Texas measles cases are underreported, response hurt by funding cuts, CDC scientist says
Measles cases in Texas are underreported and the response by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is impacted by recent funding cuts, a scientist said. “We do believe that there’s quite a large amount of cases that are not reported and underreported,” Dr. David Sugerman, CDC Senior Scientist, said during an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting on Tuesday. “In working very closely with our colleagues in Texas, in talking with families, they may mention prior cases that have recovered and never received testing. Other families that may have cases and never sought treatment,” he said. Sugerman took media questions following his presentation on the U.S. measles outbreak. Since measles was declared eliminated by the World Health Organization in 2000, there have been 11 large outbreaks in the U.S. with more than 50 cases, Sugerman said. TEXAS MEASLES OUTBREAK SWELLS TO 561 CASES, CDC SENDS MORE HELP “Seven of these outbreaks occurred in the last five years and nine were among close-knit communities with low vaccine coverage,” he said. “There are funding limitations in light of COVID-19 funding dissipating,” Sugerman said, referring to $12 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services hit by DOGE cuts last month, The Austin American-Statesman reported. VITAMIN A AS MEASLES TREATMENT? RFK JR.’S COMMENTS SPARK DISCUSSION OF BENEFITS AND RISKS “They are mobilizing the resources they have and moving staff from other domains into measles, moving them from other regions into region one in particular,” Sugerman said. Measles cases have continued to surge in Texas since the outbreak first began in late January. State health officials reported 561 confirmed cases across 23 counties on Tuesday, an increase of 20 from April 11. Gaines County, the center of the outbreak in west Texas, now accounts for nearly 65% of the state’s total cases. Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
Controversial defense program tied to DEI-laden contractor could be in crosshairs of DOGE: ‘Poster child’
FIRST ON FOX: One of the top defense contractors in the United States, which has a history of pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), is facing heat over a massive government contract that critics say should be a prime target for Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts. The Air Force’s Sentinel program, a massive intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) project serving as the successor to the Minuteman III program ensuring the future viability of the land-based leg of America’s nuclear triad, has been mired in controversy and slowdowns as Northrop Grumman was awarded the development contract and the endeavor has gone from a $96 billion program to at least $141 billion in recent years. The Pentagon ordered Northrop Grumman to pause development earlier this year due to “evolving launch facility requirements”, Defense One reported. Air & Space Forces Magazine reported last year that the intercontinental ballistic missile program survived a Pentagon review, but it was found that the cost overrun jumped from 37% to 81%. Northrop Grumman, which had not previously designed an ICBM, was awarded a $13 billion contract in September 2020 for full-scale development of the program to replace the Minuteman III, and the Pentagon has estimated that the total cost of developing its new ICBM program could cost up to $264 billion over the next few decades, Bloomberg reported. BILL MAHER CALLS OUT ELON MUSK, DOGE FOR NOT TAKING ‘CHAINSAW’ TO DEFENSE SPENDING The awarding of the contract was controversial in its own right, after Boeing dropped out of the bidding, claiming that the process was rigged against it, Responsible Statecraft reported. “The massive expansion of costs for Northrop Grumman’s Minuteman III program is the case example for why poorly-scoped, blank check programs are a bad idea,” a senior Republican Congressional official who works on defense policy told Fox News Digital. “This is bad for national security, bad for taxpayers, and Republicans will fix this mess that Biden’s team created,” the official added. Questions have also been raised by some in recent years about whether the Sentinel program is even necessary, including at a Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group press conference last year, when former Democratic Congressman John Tierney said that Sentinel “does not add to our security” and could “actually make us less safe.” DOGE INITIAL FINDINGS ON DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DEI SPENDING COULD SAVE $80M, AGENCY SAYS “When will the blank checks to cover spiraling costs end?” Tierney said. “The Sentinel ICBM program is just the latest in a long list of Pentagon programs that are over budget, behind schedule and of questionable utility.” Tierney added that he believes the “only value” of recent ICBM development is “to the defense contractors who line their fat pockets with large cost overruns at the expense of our taxpayers.” “It has got to stop,” he said. An Air Force spokesperson told Fox News Digital that it is taking “deliberate” steps to ensure that the Sentinel program is running as cost-efficiently as possible while enhancing oversight at the same time. “We continue to advance the engineering design and maturity of the program with Northrop Grumman, working closely with the company to drive down costs and improve schedule performance,” the spokesperson