PETA, animal rights groups praise Trump admin for phasing out ‘cruel tests on dogs’ and other animals
The Trump administration is receiving an outpouring of support from animal advocacy groups, lawmakers and others for recent announcements to end animal testing within programs at the FDA and EPA. “PETA applauds the FDA’s decision to stop harming animals and adopt human-relevant testing strategies for evaluating antibody therapies,” Kathy Guillermo, PETA senior vice president, said in a statement. “It’s a significant step towards meeting the agency’s commitment to replace the use of animals – which PETA has worked hard to promote. All animal use, including failed vaccine and other testing on monkeys at the federally-funded primate centers, must end, and we are calling on the FDA to further embrace 21st-century science,” the PETA statement continued. PETA’s statement followed the Food and Drug Administration announcement on Thursday that it is phasing out an animal testing requirement for antibody therapies and other drugs in favor of testing on materials that mimic human organs, Fox Digital first reported. FDA PHASING OUT SOME ANIMAL TESTING IN ‘WIN-WIN’ FOR ETHICS AND PUBLIC HEALTH: COMMISSIONER “For too long, drug manufacturers have performed additional animal testing of drugs that have data in broad human use internationally. This initiative marks a paradigm shift in drug evaluation and holds promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans while reducing animal use,” FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, said in comments provided to Fox News Digital. “By leveraging AI-based computational modeling, human organ model-based lab testing, and real-world human data, we can get safer treatments to patients faster and more reliably, while also reducing R&D costs and drug prices. It is a win-win for public health and ethics.” Dogs, rats and fish were the primary animals to face testing ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Fox Digital learned. The phase-out focuses on ending animal testing in regard to researching monoclonal antibody therapies, which are lab-made proteins meant to stimulate the immune system to fight diseases such as cancer, as well as other drugs, according to the press release. Instead, the FDA will encourage testing on “organoids,” which are artificially grown masses of cells, according to the FDA’s press release. HHS AXES MORE THAN $300M IN GENDER, DEI-RELATED HEALTH GRANTS TO CALIFORNIA ALONE Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin announced on the same day that the agency would reinstate a 2019 policy from the first Trump administration to phase out animal testing at that federal agency. The EPA said in comment that the Biden administration moved away from phasing out animal testing, but that Zeldin is “wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing.” “Under President Trump’s first term, EPA signed a directive to prioritize efforts to reduce animal testing and committed to reducing testing on mammals by 30% by 2025 and to eliminate it completely by 2035. The Biden administration halted progress on these efforts by delaying compliance deadlines. Administrator Zeldin is wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing,” EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou told the Washington Times. The EPA’s and FDA’s recent announcements also received praise from animal rights groups, including the White Coat Waste Project, which reported in 2021 that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases spent hundreds of thousands of dollars under Dr. Anthony Fauci’s leadership to test beagle dogs with parasites via biting flies. “Thank you @DrMakaryFDA for your years of advocacy & outstanding leadership to eliminate FDA red tape that forces companies & tax-funded federal agencies to conduct wasteful & cruel tests on dogs & other animals!” the group posted to X last week. TRUMP ADMIN CUTS ADDITIONAL $1M IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ‘TRANSGENDER ANIMAL’ EXPERIMENTS “White Coat Waste made historic progress under Trump 45 to cut wasteful and cruel animal testing at the EPA and FDA, some of which was undone by the Biden Administration,” Justin Goodman, senior vice president at White Coat, told Fox News Digital on Sunday. “We applaud Administrator Zeldin and Commissioner Makary for picking up where Trump left off and prioritizing efforts to cut widely-opposed and wasteful animal tests. This is great news for taxpayers and pet owners as it sends a message to big spending animal abusers across the federal government: Stop the money. Stop the madness!” Other animal rights groups and lawmakers praised the Trump administration for its recent moves to end animal testing. “We’re encouraged to see the EPA recommit to phasing out animal testing – a goal we’ve long championed on behalf of the animals trapped in these outdated and painful experiments,” Kitty Block, president and CEO of Humane World for Animals, said in a press release. “But promises alone don’t spare lives. For too long, animals like dogs, rabbits and mice have endured tests that inflict suffering without delivering better science. It’s time to