President Donald Trump said during a meeting with the Irish prime minister in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ‘has become a Palestinian.’ 

Trump made the remark while speaking out against Democrats’ reactions to his joint address to Congress last week.

‘Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. You know, he’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian,’ Trump said. 

Schumer is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history. His office did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Trump’s comment came during his response to a reporter’s question about lowering taxes. 

‘We are planning to lower taxes. Yeah. If the Democrats behave,’ Trump said, before condemning outbursts and other disruptive behavior from Democrats during his first address to Congress last week. 

Trump particularly took issue with Democrats’ behavior when he recognized the mothers of two women murdered by illegal immigrants, as well as when Trump celebrated a boy with cancer becoming an honorary Secret Service agent. 

‘The only thing they liked is when they heard about the death taking place with Ukraine, that they were happy about,’ Trump said of Democrats. 

‘Pocahontas was very happy,’ Trump said, using his term for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

‘These people are sick. They don’t know what’s happening in the real world. The Democrats have to get their act together, and if they don’t vote, then what?’ Trump said. ‘You’re going to have taxes that are going to go through the roof. You’re going to have a very bad time. You’re going to have some very bad things happen and people are going to blame the Democrats.’

Trump was asked earlier if a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been scheduled. He declined to comment but championed the negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Ukraine accepted the terms of a potential ceasefire, and Trump said Wednesday it was now up to Russia whether to accept the terms of the deal. 

‘We had a great success yesterday. We have a full cease-fire when it, if it kicks in, we have to see, it’s up to Russia now. But we’ve had a good relationship with both parties,’ Trump said. ‘People are going to Russia right now as we speak, and hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia. And if we do, I think that would be 80% of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath — and it’s a bloodbath that is taking place over there.’ 

On average, Trump said, between 2,000 and 3,000 young people are being killed in the Ukraine-Russian conflict per week. 

‘And that stupid war, that would have never happened if I were president,’ Trump said, also repeating the claim that the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel would never have happened if he were in office at the time.

As far as past conversations with Putin, Trump said, ‘I’ve gotten some positive messages, but a positive message means nothing.’ 

‘This is a very serious situation. This is a situation that could lead to World War Three, and Biden should have never let it happen,’ Trump said. ‘Incompetence allowed this to happen. This shouldn’t have happened. October 7th in the Middle East should have never happened with Israel. The horrible, leaving the way they left Afghanistan should have never happened. Inflation should have never happened.’

The social media reactions are pouring in after President Donald Trump took the driver’s seat to support Elon Musk. Tesla’s stock rebounded Tuesday after facing a steep decline to start the week amid the ongoing protests at Tesla showrooms across the country. 

While Tesla stocks rose, Democrats looked down at Trump’s latest charade – accusing him of running a Tesla ad at the White House. 

‘I’m sure all the people losing their retirement, jobs, and health care because of Trump are glad to see the White House turned into a car dealership for the richest man on the planet,’ DNC Chair Ken Martin said in an X post. 

Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Trump about his message to Americans who are facing financial uncertainty and worried about their retirement accounts while the president was buying a new Tesla. Trump told Doocy he had to order foreign tariffs to boost the American economy. 

‘Well, I think they’re going to do great. I think our country had to do this. We had to go and do this. They’ve taken away – other countries have taken away our business. They have taken away our jobs,’ Trump replied. ‘This economy, in my opinion, is going to blow it away.’

‘I have to do this. I have to get the workers back. I have to get the factories open. We have 90,000 factories and plants are closed… We’re taking it back. We’re taking our jobs back,’ Trump added. 

Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., were quick to oppose Trump’s Tesla photo op. ‘Grocery prices are soaring. Housing costs are skyrocketing. Retirement savings are plummeting. But Donald Trump thought today would be a good day to play car salesman,’ Warren said in a post. 

‘Elon Musk just used taxpayer money to host a car sale at the White House after cutting funding for schools and preparing to fire 80,000 VA workers,’ the Democratic National Committee (DNC) posted. 

