President Donald Trump‘s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and other staffers are out at the National Security Council, sources confirmed to Fox News. 

Democrats quickly reacted, saying they fired the “wrong guy.”

“Mike Waltz has left the chat,” the former Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn, said on X, in a nod to Waltz accidentally adding The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal chat where war plans were reportedly discussed. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told Fox News on Thursday that the Trump administration “should fire him, but they’re firing the wrong guy.”

“They should be firing Hegseth,” Schumer said before adding, “Everyone knew that Hegseth was the wrong guy for DOD, given his background, given his attitude towards women, but given the fact that he had no experience and had never shown an ability to run an organization.”

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

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Waltz should step down and agreed with Schumer that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who reportedly shared war plans in a second Signal chat with family members, should be fired by the Trump administration. 

WALTZ DOUBLES DOWN ON HEGSETH PRAISE AMID ONGOING PENTAGON CONTROVERSY

“The Trump administration is the most incompetent administration ever assembled, particularly as it relates to the defense and national security apparatus. Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified secretary of defense ever. He’s got to go. And if he doesn’t have the dignity to resign, Trump should fire him. Now the National Security Advisor is out. He’s the first person to leave. He will certainly not be the last,” Jeffries told Fox News. 

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who is a Navy combat veteran, also shifted blame to Hegseth, telling Fox News that the “most toubling” part of the Signal controversy wasn’t “accidentally putting a journalist on there,” but “sharing incredibly sensitive information about a strike off of an aircraft carrier, putting pilots at risk.”

“I think they fired the wrong guy,” Kelly added. 

Sources told Fox News that Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong are out, with additional names likely to come. Democrats on Thursday said they would not be the last. 

“I’m not surprised that there is turmoil after the Signal gate fiasco, but I think there’s a lot more, in the words of the late and great John McCain, there’s more shoes to drop off the centipede,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, told Fox News. 

The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chair Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president, referred to Ukraine as “a disappearing country” in a post on Telegram. 

“But Trump has finally broken the Kiev regime into paying for American aid with minerals. Now they will have to pay for military supplies with the national wealth of a disappearing country,” Medvedev said, according to a Google translation of part of his post.

The Russian official also noted President Donald Trump‘s ratings have declined. 

“And the US Senate, led by Republicans, is preparing to introduce more ‘crushing sanctions’ against us. Let’s see how the new administration responds. Trump’s ratings have gone down, the ‘deep state’ is putting up fierce resistance to him,” Medvedev declared.

FOX NEWS POLL: THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SECOND TERM

A Fox News Poll of registered voters last month indicated that Trump’s job approval rating had slipped to 44% from the 49% it had been in a March poll – both polls had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

The U.S. has doled out billions of dollars worth of aid to support Ukraine as that Eastern European nation has been at war with Russia, but Trump has been aiming to help broker a peace deal between the two nations.

The U.S. and Ukraine struck an agreement this week that both sides describe as mutually beneficial.

“This 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,” the White House noted. “That money will be invested in new projects in Ukraine, which will generate long term returns for both the American and Ukrainian peoples.”

UKRAINE SIGNS DEAL TO GIVE US ACCESS TO RARE MINERALS WITH TRUMP ADMIN ‘COMMITTED TO A PEACE PROCESS’: BESSENT

Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister and minister of economy, discussed the deal in a thread on X. 

“The United States will contribute to the Fund. In addition to direct financial contributions, it may also provide NEW assistance – for example, air defense systems for Ukraine,” she noted in one of the posts comprising the thread. 

FOR PUTIN, ‘US IS THE MAIN ENEMY,’ ESTONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS

“Ukraine will contribute 50% of state budget revenues from NEW rent on NEW licenses for NEW areas. Ukraine may also make additional contributions beyond this baseline if it chooses. This is cooperation designed to last for decades,” she added in another tweet.

National Security Advisor Mike 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. 

Fox News confirmed on Thursday morning that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were ousted following a 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.

Speculation had mounted for weeks that Waltz would be removed from his position amid the fallout of the chat leak, though the administration has maintained that no classified material was shared in the group chat and that the president had confidence in his National Security Council team. 

Fox News Digital took a look at who President Donald Trump could select to replace Waltz now that the position is open. 

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

Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who has been a top U.S. negotiator with Russia amid its war against Ukraine, could be tapped for the open national security advisor position. 

Witkoff is a former real estate tycoon and longtime ally of Trump’s whose focus under the Trump administration has been on negotiating with Russia for a peace deal in Ukraine, and negotiating with Iran regarding its nuclear program. Witkoff was notably credited with helping secure the reality of U.S. school teacher Marc Fogel from a Russian prison in February. 

Witkoff traveled to Moscow on April 25 as the White House reportedly extended its final offer to Russia as it continues waging a war against Ukraine that has raged since February 2022. 

RUBIO REVEALS OBSCURE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OFFICE KEPT ‘DISINFORMATION’ DOSSIER ON TRUMP OFFICIAL

“Ambassador Witkoff is in Russia to meet with President Putin as part of President Trump’s efforts to make peace,” an official with knowledge of the talks and visit told Fox News Digital at the end of April. 

“It’s long past time for the death and destruction to stop, to move past the failed strategies of the past and for an end to this devastating conflict,” the official added, without commenting on the “substance of negotiations.”

TRUMP’S GOODWILL TESTED AS PUTIN IGNORES PEACE EFFORTS DURING WITKOFF’S VISIT

The war has continued, with the U.S. making strides with Ukraine, however, Wednesday, as Trump works to secure a peace deal. Ukraine signed a deal with the U.S., allowing America access to the country’s rare minerals as it continues to hash out a peace agreement. 

Trump could potentially tap former ambassador to Germany and former acting Director of National Intelligence under the first Trump administration, Richard Grenell, to take the national security role. 

The former ambassador currently serves as the president of the Kennedy Center, the national cultural center of the U.S., under the second Trump administration. 

