Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is instructing the Pentagon to launch a comprehensive review into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. 

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden removed U.S. troops from Afghanistan, following up on existing plans from the first Trump administration in 2020 with Taliban leaders to end the war in the region. Biden faced scrutiny after the withdrawal as the Taliban quickly took over Afghanistan again and more than a dozen U.S. service members died supporting evacuation efforts. 

Thirteen U.S. service members were killed during the withdrawal process due to a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, outside the then-Hamid Karzai International Airport, as the Taliban quickly seized control of Kabul.

‘The Department of Defense has an obligation, both to the American people and to the warfighters who sacrificed their youth in Afghanistan, to get to the facts,’ Hegseth said in a Tuesday memo. ‘This remains an important step toward regaining faith and trust with the American people and all those who wear the uniform and is prudent based on the number of casualties and equipment lost during the execution of this withdrawal operation.’ 

Hegseth said the Pentagon has already completed a review into the ‘catastrophic’ withdrawal and concluded that a full investigation is necessary to provide a complete picture of the event and to hold those responsible accountable. 

As a result, Hegseth is directing Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell to spearhead a special review panel to evaluate previous investigations and to ‘analyze the decision-making that led to one of America’s darkest and deadliest international moments.’ 

‘This team will ensure ACCOUNTABILITY to the American people and the warfighters of our great Nation,’ Hegseth wrote in the memo. 

On Aug. 26, 2021, an ISIS-K suicide bomber who the Taliban released earlier that month detonated his body-worn improvised explosive device at Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s airport, according to a U.S. Army Central Command investigation released in 2024. In addition to the 13 U.S. service members who were killed, approximately 170 Afghan civilians also died.

The Biden administration’s White House released a report in 2023 evaluating the Afghanistan withdrawal, which stated that top intelligence officials did not accurately assess how quickly the Taliban would retake control of Kabul. 

Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee conducted their own investigation into the withdrawal, and the U.S. military produced at least two reports on the matter. 

The Biden administration ‘prioritized the optics of the withdrawal over the security of U.S. personnel on the ground,’ according to the House Foreign Affairs Committee report. 

‘For that reason, they failed to plan for all contingencies, including a noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) and refused to order a NEO until after the Taliban had already entered Kabul,’ the report said.

Additionally, the report said the ‘failure’ to adequately establish evacuation plans led to an unsafe environment at the airport and put the lives of service members and State Department officials at risk. 

In February, Trump told reporters that he wouldn’t instruct Hegseth on what actions the Pentagon should take when asked if he was considering firing military leaders who oversaw the withdrawal. But Trump said he would ‘fire every single one of them.’ 

The commander of U.S. Central Command in 2021, retired Marine Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., in 2024 took full ownership of the loss of U.S. troops that day. 

‘I was the overall commander, and I and I alone bear full military responsibility for what happened at Abbey Gate,’ McKenzie told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in March 2024.

Now-retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers at the same hearing that he believed the evacuation should have occurred sooner and that multiple factors contributed to failures in the withdrawal. Both McKenzie and Milley told lawmakers they advised Biden to keep some U.S. troops in Afghanistan after pulling out most U.S. forces.

‘The outcome in Afghanistan was the result of many decisions from many years of war,’ Milley told lawmakers. ‘Like any complex phenomena, there was no single causal factor that determined the outcome.’

Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed Washington Sen. Patty Murray during a Tuesday Senate hearing for allegedly ‘presiding over the destruction’ of Americans’ health across her more than 30 years in the upper chamber. 

‘You’ve presided here, I think, for 32 years. You presided over the destruction of the health of the American people. Our people are now the sickest people in the world,’ Kennedy said to Murray during a tense back and forth Tuesday morning. 

Murray began her tenure in the Senate in 1993. 

‘Seriously?’ Murray interjected. 

‘What have you done about it? Kennedy shot back. What have you done about the epidemic of chronic disease?’

As the two continued talking over one another, the subcommittee chair, Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, asked Kennedy to ‘hold back and let the senator ask the questions.’

‘Mr. Secretary, I’m asking you a question about child care,’ Murray continued. ‘I’m asking you who made the decision to withhold child care and development block grant funding?’  

‘That was made by my department,’ Kennedy responded. 

Kennedy appeared before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday morning to answer questions related to HHS’ budget proposal for fiscal year 2026. The hearing comes just after Kennedy joined lawmakers in both a Senate hearing and a House hearing, both of which included fiery exchanges between Kennedy and Democrat lawmakers. 

