Fetterman endorses prospect of potential future strikes to derail any Iranian nuclear ambitions
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., declared in a Monday post on X that he would support strikes to scuttle any Iranian nuclear weapons aspirations. “Iran can’t ever develop a nuclear weapon,” the senator asserted. Earlier this year, the U.S. took military action targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear ambitions — and in his post on Monday, Fetterman noted that he supported that move and would support another attack against the regime in the future. “Fully supported the strike earlier this year. Fully support any future strikes to damage or destroy their nuclear ambitions,” Fetterman, an ardent and outspoken supporter of Israel, noted. JOHN FETTERMAN BREAKS WITH DEMOCRATS, SLAMS PARTY’S PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD STANCE AS ‘ABSOLUTE BETRAYAL’ President Donald Trump on Monday warned of future action if Iran seeks to rebuild its program. NETANYAHU SAYS TRUMP TO BECOME FIRST NON-ISRAELI TO RECEIVE ISRAEL PRIZE “Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again. And if they are we’re gonna have to knock ’em down,” he said. “We’ll knock the hell out of ‘em. But hopefully that’s not happening. I heard Iran wants to make a deal. If they want to make a deal that’s much smarter.” MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE CRITICIZES TRUMP’S MEETINGS WITH ZELENSKYY, NETANYAHU: ‘CAN WE JUST DO AMERICA?’ Trump made the comments while standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when the two leaders met in Florida on Monday.
Biden-era rental assistance included payments to dead tenants and noncitizens, new HUD report reveals
A report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently revealed billions in taxpayer funds that went to “questionable” rental assistance recipients under former President Joe Biden. The recipients included approximately 30,000 deceased tenants and thousands of potential non-citizens, according to a copy of HUD’s “Agency Financial Report” for fiscal year 2025 obtained by the New York Post. HUD officials told the Post that a “large concentration” of the funds went to New York, California and Washington, D.C., with deceased recipients getting funds in all 50 states. The department conducted an automation that compared a U.S. Treasury database to HUD’s records. The process uncovered 30,054 deceased tenants who were either actively enrolled in rental assistance programs or had received assistance after they passed, according to HUD’s report. The department found the possibly problematic payments through its own internal financial review and analytics, according to the report. SEC TURNER: HOMEOWNERSHIP IS MAKING A COMEBACK THANKS TO TRUMP, BUT THERE’S MORE TO COME “A massive abuse of taxpayer dollars not only occurred under President Biden’s watch, but was effectively incentivized by his administration’s failure to implement strong financial controls resulting in billions worth of potential improper payments,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement provided to the Post. “HUD will continue investigating the shocking results and will take appropriate action to hold bad actors accountable,” he said. “Additionally, the Department is advancing efforts made under President Trump’s first administration to strengthen program integrity and ensure taxpayer-funded assistance serves the vulnerable communities it was intended for.” HUD CHIEF BLAMES ‘UNCHECKED ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION’ PRICING-OUT FAMILIES AMID NEW HOUSING REPORT In FY 2024, HUD distributed around $50 billion in federal rental assistance to non-federal entities, including $5.8 billion of what the report describes as “questionable payments.” HUD pointed the finger at the Biden administration for a directive “to push funding out the door with minimal oversight.” In the report, HUD alleges that the Biden administration failed to provide the department with the tools needed to verify whether entities were enforcing “the intricate rules governing rental assistance.” The report also noted that HUD’s rental assistance programs “placed substantial trust and responsibility” in the non-federal entities receiving the funds. HUD must now confirm whether fraud occurred and the extent of it before it can determine whether funding should be paused or revoked and if criminal referrals are necessary. “HUD is implementing processes and procedures to revoke or pause funding as part of its efforts to hold bad actors accountable,” an official told the Post. “Additionally, the Department could make criminal referrals and exercise other enforcement actions once it has confirmed fraud occurred.” Fox News Digital reached out to former HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge for comment.
