A number of hospitals and clinics across the country that provide transgender surgeries or medication for minors are giving a giant middle finger to President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ‘protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation.’ 

Mass General Brigham and other Boston-area hospitals and clinics confirmed to Boston public radio that they plan to continue providing transgender medical treatments as normal. A spokesperson for Mass General Brigham said the hospital was ‘reviewing the federal actions to determine what impact they would have if implemented.’

Oregon Health & Science University, one of the state’s largest providers of transgender surgeries, has stood firm against Trump’s order and said that they expect no interruptions to their services, according to local outlet Oregon Live. 

In Minnesota, multiple hospitals confirmed they will continue to offer transgender medical treatments, and no hospitals in the state have publicly announced any cuts, according to local news outlet The Bemidji Pioneer.

Defiance from these hospitals comes in the face of conflicting directives from state and national leaders who have either determined Trump’s executive order is unlawful, or called on hospitals to ignore the directive. New York Attorney General Letitia James warned New York hospitals that complying with Trump’s order would violate state discrimination laws. 

Simultaneously, attorneys general from 15 states have argued that a court ruling determining Trump’s broad federal funding freeze was unlawful, ultimately rendering his threat to slash funding from hospitals illegal. ‘We will challenge any unlawful effort by the Trump Administration to restrict access to [transgender operations and treatment] in our jurisdictions,’ they said.

While some hospitals have chosen to do nothing in the face of these conflicting directives, others have taken limited steps to comply. 

At Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago’s largest children’s hospital, puberty blockers, hormones and mental health services will continue for all current and new patients, but surgery will no longer be offered.

In East Hollywood, California, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will stop accepting new patients seeking transgender medications but will continue providing these medications to existing patients who have already been receiving them. Gender-reassignment surgery was not something they offered at the time of Trump’s order.

At Wisconsin Children’s located in Milwaukee, the parent of a transgender patient told TMJ4 News that the hospital said it will not be accepting new patients seeking transgender medical care but there ‘should be no changes’ to the ‘healthcare’ that their child or other current patients receive. Fox News Digital reached out to Children’s Wisconsin for comment but did not receive a response.

A spokesperson for Denver Health told Fox News Digital that while it is terminating all transgender surgeries, patients who have been receiving hormone therapy can continue to do so ‘through the end of February.’ 

While hospitals are reacting differently over what to do next, the Trump administration is being taken to court by state attorneys general, transgender patients and their families, and even a clinic providing transgender treatment. 

In a move that showed what Trump’s executive order could do when hospitals do not comply, the administration withdrew a $1.6 million grant that was supposed to go to St. John’s Community Health in Los Angeles to provide funds for its transgender treatment services. While two judges recently ruled that Trump’s federal funding freeze was unlawful, the decisions do not apply to Trump’s executive order on transgender medical services that is preventing St. John’s from accessing the money, according to Cal Matters.

St. John’s intends to sue, Cal Matters noted, and will not be cutting any of its services at this time. In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the clinic said Republicans ‘in particular,’ should be concerned about Trump’s ‘overreach’ and ‘attempts to create false narratives about gender-affirming care that go against decades of science.’

‘The attacks on trans health care are blatant attempts by the federal government to interfere in peoples’ private lives — including in doctor-patient relationships and in parent-child relationships — and should alarm all of us.’

President Donald Trump took to social media on Thursday morning to showcase his frenetic pace since reentering the White House on Jan. 20.

‘THREE GREAT WEEKS, PERHAPS THE BEST EVER,’ the president touted.

Trump has signed 64 executive orders since his inauguration, according to a count from Fox News, which far surpasses the rate of any presidential predecessors during their first weeks in office.

While Trump is never shy about advertising his accomplishments, new polling indicates Americans are divided on the job he is doing so far in his second administration.

Trump stands at 48% approval and 47% disapproval in a national survey conducted for AARP.

The poll is the latest to indicate an early split when it comes to public opinion regarding Trump.

Some surveys, including Pew Research, indicate Trump’s approval ratings are slightly underwater, while others, including a poll from CBS News/YouGuv, suggest the president’s ratings are in positive territory.

