GOP lawmakers’ bill tackles child trafficking crisis at border
Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, is joining GOP colleagues in the Senate by introducing legislation to protect unaccompanied migrant children from human traffickers. “Over 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children effectively disappeared under the Biden administration, leaving them vulnerable to trafficking, abuse, and exploitation. Instead of ensuring their safety, these children are released with no follow-up, falling into the hands of cartels and criminals,” Luttrell said in a release announcing the Stop Human Trafficking of Unaccompanied Migrant Children Act of 2024. Luttrell’s legislation is a companion to a bill introduced in the Senate by senators Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and aims to prevent further trafficking of migrant children by implementing proper vetting for adults who sponsor a child in the United States, including vetting for parents, immediate relatives and unrelated adults. MIGRANT SEX TRAFFICKING SURVIVOR SPEAKS OUT: ‘I SAW GOOD PEOPLE DIE’ The bill will also require that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) take steps to vet all adults who will live in the home of a migrant child. “It is terrifying to think that over 300,000 young, innocent children have been brought into this nation, potentially forced into unsafe conditions and at risk for human trafficking,” Scott said in the release. “As a parent or grandparent, it’s unimaginable to think what might happen to these children and that former President Joe Biden allowed this to happen by completely dismantling our immigration system and opening our southern border, completely ignoring the consequences or the tolls on human life.” JUDGE APPROVES EMERGENCY ORDER TO CLOSE MIGRANT GANG-INFESTED AURORA, COLORADO, APARTMENT COMPLEX The bill aims to put multiple steps in place to prevent trafficking of children, including a prohibition on children being released to a sponsor who is in the U.S. illegally, unless the sponsor is the child’s legal guardian or a relative. The bill will also require authorities to complete a home visit prior to a child being released to the sponsor and calls for at least five additional unannounced home visits during the child’s first year in the country. The legislation will also require reporting to Congress on actions being taken to account for current missing children, according to the release. “HHS must implement thorough vetting to ensure these children are placed with responsible adults — not predators,” Luttrell said. “President Biden’s border policies failed everyone, and this legislation will support the Trump administration’s efforts to course correct the disaster we were left with.”
Trump budget bill standoff fuels tension in House GOP as leaders press forward
The House and Senate are headed for a collision course on federal budget talks as each chamber hopes to advance its own respective proposals by the end of Thursday. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday that the House Budget Committee would take up a resolution for a massive bill to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda later this week. The panel then scheduled its meeting on the matter for 10 a.m. ET on Thursday. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, resolved to push forward with their own legislation after the House GOP missed its self-imposed deadline to kick-start the process last week. And while the two chambers agree broadly on what they want to pass via reconciliation, they differ significantly on how to get those goals over the finish line. BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS “What’s the alternative, the Senate version?” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said when asked if House Republicans could come to an agreement. “When has the Senate ever given us anything conservative?” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, caught some members of the Republican conference by surprise at their closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning when he announced to the room that his panel would be advancing a reconciliation resolution, two lawmakers told Fox News Digital. House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use their congressional majorities to pass a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process. By reducing the Senate’s threshold for passage from two-thirds to a simple majority, where the House already operates, Republicans will be able to enact Trump’s plans while entirely skirting Democratic opposition, provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. GOP lawmakers want to include a wide swath of Trump’s priorities, from more funding for border security to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages. House Republicans’ plans to advance the bill through committee last week were scuttled after fiscal hawks balked at initial proposals for baseline reductions in government spending – frustrating rank-and-file lawmakers. “This is a mechanism that needs to happen that some people are getting hung up on,” one exasperated House GOP lawmaker said. “Some people are acting as if this – you know, I appreciate they’re taking this seriously, but this is just getting the clock started.” More recent proposals traded by the House GOP would put that minimum total anywhere between roughly $1 trillion and $2.5 trillion. Meanwhile, the Senate’s proposal is projected to be deficit-neutral, according to a press release. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hopes to advance it by the end of Thursday. Johnson told reporters Tuesday that bill would be dead on arrival in the House. “I’m afraid it’s a nonstarter over here. And, you know, I’ve expressed that to him. And there is no animus or daylight between us. We all are trying to get to the same achievable objectives. And there’s just, you know, different ideas on how to get there,” the speaker said. SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN Tensions are growing, however, with Johnson’s critics beginning to blame his leadership for the lack of a definitive roadmap. “We’re totally getting jammed by the Senate. Leaders lead, and they don’t wait to get jammed,” Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital. “If I had somebody who was arguing with me about a top-line number, and if I was speaker, they wouldn’t be in that position anymore.” “And I would figure out a way to be resourceful working with the conference and working lines of communication, as opposed to hiding everything and then being three weeks late on the top-line number.” Johnson told reporters that details of a plan could be public as soon as Tuesday night. The Senate’s plan differs from the House’s goal in that it would separate Trump’s priorities into two separate bills – including funding for border security and national defense in one bill, while leaving Trump’s desired tax cut extensions for a second portion. House GOP leaders are concerned that leaving tax cuts for a second bill could leave Republicans with precious little time to reckon with them before the existing provisions expire at the end of this year.
Blue state Dems rail against Trump’s plan to shut down Education Dept.
