Fox News Politics Newsletter: Elon’s ‘Pulse Check’
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… –FBI investigating claims of Comey-era ‘honeypot’ operation against Trump 2016 campaign -Ratcliffe shrugs off concerns about potential threat of fired agents armed with CIA’s secrets -States fire back against ‘sanctuary’ resistance as they rally around Trump’s deportation efforts President Donald Trump tapped Elon Musk to speak at the top of the first full Cabinet meeting Wednesday to discuss the progress made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk, standing in his signature black suit jacket with a T-shirt underneath, spoke at the meeting in which the media was present and made some clarifications about what he and DOGE are doing, as well as a recent email sent to government employees. “I think that email was perhaps interpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review. Do you have a pulse?” Musk said. “And if you have a pulse and two neurons, you could reply to an email.” Read more READ IT: Trump admin directs agency heads to prep for ‘large-scale reductions in force’ IMMUNE TO ORDERS?: CDC seems to defy Trump executive order by participating in WHO vaccine conference TRUMP’S BRUISE EXPLAINED: White House explains bruise on Trump’s hand seen during Macron meeting GET OUR GEAR: Trump pushes to recover ‘billions of dollars’ of military equipment left behind in Afghanistan withdrawal BAD FOR BUSINESS: Mexican drug cartel leader extradited to the US to face federal drug trafficking charges ‘BLATANT PROVOCATION’: Taiwan dispatches navy, air force after China launches live-fire drills with no warning ‘WE HAVE NO TIME’: Former Hamas hostage briefs UN Security Council on the ‘pure hell’ that was captivity in Gaza ‘CLASSY’: Dem Rep unloads on Elon Musk outside Capitol: ‘F— off’ DOGE FIGHT: House DOGE hearing erupts over Democrat deeming Trump ‘grifter in chief,’ referring to ‘President Musk’ ‘ENDANGERS’ WOMEN: Blue state’s abortion-pill shield law harms women by depriving follow-up care, pro-life docs say ‘RESOURCES TO FIGHT’: Dem governor fundraises off dust-up with Trump over trans sports in Maine: ‘I told him we’d see him in court’ WITH PREJUDICE: Eric Adams’ lawyers seek to dismiss charges with prejudice ‘DOING THE RIGHT THING’: Blue state sheriff unleashes on ‘un-American’ sanctuary laws, makes special offer to Homan ‘HELL NO’: Gretchen Whitmer sounds off on push to condemn Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling: ‘Hell no’ REMOVED: Massachusetts select board removes town administrator following controversy over Trump flag YOUNG AND RESTLESS: New poll finds about half of rural young people feel job market pressures in their hometowns Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Tulsi Gabbard gives exclusive glimpse of Trump’s first Cabinet meeting
EXCLUSIVE: Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard recalled the energizing atmosphere inside President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the White House, as his team comes together in record time. “What I got was a high level of energy and really just a positive outlook,” Gabbard told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the White House after the meeting. “We are all in sprint mode,” she said. EXCLUSIVE: INSIDE REPUBLICANS’ LONG GAME TO CONFIRM TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL “We have a Cabinet full of great Americans who are dedicated to serving our country and the American people, ensuring safety, security, freedom and prosperity,” the national intelligence director added, noting the inspiration that billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has already sparked in Trump’s administration. Per Gabbard, part of what makes Trump’s Cabinet so special is that “most of us have known each other for a long time. We’ve worked together. We’re actually friends.” GOP SENATOR SUFFERS SEIZURE, BRAIN BLEED AFTER FALLING ON ICE She went as far as calling this level of collaboration “unprecedented” in a president’s Cabinet. Trump’s second-term Cabinet has accomplished several firsts, including appointing Gabbard as the first Pacific Islander director of national intelligence, Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the first Hispanic in his role and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the first Republican Cabinet member who is openly gay. DEMS DEMAND TRUMP RESUME CASH FLOW AS THEY FINALLY GET LEVERAGE IN RACE TO PREVENT SHUTDOWN Additionally, Trump has already surpassed the number of women he had in his first Cabinet, with five appointed already and eight nominated in total. EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP WARNS MAJOR DEM AGAINST MOVE THAT COULD COST VOTERS TRILLIONS But, “you don’t hear anything about it,” Gabbard pointed out. “I experienced this from my former party, even when I ran for president in 2020, that they were all about [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] unless they didn’t like what a woman of color had to say, for example.”
