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Trump watches strike on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen in new White House pics as large-scale op continues

The White House released photos of President Donald Trump watching strikes on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on Saturday, as the large-scale U.S. operation against the terrorist group continues. 

‘President Trump is taking action against the Houthis to defend US shipping assets and deter terrorist threats,’ the White House wrote on X, sharing photos of Trump, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. ‘For too long American economic & national threats have been under assault by the Houthis. Not under this presidency.’ 

Trump appeared to be dressed in golf attire and was wearing his signature red baseball cap with his name emblazoned on the back while watching video of the strikes on a television screen. 

Another photo showed the president from the front with a black headset on. 

Trump wrote in a Saturday TRUTHSocial post that he had ‘ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.’ 

‘Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom,’ Trump said. ‘No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.’ 

U.S. Central Command said Saturday it ‘initiated a series of operations consisting of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen to defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation.’ 

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement that Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday.  

‘The Secretary informed Russia of U.S. military deterrence operations against the Iran-backed Houthis and emphasized that continued Houthi attacks on U.S. military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,’ Bruce wrote. ‘Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov also discussed next steps to follow up on recent meetings in Saudi Arabia and agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia.’ 

The Houthi-run Health Ministry in Yemen said the strikes killed at least 31 people, according to the Associated Press. 

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at Israel in what the terrorist group said were acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally. The attacks stopped when a fragile Israel-Hamas cease-fire took hold in Gaza in January. The Houthis then threatened to renew them after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month following the Hamas rejection of a U.S. framework for continuing the cease-fire and hostage releases.

The U.S. and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis, and the U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the terrorist group, which controls Yemen’s capital of Sanaa and the country’s north. Gen. Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, denied his country was involved in the Houthis’ attacks. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X, urged the U.S. to halt the strikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy.

Trump said, ‘The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective. The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt, and attacking the core principle of Freedom of Navigation upon which International Trade and Commerce depends.’ 

Trump charged that the Houthis ‘have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.’ 

‘Joe Biden’s response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going,’ he wrote on TRUTHSocial. 

Trump said it has been more than a year since a U.S.-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden. 

‘The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times. Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at U.S. aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk,’ Trump wrote. 

‘To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!’ Trump said. 

The president added, ‘To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!’ 

The Houthis have targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two and killing four sailors, during their campaign targeting military and civilian ships between the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 and January of this year, when the ceasefire in Gaza took effect, according to the AP. 

The U.S., Israel and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but Saturday’s operation was conducted solely by the U.S. It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.

It comes two weeks after Trump sent a letter to Iranian leaders offering a path to restarting bilateral talks between the countries on Iran’s advancing nuclear program. Trump has said he will not allow it to become operational.

The Trump administration re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this month, after the Biden administration had lifted the group’s designation in 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Learning from Joe Lieberman to repair the American breach

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This March 17 will be the ‘yahrzeit’ of Sen. Joe Lieberman’s unexpected death in 2024, a time in Jewish tradition when family members recite the mourners’ kaddish prayer and light candles in memory of their loved one.

Those of us who knew Joe Lieberman continue to mourn his passing and miss his smile and decency.  When we have gathered at memorial services and early screenings of ‘Centered,’ a new documentary which chronicles his life, we always express the wish that there were more leaders like him in today’s harsh political environment. (‘Centered’ will be in Regal Cinemas nationwide on March 18 and 19.)

That yearning for comity was accentuated by the partisan atmosphere in the House of Representatives for President Donald Trump’s recent address to a joint session of Congress. We could debate which party or its leaders are more guilty of polluting the public square these days, but that would defeat the purpose of arguing for better behavior from both sides. The political divide (a worrisome ‘gulf of America’) leaves us inches away from stalemate, and mere feet from chaos. 

While Joe Lieberman can no longer speak up on behalf of civility in politics, he left us plenty of examples:

When he gave the Democratic response to President Ronald Reagan’s last radio address in 1989, Lieberman did not abuse the opportunity to settle political scores. ‘Your love of this country and your fervent devotion to freedom inspired us all,’ the new Democratic senator said of the Republican president.

In 1991, rather than join most Democrats to oppose the use of force after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, Lieberman became the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the resolution authorizing the first (and successful) Gulf War.

