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One person has died and several are wounded following a knife attack at a town market in eastern France, in what French authorities have described as an act of terror.

“Horror has just gripped our city. A man attacked passers-by at the covered canal market with a knife, several municipal police officers who intervened to neutralize him were also injured,” Mulhouse town mayor Michèle Lutz said in a statement Saturday on Facebook.

The suspect has been arrested and is currently in police custody, according to a press release by the office of France’s national anti-terror prosecutor.

The attacker had targeted several municipal police officers, shouting “Allahu Akbar,” as well as a passerby, the prosecutor’s office said. A civilian has died, and three officers are injured.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed condolences to the victim’s family, adding that France’s national anti-terror prosecutor is looking into the case.

Macron also described the attack as “no doubt, an Islamic terrorist act, given the terrorist’s words.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss is ready to bring the ‘conservative revolution’ home from the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference, telling Fox News Digital her plan to ‘Make the West Great Again.’

World leaders took center stage at CPAC this week, telling the crowd of American conservatives they’re ready to see President Donald Trump’s agenda on the world stage. Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, said world leaders are envious of Trump’s second term and his Department of Government Efficiency. 

‘There’s a lot of momentum, and people are very envious of what’s happening in the U.S. We’d love to be able to get the truth from government departments about what’s actually being spent,’ Truss told Fox News Digital. 

Truss praised Elon Musk’s DOGE as a ‘playbook for what needs to happen’ in the United Kingdom, but she said that a DOGE UK would be unrealistic under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. 

‘What Musk is doing, going straight to the payment system, is a fantastic idea that we need to adopt in Britain, but the reality is that is not going to happen under the current government, because the current government are part of the problem. They are defenders of the deep state. They’re not going to be investigating themselves. I think this is something that has to happen when there’s a change of government. We are watching very closely what Elon Musk is doing. It’s a fantastic playbook for what needs to happen in the U.K.’

DOGE’s revelations about America’s federal funding and the mass layoffs of government employees have shaken up Washington this past month. Truss said that Musk is even holding the British government accountable. 

‘Sometimes I say that Elon Musk is the leader of the opposition in Britain, because he’s the one actually on X, challenging Keir Starmer’s policies, talking about issues like the grooming gangs, the appalling gangs who have been raping girls as young as 12. It’s Elon Musk that’s been taking the fight to Keir Starmer,’ she said. 

Musk and Trump’s ability to seize the social media narrative and America’s growing independent media space inspired Truss to establish a ‘new free speech media network’ in the United Kingdom. 

‘We have a massive problem with free speech in Britain,’ Truss said. ‘People are being locked up for posts on Facebook and on X, which is extraordinary. We’re the country that invented freedom of the press back in 1695. It was almost 100 years before the First Amendment. And now we are, as a country, locking people up for saying things online.’ 

‘This needs to change. So, what I’m establishing is a new free speech media network, which will enable people in Britain to hear what is actually going on, and people across Europe to hear what’s going on.’ she continued. ‘I think that’s really important. If you look at the Trump revolution, independent media was a major part of that.’

Trump leaned on new media during his 2024 presidential campaign, posting TikTok videos from the campaign trail, spending nearly three hours with the widely popular podcaster Joe Rogan and using Truth Social as a direct line to his core base. 

Truss said that Trump is leading a ‘conservative revolution’ and attended CPAC this year to learn how she can model his American success back in the United Kingdom. 

‘What we’re seeing happening in America is a revolution. It’s a conservative revolution. All of the problems we have in our societies in the West, the leftist ideology that’s taken over, whether it’s wokeism or extreme environmentalism or anti-capitalism, all of those are being taken on by President Trump. And I want to see a similar revolution in Britain, which is why I’m here to learn about how they’re doing it, to talk about how we build that kind of movement in Britain,’ Truss said. 

The former prime minister said she agrees with Trump on ‘everything from deporting illegal migrants; to cutting taxes; to drill, baby, drill; to being clear that men can’t be in women’s bathrooms.’ She said Britain needs to implement these policies and fire the ‘permanent bureaucrats who are part of the problem.’