The plan to confront China and kick out companies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party from the U.S.
The line against Beijing is drawn in Little Rock. “We are taking a strong stand against China infiltrating our state,” says Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “We’re going to continue to push back.” Arkansas is the first state in the nation that forced a Chinese-connected company to divest farmland, and now says it is taking additional action against the CCP. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS ON TARIFF THREAT: TRUMP IS TIRED OF AMERICA GETTING RIPPED OFF Sanders is introducing new legislation that adds further measures to stop China state-owned businesses from operating in her state and shut down programs sponsored by China. The measures include banning CCP-linked companies from buying or leasing property, blocking ownership near critical infrastructure sites, scraping Sister City partnerships and cutting funding for universities and colleges that have Chinese-funded programs. “We’ve seen a number of cases where China is trying to infiltrate things that matter to our critical infrastructure, buying up land around our military bases, our substations. These are things that we’re taking strong action against here in Arkansas, expanding existing legislation so that we can continue to hold their feet to the fire and push them out,” says Sanders. In 2023, the state ordered Syngenta Seeds, whose parent company is a Chinese conglomerate, to divest farmland used for seed production. The company said that “the suggestion that China is using Syngenta to purchase land or conduct operations for any purpose other than supporting the company’s commercial business in North America is simply false.” But the state fined the company $280,000 for not initially disclosing its foreign ownership by the deadline. “Syngenta is foreign-owned — ultimately by the Chinese Communist Party,” said Arkansas Attorney General Tim Miller in announcing the penalty. “This serves as a warning to all other Chinese state-owned companies operating in Arkansas.” REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS CAN’T WAIT FOR TRUMP TO UNLEASH PROSPERITY IN THE STATES “Agriculture is the number one industry here in the state of Arkansas and so protecting our agricultural security and protecting the components that make it so strong, are one of the things that are really important,” says Sanders. Two other firms are being investigated for possible ties to China, but in December a Federal Judge issued a preliminary injunction to halt the probe of one of them. At least 22 states have enacted some form of restrictions on Chinese-owned companies. “The CCP has aggressive intent and has become more aggressive and threatening, both at home as well as abroad, and we need to be aware of these threats,” says Congressman John Moolenaar, (R) Michigan, Chairman of House Select Committee on the CCP. He says more states should follow Sanders’ lead. “She is taking a leadership role and protecting farmland and green spaces in Arkansas and making sure the CCP doesn’t gain a foothold in Arkansas. We want to see more states taking this kind of action,” he says. For several years, officials have been warning about China’s entry into the U.S., through businesses and other organizations that they say pose a national security threat. Michael Pillsbury, a former top U.S. government official on China matters and Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, has been sounding the alarm. He authored “The One Hundred Year Marathon, China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower” a decade ago and says not much has changed since then. “What Governor Sanders is launching is pretty important,” he says, “part of building the long-term foundation to protect ourselves against the CCP, but it is not the end of the story unless she is successful in persuading Homeland Security and the FBI to make this a federal issue.” “The state of Arkansas doesn’t have a CIA or FBI to do this. The intelligence collection that triggers the alarm is what the federal government has to do.” FORMER USAID OFFICIAL WARNS CHINA IS ALREADY LOOKING TO FILL VOID LEFT BY PAUSED PROGRAMS Experts say it can be difficult to determine if a company is really owned by a Chinese firm, which is part of the CCP’s strategy. “There really is no such thing as a private company in China,” says Rep. Moolenaar. “All the companies are affiliated in some way and directed in some way by the Chinese Communist Party. And secondly, it is important to note that they have something called military fusion, where technologies, even in the civil area, are used for military purposes.” He says Chinese-funded programs that operate under the guise of educational programs also serve to further the CCP’s interests, which is one target of Sanders’ push. Moolenaar points to a recent case in his state of Michigan that raised alarms. “The Chinese Communist Party will leverage people,” he says. “Five Chinese national students were caught spying at Camp Grayling. Camp Grayling is a military facility, where according to public reports, we train military leaders, including Taiwanese military leaders. So when you consider the threat of the leverage of the Chinese Communist Party, we need to be vigilant and protect American universities and American taxpayer dollars.” The five Chinese students were charged last fall with lying to the FBI after they claimed to be observing meteor showers at midnight at the base, but instead were found to have taken photos of the installation. The FBI said all five graduated last spring from the University of Michigan, and were part of a joint program between the university and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. This is exactly the type of suspicious scenario Sanders is trying to address. “We know that so often China is looking for any way possible into and developing a relationship for the purpose of exploiting it, and for the purpose of taking that information back and using it against us,” she says. “We want to make sure that we are protecting against that.” China’s embassy in Washington has accused the U.S. of “politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues.” Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu says U.S. officials “deliberately obstruct normal economic and trade exchange for (a) political
