Ukraine, Russia meet for peace talks in Istanbul after explosive weekend
Russian and Ukrainian delegations have begun talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, less than 24 hours after a massive Ukrainian drone attack struck Russian airfields. The two delegations entered Ciragan Palace in Istanbul alongside a group of senior Turkish officials. It is the second round of peace talks to take place in the three years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Images from the event show many of the Ukrainian delegation wearing military uniforms, while the Russian group exclusively wore suits. Details of the meeting are not expected to be made public until after its conclusion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be meeting face-to-face, however. GEN. KELLOGG REVEALS WHAT CONCERNS HIM ABOUT RUSSIA Ukrainian forces destroyed 40 aircraft in the drone attack this weekend, which an official says took more than a year to orchestrate. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the attack on Sunday, saying it struck five airfields. The operation saw drones transported in containers carried by trucks deep into Russian territory, he said. The drones reportedly hit 41 planes stationed at several airfields on Sunday afternoon, including A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M aircraft, the official said. PUTIN MASSES 50,000 TROOPS ON UKRAINE’S NORTH FRONT AS TRUMP AGAIN AGREES TO MEET RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN LEADERS Moscow has previously used Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range bombers to launch missiles at Ukraine, while A-50s are used to coordinate targets and detect air defenses and guided missiles. A series of explosions also struck bridges in Russia near Ukraine’s border on Saturday, though Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the attacks. A highway bridge over a railway in the Bryansk region was blown up at 10:50 p.m. on Saturday night just as a passenger train carrying 388 passengers to Moscow was passing underneath, Russian investigators said. Just four hours later, a railway bridge over a highway was blown up in the neighboring Kursk region, showering the road with parts of a freight train, the investigators said.
As Musk exits DOGE, a look back at previous efforts to cut waste, fraud and abuse – and how they fared
As Elon Musk steps away from his official role at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he joins a history of presidential administrations that have attempted to streamline government—with mixed results. While former Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland all tried to downsize the judiciary, treasury and civil service, respectively, it wasn’t until the 20th century that the federal government grew into the bureaucratic behemoth it is that has drawn true DOGE-type attention. Though often seen as the bigger spenders, some Democrats joined Republicans in the 1990s to shrink the size of government and make it more accountable to taxpayers. “We know big government does not have all the answers,” former President Bill Clinton said during his 1996 State of the Union. PROJECT 2025 REMAINS NONPARTISAN, TRUE TO 1980S GOOD-GOV’T INCEPTION DESPITE WIDE OUTCRY, KEY FIGURES SAY “We know there’s not a program for every problem. We have worked to give the American people a smaller, less bureaucratic government in Washington — and we have to give the American people one that lives within its means.” “The era of big government is over,” he said, in a phrase that had largely been considered the closest emulation of DOGE thought until Musk arrived on the scene. Clinton also sought welfare reform and emphasized personal responsibility over dependency on the state. The Arkansan also called for slashing the bureaucracy by 200,000 jobs and worked with then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., to balance the federal budget. President Donald Trump‘s efforts to do the same have received a very different response from the left. Clinton, working with congressional Republicans – while also frequently sparring with them — was able to reduce the federal workforce somewhat and establish a budget surplus but also failed to realize entitlement reform, something that more recent fiscal hawks have also struggled with. RFK JR DOUBLES DOWN ON ALLEGATIONS THE CIA WAS INVOLVED IN JFK ASSASSINATION Clinton won his 1992 upset as a centrist, after incumbent Republican George H.W. Bush was lambasted for reneging on his “Read my lips – no new taxes” pledge, with a statistical boost from industrialist independent H. Ross Perot, who won the votes of many erstwhile Bush supporters. Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore established a National Performance Review (NPR) that drew some parallels to today’s DOGE, and cut the bureaucracy to 1960s levels. He went on to win reelection over otherwise popular GOP stalwart Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., in 1996. In 1980, actor-turned-California Gov. Ronald Reagan took the White House with promises similar to another celebrity-turned-politician who would do the same 36 years later. The Gipper did not succeed in abolishing the Department of Education – created only a few years prior by former President Jimmy Carter – something Trump has also sought. But, he reinvigorated a new generation of conservatives who still praise him for slashing income taxes, seeking to “starve the beast” via forced discretionary-spending cuts, and took on public-sector unions when he essentially won a dare against Air Traffic Controllers who went on strike by firing them all and prohibiting their rehiring. Reagan’s closest iteration of DOGE was the 1982 Grace Commission, studying cost-cutting and efficiency – and led by Maryland chemical executive J. Peter Grace along with dozens of “commissioners” plucked from the private sector. In the executive order creating the Grace Commission, it was tasked with examining “the entire federal government for areas of inefficiency, mismanagement and waste, and to recommend savings without raising taxes or cutting essential services.” Within its three-year lifespan, the commission reported $424 billion in savings, including waste, fraud, abuse, overpayments to government vendors and billions in unpaid taxes. Reagan, however, faced the same resistance from the proverbial “Swamp” in trying to implement the commission’s findings. “We’re not trying to hurt anyone. But the American taxpayer is being ripped off,” Grace said at the time. While ushered in as a conservative pragmatist, Reagan’s later years saw budget deficits grow, and the national debt more than double. The Dow also lost nearly one-quarter of its value on “Black Monday,” Oct. 19, 1987. The other contemporary president known for trying to “DOGE” government was Texas Democrat Lyndon Johnson. LBJ was known for rapidly expanding government through his “Great Society” social programs but also took aim at streamlining the Pentagon and Defense apparatus. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Efforts at the Pentagon largely failed, as the ongoing Vietnam War also accentuated costly balance sheets. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, a Kennedy holdover and former Ford Motor Company chief, was employed to make changes at the Pentagon. He instituted what was called the Planning Programming Budgeting System, which sought to bring a more streamlined approach to managing the Pentagon’s budget. However, the vast size of the defense bureaucracy—along with resistance from some military leaders—undermined the effectiveness of Johnson’s and McNamara’s reform efforts.
‘Red tape’: Trump admin unleashes DOGE-aligned process to fire federal workers for misconduct
FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration has rolled out a new rule with the aim of making it easier to terminate federal employees for serious misconduct by cutting through the red tape that currently impedes that process. “The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing amendments to the Federal Government personnel vetting adjudicative processes for determining suitability and taking suitability actions,” the rule, which went live for public comment on Monday morning, states. “The purpose of the proposed rule is to improve the efficiency, rigor and timeliness by which OPM and agencies vet individuals for risk to the integrity and efficiency of the service, and to make clear that individuals who engage in serious misconduct while employed in Federal service are subject to the same suitability procedures and actions as applicants for employment.” OPM says its new rule is part of President Trump’s “Implementing the Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative” as well as the Presidential Memorandum, “Strengthening the Suitability and Fitness of the Federal Workforce.” UNFINISHED BUSINESS: THE BUDGET CUTS MUSK COULDN’T COMPLETE AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE OPM explains that the new rule will allow the federal government to take action against employees who engage in misconduct after being hired, giving agencies “broader authority” to “flag conduct” including tax evasion, leaking of sensitive information, and other behavior “inconsistent with the public trust.” “For too long, agencies have faced red tape when trying to remove employees who break the public’s trust,” OPM’s Acting Director, Chuck Ezell, told Fox News Digital. FLASHBACK: TOP FIVE WILDEST MOMENTS FROM ELON MUSK’S DOGE TENURE AS IT COMES TO AN END “This proposed rule ensures misconduct is met with consequence and reinforces that public service is a privilege, not a right.” Under the new rule, federal agencies will be able to refer specific cases to OPM requesting “suitability action” for employees who are believed to have committed post-appointment conduct that deserves disciplinary action. Fox News Digital reported in 2023 that under current law, the vast majority of the federal workforce is not at-will and may only be terminated for misconduct, poor performance, medical inability and reduction in force. Federal employees are also entitled to sweeping due process rights when fired which can create a cumbersome process for agencies to remove a worker.
