Trump visa policy ‘far more restrained’ than Biden policy targeting Israelis that flew under the radar: expert
Long before Democrats and liberal activists accused Trump of trampling on the rights of pro-Hamas visa holders in the U.S., the Biden administration rolled out a visa-restriction policy targeting Israelis that was riddled with political bias and vague language, but received little resistance or protest, a legal expert told Fox News Digital. “One is a valid judgment,” legal expert and senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, Eugene Kontorovich, explained of President Donald Trump’s restrictions and revocations of visas belonging to pro-Hamas students in the U.S. “The other was just using the visa system to punish one’s political enemies,” he continued of a 2023 Biden visa policy. The Trump administration is in the midst of working to revoke visas and green cards belonging to pro-Hamas students in the U.S. who participated in the widespread anti-Israel protests and riots that rocked college campuses during the last school year. The effort has been met with backlash from Democrats who say Trump is attacking the First Amendment rights of individuals who protested Israel. PRO-HAMAS ACTIVIST’S DEPORTATION NOT A ‘FREE SPEECH’ MATTER AND LAW IS ON TRUMP’S SIDE: EXPERTS Kontorovich spoke to Fox News Digital Wednesday in a phone interview where he explained that Trump’s actions are not only within his legal bounds but also “far more restrained” than previous administrations’ “politicized visa” policies, including a Biden policy that restricted Israelis. The Biden administration announced in December 2023, just months after war broke out in Israel on October 7, 2023, that it would restrict visas to those believed to have undermined peace and stability in the West Bank. The restriction was a part of the Biden administration’s efforts to achieve a two-state solution for peace in Israel and Palestine, the New York Times reported at the time. COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL PROTEST RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL TO REMAIN DETAINED IN LOUISIANA “Today, the State Department is implementing a new visa restriction policy targeting individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities,” the State Department said in a press release in December 2023. “Immediate family members of such persons also may be subject to these restrictions.” In February 2024, Biden signed an executive order imposing sanctions on “persons undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank” as he decried “extremist settler violence” in the West Bank. Under the order, sanctioned individuals had their bank accounts frozen and their credit cards canceled and were restricted from conducting basic life activities. TRUMP VOWS ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST MAHMOUD KHALIL WAS ‘FIRST ARREST OF MANY TO COME’ Kontorovich explained that the language of the announcement was vague and allowed for the Biden administration to punish individuals who disagreed with the administration’s policies on a two-state solution. “The executive order of Biden says, we can ban people who disagree with our notion, even if they don’t encourage or participate in violent activities. Whereas there is nothing in U.S. law that says the two-state solution is the be-all and end-all.” JUDGE BLOCKS ANTI-ISRAEL COLUMBIA AGITATOR MAHMOUD KHALIL FROM DEPORTATION AS POLITICIANS COME TO HIS DEFENSE “Half the congressmen in Congress probably don’t support the two-state solution, whereas Hamas is a designated foreign terror,” he continued. “Opposing the two-state solution, not a designated terror organization. Hamas kidnaps and rapes people, murders people. Opponents of the two-state solution don’t do that.” Despite the alleged political motivation behind the policy, it was within Biden’s legal bounds, as presidents have broad power to deny entry to foreign nationals. Kontorovich called the Biden-era visa policy a “Jew ban” — which plays off of the “Muslim ban” title for the travel ban policies under the first Trump administration — as it targeted “Israeli Jews based on political viewpoints that are extremely common amongst Israeli Jews.” ICE AGENTS ARREST ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST WHO LED PROTESTS ON COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CAMPUS FOR MONTHS The international law expert and George Mason Antonin Scalia Law School professor continued that Democrats and activist groups did not sound the alarm or speak out against the Biden visa policy at the time, noting that the “Biden administration was doing so many bad things to Israel, this was kind of not at the top of the list” for rebuke. He added that despite the silence in 2023, Democrats this year are “going to bat for a guy who was working with a group that openly and actively supported murderous foreign terrorist organizations,” referring to Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was a top pro-Hamas protest organizer on campus in 2024. “It just shows you how much this outrage is manufactured,” he said. “Also, how what Trump is doing is not some kind of new wild, crazy Trumpian thing. It’s actually far more restrained than politicized visa policies of prior administrations. Those just didn’t get the manufactured outrage.” Democrats and activists have slammed the Trump administration over the ICE detention of Khalil at his Columbia University-owned apartment in Manhattan March 8. The Department of Homeland Security said he was a former Columbia graduate student who “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” Khalil helped lead the anti-Israel protest that plagued the campus in April 2024, including as a negotiator for radical agitators students on campus as they set up a tent encampment and took over an academic building, Hamilton Hall. He served as a leader of a group called Columbia United Apartheid Divest, which demanded that Columbia completely divest from Israel amid the country’s war with Hamas that began on Oct. 7, 2023. The group said its main goal was to “challenge the settler-colonial violence that Israel perpetrates with the support of the United States and its allies,” according to an op-ed published in the Columbia Spectator in November 2023. DHS additionally reported that Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” The 47th president signed an executive order in January, putting pro-Hamas protesters in the U.S. on student visas on notice that
Tennessee bill allows schools to deny enrollment for illegal migrants, proposal panned as unconstitutional
Tennessee state lawmakers introduced a bill to allow school districts and law enforcement agencies to deny enrollment to illegal migrant students. S.B. 836 states that a law enforcement agency or public charter school “may enroll, or refuse to enroll, a student who is unlawfully present in the United States.” Republican Sen. Bo Watson, who sponsored the bill, said the proposal aims to save the state money. The bill was amended to give school districts the option to charge tuition for a student’s enrollment rather than making it a requirement, according to Fox Chattanooga. THREE MORE STATES JOIN TREND OF PASSING UNIVERSAL SCHOOL CHOICE “This legislation says, if you are not able to prove your lawful residence here, a local LEA may charge you tuition for attendance, which addresses the physical nature of this legislation. This is not about denying education to those students,” Watson said, according to the outlet. But the bill contradicts the current law affirmed by the 1981 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe, which ruled that states provide funding for any student seeking a public education, regardless of their immigration status. Immigration attorney Brittany Faith criticized the bill as unconstitutional and said it was proposed to challenge the Plyler v. Doe ruling. “It’s blatantly unconstitutional. They’ve been pretty honest that that’s their goal, is to set this up as a challenge to Plyler v. Doe,” Faith told Fox Chattanooga. TN LAWMAKER PROPOSES SENDING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ACCUSED OF MINOR CRIMES TO SANCTUARY CITIES INSTEAD OF DEPORTING Faith also took issue with the option for schools to charge tuition, citing that Tennessee’s tax structure is sales-tax-based. “Because of that, they’re paying the same amount of taxes that go towards the public education system that somebody who is in legal status does,” she said.