added. The Air Force also pointed to a previous comment from Gen. David Allvin, Air Force chief of staff, during a symposium in March that stressed the importance of the Sentinel program. “We own two-thirds of the triad and three-fourths of the nuclear command and control of communications,” Allvin said. “We own the nuclear deterrence. So more Air Force means more nuclear deterrence…We have to have the most reliable, the most safe, the most effective nuclear deterrent. That means sentinel, yes…I believe we need more nuclear deterrence for our nation. It’s a solemn responsibility. It’s not an option.” Amid the cost overruns and headaches from the ICBM program, Northrop Grumman adopted and promoted an agenda focused on DEI in recent years and was one of several defense contractors that have attempted to scrub their websites of DEI in the wake of the Trump administration’s pledge to rid the government of the ideology. Northrop Grumman’s 2023 annual report mentions DEI as “vital to our culture and our company’s success. Our ability to leverage the power of our diverse workforce enhances employee engagement and enables us to innovate, perform and deliver on quality, which results in value for our shareholders, customers, and employees.” The report also touted its minority hiring practices and stated that 25% of its employees are female, 37% people of color, 18% veterans and 8% people with disabilities. “Diversity Has a Home at Northrop Grumman,” a YouTube video from ClearanceJobs says in a post that features Northrop Grumman employees discussing the diversity of the company. “Northrop’s Sentinel Program is a DOGE poster child,” a person close to the Trump administration told Fox News Digital. “Not only did they practice DEI, the program is ineffective, delayed, and wasting billions of taxpayer money. Musk would have a field day.” DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts have affected essentially every area of government, including the Defense Department, which recently announced that over $580 million worth of contracts have been canceled as Democrats continue to blast the efforts and make the case that DOGE cuts are detrimental to the country. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes, billions of dollars spent on pricey consulting firms, grants and NGO‘s—the self-serving bureaucrats in Washington DC have found a million different ways to rip-off the American taxpayer,” special advisor to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake told Fox News Digital. “I’m working very closely with DOGE at the agency President Trump asked me to oversee. Our DOGE team is not political, they are practical. They know that it’s not practical for the U.S. government to continue spending the way it has been. Our country won’t survive unless we cut back right now, and the hard-working men and women across this country support that.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Northrop Grumman touted recent progress in the program. “We continue to make substantial
Trump hailed for restoring gun rights as GOP fights Biden-era policies
FIRST ON FOX: A top House Republican is leading a formal rebuke of the Biden administration’s gun control policies on Thursday. House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams, R-Texas, is introducing a resolution slamming the Democrat former president while lauding the current White House “as they work to protect Second Amendment freedoms by reviewing and eliminating any of the Biden administration’s infringements on [Americans’] constitutional freedoms.” The resolution is backed by at least 14 of Williams’ fellow House Republicans. NRA LEGISLATIVE EXPERT SAYS GUN RIGHTS COULD SEE ‘MOST MONUMENTAL’ WIN IN CONGRESS SINCE 2005 “For too long, the Biden administration and radical leftists went to extreme lengths to criminalize law-abiding gun owners, jeopardizing the Second Amendment,” he told Fox News Digital of the legislation. “My resolution reaffirms congressional support for the Second Amendment and commends President Trump’s actions to protect American gun owners by dismantling Biden’s infringements on our constitutional freedoms.” Shortly after Attorney General Pam Bondi was sworn in, President Donald Trump ordered her to begin a 30-day review to find any “ongoing infringements” of the Second Amendment by the federal government. Just over a month later, Bondi commissioned a new Second Amendment task force to “combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach,” she said last week. The DOJ this month also repealed a Biden-era “zero tolerance” policy by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives, revoking licenses from firearm dealers who “willfully” violate existing rules. Gun rights groups, however, argued the rule places an undue burden on firearm dealers for making unintended clerical errors. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS BIDEN ADMIN ‘GHOST GUN’ REGULATION The GOP resolution “disapproves of the Biden administration’s gun-control agenda and hostility toward the lawful gun industry,” according to legislative text obtained by Fox News Digital. It also “supports President Trump’s actions to repeal harmful policies imposed by the Biden administration on law-abiding gunowners (sic); and commends President Trump’s commitment to upholding the Constitution and defending the constitutional right to bear arms.” The resolution, which is also backed by the National Rifle Association, is being introduced to coincide with Second Amendment Day on Thursday.
