Federal judge orders Trump admin to restore public health web pages
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to restore web pages and datasets that were taken down in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order. Under U.S. District Judge John Bates’ order, HHS, the CDC and the FDA are required to restore data sets and pages that were “removed or substantially modified” last month “without adequate notice or reasoned explanation.” Earlier this month, Doctors for America, represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, filed a lawsuit against the Office of Personal Management (OPM), the CDC, the FDA and HHS for removing information that it says was used by doctors and researchers. RILEY GAINES: THE ALL-OUT WAR ON FEMALE ATHLETES ENDS NOW, THANKS TO PRESIDENT TRUMP “Removing critical clinical information and datasets from the websites of CDC, FDA, and HHS not only puts the health of our patients at risk, but also endangers research that improves the health and health care of the American public,” Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a member of the board of directors for Doctors for America, said in a statement on the organization’s website. “Federal public health agencies must reinstate these resources in full to protect our patients.” “These federal agencies exist to serve the American people by protecting public health,” Zach Shelley, an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel on the case, said in the same statement. “Removing this vital information flouts that mandate. Our lawsuit seeks to hold them to their responsibilities to the people of this country.” LGBT ACTIVISTS MOBILIZE TO CHALLENGE TRUMP’S ‘EXTREME GENDER IDEOLOGY’ EXECUTIVE ORDERS Doctors for America alleged in its complaint that the removal of the web pages and data sets created a “dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks.” According to the complaint, the pages and data sets that were either taken down or modified included a report on an HIV medication, pages on “environmental justice,” pages on HIV monitoring and testing and a CDC guide on contraceptives, among others. Doctors for America claim that these pages and reports were either removed or modified to “combat what the president described as ‘gender ideology.’” The web pages in question were taken down in accordance with President Trump’s order on “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” In the order, President Trump outlines precise definitions of “woman,” “man,” “female,” “male” and other gendered words, establishing the recognition of two genders as official U.S. policy. “The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system. Basing federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself,” the order reads.
DOGE must ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood, Mike Pence’s watchdog group urges Musk
FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s conservative watchdog nonprofit is urging Elon Musk, head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to cut off “wasteful” federal spending on Planned Parenthood. “For the sake of the American people and generations yet unborn, the time has come for the United States to finally defund the largest abortion provider in America,” Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom, wrote in a letter to Musk on Tuesday. TRUMP’S HOUSE ALLIES UNVEIL BILL ‘HAND IN HAND’ WITH DOGE CRACKDOWN Planned Parenthood received approximately $75 billion in federal funding from 2019 to 2021, including $22 billion in Health and Human Services grants and $53 billion from public health programs, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. Planned Parenthood Federation of America affiliates accounted for $148 million in HHS grants and $1.5 billion in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP payments, with regional organizations receiving an additional $108 million. Taxpayer dollars made up 34% of Planned Parenthood’s funding, the letter stated, citing a 2022-2023 annual report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute. “While we are grateful for your work eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government, we truly believe that the opportunity to defund Planned Parenthood may be yours and President Trump’s greatest moment,” the letter read. MUSK’S NEXT TARGET? TRUMP SAYS DOGE WILL LOOK AT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, PENTAGON FUNDING President Trump enacted measures last month to restrict abortion funding. He reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits federal funding to international non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortions. He also signed an executive order enforcing the 1980 Hyde Amendment to prevent federal funds from being used for elective abortions, reversing previous policies under the Biden administration that had expanded access to abortion services. The Biden-Harris administration subsequently ramped up its support for Planned Parenthood’s abortion access following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Under the previous administration, $700 million in federal funds was given to Planned Parenthood during a one-year span as the organization performed a record number of abortions, which coincided with a decline in all other major services, according to Planned Parenthood’s 2022-2023 report published last year. HEGSETH WELCOMES IN ELON MUSK’S DOGE FOR ‘LONG OVERDUE’ DOD SPENDING OVERHAUL Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House, DOGE and Planned Parenthood for comment.
