President Donald Trump has been back in the Oval Office for a full six months as of Sunday, and is expected to keep a busy pace as he heads into his 27th week as commander-in-chief. 

‘Wow, time flies! Today is that Sixth Month Anniversary of my Second Term. Importantly, it’s being hailed as one of the most consequential periods of any President,’ Trump wrote on social media on Sunday. ‘In other words, we got a lot of good and great things done, including ending numerous wars of Countries not related to us other than through Trade and/or, in certain cases, friendship,’ he added on TRUTH Social. ‘Six months is not a long time to have totally revived a major Country.’ 

‘One year ago our Country was DEAD, with almost no hope of revival. Today the USA is the ‘hottest’ and most respected Country anywhere in the World. Happy Anniversary!!!’ 

Trump travels to Scotland

Ahead of Trump’s highly-anticipated trip to London in September, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the president will travel to Scotland on Friday to visit Turnberry and Aberdeen, which are homes to Trump golf courses. 

He will also meet again with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to continue ironing out the U.S.-UK trade deal. 

‘During the visit, President Trump will meet again with Prime Minister Starmer to refine the great trade deal that was brokered between the United States and the United Kingdom,’ Leavitt said during a Thursday press briefing. 

‘The president and the first lady will travel to the United Kingdom for an official state visit from September 17 to September 19 later this fall. This will mark a truly unprecedented second state visit for President Trump and he is honored and looking forward to meeting with His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle,’ Leavitt added, previewing the president’s highly-anticipated trip to London. 

The UK’s monarch typically does not invite a U.S. president for a second state visit if they are re-elected to office, opting for more intimate meetings such as tea or lunch, making Trump’s second state visit unprecedented. 

Scotland holds a special place in Trump’s life, as his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, was born and raised in Scotland before moving to Queens, New York. 

The Trump Organization purchased the historic golf resort and hotel at Turnberry in 2014, and the Aberdeen golf club in 2012, which is set to open new course next month. 

Trump traveled to the same golf courses in July 2018 under his first administration. 

Tariff negotiations continue 

A 90-day pause on tariffs was set to end July 9, after Trump first announced reciprocal tariffs on foreign nations in April. The administration announced earlier this month that foreign nations now face an Aug. 1 deadline or face higher tariffs. 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told the media on Sunday that the next two weeks will showcase Trump delivering on his vow to roll out trade deals favorable to the U.S. economy. 

‘The next two weeks are going to be weeks for the record books. President Trump is going to deliver for the American people,’ Lutnick said on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’

‘They’re going to love the deals that President Trump and I are doing. I mean, they’re just going to love them. You know, the president figured out the right answer, and sent letters to these countries, said this is going to fix the trade deficit. This will go a long way to fixing the trade deficit, and that’s gotten these countries to the table and they’re going to open their markets or they’re going to pay the tariff. And if they open their markets, the opportunity for Americans to export, to grow the business, farmers, ranchers, fishermen, this is going to be…’ he continued before remarking the next two weeks would be ones ‘for the record books.’

Epstein grand jury testimony release

Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi last week to release grand jury transcripts in the case of Jeffrey Epstein after a memo released earlier this month concluded that there is ‘no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals,‘ or kept a ‘client list’ of such individuals after years of Trump surrogates vowing to reveal the Epstein’s alleged secrets. 

Longtime conservatives and supporters of Trump subsequently slammed the memo, and sounded off on social media that Epstein won’t ‘go away.’

‘Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Testimony, subject to Court approval,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social late Thursday last week. ‘This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!’ 

It is unclear if Bondi could convince a judge to release the grand jury testimony, but the Department of Justice reported on Friday that it formally moved to unseal long-secret grand jury transcripts. 

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche submitted the motion in Manhattan federal court, urging a judge to release the transcripts from Epstein’s 2019 grand jury proceedings and those from the prosecution of Epstein’s convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, as part of a new transparency push by the department.

