Tearful chair of Munich Security Conference expresses ‘fear’ in farewell address after blistering Vance speech
The outgoing chairman of the Munich Security Conference delivered an emotional farewell speech that ended in tears, after he expressed “fear” over Vice President JD Vance’s blistering speech to the annual conference on international security policy. “This conference started as a trans-Atlantic conference,” German diplomat and chair of the conference Christoph Heusgen said Sunday. “After the speech of Vice President Vance on Friday, we have to fear that our common value base is not that common anymore. I’m very grateful to all those European politicians that spoke out and reaffirmed the values and principles that they are defending. No one did this better than President Zelenskyy, who has been fighting for these values – democracy, freedom, rule of law for the past three years.” Heusgen’s speech marked the close to his leadership of the Munich Security Conference, as former Secretary-General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg takes the reins of the international security forum. Heusgen had served as leader of the forum since 2022. Social media critics began posting snippets of Heusgen’s speech to X Sunday, claiming the German diplomat and longtime advisor to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel broke down in tears over his frustrations with Vance’s blistering speech to the international body. The conference clarified on X that the diplomat reportedly broke down due to his speech being his last as chairman of the forum. CBS HOST BLASTED FOR ‘BONKERS’ CLAIM THAT NAZI GERMANY ‘WEAPONIZED’ FREE SPEECH “Our former Chair Christoph Heusgen did not shed a few tears out of ‘frustration.’ It was his farewell speech as he was leaving the MSC after this year’s conference. He was saying goodbye to the team at this very moment. The video snippet here is edited together,” the conference posted to X Monday morning. The full video of Heusgen’s speech shows him breaking down into tears after warning that “our rules-based international order is under pressure.” VANCE JOKES ABOUT GRETA THUNBERG AS HE GOES SCORCHED EARTH ON EUROPEAN CENSORSHIP “It is clear that our rules-based international order is under pressure,” he said. “It is my strong belief… that this multipolar world needs to be based on a single set of norms and principles, on the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This order is easy to disrupt, it’s easy to destroy, but it’s much harder to rebuild, so let us stick to these values. Let us not reinvent them, but focus on strengthening their consistent application.” HEGSETH SAYS HE AND VANCE ARE ‘ON THE SAME PAGE’ DESPITE VP’S REMARK ON US TROOPS IN UKRAINE President Donald Trump has frequently taken shots at the United Nations since his first administration, and said earlier in February that the U.N. was “not being well run” and needs to get its “act together.” “Let me conclude. And this becomes difficult,” Heusgen said, choking up, before leaving the podium on the stage and hugging various members of the audience. A spokesperson for the conference reiterated to Fox News Digital Monday that Heusgen teared up solely due to the fact that he was ending his three-year term leading the forum and that “many long-time participants and friends were in the Conference Hall to say goodbye” to the diplomat. “I was truly touched by the warm farewell I received from the entire MSC team and so many friends after my last MSC as chairman,” Heusgen added in comment to Fox News Digital. “It was a very emotional moment on stage at the end of my term. A video is circulating on the internet that takes this scene of my departure out of context. Unfortunately, this once again shows how the mechanisms of disinformation work.” VANCE EVISCERATES ‘SOVIET’-STYLE EUROPEAN CENSORSHIP IN ADDRESS TO MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE His speech to the assembly followed Vance’s on Friday, where the U.S. vice president lambasted “Soviet”-style European censorship, joked about left-wing environmentalist Greta Thunberg, and slammed ongoing immigration woes that have throttled European nations and the U.S. under the Biden administration. “Trust me, I say this with all humor,” Vance said at one point of his speech. “If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.” Vance also took issue with current immigration practices across the world, calling them “out-of-control migration” policies that include allowing unvetted migrants into foreign nations. Vance’s comments followed a suspect identified as an Afghan migrant ramming a car into pedestrians at a trade union demonstration in Munich Thursday, killing a mother and child and injuring at least 37 others. GERMANY ACCUSES ELON MUSK OF TRYING TO INTERFERE IN ITS NATIONAL ELECTIONS “But why did this happen in the first place?” Vance said in his speech of the Munich car attack. “It’s a terrible story, but it’s one we’ve heard way too many times in Europe, and unfortunately, too many times in the United States, as well. An asylum seeker, often a young man in his mid-20s, already known to police, rams a car into a crowd and shatters a community. How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our shared civilization in a new direction?” Other world leaders seemingly took issue with Vance’s speech during the forum, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying the day after Vance’s speech that Germany rejects “outsiders intervening in our democracy.” Stateside, conservatives have celebrated Vance’s speech as “almost Reaganesque,” “pro-American” and pro-free speech on social media and during Fox News interviews. Fox News Digital reached out to the Munich Security Conference on Monday for additional comment regarding Heusgen’s speech and did not immediately receive a reply.
