House Democrats and the family of a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died a day after confronting rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection scolded President Donald Trump Wednesday over his actions related to the unrest since taking office.
U.S. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and the family of Brian Sicknick gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol to push for a resolution condemning Trump over the blanket pardons for the Jan. 6 defendants and the firing of federal prosecutors on those cases.
“They pardon criminals for violently assaulting cops, and they fire FBI agents and prosecutors for doing their jobs,” Raskin said. “That’s where we are in America today.”
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Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington.(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
He added that Trump initially denounced the actions of the rioters before the “process of trying to redefine the meaning of the events of January 6th, to whitewash the atrocities that took place that day, to cover up and to shroud in doubt the violent assaults that took place on the police officers to make people believe that it wasn’t Donald Trump’s mega mob that attacked us.”
Last month, Trump granted clemency to those charged in the riot, even those accused of violently assaulting police officers. In an interview with Fox News, he said the prison sentences for the defendants were excessive.
“These people have served, horribly, a long time,” he said.
The FBI logo and President Donald Trump(Emma Woodhead; Getty Images )
Thompson said the prosecutors who worked on the Jan. 6 cases were being scapegoated by the Trump administration.
“The people who did the hard work of tracking these 1,500 people down are now being told you didn’t do your job,” he said. “Now these people either pleaded guilty or they were found guilty, and so many of them assaulted law enforcement people and for now they are being rewarded and the people who are being patriots are being punished.”
Ken Sicknick, brother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, said Trump’s pardons reopened wounds from his brother’s death.
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This still is taken from video footage of Julian Khater, 32, of State College, who prosecutors have accused of assaulting Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick during the Jan. 6 riot in Washington. Khater was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison.(Reuters/Capitol Police/Department of Justice)
“On January 20th, 2025, a convicted felon and twice-impeached politician pardoned approximately 1,600 criminals responsible for the destruction of property and the destruction of the lives of law enforcement and their families, such as mine,” Sicknick said. “They were all convicted through due process. The investigations were thorough. The rule of law that the POTUS and the Republican cronies will tell you they stand for was smashed apart.
“It was smashed apart by the very same person who claimed that he is a friend of the police more than any president who’s ever been in office.”
Brian Sicknick, 42, suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after he confronted rioters during the riot. A medical examiner’s report showed that Sicknick was sprayed with a chemical substance around 2:20 p.m. on Jan. 6 and collapsed at the Capitol around 10 p.m. that evening.
He died around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, according to the examiner’s office. Ken Sicknick noted that most of the defendants released have shown no remorse for their actions.
“We do feel powerless in a lot of cases,” he said. “What are we going to do? It’s a tiny blue-collar family going against the president of the United States.”
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Coleman said a purge of Justice Department veteran prosecutors only benefits criminal groups that engage in drug trafficking and terrorism.
“If they were not suddenly the targets of a political takeover of the federal law enforcement, they would be working to stop terrorist attacks, stop drug trafficking and drug dealers, impede human traffickers and prosecute crime across this country if they were not targeted otherwise,” she said.
Republican spending hawks in the House of Representatives are pushing their leaders to include at least $2.5 trillion in spending cuts in a massive piece of legislation intended to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Republicans held their weekly closed-door agenda meeting on Wednesday where they discussed a path forward via the budget reconciliation process.
By lowering the threshold in the Senate from two-thirds to a simple majority – which the House already operates under – reconciliation allows the party in power to pass sweeping fiscal policy changes while skirting the opposition.
Several sources told Fox News Digital there was significant “frustration” within the House GOP conference on Wednesday over a lack of a concrete final plan from Republican leadership.
SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN
House Budget Committee members Ralph Norman and Chip Roy are among the conservatives pushing Speaker Mike Johnson to seek at least $2.5 trillion in spending cuts(Getty Images)
One GOP lawmaker said that tension bubbled up with several “heated exchanges,” with conservatives demanding a concrete plan and minimum spending cuts at significantly higher levels than what was initially proposed.
“I think there’s a lot of frustration right now,” the lawmaker told Fox News Digital. “They’ve been trying to be inclusive, but not every open forum they’ve offered is giving members the ability to say, ‘I feel like people are listening to me,’ because I don’t know that’s the case right now.”
There’s also concern that the Senate, which is growing impatient with the House, could move forward with its own plan if the House doesn’t release one first – which House Republicans worry will include much shallower spending cuts than what could pass in the lower chamber.
