Why Bengaluru grapples with frequent flooding every monsoon
Another monsoon is soon about to hit Bengaluru, and concerns about the streets submerging and causing chaos and traffic have again arisen. However, the question remains why floods are so frequent, choking the city of Bengaluru.
Rwanda ‘in discussions’ with US to receive deported migrants: report
Rwanda is reportedly “in discussions with the United States” to receive migrants deported by the Trump administration. Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told state broadcaster Rwanda TV on Sunday that the East African country “has not yet reached a stage where we can say exactly how things will proceed, but the talks are ongoing … still in the early stages,” according to Reuters. “We are in discussions with the United States.” A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Monday that implementing the Trump administration’s immigration policies is a top priority and that it is working closely with partners and regional leaders to end the crisis of illegal and mass migration. The spokesperson added that ongoing engagement with foreign governments is vital to accomplishing that goal but noted that the State Department does not publicly discuss the details of its diplomatic communications. RWANDAN PRESIDENT PRAISES ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ TRUMP, SAYS ‘WE MIGHT LEARN SOME LESSONS’ WITH USAID SHUTDOWN Rwanda’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. At a Cabinet meeting last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “We have gone to countries all over the world and said, ‘Hey, you want good relations with the United States, you need to take back your people that are here illegally.’ And we’ve had historic cooperation. Beyond that, and I say this unapologetically, we are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries. “So we are actively – not just El Salvador – we are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries, will you do that as a favor to us?’ And the further away from America the better, so they can’t come back across the border,” Rubio added. TRUMP QUESTIONS JUDGES WHO BLOCK DEPORTATIONS OF ‘CRIMINALS, INCLUDING MURDERERS’ In a 2023 report on the human rights situation in Rwanda, the State Department said “significant” issues exist, such as “credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy,” among other allegations. Rwanda previously had an agreement with the United Kingdom in 2022 to accept thousands of asylum seekers, but that deal was scrapped last year by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Reuters reported. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said in February that “President Trump has an unconventional way of doing things,” and “I completely agree with him on many things.” Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.
‘MOGE’ audit uncovers nonprofits’ ‘incredibly wasteful’ spending of taxpayer funds: state official
EXCLUSIVE: An audit by Mississippi state auditor Shad White found several instances of “incredibly wasteful” expenditures of state HIV/AIDS grants, as President Donald Trump has been criticized for cutting similar funding via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). White said his report shows funds meant for HIV/AIDS issues were spent by some recipients on a “Queer-ceanara” – a “Latinx pride month event” based off the Spanish term “Quinceañera” for a girl’s 15th birthday celebration. “We’ve been following the model that President Trump and DOGE set in digging into taxpayer funds here in Mississippi,” White told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview about updates to what is being called “MOGE,” or Mississippi’s version of Elon Musk’s DOGE government efficiency work. “We’re particularly looking now at grants that are being passed from state agencies over to nonprofits, and our latest findings are really just a slap in the face to taxpayers, unfortunately,” he said. MISSISSIPPI MUSK: STATE AUDITOR’S ‘MOGE’ REPORT FINDS $400M IN GOVERNMENT WASTE “So what we started doing is digging into grants that were designed to pay for tests, to test people for HIV/AID – and so those grants were flowing through the Mississippi Department of Health… And when you dig into how [some] nonprofits are spending the money, you see that it’s incredibly wasteful.” White said taxpayer funds meant for constructive means were also spent on cab rides in the overnight hours 1,000 miles away in New York City over a several-day period. “[That] looked like bar-hopping,” he said. COST CUTTING: 2 STATES AIM TO ELIMINATE PERSONAL INCOME TAXES White remarked that if that kind of funding “abuse” could happen in a red state like the Magnolia State, it may only be the tip of the iceberg compared to more financially permissive blue states. “Our audit shows that when you dig into how this money is actually being spent, it’s not actually helping people with HIV/AIDS. It’s not helping to test folks for HIV. It’s instead just being wasted.” At the same time, the Trump administration’s National Institutes of Health has been under fire for similar cuts in its own DOGE efforts, with one CNN report citing a critic claiming “people will die.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The network looked into changes made in a Health and Human Services database, and one source said they had been getting texts from concerned people. Back in Jackson, White said the HIV/AIDS funding audit is only the latest in his office’s wide-ranging efforts to curb waste or fraud in terms of state taxpayer monies. “DOGE has highlighted in particular how grants passed down from the federal government to state governments, and then to non-profits, are really a massive, massive fraud risk,” he said. “Our audit here proves that the craziest kind of stuff that you see at the federal level and the craziest stuff that may see in California or New York is happening in red states too. Every single state needs to be following President Trump’s lead.”
