Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso is ready to go nuclear on Senate Democrats and their blockade of President Donald Trump’s nominees.

Before leaving Washington, D.C., to their respective home states, Senate Republicans were on the verge of a deal with their colleagues across the aisle to hammer out a deal to ram through dozens of Trump’s picks for non-controversial positions.

But those talks fell apart when Trump nuked any further negotiations over funding demands from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Currently, there are 145 pending nominations on the Senate’s executive calendar, with that number expected to balloon when the upper chamber reopens for business.

Lawmakers are set to return on Tuesday, and Barrasso, R-Wyo., wants to immediately tackle the nomination quandary. He’s engaged in a public pressure campaign, writing an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal directly calling out Schumer.

Meanwhile, he’s facilitated talks among Senate Republicans on the best path forward, and told Fox News Digital in an interview that, at this point, he’s willing to do anything necessary to see the president’s picks confirmed.

‘We need to either get a lot of cooperation from the Democrats, or we’re going to have to roll over them with changes of the rules that we’re going to be able to do in a unilateral way, as well as President Trump making recess appointments,’ he said.

Senate Democrats, under Schumer’s direction, are unlikely to play ball, however.

Schumer, in response to Barrasso’s public jab against him and Senate Democrats, contended in a statement that ‘historically bad nominees deserve a historic level of scrutiny by Senate Democrats.’

‘Anybody nominated by President Trump is, in Schumer’s words, ‘historically bad.’ Why? Because they were nominated by President Trump,’ Barrasso shot back. ‘That is his sole criteria for which these people are being gone after and filibustered, each and every one of them, even those that are coming out of committee, many, many of whom are with bipartisan support.’

Unilaterally changing the rules, or the nuclear option, would allow Republicans to make tweaks to the confirmation process without help from Democrats, but it could also kneecap further negotiations on key items that would require their support to advance beyond the Senate filibuster.

Barrasso was not worried about taking that route, however, and noted that the nominees that he and other Republicans were specifically considering would be ‘sub-Cabinet level positions’ and ambassadors.

Up for discussion are changes to the debate time, what kind of nominee could qualify for a speedier process and whether to give the president runway to make recess appointments, which would require the Senate to go into recess and allow Trump to make appointments on a temporary basis.

‘When you take a look at this right now, it takes a 30-minute roll-call vote to get on cloture, and then two hours of debate time, and then another 30-minute roll-call vote,’ Barrasso said. ‘Well, that’s three hours, and it’s time when you can’t do legislation, you can’t do any of the other things.’

But there is a menu of key items that Congress will have to deal with when they return, particularly the deadline to fund the government by Sept. 30.

Barrasso acknowledged that reality, and noted that it was because of the hefty schedule that he wanted a rules change to be put front and center.

‘There’s not going to be any time to — or there’s going to be limited time, I should say, to actually get people through the nominations process, which is just going to drag on further, and you’ll have more people having hearings and coming out of committees,’ he said.  

‘This backlog is going to worsen this traffic jam at the Schumer toll booth. So, we are going to do something, because this cannot stand.’

Demetre Daskalakis, an official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), resigned this week, claiming the Trump administration’s policies ignore science. However, his own leadership during the Biden-era monkeypox response was criticized for putting optics over public health.

Amid the Trump administration’s efforts to push out CDC Director Susan Monarez, a handful of other top CDC officials, including Daskalakis, resigned in protest of the Trump administration’s policies. Daskalakis wrote in his resignation letter that was posted to social media that the health policies put forward by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy do not ‘reflect scientific reality.’ He also accused the Trump administration of attempting to ‘erase transgender populations,’ while also using the term ‘pregnant people’ to describe women who are about to give birth.

But flashback to 2022 and 2023, after the monkeypox virus had spread across several countries and made its way into the U.S., during which Daskalakis was among the Biden administration’s top advisers who spearheaded the national response to the disease outbreak. 

Government communications from that time period, uncovered by watchdog group the Oversight Project, show that officials were aware that the disease was spreading among the gay community. However, those communications, and other records, show the administration appeared to be more concerned with protecting the stigma targeting the gay community, than they were with implementing measures that would provide the best mitigation response.

‘A common theme was public health officials identifying locations where outbreaks occurred, to include bathhouses and saunas,’ according to the Oversight Project. ‘Officials never broached consideration of shutting down these locations. This draws a stark contrast to the public health guidance and shutdowns of gathering places during COVID, to include gyms and skate parks.’