Some states move to pick up the tab as Obamacare subsidies lapse
At least a dozen states are scrambling to limit health insurance premium hikes after Congress failed to renew enhanced Obamacare subsidies, leaving millions of Americans facing higher healthcare costs. States including California, Colorado, Maryland and New Mexico have approved or are considering temporary measures to help some residents afford coverage, but some officials across the country said the cost of replacing federal subsidies for millions of enrollees is beyond the reach of state budgets, according to Politico. “We can carry the cost for a little bit, but at some point, we will need Congress to act,” New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martínez told the outlet. New Mexico is so far the only state to fully replace the expired subsidies. Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, was former President Barack Obama’s signature piece of legislation which expanded healthcare coverage to millions of Americans in 2010. Critics argue it forced people to buy insurance, raised costs for some consumers and significantly expanded the federal government’s role in healthcare. SPEAKER JOHNSON EKES OUT HEALTHCARE BILL VICTORY AFTER HOUSE GOP OBAMACARE REBELLION The looming expiration of the subsidies hung over negotiations during the longest-ever government shutdown in the fall, as Republicans and Democrats tried — and failed — to pass competing plans to extend or replace the enhanced tax credits. The lapse of the subsidies is expected to push millions of Americans out of the individual insurance market, increasing pressure on state Medicaid programs and hospitals already facing financial strain. State responses have varied widely, reflecting political divisions, fiscal constraints and differing views on the Affordable Care Act. According to Politico, California, which anticipated the subsidies would expire, is spending nearly $200 million to support roughly 300,000 lower-income residents, but officials warn that hundreds of thousands more could still lose coverage. COLLINS, MORENO UNVEIL OBAMACARE PLAN AS REPUBLICANS SEARCH FOR SOLUTION TO EXPIRING SUBSIDIES Some states are using regulatory maneuvers rather than direct funding to stretch remaining subsidies. Other states, including Georgia and Washington, say budget shortfalls or political opposition prevent them from acting. Most states have taken no action at all, including both Republican-led states that oppose the Affordable Care Act and some Democrat-led states that support it, according to Politico. A few lawmakers in Maine and other battlegrounds worry their efforts could disincentivize Congress from coming up with a federal solution. Earlier this month, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, held bipartisan confabs to hash out a framework for an Obamacare fix that could meet the desires of both sides of the aisle, but it has not been formally written into a bill that passed either chamber yet. Any fix would likely involve a short-term extension of subsidies paired with Republican demands for guardrails, such as income limits or cost controls. Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report.
Inside the Trump-Musk split: How America’s most powerful bromance imploded into the biggest breakup of 2025
Back on Inauguration Day, few in Washington would have believed that the highly publicized friendship between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk would implode before the year’s end. No political partnership burned brighter or fizzled faster than Trump and Musk’s in 2025. What began as a joint crusade to cut federal spending through the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency quickly devolved into a public falling out that unfolded in a full-blown social media feud. As 2025 comes to a close, here’s a look back at the biggest political breakup of the year. MUSK, TRUMP COME TOGETHER AT CHARLIE KIRK MEMORIAL The 2024 presidential campaign was the driving force for the high-profile partnership that ensued. ‘GONE TOO FAR’: GOP LAWMAKERS RALLY AROUND TRUMP AFTER MUSK RAISES EPSTEIN ALLEGATIONS After the first Trump assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, Musk endorsed Trump in an X post. Musk went on to donate more than $200 million to Trump’s presidential campaign through his super PAC, America PAC. While the two appeared together for a virtual town hall that August, the X owner and Tesla CEO made his first public appearance with Trump on Oct. 5, as the soon-to-be president returned to Butler three months after the shooting and one month before Election Day. Musk was jumping for joy as he joined Trump on stage. After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Musk was appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency. On stage in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, after winning the election, Trump said of Musk, “A star is born!” Two weeks after the election, Trump and his family attended the SpaceX “Starship” launch with Musk. Trump made DOGE official on Inauguration Day by signing an executive order to cut waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government with a mandate to modernize “Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Musk joined fellow tech moguls Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg for Trump’s inauguration. As the Trump administration got settled, DOGE got to work pursuing Musk’s ambitious goal of cutting up to $2 trillion from the federal budget. As of October 2025, DOGE has saved approximately $214 billion through a combination of asset sales, contract or lease cancellations, fraud and improper payment deletions, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings and workforce reductions, according to the DOGE website. When tens of thousands of federal workers were laid off, protests began erupting across the United States, rejecting Musk’s leadership and Trump’s