President Trump visited Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon to discuss his agenda for American workers, stressing a "no tax on tips" policy as the first week of his second term wraps up.
Speaking from the Circa Resort and Casino, Trump appealed to the myriad of hospitality workers in Sin City during his speech.
"Any worker who relies on tips [as] income, your tips will be 100% yours," Trump said.
The Republican, who previously touted the policy as a 2024 campaign promise, also addressed Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo during the speech and bluntly asked him about how important the issue was during the November election.
"You think that had an impact on the election?" Trump asked. "What, a half a point? It's pretty big….nationwide over four million workers depend on tip income, including an estimated 700,000 single moms."
"And here in Nevada…think of it, a quarter of the typical restaurant workers' pay comes from tips. I didn't know that," Trump continued.
The president then addressed impacted workers as "some of the very citizens who were hit hard and very hard by the ravages of the Biden economy, which was inflation."
"When I think of Biden, I think of incompetence and inflation," Trump said of his former opponent, who left office on Monday.
Earlier this week, Trump said that he would visit Nevada to "thank" voters for electing him in the November election, as the Silver State historically votes blue.
"I’m going to Nevada, and I’m really going to thank Nevada for the vote because we won Nevada," Trump said at the White House earlier this week. "That’s normally a Democratic vote and I just want to go there to thank Nevada for the vote."
During Saturday's speech, Trump also touted some of the promises his administration has already delivered on, including his dismantling of some federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.
"We got rid of the woke crap," Trump said to a cheering audience. "A lot of crap…you know, these people were petrified of it. I'll tell you, these companies, they run these big companies, they were petrified of it."
Fox News Digital's Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
Universities and colleges across the US have experienced a rise in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity since Hamas’ brutal attacks on Oct. 7. Anti-Israel agitators have staged massive protests, disrupted courses and events, and set up encampments. However, it's not just the students who are involved, it's also the faculty.
Columbia Business School associate professor Shai Davidai is calling on President Donald Trump to issue an executive order to stop institutions that hire professors who support US-designated terror organizations from receiving federal funds.
In a repost from the account Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus at ColumbiaU, Davidai urged Trump to act.
"I think it’s time for the president to sign a very simple executive order: no federal funds to private institutions that hire professors who support U.S.-designated terrorist organizations," Davidai wrote.
Davidai believes Columbia is in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and "should not receive federal funding" based on the hiring and elevating of terror group-supporting faculty.
"For the past 15 months, we have seen open support for the annihilation of the State of Israel," Davidai told Fox News Digital. "Not just criticism of the government of Israel, but the existence of Israel and Israelis on university campus both by students but also by professors."
However, Davidai emphasized that this is not just an Israeli issue, it’s an American issue. He notes that the agitators often echo the rhetoric of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, seeing Israel as "little Satan" and America as "big Satan."
"This is anti-Americanism. They hate America, and they say so, it’s not me putting words in their mouths."
Columbia University became a hotbed of anti-Israel and antisemitic activity following the Oct. 7 attacks, even drawing national attention as then-President Minouche Shafik was grilled by lawmakers about the situation. Despite a change in university leadership, anti-Israel agitators are still active on campus.
Last week, anti-Israel agitators disrupted a course called the Modern History of Israel, which was being taught by Avi Shilon, a visiting professor from Israel’s Tel-Hai Academic College. Tel-Hai has faced the threat of Hezbollah attacks due to its location near Israel's northern border.
"Just like Hezbollah would not let him teach his class in Israel, the Hezbollah supporters here in New York City just barged into his class and would not let him teach," Davidai said.
Columbia did not respond to a request for comment. However, after the incident, interim President Katrina Armstrong issued a statement.
"Today a History of Modern Israel class was disrupted by protesters who handed out fliers. We strongly condemn this disruption, as well as the fliers that included violent imagery that is unacceptable on our campus and in our community. No group of students has a right to disrupt another group of students in a Columbia classroom. Disrupting academic activities constitutes a violation of the Rules of University conduct and the nature of the disruption may constitute violations of other University policies," the statement reads.
"We will move quickly to investigate and address this act. We want to be absolutely clear that any act of antisemitism, or other form of discrimination, harassment, or intimidation against members of our community is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
President Donald Trump fired 17 independent watchdogs at various federal agencies late Friday, a Trump administration official confirmed to Fox News, as he continues to reshape the government at a blistering pace.
Trump dismissed inspector generals at agencies within the Defense Department, State Department, Energy Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department of Veterans Affairs and more, notifying them by email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, the Washington Post first reported.
"It’s a widespread massacre," one of the terminated inspector generals told the Post. "Whoever Trump puts in now will be viewed as loyalists, and that undermines the entire system."
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that Trump's action may violate federal law that requires the president to give 30 days' notice to Congress of his intent to fire any independent watchdog, the Associated Press reported.
"There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so," Grassley said in a statement. "I’d like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the 30 day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Inspector generals at federal agencies are called on to investigate government waste, fraud and abuse. They operate independently and can serve in multiple administrations.
The mass firing is Trump's latest attempt to force the federal bureaucracy into submission after he shut down diversity, equity and inclusion programs, rescinded job offers and sidelined more than 150 national security and foreign policy officials. Trump began his second term with the intent of purging any opponents of his agenda from the government and replacing them with officials who would execute his orders without hesitation.
Among those spared from Trump's wrath was Department of Justice inspector general Michael Horowitz, the New York Times reported. Horowitz led the investigation of the FBI's Russian collusion probe, which exposed at least 17 "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in the FBI's application for a FISA warrant in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., slammed Trump's firings, calling them a "purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night."
"President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption," Warren posted on X.
During his first term, Trump fired five inspectors general in less than two months in 2020. This included the State Department, whose inspector general had played a role in the president's impeachment proceedings.
Last year, Trump's predecessor Joe Biden fired the inspector general of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, after an investigation found the official had created a hostile work environment.
In 2022, Congress passed reforms that strengthened protections for inspectors general and made it harder to replace them with political appointees, requiring the president to explain their removal.
