Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tapped a new director and deputy director to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as she works to reinstate a culture of results and accountability under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Noem announced the appointments on Sunday, saying Todd Lyons will serve as acting ICE director, and Madison Sheahan will serve as the deputy director of ICE.
"For the past four years, our brave men and women of ICE were barred from doing their jobs—ICE needs a culture of accountability that it has been starved of under the Biden Administration," Noem said. "Todd Lyons and Madison Sheahan are work horses, strong executors, and accountable leaders who will lead the men and women of ICE to achieve the American people’s mandate to target, arrest and deport illegal aliens."
In a press release, Homeland Security said Lyons currently serves as the acting executive associate director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
He has served in a variety of other roles within ICE, including assistant director of field operations for ERO, where he oversaw all 25 field offices and domestic operations across the U.S. Prior to that, Lyons worked as the ERO field office director (FOD) in the Boston field office, where he oversaw ERO activities in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont.
Lyons started his career in federal service in 1993 as a member of the U.S. Air Force, and in 1999, he went into civilian law enforcement in Florida. Lyons joined ERO as an ICE agent in Dallas, Texas, in 2007.
Sheahan and Noem have worked together in the past, though most recently the new deputy director of ICE has served as the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, where she oversaw a $280 million budget and led a team of over 800 employees across wildlife, fisheries and enforcement divisions.
She helped establish the Special Operations Group inside the enforcement division, which places priority on public safety through historic partnerships with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies when major events like Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl take place in The Big Easy.
Sheahan also advised Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry in her role.
Prior to that, she worked for then-South Dakota Gov. Noem in various leadership positions, including the state Republican Party and on special initiatives aimed toward advancing Noem’s agenda.
Sheahan and Lyons did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comments on their new positions.
Noem served as South Dakota governor from January 2019 to January 2025, when she was sworn-in as the nation’s eighth Department of Homeland Security chief.
She was the fourth member of the Trump administration to gain approval from the Senate, and is leading the department at a time when securing the border and tackling illegal immigration are top priorities for the new administration.
The administration has taken a number of actions to secure the border, including deploying the military, restarting wall construction and ending Biden-era parole programs.
U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday that his department "does not do climate change crap," but instead focuses on things like warfighting and training.
The secretary was responding to a post from CNN’s Haley Britzky, who shared a story about the DOD and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cutting programs in the Pentagon that deal with climate change.
"The DOD and DOGE have said they plan to cut climate programs in the Pentagon – but officials & experts are warning that climate efforts at DOD are directly linked to military readiness, and say cuts could put troops and military operations at risk," Britzky wrote.
CNN reportedly reached out to the Pentagon with a list of questions about military readiness, Britzky added.
DOGE, which is being led by billionaire Elon Musk, and the DOD have been working together to slash wasteful spending, DOD spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to social media last week.
He listed some of the initial findings flagged by DOGE, which consisted of millions of dollars given to support various diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, including $1.9 million for holistic DEI transformation and training in the Air Force and $6 million to the University of Montana to "strengthen American democracy by bridging divides."
Also, among the findings was $1.6 million to the University of Florida to study the social and institutional detriment of vulnerability in resilience to climate hazards in Africa.
"This stuff is just not a core function of our military," Parnell said. "This is not what we do. This stuff is a distraction from our core mission."
"We believe these initial findings will probably save $80 million in wasteful spending," he added.
Hegseth said his agency would work with DOGE, which has conducted reviews of the Treasury, Labor, Education and Health departments, as well as at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management and Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
He added that many DOGE workers are veterans, and it is a "good thing" that they will find deficiencies.
"They care just like we do, to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities — the DEI, the woke, the climate change B.S., that's not core to our mission, and we're going to get rid of it all," Hegseth said.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
Failed Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is facing condemnation from conservatives after she appeared on MSNBC to defend a $2 billion initiative under the Biden administration's EPA to purchase green energy appliances for Americans.
"Stacey Abrams linked Power Forward Communities received $2 billion in tax dollars in 2024 after reporting just $100 in revenue the year before. They were so unqualified that the grant agreement required the NGO to complete ‘How to Develop a Budget’ training within 90 days," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in comment provided to Fox Digital on Sunday.