‘Earlier today, while hard-working Americans were watching their retirement savings plummet, President Trump was filming a Tesla ad in front of the White House to help Elon Musk’s failing stock. This is a brazen conflict of interest and corruption in broad daylight,’ Democrats on the House Committee on Financial Services said. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) posted a photo of Musk and Trump standing by the president’s new red Tesla, calling them the ‘most corrupt administration in American history.’

‘While Republicans were voting to take health care away from families and veterans, Donald Trump hosted a Tesla car show at the White House for his biggest donor. Peak corruption,’ House Whip Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., said. 

An image of Trump holding handwritten notes about the Tesla cars earned the ire of Democrats on social media. President Joe Biden was often mocked during his term for relying on note cards during press conferences and other public events. 

‘After mocking President Biden for using note cards, Trump got caught red-handed today – holding his own notes on what to say about buying a Tesla, a car he clearly knows nothing about. So, is the media gonna make a big deal out of this? Or nah?’ Democratic political strategist Chris D. Jackson posted on X. 

But Trump admitted he didn’t ‘need notes,’ making a jab at his predecessor. 

‘Do you want my notes? They gave me notes. I’m not Biden. I don’t need notes,’ Trump told reporters before hopping in the driver seat of his new Tesla Model S. ‘You think Biden could get into that car? I don’t think so,’ Trump added. 

Despite the criticism from the left, Musk is taking a victory lap. Musk posted a side-by-side photo of Biden snubbing Tesla at his electric vehicle summit in 2021 next to a photo of the Teslas parked in front of the White House on Tuesday. 

Despite Tesla’s status as the leading manufacturer of electric vehicles in the United States, they were not invited to the White House event in 2021. White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained to reporters those invited were the ‘three largest employers of the United Auto Workers, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.’

Musk reposted a clip of CNN contributor Scott Jennings defending him to Abby Phillip on ‘CNN NewsNight.’ 

‘There’s a video of Joe Biden driving a Jeep around the South Lawn… It’s pretty common for the president to boost American industries… He obviously has a close relationship with Elon, who, by the way, is, I think, unfairly under attack and this company is unfairly under attack. You have these insane people all over the country chasing people down in their Teslas in New York City. I had a friend who tried to trade his Tesla in New York the other day, and there were protesters screaming at his children.’

Conservatives on social media were quick to defend Trump’s Tesla purchase on Tuesday, reminding liberals that Biden drove a hybrid Jeep Wrangler 4xe around the White House grounds to promote his EV initiative. 

‘I don’t remember you being a Karen when Biden was a car salesman for Jeep,’ co-owner of Trending Politics Collin Rugg replied to Warren’s post. 

‘Teslas are the #1 most American-made cars. Unlike GM, Ford, and Stellantis, every Tesla sold in America is built in America by American workers. Tesla’s Fremont factory in California is the single most productive auto plant in North America,’ EV journalist Sawyer Merritt said in a post. 

‘I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American,’ Trump announced late Monday night. 

‘To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,’ Trump said on Truth Social. 

Trump’s show of support for Musk comes on the heels of protests at Tesla showrooms across the country that have escalated to several instances of vandalism. The demonstrations began as protests against Elon Musk’s leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which has led to massive federal workforce reductions and unveiled wasteful government spending. 

‘It’s really terrible that there’s so much violence being perpetrated against people at Tesla, Tesla supporters, Tesla owners, Tesla stores. These are innocent people who have done nothing wrong,’ Musk told reporters on Tuesday. 

‘Elon Musk is being attacked, and his companies are being targeted because he is fighting to put Americans first,’ Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., defended Musk in a post. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and fellow Republican House members have called for investigations into the numerous vandalism cases against Tesla vehicles and charging stations across the country. Trump labeled the Tesla attacks ‘domestic terrorism.’

Chaos erupted in Congress on Tuesday, when a Republican ‘misgendered’ a fellow House member. But maybe it was really just a case of a politician doing the unthinkable: telling the truth.

Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe Subcommittee, referred to trans Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., as ‘Mr. McBride,’ causing a heated exchange that brought the hearing to a crashing halt. Ranking Democrat Bill Keating, of Massachusetts, rode to McBride’s rescue.