Pete Hegseth was sworn in as defense secretary Saturday morning, declaring it an "honor of a lifetime," and he promised to put America first by bringing peace through strength.
Hegseth, 44, a former Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, secured the role to lead the Pentagon following weeks of intense political drama surrounding his nomination and public scrutiny into his personal life.
"All praise and glory to God. His will be done and we're grateful to be here," an ecstatic Hegseth said after taking the oath of office, surrounded by his wife Jenny and children.
"And as I said in my hearing, it was Jesus and Jenny. I would not be here without you, sweetheart. Thank you so much."
"I want to thank the President of the United States, our commander-in-chief, Donald Trump. We could not have a better commander-in-chief than him. It is the honor of a lifetime, sir, to serve under you. We look forward to having the backs of our troops and having your back in executing peace through strength, in putting America first and in rebuilding our military."
Hegseth, a former Fox News host, also thanked Vice President JD Vance, who oversaw the swearing-in ceremony and whose deciding vote on Friday got his nomination over the line.
The Senate was deadlocked at 50-50 with three Republicans — Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — joining the Democrats in opposing Hegseth's confirmation.
The stalemate forced Vance to cast the tie-breaking vote, securing his confirmation.
"It's not the first time the headline reads, ‘Junior enlisted marine bails out junior Army officer,'" Hegseth joked to laughter from attendees.
Vance, the first vice president to have served as a Marine, was a combat correspondent from 2003 to 2007, including a tour in Iraq, before transitioning to civilian life and attending Ohio State University.
Trump congratulated Hegseth on Truth Social on Friday and said he "will make a great" defense secretary. Other Republicans praised his confirmation, predicting he will bring transformative change to the Pentagon.
Hegseth went on to praise veterans and those who served alongside him in the past, as well as the 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the military which he now leads.
"The first thing that goes through my head are the guys that I served with on the battlefield, the men and women who I locked shields with, who put my life on the line with, who never get the spotlight, who never had the cameras, who people don't know what they did in dark and dangerous places," Hegseth said.
"At the Pentagon, we're going to remember, and we're going to think about those warriors with every single decision that we make."
"We will put America first. We will bring peace through strength."
He outlined three principles that he said he will bring to the Pentagon.
"Restore the warrior ethos in everything that we do, rebuild our military and reestablish deterrence. We don't want to fight wars, we want to deter them," Hegseth said.
"We want to end them responsibly but if we need to fight them, we're going to bring overwhelming and decisive force to close with and destroy the enemy and bring our boys home. And to my other family that's here as well, who I love, it's the honor of a lifetime."
Shortly after he was sworn in, Hegseth released a statement via the defense department website addressing members of the Pentagon. The statement addressed his three principles.
"All of this will be done with a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness," the statement reads.
"I have committed my life to warfighters and their families. Just as my fellow soldiers had my back on the battlefield, know that I will always have your back. We serve together at a dangerous time. Our enemies will neither rest nor relent. And neither will we. We will stand shoulder to shoulder to meet the urgency of this moment."
"Like each of you, I love my country and swore an oath to defend the Constitution. We will do that each and every day, as one team. Together, we will accomplish the President’s mission to deter war and, if necessary, defeat and destroy our enemies. Godspeed!"
The Senate on Saturday voted to confirm South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, making her the fourth of President Donald Trump’s nominees to win approval from the chamber.
The vote was 59–34, with all Republicans present voting yes. Noem had been expected to be confirmed comfortably, having faced no significant issues during her confirmation hearing. Her nomination advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by a vote of 13–2. Only two Democrats voted against her there.
Noem becomes the fourth of President Donald Trump's picks to be confirmed, behind Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Noem will lead 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.
Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been launching deportation operations throughout the country to fulfill Trump’s promise of a "historic" operation.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued a slew of memos since Trump's inauguration, ordering reviews of parole and expanding the ability of officials to quickly deport illegal immigrants from the U.S. who have recently arrived. Those memos have been signed by Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman.
At her confirmation hearing, Noem pointed to other parts of the Homeland Security mission, including cybersecurity, disaster relief and counterterrorism.
"We must be vigilant and proactive and innovative to protect the homeland," she said. "The challenges in front of us are extremely significant, and we must secure our borders against illegal trafficking and immigration. We must safeguard our critical infrastructure to make sure that we're protected against cyber attacks, respond to natural disasters and also terrorism."
However, she emphasized that border security is a "top priority."
"As a nation, we have the right and the responsibility to secure our borders against those who would do us harm. And we must create a fair and lawful immigration system that is efficient and is effective, and that reflects our values," she said.
As governor, she pledged in 2021 not to take any more migrants from the Biden administration and also deployed the National Guard to the border in Texas. She also had experience with disaster response, working with federal officials to tackle floods that hit the state in June.
At her hearing, Noem was also asked about how she would work with border czar Tom Homan, who has been tapped to lead the deportation effort and secure the border.
Noem responded by saying that she and Homan "work very well together and talk and communicate all the time. And we'll be working together on a daily basis when we're in our positions under the new administration. And I would say there's no authority being planned to be taken away from the department or myself if I'm in the role."
Fox News' Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
President Trump is back in Nevada on Saturday to thank his supporters for helping him win the state, which has traditionally supported Democrats for president over the last couple of decades.
Trump will wrap up his first trip of his second administration with a rally Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas.
"I’m going to Nevada, and I’m really going to thank Nevada for the vote because we won Nevada," Trump said at the White House earlier this week. "That’s normally a Democratic vote and I just want to go there to thank Nevada for the vote."
Trump carried Nevada by three points in November's presidential election after narrowly losing the Silver State in 2016 and 2020. He became the first Republican presidential nominee to win the state in 20 years, since then-President George W. Bush carried the state in his 2004 re-election.
The president is expected to offer details on his campaign trail promise - which he first made during a rally in Las Vegas last June - to exclude tips from federal taxes.
"Can you remember that little statement about tips?" the president said during one of his inauguration day speeches. "Anybody remember that little statement? I think we won Nevada because of that statement."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, aboard Air Force One on Friday, told reporters the rally in Las Vegas would have "an economy focused message."
