Happy New Year 2025

Tag: Trump

The confirmation juggernaut: How Trump is getting everything he wants in building his Cabinet

President Donald Trump is getting what he wants.

Specifically, who he wants to serve in his administration.

The nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for attorney general last November?

That was a lifetime ago. Pushed out. Withdrawn. Unconfirmable. Whatever you want to call it.

OUT OF POWER: DEMOCRATS DISORIENTED IN FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP AGENDA

Trump Capitol split image (Getty Images)

The Senate has already confirmed at least one nominee whom political experts deemed as potentially unconfirmable a few weeks ago: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth skated through to confirmation with three GOP nays. But Vice President JD Vance broke a tie. It was only the second time in U.S. history that the Senate confirmed a Cabinet secretary on a tiebreaking vote by the vice president.

And by the end of the week, the Senate will likely confirm two other controversial nominees who at one point seemed to be a stretch. The Senate votes Monday night to break a filibuster on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Her confirmation vote likely comes Wednesday. After that, the Senate likely crushes a filibuster on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as Health and Human Services Secretary. The Senate could confirm Kennedy by late Thursday.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO HOUSE REPUBLICANS RELEASING THEIR TAX AND SPENDING CUT PLAN

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s choice to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite)

It was unthinkable in November that Trump may be able to muscle through certain nominees. But this is a confirmation juggernaut. Yes, challenges await former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., who’s up for Labor Secretary. Some Republicans believe Chavez-DeRemer is too pro-labor. And the Department of Education may not be around long enough for the Senate to ever confirm Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon. But so far, Republicans are sticking together.

Many Senate Republicans aren’t willing to buck the president. They believe the GOP owes its majority in the House and Senate to him. So they’re willing to defer to Mr. Trump. Moreover, some Republicans worry about the president hammering them on Truth Social or engineering a primary challenge against them. Or, perhaps just pressuring them.

Groups aligned with the president went after Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, late last year after her initial meeting with Hegseth. Ernst served in the military and is a sexual assault survivor. In an interview on Fox, Ernst suggested she wasn’t on board with Hegseth yet and wanted “a thorough vetting.” But weeks later, Ernst came around and gave Hegseth the green light following a second meeting.

Pete Hegseth is surrounded by his wife Jennifer Rauchet and his 7 children as he is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense by Vice-President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, DC, on Jan. 25, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., dodged reporters’ questions in the hallways for several days about his stance on Gabbard.

“We’re not taking any questions!” an aide hollered brusquely as the senator tried to evade the Capitol Hill press corps in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The same thing happened the next day.

“Sorry, we’re not taking questions today. Sorry guys, we’re not taking questions today. Thank you though. Appreciate it,” said an aide as Young maneuvered through the halls.

Young didn’t tip his hand on Gabbard until the Intelligence Committee prepared to vote on the nomination and send it to the floor. Young released a letter from Gabbard where the nominee apparently allayed the senator’s concerns.

“There was certain language I wanted her to embrace,” said Young.

In particular, he wanted Gabbard to state she wouldn’t push for a pardon for spy Edward Snowden.

TULSI GABBARD EXPLAINS WHY SHE WON’T CALL EDWARD SNOWDEN A ‘TRAITOR’ AHEAD OF TOUGH COMMITTEE VOTE

Nominee for Director of National Security Tulsi Gabbard, left, and Edward Snowden pictured in Moscow Russia, right. (AP/Getty)

Gabbard once advocated that a pardon was in order for Snowden – even though he made off with perhaps the biggest heist of U.S. intelligence secrets of all time – and fled to Moscow.

The committee then voted 9-8 to send Gabbard’s nomination to the floor with a positive recommendation toward confirmation.

What made the difference to Young?

He spoke with President Trump. He spoke with Vance. He even spoke with Elon Musk.

“Was there any implication that there would be recriminations if you voted a different way?” asked yours truly.

“Never an intimation,” said Young. “I think something the American people don’t understand is that this process sometimes takes a while.”

He argued that obtaining reassurances followed the process that “our Founding Fathers wanted people like myself to” do.

The road to a prospective confirmation for RFK Jr. isn’t all that different.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is a a physician and chairs the Senate Health Committee. After Kennedy’s hearing with that panel, Cassidy signaled he wasn’t prepared to support the nominee yet and wanted to talk with him over the weekend. Cassidy was perplexed by RFK Jr.’s stance on vaccines. But Cassidy was in RFK Jr.’s camp when it came time for the Senate Finance Committee to vote on the nomination a few days later.