replace these cruel methods with modern, humane alternatives that the public overwhelmingly supports.” PETA PLEADS WITH NIH TO STOP FUNDING FOR ANIMAL STUDY, CALLS SLEEP EXPERIMENT ‘CRUEL AND HORRIFIC’ Other groups have come out and warned that there is not yet a high-tech replacement for animals within the realm of biomedical research and drug testing, and that humane animal testing is still crucial to test prospective drugs for humans. REP. NANCY MACE SAYS FAUCI ‘SENT PUPPIES TO SLAUGHTER’ WITH ‘BARBARIC AND GRUESOME’ NIH-FUNDED EXPERIMENTS “We all want better and faster ways to bring lifesaving treatments to patients,” National Association for Biomedical Research President Matthew R. Bailey said in a press release provided to Fox Digital. “But no AI model or simulation has yet demonstrated the ability to fully replicate all the unknowns about many full biological systems. That’s why humane animal research remains indispensable.” Under his first administration, Trump took other steps to protect animals, including signing the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act into law in 2019, which made intentional acts of cruelty a federal crime.
Americans witnessing crippling federal regulations can go directly to DOGE to report red tape rule
FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Government Efficiency launched a website where Americans can directly report and suggest how to deregulate policies within the federal government, Fox News Digital learned. “Your voice in federal decision making,” reads the website Regulations.gov, “Impacted by an existing rule or regulation? Share your ideas for deregulation by completing this form.” DOGE worked with the Government Services Administration, an independent agency tasked with helping support the functioning of other federal agencies, and the Office of Management and Budget, which is the federal office frequently charged with overseeing deregulation efforts, to launch the website earlier this month, Fox Digital learned. “DOGE is combining the administration’s goals of adding transparency and slashing waste, fraud, and abuse by offering the American people the unique opportunity to recommend more deregulatory actions. This DOGE-led effort highlights President Trump’s priority to put the people first and government bureaucrats last,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox Digital. MUSK NOT LEAVING YET, WRAPPING UP WORK ON SCHEDULE ONCE ‘INCREDIBLE WORK AT DOGE IS COMPLETE’: WHITE HOUSE The website’s main page directs users to a form where they can report “deregulatory suggestions,” which provides users with more than a dozen prompts regarding their issue. The prompts include describing which federal agency had promoted a regulation at issue, if the regulation is finalized or in the midst of the rule-making process, justification for the deregulation, the history of how the regulation operates, and the title and name of the agency’s leader, as well as other detailed information on the regulation. The form prompts users to provide their name, but the box is not mandatory to complete before submission. The person who submits a deregulatory suggestion could see the Trump administration name the rescission to the rule after the individual. “Only answer if you would like the rescission to be named after you or your organization. Providing your name does not guarantee that it will appear on any final agency action, and we reserve the right to refrain from using names that are inappropriate or offensive,” the prompt asking for the user’s name states. TRUMP WANTS MUSK TO STAY WITH ADMINISTRATION, SAYS DOGE FOUND SOMETHING ‘HORRIBLE’ TODAY DOGE’s public leader, Elon Musk, has railed against government regulations for months, including when he joined President Donald Trump’s campaign in key battleground states to rally support. In a Pennsylvania rally ahead of the election, Musk recounted how his company SpaceX was wrapped up in “bunch of nutty stories” related to government overregulation, including studying the probability of the company’s Starship rocket hitting a whale or shark and facing lofty fines from the EPA for “dumping fresh water on the ground.” DOGE’S PLANS TO OFFLOAD GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS SUPPORTED BY FORMER GSA OFFICIAL “I’ll tell you like a crazy thing, like we got fined $140,000 by the EPA for dumping fresh water on the ground. Drinking water. It’s crazy. I’ll just give you an example of just how crazy it is. And we’re like, ‘Well, we’re using water to cool the launch pad during launch. You know, we’re going to cool the launch pad so it doesn’t overheat. And in excess of caution, we actually brought in drinking water, so clean, super clean water,’” Musk said to the audience in Folsom, Pennsylvania, last year. “And the FAA said, ‘No, you have to pay a $140,000 fine.’ And we’re like, ‘But Starbase is in a tropical thunderstorm area. Sky water falls all the time,’” Musk recounted, referring to SpaceX’s headquarters in Texas. “‘That is the same as the water we used’ So, and it’s like… there’s no harm to anything. And they said, ‘Yeah, but we didn’t have a permit.’ We’re like, ‘You need a permit for fresh water?’” Musk recounted. DOGE CHAIN OF COMMAND REVEALED IN COURT FILING, SHOWING MUSK IS NOT THE BOSS Trump went on a deregulation blitz targeting energy and climate regulations last week in a series of executive orders aimed to “unleash” the power of coal energy in the U.S., including ending a pause to coal leasing on federal lands, promoting coal and coal technology exports, and encouraging the use of coal to power artificial intelligence initiatives. “President Trump knows that the bureaucracy is built to regulate, not deregulate. The result is an ever-increasing number of regulations that stifle innovation and limit American freedom,” the White House said in a fact sheet on the EOs last week.
