After second meeting with Hegseth, Ernst hints at whether she will or won’t support confirmation
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate and a member of the Armed Services Committee, has signaled toward supporting President-elect Trump’s nominee for defense secretary. After meeting on Monday for a second time with Pete Hegseth, Ernst wrote in a statement that “as I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.” An Army National Guard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who until last month was a longtime Fox News host, Hegseth has been the focus of a slew of reports spotlighting a series of drinking and sexual misconduct allegations. Hegseth has denied allegations that he mistreated women and has vowed that he won’t drink “a drop of alcohol” if confirmed as defense secretary. A separate report showcased allegations Hegseth mismanaged a veterans nonprofit organization that he once led. TRUMP RALLIES BEHIND HEGSETH BUT INVITES DESANTIS TO ARMY-NAVY GAME Ernst, a conservative lawmaker first elected to the Senate in 2014, is considered a pivotal vote in the confirmation battle over Hegseth, who in the past has questioned the role of women in combat. The senator is also a survivor of sexual assault who has a strong legislative record of addressing sexual assault and harassment in the military. She said in her statement that “following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women – based on quality and standards, not quotas – and who will prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks.” TRUMP ORBIT RAMPS UP CRITICISM OF ERNST OVER HEGSETH NOMINATION Ernst’s office told Fox News on Monday that “the senator has consistently followed the process, which she has said since the beginning, and doing her job as a United States senator.” After meeting with Hegseth last week, Ernst said in a social media post that she and Trump’s defense secretary nominee had a “frank and thorough” conversation. A day later, when asked in an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” if she wasn’t ready to vote to confirm Hegseth, the senator replied, “I think you are right.” Ahead of his second meeting with the senator, Hegseth told Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie, “I’m really looking forward to meeting with Sen. Ernst. I appreciate her. I respect her background and her service. She’s incredible. And the ongoing conversation has been very fruitful.” Over the past few days, a high-profile Trump ally has threatened to fuel a primary challenge against Ernst when she’s up for re-election in 2026. “This is the red line. This is not a joke. … The funding is already being put together. Donors are calling like crazy. Primaries are going to be launched,” said Charlie Kirk, an influential conservative activist and radio and TV host who co-founded and steers Turning Point USA. GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR? Kirk, on his radio program, warned that “if you support the president’s agenda, you’re good. You’re marked safe from a primary. You go up against Pete Hegseth, the president repeatedly, then don’t be surprised, Joni Ernst, if all of a sudden you have a primary challenge in Iowa.” In Iowa, conservative commentator and media personality Steve Deace took to social media and used his radio program to highlight that he would consider launching a primary challenge against Ernst. “Defeating an incumbent US Senator takes high name ID, connections, and funding potential,” Deace wrote. “I’m one of the few people in Iowa with all three.” Deace, who supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in this year’s Iowa GOP presidential caucus, said, “I don’t want to be a Senator, but I am willing to primary her for the good of the cause if I’m assured I have Trump’s support going in. Or I am willing to throw my support and network behind someone else President Trump prefers to primary Joni Ernst instead.” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a top Trump supporter in the Iowa caucuses, wrote a column on Breitbart urging Hegseth’s confirmation. While she didn’t mention Ernst by name, Bird took aim at “D.C. politicians” who “think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years.” David Kochel, a veteran GOP consultant who was a key strategist and early backer of Ernst during her successful 2014 Senate campaign, told Fox News that “Joni Ernst is doing what the Constitution says what her job is, which is advise and consent.” “I think that everybody should just give her the space to do her job, and making threats to a combat veteran usually doesn’t work out great,” Kochel said. Trump has praised Hegseth in the past few days. “Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News,” the president-elect wrote on Friday. But Fox News and other news organizations have reported that Trump is potentially considering nominating DeSantis as defense secretary as a possible replacement should Hegseth’s nomination falter. Ernst’s name has also come up as a possible replacement. But the senator said last week in an interview with RealClearPolitics that “I am not seeking to be secretary of defense.” Fox News’ Chad Pergram, Tyler Olson and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
GOP senator questions FBI over reported Iranian hack attempt of Trump pick Kash Patel
