Impeachment threat hits judge who blocked Trump federal funding freeze
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., is threatening to file articles of impeachment against a federal judge who blocked President Donald Trump‘s federal funding freeze. “I’m drafting articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.,” Clyde wrote on X. “He’s a partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump’s funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending. We must end this abusive overreach. Stay tuned.” SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN U.S. District Judge John McConnell filed a new motion Monday ordering the Trump administration to comply with a restraining order issued Jan. 31, temporarily blocking the administration’s efforts to pause federal grants and loans. McConnell’s original restraining order came after 22 states and the District of Columbia challenged the Trump administration’s actions to hold up funds for grants, such as the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant and other Environmental Protection Agency programs. However, the states said Friday that the administration is not following through and funds are still tied up. A three-judge panel on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s appeal of the order on Tuesday. McConnell has come under fire by Trump supporters and conservatives who have accused him of being a liberal activist. Clyde and others have cited a video of McConnell in 2021 saying courts must “stand and enforce the rule of law, that is, against arbitrary and capricious actions by what could be a tyrant or could be whatnot.” “You have to take a moment and realize that this, you know, middle-class, white, male, privileged person needs to understand the human being that comes before us that may be a woman, may be Black, may be transgender, may be poor, may be rich, may be — whatever,” McConnell said in the video, according to WPRI. Elon Musk wrote on X in response, “Impeach this activist posing as a judge! Such a person does great discredit to the American justice system.” BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS Clyde confirmed he was preparing articles of impeachment when asked by Fox News Digital on Thursday. “For a federal judge to deny the executive their legitimate right to exercise their authority is wrong,” Clyde told Fox News Digital. “This type of judge, this political activist – this radical political activist – should be removed from the bench.” When reached for a response to Clyde’s threat, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island said McConnell “often sits down with members of the media upon request” but did not comment on pending cases. Trump’s allies have been hammering the judges who have issued a series of decisions curbing the president’s executive orders. Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., threatened to prepare impeachment articles against another judge earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. Southern District of New York, for blocking Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury records.
New poll shows what Americans think of Trump’s record setting first 3 weeks
President Donald Trump took to social media on Thursday morning to showcase his frenetic pace since reentering the White House on Jan. 20. “THREE GREAT WEEKS, PERHAPS THE BEST EVER,” the president touted. Trump has signed 64 executive orders since his inauguration, according to a count from Fox News, which far surpasses the rate of any presidential predecessors during their first weeks in office. While Trump is never shy about advertising his accomplishments, new polling indicates Americans are divided on the job the president is doing so far in his second administration. CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS Trump stands at 48% approval and 47% disapproval in a national survey conducted for AARP. The poll is the latest to indicate an early split when it comes to public opinion regarding Trump. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING Some surveys, including Pew Research, indicate Trump’s approval ratings are slightly underwater, while others, including a poll from CBS News/YouGuv, suggest the president’s ratings are in positive territory. Trump’s poll position among Americans stands in stark contrast to his first term in office, when he started out underwater in surveys and remained in negative territory for all four years in the White House. “His approval rating is higher than it was at any point in time during his first term,” veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse told Fox News. Newhouse, pointing to the president’s frenetic pace since returning to power, noted that Americans are “giving him positive marks right now, based not just on the perception of what he is going to do, but what he has done already.” The surveys are in agreement when it comes to the massive partisan divide over Trump. The AARP poll indicates Trump holds a net approval of 83 points with Republicans, a net disapproval of 76 points among Democrats and that he is underwater by 19 points among independent voters. THE TRUMP POLICIES AMERICANS LOVE, AND HATE “Trump’s ratings are stronger among men, white voters, and those without college degrees. He is seen more negatively by women, Hispanic and Black voters, and those with college degrees,” the survey’s release highlighted. While Trump’s approval ratings for his second term are a major improvement from his first term, his numbers are below where his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, began his single term in office. Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House, with his disapproval in the upper 30s to low to mid 40s. However, Biden’s numbers sank into negative territory in the late summer and autumn of 2021, in the wake of his much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and amid soaring inflation and a surge of migrants crossing into the U.S. along the nation’s southern border with Mexico. Biden’s approval ratings stayed underwater throughout the rest of his presidency. Fox News’ Mary Schlageter contributed to this report
Former TPPF leader Brooke Rollins confirmed by Senate for agriculture secretary
The Senate voted 72-28 to confirm her nomination. She easily sailed through the Senate Agriculture Committee earlier this month on a unanimous vote.