House Democrat’s smear of Border Patrol bill backfires after dozens of Dems support it: ‘Fearmongering’
A House Democrat’s strategy to demonize legislation aimed at making it a federal crime to try to evade law enforcement within 100 miles of the border backfired last week after dozens of House Democrats voted in favor of the bill. “I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 35. Let’s call this bill what it is: fearmongering dressed up as officer safety,” Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., said last week about the bill named after late Border Patrol Agent Raul Gonzalez, who died in a pursuit in 2022. House Resolution 35 would make individuals convicted of “intentionally fleeing” law enforcement in a vehicle subject to up to two years in prison and fines. If the police chase results in a death, the individual could face up to life imprisonment under the legislation, and potentially face deportation if the person involved is in the country illegally. SAN DIEGO MIGRANT SHELTER CLOSES AFTER NO NEW ARRIVALS SINCE TRUMP TOOK OFFICE; OVER 100 EMPLOYEES LAID OFF “This bill echoes one of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history, ‘The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.’ Just like that shameful law, H.R. 35 forces local authorities and encourages the deputizing of randos to do the federal government’s work, punishing them if they refuse. Back then, it was hunting people down who dared to seek freedom. Today, it’s forcing local police to become federal enforcers,” she continued in her House floor speech. Regardless, the bill passed 264-155, with 50 Democrats voting in favor, including a handful in border states. The legislation is now in the hands of the Senate, where Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is leading the charge on the proposal. FLORIDA SHERIFF SAYS ICE PARTNERSHIP ONLY THE BEGINNING IN ILLEGAL MIGRANT CRACKDOWN CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT IMMIGRATION “This bill delivers a clear message to anyone who endangers our community that they will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., said about the legislation he is sponsoring. Police pursuits near the border are a frequent site as smugglers hope to evade law enforcement. Under the Trump administration, there has been an across-the-board crackdown on border and immigration policies, including sending in the military to the border as well as deportation raids throughout the country. Bynum started in Congress last month, as she narrowly defeated former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer in November. Chavez-DeRemer is now President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as Labor secretary. The seat will likely be one of the nation’s most competitive in 2026, according to the Cook Political Report, which ranks the seat as “Lean Democrat.” “Janelle Bynum’s unglued comments reinforced she’s hellbent on pursuing a dangerous anti-police officer crusade in Congress. Bynum’s extremist vote siding with cartel terrorists over Border Patrol puts Oregonians in danger,” National Republican Campaign Committee spokesman Ben Petersen said in a statement.