In 2023, after the monkeypox outbreak had taken hold in the U.S., Daskalakis went on national television to let the country know that his team was ‘making sure [they] got the word out in a way that supports people’s joy, as opposed to calling them risky.’

‘You know, one person’s idea of risk, is another person’s idea of a great festival or Friday night, for that matter. So, we have to sort of embrace that with joy and make sure that folks know how to keep themselves safe,’ the Biden monkeypox coordinator added.

 

Meanwhile, during the outbreak, Daskalkis posted a tweet from gay sex app Grindr that stated ‘Dr. Daskalakis could jab me any day,’ with a sticker of a flattered cat.

In other social media posts from around the same time, Daskalkis can be seen using male models wearing leather bondage straps to make an entrance at an HIV prevention summit. 

While in his role at the White House leading the monkeypox response, Daskalkis also reportedly ran an STD screening operation from an after-hours sex club in New York City. When asked about the operation in an interview, Daskalakis described it as ‘exciting’ and added there was ‘not much sleep time.’ Later in the interview, he added: ‘I’d already kind of been the bathhouse HIV testing doctor.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Daskalakis about the juxtaposition between his criticism of Kennedy’s policies not reflecting ‘scientific reality,’ and his role in the Biden administration’s approach to monkeypox, but did not receive an immediate response.

Europe’s powerhouse trio, the U.K., France, and Germany (E3), on Thursday initiated the process to reimpose sweeping sanctions against Iran over its ‘significant non-compliance’ with international nuclear agreements. 

At 9 am EST, they submitted a letter to the president of the United Nations Security Council, Panama’s Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba, notifying him of their intent to trigger the snapback sanctions mechanism enshrined under the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The action comes after months of warnings from European leaders, and years of calls from the U.S. dating back to the first Trump administration in 2018, flagging that Tehran was in violation of nuclear agreements made under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – though Iran’s record of non-compliance did not initiate until 2019 per findings by international nuclear watchdogs. 

According to a U.K. official on Thursday, the decision to enforce snapback sanctions, which is expected to have severe consequences for Iran’s already flagging economy, was not a decision that was made ‘lightly.’

The official confirmed that there has been ‘very intense diplomacy’ over the last ’12-months, 6-months, 6-weeks’ that ultimately led to this decision – including three major factors like Tehran’s uranium stockpile levels, its operating of advanced centrifuges and its refusal to adhere to international inspection regulations – all of which are dictated under the JCPOA.

The official confirmed that in May Iran was found to have roughly 20,000 lbs of enriched uranium, including 900 lbs of near-weapons grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) – which is 45 times higher than the JCPOA limit of under 660 lbs of enriched uranium.

‘Iran is the only non-nuclear weapons state producing highly enriched uranium,’ the official said, adding that those stockpiles remain unaccounted for. 

Thursday’s actions mean that by the end of the 30-day period all 15 members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which includes Russia and China, could be legally bound to reimpose sanctions on Iran. 

But in speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there is ‘still time’ for Iran to prevent the sanctions from taking hold. 

‘Iran will have to comply,’ IAEA Director General Raffael Grossi said. ‘I think there is a possibility. I’m not naively optimistic, but at the same time, there is no reason why we should not [have] a good outcome.’

The E3 and the U.S. have made clear there are specific steps that Tehran needs to do in order to avoid snapback sanctions, including giving the IAEA full access to all Iranian nuclear sites, direct negotiations with Washington, and accounting for roughly 900 lbs of highly enriched uranium (HEU).

But Grossi also noted that it would be ‘almost impossible’ for Iran to get to a point of compliance with the JCPOA due to too many technical advances. 

Questions over the location of the HEU, which is estimated to be enough to make 10 nuclear warheads, mounted after the U.S. levied direct strikes at Iran’s nuclear program in June. Reports suggested that in the days leading up to the strikes, Iran may have moved and hidden some of its uranium based on satellite imagery that showed convoys leaving the Fordow and Isfahan nuclear sites.

But on Wednesday, Grossi countered these concerns and said the IAEA had no evidence that the uranium has been moved to a secret location. 

Though the stockpile of HEU is still not officially accounted for as the IAEA has not been granted access to Iran’s top nuclear sites – though Grossi said he anticipated that access to come shortly as inspectors on Wednesday visited the Bushehr nuclear power plant after being re-granted access in Iran. 