Trump’s poll position among Americans stands in stark contrast to his first term in office, when he started out underwater in surveys and remained in negative territory for all four years in the White House.

‘His approval rating is higher than it was at any point in time during his first term,’ veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse told Fox News.

Newhouse, pointing to the president’s frenetic pace since returning to power, noted that Americans are ‘giving him positive marks right now, based not just on the perception of what he is going to do, but what he has done already.’

The surveys are in agreement when it comes to the massive partisan divide over Trump.

The AARP poll indicates Trump holds a net approval of 83 points with Republicans, a net disapproval of 76 points among Democrats and that he is underwater by 19 points among independent voters.

‘Trump’s ratings are stronger among men, white voters, and those without college degrees. He is seen more negatively by women, Hispanic and Black voters, and those with college degrees,’ the survey’s release highlighted.

While Trump’s approval ratings for his second term are a major improvement from his first term, his numbers are below where his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, began his single term in office.

Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House, with his disapproval in the upper 30s to low to mid 40s. 

However, Biden’s numbers sank into negative territory in the late summer and autumn of 2021, in the wake of his much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and amid soaring inflation and a surge of migrants crossing into the U.S. along the nation’s southern border with Mexico.

Biden’s approval ratings stayed underwater throughout the rest of his presidency.

Fox News’ Mary Schlageter contributed to this report.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., is threatening to file articles of impeachment against a federal judge who blocked President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze.

‘I’m drafting articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.,’ Clyde wrote on X.

‘He’s a partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump’s funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending. We must end this abusive overreach. Stay tuned.’

U.S. District Judge John McConnell filed a new motion Monday ordering the Trump administration to comply with a restraining order issued Jan. 31, temporarily blocking the administration’s efforts to pause federal grants and loans. 

McConnell’s original restraining order came after 22 states and the District of Columbia challenged the Trump administration’s actions to hold up funds for grants, such as the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant and other Environmental Protection Agency programs. However, the states said Friday that the administration is not following through and funds are still tied up.  

A three-judge panel on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s appeal of the order on Tuesday.

McConnell has come under fire by Trump supporters and conservatives who have accused him of being a liberal activist. 

Clyde and others have cited a video of McConnell in 2021 saying courts must ‘stand and enforce the rule of law, that is, against arbitrary and capricious actions by what could be a tyrant or could be whatnot.’

‘You have to take a moment and realize that this, you know, middle-class, white, male, privileged person needs to understand the human being that comes before us that may be a woman, may be Black, may be transgender, may be poor, may be rich, may be — whatever,’ McConnell said in the video, according to WPRI.

Elon Musk wrote on X in response, ‘Impeach this activist posing as a judge! Such a person does great discredit to the American justice system.’

Clyde confirmed he was preparing articles of impeachment when asked by Fox News Digital on Thursday.

‘For a federal judge to deny the executive their legitimate right to exercise their authority is wrong,’ Clyde told Fox News Digital. ‘This type of judge, this political activist – this radical political activist – should be removed from the bench.’

When reached for a response to Clyde’s threat, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island said McConnell ‘often sits down with members of the media upon request’ but did not comment on pending cases.

Trump’s allies have been hammering the judges who have issued a series of decisions curbing the president’s executive orders.

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., threatened to prepare impeachment articles against another judge earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. Southern District of New York, for blocking Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury records.

President Donald Trump took to social media on Thursday morning to showcase his frenetic pace since reentering the White House on Jan. 20.

‘THREE GREAT WEEKS, PERHAPS THE BEST EVER,’ the president touted.

Trump has signed 64 executive orders since his inauguration, according to a count from Fox News, which far surpasses the rate of any presidential predecessors during their first weeks in office.

While Trump is never shy about advertising his accomplishments, new polling indicates Americans are divided on the job the president is doing so far in his second administration.

Trump stands at 48% approval and 47% disapproval in a national survey conducted for AARP.

The poll is the latest to indicate an early split when it comes to public opinion regarding Trump.

Some surveys, including Pew Research, indicate Trump’s approval ratings are slightly underwater, while others, including a poll from CBS News/YouGuv, suggest the president’s ratings are in positive territory.