Hundreds of millions in tax money goes to contracts for DEI groups, watchdog finds: ‘Total racket’
EXCLUSIVE: Over the last several years, a few dozen diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultant groups have racked up over a hundred million dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts from K-12 schools across the country, a new report by Defending Education found. The report, shared with Fox News Digital, details how 41 DEI consultant groups garnered millions in taxpayer-funded contracts from 303 school districts and public education entities from 2021 until now. In total, the groups collected over $123 million from public schools in 40 states. The report found public school DEI contracts in both red and blue states, from Florida and Alabama to California and Washington. Erika Sanzi, a spokesperson for Defending Education, described the schools-consultants partnership as a “total racket that makes schools worse” and often takes no consideration of age-appropriateness in curricula. THE ‘GRADING FOR EQUITY’ PROPOSAL IS ABOUT LOWERING STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS, EXPERT SAYS According to the report, the biggest winner in the scheme was Amplify, a firm that provides professional development and curricula to school districts, which scored a total of over $70,500,000. The report states that in a now-scrubbed statement on its website, Amplify said its mission is to “make education, and thereby the world, more equitable and accessible” and to “help teachers support their students in constructing, questioning, expanding, and strengthening knowledge of where they come from and who they are becoming.” In response, a representative for Amplify told Fox News Digital that the group “publishes textbooks and other instructional materials that help students learn reading, math and science” and that “there is no place anywhere in Amplify’s products, or in the training programs about how to use them, for ideologies or political agendas.” The representative said “our programs help students learn how to think, not what to think.” The report highlights another consultant group, Adjusted Equity Solutions, which it says is associated with the Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute, that claims to help schools challenge “whiteness and hegemonic epistemologies in school,” use “equity audits to measure student inclusiveness, policy, and practice” and serve as “advocate and social activist for community-based causes in both the school and neighborhood community.” MAHA REPORT RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT CHILDHOOD CHRONIC DISEASE This group took in over a million dollars from public schools during the study period. “Tinkering in the minds of other people’s children is big business and countless K-12 schools across the country are active participants,” Sanzi said. “They pay big bucks to enter into contracts with ideologues and activists who, in turn, gain access, directly or indirectly, to a captive audience of young minds.” Speaking with Fox News Digital via Zoom, Sanzi said that “rather than this being a focus on sort of academic interventions, it’s a lot of jargon that so far has not proven itself to be measurable. And there’s really not much evidence, if any, that any of this is helping students or helping schools or helping staff.” EDUCATION SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON PUSHES BACK ON CLAIMS THAT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ‘DOESN’T CARE ANYTHING ABOUT THE LAW’ Sanzi said that though these DEI groups couch their activities in agreeable terms like “belonging” and “empathy,” they often end up being a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” “At first, you’re thinking lesson on empathy, like that’s good,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want their child to be empathetic? We want that. Until you realize that the lesson on empathy is going to be about something like a little girl in her bathroom at school, a staff member who’s trans, so biologically male, but identifies as female, comes into the restroom with her. She naturally feels uncomfortable because that’s a very natural feeling in a circumstance like that. But she’s told that she needs to have ‘empathy’ for this grownup who identifies as female, right? And that her discomfort is the problem… That feeling discomfort in that situation is wrong or makes her un-empathetic.” The Trump Department of Education has warned state education departments in all 50 states that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding. Despite this, Sanzi said many of these consultant groups have adjusted by scrubbing references to DEI on their websites and using other words to describe the same thing. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “We see a lot of renaming,” she said. “So, they might say, ‘Well, we’re getting rid of our DEI office or we’re getting rid of our equity officer.’ [But] the proof will be in the pudding because what we notice often is that you’ll see a switch, like suddenly we hear the word belonging a lot more now. And so the question becomes, ‘Are you getting rid of it? Or are you just rebranding it and shifting it somewhere else and taking it off your website?’” “What many people don’t understand is that the founders of these consultant companies and the people who run them and the practitioners are activists. They are ideologues,” she went on. “They have every right to believe that what they’re transmitting is the right thing, but in a public-school setting that is required to maintain viewpoint diversity, these really have no place, not only because of the cost, not only cause it’s public money, not only because they’re not very transparent about what they’re doing, but also because they are really trying to push an ideological agenda on other people’s children.” The Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Tulsa mayor proposes $100M reparations plan for descendants of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Tulsa’s first Black mayor proposed creating a $100 million private trust as part of a reparations plan for the impact of the Tulsa Race Massacre which took place more than 100 years ago. Mayor Monroe Nichols IV, elected mayor in November, says the trust would be used to provide scholarships and housing to the descendants of those impacted by the massacre. He clarified that the trust would not involve direct cash payments, however. “For 104 years, the Tulsa Race Massacre has been a stain on our city’s history,” Nichols said Sunday. “The massacre was hidden from history books, only to be followed by the intentional acts of redlining, a highway built to choke off economic vitality and the perpetual underinvestment of local, state and federal governments.” “Now it’s time to take the next big steps to restore,” he added. BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS The private charitable trust would be created with a goal to secure $105 million in assets, with most of the funding either secured or committed by June 1, 2026. Nichols says the City Council would have to approve the transfer of any city assets to the trust. The plan calls for the bulk of the funding, $60 million, to go toward improving buildings and revitalizing the city’s north side. ‘TIPPING THE SCALES’: HOUSE GOP LEADERS RIP ACTBLUE AFTER DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT HIT WITH SUBPOENA “The Greenwood District at its height was a center of commerce,” Nichols told the Associated Press. “So what was lost was not just something from North Tulsa or the Black community. It actually robbed Tulsa of an economic future that would have rivaled anywhere else in the world.” Nichols’ push comes just weeks after Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., announced plans to introduce the Reparations Now Resolution, which calls for the U.S. to spend trillions of dollars on reparations for Black Americans. Lee’s resolution cites U.S. slavery, Jim Crow laws, and other racially discriminatory laws and policies to justify spending trillions of dollars supporting the descendants of Black Americans in the U.S. “That’s why we recognize that the fight to restore Black folks has to be so much more substantive,” she added. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Will the Trump Cabinet undo Musk’s DOGE legacy now that he’s gone?
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s time as the face of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has come to an end following the expiration of his time as a special government employee. Since January, Musk has been heading up DOGE, which was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget through efforts to slash spending, government programs and the federal workforce. But how will the Trump administration look at DOGE now that Musk is gone? So far, there are no signs that DOGE is being dismantled or that its efforts will be reversed, and former DOGE employees are infiltrating other areas of the Trump administration. Plus, President Donald Trump signaled that Musk could return in some capacity, although he did not dive into specifics. “Elon’s really not leaving,” Trump said Friday in the Oval Office. “He’s going to be back and forth … it’s his baby. And I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things. But Elon’s service to America has been without comparison in modern history.” MUSK CONFIDENT DOGE WILL SAVE $1 TRILLION AS GOVERNMENT COST CUTTING CONTINUES DOGE’s efforts to cut waste have led to roughly $175 billion in savings due to asset sales, contract cancellations, fraudulent payment cuts, in addition to other steps to eliminate costs, according to a May 26 update from DOGE’s website. That translates to roughly $1,086.96 in savings per taxpayer, according to the website. Meanwhile, Musk signaled that despite his departure as a special employee, DOGE would only continue to pick up steam and that DOGE is now an essential aspect of the federal government. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “This is not … the end of DOGE, but really the beginning. My time as a special government appointee necessarily had to end,” Musk said Friday in the Oval Office. “The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time. The DOGE influence will only grow stronger. I liken it to a sort of person of Buddhism. It’s like a way of life, so it is permeating throughout the government. And I’m confident that over time, we’ll see $1 trillion of savings, and a reduction in $1 trillion of waste, fraud reduction.” UNFINISHED BUSINESS: THE BUDGET CUTS MUSK COULDN’T COMPLETE AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE The White House has said that DOGE leadership following Musk’s departure will continue through members of Trump’s Cabinet. “The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s Cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday at a White House press briefing. “The entire Cabinet understands the need to cut government waste, fraud and