President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday banning all federal funding towards “dangerous” gain-of-function research in China, Iran and other countries, and blocking all federal funding for foreign research that could cause another pandemic. 

The president signed the order Monday afternoon to improve the safety and security of biological research in the U.S. and around the world. 

FLASHBACK: COVID ORIGINS: HHS SUSPENDS ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE GRANTS AFTER FINDING TAXPAYER FUNDS USED IN RISKY RESEARCH

The White House said the order “will drastically reduce the potential for lab-related incidents involving gain-of-function research, like that conducted on bat coronaviruses in China by the EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology.” 

Gain-of-function research typically involves modifying a virus to make it more infectious among humans. Gain of function research took place at the Wuhan Lab before the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

The White House said the order will protect Americans from lab accidents and other biosecurity incidents, “such as those that likely caused COVID-19 and the 1977 Russian flu.” 

The president’s order ends any present and all future federal funding of gain-of-function research in countries with insufficient oversight of research and empowers U.S. research agencies to identify and end federal funding of any other biological research that could pose a threat to American public health, public safety or national security. 

FLASHBACK: US TAXPAYER FUNDS FLOWED TO CHINESE ENTITIES THAT CONDUCTED CORONAVIRUS RESEARCH BEFORE COVID PANDEMIC: GAO

“For decades, policies overseeing gain-of-function research on pathogens, toxins, and potential pathogens have lacked adequate enforcement, transparency, and top-down oversight,” the White House said in a fact sheet describing the order. “Researchers have not acknowledged the legitimate potential for societal harms that this kind of research poses.” 

The order, according to the White House, “protects Americans from dangerous gain-of-function research that manipulates viruses and other biological agents and toxins, but it does not impede productive biological research that will ensure the United States maintains readiness against biological threats and continues to drive global leadership in biotechnology, biosecurity, and health research.” 

“President Trump has long theorized that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and has consistently pushed for transparency in investigating its origins,” the White House said. 

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

Israeli forces on Monday struck Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, targeting the Iran-backed Houthis in response to “repeated attacks” against the Jewish state, in particular its missile strike that nearly hit Tel Aviv’s largest airport. 

The Israel Defense Forces said fighter jets targeted the port city, which is along Yemen’s coastline, and a concrete factory. 

“The terrorist infrastructure sites struck in the Hudaydah port serve as a central supply source for the Houthi terrorist regime,” an IDF statement said. “The Hudaydah Port is used for the transfer of Iranian weapons, military equipment, and other equipment intended for terrorist purposes.”

 ISRAEL APPROVES PLAN TO CAPTURE ALL OF GAZA, CALLS UP TENS OF THOUSANDS OF RESERVE TROOPS

In addition, the IDF also struck the “Bajil” Concrete Plant, which serves as a significant economic resource for the Houthis, the IDF said. The facility is also used for the construction of underground tunnels and terrorist infrastructure for the terrorist regime, officials said.

During the strike, the Houthis retaliated with surface-to-surface missiles and drones that were launched at Israel and civilians, Israel said. 

PARENTS OF HAMAS HOSTAGES URGE TRUMP TO BE ‘TOUGH WITH ENEMIES AND FRIENDS’ AMID ISRAELI SIEGE IN GAZA

Following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Houthis have targeted commercial shipping in and around the Red Sea in solidarity with the terror group. 

U.S. naval forces have been deployed to the region, where they have launched repeated airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. 

The group is funded and trained by Iran. 

Israel’s strike was in retaliation for a Houthi missile attack that nearly struck Ben Gurion Airport, causing multiple international airlines to cancel flights to Israel.

The missile reportedly evaded both Israeli and U.S. missile defenses, according to Israeli media.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation.

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is now a registered Republican after leaving the Democratic Party.

“As of today, I’m leaving the party of paid protests, purple hair, and pronouns. And I’m joining the party of faith, family, and freedom — the Republican Party,” Villanueva told the Unite Inland Empire Conservative Conference on Saturday.

“Today I announced ending 44 years as a registered Dem and joining the [GOP] Time to make [California] purple again!” he posted to X.

The former sheriff led the large blue county’s department from 2018 to 2022, as he was defeated by a significant margin by Sheriff Robert Luna in 2022.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CHARGED IN BRUTAL MURDER DURING CALIFORNIA HOME INVASION, ROBBERY

The move was met with open arms by Republican leaders in the Golden State.

“I left the [California Democratic] Party when I saw it no longer stood for the values I was raised with: personal responsibility, public safety, and freedom. [Alex Villanueva] made the same call. It takes courage, but it’s the right move. Welcome to our movement to restore common sense!” California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin posted to X.

“[Alex Villanueva], you are not alone. Many classic liberals have noticed that [the California Democratic Party] has lost their way, and that they champion crime and criminals. You don’t *need* to be a Republican to vote for sanity, but it helps,” Roxanne Hoge, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles, posted to X.

TRUMP ORDERS FEDS TO REOPEN ALCATRAZ TO HOUSE ‘AMERICA’S MOST RUTHLESS AND VIOLENT’ CRIMINALS

Some critics of the former former sheriff welcomed the move away from the party.

“Not a surprise. Hasn’t been a DEM. Votes for him in ‘18, regretted it & happily helped vote him out in ‘22. At least we won’t have to see him again in elected office now with party switch,” podcaster Scott Moore posted.

“The democrats have selected the Wu Tang Clan. Republicans can have Villanueva,” Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo posted.

MALIBU MAN TO STAND TRIAL FOR MURDER IN HIGH-SPEED CRASH THAT LEFT 4 PEPPERDINE STUDENTS DEAD

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Republicans are still far behind Democrats in party registration numbers in the Golden State, but there is a sense of ambition and optimism among party leaders in the state ahead of the 2026 midterms, especially as three seats in the Democrat supermajority legislature went from blue to red in November, according to CalMatters.

In Los Angeles County alone, political tensions remain high after the devesting aftermath of the Pacific Palisades fire as a recall effort against Mayor Karen Bass is ongoing.

The White House said Monday “no final decisions” have been made regarding the Trump administration’s planned tariffs on foreign moviemaking, as one expert welcomed the potential action as a reprieve for the American film industry. 

“Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

President Donald Trump first announced in a Truth Social post on Sunday that he was authorizing the Department of Commerce and the U.S. trade representative “to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded on X, “We’re on it.” 

ACTORS GO BEHIND-THE-SCENES ON HOW TRUMP IS MAKING HOLLYWOOD GREAT AGAIN

“The elite in Hollywood will largely hate this because they’ve sold out their workers in favor of maximum profits while shooting in insanely cheap labor environments,” Robby Starbuck, a former Hollywood producer and conservative activist, told Fox News Digital. “American workers who are referred to as ‘below the line’ in filmmaking are over the moon about getting more jobs back here and rental houses couldn’t be happier.”

“Overall, while there will be short-term pain for studios, in the long run this will strengthen the American film business,” Starbuck said. “Also, communist China’s propaganda efforts take a major hit with this move.”

