Happy New Year 2025

Category: Politics

Pro-lifers pounce on Fetterman for opposing ‘Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act’: ‘Infanticide’

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and all other Senate Democrats blocked the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” from advancing in the chamber on Wednesday.

The measure would require health care practitioners to seek to save the life of a baby born during an attempted abortion, and ensure that the infant is hospitalized.

“I’ve always stood on the side of Roe and a woman’s right to make her own health care choices. It’s absurd to mandate criminalization because of those choices. Any bill that does so, including the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, is a NO from me,” Fetterman declared in a post on X.

JOHN FETTERMAN AND LINDSEY GRAHAM ADVOCATE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., speaks to reporters as he goes to vote on the Laken Riley Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 9, 2025. (ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images)

In a 52-47 party-line vote, 52 Republicans voted to proceed, while 45 Democrats and the two independent senators aligned with the Senate Democratic Caucus voted to block the bill from moving toward a vote.

The text of the measure stipulates that healthcare providers present when a baby is born alive amid an attempted abortion must “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age” and then “ensure that the child born alive is immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.”

The measure explicitly precludes prosecution of the child’s mother.

“The mother of a child born alive described under subsection (a) may not be prosecuted for a violation of this section, an attempt to violate this section, a conspiracy to violate this section, or an offense under section 3 or 4 of this title based on such a violation,” the text of the legislation reads.

CHIP ROY LEADS HOUSE REPUBLICANS IN EFFORT TO REPEAL LAW USED BY BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO PROSECUTE PRO-LIFERS

Pro-lifers decried Fetterman’s position.

“You just voted against medical care for a crying infant, begging for help, struggling to survive after a failed abortion. You have believed the leftist lie that killing babies – in this case now a BORN baby struggling for his life – is ever acceptable. Pure evil,” Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action, declared in a tweet.

Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins placed the handshake emoji in between the words “Fetterman” and “Infanticide.”

SEN. DAVE MCCORMICK ‘OPTIMISTIC’ ABOUT WORKING WITH SEN. FETTERMAN TO FIND ‘COMMON GROUND’: ‘EMBRACING’ CHANGE

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., speaks to reporters before a Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 12, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Katie Glenn Daniel, director of legal affairs and policy counsel for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, wrote in response to Fetterman’s post, “My dude, it’s literally called the Born-ALIVE Abortion SURVIVORS Protection Act. A baby is born, breathing and squirming, and you voted to deny her the life-sustaining healthcare that she would be owed if she was born under any other circumstance.”

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

January 23, 2025
‘Stealing American jobs’: Anti-CCP group unleashes ad demanding GOP lawmakers back Trump on saving US farms

Trump revealing his China strategy for next 4 years

Heritage Foundation senior fellow Michael Pillsbury discusses how Chinese President Xi Jinping is sending his vice president to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’

FIRST ON FOX: A group focused on combating the influence of China in the United States has launched a major ad buy to push state Republicans to move on President Trump’s agenda related to the threat China poses to U.S. agriculture.

The Protecting America Initiative, which bills itself as a “coalition of concerned American citizens and public policy experts who are committed to stopping Chinese influence in the states,” launched a five-figure ad buy for the one-minute ad set to run in key agricultural states warning of China’s push to “control the U.S. agriculture industry.”

“The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is buying up farmland across our country,” the ad says. “Stealing American jobs: Communist China is moving in to control the agricultural industry. This new war is happening right now without armies or any shots being fired. Who will dominate the world’s food supply? China is on the rise.”

“We’re being ripped off at levels that nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump says in a clip in the ad before the narrator says, “Republicans in the states need to step up and help President Trump combat the CCP.”

DAVID MARCUS: CHINA ALREADY PLAYED US WITH TIKTOK. LET’S NOT MAKE IT WORSE

Trump vowed on the campaign trail to protect U.S. farmers from Chinese advancement. (Getty Images)

A farmer is featured in the ad with a clip from a Fox News interview in which he explains that “we all feel that we’ve been forgotten about here.”

“We just want Trump to keep doing what he’s doing: Put America first,” the farmer, Pennsylvania GOP state Rep. Eric Davanzo, continues. “Make sure that America’s food is safe right here and make sure that we have the land and the opportunity to produce and grow our food here.”

TRUMP WANTS TO VISIT CHINA AGAIN AFTER HE TAKES OFFICE: REPORT

Chinese President Xi Jinping (Getty Images/File)

“Tell Republicans to stand with Trump and protect America’s food supply,” the closing line of the ad states.

