Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii faced mockery on social media on Thursday over her opening questions to Interior Secretary nominee Doug Burgum during his confirmation hearing. 

As part of my responsibilities to ensure the fitness of nominees before any of the committees on which I sit, I ask the following two initial questions,’ Hirono said to Burgum on Thursday. ‘First is, since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?’

‘No, senator, I have not,’ Burgum responded. 

Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?’ Hirono then asked.

‘I have not,’ Burgum said. 

Hirono, who has asked similar opening questions to several other nominees in the past, including Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth and Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, was widely panned by conservatives on social media over the line of questioning. 

‘This lady has issues.’ conservative commentator Chad Prather posted on X. 

‘No, this is not AI…,’ conservative influencer Benny Johnson posted on X.

‘What is wrong with Dems??’ American Majority president Ned Ryun posted on X. ‘They are apparently bat guano crazy sex pervs. Is this all they think about??’

‘How the F does Hirono have seats on Judiciary AND Armed Services AND Energy?????’ columnist Tiana Lowe Doescher posted on X. ‘What member of Dem leadership does she have kompromat on??’

Conservative comedian Tim Young posted on X that the ‘more Mazie Hirono asks cabinet nominees if they’ve sexually assaulted someone… the more I think she’s guilty of it herself.’

Henry Rogers, The Daily Caller’s chief national correspondent, called Hirono ‘deranged’ on X.

Hirono’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, President-elect Trump’s nominee for interior secretary, was pressed by the Senate on his environmental agenda and whether his mission aligns with that of Trump, who plans to overturn many environmental rules and regulations enacted under the Biden administration.

A confirmation hearing was held by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Thursday for Burgum, a 2024 presidential candidate who was tapped to lead the department that manages public land, wildlife and natural resources.

‘This is a guy who really fits this job,’ Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said as he introduced Burgum, who grew up in Arthur, North Dakota.

Democrats focused their questioning on whether Burgum aligns with Trump’s stance on wind farming and electric vehicles, while Republicans asked about his commitment to forest management, increasing energy production and resurrecting interest in nuclear energy.

‘When energy production is restricted in America, it doesn’t reduce demand. It just shifts production to countries like Russia and Iran, whose autocratic leaders not only don’t care at all about the environment, but they use their revenues from energy sales to fund wars against us and our allies,’ Burgum said in his opening statement.

‘President Trump’s energy dominance vision will end those wars abroad and will make life more affordable for every family in America by driving down inflation.

‘And President Trump will achieve those goals while championing clean air, clean water and protecting our beautiful lands.’

The Biden administration has enacted recent policies keeping animals on the endangered species list and blocking coal mining and liquefied natural gas exports (LNG). Republicans asked Burgum about his approach to these specific Biden-era policies, which he agreed are policies that should be reevaluated.

Burgum told lawmakers that, if confirmed, his agenda would be anchored by two issues — national security and the economy.

‘Without baseload, we’re going to lose the AI (artificial intelligence) arms race to China,’ he said.

Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, using a phrase coined by the incoming president, asked the interior nominee if he is going to ‘drill, baby, drill’ after claiming Trump wants to drill in national parks.

‘As part of my sworn duty, I’ll follow the law and follow the Constitution. And so you can count on that,’ Burgum responded. ‘And I have not heard of anything about President Trump wanting to do anything other than advancing energy production for the benefit of the American people.’

President-elect Trump recently suggested his administration could introduce policy to block all new wind energy projects, a topic raised by Democratic Sen. Angus King of Maine, who applauded Burgum for having ‘all of the above energy strategy’ during the hearing. 

Asked if he will commit to current wind projects, Burgum said, ‘I’m not familiar with every project that the interior has underway, but I’ll certainly be taking a look at all of those.’

‘President Trump’s been very clear in his statements that he’s concerned about the significant amount of tax incentives that have gone towards some forms of energy, that have helped exacerbate this imbalance that we’re seeing right now,’ Burgum said in reference to Trump raising the issue of subsidies for wind energy projects.

Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada asked if Burgum would support repealing credits for electric vehicles, which could reportedly be axed by Trump during his upcoming term. 

‘I support economics and markets,’ Burgum responded, highlighting the costs of EVs compared to liquid fuel with zero carbon. 

Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, the former secretary of interior during Trump’s first term, told Fox News he is ‘very confident’ Burgum will be confirmed for the top administration post.

