Author

admin

Browsing

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is ‘not a slam dunk,’ as President Donald Trump’s nominee works to shore up support.

In an appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ Fetterman said he has met with Kennedy twice in his office and that whatever his decision ends up being on the HHS nominee, it will be ‘an informed view.’ 

‘I’ve invested a lot of time to really understand his background and to learn more about the man,’ Fetterman said, adding: ‘I approached with an open mind and I watched the hearing. And that’s how the process works.’ 

Asked if he’s reached a decision on whether he’ll vote ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ for Kennedy, Fetterman said he has spoken to colleagues on both sides regarding the matter. 

‘It’s been challenging for sure. Absolutely. It’s certainly not a slam dunk for the nomination,’ Fetterman told ‘Fox News Sunday’ host Shannon Bream. 

‘I’ve made an investment to really understand and talk to all of the nominees, and I treated everyone with respect and I took the time to listen, and that’s been part of my commitment,’ he added.

Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat who switched his presidential campaign against Biden to run as an Independent before ultimately dropping from the race to back Trump, made it through back-to-back grillings by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the Health Committee on Thursday. He still faces crucial committee and full Senate confirmation votes in his mission to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health.

Most of the tough questions and sparring over his stances on vaccines, abortion, Medicaid and other issues came from Democrats on the two committees, but Thursday’s hearing ended with the top Republican on the Health panel saying he was ‘struggling’ with Kennedy’s nomination.

‘Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,’ Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told the nominee.

The physician from Louisiana, who is a crucial vote and who has voiced concerns over Kennedy’s past stance on vaccines, asked whether Kennedy can ‘be trusted to support the best public health.’ The senator told Kennedy, who seeks to lead key health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that ‘you may be hearing from me over the weekend.’

Kennedy, whose outspoken views on the pharmaceutical and food industries have also sparked controversy, has said he aims to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases.

A strong pro-life advocate, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told ‘Fox News Sunday’ that he is supporting Kennedy despite the nominee’s past comments saying he supported codifying Roe v. Wade and abortion ‘even if it’s full term.’  

‘I am now OK to supporting RFK Jr. because I think during the course of the hearing he’s committed to a Republican pro-life agenda, President Trump’s pro-life agenda,’ Graham said when asked about those specific past remarks from Kennedy. ‘So I will take him at his word. I’m comfortable with what he said on the pro-life issue. He has been radically pro-choice as a person. But I do believe that as secretary, he will implement a pro-life agenda that will be pushed by President Trump. I will be a yes, but I’ll also watch every move he makes.’ 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

President Donald Trump repeated his suggestion that Canada become the 51st on Sunday, noting that it would not be subjected to his incoming tariffs should the country join the U.S.

‘We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason,’ Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. ‘We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true!’ 

‘Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State,’ Trump added. ‘Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada – AND NO TARIFFS!’ 

Trump has for weeks suggested the United States should take control of Canada through economic pressure.

Citing the flow of illicit drugs across the northern border, Trump signed an order Saturday to implement a 25% tariff on goods entering the United States from Canada. The order, which takes effect Tuesday, also puts a 10% duty on energy or energy resources from Canada. The order states, ‘gang members, smugglers, human traffickers, and illicit drugs of all kinds have poured across our borders and into our communities,’ adding that ‘Canada has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources or meaningfully coordinate with United States law enforcement partners to effectively stem the tide of illicit drugs.’ 

Trump also said he would implement tariffs of 25% on goods from Mexico, as well as 10% on imports from China due to the flow of drugs across U.S. borders.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum both vowed retaliation on Saturday. 

‘We categorically reject the White House’s slander of the Government of Mexico for having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention to interfere in our territory,’ Sheinbaum said, adding that she instructed her administration officials to implement ‘tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests.’ 

Trudeau said Canada would impose 25% tariffs on $155 billion of U.S. goods, including ‘immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods effective Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 days.’ 

‘I don’t think we’re not at all interested in escalating, but I think that there will be a very strong demand on our government to make sure that we stand up for the deal that we have struck with the United States,’ Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman told ABC News’ ‘This Week’ on Sunday. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

‘This is NPR.’ That tagline has long been used for National Public Radio, but what it is remains remarkably in doubt. NPR remains something of a curiosity. It is a state-subsidized media outlet in a country that rejects state media. It is a site that routinely pitches for its sponsors while insisting that it does not have commercials. That confusion may be on the way to a final resolution following the election. NPR is about to have a reckoning with precisely what it is and what it represents.