Working across the aisle with senators like John McCain, Lieberman advocated for the 9/11 Commission to investigate the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and Arlen Specter for creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

He often joined with Republican Sen. Bob Dole in urging both Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to take a more active role in defending Bosnia from Serbian aggression.

And Lieberman collaborated with leaders in both parties to speak out against the plight of inappropriate content in video games, music and television programs, which helped lead to the creation of ratings systems that give parents more power to discern what is best for their children.

Throughout his life, Lieberman’s advocacy of harmony and good will found expression in his fervent support for civil and human rights, from traveling to Mississippi as a student advocating voting rights to his leadership in ending the discriminatory ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in the military and to his commitment to a cleaner environment (the latter two efforts also involved cross-party cooperation).

The senator’s many public expressions of cordiality towards people of either or no political party were matched by his behavior in private. As staffers who worked with him beginning more than 45 years ago, through many crises and controversies (rarely of his own making), we can testify to his humor, equanimity and good will. We never heard him raise his voice, even in the most tense and tumultuous of circumstances.

Joe Lieberman’s calm demeanor should not be mistaken for a milquetoast career, however. In the course of the work cited above, and many more, he was friendly, but forthright; decent, but determined. 

Thanks in good measure to his faith in God and fervent religious beliefs, he had a strong moral compass that almost always pointed him in the right direction for the betterment of society. If he fell short on rare occasions, it was never from base motives or weak principles. He was, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, a ‘repairer of the breach,’ not a source of division.

As nearly lifelong believers in the leadership of Joe Lieberman, we cannot help but feel that America and the world would have been better off if he and Al Gore had succeeded in the 2000 election. But even in the wake of that enormous – and enormously disappointing – setback in his life, Lieberman showed the same kind of grace and optimism that characterized his whole life:

‘America is a great country,’ he said on the floor of the Senate the day after Vice President Gore conceded the election to George W. Bush. ‘I do think that every one of us should be grateful this morning that here in America we work out our differences not with civil wars, but with spirited elections.’

‘It is time now for all of us to come together in support of these United States and the shared values that have long sustained us,’ he continued. ‘Psalm 30 assures us that weeping may linger for the night, but in the morning, there are shouts of joy.’

Our sorrow over the loss of Joe Lieberman has lingered through the long night of his absence from our lives and politics – never more than at this yahrzeit of his passing – but we are encouraged by his stirring words and sterling example to find hope for shouts of joy once again..

Jim Kennedy is a former spokesman for Joe Lieberman, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, the Clinton Foundation, Sony Pictures, Sony Corporation of America and News Corp. He publishes occasional columns on Substack.

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Karoline Leavitt says she won’t attend White House Correspondents’ Association dinner

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she is skipping the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner slated for April 26. 

Leavitt made the announcement during a podcast appearance with Sean Spicer, who served as President Donald Trump’s White House press secretary for the first six months of 2017. 

‘I will not be in attendance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and that’s breaking news for ‘The Sean Spicer Show,’’ Leavitt said. 

Leavitt said the WHCA ‘has truly become a monetized monopoly over the White House and the coverage of the president of the United States in America.’ 

‘This is a group of journalists who’ve been covering the White House for decades,’ she said on the podcast published Friday. ‘They started this organization because the presidents at the time were not doing enough press conferences. I don’t think we have that problem anymore under this president, so the priorities of the media have shifted, especially with this new digital age.’ 

Leavitt said the WHCA has been an ‘exclusive group of journalists who cover this White House, they have not really welcomed other people, new media, independent journalists, with open arms, and so we thought it was time to expand the coverage and determine who gets to be part of that 13-person press pool, who gets to ask the president of the United States questions in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One.’ 

‘Since we have started this new process of determining the daily rotation, so many new voices and outlets who have never been part of this small and privileged group of journalists have been able to access those very unique and privileged spaces and cover this presidency and that’s very important,’ Leavitt added, revealing that the White House has received more than 15,000 applications for the new media seat in the press briefing room. 

In late February, the White House said it would decide which journalists would be a part of the 13-member pool covering Trump in limited spaces, such as the Oval Office or Air Force One, breaking from the century-old tradition of the WHCA independently selecting which news outlets go where the president does when the full press corp cannot be accommodated. 