abuse,” Leavitt said. “And each Cabinet secretary at their respective agencies is committed to that. That’s why they were working hand in hand with Elon Musk. And they’ll continue to work with their respective DOGE employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies. So surely the mission of DOGE will continue, and many DOGE employees are now political appointees and employees of our government.” DOGE STAFFING SHAKEUP AS ELON MUSK HANGS UP HIS HAT, WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS A senior White House official previously told Fox News Digital that DOGE is now part of the “DNA” of the federal government, and that the agency will continue to function as it has done so far. “The DOGE employees at their respective agency or department will be reporting to and executing the agenda of the president through the leadership of each agency or department head,” the official said. Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Marjorie Taylor Greene slams FDA green lighting of mNEXSPIKE COVID-19 vaccine: ‘Not MAHA at all!!!’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., slammed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s move to give the green light to Moderna’s mNEXSPIKE COVID-19 vaccine. “Not MAHA at all!!!,” the congresswoman wrote in a post on X, using the acronym for the phrase “Make America Healthy Again,” calling the move “Unreal.” “MNEXSPIKE is approved for use in individuals who have been previously vaccinated with any COVID-19 vaccine and are 65 years of age and older, or 12 years through 64 years of age with at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19,” an FDA letter to Moderna notes. GREENE CALLS FOR YANKING FDA APPROVAL OF COVID-19 VACCINES: ‘CAUSING PERMANENT HARM AND DEATHS’ According to a Moderna press release, CEO Stéphane Bancel said that “COVID-19 remains a serious public health threat, with more than 47,000 Americans dying from the virus last year alone.” The company describes itself as “a leader in the creation of the field of mRNA medicine.” REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE AIRS FRUSTRATIONS, WARNS THAT SHE REPRESENTS A ‘NOT HAPPY’ REPUBLICAN BASE Greene has previously spoken out against COVID-19 vaccines, saying their FDA approval should be nixed. “COVID-19 vaccines should have never received approval and they’ve known the entire time how bad the side effects are and deaths caused by them. It’s time to do the right thing. Stop the COVID-19 vaccines,” she declared in part of a tweet in March. TRUMP ALLY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE SAYS SHE WON’T RUN FOR SENATE WHILE BLASTING DEMS AND FELLOW REPUBLICANS The congresswoman is currently serving her third term in the House of Representatives.
Trump’s 20th week in office to include White House meeting with European leader, expected call with Xi
President Donald Trump‘s 20th week in the Oval Office is expected to include a White House meeting with Germany’s chancellor, a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping and lawmakers’ ongoing efforts to pass the “big, beautiful bill” to fund the president’s agenda. Monday marks Trump’s 134th day in the White House, a period in which he has issued 150 executive orders affecting domestic policies, unveiled sweeping plans to rectify the nation’s trade deficit with foreign nations and held ongoing negotiations to end international wars. The week is slated to include a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House as war continues to rage between Ukraine and Russia and trade negotiations with the U.S. hang over Germany. TRUMP CALLS OUT PUTIN, ACCUSES CHINA OF NOT HONORING TRADE DEAL TERMS DURING 19TH WEEK IN OFFICE Merz’s office confirmed on Saturday that the chancellor will travel to Washington on Wednesday evening ahead of meeting Trump on Thursday, Politico reported. The two are slated to discuss the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and trade policies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Merz in Germany last week as the two European leaders ironed out an agreement for Germany to bolster its backing of Ukraine. The meeting on Thursday will be followed by a lunch and press conference, according to Bloomberg. Merz and Trump have previously spoken by phone but have not met face-to-face since Merz was elected Germany’s leader in May. Merz clashed with Trump officials last month when Germany designated its right-wing Alternative for Germany political party a “proven right-wing extremist organization.” “Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy–it’s tyranny in disguise,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted to X of the designation. “What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD–which took second in the recent election – but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes.” “Banning the centrist AfD, Germany’s most popular party, would be an extreme attack on democracy,” former Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk posted to X, the social media platform that he owns. Merz responded that American leaders should not weigh in on German elections and politics. “We have largely stayed out of the American election campaign in recent years, and that includes me personally,” Merz said, according to Politico. WHITE HOUSE REVEALS POSSIBLE PENALTIES ON PUTIN AMID PEACE PUSH: ‘WHATEVER IT TAKES’ “We have not taken sides with either candidate. And I ask you to accept that in return,” he added. Trump is expected to hold a phone call with China’s