"$2 billion in hard earned tax dollars should not have been doled out to this organization for many reasons, especially if they don’t even know how to put together a budget. The Biden EPA ‘gold bars’ scheme is riddled with self-dealing and conflicts of interest, unnecessary middlemen, unqualified recipients, and massively reduced government oversight. The funds are currently frozen, and the DOJ and FBI are investigating."
Zeldin's response followed Abrams joining MSNBC on Friday to defend the Biden administration granting $2 billion last year to a group called Power Forward Communities.
The group is a consortium of housing nonprofits, such as Habitat for Humanity International, United Way Worldwide and Rewiring America. Abrams reportedly "played a pivotal role" in establishing the group, according to a LinkedIn post by Ian Magruder, who works at one of the coalition's partners, Rewiring America, Fox Digital previously reported.
Abrams worked with Rewiring America to bring energy efficient appliances to a Georgia community in 2023 and 2024, she said on MSNBC while defending the billions in funds provided to Power Forward Communities.
"What is this organization? What is your relation to to it? And what does it do," MSNBC's Chris Hayes asked Abrams during the program.
"In 2023 and 2024, I led a program called Vitalizing De Soto. We worked in a tiny town in south Georgia to demonstrate that by replacing energy-inefficient appliances with efficient appliances, you can lower your cost. And in fact, we accomplished that for 75% of the community. They got appliances that are lowering their bills," Abrams said, explaining one woman in the Georgia town saw her energy costs slashed by half due to the project.
Abrams continued that the project was so beneficial to Americans, that a coalition of organizations joined forces to call on the EPA under the Biden administration to copy the program and deliver the same results nationwide.
"Based on that program, a coalition of organizations – famous organizations – came together and said to the EPA, 'If we can do this here, we can do this for millions more Americans. Let us invest the money of America in lowering the cost for Americans.’ And the EPA said, ‘OK, great, go for it.’ And they then granted those dollars to this coalition of organizations who came together, bringing 250 years and $100 billion worth of experience to doing this project," she said.
The $2 billion was used for the "decarbonization of homes" in low-income communities and paid for new household appliances, such as water heaters, induction stoves, solar panels, EV chargers, and weatherization, according to an April 2024 press release from Power Forward Communities.
Power Forward Communities CEO Tim Mayopoulos told Politico last month that Abrams did not receive funds from the EPA grant.
"Stacey Abrams has not received a penny of this EPA grant," he said last month. "It was never the plan for her to receive any money from this grant. Power Forward Communities has no relationship with Ms. Abrams, other than the fact that she’s one of the people who have advised one of our coalition members in the past."
Conservatives on social media slammed Abrams over the media interview, as critics asked why the EPA didn't provide rebates to Americans who purchased energy-efficient appliances, while others remarked the initiative was intended to "buy votes" in Georgia, which was a battleground state during the 2024 election cycle.
Fox Digital reached out to the PR firm representing Abrams for comment on the matter on Sunday afternoon, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Abrams argued in the MSNBC interview that conservatives, such as Zeldin and President Donald Trump, are "angry" over the funds provided to the group because Democrats "know how to serve the American people and lower their prices."
"What they are angry about is that it's going to work, because we know it can work. And in fact, the hypocrisy is that just today, the EPA quietly released funds for one portion of this program, $7 billion, where $100 million of that will go to West Virginia for solar projects. Another $60 million will go to Alaska for solar projects. They know this works. They know it will reduce cost. They are angry about the fact that it is Democrats who know how to serve the American people and lower their prices," she said.
The interview followed Trump calling Abrams out during his speech to a joint session of Congress last Tuesday.
"$1.9 billion to recently created decarbonization of homes committee, headed up – and we know she’s involved – just at the last moment, the money was passed over — by a woman named Stacey Abrams. Have you ever heard of her?" Trump said during his speech, with some booing Abrams' name as Trump spoke.
The Washington Post ran a fact-check on the remark, giving Trump four "pinocchios" for the comment, arguing Abrams "does not head the consortium; she did not even head one member of the consortium. She was only an adviser. Moreover, the money was delivered nine months before President Joe Biden left office, not at the last moment."
