Vice President JD Vance is poised to kick off a trip to Italy and India on Friday – marking his third international trip with the Trump administration. 

Vance and the second family are poised to meet with and “discuss shared economic and geopolitical priorities with leaders in each country,” according to a statement from Vance’s office. 

When in Rome, Vance is scheduled to meet with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin in Rome. He will meet with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi while visiting New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. 

VANCE’S ‘AMERICA FIRST’ APPROACH GOES GLOBAL, TAKES HARDLINE MESSAGE TO GREENLAND 

Meanwhile, Meloni is also slated to visit the White House on Thursday in Washington. 

The vice president and the second family are also planning to conduct engagements at several unspecified cultural sites. 

The vice president’s office did not provide specifics regarding their trip.

It comes as the White House has said that more than 75 countries have reached out seeking to negotiate trade deals with the U.S., after the Trump administration unveiled historic tariffs on April 2. 

Both the European Union and India have signaled interest in brokering a deal with the U.S. on trade. Meloni has said Italy isn’t on board with the tariffs imposed on the EU, and is prepared to “deploy all tools” to protect Italian businesses. 

JD VANCE STEPS INTO SPOTLIGHT DEFENDING TRUMP’S FOREIGN POLICY IN OVAL OFFICE DUSTUP WITH ZELENSKYY

The original tariff plan slapped 20% duties on goods from the European Union, as well as at least 26% duties on Indian goods. However, Trump announced on April 9 a 90-day pause on those tariffs where duties would be reduced to 10% as countries work to hash out trade deals with the U.S. 

Vance’s previous international trips include attending the Munich Security Conference in February, where he delivered remarks pushing Europe to “step up in a big way to provide for its own defense.” He also warned that Russia and China don’t pose as great a threat to European nations as the “threat from within,” concerning issues like censorship and illegal immigration.

In March, Vance visited Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, the Department of Defense’s northernmost military installation that houses Space Force’s 821st Space Base Group to conduct missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations.

In the wake of the arrest of two foreign nationals seeking to murder a U.S. journalist on behalf of the Iranian government, a bipartisan group of senators put forward a bill Tuesday to stiffen penalties on people who commit crimes in the U.S. on behalf of foreign countries.

Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Jim Banks, R-Ind., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., introduced the Deterring External Threats and Ensuring Robust Responses to Egregious and Nefarious Criminal Endeavors (DETERRENCE) Act.

The bill increases penalties on murder-for-hire schemers, those convicted of attempted murder or assassination of federal officials, as well as suspects allegedly involved in attempting to kill former officials because of their actions while in office.

Stalking and attempted kidnapping in the name of foreign governments would also lead to more serious charges for any offender. Many sentence enhancements fell at 10 additional years in prison.

IRANIAN BORN JOURNALIST TARGETED IN KIDNAP PLOT TELLS FOX THE TEHRAN REGIME ‘CANNOT BREAK ME’

“If you commit crimes in America on behalf of foreign adversaries, you must face serious consequences,” Slotkin said in a statement.

“The bipartisan DETERRENCE Act helps strengthen penalties for these crimes and sends a clear message about how seriously we take our national security and how we will hold accountable those who commit crimes against our nation.” 

In March, two foreigners appeared in New York federal court and pleaded not guilty to an alleged murder-for-hire plot against Masih Alinejad – an Iranian-born U.S. journalist.

Rafat Amirov of Iran and Polad Omarov of the Czech Republic and Slovenia were members of the Russian mob and were hired by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to kill the New York City resident, according to prosecutors.

“Finally, I will face the men hired by the Islamic Republic to kill me, right here in New York,” Alinejad said at the time.

IRANIAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST TESTIFIES AGAINST MEN ACCUSED OF MURDER-FOR-HIRE PLOT

“I’m deeply grateful to my new country, the United States of America, for trying to keep me safe from the government of my birth country, Iran.”

Ernst said the U.S. cannot allow foreign adversaries like Iran to “fund crimes against Americans on our own soil.”

She called the DETERRENCE Act an example of Reagan-esque “peace through strength” that puts foreign criminals “on notice” and is a direct warning to anyone trying to act on Tehran’s motto of “Death to America.”

Meanwhile, Hassan said in a statement that Congress should pass the legislation as a clear message to foreign adversaries that they will face serious consequences if their criminal behavior crosses the U.S. border.

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“Foreign adversaries are working with gangs and criminals in the United States to try to kill people on our soil, which is a national security risk,” she warned. 

Another reported foreign murder-for-hire plot was revealed last fall when an ex-Indian intelligence officer allegedly plotted to kill a U.S. citizen in New York who was a leader of a pro-Sikh independence movement.

Vikash Yadav’s October indictment reportedly laid out a connection to the Indian government, according to NPR.

FIRST ON FOX: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Lee Zeldin will visit San Diego next week to meet with Navy SEALs and local leaders as he zeroes in on addressing a Mexican sewage problem flowing into waters off the California coast, Fox News Digital learned. 

Zeldin will head to San Diego on Tuesday, when he will see firsthand reported sewage flowing from across the border in Tijuana into American waters where Navy SEALs train, an EPA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The EPA administrator will also tour the southern border by helicopter and meet with the SEALs who train in the water filled with sewage. 

“Administrator Lee Zeldin will be in San Diego next Tuesday, 4/22, to see this international sewage issue firsthand,” the spokesperson said, confirming the trip. “He will be touring the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, participating in a roundtable with local stakeholders and elected officials, taking a helicopter tour of the U.S. Southern border, and meeting with Navy SEALs who train in the area.” 

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

“Administrator Zeldin is committed to ensuring every American has access to clean air, land and water, and he looks forward to the opportunity to get out to San Diego next week.” 

LEE ZELDIN: WHY WE’RE SHUTTING DOWN BIDEN’S EPA MUSEUM

Zeldin first addressed the sewage problem in March before previewing the trip to take the issue head on. 

“I was just briefed that Mexico is dumping large amounts of raw sewage into the Tijuana River, and it’s now seeping into the U.S.,” he posted to X March 8. “This is unacceptable. Mexico MUST honor its commitments to control this pollution and sewage!” 

He previewed in another X post in April that he would travel to the “California-Mexico border in the coming weeks where disgusting Mexican sewage is harming our precious environment in the United States.”

Local leaders have been sounding the alarm on the sewage problem, including Imperial Beach’s Mayor Paloma Aguirre, who sent a letter to Zeldin in March describing how the raw sewage has sparked one of “America’s most horrendous environmental and public health disaster” as billions of gallons have polluted the Pacific Ocean since 2023 alone. 

“The toxic sewage coming across the border from Mexico into South San Diego County is among America’s most horrendous environmental and public health disasters,” Aguirre’s March 3 letter to Zeldin and published online reads. “Since 2023, over 31 billion gallons of raw sewage, polluted stormwater and trash have flowed across the Mexican border, down the Tijuana River, through the cities of San Diego and Imperial Beach and into the Pacific Ocean.” 