GRENELL LIGHTS UP SUSAN RICE FOR YEARS OF FAILED DEM FOREIGN POLICES THAT LED TO WAR: ‘WE SEE YOU’

Grenell’s name has been floated for other high-profile roles under the second Trump administration, such as a potential replacement for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations after Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik withdrew her name in March to retain her seat in the House. Grenell, however, said he was a “hard no” on serving in the U.N. ambassador role. 

Trump previously named Stefanik as his pick for ambassador to the U.N. but announced March 27 that she withdrew her nomination to “remain in Congress to help me deliver Historic Tax Cuts, GREAT Jobs, Record Economic Growth, a Secure Border, Energy Dominance, Peace Through Strength.”

STEFANIK UNDERCUTS SPEAKER JOHNSON IN STUNNING PUBLIC HOUSE GOP SPAT

“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat,” he added. “The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day. There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations.” 

Stefanik is a fierce Trump ally, who notably grilled Ivy League college administrators from Penn and Harvard, her alma mater, in December 2023 regarding whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates the respective school’s codes of conduct.  

Trump potentially selecting Stefanik as a replacement for Waltz, however, would leave the Republican House majority vulnerable to an even tighter margin if Stefanik left her New York seat. 

Thirty-five House Democrats are rebuking the Biden administration’s 11th-hour waiver that cleared a path for California to enact a full ban on gas cars by 2035.

A Republican resolution aimed at repealing the Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) move passed by a 246 to 164 vote on Thursday morning.

Notably, two California House Democrats were among the 35 who voted to rescind their own state’s clean energy waiver – Reps. Lou Correa and George Whitesides.

Other Democrats in the number include Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., and Frank Mrvan, D-Ind.

KAMALA HARRIS REVEALS TIMETABLE FOR MAKING MAJOR POLITICAL DECISION IN DEEP BLUE STATE

It was a stunning repudiation of their own former party leader’s policies targeting one of Democrats’ largest strongholds.

Republican leaders, meanwhile, cheered the resolution’s passage.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said of the California waiver, “This radical measure bans the sale of gas-powered vehicles, forcing electric vehicles on the American people and taking away consumer choice.”

“Americans should choose which car best suits their needs and the needs of their family, not the government,” Scalise told Fox News Digital.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said, “There is no reason the radical climate policies of California should regulate the entire American population and rob every American of consumer choice.”

“House Republicans are righting yet another wrong done by the Biden administration and returning basic freedom to choose whatever car you want to the American people,” Emmer told Fox News Digital.

HHS DOWNSIZING BEGINS AMID RFK JR. ‘MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN’ PUSH: ‘WIN-WIN FOR TAXPAYERS’

Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa., vice chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, introduced a resolution of disapproval last month targeting a Biden administration-era waiver granted to California that would help the state realize its goal of a full ban on the sale of new gas cars by 2035.

A resolution of disapproval, under the Congressional Review Act, allows lawmakers a mechanism to oppose unilateral rules made by federal agencies.

Biden’s EPA approved a waiver for California in December 2024, just over a month before he left office, that would make it possible for the state to phase out new gas-powered car sales by 2035.

The waiver was granted despite concerns raised by major automakers earlier that year about the feasibility of California’s goals – but state officials pushing the plan have insisted it was critical to take on climate change.

At the time, the Biden administration argued the waiver amounted to an order rather than a regulatory rule, meaning it would not be subject to congressional review.

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However, it has been the subject of a standoff between the Trump administration and the federal bureaucracy since then.

The Trump administration asked Congress to review the waiver in late February of this year – paving the way for a potential repeal under the GOP-controlled House and Senate.

However, the Government Accountability Office said in March that California’s waiver is not subject to the Congressional Review Act.

President Donald Trump is poised to sign an executive order establishing a presidential commission on religious liberty. 

Trump unveiled plans for the new commission Thursday during a National Day of Prayer event at the White House and said it would be signed that day. 

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will serve as the chairman of the commission, Trump said. 

“The last administration attacked people of faith for four years,” Patrick said in the Rose Garden at the White House 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.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

FIRST ON FOX – President Donald Trump‘s former national security advisor is sounding the alarm about the Justice Department’s proposal to break up Google’s illegal monopoly on online search, saying in a letter to White House leaders that the government’s proposal is overly broad and poses “drastic” and far-reaching national security risks. 

In a letter to the White House National Security Council, obtained by Fox News Digital, Trump’s former national security advisor, Robert O’Brien, argued that the Biden-era DOJ framework is in “direct conflict” with Trump’s policy priorities, and risks hobbling U.S. competition with China in a high-stakes race to develop new and advanced technology. 

The U.S., he said, “now finds itself in a literal ‘technology race’ – as significant and critical to our nation’s strength, and the Trump Administration’s objectives, as the ‘arms race’ of the past century,” O’Brien said.

“To prevail, the U.S. must maintain and expand its global leadership in key technologies.” 

TRUMP WAGERS US ECONOMY IN HIGH-STAKES TARIFF GAMBLE AT 100-DAY MARK

The letter was sent to White House national security advisor Mike Waltz before he was ousted from his role Thursday along with his deputy, Alex Wong, in the wake of the Signal controversy earlier this year. It was not immediately clear who Trump planned to install as his replacement. A copy was also sent to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. 

News of the letter, first reported by Fox News Digital, comes as lawyers for the Justice Department and Google continue to spar in federal court over how far Google should go to break up what a judge ruled last year to be its illegal monopoly on online search.

O’Brien in his letter said the plans proposed by the Biden-era DOJ would cripple Google’s ability to compete or innovate on the global stage – undermining U.S. leadership on cutting-edge technologies, such as AI and quantum computing, in its race against China, and presenting grave new economic and national security risks. 

DOJ’s Antitrust Division is “aggressively pursuing the misguided policies of the prior Biden Administration and its European-like approach to crippling our nation’s largest and most robust technology companies,” O’Brien said.  “By ignoring their enormous value to our country’s strength, the Antitrust Division is seeking, through draconian remedies, to import European-style regulatory restrictions and prohibitions at home here in the Google Search case.”