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is looking for answers from the FBI after a selection by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the bureau was reportedly targeted by Iranian hackers. “For an Iranian-backed group to have targeted the potential next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is extremely alarming. Also alarming is the speed at which sensitive and potentially classified information about this attack spread to the news media,” the North Carolina senator penned in a Monday letter to FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. JOHN CORNYN ‘INCLINED’ TO BACK TRUMP FBI PICK KASH PATEL AFTER SENATE MEETING It was reported by several outlets last week that Kash Patel, who Trump has chosen to be his nominee for FBI director in his new administration, was the target of an Iranian hacking attempt. DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS APPOINT INCOMING CALIFORNIA, NEW JERSEY SENATORS 3 WEEKS EARLY In response to reports of the hack attempt, Trump Transition spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer told Fox News Digital, “Kash Patel was a key part of the first Trump administration’s efforts against the terrorist Iranian regime and will implement President Trump’s policies to protect America from adversaries as the FBI Director.” LARA TRUMP ANNOUNCES SHE IS STEPPING DOWN AS RNC CO-CHAIR AMIDST TALK SHE MAY BE UP FOR FLORIDA SENATE SEAT In his letter, Tillis pointed to various law enforcement sources that apparently communicated with news publications. “As you know, it is imperative that the FBI and other intelligence agencies maintain confidentiality to ensure the American people are safe from enemies at home and abroad. The release of this information raises major national security and personal safety concerns,” he wrote. CONSERVATIVE GROUP COMPILES LIST OF ‘WOKE’ SENIOR OFFICERS THEY WANT PETE HEGSETH TO FIRE The Republican asked Abbate a series of questions, including whether FBI employees shared information about the cyberattack with either media or with third parties that could’ve given it to media. The FBI told Fox News Digital that it received the letter but had no further comment. Patel has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill and meeting with senators as he looks to shore up support before Trump is inaugurated in January.
Fox News Politics: Grassley Rips Wray
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. What’s happening… -Biden breaks Obama record for filling Federal Registers… -Elon Musk and Ron Paul agree on cutting foreign aid… -Laura Trump resigns from RNC as rumors of a Senate run swirl… Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley doubled down that he believes Christopher Wray has failed his “fundamental duties” as FBI director in a blistering letter expressing he has “no confidence” in Wray’s continued leadership over the agency. “For the good of the country, it’s time for you and your deputy to move on to the next chapter in your lives. I’ve spent my career fighting for transparency, and I’ve always called out those in government who have fought against it,” Grassley wrote in a letter to Wray on Monday morning, referring also to the FBI’s deputy director Paul Abbate. “For the public record, I must do so once again now.” Grassley went on to say he “must express my vote of no confidence in your continued leadership of the FBI. President-elect Trump has already announced his intention to nominate a candidate to replace you, and the Senate will carefully consider that choice. For my part, I’ve also seen enough, and hope your respective successors will learn from these failures,” Grassley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, continued…Read more ‘GOVT KNOWS BEST’: Biden breaks Obama record for filling Federal Register with most regulations …Read more ‘LEADING BY EXAMPLE’: White House responds to intraparty criticism about Biden’s final days …Read more THWARTING THE ENEMY: Pentagon announces new counter-drone strategy as unmanned attacks on US interests skyrocket …Read more CEDING THE FLOOR: Progressive Dems rage at Biden for giving Trump the spotlight during final weeks in office …Read more ‘HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY’: Biden updates the nation following fall of Syrian Assad regime …Read more ‘SERIOUS AND GROWING THREAT’: Pro-life groups sound off after Trump says he will not restrict abortion pills: ‘Serious and growing threat’ …Read more PRESSURE CAMPAIGN: Elon Musk joins Trump allies in House GOP pressure campaign over social media bill …Read more ‘ASSAULT ON THE RULE OF LAW’: Cheney responds to Trump suggesting jail time for J6 committee members …Read more ‘INTEGRITY CANNOT BE FOLDED’: Hundreds of vets back Tulsi Gabbard for DNI …Read more ROAD TO FBI: John Cornyn ‘inclined’ to back Trump FBI pick Kash Patel after Senate meeting …Read more ‘BIASED,’ ‘WRONG’: Top Dem objects to defense bill banning funds for transgender medical care for minors …Read more BIG APPLE SHOWDOWN: House Dem’s torrent of attacks against own party fuels primary showdown buzz …Read more ‘NOT WRONG’: Elon Musk agrees with Ron Paul’s call to ‘ELIMINATE foreign aid’ …Read more SENATOR TRUMP?: Lara Trump announces she is stepping down as RNC co-chair amidst talk she may be up for Florida Senate seat …Read more EARLY START: Dem senators-elect start weeks in advance by filling vacancies in CA, NJ …Read more ‘SANITY IS RETURNING’: ‘Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day’ leaves folks looking forward to Trump …Read more BAD FOR BUSINESS: Execs scramble for security after UnitedHealthcare CEO murder: experts …Read more ‘DIPLOMATIC’: Trump’s tariff threats are tools in Trump’s ‘war chest’ to advance U.S. interests …Read more END OF AN ERA: Hunter Biden: A look at how the saga spanning over six years unfolded …Read more WINNING SCENT: Trump releases new fragrances in ad featuring first lady : ‘They represent us WINNING’ …Read more HISTORIC OFFENSIVE: Who is Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the terror leader at the center of Assad’s fall? …Read more WHY TRUMP WON: Donald Trump says this is the reason he won last month’s presidential election …Read more RESISTING THE LAW: Blue state attorney general advises state officials on how to resist ‘draconian’ Trump deportations …Read more ‘DERAILING’ MIGRANT CRIME: Report offers roadmap to defeat Tren de Aragua in US cities …Read more