Murray continued in her questioning that the HHS was making vast cuts to scientists at the agency, which Kennedy dismissed, citing that he does not ‘trust’ Murray’s information. 

‘And you said last week, quote, ‘we were not cutting thousands of scientists,’ Murray continued. ‘We are not cutting clinical trials.’ But I want you to know, in the last four months, you fired or pushed out nearly 5,000 NIH staff and terminated more than 1,600 NIH grants. That includes more than 240 clinical trials across the country. So whose decision was it to fire scientists and terminate these NIH grants and the clinical trial?’ 

‘Senator, I don’t trust your information with all due respect,’ Kennedy responded, continuing that Murray’s previous remarks in a recent hearing were not correct. ‘You told me what, three days ago or four days ago, that we had cut a clinical trial in your state and … what you said turned out to be completely untrue. And you knew it was untrue because you corresponded with (Director of the National Institutes of Health) Jay Bhattacharya before that.’ 

‘You came here to argue with me,’ Murray added. ‘I came here to ask you questions about your budget request. Your budget request is asking us to cut dramatically. But I am also making the point that Senator Baldwin made, that what you are doing right now is enacting your budget, that Congress has not passed, by cutting critical funding across the board.’ 

The Washington Democrat previously exchanged barbs with Kennedy Wednesday, when Murray accused Kennedy and the Trump administration of delaying critical cancer care for one of her constituents. 

‘Mr. Secretary, one of my constituents … she’s a mom of two from Bainbridge Island in Washington state,’ Murray said in her opening line of questioning Wednesday. ‘She has been fighting aggressive stage four colorectal cancer for nearly five years now. Her best hope now is a clinical trial she’s participating in at the [National Institutes of Health’s] Clinical Center.’ 

‘But because of the thoughtless mass firing of thousands of critical employees across NIH and HHS that you carried out, Natalie’s doctors at that clinical center have told her they have no choice but to delay her treatment by an additional four weeks.’

‘I can’t tell you that now, Sen. Murray,’ Kennedy responded. ‘What I can tell you is that if you contact my office tomorrow, I’ll look specifically into that.’ 

However, that answer from Kennedy was ‘not acceptable’ to the senator.

‘That is not acceptable,’ Murray shot back, eventually demanding Kennedy provide her an update on Natalie’s case within 24 hours. ‘I want an answer.’ 

Kennedy added during Tuesday’s hearing that Murray’s constituent had qualified for the clinical trial ‘this week,’ adding that ‘we shouldn’t be talking about patients’ private information,’ with Murray agreeing. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this article. 

President Donald Trump’s rallying speech to House Republicans Tuesday morning wasn’t enough to convince some holdouts to unite behind his ‘big, beautiful bill’ ahead of a planned vote this week.

Trump urged Republicans to cease infighting on Medicaid reform and state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps at the House GOP’s weekly conference meeting. Several Republicans who emerged said they were still concerned enough to oppose the bill, however.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and representatives Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler and Andrew Garbino of New York told Fox News Digital Tuesday they would vote against the bill if changes were not made.

On the other hand, Trump did persuade some people. Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, one of several Republicans to sink a committee vote on the bill Friday, told reporters he would review it and make a ‘judgment call’ ahead of a 1 a.m. meeting to advance the bill through the House Rules Committee.

Norman said Trump did a ‘fantastic job’ and delivered ‘one of the best speeches I’ve heard’ at the House GOP meeting, and he urged his blue state colleagues to ‘take the words the president said to heart about SALT.’

Norman and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, are both members of the powerful rules panel who have not been shy about their concerns with the current bill. The committee acts as the final gatekeeper before most legislation sees a full House vote.

Roy did not appear to attend Trump’s speech but told reporters Monday evening the 1 a.m. Wednesday vote should be postponed.

But the New York Republicans weren’t budging after Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ speech, maintaining the bill doesn’t go far enough to deliver for middle-class New Yorkers on the SALT deduction cap.

‘This is the single biggest issue that I’ve talked about, and, with all due respect to the president, I’m not budging,’ Lawler said. 

‘Between property taxes and income taxes, it blows well past the $30,000 cap with the $400,000 income cap. So, as I’ve said repeatedly, that is insufficient. We will continue the dialogue with leadership, but as it stands right now, I do not support the bill,’ Lawler said. 

Lawler said SALT is one of the biggest issues affecting his district in New York and campaigned on never supporting a tax bill that doesn’t ‘adequately lift the cap.’

