OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar discusses the company’s partnership with SoftBank, consumers embracing artificial intelligence, OpenAI’s ‘deep research’ tool and DeepSeek’s impact in the space.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Elon Musk is “probably just trying to slow us down” with his bid to purchase the company, insisting on Tuesday that it is not for sale.
Altman, who spoke to Bloomberg on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris following Musk’s unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion to take over OpenAI, also said that Musk is probably living his whole life “from a position of insecurity” and that “I don’t think he’s like a happy person, I do feel for him.”
“Look, OpenAI is not for sale,” Altman told Bloomberg. “Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is this week’s episode.”
“I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor. He’s working hard to raise a lot of money for [his startup] xAI and they are trying to compete with us from a technological perspective from getting the product into the market and I wish he would just compete by building a better product but I think there has been a lot of tactics, you know many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff and now this,” Altman added. “And we’ll try to just put our head down and keep working.”
AI WILL HELP LOWER PRICES, BUT COULD BE USED BY AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS, ALTMAN SAYS
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, is rejecting a bid from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to purchase Open AI. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Chip Somodevilla/AFP/Getty Images)
When asked if he is concerned about Musk’s proximity to President Donald Trump and his ability to potentially influence him regarding U.S. policy on AI, Altman said “Maybe I should, but not particularly.
“I try to just wake up and think about how we are going to make our technology better,” he also said.
Marc Toberoff, Musk’s attorney, said he submitted the bid on Monday to the board of directors at OpenAI to purchase the company, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Altman also responded to Musk’s offer on X, saying, “no thank you but we may buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
ELON MUSK WARNS FEDERAL RESERVE MAY FACE DOGE AUDIT
Elon Musk, left, and Sam Altman are seen onstage together during an event at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco in 2015. (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair / Getty Images)
Musk turned to X and fired back quickly, “Swindler,” and later wrote, “Never a dull moment on X.”
Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI but cut ties with the company in 2018 after he was unable to persuade its other leaders to put him in charge of a for-profit OpenAI entity or merge the company with Tesla.
Both Musk and Altman started OpenAI as a charity in 2015. When Musk left, Altman became the chief executive and the company established a for-profit subsidiary to raise money from investors and Microsoft. Now, Altman is looking to turn the subsidiary into a traditional company, the WSJ reported.
OpenAI is the creator of ChatGPT. (Photo Illustration by Idrees Abbas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Last month, Trump announced a massive $500 billion infrastructure project called Stargate. Major names including Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle plan to join forces to build data centers in the U.S. for the further development of AI.
FOX Business’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.
By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.
Please enter a valid email address.
President Donald Trump’s comments about the U.S. “taking over” Gaza sent shock waves through Washington – but allies suggest the negotiator-in-chief is using the suggestion as a tactic to apply pressure on the region and find workable solutions to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said Tuesday in remarks that set off a media firestorm. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.”
He suggested that Palestinians be cleared out of Gaza and taken in by neighboring nations like Egypt and Jordan – an idea Arab leaders have roundly rejected.
Trump’s proposal would be a momentous departure from current policy – and run afoul with America First conservatives who want to see the U.S. less involved in the Middle East, not more.
ARAB AMERICANS FOR TRUMP GROUP CHANGES NAME AFTER PRESIDENT’S GAZA TAKEOVER PROPOSAL
Trump suggested the U.S. “take over” Gaza and Palestinians be cleared out (Reuters )
“I thought we voted for America First,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wrote back to the president’s suggestion on X. “We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers’ blood.”
The idea of a U.S. takeover of Gaza originated with Trump himself, who questioned why Palestinians would want to live among the rubble, and was not formally mapped out by his aides before he announced it next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
Sources told the New York Times that Trump had been toying with the suggestion for weeks, and his thinking was reaffirmed when Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff returned from Gaza and described the dismal conditions there.
ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER ORDERS IDF TO PLAN FOR GAZANS TO LEAVE IN LINE WITH TRUMP’S CONTROVERSIAL PROPOSAL
Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Feb 6, 2025.(Reuters/Dawoud Abu Alkas )
Taking over ownership of Gaza would suggest U.S. forces on the ground to ensure security – and require Congress to get on board with appropriating funds to rebuild the territory.
Trump explained his idea further in a Truth Social post Thursday morning.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” he wrote, calling out the Senate’s Jewish Democratic leader.