sweeping, second-term agenda. Amid growing discontent directed at Musk and DOGE, Tesla stocks began seeing a drop earlier this year. Meanwhile, Musk’s political involvement prompted push back from protesters. Tesla vehicles, charging stations and dealerships were targeted in a string of vandalism attacks. In a show of support for Musk, Trump turned the White House South Lawn into a Tesla showroom and bought a red Tesla Model S. “He’s built this great company, and he shouldn’t be penalized, because he’s a patriot,” Trump said. By May, Musk began paring back his hours leading the controversial agency. According to the Office of Government Ethics, “special government employees” like Musk can work for the federal government no more than 130 days a year, which in Musk’s case was May 30. On his last day at DOGE, Musk joined Trump in the Oval Office for a press conference celebrating the billionaire’s legacy. Soon after Musk left the White House, Trump and Musk had their “big, beautiful” breakup, fueled by congressional negotiations for Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk said in a post on June 3. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.” Trump’s megabill included tax cuts, green energy spending cuts and Medicaid reform, but fiscal conservatives, like Musk, argued it didn’t do enough to reduce the nation’s $38 trillion debt crisis. Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed” in Musk’s criticism of his marquee megabill. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said. Musk then fired back on X, arguing that, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.” The Tesla CEO urged Trump to “keep the EV/solar incentives cuts in the bill.” After Musk fired off several posts on X, Trump started firing back on his own social media platform, writing on Truth Social that Musk was “wearing thin” and claiming that he asked Musk to leave the White House. “I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump said. The president then threatened to “terminate Elon’s Government Subsidies and Contracts.” Musk fired back with a “really big bomb,” accusing Trump of being “in the Epstein files.” “This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response. Congress narrowly passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act by a self-imposed July 4 deadline. Ahead of its final passage, Musk renewed his criticism of the reconciliation bill on social media. In response, Trump threatened to use DOGE to investigate Musk’s government subsidies for his companies. Months later, Trump and Musk reunited to honor the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated during a Turing Point USA event in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10. Trump and Musk were spotted shaking hands at Kirk’s memorial service in a box at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. “For Charlie,” Musk later responded to the photo on X. Aboard Air Force
Eric Adams says Biden DOJ used ‘lawfare’ against him, compares treatment to Trump
Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams argued that the Biden administration’s Justice Department engaged in “lawfare” against the former president’s political opponents, including himself on corruption allegations and President Donald Trump over issues such as mishandling classified documents. “I think what we have witnessed under President Biden’s Justice Department, Americans should never have to live through that again,” Adams said on Monday during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Story.” “You saw everyday Americans who fought for the education of their children being put on watch lists, I think that you saw what happened with Charlie Kirk, when you saw the raiding of President Trump’s home. Debates should have happened … I think that you’re seeing the clear indication that the Justice Department under the previous administration used lawfare to go after those who disagree with them,” he added. ERIC ADAMS WARNS NYC ‘NOT FINE’ AFTER MAMDANI’S WIN, SAYS IF HE WAS JEWISH HE’D BE WORRIED FOR HIS CHILDREN Asked if he felt as angry about the alleged weaponization of the DOJ before he was targeted, Adams said “personal experience allows us to see firsthand the abuse.” “I spent my entire life, not only as a police officer, but as a state senator and borough president fighting against injustices,” Adams said. “There’s a real history, a rich history, of me standing up and fighting what the criminal justice system should never be. Yes, that anger was there long before I was a target, but what I saw happen while I was the mayor is really deplorable, and we saw what happened to President Trump‘s family as well.” NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS’ INDICTMENT DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE “If you were to go back and look at my life story on criminal justice reform and not abuse, it goes back to being a young man who was abused at the hands of law enforcement,” he continued. “And so I’ve always been a clear voice, and it really personalized it of what I was fighting for years because I experienced the lawfare myself.” Adams was indicted in September 2024 on federal corruption charges related to bribery, wire fraud and accepting illegal foreign campaign contributions from Turkish officials and businessmen. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. The mayor has insisted that the case was politically motivated over his criticism of how the Biden administration handled illegal immigration, but prosecutors in the Southern District of New York said in court filings that the investigation began in September 2021, before Adams’ public criticism of the government’s immigration policies or his mayoral election win. The charges were dropped earlier this year at the request of the Trump administration. Adams is set to leave office at the turn of the new year, when Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in.
