Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that a federal court order requiring the U.S. government to maintain custody of deportees on a flight meant for South Sudan will cause "significant and irreparable harm to U.S. foreign policy." 

The Trump administration late Friday filed two court documents after U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy of Massachusetts said the deportation flight violated his previous April injunction that allows deportees time to challenge an order to be sent to a country other than their own. 

"This Department of Justice believes that this situation urgently requires judicial intervention to restore President Trump’s full Article II authority to conduct foreign policy," a U.S. Department of Justice official told Fox News Digital.

Rubio noted the order has already complicated U.S. diplomacy with Libya, South Sudan and Djibouti and presents a serious threat to the president’s Article II authority to conduct foreign policy. 

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO TRACK DEPORTED IMMIGRANTS TO SOUTH SUDAN

Rubio said in his filing that the court’s orders had "already interfered with quiet diplomatic efforts and exacerbated internal political and security divisions" in Libya. 

The order also threatens to "derail efforts to quietly rebuild a productive working relationship with Juba," the capital of South Sudan, he said. 

Rubio said before the court’s intervention that the South Sudan government had refused to accept a South Sudanese national but had since "taken steps to work more cooperatively with the U.S. government." 

DHS EXPOSES CRIMES BY MIGRANTS DEPORTED TO SOUTH SUDAN AS JUDGE THREATENS TO ORDER THEIR RETURN

Thirdly, Rubio said the order "causes harm" in Djibouti, which is "strategically located in the Horn of Africa" with the only U.S. military base on the African continent. 

The deportees are being temporarily held at a U.S. Naval base in Djibouti. 

In the second filing, the administration asked the court to "reconsider" its order and "highly burdensome requirements."

"Because of this Court’s Orders, [the U.S. government is] currently detaining dangerous criminals in a sensitive location without clear knowledge of when, how, or where this Court will tolerate their release," the filing said.

JUDICIAL HALT OF DEPORTATION FLIGHTS PUTS US FOREIGN POLICY AT RISK, CAREER STATE DEPT OFFICIAL CLAIMS

"This development has put impermissible, burdensome constraints on the President’s ability to carry out his Article II powers, including his powers to command the military, manage relations with foreign nations, and execute our nation’s immigration authorities." 

The deportees "enjoyed the benefit of full process under the laws of the United States and were lawfully removed from the country," the filing claimed, calling for a stay if not a reconsideration of the order. 

"These criminal aliens needed only state that they had a fear of removal to South Sudan to receive the other procedures required by the Court’s April 18, 2025 injunction," the administration wrote. "The aliens did not do so. Therefore, DHS attempted to remove these aliens — who have committed the most reprehensible violations of our nation’s laws — to a place where they no longer pose a threat to the United States." 

The flight left from Texas earlier this week with eight migrants from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico and South Sudan. 

Murphy issued the ruling Tuesday night after lawyers for the immigrants from Myanmar and Vietnam accused the Trump administration of illegally deporting their clients to third-party countries. They argue there is a court order blocking such removals.

Murphy's ruling said the government must "maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful."

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Rubio announced in April that the U.S. would revoke visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and no others would be issued, attributing the change to "the failure of South Sudan's transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner," according to a statement posted on X at the time. 

The U.S. has third-party deportation agreements with a handful of countries, the most prominent being El Salvador, which has accepted hundreds of Venezuelan deportees from the Trump administration.

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, hosted the president of South Africa at the White House and threatened more stringent tariffs against the European Union this week. 

During South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Oval Office visit on Wednesday, Trump got into a testy exchange with the South African leader about the treatment of White farmers there. Specifically, Trump aired a video that showed white crosses that Trump said were approximately 1,000 burial sites of White Afrikaner South African farmers. 

Trump has repeatedly asserted these farmers are being killed and pushed off of their land.

TRUMP TO MEET LEADER OF ‘OUT OF CONTROL' SOUTH AFRICA AT WHITE HOUSE

Trump told Ramaphosa at the White House that the burial sites by the side of the road are visited by those who want to "pay respects to their family member who was killed." 

"Now this is very bad. These are burial sites right here. Burial sites — over a thousand — of White farmers. And those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning. Each one of those white things you see is a cross. And there is approximately a thousand of them," Trump said. "They're all White farmers. The family of White farmers. And those cars aren't driving, they are stopped there to pay respects to their family member who was killed. And it's a terrible sight. I've never seen anything like it. On both sides of the road, you have crosses. Those people are all killed."

"Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?" Ramaphosa said. "I'd like to know where that is. Because this I've never seen." 

"I mean, it’s in South Africa, that’s where," Trump said. 

"We need to find out," Ramaphosa said.

The White House defended showing the clip and said that the video was "substantiated," following reports that emerged after the encounter that said the crosses were from a memorial demonstration following the murder of a White farming couple, not actual burial sites.

Here’s what also happened this week:

Trump and Putin spoke over the phone on Monday to advance peace negotiations ending the war between Moscow and Kyiv. The call occurred just days after Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey to conduct their first peace talks since 2022. 

After the call, Trump said both countries would move toward a ceasefire and push discussions to end the war. But, Trump indicated that the U.S. would let Moscow and Kyiv take the lead on negotiations after his call with Putin. 

"The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of," Trump said in a Monday post on Truth Social. 

TRUMP SAYS HE COULD ‘WALK AWAY’ FROM RUSSIA-UKRAINE TALKS, CITES ‘TREMENDOUS HATRED’ ON BOTH SIDES

Additionally, Trump has continued to distance the U.S. from the conflict this week, describing the conflict as a "European situation." 

"Big egos involved, but I think something's going to happen," Trump told reporters on Monday. "And if it doesn't, I'll just back away and they'll have to keep going. This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation."

Trump expressed similar sentiments on Wednesday when Ramaphosa visited and stated: "It's not our people, it's not our soldiers… it's Ukraine and it's Russia." 

The White House condemned the fatal attack against two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, labeling that incident an act of antisemitism. 

A gunman opened fire and killed Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum. The two were planning to get engaged next week in Jerusalem, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing.

Authorities arrested a pro-Palestinian man identified as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago in connection with the attack, according to officials.

In response, Trump and other leaders of his administration said attacks like these must stop and said that those responsible will face justice. 

WHITE HOUSE DECRIES ‘EVILS OF ANTISEMITISM,’ VOWS JUSTICE AFTER FATAL SHOOTING OF ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS

"These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God Bless You ALL!"

Leavitt later told reporters she’d spoken with Attorney General Pam Bondi and that those who conducted the attack would face prosecution. 

"The evil of antisemitism must be eradicated from our society," Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. "I spoke to the attorney general this morning. The Department of Justice will be prosecuting the perpetrator responsible for this to the fullest extent of the law. Hatred has no place in the United States of America under President Donald Trump."

Trump threatened to slap a 50% tariff on imports from the European Union on Friday amid ongoing trade negotiations and after locking down a trade deal with the U.K. 

The deal with the U.K. is the first historic trade negotiation signed following Liberation Day, when Trump announced widespread tariffs for multiple countries on April 2 at a range of rates. 

The administration later adjusted its initial proposal and announced on April 9 it would immediately impose a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, while reducing reciprocal tariffs on other countries and the EU to a baseline of 10% for 90 days. 

TRUMP SIGNALS CHINA ‘VERY MUCH’ INTERESTED IN SECURING TRADE DEAL AHEAD OF SWITZERLAND NEGOTIATIONS 

"Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday about the EU. 

"Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025," he said. 

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later said in an interview with Fox News he hoped the warning would "light a fire under the EU" and signaled Trump’s threats stemmed from frustration negotiating with European countries on trade deals. 