While I once appeared regularly on NPR, I grew more critical of the outlet as it became overtly political in its coverage and intolerant of opposing views.

Even after a respected editor, Uri Berliner, wrote a scathing account of the political bias at NPR, the outlet has doubled down on its one-sided coverage and commentary. Indeed, while tacking aggressively to the left and openly supporting narratives (including some false stories) from Democratic sources, NPR has dismissed the criticism. When many of us called on NPR to pick a more politically neutral CEO, it instead chose Katherine Maher, who was previously criticized for her strident political views.

Some have long questioned the federal government’s subsidization of a media organization. NPR itself continues to maintain that ‘federal funding is essential’ to its work. However, this country has long rejected state media models as undermining democratic values.

This funding is likely more important, given NPR’s cratering audience and revenue. The NPR’s audience has been declining for years. As a result, NPR has been forced to make deep staff cuts.

Ironically, NPR has one of the least diverse audiences in media. Its listeners are is overwhelmingly white, liberal, and more affluent than the rest of the country. Yet, while serving fewer and fewer people, it still expects most of the country to subsidize its programming.

Many of us have argued that NPR should compete with other radio companies in the free market. Notably, some Democratic leaders have pushed to get Fox News dropped from cable news carriers despite the fact that it is not government subsidized and consistently ranks as the most-watched cable news network. (For full disclosure, I am a legal analyst at Fox.)

NPR and PBS are facing calls for the subsidy to be removed at long last. However, at the same time, pressure is coming from the Federal Communications Commission. FCC Chair Brendan Carr is inquiring about NPR’s claim that it does not do commercial advertising.

Many of us have noticed that NPR has ramped up its sponsor statements with taglines about the products or firm’s clientele. Carr wrote, ‘I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials. In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.’

The support for noncommercial radio and television stations fell under different regulations. It is hard to see the sponsor acknowledgments as anything other than commercial advertising. It is common for for-profit outlets to have hosts read commercial sponsors.

Noncommercial educational broadcast stations, or NCEs, are prohibited under Section 399B of the Communications Act from airing commercials or other promotional announcements on behalf of for-profit entities. 

What is interesting is that NPR stresses in its sponsor guidelines that the ‘NPR way’ is actually a better method to reach consumers:

‘Across platforms, NPR sponsor messages are governed by slightly different regulations, but the guiding spirit is the same: guidelines are less about what’s ‘allowed’ and more about the approach that works best for brands to craft sponsor recognition messages that connect with people in ‘the NPR way,” read the guidelines.

What is striking is how NPR’s shrinking audience righteously opposes any effort to cut off public subsidies. While dismissing the values or views of half the country, they expect those citizens to support its programming.

It is common for law firms or companies to have hosts herald their work in given areas. It is also common to have product references.

The thrust of NPR’s pitch to advertisers is that this is a different type of pitch to attract more customers. However, the federal government has long ignored the obvious commercial advertisement. 

There is little discernible difference between NPR and competitors beyond pretense when it comes to bias or promotions. What is striking is how NPR’s shrinking audience righteously opposes any effort to cut off public subsidies. While dismissing the values or views of half the country, they expect those citizens to support its programming. What would the reaction be if Congress ordered the same subsidy for more popular competitors like Fox Radio?

I would oppose a subsidy for Fox as I do for NPR. Each outlet should depend on its viewership for support. Notably, many liberal outlets continue to maintain their biased coverage despite falling ratings and revenues. The Washington Post has had to again lay off employees and has lost roughly half of its readership. 

After being called in to right the ship, Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis delivered a truth bomb in the middle of the newsroom by telling the staff, ‘Let’s not sugarcoat it…We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right? I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.’

Nevertheless, writers at the LA Times and other outlets continue to argue against balanced coverage. They would rather lose readers and revenue than their bias. So be it. These outlets have every right to offer their own slanted viewpoints or coverage. They do not have a right to a federal subsidy to insulate them from the response of consumers. 

