Trump Energy chief recounts evolution of US environs over 55 ‘Earth Days’: ‘A handily energized society works’
EXCLUSIVE: In honor of Earth Day, Energy Secretary Chris Wright released a video retelling his own experiences growing up in a much dirtier world in Denver, and watching wildlife and greenery return to the mountains as he grew older, and how the effects of smarter energy were at the forefront of that continuing change: Wright was a young kid in Denver when the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, on Belmont Plateau in West Philadelphia. But, while the green movement was getting its roots in industrial Pennsylvania, Colorado was dealing with similar air quality struggles in its capital city. “We couldn’t see the mountains from my house one out of three, one out of four days, air quality, lung issues were quite common,” Wright says in the video, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. ENERGY CHIEF ENVISIONS US NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE, RESTORING PIT PRODUCTION, LOCALIZING NUKE POWER “Since then, Denver has exploded in population and economic activity, but the air’s gotten dramatically cleaner. That’s technology and wealth at work.” Wright said the six explicitly-named pollutants in the Clean Air Act — carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone and particulate matter — have all dropped by about three-quarters in the past 55 years. In that time, he said, “economies have expanded, population has grown, travel and leisure have sprung up all around the world.” “But yet, in wealthy societies, we’ve made cleaner air, cleaner water, and a return of large wildlife,” Wright added. ENERGY CHIEF SLASHES RED TAPE THAT LED TO 60% COST INFLATION, BURDENED WORK IN CRITICAL LABS As a natural outdoorsman growing up in the Rocky Mountain State, Wright rarely saw large wildlife while adventuring out as a kid. But, when he returns home, it’s not uncommon for him to see moose, mountain lions or bears — a development he ascribes to the difference Earth Day and responsible energy development have had on the country. “The return of wildlife, the cleaning up air, the cleaning of our water are truly something to celebrate, and they’ve been driven by wealth and by increasing energy available in societies,” he said. “Are we done yet? Heck no.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He lamented that in much of the world, people are unable to enjoy clean and reliable energy or water, particularly in impoverished countries. Wright said that while Westerners use stoves or grills, 2 billion people worldwide still rely on animal dung, wood or incinerated waste to cook — which in turn creates indoor air pollution that kills 2 million people per year, per the WHO. “So of course we’ve got progress to be made,” Wright said. “But let’s keep our eyes on the big picture: healthy humans, long opportunity-rich lives, clean air, clean water, and thriving ecosystems. Wealth and a handily energized society are the key to achieving those goals.”
Dem senator hosts businesses concerned ‘enormous uncertainty’ of tariffs could kill crucial tourism industry
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., hosted his latest in a series of roundtables with small businesses around the Green Mountain State, and the attendees said the Trump administration’s tariff actions will hurt their operations directly and damage the state’s key tourism industry. “These tariffs are a self-inflicted wound,” Welch, who also co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to repeal them, told Fox News Digital on Monday. “And they’re already raising prices for businesses, farmers and working families across rural America. Everyone will be affected by President Trump’s trade war, it doesn’t matter what your political point of view is or where you live.” The latter appeared to be the tenor at Welch’s latest roundtable in Stowe, near the Quebec border. OPINION: WHAT FINANCIAL MARKETS ARE SCREAMING ABOUT TRUMP’S TARIFFS “I think I speak for all of us when I say we don’t know how they’re going to affect us,” said Jen Kimmich, who runs Alchemist Brewery. “What we do know is that these tariffs are happening. We do know prices are going to go up, but we don’t know how much.” Kimmich shared an example of how intertwined her brewery is with global manufacturing. Her aluminum is produced in the U.S., but the manufacturer sources some recycled metal from Brazil, metal that then transits through Canada to be made into sheets before crossing back into Vermont. Alchemist raised its prices by 5% and absorbed another 10% hit, Kimmich told Welch. TRUMP’S TARIFF 2-STEP Her brewery’s specialty malt, she said, is exempted for now because it is a food product from the United Kingdom. The brewery, like the other businesses represented collectively, said the sudden decrease in visitors from across the northern border has hurt the tourism industry as well as stores where Canadians might regularly shop in Vermont. “At every single level, these tariffs make no economic sense,” she said. “The tariffs are unfair, and they’re already creating enormous uncertainty. I’m