When asked by reporters whether Iran was taking immediate action to begin meeting the E3 demands and avoid sanctions, Grossi said, ‘point blank…no.’

‘Our work hasn’t started. We are not yet where I would like us to be – I will not hide this,’ he said. ‘But at the same time I am a diplomat, I am always working towards peace.’

Iran has threatened to retaliate if the sanctions are implemented, though how it will do so remains unclear.

Tehran in recent years has strengthened ties with powerful allies like Russia and China, who have rejected calls for snapback sanctions.

But even though Russia and China sit on the U.N. Security Council with veto powers, they will not be able to unilaterally stop the sanctions from going through.

In an unprecedented move in 2015, the sanctions mechanism was written in a way that reversed standard council procedure, which would traditionally require all five permanent members to approve of any action, meaning that just one veto could block the action.

In the case of snapback sanctions on Iran, every permanent member, which includes the U.S., France, U.K., China and Russia, must veto the push to reimpose sanctions.

This means that, despite opposition from Russia and China, they cannot block the sanctions, as they have increasingly done when it comes to other security council actions in recent years – leading to what some have argued is a paralyzed state in the U.N.’s highest body.

Newly declassified documents have stated that former President Barack Obama was present for key meetings with his top intelligence and national security officials that led to critical steps in the opening of the Trump–Russia investigation.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe have declassified new documents related to the origins of the original Trump–Russia probe at the FBI — known inside the bureau as ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’

Trump has accused Obama of being the ‘ringleader’ of the Russiagate narrative — an allegation vehemently denied by the former president.

‘Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,’ Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said in a July statement. ‘But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.’ 

‘These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,’ Obama’s spokesman continued. ‘Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.’ 

He added: ‘These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.’

Here’s a look at the known key meetings the former president attended and was reportedly made aware of: 

Aug. 3, 2016

On Aug. 3, 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan reportedly briefed then-President Obama on intelligence that then-Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton allegedly was stirring up a plan to tie Trump to Russia.

Then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also were reportedly present for the briefing.

Brennan’s notes from that briefing were declassified in 2020 by John Ratcliffe, who, at the time, was serving as director of National Intelligence. Ratcliffe is now the director of the CIA. 

Fox News Digital, at the time, exclusively reported on those notes.

‘We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from (REDACTED),’ Brennan notes read. ‘CITE (summarizing) alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.’ 

The notes state ‘on 28 of July.’ In the margin, Brennan writes ‘POTUS,’ but that section of the notes is redacted.

‘Any evidence of collaboration between Trump campaign + Russia,’ the notes read.

The remainder of the notes are redacted, except in the margins, which reads:  ‘JC,’ ‘Denis,’ and ‘Susan.’

The notes don’t spell out the full names but ‘JC’ could be referring to then-FBI Director James Comey or former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. ‘Susan’ could refer to National Security Adviser Susan Rice. And ‘Denis’ could possibly refer to then-Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough.

The meeting came just days after the FBI, July 31, 2016, opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 campaign. It was opened by then-Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Peter Strzok.

Days after that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to Comey and Strzok, with the subject line: ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated: ‘The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate.’

‘Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date,’ the memo continued. ‘An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.’

But days before the Aug. 3, 2016, briefing, and before the July 31, 2016, opening of the Crossfire Hurricane probe, foreign sources allegedly connected to left-wing billionaire George Soros were emailing about the FBI opening a probe into the salacious Trump–Russia narrative. 

That information came from emails dated July 25, 2016, to July 27, 2016, contained in the newly declassified appendix of Special Counsel John Durham’s report.

The appendix reveals that the foreign sources were allegedly tied to George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

The appendix said that Russian government actors in 2016 reportedly hacked emails from the Open Society Foundations, formerly known as the Soros Foundation.

‘Two of the apparently hacked emails appear to have originated from the Open Society Foundations,’ the appendix states, noting that the purported author of these emails was Leonard Benardo, who was the regional director for Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations.

‘During the first stage of the campaign, due to lack of direct evidence, it was decided to disseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated…technical structures… in particular, the Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect companies, from where the information would then be disseminated through leading U.S. publications,’ Benardo reportedly wrote in an email, per the appendix. 