TRUMP’S HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR CLEARS SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION VOTE

Left: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy. Right: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. (Left: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Right: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Mr. Kennedy and the administration committed that he and I would have an unprecedentedly close, collaborative working relationship if he is confirmed,” said Cassidy. “We will meet or speak multiple times a month. This collaboration will allow us to work well together and therefore to be more effective.”

Cassidy’s support dislodged RFK Jr.’s nomination from committee and sent it to the floor. That’s why, like Gabbard, he’s on cruise control for a confirmation vote later this week.

What made the difference in salvaging these nominations which once teetered on the edge?

Multiple Senate Republicans point to their former colleague, Vance.

Vance has worked quietly in the shadows, leaning on his relationship with senators, to convince skeptical Republicans into a comfort zone with controversial nominees. The Trump Administration saw how quickly the nomination of Matt Gaetz evaporated last fall. There was worry that robust GOP pushback could jeopardize an entire slate of nominees.

So has Vance deployed soft power with senators? Or has he dispelled concerns through brute force? Judge for yourself.

Vice President JD Vance reacts after the Electoral College vote was ratified during a joint session of Congress to ratify the 2024 Presidential election at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Consider what the vice president said about the role of senators during an interview on Fox last month:

“You don’t have to agree with everything Bobby Kennedy has ever said. You don’t have to agree with everything that Tulsi Gabbard has ever said,” said Vance of Republican senators. “You are meant to ask, ‘Do they have the qualifications and the character to do this job?’ The person who decides whether they should be nominated in the first place, he was the guy elected by the American people. That’s President Trump.”

The Senate has confirmed 13 of Trump’s nominees so far. Eleven obtained bipartisan support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio marshaled the votes of all 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum secured 27 Democratic yeas. Attorney General Pam Bondi scored one Democratic yes. That was Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn.

JOHN FETTERMAN REVEALS HOW HE’LL VOTE ON TRUMP’S TULSI GABBARD AND RFK JR. NOMINATIONS

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, then-Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, accompanied by Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa., speaks in Philadelphia, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. (The Associated Press)

But Budget Director Russ Vought and Hegseth failed to win over any Democrats. That’s probably the same case with the upcoming confirmation votes for Gabbard and Kennedy. Not only do Democrats object to these nominees, but their base is compelling major pushback after the administration shuttered USAID and DOGE is mining for cuts – without congressional assistance.

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Some Democrats, like Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., believe that presidents deserve to have a cabinet of people they choose – unless they are egregious nominees or unqualified. But now Democrats are flexing their muscles. That’s why the Senate was in all night leading up to the confirmation vote of Vought. Democrats will likely require the Senate to burn all available time on Gabbard and Kennedy.

But Trump is getting what he wants when it comes to confirmations. Most Senate Republicans are unwilling to push back. And Democrats can make the Senate run the clock and speak out against nominees. But, proper or not, there is now a confirmation juggernaut for the president in the Senate.

Chad Pergram currently serves as a senior congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.

February 10, 2025
Trans youth mental health psychiatrist resigns from NCAA committee after org complies with Trump order

Dr. Jack Turban, the director of the gender psychiatry program at the University of California, San Francisco, who specializes in the mental health of transgender youth, resigned from an NCAA committee on Friday after the organization complied with President Donald Trump’s executive order.

Trump signed an executive order to protect women’s sports. The order banned biological males from competing in women’s and girls’ sports. It gave the federal government authority to penalize federally funded entities that “deprive women and girls of faith athletic opportunities.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls’ sporting events, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In response, the NCAA changed its trans-inclusion policy to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports altogether. Turban wrote a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker announcing his resignation from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS).

“Unfortunately, your recent decision to issue a blanket ban on trans female participation in women’s sports does not align with medical or scientific consensus,” Turban’s letter read. “I cannot in good conscience participate in this kind of politicization of science and medicine at the expense of some of our most vulnerable student athletes.

“I am immensely grateful for my time with CSMAS and have been impressed by the academic and medical rigor the committee brings to ensuring competitive fairness and the safety of student athletes. I am particularly thankful to have had the opportunity to work with the other physician members of the committee. Their compassion and scientific expertise have been unparalleled.

