Trump team’s Signal snafu sparks debate over secure comms: ‘Russia and China are listening’
The leak of Houthi strike plans by the Trump administration to a journalist was not the result of a hack but an apparent human error. Still, it sparked debate over whether the nation’s most powerful government officials should communicate sensitive military information on a non-government platform. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, wrote on Monday that he was added to a group chat on Signal on March 11 by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz titled “Houthi PC small group.” His article details a leaked conversation between the nation’s top government officials, including the vice president, secretary of defense, director of the CIA and others, in which the sensitive details of a planned strike on Houthi terrorists in Yemen were reportedly discussed. The report shocked Washington and led to accusations from Democrats and others that President Donald Trump’s team endangered national security and possibly violated the law by using Signal, a messaging app. Signal’s platform is encrypted, but that doesn’t mean it is not susceptible to hacks, experts told Fox News Digital. Encryption means that only the sender and the receiver of a message should be able to review it; not even Signal itself can pull its contents. But even without viewing a message’s contents, some metadata might be attainable. TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK “Knowing who has spoken with whom at what time and for what duration is already very useful intelligence,” said Vahid Behzadan, cybersecurity professor and researcher at the University of New Haven. “If a phone is infected with spyware, messages can be intercepted before or after encryption.” “Screenshots or photos are not protected by Signal itself … and if previews are enabled by users in the app, sensitive info could appear on a locked screen,” he said. Government officials and journalists often use Signal to communicate sensitive information for fear that emails and text communications on official government cellphones could fall under the Freedom of Information Act, meaning they could be made public. However, transmitting controlled but unclassified information on Signal is explicitly banned by Defense Department policy. In February, Google’s Threat Intelligence Group warned of “increasing efforts from several Russia-aligned actors to compromise Signal accounts used by individuals of interest to Russia’s intelligence services.” “While this emerging operational interest has likely been sparked by wartime demands to gain access to sensitive government and military communications in the context of Russia’s re-invasion of Ukraine, we anticipate the tactics and methods used to target Signal will grow in prevalence in the near-term and proliferate to additional threat actors and regions outside the Ukrainian theater of war,” Google said. Google warned that Signal could obtain access to all of a target’s information on their phone while their device is unlocked. “As reflected in wide-ranging efforts to compromise Signal accounts, this threat to secure messaging applications is not limited to remote cyber operations such as phishing and malware delivery, but also critically includes close-access operations where a threat actor can secure brief access to a target’s unlocked device.” TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH At first, Goldberg said, he worried that the Signal chat was fake. But shortly thereafter, top names in the administration, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, began naming their points of contact for the impending offensive campaign in Yemen against the Houthis, according to The Atlantic. The group then reportedly began to use the chat for coordinating messaging plans as the administration moved closer to its offensive campaign, which was made public on March 14. The Trump administration has insisted no one shared classified information in the “Houthi PC small group” chat. Ratcliffe said he’d been briefed by the agency about the “permissible work use” of Signal. But Goldberg said the chat “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.” He redacted some of the information he deemed potentially sensitive, including the name of a CIA agent who Ratcliffe had named to run point on the strikes. Ratcliffe said it was not improper for him to share the officer’s name because he was not under active cover. TRUMP REVEALS WHO WAS BEHIND SIGNAL TEXT CHAIN LEAK Both Ratcliffe and Gabbard said they could not recall whether specific weapons systems or specific targets had been mentioned in the Signal chat during a Senate worldwide threats hearing on Tuesday. When asked whether Hegseth had declassified information about the Houthi operations before sharing it in the chat, they referred senators to the Defense Department. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a national security hawk, isn’t buying that the chat did not reveal classified information. “I will guarantee you 99.99% with confidence Russia and China are monitoring those two phones,” Bacon said of the chat. “This is a gross error, and it’s intentional. They intentionally put highly classified information on an unclassified device. I would have lost my security clearance in the Air Force for this and for a lot less.” Matthew Shoemaker, a former defense intelligence official, said sharing classified information on Signal would violate Title 18 of U.S. Code 793, which bans gathering, transmitting or losing defense information. The punishment for such a crime carries up to 10 years in prison. “They had to physically remove it from a classified system and then put it on an unclassified system,” he said. “Any uniformed officer would immediately be relieved of command.” “It’s hard to believe this is the first time they’ve been doing this. It’s likely just the first time they’ve been caught.” On top of it all, Shoemaker said, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, who was a part of the chat, was in Russia on Russian-operated cell networks at the time the strike information was being communicated to him. “Given the Russian GRU’s past activity breaking into Signal,