Trump champions Jesus’ ‘miraculous Resurrection’ in Palm Sunday message vowing to ‘defend the Christian faith’
President Donald Trump issued a Palm Sunday message at the start of Holy Week renewing his administration’s promise “to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government.” “We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square,” Trump wrote in his 2025 Holy Week presidential message released by the White House. “As we focus on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we look to His love, humility, and obedience—even in life’s most difficult and uncertain moments,” Trump said. “This week, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Nation. We pray that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world, and we pray to achieve a future that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven.” WHITE HOUSE PLANS ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ HOLY WEEK AS TRUMP HONORS EASTER WITH ‘THE OBSERVANCE IT DESERVES’ “May God bless you and your family during this special time of year and may He continue to bless the United States of America,” Trump wrote. Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump “join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ – the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity.” The presidential message reiterated how Holy Week begins “with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday” and culminates “in the Paschal Triduum, which begins on Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, followed by Good Friday.” The week reaches its “pinnacle in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night.” “This week is a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ crucifixion – and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for His miraculous Resurrection from the dead,” Trump wrote. “During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross,” the president said. “In His final hours on Earth, Christ willingly endured excruciating pain, torture, and execution on the cross out of a deep and abiding love for all His creation. Through His suffering, we have redemption. Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins. Through His Resurrection, we have hope of eternal life.” TRUMP TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHING WHITE HOUSE FAITH OFFICE “On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness—signaling that death does not have the final word,” Trump said. Since surviving a July 2024 assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Penn., Trump has acknowledged his faith on the campaign trail and months into his second term by repeatedly affirming that he was “saved by God to Make America Great Again.” On Friday, the White House hung a painting depicting a bloodied Trump pumping his first in the air during that attempt on his life last summer, replacing a portrait of former President Barack Obama. The Holy Week proclamation on Sunday is first on the docket of a series of roll-outs and events expected before Easter organized by the newly established White House Faith Office. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital that Trump delivered on his promise to millions of Christians in creating the office. She drew a “sharp contrast” with the Biden administration, which marked Easter Sunday, which fell on March 31, 2024, the most important holiday on the Christian Church calendar, as Transgender Day of Visibility. Jennifer Korn, faith director of the White House Faith Office, told Fox News Digital the administration is gearing up for “extraordinary” celebrations during Holy Week to treat the Easter season “with the observance it deserves.” On Monday, Trump is expected to release a Holy Week video and will host an Easter dinner on Wednesday evening. On Holy Thursday, the president is expected to host a staff worship service at the White House, where Pastor Paula White, the senior advisor to the White House Faith Office, the Rev. Franklin Graham, Pastor Greg Laurie and Pastor Jentezen Franklin will participate in prayer, scripture, service and communion. Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
How Mike Johnson rescued Trump’s tax agenda from jaws of likely defeat