TRUMP TOUTS EXECUTIVE ORDER KEEPING BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM WOMEN’S SPORTS

President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“However, it is clear that your decision was based on politics and not science, as the CSMAS membership was not consulted prior to the decision.”

The NCAA announced the change a day after Trump signed the executive order.

“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes,” Baker said in a statement. “We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.

“The updated policy combined with these resources follows through on the NCAA’s constitutional commitment to deliver intercollegiate athletics competition and to protect, support and enhance the mental and physical health of student-athletes,” Baker said. “This national standard brings much needed clarity as we modernize college sports for today’s student-athletes.”

Trump’s executive order banned biological males from competing in women’s and girls’ sports. (Scott Taetsch/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

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Turban added in an Instagram post, “I am sad to see the #NCAA politicize science and medicine at the expense of some of our most vulnerable student athletes.”

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

February 10, 2025
Judge to weigh Trump federal employee buyout backed by Republican AGs

Jack Otter and the ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panelists discuss how DOGE is shaking up Washington, D.C.

As Big Labor challenges President Donald Trump’s federal employee buyout order, Republican attorneys general from 22 states came to the administration’s defense late Sunday.

On Monday, a federal judge in Boston will weigh the legality of the Trump administration’s U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) “Fork Directive.”

Federal employees have until 11:59 p.m. Monday to decide if they are submitting their deferred resignation in return for eight months of paid leave.

On Feb. 2, 2 million federal employees received an email after business hours closed advising them of a “fork in the road” – they were told they could accept eight months of paid leave if they agreed to resign by Feb. 6. The buyout offer, which came as part of Elon Musk’s effort to reduce federal waste at the Department of Government Efficiency, prompted a swift blow back from federal labor unions, which argued the Fork Directive is unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act and Antideficiency Act and that they will suffer “irreparable harm.”

Montana Attorney General Austen Knudsen – joined by the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia – challenged those arguments brought by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in court.

SENATE DOGE REPUBLICAN PUSHES BILL TO BRING GOVERNMENT COMPUTER SYSTEMS ‘OUT OF THE STONE AGE’

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The late Sunday amicus curiae brief filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said the federal labor unions “complain” about Trump’s executive orders about the federal workforce and allege the president is eliminating offices and programs supported by congressional appropriations, but “do not challenge the authority to issue the Fork Directive or its constitutionality” because “such a challenge would inevitably fail.”

“Courts should refrain from intruding into the President’s well-settled Article II authority to supervise and manage the federal workforce,” the filing said. “Plaintiffs seek to inject this Court into federal workforce decisions made by the President and his team. The Court can avoid raising any separation of powers concerns by denying Plaintiffs’ relief and allowing the President and his team to manage the federal workforce.”

The Republican attorneys general asked the court to deny the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order.

The Fork Directive reports that Trump is reforming the federal workforce around four pillars: return to office, performance culture, more streamlined and flexible workforce, and enhanced standards of conduct. It is intended to “improve services that the federal workforce provides to Americans” by “freeing up government resources and revenue to focus on better serving the American people,” the filing said.

The filing noted that 65,000 federal workers had already accepted the voluntary deferred resignation offer by its original Feb. 6 deadline.

Protesters rally outside the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on Feb. 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images / Getty Images)

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr., who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, on Thursday temporarily blocked the deferred resignation offer until Monday’s hearing, and the Trump administration pushed back the deadline to 11:59 p.m. Monday.

DOGE CANCELS FUNDING FOR FAUCI MUSEUM EXHIBIT

In a statement, AFGE said the Fork Directive “is the latest attempt by the Trump-Vance administration to implement Project 2025’s dangerous plans to remove career public service workers and replace them with partisan loyalists.” The federal labor union said the directive “amounts to a clear ultimatum to a sweeping number of federal employees: resign now or face the possibility of job loss without compensation in the near future.”

“We are grateful to the judge for extending the deadline so more federal workers who refuse to show up to the office can take the Administration up on this very generous, once-in-a-lifetime offer,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News last week.

Further defending the Trump administration, the Republican attorneys general wrote that the Fork Directive – which takes similar language used during Musk’s mass layoffs when he took over Twitter – also is in line with public opinion, citing recent polling supporting that “Americans’ confidence in the federal government has reached depths not seen since the Vietnam War” and that “a majority of Americans believe the federal government is too large, inefficient, and wasteful.”

The Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is seen on Feb. 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“The American people elected a president who repeatedly made clear his desire for a more efficient, smaller government,” they wrote. “The Fork Directive is consistent with those desires. Thus, when weighing the equitable factors, the public interest weighs strongly against Plaintiffs’ requested relief.”

The federal labor unions requested a temporary restraining order so that the OPM could review the legal basis of the directive – something the GOP attorneys general said “makes no sense.”

“If the Fork Directive is unlawful (it’s not), then why are they asking—even in the alternative—for it to be implemented under more relaxed timelines?” they wrote.

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The filing also said the plaintiff’s claim of “irreparable harm” in lost membership and revenues did not hold water, arguing that extending the deadline would increase the harm to the unions by allowing additional employees to participate.

February 10, 2025
Bill Ackman calls for Trump administration to review UN support

Jack Otter and the ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panelists discuss how DOGE is shaking up Washington, D.C.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on Monday questioned U.S. funding of the United Nations, saying it “deserves careful scrutiny.”

“The more I learn about the @UN, one of the largest NGOs, the more I think our support for the UN deserves careful scrutiny,” Ackman said in a post on X.

The head of Pershing Square Capital Management also said President Donald Trump “would notice, it occupies great waterfront real estate in NYC.”

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS ELON MUSK’S DOGE FROM ACCESSING TREASURY RECORDS AFTER DEMOCRATIC AGS FILE LAWSUIT

According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an independent think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations, all 193 members of the United Nations are required to make payments to certain parts of the organization. The U.S. is the largest donor, contributing more than $18 billion in 2022.

That accounts for one-third of funding for the body’s collective budget, according to the CFR.

PALANTIR CEO TOUTS ELON MUSK’S DOGE, ABILITY TO HOLD ‘SACRED COW OF THE DEEP STATE’ ACCOUNTABLE

The U.N. is the world’s main organization for discussing matters of peace and security. However, its work extends beyond peacekeeping and conflict prevention. It has entities that are focused on addressing health and humanitarian needs and economic and cultural development. The funds help support the United Nations’ regular budget, which covers administrative costs and a few programs, as well as peacekeeping operations, according to the CFR.

Biden increased funding to the organization after Trump significantly cut it during his first term. In 2021, Biden, in particular, resumed funding for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

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Funding for UNRWA was paused again in 2024 over allegations that some agency employees aided in the October 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel that sparked the current war against Hamas.

Ackman’s comments come as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues sweeping efforts to cut $2 trillion in federal spending, shrink the government’s workforce and increase the efficiency of federal agencies.

Over the past few weeks, DOGE, which was created through an executive order signed by Trump on Inauguration Day, has already canceled a number of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at federal agencies as well as certain consulting contracts and leases for underused federal buildings, while also working to consolidate duplicative agencies and programs. It has thus far only focused on areas included in discretionary spending, which are subject to annual appropriations by Congress.

DOGE – a temporary organization within the White House – will spend 18 months until July 4, 2026, carrying out its mission, which has already fallen under scrutiny. Over the weekend, the government efficiency team was temporarily blocked from accessing certain government systems that included information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, tax refund information and more, according to a federal judge’s ruling.

FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.

February 10, 2025
Iran’s campaign trail threats against Trump more serious than publicly reported, book claims

Iran’s assassination threats against Donald Trump have loomed over the president in recent days and are more serious than publicly reported, an upcoming book claims.

Axios reporter Isaac Isenstadt’s upcoming book, “Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power,” claims that law enforcement officials warned Trump in 2024 that Iran had placed operatives in the U.S. with access to surface-to-air missiles and that Trump’s orbit worried Iran would try to take out “Trump Force One” as it was taking off or landing while on the campaign trail. Isenstadt previewed his book in an Axios article published Sunday.

The reported threats and concern of Iran’s threats against Trump hit a fever pitch in September 2024, when a second assassination attempt was thwarted at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, the book claims. Isenstadt reported that his book is based on his conversations with Trump’s “inner circle during his campaign.”

Fast-forward to Trump’s second presidency in 2025, the 47th president already has issued stern warnings against Iran. Trump said while signing an executive order imposing maximum pressure on Tehran earlier in February that he left special instructions if something were to happen to him.