White House fires back at progressive filmmaker: ‘Dumbest statement of the year’
The White House fired back at “disgraced” progressive filmmaker and activist Michael Moore’s criticism of the Trump administration’s deportations, saying his comments are “a strong contender for dumbest statement of the year.” Moore, who has directed a score of highly politically-charged documentaries, published a lengthy blog post on Tuesday titled, “Our Muslim Boy Wonder,” in which he warned that by deporting illegal immigrants, the U.S. may miss out on the person who could cure cancer, the next equivalent of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, or the person who will save the world from “the asteroid that’s gonna hit us in 2032.” “Who’s really being removed by ICE tonight?” Moore asked. “The child who would’ve discovered the cure for cancer in 2046? The 9th grade nerd who would’ve stopped that asteroid that’s gonna hit us in 2032? Do we care?” The filmmaker declared, “For every time I have heard a negative word or blatant hatred spewed toward those who came from afar, I have felt that I should pause, get down on one knee, and thank all of those who gave up their lives elsewhere to come here and be with us.” MAYOR OF AMERICA’S BIGGEST CITY THANKS TRUMP FOR CRACKDOWN ON CRIMINAL IMMIGRANTS In response, the White House released a statement on Wednesday saying that illegal immigrant killers and rapists “aren’t scholars — they’re criminals.” “In a strong contender for dumbest statement of the year, disgraced ‘filmmaker’ Michael Moore lamented illegal immigrant criminals being apprehended because they might’ve ‘discovered the cure for cancer’ or ‘stopped that astroid [sic],’” the White House statement said. “The only thing more foolish than that statement are the politicians who oppose the deportations.” The statement included a listing of some of the worst criminal illegal immigrants arrested thus far. The list included nine child sex predators and rapists as well as kidnappers, murderers and gang members. TOM HOMAN TELLS MIGRANT TERROR GROUPS TRUMP WILL ‘WIPE YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH’ One of those listed was a documented member of the bloodthirsty gang MS-13, Salvadoran national Sergio Arquimides Pineda, who was arrested by ICE Homeland Security Investigations Corpus Christi and convicted of driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault with bodily injury. Another illegal, Guatemalan national, Edilio Agustin-Orellana, was arrested by ICE Boston and is facing five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, three counts of kidnapping, intimidation and armed home invasion. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE A third arrested migrant listed by the White House was Turkish national Gokhan Adriguzel, who is a known or suspected terrorist, according to officials. ALLEGED FENTANYL-SMUGGLING IMMIGRANTS LEAD POLICE ON DANGEROUS CORNFIELD CHASE “Michael Moore is free to visit the quantum computing and particle physics labs that MS-13, TDA [Tren de Aragua], and the cartels are now going to have to set up back home in El Salvador, Venezuela, and Mexico,” quipped White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai. In the meantime, Desai said, “the Trump administration will remain focused on putting our own citizens first by mass deporting illegal migrant rapists, murderers, and other criminals out of American communities.” Fox News Digital reached out to Moore for comment but did not hear back by publication time. Fox News Digital writers Adam Shaw and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
Kyle Rittenhouse returns to speak at university where angry mob led to canceled speech
Nearly a year after his speech was disrupted by an angry mob of student protesters, Kyle Rittenhouse will return to the University of Memphis on Wednesday evening to talk about the Second Amendment and his controversial 2021 trial. The University of Memphis chapter of Turning Point USA re-invited Rittenhouse to speak after the university and Rittenhouse’s lawyers worked out a deal to ensure an adequate security presence this time, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney Mathew Hoffmann told Fox News Digital. “The bottom line is universities cannot allow hostile students and other people to shut down speakers that they don’t like,” Hoffmann said. “That’s enshrined in Tennessee law and the First Amendment. The mob forced him to cut his speech short, and he left not being able to communicate his message.” PROTESTERS DISRUPT KYLE RITTENHOUSE TPUSA EVENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS: ‘NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE’ Intervening on Rittenhouse’s and TPUSA’s behalf, ADF sent a demand