RFK Jr tells lawmakers that ‘every abortion is a tragedy’ at confirmation hearing
Every abortion is a “tragedy,” President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told lawmakers Wednesday. While Kennedy previously voiced support for abortion even in the late stages of pregnancy, Kennedy told the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday he would carry out Trump’s policy priorities concerning abortion. “I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy said at his confirmation hearing. “I agree with him that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year. I agree with him that the states should control abortion. President Trump has told me that he wants to end late-term abortions, and he wants to protect conscience exemptions.” “I serve at the pleasure of the president,” Kennedy said. “I’m going to implement his policies.” MULTIPLE OUTBURTS ERUPT AT RFK JR HEARING: ‘YOU ARE’ According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 625,978 abortions were reported from 48 areas in 2021. Trump has said on multiple occasions that he supports abortion in certain instances, and said that “powerful exceptions” for abortion would remain in place under his administration. Meanwhile, Kennedy has altered his position on abortion several times in the past year. Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent presidential candidate in the 2024 election, has historically stated that he doesn’t believe the government should step in with a woman’s choice to end a pregnancy, despite his “personally pro-life” stance. RFK JR RIPS DEM SENATOR FOR PUSHING ‘DISHONEST’ NARRATIVE ON PAST VACCINE COMMENTS: ‘CORRECTED IT MANY TIMES’ In May, Kennedy said he supported abortions in the third trimester, although he later followed up and said he does back some restrictions. Kennedy’s views appeared at odds with one another, and Democratic lawmakers said they were “confused” by his answers on abortion. “Mr. Kennedy, I’m confused. You have clearly stated in the past that bodily autonomy is one of your core values. The question is, do you stand for that value or not?” Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said during the confirmation hearing. “When was it that you decided to sell out the values you have had your whole life in order to be given power by President Trump?” RFK JR. LIKELY TO BE CONFIRMED AS HEALTH SECRETARY, DR. SIEGEL SAYS Other lawmakers voiced concerns about Kennedy’s nomination, including Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “Frankly, you frighten people,” Whitehouse said, after claiming that there was a measles outbreak in Rhode Island for the first time since 2013 amid a broader discussion about Kennedy’s stance on vaccines. Kennedy pushed back on “news reports” that he is anti-vaccine and anti-industry in his opening statements Wednesday, noting that all his children are vaccinated. He also has previously said that he isn’t interested in taking “away anybody’s vaccines.” Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
TikTok suppressed content critical of Trump and 2020 election controversy, exclusive report alleges
EXCLUSIVE: As the Trump administration works to keep TikTok legally available in the United States, the wildly popular app has suppressed content critical of President Donald Trump, according to a new report shared exclusively with Fox News. TikTok maintains the report has reached a false conclusion, and that the researchers used terms subjected to additional safety measures because they’ve been associated with election misinformation or profanity. The report, from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutgers University, contained findings that “highlight TikTok’s ability to act as a powerful influence tool, adaptable to partisan politics, but with no inherent incentive for transparency or accountability.” CHINESE AI STARTUP DEEPSEEK FACING HACK, BLOCKS QUESTIONS ABOUT COMMUNIST PARTY TIES “What you’re seeing is not sweeping policies around content moderation that can be battle tested by the public or by researchers,” said Adam Sohn, an NCRI board member. “TikTok seems to be just sort of picking and choosing their policies based on political expediency, and that’s a big concern.” NCRI said it analyzed TikTok, X, and Instagram “to evaluate their handling of specific hashtags associated with the 2020 election controversy” and that researchers received a response that “explicitly indicated content suppression based on TikTok’s enforcement of its community standards.” The group said terms such as “#RiggedElection,” “#VoterFraud,” “#StopTheSteal,” and “#StolenElection” returned no results on TikTok in the U.S. Researchers said that when they searched using software that swapped their domestic location for one overseas, those terms produced video results. Screen grabs provided by NCRI show a Jan. 24 TikTok search for “#F***JoeBiden” that returned 37,000 results. A search the same day for “#F***Trump” returned none. Three days later, Fox News replicated the search and there were videos listed under both. REPUBLICAN STATE AGS AWAIT TRUMP-BROKERED TIKTOK DEAL, REMAIN SKEPTICAL ON APP SAFETY “The concern is that the Chinese Communist Party and Bytedance and TikTok itself can consistently tweak its algorithm to cover up its tracks,” Sohn said. “Our policies and algorithms haven’t changed in the last week,” said a TikTok spokesperson. The company maintains hashtags regarding the 2020 election controversies have promoted election misinformation, which is why they’ve been unavailable. TikTok contends that because the anti-Trump and anti-Biden search terms contain profanity, the app can limit those results. The company also says it’s experiencing technical issues as it’s trying to return its service to normal. Last year, Congress passed a bipartisan law that would ban TikTok if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, failed to sell the app by Jan. 19. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law. ByteDance still owns TikTok, but Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban’s enforcement for 75 days while his administration tries to negotiate an agreement for the app to comply with the law and keep it operating in the U.S. NCRI has issued several reports on TikTok, concluding its search algorithm produced results to construct a favorable view of China’s government. TikTok has denied that allegation, calling NCRI’s work “flawed” and “clearly engineered to reach a false, predetermined conclusion.” In its arguments against TikTok, the Justice Department under the Biden administration cited NCRI’s reports. Cybersecurity experts told Fox that algorithms for apps like TikTok are held closely by their parent companies and can be difficult to evaluate. “Doing sort of this community management of these vast social media platforms, especially TikTok, which is so popular, is a Herculean task,” said Theresa Payton, a cybersecurity expert and the White House Chief Information Officer in the George W. Bush administration. “It could be that as they were making tweaks to handle capacity, to be able to more closely evaluate things that could be perceived as election interference, things that are considered hate speech.” Others note social media companies have sizable teams working with automated software to moderate content on their platforms. “Someone interprets something as in terms of a violation [that] may not match with someone else – it all sort of has to add up to a pattern,” said Pete Pachal, the Founder of The Media Copilot, a newsletter on AI changing media and journalism. “In the report, they do a very good job of showing that this pattern of supposed repression … content not appearing in searches does tend to happen more in one direction, and that should arouse a certain amount of suspicion.”
Democrats coordinate multi-state response to Trump’s funding freeze
Morally indignant Senate Democrats piled on President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze Wednesday, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announcing a coordinated response with Democratic governors to come. The Office of Management and Budget issued a memo on Monday issuing a pause on all federal grants and loans aiming to eradicate “wokeness” and the “weaponization of government” to improve government efficiency. The memo claims nearly $3 trillion was spent in 2024 on such assistance programs. The White House insists this freeze does not touch programs including Social Security, Medicare, or other entitlement payments, but Schumer called Trump’s action “chaotic,” “careless,” and “cruel” at the Democratic leadership’s weekly press briefing. “In one instant, in the blink of an eye, in the dark of night, Donald Trump committed one of the cruelest actions that I have seen the federal government do in a very long time,” Schumer said, claiming Trump had shut off “billions, maybe trillions of dollars that average American families need.” FEDERAL JUDGE PAUSES TRUMP ADMIN’S TEMPORARY FEDERAL GRANTS, LOANS FREEZE The minority leader said there are ongoing discussions between Capitol Hill Democrats and various Democratic governors on a coordinated response to Trump’s action. Two dozen blue state attorneys general have already announced legal action to keep the federal grant, loan and other aid flowing. Democrats said they have received an avalanche of phone calls from local officials, non-governmental organizations, charities and individual constituents demanding to know if OMB’s memo meant taxpayer dollars they rely on to serve people were about to disappear. “Chaos reigned. I got calls from a whole lot of Republican town supervisors and mayors, asking, what about flood prevention? What about sewer construction projects?” Schumer said. He recounted additional calls from food bank operators, nonprofit groups that treat addiction and church groups worried they would not be able to make payroll. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that the OMB memo would not impact individuals who receive direct assistance from the federal government. She described the pause as “temporary” and likened it to simultaneous efforts by the Trump administration to freeze hiring and regulations in an effort to shrink the government. FACT OR FICTION: WILL TRUMP’S FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE IMPACT STUDENT LOANS, GRANTS? “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. A federal judge on Tuesday imposed a stay on Trump’s action, delaying it until Monday as a torrent of lawsuits against the administration were announced this week. New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday led a coalition of 22 other attorneys general suing to stop the implementation of the memo. In a statement from James’ office, she said the policy “puts an indefinite pause on the majority of federal assistance to states” and would “immediately jeopardize state programs that provide critical health and childcare services to families in need, deliver support to public schools, combat hate crimes and violence against women, provide life-saving disaster relief to states, and more.” ‘ANSWERED THIS QUESTION FOUR TIMES’: LEAVITT PUSHES BACK ON MEDIA’S ‘UNCERTAINTY’ ABOUT FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE Republicans have mostly backed Trump, insisting that the new presidential administration has a right to examine how taxpayer dollars are spent. “This is not unusual for an administration to pause funding and to take a hard look and scrub of how these programs are being spent and how they interact with a lot of the executive orders that the president signed,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters, though he expressed hope that the White House would “further clarify what exactly will be impacted by this.” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democratic appropriator, said Trump’s actions have endangered chances for a bipartisan spending agreement when the government funding deadline arrives in March. “It is extremely difficult to agree to a compromise on anything if the White House is going to assert that they control the funds, we don’t,” Murray said. “So this is really putting that in jeopardy.”
President Donald Trump to deport Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, defund CRT with new executive orders
President Donald Trump is expected to order a law enforcement crackdown on antisemitism on college campuses, including removing pro-Hamas activists with student visas from the country, Fox News has learned. Trump’s directive gives all federal agencies a 60-day window to identify civil and criminal authorities available to combat antisemitism and deport anti-Jewish activists who broke any laws. “Immediate action will be taken by the Department of Justice to protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities,” a White House fact sheet obtained by Fox News states. Additionally, Trump is expected to sign two education-related executive orders: one that will strip federal funding from K-12 schools that teach Critical Race Theory or radical gender ideology and another that will support school choice. COACH SUSPENDED AFTER HANGING UP PALESTINIAN FLAG, REFUSING TO SHAKE HANDS WITH JEWISH COACHES House Republicans released report last month that urged the federal government to do more to combat antisemitism, including by conditioning federal aid to colleges to incentivize more strict policies against anti-Jewish bias, the New York Post reported. The report came after Columbia University and other major schools were host to anti-Israel encampments on campus, where numerous antisemitic incidents were reported in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks in southern Israel. Republicans accused Biden’s State Department and Department of Homeland Security of stonewalling requests for the number of visa holders among those anti-Israel agitators, the GOP report said, according to the Post. “Immediately after the jihadist terrorist attacks against the people of Israel on October 7, 2023, pro-Hamas aliens and left-wing radicals began a campaign of intimidation, vandalism, and violence on the campuses and streets of America,” the Trump White House fact sheet states. WASHINGTON POST CRITICIZES PRO-PALESTINIAN GROUP US GOVERNMENT DECLARED A ‘SHAM CHARITY’ FOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION The White House said the previous administration turned a “blind eye” to campus antisemitism and a “coordinated assault on public order” that Trump has promised to reverse. His selection of Israel ally Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has already signaled strong support for the Jewish state against Israel’s critics around the world. Since 2023, Stefanik has served as a conservative firebrand who has repeatedly grilled “morally bankrupt” college leaders over their handling of antisemitism on campus following the Hamas terror attacks on Israel. Most notably, Stefanik grilled Ivy League college administrators from Penn and Harvard, her alma mater, in December 2023 regarding whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates the respective school’s codes of conduct. The school leaders, however, waffled in their responses. ISRAELI COLUMBIA PROFESSOR WANTS TRUMP TO BLOCK CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS FROM RECEIVING FEDERAL FUNDING “It can be, depending on the context,” Harvard’s then-President Claudine Gay responded when asked if “calling for the genocide of Jews” violated school conduct rules. “Antisemitic speech when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation – that is actionable conduct, and we do take action,” Gay said when pressed to answer “yes” or “no” if calls for the genocide of Jews breaks school rules. Both Gay and Penn’s then-President Liz Magill resigned from their high-profile positions shortly after the hearing, while footage of the exchanges spread like wildfire on social media. Trump’s attempt to crack down on funding for schools that fail to fight antisemitism or promote Critical Race Theory comes amid intense controversy over an Office of Management and Budget memo announcing a temporary freeze to all federal aid and assistance programs – with potentially trillions of taxpayer dollars halted. A federal judge on Tuesday paused the freeze in response to a lawsuit brought by nearly two dozen Democratic attorneys general. In his first term, Trump threatened to strip federal funding from cities that failed to stop anti-police riots that followed the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, but he left office before he could make good on that threat, the Post reported.