The ad will be placed on national cable channels, including Fox News, in the key agricultural states of Missouri, Iowa, Georgia and Idaho.

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China’s national flag (Adek Berry/File)

Last year, the Protecting America Initiative released polling it said demonstrated that the “overwhelming majority of Americans are concerned about the CCP’s threat to the United States’ national security, food security, infrastructure, and higher education, and influence over our elected officials.”

Fox News Digital reported last year that the USDA’s most recent data suggests that, as of 2021, foreign investment in U.S. agricultural land grew to approximately 40 million acres. Additionally, Chinese agricultural investment in the U.S. increased tenfold between 2009 and 2016 alone.

The increasing number of land purchases has sparked concern that foreign companies and investors, particularly those from China, may be establishing a stranglehold on key U.S. food and energy supplies.

“The Chinese national government, or some people say the Chinese Communist Party, has been about acquiring all manner of assets, not just in the United States but around the world, to control all sorts of resources,” GOP Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma told Fox News Digital in a 2023 interview. “I would argue that, in addition to the importance of national security – the guns and the bullets and the planes and the resources to defend ourselves – if we cannot feed ourselves, then we are lost.”

Fox News Digital’s Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

January 23, 2025
First images of ICE mass deportation efforts show arrests of MS-13 gang members, murder suspects

Fox News embedded exclusively with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Boston as the agency targeted egregious criminal aliens, including MS-13 gang members and murder suspects, as part of mass deportation efforts under President Donald Trump.

Fox News witnessed ICE Boston make eight arrests, including multiple MS-13, Interpol Red Notices, murder and rape suspects, and a volatile Haitian gang member with 18 convictions in recent years who told our cameras that he “ain’t going back to Haiti” and “f— Trump, Biden forever!”

“Today was a good day. Today we took several significant public safety threats out of our communities,” Patricia Hyde, ERO Boston Acting Field Office Director, told Fox News. “Unfortunately, a lot were released by sanctuary policies. But we’re here to tell the Commonwealth and the rest of the country that we’re going to find them, whether they’re released or not.”

ICE also made what is known as a “collateral” arrest, where ICE arrests an illegal alien who wasn’t their initial target.

TRUMP’S ICE RACKS UP HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR HORROR CRIMES

Bill Melugin embedded with ICE Boston and witnessed agents making arrests. (X/ @BillMelugin_)

In that case, the illegal alien was with an MS-13 gang member who had been released by a sanctuary jurisdiction on Tuesday with an ICE detainer that was not honored.

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has previously warned that collateral arrests are something that would happen in sanctuary jurisdictions.

Bill Melugin embedded with ICE Boston and witnessed agents making arrests. (X/ @BillMelugin_)

As ICE Boston was arresting a violent illegal alien in one neighborhood, Fox News heard a woman yell out “thank you” to the agents.

Bill Melugin embedded with ICE Boston and witnessed agents making arrests. (X/ @BillMelugin_)

‘PROMPT REMOVAL’: TRUMP DHS EXPANDS EXPEDITED DEPORTATION POWERS AS OPERATIONS RAMP UP

The arrests come as the Trump administration moves rapidly to fulfill its promise to launch a historic mass deportation operation, which it has said will focus primarily – but not exclusively – on public safety threats.

Bill Melugin embedded with ICE Boston and witnessed agents making arrests. (X/ @BillMelugin_)

In the first days of the Trump administration, ICE has made more than 460 arrests of illegal immigrants, including those with criminal histories that include sexual assault, domestic violence and drugs and weapons crimes. Arrests took place across the U.S. including Illinois, Utah, California, Minnesota, New York, Florida and Maryland.

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Agents arrested nationals from a slew of countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal and Venezuela.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Bill Melugin currently serves as a Los Angeles based correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in May 2021.

January 23, 2025
VA Dems reject Youngkin’s antisemitism expert pick from George Mason Univ board amid troubling incidents

As George Mason University grapples with the latest incident of antisemitism linked to its Fairfax, Virginia, campus, Democrats in the Virginia State Senate rejected Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s nomination of one of the nation’s preeminent antisemitism scholars to its Board of Visitors.

Kenneth Marcus, the Brandeis Center’s founder and a former undersecretary in the Education Department’s civil rights division, was one of a few Youngkin nominees who were struck from consideration by the Senate Privileges & Elections Committee on a party-line vote.