“They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free. The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also sought to quiet fears from the briefing podium.
“I would reject the premise of your question that this forces the United States to be entangled in conflicts abroad,” she told a reporter on Wednesday. “The president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza. He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza.”
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answer questions during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House, Feb. 4, 2025.(Reuters/Leah Millis)
“This is an out-of-the-box idea. That’s who President Trump is. That’s why the American people elected him. And his goal is lasting peace in the Middle East for all people in the region.”
Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who typically finds little common cause with Trump, told Puck News his idea is a “provocative” way to “to kind of shake things up and to start a very more honest conversation of Gaza.”
“Trump is speaking the language of the Middle East,” Simone Ledeen, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East during Trump’s first term, told Fox News Digital.
“Middle East negotiations, they often happen in public, and public posturing is kind of part of the process. This is not President Trump’s messaging to the U.S., he is messaging to the Middle East… [that] the paradigm has failed, and so we need new ideas.”
“I think it’s going to bring the entire region to come with their own solutions,” national security advisor Mike Waltz mused about the comments on CBS on Wednesday.
Waltz went on: “He’s not seeing any realistic solutions on how those miles and miles and miles of debris are going to be clear, how those essentially unexploded bombs are going to be removed, how these people are physically going to live there for at least a decade, if not longer, it’s going to take to do this.”
More than 46,000 Palestinians had been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry as of last month. Nearly 2 million have been displaced from their homes.
TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST
“Why would they want to return? That place has been hell,” Trump said of Gaza.(Reuters/Amir Cohen)
An Israeli official suggested that Trump’s idea may not actually be met with opposition by Gaza’s neighbors.
“Egypt and Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates that in the end of the day are threatened by Hamas would not shed a tear to see that the United States is actually taking control over the Gaza strip, because they don’t really want to do that,” Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and Arab affairs adviser for Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital.
“They will not, of course, express formally, because it will be breaking the cause of unity in the Arab world.”
“Trump is being presented right now a construct of a ceasefire deal that is headed for a train wreck,” said Rich Goldberg, president of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, adding that there is a “fundamental disconnect” between what Israelis will accept and what Hamas will accept.
“So he’s moving the Overton window, changing the strategic paradigm.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Goldberg said the first priority was convincing other Muslim nations in the region to take in Palestinians.
“The Egyptians and the Jordanians should be honest with the world. We don’t want the Gaza population. We’re afraid of the Gaza population. We think they may be radicalized. We think they might bring down our government. Or we don’t want to give up the political weapon against Israel.” He suggested Trump could leverage U.S. relationships with Middle Eastern countries – offering those who accept Palestinians major-non-NATO status and threatening to revoke such a status for countries who don’t. “The status itself is gravitized in the world.”
A pro-Trump group is changing its name after President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. “take over” Gaza. The group formerly known as Arab Americans for Trump, is now going by the name Arab Americans for Peace.
“We believe that his ideas, as well-intentioned as they might be, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,” Bishara Bahbah, the founder of the organization formerly known as Arab Americans for Trump, told Reuters. “We’re opposed to any transfer of Palestinians, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, out of their homeland.”
On Tuesday, during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump introduced the idea of the U.S. taking control of the Gaza Strip.
TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABLIZE MIDDLE EAST
Then-Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, center, listens to Albert Abbas, owner of The Great Commoner, left, as Massad Boulos looks on during a visit to a cafe on Nov. 1, 2024, in Dearborn, Michigan.(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said during Tuesday evening’s joint press conference. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.”
The president emphasized the need to “do something different” in Gaza, where Hamas and Israel have fought for nearly 16 months.
“If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for 100 years,” Trump warned during the press conference.
Trump’s plan to build “an economic development” in the war-torn Gaza Strip has been met with mixed reactions. The group now known as Arab Americans for Peace is far from alone in its rejection of the idea. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., slammed Trump’s proposal, saying that it did not put “America first.”
Hamas, whose Oct. 7 massacre kicked off the latest war with Israel, called Trump’s proposal a “recipe for creating chaos.” The terror group that has controlled Gaza since 2006, one year after Israel gave up the strip of land and expelled its citizens from the area.
