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.” 

A Massachusetts judge who allegedly let a twice-deported illegal immigrant evade ICE capture in 2018 is now facing the prospect of removal from the bench six years after federal charges were first filed against her and three years after those charges were dropped by the Biden administration.

By contrast, the Trump administration swiftly arrested a judge in Wisconsin for committing a similar offense just a week after the incident. 

Judge Shelley Joseph of the Boston Municipal Court is facing charges of “willful judicial misconduct” for allowing illegal immigrant Jose Medina-Perez to slip out a side door to avoid ICE in April 2018, according to the Boston Herald. 

She was originally charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice in 2018 by Trump-appointed then-U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling. However, in 2022, the Biden Department of Justice agreed to drop the charges against Joseph after she agreed to refer herself to the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct. That state commission did not file charges for disciplinary action against Joseph until late in 2024, with her hearing date set for June 9. 

VANCE REVEALS ‘EMPOWERING’ ASPECTS OF TRUMP’S LEADERSHIP THAT ENABLES ‘TRUST’ AND SQUASHES ‘TURF BATTLES’

Joseph’s case stands in stark contrast with the swift actions of the Trump administration to punish Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan, who is also alleged to have facilitated a courtroom escape for an illegal immigrant.

According to charges filed in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Dugan allowed illegal immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz to exit her court via a restricted door after federal agents arrived to arrest him on April 18.  

Dugan demanded that the federal officers proceed to the chief judge’s office and, after his hearing ended, escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a restricted jury door, bypassing the public area where agents were waiting in order to help him avoid arrest, per the complaint.

Just a week after this incident, Dugan was arrested by the FBI and charged with federal charges of felony obstruction of a federal agency and concealing a person to help them avoid arrest, which is a misdemeanor.

NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS

Dugan is currently prohibited from exercising her judicial powers and will remain barred pending further order by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi blasted Dugan’s actions on Fox’s “America Reports.”

“We could not believe that a judge really did that,” Bondi said. “You cannot obstruct a criminal case. And really, shame on her. It was a domestic violence case of all cases, and she’s protecting a criminal defendant over victims of crime.”

Bondi said Flores-Ruiz beat up two people, “a guy and a girl.”

“[He] beat the guy, hit the guy 30 times, knocked him to the ground, choked him, beat up a woman so badly; they both had to go to the hospital,” she said.

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

FIRST ON FOX: The House GOP’s standoff over the former Biden administration’s green energy subsides is colliding with Republicans’ plans for a massive bill advancing President Donald Trump‘s agenda.

Thirty-eight House Republicans are writing to Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., the chamber’s top tax writer, urging a full repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the coming budget reconciliation bill.

“We are deeply concerned that President Trump’s commitment to restoring American energy dominance and ending what he calls the ‘green new scam’ is being undermined by parochial interests and short-sighted political calculations,” the lawmakers wrote.

They argued the IRA subsidies would cost American taxpayers roughly $1 trillion over the next decade.

TRUMP EASES AUTO TARIFFS AS HE CELEBRATES 100TH DAY WITH MICHIGAN RALLY

“The IRA contains eight major energy subsidies, each of which burdens taxpayers, inflates energy costs, and threatens the reliability of our power grid. Each of these subsidies props up unreliable energy sources while displacing dependable, proven energy like coal and natural gas,” the letter said.

The lawmakers then took direct aim at fellow Republicans who are pushing for some of the credits to remain intact.

“Republicans ran—and won—on a promise to completely dismantle the IRA and end the left’s green welfare agenda. The first chapter of our 2024 platform reaffirms our commitment to ‘terminating the Socialist Green New Deal.’ Despite our previously unified stance, some Members of our conference now feel compelled to defend wind and biofuel credits, advocate for carbon capture and hydrogen subsidies, or protect solar and electric vehicle giveaways,” the letter said. “Keeping even one of these subsidies opens the door to retaining all eight.”

“How do we retain some of these credits and not operate in hypocrisy? The longstanding Republican position has been to allow the market to determine energy production. If every faction continues to defend their favored subsidies, we risk preserving the entire IRA because no clearly defined principle will dictate what is kept and what is culled.”

Republicans are working on a massive piece of legislation advancing Trump’s agenda on taxes, border security, national defense and energy, while also raising the debt limit.

The budget reconciliation process allows them to do that by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, thereby allowing the party controlling Congress and the White House to pass sweeping legislation while sidelining the opposition, in this case Democrats.

Conservative fiscal hawks successfully got House GOP leaders to agree that the trillions of dollars of new spending in the bill – primarily for Trump’s tax policies – must be offset by at least $1.5 trillion in federal funding cuts.

Former President Joe Biden’s IRA subsidies have been a significant flash point in that fight.

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

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

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

That letter pointed out that investments have already been made in American entities with the understanding that those subsidies would have a 10-year window.

“These timelines have been relied upon when it comes to capital allocation, planning, and project commitments, all of which would be jeopardized by premature credit phase outs or additional restrictive mechanisms such as limiting transferability,” it said.

They argued that changing that now could lead to rising energy costs for American families.

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

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

Meanwhile, House GOP leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have made clear they have issues with the wider bill, but share concerns about ending measures in use under the current administration and risking political blowback in GOP districts that have seen investments by entities that have benefited from the subsidies.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Ways & Means Committee for comment but did not hear back by press time.

EXCLUSIVE – Bipartisan lawmakers are introducing a bill on Capitol Hill Thursday focused on protecting the country’s water systems from foreign hackers, just months after China admitted behind closed doors that it was responsible for a series of attacks on U.S. infrastructure.

Senators Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., authored the Water Cybersecurity Enhancement Act to help protect public water systems and respond to cyberattacks, which have become more frequent in recent years.

“In Arizona, we know better than most the importance of safe and secure access to water. But adversaries also understand the importance and are increasingly trying to undermine our water security,” Gallego said. “It is critical that we ensure our public water systems have the resources they need to prevent and respond to cyberattacks. That’s exactly what this bipartisan, commonsense bill does.”

The bill would extend and expand a portion of the Safe Drinking Water Act, called the Drinking Water Infrastructure Risk and Resilience Program, to provide technical assistance and grants to community water systems that can be used for training and guidance on cyberattack protections and responses.

CHINESE OFFICIALS CLAIMED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS PRC PLAYED ROLE IN US CYBERATTACKS: REPORT

Cotton said cyberattacks on public infrastructure are a growing threat.

“This bipartisan bill will strengthen our ability to protect essential services and support local water utilities in building stronger cyber defenses,” he added.

The bill comes less than a month after the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese officials acknowledged behind closed doors in December that their government was responsible for a series of attacks on U.S. infrastructure.

CHINA ATTACKED US WITH HACKERS. WE NEED TO HIT BACK HARD

In the exclusive report, those who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed Chinese officials connected the cyberattacks on U.S. ports, airports, utilities and other important targets to America’s support for Taiwan.

The report noted that Biden administration officials learned of the attacks first hand during a summit in Geneva, as their Chinese counterparts blamed the campaign, referred to as Volt Typhoon, on a criminal organization.

Chinese officials also accused the U.S. of blaming China based on their imagination.

BIDEN ADMIN DOUBLING TARIFFS ON CHINESE SOLAR PANEL PARTS AFTER REPORTED ‘INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE’

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital earlier this month it had made clear to Beijing that the U.S. will continue to take actions in response to Chinese malicious cyber activity targeting the U.S.

“Chinese cyber threats are some of the gravest and most persistent threats to U.S. national security,” the spokesperson said. “The United States will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to safeguard U.S. critical infrastructure from irresponsible and reckless cyberattacks from Beijing. President Trump is committed to protecting the American people and U.S. critical infrastructure from these threats.”

The Chinese Embassy told FOX Business that China “firmly opposes” the smear attacks against it without any factual basis.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WARNS STATES OF POSSIBLE ATTACKS ON WATER SYSTEMS FROM FOREIGN HACKERS

The Biden administration warned state leaders in March 2024 that cyberattacks by hackers linked to Iran and China could take down water systems across the U.S. if cybersecurity measures were not taken as a precaution.

Then Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael S. Regan and Jake Sullivan, the assistant to Biden for national security affairs, said in an email to state governors that cyberattacks were targeting water and wastewater systems throughout the U.S.

In the letter, the two Biden administration officials said the attacks could disrupt clean and safe drinking water and impose significant costs on affected communities.

In January 2024, Russian hackers launched an attack on the water system in Muleshoe, Texas.

The hack caused the small Texas town’s water sytem to overflow and within two hours sent tens of thousands of gallons of water flowing out of the town’s water tower. Muleshoe was one of three small towns in the rural Texas Panhandle targeted by a Russian hacktivist group.

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told legislators in a letter that the cybersecurity firm Mandiant attributed the attack on Muleshoe to Sandworm, which is believed to be connected to Russia’s spy agency, the GRU.

Dozens of school choice advocates gathered outside the Supreme Court Wednesday as justices weighed whether public funds could go directly to religious charter schools.

The protesters rallied and held signs that said “all students, all options, all dollars” and “free to learn,” as they advocated for expanded access to alternatives to traditional public schools, especially for students who struggle in those settings.

The case, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, challenges a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that struck down a contract establishing St. Isidore – a publicly funded, Catholic online school – as a violation of state and federal law. Now before the U.S. Supreme Court, advocates argue that excluding religious schools from state-run charter programs amounts to unconstitutional discrimination.

“The court has time and time again said that the Free Exercise Clause demands that the government treat religious and secular organizations the same, and that’s not what happened here. The state excluded St. Isidore simply because of its religious character, that’s wrong and bad for parents,” said Kate Anderson, an attorney at ADF working on the case. 

LIBERAL SUPREME COURT JUSTICES GRILL RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION IN LANDMARK SCHOOL CHOICE CASE

For students like Contina Jones’ son, public schools are not always a good fit. “He was very sad, very emotional every day, he was overstimulated, teachers were in and out, and I needed something that was able to cater to how my son learns,” said Jones, a Mississippi resident who joined the crowd outside the court. “Every child, regardless of zip code, should be able to go to a school that is for them for their families.”

The justices are being asked to weigh whether a religious charter school is entitled to the same treatment and funding as a secular one – a question that could redefine how states draw the line between church and state in public education.

“Charter schools are not public schools in the same way as traditional ones,” said Thomas Fisher, executive vice president of EdChoice. “They’re designed to have curricula other than what public schools provide. The First Amendment protects their free exercise and doesn’t prohibit them from exercising their religion.”

At issue is whether the school should be considered a public school – which have largely been considered as extensions of the state government, and required to be nonreligious under the Establishment Clause – or whether it should be considered private entities or contractors.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican who is running for governor, filed the lawsuit against the school, stating that the establishment of St. Isidore would violate both the Oklahoma Constitution and the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Public funds should not be used to support religious institutions, he emphasized, asserting that such a move could set a dangerous precedent for government endorsement of religion.

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ARGUMENTS ON SCHOOL CHOICE CASE INVOLVING CATHOLIC CHARTER SCHOOL

The Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed with Drummond’s assessment, ruling that charter schools are public entities and must remain nonsectarian. The court’s decision highlighted concerns that approving St. Isidore as a religious charter school could lead to state-sponsored religious indoctrination, undermining the neutrality of public education.

“The key here is that this school is its own school. This school is not a state school – it’s a charter school. It has the ability to set its own curriculum,” added John Tidwell, Oklahoma state director of Americans for Prosperity. 

He called the case a “great test to see what the opportunity is for similar schools all across the country.”

“We’re really excited by this opportunity.” 

Erika Donalds, chair of America First Policy Institute’s Center for Education Opportunity, echoed the sentiment, framing the case as a potential expansion of “the free market of education.”

“St. Isidore is just one example of many high-quality options that are out there that could be chartered for families,” Donalds said. “The Supreme Court has struck down discrimination against religious institutions in other contexts. If they can offer high-quality education, families should be able to access those options with public funds.”

Donalds emphasized that the choice remains with families. “Parents are not required to choose a religiously affiliated charter school, but they should have the option to do so — so long as financial and academic accountability measures are met.”

She also pointed to bipartisan support for school choice nationwide.

“We’ve seen polling that shows 70% of Republicans, nearly 70% of Democrats, and Independents all support school choice. This movement has momentum, and it’s not going to stop.”

The court’s ruling, expected by the end of June, could have sweeping implications for charter school policy and religious liberty jurisprudence across the country, and comes at a time when 45 U.S. states currently authorize charter schools.

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

A 16-year veteran and former Air Force Major who voluntarily left the military after she refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccination under President Biden’s 2021 executive order commended Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Trump Administration’s actions to undo the effects of the controversial mandate.

Kacy Dixon, a former intelligence officer and judge advocate officer (JAG), was pregnant at the time the Biden Administration issued the executive order mandating active duty service members to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“I’ve spent my whole adult life in the military,” Dixon told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “I’ve gotten tons of vaccines, you know, smallpox, anthrax, without really a second thought. But because of my pregnancy, I had second thoughts about [the COVID-19 vaccine].”

COVID VACCINE BOOSTERS CALLED INTO QUESTION BY FDA CHIEF: ‘VOID OF DATA’

While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended the vaccine for pregnant women, Dixon said her doctor at the time told her that “because the vaccines had been produced so quickly and were still under emergency use authorization, pregnant women had not been included in the clinical trials.” She ultimately decided against getting the shots.

The vaccine mandate, which lasted until January 2023, cost the U.S. military an estimated 8,700 service members just months before Russia invaded Ukraine. Many members of the military applied for exemptions, but few were granted. Most service members were honorably discharged, generally discharged, or discharged under other than honorable conditions (UOTHC).

“This mandate devastated our military in many ways. In terms of morale, there were many service members who were aware of this legal issue, who knew that this was an unlawful order,” Dixon explained. “You don’t follow unlawful orders. You have an affirmative duty not to follow unlawful orders, and service members who tried to uphold their oaths and do that lost their livelihoods, lost their careers.”

HEGSETH SAYS HE’S UNDOING ‘SOCIAL JUSTICE/BIDEN INITIATIVE’ THAT TRUMP SIGNED INTO LAW

In the first week of his presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin the process of reinstating military service men and women. During President Trump’s inaugural speech, he pledged “full payback” for those who were forced out of the U.S. military. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered remarks last week on the continued effort to enforce the president’s executive order. 

“We all know that the previous administration issued unlawful orders on mandatory vaccines on an experimental vaccine, COVID-19,” Hegseth explained. “We’re doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to reinstate those who are affected by that policy.”

Secretary Hegseth signed a memorandum last week “that directs the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to provide additional guidance to the boards that are reviewing these cases.” 

Kacy Dixon applauded Defense Secretary Hegseth for recognizing the “unlawful” nature of the military mandate.

“It has been very heartening to have the secretary speak so candidly about this issue to acknowledge that these vaccines were experimental when used on our service members,” Dixon told Fox. Noting that the attitude of the DOD “has been a big morale boost.”

U.S. lawmakers also weighed in on the administration’s efforts to provide support for the thousands of service members whose lives were upended as a result of the mandate. 

HEGSETH SIGNS ‘NO MORE WALKING ON EGGSHELLS’ POLICY, DEMANDS REVIEW OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY COMPLAINT PROCESS

“The Biden military vaccine mandate was a destructive mistake that ruined troop morale, negated force readiness, and destroyed the lives of so many of our best and bravest — and their families,” Congressman Darrell Issa, R-California, told Fox News Digital. “Secretary Hegseth is demonstrating true leadership and working to repair the damage that was done. At this crossroads moment, he is choosing duty, honor, and country over divisive, partisan politics.”

While the wheels are in motion to reverse the damaging effects of the mandate. Dixon pointed out that service men and women who decide to reenter the military will now be years behind in rank from their former colleagues. Additionally, the logistics of reinstating military members may also be a challenge for the DOD. 

Andrew Cherkasy, co-founder of Golden Law, Inc. and former Air Force JAG, told Fox News Digital that “Secretary Hegseth is trying to undo one of the greatest political attacks on our troops in America’s history.”

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“I’ve seen countless outstanding service members be discharged after COVID refusals,” Cherkasky added. “The most difficult challenge for Hegseth will be reversing the discharges of those that were kicked out not directly due to the vaccine refusal but rather for misconduct surrounding their refusal.”

FIRST ON FOX: A pro-Trump legal nonprofit has filed an official complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) calling for an investigation into diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices at a prominent Midwest hospital system following a Fox News Digital report on criticism of those policies. 

The complaint, which was filed by America First Legal (AFL) to the Civil Rights Office of HHS, charges that Henry Ford Health (HFH) has “implemented and institutionalized an organization of race- and sex-based discrimination under the banner of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) across its operations, including its employment practices, residency programs, and delivery of patient services.”

The complaint comes after Consumers’ Research, a leading nonprofit dedicated to consumer information, launched an ad campaign alleging the hospital’s DEI policies and transgender treatment for children had put “politics over patients,” Fox News Digital exclusively reported.

The AFL is demanding an “immediate investigation,” as it accuses HFH of using federal dollars to promote DEI initiatives, including racial quotas in their hiring practice, prioritizing organ transplants based on race, elevating “identity-restricted” students for medical scholarships and awarding supplier contracts based on race and gender. 

TRUMP’S CRACKDOWN ON HARVARD, ‘WOKE’ COLLEGES WILL TAKE MORE THAN 100 DAYS TO LEAVE LASTING REFORM: PROFESSOR

“Failure to act in the face of such egregious and well-documented violations would not only signal tolerance of unlawful discrimination but would undermine the federal government’s duty to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to advance unconstitutional or ideologically driven practices,” the AFL wrote in the complaint. 

MAJOR UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER ACCUSED OF HIDING DEI PROGRAMS, INFLUENTIAL SENATOR CALLS THEM OUT

The complaint accuses HFH of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, gener or national origin, and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits such discrimination within the healthcare industry. 

The AFL also alleges that HFH is violating President Donald Trump‘s executive order signed this year that bans federal support for DEI mandates.

“Since 2021, HFH has received nearly $1 billion in federally obligated awards containing DEI-related provisions that embed race and sex-based priorities into clinical, research, and administrative functions. These awards show that HFH operates federally funded programs that affirmatively integrate DEI into its internal governance, recruitment, clinical decision-making, and service delivery,” the AFL said. 

The complaint described HFH’s “discriminatory programs and practices” as “flagrant, ongoing, and systematic violations of non-discrimination mandates” and an “unlawful misuse of federal taxpayer funds.”

In addition to a formal investigation into HFH’s alleged violations, the AFL is requesting a compliance review of all HHS-funded programs, a suspension of all race- and sex-based policies and practices, revised HFH plans to comply with “federal civil rights law,” legal and administrative penalties for noncompliance and referal of “any potentially unlawful conduct” to federal enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector General. 

The AFL described the Midwest hospital as perpetrating a “sweeping, deliberate, and ongoing pattern of discriminatory practices by a major healthcare institution receiving significant federal support.”

The complaint is addressed to leading Trump Cabinet members, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

It also addresses Department of Justice Civil Rights Chief Harmeet K. Dillon, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea R. Lucas, Director of Office of Federal Operations at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Carlton M. Hadden and Senior Bureau Official at the Department of State Riley M. Barnes.

“Henry Ford Health is prioritizing politics over patients,” Will Hild, Consumers’ Research executive director, told Fox News Digital this month during the advertising campaign launch. “Driven by gender ideology, Henry Ford has continued performing deeply harmful and irreversible sex-change treatments on children and must be stopped… Consumers’ Research will continue to put these hospitals on blast for putting a woke agenda over patient care.”

Consumers’ Research targeted the Detroit hospital with a campaign earlier this month called “Ford Health Exposed” that included a website spotlighting its “discriminatory practices” that it said included “administering harmful transgender treatments on kids, and prioritizing a radical climate agenda.”

The Henry Ford Health website is littered with examples of “woke” ideology being promoted, including DEI, which the hospital admitted on its website is “woven into the fabric of everything we do.”

“Diversity always will be the foundation on which Henry Ford Health stands,” the organization’s website states.

The website also openly promotes its use of “unconscious bias training” as well as Employee Resource Groups to promote its “diversity” agenda that it says will “enhance the quality of care and comfort for each person that we serve.”

TOP US HOSPITAL HIT WITH SCATHING AD CAMPAIGN OVER ‘EXTREME WOKE’ AGENDA: ‘POLITICS OVER PATIENTS’

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The healthcare system also promotes what it describes on its website as “supplier diversity,” where it prioritizes working with businesses that are at least 51% owned by LGBTQ+ persons or certain minority categories. 

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are simply not enough,” Kimberlydawn Wisdom, senior vice president of community health and equity and chief wellness and diversity officer at Henry Ford Health, said in a 2021 newsletter posted on the provider’s website.

An HHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the department “does not comment on potential or active investigations.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Henry Ford Health spokesperson said, “Henry Ford Health respects and fully complies with all state and federal anti-discrimination laws.”

“For more than a century, Henry Ford Health has been fully committed to serving Michigan’s richly diverse communities, providing health care services and employment opportunities to everyone. Our commitment to non-discrimination remains steadfast,” the spokesperson continued.

Hunter Biden on Wednesday dropped the lawsuit he filed against two Internal Revenue Service whistle-blowers in September 2023. 

Biden’s attorneys brought a motion in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be brought again in any court. 

The lawsuit, initially filed by the former first son two years ago, alleged that IRS Special Agent Gary Shapley and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler had “targeted and sought to embarrass” Biden through statements to the media disclosing the details of the tax matters of a “private citizen.” 

HUNTER BIDEN SUES IRS, ALLEGES AGENTS TRIED TO ‘TARGET’ AND ‘EMBARRASS’ HIM

Shapley and Zielger had testified before the House Oversight Committee earlier that year, saying they faced various limitations when tasked with investigating former President Joe Biden’s son. 

“It’s always been clear that the lawsuit was an attempt to intimidate us,” Shapley and Zielger said in a statement after Hunter Biden dropped the case, according to the New York Post. “Intimidation and retaliation were never going to work. We truly wanted our day in court to provide the complete story, but it appears Mr. Biden was afraid to actually fight this case in a court of law after all.”

“His voluntary dismissal of the case tells you everything you need to know about who was right and who was wrong,” they added. 

Lawyers for the two whistle-blowers first emphasized how Hunter Biden “dismissed his case with prejudice – meaning he can never bring it again,” and did so “in exchange for nothing at all.”

“Hunter Biden brought this lawsuit against two honorable federal agents in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the preferential treatment he was given,” the attorneys said, according to the Post.

HUNTER BIDEN PLEA DEAL APPEARS TO FALL APART AT COURT HEARING

Four of Hunter Biden’s attorneys – Abbe David Lowell, Christopher Man, David Kolansky and Isabella Oishi – moved to withdraw as the former first son’s counsel about a month ago. 

The Justice Department had been investigating Hunter Biden for several years for possible tax crimes when Shapley’s lawyers sent a letter to Congress alleging “irregularities” in the DOJ handling of the investigation, and he sat down with CBS News in May 2023 about his decision to blow the whistle. 

Hunter Biden’s plea deal, which would have granted him broad immunity from prosection in exchange for admitting guilt to two misdemeanor tax counts, fell apart during a July 2023 federal court hearing in Delaware. 

Hunter Biden later pleaded guilty in September 2024 to all nine federal tax charges brought against him by special counsel David Weiss. It was determined that Biden failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019. He later paid it back.

In December, former President Biden granted his son a sweeping pardon, granting Hunter clemency from all crimes he “has committed or may have committed” over the past decade. 

Elon Musk says he saved the U.S. taxpayer more than $160 million during his first three months getting the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) off the ground — but he also enjoyed midnight snacks of ice cream from the White House kitchen, a “comically tiny office” and a friendship with President Donald Trump. 

Fox News Digital was invited, along with a small group of reporters, to have an on-the-record discussion with Musk in the White House’s Roosevelt Room on Wednesday evening about his first 100 days as a special government employee.

That status allowed him to work for the federal government for “no more than 130 days in a 365-day period,” according to data from the Office of Government Ethics. Musk said the first 100 days was “an intense period” and said at times, he was in Washington, D.C., working on his DOGE efforts “7 days a week, or close to 7 days a week.” 

Musk said he will cut that down to one or two days a week, or every other week, and will continue working for the Trump administration “at the discretion of the president.” 

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

“I’m willing to contribute one to two days a week, coming to D.C. every other week for one to three days—indefinitely, as long as the president wants me to do that,” Musk said. “It’s largely a volunteer organization.” 

Musk, in response to a question from Fox News Digital, said he has slept in the White House’s Lincoln bedroom multiple times. 

“I didn’t think I would ever sleep in there,” Musk said. “The president, we’re good friends, and we’ll be on Air Force One, or Marine One, and he’ll be like, ‘do you want to stay over?’ and I’ll be like, ‘sure,’ and he’ll send me to the Lincoln bedroom.” 

Musk said he did not ever “request it,” but that Trump would always ask “‘do you want to stay here?'”

“And he gave me a tour of the Lincoln bedroom, and told me all the history,” Musk said.

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

“And then, he’ll actually call me late night and say, ‘by the way, make sure you get ice cream from the kitchen,” Musk recalled. “I ate a whole tub of ice cream—caramel. Häagen-Dazs.” 

Musk laughed, “Yeah, it’s epic.” 

“Don’t tell RFK I ate a whole tub,” Musk laughed. “The president is a very good host, and he said, make sure you have some of the ice cream, and I said OK. I went to the kitchen and got some ice cream.” 

When asked for the exact number of nights Musk slept in the Lincoln bedroom, he replied, “I don’t know if I should say the number—more than once.” 

Musk was also given a small office in the White House, which he said he intends to keep. 

“I’m keeping my micro-office,” Musk said, adding that it is “on the top floor it has a view of nothing.” 

“It has a window but all you see is an HVAC unit,” Musk explained. “I guess it’s harder to shoot me—there’s not a good line of sight in there.” 

“I like my comically tiny office upstairs,” Musk said, adding that, while it is tiny, he has “the biggest monitor,” where he views “important information—secret stuff.” Musk admitted, though, that he has “occasionally played a video game.” 

When asked by Fox News Digital which video game, Musk laughed and said, “Diablo in the Path of Exile.” 

As for DOGE, Musk said he is proud of its work so far, and “in the grand scheme of things, I think we’ve been effective,” just “not as effective as I’d like.” 

“I think we could be more effective, but we’ve made progress —and more progress than I think has happened since Clinton and Gore,” Musk said. “It is ironic to see the Clinton and Gore speeches — they sound like DOGE. If you took a transcript and say who said it? DOGE or Clinton-Gore? You would have a hard time. They sound identical to what we say.” 

He added, “We are just Democrats from the ’90s who got teleported into 2025.”

DOGE SLASHES ‘WASTEFUL’ ‘PROBLEM-SOLVING’ CONTRACT WORTH $50K IN LATEST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

“Things have just evolved. There is that classic saying, we didn’t leave the Democratic Party — the Democratic Party left us,” Musk continued. “Just, objectively, from a policy standpoint, that is just objectively true. Our goals are safe cities, secure borders, sensible spending—these used to be Democrat positions and perhaps they will be in the future — but they just seem like common sense.” 

Meanwhile, Musk reflected on his day-to-day for the first 100 days, saying that things “have to be very intense for the first three months, so trying to understand what’s going on and map out the government in general.” 

“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. “That required three months of intense effort, and you have to build the team as well.” 

“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.” 

Fox News Digital asked Musk if he has had fun during his first three months leading DOGE. 

“It’s like, 60% fun. 70% fun — depends on the week,” Musk said. “But being attacked relentlessly is not super fun. Seeing cars burning is not fun. But when I feel like we’re doing good for the American taxpayer and stopping wasteful spending and fixing computer systems, I feel like that’s a good thing.” 

A DOGE official at the meeting on Wednesday said that 1% of the federal workforce, or slightly more than 20,000 people, have been fired. However, that official stressed that the federal government has “hired 26,000 people.” 

“So we have hired more people than we’ve fired,” the official said. 

DOGE’S GREATEST HITS: LOOK BACK AT THE DEPARTMENT’S MOST HIGH-PROFILE CUTS DURING TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS

Musk chimed in and said, in America, “we actually want to have fewer people in the federal government and more people making things.” 

Musk also told reporters that DOGE has referred cases of fraud to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. 

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

Musk said there are “hundreds of thousands of cases of what appear to be fraud,” but a DOGE official said they have referred, at this point, 57 cases of possible voter fraud to the DOJ. 

Musk also said he will meet with the House DOGE caucus next week, and said his work with House and Senate lawmakers has been “extremely positive.”

At the end of the conversation, Musk laughed and said, “It is funny that we’ve got DOGE.” 

“Are we in a simulation here? Or what’s going on? How did we get here?!” Musk laughed.

DAVID MARCUS: WHAT AMERICA OWES ELON MUSK AFTER DOGE

“I’m proud of the incredible work by the DOGE team who have taken a lot of flak and these are people who could easily get high-paying jobs in the private sector, and, in fact, came from high-paying jobs in the private sector,” Musk said.

DOGE has fewer than 100 employees.

“Some will stay on, some will not,” Musk said. “It is up to them. This is basically a volunteer organization.”

When asked if DOGE is winding down, Musk said, “No.”

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“DOGE is a way of life,” Musk said. “Like Buddhism. You wouldn’t ask who would lead Buddhism.”

When asked who would lead DOGE when Musk is not in Washington, Musk replied, “Is Buddha needed for Buddhism?”

U.S. lawmakers are continuing to advocate for gun control by pushing an assault weapons ban proposal.

“It shall be unlawful for a person to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a semiautomatic assault weapon,” the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 stipulates — it also includes the same prohibition pertaining to “a large capacity ammunition feeding device.”

But the measure would grandfather in those who currently own such items. 

The text indicates that the prohibitions “shall not apply to the possession, sale, or transfer of any semiautomatic assault weapon otherwise lawfully possessed under Federal law on the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025” or “to the possession of any large capacity ammunition feeding device otherwise lawfully possessed on or before the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025.”

TRUMP ROASTED DEM CRITICS, MEDIA WITH NEW NICKNAMES IN FIRST 100 DAYS ONLINE: ‘WATERMELON-HEAD’

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California leads Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla of California, and Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, in pushing the measure in the Senate, according to a Schiff news release. It also names 37 other Senate Democrats as cosponsors.

There are more than 100 original co-sponsors of the measure in the House, according to Rep. Lucy McBath’s, D-Ga. news release.

The measure will almost certainly fail to advance through either GOP-controlled congressional chamber.

Many Americans oppose such legislation, contending that it would represent an unconstitutional infringement on gun rights protected by the Second Amendment.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS BIDEN ADMIN ‘GHOST GUN’ REGULATION

But during a news conference about the legislation, Padilla asserted, “This is not about the Second Amendment. This is about saving lives.”

The NRA pushed back, declaring in a post on X, “Anti-gun lawmakers insist their push to ban ‘assault weapons’ isn’t about the Second Amendment. Let’s be honest — that’s exactly what it’s about. And it’s about disarming law-abiding Americans.”

The U.S. previously had an assault weapons ban in place for a decade — it expired on Sept. 13, 2004, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

ADAM SCHIFF REVEALS WHAT A SAN FRANCISCO CASHIER BLUNTLY TOLD HIM ABOUT DEMS, WARNS PARTY HAS ‘MAJOR PROBLEM’

Former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter joined together in a May 1994 message in which they urged the House to “support for a ban on the domestic manufacture of military-style assault weapons,” calling it “a matter of vital importance to the public safety,” according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris urged Democrats across the country to act like elephants in an awkward digression during her speech Wednesday night.

Harris delivered her first public address since losing the 2024 election on Wednesday in California, offering an angry and negative view of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.

“Please allow me, friends, to digress for a moment,” she told the audience at Emerge’s 20th anniversary gala in San Francisco. “Okay, it’s kind of dark in here, but I am going to ask for a show of hands. Who saw that video from a couple of weeks ago? The one of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo during the earthquake. Google it if you have not seen it.

“So that scene has been on my mind. Everybody has been asking what are you thinking about these days. For those who haven’t seen it, here those elephants were, and as soon as they felt the earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle and stood next to each other to protect the most vulnerable. Think about it. What a powerful metaphor,” she continued.

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

“Because we know those who try to incite fear are most effective when they divide and conquer. When they separate the herd, when they try to make everyone think they are alone. But in the face of crisis, the lesson is don’t, don’t scatter,” she added.

‘PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT’: TRUMP CELEBRATES FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE WITH HIGH ENERGY MICHIGAN RALLY

“The instinct has to be to immediately find and connect with each other, and to know that the circle will be stronger,” she said.

Many users on social media were quick to mock Harris’ story as bizarre and jarring in the context of her speech.

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt,” wrote one user, @JohnETiffany1, referencing a common maxim.

The former vice president did not address rumors that she may be considering a run for governor of California during her speech.

The organizer, Emerge, is a training organization that seeks to prepare Democratic women to run for office. It charged $25 for viewers to gain access to the virtual livestream. Other package options included a $100 fee for young professionals and a $250 general admission ticket. 

A House Republican whose family found success in the trucking industry is voicing concerns about illegal immigrants working in the industry in the U.S.

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., praised President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating English proficiency as a requirement for professional drivers in an interview with Fox News Digital.

It also comes as the REAL ID deadline fast approaches in the U.S. as the Trump administration finally seeks to impose the 20-year-old measure in a bid to crack down on illegal immigrants, including those who have been made eligible for driver’s licenses in blue states. 

HOW A DOGE REVIEW CAN ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE PROGRAMS THAT FIGHT HIV/AIDS

“Accident rates have gone up 75% because we have people that are driving trucks across this country, they can’t read or speak English,” Collins told Fox News Digital, noting he’d been in the trucking industry for 30 years.

“I don’t know how that makes sense … but thank goodness the president saw that when he signed an executive order.”

In recent years, illegal immigrants have been able to obtain driver’s licenses in 19 states and Washington, D.C., where they are issued regardless of immigration status.

Collins said it’s had an effect on the trucking industry more widely, however.

“It impacts the trucking industry because you got people that have no skin in the game, so to say. It doesn’t matter if they get involved in an accident, what do they care? Because they’re not here legally anyway. So, at worst-case scenario, they just lose the vehicle because they weren’t even kicking them out,” Collins said.

“Let’s at least get these people off the road, make them stop driving and, oh, by the way, pack your bags and go home.”

It’s not clear how much REAL ID will help in the immediate future, considering states will be allowed to continue issuing non-REAL ID-compliant licenses alongside the new federal standard. 

DOGE SLASHES ‘WASTEFUL’ ‘PROBLEM-SOLVING’ CONTRACT WORTH $50K IN LATEST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

But the Trump administration is attempting to at least stop people who cross the border illegally from being able to get to Collins’ home state of Georgia and others via airline travel.

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Noncompliant state IDs will be banned from use on commercial flights and from entering federal buildings starting May 7.

“Under Biden, illegal aliens used non-compliant IDs from sanctuary cities to board flights, but REAL ID’s higher security standards make it nearly impossible to forge legitimate documents, ensuring only verified travelers can fly,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a memo this month.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris returned to the political scene with a fiery speech on Wednesday night in which she slammed the Trump administration’s first 100 days.

Harris had a very negative, often angry-sounding message in her first speech since she left office, even saying, “we are seeing the wholesale abandonment” of American ideals in reference to President Donald Trump’s priorities.

“Now, I know tonight’s event happens to coincide with the 100 days after the inauguration, and I’ll leave to others to give a full accounting of what has happened so far,” she said. “But I will say this. Instead of the administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals.”

Harris accused Trump of advancing “an agenda [of] a narrow, self-serving vision of America,” threatening to bring a “constitutional crisis” to the nation.

‘PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT’: TRUMP CELEBRATES FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE WITH HIGH ENERGY MICHIGAN RALLY

She accused Trump of bringing “chaos” to the U.S. through his tariff policy, accusing him of being responsible for the “greatest manmade economic crisis in modern presidential history.”

But beyond this, Harris claimed that the Trump administration is advancing an intentional vision to undermine American democracy.

“Some people are describing what has been happening in recent months as absolute chaos, and of course, I understand why, and it’s certainly true of those tariffs,” she said. “But friends, please let us not be duped into thinking everything is chaos.”

She continued: “What we are in fact witnessing is a high-velocity event. Where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making. An agenda to slash public education, an agenda to shrink government and then to privatize its services, all while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us.”

VANCE PREVIEWS TRUMP’S PLANS TO ‘JUICE THE ECONOMY,’ END RUSSIA–UKRAINE WAR IN NEXT 100 DAYS

“Right now, we are living in their vision for America,” Harris went on. “It’s an agenda, a narrow, self-serving vision of America where they punish truth tellers, favor loyalists cashing in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves, all while abandoning allies and retreating from the world.”

Harris further alluded to the Trump administration’s deportation of illegal alien and suspected MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying, “It is not okay to detain and to disappear American citizens or anyone without due process.”

She praised the actions of congressional Democrats resisting the Trump administration, naming several lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who she said “all in different ways, have been speaking with moral clarity about this moment.”

The former vice president said she was inspired by the Democrat’s electoral victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election as well as “the courage of judges to uphold the rule of law” and “universities that are defying unconstitutional demands that threaten the pursuit of truth and academic independence.”

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

Harris went on to say that “if Congress fails to do its part, or if the courts fail to do their part, or if both do their part, but the president defies them anyway. Well, friends, that is called a constitutional crisis.”

Harris gave her speech at Emerge’s 20th anniversary gala in San Francisco. Emerge, a training organization that seeks to prepare Democratic women to run for office, charged $25 for viewers to gain access to the virtual livestream. Other package options included a $100 fee for young professionals and a $250 general admission ticket. 

The former vice president did not address rumors that she may be considering a run for governor of California. 

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

President Donald Trump revealed Tuesday evening what he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed during their viral meeting at the Vatican when both were in attendance for the late Pope Francis’ funeral. 

“I was telling him that it’s a very good thing if we can produce a deal, that you sign it, because Russia is much bigger and much stronger,” Trump said Tuesday evening during a town hall hosted by NewsNation, which he participated in by phone.

The pair met face-to-face for the first time since their contentious Oval Office meeting in February, while both attended the papal funeral. Neither White House or Ukrainian officials gave many details on the nature or content of the talk, other than that it was “productive” and “symbolic.”

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

“We discussed a lot one on one,” Zelenskyy posted on X following the viral meeting. “Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”

Despite few details being released about the meeting, Trump did tell reporters over the weekend that part of the pair’s discussion revolved around the U.S. sending more weapons to Ukraine. 

“He told me that he needs more weapons, but he’s been saying that for three years,” Trump said. “We’re going to see what happens – I want to see what happens with respect to Russia. Because Russia, I’ve been surprised and disappointed – very disappointed – that they did the bombing of those places after discussions.” 

TRUMP HAS BEEN FRUSTRATED WITH PUTIN AND ZELENSKYY, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF SAYS

While Trump did not divulge any further details about the meeting to reporters, the president did add that he thinks Zelenskyy will be willing to give up Crimea in order to secure a peace deal. Russia’s annexation of the current Ukrainian territory has been a major sticking point amid negotiations between the two warring nations, with Zelenskyy indicating he would not be willing to sign a deal that includes giving up the territory. 

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