It is time to establish a bright-line rule against government subsidies for favored media outlets. ‘This is NPR’ but it is not who we should be as a nation.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Former President Jimmy Carter has won a posthumous Grammy.

Carter, who died in December at the age of 100, was nominated at the 2025 ceremony in the audiobook, narration, and storytelling recording category for ‘Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration,’ recordings from his final Sunday school lessons delivered at Maranatha Baptist Church in Georgia.

Musicians Darius Rucker, Lee Ann Rimes and Jon Batiste are also featured on the album, made up of 10 tracks of folk songs and Sunday school lessons from Carter. 

This makes for Carter’s fourth Grammy to his name, setting the record for the category and breaking his previous tie with Maya Angelou.

He’s previously won Grammy Awards in the same category for ‘Faith: A Journey For All’ in 2019, ‘A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety’ in 2016 and ‘Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis’ in 2007. The 39th president has, in total, been nominated for a Grammy nine times.

If he had won before his passing, Carter would have been the oldest Grammy Award winner in history.

Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter’s grandson who now chairs The Carter Center governing board, received the award on his behalf with Kabir Sehgal, who handled instrumental arrangements for the album.

‘Having his words captured in this way for my family and for the world is truly remarkable,’ he said in an acceptance speech. ‘Thank you to the academy.’ 

The former president beat out Barbra Streisand, George Clinton, Dolly Parton and producer Guy Oldfield.

Carter was in office from 1977 to 1981. Post-presidency, he continued to focus on public service, predominantly through his work with Habitat for Humanity.

He died on Dec. 29, 2024, and was survived by his children, Jack, Chip, Jeff and Amy, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Smith Carter, who died on Nov. 19, 2023, and one grandchild.

‘My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,’ his son, Chip, said. ‘My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

President Donald Trump has a busy week planned to start February, including speeding through more confirmations for the president’s Cabinet picks.

Trump made good on his promise of new tariffs over the weekend, hitting Canada and Mexico with 25% duties and China with a 10% tariff over concerns about fentanyl and continued illegal immigration.

Those tariffs are expected to be fully in force by Tuesday and have already drawn retaliation from Canada, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing a 25% tariff on some goods coming into the country from the U.S. on Sunday. Mexico, meanwhile, has also signaled a plan to impose tariffs on the U.S., though specific increases have yet to be announced.

The beginning of the week will also see the deadline pass for six senior FBI officials to retire, resign or be fired, according to a report by USA Today, making good on Trump’s plans to push aside leaders who were promoted by former FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Monday will also see the Senate vote on Trump’s pick for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, as well as a vote to advance former Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., Trump’s pick to serve as transportation secretary.

Tuesday will see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet with Trump at the White House, the first meeting between the two leaders since Trump regained control of the Oval Office.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, will appear before the Senate Committee on Finance on Wednesday, a day that will also see Howard Lutnick, Trump’s choice for commerce secretary, appear before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Trump’s choice to lead the Small Business Administration, will testify in front of the Senate Committee on Small Business.

Wednesday will also see the Senate Committee on the Judiciary vote on whether to send former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice, to the full floor for a confirmation vote.

Thursday is the deadline for federal workers to decide whether they would prefer to return to work in the office or accept a buyout and severance package that would see them paid through the end of September, part of Trump’s plan to trim the federal workforce.

Thursday will also be a busy day for Trump Cabinet picks, with Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, appearing before the Senate Judiciary Panel. Meanwhile, Kennedy will make an appearance in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, while former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Trump’s choice to be the director of national intelligence, will appear before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

The Senate’s Budget panel will also vote whether to move Russ Vought, who Trump nominated to lead the Office of Management and Budget, to a vote on the full floor, while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will decide whether to advance Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Trump’s choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The busy week will see another highlight Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ first monthly jobs report comes out since Trump took office, with the U.S. looking to hit 49 consecutive months of job gains.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Conservatives on social media are having a field day mocking the Democratic National Committee for featuring a handful of ‘beyond parody’ moments during its leadership vote over the weekend, which critics say underscores that Democrats have ‘learned absolutely nothing’ from their 2024 election losses. 

