Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., expressed her frustrations on a variety of political topics on Friday, stating in a post on X that she represents the Republican base and if she’s unhappy, the base is too.

The congresswoman suggested that the situation does not bode well for future elections, as President Donald Trump will not be on the ballot.

“I represent the base and when I’m frustrated and upset over the direction of things, you better be clear, the base is not happy,” Greene wrote. “When you are losing MTG, you are losing the base. And Trump isn’t on the ballot in the future, so do the math on that.”

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE BRINGS TOWN HALL TO HARRIS-WON GEORGIA COUNTY, SHRUGS OFF POSSIBLE ‘OUTBURSTS’

Fox News Digital reached out to Greene’s office for a comment on her post, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

“I campaigned for no more foreign wars. And now we are supposedly on the verge of going to war with Iran. I don’t think we should be bombing foreign countries on behalf of other foreign countries especially when they have their own nuclear weapons and massive military strength,” the lawmaker wrote.

FETTERMAN CALLS FOR BOMBING IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES: ‘WASTE THAT S—’

She has expressed staunch opposition to the minerals deal the Trump administration struck with Ukraine last week. 

The White House indicated that the “partnership between the United States and Ukraine establishes a fund that will receive 50% of royalties, license fees, and other similar payments from natural resource projects in Ukraine.”

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE SCOLDS NPR CEO OVER PERSONAL VIEWS DURING FIERY DOGE SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING

Ukrainian official Yulia Svyrydenko noted, “the Fund will be financed exclusively from NEW licenses,” and the U.S. “will contribute to the Fund. In addition to direct financial contributions, it may also provide NEW assistance — for example, air defense systems for Ukraine.”

Greene asked in her post, “Why on earth would we go over and occupy Ukraine and spend an untold amount of future American taxpayer dollars defending and mining their minerals as well as potentially putting American lives at risk and future war? Why don’t we just mine our own rare earth minerals that are tied up on federal lands that the government confiscated years ago?”

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Another issue Greene expressed frustration with is the coronavirus pandemic, specifically the COVID-19 vaccines.

“I also campaigned on accountability for the communist and tyrannical acts made by the government during Covid. Yet the Covid vaccine still has FDA approval even though there are millions reported injuries and deaths, and this mRNA vaccine is known to have horrific side effects and DOES NOT STOP PEOPLE FROM CATCHING COVID. And to this day, it’s still on the childhood vaccine schedule, why on earth is this happening?” she asked.

Israeli officials approved a plan to capture all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely on Monday, hours after the military announced it was calling up tens of thousands of reserve troops, the Associated Press reported.

Israeli Cabinet ministers approved the plan in an early morning vote on Monday. Israel currently controls roughly 50% of Gaza, and the plan would see Israeli forces expand into the south. Officials said the plan is set to be implemented gradually, with Israeli forces rooting out Hamas control over territories.

The plan would also seek to prevent the militant Hamas group from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza. It also accuses Hamas of keeping the aid for itself to bolster its capabilities. The plan also included powerful strikes against Hamas targets, the officials said.

Violence in Gaza has ramped up once again in the weeks since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March. The IDF has also vowed to increase operations against the Houthis in Yemen after the terrorist group fired a missile that landed near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

TOP HAMAS TERROR LEADER KILLED IN ‘PRECISE STRIKE’ BY ISRAEL: IDF

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation for the attack Sunday and participated in several defense meetings throughout the day. The missile reportedly evaded both Israeli and U.S. missile defenses, according to Israeli media.

“Whoever harms us, we will strike them sevenfold,” affirmed Defense Minister Israel Katz.

ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER SLAMS UN, CALLS IT ‘ROTTEN, ANTI-ISRAEL, AND ANTISEMITIC BODY’

At least eight people were injured in the missile strike, though none of the injuries were life-threatening. Israel has not yet confirmed any specific military retaliation.

Netanyahu noted that the Houthis are an Iran-backed group and said responsibility for the strike ultimately lies with Tehran. He said Israel will retaliate “at a time and place of our choosing.”

Over the weekend, the Israeli Air Force says it struck over 100 terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including terrorist cells, tunnels, underground infrastructure sites, and other military structures.

IDF troops operating in southern Gaza also located weapons caches in the area, dismantled dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites, and eliminated a number of terrorists.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is fresh off his 100th day in office and says his administration has no plans to slow down in the coming weeks, months and years. 

“This week, we’re celebrating the most successful first 100 days of any presidential administration in the history of our country. And we’ve been given a lot of credit for that. … But we’re going to do even better as we move along,” Trump said during his commencement address at the University of Alabama on Thursday.

Trump’s 16th week back in the Oval Office is anticipated to include a meeting with Canada’s new leader, ongoing talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, and trade negotiations with foreign nations that are expected to continue heating up before the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends in July. 

TRUMP SAYS HE WASN’T ‘TROLLING’ ABOUT ACQUIRING GREENLAND, CANADA AS 51ST STATE

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday he would visit the White House on Tuesday after Carney’s Liberal Party emerged victorious in the nation’s federal election last week to discuss a 25% tariff imposed on goods from the nation sent to the U.S. and Trump’s repeated urging that the U.S. northern neighbor become the “51st state.”

“We are meeting as heads of our government,” Carney said Friday of the upcoming meeting. “I am not pretending those discussions will be easy.”

VANCE SOLIDIFIES DOMINANCE DRIVING EUROPEAN FOREIGN POLICY AHEAD OF GREENLAND TRIP 

Trump added during his meeting with Cabinet members on Thursday that he spoke with Carney after Canada’s election and predicted they would have “a great relationship.”

“He’s going to come to the White House very shortly within the next week or less,” Trump said on Thursday.

The Trump administration has leveled tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods as the president looks to bring parity to the nation’s chronic trade deficit with foreign countries. Trump paused his reciprocal tariff plan on dozens of nations in April as countries called on the administration to make trade deals, but he upped the ante on China as the country rebuked Trump’s trade policies with tariffs of its own, including 125% duty taxes on U.S. goods. 

China’s Commerce Ministry said on Friday that officials are “evaluating” an offer from the Trump administration to hold trade talks on the 145% U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, signaling it could be a busy week of discussions if China accepts the offer. 

“The U.S. has recently taken the initiative on many occasions to convey information to China through relevant parties, saying it hopes to talk with China,” the statement said, according to Reuters. 

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL NOT DROP TARIFFS TO GET CHINA TO NEGOTIATING TABLE

“Attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work,” the statement added. 

Trump and the administration have previously said they were willing to hold trade negotiations with China, including the president saying on April 8, “We are waiting for their call. It will happen.”

The president said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he will not drop the tariffs to bring China to the negotiation table.

“They said today they want to talk. Look, China, and I don’t like this, I’m not happy about this: China’s getting killed right now,” Trump told host Kristen Welker. “They’re getting absolutely destroyed. Their factories are closing. Their unemployment is going through the roof. I’m not looking to do that to China now. At the same time, I’m not looking to have China make hundreds of billions of dollars and build more ships and more army tanks and more airplanes.” 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday the Trump administration will take into account China’s lack of compliance with a trade deal from the president’s first term when it finalizes a new trade deal.

“I think we’ll have to take into account that they didn’t adhere to the phase 1 deal, and … I note with great interest that the Biden administration liked the tariffs, but they didn’t enforce the purchase agreements,” Bessent said on Fox News last week. 