Here is who is vying for power in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad
The fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the culmination of years of civil war, has given way to a power vacuum with different factions protecting their own interests – and vying for power in the Middle Eastern nation. The U.S., worried about the resurgence of an ISIS stronghold, has struck targets associated with the Islamic State in central Syria. Turkey, which controls a zone of Syria on its northern border, has continued to attack U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. Both work with different proxy groups. Here’s a look at the different forces vying for control in the region: HTS was the key faction behind the fall of Damascus and the fleeing of Assad, and now controls the capital city. But the Islamist militant group is far from a U.S. ally – its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head and has been designated a terrorist since 2013. The group governed just a sliver of northwest Syria in Idlib. ISRAEL DEPLOYS PARATROOPERS TO SYRIA IN ‘DEFENSE ACTIVITIES’ AFTER FALL OF ASSAD The group, founded as an al Qaeda affiliate, still remains largely aligned with al Qaeda but focuses on establishing fundamentalist Islamic rule in Syria rather than a global caliphate. The U.N., U.S. and Turkey all designate HTS as a terrorist organization. The group, in recent years, has worked to soften its image and lobbied to be delisted as a terrorist group, highlighting its government services in Idlib and promising to protect religious and cultural sites, even churches, in Aleppo. Experts believe Turkey, which has long looked to topple Assad, may have been at play in HTS’ offensive. Syria’s forces loyal to Assad have staved off coup attempts since 2011, often through violent crackdowns on protests and rebellion. By 2020, government troops backed by Iran, Russia and Lebanese Hezbollah had pushed rebel forces back to the northwest corner of Syria. In the waning days of November, rebel factions swiftly overpowered government troops, seizing control of Aleppo – a city previously reclaimed by Assad’s forces in 2016. Eight days later, the insurgents successfully captured not only Aleppo, but also Hama, Homs and Damascus. On Monday, HTS granted Assad’s forces “a general amnesty for all military personnel conscripted under compulsory service.” “Their lives are safe and no one may assault them,” the group said in a statement. The SNA is a loosely bound coalition of Turkish-backed forces primarily intent on fighting Kurdish forces. But the coalition, which carries out Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s anti-Assad efforts, was also involved in the fall of Damascus. The groups have – in the past – also battled HTS and other Islamic State terrorists. The SNA coalition believes U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria to be linked to Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group that has launched Kurdish nationalist attacks in Turkey. SDF is a coalition of U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, centered in northeastern Syria. They have long worked alongside the U.S. in battling Islamic State forces in Syria. In addition to fighting the Islamic State, they’ve been fending off attacks from Turkish-backed fighters. US STRIKES DOZENS OF ISIS CAMPS AND OPERATIVES IN SYRIA AMID ASSAD’S DOWNFALL Kurdish forces were not involved in the offensive that toppled Assad, but they hailed the offensive campaign. “In Syria, we are living through historic moments as we witness the fall of the authoritarian regime in Damascus. This change presents an opportunity to build a new Syria based on democracy and justice that guarantees the rights of all Syrians,” said Mazlum Abdi, the commander of the SDF, on Sunday morning. After relatively friendly relations with Syria throughout the early 2000s, Turkey condemned Assad over the violent 2011 crackdown on protesters. While Turkey and the U.S. are allies – bound to protect each other through NATO – they are on opposing sides in Syria, even as both celebrated Assad’s downfall. The Turkish military fired on U.S.-backed forces in Syria over the weekend, where fighting erupted between rebel groups in Manbij, a Kurdish-controlled city near Syria’s border with Turkey. Turkey has long had a goal of pushing the Kurds away from its border, and is looking to use the current turmoil to capture control along the border and decimate the Kurdish population there. Kurdish separatists have fought Turkey for years, looking to carve out their own autonomous nation. Russia has long propped up the Assad regime, and days ago granted the ousted leader asylum. Since 2015, Russia has effectively acted as Assad’s air force, but its capacity to intervene on the dictator’s behalf has diminished since resources were needed for the war with Ukraine. Iran was Assad’s biggest supporter, providing arms and military advice and directing its proxy Lebanese Hezbollah to fight the insurgents. But Hezbollah had to direct its troops back to Lebanon to fight Israel, leaving Assad’s forces in a weakened position. HTS leader al-Golani lamented in a speech on Sunday that Syria had become “a playground for Iranian ambitions.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited his forces’ weakening of Hezbollah for playing a key role in the fall of Assad. Israel has consistently launched strikes against Syria with the strategic aim of disrupting the channels Iran uses to supply arms to Hezbollah. After Assad’s fall, Israel, on Sunday, struck Assad’s chemical weapons facilities within Syria, for fear of what hands they may fall into in his absence. Israel also captured control of a buffer zone within the Golan Heights, the first time they’ve captured territory in Syria since the war in 1973. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) moved in on Sunday and told residents to remain in their homes until further notice. They said they needed to capture the territory to ensure border security. They also captured Mount Hermon – the highest point on the border between the two countries and a blind spot in their defenses that Iran had been exploiting to send low-flying drones. Some 900 U.S. troops remain in Syria, where they are partnered with the SDF to fight ISIS. On Sunday, President