“What President Trump stated about his intention to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip outside it and the United States’ control over the Strip by force is a crime against humanity,” a senior Hamas official also told Fox News on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right).(Getty Images/Fox News Digital)
‘PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH’: TRUMP AND NETANYAHU EXPECTED TO DISCUSS IRAN, HAMAS AT WHITE HOUSE MEETING
Prime Minister Netanyahu praised Trump’s idea during an appearance on “Hannity” on Wednesday.
“I think it will create a different future for everyone,” Prime Minister Netanyahu told “Hannity.”
“The actual idea of allowing for Gazans who want to leave, to leave. I mean, what’s wrong with that?” Netanyahu asked. “They can leave. They can then come back. They can relocate and come back, but you have to rebuild Gaza. If you want to rebuild Gaza, you can’t have — this is the first good idea that I’ve heard.”
After nearly 16 months of war, Hamas and Israel are engaging in a ceasefire deal, which has already seen the release of several hostages, including an American citizen. In the first phase of the deal, 33 hostages are set to be released. Details of the second phase have not been made public.
Aerial view of protesters taking part in the March on the DNC in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 19, 2024.(Fox News Digital)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Israel’s war against Hamas became a divisive issue within Democratic circles ahead of the 2024 election. The “uncommitted” movement in Michigan encouraged protest votes against former President Joe Biden when he was running for a second term.
After Biden ended his reelection bid and former Vice President Kamala Harris took his place, the group Abandon Harris – which started as Abandon Biden – endorsed Jill Stein and urged Americans to vote against pro-Israel candidates. There were also several anti-Israel protests during the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The organization then-known as Arab Americans for Trump played a large role in Trump’s campaign outreach to the Arab American community in 2024. Many believe the group played an instrumental role in Trump’s ability to break Republicans’ losing streak in Dearborn, Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population.
Trey Yingst contributed to this report.
Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.
Middle East and foreign policy experts are split on President Donald Trump’s eyebrow-raising call for the U.S. to “take over” Gaza, with some arguing it is a reversal of his “America First” policy and others saying it is just the catalyst required to secure lasting change in the region.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., led the charge opposing Trump’s proposal on Wednesday, declaring on X that taking over Gaza would be “yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers’ blood.” Some Middle East experts see Trump’s move differently, however.
James Carafano, a senior counselor at the Heritage Foundation, argued that Trump’s proposal was “dressing down to the entire international community.”
“[It’s] a wake up call that the world really needs to get serious. The notion that we could ever have a safe harbor in the Middle East where people can organize something like Oct. 7 again is unthinkable,” he told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “We are not going back to the bad old days of a hellhole run by Hamas and funded by UNRWA, so people need to start putting some serious equity on the table.”
‘LEVEL IT’: TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST
THE HISTORY OF GAZA AMID TRUMP’S PLAN TO REBUILD ENCLAVE
Michael Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute for Near East policy, argued that Trump’s offer is meant to be a catalyst for the region, rather than a real plan for the U.S. to deploy in Gaza.
“President Trump obviously likes to be provocative, and his proposal on Gaza is certainly that,” Singh told Fox. “It will elicit strong reactions in the region, but at its heart are two principles that are spot on: America needs to take a leadership role in the Middle East on one hand, but our regional partners need to step up and do more on the other.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answer questions during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4, 2025.( REUTERS/Leah Millis)
“I do not think the U.S. will take over Gaza; but if President Trump’s salvo prompts regional states to step forward with practical ideas of their own and to do more to address regional crises, it will have served its purpose,” he added.
TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST ENVOY EXPLAINS GAZA TAKEOVER PROPOSAL: ‘MORE HOPE’ FOR PALESTINIANS’ FUTURES
While delivering remarks alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhyahu on Tuesday, Trump said that Palestinians should be settled outside the Gaza Strip, and that the U.S. will transform the region, which he described as a “demolition site.”
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump declared, saying, “we’ll own it, and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site … level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
“I do see a long term ownership position,” Trump said of the region.
Hamas gathers in a show of strength during a parade by the terror group in Gaza on Jan. 25, 2025.(TPS-IL)
Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies who focuses on Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah, argues Trump is serious about his plan rather than using it as diplomatic posturing.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“A plan to end the cycle of violence is in the United States’ interest and does not conflict with Trump’s America First policy,” Truzman told Fox, noting that the weakened state of Hamas and Iran’s terrorist proxies in the region present a unique opportunity.