“What we’re worried about is losing the opportunity. I think we’re more likely to cut than they are,” a second GOP lawmaker said.
A third House Republican said GOP lawmakers were fed up waiting for a “play call.”
But senior House GOP aides pushed back on the notion there was no play call, pointing out that Republican leaders held countless listening sessions culminating at the recent three-day House GOP retreat in Miami to consult members and emerge with a blueprint for a one-bill strategy that maintains scoring flexibility. The aides said the reconciliation process has had a 95% participation rate among House Republicans.
House GOP leaders were forced to delay a key vote on advancing a reconciliation bill through the House Budget Committee, the first step in the process, after spending hawks pushed back on initial proposals for spending cuts between $300 billion and $600 billion.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said on Tuesday night that it would likely be planned for next week, but that leaders’ final goal of having a bill on Trump’s desk in May remained unimpeded.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Republicans were still on track to get a bill to Trump in May.(Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Three sources told Fox News Digital that leaders are floating a plan that would include roughly $1.65 trillion as a baseline for spending cuts, though two people stressed they saw the figure as one of several tentative ideas rather than a final plan.
Two other sources said it would also include measures that lead to an additional $1.65 trillion in economic growth.
Republicans are trying to pass a broad swath of Trump policies via reconciliation, from more funding for border security to eliminating taxes on tips and overtime wages. Trump has also made clear that he views extending his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 as vital to the process.
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The tax cuts have proved a sticking point with some spending hawks, however, because several estimates show they could add upwards of $1 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years if extended. Those spending hawks have said they support extending the tax cuts but are seeking deep funding rollbacks elsewhere to offset them.
Three people involved in the discussions also told Fox News Digital that House GOP leaders are considering extending the TCJA tax cuts by five years instead of 10 to mitigate those concerns.
Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., two conservative members of the House Budget Committee, both told reporters they wanted to see the baseline for spending cuts set at roughly $2.5 trillion.
Reconciliation is being used to pass President Trump’s agenda(Donald Trump/Truth Social)
Roy told reporters that $2.5 trillion would amount to roughly $250 billion per year in federal savings over 10 years – while pointing out the U.S. was currently running a $36 trillion national debt.
House GOP leaders vowed to seek $2.5 trillion in spending cuts back in December, to get conservatives on board with a bill averting a partial government shutdown.
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“They said $2.5 trillion of cuts. So, deliver. That will unlock the door,” Roy said.
Norman told reporters multiple times this week that he wants between $2 trillion and $3 trillion in cuts.
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.
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EXCLUSIVE: Former University of Pennsylvania women’s swimmers Grace Estabrook, Margot Kaczorowski and Ellen Holmquist have filed a lawsuit against the university, Harvard University, the NCAA and the Ivy League Council of Presidents over their experience sharing a team with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. The lawsuit does not name Thomas as a defendant.
According to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Estabrok, Kaczorowski and Holmquist argue that Thomas’ eligibility to compete as a woman for UPenn violated their Title IX rights. It argues the NCAA’s 2010, which allows biological males to compete in the women’s category based on their preferred gender identity, is “discriminatory.”
The women claim that by allowing Thomas to compete, the institutions “injured them and violated federal law.”
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The lawsuit also detailed the personal experiences each of the women faced having to share a team and locker room with Thomas. Each of the plaintiffs claims the experience left them “repeatedly emotionally traumatized.”
The plaintiffs allege that the university administrators pushed pro-trans ideology onto them throughout the process of accepting Thomas on the team and in their locker room. The former swimmers say that they were led to feel their concerns over being teammates with Thomas was rooted in a “psychological problem.”
“The UPenn administrators told the women that if anyone was struggling with accepting Thomas’s participation on the UPenn Women’s team, they should seek counseling and support from CAPS and the LBGTQ center,” the lawsuit alleges.
“The administrators also invited the women to a talk titled, ‘Trans 101.’ Thus, the women were led to understand that UPenn’s position was that if a woman on the team had any problem with a trans-identifying male being on her team that woman had a psychological problem and needed counseling.”
Lia Thomas of the Pennsylvania Quakers swims in the 500 yard freestyle event during a tri-meet against the Yale Bulldogs and the Dartmouth Big Green at Sheerr Pool on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania on January 8, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.(Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
The plaintiffs also allege that the administrators warned them against speaking out against the situation publicly.