Trump invokes wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target violent illegal immigrant street gangs
President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 Saturday to target the designated foreign terrorist organization Tren de Aragua (TdA) just hours after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled the law could not be used to deport five Venezuelans. The wartime law, which allows deportation of natives and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing, has been invoked three times, during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. All Venezuelan citizens 14 years or older who are members of TdA, are within the U.S. and are not naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the U.S. may be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed as “alien enemies,” according to a proclamation. ‘WEAPONIZED MIGRATION’: US FACES DEADLY CONSEQUENCES WITH MADURO IN POWER, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION WARNS Hours before the act was signed, a lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward and the ACLU of the District of Columbia, claiming the proclamation could be used to deport any Venezuelan in the country, regardless of whether they are a member of TdA. Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the D.C. Circuit granted a temporary restraining order preventing the deportation of five Venezuelans already in immigration custody for two weeks. The Trump administration appealed the restraining order, alleging it is improper to delay a presidential act before it is announced, affiliate FOX 32 Chicago reported. A second hearing is scheduled for Saturday afternoon to establish if the order should be broadened to everyone in danger of removal under the act. “The United States is not at war, nor has it been invaded. The president’s anticipated invocation of wartime authority — which is not needed to conduct lawful immigration enforcement operations — is the latest step in an accelerating authoritarian playbook,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, wrote in a statement. “From improperly apprehending American citizens to violating the ability of communities to peacefully worship to now improperly trying to invoke a law that is responsible for some of our nation’s most shameful actions, this administration’s immigration agenda is as lawless as it is harmful.” An in-person hearing on the lawsuit’s merits is scheduled for D.C. Monday. The move fulfills a campaign promise made during an October rally, when Trump announced he would use the law to combat Tren de Aragua (TdA) members in the U.S. Tren de Aragua (TdA), designated a foreign terrorist organization Feb. 20 by the Department of State, has thousands of members, many of whom the White House says have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are “conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.” Colorado officials confirmed TdA occupied entire apartment complexes in Aurora, noting a special task force had to be established to combat its activity. TRUMP TO INVOKE WARTIME ALIEN ENEMIES ACT OF 1798 TO FAST-TRACK DEPORTATIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS As of Sept. 11, 2024, the Aurora Police Department linked the gang to nearly a dozen people, resulting in eight arrests. “Two of the eight individuals who were taken into custody were involved in a July shooting at one of the specific properties in the city that have experienced issues with TdA activity,” according to a statement. “In line with these arrests, we can also now confirm that criminal activity, including TdA issues, had significantly affected those properties.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE The White House said the gang has continued to engage in mass illegal migration to the U.S. to “further its objectives of harming United States citizens,” undermining public safety. TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolás Maduro regime-sponsored narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortion and human, drug, and weapons trafficking, according to the White House. It grew significantly while Tareck El Aissami served as governor of Aragua between 2012 and 2017. In 2017, El Aissami was appointed vice president of Venezuela. Soon after, the Treasury Department designated El Aissami a specially designated narcotics trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, and he remains a U.S. fugitive. In 2020, Maduro and other regime members were charged with narcoterrorism and other crimes in an alleged plot against America. Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
President Trump signs continuing resolution, officially averting a shutdown
President Donald Trump signed H.R. 1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, into law after it passed both the House and the Senate. The passage of the continuing resolution (CR), which was backed by Trump, officially stopped a potential government shutdown. The CR extends the government’s budget through the end of September and was approved by a majority of Senate Republicans. Only Sen. Rand Paul, R-K.Y., voted against the bill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., faced backlash on Friday from fellow Democrats after announcing his intention to vote for the bill. SHUTDOWN AVERTED AFTER SCHUMER CAVES AND BACKS TRUMP SPENDING BILL In total, 10 Democrats voted with Republicans to pass the CR and avert a government shutdown, including Schumer, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durban, D-Ill., and Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., John Fetterman, D-Pa., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. TRUMP-BACKED BILL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN PASSES HOUSE DESPITE MUTINY THREATS Before the bill passed the senate, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement urging Democrat senators to “listen to women.” The California congresswoman referenced Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Ct., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., both of whom opposed the bill. “Appropriations leaders Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray have eloquently presented the case that we must have a better choice: a four-week funding extension to keep government open and negotiate a bipartisan agreement,” Pelosi’s statement read. “America has experienced a Trump shutdown before – but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse.” Trump appeared to hear about the Senate vote while answering reporters’ questions at Joint Base Andrews. He told the media that he was “very impressed” by the Senate passing the CR. Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