RFK Jr’s confirmation hearing goes off rails amid multiple clashes with Dem senators: ‘Repeatedly debunked’
It didn’t take long for the confirmation hearing of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to turn contentious as Senate Democrats grilled him. The verbal fireworks exploded minutes into the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, the first of two straight days of congressional confirmation hearings for the controversial vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump. Kennedy repeatedly insisted that he was not “anti-vaccine” and slammed multiple Democrat senators for pushing a “dishonest” narrative against him that he has “corrected” on national television many times. Democrats on the committee pointed to a slew of past comments from the nominee in which he questioned or disparaged COVID shots and other vaccines. “The receipts show that Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks, and charlatans, especially when it comes to the safety and efficacy of vaccines. He’s made it his life’s work to sow doubt and discourage parents from getting their kids life-saving vaccines,” Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the panel, charged in his opening statement. MULTIPLE OUTBURSTS AT COMBUSTIBLE RFK JR. CONFIRMATION HEARING Moments later, as Kennedy delivered his own opening comments and said “news reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I am neither. I am pro-safety,” a protester shouted out “you lie.” The heckler was led out of the hearing room by Capitol Police, as was a second protester minutes later. WATCH: RFK JR. WARNS THAT AMERICA’S HEALTH IS IN ‘GRIEVIOUS CONDITION’ And another protester was spotted in the audience holding a sign reading, “Vaccines Save Lives, Not RFK JR.” Democrats on the committee repeatedly pointed to Kennedy’s controversial vaccine views, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research. They also spotlighted Kennedy’s service for years as chair or chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit organization he founded that has advocated against vaccines and sued the federal government numerous times, including a challenge over the authorization of the COVID vaccine for children. In his opening statement, which Fox News exclusively obtained ahead of the hearing, Kennedy spotlighted that “I believe vaccines play a critical role in healthcare. All of my kids are vaccinated. I’ve written books about vaccines. My first book in 2014, the first line of it is ‘I am not anti-vaccine’ and last line is ‘I am not anti-vaccine.’” FOX NEWS SCOOP: RFK JR.’S OPENING STATEMENT AT MUST WATCH HEARING But he quickly faced a grilling from Democrats. Wyden led off his questioning of Kennedy, the scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, by spotlighting a scathing letter from the nominee’s well-known cousin, Caroline Kennedy, which accused him of being a “predator” and urged lawmakers to reject the nomination. The senator also pointed to past Kennedy vaccine comments in podcasts, including one from 2020 when he said he “pay anything” to be able to go back in time and not vaccinate his kids. “Are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine? Or did you lie on all those podcasts?” Wyden asked. Pushing back in a very heated exchange, Kennedy claimed that statements he made on podcasts have “been repeatedly debunked.” And he vowed that he would do nothing to prevent Americans from obtaining certain vaccines. “I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking anything,” Kennedy emphasized. The next Democrat to question Kennedy, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, accused him of peddling half-truths, peddling false statements.” Benett grew heated as he asked Kennedy about other past comments, asking, “Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon?” “I probably did say that,” Kennedy answered. RFK JR. ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF PUSHING DISHONEST NARRATIVE And Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who has known Kennedy for decades – dating back to their days as law school students at the University of Virginia, told his friend “frankly, you frighten people.” If confirmed, Kennedy would have control over 18 powerful federal agencies overseeing the nation’s food and health, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The 71-year-old Kennedy launched a long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination against President Joe Biden in April 2023. But six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House. Kennedy made major headlines again last August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy – who were both assassinated in the 1960s – Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders due in part to his high-profile vaccine skepticism. Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS. In the two months since Trump’s announcement, it’s not just Democrats who’ve raised questions about Kennedy’s confirmation. Social conservative Republicans took issue with his past comments in support of abortion rights. “My belief is we should leave it to the woman. We shouldn’t have the government involved, even if it’s full term,” Kennedy said as he ran for president. But since endorsing Trump, Kennedy has walked back his stance on abortion. And in an exchange Wednesday with Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Kennedy declared “I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy.” Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a former two-time Democratic presidential candidate, argued that Kennedy made a “major U-turn” on abortion. Kennedy was also questioned about how he would reform Medicare and Medicaid, the massive government health care programs used by millions of older, disabled, and low-income Americans.
White House still committed to freezing ‘woke’ funds despite rescinding OMB memo
The White House remains committed to freezing federal grants and loans aimed at “woke” programs, Fox News has learned, despite the administration’s move to rescind the original Office of Management and Budget memo — effectively ending the legal battle and any “confusion” for recipients. A federal judge on Tuesday paused the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo, which aimed to freeze funding to various federal programs. ‘ANSWERED THIS QUESTION FOUR TIMES’: LEAVITT PUSHES BACK ON MEDIA’S ‘UNCERTAINTY’ ABOUT FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE On Wednesday, the Trump administration rescinded the original memo. “In light of the injunction, OMB has rescinded the memo to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Wednesday. “The Executive Orders issued by the President on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments.” Leavitt told Fox News that rescinding the memo “should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the President’s orders on controlling federal spending.” “In the coming weeks and months, more executive action will continue to end the egregious waste of federal funding,” Leavitt said. The memo, sent to federal agencies on Monday, issued a pause on all federal grants and loans aiming to eradicate “wokeness” and the “weaponization of government” to improve government efficiency. “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 was set to take effect at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday. Democrats had criticized the Trump administration’s freeze of federal funds, arguing that President Trump is circumventing Congress and withholding congressionally appropriated funds, violating the Impoundment Control Act. FEDERAL JUDGE PAUSES TRUMP ADMIN’S TEMPORARY FEDERAL GRANTS, LOANS FREEZE U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan for the District of Columbia, appointed by former President Joe Biden, imposed an administrative stay on Tuesday afternoon, pausing the Trump administration’s action. The administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday. The White House stressed that despite the memo being rescinded, if money coming out of federal agencies is at odds with the president’s executive orders, for example, funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, those funds will still be frozen. But programs including Social Security benefits, Medicare, food stamps, welfare benefits and other assistance going directly to individuals will not be impacted under the pause, according to Leavitt. Leavitt, during the White House press briefing on Tuesday, described the pause as “temporary,” and noted that the Trump administration has executed other freezes throughout the government, including a regulatory and hiring pause. “It’s incumbent upon this administration to make sure, again, that every penny is being accounted for honestly,” Leavitt said. Additionally, Leavitt said that Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency that aims to eliminate government spending and waste identified $37 million that was about to go to the World Health Organization, along with $50 million to “fund condoms in Gaza.” “That is a preposterous waste of money,” Leavitt said.