Meanwhile, Bessent and other administration trade leaders are negotiating with dozens of other nations during the 90-day pause that began on April 9. The pause will sunset in July, meaning officials on U.S. soil and worldwide are working at a breakneck pace to secure such deals within that time frame.

Trump said on “Meet the Press” that he believes he’s closer to ironing out a peace deal after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned last week it was “critical” to U.S. efforts to secure a peace deal between Russia and its war with neighboring Ukraine. 

War has raged between Russia and Ukraine since 2022, with Trump campaigning last year to end the war that he said never would have started if he had been in office after the 2020 election.

“I do believe we’re closer with one party,” Trump said during the interview, “and maybe not as close with the other, but we’ll have to see. I’d like to not say which one we’re closer to, but we did do a deal for the American people.”

Ukraine signed a deal with the U.S. last week allowing access to Ukraine’s rare minerals as it continues to hash out a peace agreement. 

TRUMP SAYS HE COULD ‘WALK AWAY’ FROM RUSSIA-UKRAINE TALKS, CITES ‘TREMENDOUS HATRED’ ON BOTH SIDES

“We were able to get rare Earth [minerals]. You know, the Europeans are getting paid back. They have a loan. We didn’t. [Former President Joe] Biden just gave him $350 billion. He has no idea where the money is. … And remember this: This is Biden’s war. This was a war that was never going to happen if I were president. This is a horrible, horrible war,” he continued. 

“How long do you give both countries before you’re going to walk away?” Welker asked.

“Well, there will be a time when I will say, ‘OK, keep going, keep being stupid,’” Trump replied.

“Maybe it’s not possible to do,” he added. “There’s tremendous hatred. Just so you understand, Kristen, we’re talking tremendous hatred between these two men, and between … some of the soldiers, frankly, between the generals, they’ve been fighting hard for three years. I think we have a very good chance of doing it.”

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on Thursday that Ukraine and Russia need to deliver “concrete ideas” to end the bloodshed or the U.S. will end its involvement in negotiations.

“Now is the time that they need to present and develop concrete ideas about how this conflict is going to end. It’s going to be up to them,” she told reporters last week, adding that the U.S. remains focused on helping secure a peace deal. 

Trump tapped former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations after Waltz was ousted from the National Security Council office earlier Thursday. The president said Rubio would serve as interim national security advisor, which is reminiscent of former President Richard Nixon tapping Henry Kissinger to simultaneously serve as secretary of state and national security advisor in 1973.

Headlines on the shake-up are expected to continue into this week as Democrats have said they are eager to grill Waltz in a Senate confirmation hearing to serve as the U.N. ambassador, and others said they were unsure how Rubio could serve as both secretary of state and the president’s national security advisor. 

TRUMP NOMINATES WALTZ FOR HIGH-LEVEL POST AFTER OUSTING HIM AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

“What worries me about Marco Rubio’s role now is the secretary of state and national security adviser. Both of those jobs are too big for one person. To have both of those jobs, including a bunch of other jobs on the shoulders of Marco Rubio, these are people who actually need sleep, if we are going to stay out of wars and stuff,” Democrat Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes told “Fox News Sunday.”

“I don’t know how anybody could do these two big jobs, and they’re, frankly, very different,” Democrat Virginia Sen. Mark Warner told CNN on Sunday of Rubio wearing two hats for the administration. 

Democrats have signaled their eagerness to grill Waltz in his upcoming Senate hearing to serve as U.N. ambassador. The former national security advisor had been at the heart of the Signal chat leak debacle that unfolded in March, when the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine was inadvertently added to a group chat with high-profile Trump officials such as Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe discussing military strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“I think there’s obvious questions about the treatment of classified or sensitive information, use of Signal, how the whole episode of Signal unfolded,” Democrat Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week, according to the Washington Post. “But I also want to talk about [the] United Nations … [and] how he understands our security, because I think a lot of the moves by the Trump administration have made our nation less secure, not more secure.”

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

Bloated bureaucracy and growing debt are holding back President Donald Trump’s economic “golden age,” according to one House Republican who is urging lawmakers to have the “political courage” to execute Trump’s America First agenda and pass a budget reconciliation bill.

Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, appeared on “Fox News Sunday” where he was asked about his concerns over out-of-control spending and the rising national debt – a combination that he previously said is “the greatest threat to our country and our children’s future.”

“The question is, will we have the political courage to execute on that and right-size the bloated bureaucracy, as was reflected in the president’s budget, and deal with this wartime-level debt, $2 trillion in annual deficit spending that’s going to double, and interest payments that exceed not only national defense, but Medicare payments,” said Arrington, who is chair of the House Budget Committee.

Arrington warned that this would prove to be a “pivotal” moment for America.

TRUMP SAYS PUBLIC ENTITLEMENTS LIKE SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICAID WON’T BE TOUCHED IN GOP BUDGET BILL

“The wheels are coming off the wagon,” he said. “We can’t get to the president’s rocket ship economy, we cannot usher in the golden age. In fact, we risk a sovereign debt crisis if we don’t deal with the unsustainable deficits and national debt.”

Arrington said that he believed the pro-growth policies in the budget reconciliation bill and a reduction in deficit spending, along with entitlement reform, “will bend the curve on debt to GDP and deficit to GDP.”

“So if we follow the framework that we laid out in the budget resolution, then we will restore fiscal health,” he said, though he did not provide specifics on the bill’s policies.

GOP FIRES BACK AT DNC’S ‘POLITICAL STUNT’ TARGETING ‘VULNERABLE’ REPUBLICANS OVER MEDICAID FIGHT

Democrats, however, have accused Republicans of trying to cut costs by slashing Medicaid, affecting America’s “most vulnerable.”

The White House has maintained that public entitlements, including Social Security and Medicaid, will not be cut in the Republicans’ budget bill. 

Arrington conceded that the bill alone would not solve America’s debt crisis.

“It won’t get us out of the debt hole overnight, but it is a good first step and a down payment for our kids to actually be on good fiscal footing, a sustainable path, and enjoy the same opportunities and freedoms that we have,” the lawmaker said.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his offer to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help fight against cartels because she is afraid of them.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said he floated the idea of sending American troops to deal with the Mexican cartels facilitating drug trafficking, and criticized Sheinbaum for refusing his offer.

“She’s so afraid of the cartels she can’t walk … And I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight,” Trump said.

His reaction came after Sheinbaum confirmed that Trump pressured her in a call last month to allow the U.S. military to play a larger role in tackling drug cartels in Mexico.

MEXICAN PRESIDENT DECLINES TRUMP’S OFFER OF US TROOPS TO HELP FIGHT DRUG CARTELS

Sheinbaum said she told Trump at the time that Mexico would “never accept” a U.S. military presence.

“No, President Trump, our territory is inalienable, sovereignty is inalienable,” Sheinbaum claimed to have said. “We can collaborate. We can work together, but with you in your territory and us in ours. We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States Army on our territory.”

There has been a larger American military presence at the U.S.-Mexico border after Trump issued an order in January to increase the army’s role in slowing the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.

CONSERVATIVE GROUP’S ROADMAP SHOWS HOW TRUMP CAN USE MILITARY TO THWART CARTELS 

In addition to fighting illegal immigration, Trump said American troops are needed to slow the amount of fentanyl being brought into the U.S. by drug cartels.

“They are bad news,” Trump said Sunday, referring to the cartels. “If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honored to go in and do it. I told her that I would be honored to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country. They’re evil.”