Trump Agriculture pick confirmed as president racks up Cabinet wins
President Donald Trump secured two more Cabinet confirmations on Thursday, including his pick to lead the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Brooke Rollins. Rollins was easily confirmed by the Senate shortly after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as Trump’s Health secretary. Most recently, Rollins has served as president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) think tank, which she co-founded after Trump’s first term. In Trump’s first administration, she was his director of the Office of American Innovation and acting director of the Domestic Policy Council. TULSI GABBARD SWORN IN AT WHITE HOUSE HOURS AFTER SENATE CONFIRMATION The newly elected president announced his selection of Rollins for USDA chief in November, recalling she did “an incredible job” during his first term. “Brooke’s commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none,” he said. DOGE ‘PLAYBOOK’ UNVEILED BY GOP SENATOR AS MUSK-LED AGENCY SHAKES UP FEDERAL GOVERNMENT “As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country. Congratulations Brooke!” The USDA nominee had a hearing before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee last month, before advancing past the key hurdle. DEM LOOKS TO CODIFY NEW AG BONDI’S DESIRED CRACKDOWN ON ‘ZOMBIE DRUG’ XYLAZINE The committee decision to move her nomination forward was unanimous, giving her bipartisan backing going into her confirmation vote. Rollins is now the 16th Cabinet official confirmed to serve in Trump’s new administration. With the help of the Republican-led Senate, Trump has managed to confirm his picks at a pace far ahead of either his first administration or former President Joe Biden’s. TRUMP LANDS KEY TULSI GABBARD CONFIRMATION FOLLOWING UPHILL SENATE BATTLE At the same point in his first term, Trump only had 11 confirmations and Biden had seven. Neither had 16 confirmed until March during their respective administrations.
Ways and Means chair calls for de-weaponization, overhaul of IRS after ‘lawless’ behavior
FIRST ON FOX: House Ways & Means Committee Chair Jason Smith is calling for a complete overhaul of the Internal Revenue System, demanding the agency be de-weaponized, and telling Fox News Digital that “business as usual at the IRS is unacceptable.” Smith, R-Mo., wrote a letter to IRS Acting Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell on Thursday, calling for ongoing oversight of the agency to ensure it takes steps to “rebuild trust” with Americans after “lawless and politically motivated behavior.” HOUSE GOP DEMANDS ‘IMMEDIATE ACTION’ ON ALLEGED RETALIATION AGAINST IRS WHISTLEBLOWERS “The story of the last two years at the IRS is one of both failure and outright weaponization of the agency driven in part by the Democrats’ decision to prioritize hiring 87,000 new IRS agents to audit working families over providing basic customer services,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “There are too many examples of problems at the IRS to count.” In the letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, Smith lays out concerns at the agency, including its alleged retaliation against the two IRS whistleblowers who brought claims of corruption and preferential treatment for Hunter Biden — Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. Smith also pointed to the IRS’s support for $80 billion in mandatory funding that prioritized “aggressive audits over customer service,” the “failure to take aggressive action against tax-exempt organizations that have caused antisemitic chaos on college campuses, in American cities, and those that may be supporting terrorism” and more. “Aggressive oversight of the IRS continues to be a top priority for the Committee, and the election results made it clear that the American people are looking for accountability,” Smith wrote. “President Trump has shown in his first three weeks that he meant what he said during the presidential campaign.” HOUSE GOP PROBES WHETHER SPECIAL COUNSEL OFFICE HELPED RETALIATE AGAINST HUNTER BIDEN WHISTLEBLOWERS Smith said the government “has not been working effectively for the American people, and it needs to change.” “We will be watching closely to make certain that the IRS timely complies with all laws, executive orders, direction from the secretary of the Treasury, and requests from the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance,” Smith said. Smith told Fox News Digital that the agency has “acted outside its authority by refusing to apply the law when it hurts Democrats, like in the case of delaying the unpopular $600 Venmo reporting law, and by promoting Democrat interests without authorization, like when it turned a tiny feasibility study into a massive Direct File program costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.” “We know that the IRS has retaliated against the two brave investigators that blew the whistle on preferential treatment for Hunter Biden,” Smith said, pointing to Shapley and Ziegler. “Business as usual at the IRS is unacceptable,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “The acting commissioner needs to clean things up quickly to meet the expectations of the committee and the American people have of the agency.”