letter in October asking the university to reschedule the event and “reimburse TPUSA an unconstitutional security fee it was forced to pay after the event was shut down.” The university did reschedule it, but did not refund the $1,600 fee “for security that stood idly by and allowed the mob to shut down the event.” “They did change their security fee assessment system. The university has committed in advance of the event to give a short statement about promoting respectful dialogue and how disruption will not be tolerated,” Hoffmann said. Rittenhouse was acquitted during a high-profile case in 2021 of five charges after fatally shooting two people and injuring a third during unrest in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020. His defense attorneys argued he acted in self-defense after being attacked. The decedents, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, both had criminal records, including allegations of domestic abuse, child molestation and disorderly conduct. RITTENHOUSE FOUND NOT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS The University of Memphis did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by time of publication.
‘No time to waste’: Navy’s ousted top officer speaks to staff after DOD leadership shakeup
Former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti spoke to staff after the Trump administration ousted her and other top leaders at the Pentagon Friday, asserting that the Navy’s mission will continue “unabated and undisrupted.” Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the chief of naval operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described leading the sea service as the “honor of a lifetime” and thanked Navy sailors for their service supporting the U.S. “We are America’s Warfighting Navy and America is counting on us to deter aggression, defend our National security interests, and preserve our way of life,” Franchetti, who had served as the Navy’s top officer since 2023, said in a Tuesday LinkedIn post that has since been deleted. “We operate from seabed to space, around the globe and around the clock. Our mission continues, unabated and undisrupted…There is no time to waste.” After publication, the Navy clarified that the post was not intended to be shared on social media. A U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told Fox News Digital that the message was sent to a “small group” of staff and senior Navy leaders, but it was not intended to be shared with a wider audience. “She did not post or direct the message to be posted on LinkedIn,” the U.S. official said in a statement. “The message was improperly posted by a junior staffer who had access to the LinkedIn account but did not have authorization to post the content of Admiral Franchetti’s Friday email.” TRUMP NOMINATES AIR FORCE LT. GEN. DAN ‘RAZIN’ CAINE FOR JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN Franchetti joined the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps as a student at Northwestern University and was commissioned in 1985. She told Navy Times in 2023 that she met other ROTC students at a barbecue during freshman orientation week, who notified her about the scholarship opportunities ROTC provided. At the time of her commissioning, women were barred from serving on combatant ships and aircraft and were instead assigned to ships like oilers and destroyer tenders. However, Congress repealed the law in 1993 — paving the way for women like Franchetti to serve in top leadership positions in the Navy. “I joined for free college and books, but I stayed for our mission, the opportunity to serve something greater than myself, and the chance to be part of amazing teams in the world’s most lethal fighting force: America’s Warfighting Navy,” Franchetti wrote on LinkedIn. Ultimately, Franchetti went on to command two carrier strike groups, and served as the deputy commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa and the commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet, which falls under U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa. Other leaders the Trump administration removed Friday included Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jim Slife. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requested nominations to replace Franchetti and Slife, and said that both had “distinguished careers.” “We thank them for their service and dedication to our country,” Hegseth said in a Friday statement. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby announced that he would take over responsibilities as the top officer in the Navy until a permanent replacement was found for Franchetti. FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF BIDS FAREWELL IN HEARTFELT SOCIAL MEDIA POST: ‘DISTINCT HONOR’ “The work of our Navy continues without disruption,” Kilby said in a statement Saturday. “We will sustain forward-deployed lethal forces that enhance the peace and deter our adversaries.” The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. It remains unclear where Franchetti will be reassigned. Hegseth didn’t provide any additional comment on Franchetti or her career, but previously described her as a “DEI hire” in his 2024 book, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” Hegseth also announced Friday that President Donald Trump plans to nominate retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to replace Brown, claiming that Caine embodies the “warfighter ethos” the U.S. military needs. “Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars,” Hegseth said.