Eugene Daniels, the president of WHCA’s board and a Politico correspondent, said the decision ‘tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,’ but the White House championed the move as modernizing the press pool to expand past solely legacy media. The Trump administration said the three traditional wire services – the Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters – would no longer have a permanent spot in the pool and would instead rotate a single spot in the 13-member group. 

The White House later barred the AP from the press pool for ignoring Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The ban was temporarily upheld in federal court, though U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden warned that case law did not favor the White House and scheduled another hearing for March 20. 

Trump did not attend the WHCA annual dinner during his first term. Last month, the association tapped comedian Amber Ruffin, a writer for the ‘Late Show with Seth Meyers,’ to headline this year’s dinner. Ruffin told CNN’s Jake Tapper that ‘no one wants’ Trump to show up, though the president ‘should’ go to the event traditionally attended by the president and the first lady. 

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DOGE’s plans to offload government buildings supported by former GSA official

Former General Services Administration (GSA) head Emily Murphy, who served all of President Donald Trump’s first term, told Fox News Digital that the GSA will ‘rightsize its portfolio’ by selling or leasing unused government buildings – saving money to help the government run more efficiently. 

‘I think that there’s an incredible opportunity right now for GSA to save the government substantial amounts of money by rightsizing its portfolio,’ Murphy told Fox News Digital about Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) working with GSA to identify ‘vacant or underutilized federal spaces’ as part of the Trump administration’s plan to cut wasteful spending.

‘Right now, GSA is losing money,’ Murphy said. ‘The federal buildings that they own have over $370 billion in deferred maintenance. That’s a liability that is just growing and growing and growing because the buildings haven’t been maintained. So getting rid of owned space that hasn’t been maintained and that isn’t occupied, first of all, takes that off the government’s books, gets rid of that liability. But it also creates opportunities in communities. Having a building that’s unoccupied isn’t good for a city. It isn’t good for the state. It isn’t good for anyone.’

Murphy said those empty buildings are often in ideal downtown, ‘heavy utilization areas’ that can be a real asset to building up the community and returning funds to the Treasury Department. 

‘GSA has to rightsize its lease portfolio. Otherwise, it’s going to be paying rent on buildings it’s not occupying, and it doesn’t have the funding necessary to do that,’ Murphy said.

The GSA’s cost-cutting efforts have already resulted in 794 lease terminations with a total of over $500 million of lease obligations being canceled, a source familiar with the GSA’s actions told Fox News Digital.

Murphy said terminating leases and selling unused office space will benefit the government twofold. First, it can shore up money to fund government agencies in the short term. Second, it will reduce long-term financial obligations. 

‘No taxpayer should want the government to be paying for space it doesn’t use,’ Murphy said. ‘It’s billions of dollars a year [that] go out in rent and real estate payments from the federal government. This is a substantial amount of money, and it’s a real chance for GSA to do a great job for the American people and reduce the long-term financial obligations of the government and, frankly, free up money for agencies in the short term as well.’

Murphy told Fox that GSA exists to ‘cut down on waste’ and during her tenure, they managed to return about $21.6 billion in savings. She embraced DOGE’s efforts to cut wasteful spending and increase government efficiency, telling Fox News Digital those issues should have bipartisan support. 

‘Prioritizing efficiency and minimizing waste in our government really should be a bipartisan issue. Government contracting, government real estate doesn’t have a Republican side or a Democratic side of the coin,’ Murphy said. ‘What DOGE is doing right now is just pushing forward and trying to make sure that taxpayers can have confidence that every dollar being spent is really in their best interest.

Murphy explained that GSA was created to manage the federal government’s portfolio of properties and procurement and welcomed the renewed focus on efficiency. 

‘GSA is essentially the government’s management arm. It handles the real property, the procurement, many of the shared services the government has, the vehicles in the government’s fleet. It runs a lot of the back office functions of the government. It was created about 75 years ago to specifically take on that challenge, so that agencies didn’t have to all be doing the same repetitive tasks again and again,’ Murphy said.

Stephen Ehikian was sworn in as acting administrator and deputy administrator of the GSA on Inauguration Day. 

