Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Friday that ‘the reality of U.S. troops in Ukraine is unlikely,’ but insisted that there was ‘no daylight’ between himself and Vice President JD Vance.

In a bilateral press conference with Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Hegseth touched on the possibility of U.S. troops going into Ukraine. At first, he appeared to shut down the idea, but then he seemed to not take it entirely off the table. 

Hegseth added that he would ‘never put constraints around what the President of the United States would be willing to negotiate with the sovereign leaders of both Russia and Ukraine.’

On Thursday, in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, Vance reportedly said that the option of sending U.S. troops to Ukraine remained ‘on the table.’  

Vance also told the outlet that the U.S. could use ‘economic tools’ or ‘military tools’ against Russia to bring about an end to the nearly three-year-long war. The vice president said that President Donald Trump wants ‘a productive negotiation’ with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also teased a deal that would ‘shock a lot of people.’

Vance is in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, where he is expected to meet with Zelenskyy.

The vice president’s remarks appear contrast with what Hegseth told the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels earlier this week. In his opening remarks to the group, Hegseth said that rather than admitting Ukraine to NATO, security guarantees to the country would be supported ‘by capable European and non-European troops.’ However, he also appeared to completely rule out the possibility of U.S. troops

‘To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine,’ he said.

At the Munich Security Conference, Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, R-Ms., told Politico that he was ‘puzzled’ and ‘disturbed’ by Hegseth’s remarks in Brussels.

‘Everybody knows … and people in the administration know you don’t say before your first meeting what you will agree to and what you won’t agree to,’ Sen. Wicker told Politico, classifying Hegseth’s comments as a ‘rookie mistake.’

Trump has long spoken about ending the war between Ukraine and Russia, often asserting that it would not have started had he been in the Oval Office.

On Wednesday, Trump announced that in a ‘lengthy and highly productive’ phone call Putin agreed to ‘immediately’ begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump said he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to lead the negotiations, saying he thinks they ‘will be successful.’

President Donald Trump has made major foreign policy moves in his first few weeks in office, including cutting off U.S. funding to the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA has long faced accusations of ties to terrorists, which have intensified over the course of the Israel-Hamas war that began with the massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.

Former President Joe Biden initially cut off U.S. funding to UNRWA in January 2024, months into the war, after Israel accused members of the U.N. agency of taking part in Hamas’ brutal attacks.

U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said Americans need to know that some U.N. agencies, such as UNRWA, are founded on ‘altruistic good intentions,’ but have ‘morphed into something which is the complete opposite of what it was supposed to be.’

UNRWA was founded in 1949 ‘to carry out direct relief and works programs for Palestine refugees,’ according to the agency’s website. However, Neuer disputes Palestinians’ refugee status and says that President Trump’s proposed Gaza takeover uncovered a ‘truth that has been hidden.’

Neuer points out that UNRWA supporters and critics of the president’s proposal have accused Trump of ‘uprooting them [Palestinians] from their homes and lands,’ which would mean that ‘they’re not refugees.’ Gaza, which the U.N. recognizes as part of the ‘State of Palestine,’ would be considered their home under this criticism, negating their refugee status.

However, the problems with UNRWA go beyond ambiguous definitions. Neuer told Fox News Digital that the agency ‘systematically employed individuals who were supporting terrorism.’ He pointed to Fathi al-Sharif, who served as the principal of a school run by UNRWA, as well as the agency’s teachers’ union in Lebanon.

‘We know that the head of UNRWA’s education system, namely, teacher, school principal and head of the teachers’ union of 2,000 teachers in Lebanon, was a man named Fathi al-Sharif… he was the head of Hamas in Lebanon,’ Neuer said, adding that American taxpayers’ money funded al-Sharif and ‘the entire education system that he oversaw.’

In the case of Suhail al-Hindi, UNRWA’s former head of a ‘local staff union in Gaza,’ the agency insists that it suspended and fired al-Hindi after an announcement that he had been ‘elected to political office with Hamas.’

In response to a request for comment, UNRWA told Fox News Digital that it ‘prohibits any type of involvement of staff in a militant or armed group. As a representative of the U.N., any involvement in a group that promotes discrimination or violence violates the principle of neutrality and gravely jeopardizes UNRWA’s ability to provide services and protection to refugees.’

UNRWA referenced al-Hindi’s case specifically, noting it ‘also dismissed another staff member whose name appeared in the list of those newly elected to Hamas political office in Gaza.’