ZELDIN SHUTTERS MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR BIDEN EPA MUSEUM THAT ‘SCARCELY’ SAW VISITORS

The letter called on Zeldin to assist with the crisis by authorizing a new review of the Lower Tijuana River Valley’s sewage crisis for Superfund designation. The crisis has affected tourism, homeowners and the Navy SEALs, who train at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, as well as surrounding beaches in the massive Southern California county. 

STACEY ABRAMS SLAMMED AFTER DEFENDING $2 BILLION IN BIDEN-ERA EPA FUNDS TO BUY GREEN ENERGY APPLIANCES

“Our residents, are getting ill due to polluted air,” the letter continued. “Workers, including Navy Seals training in the area, have been sickened on the job by waterborne and aerosolized diseases. Many homeowners have been forced to place air quality monitors on their property so they know whether or not its safe to go outside. And the economic impact is profound, with the sewage crisis hurting area tourism, maritime industry jobs and local property values.” 

A Department of Defense Inspector General report published Feb. 7 determined that between January 2019 and May 2023, more than 1,000 Navy SEALs and SEAL candidates became sick after training in the water, including with acute gastrointestinal illnesses. 

EXCLUSIVE: Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are demanding information from the Justice Department’s inspector general on whether any unassigned or “untasked” confidential human sources (CHSs) from DOJ agencies beyond the FBI were in or around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

In 2024, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz revealed that there were more than two dozen FBI confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but only three were assigned by the bureau to be present for the event. 

One of the three confidential human sources tasked by the FBI to attend the rally entered the Capitol building, while the other two entered the restricted area around the Capitol. If a confidential human source is directed to be at a certain event, they are paid by the FBI for their time.

WERE UNDERCOVER SOURCES FROM OTHER DOJ AGENCIES PRESENT ON JAN. 6? GRASSLEY, JOHNSON DEMAND ANSWERS

Horowitz, in that report, said none of the sources were authorized or directed by the FBI to “break the law” or “encourage others to commit illegal acts.” 

In December, and after the release of Horowitz’s report, Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., demanded information on whether confidential human sources from DOJ agencies beyond the FBI were used on Jan. 6, 2021. 

In an April 7 letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, Horowitz notified the senators that he found no evidence the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), or the Bureau of Prisons deployed confidential human sources to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.

“We can confirm that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) did not have any undercover employees in Washington, D.C. on January 6 in connection with the events of January 6,” Horowitz wrote in his response. “This includes in or around the Capitol or in the restricted area of the Capitol.” 

“We can also confirm that the ATF, DEA, USMS, and BOP did not have any tasked CHSs in Washington, D.C. on January 6 in connection with the events of January 6,” Horowitz continued. “This includes in or around the Capitol or in the restricted area of the Capitol.” 

However, Horowitz could not conclusively say whether any of those agencies had “untasked” confidential human sources – or those who traveled on their own initiative – present on Jan. 6, 2021. 

“With respect to whether any DOJ law enforcement components other than the FBI had untasked CHSs in Washington, D.C. on January 6 in connection with the events of January 6, unlike the FBI, we have no information at this time as to whether the ATF, DEA, USMS, or BOP conducted a post-January 6 canvass to determine if any of their CHSs traveled on their own initiative (untasked) to D.C. in connection with the January 6 events,” Horowitz wrote. 

Horowitz notified Grassley and Johnson that after conversations with their Senate staff on the matter, the DOJ inspector general’s office is inquiring those agencies further on whether they have any information to indicate whether any of their confidential human sources were in Washington, D.C., “on their own initiative (untasked) for the events on January 6.” 

“We will supplement this response when we receive that information,” Horowitz wrote. 

Grassley and Johnson, in a letter to Horowitz obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, demanded Horowitz provide that information, saying his investigative work appeared to be “narrowly focused” on just the FBI’s use of CHSs, and said his response on “untasked CHSs from DOJ components other than the FBI” was “less definitive.” 

Additionally, Grassley and Johnson are demanding further information on confidential human sources, noting that “the term ‘undercover agent’ can mean many things.” 

Grassley and Johnson are now reiterating their request for information on whether “any federal law enforcement components, including FBI, ATF, DEA, USMS, or BOP had employees or contractors wearing civilian clothing in the Washington D.C. area; at the Capitol Building; and in restricted areas on J6 in an official or unofficial capacity.” 

Meanwhile, Grassley and Johnson, in December, also questioned whether Horowitz thoroughly reviewed classified and unclassified communications between handlers and their sources, warning that without that review, there may be a “major blind spot” in his findings. 

Horowitz, in his April letter to the senators, said he reviewed the “relevant portions of CHS files in the FBI’s electronic record-keeping system for CHS management” and obtained “relevant portions of those files,” including underlying text messages, photographs and videos. 

Horowitz said he obtained emails documenting the FBI’s Washington Field Office communications with CHS handlers of the tasked CHSs, and emails of CHS handling agents of “untasked” CHSs who contacted the Washington Field Office during the events of Jan. 6, 2021. 

“We flagged certain additional documents to be produced, including 1023s, documentation of unauthorized illegal activity (which generated a negative response), approvals for the tasked CHSs, and some underlying text messages and photographs referenced in 1023s, including text messages sent and shared between CHSs and their handlers,” Horowitz wrote, adding that he also obtained instant messages from the FBI’s classified and unclassified communication platforms. 

DOJ IG REVEALS 26 FBI INFORMANTS WERE PRESENT ON JAN. 6

“As with all reviews, we sought the information that was most relevant to our review, one aspect of which was to confirm that no FBI handling agent, FBI Headquarters personnel, or WFO personnel authorized any CHS to engage in illegal activity on January 6, 2021,” Horowitz stressed. “Given this scope, and the fact that the OIG did not receive any information indicating that any individual handling agent had inappropriate communications with a CHS, the OIG requested and reviewed relevant text messages between handling agents and CHSs, but did not request all of the text messages for all of the 26 CHSs and their handlers.” 

Horowitz explained that for many of the confidential human sources in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, “the handling agents did not know of the CHSs’ presence in Washington, D.C. until after the events of that day.” 

“We further note that, in the hundreds of prosecutions that took place in connection with the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the extensive discovery that took place during those prosecutions, we are not aware that any CHS (or other person) provided text messages to a Court indicating that a FBI agent had encouraged or instructed (with or without authorization from their Field Office, WFO, or FBI headquarters) anyone to engage in illegal activity on January 6, 2021,” Horowitz wrote. 

However, Grassley and Johnson say Horowitz’s response falls short, noting he “did not request all of the text messages for all of the 26 CHSs and their handlers.”

“It’s well past time the American people received complete transparency and clarity regarding the full extent of the Justice Department and its component agencies’ involvement in the events of J6,” Grassley and Johnson told Fox News Digital in a joint statement. “Inspector General Horowitz must be thorough in his approach and shed light on every corner of the department he oversees.” 

Grassley and Johnson added, “We expect Horowitz to bring finality to this investigation by fully complying with our requests.” 

A spokesperson for Horowitz did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is facing her first Democratic challenger in the 2026 election as one Marine and Army veteran jumped into the race on Tuesday, vowing to fight “for a Democratic Party that people like me will want to be a part of.”