On-location production in the greater Los Angeles area dropped by 22.4% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same time last year, according to FilmLA, a nonprofit that organizes film permits for the city and county. 

One movie producer told the New York Times last month that the Hollywood film industry is undergoing an “existential crisis,” as the newspaper noted that reality shows, indie films and even blockbuster films are increasingly making business decisions to film overseas to the detriment of the middle-class workers in the Los Angeles-area, such as camera operators, set decorators and lighting technicians. 

The newspaper noted that despite Hollywood’s many available studios, the game show “The Floor” chose to fly host Rob Lowe and 100 American contestants to Dublin, Ireland, rather than shoot the show domestically.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES 100% TARIFF ON ALL FOREIGN-PRODUCED MOVIES: ‘WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!’

The BBC reported that several recent major films produced by U.S. studios were recorded overseas, including “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Wicked” and “Gladiator II.” “Mission Impossible” also was shot outside the United States. 

In his Truth Social post, Trump said the movie industry in America is “DYING a very fast death,” arguing that other countries “are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States.” 

“This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!” Trump wrote. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” 

Trump told reporters Sunday that other countries have been “stealing” the moviemaking capabilities from the United States, saying that he had done “some very strong research over the last week.” 

The president said the U.S. is “making very few movies now” and that Hollywood is “being destroyed.” 

“You have an incompetent, grossly incompetent governor that allowed that to happen, so I’m not just blaming other nations,” Trump said, making a dig at Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

“But other nations have stolen our movie industry. They’re not willing to make a movie inside the United States and we should have a tariff on movies that come in,” Trump added. “Governments are actually giving big money. I mean they’re supporting them financially, so that’s sort of a threat to our country in a sense. And it’s been a very popular thing.… Moviemakers love it.”

In January, Trump appointed stars Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Voight – who is Angelina Jolie’s father – reportedly has recently been meeting with movie executives and union representatives in Los Angeles while crafting a plan to revive the American moviemaking industry, Deadline reported. 

Trump’s Hollywood ambassador has met with the Directors Guild of America, Teamsters and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees so far, sources told the outlet. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday said she is leading a coalition of 20 states in suing the Trump administration over its cuts to public health funding and the Department of Health and Human Services, describing the efforts in a press conference as the most “sweeping and unlawful assault on public health” in U.S. history.

The lawsuit, filed by James and other state attorneys general, accuses the Trump administration of violating “hundreds” of laws and regulations in attempting to dismantle the Department of Health and Human Services, both by firing thousands of HHS employees in an effort to slash its overall workforce by 20,000 people and shuttering crucial health programs across the U.S.

“This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it,” James said Monday. 

She used a press conference to highlight the risks these cuts pose for Americans in New York and across the country.

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

“When you fire the scientists who research infectious diseases, silence the doctors who care for pregnant people and shut down the programs that help firefighters and miners breathe or children thrive, you are not making America healthy; you are putting countless lives at risk,” James said. 

“This is not how government is supposed to work. These actions are dangerous, cruel and illegal. They defy Congress’s authority and they violate federal law. And that is why today I am leading a lawsuit joined by Democratic attorneys general across the country to stop this administration from tearing down our public health infrastructure.”

The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, are asking the court “to halt the unlawful dismantling of HHS, to stop the mass firings, and to restore the life-saving programs that millions of Americans depend on,” James said.

New York is joined in the lawsuit by the attorneys generals of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

Their lawsuit accuses the Trump administration in the lawsuit of erasing “decades of public health progress” and leaving HHS “unable to execute many of its most vital functions.”

FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING

Such actions, they argue, are “in violation of Congress’s instructions, the U.S. Constitution, and the many statutes that govern the Department’s programs and appropriate funds for it to administer.”

These actions included terminating 10,000 full-time employees, collapsing 28 agencies into 15, and closing half of HHS’s 10 regional offices. 

James cited many of these issues directly in the press conference Monday, taking aim at the administration for systematically depriving HHS of the “resources necessary to do its job.”

The government has “all but stopped testing for measles in the middle of an unprecedented measles outbreak,” James said. 

New York’s Wadsworth Center, she noted, is one of the “only labs in the country still equipped to detect rare infectious diseases” and is “scrambling to fill the void left by a hollowed-out CDC.”

Her remarks come after HHS announced thousands of layoffs in March and April, including at the FDA, the CDC and NIH. The reductions were in keeping with a Department of Government Efficiency-led push for agencies to slash the size of the federal workforce and trim government spending, prompting criticism from Democrats and some Republicans.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW EL SALVADOR DEPORTATION FLIGHT CASE

These cuts included terminating HHS employees tasked with determining SNAP and Medicaid eligibility for low-income or disabled Americans; the firing of the CDC’s entire maternal health team; and the gutting of mental health and substance abuse services and personnel.

“None of these layoffs were necessary to accommodate a funding shortfall – Congress’s appropriations have remained steady, or in many cases, grown in recent years,” the plaintiffs said in their lawsuit.

“All told, 20,000 full-time employees – almost twenty-five percent of HHS headcount – would be terminated in a few months to save, by Defendants’ own estimate, less than one percent of HHS expenditures.”

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked to halt HHS efforts to dismantle the HHS-led agencies and programs that were cut as a result of the reorganization. States are also seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent what they described as the “unconstitutional and illegal dismantling of the Department.”

The lawsuit is not the first time James, a longtime foe of the current president, has sparred with Trump since the start of his second presidential term.

To date, she’s joined Democrat attorneys general in more than a dozen other lawsuits challenging his early actions.

President Donald Trump on Monday said he held a “productive” call with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on a range of topics, including the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump shared details of the call in a post on his TRUTH Social platform.

“I just had a very good and productive telephone conversation with the President of Turkey, Recep Erdoğan, concerning many subjects, including the War with Russia/Ukraine, all things Syria, Gaza, and more,” Trump wrote.

The president added that he is looking forward to working with Erdogan to end the “ridiculous, but deadly” Russia-Ukraine war.

TRUMP’S 16TH WEEK IN OFFICE TO INCLUDE WH MEETING WITH CANADA, ONGOING TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

Trump has vowed to end the three-year war between Russia and Ukraine, though the U.S. has tempered expectations regarding recent peace talks it’s brokering between the warring nations.

Gaza has also been a major issue for the Trump administration as Israel works to get its hostages returned after Hamas led a deadly attack on Oct. 7, 2023. As the fighting in Gaza has escalated, Trump has pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to be good to Gaza” because the people there “are suffering.”

Trump noted that his relationship with Erdogan during his first term was “excellent,” adding that the Turkish leader invited him to Turkey at a future date. Trump said Erdogan will also visit Washington, D.C., though no date was immediately provided.