‘The media analysis on the DNC hacking appears solid …. Julie (Clinton Campaign Advisor) says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post-convention bounce,’ Benardo allegedly wrote, per the appendix. ‘Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.’

Another email reportedly from Benardo on July 27, 2016, states: ‘HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton) approved Julie’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections.’

‘This should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level,’ Benardo reportedly continued, per the annex. ‘The point is making the Russian play a U.S. domestic issue. Say something like a critical infrastructure threat for the election to feel manic since both POTUS and VPOTUS have acknowledge the fact IC would speed up searching for evidence that is regrettably still unavailable.’ 

Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s Trump–Russia investigation, was opened just several days later, on July 31, 2016. And Brennan briefed Obama just days after that.

It is unclear if the Benardo emails were part of the Aug. 3, 2016, briefing.

Nov. 10, 2016

Then-President Obama invited then-President-elect Donald Trump to the White House just two days after the 2016 presidential election.

During that meeting, Obama warned Trump against hiring Michael Flynn to serve as his White House national security adviser. 

Flynn, a critic of the Obama administration, had been fired as head of military intelligence by Obama in 2014.

Trump tapped Flynn for the post anyway, but Flynn resigned less than a month into his tenure after reports that he had misled then-Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.

Flynn ended up being a key figure in the early days of Russiagate.

As part of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements in his FBI interview regarding his talks with Kislyak. Flynn was charged with lying to federal investigators about whether he had talked to Kislyak about limiting the Russian government’s response to Obama’s sanctions for election meddling.

His plea deal involved his full cooperation with investigators in the special counsel’s office.

But FBI agents did not actually believe that Flynn intentionally lied about his talks with Kislyak.

In 2020, the Justice Department dropped its case against Flynn, shortly after internal memos were released that raised serious questions about the nature of the investigation that led to the guilty plea for lying to the FBI. 

Those documents showed how agents discussed their motivations for interviewing him in the Russia probe — questioning whether they wanted to ‘get him to lie’ so he’d be fired or prosecuted, or get him to admit wrongdoing. Flynn allies howled over the revelations, arguing that he was essentially set up in a perjury trap.

Declassified notes showed agents considered various options in the run-up to their fateful January 2017 interview with Flynn, including getting Flynn ‘to admit to breaking the Logan Act’ when he spoke to Kislyak during the presidential transition period.

‘What is our goal?’ one of the notes read. ‘Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?’

Another note read, ‘If we get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act, give facts to DOJ + have them decide.’ 

The memo appeared to weigh the pros and cons of pursuing those different paths, while cautioning: ‘If we’re seen as playing games, WH (White House) will be furious.’

Flynn’s communications with Kislyak in December 2016 had been picked up in wiretapped discussions, apparently unbeknownst to him. The FBI agents in January 2017 questioned him on the communications and later used his answers to form the basis for the false-statement charge and his guilty plea.

Flynn had moved to withdraw his guilty plea for lying to the FBI in the Russia probe, citing ‘bad faith’ by the government. That court filing came just days after the Justice Department reversed course to recommend up to six months of prison time in his case, alleging he was not fully cooperating or accepting responsibility for his actions.

The case had been plodding through the court system with no resolution ever since his original plea, even amid speculation about whether Trump himself could extend a pardon.

Trump, in May 2020, said Flynn was a target of the Obama administration and called the investigation into his former national security adviser treasonous.

‘They’re human scum,’ Trump said. ‘It’s treason.’

Dec. 9, 2016

Current Director of National Intelligence Gabbard recently declassified documents claiming that the Obama administration ‘manufactured and politicized intelligence’ to allegedly create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, despite information from the intelligence community stating otherwise.

Documents revealed that in the months leading up to the November 2016 election, the intelligence community consistently assessed that Russia was ‘probably not trying…to influence the election by using cyber means.’

One instance was Dec. 7, 2016, weeks after the election. 

Then-Director of National Intelligence Clapper’s talking points stated: ‘Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the U.S. presidential election outcome.’

Fox News Digital obtained a declassified copy of the Presidential Daily Brief, which was prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, with reporting from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, FBI, National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, State Department and open sources, for Obama, dated Dec. 8, 2016.

‘We assess that Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure,’ the Presidential Daily Brief stated. ‘Russian Government-affiliated actors most likely compromised an Illinois voter registration database and unsuccessfully attempted the same in other states.’

But the brief stated that it was ‘highly unlikely’ the effort ‘would have resulted in altering any state’s official vote result.’

‘Criminal activity also failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes,’ it stated. 

The brief noted that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed that any Russian activities ‘probably were intended to cause psychological effects, such as undermining the credibility of the election process and candidates.’ 

The brief stated that cyber criminals ‘tried to steal data and to interrupt election processes by targeting election infrastructure, but these actions did not achieve a notable disruptive effect.’

Fox News Digital obtained declassified, but redacted, communications from the FBI on the Presidential Daily Brief, stating that it ‘should not go forward until the FBI’ had shared its ‘concerns.’

Those communications revealed that the FBI allegedly drafted a ‘dissent’ to the original Presidential Daily Brief. 

The communications revealed that the brief was expected to be published Dec. 9, 2016, the following day, but later communications revealed that Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ‘based on some new guidance,’ decided to ‘push back publication’ of the Presidential Daily Brief. 

‘It will not run tomorrow and is not likely to run until next week,’ wrote the deputy director of the Presidential Daily Brief at Office of the Director of National Intelligence, whose name is redacted. 

The following day, Dec. 9, 2016, a meeting convened in the White House Situation Room, with the subject line starting: ‘Summary of Conclusions for PC Meeting on a Sensitive Topic (REDACTED.)’

The meeting included top officials in the National Security Council, Clapper, Brennan, Rice, then-Secretary of State John Kerry, Lynch, then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others, to discuss Russia.

The declassified meeting record, obtained by Fox News Digital, revealed that principals ‘agreed to recommend sanctioning of certain members of the Russian military intelligence and foreign intelligence chains of command responsible for cyber operations as a response to cyber activity that attempted to influence or interfere with U.S. elections, if such activity meets the requirements’ from an executive order that demanded the blocking of property belonging to people engaged in cyber activities.

After the meeting, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Clapper’s executive assistant reportedly emailed intelligence community leaders tasking them to create a new intelligence community assessment ‘per the president’s request,’ that detailed the ‘tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.’

‘ODNI will lead this effort with participation from CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS,’ the record states.

Later, Obama officials allegedly ‘leaked false statements to media outlets’ claiming that ‘Russia has attempted through cyber means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election.’

By Jan. 6, 2017, a new Intelligence Community Assessment was released that, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ‘directly contradicted the IC assessments that were made throughout the previous six months.’ 

Jan. 5, 2017

Then-President Obama held an Oval Office meeting Jan. 5, 2017, with then-FBI Director James Comey, then-National Security Adviser Susan Rice, then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and then-Vice President Joe Biden.

During that meeting, Comey reportedly suggested to Obama that the National Security Council might not want to pass ‘sensitive information related to Russia’ to then-incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

On Jan. 20, 2017, the day Trump was first inaugurated, Rice sent herself an email documenting the Jan. 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting. That email was declassified by former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell in 2020.

During that meeting, Comey provided guidance on how law enforcement needed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race.

Comey reportedly told Obama he was proceeding with the Trump–Russia probe ‘by the book,’ and went on to discuss concerns about Flynn’s known conversation with Kilsyak.

Rice, in her email to self, wrote: ‘From a national security perspective, Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador (Sergey) Kislyak. Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing sensitive information. President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn.’

Rice then wrote, ‘Comey replied, ‘potentially.’ He added that he has no indication thus far that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that ‘the level of communication is unusual.’’

When the email was declassified in 2020, a representative for Rice told Fox News Digital that ‘no discussion of law enforcement matters or investigations took place, despite accusations to the contrary.’ 

The spokeswoman also insisted the Obama administration did not change the way it briefed Flynn, saying Rice briefed Flynn for more than 12 hours on four separate occasions during the transition.

‘Ambassador Rice did not alter the way she briefed Michael Flynn on Russia as a result of Director Comey’s response,’ Rice representative Erin Pelton said.

‘President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘by the book,” Rice emailed to herself. ‘The president stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.’

The email also appeared to reflect Obama’s guidance on sharing sensitive information with both the Russians and the incoming Trump administration.

Rice wrote that Obama said, ‘He wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.’

Rice wrote: ‘The president asked Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said he would.’

Foxit, a major PDF software company founded in China, removed any mention of its various U.S. government customers from its website after Fox News Digital began asking questions about its government ties and Chinese connections.