Judge rules against federal employees suing Trump admin for privacy concerns
A federal judge has ruled against federal employees who sued the Trump administration over privacy and security concerns around a government workforce email distribution system. The new computer server was used to send deferred resignation “Fork in the Road” emails to more than 2 million federal employees, offering them to leave their government jobs and get paid through September, or risk being laid off. DC-based federal Judge Randolph Moss denied a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would have blocked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from continuing to use the email address HR@opm.gov and is known as the “Government-Wide Email System.” The lawsuit claimed that in the rush to adopt this new system, OPM violated security safeguards for federal workers, known as a Privacy Impact Statement (PIA). But in denying emergency legal relief, the judge said, “Plaintiffs have failed to carry their burden of demonstrating that their .gov email addresses (which reveal their names and, possibly, their places of employment) are at imminent risk of exposure outside the United States government— much less that this risk is a result of OPM’s failure to conduct an adequate PIA. Rather, their arguments ‘rel[y] on a highly attenuated chain of possibilities.’” According to the lawsuit, soon after Trump took office, federal employees received emails from the email address HR@opm.gov that indicated the agency was running tests for a new “distribution and response list.” “The goal of these tests is to confirm that an email can be sent and replied to by all government employees,” one of the emails said, according to the lawsuit. Workers were asked to acknowledge receipt of the messages. The case will continue on the merits in the courts, but for now the new communications system will remain in place, pending any appeal. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Federal judge skeptical of effort to block Musk’s DOGE from accessing data, firing employees
A federal judge expressed skepticism of efforts seeking to bar President Donald Trump’s administration from accessing federal data and firing federal workers when hearing remarks from the bench on Monday. Judge Tanya Chutkan has yet to issue a ruling in the case, which relates to billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and their efforts to curb government spending. Chutkan says she will rule on the case within 24 hours. At issue in the case are DOGE’s actions within seven federal agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Education, Department of Labor, The Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and the Department of Commerce. Attorneys general from 14 states argue Musk and Trump’s administration have engaged in illegal executive overreach, but Chutkan says she wasn’t convinced so far. ELON MUSK DESCRIBES LIMESTONE MINE USED FOR PROCESSING FEDERAL WORKERS’ RETIREMENT PAPERS: ‘LIKE A TIME WARP’ “There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual,” the lawsuit brought against DOGE states. EXPERT REVEALS MASSIVE LEVELS OF WASTE DOGE CAN SLASH FROM ENTITLEMENTS, PET PROJECTS: ‘A LOT OF FAT’ Chutkan says lawyers for the states have yet to establish that there is imminent harm that could be avoided by restraining DOGE. “The things that I’m hearing are serious and troubling indeed… But you’re saying these are things that we’re hearing,” she said. “I’m not seeing it so far.” New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed the lawsuit, joined by officials from Arizona, Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, California, Nevada, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. The group of states is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent more federal firings at the recommendation of Musk and DOGE. Chutkan was not exclusively hostile to the states’ argument, however, as she was also seen critiquing representatives for Trump’s administration. “Nowhere have my friends offered a shred of anything, nor could they, to show that Elon Musk has any formal or actual authority to make any government decisions himself,” DOJ lawyer Harry Graver said. Chutkan countered, “I think you stretch too far. I disagree with you there.”
NAACP urges Black consumers to steer buying power away from companies that have ditched DEI
The NAACP is calling on Black consumers to direct their nearly $2 trillion in buying power toward companies that have kept their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. In a “Black Consumer Advisory” memo released Saturday, the NAACP said that Black consumers have purchasing power exceeding $1.8 trillion annually. The memo included a “Call To Action” for these consumers to begin steering that power away from specific companies that have begun cutting back on DEI-related positions, programs, investments and hiring practices. According to the group, such rollbacks “reinforce historical barriers to progress under the guise of protecting ‘meritocracy,’” which they said was “a concept often used to justify exclusion.” Some of the companies the group is urging Black consumers to steer clear of are listed on its website and include Walmart, Meta and McDonald’s. Others were reportedly referenced in a separate buying guide provided exclusively to The Associated Press, which listed