Trump’s poll position among Americans stands in stark contrast to his first term in office, when he started out underwater in surveys and remained in negative territory for all four years in the White House.

The surveys are in agreement when it comes to the massive partisan divide over Trump.

The AARP poll indicates Trump holds a net approval of 83 points with Republicans, a net disapproval of 76 points among Democrats and that he is underwater by 19 points among independent voters.

‘Trump’s ratings are stronger among men, white voters, and those without college degrees. He is seen more negatively by women, Hispanic and Black voters, and those with college degrees,’ the survey’s release highlighted.

While Trump’s approval ratings for his second term are a major improvement from his first term, his numbers are below where his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, began his single term in office.

Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House, with his disapproval in the upper 30s to low to mid 40s. 

However, Biden’s numbers sank into negative territory in the late summer and autumn of 2021, in the wake of his much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and amid soaring inflation and a surge of migrants crossing into the U.S. along the nation’s southern border with Mexico.

Biden’s approval ratings stayed underwater throughout the rest of his presidency.

Fox News’ Mary Schlageter contributed to this report

President Donald Trump secured two more Cabinet confirmations on Thursday, including his pick to lead the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Brooke Rollins. 

Rollins was easily confirmed by the Senate shortly after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as Trump’s Health secretary.

Most recently, Rollins has served as president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute think tank, which she co-founded after Trump’s first term. In Trump’s first administration, she was his director of the Office of American Innovation and acting director of the Domestic Policy Council.

The newly elected president announced his selection of Rollins for USDA chief in November, recalling she did ‘an incredible job’ during his first term. 

‘Brooke’s commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none,’ he said. 

‘As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country. Congratulations Brooke!’

The USDA nominee had a hearing before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee last month, before advancing past the key hurdle. 

The committee decision to move her nomination forward was unanimous, giving her bipartisan backing going into her confirmation vote. 

Rollins is now the 16th Cabinet official confirmed to serve in Trump’s new administration. With the help of the Republican-led Senate, Trump has managed to confirm his picks at a pace far ahead of either his first administration or former President Joe Biden’s. 

At the same point in his first term, Trump only had 11 confirmations and Biden had seven. Neither had 16 confirmed until March during their respective administrations. 

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary in President Donald Trump’s cabinet.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 52-48 nearly entirely along party lines to confirm Kennedy. The final showdown over his controversial nomination was set in motion hours earlier, after another party line vote on Wednesday afternoon which started the clock ticking toward the confirmation roll call.

Kennedy, the well-known vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump, needed a simple majority to be confirmed by the Senate.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against Kennedy’s nomination. McConnell, the former longtime GOP Senate leader, suffered from polio as a child and is a major proponent of vaccines.

‘I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,’ McConnell said after the Kennedy vote.

The president’s political team, in a social media statement after the Senate vote, wrote, ‘Congratulations @RobertKennedyJr !’

Kennedy survived back-to-back combustible Senate confirmation hearings late last month, when Trump’s nominee to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health faced plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research.

During the hearings, Democrats also spotlighted Kennedy’s service for years as chair or chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit organization he founded that has advocated against vaccines and sued the federal government numerous times, including a challenge over the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for children.

With Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee voting not to advance Kennedy, the spotlight was on Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a physician and chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

Cassidy issued a last minute endorsement before the committee level vote, giving Kennedy a party-line 14-13 victory to advance his confirmation to the full Senate.

Cassidy had emphasized during Kennedy’s confirmation hearings that ‘your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,’ which left doubt about his support.

However, after speaking again with the nominee, Cassidy rattled off a long list of commitments Kennedy made to him, including quarterly hearings before the HELP Committee; meetings multiple times per month; that HELP Committee can choose representatives on boards or commissions reviewing vaccine safety; and a 30-day notice to the committee, plus a hearing, for any changes in vaccine safety reviews.

‘These commitments, and my expectation that we can have a great working relationship to make America healthy again, is the basis of my support,’ the senator said.