ISRAEL APPROVES PLAN TO CAPTURE ALL OF GAZA, CALLS UP TENS OF THOUSANDS OF RESERVE TROOPS

Trump also highlighted that he and Erdogan had “worked together closely on numerous things,” including the return of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who Trump said was freed “immediately upon my request.”

Brunson was imprisoned and detained in Turkey for 735 days on terror and treason charges in October 2016 over his alleged ties to an outlawed group after a massive government crackdown following a failed coup months earlier.

FIRST ON FOX: Twenty-three state attorneys general sent a letter to Senate leaders on Monday urging lawmakers to swiftly confirm President Donald Trump‘s nominee to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, ahead of a May 20 deadline, when judges on a court led by Trump-antagonist Judge James Boasberg could select a temporary replacement. 

“To put it bluntly, the District of Columbia is broken. And four years of alleged corruption, mismanagement, and derelictions of duty in the U.S. Attorney’s Office under President Biden’s appointees are in many ways to blame. The District should be made safe again. The District should have a U.S. Attorney who replaces the rule of lawfare with the rule of law. Ed Martin is the man to achieve those goals. We strongly encourage the Senate to confirm him at the earliest possible date,” reads the letter, which was first exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. 

It was sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley on Monday afternoon. 

The letter comes as a May 20 deadline looms to confirm the Trump nominee, when his role as interim U.S. attorney runs dry after 120 days in the role. Martin, who previously worked as a defense attorney and represented Americans charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol in 2021, was named interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia beginning on Inauguration Day. 

If an interim U.S. attorney is not confirmed by the Senate within 120 days, judges on the federal district court for that district can name a new interim U.S. attorney until a nominee is confirmed, Department of Justice documents show. Trump antagonist Judge James Boasberg, an Obama-appointed judge at the center of legal efforts targeting Trump’s deportation efforts, is the current chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

TRUMP NOMINATES JAN. 6 DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR TOP PROSECUTOR ROLE IN DC

Trump has previously slammed the entire D.C. District Court, saying it would be “virtually impossible” for him to get an “honest ruling” after Boasberg blocked Trump’s Venezuelan deportation flights in March. 

“Our Nation’s Courts are broken, with New York and DC being the most preeminent of all in their Corruption and Radicalism. There must be an immediate investigation of this Rigged System, before it is too late!” Trump posted to Truth Social in March. 

Indiana Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita spearheaded the letter and told Fox Digital on Monday that Martin has already shown in his few months serving on an interim basis that “he’s a proven leader.”

“I am proud to lead this effort to support Ed Martin because he’s a proven leader who is already devoting all of his time to restoring the rule of law in our nation’s capital,” Rokita said. “His bold actions have had an immediate impact, which sent the disreputable D.C. news media into a full-blown meltdown – the Senate must act swiftly to confirm him and ensure his critical work continues uninterrupted.”

TRUMP NOMINATES JUDGE TO SERVE AS NEXT US ATTORNEY FOR SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

The letter similarly argued that the Senate confirmation process should go smoothly as lawmakers can already examine Martin’s track record in the role. 

“The Senate does not have to wonder or speculate about whether Mr. Martin will lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office with honor and skill,” the state attorneys general continued in their letter. “As interim U.S. Attorney for the District since January 20, 2025, he has shown conclusively that he has what it takes to serve in that role with integrity and a fearless commitment to do what is right on behalf of the American people. And there are few offices in the American justice system that could use that kind of leader now as much as the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

The 23 states that joined the letter include: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. 

Martin’s confirmation has stalled, however, with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, voicing concerns about the nomination during the committee’s May 1 executive business meeting.

FEDERAL PROSECUTOR VOWS TO PROTECT DOGE STAFFERS FROM ANY ‘THREATS, CONFRONTATIONS’ TARGETING MUSK TEAM

“Last Friday, we received responses from Mr. Martin to our questions, and it raised even more questions. Mr. Martin made a number of false statements and contradictory statements that are easily disproven by the material he himself disclosed in his Senate Judiciary Questionnaire. And it wasn’t just to my questions—it was to Chairman Grassley’s questions as well,” Durbin said during the meeting. 

The AGs took specific issue with how crime has spiraled in the nation’s capital under the Biden administration, which they cited was related to the justice system and failing to prosecute criminals.  

“Under President Biden, public safety and the quality of life deteriorated in the District of Columbia. Matthew Graves—President Biden’s appointee as chief federal prosecutor for District—oversaw during his tenure a deeply troubling increase in crime in the nation’s capital.  In 2023 alone, the number of homicides in D.C. increased by 35% over the previous year. Robberies were up 67%. Car theft skyrocketed by 82%. All the while, Mr. Graves declined to prosecute over two-thirds of all criminal cases brought to his office. In this way, President Biden brought to the District the same lax-on-crime policies that have benighted many of America’s largest cities for decades,” they wrote. 

Since taking over the position, Martin has overseen the dismissals of various Jan. 6 cases after Trump pardoned and commuted the defendants. 

Martin also published a fiery letter in February vowing to hold to account those who try to sabotage the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to clean the federal government of overspending and corruption. Trump granted clemency to more than 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants upon taking office earlier this year. 

TRUMP UNLOADS ON JUDGE BOASBERG, ‘RADICAL LEFT JUDGES’ FOR HALTING DEPORTATIONS OF VIOLENT ILLEGAL ALIENS

“I recognize that some of the staff at DOGE have been targeted publicly,” Martin wrote to Elon Musk in the February letter. “At this time, I ask that you utilize me and my staff to assist in protecting the DOGE work and the DOGE workers. Any threats, confrontations or other actions in any way that impact their work may break numerous laws.”

“Let me assure you of this: We will pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people,” he continued. “We will not act like the previous administration who looked the other way as the Antifa and BLM rioters as well as thugs with guns trashed our capital city. We will protect DOGE and other workers no matter what.” 

In their letter, the state attorneys general said Martin has done more to crack down on crime during his few months as interim leader than his predecessor did under the Biden administration.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Mr. Martin has prosecuted and seized the assets of pro-Hamas protestors who defaced monuments and assaulted police. He has pursued and indicted Chinese-backed hackers who threatened our national security. He has prosecuted and disrupted the operations of gangs of illegal aliens. He has rooted out and brought to justice corrupt civil servants who stole taxpayer money. He has done more in less than four months to restore law and order to the District than Matthew Graves did in nearly four years,” they wrote. 

FIRST ON FOX: A pro-Trump legal nonprofit is asking for the U.S. Department of Education to investigate an Ohio school district that the group says is pushing an “unlawful” DEI agenda and violating federal anti-discrimination law. 

The complaint from America First Legal alleges that the Upper Arlington School District in Columbus, Ohio has implemented DEI policies dating back to 2020 and cites material from the district’s own website. 

“In June 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter riots, the Upper Arlington School Board, like many other educational institutions and corporations in our country, caved to Black Lives Matter demands and began to implement racist and discriminatory DEI policies in the District,” the complaint alleges. 