‘The big difference with Britain is our bureaucracy is more powerful than the American bureaucracy. Most people working in government are career bureaucrats, and that’s what I think we need to learn from America. We need to change,’ Truss added. 

Truss said she has had productive conversations with European and world leaders this week, strategizing about how to broaden their conservative coalition and create policies to bring energy prices down and boost the economy. Truss even said she had plans for a British CPAC. 

Truss resigned as British prime minister after 49 days in office in 2022 after her large tax cut plan destabilized the economy. She was one of three prime ministers in the United Kingdom within a four-month period in 2022. 

‘I recognize that, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,’ Truss said in her resignation.

The United Kingdom’s current prime minister and leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, ended 14 consecutive years of Conservative party rule when he was elected in 2024. 

There is a UK DOGE movement gaining traction on social media for revealing wasteful British spending. The Procurement Files is an X account that combs through more than 300,000 contracts on the United Kingdom’s public government database to reveal mismanagement of British taxpayer money, much like the official US DOGE account does.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK party leader who initiated Britain’s departure from the European Union, has explicitly called for a UK DOGE. Despite the discontent from conservative leaders on British government efficiency, the prime minister’s office said that it has created initiatives to cut government waste.

‘The Chancellor has asked all departments to deliver savings and efficiencies of 5% of their current budget as part of the first zero-based Spending Review in seventeen years,’ an HM Treasury spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

‘Every pound of government spending is being interrogated, to root out waste and get the best value for taxpayers as we deliver on their priorities set out in the Plan for Change. We have also created an Office for Value for Money that is underpinning our work driving out waste and inefficiency, alongside cutting out hundreds of millions of pounds worth of consultancy spending in government over the next few years,’ the spokesperson added. 

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Sacked United States Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers left their Washington, D.C., offices for the last time on Friday, with some carrying boxes scrawled with messages that seemed to be directed at President Donald Trump, who is slashing the agency’s workforce.

Thousands of staffers were notified weeks ago of their pending dismissals, while a federal judge on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to follow through with the mass layoffs as it aims to eliminate waste throughout the federal bureaucracy.

‘We are abandoning the world,’ read one message on a box being hauled out by a grinning staffer as she walked out of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs office.

Another smiling staffer’s box had a more upbeat tone, with her message reading: ‘You can take the humanitarians out of USAID but you can’t take the humanity out of the humanitarians.’

The staffers were greeted outside the offices by a small group of well-wishing supporters and former USAID workers who carried signs reading, ‘We love USAID’ and ‘Thank you for your service, USAID.’

Other workers were seen leaving the offices in tears.

The Trump administration plans to gut the agency and intends to leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of the current 8,000 direct hires and contractors. 

They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run the few life-saving programs that the administration says it intends to keep going for the time being.

USAID has come in for particular criticism under the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for alleged wasteful spending. 

For instance, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, recently published a list of projects and programs she says USAID has helped fund over the years, including $20 million to produce a Sesame Street show in Iraq. 

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

Trump has moved to gut the agency after imposing a 90-day pause on foreign aid. He also has appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the acting director of USAID.

Government employee unions had sued to stop the mass layoffs, but U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols on Friday lifted a temporary restraining order he had issued at the outset of the case and declined to issue a longer-term order keeping the employees in their posts.

Nichols, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, also wrote that because the affected employees had not gone through an administrative dispute process, he likely did not have jurisdiction to hear the unions’ case or consider their broader arguments that the administration is violating the U.S. Constitution by shutting down an agency created and funded by Congress.

The judge said the issue was jurisdictional, that federal district courts should not be involved at this stage, and that the matter should be handled administratively under federal employment laws.

‘In sum, because the Court likely lacks jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims, they have not established a likelihood of success on the merits,’ the judges ruling stated, in part.

‘The court concludes that plaintiffs have not demonstrated that they or their members will suffer irreparable injury absent an injunction; that their claims are likely to succeed on the merits; or that the balance of the hardships or the public interest strongly favors an injunction.’

The unions can now go to the Washington, D.C., federal appeals court for emergency relief to have the TRO put back into place, or possibly a preliminary injunction.