Earlier this week, another Republican senator who had reservations regarding Kennedy’s confirmation announced support for the nominee.

‘After extensive public and private questioning and a thorough examination of his nomination, I will support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,’ GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced on Tuesday.

Another Republican who was on the fence, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, also voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination.

Murkowski noted that she continues ‘to have concerns about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies,’ but that the nominee ‘has made numerous commitments to me and my colleagues, promising to work with Congress to ensure public access to information and to base vaccine recommendations on data-driven, evidence-based, and medically sound research.’

Former longtime Senate GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, a major proponent of vaccines, also voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination.

Kennedy, whose outspoken views on Big Pharma and the food industry have also sparked controversy, has said he aims to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases.

The push is part of his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ campaign.

‘Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,’ Kennedy said as he pointed to chronic diseases. ‘And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.’

The 71-year-old scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination against then-President Joe Biden in April 2023. However, six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House.

Trump regularly pilloried Kennedy during his independent presidential bid, accusing him of being a ‘Radical Left Liberal’ and a ‘Democrat Plant.’

Kennedy fired back, claiming in a social media post that Trump’s jabs against him were ‘a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims.’

However, Kennedy made major headlines again last August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. 

While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy – who were both assassinated in the 1960s – Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders due in part to his high-profile vaccine skepticism.

After months of criticizing him, Trump called Kennedy ‘a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share.’

Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS.

Minutes after Thursday’s confirmation, the Democratic National Committee criticized the Senate vote in an email headlined ‘Republicans Confirm Unqualified Conspiracy Theorist RFK Jr. To Lead HHS.’ 

DNC chair Ken Martin charged that ‘RFK Jr. doesn’t care about keeping Americans healthy – in fact, he has a track record of spreading medical misinformation that can cost lives. Trump’s only idea for health care is to steal money going to kids and seniors to give tax cuts to billionaires.’

The final vote on Kennedy’s nomination came one day after another controversial pick, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI director to the Senate floor after a fiery confirmation hearing last month and fierce opposition from Democrats. 

Committee members voted 12-to-10 Thursday to advance Patel to the full floor vote, which could come before the chamber as early as next week. 

The vote comes after Democrats had successfully delayed Patel’s committee vote by seven days last week, in an effort to force the Trump nominee to testify a second time. 

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa., said attempts by Judiciary ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and others to force Patel to testify again were ‘baseless’ as he already sat before the committee for more than five hours and disclosed ‘thousands of pages’ of records to the panel, as well as nearly 150 pages of responses to lawmakers’ written questions.

‘Now we all know that Mr. Patel, and other nominees, undergo rigorous vetting’ before their Senate confirmation hearings, Grassley said Thursday before the committee vote. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee ‘has examined every detail of [Patel’s] life,’ Grassley said Thursday, ‘and he has been subjected to relentless attacks on his character during this whole period of time.’

The vote comes after Durbin alleged earlier this week on the Senate floor that Patel had been behind mass firings at the FBI, citing what he described as ‘highly credible’ whistleblower reports indicating Patel had been ‘personally directing the ongoing purge of FBI employees prior to his Senate confirmation for the role.’

An aide to Patel denied Durbin’s claim, telling Fox News Digital the nominee flew home to Las Vegas after his confirmation hearing and has ‘been sitting there waiting for the process to play out.’

Patel, a vociferous opponent to the investigations into President Donald Trump and who was at the forefront of his 2020 election fraud claims, vowed during his confirmation hearing that he would not engage in political retribution.

However, the conservative firebrand was likely chosen for his desire to upend the agency. 

In his 2023 book, ‘Government Gangsters,’ he described the FBI as ‘a tool of surveillance and suppression of American citizens’ and ‘one of the most cunning and powerful arms of the Deep State.’ 

Patel has said intelligence officials are ‘intent’ on undermining the president, but he promised he would not go after agents who worked on the classified documents case against Trump. 

‘There will be no politicization at the FBI,’ Patel said. ‘There will be no retributive action.’

