Tulsi Gabbard faces next test in confirmation battle with key Senate hurdle
Former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard will face another test Monday night in the Senate as she hopes to be confirmed to one of the most important national security posts in the U.S. government. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI) will get a cloture vote at 5:30 p.m., when she will need to get more than 50 votes in order to advance to a final confirmation vote. If the cloture motion passes, there will be 30 hours of debate on the Senate floor. Frequently, the debate between the cloture motion and the final vote is minimized in what’s referred to as a “time agreement” between Republicans and Democrats. But with the controversial nature of Gabbard’s nomination and ongoing frustrations with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its government audit, no such agreements are expected. SCHUMER REVEALS DEM COUNTER-OFFENSIVE AGAINST TRUMP’S DOGE AUDIT This will set Gabbard up for a final confirmation vote on Wednesday at the earliest, when the 30 hours of debate expire. The nominee advanced out of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week, snagging the support of crucial GOP Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Todd Young, R-Ind. TRUMP’S KEY TO CABINET CONFIRMATIONS: SENATOR-TURNED-VP VANCE’S GIFT OF GAB Her success on the cloture motion and with final confirmation are much more favorable than her initial odds in the Intel committee were. In order to get the support of all the committee’s Republicans, Chair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Vice President JD Vance worked around the clock. Their conversations with committee members and tireless efforts were credited with getting her past the key hurdle. INSIDE SEN TOM COTTON’S CAMPAIGN TO SAVE TULSI GABBARD’S ENDANGERED DNI NOMINATION In a final vote, Gabbard can only lose 3 Republican votes, assuming she does not get any Democratic support, as was the case in the committee vote. She already has an advantage over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as Collins supports her. The senator was one of three votes against Hegseth. LEADER THUNE BACKS SENATE GOP BID TO SPEED PAST HOUSE ON TRUMP BUDGET PLAN Despite the limited votes Gabbard can afford to lose, Republicans appear to be confident about her odds. This was signaled through the White House dispatching Vance to Europe for events and meetings during the time of Gabbard’s cloture and confirmation votes. If Republicans expected to need Vance to break a tie in the upper chamber, they likely would not have slated her vote for this week.
Hegseth bans future trans soldiers, makes sweeping changes for current ones
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instituted a ban on allowing transgender people to join the military late last week, following a directive from President Donald Trump. A memo dated Feb. 7 and signed by the defense secretary says, “Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused.” “All scheduled, unscheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for service members are paused.” The memo also says service members with gender dysphoria “have volunteered to serve our country and will be treated with dignity and respect.” TRANSGENDER SERVICE MEMBERS AND RIGHTS GROUPS FILE SUIT AGAINST TRUMP’S PENTAGON DIRECTIVE But the memo was unclear about what would happen to those currently in the military and identifying as a gender different than that assigned at birth, delegating responsibility to the under secretary for personnel and readiness to provide policy and implementation guidance for active service members with gender dysphoria. The Pentagon could not immediately be reached for comment on the status of current transgender service members. During a military town hall on Friday, Hegseth tore into diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is, ‘Our diversity is our strength.’ I think our strength is our unity,” he said. Hegseth went on: “Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race. In this department, we will treat everyone equally, we will treat everyone with respect, and we will judge you as an individual by your merit and by your commitment to the team and the mission.” TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDERS BANNING ‘RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY,’ DEI INITIATIVES IN THE MILITARY Late last month, the Pentagon declared identity months, including Black History Month and Women’s History Month, “dead” within DoD and said it would not use resources to celebrate them. An executive order signed by Trump last month required Hegseth to update medical standards to ensure they “prioritize readiness and lethality” and take action to “end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns” within DOD. It says that expressing a “gender identity” different from an individual’s sex at birth does not meet military standards. The order also restricts sleeping, changing and bathing facilities by biological sex. It’s not an immediate ban, but a direction for the secretary to implement such policies. It revokes former President Joe Biden’s executive order that the White House argues “allowed for special circumstances to accommodate ‘gender identity’ in the military – to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion.” A categorical ban on transgender service members was lifted in 2014 under President Barack Obama. There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members – exact figures are not publicly available. Between Jan. 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021, the DOD reportedly spent approximately $15 million on providing transgender treatments (surgical and nonsurgical) to 1,892 active duty service members, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Project 2025 adviser takes the reins at EPA region including Texas
Scott Mason IV, a former deputy energy secretary for Oklahoma and member of the Cherokee nation, is the new administrator for the region that covers Texas and four neighboring states.
