In a Thursday press conference, federal authorities in Minnesota announced new charges in the fraud scandal that has grabbed national headlines and spoke on the scope of the crisis, saying that it goes beyond what has previously been reported.

‘Minnesotans and taxpayers deserve to know the truth of the fraud,’ First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson told reporters at a press conference.  ‘The fraud is not small. It isn’t isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated. What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering industrial-scale fraud. It’s swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know about our state.’

Thompson explained that 14 programs have been identified as containing fraud and those programs have cost taxpayers $18 billion overall since 2018.

When asked specifically by a reporter how much of that $18 billion is suspected to be fraudulent, which reports have previously suggested could be around $1 billion, Thompson suggested that number will be higher when the investigations are concluded. 

‘I think a significant portion,’ Thompson responded.

Thompson later said, ‘When I say significant, I’m talking in the order of half or more. But we’ll see.’

Six new defendants have been charged in connection with a Minnesota housing services fraud, Thompson revealed on Thursday.

Two defendants pocketed $750,000 instead of helping Medicaid recipients find stable housing, Thompson said. Prosecutors allege they used the proceeds to travel to international destinations, including London, Istanbul and Dubai.

One defendant submitted $1.4 million in fraudulent claims, using some to purchase cryptocurrency, Thompson said. Federal officials say he fled the country after receiving a subpoena.

The six new defendants join eight others charged in September for their alleged roles in the scheme to defraud the Minnesota Housing Stability Services Program.

Two dependents mentioned by Thompson sent significant sums of money overseas to Kenya, in one case over $200,000.

‘There’s been a significant amount of money sent abroad, mostly to East Africa, much of it to Kenya and to Nairobi, that the money that we’ve traced most, most of which has been used to purchase real estate in Nairobi,’ Thompson said, mentioning the ‘large Somali diaspora’ in those areas.

Prosecutors also named a new defendant accused of defrauding another state-run, federally funded program that provides services for children with autism, alleging he submitted millions of dollars worth of claims for Medicaid reimbursement. One woman previously charged with exploiting that program pleaded guilty Thursday morning, officials said.

Thompson said that two of the dependents aren’t from Minnesota but came from Philadelphia because ‘they heard that Minnesota and its housing stabilization services program was easy money.’

‘What we’re seeing is programs that are just entirely fraudulent,’ Thompson said. ‘These aren’t companies that are providing some services, but overbilling Medicare, Medicaid. These are companies that are providing essentially no services. They’re essentially shell companies created to defraud the program created to submit on a wholesale level, fraudulent claims for services that aren’t necessary and are provided.’

In a press release, dependents were identified as Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf, Anthony Waddell Jefferson, Lester Brown, Hassan Ahmed Hussein, Ahmed Abdirashid Mohamed, and Kaamil Omar Sallah.

Minnesota’s fraud crisis has been in the spotlight in recent weeks as the Trump administration and local Republicans have blasted Minnesota’s elected officials over the scandal, which dates back to at least 2020 and involves fraudulent billing for a wide range of government services, mostly involving, but not limited to, the state’s Somali community. 

‘When I was on the Feeding Our Future case, the big thing that jumped out to me was, honestly, how easy this fraud was to do,’ former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab, who worked on the fraud investigation into Feeding our Future, one of the most high-profile examples of organizations that prosecutors say was propped up by fraud, recently told Fox News Digital. 

‘I mean, these fraudsters were just saying that they were spending all this money on feeding kids, and they were just making up these PDFs, putting false names into Excel sheets. I could do that in five minutes on a computer if I had absolutely no conscience.’

The Trump administration has launched a variety of efforts to crack down and investigate the fraud at a federal level and Fox News Digital first reported that Education Secretary Linda McMahon had sent a letter to Walz calling on him to resign over the scandal. 

‘It’s been allowed to go on for far too long, and we need to do whatever we can to stop it in its tracks,’ Thompson said in the press conference. 

Associated Press contributed to this report.

China denounced the United States for approving an $11.1 billion weapons package for Taiwan, warning that the deal risks turning the island into a ‘powder keg’ and driving the region toward ‘military confrontation and war.’

The unprecedented sale includes 82 HIMARS launchers paired with 420 ATACMS long-range missiles, a combination that would give Taiwan new deep-strike capability across the Taiwan Strait, along with 60 self-propelled howitzers, advanced UAV systems, military software packages and anti-armor weapons.

Beijing accused Taiwan’s leadership of ‘seeking independence through force’ and claimed Washington is using the island to ‘contain China,’ rhetoric that signals heightened tensions even as the U.S. frames the package as essential to bolstering Taiwan’s self-defense.

‘The ‘Taiwan independence’ forces on the island seek independence through force and resist reunification through force, squandering the hard-earned money of the people to purchase weapons at the cost of turning Taiwan into a powder keg,’ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

‘This cannot save the doomed fate of ‘Taiwan independence’ but will only accelerate the push of the Taiwan Strait toward a dangerous situation of military confrontation and war. The U.S. support for ‘Taiwan Independence’ through arms will only end up backfiring. Using Taiwan to contain China will not succeed.’

U.S. officials have not yet detailed delivery timelines, but the sale reflects Washington’s push to accelerate Taiwan’s defenses amid growing concern over China’s military pressure campaign. The HIMARS and ATACMS combination is expected to draw particular attention from Beijing because it would allow Taiwan to target PLA staging areas, ships and infrastructure from mobile launchers, a capability China has repeatedly warned against.

In its notification to Congress, the State Department said the proposed sales would advance ‘U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability.’ 

The department added that the weapons would ‘help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region.’

Under longstanding U.S. policy, Washington provides Taiwan with arms it deems necessary for the island’s self-defense while maintaining a ‘One China’ policy and not supporting a declaration of formal independence. China argues that any enhancement of Taiwan’s defenses encourages separatism, while U.S. officials say the purpose of such sales is to preserve stability and deter conflict.

The package now enters a 30-day congressional review period, during which lawmakers could file a resolution attempting to block it, a step Congress has never taken for an arms sale to Taiwan. Once the review period ends, contracting and production begin, a process that typically stretches over several years and contributes to a backlog that once reached $20 billion in undelivered U.S. weapons Taiwan has already purchased.

China has a track record of responding to major Taiwan arms sales with military demonstrations, including large-scale PLA drills, increased air and naval activity near the island and sanctions on U.S. defense firms. Analysts say Beijing’s sharp rhetoric suggests additional military signaling is likely, though China did not immediately announce specific countermeasures.

The latest sale marks a significant boost to Taiwan’s conventional firepower. In recent months, Beijing has stepped up pressure across the strait with near-daily PLA air and naval patrols, record incursions around the island and high-profile exercises meant to signal its ability to encircle Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung thanked the U.S. Wednesday for its ‘long-term support for regional security and Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,’ which he said are key to deterring a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is incorporating Gen Z messaging and viral jabs at Vice President J.D. Vance into her playbook as she builds momentum for a 2028 presidential run, a Republican political strategist has claimed.

The strategist’s comments came after the New York Democrat used meme-style language and mocked Vance on Dec. 17 over a poll and declared she would ‘stomp him’ if the matchup became real.

‘It is a case of the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so it wouldn’t be surprising that she will run a vibes-based campaign,’ Libby Krieger of the Communications Counsel told Fox News Digital. 

‘This is because a lot of her substance is soundbites or progressive policies,’ Krieger added.

Ocasio-Cortez sparked the first round of attention Wednesday by reposting the Verasight poll on X.

The poll showed her narrowly ahead of Vance, 51% to 49%, in a hypothetical 2028 matchup. Her first response was ‘Bloop!’

Ocasio-Cortez’s communication style morphed into a second message later Wednesday declaring she would ‘stomp him’ if the 2028 race became real.

When asked by a reporter if she thought she could defeat the 41-year-old, she replied: ‘Listen, these polls, like three years out, are, you know, they are what they are. But let the record show: I would stomp him. I would stomp him!’

The two moments highlighted what Krieger says will evolve into a youth-oriented, ‘vibes’-driven campaign targeted toward young voters.

‘AOC is trying to lean into the Gen Z language and connect with younger voters,’ she said. 

‘She is setting up a campaign that would be based more on vibes than on her policy platform.’

Krieger compared the approach to Kamala Harris’ attempt to embrace ‘brat’ culture during the last cycle.

‘This almost seems reminiscent of Kamala’s use of ‘brat’ and her version of that,’ she said.

‘AOC would probably do a little bit better than Kamala in running a campaign based on vibes because she’s younger,’ she explained.

‘But she’ll still have to talk some policy, as not every voter will be content with voting on vibes – and when she does talk policy, they’ll all see how radical she really is.’

‘AOC is not a great candidate because the policies that she has come to be known for are extremely progressive,’ Krieger added.

‘If she were to make it to a general election she would have to center herself a little bit more to the middle, but that’d be hard given the reputation she’s made for herself.’

By contrast, Krieger said Vance holds an advantage with voters who prioritize depth and policy grounding.

‘J.D. Vance has more substance than AOC and I think Americans would see that,’ she said. ‘Vance knows his stuff on nearly every issue and is extremely articulate, and he’s also young.’

She added that both Ocasio-Cortez and Vance tap into newer strains of populism, including a willingness to appear casual or self-aware online.

‘Decorum can sometimes be perceived as elitist or very establishment,’ she said. ‘But Vance has the advantage of not just being a squeaky wheel like AOC while still being young enough to come across as relatable.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and J.D. Vance for comment.

Senate Republicans confirmed nearly 100 of President Donald Trump’s nominees, leapfrogging previous administrations and his own first term in the process in their sprint to finish off the year. 

The confirmation of 97 of Trump’s picks on Thursday with a 53-43 vote marked one of the final bits of floor action in the upper chamber following a blistering pace set out by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., once Republicans gained control of the Senate in January.

Senate Republicans overcame several obstacles throughout the year, including mending intra-party rifts to pass the president’s signature legislation, the ‘one big, beautiful bill,’ and reopening the government after the longest shutdown in history.

But it was confirming Trump’s nominees that proved near impossible within the confines of Senate rules, given that Senate Democrats laid out a blanket objection to even the lowest level positions throughout the government.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., noted that Republicans kicked off the year by confirming Trump’s Cabinet at a breakneck pace, but they soon slammed into a wall of ‘unprecedented obstruction from the Democratic minority.’

‘We began the year by confirming President Trump’s Cabinet faster than any Senate in modern history,’ Barrasso said. ‘And by week’s end, President Trump will have 417 nominees confirmed by the Senate this year. That’s far more than the 365 that Joe Biden had in his first year in office.’

In response, Republicans turned to the nuclear option in September and changed the vote threshold for confirming sub-Cabinet-level positions, and have since confirmed 417 of Trump’s picks.

Thune argued that Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were engaging in ‘nothing more than petty politics,’ not allowing nominees through the typical fast-track processes, like voice votes or unanimous consent, to install low-level presidential nominations.

‘Democrats cannot deal with the fact that the American people elected President Trump, and so they’ve engaged in this pointless political obstruction in revenge,’ Thune said.

With the latest batch of confirmations, Senate Republicans have nearly cleared the backlog of nominees that over the summer had ballooned to nearly 150 picks awaiting lawmakers’ decision. Now, there are only 15 picks left to be confirmed.

Among the list of now-confirmed nominees are former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., to serve as inspector general at the Department of Labor and two picks for the National Labor Relations Board, James Murphy and Scott Mayer, along with several others in nearly every federal agency.

Lawmakers are set to tee up another nominee, Joshua Simmons, who Trump tapped to be the CIA’s special counsel, before the night is over. And they’re still working to move forward with a colossal spending package that ties five appropriations bills together. 

But some Senate Democrats are objecting to the minibus spending package, jeopardizing its chances of hitting the floor before lawmakers flee Capitol Hill. Conversations between Republicans and Democrats are ongoing, and could go deep into the night on a path forward. 

Thune, as he walked onto the Senate floor Thursday night, said that the plan was to at least knock out the nominees package first. 

‘We’ll see where it goes from there,’ he said.

Joint Task Force Southern Spear forces struck two alleged narco-terrorist vessels moving along a major drug corridor in the Eastern Pacific on Thursday, killing five militants without suffering any U.S. casualties.

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) released a video on X showing the opening strike and the aftermath, with the targeted boat engulfed in flames.

‘On Dec. 18, at the direction of [Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,’ the post read. ‘Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations.

‘A total of five male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions — three in the first vessel and two in the second vessel,’ SOUTHCOM added. ‘No U.S. military forces were harmed.’

Joint Task Force Southern Spear was established to help unify Navy, Coast Guard, intelligence and special operations assets to rapidly strike time-sensitive targets at sea.

The Pentagon has not released the identities of the four narco-terrorists killed or the specific terrorist organization involved.

The U.S. has conducted dozens of strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean to dismantle narco-terrorist networks, targeting groups such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and Colombia’s Ejército de Liberación Nacional.

The campaign began Sept. 2 with a strike that killed 11 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, followed by additional operations that reportedly eliminated dozens more across known trafficking routes.

U.S. forces have reportedly hit various types of vessels, including submersibles, fishing boats and high-speed vessels.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration launched its ‘Fentanyl Free America’ plan, with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reporting that strikes on suspected Caribbean drug vessels are helping curb the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.

Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu contributed to this report.

Maria Shriver slammed President Donald Trump on Thursday after the Kennedy Center’s board voted unanimously to rename the institution to the ‘Trump-Kennedy Center,’ accusing him of trying to attach his name to a memorial dedicated to her uncle, President John F. Kennedy.

Shriver, a high-profile member of the Kennedy family, said it is ‘beyond comprehension’ to change the center’s name, accusing Trump of staining JFK’s legacy in art, culture and education.

‘It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy,’ Shriver wrote on X. ‘It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not.’

Kennedy Center vice president of public relations Roma Daravi told Fox Digital Thursday that the unanimous vote ‘recognizes’ Trump’s work to pull the center out of financial straits while working to also update the building originally constructed in the 1960s, and opened in 1971.

Shriver argued that adding Trump’s name was not ‘dignified’ or ‘funny,’ and ‘is way beneath the stature of the job.’

‘Just when you think someone can’t stoop any lower, down they go,’ she said.

The former First Lady of California quipped that Trump might want to rename JFK Airport or make other changes, including the ‘Trump Lincoln Memorial,’ ‘Trump Jefferson Memorial’ and ‘Trump Smithsonian.’

‘Can we not see what is happening here?’ Shriver said. ‘C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up!’

President Trump said on Thursday he was ‘honored’ and ‘surprised’ by the update. 

‘We’re saving the building. We saved the building. The building was in such bad shape, physically, financially, in every other way. And now it’s very solid, very strong. We have something going on television, I guess on the 23rd December. I think it’s going to get very big ratings and the Kennedy Center is really, really back strongly,’ he told reporters.

Other members of the Kennedy family, including JFK’s great-nephew, Joe Kennedy III, weighed in on the name change, arguing that federal law protects the center’s name from being changed.

‘It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says,’ he wrote on X.

The name change follows recent precedent, a Kennedy Center official told Fox News Digital, noting that the State Department’s decided earlier this month to add Trump’s name to the U.S. Institute of Peace and to past presidential administrations that have renamed military bases.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

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

President Trump signed into law a nearly $1 trillion defense policy bill Thursday and approved what looks to be the largest military spending package in U.S. history.

The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes $901 billion in military spending, roughly $8 billion more than the administration requested, according to Reuters.

It also delivers a nearly 4% pay raise for troops, provides new funding for Ukraine and the Baltic States and includes measures designed to scale back security commitments abroad.

In a release shared online, Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., said, ‘With President Trump’s signature, the FY2026 NDAA officially delivers on our peace-through-strength agenda with a generational investment in our national defense.

‘Not only does this bipartisan bill ensure America’s warfighters are the most lethal and capable fighting force in the world, but it also improves the quality of life for our service members in the 12th District and nationwide.’

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the Senate passed the NDAA Wednesday, sending the compromise bill approved with bipartisan support to the president’s desk. 

Trump signed it quietly Thursday evening, according to Reuters.

The NDAA includes $800 million for Ukraine over the next two years as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays U.S. firms for weapons for Ukraine’s military.

It also includes $175 million for the Baltic Security Initiative, which supports Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

The bill prohibits reducing U.S. troop levels in Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days without formal certification by Congress.

The legislation also restricts the administration from reducing U.S. forces in South Korea below 28,500 troops.

Trump ultimately backed the bill in part because it codifies some of his executive orders, including funding the Golden Dome missile defense system and getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, per Reuters.

‘Under President Trump, the U.S. is rebuilding strength, restoring deterrence and proving America will not back down. President Trump and Republicans promised peace through strength. The FY26 NDAA delivers it,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson had said in a statement Dec. 7 on the new measures.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

Those worried about shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were wrong, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who touted the agency’s record in delivering support in the wake of Hurricane Melissa that ravaged the Caribbean in October. 

Although USAID historically functioned as an independent agency to deliver aid to impoverished countries and development assistance, the State Department announced in March that it would absorb remaining operations and functions in an effort to streamline operations to deliver foreign assistance amid concerns that USAID did not advance U.S. core interests. The move resulted in cuts for thousands of USAID employees. 

Critics including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said that upending the agency would ‘lead to millions of preventable deaths,’ while a group of House Democrats wrote a letter to President Donald Trump in February as USAID cuts got underway that changes would lead to increased maternal and child mortality. 

But Rubio now claims those skeptics’ fears were unfounded. 

‘Alarmists in politics and the media forecasted that the closure of USAID would result in catastrophe. Now, nearly a year later, they’ve been proven wrong,’ Rubio said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘The State Department has realigned foreign assistance with the interests of the American people, streamlined disaster response capabilities, and leveraged the ingenuity of American companies to save lives.’ 

Specifically, Rubio pointed to the assistance the State Department provided in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane and was the strongest to strike Kingston since the island started tracking its storms 174 years ago.

The State Department deployed a regional disaster assistance response team (DART) and activated U.S.-based urban search and rescue (USAR) teams to support response efforts in the region as part of recovery efforts. 

Likewise, the State Department allocated roughly $1 million to go toward administering food and other resources to those in need, using predesignated supplies housed in 12 different warehouses across the region. Ultimately, the State Department coordinated with the United Nations World Food Program to distribute 5,000 family food packs to families in Jamaica. 

‘This new era of foreign assistance eliminates extreme ideological projects that previous administrations forced the American people to subsidize, cuts out the wasteful NGO industrial complex, and puts the American people first,’ Rubio said. 

Sanders’ office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted USAID in its push to eliminate wasteful spending during a review earlier in 2025. The agency attracted scrutiny for a series of funding choices, including allocating $1.5 million for a program that sought to ‘advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities’ and a $70,000 program for a ‘DEI musical’ in Ireland.

USAID was officially closed down in July — a move that attracted criticism from Democrats and former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 

‘Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy,’ Obama said in a video that was shown to departing USAID employees, according to The Associated Press. ‘Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.’

Obama labeled the decision to upend USAID ‘a colossal mistake,’ and said, ‘sooner or later, leaders on both sides of the aisle will realize how much you are needed.’

Meanwhile, the State Department is undergoing its own transformation. In addition to absorbing USAID, the State Department has undergone a massive overhaul as part of the largest restructuring for the agency since the Cold War. 

Additionally, it rolled out an America First Global Health Strategy in September to deliver health aid worldwide by working directly with recipient country’s governments instead of through non-governmental organizations and other aid programs.

In December, Kenya became the first country to sign a five-year, $2.5 billion Health Cooperation Framework agreement with the U.S. in alignment with this new strategy, which also aims for recipient countries to eventually bear more responsibility for their own health expenditures. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report. 

A deadly insider attack that killed two U.S. service members in Syria is prompting fresh scrutiny of the Trump administration’s counter-ISIS approach and its rapid embrace of Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa. 

While Republican lawmakers largely urge a stronger campaign to contain ISIS, the shooting has exposed vulnerabilities inside Syria’s fledgling security institutions and raised new questions about whether the U.S. can rely on Syrian forces as the administration seeks to stabilize the country.

The incident has now become a flash point in a broader debate: whether the administration is underestimating ISIS’s resilience, overestimating the reliability of Syria’s fledgling institutions and potentially risking a withdrawal that could give the terror group room to rebound.

Syrian officials say the gunman was part of the new post-Assad security apparatus and had been flagged internally for extremist leanings. He reportedly was in the process of being reassigned when he opened fire on American personnel, killing two service members and injuring an American civilian before being shot dead.

The attack immediately raised questions about the strength of U.S.–Syrian cooperation — a partnership that hinges on Washington’s willingness to trust a government led by a man who was, until recently, a wanted terrorist himself. Trump officials have argued that al-Sharaa is essential to stabilizing Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s downfall, but critics say the weekend shooting reveals glaring cracks in that strategy.

Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks defended Trump’s approach, saying on Fox News that the president ‘rooted out and took out the ISIS caliphate in his first term’ and ‘is going to do that again’ in his second. But Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, pushed back sharply.

‘There’s been some discussion, the president has claimed repeatedly he defeated the caliphate, ISIS etc., and that’s not the case at all,’ Reed said on ‘Fox News Sunday.’ ‘Our intelligence agencies tell us that ISIS is still the most capable and dangerous Islamic terrorist group who have already demonstrated that their intent is to strike even within the United States.’

Reed and others argue that the ambush underscores why a U.S. presence in Syria remains necessary despite political pressure from Trump’s base to reduce deployments abroad. But some Republicans counter that the attack proves the opposite — that the mission has become strategically dubious and unacceptably dangerous.

‘The soldiers who died are obviously heroes … but the purpose of whether or not they should be there or not is a big question,’ Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’ 

Paul, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, said the attack should force a reconsideration of why U.S. troops remain in the country at all. 

‘A couple hundred troops in Syria are more of a trip wire than a strategic asset. I don’t think they deter war.’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., added that U.S. troops ‘should not be sent to foreign countries to be killed in foreign lands like Syria… Bring our troops home!!!’

The administration, however, has indicated it intends to double down. Tom Barrack, Trump’s envoy to Syria, said the killings ‘underscore the need for continued cooperation’ with al-Sharaa’s government. 

Trump himself said al-Sharaa was ‘devastated’ by the attack and vowed ‘very serious retaliation.’

But national security specialists caution that the administration may be moving too quickly to normalize ties with Syria’s new leadership. Michael Makovsky, CEO of the Jewish Institute of National Security of America (JINSA), said Washington appears reluctant to confront the fact that the shooter came from within al-Sharaa’s own security forces.

‘The administration is very invested right now in Shaara, and seems to want to minimize that the killer was from Shaara’s security forces,’ Makovsky said. 

He warned that ‘a lot of bad people’ remain embedded in the new Syrian institutions and that early cooperation should not come with premature sanctions relief. ‘His security forces have committed a lot of atrocities against minorities … I’m worried the administration is not focused on that.’

What retaliation might look like

Trump has vowed retribution for what he called ‘an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria.’ But the White House has not clarified what specific steps it is considering.

The White House did not provide additional clarification on what types of retaliation the U.S. would pursue in response to the attack, and referred Fox News Digital back to Trump’s initial statement. 

However, Trump later told reporters Monday that ‘they’ll be hit hard’ when asked about the U.S. response. He also voiced support for al-Sharaa, and said he still has confidence in Syria’s new leader. 

Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the administration’s response will depend on what investigators determine about the attacker’s affiliations. 

Syria’s Interior Ministry spokesman, Noureddine al-Baba, said the gunman had been scheduled to be relieved of duty Sunday after authorities identified he held ‘extremist’ views. Al-Baba told The Associated Press that the government had been forced to recruit quickly amid severe security shortages following Assad’s ouster.

The fact that the shooter, who was ultimately shot during the attack, was part of the Syrian security forces adds another layer of complexity, Yacoubian said.

If the gunman was part of a specific cell affiliated with a group like ISIS, that could prompt the Trump administration to launch strikes targeting leadership of the respective group or the group’s infrastructure, according to Yacoubian.  

Regardless, Yacoubian said that the attack raises alarms in terms of the vetting process for security forces and will prompt the Trump administration to dramatically increase their vetting and understanding of the security forces as it continues to partner with Syrian national forces.

U.S. forces in Syria currently work in tandem with both Syrian national forces and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on efforts to counter ISIS in Syria.

The strategic crossroads

Dan Shapiro, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for the Middle East, said Trump must resist the growing pressure — including from some in his base — to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. 

Earlier in 2025, the administration reduced its footprint in Syria. The U.S. currently has roughly 900 U.S. troops stationed in Syria — a drop from the roughly 2,000 that were deployed in Syria following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel. 

‘There will undoubtedly be some calls from his base to bring troops home from Syria. He will need to resist those calls,’ Shapiro said in an email to Fox News Digital Monday. ‘Leaving Syria when Syrian national forces are still finding their footing against ISIS and need support would almost certainly give ISIS more room to breathe. A precipitous U.S. withdrawal would also be seen as a victory for ISIS.’

Shapiro said that as the U.S. intensifies cooperation with Syrian national forces and the SDF, Syria will become increasingly dependent on U.S. intelligence to identify infiltrators or sympathizers within its ranks. 

Still, Shapiro warned that U.S. forces must remain cautious because the Syrian government’s ability to follow through remains uncertain, and so the Syrian forces must prove themselves as trustworthy — or else sanctions that the Trump administration lifted in May could return, he said.

‘Trump is both going to need and expect more from Ahmed al-Sharaa, and shorten the leash at the same time,’ Shapiro said. ‘Syria should understand that continued sanctions relief could be jeopardized unless they demonstrate clear commitment and capability to root out ISIS infiltrators.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump took some not-so-subtle swipes at his predecessors with new plaques below their portraits in the new White House Presidential Walk of Fame.

Former President Joe Biden had already been mocked in the installation, which was unveiled in September, when Trump used a photo of an autopen to represent the 46th president. Now, there are two plaques that include Trump’s nicknames for Biden.

‘Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History,’ the top plaque states. ‘Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our Nation to the brink of destruction. His policies caused the highest Inflation ever recorded, leading the U.S. Dollar to lose more than 20% of its value in 4 years.’

‘Nicknamed both ‘Sleepy’ and ‘Crooked,’ Joe Biden was dominated by his Radical Left handlers. They and their allies in the Fake News Media attempted to cover up his severe mental decline, and his unprecedented use of the Autopen,’ the second plaque reads. ‘Following his humiliating debate loss to President Trump in the big June 2024 debate, he was forced to withdraw from his campaign for re-election in disgrace.’

Trump also took jabs at former President Barack Obama, calling him ‘one of the most divisive political figures in American History.’

‘As President, he passed the highly ineffective ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act, resulting in his party losing control of both Houses of Congress, and the Election of the largest House Republican majority since 1946,’ the first of two plaques says.

‘Obama also spied on the 2016 Presidential Campaign of Donald J. Trump, and presided over the creation of the Russia, Russia Hoax, the worst political scandal in American History,’ the second plaque reads. ‘His handpicked successor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, would then lose the Presidency to Donald J. Trump.’

Despite not ever being president, and therefore not being pictured in the walk of fame, Hillary Clinton is referenced more than once.

Beneath the picture of former President Bill Clinton, a plaque says, ‘In 2016, President Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton, lost the Presidency to President Donald J. Trump!’

In November, Trump gave Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham a tour of the walk of fame and told her that ‘beautiful bronze plaques’ were going to be installed. He said the plaques would describe the presidents but did not tease the political jabs written on them.