The DNC voted to elect Minnestota Democrat Party leader Ken Martin as its chair on Saturday, after eight candidates vied to succeed Jaime Harrison. Following the Democratic Party’s losses in November, when Republicans reclaimed the White House and Senate and retained control of the House, the DNC’s chair vote serves as a fresh slate for the party as they ramp up strategies and fundraising for the next election cycle. 

Conservatives and critics took to social media over the weekend to highlight what they viewed as the most out of touch speeches and comments from party leaders, including the election of left-wing activist David Hogg as one of its three co-chairs. Hogg is an outspoken gun control advocate and the co-founder of March for Our Lives, a gun control group that was formed after the Parkland school shooting in 2018. 

‘DNC Vice Chair David Hogg has some legitimately INSANE views that are wildly out of step with the American people. Good to see that the Democrat Party has learned absolutely nothing,’ conservative communicator Steve Guest posted to X. 

Hogg, a Parkland school shooting survivor, said from the DNC vote in Maryland that the party will put Republicans ‘on the defense’ in the coming days and reclaim lost political ground. 

‘After Parkland, our country was in a similar moment – where we had a Republican trifecta in Washington,’ the 24-year-old said during the DNC election. ‘We went on the offense, put the Republicans on the defense, and we won. That’s what we need to do right now.’

‘We’re going to show people that the reason people should vote for us isn’t just because we’re not Republicans – it’s because we’re damn Democrats. We give a s—,’ he pledged. ‘And we deliver. Now it’s time to rebuild the party and to rethink the way we’ve been doing things.’

Amid the hours-long vote and gathering of Democrats on Saturday in Maryland, former DNC chief Harrison announced that the elections must be gender-balanced, including when a non-binary candidate is in the running, sparking condemnation from conservatives. 

‘We have an amazing group of new officers. So far, as you know, our three at large vice chair positions are used to ensure gender balance among seven offices: treasury secretary, national finance chair and vice chair for civic engagement and voter participation and the three at large vice chairs. Our rules specify that when we have a non-binary candidate or officer, the non-binary individual is counted as neither male nor female, and the remaining six offices must be gender balanced with the results of the previous four elections. Our elected officers are currently two male and two female. In order to be gender balanced… we must elect one male, one female, and one person of any gender.’

Before the election kicked off on Saturday, the eight candidates had traveled to Georgetown University for a forum co-hosted by MSNBC on Thursday, where they declared ‘racism and misogyny’ compounded former Vice President Kamala Harris’ election loss. 

‘So, I’m going to have a show of hands. How many of you believe that racism and misogyny played a role in Vice President Harris’ defeat?’ MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart asked the eight candidates. 

‘That’s good. You all passed,’ Capehart said after all candidates raised their hands in agreement. 

Republican lawmakers and pundits pounced on clips of the exchange, including Sen. Tommy Tubervile, R-Ala., who quipped that the GOP will expand its majority in the midterms. 

Singing also broke out both during the forum and the vote. Dr. Quintessa Hathaway was in the running for chair and belted out a song with the lyrics, ‘You fight on, when the government is doing you wrong, you fight on’ during the Thursday forum. She also sang another song ahead of the vote on Saturday vowing, ‘We shall overcome.’

Harrison was also spotted on camera singing on Saturday, delivering a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Happy Birthday.’ 

DNC members also ‘acknowledged’ during the vote that the U.S. was ‘built on indigenous lands.’

Ken Martin, who previously slammed Trump as a ‘traitor’ who should be prosecuted for treason, celebrated his win on Saturday, vowing to combat Trump and the Republican Party. 

‘We have one team, one team, the Democratic Party,’ Martin said following his victory. ‘The fight is for our values. The fight is for working people. The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country.’

‘We need to go on offense,’ Martin said. ‘We’re going to go out there and take this fight to Donald Trump and the Republicans.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC on Sunday for comment on the negative backlash over the gathering, but did not immediately receive a reply.  

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

JERUSALEM – The seeming alliance between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Hezbollah terrorist movement is adding greater urgency to calls for the Trump administration to pull the plug on its generous aid to the LAF, some analysts charge.

‘Hezbollah and the Lebanese army are the same,’ Edy Cohen, a Lebanese-born Israeli scholar of Hezbollah, told Fox News Digital. Cohen, a researcher at the Eitan Center, added, ‘Trump must not fund the Lebanese.’ He noted the Lebanese army gave Hezbollah intelligence information about Israel. 