Xi Jinping this week to discuss tariffs, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett revealed on Sunday. “President Trump, we expect, is going to have a wonderful conversation about the trade negotiations this week with President Xi. That’s our expectation,” Hassett said Sunday during an interview on ABC News’ “This Week.” ‘NO REASON’ FOR NEW NUKES: TRUMP FLOATS DISARMAMENT TALKS WITH CHINA, RUSSIA A day for the phone call has not yet been locked down, according to Hassett. “You never know in international relations, but my expectation is that both sides have expressed a willingness to talk,” Hassett said. “And I’d like to also add that people are talking every day, so [U.S. Trade Representative] Jamieson Greer, his team and President Xi’s team in China, they’re talking every day trying to move the ball forward on this matter.” The Trump administration leveled tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods following the president’s reciprocal tariff plans in April, when China retaliated against the U.S. with tariffs of their own. China and the U.S. reached a preliminary trade agreement last month, which Trump said China violated in a Truth Social post on Friday. “I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” he wrote. Senate lawmakers are working to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is a multitrillion-dollar piece of legislation that advances Trump’s agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. House lawmakers passed the legislation last month by one vote after a handful of Republican lawmakers held out on supporting the legislation, saying it would exacerbate the nation’s debt. A handful of Republican senators have made similar remarks to their House counterparts, explaining they cannot support the legislation unless it addresses its impact on the nation’s debt. The bill is expected to add roughly $3 trillion to the national debt, Fox News Digital previously reported. SEN. RON JOHNSON PROPOSES ‘LINE-BY-LINE’ CUTS TO PASS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ “I’m a ‘no’ unless we separate out the debt ceiling,” Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said last week. “If you take the debt ceiling off the bill, I’m pretty much a ‘yes’ on most of the rest.” “If we follow the path of the House bill, we’ll have close to, I think, $60 trillion worth of debt in 10 years. What we’ve got to do is do what every family does: We’ve got to go through every line of the budget,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said during an interview on Fox News on Thursday. INSIDE THE LATE-NIGHT DRAMA THAT LED TO TRUMP’S TAX BILL PASSING BY 1 VOTE Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Friday that the Senate must pass the legislation or American families will pay higher taxes. “We don’t have a choice. We have to pass the bill to get the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act back in place on a permanent
Senate showdown: Fetterman and McCormick set for high-stakes Pennsylvania forum
PROGRAMMING ALERT: THE SENATE PROJECT SERIES DISCUSSION WITH SENATORS JOHN FETTERMAN AND DAVID McCORMICK MODERATED BY FOX NEWS SUNDAY HOST SHANNON BREAM WILL BE STREAMED ON FOX NATION AND FOX NEWS DIGITAL MONDAY, JUNE 2 LIVE AT 9 AM ET. Battleground Pennsylvania senators – Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dave McCormick – will face off at a Fox News co-hosted forum to debate key issues affecting Americans. The two first-term senators from the crucial northeastern swing state are taking part Monday in the sixth installment of The Senate Project series, organized by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation. The event, which will be moderated by Fox News’ Shannon Bream, anchor of “Fox News Sunday,” will take place at 9 a.m. ET in a full-sized replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber at the Kennedy Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Fox News Media is the exclusive media partner for the Senate Project and the conversation, which will be livestreamed on FOX Nation. SEN. MCCORMICK ‘OPTIMISTIC’ ABOUT WORKING WITH SEN. FETTERMAN TO FIND ‘COMMON GROUND’: ‘EMBRACING’ CHANGE The Senate Project series brings together sitting senators from opposing parties for civil dialogue about current political issues, with the goal of identifying solutions and bridging partisan divides. The series reflects the shared mission of the Kennedy Institute and Hatch Foundation to advance bipartisanship. “Vigorous and open dialogue is an essential part of our democracy and having these two senators from opposite sides of the aisle discuss important issues of the day is a valuable contribution to the public discourse,” Kennedy Institute Chairman Bruce A. Percelay said in a statement. Matt Sandgren, the Hatch Foundation’s executive director, added: “The Senate Project series continues to underscore the importance of bipartisan dialogue. This unique partnership between the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute is a model for achieving civility and solutions.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Previous installments of the series have featured GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a champion of the progressive movement; Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa; and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware and then-Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who now serves as secretary of state in President Donald Trump’s second administration.
