ESPN host Stephen A. Smith was pressed by ABC News' Jon Karl on Sunday about whether he was really considering a run for the presidency — prompting the ESPN host to say that he had no choice but to consider a potential run.
"I have no choice, because I’ve had elected officials — and I'm not going to give their names — coming up to me. I’ve had folks who are pundits come up to me. I've had folks that got a lot of money, billionaires and others, that have talked to me about exploratory committees and things of that nature. I’m not a politician. I’ve never had a desire to be a politician," Smith said, noting his contract with ESPN.
"People have walked up to me, including my own pastor, for crying out loud, who has said to me, ‘you don’t know what God has planned for you, at least show the respect to the people who believe in you, who respect you, who believe that you can make a difference in this country to leave the door open for any possibilities two to three years down the line.’ And that’s what I’ve decided to do," the ESPN host said. "So, I would hope somebody else would step up that’s more qualified than me, but if it has to come down to me, it is something I would consider. Yes, I would. Because I don’t mind tussling with these folks at all on the left or the right. All of them disgust me, to be quite honest with you."
Smith also took aim at the Democratic Party during the interview and said that the party's failures were the reason why he, a sports analyst, was even being polled as a potential 2028 Democratic contender.
"The bigger picture here is Elizabeth Warren was just on with you. You’re going to have a multitude of Democratic representatives on with you. They talk, and they talk, and they talk, but what can they do? They position themselves to do absolutely nothing. I didn’t hear anything about tariffs from Democrats before the election. Trump had been preaching about this for the longest time," he added.
He argued that Democrats focused on woke culture, cancel culture and abortion rights, and that its focus was not going to win an election.
"It’s an indictment against the Democratic Party that doesn’t have leadership and doesn’t have a vision, and it’s sad," he said.
"Time to stop messing around. Life is great. Especially at ESPN/Disney. Hate the thought of being a politician. But sick of this mess. So I’m officially leaving all doors open," Smith posted on April 7, including an article noting his thoughts on the matter.
Speaking of the future at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas, Smith suggested, "If it comes in late 2026, 2027, where I look at this country and think it’s an absolute mess and there’s legitimate reason to believe — whether it’s via exploratory committees or anything else — that I indeed have a legitimate shot to win the presidency of the United States, I am not going to rule it out, and I'm not playing."
Fox News' Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren defended her calls for the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate President Donald Trump over accusations of market manipulation and insider trading, saying such an investigation is "entirely appropriate."
"That's what investigations are for. And it's entirely appropriate to have an investigation to make sure that Donald Trump, Donald Trump's family, Donald Trump's inner circle didn't get advance information and trade on that information," Warren told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday during an appearance on "State of the Union."
Warren, alongside a handful of other Senate Democrats such as Oregon's Ron Wyden and New York's Chuck Schumer, wrote a letter to the SEC chief on Friday calling for an investigation into alleged market manipulation following Trump's reciprocal tariff announcement and subsequent 90-day pause to the customized tariffs he leveled on foreign nations.
"We urge the SEC to investigate whether the tariff announcements, which caused the market crash and subsequent partial recovery, enriched administration insiders and friends at the expense of the American public and whether any insiders, including the President’s family, had prior knowledge of the tariff pause that they abused to make stock trades ahead of the President’s announcement," the Senate Democrats wrote in their letter to SEC Chair Paul Atkins on Friday.
The White House slammed calls for investigations into market manipulation last week in comments provided to Fox Digital that accused Democrats of playing "partisan games."
"It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering. Democrats railed against China’s cheating for decades, and now they’re playing partisan games instead of celebrating President Trump’s decisive action yesterday to finally corner China," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in comment to Fox Digital when asked about Democrats claiming Trump manipulated the market.
When asked on Sunday if Warren had actually seen evidence of alleged insider trading, she responded: "Well, there are people who have looked at what happened to purchases and to calls just before he made that announcement that caused the stock market to skyrocket."
She continued on Sunday that members of Congress should also be subject to a rule barring them from trading individual stocks.
"This is how the stock market works in order to make sure on a consistent basis that nobody's trading on inside information. And, by the way, Jake, the same thing should apply to Congress. And that is, we should have a rule that no one in Congress can… trade in any individual stocks, no senator, no representative. I have had that bill for a long time. It's got a lot of support," she told Tapper.
Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote a letter on Thursday to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, as well as Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, also calling for an investigation into potential insider trading.
Trump, ahead of pausing the reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday of last week, posted to Truth Social, "BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!" and "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT." The president had previously said he would not pause tariffs but was open to negotiating with other nations.
Trump paused only the higher, customized tariffs he placed on nations that historically installed trade barriers on U.S. goods, with nations across the world instead facing a lower 10% tariff on goods, as the Trump administration and world leaders hash out negotiations for the reciprocal tariffs.
China, however, was not part of the tariff pause and was instead hit with a higher 125% tariff after retaliating with its own additional tariffs against the U.S.
Warren continued in her remarks that tariffs can "be an important tool in the toolbox when used in targeted ways," but accused Trump of spreading "chaos" through the implementations of his tariff plans.
"Right now, what we have got is chaos and corruption. Donald Trump has imposed a tariff on everyone everywhere, on all products. That's the 10% tariff. Of course, it was much higher earlier in the week, and now in this trade war with China that basically tries to shut down all trade," she said.
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro brushed off concerns about a feud between him and billionaire Elon Musk, arguing the two administration advisors had a "great" relationship.
"First of all, Elon and I are great. It’s not an issue," Navarro said during an appearance on NBC News’ "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
The comments come after Navarro and Musk got tangled in a public war of words last week after Navarro said in an interview that Musk’s Tesla is more of a "car assembler" than "car manufacturer" that relies on parts from other countries.
"We all understand in the White House (and the American people understand) that Elon's a car manufacturer. But he's not a car manufacturer – He's a car assembler," Navarro said on CNBC. "In many cases, if you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engines that he gets (which in the EV case are the batteries) come from Japan and come from China. The electronics come from Taiwan."
The point seemingly didn’t sit well with Musk, who took to X to defend his auto company.
"Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false," Musk said.
"Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks," Musk added in a subsequent post.