"EU proposals have not been of the same quality that we’ve seen from our other important trading partners," Bessent said. 

Fox News Digital's Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

There’s a provision tucked into President Donald Trump’s broadly ranging "big, beautiful bill" that could see Texas get billions of dollars in funds that it spent on the state’s border security under the Biden administration.

The legislation earmarked $12 billion for a grant program allowing states to be reimbursed for costs they incurred trying to stem the flow of illegal immigration during the Democratic administration.

The measure was added to the bill hours before the final vote – but Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the former chairman of the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees, told Fox News Digital it was a product of months of negotiation.

"Early on, [Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., and I were discussing reconciliation going through the Homeland Security Committee. And, you know, there was about $70 billion for the border," McCaul said. "Texas bore the brunt of the federal mission the last four years and deserves to be reimbursed. And so he agreed, had a conversation with Governor Abbott, and he agreed."

HOUSE GOP TARGETS ANOTHER DEM OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING ICE AMID DELANEY HALL FALLOUT

While the text does not name Texas specifically, Fox News Digital was told that the measure’s inclusion was primarily sought by the Lone Star state’s congressional delegation.

The state of Texas, Fox News Digital was told, had incurred just over $11 billion in costs from Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to keep the border in his state secure.

"The fact of the matter is, when you look at the costs that were borne, Texas had the lion's share of [the burden] carrying out the federal mission when the Biden administration completely failed to deliver on border security," McCaul said. "My state built the border wall and built detention facilities. We bore a lot of costs."

Operation Lone Star alone cost Texas $11.1 billion, according to The Texas Tribune.

Rather than add it to the initial text of the bill, McCaul said, leaders opted to include it in a "managers amendment" that was added on Wednesday night along with several other issues that lawmakers needed more time to negotiate.

"The legislative process, it's something I've gotten to know over my 20 years and how to get things done up here. And I thought, you know, the way we worked it was strategically very smart," McCaul said. "It’s going to the Senate now. And Senator Cornyn is going to take it up, be the champion in the Senate."

The Texas Republican first met with Abbott and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on the matter in early February, Fox News Digital was told.

McCaul said he also worked closely on the push with Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, who told Fox News Digital that "no state" carried more financial burden from the border crisis than Texas.

"Texas spent $11.1 billion on border security, including $5.87 billion on personnel costs and $4.75 billion on border wall and barriers. When the federal government failed to secure our border and protect our communities, Texans stepped up," Pfluger said.

Johnson, for his part, thanked McCaul for his efforts in a public written statement.

"Thanks to Rep. McCaul, states that stepped up to protect Americans in the face of Biden’s border catastrophe will be reimbursed for doing the work the Biden Administration refused to do," the speaker said. "Had those patriotic governors not taken action and used the resources of their state, the devastation from Biden’s wide-open border would have been significantly worse."

MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE

Green said of the need for the measure, "In the absence of help from the Biden-Harris administration, states were forced to take extraordinary measures to mitigate the crisis and protect their communities by building barrier systems and increasing law enforcement activity."

And while McCaul and his colleagues’ efforts in the House do not guarantee that Texas will ultimately see those funds, it puts them one step closer to success.

The measure is one aspect in a multi-trillion-dollar bill that Republicans are working to pass via the budget reconciliation process. 

By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, reconciliation enables the party in power to pass certain fiscal legislation while completely sidelining the minority – in this case, Democrats.

Trump directed Republicans to use reconciliation to advance his policies on taxes, immigration, energy, defense, and the national debt.

The Senate and House must pass identical versions of the bill before it gets to Trump’s desk.

McCaul told Fox News Digital that he was confident the measure would stay in the Senate bill after conversations with the Trump administration on the matter.

"I anticipate it will go forward," McCaul said. "I’m, just proud that we were able to get this done. I'm very proud of what my state did to stop the flow of illegals and dangerous actors coming into the country."

When reached for comment, Abbott told Fox News Digital, "This is a national issue that Texas was proud to address, and we are grateful for the allocation that reduces the financial burden that Texas incurred."

FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans are requesting Fiscal Year 2026 spending bills to include language prohibiting federal funding for transgender experiments on animals. 

Republican Reps. Paul Gosar, Elijah Crane, Abraham J. Hamadeh of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Brandon Gill of Texas, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Pete Stauber of Minnesota and Troy E. Nehls of Texas are urging the chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies to prohibit transgender experiments on animals in its FY2026 appropriations bill. 

House Republicans have requested the committee include the following language: "None of the funds made available by this or any other Act thereafter may be used for research on vertebrate animals for the purpose of studying the effects of drugs, surgery, or other interventions to alter the human body (including by disrupting the body’s development, inhibiting its natural functions, or modifying its appearance) to no longer correspond to its biological sex."

The letter, addressed to Chairman Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and Ranking Member Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., points to the dozens of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants issued during former President Joe Biden's administration that are funding "wasteful and disturbing experiments to create ‘transfeminine’ and ‘transmasculine’ lab animals using invasive surgeries and hormone therapies."

TRUMP ADMIN CUTS ADDITIONAL $1M IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR 'TRANSGENDER ANIMAL' EXPERIMENTS

$10M IN TAXPAYER FUNDS SPENT CREATING TRANSGENDER ANIMALS: REP. NANCY MACE

"The transgender animals are then wounded, shocked, injected with street drugs and vaccines, and subjected to other disturbing procedures," the House Republicans said in the letter, as Fox News Digital reported earlier this year. 

"President Trump has personally criticized these experiments on several occasions, and the Department of Government Efficiency has canceled millions in NIH grants funding transgender animal testing. However, many of these NIH grants funding gender transitions for lab animals are still active," House GOP members said. 

President Donald Trump condemned transgender animal experiments during his joint address to Congress in March. The White Coat Waste Project, a government watchdog group that testified about transgender animal experiments on Capitol Hill earlier this year, told Fox News Digital there are still "29 active taxpayer-funded grants that have been used to fund transgender animal tests."

"We urge you to include the language above in the FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill to ensure no more taxpayer dollars are wasted to fund transgender animal tests," the Republicans said in the letter. 

The White Coat Waste Project, in a statement to Fox News Digital, touted their role in halting taxpayer-funded "transgender animal tests," and celebrated the House Republicans' bill, led by Gosar, to stop more federally funded experiments. 

"Thanks to White Coat Waste’s viral investigations and collaboration with Rep. Paul Gosar and others in Congress, the Trump Administration has slashed spending on wasteful experiments that subject lab animals to invasive surgeries and hormone therapies to crudely mimic gender transitions in kids and adults and then wound, shock and inject the animals with vaccines and overdoses of sex party drugs," Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President of White Coat Waste Project, said. 

"These Trump cuts have already saved thousands of lab animals and millions of tax dollars, but dozens more NIH grants that funnel tax dollars to disturbing transgender animal tests are still active. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill for wasteful and cruel transgender animal tests, and Rep. Gosar’s commonsense effort to permanently defund them will ensure they won’t have to."

Earlier this year, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) uncovered $4.7 trillion in untraceable Treasury Department payments. 

Prior to the discovery, Treasury Account Symbol (TAS) identification codes were optional for $4.7 trillion in Treasury Department payments, so they were often left blank and were untraceable. The field is now required to increase "insight into where the money is actually going," the Treasury Department and DOGE announced in February. 

"Of the 1.5 billion payments that we send out every year, they are required to have a TAS, a Treasury Account Symbol. We discovered that more than one third of those payments did not have a TAS number," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government earlier this month. 