“The UPenn administrators went on to tell the women that if the women spoke publicly about their concerns about Thomas’ participation on the Women’s Team, the reputation of those complaining about Thomas being on the team would be tainted with transphobia for the rest of their lives and they would probably never be able to get a job,’” the lawsuit alleges.
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Thomas, a biological male, previously competed for the UPenn men’s swimming team from 2017-20 under the name Will Thomas. According to the lawsuit, Thomas was introduced by women’s swimming head coach Mike Schnur to the women’s swimmers during a team meeting in Fall 2019 as their incoming teammate.
The lawsuit alleges that coaches and UPenn administrators told the women’s swimmers not to talk about Thomas’ situation. Schnur allegedly told the women’s swimmers that Thomas wouldn’t be sharing a locker room with them when they asked after the initial introduction.
But that allegedly changed later.
Thomas officially began to practice and compete with the women’s swimmers in Fall 2021.
And that was when the female swimmers say they discovered that Schnur’s alleged claim Thomas wouldn’t share a locker room was not true.
“When UPenn’s women’s swimmers returned to school in the fall of 2021 they were shocked to discover that Thomas was being allowed to use the women’s locker room at UPenn and would be allowed to use the women’s locker room at swim meets,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Margot [Kaczorowski] only learned that Thomas had been authorized by UPenn to use the women’s locker room when [Kaczorowski] walked in the women’s locker room to find Thomas in front of her changing his clothing.”
Per the suit, Kaczorowski confronted Schnur in tears about her shock of discovering Thomas would now share a locker room with her. She alleges the coach responded by saying “I know it’s wrong but there’s nothing I can do.”
“Coach Schnur told the Plaintiffs he would be fired by UPenn if he did not allow Thomas to use the women’s locker room and compete on the women’s swim team,” the lawsuit alleges.
In December 2021, another team meeting was held to discuss Thomas’ presence on the team and the media attention it garnered, per the court documents. The female swimmers allege they were told that Thomas would continue to be on their team and that “Lia swimming is a non-negotiable.”
HOW TRANSGENDERISM IN SPORTS SHIFTED THE 2024 ELECTION AND IGNITED A NATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE
The three female swimmers allege that they were made to believe they would be removed from the team if they tried to protest Thomas’ participation ahead of the 2022 Ivy League championships.
“UPenn swim team members were told by Coach Schnur and UPenn administrators that UPenn administrators coordinated closely with the NCAA and the Ivy League to ensure that Thomas would be eligible for the 2021-2022 women’s swimming season,” the suit alleged.
“These statements about close coordination between UPenn, the Ivy League and the NCAA regarding Thomas’ eligibility led the UPenn Women’s Team members to understand the resisting or protesting the participation of Thomas on the team or his presence in the locker room would be futile and could result in the women being removed from the team or from UPenn.”
At the 2022 Ivy League Swimming Championships, Thomas came in first in the 500-, 200- and 100-yard freestyle races, setting pool and Ivy League records, and was ultimately the highest-scoring swimmer at the entire meet. That year’s competition was hosted at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas poses with her teammates Hannah Kannan, Camryn Carter, and Margot Kaczorowski after winning the 400 yard freestyle relay during the 2022 Ivy League Womens Swimming and Diving Championships at Blodgett Pool on February 19, 2022 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
The lawsuit alleges that Harvard made no accommodations for any of the female athletes who did not want to share a locker room or restroom with Thomas.
“Harvard did not provide a unisex bathroom or separate bathroom for Thomas to use or for any other women to use who did not want to use the Women’s Locker room while Thomas was using it,” the suit alleges.
After Thomas’ record-breaking performance in Cambridge that February, the athlete went on to compete at that year’s NCAA championships. There, an infamous tie with former University of Kentucky Riley Gaines resulted in Thomas hoisting the trophy for photo-ops over the biologically female Gaines.
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Gaines has since filed her own lawsuit against the NCAA alongside several other female athletes who have been affected by the association’s gender identity policies.
Other female competitors from that event who joined Gaines’ lawsuit have spoken out about their experience with Thomas as well.
Former North Carolina State women’s swimmer Kylee Alons, a 31-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion, spoke about the experience competing against and sharing a locker room with Thomas, during a Georgia senate committee hearing on Jan. 30.
