Family of Iowa grad killed by illegal immigrant to attend Trump’s State of the Union
FIRST ON FOX: The father and brother of a young woman killed by an illegal immigrant will be in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night watching President Donald Trump deliver his State of the Union address, after his administration helped track down the man who ended the woman’s life. Sarah Root, a 21-year-old Iowa native, was killed in Nebraska hours after she graduated from Bellevue University by a drunk driver whose blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit. The man, Eswin Mejia, was in the U.S. illegally at the time of the incident in January 2016. He was arrested and released on bond the following month and fled the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). TRUMP URGES DHS, ICE TO PUBLICIZE ARRESTS, SAYS CRACKDOWN IS ‘SAVING MANY INNOCENT LIVES’ Then-candidate Trump was critical of the Obama administration’s handling of the case. The Trump administration later tracked Mejia down in Honduras and extradited him to the U.S. in March 2025. He was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. Sarah Root’s father and brother will attend in-person as Trump delivers his primetime address to Congress on Tuesday evening, thanks to an invitation from Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa. “I think that the message it sends is that, under President Trump, that we will find you. I mean, if you’re an illegal criminal in this state or in this country, we will find you, and you will get deported, or you will be prosecuted. I think that is the message loud and clear,” Feenstra told Fox News Digital. EXCLUSIVE: 17,500 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED UNDER LAKEN RILEY ACT IN TRUMP’S SECOND TERM He said Sarah Root’s father, Scott Root, was present at the White House when Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law last year. The anti-illegal immigrant bill also included an amendment named after Sarah Root that would require Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal immigrants charged with seriously injuring or killing someone. “Scott was at the White House with me during the signing of the bill. And he got to know President Trump, so now to be there at the State of the Union — that is really, really a big deal,” Feenstra said. Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has been a primary focus of his administration, after his criticism of how the issue was handled by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Federal judge blocks release of Jack Smith report’s second volume
A federal judge on Monday agreed to permanently block the release of volume two of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report — centered on President Donald Trump’s handling of classified materials after his first term in office — in a significant victory for the president and his co-defendants. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, granted the president’s request to permanently block the release of the second volume of the report, ruling that its publication would represent a “manifest injustice” both to Trump and the co-defendants in the classified documents case. “Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action and initiated proceedings that resulted in a final order of dismissal of all charges,” Cannon said Monday. JACK SMITH SUBPOENAED FOR DEPOSITION WITH HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE The ruling blocks the Justice Department from “releasing, distributing, conveying, or sharing with anyone outside the Department of Justice any information or conclusions in Volume II or in drafts thereof.” It also comes just day before Volume II of Smith’s special counsel probe was slated to be released on Tuesday. Trump’s former defense attorney, Kendra Wharton, praised Cannon’s decision to block Volume II of Smith’s report from being released publicly, telling Fox News Digital in a statement that her “courage and judicial resolve on these important due process issues should be recognized and taught in law school classrooms across America.” Neither Smith’s law firm nor the Justice Department immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Monday’s ruling. Cannon previously ruled that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed as special counsel, though the matter was ultimately dismissed following Trump’s re-election in 2024. In her 15-page order Monday, Cannon said allowing the release of Volume II of the special counsel report would “contravene basic notions of fairness and justice” and likely prompt the sharing of protected information, including material covered by attorney-client privilege. “Moreover, while it is true that former special counsels have released final reports at the conclusion of their work, it appears they have done so either after electing not to bring charges at all or after adjudications of guilt by plea or trial,” Cannon said. TRUMP STRIPS SECURITY CLEARANCES FROM LAW FIRM TIED TO JACK SMITH CASES “The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt, at least not in a situation like this one, where the defendants contested the charges from the outset and still proclaim their innocence,” she added. Smith was tapped by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Trump’s retention of allegedly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach after leaving office in 2021. Smith had brought charges against Trump in both cases. The charges were dropped after Trump’s election, in keeping with a long-standing Justice Department policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents on federal criminal charges. Smith resigned from his role shortly afterward. Trump’s former defense attorney, Kendra Wharton, praised Cannon’s decision to block Volume II of Smith’s report from being released publicly, telling Fox News Digital in a statement that her “courage and judicial resolve on these important due process issues should be recognized and taught in law school classrooms across America.” JACK SMITH SUBPOENAED FOR DEPOSITION WITH HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE Smith, for his part, has forcefully sought to dispute the notion that his team had acted politically, using public and private remarks to House Republicans in December and January to defend his team’s actions. His team had developed what he described as “powerful evidence” that Trump had willfully retained highly classified documents after leaving office in January 2021 at his private Mar-a-Lago residence, and had been obstructing the government’s efforts to recover the records. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith told members of the House Judiciary Committee in a Dec. 17 interview.
Katie Porter holds ‘F— TRUMP’ sign at California Democratic convention
Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, one of the Democratic candidates eyeing the Golden State governorship, held up a message that read “F— TRUMP” during the California Democratic Party’s 2026 state convention on Saturday. “Yeah, that’s right, f— Trump,” she declared. “Together, we’re gonna kick Trump’s a– in November. I’ll stand up to Trump and his cronies just like I did in Congress, with or without my whiteboard,” she said. ILLINOIS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SEEKING US SENATE SEAT RELEASES VIDEO OF PEOPLE SAYING ‘F— TRUMP’ “But this election for governor is about more than defeating Trump. We know what Trump is willing to do. He’s willing to kill people in the streets, to rip away healthcare, and to ruthlessly attack our democracy. But this governor’s race asks us, what are we willing to do, what is California willing to do for our democracy?” she said. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the Republican National Committee for comment on Monday. UNEARTHED FEC RECORDS EXPOSE KATIE PORTER’S HYPOCRISY AFTER SHE FUMES AT ‘NEW BILLIONAIRE’ JOINING RACE Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has endorsed Porter for governor. “Senator Elizabeth Warren knows what it means to fight for working families. Together, we’ve held the powerful accountable, put people before billionaires, and worked hard to lower costs for Americans. Grateful to my friend @ewarren for her endorsement in this race,” Porter wrote in a post on X. LIBERAL MEDIA DARLING IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW GOES VIRAL CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “From the moment @katieporterca set foot in my consumer law class, I knew that she would be a warrior for working families. Katie will champion the kind of bold, progressive vision that California workers and families deserve, and I’m proud to endorse her for California Governor,” Warren said in a post on X.
DHS shutdown drags into week two as Iran threat, SOTU clash complicate Hill talks
A government shutdown, big or small, is usually a front-and-center issue for lawmakers — but the most recent partial closure could be put on the back burner as Congress returns to several issues in Washington. Senate Democrats and the White House are still at odds over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as the shutdown dragged into its tenth day. Neither side is budging, with the most recent concrete action coming early last week. Trump, who proved pivotal in striking a funding truce with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in January, was not directly involved in recent negotiations. ‘TARIFFS SUCK’: SOME REPUBLICANS PRIVATELY CELEBRATE AS SUPREME COURT BLOCKS TRUMP POLICY Trump has not had any “direct conversations or correspondence” with congressional Democrats recently, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, noting that the White House and its representatives have been handling the dialogue. “But, of course, Democrats are the reason that the Department of Homeland Security is currently shut down,” she said. “They have chosen to act against the American people for political reasons.” Senate Democrats offered a counter to the White House’s own counterproposal, which quickly was rejected as “unserious” by Leavitt. It’s a peculiar instance, given that this is the third shutdown during Trump’s second term, and neither side appears to be in a particular rush to end it. DEMOCRATS RISK FEMA DISASTER FUNDING COLLAPSE AS DHS SHUTDOWN HITS DAY 5 Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that there’s “some room for give and take” in the negotiations, but remained firm in the GOP’s positioning against requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from getting judicial warrants, unmasking or other reforms sought by Democrats that could increase risks for agents in the field. “I felt like, you know, the last offer the White House put out there was a really — it was a good faith one, and it was clear to me that they’re attempting, in every way, to try and land this thing so we can get DHS funded,” Thune said. Funding the agency will be a top priority for the upper chamber, but they’ll be delayed because of winter storms descending on the East Coast. The weather has caused the Senate to delay a vote on the original DHS spending bill until Tuesday night, ahead of Trump’s State of the Union address. There are other issues that could get in the way of hashing out a deal, including a possible conflict with Iran and Trump’s desire to move ahead with tariffs without congressional approval. GOP WARNS DEMOCRATS USING DHS SHUTDOWN TO STALL SENATE VOTER ID PUSH Trump told reporters Friday that he was “considering” a limited military strike against Iran, which already has riled up some in Congress, who are demanding that lawmakers get a say on whether the U.S. strikes. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in a statement that he has a war powers resolution to block an attack on Iran filed and ready, and challenged his colleagues to vote against it. “If some of my colleagues support war, then they should have the guts to vote for the war and to be held accountable by their constituents, rather than hiding under their desks,” Kaine said. On the heels of the Supreme Court’s ruling to torpedo his sweeping duties, Trump is considering bypassing Congress to move ahead with another set of global 10% tariffs. That comes as some Republicans are quietly celebrating the end of the duties, and others are open to working with the administration on a path forward for trade policy. On tariffs, a Republican aide told Fox News that the GOP was “waiting to see what POTUS does next.” “The State of the Union should be interesting,” they said.
Who is Abigail Spanberger, and why did Democrats choose her for to their State of the Union response?
All eyes will be on Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger after President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, as the rising star Democrat raises her national profile with the traditional rebuttal speech. Spanberger was elected to lead the commonwealth just last year, ending Republican control in Richmond and defeating former Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears by roughly 15 points. Since then, she’s been hailed as one of the faces representing the future of the Democratic Party. The Virginia Democrat was likely chosen to lead this year’s response due to her battleground district credentials, in a year when the left is working to appeal to swing voters who are turned off by Trump. VIRGINIA GOV. SPANBERGER CUTS TIES WITH ICE IN FEDERAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION Spanberger was first elected to Congress during the “blue wave” of 2018 by defeating incumbent former GOP Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., by only about 2%. She became the first woman to represent the district and the first Democrat elected there since the 1970s. And while much media attention was focused on the far-left “Squad” Democrats elected that year — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and ex-Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. — Spanberger sought to set herself apart with a clique of her own. Indeed, she and four other Democrat women with national security backgrounds formed a group they dubbed “The Badasses” after being elected together that same year. SPANBERGER SAYS VIRGINIA ‘CHOSE PRAGMATISM OVER PARTISANSHIP’ IN VICTORY SPEECH Just one of those women, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., remains in the House today, however. Spanberger and ex-Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., were both elected governor of their respective states last year. Another, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., moved to the upper chamber of Congress. Ex-Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., lost her seat to current Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va. Spanberger, for her part, is an eight-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She worked with the agency’s clandestine services for a time and was an operations officer by the time she left for the private sector in 2014. During her 2018 congressional campaign, Republicans seized on Spanberger’s earlier time spent teaching at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Virginia from 2002 to 2003, according to a Washington Post article from the time. “Critics have dubbed it ‘Terror High’ because some students joined al-Qaeda years after graduating. Spanberger received two federal security clearances after disclosing her teaching work to the Postal Service and the CIA, which eventually sent her overseas as a covert agent fighting terrorism,” the report said.
Thomas rips Supreme Court tariffs ruling, says majority ‘errs’ on Constitution
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ripped the court’s decision blocking President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency law to impose sweeping tariffs on trading partners, calling it a fundamental misread of both the governing statute and the Constitution’s separation of powers. “As (Kavanaugh) explains, the Court’s decision … cannot be justified as a matter of statutory interpretation. Congress authorized the President to ‘regulate … importation,’” Thomas wrote in his dissent. “Throughout American history, the authority to ‘regulate importation’ has been understood to include the authority to impose duties on imports.” The court invalidated Trump’s use of an emergency law to impose tariffs in a 6–3 decision Friday morning after weeks of Trump championing that the court should rule in his favor as part of his larger effort to boost the economy, jobs and bring down costs for Americans. Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito joined Justice Brett Kavanaugh in dissenting from the ruling, with Thomas also offering his own separate dissent. The majority of the court ruled Friday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president, even after declaring a national emergency, to impose tariffs — and that Congress did not speak clearly enough to transfer its tariff-and-tax power to the executive branch. TRUMP RESPONDS TO SUPREME COURT RULING REJECTING SWEEPING TARIFFS POWERS: ‘A DISGRACE’ The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is a 1977 law that allows the president, after declaring a national emergency in response to foreign threats, to regulate or block certain economic transactions and property interests, such as by imposing sanctions. “The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope,” Supreme Court Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. “In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.” TRUMP’S TARIFF REVENUES HIT RECORD HIGHS AS SUPREME COURT DEALS MAJOR BLOW In his dissent, Thomas argued that nondelegation doctrine is a narrow constraint, saying a line is crossed only when Congress delegates “core” power to make rules triggering deprivations of “life, liberty, or property” — not “from delegating other kinds of power,” such as tariffs. The nondelegation doctrine forbids Congress from delegating core legislative power to the president. “As I suggested over a decade ago, the nondelegation doctrine does not apply to ‘a delegation of power to make rules governing private conduct in the area of foreign trade,’ including rules imposing duties on imports,” Thomas wrote. “Therefore, to the extent that the Court relies on ‘separation of powers principles’ to rule against the President is mistaken.” SUPREME COURT RULES ON TRUMP TARIFFS IN MAJOR TEST OF EXECUTIVE BRANCH POWERS Thomas pointed to President Nixon’s 1971 import surcharge as a real-world test case that was later upheld in United States v. Yoshida Int’l under IEEPA’s predecessor statute, the Trading with the Enemy Act. Nixon announced a 10% across-the-board import surcharge on foreign nations in 1971, with the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals upholding the policy under the same “regulate … importation” language in 1975. “The meaning of that phrase was beyond doubt by the time that Congress enacted this statute, shortly after President Nixon’s highly publicized duties on imports were upheld based on identical language,” Thomas wrote. “The statute that the President relied on therefore authorized him to impose the duties on imports at issue in these cases,” Thomas wrote, adding that Kavanaugh “makes clear that the Court errs in concluding otherwise.” Trump unveiled his tariff policies in April 2025, which have come with repeatedly updated deals with foreign nations, as a tool to bring parity to U.S. trade policy and encourage businesses to open up shop on U.S. soil as part of an American manufacturing renaissance to boost the job market and the economy. Trump, in recent months, has repeatedly promoted that the Supreme Court rule in his favor, warning just Thursday during a trip to a steel factory in Georgia that “without tariffs, this country would be in such trouble right now.” The president held a press conference shortly after the decision on Friday, announcing a 10% global tariff, while underscoring that the “Supreme Court did not overrule tariffs,” but “merely overruled a particular use of IEEPA tariffs.”
Florida bill would let churches use armed volunteers instead of licensed security
A Florida bill could allow churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship to use armed volunteers for security without requiring them to hold a professional security license. Senate Bill 52, which unanimously passed the chamber earlier this month, would authorize houses of worship to use armed volunteers instead of hiring licensed security guards, which supporters say would help cut costs while still keeping people safe. “It’s now common for synagogues, churches, and mosques to have armed security,” state Sen. Don Gaetz, who sponsored this measure, said to FOX 13. “Often using paid professional licensed security personnel.” SHOOTING OUTSIDE SALT LAKE CITY LDS CHURCH LEAVES AT LEAST 2 DEAD, 6 INJURED: POLICE The legislation now heads to the state House. This measure comes amid concerns about violence targeting places of worship across the country. In August, a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minnesota left two children dead and around 20 others injured. And in Mississippi last month, a suspect set fire to a synagogue, causing extensive damage and destroying sacred Torah scrolls. Elvis Piggott, the pastor at Triumph Church of Tampa, was arrested in October 2025 after allegedly pulling out a gun during a dispute following a Tampa City Council election forum. He later said he acted in self-defense. Piggott, reacting to reports of violence at houses of worship, said the threats are an unfortunate reality. “Some of these things you would have never thought in a million years would happen inside of the place of worship,” he told FOX 13. “It can get very costly,” Piggot said of hiring licensed security. “Just for myself at an event could be roughly $900 to $1,000 for two hours.” If House lawmakers approve the legislation, it would then go to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The changes would take effect in July if the governor signs the bill into law. TRUCK CAUGHT ON CAMERA PLOWING INTO FAMED AUSTRALIAN SYNAGOGUE IN ALLEGED HATE CRIME “Unfortunately, when a lot of people are congregated closely together, that’s a high value target for bad guys,” Aaron Chappell, who co-founded Vulture Training Group, a company that provides security guard certification and training, told FOX 13. “Do you want somebody who is five or six minutes away?” he added. “Or somebody who’s on scene when something happens.”
‘It’s hidden’: Female genital mutilation and the secret shame of Minnesota’s Somalis
More than half a million women and girls in the United States are living with the physical and psychological scars of female genital mutilation — including many in Minnesota, home to a large Somali community from a country where roughly 98% of women have undergone the procedure, according to United Nations data. Yet despite a state law that makes performing the procedures a felony, Minnesota has never secured a single criminal prosecution under its law — raising questions about enforcement, and whether cases could be going on undetected. Female genital mutilation, or FGM, involves the cutting or removal of parts of a female’s genital organs, typically for cultural rather than medical reasons. The practice is irreversible. “It’s hidden — it’s a cultural practice, and who is doing the cutting could be a family member or a doctor who is also in that same culture,” Minnesota Republican state Rep. Mary Franson told Fox News Digital, noting it may be carried out within tight-knit communities. She said the secrecy surrounding the practice makes it exceptionally difficult to detect and confront. MINNESOTA ‘ON THE CLOCK’ AS HHS THREATENS PENALTIES OVER CHILDCARE FRAUD SCANDAL For some within Minnesota’s Somali community, the issue is less about public crime statistics and more about private silence — a practice survivors say is carried in secrecy, shame and fear. The lack of prosecutions comes amid broader scrutiny of how Minnesota agencies handle oversight failures, including high-profile welfare and daycare fraud cases in which prosecutors allege billions of taxpayer dollars were siphoned off while warning signs went unaddressed. Investigators and watchdogs later concluded that officials were reluctant to probe deeply in culturally sensitive contexts — a reluctance, critics say, allowed large-scale violations to persist in plain sight. The estimate of more than half a million survivors in the United States comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent national analysis, published in 2016. Together, the scale of the issue and the difficulty of detection have raised questions about whether Minnesota’s ban on FGM is being effectively enforced when the crime is often carried out in secrecy. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born activist and author who survived FGM, described the lasting physical and psychological damage she endured and called for legal accountability. “Female genital mutilation is violence against the most vulnerable — children,” Hirsi Ali told Fox News Digital. “It causes infection, incontinence, unbearable pain during childbirth and deep physical and emotional scars that never heal. Religious or cultural practices that deliberately and cruelly harm children must be confronted. No tradition can ever justify torture.” Hirsi Ali, who founded the AHA Foundation as a means to end FGM, said that the pressure placed on parents in these groups to enforce the practice poses an overwhelming risk to girls. “Only legal accountability can help reduce that risk,” Hirsi Ali said. “I survived female genital mutilation and I carry its scars with me. But I refuse to accept that another girl in America must endure what I did in Somalia.” Zahra Abdalla, a Minnesota-based Somali survivor of female genital mutilation, told Fox News Digital that the practice survives in secrecy, shielded by family pressure and silence. Abdalla, who spoke to Fox News Digital on camera but asked that her face be blurred, said she was between six and seven years old when she was forcibly restrained in a refugee camp in Kenya while adult women in her community carried out the procedure without anesthesia, using a razor blade. “They tied my hands and my legs,” Abdalla said. “I remember being held down. I remember the pain — and knowing I could not escape.” Abdalla said she was “lucky” because she fought back during the procedure, kicking one of the women who was pregnant at the time. The disruption, she said, caused the cutting to stop before it was fully completed. She said the wound was later washed with salt water. “That pain — I thought I was going to pass out,” she said. The damage followed her into adulthood, she said, later requiring surgery and, in her view, contributing to multiple miscarriages. She also said intercourse was very difficult. She said the practice is often driven by marriage expectations, adding that in some communities men are reluctant to marry women who have not undergone the procedure. “It’s tied to dowry. It’s tied to marriage,” she said, referring to the financial and social expectations placed on families when arranging marriages. “It’s tied to what men expect,” she said. “Families believe it protects a girl’s value.” She said silence remains one of the biggest barriers to enforcement. She is the executive director of the nonprofit Somaliweyn Relief Agency (SRA), which seeks to raise awareness about the practice. “You don’t talk about it,” she said. “You’re told to stay quiet.” While she said she cannot confirm specific cases inside Minnesota, she said she believes some families take girls back to Somalia during school breaks to have the procedure performed. Her warning mirrors how some of the only known U.S. cases have surfaced. In a high-profile federal case in Michigan in 2017, prosecutors alleged that two young girls were taken from Minnesota to undergo female genital mutilation. The case later collapsed because the judge ruled that Congress did not clearly have the constitutional authority, at the time, which expanded federal jurisdiction in cases involving interstate or international travel. That ruling prompted Congress to strengthen the statute, a change signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2021 under the Stop FGM Act, which expanded federal jurisdiction in cases involving interstate or international travel. However, a Fox News Digital review of publicly available Minnesota court records, enforcement announcements and professional licensing disciplinary records found no documented prosecutions or sanctions tied to FGM. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said prosecutions for state crimes like female genital mutilation are handled by county attorneys and did not identify any FGM cases. County prosecutors contacted for this story also did not identify any prosecutions. Those provisions, however,
Greenland rejects Trump’s hospital ship proposal, citing existing free healthcare system
Greenland’s prime minister publicly rebuked President Donald Trump on Sunday, rejecting his proposal to send a U.S. hospital ship to the Arctic territory and urging him to stop making “random” social media posts about its future. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen issued the response in a pointed Facebook post following Trump’s announcement. “We say no thank you from here,” Nielsen wrote. “President Trump’s idea of sending an American hospital ship here to Greenland has been noted. But we have a public healthcare system where treatment is free for citizens.” The prime minister also contrasted Greenland’s system with that of the U.S., writing that, in America, “it costs money to go to the doctor.” TRUMP TELLS DAVOS US ALONE CAN SECURE GREENLAND, INSISTS HE WON’T ‘USE FORCE’ Nielsen said Greenland is “always” open to dialogue with the U.S. but urged Trump to engage directly. “Talk to us instead of just making more or less random outbursts on social media,” he wrote. “Dialogue and cooperation require respect for decisions about our country being made here at home.” On Saturday, Trump announced on Truth Social that his administration was working with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to send a hospital ship to Greenland to care for people who are sick and “not being taken care of there.” RUSSIA, CHINA SQUEEZE US ARCTIC DEFENSE ZONE AS TRUMP EYES GREENLAND Landry was designated special envoy to Greenland in December and has held formal discussions outlining Trump’s plans to strengthen Arctic security amid threats from Russia and China. In late January, Landry spoke with NATO leaders and expressed support for a “framework of a future deal” to expand U.S. influence in the region. TOP NATO OFFICIAL REVEALS DETAILS OF STUNNING MEETING WITH TRUMP THAT PRODUCED GREENLAND DEAL ‘FRAMEWORK’ Trump’s offer came after Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command evacuated a crew member from a U.S. submarine seven nautical miles outside Greenland’s capital, Nuuk. The crew member was transferred by a Danish Defense Seahawk helicopter to a hospital in Nuuk and handed over to Greenlandic health authorities, the Joint Arctic Command said. The U.S. Navy operates two hospital ships – the USNS Mercy and the USNS Comfort – both of which were last docked in Alabama for repairs, according to Reuters. Fox News Digital’s Eric Mack contributed to this report.
AOC blames critics, Trump after Munich hiccup backlash
An emotional Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., attempted to blame critics – and even President Donald Trump’s own off-the-cuff agility – for the backlash she received for her response to a question at the recent Munich Security Conference on American defense of Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. “If you think I don’t understand foreign policy, because of out of hours of discourse about international affairs, I pause to think about one of the most sensitive geopolitical issues that currently exist on earth, I’m afraid the issue is not my understanding, but perhaps the problem is you’ve gotten adjusted to a president that never thinks before he speaks,” a raspy-voiced Ocasio-Cortez said on a late-night Instagram Live video circulating on social media. The leftist congresswoman’s Munich stumbling on Friday, Feb. 13, started the critical firestorm and has conservatives questioning her fitness for a potential 2028 Democrat presidential primary campaign. “Um, you know, I think that this is such a, you know, I think that this is a um — this is, of course, a, um, very long-standing, um, policy of the United States,” she said with pause when asked about America defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion to enforce its One China Policy over the island-nation. AOC HIT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA BACKLASH AFTER APPEARING TO STRUGGLE WITH QUESTION ABOUT US DEFENDING TAIWAN “And I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point, and we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic, research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise.” Vice President JD Vance, a potential 2028 presidential campaign opponent in a prospective general election matchup, weighed in multiple times this week to Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks. “I think it’s a person who doesn’t know what she actually thinks, and I’ve seen this way too much in Washington with politicians: Where they’re given lines and, when you ask them to go outside the lines they were given, they completely fall apart,” Vance told Fox News’ “The Story With Martha MacCallum” in an in-studio interview earlier this week. “That was embarrassing,” he continued. “If I had given that answer I would say, ‘You know what? Maybe you ought to go read a book about China and Taiwan before I go out on the world stage again.’ I hope that Congresswoman Cortez has the same humility. I’m skeptical.”