"President Trump will be talking about promises that he intends to keep, that he made to the American people on the campaign trail," she added.
The economy in Nevada's two largest cities - Las Vegas and Reno - is dominated by the hospitality and service industry. And many workers - from restaurant waiters to hotel clerks and maids to car park valets - rely on tips for much of their income.
But exempting tips from federal taxes will require Congress to pass legislation, which won't be easy to accomplish.
But a bill to do just that - which was first introduced last summer - was re-introduced into the new 119th Congress earlier this month by Democratic Sen. Jackie Rosen of Nevada and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Trump arrived in Las Vegas on Friday night. The president's stop in Nevada follows Trump's trip to California on Friday where he toured the devastation of the Los Angeles fires with residents who were personally impacted, met with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and participated in a roundtable with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other state officials.
In his first week in office, President Donald Trump has charged ahead with a series of executive actions, fulfilling a key campaign promise to challenge "gender ideology" in American institutions and promote "biological truth" rooted in "fundamental and incontrovertible reality."
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is poised to rule on two significant gender-related cases this year, and Trump's new executive action could spell further controversy in the higher court.
Last week, SCOTUS agreed to hear Mahmoud v. Taylor, which would determine whether schools can force teachers to read LGBTQ books to elementary-age children despite parental objections. At issue is whether parents will have the right to opt their children out of such instructions.
"If the Supreme Court's doing its job, it shouldn't impact [the case decisions] at all," Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Sarah Marshall Perry told Fox News Digital in an interview. "What Trump's executive order was is a statement of really what the policies are going to be for the executives going forward into the new administration. And he did exactly what [former President Joe] Biden did with his executive order expanding sex to include gender identity."
Perry noted the separation of powers between the executive and judiciary branches, adding that while the executive is mostly a political entity, the judiciary is non-political.
SCOTUS will be obligated to focus solely on the facts presented in the cases before them, she said, which "will include questions relative to the parameters of the parental rights guidance on school curriculums and exactly what constitutes curriculum for purposes of opt-out, whether gender medicine and age and medical-based restrictions that happen to impact individuals who are transgender is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause."
She also pointed out that the executive order should not influence the Supreme Court's decision-making, adding, "The executive order should have absolutely no bearing on what the Supreme Court decides going forward."
In another case that already had their oral arguments heard last year, Skrmetti v. U.S., the higher court is weighing whether the equal protection clause, which guarantees equal treatment under the law for individuals in similar circumstances, prevents states from banning medical providers from offering puberty blockers and hormone treatments to children seeking transgender surgical procedures.
The Biden administration joined the lawsuit by filing a petition to the Supreme Court in November 2023.
"I think the American people are gratified that they've got a president who is common sensical, who recognizes biological reality, who recognizes the text of civil rights law and the rule of law itself, and now they're going to say we have someone who was willing to stand in the gap for us, including through the Department of Justice, if the cases get all the way to the Supreme Court," Perry said. "But parents should, and I think will, be involved to be able to bring more legal challenges."
"I think this election really sort of rises to shift, not just politically, but for many people philosophically as well, because we recognize that America was sort of pulled back from the perilous brink on even understanding what it meant to be male and female, even understanding what it meant to live amicably in a pluralistic society," Perry said. "We are now, I think, thankfully, seeing a rebirth of those long-standing beneficial ideas."
Trump's executive order, signed on Inauguration Day and titled, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," declares that the U.S. will recognize only two sexes — male and female — based on immutable biological characteristics.
It prohibits the use of gender identity in legal and administrative contexts, mandates that federal agencies, including those overseeing housing, prisons, and education, adhere to this definition when enforcing laws and issuing regulations. The order directs changes to government-issued identification documents, bans the promotion of "gender ideology" in federal programs, rescinds previous executive actions that promoted gender identity inclusion and instructs federal agencies to eliminate guidance or regulations that conflict with the new policy.
Trump's executive order reverses the Biden administration's executive order titled "Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation," signed in 2021, which directed federal agencies to interpret and enforce civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The Senate will hold votes over the weekend to accelerate the confirmation of one of President Donald Trump's key Cabinet nominees.
Lawmakers will meet for a rare Saturday session to hold a vote on whether to confirm South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump's pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, to the top Cabinet position.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., indicated earlier in the week that the Senate would stay over the weekend to push through the confirmation process if Democrats blocked voting efforts.
"Do we want a vote on these folks on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that's what we're going to do," Thune said after Democrats blocked a confirmation vote for Trump's CIA director nominee, John Ratcliffe, who has bipartisan support. "This can be easy or this can be hard."
"This is about America's national security interests, and we're stalling, so that's not going to happen," Thune said.
Noem was questioned by lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee during her confirmation hearing earlier in the week.
The Department of Homeland Security deals with national security and immigration issues, making Noem's confirmation top of mind for Trump as he makes the crisis at the southern border a priority during his second term.
Several of Trump's nominees remain unconfirmed after the 47th president's first week in office. But Thune promised while speaking on the Senate floor on Friday that he "will continue to ensure that the Senate works as quickly as possible to get President Trump's team in place."
Fox News' Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
The global climate movement is already feeling the sting of the "Trump effect" after green energy policies were a target of President Donald Trump's first executive orders, according to energy experts who reacted to the president's first week in office.
Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States Monday, signing numerous executive orders aimed at unraveling former President Joe Biden's climate agenda.
"President Trump has not wasted any time to undo Biden’s many climate policies designed to make energy more expensive and less affordable. America and the world can look forward to a brighter future because of the actions that President Trump has started on his first day in office," Myron Ebell, chairman of the American Lands Council, said in a statement.
But Ebell added that "it’s going to be a long, hard fight because of ferocious opposition" from climate groups.
This week, Trump signed an executive order to ax the U.S. climate standards, which aimed to reduce emissions 61-66% by 2035.
Additionally, the president ended the electric vehicle (EV) mandate and withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, a legally binding treaty among more than 190 parties committed to international cooperation on climate change.
"President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accords is a victory for American workers and families, rejecting policies that prioritize the Chinese Communist Party’s interests over our own," said Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute and a former Texas state representative.