When lawmakers arrived on Capitol Hill last Monday, House GOP leaders’ plans to sync up with the Senate on sweeping legislation to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda seemed an all-but-impossible task. House fiscal hawks were furious with Senate Republicans for passing an amended version of the former’s budget framework, one that called for a significantly lower amount of mandatory spending cuts than the House’s initial plan. By late Thursday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was celebrating victory in front of reporters after a narrow 216-to-214 vote. “I told you not to doubt us,” a triumphant Johnson told the media. “We’re really grateful to have had the big victory on the floor just now. It was a big one, a very important one.” HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR URGES JOHNSON TO CHANGE COURSE ON SENATE VERSION OF TRUMP BUDGET BILL The hard-fought win came after long hours and late nights as House Republican leaders — and leaders in the Senate GOP as well — worked to persuade holdouts, while Trump and his aides worked those same critics from the sidelines. White House aides were at House Republicans’ weekly conference meeting on Tuesday, a rare sight but not unexpected, given the importance of the coming vote. But GOP lawmakers filed out of that meeting doubting whether Trump’s influence could help this time, after he played a key role in helping shepherd earlier critical bills across the finish line this year. “I don’t see it happening,” a House Republican told Fox News Digital when asked whether Trump would be enough to sway critics. Nevertheless, a select group of those holdouts were summoned to the White House alongside House GOP leaders on Wednesday afternoon, hours before the expected vote. MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE Fox News Digital was told that Trump commanded the room for roughly 20 to 30 minutes, and told House conservatives he agreed with them on the need to significantly slash government spending. Trump also communicated to holdouts that Senate leaders felt the same, but, like the House, were working on their own tight margins, Fox News Digital was told. The president, meanwhile, has been concerned in particular with the looming debt limit deadline, Fox News Digital was told. It’s one of the issues that Republicans are looking to tackle via the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the Senate’s passage threshold from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party controlling the House, Senate and White House to enact broad policy changes via one or two broad pieces of legislation. In this case, Republicans are looking for some added funds for border security and defense and to raise the debt ceiling — while paring back spending on the former Biden administration’s green energy policies and in other sections of the federal government, likely including entitlement programs. GOP lawmakers are also looking to extend Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the provisions of which expire at the end of this year. They will also need new funding for Trump’s efforts to eliminate taxes on tipped and overtime wages. But first, Republicans wanted the House and Senate to pass identical frameworks setting the stage for filling those frameworks with actual legislative policy. Whereas the House version calls for at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, the Senate mandated a floor of $4 billion — a wide gap to bridge. The Wednesday-afternoon White House meeting did sway some holdouts, but far from enough. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., also met with House GOP critics of the bill for more than an hour on Wednesday evening ahead of the planned vote. “He couldn’t have been more cordial and understanding in talking to us about what we needed to know. And honestly, he had some of the same concerns that we did,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. “You know, he’s got to get it over the finish line, and he had to make certain commitments. But he committed to us to work with us.” Ultimately, however, plans to advance the measure that evening were hastily scrapped as an unrelated vote was held open for over an hour, leading to confusion and frustration on the House floor. “He looked like he was in no better spot than he was at the beginning,” one House Republican said of that night. Trump was not called to address the group during that huddle with holdouts, two sources in the room told Fox News Digital. However, the president did have individual conversations with some holdouts on Wednesday and Thursday, one person said. The Wednesday night failure gave way to a late night of negotiations involving both holdouts and House GOP leaders. Two House GOP leadership aides told Fox News Digital that Johnson had huddled with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., until late Wednesday to figure out a path forward. When they emerged shortly before midnight, they had settled on a plan — a televised promise by Johnson and Thune to put both leaders on the record committing to deep spending cuts. SENATE GOP PUSHES TRUMP BUDGET FRAMEWORK THROUGH AFTER MARATHON VOTE SERIES “I’m happy to tell you that this morning, I believe we have the votes to finally adopt the budget resolution so we can move forward on President Trump’s very important agenda for the American people,” Johnson said. Thune added, “We are aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings. The speaker has talked about $1.5 trillion. We have a lot of United States senators who believe in that as a minimum.” A senior Senate GOP aide argued to Fox News Digital, “Absent Thune’s intervention, Mike Johnson would not have gotten this resolution through the House.” But the speaker was also putting in his own long hours with holdouts. The office of Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who ultimately voted to advance the framework, told Fox News Digital that critics were sent