Nathan Sage, currently the executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, announced his candidacy through a campaign video introducing himself as a dad, mechanic, sports radio host and a child of a trailer park in Mason City, Iowa. 

He said he’s fighting for a country “that’s ruled by the people who sustain it, not the billionaire class.” 

“I want to kick corporate Republican Joni Ernst’s a— next November,” Sage said. 

SEN. ERNST PRAISES TRUMP ADMIN FOR EXTRADITION OF MIGRANT TO US: ‘ABSOLUTELY ELATED’

“The economy is rigged, and those in power don’t give a damn. They’re the ones doing it. Only 2% of Congress come from the working class. We built the damn table. It’s time we had a seat at it,” Sage said in his first campaign video shared on X. 

“I’m fighting for a Democratic Party that people like me will actually want to be a part of. People like my dad, myself, my kids, all the people like us,” Sage said. “The DC elites, the ruling class, they don’t want me. But I think maybe you will.” 

Sage, whose father was a factory worker and mother was a daycare teacher, also took a swing at tech billionaire and President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency adviser Elon Musk using X, which Musk owns. 

“We’ll be up against all the money Elon Musk can throw at us. Please consider supporting this transformative campaign,” Sage wrote, sharing a donation link for his campaign on ActBlue, the main fundraising platform for the Democratic Party. 

Ernst, notably, is leading DOGE efforts in the Senate. 

Sage’s campaign video – which includes sprinkles of profanity – begins by categorizing Ernst as “scandal-ridden” and “corporate-funded.” It also further highlights his working-class background and military service. 

“I never thought someone like me could run for Senate,” Sage said. 

When he was five years old, Sage said, that his father was “arrested for a bounced check — $50.” 

“He was trying to pay for new school clothes for my sister and I,” Sage said. “We grew up poor. But I still believed in this country. So I enlisted again and again. Eight years. We were attacked by mortars and rockets more times than I can count. And by the grace of God, I made it home. Now I’m the executive director of Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, one of the many places that’s being abandoned, hurt by corporations, billionaires and the politicians they own.” 

SEN. JONI ERNST ACCUSES USAID OF ‘OBSTRUCTION’ AMID ‘WASTE AND ABUSE’ SPENDING ALLEGATIONS

“There’s a war at home, and we’re losing. Unions under attack. Farmers f—ed over,” Sage said. “People working nonstop just to survive. Too busy to enjoy life. People like my dad are spending their life slaving away in factories only to die of cancer caused by those same corporations.” 

In an interview with The Hill, Sage said he decided to run out of concern for women’s healthcare coverage after November’s election, noting his wife had a miscarriage earlier last year.  

“That got me to the point where we shouldn’t be as a working class – as people in general – we shouldn’t be living like that,” Sage reportedly said. 

Ernst, who is running for her third Senate term in 2026, retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard after 23 years of military service, but Sage claimed that the Republican senator has “kind of left the working class and left a lot of Iowans behind.”

Cook Political Report – the leading nonpartisan handicapper – categorizes Ernst’s seat as “solid Republican” in the 2026 race. She faces several GOP primary challengers but is considered the front-runner. 

Iowa hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 2008, when Sen. Tom Harken secured another term. The Hawkeye State last voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2012, when former President Barack Obama was re-elected. 

Trump has won Iowa in every consecutive presidential contest since then. Marion County, where Sage is from, voted for Trump by a sweeping 38 points. 

“Marion County is a manufacturing county, and most of those people are trying to make ends meet every day of their life. They tried to figure out ways to put food on the table, and I feel like most of them just aren’t represented,” Sage told The Hill. “They don’t have anybody that they feel like is very confident in casting their vote for. And I feel like, for me, I’m one of them, and I’m one of these people that’s just in the middle and that’s going to stand up for the whole of everybody.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James is in the preliminary stages of looking into whether President Donald Trump’s recent reciprocal tariff pause included insider trading violations, Fox News Digital confirmed. 

James, who is a longtime political foe of Trump’s, is only in the preliminary stages of investigating whether Trump or people close to him may have had advance knowledge of a tariff decision that caused stock markets to surge. The attorney general’s office confirmed the preliminary review of the matter to Fox News Digital Wednesday morning.

Trump’s customized, reciprocal tariffs on nations that historically have installed trade barriers on U.S. goods took effect April 9.

Trump, ahead of pausing the reciprocal tariffs, posted to Truth Social, “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” and “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”

He announced a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs later that day in a surprise move that helped push U.S. markets sharply higher. 

China, however, was not part of the tariff pause and was instead hit with a higher 125% tariff after retaliating with its own additional tariffs against the U.S., and the 10% baseline tariff leveled on nations earlier in April was kept in place. 

NY AG LETITIA JAMES SKEWERED FOR ‘DISTASTEFUL’ REMARKS AFTER TRUMP VICTORY: ‘UTTER ARROGANCE’

TRUMP VOWS NOBODY GETTING ‘OFF THE HOOK’ FOR ‘UNFAIR’ TRADE BALANCES, SAYS THERE WAS NO TARIFF ‘EXCEPTION’

The DOW went up 7.9%, the S&P 500 rose 9.5% and the Nasdaq jumped 12.2% the same day.

Some lawmakers have raised concerns about possible insider trading. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that the Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate.

“It’s entirely appropriate to have an investigation to make sure that Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s family, Donald Trump’s inner circle, didn’t get advance information and trade on that information,” Warren said.

Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote a letter Thursday to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as well as Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, calling for an investigation into potential insider trading. 

The White House hit back in comments provided to Fox Digital amid allegations of insider trading that Democrats were “playing partisan games.” 

WH SLAMS DEMS’ ‘PARTISAN GAMES’ AFTER TRUMP-FOE SCHIFF CALLS FOR INSIDER TRADING INVESTIGATION OVER TARIFFS

“It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in comment to Fox Digital Thursday. “Democrats railed against China’s cheating for decades, and now they’re playing partisan games instead of celebrating President Trump’s decisive action yesterday to finally corner China,” 

James, a former city council member in New York and public defender, launched her run for New York attorney general during the 2018 cycle, while emphasizing that if she were elected, she would aggressively pursue legal charges against Trump, vowing to expose the “con man” following her win that year. 

James reported in November 2024 that her office took on nearly 100 legal challenges against Trump during his first administration and added after his second presidential win last year that she would continue challenging him in the courts to “defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law.”

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“We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result. And my office has been preparing for several months because we’ve been here before,” James said following Trump’s election win in November 2024. “We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.”

Under the 1921 Martin Act, the New York attorney general has broad authority to investigate possible securities fraud.

The law allows the office to subpoena witnesses, demand documents, and bring civil or criminal cases without proving intent to defraud.

An illegal immigrant who was arrested in January on charges of incest and sexual battery is now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being released from a Virginia county jail.

Officers with ICE, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security team, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Virginia State Police arrested Marvin Mateo-Alberto last week, a Honduran national who was in the U.S. illegally, according to an ICE release.

The Hoduran national first illegally entered the U.S. in October 2005 near Eagle Pass, Texas, according to the release, where he was given a notice to appear in front of an immigration judge.