Hegseth says DOGE welcome at Pentagon as Defense Department reviews military posture globally
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is “welcome at the Pentagon,” telling reporters in Stuttgart, Germany, during his first overseas trip at the helm that the Department of Defense (DoD) will also be reviewing U.S. military posture globally to account for different “strategic assumptions” between President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. Upon arriving at the headquarters of U.S. European Command and Africa Command, Hegseth did push-ups, dead-lifts and other PT exercises with the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) – a gesture the secretary, a combat veteran himself, said was meant to interact with the troops directly and hear about their missions, rather than solely communicating through four-star generals. Taking questions from reporters afterward, Hegseth, who has vowed to restore the “warrior ethos” at the Pentagon, addressed how Trump has called on NATO members to spend 5% of their GDPs on defense. Asked if the U.S. should also spend that amount, Hegseth said he and Trump share the view that U.S. defense spending should not go below 3% GDP, adding that the current administration ought to spend more than the Biden administration. HEGSETH SAYS FORT BRAGG IS COMING BACK, BUT WITH A TWIST Hegseth accused the Biden administration of having “historically underinvested in the capabilities of our military,” adding that Trump is committed to “rebuilding America’s military by investing.” Asked if he expects Elon Musk to start unilaterally slashing defense programs, Hegseth described the DOGE leader as a “great patriot interested in advancing the America First agenda” who knows “Trump got 77 million votes in a mandate from the American people, and part of that is bringing actual businesslike efficiency to government.” Hegseth spoke of a “partnership” with DOGE to reduce Pentagon waste, agreeing with Musk’s assessment that it could be to the tune of “billions” of dollars. But the secretary stressed that spending at the Pentagon did not equate to the “globalist agendas” pursued by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). “As I said on social media, we welcome Doge to the Pentagon,” Hegseth said. “And I hope to welcome Elon to the Pentagon very soon. And his team working in collaboration with us.” Hegseth said, “There are waste redundancies and headcounts in headquarters that need to be addressed. There’s just no doubt. Look at a lot of the climate programs that have been pursued at the Defense Department. The Defense Department is not in the business of climate change, solving the global thermostat. We’re in the business of deterring and winning wars. So things like that.” NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS “There’s plenty of places where we want the keen eye of DOGE, but we’ll do it in coordination,” he added, pointing to potential changes in weapons procurement programs as well. “We’re not going to do things that are to the detriment of American operational or tactical capabilities… President Trump is committed to delivering the best possible military.” “The Defense Department is not USAID,” Hegseth said. “USAID has got a lot of problems that I talked about with the troops – pursuing globalist agendas that don’t have a connection to America First. That’s not the Defense Department. But we’re also not perfect either. So where we can find billions of dollars, and he’s right to say billions inside the Defense Department, every dollar we save, there is a dollar that goes to warfighters. And that’s good for the American people.” Hegseth was also asked if there were plans to shift U.S. forces from Europe to the Indo-Pacific to focus on the Chinese threat. “There are no plans right now in the making to cut anything,” Hegseth said. “There is an understanding that we’re going to review force posture across the world.” “President Trump’s planning assumptions are different in many ways, or at least strategic assumptions, than Joe Biden’s,” he said. “We certainly don’t want a plan on the back of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. And what happened on October 7th and the war that was unleashed in Ukraine. You have to manage and mitigate those things by coming alongside your friends in Israel and sharing their defense, and peacefully resolving the conflict in Ukraine. But those shouldn’t define how we orient.” On his decision to reverse Biden’s 2023 renaming of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, Hegseth said, “It means Bragg is back. It means the legacy of an institution that generations of Americans have mobilized through and served at is back.” “I never called it Fort Liberty because it wasn’t Fort Liberty. It’s Fort Bragg. And so I was honored to be able to put my signature on that,” Hegseth said. The North Carolina base’s original namesake was Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general, but Hegseth said it would now be named after Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II hero who earned the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his courage during the Battle of the Bulge.