Epstein was a notorious predator who pleaded guilty to procuring underage girls for prostitution in 2008, before he was arrested in 2019 on new federal charges of sex trafficking minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. He was found dead in his New York City jail cell in 2019 of suicide, according to Trump officials. 

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report. 

Former President Joe Biden suspended his re-election bid one year ago Monday, in an unprecedented move that ended his more than 50-year career in politics and rocked the Democratic Party, with those on the left still reeling from the impact.

On July 21, 2024, days after President Donald Trump accepted the GOP nomination, Biden ended his re-election campaign amid mounting pressure from within his own party.

The unprecedented announcement came as an increasing number of Democrat lawmakers had started to publicly call for Biden to step aside, and the party’s leadership reportedly was engaged in efforts to convince Biden, then 81 years old, he could not win the November 2024 general election against Trump.

Doubts about Biden’s viability at the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket began seeping out into the mainstream after his halting delivery and awkward answers were placed on full display for a national audience during the June 2024 presidential debate with Trump in Atlanta.

The performance sparked widespread panic among Democrats and almost immediately spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers and some party donors for Biden to step aside as the party’s 2024 standard-bearer.

As Biden struggled to regain his footing, an increasing number of House Democrats publicly urged the president to end his re-election bid.

Biden huddled with worried Democrats, including governors and congressional leaders, in the wake of the debate debacle and was also engaged in ‘working the phones,’ according to campaign officials. 

Biden began the week of his withdrawal in a defiant posture, telling congressional Democrats he was committed to campaigning against and beating Trump. Biden also urged lawmakers to stop focusing on the debate and end the calls for his withdrawal — pleas that he said only helped Trump. 

Biden followed that up with a call with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and also gained the support of members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. 

However, concerns mounted and intensified. Democratic lawmakers met behind closed doors hoping to come to a consensus and support the president, but some were hesitant. 

The Biden campaign met with Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill and, for days, the White House, the Biden campaign and the president himself said Biden had no intention of dropping out of the race. 

Then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had told reporters that the president was ‘absolutely not’ considering dropping out.

Additionally, Quentin Fulks, the principal deputy Biden campaign manager, emphasized that ‘the president is in this race to win it. He is the Democratic nominee.’

On the day after the presidential debate, Biden acknowledged at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, ‘I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious.’

Upon suspending his campaign, Biden quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his spot at the top of the ticket. She received the party’s presidential nominee weeks later at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Months later, Trump defeated Harris in a stunning, landslide victory, sweeping all swing states and delivering him a win in not only the Electoral College, but the popular vote as well. 

The Democratic Party is still grappling with Biden’s withdrawal a year later, looking for a new standard-bearer, while the former president and his team fall under investigation by both the executive and legislative branches. 

In May, leaked audio from Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur showed the president struggling with key memories, including when his son Beau died, when he left the vice presidency, why he had classified documents he shouldn’t have had and more. 

The audio was leaked after more than a year of congressional lawmakers demanding its release amid questions about the former president’s memory lapses and mental acuity.

Meanwhile, the White House Counsel’s Office and the Justice Department are probing Biden’s use of the autopen and whether signatures were printed at his direction or at the discretion of his senior staff. 

An autopen is a machine that physically holds a pen and features programming to imitate a person’s signature. Unlike a stamp or a digitized print of a signature, the autopen has the capability to hold various types of pens, from a ballpoint to a permanent marker, according to descriptions of autopen machines available for purchase. 

Biden used the autopen to sign a slew of documents while in office. He also used the autopen to sign final pardons, including preemptive pardons for members of his family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley and members and staff of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots. He only signed one pardon by hand, for his son Hunter, after vowing to the American people for months he would not do so. 

In his final weeks in office, Biden granted clemency and pardoned more than 1,500 individuals, in what the White House described at the time as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president.