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U.S. Northern Command has deployed troops and equipment to the southern border, increased manned surveillance flights to monitor fentanyl trafficking along the border and requested expanded authority for U.S. Special Forces to work closely with Mexican forces conducting operations against cartels.

In February, Trump designated many gangs and cartels smuggling drugs into the U.S. as “foreign terrorist organizations,” giving law enforcement more resources to take action against the groups.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Department of Justice sued the state of Colorado and the city of Denver for allegedly interfering with federal immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Colorado District Court, accuses the state and its most populous city of implementing “sanctuary laws” in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

“The United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters,” the lawsuit reads.

Sanctuary cities refer to areas that seek to protect migrants without legal status and that have limited cooperation with federal officials to enforce immigration laws.

OVER 100 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED IN COLORADO SPRINGS MASSIVE UNDERGROUND NIGHTCLUB RAID

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement enforces federal immigration laws across the country but solicits support from state and local officials, particularly for large-scale deportations. The agency also asks police departments and sheriff’s offices to flag migrants it wants to deport and hold them until federal agents can take custody.

The Department of Justice has filed similar lawsuits challenging “sanctuary policies” in Rochester, New York, and Chicago.

Attorneys for the department argue Colorado’s “sanctuary policies” allowed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) to seize control of an apartment complex in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

Local officials have described President Donald Trump’s claims that the gang had taken over large areas of the city as exaggerated, but admitted that the apartment complex was terrorized, including by people with links to TdA.

The lawsuit in Colorado lists the defendants as Gov. Jared Polis, the state Legislature, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.

Polis’ office said Colorado is not a sanctuary state and regularly works with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

“If the courts say that any Colorado law is not valid then we will follow the ruling,” spokesperson Conor Cahill told The Associated Press. “We are not going to comment on the merits of the lawsuit.”

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS SEEK TO STRIP DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA OF ITS SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES

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Republicans in Congress have attempted to pressure officials in Democratic-led cities to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which include promises of mass deportations. 

The GOP lawmakers summoned the mayors of Denver, Boston, New York City and Chicago to testify last month before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. However, the mayors pushed back and defended their cities as welcoming places and not lawless danger zones. The mayors also called on Congress to pass immigration reform.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was honored on Sunday night for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, in defying his then-boss, President Donald Trump.

Pence received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his refusal to honor Trump’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, and instead oversaw 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’s a “distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

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And 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.”

In a Fox News Digital interview minutes after the awards ceremony, Pence said, “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.”

The now-65-year-old Pence was Indiana’s governor when Trump named him his running mate in 2016. For four years, Pence served as the loyal vice president to Trump during the president’s first term in the White House.

However, everything changed on Jan. 6, 2021, as right-wing extremists — including some chanting “hang Mike Pence” — stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification, overseen by Pence as part of his constitutional duties as vice president, of Biden’s Electoral College victory.

The attack on the Capitol took place soon after Trump spoke to a large rally of supporters near the White House about unproven claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” due to massive “voter fraud.”

Pence has long described the violent attack on the Capitol as “tragic” and dishonoring to “the millions of people who had supported our cause around the country.” He has emphasized that he did “the right thing” and performed his “duty under the Constitution.” He has also noted a number of times that he and Trump may never “see eye to eye on that day.”

While Pence, his family and top aides were hastily moved by Secret Service agents as rioters roamed the halls of the Capitol, Trump argued in a social media post that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.”

Pence rejected the advice of the Secret Service that he flee the Capitol, and after the rioters were eventually removed from the Capitol, he resumed his constitutional role in overseeing the congressional certification ceremony.

The former vice president has repeatedly refuted Trump’s claim that he could have overturned the presidential election results. Despite that, hardcore Trump loyalists have never forgiven Pence, whom they view as a traitor, for refusing to assist the president’s repeated efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Pence in June 2023 launched a presidential campaign of his own, joining a large field of challengers to Trump gunning for the 2024 GOP nomination, becoming the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss.

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. 

Among the slim anti-Trump base of the Republican Party, Pence received praise for his courage during the attack on the Capitol, often receiving thanks at town halls during his campaign for standing up to Trump. 

While Pence 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 declaring his candidacy.

The Profile in Courage Award is named for a book the late John F. Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president.

The 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.

Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, who introduced the former vice president at the awards ceremony, said Pence “saved America that day.”

Caroline Kennedy, in honoring the former vice president, noted her “political differences” with Pence, but emphasized that “political courage is not outdated in the United States.”

And Pence, a well-known fiscal and social conservative, joked about speaking in front of an audience dominated by Democrats, saying that he was “the minority in this room.”

After dropping his own bid for the White House, Pence declined to endorse Trump, even after Trump clinched the GOP nomination last spring, though he did congratulate his former running mate after his victory last November.

Trump and Pence were seen shaking hands at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in early January – their first public appearance together in nearly four years.

TRUMP, PENCE SHAKE HANDS AT CARTER FUNERAL IN FIRST PUBLIC MEETING SINCE LEAVING OFFICE

Pence has emerged as a rare vocal Republican critic of Trump so far during the president’s second tour of duty in the White House.

He has critiqued Trump’s controversial and haphazard implementation of massive tariffs on America’s largest trading partners, which initially sparked a massive stock market sell-off, and raised concerns of increased inflation and talk of a recession.

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He has also criticized the president’s upending of longstanding American foreign policy and has urged Trump to stand with longtime international allies.

Pence’s public advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, also campaigned against the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the nation’s health agencies.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Jay Bhattacharya recently announced on Fox News the agency closed its last in-house beagle laboratory on the NIH campus.

The announcement comes just days after Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk posted on X that he would investigate funding beagle experiments.

A report from the White Coat Waste (WCW) project detailed the lab’s history of allegedly pumping pneumonia-causing bacteria into more than 2,000 beagles’ lungs, bleeding them out, and forcing them into septic shock for deadly experiments.

Following the announcement, WCW president and founder Anthony Bellotti praised President Donald Trump for ending the highly scrutinized project.

REP. NANCY MACE SAYS FAUCI ‘SENT PUPPIES TO SLAUGHTER’ WITH ‘BARBARIC AND GRUESOME’ NIH-FUNDED EXPERIMENTS

“Taxpayers and pet owners shouldn’t be forced to pay for the NIH’s beagle abuse,” Bellotti wrote in a statement. “We applaud the President for cutting this wasteful NIH spending and will keep fighting until we defund all dog labs at home and abroad. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!”

HHS AXES MORE THAN $300M IN GENDER, DEI-RELATED HEALTH GRANTS TO CALIFORNIA ALONE

Shortly after the Trump administration took office, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in April it would phase out an animal testing requirement for antibody therapies and other drugs in favor of testing on materials that mimic human organs.

Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin also announced his agency would reinstate a 2019 policy from the first Trump administration to phase out animal testing.

PETA PLEADS WITH NIH TO STOP FUNDING FOR ANIMAL STUDY, CALLS SLEEP EXPERIMENT ‘CRUEL AND HORRIFIC’

During Trump’s first term in 2019, the administration closed the government’s largest cat lab.

Bhattacharya said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reached out to him following the closure of the beagle testing facility, sending him flowers.

PETA, ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS PRAISE TRUMP ADMIN FOR PHASING OUR ‘CRUEL TESTS ON DOGS’ AND OTHER ANIMALS

“Normally, I think NIH directors tend to get physical threats, but they sent me flowers,” Bhattacharya said on air. 