While the nation anticipates an executive order from President Donald Trump to dismantle the Department of Education, New York Democrats sparked a debate about its legality. The White House says cutting wasteful government funding is “not a crime in a court of law.” Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y, and Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., held a press conference at a Manhattan public school this week, calling Trump’s plans for the education department “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” The White House said the Democrats are “gaslighting” Americans. “Earlier this week, we learned that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order to shut down the Department of Education,” Gillibrand said on Sunday. “This would jeopardize thousands of New York jobs, and billions of dollars in federal funding for New York’s kids, teachers, families and schools. We’re here to show them that we are ready to fight for our kids, fight for our communities and fight for our schools.” As Trump is expected to take steps this month to defund the Department of Education, Democrats began another week of Trump’s second term protesting the Department of Government Efficiency. The Trump administration dismissed the protests as an attempt “to recover from their embarrassing loss” in November. MAXINE WATERS, HOUSE DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ CLASH WITH SECURITY GUARD AT EDUCATION DEPT “The Democrats have no plan on how to recover from their embarrassing loss, and it shows. Instead of working to become a party that focuses on the will of the people, they are hell-bent on keeping their heads in the sand and gaslighting on the widely supported mission of DOGE. Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary, Harrison Fields, told Fox News Digital in a statement. DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER SAYS KIDS WILL BE IN TEACHERLESS CLASSROOMS, WON’T HAVE LUNCH IF DOGE, TRUMP GET THEIR WAY Gillibrand on Sunday reminded New Yorkers that dismantling the Department of Education would require Congressional approval. “What he’s doing is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s unconstitutional and illegal. It’s unconstitutional because Congress is the only body that is allowed to decide how the taxpayer dollars that New Yorkers send to Washington is spent. Hochul warned New Yorkers that they will pick up the tab if Trump shuts down the Department of Education. “The largest part of your local property tax bill is your school taxes,” Hochul said. “If that money evaporates from the federal government, where are they going to go? This is going to hit homeowners and businesses, and I want them to be aware of this consequence.” Hochul said defunding the Department of Education could deny students Pell Grants, a federally funded program that helps low-income students pay for college, and New York City’s public school nutrition programs, which provide free breakfast, lunch and after-school meals for students. Hochul urged New York Republicans to speak up in Washington for New York’s public school students. “This is an outrage,” Gillibrand added. “The Trump administration is stealing money from our kids, from our teachers and from our schools. These are New York tax dollars.” The New York Democrats said shutting down the Department of Education could cost New York’s 2.6 million students almost one billion dollars annually. Hochul and Gillibrand join a growing coalition of Democrats speaking out against Trump’s education plans. Democrats protested outside the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., on Friday, demanding an audience with acting education secretary Denise Carter. Carter is keeping Linda McMahon’s seat warm during her senate confirmation process.
NY Dems push back on Trump’s plan to shut down Education Dept.
While the nation anticipates an executive order from President Donald Trump to dismantle the Department of Education, New York Democrats sparked a debate about its legality. The White House says cutting wasteful government funding is “not a crime in a court of law.” Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., held a press conference at a Manhattan public school this week, calling Trump’s plans for the Education Department “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” The White House said the Democrats are “gaslighting” Americans. “Earlier this week, we learned that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order to shut down the Department of Education,” Gillibrand said on Sunday. “This would jeopardize thousands of New York jobs, and billions of dollars in federal funding for New York’s kids, teachers, families and schools. We’re here to show them that we are ready to fight for our kids, fight for our communities and fight for our schools.” As Trump is expected to take steps this month to defund the Department of Education, Democrats began another week of Trump’s second term protesting the Department of Government Efficiency. The Trump administration dismissed the protests as an attempt “to recover from their embarrassing loss” in November. MAXINE WATERS, HOUSE DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ CLASH WITH SECURITY GUARD AT EDUCATION DEPT “The Democrats have no plan on how to recover from their embarrassing loss, and it shows. Instead of working to become a party that focuses on the will of the people, they are hell-bent on keeping their heads in the sand and gaslighting on the widely supported mission of DOGE. Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law,” White House principal deputy press secretary, Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital in a statement. DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER SAYS KIDS WILL BE IN TEACHERLESS CLASSROOMS, WON’T HAVE LUNCH IF DOGE, TRUMP GET THEIR WAY Gillibrand on Sunday reminded New Yorkers that dismantling the Department of Education would require congressional approval. “What he’s doing is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s unconstitutional and illegal. It’s unconstitutional because Congress is the only body that is allowed to decide how the taxpayer dollars that New Yorkers send to Washington is spent.” Hochul warned New Yorkers that they will pick up the tab if Trump shuts down the Department of Education. “The largest part of your local property tax bill is your school taxes,” Hochul said. “If that money evaporates from the federal government, where are they going to go? This is going to hit homeowners and businesses, and I want them to be aware of this consequence.” Hochul said defunding the Department of Education could deny students Pell Grants, a federally funded program that helps low-income students pay for college, and New York City’s public school nutrition programs, which provide free breakfast, lunch and after-school meals for students. Hochul urged New York Republicans to speak up in Washington for New York’s public school students. “This is an outrage,” Gillibrand added. “The Trump administration is stealing money from our kids, from our teachers and from our schools. These are New York tax dollars.” The New York Democrats said shutting down the Department of Education could cost New York’s 2.6 million students almost $1 billion annually. Hochul and Gillibrand join a growing coalition of Democrats speaking out against Trump’s education plans. Democrats protested outside the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., on Friday, demanding an audience with acting Education Secretary Denise Carter. Carter is keeping Linda McMahon’s seat warm during her Senate confirmation process.
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.