“The District added a Chief Talent Officer (“CTO”) to “foster workforce diversity. Upper Arlington also added an Equity Advisory Board, which aims to ‘provide invaluable insight and feedback on the recruitment of a diverse staff.’ The School District also created a new position, the Chief Excellence and Engagement Officer, who was tasked with ‘spearhead[ing] Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts.’”

WATCH: UNEARTHED FOOTAGE EXPOSES MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PLEDGING TO RESIST TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS

The complaint alleges that DEI advocacy continued in the years after 2020 and quoted a district report that said “[t]here is a need for a clear vision for DEI initiatives [and] advocacy for LGBTQIA+ students” while referring “those who oppos[e] DEI efforts” as “negative voices.”

A “Comprehensive Equity Report” from the district “contains “discriminatory and illegal recommendations”, according to the complaint. 

The complaint makes the case that the DEI practices within the district are not in line with current Education Department rules and guidelines and suggests that federal funding to the school could be in jeopardy.

WHITE HOUSE VOWS TO IMPLEMENT ‘SYSTEM OF MERIT’ IN US, DISMANTLE DEI ‘STRANGULATION’

“When our nation’s schools discriminate based on race and sex, and embed divisive racial and sexual ideologies into their curriculum, it not only violates the law, but it also warps our children’s education,” Jacob Meckler, America First Legal Counsel, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The Department of Education should investigate the Upper Arlington School District and, if appropriate, terminate federal taxpayer funding.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the school district and Department of Education for comment. 

Upper Arlington School District has been in hot water over DEI practices in the past when  video surfaced in 2023 showing district officials discussing how they can push critical race theory covertly, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Matthew Boaz, the executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion of Upper Arlington Schools, said. “You can pass a bill that you can’t teach CRT in a classroom, but if you didn’t cover programming, or you didn’t cover extracurricular activities or something like that, that message might still get out. Oops.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital Superintendent Hunt said, “On April 30, Upper Arlington Schools received a copy of a letter sent to the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights by an attorney writing on behalf of the advocacy group America First Legal.  The letter accuses the district of ‘illegal DEI policies,’ but fails to identify any specific practices or policies that are actually in place in the district.”

“We take any concerns of discrimination seriously and we will continue, as always, in our commitment to our mission of challenging and supporting every student, every step of the way, to our vision that every student is prepared to serve, lead, and succeed, and to our values – start with heart, strength in team, and contagious drive.  Our new Excellence & Innovation 2030 Strategic Plan is rooted in these commitments, and we will remain focused on providing our students with the high quality educational experience that our community expects.”

Hunt added that “we will certainly cooperate fully” if an investigation is opened.

A Dept. of Education spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the department “doesn’t confirm complaints.”

Earlier this year, the Department of Education issued a letter warning public schools across the country that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding. 

“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, said in the letter.

The letter said the “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions” will no longer be tolerated.

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report

House Judiciary Committee member Hank Johnson, R-Ga., made waves when he made allusions to the Holocaust while obliquely criticizing the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the arrest of Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan.

Johnson was speaking during a Wednesday committee markup meeting when he began paraphrasing German preacher Martin Niemöller’s confession as someone who once supported the Nazi Party until it was too late to object to its mounting atrocities.

“You know, first, they came for the Latinos outside of the Home Depots, trying to get work so that they could feed their families,” Johnson began.

“And I didn’t say anything about it because I’m not a Latino at the Home Depot.”

SENATOR WARNS OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL JUDICIAL OVERREACH AHEAD OF SCOTUS SHOWDOWN

“Then they came for the Hispanic-looking folks [with] hats backward with tattoos. And they deported them to El Salvador. And I didn’t say anything about that because I don’t wear my [hat] backward, and I don’t have any tattoos, and I don’t look like a Latino.”

“Then they came for the Latinas at home, taking care of the children. They scooped up the Latinas and the children, some of whom were American citizens, one of whom was receiving treatment for cancer. They swept them up, took them off, and deported them. And I didn’t say anything about it. Because I’m not a Latina. I’m not a little child who’s an American citizen.”

Johnson went on to make the same allusion to students protesting in support of Hamas on campus, who have been another target of the Trump administration.

“They sent jackbooted thugs wearing masks to pick them up, take them thousands of miles away and put them in a private for-profit detention center where they languish at taxpayer expense. And I didn’t say anything about it because I’m not a student on a foreign visa,” Johnson said.

He then noted how Dugan had been arrested for allegedly aiding an illegal immigrant in avoiding federal immigration authorities, saying he did not speak up because he was not a “White female judge.”

“But then they came for me. And I looked around, and there was nobody left because I had remained silent,” he said.

DEM SEN JOINS GROUP OF FAR LEFT LAWMAKERS WHO THINK TRUMP HAS AGAIN COMMITTED IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES

Johnson concluded by noting he paraphrased a poem from Germany, saying it “resonated back then as it does today.”

“It’s important that the people understand what is happening with our constitutional rights in this country. Everyone is entitled to due process, whether or not you are documented or undocumented, whether or you are a citizen or not. You’re entitled to due process.”

He said an amendment up for a vote in the markup sought to affirm that. 

An amendment in the meeting record would have prohibited certain funds from being used to remove “an alien in violation of their rights under the Fifth Amendment.” 

It was voted down.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson for comment, as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, for response.

On X, the official House Judiciary Committee Republican account mocked Johnson’s remarks, writing, “Wow, Hank Johnson just implied that all Latinos hang out at Home Depot.”

Johnson’s penchant for colorful remarks goes back more than a decade to 2010, when he warned then-Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Robert Willard during a House Armed Service Committee hearing on military-buildup plans that Guam could potentially “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation.

Democrats have recently shifted their comments on Garcia’s case more toward concerns about due process, after Tennessee police video showing a run-in with Garcia allegedly trafficking migrants was released.

EXCLUSIVE: An audit by Mississippi state auditor Shad White found several instances of “incredibly wasteful” expenditures of state HIV/AIDS grants, as President Donald Trump has been criticized for cutting similar funding via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

White said his report shows funds meant for HIV/AIDS issues were spent by some recipients on a “Queer-ceanara” – a “Latinx pride month event” based off the Spanish term “Quinceañera” for a girl’s 15th birthday celebration.

“We’ve been following the model that President Trump and DOGE set in digging into taxpayer funds here in Mississippi,” White told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview about updates to what is being called “MOGE,” or Mississippi’s version of Elon Musk’s DOGE government efficiency work.

“We’re particularly looking now at grants that are being passed from state agencies over to nonprofits, and our latest findings are really just a slap in the face to taxpayers, unfortunately,” he said.

MISSISSIPPI MUSK: STATE AUDITOR’S ‘MOGE’ REPORT FINDS $400M IN GOVERNMENT WASTE

“So what we started doing is digging into grants that were designed to pay for tests, to test people for HIV/AID – and so those grants were flowing through the Mississippi Department of Health… And when you dig into how [some] nonprofits are spending the money, you see that it’s incredibly wasteful.”