Marcus has been described by The New York Times as “the man who helped redefine campus antisemitism,” and told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday interview he had hoped to continue that work at GMU.

“It was disappointing to see Democratic senators moving to block my nomination at precisely the same time that we were achieving a fairly significant victory over antisemitism in our Harvard University case,” Marcus said, noting he had served without incident on the GMU board since mid-2024.

HARVARD SETTLES TWO LAWSUITS DEALING WITH ALLEGATIONS OF ANTISEMITISM

George Washington University students take part in a Gaza solidarity encampment in conjunction with other Wasington, D.C.-area universities. (Getty)

“There’s really nothing that I can think of that I have done that would stir any controversy other than working to protect George Mason students from antisemitism,” he said, noting the school has struggled with the issue as of late.

A GMU freshman IT major and Egyptian national is being investigated by the FBI on charges of distributing information on weapons in furtherance of a violent crime and threats against a foreign official, according to NBC News.

Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, 18, of Falls Church, Virginia, was allegedly trying to orchestrate a bombing of the Israeli Consulate in New York City.

Leaders from Students for Justice in Palestine were also banned from campus after police found “Death to Jews” and “Death to America” signage along with firearms.

“This is a huge issue right now at George Mason with some very disturbing high-profile issues happening,” Marcus said.

A person familiar with Youngkin’s thoughts on the situation said the governor has “kept his cool” and is not engaging publicly but is incensed about the Democrats’ move.

“He is quietly working in hopes Democratic senators are seeing the error of their ways,” the person told Fox News Digital.

YOUNGKIN ‘PERSONALLY INVITES’ NEW TRUMP ADMIN WORKERS TO SETTLE IN VA OVER DC, MD

Marcus said he worked hard to combat antisemitism on campus in the seven months he has been on campus. “I have been very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the administration and board of that institution to address a very serious problem going on here.”

Marcus said one item he had been working on was incorporating antisemitism definitions into GMU’s anti-discrimination policy.

“Since I joined the board, the most significant thing I’ve done has been to work with the administration to incorporate the idea of a working definition of antisemitism into George Mason’s anti-discrimination policy. That was a huge advance, and it’s been very influential. It was disappointing to see members of the General Assembly respond as they have,” he said.

GMU has also been subject to anti-Zionist vandalism. As of last February, GMU President Gregory Washington said there had been at least 70 antisemitism incident reports to administrators and acknowledged a federal probe into reported malign activity.

“I have been asked on numerous occasions to stop the student protests. Even when you’re protesting against me, I still support it because I support freedom of speech,” Washington told the Fourth Estate student newspaper.

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The Virginia State Capitol. (Getty)

The Senate P&E Committee also removed nominations for former Vice President Mike Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short and Nina Rees, a senior official for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, as well as an education attorney from the Richmond firm McGuire-Woods.

Richmond Republicans are hoping to add Marcus’ name back to the legislation listing confirmed nominees on Thursday, but a source suggested their path remains unlikely without any Democrat defections in the 21-19 Senate.

Fox News Digital reached out to both Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Alexandria, and Senate P&E Committee Chair Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, about Marcus’ rejection.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].

January 23, 2025
Top 5 moments from Trump’s ‘Hannity’ interview

President Donald Trump sat down for an exclusive interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday, his first since returning to the White House.

Trump has routinely answered questions from reporters during his first week in office, including from Hannity.

In front of a primetime audience, Trump reflected on his return to the White House four years after his loss to former President Joe Biden, threatened a reckoning with FEMA, shared his view on TikTok’s future and discussed Biden’s preemptive pardons for officials and family members.

Here are the standout moments.

TRUMP’S ‘SHOCK AND AWE’: FORGET FIRST 100 DAYS, NEW PRESIDENT SHOWS OFF FRENETIC PACE IN FIRST 100 HOURS

President Donald Trump speaks with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. (Fox News)

1. Trump reflects on return to White House

Trump looked back on his historic return to the White House in his interview with Hannity, saying his political comeback proves the policies and philosophies of the “radical left” throughout the past four years are “horrible” and “don’t work.”

The 47th president lamented the Biden administration’s policies, once again targeting inflation, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the onset of the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars.

“With all that being said, I think it’s bigger. It’s bigger than if it were more traditional,” he said on “Hannity,” referring to his two nonconsecutive terms. “I think we got there just in the nick of time.”