Pam Bondi, President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Justice, was involved in a sharp clash with Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on Wednesday as the California senator quizzed Bondi over whether she would prosecute Trump’s political opponents.

Schiff, a vocal critic of the president-elect, asked Bondi about whether she would investigate former Special Counsel Jack Smith and also former Rep. Liz Cheney.

‘I’m asking you sitting here today whether you are aware of a factual predicate to investigate Liz Cheney,’ he said.

‘Senator, no one asked me to investigate Liz Cheney, that is a hypothetical,’ she said.

She then turned the tables on Schiff, noting the crime rate in California.

‘You know what we should be worried about? The crime rate in California is through the roof. Your robberies are 87% higher than the national average,’ she said. ‘That’s what I want to focus on, senator.’

Schiff said that Bondi’s answers suggested she doesn’t have the independence to say ‘no’ to the president. He then asked her if she would tell Trump he lost the 2020 election. Bondi accused Schiff of ‘playing politics’ and of leaking former Rep. Devin Nunes’ memo.

‘What I can tell you is I will never play politics, you’re trying to engage me in a gotcha,’ she said.

Schiff shot back, asking her if she would advise against blanket pardons by President-elect Trump and suggesting she would not be able to look at every file on day one.

‘You’ll be able to review hundreds of cases on day one. … Of course you won’t,’ Schiff said.

Bondi was furious at Schiff’s comments.

‘I’m not going to mislead this body or you, you were censured by Congress, senator, for comments just like this that are so reckless,’ she said. 

Schiff was censured in 2023 for promoting claims that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia, a vote that made Schiff just the third member of the House to be censured since the turn of the century.

The incident was one of a number of sharp exchanges that the former Florida AG had with Democrat lawmakers. She was asked by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., about the weaponization of the DOJ.

‘It would not be appropriate for a prosecutor to start with a name and look for a crime?’ Whitehouse said during his line of questioning. ‘It’s a prosecutor’s job to start with a crime and look for a name. Correct?’

Bondi responded by highlighting the federal government’s investigations into Trump.

‘Senator, I think that is the whole problem with the weaponization that we have seen the last four years and what’s been happening to Donald Trump,’ Bondi said. 

This past July, as anti-Israel crowds took to the streets of Washington, D.C,, to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address to Congress, Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi, 26, climbed atop a monument at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station and allegedly spray-painted an ominous message: ‘HAMAS IS COMIN”. He punctuated the warning with the red, inverted triangle that the terrorist organization uses as a symbol to mark its targets. 

Nearby, demonstrators pulled down and burned a U.S. flag to ashes, tackled U.S. Park Police officers trying to arrest agitators and spray-painted other menacing graffiti, including ‘DEATH 2 AMRIKKKA,’ on memorials.

At 3:26 p.m., the U.S. Park Police pulled the protest permit, which had been issued to the ANSWER Coalition, a Washington-based, self-declared socialist organization. Later, the FBI charged Mahdawi and other protesters with destruction of government property.

‘The permit holder failed to answer his phone and the call went directly to voicemail,’ an FBI agent wrote in a fascinating affidavit that revealed that someone at a gym Mahdawi used sent the FBI a tip on his identity.

Nearly six months later, the ANSWER Coalition is poised to get a new permit to host another protest on Monday, according to a copy of the application I obtained from the National Park Service. The event name: ‘For Peace & Justice – Free Palestine.’ The target is obviously the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Past behavior indicates the protests will bring mayhem to the capital’s streets. Yet, National Park Service spokesman Michael Litterst told me that current legal precedent makes it difficult to deny permits based on prior incidents.

Critics, like leaders of the Clarity Coalition, a network of Muslims, ex-Muslims and allies who oppose extremism, say it’s long past time to deny the permits. At a minimum, the public must have its eyes wide open about who is behind these protests. 

As the protests unfold, media coverage will likely frame them as ‘organic,’ ‘grassroots’ activities. But make no mistake: These events will be part of a larger, well-funded operation. The demonstrators are aligned with adversaries to the U.S., including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Hamas, and are united in an unholy alliance that blends socialism with Islamism, or political Islam.

This coalition, which I call the ‘Woke Army,’ operates as a red-green alliance, the red symbolizing socialism and communism and the green representing Islam. These are the same groups that stoked the encampments of the so-called campus intifada around the country last year. Their ultimate goal is to dismantle American democracy and replace it with a socialist, anti-capitalist order. The first way to counter this threat is through transparency, vigilance and a commitment to truth.