Senate confirms Robert F Kennedy Jr. to serve as Trump’s Health secretary
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary in President Donald Trump‘s cabinet. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 52-48 nearly entirely along party lines to confirm Kennedy. The final showdown over his controversial nomination was set in motion hours earlier, after another party line vote on Wednesday afternoon which started the clock ticking toward the confirmation roll call. Kennedy, the well-known vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump, needed a simple majority to be confirmed by the Senate. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against Kennedy’s nomination. McConnell, the former longtime GOP Senate leader, suffered from polio as a child and is a major proponent of vaccines. TRUMP HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR. SURVIVES HEATED HEARINGS “I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,” McConnell said after the Kennedy vote. The president’s political team, in a social media statement after the Senate vote, wrote, “Congratulations @RobertKennedyJr !” Kennedy survived back-to-back combustible Senate confirmation hearings late last month, when Trump’s nominee to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health faced plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research. During the hearings, Democrats 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-19 vaccine for children. ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. LIVE ON FOX NEWS ‘THE INGRAHAM ANGLE’ 7PM ET TONIGHT With Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee voting not to advance Kennedy, the spotlight was on Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a physician and chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). Cassidy issued a last minute endorsement before the committee level vote, giving Kennedy a party-line 14-13 victory to advance his confirmation to the full Senate. Cassidy had emphasized during Kennedy’s confirmation hearings that “your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” which left doubt about his support. However, after speaking again with the nominee, Cassidy rattled off a long list of commitments Kennedy made to him, including quarterly hearings before the HELP Committee; meetings multiple times per month; that HELP Committee can choose representatives on boards or commissions reviewing vaccine safety; and a 30-day notice to the committee, plus a hearing, for any changes in vaccine safety reviews. HEAD HERE FOR LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS BACK IN THE WHITE HOUSE “These commitments, and my expectation that we can have a great working relationship to make America healthy again, is the basis of my support,” the senator said. Earlier this week, another Republican senator who had reservations regarding Kennedy’s confirmation announced support for the nominee. “After extensive public and private questioning and a thorough examination of his nomination, I will support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced on Tuesday. Another Republican who was on the fence, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, also voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination. Murkowski noted that she continues “to have concerns about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies,” but that the nominee “has made numerous commitments to me and my colleagues, promising to work with Congress to ensure public access to information and to base vaccine recommendations on data-driven, evidence-based, and medically sound research.” Former longtime Senate GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, a major proponent of vaccines, also voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination. Kennedy, whose outspoken views on Big Pharma and the food industry have also sparked controversy, has said he aims to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases. The push is part of his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. “Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,” Kennedy said as he pointed to chronic diseases. “And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.” The 71-year-old scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination against then-President Joe Biden in April 2023. However, six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House. Trump regularly pilloried Kennedy during his independent presidential bid, accusing him of being a “Radical Left Liberal” and a “Democrat Plant.” Kennedy fired back, claiming in a social media post that Trump’s jabs against him were “a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims.” However, 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. After months of criticizing him, Trump called Kennedy “a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share.” Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS. Minutes after Thursday’s confirmation, the Democratic National Committee criticized the Senate vote in an email headlined “Republicans Confirm Unqualified Conspiracy Theorist
Trump Education nominee Linda McMahon says shutting down DOE would ‘require congressional action’
Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO Linda McMahon, tapped by President Donald Trump to head the Department of Education (DOE), is facing questions on Thursday morning about her views on the agency’s future amid Trump’s quest to shutter it “immediately.” During the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., first asked McMahon about whether she agrees the DOE would need Congressional approval to close it entirely. “Certainly, President Trump understands that we’ll be working with Congress,” McMahon responded. “We’d like to do this right. We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education, but it certainly does require congressional action.” INTO THE RING: TRUMP EDUCATION CHIEF PICK MCMAHON TO TESTIFY ON CUTTING ‘RED TAPE’ AMID DOGE SWEEPS Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., asked McMahon a similar question after a line of questioning about her support for Pell Grants. “Let me just once again, get your feelings on this, that if there is a movement to abolish the Department of Education, it has to go through the United States Congress?” Sanders asked. TRUMP EDUCATION DEPT LAUNCHES PROBE INTO ‘EXPLOSION OF ANTISEMITISM’ AT 5 UNIVERSITIES McMahon responded, “Yes, it is set up by the United States Congress, and we work with Congress. It clearly cannot be shut down without it.” Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, asked McMahon about Maine’s TRIO programs that help first-generation college students from families without higher education experience. Collins questioned how these programs could be maintained if the Department of Education were “abolish[ed]” or “substantially reorganized.” FORMER TRUMP EDUCATION SECRETARY LAYS OUT ‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS’ FOR NEW ADMIN ON SCHOOL REFORMS “These various things, especially the trio program, which we both agreed was just hit with a terrible blow just by regulatory action when some of the students who were applying, their applications were rejected simply because of spacing on a form. And that kind of regulatory control just cannot stand. That is just impossible.” “If I am confirmed to be able to get in and assess programs, how they can have the best oversight possible, how we can really take the bureaucracy out of education,” she said. McMahon, nominated to head the Education Department, is stepping into a role that Trump has suggested he is seeking to eliminate. Trump recently indicated that if McMahon is confirmed, he wants her to “put herself out of a job.” Ahead of McMahon’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Trump reiterated his intention to close the department, calling for it to be shut down “immediately.” “It’s a big con job,” Trump said. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”
NIH principal deputy director, who led agency during COVID, resigns abruptly
The No. 2 in command at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, who served as acting director of the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, has abruptly resigned. Tabak, 73, has been at the NIH for 25 years, first serving as director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research before eventually becoming the NIH’s principal deputy director in 2010, which is the second-in-command at the agency. Tabak also served during transitional periods as acting director, including during the COVID era when he was regularly grilled by Republicans, alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci, over the NIH’s response. “I write to inform you that I have retired from government service, effective today, 2/11/2025,” Tabak wrote in an email, reportedly circulated to staff at the NIH, earlier this week. The note did not explain the reason for his departure. SENATE DEMOCRATS RAIL AGAINST RFK JR. IN LATE-NIGHT SESSION AHEAD OF VOTE Tabak’s resignation comes amid a shakeup within the Health and Human Services Department, the NIH’s parent agency, that occurred once President Donald Trump took office in January. Under Trump, the agency has faced cuts to programs and reports have indicated the administration has plans to fire a trove of HHS employees. Typically, Tabak would have been promoted to acting director while Trump’s nominee awaited confirmation. However, the position was instead assigned to Dr. Matthew Memoli, a former top researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a known critic of COVID vaccine mandates. Tabak was part of a group of agency leaders, including Fauci and former NIH Director Francis Collins, who congressional investigators accused of trying to manipulate the narrative around the origins of the COVID-19 virus. Through GOP investigations, it was determined Tabak was part of a controversial phone call with Fauci, Collins and several prominent scientists that critics have argued was a catalyst for the publication of a scientific paper that was released positing that it was not plausible the virus originated in a lab. SCIENTISTS EXPECT MAJOR ‘MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS’ DESPITE TRUMP’S CAP ON NIH RESEARCH FUNDING He was also front-and-center when it came to GOP probes into whether risky gain-of-function research was occurring at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, and faced criticism for slow-rolling the release of information requested by Republican investigators for these concerns. Tabak “[dealt] with all of the messy or intractable problem[s]” and was “often… the fall guy when things [went] sideways,” Jeremy Berg, former director of NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, said on social media following news of Tabak’s resignation. “Larry has shoveled so much s— over the years that he would have been well qualified to work behind the elephants in an old circus.” Fox News Digital reached out to the NIH for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
GOP chairman responds after protesters are tossed from USAID spending hearing
A group of protesters attempted to derail a USAID hearing at the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, demanding that President Donald Trump’s administration restore aid funding. Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., poked fun at the protesters for being behind the times after they interrupted opening statements from witnesses before the committee. “PEPFAR saves lives. Restore AIDS funding now,” the protesters chanted as they were forced out of the chamber. “I guess these guys don’t watch the news. They didn’t realize that PREPFAR was one of the many programs that did prove to be life-saving so the funding was restored,” Mast said. “Somebody better give them a link to, I don’t know, maybe Fox News or something like that.” RUBIO PAUSES FOREIGN AID FROM STATE DEPARTMENT AND USAID TO ENSURE IT PUTS ‘AMERICA FIRST’ PEPFAR is a global AIDS relief program that has been credited with saving over 20 million lives since it was created under President George W. Bush. The program received a waiver from Trump’s administration to continue its work despite the wider funding freeze impacting USAID and state department aid programs. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also created a wider exemption for “life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance,” Congressional Republicans noted in a memo. Republicans have blasted the wider wasteful spending at USAID and the state department, however. NONCITIZEN VOTER CRACKDOWN LED BY HOUSE GOP AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS The memo also highlighted funding programs including “$39,652 to host seminars at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on gender identity and racial equality through the State Department” and “$425,622 to help Indonesian coffee companies become more climate and gender friendly through USAID.” Other priorities listed included “$14 million in cash vouchers for migrants at the southern border through the State Department,” “$446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal through the State Department” and “$32,000 for an LGBTQ-centered comic book in Peru.”
