‘He knows how to…’: Mukesh Ambani praises PM Modi for being ‘Hard as Diamond’
Mukesh Ambani praises Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, energy, and ability to turn ideas into action during the 12th Convocation at PDEU.
China’s influence on Panama Canal poses ‘acute risks to US national security,’ Sen. Cruz warns
China’s influence on the Panama Canal poses “acute risks to U.S. national security,” Sen. Ted Cruz is warning Tuesday, alleging the Chinese Communist Party has taken a “militaristic interest” in the vital global shipping passage. The Texas Republican told lawmakers during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation hearing that President Donald Trump recently has highlighted two key issues — “the danger of China exploiting or blocking passage through the canal” and “the exorbitant costs for transit.” “Chinese companies are right now building a bridge across the canal at a slow pace so as to take nearly a decade. And Chinese companies control container ports at either end. The partially-completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without warning and the ports give China ready observation posts to time that action,” said Cruz, who is the chairman of the committee. “This situation I believe poses acute risks to U.S. national security,” he added. MARCO RUBIO HEADING TO PANAMA ON FIRST TRIP AS SECRETARY OF STATE “Meanwhile, the high fees for canal transit disproportionately affect Americans because U.S. cargo accounts for nearly three quarters for canal transits. U.S. Navy vessels pay additional fees that apply only to warships. Canal profits regularly exceed $3 billion dollars,” Cruz continued. “This money comes from both American taxpayers and consumers in the form of higher costs for goods.” Cruz’s comments come as newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Panama for his first international trip as the nation’s top diplomat, Fox News has learned. Trump said during his inauguration speech last week that “China is operating the Panama Canal” and “we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.” Panama is denying the Chinese influence, with President José Raúl Mulino saying that “There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration,” according to the Associated Press. RUSSIA SOUNDS OFF ON TRUMP’S THREAT TO RETAKE THE PANAMA CANAL However, Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Louis Sola testified Tuesday that “Since 2015, Chinese companies have increased their presence and influence throughout Panama. “Panama became a member of the Belt and Road Initiative and ended its diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Chinese companies have been able to pursue billions of dollars and development contracts in Panama, many of which were projects directly on or adjacent to the Panama Canal,” he told lawmakers. “Many were no bid contracts, labor laws were waived, and the Panama and Panamanian people are still waiting to see how they’ve been benefited. “It is all more concerning that many of these companies are state-owned and in some cases even designated as linked to the People’s Liberation Army,” Sola added. “We must address the significant growing presence and influence of China throughout the Americas and in Panama specifically.” Cruz also said during the hearing that the Chinese Communist Party has taken a “militaristic interest in the canal” and that “Panama has emerged as a bad actor.” “Panama has for years flagged dozens of vessels in the Iranian ghost fleet, which brought Iran tens of billions of dollars in oil profits to fund terror across the world,” Cruz said. “We cannot turn a blind eye if Panama exploits an asset of vital commercial and military importance, and we cannot stay idle while China is on the march in our hemisphere,” he concluded. Fox News’ Nick Kalman and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
Trump admin pauses federal grants, demands return to office details in memo blitz
The Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) went on a memo blitz Monday, sending at least three letters to federal agency leaders on directives stretching from return to office instructions to pausing federal grants, copies of the memos obtained by Fox News Digital show. President Donald Trump‘s administration already has issued a handful of directives aimed at federal agency heads since he took office Jan. 20, including ordering agency chiefs to shutter diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices, which was followed by another memo to begin terminating DEI chiefs. On Monday, the OMB, an executive office that evaluates agency programs and handles the president’s budget, and OPM, an independent agency that serves as the federal government’s human resources