GOP lawmaker rips ‘lost in the wilderness’ DOGE protesters amid chaos at her town hall: ‘Highly orchestrated’
EXCLUSIVE: Wyoming GOP Rep. Harriet Hageman spoke to Fox News Digital about the raucous Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) protesters who showed up at her recent town hall and about the acts of “domestic terrorism” occurring at Tesla dealerships, which she says Democrats are doing everything they can to ignore. “My takeaway from that was that it was highly orchestrated,” Hageman said about two of her town halls last week in Wyoming that were disrupted by liberal protesters whose actions went viral on social media. “This was not grassroots. I do believe that quite a few of the people may have been from outside of the state of Wyoming, or at least outside of that community. I have now held 75 town halls in the last three years, and there’s only two of them that have been disrupted.” Hageman told Fox News Digital that Democrats are involved in a “national movement” to try and “shout Republicans down” while not bringing any new ideas to the table at the same time. MEDIA, DEMS CELEBRATE TESLA WOES AS ANGER OVER ELON MUSK’S ROLE IN TRUMP ADMIN CONTINUES “The Democrats are so lost in the wilderness right now because their policies have failed, will continue to fail, and the American public woke up as to how bad they are,” Hageman said. “They’re bad for kids. They’re bad for adults. They’re bad for healthcare. They’re bad in terms of education, business, national security. You can go on and on and on by almost every single metric. I’m not aware of one Democrat policy that I can even remotely agree with just because they’ve gone so off the rails. And so, because they’ve lost the narrative, because they’ve lost the support of the American people, they’re lashing out at people like me.” Some of the protesters were chanting about Jan. 6 in the state where Hageman soundly defeated incumbent GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, the face of the movement to impeach Trump over Jan. 6, which Hageman said was a sign that the protests were not organic. “I beat Liz Cheney by almost 40%,” Hageman said. “My election last November was by an enormous landslide that was similar, if not bigger. Yes, there are Democrats in Wyoming, but that’s not what we’re seeing. The national leadership, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, they made it clear that because they cannot engage in the debate of ideas, they’re going to shut us down from speaking, and that was clearly the intent of what they were trying to do in Albany County.” PAM BONDI THREATENS PROSECUTION AMID DOGE’S FINDINGS ABOUT FRAUD: ‘WE’RE COMING AFTER YOU’ Hageman explained that Democrats “do that because they cannot engage with a legitimate discussion or analysis of the issue they know they’re going to lose” while explaining that she will continue to hold town halls and stand up to the protesters. “They just simply are trying to prevent us from being able to speak,” Hageman said. “Didn’t allow that to happen. I fought through it and I made my points. I did my town hall, I informed people of what was going on in D.C. and I handled it, and we went on to the next one the next time.” Some Democrats in recent weeks have accused Republicans of not showing up to town halls to answer questions from constituents about DOGE and the Trump agenda. Hageman told Fox News Digital she believes the opposite is true. “I think it’s kind of funny that people are saying that because there’s evidence on the internet that that’s not true,” Hageman explained. “We’re seeing the town halls. And again, I think what is happening at these are the activists are coming in and attempting to disrupt them. They want their viral moment. They want the one moment when they get somebody to say something silly, or they take something out of context.” Hageman told Fox News Digital that Democrats have created a “dangerous situation” and that she has carried elevated security at recent events, which has kept the protests in line, but she has concerns about “taking resources away from the rest of the community.” ELON MUSK SAYS DOGE CUTS NECESSARY, BUT FACE HEADWINDS ACCORDING TO FOX POLL Fox News Digital spoke to Hageman about the violence at Tesla dealerships across the country in response to Elon Musk’s DOGE actions, which have resulted in cars being burned and Attorney General Pam Bondi describing the attacks as “domestic terrorism.” “When you look at what Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are saying, when you say what Jasmine Crockett is saying, when you look at the attacks against Teslas and Tesla dealerships and attempting to dox people, they are intentionally trying to get somebody hurt or have a very scary moment take place at these events, and that’s entirely inappropriate under our form of government,” Hageman said. Fox News Digital asked Hageman about the overall unwillingness by Democrats to condemn the Tesla dealership violence as “domestic terrorism” despite not being shy about using the domestic terrorism label in the past. “The domestic terrorism comes from the left, not the right, and they know that. It is a form of projection and I don’t think that I’ve ever seen anybody or any group of people who are better at projection than Democrats,” Hageman said. “They engage in this kind of rhetoric and violent behavior, and then turn around and try to paint parents at school board meetings or conservative Catholics as domestic terrorists and really it’s a point of deflection.” “It’s to try to say, hey, don’t look at us. We’re not the bad guys. We may be torching Teslas. We may spray painting swastikas on vehicles, but don’t look at us. We’re not the ones doing it, it’s the guy who’s trying to protect his daughter from having some dude go into the locker room. That’s a domestic terrorist. And again, it’s become silly. It’s become very obvious what it is that they’re trying to do this situation with the Teslas.” Hageman told
Controversial climate group facing bankruptcy, how did it get here?
