power, Steve Milloy, former Trump administration EPA transition adviser and senior fellow at the Energy and Environmental Legal Institute, said it is unclear to him how the EPA’s rule circumvents Congress. 

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

“The IRA clearly says EPA is to levy a tax and prescribes the tax rate,” Milloy told Fox News Digital, pointing to the section of the IRA’s “Waste Emissions Charge” that sets a threshold for methane emissions at 25,000 metric tons. “I will be interested to see how the states support their claims.” 

Nonetheless, Milloy is against the new fee on the oil and gas sector, noting methane is an “irrelevant greenhouse gas.”

“The tax is pointless and will accomplish nothing except to make oil and natural gas more expensive,” he said.

Milloy suggested the move to sue in the final days of the Biden administration is to start the process for the plaintiffs to settle with the Trump administration. According to him, this is a tactic that has been used by both sides of the green energy debate. He added that in the past, the Trump administration has sought to get rid of “sue and settle” tactics.

“Congress needs to change the law,” Milloy said. “Because, let’s say that they sue and settle, well, the next administration can come back and undo it.”

Meanwhile, another forthcoming lawsuit from the Michigan Oil and Gas Association (MOGA) and the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AMFree) has also asserted that the new rule circumvents Congress, but provided details explaining why.

NEW NYC ‘CHAR BROIL’ RULE WOULD FORCE RESTAURANTS TO CUT EMISSIONS BY 75%

“Under Subpart W, facilities in the natural gas and petroleum supply chains must report greenhouse gas emissions if they emit 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions each year,” the second lawsuit explains. “For gases other than carbon dioxide, ‘equivalent’ emissions are determined by multiplying emissions by the gas’s ‘global warming potential’ (‘GWP’).” 

Michael Buschbacher, a partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, which is representing MOGA and AmFree in their lawsuit, agreed with Milloy that it will take legislation to reverse the new methane rule, but said the purpose of their legal filings is “to get the most onerous mandates off the books, so the American energy industry can begin its march back to dominance under the new administration.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“The Biden-era environmental regulations aren’t going to magically vanish at 12:01 on Monday. It’s going to take time and legislation to unwind the mess that he has left behind,” Buschbacher said.

The EPA declined to comment on the matter, citing the pending nature of the litigation.