department, issued memos on Monday to further move federal agencies in line with the president’s vision of government. TRUMP ADMIN TO PAUSE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS: REPORT A joint OMB and OPM memo sent Monday regarding return to office plans outlined that agency heads have until Feb. 7 to provide a plan on returning staff schedules to full-time in-person work. Agencies must “prepare plans to expeditiously implement” the memo and submit their plans “for review and approval by no later than Friday, February 7th at 5:00pm EST,” the memo, obtained by Fox News Digital, states. TRUMP’S FEDERAL DEI PURGE PUTS HUNDREDS ON LEAVE, NIXES $420M IN CONTRACTS The directive, addressed to “heads of executive departments and agencies,” detailed that agency chiefs must craft plans that include details such as how they will “revise telework agreements for all eligible employees,” as well as “provide timelines for the return of all eligible employees to in-person work as expeditiously as possible, including the date that the agency will be in full compliance,” and “describe agency’s process for determining exceptions based on disability, qualifying medical condition, and or other compelling reason.” Both the acting director of OMB, Matthew J. Vaeth, and OPM acting director, Charles Ezell, issued the memo. The directive comes after Trump railed against federal employees working from home years after the pandemic and social distancing mandates ended. On his first day in office, Trump issued a presidential action calling on federal agencies to terminate remote work. TRUMP DHS MAKES KEY MOVE AGAINST MIGRANTS ALLOWED IN VIA CONTROVERSIAL BIDEN PAROLE PROGRAMS Executive branch department and agency heads “shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary,” the Jan. 20 presidential action read. The OMB issued another memo on Monday that pauses all federal grants and loans, out of an effort to end “‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government,” and to promote “efficiency in government.” “Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” the memo, obtained by Fox Digital reads. The pause takes effect at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The memo explained that out of the $10 trillion spent by the federal government in fiscal year 2024, $3 trillion was allocated to “federal financial assistance, such as grants and loans.” “Career and political appointees in the Executive Branch have a duty to align Federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through Presidential priorities,” the memo states. “Financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America, eliminating the financial burden of inflation for citizens, unleashing American energy and manufacturing, ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again.” The memo was sent to all heads of executive departments and agencies by Vaeth. “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” it adds. Agency chiefs are required to submit “detailed information on any programs, projects or activities subject to this pause” to the OMB by Feb. 10 for review. Agency leaders were directed in another memo sent Monday by OPM to review government positions that could be moved to the Trump administration’s new “schedule policy/career” federal employee classification. Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office focused on federal employees who hold sway over policy decisions, as part of an effort to “maintain professionalism and accountability within the civil service,” which Trump’s order said was “sorely lacking.” The executive order created a new “schedule policy/career” federal employee classification, which will work to remove civil protections from federal employees in “policy-influencing” positions, making the individuals more vulnerable for termination. TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW Trump’s executive order creates a new classification “for positions that are of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy- advocating character (policy-influencing positions) and filled by individuals not normally subject to replacement or change as a result of a Presidential transition. Such career positions will be rescheduled into Schedule Policy/Career,” the memo stated. The memo states that agency leaders have until April 20 to craft a plan on positions that would shift to the new classification. The 90-day period for review began on Jan. 20, when Trump signed the executive order. “Agencies have 90 days to conduct a preliminary review of positions and submit petitions, with an additional 120 days to finalize their review and submit any remaining petitions,” the memo reads. “Agencies may, and are encouraged to, submit such petitions on a rolling basis.”