Fox News’ Bill Mears, Andrew Mark Miller, Aubrie Spady, Deirdre Heavey, Morgan Phillips and Emma Colton as well as Reuters contributed to this report.

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An “embarrassment of riches” at the box office could fuel a $1.2 billion year for IMAX, CEO Rich Gelfond told CNBC on Friday.

That volume would mark the best box office haul for the company, which specializes in high-resolution cameras, film formats, projectors and theaters.

“I think it’s going to be a very strong year,” Gelfond said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “The first thing that drives that is the slate.”

Gelfond pointed to several blockbuster titles slated for release in the next 10 months, including a new “Mission Impossible,” a live-action “How to Train Your Dragon” film, another “Jurassic Park” installment, a sequel to “Zootopia” and a third “Avatar” release.

Hollywood production issues led to fewer theatrical releases and smaller ticket sales in 2024, with box office receipts down 3.4% from 2023 to $8.74 billion. Already, the 2025 slate appears more robust, with more titles and bigger franchise films.

Aiding IMAX’s lofty box office goals is the Chinese title “Ne Zha 2,” which has already garnered $1.6 billion globally. It is the first film to have topped $1 billion in a single country. Gelfond noted that IMAX accounted for $135 million of the film’s total box office.

“We’ve done more box office in China in the first six weeks of this year than we did the whole year last year,” he said.

He added that “Ne Zha 2” is doing “like $100 million a day,” and that IMAX has accounted for around 13% of the film’s box office receipts.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is the distributor of “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Jurassic World Rebirth.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) spent another week slashing hundreds of millions in spending by the federal government, while dodging various legal attempts to block its cost-cutting efforts.

Here are some of DOGE’s big wins this week:

1. Judge shoots down request to stop federal worker firings 

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, shot down a request from several federal labor unions, including the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), to pause the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration.

NTEU and four other labor unions representing federal employees filed a complaint Feb. 12 challenging the firing of probationary employees and the deferred resignation program, which gives workers the option to agree to work from an office or resign. 

Cooper denied the request to stop the firings, saying the court lacked jurisdiction over the unions’ claims.

Instead, Cooper ruled the unions must pursue their challenges through the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, which provides for administrative review by the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

2. Judge says DOGE can keep digging

DOGE was handed another victory by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who denied a request to issue a temporary restraining order preventing Musk and DOGE from accessing data systems at the Department of Education, Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce. 

The agencies were asking Chutkan to forbid both Musk and DOGE from terminating, furloughing or putting on leave any of their employees. 

Chutkin ruled that DOGE can continue to operate as it is now.

The judge also issued a court briefing schedule for plaintiffs and defendants to file motions for discovery, preliminary injunctions and dismissals, which stretches through April 22.

3. Judge allows DOGE access to data on 3 federal agencies

DOGE scored a win in court after a federal judge declined a request to temporarily block Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing sensitive data from at least three federal agencies.

Unions and nonprofits attempted to stop Musk’s DOGE from accessing records at the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The efforts were blocked by District Judge John Bates, who wrote in an opinion that the government was likely correct in categorizing DOGE as an agency, thereby allowing it to detail its staff to other government departments. 

Musk praised the decision on X with the caption: ‘LFG,’ an abbreviation for ‘Let’s [expletive] go.’ 

4. DOGE finds a nearly untraceable budget line item responsible for $4.7T in payments

Earlier this week, DOGE announced it had discovered an identification code linking U.S. Treasury payments to a budget line item, which accounts for nearly $4.7 trillion in payments, that was oftentimes left blank.

‘The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process),’ DOGE wrote in a post on X. 

‘In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible. As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going.’

The agency thanked the U.S. Treasury for its work in identifying the optional field.

According to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which is under the Treasury, TAS codes are used to describe any one of the account identification codes assigned by the Treasury and are also referred to as the ‘account.’

5. Caesars Palace, MLB stadium, an ice cream truck: DOGE reveals how schools spent billions in COVID relief funds

Schools spent hundreds of billions of COVID relief funds on expenses that had ‘little’ impact on students, such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and the purchase of an ice cream truck, according to the Trump administration’s cost-cutting department.

DOGE revealed Thursday that schools have spent nearly $200 billion in COVID relief funds ‘with little oversight or impact on students.’

Granite Public Schools in Utah spent COVID relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas Casino, while Santa Ana Unified spent $393,000 to rent a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE.

The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 in COVID relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck.

6. Hegseth working with DOGE to cut the ‘BS’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is working with DOGE to make cuts within his department, saying he believes it will find waste ‘not core to our mission.’

‘They’re here, and we’re welcoming them,’ Hegseth said in a recent video released Thursday. ‘They’re going to have broad access, obviously, with all the safeguards on classification.

‘They care just like we do, to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities — the DEI, the woke, the climate change B.S., that’s not core to our mission, and we’re going to get rid of it all.’

Hegseth, who said many DOGE workers are veterans, met with Musk’s team and said they have already started their review of the Department of Defense.

7. DOGE uncovers over 4M government credit cards responsible for 90M transactions

DOGE revealed on Tuesday that the U.S. government has more than 4 million active credit cards on its books.

‘The US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for ~$40B of spend[ing] in FY24,’ DOGE said in a post on X.

The cost-cutting department broke down multiple federal agencies and their credit card use, with the DOD leading the way in both the number of transactions, about 27.2 million, and the number of individual accounts, roughly 2.4 million.

Musk delivered a speech to conservatives Thursday in which he touted the accomplishments of DOGE and, at one point, stood on the stage holding a golden chainsaw given to him by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, symbolizing the cuts being made to government spending, to the delight of the crowd of conservatives at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. 

‘We’re fighting Matrix big time here,’ Musk said. ‘It has got to be done.’

Fox News’ Alex Nitzberg, Emma Woodhead, Michael Lee, Greg Wehner, and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Elon Musk’s remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday drew praise from those who were pleased with the cuts being made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

‘I wasn’t really that interested in being political. It’s just like there was at a certain point no choice,’ Musk said at the event in Maryland while wearing a black MAGA hat and sunglasses. ‘The actions that we’re taking, with the support of the president and the support of the agencies, is what will save Medicare, what will save Social Security.’

‘That’s the reason I’m doing this,’ he added. ‘Because I was looking at the big picture here, and it’s like, man, it’s getting out of control.’ 

‘A country is no different from a person,’ he continued. ‘[A] country overspends, a country goes bankrupt in the same way as a person who overspends usually goes bankrupt. So, it’s not optional to solve these things, it’s essential.’

Matthew Kochman, a New York Real Estate broker, said that DOGE cuts ‘probably saved the country from financial collapse.’ 

‘I thought it was all just common sense,’ Kochman said of Musk’s comments.

When attendees were asked about the proposal to use 20% of the money from the cuts across the board to go toward a stimulus check for American taxpayers, some raised questions about whether the funds should help pay down over $36 trillion in national debt. 

‘I’m not sure I agree with the sending money back. I would just assume money going to pay down our debt, because it is an existential threat,’ Angie Carrai, of Vienna, Virginia, said, adding that Musk’s comments have ‘tapped into what a lot of people feel’ about taxes being wasted on ‘ridiculous’ programs.

However, Kochman said he believes that taxpayers should get some of their money back but thinks it should also help pay off the debt.

Speaker Mike Johnson has also raised concerns about the pitch from Musk and Trump, saying that the United States needs to ‘pay down the credit card’ with the $2 trillion objective amount to be slashed through DOGE. 

Pat Dennis, President of the left-wing American Bridge 21st Century opposition research firm, told Fox News Digital after watching Musk’s remarks that he’s concerned about cuts to programs that benefit Americans.

‘He was talking about cutting programs that everyday Americans rely on, things like Medicaid,’ Dennis said. ‘The implication that massive percentages of these programs just can be unilaterally cut because they’re fraud is not real.’

‘People rely on these, voters rely on these, families rely on these, people in Republican districts rely on these,’ he added.

DOGE made headlines in recent weeks for taking aim at spending through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as grants doled out through various cabinet agencies. 