"The Paris framework does nothing to mitigate a changing climate but drives up energy costs and burdens Americans with decarbonization mandates rooted in the climate hoax. By making American energy more affordable and accessible, President Trump is benefiting not only our nation but the world."
Marc Morano, publisher of Climate Depot, a communication platform for climate issues designed by the Committee For a Constructive Tomorrow, a D.C.-based public policy group, said that Trump's second term "could become one of our lifetimes' most consequential presidencies."
"Trump is poised to, once and for all, put a stake through the heart of the U.N. globalist climate change scam," Morano said in a statement shared with Fox. "The Trump effect is already derailing the U.N. climate summits, canceling EV mandates, disintegrating the Wall Street climate group and Net Zero goals. Trump's policies could have the effect of collapsing the entire climate house of cards."
Trump's executive orders were not accepted by many Democratic lawmakers and climate groups, who criticized the president's executive orders.
"It’s the second day of the second Trump presidency, and there are three things we know for sure: there is no energy emergency; there is a climate emergency; and the policies rolled out in these past 24 hours will make the climate crisis worse," said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress plan on going even deeper on reversing green energy policies enacted over the past four years. Republicans in the House have already introduced legislation to block Biden's climate standards on household appliances.
More than 200,000 children have been abducted by Russia since the start of its invasion of Ukraine, Chairman Emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said, citing U.S. estimates.
"If a foreign adversary took 260,000 of our kids, and they were in indoctrination camps, I mean, how would we feel about that?" McCaul asked Fox News Digital.
The Texas Republican was recently term-limited in his time as chairman of the foreign affairs panel, but he is continuing to work on the world stage, in part by raising awareness about Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine. Among the most egregious is the relocation of thousands of Ukrainian children into Russia, the vast majority of whom have not been returned.
Some parents would be coerced into giving up their children because Russian forces were threatening to bomb their city, McCaul said, while other times "they just invade and capture the children."
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in February 2023 for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, "for the war crime of unlawful deportation of [children] and that of unlawful transfer of [children] from occupied areas of Ukraine."
Lvova-Belova was sanctioned last year by the U.S. over her part in the scheme, which has been widely condemned by western governments.
However, the Kremlin has denied war crime allegations and maintained it is doing humanitarian work facilitating homes for Ukrainian children, NPR reported.
Existing accounts from returned children and elsewhere paint a picture of forced indoctrination within Russia’s borders, however. Some of those children are given military training, according to the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, likely in preparation to fight on Russia’s front lines.
Estimates on how many children have been taken to Russia vary between 20,000 to upwards of 250,000.
Part of McCaul’s work raising awareness about Russia’s treatment of Ukrainian children will include a screening of a documentary titled, "Children in the Fire: Ukraine’s War Through the Children’s Eyes" by filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky, at the Munich Security Conference next month.
He has also worked with the nonprofit Save Ukraine, which is working to return children.
"In the documentary, the child's brought into this prison where it looks like adults are being— basically they're using electrodes to shock them, you know, under their fingernails and their genitals, and it's just very, very barbaric," McCaul said.
He also held a hearing last year on the issue while leading the foreign affairs committee.
McCaul said Russia’s abduction of children is among the most vile of its alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions. He compared it to infamous Nazi physician Josef Mengele’s experiments on Jewish children and adults.
"It's just evil. I mean, any civilization that would capture— I mean, it's one thing if you're on the battlefield killing the enemy, from their point of view," McCaul said. "But to capture the children to re-indoctrinate them is sort of reminiscent of, you know, Mengele’s experiments on kids…And I don't think we've seen anything like this in recent society."
The House passed a resolution last year condemning Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children in a bipartisan 390 to 9 vote.
"It's just horrific. I can't imagine, as a father, my children being, you know, taken away by the Russian Federation and then not knowing where they are or what's happening to them," McCaul said. "But this is all part of Putin's game, is to try to indoctrinate the children in Ukraine to go against their own country and belief system."
President Donald Trump is back in the White House and moving at warp speed to push through his agenda with dozens of executive orders, surveying damaged areas in North Carolina and California, and rallying behind his Cabinet nominees amid Senate confirmation showdowns.
In his inauguration address on Monday, the new president vowed that things across the country would "change starting today, and it will change very quickly."
And moments later, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich took to social media to tease, "Now, comes SHOCK AND AWE."
They weren't kidding. Trump signed an avalanche of executive orders and actions in his first eight hours in office, which not only fulfilled some of his major campaign trail promises, but also allowed the returning president to flex his executive muscles as well as settle some longstanding grievances.
The president immediately cracked down on immigration; moved towards a trade war with top allies and adversaries; and reversed many policies implemented by former President Joe Biden, including scrapping much of the previous administration's federal diversity actions and energy and climate provisions.
He also sparked a major controversy by pardoning or commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 supporters who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to upend congressional certification of Biden's 2020 election victory. Among those whose sentences were commuted included some who violently assaulted police officers on one of America's darkest days.
Trump also fired some top government officials; made a high-profile, half-trillion dollar tech investment announcement; held unscripted and wide-ranging, informal and impromptu news conferences during his first two days back at the White House; and even renamed the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America."
The frenetic pace kept up throughout the week, with more executive orders signed and actions taken by Trump and his new administration during the first 100 hours in office, which quickly put his stamp on the federal government.
Amid the fast-paced environment of the first week of the Trump White House, Senate Republicans and the president's allies rallied behind his Cabinet nominees and pushed them towards confirmation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Radcliffe were easily confirmed by the Senate earlier this week, and several other nominees are expected to be confirmed between the weekend and next week.
On Friday, the president took to the skies, flying to hurricane-ravaged western North Carolina and then on to Los Angeles, where horrific wildfires this month have left a wide path of destruction.
Trump floated an overhaul, or the outright elimination, of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is better known by its acronym FEMA.
"I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA is not good," the president said on Friday.
Later that night, the Senate confirmed Trump's defense secretary nominee and former Fox News host, Pete Hegseth. All 100 senators voted, which ended in a 50-50 tie with Vice President J.D. Vance serving as the tie-breaking vote.