“We all were just guinea pigs for a giant social experiment formed by the NCAA regarding how much abuse and blatant disregard women would be forced to take in silence,” Alons said. “I go to the locker room that day only to see Thomas and realize there is no escape from this nightmare, no matter where I go. I had no idea he was going to be allowed in the women’s locker room as we did not consent to have a man in our locker room.”
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler joined Lyons in recounting the experience of sharing a locker room with Thomas at the Jan. 30 hearing.
“Young women, teenage girls were forced to undress next to a fully intact biological male who exposed himself to us, while we were simultaneously fully exposed,” Wheeler said. “We were never asked. We were never given a choice or another option. We were just expected to be OK with it, to shove down our discomfort, our embarrassment, our fear, because standing up for ourselves would mean being labeled as intolerant or hateful or bigoted.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to UPenn, Harvard, The Ivy League and the NCAA for comment, but has not received a response at the time of publication.
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NCAA President Charlie Baker addressed concerns over the issue of female athletes having to share teams and locker rooms with trans athletes during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in December.
There, Baker insisted that female athletes have the option to find other accommodations if they’re uncomfortable sharing with transgenders.
“Everybody else should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so,” Baker said.
Baker also says that the NCAA’s policies that allow trans athletes to compete against women is based on federal standards.
Those federal standards may change in the coming days.
President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act Jan. 14, which would cut federal funding for any public educational institution that allows transgender athletes to compete against girls and women in sports.
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President Donald Trump has scored a number of rapid-fire wins in his efforts to get other countries to assist the U.S. on border security, as a combination of tariff threats and diplomatic outreach appears to be pushing allies to act.
On Monday, both Canada and Mexico announced new measures to assist the U.S. at their respective borders, which in turn led to the U.S. pausing the implementation of planned tariffs.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his country will be implementing a $1.3 billion border plan and will be appointing a “fentanyl czar.” He also announced new helicopters, technology and enhanced coordination with U.S. authorities.
TRUMP AGREES TO PAUSE TARIFFS ON CANADA IN EXCHANGE FOR MORE BORDER ENFORCEMENT
President Donald Trump (L) talks with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the plenary session of the NATO summit at the Grove hotel in Watford, northeast of London on December 4, 2019.(Nicholas Kamm)
“We will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering,” Trudeau wrote. “I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million.”
That came just hours before additional 25% tariffs were to take effect on Canadian goods coming into the U.S. and after a phone call between the two leaders.
Hours before that call, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that Mexico is deploying 10,000 troops to the U.S. border in exchange for a pause on similar tariffs that were going to impact Mexican goods entering the U.S.
“These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our Country,” Trump said on Truth Social.
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Trump used tariffs in his first term to secure border agreements. The Remain-in-Mexico policy was expanded in 2019 with the agreement of Mexico after a similar threat of tariffs.
A similar threat secured cooperation from Colombia last week. President Gustavo Petro had refused to accept military flights accepting Colombian nationals being deported from the U.S. Trump responded with the threat of a 25% tariffs on all goods from Colombia, a travel ban on Colombian government officials and other steep financial sanctions. He said the tariffs would reach as high as 50% by next week and insisted the migrants being sent back were “illegal criminals.”
Colombia backed down the same day, and two days later accepted the first deportation flights from the U.S.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele at his residence at Lake Coatepeque in El Salvador, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.(AP)
Not all wins for the administration have required the threat of tariffs, however. On Saturday, Trump announced that Venezuela has agreed to accept back its nationals being deported from the U.S., something it has largely been unwilling to do.
The announcement came after Trump’s envoy for special missions Ric Grenell met with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas to discuss his country accepting violent criminals deported from the United States.
EL SALVADOR AGREES TO ACCEPT US DEPORTEES OF ANY NATIONALITY FOLLOWING MEETING WITH RUBIO
On Tuesday, after a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced a safe third country that would allow for illegal immigrants facing deportation to be booked into his country’s prison system.
“We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system,” Bukele wrote on X Monday night. “We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee. The fee would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”
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Rubio said the Salvadoran president “has agreed to the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world.”
“We can send them, and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio told reporters, referring to illegal immigrants behind bars in U.S. prisons. “And, he’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States, even though they’re U.S. citizens or legal residents.”
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Bukele also said he would take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members in the U.S. illegally, and promised to accept and incarcerate criminal illegal aliens from any country, especially those affiliated with Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.