The application lists the same ‘Person in Charge of Event,’ as it did in July: Brian Becker, the self-proclaimed Marxist founder of the ANSWER Coalition.

Protest organizers say they have at least 50 ‘endorsing’ groups, and their motives are far from grassroots. I’ve created a public database as part of my work at the Pearl Project, a nonprofit journalism initiative, and, according to my analysis, 25 of the groups are self-described socialist organizations, five are Muslim, Arab or Palestinian, and the final 20 are ‘socialist adjacent.’

The ‘red’ in this alliance includes:

• ANSWER Coalition: A Marxist-Leninist group infamous for organizing protests that amplify anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric.
• Code Pink: An anti-Israel group funded by Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American billionaire tied to China’s Communist Party, according to New York Times reporting.
• Party for Socialism and Liberation: Advocates for dismantling capitalism and aligning the U.S. with socialist regimes.
• The People’s Forum: A socialist group that serves as a proxy for Singham’s pro-China agenda, as also documented by the New York Times.
• Democratic Socialists of America: The largest socialist organization in the U.S. and a big supporter of anti-Israel campaigns.

The ‘green’ of this axis includes:

• Students for Justice in Palestine: Founded by University of California at Berkeley academic Hatem Bazian, this controversial group has fomented many of the anti-Jew campus protests, banned now on many campuses.
• Palestinian Feminist Collective: Committed to ‘Palestinian liberation & beyond.’
• Palestinian Youth Movement: Dedicated to a ‘strategy of mobilization, agitation and confrontation.’
• U.S. Palestinian Community Network: Organized days of protests in Chicago to disrupt the Democratic Party’s convention.
• Muslim American Society: Created a ‘Survive Pack,’ with tips on building campus ‘Liberation Zones’ and a resource from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose co-founder, Nihad Awad, said he was ‘happy’ about the Oct. 7 incursions by Hamas into Israel.

In July, I went to the corner of C Street NW to report who had rented buses to ferry protesters to the first ‘HAMAS IS COMIN’’ protest. It was the Party for Socialism and Liberation. This time, if you go to the ‘We Fight Back’ website’s donation page, you’ll see who is getting the donations for the Jan. 20 protests. It’s The People’s Forum, whose logo and tax ID number appear on the donate page.

On Nov. 5, four days after Trump’s electoral victory, an anonymous person bought the website domain wefightback2025.org. Now the protest’s digital hub, it features an embedded Google Map geo-locating 80 planned ‘actions’ across the country.

It even includes a ‘J20 media kit’ with pre-designed Instagram graphics, a Canva template and printable protest posters emblazoned with slogans like ‘Stop the Genocide in Palestine’ and ‘Defeat Extreme-Right Trump’s Billionaire Agenda!’ 

The kit even provides social media captions, complete with a megaphone emoji. They have their right to protest, but the world must have eyes wide open about who is behind the megaphones.

While President-elect Trump and President Biden are jockeying for credit for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, some Republicans are wary of the deal and whether it will stick. 

‘There’s no part of me that trusts Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa martyrs Brigade, Fatah or the rank-and-file people that voted for Hamas,’ Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., the House’s new Foreign Affairs Committee chair, told Fox News Digital. 

‘There’s no part of me that trusts them in any way whatsoever. I do trust there’s a fear of God in them from the fact that President Trump is coming in, Secretary Rubio and Stefanik, others, [and] what’s not going to continue with programs like UNRWA,’ he added, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. ‘I trust that there is a chilling effect, you know, how they see the world going forward. But there’s no part of me that trusts them in any way.’

Asked if he was celebrating the deal itself alongside some of his colleagues, Mast said, ‘I’m skeptical, like anything.’ 

‘If it gets Americans home, I’m happy about getting Americans home,’ Mast went on. ‘That’s been a problem for me that, you know, if there’s Americans detained abroad, I would have every expectation that there’s an American coming to get them. And, to me, unfortunately, that hasn’t been the result.’

The cease-fire is meant as a way to bring home the remaining hostages taken from Israel and provide a path to peace for the 2 million Palestinians who have been living in a war zone since Hamas’ bloody attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The deal has implications for the U.S.: Seven hostages who remain in Hamas’ clutches are Americans. 

‘Why is lame duck Joe Biden trying to cram down a bad deal on Israel on his way out the door?’ Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X. ‘The only ‘deal’ should be unconditional surrender by Hamas—which is already nearly destroyed—and return of ALL hostages. Instead, we hear reports that Biden is demanding that Israel withdraw from key terrain in Gaza, release dozens of hardened terrorists for every one hostage, and get back only SOME hostages?’