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo and Liz Elkind contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Frontline footage posted by Ukrainian drone operators and Russian troops show men who have clearly suffered leg injuries, some still bandaged, using crutches in combat areas, in several instances targeted by Ukrainian drones as they use the walking aids to try to flee.

“The Russians are recycling the wounded back into the fight,” one Western official said, referring to videos of “troops on crutches being pushed back into the line.”

One drone video from January, posted by the Ukraine’s 59th brigade active around the embattled strategic city of Pokrovsk, shows a Russian soldier using a crutch under each arm to try and reach cover. He is moving slowly, despite likely being able to hear the Ukrainian drone above him and realising he is at risk.

The drone then drops a mortar round on him.

“What the hell are you doing with me, why? I had surgery yesterday, damn it!”, he says. Turning to the camera, he adds: “I… am addressing all residents of Russia and I want to show everyone what is happening to one of our worthy soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

Inside the vehicle he shows his badly wounded leg, where a large injury has recently been operated on, he says. He also holds up his wounded hand. “I don’t have a finger; they also sewed it up yesterday. I can only move using crutches.”

He says he has a painful 8-hour drive on bad roads ahead of him to return to the frontline city of Luhansk, and turns the camera to other passengers, who also show their wounds. “There’s a tube in my stomach,” the other man says. It is unclear when the video was filmed.

Another video posted by Russian military bloggers apparently last month shows a Russian unit, apparently from the 20th Army, in a forest, wearing body armour and fatigues. The man filming says: “This is how we’re going on a combat mission. This is so f**king completely f**ked up!”

The cameraman adds: “Now they’ll also give them machine guns and body armour and send them off! How is this even f**king happening?”

One soldier says: “I fought five times, two severe injuries and a severe brain injury.” He says the hospital declared him fit for unarmed service only. “Now they hang the guns on me and take me to the front line without any problems. The 20th Army is f**king awesome like this,” he says, putting up his thumbs.

Another soldier says, watching wounded colleagues shuffle by: “They are taking the boys with crutches to receive the weapons, f**king hell!” The unit is apparently headed to Makiivka, for future deployment to combat, the soldiers say.

A Ukrainian defense intelligence official said they had noticed the trend in wounded Russian soldiers appearing in “active combat areas” over the last six months. He attributed the use of the wounded as a bid by commanders to hide losses and their inability to get troops in and out of combat areas when needed.

“I’ve been in the hospital for a month,” he said, “and they don’t extract the shrapnel for anyone. They just put on some ointment and that’s it. When the wound heals slightly, they discharge you.”

He said he recuperated near Moscow in a unit of amputees, or those immobile or on crutches, who were entitled to a month vacation when healthy again.

“But they are not allowed to leave the unit,” he said. “This is what they call ‘a recovering regiment’. They spend a month there and they are throwing them back to war.”

He described the policy as a “one way ticket,” perhaps designed to reduce compensation payouts for families. “They pay 3 million rubles for some injury. They’re sending cripples back to the front… to avoid paying money. If the person is missing, the family doesn’t get paid money. For the proof, a body is needed, and if there’s no body, that’s it, sorry, goodbye.”

Among the documents, a medical report detailing significant head and body injuries on one Russian who had been sent back to fight.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

A draft deal between the United States and Ukraine over rare earth minerals and other natural resources is “not the one President Zelensky would accept,” according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

The US is trying to gain access to Ukraine’s critical minerals and other resources as part of wider negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. In return, Ukraine has been pushing for security guarantees, with Kyiv not only keen to see the return of lost territory but protection against a possible future Russian invasion.

Ukraine was not invited to talks between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia and this week Zelensky and US President Donald Trump have been locked in an escalating war of words.

Trump falsely accused Zelensky of starting the Ukraine war while the Ukrainian leader hit back, saying the US president live in a “disinformation space.”

Ukrainians are still trying to negotiate amendments because the current draft “does not foresee any American obligations while Ukraine is expected to provide everything,” the source said.

The source spoke after an official in the Ukrainian Presidential Administration told Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspline that there would be no signing of the agreement on rare earth metals Saturday.

Work had continued on the document “all night” but was held up by the issue of “security guarantees,” Suspline reported.