ICE USING SOCIAL SECURITY RECORDS TO AID TRUMP PUSH TO DEPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

In April 2006, a Justice Department judge ordered that Mateo-Alberto be removed from the United States.

Despite that, Mateo-Alberto was arrested in January by the Fairfax County Police Department and charged with incest with a 13-to-17-year-old child and aggravated sexual battery: parent with a 13-to-17-year-old child, the release notes, resulting in ICE lodging a detainer against him with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

However, the release notes, the county detention center did not honor the ICE detainer and released Mateo-Alberto 15 days after his arrest.

Fairfax County has “not designated” itself “as a sanctuary county,” according to the county’s website, adding that it “complies to the fullest extent required by federal, state or local law with any law enforcement agency requesting criminal law enforcement assistance.”

However, the website also notes its official policy is that it “does not and will not enforce civil federal immigration laws.”

FLORIDA’S LARGEST VENEZUELAN STRONGHOLD POISED TO JOIN FORCES WITH ICE: REPORT

“The federal courts have determined that the enforcement of civil immigration laws is solely a federal responsibility under the exclusive authority of ICE,” the county website reads.

The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Mateo-Alberto was eventually arrested by ICE on April 10 and remains in the agency’s custody, according to the ICE release.

“Marvin Mateo-Alberto stands accused of some very appalling and disturbing crimes and represents a threat to the children of our Virginia communities,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Washington, D.C., Field Office Director Russell Hott said. 

“We cannot in good conscience allow Mr. Mateo to continue to potentially threaten other children in our neighborhoods. ICE Washington, D.C. will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing criminal alien threats from our streets.”

A new Colorado bill giving the governor broad power to spend taxpayer dollars against possible Trump administration actions cleared a major hurdle this week.

HB25-1321, also known as the “Support Against Adverse Federal Action,” will earmark $4 million from the state’s infrastructure cash fund as a safeguard against potential federal retaliation over state laws that defy President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

According to the language of the bill, the governor’s office could use the fund to hire outside lawyers or contractors to respond to federal decisions impacting grants, contracts or funding sent to Colorado. It also covers legal costs for any state employees facing federal investigations or lawsuits related to their official duties.

CONCERNED PARENTS OF TRANS KIDS COMPARED TO ‘HATE GROUPS’ BY COLORADO DEM: WOULDN’T ‘ASK THE KKK’ FOR OPINION

The bill was passed by the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday and is scheduled for consideration by the full House. It will then go before the Senate for consideration.

Colorado Democrats may be taking a page out of California’s playbook, as Gov. Gavin Newsom approved $50 million in taxpayer dollars in February to aid in legal court battles and protection for illegal immigrants against the Trump administration.

State Republicans immediately slammed the bill’s passage, saying on social media the Centennial State’s legislature has “continually poked the Admin in the eye this session & are now using our tax dollars meant for roads & water to defend it.”

COLORADO DEMS ARE ‘POKING THE BEAR’ BY DEFYING TRUMP’S ORDERS, GOP LAWMAKER WARNS

“Four million dollars TAKEN from the infrastructure investment and jobs act to give the governor a blank check of $4 million to sue the federal government, that’s what we are arguing against today,” Republican state Rep. Brandi Bradley posted on X. “You cannot make this stuff up…. -Roads are crumbling -Crime is through the roof -education is failing our kids -we are over regulated and over taxed -Coloradans cannot afford basic necessities or healthcare Zero transparency in this bill and an amendment to allow any money to continue to be appropriated, that is not expended.”

Colorado House Democrats communications director Jarrett Freedman said the bill would “Musk-proof” the state from “illegal, unconstitutional federal actions that threaten funding for health care, education, public safety, our environment and critical infrastructure.”

“Trump has frozen FEMA grants, agriculture grants for Colorado farmers, behavioral health funding, emergency response funding, and House Republicans are cheering it all on,” he said.

COLORADO DEMS RAM ABORTION, TRANSGENDER BILLS THROUGH ON LIMITED SUNDAY SESSION DEBATE: ‘UNPRECEDENTED’

In February, Trump implemented a freeze on several federal funding programs to ensure that federal financial assistance programs comply with his recent executive orders, including halting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. 

But a U.S. district judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction Tuesday ordering the administration to release billions of dollars allocated by two Biden-era initiatives, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Colorado House Democrats recently passed a series of controversial bills that Republicans fear could draw Trump’s attention, since a few of the bills defy his executive orders. 

The bills that were passed this session include SB25-183, which requires taxpayers to fund abortion services; HB25-1309, mandating insurers cover transgender procedures regardless of age; HB25-1312, which imposes state-mandated gender policies on schools and considers it “coercive control” in child custody cases when a parent does not affirm a child’s gender identity or “deadnames” them; and SB25-129, which prohibits cooperation with out-of-state investigations on transgender procedures and abortion services.

Attorney General Pam Bondi doubled down on the Trump administration’s claim that it’s “up to El Salvador” whether Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant in Maryland who was wrongfully deported last month, can return to the U.S.

Speaking to reporters at a press briefing on Wednesday, Bondi reiterated her earlier claim that it is up to El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele whether his country opts to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., even though officials acknowledged in court his deportation was an administrative error. 

“He is not coming back to our country,” Bondi told Fox News on Wednesday, in response to a question about his legal status during the briefing.

Abrego Garcia is a Salvadorian national who had been living in Maryland before he was deported in March. Now, he is believed to be held in his home country’s sprawling, maximum-security prison. Both a federal court and the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his release and return to the U.S. for proper deportation proceedings. 

‘UP TO EL SALVADOR’: TRUMP ADMIN PUNTS ON RETURN OF WRONGFULLY DEPORTED MARYLAND RESIDENT

Bondi made clear Wednesday that they continue to see the issue as squarely in the purview of Bukele.

“President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That’s the end of the story,” she said. “If he wanted to send him back, we would give him a plane ride back. There was no situation, ever, where he was going to stay in this country. None.”

Her remarks come after the Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s order that requires the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Maryland ordered Trump lawyers and plaintiffs to conduct an “intense,” expedited two-week discovery process into efforts made to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return – including ordering top DHS and State Department officials to be deposed, under oath, in efforts to secure his return as the court weighs whether the Trump administration has been acting in good faith.

“Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis told both parties Tuesday, clearing the way for what she said would be an extremely fast-paced timeframe.  

“There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” she said of the process. 

Bondi also emphasized that Abrego Garcia is not a U.S. citizen and had been living “illegally in our country from El Salvador.”

FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING

That is not in dispute. A U.S. court granted Abrego Garcia temporary protected status in 2019, finding he faced a “clear probability of future persecution” if returned, and that “El Salvadoran authorities were and would be unable or unwilling to protect him.”

Neither the Supreme Court ruling nor the lower court orders require Abrego Garcia to remain in the U.S. Rather, the courts have stressed that individuals slated for deportation must be granted certain due process protections under the U.S. Constitution, including habeas protections that allow them to challenge their removal in court.