Fox News Digital asked Republican senators on Capitol Hill to respond to the approximately 500,000 in untraceable payments made by the Treasury Department each year. 

DOGE SAYS IT FOUND NEARLY UNTRACEABLE BUDGET LINE ITEM RESPONSIBLE FOR $4.7T IN PAYMENTS

"I'm not surprised at all, unfortunately," Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, said before adding, "They were leaving complete fields undone when they were filling out their financials, so this is a common theme. I'm not surprised."

TOP 5 MOST OUTRAGEOUS WAYS THE GOVERNMENT HAS WASTED YOUR TAXES, AS UNCOVERED BY ELON MUSK'S DOGE

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, called for an investigation into where those payments actually went. 

"There's so much waste. There's so much fraud, There's so much abuse in our government," Schmitt told Fox News Digital. "I'm glad there was a laser-like focus on it. We ought to make many of those reforms permanent, but there probably ought to be some investigations here about where this money actually went. I mean this is taxpayer money. People work hard."

After DOGE and the Treasury Department uncovered $4.7 trillion in untraceable funds, Marshall and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida introduced a bill in March requiring the Treasury Department to track all payments. 

The Locating Every Disbursement in Government Expenditure Records (LEDGER) Act seeks to increase transparency in how the Treasury Department spends taxpayer money. 

"When you hear about this story that they didn't know where the money was going, it makes you mad because this is somebody's money, this is taxpayers' money when we have almost $37 trillion in debt, so this makes no sense at all," Scott said. 

The Congressional Budget projects that interest payments on America's national debt will total $952 billion in fiscal year 2025. That's $102 billion more than the United States' defense budget at $850 billion. 

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"We paid out more last year on our debt, $36 trillion in debt, with $950 billion in interest going to bondholders all over the world, including in China. That $950 billion didn't go to build a bridge or an F-35. We paid more on the interest on debt than we did to fund our military," said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska. 

"That is an inflection point that when most countries hit, you look at history, that's when great powers start to decline. So we have to get those savings."

President Donald Trump this week enjoyed one of his biggest legislative victories during his second administration.

"THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL" has PASSED the House of Representatives!" Trump touted in a social media post Thursday.

The president's post came soon after the GOP-controlled House passed Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts package by a razor-thin margin. The Republican-crafted measure is full of Trump's campaign trail promises and second-term priorities on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit.

Ahead of the House vote, two surveys released earlier in the week indicated that the president's poll numbers remained underwater.

MIKE JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP GET ‘BIG, 'BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE

The president stood at 46% approval and 54% disapproval in a national survey by Marquette Law School. And Trump was at 42% approval and 52% disapproval in a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Most, but not all, of the latest national surveys place the president's approval rating in negative territory, with a handful indicating Trump is above water.

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Trump has aggressively asserted executive authority in his second term, overturning longstanding government policy and aiming to make major cuts to the federal workforce through an avalanche of sweeping and controversial executive orders and actions, with some aimed at addressing grievances he has held since his first term.

Trump started his second administration with poll numbers in positive territory, but his poll numbers started to slide soon after his late-January inauguration.

But two issues where the president remains at or above water in some surveys are border security and immigration, which were front and center in Trump's successful 2024 campaign to win back the White House.

Trump stands at 56% approval of border security and 50% approval of immigration in the Marquette Law School poll, which was conducted May 5-15.

But Trump's muscular moves on border security and immigration, which have sparked controversy and legal pushback, don't appear to be helping his overall approval ratings.

"Immigration is declining now as a salient issue," said Daron Shaw, who serves as a member of the Fox News Decision Team and is the Republican partner on the Fox News poll.

Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas, said "immigration and especially border security are beginning to lose steam as one of the top three issues facing the country. Republicans still rate them fairly highly, but Democrats and independents, who had kind of joined the chorus in 2024, have moved on and, in particular, moved back to the economy as a focal point."

Pointing to Trump, Shaw added that "when you have success on an issue, it tends to move to the back burner."

Contributing to the slide over the past couple of months in Trump's overall approval ratings was his performance on the economy and, in particular, inflation, which were pressing issues that kept former President Joe Biden’s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency.

Trump's blockbuster tariff announcement in early April sparked a trade war with some of the nation's top trading partners, triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.

But the markets have rebounded, thanks in part to a truce between the U.S. and China in their tariff standoff as Trump tapped the brakes on his controversial tariff implementation.

Trump stood at 37% approval on tariffs and 34% on inflation/cost of living in the Marquette Law School poll. And he stood at 39% on the economy and 33% on cost of living in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted May 16-18.

Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist and former RNC and Bush administration official, pointed to last year’s election, saying, "The main reason Trump won was to lower prices. Prices haven’t lowered, and polls are reflecting that."

"With the exception of gas prices, there hasn’t been much of a reduction in prices," Shaw said.

"Prices haven’t come down, and it’s not clear that people will say the absence of inflation is an economic victory. They still feel that an appreciable portion of their money is going to pay for basic things," he added. "What Trump is realizing is that prices have to come down for him to be able to declare success."

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are continuing to overhaul the National Security Council and shift its main functions to other agencies like the State and Defense departments. 

The latest efforts to slim down a federal agency come weeks after Trump announced former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz would depart his post at the White House overseeing the agency and serve as UN ambassador. Waltz himself began the streamlining process in January, when, in one of his first moves as Trump's national security adviser, he ordered 160 NSC staffers off the job pending a comprehensive review of the agency's alignment with Trump's agenda.

HEGSETH, SIGNAL QUESTIONS DOG WALTZ AS POTENTIALLY PERILOUS UN AMBASSADOR CONFIRMATION HEARINGS LOOM

The current plans to upend the agency would include whittling down the size of the National Security Council, which the Trump White House believes is full of long-term, bureaucratic staffers who don’t align with Trump’s agenda. 

Additionally, the restructuring will move Andy Barker, national security advisor to Vice President JD Vance, and Robert Gabriel, assistant to the president for policy, into roles serving as deputy national security advisors. 

Axios was the first to report the Trump administration’s restructuring plans. A White House official confirmed Axios’ reporting to Fox News Digital. 

A White House official involved in the planning said Trump and Rubio are driving the change in an attempt to target Washington’s so-called "Deep State." 

"The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It's Marco vs. the Deep State. We're gutting the Deep State," a White House official told Axios. 

NEXT US NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR? HERE'S WHOM TRUMP MIGHT PICK TO REPLACE WALTZ 

The National Security Council is located within the White House and provides the president guidance on national security, military and foreign affairs matters. 

Waltz’s departure from the agency followed his involvement with other administration officials, like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in the Signal chat controversy over strike plans against the Houthis in March.

MIKE WALTZ, OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STAFFERS OUT IN LATEST TRUMP PURGE FOLLOWING SIGNAL CHAT LEAK

But Waltz had been focused early in his short tenure on the issue of what the Trump administration considers "deep state" infiltration of the agency. The former Green Beret and Florida congressman was especially concerned about Biden administration political appointees and holdovers assigned to the NSC from other agencies. 

Since Waltz’s departure earlier this month, Rubio has taken on the role of national security advisor. That’s in addition to leading the State Department and serving as acting archivist and acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which the administration is aiming to dismantle this year. 

Fox News Digital was the first to report that the State Department planned to absorb the remaining operations and programs USAID runs so it would no longer function as an independent agency. The move requires cutting thousands of staff members in an attempt to bolster the efficiency of the existing, "life-saving" foreign assistance programs, according to a State Department memo Fox News Digital obtained. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report. 

Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot is being slammed for "anti-American" claims about the supposed White supremacist origins of Memorial Day.