Obama officials, Trump critics target Hegseth’s Ukraine ‘concessions’ as ‘biggest gift’ to Russia
Obama officials and Trump critics are up in arms after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a return to the Eastern European country’s pre-war borders with Russia is “unrealistic.” Hegseth, speaking to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Belgium on Wednesday, said “returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.” He also called for Europe to offer Ukraine security guarantees after the war – not the U.S. Trump administration critics accused the secretary of giving up leverage before the start of peace negotiations with Russia. “Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more,” Brett Bruen, director of Global Engagement under the Obama White House, told Fox News Digital. RUSSIAN MISSILES RAINED DOWN ON KYIV JUST AHEAD OF TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT’S VISIT Hegseth said Wednesday that “durable peace” for Ukraine must “ensure that the war will not begin again.” “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops,” he said. “If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and not covered under Article 5. There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact. To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine.” While it is little surprise the Trump administration does not currently support Ukraine’s NATO membership, or believe Ukraine can take back all of its territory including Crimea, critics argue that Hegseth vocalizing these beliefs just as President Donald Trump fired the opening salvo in peace negotiations took them off the table as leverage. “Why would you unilaterally surrender on some of those key strategic issues? Even if Trump ultimately wants to give ground, at least get something in return,” Bruen said. ‘NO BETRAYAL’ IN TRUMP MOVE TOWARD UKRAINE WAR NEGOTIATIONS, HEGSETH SAYS “Anyone with any diplomatic experience would have said it is critical that we use this as part of our negotiation, as President Trump wants to have with Moscow. But the idea that we’re simply going to announce all of the things that we are not going to do goes against 70 years of our diplomacy and our military strategy.” Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, asked why the Trump administration appeared to be giving Russian President Vladimir Putin wins for free. “Why is the Trump administration giving Putin gifts – Ukrainian land and no NATO membership for Ukraine – before negotiations even begin?” he asked on X. “I’ve negotiated with the Russians. You never give up anything to them for free.” Alexander Vindman, a Trump impeachment witness and former Europe director at the National Security Council – who continues to be a fierce Trump critic – characterized Hegseth’s comments as “complete capitulation to Putin” that justifies Russia’s wars of aggression going back to Georgia in 2008. “This will embolden Putin and undermine the interests of peace in Ukraine and Europe. A major blow to U.S. national security,” Vindman asserted. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., chimed in that Hegseth’s comments show, “Trump’s foreign policy has always been Russia First. Never America and its allies first.” The defense secretary also called on Europe to “take ownership of conventional security on the continent.” HEGSETH WARNS EUROPEANS ‘REALITIES’ OF CHINA AND BORDER THREATS PREVENT US FROM GUARANTEEING THEIR SECURITY “European allies must lead from the front,” Hegseth said. “Together, we can establish a division of labor that maximize our comparative advantages in Europe and Pacific, respectively.” His comments came just before Trump called both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv. On Friday, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The Putin conversation came one day after the release of American Marc Fogel, who had been detained by the Kremlin, which Trump said he saw as a sign of “good faith” by the Russians. Trump, meanwhile, has begun pressuring Ukrainians to turn over access to rare Earth minerals in exchange for security aid. Bessent presented Ukraine with a draft deal exchanging aid for minerals on Wednesday in Kyiv, according to Zelenskyy. “We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday of his call with Putin. “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” He announced that he would asked Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to lead negotiations. Trump also said his call with Zelenskyy went “very well.” “It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!”