‘No time to waste’: Navy’s ousted top officer speaks out after DOD leadership shakeup
Former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti is speaking out after the Trump administration ousted her and other top leaders at the Pentagon Friday, asserting that the Navy’s mission will continue “unabated and undisrupted.” Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the chief of naval operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described leading the sea service as the “honor of a lifetime” and thanked Navy sailors for their service supporting the U.S. “We are America’s Warfighting Navy and America is counting on us to deter aggression, defend our National security interests, and preserve our way of life,” Franchetti, who had served as the Navy’s top officer since 2023, said in a Tuesday LinkedIn post. “We operate from seabed to space, around the globe and around the clock. Our mission continues, unabated and undisrupted…There is no time to waste.” TRUMP NOMINATES AIR FORCE LT. GEN. DAN ‘RAZIN’ CAINE FOR JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN Franchetti joined the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps as a student at Northwestern University and was commissioned in 1985. She told Navy Times in 2023 that she met other ROTC students at a barbecue during freshman orientation week, who notified her about the scholarship opportunities ROTC provided. At the time of her commissioning, women were barred from serving on combatant ships and aircraft and were instead assigned to ships like oilers and destroyer tenders. However, Congress repealed the law in 1993 — paving the way for women like Franchetti to serve in top leadership positions in the Navy. “I joined for free college and books, but I stayed for our mission, the opportunity to serve something greater than myself, and the chance to be part of amazing teams in the world’s most lethal fighting force: America’s Warfighting Navy,” Franchetti wrote on LinkedIn. Ultimately, Franchetti went on to command two carrier strike groups, and served as the deputy commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa and the commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet, which falls under U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa. Other leaders the Trump administration removed Friday included Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jim Slife. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requested nominations to replace Franchetti and Slife, and said that both had “distinguished careers.” “We thank them for their service and dedication to our country,” Hegseth said in a Friday statement. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby announced that he would take over responsibilities as the top officer in the Navy until a permanent replacement was found for Franchetti. FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF BIDS FAREWELL IN HEARTFELT SOCIAL MEDIA POST: ‘DISTINCT HONOR’ “The work of our Navy continues without disruption,” Kilby said in a statement Saturday. “We will sustain forward-deployed lethal forces that enhance the peace and deter our adversaries.” The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. It remains unclear where Franchetti will be reassigned. Hegseth didn’t provide any additional comment on Franchetti or her career, but previously described her as a “DEI hire” in his 2024 book, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” Hegseth also announced Friday that President Donald Trump plans to nominate retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to replace Brown, claiming that Caine embodies the “warfighter ethos” the U.S. military needs. “Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars,” Hegseth said.