Unearthed surveillance exposes how parents were allegedly involved in Minnesota’s daycare fraud scheme
As federal authorities investigate reports of massive fraud taking place in Minnesota daycares, an unearthed video from a 2018 fraud case shows parents and providers involved in a fraud scheme dating all the way back to 2015. The video, taken from a local Fox report from 2018, shows parents checking their children into a daycare center in Hennepin County, Minnesota, only to leave with their children minutes later. The video was taken from a surveillance camera as part of a case prosecuted by Hennepin County, according to the 2018 Fox 9 report. Under the scheme, low-income parents would sign in their children for daycare services so that providers could then claim reimbursement for services that were never truly provided, per Fox 9. The outlet said that, according to surveillance video, some days no families would show up, but that the daycares would claim reimbursements from the government nonetheless. The time stamp on the surveillance video shows March 2015. MAGNITUDE ‘CANNOT BE OVERSTATED’: FEDS SAY MINNESOTA FRAUD MAY BE MORE THAN $9B Another video in the broadcast showed a man handing an envelope to a parent with an alleged kickback payment for participation in the scheme. This comes amid widespread outrage over a viral video posted by Nick Shirley on Friday showing visits to multiple childcare centers in Minnesota, including one that allegedly received millions of dollars in state funding despite appearing largely inactive. The video has sparked widespread backlash, drawing criticism of Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz throughout the weekend from several high-profile figures, including Vice President JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk. LABOR SECRETARY ANNOUNCES ‘STRIKE TEAM’ GOING TO MINNESOTA TO INVESTIGATE RAMPANT FRAUD The White House on Sunday reposted an X post from Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who called the alleged fraud a “breathtaking failure.” At the time of the video’s release, Walz was already under heavy fire amid the scandal enveloping his administration that notably included at least $1 billion lost to alleged social services fraud largely tied to Minneapolis’ Somali community. Commenting on the resurfaced video, conservative strategist Greg Price wrote on X, “Somali fraudsters have been stealing from taxpayers for years and it’s clear that the entire Somali community is in on it.” HHS PROBES MINNESOTA’S USE OF BILLIONS IN FEDERAL SOCIAL SERVICE FUNDS AMID FRAUD CONCERNS: REPORT A TIMELINE OF THE ‘LARGEST COVID-19 FRAUD SCHEME’ IN THE UNITED STATES FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency has surged additional personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota as part of an ongoing effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.” Patel said Sunday that the bureau moved resources into the state before recent online attention intensified, pointing to the Feeding Our Future investigation, which uncovered a $250 million scheme that siphoned federal food aid intended for children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case has already resulted in 78 indictments and 57 convictions, with prosecutors also charging defendants in a separate plot to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash, Patel said, adding that the investigation remains ongoing. “The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing,” he wrote on X. “Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigration officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible.”
Trucker slapped with charges in fatal driving incident previously immigrated to US illegally: source
A trucker who allegedly killed three in a reckless driving incident in Virginia immigrated to the U.S. illegally in the nineties, according to a federal law enforcement source. El Hadji Karamoko Ouattara, a 58-year-old immigrant from Africa, is being charged in connection with the fatal crash after running his tractor-trailer off the side of Interstate 81 and striking a minivan, killing three individuals, including a two-year-old child, and injuring three others, according to local outlet WFXR. The outlet reported that the victims were transported to a nearby hospital. 65-year-old Lorraine Renee Williams, 49-year-old Ebony Latasha Williams and 2-year-old Shazziyah Lesley died of their injuries. A 63-year-old male, a 73-year-old male and a 10-year-old female were also injured but survived, according to the outlet. WFXR reported that Ouattara was originally charged with reckless driving. DHS REVEALS ILLEGAL ALIEN BEHIND FATAL CRASH WAS GIVEN LICENSE BY DEEP BLUE STATE However, according to the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office, Outtara is now being charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter as a result of the incident, which took place on Dec. 22. The office said he is a resident of Montgomery Village, Maryland. A federal law enforcement source told Fox News that Ouattara is a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Ivory Coast. The source stated that, despite originally entering the United States illegally in the 1990s, Ouattara was eventually able to obtain a green card and become a naturalized citizen. This comes amid heightened awareness and national concern about untrained, unqualified illegal immigrant drivers on U.S. roads. DAVID MARCUS: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKERS ARE AN INSULT TO AMERICANS WHO PLAY BY THE RULES Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy offered an update on his agency’s work alongside the Department of Homeland Security in cracking down on an influx of illegal immigrants given a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license (CDL) without proper vetting, which has led to several deaths on America’s highways. Duffy sprang into action earlier this year after an Indian national named Harjinder Singh, who authorities said was issued a CDL by California, allegedly killed a carload of people after he attempted an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike. Duffy said that DOT has pressed for compliance from problem states offering illegals CDLs, sharing that California has since revoked 17,000 problematic non-domiciled CDL licenses. CONVICTED MURDERER, CHILD PREDATORS ROUNDED UP IN CHRISTMAS WEEKEND ICE CRACKDOWN: ‘GREATEST GIFT’ “We are going to use every resource, every tool that we have at DOT, to make sure that we have the right people on our road that are well qualified, well licensed. That are proficient in the English language to make sure we’re maximizing safety,” Duffy said.