But Navarro downplayed the public war of words Sunday, praising Musk’s contributions to the Trump administration.
"Everything’s fine with Elon," Navarro said. "And look, Elon is doing a very good job with his team, with waste, fraud and abuse. That’s a tremendous contribution to America. And no man doing that kind of thing should be subject to having his cars firebombed by crazies."
The White House has also downplayed concerns between them, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt arguing the feud shows that President Donald Trump is willing to hear vastly different views at the highest level.
"These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and tariffs. Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue," she said during a press briefing last week. "You guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history."
The Trump administration is receiving an outpouring of support from animal advocacy groups, lawmakers and others for recent announcements to end animal testing within programs at the FDA and EPA.
"PETA applauds the FDA’s decision to stop harming animals and adopt human-relevant testing strategies for evaluating antibody therapies," Kathy Guillermo, PETA senior vice president, said in a statement.
"It’s a significant step towards meeting the agency’s commitment to replace the use of animals – which PETA has worked hard to promote. All animal use, including failed vaccine and other testing on monkeys at the federally-funded primate centers, must end, and we are calling on the FDA to further embrace 21st-century science," the PETA statement continued.
PETA's statement followed the Food and Drug Administration announcement on Thursday that it is phasing out an animal testing requirement for antibody therapies and other drugs in favor of testing on materials that mimic human organs, Fox Digital first reported.
"For too long, drug manufacturers have performed additional animal testing of drugs that have data in broad human use internationally. This initiative marks a paradigm shift in drug evaluation and holds promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans while reducing animal use," FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, said in comments provided to Fox News Digital.
"By leveraging AI-based computational modeling, human organ model-based lab testing, and real-world human data, we can get safer treatments to patients faster and more reliably, while also reducing R&D costs and drug prices. It is a win-win for public health and ethics."
Dogs, rats and fish were the primary animals to face testing ahead of Thursday's announcement, Fox Digital learned.
The phase-out focuses on ending animal testing in regard to researching monoclonal antibody therapies, which are lab-made proteins meant to stimulate the immune system to fight diseases such as cancer, as well as other drugs, according to the press release.
Instead, the FDA will encourage testing on "organoids," which are artificially grown masses of cells, according to the FDA's press release.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin announced on the same day that the agency would reinstate a 2019 policy from the first Trump administration to phase out animal testing at that federal agency. The EPA said in comment that the Biden administration moved away from phasing out animal testing, but that Zeldin is "wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing."
"Under President Trump’s first term, EPA signed a directive to prioritize efforts to reduce animal testing and committed to reducing testing on mammals by 30% by 2025 and to eliminate it completely by 2035. The Biden administration halted progress on these efforts by delaying compliance deadlines. Administrator Zeldin is wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing," EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou told the Washington Times.
The EPA's and FDA's recent announcements also received praise from animal rights groups, including the White Coat Waste Project, which reported in 2021 that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases spent hundreds of thousands of dollars under Dr. Anthony Fauci's leadership to test beagle dogs with parasites via biting flies.
"Thank you @DrMakaryFDA for your years of advocacy & outstanding leadership to eliminate FDA red tape that forces companies & tax-funded federal agencies to conduct wasteful & cruel tests on dogs & other animals!" the group posted to X last week.
"White Coat Waste made historic progress under Trump 45 to cut wasteful and cruel animal testing at the EPA and FDA, some of which was undone by the Biden Administration," Justin Goodman, senior vice president at White Coat, told Fox News Digital on Sunday.
"We applaud Administrator Zeldin and Commissioner Makary for picking up where Trump left off and prioritizing efforts to cut widely-opposed and wasteful animal tests. This is great news for taxpayers and pet owners as it sends a message to big spending animal abusers across the federal government: Stop the money. Stop the madness!"
Other animal rights groups and lawmakers praised the Trump administration for its recent moves to end animal testing.
"We’re encouraged to see the EPA recommit to phasing out animal testing – a goal we’ve long championed on behalf of the animals trapped in these outdated and painful experiments," Kitty Block, president and CEO of Humane World for Animals, said in a press release. "But promises alone don’t spare lives. For too long, animals like dogs, rabbits and mice have endured tests that inflict suffering without delivering better science. It’s time to replace these cruel methods with modern, humane alternatives that the public overwhelmingly supports."
Other groups have come out and warned that there is not yet a high-tech replacement for animals within the realm of biomedical research and drug testing, and that humane animal testing is still crucial to test prospective drugs for humans.
"We all want better and faster ways to bring lifesaving treatments to patients," National Association for Biomedical Research President Matthew R. Bailey said in a press release provided to Fox Digital. "But no AI model or simulation has yet demonstrated the ability to fully replicate all the unknowns about many full biological systems. That’s why humane animal research remains indispensable."
Under his first administration, Trump took other steps to protect animals, including signing the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act into law in 2019, which made intentional acts of cruelty a federal crime.
FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Government Efficiency launched a website where Americans can directly report and suggest how to deregulate policies within the federal government, Fox News Digital learned.
"Your voice in federal decision making," reads the website Regulations.gov, "Impacted by an existing rule or regulation? Share your ideas for deregulation by completing this form."
DOGE worked with the Government Services Administration, an independent agency tasked with helping support the functioning of other federal agencies, and the Office of Management and Budget, which is the federal office frequently charged with overseeing deregulation efforts, to launch the website earlier this month, Fox Digital learned.
"DOGE is combining the administration’s goals of adding transparency and slashing waste, fraud, and abuse by offering the American people the unique opportunity to recommend more deregulatory actions. This DOGE-led effort highlights President Trump’s priority to put the people first and government bureaucrats last," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox Digital.
The website's main page directs users to a form where they can report "deregulatory suggestions," which provides users with more than a dozen prompts regarding their issue.
The prompts include describing which federal agency had promoted a regulation at issue, if the regulation is finalized or in the midst of the rule-making process, justification for the deregulation, the history of how the regulation operates, and the title and name of the agency's leader, as well as other detailed information on the regulation.
The form prompts users to provide their name, but the box is not mandatory to complete before submission. The person who submits a deregulatory suggestion could see the Trump administration name the rescission to the rule after the individual.