‘Under the Trump-Vance administration, I will return the GSA to its core purpose of making government work smarter and faster,’ said Ehikian. ‘Moving forward, GSA will be laser-focused on driving an efficient government and enabling our sister agencies to provide better service to taxpayers at lower costs.’

GSA has produced the most savings across federal agencies, according to the official DOGE website. A webpage titled ‘Non-core property list (Coming Soon)’ on the GSA’s website outlines the agency’s ongoing effort to save on government buildings. 

‘We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties, for disposal. Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces. Disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions,’ it says on GSA’s website. 

The Associated Press reported that dozens of federal office and building leases will be terminated by June 20, with hundreds more expected in the coming months. AP also reported last week that GSA published a list of more than 440 federal properties the government was planning to offload. The list was then revised to include only 320 buildings before the webpage was ultimately updated to its current ‘coming soon’ language. 

Musk has lamented about unused office buildings on his personal X account and DOGE’s official account. 

‘Still *way* too many leases on unused buildings,’ Musk posted on Feb. 25.

‘Agreed! Today, lease cancellations on vacant/underutilized buildings are up from ~257 to ~440, with annual rent savings increasing from ~$100M to ~$171M. Still plenty of available office space for the current workforce,’ DOGE replied to Musk the following day. 

‘Today, the Federal Government exceeded $100M in annual rent savings through cancellations of 250+ vacant/underutilized leases totaling 3M+ square feet.  With ~7,250 current leases, there is plenty of available office space for the current workforce,’ DOGE announced in a post on Feb. 25. 

‘Crazy that the government was just renting and paying for upkeep services of hundreds of empty buildings!’ Musk replied. 

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JASON CHAFFETZ: Democrats have a major problem and they can’t fake their way out of it

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Following an election in which voters overwhelmingly rejected the fake competence of Vice President Kamala Harris and the fake lucidity of President Joe Biden, Democrats have opted to double down on fake.

Choreographed dance videos, duplicate social media posts, contrived town hall protesters and a sudden newfound aversion to zero-emission vehicles all scream insincerity. There is nothing genuine about it. 

This week, a devastating split screen went viral, featuring the erstwhile faces of Senators Schumer, Warren, and Booker, who had each recorded videos of themselves trying to sound natural while reading word-for-word from the exact same script. The words, (of unknown authorship), were emblematic of the lack of authenticity plaguing the flailing party.

No one is buying what Democrats are selling; it’s all fake. The outrage over some of Trump’s most popular policies is a sham. The juxtaposition of impotent Democrats against the breakneck pace of the current Trump administration does them no favors.

Voters can see that while Trump and Vance are having fun, Democrats are having conniptions. The contrast is stark. As the president and vice president appear to enjoy their verbal jousting with media and protesters, the progressive left seem to be losing their minds, flailing with fake tears of exasperation.

Democrats can’t fake cool.  

The reality is, their leaders come across childish, insincere, and desperate, not to mention old, tired, grumpy, and totally out of touch. Who can relate to the likes of Schumer, Sanders, Durbin, and Warren? 

Meanwhile, their protestors have lost the plot, projecting an embrace of violence, lawlessness, and government corruption. The party offers no home for traditional liberal Democrats, working-class people, privacy advocates, anti-war leftists, or Israel-supporting Jews.

Their carefully curated and choreographed messaging bears no resemblance to the urgent demands of a year ago. Supposedly, Democrats were all about electric vehicles. Not anymore.

Remember how Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was administering billions of dollars to build a national network of electric charging stations? (Americans got nothing for this boondoggle.) Democrats even advocated legislation to eliminate gas-powered vehicles in favor of electric vehicles. AOC personally bought a Tesla.  

Now, the message has reversed. Alas, their fealty to electric cars was also fake. Teslas are now bad; protesting and destroying them is good. Chaos is fine when they do it. 

Democratic women at the Joint Session of Congress wore pink, in theory, to support women, but they can’t define what a woman is, nor could they possibly support excluding men from participating in women’s sports. Their fake support of women falls apart when they actually have to stand up for women.

When President Trump tried to speak of the golden age of America that night, the Democrats couldn’t muster the strength to applaud. They failed to stand for a young cancer fighter, a man fulfilling his dream of attending West Point, a female victim of deep fake bullying pushing back, or a 95-year-old mother whose son was back from being held in Russia. Who are the Democrats really fighting for with their ‘resistance’ movement?