Rubio is on his five-nation Central American tour until Thursday and is expected to make stops in Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
Fox News’ Landon Mion, Anders Hagstrom and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
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Los Angeles city leaders on Tuesday introduced legislation to protect immigrant communities amid unrest due to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced five proposals aimed at strengthening labor and immigration protections, which he said would address renewed threats of mass deportations, work-site raids and targeted enforcement actions, Fox Los Angeles reported.
“We are here today because, unfortunately, we have a president who wants to scapegoat and attack our immigrant neighbors,” Martinez said during a news conference outside City Hall alongside council members Eunisses Hernandez, Imelda Padilla and Ysabel Jurado and several immigrant rights, labor, legal and community groups. “And we are not going to take that lightly.
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Los Angeles City Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez watches proceedings inside council chambers at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles Sept. 20, 2024. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“The legislation will make sure that we’re prepared and that we’re ready to fight back, which involves a comprehensive ‘know your rights’ campaign across the entire city so immigrants and employers understand their rights and don’t fall victim to ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) intimidation.”
‘DEPORTATION FLIGHTS HAVE BEGUN’ AS TRUMP SENDS ‘STRONG AND CLEAR MESSAGE,’ WHITE HOUSE SAYS
A large group of people protesting President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration stormed the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles Sunday, creating major traffic delays, according to police.(FOX 11 Los Angeles)
The legislation will be heard by the council’s Civil Rights & Immigration Committee before a vote.
If approved, it would reaffirm the city’s commitment to protecting its migrant community from possible deportation. In November, the council and Mayor Karen Bass formally established Los Angeles as a so-called sanctuary city.
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The move by Soto-Martinez came after two days of protests during which demonstrators took over the 101 freeway and local streets to oppose Trump’s mass deportation plans of illegal immigrant criminals.
The Claman Countdown panelists Kenny Polcari and Dryden Pence explain the impact of tariffs on foreign relations.
President Donald Trump has followed through on his campaign promise to impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners to secure concessions on a variety of trade and security issues, although a recent poll suggests voters are skeptical of that strategy and expect tariffs will hurt the economy.
Over the weekend, Trump announced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico as well as 10% tariffs on China effective on Feb. 4, though on Monday he delayed the Canada and Mexico tariffs for at least 30 days after each country agreed to deploy 10,000 personnel to work on securing their borders with the U.S. He told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that “tariffs are very powerful both economically and in getting everything else you want.”
“Tariffs, for us, nobody can compete with us because we’re the pot of gold,” Trump said. “But if we don’t keep winning and keep doing well, we won’t be the pot of gold and then tariffs won’t be so good for us. But when you’re the pot of gold, the tariffs are very good, they’re very powerful, and they’re going to make our country very rich again,” Trump added.
While Trump is continuing to leverage tariffs against other countries in negotiations over trade, immigration and drug policies, a Fox News Poll conducted from Jan. 10-13 found that a majority of Americans expect tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy.
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President Donald Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to use tariffs as a negotiating tool – though a recent poll shows voters worry tariffs will hurt the economy. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Fox News poll, which interviewed a sample of 922 registered voters on a mix of landlines, cell phones, and an online survey after receiving a text, asked respondents if imposing tariffs on products imported from other countries helps the U.S. economy, hurts the economy, or doesn’t make much of a difference either way.
It found that 50% of all respondents think tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy, while 32% believe they will help, and 15% think they won’t make a difference.
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There was a notable partisan split in respondents’ views of the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy.
Among Republicans who were surveyed, 55% said they think tariffs help, while 23% said they hurt and 17% thought there was no difference.
Over three-quarters of respondents who identified as Democrats, or 77%, said tariffs hurt the economy – while 11% said they help and 11% didn’t see a difference.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reached a deal with Trump to delay U.S. tariffs for at least 30 days while Mexico deploys 10,000 troops to the U.S. border to counter illegal immigration and drug smuggling. (Emmanuel Rosas/ObturadorMX/Getty Images, left, and Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images, right. / Getty Images)
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A majority of independent voters were opposed to tariffs, with 55% saying they hurt the economy compared with 22% saying they help and 19% thinking they don’t make a difference.
Separately, the poll asked voters whether they support Trump’s proposals to impose large tariffs on Canada and Mexico to get them to change their immigration policies. A 53% majority of respondents opposed the policy, while 42% were in favor and 6% said they don’t know.