Heritage report offers roadmap to defeat Tren de Aragua, the mega-gang taking over US cities
A new report released by the Heritage Foundation offers the first comprehensive English language look at the massive Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) whose cruel exploits in the U.S. have been making national headlines. The verdict? According to the report’s author, Joseph Humire, the threat America faces from Tren de Aragua is much worse than most people think. Titled “Derailing the Tren de Aragua,” the report offers U.S. leaders a starting point to understand the violent criminal organization that it says was “honed and perfected inside Venezuelan prison walls then exported throughout the Western Hemisphere.” Humire told Fox News Digital that he hopes the report will give the incoming Trump administration a starting point on how to respond to and dismantle the TdA before it can continue to grow more roots within U.S. borders. EX-ICE OFFICIAL WARNS TREN DE ARAGUA HAS GROWN FASTER INSIDE US THAN MURDEROUS RIVAL GANG: ‘PUT THEM OUT NOW’ “The TdA is unique among criminal organizations because it has an ideology associated with it,” Humire said in the report. “Now that the TdA is already present in America, to fix this, a proper understanding of the TdA is necessary to detect their motives, tactics, and overall strategy of organized crime.” Humire, who is director of the Center for a Secure and Free Society and a Heritage Foundation fellow, told Fox News Digital that the first thing to understand about Tren de Aragua is that it is much more than a gang. Rather, it is an organized international terrorist effort backed by some of America’s worst enemies to sow chaos and destabilize the U.S. Born from a Venezuelan prison more than a decade ago, Tren de Aragua, which means “Train from Aragua,” burst into the national consciousness in 2023 after reports of members of the group holding an entire apartment building hostage in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. Since then, reports of violent crimes by Tren de Aragua members have spread like wildfire, including the high-profile murders of nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston. AMERICANS WILL BE ‘TARGETED’ AS TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBERS MULTIPLY ACROSS US, EXPERT WARNS American media coverage and politicians have cast Tren de Aragua as a group of simple thugs and criminals. However, Humire’s report emphasizes that Tren de Aragua is a state-sponsored transnational criminal organization sponsored by and embedded in the Venezuelan socialist government. Rather than working to detect and deter criminals and terror, Humire said that key aspects of the Venezuelan government help facilitate TdA’s operations, not only within Venezuela but throughout the Western Hemisphere. With the backing of the Venezuelan government, he said TdA has an intentional “invasion ideology” that is bent on achieving territorial control of neighborhoods and regions in a matter of weeks rather than the yearslong process taken by most gangs and transnational criminal organizations. ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’: MEDIA, GOVERNMENT DOWNPLAYING VENEZUELAN GANGS, SAYS WOMAN WHO FLED HER COLORADO APARTMENT While many comparisons have been drawn between Tren de Aragua and the El Salvadoran gang La Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13), TdA is expanding much more quickly, which Humire said is likely due to its unique origin and state sponsorship in Venezuela. He also alleged that TdA’s rapid expansion in the United States is a “direct consequence of the Biden–Harris Administration’s failed immigration policies and lack of border enforcement.” The Biden Cuban, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans parole program and the Venezuelan parole program before it have made it so that in many cases Venezuelan migrants are being waved into the country en masse with little to no vetting. Because of these policies, the Venezuelan population in the U.S. has grown by nearly 1 million – 520.8% – becoming the fastest-growing nationality in the U.S. since 2021. The result has been that though TdA is new to the U.S., it now has a presence in more than 30 major U.S. cities and at least 100 federal investigations involving the group are underway, as the report puts it, “catching most of the U.S. law enforcement community by surprise.” COLORADO REPUBLICANS SOUND OFF ON IMPACT OF MIGRANT SURGE ON CITIZENS: ‘THEIR SOULS ARE CRUSHED’ In the first 100 days of his new administration, Humire said Trump should follow the example set by Texas’ efforts to root out the gang by delivering on his promise to launch an “Operation Aurora” to take a “whole-of-government approach” that uses federal resources within the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the military to complement state-led law enforcement