It was not the first time this week that Trump officials have suggested that El Salvador should have the final say on Abrego Garcia’s status.

They also made this claim on Monday, when President Donald Trump hosted Bukele at the White House for a bilateral summit.

When asked by reporters about Abrego Garcia, Bondi and other Cabinet officials said the matter was up to Bukele’s administration.

“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi said then. “The Supreme Court ruled precedent that if El Salvador wanted to return him,” she continued. “This is international matters, foreign affairs.”

Bondi added that “if they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it – meaning to provide a plane.” 

El Salvador has received hundreds of migrants from the U.S., including more than 200 Venezuelan nationals abruptly removed in March under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, and alleged members of the Salvadorian gang MS-13, under a $6 million deal struck with the U.S. earlier this year.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller doubled down on Bondi’s assertion, noting that Abrego Garcia is a Salvadorian national. 

“It’s very arrogant, even for American media, to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens as a starting point,” Miller told reporters, claiming that “two courts” had found Abrego Garcia to be a member of the MS-13 gang.

It apparently pays to lead the resistance.

Progressive lawmakers in Congress who have been among the most vocal in pushing back against President Donald Trump’s aggressive and controversial second-term agenda are seeing a surge in fundraising.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the longtime progressive champion, hauled in $11.5 million in the January-March first quarter of 2025 fundraising, according to Federal Election Commission filings this week.

The Vermont independent and two-time Democratic presidential primary runner-up also reports more than $19 million in his campaign coffers at the start of this month.

WHAT BERNIE SANDERS TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT TRUMP, MUSK, AND DEMOCRATS

Sanders has been drawing tens of thousands of people to his “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies across the country over the past six weeks. Co-headling those rallies is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another rock star on the political left.

The four-term Democrat from New York City raked in a massive $9.6 million the past three months. The record-breaking fundraising haul was one of the biggest ever for any House lawmaker.

BERNIE SANDERS AND AOC TAKE AIM AT TRUMP AND MUSK, AS WELL AS DEMOCRATS, AT WESTERN RALLIES

Ocasio-Cortez’s team highlighted that the fundraising came from 266,000 individual donors, with an average contribution of just $21.

“I cannot convey enough how grateful I am to the millions of people supporting us with your time, resources, & energy. Your support has allowed us to rally people together at record scale to organize their communities,” Ocasio-Cortez emphasized in a social media post.

Another Democrat in Congress who has been very visible in leading the resistance to Trump is Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

Murphy, who won re-election last November and doesn’t have to run again until 2030, hauled in $8 million over the past three months, his biggest quarterly fundraising ever.

“The people are sending Democrats a message about the direction they would like to see,” top Sanders advisor Faiz Shakir said in a social media post.

Longtime Democratic operative and strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of the Sanders 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, told Fox News that “there’s a direct correlation between fundraising and action… this is an indication of the yearning for action over inaction… that is what Democratic voters and Democratic activists want.”

And Caiazzo warned that “the stale ways of Washington have been rejected by the voters, and we need to understand that going into the next cycle.”

HOUSE GOP TOUTS ‘UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM’ AS IT SHOWCASES FUNDRAISING

While not bringing in similar eye-popping numbers, House Republicans are touting their first-quarter fundraising, as they prepare to defend their razor-thin majority in the chamber in next year’s midterm elections.

Seven GOP lawmakers in competitive districts who are being targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee each raised seven figures over the past three months.

Leading the way was Rep. Mike Lawler of the 17th Congressional District of New York, who hauled in nearly $1.5 million during the first quarter. Lawler is mulling a statewide bid for New York governor in 2026. Also on the list are Reps. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona’s 6th District, Young Kim and Ken Calvert, of California’s 40th and 41st Districts, respectively, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa’s 1st District, Jen Kiggans of Virginia’s 2nd District, and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin’s 3rd District

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) highlighted that House GOP lawmakers in competitive districts enjoy a large fundraising advantage over Democrats in competitive seats.

And the NRCC emphasized that this is “a huge difference” from the first fundraising quarter during the 2024 election cycle, when the Democrats held a campaign cash advantage. 

“House Republicans aren’t just winning the fundraising game against vulnerable Democrats – they’re running laps around them,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella argued.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Rep. Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who likely harbors national ambitions in 2028, is turning up the volume in his broadsides against Vice President JD Vance, the heir apparent to President Donald Trump.

In two high-profile speeches this week – in the vice president’s home state of Ohio on Monday and Tuesday at Yale Law School, where both politicians earned their legal degrees – Khanna trained his verbal fire on Vance.

Khanna accused Vance of working to “win public adulation by stoking anger and treating legal limits as nuisances to be ignored.” 

While Vance has not called on Trump to ignore Supreme Court rulings, the vice president, in a closely watched social media post two months ago, criticized moves by federal judges to block the Trump administration’s controversial efforts to dramatically downsize the federal workforce. Vance argued that the judges were trying to “control the executive’s legitimate power.” 

RO KHANNA JABS AT JD VANCE IN VICE PRESIDENT’S HOME STATE

“Vance says the president, elected by the people, should tell the court what the Constitution means, and if the court disagrees, let them try to enforce their ruling — that the president, as a co-equal, may simply ignore the court’s judgment of the law,” Khanna argued in his Tuesday speech.

Khanna – spotlighting the controversial case of a Salvadoran citizen (who the Trump administration alleges was an MS-13 gang member) who had lived in Maryland for about 15 years that the Justice Department said was deported to El Salvador due to an “administrative error” – highlighted Vance’s response.

VANCE DOUBLES DOWN AFTER TRUMP ADMIN ADMITS ‘ERROR’ SENDING MAN TO SALVADORAN PRISON

“Let me say this as clearly as I can: JD Vance, your cold indifference to the lives of vulnerable immigrants betrays every principle that this law school was built to uphold,” Khanna charged. “Your affiliation with this law school is now a stain on the degree of every Yale graduate.”

Vance’s political team did not appear to be too concerned about Khanna’s repeated verbal attacks.

“Yawn,” a top political adviser to Vance told Fox News when asked about Khanna’s comments. The adviser described Khanna as an “ankle biter,” which is slang for a relatively minor or irritating person or problem.

Khanna’s speech in New Haven was followed by a day an economic address at the City Club of Cleveland, where the congressman contrasted his vision for America’s “new economic patriotism” with the future of the GOP with Vance at the helm. 

Responding to the visit, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou told Fox News Digital that “Khanna is a far-left socialist from one of the wealthiest and wokest congressional districts in America. He served as an official surrogate for both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. This speech is nothing but another desperate plea for attention from another elitist politician wholly out-of-touch with Middle Class voters like those in Ohio.”

Plenty of Democratic Party leaders have turned up the volume in their pushback against Trump’s sweeping and controversial actions to upend the federal government and policy. Also in the Democrats’ crosshairs is the president’s most visible White House adviser – billionaire Elon Musk – who, through his role steering the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has taken a sledgehammer to the federal work.

However, Khanna is taking the lead among Democrats in shaping Vance – who at this extremely early stage in the 2028 race is viewed as the GOP nomination front-runner – as the Republican bogeyman.