Top health official accuses RFK Jr’s agency of ‘censorship’
A top official at the National Institutes of Health announced his abrupt retirement from the agency after 21 years, complaining about censorship under the leadership of HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. NIH senior investigator Kevin Hall complained that he “experienced censorship” during his investigation of ultra-processed food addiction. “After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology,” Hall wrote in a lengthy post on social media. “Lately, I’ve focused on unraveling the reasons why diets high in ultra-processed food are linked to epidemic proportions of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Our research leads the world on this topic,” he continued. ‘HEALTHY SNACK TIME’ WITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS LAUNCHED BY SECRETARIES ROLLINS, RFK JR. Hall said that he was initially encouraged by Kennedy’s public statements about chronic illness and problems with America’s food systems. However, he says he “experienced censorship in the reporting of our research because of agency concerns that it did not appear to fully support preconceived narratives of my agency’s leadership about ultra-processed food addiction.” “I wrote to my agency’s leadership expressing my concerns and requested time to discuss these issues, but I never received a response,” Hall added. The NIH did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Hall’s claims come days after Kennedy visited FDA employees last week and reportedly told them that “the Deep State is real.” RFK JR. PLANS TO DIRECT CDC TO STOP RECOMMENDING FLUORIDE IN WATER “President Trump always talks about the Deep State, and the media, you know, disparages him and says that he’s paranoid,” Kennedy said according to Politico, which reported it obtained an audio recording and transcript of the secretary’s remarks. “But the Deep State is real. And it’s not, you know, just George Soros and Bill Gates and a bunch of nefarious individuals sitting together in a room and plotting the, you know, the destruction of humanity.” According to multiple reports, Kennedy pointed the finger at “institutional pressures.” Kennedy also reportedly said the FDA had become a “sock puppet” of the industries it was meant to regulate. NBC News reported that Kennedy said that this was the case with “every agency,” not just the FDA.
Top Pentagon official John Ullyot to resign at end of week: report
Former Trump national security aide and Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot reportedly will resign at the end of the week. His sudden departure comes after Sean Parnell took over the role of the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson in February. “I made clear to Secretary [Pete] Hegseth before the inauguration that I was not interested in being number two to anyone in public affairs,” Ullyot told Politico, reportedly adding that he had offered to help on an acting basis for two months. “Last month, as that time approached, the secretary and I talked and could not come to an agreement on another good fit for me at DOD. So I informed him today that I will be leaving at the end of this week,” Ullyot said. PENTAGON DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF IS SECOND HEGSETH ADVISOR REMOVED DURING LEAK INVESTIGATION The Department of Defense did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. During the first Trump administration, Ullyot served as the spokesperson for the National Security Council and was an assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Marine Corps veteran also served as a senior adviser in President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. TOP HEGSETH ADVISOR DAN CALDWELL PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE Ullyot’s resignation will come as three Pentagon officials have been placed on administrative leave this week as part of a leak investigation. Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was put on leave on Wednesday, according to Politico. The day before, Darin Selnick, the deputy chief of staff for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Hegseth aide Dan Caldwell were removed. Reuters reported that Caldwell was placed on leave for an “unauthorized disclosure,” as part of an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents. The probe was announced last month and concerned itself over “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.” Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