White House will not release visitor logs during Trump’s second term
The White House will not release visitor logs during President Donald Trump’s second term, Fox News has confirmed. The move mirrors the policy of his first administration, a White House official told the Washington Examiner. Trump’s first administration made the announcement of keeping White House visitors secret in April 2017, according to the Washington Post. “After four years of the Biden administration’s empty promises, lies, and secrets, President Trump is giving the people and the press a level of access and transparency never seen before,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the media outlet. HOUSE DEMS ORGANIZE RAPID RESPONSE TASK FORCE AND LITIGATION GROUP TO COMBAT TRUMP AGENDA Releasing visitor logs is not a requirement since they are protected by the Presidential Records Act, which shields the records from public release until five years after a president leaves office, the Examiner said. President Joe Biden consistently released visitor records at the beginning of each month throughout his term. At the beginning of Biden’s presidency, media outlets praised the Biden administration for resuming the release of visitor logs after the Trump administration stopped the practice during his term. The New York Times spoke highly of the practice as “part of an effort to restore transparency to government.” TRUMP’S HOUSE ALLIES UNVEIL BILL ‘HAND IN HAND’ WITH DOGE CRACKDOWN However, a Bloomberg review of logs from his first two years of office revealed disclosure gaps. Back in November, the White House had still not released its visitor logs for July, the month Bide gave up his re-election bid, leaving questions about who was seeing and advising the president before he made the historic decision to drop out. Former President Barack Obama was the first president to disclose visitor logs, the Examiner reported. Fox News Digitals’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
JD Vance, Treasury Sec Scott Bessent to meet with Zelenskyy as Trump team sets sights on Russia-Ukraine war
Vice President JD Vance will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday after years of railing against the U.S.’ continued funding of Ukraine in the war against Russia. The vice president will meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, a Vance spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital, just ahead of U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg’s trip to Ukraine on Feb. 20. Trump announced on Tuesday he would also send Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to meet with Zelenskyy in Ukraine. “This War MUST and WILL END SOON — Too much Death and Destruction. The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘LET’S DO A DEAL’: ZELENSKYY CALLS TRUMP’S TERMS ACCEPTABLE FOR SECURITY PARTNERSHIP Bessent is expected to talk about sanctions, rare Earth minerals and where U.S. funding has gone with the Ukrainian leader. Trump tasked Kellogg with hashing out a peace deal with Ukraine and Russia to bring the three-year-long war to an end. Last week Kellogg met with Ukrainian delegations at the State Department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are also attending the conference where the Russia-Ukraine war is sure to be a top focal point. RUSSIA SAYS US RELATIONS ‘ON THE BRINK OF A BREAKUP,’ WON’T CONFIRM TRUMP-PUTIN TALK The U.S. does not have a concrete plan yet to end the war, contrary to public reporting, and is listening to concerns and proposals from allies, a European official familiar with peace talks told Fox News Digital. “Munich is too soon to unveil a Ukraine peace plan,” the official said. “The negotiations between the principals – Trump, Zelenskyy, Putin – will be tough. All options to end the killing are on the table – the course of action will be Trump’s call. There’s still plenty of room to ramp up sanctions.” Trump said last week he might meet with Zelenksyy himself in the days ahead. “I will probably be meeting with President Zelenskyy next week and I will probably be talking to President Putin,” Trump said. In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier Monday night, Trump emphasized the need for Ukraine to give the U.S. access to its rare Earth minerals in exchange for its defense. He also suggested Ukraine “may be Russian” someday. “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian some day, or they may not be Russian some day,” Trump mused. “We are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back. And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare Earth,” Trump said. “And they have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.” TRUMP’S ‘RARE’ PRICE FOR US MILITARY AID TO UKRAINE CALLED ‘FAIR’ BY ZELENSKYY Both Zelenskyy and Putin have remained opposed to direct talks with each other. Putin is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from regions in the south and east that Kyiv still has control over. Zelenskyy has scoffed at any territorial concessions to Moscow, though he has admitted Ukraine may have to rely on diplomatic means to take back some of its territory. Vance was long at the forefront of opposition to Ukraine aid in the Senate. “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” he said in February 2022 as Russia invaded. “Vladimir Putin is not Adolf Hitler. It doesn’t mean he’s a good guy, but he has significantly less capability than the German leader did,” Vance said in an April 2024 speech on the Senate floor. A Munich Security report, released just days before world leaders gather in Germany, said that Trump’s election has turned the U.S. into a “risk to be hedged against.” “Without global leadership of the kind provided by the United States for the past several decades, it is hard to imagine the international community providing global public goods like freedom of navigation or tackling even some of the many grave threats confronting humanity,” the report warned. “The US may be abdicating its historic role as Europe’s security guarantor – with significant consequences for Ukraine.”
