Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to a draft of a minerals deal with the White House, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. 

Trump told reporters that the Ukrainian leader plans to travel to D.C. on Friday to meet with him after the officials agreed to the terms of the deal, which was first reported by Reuters. The U.S. president added that the two leaders are ‘just in the process of negotiating.’

‘We’ve pretty much negotiated our deal on earth [minerals] and various other things,’ Trump said. ‘We’ll be looking…. general security for Ukraine later on. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. There are a lot of people that want to do it, and I spoke with Russia about it. They didn’t seem to have a problem with it. So I think they understand they’re not going back. And once we do this, they’re not going back.’

The pact, which would involve giving the U.S. access to natural resources in exchange for America’s support of Ukraine amid its war with Russia, was days in the making. Trump said on Friday that his administration was ‘pretty close’ to striking a deal, and on Monday, he hinted that a meeting between him and Zelenskyy was imminent.

‘It’ll be a deal with rare earths and various other things. And, he would like to come, as I understand it, here to sign it. And that would be great with me,’ Trump said. ‘I think they then have to get it approved by their council or whoever might approve it, but I’m sure that will happen.’

Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has prioritized recouping the cost of U.S. aid to Ukraine by gaining access to Ukrainian resources, including titanium, iron and uranium. U.S. aid to the war-torn country has totaled tens of billions of dollars since February 2022.

That commitment has led to tension between him and Zelenskyy, and Trump ridiculed the politician as a ‘modestly successful comedian’ in a Truth Social post last week.

‘A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,’ Trump’s post reads. ‘In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going.’

‘I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…..’

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously lauded the potential pact in a Sunday interview on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

‘The first part of this is a partnership between Ukraine and the U.S. that involves strategic minerals, energy and state-owned enterprises, where we set up a partnership, and we are only looking forward,’ Bessent said.

‘We make money if the Ukrainian people make money, and I believe that with the United States of America, our businesses are willing to come in and provide capital that we can accelerate the Ukrainian growth trajectory and take in substantial monies for the U.S. taxpayers and get the Ukrainian economy on a great growth trajectory.’

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to cooperating with the U.S. if Trump signals interest in mining minerals in Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

‘Russia is one of the undisputed leaders in terms of reserves of these rare and rare-earth metals,’ Putin said during an interview on Russian state television. ‘These are quite capital-intensive investments, capital-intensive projects. We would be happy to work together with any foreign partners, including American ones.’

Reuters and Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley, Brooke Singman and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Paul Clement, a former solicitor general and previous potential Trump Supreme Court pick, was tapped by a federal judge Friday to weigh in on the motion to dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

U.S. District Judge Dale Ho decided to adjourn the case against Adams until further notice, while also appointing Clement to serve as an independent party. 

Ho wrote that bringing in Clement was ‘appropriate’ in this case, ‘particularly so in light of the public importance of this case, which calls for careful deliberation.’

Former assistant U.S. attorney and Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy noted to Fox News Digital that it is ‘unusual’ for courts to entertain amicus briefs in criminal cases and ‘it is highly unusual to appoint an amicus to assist the court in the manner contemplated in the Adams case.’

Clement, a seasoned appellate lawyer who has argued more than 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, served as solicitor general under the Bush administration from 2005-2008. He was notably on President Donald Trump’s short list of Supreme Court nominees during his first term. 

Before taking on the role of the federal government’s top appellate lawyer, Clement served as a deputy solicitor general.

Clement earned his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a master’s in economics from Cambridge University. 

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was the Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review. 

Following graduation, Clement clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as well as for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. 

He went into private practice after his clerkships, joining Kirkland & Ellis’ Washington, D.C., office. 

Clement also served as chief counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights before returning to private practice and working as a partner at King & Spalding in D.C., where he headed the firm’s appellate practice. 

Clement is currently a distinguished lecturer in law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he initially served as an adjunct professor starting in 1998. He is also partner at Clement & Murphy in D.C.

Clement’s advocacy in the high court includes recently arguing Loper Bright v. Raimondo, which effectively overturned the Chevron doctrine. The doctrine previously gave deference to an agency’s interpretation of a federal regulation. Clement also litigated against the Obama administration, challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.  

McCarthy said he thinks ‘very highly of Paul Clement, who is among the top appellate lawyers in the United States,’ saying the Adams case ‘calls for a faithful interpretation’ of federal law and ‘I can’t think of anyone better than Clement to give a judge impartial, solid advice on that issue.’

Ho’s decision to adjourn the case came just days after U.S. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove asked prosecutors to drop all corruption charges against the mayor.  

In the motion to dismiss, Bove said the legal proceedings against Adams were detracting from other Justice Department priorities, such as illegal immigration and violent crime. 

Ho appointed Clement to weigh in on the DOJ’s motion to drop the case. Among the questions posed to Clement, the court asks, ‘Under what circumstances, if leave is granted, dismissal should be with or without prejudice.’ 

‘The main point of the rule is to protect the defendant’s rights,’ McCarthy said. ‘The judge has no authority to order DOJ to persist in prosecuting Adams, or to appoint a ‘special prosecutor,’ but Clement is an excellent lawyer and can give Judge Ho good advice on whether to accept the plea with the ‘without prejudice’ term in it.’

Parties are expected to submit briefings by early March, with oral arguments expected shortly thereafter. 

The charges against Adams will remain intact until Ho agrees to dismiss them.

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

The House of Representatives has adopted a resolution that will eventually become a massive multi-trillion-dollar bill full of President Donald Trump’s priorities on the border, defense, energy and taxes.

In a major victory for House GOP leaders, the resolution passed in a 217 to 215 vote.

All Democrats voted against the measure, along with lone Republican rebel Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who was concerned about its effect on the national deficit.

The next step is now for the relevant House committees to meet and build their own proposals, which will eventually be returned into the framework and negotiated into a compromise deal with the Senate.

It was a dramatic scene in the House chamber on Monday night as Republican leaders delayed formally ending a vote for roughly 45 minutes as they worked to convince conservative fiscal hawks to support the legislation.

Impatient Democrats called out loud for the vote to be closed as Republicans huddled in varied groups.

Two people on the House floor told Fox News Digital that President Donald Trump got involved at one point, speaking to one of the holdouts, Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., by phone.

Reps. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, could be seen on the phone at other points on the House floor as well, but it’s not clear if they were speaking with Trump.

At one point, House GOP leaders appeared to lose confidence that they had enough support and abruptly canceled the planned vote. 

Moments later, however, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were rushing back to the House floor and Fox News Digital was told the vote would be held.

Meanwhile, three House Democrats who had been absent early in the day returned for the Tuesday evening vote in dramatic fashion. 

Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., who had a baby roughly a month ago, returned to the House floor with her infant to oppose the bill. And Rep. Kevin Mullin, R-Calif., who was recently hospitalized for an infection, appeared in the chamber aided by a walker.

House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use their majorities to advance Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process. 

It’s a Senate maneuver that lowers the threshold for passage from two-thirds to a simple majority, but it’s used when a party controls both houses of Congress and the White House because it allows that party to pass its policy goals even under the slimmest margins.

And Republicans are dealing with slim margins indeed; with current numbers, the House GOP can afford no more than one defection to pass anything without Democratic votes if all liberals are voting.

On the Senate side, Republicans can lose no more than two of their own in the reconciliation process.

The House resolution aimed to increase spending on border security, the judiciary and defense by roughly $300 billion, while seeking at least $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending cuts elsewhere. 

As written, the House bill also provided $4.5 trillion to extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions, which expire at the end of this year.

An amendment negotiated by House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and conservatives on his panel would also force lawmakers to make $2 trillion in cuts, or else risk the $4.5 trillion for Trump’s tax cuts getting reduced by the difference. 

The resolution also fulfilled Trump’s directive to act on the debt limit, raising it by $4 trillion or roughly two years. 

A bipartisan deal struck in 2023 saw the debt limit suspended until January 2025. Now, projections show the U.S. could run out of cash to pay its debts by spring if Congress does not act.

The resolution’s odds were touch and go for much of the week so far, since House lawmakers returned from a week-long recess period Monday.

Several fiscal conservatives had demanded more assurances from House GOP leadership that Republicans would seek deep spending cuts to offset the cost of Trump’s priorities.

Republican lawmakers in more competitive districts are concerned some cuts may go too far, however. 

The resolution directs the House Energy & Commerce Committee to find at least $880 billion in spending cuts – which those lawmakers fear will mean severe cuts for federal programs like Medicaid.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pushed back against fears of such cuts during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

‘Medicaid is hugely problematic because it has a lot of fraud, waste and abuse. Everybody knows that. We all know it intuitively. No one in here would disagree,’ Johnson said. ‘What we’re talking about is rooting out the fraud, waste, and abuse. It doesn’t matter what party you’re in, you should be for that because it saves your money, and it preserves the programs so that it is available for the people who desperately need it.’

It was also supported by a wide swath of Republicans, including conservative Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, a member of the House Budget Committee that approved the bill earlier this month.

‘It’s the best bill we’re going to get,’ Gill said while praising Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, for his efforts. ‘If I were writing it then I’d write it differently, but this is the best we’re gonna get it.’

Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, said he was eager to begin working on ‘cutting taxes for Iowans, securing our border, unleashing American energy production, and eliminating waste and fraud in our government.’

White House officials confirmed with Fox News that while billionaire Elon Musk is overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an acting administrator has been appointed to the role.

Amy Gleason, who is a low-profile executive with an expertise in healthcare technology, has been appointed as the acting leader of DOGE, the department responsible for gutting many federal agencies while locating and cutting billions of dollars in government waste.

Gleason’s identity was revealed after a reporter pressed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on who is actually running DOGE.

CBS News’ Nancy Cordes pointed out to Leavitt that President Donald Trump’s executive order to create DOGE called for the naming of a DOGE administrator. She then asked the president’s spokesperson who is serving as the DOGE administrator.

‘So, the president tasked Elon Musk to oversee the DOGE effort,’ Leavitt said. ‘There are career officials and there are political appointees who are helping run DOGE on a day-to-day basis.

‘There are also individuals who have onboarded as political appointees at every agency across the board to work alongside President Trump’s Cabinet to find and identify waste, fraud and abuse, and they are working on that effort every day.’

Cordes quickly asked, ‘So, is Elon Musk the administrator?’ as Leavitt twice called on another reporter.

After the exchange, Fox News learned of Gleason’s temporary appointment.

Gleason, 53, worked from 2018 through 2021 for the United States Digital Service, an agency that has been renamed the US DOGE Service, according to her LinkedIn profile. In that role, she worked with the White House on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Gleason returned to the agency after Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing the departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services to make healthcare prices transparent.

The order directs the departments to ‘rapidly implement and enforce’ the Trump healthcare price transparency regulations, which he claims were slowed by the Biden administration.

The departments will ensure hospitals and insurers disclose actual prices, not estimates, and take action to make prices comparable across hospitals and insurers, including prescription drug prices.

In addition, they will be required to update their enforcement policies to ensure hospitals and insurers are in compliance with requirements to make prices transparent.

‘When healthcare prices are hidden, large corporate entities like hospitals and insurance companies benefit at the expense of American patients,’ the White House wrote in a statement. ‘Price transparency will lower healthcare prices and help patients and employers get the best deal on healthcare.’

The executive order notes a number of concerns with current healthcare pricing, including that prices vary between hospitals in the same region.

‘One patient in Wisconsin saved $1,095 by shopping for two tests between two hospitals located within 30 minutes of one another,’ according to the statement.

The White House claims one economic analysis found Trump’s original price transparency rules, if fully implemented, could deliver savings of $80 billion for consumers, employers and insurers by 2025.

It added that employers will lower their healthcare costs by an average of 27% on 500 common services by better shopping for care.

‘They’ll be able to check them, compare them, go to different locations, so they can shop for the highest-quality care at the lowest cost,’ Trump wrote in the statement. ‘And this is about high-quality care. You’re also looking at that. You’re looking at comparisons between talents, which is very important. And, then, you’re also looking at cost. And, in some cases, you get the best doctor for the lowest cost. That’s a good thing.’

The White House said American patients are ‘fed up with the status quo,’ with 95% saying healthcare price transparency is an important priority. More than 50% said it should be a top priority of the government.

In his first term, Trump took historic action by mandating that hospitals and insurers make prices public.

A lawsuit was filed against the Biden administration in 2023, alleging it did not enforce the prescription drug transparency requirements. 

‘While the prior Administration failed to prioritize further implementation and enforcement of these requirements, President Trump is delivering on his promises to make the healthcare system more affordable and easier to navigate for patients,’ according to the statement.

Fox News Digital previously reported the administration’s tariffs on China will affect drug costs.

Consumers are more dependent on China for medications for anxiety and other psychiatric disorders, such as antidepressants.

The key to Africa’s future is in increasing trade with the U.S., not in receiving aid from it, a message key analysts told Fox News Digital in the wake of President Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze.

‘U.S. trade dollars exchanged with Africa massively exceed aid dollars granted,’ South African-based Frans Cronje, an advisor for the Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, told Fox News Digital. 

Some $11 billion of USAid funds were reportedly spent in Africa in 2024, but trade between the U.S. and Africa during the same period was seven times higher – $71.6 billion, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Cronje said ‘the idea of helping people with aid may be admirable, but in practice achieves little in Africa by way of addressing the structural factors that underpin poverty. Trade, on the other hand, is a more viable route by which the U.S. can build strong relationships with Africa, and is also in line with President Donald Trump’s style of diplomacy through transactions.’

Cronje elaborated, saying, ‘Aid acts as a subsidy to bad governments, and thereby keeps them in power despite an absence of reform – whereas trade requires reforms and improving governance to be sustainable.’

Following the Trump administration’s policy change, Ledama Olekina, senator for Kenya’s Narok County, added, ‘We don’t need aid in Kenya; we can do it on our own!’ Posting on X on Jan. 28, Olekina wrote, ‘Relying on aid from the West limits our opportunities to be industrious and creative. From now on, we must learn to live within our means, eliminate corruption, and instill a spirit of patriotism in our citizens. Together, let’s build a brighter future for our country. Thank you @realDonaldTrump and @USAID it’s time!’

Anna Mahjar-Barducci, a senior research fellow at the Middle East Media Research Institute, told Fox News Digital that aid ‘does not help the needy, as foreign aid keeps the needy always being needy … international aid doesn’t go directly to the starving population, but to governments. The direct consequence is the growth of the role of the State in the economy of the recipient country, which does not offer incentives to (the) private sector’s development.’

She added, ‘Foreign aid has been financing central governments, which (has) ended up promoting statism, and discouraging the creation of an entrepreneurial culture. As a result, government bureaucrats became richer, and regular citizens got poorer. As British economist Peter Bauer put it: ‘Aid is a process by which the poor in the rich countries subsidize the rich in poor countries.’

Aid has other negative effects, according to Mahjar-Barducci, who added, ‘aid is providing governments, many of which are dictatorships, in Africa with freely usable cash, which not only discourages the creation of an entrepreneurial culture, but it also discourages steps toward peace in war-torn areas.

‘While many Westerners (mainly belonging to the radical left) criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to pause U.S. foreign aid, many African intellectuals welcomed the new administration’s policy.’ 

She pointed to a recent column by Nigerian expert Mfonobong Inyang, titled, ‘Wake Up Africa, Foreign Aid Is Not A Development Strategy.’ She said ‘in his article, he stated that foreign aid is meant to be a temporary relief and intervention, not an official policy of any country that seeks to assert its sovereignty.’

Mahjar-Barducci said, ‘Many African economists are saying that the suspension of USAID funding, offers an opportunity to redefine the African countries’ development strategy, and establish an ‘Africa-first approach,’ based on direct investments, innovation, partnerships, (and) empowering local governance.’

On Sunday, The Associated Press reported that some 1,600 posts at USAID would be eliminated after reviewing notices that were sent to USAID workers.

Enter the dragon. China is whipping its Belt and Road Initiative into a virtual frenzy in Africa. Beijing has invested over $700 billion in infrastructure development on the continent in the decade up to 2023, according to China’s commerce industry. 

Cronje said that when it comes to Africa, China already believes in pushing trade, rather than aid, ‘in terms of both foreign investment flows and trade flows, China is a significantly more important economic partner for Africa than is the U.S. Since around 2010, Chinese trade with Africa escalated sharply in dollar terms whilst trade levels between the U.S. and Africa remained relatively flat.’

Mahdar-Barducci borrowed Ghanian economist George Ayittey’s phrase ‘Chopsticks Mercantilism’ to describe China’s policy in Africa, commenting on ‘China’s dexterity in striking deals with African leaders that were stacked in its own favor. Chinese multinational companies are investing in the African continent, in exchange for access to natural resources.’ 

Cronje stated that for the U.S., instead of aid, ‘trade is likely to be a more effective route to securing sound economic and diplomatic relations with Africa, as it helps to build sustainable African economies without being a direct cost to American taxpayers.’

Additionally, on China, Cronje concluded, ‘In many respects, the U.S. is having to play catch-up in Africa. For American policy makers, the trade and investment deficit relative to China should be a more important concern than the question of future aid flows.’

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has posted detailed instructions on its website for the thousands of employees seeking to retrieve personal belongings from their offices inside the Ronald Reagan Building after being fired or placed on administrative leave.

The agency is giving employees two days – Thursday, Feb. 27, and Friday, Feb. 28 – to enter the building during designated time slots if they have items they would like to bring home. While the slots range from 60 minutes to 90 minutes overall, employees will have approximately 15 minutes to collect personal belongings from their work spaces.

‘Staff will be given approximately 15 minutes to complete this retrieval and must be finished removing items within their time slot only,’ the instructions stated. ‘Staff with a significant amount of personal belongings to retrieve must be cognizant of time; however, flexibility may be granted in select circumstances with the approval of the Office of Security.’

They must also bring their own containers and supplies to remove and pack up their belongings. 

Before leaving the building with their items, USAID said staff ‘will be required to acknowledge receipt of their personal belongings’ in order to keep agencies from being liable for items left behind. They will also be required to confirm that they do not have any physical or electronic government records with them.

USAID said Thursday and Friday are the only two days when retrieval will be allowed and employees must do it within the time slot that coordinates with their bureau. If staff members cannot make the time slot, only a designated alternate staff member can retrieve belongings as visitors, children and staff without proper credentials will not be allowed.

General Services Administration will pack up personal items that were not retrieved and will send them to a warehouse to be collected at a later date, the instructions said.

There are 14 time slots for employees of 25 bureaus between the two retrieval days.

Employees will also return all USAID-issued government-furnished equipment during their time in the building.

On Sunday at midnight, the Trump administration placed nearly 1,600 USAID employees on administrative leave globally, excluding those working on mission-critical functions, core leadership or specially designated programs.

The reduction-in-force call came after thousands of USAID employees were fired, leaving only around 300 staffers left at the agency.

Trump decided to significantly cut down the agency after the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, determined that USAID wasted millions of dollars funding questionable programs and initiatives around the world.

For instance, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, recently published a list that included $20 million to produce a Sesame Street show in Iraq. 

Several more examples have been uncovered, such as more than $900,000 to a ‘Gaza-based terror charity’ called Bayader Association for Environment and Development and a $1.5 million program slated to ‘advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.’

A funeral procession for a mother and her two young sons is being held Wednesday morning in Rishon Lezion, Israel, after their remains were turned over by Hamas last week.

The remains of Shiri Bibas and her sons Ariel and Kfir were handed over to Israeli authorities late last week as part of an ongoing hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas. 

The funeral will be held near the family’s home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, at a private ceremony in Zohar, The Times of Israel reported. It will be closed to the public.

The family published the route of the funeral procession and urged the public to show support as the remains are transported.

On Friday, Hamas handed over a coffin carrying Shiri Bibas’ remains to the Red Cross, which turnedthe coffin over to Israeli authorities. She was positively identified on Saturday morning.

Hamas had initially handed over a Palestinian woman from Gaza on Thursday. 

The terror group said it had ‘no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.’ It said the dead hostages handed over on Thursday had been killed by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023 and that the bodies could have been misidentified due to bombardments in the area.

Before the handover of Shiri Bibas’ remains, Israeli authorities positively identified the remains of her two sons along with another hostage, Oded Lifshitz.