White said taxpayer funds meant for constructive means were also spent on cab rides in the overnight hours 1,000 miles away in New York City over a several-day period.

“[That] looked like bar-hopping,” he said.

COST CUTTING: 2 STATES AIM TO ELIMINATE PERSONAL INCOME TAXES

White remarked that if that kind of funding “abuse” could happen in a red state like the Magnolia State, it may only be the tip of the iceberg compared to more financially permissive blue states.

“Our audit shows that when you dig into how this money is actually being spent, it’s not actually helping people with HIV/AIDS. It’s not helping to test folks for HIV. It’s instead just being wasted.”

At the same time, the Trump administration’s National Institutes of Health has been under fire for similar cuts in its own DOGE efforts, with one CNN report citing a critic claiming “people will die.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The network looked into changes made in a Health and Human Services database, and one source said they had been getting texts from concerned people.

Back in Jackson, White said the HIV/AIDS funding audit is only the latest in his office’s wide-ranging efforts to curb waste or fraud in terms of state taxpayer monies.

“DOGE has highlighted in particular how grants passed down from the federal government to state governments, and then to non-profits, are really a massive, massive fraud risk,” he said.

“Our audit here proves that the craziest kind of stuff that you see at the federal level and the craziest stuff that may see in California or New York is happening in red states too. Every single state needs to be following President Trump’s lead.”

Rwanda is reportedly “in discussions with the United States” to receive migrants deported by the Trump administration. 

Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told state broadcaster Rwanda TV on Sunday that the East African country “has not yet reached a stage where we can say exactly how things will proceed, but the talks are ongoing … still in the early stages,” according to Reuters. “We are in discussions with the United States.”

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Monday that implementing the Trump administration’s immigration policies is a top priority and that it is working closely with partners and regional leaders to end the crisis of illegal and mass migration. 

The spokesperson added that ongoing engagement with foreign governments is vital to accomplishing that goal but noted that the State Department does not publicly discuss the details of its diplomatic communications.

RWANDAN PRESIDENT PRAISES ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ TRUMP, SAYS ‘WE MIGHT LEARN SOME LESSONS’ WITH USAID SHUTDOWN 

Rwanda’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

At a Cabinet meeting last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “We have gone to countries all over the world and said, ‘Hey, you want good relations with the United States, you need to take back your people that are here illegally.’ And we’ve had historic cooperation. Beyond that, and I say this unapologetically, we are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries.  

“So we are actively – not just El Salvador – we are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries, will you do that as a favor to us?’ And the further away from America the better, so they can’t come back across the border,” Rubio added. 

TRUMP QUESTIONS JUDGES WHO BLOCK DEPORTATIONS OF ‘CRIMINALS, INCLUDING MURDERERS’ 

In a 2023 report on the human rights situation in Rwanda, the State Department said “significant” issues exist, such as “credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy,” among other allegations. 

Rwanda previously had an agreement with the United Kingdom in 2022 to accept thousands of asylum seekers, but that deal was scrapped last year by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Reuters reported. 

Rwandan President Paul Kagame said in February that “President Trump has an unconventional way of doing things,” and “I completely agree with him on many things.” 

Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump will host a Russian-American ballerina at the White House on Monday, roughly a month after the Trump administration secured her release from a Russian prison, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Ksenia Karelina, a former ballerina, was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian penal colony in 2024 for treason. The 33-year-old was released and returned to the U.S. on April 10 through a U.S.-Russian prison swap, Fox Digital previously reported. 

“Mr. Trump, I’m so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for [the] American government. And I never felt more blessed to be American, and I’m so, so happy to get home,” Karelina said in a video posted by Trump deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka on April 11 upon her return to the U.S. 

A White House official confirmed to Fox Digital on Monday that Karelina will visit the White House on Monday afternoon. 

RUSSIAN-AMERICAN BALLERINA KSENIA KARELINA RELEASED IN PRISONER SWAP WITH MOSCOW

Karelina, who is a U.S. citizen, was born in Russia and had been living and working in Los Angeles at the time of her arrest. She was visiting her family in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2024 when Russia’s Federal Security Service – the country’s top security agency – inspected her phone and found she donated about $50 to a U.S.-based charity that works to aid Ukraine, Fox Digital previously reported. 

AMERICAN BALLERINA ACCUSED OF SPYING STANDS TRIAL IN MOSCOW FOR $51 UKRAINE DONATION

She was initially detained for “petty hooliganism,” but the charge was later upgraded to treason as Russian officials claimed she raised money for the Ukrainian army and took part in actions that supported Ukraine while in the U.S. 

Karelina was returned to the U.S. in exchange for the U.S. releasing Arthur Petrov, a dual German Russian citizen who was accused of exporting sensitive U.S. electronics to the Russian military. He was arrested in 2023 and charged with crimes such as conspiracy and violating export controls, Reuters previously reported. 

AMERICAN BALLERINA LEFT OUT OF RUSSIA PRISONER SWAP PLEADS GUILTY TO TREASON 

Karelina’s family celebrated her release last month, with her former stepmother Eleonra Srebroski telling Fox News at the time that she was “euphoric” over the prisoner swap while praising Trump for the release. 

“My spirit is high. We are extremely happy. This is beyond any emotion…This is healing,” Srebroski said. “We were putting a lot of hope in the Trump administration, and we knew she would be next after Marc Fogel. We support Trump even more.”

Karelina’s boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, told the New York Post upon her release in April that the couple was eager to meet Trump and thank him. 

“We really need to thank him personally. When the time’s right, she’d love to meet him and I would love to shake his hand for bringing back the love of my life. And I’m not into politics,” Van Heerden told the outlet at the time. 

“I was begging the Biden administration for a whole year to bring Ksenia back. About seven months I realized that’s not going to happen. They’re not going to do it for me. I had faith and I truly believed when President Trump came into power, he could do it and he did it,” he added. 

Karelina’s release follows the Trump administration striking another prisoner swap deal with Russia in February that saw the release of U.S. citizen and teacher Marc Fogel, who had been in Russian custody since 2021 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana at an airport. 

Some Republican leaders are hoping they can pass a massive bill codifying President Donald Trump‘s agenda into federal law by the Fourth of July.

It means the sweeping policy overhaul could reach Trump’s desk for a signature by the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding.

“I’ve said all along, my goal is, is for the president to sign this one big, beautiful bill on July 4th,” House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., told “Fox News Sunday.”

It comes as House Republicans struggle to reconcile differences on clean energy and Medicaid in talks to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to pay for Trump’s tax policies.

SCOOP: REPUBLICANS DISCUSS DEFUNDING ‘BIG ABORTION’ LIKE PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN TRUMP AGENDA BILL

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters days earlier on Capitol Hill, “We’ve got three legs to the President’s economic agenda: trade, tax and deregulation, and we hope that we can have this tax portion done by Fourth of July.”

