President Donald Trump said the U.S. will be "flooded with jobs" as foreign trading partners move industries to American soil to avoid tariffs. 

"They can build a factory here, a plant or whatever it may be, here," Trump said Thursday afternoon from the Oval Office. "And that includes the medical, that includes cars, that includes chips and semiconductors. That includes everything. If you build here, you have no tariffs whatsoever. And I think that's what's going to happen. I think our country is going to be flooded with jobs."

Trump said U.S. consumers could see prices rise in the "short term" due to the tariffs, but that prices will lower and that industries across the board would benefit. 

"And I think the farmers are going to be helped by this very much because product is being dumped into our country and our farmers are getting hurt very badly by the last administration," Trump said. "The last administration hated our farmers, like, at a level that I've never seen before. I think our farmers are going to be helped. Jobs are going to be helped. But our farmers are going to be helped, our manufacturers are going to be helped." 

TRUMP SIGNS 'RECIPROCAL' TARIFF PLAN FOR COUNTRIES THAT TAX US GOODS

"And again, if somebody wants to come in, including the car companies, if they want to come in and build car plants, they'll do it without tariffs. And therefore, prices won't go up. There could be some short-term disturbance, but long term, it's going to it's going to make our country a fortune," he added. 

FENTANYL'S FINANCIAL GRIP ON US SKYROCKETED TO $2.7T AT HEIGHT OF BIDEN ADMIN: STUDY

Trump announced on Thursday that he will impose "fair and reciprocal" tariffs on all major U.S. trading partners. 

The plan includes tapping Howard Lutnick, Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, to produce a report on reciprocal trade relations within 180 days. Lutnik said Thursday that he will have the report ready for Trump by April 1. 

"On trade I have decided for purposes of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff – meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them no more, no less. In other words, they charge us a tax or tariff and we charge them the exact same tax or tariff. Very simple," Trump said at the White House of the tariff plan. 

Trump's reciprocal tariff announcement follows him leveraging tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China earlier in February. The tariffs were created in light of "extraordinary" threats stemming from "illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl," according to Trump's executive order authorizing the tariffs. 

Trump's order authorized tariffs through the new International Emergency Economic Powers Act. It included 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China. Energy resources from Canada would have a lower 10% tariff.

TRUMP IMPOSES TARIFFS ON IMPORTS FROM CANADA, MEXICO AND CHINA: 'NATIONAL EMERGENCY'

Both Canada and Mexico agreed to concessions with Trump the day before the tariffs were set to take effect, pledging to send additional security personnel to their respective borders with the U.S. Trump agreed to pause the tariffs on the two nations for one month in light of the border security concessions. 

China, on the other hand, imposed tariffs on some U.S. imports in response to Trump's tariffs. 

Fox News Digital's Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that as the U.S. aims to "revive the warrior ethos," European members of NATO also should follow suit and bolster defense efforts. 

"NATO should pursue these goals as well," Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels on Thursday. "NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future, our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense."  

"We must make NATO great again," he said.  

As of 2023, the U.S. spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending — totaling $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the U.S., while other allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years. 

Hegseth urged European allies to bolster defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product, as President Donald Trump has long advocated. 

NATO comprises more than 30 countries and was originally formed in 1949 to halt the spread of the Soviet Union. 

Hegseth pointed to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who advocated for a strong relationship with European allies. But he noted that eventually Eisenhower felt that the U.S. was bearing the burden of deploying U.S. troops to Europe in 1959, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian. Eisenhower reportedly told two of his generals that the Europeans were "making a sucker out of Uncle Sam." 

Hegseth said that he and Trump share sentiments similar to Eisenhower's. 

PUTIN VIEWED AS ‘GREAT COMPETITOR’ BUT STILL A US ‘ADVERSARY’ AS UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS LOOM, LEAVITT SAYS 

"This administration believes in alliances, deeply believes in alliances, but make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker," Hegseth said.

"We can talk all we want about values," Hegseth said. "Values are important, but you can’t shoot values, you can’t shoot flags, and you can’t shoot strong speeches. There is no replacement for hard power. As much as we may not want to like the world we live in, in some cases, there’s nothing like hard power."

Hegseth’s comments come as the Trump administration navigates negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict between the two countries. On Wednesday, Trump called both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv.

OBAMA OFFICIALS, TRUMP CRITICS TARGET HEGSETH'S ‘CONCESSIONS’ AS ‘BIGGEST GIFT’ TO RUSSIA 

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are slated to meet with Zelenskyy Friday at the Munich Security Conference.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has come under scrutiny for the negotiations, fielding criticism that Ukraine is being pressured to give in to concessions after Hegseth said on Wednesday that it isn’t realistic for Ukraine to regain its pre-war borders with Russia. 

"Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more," Brett Bruen, director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital. 

Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, also shared concerns in a social media post on X on Wednesday, claiming that Trump was delivering Russia a "gift." 

But Hegseth said he rejected similar accusations. 

"Any suggestion that President Trump is doing anything other than negotiating from a position of strength is, on its face, ahistorical and false," Hegseth said Thursday. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Europe must reinstate harsh United Nations sanctions on Iran, U.S. lawmakers insisted in a new resolution that accused Tehran of repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration.  

The bipartisan legislation calls on the U.K., France and Germany to invoke "snapback" sanctions on Iran through the UN Security Council immediately – and follow the U.S.’s lead under President Donald Trump’s "maximum pressure" executive order to isolate Iran over its nuclear activity. 

"Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and their actions have led to the murder of American servicemembers," said Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., the number two Republican on Senate Foreign Relations Committee and lead sponsor of the bill, which has 11 cosponsors in the Senate. 

"Iran’s possession of a nuclear weapon would threaten our security and the security of our allies. Snapback sanctions are key to ensuring that President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign is successful." 

IRAN'S COVERT NUCLEAR AGENCY FOUND OPERATING OUT OF TOP SPACE PROGRAM LAUNCH SITES

Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., issued companion legislation in the House. 

Under the 2015 Iran deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran evaded U.N., U.S. and E.U. sanctions in exchange for promises not to pursue a nuclear weapon. But Iran eventually cut off independent inspectors' access to its sites and resumed nuclear activities. 

A "snapback" provision of the agreement said that any of the nations privy to the deal – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, U.S. or Germany – could demand the export controls, travel bans and asset freezes be reimposed. 

But the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear deal entirely under President Donald Trump’s first administration and imposed its own "maximum pressure" sanctions regime. The Biden administration subsequently issued sanctions waivers and toyed with the idea of returning to a nuclear deal with Iran, but ultimately those efforts faltered.

Tenney urged the European nations to invoke the snapback sanctions before the deal expires in October 2025. 

"Invoking snapback sanctions will restore all the UN sanctions on Iran that were lifted by the Obama administration’s failed Iran nuclear deal," she said. 

