Iran warns Israel and US ‘can’t do a damn thing’ to thwart Tehran nuclear ambitions as tensions escalate
A senior Iranian official on Monday excoriated a meeting between U.S. and Israeli officials, calling it an illegal effort to thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei blasted the meeting as a violation of international law and an effort that, in his view, Washington, D.C., and Tel Aviv remain powerless to stop. “When it comes to a country like Iran, they cannot do a damn thing,” he told reporters Monday, according to a readout provided by state media. Baghaei took aim at the sit-down between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday, just one day earlier. Their meeting reportedly focused heavily on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. INDIAN PRIME MINISTER MODI TAKES PAGE FROM TRUMP, SAYS ‘MAKE INDIA GREAT AGAIN,’ OR ‘MIGA’ Netanyahu, for his part, had signaled growing momentum between the U.S. and his country to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, telling reporters after the Sunday meeting, “I have no doubt we can and will finish the job.” However, this was sharply disputed by Baghaei. “You cannot threaten Iran on one hand and claim to support dialogue on the other hand,” he added. Baghaei’s remarks come after Netanyahu boasted that Israeli military operations have weakened Iran’s proxy groups in the Middle East, including the Palestinian terror group Hamas. “We can and will finish the job,” the Israeli prime minister said. ISRAEL WILL ‘MAKE SURE’ HAMAS DOES NOT STAY IN POWER IN GAZA, DANNY DANON WARNS Some analysts have suggested that Israel’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric, including on Tehran’s nuclear program, could risk derailing Trump’s stated interest in reaching a peace deal with Iran. Rubio said yesterday that the meeting furthered what he described as President Donald Trump’s “bold” plan for Gaza, describing Iran as the single biggest obstacle to peace in the region. “The president has also been very bold about his view of what the future for Gaza should be. Not the same tired ideas of the past, but something that’s bold and something that, frankly, took courage and vision in order to outline,” he said. Netanyahu also said that he and Trump share a “common strategy” for Gaza that includes the complete destruction of Hamas as a political and military force. SAUDI ARABIA CONTRADICTS TRUMP, VOWS NO TIES WITH ISRAEL WITHOUT CREATION OF PALESTINIAN STATE Trump last week suggested removing Palestinians from Gaza, so the territory could be developed under U.S. ownership. He has since said he stands by the plan, despite broad concerns and criticism of further conflict and displacement. “I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,” Trump said then. “As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it, other people may do it, through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back.” The U.S.-Israel meeting also served a symbolic purpose. During the sit-down, the U.S. sent a shipment of heavy bombs and munitions to Israel, in keeping with Trump’s promise to do so last month. The munitions and bomb shipments, “represents a significant asset for the Air Force and the IDF,” an Israeli defense official said, “and serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States.” Fox News’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Elon Musk says millions in Social Security database are between ages of 100 and 159
Elon Musk indicated in a post on X that millions of people listed in a Social Security database are recorded as centenarians “with the death field set to FALSE!” “According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” Musk posted, adding a couple of rolling on the floor laughing emojis. His post features a chart indicating there are more than 20 million listed with ages 100 and higher, including more than 3.9 million in the 130-139 age range, more than 3.5 million in the 140-149 range and more than 1.3 million in the 150-159 range. DUFFY BRINGS UP CLINTON WHILE NOTING SPACEX WORKERS WILL VISIT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM COMMAND CENTER Fox News Digital reached out to the Social Security Administration for comment on Monday. While the U.S. population count in the 2020 census was more than 331 million, the count of people ages 100 and older was more than 80,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. DEMOCRATS LOVED IDEA OF DOGE BEFORE TRUMP, WHITE HOUSE QUIPS “The logic flow diagram for the Social Security system looks INSANE. No one person actually knows how it works. The payment files that move between Social Security and Treasury have significant inconsistencies that are not reconciled. It’s wild,” Musk declared in a post on X. In another post, Musk said, “There are FAR more ‘eligible’ social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA. This might be the biggest fraud in history.” TREASURY DEPARTMENT RECOUPS $31 MILLION IN IMPROPER GOVERNMENT PAYMENTS TO DEAD PEOPLE President Donald Trump tapped Musk to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to uncover waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