Republican lawmakers are working on a multitrillion-dollar piece of legislation aimed at advancing Trump’s policies on tax, defense, energy, immigration, border security and at raising the debt limit.

Trump’s tax policies, a cornerstone of his platform and the costliest portion of the bill, include extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and retirees’ social security.

Republican leaders and tax hawks have warned that failing to extend TCJA by the time its provisions expire at the end of this year could result in a tax hike of over 20% for millions of families. 

House GOP leaders said in a letter to lawmakers dated April 5, “Immediately following House adoption of the budget resolution, our House and Senate committees will begin preparing together their respective titles of the reconciliation bill to be marked up in the next work period. As always, this will involve input from all Members and will keep us on track to send a bill to the President’s desk by Memorial Day.”

BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY

However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has since somewhat walked that goal back, telling reporters he believes the House can finish its portion by Memorial Day.

“We are on track to pass the bill out of the House. As we’ve said from the very beginning, and get it over, to the next stage by Memorial Day,” Johnson said during a press conference last week.

He was optimistic about beating the early July goal after meeting with Bessent and other top lawmakers last Monday, however.

“He says July 4 because that’s a big, big birthday for us. And everybody knows that,” Johnson said of Bessent’s comments. “But I think – and I hope, and believe – that we can get it done sooner than that.”

A House GOP leadership aide told Fox News Digital that Johnson “stated his goal is to move the bill through the House by Memorial Day” and that it was “not in conflict” with sending a bill to Trump by July 4.

When asked if that goal was feasible, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital, “It’s gonna have to be.”

Others who spoke with Fox News Digital were more skeptical.

A senior House Republican aide told Fox News Digital, “Deadlines are so arbitrary in Congress. Passing the bill by Memorial Day was always a long shot, but moving the goalposts from Easter to Memorial Day to July 4 just shows weakness.”

“We better stick with this one, because the next federal holiday isn’t until September!” the aide said.

Republicans are not only racing the clock on the TCJA deadline, but also the possibility of a national credit default. The U.S. is expected to run out of cash to pay its debts sometime this summer, according to several projections – a somewhat murky deadline based on a number of factors, including yearly tax filings.

MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE

Hitting that date without acting on the debt limit would send domestic and global financial markets into turmoil.

Republicans are looking to move Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party in power to sideline the opposition, in this case Democrats, while passing legislation focused on spending, taxes and debt.

After both the House and Senate passed budget “frameworks” earlier this year, the relevant committees named in the frameworks are working to write policy in line with the spending cut or surplus they are granted.

Seven of 11 House committees have completed their work so far. However, three critical panels – the committees on Ways & Means, Agriculture, and Energy & Commerce – had to delay initial tentative plans to advance their portions this week.

Republicans in blue states, who GOP leaders view as critical to keeping the majority, have raised alarms about cutting too deeply into Medicaid. It is under the jurisdiction of the Energy & Commerce Committee, which is tasked with finding $880 billion of the $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.

Negotiators have insisted they are only interested in going after waste, fraud and abuse in the system, but it has not stopped Democrats from accusing the GOP of trying to cut critical healthcare programs for millions of Americans.

Meanwhile, the committee is also going to have to decide on an ongoing battle between conservatives and blue state Republicans over whether to repeal some or all of the former Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) green energy tax subsidies.

In March, 21 House Republicans signed a letter urging their colleagues to preserve the green energy tax credit.

“Countless American companies are utilizing sector-wide energy tax credits – many of which have enjoyed broad support in Congress – to make major investments in domestic energy production and infrastructure for traditional and renewable energy sources alike,” they wrote.

The anti-IRA Republicans, however, said in a letter last week that the U.S.’ growing green energy sector was the product of government handouts rather than genuine sustainable growth.

“Leaving IRA subsidies intact will actively undermine America’s return to energy dominance and national security,” they said. “They are the result of government subsidies that distort the U.S. energy sector, displace reliable coal and natural gas and the domestic jobs they produce, and put the stability and independence of our electric grid in jeopardy.”

Negotiations are expected to continue this week.

When reached for comment on whether the Senate could meet the Independence Day goal, a spokesperson for Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., pointed Fox News Digital to a recent interview where he signaled openness to the idea.

“We have a similar target. And I think the House is, you know, they would like to, the speaker would like to have it out of the House by Memorial Day. And the Senate has a more complicated procedure that we have to go through when it comes to reconciliation that makes it harder and more complicated and takes a little bit longer time,” Thune said.

“But there’s been a ton of work done already, and we’re working closely with our counterparts in the House on all the relevant authorizing committees that have been instructed.”

Responding to a question from the Daily Signal about his timeline and criteria for making future judicial nominations, President Donald Trump said, “we’re putting ’em in rapidly,” and seeking to “get very good ones.”

Trump suggested there are “radicalized” and “crazy” judges who want a trial for each illegal immigrant who enters the U.S.

The nation needs judges who will not demand a trial “for every single illegal immigrant,” he indicated. “We have millions of people that have come in here illegally, and we can’t have a trial for every single person, that would be millions of trials.”

TRUMP ORDERS FEDS TO REOPEN ALCATRAZ TO HOUSE ‘AMERICA’S MOST RUTHLESS AND VIOLENT’ CRIMINALS

Asked how he will ensure the judges he taps will be different, the president said, “All you can do is do the best you can.”

The president — whose second-term agenda has been stymied by judicial roadblocks this year — announced the nomination of Whitney Hermandorfer for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit last week.  

TRUMP ADMIN SUES COLORADO, DENVER OVER ‘SANCTUARY LAWS,’ ALLEGED INTERFERENCE IN IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

“Whitney is a Fighter who will inspire confidence in our Legal System,” Trump declared in his post.

That marked the president’s first judicial nomination of his second term, according to reports.

TRUMP QUESTIONS JUDGES WHO BLOCK DEPORTATIONS OF ‘CRIMINALS, INCLUDING MURDERERS’

“Can it be so that Judges aren’t allowing the USA to Deport Criminals, including Murderers, out of our Country and back to where they came from? If this is so, our Country, as we know it, is finished! Americans will have to get used to a very different, crime filled, LIFE. This is not what our Founders had in mind!!!” Trump declared in a Truth Social post last week.

Senate Democrats are warning that Mike Waltz is going to have a very difficult time during his confirmation hearing for the role of United Nations ambassador. 

“It will be a brutal, brutal hearing. He’s not qualified for the job, just by nature of the fact that he participated in this Signal chain,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”  

“Mike Waltz is doing what we call – he is failing up,” added Duckworth, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He is failing in his job and getting promoted to be ambassador. That’s not what our nation needs at the United Nations.” 

“I think it will be a brutal confirmation hearing,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia also said to CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think he’s going to have tough questions, not only from Democrats but from Republicans.” 

