Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky has been criticized by fellow Canadians for his apparent support of President Donald Trump. 

Trump has drawn disdain from the country up north for saying it should become the "51st state" and initiating tariffs on Canadian goods.

Before the 4 Nations Face-Off championship between the U.S. and Canada in Boston, Gretzky was named Canada's honorary captain, and he received backlash.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

That prompted hockey legend Bobby Orr, a fellow Canadian, to write in the Toronto Sun that he was disappointed when he read criticism about someone he considers one of the "greatest Canadians ever."

"How fickle can people be, when someone who has given so much time and effort to Canadian hockey is treated in such a way," Orr’s column said. "Listen, we all have our personal beliefs as they pertain to things such as religion and politics. Wayne respects your right to such beliefs – why can’t you respect his?"

Janet Gretzky, Wayne's wife, saw Orr's column, and she reacted on social media.

"Thank you Mr. Bobby Orr. Your words mean the world to Wayne and his family , i have never met anyone who is more Proud to be a Canadian and it has broken his heart to read and see the mean comments . . He would do anything to make Canadians Proud , with his Love for Hockey and his Country," Janet wrote in an Instagram post in which she shared Orr's column.

NHL STAR DISHES ON TEAM USA PLAYERS' AMERICAN PRIDE: 'HAVEN'T SEEN THAT FROM AMERICANS IN GENERAL'

Janet's post did not end the criticism.

One user commented, "You cant be a great Canadian if you support trump who trying to destroy canada its that simple."

Another wrote, "Written from one Trumper for another. If Wayne is so proud, maybe he should make a public statement denouncing your friend’s call to annex his homeland. Thanks would speak louder than anything a fellow Trumper could write about him."

Trump recently said he asked Gretzky to become the next "governor of Canada" after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would be resigning. 

But after Gretzky expressed support for "Canada remaining a separate Country, rather than becoming a cherished and beautiful 51st State," Trump declared Gretzky a "free agent."

"I don’t want anyone in Canada to say anything bad about him. He supports Canada the way it is, as he should, even though it’s not nearly as good as it could be as part of the Greatest and Most Powerful Country in the World, the Good Ole’ U.S.A.!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday.

Gretzky attended a victory party for Trump's 2024 election win after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris. Gretzky was spotted wearing a MAGA hat shortly afterward and attended Trump's inauguration.

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

FIRST ON FOX: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said former President Joe Biden's administration was aware of "very sexually explicit, highly inappropriate and unprofessional chatter" happening on internal agency messaging boards across national intelligence entities for years, but they allowed it to go on. 

"I've had whistleblowers come forward just in the last few days who work in the [National Security Agency] and who said, ‘Hey, we saw this, and we reported it through official channels under the Biden administration,’" she told Fox News Digital in an interview at the White House on Wednesday, following President Donald Trump's first Cabinet meeting.  

"And essentially they were told this is no issue, step aside," Gabbard said. 

BIPARTISAN DUO LOOKS TO FEND OFF FOOD SUPPLY CYBER THREATS AS GLOBAL TENSIONS PERSIST

It all comes back to "the Biden administration's obsession with" diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), according to the new Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

The chatrooms "were set up because of DEI policies," she said. 

Gabbard said the discussions had been going on for two years. 

SCOOP: INSIDE ELON MUSK'S MEETING WITH THE SENATE DOGE CAUCUS

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Biden and former DNI Avril Haines but did not immediately receive comment. 

"They were shut down immediately after President Trump issued his executive order shutting down the DEI across the federal government," she noted. 

After discovering the chats, Gabbard directed the agencies under her to terminate those involved, which she said amounted to over 100 people. She further directed their security clearances to be revoked. 

TOP INTEL REPUBLICAN TOM COTTON SEEKING RE-ELECTION TO SENATE IN 2026

The employees who were part of the chats "violated the trust that the American people placed in them to work in these highly sensitive jobs that are directly related to national security," she explained. 

As for DEI, Gabbard said, "We're just scratching the surface here" regarding how much money, time and resources have been spent on DEI in intelligence agencies. 

According to the director, "getting rid of the DEI center that was stood up under the Biden administration, we immediately saved taxpayers almost $20 million."