efforts as well as partner with Latin American allies to hit TdA from every angle. “It is believed that the main TdA leaders have not yet arrived in America, meaning time is of the essence to take preventive measures,” says the report. Humire said the Trump Department of Homeland Security should immediately label TdA a transnational terror group and mark Venezuelan migrants as “special interest aliens.” This designation would reverse the Biden administration’s policy of waving in Venezuelan migrants and instead allow U.S. immigration officials to more properly vet Venezuelan migrants. Though this may sound controversial, Humire said it’s something that would not only better protect American citizens in the interior but also legitimize asylum seekers fleeing Venezuela. TEXAS HAS SPENT MILLIONS PLACING RAZOR WIRE ALONG BORDER: IS IT WORKING? “This is really meant to protect the Venezuelan migrants because just because you come from one of those countries,” he said. “Most Venezuelan migrants will actually agree with this because they don’t want to be infiltrated by Tren de Aragua, and all Venezuelan migrants know how brutal and dangerous Tren de Aragua truly is.” Humire said there are already positive signs from the Trump transition that the president-elect is serious about his promise to dismantle TdA. “I think that appointing the border czar so early in the transition process was a clear signal that that’s one of the top, if not the top priority of the new Trump administration,” he said. “And Tom Homan, who was appointed
Elon Musk joins Trump allies in House GOP pressure campaign over social media bill
Allies of President-elect Trump are pressuring House leaders to take up legislation overhauling how social media companies deal with users under 18 – but time is running short with just two weeks left in this congressional term. Elon Musk is among the figures in Trump’s orbit pushing for the legislation, and his company X has been involved in talks on reshaping the bill to alleviate concerns about some provisions. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) overwhelmingly passed the Senate earlier this year in a 91-3 vote. It hit a snag in the House of Representatives, however, where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., have both expressed reservations. House leaders were worried the bill would give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) too much power, and that it could open the door to censorship of certain viewpoints. ELON MUSK AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY AGREE ON ‘NEED TO SCRUTINIZE’ US FUNDING FOR NGOS “When X testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last January, we committed to working with Congress on child safety legislation. We’ve heard the pleas of parents and youth advocates who seek sensible guardrails across online platforms, and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) addresses that need. After working with the bill authors, I’m proud to share that we’ve made progress to further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online,” Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, wrote on the platform this weekend. “We urge Congress and the House to pass the Kids Online Safety Act this year.” Musk wrote in response, “Protecting kids should always be priority #1.” Donald Trump Jr., also sounded off Sunday, “We can protect free speech and our kids at the same time from Big Tech. It’s time for House Republicans to pass the Kids Online Safety Act ASAP.” “KOSA is the right thing to do to protect our kids from dangerous online content – while still preserving free speech. Let’s pass this commonsense legislation now!” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, also chimed in. The bill’s leaders, Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., thanked Musk and Yaccarino in their own statement. DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER OPEN TO ‘BIPARTISAN COOPERATION’ IN ELON MUSK’S DOGE PLANS “These changes should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans,” Blackburn and Blumenthal said. “We appreciate that this endorsement and revised text reflects their publicly stated goal of furthering free speech without fear of censorship. We reiterate X’s call to pass KOSA by the end of the year – it is clear that this legislation has overwhelming support from Congress.” Fox News Digital reached out to both Scalise and Johnson’s offices for comment on the most recent version of the bill and on the Trump allies’ push. When asked last week whether there could be a KOSA vote this month, Scalise told Fox News Radio, “We still are working through some of the problems that give power to, for example, to an unelected bureaucrat who’s under investigation for abuse of power.” Johnson told Punchbowl News in October that some details of the bill were “problematic.” At least one senior House GOP aide who spoke with Fox News Digital is not optimistic that much can be done in the last two weeks Congress has in Washington this year, however. When asked what the odds were of KOSA getting a House-wide vote this month, the aide bluntly responded via text: “0.” GOP SENATOR ANNOUNCES ‘DOGE ACTS’ TO BACK MUSK, RAMASWAMY GOVERNMENT COST-CUTTING OBJECTIVES Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP KOSA is one of the most significant social media safety bills passed by the Senate in years. It would put the onus on social media companies to prevent and mitigate potential harm that could be caused to users under age 17. The bill would also force platforms to block addictive components for minor users and make it easier for minors to protect their information, among other measures. Fox News Radio’s Ryan Schmelz contributed to this report.