Democrat Hank Johnson draws Holocaust comparison while blasting deportations
House Judiciary Committee member Hank Johnson, R-Ga., made waves when he made allusions to the Holocaust while obliquely criticizing the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the arrest of Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan. Johnson was speaking during a Wednesday committee markup meeting when he began paraphrasing German preacher Martin Niemöller’s confession as someone who once supported the Nazi Party until it was too late to object to its mounting atrocities. “You know, first, they came for the Latinos outside of the Home Depots, trying to get work so that they could feed their families,” Johnson began. “And I didn’t say anything about it because I’m not a Latino at the Home Depot.” SENATOR WARNS OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL JUDICIAL OVERREACH AHEAD OF SCOTUS SHOWDOWN “Then they came for the Hispanic-looking folks [with] hats backward with tattoos. And they deported them to El Salvador. And I didn’t say anything about that because I don’t wear my [hat] backward, and I don’t have any tattoos, and I don’t look like a Latino.” “Then they came for the Latinas at home, taking care of the children. They scooped up the Latinas and the children, some of whom were American citizens, one of whom was receiving treatment for cancer. They swept them up, took them off, and deported them. And I didn’t say anything about it. Because I’m not a Latina. I’m not a little child who’s an American citizen.” Johnson went on to make the same allusion to students protesting in support of Hamas on campus, who have been another target of the Trump administration. “They sent jackbooted thugs wearing masks to pick them up, take them thousands of miles away and put them in a private for-profit detention center where they languish at taxpayer expense. And I didn’t say anything about it because I’m not a student on a foreign visa,” Johnson said. He then noted how Dugan had been arrested for allegedly aiding an illegal immigrant in avoiding federal immigration authorities, saying he did not speak up because he was not a “White female judge.” “But then they came for me. And I looked around, and there was nobody left because I had remained silent,” he said. DEM SEN JOINS GROUP OF FAR LEFT LAWMAKERS WHO THINK TRUMP HAS AGAIN COMMITTED IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES Johnson concluded by noting he paraphrased a poem from Germany, saying it “resonated back then as it does today.” “It’s important that the people understand what is happening with our constitutional rights in this country. Everyone is entitled to due process, whether or not you are documented or undocumented, whether or you are a citizen or not. You’re entitled to due process.” He said an amendment up for a vote in the markup sought to affirm that. An amendment in the meeting record would have prohibited certain funds from being used to remove “an alien in violation of their rights under the Fifth Amendment.” It was voted down. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson for comment, as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, for response. On X, the official House Judiciary Committee Republican account mocked Johnson’s remarks, writing, “Wow, Hank Johnson just implied that all Latinos hang out at Home Depot.” Johnson’s penchant for colorful remarks goes back more than a decade to 2010, when he warned then-Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Robert Willard during a House Armed Service Committee hearing on military-buildup plans that Guam could potentially “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation. Democrats have recently shifted their comments on Garcia’s case more toward concerns about due process, after Tennessee police video showing a run-in with Garcia allegedly trafficking migrants was released.