Iran is "dramatically" accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, below the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon, according to U.N. nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi. Western states have said there is no civilian use for 60% uranium. 

TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN

Britain, France and Germany told the U.N. Security Council in December they were ready to trigger the snapback of all international sanctions on Iran if necessary. 

Trump himself said he was "torn" over a recent executive order that triggered harsh sanctions on Iran’s oil sector, adding that he was "unhappy to do it."

"Hopefully, we're not going to have to use it very much," Trump told reporters.

But he reiterated, "We're not going to let them get a nuclear weapon."

Trump suggested first trying a "verified nuclear peace agreement" over military escalation. "I would much rather do a deal that’s not gonna hurt them," the president told Fox News on Monday, adding that "I’d love to make a deal with them without bombing them."

Iran viewed the president’s remarks as a threat and took negotiations off the table. 

​​"No problem will be solved by negotiating with America," said Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khameni, citing past "experience." 

He called for the country to further develop its military capabilities. 

"We cannot be satisfied," Khamenei said. "Say that we previously set a limit for the accuracy of our missiles, but we now feel this limit is no longer enough. We have to go forward."

"Today, our defensive power is well known, our enemies are afraid of this. This is very important for our country," he said.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., penned a letter to newly sworn-in Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, warning that the United Kingdom's reported new order demanding backdoor Apple data jeopardizes Americans.

The letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, referenced recent press reports that the U.K.’s home secretary "served Apple with a secret order last month, directing the company to weaken the security of its iCloud backup service to facilitate government spying." The directive reportedly requires the company to weaken the encryption of its iCloud backup service, giving the U.K. government the "blanket capability" to access customers’ encrypted files. 

Reports further state that the order was issued under the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016, commonly known as the "Snoopers’ Charter," which does not require a judge’s approval. 

"Apple is reportedly gagged from acknowledging that it received such an order, and the company faces criminal penalties that prevent it from even confirming to the U.S. Congress the accuracy of these press reports," Wyden and Biggs note. 

TULSI GABBARD SWORN IN AT WHITE HOUSE HOURS AFTER SENATE CONFIRMATION

The United Kingdom has been increasingly cracking down on British citizens for opposition commentary, especially online posts and memes opposing mass migration. As riots broke out in the U.K. last August after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event left three girls dead and others wounded, London's Metropolitan Police chief warned that officials could also extradite and jail U.S. citizens for online posts about the unrest. 

The letter, however, described the threat of China, Russia and other adversaries spying on Americans.

Wyden, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Biggs, who chairs a House Judiciary subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, asked Gabbard to "act decisively to protect the security of Americans’ communications from dangerous, shortsighted efforts by the United Kingdom (U.K.) that will undermine Americans’ privacy rights and expose them to espionage by China, Russia and other adversaries." 

The Washington Post was among the outlets to report about the U.K. order. 

"These reported actions seriously threaten the privacy and security of both the American people and the U.S. government," Wyden and Biggs wrote. "Apple does not make different versions of its encryption software for each market; Apple customers in the U.K. use the same software as Americans. If Apple is forced to build a backdoor in its products, that backdoor will end up in Americans’ phones, tablets, and computers, undermining the security of Americans’ data, as well as of the countless federal, state and local government agencies that entrust sensitive data to Apple products." 

The letter also references a Chinese hacking operation known as "Salt Typhoon." Last year, the Biden White House admitted the Chinese hacked at least nine U.S. telecommunications companies. 

"The Salt Typhoon hack of U.S. telephone carriers’ wiretapping systems last year – in which President Trump and Vice President Vance’s calls were tapped by China – provides a perfect example of the dangers of surveillance backdoors," the letter says. "They will inevitably be compromised by sophisticated foreign adversaries and exploited in ways harmful to U.S. national security. As the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI confirmed last November, People’s Republic of China (PRC)-affiliated actors were involved in ‘copying of certain information that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders.’" 

TRUMP LANDS KEY TULSI GABBARD CONFIRMATION FOLLOWING UPHILL SENATE BATTLE

"While the U.K has been a trusted ally, the U.S. government must not permit what is effectively a foreign cyberattack waged through political means. If the U.K. does not immediately reverse this dangerous effort, we urge you to reevaluate U.S.-U.K. cybersecurity arrangements and programs as well as U.S. intelligence sharing with the U.K.," the letter says.

Citing a December 2023 report by the U.K. Parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, the letter states that the U.K. benefits greatly from a "mutual presumption towards unrestricted sharing of [Signals Intelligence]" between the U.S. and U.K. and that "[t]he weight of advantage in the partnership with the [National Security Agency] is overwhelmingly in [the U.K.’s] favour." 

"The bilateral U.S.-U.K. relationship must be built on trust. If the U.K. is secretly undermining one of the foundations of U.S. cybersecurity, that trust has been profoundly breached," Wyden and Biggs wrote. 

At her confirmation hearing, Gabbard stated that "backdoors lead down a dangerous path that can undermine Americans' Fourth Amendment rights and civil liberties." In written responses to senators' questions, she also said, "mandating mechanisms to bypass encryption or privacy technologies undermines user security, privacy, and trust and poses significant risks of exploitation by malicious actors."

"We urge you to put those words into action by giving the U.K. an ultimatum: back down from this dangerous attack on U.S. cybersecurity, or face serious consequences," Wyden and Biggs wrote.

The letter asks Gabbard specifically whether the Trump administration was made aware of the reported order, either by the U.K. or Apple, prior to the press reports and, if so, when and by whom. They also ask what the Trump administration's understanding is of U.K. law "and the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement with regard to an exception to gag orders for notice to the U.S. government." Wyden and Biggs asked what the Trump administration's understanding is "of its obligation to inform Congress and the American public about foreign government demands for U.S. companies to weaken the security of their products, pursuant to the CLOUD Act?" The letter asked that unclassified answers be provided by March 3. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Apple and the White House regarding the letter, but neither immediately responded.

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which will be led by newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Fox News Digital exclusively learned. 

The commission will be chaired by Kennedy and will be "tasked with investigating and addressing the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with an initial focus on childhood chronic diseases," the White House explained to Fox News Digital.

Kennedy was confirmed as the nation's leader of the U.S. Health and Human Services on Thursday and was expected to be sworn in later in the afternoon. His commission will work to "restore trust in medical and scientific institutions and hold public hearings, meetings, roundtables" to receive input from health leaders. 

The commission, Fox Digital learned, will focus on four policy directives to reverse chronic disease, including providing Americans transparency on health data to "avoid conflicts of interest in all federally funded health research;" prioritizing "gold-standard research on why Americans are getting sick" in all federally-funded health research; working with farmers to ensure food is healthy, as well as affordable; and expanding health coverage and treatment options "for beneficial lifestyle changes and disease prevention."