Pete Buttigieg giving ‘serious look’ to 2026 Senate run in Trump-won Michigan
Former Secretary of Transportation and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is not ruling out a possible Senate run in Michigan in 2026, following Sen. Gary Peters’ decision not to seek re-election. “Pete is exploring all of his options on how he can be helpful and continue to serve,” a source familiar with the millennial Democrat’s thinking told Fox News Digital. “He’s honored to be mentioned for this, and he’s taking a serious look.” GARY PETERS, DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM TRUMP STATE, WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION Buttigieg’s potential interest in running for Senate was first reported by Axios. “I always thought there would be a time that I would step aside and pass the reins for the next generation. I also never saw service in Congress as something you do your whole life,” Peters told the Detroit News in an interview published on Tuesday. TRUMP’S MOST VULNERABLE NOMINEES RFK JR, TULSI GABBARD GET BACK-TO-BACK HEARINGS “And that goes back to 2008 when I first won that House seat. I thought it would be for a matter of a few terms that I would serve, and then I would go back to private life,” he said. Peters chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) twice and oversaw Democrat Elissa Slotkin’s Senate win in Michigan in 2024, despite the state swinging for President Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE Following Peters’ announcement, DSCC spokesman David Bergstein said in a statement, “No Republican has won a Michigan Senate race in 30 years – including last cycle when Democrats won an open Senate seat even as Trump won the state – and Democrats will continue to hold this seat in 2026.” TIM SCOTT EMPHASIZES ‘RESULTS’ OVER RECONCILIATION PROCESS AS HE STAYS OUT OF DEBATE National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., said in his own statement, “Gary Peters is reading the room. After spending years ignoring illegal immigration and destroying his state’s auto industry, Michigan is better off without him. We’re committed to giving them a fighter that will stand with President Trump to restore the economic prosperity and security of our country.”
Dozens of former intel officials urge senators to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence
EXCLUSIVE: Dozens of top former intelligence officials are urging members of the Senate to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, saying she will “begin undoing the gross politicization that has come to characterize intelligence bureaucracies,” Fox News Digital has learned. Former White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, Navy SEAL veteran and member of the intelligence community Erik Prince and more than four dozen other former intelligence officials penned a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., on Monday, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. TRUMP APPOINTS TULSI GABBARD AS DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ‘FEARLESS SPIRIT’ “We, the undersigned former intelligence and national security officials, urge members of the United States Senate to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to serve as President Trump’s Director of National Intelligence,” they wrote. “Her service as DNI will begin undoing the gross politicization that has come to characterize intelligence bureaucracies, which has been to the great detriment of the freedom and security of the United States and its citizens.” The officials said Gabbard’s experience “more than qualifies her for this important position.” Gabbard is a military officer with more than 20 years of service and multiple combat deployments. She also served in the U.S. House of Representatives for eight years and served on numerous national security committees. The officials said Gabbard was “an outspoken champion for America’s warriors and for our cherished constitutional freedoms.” “In both these roles, she experienced first-hand how intelligence, when used as intended, provides critical support to America’s military and political leaders,” they wrote. “When intelligence was abused, Lt. Col. Gabbard spoke up and insisted on safeguards.” PATEL, GABBARD TO APPEAR BEFORE SENATE COMMITTEES NEXT WEEK The officials said that “in contrast to the many former senior intelligence officials who politicized their profession and disgraced themselves by running misinformation operations to undermine the President of the United States—such as by signing the infamous Biden laptop ‘Russian disinformation’ letter or appearing on partisan programs to knowingly mislead the public with false claims of inside knowledge and access to classified information—Lt. Col. Gabbard stood up for truth, integrity, and following the facts.” The officials said those are “precisely the values necessary for the leader of the intelligence community.” “As former collectors, analysts, consumers, and enablers of intelligence, we support Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard to lead the IC,” they wrote. “She has the integrity, and moral courage, to restore objectivity and professionalism to the nation’s intelligence agencies.” The letter comes as Gabbard has come under scrutiny from some senators who have been critical of her intelligence experience. But allies of Gabbard have defended her record, and said it is critical that someone with “fresh eyes” and “without bias” lead the intelligence community. They also have argued that Gabbard knows, firsthand, the consequences of inaccurate intelligence, given her service in the War on Terror. TULSI GABBARD CHANGES TUNE ON CONTROVERSIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOL FOLLOWING GOP LOBBYING “She has seen the true cost of war,” a source close to Gabbard’s confirmation process told Fox News Digital. “It is a strength, not a weakness, that she doesn’t have direct prior intel agency experience,” the source continued. “She has been a consumer during her time deployed overseas — but not having direct agency background is a strength as she will come in with clear eyes and no bias to the intel community which needs to regain the trust of the American people and not be used as a political tool weaponized against them.” Gabbard’s confirmation hearing with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is scheduled to take place Thursday morning. Trump has argued that Gabbard will bring a “fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights and securing Peace through Strength.” The director of national intelligence leads the U.S. intelligence community, which includes overseeing the National Intelligence Program and advising the president on security matters. Gabbard has served as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves since 2021, after previously serving in the Hawaii Army National Guard for about 17 years. She was elected to the U.S. House representing Hawaii during the 2012 election cycle, serving as a Democrat until 2021. She did not seek re-election to that office after she entered the 2020 White House race. Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022, registering as an independent before becoming a member of the GOP in 2024 and offering her full endorsement of Trump amid his presidential campaign. Gabbard has received the support of dozens of national security officials, and in December received endorsements from more than 250 veterans, including high-profile names such as retired Gen. Michael Flynn and former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller.