Over on Capitol Hill, the House Oversight Committee is probing a cover-up of Biden’s declining mental health, subpoenaing a number of former Biden officials for testimony and the Senate Subcomittee on Investigations is requesting NARA records relating to Biden’s declining mental and physical health. 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

After years of Republicans leading the push for government transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, the notoriously well-connected sex offender who died in jail in 2019, Democrats are now leading the charge to release the so-called ‘Epstein files.’

‘I’m glad they’re joining the party, but they should have been a little more transparent a year ago,’ Rep. Mark Messmer, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital.

Seizing on the Republicans’ demand for transparency about Epstein during former President Joe Biden’s administration, President Donald Trump campaigned in 2024 on releasing the ‘Epstein files’ and his allegedly incriminating ‘client list.’

But Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI released a memo this week concluding that Epstein died by suicide in his cell, there is no ‘client list,’ and the supposed ‘Epstein files’ are thousands of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography subject to court-ordered sealing.

The Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files has created a rift among the ‘MAGA’ wing of the Republican Party, who are demanding more transparency. 

‘We should expect transparency, no matter what administration is involved, if there was or wasn’t a client list, if there was or wasn’t video. I mean, we should expect transparency and full disclosure of whatever they are covering up,’ Messmer told Fox News Digital. 

Democrats have been quick to seize on the intraparty conflict. 

‘It’s pretty rich on their part,’ Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. ‘But again, if there is no new information, then that’s fine. Just have the Department of Justice come out and explain that and answer questions. And if there is something, but it’s not relevant, well, explain that also.’

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has reiterated that ‘all credible evidence should come out’ regarding Epstein and criticized Democrats who he said are politicizing the issue.

California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna tied a procedural vote on releasing all Epstein files to an unrelated crypto bill earlier this week, and Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, announced he would be filing a resolution on Monday to demand the Trump administration release all files related to the late pedophile’s case.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, including Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and progressives like Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas., are also seizing on Republican fractures over the Epstein case, demanding a public hearing on the issue. 

‘The Democrats will never give Donald Trump credit for anything,’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital.Where were the questions when Biden was in office?’

And Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, said Democrats’ newfound investment in transparency on Epstein ‘proves that all along it was just political.’

‘I respect a call for transparency,’ Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, added. ‘If it’s from a Democrat or a Republican, I totally respect that. I have no idea of anything on this front. And I hope to just know that people are being transparent and that things aren’t being done in any nefarious way or for any nefarious reason. I think a lot of it’s overblown.’

‘I put the Epstein matter in my don’t know, don’t care file,’ Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital.

Recent studies confirm what many clinicians, myself included, have quietly observed for years: Liberals — especially young liberals — are reporting worse mental health than their conservative peers. Statistician Nate Silver’s Substack recently spotlighted this disparity, and while many factors are at play, one explanation remains oddly absent from the national conversation: the psychological cost of cutting people off over politics. 

In my work as a clinical psychologist, I’ve watched this pattern unfold in real time. Some clients describe rising anxiety, loneliness and a growing sense of disconnection — but they don’t initially trace it back to politics. Only after reflection do they realize: they’ve quietly (or, in some cases quite loudly and proudly) distanced themselves from family, ended friendships, or withdrawn from romantic prospects — not because of mistreatment, but because of political disagreement. 

As I was researching for my upcoming book Can I Say That? Why Free Speech Matters and How to Use It Fearlessly, I noticed a striking pattern — what I now call ‘The Five Ds’: defriending, declining to date, disinviting, decreasing contact and outright dropping someone over political views. These behaviors are often framed as moral stands. But when practiced habitually, they can degrade the very relationships we rely on for emotional well-being. Research backs this up — liberals are statistically more likely than conservatives to engage in the Five Ds over political differences. 

The cost is real. The U.S. surgeon general has declared loneliness a public health crisis, linking it to depression, anxiety and even physical health problems. Social support is a powerful protective factor — it helps regulate emotions, buffer stress and reinforce a person’s sense of meaning and connection.  