The commission initially will focus on childhood chronic diseases, such as autism and fatty liver disease, and also investigate adult chronic diseases, such as asthma and the U.S. average life expectancy compared to other nations. 

RFK JR. VOWS HE WON'T TAKE CHEESEBURGERS AWAY, JUST HIGHLIGHT HEALTH ISSUES: 'MY BOSS LOVES' THEM

Within 100 days of the commission's founding, it is expected to publish "an assessment that summarizes what is known and what questions remain regarding the childhood chronic disease crisis, and include international comparisons." Within 180 days, it is expected to "produce a strategy, based on the findings of the assessment, to improve the health of America’s children," Fox Digital learned. 

SENATE CONFIRMS ROBERT F KENNEDY JR. TO SERVE AS TRUMP'S HEALTH SECRETARY

Kennedy and Trump vowed on the campaign trail to "Make America Healthy Again," including directing their focus on autism among youths in recent years. The commission will investigate chronic conditions for both adults and children, including those related to autism, which the White House said affects one in 36 children.

TRUMP HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR. SURVIVES HEATED HEARINGS

Trump, in recent months, has cited autism stats while previewing his second administration, balking at the number of children currently diagnosed compared to just 25 years ago. 

"When you look at, like, autism from 25 years ago, and you look at it now, something's going on," Trump said in December ahead of his inauguration. "Think of this: 25 years ago, autism, 1 in 10,000 children. Today it's 1 in 36 children. Is something wrong? I think so, and Robert and I, we're going to figure it out." 

Trump also vowed while on the campaign trail in June that he would "establish a special Presidential Commission of independent minds who are not bought and paid for by Big Pharma, and I will charge them with investigating what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic illnesses." 

TRUMP INNER CIRCLE SHARES MCDONALD’S MEAL AS DONALD JR. JOKES 'MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN STARTS TOMORROW’

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 52–48 on Thursday to confirm Kennedy. His confirmation hearings before the Senate in late January included a few outbursts from protesters, as well as Democrats grilling him over his vaccine stances. 

Kennedy, who ran for president as a Democrat in the 2024 cycle before ultimately dropping out and endorsing Trump, clarified to the Senate that he is not "anti-vaccine." 

"I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish. And nobody called me anti-fish. And I believe that… that vaccines play a critical role in healthcare. All of my kids are vaccinated. I've read many books on vaccines. My first book in 2014, a first line of it is ‘I am not anti-vaccine’ and last line is ‘I am not anti-vaccine.’ Nor am I the enemy of food producers. American farms are the bedrock of our culture, of our politics, of our national security," Kennedy said during his hearing before the Senate Finance Committee in January. 

Trump wants to deploy a “next-generation missile defense shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks,” adding it “will be made all in the USA.”

The post Pinkerton: Trump’s Iron Dome Is About Defending the Homeland appeared first on Breitbart.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Wednesday on CNN's "The Source" that President Donald Trump "has effectively surrendered" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The post Bolton: ‘Trump Has Effectively Surrendered to Putin’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Surveillance video from a January 26, incident shows a nightclub security officer with an AR-15 opening fire on an alleged shooter.

The post WATCH: Good Guy With AR-15 Opens Fire on Alleged Shooter appeared first on Breitbart.

President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to place tariffs on any country that currently places duties on U.S. goods and does not receive equal treatment from the United States.

Trump signed a memorandum ordering an investigation and report into the state of international trade with the United States. One of the chief goals of the report is to identify countries that currently place economic boundaries to goods from the United States, but do not suffer the same hurdles in getting access to U.S. markets.

“On Trade, I have decided, for purposes of Fairness, that I will charge a RECIPROCAL Tariff meaning, whatever Countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them – No more, no less!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“For many years, the U.S. has been treated unfairly by other Countries, both friend and foe. This System will immediately bring Fairness and Prosperity back into the previously complex and unfair System of Trade,” the president wrote. “I have instructed my Secretary of State, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of the Treasury, and United States Trade Representative (USTR) to do all work necessary to deliver RECIPROCITY to our System of Trade!”

The memo signed by Trump asserts that the reciprocal tariffs will help solve the U.S. trade deficit that “threatens our economic and national security, has hollowed out our industrial base, has reduced our overall national competitiveness, and has made our Nation dependent on other countries to meet our key security needs.”

A fact sheet produced by the White House lists several examples of the unfair trade practices that the memo intends to target, such as ethanol trade with Brazil.

“The U.S. tariff on ethanol is a mere 2.5%. Yet Brazil charges the U.S. ethanol exports a tariff of 18%. As a result, in 2024, the U.S. imported over $200 million in ethanol from Brazil while the U.S. exported only $52 million in ethanol to Brazil,” the fact sheet says.

Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick estimated that the study into U.S. international trade could be completed by April 1, leaving Trump to take action based on the results of the study afterward, according to Axios.

President Trump promised that when he entered office, he was going to assess the Russia-Ukraine situation and try to facilitate an actual end to the war. 

People who have been watching this war very closely understand Russia’s original goal: take Kyiv, completely ingest and then digest all of Ukraine, and turn it into a functioning part of the new Russian empire.

That failed very early on in the war.

The war then very quickly transmuted into a Ukrainian attempt, backed by Europe and the Biden administration, to take back portions of the country that had essentially been conquered by Russia in 2014 after the Euromaidan Revolution. That revolution was an attempt to take Donbas and Crimea back from Russian forces but was largely doomed to failure. The only way for it to have been successful would have been to arm Ukrainians to the extent that it might have prompted a larger Russian intervention, possibly using tactical nuclear weapons.

It may be that those concerns over a larger war were exaggerated. However, the risk-reward relationship was out of balance. The reality was that the West had very little interest in Ukraine fighting a large-scale war to take back Donbas and Crimea, areas that are predominantly pro-Russian by virtually all polling data, even before the fake Russian democratic takeover. Those areas were historically very pro-Russian.

Russia taking over those areas was devastating to the economy of Ukraine. Much of Ukraine’s oil-rich area is in its east, in the Donbas region. Crimea, of course, is on the Black Sea, where many of the warm water ports available to the Ukrainians were.

The reality was that, barring some sort of massive war effort, those areas were not going to be retaken by Ukraine. So, this conflict had settled into a stalemate for almost three years; the original invasion took place at the end of February 2022.

WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show

For a very long time, the Biden administration had a conflicting and mutually exclusive strategy. On the one hand, the Biden administration suggested they would continue to provide endless aid until “victory was achieved,” but on the other, they refused to provide either the necessary aid to achieve full-scale victory or to define victory as something other than full-scale victory.

These were mutually exclusive tactics. If they were defining victory as, “Ukraine takes back Donbas and Crimea,” then they were going to have to give Ukraine the weaponry necessary to accomplish that. Anything less would lead to stalemate and loss. Or, theoretically, “victory” could have been redefined as survival, meaning Russia already controlled Donbas and Crimea before the 2022 invasion thus Russia’s goal had already been defeated. At that point, victory could have been achieved — by any sort of rational stretch of the imagination — by simply fending off further Russian territorial aggression.

By that measure, the war should have come to an end a couple of years ago, basically because the battle lines in Ukraine have been fairly solidified for roughly two and a half years.

The late Henry Kissinger proposed that this off-ramp essentially be offered in May 2022. I thought that his idea was the correct approach because there was no actual end goal achievable.

The Biden administration openly admitted this. They basically said, “We are going to provide weaponry until victory is achieved.” How was victory defined? They said, “We don’t know.”

You cannot win a war if you refuse to define victory. Either victory would mean taking back all Ukrainian territory, which would have required the Biden administration to send F-16s to Ukraine, or victory would be defined in some other way, in which case an off-ramp should have been sought.

Trump is taking a much more concerted view of reality; he is open to negotiations with the Russian regime. He has put forward a proposal to meet with Vladimir Putin directly. He revealed on Wednesday, according to the New York Post, that he and Russian President Putin have agreed to start talks immediately to end Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

“[W]e want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, contending that the war “would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost!”

The Post continued:

The president also said that he and his Russian counterpart expressed openness to “visiting each other’s nations,” while letting slip to reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon that “we expect that he’ll come here, and I’ll go there, and we’re going to meet also, probably in Saudi Arabia.”

Trump added on Truth Social that the negotiating process “will begin by calling President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy [sic], of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now,” before revealing that the American delegation to any peace talks would be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Zelensky then confirmed in a Facebook statement that he and Trump had “a meaningful conversation” about “opportunities to achieve peace [and] discussed our readiness to work together at the team level, and Ukraine’s technological capabilities—including drones and other advanced industries.”

In other words, he was making an argument to Trump that the United States should provide Ukraine with enough weaponry to fend off any future Russian attack.

Now, in reality, Zelensky is going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the deal, at least publicly. Why? Let’s assume you’re a Ukrainian citizen, and you’ve watched your brothers and sisters get murdered by the Russians, which is what has happened over the course of this war. You’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people if you combine both sides’ dead and wounded.

You’ve been told by Zelensky that you’re not just going to win the war, but you’re also going to push the Russians off of every inch of Ukrainian land, and now you’re going to get less than that. Zelensky is going to have to take the political hit unless the United States is willing to take the political hit.

Biden was never willing. He was always cowardly and pusillanimous when it came to the idea that he would take the hit for anything less than a full Ukrainian victory. He did not want to be blamed for Ukraine not being able to push Russia off that land. So, instead, he decided to let the war percolate and simmer on, and he was willing to allow his poll numbers to be boosted by Russian and Ukrainian dead.

Why? Because he was unwilling to do what actually had to be done, which was to publicly negotiate a deal with Putin over Zelensky’s head and then cram down the deal on Zelensky. That would have made him a bad guy in the eyes of many members of the Left in the United States who decided that the Ukrainian flag was going to go in their profile.

If Biden had been a brave, capable leader, he would have negotiated the off-ramp that everyone saw coming.

The off-ramp looks something like this: Ukraine does not become a part of NATO because one of the reasons that Russia says they invaded Ukraine was because Russia didn’t want to be bordered by NATO nations. Instead, there would have been, effectively, a mutual defense guarantee between the United States, Europe, and Ukraine to prevent a further act of Russian aggression that was not exactly NATO.

There wouldn’t have been an entry by Ukraine into the EU, which has always been a sort of hot button issue in Ukraine. In fact, when Zelensky was first elected, he was not somebody who was considered supremely for entering the EU. It was only after the Russian invasion that he seemed to turn wildly in that direction.

What the deal looks like is Ukraine gets armed up to prevent further Russian invasion. Russia gets to claim sovereignty over these areas — which, by the way, it already has. In its own Duma, they’ve already voted to claim sovereignty over Donbas and Crimea.

The international community probably half-accepts it. They don’t say, “Yes, this is now sovereign Russian territory,” but they do say, “We are not going to foment war over the retaking of that territory.”

Then, everybody basically goes weapons-down for the moment. It doesn’t end the conflict. It’s more like the Korean War. There’s an armistice line. There was never any peace agreement signed at the end of the Korean War. There just ended up being a North Korea and a South Korea. And that armistice line has been holding since 1953.

That’s probably the best-case scenario. President Trump is not willing to allow Putin to slow-play this, to wait for Trump to withdraw aid and then invade the rest of Ukraine.

I said all this during the campaign. There was all of loose talk, by both isolationists on the Right and nut-jobs on the Left, that Trump was going to walk into office, immediately pull all aid from Ukraine, and allow Putin to stroll down the streets of Kyiv.

I said that was not something that Trump was willing to do. Why? Because Trump doesn’t want a headline in which he surrenders Ukraine to Putin.

If there’s one thing that President Trump cares about on a personal level, it is not being made to look weak and feckless. So he was always going to provide continued aid to Ukraine to the point where some sort of off-ramp could be reached.

President Trump is a strong president. And he wishes to give off the image of a strong president, which is why he’s not going to cut off the aid. President Trump is deeply American. And this country was founded on strength and on freedom.

Trump is not a fool. He’s not going to trust Putin, who’s a deeply untrustworthy, evil dictator. He throws people off the third stories of buildings if they happen to cross his regime.

But Trump understands power. He innately understands politics in his bones.

He is taking the pragmatic, utilitarian approach to the situation. It has been the correct approach for several years, but Biden was unwilling to do it. Trump will be seen by those on the Left as a bad guy for having “sold out” Ukraine. But Ukraine was never going to be able to retake the territories.

And Trump has the guts to face everyone down and get the job done.

Shortly after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services on Thursday, President Donald Trump announced the establishment of the “Make America Healthy Again Commission.”

Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that establishes the commission — and dives into the American health crisis in detail, arguing that 90% of the nation’s $4.5 trillion in annual healthcare expenditures are for people with chronic or mental health conditions, and that 77% of young adults don’t quality for the military based, in part, on their health scores.

All of these items are points of personal interest to the new HHS secretary.

“In short,” the order says, “Americans of all ages are becoming sicker, beset by illnesses that our medical system is not addressing effectively. These trends harm us, our economy, and our security.”

“To fully address the growing health crisis in America, we must re-direct our national focus, in the public and private sectors, toward understanding and drastically lowering chronic disease rates and ending childhood chronic disease,” the executive order continues. “This includes fresh thinking on nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, over-reliance on medication and treatments, the effects of new technological habits, environmental impacts, and food and drug quality and safety.”

Trump’s order further argues that his administration seeks to “restore the integrity of the scientific process by protecting expert recommendations from inappropriate influence and increasing transparency regarding existing data,” and ensure that “our healthcare system promotes health rather than just managing disease.”

The “Make America Healthy Again” commission will be chaired by Kennedy. The assistant to the president for Domestic Policy will serve as the executive director of the commission, and a slew of other members of Trump’s cabinet will be included as well, including the Education Secretary, the OMB director, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, and the Director of the National Institutes of Health.

Trump’s goal with the commission, according to the executive order, is first and foremost to fight childhood disease, but also address the overall health of Americans.

Within 180 days of the order, the commission is ordered to submit a strategy to “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” based on their findings from a “Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment” that they will conduct.

“The Strategy shall address appropriately restructuring the Federal Government’s response to the childhood chronic disease crisis, including by ending Federal practices that exacerbate the health crisis or unsuccessfully attempt to address it, and by adding powerful new solutions that will end childhood chronic disease,” the order states.

When President Trump stated his commitment to getting “back to plastic,” it sparked a barrage of positive reactions across every major communication outlet. Why? Because paper straws suck.

As an industry committed to sustainability, we’ve grown weary of these “press release policies.” Going beyond plastic straws or getting “back to plastic” stokes a debate about whether we have accepted too many ineffective environmental policies in recent years that fail to pass the proverbial sustainability smell test but make for a feel-good headline for the activist organizations behind them.

Through a recent executive order, Trump declared that it is “the policy of the United States to end the use of paper straws.” 

Replacing a plastic straw with a paper one with no clear environmental advantage is just one example of a policy that gained momentum without a sound scientific foundation. It actually started innocently enough with a 9-year-old who used parochial data about straw consumption for a school report. His intention was likely environmental in spirit, but little did he know that his daily-use number would be promoted by activist organizations, reported as fact by journalists, and used by lawmakers to justify their feel-good policies and ban plastic straws.  

Just recently, a study illustrated more unintended consequences of local policies driven by “feel-good” emotions rather than facts. In New Jersey, a law was passed aimed at reducing plastic that did exactly the opposite. Instead, a mandatory ban on paper and plastic bags boosted the importation of non-recyclable plastic bags from Southeast Asia, increased overall material consumption, heightened the carbon footprint of shoppers, and slapped them with higher costs to boot. Again, “environmental” policies like these may sound good at first, but in the end, they are counterproductive and distract us from achieving our shared sustainability goals. If the elected officials in New Jersey could admit this mistake and actually “get back to plastic,” they would be passing pro-environmental legislation.

It’s easy to chuckle about straws and bags, but on the state, national, and global stages, we hear a chorus of activist organizations calling for limitations on all plastic production — material needed for our daily lives and critical to meeting most sustainability goals. What we know is that ocean-bound plastic from the United States makes up less than 1% of what ends up in our seas, and more than half of that comes from discarded fishing gear. According to multiple studies, about 90% of plastic in the ocean comes from just 10 rivers, nine of which are in Asia. In fact, the Yangtze River in China is the largest contributor of plastic waste across the globe, dumping up to one million tons into the ocean each year. Yet American consumers and businesses have been pressured to move away from using essential plastic products because extremist groups have a political agenda rather than a truly environmental, solution-based one. 

I think the president is onto something much bigger here. Perhaps this executive order, which justifies our completely rational use of plastic straws and getting “back to plastic,” serves as a permission slip to rethink what we’ve been pressured to do in recent years. Maybe it’s directing us toward common-sense solutions rather than reactionary press release policies. As a society, we need to collectively agree that plastic is essential to our protection, well-being, health, and safety while simultaneously encouraging elected officials, businesses, and government to create environmental policies rooted in science rather than emotions. We also need to take a step back as a nation, not only to reduce waste but to invest in solutions that increase recycling rates and keep valuable plastic materials in the U.S. economy. 

Our industry believes that any molecule of plastic that leaves the economy is truly a waste, and our members work hard every day to innovate and provide the most sustainable solutions for their customers. We will continue to work with this administration and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on practical, common-sense policies that support efforts to keep plastic out of the environment, increase recycling rates, and keep plastic products safe and available. Now is the time to hit reset on the misguided policies of the past few years, heed the words of the president, and go “back to plastic!”

* * *

Matt Seaholm is President and CEO of the PLASTICS Industry Association.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Kash Patel, who is President Donald Trump‘s pick to be director of the FBI, cleared a key hurdle on Thursday in the Senate confirmation process after a one-week delay at the behest of Senate Democrats.

The Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines to favorably report Patel to the full Senate. Leadership is expected to move toward a final confirmation vote in the coming days. Patel will need a simple majority to be confirmed.

Patel was poised to get a committee vote last Thursday, but Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) announced during a meeting that the nomination was “held over” in recognition of a request by the Democrats as prescribed under the panel’s rules.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee similarly secured a one-week delay on consideration of Pam Bondi to become U.S. Attorney General last month. She has since been confirmed to the Cabinet position by the full Senate.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Thursday before the vote, Republican members argued Patel would restore trust in the FBI while Democrats raised concerns about the nominee’s qualifications and reliability.

“Mr. Patel should be considered our next FBI director because the FBI has been infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people. Mr. Patel knows it, Mr. Patel exposed it, and Mr. Patel’s been targeted for it,” Grassley said.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the ranking member, said he was “even more convinced” that Patel “has neither the experience, the judgment nor the temperament to lead the FBI” after reviewing his record, meeting him, and questioning him.

An FBI director answers directly to the U.S. Attorney General and serves a single term of up to 10 years. Chris Wray, a Trump nominee who stayed on as FBI director in the Biden administration, stepped down last month.

Trump nominated Patel, a leading investigator for the House Intelligence Committee who later served in multiple high-level national security positions within the president’s first administration, in late November.

“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Trump said, adding Patel played a role in uncovering the Russiagate scandal.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the end of last month, Patel said, “Protecting the rights of the Constitution is of the utmost importance to me and has been every single time I have taken that oath of office.”

Egypt is reportedly working on a plan to fund and facilitate the rebuilding of Gaza within three to five years after President Donald Trump proposed that the U.S. take control of the war-torn territory.

According to multiple reports, Egypt’s proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza includes Arab-led nations, the European Union, and the United Nations — with no mention of cooperation with the U.S. government. Egypt’s reported plan comes as Trump has doubled down on his goal to relocate around two million Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab countries, allowing for the United States to “take over.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt’s plan includes keeping Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and setting up a “committee of technocrats drawn from across Gaza to administer the enclave.” Security for Gaza would be provided by Palestinians who are trained by Arab forces. The Egyptian proposal reportedly kicks the question of “Palestinian statehood” down the road and instead focuses entirely on the immediate reconstruction of Gaza.

“For the Arab world, recognizing that Trump actually means what he says in terms of Gaza means the necessity of coming up with an alternative to push forward,” Middle East security expert H.A. Hellyer told the Journal.

On Tuesday, Trump met with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House, where the two leaders discussed the situation in Gaza and how to address the rebuilding. During the meeting, King Abdullah said his country would take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza, an offer Trump said was “beautiful.” Before agreeing to help with any more refugee resettlement, King Abdullah said he would wait for Egypt to present its plan.

Last week, the president said that the United States would seek control of Gaza to create an economy that would “supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.” Days later, Trump elaborated on that plan, writing that America would work “with great development teams from all over the World” to rebuild the territory that has been controlled by Hamas terrorists, adding that no U.S. troops would be needed on the ground.

“With the United States being in control of that piece of land … you can have stability in the Middle East for the first time,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “And the Palestinians, or the people that live now in Gaza, will be living beautifully in another location.”

King Abdullah, however, said that every Arab-led nation would reject Trump’s proposal.

Trump invited Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi to discuss the issue, but Al Sisi has not yet accepted the offer. Earlier this week, Egypt said it would host a summit of Arab leaders at the end of the month to discuss “the new and dangerous developments in the Palestinian issue.”

Trump has given Israel the green light to let “hell break out” if Hamas doesn’t release the remaining hostages by Saturday at noon. Hamas suspended the release of hostages after accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement.

A prominent Texas land developer with ties to Colony Ridge admitted that he profits off selling to unqualified foreign buyers, which could include illegal immigrants, an email obtained by The Daily Wire reveals.

Scot Campbell, the former head of the Texas Land Developers Association, made the comments in response to The Daily Wire’s initial investigation into Colony Ridge, a 60-square mile development north of Houston that’s become infamous for attracting illegal aliens to a once-quiet Texas town through its marketing and financial schemes.

“We will not be able to sell our developments if each of our buyers have to have [social security numbers], and we have to qualify each buyer as to the buyer’s ability to repay,” wrote Campbell, who also runs the owner-financing company SRC Land.

“It will kill our industry and will make our future resale of foreclosed lots worth a lot less … because we will all be fighting over a few qualified buyers.” Campbell was writing in response to The Daily Wire’s investigation into Colony Ridge, which highlighted that the development encouraged potential buyers to “own land in the United States.”

Obtained by The Daily Wire

Campbell seemingly went on to confirm The Daily Wire’s report that the marketing tactics used by Colony Ridge had attracted large numbers of illegal aliens, writing, “it was President Biden that opened the flood gates and allowed millions of people in without identification and no jobs.”

Just months after admitting his business model relies on selling to foreigners and unqualified buyers, the Justice Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hit Colony Ridge with a lawsuit alleging that the development and its loan operations took advantage of a language barrier to churn unqualified borrowers through a cycle of foreclosure.

The suit was followed by a similar lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who charged that Colony Ridge “targets foreign born and Hispanic consumers with limited or no access to credit with promises of cheap, ready to build land and financing without proof of income.”

Campbell characterized The Daily Wire story as an attack on the seller-finance industry, which allows the seller of a property to offer loans directly to buyers without the use of a bank, oftentimes at a significantly higher interest rate than a usual mortgage. He encouraged the Texas Land Developers Association (TLDA), a professional trade union that lobbies in support of the same type of seller-finance schemes, to counter the story.

Scot Campbell’s daughter, Gayle Campbell, is a TLDA member who performed work on behalf of Colony Ridge via her company Loan Originator Services LLC, which processed loans for the development.

Both Loan Originator Services and Gayle Campbell were named in the Justice Department-CFPB suit, which alleged that the company “fails to assess borrower’s ability to repay and does not request proof of income or liabilities from borrowers.” Campbell and her company were later dismissed from the suit, with the judge saying there was no evidence that she was directly involved in the same discriminatory “reverse redlining” practices that Colony Ridge stands accused of.

Gayle Campbell is not the only link between Colony Ridge and the TLDA. One recipient of Campbell’s emails was Chuck Rice, a Texas lobbyist who raked in anywhere from $78,360 to $196,579 from Colony Ridge, another $68,360 to $171,579 from Colony Ridge lawyer Brent Lane, and anywhere from $551,310 to $1.1 million from the TLDA, his biggest client. He received anywhere from $5 to $141,619 from SR Campbell Properties Inc., owned by Scot Campbell.

Scot Campbell told The Daily Wire that his comments about foreign buyers did not necessarily refer to illegal aliens.

“The U.S. real estate industry relies on foreign investment, and Texas is third in the nation for foreign buyers of real estate,” Campbell claimed.

He also told The Daily Wire that foreclosures are unprofitable for owner-financed companies.

“Uneducated onlookers are under the very false impression that foreclosing on owner-financed properties is a good business model. It is not, at least not for me or anyone else I know. Our business model is based entirely on keeping buyers on the property, and trying to never have to foreclose.”

But the CFPB says Colony Ridge foreclosed on 30 percent of lots within three years of their sale, “repurchasing and reselling them, often at higher prices.”

Campbell went on to highlight the regulatory differences between different types of sales, stating that “land sales do not require a buyer to submit documents proving that the borrower would qualify for a bank loan on a house.”

The controversy surrounding Colony Ridge has prompted State Rep. Janis Holt, whose district contains the development, to introduce legislation that would assist the state government in tracking land sales. The legislation, House Bill 2159, could be used to identify the foreign buyers in Colony Ridge and similar developments, with Holt saying that it would “bring transparency to all property sales, including properties bought with cash.”

Numerous illegal aliens have been caught living in Colony Ridge, including one human smuggler who federal agents say was involved in a “mass casualty event” when a tractor trailer full of migrants crashed, killing more than 50 people. The man, a Guatemalan national, purchased at least four Colony Ridge properties before he was apprehended in a joint operation by the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Two illegal alien murder suspects who lived in Colony Ridge were arrested earlier this year. One of the men, described by authorities as a “fugitive murder suspect wanted by Interpol,” had already been deported from the United States twice before establishing a residence in Colony Ridge.

Those two arrests came after a teen was allegedly abducted at gunpoint inside the development and was shot at as he fled his captors.

Written by: ​​Ferhat Dikbiyik, Chief Research & Intelligence Officer

Every breach tells a story. In 2024, that story was about third-party vulnerabilities becoming the preferred entry point for attackers. From ransomware attacks that threatened supply chains to credential misuse that compromised entire industries, third-party breaches surged in both scale and sophistication.

Black Kite’s 2025 Third-Party Breach Report takes a deep dive into these incidents, analyzing the most significant third-party breaches of 2024 to identify the key trends shaping the future of cybersecurity. This year’s findings highlight critical shifts in the third-party risk landscape: ransomware affiliates are becoming more aggressive, unauthorized network access remains the most exploited attack vector, and regulatory frameworks are driving improvements — but not evenly across industries.