The continued Ukrainian resistance to signing the deal in its current form comes after days of intense pressure from the Trump administration, whose National Security Advisor Mike Waltz even highlighted the case of an aluminium mine that could meet all the US’s annual needs if refurbished with American investment.

Also on Saturday Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, posted that he had spoken with US Sectetary of State Marco Rubio “to continue the results-oriented Ukraine-US dialogue.

“Ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale aggression, I underscored Ukraine’s strong will to achieve a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace—one that will strengthen Ukraine and the US.”

The US official said Kellogg’s visit had led to “very good meetings sealing this for the President of the United States.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

President Donald Trump and his administration continued to advance negotiations with Ukraine and Russia his fifth week in office in an attempt to reach a peace deal to end the conflict between the two countries. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz met with Russian officials in Riyadh Tuesday to discuss ways to end the war, while U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg met with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv about a peace deal Wednesday. 

The meetings increased tension between the U.S. and Ukraine when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in Turkey that ‘nobody decides anything behind our back,’ claiming Ukraine wasn’t invited to the meeting between the U.S. and Russia. Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine won’t agree to a deal unless Ukraine is part of the talks. 

 

In response, both Trump and Zelenskyy exchanged barbs. Although Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Trump insinuated that Ukraine started the war and called Zelenskyy a ‘dictator.’ Meanwhile, Zelenskyy claimed Trump was dispersing Russian ‘disinformation.’ 

Even so, the Trump administration has defended its decision to meet with Russia, claiming it’s necessary to advance the negotiations. 

‘How are you going to end the war unless you’re talking to Russia?’ Vice President JD Vance said at the Conservative Political Action Conference near the nation’s capital Thursday. ‘You’ve got to talk to everybody involved in the fighting. If you actually want to bring the conflict to a close.’

Here’s what also happened this week at the White House:

Weeding out unconstitutional regulations

Trump signed an executive order Wednesday requiring federal agencies to assess regulations that could violate the Constitution as the administration seeks to cut red tape. 

Senior administration officials told Fox News Digital the order is first of its kind and an attempt to ensure the government isn’t weaponized against the American people. It will require agencies to submit a list to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within the next 60 days of all regulations that could be unconstitutional.

OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will oversee the effort and examine federal agencies’ regulations. 

DOGE officials at federal agencies will compose an inventory of regulations that could violate the Constitution and deliver the list to OMB. After the 60 days, the OIRA will go through the list of regulations and make individual decisions on which are unconstitutional and will launch the process of repealing the regulations on a case-by-case basis. 

OIRA oversees executive branch regulations, while the newly created DOGE aims to eliminate government waste, fraud and spending.

Expanding IVF coverage 

Trump signed an executive order Tuesday requesting the Domestic Policy Council to examine ways to make in vitro fertilization, known as IVF, more affordable and accessible for Americans. 

‘Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options, as the cost per cycle can range from $12,000 to $25,000,’ the executive order said. ‘Providing support, awareness, and access to affordable fertility treatments can help these families navigate their path to parenthood with hope and confidence.’

The assistant to the president for domestic policy will provide policy recommendations with the goal of ‘protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment’ within 90 days. 

Ending taxpayer funding for illegal immigrants 

Trump also signed an executive order that ensures taxpayer benefits do not go toward illegal immigrants, in an attempt to better protect the interests of American citizens. 

The directive requires federal agencies to determine if any federally funded programs are providing financial benefits to illegal immigrants and immediately take ‘corrective action’ so that these federal funds don’t bolster illegal immigration. Likewise, the order instructs agencies to implement stricter eligibility verification to ensure that these benefits don’t go to those in the U.S. illegally. 

The order did not identify specific benefits, and notes that illegal immigrants are largely barred from qualifying for welfare programs. However, the order states without providing evidence that past administrations have ‘repeatedly undercut the goals of that law, resulting in the improper expenditure of significant taxpayer resources.’

‘My Administration will uphold the rule of law, defend against the waste of hard-earned taxpayer resources, and protect benefits for American citizens in need, including individuals with disabilities and veterans,’ the order states.