The Media Research Center (MRC) Free Speech America project, a conservative media watchdog, is calling out Google for alleged bias coded into its AI chatbot "Gemini" after the group found the bot said that Memorial Day is controversial for a range of reasons, including problems with "inclusivity and representation" from the Jim Crow era.

MRC said it asked Gemini the question "Is Memorial Day controversial?" May 16. 

According to MRC, the Google-run chatbot responded, "Yes, Memorial Day is a holiday that carries a degree of controversy, stemming from several factors."

AMERICANS SHOULD HONOR MEMORIAL DAY IN THIS WAY, MILITARY SERVICE MEMBERS SUGGEST

Among the reasons listed for the supposed controversy was a bullet point titled, "White Memorial Day," which claimed "historically, especially during the Jim Crow era, Memorial Day observances in many communities became predominantly ‘white,’ overlooking the contributions and sacrifices of Black service members. This historical exclusion remains a sensitive point."

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

MRC also said that Gemini claimed Memorial Day is "often intertwined with national identity and patriotism," which the chatbot asserted "can be complex and controversial for individuals with differing perspectives on American history and foreign policy."

The group also said Gemini claimed another problem with Memorial Day is the "glorification of War," saying "some argue that the focus on military sacrifice can inadvertently glorify war, rather than solely honoring the fallen and reflecting on the cost of conflict."

MEMORIAL DAY: THE HISTORY AND MEANING OF THE HOLIDAY

Fox News Digital asked Gemini the same question Friday and was given the answer that while "the primary purpose of Memorial Day is to honor all U.S. military personnel who died while serving," the history of the holiday "does contain elements that can be viewed through the lens of race."

Among the reasons for the controversy Gemini gave to Fox News Digital were "the continued observance of separate Confederate Memorial Days in some Southern states, honoring those who fought to preserve slavery, [which] is seen by many as racially insensitive and a painful reminder of a divisive past."

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Gemini told Fox News Digital that "while the act of honoring fallen service members is not inherently racist, the historical context, the selective narratives and the existence of Confederate observances mean that the history and observance of Memorial Day have been intertwined with racial issues."

Google did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

In a motion filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the Trump DOJ is moving to dissolve the ‘Flores Consent Decree.’ Attorney General Pam Bondi maintains the decree is incentivizing illegal immigration at the southern border.

The Flores decree has governed the detention and release of migrant children since 1997. The motion, filed by the DOJ and jointed by HHS and the Department of Homeland Security, asks a federal court in southern California to dissolve the decree.

BIDEN-APPOINTED FEDERAL JUDGE KEEPS BLOCKING TRUMP ADMIN FROM NIXING FUNDING FOR LAWYERS FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN

However, the motion to terminate the Flores decree will be heard at a July 18 hearing before US District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles. Judge Gee has presided over the case for years, and it is unlikely she will agree to get rid of the Flores decree, setting up a possible battle before the federal appeals court, and ultimately the Supreme Court.

"The outdated Flores consent decree was implemented as a stopgap measure almost 30 years ago but in recent years has directly incentivized illegal immigration at our southern border. Congress and various federal agencies have already solved the problems that Flores was designed to fix, and this consent decree is now an unacceptable restriction on our America-first immigration agenda," said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement to Fox News.

FEDERAL JUDGE BUCKS TRUMP ADMIN, DELAYS DISMISSAL OF OF MS-13 LEADER'S CASE

DOJ officials also tell Fox News the idea is to put the power back into the hands of elected officials in Washington, rather than a single federal judge in California.

In the filing the DOJ says the government is moving, "to terminate the FSA completely and with respect to all Defendants, and to dissolve the Court’s injunction of DHS’s regulations for apprehension, processing, care, and custody of alien minors…After 40 years of litigation and 28 years of judicial control over a critical element of U.S. immigration policy by one district court located more than 100 miles from any international border, it is time for this case to end."

More from the filing:

In light of the significant changes in circumstances since this Court entered the FSA 28 years ago, including the promulgation of regulations incorporating the goals of the FSA, and Supreme Court precedent that is inconsistent with continuing such a long-term decree, further continuation of the FSA is no longer equitable or in the public interest.

TRUMP DOJ DROPS BIDEN-ERA LEGAL CHALLENGE TO TEXAS BORDER SECURITY LAW

This Court entered the FSA as a consent decree in 1997 and amended it in December 2001. The FSA has governed the care and custody of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) ever since, notwithstanding intervening legislation by the U.S. Congress and agency regulations. In 2015, this Court expanded the FSA to accompanied children, see Flores v. Lynch, 828 F.3d 898, 906, 909 (9th Cir. 2016), even though it is obvious from the FSA’s terms that the parties did not contemplate their inclusion. Thus, as to accompanied children, the national policy has long been set by a district court (and not the President or Congress), notwithstanding that the consent decree providing the basis for district-court supervision does not claim to regulate this class of aliens. That simply cannot be.

During the 28 years that this Court has controlled federal policy regarding the custody of alien children who are in the United States without immigration status, enormous, cardinal changes have occurred: surges of aliens have entered the U.S. in between ports of entry across the southwest border, including large groups of aliens who voluntarily surrendered to Border Patrol—surrenders orchestrated by traffickers; the demographics of aliens arriving at the border have shifted to include significantly higher numbers from countries outside the Western Hemisphere and higher numbers of children; a global pandemic necessitated the government’s utilization of its expulsion authority to protect public health; and the subsequent lifting of the policy led to an upheaval in immigration policy for over two years.

The Executive has not been able to react fully and meaningfully to these changes because the FSA has ossified federal immigration policy.

Successive administrations have tried unsuccessfully to free themselves from the strictures of the consent decree and this Court’s gloss on it. But detention of juvenile aliens continues to be—as it has been for more than a generation—dominated by the strictures of a 1997 agreement.

The Trump administration on Friday announced sanctions relief for Syria as part of a series of steps to end decades of penalties and to stabilize the country. 

The Treasury Department said it will grant Syria a 180-day waiver, known as GL 25, to ease financial restrictions that target the country's former rulers in an effort to give its new leaders a chance to rebuild a nation still scarred by more than a decade of civil war. 

It will facilitate the provision of electricity, energy, water, and sanitation, and enable a more effective humanitarian response across Syria, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. 

"As President Trump promised, the Treasury Department and the State Department are implementing authorizations to encourage new investment into Syria," said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. "Syria must also continue to work towards becoming a stable country that is at peace, and today’s actions will hopefully put the country on a path to a bright, prosperous, and stable future."

US AMBASSADOR BARRACK NAMED SPECIAL ENVOY TO SYRIA AMID SANCTIONS RELIEF PLAN

The waiver will allow Syria to engage in Syrian reconstruction and other economic activity. The sanctions relief has been extended on the condition that Syrian leaders will not offer a safe haven for terrorist organizations and will ensure the security of its religious and ethnic minorities, the Treasury Department said.

"Today’s actions represent the first step in delivering on the President’s vision of a new relationship between Syria and the United States," Rubio said in a statement. "President Trump is providing the Syrian government with the chance to promote peace and stability, both within Syria and in Syria’s relations with its neighbors. The President has made clear his expectation that relief will be followed by prompt action by the Syrian government on important policy priorities."

The move came after Tom Barrack, US Ambassador to Turkey and former advisor to President Donald Trump, announced on Friday that he would be filling the role of U.S. Special Envoy for Syria, while highlighting recent sanctions relief.