The London-based Times newspaper reported last week that an LAF chief sent a classified document to Hezbollah. The LAF‘s Suhil Bahij Gharb, who oversees military intelligence for southern Lebanon, secured the confidential material from a military facility run by the U.S., France and the U.N. interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the newspaper reported.

On the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the U.S. State Department posted a fact sheet about USA-LAF cooperation. ‘Since 2006, U.S. investments of more than $3 billion to the LAF enabled the Lebanese military to be a stabilizing force against regional threats,’ noted the document.

A senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital that ‘Nothing really has been honored by Hezbollah since 2006’ and ‘Lebanon has a chance because Israel destroyed Hezbollah’s leadership.’ The official added there is a ‘historic opportunity’ with President Aoun. In early January, the Lebanese Parliament elected the commander of the LAF, Joseph Aoun, as president of Lebanon.

The growing questions over the U.S.-LAF partnership come at a time when the U.S. agreed to Israel’s request to extend the ceasefire arrangement between Jerusalem and Hezbollah until Feb. 18. The U.S. government said in a statement, ‘The Government of Lebanon, the Government of Israel, and the Government of the United States will also begin negotiations for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023.’

Hezbollah, however, seeks to inflame the fragile ceasefire, according to Israeli experts.

AP reported that Israeli forces killed two people and wounded 17 last Monday, according to Lebanese health officials. Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Kassem said his group won’t accept the extension of the ceasefire – a stinging indictment of the Lebanese government that agreed to extend the pause in combat.

‘Israel has to withdraw because the 60 days are over,’ Kassem said. ‘We won’t accept any excuses to extend one second or one day.’

‘Any delay in the withdrawal is the responsibility of the United Nations, the U.S., France and Israel,’ he added.

Last week, pro-Hezbollah Shiite residents of southern Lebanon defied Israeli army orders and sought to storm into their villages. As a result, at least 22 people were killed and 124 others injured by Israeli forces, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Hezbollah has used the Shiite villages and residents to attack Israelis since its ally, Hamas, massacred over 1,200 people in southern Israel. Hezbollah launched its attack one day after the Hamas invasion.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Fox News Digital about the fast-moving developments in Lebanon that there is ‘nothing new on that front except what you saw from PMO.’

The PMO is an abbreviation for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. Fox News Digital reported on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, ‘Since the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese government, the gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States.’

When asked about the collusion between the LAF and Hezbollah, the IDF spokesperson said, ‘We won’t comment on that.’

Walid Phares, a leading expert on Hezbollah and Lebanon, told Fox News Digital, ‘It is clear that Hezbollah has had a massive opposition to its military presence in Lebanon at least since May 2008 when they invaded half of the capital and parts of the mountain to bring down the government of the ‘Cedars revolution’ after the Syrian withdrawal in 2005.’

Phares, who has previously advised candidate Trump, added, ‘In Washington, D.C., there is a debate about arming or not the Lebanese army. Hezbollah has a lot of influence in the LAF. Some lawmakers want to stop the support to the army, others preach that maintaining that support will keep it away from Hezbollah.’ 

He recommended a new policy: ‘Rerouting the money to new units in the Lebanese army dedicated only to disarm Hezbollah. These units should report to the command of the army and the president of the republic and should be funded on projects only.’

Phares said, ‘When Israel eliminated the leadership of the terror militia most Lebanese hoped it was the moment to end Hezbollah and have the army disarm it. People hoped Lebanon will be able to free itself and join the Abraham Accords. But again, the Biden administration didn’t help because of the Iran deal.’

Foreign policy critics of the Biden administration argued that he was wedded to the Iran nuclear deal and did not want to pick fights with Iranian regime allies, so he rekindled the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Tehran. Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal because, he argued, it did not stop Tehran from building a nuclear bomb.

IDF Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, president and founder of the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center, told Fox News Digital, ‘Hezbollah is coming back in south Lebanon [and is] opposed to the arrangement. The Lebanese Army is not fulfilling its mission to deploy effectively in south Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah from coming back.’

A spokesman for Lebanon’s embassy referred Fox News Digital to a spokesperson in Beirut, who did not answer multiple press queries.