working to help Vermont maintain the strength of its small businesses.” Christa Bowdish, proprietor of the Old Stagecoach Inn, said in a statement that 95% of her business is via tourism and the rest from locals. “Of that 95%, typically 15% are Canadian. We were all excited about having a banner ski season, and it was good, but it wasn’t amazing,” she said, adding that while January’s figures were up, skiing in February was down and the trend has continued. At the same time, Bowdish said web traffic from Canada has been falling, which she suspects is tied to the tariff situation. Bowdish also shared with Welch a letter from a Canadian tourist who canceled their trip because of American political rhetoric toward Canada. “This is long-lasting damage to a relationship, and emotional damage takes time to heal. While people aren’t visiting Vermont, they’ll be finding new places to visit, making new memories, building new family traditions, and we will not recapture all of that,” the innkeeper told Welch. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Power Play Sports owner Caleb Magoon added, “The big challenge for me is going to be supply chain issues. At my two stores, because we’re general sporting goods stores, I work with over 100 vendors who are making products literally across the globe, from Dubai to China to right down the road in Waterbury.” Meanwhile, representatives of ski and snowsports businesses expressed uncertainty about how the tariffs would affect them, since many do not open their doors for the year until November. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response to the senator’s and business owners’ concerns.
State of War: How Trump is fighting a 9-front battle
President Trump is fighting a war with many battlefields. It’s a nine-front crusade, although I could easily double that number. If there’s a common thread here, it’s the president taking on elite institutions that he has long resented or reviled. That’s why his first three months seem stuck on hyperspeed – critics would say chaos – because he’s broken with the traditional model of tackling one or two issues at a time. Voters gave him a second term to shake things up. It’s the first Trump term on steroids. EDUCATION DEPT. TO RESUME COLLECTIONS ON DEFAULTED FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2020 The president is surrounded by loyalists who encourage his flood-the-zone approach, unlike some of the more traditional figures (Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis, Gary Cohn) who tried to restrain him the last time he lived in the White House. One advantage is that he uses Truth Social as a weapon, unloading on those who displease him. And yet he still finds time to abolish rules limiting shower pressure, call for the abolition of pennies, and come out against changing clocks (though his stance on daylight savings is unclear) – all matters that affect people’s daily lives. Here, in no particular order, are Donald Trump’s nine battlegrounds: 1. TOP PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES Although Trump himself went to the Wharton School, he is constantly attacking Columbia and other top Ivy colleges. Harvard, where he has frozen more than $2 billion in federal funding and another $7 billion is at risk, is fighting back. Plus, the IRS is looking at revoking the university’s tax-exempt status. The White House now admits that the letter a Trump official transmitted to Harvard was “unauthorized” and should not have been sent. Harvard officials were stunned because they thought they were in the process of negotiating a settlement with the administration. 2. LAW FIRMS One giant law firm after another, under pressure from Trump, has caved and reached settlements with the White House. This involves agreeing to provide up to $100 million or even $125 million in pro bono services on matters important to the administration. The alternative is an executive order pulling its members’ security clearances, making it impossible to serve their corporate clients without access to secret data. A few firms have fought back, and some attorneys have resigned in protest, but most are volunteering to settle. 3. MEDIA President Trump has sued CBS, NBC and Gannett. He won a $16-million lawsuit against ABC–approved by Disney–after George Stephanopoulos repeatedly called him a rapist when he was actually held liable for sexual abuse. Even if the suits go nowhere, journalists and news outlets have to hire lawyers and go through an ordeal. MARK ZUCKERBERG ON THE STAND: ‘CRAZY,’ ‘SCARY’ IDEAS LED HIM TO BUY INSTAGRAM AND WHATSAPP Trump has long used the press as a foil, but now he ridicules the likes of CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when she tries to ask questions. He refused to take a question from an NBC reporter, saying the network has no credibility. And yet Trump provides an absolutely stunning degree of access. He takes questions virtually every day and has taken over the press pool (with the AP still excluded). The coverage is overwhelmingly anti-Trump–sometimes that’s self-inflicted–but that also boosts clicks and ratings. It’s a love-hate relationship. 