‘Mr. Chairman, you are out of order!’ Keating thundered. ‘Mr. Chairman, have you no decency?’ he harumphed, channeling the well-worn phrase from the 1950s McCarthy hearings. ‘This is not decent.’

Now, we all understand that if we meet a trans person at a party or a ballgame, we can work around the pronouns and not be a jerk about it. But a congressional hearing is not a private event, it is the official public speech of our government. It should reflect objective reality.

In other words, Self did exactly the right thing to do in that official situation so as not to publicly sanction a delusion.

Over the past decade, since around the time orange became the new black, our society has struggled with how to show deference to those who wish to live as the gender they aren’t while pursuing public policies that protect women.

But that was always the wrong question. That kind of accommodation for the idea that human beings can transubstantiate their gender was always going to bind us in the knots we face today regarding women’s sports, or women-only spaces such as prisons, shelters and restrooms.

It is as if many Americans, including many conservatives, have been saying, ‘Okay, this is pretend, but we will go along with it as long as nobody gets hurt.’

The problem is that the simple acceptance of the delusional position that everyone can choose their own gender hurts lots of people, not least of all children and young adults who are seduced by the almost godlike power of supposedly overcoming nature itself.

‘It is because of adults in the room who entertained the lie that I was born in the wrong body and needed to transition that I now suffer from irreversible damage to my body.’                                             — Prisha Mosley

As it turns out, the following day on Capitol Hill, Independent Women Ambassador Prisha Mosley was in attendance for Detransitioners Awareness Day. At just 16, Prisha, who seemed sure she was really a boy, had a double mastectomy, which she now regrets, but cannot undo.

‘It is because of adults in the room who entertained the lie that I was born in the wrong body and needed to transition that I now suffer from irreversible damage to my body,’ Mosley told Fox News Digital. ‘The truth is not transphobic. It is never loving to lie.’

This happened in no small part because good, decent people who wanted to be polite have allowed the unscientific and frankly absurd notion that people can switch their genders to gain legitimacy, to at least be a matter of opinion.

It is not a matter of opinion, it has never been a matter of opinion, and it never will be a matter of opinion.

Just days ago in Calgary, I ran into a protest against the policy of putting men in women’s prisons, and we talked about how, 10 years ago, people were nervous about questioning the quasi-religious trans ideology even in private conversation. Today, reality can be proudly spoken, and should be.

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein argued convincingly that language is not merely the vessel of our thoughts, it is the driver of our thoughts. Once we allow the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ to mean something other than what biological reality dictates, that choice drives us to the madness and irreversible consequences we are seeing now.

Perhaps all of our efforts to accommodate the lie of transgenderism over the past decade have come from a true place of caring and kindness. But it doesn’t matter, it is hurting people badly, and it has to stop right now.

Will the process of restoring reality on this issue lead to awkward and even volatile moments and situations like we saw in Tuesday’s congressional meltdown? Absolutely. Will those who defend truth be called bigots? Without question. 

But when we hear stories like that of Prisha Mosley, and so many others whose lives were forever altered by the insidious lie of transgenderism, we know that whatever slings and arrows come our way, acceptance of the lie makes us complicit.

Somewhere right now, a young woman or man is contemplating transition, willing to risk irreversible surgery, or even their own fertility to try to become something they never can be. For their sake, we must stop pretending and firmly place our boots back on the solid ground of biological reality. 

Former President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sought to ‘de-gender’ bathrooms and locker rooms in agency offices as part of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) push, according to an unearthed memo confirmed to Fox News Digital.

A Biden-era EPA internal memo, obtained by the watchdog Functional Government Initiative and first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, recommended that the federal environmental agency ‘increase participation in voluntary self-disclosure of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI)’ and ‘incorporate LGBTQIA+ prospective employees into hiring and recruiting activities.’

The Biden administration also pushed to ‘de-gender restroom/locker room access’ at agency offices, ‘add gender pronouns in MS 360’ and ‘change style manual requirement for gendered honorifics in Agency Correspondence,’ according to the 38-page report, which the EPA confirmed to Fox News Digital.