Zehavi, who lives close to the Lebanese border, said, ‘We did not see the Lebanese Army disarming Hezbollah. Hezbollah is coming back to those towns. If there are still weapons in those towns, I believe there is, it means that they will be capable of executing terror attacks.’

She said, ‘It is within the interests of Hezbollah to cause death, to cause friction to its own Lebanese civilians. And to present the IDF as a force that should not be in Lebanon.’ She warned, ‘We should not fall into the fake message of Hezbollah.’ Zehavi said after the second war in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel it was agreed that Hezbollah should not be in south Lebanon. UNIFIL has ignored the Hezbollah military buildup since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, according to Israel.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital press query about whether the American government will end aid to the LAF.

THE Associated Press contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Amid a wave of early shakeups in the new administration, President Donald Trump has twice this month proposed ‘denuclearization’ talks with U.S. adversaries.

‘Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capacity is something we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it,’ Trump mused in remarks to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, last week. 

‘I want to see if we can denuclearize, and I think it’s very possible,’ suggesting talks on the issue between the U.S., Russia and China. 

Such an idea could represent a major thawing in U.S. relations with two global adversaries – but beg the question of whether the U.S. could trust the nations to hold up their end of the deal. 

President Vladimir Putin announced Russia would suspend its participation in the New START treaty in 2023 over U.S. support for Ukraine. Russia had frequently been caught violating the terms of the deal. But China has never engaged in negotiations with the U.S. over arms reduction. 

Trump reiterated to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday that he’d been close to a ‘denuclearization’ deal with Russia during his first term. 

‘I was dealing with Putin about the denuclearization of Russia and the United States. And then we were going to bring China along on that one. I was very close to having a deal. I would have made a deal with Putin on that denuclearization. It’s very dangerous and very expensive, and that would have been great, but we had a bad election that interrupted us.’

The Defense Department now expects that China will have more than 1,000 nuclear warheads, a near-doubling of the estimated 600 they possess right now. 

In a speech on Jan. 17, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that ‘amid a ‘hybrid war’ waged by Washington against Russia, we aren’t seeing any basis, not only for any additional joint measures in the sphere of arms control and reduction of strategic risks, but for any discussion of strategic stability issues with the United States.’

But Putin, in an address on Monday, struck a more diplomatic tone: ‘We see the statements by the newly elected president… about the desire to restore direct contacts with Russia. We also hear his statement about the need to do everything possible to prevent World War III. We, of course, welcome this attitude.’ 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said of Trump’s comments at a news conference on Wednesday: ‘China’s development of nuclear weapons is a historic choice forced to be made. As a responsible major country, China is committed to the path of peaceful development and friendly cooperation with all countries in the world.’

Experts argue Russia is using its leverage over nuclear arms control as a means for the U.S. agreeing to favorable terms to end the war with Ukraine.

‘Russians are ‘me first’ painstaking negotiators, and what they’re doing in this case, is they’re clearly laying a bit of a trap,’ said John Erath of the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.

‘It makes sense dangling arms control, which they perceive as something that we want, in front of us and saying, ‘Oh, by the way, we’ll talk about reducing nuclear weapons,’ as an incentive to get us to throw the Ukrainians under the bus.’

But whether Trump was revealing a policy priority or speaking on a whim with the Davos comments is anyone’s guess.  

The president took heat during his first term for meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to discuss nuclear reduction. That effort fell apart, and Trump resorted to threatening to rain ‘fire and fury’ on North Korea. 

‘I think he’s very sensitive to the dangers of nuclear war, and realizes that in many ways, we’re closer to that today than we have been in many, many decades,’ said George Beebe, a director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. 

One thing most experts agree on is that the U.S. nuclear program is expensive and outdated. With some 3,700 warheads in its arsenal, the U.S. is expected to spend $756 billion to store and maintain its nuclear weapons between 2023 and 2032. 

‘Regardless of reductions, however, the administration and Congress must continue modernizing and ensuring the reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal while eliminating excessive spending where possible,’ said Andrea Stricker, deputy director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s nonproliferation program. 

Arms experts admit that Russia has cheated on arms treaties, but U.S. intelligence capabilities have grown to ensure compliance.