Pro-life groups sound off after Trump says he will not restrict abortion pills: ‘Serious and growing threat’
Pro-life leaders are sounding off about the “serious and growing threat” of chemical abortion pills after President-elect Trump said he would not restrict access to the pills as president. Abortion pills, also known as chemical abortion, are now the most common abortion method, accounting for over 60% of all U.S. abortions. During an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” this past weekend, Trump was asked whether he would restrict abortion pill access via executive action. Trump responded definitively that “the answer is no.” TOP PRO-LIFE GROUPS REVEAL AGENDA FOR SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AMID ‘ABORTION FEARMONGERING’ He added: “I’ll probably stay with exactly what I’ve been saying for the last two years,” that abortion is a state, not a federal issue. Pressed whether he would commit to not restricting abortion pills, the president-elect said: “Well I commit” but noted circumstances may change. “Do things change? I think they change,” he went on, pointing to how President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden after repeatedly categorically committing otherwise. “I don’t like putting myself in a position like that,” he said. “So, things do change, but I don’t think it’s going to change at all.” BIDEN TEAM REPORTEDLY CONSIDERING PREEMPTIVE PARDONS FOR FAUCI, SCHIFF, OTHER TRUMP ‘TARGETS’ Chemical abortion access was significantly expanded under the Biden administration, which permanently removed a requirement for the pills to be administered through in-person appointments and allowed the drugs to be delivered via mail or obtained at retail pharmacies like CVS or Walgreens. In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said “unregulated, mail-order abortion drugs are a serious and growing threat to women’s health and safety, as well as the lives of countless unborn children, all across this country.” While she criticized the “reckless actions” of the Biden-Harris administration to expand abortion pill access, Dannenfelser said “no one who cares about the health and well-being of women can afford to ignore this issue.” Referring to the recent high-profile deaths of Catherine Herring, Amber Thurman, Candi Miller and Alyona Dixon due to abortion pill complications, Dannenfelser said “even the pro-abortion media can’t hide that these drugs are killing women and fueling dangerous new forms of domestic violence.” SUPREME COURT PRESERVES FULL ACCESS TO MEDICAL ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, indicated she was optimistic about Trump seeing the danger of unrestricted chemical abortion access, telling Fox News Digital: “Many leaders are just now learning about how the pills harm women and the environment.” “We have a lot to talk about with the Trump-Vance administration,” Hawkins said, adding, “President Trump has shown himself to be a reasonable leader who makes decisions based on the best information available.” “We hope to be agents of change, providing new information about how the changes made by the Biden-Harris administration on chemical abortion pill policy expose women to injury, infertility, and death, empowers abusers and allows for drinking water pollution through the flushing of medical waste,” she said. “So, we look forward to a frank discussion about what three Democratic Party presidents did to help their friends in Big Abortion Pharma. We can’t wait to give President Trump the new information he needs to act.” ABORTIONS SLIGHTLY DECLINED THE YEAR ROE V. WADE WAS OVERTURNED, CDC SAYS Meanwhile, Brian Burch, president of the conservative activism group “CatholicVote,” told Fox News Digital that Trump’s admission that “things do change,” signals “he would be open to addressing the overwhelming body of evidence that shows how harmful these drugs are to women.” “Big Pharma has exploited far too many women for too long, and the abortion industry should not get a pass when it comes to drug protocols and evidence-based regulations,” he said. “Given President Trump’s pro-life record, together with the personnel he has nominated to key positions, we remain hopeful the new administration will take a serious look at these drugs and act accordingly.”