In 2024, they defended censorship to deal with ‘misinformation’ on social media – now they care deeply about the free speech of Hamas supporters, a designated terrorist organization, on US soil. Videos circulate of Democrats who previously criticized waste, fraud, and abuse now fighting to keep the gravy train running. We can all see that they’ve done a 180 from opposing to defending waste. The duplicity is lost on no one.

Coming off of a presidential campaign in which they all pretended to love Kamala Harris, who couldn’t string together an authentic sentence, these latest antics ooze insincerity.  

Contrast that with a President Trump who cheerfully pops in on White House tours, has candid, almost daily exchanges with the press, works the McDonald’s drive-through window, and shares irreverent memes on social media. It’s not even a fair fight. Donald Trump is unapologetically himself.

Voters are finished with the Democrats’ choreographed and curated leadership model. Their consultants, some of whom are their family members, are getting rich, but their efforts to rebuild and refresh their party are going backwards.

The party’s whole premise was based on division and class warfare. It was not about the very principles that make our country great.  

Far be it from me to give the Democrats advice. As long as they keep doing what they’re doing, the republic is likely safe from their fake leadership.

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Trump, Putin call expected this week, as admin edges closer to Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deal: Witkoff

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said Sunday that President Donald Trump will likely speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. 

In an appearance on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ Witkoff was asked when a deal to end the war in Ukraine could be anticipated. 

‘The president uses the timeframe weeks, and I don’t disagree with him. I am really hopeful that we’re going to see some real progress here,’ Witkoff said. ‘Nobody expected progress this fast. This is a highly, very complicated situation, and yet we’re bridging the gap between two sides. So, lots of things that remain to be discussed, but I think the two presidents are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week.’ 

Trump’s special envoy met with Putin in Moscow on Thursday, days after U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia agreed to the terms of a potential ceasefire with Russia. 

Witkoff said he met with Putin for between three and four hours and had a ‘positive’ and ‘solution-based’ discussion. 

‘Before this visit, there was another visit, and before that visit, the two sides were miles apart,’ Witkoff told CNN host Jake Tapper. ‘The two sides are, today, a lot closer. We had some really positive results coming out of the Saudi Arabia discussion led by our national security advisor, Mike Waltz, and our secretary of state, Marco Rubio.’ 

‘I describe my conversation with President Putin as equally positive,’ Witkoff said. ‘The two sides have… we’ve narrowed the differences between them, and now we’re sitting at the table. I was with the president all day yesterday, I’ll be with him today, we’re sitting with him, discussing how to narrow it even further.’  

It was the second time Witkoff had met with Putin in the last month. The first sit-down in mid-February resulted in the Russians releasing U.S. prisoner Marc Fogel. 

Witkoff said he briefed Trump, Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles and Waltz from the U.S. embassy within five to 10 minutes of meeting with Putin last week. 

‘President Trump has been involved in every aspect and dimension of these discussions,’ Witkoff said. ‘The president is getting updates in real time on everything that’s happening, and he’s involved in every important decision here. I expect that there will be a call with both presidents this week, and we’re also continuing to engage and have conversations with the Ukrainians. We’re advising them on everything we’re thinking about.’ 

‘The four regions are of critical importance here,’ Witkoff said of the terms of the deal. ‘And we’re in discussions with Ukraine, we’re in discussions with all these stakeholder European countries, so that includes France, Britain, Norway, Finland… the whole host.… And we’re in discussions with the Russians too about those regions. We’re also in discussion with all other elements that would be encompassed in a ceasefire.’ 

 Witkoff flew to Moscow last week from Doha, Qatar, where he mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a potential extension of their ceasefire agreement. 

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DOGE chain of command revealed in court filing, showing Musk is not the boss

The acting administrator of DOGE detailed that Elon Musk is not an employee of the United States DOGE Service and does not report to the acting DOGE chief, a court filing shedding additional light on the internal workings of the office shows. 

‘Elon Musk does not work at USDS. I do not report to him, and he does not report to me. To my knowledge, he is a Senior Advisor to the White House,’ Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of DOGE, wrote in a declaration included in a court filing on Friday. 