‘The president can say whatever he wants, and I respect him, but the fact is, I certainly understand my district. I’m one of only three Republican members that won in a district Kamala Harris won, and I did so for reasons,’ Lawler said. 

‘We need a little more SALT on the table to get to this,’ fellow New York Republican LaLota added. ‘I hope the president’s presence motivates my leadership to give us a number that we can go sell back home.’

LaLota said while he is still a ‘no,’ he hopes ‘the president’s presence here today motivates some folks in the Ways and Means Committee and my leadership to give us a number to which we can actually say ‘yes.’’

When asked if Trump did enough to ease concerns in Tuesday’s meeting, Garbarino, another New York Republican, said, ‘No. There were no specifics. … It was more of a rally. We need to get this done.’

‘We share President Trump’s call for unity within the House Republican Conference,’ Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., said in a joint statement after Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill. 

‘We hope his remarks today motivate the Speaker to advance a SALT proposal that delivers meaningful relief for our middle-class constituents, as we have worked in good faith with House Leadership for more than a year,’ the statement from Kim, Garbarino, Lawler, LaLota and Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J., said.

Meanwhile, Trump urged Republicans not to ‘f— with’ Medicaid in his speech, though different factions came to different conclusions about what he meant.

Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who was not in the room for Trump’s speech, called for more cuts to the entitlement program in an X post Tuesday afternoon but told Fox News Digital he was opposed to the legislation as written.

‘I agree with President Trump — we must crush the waste, fraud, and abuse. Liberal states like California and New York are abusing Medicaid — and making you pay for it. Illegal aliens and freeloaders have no right to taxpayer-funded benefits,’ Ogles said on X.

Other fiscal conservatives, like Ogles, who were in the room, said the bill does not go far enough to reform Medicaid and would also vote ‘no’ in the bill’s current form. 

‘I think it’s inappropriate for us to say we’re not going to touch it and then leave all of this fraud that’s happening in the system,’ Burlison said. 

Harris, the House Freedom Caucus chair, said, ‘I can’t support the bill. It does not eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid. The president called for waste, fraud and abuse to be eliminated. I don’t think that’s where the bill sits.’

Massie, known for being a libertarian, was unconvinced by Trump’s appearance, telling reporters that his constituents didn’t ‘vote for increased deficits and Biden-level spending.’

He acknowledged that younger members or those who harbor ambitions for higher office would likely fall in line, however.

‘I think he probably closed the deal in there,’ Massie said. 

SALT deduction caps and Medicaid remain two of the biggest sticking points in Republican negotiations. SALT deduction caps primarily benefit people living in high-cost-of-living areas like New York City, Los Angeles and their surrounding suburbs. Republicans representing those areas have argued that raising the SALT deduction cap is a critical issue and that a failure to address it could cost the GOP the House majority in the 2026 midterms.

Republicans in redder, lower-tax areas have said in response that SALT deductions favor wealthy people living in Democrat-controlled states and that such deductions reward progressive high-tax policies.

It was Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that first instituted caps on SALT deductions, setting the maximum at $10,000 for both married couples and single filers.

SALT Caucus members have rejected House Republican leaders’ offer to increase that to $30,000.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, are pushing for the bill to be more aggressive in cutting waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system, including a faster timeline for implementing work requirements for able-bodied recipients. Currently, the legislation has work requirements kicking in 2029.

They also want to restructure Medicaid cost-sharing to put a bigger burden on the states. Moderates, meanwhile, have been wary of making significant cuts to the program.

House GOP leaders are hoping to hold a full House vote on the bill this week.

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the U.S. will soon begin construction of a ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system they say will be a next-generation ‘game changer’ protecting the American homeland from outside adversaries.

A similar system, the Iron Dome, has already been developed in Israel with U.S. assistance and has proven effective in repelling missile attacks. Now. Trump says a bigger, more technologically advanced, multi-layered dome system will soon be installed in America.  

The president announced the ‘one big beautiful’ budget bill being discussed in Congress will include $25 billion in initial funding for the project, which he expects will cost $175 billion overall. He said he expects a major phase of the dome will be complete in under three years and that it will be ‘fully operational before the end of my term.’

He noted there is significant support for the project in Congress, quipping, ‘It’s amazing how easy this one is to fund.’