As social creatures, humans rely on relationships to regulate stress. When those bonds are cut over politics — especially through the habitual use of the Five Ds — liberals may be isolating themselves in ways that make them more vulnerable to loneliness, anxiety and diminished emotional regulation. 

Some do this in the name of safety, seeing opposing views as threatening. But this is a dangerous shift. Conflating disagreement with danger undermines mental health and shrinks our capacity for dialogue. Even The New York Times recently published an essay titled ‘Is It Time to Stop Snubbing Your Right-Wing Family?’ in which former Obama speechwriter David Litt wrestles with whether to stay in contact with his conservative brother-in-law. To his credit, Litt expresses openness to reconnecting. But his tone is hesitant, not declarative.  

The piece reads less like someone awakening to the dangers of ideological cutoffs and more like someone reluctantly conceding a grudge. That this question — whether to maintain ties with family — was posed at all in a national newspaper shows how far the goalposts have shifted. Ostracizing loved ones over votes once seemed extreme. Now it’s mainstream content. 

This mindset of seeing opposing views as intolerable, or even threatening, isn’t just common — it’s increasingly celebrated, even when it harms us. The phrase ‘words are violence’ may feel righteous, but taken literally, it breeds anxiety and isolation. When we view differing viewpoints as threats, we push people away — not because we must, but because we’ve convinced ourselves we should. The result? We’re lonelier and more brittle than ever. 

None of this is to say that all relationships must be preserved. Boundaries are important. But ideological purging — done habitually and reflexively — is something different. It’s corrosive. Ironically, conservatives — often caricatured as emotionally rigid — may be faring better precisely because they are less likely to sever ties over politics. Their emotional well-being may benefit from tolerating disagreement and maintaining bonds across divides. 

As a psychologist, I don’t believe political ideology is destiny. But relational habits shape mental health. When we cut off those closest to us, even over serious disagreement, we deprive ourselves of a key buffer against emotional distress. What’s worse, we often do so under the illusion that the cutoff is virtuous. 

The solution is not to avoid politics. It’s to resist the reflex to cut and run. That begins with a simple mindset shift: disagreement isn’t danger, and tension doesn’t always mean toxicity. We can learn to talk through our differences — even when it’s hard. 

Mental health and free speech are more connected than people realize. If we want to feel less anxious, less isolated and more connected, we need to rethink the social costs of ideological purity. The Five Ds may feel righteous in the moment — but the long-term cost to our mental health may be far too high. 

Democrats have railed against potential Medicaid cuts since President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Now that his ‘big, beautiful bill’ has passed through Congress, they are making Medicaid a top talking point ahead of competitive midterm elections expected in 2026. 

Republicans, meanwhile, are doubling down on Medicaid reform included in Trump’s megabill, which also includes sweeping legislation on taxes, immigration and energy. 

‘My policy is if you’re an able-bodied worker, get a damn job,’ Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. ‘If you want government benefits, go to work and get a job.’

A provision in the megabill requires able-bodied, childless adults between the ages of 18 and 64 to work at least 80 hours a month to be eligible to receive Medicaid benefits. Individuals can also meet the requirement by ​​participating in community service, going to school or engaging in a work program.

Fox News Digital asked lawmakers on Capitol Hill if taxpayers should have to pay for Medicaid bills for able-bodied workers who are under 65 and unemployed. 

Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said in both Arkansas and Georgia, where work requirements have already been imposed, it ended up costing taxpayers more money to administer the work requirements. 

‘We’re talking about a very small population, and in the two cases where they tried it, it ended up, number one, disqualifying people who met all the requirements but gave up on the paperwork. These aren’t people that are used to filling out a lot of paperwork every month. And it also cost the state a lot to administer,’ King said. 

The New England Journal of Medicine found that Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirement from 2018 to 2019 ‘found no evidence of increased employment … and a significant loss of Medicaid coverage among low-income adults.’

Similarly, the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute (GBPI) reported that 80% of the $58 million spent in the first year of Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage program went toward administrative costs. 

But Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., emphasized that Republicans ‘want these programs to be around for the people who need them.’ She said Medicaid reform is about ‘strengthening and preserving these programs at the rate that they’re growing.’

‘These programs were intended to be safety nets, not hammocks that people stay in, and the success of these programs should be measured by how many people we get off of them,’ Britt said. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., agreed, telling Fox News Digital, ‘What you don’t want is for somebody to become dependent. I’d tell people: safety nets should bounce you to your feet. They shouldn’t be like flypaper in which you stick and can never get off.’

‘We’re not saying, ‘Hey, we’re not throwing you out.’ All right, but you gotta go get a job. You either get a job, or actually you can even volunteer, all right? And that will satisfy the requirements for work,’ Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., explained. 

But Democrats who spoke to Fox News Digital continued to push back against the work requirements included in the ‘big, beautiful bill.’ 

‘I think people [who] are able to work, trust me, they’d rather work than to get the piddling dollars that they get from Medicaid. It’s insulting to suggest that a person would rather sit at home rather than work and get this meager amount of money. All of this has just been totally expanded to fit a narrative that allows them to cut into those people who really deserve Medicaid,’ Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., said. 

And Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., said, ‘We need to be able to have an infrastructure in this country that supports the elderly and the sick and the widows and the child. This bill, it violates all those basic principles.’

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was ‘looking into’ a cloud computing program run by Microsoft utilizing foreign workers from China, which was criticized this week for potentially lacking adequate safeguards, which could provide the CCP easy access to classified defense data and systems.

A ProPublica report released Tuesday accused Microsoft of allowing China-based engineers to assist with Pentagon cloud systems with inadequate guardrails in an effort to scale up its government contracting business. 

In response, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter to Hegseth Thursday asking for information and documents about the program, including a list of all Department of Defense (DOD) contractors that hire Chinese personnel to provide maintenance or other services to DOD systems, a list of subcontractors that hire Microsoft’s American-born ‘digital escorts’ required to supervise foreign computer scientists while they work on DOD systems and documents on the training these supervisors receive to identify suspicious activity.   

‘In light of recent and concerning reports about Microsoft using engineers in China to maintain DOD systems, I’ve asked the Secretary of Defense to look into the matter,’ Cotton said in a post on X sharing his letter to Hegseth. ‘We must guard against all threats within our military’s supply chain.’

A few hours after Cotton’s X post, Hegseth responded, ‘Spot on senator.’

‘Agree fully,’ Hegseth said in his own X post responding to Cotton. ‘Our team is already looking into this ASAP. Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DOD systems.’

The ProPublica report cited current and former employees and government contractors who worked on a cloud computing program deployed by Microsoft in 2016, which involved a ‘digital escort’ framework. The program, meant to meet federal contracting regulations, used a system of ‘digital escort’ chaperones for global cybersecurity officials, such as those based in China, meant to create a security buffer so that they can work on agency computing systems. DOD guidelines require that people handling sensitive data be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

According to sources who spoke to ProPublica, including some who had intimate familiarity with the hiring process for the $18-per-hour ‘digital escort’ position, the tech employees being hired to do the supervising lacked the adequate tech expertise to prevent a rogue Chinese employee from hacking the system or turning over classified information to the CCP.

The sources elaborated that the escorts, often former military personnel, were hired for their security clearances more than their technical abilities and often lacked the skills to evaluate code being used by the engineers they were supervising.

In China, people are governed by sweeping laws compelling government cooperation with data collection efforts. 

‘If ProPublica’s report turns out to be true, Microsoft has created a national embarrassment that endangers our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Heads should roll, those responsible should go to prison and Congress should hold extensive investigations to uncover the full extent of potential compromise,’ said Michael Lucci. Lucci is the CEO and founder of State Armor Action, a conservative group with a mission to develop and enact state-level solutions to global security threats. 

‘Microsoft or any vendor providing China with access to Pentagon secrets verges on treasonous behavior and should be treated as such,’ Lucci added.