He also urged the Trump-led Department of Justice to review the framework to restructure Google’s search engine and amend it in a way that would still allow the company to compete.

“Splitting Google into smaller companies and forfeiting its intellectual property would weaken U.S. competitiveness against the giant, state-backed Chinese tech companies, since, separated entities would lack the enormous resources needed,” O’Brien said.

“Experts in multiple fields critical to national security confirm these basic principles and loudly address the concern that handcuffing our high-tech powerhouses would undermine U.S. leadership and superiority in these key technologies, and risk ceding the world’s technology leadership to China,” he said.

TRUMP DOJ’S PLAN TO RESTRUCTURE GOOGLE HURTS CONSUMERS, NATIONAL SECURITY, SAYS EXEC: ‘WILDLY OVERBROAD’

The letter comes as Google and the Justice Department continue to spar in federal court in a so-called “remedies hearing” to break up what U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled last summer was Google’s illegal monopoly in the online search engine space.

The two sides presented the court with starkly different plans for how they believe Google should go about resolving its monopoly – the first successful antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. against a major tech company since U.S. v. Microsoft in 2001. 

Justice Department lawyers said Google should be required to sell off its Chrome browser, share years of its consumer data with competitors, and potentially sell Android, Google’s smartphone operating system.

Their proposed framework also includes requirements that Google be required to disclose its consumer data and search information with other companies, including rivals located outside the U.S., for the next 10 years. 

They told the court these steps could also stop Google from obtaining a monopoly in the AI space – acknowledging that technology is going to evolve, and therefore remedies must “include the ability to evolve alongside it as well.”

Google has proposed a much narrower remedies plan, including options for shorter contracts with browser companies, like Apple and Mozilla; new contracts with Android, and other important steps they said would make the landscape more competitive. 

Google officials argue DOJ’s proposal goes “miles beyond” the relief that was ordered by Judge Amit Mehta in August, and warned that the government’s proposed framework would stifle competition, fail to regulate anticompetitive conduct, and hobble Google’s ability to attract new investments or innovate in key areas like AI and quantum computing.

JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified in court Wednesday that DOJ’s proposal, if adopted, would result in a “de facto divestiture” of Google’s search engine that would allow companies to reverse-engineer “any part” of its tech stack, which he noted is the result of decades of investment and innovation.

If that happened, he said, it could all but kill the nearly $2 trillion company by giving its IP away to its competitors.

“It’s not clear to me how to fund all the innovation we do,” he said, “if we were to give all of it away at marginal cost.”

O’Brien serves as the co-founder and partner emeritus of Larson LLP, a firm that has represented Google as special outside counsel in unrelated matters, though O’Brien himself has not been involved in any of those cases.

The Justice Department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the letter from O’Brien, or whether the Trump-led DOJ had plans to amend its proposed framework in the Google remedies case. 

Florida Gov. DeSantis argued with a reporter on Thursday over illegal immigration, telling her “you seem to have no sympathy for people that have been victimized by illegal aliens” after she suggested work being done by ICE is “a little sloppy.” 

The fireworks erupted after the Republican spoke about Operation Tidal Wave, a record-breaking joint Florida-ICE operation resulting in the arrests of more than 1,100 illegal immigrants. 

“This is wonderful, this dog and pony show, but there are American citizens who are being deported – they show their birth certificates, they show their passports, they show their IDs and a lot of the work being done is a little sloppy,” the reporter, who identified herself as being from Florida station WSVN, told DeSantis. 

“Well, first of all, I’ll let ICE handle that accusation that you’re making that they’re deporting American citizens who are showing birth certificates and all that. I don’t believe that that’s true, but I’ll let them respond to that. But you seem to have no sympathy. You seem to have no sympathy for people that have been victimized by illegal aliens,” DeSantis shot back. 

OPERATION TIDAL WAVE: ICE, FLORIDA LAW ENFORCEMENT ARREST OVER 1,100 IN RECORD-BREAKING CRACKDOWN 

“What about people — you have someone driving drunk and kills [an] American citizen. What about people that have been deported previously and let in under Biden, who then commit sexual offenses or commit homicides? And then we have more victims as a result of the federal government’s previous inattention and unwillingness to enforce the law. So there are a lot of people that have been harmed by illegal immigration. There have been people that have been harmed by Tren de Aragua gang members who should not be in this country in the first place,” DeSantis continued. 

FATHER WINS DECADE-LONG FIGHT FOR JUSTICE AFTER DAUGHTER KILLED IN TEXAS BY ILLEGAL MIGRANT 

“So let’s just be clear. Who are you fighting for?” Desantis asked. “We’re fighting for the citizens of Florida. We want them to be able to live in a society that upholds the rule of law. We want them to be able to live in a state that is safe, and we have to take action on it.” 

“I’ll let them address your accusations. But the notion that somehow this is America, therefore we’re supposed to have an open border? We’re not supposed to enforce immigration laws, we’re supposed to just sit on our hands? When Biden let in 7 or 8 million people illegally into the country? No, that is not responsible,” DeSantis concluded. “That is not what our citizens elected us to do. So we’re in this fight. I think a lot of these narratives that I hear, to me, just instinctively, I think they’re fake narratives because I’ve seen it happen so many times.” 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday ordered a top-down transformation of the Army in a sweeping directive aimed at reorienting the service toward great power competition.

With a sharp focus on countering China, developing space and counter-space capabilities, and accelerating the Pentagon’s new Golden Dome strategy, the aggressive modernization effort directs the Army to cut aging legacy systems, restructure headquarters commands and more rapidly field new technologies. 

The memo ordered a merging of Army Futures Command, based in Austin, Texas, with Training and Doctrine Command, headquartered in Fort Eustis, Virginia, and merging Forces Command, U.S. Army North and U.S. Army South. 