Musk has been the public face of DOGE for months, as President Donald Trump celebrates the billions of dollars in savings his administration has secured through DOGE’s work to gut the federal government of overspending, mismanagement and fraud. Musk, however, ‘has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself’ and is working as a senior advisor to the president, a White House official said in a separate court filing in February.

The White House identified Gleason as the official acting chief of DOGE last month. Gleason, a little-known government employee who also worked in the first Trump administration, provided a declaration in a court filing involving a lawsuit against DOGE last week that further explains how the government office operates. 

‘In my role at USDS, I oversee all of USDS’s employees and detailees to USDS from other agencies,’ Gleason wrote in her declaration. ‘I report to the White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.’

Gleason previously worked for the United States Digital Service, which was founded in 2014 by former President Barack Obama as a technology office within the Executive Office of the President. Trump signed an executive order in January that renamed the office to the United States DOGE Service, establishing DOGE. 

In addition to overseeing USDS, Gleason also oversees the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization – an office established by Trump in January that sits under the USDS umbrella and will expire on July 4, 2026. 

Gleason explained in her declaration that under Trump’s executive order establishing DOGE, agency chiefs were charged with creating their own DOGE teams to find and eliminate overspending. Gleason said the respective agency DOGE teams are comprised of agency employees or detailees who do not report to her.  

‘Every member of an agency’s DOGE Team is an employee of the agency or a detailee to the agency. The DOGE Team members – whether employees of the agency or detailed to the agency – thus report to the agency heads or their designees, not to me or anyone else at USDS,’ she wrote. 

‘In some instances, members of agency DOGE Teams are detailees from USDS to the agency. Where USDS detailees are assigned to an agency DOGE Team and acting in their capacity as a detailee to the DOGE Team, they are supervised by personnel of the agency to which they are detailed,’ she added. 

Gleason has been described by former colleagues as ‘world-class talent’ who frequently works long hours and is apolitical. 

DOGE has saved an estimated $115 billion in government spending in the form of workforce reductions, contract cancellations, regulatory savings and other initiatives, according to its website. Trump has touted DOGE’s work repeatedly in public remarks, including rattling off a list of government grants that were axed since his inauguration during his first address to a joint session of Congress earlier this month. 

‘Forty-five million dollars for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma,’ Trump said as he provided examples of federal waste on March 4 after thanking Musk and DOGE for its work. ‘Forty million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is. Eight million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. Sixty million dollars for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America. Sixty million. Eight million for making mice transgender.’

Democrats and federal employees have railed against DOGE since the investigations and mass terminations at various agencies got underway following Trump’s inauguration, including staging protests outside federal buildings in Washington, D.C., and specifically protesting Musk for his involvement with DOGE. 

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Trumps takes jab at Biden over ‘autopen signature’ following concerning report over who ran the White House

President Donald Trump trolled former President Joe Biden in a social media post on Sunday, highlighting the controversy surrounding his alleged ‘autopen signatures’ during his presidency.

On Truth Social, Trump posted three images side-by-side – his official portrait from his first term, a picture of Biden’s autopen and then finally his official portrait for his second term.

Trump then pinned the post. 

‘The person who was the real President during the Biden years was the person who controlled the Autopen!’ Trump wrote in another post on his account. 

Trump spoke about the autopen signature issue while speaking from the Oval Office on Friday about NATO spending.

‘The man was grossly incompetent. All you have to do is take a look, he signs by autopen. Who was signing all this stuff by autopen? Who would think to sign important documents by autopen?’ Trump asked reporters. 

‘These are major documents you’re signing, you’re proud to sign, yet you have your signature on something and in 300 years, they say ‘oh look.’ Can you imagine everything was signing by autopen? Almost everything. Nobody has ever heard of such a thing. It should have never happened,’ Trump continued. 

The post sparked a firestorm on social media with many backing Trump as Democrats have faced backlash over accusations that they dismissed Biden’s health concerns and engaged in a cover-up throughout the end of his term.

‘President Trump JUST POSTED the AUTOPEN that ran the White House from 2021-2025 next to his portraits,’ one X user commented.

‘Biden was an illegitimate president. Who controlled the auto pen?’ another X used commented.