Top political handicapper reveals what Dems’ chances are at winning back the Senate in 2026
Democrats face “few opportunities” to win back the Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections, a top non-partisan political handicapper predicts. While the Republicans are defending seats in 22 states in 2026 compared to just 13 for the Democrats, the Cook Report’s first Senate rankings of the new election cycle points to a tough road ahead for the Democrats as they aim to recapture control of the chamber. Senate Republicans enjoyed a very favorable map in the 2024 cycle as they flipped four seats from blue to red and stormed to a 53-47 majority in the new Congress, to go along with President Donald Trump‘s recapturing of the White House and the GOP’s successful defense of their razor-thin House majority. Cook Report Senate and governors editor Jessica Taylor, looking to a new Senate battle, suggested that “the challenge for Democrats to net the four seats necessary to win back the majority looks Herculean.” FIRST ON FOX: SENATE GOP CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHTS ‘TEAM EFFORT’ The Cook Report ranks two seats as toss-ups, and both are controlled by the Democrats. They are in the battlegrounds of Michigan – where Democrat Sen. Gary Peters announced two weeks ago that he would not seek re-election in 2026 – and Georgia – where Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff faces a rough road to securing a second six-year term in the Senate. Trump flipped Michigan in last November’s election, while then-Rep. Elissa Slotkin narrowly edged Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in the race to succeed longtime fellow Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Rogers is now seriously mulling a second straight bid for the Senate. SENATE REPUBLICANS JUMP OUT TO FAST START IN THIS KEY CAMPAIGN METRIC In Georgia, which Trump also flipped after losing the state in his 2020 election loss to former President Joe Biden, the Cook Report calls Ossoff “the most endangered incumbent overall.” State and national Republicans are urging popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp – who is term-limited in 2026 – to challenge Ossoff. The Cook Report ranks the key New England swing state of New Hampshire as Lean Democrat. Longtime Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor, has yet to announce if she will seek another term in office. Additionally, while plugged in Democrats in the Granite State have told Fox News the past couple of months that they expected the now-78-year-old Shaheen to run for re-election, her recently announced sparse fundraising for the fourth quarter of last year took many politicos by surprise. Former Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who served as ambassador to New Zealand during Trump’s first term in the White House, is making moves toward launching a second run for the Senate in New Hampshire, a dozen years after narrowly losing to Shaheen. TRUMP-BACKED 2024 GOP SENATE NOMINEE IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE MOVING TOWARDS ANOTHER RUN IN 2026 While no Republican held Senate seats are listed as toss-ups, two are rated by the Cook Report as Lean Republican. They are Maine, where moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election in a state Trump lost last November, and North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is seeking another term in a state Trump narrowly carried last year. While Cook lists both races as Lean Republican, Taylor notes that “the rating could change if Democrats recruit strong candidates.” Those Democratic candidates could possibly be former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who finished his second term earlier this year, and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who is term-limited in 2026. MEET THE REPUBLICAN SENATOR TASKED WITH DEFENDING THE GOP’S SENATE MAJORITY IN 2026 When it comes to potentially competitive races, the Cook Report ranks Ohio as likely Republican. GOP Gov. Mike DeWine last month named Lt. Jon Husted to fill the seat previously held by now-Vice President JD Vance. Husted is now running in 2026 to fill the final two years of Vance’s term. Once a key battleground state, Ohio has shifted to deep red in recent election cycles and its unclear if former longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost his re-election last year, will make another bid in 2026. Cook also lists Minnesota – where Democrat Sen. Tina Smith is up for re-election next year – as a likely Democrat. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said last November that he’d “like to see 55,” when asked in a Fox News Digital interview about how many seats he was aiming for in the 2026 midterms. Additionally, this past weekend at the Senate GOP campaign committee’s winter meeting, Scott reiterated that “we believe we can get to 55 or maybe even stretch for 56,” according to sources attending the confab in Palm Beach, Florida. The party in power – which this cycle is clearly the Republicans – traditionally faces electoral headwinds in the midterm elections. However, Taylor, pointing to recent polling, notes that the Democrats’ “party brand is… deeply unpopular.” “Even if Democrats were able to defend every incumbent and open seat on their side and flip both those states, it would leave them two short of an outright majority. Additional targets are hard to find,” Taylor emphasized.
Biden least popular living president, poll says – but who takes the top spot?