TULSI GABBARD GIVES EXCLUSIVE GLIMPSE OF TRUMP'S FIRST CABINET MEETING

An additional $3 to 4 million was saved by nixing the various DEI conferences that employees would travel to, she added. 

Gabbard joined billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisor Elon Musk, Trump, and other confirmed and unconfirmed Cabinet picks on Wednesday during a meeting she described as energetic. 

Gabbard explained that many of the Cabinet officials are friends with one another and that they've all been inspired by Trump and Musk's quick and aggressive work with DOGE. 

The U.S. Coast Guard was unable to "consistently" stop drug smugglers during the Biden administration, with vessels unavailable for a combined total of 2,000 days over a three-year period, according to a new report.

The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report found that the Coast Guard "was not able to consistently interdict non-commercial vessels smuggling drugs into the U.S." from fiscal years 2021 through 2023.

The audit looked at the Coast Guard’s ability to stop drug trafficking across 95,000 miles of coastal waters and more than 300 ports. The agency focuses primarily on cocaine because it is the primary drug smuggled across water.

The report found the Coast Guard did not have enough cutter vessels to conduct the antidrug mission and "did not have a contingency plan to address the cutters’ unavailability."

US COAST GUARD RESCUES 3 AFTER BOAT CAPSIZES OFF FLORIDA COAST: VIDEO

"We found Coast Guard cutters were unavailable for 2,058 cumulative days over a 3-year period," the report said.

Reasons for 39 of 90 cutters being unavailable included reallocation to migrant interdiction, unscheduled maintenance or being inoperable due to COVID-19 protocols. The report did find that the number of days the cutters were unavailable increased each year and correlated with a decline in seized cocaine.

"According to Coast Guard personnel, many of the cutters scheduled for the counterdrug mission were reassigned to the migrant crisis, thus reducing the number of cutters available in the maritime transit zone, and negatively impacting cocaine removals," the report said. 

RETIRED COAST GUARD HELICOPTER COMMANDER DETAILS RISKS TO AIR CREWS FIGHTING LA FIRES

"Coast Guard personnel also attributed these issues to deferred maintenance. Coast Guard personnel said that insufficient funding for maintenance and repairs has reduced cutter availability, and that the more maintenance periods that are deferred in the short term, the more downtime is needed for maintenance and repair in the long term," it said.

It said that between fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2023, which included a few months of the Trump administration but was predominantly during the Biden administration, the Coast Guard intercepted around 421 metric tons of cocaine, short of its goal of 690 metric tons.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

It also found that the Coast Guard did not accurately record all interdictions, with 58% of counter drug case files not containing seizure results and 68% not containing required documentation. 

"Without addressing the issues identified in this report, the Coast Guard may be missing opportunities to meet target goals of removing cocaine and reducing the illicit flow of drugs coming into the country," the report concluded.

It recommended that the Coast Guard develop a drug interdiction contingency plan to prioritize the availability of cutters and also update systems to ensure data accuracy, including a centralized database.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Coast Guard agreed with the recommendations except for the contingency plan, which it said would be "redundant and not effective to resolve the documented issue of asset availability."

The Coast Guard also said it "remains committed to strengthening its tactics, techniques, and procedures to stop the illicit flow of drugs entering the United States by disrupting the flow of cocaine and other illegal drugs in the maritime environment."

• Trump's Navy secretary nominee said the President texts him in the middle of the night about rusty warships.
• Phelan said Trump sends him pictures of worn ships asking him what he's going to do about it.
• During his first term, the President was said to be very focused on the look of warships.

President Donald Trump's pick for US Navy secretary said multiple times on Thursday that he receives late-night texts from the President about rusty warships.

"I jokingly say that President Trump has texted me numerous times very late at night — sometimes after one in the morning," John Phelan, a businessman tapped to lead the Navy, told lawmakers during his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing.

He said that the president's late-night messages are about "rusty ships or ships in a yard, asking me, what am I doing about it?" Phelan added that he's told him, "I'm not confirmed yet and have not been able to do anything about it, but I will be very focused on it."

Later in the hearing, Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, showed Phelan a recent picture of the destroyer USS Dewey covered in rust and asked him how he felt about it.

He responded: "Please don't give it to President Trump because I'll get a text at like, one in the morning." He added he thought the rusty warship looked terrible and suggested that the Navy "should be ashamed."

And that wasn't the last mention of it. Toward the end of the hearing, he noted Trump's urgency in addressing problems in the Navy. He said that "the president did text me, I think it was 1:18 in the morning, of like three Rusty ships in a yard and said what are you doing about this."

The brown streaks of rust sometimes seen on Navy vessels are a sign of corrosion. It is a constant battle for Navy warships and their crews, and that fight is sometimes lost amid high operational tempos or maintenance delays, among other challenges.

The questions to Phelan were part of the committee's concerns about how the nominee plans to address the US Navy's shipbuilding and maintenance issues, which include critical industrial base problems and severely delayed projects, such as the Pentagon's priority submarines.

Phelan said one of his top priorities is to fix this shipbuilding issue, which is aligned with Trump's focus as well.

The White House did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the texts Phelan mentioned. The texts would be on brand for the president, who took a keen interest in the look of Navy warships in his first term.

In particular, he zeroed in on the new frigates and Ford-class carriers, calling some of the ship designs "terrible-looking" and "horrible."

The president's former defense secretary, Mark Esper, wrote previously that Trump would gripe about the first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, saying that the island "looks really bad." He also said Trump said US warships were "ugly" compared to Russian vessels.

In June 2020 near the end of his first term, Trump jokingly took credit for the look of the first of the Navy's guided missile frigate vessels.

"The ships that they were building, they look terrible," the president said, adding that when he looked at the design, he said, "That's a terrible-looking ship, let's make it beautiful." He said he eventually received a "beautiful model" of the frigate that he called "like a yacht with missiles on it."

Beyond the appearance of warships, Trump has also complained about ship engineering, most recently criticizing advanced systems on the Ford.

• A judge ruled that federal workers associated with the White House DOGE office can be subpoenaed in a current lawsuit.
• The lawsuit filed by AFL-CIO seeks information on how the DOGE office is handling sensitive data.
• US District Judge John Bates highlighted DOGE's "unclear" structure and authority as keys to the legal decision.

A federal judge on Thursday granted a motion to require federal workers tied to the the White House DOGE office to testify under oath.

The decision came in a lawsuit from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, one of the country's largest trade unions. The group sued the DOGE office and the Department of Labor on February 5 over access to sensitive personal data.

The ruling states that the four depositions are capped at "eight hours in the aggregate."

The lawsuit is one of more than 85 lawsuits challenging the scope of the DOGE office's authority.

AFL-CIO filed a motion for expedited discovery, citing limited information about the DOGE office's current operation. Washington, DC, District Judge John Bates wrote in the ruling that the DOGE office's "structure" and "scope of authority" are "not only unclear on the current record but also critical" to decide how the law applies to the agency.

Bates wrote that it would be "strange to permit defendants to submit evidence that addresses critical factual issues and proceed to rule on a preliminary injunction motion without permitting plaintiffs to explore those factual issues through very limited discovery."

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The Chiefs have informed Pro Bowl guard Trey Smith that he will use the franchise tag on him, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Thursday.

Myles Garrett is not open to a contract extension with the Cleveland Browns, a league source confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.

The Buccaneers are reinstating former Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden into the team's Ring of Honor after he was removed in 2021.

The Knicks could welcome back their key big man this weekend.

The Trump administration announced that it would invest $315.5 million for two reservoirs after freezing the funds last month.

She checked the security camera on her phone after a notification pinged her.

Lex Luger addresses the passing of Miss Elizabeth.

Attorney General Pam Bondi raised concerns about thousands of new documents related to Epstein investigations.

Kim Basinger shares her feelings about her ex-husband and his current wife.

Before the official release, binders labeled "The Epstein Files: Part I" were distributed to conservative political commentators.

A couple awaiting green card status was detained by federal agents in New Jersey earlier this week.

Ward says she's second-guessing her friendship with Friedle following the explosive episode

DiGiorno and Hidden Valley Ranch join forces to create Spicy Rancheroni Thin Crust Pizza and Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Crust Pizza

The actress' last bid on stage was in 2018's 'Celebrity Autobiography'

The acclaimed actor, who was found dead on Feb. 26 at age 95, was the author of several novels