From right to left, former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris, her husband Doug Emhoff and former President Joe Biden listen as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

2. Hannity reveals what he told Trump after 2020 election loss

Hannity revealed he told Trump after the 2020 election that a return to the White House four years after the Biden administration would be “bigger” than a consecutive win, comparing it to Winston Churchill’s return as prime minister following World War II.

“Maybe I shouldn’t disclose this, but I will, and it was after the 2020 election, and you asked me a question. And we’ve known each other for 30 years, so we have a friendship, and we have a professional relationship,” Hannity said in his exclusive interview with Trump on Wednesday.

“And the question you asked me, ‘maybe in the end, it will be better that if I came back in four years.’ And we talked about history. After World War II, Winston Churchill was thrown out, but they brought him back. Grover Cleveland, the only other American president that did not serve consecutive terms,” he continued.

TRUMP WARNS FEMA FACES A RECKONING AFTER BIDEN ADMIN: ‘NOT DONE THEIR JOB’

Churchill served as prime minister twice, from 1940-1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Trump is the second U.S. president to serve two, non-consecutive terms behind President Grover Cleveland, the nation’s 22nd and 24th president.

Hannity explained that he believed “it would be bigger if you came back.” Trump agreed that it is already shaping up that way after three days in office.

“It’s turning out to be bigger. And I think one thing is happening is people are learning that they can’t govern and that their policies are terrible. I mean, they don’t want to see a woman get pummeled by a man in a boxing ring?” he said.

3. Trump warns FEMA faces a reckoning after Biden administration

Trump warned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is set to face a reckoning following four years under the Biden administration, arguing the emergency agency has “not done their job.”

“FEMA has not done their job for the last four years. You know, I had FEMA working really well. We had hurricanes in Florida. We had Alabama tornadoes. But unless you have certain types of leadership, it’s really, it gets in the way. And FEMA is going to be a whole big discussion very shortly, because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” Trump said.

FEMA came under the nation’s microscope last year when Hurricane Helene ripped through North Carolina, devastating residents as it wiped out homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people. FEMA and the Biden administration faced fierce backlash for its handling of the emergency, while Trump accused the agency of obstructing relief efforts in Republican areas.

‘TOTALLY PREPARED’: TRUMP ALLIES SAY HE’S BETTER POSITIONED THAN EVER TO ENACT AGENDA

“The Democrats don’t care about North Carolina. What they’ve done with FEMA is so bad. FEMA is a whole ‘nother discussion, because all it does is complicate everything,” he said.

“So I’m stopping on Friday. I’m stopping in North Carolina, first stop, because those people were treated very badly by Democrats. And I’m stopping there. We’re going to get that thing straightened out because they’re still suffering from a hurricane from months ago,” Trump said.

Trump will visit North Carolina on Friday, his first trip as president, where he is expected to tour and meet with residents who were left devastated by the hurricane in September. He will also visit California that same day, where wildfires have ripped through the Los Angeles area this month.

4. Trump has a ‘very warm spot in my heart’ for TikTok

President Trump is pictured in front of the TikTok logo. (Getty Images)

Trump credited his campaign’s decision to go on TikTok with his strong 2024 election performance with youth voters, though he told Hannity the short form video platform must be sold by its Chinese owners to continue to operate in the U.S.

“I think TikTok ought to be sold,” Trump said. “People want to buy it.”

On his first day in office Monday, Trump issued an executive order granting TikTok more time to operate and work toward compliance with a law forcing the platform’s Beijing-based owner, ByteDance, to either divest the app to an American buyer or shut the platform down in the U.S.

He has stated that the U.S. should own half of TikTok and suggested that billionaire Elon Musk or Oracle founder Larry Ellison should purchase the app.

TRUMP’S 90-DAY TIKTOK EXTENSION COULD BE ‘LEGALLY INVALID,’ JONATHAN TURLEY WARNS

In the interview, Trump seemed dismissive of Hannity’s concerns that TikTok is a “spying app for the communist Chinese.”

“But you can say that about everything made in China. Look, we have our telephones made in China for the most part. We have so many things made in China. So why don’t they mention that, you know?” Trump said.

“You’re dealing with a lot of young people,” he added. “So they love it. Is it that important for China to be spying on young people and young kids watching crazy videos of things?”

Hannity replied that he does not want China spying on anybody.

“No, but they make your telephones, and they make your computers, and they make a lot of other things,” Trump said. “Isn’t that a bigger threat?”