TRUMP ASKS SYRIA TO JOIN ABRAHAM ACCORDS, NORMALIZE TIES WITH ISRAEL IN RETURN FOR SANCTIONS RELIEF

"The cessation of sanctions against Syria will preserve the integrity of our primary objective — the enduring defeat of ISIS — and will give the people of Syria a chance for a better future," he wrote Friday on X. "In this way, we, together with regional partners including Turkiye and the Gulf, are enabling the Syrian government to restore peace, security, and the hope of prosperity. In the words of the President, we will work together, and we will succeed together."

Syria's former autocratic leader, Bashar al-Assad, ruled the country for decades after succeeding his father. Assad's government, long sustained by Russia and Iran, presided over 13 years of civil war, and collapsed last year during a major offensive by rebel fighters. 

Assad and his family left Syria for Moscow to seek asylum.

The waiver announced on Friday prohibits the new Syrian government from engaging in transactions that benefit Russia, Iran, North Korea or key supporters of the former Assad regime. 

The Trump Treasury Department's new sanctions are a "full-frontal assault" on one of the deadliest southern border cartels, a local border official told Fox News Digital.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two high-ranking Cartel del Noreste (CDN) members, Mexican nationals Miguel Angel de Anda Ledezma and Ricardo Gonzalez Sauceda, Wednesday.

CDN was one of eight cartels and transnational criminal groups labeled "foreign terrorist organizations" by the Department of State Feb. 20.

Under new sanctions announced this week, all property and interest in properties belonging to De Anda and Gonzalez that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked. 

EXCLUSIVE: ILLEGAL ALIEN WHOSE DEPORTATION WAS PAUSED BY ‘ACTIVIST’ JUDGE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED A DISABLED WOMAN

While announcing the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department is "working toward the total elimination of cartels to make America safe again" and that the Trump administration "will hold these terrorists accountable for their criminal activities and abhorrent acts of violence."

"CDN and its leaders have carried out a violent campaign of intimidation, kidnapping and terrorism, threatening communities on both sides of our southern border," said Bessent. "We will continue to cut off the cartels’ ability to obtain the drugs, money and guns that enable their violent activities."

ICE BEGINS NEW, NATIONWIDE EFFORT TO ARREST ILLEGAL ALIENS AT IMMIGRATION HEARINGS

Paul Perez, who leads the National Border Patrol Council chapter in the South Texas Rio Grande Valley, told Fox News Digital even though the Trump administration’s border crackdown has dramatically reduced illegal crossings, the cartels, including CDN, continue to present a threat to the lives and safety of American citizens living on the border.

"The threat of cartels is still there," Perez said in an interview with Fox News Digital. He noted that "the thing about the cartels is that they're very sophisticated," explaining they have begun using advanced technology like drones to carry out their operations.

"They're not the street gang-level managers," he said. "They've got a lot of people on their side that have been in this industry for a long time. They know how to get their products moving. They know how to get their product across."

In Mexico, Perez said, the cartels control the border and "act with impunity all along the border," while the Mexican police and military are unable to stop them.

He said cartel gunfights along the border often lead to cartel members fleeing north into the U.S., where "they're going to do everything they can to get away and get back. And if that means harming American citizens, then they're going to do that."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

When it comes to CDN, Perez said "they engage in grotesque conduct," such as beheadings and kidnappings and "will harm anybody that gets in their way" regardless of whether they are American or otherwise.

"What I can tell you about the Noreste cartel, they're no different than any other cartels out there, the Sinaloa cartel. They're all deadly cartels. They all traffic in fentanyl. They all traffic in drugs. They are trafficking people," he explained.

TRUMP ADMIN PROMISES TO BE ‘RUTHLESSLY AGGRESSIVE’ IN RESPONSE TO SUSPECTED CARTEL KILLING OF US CITIZEN

By targeting CDN’s leadership, Perez said the Trump administration is effectively weakening the cartel by creating a power vacuum that will cause infighting that will further sap the organization’s strength.

"The cartels are definitely going to feel it," he said. "So, it's a full-frontal assault from the United States.

"That's the protection that we're bringing to the border that we weren't able to bring under President Biden," he added. 

"President Trump, on the campaign trail, and since he's been in office, has repeatedly said he's going to do everything he can to protect the United States, to protect its citizens and make sure that there's nobody around that can do harm to our country. And he's doing that. He's taking on the cartels. He's not afraid of them.

"We want to decimate the cartel activity that's going on in the United States. So, he's done what he said he was going to. We support that 100%."

EXCLUSIVE: Senators from both sides of the aisle will put forward a resolution calling on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to seek out new sites and critical infrastructure for high-demand products that are currently not made in America, and analyze the viability of making such products here.

Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee chairwoman Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., came together Friday to launch the effort – citing the dual need for onshoring supply chains while bolstering the U.S. workforce.

The Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act would force Lutnick to report within 18 months on critical infrastructure sectors where products face material, sourcing, or supply-chain constraints that prevent them from being domestically produced.

The Commerce Department would then have to analyze the feasibility of producing that product in the U.S. – and whether such products’ newly-onshore production can be established in underserved rural areas and industrial parks.

LAWMAKERS TAKE ACTION AFTER REPORT SHOWS BIDEN-ERA SBA FAILED TO PROBE 2 MILLION TO ALLEGED COVID AID FRAUDSTERS

Both Ernst’s and Blunt Rochester’s states are vastly rural. In the latter, suburban sprawl from Wilmington gives way to miles of coastal plain.

In recent years, the cities of Newark and Middletown have seen a boom in industrial parks and warehouses for major companies like Amazon seeking out the First State’s famously low-tax and tax-free environs.

"Supply chains are key to global competitiveness and our national security," Blunt Rochester told Fox News Digital.

"This bipartisan legislation will help us identify where we rely too heavily on foreign imports for critical infrastructure and explore how we can bring that manufacturing home."

HOUSE SMALL BUSINESS COMMITTEE RELEASES REPORT ON BIDEN-ERA ELECTIONEERING

The Delawarean added that strengthening domestic production not only protects our supply chains, "it supports American jobs, revitalizes local economies, and reinforces our nation’s resilience if global manufacturing disruptions occur."

Ernst added that the bill seeks to make the U.S. less dependent on foreign adversaries for critical infrastructure and key manufacturing supply chain preservation.

"I am working to make ‘Made in America’ the norm instead of the exception," she said.

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"That starts with ensuring that our manufacturers are able to get the materials they need right here instead of having to import supplies from halfway around the world. Beyond boosting domestic industry, this bill is also about safeguarding our national security by ensuring that we are not dependent on any foreign adversary for critical goods that we need."

Ernst has also spearheaded efforts to onshore the pharmaceutical supply chain from China. Many key ingredients in medicines are not produced in the U.S., and instead predominantly in Ireland and China. 

While one is a longtime U.S. ally, the other’s involvement in the supply chain could lead to national security risks, critics have said.

The Fox News Politics Newsletter will not be sent out on Monday, May 25th due to the Memorial Day Holiday. We wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day. 

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.  Here's what's happening…

-Hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners released in swap with Russia, Zelenskyy says

-New footage shows Milwaukee judge confronting ICE before allegedly helping illegal immigrant exit

-Vance tells Naval Academy graduates they are facing 'new' and 'very dangerous era' for US

President Donald Trump signed several executive orders (EOs) on nuclear energy proliferation and an order removing political considerations from public-sector science, as conservatives claimed the latter was scandalized in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump also signed restoring "gold standard science" as the cornerstone of federal research. 