During his first term in the Oval Office, Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, and reapplied crippling economic sanctions on Iran, escalating tensions between Trump and the nation.

TRUMP’S CUTS TO FOREIGN AID COULD BENEFIT US POSITION IN IRAN NEGOTIATIONS, EXPERT SAYS

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Donald Trump (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency | Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

“That would be a terrible thing for them to do,” Trump said on Feb. 4 of Iran potentially attempting to assassinate him. “If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end.… There won’t be anything left.”

Trump survived two assassination attempts while on the campaign trail in 2024, including the Pennsylvania attempt that left him with an injury to his ear as suspect Thomas Crooks opened fire on the crowd of Trump supporters in July. The Pennsylvania attempt has not been connected to Iran.

The suspect behind the Florida attempt, Ryan Wesley Routh, wrote a book in 2023 urging Iran to assassinate Trump, the Associated Press reported in September 2024.

IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER SAYS NUCLEAR TALKS WITH TRUMP ADMIN WOULD NOT BE ‘WISE’

Following the second attempt in Florida, Isenstadt’s book, which will be released March 18, claims Trump’s team was on high alert, including his security detail putting Trump on a “Trump Force One” decoy plane owned by Steve Witkoff to travel to an event shortly after the attempt. The co-chairs of the campaign at the time, current chief of staff Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, split up, with Wiles traveling with Trump on the decoy plane and LaCivita on Trump Force One.

“The boss ain’t riding with us today,” LaCivita reportedly told staffers on the flight. “We had to put him into another plane. This is nothing but a sort of test for how things may happen in the future.”

Staffers on Trump Force One reportedly worried they would be “collateral damage” if the plane had been taken down, the book alleges.

Three aides told Isenstadt that the flight was packed with “gallows humor galore” as staffers reportedly realized the severity of an alleged threat, dubbing the trip as the “Ghost Flight” and remarking the alleged threat was “some serious s—.”

Frmer President Donald Trump is rushed offstage after being shot during a rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the excerpts from Isenstadt’s book, but did not immediately receive a reply.

TRUMP’S LATEST HIRES AND FIRES RANKLE IRAN HAWKS AS NEW PRESIDENT SUGGESTS NUCLEAR DEAL

Trump’s campaign continued to face reported threats and scares following the second assassination attempt, including the Secret Service warning that a person might attempt to shoot at Trump’s motorcade after a Long Island rally on Sept. 18, 2024. In a separate incident, Secret Service agents shot a drone with an electromagnetic gun from a sunroof in one of the cars in Trump’s motorcade during a Pennsylvania campaign trip in September 2024, the book claimed.

Former President Donald Trump is assisted by the Secret Service agents in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

“Don’t f—ing hang out the window and take photos, because you’re a f—ing target,” LaCivita reportedly told longtime Trump advisor Dan Scavino during one trip on Trump Force One.

IF IRAN ATTEMPTS ASSASSINATION, ‘THEY GET OBLITERATED’: PRESIDENT TRUMP

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in January that his country “never” plotted to assassinate Trump, adding “we never will.”

The Justice Department announced in November 2024 that it thwarted an Iranian attempt to assassinate Trump, charging an alleged Iranian government asset in the murder-for-hire plot.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in January that his country “never” plotted to assassinate Trump, adding “we never will.” (Iranian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

As for the two assassination attempts during the campaign cycle, Trump instructed the Secret Service to hand over “every bit of information” related to the Florida and Pennsylvania incidents, he told the New York Post recently, arguing the Biden administration held back details.

“I want to find out about the two assassins,” the president told the New York Post Friday. “Why did the one guy have six cellphones, and why did the other guy have [foreign] apps?”

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“I’m entitled to know. And they held it back long enough,” he continued, referring to the Biden administration’s handling of information on the attempts. “No more excuses.”

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch, Diana Stancy and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

February 10, 2025
Trump cuts $9 billion in overhead costs from NIH research grants: ‘A ripoff!’

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it would be cutting billions in overhead costs associated with federally funded research grants that go to various institutions, as part of a wider move by the Trump administration to slash wasteful spending.

The agency’s announcement unveiling the directive indicated that in fiscal year 2023, the NIH spent around $35 billion across roughly 50,000 grants that go to research institutions, such as universities and hospitals. Of that $35 billion, according to the announcement, $9 billion was allocated for “indirect costs” that cover expenses related to depreciation on buildings, equipment, capital improvements, interest on debt associated with certain buildings, and operations and maintenance expenses.