4. FEDERAL RESERVE The markets nose-dived again yesterday as Trump stepped up his personal assault on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in an obvious attempt to pressure him into resigning. Powell’s job is to worry about inflation, not to goose the economy because the president wants him to cut interest rates. The entire tariff war has spooked Wall Street and alienated such allies as Canada (the 51st State???), Mexico and the European Union. He repeatedly promised a tariff war during the campaign, but no one expected tariffs of this magnitude, even against China, which has retaliated. Now Trump says he’ll even work out a deal with China. The 90-day pause briefly seemed to stabilize things, but whether the president can strike deals with 90 countries in 90 days remains to be seen. 5. COURTS Donald Trump has a long history of attacking judges and prosecutors. Now he is going up to the line, and perhaps crossing it, when it comes to challenging court rulings, even with a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. The other day, the president deflected questions about the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, telling reporters to speak to the lawyers. The next day, he unloaded at length on Abrego Garcia, saying he’s a violent man who deserves to be in prison and criticizing Chris Van Hollen’s trip to visit him in a carefully staged photo op. Abrego Garcia may well be a gang member, but a previous court ruling had found he should not be sent to El Salvador. Politically, this is a winning issue for Trump. But when SCOTUS ruled 9-0 that he should “facilitate” Garcia’s return, Trump pretty much ignored it. TRUMP SAYS HE’S ‘NOT HAPPY’ WITH FED CHIEF JEROME POWELL In a separate case, the Supreme Court, 7-2, ordered Trump not to move a second wave of Venezuelan migrants from where they are being held. This time, the administration agreed to follow the ruling. 6. FORMER AIDES The president is going after two of his appointees from the first term. He has ordered an investigation of his former cybersecurity chief, Chris Krebs, for “falsely and baselessly” denying that the 2020 election was rigged. He called Krebs a “significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority,” meaning Krebs found what every other probe, including one by Attorney General Bill Barr, found–no evidence of significant fraud. Trump also ordered a probe of Miles Taylor, better known as “Anonymous,” for the New York Times op-ed he wrote ripping the president. Taylor, a former Homeland Security official, “wrote a book under the pseudonym ‘Anonymous,’ making outrageous claims both about your administration and about others in it,” the president was told in a memo. So he too
Judge temporarily blocks NYC Mayor Adams’ plan to allow ICE agents in Rikers Island jail complex
A New York judge has ordered Mayor Eric Adams to temporarily halt a program to have immigration agents operate in the city’s infamous Rikers Island jail. Judge Mary Rosado has barred the city from “taking any steps toward negotiating, signing, or implementing any Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government” before an April 25 hearing in a lawsuit challenging the plan. NJ GOVERNOR ACCUSED OF HARBORING VIOLENT ILLEGAL CRIMINALS, DOJ LAUNCHES PROBE The lawsuit against Adams came from the Democratic-controlled New York City Council, which seeks to bar Adams from cooperating with the Trump administration on combating illegal immigration. The suit focuses on Adams’ recent executive order that allows federal immigration authorities to operate an office on Rikers Island to help carry out criminal investigations into drug trafficking, organized violence and migrant gang activity plaguing the city. In the suit, the city council accuses Adams of engaging in an illegal “quid pro quo” with the Trump administration by allowing ICE into the city prison in exchange for having the federal corruption charges against him dropped. The suit claims that Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent, prioritized his own political goals over the city’s “prized sanctuary laws,” calling the executive order “the poisoned fruit of Mayor Adams’s deal with the Trump Administration.” BORDER CROSSINGS HIT RECORD LOW IN MARCH THANKS TO ‘VIGILANT’ WORK OF AGENTS: REPORT Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office. Adams previously announced he would deputize his first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, to handle all decision-making on the return of ICE to Rikers Island in order to “ensure there was never even the appearance of any conflict.” Mastro said last week that discussions with the federal government over the plan were ongoing. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP ICE previously had a presence at Rikers, but the agency was banned from the jail complex in 2014 under New York City’s sanctuary laws limiting cooperation with immigration enforcement. Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump will attend Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome despite contentious past: ‘Look forward to being there!’
President Trump indicated Monday – following news of Pope Francis’s death – that he and first lady Melania Trump will be attending the Pope’s funeral at the Vatican, despite the president’s somewhat contentious history with the late leader of the Catholic Church. Traditionally, papal funerals take place four to six days following their death, so Francis’s funeral is expected to take place before the end of the month. Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told reporters that the General Congregation of Cardinals will occur Tuesday morning, during which an exact date for the funeral should be decided. “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday afternoon. “We look forward to being there!” POPE FRANCIS’ FUNERAL WILL BE SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF PAST PAPAL FUNERALS, PER HIS CHANGE OF PAPAL FUNERAL RITES Trump’s announcement that he would be traveling to Rome for the ceremony followed a separate announcement he made earlier in the day indicating that he had ordered all American flags on government grounds, including military installments and embassies abroad, to fly at half-staff until sunset Monday. Trump’s relationship with Pope Francis over the years was one marked by ideological differences and – at times – tension. Amid Trump’s first run for office, Pope Francis criticized one of Trump’s signature campaign promises of building a wall along the southern border, calling the move “not Christian” in 2016. POPE FRANCIS AND US PRESIDENTS: A LOOK BACK AT HIS LEGACY WITH THE NATION’S LEADERS “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis told reporters during a mid-flight interview on his way to Mexico in 2016, according to a translation from the Associated Press. Trump, meanwhile, shot back at the pontiff’s remarks, arguing it was “disgraceful” for the Pope, or any religious leader for that matter, to question another person’s faith. “If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened,” Trump said in a statement released by his team following the Pope’s criticism. “ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians.” TRUMP, WORLD LEADERS REACT TO DEATH OF POPE FRANCIS During Francis’s life he also took aim at increasing nationalistic sentiments around the world, criticism that implicitly targeted Trump’s “America First” agenda. Francis was also a believer in climate change posing a major problem for society, something Trump also differed with him on. In both Trump’s first and second terms, he has pulled the U.S. out of the international Paris Climate Accords, which is an international initiative aimed at mitigating global warming. Trump, who considers himself a Christian but is not a Catholic, only met with Francis once during his first term. By contrast, Joe Biden, who is a confirmed Catholic, met with Francis in-person on multiple occasions throughout his single-term presidency. Trump’s Vice President J.D. Vance, a Catholic himself, was notably one of the Pope’s last visitors, seeing him on Easter Sunday – one day before Francis passed. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Mexican sewage gushing into Navy SEAL training waters is US’ ‘next Camp Lejeune,’ vets warn
“Disgusting,” said Navy SEAL veteran Rob Sweetman in describing the smell and mist of Mexican sewage spewing into U.S. waters as he stood on a hill overlooking the Tijuana River estuary in California. Sweetman, a Navy veteran who served on the SEALs for eight years, spoke to Fox News Digital to sound the alarm on a water crisis rocking the San Diego area, including where SEALs train, taking a camera with him to show viewers firsthand how the contaminated water flows into the U.S. Just one mile away from where Sweetman spoke, SEALs and candidates train in the same water, which has sickened more than 1,000 candidates in a five-year period, per a Department of Defense watchdog report released in February. San Diego and the surrounding area are in a clean-water crisis that has raged for decades, but it is finding revived concern from the Trump administration as SEALs and local veterans sound the alarm about a “national security crisis” that they say is on par with the Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, water crisis. Thousands of Marines and others were sickened at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina between 1953 and 1987 as a result of water contaminated by industrial solvents used to drink, bathe and cook at the training facility. EPA CHIEF TAKES ON MEXICAN ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FLOWING