A senior White House official said on Friday there has been a decline in "disruptive research" and investments in biomedical research, along with "serious cases" of fraud and misconduct and the inability to reproduce scientific methods for the purpose of restoring public trust…Read more

'COULD NOT SPEAK': Biden struggled to film 2024 campaign videos amid declining health, new book claims: 'The man could not speak'

RESTRAINING ORDER: Judge temporarily pauses Trump move to cancel Harvard student visa policy after lawsuit

DEADLY SLOGAN: Former Biden diplomat says there’s ‘no question’ ‘Free Palestine’ slogan has become a call for violence

BARRACK ON: US Ambassador to Turkey Barrack to assume role of US Special Envoy for Syria

ATOMIC SHOWDOWN: US and Iran clash over uranium enrichment as nuclear talks resume in Rome

'WATER TORTURE': Dems call budget bill ‘bureaucratic water torture’ as GOP ‘glad to have the ball in our court’

'ABOUT TO FIND OUT': Sen. Mike Lee accuses Chicago mayor — who called Trump a 'monster' — of 'bragging about' violating the law

'HEARTBREAKING': Wisconsin man fired for refusing to use preferred pronouns appeals to Trump administration

WALL WORKS: Republican AGs visit US-Mexico border wall as Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' clears expansion funding

SHIFTING GEAR: Blue-state Republican 'thankful' for move to scrap gas-car ban as Newsom vows court fight to save it

SOROS UNDER FIRE: Alex Soros blasted for condemning shooting of Israelis while funding anti-Israel groups

TIMELINE TWIST: RFK Jr. backtracks on timeline for determining cause of autism in CNN interview

TERROR IN DC: Father of suspect accused of killing Israeli Embassy staffers in DC was guest at Trump's joint address
 

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

The Trump administration is suing four New Jersey cities, accusing local officials of obstructing federal law and infringing on efforts to combat illegal immigration through their sanctuary city policies. 

The lawsuit by the Justice Department alleged the cities of Newark, Hoboken, Jersey City and Paterson unlawfully obstructed federal authorities trying to fight illegal immigration. 

Mayors Ras Baraka of Newark, Ravi Bhalla of Hoboken, Steven Fulop of Jersey City and Andre Sayegh of Paterson are named as defendants, along with the four city councils. 

"By intent and design, the Challenged Policies are a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws and the federal authorities that administer them," the complaint states. 

BLUE STATE POLITICAL BATTLE INTENSIFIES AFTER DEM MAYOR'S ARREST AT ICE FACILITY: 'OUTRAGED'

Baraka was recently arrested and charged with trespassing outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in his city. That case was dropped, but U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver was later charged with assault during the protest at Delaney Hall. 

"The lawsuit against Newark is absurd," Barake said in a statement. "We are not standing in the way of public safety. We are upholding the Constitution, providing oversight, and following the laws and guidelines of the State of New Jersey."

He said nothing in the city's policies prevents law enforcement from doing their jobs. "What we refuse to do is turn our city into an arm of federal immigration enforcement, which the courts have already ruled is not our role," he added. 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth wrote that local policies are designed to "thwart federal immigration enforcement".

NEWARK MAYOR ARRESTED AT ICE FACILITY CLAIMS HE WAS 'TARGETED' AFTER COURT HEARING

"[E]ven where local law enforcement wants to help the United States deal with the nation’s immigration crisis, the Challenged Policies impede them from doing so," he wrote. "This not only puts the safety of officers at risk, but also endangers the broader communities they are sworn to protect."

The lawsuit comes after federal charges were filed against Baraka, a gubernatorial candidate, for his role during a May 9 clash involving Democratic politicians at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark.

"Recent events have proven that these New Jersey officials care more about political showmanship than the safety of their communities," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. "As I have made clear, this Justice Department does not tolerate local officials in sanctuary cities obstructing immigration enforcement: there is more litigation to come."

"We will continue to do what we have always done, protect the rights of all our residents, stand on constitutional ground, and reject fear-based politics that divide communities rather than strengthen them," Baraka said.

DHS SAYS ‘ARRESTS ARE STILL ON THE TABLE’ AFTER NEW JERSEY HOUSE DEMS CAUGHT ON CAMERA ‘STORMING’ ICE FACILITY

"Hoboken is a community that prides itself on its vibrancy, its cultural diversity, and its inclusivity, and we will continue to stand together as a community for what is fair and just," Bhalla said in a separate statement. "The City of Hoboken will vigorously work to defend our rights, have our day in court, and defeat the Trump Administration’s lawlessness. To be clear: we will not back down."

"Jersey City gets sued for being a sanctuary city — I guess MAGA ran out of conspiracy theories for the week," Fulop wrote on X in response to the lawsuit. "Here is the truth: Jersey City’s policies protect families, reflect our values and have led to record low crime rates. As governor, I won’t be bullied. We’ll fight this — and win."

Fox News Digital has reached out to Sayegh's office. 

The Trump administration has targeted sanctuary jurisdictions as it continues to catch and deport criminal illegal immigrants. 

It has filed lawsuits against cities in New York, Colorado and Illinois over attempts to impede immigration enforcement. 

As Americans hit the road for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, they're getting good news at the gas pumps.

While gas prices have risen roughly 20 cents per gallon since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, according to GasBuddy, a fuel savings platform, "all 50 states are lower than last Memorial Day."

And GasBuddy notes that gas prices are at their "lowest seasonal (Memorial Day) level since 2021."

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that when adjusted for inflation, the average U.S. retail gasoline prices going into Memorial Day weekend are 14% lower than last year, in large part because of falling crude oil prices.

FOX BUSINESS: GAS PRICES HIT 4-YEAR LOW AHEAD OF MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

As of Friday, AAA reported that the national average for regular gasoline stood at $3.20 per gallon.

And while gas prices traditionally increase heading into spring and summer, normally due to increased demand for summer travel and refineries switching to summer gasoline blends – which are less likely to evaporate but are more expensive to produce – GasBuddy expects prices to ease slightly during the next few months heading into Labor Day.

OIL PRICES ARE DOWN OVER LAST SIX MONTHS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR GAS PRICES?

The falling prices at the pump could be good political news for Trump and Republicans aiming to defend their Senate and House majorities in next year's midterm elections.

"Gas prices fell for the third month in a row," the White House spotlighted last week, as it argued, "Workers See Relief in President Trump’s Economy."

Four months into his second tour of duty in the White House, Trump's poll numbers are slightly underwater, with most, but not all, of the latest national surveys placing the president's approval rating in negative territory.

That wasn't the case when Trump was inaugurated in January, when most polls indicated his approval ratings were above water.

Contributing to the slide over the past couple of months in Trump's overall approval ratings was his performance on the economy and, in particular, inflation, which were pressing issues that kept former President Joe Biden’s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency.

Trump's blockbuster tariff announcement in early April sparked a trade war with some of the nation's top trading partners and triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.

WHERE TRUMP STANDS IN THE POLLS FOUR MONTHS INTO HIS SECOND ADMINISTRATION

But the markets have rebounded, thanks in part to a truce between the U.S. and China in their tariff standoff as Trump tapped the brakes on his controversial tariff implementation.

Republican strategist Jesse Hunt told Fox News Digital that the current prices at the pump are "a positive development" and that "seeing gas prices where they are is a testament to the energy policy the administration wants to pursue, and it's going to result in more money being kept in people's pockets."

But Daron Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas who is the Republican partner on the Fox News poll, noted that "with the exception of gas prices, there hasn’t been much of a reduction in prices."

"Prices haven’t come down, and it’s not clear that people will say the absence of inflation is an economic victory. They still feel that an appreciable portion of their money is going to pay for basic things," Shaw added. "What Trump is realizing is that prices have to come down for him to be able to declare success."