“To build a leaner, more lethal force, the Army must transform at an accelerated pace by divesting outdated, redundant, and inefficient programs, as well as restructuring headquarters and acquisition systems,” Hegseth wrote. 

NEW ARMY SECRETARY PRAISES TRUMP, HEGSETH FOR CREATING ‘A LANE FOR CHANGE’ AS HE ZEROES IN ON CUTTING WASTE

“Simultaneously, the Army must prioritize investments in accordance with the Administration’s strategy, ensuring existing resources are prioritized to improve long-range precision fires, air and missile defense including through the Golden Dome for America, cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-space capabilities.”

Hegseth wants the Army to be able to field long-range missiles capable of striking moving land and sea targets and achieve electromagnetic and air-littoral dominance by 2027 as the potential for conflict looms in the Indo-Pacific theater. 

The memo calls for reducing manned attack helicopter formations in favor of inexpensive drone swarms and the reduction of general officer positions to focus command structures on the warfighter. 

HEGSETH SENDS STRONG MESSAGE TO IRAN AND HOUTHIS: ‘YOU WILL PAY’

Hegseth ordered the Army to enable AI-driven command and control at theater, corps and division headquarters by 2027 and expand 3D printing for weapons. 

The memo also calls for bulking up the Army’s presence in the Indo-Pacific and more joint exercises with allies in the region. 

The procurement of obsolete systems will be ended, per the memo, and “redundant or ineffective” programs will be canceled or scaled back, including manned aircraft and excess ground vehicles like the Humvee. 

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The Army will review and cancel inefficient contracts and work to shift from program-centric funding to capability-based funding, and add right to repair provisions in all contracts, as well as implement performance-based contracting to reduce waste. 

The defense secretary also calls for reforms to hiring and firing systems, and reduced spending on climate initiatives, legacy sustainment initiatives and excess travel. 

President Donald Trump had to “shame” most media into covering stories of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua violence in the U.S., White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Thursday, accusing some outlets of trying to “shill” for one accused MS-13 member.

Miller railed against reporters during a scheduled White House briefing when he was asked about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the suspected MS-13 gang member being held in El Salvador after the Trump administration deported him from the U.S.

Miller said evidence has shown Abrego Garcia has a history of violence, including “repeated threats and assaults against his spouse” and “had repeated documented human trafficking and human smuggling offenses.” He cited an MS-13 tattoo on Abrego Garcia’s knuckles as some evidence of his “extensively documented membership in MS-13.”

Miller blasted the Biden administration for “importing” violent “illegals” into the country, saying the former president let two Tren de Aragua members go on supervised release before they were arrested in the sexual assault and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in June 2024.

VENEZUELAN GANGSTERS NABBED AT NORTHERN BORDER GATEWAY BY THE DOZENS SINCE TRUMP INAUGURATION

“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.”

“And each and every one of you that sides over and over again with these MS-13 terrorists, to the extent that you had the financial means to do so, you all choose to live in condos or homes or houses as far away from these kinds of gangbangers as you possibly can,” he continued.

WH SAYS ‘NO DISPUTE’ DEPORTED SUSPECTED GANG MEMBER HAD MS-13 TATTOOS DESPITE PHOTOS TO THE CONTRARY

Miller said that if he had offered the reporters present at the briefing a rent-free home with no taxes, but next-door to MS-13, Mexican Mafia or Sinaloa Cartel members, he believed the reporters would pass.

“I couldn’t pay you to live there,” Miller said. 

“But yet you, with your coverage, are trying to force innocent Americans to have these people as their neighbors and that one day their daughter may be abducted from their home and raped and murdered,” he continued. “So you’re not going to get an ounce of sympathy from this administration or President Trump for the terrorists who’ve invaded our homes in our country.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., said the United States is in a “constitutional crisis” after appearing alongside President Donald Trump in Michigan on his 100th day as president. 

Jon Favreau, former President Barack Obama‘s speechwriter turned “Pod Save America” host, asked Whitmer in a social media clip posted Wednesday if the U.S. is in a “constitutional crisis” – just one day after she greeted Trump on the tarmac in Michigan before his speech to National Guard members. 

“We are,” Whitmer said. “I think that no one is above the law. The thought that we’ve got an administration that is just blatantly violating court orders should, I think, scare everybody. This is a very serious moment.”

Democrats have consistently described the country’s current political moment as a “constitutional crisis” since Trump returned to the White House about 100 days ago. While Whitmer has warned of the “peril” Trump’s tariffs will have on Michigan’s auto industry and urged him to deliver disaster relief to her constituents impacted by ice storms, the Democratic governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate has struck a more diplomatic tone than her colleagues in the past 100 days. 

WHITMER EXPLAINS HER OVAL OFFICE FOLDER FIASCO

“Trump is currently investigating Michigan colleges and universities for their diversity policies. He’s already tried to kick dozens of Michigan foreign students out of the country. He’s threatening to unlawfully freeze federal funding for Michigan public schools, as he’s already doing that in Maine, because Governor Mills spoke up in a meeting. Have you asked the president to stop targeting people and institutions in your state?” Favreau challenged Whitmer in a subsequent social media clip posted Wednesday. 

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER DIVIDES DEMOCRATS AFTER APPEARANCES WITH TRUMP IN MICHIGAN AND AT WHITE HOUSE

“I have not had that direct conversation on this subject yet, but I’m not afraid to do that,” Whitmer said. 

“Isn’t it worth speaking up for the rights and the freedoms of those people when you’re at an event with him, or you are in a meeting with him?” Favreau asked, articulating the criticism Whitmer has faced within the Democratic Party for her treatment of Trump. 

“Whenever I get the opportunity, I use every minute of that to cover a lot of different issues. So this is, I think, a very important one that you’re raising. There’s no question. And I will continue whenever I have opportunities to make sure that I’m covering as much as I can. No question,” Whitmer said. 