House unanimously passes bill to quadruple the pensions of Medal of Honor recipients
Legislation that would quadruple the pensions of Medal of Honor recipients passed the House with unanimous bipartisan support on Wednesday. The bill sailed through the House 424-0. If passed by the Senate and signed by the president, it would boost pay for those who receive the nation’s highest military award from $16,880 per year to $67,500 per year. Proponents of the bill, led by Reps. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and Chris Pappas, D-N.H., say the pay would ease the financial burden for medal recipients who often traverse the country for speaking engagements on their own dime. The increased pensions are paid for through disability compensation out of Veterans’ Affairs funding. Costs associated with the pay boost would be offset by extending a limitation on pensions for veterans with no spouses or dependents from 2031 to 2033. VETERANS ASK TRUMP TO AWARD MEDAL OF HONOR TO MARINE CORPS WAR HERO SNUBBED BY BIDEN The legislation would affect the 60 living Medal of Honor recipients. Some 3,500 have been awarded the medal since its inception in 1863. Pension rolls for Medal of Honor recipients were first created in 1916, with pensioners receiving $10 per month from the federal government. The monthly stipend was raised to $100 in 1961 and $1,000 in 2002. The legislation comes as a national Medal of Honor museum is set to open in Arlington, Texas, next month to share the stories of Americans who took heroic actions in battle. President Donald Trump has not yet awarded the medal in his second term, but veterans and members of Congress are lobbying for him to extend it to Maj. James Capers, a Black Vietnam War veteran who saved seven fellow Marines when his recon group was ambushed and outnumbered by North Vietnamese troops in Phú Lộc in 1967. PRESIDENT BIDEN AWARDS MEDAL OF HONOR TO SEVEN ARMY VETERANS According to the sworn testimony of the surviving Marines, then-Lt. Capers’ unit was ambushed in the jungle, with blasts from claymore mines inflicting devastating injuries on him and his men. Despite the blasts ripping open his stomach and breaking his leg, a heavily bleeding Capers kept command of his Marines and, together with two others, held off the enemy long enough for the medevac flight to arrive. When the overloaded aircraft struggled to take off, Capers attempted to sacrifice himself by jumping from the helicopter and insisting he be left behind until he was pulled back on board by the medevac crew chief. Capers received multiple gunfire wounds and 19 pieces of shrapnel in the firefight, and suffers from the wounds to this day. But due to his heroic actions, Capers and all of his Marines survived. Fox News’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
FLASHBACK: Biden also changed White House press pool, cutting off more than 440 reporters’ credentials
The White House will now oversee which news outlets will be part of the White House press pool, rather than the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), the White House press secretary said Tuesday. While the WHCA customarily has had the authority to choose the rotation of news outlets that have access to the president in the Oval Office and other areas with limited access, the Trump administration is upending that policy. “Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join, fear not,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a briefing Tuesday. “But we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.” MORE THAN 440 REPORTERS LOSE PRESS PASSES AFTER WHITE HOUSE CHANGES REQUIREMENTS But President Donald Trump’s White House isn’t the only one to roll out controversial policies regarding press access. In 2023, more than 440 reporters lost press credentials after President Joe Biden’s White House modified its rules for eligibility for permanent passes. Credentialed White House press members dropped from 1,417 members to 975 members after the White House unveiled new standards requiring an annual renewal of hard passes, Politico reported in 2023. Journalists without hard passes were still authorized to apply for day passes to the White House. The Biden White House policy was launched in May 2023 and required reporters to prove employment with “an organization whose principal business is news dissemination” and show that they have “accessed the White House campus at least once during the prior six months for work, or have proof of employment within the last three months to cover the White House.” The Biden White House defended its decision to cut off routine access to these reporters, claiming many of the journalists whose passes expired hadn’t accessed the White House in the previous three months. “At the time we initiated this process in early May, roughly 40% of hard pass holders had not accessed the White House complex in the prior 90 days,” the White House said in a 2023 statement to Politico. “We think this demonstrates we’ve led a thoughtful and thorough process that preserves robust media access to campus for everyone who needs it — whether that be with a hard pass or a day pass.” TRUMP ADMIN GUTS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT’S ASSOCIATION IN BID TO END ‘MONOPOLY’ OF ‘DC JOURNALISTS’ Leavitt announced in January that the Trump White House would work to “restore the press passes of the 440 journalists whose passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration.” On Tuesday, Leavitt said the White House’s decision aimed to “give the power back to the people” in an attempt to ensure that “all journalists, outlets and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In response, WHCA President Eugene Daniels said the WHCA did not receive any notice in advance of the White House’s decision and said the move “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.” “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president,” Daniels said. “In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.” Fox News’ Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