A Microsoft spokesperson defended the company’s ‘digital escort’ model Tuesday, saying all personnel and contractors with privileged access must pass federally approved background checks. 

‘For some technical requests, Microsoft engages our team of global subject-matter experts to provide support through authorized U.S. personnel, consistent with U.S. government requirements and processes,’ the spokesperson added. ‘In these instances, global support personnel have no direct access to customer data or customer systems.’

The Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) public information office was initially unaware of the program when ProPublica began asking questions about it, but it eventually followed up to point out that ‘digital escorts’ are used ‘in select unclassified environments’ at the Defense Department for ‘advanced problem diagnosis and resolution from industry subject-matter experts.’

In Cotton’s letter to Hegseth, the Republican senator requested answers to his questions by the end of the month. 

Microsoft did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on this article. 

A $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded children’s nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic has been described by FBI Director Kash Patel as ‘one of the worst’ in Minnesota history.

The FBI director told Fox News in a statement that 70 people in Minnesota have been indicted for their role in the sprawling ‘Feeding our Future’ fraud scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic, which exploited a federal program designed to reimburse states for the cost of feeding children. 

Conspirators falsely claimed to have served millions of meals during the pandemic, but instead used the money for personal gain. Of the individuals indicted, 38 have pleaded guilty, FBI officials told Fox News Digital. More than a dozen of the individuals are awaiting criminal trial, with the next trial beginning in August.

‘Stealing over $250 million from hungry kids during a pandemic to fund mansions and luxury cars is as shameless as it gets,’ FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. ‘I’m proud of the FBI and our partners for dismantling this web of corruption, holding dozens accountable, and sending a clear message: if you exploit the most vulnerable, we will find you and bring you to justice.’

Conspirators charged in the scheme are accused of fabricating invoices, submitting fake attendance records, and falsely distributing thousands of meals from hundreds of so-called food distribution ‘sites’ across the state — taking advantage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to waive, for the duration of the pandemic, many of its standard requirements for participation in the Federal Child Nutrition Program — including relaxing its requirement for non-school based distributors to participate in the program.

Charging documents show that roughly 300 ‘food sites’ in the state served little or no food, with the so-called ‘food vendors’ and organizations fabricated to launder money intended to reimburse the cost of feeding children.

FBI officials told Fox News that the investigation and resulting trials and indictments continue to impact the state, and have already touched off legislative reform in Minnesota.

They added that the investigation into the fraud remains ongoing, and that additional charges are expected, though they did not immediately share more details.

The next trial in the state is scheduled to begin on August 11.

‘Stealing from the federal government equates to stealing from the American people — there is no simpler truth,’ FBI’s special agent in charge, Alvin Winston, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

‘The egregious fraud unveiled in the Feeding our Future case epitomizes a profound betrayal of public trust. These individuals misappropriated hundreds of millions in federal funds intended to nourish vulnerable children during a time of crisis, redirecting those resources into luxury homes, high-end vehicles, and extravagant lifestyles while families faced hardship,’ he added. 

‘We will uncover their schemes, dismantle their networks, and ensure that they are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,’ he said. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Friday it plans to reduce its workforce by 23% and close its research and development office. 

The loss of more than 3,000 employees comes after layoffs and incentives to leave the agency amid the Trump administration’s broad effort to streamline the federal government. 

‘Under President Trump’s leadership, EPA has taken a close look at our operations to ensure the agency is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback,’ EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. 

‘This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars.’

The EPA said the cuts will save the government $748.8 million.

As part of the restructuring, the EPA said it plans to open a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions to replace the Office of Research and Development, saying the new office would allow it to focus on research ‘more than ever before.’

This comes a week after the Supreme Court issued a ruling clearing the way for the administration to conduct mass layoffs.

Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents thousands of EPA employees, called the research and development office the ‘heart and brain of the EPA.’ 