Trump says he ordered firing of military academies’ Board of Visitors
President Donald Trump says he is dismissing members of the Board of Visitors for each of the U.S. military service academies on Monday. Trump made the announcement on social media, saying the dismissals would impact the Boards of Visitors for the U.S. Army Academy, or West Point, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy and the Coast Guard Academy. Each academy’s Board of Visitors is tasked with influencing and maintaining the curriculum and culture at the schools. The boards consist of appointees from various sources, with six members being chosen by the president, four from the speaker of the House, three from the vice president, and one each from the House and Senate Armed Services committees. The White House did not immediately clarify whether Trump’s Monday order dismisses all members of the boards or only those who are presidential appointees. HOUSE DEMOCRAT DITCHES DOGE CAUCUS, SAYS MUSK IS ‘BLOWING THINGS UP’ “Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years. I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard. We will have the strongest Military in History, and that begins by appointing new individuals to these Boards. We must make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote Monday. TRUMP DOD CREATES TASK FORCE TO ABOLISH DEI OFFICES THAT ‘PROMOTE SYSTEMIC RACISM’ Each of the academies declined to comment and deferred to the White House when contacted by Fox News Digital. The move is the latest effort by Trump’s administration to combat “woke” influences across the federal government. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has vowed to dismantle DEI within the Pentagon and across America’s armed forces. Hegseth said this weekend that he is also welcoming Elon Musk’s DOGE into the agency to streamline processes and “cut tail to put it to tooth,” he said Sunday on the Fox News Channel. “We know in a world where America’s $37 trillion in debt, resources will not be unlimited, so every dollar we can find that isn’t being spent wisely is one we can put toward a warfighter, so we welcome DOGE at DOD,” he told “Sunday Morning Futures” anchor Maria Bartiromo. “We will partner with them, and it’s long overdue. The Defense Department’s got a huge budget, but it needs to be responsible.” The former “Fox & Friends Weekend” host took the helm at the DOD last month after a deadlocked Senate confirmation vote ended with Vice President JD Vance’s tiebreaker. Since then, he has overseen overhauls of Biden-era policies, including DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives within the agency.
Department of Veterans Affairs cancels $178K in subscriptions to Politico Pro
The Department of Veterans Affairs canceled $178,000 in subscriptions to Politico Pro, VA Secretary Doug Collins announced Monday. Collins announced the move on X, saying his office had only recently become aware of the contract. The cancelation comes after President Donald Trump’s administration revealed that the federal government had paid over $8 million to Politico in subscription fees in recent years. “Ran across a $178,000 contract VA had with Politico and we promptly canceled it. That money can be better spent on Veterans health care!” Collins wrote. EX-POLITICO REPORTERS REVEAL EDITORS QUASHED, SLOW-WALKED NEGATIVE BIDEN STORIES ‘WITH NO EXPLANATION’ “It’s a new day at VA,” Collins told Fox News Digital. “We’re putting Veterans at the center of everything the department does, focusing relentlessly on customer service and convenience. We’re working every day to find new and better ways of helping VA beneficiaries. That means cutting wasteful spending and redirecting resources toward programs that benefit Veterans, families, survivors and caregivers.” TOP DEM STRATEGISTS WARN USAID FUNDING FIGHT IS A ‘TRAP’ FOR THE PARTY The move comes after Politico denied claims that it was a “beneficiary of government programs” last week upon revelations of millions of dollars worth of contracts with federal agencies. “As surely many of you saw today, there was a spirited discussion at the White House and among officials connected to the Department of Government Efficiency on the subject of government subscriptions for journalism products, at POLITICO and other news organizations,” Politico’s CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and editor-in-chief John Harris jointly wrote to staff on Wednesday in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital. “This is a fine conversation to have, and we welcome it. The value of POLITICO subscriptions is validated daily in the marketplace. Some parts of today’s conversation, however, were confusing and left some people with false understandings. For this reason, we want you to hear from us on several points.” Sheikholeslami and Harris stressed Politico “has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies—not one cent, ever, in 18 years” and touted that its subscription service Politico Pro “provides both private and public sector clients with granular, fact-based reporting, real-time intelligence, and tracking tools across key policy areas.” There was speculation on social media that the $8 million in question all came from USAID, the agency currently being targeted by DOGE co-founder Elon Musk, but only $44,000 of it came from that agency. Base subscriptions are typically between $12,000 and $15,000 for three users. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Politico received taxpayer funding for its costly subscription service from elsewhere in the federal government. The Department of Health and Human Services led the way, with $1.37 million followed by $1.35 million from the Department of the Interior, according to USAspending.gov. The Department of Energy paid Politico $1.29 million, the Department of Agriculture paid $552,024 and the Department of Commerce paid $485,572. Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report
Trump expected to pardon former Illinois Gov Rod Blagojevich
President Donald Trump is expected to pardon former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Fox News has learned. Blagojevich, a former “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant, served eight years in prison on charges stemming from his effort to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat after Obama won the 2008 presidential election. Trump commuted his 14-year sentence in 2020. Fox News’ Pat Ward contributed to this report. This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.
The confirmation juggernaut: How Trump is getting everything he wants in building his Cabinet
President Donald Trump is getting what he wants. Specifically, who he wants to serve in his administration. The nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for attorney general last November? That was a lifetime ago. Pushed out. Withdrawn. Unconfirmable. Whatever you want to call it. OUT OF POWER: DEMOCRATS DISORIENTED IN FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP AGENDA The Senate has already confirmed at least one nominee whom political experts deemed as potentially unconfirmable a few weeks ago: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth skated through to confirmation with three GOP nays. But Vice President JD Vance broke a tie. It was only the second time in U.S. history that the Senate confirmed a Cabinet secretary on a tiebreaking vote by the vice president. And by the end of the week, the Senate will likely confirm two other controversial nominees who at one point seemed to be a stretch. The Senate votes Monday night to break a filibuster on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Her confirmation vote likely comes Wednesday. After that, the Senate likely crushes a filibuster on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as Health and Human Services Secretary. The Senate could confirm Kennedy by late Thursday. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO HOUSE REPUBLICANS RELEASING THEIR TAX AND SPENDING CUT PLAN It was unthinkable in November that Trump may be able to muscle through certain nominees. But this is a confirmation juggernaut. Yes, challenges await former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., who’s up for Labor Secretary. Some Republicans believe Chavez-DeRemer is too pro-labor. And the Department of Education may not be around long enough for the Senate to ever confirm Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon. But so far, Republicans are sticking together. Many Senate Republicans aren’t willing to buck the president. They believe the GOP owes its majority in the House and Senate to him. So they’re willing to defer to Mr. Trump. Moreover, some Republicans worry about the president hammering them on Truth Social or engineering a primary challenge against them. Or, perhaps just pressuring them. Groups aligned with the president went after Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, late last year after her initial meeting with Hegseth. Ernst served in the military and is a sexual assault survivor. In an interview on Fox, Ernst suggested she wasn’t on board with Hegseth yet and wanted “a thorough vetting.” But weeks later, Ernst came around and gave Hegseth the green light following a second meeting. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., dodged reporters’ questions in the hallways for several days about his stance on Gabbard. “We’re not taking any questions!” an aide hollered brusquely as the senator tried to evade the Capitol Hill press corps in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The same thing happened the next day. “Sorry, we’re not taking questions today. Sorry guys, we’re not taking questions today. Thank you though. Appreciate it,” said an aide as Young maneuvered through the halls. Young didn’t tip his hand on Gabbard until the Intelligence Committee prepared to vote on the nomination and send it to the floor. Young released a letter from Gabbard where the nominee apparently allayed the senator’s concerns. “There was certain language I wanted her to embrace,” said Young. In particular, he wanted Gabbard to state she wouldn’t push for a pardon for spy Edward Snowden. TULSI GABBARD EXPLAINS WHY SHE WON’T CALL EDWARD SNOWDEN A ‘TRAITOR’ AHEAD OF TOUGH COMMITTEE VOTE Gabbard once advocated that a pardon was in order for Snowden – even though he made off with perhaps the biggest heist of U.S. intelligence secrets of all time – and fled to Moscow. The committee then voted 9-8 to send Gabbard’s nomination to the floor with a positive recommendation toward confirmation. What made the difference to Young? He spoke with President Trump. He spoke with Vance. He even spoke with Elon Musk. “Was there any implication that there would be recriminations if you voted a different way?” asked yours truly. “Never an intimation,” said Young. “I think something the American people don’t understand is that this process sometimes takes a while.” He argued that obtaining reassurances followed the process that “our Founding Fathers wanted people like myself to” do. The road to a prospective confirmation for RFK Jr. isn’t all that different. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is a a physician and chairs the Senate Health Committee. After Kennedy’s hearing with that panel, Cassidy signaled he wasn’t prepared to support the nominee yet and wanted to talk with him over the weekend. Cassidy was perplexed by RFK Jr.’s stance on vaccines. But Cassidy was in RFK Jr.’s camp when it came time for the Senate Finance Committee to vote on the nomination a few days later. TRUMP’S HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR CLEARS SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION VOTE “Mr. Kennedy and the administration committed that he and I would have an unprecedentedly close, collaborative working relationship if he is confirmed,” said Cassidy. “We will meet or speak multiple times a month. This collaboration will allow us to work well together and therefore to be more effective.” Cassidy’s support dislodged RFK Jr.’s nomination from committee and sent it to the floor. That’s why, like Gabbard, he’s on cruise control for a confirmation vote later this week. What made the difference in salvaging these nominations which once teetered on the edge? Multiple Senate Republicans point to their former colleague, Vance. Vance has worked quietly in the shadows, leaning on his relationship with senators, to convince skeptical Republicans into a comfort zone with controversial nominees. The Trump Administration saw how quickly the nomination of Matt Gaetz evaporated last fall. There was worry that robust GOP pushback could jeopardize an entire slate of nominees. So has Vance deployed soft power with senators? Or has he dispelled concerns through brute force? Judge for yourself. Consider what the vice president said about the role of senators during an interview on Fox last month: “You don’t have to agree with everything Bobby Kennedy has ever said. You don’t have
Schumer reveals Dem counter-offensive against Trump’s DOGE audit
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., unveiled on Monday the Democrats’ counter-offensive plan against the broad government audit being conducted by President Donald Trump’s temporary agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “Senate Democrats have a responsibility to fight back on behalf of American families as Republicans look the other way in obedience to Donald Trump. And we are,” he wrote to members of the Senate Democratic Caucus in a letter. Notably, with Democrats out of control in each legislative chamber, as well as the White House, they have very few levers of authority over items of which they disapprove. TRUMP’S KEY TO CABINET CONFIRMATIONS: SENATOR-TURNED-VP VANCE’S GIFT OF GAB The Democratic leader explained that the plan to fight DOGE, headed by Trump-aligned billionaire and special government employee Elon Musk, is four-pronged. Schumer said that Democrats will take on the audit through Oversight, Litigation, Legislation and Communication & Mobilization. According to Schumer, Democrats have begun conducting oversight by sending “hundreds” of inquiries. He and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ranking Member Gary Peters, D-Mich., sent a letter to federal employees announcing a new portal for whistleblowers “to report corruption, abuses of power, and