Gretchen Whitmer ribbed online for seeming to hide face in Oval Office
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, was ribbed online for seeming to hide her face during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Whitmer was seen temporarily shielding her face from cameras in the Oval Office by holding up a folder, according to a photo by the New York Times. She later lowered the folder, as the president spoke to the press and encouraged Whitmer to comment as well. The Democratic governor, who clashed with Trump during his first term regarding her COVID-19 lockdown policies, met with the president to discuss recovery from an ice storm that impacted thousands of Michiganders, funding for the Selfridge Air National Guard base near Detroit, protections for the Great Lakes and the automobile industry. WHITMER DITCHES DEM PLAYBOOK ON TRUMP’S TARIFFS AMID 2028 SPECULATION Whitmer, joined by Michigan State House Speaker Matt Hall and several Cabinet secretaries, stood steps away from the Resolute Desk while Trump signed executive orders Wednesday. “We’re honored to have Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, great state of Michigan. And, she’s been she’s really done an excellent job. And a very good person,” Trump said. Whitmer told reporters afterward that she thought she was coming into the Oval Office for a one-on-one meeting with the president and was taken by surprise by the press conference. Her face-shielding was derided online. “Whitmer covering her face is the perfect metaphor for the Democratic Party,” one user wrote. Another X user said, “Gretchen Whitmer hiding behind her files in the White House is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. This is what my 2 year old does.” DEM GOVERNORS REVOLT AGAINST TRUMP’S ‘LIBERATION DAY’ TARIFFS “Was this the nail in the coffin of Gretchen Whitmer’s political aspirations?” a third user wrote. Some users joked that Whitmer was “embarrassed” to be photographed with Trump but had no shame in placing a Dorito in the mouth of a podcaster in a 2024 social media post that critics said mocked a Christian sacrament. Whitmer was in Washington to deliver a “Build, America, Build” address in which she called for bipartisan cooperation to strengthen American manufacturing. She was at the White House for her second meeting with Trump in less than a month, this time to talk about tariffs that were expected to disproportionately affect Michigan, whose economy is closely tied to an auto industry reliant on trade with Canada, Mexico and other countries. In her speech Wednesday, which came before Trump announced he was pausing tariffs in most nations except for China, Whitmer highlighted areas of agreement with Trump on tariffs but criticized how they had been implemented. “I understand the motivation behind the tariffs, and I can tell you, here’s where President Trump and I do agree. We do need to make more stuff in America,” said Whitmer, before adding, “I’m not against tariffs outright, but it is a blunt tool. You can’t just pull out the tariff hammer to swing at every problem without a clear defined end-goal.” Whitmer’s approach stands in stark contrast to that of other high-profile Democratic governors, many of whom are also seen as potential contenders for the party’s 2028 presidential nomination. But Whitmer faces a more challenging political landscape than leaders such as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker or California Gov. Gavin Newsom as she represents a state with a divided state legislature and that went for Trump in two of the last three elections. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
White House plans ‘extraordinary’ Holy Week as Trump honors Easter with ‘the observance it deserves’
EXCLUSIVE: The White House is gearing up for an “extraordinary” celebration for Holy Week ahead of Easter, with President Donald Trump participating in a number of events to celebrate and honor the holiday “with the observance it deserves.” The new White House Faith Office organized the Holy Week schedule. “The newly created White House Faith Office is grateful to share that President Trump will honor and celebrate Holy Week and Easter with the observance it deserves,” Jennifer Korn, faith director of the White House Faith Office, told Fox News Digital. “Throughout the week, we will distribute a Holy Week proclamation, a special presidential video message (and) host a pre-Easter dinner and White House staff Easter service.” FLASHBACK: BIDEN SLAMMED ON SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER ANNOUNCING TRANSGENDER DAY OF VISIBILITY ON EASTER SUNDAY Korn said