5. Trump reacts to Biden not pardoning himself

During a discussion on Biden’s preemptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House Jan. 6 select committee, Trump suggested the “sad thing” about it was that Biden did not pardon himself.

“I was given the option,” Trump said, recalling the end of his first term, when political pundits speculated that Trump may pardon himself to avoid prosecution for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots.

“They said, ‘sir, would you like to pardon everybody, including yourself?’ I said, I’m not going to pardon anybody. We didn’t do anything wrong. And we had people that suffered,” Trump said, noting that his former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former trade advisor Peter Navarro were jailed for contempt of Congress.

“[Biden] went around giving everybody pardons, and, you know, the funny thing — maybe the sad thing — is he didn’t give himself a pardon. And, if you look at it, it all had to do with him,” Trump told Hannity.

TRUMP PARDONS NEARLY ALL JAN.6 DEFENDANTS ON INAUGURATION DAY

Biden was asked in 2020 about reports that then-President Trump was considering preemptive pardons for members of his family and even himself, describing the possibility as concerning.

“Well, it concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice,” Biden told CNN anchor Jake Tapper.

Four years later, he pardoned his sister, two brothers and their spouses. Biden said the array of pardons was in part because he feared “baseless” and “politically motivated investigations” into his family from the Trump administration.

“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement released on Inauguration Day.

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Trump declined to answer Hannity’s question about whether Congress should investigate the Biden family.

“Look, he didn’t give himself a pardon, and he didn’t give some other people a pardon that needed it,” said Trump.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan, Emma Colton and Breck Dumas contributed to this report.

Chris Pandolfo is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

January 23, 2025
Key Senate chairman criticizes ‘anonymous sources with ulterior motives,’ stands by Hegseth nomination

A key senator on the Armed Services Committee says he is standing by President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, pushing back on those he called “anonymous sources with ulterior motives” who are casting doubt on his character.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., in a statement Wednesday criticized recent reports on a confidential briefing on the FBI background investigation of Hegseth as “starkly and factually inaccurate.”

“It is disturbing that a sensitive, longstanding process used by committee leadership to vet presidential personnel is being litigated in the press by anonymous sources with ulterior motives,” Wicker said, adding that he’s received three separate, detailed briefings on the FBI’s background investigation.

Wicker was responding to a CNN report that cited two sources familiar with the matter who claimed that Hegseth’s ex-wife, Samantha Hegseth, gave a statement to the FBI about Hegseth’s alleged alcohol use. The outlet said one of the sources said Samantha Hegseth told the FBI, “He drinks more often than he doesn’t.”

HEGSETH LAWYER SLAMS ‘FLAWED AND QUESTIONABLE AFFIDAVIT’ FROM EX-SISTER-IN-LAW

Pete Hegseth, left, President Donald Trump’s choice to be Defense Secretary, shakes hands with Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss. after his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Wicker says that he continues to stand by Hegseth.

“After this thorough review, I am ironclad in my assessment that the nominee, Mr. Hegseth, is prepared to be the next Secretary of Defense, and that the allegations unfairly impugning his character do not pass scrutiny,” the senator said.

Pete Hegseth appears at the completion of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Wicker said that Hegseth has the confidence of Trump and the backing of Senate Republicans, and called on the Senate to confirm the nominee “as fast as possible” during this “precarious national security moment.”

‘DESPERATE ATTEMPT’: SENATORS RECEIVE AFFIDAVIT WITH ALLEGATIONS ABOUT HEGSETH’S PREVIOUS MARRIAGE

Hegseth has faced controversy throughout his nomination process.

On Tuesday, Fox News obtained an affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, which alleges he has an alcohol abuse problem and at times made his ex-wife, Samantha, fear for her safety. Danielle Hegseth was married to Pete Hegseth’s brother. She is not the sister of Samantha, Pete Hegseth’s second wife.

But Danielle Hegseth added that she never witnessed any abuse herself, physical or sexual, from Pete against Samantha.

Samantha Hegseth has also denied any physical abuse in a statement first reported by NBC News.

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“There was no physical abuse in my marriage. This is the only further statement I will make to you. I have let you know that I am not speaking and will not speak on my marriage to Pete. Please respect this decision,” she reportedly said.

Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson and Fox News’ Tyler Olson, Kelly Phares and Daniel Scully contributed to this report.