Grassley rips Wray’s ‘failed’ leadership at FBI with 11 pages of examples in blistering ‘no confidence’ letter
Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley doubled down that he believes Christopher Wray has failed his “fundamental duties” as FBI director in a blistering letter expressing he has “no confidence” in Wray’s continued leadership over the agency. “For the good of the country, it’s time for you and your deputy to move on to the next chapter in your lives. I’ve spent my career fighting for transparency, and I’ve always called out those in government who have fought against it,” Grassley wrote in a letter to Wray on Monday morning, referring also to the FBI’s deputy director Paul Abbate. “For the public record, I must do so once again now.” Grassley went on to say he “must express my vote of no confidence in your continued leadership of the FBI. President-elect Trump has already announced his intention to nominate a candidate to replace you, and the Senate will carefully consider that choice. For my part, I’ve also seen enough, and hope your respective successors will learn from these failures,” Grassley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, continued. The longtime Republican senator’s letter comes as Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, headed to Capitol Hill on Monday to meet with lawmakers, including Grassley, and rally support for his confirmation. WHO IS KASH PATEL? TRUMP’S PICK TO LEAD FBI HAS LONG HISTORY VOWING TO BUST UP ‘DEEP STATE’ Before the Senate could potentially confirm Patel as FBI chief under the second Trump administration, Wray would need to step down or be fired, as he is in the midst of a 10-year appointment that does not end until 2027. Grassley’s lengthy letter to Wray, which spans 11 pages, detailed specific examples of Wray’s “failures” as FBI director, which Grassley said “shattered my confidence in your leadership and the confidence and hope many others in Congress placed in you.” The Iowa senator previously argued that Wray has “failed” as FBI director in a social media message posted one day after Trump nominated Patel as FBI chief. TRUMP NOMINATES KASH PATEL TO SERVE AS FBI DIRECTOR: ‘ADVOCATE FOR TRUTH’ Grassley pointed to the FBI’s “unprecedented raid” of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in August 2022 regarding classified documents as an example of Wray’s failures. The Republican senator noted the raid included about 30 armed agents who were authorized to “use lethal force if needed” in order to execute the search warrant. The agents “even searched the former First Lady’s clothing drawers,” Grassley continued. “This raid occurred despite serious questions about the need for it. President Trump apparently was cooperating with the investigation, notwithstanding liberal press reports. He voluntarily turned over 15 boxes of documents months before the FBI’s drastic escalation,” Grassley continued, adding that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton never faced such a raid “even though she and her staff mishandled highly classified information while using a non-government server.” SPECIAL COUNSEL, IRS WHISTLEBLOWERS SAY DON’T BUY BIDEN ‘SPIN’ ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN LEGAL SAGA He also hit the FBI for acting as an “accomplice to the Democrats’ false information campaign designed to undermine my investigation of alleged Biden-family corruption.” “On August 6, 2020, as Senator Ron Johnson and I were finishing our report on the Biden family’s financial connections to foreign governments and questionable foreign nationals, you succumbed to pressure from Democrats in Congress and provided an unnecessary briefing that Democratic leadership requested in an effort to falsely label our investigation as Russian disinformation.” FBI HAS LONG BEEN ACCUSED OF POLITICIZATION AHEAD OF DEM CONCERN OVER KASH PATEL NOMINATION “That briefing consisted of information we already knew and information that wasn’t connected to our Biden investigation. We made clear at the time our concern that the briefing would be subject to a leak that would shed false light on the focus of our investigation. Predictably, on May 1, 2021, the Washington Post did just that, falsely labeling our investigation as Russian disinformation,” he continued. He added that the FBI “sat on bribery allegations” against Biden when he served as vice president, as well as Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and Ukrainian officials. “Consistent with that FBI failure, yet another glaring example of FBI’s broken promises under your leadership is its inexcusable failure to investigate bribery allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, while strictly scrutinizing former President Trump. You’ve repeatedly claimed you would ensure the FBI does justice, ‘free of fear, favor, or partisan influence.’ The FBI under your watch, however, had possession of incriminating information against President Biden for three years until I exposed the existence of the record outlining those allegations, but did nothing to investigate it,” he wrote. Grassley argued that under Wray’s leadership, the FBI has also shown an “outright disdain for congressional oversight,” including failure to provide lawmakers with information related to the “FBI’s ongoing mishandling of sexual harassment claims” made by female employees. “This request was not pulled out of a hat. It was based on credible whistleblower disclosures alleging hundreds of FBI employees had retired or resigned to avoid accountability for sexual misconduct,” Grassley wrote. The FBI also “refused” to provide information to lawmakers regarding the vetting process of Afghan nationals amid the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from the nation in 2021, Grassley added. The FBI also came under fire from Grassley for “refusing to provide information to Congress on the FBI’s ‘Richmond memo,’” which has become known as the anti-Catholic memo for depicting traditional Catholics as violent extremists. TRUMP FBI PICK KASH PATEL SHOULD TAKE THESE CONCRETE STEPS TO RESTORE TRUST: FORMER SPECIAL AGENT “Your and Deputy Director Abbate’s failure to take control of the FBI has hindered my work and others’ work throughout multiple Congresses on matters that needed timely information, and has prevented the truth on some issues from ever reaching the American people. You’ve also shown a continuing double standard and failure to carry through on promises,” Grassley wrote in his letter. When asked about Grassley’s letter, the FBI told Fox News Digital that “the FBI has repeatedly demonstrated our commitment to responding