‘President Trump is committed to safeguarding Federal public benefits for American citizens who are truly in need, including individuals with disabilities and veterans,’ a White House fact sheet on the executive order said.

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Call it Sen. Tim Scott’s 55-seat strategy.

Scott, the conservative senator from South Carolina, told Fox News Digital soon after taking over late last year as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) he aimed to expand the GOP’s current 53-47 majority in the Senate.

And Scott, in a Fox News Digital interview this week on Capitol Hill, is standing by his goal.

‘One hundred percent. It’s my stretch goal,’ the senator reiterated. ‘The bottom line is, I believe that we can defend our current seats while adding at least two more seats to our numbers.’

Scott, who last month became the longest-serving Black senator in the nation’s history, launched a campaign two years ago for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before dropping out and endorsing Donald Trump.

The senator, who was a top Trump surrogate on the campaign trail last year, emphasized that ‘the good news is, with President Donald Trump leading this country, the field is wide open, which means that we have more places to play, and the game is on.’

Scott added the NRSC needs ‘to focus on the mechanics of making sure that the Donald J. Trump brand is reflected in our candidates.’

Senate Republicans enjoyed a favorable map in the 2024 cycle as they flipped four seats from blue to red to win back control of the chamber.

But the party in power — clearly the Republicans right now — traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterm elections. Nevertheless, an early read of the 2026 map indicates the GOP may be able to go on offense in some key states.

Republicans will be targeting battleground Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters recently announced he won’t seek re-election next year, as well as Georgia, another key battleground state, where first-term Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is considered vulnerable.

And in swing state New Hampshire, longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has yet to say whether she’ll seek another term in the Senate when she’s up for re-election next year.

Days before Scott was interviewed by Fox News Digital, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith in blue-leaning Minnesota announced she wouldn’t run again in 2026.

‘Minnesota is an open seat. That’s a four-point state,’ Scott said as he pointed to Trump’s better-than-expected performance in the state in November’s presidential election.

‘We can actually make gains there and bring home another red seat in Minnesota for the first time in a long time,’ Scott predicted.

Asked about GOP recruitment efforts in Minnesota, Scott responded, ‘I’m pleasantly surprised. We’ve already talked to two very highly qualified candidates and more to come.’

Pointing to the current political landscape across the country, Scott touted that ‘we have a map that is wide open. All we need is time. Time is on our side right now. So, we’re excited about what’s going to happen over the next several weeks.’

But Republicans are also playing defense in the 2026 cycle.

New York Sen. Kirsten speaks to Fox News Digital about the election and voter support

Democrats plan to go on offense in blue-leaning Maine, where GOP Sen. Susan Collins is up for re-election, as well as in battleground North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is also up in 2026. 

Scott acknowledges that the GOP will have to spend big bucks to defend those two seats, as well as in Ohio, where Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was appointed last month to succeed Vice President JD Vance in the Senate. Husted will run next year to finish out Vance’s term.

Pointing to a likely price tag of well over $1 billion in those three races, Scott acknowledged that ‘we need to continue to have strong fundraising numbers and support our candidates as we defend our seats.’

The NRSC recently announced a record $8.5 million in fundraising in January, which the committee says is its best ever off-year January haul.

Asked if the NRSC could keep up the pace, Scott said, ‘Absolutely we can. The good news is we’re already on pace for February to have another record-breaking month.’

And pointing to the president, Scott argued that ‘Trump brings a lot of enthusiasm. He made promises on the campaign trail, and now, as president, he’s keeping those promises. What does that convert to? Cash is king. People love a man who says what he’s going to do, he gets a job, he goes to work doing those things. It makes our job infinitely easier at the NRSC.’

In the 2022 election cycle, when the Republicans blew a chance to win back the majority, NRSC Chair Rick Scott of Florida was criticized for a hands-off approach in the GOP Senate primaries. 

Last cycle, NRSC Chair Sen. Steve Daines of Montana got involved in Senate Republican nomination battles.

Asked what he’ll do when it comes to contested GOP Senate primaries this cycle, Scott answered, ‘Whatever is in the best interest of the voters in each state, I will make a state-by-state decision on how we play and where we play.’

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