When a grant is awarded, an additional percentage, on top of the allocated research funding, goes to the facility housing their work to cover these “indirect costs.” According to the announcement, that percentage has historically been around 27 to 28% for each grant; however, the new directive is now imposing a 15% threshold, unless otherwise negotiated.

US SEASONAL FLU CASES SKYROCKET TO HIGHEST LEVEL IN AT LEAST 15 YEARS: CDC

A medical technologist in the molecular diagnostic lab extracts DNA from milk samples for testing at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University on Dec. 10, 2024 in Ithaca, New York. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

“Most private foundations that fund research provide substantially lower indirect costs than the federal government, and universities readily accept grants from these foundations. For example, a recent study found that the most common rate of indirect rate reimbursement by foundations was 0%, meaning many foundations do not fund indirect costs whatsoever,” NIH’s announcement, released Friday evening, stated. “In addition, many of the nation’s largest funders of research—such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—have a maximum indirect rate of 15%. And in the case of the Gates Foundation, the maximum indirect costs rate is 10% for institutions of higher education.”

Some universities responded to the new indirect cost cap with confusion and backlash.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison put out a statement arguing the new indirect cost cap will “significantly disrupt vital research activity and daily life-saving discoveries.” It added that the move will also “have an inevitable impact on student opportunities to engage in research activities.”

POSITIVE PEOPLE CAME THROUGH COVID MUCH BETTER THAN OTHERS: NEW STUDYNews of the

News of the cap on indirect costs associated with agency research grants came in a memo issued by the Office of the Director of the National Institute of Health.

At the University of Michigan, which currently has a negotiated indirect cost rate with the federal government of 56%, the school put out a statement emphasizing the “great deal of uncertainty” over how the policy will be implemented. The school said it has begun investigating the implications of this new rule on its current grants.

“It seems like it is of a piece with the sort of slash-and-burn philosophy of the current administration,” Dr. Francis P. Wilson, a Yale associate professor of medicine and public health, told the Yale Daily News. “It feels indiscriminate and abrupt, executed with little regard for the potential downstream consequences.”

The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, applauded the move in a post on social media. “Amazing job by the NIH team,” the group said in a post on social media. “Saved > $4B annually in excessive grant administrative costs.”

The National Institutes of Health under President Donald Trump put a cap on indirect costs associated with agency research grants, as part of a wider move to reduce wasteful government spending. (Alamy/Getty Images)

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“Can you believe that universities with tens of billions in endowments were siphoning off 60% of research award money for ‘overhead’?” Musk also posted on social media. “What a ripoff!”

“Contrary to the hysteria, redirecting billions of allocated NIH spending away from administrative bloat means there will be more money and resources available for legitimate scientific research, not less,” added White House spokesperson Kush Desai in an emailed statement to reporters.

Fox News Digital reached out directly to the NIH for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

February 10, 2025
Egypt planning ’emergency’ Arab summit on Palestinian territory as Trump insists US ‘own’ Gaza

Egypt announced on Sunday it will host a summit of Arab leaders on Feb. 27 to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip after President Donald Trump signaled he wants the U.S. to own it.

Trump’s stunning declaration, made last week after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated over the weekend, rankled key U.S. allies in the Middle East, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said the meeting in Cairo would include discussions on “the state of Palestine that asked to hold the summit in order to discuss new and dangerous developments for the Palestinian cause.”

Gaza’s Arab neighbors also dismissed Trump’s calls for them to take in the 1.8 million Palestinians still living in the Strip.

TRUMP’S GAZA ‘TAKEOVER’ RANKLES AMERICA FIRST CONSERVATIVES, ALLIES SUGGEST NEGOTIATOR-IN-CHIEF IS AT WORK

President Donald Trump, right, suggested U.S. owning Gaza after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)

While many of Trump’s allies surmised the bold suggestion was a negotiating tactic, Trump reasserted to reporters Sunday night as he was leaving the Super Bowl that he was committed to “buying and owning” Gaza.

“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it. Other people may do it through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back,” he said.

“There’s nothing to move back in to. The place is a demolition site… The remainder will be demolished,” he added. “But we’ll make it into a very good site for future development by somebody.”