Red state school district slapped with complaint to Trump admin alleging unlawful DEI practices
FIRST ON FOX: A pro-Trump legal nonprofit is asking for the U.S. Department of Education to investigate an Ohio school district that the group says is pushing an “unlawful” DEI agenda and violating federal anti-discrimination law. The complaint from America First Legal alleges that the Upper Arlington School District in Columbus, Ohio has implemented DEI policies dating back to 2020 and cites material from the district’s own website. “In June 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter riots, the Upper Arlington School Board, like many other educational institutions and corporations in our country, caved to Black Lives Matter demands and began to implement racist and discriminatory DEI policies in the District,” the complaint alleges. “The District added a Chief Talent Officer (“CTO”) to “foster workforce diversity. Upper Arlington also added an Equity Advisory Board, which aims to ‘provide invaluable insight and feedback on the recruitment of a diverse staff.’ The School District also created a new position, the Chief Excellence and Engagement Officer, who was tasked with ‘spearhead[ing] Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts.’” WATCH: UNEARTHED FOOTAGE EXPOSES MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PLEDGING TO RESIST TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS The complaint alleges that DEI advocacy continued in the years after 2020 and quoted a district report that said “[t]here is a need for a clear vision for DEI initiatives [and] advocacy for LGBTQIA+ students” while referring “those who oppos[e] DEI efforts” as “negative voices.” A “Comprehensive Equity Report” from the district “contains “discriminatory and illegal recommendations”, according to the complaint. The complaint makes the case that the DEI practices within the district are not in line with current Education Department rules and guidelines and suggests that federal funding to the school could be in jeopardy. WHITE HOUSE VOWS TO IMPLEMENT ‘SYSTEM OF MERIT’ IN US, DISMANTLE DEI ‘STRANGULATION’ “When our nation’s schools discriminate based on race and sex, and embed divisive racial and sexual ideologies into their curriculum, it not only violates the law, but it also warps our children’s education,” Jacob Meckler, America First Legal Counsel, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The Department of Education should investigate the Upper Arlington School District and, if appropriate, terminate federal taxpayer funding.” Fox News Digital reached out to the school district and Department of Education for comment. Upper Arlington School District has been in hot water over DEI practices in the past when video surfaced in 2023 showing district officials discussing how they can push critical race theory covertly, Fox News Digital previously reported. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Matthew Boaz, the executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion of Upper Arlington Schools, said. “You can pass a bill that you can’t teach CRT in a classroom, but if you didn’t cover programming, or you didn’t cover extracurricular activities or something like that, that message might still get out. Oops.” In a statement to Fox News Digital Superintendent Hunt said, “On April 30, Upper Arlington Schools received a copy of a letter sent to the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights by an attorney writing on behalf of the advocacy group America First Legal. The letter accuses the district of ‘illegal DEI policies,’ but fails to identify any specific practices or policies that are actually in place in the district.” “We take any concerns of discrimination seriously and we will continue, as always, in our commitment to our mission of challenging and supporting every student, every step of the way, to our vision that every student is prepared to serve, lead, and succeed, and to our values – start with heart, strength in team, and contagious drive. Our new Excellence & Innovation 2030 Strategic Plan is rooted in these commitments, and we will remain focused on providing our students with the high quality educational experience that our community expects.” Hunt added that “we will certainly cooperate fully” if an investigation is opened. A Dept. of Education spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the department “doesn’t confirm complaints.” Earlier this year, the Department of Education issued a letter warning public schools across the country that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding. “Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, said in the letter. The letter said the “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions” will no longer be tolerated. Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report
GOP leaders find new major holiday deadline for Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ amid Medicaid, tax divisions
Some Republican leaders are hoping they can pass a massive bill codifying President Donald Trump‘s agenda into federal law by the Fourth of July. It means the sweeping policy overhaul could reach Trump’s desk for a signature by the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding. “I’ve said all along, my goal is, is for the president to sign this one big, beautiful bill on July 4th,” House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., told “Fox News Sunday.” It comes as House Republicans struggle to reconcile differences on clean energy and Medicaid in talks to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to pay for Trump’s tax policies. SCOOP: REPUBLICANS DISCUSS DEFUNDING ‘BIG ABORTION’ LIKE PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN TRUMP AGENDA BILL Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters days earlier on Capitol Hill, “We’ve got three legs to the President’s economic agenda: trade, tax and deregulation, and we hope that we can have this tax portion done by Fourth of July.” Republican lawmakers are working on a multitrillion-dollar piece of legislation aimed at advancing Trump’s policies on tax, defense, energy, immigration, border security and at raising the debt limit. Trump’s tax policies, a cornerstone of his platform and the costliest portion of the bill, include extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and retirees’ social security. Republican leaders and tax hawks have warned that failing to extend TCJA by the time its provisions expire at the end of this year could result in a tax hike of over 20% for millions of families. House GOP leaders said in a letter to lawmakers dated April 5, “Immediately following House adoption of the budget resolution, our House and Senate committees will begin preparing together their respective titles of the reconciliation bill to be marked up in the next work period. As always, this will involve input from all Members and will keep us on track to send a bill to the President’s desk by Memorial Day.” BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has since somewhat walked that goal back, telling reporters he believes the House can finish its portion by Memorial Day. “We are on track to pass the bill out of the House. As we’ve said from the very beginning, and get it over, to the next stage by Memorial Day,” Johnson said during a press conference last week. He was optimistic about beating the early July goal after meeting with Bessent and other top lawmakers last Monday, however. “He says July 4 because that’s a big, big birthday for us. And everybody knows that,” Johnson said of Bessent’s comments. “But I think – and I hope, and believe – that we can get it done sooner than that.” A House GOP leadership aide told Fox News Digital that Johnson “stated his goal is to move the bill through the House by Memorial Day” and that it was “not in conflict” with sending a bill to Trump by July 4. When asked if that goal was feasible, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital, “It’s gonna have to be.” Others who spoke with Fox News Digital were more skeptical. A senior House Republican aide told Fox News Digital, “Deadlines are so arbitrary in Congress. Passing the bill by Memorial Day was always a long shot, but moving the goalposts from Easter to Memorial Day to July 4 just shows weakness.” “We better stick with this one, because the next federal holiday isn’t until September!” the aide said. Republicans are not only racing the clock on the TCJA deadline, but also the possibility of a national credit default. The U.S. is expected to run out of cash to pay its debts sometime this summer, according to several projections – a somewhat murky deadline based on a number of factors, including yearly tax filings. MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE Hitting that date without acting on the debt limit would send domestic and global financial markets into turmoil. Republicans are looking to move Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party in power to sideline the opposition, in this case Democrats, while passing legislation focused on spending, taxes and debt. After both the House and Senate passed budget “frameworks” earlier this year, the relevant committees named in the frameworks are working to write policy in line with the spending cut or surplus they are granted. Seven of 11 House committees have completed their work so far. However, three critical panels – the committees on Ways & Means, Agriculture, and Energy & Commerce – had to delay initial tentative plans to advance their portions this week. Republicans in blue states, who GOP leaders view as critical to keeping the majority, have raised alarms about cutting too deeply into Medicaid. It is under the jurisdiction of the Energy & Commerce Committee, which is tasked with finding $880 billion of the $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. Negotiators have insisted they are only interested in going after waste, fraud and abuse in the system, but it has not stopped Democrats from accusing the GOP of trying to cut critical healthcare programs for millions of Americans. Meanwhile, the committee is also going to have to decide on an ongoing battle between conservatives and blue state Republicans over whether to repeal some or all of the former Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) green energy tax subsidies. In March, 21 House Republicans signed a letter urging their colleagues to preserve the green energy tax credit. “Countless American companies are utilizing sector-wide energy tax credits – many of which have enjoyed broad support in Congress – to make major investments in domestic energy production and infrastructure for traditional and renewable energy sources alike,” they wrote. The anti-IRA Republicans, however, said in a letter last week that the U.S.’