"I think it’s brilliant how they’ve been handling it, to immediately meet the moment with action. It’s exactly what he needs to do and it's exactly what the people voted for," veteran Republican strategist Kristin Davison told Fox News.
"Americans vote for decisive, fast action, and true leadership. And Trump understands that more than anyone. I think he and his team knew how important it was out of the gate to show that they heard what the people wanted and are answering with leadership," she argued.
Longtime Republican consultant Alex Castellanos agreed.
"He's flooding the zone. He's making a case for action. He's demonstrating action. He is rallying a wave of American support for a massive transformation of government," Castellanos, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News.
Seasoned Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo didn't dispute Trump's frenetic actions.
"The pace of this shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Trump made it abundantly clear he was going to act quickly, he was going to act boldly, and he was going to do exactly what he told voters he would do," he said.
But Caiazzo argued that "the things he is doing is going to directly negatively impact working families from coast to coast. It’s also a signal he has no respect for the rule of law."
Asked if Trump's actions were what Americans voted for this past autumn, Caiazzo replied, "Of course not. What Americans voted for was cheaper groceries. What Donald Trump is going to give us is a litany of policies that work to deteriorate our institutions, that work to enrich the wealthy and solidify his standing among the oligarchy in this country."
There's another reason for Trump's fast pace — even though he's the new president, he's also a term-limited and lame-duck president. And by Labor Day, much of the political world will start looking ahead to the 2026 midterm elections.
"This is his second term. He’s got to move quickly," Davison emphasized.
Trump's show of force in the opening days of his second administration is also in contrast to eight years ago, when he first entered the White House.
The president and his team are much more seasoned the second time around, and the supporting cast is intensely loyal to Trump.
"In the past administration, there would be logjams and bottlenecks because there were people who didn’t agree with him," a senior White House source told Fox News. "Now we have a whole infrastructure and staff that’s built around him, in support of him. When he says something, it’s getting done. It’s testament to him and the team that he built."
Credit is also being given to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who, as co-campaign manager of Trump's 2024 presidential bid, kept the trains on the tracks.
"What Susie has done is look at the totality of Trump and found the best players and put them in the best positions to support the president. Trump is surrounded by Trump people who’ve all proven themselves over the years not just to be loyal but ultra-competent operators," added an adviser, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely.
Republican lawmakers celebrated after the Senate narrowly confirmed Pete Hegseth as defense secretary on Friday.
The Senate was split 50-50, with three Republicans — Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — joining the Democrats in opposing Hegseth's confirmation, forcing Vice President JD Vance to cast the tie-breaking vote.
After Hegseth was confirmed, GOP lawmakers praised him as a "change agent" who has a "passion for the warfighter."
"Pete has served in the Army National Guard as a front line officer, and he has a keen intellect and a passion for the warfighter," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote on the social media platform X.
"He did an excellent job during a very contentious hearing and withstood all the attacks that came his way," Graham added. "He is bullish on creating a larger, more lethal military and is clear-eyed about America’s enemies, including Iran. Israel will have no better friend than Pete Hegseth."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he was "proud to vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense."
"He is the change agent that the DOD desperately needs," Cruz said.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin said: "We did it, America."
"It was an honor to be in the fight with my friend, and your SecDef: @PeteHegseth," he wrote. "The Hegseth family is the best!!"
"Heck yeah! @PeteHegseth is the man for the job," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. "I’m honored to have voted for him. We just confirmed him as the next defense secretary."
Sen. Roger Marshall wrote: "Congratulations to @PeteHegseth, our new Secretary of Defense! Pete will bring transformative change, refocusing our military on lethality and recruiting efforts. I can’t wait to see what a great job he will do."
"Pete Hegseth is the perfect fit to make our military great again and achieve peace through strength," Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote. "It was an honor to support his nomination, and I look forward to seeing him restore trust in the Department of Defense by prioritizing war fighters over bureaucrats."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., congratulated Hegseth on his confirmation and said that "Every brave service member and every American is safer with you leading the Pentagon. American strength is BACK!"
"Congratulations to our NEW secretary of defense," Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said.
Democrats, meanwhile, questioned Hegseth's credentials to lead the Pentagon ahead of his confirmation.
"Is Pete Hegseth—who failed to manage the finances of veterans’ nonprofit groups, who drove his organizations into debt to the point where he could not even pay creditors—really the person Republicans want in charge of the Pentagon’s budget?" Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on X before the vote.
Schumer also asked: "Is Pete Hegseth really the best Republicans have to lead the greatest military in the world?"
"Our troops deserve better than someone as erratic and unqualified as Pete Hegseth," he added.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said: "We deserve a Secretary of Defense with solid experience, sound judgment, and good character. Pete Hegseth does not meet the test."
Hegseth, a former Fox News host, had faced questions ahead of his confirmation over his infidelity, allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking, his previous comments opposing women serving in combat roles in the military and his leadership abilities.
Married three times, Hegseth has admitted he was a "serial cheater" before he became a Christian and married his current wife, Jenny. He also originally said he opposed women in combat, before later saying that he only opposes standards for women in combat that are different from those for men. Hegseth has additionally denied the sexual assault allegations and has said he would abstain from alcohol as defense secretary.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was one of three Republicans to vote on Friday against Pete Hegseth, who was narrowly confirmed as defense secretary in the new Trump administration.
The other Republican "no" votes came from moderates Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, forcing Vice President JD Vance to break the 50-50 tie to confirm President Donald Trump's choice to lead the Pentagon.
"The most consequential cabinet official in any Administration is the Secretary of Defense," McConnell wrote, explaining his opposition to Hegseth. "In the face of the gravest threats to U.S. national security interests since World War II, this position is even more important today."
"Major adversaries are working closer together to undermine U.S. interests around the world," he said. "And America’s military capabilities and defense industrial capacity are increasingly insufficient to deter or prevail in major conflict with China or Russia, especially given the real risk of simultaneous challenges from other adversaries like Iran or North Korea."