"Only answer if you would like the rescission to be named after you or your organization. Providing your name does not guarantee that it will appear on any final agency action, and we reserve the right to refrain from using names that are inappropriate or offensive," the prompt asking for the user's name states.
DOGE's public leader, Elon Musk, has railed against government regulations for months, including when he joined President Donald Trump's campaign in key battleground states to rally support.
In a Pennsylvania rally ahead of the election, Musk recounted how his company SpaceX was wrapped up in "bunch of nutty stories" related to government overregulation, including studying the probability of the company's Starship rocket hitting a whale or shark and facing lofty fines from the EPA for "dumping fresh water on the ground."
"I’ll tell you like a crazy thing, like we got fined $140,000 by the EPA for dumping fresh water on the ground. Drinking water. It’s crazy. I’ll just give you an example of just how crazy it is. And we’re like, ‘Well, we’re using water to cool the launch pad during launch. You know, we’re going to cool the launch pad so it doesn’t overheat. And in excess of caution, we actually brought in drinking water, so clean, super clean water,’" Musk said to the audience in Folsom, Pennsylvania, last year.
"And the FAA said, ‘No, you have to pay a $140,000 fine.’ And we’re like, ‘But Starbase is in a tropical thunderstorm area. Sky water falls all the time,’" Musk recounted, referring to SpaceX's headquarters in Texas. "'That is the same as the water we used' So, and it’s like… there’s no harm to anything. And they said, ‘Yeah, but we didn’t have a permit.’ We’re like, ‘You need a permit for fresh water?’" Musk recounted.
Trump went on a deregulation blitz targeting energy and climate regulations last week in a series of executive orders aimed to "unleash" the power of coal energy in the U.S., including ending a pause to coal leasing on federal lands, promoting coal and coal technology exports, and encouraging the use of coal to power artificial intelligence initiatives.
"President Trump knows that the bureaucracy is built to regulate, not deregulate. The result is an ever-increasing number of regulations that stifle innovation and limit American freedom," the White House said in a fact sheet on the EOs last week.
President Donald Trump issued a Palm Sunday message at the start of Holy Week renewing his administration's promise "to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government."
"We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square," Trump wrote in his 2025 Holy Week presidential message released by the White House.
"As we focus on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we look to His love, humility, and obedience—even in life’s most difficult and uncertain moments," Trump said. "This week, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Nation. We pray that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world, and we pray to achieve a future that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven."
"May God bless you and your family during this special time of year and may He continue to bless the United States of America," Trump wrote.
Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump "join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ – the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity." The presidential message reiterated how Holy Week begins "with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday" and culminates "in the Paschal Triduum, which begins on Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, followed by Good Friday." The week reaches its "pinnacle in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night."
"This week is a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ crucifixion – and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for His miraculous Resurrection from the dead," Trump wrote.
"During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross," the president said. "In His final hours on Earth, Christ willingly endured excruciating pain, torture, and execution on the cross out of a deep and abiding love for all His creation. Through His suffering, we have redemption. Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins. Through His Resurrection, we have hope of eternal life."
"On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness—signaling that death does not have the final word," Trump said.
Since surviving a July 2024 assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Penn., Trump has acknowledged his faith on the campaign trail and months into his second term by repeatedly affirming that he was "saved by God to Make America Great Again." On Friday, the White House hung a painting depicting a bloodied Trump pumping his first in the air during that attempt on his life last summer, replacing a portrait of former President Barack Obama.
The Holy Week proclamation on Sunday is first on the docket of a series of roll-outs and events expected before Easter organized by the newly established White House Faith Office.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital that Trump delivered on his promise to millions of Christians in creating the office. She drew a "sharp contrast" with the Biden administration, which marked Easter Sunday, which fell on March 31, 2024, the most important holiday on the Christian Church calendar, as Transgender Day of Visibility.
Jennifer Korn, faith director of the White House Faith Office, told Fox News Digital the administration is gearing up for "extraordinary" celebrations during Holy Week to treat the Easter season "with the observance it deserves."
On Monday, Trump is expected to release a Holy Week video and will host an Easter dinner on Wednesday evening. On Holy Thursday, the president is expected to host a staff worship service at the White House, where Pastor Paula White, the senior advisor to the White House Faith Office, the Rev. Franklin Graham, Pastor Greg Laurie and Pastor Jentezen Franklin will participate in prayer, scripture, service and communion.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
When lawmakers arrived on Capitol Hill last Monday, House GOP leaders' plans to sync up with the Senate on sweeping legislation to advance President Donald Trump's agenda seemed an all-but-impossible task.
House fiscal hawks were furious with Senate Republicans for passing an amended version of the former's budget framework, one that called for a significantly lower amount of mandatory spending cuts than the House's initial plan.
By late Thursday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was celebrating victory in front of reporters after a narrow 216-to-214 vote.
"I told you not to doubt us," a triumphant Johnson told the media. "We’re really grateful to have had the big victory on the floor just now. It was a big one, a very important one."
The hard-fought win came after long hours and late nights as House Republican leaders — and leaders in the Senate GOP as well — worked to persuade holdouts, while Trump and his aides worked those same critics from the sidelines.
White House aides were at House Republicans' weekly conference meeting on Tuesday, a rare sight but not unexpected, given the importance of the coming vote.
But GOP lawmakers filed out of that meeting doubting whether Trump's influence could help this time, after he played a key role in helping shepherd earlier critical bills across the finish line this year.
"I don't see it happening," a House Republican told Fox News Digital when asked whether Trump would be enough to sway critics.
Nevertheless, a select group of those holdouts were summoned to the White House alongside House GOP leaders on Wednesday afternoon, hours before the expected vote.
Fox News Digital was told that Trump commanded the room for roughly 20 to 30 minutes, and told House conservatives he agreed with them on the need to significantly slash government spending.
Trump also communicated to holdouts that Senate leaders felt the same, but, like the House, were working on their own tight margins, Fox News Digital was told.
The president, meanwhile, has been concerned in particular with the looming debt limit deadline, Fox News Digital was told.