Trump to meet with American ballerina freed from Russian prison
President Donald Trump will host a Russian-American ballerina at the White House on Monday, roughly a month after the Trump administration secured her release from a Russian prison, Fox News Digital has learned. Ksenia Karelina, a former ballerina, was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian penal colony in 2024 for treason. The 33-year-old was released and returned to the U.S. on April 10 through a U.S.-Russian prison swap, Fox Digital previously reported. “Mr. Trump, I’m so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for [the] American government. And I never felt more blessed to be American, and I’m so, so happy to get home,” Karelina said in a video posted by Trump deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka on April 11 upon her return to the U.S. A White House official confirmed to Fox Digital on Monday that Karelina will visit the White House on Monday afternoon. RUSSIAN-AMERICAN BALLERINA KSENIA KARELINA RELEASED IN PRISONER SWAP WITH MOSCOW Karelina, who is a U.S. citizen, was born in Russia and had been living and working in Los Angeles at the time of her arrest. She was visiting her family in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2024 when Russia’s Federal Security Service – the country’s top security agency – inspected her phone and found she donated about $50 to a U.S.-based charity that works to aid Ukraine, Fox Digital previously reported. AMERICAN BALLERINA ACCUSED OF SPYING STANDS TRIAL IN MOSCOW FOR $51 UKRAINE DONATION She was initially detained for “petty hooliganism,” but the charge was later upgraded to treason as Russian officials claimed she raised money for the Ukrainian army and took part in actions that supported Ukraine while in the U.S. Karelina was returned to the U.S. in exchange for the U.S. releasing Arthur Petrov, a dual German Russian citizen who was accused of exporting sensitive U.S. electronics to the Russian military. He was arrested in 2023 and charged with crimes such as conspiracy and violating export controls, Reuters previously reported. AMERICAN BALLERINA LEFT OUT OF RUSSIA PRISONER SWAP PLEADS GUILTY TO TREASON Karelina’s family celebrated her release last month, with her former stepmother Eleonra Srebroski telling Fox News at the time that she was “euphoric” over the prisoner swap while praising Trump for the release. “My spirit is high. We are extremely happy. This is beyond any emotion…This is healing,” Srebroski said. “We were putting a lot of hope in the Trump administration, and we knew she would be next after Marc Fogel. We support Trump even more.” Karelina’s boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, told the New York Post upon her release in April that the couple was eager to meet Trump and thank him. “We really need to thank him personally. When the time’s right, she’d love to meet him and I would love to shake his hand for bringing back the love of my life. And I’m not into politics,” Van Heerden told the outlet at the time. “I was begging the Biden administration for a whole year to bring Ksenia back. About seven months I realized that’s not going to happen. They’re not going to do it for me. I had faith and I truly believed when President Trump came into power, he could do it and he did it,” he added. Karelina’s release follows the Trump administration striking another prisoner swap deal with Russia in February that saw the release of U.S. citizen and teacher Marc Fogel, who had been in Russian custody since 2021 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana at an airport.
DHS unleashes possible money-saving measure for illegal aliens to self-deport: ‘Safest option’
FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security will front the cost of commercial flights and provide a $1,000 stipend to illegal aliens who opt to self-deport from the United States in a move DHS says will save thousands of dollars. The department says this will be 70% cheaper for American taxpayers, as it currently costs DHS, on average, over $17,000 to arrest, detain, and deport someone. DHS told Fox News that paying for aliens to remove themselves, even with the stipend, is anticipated to cost only around $4,500 on average. The stipend would not be paid until it was verified that an individual self-deported. Aliens will use the CBP Home self-deportation app to access this assistance, and DHS expects self-removals, already in the thousands, to ramp up significantly with this announcement. SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN According to a news release, those who use the CBP Home app to leave the U.S. will be “deprioritized for detention and removal” if they are actually taking steps to exit the country. “If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News in a statement. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App. This is the safest option for our law enforcement, aliens and is a 70% savings for US taxpayers. Download the CBP Home App TODAY and self-deport,” she continued. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE DHS says that self-deportation allows individuals a chance to come back into the country legally one day. ICE FILES DETAINERS AGAINST 2 ILLEGAL ALIENS, INCLUDING 1 FACING ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGES FOR SHOOTING SPREE Still, the move could be controversial among some critics, as some will see it as aliens being rewarded with taxpayer money for breaking the law. DHS acknowledged this concern with Fox News, and the department reinforced that this will save taxpayers significant amounts of money in the bigger picture, with the end goal of getting illegal aliens out of the country. ICE TOUTS RECORD-BREAKING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT DURING TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS Millions of people entered the country illegally under the Biden administration, and new apprehensions at the border have come to a near-screeching halt. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In addition, the Trump administration has put a primary focus on deporting individuals with criminal convictions and charges against them on top of being in the country illegally. This includes transferring some alleged MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members to a prison in El Salvador, as the two groups were designated a foreign terrorist organization by Trump.