it “will be a special time of prayer and worship at the White House to be shared with Americans celebrating the week leading up to Resurrection Sunday.” On Palm Sunday, the president is expected to issue a presidential Easter proclamation that will speak directly to Christians as Holy Week begins and maintain his commitment to defend the Christian faith in schools, in the military, in workplaces, hospitals, in government and beyond. On Monday, the president is expected to release a Holy Week video and will host an Easter dinner Wednesday evening. The dinner will feature hymns from the Marine Corps Band, Christian opera by singer Charles Billingsley, prayers and remarks from President Trump. TRUMP DEMANDS BIDEN ISSUE APOLOGY OVER ‘BLASPHEMOUS’ TRANS VISIBILITY DAY ON EASTER SUNDAY: ‘APPALLING’ Christian pastors, priests and faith leaders are expected to attend the dinner along with the president, Korn, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Pastor Paula White, the senior advisor to the White House Faith Office. On Holy Thursday, the president is expected to host a staff worship service at the White House, where White, the Rev. Franklin Graham, Pastor Greg Laurie and Pastor Jentezen Franklin will participate in prayer, scripture, service and communion. During the service, an ensemble from Liberty University will perform worship music. “President Trump promised millions of Christians across the country that he would create a White House Faith Office, and he delivered on that promise,” Leavitt said. “The White House Faith Office has put together an extraordinary weeklong celebration for Holy Week ahead of Easter Sunday.” Leavitt stressed that this “is another sharp contrast from the previous administration.” Leavitt noted that, last year, the Biden White House marked Easter Sunday, which fell on March 31, 2024, the most solemn Christian holiday, as Transgender Day of Visibility. RELIGIOUS-THEMED DESIGNS BANNED FROM WHITE HOUSE EASTER EGG ART CONTEST “On Transgender Day of Visibility, we honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union — where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives,” a statement released by the Biden White House stated. “Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration, and I have your back,” it added. “NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility.” Biden’s defenders were quick to say he didn’t choose March 31 as the date for Transgender Day of Visibility, and that, since 2021, when Biden took office, the White House had issued the same proclamation every year on March 31. At the time, Leavitt, who was serving as the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, blasted Biden’s proclamation as “appalling and insulting,” calling it an example of the Biden administration’s “yearslong assault on the Christian faith.” “We call on Joe Biden’s failing campaign and the White House to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only — the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” she said last year.
Bernie Sanders says largest ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ rally with AOC is making Trump, Musk ‘very nervous’
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Saturday his latest rally with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour was also their largest with a stop in downtown Los Angeles before a massive crowd of supporters. “Your presence here today is making Donald Trump and Elon Musk very nervous,” the 83-year-old independent, who caucuses with Democrats, said to loud cheers, adding about 36,000 attended the event. Sanders mentioned that after their last rally in Denver, Colorado, in March, which was slightly smaller than Saturday’s in LA, Tesla CEO and DOGE policy advisor Musk claimed most of those in attendance were “paid organizers.” “Anybody here being paid to come today?” asked Sanders, who was met with shouts of “no!” from the crowd assembled at LA City Hall. BERNIE SANDERS SCOLDS CNN DURING TOWN HALL WITH ANDERSON COOPER FOR NOT TALKING HEALTHCARE He also took a jab at the president, claiming Trump is “envious” of crowd “sizes.” “[Trump] said, ‘Well, Bernie has rallies of (2,000) or 3,000 people, can’t compete with Trump.’ He lied,” Sanders said. Sanders continued to go after Musk and Trump, attacking their wealth, a common refrain for him. ‘THE VIEW’ HOST WARNS DEMOCRATS ABOUT HOW PERFORMATIVELY ‘SCREAMING’ AT RALLIES IS NOT FIXING THE COUNTRY “We’re living at a moment where a handful of billionaires control the economic and political life of our country,” Sanders said. “We’re living in a moment with a president who has no understanding or respect for the Constitution of the United States and, let us make no doubt about it, moving us rapidly toward an authoritarian form of society. And, Mr. Trump, we ain’t going there.” Sanders also noted that Musk had recently posted on social media that Sanders “has been talking about the growth of oligarchy year-after-year-after-year.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Sanders added, “Well, Elon, you’re damn right. That’s what I’ve been talking about. The difference is I’m no longer talking about how we’re moving to oligarchy. I’m talking about how we are living today in an oligarchic form of society.” The pair have already done rallies in Las Vegas; Tempe and Tuscon, Arizona; and Denver and Greeley, Colorado, and they have upcoming rallies scheduled in Bakersfield and Folsom, California; Salt Lake City; Nampa, Idaho; and Missoula, Montana. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump orders military to take control of federal land at southern border