The agency highlighted their efforts toward ‘increased access to gender-neutral bathrooms,’ revealing that a nationwide survey conducted by the Office of Facilities Management found that, at the time, there were 155 gender-neutral bathrooms and locker rooms for the entire agency. 

Additionally, according to the memo, only four of their 10 regional offices did not have gender-neutral bathrooms.

Another objective of the Biden EPA included ensuring ‘inclusion of LGBTQIA+ employees in recruitment efforts, career development and training, data collection, analysis, and measurement, DEIA employee engagement, sustainability, accountability, and accessibility.’

In accordance with Biden’s order making DEI a priority of his administration, the EPA charged ‘all agencies with taking steps to ensure that Federal employees have their gender identities accurately reflected and identified in the workplace, including by exploring opportunities to expand access to gender-neutral facilities inside federal workplaces.’

‘Ignoring actual issues plaguing our nation, the Biden administration, unsurprisingly, chose to expend resources on controversial DEI initiatives,’ Functional Government Initiative told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘De-gendering restrooms and diverting staff time to these policies did nothing for EPA’s statutory mission. Yet, the Biden administration fostered dysfunction by advancing radical ideologies of the few, at the expense of the many.’

The report comes as President Donald Trump’s EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin reworks the key environmental agency with the termination of hundreds of millions in DEI and environmental grants issued by the previous administration. 

The EPA has been working closely with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the cost-cutting department led by Elon Musk, to make the spending cuts.

‘I am canceling over 400 DEI and Environmental Justice grants across 9 grant programs totaling $1.7 BILLION, bringing @EPA’s total savings to over $2 BILLION!’ Zeldin wrote in a post on X on Monday. ‘This fourth round of EPA/@DOGE cuts was our biggest yet.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order seeking to penalize Democrat-linked law firm Perkins Coie, siding with plaintiffs from the firm who argued that the order was unconstitutional and a violation of due process protections. 

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell comes just one day after attorneys representing the law firm Perkins Coie filed a request for an emergency restraining order blocking Trump’s executive order from taking force. 

Among other things, the order called for the firm’s employees to be stripped of their security clearances and banned from accessing government buildings. It also called for the termination of the firm’s existing contracts with government clients— actions Judge Howell appeared to agree with.

‘That’s pretty extraordinary power for the president to exercise,’ she noted during the hearing.

Attorneys for Perkins Coie argued that the executive order is a violation of due process protections, free speech, and free association protections under the U.S. constitution, and argued it would effectively force the firm’s business to a halt.

‘It truly is life-threatening,’ attorneys for Perkins Coie told the judge. ‘It will spell the end of the law firm.’

Judge Howell appeared to uphold their concerns, noting at one point in the hearing that it ‘sends little chills down my spine’ that the Trump administration moved to label the firm as a threat and deny them access to government entities and businesses. 

Lawyers for Perkins Coie argued the executive order would be ‘like a tsunami waiting to hit the firm’ in terms of damaging impact. Already, they said, there is evidence that some of the firm’s clients have withdrawn legal work from their firm or are considering doing so, moves they said would cause the firm to lose ‘signifcant revenue.’

The order, signed by President Donald Trump last week, sought to penalize Perkins Coie, which has long represented Democratic-linked causes and candidates, including Trump’s former opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election. 

The firm also played a role in hiring Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that commissioned the so-called ‘Steele Dossier’ and published it shortly before the 2016 election. 

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, appeared in federal court to represent the Trump administration in the lawsuit. The hearing, and rare court appearance from Mizelle, a senior member of the U.S. attorney general’s office, comes one week after Trump signed the executive order.

The order, titled ‘Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP,’ accused Perkins Coie of ‘dishonest and dangerous activity’ that they alleged undermines ‘democratic elections, the integrity of our courts, and honest law enforcement,’ as well as ‘racially discriminating against its own attorneys and staff’ through its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Trump told reporters last week it was an ‘absolute honor’ to sign the order, adding that ‘weaponization’ against a political opponent ‘should never be allowed to happen again.’

However, Perkins Coie attorneys argue the Trump administration has done just that by targeting the firm. 

‘Its plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the President perceives as adverse to the views of his Administration, whether those views are presented on behalf of paying or pro bono clients,’ they noted in the emergency lawsuit.

Attorneys representing Perkins Coie told Howell that roughly 25% of total firm revenue comes from its contracts with government clients, which they noted would be terminated by Trump’s executive order.

Notably, this is not the first time the Trump administration has sought to restrict the work of certain law firms he sees as potentially opposed to his interests.

Earlier this year, Trump also issued an executive order targeting the law firm Covington & Burling, which represents former special counsel Jack Smith, who was tapped by Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate Trump in his handling of classified documents and actions related to the 2020 election.

The order against Covington & Burling was slightly less restrictive, however, and revoked the security clearances of just two lawyers at the firm. Like Perkins Coie, it orderd the review of all the firm’s government contracts and clients, though it is unclear if the review has forced any terminations of the contracts.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

A longtime ally of California Gov. Gavin Newsom repeatedly helped a now-former CCP official while she was serving as the Chinese consul in San Francisco, according to a LinkedIn post unearthed by Fox News Digital.

Ying He, who served as the Chinese consul general in San Francisco between 2012 and 2016, lavished praise on Darlene Chiu-Bryant in a 2017 LinkedIn recommendation, calling the former Newsom aide and longtime ally of the governor a ‘Super lady.’

‘Darlene is the right person when you need to develop business (sic) in either California or Beijing,’ said He, who was serving as the division director for the Ministry of Commerce, a CCP government arm, at the time of the 2017 LinkedIn post. ‘She is an excellent PR professional and able to fulfill the most challenging tasks. She helped me a lot when I was consul in SF, promoting US-Sino investment and trade. In all, she is a friend in need and a Super Lady indeed.’

He’s LinkedIn reveals that she has served in multiple roles at the Ministry of Commerce for over a decade and her profile boasts that she has ‘extensive connections with Chinese and U.S. governments’ and ’15+ years with a Chinese central government agency and 4 years as a diplomat in San Francisco.’

At the time of the LinkedIn post, Bryant was serving as the executive director of ChinaSF, which is facing renewed scrutiny for its ties to the CCP and recruiting over 100 Chinese companies into San Francisco, according to a new book Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Monday. In the book, there is a chapter dedicated to how Newsom helped launch a nonprofit organization almost a decade earlier, in 2008. 

One of the several companies discussed in the book was Suntech, a Chinese solar company developed by the CCP that was personally recruited by Newsom into the U.S., and he publicly praised the company’s CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi, multiple times, and made him an advisory board member for ChinaSF. 

In addition to green energy companies that streamed through ChinaSF, real estate companies were also involved, and the book alleges that Newsom received over $23,000 in anonymous contributions from Chinese real estate company Z&L, whose billionaire owner was criminally sentenced for bribing a San Francisco government official. In 2017, ChinaSF posted a photo of Bryant, Newsom and others in front of a wall that said Z&L Properties.

‘ChinaSF was started by our Lt Governor Gavin Newsom when he was Mayor of San Francisco in 2008,’ the photo caption said. ‘Proud to work with our partners and companies recruited to the SF Bay Area.’

According to China Daily, a Chinese state media outlet, Newsom launched the group while visiting Shanghai.

‘The two most important things for us are energy independence and establishing a stronger relationship with China,’ Newsom said ahead of the trip.

Bryant, who traveled with Newsom to China in 2005 when she was serving as his deputy communications director and would later be tapped to run ChinaSF, was repeatedly mentioned in a chapter in the new book, ‘Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All.’

In the book, authors Susan Crabtree and Jedd McFatter make the case that ChinaSF served as a gateway for CCP officials and Chinese criminals to exploit California. In addition to the book exposing how Bryant was referred to locally as ‘the Fixer’ for any Chinese businesses ‘wanting to make hay in San Francisco,’ her personal Facebook profile and other Facebook pages are littered with photos showing her involvement with ChinaSF. There are also several photos of her and Newsom, in addition to other California politicians.

In 2019, GlobalSF posted a photo of Newsom and Bryant at an event. The photo caption, which appears to be written by Bryant, called Newsom a ‘visionary leader.’

‘So good to see my ex boss now Governor of our Golden State of [California], [Gavin Newsom],’ the post said. ‘As a visionary leader, he started [ChinaSF] in 2008 to be the China Desk for the city and county of [San Francisco] to facilitate inbound investment.’

Another photo on Facebook shows Bryant attending Newsom’s inauguration in early 2019.

Fox News Digital has previously reported on another prominent Chinese consul general, Huang Ping, who oversaw the office in New York City for several years and often promoted CCP propaganda while publicly denying the alleged Uyghur genocide in China. 

In addition to his controversial public statements, Ping would often travel to U.S. universities and other events, meeting with business leaders and elected officials, sparking concerns from some about potential influence peddling for the CCP.

‘The Chinese Communist Party is playing for keeps at the nuclear level and every layer below that,’ Michael Sobolik, author of ‘Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance,’ told Fox News Digital last year. ‘And it’s not just the universities. The Chinese Communist Party is looking to infiltrate every aspect of American society.’

‘If we try to edit undo our way out of this whole list of infiltrations and threats that the CCP sends our direction that’s good policy work. We need to insulate ourselves. But good housekeeping is the bare minimum of waging a cold war and winning a cold war,’ Sobolik added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment and received a response pointing to an article about conspiracy theories with the headline, ‘Conspiracy theorists really do see the world differently, new study shows.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Bryant, but did not receive a response by press time.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer set the tone for her leadership at the agency, reaffirming in a memo to agency executive staff and agency heads that they must comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained the memo Chavez-DeRemer sent to senior staff at the Department of Labor Wednesday — her first official day on the job. 

‘I am honored to join you as the 30th Secretary of Labor,’ Chavez-DeRemer wrote. ‘It is with a deep sense of responsibility that I step into this role, and I am excited about the opportunity to work alongside each of you to implement President Trump’s agenda and carry out the important mission of the Labor Department.’ 

‘I want to take this opportunity to emphasize our mission: to protect workers’ rights and ensure safe working conditions; ensure proper wages for all American workers; promote employee training; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for job growth; and assure work-related benefits including pensions,’ she continued. ‘To achieve this, we must stand strong in our commitment to Putting American Workers First.’

Chavez-DeRemer said that principle ‘is at the core of everything we do, and it guides our efforts to enhance the lives of workers across our nation.’ 

‘Under the leadership of President Trump, our focus remains on promoting job creation, enhancing workforce development, and ensuring safe working conditions, wages, and pensions so that every American has the opportunity to succeed,’ she continued. ‘I challenge each of you to actively engage with your teams to identify innovative solutions that can help us achieve our goals.’ 

Chavez-DeRemer said that the Labor Department must align with the priorities of the Trump administration and ‘must focus on practicing fiscal responsibility, reducing unnecessary spending, and optimizing our resources to ensure that taxpayer dollars are utilized effectively.’ 

‘At the direction of the President, the Department of Labor has already saved the American taxpayer $125 million, and this important work must continue to root out waste, fraud, and abuse,’ she wrote. ‘I urge each of you to conduct a review of your budgets and operations and identify opportunities for cost savings that can be redirected toward initiatives that directly benefit the American worker and businesses that drive our economy.’ 

Chavez-DeRemer said that those priorities ‘are central to our mission and are essential for ensuring that we serve the American people by creating a level playing field for businesses, unions, and the American worker.’

‘By adhering to the principles of fiscal responsibility and efficiency, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of Americans,’ she wrote.

Fox News Digital has learned that the Labor Department canceled $125 million in contracts, including $32 million in diversity, equity and inclusion training and consulting, along with discriminatory DEIA duties from more than 100 contracts. It also shut down internal gender ideology programs. The Labor Department also canceled $56 million in communication support redundancies and $4.4 million for ‘policy handbook modernization.’ 

Chavez-DeRemer is instructing agency heads within the Department of Labor to conduct a review of budgets and identify opportunities for cost savings, including ‘wasteful contract spending,’ and recommendations to ‘cut redundancies and low-performing employees,’ a source told Fox News Digital. 

Meanwhile, Chavez-DeRemer said that she looks forward to meeting with staff individually in the coming days to discuss ‘your agency priorities and how we can collectively advance the Department’s mission.’ 

‘Thank you for your dedication to our mission of Putting American Workers First as we work together on behalf of President Trump to usher in a new Golden Age of economic prosperity,’ she wrote. ‘I look forward to collaborating to create a positive impact on the lives of millions of workers and their families.’ 

She added: ‘Let’s get to work.’ 

The Department of Labor has nearly 14,000 employees. 

‘The Secretary is fired up and ready to start fighting for the American Worker under the leadership of President Trump and his America First Agenda, and that starts with implementing the President’s executive orders and partnering with DOGE to ensure the Labor Department is safeguarding hardworking Americans’ tax dollars,’ a Department of Labor spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Chavez-DeRemer was the final person of Trump’s formal Cabinet to be confirmed. She was confirmed by the Senate Monday night with a 67–32 vote margin. Seventeen Democrats voted with Republicans to confirm her. 

Chavez-DeRemer was sworn-in Tuesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building by Florida Rep. Laurel Lee.

President Donald Trump criticized actress Rosie O’Donnell and her decision to move to Ireland during his White House meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin Wednesday.

When a reporter asked Irish Prime Minister Martin why he allowed the American comedian to move to the country, Trump was quick to respond. 

‘Ireland is known for very happy, fun-loving people,’ a reporter noted to Martin at the White House. 

‘Why in the world would you let Rosie O’Donnell move to Ireland?’ the reporter asked. ‘I think she is going to lower your happiness.’

Before Martin could answer, Trump chimed in and replied, ‘That’s true, I like that question. Do you know you have Rosie O’Donnell? Do you know who she is? You’re better off not knowing.’

Reps for O’Donnell did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Trump made the comments after the comedian revealed she has been living in Ireland and is in the process of applying for Irish citizenship.

‘It’s been pretty wonderful, I have to say,’ the 62-year-old said in a video on TikTok. ‘And the people have been so loving, so kind and so welcoming. And I’m very grateful.’

O’Donnell said she left the country Jan. 15, five days before President Trump’s inauguration.

‘Although I was someone who never thought I would move to another country, that’s what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old child,’ she explained. 

O’Donnell and Trump have been involved in a feud since 2006 after she criticized him on ‘The View’ about his leniency toward a Miss USA winner who had been accused of drug use and other bad behavior. 

Trump responded to the criticism by calling O’Donnell a ‘real loser.’

At the time, in reference to Miss USA Tara Conner, Trump said he was a ‘believer in second chances. Tara is a good person. Tara has tried hard. Tara is going to be given a second chance.’

In 2014, O’Donnell claimed her feud with Trump resulted in the ‘most bullying I ever experienced in my life.’

Since Trump’s first presidential run and win, O’Donnell joked to ‘Late Night’ host Seth Meyers about how she spends ‘about 90% of my working hours tweeting hatred toward this administration.’

In 2015, Trump harshly replied to a question regarding O’Donnell during the Republican primary debate. 

When Trump was asked about having called women disparaging names like ‘fat pigs’ and ‘slob,’ he laughed and answered, ‘Only Rosie O’Donnell.’

During last year’s election, Trump brought up O’Donnell’s name again when he told a crowd at the October Al Smith dinner that ‘The View’ had gotten ‘so bad’ that showrunners ‘really need to bring Rosie O’Donnell back.’

Despite her ongoing sparring with Trump, O’Donnell said she and her daughters are ‘happy’ in Ireland. 

‘I miss my other kids,’ she added of her five grown children. ‘I miss my friends. I miss many things about life there at home. And I’m trying to find a home here in this beautiful country. And when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that’s when we will consider coming back.’

‘The Flintstones’ star additionally said she thinks about the U.S. every day, and ‘I am hoping that we can turn things around. I’m counting on you, all of you, to do what’s right. And I think deep down inside we all know what that is.’

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.