INTO US WATERS WHERE NAVY SEALS TRAIN Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran and CEO of VetComm, which advocates for disabled veterans and those navigating the VA’s complicated health system, told Fox Digital in an April Zoom interview, “San Diego County is as big as some states. It’s giant. Millions of people live here and are breathing the air of this water. It goes well beyond the military. It’s a crisis. It’s a FEMA-level travesty, and we have just been hiding it.” The Navy has deep roots in the San Diego area, with the United States Naval Special Warfare Command headquartered in America’s Finest City and where Navy SEAL candidates complete their arduous six-month Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. The sewage problem flowing from neighboring Mexico into the U.S. has percolated in San Diego for years. But the water crisis hit crisis level when it was reported in 2024 that 44 billion gallons of contaminated water imbued with raw sewage was released along the California coast in 2023, the most on record since at least 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. The issue of sewage water flowing into U.S. waters is largely attributed to outdated wastewater infrastructure across the southern border, local media outlets reported this month, with Mexico reportedly in the midst of addressing its infrastructure to curb the leaks of sewage water. The Tijuana River has for decades been plagued by sewage and waste that has affected its beaches and neighboring San Diego. In February, the Department of Defense’s inspector general released a report finding that the Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses among SEAL candidates between January 2019 and May 2023 alone. “Navy SEAL candidate exposure to contaminated water occurred because (Naval Special Warfare Command) did not follow San Diego County’s Beach and Bay Water Quality Program’s beach closure postings,” the inspector general report found. “As a result of Navy SEAL candidate exposure to contaminated water during training, candidates are presented with increased health risks and NAVSPECWARCOM’s training mission could be impacted.” It was when Monroe, who is well-versed with veteran health through VetComm, was working with SEALs who were retiring that she realized the severity of the San Diego water pollution of the past few years. She observed an increase in health claims related to intestinal issues and “weird cancers,” which was a departure from typical claims related to PTSD or orthopedic ailments. US SENATOR BLASTS PRESIDENT OF MEXICO, SAYS TOXIC SEWAGE DUMP THREATENS ‘NATIONAL SECURITY’ “I started creating relationships with the SEAL teams, the people that were exiting the SEALs, you know, at 14 years, 20 years, nearing their retirement,” Monroe told Fox News Digital. “And the claims that we were making for these guys were surprising to me because a lot of them, they have combat PTSD, a lot of orthopedic issues. But we were having guys coming to us with, like, IBS, GERD, skin issues, weird cancers, and they were all attributing it to their time spent in San Diego training to be a SEAL in that water here that we have in San Diego.” Swimming and spending time in water contaminated with feces can lead to a host of illnesses, including bacterial, viral and parasitic infections that leave people nauseous, vomiting and rushing to the bathroom. Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum was only days from entering the SEAL’s aptly named Hell Week – the fourth week of basic conditioning for SEAL candidates – when nausea hit him, and he was trapped in a cycle of drinking water and vomiting when he realized a serious illness had its grips on him. Gum is a retired SEAL who served from 2007 to 2017 and was exposed to the contaminated water in 2008 during BUD/S training off the San Diego coast. “I couldn’t stop,” Gum recounted of how he couldn’t keep water down without vomiting. “You never really want to go to medical because they can pull you out or make you get rolled to the next class, but I couldn’t even drink water without throwing up. It’s the only time in my whole life that this has happened.” Gum’s nausea overcame him on a Friday in 2008, with Hell Week kicking off that Sunday night. Hell Week is a more than five-day training that puts candidates through rigorous training, including cold-water immersion, “surf torture,” buoy swims, mud runs, all while operating on minimal sleep. SAN DIEGO SUBURB FACES ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FROM LOCAL BEACH “The sun goes down, and the instructors come out with big machine guns, that kicks it off,” Gum said of how Hell Week began. “We run out to the