Hegseth, a former Fox News host, had faced questions ahead of his confirmation over his infidelity, allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking, his previous comments opposing women serving in combat roles in the military and his leadership abilities.
Married three times, Hegseth has admitted he was a "serial cheater" before he became a Christian and married his current wife, Jenny. He also originally said he opposed women in combat, before later saying that he only opposes standards for women in combat that are different from those for men. Hegseth has additionally denied the sexual assault allegations and has said he would abstain from alcohol as defense secretary.
McConnell said "dust on boots" in reference to Hegseth's military service "fails even to distinguish this nominee from multiple predecessors of the last decade. Nor is it a precondition for success. Secretaries with distinguished combat experience and time in the trenches have failed at the job."
"Effective management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests," the senator said. "Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test. But as he assumes office, the consequences of failure are as high as they have ever been."
McConnell stressed that Hegseth, in his testimony before the Armed Services Committee, "did not reckon with this reality" that the U.S. "faces coordinated aggression from adversaries bent on shattering the order underpinning American security and prosperity."
"President Trump has rightly called on NATO allies to spend more on our collective defense. But the nominee who would have been responsible for leading that effort wouldn’t even commit to growing America’s defense investment beyond the low bar set by the Biden Administration’s budget requests," McConnell said.
The senator also said Hegseth's testimony lacked "substantial observations on how to defend Taiwan or the Philippines against a Chinese attack, or even whether he believes the United States should do so." McConnell said Hegseth failed "to articulate in any detail a strategic vision for dealing with the gravest long-term threat emanating" from China.
McConnell additionally noted a lack of "substantive discussion" of "countering our adversaries’ alignment with deeper alliance relationships and more extensive defense industrial cooperation of our own."
"This, of course, is due to change," McConnell said. "As the 29th Secretary of Defense, Mr. Hegseth will be immediately tested by ongoing conflicts caused by Russian aggression in Europe and Iranian-backed terror in the Middle East. He will have to grapple with an unfinished FY25 appropriations process that – without his intervention – risks further harming the readiness of our forces."
"By all accounts, brave young men and women join the military with the understanding that it is a meritocracy," he added. "This precious trust endures only as long as lawful civilian leadership upholds what must be a firewall between servicemembers and politics. The Biden Administration failed at this fundamental task. But the restoration of ‘warrior culture’ will not come from trading one set of culture warriors for another."
The nomination of Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., to be the next Homeland Security secretary defeated a key hurdle in the confirmation process on Friday night, advancing to a final vote on Saturday.
Her confirmation vote is expected to take place at 11:30 a.m.
If confirmed, Noem will become the fourth of President Donald Trump's picks to be advanced out of the Senate, behind Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and incoming Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Votes that are expected soon after Noem's are those for Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent, followed by Transportation Secretary pick Sean Duffy.
The South Dakota governor is expected to receive bipartisan support for her confirmation to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Her nomination advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) by a vote of 13-2. Only two Democrats voted against her.
"I was the first Governor to send National Guard troops to Texas when they were being overwhelmed by an unprecedented border crisis," Noem told the committee during her confirmation hearing last week.
"If confirmed as Secretary, I will ensure that our exceptional, extraordinary border patrol agents have all the tools and resources and support they need to carry out their mission effectively."
An executive order President Donald Trump signed Friday will overturn two Biden memorandums and reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which forbids using taxpayer dollars to fund nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.
The Mexico City Policy, initiated by the Reagan administration, has been rescinded by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican president since its creation.
During the Biden administration, the Pentagon paid for service members to travel over state lines for abortions, and Veterans Affairs medical centers were allowed to offer abortion counseling and abortion procedures for service members and their beneficiaries, Fox News Digital previously reported.
The administration also provided abortion access to migrants detained at the border, offering transport of unaccompanied pregnant children to states without abortion restrictions.
The White House said that, for nearly five decades, Congress annually enacted the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent federal funding of elective abortion, "reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice."
"However, the previous administration disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs," the White House wrote in a statement. "It is the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion."
Biden's Presidential Memorandum, Protecting Women's Health at Home and Abroad, was signed Jan. 28, 2021, and alleged the policy's restrictions negatively affected women’s reproductive health and undermined U.S. partnerships in global health efforts.
Trump's order rescinds two Biden executive actions that promoted access to abortions and included abortion in the definition of "reproductive healthcare."
The language in the new order clarified the memorandum is "not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person."
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) told Fox News Digital the policy "will decrease abortion access in countries around the world."
"This far-reaching policy defunds health organizations in other countries that provide abortion services or information, even for victims of sexual assault," CRR said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. "Many of these critical organizations will likely shutter as a result or be forced to stop providing or even talking about abortion services."
CRR representatives also referenced the administration's Geneva Consensus Declaration Friday night, which is a joint initiative to "secure meaningful health and development gains for women; to protect life at all stages; to defend the family as the fundamental unit of society; and to work together across the UN system to realize these values," according to a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The CRR called the declaration "an anti-reproductive rights and anti-LGBTQ political statement" that "intentionally misrepresents itself as an official international agreement, and attempts to undermine the broad legal basis for reproductive rights as human rights."
"The reinstatement of President Trump’s Global Gag Rule (GGR) and rejoining of the Geneva Consensus are direct assaults on the health and human rights of millions of people around the world," said Rachana Desai Martin, CRR chief government and external relations officer.
"We saw the devastating impact of the GGR during the last Trump administration when contraception and vital reproductive services were cut off," Martin added. "There was a spike in pregnancy-related deaths, reproductive coercion and gender inequality worldwide. Many clinics and health programs shuttered, leaving vulnerable populations with nowhere to get birth control, pregnancy care and other vital health services."
Live Action, a global human rights movement dedicated to ending abortion, posted on X after the order was signed.
"The Mexico City policy which ensures American tax dollars do not fund killing children internationally through abortion has been reinstated by President Trump!" the post said.
Fox News Digital requested comment from Planned Parenthood and Physicians for Reproductive Health but did not immediately receive a response.
The Senate voted to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee, Pete Hegseth, as defense secretary on Friday night after a high-tempered battle to sway lawmakers in his favor that was almost derailed by accusations about his behavior.