Lee Zeldin faces Senate confirmation vote to lead Trump’s EPA
The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to confirm former Rep. Lee Zeldin to head the government’s leading agency on environmental rules and regulations. President Donald Trump tapped Zeldin, who previously served as a congressman from New York’s 1st Congressional District from 2015 to 2023, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under his administration. During his tenure in Congress, Zeldin, an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, launched a campaign for governor in New York, when he trailed only five percentage points in the largely Democratic state. Zeldin underwent a confirmation hearing earlier this month, when he was questioned on climate change by members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The Senate held a cloture vote for Zeldin on Wednesday afternoon, which ended the debate over his nomination. The chamber will now proceed to a final floor vote. ZELDIN GRILLED BY DEMOCRATS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, TRUMP’S STANCE ON CARBON EMISSIONS DURING EPA HEARING If confirmed on Wednesday, Zeldin will head the agency that surveys environmental issues, provides assistance to wide-ranging environmental projects, and establishes rules that align with the administration’s views on environmental protection and climate change. During his confirmation hearing, Zeldin pledged that if confirmed, he would “foster a collaborative culture within the agency, supporting career staff who have dedicated themselves to this mission. I strongly believe we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of our environment for generations to come.” The latest round of voting comes as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., continues to advance the confirmation process to push through Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
Howard Lutnick, Trump Commerce secretary pick, says it’s ‘nonsense’ that tariffs cause inflation
President Donald Trump‘s nominee to lead the Commerce Department, Howard Lutnick, told senators the argument that tariffs cause inflation is “nonsense” during a confirmation hearing. “The two top countries with tariffs, India and China, do have the most tariffs and no inflation,” Lutnick noted. “A particular product’s price may go up,” he conceded, while arguing that levies would not cause broad inflation. “It is just nonsense to say that tariffs cause inflation. It’s nonsense.” Lutnick testified before members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Wednesday ahead of an impending committee and full Senate floor vote to confirm him to the Cabinet position. Inflation, which ticked as high as 9.1% in June 2022 under the Biden administration, became a defining issue in the 2024 election as Trump promised to bring household prices back down. Lutnick also said he prefers “across-the-board” tariffs on a “country-by-country” basis, rather than ones aimed at particular sectors or products. A VICTORY FOR TRUMP’S ‘FAFO’: HOW THE WHITE HOUSE STRONG-ARMED ONE-TIME CLOSE ALLY COLOMBIA OVER IMMIGRATION “I think when you pick one product in Mexico, they’ll pick one product. You know, we pick avocados, they pick white corn, we pick tomatoes, they pick yellow corn. All you’re doing is picking on farmers.” “Let America make it more fair. We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better,” Lutnick went on. “We can use tariffs to create reciprocity.” He said Trump, a longtime friend, was of a “like mind” that tariffs need to be simple. “The steel and aluminum had 560,000 applications for exclusions,” said Lutnick. “It just seems that’s too many.” Trump recently signed an executive order directing the Commerce Department and the Office of the US Trade Representative to conduct a review of U.S. trade policy and tariff models, with a focus on China. Trump has said he intends to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 amid concerns of mass migration and drug trafficking. He also said he would increase tariffs on China by 10%. Lutnick also sounded off about Europe treating the U.S. industry unfairly. AOC ROASTED OVER POST ABOUT COLOMBIA TARIFFS AND COFFEE PRICES THAT ‘AGED LIKE HOT MILK’ “I think our farmers and ranchers and fishermen are treated with disrespect overseas,” he said. “Europe, for example, comes up with all these sort of policies, that our ranchers can’t sell steak. If you if you saw European, steer and an American steer, it’s laughable. The American steers are three times this size. The steaks are so much more beautiful.” “But they make up this nonsensical set of rules so that our ranchers can’t sell there.” Lutnick said Chinese tariffs “should be the highest.” “But the fact that we Americans cannot sell an American car in Europe is just wrong. And it needs to be fixed. “While they’re an ally, they are taking advantage of us and disrespecting us. And I would like that to end.” His comments echoed those of Trump last week. “The European Union is very, very bad to us,” he said. “So they’re going to be in for tariffs. It’s the only way … you’re going to get fairness.” The governments of Mexico, Canada and nations in Europe have prepared a list of their own U.S. imports that will face tariffs in a tit-for-tat trade war if Trump follows through on taxing their own goods as they’re brought into the U.S. Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said Monday that European nations needed to united to use their collective economic force against the U.S. if needed. “As the United States shifts to a more transactional approach, Europe needs to close ranks,” she said at a news conference in Brussels. “Europe is an economic heavyweight and geopolitical partner.”