The company develops PDF software for reading, editing and signing documents, with customers ranging from businesses to U.S. agencies. Foxit was founded in 2001 in Fuzhou, China, by Eugene Xiong. Its parent company — Fujian Foxit Software Development Joint Stock Co., Ltd. — is traded on the Shanghai stock market and oversees a U.S. subsidiary based in Fremont, Calif.

Until Fox News Digital began pressing Foxit on its background, the company’s website touted clients across the federal government — from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and State Department to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. courts and the Department of Transportation.

But following Fox News Digital’s request for comment, Foxit scrubbed any mention of U.S. government customers from its site. The company did not respond to questions.

Over the course of reporting, multiple agencies confirmed they had either removed Foxit products or no longer maintained active contracts with Foxit’s U.S. subsidiary. 

An MDA spokesperson said Foxit had been used on an isolated network ‘not connected to any operational missile defense system’ but is ‘no longer in any MDA system.’ The spokesperson did not say when Foxit had been removed from its systems but added that the team behind the initial decision to use the software is no longer with the agency, and that an updated review of all software is underway. 

A State Department source said small Foxit contracts had existed in the past but were terminated, though did not clarify when.

Before the website purge, Foxit even published ‘case studies’ on work with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the FDA. A DHS source, however, told Fox News Digital that Foxit is now ‘specifically identified and listed on our prohibited software list.’

The FDA handles trade secrets, sensitive clinical trial data and even biodefense-related health information. The agency did not return a request for comment on whether it is still using Foxit. 

The Department of Justice likewise confirmed Foxit was removed from its networks last year after a security review.

Other agencies, including the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the National Institutes of Health, acknowledged receiving questions from Fox News Digital but did not confirm current usage.

Foxit is difficult to track in publicly available records: government purchases may be logged under distributors, integrators or resellers rather than the company itself.

Fox News Digital identified dozens of solicitation requests — documents federal agencies issue when seeking bids for goods and services — that specifically mentioned Foxit software, from the Army, Navy, NIH, NASA, the Defense Department and the General Services Administration. Which of those turned into finalized contracts is unclear.

One known Foxit contract with OSD expired in 2023.

On its U.S. website, Foxit emphasizes its California headquarters and ‘global’ reach, without mention of its Chinese listing. On its Chinese-language site, however, Foxit highlights clients such as the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Intellectual Property Office, and the National Standards Committee. In 2023, it announced a partnership with China Media Group, which operates under the Chinese Communist Party’s Publicity Department.

Its Chinese website lists offices in Fuzhou, Beijing, Nanjing and Hefei. 

U.S. agencies typically contract through the California-based Foxit Software Inc., not the Chinese parent, allowing Foxit to present itself as a U.S.-based company. Still, Foxit’s parent company remains subject to Chinese law — including the 2017 National Intelligence Law, which compels companies to assist Chinese intelligence if requested. 

One analyst questioned whether the corporate separateness could fully insulate the U.S. subsidiary from the interests of the Chinese parent. 

‘It sounds especially similar to the TikTok argument. We’re doing everything here, all the data is located here, we have TikTok USA. We’re a Singaporean company, we have no relations with the Chinese mainland – outside of our corporate structure, which is almost wholly owned by a Chinese based company,’ said Joel Thayer, a Washington-based tech and telecommunications attorney.

‘Chinese companies are masters of concealing their intentions through corporate filings and corporate infrastructure,’ he said.

Foxit counts Idax.ai as its subsidiary, a company specifically tailored to redact sensitive documents. ‘The company’s AI-powered solutions are aimed at professionals across various industries, including healthcare, finance, real estate, law, and government,’ according to a branded content release in NY Weekly.

Fox News Digital could not determine whether Idax has been used by government agencies.

Foxit claims to have 750 million users and over 425,000 clients around the world, with business centers not just in the U.S. and China but Japan, Europe and Australia, with plans to expand into Russia, Brazil and India. 

 Critics warn that even seemingly routine data could be of intelligence value.

‘Even if Foxit isn’t being used for secret documents, the information the company could potentially glean would be invaluable to the CCP,’ said Thayer. 

‘You are basically banking on it that the platform isn’t behind the veil, collecting an immense amount of data about what contracts and services are being provided to our government,’ he said.

Foxit originally positioned itself as a cheaper alternative to Adobe Acrobat. But China tech watchers warn the discount may come with hidden risks.