Hunt, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential and statewide campaigns, said that Republicans "still have to figure out a way to ease some of the strain on family budgets through everyday goods like groceries. They were able to get eggs under control, which was an issue that threatened them early on in the second administration."

But pointing to Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts package, which narrowly passed the House on Thursday, Hunt said "there is a lot of hope and optimism" that the measure, if passed into law, "will help spur additional investment" and "will provide the sort of growth that you need across the economy."

Fox Business' Daniella Genovese contributed to this report. 

Democratic socialist mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel — and refused to say the country has a right to exist as a Jewish state.

Mamdani stayed firm in his support for the Palestinian-led BDS effort, calling it a "legitimate movement," during a Q&A with Democratic primary candidates hosted by the UJA-Federation of New York on Thursday evening.

"My support for BDS is consistent with my core of my politics, which is non-violence," the Queens assemblyman said when pressed by Jewish Insider’s editor-in-chief, Josh Kraushaar.

"I think that it is a legitimate movement when you are seeking to find compliance with international law," he said.

"The effectiveness of tactics of boycott, divestment and sanctions in order to motivate that compliance at the state level, on an individual level and that’s where my support for it comes from."

The state assemblyman from Queens said he believes Israel has a right to exist. But when pushed on whether it should exist as a Jewish state, he carefully sidestepped.

LAWSUIT ALLEGES ANTI-ISRAEL GROUP LEADERS ARE 'HAMAS' FOOT SOLDIERS IN NEW YORK CITY

"I believe Israel has a right to exist, and it has a right to exist also with equal rights for all," he said.

Mamdani, a Democratic Socialists of America-backed politician, was peppered with questions about his stance on Israel during the event from the UJA-Federation, a massive philanthropic group supporting the Jewish community.

The forum came just days after The Post unearthed a social media clip of the pro-Palestinian assemblyman leading a "BDS" chant during a May 11, 2021, anti-Israel protest.

Despite Mamdani’s open criticism of Israel, the lawmaker received a fairly warm welcome from those in attendance, according to recordings obtained by The Post, which, along with other press, was barred from entry at the door.

Those inside the event, which took place some 24 hours after a pro-Palestinian radical gunned down two innocent Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington, DC, described the security as "wild," as organizers revoked the tickets of several people.

During his roughly 20-minute appearance, moderators asked Mamdani about his remarks that, if elected mayor, he would order the NYPD to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister ever set foot in the Big Apple.

"Ultimately, my position is one that I believe our city should be in compliance with international law," Mamdani said, noting the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the Israeli leader, adding that he’d have the same answer if he was asked the question about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

ICC REJECTS ISRAELI APPEALS, ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS FOR BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, YOAV GALLANT

"What troubles me greatly is that Benjamin Netanyahu has also issued military commands from this very city when visiting it," he said.

Mamdani campaign spokesman Andrew Epstein said the candidate has been "consistent" in his beliefs regarding Israel.

"Zohran has been consistent in his belief that Israel has the right to exist, a responsibility to adhere to international law, and that he supports non-violent movements to ensure compliance with that law," Epstein said in a statement Friday.

"He was heartened by the warm reception last night to his vision for a New York that’s safe and affordable for everyone."

Mamdani, who has repeatedly come up second in the polls vying for the Democratic nomination, behind ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has recently been dogged by his anti-Israel rhetoric.

He faced blowback from the Jewish community for failing to sign onto a pair of resolutions recognizing Israel and the Holocaust, in what his campaign wrote off as a procedural error.

The revelation came just days after he got the endorsement of anti-Israel ex-"Squad" member Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the race for mayor of New York City, which is home to the largest population of Jews outside Israel.

The lawmaker also pushed the "Not On Our Dime Act," which would have stopped New York nonprofits from supporting any groups that are involved with West Bank settlements.

Tom Barrack, US Ambassador to Turkey and former advisor to President Donald Trump, announced on Friday that he would be filling the role of U.S. Special Envoy for Syria, highlighting recent sanctions relief.

In a post on X, Barrack said he will be assuming the role to support Secretary of State Marco Rubio "in the realization of the President’s vision" for the country.

"President Trump has outlined his clear vision of a prosperous Middle East and a stable Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors," Barrack wrote in the post. 

TRUMP ASKS SYRIA TO JOIN ABRAHAM ACCORDS, NORMALIZE TIES WITH ISRAEL IN RETURN FOR SANCTIONS RELIEF

On May 13, the president committed to lifting the United States’ sanctions against Syria to allow the new government to stabilize the country. 

U.S. sanctions were first administered on Damascus in 1979, when it was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Barrack said the cessation of sanctions against Syria will "preserve the integrity of our primary objective — the enduring defeat of ISIS," and give the people of Syria a chance to recover after the Bashar al-Assad regime was ousted by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham last year.

BIDEN ADMIN LIFTS $10M BOUNTY ON THE HEAD OF LEADER OF ISLAMIST GROUP NOW IN CHARGE IN SYRIA

Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S. and U.N.-designated terrorist organization, separated from al Qaeda in 2016.

Nearly 1,500 U.S. troops are stationed in Syria to fight ISIS, and about 10,000 ISIS fighters are being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia, Fox News Digital previously reported.

US DIPLOMATS IN DAMASCUS FOR FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN 10 YEARS FOLLOWING FALL OF ASSAD REGIME

"In this way, we, together with regional partners including Türkiye and the Gulf, are enabling the Syrian government to restore peace, security, and the hope of prosperity," Barrack wrote. "In the words of the President, we will work together, and we will succeed together."

Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Spencer Wimmer, a Wisconsin man, is asking the Trump administration to intervene after he says he was fired for refusing to use preferred pronouns that conflict with a person’s biological sex—forcing him, he claims, to choose between his livelihood and his faith.

While the Trump administration has moved to roll back DEI and gender ideology workplace requirements, Wimmer, a devout Christian, argues that private citizens are still experiencing workplace discrimination tied to such policies.

Now, after filing a religious discrimination complaint through the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) to the Trump U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), he said he hopes President Donald Trump will do something about it. 

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Wimmer said that he had worked hard to be a "model employee" during his five years at Generac and was in good standing with the company, having received several positive performance reviews and promotions. He said he expected to have a long, fruitful career at the power equipment company. That is, until he was suddenly pulled into a meeting with human resources and confronted about his refusal to use someone's preferred pronouns.

'UNLAWFUL DEI-MOTIVATED' WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION TO BE ROOTED OUT BY TRUMP'S NEW ACTING EEOC CHAIR

Wimmer says that his refusal to use preferred pronouns is rooted in his deeply held Biblical, religious belief that there are only two genders and that a person cannot switch between one and the other.

He explained that he had prior experience working with transgender people and even had a good working relationship with one of his colleagues who was transgender. However, after Wimmer had to clarify with HR that he could not in good conscience use his transgender colleagues' preferred pronouns, he was reprimanded for "unprofessional" conduct.

According to WILL, the firm representing Wimmer, Generac HR representatives told him that his request to refrain from using transgender pronouns on religious grounds "did not make any sense." Wimmer was issued a written disciplinary action note that stated "refusal to refer to an employee/subordinate by their preferred name/pronouns is in violation of the company’s Code of Business Conduct and No Harassment Policy."

After an entire month in which he said he felt both targeted and bullied for his religious beliefs, Wimmer was fired from his supervisor role at Generac Power Systems on April 2. According to WILL, he was not allowed to collect his personal belongings and was escorted out of the building.

Wimmer described the entire episode as "heartbreaking."