Meet the team Trump picked to negotiate ending the Russia-Ukraine war
President Donald Trump announced a team of four U.S. officials will work on negotiating with Russia and Ukraine to end the war that has raged between the two nations since 2022. We “agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” “I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday, announcing that Russia was ready to hash out negotiations over the ongoing war. Negotiations over ending the war reportedly kicked off “immediately,” with Trump previewing on Wednesday that he believes they will reach “a cease fire in the not too distant future.” TRUMP SAYS RUSSIA AGREES TO ‘IMMEDIATELY’ BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS TO END WAR IN UKRAINE Fox News Digital took a look at the team of U.S. officials Trump tapped to lead the negotiations as they get underway. Witkoff was tapped as the special envoy to the Middle East and served as a key figure in striking a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel ahead of Trump taking office, according to Trump’s recent remarks to the press and sources who spoke with Fox News Digital. Witkoff traveled to Israel in January to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem before it was announced a ceasefire had been reached between Israel and Hamas. Witkoff recently also traveled to Russia to secure the release of U.S. citizen Marc Fogel, who had been in Russian custody since 2021 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana at an airport. FREED AMERICAN HOSTAGE MARC FOGEL LANDS IN US AFTER YEARS IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY Witkoff, similar to Trump, is a real estate mogul, who founded real estate firm the Witkoff Group in 1997. As national security advisor, Trump appointed Mike Waltz, who served as a Republican U.S. congressman representing Florida from 2019 to 2025. Waltz said during a recent interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that conversations to end the war between Ukraine and Russia have weighed heavy on leaders across the globe. RUSSIA SAYS US RELATIONS ‘ON THE BRINK OF A BREAKUP,’ WON’T CONFIRM TRUMP-PUTIN TALK “We need to get all sides to the table and end this war,” he said in the interview. “And it has come up in conversations with President Xi, with Prime Minister Modi, with leaders across the Middle East. Everybody is ready to help President Trump end this war. Let’s get all sides to the table and negotiate.” Waltz is a longtime Trump ally and a decorated retired Green Beret who also served in the National Guard as a colonel. Newly minted CIA Director John Ratcliffe also will lead negotiations on reaching peace in Russia and Ukraine. Ratcliffe served as director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021, during the first Trump administration. Ratcliff warned during his Senate confirmation hearing to lead the CIA that the nation’s premier foreign intelligence agency was falling behind nations such as Russia and China at leveraging technology for intelligence purposes. OBAMA OFFICIALS, TRUMP CRITICS TARGET HEGSETH’S UKRAINE ‘CONCESSIONS’ AS ‘BIGGEST GIFT’ TO RUSSIA “We’re not where we’re supposed to be,” Ratcliffe told the Senate Intelligence Committee in January. Ratcliffe served in the U.S. House as a Republican representing Texas from 2015 to 2020. Rubio, the first member of Trump’s Cabinet to be confirmed and sworn in under his second administration, serves as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state. Rubio headed to the Munich Security Conference on Thursday – a high-profile annual conference focused on security issues at the international level – where he and Vice President JD Vance met with Zelenskyy on Friday. Trump announced that he also spoke with Zelenskyy on Wednesday and that the Ukraine leader wanted to reach a peace deal. “He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE. We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the War, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation. I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. 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!” Trump wrote. Rubio served as a Republican U.S senator representing Florida from 2011 to 2025, which included serving as a senior Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Russia and Ukraine have been at war since February 2022, when Russia invaded its neighboring nation. Trump said on the 2024 campaign trail that he would end the war if re-elected, while claiming it would never have begun if he had been in the Oval Office at the time. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the media on Wednesday when asked about the negotiations that Trump views Putin as both a “great competitor” and “at times an adversary.” “I believe this nation views Putin and Russia as a great competitor in the region, at times an adversary,” Leavitt said when asked how Trump views Russia and Putin. “But as the president has said, as well, he enjoys having good diplomatic relations with leaders around the world. Finding that common ground, also calling them out when they are wrong. Leading from a position of peace through strength. That’s the president’s greatest strength.”