The final vote came down to the wire: three Republicans opposed, making for a 50 to 50 vote. Vice President JD Vance was needed to break the tie in the upper chamber, putting the final tally at 51-50.
"Congratulations to Pete Hegseth. He will make a great Secretary of Defense!" Trump wrote on Truth Social after Hegseth's confirmation.
The Senate’s two moderate Republican women: Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted no. As did Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former GOP leader.
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis' support was not a given, and he did not reveal his stance until the vote was already underway. He ultimately said he would back Trump's pick, giving him enough support to be confirmed with Vance's tie-breaking vote.
In her reasoning, Murkowski cited infidelity, "allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking" and Hegseth's previous comments on women serving in the military.
The behaviors he has admitted to alone, she said, show "a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces."
Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), the nonprofit advocacy group at the center of many of the accusations brought up during Hegseth's confirmation hearing, praised his confirmation in a statement.
"The confirmation of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense presents a real opportunity to prioritize the security and prosperity of our citizens, champion prudence and effectiveness in our defense strategy, and focus our Department of Defense on America’s most vital interests," the statement read.
The New Yorker reported in December that Hegseth was forced out of CVA, the group he once ran, over allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety and personal misconduct.
All Democrats opposed the confirmation, a far cry from an earlier vote this week, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confirmed unanimously, 99-0.
Hegseth will now lead the government’s largest agency, having long promised to root out Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) measures across each branch.
The Pentagon under Trump, however, has not waited for a confirmed secretary.
This week, the commander of the Air Force's 613th Air Operations Center in Hawaii, who had advocated for more women in roles like her own, was removed from her position. Gen. Kevin Schneider, commander of Pacific Air Forces, relieved Col. Julie Sposito-Salceies from the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, "due to loss of confidence in her ability to command the organization."
Shortly after Trump took office, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the first uniformed woman to lead any military branch, was removed from her position.
Trump this week also nominated former Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier and former Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller to top Defense Department posts – both men who were deeply critical of the Biden administration's policies at the Pentagon.
Lohmeier, who had been nominated to serve as undersecretary of the Air Force, wasfired as commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force base, after he wrote a book and appeared on podcasts claiming Marxism had infiltrated the armed forces and criticizing diversity policies.
Scheller made headlines for posting videos in uniform criticizing senior military leaders over the Afghanistan withdrawal. Scheller, the new senior advisor to the Department of Defense Under Secretary for personnel and readiness, was sent to the brig and court-martialed over the clips.
Hegseth’s nomination was dealt a last-minute hurdle earlier this week when reports emerged that his ex-sister-in-law alleged he had abused his second wife.
On Tuesday, Fox News obtained an affidavit from Hegseth's former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, which alleged he had an alcohol abuse problem and at times made his ex-wife, Samantha, fear for her safety. Danielle Hegseth was previously married to Pete Hegseth's brother and has no relation to Samantha.
But Danielle Hegseth added that she never witnessed any abuse herself, physical or sexual, by Pete against Samantha.
Samantha Hegseth has also denied any physical abuse in a statement to NBC News.
Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker said in a statement Wednesday night that reports "regarding a confidential briefing on the FBI background investigation of Pete Hegseth that I received last week are starkly and factually inaccurate," and that he stands by Hegseth’s nomination.
Earlier Thursday, Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Republicans to join him in opposing the former Fox News host and Army national guardsman.
"Hegseth is so utterly unqualified, he ranks up there [as] … one of the very worst nominees that could be put forward," Schumer said.
Hegseth, who has been married three times, has admitted he was a "serial cheater" before he became a Christian and married his current wife, Jenny.
The 44-year-old Army National Guard veteran, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is relatively young and inexperienced, compared to defense secretaries in the past, retiring as a major. But Republicans say they don’t want someone who made it to the top brass who's become entrenched in the Pentagon establishment.
Miscommunication and confusion about a Defense Department manifest resulted in Mexico rejecting a U.S. deportation flight transporting illegal immigrants to that country this week.
Mexico was ready to accept the deportees and would have if not for the paperwork, a senior State Department official told Fox News.
Citing two U.S. defense officials and a third person familiar with the situation, NBC News reported that two Air Force C-17s bound for Guatemala carrying about 80 people each flew deportees Thursday night out of the U.S.
A third flight bound for Mexico never took off after Mexico declined to consent to the landing, the report said. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Flying deportees into a foreign country requires the cooperation of that nation's government. Cooperation was not an issue, Fox News was told.
Around 2,000 illegal immigrants were deported to Mexico on Thursday, both on the ground and in the air. In addition Mexico detained roughly 5,000 migrants within its borders.
The incident occurred as tensions over the Trump administration's tough illegal immigration policies have strained relations between the countries.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said she opposes Trump's executive orders to combat illegal immigration, including reinstating the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which requires migrants to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims play out in the U.S.
Before taking office this week, Trump promised mass deportations, initially targeting criminal illegal immigrants and tougher immigration standards and vetting procedures.
The State Department official told Fox News that Mexican cooperation has been successful all week, and that Mexico has agreed to re-implement the "Remain in Mexico" policy.
Trump also ordered 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border to boost the military presence there.
In recent days, federal immigration authorities have made hundreds of arrests, including gang members and others with criminal histories, as part of Trump's mass deportation efforts.
They gathered for a moment of silence at 1:19 pm, the moment the bomb exploded.
The attack 50 years ago today was aimed at the heart of American liberty.
It targeted a place where our nation was forged during the revolution and where George Washington took his leave knowing the future of his new nation was secured.
On December 4, 1783, nine days after the British evacuated New York City, Washington held a banquet at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan to bid farewell to his troops.
On January 24, 1975, the Puerto Rican separatist group, the FALN, planted a bomb that ripped through the historic site at lunchtime, killing four and wounding more than 50 others in lower Manhattan. Sixty-six-year-old banker Harold Sherburne, 28-year-old businessmen Alex Berger and 32-year-old James Gezork were killed.