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Hilton Running to Fix ‘Califailure’
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… -Pandemic, price tags and privacy concerns: Why it took 20 years to implement REAL ID -DHS chief’s purse stolen with thousands of dollars -Ex-Pentagon aide urges Trump to fire Hegseth citing ‘full-blown meltdown’ and ‘total chaos’ EXCLUSIVE: The California 2026 gubernatorial race just got a major shakeup with Republican Steve Hilton entering the race to be Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successor. The former Fox News contributor and author of “Califailure” said he’s hoping to “Make California Golden Again,” especially for the “working people” of the state. “A big decision that I’ve made, which I can now share with you, that I am, in fact, going to be running for governor of California for 2026. I love this state. It’s the best place in the world as far as I’m concerned,” Hilton told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview…Read more BREAKING: Pope Francis has died at 88, Vatican camerlengo says ‘MAY GOD BLESS HIM’: Pope Francis and U.S. presidents: A look back at his legacy with the nation’s leaders POPULAR PONTIFF: What American Catholics thought about Pope Francis FINAL FAREWELL: JD Vance, one of Pope Francis’ last visitors, reacts to his death CHOOSING THE NEXT POPE: What is the papal conclave: Inside the ancient process of choosing the next pope ‘I WAS SURPRISED’: Theologian on ‘Conclave’ accuracy, expectations for next secretive event after Pope Francis’ death ‘GOD REST HIS SOUL!’: Trump, world leaders react to the death of Pope Francis BURIAL GROUNDS: Pope Francis revealed burial wishes just days after becoming pope in 2013 SCALED-DOWN MEMORIAL: Pope Francis’ funeral will be a simplified version of past papal funerals, per his change of papal funeral rites MONEY CAN’T BUY EVERYTHING: Trump wants to revive the lagging US shipbuilding industry. Here are the hurdles he faces ‘SHATTERED EGOS’: White House rips alleged Pentagon leasers, brushes off Hegseth second Signal chat report STRIKE TWO?: Hegseth shared details of Yemen strikes in second Signal chat: report 14TH WEEK BACK IN OVAL: Trump’s 14th week in office to kick off with famed Easter Egg Roll, ongoing trade negotiations OVERBLOWN: Biden green energy project halted by Trump admin relied on rushed, bad science, study finds KEEPING TABS: Anti-Chinese government group launches plan to track anti-CCP legislation in statehouses IRAN REMAINS NUCLEAR: US confirms third round of nuclear talks with Iran after ‘very good progress’ ‘WRONGFULLY DETAINED’: Four more Dems travel to El Salvador to push for Abrego Garcia’s return to US COMMANDER NO MORE: Army suspends commander after Trump, Vance, Hegseth vanish from command board ‘MISLEADING AND MISGUIDED’: State Dept defends human rights abuse reporting changes, says streamlined process eliminates ‘political bias’ CHURCH AND STATE: Religious liberty or government overreach? Oklahoma AG fights own party in SCOTUS battle over Catholic school ‘BROKEN SYSTEM’: More than 500k immigrants missed their court hearings on Biden’s watch: analysis ‘PURGE THESE PEOPLE’: California mayor wants to give homeless people ‘all the fentanyl they want’ SKY WARS: Florida property owners pestered by spying drones could soon be allowed to fight back with ‘force’ Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Schumer’s ‘Apprentice’ praise of Trump goes viral: ‘Going to go places’
With President Donald Trump’s former reality TV show “The Apprentice,” streaming on Amazon Prime as of last month, politically astute viewers across the political spectrum have zeroed in on an episode from when Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., now one of the president’s biggest political detractors, praised his fellow New Yorker as a business prodigy. During Season 5, Episode 8, of “The Apprentice” in 2006, contestants were given a challenge — as was typical during each episode — and the winners of said challenge got the chance to fly to the nation’s capital and have breakfast with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. During the breakfast, Schumer sought to draw parallels between his family and Trump’s, while also showering praise on the president, telling the contestants he always knew Trump, even as a young person, “was going