Rubio announces closure of State Department effort that ‘was supposed to be dead already’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced the closure of a State Department effort that he accused of spending millions on censorship. “I am announcing the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio said in a statement issued on Wednesday. “Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” Rubio asserted. STATE DEPARTMENT’S ‘GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT CENTER’ ACCUSED OF CENSORING AMERICANS SHUTS ITS DOORS The GEC closed in December, according to an archived State Department website content that is still viewable online. Rubio asserted in a piece published on The Federalist that the GEC had not actually ended, but was simply re-branded. TWITTER BOSS ELON MUSK ACCUSES GOVERNMENT AGENCY OF BEING ‘WORST OFFENDER IN US GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP’ “When Republicans in Congress sunset GEC’s funding at the end of last year, the Biden State Department simply slapped on a new name. The GEC became the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R-FIMI) office, with the same roster of employees. With this new name, they hoped to survive the transition to the new administration,” Rubio wrote. “Today, we are putting that to an end. Whatever name it goes by, GEC is dead. It will not return.” Former House lawmaker Dan Bishop, who is now serving as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, thanked Rubio. “This is the way,” the former congressman wrote in a post on X WHITE HOUSE PROPOSAL AXES UN, NATO FUNDS AND HALVES STATE DEPARTMENT BUDGET CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc., responded to Rubio’s announcement, tweeting, “Excellent.”
Scoop: RNC shares first-quarter fundraising numbers, How it adds up
FIRST ON FOX: The Republican National Committee (RNC) is quickly coming out of the gate when it comes to fundraising. The RNC reports hauling in $56.1 million during the January-March first quarter of 2025 fundraising as the national party committee builds resources for next year’s midterm elections, when it will defend its majorities in the House and the Senate. The RNC, which shared its figures first with Fox News on Thursday, said the haul was a record for the first quarter of a non-election year. CASH DASH: HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN ARM TOUTS ‘UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM’ “The RNC is working hand-in-glove with President Trump and the White House to replicate his historic success in 2024,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley said in a statement. POLL POSITION: WHERE TRUMP STANDS WITH AMERICANS 11 WEEKS INTO SECOND TOUR OF DUTY IN WHITE HOUSE And looking ahead to next year’s midterms, Whatley said that “we’re building up our war chest to expand Republican majorities in 2026 and ensure the President has all the tools he needs to Make America Great Again. I couldn’t be more excited to keep up what we’ve been doing with Vice President Vance as our finance chair.” As Fox News reported last month, Vance was named the RNC’s finance chair. Vance, who is seen as the front-runner for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination in the race to succeed the term-limited Trump, is the first sitting vice president to serve as the finance chair of a national party committee. Vance, in a statement, highlighted that “the RNC has already accomplished great work in its mission to build upon President Trump’s historic victory this past November.” WERE THIS MONTH’S ELECTIONS IN WISCONSIN AND FLORIDA A CRYSTAL BALL FOR THINGS TO COME IN NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERMS? “Republicans have an incredible opportunity looking to 2026, where we can continue on our strong momentum, further grow our majorities and advance President Trump’s America First agenda,” the vice president added. “I’m honored to help spearhead this effort and look forward to the work that lies ahead.” The rival Democratic National Committee had yet to announce its first-quarter fundraising figures at the time this story was posted. The DNC had raised $24.3 million through the end of February, compared to $35.2 hauled in by the RNC.