Contrary to critics’ claims, Neuer told Fox News Digital that Israel was not always trying to shut down UNRWA, saying that the Jewish State first saw the agency as ‘convenient’ in the late 1960s. However, Neuer said that Israel’s view on the agency has greatly shifted, particularly since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

In January 2024, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini ordered an investigation of any staff who allegedly participated in Hamas’ attacks, which he condemned in a statement. UNRWA told Fox News Digital that ‘upon ascertaining that the individuals were indeed UNRWA staff members,’ Lazzarini ‘immediately’ terminated their appointments.

Late last month, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon formally notified U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres of Israel’s demand that UNRWA cease operations in Jerusalem and evacuate its premises.

‘Months of good-faith engagement with the United Nations and years of related grievances conveyed to UNRWA, have been met with blatant disregard, compromising its fundamental obligation to impartiality and neutrality beyond repair,’ Danon wrote in the letter.

In a statement released last month, UNRWA spokesperson Jonathan Fowler slammed the laws that Israel passed in October 2024, saying that the Jewish State’s shortening of UNRWA staff visas was ‘tantamount to being evicted.’ However, Fowler confirmed that ‘UNRWA remains absolutely committed to stay and deliver,’ referring to the agency’s other locations in the region.

While Israel’s views on the agency have changed, prompting action from the country’s government, Neuer points out that several countries, including the U.S., failed to ‘take any meaningful action’ against UNRWA. He called the countries’ past moves ‘largely performative and limited.’

When asked about what Americans need to know about UNRWA, Neuer says that the agency is ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing,’ adding examples of U.N. officials who he says have gone against their mission. He also compared it to a social issue commonly debated here, namely anti-racism.

‘Just like Americans were told for at least the past 5 years – maybe more – that anti-racism means you have to discriminate against white people, against heterosexuals, you know, all kinds of categories, we were told that’s tolerance, that’s equality. We were told that racism and discrimination was anti-racism and anti-discrimination. We were fed a pack of lies,’ Neuer told Fox News Digital.

Addressing UNRWA and the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Neuer added, Theyare no humanitarian agencies. They are agencies that systematically have incentivized and legitimized terrorist groups from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Islamic regime in Iran. That’s the reality.’

When asked by Fox News Digital about Neuer’s allegations, UNRWA dismissed them and accused U.N. Watch of ‘spreading disinformation against’ the agency.

‘The agency systematically reviews all allegations of misconduct, including breaching U.N. values and humanitarian principles, and launches investigations into any credible allegation, applying disciplinary measures where misconduct has been established, up to and including separation,’ UNRWA told Fox News Digital.

President Trump’s executive order called for ‘renewed scrutiny’ of UNHRC, UNRWA and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In the order, UNHRC is accused of ‘protecting human rights abusers,’ while UNESCO is slammed for its ‘failure to reform itself’ among other issues.

As Democrats blast Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts as a ‘constitutional crisis,’ Fox News Digital spoke to a government spending expert who explained that many departments, including entitlements, are ripe with fat that can and should be cut. 

James Agresti, president of the nonprofit research institute Just Facts, spoke to Fox News Digital about some of the opportunities to make cuts to entitlements and pointed to $2 billion worth of improper payments at the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 2022, which was enough to pay 89,947 retired workers in 2023.

‘It’s hard to wrap your head around a figure like that,’ Agresti said. ‘There’s a lot of fat in Social Security, as there are in almost all entitlement programs.’

The SSA sent roughly 7,000 federal employees disability benefits in 2008 while they were still taking wages from federal jobs, according to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The GAO estimated that about 1,500 of those individuals ‘may have improperly received benefits’ since their wages went beyond maximum income thresholds. The GAO investigation also found that over 71,000 ‘stimulus checks’ were sent by the Obama administration to people who were deceased, including 63,481 people whose deaths had been previously reported to the agency.

President Donald Trump and Musk have signaled concerns about illegal immigrants with Social Security numbers contributing to fraud at SSA, which Agresti said are concerns backed up by facts.

In 2010, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration did a study of this problem, and it found that there were 800,000 noncitizens who had Social Security numbers and were working under them, which means they can receive benefits on them, and they obtain those Social Security numbers by submitting false birth certificates to the Social Security Administration,’ Agresti said.

Agresti explained that there are similar problems at the Internal Revenue Service ‘where they’re doling out child tax credits for the children of illegal immigrants, and they are basically accepting anything that’s thrown at them.’

There was an investigation back several years ago where the same birth certificate was issued, it was given to them in numerous cases to get these child tax credits, and they just gave it to them,’ Agresti said. ‘There was absolutely no accountability. In fact, the order from management was just get it done, get it off your desk. Don’t worry about investigating whether or not it’s legit and this is quite frankly, it’s theft.’