BLUE STATE GOVERNOR MAKES ANOTHER APPEARANCE WITH TRUMP BEFORE HIS 100-DAY SPEECH: ‘HAPPY WE’RE HERE’

Returning to the question of a “constitutional crisis,” Whitmer said, “Many of us are fighting the fights we can,” but it’s the court of law that should “have the last word.”

“I hope that we finally see some backbone out of some of the Republicans in Congress to stand up to the courts to enforce their orders. There are a lot of people that aren’t doing their jobs to protect the foundations of this country,” Whitmer added, shifting blame onto congressional Republicans for not standing up to Trump. 

The clips were posted one day after Whitmer appeared alongside Trump ahead of his 100th day rally in Michigan. Whitmer successfully lobbied Trump to retire an 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 thanked Whitmer for bringing the issue to his attention and once again applauded her job as governor. Whitmer’s diplomatic moves seemed to put her out of step with her party on Tuesday as Democratic governors, many similarly rumored to harbor 2028 presidential ambitions, instead hosted a counter-programming event to Trump’s speech slamming his first 100 days in office. 

WHITMER DITCHES DEM PLAYBOOK ON TRUMP’S TARIFFS AMID 2028 SPECULATION

Earlier this month, Whitmer hid behind a folder in the Oval Office in an image that went viral and earned her the ire of Democrats discontent with her diplomacy. The Michigan governor found herself in the corner of the Oval Office for a press conference where Trump praised her, after consistently ridiculing her on the 2024 campaign trail. 

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The Michigan governor’s trip to Washington last month brought her 2028 presidential ambitions into the national conversation as she directly engaged with Trump. Whitmer’s office explained that she was meeting with Trump to discuss recovery aid for the northern Michigan ice storm, investing in Michigan’s defense assets and building the American economy for everyday Michiganders. 

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

Some context on National Security Advisor Michael Waltz being bounced.

He served for a little more than 100 days in that role after giving up a safe House seat in Florida.

Keep in mind that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., gave up his safe seat as well when he was nominated to become attorney general. Gaetz then withdrew his name from consideration.

Republicans later sweated two special elections in GOP-leaning districts as their House majority waned.

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

So both former Florida House members never served in the Trump administration, or did so for a short period.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump yanked the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be U.N. ambassador because there was concern about losing those Florida seats. Stefanik never got a confirmation vote and was forced to stay in the House – without a formal leadership position or a committee chairmanship.

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are discussing measures that could potentially end federal funding of groups like Planned Parenthood as cost-savings in their multitrillion-dollar bill advancing President Donald Trump‘s agenda.

Two sources close to the House Energy & Commerce Committee told Fox News Digital that the move was being floated as lawmakers look to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to offset the cost of Trump’s tax priorities.

It comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said earlier this week that Republicans would target “big abortion” in the budget reconciliation process.

“We are working on a lot of different options, but that’s been discussed,” Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital when asked directly about Planned Parenthood. “Yeah, it’s been discussed.”

CHINA IS ‘CAVING’ TO TRUMP’S TRADE WAR STRATEGY, EXPERT SIGNALS

The House Energy & Commerce Committee alone is tasked with finding $880 billion in spending cuts under its jurisdiction, while intra-GOP disagreements over how to handle potential Medicaid cuts persist.

Republicans are working to use the reconciliation process to pass a vast bill with Trump’s priorities on the border, immigration, taxes, defense, energy and the debt limit sometime this spring or summer. 

By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party controlling both houses of Congress and the White House to pass sweeping legislation while entirely sidelining the opposition, in this case Democrats.

The first major hurdle, passing a framework with “instructions” for various committees to find spending cuts or ways to enact a small increase, was passed earlier this year.

The Energy & Commerce Committee has a wide jurisdiction that includes health, energy, telecommunications and other policies.

Democrats and other critics of Republicans’ reconciliation plans have accused them of trying to slash critical programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security while trying to pay for Trump’s other priorities.

However, Republicans have consistently said they will not touch Medicare, and Trump is pushing them to drop taxes on retirees’ Social Security as part of the bill.

How deeply to cut Medicaid, however, has been the subject of fierce debate between fiscal hawks and Republican lawmakers in blue states.

Defunding Planned Parenthood directly is impossible under reconciliation rules, but Republicans can target groups like it that provide abortions and receive federal Medicaid funds. It could provide some extra wiggle room, but could also be a similarly tricky vote for those front-line members.

One House Republican who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital, “I don’t even know what they’re defunding, because you already can’t use federal funds for abortion.”

They noted the longstanding Hyde Amendment prevents the use of federal dollars on abortions.

Planned Parenthood gets Medicaid dollars for the other health services it provides, not abortion, but critics say those federal dollars are helping prop up the abortion industry.

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., told Fox News Digital at an anti-abortion rally in late March, “Congress holds the power of the purse, and President Trump has begun the defunding of Planned Parenthood.”

TRUMP WAGERS US ECONOMY IN HIGH-STAKES TARIFF GAMBLE AT 100-DAY MARK

“So when we pass the reconciliation bill, we can include defunding Planned Parenthood, and I will do anything possible to make that happen,” Miller said.

No final decisions have been made, and it is possible that such provisions do not make it into the final bill.

However, the Energy & Commerce Committee is expected to advance its portion of the legislation next week, meaning its plan could be revealed within days.

Additionally, while it was not clear before that the conversations had reached the committee level, defunding Planned Parenthood in the reconciliation process has been something that groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America have been pushing for months.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., alluded to Republicans’ plans in a speech at the interest group’s gala earlier this week.

Johnson said Republicans’ reconciliation bill would redirect funds from “big abortion” to “federally qualified health centers” on Tuesday night.

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When reached for comment, a spokesman for the House Energy & Commerce Committee told Fox News Digital, “Chairman Guthrie, along with other Energy and Commerce Republicans, have been and are continuing to work with members across the Republican Conference to deliver on President Trump’s agenda through the reconciliation process.”