Sources confirmed Israeli reporting to Fox News Digital that it was Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who traveled to Doha, Qatar and strong-handed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into sitting down to finalize the deal that had evaded the Biden administration’s mediation for the better part of the past year. 

The first cease-fire in November 2023 lasted only one week, with both sides accusing the other of breaking it. In that time, 105 hostages were released, as were 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Trump had promised there would be ‘hell to pay’ if a cease-fire was not reached by the time he took office, which will be on Jan. 20. His surrogates developed close relationships with Arab leaders in swing states like Michigan throughout the campaign, promising Trump would bring peace to the Middle East.

The deal, brokered by Qatari negotiators, with the help of mediation from both the outgoing Biden administration and Witkoff, is set up in three phases. It will see three hostages released on the first day – Sunday – with new hostages released each week. That phase will entail a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi corridor on Egypt’s border and the so-called buffer zone in the Gazan territory bordering Israel. 

Women, children and men over 50 will be prioritized initially. Over the course of the 42-day first phase, 33 of the remaining Israeli hostages will be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. 

That group is likely to include some who have been convicted of murder. On Thursday, Netanyahu delayed ratification of the deal over disagreements about whether he would get a veto over which prisoners convicted of murder would be released. Israel’s Cabinet will now meet Friday to ratify the deal. 

‘This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,’ Trump wrote on social media. 

Biden said from the White House that ‘my diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.’

He added, ‘This plan was developed and negotiated by my team and will be largely implemented by the incoming administration.’

President-elect Trump on Thursday announced multiple nominations just days before his inauguration on Jan. 20.

In a series of posts on Truth Social on Thursday afternoon, Trump congratulated his picks.

Nominees include a former test engineer of missile defense systems for secretary of the Air Force, as well as a trade partnership CEO for secretary for trade and foreign agriculture affairs.

Trump selected Chris Stallings to be assistant administrator for disaster recovery and resilience of the Small Business Administration.

Stallings currently serves as the director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency and will work closely with Kelly Loeffler, the incoming small business administrator.

‘[Stallings and Loeffler will] make sure that when disasters happen, our Government responds quickly and capably to protect our Small Businesses, which are the backbone of our Economy,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump tapped Luke Lindberg as U.S. undersecretary for trade and foreign agriculture affairs at the Department of Agriculture.

During Trump’s first term, Lindberg served as chief of staff and chief strategy officer at the Export-Import Bank, where he earned the Distinguished Service Award.

He is currently the president and CEO of South Dakota Trade and a member of the board of directors of the National Association of District Export Councils.

South Dakota Trade is a 501(c)(6) public-private partnership that navigates international trade for the state, according to the organization’s website.

Lindberg has been featured on Fox News and other outlets for his ‘Thought Leadership’ on international affairs and agricultural policy.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that Lindberg would make sure American farmers and ranchers get the ‘smart’ trade deals they deserve.

Troy Meink has been picked to serve as secretary of the Air Force. 

Meink is serving as the principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, and he began his career as a KC-135 tanker navigator, according to Trump’s post.

He later worked as a test engineer for missile defense systems.

‘Troy will work with our incredible Secretary of Defense Nominee, Pete Hegseth, to ensure that our Nation’s Air Force is the most effective and deadly force in the World, as we secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,’ Trump wrote. ‘Congratulations Troy!’

Dudley Hoskins was selected as undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs at the Department of Agriculture.

He currently holds the title of counsel on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and he previously spent four years at the Department of Agriculture during Trump’s first term as the chief of staff for marketing and regulatory programs and senior adviser to the secretary, according to Trump’s post.

‘[Hoskins] will work with our great Secretary of Agriculture Nominee, Brooke Rollins, to make sure American food is the safest and healthiest in the World,’ Trump wrote. ‘Congratulations Dudley!’

The announcement by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that Facebook and Instagram would end their work with third-party fact-checkers and ease certain content restrictions was praised by some conservative activists, who cheered it as a ‘vindication’ for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who dissented from the rest of the court in late 2023 in a case involving content regulation that included a post by the former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The case centered on whether Meta was acting outside its scope when its platform, Facebook, temporarily removed a 30-minute video posted by Kennedy, which included vaccine misinformation and other false claims about COVID-19. The Supreme Court majority declined to take up the case without explanation, but Alito disagreed, writing as the sole dissenter for the court.