Abrams notably did not distance herself from the project during her interview on MSNBC, instead celebrating her work on Vitalizing De Soto, which she explained led to the creation of Power Forward Communities.
The EPA hit back in its own fact check following the WaPo story that it "is no surprise that the Washington Post continues to toe the line for the radical left and are quick to defend apparent cronyism instead of actually doing the work to investigate on behalf of the American public."
Fox News Digital's Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has established the beginnings of a maverick reputation in the Senate – as someone willing to stand against his own party.
But this hasn't necessarily lined up with his voting record, particularly on key issues, namely preventing biological males from dominating women's and girls' sports.
Every Democratic senator present, including Fetterman, recently voted to block a bill from moving forward which would have barred men from women's sports.
The measure is supported by the vast majority of Americans, per recent polling by the New York Times and Ipsos. In fact, 67% of Democrats agreed with Republicans that biological males shouldn't be allowed to participate in female sports.
The bill would require Title IX to treat gender as "recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth," and would disallow any adjustment for it to apply to gender identity.
After being elected in 2022, Fetterman started ruffling feathers due to his blunt and vocal support of Israel.
He also made waves in January by meeting with President Donald Trump following his 2024 electoral win.
Recently, he co-sponsored the Republicans' Laken Riley Act, a sweeping immigration enforcement bill, which was ultimately signed into law.
In addition to backing several Trump Cabinet nominees early on, Fetterman hasn't shied away from publicly criticizing his party, particularly after their behavior during the president's joint address to Congress on Tuesday.
"A sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance. It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained. We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to – and it may not be the winning message," the senator wrote on X after Democratic lawmakers caused disruptions.
However, Fetterman's Democratic rebel persona hasn't necessarily been reflected in his voting habits, as was the case with his party-line vote to block the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
In 2023, he voted in line with President Joe Biden 97.3% of the time, according to ABC News' 538.
Last year, he didn't make the list of Senate Democrats who most frequently opposed Biden, as compiled by Roll Call. Those who voted against Biden most often included Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, of Oregon, Peter Welch, of Vermont, and former Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, both independents, also made the list.
Fetterman's office did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.
Canadians feel "frustrated" with the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s talk of annexing the country along with his tariffs on Canadian goods, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman said Sunday.
Hillman detailed the frustration that Canadians are feeling with their neighbor during an appearance on CBS’ "Face the Nation," saying its citizens "don’t really appreciate it."
"They're getting a little bit frustrated with that kind of rhetoric," Hillman said, referring to Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st state. "But more importantly, Canadians are frustrated with our neighbors."
"Canadians feel under attack – under economic attack," Hillman said about Trump’s tariffs. "And that is causing some challenges for sure across Canadian society."
The U.S. began imposing a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico on Tuesday, and an additional 10% levy on Chinese imports as Trump looks to curtail drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
By Thursday, Trump suspended the 25% tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico covered under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for one month.
Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs come as Canada is set to elect a new leader who will succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has recently had a contentious relationship with Trump.
Hillman said Canada’s new leader will "prioritize trying to have a good and healthy and productive relationship" with Trump.
"I am sure that that's going to be possible," she said. "Relationships go both ways, but I know that on our side, that's going to be a priority."
The majority of official documents signed by President Joe Biden allegedly used the same autopen signature, reinvigorating concerns over the former president’s mental acuity and if he "actually ordered the signature of relevant legal documents," a report published by an arm of the Heritage Foundation found.
"WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY," the Oversight Project, which is an initiative within the conservative Heritage Foundation that investigates the government to bolster transparency, posted to X on Thursday.
"We gathered every document we could find with Biden's signature over the course of his presidency. All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year. Here is the autopen signature," the group claimed on X, accompanied by photo examples.
Autopen signatures are ones that are automatically produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature.
The Oversight Project posted three examples showing Biden’s signature, including two executive orders and the president’s announcement he was bowing out of the 2024 presidential race. The signature on the two executive orders, one of which was signed in 2022 and the other in 2024, showed the same signature that included what appeared to be a line, followed by "R. Biden Jr."
Biden’s signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the other two posted by the Oversight Project, showing a signature that wasn’t as clear as the one on the executive orders.
Fox News Digital, at random, examined more than 20 Biden-era executive orders documented on the Federal Register’s office between 2021 and 2024 and found each had the same signature.
Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment on the Oversight Project’s findings on the autopen investigation, but did not immediately receive a reply on Sunday.
Fox News Digital also examined the signatures on President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which are often signed in public or in front of the media, during his first administration and second administration and found the signatures were also the same.
Biden and his administration, however, came under fierce concern and scrutiny over his mental acuity last year.
The year 2024 kicked off with Biden in the driver’s seat of the Democratic Party as he keyed up a re-election effort in what was shaping up to be a rematch against Trump. In February of that year, however, Biden’s 81 years of age and mental acuity fell under public scrutiny after years of conservatives questioning the commander in chief’s mental fitness.
Special counsel Robert Hur, who was investigating Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents as vice president, announced he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, calling Biden "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
The report renewed scrutiny over Biden’s mental fitness, which rose to a fever pitch in June 2024 after the president’s first and only presidential debate against Trump.
Biden faced backlash for a handful of gaffes and miscues in the days leading up to his ill-fated debate against Trump, including former President Barack Obama taking Biden’s wrist and appearing to lead him off a stage during a swank fundraiser, and also abroad when Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni guided Biden back to a group of world leaders when he appeared to wander off to give a thumbs-up to a parachutist during the G-7 summit.
When the big debate day arrived, Biden missed his marks repeatedly, tripping over his responses and appearing to lose his train of thought as he squared off against Trump. The disastrous debate performance led to an outpouring from both conservatives and traditional Democrat allies calling on the president to bow out of the race in favor of a younger generation.
Biden dropped out of the race in July, with the signature on that official document showing it was noticeably different from the signature on his EOs.
Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sent a letter to the Department of Justice on Wednesday of last week demanding an investigation be opened into whether Biden’s "cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval."
"There are profound reasons to suspect that Biden's staff and political allies exploited his mental decline to issue purported presidential orders without his knowing approval," the letter read.
"Speaker Johnson, for example, reported that staff and elected officials – including former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer – tried to prevent Johnson from meeting with Biden," it continued.
"Though presidents always have gatekeepers, in Biden's case, the walls around him were higher and the controls greater, according to Democratic lawmakers, donors and aides who worked for Biden and other administrations. Staff limited Biden's ability to speak with others and limited the sources of information he consumed."
The Oversight Project shared Bailey’s letter in its thread investigating Biden’s signature on official documents, in addition to an interview with Speaker Johnson, R-La., when he recounted that Biden didn’t remember signing an order freezing new liquid natural gas exports in 2024.
"I didn’t do that," the president said, Johnson recounted during an interview with the Free Press’ Bari Weiss in January.
"Sir, you paused it, I know. I have the export terminals in my state. I talked to those people in my state, I’ve talked to those people this morning, this is doing massive damage to our economy, national security," Johnson said he told the president at the time.
"I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, ‘We are in serious trouble – who is running the country?’" Johnson said of the 2024 meeting.
"Like, I don’t know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn’t know," he added.
The Oversight Project continued in its findings that investigators should determine "who controlled the autopen" during the Biden administration.
"For investigators to determine whether then-President Biden actually ordered the signature of relevant legal documents, or if he even had the mental capacity to, they must first determine who controlled the autopen and what checks there were in place. Given President Biden's decision to revoke Executive Privilege for individuals advising Trump during his first Presidency, this is a knowable fact that can be determined with the correct legal process?" the Oversight Project posted to X.
Concerns over Biden’s mental acuity when he was in office, combined with the Oversight Project’s findings, have sparked outrage among conservative social media users as they question if Biden personally signed the executive orders.
Sunday marks the second deadline in an effort to release the RFK and MLK assassination files, just weeks after the fallout from the highly anticipated release of the Epstein files by the Department of Justice.
In light of President Donald Trump's executive order in January to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., the director of national intelligence (DNI) and other officials were expected to submit their proposed release plans for the RFK and MLK files on March 9.
DNI and the attorney general were previously given a Feb. 7 deadline to submit their release plans for the JFK files.
The RFK and MLK release plan deadline comes just weeks after the Justice Department revealed a batch of Jeffrey Epstein files in late February. Many of the documents publicized then had already been released during the federal criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former lover and convicted accomplice.
The lack of new material prompted an outcry and criticism of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files – and questions about what the RFK and MLK documents could hold upon their release.
Gerald Posner, author of "Case Closed," told Fox News Digital at the time that he expects "there will be news in there, but it's not going to be something that turns upside down our understanding of what really happened with those cases."
Trump's declassification executive order came after he promised to declassify the documents upon entering his second term while on the campaign trail, saying at the time, "When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination-related documents. It’s been 60 years, time for the American people to know the truth."
The FBI said in a February statement that it had conducted a new records search in light of Trump's executive order, saying at the time, "The search resulted in approximately 2400 newly inventoried and digitized records that were previously unrecognized as related to the JFK assassination case file."
"The FBI has made the appropriate notifications of the newly discovered documents and is working to transfer them to the National Archives and Records Administration for inclusion in the ongoing declassification process," the agency continued.
Fox News Digital reached out to DNI and the FBI for additional comment.
After the Epstein file fallout, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent FBI Director Kash Patel a fiery letter accusing federal investigators in New York of withholding thousands of pages of Epstein documents.
"I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of documents responsive to my request and was repeatedly assured by the FBI that we had received the full set of documents," Bondi wrote. "Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein."
Bondi told Fox News' Sean Hannity last week that the DOJ had received a "truckload" of Epstein files from the FBI following the Friday 8 a.m. deadline she had imposed on the agency.
Fox News' David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced a further wave of contract terminations late Saturday, noting that they also identified thousands of cases where more than $300 million in loans were granted to children.
The announcements come as the Elon Musk-led agency continues to root out waste, fraud and corruption in the federal government.
DOGE said it identified that the Small Business Administration (SBA) granted nearly 5,600 loans for $312 million to borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time of the loan. The loans were issued in 2020 and 2021 – while the world struggled with the COVID-19 pandemic – and it is unclear what they were used for.
"While it is possible to have business arrangements where this is legal, that is highly unlikely for these 5,593 loans, as they all also used an SSN with the incorrect name," the agency wrote.
"@DOGE and @SBAgov are working together to solve this problem this week," they added.
When making the announcement, DOGE shared a post on X from Tuesday when it also revealed that in 2020 and 2021 the SBA issued 3,095 loans for $333 million to borrowers over 115 years old.
The borrowers were still marked as alive in the Social Security database. In one case, a 157-year-old individual received $36,000 in loans, the agency said. The loans included PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) and EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) loans.
In President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday, he bashed instances where he said millions of people aged over 100 were listed on the Social Security database, with one being as old as 360 years of age.
"I know some people who are rather elderly but not quite that elderly," Trump said. "3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129. 3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139. 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is being paid to many of them, and we are searching right now."
DOGE also said they canceled one Department of Agriculture contract worth $10.3 million, which it said was "ironically" initiated for "identifying unnecessary contracts."
The cost-saving agency said the termination was one of 162 nonessential contracts it canceled with a total ceiling value of $205 million and savings of $90 million. The agency did not specify what areas of the federal government the remaining contract terminations were made.
Meanwhile, Musk met with a small group of House Republicans on Wednesday evening to discuss the quest to find as much as $1 trillion in government waste, people familiar with the discussion told Fox News Digital.
"The executive DOGE team is confident, they think they can get $1 trillion," one lawmaker familiar with the meeting told Fox News Digital.
"Now, we'll see, right? And the thing is, he acknowledged that we're going to make mistakes, but we're going to correct them very quickly."
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress put the final nail in the coffin of the Democrats' recognition as the political party of compassion – which was first promoted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt 92 years ago – former Reagan speechwriter Clark Judge told Fox News Digital.
"In the 1930s, thanks to the energy, determination and humanity that FDR projected in his first hundred days and thereafter, particularly in contrast to what was seen as four years of heartlessness and fecklessness in the Hoover administration, the Democratic Party claimed the mantle of the 'compassionate' party, the party of the common man and woman, the party of social justice. A new political era was born," Judge, who served as speechwriter and special assistant to both President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush, told Fox News Digital in an assessment of Trump’s speech last week.