One of the leading global environmental networks has been drained of hundreds of millions over the years as a result of several lawsuits filed against their involvement in anti-oil protests. Greenpeace, an international environmentalist group, has been at the center of several highly controversial environmental cases over the years and has been accused of hiring protesters and rioters to advance their cause. Most recently, Greenpeace was found liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages resulting from a pipeline protest. The group recently said that such a ruling could “shut down Greenpeace USA.” Here are some of the top cases that got Greenpeace to the dire straits it is in right now. More than 800 people were arrested in 2016 during a monthslong protest, led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, opposing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), an oil pipeline that runs from North Dakota to Illinois. JURY FINDS GREENPEACE LIABLE, ORDERED TO PAY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OVER DAKOTA ACCESS OIL PIPELINE PROTESTS Energy Transfer, the developer of the pipeline, sued Greenpeace USA and Greenpeace International for $300 million on claims the climate groups orchestrated the protests by providing resources to the activists and, therefore, were liable for the expenses that resulted from construction being postponed. In March 2025, a North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable for about $660 million resulting from the protest. GREENPEACE VOWS MORE LEGAL ACTION AFTER GETTING HIT WITH $660M RULING THAT WOULD ‘SHUT DOWN’ ORGANIZATION “Our lawsuit is about recovering damages for the harm Greenpeace caused our company. It is not about free speech. Their organizing, funding, and encouraging the unlawful destruction of property and the dissemination of misinformation goes well beyond the exercise of free speech. We look forward to proving our case, and we trust the North Dakota legal system to do that.” The weekslong Morton County trial, which began in late February, heard testimony that claimed that Greenpeace not only trained the DAPL protesters, but purchased supplies to aid their resistance. Greenpeace described the battle as “one of the most consequential free speech cases in recent history.” Greenpeace settled a lawsuit with Shell after four individuals affiliated with the group boarded and occupied a Shell oil company vessel for two weeks in 2023. The activists “unlawfully scaled” a moving vessel in the North Sea while carrying a banner reading “Stop Drilling. Start Paying.” Because of this incident, Greenpeace was ordered to make a payment of 300k pounds to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and the group was barred from going within 500 meters of a Shell platform in the North Sea. In 2020, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled against Greenpeace’s attempt to block new oil exploration in the country. Greenpeace was joined by Young Friends of the Earth Norway in a 2016 lawsuit filed against the Norwegian Government after several new oil and gas leases were granted in the Balian Sea. The lawsuit, known as “People vs. the Arctic,” was the first case to challenge the country’s constitution on environmental rights. The environmental groups claimed that the Arctic drilling would violate Section 112 of the Norwegian Constitution, which states that everyone has the right to a healthy environment. Despite extensive appeals, Greenpeace failed to secure a single victory in the Norwegian court system, which found at every level that the government in that they did not violate the country’s constitution. DARK MONEY FUND POURED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO ECO ACTIVIST GROUPS BLOCKING HIGHWAYS, DESTROYING FAMOUS ART Commenting on the North Dakota ruling, a representative for Energy Transfer told Fox News Digital it was “very pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us and that the jury recognized these were not law-abiding, peaceful protests as Greenpeace tried to claim.” The representative said their victory was shared with the local native tribe and people throughout North Dakota who “had to live through the daily harassment and disruptions caused by the protesters who were funded and trained by Greenpeace.” “It is also a win for all law-abiding Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law,” said the representative, adding, “that Greenpeace has been held responsible is a win for all of us.” Sushma Raman, a representative for Greenpeace USA, told Fox News Digital that the group will be appealing the decision, saying, “we will not back down from this fight, and we will not be silenced.” GREENPEACE CO-FOUNDER: NO SCIENTIFIC PROOF HUMANS ARE DOMINANT CAUSE OF WARMING CLIMATE Raman said that Energy Transfer “knows we don’t have $660 million” and claimed “they want our silence, not our money.” “This case should alarm everyone, no matter their political inclinations,” she said. “It’s part of a renewed push by corporations to weaponize our courts to silence dissent. We should all be concerned about the future of the First Amendment, and lawsuits like this aimed at destroying our rights to peaceful protest and free speech.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP A representative for Greenpeace International pointed out to Fox News Digital that the ruling does not impact Greenpeace’s 24 other national and regional organizations. The representative said these groups will “continue functioning as normal even in the worst case scenario.” The representative also pointed out that Greenpeace is counter-suing Energy Transfer in a Netherlands court to recover all fines lost in the North Dakota case.