It's one of the issues that Republicans are looking to tackle via the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the Senate's passage threshold from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party controlling the House, Senate and White House to enact broad policy changes via one or two broad pieces of legislation.
In this case, Republicans are looking for some added funds for border security and defense and to raise the debt ceiling — while paring back spending on the former Biden administration's green energy policies and in other sections of the federal government, likely including entitlement programs.
GOP lawmakers are also looking to extend Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the provisions of which expire at the end of this year. They will also need new funding for Trump's efforts to eliminate taxes on tipped and overtime wages.
But first, Republicans wanted the House and Senate to pass identical frameworks setting the stage for filling those frameworks with actual legislative policy.
Whereas the House version calls for at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, the Senate mandated a floor of $4 billion — a wide gap to bridge.
The Wednesday-afternoon White House meeting did sway some holdouts, but far from enough.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., also met with House GOP critics of the bill for more than an hour on Wednesday evening ahead of the planned vote.
"He couldn't have been more cordial and understanding in talking to us about what we needed to know. And honestly, he had some of the same concerns that we did," Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital.
"You know, he's got to get it over the finish line, and he had to make certain commitments. But he committed to us to work with us."
Ultimately, however, plans to advance the measure that evening were hastily scrapped as an unrelated vote was held open for over an hour, leading to confusion and frustration on the House floor.
"He looked like he was in no better spot than he was at the beginning," one House Republican said of that night.
Trump was not called to address the group during that huddle with holdouts, two sources in the room told Fox News Digital.
However, the president did have individual conversations with some holdouts on Wednesday and Thursday, one person said.
The Wednesday night failure gave way to a late night of negotiations involving both holdouts and House GOP leaders.
Two House GOP leadership aides told Fox News Digital that Johnson had huddled with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., until late Wednesday to figure out a path forward.
When they emerged shortly before midnight, they had settled on a plan — a televised promise by Johnson and Thune to put both leaders on the record committing to deep spending cuts.
"I'm happy to tell you that this morning, I believe we have the votes to finally adopt the budget resolution so we can move forward on President Trump's very important agenda for the American people," Johnson said.
Thune added, "We are aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings. The speaker has talked about $1.5 trillion. We have a lot of United States senators who believe in that as a minimum."
A senior Senate GOP aide argued to Fox News Digital, "Absent Thune’s intervention, Mike Johnson would not have gotten this resolution through the House."
But the speaker was also putting in his own long hours with holdouts.
The office of Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who ultimately voted to advance the framework, told Fox News Digital that critics were sent a memo by Johnson early on Thursday, assuring them that he was committed to deep spending cuts.
"The Senate amendment to H. Con. Res. 14 preserves untouched language from the original House-passed resolution, including the reconciliation instructions to House committees and Section 4001 — Adjustment for spending cuts of at least $2 trillion," the memo said.
It referred to a measure in the House-passed framework that suggested funding toward tax cuts would be reduced by a corresponding amount if final spending cuts did not equal $2 trillion.
"This language reflects a critical principle — that deficit-increasing provisions of the final reconciliation bill are accompanied by concomitant spending cuts," it said.
Then, as the vote was called around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, a final huddle between holdouts and leaders sealed the Republicans' victory.
"At some point, it was heated. And then the speaker's leadership team [House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.] made sure we were clarified on some issues which are very important to some of the members," Burchett said.
"And then Steve Scalise, really batting cleanup, and he came in with the final with the final conclusion, which everybody agreed to pretty much. And then the speaker closed the deal."
Burchett said he believed that Johnson had spoken to Trump separately at some point during that huddle.
A senior House GOP aide said McClain was also present for that meeting.
Republicans clinched the win minutes after 11 a.m. on Thursday, with the GOP side of the House chamber erupting in applause.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., who helped lead the opposition, told reporters after the vote, "We made tremendous progress over the last two days in making certain that whatever we do on reconciliation, we don't increase this country's budget deficit."
"We take the Moody report from two weeks ago pretty seriously, that you can't have unpaid-for tax cuts, and we made progress in making, getting assurances both from the Senate and the House leadership that that's not going to occur," Harris said.
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin accused "Real Time" host Bill Maher in a testy exchange on Friday of having "fallen into the trap" by meeting with President Donald Trump the previous week.
Maher, a longtime Trump critic who's nonetheless stood out on the late-night circuit with his criticism of leftist excess, said Trump was "gracious and measured" during his visit to the White House, acknowledging his warm words might not be well-received by progressives.
Rogin, however, pushed back on Maher's decision to visit the White House and suggested that he had been used as part of a "PR stunt."
"I think you've fallen into the trap, and I think I represent 99% of the internet when I say this:you've played the game of proximity is principle," Rogin said. "I'm not questioning your motivation, I'm questioning Trump's, OK?"
Rogin emphasized that both he and the audience trusted that Maher met with Trump in good faith, but questioned Trump's motives for the dinner.
The praise seemed to have struck a nerve with Maher, who told Rogin, "You don't have to patronize me, dude. I don't know you. I've never met you."
"Not everybody has to like it. That's what we said. There are people who didn't want it to happen at all. You sound like one of them, it's OK."
Rogin attempted to talk over the late-night host but was abruptly cut off by Maher asking, "Did you hear what I said? What is the alternative to not talking? Just sit at your lunch table and don't talk to anybody?"
In his response to Maher, Rogin claimed that Trump saw this meeting as a "PR stunt," and used Maher as a "prop in that PR stunt."
Piers Morgan, a guest on the panel, also pushed back on Rogin's interpretation of the meeting, pointing out that most Americans aren't as tribal as social media might lead some to believe.
"If you go on social media for five minutes now, you just have this tribal fury raging all day long. Everyone's got to be implacably there, implacably there, and actually, most Americans and most Brits; they're not like that," Piers explained, adding, "And then, the idea that Bill Maher is now going to stop criticizing Donald Trump… is preposterous!"
Maher then affirmed Piers' idea, noting that he didn't hold back on Trump during his opening monologue or during his interview with former Trump advisor Steve Bannon earlier in the show.
Not giving Rogin a chance to respond, Maher jumped right back into challenging his interpretation of the Trump meeting.
