President Donald Trump touted his record pardoning several service members accused of war crimes during his first term as president, and shared details about how now-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth played a role securing those pardons. 

Trump told The Spectator in a Thursday interview that Hegseth would call him to advocate on behalf of service members facing war crime charges who ‘did what they were trained to do’ during his first administration. 

‘What he wanted to talk about was military,’ Trump said of Hegseth. ‘In fact, whenever he called me, it was always to get somebody that was in trouble because he was too aggressive militarily out of a jail. You know, I got numerous soldiers out of jails because they did what they were trained to do.’

In November 2019, during his first administration, Trump issued pardons to Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn and Navy Special Warfare Operator Chief Eddie Gallagher. Lorance was serving a 19-year sentence in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for murder for ordering his soldiers to open fire on unarmed Afghan civilians in 2012 when Trump issued the pardon. 

Golsteyn also faced charges for murdering an alleged Taliban bomb maker in 2010 and then burning the remains in a pit. 

Gallagher also faced murder charges for stabbing an Islamic State prisoner in 2017, and was acquitted in July 2019. However, he was convicted for posing in a photo next to the corpse and subsequently was demoted one rank. Trump’s pardon restored him to his previous rank. 

‘The liberals within the military put them in jails,’ Trump told The Spectator. ‘They teach him to be a soldier. They teach him to kill bad people, and when they kill bad people, they want to put them in jail for thirty years. And Pete was really into that.’ 

Hegseth, a former host with Fox News and member of the U.S. Army National Guard, was vocal about these cases ahead of their pardoning, and previously said Lorance, Golsteyn and Gallagher were not ‘war criminals, they’re warriors’ during a 2019 segment with ‘Fox & Friends.’ Hegseth also interviewed Golsteyn in May 2019 on ‘Fox & Friends.’

The Department of Defense referred Fox News Digital to the White House for comment. The White House did not provide additional comment, and it’s unclear if the Trump administration is considering pardons for other service members accused of war crimes. 

During Hegseth’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense in January, Hegseth told lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee he wanted to ensure lawyers ‘aren’t the ones getting in the way’ of service members serving on the frontlines from having ‘opportunity to destroy… the enemy.’

‘We follow rules, but we don’t need burdensome rules of engagement that make it impossible for us to win these wars,’ Hegseth said. 

Lawmakers cited Hegseth’s comments on the cases during his confirmation hearing, and Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., noted that fellow service members who served alongside Lorance and Gallagher spoke out against them and reported their actions.

‘They did their duty as soldiers to report war crimes,’ Reed said in January. ‘Your definition of lethality seems to embrace those people who do commit war crimes, rather than those who stand up and say, ‘This is not right.”

Hegseth served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army National Guard, completing deployments to Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq. 

He earned two Bronze Star Medals, awarded to those who displayed heroic achievement or service in a combat zone.

Momentum is building among some Republicans and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to withdraw the U.S. from NATO amid stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. 

While President Donald Trump reportedly privately floated pulling the U.S. from the alliance during his first term, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has publicly backed such efforts in recent weeks and said it’s ‘time to leave’ the alliance after NATO countries held an emergency meeting with Ukraine in London without the U.S.

Lee said in an X post on Sunday that if ‘NATO is moving on without the U.S.,’ the U.S. should ‘move on from NATO.’ Lee also suggested various names for the movement on Monday.

‘What should we call the movement to get America out of NATO? AmerExit? NATexit?’ Lee said in an X post on Monday, referencing Brexit, the term used to describe the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.

‘It’s a good thing our NATO allies give us such favorable trade terms based on the fact that we provide a disproportionate share of their security needs Oh wait ….They don’t,’ Lee said in another Monday post on X. 

Lee isn’t the only lawmaker expressing such sentiments. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Sunday in a post on X that ‘NATO is a Cold War relic that needs to be relegated to a talking kiosk at the Smithsonian.’ 

The lawmakers’ comments also come after Musk, who is heading up the Trump administration’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also shared support for withdrawing from NATO Saturday. Musk said ‘I agree’ in a post on X, in response to another post claiming it’s time for the U.S. to detach itself from NATO and the United Nations. 

The push to pull out of NATO coincides with stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought for Ukraine to become a NATO member after Russia invaded his country in 2022. But Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House on Friday after meeting to secure a deal, saying Zelenskyy was welcome back when he was ready for peace. 

Pulling the U.S. from NATO would require Congressional approval. A bipartisan provision included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Bill requires that the executive branch would need support from 60 senators, or passage of legislation in Congress, to pull out of the alliance. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is now Trump’s Secretary of State, spearheaded the provision. 

Scott Anderson, a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the provision paves the way for a legal battle should the executive branch attempt to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from the alliance. 

‘The logic is, essentially, you’re teeing up a fight if the president tries to do this without Congress … it specifically does enact exactly that sort of prohibition and says, essentially, we’re going to litigate this out and take it to the Supreme Court if you try and do this, which is the most Congress can do,’ Anderson told Fox News Digital.  

Even so, Anderson noted that it’s not completely clear who would have legal standing to challenge an effort to withdraw from NATO, although Anderson said service members or people who own property in NATO countries are some who could arguably have standing and challenge the move. 

Most Americans maintain a favorable opinion of NATO, although support has dropped slightly in recent years. Fifty-eight percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the military alliance, according to a survey the Pew Research Center released in May 2024. However, that’s four percentage points from the previous year, the survey said. 

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth urged NATO allies to beef up defense contributions to the alliance in February. 

‘NATO should pursue these goals as well,’ Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels in February. ‘NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future, our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense.’  

‘We must make NATO great again,’ he said. 

As of 2023, the U.S. spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending, amounting to $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the U.S., while other allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years. 

Hegseth urged European allies to bolster defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product, as Trump has long advocated. 

NATO comprises more than 30 countries and was originally formed in 1949 to halt the spread of the Soviet Union.

The White House announced Monday that China will face increased tariffs, citing the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the U.S. as the main reason for the decision.

In a post on X, the Rapid Response 47 account shared the text of an executive order (EO) signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. The Chinese government will now face 20% tariffs ‘over their failure to address the fentanyl pouring into our country,’ the EO stated.

The tariffs against China, which were originally only 10%, will go into effect on Tuesday. In Monday’s order, Trump said that the Chinese government has failed ‘to blunt the sustained influx of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, flowing from [their country],’ and that such failure constitutes an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat.’

Trump also said that the crisis jeopardizes the ‘national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.’

‘I have determined that the [People’s Republic of China] has not taken adequate steps to alleviate the illicit drug crisis through cooperative enforcement actions, and that the crisis described in Executive Order 14195 has not abated,’ the order read. 

‘In recognition of the fact that the PRC has not taken adequate steps to alleviate the illicit drug crisis, section 2(a) of Executive Order 14195 is hereby amended by striking the words ‘10 percent’ and inserting in lieu thereof the words ‘20 percent’.’

The Trump administration is already imposing 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, which were announced last month and will also go into effect on Tuesday. On Monday, Peter Navarro, the White House senior counselor on trade and manufacturing, defended the tariffs to CNBC and argued that the issue ‘starts in communist China with the precursor chemicals.’

‘It comes into Mexico, and they make the fentanyl. But they also have these pill presses. So they do the counterfeits,’ Navarro explained. ‘And they’re using Canada as a transit hub and secondary point to manufacture as well. So this is a Canada-Mexico-China thing.’

The Chinese government has opposed the tariffs since they were announced. In a Feb. 1 statement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that China is ‘one of the world’s toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation.’

‘Additional tariffs are not constructive and bound to affect and harm the counternarcotics cooperation between the two sides in the future,’ the statement read. ‘China calls on the U.S. to correct its wrongdoings, maintain the hard-won positive dynamics in the counternarcotics cooperation, and promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relationship.’

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

The ‘Renewal of the American Dream’ is the theme of President Donald Trump’s first address of his second term to a joint session of Congress, Fox News Digital has learned. 

White House officials exclusively told Fox News Digital that the speech, themed ‘The Renewal of the American Dream,’ will feature four main sections: accomplishments from Trump’s second term thus far at home and abroad; what the Trump administration has done for the economy; the president’s renewed push for Congress to pass additional funding for border security; and the president’s plans for peace around the globe.

Trump’s joint address ‘will be must-see TV,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. 

‘President Trump has accomplished more in one month than any president in four years, and the renewal of the American Dream is well underway,’ Leavitt said ‘In his joint address to Congress, President Trump will celebrate his extraordinarily successful first month in office while outlining his bold, ambitious and commonsense vision for the future.’ 

The president will review his administration’s ‘accomplishments from his extraordinarily successful first month in office, both here at home and abroad,’ White House officials told Fox News Digital. 

Officials said the president will also discuss what his administration has done and continues to do to ‘fix the economic mess created by the Biden administration and end inflation for all Americans.’ 

The president is expected to highlight the more than $1.7 trillion in investments made since he took the oath of office to bring manufacturing back to the United States, including increases in energy production, investments in the private sector on AI and more. 

Also in the address, the president will push Congress to pass more border security funding to fund deportations and the continued construction of the border wall along the U.S. southern border. 

On foreign policy, the president is expected to outline his plans ‘to restore peace around the world.’ A White House official told Fox News Digital that Trump will lay out his plans to end the war in Ukraine. He will also focus on the work of his administration to ensure the release of all hostages from Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The president posted on his Truth Social account Monday morning teasing his address, saying, ‘Tomorrow night will be big. I will tell it like it is!’ 

When asked for comment on the president’s post, a White House official told Fox News Digital, ‘As always, President Trump will keep it real and speak the truth.’

The president is scheduled to speak before all members of Congress on Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST

The speech is not officially called the ‘State of the Union,’ as Trump has not been in office for a full year, though it operates in a similar fashion. The yearly presidential address is intended to showcase the administration’s achievements and policies. 

Failed 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate and current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz recently floated a potential 2028 presidential run, garnering mockery online as critics sarcastically implored him to throw his hat in the ring.

Laughing emojis and comments such as ‘Need a morning chuckle’ or ‘Yes please’ were splashed across conservative social media accounts after Walz floated a potential 2028 presidential run during a recent conversation with the New Yorker.

Walz ran alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in the waning months of the election cycle after former President Joe Biden dropped out of the race amid mounting concern over his mental acuity and age.

Walz demurred at first when asked if he would run for president during the New Yorker interview published Sunday, before saying he would run if the opportunity presented itself. 

‘Well, I had a friend tell me, ‘Never turn down a job you haven’t been offered,’’ Walz said when asked if he would run for president. 

‘If I think I could offer something … I would certainly consider that,’ he said. ‘I’m also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there’s a lot of people that can do this.’

He said that under the correct circumstances and if he has the right ‘skill set’ for the 2028 race, ‘I’ll do it.’

‘You might do it?’ the New Yorker asked. 

‘I’ll do whatever it takes,’ Walz said. ‘I certainly wouldn’t be arrogant enough to think that it needs to be me.’

‘I’ve always said this: I didn’t prepare my life to be in these jobs, but my life prepared me well,’ he said. ‘And, if this experience I’ve had and what we’re going through right now prepares me for that, then I would. But I worry about people who have ambition for elected office. I don’t think you should have ambition. I think you should have a desire to do it if you’re asked to serve. And that’s kind of where I’m at.’ 

Social media critics had a field day on X over the remarks, resurrecting the ‘Tampon Tim’ moniker, mocking the prospect of a Walz presidency, while encouraging him to make a run official. 

‘Tampon Tim’ was a nickname used by conservatives during the election cycle that mocked Walz’ Minnesota policies that provide menstrual products ‘to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students,’ as opposed to stating the products were intended for female students. 

After Biden’s exit from the 2024 race in July, Harris simultaneously launched her campaign as well as her search for a running mate, combing through a list of high-profile Democrats and lesser-known allies before choosing Walz.

Following the Democratic ticket’s loss, political strategists and insiders launched post-mortems on the campaign, with a handful pointing to Harris’ selection of Walz as her running mate as opposed to another candidate, such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is popular in the key battleground state that ultimately voted for President Donald Trump.

Walz added in his conversation with the New Yorker that he and Harris ended the campaign cycle on good terms, but that he has only spoken to the former vice president a handful of times since November 2024. 

‘I’m doing my job, and she’s doing her job, and she’s out in California, I believe, living, and I’m here in beautiful Minnesota, where the weather’s always great,’ he said.

‘Well, maybe she doesn’t want to talk to me after we got this thing done,’ Walz said while laughing when asked why they don’t speak more frequently. ‘No, I think it’s just there’ll be a time and a place. But we left good, and my family misses her. My daughter, especially.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for any additional comment on a potential presidential run or response to social media critics, but did not immediately receive a reply.

The Trump administration is pausing all aid to Ukraine, including weapons in transit or in Poland, until Ukrainian leaders show more appreciation for U.S. support and a commitment to peace, Fox News has learned. 

The pause comes days after a contentious meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump in the White House over how to end the three-year conflict initiated by Russia. 

‘President Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace,’ a White House official told Fox News. ‘We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.’

A senior Trump administration official also told Fox News that military aid will remain on hold until Ukrainian leaders show a commitment to good faith peace negotiations.

‘This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause,’ the official emphasized. ‘The orders are going out right now.’

The official said Monday’s move was in response to Zelenskyy’s conduct over the last week.

Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance last week erupted into a shouting match that was seen worldwide. The Ukrainian president traveled to the United States to meet with Trump after the commander-in-chief said a peace negotiation to end the war between Ukraine and Russia is in its final stages. 

Zelenskyy was apparently presented with a minerals for security agreement by the Trump administration prior to the press event, but the deal included no security guarantees to protect Ukraine from another Russian invasion. 

Minutes after reporters in the Oval Office asked their first questions, an aggressive spat unfolded between the heads of state.

‘We cannot just sign an … agreement without any substantial guarantees,’ one Ukrainian defense advisor told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s not going to work. It’s just going to reward the aggressor.’

Zelenskyy’s refusal to sign a deal apparently contributed to the ire of Trump and Vice President JD Vance.  The Ukrainian leader pointed out that Russia never stopped attacking Ukraine between 2014 and 2022, four years of which included Trump’s first term. 

‘Nobody stopped him you know,’ Zelenskyy said, adding that Russian President Putin repeatedly violated bilateral agreements. 

Trump then accused Zelenskyy of ‘gambling with World War Three’ as the Ukrainian president pushed back at suggestions that he should work harder to reach a ceasefire with Vladimir Putin.

Following the heated exchange, Zelenskyy refused to apologize when asked by Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier. 

‘Mr. President, do you think your relationship with Donald Trump — President Trump — after today can be salvaged?’ Baier asked Zelenskyy.

‘Yes, of course, because it’s relations more than two presidents. It’s the historical relations, strong relations between our people, and that’s why I always began… to thank your people from our people,’ Zelenskyy said during an exclusive interview Friday on ‘Special Report.’

‘Of course, thankful to the president, and, of course, to Congress, but first of all, to your people. Your people helped save our people… we wanted very much to have all these strong relations, and where it counted, we will have it.’

The Biden administration gave billions in military aid to Ukraine to fend off Russian forces amid its three-year war following Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor. 

When asked Monday about the status of the rare-earth minerals deal, Trump told reporters that he would disclose where the deal stands when he addresses a joint session of Congress Tuesday in a speech akin to the annual State of the Union. He added that he would like to see the Ukrainian leader express more gratitude for U.S. support during the war in order to rekindle peace negotiations. 

‘I just think he should be more appreciative because this country has stuck with him through thick and thin,’ Trump said. ‘We’ve given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us because, as you know, that’s right there, that’s the border.’ 

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