Trans inmate’s lawsuit challenges Trump ‘two-sexes’ order cutting off tax money for gender therapy
A transgender inmate receiving taxpayer-funded medical treatments has launched the first lawsuit against the Trump administration and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that puts an end to medical transgender treatments for federal prisoners. Trump’s executive order, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” prohibits federal funds from being “expended for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.” The order also declares there are only “two-sexes.” The unnamed inmate, who goes by “Maria Moe” in court documents and is represented by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lowenstein Sandler LLP, has been on medical hormones since they were a teenager and has not been housed in a men’s facility since their conviction. STATE AGS WARN RETAIL GIANT COSTCO FOR DOUBLING DOWN ON ‘DISCRIMINATORY’ DEI Once Trump signed the executive order, Moe was transferred to a men’s prison facility, and BOP records changed the sex from “female” to “male,” the complaint says. The lawsuit, first reported by Reuters, claims Trump’s executive order will lead to transgender women “who are incarcerated in federal prisons” being “unlawfully transferred to men’s facilities and denied medically necessary healthcare.” “If Maria Moe is transferred to a men’s facility, she will not be safe,” the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Sunday, claims. “She will be at an extremely high risk of harassment, abuse, violence, and sexual assault. She may be subject to strip searches by male correctional officers.” “She may be forced to shower in full view of men who are incarcerated. And she will predictably experience worsening gender dysphoria,” the complaint continued. Moe is claiming Trump and the BOP are violating the Fifth and Eighth Amendments and claims they are “at imminent risk of losing access to the medical care she needs to treat her gender dysphoria.” TRUMP LOOKS TO ENFORCE TRANS INMATE CRACKDOWN AS NEW ACTING FEDERAL PRISONS CHIEF TAPPED Prior to Trump’s reversal of BOP gender dysphoria policies, the BOP began funding transgender surgical procedures for transgender inmates in December 2022, with Donna Langan – formerly known as Peter Kevin Langan – becoming the first federal prisoner to undergo transition on the taxpayer dollar. Langan was convicted in 1997 for involvement in a series of armed bank robberies across the Midwest during the 1990s. Langan was a leader of the Aryan Republican Army, a White supremacist group that carried out these robberies to fund their activities, according to court documents. Langan’s gender transition followed years of advocacy and legal action, including a landmark settlement in 2021, when the BOP agreed to provide gender transition surgery to Cristina Nichole Iglesias, who was convicted in 1994 for threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction against British officials. TRUMP’S ‘TWO SEXES’ EXECUTIVE ORDER COMES ON HEELS OF SCOTUS ACCEPTING ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO LGBT AGENDA In the past year, multiple lawsuits have been filed over the denial of gender transition treatments for incarcerated individuals. Autumn Cordellioné, a transgender woman serving 55 years in Indiana for the murder of their 11-month-old stepdaughter, sued the state for refusing to conduct transgender surgery. In April 2024, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice sued Utah’s Department of Corrections, alleging it created unnecessary barriers to gender dysphoria treatment for inmates. In September 2024, Reiyn Keohane, a transgender woman imprisoned in Florida, filed suit against the state’s Department of Corrections. Keohane alleged officials violated the Eighth Amendment for discontinuing hormone therapy and access to female clothing and grooming products, despite Keohane’s prior diagnosis and treatment for gender dysphoria. Fox News Digital has reached out to Moe’s attorneys, the White House and BOP.