‘It’s stealing from the US taxpayers, it’s stealing from the government. And certain people have just come to tolerate it. And quite frankly, I just think that’s ridiculous. We would never tolerate this in our regular life. Somebody ripping us off for 10, 20% of our income.’

Agresti told Fox News Digital that Social Security is ‘actually one of the better ones’ when compared to other entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid, where the improper payments are ‘astronomical’ and ‘sometimes five, 10, 15%, 20% with the Children’s Health Insurance Program.’

Speaking about the IRS, Agresti said it has essentially become a ‘welfare program’ with the introduction of congressional laws that issue refundable tax credits’ and said there are ‘massively’ high improper payments in the agency, particularly with the earned income tax credit and child tax credit. 

Democrats have been vocally railing against Trump and Musk’s DOGE efforts, particularly when it comes to entitlement programs, where they argue that the administration is attempting to strip legitimate earned benefits owed to taxpayers. 

Agresti told Fox News Digital that ‘nothing could be further from the truth’ and when it comes to social security, DOGE is ‘trying to make sure that your Social Security check is there and not lost to fraud.’

I think we’re seeing one big obstacle right now, the Democratic Party, which is going after it and demonizing Trump and Musk for making a good faith effort to fix this kind of problem, and I don’t see the reason for it,’ Agresti said. ‘I don’t see the motivation for it. But it’s ridiculous that they’re misconstruing what they’re doing.’

The federal government is a behemoth, and it’s got a lot of tentacles. A lot of employees and governments are infamous for having very low accountability for their employees. It’s just the way it’s always been.’

Saudi Arabia has emerged as a central player in the pursuit of a U.S.-brokered peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, in large part due to the political capital it wields with its massive oil reserves. 

President Donald Trump suggested Riyadh as a meeting place to kick off face-to-face talks between himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin agreed the location was acceptable. To some it might seem a curious choice, but the Middle Eastern kingdom has reasons to involve itself in finding an end to the conflict happening thousands of miles from its borders. 

For Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, mediating peace negotiations would help to solidify his standing as a global leader. It also offers him a leg up on Qatar, which was heavily involved in negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Qatar has also, since 2023, helped facilitate the return of dozens of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war. 

Trump cited both his and Putin’s relationship with the Saudis in his remarks. ‘We know the crown prince, and I think it’d be a very good place to be,’ he said. 

It’s why Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has taken a front-row seat to the U.S. dealings in Eastern Europe. Witkoff jetted off to Moscow this week and returned home with Marc Fogel, an American teacher who had been detained by the Kremlin on charges of bringing medical marijuana into Russia in 2021. Witkoff credited Prince Mohammed for his ‘instrumental’ role in mediating the release. 

Trump said in a Truth Social post Wednesday he’d designated Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Witkoff to lead peace negotiations but failed to mention the special envoy he originally hired for the task, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg. The post came after he spoke by phone with both Putin and Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy. 

The Saudi kingdom is the largest exporter of oil in the world and plays a critical role in setting global prices. Higher oil prices generate more revenue for the Kremlin from Russia’s own exports.

In 2024, Russia made $108.22 billion from oil and gas sales, 26% more than the previous year, according to Reuters. 

Trump has repeatedly pressed nations in the OPEC alliance to flood the market with oil and lower the global price, believing Russia would be more open to negotiations if its war coffers are hit. 

‘Right now the price is high enough that that war will continue,’ Trump told executives at the World Economic Forum at Davos last month.

‘You got to bring down the oil price,’ he said. ‘That will end that war. You could end that war.’

The Trump team is far closer to the Saudis than the Biden administration was, though relations may strain over Trump’s plan to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and into neighboring nations and take over the territory. Still, bin Salman has pledged to invest as much as $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. 

Trump, who spoke to bin Salman just ahead of his Davos remarks, said he would be asking ‘the Crown Prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion.’

The Saudis and Ukraine have a common enemy in Iran, which has long been providing Russia with Shahed drones and other munitions. 

‘The [Iran-backed] Houthis have deployed Iranian weaponry against Saudi Arabia, targeting critical infrastructure, including oil pipelines and airports,’ said Daniel Balson of the advocacy group Razom for Ukraine. ‘In fact, repeated Houthi attacks against highly urbanized targets like Khamis Mushait in Saudi Arabia have served as a prelude for Russia’s use of drone warfare against Ukrainian cities.’

In May 2023, bin Salman invited Zelenskyy to speak at a meeting of Arab leaders in Jeddah. Later that year, Zelenskyy and bin Salman held closed-door talks with diplomats from 40 countries on ending the war, but Russia did not participate.

Putin thanked Saudi Arabia in August for its role in negotiating the most extensive prisoner swap since the Cold War, securing the release of 26 people.