Trump’s new legal team begins appeals process for Manhattan conviction
President Donald Trump’s legal team filed a notice of appeal for his conviction in his Manhattan trial, Fox News Digital confirmed on Wednesday, which found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. “PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that President Donald J. Trump hereby appeals to the First Department of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York from the judgment of conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the 1st degree under LP § 175.10 and sentence of unconditional discharge, rendered in the supreme court, New York County (Merchan, J.) under Indictment No. 71543/2023 on January 10, 2025 (attached hereto as Exhibit A), and further appeals from each and every part thereof and every intermediate order made therein,” the notice of appeal reads. Trump’s newly-minted attorney, Robert J. Giuffra Jr. said in comment provided to the Associated Press on Wednesday that “President Donald J. Trump’s appeal is important for the rule of law, New York’s reputation as a global business, financial and legal center, as well as for the presidency and all public officials.” “The misuse of the criminal law by the Manhattan DA to target President Trump sets a dangerous precedent, and we look forward to the case being dismissed on appeal,” he continued. ‘ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY’: LEGAL EXPERTS SHRED NY V. TRUMP AS ‘ONE OF THE WORST’ CASES IN HISTORY Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Manhattan case in May. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office worked to prove that Trump had falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and repeatedly railed against it as an example of lawfare promoted by Democrats in an effort to hurt his efforts ahead of the November 2024 election. “The appeal of Trump’s criminal conviction has finally begun with the filing of the notice of appeal today,” Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley posted on X Wednesday of the appeal. “While expectations are not particularly high for relief in the NY court system, this process moves the case closer to an appeal to the Supreme Court,” he continued. Presiding New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump on Jan. 10, just days before his inauguration as the 47th president, to unconditional discharge — meaning he faces no punishment such as fines or jail time. Legal experts railed against the sentencing earlier in January, with Fox News’ Mark Levin remarking that it will be remembered as “one of the worst” legal cases in world history. “I’ll tell you how it strikes me, when you look at cases throughout history, not just in the United States, but really all over the world, this will be remembered as one of the worst. This will be remembered as an absolute injustice from the beginning,” Levin said on Fox News after the sentencing. DONALD TRUMP SENTENCED WITH NO PENALTY IN NEW YORK CRIMINAL TRIAL, AS JUDGE WISHES HIM ‘GODSPEED’ IN 2ND TERM Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Wednesday that Trump retained a new legal team after some of his top attorneys joined his administration. He is now represented by Sullivan & Cromwell, including co-chair and partner of the firm, Giuffra Jr. and Matthew Schwartz, a partner of the firm. Giuffra previewed the importance of an appeal to the conviction in comment to Fox Digital earlier Wednesday. REPUBLICANS BLAST ‘JOKE’ SENTENCING OF TRUMP 10 DAYS BEFORE SWEARING IN “President Donald J. Trump’s appeal is important for the rule of law, New York’s reputation as a global business, financial and legal center, as well as for the presidency and all public officials,” Giuffra told Fox News Digital. “The misuse of the criminal law by the Manhattan DA to target President Trump sets a dangerous precedent, and we look forward to the case being dismissed on appeal.” Trump had also previously said he will appeal the conviction, including earlier this month when he said on Truth Social that “JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick outlines sweeping conservative agenda with list of top 25 legislative priorities
Restrict THC, help with deportations, infuse religion in schools and provide property tax relief – these are among the Patrick priorities.