Zelenskyy says peace deal is close after Trump meeting but territory remains sticking point
The dispute over occupied territories in Ukraine continues to be a sticking point amid negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow as President Donald Trump seeks to help bring an end to the war between the neighboring countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News’ Bret Baier that a peace deal with Moscow could be close following his Sunday meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. “Even with one question today, we’ve been very close,” Zelenskyy told Baier on “Special Report.” “I think we have a problem with one question: It’s about territories.” PUTIN DERIDES EUROPEAN LEADERS AS HE INSISTS RUSSIA’S WAR GOALS IN UKRAINE WILL BE MET BY FORCE OR DIPLOMACY Key issues about territory remain unresolved in talks that have taken place over months. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently said that the West must acknowledge the fact that Russia holds the advantage on the battlefield. Zelenskyy has been reluctant to cede territory held by Russian forces since the war began in 2022 over to Moscow. Zelenskyy has suggested that Ukraine might be open to withdrawing from the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Russia wants to annex, only if Ukrainian voters give their approval in a referendum. TRUMP TOUTS ‘TREMENDOUS PROGRESS’ BUT SAYS HE’LL MEET PUTIN AND ZELENSKYY ‘ONLY WHEN’ PEACE DEAL IS FINAL “I think the compromise, if we do a free economic zone that we have, and we have to move some kilometers back. It means that Russia has to make minor steps some kilometers back,” Zelenskyy said. “This free economic zone will have specific rules. Something like this referendum is the way how to accept it or not accept it.” Putin doesn’t want peace, Zelenskyy said, despite the mounting death toll for Russian forces. “I don’t trust Putin. He doesn’t want success for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “I believe he can say such words to President Trump… but it’s not true really.” Following his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy said they were 90% agreed on a draft 20-point plan, despite Moscow showing no signs of budging on its territorial demands. The meeting came after Trump spoke with Putin over the phone where they both agreed that a deal must be reached to end Europe’s longest war in 80 years. It also came a day after Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv a day earlier. Moscow also claimed that Putin’s home in the Novgorod region was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, which Ukraine denies.
Lapsed Epstein deadline underscores challenge of reviewing troves of files in 30 days
Department of Justice officials are facing threats of legal action after the department missed the Epstein Files Transparency Act’s stated deadline to publish all its documents related to Jeffrey Epstein – but the law may lean in the DOJ’s favor. DOJ officials have continued to review and upload the files more than a week after the congressionally mandated Dec. 19 due date, spurring Democrats and some Republicans to call for a range of consequences, from contempt to civil litigation. The DOJ is, however, defending the drawn-out release process, suggesting that rushing to publish piles of unexamined material would also flout the law. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a recent interview on “Meet the Press” there was “well-settled law” that supported the DOJ missing the transparency bill’s deadline because of a need to meet other legal requirements in the bill, like redacting victim-identifying information. EPSTEIN FILE DROP INCLUDES ‘UNTRUE AND SENSATIONALIST CLAIMS’ ABOUT TRUMP, DOJ SAYS The bill required the DOJ to withhold information about potential victims and material that could jeopardize open investigations or litigation. Officials could also leave out information “in the interest of national defense or foreign policy,” the bill said, while keeping visible any details that could embarrass politically connected people. Last week, the DOJ revealed that two of its components, the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, had just gathered and submitted more than 1 million additional pages of potentially responsive documents related to Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases for review. The “mass volume of material” could “take a few more weeks” to sift through, the DOJ said in a statement on social media, adding that the department would “continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files.” The DOJ’s concerns about page volume and redaction requirements echo those frequently raised in similar litigation surrounding compliance with Freedom of Information Act requests, where courts have stepped in to balance competing interests of parties in the cases rather than attempting to force compliance on an unrealistic timetable. The conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch has seen mixed success over the years in bringing FOIA lawsuits, showcasing the court’s role in mediating such disputes. Judicial Watch brought several lawsuits against the government over Hillary Clinton’s private email