"They were really attacking the American people," says Joe Connor, whose father, Frank, was a 33-year-old banker who was killed in the terrorist attack.
"They attacked Fraunces Tavern because that's where George Washington bade farewell to his officers after the Revolutionary War, where the Sons of Liberty met and was a symbol of American liberty and justice and freedom, and they couldn’t abide by that."
Joe was 9 years old the day his father was killed, and in the decades since, he has dedicated his life to bringing justice for his father and the other victims. He is the author of "Shattered Lives: Overcoming the Fraunces Tavern Terror," which is also now a documentary. Connor has, with other families, elected officials and law enforcement, waged a mission to hold the terrorists to account.
No one has ever been charged in the attack, but the man believed to be the terrorist group's chief bomb maker, Willie Morales, escaped to Cuba, where he has lived along with an estimated 50 other U.S. fugitives. A bill in Congress named for Joe's father and New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, who was killed by Black Liberation Army militant Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, who also is on the lam in Cuba, demands Havana return the fugitives.
"It's a very concise, clear bill demanding the return," says Connor. "There has been a mystique about the Castro regime and Che Guevara, of some fanciful romantic view of these people. But they were nothing but Marxist thugs and were waging their own war on the United States for many, many years."
In his final days in office, former President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the State Department list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.
President Donald Trump immediately put Havana back on the list, and in his first term also vowed to put pressure on Cuba to return Morales and the other fugitives.
During his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for Cuba to cough up the criminals who remain on the lam.
"There are fugitives of American justice, including cop killers and others who are actively hosted in Cuba and protected from the long arm of American justice by the Cuban regime. So, there is no doubt in my mind that they meet all the qualifications for being a state sponsor of terrorism," Rubio said.
Over the last two decades, FALN members have been granted clemency, as if the years that passed lessened their crimes. President Barack Obama commuted the 70-year sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and charged with other crimes. President Bill Clinton offered clemency to the terrorist group's imprisoned members, which eleven accepted in 1999.
At a ceremony marking the bombing, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the bombing "was terrorism in its purest form, meant to frighten, intimidate, to injure, maim and kill in order to achieve their political purpose.
"For 50 years, no one has been held accountable for this attack, which remains an open investigation by the NYPD and the Joint Terrorism Taskforce," Tisch said. "Our department never forgets."
Before the ceremony marking the bombing, there was an emotional luncheon attended by family members, dozens of former FBI agents, survivors of the bombing and others.
Joe Connor's son, Frank, named for his grandfather and who is studying to be a priest, gave the benediction.
"We remember the four men who were killed 50 years ago today in this very place, and all of those whose lives were cut short by terrorism."
Joe noted how the gathering was being held by the door where the bomb, which consisted of ten pounds of dynamite, was placed inside an unassuming briefcase.
"Cuba has to eventually turn these people over, and the only way that will happen is by keeping them on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list and by keeping the pressure on Cuba," he says. "This is the moment to do it."
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency after touring the devastation of the Los Angeles fires with residents who were personally impacted by the disastrous event.
Trump traveled to Southern California on Friday to survey the damage from the recent wildfires that destroyed over 10,000 structures in the Los Angeles area and tragically took the lives of nearly 30 people.
Trump took an aerial tour of the area before his landing, with images showing the once ritzy neighborhood in ashes.
The president and first lady Melania Trump then experienced the damage up close, meeting with local law enforcement and members of the community for a tour of the destroyed Pacific Palisades neighborhoods.
"Not even believable," Trump told reporters on site.
Trump sat down for a roundtable with LA Mayor Karen Bass and other state officials. When the president entered the room, individuals were heard chanting "USA, USA, USA!" Bass greeted the president and said that his presence was welcomed.
"This is an honor to be with you," during the meeting, saying that homeowners told him that they want to rebuild their homes in the area.
At one point, the president criticized Bass for not using her emergency powers to respond to the wildfires.
"You have emergency powers just like I do … you have to exercise them also," Trump told Bass, who responded that she did exercise them.
Trump said he would sign an executive order to open up the water valves in the area.
"I don't think you can realize how rough, how devastating it is until you see it," Trump said of the wildfire damage. "The federal government is standing behind you, 100%."
Trump said that he is going to waive federal permits for rebuilding in the area. "I'm gonna be the president to help you fix it," he said. "We're going to waive all federal permits... Because a federal permit can take 10 years... we don't want to take 10 days."
After the fires broke out, Trump blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic city policies for the damage, citing their forest and water management policies.
Newsom was waiting for Trump on the tarmac when he exited Air Force One and was seen shaking hands with the president in their first face-to-face encounter since the inauguration.
"Thank you first for being here. It means a great deal to all of us," Newsom told Trump after they met on the tarmac of LAX in Los Angeles just after 3 p.m. local time. "We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help."
Speaking about his meeting with Newsom, Trump said that "we had a good talk, a very positive talk."
Trump traveled to North Carolina to tour the hurricane damage, before heading to California for his first visit to the state since becoming president.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Chinese Foreign Minister and Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi that the Trump administration will put the "American people first" and advance U.S. interests in its relationship with China, according to a readout of the call from spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
The meeting was the first between Rubio and Wang since the former Florida senator was unanimously approved by the Senate this week to become President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet official following Monday's inauguration.
"The Secretary also stressed the United States’ commitment to our allies in the region and serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea," Bruce said. "The Secretary also discussed other issues of bilateral, regional, and global importance with his Chinese counterpart."
Wang told Rubio during the call that he hoped he would "conduct" himself well and "play a constructive role in the future of the Chinese and American people and in world peace and stability."
"The teams of both sides should implement the important consensus of the two heads of state, maintain communication, manage differences, expand cooperation, promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations, and find the right way for China and the United States to get along in the new era," Wang said.
Trump has threatened China with 10% tariffs on imports over its role in fentanyl trafficking, starting as early as Feb. 1, and Rubio called the country the gravest threat to the U.S. during his confirmation hearing.
Trump n Thursday told the World Economic Forum virtually that he and Xi have "always had a great relationship," and all his administration wants is "fairness. We just want a level playing field."