Alito, a George W. Bush appointee, blasted the video’s removal in a scathing dissent, saying that the platform had censored a type of political speech in its attempts to crack down on misinformation, and could therefore be seen as acting on behalf of the U.S. government and possibly causing what he described as ‘irreparable’ harm.

‘Our democratic form of government is undermined if government officials prevent a candidate for high office from communicating with voters, and such efforts are especially dangerous when the officials engaging in such conduct are answerable to a rival candidate,’ Alito said in the dissent. 

‘I would allow him to intervene to ensure that we can reach the merits of respondents’ claims and to prevent the irreparable loss of his First Amendment rights,’ he added.

‘Because Mr. Kennedy’s arguments on the merits are essentially the same as respondents’, allowing intervention would not significantly affect petitioners’ burden with regard to that issue,’ Alito wrote. ‘But the denial of intervention is likely to prevent Mr. Kennedy from vindicating the rights he claims until the spring of 2024 and perhaps as late as June of that year. And by that time, several months of the presidential campaign will have passed.’ 

Zuckerberg announced earlier this month that Meta would end its previous content restrictions used on Facebook and Instagram — which were put into place after the 2016 elections — acknowledging in a video posted on social media that they had ‘gone too far’ and allowed for too much political bias from outside fact-checkers.

‘We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,’ Zuckerberg said in the announcement.

‘The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech. So we are going to get back to our roots, focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.’

Meta will now replace that system with a ‘Community Notes’-style program, similar to the approach taken by social media platform X, he said. X is owned by Elon Musk, the co-director of the planned Department of Government Efficiency.

That news was praised by Mollie Hemingway, the editor-in-chief of The Federalist, who noted on X that the decision from Zuckerberg ‘vindicated’ Alito’s dissent. ‘Kind of crazy how Zuck was like ‘what they did had to be illegal’ but majority on Court was like ‘I mean, who can know?” Hemingway said of the Supreme Court’s decision not to take up the case.

– Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Mike Whatley says his job going forward in the 2025 elections and 2026 midterms is straight forward.

‘It’s really critical for us to make sure that the Trump voters become Republican voters,’ Whatley said in an exclusive national digital interview with Fox News on the sidelines of the RNCs’ winter meeting, which is being held in the nation’s capital.

Republicans enjoyed major victories November’s elections, with President-elect Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to win back the White House, the GOP flipping control of the Senate from the Democrats, and holding on to their razor-thin majority in the House.

Whatley, who was interviewed on Thursday on the eve of the formal vote by the RNC for the chair to continue in his position steering the national party committee, said the GOP needs ‘to cement those gains’ made in the 2024 elections.

‘We’re going to go right back to the building blocks that we had during this election cycle, which is to get out the vote and protect the ballot,’ Whatley emphasized. 

The RNC chair pointed to ‘the lessons that we learned’ in the 2024 cycle ‘about going after low propensity voters, about making sure that we’re reaching out to every voter and bringing in new communities,’ which he said helped Republicans make ‘historic gains among African American voters, among Asian American voters, among Hispanic voters, young voters and women voters.’

Speaking a couple of days before the president-elect’s inauguration, Whatley emphasized that once Trump’s in the White House, ‘we’re going to go right back to the RNC. We’re going to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We’ve got a couple of governor’s races…that we’re going to be working on in ‘25.’

But Whatley said ‘everything is focused on ‘26,’ when the party will be defending its majorities in the House and Senate, ‘because that is going to determine, from an agenda perspective, whether we have two years to work with or four. And America needs us to have a four-year agenda.’

‘What we’re going to be doing is making sure that we are registering voters,’ Whatley said. ‘We’re going to be…communicating with the folks that we need to turn out.’

Pointing to the 2024 presidential election, he said ‘it’s the same fundamentals.’

But he noted that ‘it’s not just seven battleground states’ and that the 2026 contests are ‘definitely going to be a very intense midterm election cycle.’

While Democrats would disagree, Whatley described today’s GOP as ‘a common sense party…this is a party that’s going to fight for every American family and for every American community.’

Referring to former Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, whom Trump has nominated to serve in his second administration’s cabinet, Whatley touted ‘the fact that we have two former Democratic presidential candidates who are going to be serving in the president’s cabinet. That shows you that this is a commonsense agenda, a commonsense team, that we’re going to be moving forward with.’