Lowe’s, Amazon, Tractor Supply and Target as others to avoid. Delta Air Lines, Apple and Ben & Jerry’s are some of the companies the NAACP listed on its website as having “recommitted to DEI.” Meanwhile, e.l.f. Cosmetics, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Costco are other companies the NAACP is suggesting are wise for consumers to support because they have kept strong to their DEI commitments, according to The Associated Press. WALMART FACING BACKLASH OVER DEI POLICY REVERSAL AS SHAREHOLDERS AND DEM OFFICIALS URGE THEM TO RECONSIDER The effort to steer consumers away from these companies comes amid pressure from the Trump administration and GOP officials to peel back DEI commitments in both the public and private sectors. In addition to an executive order from President Donald Trump calling for an end to “Illegal DEI and DEIA policies,” which he says violate currently established civil rights law, newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a memo earlier this month to all Justice Department employees, indicating the agency would be investigating, eliminating and penalizing DEI preferences, mandates, policies and programs occurring in the private sector and at educational institutions. Recently, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr ordered an investigation into Comcast’s DEI practices, while the state of Missouri filed a lawsuit earlier this month challenging Starbucks’ DEI policies, as well. OBAMA LIBRARY, BEGUN WITH LOFTY DEI GOALS, NOW PLAGUED BY $40M RACIALLY CHARGED SUIT, BALLOONING COSTS “The NAACP recognizes that the rollback of DEI initiatives is a direct attack on Black economic progress, civil rights, and the principles of equity and fairness,” the Saturday consumer advisory memo stated. “These actions are part of a broader effort to reverse gains made in civil rights and social justice. We urge Black consumers to remain vigilant, informed, and intentional in their economic decisions, using their collective power to demand accountability from corporations and institutions.” The consumer guidance provided by the NAACP will reportedly be amended as companies make changes to their DEI commitments, according to The Associated Press, and the group is currently in discussions with executives at companies that have reversed their DEI pledges. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to the NAACP for comment and to receive a full list of companies it was urging Black consumers to steer cleer of but did not receive a response by publication time. “We have the power to choose where we spend our money,” NAACP CEO and President Derrick Johnson said in a statement posted on X. “I am confident that this framework will support our community as we make difficult decisions on where to spend our hard-earned money.”
China outraged after Trump State Department deletes key phrase on Taiwan relations
President Donald Trump’s State Department angered Chinese officials last week after deleting a key phrase declaring U.S. opposition to Taiwan’s independence. The State Department’s fact sheet on U.S. relations with Taiwan had previously stated “we do not support Taiwan independence,” but the phrase was removed on Thursday and continues to be absent. Chinese officials called on the U.S. to “immediately correct this mistake,” on Sunday, arguing it “sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan independence forces.” The State Department noted in a statement to NBC News that the U.S. stance on Taiwanese independence has not changed. “The United States is committed to preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a spokesperson told the outlet Sunday. TRUMP MUST DUMP ‘ONE CHINA’ POLICY AND RECOGNIZE ‘FREE’ TAIWAN, HOUSE REPUBLICANS SAY “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We support cross-Strait dialogue, and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to people on both sides of the Strait,” the statement continued. TAIWAN FM HAILS IMPORTANCE OF US RELATIONSHIP, SAYS GROUP VISITS ‘CONTRIBUTE TO PEACE AND STABILITY’ The U.S. has long held a delicate stance regarding Taiwan and its relation to the Chinese mainland. It has for decades followed the “One China” policy, in which the U.S. recognizes Beijing as the sole government of China, and acknowledges but does not affirm Beijing’s claim to control over Taiwan. Part of this understanding requires the U.S. to not have any formal diplomatic ties to Taiwan, a policy reflected in the lack of a U.S. embassy on the island. Nevertheless, the U.S. has funded Taiwan’s defense and worked with Western nations to prevent mainland China from taking over. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated that he is open to using military force to conquer the island. TRUMP CABINET PICKS DELIGHT TAIWAN, SEND STRONG SIGNAL TO CHINA Taiwan, which has its own democratically elected government, maintains that it is its own independent country. Taiwan first became a self-governed island after pro-democracy forces fled there in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong and his Chinese Communist Party. The U.S. has relied on symbolic rejections of China’s control over Taiwan in recent years. Just last week, two U.S. Navy vessels sailed in the Taiwan Strait between the island and the mainland, as did a Canadian vessel. Both actions drew criticism from Beijing.
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.