When asked if he was trolling Vance, Khanna said in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of his speech at Yale that the vice president is “trolling all of us. He’s the one who has made the argument that the court should not be listened to,” before adding a litany of other examples. Additionally, Khanna pointed to what he described as Vance’s “dangerous attacks on universities, the Supreme Court and the rule of law.”

Noting rising economic uncertainties and the recent massive stock market sell-off triggered by the initial implementation of Trump’s tariffs on nations across the globe, Khanna suggested that Vance may not have the 2028 Republican nomination to himself.

“Well, after the markets and the economy and the tariffs, I’m not sure he’s going to get the nomination. I think that others may emerge,” Khanna predicted.

He stressed that the vice president “is the one person who is trying to give most argument to MAGA philosophy. He’s the one who’s called the university’s the enemy. He’s the only one who said the Supreme Court should be defied. He’s the one who’s been defending this high tariff policy. And so we need to take on his arguments and offer a counter to defeat them.”

HERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY EVENTUALLY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028

However, when asked if his attacks on Vance were an early 2028 positioning move, Khanna responded that “what I’m doing is providing an intellectual foundation for the Democratic Party.”

Khanna emphasized that “we have to have a whole rebrand of the Democratic Party with a coherent platform and a future-oriented platform, and many leaders need to do that. New leaders, not the old guard. And I hope to be part of that.”

Khanna has been crisscrossing the country the past couple of months, taking a lead in amplifying the Democrats’ message in resisting Trump.

When asked if Democratic Party leaders need to be more vocal, Khanna quickly said yes.

“We need more from our leadership. And you know, if you’re not willing to speak up about someone being snatched away from their home and deported without due process, you probably shouldn’t be in elective office as a Democrat right now,” he said. “We need Democrats speaking out, not just on the economy. We need them speaking out on civil liberties, on the rights of immigrants and on the rights of universities.”

Khanna also praised the recent record-breaking marathon Senate floor speech by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and the large rallies across the country being co-headlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Looking ahead to next year’s midterm elections, when House Democrats aim to topple the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the chamber, Khanna said he will continue his brisk pace on the campaign trail.

“I’m already going out to more red districts. We did three red districts in California. I’m headed out to Pennsylvania. Was invited to go out to Nebraska, to Nevada, down south to South Carolina,” he said. “So we will be campaigning in red districts. 1000s of people are showing up. I’m very, very confident that we’re going to succeed.”

In Khanna’s home state of California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited, and former Vice President Kamala Harris is mulling a 2026 gubernatorial run. 

“I think she would do well in California. She was attorney general. She was a district attorney. A lot of people care about public safety in California, we have to tackle building housing,” Khanna said of Harris. “So she would have a lot of support if she does it. Of course, it’s her decision.”

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey and Emma Woodhead contributed to this report

While American taxpayers are familiar with the annual rigmarole of filing their federal taxes and realizing just how much of their hard-earned money Uncle Sam is taking away, several House Republicans are pushing a proposal to take some things away from the Internal Revenue Service: Guns and ammunition.

The “Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act” would disarm the federal agency, prohibiting the commissioner of internal revenue from using funds to buy, receive or store firearms and ammo, and requiring the transfer of IRS firearms and ammunition to the Administrator of General Services. 

The guns would then be sold or auctioned to licensed dealers and the ammo would be auctioned to the public. 

Proceeds would go to “the general fund of the Treasury for the sole purpose of deficit reduction,” the measure stipulates.

TRUMP SAYS THERE’S A ‘REAL CHANCE’ TARIFFS COULD REPLACE INCOME TAX

The bill states that “there are transferred to the Department of Justice the authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, which shall be maintained as a distinct entity within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, including the related functions of the Secretary of the Treasury.”

Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., introduced the measure, which is backed by three original cosponsors: GOP Reps. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Mary Miller of Illinois, and Clay Higgins of Louisiana. 

The IRS says on its website that its “mission is to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and to enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.”

WHITE HOUSE QUIETLY FLOATS MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKE PROPOSAL IN CONGRESS AS GOP LEADERS SIGNAL OPPOSITION

But Moore claimed that the federal agency has regularly been “weaponized.”

“The IRS has consistently been weaponized against American citizens, targeted religious organizations, journalists, gun owners, and everyday Americans,” Moore asserted, according to a press release. 

“Arming these agents does not make the American public safer. My legislation, the Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act, would disarm these agents, auction off their guns to Federal Firearms License Owners, and sell their ammunition to the public. The only thing IRS agents should be armed with are calculators.”

HAWLEY URGES REPUBLICANS TO CUT TAXES FOR WORKING-CLASS VOTERS WHO ‘PUT TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE’

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In an April 15 post on X Moore noted, “Tax Day is a great reminder that it’s time for the IRS to stop wasting our taxpayer dollars stockpiling guns and ammo.”

The Trump administration is mulling a proposal that would slash the State Department budget by $27 billion – nearly in half – and shutter smaller embassies and consulates across the globe. 

The proposal calls for the elimination of funding for more than 20 international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and the Organization of American States, a diplomatic source in possession of the document told Fox News Digital. 

The U.S. contributed around $13 billion to the United Nations in 2023 and around $3.5 billion to NATO. The proposed budget calls for allocating $2 billion for “America First” priorities. Those coffers could be used for “specific partners” like India and Jordan, according to the document, or broader priorities, like the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. 

However, a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday, “there is no final plan, final budget.” 

PETE MAROCCO, MASTERMIND BEHIND DISMANTLING OF USAID PROJECTS, LEAVES STATE DEPARTMENT

The proposal is an early draft and has to pass layers of approval within the administration before it even gets to Congress. Congress can then take it as an outline but ultimately draw up its own budget figures. 

The foreign service travel budget and benefits would be scaled back, and the Fulbright scholarship program would be eliminated.

The document calls for a 2% reduction in diplomatic security, cuts to the inspector general’s office and the closure of smaller embassies in countries such as the Maldives, Malta, Luxembourg and the Central African Republic.

It also proposes a 54% cut to global public health funding, with carve-outs for malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis, and a complete elimination of international peacekeeping funds.

When asked about the budget plan during a State Department briefing, spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, “Throughout the history of the United States, everyone has a budget plan and everyone has ideas for budgets. And every president has a budget plan and sends it to Congress. And then Congress either accepts it or they have their own ideas, which happens more often than not.”

“There is no final plan, final budget,” she emphasized. 

The Trump administration has moved quickly to dismantle foreign aid, eliminating nearly 90% of USAID projects and merging the agency with the State Department and defunding “soft power” institutions like Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting networks. 

STATE DEPARTMENT WILL ABSORB REMAINING USAID PROGRAMMING AS INDEPENDENT AGENCY IS DISMANTLED

The White House budget is set to be transferred to Congress next month before the Republican-led House and Senate get to work on passing appropriations bills for each agency of government. 

Meanwhile, agencies are expected to present their own plans for reorganization to the White House this week, outlining what cuts they believe are necessary to further shrink the federal government. The State Department has not yet publicly detailed its plans for downsizing. 