5 Takeaways from the 2025 Third-Party Breach Report

For cybersecurity leaders looking to adapt their strategies for the year ahead, here are a few notable findings from this year’s report — and what they mean for your approach to third-party risk management.

1. A shift to continuous risk monitoring

In 2024, the Cleo File Transfer ransomware attack was a wake-up call that exposed the shortcomings of traditional third-party risk management. Attackers exploited unpatched vulnerabilities in widely used file transfer software, impacting dozens of organizations across industries. Traditional security assessments failed to catch these risks, but proactive monitoring tools could have flagged these vulnerabilities before attackers did.

For example, for too long, third-party risk management (TPRM) has relied on security questionnaires. Organizations track response rates, completion metrics, and compliance checklists — but breaches keep happening. The problem? These assessments measure vendor effort, not actual security posture, and for one point in time at that..

Meanwhile, ransomware groups aren’t wasting time with paperwork. They’re studying supply chains, buying marketing intelligence, and doing everything they can to learn more about their victims and their supply chains. Questionnaires are no defense against this kind of sophisticated, intentional approach. 

Organizations need to move beyond static assessments and embrace real-time risk intelligence to detect vulnerabilities before they’re exploited. Instead of relying solely on vendors’ self-reported security measures, organizations should implement continuous monitoring tools that provide real-time visibility into third-party risks. During the Cleo File Transfer ransomware campaign, for example, Black Kite’s FocusTags™ helped organizations identify at-risk vendors and implement rapid mitigation strategies to prevent further breaches.

2. Affiliates are changing the rules of ransomware

Ransomware operations underwent a major shift in 2024, driven by changes in the underground cybercrime economy. The February attack on Change Healthcare didn’t just impact pharmacies, doctors, and hospitals — it reshaped the entire ransomware market. A payment dispute between an affiliate and a major ransomware group led to a structural change, where affiliates gained greater control and financial incentives. 

This affiliate-led model has fueled a spike in ransomware activity. Now, instead of centralized ransomware groups leading the charge, affiliates are operating with more autonomy, deploying multiple types of ransomware and significantly increasing the frequency of attacks. 

Healthcare bore the brunt of these attacks in 2024, accounting for over 40% of all third-party breaches. And unlike ransomware groups that historically followed an informal “twisted code of conduct” — where healthcare organizations were considered off-limits — modern affiliates have no such boundaries. They prioritize financial gain over all else, choosing targets based on likelihood to pay. The Cencora ransomware attack, for instance, allegedly resulted in a $75 million ransom payment, exposing sensitive patient data and revealing the cascading impact of third-party breaches.

This shift in ransomware tactics means organizations can no longer rely on past attack patterns to predict future threats. With financially motivated affiliates now driving attacks, businesses must invest in tools designed to proactively monitor and manage third-party risks to ensure a rapid response to disruptive events.

3. Regulations are driving cybersecurity improvements

Regulatory frameworks like DORA, HIPAA, and GDPR have been catalysts for critical risk management improvements, particularly in industries with strict compliance mandates. According to our findings, among vendors that experienced a breach and subsequently improved their cyber rating by at least 3 points, 72% serve the healthcare industry — an indication that regulatory enforcement is driving significant improvements in incident response and vendor risk management practices.

However, not all industries are keeping pace. Only 14% of vendors with improved scores following a breach support the financial services sector. Similarly, only 14% of vendors in the manufacturing sector showed progress in enhancing their cyber ratings.

The progress observed in sectors like healthcare, where regulations drove notable improvements, serves as a model for other industries to follow. But regulations aren’t enough on their own either. While regulatory frameworks establish baseline security standards, they must be backed by proactive risk management strategies. Organizations that implement continuous third-party risk monitoring, leverage real-time threat intelligence tools, and enforce vendor accountability through contractual security requirements are significantly better positioned to identify and mitigate emerging threats.

4. Defining unauthorized network access

Unauthorized network access accounted for over 50% of publicly disclosed third-party breaches in 2024. But what does that really mean? Too often, “unauthorized access” is used as a vague, catch-all explanation when organizations lack clarity on the root cause of an attack or choose not to disclose specific details. This makes it difficult to determine whether breaches were caused by stolen credentials, misconfigurations, or unpatched vulnerabilities.

The lack of transparency in incident reporting presents a serious challenge for CISOs. Without a clear picture of how attackers infiltrated a system, security teams struggle to remediate vulnerabilities and prevent future breaches. Instead of driving meaningful improvements, these incidents often fuel blame games and reactive security postures.

Given the sheer volume of breaches attributed to unauthorized access, security leaders must push for deeper analysis and clearer reporting. Creating a culture of transparency in incident reporting can help security teams better understand the root causes of unauthorized network access breaches, enabling more effective prevention strategies.

5. Building a resilient third-party risk management strategy

While we can’t predict exactly what’s next, there’s a lot we can learn from last year’s third-party breaches. By analyzing the trends, cybersecurity leaders can fine-tune their strategies to stay ahead of emerging threats. What’s clear from this year’s 2025 Third-Party Breach Report is that a proactive, collaborative approach to third-party risk management is now essential.

As we move into 2025, relying on reactive measures is no longer enough. Organizations must embrace real-time risk assessments, improve vendor communication using tools like Black Kite Bridge™, and invest in actionable remediation intelligence. Cyber threats are evolving fast, and so must the tools and strategies used to combat them. By adapting to these changes in the third-party risk landscape, companies can build a stronger, more resilient security posture and better protect themselves against the next wave of cyber threats.

Dive deeper into the insights — read the full 2025 Third-Party Breach Report now.

The post Key Takeaways from the 2025 Third-Party Breach Report appeared first on Black Kite.

Democrats keep claiming that we’re in a constitutional crisis.

They haven’t learned their lesson yet.

During the last election cycle, they continually said that Donald Trump was a threat to democracy. Over and over, they proclaimed everything Trump did was a threat to democracy.

Afterward, they began weaponizing the Department of Justice to go after President Trump. And Joe Biden was thinking of new ways nearly every day to violate the Constitution.

Now, since that “threat to democracy” line didn’t work, they’ve transmuted it into a “constitutional crisis.” According to Democrats, it is a constitutional crisis if the elected president of the United States appoints a person to go through all of the executive branches of government, all various agencies, and root out waste, fraud, and abuse.

But Americans do not think this is a constitutional crisis, which is why Trump’s approval ratings remain in the mid 50s at this point, the highest they have been in his entire career.

Most Americans consider what Trump is doing, particularly with Elon Musk and his revolutionary approach to government, to be common sense. Send somebody in to audit all the various agencies, figure out where the money’s being wasted, and then don’t waste our taxpayer money.