Additionally, in another message meant to assuage senators’ concerns, Patel said he did not find it feasible to require a warrant for intelligence agencies to surveil U.S. citizens suspected to be involved in national security matters, referring to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

‘Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizens,’ Patel said. ‘It’s almost impossible to make that function and serve the national, no-fail mission.’

‘Get a warrant’ had become a rallying cry of right-wing conservatives worried about the privacy of U.S. citizens and almost derailed the reauthorization of the surveillance program entirely. Patel said the program has been misused, but he does not support making investigators go to court and plead their case before being able to wiretap any U.S. citizen. 

Patel also seemed to break with Trump during the hearing on the pardons granted to 1,600 persons who had been prosecuted for their involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, particularly around those who engaged in violence and had their sentences commuted. 

‘I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement,’ Patel said. ‘I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual that committed violence against law enforcement.’

Patel held a number of national security roles during Trump’s first administration – chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, senior advisor to the acting director of national intelligence, and National Security Council official. 

He worked as a senior aide on counterterrorism for former House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, where he fought to declassify records he alleged would show the FBI’s application for a surveillance warrant for 2016 Trump campaign aide Carter Page was illegitimate, and served as a national security prosecutor in the Justice Department. 

Patel’s public comments suggest he would refocus the FBI on law enforcement and away from involvement in any prosecutorial decisions. 

In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, he suggested his top two priorities were ‘let good cops be cops’ and ‘transparency is essential.’

‘If confirmed, I will focus on streamlining operations at headquarters while bolstering the presence of field agents across the nation. Collaboration with local law enforcement is crucial to fulfilling the FBI’s mission,’ he said. 

Patel went on, saying, ‘Members of Congress have hundreds of unanswered requests to the FBI. If confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for congressional oversight, ensuring that the FBI operates with the openness necessary to rebuild trust by simply replying to lawmakers.’

Obama officials and Trump critics are up in arms after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a return to the Eastern European country’s pre-war borders with Russia is ‘unrealistic.’ 

Hegseth, speaking to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Belgium on Wednesday, said ‘returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.’ He also called for Europe to offer Ukraine security guarantees after the war – not the U.S. 

Trump administration critics accused the secretary of giving up leverage before the start of peace negotiations with Russia. 

‘Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more,’ Brett Bruen, director of Global Engagement under the Obama White House, told Fox News Digital. 

Hegseth said Wednesday that ‘durable peace’ for Ukraine must ‘ensure that the war will not begin again.’

‘The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops,’ he said. 

‘If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and not covered under Article 5. There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact. To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine.’

While it is little surprise the Trump administration does not currently support Ukraine’s NATO membership, or believe Ukraine can take back all of its territory including Crimea, critics argue that Hegseth vocalizing these beliefs just as President Donald Trump fired the opening salvo in peace negotiations took them off the table as leverage. 

‘Why would you unilaterally surrender on some of those key strategic issues? Even if Trump ultimately wants to give ground, at least get something in return,’ Bruen said. 

‘Anyone with any diplomatic experience would have said it is critical that we use this as part of our negotiation, as President Trump wants to have with Moscow. But the idea that we’re simply going to announce all of the things that we are not going to do goes against 70 years of our diplomacy and our military strategy.’ 

Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, asked why the Trump administration appeared to be giving Russian President Vladimir Putin wins for free. 

‘Why is the Trump administration giving Putin gifts – Ukrainian land and no NATO membership for Ukraine – before negotiations even begin?’ he asked on X. ‘I’ve negotiated with the Russians. You never give up anything to them for free.’

Alexander Vindman, a Trump impeachment witness and former Europe director at the National Security Council – who continues to be a fierce Trump critic – characterized Hegseth’s comments as ‘complete capitulation to Putin’ that justifies Russia’s wars of aggression going back to Georgia in 2008.

‘This will embolden Putin and undermine the interests of peace in Ukraine and Europe. A major blow to U.S. national security,’ Vindman asserted.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., chimed in that Hegseth’s comments show, ‘Trump’s foreign policy has always been Russia First. Never America and its allies first.’ 

The defense secretary also called on Europe to ‘take ownership of conventional security on the continent.’