Transgender sailors, Marines offered benefits to voluntarily leave service or face being kicked out
The Department of the Navy is offering transgender sailors and Marines the option to voluntarily separate from the service by March 28. Otherwise, they risk being booted from the service — cutting the benefits they’re eligible for in half, according to a Thursday memo released by the Department of the Navy. The policy aligns with an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in January to bar transgender individuals from serving in the military, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s subsequent orders in February instructing each of the service branches to start separating transgender troops within 30 days. Acting Secretary of the Navy Terence Emmert said in the memo that the Department of the Navy recognizes male and female as the only two sexes, and that “an individual’s sex is immutable, unchanging during a person’s life.” As a result, Emmert said that those who have a history or “exhibit symptoms consistent with” gender dysphoria may no longer serve in the military and may voluntarily elect to depart the service by March 28. After that date, the Navy will remove sailors and Marines involuntarily from their respective services. FEDERAL JUDGE RIPS DOJ LAWYERS, DEMANDS WRITTEN RETRACTION FROM HEGSETH OVER TRANSGENDER MILITARY POLICY POST “A history of cross-sex hormone therapy or sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria or in pursuit of a sex transition is disqualifying for applicants for military service, and incompatible with military service for military personnel,” the memo said. Even so, the Navy said it will not go through medical records or health assessments to identify transgender service members, unless explicitly requested to do so. Transgender service members who don’t take the Navy up on its offer to voluntarily separate are not eligible for as many benefits post-separation. Those who voluntarily depart from the service will receive double the separation pay as those who are involuntarily removed, according to the Navy’s memo. For example, the Pentagon said on Feb. 28 that an E-5, a petty officer first class in the Navy, with 10 years of experience, would collect a total of $101,628 in voluntary separation pay, but only $50,814 if that service member were to opt for involuntary separation pay. Those with less than six years of service, or more than 20 years of service, are not eligible for voluntary separation pay. “The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) will maximize the use of all available command authorities to ensure impacted personnel are afforded dignity and respect,” the Navy’s memo said. Some exceptions to the rule may apply. The memo said that the Secretary of the Navy may issue waivers for those seeking to remain or join the service on a “case-by-case basis,” if there is proof that keeping or recruiting such individuals “directly supports warfighting capabilities.” DOJ ISSUES COMPLAINT ABOUT FEDERAL JUDGE’S ‘MISCONDUCT’ WHILE PRESIDING OVER MILITARY TRANS BAN COURT CASE The Navy referred Fox News Digital to its press release on the order when reached for comment, and did not provide an answer as to how many sailors this order would likely impact. The Navy released its guidance the same day that a federal judge heard arguments for a lawsuit that LGBTQ legal rights advocacy group GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed in February against the Trump administration, seeking a preliminary injunction pausing the ban while litigation is pending. U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes is expected to issue a final decision on the preliminary injunction by March 25. GLAD Law did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Lambda Legal also filed a separate lawsuit in February challenging the Trump administration’s order on behalf of six trans service members and asked a federal judge to block the order amid the legal proceedings. “A dishonorable action from a dishonorable administration,” the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Lambda Legal said in a Feb. 27 statement. “This attack on those who have dedicated themselves to serving our country is not only morally reprehensible but fundamentally un-American. Forcing out thousands of transgender servicemembers, who have met every qualification to serve, does not enhance military excellence or make our country safer.” The Human Rights Campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Navy leaders have previously defended LGBTQ service members. For example, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday defended a nonbinary Navy officer assigned to the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford featured in a video the Navy Judge Advocate General Corps shared on Instagram about participating in an LGBTQ spoken-word night during deployment. PENTAGON SAYS TRANSGENDER TROOPS ARE DISQUALIFIED FROM SERVICE WITHOUT EXCEPTION The video attracted scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who called into question the Navy’s war-fighting priorities. For example, then-Sen. Marco Rubio shared the video on X in April 2023, and said: “While China prepares for war this is what they have our @USNavy focused on.” But Gilday, who retired in August 2023, told Republican lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2023 that he was proud of the officer and that people from all different backgrounds serve in the Navy. As a result, Gilday said it is incumbent upon Navy leaders to “build a cohesive warfighting team that is going to follow the law, and the law requires that we be able to conduct prompt, sustained operations at sea.” “That level of trust that a commanding officer develops across that unit has to be grounded on dignity and respect,” Gilday said in April 2023. “And so, if that officer can lawfully join the United States Navy, is willing to serve and willing to take the same oath that you and I took to put their life on the line, then I’m proud to serve beside them.”