TRUMP REASSERTS TOWERING 100% TARIFF THREAT AGAINST BRICS COUNTRIES
President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to a deal that would see the U.S. delay tariffs for 30 days while Canada acts to help secure the border. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Voters were also asked what they think Trump’s top priority should be as president and while economic issues ranked near the top, implementing tariffs ranked near the bottom of the list.
Immigration issues such as building the wall, curbing illegal immigration and deporting illegal immigrants were tied with the economy and job creation at 13% each.
Those were followed by addressing inflation and prices, which 11% of respondents viewed as their top priority for the president.
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Just 1% of respondents indicated that implementing tariffs should be Trump’s top priority – which was tied at the bottom with eight other responses.
A newly formed outside group aligned with President Donald Trump says it’s taking aim at Republican senators who remain undecided on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as it pushes to confirm Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary.
Patient First Coalition (PFC), a nonprofit advocacy group launched last week, says it’s now beginning what it describes as a “massive grassroots effort” to encourage Republican senators to support Kennedy, the vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump.
Kennedy survived back-to-back combustible Senate confirmation hearings last week, where Trump’s nominee to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health faced plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Getty Images)
The move by PFC, which says it’s a collective group of organizations committed to advancing Kennedy’s so-called “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, comes ahead of Tuesday’s key confirmation vote by the Senate Finance Committee.
“All uncommitted Republican Senators will be targeted in this grassroots effort,” PFC highlighted.
Shannon Burns, the group’s senior advisor, shared that “our grassroots phase will include television, radio and podcast interviews with our advisory board members, as well as guest columns in newspapers across the country.”
RFK’S CONFIRMATION HEARING QUICK GOES OFF THE RAILS
“We will enable thousands of calls and emails into Senate offices from millions of Americans who support this agenda. We want to organize them, mobilize them, and make sure their voices are heard before the Senate votes,” Burns added.
PFC pointed out that it will initially give “special focus” to GOP senators in Louisiana, Maine, Alaska, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks with Sen. Bill Cassidy following his testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey Jr.)
Those states are home to Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana physician and chair of the Senate Health Committee, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who are often at odds with Trump, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former longtime Senate Republican leader, and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
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“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Cassidy told Kennedy at the end of Thursday’s confirmation hearing.
PFC is one of a handful of outside groups targeting GOP senators in the fight to confirm Trump’s nominees.
President Donald Trump talks to reporters in the Oval Office at the White House on Jan. 30, 2025.(Getty Images)
A source in Trump’s political orbit tells Fox News that those groups could “exact consequences” on Republican senators who don’t support the president’s Cabinet nominees.
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And Trump on Sunday took to social media to demand that Senate Republicans ‘GET TOUGH VERY FAST” in confirming the rest of his Cabinet.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
President Donald Trump’s administration is facing scrutiny this week after working with billionaire Elon Musk to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an organization Musk called a “viper’s nest” of mismanaged funding.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) worked with the Trump administration to shut down USAID on Monday. While the agency’s long-term future remains unclear, lawmakers and activists have repeatedly accused USAID of using funding to leverage policy changes across the globe. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, the organization was frequently used to push abortion in Africa, critics say.
Biden cleared path for international abortion push
President Joe Biden cleared the path for international abortion funding just days after he entered office in 2021.(Susan Walsh/AP)
Biden cleared the path for U.S. funding to flow toward pro-abortion groups across the globe just days after entering office. He signed an executive order rescinding the Reagan-era “Mexico City Rule” on Jan. 28, 2021.
The rule, first rescinded by President Barack Obama and then reinstated during Trump’s first term, prevented foreign aid from going to nongovernmental organizations that promote abortion or provide abortion services.
“These excessive conditions on foreign and development assistance undermine the United States’ efforts to advance gender equality globally by restricting our ability to support women’s health,” Biden said at the time.
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Biden’s rule change cleared USAID to send millions in funding to aggressive abortion organizations like Marie Stopes International (MSI). MSI said it relied on USAID for 17% of its total donor income under the Obama administration, adding that the lack of U.S. support created an $80-million “funding gap” over the final three years of Trump’s term.
