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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHITMER EXPLAINS HER OVAL OFFICE FOLDER FIASCO

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The clips were posted one day after Whitmer appeared alongside Trump ahead of his 100th day rally in Michigan. Whitmer successfully lobbied Trump to retire an A-10 Warthog aircraft based out of Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan with 21 brand-new F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets.

Trump thanked Whitmer for bringing the issue to his attention and once again applauded her job as governor. Whitmer’s diplomatic moves seemed to put her out of step with her party on Tuesday as Democratic governors, many similarly rumored to harbor 2028 presidential ambitions, instead hosted a counter-programming event to Trump’s speech slamming his first 100 days in office. 

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

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

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

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

Some context on National Security Advisor Michael Waltz being bounced.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VANCE WAS ONE OF POPE FRANCIS’ LAST VISITORS

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

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

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

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

PHOTO GALLERY: POPE FRANCIS THROUGH THE YEARS

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

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

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

“I definitely cherish it,” Vance said. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WALTZ DOUBLES DOWN ON HEGSETH PRAISE AMID ONGOING PENTAGON CONTROVERSY

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

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

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

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

TRUMP REVEALS WHO WAS BEHIND SIGNAL TEXT CHAIN LEAK

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harvard has so far refused to comply.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.”