DOGE puts DEI on chopping block with termination of over $370M in education department grants
In just 48 hours, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed a whopping $370 million in taxpayer dollars being spent on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the Department of Education. DOGE, the newly formed department led by Elon Musk to purge spending by the federal government, revealed in a post on X that they terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department. According to DOGE, the grants totaled $373 million. One grant was reportedly funding training for teachers to “engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets,” the cost-cutting department said. DOGE SLASHES OVER $100M IN DEI FUNDING AT EDUCATION DEPARTMENT: ‘WIN FOR EVERY STUDENT’ Over the past several weeks, DOGE has announced the canceling of various streams of funding to DEI in education, including $9.7 million for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills.” DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WARNS THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST REMOVE DEI POLICIES OR LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING The latest spending sweep comes just days after DOGE announced the termination of another 89 DOE contracts totaling $881 million, which included more than $100 million in DEI grants. “Hurrah” Heather Higgins, CEO of Independent Women’s Voice, wrote in a post on X in response to the latest DOGE cuts. The Education Department has been cracking down on DEI practices in education, ordering all 50 state education departments last week to remove DEI policies within 14 days or risk losing federal funding. The letter said the “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions” will no longer be tolerated. Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Trump ally Ramaswamy to make major announcement about his political future
Vivek Ramaswamy will launch his 2026 campaign for Ohio governor in one week, sources confirm to Fox News. The multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur, who went from long shot to contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before dropping out 13 months ago and becoming a top supporter and surrogate of now-President Donald Trump, will announce his candidacy on Feb. 24 in his hometown of Cincinnati. Ramaswamy will kick off his campaign – in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine – at CTL Aerospace just outside of Cincinnati. AP was first to report the news. Sources with knowledge say CTL Aerospace, a privately held company that specializes in aviation repair and original equipment manufacturing, symbolizes Ramaswamy’s push for a new age of growth of industry in Ohio. RAMASWAMY DONE AT DOGE AS HE HEADS BACK ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL The candidate is expected to make stops over the following two days in the Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland areas. Ramaswamy, who’s now 39 years old, launched his presidential campaign in February 2023 and quickly saw his stock rise. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON VIVEK RAMASWAMY He campaigned on what he called an “America First 2.0” agenda and was one of Trump’s biggest supporters in the field of rivals, calling Trump the “most successful president in our century.” Ramaswamy dropped his White House bid in January of last year after a distant fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump, becoming a staple for the former and future president on the campaign trail during the general election. Trump, in the days after his November presidential election victory, named Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, along with Ramaswamy, to steer the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which is better known by its acronym DOGE. But late last month, as Trump was inaugurated, the new administration announced that Ramaswamy was no longer serving at DOGE. Ramaswamy’s exit appeared to clear the way for Musk, Trump’s top donor and key ally, to steer DOGE without having to share the limelight. “It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE. I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!,” Ramaswamy wrote at the time. Ramaswamy and Musk sparked a firestorm among Trump’s hard core MAGA supporters over their support for H-1B temporary worker visas for highly skilled workers from foreign countries. Ramaswamy’s comments criticizing an American culture that he said “venerated mediocrity over excellence” received plenty of pushback from some leading voices on the right as well as some in Trump’s political circle. DeWine announced last month that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted would fill the U.S. Senate seat that was held by JD Vance, Trump’s 2024 running mate, until he stepped down ahead of the inauguration. Before the Senate announcement, Husted had planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. Ramaswamy, for his part, had expressed interest in serving in the Senate. DeWine’s decision to choose Husted to fill the vacant Senate seat appeared to accelerate Ramaswamy’s move toward launching a run for governor. Top members of Vance’s political team – including advisors Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who played major roles in Vance’s 2022 Senate race and in his vice presidential campaign last summer and autumn – are helping Ramaswamy as he runs for governor. Tony Fabrizio, the veteran Republican pollster who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, as well as Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign, is also on board, as is Arthur Schwartz, a close ally to Vance and Donald Trump Jr. The race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination could be competitive. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 68, announced last month his candidacy for governor. “This is my heart, my home,” Yost said in a press release announcing his candidacy. “I work for the people of Ohio, and I love my bosses. From the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night, I’m thinking about them and our future.” Yost also brought in staff from Trump’s political world, announcing that former Trump campaign official Justin Clark had joined the campaign as a general consultant. Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, a well-known former Ohio State University head football coach who was sworn in last month to succeed Husted, appears to be mulling a gubernatorial run. Former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton is currently the only Democrat in the race. Ohio, which was once a top general election battleground, has shifted red over the past decade as Republicans have dominated statewide elections. Ramaswamy was raised in Evendale, Ohio, in suburban Cincinnati by parents who emigrated from India. His father worked as an engineer at General Electric Aviation and his mother was a geriatric psychiatrist. Ramaswamy and his family currently live in suburban Columbus. The soon-to-be candidate filed paperwork on Friday with the Ohio secretary of state’s office ahead of his campaign launch.