"On Tuesday night, with the Democrats sitting on their hands through story after heartrending story of overcoming the injustices of economic mismanagement and wokeness, even as a little boy, whose political ‘incorrectness’ went no farther than loving the police even as he struggles with brain cancer, and following a mere month (a third of a hundred days) of President Trump’s rapid-fire reform rivaling FDR’s, that 92-year-old political era came to an end. For good. Forever," he added.
Trump spoke for about an hour and 40 minutes, notching the longest address a president has delivered before a joint session of Congress, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The longest speech on record was previously held by former President Bill Clinton, when he spoke for one hour and 28 minutes during his State of the Union Address in 2000.
"To my fellow citizens, America is back," Trump declared at the start of his speech.
"Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden Age of America," he said. "From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years. And we are just getting started."
Guests invited to the speech included "everyday Americans," according to first lady Melania Trump’s office, including families who have lost their loved ones to murders carried out by illegal immigrants, the widow of a slain New York Police Department officer, a teenager who was the victim of AI-generated images passed around at school, and a young cancer survivor named DJ Daniel who stole the show with his dad when Trump made his dream of becoming a cop come true.
"Joining us in the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our police," Trump told the crowd. "His name is DJ Daniel. He is 13 years old, and he has always dreamed of becoming a police officer. But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave him five months at most to live. That was more than six years ago."
"Tonight, DJ, we're going to do you the biggest honor of them all," Trump said. "I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service."
Judge, who is the founder of the communications firm the White House Writers Group Inc., continued in his assessment of Trump’s speech that the president’s guests last Tuesday brought "life" to the "callousness of the old order."
"Brilliant speech. Vivid. Great structure and flow. Unusually memorable illustrations. The stories of his well-selected guests in the gallery brought to undeniable life the senseless callousness of the old order and the hope for the nation and its future that the Trump administration’s electric beginning has now demonstrated is achievable," he said.
"Great use of humor, too. Particularly clever was the section that climbed the ladder of rising ages in the supposedly active recipients in the Social Security rolls, all the way to the name of a 360-year-old, whoever that turns out to be, or have been. In a moment, wringing waste, fraud, and abuse out of Social Security and much else the government does was no longer code for heartless cutting and became a duty we could all embrace and expect our government to undertake for the benefit of all," he continued.
Other former presidential speechwriters have weighed in favorably over Trump’s speech, including former President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter, Bill McGurn, during an appearance on FOX Business’ "Mornings with Maria" on Wednesday.
"I greatly enjoyed just having to listen to it. I thought President Trump did exactly what he needed to do. It was well received by Republicans, and he played the Democrats against themselves," McGurn said.
Trump’s director of speechwriting under his first administration, Stephen Miller – who serves as White House deputy dhief of staff for policy under the second administration – shared his criticisms of Democrats on X throughout the speech.
Democrats overwhelmingly remained seated throughout Trump’s address, including when he spotlighted various Americans for nonpolitical issues, such as when Daniel was spotlighted by the president, or when Trump remembered the lives of 22-year-old Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who were killed at the hands of illegal immigrants.
Democrats protested during the speech, including holding up signs reading "false," "lies," "Musk steals" and "Save Medicaid." Some female Democratic lawmakers wore pink suits in protest of policies they claim are anti-woman, and other Democrats were heard jeering Trump throughout the speech.
Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green generated headlines just as Trump began his speech on Tuesday when he shouted at the president and waved his cane at him while Speaker of the House Mike Johnson demanded order be restored. The Sergeant-at-Arms escorted Green from the chamber.
Former President Barack Obama’s speechwriters, including Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, also weighed in on the speech on their podcast on Wednesday, saying Trump crafted a speech that was both a formal address and more relaxed, like his rally speeches.
"It was a greatest hit speech, peppered with some new stunts and interesting scary moments, but like a lot of what we've heard before, but he's really relishing in it. He's really enjoying his, he's really, he's really enjoying his time up there," Lovett said.
"I would say it was not surprising in any way," Favreau said of the speech during their "Pod Save America" broadcast.