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, agreed to in January and partially brokered by Trump’s team, calls for a three- to five-year reconstruction phase, but Trump officials now insist it will take more like 10 to 15 years to rebuild the 139-square-mile territory that has been leveled by Israel’s offensive against Hamas.

Trump insisted Palestinians do not want to go back to Gaza.

“We’re going to make sure they live beautifully and in harmony and peace and that they’re not murdered,” he said. “They don’t want to go back to Gaza. They only go back because they have no alternative.”

TRUMP REMAINS COMMITTED TO US OWNING GAZA, SAYS MIDDLE EAST STATES COULD HELP REBUILD WAR-TORN AREA

“There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site,” President Donald Trump said of Gaza. (EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)

Jordan’s King Abdullah II is due to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, and Trump is expected to hold talks with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the coming days.

The Palestinian terror group Hamas on Sunday called Trump’s latest comments “absurd.”

“Gaza is not a property that can be bought and sold, and it is an integral part of our occupied Palestinian land,” Izzat al-Risheq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, wrote on Telegram.

“Dealing with the Palestinian issue with the mentality of a real estate dealer is a recipe for failure,” al-Risheq added.

ARAB AMERICANS FOR TRUMP GROUP CHANGES NAME AFTER PRESIDENT’S GAZA TAKEOVER PROPOSAL

“Our Palestinian people will thwart all displacement and deportation plans. Gaza belongs to its people.”

Also on Sunday, Israel began withdrawing from the Netzarim corridor in Gaza as Palestinians return to their homes there – both sides honoring a tenuous ceasefire that is expected to return home Israel’s remaining hostages.

President Donald Trump promised that the U.S. would keep Hamas, pictured above, out of Gaza. (TPS-IL)

However, negotiations for the mid- and long-term future are ongoing. Hamas wants all Israeli troops out of Gaza, while Israel wants Hamas eliminated.

Last week, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz suggested Trump’s comments would turn up the heat on the Middle East to find its own solutions.

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“I think it’s going to bring the entire region to come with their own solutions,” Waltz mused about the comments on CBS on Wednesday.

Waltz went on, adding, “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.”

February 10, 2025
Trump suggests US may have less debt than thought because of fraud

Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., discusses President Donald Trump critiquing FEMAs hurricane response to North Carolina, reconciliation negotiations and the presidents efforts to lower inflation through executive orders.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. national debt could be smaller than thought because of fraud.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump suggested that the administration and Elon Musk’s efficiency team found irregularities at the Treasury Department that could mean the U.S. government’s more than $36 trillion debt isn’t that high.

“We’re even looking at Treasuries,” Trump said. “There could be a problem – you’ve been reading about that, with Treasuries and that could be an interesting problem.”

“It could be that a lot of those things don’t count. In other words, that some of that stuff that we’re finding is very fraudulent, therefore maybe we have less debt than we thought,” he added.

PRESIDENT TRUMP FACES KEY FISCAL DEADLINES AS SECOND TERM BEGINS

President Donald Trump said his administration is looking at fraud in Treasuries. (Alex Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

It wasn’t clear from Trump’s comments whether he was referring to debt service or other government payments that are handled by the Treasury Department.

FOX Business reached out to the Treasury Department for clarification.

“It is virtually impossible that President Trump’s comments refer to the debt held by the public, including foreign holders,” said Maria Vassalou, head of the Pictet Research Institute. “This is the reason the market is not reacting and any reaction would be based on misunderstandings or misinformation.”

She added that about one-fifth of the gross U.S. federal debt is held in government accounts that are mostly related to trust funds for Social Security and Medicare, adding that Trump’s comments “most likely refer to that portion of U.S. debt.”

US ECONOMY ADDED 143K JOBS IN JANUARY, UNEMPLOYMENT RATE TICKS LOWER

President Donald Trump tasked Elon Musk with leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“(Markets) do care and should care, absolutely, given the $35 odd trillion in public debt,” said Martin Whetton, head of financial markets strategy at Westpac in Sydney. “In short, until it is clarified it is meaningless.”

Given the lack of certainty over what Trump intended to say, financial markets have focused on the economy and the Federal Reserve’s path for interest rate cuts later this year.

The Labor Department on Friday reported the U.S. economy added 143,000 jobs in January, below the 170,000 jobs expected by LSEG economists.

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The market’s expectations around the Fed’s plan for interest rate cuts were little changed by the news, with the probability of the Fed leaving rates unchanged at its March meeting rising to more than 91% from 86% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Reuters contributed to this report.