‘In the campaign, I promised the American people that I would build a cutting-edge missile defense shield to protect our homeland from the threat of foreign missile attack. And that’s what we’re doing today,’ he said, adding that the Golden Dome ‘will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from the other side of the world and even if they are launched from space.’

Trump also announced he is placing Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein in charge of the project, saying, ‘No one is more qualified for this job.’

Hegseth called the Golden Dome a ‘bold initiative’ and another addition to Trump’s ‘long and growing list of promises made and promises kept.’

He said investing in the new system is essential to respond to growing threats from countries like Russia and China.

‘Ultimately, this right here, the Golden Dome for America, is a game changer,’ said Hegseth. ‘It’s a generational investment in the security of America and Americans.’

Addressing Trump, Hegseth said, ‘Mr. President, you said we’re going to secure our southern border and get 100% operational control after the previous administration allowed an invasion of people into our country. President Reagan 40 years ago cast the vision for it. The technology wasn’t there. Now it is, and you’re following through to say we will protect the homeland from cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, drones, whether they’re conventional or nuclear.’

Guetlein indicated the Golden Dome is necessary to preserve the safety, security and the quality of life Americans are used to.

‘We owe it to our children and our children’s children to protect them and afford them a quality of life that we have all grown up enjoying. Golden dome will afford that,’ said Guetlein.

The general said ‘our adversaries have become very capable and very intent on holding the homeland at risk.’

‘While we have been focused on keeping the peace overseas, our adversaries have been quickly modernizing their nuclear forces, building up ballistic missiles capable of hosting multiple warheads, building out hypersonic missiles capable of attacking the United States within an hour and traveling at 6,000 miles an hour, building cruise missiles that can navigate around our radar and our defenses, building submarines that can sneak up on our shores and, worse yet, building space weapons,’ Guetlein said. 

‘It is time that we change that equation and start doubling down on the protection of the homeland.’

House Speaker Mike Johnson has reached a tentative deal with blue state Republican lawmakers to boost the cap on state and local tax deductions, or ‘SALT,’ to $40,000 in President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘big, beautiful bill,’ Republican sources confirmed to Fox News late Tuesday. 

The proposed cap – which is up from $30,000 – would be per household for taxpayers making less than $500,000 per year. 

 It remains unclear whether GOP hardliners who oppose raising the SALT cap deductions will sign off on the measure. 

The tentative agreement, first reported by Politico and confirmed by Fox News, comes as House GOP factions have been engaged in high-stakes debates on taxes, Medicaid, and green energy subsidies while crafting the president’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’

SALT deduction caps primarily benefit people living in high-cost-of-living areas like New York City, Los Angeles, and their surrounding areas. 

Republicans representing those areas have framed raising the SALT deduction cap as an existential issue, arguing that a failure to address it could cost the GOP the House majority in the 2026 midterms. 

Meanwhile, Republicans representing lower-tax states are largely wary of raising the deduction cap, believing that it incentivizes blue states’ high-tax policies. 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

The U.S. Senate has passed a new bill that would offer a tax deduction on tips worth up to $25,000.

This bill, if enacted into law, would also extend to business tax credits for payroll taxes on tips in beauty and spa services.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, is pushing the proposal – which passed unanimously – an outcome considered rare for substantive legislation.

There are stipulations in the new bill: an employee with compensation exceeding $160,000 in the prior tax year would not be eligible to claim the new tax deduction for tips.

The bill is limited to cash tips received by occupations that are customarily tipped. 

‘Tipped occupations’ are jobs where tips are common in the U.S., such as waiters, waitresses and professionals providing beauty services like barbering, hair care, nail care, esthetics, body and spa treatments.

The Budget Lab at Yale say they estimate there will be approximately 4 million workers in tipped occupations in 2023. 

They must also be reported by the employee to the employer for withholding payroll taxes. Under the current law, only tips exceeding $20 per month are required to be reported.

According to the report by Budget Lab, a non-tipped worker in 2023 was a minimum of approximately 10 years older than the typical tipped worker.  They also say one-third of the number of tipped workers were below 25, with 13% being teenagers.

This new bill, if passed, would cost $110 billion in federal revenues over 10 years, according to estimates by the center-right Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, pointed out during her floor speech that this bill was one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign promises.

‘I am not afraid to embrace a good idea, wherever it comes from. So I agreed we need to get this done,’ she said.

The passing of this bill through the Senate occurs as congressional Republicans attempt to seek advancement of a massive tax cut and spending package that will create a tax break on tips for the next four years.

The next step is the House of Representatives before it becomes law.