Former VP Pence vows to be a ‘voice against’ Trump when president veers from ‘conservative agenda’
EXCLUSIVE – BOSTON – He is out of power, but former Vice President Mike Pence does not feel powerless. Pence, the once loyal vice president who broke with President Donald Trump as he defied his one-time boss’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, pledged to be a vocal GOP critic when Trump, during his second tour of duty in the White House, veers from the “conservative agenda” that defined the Trump-Pence administration. “When you look at those Trump-Pence years, they were years that we governed on a conservative agenda,” the former vice president said in an exclusive national digital interview with Fox News minutes after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on Sunday night. Pence said he gives “President Trump all the credit in the world for an historic victory last November, and for sparing the country one more liberal Democrat administration.” WHY TRUMP’S FIRST VICE PRESIDENT WAS HONORED BY THE KENNEDY FAMILY He also praised Trump “not only for his victory, but for securing our southern border, for restoring morale and recruitment in our military, for taking the fight to the Houthis.” However, he argued that “I truly do believe that some of the other steps the president is taking away from that conservative agenda should be a concern that would work against his legacy and ultimately the success of our party or our country. And so we’re going to continue to be a voice against them. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING, ANALYSIS AND OPINION ON MIKE PENCE “I really do believe that for prosperity…for the success of our country, we need to stick to those time-honored principles of strong defense, American leadership on the world stage, less government, less taxes, traditional moral values, and the right to life, and I’m going to be a voice for that,” added Pence, long a champion of social and fiscal conservative values. On the suggestion in recent weeks by some House Republicans to raise taxes on the wealthy to help pay for Trump’s second-term agenda, an idea some in the White House contemplated before the president came out against the proposal, Pence was clear in his opposition. “Any suggestion that I’ve heard among some in and around the administration that we raise the top margin rate, the so-called millionaires tax, would be an enormous tax increase on small business owners across America,” Pence said. He additionally emphasized that “It needs to be opposed. Let’s make all the Trump-Pence tax cuts permanent. That’s a way to really lay a foundation to grow the economy in the days ahead.” The former vice president, a proponent of a muscular U.S. foreign policy, has criticized the president’s upending of longstanding U.S. foreign policy and has urged Trump to stand with longtime international allies. Pence received a standing ovation from the audience at Boston’s JFK Presidential Library when, in his acceptance address, he stressed that the U.S. “must continue to stand with Ukraine.” Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of “populism” in the party, as he bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as part of a large field that unsuccessfully challenged Trump. While Pence, who became the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss, regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off. Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after launching it. When asked if there was another political chapter ahead, and possibly another bid for national office, Pence told Fox News Digital, “I leave that up to the American people.” He reiterated that he intends to “be a voice” for traditional and conservative values and “we’ll let the future take care of itself.” As for Trump’s repeated flirtations the past three months with seeking a third term in office in 2028 – which is forbidden by the 22nd Amendment in the U.S. Constitution – Pence said, “I think there’s no higher priority for a president or any elected official to keep faith with the Constitution of the United States.” “Every single one of us takes the same oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and my hope and my prayer is for the president on down, Republicans and Democrats, will take that oath to heart, because that’s the pathway forward for our country and all the American people,” he added. Pence spoke with Fox News Digital after receiving the Profile in Courage Award, which is named for a book the late John F. Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president. The annual award honors public officials who take principled stands despite the potential political or personal consequences. Among the previous recipients were former Presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford. Pence was honored with the award for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, during the attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists — including some chanting “hang Mike Pence” — who stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification of the 2020 election. Hours later, after the rioters were cleared from the Capitol building, Pence resumed his constitutional duties by overseeing congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. “Vice President Pence put his life, career and that of his family on the line to execute his constitutional responsibilities. His actions preserved the fundamental democratic principle of free and fair elections, and we are proud to honor him,” former Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the late President Kennedy’s daughter, said in presenting Pence with the award. Pence, in accepting the annual award, emphasized that it is a “distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The former vice president, pointing to his actions on Jan. 6, said to a
India-Pakistan tension escalates: Evacuation, mock drill ordered on May 7, getting ready for war?
India prepares civil defense mock drills amid rising tensions with Pakistan following the deadly Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26, prompting strong national security measures.