Vance to address House Republicans at Trump hotel amid division over budget bill
House Republicans are set to hear from Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, the second day of their annual issues conference, as they work to chart a path forward on plans for a massive conservative policy overhaul. GOP lawmakers have chosen sunny South Florida for their annual retreat. In a sign of President Donald Trump‘s enduring influence on his party, the three-day event is being held at the commander in chief’s golf course and resort in Doral. It is not clear yet what Vance is expected to say, but a copy of the lawmakers’ schedule for the week obtained by Fox News Digital suggests the discussion will primarily focus on the budget reconciliation process. JD VANCE CONDEMNS FEMA’S RESPONSE TO HELENE DEVASTATION IN 1ST TRIP AS VICE PRESIDENT Republicans have been negotiating for weeks on how to use their razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate to pass massive conservative policy changes through the reconciliation process. By reducing the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to a 51-seat simple majority, reconciliation allows a party in control of both congressional chambers to enact sweeping changes, provided they are relevant to budgetary and fiscal policy. However, there has been some disagreement for weeks over how to package the GOP’s priorities. Senate Republicans have pushed for breaking the package up into two bills in order to score early victories on border security and energy policy, while leaving the more complex issue of tax reform for a second bill. TOP JD VANCE POLITICAL ADVISORS TO STEER RAMASWAMY RUN FOR OHIO GOVERNOR House Republican leaders, however, are concerned that the heavy political lift that passing a reconciliation bill entails would mean lawmakers run out of time before they can extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which expire at the end of this year. Vance has not publicly said which approach he favors. Trump, who previously called for one “big, beautiful bill,” was less committed to the strategy during his own remarks to House Republicans in Florida on Monday night. “Whether it’s one bill, two bills, I don’t care,” he said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he wants the House to have passed a reconciliation bill by early spring.
Illinois ‘super mayor’ conducted ‘systematic’ cover-up of excessive spending, Lightfoot investigation finds
Dolton, Illinois, Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s administration was engaged in a “systematic effort” to cover up the Illinois town’s financial situation as Henyard and other officials failed to track the spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to an investigation by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Lightfoot, who now works as a consultant with Charles River Associates, was tasked with investigating Henyard’s administration last year, and she presented her findings at a meeting Monday night. Henyard has served as the city’s self-styled “super-mayor” since 2021. “Beginning at least as early as late 2021, there was a concerted, systematic effort on behalf of Mayor Henyard and others in her administration to hide the true financial condition of the Village of Dolton from the trustees and from members of the public,” Lightfoot said. Lightfoot said the Village of Dolton received some $3 million in payments from the American Rescue Plan, hundreds of thousands of which went missing without receipts. Henyard failed to appoint an official to track how the funds were spent, as required by the Treasury Department, according to Lightfoot’s report. SCANDAL-RIDDEN ILLINOIS MAYOR LOSES TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR NOMINATION IN HISTORIC CAUCUS The city’s credit card spending also spiked to $779,638 in 2023, also with little to no tracking. “Many of the credit card expenditures have no accompanying receipt, and the statements alone provide limited information about the purchases,” the report says, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. FELLOW DEMOCRATIC MAYOR BACKS TIFFANY HENYARD’S VOTER SUPPRESSION CLAIMS: ‘TELLING THE TRUTH’ City credit cards were also used to pay for large trips