The group said the countries most heavily impacted by the lack of funding were Madagascar, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Biden accused of ‘hijacking’ AIDS program to push abortion in Africa
GOP Rep. Chris Smith spoke to Fox News Digital about abortions being performed in Africa at the taxpayers’ expense.(Getty Images/Fox News Digital)
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., accused Biden in 2023 of “hijacking” a successful AIDS relief program to push an international abortion agenda.
Smith’s accusations centered on PREPFAR, a funding program within USAID that, at the time, had already allocated some $100 billion toward fighting AIDS across the world, saving 25 million lives and preventing millions of infections.
Smith says two groups, Population Services International (PSI) and Village Reach, had received $96.5 million and $10.1 million, respectively, from PEPFAR under Biden, and both groups have a track record of pushing abortion.
“PSI proudly proclaims it provides abortion and lobbies to eliminate pro-life laws,” Smith said at the time. “PSI provides comprehensive abortion and post-abortion care services in nearly 20 countries throughout the world.”
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Smith alleged Village Reach used PEPFAR funds “to promote abortion in Malawi and lobby for changes in pro-life laws” and also “helped Malawi establish a government-funded hotline (that included providing information and referrals for ‘sexual and reproductive health,’ i.e., abortion).”
A third group, Pathfinder International, received $5 million in PEPFAR funding from 2021 to 2023. Smith said the group “lobbies to weaken or eliminate pro-life laws in nations around the world” and is “explicit in its promotion of abortion in other countries, stating it is “committed to expanding access to … safe abortion.”
Biden admin accused of pushing lax abortion laws in Sierra Leone
Presidents Trump and Biden reversed one another’s policies on funding abortions abroad.(Getty Images)
Biden’s administration was accused in December of pressuring the government of Sierra Leone to adopt more permissive abortion policies in exchange for foreign assistance.
A report from the Daily Signal stated that The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government-run funding allocator, was threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in foreign assistance funding if the nation didn’t relax its policies, a former senior U.S. government official told the outlet.
The MCC CEO Alice Albright signed an agreement with Sierra Leone’s finance minister, Sheku Bangura, in late September. The agreement called for the country to receive $480 million in foreign assistance so long as it met the MCC’s “rigorous standards for good governance, fighting corruption and respecting democratic rights.”
The organization denied any effort to influence Sierra Leone’s abortion policies in a statement to Fox News Digital in December.
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“The Millennium Challenge Corporation is unaware of any Sierra Leonean abortion legislation and has never made any requests to the Government of Sierra Leone regarding abortion policies. Any such legislation would be an internal matter for Sierra Leone with no U.S. government developments fund made contingent on its passage,” the organization said in a statement.
Footage circulating on social media showed raucous pro-life protesters demonstrating inside Sierra Leone’s parliament at the time as lawmakers debated legislation detailing more permissive abortion rules.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, has traveled to Venezuela to deliver an in-person message to socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro about accepting violent criminals deported from the United States.
On a call with reporters Friday, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy to Latin America, said Grenell will tell Maduro to take back all the Venezuelan criminals and Tren de Aragua gang members that have been “exported to the United States, and to do so unequivocally and without condition.”
Grenell will also demand that Venezuela immediately release American hostages being held in that country, Claver-Carone said.
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Ric Grenell, former Acting Director of National Intelligence speaks on Day 3 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 17, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
The trip “focuses on two very specific issues. That we expect that Venezuelan criminals and gangs will be returned, as they are, to every country in the world, without conditions, and two, that American hostages need to be released immediately, unequivocally,” he explained.
“This is not a quid pro quo. It’s not a negotiation in exchange for anything. President Trump himself has made that very clear.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Friday that Grenell had arrived in Venezuela on orders from the president.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds a news conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, July 31, 2024, three days after his disputed reelection. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Despite widespread belief among Venezuelans and much of the international community that Maduro lost the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election to opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, he was sworn into his third six-year term earlier this month.
The U.S. does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate head of state of Venezuela.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado has called on Venezuelan citizens to protest the Maduro regime and demand that González be installed as the rightful president of Venezuela.
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Still image from social media video shows suspected juvenile Tren de Aragua members based out of the Roosevelt Hotel, who have allegedly been attacking nearby Times Square in a string of robberies.(Obtained by New York Post)
As many as 10 Americans are currently detained in Venezuela, although the State Department has not declared them wrongfully detained. Three are U.S. citizens who allegedly participated in a plot to destabilize the country, according to Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
The State Department has denied any U.S. involvement with a plot to overthrow Maduro.