Here’s what happened during President Donald Trump’s eighth week in office
President Donald Trump kicked off the week driving a red Tesla on the White House South Lawn and closed out the week addressing the Department of Justice. In his remarks Friday, Trump railed against former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice and accused the agency of turning into the “department of injustice.” “Our predecessors turned this Department of Justice into the department of injustice,” Trump said Friday at the Department of Justice. “But I stand before you today to declare that those days are over, and they are never going to come back.” Trump has regularly condemned the Justice Department and the FBI since his first administration after multiple investigations and lawsuits filed against him. For example, the FBI investigated Trump and his 2016 campaign for alleged collusion with Russia. The probe determined there was no evidence the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the outcome of the election. TRUMP PRAISED FOR GETTING NATO ALLIES TO BOLSTER DEFENSE SPENDING: ‘REALLY STAGGERING’ Under the Biden administration, Trump faced more legal scrutiny when former Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped former special counsel Jack Smith in 2020 to conduct investigations into alleged efforts by Trump to overturn the 2020 election results and Trump’s alleged efforts to preserve classified materials at Mar-a-Lago after his first term as president. “They tried to turn America into a corrupt communist and Third World country, but, in the end, the thugs failed, and the truth won,” Trump said. “Freedom won. Justice won. Democracy won. And, above all, the American people won.” A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Here are some other key moments from the week: Trump also met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte Thursday, and the two discussed efforts to bolster NATO’s defense spending and the U.S. potentially acquiring Greenland. Trump has long advocated for NATO allies to boost defense spending to between 2% and 5% of gross domestic product. He also has called for European nations to pick up more responsibility for defending their continent. “You’re starting to hear the British prime minister and others all committing to much higher defense spending,” Rutte told reporters Thursday at the White House. “We’re not there. We need to do more, but I really want to work together with you … to make sure that we will have a NATO which is really reinvigorated under your leadership. And we are getting there. “When you look at Trump 47, what happened the last couple of weeks is really staggering.” He made the remarks after an $841 billion proposal European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pitched March 4 for European Union nations to up their defense spending. Additionally, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed in February to boost his country’s defense spending to 2.5% of its gross domestic value. That is up from the 2.3% the U.K. currently spends and amounts to a nearly $17 billion increase. ‘HYSTERIA’: WHITE HOUSE SHUTS DOWN CONCERNS ABOUT USAID DOCUMENT PURGE Trump also expressed optimism during the meeting about the likelihood of the U.S. acquiring Greenland, even though the Danish territory has said it’s not interested in Trump’s offer. “I think it’ll happen,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “And I’m just thinking. I didn’t give it much thought before, but I’m sitting with a man that could be very instrumental. You know, Mark, we need that for international security, not just security, international.” In response, Rutte said he didn’t want to “drag NATO” into the discussions but said Arctic countries must work with the U.S. to preserve security in the region as Russian and Chinese vessels increase their activity there. The White House shut down concerns Tuesday and Wednesday that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) ordered employees to destroy classified documents amid efforts by the Trump administration to close the agency. USAID acting Executive Secretary Erica Carr emailed employees, instructing them to begin shredding and burning documents, according to a motion that government labor unions filed in a federal court Tuesday. But the documents remain available on computer systems, and Carr’s directive coincides with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s impending move into the USAID building, according to White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “This was sent to roughly three dozen employees,” Kelly said in an X post regarding Carr’s order Tuesday night. “The documents involved were old, mostly courtesy content (content from other agencies), and the originals still exist on classified computer systems. More fake news hysteria!” All involved in purging the documents had a secret security clearance or higher and were not among the USAID employees on administrative leave, an administration official told Fox News Digital Wednesday. Those involved were familiar with the content they were handling and were specifically appointed by the agency to review and eliminate materials, the official said. Thousands of employees at USAID were either fired or placed on administrative leave in February, following recommendations from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut wasteful spending. Trump bought a red Tesla Tuesday and showed off the vehicle on the White House’s South Lawn with SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who heads DOGE. The event coincided with Tesla’s stock dipping earlier in the week, but the share price rose after the White House event. Democrats were quick to pass judgment on the move, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee labeled the Trump administration the “most corrupt administration in American history.”