"Like it felt what I expected, we said this before in our livestream, like a lot of accomplishments for most of the speech, very little news, new policy," he added.
David Frum, who was a speechwriter for George W. Bush, railed against the speech in an opinion piece titled, "Trump, by any means possible," published in the Atlantic last week.
"Eight years later, not even Trump’s staunchest partisans would describe his 2025 address as conciliatory," Frum wrote. "He mocked, he insulted, he called names, he appealed only to a MAGA base that does not add up to even half the electorate. But in 2025, the big question hanging over the nation’s head is not one about oratory, but about democracy. In 2017, Americans did not yet know how far Trump might go. Now they do. They only flinch from believing it."
"Had Trump lost the 2024 election, he would right now be facing sentencing for his criminal convictions in the state of New York. He would be facing criminal and civil trials in other states. He was rescued from legal troubles by political success. Now Trump’s acting in ways that seem certain to throw power away in the next round of elections – if those elections proceed as usual. If they are free and fair. If every legal voter is allowed to participate. If every legal vote is counted, whether cast in person or by mail. Those did not use to be hazardous ‘if’s. But they may be hazardous in 2026," he continued.
Conservatives and Trump allies have rallied around the speech as "historic" and "inspiring," saying the president is coming through on his campaign promises at a breakneck pace.
"In just one month under President Trump, Americans have experienced record results and the renewal of the American Dream with the triumphant return of strong leadership to the Oval Office," U.N. ambassador-designate Elise Stefanik, for example, said in a statement of the speech. "From securing the border, to cutting wasteful spending of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars, to reasserting America First peace through strength leadership to the world stage, President Trump has delivered the most exceptional first month of an American presidency in history. Promises made, promises kept. The American Golden Age is here."
Judge added in his comment to Fox Digital that Democrats’ behavior on Tuesday evening only made Trump look better as the commander in chief.
"To be fair, no matter what he did, the president would have looked good, thanks to the Democrats looking so awful. Central casting and Cecil B. DeMille could not have assembled and staged a more perfect cast of the nasty, self-enthralled, leftist elitists that has come to dominate the party’s establishment," Judge added.
With airline safety being top-of-mind after several deadly or near-death incidents on America’s tarmacs and in its skies, maintenance experts and lawmakers alike are calling for more support for specialized training in jet maintenance.
President Donald Trump has also called for reforming the education system and increasing overall government efficiency, which experts Fox News Digital spoke with said falls in line with their goals as well. Delays and gate changes at airports are also often attributed to urgent maintenance of aircraft.
In the last congressional session, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., unsuccessfully introduced the Aviation Workforce Development Act to expand the "529" qualified-tuition program to include expenses for aviation maintenance and pilot training.
Scott’s hometown of Charleston is notably a hub for the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, and the Senator said that pilot and aviation maintenance jobs are in high demand and provide well-paying careers.
"Unfortunately, the extensive and expensive training they require has undermined Americans’ ability to tap into this vital industry," Scott said, adding that he plans to reintroduce his bill in Congress soon.
"By giving parents flexibility with the hard-earned money they invest into 529 plans, this commonsense legislation provides a pathway to turn today’s students into tomorrow’s pilots. Affording our aviation sector the workforce necessary to sustain the tremendous growth South Carolina has enjoyed will ensure tourists continue to flock to our great state and will provide South Carolinians with reliable and efficient travel."
Meanwhile, the leader of one of the nation’s largest aircraft maintenance training centers said the challenge to properly staff jobs in the increasingly needed field is one that needs support to continue feeding its "pipeline of skilled professionals."
Jason Pfaff, president of Aviation Institute of Maintenance – a school with 15 campuses nationwide that aims to fill the 13,000 annual job openings in its field of study – said support is needed now for these crucial roles.
"The aviation industry relies on highly trained experts to keep planes safe and operational, yet many people don’t realize the demand for these roles—or the impact they have on air travel," Pfaff said.
He spoke of meeting with a student who felt a social stigma about pursuing an aircraft maintenance career, compared to what her friends were seeking to do in life.
However, that feeling changed when she took a tour firsthand to watch aircraft maintainers do their work.