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It remains unclear how many Americans are currently held in Venezuela following the significant prisoner swap in 2023 when Washington and Caracas negotiated the release of dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, in exchange for Colombian businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of Maduro.
Saab was arrested during the first Trump administration on charges related to a $350 million bribery scheme.
Chris Pandolfo is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
A Georgia state Senate committee passed the Fair and Safe Athletic Opportunities Act Thursday after testimony from multiple female athletes who have competed against and shared locker rooms with transgender athletes.
The bill would require athletes to participate on teams that align with their biological sex at birth. If it is signed into law, Georgia would become the 26th state in the U.S. to have a law in place to prevent or restrict transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Georgia has been a prime frontier for this issue after the state hosted the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships, which included transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Two of Thomas’ former opponents testified at Thursday’s state congressional hearing.
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Riley Gaines, a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum, tied Lia Thomas for fifth place in the 200 freestyle finals at the NCAA swimming and diving championships. (Brett Davis/USA Today Sports)
Former North Carolina State women’s swimmer Kylee Alons, a 31-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion, spoke about the experience competing against and sharing a locker room with Thomas.
“We all were just guinea pigs for a giant social experiment formed by the NCAA regarding how much abuse and blatant disregard women would be forced to take in silence,” Alons said.
Alons recounted the emotions she felt sharing competitive areas with Thomas, and how much sadness she felt watching women lose out on chances to compete fairly at the event. Alons even said she wanted to cry and leave the event after seeing Thomas win the 500-meter freestyle.
“It all just felt so off and wrong,” she said.
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Things got much more difficult for Lyons after she experienced sharing a locker room with Thomas.
“I go to the locker room that day only to see Thomas and realize there is no escape from this nightmare, no matter where I go. I had no idea he was going to be allowed in the women’s locker room as we did not consent to have a man in our locker room,” Lyons said
“I am immediately on edge every time I enter that locker room afterward, knowing at any moment a man can walk in on me changing.
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Lyons added she felt so uncomfortable she resorted to abandoning the locker room altogether and instead changed in a storage closet behind the bleachers.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler joined Lyons in recounting the experience of sharing a locker room with Thomas.
“Young women, teenage girls were forced to undress next to a fully intact biological male who exposed himself to us, while we were simultaneously fully exposed,” Wheeler said. “We were never asked. We were never given a choice or another option. We were just expected to be OK with it, to shove down our discomfort, our embarrassment, our fear, because standing up for ourselves would mean being labeled as intolerant or hateful or bigoted.”
Penn Quakers swimmer Lia Thomas prepares for the 200 free at the NCAA swimming and diving championships at Georgia Tech in Atlanta March 18, 2022.(Brett Davis/USA Today Sports)
Wheeler and Lyons are plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit against the NCAA led by fellow former swimmer and 2022 NCAA championship competitor Riley Gaines over the NCAA’s policies on gender ideology.
Wheeler and Lyons shared their experiences with a message urging state senators at the hearing to pass the Fair and Safe Athletic Opportunities Act.
The bill drew opposition from parents, physicians and others. Dr. Jodi Greenwald, a Roswell pediatrician, told the panel that transgender girls are not predators and warned that transgender youth are more at risk of suicide.
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The bill passed by a vote of 8-3 after a nearly two-hour hearing.
Lt. Gov. Bill Jones called the vote an important step toward one of his critical goals of the session.
“Biological men do not belong in women’s sports, period,” Jones said.
“This is common sense to everyone but the most radical liberals in Georgia. The Senate has always led the way on protecting women’s sports, and with Senate Bill 1, we will continue to be on the right side of this commonsense issue.
“I will never waver in the fight to protect our sisters and our daughters participating on equal footing in Georgia sports. I look forward to Senate Bill 1 becoming law and the protection of women’s sports becoming a reality for all female athletes in Georgia.”
A federal ban on transgender inclusion in girls and women’s sports is also moving through Congress.
The House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act Jan. 14, which would cut federal funding for any public educational institution that allows transgender athletes to compete against girls and women in sports.
Every Republican U.S. representative voted in favor of the bill. Only two Democrats, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both of Texas, voted to pass it. The remaining 206 House House Democrats opposed it. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., voted “present.”
A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports. Of the 2,128 people polled, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