Swalwell faces social media backlash for post tying Trump to Georgia small plane crash
Rep. Eric Swallwell, D-Calif., is facing backlash online after suggesting President Donald Trump is to blame for a small plane crash in Georgia this weekend. Swallwell took to social media Monday morning to declare that Trump has had “more planes crash” in his first month in office than any other U.S. president. The lawmaker made the comment in reaction to a small private plane crash that took place this weekend in Covington, Georgia, which left two people dead. Social media users began to pile on immediately, calling out Swallwell for what they saw as an unfair connection to Trump. “Are you suggesting the catalysts for those crashes were all caused by policies changed in the last month?” one user wrote. HARROWING VIDEO FROM MILITARY BASE SHOWS NEW ANGLE OF MIDAIR CRASH CATASTROPHE “You really do have TDS. Grab some coffee and take a walk,” wrote another user who goes by the name of SouthernRepublicanMomma. Swallwell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. FAA, NTSB TO BRIEF SENATORS ON WASHINGTON, DC, MIDAIR COLLISION Georgia’s crash saw a single-engine airplane take off from the Covington Municipal Airport at 11 p.m. on Saturday. Ground control lost communication with the plane roughly 20 minutes later, at which point police officers located the plane crashed near the runway. The plane’s two occupants were immediately announced dead at the scene. “On February 15, 2025, the Covington Police Department officers responded to the Covington Municipal Airport at approximately 11:21 p.m. after receiving a call from the FAA in reference to a single-engine aircraft that had taken off at approximately 11:00 p.m. There was no further communication from the aircraft after takeoff,” the Covington Police Department said in a statement. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has confirmed they are investigating the crash. The incident comes in the wake of multiple other plane crashes in recent weeks, the most dramatic being the collision of a helicopter and a commercial airliner in the skies over Washington, D.C. last month.
Trump admin aims for killing blow to independence of ‘Deep State’ agencies
President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is seeking to overturn a landmark Supreme Court case in an effort to give the president greater control over independent three-letter agencies. In a move that could allow Trump to more easily fire officials who refuse to implement his policies, the acting U.S. solicitor general sent Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin a letter on Wednesday, notifying him of the Justice Department’s plans to ask the Supreme Court to overturn a key precedent that limits the president’s power to remove independent agency members. The letter, penned by Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, says the DOJ has determined “that certain for-cause removal provisions” that apply to certain administrative agency members are unconstitutional, and the department would “no longer defend their constitutionality.” TRUMP’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ORDER TO DROP CHARGES AGAINST NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SPARKS RESIGNATIONS Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, the case in question, is a 1935 Supreme Court case that narrowed the president’s constitutional power to remove agents of the executive branch. Harris cited a previous case, Myers v. United States, which held that the Constitution granted the president sole power to remove executive branch officials. “The exception recognized in Humphrey’s Executor thus does not fit the principal officers who head the regulatory commissions noted above,” Harris wrote in the letter. “To the extent that Humphrey’s Executor requires otherwise, the Department intends to urge the Supreme Court to overrule that decision, which prevents the President from adequately supervising principal officers in the Executive Branch who execute the laws on the President’s behalf, and which has already been severely eroded by recent Supreme Court decisions,” Harris continued. Durbin called the letter a “striking reversal of the Justice Department’s longstanding position under Republican and Democratic presidents alike,” in a statement to Fox News Digital. He added that the request is “not surprising from an administration that is only looking out for wealthy special interests – not the American people.” BONDI ANNOUNCES NEW LAWSUITS AGAINST STATES ALLEGEDLY FAILING TO COMPLY WITH IMMIGRATION ACTIONS: ‘A NEW DOJ’ However, conservative legal theorists supported the Trump administration’s move, arguing that overturning Humphrey’s Executor would move the federal government closer to the original intent of the Constitution’s framers. Trump notably posed his presidential campaign against former President Joe Biden as a contest between the “deep state” and democracy, saying at the time, “Either we have a deep state or we have a democracy. We’re going to have one or the other. And we’re right at the tipping point.” “Congress makes the laws, it’s the president’s duty to carry out and enforce those laws under the unitary executive theory,” Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “That means that the president, since he’s the head of the executive branch, has complete control over the executive branch, and that includes the hiring and firing of everyone in the executive branch, most