Federal judge temporarily blocks shutdown of US-funded radio network
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocked the shutdown of a U.S.-funded radio network. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, granted a temporary restraining order on the shutdown of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a non-profit news organization originally founded in the 1950s by the Central Intelligence Agency to broadcast behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Congress later began funding RFE/RL in the 1970s to promote democracy across the globe. RADIO FREE EUROPE SUES TRUMP ADMIN, KARI LAKE OVER DEFUNDING The judge found Kari Lake, the longtime Arizona broadcaster and unsuccessful gubernatorial and Senate candidate tapped to oversee the U.S. Agency for Global Media, likely violated federal law in moving to slash RFE/RFL’s funding in line with President Donald Trump’s agenda to eliminate government waste. The U.S. Agency for Global Media houses Radio Free Europe and Asia, as well as Voice of America and Radio Marti in Cuba. “RFE/RL has, for decades, operated as one of the organizations that Congress has statutorily designated to carry out this policy,” Lamberth wrote. “The leadership of USAGM cannot, with one sentence of reasoning offering virtually no explanation, force RFE/RL to shut down—even if the President has told them to do so.” Trump signed an executive order earlier this month aimed at dismantling U.S.-funded media organizations. A senior White House official told Fox News Digital at the time that Voice of America “has been out of step with America for years.” “It serves as the Voice for Radical America and has pushed divisive propaganda for years now,” the official said. The executive order, which targets seven offices, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said “non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” TRUMP ORDERS THE DISMANTLING OF GOVERNMENT-FUNDED, ‘PROPAGANDA’-PEDDLING MEDIA OUTLET RFE/RFL sued in federal court, saying that the administration immediately froze nearly $7.5 million in funding already appropriated by Congress. The Justice Department wrote in court documents on Monday that the disbursement was underway and proof of payment would come by Wednesday. Voice of America Director Michael Abramowitz wrote on X that “virtually” the whole 1300-person staff was placed on leave. In a court hearing Monday, Justice Department lawyer Abby Stout argued that RFE/RL has no grounds for a restraining order given the U.S. government would disburse the nearly $7.5 million. The plaintiff’s lawyer, Thomas Brugato, said the disbursement was only a temporary fix and the non-profit could expect widespread layoffs and to close by April if funding doesn’t continue. “It’s really a Band-Aid,” Brugato said in court, according to The Hill. In his order, Lamberth said RFE/RL “was originally conceived of in the 1950s as a vehicle for providing trustworthy, locally relevant news to audiences subject to communist propaganda.” “Since its inception, RFE/RL has continued to expand, responding to threats to democracy and media freedom across the globe,” the judge wrote, later concluding, “The Court concludes, in keeping with Congress’s longstanding determination, that the continued operation of RFE/RL is in the public interest.” Separately, a lawsuit was brought Friday by Voice of America reporters, Reporters Without Borders and a handful of unions in U.S. District Court in New York against the U.S. Agency for Global Media and Kari Lake over efforts to shut them down. Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Democrats hold Pennsylvania state House with special election win
The Democratic Party will take control of the Pennsylvania State House after securing an additional seat in a special election on Tuesday night. Democrat Dan Goughnor won out over Republican Charles Davis in a landslide 63-to-35-point victory. Control over the Pennsylvania Senate remains up in the air, with the race uncalled-for as Democrat James Malone leads Republican Josh Parsons by less than one percent. The Pennsylvania State House had been deadlocked, with Republicans and Democrats both controlling 101 seats prior to Tuesday’s election. Democrats had lost their razor-thin majority in January after the death of state Rep. Matt Gergerly. DEMOCRATS FAR FROM THRILLED ON POSSIBLE BIDEN POLITICAL REEMERGENCE The House race is the fifth straight special election that Democrats have won so far in 2025, despite the party performing dismally in polls. POLL POSITION: DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S NUMBERS PLUNGE TO ALL-TIME LOWS The party’s favorable rating sank to all-time lows in separate national polls conducted this month by CNN and NBC News. Those numbers followed a record low for Democrats in a Quinnipiac University survey in the field in February. Additionally, the latest Fox News National poll, which was released last week, indicated that congressional Democrats’ approval rating at 30%, near an all-time low. And Democrat activists are irate over their party’s inability to blunt President Donald Trump’s agenda. While Democrats were heavily favored in Tuesday’s state House race, they had less of an advantage in the state Senate race. GOP state Sen. Ryan Aument stepped down in December to work as state director for newly elected U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a fellow Republican. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Regardless of the election results, the GOP will continue to control the state Senate, where they currently hold a 27-22 majority. Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jeffries becomes highest-ranking Dem to call for Hegseth to resign