PETA in 2021 highlighted Anthony Fauci’s alleged approval of funding for tests in Tunisia where beagle puppies were drugged, and their heads were locked in cages filled with hungry, infected sandflies.

TRUMP ADMIN CUTS ADDITIONAL $1M IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ‘TRANSGENDER ANIMAL’ EXPERIMENTS

After the reports came out, 23 bipartisan lawmakers, including Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., sent a letter to Fauci addressing the heartbreaking experiments.

“Yesterday, I sent a letter to Dr. Fauci regarding cruel, taxpayer-funded experiments on puppies; debarking before drugging and killing them,” Mace wrote in an October 2021 post on X. “This is disgusting. What say you @NIH.”

Kathy Guillermo, PETA senior vice president of laboratory investigations, told Fox News Digital on Sunday night the organization is “delighted” by the news of the NIH facility closure.

“We are letting the new NIH Director know how important this step is for modernizing science, and we’re especially happy because these last experiments involved sepsis, which we have been working to end for several years. Sepsis experiments on animals are failures.”

Guillermo noted PETA has a lawsuit pending, filed under the Biden administration, to try to prevent the government from funding any more sepsis experiments. 

The Indiana-based company that bred the beagles for research, Envigo, pleaded guilty in 2024 to neglecting thousands of dogs at its Cumberland, Virginia, breeding facility, and will be required to pay more than $35 million in fines, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

“We are just thrilled to see that the [Envigo] beagles who were used [at the NIH location], will no longer be used,” Guillermo said. “We first exposed [Envigo] in an undercover investigation that eventually led to the closure of the facility and the release of 4,000 beagles to good homes.”

FDA PHASING OUT SOME ANIMAL TESTING IN ‘WIN-WIN’ FOR ETHICS AND PUBLIC HEALTH: COMMISSIONER

PETA is awaiting information about the condition of the dogs that will be released, and if they are in good enough shape to be placed in a home, Guillermo said they stand ready to help.

“Dr. Bhattacharya has made a wonderful start, and there is a lot more work to be done, because animals are being experimented on, including beagles and other dogs, across the country,” she said. “So we’re looking forward to what comes next.”

The White House and the NIH did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

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

Trump spoke with reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night, where he was asked about several topics, including the trade deals, Mexican cartels and the national security advisor position.

One reporter asked the president about Waltz’s exit as the national security advisor, which the president said he was being selected for what he called a “higher position,” or an “upgrade.”

Trump also said Waltz did not make any mistakes, and, as the ambassador to the UN, he would do a good job.

MIKE WALTZ, OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STAFFERS OUT IN LATEST TRUMP PURGE FOLLOWING SIGNAL CHAT LEAK

“I didn’t lose confidence in him,” Trump said. “He’s going to the United Nations for a reason. To me, I think it’s personally, if I had assurance for myself… I’d rather have that job than the other.”

He also reiterated that Waltz did not resign, but instead, Trump moved him.

“There was no resignation,” the president said.

TRUMP NOMINATES WALTZ FOR HIGH-LEVEL POST AFTER OUSING HIM AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

Waltz and other National Security Council staffers were ousted from their office on Thursday in the most high-profile executive office exits of the second Trump administration. Trump’s announcement on naming Waltz as U.N. ambassador unfolded just hours after the news began circulating. 

Trump told reporters Sunday that he plans to appoint someone to the national security advisor position within six months, saying there are a lot of people who want the job, which works into Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s – the interim national security advisor – current responsibilities.

The president was specifically asked if White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller was being considered for the role.

UN WATCHDOG PROJECT CALLS ON DOGE CAUCUS TO ‘AUDIT’ THE INTERNATIONAL ORG

“Stephen Miller at the top of the totem pole? I mean, I think he sort of indirectly already has that job… because he has a lot to say about a lot of things,” Trump said. “He’s a very valued person in the administration, Stephen Miller.”

The president was also asked if any trade deals would be announced this week, answering that there could be some coming.

But when pressed if he could say more about the deals, Trump held back.

CONSERVATIVE GROUP’S ROADMAP SHOWS HOW TRUMP CAN USE MILITARY TO THWART CARTELS 

“Nobody understands,” he said. “We’re negotiating with many countries. But at the end of this, I’ll set my own deals because I set the deal. They don’t set the deal. I set the deal.”

Trump said he is meeting with almost all of the countries regarding trade deals, including China.

Explaining the process further, Trump said he will set the tariff, and a country could agree to it or not.

“They don’t have to deal with us, which is ok, because we lost under Biden. We’re losing $5 billion a day,” he said. “Think of it. $5 billion a day. Now we’re not dealing with China at all because of the tariffs… Because of that, we’re saving billions of dollars.”

MEXICAN PRESIDENT DECLINES TRUMP’S OFFER OF US TROOPS TO HELP FIGHT DRUG CARTELS

During the gaggle, a reporter also asked if it was true that he offered to send U.S. troops to Mexico to take care of the cartels.

“It’s true because they should be. They are horrible people that have been killing people left and right,” Trump said. “They’ve made a fortune in selling drugs and destroying other people.”

He explained that the cartels are responsible for importing fentanyl into the U.S., which has killed over 300,000 people this year.

Trump called the cartel members “bad news.”

“If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honored to go in and do it,” Trump said “I told [Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum] that I would be honored to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country. They’re evil.”

The offer was ultimately rejected, which Trump said was because Sheinbaum is afraid of the cartels, so afraid that she “can’t even think straight.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, responded to President Donald Trump Sunday afternoon on X, saying he is “terrified” of “smart, bold Black women” telling him the truth.

The post was in response to an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” where Trump said Crockett was a “low IQ person,” and voiced concerns about the future of the Democratic Party.

“For you to be in charge of the WHOLE country, you sure do have my name in your mouth a lot,” Crockett wrote in the X post. “Every time you say my name, you’re reminding the world that you’re terrified of smart, bold Black women telling the truth and holding you accountable. So keep talking…”

The social media response was not her first time addressing Trump’s remarks.

JASMINE CROCKETT SETS SIGHTS ON TOP DEMOCRATIC SEAT ON OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: REPORTS

Following the president’s interview, Crockett sounded off on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show, saying she would “absolutely” take a head-to-head IQ test against Trump.

JASMINE CROCKETT ROASTED FOR WORRYING ABOUT EFFECT OF DEPORTATION ON OTHER COUNTRIES

Crockett, a first-term Democrat who has been criticized for several controversial comments this year, often voices her opinions on social media — where she has accumulated more than a million followers.

In March, she was scorched online for failing to apologize for calling Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, “Governor Hot Wheels.” 

She claimed on X that she was not thinking about the paralyzed governor’s condition when she made the remarks, but then took shots at Trump supporters — calling her gaffe “yet another distraction.”

SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS OVER JASMINE CROCKETT ‘GASLIGHTING’ ABOUT CALLING ABBOTT ‘GOVERNOR HOT WHEELS’

“I’m even more appalled that the very people who unequivocally support Trump—a man known for racially insensitive nicknames and mocking those with disabilities — are now outraged,” she wrote in the post. “Keep that same energy for all people, not just your political adversaries.

“Finally, this is yet another distraction. Instead of obsessing over and hanging on to my every word, maybe my political foes should focus on doing the work of the people who elected us to improve their lives.”

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT SAYS DEMOCRATS NEED TO BE ‘OK WITH PUNCHING’ IN RACES AGAINST TED CRUZ, REPUBLICANS

Randy Weber, R-Texas, Crockett’s fellow delegation member, responded to her explanation by telling her “words have meanings & actions have consequences.