“Trump is serious about his plan. Hamas, Iran, and other bad actors in the region who’ve been heavily invested in the conflict understand this. How they react in the coming days and weeks will be an important sign of what is in store for the region,” he added, predicting pushback from al-Qaeda and other groups that benefit from instability in the region.
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.
After President Donald Trump announced that America “will take over the Gaza strip,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., pushed back against the idea, suggesting that the move would betray the “America First” principle Trump voters expected.
During his inauguration speech last month, Trump unequivocally declared that throughout his administration he will “put America first,” echoing a longstanding pillar of his political philosophy, which he also expressed during his 2017 inaugural address.
But Paul is throwing a red flag in response to Trump’s newly unveiled Gaza plans.
“The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians. I thought we voted for America First. We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers blood,” Paul declared in a Wednesday post on X.
The senator made the comment in response to a post in which Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on Tuesday, “Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas. As @POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again. Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people.”
‘LEVEL IT’: TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST
Trump has indicated that the U.S. will “take over” the embattled region.(Left: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Right: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
While delivering remarks alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhyahu on Tuesday, Trump said that Palestinians should be settled outside the Gaza Strip, and that the U.S. will transform the region, which he described as a “demolition site.”
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump declared, saying, “we’ll own it, and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site … level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
“I do see a long term ownership position,” Trump said of the region.
THE HISTORY OF GAZA AMID TRUMP’S PLAN TO REBUILD ENCLAVE
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., called Trump’s proposal “ethnic cleansing.”
“This president is openly calling for ethnic cleansing while sitting next to a genocidal war criminal. He’s perfectly fine cutting off working Americans from federal funds while the funding to the Israeli government continues flowing,” she declared in a post on X.
In a post on another X account she declared, “Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. This president can only spew this fanatical bulls— because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It’s time for my two-state solution colleagues to speak up.”
TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST ENVOY EXPLAINS GAZA TAKEOVER PROPOSAL: ‘MORE HOPE’ FOR PALESTINIANS’ FUTURES
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., welcomed the president’s remarks.
“This is what the leader of the free world looks like, folks. President Trump campaigned on securing peace in Gaza, and he’s doing just that. Promises made, promises kept — it’ll never get old,” she said in a tweet.
Support for President Donald Trump’s vision for the U.S. to “take over the Gaza Strip,” level it and rebuild the area came flooding in on Tuesday after a news conference announcing the plan.
The comments were made following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in which Trump claimed the U.S. would take over the Strip and make it safe again.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump stated. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.”
Trump’s sentiments were echoed by many officials across the social media platform X.
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER LAUDS TRUMP’S LEADERSHIP WHEN ASKED IF BIDEN SHOULD TAKE CREDIT FOR CEASEFIRE
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answer questions during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 4, 2025( REUTERS/Leah Millis)
“Trump’s proposed USA takeover of the Gaza Strip may sound out of the box, but it is brilliant, historic and the only idea I have heard in 50 years that has a chance of bringing security, peace and prosperity to this troubled region,” Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman wrote.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Cabinet Secretary Taylor Budowich also expressed that it was “Time to think different, stop the killing!”
“Pres. Trump’s pursuit of peace and prosperity for all is truly visionary. Gaza shouldn’t be a pile of rubble that provides refuge to terrorists, especially when it so easily can become Dubai 2.0. Time to think different, stop the killing!,” he wrote on X.
People inspect the debris and rubble at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on Jan. 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas.(OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images)
In a second post, he said that there is a need for lasting peace.
“President Trump’s bold and unwavering pursuit for peace continues with a humanitarian’s heart. The killing must stop, the war must end, and we must realize lasting PEACE. That’s why the United States will work with Israel to secure Gaza and find a lasting home for the Palestinian people,” Budowich stated.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed with the president, saying that “Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas. As @POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again. Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people.”
‘LEVEL IT’: TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST
Netanyahu said during the news conference with Trump that the Gaza Strip has become “a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades and so bad for the people anywhere near it.”
He also lauded Trump’s tenacity and ability “to think outside the box” during his comments to the press.