Last March, as Trump clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, he named Whatley to succeed Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair. Whatley, a longtime Trump ally and a major supporter of Trump’s election integrity efforts, had served as RNC general counsel and chair of the North Carolina Republican Party. 

In December, Trump asked Whatley to continue during the 2026 cycle as RNC chair.

‘I think we will be able to talk when we need to talk,’ Whatley said when asked if his lines of communication with Trump will be limited now that the president-elect is returning to the White House. ‘We’re going to support the president and his agenda. That does not change. What changes is his ability from the White House to actually implement the agenda that he’s been campaigning on.’

Trump is term-limited and won’t be able to seek election again in 2028. Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance will likely be considered the front-runner for the 2028 GOP nomination.

Whatley reiterated what he told Fox News Digital in December, that the RNC will stay neutral in the next race for the GOP nomination and that the party’s ‘got an amazing bench.’

‘You think about the talent on the Republican side of the aisle right now, our governors, our senators, our members of Congress, people that are going to be serving in this administration. I love the fact that the Republican Party is going to be set up to have a fantastic candidate going into ’28,’ he highlighted.

Unlike the DNC, which in the 2024 cycle upended the traditional presidential nominating calendar, the RNC made no major changes to their primary lineup, and kept the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary as their first two contests.

Asked about the 2028 calendar, Whatley reiterated to Fox News that ‘I have not had any conversations with anybody who wants to change the calendar, so we will wait and see what that looks like as we’re going forward. We’re at the RNC meetings this week and having a number of conversations with folks, but that is not a huge push.’

‘I don’t think that changing the calendar really helped the Democrats at all,’ Whatley argued. ‘And I think that us, making sure that we are working our system the way that we always have, is going to be critical.’

The Department of Justice (DOJ) this week released the final nationwide crime statistics under the Biden administration as the president prepares to leave office. 

Following an uptick in violent crime in 2021 during the pandemic, it began to trend down significantly in 2023, ‘including double-digit drops in homicide rates across many major cities,’ according to the DOJ. 

In 2024, violent crime continued to go down, according to preliminary DOJ data from 85 major cities. 

That included a 17.5% decrease in murder rates. There was also a 7.1% decrease in rape, 3.6% decrease in aggravated assault and 7.8% decline in robbery over the first three quarters of the year. 

Between 2021 and 2022, violent crime decreased by 1.7%, which became a 3% decrease between 2022 and 2023, and through the second quarter of 2023 to 2024 it went down by 10.3%. 

In the same time spans, the murder rate went down by 6.1% starting from 2021 to 2022, by 11.6% in 2023 and finally by 22.7% in 2024.

‘Since launching the Violent Crime Reduction Strategy in 2021, the Department has made historic progress against the most significant drivers of violent crime,’ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. 

She added, ‘This report details the Department’s many successes in implementing its violent crime strategy and serves as a testament to the work of law enforcement officers around the country who have done so much to keep our communities safe.’

Shortly after taking office in 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that Monaco would be implementing a Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime.

‘Recognizing that every jurisdiction — large, small, rural, urban — faces unique challenges that cannot be addressed by a one-size-fits-all policy — the strategy was data-driven and deployed federal resources, including cutting-edge tools, in the most effective way: to act as a force multiplier for state and local law enforcement on the front lines of the fight against violent crime,’ the report said. 

Of the 85 cities included in the statistics, violent crime went up in 23 and down in 62, and murder rates went up in 19 and down in 64, the report said. 

The report said that while there is ‘no single cause’ for the decline or increase in violent crime, ‘the work of law enforcement across the country — a partnership between federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies — has no doubt played a leading role.’

The DOJ said its strategy was to ‘focus on the most significant drivers of violent crime — including gun violence and repeat offenders.’ 

It also prioritized building trust in communities and investing in community-based prevention and intervention programs.

‘Since the start of this administration, this Department has been laser-focused on targeting the most significant drivers of violent crime — with gun violence at the top of that list,’ Monaco said. ‘Our strategy is data-driven and focuses on doing what we do best: acting as a force multiplier with our state and local law enforcement partners — who are on the front lines of the fight against violent crime — and deploying technology and other cutting-edge tools to go after the individuals most responsible for crime in our communities.’

She added, ‘We are seeing returns on our efforts. After a peak during the pandemic, violent crime is on a downward trajectory — including double-digit drops in homicide rates across many major cities.’

This is President Biden’s last week in office. President-elect Trump will assume office on Monday.