White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday defended the legality of President Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of at least 17 inspectors general, telling reporters that the administration is confident that the oustings, ordered across nearly every major federal agency, would survive any potential challenges in court.

Speaking to reporters for the first time from the podium of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, Leavitt defended Trump’s decision to fire, without warning, the inspectors general of nearly every Cabinet-level agency – an abrupt and unprecedented purge that shocked many outside observers.

Asked about the terminations Tuesday, Leavitt doubled down on Trump’s argument that the president is well within his power to fire the independent watchdogs, regardless of their Senate-confirmed status. 

Trump’s firings of the inspectors general included watchdogs for the Departments of Defense, State, Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Energy, Commerce, as well as the EPA, among others. 

‘It is the belief of this White House and the White House counsel’s office that the president was within his executive authority’ to do so, Leavitt said Tuesday.

Trump, she added, ‘is the executive of the executive branch, and therefore he has the power to fire anyone within the executive branch that he wishes to.’

Leavitt then referenced a 2020 Supreme Court decision, Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which ruled that the CFPB’s agency structure violates the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution.

‘I would advise you to look at that case, and that’s the legality that this White House was resting on,’ Leavitt said. 

Asked by the reporter whether the Trump administration believed its order would survive a lawsuit or court challenge from the former inspectors general, Leavitt responded affirmatively.

 ‘We will win in court,’ she said decisively, before moving on. 

The remarks come as Trump’s Friday night terminations have sparked deep concern from lawmakers. The terminations were criticized by Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who noted that the independent watchdogs were created to identify and root out government waste, fraud, abuse and misconduct. 

Many of the individuals fired were also installed during Trump’s first term. 

Lawmakers have noted that Trump ordered the terminations without notifying Congress of his intent to do so at least 30 days in advance, as required for the Senate-confirmed roles.

A group of House Democrats criticized the action in a letter this week as ‘unethical,’ arbitrary and illegal.

‘Firing inspectors general without due cause is antithetical to good government, undermines the proper stewardship of taxpayer dollars, and degrades the federal government’s ability to function effectively and efficiently,’ reads the letter, signed by Reps. Jamie Raskin, Maxine Waters, Adam Smith, Bennie Thompson and Gregory Meeks, among others.

Tuesday’s briefing is the first conducted by Leavitt as White House press secretary. At 27, she is the youngest person in White House history to serve in the role.

It is unclear how often Leavitt will hold press briefings. 

Her role was announced in November by Trump, who praised the ‘phenomenal job’ she did as his campaign and transition spokesperson.

‘Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,’ Trump said in a statement announcing her role. ‘I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we Make America Great Again.’

Trump’s first term saw several White House advisers and communications aides, who struggled at times to communicate the views of a president who frequently opted to share his views directly via public rallies, briefings and social media posts.

This prompted high-profile clashes with some of the individuals tasked with officially communicating his views. 

Trump’s most recent White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, did not hold a single press briefing during her time in office. Famously, former White House communications aide Anthony Scaramucci served in his post for just 11 days.

A group of transgender service members and rights groups are filing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s restrictions on transgender troops in the military. 

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of six active duty transgender service members by GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), argues that the new executive order violates the equality guarantees of the U.S. Constitution.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the suit says the six transgender service members would lose access to healthcare and retirement benefits as a result of the executive order.

‘When you put on the uniform, differences fall away and what matters is your ability to do the job,’ said Army 2nd Lt. Nicolas Talbott, named as plaintiff in the suit: Talbott v. Trump. 

The new order, signed by Trump on Monday evening, requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to update medical standards to ensure they ‘prioritize readiness and lethality’ and take action to ‘end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns’ within DOD.

It says that expressing a ‘gender identity’ different from an individual’s sex at birth does not meet military standards. 

The order also restricts sleeping, changing and bathing facilities by biological sex. It’s not an immediate ban, but a direction for the secretary of Defense to implement such policies. 

It revokes former President Joe Biden’s executive order that the White House argues ‘allowed for special circumstances to accommodate ‘gender identity’ in the military – to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion.’

The categorical ban on transgender service members was lifted in 2014 under President Barack Obama. 

‘I’ve been military my entire life. I was born on a military base,’ said Navy Ensign Dan Danridge, student flight officer, a plaintiff in the suit. 

‘Every day I lace up my boots the same as everybody else. I pass the same tests as everybody else. Being transgender is irrelevant to my service. What matters is that I can complete the tasks that are critical to our mission.’