‘Gov’t knows best’: Biden admin breaks Obama record for filling Federal Register with most regulations
President Biden’s administration has filled up the Federal Register with more pages of regulations than any other president in history, breaking President Barack Obama’s record. As of last week, on Dec. 3, the Biden administration set a new federal record for the most Federal Register pages filled in a single year – 96,088. The number puts the administration on pace to fill more than 100,000 pages by the end of its term. The record was previously held by Obama, who, in the final year of his second term, filled 95,894 pages. EPA’S NEW RULE TO CHARGE OIL AND GAS COMPANIES FOR EMISSIONS COULD FACE A TRUMP RECKONING The Federal Register, which is published by the National Archives and Records Administration and overseen by the Office of the Federal Register, is a daily publication of new and amended federal regulations. “Federal Register page counts are a highly imperfect gauge of regulatory burden. Biden’s milestone, though, still underscores the expanding scope of federal intervention,” said Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., fellow at the Washington-based nonprofit the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “The record-setting 2024 Federal Register provides a stark reminder of the scale of the regulatory state, and it ain’t even done yet.” CONSTRUCTION TRADE GROUP LEADERS LOOK FORWARD TO NEW LEADERSHIP UNDER TRUMP: ‘RELIEF ON THE HORIZON’ During the final year of President-elect Trump’s first term in office, the Federal Register saw its fourth-largest number of pages filled. However, Crews said that number was likely inflated by efforts to eliminate rules that require agencies to issue new ones, as well as emergency COVID-19 pandemic measures. Meanwhile, during Trump’s first year in office, 2017, there were fewer pages added to the Federal Register than anyone since Bill Clinton in 1993, Crews pointed out. Shortly after entering the Oval Office in 2017, Trump issued Executive Order 13771, which initiated a new federal rulemaking process requiring that for every single regulation added by the Trump administration, two must be taken away. The result of this was net cost savings throughout Trump’s first term, Crews said. LEAVE THE OIL TO ME: TRUMP VOWS TO UNLEASH US ENERGY, UNDO KEY BIDEN RULES IN 2ND TERM Trump has signaled that he will expand his deregulation efforts during his second term, pledging to erase 10 regulations for every new one added. Machalagh Carr, director of the Center for Legal Action at the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, told Fox News Digital that with the incoming Trump administration “a new day is dawning and help is on the way.” “For the last four years, [the Biden administration] has done their very best to strangle American free enterprise with a blizzard of unworkable regulations and mandates,” Carr said. “The political appointees calling the shots in the Biden administration have a hostile view of the innovators and companies that power our economy and believe that government knows best.” Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for both Biden and Trump, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
John Cornyn ‘inclined’ to back Trump FBI pick Kash Patel after Senate meeting
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters he had a good meeting with President-elect Trump’s FBI pick, Kash Patel, on Monday and said he was “certainly inclined to support him, barring some unforeseen circumstances.” “We still don’t know what Director Wray’s plans are, but, eventually, I assume that Mr. Patel will be confirmed as the next FBI director,” he said following the morning meeting. According to Cornyn, he and Patel spoke about “the importance of restoring the reputation of the FBI as a nonpartisan, law enforcement investigative agency.” DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS APPOINT INCOMING CALIFORNIA, NEW JERSEY SENATORS 3 WEEKS EARLY He noted that confidence in the FBI was eroded after former Director James Comey’s handling of the investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “That was fundamentally a wrong thing for the FBI director to do that, to [announce] prosecutorial decisions that should have been made by the attorney general,” Cornyn said of Comey, who claimed “that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case” against Clinton over her misuse of her email system. LARA TRUMP ANNOUNCES SHE IS STEPPING DOWN AS RNC CO-CHAIR AMIDST TALK SHE MAY BE UP FOR FLORIDA SENATE SEAT “But of course, that continued when James Comey was fired and then went on to [a] retribution tour to get a special counsel appointed against President Trump.” CONSERVATIVE GROUP COMPILES LIST OF ‘WOKE’ SENIOR OFFICERS THEY WANT PETE HEGSETH TO FIRE The senator said, “No one should have to go through what President Trump was [put] through by a partisan Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI.” “And my goal would be to restore the nonpartisan functioning of the chief law enforcement agency in the country, the FBI and the Department of Justice. To me, that is the goal. Mr. Patel said he shares that goal,” Cornyn claimed. Patel has been at the Capitol to meet with various senators and shore up support before Trump is inaugurated and officially makes his nominations. Other high-profile choices by Trump for additional roles have similarly been meeting with lawmakers with the same intentions.