That should just be basic common sense. This should be a 100% issue. But Democrats are freaking out because they have built an entire bureaucratic system designed to do their will, whether they are in power or out of power.

Trump noted the deep state during his first term. He said it was thwarting his will on everything from foreign to domestic policy, that it was militarizing itself against his presidency by putting together ridiculous nonsense like the Mueller report.

The reality is that the deep state — meaning, a permanent bureaucratic structure designed to funnel taxpayer money to allies of Democrats in and out of government — has been a century-long project, and Trump is systematically dismantling it.

And the American people are with him.

WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show

Democrats are attempting to claim that the elected president telling unelected bureaucrats not to spend taxpayer money is a constitutional crisis, a threat to democracy. In truth, it is one of the least fascistic things I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

Fascism is about centralization of power in one man or in an oligarchy which then takes more control over the people. I have yet to hear of a fascist movement that delegates more power back to the people and away from a centralized bureaucracy. I’ve never heard of anything remotely like that.

Democrats don’t want to recognize this, so they’re just going to keep shouting nostrums.

On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order that urged federal agencies to work with DOGE to cut the number of federal employees.

Ahead of that signing, Elon Musk joined Trump in the Oval Office. It was highly entertaining. Musk brought his son X because his basic principle is that he’s bringing his kid everywhere.

I thought it was wonderful. I bring my four kids virtually everywhere. They’re constantly with me. As they get older, I’m going to start bringing them to events, so they can experience them and learn. This is how kids learn: by following their parents around.

These images matter. The image of a Secretary of Defense who’s working out with troops, of a national security adviser striding into NATO meetings, or of Elon Musk with his tech proteges clearing out various government agencies, or of children in public places — all these images impact how human beings feel and think. And that makes a big difference.

Trump is moving fast. He’s breaking things. This is why Democrats are having such a tough time.

And something else is vital to note: President Trump has changed. The easiest way in the past to seed chaos with President Trump was to imply or state outright that someone else was actually the president or somebody else was running Trump.

Now, the reality is that no one perceives that to be the case.

Donald Trump is running the presidency. No one is running Donald Trump. Donald Trump is coming up with his own ideas. Donald Trump is making the decisions.

Americans know and understand this, which is why all the polling data shows seven in 10 Americans think he is a strong president. Despite the fact that the media, hoping to irritate Trump, claim Musk is the secret president, everyone, including Trump, knows that’s not the case.

Trump is empowering Musk, not the other way around. So Musk — in solidarity, in lockstep, arm in arm with Trump in the Oval Office — is a major development. It is a signifier that Trump is comfortable in his own skin as president, and he doesn’t feel threatened by the people who are around him, that he’s willing to take advice.

In the end, Trump is the decision-maker.

Seven in 10 Americans believe that Trump is keeping his promises right now, which is a historic number. We’re three weeks into his presidency. If Trump keeps moving at this rate, he is going to be the most transformative president in American public life since LBJ, possibly since FDR.

And he’s utterly secure in his job, which terrifies Democrats.

In mid-March 2024, KrebsOnSecurity revealed that the founder of the personal data removal service Onerep also founded dozens of people-search companies. Shortly after that investigation was published, Mozilla said it would stop bundling Onerep with the Firefox browser and wind down its partnership with the company. But nearly a year later, Mozilla is still promoting it to Firefox users.

Mozilla offers Onerep to Firefox users on a subscription basis as part of Mozilla Monitor Plus. Launched in 2018 under the name Firefox Monitor, Mozilla Monitor also checks data from the website Have I Been Pwned? to let users know when their email addresses or password are leaked in data breaches.

The ink on that partnership agreement had barely dried before KrebsOnSecurity published a story showing that Onerep’s Belarusian CEO and founder Dimitiri Shelest launched dozens of people-search services since 2010, including a still-active data broker called Nuwber that sells background reports on people. This seemed to contradict Onerep’s stated motto, “We believe that no one should compromise personal online security and get a profit from it.”

Shelest released a lengthy statement (PDF) wherein he acknowledged maintaining an ownership stake in Nuwber, a consumer data broker he founded in 2015 — around the same time he started Onerep.

Onerep.com CEO and founder Dimitri Shelest, as pictured on the “about” page of onerep.com.

Shelest maintained that Nuwber has “zero cross-over or information-sharing with Onerep,” and said any other old domains that may be found and associated with his name are no longer being operated by him.

“I get it,” Shelest wrote. “My affiliation with a people search business may look odd from the outside. In truth, if I hadn’t taken that initial path with a deep dive into how people search sites work, Onerep wouldn’t have the best tech and team in the space. Still, I now appreciate that we did not make this more clear in the past and I’m aiming to do better in the future.”

When asked to comment on the findings, Mozilla said then that although customer data was never at risk, the outside financial interests and activities of Onerep’s CEO did not align with their values.

“We’re working now to solidify a transition plan that will provide customers with a seamless experience and will continue to put their interests first,” Mozilla said.

In October 2024, Mozilla published a statement saying the search for a different provider was taking longer than anticipated.

“While we continue to evaluate vendors, finding a technically excellent and values-aligned partner takes time,” Mozilla wrote. “While we continue this search, Onerep will remain the backend provider, ensuring that we can maintain uninterrupted services while we continue evaluating new potential partners that align more closely with Mozilla’s values and user expectations. We are conducting thorough diligence to find the right vendor.”

Asked for an update, Mozilla said the search for a replacement partner continues.

“The work’s ongoing but we haven’t found the right alternative yet,” Mozilla said in an emailed statement. “Our customers’ data remains safe, and since the product provides a lot of value to our subscribers, we’ll continue to offer it during this process.”

It’s a win-win for Mozilla that they’ve received accolades for their principled response while continuing to partner with Onerep almost a year later. But if it takes so long to find a suitable replacement, what does that say about the personal data removal industry itself?

Onerep appears to be working in partnership with another problematic people-search service: Radaris, which has a history of ignoring opt-out requests or failing to honor them. A week before breaking the story about Onerep, KrebsOnSecurity published research showing the co-founders of Radaris were two native Russian brothers who’d built a vast network of affiliate marketing programs and consumer data broker services.

Lawyers for the Radaris co-founders threatened to sue KrebsOnSecurity unless that story was retracted in full, claiming the founders were in fact Ukrainian and that our reporting had defamed the brothers by associating them with the actions of Radaris. Instead, we published a follow-up investigation which showed that not only did the brothers from Russia create Radaris, for many years they issued press releases quoting a fictitious CEO seeking money from investors.

Several readers have shared emails they received from Radaris after attempting to remove their personal data, and those messages show Radaris has been promoting Onerep.

An email from Radaris promoting Onerep.