California beach ‘Resist!’ protest pushes ‘kindness’ while calling to ‘86 47’ in anti-Trump message
Nearly 1,000 people gathered at Main Beach in Santa Cruz, California, on Saturday for a Pride Month protest aimed squarely at President Donald Trump. Participants formed a massive human banner that spelled out “Resist!” in rainbow colors as part of a demonstration organized by Indivisible Santa Cruz County. The 220-foot-wide display, with letters reaching 70 feet high, was designed by longtime left-wing activist Brad Newsham. Organizers described the event as a peaceful act of resistance and a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. SEATTLE MAYOR ACCUSED OF LYING AFTER BLAMING CHRISTIAN RALLY FOR PARK VIOLENCE “It’s very important, the more people [who] can show our neighbors, our politicians in the world, that nonviolent resistance is the way to express our dissatisfaction with the way our country’s going,” said event organizer Becca Moeller to Lookout Santa Cruz. But just above the colorful banner was a very different kind of message: “86 47,” a phrase many interpreted as a call to “get rid of” the 47th President of the United States. In slang, “86” typically means to cancel, eliminate, or even destroy. Combined with “47,” the number now associated with President Trump’s second term, the phrase has raised alarms among critics who say it crossed a line. Earlier this month, former FBI Chief James Comey posted a similar message in the sand, but instead of kelp, they were shells. He has since removed the post after widespread criticism and action by law enforcement. SEATTLE MAYOR BLAMES CHRISTIAN RALLY FOR INSPIRING VIOLENT ‘ANARCHISTS’ WHO ‘INFILTRATED’ COUNTER-PROTEST “We don’t need a king. We want to go back to the way we were. We want to make America kind again,” said protester Beth Basilius to Lookout Santa Cruz. While the event promoted “kindness” and inclusivity, the imagery told a more conflicted story. “They claim they want to make America ‘kind’ again, but then they spell out ‘86 47’ in the sand. That’s not kindness — that’s a coded call to eliminate someone they disagree with. It’s hypocritical,” said Mike LeLieur, chair of the Santa Cruz County Republican Party to Fox News Digital. LeLieur said local conservatives face growing hostility from the political left. “We’ve had vehicles vandalized, tires slashed, and windows broken. I was forced off the road and attacked just for having a Trump sticker. At our State of the Union watch party, we were swarmed by angry protesters. It’s been nonstop hostility — and these are the same people who call themselves the ‘Party of Peace.’” Just 8.5% of voters in the city of Santa Cruz are registered Republicans, according to the most recent data from the California Secretary of State. Despite the message written in the sand, some participants insisted the demonstration was rooted in compassion. “We want to go back to the way we were. We want to make America kind again,” said protester Beth Basilius to Lookout Santa Cruz. Supporters of the protest claimed that “86 47” was a symbolic rejection of Trump’s agenda, not a literal threat. But critics say that argument falls flat in a political climate where coded language carries real-world consequences. “In California — and especially in Santa Cruz County — the left is creating a political environment of non-acceptance and persecution,” said Daniel Enriquez, a representative of the California Republican Assembly. “It’s consistent with the goals of socialist movements throughout history.” Jenny Evans, co-leader of Indivisible Santa Cruz County, defended the event. “When a great number of people come out to do something like this, it just is one more thing to show that we’re not all saying, ‘Fine, fine. We’ll go along with whatever you want,’” she said to Lookout Santa Cruz. The event was also part of Santa Cruz’s 50th Pride celebration. Participants were instructed to dress in matching rainbow colors, coordinated with fabric laid out across the beach starting at 7 a.m. The protest was peaceful, but critics say calling for kindness while displaying “86 47” sent a message that was anything but. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Indivisible Santa Cruz County did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.