THE SUPREME COURT APPEARS TO SIDE WITH PARENTS IN RELIGIOUS LIBERTY DISPUTE OVER STORYBOOKS

"I was asked to choose between my livelihood and my love for God and my beliefs," said Wimmer, adding that it was "very emotional having everything kind of ripped out from under me."

In its complaint to the EEOC, WILL argues that Generac violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. WILL asserts that Generac violated Wimmer’s rights despite there being no harassment complaints filed against him.

Cara Tolliver, an attorney with WILL, told Fox News Digital that she believes his case carries a broader significance that could impact Americans across the country.

She said that Wimmer’s case puts recent Supreme Court precedent set in a 2023 case called Groff v. DeJoy to the test, challenging the validity of an employer’s compelled gender affirmation policy against an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs.

"Employers, I think, have kind of become seemingly fixated on a lot of identity politics in the workplace, including the topic of gender identity," she said. "But it's crucial to keep in mind that even where Title VII may provide some protection to employees against workplace discrimination and harassment on the basis of a gender identity, this does not supersede or eliminate Title VII protections against religious discrimination and the fact that religious discrimination is illegal."

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS TERMINATIONS OF INDEPENDENT AGENCY BOARD MEMBERS FOR NOW

Wimmer told Fox News Digital that he "never asked Generac to choose between me and then this other individual."

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"There was absolutely a way for us to work together and have a compromise where we continue to have a professional environment," he said. "Unfortunately, there are individuals and there are organizations and structures in place that won't let you have compromise. The fact that you have these beliefs is unacceptable to them. So, no amount of compromise is possible."

In response to Fox News Digital's request for comment, a spokesperson said: "We do not comment on employment matters nor comment on pending litigation."

Vice President JD Vance told graduates at the United States Naval Academy on Friday that they are embarking on a mission in a "new and very dangerous era for our country" as adversaries such as China and Russia are "determined to beat us in every single domain." 

Speaking in Annapolis, Vance said the Trump administration has "reversed course" in U.S. foreign policy as there will be "no more undefined missions" and "no more open-ended conflicts." 

"We’re turning to a strategy grounded in realism and protecting our core national interests. Now, this doesn’t mean that we ignore threats. But it means that we approach them with discipline and that when we send you to war, we do it with a very specific set of goals in mind," Vance said. 

"In the wake of the Cold War, America enjoyed a mostly unchallenged command of the commons -- airspace, sea, space, and cyberspace. But the era of uncontested U.S. dominance is over. Today we face serious threats in China, Russia, and other nations determined to beat us in every single domain," he added. 

WILL VANCE REMARK ABOUT US BAILING ON UKRAINE ENCOURAGE PUTIN TO SINK NASCENT PEACE TALKS 

"You will be leaders of men and women in our armed forces," Vance said. "So while President Trump and I congratulate you on this incredible achievement, I also thought it would be appropriate to tell you a bit about how the president and I think of your mission in this new and very dangerous era for our country." 

The vice president said past U.S. administrations carried out a "long experiment in our foreign policy that traded national defense and the maintenance of our alliances for nation-building and meddling in foreign countries’ affairs, even when those foreign countries have very little to do with core American interests." 

"Following the collapse of the Soviet Union... for a brief time, we were a superpower without any fear. Nor did we believe any foreign nation could possibly rise to compete with the United States of America," he continued. 

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"And so our leaders traded hard power for soft power. We stopped making things, everything from cars to computers to the weapons of war, like the ships that guard our waters and the weapons that you will use in the future. Why did we do that? Well too many of us believed that economic integration would naturally lead to peace by making countries like the People’s Republic of China more like the United States," Vance said. "Over time, we were told that the world would converge toward a uniform set of bland, secular universal ideals regardless of culture or country. And those that didn’t want to converge, our policymakers would it make it their goal to force them by any means necessary." 

"So instead of devoting our energies to the rise of... competitors like China, our leaders pursued what they assumed would be easy jobs for the world’s preeminent superpower. How hard could it be to build new democracies in the Middle East? Well almost impossibly hard, it turns out, and unbelievably costly," Vance told the graduates. 

Vance said, "We must be, all of us, not just smarter," but now "we got to make sure that [when] we send our troops to war, we do it with the right tools."  

"We can no longer assume our engagements will come without cost. That's why the Trump administration is investing in innovation, rewarding risk-takers at the Department of Defense and streamlining weapons acquisitions for the new century," he said during his speech. 

President Donald Trump signed several executive orders (EOs) on nuclear energy proliferation and an order removing political considerations from public-sector science, as conservatives claimed the latter was scandalized in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump also signed restoring "gold standard science" as the cornerstone of federal research. 

At the White House, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said America led the postwar world on "all things nuclear" until we "stagnated" and "choked it with overregulation."

"We're going to have the lights on and AI operating when others are not because of our nuclear capabilities," added Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

A senior White House official said on Friday there has been a decline in "disruptive research" and investments in biomedical research, along with "serious cases" of fraud and misconduct and the inability to reproduce scientific methods for the purpose of restoring public trust.

The official also blamed policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and "woke DEI initiatives" for endangering the public’s trust in government scientists.

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Now-retired NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci was repeatedly denounced for flip-flopping and obfuscating during his time engineering the federal response to COVID-19, leading many particularly on the right to disregard and dismiss the legitimacy of federal health authorities outright.

That order cites the fact the Biden administration included political edits from teachers unions in school-reopening guidance, instead of leading with any scientific evidence.

The order will enforce "gold standard science," defined as reproducible, transparent and falsifiable – as well as being subject to peer review and making sure that scientists are not discouraged from discovering outcomes that run counter to a narrative.

In terms of nuclear energy, one order will reform nuclear R&D at the Energy Department, accelerate reactor testing at national labs and establish a pilot program for new construction.

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Energy Secretary Chris Wright previously told Fox News Digital that revitalizing and highlighting the work of U.S. national labs is paramount to his agenda.

In a move that appears to support Wright’s push for nuclear power, Trump will sign an order aimed at advancing new reactor construction on public lands.

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A senior White House official cited the importance of that type of reliable power-source for critical defense facilities and AI data centers.

Another order being signed Friday will overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to require it to rule on reactor license applications within 18 months.

Only two new nuclear reactors have begun construction and entered into commercial operation since the Carter administration.

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A typically risk-averse culture that requires, for example, nuclear facilities to emit as little radiation as possible, including below naturally-occurring levels, which critics said has hindered the NRC from licensing new reactors as technology begets safer and cheaper means of production.

The orders will also seek to raise nuclear energy capacity from 100 gigawatts (GW) to 400 GW within 25 years.

Another order will establish a vision to mine and enrich uranium within the U.S., decreasing another avenue of foreign reliance – and "reinvigorate" the nuclear fuel cycle.

"That means America will start mining and enriching uranium and expanding domestic uranium conversion and enrichment capacity," a senior White House official said.

Trump is expected to leverage the Defense Production Act – which last helped secure COVID-19 paraphernalia like masks and ventilators – to seek agreements with domestic nuclear energy companies for the procurement of enriched uranium, as well as finding ways to manage spent nuke fuel. 

Nuclear energy, the White House said in the order, "is necessary to power the next generation technologies that secure our global industrial, digital, and economic dominance, achieve energy independence, and protect our national security."

Joe Dominguez, of Constellation Energy; one of the stakeholders in the orders, said nuclear energy is a "24/7 resource."

"These data centers run 24/7 00 some of them will cost $200-300 billion, …[so] we can't use intermittent resources," Dominguez said. "If you can't get the plant on, you can't get revenue."

One of the orders also creates a special U.S. envoy for nuclear experts.

In the midst of applying his signature, Trump quipped, "could I use an auto-pen… what did Biden do?"