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is now the highest-ranking Democrat to call for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to resign over the Signal text chain leak, writing a letter to President Donald Trump demanding that he be “fired immediately.” “Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in American history. His continued presence in the top position of leadership at the Pentagon threatens the nation’s security and puts our brave men and women in uniform throughout the world in danger,” the Democrat from New York said. “The so-called Secretary of Defense recklessly and casually disclosed highly sensitive war plans — including the timing of a pending attack, possible strike targets and the weapons to be used –during an unclassified national security group chat that inexplicably included a reporter. His behavior shocks the conscience, risked American lives and likely violated the law,” Jeffries continued. “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should be fired immediately,” he added. HEGSETH FENDS OFF REPORTER’S QUESTIONS OVER SIGNAL CHAT LEAK Hegseth on Tuesday fended off a reporter’s questions about the leaked Signal chat group allegedly involving Trump administration officials discussing forthcoming strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. The strikes then happened on March 15. Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said officials were discussing “war plans,” but he decided not to publish some of the highly sensitive information he saw, including precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing, due to potential threats to national security and military operations. The secretary repeated his claims that “nobody was texting war plans,” pushing back on Goldberg’s assertion. TRUMP SAYS WALTZ DOESN’T NEED TO APOLOGIZE OVER SIGNAL TEXT CHAIN LINK “As I also stated yesterday, nobody’s texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said. “I know exactly what I’m doing, exactly what we’re directing, and I’m really proud of what we accomplished, the successful missions that night and going forward,” he also said. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for national security advisor Mike Waltz and Hegseth to resign Tuesday during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Trump told Fox News he has no plans to fire Waltz. Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Obama vs Trump: Political giants back opposing candidates in widely-watched Wisconsin Supreme Court contest
While reports indicate that the Wisconsin state Supreme Court election is nonpartisan, partisan battle lines have been clearly drawn, with former President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump backing opposing candidates in the contest. Obama named Judge Susan Crawford as the “only one candidate ready to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites,” in a tweet on Tuesday, urging voters to cast their ballot early, rather than waiting until the April 1 Election Day. But while Obama is supporting the candidate backed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Trump has endorsed the state’s former Republican Attorney General Judge Brad Schimel. BIG-MONEY WI HIGH COURT RACE WILL HAVE NATIONAL EFFECTS, AS REDISTRICTING, UNIONS, TRANS ISSUES AT STAKE And like Obama, Trump has urged Wisconsinites to vote early. “Brad Schimel is running against Radical Left Liberal Susan Crawford, who has repeatedly given child molesters, rapists, women beaters, and domestic abusers ‘light’ sentences. She is the handpicked voice of the Leftists who are out to destroy your State, and our Country — And if she wins, the Movement to restore our Nation will bypass Wisconsin. All Voters who believe in Common Sense should GET OUT TO VOTE EARLY for Brad Schimel,” Trump declared in a Truth Social post last week. TRUMP MAKES ENDORSEMENT IN ‘IMPORTANT’ WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT RACE Elon Musk is also backing Schimel. “Vote for Brad Schimel in Wisconsin!” the business magnate declared in a tweet. MUSK PAC STEPS DEEPER INTO WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT ELECTION WITH $100 OFFER TO VOTERS CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Musk-founded America PAC is supporting Schimel, and offering Wisconsin registered voters $100 to sign a petition opposing “Activist Judges,” and $100 per signer they refer.