February 10, 2025
Zelenskyy ready ‘to do a deal’ with Trump on raw earth minerals and military assistance

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to meet with Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference later this week after confirming on Friday he is ready to “do a deal” with President Donald Trump.

According to an interview with Reuters, Zelenskyy said he was ready to supply the U.S. with rare-earth minerals in exchange for Washington’s continued backing of its war effort.

“If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelenskyy said.

ZELENSKYY WANTS NUKES OR NATO; TRUMP SPECIAL ENVOY KELLOGG SAYS ‘SLIM AND NONE’ CHANCE

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to “do a deal” with President Trump about Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals in exchange for continued financial support. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

The Ukrainian president has made clear he is also open to engaging in peace talks with Russia to end the three-year-long war, though possible terms for securing a peace deal remain varied and unknown.

Though Zelenskyy has said he is looking for “guarantees” when it comes to future security assurances for the war-torn country.

These security assurances will likely need to be more than a formal handshake paired with a signed document, as Russia has twice violated its last agreement with Ukraine, known as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.

The deal saw Kyiv hand over its nuclear arsenal to Moscow for dismantlement in exchange for sovereignty and independence guarantees from Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. However, the agreement did not stop Russia from invading Ukraine twice under Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy apparently first floated the idea of trading Ukraine’s mineral resources – roughly 20% of which are located in now Russian controlled territory, including half of the rare-earth variety – under his “victory plan” first presented to Western allies last fall, reported Reuters.

Rare-earth materials are used in the production of consumer electronics and electric engines. Zelenskyy has warned that Russia could give these resources to its allies like North Korea and Iran – the latter of which the U.S. just last week began to even more heavily sanction.

TRUMP’S FOURTH WEEK IN OFFICE COULD INCLUDE MEETING WITH ZELENSKYY, IRONING OUT STEEL DEAL

Former President Donald Trump meets with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

“We need to stop Putin and protect what we have – a very rich Dnipro region, central Ukraine,” Zelenskyy reportedly said.

While Trump will not attend the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy will lead the Ukrainian delegation there and is reportedly expected to meet with Vance and special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg.

Trump told reporters last week that Zelenskyy may travel to D.C. in the week following the security conference, which runs Feb. 14-16, at which time both presidents will once again meet to discuss the war.

“I’d like to see that war end,” Trump told reporters last week. “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earth and other things.”

Russia’s war effort in eastern Ukraine continues to rage, and Moscow on Friday claimed it had captured the mining town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region despite Ukraine’s months-long attempts to stop Russian advances.

TRUMP PLANS TO MEET WITH ZELENSKYY AS HE LOOKS TO END UKRAINE WAR

The ruins of the city of Toretsk are in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Dec. 19, 2024. Russia, on Feb. 7, 2025, claimed to have finally seized the mining city. (Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

As Moscow continues to see incremental gains in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv is also pushing forward with its own attempts to seize Russian territory, which security experts have told Fox News Digital could be an attempt to give it better bargaining leverage come the time for ceasefire talks with Moscow.

Zelenskyy also said on Friday that Ukraine had opened a new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv first began its incursion in August 2024.

“In the areas of the Kursk operation, new assaults have taken place,” Zelenskyy said during his nightly address. “Russia has once again deployed North Korean soldiers alongside its troops.”

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Ukrainian forces fight in the Kursk region in Malaya Loknya, Russia, in this screen grab obtained from a handout video released on Aug. 20, 2024. (Air Assault Brigade/Handout via Reuters)

It is unclear if North Korea has sent more troops to Russia after its initial deployment of as many as 12,000 men last October, though South Korean intelligence has warned Pyongyang is planning to do so.

Zelenskyy Sunday night said Ukrainian troops in Kursk “demonstrate highly effective enemy destruction,” though he did not detail any casualty rates among Russian or North Korean troops.

“We must hold all our positions firmly,” he said. “The stronger we stand on the front lines, the stronger our diplomacy – our work with partners – will be.”

Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.

February 10, 2025
Third judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order

A third federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.

The ruling from a New Hampshire judge follows similar rulings from judges in Washington state and Maryland.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he prepares to sign a proclamation declaring Feb. 9 Gulf of America Day. (AP/Ben Curtis)

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

February 10, 2025