‘I’ve spent more than half my life in the Army, including combat in Afghanistan,’ said Army Sgt. 1st Class Kate Cole. ‘Removing qualified transgender soldiers like me means an exodus of experienced personnel who fill key positions and can’t be easily replaced.’

Trump’s new order builds on another directive he issued last week that revoked a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. 

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops he imposed during his first term. In his inauguration speech, he said he would formally recognize that there are only two genders: male and female.

There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members – exact figures are not publicly available.

Between Jan. 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021, the DOD reportedly spent approximately $15 million on providing transgender treatments (surgical and nonsurgical) to 1,892 active duty service members, according to the Congressional Research Service. 

The move comes as part of a campaign taken up by Trump and Hegseth to weed out any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices across the military. And GOP lawmakers successfully included an amendment in their 2025 defense policy bill that bans irreversible transgender care for minors in the military healthcare system.

Naama Levy, one of the four female IDF soldiers released from Hamas captivity on Saturday, is speaking out for the first time.

‘After 477 days, I’m finally home,’ Levy wrote on Instagram. ‘I’m safe and protected, surrounded by family and friends, and I am feeling better by the day.’

In the post, Levy expressed her gratitude to ‘Israeli combat soldiers and the Israeli people,’ saying she saw how they were fighting for her release. ‘Thank you all. I love you,’ Levy wrote.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists kidnapped Levy alongside Liri Albag, Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, and Agam Berger. All the girls, except Berger, were released as part of Israel and Hamas’ ceasefire deal.

Levy revealed that she was alone most of the time for the first 50 days of captivity. However, once she was reunited with the other soldiers taken from her base, they stuck together and ‘strengthened each other every day until our release and also after it.’

‘We are waiting for Agami and the rest of the hostages to return so we can complete the recovery process.’

Berger, who Levy mentioned in the post, is expected to be released on Thursday along with Arbel Yehoud and an unnamed male hostage.

A video of Levy on the day she was kidnapped went viral. She was seen wearing a black shirt and blood-soaked gray sweatpants as an armed man pulls her from a Jeep. Her ankles slashed, Levy was clearly struggling to walk after her apparently violent abduction. Levy became a symbol for the plight of the female hostages and victims of Hamas’ surprise attacks.

In a November 2023 essay for The Free Press, Levy’s mother, Ayelet Levy Shachar, emphasized that though the video of her daughter’s kidnapping was seen around the world, it was ‘totally unrepresentative of the life she had led until October 7.’

‘When she is released, I pray that the image of her abduction, and the experience of what that image represents, isn’t how she comes to see the world,’ Shachar wrote at the time.

Upon Levy, Albag, Gilboa and Ariev’s release, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters said that ‘their return today represents a moment of light in the darkness, a moment of hope and triumph of spirit, while serving as a painful reminder of the urgency to bring back the 90 hostages still in Gaza.’

More than 15 months into the Israel-Hamas war, which started with the brutal surprise attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, dozens of hostages remain in Gaza.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s decision to freeze foreign aid over the weekend included pulling millions of dollars-worth of U.S. funding for ‘condoms in Gaza,’ a White House official told Fox News Digital. 

The revelation came as the official explained that a separate memo from the Office of Management and Budget will temporarily pause grants, loans and federal assistance programs pending a review into whether the funding coincides with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, such as those related to ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the Green New Deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) ‘that undermine the national interest.’ 

‘If the activity is not in conflict with the President’s priorities, it will continue with no issues,’ the White House official told Fox News Digital. ‘This is similar to how HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] stopped the flow of grant money to the WHO [World Health Organization] after President Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the organization. Or how the State Department halted several million dollars going to condoms in Gaza this past weekend.’ 

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department on Tuesday seeking additional information. 

In her first-ever briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the OBM found ‘that there was about to be $50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza.’

‘That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money. So that’s what this pause is focused on, being good stewards of tax dollars,’ Leavitt told reporters. She said DOGE and OBM also found $37 million was about to be sent to the WHO before Trump’s executive order breaking ties with the global health body.

The Jerusalem Post reported in 2020 that scores of condoms were being used to create IED-carrying balloons that winds would carry into southern Israel, raising alarm on schoolyards, farmlands and highways. 

At the time, the Post reported that the improvised explosive devices – floated into Israel via inflated contraceptives – burned thousands of hectares of land and caused ‘millions of shekels of damage.’ It’s not clear if the practice continues. 