"The fact that you began your little rant with ‘the internet,’ that tells me everything. You take your cues from the internet. Good luck," he told Rogin.
Rogin attempted to push back on Maher, questioning whether the late-night host believed that Trump would be "changed" after the meeting. Maher quickly shut him down.
"I said in the piece I did not think that was going to happen!" he sternly told Rogin, to which the columnist replied, "In that case then, go with God and enjoy."
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."
"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.
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.
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.
President Donald Trump met with Marc Fogel’s mother on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, and vowed to bring her son home if elected, just before an assassination attempt nearly took his life.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., was there for the meeting between Trump and Malphine Fogel before the president took the stage.
"The president survived the assassination attempt on July 13 in Butler, and he fulfilled his commitment to Mrs. Fogel that he would get her son home," Kelly told Fox News Digital. "It is an incredible, providential story."
During the rally, after his meeting with Fogel's mother, Trump was showing off a chart highlighting how illegal immigration skyrocketed under the Biden-Harris administration. As he turned toward the chart, he was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear by the now-deceased would-be-assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. Trump credits the chart for saving his life.
Kelly likened the situation to the classic movie "It’s a Wonderful Life."
"The theme of the movie was that George Bailey was very frustrated, but he was given a glimpse of life and what would have happened if he hadn’t been there – if he hadn’t been born," Kelly recalled. "And if I go back to July 13, this is all providential."
"Mrs. Fogel has a chance to talk to the president, and she talks about what is happening to Marc. The president vows to get him home," Kelly continued. "It is a take-off of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and the opportunity, or the dilemma, that if you were never born, what would the consequences have been?"
"If President Trump did not survive the assassination attempt on July 13, Marc Fogel wouldn’t be home today," Kelly said.
Fogel, an American teacher from Western Pennsylvania, returned to the United States late Tuesday, after Trump secured his release. Fogel was arrested in 2021 at an airport in Russia for possession of medical marijuana and was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison.
Kelly told Fox News Digital that "it is all about faith."
"Having been there and witnessed it, I think to myself, ‘Oh my goodness, that tiny fraction of an inch, or whatever it was, is the difference between Marc Fogel being home and Marc Fogel not being home,’" he said. "Between making a promise to his mother and being able to keep it, as opposed to making a promise and never getting a chance to fulfill it."
Malphine Fogel recalled the Butler meeting with Trump on Fox News Channel's "America Newsroom."
"I met with President Trump, and he was just as cordial as he could be," she said. "He told me three different times, 'If I get in,' he said, 'I'll get him out' and I really think he's been instrumental."
Malphine Fogel told Fox News that "it was a total surprise" when she heard from her son from the Moscow airport.
"So, that meant that (they) had taken him out of the prison to Moscow.... The last week or so, for some crazy reason, I had a better feeling about things, but I hadn't heard from him in a week, so I thought that was odd and when he called… it was just a total shock," she said.
Meanwhile, Kelly told Fox News Digital, "There is a certain time in people’s lives where you realize you don’t have forever, you have right now, and you need to get it done."
"Politically, there is no one on either side of the aisle that could look at what happened with Marc Fogel and not somehow say, this is truly providential – this is not a political move," Kelly said. "This doesn’t do anything for the president. He's already elected. He did this to keep a promise to a mother in her mid 90s – the only thing she wanted to see before she died was her son one more time."
Kelly added: "This is a promise made. Promise kept. It is truly providential. It is. It is a wonderful life."
President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Small Business Administration, former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, passed a key procedural vote in the Senate on Thursday, clearing the path for her final confirmation vote.
The Senate’s vote this afternoon to invoke cloture ended the debate on the Georgia Republican’s nomination, as she now moves on to the confirmation stage.
The final cloture vote was 51-43 in favor of invoking cloture.
"Like President Trump, Senator Loeffler left behind a successful career in the private sector to advance the America First agenda," Loeffler spokeswoman Caitlin O'Dea told Fox News on Jan. 28.
"Should she be confirmed, she will continue the practice of donating her federal salary to charities and nonprofits across the country — and put her full focus on working to make the Small Business Administration a gateway to the American Dream for entrepreneurs across the country."
Loeffler, whose net worth is estimated at roughly $1 billion, previously donated her annual Senate salary of $174,000 between 2019 and 2021 to more than 40 Georgia charities and nonprofits.
Those organizations included food banks, faith groups and organizations opposed to abortion, foster care/adoption groups as well as organizations promoting health care, agriculture, education, law enforcement and disaster relief.
Loeffler previously worked at several top financial firms, including Intercontinental Exchange. Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, whom she met at ICE, is the current chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Loeffler also previously bought a minority stake in the WNBA Atlanta Dream, but is reportedly no longer associated with the team.
Loeffler also sparred with Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass, during her confirmation hearing over the Trump administration’s announcement that it would freeze federal funds and grants.
After Trump fired SBA inspector general Hannibal Ware in January, Markey -- the top Democrat on the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee – expressed anger and called for a pause on Loeffler’s confirmation consideration.
Markey said the process should be halted "either until Inspector General Ware is reinstated or until a qualified and impartial nominee to replace him is confirmed by the Senate."
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the committee’s chairwoman, called Loeffler the "perfect person for the job" in an Osceola Sentinel-Tribune column.
"Throughout her career, she rose through the ranks at multiple companies due to her determination and grit. She also started many businesses and knows what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur," said Ernst.
"Most importantly, she knows what it means to be overrun by Washington’s bureaucratic overreach — and that the government must instead get out of the way so businesses can thrive."
Fox News Digital's Diana Stancy and Deidre Heavey contributed to this report
A D.C. federal judge sided with USAID workers Thursday, granting their request to extend a restraining order that prevents the Trump administration from effectively shutting down the foreign aid agency.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, said he would extend by one week the temporary restraining order, with plans to issue a final decision on a request to block President Donald Trump's action on Feb. 21.
His new order instructs the government to reinstate any USAID employees put on administrative leave and forbids the Trump administration from implementing any new administrative leave on USAID employees.
The hearing Thursday centered on the level of "irreparable harm" alleged against Trump's executive action in court. Nichols asked plaintiff's attorneys detailed questions about the impact of a stop work order that placed virtually every USAID employee on leave.