“The committee is not yet ready to comment on any policy-specific items that may or may not be included in the final bill text. Energy and Commerce is examining a full menu of options from the committee’s broad jurisdiction such as energy, environment, health, telecommunications, and more,” the spokesman said.

EXCLUSIVE: Washington, D.C. — Vice President JD Vance reflected on his meeting with Pope Francis, just hours before the Holy Father passed away, telling Fox News Digital it was a “great honor” and a “sign from God” to cherish life. 

Vance sat for an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday. 

VANCE WAS ONE OF POPE FRANCIS’ LAST VISITORS

The vice president told Fox News Digital that he met Pope Francis on Easter Sunday but “didn’t plan to see the Holy Father because he was ill.” 

“But we were invited to come and visit with him before he went and did his Easter mass appearance,” Vance explained. 

“I was one of, if not the very last world leader to actually meet with the pope,” Vance said. “I took one of my relatively junior staffers, who is a devout Catholic, and I looked back at him when he was about to meet the pope, and he was crying—it sort of drives home how important this, not just this man, but this institution is to over a billion people worldwide.”

“There are 1.5 billion practicing Catholics in the world, so that was a very big moment,” Vance said. 

PHOTO GALLERY: POPE FRANCIS THROUGH THE YEARS

Vance told Fox News Digital that he had a “very gracious meeting” with the pope on Easter Sunday.  

“The pope was very kind—he was obviously very frail,” Vance said. “We didn’t spend a lot of time together. It was mostly exchanging pleasantries, but he gave a few gifts—he gave my kids Easter baskets, and there was just this very sweet moment.” 

During the meeting, the pope gave the Catholic vice president three big chocolate Easter eggs for Vance’s three young children, who did not attend, as well as a Vatican tie and rosaries.

“I definitely cherish it,” Vance said. 

Following their meeting, the vice president went to Easter Sunday Mass in Rome at the Tomb of St. Paul with his family, before getting on a plane to India. 

“I was very excited about that trip—my wife’s parents are from India and I’d never been there,” said Vance. “And about an hour after we landed, a staffer came over and said, ‘Sir, the pope died.’”

“I obviously felt very sad, and my thought went immediately to the pope, but also to all these Catholics who love him,” Vance said. 

“But then it kind of hit me—oh my God—I was one of the last people to talk to him,” Vance said. “I just take it as a great honor and a sign from God to remember that you never know when your last day on this Earth is.” 

The Columbia University student activist who was recently ordered released from ICE custody was interviewed by the FBI in 2015 after allegedly telling a gun shop owner that “I like to kill Jews.”

The activist, Mohsen Mahdawi, visited the gun store in the summer of 2015 and inquired about various firearms while in conversation with the store’s owner, according to court documents submitted by federal authorities last month. The federal government is appealing Mahdawi’s release as of Thursday.

“The owner told Windsor, Vermont police officers that Mr. Mahdawi had visited his store twice, expressing an interest in learning more about firearms and buying a sniper rifle and an automatic weapon and that he ‘had considerable firearm experience and used to build modified 9mm submachine guns to kill Jews while he was in Palestine,’” the document reads.

“”The store owner stated that Mr. Mahdawi took photos of the store and its merchandise. The store owner gave the police the name of a fellow gun enthusiast who stated that he had a similar conversation with Mr. Mahdawi at the ‘Precision Museum’ in Windsor,” the document continues. “During that conversation, Mr. Mahdawi allegedly told the enthusiast, ‘I like to kill Jews.’”

HOMELAND SECURITY TO SCAN MIGRANTS’ SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FOR ANTISEMITISM: ‘NO ROOM FOR TERRORIST SYMPATHIZERS’

DHS Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin condemned Mahdawi’s release in a statement on social media.

COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTER MAHMOUD KHALIL CAN BE DEPORTED, JUDGE RULES

“When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country,” McLauglin wrote. “We have the law, facts and commonsense on our side. No judge, not this one or another, is going to stop the Trump Administration from restoring the rule of law to our immigration system.”

Mahdawi, 34, was raised in the West Bank and has now lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years. He confirmed trips to the gun store and gun museum, but denied making antisemitic comments to both the gun store owner and the museum guide in an interview with the FBI.

‘SAFER WITHOUT HIM’: COLUMBIA STUDENT CLAIMS CLASSMATE ARRESTED BY ICE ‘HATES AMERICA’

He now says he practices Buddhism and has “found comfort and healing in the spiritual community,” dedicating his time “to understanding how to achieve a lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis, particularly through the study of conflict resolution.”

U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered Mahdawi’s release on Wednesday. 

“I’m not afraid of you,” Mahdawi declared in a message to President Donald Trump as he left the courthouse.

According to the court filing, Mahdawi co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack. He founded the group with Mahmoud Khalil, another pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by federal immigration officials under the Trump administration earlier this year.

Trump administration National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and other staffers are out at the National Security Council, sources confirmed to Fox News.

Fox News confirmed Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong were fired Thursday. 

Waltz, who previously served as a Florida congressman and as a decorated combat Green Beret, has come under fire from Democrats and critics since March, when the Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published a firsthand account of getting added to a Signal group chat with top national security leaders, including Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, while they discussed strikes against Yemen terrorists. 

Waltz took responsibility for the inclusion of a journalist in the group chat in April, telling Fox News’ Laura Ingraham: “I take full responsibility. I built the group,” he said. “It’s embarrassing. We’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital earlier Monday when asked about reports claiming Waltz and others would be shown the door: “We are not going to respond to reporting from anonymous sources.”

WALTZ DOUBLES DOWN ON HEGSETH PRAISE AMID ONGOING PENTAGON CONTROVERSY

President Donald Trump held a meeting with members of his cabinet Wednesday, following his 100th day back in office Tuesday, with Waltz attending the meeting. 

Alex Wong served as Waltz’s principal deputy national security advisor, who was detailed in the Signal chat leak earlier this year as the staffer charged with “pulling together a tiger team” in Waltz’s initial message sent to the Signal group chat in March, the Atlantic reported at the time. 