Just two days after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, which involved Hamas terrorists brutally raping some of the approximately 1,200 people killed in southern Israel and hundreds of others brought back into Gaza as hostages, a global NGO known as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) released a statement regarding the resulting war and escalating violence. 

The NGO claimed that any blockade of aid shipments into Gaza would infringe on their ‘enormous gains made in life-saving sexual and reproductive healthcare in this region.’ 

‘Palestinians are systematically denied sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights,’ the executive director of a corresponding NGO, the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA), said at the time. ‘Our health system has been repeatedly targeted and depleted by the Israeli occupation, and the more it disintegrates, the more it will hinder the full realization of these rights for women and girls.’

On Sunday, Rubio paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for review. 

The move came in response to Trump’s executive order, ‘Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,’ issued last week directing a sweeping 90-day pause on most U.S. foreign assistance disbursed through the State Department.

The State Department said Sunday that Rubio was initiating a review of ‘all foreign assistance programs to ensure they are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda.’

‘President Trump stated clearly that the United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people. Reviewing and realigning foreign assistance on behalf of hardworking taxpayers is not just the right thing to do, it is a moral imperative. The Secretary is proud to protect America’s investment with a deliberate and judicious review of how we spend foreign assistance dollars overseas,’ a State Department spokesperson said Sunday. 

‘The mandate from the American people was clear – we must refocus on American national interests,’ the statement added. ‘The Department and USAID take their role as stewards of taxpayer dollars very seriously. The implementation of this Executive Order and the Secretary’s direction furthers that mission. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, ‘Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?’’ 

Rubio had specifically exempted only emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the freeze on foreign assistance.

On Monday, at least 56 senior USAID officials were placed on leave pending an investigation into alleged efforts to thwart Trump’s orders, the Associated Press reported, citing a current official and a former official at USAID. 

An internal USAID notice sent late Monday and obtained by the AP said new acting administrator Jason Gray had identified ‘several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive Orders and the mandate from the American people.’ ‘As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions,’ Gray wrote.

The senior agency officials put on leave were experienced employees who had served in multiple administrations, including Trump’s, the former USAID official said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate Democrats have obtained a whistleblower report claiming that President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, violated protocol during a hostage rescue mission in October 2020.

But national security officials who served in the first Trump administration pushed back on that narrative.

The whistleblower letter, obtained by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., claimed that Patel leaked news that two Americans and the remains of a third were being transferred to U.S. custody from Yemen, where they had been held hostage by Houthi rebels. The whistleblower claims Patel leaked news of the trade to the Wall Street Journal hours before the hostages were actually in U.S. custody, potentially endangering the deal.

The protocol of the multi-agency group in charge of the mission was to withhold information about hostage deals until the subjects were both in U.S. custody and their families had been notified, according to the whistleblower.

A transition official pushed back on the report in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, saying Patel has a ‘track record of success.’

‘Mr. Patel was a public defender, decorated prosecutor, and accomplished national security official that kept Americans safe,’ the official said. ‘He has a track record of success in every branch of government, from the court room to congressional hearing room to the situation room. There is no veracity to this anonymous source’s complaints about protocol.’  

In the October 2020 case, the deal went forward without any issues, with the two Americans and the remains of the third being transferred to U.S. custody. In exchange, the U.S. arranged for the release of some 200 Houthi fighters being held prisoner in Saudi Arabia.

Alexander Gray, who served as Chief of Staff for the White House National Security Council under Trump’s first administration, also called the allegations ‘simply absurd.’

Robert C. Obrien, who served as National Security Advisor from 2019 to 2021, argued that the whistleblower was jeopardizing decades of bipartisan work on hostage deals by coming forward.

Senate Democrats delivered the whistleblower letter on Monday morning to Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Acting Treasury Secretary David Lebryk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CBS News reported.

The report comes just days before Patel is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an extensive confirmation hearing.

The Senate’s ‘advice and consent’ role allows the body to review the president’s appointments and provide oversight on key positions. The picks require a majority vote in the Senate with Republicans holding a 53-47 vote advantage over Democrats.

Patel has called for radical changes at the FBI and was a fierce and vocal critic of the bureau’s work as it investigated ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

He held numerous national security roles during the first Trump administration and was the chief investigator in the congressional probe into alleged Trump-Russia collusion, uncovering government surveillance abuse that led to the appointment of two special counsels: one who determined that there had been no such collusion and another who determined the entire premise of the FBI’s original investigation was bogus.