China’s US influence could face crackdown under slate of new bills
FIRST ON FOX: China could face a crackdown on its influence in the U.S. on multiple fronts if a slate of new targeted bills is passed. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., led the introduction of three bills aimed at curbing Chinese influence this week. The measures specifically take action on China’s acquisition of U.S. farmland, its predatory investment and its connections to U.S. education institutions. “China continues to buy up American farm land, steal our patents and expand their authoritarian world view,” Lankford told Fox News Digital. “America will demonstrate to the world our values and maintain our economic and military strength to assure the globe has the best opportunity for freedom. No one in China should doubt America’s resolve and commitment to liberty.” TRUMP ‘HOPES’ PUTIN AGREES TO CEASEFIRE AS MOSCOW SIGNALS NO TRUCE YET The Countering Adversarial and Malicious Partnerships at Universities and Schools Act (CAMPUS) would prohibit joint research between U.S. universities and those in China connected to its military and bar federal funds from going to schools that partner with entities linked to it. The next bill, known as the Belt & Road Oversight Act, is designed to monitor China’s predatory lending practices and counter any economic coercion. The measure would establish officers at all worldwide embassies who would be charged with tracking its investments in critical infrastructure. POLAND CALLS ON US TO PLACE NUKES WITHIN ITS BORDERS AMID RUSSIA THREAT The third bill would conduct oversight into any purchases of U.S. agricultural land that could pose a national security threat. Named the Security and Oversight of International Landholdings (SOIL) Act, the measure specifically bans any federal assistance for certain real estate holdings that are owned by foreign entities and expands disclosure requirements for land purchases made by any such entities. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., co-sponsored both the CAMPUS and SOIL Acts. PENTAGON CALLS MARK MILLEY ‘CORPULENT’ AS IT KICKS OFF REVIEW OF PHYSICAL FITNESS AND GROOMING STANDARDS The bills targeting China’s influence come after the country held recent nuclear talks with Russia and Iran in Beijing. Ahead of the meeting, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the discussions would be about “developments related to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions.” SECRETARY HEGSETH SAYS THE DOD DOES NOT DO ‘CLIMATE CHANGE CRAP’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The meeting was downplayed by President Trump earlier in the week. He suggested U.S. adversaries could be talking “de-escalation.” “Well, maybe they’re going to talk about non-nuclear problems. Maybe they’re going to be talking about the de-escalation of nuclear weapons,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
Trump allies mount campaign to get DOGE codified by Congress
FIRST ON FOX: A group of President Donald Trump’s House GOP allies is leading a bill that would enshrine the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its efficiency efforts in federal law, giving it some protection from various legal challenges over the next year and a half. “This creates a reporting structure that allows what DOGE is doing with the Cabinet to be relayed to Congress, which is our Article I authorities, which is really the idea of being good stewards of taxpayer funding,” Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who is leading the bill, told Fox News Digital in an interview. The legislation more generally codifies Trump’s executive order directing Cabinet secretaries and heads of other executive offices to coordinate with DOGE on various government efficiency plans. DOGE PROTESTERS RALLY OUTSIDE KEY DEPARTMENT AFTER EMPLOYEES ARE TOLD NOT TO REPORT TO WORK It would give Elon Musk and DOGE Acting Administrator Amy Gleason more standing to implement various cuts within the federal government, as part of Trump’s plan to cut federal waste. “What Elon has done is that he’s created kind of this algorithm that works in the background, that sifts through all of these different programs, 24 hours a day, to look at anomalies and how they’re being utilized, to go ahead and say, ‘Hey, is this something for analysis? Is this something that we need to take a look at?’” Mills said. “That’s really what this is — it’s about modernizing and maximizing.” The legislation is co-sponsored by House DOGE Caucus co-chair Aaron Bean, R-Fla., of which Mills is also a part. Reps. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.; Barry Moore, R-Ala.; and Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, are also helping lead the bill. DOGE AND AGENCIES CANCEL 200,000 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CREDIT CARDS If passed, such a bill would likely help shield DOGE from Democratic efforts to block it from gathering federal government data. Musk and DOGE were recently ordered to turn over a broad array of records by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in response to a lawsuit by more than a dozen Democratic attorneys general.