“I look forward to introducing my resolution to censure you for your words and actions,” Weber wrote.

Crockett also previously called for DOGE head Elon Musk to be “taken down,” and said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, should be “knocked over the head, like, hard.”

The White House and Crockett did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump decried the state of the motion picture industry in a social media post on Sunday while announcing plans to implement a Hollywood-related tariff.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump wrote that the “Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death.”

“Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,” Trump claimed. “Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.”

The president said that the situation was a “concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat.”

UN WATCHDOG PROJECT CALLS ON DOGE CAUCUS TO ‘AUDIT’ THE INTERNATIONAL ORG

“It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!” Trump wrote.

The Republican said that his plans to institute a tariff are in the works, and he authorized the Department of Commerce and the United States 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.”

TRUMP URGED TO REVIEW UN IMMUNITY, LAX VISA RULES AMID NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS

“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” Trump concluded.

The comments come after several of Trump’s tariff plans have been paused in recent months due to market turmoil and backlash. On Sunday, Trump said that he would not drop tariffs on China to get Beijing to come to the negotiating table.

“At some point, I’m going to lower them, because otherwise you could never do business with them,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “And they want to do business very much like their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.” 

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

President Donald Trump is calling for the notorious prison and now historical landmark, Alcatraz, in San Francisco, California, to be rebuilt larger and reopened to house the country’s most ruthless and violent criminals.

Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening.

“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” the president said. “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering.

“When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm,” Trump continued, adding that it’s supposed to be this way. “No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets.”

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, AUGUST 11, 1934, AMERICA’S MOST NOTORIOUS PRISONERS ARRIVE AT ALCATRAZ

Trump said he is directing the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, FBI and Department of Homeland Security to reopen a “substantially enlarged and rebuilt” Alcatraz, “to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”

“We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally,” he said in the post. “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Alcatraz opened in 1934, but the prison, located on a 22-acre spit of rock, was shuttered after 29 years.

THE ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ: WHAT HAPPENED, BIGGEST CONSPIRACY THEORIES SURROUNDING THE INFAMOUS PRISON BREAK

Considering its 1.25-mile distance to shore, the Bay Area island was considered practically escape-proof, although there were 14 documented attempted escapes.

The most notorious one was the June 11, 1962, escape by John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris, which inspired “Escape from Alcatraz.”

It remains a mystery whether the three reached the shore and survived. The FBI concluded the escapees drowned due to harsh conditions.

BUILDING ALCATRAZ: AMERICA’S INESCAPABLE, ISLAND-RIDDEN PRISON

The three prisoners chiseled an escape route from their own jail cells and built makeshift, papier-mâché heads.

The final attempted escape from the prison, almost six months later, inspired what has become the swimming route of the “Escape from Alcatraz” triathlon.

Its most notorious inmates included gangsters James “Whitey” Bulger, Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, plus infamous “Birdman of Alcatraz” Robert Stroud and “Public Enemy No. 1” Alvin Karpis. 

Alcatraz ultimately closed in 1963 after its island operations proved far more costly than mainland-based prisons.

Alcatraz Island today is a popular San Francisco tourist attraction operated by the National Park Service. 

Fox News Digital’s Kerry J. Byrne and Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

The White House slammed the “radical left” in a social media post Sunday, showing an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump wielding a lightsaber in celebration of May the Fourth, or “Star Wars Day.”

May 4 has long been regarded as a day to celebrate the iconic movie franchise as fans post on social media “May the Fourth be with you,” an offshoot of the memorable Star Wars quote “May the force be with you.”

On Sunday, the White House took an opportunity to celebrate the popular day with a post on X, while also taking digs at the Trump administration’s biggest critics.

“Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You’re not the Rebellion—you’re the Empire,” the White House wrote. “May the 4th be with you.”

‘STAR WARS’ CREATOR SLAMS CRITICS WHO COMPLAIN SAGA ISN’T DIVERSE ENOUGH: ‘MOST OF THE PEOPLE ARE ALIENS’

The post included an AI-generated image of Trump, who not only donned a Jedi robe and set of ripped arms but also held a red lightsaber. Behind him in the image were two bald eagles and two American flags.

The post received mixed reactions.

“Our efforts to FOIA info about a reported ‘Death Star’ have been stonewalled. And we pulled The Honorable Darth Vader as a judge when we sued so THAT will go nowhere,” a user wrote.

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU AS YOU SHOP AMAZON’S STAR WARS COLLECTION, BACK MAY 4TH THROUGH 6TH

Another user asked X’s AI feature Grok what the meaning of a red lightsaber is in Star Wars. Those who follow the science fiction franchise will remember Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and others associated with the dark side or Sith powers used a red lightsaber of some sort.

The Star Wars fandom website Wookieepedia explains that in the process of making a lightsaber, negative emotions like rage, hate, fear and pain would result in a red hue.

POLITICIANS MOCKED FOR COMMEMORATING STAR WARS DAY WITH ‘CRINGE’ TWEETS: ‘HOW HORRIBLY EMBARRASSING’

“How do you not have one nerd on staff to tell you what color lightsaber is good and what color is bad???” a user asked in reaction to the White House post.

But supporters of the president were quick to respond to reactions about the color of the lightsaber Trump is holding in the image.

“People arguing Trump using a red lightsaber equates him to evil…R ed is literally one of the three colors in our nation’s flag,” a user wrote. “He is the leader of the Republican Party which is often ascribed the color Red. Context matters.”

‘STAR WARS’: CARRIE FISHER’S COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BELOVED FRANCHISE

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on the matter.

Still, the White House was not the only federal government agency to have fun with May the Fourth.

The U.S. Army Pacific posted an AI-generated image to social media of two soldiers with lightsabers – one holding red and the other holding a red, white and blue weapon – walking into combat at night, with the Milky Way Galaxy behind them.

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“Across every galaxy – known and unknown – no force rivals our discipline, strength, and precision,” the post read. “We don’t just defend the world. We protect the future. Victory is forged not found. May the 4th be with you.”

President Donald Trump officially crossed the finish line of his first 100 days in office this week, signing executive orders cracking down on immigration and advancing religious liberty. 

Among the most consequential events marking the week was a major staff shakeup where he announced that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz would depart his post at the White House. Hours later, Trump unveiled plans to tap Waltz to represent the U.S. at the United Nations. 

“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations,” Trump posted to Truth Social Thursday. 

“From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role. In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department. Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Here’s what also happened this week: 

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order demanding the Justice Department and Homeland Security establish a list of all sanctuary cities failing to follow federal immigration laws.

Per the executive order, cities will receive notification and have the opportunity to drop the sanctuary status. Failure to do so could cause them to risk losing federal funding, according to the executive order.

Sanctuary cities are local jurisdictions that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities, including refusing to comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests.

“It’s quite simple: obey the law, respect the law, and don’t obstruct federal immigration officials and law enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation’s communities,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday. “The American public don’t want illegal alien criminals in their communities. They made that quite clear on Nov. 5, and this administration is determined to enforce our nation’s immigration laws.”

Trump also revealed new plans Tuesday to swap out the retiring A-10 Warthog aircraft based out of Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan with 21 brand-new F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets. 

Trump shared details of the new fighter jet mission during a speech to National Guard members at the Michigan base for an event commemorating his 100th day in office. 