Patel was an integral part of the creation of a memo released by then-Chair Devin Nunes in February 2018, which detailed the DOJ’s and FBI’s surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

He’s been a loyal ally to Trump for years, finding common cause over their shared skepticism of government surveillance and the ‘deep state’ — a catchall used by Trump to refer to unelected members of government bureaucracy.

Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report

Dr. Dorothy Fink, acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced that the agency would begin reevaluating its current practices to ensure they are not utilizing federal dollars to promote non-medically necessary abortions.

HHS’s Office of Civil Rights has been tasked with investigating whether the agency’s programs, regulations and guidance are following federal guidelines under the Hyde Amendment, according to a Monday announcement from Fink. The review, Fink noted, will be conducted via guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget.

‘The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Office for Civil Rights, is tasked with enforcement of many of our nation’s laws that protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious exercise,’ Fink said in the announcement. ‘It shall be a priority of the Department to strengthen enforcement of these laws.’ 

The announcement from Fink is in line with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 24 executive order calling on all executive agencies to enforce laws under the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the use of federal funds for non-medically necessary, elective abortions. Trump’s Jan. 24 executive order also rescinded two executive orders implemented by President Joe Biden that sought to loosen restrictions on abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. 

‘Congress has enacted the Hyde Amendment and a series of additional laws to protect taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortion,’ stated a ‘fact sheet’ published Saturday by the White House. ‘Contrary to this longstanding commonsense policy, the previous administration embedded federal funding of elective abortion in a wide variety of government programs.’

Notably, Fink’s announcement about the agency-wide review came amid an external communications freeze implemented by the Trump administration. While essential agency functions have been permitted to continue under the freeze, these functions are not supposed to be promoted until it is over, according to a memo reportedly sent to officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from NIH acting Director Matthew Memoli.

Fox News Digital reached out to Fink and HHS to inquire about why this announcement about reevaluating its practices to ensure they align with the Hyde Amendment was permitted amid the communications freeze, but did not hear back in time for publication. 

In addition to announcing HHS’ plans to reevaluate programs under the Hyde Amendment, Fink’s announcement also praised the Trump administration’s decision to immediately rejoin the international Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family. 

According to a memo from the State Department, the declaration seeks to ‘secure meaningful health and development gains for women,’ ‘protect life at all stages,’ ‘defend the family as the fundamental unit of society,’ and ‘work together across the United Nations system to realize these values.’ Fink said in her Monday announcement that HHS’s Office of Global Affairs intends to support the U.S.’ efforts as part of this coalition.

The White House has issued a memo that temporarily suspends federal grants, loans and other financial assistance programs for executive departments pending an assessment of the funding. 

The Wall Street Journal first reported the memo, saying it was sent out by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) around 5 p.m. on Monday. 

A White House official told Fox News Digital that the memo was initially ‘misreported’ and does not constitute a funding freeze on federal financial assistance across the board. The official said the pause is expressly limited to programs, projects, and activities that may be impacted by President Donald Trump’s executive orders, such as ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the Green New Deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that the White House suspect undermine national interest. 

The memo exempts any program that provides direct benefits to Americans from the review process. That includes Social Security, Medicare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the official said. 

‘This is a good government measure to ensure that taxpayer money is being spent in accordance with law and the President’s policies,’ the official said in defense of the memo. ‘The Biden Administration forced their extreme ideological views into every corner of government and weaponized the government against the American people. They were taking actions up until the last hours trying to tie the hands of President Trump from delivering for the American people.’ 

The White House official told Fox News Digital that the pause is not yet in effect and ‘was designed to give agencies lead time to begin determining which programs are not affected and which programs will need to be reviewed for conformity with the President’s executive orders.’ The official further explained that the directive includes a ‘safety valve’ that the pause ‘shall only occur as consistent with law, which will allow agencies to review spending in conformity with applicable laws.’ 

‘If the activity is not in conflict with the President’s priorities, it will continue with no issues,’ the White House official told Fox News Digital. ‘This is similar to how HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] stopped the flow of grant money to the WHO [World Health Organization] after President Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the organization. Or how the State Department halted several million dollars going to condoms in Gaza this past weekend.’  

The memo, which takes effect Tuesday at 5 p.m., said agencies ‘must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal,’ according to the Journal. 