Syrian rights activist and cousin of Assad tears into Europe for supporting new ‘terrorist’ regime
Syrian human rights activist Ribal al-Assad tore into Europe for lifting sanctions against the nation’s new “terrorist” regime, which he warned is no better than his first cousin, ousted leader Bashar al-Assad. After days of bloodshed, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the forces that overthrew Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on Thursday signed a temporary constitution putting the country under Islamist rule for at least five years. But al-Sharaa’s government has gone on a “revenge killing spree,” going after low-level officers who had been conscripted into Assad’s armed forces, along with Alawite and Christian minorities, among others, according to al-Assad. “They couldn’t have refused [military service]. Those who refused were put in jails,” he said, adding that any high-level officers in Assad’s forces had fled the country. RELIGIOUS SLAUGHTER IN SYRIA SHOWS NEED FOR US, EUROPE TO ‘KEEP A CLOSE EYE’ ON ISLAMIST REGIME: GREEK FM While much of Syria was happy to see the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, religious and ethnic minorities have remained skeptical of the new leadership once tied to al Qaeda. Ribal al-Assad insisted the new regime is “an Islamic caliphate. They want a theocracy. They want to replace a dictatorship with cult, as it happened in Iran 45 years ago.” He said Christians were caught up alongside Alawites in the revenge spree because “Christians and Alawites live together. In my town, we have Christians who live there. We’ve always, lived … side by side, and they celebrate holidays together.” In December, the Biden administration removed the longtime bounty on the head of HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. Europe suspended a range of sanctions on the new Syrian government late last month, though the U.S. still has many other punitive financial measures in place. “After 14 years of devastation of destruction of so much mass killing, you know, it’s really not normal for the international community to come, you know, and to have, for example, the Europeans lift sanctions … on this terrorist regime and say, ‘Oh, there are snapback sanctions in case this regime does something that with the sanctions will be reinstated,” said al-Assad. “What worse could [HTS] do for you to reinstate them?” ISRAEL FACES NEW SYRIA CHALLENGE AS IT ADJUSTS TO NEW STRATEGY AMID REGIONAL POWER STRUGGLE FOR INFLUENCE Al-Assad tore into the European Commission for inviting al-Sharaa to a donor conference to raise money for his government. “European countries [are going] to give him money, to give him more funds so he could encourage and reward him for the killing that he’s done, instead of saying, ‘We will not lift sanctions until we see a new program, a modern constitution, secular constitution that guarantees equality of all citizens and the rule of law.” Government forces have crushed an insurgency that began last week by armed militia loyal to Assad. And rights groups say hundreds of civilians, largely belonging to the Alawite minority sect of Islam, which counts Assad as a member, died in the violence that erupted along Syria’s coast. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) alleges close to 1,000 civilians were killed in the past week’s violence. Thousands of civilians who fled the sectarian violence are still sheltering at a Russian airbase along the Latakia province, according to Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova. BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION SEEKS TO REIN IN ERDOGAN’S TURKEY OVER TIES TO US FOES “Our military sheltered more than 8,000, according to yesterday’s data, probably closer to 9,000 Syrians, mostly women and children,” she said Thursday. Entire families, women and children included, were slaughtered as part of the past week’s sectarian killings, the United Nations said. Al-Sharaa claimed the government would investigate “the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them.” The U.N. Human Rights Office has counted 111 civilian killings but expects the figure to be much higher. “In a number of extremely disturbing instances, entire families — including women, children and individuals hors de combat — were killed with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular,” U.N. human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan said Tuesday. “Many of the cases documented were of summary executions. They appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis.” Abdulhamid Al-Awak, part of a committee tasked by al-Sharaa with drawing up the new constitution that will establish a transitional government for five years, told a news conference Thursday the