‘We’ve done it throughout the Cold War to varying degrees, and I think we’ve gotten better and more capable in our intelligence community of monitoring compliance with these sorts of things. So that is certainly a feasible approach to take,’ said Beebe.

But China and Russia aren’t the only U.S. adversaries with nuclear weapons. North Korea is estimated to have an arsenal of 50 nuclear warheads, Iran is on the precipice of enriching uranium to potent enough levels for a bomb. 

‘Before engaging in arms control talks, Washington needs a strategy for how it will simultaneously deter two peer nuclear competitors, Russia and China, which could combine forces with states like North Korea and Iran to attack or coerce the United States,’ said Stricker.

In the four decades between the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan in 1945 and the first arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia, the world was on edge as the two superpowers raced to claim the world’s largest arsenal. In 1987, Washington and Moscow signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which led to the dismantling of thousands of bombs.

But over the years, the U.S. and Russia lost their monopoly on civilization-ending weapons: now nine countries are nuclear-armed, rendering bilateral treaties less and less effective. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, is taking aim at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and, according to senior congressional sources, moved to seize control of the independent agency over the weekend.

The senior congressional sources told Fox News that more than 50 senior USAID staff members were placed on administrative leave and subjected to a gag order, meaning they were not allowed to communicate with anyone outside the agency without approval.

Signs were also removed from USAID’s headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., and the DOGE team took over the computer systems, the sources said. USAID is responsible for distributing civilian foreign aid and development assistance to countries around the globe. The agency managed approximately $40 billion in appropriations last year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

On Sunday, the Associated Press reported that the Trump administration placed two top security chiefs at USAID on leave after refusing to turn over classified material in restricted areas to DOGE.

After initially being refused access to USAID’s classified information, DOGE eventually gained that access on Saturday, allowing them to see things like intelligence reports, a current and a former U.S. official told the AP.

The DOGE team members lacked high enough security clearance to access the information, so the two USAID security officials – John Voorhees and deputy Brian McGill – believed they were legally obligated to deny access.

On Sunday, Musk took aim at USAID on his social media platform X, writing, ‘USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.’

He also wrote several other posts about the agency, saying things like, ‘USAID was a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America’ and ‘USAID is evil.’

The latter was in response to a post suggesting USAID helped fund coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, which referred to an interaction posted on Forbes between Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and now former USAID Administrator Samantha Power in April 2023.

ABC News reported that those familiar with USAID were questioning whether the moves at USAID were being made in an effort to move the agency under the State Department, where there could be better accountability.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., turned to social media on Sunday to sound off on the ‘dismantling’ of USAID.

‘Trump and Musk are recklessly and illegally dismantling USAID, an essential national security agency that saves lives, advances U.S. interests, and promotes peace,’ Booker wrote. ‘Their malicious actions are putting the health of people, especially children, at grave risk, and will surely lead to future public health and migration crises in the U.S. – let alone suffering around the globe.’ 

Last week, at least 56 USAID officials were placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits, and several hundred contractors based in Washington and elsewhere were laid off.

The actions came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting on Trump’s executive order, paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and USAID.

The 90-day pause has halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide and forced aid organizations to lay off hundreds of employees because they can’t make payroll.

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Costco and the Teamsters union have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, avoiding a strike, the union said Saturday.

Teamsters spokesman Matthew McQuaid confirmed the agreement, which will have to be approved by members. Details of the agreement weren’t immediately available. The Associated Press left a message seeking comment with Costco.

The Teamsters union represents 18,000 Costco workers in six states: California, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and New York. Overall, Costco has 219,000 U.S. employees and 617 U.S. stores. The company said its labor agreement with the Teamsters applies to less than 10% of those stores.

On Jan. 20, Teamsters members at Costco voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike if a new three-year contract agreement wasn’t reached by midnight Friday, when the current contract expired.

Union members wanted the Issaquah, Washington, company to make a contract offer that reflects its sales and profit growth. Costco’s revenue rose 5% to $254 billion in its most recent fiscal year, which ended Sept. 1. The company reported net income of $7.36 billion, double its profit in 2019.

“Costco Teamsters deserve an industry-leading contract that reflects the company’s massive profits. If Costco thinks they can exploit our members while raking in billions, we’ll shut them down,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS