‘Hell will break loose’: Trump hints at military moves in Mideast, Americas
United States President-elect Donald Trump has hinted at possible military intervention in the Americas and the Middle East, as well as other items on his foreign policy agenda, during a wide-ranging news conference in Florida. Trump spoke from his Mar-a-Lago estate on Tuesday, a day after Congress officially certified his victory in November’s general elections. The news conference also comes just 13 days before Trump is set to take the oath of office for his second term on January 20. The president-elect touched on several domestic subjects, pledging to roll back environmental restrictions and pardon supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. But his most consequential statements concerned foreign policy. Trump expounded on a sweeping expansionist vision, with consequences for countries across the world. He repeated his desire for US control of the Panama Canal, Greenland and Canada, while emphasising that “all hell will break out” if captives held in Gaza are not released before he takes office. Advertisement In one exchange with reporters, Trump was asked if he would rule out the use of military force or economic coercion to take control of the Panama Canal or Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. He refused. “I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said. He then pivoted to the canal, an arterial trade route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. “It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” He later added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes.” Both Greenland’s and Denmark’s prime ministers have ruled out the prospect of the sprawling Arctic island being transferred to US control. And the government of Panama has likewise maintained that the canal will remain Panamanian, as it has been since the US relinquished control in 1999, following a treaty negotiated under late US President Jimmy Carter. Eyes on Canada Trump also made bold statements about his intentions towards Canada, one of the US’s largest trading partners. The country shares a 8,891-kilometre (5,525-mile) border with the US, and Trump in recent weeks has suggested it should become the US’s 51st state. But during Tuesday’s news conference, he ruled out using military force against Canada, which has traditionally been a close ally — though not “economic force”. “You get rid of the artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what it looks like, and it would also be much better for national security,” Trump said, referring to the US-Canada border. Advertisement Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly responded to the prospect on social media. “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” Trudeau wrote. Trump, meanwhile, renewed his pledge to impose “substantial tariffs” on Mexico and Canada if they do not acquiesce to demands to stem irregular migration and drug trafficking into the US. Trump had previously threatened to slap 25-percent tariffs on the two countries, despite warnings from economists that trade wars could mangle heavily interconnected North American industries. In another reference to changing the regional map, Trump said the Gulf of Mexico should be named the “Gulf of America”. It has a “beautiful ring to it”, he quipped. ‘Hell will break out’ Trump spent considerable time discussing Israel’s war in Gaza, a conflict that has claimed more than 45,885 Palestinian lives and prompted fears of grave human rights abuses. The president-elect called his nominee for Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, up to the podium to give an update on negotiations. Witkoff, a real-estate investor with no foreign policy experience, had been part of recent ceasefire talks in the Middle East. In apparently impromptu remarks, Witkoff said: “I think that we’ve had some really great progress, and I’m really hopeful that by the inaugural, we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president.” But the president-elect took a harsher line, focusing on the release of the remaining captives held by Hamas after the attack on October 8, 2023, in southern Israel. Israel estimates about 100 people remain in Hamas’s custody. Advertisement Trump vowed that “all hell will break out” in the Middle East if Hamas does not release captives by the time he takes office. Some observers have interpreted Trump’s statement as a threat of possible US military intervention in Gaza, a line that outgoing President Joe Biden has refused to cross, despite surging military aid to Israel. When asked to explain what he meant at the news conference, Trump baulked: “Do I have to define it for you? All hell will break out if those hostages aren’t back.” “If they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say any more, but that’s what it is,” he said. Syria policy Trump gave a characteristically cryptic answer when asked about the future of US troops in Syria. The Pentagon says about 2,000 US personnel remain in the country as part of a mission to curb the armed group ISIL (ISIS). But questions have arisen about long-term US involvement in Syria after former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled in early December. US troops have supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria since 2014, as a multi-pronged civil war unfolded in the country. But that backing put Washington at odds with its NATO ally Turkiye, which considers members of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) — the bulk of the SDF’s fighters — to be “terrorists”. Turkiye, by contrast, has supported the rebel groups that ultimately overthrew al-Assad. Advertisement During his first term, Trump floated the possibility of withdrawing US troops from Syria. And as recently as December, he posted on his Truth Social platform that the US should have “nothing to do” with Syria. But in Tuesday’s news conference, he opted instead for ambiguity about the future of US involvement
Venezuelan opposition candidate claims son-in-law has been kidnapped
Edmundo Gonzalez, who competed against incumbent Nicolas Maduro in July’s presidential elections, says masked men abducted his son-in-law in Caracas. Edmundo Gonzalez, the leader of Venezuela’s political opposition, has accused masked men of kidnapping his son-in-law, who remains missing. Gonzalez, who ran in the country’s contested presidential election in July, announced the news on social media on Tuesday. “This morning my son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped,” Gonzalez wrote. “Rafael was heading to my grandchildren’s school, ages 7 and 6, in Caracas, to drop them off for the start of classes, and he was intercepted by hooded men dressed in black, who put him in a gold-coloured pickup truck with the license plate AA54E2C and took him away. At this time he is missing.” Gonzalez himself currently faces an arrest warrant in Venezuela, where he has asserted that he is the rightful winner of the July 28 presidential contest. That has put him at odds with incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, who likewise claimed victory. Maduro is set to be sworn in for a third term on Friday. The opposition and other critics of Maduro’s government have protested against the election and the official results, which they maintain lacked transparency and fairness. Advertisement Pre-election polling appeared to show Maduro trailing Gonzalez by a steep margin. But shortly after polls closed, the country’s electoral authority declared Maduro the winner, without releasing the usual breakdown of the voting tally. Venezuela’s opposition argued that precinct-level tallies show Gonzalez beating Maduro by a two-to-one margin, and they have published what appear to be official tally sheets online. That raised doubts about the legitimacy of his victory, and protesters flooded the streets in cities like Caracas in the aftermath of the vote. The government has, in turn, been accused of leading a violent crackdown against protesters and political opponents following the election. Some 2,000 people were initially arrested, and 23 killed, though Maduro’s government recently said it released 1,515 of the detainees. His administration has long faced accusations of political repression and human rights abuses, including torture and arbitrary detention. In September, prosecutors in Venezuela’s government accused Gonzalez of conspiracy, usurpation of powers and falsifying documents, and a court issued a warrant for his arrest. The opposition leader fled the country and went into exile in Spain. But he has pledged to return to Venezuela. The Venezuelan government, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that Gonzalez will be arrested if he comes back. Maduro and his allies maintain that Gonzalez and other opposition members worked with hostile foreign powers to destabilise the country. Advertisement In early January, Gonzalez left Spain to rally support in a tour across the Americas and put pressure on Maduro’s government. He has already visited Argentina and Uruguay, and on Monday, he met US President Joe Biden, whose government recognised Gonzalez as the legitimate president-elect in November. While regional leaders have expressed scepticism about Maduro’s claims of victory and condemned the crackdown on protesters, it remains unclear what leverage can be exerted on Gonzalez’s behalf. Adblock test (Why?)
U.S. House approves legislation to deport undocumented immigrants charged with minor crimes
The proposal requires immigration authorities to hold and deport immigrants charged with crimes like burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting. The bill now goes to the Senate where Republicans hold the majority.
RFK Jr. to meet with slew of Dems including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has meetings with over a dozen senators over the next two days, including top progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in addition to others in the Democratic caucus. President-elect Donald Trump announced last year that RFK Jr. was his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in his second administration. Since the news broke, Kennedy has been on Capitol Hill meeting with various senators. Up until this point, he had only met with Republicans in the upper chamber. But on Wednesday, Kennedy begins his sit-downs with a handful of Democrats, who could be crucial to his getting confirmed. TRUMP, GOP SENATORS TO HUDDLE AT CAPITOL, WEIGH STRATEGY ON BUDGET, TAXES AND BORDER Kennedy, a former Democrat and independent presidential candidate, will attend meetings with Democratic caucus members, Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Warner of Virginia, Warren and Sanders. The one-on-ones with Democrats are coming as several in the party have expressed openness to some of Kennedy’s positions, particularly as it relates to agriculture and food production. But some of those same policy stances pose a potential problem for his support among Republicans in the Senate. MIDWESTERN STATE SENATOR REVIVES DOGE-ALIGNED BILLS AS GOP PREPARES FOR DC TAKEOVER He will also be joining Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Bill Cassidy, R-La., Susan Collins, R-Maine, John Cornyn, R-Texas and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, for meetings on the hill this week. Grassley is one of a handful of Republicans that have flagged concerns regarding Kennedy’s positions on agriculture and how they could affect farmers. “They’ve got to be able to use modern farming techniques, and that involves a lot of things, not only really sophisticated equipment, but also fertilizers and pesticides. So, we have to have that conversation,” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., recently told reporters. TRANSGENDER BILL BARRING MEN FROM WOMEN’S SPORTS TO GET FLOOR VOTE IN NEWLY GOP-LED SENATE Grassley previously emphasized the need for genetic engineering to keep up with food demand and feed the country. However, others have expressed confidence that Kennedy will make the right calls for farmers. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said he warned Kennedy not to go “overboard” with agriculture regulations during their meeting last year. He added that Trump’s HHS pick was “very on board” and “understands our farmers are in trouble, and we want to make sure that we have farmers that can make a living.” After Kennedy endorsed Trump ahead of the 2024 election, the two debuted their campaign to “Make America Healthy Again.” This slogan has been adopted by a caucus formed by some Senate Republicans who are supporting Kennedy for the HHS role and hope to facilitate his and Trump’s policies to promote health in the country.
Klobuchar hit with ‘Community Note’ on X after backlash from Jan 6 claim about ‘killed’ officer: ‘Just sick’
Minnesota Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar is facing blowback from both X users and the platform itself over her post about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot in which she claimed police officers were “injured and killed.” “Four years ago, the electoral vote certification was interrupted by a violent mob. Police officers were injured and killed,” Klobuchar posted on X on Tuesday. “Our democracy hung in the balance. I knew we had to do our duty and complete the count – and in the early hours of January 7th, we did.” That post was soon slapped with a “Community Note” by X that said, “No officers were killed.” “The medical examiner found Sicknick died of natural causes which means ‘a disease alone causes death. If death is hastened by an injury, the manner of death is not considered natural.’ Four other officers committed suicide days to months later.” DOJ CONSIDERS CHARGING 200 MORE PEOPLE 4 YEARS AFTER JAN 6 CAPITOL ATTACK “No police officers were killed,” conservative commentator Dana Loesch posted on X. “Zero police officers were killed,” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. “The time to stop lying about this was a long time ago.” “Can someone explain to me why it’s okay for politicians to continually lie about this?” Bonchie added. “Let’s say you think J6 is the worst thing ever. Fine, but how does that make it acceptable to say officers were killed? It’s four years later and the fact-checkers still won’t touch this.” DOJ IG REVEALS 26 FBI INFORMANTS WERE PRESENT ON JAN 6 “It is so sick to see people lie about who was killed,” Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway posted on X. “A Trump supporter was shot and killed, but no police officers were killed. Someone of your stature should not be lying brazenly about this. Just sick.” “She should be censured for this lie,” Right Turn Strategies President Chris Barron posted on X. “Not a single officer was killed on Jan 6,” Federalist Election Correspondent Brianna Lyman posted on X. “Sicknick died of natural causes on Jan. 7 Two officers died by su*cide in the weeks following while two other officers who were not present at the time of the protest later died by su*cide that could not directly be tied to J6.” “No police officers were killed,” conservative writer Ben Kew posted on X. “The only person who was murdered was Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter.” Fox News Digital reached out to Klobuchar’s office for comment but did not receive a response. U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after he confronted rioters on Jan. 6, according to Washington’s top medical examiner. “The USCP accepts the findings from the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner that Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes,” the Capitol Police said in a 2021 press release. “This does not change the fact Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.” Law enforcement officials testified in 2021 that about 140 police officers were injured in the riot.
Outgoing WH official calls for US to bolster cybersecurity workforce by hiring non-degree holders
The White House’s outgoing cyber czar, Harry Coker, called for three key things to meet the growing threat of digital attacks: more funding, deregulation and opening up cyber jobs to those without college degrees. As adversaries like Iran, China and Russia lob near-constant attacks on the U.S. digital infrastructure, “we have to prioritize cybersecurity within federal budgets” President Joe Biden’s national cyber director said at an event with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C. “I would love for the incoming administration, or any administration, to recognize the priority of cybersecurity,” Coker said. He added that he understands the U.S. is in a “tough budget situation.” “I get that, and I support making progress towards reducing the deficit, but we have to prioritize cybersecurity within our current budgets,” he said. At the same time, the Biden appointee railed against “duplicative federal regulation” and said he’d heard from those working to protect the nation’s online infrastructure that they spend “a staggering 30 to 50%” of their time working to comply with regulation, rather than ensuring protection from hacks. “Armed with the industry’s call to streamline, we worked with Congress to write bipartisan legislation that would bring all stakeholders, including independent regulators, to the table to advance the regulatory harmonization,” he went on. TOP REPUBLICAN DEMANDS ‘COSTS’ FOR CHINA AFTER IT HACKED TREASURY DEPT IN YEAR MARKED BY CCP ESPIONAGE “Many of us were disappointed that this has not become law yet, but we have laid the groundwork for the next administration in Congress to do the right thing for our partners in the private sector.” His urging comes as the U.S. is grappling with the fallout of one of China’s biggest attacks on American infrastructure in history, dubbed Salt Typhoon. A Chinese intelligence group infiltrated nine U.S. telecommunications giants and gained access to the private text messages and phone calls of Americans, including senior government officials and prominent political figures. The Salt Typhoon hackers also gained access to an exhaustive list of phone numbers the Justice Department had wiretapped to monitor people suspected of espionage, granting them insight into which Chinese spies the U.S. had caught onto and which they had missed. FBI’S NEW WARNING ABOUT AI-DRIVEN SCAMS THAT ARE AFTER YOUR CASH China was also behind a “major” hack of the Treasury Department in December, gaining access to unclassified documents and the workstations of government employees. And earlier this year, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s communications were intercepted by Chinese intelligence, just as she was making determinations about new export controls on semiconductors and other key technologies. The same hacking group also targeted officials at the State Department and members of Congress. Amid this onslaught of attacks, Coker said the cyber industry is suffering a recruitment issue. “Today there are nearly 500,000 open cyber jobs in this great nation,” he said. “The federal government is leading by example… removing federal employee and contractor hiring from a focus on college degrees to a focus on what we’re really after: skills. “When we do away with the four-year college degree requirement, we expand our talent pool,” Coker went on. “Many Americans don’t have the time or the means to go to college for four years, but they can do it for two years or less.”
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Who could replace Trudeau?
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… –Judge denies Trump motion to stop NY criminal case sentencing -Laken Riley Act passes House with 48 Dems, all Republicans -Trump threatens to tap allies for military shipbuilding if US can’t produce Canada’s Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister Monday, with his Liberal Party in turmoil amid declining poll numbers and an election on the horizon. Whoever assumes leadership in the unpopular governing party will become the next prime minister, and that person must tackle rising costs of living, an immigration crisis and aggressive economic pressure from President-elect Trump – not to mention the challenge from Canada’s ascendant Conservative Party in the next election, to be held no later than October. The next Liberal Party leader will be chosen in a national leadership contest, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Party President Sachit Mehra said Monday he would call a meeting “to be held this week to begin the nationwide democratic process of selecting a new leader of the party.”…Read more CURTAIN CALL: Pardons, Israel, domestic terrorism and more: Biden’s plans for final days of presidency…Read more ‘BIG MISTAKE’: Trump: Carter was a ‘very fine’ person but Panama Canal moves were ‘a big mistake’…Read more NOT FOR SALE: Danish prime minister has blunt message for Trump: Greenland is not for sale…Read more ‘DEAL THAT MUST HAPPEN’: Donald Trump Jr arrives in Greenland as his father says Denmark ‘give it up’…Read more BLUE STATE BEHEMOTH: Trump trolling Canada as 51st state could boost Democrats with ‘blue-state behemoth’…Read more ‘POINT OF NO RETURN’?: Iran’s nuclear program is nearing ‘a point of no return,’ France’s Macron says…Read more BIG GUNS: Kim Jong Un’s big guns spotted on Russian front lines: report…Read more ‘A BAD IDEA’: Physician governor urges Capitol Hill to block RFK Jr.’s confirmation: ‘Our children’s lives depend on it’…Read more ‘PLAYING WITH THE COURTS’: Trump blasts ongoing ‘lawfare’ in first public remarks since Congress certified his election…Read more STOPPING TRAFFIC: House Republican’s bill would rip federal funds from states that give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses…Read more ‘QUIT PLAYING AROUND’: Ex-Obama adviser calls out Schumer for ‘foolish’ claim Dems didn’t mislead on Biden…Read more DEFINING DOGE: What to know about DOGE and its quest to slash government waste, spending…Read more ‘COME A LONG WAY’: Trump says Meta has ‘come a long way’ after Zuckerberg ends fact-checking on platforms…Read more ‘BEAUTIFUL NAME’: Trump announces Gulf of Mexico will get new, pro-America revamp…Read more Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com
‘Blood on your hands’: A look back at Mark Zuckerberg’s tense moments in congressional hearings
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s newly unveiled freedom of speech policies signal a major shift in the Facebook social media platform’s content moderation strategy, following years of congressional clashes over alleged “censorship” and the regulation of political information. “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted Tuesday morning. “More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.” META ENDS FACT-CHECKING PROGRAM AS ZUCKERBERG VOWS TO RESTORE FREE EXPRESSION ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM Zuckerberg’s shift in content moderation comes amid a history of being grilled by politicians on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill. In January 2024, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., confronted Zuckerberg during a heated exchange about the harmful impact of social media on users, particularly young girls. The questioning followed revelations from internal Meta studies that indicated a significant number of teenage girls were exposed to harmful content, including unwanted nudity, sexual advances, and material promoting self-harm, within just one week. “So, you didn’t take any action, you didn’t fire anybody, you haven’t compensated a single victim. Let me ask you this. There are families of victims here today. Have you apologized to the victims? Would you like to apologize now?” Hawley said, drawing applause from the audience. In response, Zuckerberg rose from his seat and addressed the crowd directly, saying, “I’m sorry for everything you’ve all been through. No one should have to go through the things that your families suffered.” MUSK PROVES HUNTER BIDEN CENSORSHIP CAME FROM COLLUSION AMONG BIDEN CAMPAIGN, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND TWITTER Zuckerberg added, “This is why we’ve invested so much… and will continue through industry-leading efforts to make sure that no [one has] to go through what your families have had to suffer.” In that same hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered a scathing rebuke of the tech giant CEO. “Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us. I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands,” Graham said. “You have a product that’s killing people.” Graham’s remark came in light of South Carolina state Rep. Brandon Guffey suing Instagram following the suicide of his 17-year-old son, Gavin. Gavin took his own life after falling victim to an extortion scheme run by a group operating through the Meta-owned app. In 2018, then-House lawmakers grilled Zuckerberg over the site’s failure to protect the personal information of 87 million users. Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook in 2004 from his Harvard dorm room, said in a Facebook post at the time, “Looking back, it’s clear we were too slow identifying election interference in 2016, and we need to do better in future elections.” In November 2020, then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Zuckerberg both faced the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing titled “Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election.” The session put the spotlight on the tech giants’ controversial content moderation decisions, including the suppression of the New York Post story about Hunter Biden just weeks before the presidential election. HOUSE WEAPONIZATION PANEL RELEASES 17,000-PAGE REPORT EXPOSING ‘TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT’ Testifying remotely, both CEOs acknowledged missteps and outlined how they’d handle similar challenges in the future. Zuckerberg highlighted Facebook’s expansive voting initiatives, which he called “the largest voting information campaign in American history.” According to his testimony, over 140 million users visited the Voting Information Center on Facebook and Instagram, with 33 million accessing it on Election Day alone. The campaign reportedly helped 4.5 million people register to vote. To combat misinformation and voter suppression, Zuckerberg detailed measures like partnerships with election officials, the removal of false claims, and warnings applied to over 150 million pieces of content reviewed by independent fact-checkers. Facebook also implemented “policies prohibiting explicit or implicit misrepresentations about how or when to vote as well as attempts to use threats related to COVID-19 to scare people into not voting,” according to Zuckerberg’s testimony. Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was put in place after the 2016 election and had been used to “manage content” and misinformation on its platforms, largely due to “political pressure,” executives said, but admitted the system has “gone too far.” Last year, Zuckerberg sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, in which he admitted that he felt pressure from the Biden administration, particularly with regard to COVID-19 content, and even subjects like satire and humor. “The thing is, as American companies, when other governments around the world that don’t have our tradition or our First Amendment, when they see the United States government pressuring U.S. companies to take down content, it is just open season then for those governments to put more pressure [on their companies],” explained Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan. “We do think it is a real opportunity to work with the Trump administration and to work on free expression at home.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, Liz Huston, Trump-Vance transition spokesperson said, “President Trump has always been a champion of free speech, and his landslide victory put an end to the Biden era of oppressive censorship.” ‘President Trump’s return to the White House is a signal to Americans that their fundamental right to free speech is once again safe,” she added. Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Adonis Hoffman contributed to this report.
Trump digs into Biden admin for selling off border wall at ‘five cents on the dollar’
During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump renewed his criticisms of the Biden administration for selling off border wall materials at “five cents on the dollar,” saying: “These people either hate our country or they’re stupid.” He also slammed the private company managing the border wall sales for attempting to sell the materials back to his incoming administration at a significant upcharge. “You know what they were doing. They were calling us up and saying: ‘We’ll sell it back to you at 200 cents.’ In other words, double what we paid for it,” he said. “So, they were going to buy it from this guy [President Joe Biden] for five cents on the dollar. They were making deals.” SEAN HANNITY: THESE ACTIONS ARE DESIGNED TO UNDERMINE TRUMP The Biden administration has been auctioning off border wall parts since at least 2023, with parts listed for sale on auction marketplaces, after it abruptly shut down most border wall construction in 2021. An official at the Department of Defense told Fox News Digital in December that the materials being sold through online auctions were already sold off by the federal government earlier in 2024, with a large percentage of the materials being sold to a government surplus retailer called Gov Planet. Following a lawsuit by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton the Biden administration agreed to a court order to stop further wall material sales. Speaking in December, Trump said the Biden administration’s border wall sales were “almost a criminal act” that would cost American taxpayers “hundreds of millions of dollars.” A SECURE BORDER SAVES LIVES, TOM HOMAN SAYS Trump said on Tuesday the private retailer was “calling us, asking us to pay them 200 cents because it’s a good deal because we can have it immediately.” But to this, Trump said: “You know what ‘immediately’ is? Just leave it in place.” “Fortunately, we had a very smart judge that stopped it cold,” he went on. “But think of it. They were selling the wall. That was exactly the wall that the Border Patrol wanted that was designed by them: steel, concrete, rebar… Everything was top of the line, very expensive. It would be double what we paid for it then, six years ago.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Speaking of the Biden administration, Trump said: “These people either hate our country or they’re very stupid.” “They were selling the wall for five cents on the dollar and trying to resell it back to us for 200 cents, or less, but for 200 cents on the dollar.” he said. “That deal is like all the other things that these people do.”
The president who couldn’t quit: Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy legacy goes beyond the White House
Jimmy Carter, the centenarian former president who lived long enough to see Donald Trump elected again but died just before the start of the new year, has a foreign policy legacy that wasn’t just defined by his four years in the White House. Over the term of his presidency, the former Georgia governor could boast of helping to establish peace between Israel and Egypt and reestablishing relations with China. But by the time he suffered one of the nation’s most decisive defeats by President Ronald Reagan in 1980, Carter still had ambitions that he was not ready to stop pursuing. Carter is largely celebrated for the altruistic nature of his post-presidency, volunteering with Habitat for Humanity well into his 90s. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his peace negotiations, but some accused the former president of meddling in international affairs without any official title. Here’s a look Carter’s forays on the world stage, both as president and beyond: In 1994, Bill Clinton was in office in the midst of a standoff with North Korea over the communist country’s nuclear program. The U.S. was floating the idea of sanctions – and even considered a preemptive strike on North Korea’s nuclear facilities to destroy their capabilities. Carter had received invitations from North Korea to visit, and was eager to try his hand at defusing the situation and hashing out an agreement to unify the north and the south. As Clinton weighed his options, Carter called. He had negotiated the framework of a peace agreement, without authorization. Carter had flown to North Korea with a CNN crew and hashed out the deal. He called Clinton to warn him he was about to go on CNN to announce the deal, which infuriated the Clinton White House, according to Carter biographer Douglas Brinkley’s book, “The Unfinished Presidency.” Carter also accepted a dinner invitation from Kim Il-Sung, where he stated the U.S. had stopped pursuing sanctions at the U.N., which was untrue. Backed into a corner, Clinton had to accept the peace deal and stop pursuing sanctions. Carter’s discussions with leader Kim Il-Sung may have averted conflict with North Korea in the 1990s. The nation, of course, continued pursuing nuclear weapons and acquired them in 2006. In the Middle East, Carter declared he could have resolved the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians in a second term, a prospect that has still not been achieved by any president. “Had I been elected to a second term, with the prestige and authority and influence and reputation I had in the region, we could have moved to a final solution,” he told The New York Times in 2003. Throughout the 1990s, Carter befriended Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat and coached him on how to appear more moderate to the west, even as Arafat continued to lead attacks on Israel and led the Second Intifada in 2000. JIMMY CARTER, PIONEER OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT When President George H.W. Bush decided to launch the Persian Gulf War after Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Carter was vehemently opposed to the idea. Five days before Bush’s deadline for Hussein to withdraw, Carter wrote to leaders of nations on the U.N. Security Council and key Arab states – Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria – imploring them to abandon the U.S. and its war efforts. “I urge you to call publicly for a delay in the use of force while Arab leaders seek a peaceful solution to the crisis. You may have to forego approval from the White House, but you will find the French, Soviets, and others fully supportive. Also, most Americans will welcome such a move.” The move prompted former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft to accuse Carter of violating the Logan Act, which says private citizens cannot negotiate with foreign governments. In 2008, President George W. Bush’s secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, publicly tore into Carter for meeting with Hamas, a designated terrorist group, after the administration explicitly told him not to. Rice told reporters Carter’s meeting could confuse the message that the U.S. would not work with Hamas. “I just don’t want there to be any confusion,” Rice said. “The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help” further a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. JIMMY CARTER, 39TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, DEAD AT 100 Carter, a strong advocate of the Palestinians after his presidency, claimed that Israel’s policies amounted to an apartheid worse than South Africa’s. In 1978, the groundbreaking possibility of Egypt and Israel normalizing relations had screeched to a halt. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt suggested ceasing contact with the Israelis. In September of that year, Carter brought Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to Camp David, where Carter spent more than a week mediating negotiations on an agreement between the two sides. A framework of a treaty known as the Camp David Accords came out of that meeting, and six months later, Egypt became the first Arab state to establish relations with Israel. The agreement included the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and a “pathway” for Palestinian self-rule in Gaza. Sadat was assassinated in 1981 after Arab fury over the peace agreement. In 1978, following months of secret negotiations, Carter established formal U.S. relations with China, breaking decades of hostility between the two nations. That meant rescinding a defense treaty with Taiwan, where Carter remains a controversial figure. It also prompted Congress to pass the Taiwan Relations Act to continue to provide arms to Taiwan and “maintain the capacity to resist” any attempts to take it over. In 1979, the Iranian regime’s shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and Carter had a strategic relationship, with Carter quiet on his questionable human rights record even as the shah’s grip on power was slipping. Protests had kicked up in Iran over the shah’s oppressive policies, but Carter