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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Others who spoke with Fox News Digital were more skeptical.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Negotiations are expected to continue this week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

VANCE SOLIDIFIES DOMINANCE DRIVING EUROPEAN FOREIGN POLICY AHEAD OF GREENLAND TRIP 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

Pence received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his refusal to honor Trump’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, and instead oversaw congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of “populism” in the party. 

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

While Pence regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off. Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after declaring his candidacy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“There was no resignation,” the president said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump called the cartel members “bad news.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Republican said that his plans to institute a tariff are in the works, and he authorized the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative “to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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