Vice President JD Vance also shared the image on X without any comment.

‘Corrupt establishment was running the country from 2021-2025. Who controlled the auto pen for Biden?’ Missouri Lieutenant Governor David Wasinger commented, sharing Vance’s post. 

Elon Musk also chimed in on the photo, posting on X, with two emojis – a bullseye and laughing face. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s team about Trump’s post featuring the autopen image, but did not receive a response.

In a new report published by an arm of the Heritage Foundation, it was revealed that the majority of official documents signed by Biden allegedly used the same autopen signature, reinvigorating concerns over the former president’s mental acuity and if he ‘actually ordered the signature of relevant legal documents.’ 

‘WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY,’ the Oversight Project, which is an initiative within the conservative Heritage Foundation that investigates the government to bolster transparency, posted to X on Thursday. 

‘We gathered every document we could find with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency. All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year. Here is the autopen signature,’ the group claimed on X, accompanied by photo examples. 

The Oversight Project posted three examples showing Biden’s signature, including two executive orders and the president’s announcement he was bowing out of the 2024 presidential race. The signature on the two executive orders, one of which was signed in 2022 and the other in 2024, showed the same signature that included what appeared to be a line, followed by ‘R. Biden Jr.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment on the Oversight Project’s findings on the autopen investigation, but did not immediately receive a reply.

Fox News Digital also examined the signatures on President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which are often signed in public or in front of the media, during his first administration and second administration and found the signatures were also the same. 

The Oversight Project continued in its findings that investigators should determine ‘who controlled the autopen’ during the Biden administration. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

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Politics

US military shoots down Houthi drones as Trump’s strikes against terrorist group continue

U.S. warships have shot down roughly a dozen Houthi drones since President Donald Trump launched airstrikes against the terrorist organization on Saturday, Fox News has learned.

A senior defense official told Fox News of the developments on Sunday. The drones were aimed at the U.S. Navy’s Truman Carrier Strike Group, and were shot down ‘well before’ they posed a serious threat, the official added.

The latest military action came after nearly a year and a half of attacks from Houthis, both on commercial merchant vessels and U.S. military ships. In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump wrote that he had ‘ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.’

‘It has been over a year since a U.S.-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden,’ Trump continued. ‘The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times.’

Trump wrote that the ‘relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk.’

‘To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!’ his post concluded.

Trump re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in January. His first administration had named the Houthis as an FTO, but the Biden administration later reversed the move.

On Sunday, the White House released photos of Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz monitoring the strikes.

‘President Trump is taking action against the Houthis to defend US shipping assets and deter terrorist threats,’ the White House wrote on X. ‘For too long American economic & national threats have been under assault by the Houthis. Not under this presidency.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

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Business

Flagging sales and Elon Musk’s political activities are rocking Tesla’s value

Flagging global sales and Elon Musk’s increasingly outspoken political activities are combining to rock the value of Tesla.

Shares in the once-trillion-dollar company saw their worst day in five years this week. Year to date, Tesla’s stock has plunged 36% — though it is still up by some 54% over the past 12 months.

For Musk, Tesla’s shares remain his primary source of paper wealth, though he has also turned his stake in SpaceX into a personal lending tool. But it was proceeds from selling Tesla shares that helped Musk complete his acquisition of Twitter, now known as X.

Musk’s wealth also allowed him to help vault Donald Trump into a second presidential term. Even as Musk’s net worth has diminished as a result of Tesla’s recent share-price declines, data suggests he is in no danger of losing his title as the world’s wealthiest person.

Musk has said on X that he is not concerned about Tesla’s recent drop in value. Still, evidence suggests the company is entering a period of transition.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk’s wealth has propelled him to a global presence that lacks precedent — and has polarized world opinion about the tech entrepreneur in the process. Any weakening of his financial position, therefore, could undercut his influence in the political and tech spaces where he now commands outsize attention.According to Bank of America, Tesla’s European sales plummeted by about 50% in January compared with the same month a year prior.

Some say this is attributable to a growing distaste for Musk, who has begun dabbling in the continent’s politics in the wake of his successful support of Trump’s candidacy last year.

Others note Tesla’s European market is facing increased competition from the Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD, which has telegraphed ambitious plans for expansion on the continent.  