The U.S. military will take control of a strip of federal land that spans three states along the southern border in an effort to stem illegal immigration, a memorandum Friday by President Donald Trump said. The memorandum, “Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions,” directs the secretaries of Defense, Interior, Agriculture and Homeland Security “to provide for the use and jurisdiction by the Department of Defense over such Federal lands, including the Roosevelt Reservation and excluding Federal Indian Reservations, that are reasonably necessary to enable military activities.” He wrote it could include “border-barrier construction and emplacement of detection and monitoring equipment.” NAVY DEPLOYS ANOTHER HOUTHI-FIGHTING WARSHIP TO NEW US SOUTHERN BORDER MISSION “Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats,” Trump wrote in the memorandum. “The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past.” The federal land, which consists of a narrow, 60-foot-deep strip at the border within the Roosevelt Reservation, would become a “military installation” designated as “National Defense Areas” where “military activities” would occur. AMERICAN WOMEN ARRESTED AT CALIFORNIA IMMIGRATION CHECKPOINT FOR ATTEMPTING TO SMUGGLE CHILDREN: ‘UNBEARABLE’ The Roosevelt Reservation covers California, New Mexico and Arizona and was designated as federal land by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 to keep the border secure. The memorandum added that the secretary of defense can “determine those military activities that are reasonably necessary and appropriate to accomplish the mission” of keeping the border secure. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Trump campaigned on securing the border and “mass deportations” and has focused on both in the first months of his presidency.
Trump administration ends temporary protected status for thousands of Afghans amid deportation push
The Trump administration is ending the protected status for thousands of Afghans who entered the U.S. after its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 under the Biden administration. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security doesn’t plan to renew Afghans’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which lasts six to 18 months and applies to people from countries that are war-torn or have a natural disaster or some other event that makes returning dangerous. The U.S. military evacuated more than 82,000 Afghans from the country when the U.S. withdrew in 2021, and the Taliban took over. TALIBAN LEADER SAYS ‘NO NEED’ FOR LAWS FROM THE WEST IN AFGHANISTAN: ‘WE WILL CREATE OUR OWN LAWS’ Thousands of Cameroonians are also expected to lose their status. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Reuters that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has determined that the situation in Afghanistan and Cameroon no longer meets the standard for the Afghans and Cameroonians to have TPS protections renewed. “The Secretary determined that Afghanistan no longer continues to meet the statutory requirements for its TPS designation and so she terminated TPS for Afghanistan,” McLaughlin said in a statement, according to NPR. Shawn VanDriver, who served in the military and is president of #AfghanEvac, disagreed with the administration’s assessment on Afghanistan. COURT TELLS TRUMP ADMIN TO ‘FACILITATE’ RETURN OF DEPORTED MARYLAND IMMIGRANT “The conditions on the ground haven’t improved — they’ve worsened,” he told NPR. “Afghans who were invited here, who built lives here, are now being told they don’t matter. It’s cruel, it’s chaotic, and it undermines everything America claimed to stand for when we promised not to leave our allies behind.” More than 14,000 Afghans and 7,000 Cameroonians are expected to lose their TPS protections. The Biden administration renewed TPS protections for Afghans in 2023. Afghan TPS protections end in May and Cameroonian protections in June. At that time, foreign nationals will be eligible for deportation. HOUSE GOP RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ON BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN Fox News Digital has reached out to DPS and the White House for comment. Last month, a judge delayed a Trump administration effort to end TPS protections for Venezuelans. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Both Afghanistan and Venezuela are listed by the U.S. State Department as “Level 4: Do Not Travel” because of the risk of terrorism, unlawful detention, civil unrest and kidnapping. Cameroon is listed as “Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution” due to the risk of terrorism, kidnapping and armed violence. Reuters contributed to this report.