Selfridge will become the fourth military installation to operate the fighter jet, which entered operational service in July 2024.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES NEW ‘SERIOUS POWER’ FIGHTER JET MISSION FOR MICHIGAN GUARD BASE TO REPLACE AGING A-10S

“Fresh off the line. That means they are brand new,” Trump said. “They’ve never been anywhere. This is where they’re going to be for a long time. And I saw one of them, flew over my head, and I said, ‘What the hell is that?’ That plane has serious power. So, this is the best there is anywhere in the world, the F-15EX Eagle II. This will keep Selfridge at the cutting edge of Northern American air power.”

The fighter jet is an updated version of the F-15C Eagle aircraft the Air Force introduced in 1989 and features bolstered fuel efficiency, radar and avionics, according to the Air National Guard. The jet is designed to work alongside other Air Force aircraft, including the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighter jets.

Trump signed an executive order Thursday establishing a presidential commission on religious liberty. Trump disclosed plans for the new commission during a National Day of Prayer event at the White House, revealing that Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will serve as the chairman of the commission. 

“The last administration attacked people of faith for four years,” Patrick said Thursday. “There’s a saying that no one should get between a doctor and a patient. I think we would say no one should get between God and a believer. No one should get between God and those seeking him.”

TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER STANDS UP PRESIDENTIAL RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COMMISSION 

The Religious Liberty Commission will compose a report evaluating threats to religious liberty in the U.S., ways to enhance religious freedom and examine the history of American religious liberty, according to a White House fact sheet on the executive order. 

The report will address issues including parental rights in religious education, school choice, attacks on religious places of worship and free speech issues for religious organizations, according to the fact sheet.

Additionally, these leaders will provide guidance to the White House on policy and legislative solutions to advance religious liberty.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is facing a massive overhaul to slash staffing down to Reagan-era levels and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year, agency chief Lee Zeldin announced on Friday. 

“This reorganization will bring much-needed efficiencies to incorporate science into our rulemakings and sharply focus our work on providing the cleanest air, land, and water for our communities,” Zeldin said in a press release on Friday. 

Zeldin announced that he is on a mission to save taxpayers an estimated $300 million annually by next year through an office overhaul that he said will maintain the EPA’s focus on protecting human health and the environment while “recommitting” the agency to “common sense policies.” 

The EPA employs roughly 15,000 full-time workers, which Zeldin said he is working to bring down to levels “near those seen when President Ronald Reagan occupied the White House,” according to a video announcement of the office overhauls. There were 11,400 EPA staffers in 1984 under the Reagan administration, Reuters reported. 

35 DEMOCRATS VOTE WITH GOP TO BLOCK BIDEN RULE ALLOWING NEWSOM’S GAS CAR BAN

The EPA said the Office of the Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and Office of Water will all face restructuring. 

Zeldin said he will reorganize the agency’s research office to shift its focus on “statutory obligations and mission-essential functions,” including by creating a new office called the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.

The new office will “prioritize research and put science at the forefront of the agency’s rulemakings and technical assistance to states. At the program level, the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention will add more than 130 scientific, technical, bioinformatic and information technology experts to work directly on the backlog of over 504 new chemicals in review that are beyond the statutorily required timeframe. And they’re also going to address the backlog of over 12,000 reviews that are well beyond the expected review timelines in the pesticides program,” Zeldin said. 

EPA CHIEF TAKES ON MEXICAN ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FLOWING INTO US WATERS WHERE NAVY SEALS TRAIN

The EPA will also create the Office of State Air Partnerships within the Office of Air and Radiation, which Zeldin said will streamline resolving air permitting concerns across the state, local and tribal levels.

“EPA is also creating the Office of Clean Air programs that will align statutory obligations and mission essential functions based on centers of expertise to ensure more transparency and harmony in regulatory development. Similarly, changes to the Office of Water will better align the development of regulations, guidance and policy with the science that underpins it,” Zeldin added of another new office in the agency shakeup. 

PETA, ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS PRAISE TRUMP ADMIN FOR PHASING OUT ‘CRUEL TESTS ON DOGS’ AND OTHER ANIMALS

Zeldin underscored that when he took the reins of the agency earlier this year, he “inherited a workforce that didn’t come into the office.”

“In 2024, the record high day of attendance at EPA headquarters in D.C., clocked in around 37%. Upon President Trump’s swearing in, we immediately ended COVID-era remote work,” Zeldin said. 

SCOOP: BIDEN-ERA GRANT PROGRAM DESCRIBED AS ‘GOLD BAR’ SCHEME BY TRUMP EPA ADMINISTRATOR UNDER SCRUTINY

The former New York congressman added that EPA’s budget and awards in granted last year alone, under the Biden administration, sat at $63 billion — though it had previously been funded to the tune of between $6 billion and $8 billion a year, he said. 

“We are going to massively reduce this excess spending. We owe it to the American taxpayer to be as efficient as possible. We’ve already started to make significant progress by re-examining grants and contracts, real estate footprint, travel costs, staff and more. With the help of DOGE, EPA has identified and canceled more than $22 billion in grants and contracts. These are direct savings for the American people,” Zeldin said. 

Democrats rallying around illegal immigrant KIlmar Abrego Garcia are facing a narrative reckoning as allegations of violent and criminal behavior mount against the man they made a poster child in the fight against President Trump’s mass deportations.

In recent weeks, evidence has emerged that Abrego Garcia beat his wife and was caught trafficking migrants during his time living illegally in Maryland. He has since been deported to El Salvador, where several Democrats, including Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, have rushed to meet with him and decry what they say was a lack of due process extended to him.

“The fact that they went to the mat for this guy just shows exactly who they are,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Saturday. “That they are people who don’t put America first. They don’t care about our citizens and protecting our communities. So, I’m glad that the onion’s been peeled back and that their true motivations have been revealed, and this is just one of the cases that we’re getting off the streets.”

Van Hollen has led the surge of Democrats traveling to El Salvador since April, after Abrego Garcia was deported to the country in March and sent to its notoriously high-security prison equipped to handle violent gang members, known as CECOT. The Trump administration has repeatedly cited court and police documents showing that the El Salvadoran man was not only in the U.S. illegally, but also connected to the MS-13 gang and that his wife had sounded the alarm to police about his violence.

ABREGO GARCIA’S WIFE BEGGED JUDGE FOR PROTECTION ORDER, SAYING ‘HE SLAPPED ME’: AUDIO

Democrats and the media had characterized Abrego Garcia as a “family man” and a “Maryland man” who was wrongly deported back in March and the following weeks. 

Van Hollen met last month with Abrego Garcia and advocated for his release, declaring that the deportation risks “the constitutional rights of everyone who resides in the United States of America.” Van Hollen’s trip sparked other left-wing lawmakers to also make the trip south, including Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California last month. At one point, Dexter pledged to remain in El Salvador until Abrego Garcia was brought back to the U.S.

But Democrats have gone largely silent amid a flood of newly unearthed evidence against Abrego Garcia.

‘I AM AFRAID’: ANOTHER PROTECTIVE ORDER FILING AGAINST DEPORTED ‘MARYLAND MAN’ CHAMPIONED BY DEMS SURFACES

Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Thursday that new court records show Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed a protective order against her husband in August of 2020. The order said their shared son and stepchildren needed protection from Abrego Garcia, accusing him of verbal and physical abuse against her and mental abuse against her children. 

The protection form described an incident in November 2019 when Abrego Garcia allegedly grabbed Vasquez Sura “by the hair in the car,” “dragged” her “out of car and left [her] in the street.” She wrote that he also “broke” her son’s tablet, “broke doors” in the house, pushed her against a wall, broke a phone and a television and damaged the walls that spring.