‘European allies must lead from the front,’ Hegseth said. ‘Together, we can establish a division of labor that maximize our comparative advantages in Europe and Pacific, respectively.’

His comments came just before Trump called both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv. 

On Friday, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. 

The Putin conversation came one day after the release of American Marc Fogel, who had been detained by the Kremlin, which Trump said he saw as a sign of ‘good faith’ by the Russians. 

Trump, meanwhile, has begun pressuring Ukrainians to turn over access to rare Earth minerals in exchange for security aid. Bessent presented Ukraine with a draft deal exchanging aid for minerals on Wednesday in Kyiv, according to Zelenskyy. 

‘We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,’ Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday of his call with Putin. ‘We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.’ 

He announced that he would asked Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to lead negotiations. 

Trump also said his call with Zelenskyy went ‘very well.’ 

‘​​It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!’

A group led by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute (RRPFI) has issued a series of takeaways following its recent visit to Taiwan. The takeaways can be seen as a roadmap of ideas for the Trump administration.

The eight-member delegation consisting of U.S. national security and business leaders concluded their strategic visit to Taiwan last month amid the presidential transition in Washington, D.C., a new administration in Taipei and ongoing Chinese coercion and aggression in East Asia.

The series of meetings was designed to strengthen ties between the United States and Taiwan across Taiwan’s political leaders and business elite. Members of the RRPFI delegation identified several key takeaways from the trip that could compliment the Trump administration’s policies toward strengthening the U.S.-Taiwan partnership.

The delegation said that while a number of President Donald Trump’s selections for top administration roles have expressed previously held views about policy involving Taiwan, there is a general mix of optimism and uncertainty over the direction the administration will take on security and economic matters relating to Taiwan.

Increasing defense spending, particularly with NATO allies, was a centerpiece of Trump’s first term. The delegation stressed national unity on defense and said elected officials from all parties need to live up to the intent to increase defense spending. The delegation emphasized to Taiwanese partners that the American public expects U.S. allies and partners to shoulder the primary burden of their own defense, a notion that will certainly appeal to the Trump administration.

The delegation asserted that Russia’s war in Ukraine and how the West handled it since Russia’s full-scale invasion are on the minds of Taiwanese leaders. The Biden administration used the Presidential Drawdown Authority on at least 55 occasions since August 2021 to provide Ukraine with military assistance from Department of Defense stockpiles, according to the State Department. The RRPFI delegation argue that the Presidential Drawdown Authority along with Foreign Military Sales are valuable tools for enhancing Taiwan’s capabilities and ensuring peace and stability in the region.

At last month’s meeting, David Trulio, president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, told Taiwanese leaders that, ‘especially with President Trump’s mandate in returning to office, Taiwan, the PRC, and the world are watching how the United States addresses China’s ongoing aggression in the South China Sea and malign online influence.’

He said that the security situation across the Taiwan Strait demands a continued commitment to peace through strength, including through robust partnership with Taiwan and sustained U.S. deterrence.

‘Taiwan has made, and is making, serious investments in its security,’ Trulio told the audience.

‘That said, given President Trump’s and the American public’s expectation that U.S. allies and partners shoulder the primary burden of their own defense, it is critical that Taiwan’s leaders deliver on their stated intent to increase defense spending and enhance their operational capabilities,’ Trulio added. 

Taiwan currently spends 2.45% of its GDP on defense, and Taiwanese leaders have expressed their intention to continue to increase their defense budget. Defense spending has increased by 80% since 2016, and their defense budget accounted for 15% of its total budget in 2024, according to Taiwan’s government.

The U.S. has been arming Taiwan for seven decades and Taiwan has consistently been one of the largest purchasers of U.S. weapons through the Foreign Military Sales process.

The delegation warned that not receiving weapons diminishes Taiwan’s security and enables the PRC to claim that the United States is an unreliable partner.

China takes these arm sales very seriously. China warned the U.S. that it was making ‘dangerous moves’ by providing Taiwan with an additional $571 million in defense materials, which was authorized by then-President Joe Biden in December just prior to leaving office.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement at the time urging the U.S. to stop arming Taiwan and to cease what it referred to as ‘dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.’