Here’s what happened during Trump’s 12th week in office
President Donald Trump ramped up steep tariffs against Chinese imports to the U.S. this week while alleviating them for other countries during trade negotiations this week. He also signed a series of executive orders aimed at repealing Biden-era restrictions. The Trump administration announced Wednesday it would lower reciprocal tariffs on other countries, while also revealing that the administration would immediately hike tariffs on Chinese goods to 145%. In response, China has raised its tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%. Trump disclosed historic tariffs in a ceremony at the White House’s Rose Garden for a “Make America Wealthy Again” event on April 2, asserting that these new duties would generate new jobs for U.S. workers. HOW WE GOT TO LIBERATION DAY: A LOOK AT TRUMP’S PAST COMMENTS ON TARIFFS The tariff plan established a baseline tax of 10% on all imports to the U.S., along with customized tariffs for countries that place higher tariffs on U.S. goods. The baseline tariffs of 10% took effect Saturday, while the others took effect Wednesday at midnight. But Trump announced in a post on Truth Social Wednesday that reciprocal tariffs announced last week would remain paused for 90 days, during which period the countries would only face the baseline 10% tariff. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform on Wednesday. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said that the tariffs suggest that China is at odds with the rest of the world. “China is the most imbalanced economy in the history of the modern world,” Bessent told reporters Wednesday. “They are the biggest source of the U.S. trade problems, and indeed they are the problem for the rest of the world.” Here’s what also happened this week: Trump also signed an executive order this week aimed at reinvigorating the shipbuilding industry in the U.S., amid concerns that China is outpacing the U.S. in production. China is responsible for more than 50% of global shipbuilding, compared to just 0.1% from the U.S., according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The executive order requires agencies to craft a Maritime Action Plan and instructs the United States Trade Representative to provide a list of recommendations to deal with China’s “anticompetitive actions within the shipbuilding industry,” among other things. TRUMP ENDS BIDEN-ERA WATER REGULATIONS TO ‘MAKE AMERICA’S SHOWERS GREAT AGAIN’ Trump also signed an executive order to reverse Obama- and Biden-era conservation measures that limited water pressure in showers in an attempt to “make showers great again.” Former President Barack Obama initially imposed the water pressure restrictions, and Trump sought to ease some of them during his first term. However, former President Joe Biden reinstated the measure, which limited multi-nozzle shower heads from releasing more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute. “I like to take a nice shower, take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump said Wednesday. “I have to stand in the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. Comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.” The Trump administration also unveiled plans this week for upcoming talks to negotiate with Iran on Saturday. While Trump has reiterated that these discussions will be “direct” nuclear talks, Iran has pushed back on that description and characterized them as “indirect” negotiations instead. Middle East envoy Stever Witkoff will travel to Oman on Saturday and is slated to potentially meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. However, Iran has maintained that the discussions will be held through a third party instead. “The ultimate objective is to ensure that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon,” Leavitt told reporters Friday. “The president believes in diplomacy, direct talks, talking directly in the same room in order to achieve that goal. But he’s made it very clear to the Iranians, and his national security team will, as well, that all options are on the table and Iran has a choice to make. You can agree to President Trump’s demand, or there will be all hell to pay. And that’s how the president feels. He feels very strongly about it.” Fox News’ Bonny Chu, Danielle Wallace, and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.