With the deadly crash off Hain’s Point, DC into the Potomac River last month, a jet landing upside down in Toronto and several other incidents, Pfaff said that maintenance workers play a crucial role in ensuring safe air travel.
"[The institute] is thrilled to see a renewed focus on trade careers, and we applaud leaders like Senator Tim Scott for championing aviation education. Aviation maintenance isn’t just a job—it’s a high-paying, high-skill career that keeps the world moving. As industry leaders and policymakers, we have a shared responsibility to spotlight the incredible opportunities in this field."
Pfaff noted some jobs in the field earn upwards of $150,000 per year for a person in their 20s and that thousands of applicants are needed – and Scott and others are right to draw attention to the need for such jobs.
Jose-Marie Griffiths, president of Dakota State University in South Dakota, said that higher education is not "one-size-fits-all" and that universities must play a big role in meeting the changing needs of the U.S. job market – whether it be in the industrial sector or otherwise.
"Higher education institutions must adapt to meet the needs of students at different points in their lives and careers," she said.
In the House, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, also introduced a bill similar to Scott’s in the last cycle, to increase awareness of tech education opportunities in the same way Pfaff described.
Miller’s bill, if reintroduced, would establish a $1 million grant program for such training in airline maintenance and the similar fields, with the lawmaker saying in a statement that career and technical education "empower students to explore exciting career options, discover their passions, and develop real-world skills that are in high demand."
"A four-year degree is not right for everyone, and our young people should know that they can lead successful careers based on technical expertise. We cannot continue to diminish the role of career and technical education in this country," he said, as nationwide pressure continues to direct students toward standard collegiate postsecondary education.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has emerged into the spotlight amid a new ethics complaint due to his voting in favor of laws that ultimately funded millions in grants to a nonprofit climate group that pays his wife's consulting firm.
The couple live in Newport and have two children, Molly and Alexander, as well as two grandchildren, according to the senator's website.
Throughout her career, Whitehouse has advised nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations, a state agency, a legislative body and private companies, according to a biography from the Atlantic Council, where she was a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
Her husband was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006. She first began working for the group at the center of the latest ethics complaint roughly two years later, in 2008.
Whitehouse started working for Ocean Conservancy in September 2008, according to her LinkedIn page. She served as a senior policy advisor, and her "consulting work includes providing strategic advice for the Executive Team and Program Directors, raising awareness of ocean policy issues at various workshops and conferences, and engaging key stakeholders in Ocean Conservancy's mission. Areas of policy focus include climate change, ocean plastics, and ocean planning."
Whitehouse is no longer directly employed by Ocean Conservancy, but the organization does pay her firm, Ocean Wonks LLC, for similar consulting.
She became president of Ocean Wonks LLC in 2017, and in this capacity, she "consults for various non-profit organizations, leveraging decades of scientific, regulatory, and policy experience to educate on and advocate for ocean policy issues," according to her LinkedIn.
Ocean Conservancy has notably received more than $14.2 million in federal grants since 2008, according to USASpending.gov. It was given two sizable grants in just 2024, one for $5.2 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and another for $1.7 million from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), both for marine debris cleanup. The former was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and the latter was funded through the EPA’s annual appropriations bill. The senator voted for both.
According to tax documents, Ocean Conservancy has paid Whitehouse a total of $2,686,800 either directly or through her firm since 2010.
This was cited in last month's complaint to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., and Vice Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., from ethics watchdog the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT).
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Whitehouse spokesperson Stephen DeLeo said, "This is a repeat dark money performance, and the previous attempt by a dark money group to plant these same smears was roundly dismissed by Senate Ethics. The billionaires and Supreme Court capture operatives behind FACT would like to try to stop Senator Whitehouse from shining a light on what they’ve done to deprive regular people of a fair shake before the Court."
"But false accusations from far-right special interests and billionaires will not impede the Senator’s pursuit of an accountable, ethical government that responds to Americans’ needs," he added.
Whitehouse's office also provided a letter to Fox News Digital from the committee last year informing another watchdog group, Judicial Watch, that the senator's actions did not violate "federal laws, Senate rules, or other standards of conduct."
The group had filed a similar ethics complaint to FACT.