January 23, 2025
‘Totally prepared’: Trump allies say he’s better positioned than ever to enact agenda

President Donald Trump’s Republican allies in the House say he is better positioned than ever to enact his legislative agenda, entering the White House armed with nearly a decade’s worth of knowledge about Washington.

“The first time, he was a great businessman, but he didn’t know Washington. He’s got it down now,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., a close ally of Trump’s who switched parties to better align with him during his first term. “He’s totally prepared for this. Last time he was learning. He’s learned. He’s ready to go.”

Multiple House GOP lawmakers who served in Congress during Trump’s first term described a man who is returning to D.C. both with a triumphant electoral victory and a sharp understanding of how Capitol Hill and the wider D.C. network works.

Several said the changes are manifesting in his and his team’s near-constant communication with Republican lawmakers and in the people he’s hiring for his team.

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS MEET WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, VP VANCE TO ADVANCE AGENDA

President Trump’s allies say he’s returning to D.C. with a new mindset. (Fox News Digital/Trump-Vance Transition Team)

“He knows now that Washington is generally going to push back, and they’re going to do what they want to do — whether you call it the deep state or the establishment or the uniparty. I think he’s very aware, and I think he’s comporting his actions to address those issues,” said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. “He understands that personnel is policy, so he’s trying to get the right people in place, not because they’re loyal to him, but because they’re loyal to the agenda that the people want.”

Within hours of being sworn in Monday, Trump held public events where he signed dozens of executive orders to enact promises he made on the campaign trail.

All the while, he’s stayed in close contact with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., as well as summoning a flurry of House Republicans to Mar-a-Lago earlier this month to discuss the GOP agenda.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., a former founding member of the House Freedom Caucus who served in the House from 2010 to 2017 and who is back for another term, noticed a marked difference from former Speaker Paul Ryan’s era.

Trump is much closer to Speaker Mike Johnson than he was to ex-Speaker Paul Ryan. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“It didn’t seem he and Speaker Ryan were on the same page coming into Congress. I saw them have discussions about the election and rallies, and they just had different perspectives, which I think is unfortunate because it was a real missed opportunity for a lot of things to be done,” Stutzman said.

“This time, he knows Washington, he has a great team he’s pulling together and I think his team will be that much more disciplined and focused on the four-year window to get as much done as possible.”

Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., a former member of House GOP leadership, also remarked on Trump’s focus on Congress.

“His first term was clearly a populist campaign. He had really smart people, but they didn’t have any congressional experience,” Palmer said. “That’s not happening now. They’ve worked very closely with us. I feel like we’re all on the same page about what needs to be done.”

WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., said Trump is “totally prepared.” (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Freshman Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., who had been a talk radio host before his political career, noted that the media environment Trump walked into had been a more receptive one compared to 2016.

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“He sort of broke the media complex. He seemed like – the media folks who in 2016 were resisting him, now they’ve realized, ‘Well, maybe this was censorship that we were doing, and that’s maybe not the best thing for our business model,’” Crank said. “But, whatever it is, they’ve sort of joined up with him, right, in a lot of ways.”

A significant part of Trump’s D.C. education came during the four years he was out of office, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a longtime ally, said. But he and others agreed that, at his core, Trump has not changed.

“There’s no question that he is better than had he raced into a second term. He is the same man, though. He knows what he believes,” Issa said.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

January 23, 2025
‘Ultra-right’: Trump budget chief pick Russell Vought faces fire from Dem senators

Democratic lawmakers grilled President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on a series of issues Wednesday, ranging from abortion to the constitutionality of the Impoundment Control Act.

While Republicans argue that Russell Vought is qualified for the role because he served as Trump’s OMB director during the president’s first term, Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have labeled Vought an “ultra-right” ideologue.

Vought appeared before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday for a confirmation hearing and defended his previous statements that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional — an issue Democrats claim should disqualify him from leading the Office of Management and Budget.

TRUMP’S TREASURY NOMINEE TURNS THE TABLES ON SANDERS IN TESTY EXCHANGE ABOUT BIDEN’S ‘OLIGARCHY’ COMMENTS

Russell Vought served as Trump’s director of the OMB from July 2020 to January 2021. (Al Drago)

The law, adopted in 1974, stipulates that Congress may oversee the executive branch’s withholding of budget authority, and affirmed that Congress holds the power of the purse. Ultimately, the law bars the executive branch from circumventing Congress and withholding appropriated funds.

The first Trump administration and Vought have come under fire after the Office of Management and Budget held up $214 million in military aid for Ukraine in 2019, a decision that ultimately led to Trump’s first impeachment.