to Las Vegas in both 2022 and 2023, and the report claims, “There is no evidence that any business development opportunities came to the village as a result of either of these two trips.” Lightfoot’s report comes just days after Henyard was found in contempt of court for stonewalling liquor licenses. The owners of St. Patrick’s, a three-story restaurant and banquet hall on Lincoln Avenue, sued in August claiming the mayor had repeatedly promised to sign the liquor licenses – which were already approved by the village board of trustees – but did not. In court on Wednesday, Henyard, who also serves as the village liquor commissioner, reportedly vowed again that she would sign the licenses, but she did not before the 5 p.m. Thursday deadline. The parties were therefore forced to return to court again Friday, and Henyard arrived a half hour late for the hearing, WGN-TV reported. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Cook County Judge Cecilia Horan held Henyard in indirect criminal contempt. That means the mayor was considered “disrespectful to the authority of the court,” Adrian Vuckovich, an attorney for the owners of St. Patrick’s, told WMAQ-TV. “It’s been a challenge to put it mildly. It shouldn’t be so difficult. This is an ordinary event to get liquor licenses issued,” Vuckovich told WGN separately. Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
Mike Lee floats allowing private parties to target drug cartels for profit
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has floated the idea of the U.S. green-lighting private parties to target drug cartels for profit. The senator laid out the proposal in posts on X. “Letters of marque and reprisal are government-issued commissions that authorize private citizens (privateers) to perform acts that would otherwise be considered piracy, like attacking enemy ships during wartime,” Lee explained. “Privateers are rewarded with a cut of the loot they ‘bring home.’” MIKE LEE CONTINUES CALLING FOR ABOLITION OF TSA The lawmaker pointed out that the U.S. Constitution authorizes Congress to “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal,” and suggested that this power could be leveraged against drug cartels. “Congress could issue letters of marque and reprisal authorizing private security firms or specially trained civilians to intercept cartel operations, particularly those involving drug shipments or human trafficking across borders,” Lee wrote, adding, “Focus on disrupting supply lines, capturing high-value targets, or seizing assets like boats, vehicles, cash, gold, or equipment used in criminal activities.” Lee suggested that this method of contending with cartels would lower costs to American taxpayers, since privateers would be paid a portion of what they capture and bring back to the U.S. SEN MIKE LEE: REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS MUST IMMEDIATELY ADVANCE TRUMP’S MAGA AGENDA “Dismissing the possible use of letters of marque to combat Mexican drug cartels—either on the basis of ‘international law’ or otherwise—overlooks the clear and present threat posed by those cartels to the U.S.,” he wrote. “This could prove to be an effective alternative to war.” Lee noted that in such a scenario, privateers would only profit from “non-contraband,” and that cartel drugs would be destroyed, not sold. “One pitfall as a practical matter might be that a lot of the property belonging to these cartels isn’t … easy to monetize — because the products they sell are illegal,” he wrote. “That could make it difficult to incentivize and reward them, as ‘prize courts’ (historically the government’s tool used for selling the seized assets and assessing how much money each privateer is able to receive) obviously wouldn’t be able to sell drugs,” Lee indicated. “But these cartels have a lot of non-contraband assets, including many things (gold, cash, etc.) that could be seized by privateers, returned to the U.S., liquidated, and used to reward the seizures.” SENATE CONFIRMS KRISTI NOEM AS TRUMP’S DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY Rep. Chip Roy responded to Lee’s proposal by describing it in a tweet as “worthy of consideration.” “This would work very fast,” Elon Musk said of the idea in a post.