‘That’s invaluable information for any of our adversaries – how much money a contract is worth, what services are being rendered, what technologies are they looking at, what are they hiring people to do, what the government is looking into… competitors would kill for that information,’ Thayer said. 

The nominee President Donald Trump tapped to serve as ambassador to a United Nations office charged with overseeing global aviation standards has a checkered tax history and background donating to Democrats and political opponents of the president, a Fox News Digital review of the nominee’s public records found. 

The White House and Trump allies, however, have doubled down in support of the nominee, saying he will assist the administration in ‘ushering in the Golden Age of aviation.’ 

Jeffrey Anderson was tapped to lead the International Civil Aviation Organization in July, when the White House published a list of nominations to fill various roles, from the International Civil Aviation Organization ambassadorship to director of the Mint to membership with the National Labor Relations Board. Anderson is a U.S. Navy veteran who worked as a commercial airline captain for more than 34 years, retiring from that role earlier in 2025, according to his LinkedIn. 

The International Civil Aviation Organization is a U.N. office based in Montreal that is charged with overseeing international aviation standards, including issues related to safety, navigation and environmental protection. The role had sat vacant for the past three years, when the former ambassador, pilot Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, stepped down in 2022. 

Sullenberger gained widespread applause in 2009, when the US Airways pilot landed Flight 1549 on the Hudson River after a bird strike disabled both engines — an event known as the ‘Miracle on the Hudson.’

Anderson is a former Delta Air Lines pilot whose nomination drew ire from the Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents nearly 80,000 pilots across the U.S. and Canada, arguing his ‘only’ qualification was supporting an effort to raise the mandatory pilot retirement age. 

The union opposes increasing the mandatory retirement from 65 years of age to 67, arguing it ‘would leave the United States as an outlier in the global aviation space and create chaos on pilot labor, and international and domestic flight operations,’ the group’s statement in July read.

Fox News Digital took a look back at Anderson’s political campaign contributions and found he donated to a handful of Democratic candidates often hostile to Trump and his policies. 

He also made a handful of small dollar donations to Republican Nikki Haley during the 2024 campaign cycle, when the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. ran against Trump, whom she slammed as ‘unhinged’ while on the campaign trail before dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump as the GOP nominee for president. 

Anderson contributed at least $200 to Haley during the month of February 2024, when Haley and Trump were the only GOP candidates left in the primary race, according to four small dollar donations recorded by the Federal Election Commission. 

The former pilot also donated to Shawn Harris, the former Democratic opponent who tried to unseat Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in the 2024 cycle. The $100 donation was made in September 2024 through ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s massive fundraising arm, and earmarked for the Democratic candidate who ultimately failed to oust Greene. 

Harris’ campaign included slamming Trump and characterizing him as a politician who acts as a ‘king’ and threatens democracy. 

Anderson’s political donations to Democrats stretch back years, including in 2017 when he donated to Democrats, such as former House candidate Dan Ward in Virginia and former Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon — both of whom received $250 contributions from Anderson that year, according to election records. 

Both Democrats had slammed Trump and his policies across his first administration, including DeFazio declaring after the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol that: ‘Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy, national security and the safety of all Americans. He must be removed from office immediately.’ 

The former Delta pilot has also landed in hot water over unpaid taxes, Fox News Digital found. IRS records show Anderson and his wife had over $426,000 in unpaid federal taxes across seven years from 2013 to 2019, raising concerns that his financial responsibility. The taxes were related to a ‘small business,’ according to the forms. 

‘Jeffrey Anderson isn’t a Trump Republican at all; he’s a liberal sleeper who slipped through the cracks of PPO (Presidential Personnel Office),’ a former Trump official told Fox Digital of Anderson’s political donations and tax history. 

When approached for comment on the previous donations and tax issues, Anderson told Fox News Digital that at ‘the very least, some of your information is factually incorrect or tendered well out of context.’ Anderson did not respond when asked for additional details on what was ‘factually incorrect.’

‘At the very least, some of your information is factually incorrect or tendered well out of context. I am fully supportive of President Trump and his America First agenda. I have been fully vetted by the White House and appreciate the approval of the President, House Aviation Chair Troy Nehls and House T&I Chair Sam Graves, among others. I look forward to advancing American interests as the next Permanent Representative to ICAO,’ he wrote in a direct message on LinkedIn to Fox Digital in August, while adding that Trump is seeking to ‘move effectively forward in a space negligently left vacant by Biden.’