‘Without it, we don’t have the means to assess impacts upon human health and the environment,” Chen said. ‘Its destruction will devastate public health in our country.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to the EPA for comment. 

This announcement also comes two weeks after 139 employees signed a ‘declaration of dissent’ claiming the Trump administration was hurting the agency’s mission. 

The administration claimed the employees were ‘unlawfully undermining’ the president’s agenda. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Microsoft said it will cease using China-based computer engineering teams for work on Pentagon cloud systems and other classified systems after an investigation this week led to national security concerns at the highest levels over a program that Microsoft has used since 2016.

A ProPublica report released Tuesday accused Microsoft of allowing China-based engineers to assist with Pentagon cloud systems with inadequate guardrails in an effort to scale up its government contracting business. 

The report got the attention of GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisting Friday that foreign engineers from ‘any country … should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DOD systems.’ He added that the Defense Department would be ‘looking into this ASAP.’

After Hegseth’s indication that the Pentagon would be looking into the matter, Fox News Digital reached out to Microsoft, which responded that it would be ceasing its use of China-based computer engineers providing assistance to sensitive Defense Department cloud ‘and related’ services.

‘In response to concerns raised earlier this week about U.S.-supervised foreign engineers, Microsoft has made changes to our support for U.S. government customers to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance for DOD government cloud and related services,’ Frank Shaw, chief communications officer at Microsoft, said.

‘We remain committed to providing the most secure services possible to the U.S. government, including working with our national security partners to evaluate and adjust our security protocols as needed.’

The ProPublica report released earlier this week, which spurred Microsoft’s action, cited current and former employees and government contractors who worked on a cloud computing program deployed by Microsoft in 2016. The program, meant to meet federal contracting regulations, used a system of ‘digital escort’ chaperones for global cybersecurity officials, such as those based in China, meant to create a security buffer so that they can work on agency computing systems. DOD guidelines require that people handling sensitive data be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

According to sources who spoke to ProPublica, including some who had intimate familiarity with the hiring process for the $18-per-hour ‘digital escort’ positions, the tech employees being hired to do the supervising lacked the adequate tech expertise to prevent a rogue Chinese employee from hacking the system or turning over classified information to the CCP.

The sources elaborated that the escorts, often former military personnel, were hired for their security clearances more than their technical abilities and often lacked the skills to evaluate code being used by the engineers they were supervising.

Microsoft used its escort system to handle sensitive government information that falls below ‘classified,’ the ProPublica report indicated. That includes ‘data that involves the protection of life and financial ruin.’ At the Defense Department, the data is categorized as ‘Impact Level’ four and five, which ProPublica reported includes materials directly supporting military operations.

People in China are governed by sweeping laws compelling government cooperation with data collection efforts.

Before Microsoft’s announcement Friday that it would be ceasing its use of China-based engineers for sensitive Defense Department programs, the company defended its ‘digital escort’ program, noting all personnel and contractors with privileged access must pass federally approved background checks. The company also pointed to a response from the Defense Information Systems Agency, which said that ‘digital escorts’ are used ‘in select unclassified environments.’     

‘For some technical requests, Microsoft engages our team of global subject-matter experts to provide support through authorized U.S. personnel, consistent with U.S. government requirements and processes,’ a company spokesperson told Fox News Digital Tuesday. ‘In these instances, global support personnel have no direct access to customer data or customer systems.’

The spokesperson added at the time that Microsoft adheres to the federal security requirements outlined by the Defense Department and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program established in 2011 to address the risks associated with moving from entirely government-controlled servers to cloud-based computing.

‘We establish layers of mitigation at the platform level with security and monitoring controls to detect and prevent threats. This includes approval workflows for system changes and automated code reviews to quickly detect and prevent the introduction of vulnerabilities,’ the spokesperson said. ‘This production system support model is approved and regularly audited by the U.S. government.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Pentagon to inquire whether Microsoft’s action changes its planned investigation but did not receive a response by publication time.