server scandal, leading a federal judge at one point to allow the conservative watchdog to move forward with questioning Clinton aides as part of a discovery process as it sought records on the matter. The decision was later reversed at the appellate court level. In a separate case, the appellate court sided with Judicial Watch by reversing a lower court ruling as part of a longstanding legal battle the watchdog waged with the DOJ over obtaining Acting Attorney General Sally Yates’ emails. The D.C. Circuit Court found that the DOJ could not withhold email attachments from Yates’ account and ordered further review on the matter. In the current controversy over the Epstein files, lawmakers are pressuring the DOJ by threatening a combination of political and legal remedies over the 30-day deadline and over what they view as excessive redactions. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed to bring a resolution up for a vote when the Senate returns from the holidays that would direct the Senate to initiate a lawsuit against the DOJ for failing to comply with the transparency act’s requirements. “The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full, so Americans can see the truth,” Schumer said. “Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law.” SCHUMER ACCUSES DOJ OF BREAKING THE LAW OVER REDACTED EPSTEIN FILES Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who spearheaded the transparency bill, warned that they plan to pursue contempt proceedings against Attorney General Pam Bondi in light of the DOJ missing the deadline and making perceived over-redactions. A group of mostly Democratic senators also called on the DOJ inspector general to investigate the department’s compliance with the law. The DOJ has maintained that releasing unreviewed documents would violate the law, saying last week that it had “lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions.”
Trump tells UN agencies to ‘adapt, shrink, or die’ while offering $2B humanitarian funding pledge
The Trump administration announced a $2 billion pledge for United Nations humanitarian aid Monday and warned that agencies must “adapt, shrink, or die” under its overhaul, according to a statement from the Department of State. The new package comes as the administration reins in traditional foreign assistance and pushes humanitarian organizations to meet stricter standards on efficiency, accountability and oversight. “Individual U.N. agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die,” the statement said after outlining what it called “several key benefits for the United States and American taxpayers.” TRUMP MUST MAKE UN FUNDING CONDITIONAL ON REAL REFORMS, EX-DIPLOMAT URGES “The United States is pledging an initial $2 billion anchor commitment to fund life-saving assistance activities in dozens of countries,” the State Department said. The administration also said that the contribution is expected to shield tens of millions of people from hunger, disease and the devastation of war in 2026 alone, with a new model significantly reducing costs. “Because of enhanced efficiency and hyper-prioritization on life-saving impacts, this new model is expected to save U.S. taxpayers nearly $1.9 billion compared to outdated grant funding approaches,” the statement said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the approach is intended to force long-standing reforms across the U.N. system and reduce the U.S. financial burden. RUBIO UNLOADS ON ‘ALARMISTS,’ TOUTS STATE DEPT DISASTER RESPONSE AFTER USAID CLOSURE “This new model will better share the burden of U.N. humanitarian work with other developed countries and will require the U.N. to cut bloat, remove duplication, and commit to powerful new impact, accountability, and oversight mechanisms,” Rubio said in a post on X. The pledge is smaller than previous U.S. contributions, which officials said had grown to between $8 billion and $10 billion annually in voluntary humanitarian funding in recent years. Administration officials said those funding levels were unsustainable and lacked sufficient accountability. TRUMP ADMIN WEIGHS TERRORISM SANCTIONS AGAINST UN PALESTINIAN AID AGENCY OVER HAMAS ALLEGATIONS Jeremy Lewin, the State Department’s senior official overseeing foreign assistance, underscored the administration’s position during a press conference in Geneva. “The piggy bank is not open to organizations that just want to return to the old system,” Lewin said in the statement. “President Trump has made clear that the system is dead.” The funding commitment is part of a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The agreement replaces project-by-project grants with consolidated, flexible pooled funding administered at the country or crisis level. Tom Fletcher, the U.N.’s top humanitarian official and head of OCHA, welcomed the agreement, calling it a major breakthrough. “It’s a very significant landmark contribution,” Fletcher said, according to The Associated Press. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz also said the deal would deliver more focused, results-driven aid aligned with U.S. foreign policy interests, while the State Department warned future funding will depend on continued reforms.