constitution would require the head of state to be a Muslim and said Islamic law is the main source of jurisprudence. But Al-Awak said the constitution would include protections for free expression and the media. “There are many, many, many, many clauses in that constitution that are hilarious,” said al-Assad. “The transition period is for five years, but it can be extended indefinitely, you know, based on security and political conditions. You know, what does that mean? “The president, he could appoint one third of Parliament with full legislative powers. You know, this is again, this is crazy. All political parties at the moment are suspended. No opposition, no representation. Nothing.” The document will “balance between social security and freedom” during the rocky political situation, said Al-Awak. The constitution also claims the state is “committed to combating all forms of violent extremism while respecting rights and freedoms” and that “citizens are equal before the law in rights and duties, without discrimination based on race, religion, gender or lineage.” It banned arms outside military control and cracked down on “glorifying the former Assad regime” as a crime. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council rejected the draft document Friday and called for it to be rewritten, arguing it did not go far enough in protecting Syria’s many ethnic communities. It argued the constitution “reproduced authoritarianism in a new form” and said “any constitutional declaration must be the result of genuine national consensus, not a project imposed by one party,” even after a breakthrough agreement on Monday with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led authorities calling for a ceasefire and a merging of their armed forces. Al-Assad called on the U.S. to step in to
House Democrats to hold ‘Day of Action’ to push back against GOP-backed spending bill
House Democrats will hold a “Day of Action” across the country on Tuesday to “aggressively” push back against the “diabolical Republican scheme to enact the largest Medicaid cut in our nation’s history” after Congress passed a spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The Senate voted 54-46 on Friday to pass the stopgap spending bill, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as the only Republican to oppose the measure. Nearly all Democrat senators opposed it, but Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats, voted to pass the bill. Earlier in the week, the GOP-controlled House passed the short-term bill, otherwise known as a continuing resolution, which will keep spending levels the same as fiscal year 2024 until Oct. 1. SHUTDOWN AVERTED AFTER SCHUMER CAVES AND BACKS TRUMP SPENDING BILL If a spending bill was not passed by the Friday deadline, the government would have entered into a partial shutdown. President Donald Trump backed the bill and urged lawmakers to pass it. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that the bill “is an attack on veterans, families, seniors and everyday Americans.” “The ongoing Republican assault on the economy, healthcare, the social safety net and veterans benefits requires all of us working together in the weeks and months to come,” he said in a statement. “Donald Trump’s disingenuous and nakedly superficial effort to divide us will not succeed.” CHUCK SCHUMER WILL VOTE TO KEEP GOVERNMENT OPEN: ‘FOR DONALD TRUMP, A SHUTDOWN WOULD BE A GIFT’ Jeffries said House Democrats will hold a “Day of Action” throughout America on Tuesday to “aggressively push back against the diabolical Republican scheme to enact the largest Medicaid cut in our nation’s history,” adding: “We will partner with our colleagues at every level of government to protect the American people.” Democrats in the House and the Senate, as well as governors, local elected officials, unions, civil rights organizations, democracy reform groups and concerned citizens all have an important role to play, Jeffries said. “Our party is not a cult, we are a coalition,” he said. “On occasion, we may strongly disagree about a particular course of action. At all times, Democrats throughout the nation remain determined to make life better for everyday Americans and stop the damage being done by Donald Trump, Elon Musk and House Republicans.” The Senate’s vote on Friday to pass the six-month continuing resolution came after a procedural vote earlier in the day in which enough Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., helped Republicans overcome the filibuster and move forward with the stopgap spending bill. Jeffries has refused to answer questions about whether he had confidence in Schumer after the senator helped advance the Republican-backed legislation. Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.