Dem senator says he will continue ‘fighting for the return’ of deported El Salvadoran man: ‘Won’t rest’
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Wednesday during his trip to El Salvador that he “won’t rest” until Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a suspected MS-13 member who was deported to a mega prison in his home country, is brought back to the United States. Van Hollen has described the man as “wrongfully abducted” and traveled to El Salvador in an attempt to discuss efforts to bring the man back to Maryland, where he was living illegally. The senator was able to speak with Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay, but was not able to make contact with Abrego Garcia in person or via phone. “I’ve been in El Salvador all day fighting for the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said in a caption to a video posted on X on Wednesday night. “The Trump Admin can lie all they want, but the Court said they failed to show he was part of MS-13. This is about bringing home a man they ADMIT should’ve never been abducted. I won’t rest until then.” BLUE STATE SENATOR FLIES TO EL SALVADOR TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, ONLY TO BE DENIED Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador comes two days after an El Salvadoran illegal alien was convicted of raping and murdering Rachel Morin, a Maryland mom of five, on a trail in Bel Air. Morin’s mother, Patty, said Van Hollen has never reached out to her about her daughter’s violent murder in Maryland, yet he is prioritizing bringing a deported man back to the state. Van Hollen did release the following statement on his official Senate website shortly after Morin’s killer was convicted, writing that the “verdict brings a measure of justice that [Rachel’s family] so deserve[s].” “While the conviction of Rachel Morin’s killer will not return Rachel to her family where she rightfully belongs, this verdict brings a measure of justice that they so deserve. I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who brought her killer into custody and for our legal process for delivering this justice. “As I have said in the past, the American people deserve meaningful action to reform our broken immigration system, improve public safety, and strengthen our border security. We can do this while also supporting our immigrant communities and respecting the rights of individuals who are here legally – I am committed to doing both, and I will continue pressing my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move forward on this issue.” TOM HOMAN ‘DISGUSTED’ BY DEM SENATOR’S TRIP TO BRING HOME ALLEGED MS-13 GANG MEMBER During an appearance at a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Patty Morin called out Van Hollen for his visit to El Salvador. “And to have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge or barely acknowledge my daughter, and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grand baby without a grandmother, so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen,” she said. “Why does that person have more rights than I do for my daughter? For my grandchildren?” While he did not address Patty Morin directly, Van Hollen said in a video posted to X later Wednesday evening that he cares “about every victim of crime.” He also said that America has a court system to make sure criminals are held accountable and “that people who have not committed crimes, or not been convicted of crimes, are not disappeared out of the United States and sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, like Abrego Garcia.” “This is simply about letting him have his day in court. We use the courts to make sure that we don’t convict people who are not guilty, and that we convict those who are,” he said, in part. ‘MARYLAND MAN’ KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA EXPOSED IN POLICE RECORDS AS ‘VIOLENT’ REPEAT WIFE BEATER Abrego Garcia is at the center of a controversial debate after he was deported to El Salvador’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) for his alleged gang affiliation, which his attorneys have denied. The Department of Homeland Security shared an interview sheet with Fox News from Prince George’s County police’s Gang Unit MS-13 Intelligence Squad that identified Abrego Garcia as an active member of MS-13’s “Westerns” clique in 2019, according to a “past proven and reliable source.” The source said he held the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker of “Chele.” He was marked eligible for deportation in 2019 after he claimed that he illegally entered the U.S. near McAllen, Texas, on or about March 25, 2012, after he “walked across the desert for many days,” according to a 2019 DHS interview document shared with Fox News. Van Hollen is not the only Democrat lawmaker seeking to visit Abrego Garcia in El Salvador with the goal of bringing him back to the U.S. after the Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s decision ordering his return. The court required the “government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.” Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo, Greg Wehner and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Harvard under fire as DHS secretary cuts $2.7M in grants, demands visa records: ‘America demands more’
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem canceled $2.7 million in DHS grants to Harvard University on Wednesday. In a statement, Noem announced the cancelation of two grants for the university, and declared the elite Massachusetts Ivy League institution “unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.” The university has been ordered to submit records by April 30, or risk losing its certification to enroll international students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). “With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory,” Noem said in the statement. “America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.” TRUMP ADMIN ASKS IRS TO REVOKE HARVARD’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS The canceled grants include an $800,303 “Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention” award, which DHS says classified conservatives as far-right extremists, and a $1,934,902 “Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement” grant, which funded public health messaging that Noem’s office described as ideologically skewed. The move follows President Donald Trump‘s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard and ask for the IRS to revoke its tax-exempt status. The IRS is currently reviewing the university’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation, according to sources within the Department of Justice (DOJ). A final decision has not yet been made. In a social media post, Trump criticized Harvard’s leadership and faculty, writing, “Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders.’” He continued, “Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.” STEFANIK SHREDS HARVARD OVER ‘COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE’ AFTER ALLOWING CLAUDINE GAY TO REMAIN PRESIDENT The DHS action comes amid a broader federal crackdown on campus antisemitism following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. In the months since, Harvard has faced criticism over antisemitic rhetoric and protests involving students and faculty. Noem’s letter references “foreign visa-holding rioters” and calls for Harvard to provide documentation of their conduct. With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard is one of the wealthiest institutions in the world. DHS emphasized that the university can afford to fund its own programs and should not rely on taxpayer money if it is not meeting federal standards for student conduct and institutional accountability. Harvard has not yet publicly responded to the termination of the grants or the DHS demand for records. The Department of Education is also scrutinizing the university. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon recently launched a review of more than $255.6 million in federal contracts and nearly $9 billion in grants involving Harvard and its affiliates. “Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy,” McMahon said. This move comes shortly after similar action was taken against Columbia University, as the federal government steps up enforcement on institutions it says are failing to meet civil rights and national security obligations. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Noem’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.