to go places.” “I was born in Brooklyn, the same place where Donald Trump’s family comes from,” Schumer reminisced with the contestants during breakfast at the famous Hay-Adams hotel in Washington, D.C. “His father, and my grandfather, were builders together in Brooklyn.” “Wow!?” one contestant could be heard replying. “Really?” asked another. “Yeah!,” Schumer responded to the room. FLASHBACK: ‘OPRAH WINFREY ONCE CALLED TRUMP A ’FOLK HERO,’ A CONTRAST TO COMMENTS MADE DURING THE DNC The show then cut to Schumer lauding Trump as a business prodigy. “Even when [Trump] was much younger, you knew that he was going to go places,” Schumer said, before a voice-over from one of the contestants present at the breakfast reiterated that “Sen. Schumer and Mr. Trump are good friends.” Despite Schumer’s apparent friendly sentiment towards the president in 2006, as evidenced by his appearance on “The Apprentice,” the Democratic New York senator told Politico in 2016, ahead of Trump’s first term, that, “[Trump] was not my friend.” Rather, Schumer described his relationship with Trump as a “casual acquaintance.” CHUCK SCHUMER FACING ‘UPHILL FIGHT’ AMID LEADERSHIP DOUBTS: ‘MATTER OF WHEN, NOT IF’ “Donald Trump is a lawless, angry man,” Schumer said of the president during an interview last month. “The fact that The Apprentice President Donald ‘You’re Fired’ Trump is refusing to hold people accountable just shows how weak he is,” Schumer added in a post on social media earlier this month. Considering Schumer’s vehement animosity towards Trump today, Michigan State GOP Sen. Aric Nesbitt, the Michigan Senate’s minority leader, remarked “How things change…” in a post that highlighted the resurfaced clip of Schumer’s scene on “The Apprentice.” But it’s not just Republicans having fun at Schumer’s expense. “As Schumer sells out our Constitution and democracy, you just gotta watch this clip of him sucking up to Trump on an episode of the Apprentice,” remarked former Democratic Rhode Island legislator Aaron Regunberg. “What a world class slug of a man.” Shortly before taking office during his first term, Trump was asked by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski about whether he will be able to get along with Democratic leaders in Congress, such as Schumer. Trump struck a positive chord, saying at the time that he thought he would “be able to get along well with Chuck Schumer.” ELON MUSK SCRAPS WITH CHUCK SCHUMER, SUGGESTING THE SENATOR PROFITS FROM GOVERNMENT FRAUD “I was always very good with Schumer. I was close to Schumer in many ways,” Trump said at the time. As time has progressed, however, Trump’s rhetoric towards Schumer has become increasingly critical of the senator, as the pair of political heavyweights continue to fight over whatever political issue is dominating Washington each week. Recently, Trump took a jab at Schumer’s alleged lack of support for the Jewish community amid the rise in antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against innocent Israelis. Schumer is Jewish. CHUCK SCHUMER WARNS ABOUT THE DANGERS OF ANTISEMITISM ON ‘THE VIEW’ “Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I’m concerned,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office last month. “He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore.” Trump’s comments from earlier this month also mirror a similar sentiment he relayed about Schumer during his most recent campaign for the presidency, referring to him as a “proud member of Hamas.” In addition to Schumer, other high-profile public figures have praised the now-president, only to become his political enemy years later. In a 1988 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the celebrity talk show host appeared to be amazed at Americans’ “fascination” with Donald Trump and even described him as a “folk hero” for being so popular. Meanwhile, celebrity music producer who co-founded Def Jam Records, Russell Simmons, similarly had nice things to say about Trump before he entered politics, calling him “very nice” and remarking how supportive Trump has been to his family, according to media reports. Nonetheless, following the tragic politically motivated violence in Charlottesville during Trump’s first term, Simmons reportedly criticized his “friend” for leading the legacy of a “great divider,” and a “destroyer of the environment and … everything we as Americans have fought so hard to call ours.” Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for comment but did not receive a reply in time for publication.