Gov. Youngkin proposes withholding state funding from Virginia’s ‘sanctuary cities’
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, is threatening to withhold state funding from local governments if they do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement officials. The proposal comes as the governor seeks to eliminate the Commonwealth’s “sanctuary cities,” which are areas that choose to protect migrants without legal status rather than cooperate with federal officials to enforce immigration law. Youngkin first floated the idea of withholding funding in December. The governor has now proposed it as an amendment to the state budget passed by the General Assembly, according to Fox 5 DC. YOUNGKIN TO DRAFT SANCTUARY CITY BAN, MAKING STATE FUNDING CONTINGENT ON ICE COOPERATION The proposal would ensure that state funding does not go to counties or cities with “sanctuary city” policies such as ignoring detainer requests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the outlet reported. The governor has been particularly critical of Democrat-run counties in northern Virginia, including Fairfax. He said there must be full cooperation on immigration enforcement to continue receiving funding. “This is not a decision for people to make locally,” he said, according to Fox 5 DC. “This is for the betterment of all our safety. We are not a sanctuary state and therefore we’re not supporting localities that are declared sanctuary cities.” Chair of the Board of Supervisors for Fairfax County, Jeff Mckay, told Fox 5 DC that Youngkin’s plan would effectively “defund the police,” as he claims that Fairfax County is not a “sanctuary city” and asserts that officials follow all legal detainers. “Ultimately, what he’s saying is, if you don’t agree with his non-lawyer definition of ‘sanctuary city,’ it could affect your law enforcement agency, and he’s doing this because he’s alleging significant crime is occurring,” McKay said. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT PROTESTER SUES TRUMP ADMIN TO PREVENT DEPORTATION CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott, a Democrat, has accused the governor of “capitulating” to the Trump administration, which has sought to carry out the president’s plan to mass deport migrants. The General Assembly, which has a Democrat majority, will take up the governor’s proposal next week.
Hegseth fends off reporter’s questions about Signal chat leak: ‘I know exactly what I’m doing’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday fended off a reporter’s questions about a leaked Signal chat group involving Trump administration officials discussing forthcoming strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. Hegseth was asked during a press gaggle in Hawaii if the information was declassified before he put it in the Signal chat and if he was using the messaging platform to discuss operations as sensitive as the strikes against the Houthis on a government or a personal device. Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said he received a request to join the group chat on the encrypted messaging service Signal on March 11 from what appeared to be the president’s National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. Goldberg released screenshots of some of the message exchanges he observed. Goldberg reported that officials were discussing “war plans” in the group chat called “Houthi PC Small Group,” but he decided not to publish some of the highly sensitive information he saw, including precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing, due to potential threats to national security and military operations. TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH Speaking in Hawaii Tuesday, Hegseth said the strikes against the Houthis that night were “devastatingly effective.” “I’m incredibly proud of the courage and skill of the troops. And they are ongoing and continue to be devastatingly effective,” he said. “The last place I would want to be right now is a Houthi in Yemen who wants to disrupt freedom of navigation, so the skill and courage of our troops is on full display.” “It’s a complete opposite approach from the fecklessness of the Biden administration,” he continued. The secretary also repeated his claims that “nobody was texting war plans,” pushing back on Goldberg’s assertion. “As I also stated yesterday, nobody’s texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said. Pressed by a reporter about whether he regrets leaking information in the Signal chat that could have put the lives of U.S. troops at risk, Hegseth claimed he has everything under control. “Nobody’s texting war plans,” he reiterated. “I know exactly what I’m doing, exactly what we’re directing, and I’m really proud of what we accomplished, the successful missions that night and going forward.” Goldberg reported that 18 people were listed in the Signal group, including Hegseth, Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK Ratcliffe also put the name of a CIA undercover agent into the Signal chat, Goldberg reported. The editor has described Hegseth’s denial as a “lie,” citing messages he read that laid out a specific time for the attack, human targets, weapon systems and weather reports. He has also said he is considering whether to publish more messages to back up his reporting, as Hegseth and other Trump administration officials seek to discredit him. Hegseth had earlier criticized Goldberg as “a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again, to include the … hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia, or the fine people on both sides hoax or suckers and losers hoax. So this guy is garbage.” But the White House has confirmed that the group chat “appears to be an authentic message chain.” “This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement. “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.” The Signal chat has been panned as a massive breach of national security, and many have noted that senior officials are not supposed to discuss detailed military plans outside special secure facilities or protected government communications networks. Watchdog group American Oversight has sued Hegseth and other officials who were in the group chat, arguing that they failed to meet their obligations under the Federal Records Act by using Signal to communicate and plan active military operations. Also on Tuesday, amid scrutiny over the Signal chat, Hegseth participated in some physical training with Navy SEALs. “Kicked off the day alongside the warriors of SDVT-1 at @JointBasePHH,” he wrote on X. “These SEALs are the tip of the spear, masters of stealth, endurance, and lethality. America’s enemies fear them—our allies trust them. Proud to spend time with America’s best.”