Trump hosts faith leaders for Easter prayer dinner, slams effort to rid America of Christian principles
President Donald Trump participated in a Wednesday evening prayer service and dinner as part of a series of Holy Week events ahead of Easter Sunday this weekend. Faith leaders of various Christian denominations were present and listened to the president address them about the importance of faith, both in governing and in people’s personal lives. Trump also took the moment to tout his recent accomplishments in-line with Christian beliefs, and slammed efforts to move the country away from its Christian foundation. “This is really — I hope — going to be one of the great Easters ever, because we have something going that I don’t think this country has seen in 100 years. And as we gather with family and friends, we’ll not forget the true source of our joy and our strength: America has put our trust in God,” Trump said during his address to attendees. “It will always be ‘In God We Trust.’ We will never change that.” INSIDE DONALD TRUMP’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, IN HIS OWN WORDS: ‘I WAS SAVED’ “You know there’s a movement to change it,” Trump continued. “It won’t happen. We won’t let that happen. Can you imagine a movement to change that?” Trump also slammed former administrations for failing to stand up for persecuted Christians around the globe, reassuring the crowd of faith leaders in attendance that things would be different under his administration. “We had nobody fighting for our Christians in other parts of the world, that were being so incredibly destroyed, killed, injured, hurt. But they died, so many died. You wouldn’t think that could happen in this time — in this modern time,” Trump said. Trump also remarked about the anti-Christian bias exhibited in the U.S., pointing out to those in attendance that he established a Justice Department task force to root it out. Trump also touted his creation of the White House Faith Office, which replaced the former White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. TECH COMPANY REVERSES POLICY AFTER CHRISTIAN GROUP SUES FOR RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION “You don’t hear about that very much, but there is anti-Christian bias,” Trump said. Trump will continue his Holy Week celebrations with another prayer service tomorrow, on Holy Thursday, which will again include various faith leaders from different Christian denominations and members of the president’s staff. The event will include Christian hymns sung by musicians associated with Liberty University, a private Christian university in Virginia. The White House is also reportedly hosting a Passover event Thursday afternoon, to celebrate the Jewish holiday that began April 12 and ends April 20. “With God’s help we can overcome every challenge, triumph over every evil, and restore the spirit of faith in the United States for generations to come,” Trump concluded. “We have a very simple slogan: ‘Make America Great Again,’ and that’s exactly what we’re doing.” TRUMP CHAMPIONS JESUS’ ‘MIRACULOUS RESURRECTION’ IN PALM SUNDAY MESSAGE VOWING TO ‘DEFEND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH’ In addition to faith leaders, Patty Morin, whose daughter’s death at the hands of an illegal immigrant in 2023 was a major point of contention during the last election, was also present at the Wednesday dinner service. She attended following an emotional press briefing earlier in the day at the White House during which she told her daughter’s story. “Her daughter’s looking down on Patty today,” Trump noted during the event, adding she’s “been through hell.”