TENNESSEE BODYCAM OF ‘MARYLAND MAN’ TRAFFIC STOP SHOWS TROOPERS’ HANDS TIED DESPITE SMUGGLING CLUES

Audio recordings allegedly of Vasquez Sura asking for the protection order in 2020 have also surfaced.

“On Wednesday, he hit me, like around like, three in the morning, he would just wake up and like, hit me,” Vasquez Sura told the court in the recordings, Fox Digital previously reported. 

Vasquez Sura said that while she was trying to escape Abrego Garcia, she saw a neighbor walking their dog and screamed “help.” Vasquez Sura said Abrego Garcia then “grabbed me from my hair, and then he slapped me.”

Vasquez Sura asked for the petition to be rescinded, however, saying her family wanted to take part in their son’s birthday, and Abrego Garcia “also agreed to continue counseling and if not [he’s] willing to sign divorce papers.” 

The 2020 protective order is the second publicly-known order filed against Abrego Garcia. Vasquez Sura filed a separate protective request against her husband in 2021, accusing him of repeatedly hitting her. 

“At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me,” she told a Prince George’s County, Maryland, court, Fox Digital previously reported. 

“In November 2020, he hit me with his work boot,” she added of the alleged attacks. “In August 2020, he hit me in the eye leaving a purple eye.”

DEM SENATOR SAYS ABREGO GARCIA SITUATION ‘NOT GOING TO END WELL’ FOR TRUMP, ARGUES HE’S ‘UNDERMINING’ FREEDOM

His wife, however, has since publicly defended him and addressed the domestic violence allegations following the revelation of the first protective order request. 

“After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order, in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,” she said in a statement last month. 

The Trump administration and conservatives have come out in full force condemning Democrats for supporting an illegal immigrant accused of gang ties, human trafficking and domestic violence. Trump designated violent gangs such as MS-13 and Tre de Aragua as terrorist organizations in his second administration. 

“I think it’s bizarre that you see these Democrat politicians making a pilgrimage down there … to sit there with this guy, because I never have seen those Democrat politicians meet with angel moms who’ve lost kids because of illegal alien crime,” Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Fox News last week.

MARYLAND GOVERNOR SAYS HE WON’T TRAVEL TO EL SALVADOR FOR ABREGO GARCIA

“This is a person that was a clear and present danger to the safety of the American people. And it is … a sad reflection on the state of our media and many of the outlets represented in this room that you obsessively try to shill for this MS-13 terrorist. Well, no coverage occurred in your papers about any of the Americans that were raped and tortured and murdered by the illegals that Biden was importing into our country,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said during a White House press briefing on Thursday. 

Democrats have amplified the argument that the Trump administration has thwarted Abrego Garcia’s right to due process amid the mounting evidence that the so-called “Maryland Man” was wrongfully deported. 

California Sen. Alex Padilla told CNN last week that Democrats are more focused on Abrego Garcia’s due process and ensuring he receives a fair court battle, and not on the individual. 

“I think our advocacy here has a little bit less to do with him individually and more the process,” Padilla said. “The lack of due process that this administration continues to act with. The laws are clear in this country, even if you are undocumented, you have the right to due process.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries allegedly called on Democrats last week to slow their visits to and comments regarding El Salvador, though his office vehemently denied he made such a request to colleagues, saying “House Democrats will never stop fighting for the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ and Padilla’s offices for comment on Sunday regarding the ongoing condemnation from conservatives and the Trump administration over Democrats advocating on behalf of Abrego Garcia and Padilla’s comments outlining how the party is working to protect due process, but did not immediately receive replies. 

DEPORTED ‘MARYLAND MAN’ CHAMPIONED BY DEMS WAS PULLED OVER DRIVING CAR BELONGING TO HUMAN SMUGGLER

While Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar told a Daily Caller reporter last week, “I think you should f— off” when asked whether she believed that more Democrats should travel to El Salvador to advocate for Abrego Garcia. 

Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally from his home country of El Salvador in 2011 and was issued a deportation order in 2019, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Abrego Garcia was suspected of partaking in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report previously obtained by Fox News. The report also stated that “official law enforcement investigations” revealed that Abrego Garcia was a member of the notorious gang MS-13, which Trump has designated as a terror organization.

Abrego Garcia was pulled over by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper on Dec. 1, 2022, after he spotted the car speeding and not remaining in its lane, according to the Homeland Security Investigations report. 

The trooper noticed eight individuals in the car with Abrego Garcia, who said he had begun driving three days prior from Houston to Temple Hills, Maryland, via St. Louis to “perform construction work,” Fox Digital previously reported. The report states that the trooper suspected the group was involved with a human trafficking incident, as there was no luggage in the vehicle. 

Documents further revealed that Abrego Garcia was driving a black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban that he said belonged to his “boss.” The Suburban was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as belonging to Hernandez Reyes, who pleaded guilty to human smuggling after being caught in Mississippi in a car with passengers from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, Fox Digital previously reported. 

DEPORTED ILLEGAL ALIEN AND SUSPECTED MS-13 GANG MEMBER TRANSFERRED FROM NOTORIOUS EL SALVADORAN MEGA-PRISON

Body camera video, obtained by Fox News Digital through a public records request last week, showed the Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers pulling over Abrego Garcia, who had eight other individuals in his car. 

“How many rows have you got in here? Four seats? Four rows of seats?” a state trooper can be heard saying in the video. “Did y’all put an extra one in? Huh? Did yall put another one in no? They come like this I’ve never seen one with that many seats in it.”

Abrego Garcia’s legal team responded to the new bodycam footage in a comment to Fox Digital on Sunday, saying it did not constitute evidence of a crime. 

“I have represented Kilmar Abrego Garcia for more than a month, and this bodycam video is the first time I’ve heard his voice. He has been denied the most basic protections of due process—no phone call to his lawyer, no call to his wife or child, and no opportunity to be heard,” Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the lead attorney for the case.

“As an attorney, I see no evidence of a crime in this footage. But the point is not the traffic stop—it’s that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court. Bring him back to the United States, return him before the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019, and let him speak for himself,” Sandoval-Moshenberg continued. 

“He’s hauling these people for money,” one state trooper said.

The Homeland Security Investigations report also notes that in October 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit identified Abrego Garcia as a member of MS-13.

NEW AUDIO REVEALS ABREGO GARCIA’S ALLEGED ABUSE OF HIS WIFE

The deportation has been wrapped up in court proceedings since March, with a Maryland federal judge ordering the Department of Justice to “take all available steps to facilitate” his return to the U.S., which was a ruling upheld by an appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The Trump administration, however, contends that it “cannot guarantee success in sensitive international negotiations” with El Salvador to secure the release. 

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“The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in the Trump administration’s Supreme Court petition last month, the New York Post reported. 

Fox News’ Stepheny Price, Peter Pinedo, Michael Dorgan and Adam Sabes contributed to this report. 

The U.S. could withdraw from peace talks with Ukraine and Russia if the two sides show no progress, President Donald Trump says.

Trump made the comments during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, telling host Kristen Welker that there is “tremendous hatred” between Ukraine and Russia.

The president says he remains hopeful a peace deal is possible, but confirmed that the U.S. would not remain a mediator indefinitely.

“I do believe we’re closer with one party. And maybe not as close with the other, but we’ll have to see,” Trump said. “Five thousand soldiers a week on average, are dying. They’re not American soldiers. But I want to solve the problem.”