In a recent Gallup survey of adults living in the U.S., former President Joe Biden earned the lowest favorability and the highest unfavorability of all five living presidents, while former President Barack Obama was held in the highest regard. While 57% held an unfavorable view of Biden, just 39% held a favorable view of him. But Obama’s ratings were essentially the reverse, with 59% viewing the 44th president favorably versus just 36% who viewed him unfavorably. TRUMP HAS HIGHER APPROVAL RATING THAN AT ANY POINT DURING FIRST TERM: POLL Biden, who served as vice president during Obama’s two terms, had just concluded his own White House tenure when the poll was conducted from Jan. 21-27. President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20. The current commander in chief and former President Bill Clinton were both viewed favorably by 48% in the survey. NEW POLL SHOWS WHAT AMERICANS THINK OF TRUMP’S PERFORMANCE IN SECOND TERM But while 50% viewed Trump unfavorably, just 41% felt that way about Clinton. Regarding former President George W. Bush, 52% in the poll held a favorable opinion of him, and 34% held an unfavorable view. TRUMP ADMIN DEPORTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CONVICTED OF A CRIME IS WILDLY POPULAR AMONG NEW YORK VOTERS: POLL Until recently, there had been six living presidents, but former President Jimmy Carter passed away late last year at the age of 100. “Results are based on telephone interviews conducted January 21-27, 2025, with a random sample of –1,001— adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level,” Gallup indicated.
Trump pauses enforcement of law criminalizing foreign bribery: ‘In practicality, it’s a disaster’
President Donald Trump has paused the enforcement of a law that criminalizes American businesses that bribe foreign officials in an executive order signed on Monday. The order, which directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), is intended to further American economic growth by eliminating excessive barriers to American commerce abroad. “It sounds good on paper, but in practicality, it’s a disaster,” Trump said about the FCPA. “It means that if an American goes over to a foreign country and starts doing business over there illegally, legitimately or otherwise, it’s almost a guaranteed investigation indictment. And nobody wants to do business with the Americans because of it,” Trump continued. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION APPEALS RULING BLOCKING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER According to the DOJ, the FCPA was enacted in 1977 to make it “unlawful for certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business.” However, the act has been “stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States.” Enforcing the FCPA also “actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security,” the order states. TRUMP ANNOUNCES EXECUTIVE ORDER CREATING TASK FORCE TO ‘ERADICATE ANTI-CHRISTIAN BIAS’ In an effort to eliminate excessive barriers to American businesses overseas, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has also been directed, through the executive order, to review the FCPA for the following 180 days and revise reasonable enforcement guidelines. “President Trump is stopping excessive, unpredictable FCPA enforcement that makes American companies less competitive,” a White House fact sheet stated. “U.S. companies are harmed by FCPA overenforcement because they are prohibited from engaging in practices common among international competitors, creating an uneven playing field.” “The title is so lovely, but it’s an absolutely horror show for America,” Trump said. “So we’re signing it because that’s what we have to do to make it good… It’s going to mean a lot more business for America.”
‘This has to stop’: House Dem faces backlash for ‘promoting physical violence’ at DOGE protest
A Democratic congressman is facing heat from conservatives on social media after promoting the idea of a “street fight” at a protest pushing back against Elon Musk’s recent efforts to slash government waste through the newly created DOGE office. “This will be a congressional fight, a constitutional fight, a legal fight, and on days like this a street fight, yes we will stand,” Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who has represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District since 2020, said at a rally in Baltimore on Monday outside the Social Security Office. Mfume, who was elected to fill the seat of the late Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, added that DOGE stands for “the department of government evil.” Conservatives on social media were quick to criticize Mfume. They accused him of inciting violence and wondered aloud why more media outlets weren’t picking up the comments. ‘DOGE BOYS’: DEMS FUME OVER SPENDING CUT SPREE AT RALLY OUTSIDE TRUMP’S NEXT POTENTIAL TARGET “A ‘street fight’ to stop cuts to wasteful spending?” GOP Sen. Mike Lee posted on X. “Those are fighting words. And they’re not honorable words.” “Remember when Trump pumped his fist and said fight after someone almost blew his brains out and the press claimed it was a call to violence?” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. “Meanwhile…” “You can almost hear the Democrat party’s 31% approval rating slide further down a hill with clips like this,” Republican communicator Matt Whitlock posted on X. “Not only are Democrats openly promoting political violence, they’re promoting political violence over funding trans surgeries in South America.” MEET THE YOUNG TEAM OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERS SLASHING GOVERNMENT WASTE AT DOGE: REPORT “WATCH: @RepKweisiMfume (D-MD) riles his supporters up for a ‘street fight’ against President Trump’s agenda on rooting out government waste and corruption,” the Trump White House’s rapid response team posted on X. “So @realDonaldTrump, what’s the plan for dealing with Congressional members who are inciting violence?” Women For America First Executive Director Kylie Jane Kremer posted on X. ” This has to stop & there should be consequences for any MOC who continues to do this.” “Dems calling for a ‘street fight,” the American Firearms Association posted on X. “Never give up your firearms because we all know these Communist Dems are thirsty for blood!” In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Mfume spokesperson said, “Congressman Mfume was talking about going neighbor to neighbor and person to person to fight to win the hearts, minds, and souls of disaffected voters who didn’t participate in the last election or who are turned off by the current process.” “He believes everybody needs to be engaged and you have to be able to fight where people are to talk with them and to get them engaged and bring them back to the fold.” The spokesperson added that Mfume is “not opposed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.” “He is the Ranking Member of the United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations and that has been a focus of his bipartisan work alongside Subcommittee Chair Pete Sessions for the last two years. Congressman Mfume supports many things to make government run better, including ending cost overruns at the Department of Defense, tackling the underworld of fraud and improper payments associated with government spending, and establishing a scorecard within agencies which measures their ability to curb waste – he has worked with at least a dozen inspector generals on these issues.” The Trump administration appears primed to target the Social Security Administration as part of its DOGE efforts, Fox News Digital previously reported, prompting strong pushback from Democrats who have largely opposed DOGE, arguing it represents a constitutional crisis and a threat to democracy. “We have one simple message, which is: Elon Musk, keep your hands off our Social Security,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told the crowd in Baltimore. MAXINE WATERS, HOUSE DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ CLASH WITH SECURITY GUARD AT EDUCATION DEPT “Over the last 21 days, we have seen Elon Musk conducting illegal raids on federal agencies with his DOGE crew,” the senator said. “This is a recipe for corruption by the DOGE boys.” Musk and other Republicans have argued that a significant amount of waste exists in the federal entitlement system and pushed back on the accusation that legitimate benefits will be taken away. “At this point, I am 100% certain that the magnitude of the fraud in federal entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc) exceeds the combined sum of every private scam you’ve ever heard by FAR,” Musk recently posted on X. “It’s not even close.” “On no planet does @DOGE want to take away anyone’s Social Security check,” Sen. Lee posted on X. “And on no planet is violence warranted by what @DOGE is actually trying to do—stop waste, fraud, and abuse in government.” Musk responded to Lee’s post by saying, “Yeah, I can’t emphasize this enough! The goal of auditing the Social Security Administration is to stop the extreme levels of fraud taking place, so that it remains solvent and protects the social security checks of honest Americans!” Fox News Digital previously reported that, according to Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, SSA disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough “to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023.” Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report
SCOOP: Trump budget chief Vought to tell GOP senators $175B needed ‘immediately’ for border security
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s newly sworn in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought will emphasize to Republican senators the urgent need for border security funding on Tuesday, telling them an immediate $175 billion is necessary. At a weekly Senate GOP lunch, Trump’s budget chief will speak to lawmakers, stressing that more money and resources are needed to secure the border and continue undoing Biden-era immigration policies, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital exclusively. NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS In his presentation, Vought will detail what the administration requires for “robust and sustained” border security and immigration enforcement, according to the official. Vought will explain that given Trump’s significant actions to address illegal immigration, money is running out, and for the administration to keep enforcing the new policies and conducting operations across the country, those resources must be renewed. LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER: THE LITTLE-KNOWN TRUMP NOMINEE WHO MAY NEED TO RELY ON DEMS The funding being sought would go toward ramping up personnel across agencies, expanding detention capacity and reinstituting the “Remain in Mexico” program. It would also include border wall construction and building border infrastructure, deploying innovative surveillance technology to the border, deporting migrants, military support for deportation operations, enhancing the Coast Guard’s role in border enforcement and giving state and local governments the financial and operational resources to deal with the effects of large-scale illegal immigration, per the official. TRUMP NOMINEE TULSI GABBARD CLEARS LAST HURDLE, HEADS FOR FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE This will be relayed to the Republican senators by Vought during the GOP lunch. The $175 billion topline request has already been factored into Senate Committee on the Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham’s reconciliation bill, which is slated to go through the key committee this week.