A more decisive blow to Tesla’s near-term fortunes may be emanating from China itself. There, Tesla’s shipments plunged 49% in February from a year earlier, to just 30,688 vehicles, according to official data cited by Bloomberg News. That’s the lowest monthly figure registered since July 2022 — amid the throes of Covid-19 — when it shipped just 28,217 EVs, Bloomberg said.

Donald Trump accompanied by Elon Musk speaks Tuesday next to a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

Tesla is now facing intense competition from other Chinese EV makers, including BYD.

Yet even there, a Chinese official also warned about the impact of Musk’s high-profile politicking.

“As a successful businessman, one should be embracing 100% of the market: Treat everyone nicely, and everyone will be nice in return,” the secretary of China’s Passenger Car Association, said in a briefing Monday, Bloomberg reported. “But if you look at it in terms of voting, then half of voters will be friendly to you and half of them won’t be.”

“This is the unavoidable risk that’s come after he got his personal glory,” the secretary, Cui Dongshu, said Monday, referring to Musk.

On Friday, Reuters reported Tesla was planning to sell a Model Y costing at least 20% less to produce to defend its China share.

And in the U.S., Tesla’s January sales were down about 11%, according to data from the S&P Global analytics group — an outlier at a time when EV sales for all other brands are trending higher in America.

Though he has long worn multiple proverbial hats, Musk’s role in the White House as nominal head of the Department of Government Efficiency may be his most consequential. And having influence with the Trump administration could be critical to Tesla’s fortunes. This week, Trump promised he would purchase a Tesla in a showy presentation on the White House lawn, seemingly further cementing the Trump-Musk alliance.

On X — the social media platform he owns — Musk’s frenetic posting is increasingly focused on politics and America’s culture wars, with an occasional nod to SpaceX launches.

His apparently undiminished role in the Trump administration — he was seen leaving the White House last weekend alongside Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — has sparked boycotts in Europe, as well as protests and even acts of vandalism against auto owners in the U.S.

“When people’s cars are in jeopardy of being keyed or set on fire out there, even people who support Musk or are indifferent to Musk might think twice about buying a Tesla,” Ben Kallo, an analyst at Baird, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Monday.

In a note to clients this week downgrading its estimate of deliveries, analysts with JPMorgan said the damage to Tesla’s brand has been serious.

“We struggle to think of anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry, in which a brand has lost so much value so quickly,” they wrote.

Tesla itself is warning about the fallout from retaliatory measures taken by countries targeted by Trump’s tariffs, saying in a letter to the U.S. trade representative this week that the company may be “exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions.”

Already, the Canadian province of British Columbia has announced it was ending subsidies for Tesla’s products.

For all the oxygen Musk has taken up with his political activities, concerns about Tesla products themselves are equally keeping investors and analysts up at night.

Musk has “neglect[ed] the rest of Tesla’s automotive business as he thought that by the end of every year for the last 6 years, Tesla would be able to flip a switch and make all its vehicles self-driving — automatically increasing their value and making them infinitely more competitive than other vehicles,” Fred Lambert, who covers the company for the Electrek electric vehicle blog, wrote in a recent post.

Meanwhile, Musk decided to kill Tesla’s cheaper, $25,000 model while going all-in on the Cybertruck, whose sales have yet to take off, Lambert said.

“Tesla’s core business remains selling cars and batteries,” he wrote. “There’s no doubt that the business of selling cars is not going well for Tesla right now, and under Musk, there’s no clear path to improvement.”

By contrast, many analysts continue to take a much longer view of Tesla’s outlook. In his most recent note to clients about the company, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, one of the most closely watched observers of Tesla, summarized the long-term outlook that he says continues to justify the company’s eye-watering valuation.

“Tesla’s softer auto deliveries are emblematic of a company in the transition from an automotive ‘pure play’ to a highly diversified play on AI and robotics,” he wrote in a note March 2.

While that was before the most recent sell-off intensified, Jonas said he was already discounting market gyrations.

“While the journey may be volatile and non-linear, we believe 2025 will be a year where investors will continue to appreciate and value these existing and nascent industries of embodied AI where we believe Tesla has established a material competitive advantage,” he wrote.


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