Karla Gilbride, representing the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees, told the judge that USAID employees had suffered harm both due to their own safety concerns and concerns for their well-being.
"These are not a few isolated incidents, this is an unprecedented dismantling of a congressionally created agency," she said. Plaintiffs "are being harmed by actions that are unconstitutional… This is a coordinated and unconstitutional effort to dismantle the agency."
Meanwhile, the Justice Department attorney, Eric Hamilton told Nichols that the USAID grievances are a matter of "personnel nature," arguing that they should be handled via the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) appeals process, rather than the federal court system.
Hamilton also pushed back on the claims of "irreparable harm," telling Nichols that the government is "committed to their safety."
"98% of those placed on administrative leave were in the US and the remaining were in developed nations like the UK," Hamilton said.
He pointed to a Wednesday night ruling from U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Massachusetts allowing the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program – colloquially known as the "fork in the road" resignation offer – to stand, arguing that this action is similar.
Last week, Nichols granted a request from U.S. Agency for International Development employees to temporarily block the Trump administration's order, which would have placed some 2,200 USAID employees on leave as of last Friday, and given all employees living abroad just 30 days to return to U.S. soil at government expense.
The order also temporarily reinstated some 500 employees that had been placed on administrative leave by Trump.
Nichols said in his decision last week that, barring court intervention, the abrupt order would cause "irreparable harm" to employees affected by the withdrawal orders.
He had paused the Trump administration's plans through Friday, Feb. 14, which Nichols said would allow for "expedited" arguments to help the court determine the legality of the actions.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, passed a key procedural vote in the Senate on Thursday, clearing the path for his final confirmation vote.
The Senate’s vote this afternoon to invoke cloture ended the debate on Lutnick’s nomination and paved the way for his confirmation as Commerce secretary. Senators advanced his nomination by a 52-45 vote. Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 majority.
Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald and a co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential transition team, needed a majority vote to bring his final confirmation vote to the Senate floor.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted 16-12 on February 5 to advance Lutnick to the procedural vote. Lutnick testified for over three hours before the Senate Commerce Committee on January 29.
If confirmed, Lutnick will become one of the wealthiest people to serve in a presidential administration, along with Elon Musk and Trump himself. During Lutnick’s confirmation hearing, he committed to selling all of his interests and assets if confirmed.
"My plan is to only serve the American people. So I will divest — meaning I will sell all of my interests, all of my business interests, all of my assets, everything," Lutnick said. "I've worked together with the Office of Government Ethics, and we've reached agreement on how to do that, and I will be divesting within 90 days upon my confirmation."
Lutnick said selling his businesses would prevent a conflict of interest.
"Upon confirmation, my businesses will be for sale and someone else will lead them going forward," Lutnick added.
Trump announced Lutnick’s nomination two weeks after he was elected president.
"I am thrilled to announce that Howard Lutnick, Chairman & CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my Administration as the United States Secretary of Commerce. He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said.
Trump applauded Lutnick’s leadership during the presidential transition, saying he "created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen."
With Lutnick teed up to lead Trump’s "Tariff and Trade agenda," he faced questions during his confirmation hearing about tariff policy. Lutnick said the argument that tariffs create inflation is "nonsense."
"We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better. We can use tariffs to create reciprocity," Lutnick said.
Lutnick testified that he shares Trump’s stance on tariffs, adding he prefers an "across-the-board" strategy to "country-by-country" tariffs.
Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports from all countries, adding up to a 35% tariff for Chinese steel and aluminum imports. The tariffs are set to go into effect on March 12.
Roughly 75,000 federal employees have accepted President Donald Trump’s deferred resignation program, after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management offered more than two million federal civilian employees buyouts in January to leave their jobs or be forced to return to work in person.
Employees who accepted the so-called "fork in the road" offer will retain all pay and benefits and be exempt from in-person work until Sept. 30, a move that's part of a broader attempt by the Trump administration to downsize the federal government.
"We have too many people," Trump told reporters Tuesday in a press briefing. "We have office spaces occupied by 4% — nobody showing up to work because they were told not to."
The White House confirmed to Fox News Digital that numbers had climbed to 75,000 as of Thursday morning.
It previously said it expected 200,000 people to accept the offer.
The Trump administration’s offer faced scrutiny, and a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration's plan from advancing amid challenges from labor union groups who voiced concerns that the law didn’t require the Trump administration to hold up its end of the deal.
However, U.S. District Judge George O’Toole of Massachusetts ruled in favor of the White House Wednesday evening, asserting the plaintiffs in the case aren’t directly impacted by the Trump administration’s offer.
They "allege that the directive subjects them to upstream effects including a diversion of resources to answer members’ questions about the directive, a potential loss of membership, and possible reputational harm," O'Toole wrote.
"The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees," O’Toole wrote. "This is not sufficient."
The Trump administration praised the court’s decision, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it as "the first of many legal wins for the president."
"The court dissolved the injunction due to a lack of standing," Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities."
The buyout program is one of several initiatives the Trump administration has unveiled to cut down the federal workforce. On Tuesday, Trump also signed an executive order instructing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to coordinate with federal agencies and execute massive cuts in federal workforce staffing numbers.
The order instructs DOGE and federal agencies to work together to "significantly" shrink the size of the federal government and limit hiring new employees, according to a White House fact sheet on the order. Specifically, agencies must not hire more than one employee for every four that leave their federal post.
Agencies also are instructed to "undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force" and evaluate ways to eliminate or combine agency functions that aren't legally required, the fact sheet said.
Fox News' Andrea Margolis, Jake Gibson, Jacqui Heinrich and Patrick Ward contributed to this report.
Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee sparred with President Donald Trump's Department of Education nominee Linda McMahon on Thursday over cost-cutting efforts underway by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an agency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
"I believe the American people spoke loudly in the election last November to say that they want to look at waste, fraud and abuse in our government," said McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Pressed by Democrats, including Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, if she would follow through with cuts suggested by the "DOGE brothers," McMahon said she can be counted on to follow congressional statute "because that's the law."