threats to public safety.” INSIDE SEN. TOM COTTON’S CAMPAIGN TO SAVE TULSI GABBARD’S ENDANGERED DNI NOMINATION As for litigation, Schumer noted that court challenges “are already bearing fruit.” He cited federal court injunctions against a since-rescinded Office of Management and Budget temporary funding freeze, judges’ actions to prevent buyouts and administrative leave for federal employees as ordered by the administration, and a judge’s ruling to prevent DOGE’s team from accessing certain government systems. “Our committees and my office are in regular communication with litigants across the country, including plaintiffs, and are actively exploring opportunities for the Democratic Caucus to file amici curiae that support their lawsuits,” Schumer wrote. LEADER THUNE BACKS SENATE GOP BID TO SPEED PAST HOUSE ON TRUMP BUDGET PLAN He further pointed to opportunities to take on Trump and Musk through legislation, with the specific example of the upcoming government spending deadline next month. The Democratic leader noted that there will be 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass a deal — meaning Republicans will need some Democratic support. With this in mind, Democrats will use this leverage to get certain priorities into a spending deal as both parties look to avoid a partial government shutdown. “It is incumbent on responsible Republicans to get serious and work in a bipartisan fashion to avoid a Trump shutdown,” Schumer said. SENATORS LEAPFROG HOUSE REPUBLICANS ON ANTICIPATED TRUMP BUDGET BILL Lastly, the minority leader said Democrats in the Senate are working to keep the caucus informed and united to amplify their concerns to the public. “And the public is responding,” he wrote. “Grassroots energy is surging. From town halls to protests, Americans are pushing back. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and Senate Democrats are standing with the people to fight back, expose the truth, and stop the Trump agenda.”
Scoop: More than 100 lawmakers join Congressional DOGE Caucus
EXCLUSIVE: More than 100 congressional lawmakers have lined up behind the goal of cutting government waste, as Republicans and Democrats wage an aggressive ideological battle over the merits of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Congressional DOGE Caucus was founded shortly after President Donald Trump tapped Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an advisory panel on where the federal bureaucracy could be trimmed. That effort is now being led by Musk alone, and it’s attracted fierce criticism from Democratic lawmakers who call him an unelected bureaucrat with too much control over the federal government despite no prior experience inside of it. KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN But in the House, enthusiasm for the mission is still strong. Fox News Digital was told more than 100 members are part of the DOGE Caucus – which is more than one in five House lawmakers. The group’s members are currently working on legislative items aimed at reducing government spending and forwarding specific items on Trump’s agenda, Fox News Digital was told. The caucus, led by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, has had two meetings so far. BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS During the second session, lawmakers were asked which of eight different working groups they wanted to be a part of, after which those groups would focus on finding areas to trim government waste in their designated areas. Documents obtained by Fox News Digital after the second meeting showed the working groups are: “Retirement,” “safety net and family support,” “emergency supplementals,” “natural resources and permitting,” “homeland and legal,” “defense and [veterans affairs],” “workforce and infrastructure,” and “finance and government operations.” Fox News Digital was told those member selections have been made, and the groups are “in full swing.” The caucus has seen significant interest from outside the Washington, D.C., Beltway as well, according to numbers shared with Fox News Digital. More than 40,000 people have reached out to the DOGE Caucus’ email tip line, and Fox News Digital was told that some ideas “for how to cut waste, fraud, and abuse” were shared with Musk’s DOGE team. A source in the room during the group’s previous meeting told Fox News Digital that Bean also challenged lawmakers to introduce at least one bill each aimed at cutting government waste.
‘RBI’s gold buying is…’: FM Nirmala Sitharaman talks about rising gold reserves by central bank
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday clarified in the Lok Sabha that India’s rising gold reserves, including those held by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is not intended to replace any international currency.