“Team – establishing a principles [sic] group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours,” Waltz wrote in the group chat.” My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.”

Trump told the media April 3 that a handful of other National Security Council staffers had been let go following the Atlantic’s report on the Signal chat leak in March, which characterized the Trump administration as texting “war plans” regarding a planned strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen. 

TRUMP REVEALS WHO WAS BEHIND SIGNAL TEXT CHAIN LEAK

“Always, we’re going to let go of people we don’t like, or people we don’t think can do the job, or people who may have loyalties to somebody else,” Trump said from Air Force One when asked about reports on the National Security Council firings April 3. 

Trump confirmed that National Security Council members had been fired, but remarked it was not many individuals. He added at the time that he continued to trust his National Security Council team, remarking that they’ve “done very well” and “had big success with the Houthis.”  

The Trump administration had maintained, however, that no classified material was transmitted in the Signal chat in March, with Trump repeatedly defending Waltz amid the fallout. The strikes on Houthi rebels unfolded March 15. 

WILL CAIN SHARES HIS TAKEAWAY ON THE ATLANTIC’S STORY ON THE TRUMP ADMIN’S ‘WAR PLANS’ TEXT

Leavitt told the media in March that the White House considered the Signal group chat leak case “closed” while continuing to offer support to Waltz, whose office allegedly mistakenly added the journalist to the chat. 

“As the president has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team,” Leavitt told the media in brief remarks during a gaggle outside of the White House’s press room March 31. “And this case has been closed here at the White House, as far as we are concerned.” 

“There have been steps made to ensure that something like that can obviously never happen again,” she continued. “And we’re moving forward. And the president and Mike Waltz and his entire national security team have been working together very well, if you look at how much safer the United States of America is because of the leadership of this team.” 

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss the agency’s biggest wins during the Trump administration’s first 100 days, and shared HUD’s top priorities for the next 100.

Some of those wins, according to Scott, include rescinding Biden and Obama-era regulations to spur innovation and creativity in the housing market. Other actions have included reforms focused on ensuring American citizens are the primary beneficiaries of HUD’s resources, and ensuring HUD’s resources can be accessed in a fair and safe manner. Looking to the future, Turner said implementing work requirements for those in HUD-funded housing programs will be a priority, among others.    

“We are very focused, we’re very detailed, and we’re very deliberate about what we do here,” Turner said. “Progress and success doesn’t just happen. You have to be very intentional about it. You have to be very focused about it. One thing we did on the first day when we came in here is we said we’re going to restore the mission-minded focus of HUD… We’re called to a specific mission to serve the most vulnerable people of our country, as it pertains to housing, as it pertains to homelessness, as it pertains to disaster recovery, the development of communities, forming public-private partnerships.”

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT: HOW TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS STACK UP AGAINST INAUGURATION DAY PLEDGES

Part of restoring that “mission-minded focus,” according to Turner, has been to tear down “burdensome regulations,” such as the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule established under the Obama administration and revived by the Biden administration. 

“We took this rule down in order to restore flexibility and restore the power back to localities. Because every city, every community, is unique,” Turner said, noting that under the now-rescinded rule, bureaucrats in Washington had the power to pick “winners and losers” in local communities.

Turner also highlighted a new partnership between HUD and the Department of Homeland Security, aimed at ensuring noncitizens do not take away much-needed HUD resources from American citizens.  

‘TOO FAST’ OR ‘EXCELLENT’? AMERICANS GRADE FIRST 100 DAYS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SECOND TERM

“We are ensuring that American people live in HUD-funded housing,” Turner said. “Also with this partnership, it’s a data collection emphasis to understand who’s living in housing that’s funded by HUD and our FHA insurance, our FHA-backed mortgages, which is also backed by American taxpayers. We took out the non-permanent residence category out of the FHA, which the Biden administration turned a blind eye to.”

Turner also touted one of his first actions as HUD secretary, which rescinded the Obama-era equal access rule, requiring HUD-funded programs and shelters to determine eligibility based on a person’s self-identified gender. “We wanted to take this rule down to protect the women of America and ensure that when people enter into a HUD-funded facility, they are entering in after sex at birth,” Turner said of the reform. 

Looking to the future, Turner said efforts aimed at helping those receiving public assistance become more self-sufficient, such as through work requirements for those in HUD-funded housing, will be a priority for the agency over the next 100 days. 

“Social safety nets were never meant to be a hammock or a resting place. Social safety nets were meant to be a trampoline, if you will, a tool to project people into a life of self-sustainability and longevity, and so that’s something that we will be concentrating on going here forward these next 100 days, if you will,” Turner said. “Our heart here at HUD is not to grow the amount of people on subsidies, but it is to reduce the number of people on subsidies and help people to live a life of self sustainability, really, to change the trajectory of people’s lives.”

HUD PUTS HALF-OCCUPIED HEADQUARTERS BUILDING IN DC UP FOR SALE

“We don’t want to grow the size of government,” Turner added. “We want to shrink the size of government.”

Turner also said the agency will focus on increasing public-private partnerships to help improve housing affordability and the homelessness epidemic, noting local entities on the ground doing the actual work to affect change are pivotal to HUD completing its mission.

When asked about any pushback Turner has received over his slew of policy changes during the Trump administration’s first 100 days, the secretary said part of being a strong “servant leader” is to make hard decisions that everybody may not agree with.

“But, I consider them to be healthy decisions for our country,” Turner said. “At the end of the day, our job is one, to be stewards over taxpayer dollars, but also to be stewards over the lives of Americans as it pertains to entering in HUD-funded facilities.”

Former President Joe Biden’s transgender policies increased “prison rape” and “child abuse,” according to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. 

President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders that recognizes male and female as the only two sexes, and requires transgender women born biological males in federal prisons to be housed in male facilities. 

“The Biden administration promoted prison rape by putting men into female prisons,” Miller said. “That is obviously insane, cruel, and unacceptable. … This administration will not allow that.”