‘Just like Trump’: ISIS murder victim Kayla Mueller’s parents endorse Patel for FBI following military op role
FIRST ON FOX: Carl and Marsha Mueller, the parents of ISIS murder victim Kayla Mueller, offered their full endorsement of Kash Patel for FBI director, after years of building a personal relationship with the Trump administration nominee. “He loves his country. He loves the people of this country,” Marsha Mueller told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview via Zoom on Monday morning. “To us, you know, he is a person that we would go to for help. And he is so action oriented.” “Just like Trump,” Carl Mueller added to his wife’s comments on Patel’s action-motivated personality. The Muellers wrote a letter this week to Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., of the Senate Judiciary Committee, offering their full endorsement of Patel to serve as director of the FBI under the second Trump administration. Their daughter Kayla was abducted by terrorists while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, in 2013, when she was assisting with humanitarian efforts amid the country’s bloody civil war. She was held hostage for 18 months, when she was believed to be repeatedly tortured and raped by ISIS militants, including then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. ‘WHEN THEY FAIL, AMERICANS DIE’: TRUMP SOURCE BLASTS FBI, URGES SWIFT CONFIRMATION OF KASH PATEL AS DIRECTOR She was killed in 2015 — with her parents speaking to Fox Digital just days ahead of the 10-year anniversary of her death, on Feb. 6. Patel served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council during the first Trump administration, which put him in the Mueller’s orbit when he assisted in overseeing the military operation to eliminate ISIS chief al-Baghdadi in 2019. “We would like to add our voices to those in support of Kash Patel’s nomination to be the director of the FBI,” the Mueller’s letter to Senate lawmakers and obtained by Fox News Digital reads. “Any family who has lived through such an experience will know the value of dedicated, compassionate law enforcement officials.” “Because we have watched him at his work over time, and because we have personal experience of his dedication, we know that Kash Patel is such a person,” the letter continues. “We continue to see in him a genuinely kind, thoughtful, action-oriented man who focuses on what is true and right and just. He loves our country and our citizens and wants the best for us all. He wants our country to be the best it can be.” Patel personally has been at the Muellers side over the past five years, they told Fox News Digital. He has stood out from the crowd as a federal government employee who sincerely cares for Americans who are suffering and will pick up the phone “night or day” to speak with them following the tragic loss of their daughter. “I’m confident if I texted him right now, he would get back to me before this interview is over,” Carl Mueller said. ‘BEACON OF SELFLESSNESS’: ISIS VICTIM KAYLA MUELLER HONORED AT CONGRESSMAN’S SWEARING-IN 10 YEARS AFTER DEATH NATIONAL SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATION SLAMS STATE OF POLICING UNDER BIDEN, THROWS FULL SUPPORT BEHIND PATEL FOR FBI Patel previously served as a public defender in Florida’s Miami-Dade area, as well as a Department of Justice official during the Obama administration, when he won awards for his prosecution and conviction of 12 terrorists responsible for the World Cup bombings in 2010. Patel hit the national radar during Trump’s first administration, including when he worked as a national security advisor and senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence under the leadership of then-Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. The Muellers reflected on the first time they met with Patel at the White House nearly five years ago when he served on the National Security Council, and how he told them to contact him at any time with questions about their daughter or to just talk. “We actually met Kash — we were back in D.C. at the White House, and he actually came to us and found us. That’s the first time we met him and wanted us to go meet with him and National Security Advisor, [Robert O’Brien]. So that’s how we first came to meet him. So it’s been almost five years ago. And they wanted to sit down and talk with us about Kayla. And we told them that we were working, and we’re still working with, [former FBI agent] Ali Soufan. And they told us to continue to work with him and they would help in any way they could. And so that was our first meeting,” Marsha Mueller said. In their letter endorsing Patel, the Muellers reflected on the nominee’s note to them encouraging them to reach out, which came as a departure from their treatment under the Obama administration, they said. “It was actually after that first meeting when we met him, and he wrote us the note, and he said, ‘Please contact me at any time, day or night, with whatever questions you may have, or simply if you just need someone to speak with. I’ll always answer your call.’ And, you know, he’s kept every promise he’s ever made to us, as we knew we would from meeting him that first time,” Marsha Mueller told Fox News Digital. PARENTS OF ISIS VICTIM KAYLA MUELLER REFLECT ON THEIR LOSS The Muellers previously spoke out against the Obama administration’s handling of their daughter’s captivity in Syria, repeatedly saying she would not have been murdered if Trump was in office when she was taken hostage. Carl Mueller underscored the conviction in his interview on Monday, adding that the second Trump administration not only reopens lines of communication for his family, but extends hope to families around the country who have loved ones in the hands of terrorists. “We didn’t want to forget to mention to the families of current American hostages that their chances of getting their loved ones home have exponentially increased with the Trump