Sen. Rick Scott seemingly agreed with Netanyahu, writing in an X post, “Hamas terrorists murdered babies and burned people alive. They are evil monsters. Thank God we finally have a president who is committed to standing with Israel and working with Netanyahu on how to support their efforts to get terrorists out of Gaza and bring every hostage home.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) arrives for the Senate Republican leadership elections at the U.S. Capitol on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Senate Republican caucus met to vote on new leadership for the 119th Congress.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne is one of many who stand for the president’s radical movement to change how this country is being run and agrees this is the right move for peace.
“The world is looking to the United States for leadership and President @realDonaldTrump is delivering lasting peace! Today’s announcement put Hamas, Iran, and all our enemies on notice — the U.S. will NOT continue the status quo that has empowered terrorists and created a humanitarian disaster,” she said.
Not everyone is onboard, though Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a statement to Trump, noting a call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the establishment of the Palestinian state is a firm, unwavering position, and His Highness the Prime Minister – may God protect him – has affirmed this position in a clear and explicit manner that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances,” the statement said.
‘PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH’: TRUMP AND NETANYAHU EXPECTED TO DISCUSS IRAN, HAMAS AT WHITE HOUSE MEETING
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are in negotiations over a deal to diplomatically recognize Israel in exchange for a security pact among other terms.
“The duty of the international community today is to work to alleviate the severe human suffering endured by the Palestinian people, who will remain committed to their land and will not budge from it,” the Saudi statement said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Hamas also wrote a statement criticizing Trump’s comments.
“We reject Trump’s statements in which he said that the residents of the Gaza Strip have no choice but to leave, and we consider them a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region,” the group said.
Hamas has recently reaffirmed control over the Gaza Strip following the start of the ceasefire and has said they will not release hostages without an end to the war and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal.
The Republican Party’s Laken Riley Act is heading to President Donald Trump’s desk to become the first bill he signs into law after the party retook both chambers of Congress and the White House.
The House of Representatives passed the bill in a 263 to 156 vote on Wednesday, the second time the lower chamber advanced the bill this month.
It passed the House 264 to 159 on Jan. 7. All voting Republicans supported the bill, along with 48 Democrats – two more than the most recent vote.
TRUMP ELIMINATING LNG PAUSE TO HAVE ‘QUICKEST EFFECT’ ON ENERGY INDUSTRY: RICK PERRY
Trump is expected to sign the Laken Riley Act into law as the first legislation of his new term.(REUTERS/Carlos Barria)
The GOP-controlled Senate also advanced the bill in a bipartisan 64 to 35 vote, but added measures to deport illegal immigrants who assault a police officer or cause death or “serious bodily injury” of another person.
The original bill would direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to detain illegal immigrants accused of theft-related crimes. It also would allow states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for harm caused to their citizens because of illegal immigration.
The majority of Democrats were against the bill, arguing that allowing people accused but not convicted of crimes to be deported is a slippery slope. But supporters of the bill point out that people here illegally have already run afoul of U.S. law.
Jose Ibarra, left, was found guilty on 10 counts in the death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, right.(Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
It’s notable, however, that more Democrats supported the bill when it passed the House this month than when it first came up for a vote in 2024. It’s a marked difference from last year when the then-Democrat-controlled Senate did not even take up the bill for a vote.
“Nothing ever happens in this town up here until the American people demand it,” the bill’s leader, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital when asked about the increased support from the left.
“And they have been screaming at the top of their lungs for something to happen to fix the border problem.”
Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, who led Sarah’s Law, one of the amendments adopted in the bill, told Fox News Digital, “Nearly a decade ago, 21-year-old Sarah Root’s life was tragically cut short when she was killed by an illegal immigrant who was driving while drunk…Sarah’s Law not only delivered justice for the Root family but also ensures that any illegal immigrant who harms or kills an American citizen is swiftly detained and prosecuted.”
KAMALA HARRIS MAKES TRUMP’S 2024 PRESIDENTIAL WIN OFFICIAL DURING JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., led the bill in the House.(Bill Clark)
GOP lawmakers are working to follow through on Trump’s promises to crack down on illegal immigration and border security amid a flurry of executive orders from the president on those same issues. They’re positioning the Laken Riley Act as the first bill to get Trump’s signature as a reflection of their effort to make his agenda permanent.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The bill is named after a nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging on the University of Georgia’s campus.
Jose Ibarra, who was sentenced to life in prison for Laken Riley’s murder, had previously been arrested but was never detained by ICE.
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.