When asked about Anderson’s tax history and donations to Democrats and Trump opponents, a White House official told Fox Digital: ‘Jeffrey Alderson is highly qualified to serve as America’s ambassador to the ICAO, and he is a great choice to represent the President’s America First foreign policy agenda in the international aviation community.’

Fox News Digital additionally reached out to the State Department, which helps manage the vetting of potential ambassador nominees, for comment and was directed the White House’s statement. 

The former pilot himself also floated a run for political office more than a decade ago in Georgia as a Democrat, according to a local Georgia news report that called him ‘prospective Democratic Congressional candidate Jeff Anderson.’ In an opinion piece published that same year, titled ‘The sinking Democratic Party in Georgia is bad news for everyone,’ Anderson was described as a ‘a 2010 Independent candidate for the U.S. House in Georgia’s 11th District.’ 

While old social media posts on X show Anderson celebrated former President Biden’s 2012 DNC speech at the time as ‘wonderful American message: major concepts, not petty; Democratic, but not commercially political.’ While other tweets targeted the NRA and celebrated how Anderson ‘politely but firmly faced’ NRA representatives and gun manufacturers on ‘sensible policy ideals’ back in 2023, according to a review of the X account @JeffAndersonPAI that ceased activity back in 2014.  

In addition to the White House defending Anderson’s nomination, Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls, who serves as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, told Fox Digital that Anderson will help usher in ‘the Golden Age of aviation’ under the Trump administration. 

‘As Chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, I have complete confidence in Jeffrey Anderson to serve as ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),’ Nehls said in comment to Fox Digital in August. ‘Mr. Anderson served as a naval aviator and has more than three decades of experience as a pilot for Delta. He is, without a doubt, qualified to represent the United States of America at ICAO, where his first-hand experience with the aviation industry will play a crucial role in advancing President Trump’s mission of ushering in the Golden Age of aviation.’

A board member of a pilots group called Experienced Pilots Advancing Aviation Safety, added that he fully backs Anderson’s nomination, citing his honesty and credentials as an airline captain. The Experienced Pilots Advancing Aviation Safety, which endorsed Anderson’s nomination, also advocates raising the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots, arguing experienced pilots lead to safer skies and can mentor the next generation instead of ‘forced retirements of America’s most experienced aviators,’ according to its website. 

‘I feel 100% confident in Captain Anderson’s honesty and professional credentials. Having flown aircraft around the world in international operations for the past 40 years in the Marine Corps and Delta Airlines, and my working with and in association with ICAO and IATA, I feel Jeff would be a perfect fit for this position as it seems the president of the United States does also,’ the board member told Fox Digital in emailed comment earlier in August. 

International aviation rules currently prohibit airline pilots older than 65 from flying. Global airline groups such as the International Air Transport Association has called on the ICAO to consider raising the international pilot retirement age to 67. The UN General Assembly will convene on Sept. 23, with the ICAO expected to consider the proposal, Reuters reported on Thursday. 

Anderson’s nomination was sent to the Senate in July, and was then referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. The nomination is currently awaiting final confirmation proceedings. 

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who posted his resignation letter on social media used the term ‘pregnant people’ and capped off his missive by including ‘he/his/him’ pronouns after his name.

‘I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business,’ Dr. Demetre Daskalakis wrote in the lengthy post on X.

Daskalakis accused President Donald Trump’s administration of attempting ‘to erase transgender populations.’

‘For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics. I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision,’ he wrote.

The inclusion of pronouns and the term ‘pregnant people’ caught people’s attention.

‘This resignation is a huge win for the Trump administration and the American people. We don’t need anyone who can’t understand basic biology working at the CDC,’ noted Jeremy Redfern, communications director for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.

Karol Markowicz tweeted, ‘No one who uses ‘pregnant people’ should work at the CDC. This isn’t hard.’ 

Responding to Markowicz’s post, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote, ‘Example of how ‘trusting the science’ really means following the political science and perpetuating the prevailing narrative…’ He added, ‘Embracing evidence-based medicine should be the bare minimum for working at the CDC…’

Daskalakis suggested that the Department of Health and Human Services is on a ‘dangerous’ path.

‘I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health,’ he wrote.

‘I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution. If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States,’ Daskalakis concluded at the end of his message.

Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment on Thursday.