US military stationed at the border in New Mexico National Defense Area can detain illegal migrants
Military members stationed in and around portions of the southern border have been given the authority to temporarily detain and search illegal migrants. Service members with the Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB) are now authorized to conduct several security measures in the New Mexico National Defense Area (NMNDA), U.S. Northern Command said Monday. The NMNDA is part of the U.S. Army’s Fort Huachuca military installation. The move allows the U.S. military to serve in a more active law enforcement role than in years past. Military personnel have typically been prevented from participating in civilian law enforcement activities such as search, seizure, or arrest. NAVY DEPLOYS ANOTHER HOUTHI-FIGHTING WARSHIP TO NEW US SOUTHERN BORDER MISSION As part of their new duties, the service members can search and temporarily detain trespassers on the NMNDA, as well as provide medical care and implement crowd control measures, until appropriate law enforcement can take them into custody. Task force members can also assist with the installation of temporary barriers, signage, and fencing upon request. “Through these enhanced authorities, U.S. Northern Command will ensure those who illegally trespass in the New Mexico National Defense Area are handed over to Customs and Border Protection or our other law enforcement partners,” said USNORTHCOM Gen. Gregory Guillot. “Joint Task Force-Southern Border will conduct enhanced detection and monitoring, which will include vehicle and foot patrols, rotary wing, and fixed surveillance site operations.” USNORTHCOM was named as the Defense Department‘s operational lead for the employment of U.S. military forces to carry out President Donald Trump’s southern border executive orders. TRUMP ORDERS MILITARY TO TAKE CONTROL OF FEDERAL LAND AT SOUTHERN BORDER Last week, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum visited New Mexico to announce that the Army will take control of nearly 110,000 acres of federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb illegal immigration and trafficking. The 109,651 acres of federal land will be transferred to the Army for three years, subject to valid existing rights. The switch in jurisdiction will allow the government to protect sensitive natural and cultural resources in the region, while helping the Army support U.S. Border Patrol operations in securing the border and preventing illegal immigration, according to the Department of the Interior. In March, the Defense Department authorized the military to patrol the southern border to provide “enhanced detection and monitoring” to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Any law enforcement actions to apprehend individuals suspected of illegal entry must be conducted only by non-DoD law enforcement personnel and National Guard personnel in a non-federalized status accompanying these patrols,” the DOD said at the time. Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
‘Wouldn’t tolerate it’: House Republican calls second Hegseth Signal report ‘unacceptable’
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., on Monday signaled he wouldn’t tolerate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly once again sharing sensitive information about military operations in a Signal group chat. “If the reporting is true, this is unacceptable. I would never tell the White House what to do, but I wouldn’t tolerate it,” Bacon told Fox News Digital, reiterating his comments first reported by Politico. Bacon, a retired military officer and Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said it would be “unacceptable” if Hegseth sent classified information in a Signal chat about a mission in Yemen targeting the Houthis. The New York Times reported on Sunday that Hegseth shared information about the March 15 strikes in Yemen in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, claiming they were essentially the same plans shared in the separate Signal chat that included an editor of The Atlantic. WHITE HOUSE RIPS ALLEGED PENTAGON LEAKERS’ ‘SHATTERED EGOS,’ BRUSHES OFF HEGSETH SECOND SIGNAL CHAT REPORT Bacon told Politico he had reservations about Hegseth’s experience since his nomination, and while a spokesperson for Bacon’s office emphasized to Fox News Digital that he would not tell President Donald Trump to fire Hegseth, Bacon said he “wouldn’t tolerate” the latest Hegseth reporting if he was the commander in chief. EX-PENTAGON AIDE URGES TRUMP TO FIRE HEGSETH, CITING ‘FULL-BLOWN MELTDOWN’ AND ‘TOTAL CHAOS’ White House officials have joined Hegseth in denying the reporting. “No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same nonstory, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared. Recently fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the president’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital. Trump himself shut down the reporting, calling it “fake news” and touting recruitment rates and Hegseth’s leadership of the armed forces. “The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News on Monday. Hegseth lamented “disgruntled employees” and “anonymous smears” when pressed by reporters during the White House Easter Egg roll about the latest Signal controversy. “This is why we’re fighting the fake news media. This group right here is full of hoaxsters,” Hegseth said. The Trump administration has maintained that no classified material was transmitted in the Signal chat reported by The Atlantic. Signal is an encrypted messaging app with additional security measures that keep messages private to those included in the correspondence.