The memo reportedly said the federal government spent more than $3 trillion on federal assistance, including grants and loans, in the 2024 fiscal year and that the pause allows ‘time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities.’

Each agency must ‘complete a comprehensive analysis of all their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders,’ the memo continued, according to the Journal, adding that the pause must be applied ‘to the extent permissible under applicable law.’ 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., condemned the memo, telling the Journal that pausing the funding puts ‘billions upon billions of community grants and financial support that help millions of people across the country’ at risk. 

‘It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities, state disaster assistance, local law enforcement, aid to the elderly, and food for those in need,’ Schumer said, adding that Congress approved the funding for the federal assistance programs.

However, the White House official denied that the memo would result in any devastating effects on programs, explaining to Fox News Digital that the OMB explicitly instructed agencies to identify programs with immediate deadlines so that ‘exceptions can be granted without any program impact.’ It does not constitute a permeant stop of the funds. 

The pause ‘could be as short as a day if an agency determines that the funds at issue do not conflict with the Administration’s policies,’ the official said. ‘To act as faithful stewards of taxpayer money, new administrations must review federal programs to ensure that they are being executed in accordance with the law and the new President’s policies. If the pause will have an adverse impact, the memo expressly provides that agencies can seek exemptions on a case-by-case basis.’

The memo included a footnote that said Medicare, Social Security benefits and assistance provided directly to individuals were exempt from the pause, but its otherwise broad language caused confusion Monday night among some federal employees, as administrators requested advice from their internal counsel regarding which programs the pause applied to and how the departments should respond, one source told the Journal. 

The memo included a Feb. 10 deadline for agencies to submit a thorough summary of all paused programs, projects and activities to the Office of Management and Budget.

China’s influence on the Panama Canal poses ‘acute risks to U.S. national security,’ Sen. Ted Cruz is warning Tuesday, alleging the Chinese Communist Party has taken a ‘militaristic interest’ in the vital global shipping passage. 

The Texas Republican told lawmakers during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation hearing that President Donald Trump recently has highlighted two key issues — ‘the danger of China exploiting or blocking passage through the canal’ and ‘the exorbitant costs for transit.’  

‘Chinese companies are right now building a bridge across the canal at a slow pace so as to take nearly a decade. And Chinese companies control container ports at either end. The partially-completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without warning and the ports give China ready observation posts to time that action,’ said Cruz, who is the chairman of the committee. 

‘This situation I believe poses acute risks to U.S. national security,’ he added. 

‘Meanwhile, the high fees for canal transit disproportionately affect Americans because U.S. cargo accounts for nearly three quarters for canal transits. U.S. Navy vessels pay additional fees that apply only to warships. Canal profits regularly exceed $3 billion dollars,’ Cruz continued. ‘This money comes from both American taxpayers and consumers in the form of higher costs for goods.’ 

Cruz’s comments come as newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Panama for his first international trip as the nation’s top diplomat, Fox News has learned.  

Trump said during his inauguration speech last week that ‘China is operating the Panama Canal’ and ‘we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.’ 

Panama is denying the Chinese influence, with President José Raúl Mulino saying that ‘There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration,’ according to the Associated Press.

However, Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Louis Sola testified Tuesday that ‘Since 2015, Chinese companies have increased their presence and influence throughout Panama. 

‘Panama became a member of the Belt and Road Initiative and ended its diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Chinese companies have been able to pursue billions of dollars and development contracts in Panama, many of which were projects directly on or adjacent to the Panama Canal,’ he told lawmakers. ‘Many were no bid contracts, labor laws were waived, and the Panama and Panamanian people are still waiting to see how they’ve been benefited. 

‘It is all more concerning that many of these companies are state-owned and in some cases even designated as linked to the People’s Liberation Army,’ Sola added. ‘We must address the significant growing presence and influence of China throughout the Americas and in Panama specifically.’ 

Cruz also said during the hearing that the Chinese Communist Party has taken a ‘militaristic interest in the canal’ and that ‘Panama has emerged as a bad actor.’ 

‘Panama has for years flagged dozens of vessels in the Iranian ghost fleet, which brought Iran tens of billions of dollars in oil profits to fund terror across the world,’ Cruz said. 

‘We cannot turn a blind eye if Panama exploits an asset of vital commercial and military importance, and we cannot stay idle while China is on the march in our hemisphere,’ he concluded. 

Fox News’ Nick Kalman and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.