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

“How long do you give both countries before you’re going to walk away?” Welker asked.

“Well, there will be a time when I will say, okay, keep going, keep being stupid,” Trump replied.

“Maybe it’s not possible to do,” he added. “There’s tremendous hatred. Just so you understand, Kristen, we’re talking tremendous hatred between these two men and between, you know, some of the soldiers, frankly, between the generals, they’ve been fighting hard for three years. I think we have a very good chance of doing it.”

The interview comes just days after Trump blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioning whether his Russian counterpart has any interest in peace.

TRUMP INSISTS UKRAINE-RUSSIA PEACE DEAL IS CLOSE, BUT MISTRUST IN PUTIN LEAVES EXPERTS SKEPTICAL

Trump spoke up on social media last week after Russian forces launched missiles into Ukrainian cities.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also appeared to temper expectations for a major peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia last week.

Rubio argued it was “silly” to put a specific date or timeline on when the U.S. might pull out from mediation, but he said this will be “a very critical week.”

Days later, the White House signed a rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine, a months-long priority for Trump.

President Donald Trump said he will not drop tariffs on China to get Beijing to come to the negotiating table. 

The president discussed his stance on the tariffs, which he defended, in an interview with NBC’s “Meet The Press” recorded Friday from his Mar-a-Lago estate. He claimed that 

“They said today they want to talk. Look, China, and I don’t like this. I’m not happy about this. China’s getting killed right now,” Trump told host Kristen Welker. “They’re getting absolutely destroyed. Their factories are closing. Their unemployment is going through the roof. I’m not looking to do that to China now. At the same time, I’m not looking to have China make hundreds of billions of dollars and build more ships and more Army tanks and more airplanes.” 

“You’re not dropping the tariffs against China to get them to the negotiating table?” Welker asked. 

Trump responded, “No.”

CHINA OPEN TO TALKS WITH TRUMP ADMIN ON LOWERING TARIFFS, MINISTRY SAYS

“At some point, I’m going to lower them, because otherwise you could never do business with them,” he added later. “And they want to do business very much like their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.” 

Trump pushed back on the premise of Welker’s question about whether he’d consider relief for small businesses. The president said the NBC host should consider larger businesses, such as the car industry, that “are going to make a fortune” because of his tariff plan. Trump also declined to rule out making some tariffs permanent, claiming the U.S. could expect $9 trillion worth of new investments since he took office. 

CHINESE OFFICIAL REPORTEDLY SEEKING TALKS WITH TRUMP ON FENTANYL INGREDIENTS AMID TRADE WAR

He noted that Apple and other tech companies, as well as automobile companies, such as Toyota, Honda, General Motors and Stellantis, have made multi-billion-dollar commitments to bring their plants to the United States. 

The Chinese government has assembled a list of American products that would be exempt from its 125% tariffs on U.S. goods, Reuters reported last week. Beijing already has exemptions for some U.S. pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines. 

Trump also declined to rule out a potential recession in the short term, though he promised the “greatest economic boom in history.”

“Is it okay in the short term to have a recession?” Welker asked. 

“Look, yeah. . . . Everything’s okay,” Trump responded, arguing that the U.S. economy is in a “transition period” and “we’re going to do fantastically.” 

“Are you worried about a recession?” Welker asked.

To that, Trump responded flatly, “No.” 

“Are you worried it could happen? Do you think it could happen?” she pressed. 

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“Anything can happen,” Trump said. “But I think we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country. I think we’re going to have the greatest economic boom in history.” 

White House officials celebrated on social media after a horse named Sovereignty beat out its rival Journalism at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Sovereignty trailed most of the race and didn’t make a big move until near the final turn to edge out Journalism, the favorite horse going into the race, and secure the victory.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was one Trump administration official who took note of the outcome on social media.

“Sovereignty > Journalism,” Hegseth wrote. “On the track. And in 2025 America.”

HEGSETH, SIGNAL QUESTIONS DOG WALTZ AS POTENTIALLY PERILOUS UN AMBASSADOR CONFIRMATION HEARINGS LOOM

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, also appeared to reference the race in a social media post.

“In the Trump Administration, sovereignty will ALWAYS win,” Miller wrote.

Journalist Logan Hall called the victory a “powerful omen.”

The Trump administration is no stranger to bouts of friction with the media. 

Hegseth has been the subject of recent scrutiny after The New York Times reported that he shared details of a March military airstrike against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen in a chat on the Signal app that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.

Hegseth has defended himself against the report, calling the controversy an attempt to “sabotage” President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Hegseth accused “disgruntled former employees” of “trying to save their a–” by peddling stories, arguing that the mainstream media’s focus should instead be on “the decimation of the Houthis, how [the U.S. is] pushing back the Chinese, how we have a new defense area at the southern border.”

WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF RAILS AGAINST REPORTERS OVER MS-13, TDA COVERAGE

Miller also went head-to-head with reporters at a White House briefing last week, admonishing them over their coverage of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua violence in the U.S.

Miller accused some members of the media of trying to “shill” for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused MS-13 member the Trump administration deported to El Salvador.

He also accused the press of only covering the sexual assault and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray by two alleged Tren de Aragua members in June 2024 because Trump “shamed” them.

“Most of your papers never covered her story when it happened, to the extent that you covered it at all, it was because President Trump forced you to cover it by highlighting it repeatedly over and over again,” Miller said. “He had to shame you into covering it.”

Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley, Diana Stancy and Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

With the final REAL ID deadline looming this week, one House Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital he believes it’s an “unnecessary” burden on Americans.

“I personally don’t support the REAL ID. I think that it’s unnecessary in keeping us safe,” Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

The Missouri Republican said his state made it “very easy” for residents to comply with the coming May 7 deadline, though he suggested he didn’t agree with it.

NO ‘REAL ID’ APPOINTMENTS OPEN IN NEW JERSEY AS RESIDENTS SOUND OFF: ‘GET WITH THE TIMES, NJ’

“I think that when you look at, you know, this was implemented from recommendations from the 9/11 Commission. But yet every one of the terrorists that were here had a passport. I mean, they had more than just a state ID. I don’t think any of them were operating on a state ID,” Burlison said.

“It’s once again government seeing an opportunity in making the lives of U.S. citizens more difficult.”

REAL ID was created by law in 2005, but the federal government has delayed its implementation multiple times, most recently in 2022. But the Trump administration has made clear the current May 7 deadline is final.

‘MASS SURVEILLANCE’: CONSERVATIVES SOUND ALARM OVER TRUMP ADMIN’S REAL ID ROLLOUT

From then, a REAL ID will be needed for domestic airline travel — rather than a normal state-issued license — as well as in areas where federal identification is required. 

Having a REAL ID itself is not required, particularly if one has a U.S. passport.

The Trump administration has argued that finally acting on REAL ID helps the White House’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, millions of whom have entered the country since President Donald Trump was last in office.

But the scramble to reach the deadline has led to long lines at DMVs, with some states opening emergency locations in airports and other places to help deal with the surge of people seeking appointments.

When previously reached about the deadline by Fox News Digital, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said, “Beginning on May 7, passengers will need a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification to fly, like a passport or military ID. TSA is committed to enforcing the law, as directed by Congress.

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“Noncompliant passengers may expect wait times or additional measures at airports. If you are an illegal alien without a REAL ID, the only way you will be permitted to fly is if you are self-deporting,” TSA said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the TSA for comment on Burlison’s remarks.