Miller also said that the Trump administration’s Justice Department is seeking to crack down on fighting “child abuse” in public school systems with state and local law enforcement stemming from teachers who support children identifying with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. 

“It is child abuse to change a child’s gender, particularly if you do not inform the parents otherwise, if a five-year-old or a six-year-old goes to school, or a seven-year-old goes to school, and the teacher tries to turn the boy into a girl, or the girl into a boy, that is child abuse, and this administration is treating that as child abuse and is a gross violation of parental rights,” Miller said. 

Likewise, Miller emphasized that the Trump administration is seeking to keep biological men out of women’s sports. 

Trump signed an executive order in February barring those assigned male at birth from competing in women’s sports, titled, “No Men in Women’s Sports.” The order bans those assigned male at birth from using women’s restrooms and orders the Department of Education to spearhead investigations into cases of possible violations.

“This administration ending the Biden administration’s policy and the Democrat party’s policy of allowing men into women’s sports, men into women’s spaces,” Miller said. “We are using every single legal and financial tool we have at President Trump’s direction to make it clear that schools and universities are and will lose federal funds … if you allow men to invade women’s sports and women’s spaces, and this applies to our whole K-12 system.”

A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller touted President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs on Thursday.

Miller appeared alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during a Thursday morning briefing, declaring that the administration is bringing a “system of merit” back to the U.S.

“This administration is not going to let our society devolve into communist, woke, DEI strangulation,” Miller said. “We are going to have a system of merit.”

“It’s not just a social and cultural issue, it’s an economic issue. When you hire, retain and recruit based on merit as President Trump has directed, you advance innovation, you advance growth, you advance investment, you advance job creation,” he continued.

DEFUNDING DEI: HERE’S HOW THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS UNDONE BIDEN’S VERY PRIZED PROGRAMS

“When a citizen goes to, say, a hospital in a medical emergency, they don’t care what race or sex their doctor or their nurse is. They want the best treatment they can get in that emergency,” he added.

WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY

Trump’s administration has taken big steps to cut DEI programs throughout the federal government, from the Pentagon to the Department of Education.

Trump shut down all DEI offices across the federal government during his first week in office and signed a number of executive orders to quickly undo former President Joe Biden’s efforts on the issue.

The administration is also leveraging federal funding in an effort to force the nation’s top universities to eliminate DEI programs as well.

In February, the Department of Education also warned state education departments that they must remove DEI policies or risk losing federal funding.

The Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding if Harvard did not reform governance and leadership, as well as its hiring and admissions practices by August 2025. The letter emphasized the need for Harvard to change its international admissions process to avoid admitting students who are “hostile” to American values or support terrorism or antisemitism.

Harvard has so far refused to comply.

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

Do not underestimate the importance of Thursday’s meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky.

Those committee chairmen are looking for guidance from the president about what they need to put in the “big, beautiful bill.”

Republicans agree on broad principles. But specifics are the key to either passing or failing this bill.

DEMOCRATS’ BOILING POT: A LOOK AT THEIR 2026 GAME PLAN

Most Republicans are willing to get behind the president. He has more power in this dynamic than the committee chairmen. But they have not yet scheduled their meetings to write details of the bill, because they aren’t sure exactly what the White House wants.

Congressional Republicans are just 26 days away from the Memorial Day deadline set by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to pass the bill. Multiple House committees hammered through their plans for the bill. But the two most important committees – Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce – still have not met.

SENATE PUTS TRUMP TEAM IN PLACE, SETS UP AGENDA FIGHT AFTER 100-DAY SPRINT

The Ways and Means Committee is in charge of writing the specifics of the tax policy. Energy and Commerce is asked to cut $880 billion. Some of that will touch on entitlement programs if the GOP truly goes that deep with cuts.

But already, Republicans are running out of track with such tight deadlines.

In the movie “Smokey and the Bandit,” country star Jerry Reed sings the title track, “Eastbound and Down.”

The lyrics go: “We’ve got a long way to go. And a short time to get there.”

That epitomizes the problem facing congressional Republicans as they race to finish this bill soon – with the hardest decisions yet to be made.

DOGE has referred 57 cases of potential voter fraud to the U.S. Justice Department, a DOGE official noted, Fox News Digital has reported.

Antonio Gracias noted that the individuals were “resident aliens who were registered to vote and may or may not have voted in elections,” according to NBC News.

Fox News Digital reached out to request comment from the DOJ on Thursday but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

ELON MUSK RECEIVES APPLAUSE FROM CABINET AS HE BEGINS PLANNED DEPARTURE FROM DOGE ROLE

Fox News Digital was invited, along with a small group of reporters, to have an on-the-record discussion with Elon Musk in the White House’s Roosevelt Room on Wednesday evening.

“The wheels of justice turn slowly but, hopefully, surely,” Elon Musk said. “When we find cases of fraud, we refer those cases to the DOJ — it is not DOGE prosecuting anyone.” 

ICE CREAM FROM TRUMP AND A ‘COMICALLY TINY OFFICE’: INSIDE ELON MUSK’S WILD 3 MONTHS GETTING DOGE ROLLING

Musk, the hard-charging business tycoon who has been spearheading the DOGE initiative, has indicated that he plans to spend less time on the effort going forward.

“Not stepping down, just reducing time allocation now that @DOGE is established,” he noted in a post on X last week.

“The federal government is a gigantic beast — very complicated — and so if you’re trying to figure out how to stop waste and fraud, you’ve got to map the territory,” Musk said on Wednesday. “That required three months of intense effort, and you have to build the team as well.” 

SCOOP: DOGE CAUCUS PLANS WHITE HOUSE MEETING AS ELON MUSK PREPS TO STEP BACK

“A new administration is like a start-up,” Musk continued. “Now, we’re getting more of a rhythm and so the amount of time necessary for me to spend here is much less and I can return to primarily running my companies, which do need me.”