Dem senator’s ‘dark money corruption’ hypocrisy revealed in ethics complaint, expert says
Legal experts are pointing out what they say is hypocrisy as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., faces an ethics complaint over a potential conflict of interest that resulted in millions of dollars in federal grants for a nonprofit associated with his wife. “Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who has made his political career accusing others of dark money corruption, appears to be throwing stones in his glass house,” said Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations to former Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. “This is the height of hypocrisy,” Brett Tolman, former U.S. attorney and executive director of Right On Crime, told Fox News Digital. “Sen Whitehouse is a former US attorney and the self-proclaimed watchdog of dark money.” EXCLUSIVE: INSIDE REPUBLICANS’ LONG GAME TO CONFIRM TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL Whitehouse spokesperson Stephen DeLeo told Fox News Digital in a statement, “The ‘legal experts’ at Fox News should review the bipartisan dismissal issued by the Senate Ethics Committee the last time a dark-money group attempted these same kinds of smears.” Whitehouse voted for legislation that ultimately provided millions of dollars in funding for grants to environmental nonprofit group Ocean Conservancy, which works with his wife, Sandra Whitehouse, and pays her through a consulting firm. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), an ethics watchdog, wrote to Senate Select Committee on Ethics Chair James Lankford, R-Okla., and Vice Chair Chris Coons, D-Del., this week, asking them to investigate Whitehouse “to determine whether he violated the Senate ethics rules on conflicts of interest.” The group works primarily to draw attention to potential Democrat lawmaker ethics violations. “This is not just a careless ethical lapse in judgment,” Tolman added. “This is corruption, Washington, D.C., style. This is literally what many public officials have been prosecuted for by DOJ (Department of Justice). I’m aware of multiple cases DOJ is pursuing right now with less egregious facts.” Thomas Jipping, senior legal fellow with the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital the Ethics Committee should investigate the allegation against Whitehouse. GOP SENATOR SUFFERS SEIZURE, BRAIN BLEED AFTER FALLING ON ICE “Of course, that’s what they exist to do,” he said. “I was struck by the fact that they are arguing” and that the complaint from FACT has “specific facts that back up a claim that there’s an ethical violation,” Jipping said. As he referenced, FACT provided information to support a potential conflict of interest. Ocean Conservancy has notably received more than $14.2 million in federal grants since 2008, per USASpending.gov. In 2024 alone, it was given two sizable grants, one for $5.2 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for marine debris cleanup in September, and another for $1.7 million from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), also to assist with marine debris cleanup. The grants were funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the EPA’s annual appropriations bill. Whitehouse voted for both. Per her LinkedIn page, Whitehouse’s wife, Sandra, is employed as president of consulting firm Ocean Wonks LLC and has been since 2017. She was previously a direct employee of Ocean Conservancy as its senior policy advisor starting in 2008. DEMS DEMAND TRUMP RESUME CASH FLOW AS THEY FINALLY GET LEVERAGE IN RACE TO PREVENT SHUTDOWN Jipping said the senator never provided sufficient evidence for his various ethical claims against conservative Supreme Court justices. Whitehouse has long crusaded against conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, accusing them of ethical wrongdoing. The Democrat has even spearheaded an effort to put a Supreme Court ethics code into law, which has drawn serious criticism as some warn it would effectively allow the legislature to govern the court. “The irony here absolutely takes my breath away,” Jipping remarked. “He now appears to be embroiled in such an obvious conflict of interest.” However, not everyone agreed. Attorney Bradley P. Moss told Fox News Digital that “from what is described in the media report, this seems like a considerable stretch to find even the appearance of a conflict of interest.” EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP WARNS MAJOR DEM AGAINST MOVE THAT COULD COST VOTERS TRILLIONS He said he was more concerned about engineers from billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX assisting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize air traffic control. According to the Department of Transportation, the engineers are part of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team at the FAA and are special government employees. Their work in this capacity is being kept separate from the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, they said. Jipping said Whitehouse’s situation is an “opportunity for the ethics committee to show that they are in fact nonpartisan.” Lankford and Coons did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.