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., also asked if McMahon believes DOGE should have access to "private student data," suggesting that their probes "should frighten everyone."
"It is my understanding that those employees have been onboarded as employees of the Department of Education, and therefore, they operate under the restraints of utilizing access of information," McMahon said.
"That's not my understanding," Murray shot back.
"That's my understanding," McMahon responded.
Murray said it was "deeply disturbing" that DOGE staffers aren't "held accountable" and that it should "frighten everyone" if they have access to students' private information.
The Department of Education canceled over $100 million in grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training as part of a broader cost-cutting effort led by DOGE, Fox News Digital previously reported. DOGE announced the termination of 89 DOE contracts, totaling $881 million, including $101 million allocated for DEI programs focused on educating educators about oppression, privilege and power, in a post Monday on X.
"Your tax dollars were spent on this," Musk wrote of the DOE spending.
DOGE reported that the Department of Education spent an additional $1.5 million on a contractor to "observe mailing and clerical operations" at a mail center, a contract that was also terminated in the dramatic spending audit.
At one point, moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine raised the terminated contracts as she asked about fears from some educators that grants for tutoring might be on the chopping block.
"There are many worthwhile programs that we should keep," McMahon said in response to Collins. "But I'm not yet apprised of them. I want to study them. I'd like to get back and talk to you more and to work with you."
DOGE has been on a tirade to cut spending within the DOE, including terminating three grants in early February, one of which funded an institution that had hosted faculty workshops on "Decolonizing the Curriculum." Trump's early executive orders launched a federal review of DEI practices in federally funded educational institutions.
McMahon testified during Thursday's hearing that she has "not" had any conversation with Musk about the Department of Education.
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.
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.
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, 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."
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.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., is threatening to file articles of impeachment against a federal judge who blocked President Donald Trump's federal funding freeze.
"I’m drafting articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.," Clyde wrote on X.
"He’s a partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump’s funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending. We must end this abusive overreach. Stay tuned."
U.S. District Judge John McConnell filed a new motion Monday ordering the Trump administration to comply with a restraining order issued Jan. 31, temporarily blocking the administration’s efforts to pause federal grants and loans.
McConnell’s original restraining order came after 22 states and the District of Columbia challenged the Trump administration’s actions to hold up funds for grants, such as the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant and other Environmental Protection Agency programs. However, the states said Friday that the administration is not following through and funds are still tied up.
A three-judge panel on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s appeal of the order on Tuesday.
McConnell has come under fire by Trump supporters and conservatives who have accused him of being a liberal activist.
Clyde and others have cited a video of McConnell in 2021 saying courts must "stand and enforce the rule of law, that is, against arbitrary and capricious actions by what could be a tyrant or could be whatnot."
"You have to take a moment and realize that this, you know, middle-class, white, male, privileged person needs to understand the human being that comes before us that may be a woman, may be Black, may be transgender, may be poor, may be rich, may be — whatever," McConnell said in the video, according to WPRI.
Elon Musk wrote on X in response, "Impeach this activist posing as a judge! Such a person does great discredit to the American justice system."
Clyde confirmed he was preparing articles of impeachment when asked by Fox News Digital on Thursday.
"For a federal judge to deny the executive their legitimate right to exercise their authority is wrong," Clyde told Fox News Digital. "This type of judge, this political activist – this radical political activist – should be removed from the bench."
When reached for a response to Clyde's threat, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island said McConnell "often sits down with members of the media upon request" but did not comment on pending cases.
Trump’s allies have been hammering the judges who have issued a series of decisions curbing the president’s executive orders.
Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., threatened to prepare impeachment articles against another judge earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. Southern District of New York, for blocking Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury records.
A member of North Carolina’s largest school district’s board slammed critics of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and said the term is being bandied about by people who are racist in place of the "n-word."
Wake County Schools board member Sam Hershey began his remarks at last week’s meeting in Raleigh by saying that if people are "searching for truth, we’re going to have to wait about four more years for that because, man, I’ve never seen someone lie so much as that person," in an apparent reference to President Donald Trump.
Hershey, who is White, said that in recognition of Black History Month, he wanted to make some remarks about DEI in a meeting video posted to YouTube.
"I really want to highlight, as Dr. Ng mentioned, we're celebrating 250 [years of America] next year that … it’s really important to talk about people being hired based on their skin color. And for 250 years, it has been mediocre White men who have been hired based on their skin color."
"And those are facts. – I've heard people say DEI is racist. If that's what you believe, you know nothing about diversity, equity, inclusion, and you know nothing about racism. And that speaks to you as a human being."
Speaking about Wake County as a whole, which includes Raleigh as well as Fuquay-Varina and Zebulon, Hershey said DEI ensures kids who need more educational help receive it without lowering standards.
"That's the thing that drives me nuts the most," Hershey said. "That's being real. And I've said this before: People who throw around ‘DEI hire,’ they're just replacing the n-word with ‘DEI hire.’ That's what they want to say. We get it. You guys are all losers."
He referenced the recent helicopter-plane collision above Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia, where some pundits were hypothesizing about the personal identifiers of the pilots involved.
"Should I see a Black pilot or do I think they're a DEI hire? No, that's racism to think that way."
In Wake County Schools, he said, candidates are hired based on their qualifications and that it would be insulting not to do so.
"We’ve got vacancies, so we're not turning away people because they're White," he said.
A communications official for Wake County Schools told Fox News Digital, "I don't have any information to share with you," when reached on Thursday.
Superintendent Robert Taylor did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and several assistant superintendents, as well as Hershey, did not respond to emailed inquiries whether any reprimand or other action was being considered because of his remarks.
On X, formerly Twitter, Hershey's comments led to criticism, including one user who asked if he had ever listened to speeches from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"What happened to a world where one is not judged by the color of his skin (or other immutable outward characteristics for that matter?). Why should anyone consider skin color in hiring?"
"Sam Hershey has decades of experience in 'white man mediocrity," another user wrote. "Not exactly the best and brightest Wake County has to offer."
FIRST ON FOX -- President Donald Trump’s legal team continued to dial up the pressure on CBS and parent company Paramount Global on Thursday with a massive discovery demand for 107 different forms of communications.