GOP senator says Dr Oz ignored his questions on transgender issues, abortion
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has lingering questions about President Donald Trump’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and his past stances on transgender treatments for minors and abortion, and he says the nominee hasn’t answered his inquiries. The Missouri Republican told Fox News Digital in an interview that he remains concerned by Oz’s past of “promoting transgender surgeries for minors, promoting transgender hormone treatments and puberty blockers for minors.” He submitted a number of questions to Oz on the subjects earlier in the month, but Hawley said Oz never answered. “He hasn’t. Which I think is strange,” he said. TOP DEM USED SAME APP USED IN ATLANTIC SCANDAL TO SET UP CONTACT WITH STEELE DOSSIER AUTHOR “I’m hoping that he’s changed his views,” Hawley added. “I’d like to hear from him that he is in total alignment with President Trump, who has been tremendously strong on this.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House spokesman Kush Desai said, “Every member of the Trump administration is working from the same playbook, President Trump’s playbook, to restore commonsense policies and put an end to left-wing ideological nonsense afflicting our government.” “We look forward to the Senate’s swift confirmation of Dr. Oz so he can join the rest of our all-star team at HHS working to Make America Healthy Again by restoring common sense, transparency, and confidence in our healthcare apparatus.” ‘STOP THEM!’: DEMOCRAT CLASHES WITH TRUMP SOCIAL SECURITY NOMINEE OVER DOGE ACCESS As Hawley noted, Oz has used his television show to platform people who supported and promoted transgender treatments, particularly for minors. Oz hosted two transgender children on his show in 2010 in a segment titled, “Transgender Kids: Too Young to Decide?” Josie, 8, and the child’s mother, Vanessia, claimed that Josie’s life improved once the male-born child began embracing a feminine lifestyle. Isaac, who was 15, and the minor’s parents, Arturo and Monica, revealed that they decided to let their female-born teenager begin taking puberty blockers and have the teenager’s breasts removed in a double mastectomy. CAN CONGRESS DEFUND FEDERAL COURTS WITH KEY TRUMP BUDGET PROCESS? The segment was touted as “groundbreaking” by LGBTQ activist group GLAAD, which told supporters to thank Oz. The television doctor has also had a history of supporting abortion. In a 2019 interview on popular radio show “The Breakfast Club,” Oz said he was concerned by state laws aimed at restricting or limiting abortion, saying it’s “a hard issue for everybody.” And while on “a personal level,” he didn’t like abortion, he also believed he should not “interfere with everyone else’s stuff.” CHUCK SCHUMER FACING ‘UPHILL FIGHT’ AMID LEADERSHIP DOUBTS: ‘MATTER OF WHEN, NOT IF’ “Because it’s hard enough to get into life as it is,” he added. When Oz ran for Senate in Pennsylvania as a Republican in 2022, he still opposed government jurisdiction on the subject of abortion. “I don’t want the federal government involved with that at all,” he said during a debate with now-Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. “I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive, to put the best ideas forward, so states can decide for themselves.” Asked whether he would vote to confirm Oz even without answers to his questions, Hawley wouldn’t say. “I just have to believe that he will respond here.”