HEGSETH, SIGNAL QUESTIONS DOG WALTZ AS POTENTIALLY PERILOUS UN AMBASSADOR CONFIRMATION HEARING LOOMS 

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

Waltz has been facing scrutiny after The Atlantic magazine exposed a Signal group chat that his team had set up to discuss strikes against the Houthis in March. 

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to appoint a new national security adviser in about six months, telling reporters Waltz did not resign, but was instead tapped for an upgraded position as the administration’s ambassador to the United Nations. 

TRUMP TO TAP NEW NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR IN 6 MONTHS; CALLS WALTZ MOVE ‘UPGRADE’ 

Democrats appear hungry to use Waltz’s nomination as a forum to air grievances against other foreign policy leaders in the Trump administration – particularly Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.  

While the exact timeline for a potential confirmation vote in the Senate is unclear, the first hurdle that Waltz must clear is a confirmation vote out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Although it is uncertain when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will schedule the nomination hearing for Waltz and the subsequent vote, the committee said his nomination is a “priority.” 

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE – BOSTON – He is out of power, but former Vice President Mike Pence does not feel powerless. 

Pence, the once loyal vice president who broke with President Donald Trump as he defied his one-time boss’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, pledged to be a vocal GOP critic when Trump, during his second tour of duty in the White House, veers from the “conservative agenda” that defined the Trump-Pence administration.

“When you look at those Trump-Pence years, they were years that we governed on a conservative agenda,” the former vice president said in an exclusive national digital interview with Fox News minutes after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on Sunday night.

Pence said he gives “President Trump all the credit in the world for an historic victory last November, and for sparing the country one more liberal Democrat administration.”

WHY TRUMP’S FIRST VICE PRESIDENT WAS HONORED BY THE KENNEDY FAMILY

He also praised Trump “not only for his victory, but for securing our southern border, for restoring morale and recruitment in our military, for taking the fight to the Houthis.”

However, he argued that “I truly do believe that some of the other steps the president is taking away from that conservative agenda should be a concern that would work against his legacy and ultimately the success of our party or our country. And so we’re going to continue to be a voice against them.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING, ANALYSIS AND OPINION ON MIKE PENCE

“I really do believe that for prosperity…for the success of our country, we need to stick to those time-honored principles of strong defense, American leadership on the world stage, less government, less taxes, traditional moral values, and the right to life, and I’m going to be a voice for that,” added Pence, long a champion of social and fiscal conservative values.

On the suggestion in recent weeks by some House Republicans to raise taxes on the wealthy to help pay for Trump’s second-term agenda, an idea some in the White House contemplated before the president came out against the proposal, Pence was clear in his opposition.

“Any suggestion that I’ve heard among some in and around the administration that we raise the top margin rate, the so-called millionaires tax, would be an enormous tax increase on small business owners across America,” Pence said.

He additionally emphasized that “It needs to be opposed. Let’s make all the Trump-Pence tax cuts permanent. That’s a way to really lay a foundation to grow the economy in the days ahead.”

The former vice president, a proponent of a muscular U.S. foreign policy, has criticized the president’s upending of longstanding U.S. foreign policy and has urged Trump to stand with longtime international allies.

Pence received a standing ovation from the audience at Boston’s JFK Presidential Library when, in his acceptance address, he stressed that the U.S. “must continue to stand with Ukraine.”

Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of “populism” in the party, as he bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as part of a large field that unsuccessfully challenged Trump.

While Pence, who became the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss, regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off. 

Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after launching it.

When asked if there was another political chapter ahead, and possibly another bid for national office, Pence told Fox News Digital, “I leave that up to the American people.”

He reiterated that he intends to “be a voice” for traditional and conservative values and “we’ll let the future take care of itself.”

As for Trump’s repeated flirtations the past three months with seeking a third term in office in 2028 – which is forbidden by the 22nd Amendment in the U.S. Constitution – Pence said, “I think there’s no higher priority for a president or any elected official to keep faith with the Constitution of the United States.”

“Every single one of us takes the same oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and my hope and my prayer is for the president on down, Republicans and Democrats, will take that oath to heart, because that’s the pathway forward for our country and all the American people,” he added.

Pence spoke with Fox News Digital after receiving the Profile in Courage Award, which is named for a book the late John F. Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president.

The annual award honors public officials who take principled stands despite the potential political or personal consequences. Among the previous recipients were former Presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

Pence was honored with the award for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, during the attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists — including some chanting “hang Mike Pence” — who stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification of the 2020 election.

Hours later, after the rioters were cleared from the Capitol building, Pence resumed his constitutional duties by overseeing congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

“Vice President Pence put his life, career and that of his family on the line to execute his constitutional responsibilities. His actions preserved the fundamental democratic principle of free and fair elections, and we are proud to honor him,” former Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the late President Kennedy’s daughter, said in presenting Pence with the award.

Pence, in accepting the annual award, emphasized that it is a “distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The former vice president, pointing to his actions on Jan. 6, said to a standing ovation, “I will always believe by God’s grace that I did my duty that day.”

Additionally, Pence, in his interview, noted that “in all my travels across the country in the last four years, I’ve been deeply humbled by how many Americans have come up to me and just taken a point to encourage us and support us, and it convinces me that the American people know that what ever differences we may have, the Constitution is the common ground on which we stand.”

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security will front the cost of commercial flights and provide a $1,000 stipend to illegal aliens who opt to self-deport from the United States in a move DHS says will save thousands of dollars.

The department says this will be 70% cheaper for American taxpayers, as it currently costs DHS, on average, over $17,000 to arrest, detain, and deport someone. DHS told Fox News that paying for aliens to remove themselves, even with the stipend, is anticipated to cost only around $4,500 on average. 

The stipend would not be paid until it was verified that an individual self-deported. Aliens will use the CBP Home self-deportation app to access this assistance, and DHS expects self-removals, already in the thousands, to ramp up significantly with this announcement.

SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN

According to a news release, those who use the CBP Home app to leave the U.S. will be “deprioritized for detention and removal” if they are actually taking steps to exit the country. 

“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News in a statement. 

“DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App. This is the safest option for our law enforcement, aliens and is a 70% savings for US taxpayers. Download the CBP Home App TODAY and self-deport,” she continued. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

DHS says that self-deportation allows individuals a chance to come back into the country legally one day.

ICE FILES DETAINERS AGAINST 2 ILLEGAL ALIENS, INCLUDING 1 FACING ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGES FOR SHOOTING SPREE

Still, the move could be controversial among some critics, as some will see it as aliens being rewarded with taxpayer money for breaking the law. DHS acknowledged this concern with Fox News, and the department reinforced that this will save taxpayers significant amounts of money in the bigger picture, with the end goal of getting illegal aliens out of the country. 

ICE TOUTS RECORD-BREAKING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT DURING TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS 

Millions of people entered the country illegally under the Biden administration, and new apprehensions at the border have come to a near-screeching halt.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

 In addition, the Trump administration has put a primary focus on deporting individuals with criminal convictions and charges against them on top of being in the country illegally. This includes transferring some alleged MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members to a prison in El Salvador, as the two groups were designated a foreign terrorist organization by Trump. 