Trump is seeking $20 billion in a lawsuit against CBS, alleging election interference over its handling of a "60 Minutes" interview. The president has accused CBS of aiding his Democrat rival Vice President Kamala Harris through deceptive editing one month before they faced off in the presidential election. The saga began when Harris was widely mocked for a "word salad" answer she gave to "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker during a preview of the interview on "Face the Nation," as CBS aired a more coherent answer to the same question during a primetime special.
In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Trump’s legal team has requested "all documents in CBS Interactive’s possession, custody, or control, wherever located, including documents in the possession of its representatives, attorneys, or other persons directly or indirectly retained by CBS Interactive, or anyone else acting on its behalf or otherwise subject to its control" pertaining to the interview.
The demand includes all communications between CBS and the FCC, The Biden administration, the Harris campaign and the DNC from September 22, 0224 through February 11, 2025. Trump’s legal team also asked for all communications about the interview involving "60 Minutes" executive editor Tanya Simon’s, executive producer Bill Owens, "Face the Nation" anchor Margaret Brennan or Whitaker, along with "any documents containing communications about interviewing or potentially interviewing President Trump for the Election Special."
Trump’s legal team has demanded "any documents containing communications" about the unedited exchange between CBS staffers and the Biden administration, Harris campaign and the DNC.
The 27-page list of discovery demands also asks for all internal communications "60 Minutes" honchos had with editors, journalists and correspondents during the controversy, along with any communications with the Harris campaign.
Any communications pertaining to the lawsuit between CBS and Paramount employees have also been requested, along with any communications about advertising or commercials during the programs that aired the Harris interview.
Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, is also named and Trump’s legal team wants to see her interactions with "60 Minutes" employees, too.
Critics accused CBS News of editing Harris' "word salad" answer to shield the former vice president from further backlash. The discovery request comes after Trump secured a legal victory earlier this week when a judge deemed CBS and Paramount’s motion to dismiss "moot."
CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered CBS News to hand over the unedited transcript as part of its investigation into whether the network violated the FCC's "news distortion" policy after a complaint was filed. CBS had refused to release the unedited transcript until the FCC got involved.
Last week, Trump’s legal team led by attorneys Ed Paltzik and Dan Epstein amended the original lawsuit after the release of the unedited transcript and raw footage of its controversial "60 Minutes" interview. The lawsuit added CBS News' parent company, Paramount Global, as a defendant, citing how the "60 Minutes" election special was platformed on its Paramount+ streaming service. The lawsuit added Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, as a plaintiff and increased the damages claim to $20 billion.
CBS parent company Paramount Global is reportedly considering settling the suit ahead of a planned merger with Skydance Media in hopes of preventing potential retribution by Trump's FCC, which has the authority to halt the multibillion-dollar transaction. Redstone is reportedly in favor of settling with the president.
The case against CBS and Paramount Global is one of the many legal fronts, criminal and civil, being coordinated by Trump’s Senior Counsel Boris Epshteyn.
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
Republican and Independent voters in a Fox News Digital focus group reacted positively to President Donald Trump's executive actions targeting transgender ideology in America's sports and other institutions.
The focus group of 156 voters across the political aisle watched a video clip of the president signing his executive order, "Keeping men out of women's sports," on February 5.
Trump said, "Actions were taken today are the latest in a sweeping effort to reclaim our culture and our laws from the radical left crusade against biological reality."
"On day one, I made it official, and I'm making it official policy of the United States government that there is, you know, two genders. We have two genders. What might they be? Man and woman, Right? Male and female. Male and female. Can't think of too many others, but it's pretty amazing."
"I rescinded federal funds too, and this is so important, to any program that promotes transgender ideology using taxpayer dollars. We're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. And last week I effectively banned the chemical castration and surgical mutilation of minor children."
After Trump referred to two genders and his action to strip federal funding for transgender surgeries, Democratic voters' approval remained steady, but Republican and Independent voters' approval steadily climbed, according to the Fox News Dial.
President of Maslansky + Partners Lee Carter, who conducted the focus group for Fox News Digital, remarked, "Even Democrats mostly agree!"
"For anyone who is hysterical and thinks this resonates because people are transphobic – that is not it at all," she added.
"People believe a few things: 1. Children need to be children. 2. If you are too young to have a beer or get a tattoo you are too young to make this decision. 3. Common Sense needs to prevail. 4. Our tax money shouldn’t fund it," Carter continued.
One focus group member said, "Finally, something that makes sense. Taking away government money for things we shouldn't be involved in was one of the best things Trump has ever done."
The group also reacted to a video of Trump discussing his initial executive orders challenging diversity, equity and inclusion ("DEI") and gender ideology in American institutions during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 23.
"With the recent yet somewhat unexpected great Supreme Court decision just made, America will once again become a merit-based country," Trump said. "You have to hear that word merit-based country."
"And I've made it official, an official policy of the United States that there are only two genders, male and female, and we will have no men participating in women's sports and transgender operations, which, became the rage will occur very rarely. Finally, as we restore common sense in America, we're moving quickly to bring back strength and peace and stability abroad," he continued.
Republican and Independent voters' approval shot up when Trump brought up making America once again a "merit-based country." After he declared a ban on male athletes in women's sports and transgender medical operations, both groups' approval steadily increased.
Democratic voters' approval remained level, dipping slightly during his remarks about gender ideology, according to a Fox News Dial.
Carter found the groups' reaction "fascinating."
"Look at the strength of reactions to ‘merit-based’ and ‘common sense’," she remarked.
One focus group member said, "He may be a rude dude, but I love his thoughts and how much common sense he is making! Love this!"
A total of 156 voters participated in the Fox News Digital focus group. Seventy-five Democratic voters participated, along with 49 Republican voters and 32 Independent voters.
Trump has signed 63 executive orders since his inauguration, according to a count from Fox News, which far surpasses the rate of any presidential predecessors during their first weeks in office.
According to a Marquette Law School Poll national survey released on Wednesday, Trump's most popular executive action with Americans is his order having the federal government recognize only two sexes — male and female.
Sixty-three percent of adults nationwide supported the move, with just 37% opposed, the survey indicates.
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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