particularly, and most importantly, the heads of all the different offices and departments within the executive branch.” Von Spakovsky says the exception carved out by the Court in Humphrey’s Executor “does not apply to these federal agencies.” In her letter, Harris specifically mentioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Earlier this month, a former NLRB member sued Trump over her termination, arguing that federal law protects her from being arbitrarily dismissed. The Trump administration has also become the target of various other lawsuits involving federal employee dismissals. PATEL CAMP DECRIES DURBIN ACCUSATIONS AS ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’ ATTEMPT TO DERAIL FBI CONFIRMATION “My take on what’s going on with the Trump agenda right now is that they’re itching to get up to the higher federal court level, including the Supreme Court, to press just this kind of question,” Ronald Pestritto, Graduate Dean and Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, told Fox News Digital. Pestritto says some of the administration’s actions “contradict existing civil service law, existing protections, for example, against removing the NLRB commissioners.” “And so, clearly, they know they’re going to lose a lot of that at the lower court level. And they want to push them up into the Supreme Court, because they think they might get a reconsideration of it,” Pestritto said. Von Spakovsky stated that independent agencies are “unaccountable” as a result of Humphrey’s Executor, saying “you make them accountable to voters by putting them back where they belong, which is under the authority of the president.” Trump’s lawyers are likely to lose in the lower court, Pestritto says, where he expects judges to apply the Supreme Court’s precedent in their own decisions. But even so, the Trump administration can appeal higher and higher to attempt to get Supreme Court review, where Humphrey’s Executor could be overturned. “[Democrats] are going to win injunctions very often, first of all, because they know it’s easy to judge-shop for sympathetic district judges. And number two, the district judges are basically going to go by the existing Supreme Court precedent,” Pestritto said. “And so the real tale of the tape will be when these initial rulings get appealed up the appellate ladder and ultimately up to the Supreme Court, which certainly has many justices who I think understand Article II of the Constitution properly and may be open to a reconsideration of Humphrey’s.”
NYC Mayor Adams refuses to resign in sermon: ‘I have a mission to finish’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams told churchgoers on Sunday that he’s on a mission from God and won’t resign from office as he faces allegations of a quid pro quo with President Donald Trump’s administration. Adams made the remarks during a sermon at Maranatha Baptist Church in Queens, telling the gathering, “I am going nowhere,” the New York Post reported. “I have a mission to finish, the mission that God put me on many years ago,” Adams said, adding that “God has fortified me.” Adams told “Fox & Friends” in an interview on Friday that he plans to run for re-election as a Democrat. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SAYS HE WILL RUN FOR RE-ELECTION AS DEMOCRAT Adams, a Democrat who said he was targeted by the Biden administration, was indicted in September on charges including bribery, soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, wire fraud and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The decision to drop the case against Adams came as part of Trump’s effort to overhaul the Justice Department, which he said has been weaponized against political opponents. Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the decision to drop the case, telling Fox News in an interview Friday that Adams was targeted after he criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Several senior Justice Department officials resigned in protest Thursday rather than comply with an order to drop a bribery case against Adams. After the charges were dropped, Adams was accused of a quid pro quo over his willingness to work with the Trump administration crackdown to curb illegal immigration, and has faced calls to resign. “I just find it so amazing — the most sanctified among us are calling for me to step down,” Adams told the church gathering. “I’m not going to step down. I’m going to step up. NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS PROMISES TO REOPEN ICE OFFICE ON RIKERS ISLAND AFTER MEETING WITH TRUMP BORDER CZAR New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday evening that she was considering removing Adams from office amid the allegations of a quid pro quo. “The allegations are extremely concerning and serious, but I cannot as the governor of this state have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction like a lot of other people are saying right now,” she said. Hochul is the only state official who has the power to remove Adams from his position. Hochul further stated, “I have to do what’s smart, what’s right and I’m consulting with other leaders in government at this time.” Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Putin sending foreign minister to Saudi Arabia for talks with Trump officials