As reports of the cuts emerged, Democrats warned that U.S. adversaries would fill the vacuum left by America around the world. 

The cuts “would leave our country alone and exposed and allow China and Russia to fill the vacuum made vacant by this administration,” according to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, N.H., top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. 

“Why in the world would we cut funding for NATO at a moment when war is raging in Europe and security threats on the continent grow?” she added.

It is not clear whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio endorses the initial proposal. “I want to hear from Secretary Rubio directly,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, Hawaii, top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that handles State funding, calling the reports “deeply troubling.”

President Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against Harvard University on Wednesday, saying the institution is a “joke.”

Trump spoke out on social media Wednesday after Harvard refused to comply with requirements from the Department of Education (DOE) to address antisemitism and other issues on campus. He also blasted Harvard for hiring Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot, the former mayors of New York City and Chicago respectively.

“These two Radical Left fools left behind two cities that will take years to recover from their incompetence and evil. Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,'” Trump wrote.

“Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress,” he continued. “Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges. Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”

HARVARD WON’T COMPLY WITH TRUMP ADMIN’S DEMANDS AMID THREATS OF CUTTING FEDERAL FUNDING

Trump’s administration withheld $2.2 billion in federal funding from Harvard after the university refused to work with the DOE.

In a statement on Monday, Harvard University President Alan Garber said the terms of the agreement make “clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner.”

TRUMP ADMIN SLASHES OVER $2.2B IN FUNDING TO HARVARD AFTER SCHOOL DEFIES DEMANDS

“Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the intellectual conditions at Harvard,” Garber wrote.

Trump and other prominent Republicans have also proposed taxing the endowments of Harvard and other Ivy League schools. Harvard holds an endowment of over $50 billion, while the other seven Ivy League schools total nearly $140 billion in endowments.

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

“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’” Trump wrote earlier this week.

“Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” the president added. 

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has also proposed taxing Ivy League schools to offset the costs of passing tax cuts for working-class Americans.

FIRST ON FOX: Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn sent a letter Tuesday to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) calling on the medical school to comply with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs at educational institutions. 

The letter comes after VUMC reportedly took steps to hide many of its DEI resources as opposed to getting rid of them, following the president’s Executive Orders.

Consumers Research, a conservative nonprofit that was following medical schools’ responses to Trump’s orders on ending DEI discovered that VUMC was taking steps to hide some of theirs behind password-protected web pages. In response to criticism, a VUMC spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time that it was undergoing “a thorough review” of its programs to figure out “where revisions may be required to remain in compliance, including updating information on websites and other public platforms.”

VANDERBILT MED CENTER ‘HIDING’ DEI RESOURCES BEHIND PASSWORD-PROTECTED WEB PAGES: REPORT

According to an updated review, VUMC’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion website remains behind a password-protected web page. Same with the DEI web page on VUMC’s Department of Medicine website, resources touting “climate care is health care,” and a web page for the school’s “Inaugural Climate Change Action & Sustainability Summit.” Other resources which had previously appeared to be hidden behind password protected web pages – rather than deleted – such as a YouTube video about “The War on DEI,” appear to have been deleted since criticism over the matter was unleashed against the school.

“Offices such as the Office of Health Equity, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Office for Diversity Affairs are seemingly still active,” Blackburn said in her letter. “These offices have advocated for ‘collectively addressing systemic inequities’ and ‘confronting structural racism.’” Among the priorities of this program, was to hire “diverse biomedical researchers,” Black burn pointed out. 

Blackburn also noted that VUMC was the recipient of more than $66 million this fiscal year from the National Institutes of Health – alone. Meanwhile, VUMC has invested over $17 million to support its “DEI and Belonging Program,” she said. 

“This is only one of many examples of VUMC investing in DEI initiatives instead of lifesaving medical research,” Blackburn’s letter continued. “Additionally, VUMC’s track record on embracing harmful woke initiatives is grim,” Blackburn added. “VUMC has previously performed sex-change surgeries on minors before suspending the program after public outrage.”

RED STATE LAWMAKERS WARNED ABOUT ALLEGEDLY ACCEPTING ‘DEI DOLLARS’ FROM HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: WATCHDOG

VUMC was investigated by Tennessee’s Attorney General’s Office in 2023 amid allegations that a doctor at VUMC was manipulating medical billing codes to evade insurance coverage-limitations for transgender treatments. The investigation followed a video released in 2022, which allegedly showed a VUMC doctor touting transgender surgeries for minors as “huge money makers” and telling anyone with a religious objection to providing them should quit.

“President Trump has been clear on this issue. His recent executive orders correctly prohibited DEI programs at federally funded research institutions and ended the recognition of gender identity apart from biological sex,” Blackburn concluded in her letter.

“As a beneficiary of federal funding, VUMC has a responsibility to align with the President’s executive orders and return to a focus on lifesaving research as opposed to woke DEI initiatives. Instead of covering up VUMC’s DEI initiatives, I urge you to comply with President Trump’s effort to responsibility allocate taxpayer dollars and immediately cease all DEI initiatives.”

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The Senator told Fox News that “discriminatory” DEI programs, such as those at VUMC, actually serve to “do more harm than good.” She also urged VUMC to “put Tennesseans first” by fully complying with the president’s Executive Orders.

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, VUMC said, “Vanderbilt University Medical Center is eliminating all DEI programs and is fully complying with Executive Actions on DEI. Shortly after the Executive Orders were issued, VUMC began removing related content on internal and external websites to reflect the termination of these programs. VUMC will continue to comply with federal mandates and directives.”

Texas will likely have its own Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) very soon after lawmakers passed a bill to create an efficiency office within the governor’s office. 

The bill, known as Senate Bill 14 (S.B. 14) and inspired by Elon Musk’s DOGE, would create a new Texas Regulatory Office which aims to streamline state regulations and eliminate unnecessary rules.

An advisory panel would also be established to work with the governor and help Texas state agencies cut red tape, eliminate unnecessary or burdensome rules and make regulations more cost-effective and transparent. The panel would be made up of business owners, researchers, state agencies and the public.

DOGE UNCOVERS MASSIVE VA CONTRACT FOR ‘SALARY SURVEY DATA AND ANALYSIS’ — SAYS IT CANCELED IT, SAVING MILLIONS

S.B. 14 has passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature and is heading to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk to be signed into law. Abbott has not publicly stated whether he will sign the bill.

The bill was authored by Weatherford Republican Phil King while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said previously that it would help save taxpayers money and grow the Texas economy by “cutting red tape.”

JASON CHAFFETZ: DEMOCRATS HAVE MADE A FATAL ERROR OPPOSING DOGE

“I prioritized SB 14 because President Trump’s creation of the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ inspired me to find ways Texas can save taxpayers and businesses money by cutting burdensome regulations,” Patrick said, according to Fox 26.

“The Texas Miracle will continue long into the 21st century because our common-sense, conservative approach to regulation will keep Texans prosperous and our economy strong.”

The bill also requires agencies to write rules in plain language, reduce paperwork and fees, and justify new rules with clear cost and benefit analyses. It also gives courts more power to challenge agency interpretations of laws, shifting legal authority away from agencies.

Additionally, it requires the development of an interactive website where the public can easily search for agency rules and forms as well as regulatory information by topic, industry, or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

The Elon Musk-led DOGE has shaken up federal bureaucracies and uncovered billions of dollars in wasteful spending. Through canceling contracts, workforce reductions and more, DOGE says it has so far saved taxpayers $155 billion. 

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is urging his Republican colleagues to double down on tax cuts for the working-class Americans who make up President Donald Trump’s base.

Hawley told Fox News Digital in an interview that tax cuts are “what Republicans are good at,” calling specifically for changes to the payroll tax. He says Americans should be able to apply income tax credits like the child tax credit, the mortgage deduction and charitable deduction, to their payroll taxes.

Hawley, who first made the push in a Tuesday op-ed for the Washington Post, says he has spoken with Trump about the potential tax breaks and the president is “very supportive.”

“These are the people who put Trump in the White House,” Hawley told Fox, referring to Americans who earn less than $80,000 per year.

ELON MUSK DUNKS ON SEN CHUCK SCHUMER, DECLARING ‘HYSTERICAL REACTIONS’ DEMONSTRATE DOGE’S IMPORTANCE

Debate over tax policy is raging in Washington as Republicans weigh what to put in Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill. Many Republicans support re-upping the 2017 tax cuts, but there are calls for more changes.

Some Republicans, including the White House, have even flirted with raising taxes on the uppermost brackets in order to offset costs.

“We’ve got this incredible national debt, and so at some point you’ve got to address the elephant in the room,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told the New York Times on Tuesday. “Can’t tell you if it’s going to happen or not.”

Hawley has also said he would support raising some taxes to offset cuts in lower tax brackets if the president makes a push for it.

TRUMP OPEN TO SENDING VIOLENT AMERICAN CRIMINALS TO EL SALVADOR PRISONS

He proposed to Fox that one path toward raising more revenue would be to start taxing the endowments of America’s largest universities.

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

Trump’s administration is already engaged in a pitched battle to reform America’s top educational institutions, threatening to withhold federal funding if they do not adequately address anti-Semitism and other issues on their campuses.

Harvard, the university that has pushed back the hardest on Trump’s administration, has an endowment of roughly $53 billion.

The other seven Ivy League schools have endowments totaling over $139 billion.

Regardless of offsets, however, Hawley says the top priority should be securing tax breaks for the people who voted Trump into office.

Hawley emphasized this focus in his op-ed for the Post, quoting Reagan-era columnist Robert Novak.

“God put the Republican Party on Earth to cut taxes.”

Police forcibly escorted at least six people out of a town hall being held by GOP Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday night and were forced to deploy a taser against two of the individuals.

Reporters on the ground at the event in Georgia indicated there were at least six protesters escorted from the town hall within minutes of it starting. Three of the individuals were eventually charged by police for their involvement in the disruption, including one for disorderly conduct, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 

“Put your hands behind your back!” a police officer can be heard in a video of the incident shared on social media by CBS News reporter Jared Eggleston. “F— off –” the man can be heard yelling as he disappeared off-screen behind a wall, before a loud bang could be heard followed by the sound of a taser.

VIOLENT ATTACKS FROM ANTI-MUSK, ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTERS PLAGUE NATION, COMPEL GOP LAWMAKERS TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS 

A second bang from another taser going off could be heard shortly thereafter.

Different videos from the event show a handful of others being escorted out, with some leaving on their own volition and others having to be literally dragged out by police. 

“Free Garcia,” one protester could be heard saying as they were exiting in a video posted to X, referring to Kilmar Ábrego García, who has been at the center of a deportation controversy after a federal judge said the Trump administration wrongly deported him with a group of Venezuelan gang members. 

“Free Kilmar!” another could be heard screaming repeatedly on video as they were escorted out.

PRO-LIFE JOURNALIST ASSAULTED ON STREET ASSIGNS BLAME TO DEMOCRATIC RHETORIC

At moments, as police escorted the protesters out of the town hall, Green engaged with the disruptors.  

“The protest is outside. Thank you very much,” Greene said. “If you were to sit and listen, you’re welcome to listen. Everyone across the aisle – Democrats, Independents,” she added while someone was being escorted out.  

“I’m glad they got thrown out,” Greene said following the event. “That’s exactly what I wanted to see happen … This isn’t a political rally or a protest. I held a town hall tonight. You know who was out of line? The protesters.” 

The disruption at Greene’s rally follows increased volatility at local GOP town halls. Things have gotten tense enough that the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., has told his fellow Republicans to temporarily refrain from holding in-person town hall events. 

Citing the uptick in “Democrat threats of violence,” GOP Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman followed Hudson’s advice and moved all of her in-person town halls online. The move came after an incident in which an attendee of one of her in-person events followed Hageman as she left and initiated a physical confrontation with her staff, eventually requiring police to intervene.

Green was only one of a handful of GOP members that decided to do an in-person event amid the current ongoing legislative recess, according to NBC News.

Vice President JD Vance asserted that he and President Donald Trump will not allow the “illegal migrant invasion” that occurred during President Joe Biden’s White House tenure to be ratified via “fake legal process.”

He suggested that if the people crying “lack of due process” regarding the deportation of illegal aliens do not have a proposed solution that allows the nation to remove at least several million illegal aliens annually, they do not actually want to achieve border security and expel the illegal immigrants.

“When the media and the far left obsess over an MS-13 gang member and demand that he be returned to the United States for a *third* deportation hearing, what they’re really saying is they want the vast majority of illegal aliens to stay here permanently,” Vance wrote in the lengthy Tuesday night post on X.

TWO VENEZUELAN ILLEGAL ALIENS CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING, TORTURING, ATTEMPTING TO KILL WASHINGTON STATE WOMAN

“Here’s a useful test: ask the people weeping over the lack of due process what precisely they propose for dealing with Biden’s millions and millions of illegals. And with reasonable resource and administrative judge constraints, does their solution allow us to deport at least a few million people per year?” he noted.

“If the answer is no, they’ve given their game away. They don’t want border security. They don’t want us to deport the people who’ve come into our country illegally. They want to accomplish through fake legal process what they failed to accomplish politically: The ratification of Biden’s illegal migrant invasion. President Trump and I will not stand for [it],” Vance declared.

PAM BONDI CALLS OUT ‘DETACHED FROM REALITY’ DEMS FOR DEMANDING ALLEGED MS-13 GANG MEMBER BE RETURNED TO US

The vice president asserted that American voters elected the Trump administration to fix the illegal immigration issue.

“Consider that Joe Biden allowed approximately 20 million illegal aliens into our country. This placed extraordinary burdens on our country–our schools, hospitals, housing, and other essential services were overwhelmed. On top of that, many of these illegal aliens committed violent crimes, or facilitated fentanyl and sex trafficking. That is the situation we inherited,” he wrote.

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“The American people elected the Trump administration to solve this problem. The President has successfully stopped the inflow of illegal aliens, and now we must deport the people who came here illegally,” he declared.