“You’re quite comfortable assuming that the law doesn’t matter and that you’ll just treat the money for a program as a ceiling… rather than a required amount,” Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley said. “Well, the courts have found otherwise.”

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Additionally, the Supreme Court also ruled in 1975 that the executive branch cannot impound funds without congressional oversight.

In that case, Train v. City of New York, the Supreme Court determined the Environmental Protection Agency must use full funding included in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, even though then-President Richard Nixon issued orders not to use all the funding.

Lawmakers have pointed to this case in Vought’s confirmation hearings as further evidence that the executive branch cannot tie up funding Congress has approved.

Even so, Vought told lawmakers in multiple exchanges he believes the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional, because presidents historically could spend less than what Congress had approved prior to the Impoundment Control Act, and that Trump campaigned on that position.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders questions Russell Vought, President Trump’s nominee to be director of the OMB, testifies before a Senate Budget Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 22, 2025. (Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Reuters)

Democrats aren’t the only ones worried about Vought’s views on the Impoundment Control Act. Senate Budget Committee chair Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he also shared some concerns and would disclose them at a markup hearing for Vought’s nomination.

Vought also faced questioning on his views regarding abortion, given his connection as an author of Project 2025, a political initiative The Heritage Foundation released in 2023 that called for policy changes, including instituting a national ban on abortion medication.

Other proposals included in Project 2025 include eliminating the Department of Education, cutting DEI programs, and reducing funding for Medicare and Medicaid.

“You have said that you don’t believe in exceptions for rape, for incest, or the life of the mother,” said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. “Is that your position?”

“Senator, my views are not important. I’m here on behalf of the president,” Vought said.

GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?

Trump has repeatedly stated that he backs abortion in certain instances, and stated that “powerful exceptions” for abortion would remain in place under his administration.

Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pressed Vought on whether healthcare is a “human right.” Sanders has previously introduced legislation called the Medicare for All Act that would establish a federal, national health insurance program.

“Do you think we should join every other major country on Earth and say, ‘You know what? Whether you’re poor, you’re rich, you’re young, you’re old, healthcare is a human right,’” Sanders said. “We have the richest country in the history of the world. Do you think we should do what every other major country on Earth does?”

Vought declined to disclose specifics, but said that he believed it’s critical to provide “legitimate, evidence-based outcomes for people within the healthcare system, and to make sure that we tailor all of the dollars that are spent toward that.”

Russ Vought, pictured during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

After serving as director of the Office of Management and Budget under the first Trump administration, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America in 2021. The organization claims its mission is to “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God,” according to its website. Vought also served as the vice president of Heritage Action for America.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said his meeting with Vought only exacerbated his concerns about the nomination.

“I walked out of the meeting even more deeply troubled,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “Of all the extremists President Trump could have picked for OMB, he picked the godfather of the ultra-right.”

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Vought has repeatedly told lawmakers that he would uphold the law and that his personal views aren’t important — carrying out Trump’s vision is what matters.

The OMB is responsible for developing and executing the president’s budget, as well as overseeing and coordinating legislative proposals and priorities aligned with the executive branch.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.

January 23, 2025
Trump’s ‘shock and awe’: Forget first 100 days, new president shows off frenetic pace in first 100 hours

Buckle up.

President Donald Trump is back in the White House and moving at warp speed.

In his inauguration address, the new president vowed that things across the country would “change starting today, and it will change very quickly.”

And moments later, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich took to social media to tease, “Now, comes SHOCK AND AWE.”

They weren’t kidding.

TRUMP UNPLUGGED: WHAT THE NEW PRESIDENT IS DOING THAT BIDEN RARELY DID

President Donald Trump holds a document as he issues executive orders and pardons for January 6 defendants, in the Oval Office at the White House, on January 20, 2025. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

Trump signed an avalanche of executive orders and actions in his first eight hours in office, which not only fulfilled major campaign trail promises, but also allowed the returning president to flex his executive muscles as well as settle some longstanding grievances.

The president immediately cracked down on immigration, moved towards a trade war with top allies and adversaries, reversed many policies implemented by former President Biden, including scrapping much of the previous administration’s federal diversity actions and energy and climate provisions.

HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS UPDATES ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

He also sparked a major controversy by pardoning or commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 supporters who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to upend congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory. Among those whose sentences were commuted included some who violently assaulted police officers on one of America’s darkest days.

Trump also fired some top government officials, made a high-profile half-trillion dollar tech investment announcement, held unscripted and wide-ranging, informal, and impromptu news conferences during his first two days back at the White House, and even renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

“I think it’s brilliant how they’ve been handling it, to immediately meet the moment with action. It’s exactly what he needs to do and its exactly what the people voted for,” veteran Republican strategist Kristin Davison told Fox News.

“Americans vote for decisive, fast action, and true leadership. And Trump understands that more than anyone. I think he and his team knew how important it was out the gate to show that they heard what the people wanted and are answering with leadership,” Davison argued.

WATCH: TRUMP SITS DOWN IN OVAL OFFICE WITH FOX NEWS’ HANNITY

Longtime Republican consultant Alex Castellanos agreed

“He’s flooding the zone. He’s making a case for action. He’s demonstrating action. He is rallying a wave of American support for a massive transformation of government,” Castellanos, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News.

Seasoned Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo didn’t dispute Trump’s frenetic actions.

“The pace of this shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Trump made it abundantly clear he was going to act quickly, he was going to act boldly, and he was going to do exactly what he told voters he would do,” Caiazzo said.

But he argued that “the things he is doing is going to directly negatively impact working families from coast to coast. It’s also a signal he has no respect for the rule of law.”

TRUMP’S AVALANCHE OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Asked if Trump’s actions were what Americans voted for this past autumn, Caiazzo replied “of course not. What Americans voted for was cheaper groceries. What Donald Trump is going to give us is a litany of policies that work to deteriorate our institutions, that work to enrich the wealthy and solidify his standing among the oligarchy in this country.”

There’s another reason for Trump’s fast pace – even though he’s the new president, he’s also a term-limited and lame-duck president. And by Labor Day, much of the political world will start looking ahead to the 2026 midterm elections.

“This is his second term. He’s got to move quickly,” Davison emphasized.

President Donald Trump reviews the troops during his Inauguration ceremony in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Greg Nash/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump’s show of force in the opening days of his second administration is also in contrast to eight years ago, when he first entered the White House.

The president and his team are much more seasoned the second time around, and the supporting cast is intensely loyal to Trump.

“In the past administration, there would be logjams and bottlenecks because there were people who didn’t agree with him,” a senior White House source told Fox News. “Now we have a whole infrastructure and staff that’s built around him, in support of him. When he says something, it’s getting done. It’s testament to him and the team that he built.”

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Credit is also being given to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who, as co-campaign manager of Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, kept the trains on the tracks.

“What Susie has done is look at the totality of Trump and found the best players and put them in the best positions to support the president. Trump is surrounded by Trump people who’ve all proven themselves over the years not just to be loyal but ultra-competent operators,” added the adviser, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.

January 23, 2025
Marco Rubio heading to Panama for first trip as secretary of state

Newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Panama for his first international trip as the nation’s top diplomat, Fox News has learned.

Though details are still being worked out, the visit could come as early as next week.

The planned trip comes after repeated vows by President Donald Trump – who returned to the White House on Monday – to take back the Panama Canal.

Trump mentioned the Panama Canal again during his inaugural address on Monday, claiming that it was now in the hands of China and vowing to take it back.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks after being sworn in by Vice President JD Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” Trump said.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino responded forcefully to Trump’s comments on Wednesday saying, “we reject in its entirety everything that Mr. Trump has said. First, because it is false and second, because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama.”

The Marshall Islands cargo ship Cape Hellas (L) and the Portuguese cargo ship MSC Elma sail on Gatun Lake near the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon City, Panama, on December 28, 2024. (ARNULFO FRANCO/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. built the canal in the early 1900s under then President Theodore Roosevelt as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by then President Jimmy Carter.

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News of Rubio’s trip was first reported by Politico and could include other Central American countries like Guatemala and El Salvador, where Rubio is expected to address a top priority of curbing mass migration that he outlined earlier this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is sworn by Vice President JD Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington, as his wife, Jeanette Rubio, looks on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce tells Fox News that “Secretary Rubio is prioritizing the region because it’s where we live,” adding “we won’t continue to ignore the region as other administrations have.”

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She added: “Engaging with our neighbors is a vital element in addressing migration, supply chains, and economic growth, which are key to Secretary Rubio’s pursuit of foreign policy focused on making America strong, prosperous, and safe.”

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues, and much more.

January 23, 2025