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dispatched a group of senior officials to Saudi Arabia for meetings with the U.S. about a potential peace deal for Ukraine, the Kremlin announced Monday. The officials, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, will meet with U.S. counterparts on Tuesday. The groups plan to discuss a restoration of diplomatic ties between Washington and Moscow, as well as a Ukrainian peace deal and a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Putin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the U.S. delegation, accompanied by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz, the state department confirmed Monday. The meeting comes just days after Trump revealed he had spoken to Putin in a phone call last week. Trump said he and Putin “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” TRUMP SAYS RUSSIA AGREES TO ‘IMMEDIATELY’ BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS TO END WAR IN UKRAINE Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met the effort with skepticism, urging Trump not to trust Putin in a separate call last week. “I said that [Putin] is a liar,” Zelenskyy recounted of his phone call to Trump. “And he said, ‘I think my feeling is that he’s ready for these negotiations.’ And I said to him, ‘No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want any peace.’” PUTIN VIEWED AS ‘GREAT COMPETITOR’ BUT STILL A US ‘ADVERSARY’ AS UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS LOOM, LEAVITT SAYS Zelenskyy nevertheless said he believes Putin is a “little bit scared” of Trump. Trump’s representatives have declined to offer details about the negotiations, such as whether the U.S. would support a deal where Ukraine is forced to give up a sizable amount of its pre-war territory. FREED AMERICAN HOSTAGE MARC FOGEL LANDS IN US AFTER YEARS IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY “Those are details, and I’m not dismissive of the details, they’re important. But I think the beginning here is trust-building. It’s getting everybody to understand that this war does not belong continuing, that it should end. That’s what the president has directed us to do,” Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday. Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer has confirmed that he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its security as part of a peace deal. “I do not say that lightly,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way.” “But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country,” he added. Zelenskyy added in his interview that he will not accept any negotiation hashed out by just the U.S. and Russia. “I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine. Never.… The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses. And we are thankful for all the support, unity between U.S.A. – in U.S.A. around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we’re thankful for all of this. But there is no… leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us about us,” he said.
Duffy brings up Clinton while noting SpaceX workers will visit Air Traffic Control System Command Center
SpaceX workers will visit the Air Traffic Control System Command Center on Monday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted in a Sunday post on X, in which he also mentioned former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with whom he recently engaged in a social media spat. “America deserves safe, state-of-the-art air travel, and President Trump has ordered that I deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world,” Duffy declared, noting that he’d welcome assistance from American developers or businesses. “To do that, I need advice from the brightest minds in America. I’m asking for help from any high-tech American developer or company that is willing to give back to our country. SEAN DUFFY TELLS HILLARY CLINTON TO ‘SIT THIS ONE OUT’ AFTER SHE CHIMES IN ON HIS DOGE ANNOUNCEMENT “Tomorrow, members of @elonmusk’s SpaceX team will be visiting the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in VA to get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system.” He then brought up Clinton. “Because I know the media (and Hillary Clinton) will claim Elon’s team is getting special access, let me make clear that the @FAANews regularly gives tours of the command center to both media and companies.” SENATE CONFIRMS TRUMP PICK SEAN DUFFY FOR TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY In the post on Sunday, Duffy also said that he will visit the FAA Academy this week. “Later in the week, I will travel to the FAA Academy in Oklahoma to meet with air traffic controller instructors and students to learn more about their education and how we can ensure that only the very best guide our aircrafts,” he noted. “My door at @USDOT is open to any and all patriotic developers or companies who want to help our country in this incredible, game-changing mission. I hope to hear from any company committed to ushering in America’s golden age of travel!” President Donald Trump tapped business magnate Elon Musk to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to uncover federal government waste, fraud, and abuse. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY REASSURES PUBLIC ABOUT AIR TRAVEL SAFETY AFTER DEADLY CRASH: ‘SAFEST FORM OF TRAVEL’ “The safety of air travel is a non-partisan matter. SpaceX engineers will help make air travel safer,” Musk wrote in response to Duffy’s tweet. Earlier this month, Clinton and Duffy engaged in a back and forth on X after Duffy noted that the DOGE team would help upgrade the aviation system.