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital this week that he remains confident there will be a sunset to the trend of nationwide injunctions by federal judges whose rulings reverberate far beyond their judicial districts.

“Universal injunctions are an unconstitutional abuse of judicial power,” Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital.

“Just this past week, a D.C. district judge issued a universal injunction blocking the president’s executive order requiring voter ID or proof-of-citizenship prior to voting in national elections.”

That ruling ignores the idea that “judges are not policymakers,” he said.

NUMBER OF INJUNCTIONS HALTING TRUMP POLICIES TROUNCES PREDECESSORS BY DOUBLE

“Allowing them to assume this role is very dangerous.”

With the Supreme Court primed to hear a case on May 15 regarding nationwide injunctions on President Donald Trump‘s order reinterpreting birthright citizenship, Grassley noted the high bench “could and should take action.”

“In the meantime, I’m continuing to work with my colleagues to advance my critical Judicial Relief Clarification Act (JRCA) and put an end to universal injunctions,” he said.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW EL SALVADOR DEPORTATION FLIGHT CASE

While some proponents had suggested using the reconciliation process to force through Grassley’s bill in a closely divided Senate, that would be prohibited because of the so-called “Byrd Rule” barring non-financial bills from going through the process, according to a person familiar with the reconciliation process.

The May 15 case challenges precedent from the 1898 ruling in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark – which defined birthright citizenship in a broad context after Wong, a child of Chinese immigrants, was denied entry to San Francisco after returning from China.

Judges in Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington state issued nationwide injunctions blocking Trump’s birthright citizenship order, while the president defended his move, saying the 14th Amendment section outlining the idea was clearly directed at former slaves.

In March, Grassley first spoke against what he called the promotion of unchecked judicial power after Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., requested passage of a resolution ordering Trump to comply with all federal court rulings.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“The President of the United States shouldn’t have to ask permission from more than 600 different district judges to manage the executive branch he was elected to lead,” Grassley responded.

“I happen to agree with some Democrats that in previous years have said some judges have gone way beyond what a judge should do on national injunctions. I hope to find a solution for that, and I hope that you and I could work on that together,” he added.

The federal government’s push to finally execute REAL ID travel requirements will take effect Wednesday, amid a push from some Republicans to crack down on voter registration to ensure that those registered to vote are U.S. citizens. 

While voters may use REAL ID as an additional acceptable form of identification when heading to the polls, REAL ID goes into effect as legislation makes its way through Congress to verify that only U.S. citizens are casting their ballot in U.S. elections. 

The implementation of REAL ID coincides with the House’s passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act in April, which demands that states require in-person proof of citizenship from those seeking to vote in federal elections. The measure, known as the SAVE Act, is now headed to the Senate. 

DEMS FIGHT BILL TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT VOTING DESPITE POLLS SHOWING VOTER SUPPORT

Among the documents used to prove U.S. citizenship, as outlined in the SAVE Act, is a REAL ID, a form of identification that meets higher security standards up to par with those the federal government has established. Those that are REAL ID compliant have a star on them. 

Other documents that may be used as proof of citizenship under the SAVE Act include a U.S. passport, a military ID with a U.S. birthplace listed, a valid government-issued photo ID that either lists a U.S. birthplace, or is coupled with a birth certificate indicating a U.S. birthplace. 

Still, having a REAL ID does not necessarily prove U.S. citizenship, since there is a REAL ID option available for legal residents as well. However, some states, including Michigan, Minnesota and Vermont, do provide a REAL ID option only for U.S. citizens that does comply with the SAVE Act. 

As a result, lawmakers who have backed the SAVE Act are hopeful that more states will start implementing citizen-only REAL IDs to comply with SAVE Act requirements. 

“The structure is put in place now to — I think there’s at least five states that do have the citizenship status as part of the REAL ID — encourage more states to do so,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, according to The Associated Press. “That would be part of the goal here.”

VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SUPPORT PHOTO ID REQUIREMENT TO VOTE, NEW POLL SAYS

REAL ID will take effect Wednesday, decades after Congress passed the legislation establishing REAL ID in 2005 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks to create enhanced security standards for driver’s licenses. 

However, the federal government has postponed its rollout and implementation — until now. The Trump administration has firmly said that May 7 is the final deadline for traveling or entering certain federal facilities like military bases, asserting that REAL ID will assist the government address illegal immigration as it steams ahead with its mass deportation initiative. 

Those without a REAL ID who are traveling after Wednesday must use identification like a U.S. passport or military ID instead. 

Meanwhile, REAL ID has become a controversial issue among lawmakers — with some Republicans speaking out against it. While proponents of REAL ID argue it enhances national security, critics claim it compromises individual liberty and amounts to a national ID system. 

The Associated Press and Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is planning to introduce a bill that would enshrine into law President Donald Trump‘s executive order to rename a national park after a 12-year-old Houston girl allegedly killed by two illegal immigrants. 

The bill is being brought forward to make it more difficult for future administrations, Republican or Democrat, to change the name of Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge.

“Jocelyn Nungaray was taken from this world far too soon at the hands of brutal killers who were in the U.S. illegally due to President Biden’s open-border policies, and her legacy deserves to live on forever,” Cornyn told Fox News Digital. “I am proud to lead this legislation alongside [Republican Texas] Congressman [Brian] Babin to ensure President Trump’s renaming of this sanctuary to the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge is made permanent.”

JOCELYN NUNGARAY MURDER: HOUSTON PROSECUTORS SEEK ICE, CBP RECORDS ON ILLEGAL ACCUSED OF CHILD KILLING

During his joint address to Congress in March, Trump announced the renaming of the 39,000-acre sanctuary, formerly known as the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, along the Texas Gulf Coast. 

In April, officials held a renaming ceremony for the park.

“One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent national wildlife refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America,” Trump said during his address. 

Cornyn’s bill would codify the park’s new name into law, making the process to change it more difficult. 

JOCELYN NUNGARAY’S MOTHER REVEALS HORRIFIC TIMELINE OF DAUGHTER’S MURDER IN HEARING ON OPEN-BORDER CRIME

“Ms. Nungaray loved animals and, given the close proximity of her hometown of Houston, it is fitting that the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge be renamed in her honor,” the bill’s text states. 

Cornyn said he learned of Nungaray’s love of nature while getting to know her family.

Nungaray’s killing, as well as others involving illegal immigrant suspects, became a flash point during the 2024 presidential election as Trump campaigned on a platform of deporting criminals in the U.S. illegally. Nungaray, who lived in Houston, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted before she was strangled to death and left dead under a bridge in June 2024 by Franklin Pena, 26, and Johan Martinez-Rangel, 22, Harris County prosecutors said. 

Both men, alleged members of the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who entered the United States illegally, face capital murder charges and the death penalty.