The White House is concerned that Iran’s weakened position will prompt the regime to pursue a nuclear weapon, and national security adviser Jake Sullivan is coordinating with the Trump team on this concern. 

Iran has suffered a year of setbacks amid Israeli assaults on its proxy forces and a pull-out from Syria amid the takeover by Sunni Muslim forces, hostile to Iran’s Shiite government. 

Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, have reduced Iran’s conventional military capabilities, Sullivan told CNN on Sunday. 

‘What I found over the last four years is that when good things happen, like Iran being weaker than it was before, there are frequently bad things lurking around the corner,’ Sullivan said.

‘If you’re Iran right now and you’re looking around at the fact that your conventional capability has been reduced, your proxies have been reduced, your main client state has been eliminated, Assad has fallen, it’s no wonder there are voices saying: ‘Hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now,” the outgoing national security official said. 

‘They’re saying it publicly, in fact. They’re saying: Maybe we have to revisit our nuclear doctrine. A doctrine that has said: We’ll have a civilian nuclear program and certain capabilities, but we’re not going for a nuke,’ he added. ‘It’s a risk we’re trying to be vigilant about now.’

While Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has expanded uranium enrichment since the last Trump administration to 60% purity, a short step away from the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon. 

Last week the United Kingdom, Germany and France publicly called on Iran to ‘reverse its nuclear escalation,’ arguing there is no ‘credible civilian justification’ to stockpile 60% uranium.

Sullivan said there was a risk Iran would abandon its promise not to build nuclear weapons.

‘It’s a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It’s a risk that I’m personally briefing the incoming team on,’ Sullivan said, adding that he was consulting with Israel too. 

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, could bring back his ‘maximum pressure’ policy to cripple Iran’s oil financing.

Sullivan held out hope Trump could come in and use Iran’s weakened position to get them to agree to a new nuclear deal. 

‘Maybe he can come around this time, with the situation Iran finds itself in, and actually deliver a nuclear deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear ambitions for the long term,’ he said.

Trump’s team is currently weighing its options to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, including preventive airstrikes. 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is calling out the Biden administration for spending over a trillion taxpayer dollars on ‘government waste’ this year, including on a bearded lady cabaret show, Arabic Sesame Street, and ‘girl-centered climate action.’

The Kentucky senator released his annual ‘Festivus’ report that details different ways in which the current administration spent taxpayer dollars throughout the year. 

The 2024 Festivus Waste Report found that the Biden-Harris administration spent over $1 trillion this year, including giving a $10,000 grant to ‘Beards on Ice’ — an ice skating drag show on climate change put on by the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, a self-described ‘queer cabaret arts organization.’

Additionally, the Agency for International Development (USAID) spent $20 million on a Sesame Street spin-off show in Iraq, titled ‘Ahlan Simsim,’ in an effort to promote ‘inclusion’ and ‘mutual respect.’

About $1.5 was spent experimenting how different species, such as young female kittens, respond to motion sickness. 

According to the report, researchers would strap kittens to a table, where they are spun around in several directions and have holes drilled into their skulls to keep them in place — ‘and it’s all being done with your money,’ Paul writes in the report. ‘More than one and a half million dollars of it.’

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reportedly gave New York University (NYU) over $400,000 to study whether lonely rats seek cocaine more than rats who are in positive environments, while the Department of the Interior (DOI) allocated $12 million to fund a pickleball complex in Las Vegas, according to the report.

‘Now, did the government really need to spend nearly half a million dollars to verify that social isolation and starvation may lead to increased drug usage? One thing is for sure, we must end this rat-wheel of waste!’ Paul wrote in the report.

The State Department spent $3 million on ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil, a program reportedly designed to ’empower young women to become climate leaders by integrating equity and inclusivity into environmental activism,’ the report writes, citing the grant details.

‘As the average American taxpayers struggle to pay rent, their hard-earned dollars are ironically funneled into more real estate,’ the report read, referring to the Biden struggles spending $10B on maintaining and furnishing buildings that were almost entirely empty.

The Department of Energy (DOE) gave automakers $15.5 billion to push the industry into the electric vehicle (EV) sector, while another $388,000 was given to ‘Magic in the United States,’ a podcast discussing how magical beliefs and practices have evolved in the U.S.

The senator also mentioned the Biden administration giving $2.1 million to fund Paraguay’s border: ‘Nothing says ‘America First’ like securing someone else’s border,’ Paul wrote.

Concerns over a resurgence of the Islamic State in Syria remain heightened following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and an increase in attacks targeting U.S.-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

President-elect Donald Trump may well face another round against the extremist group as the SDF faces a reality in which it may have to divide its focus between ISIS and threats levied at it by Turkey.

The SDF said five of its soldiers were killed Saturday in attacks by Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria, reported Reuters. 

The attacks came following an apparent collapse in a cease-fire agreement brokered by the Biden administration as the U.S. and the SDF ramp up efforts to counter ISIS. 

National security advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday told CNN that his ‘single biggest concern’ is the return of ISIS, which was deemed ‘defeated’ in 2019. 

‘ISIS loves vacuums,’ he said in reference to the extremist group’s use of power struggles in places like North Africa to gain footholds. ‘What we see in Syria right now are areas that are basically ungoverned because of the fall of the Assad regime. 

‘Our goal is to ensure that we support the SDF — the Kurds — and that we keep ISIS in check,’ he added.

The U.S. has long had to balance its campaign against ISIS in Syria — which it is fighting with the help of the Kurdish coalition forces, despite Turkey deeming the SDF as akin to the terrorist network the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — with Washington’s partnership alongside Ankara as a NATO ally. 

‘The SDF and the Assad regime were the primary opponents of ISIS,’ Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and founding editor of ‘The Long War Journal,’ told Fox News Digital. ‘With the former gone and the latter under pressure from Turkish proxies, concerns about the expansion of ISIS are warranted.’

‘Turkey wants to destroy the SDF,’ Roggio confirmed. ‘Turkey has the ideal opportunity to destroy the SDF, and it will take advantage of this unique situation. I expect attack[s] against the SDF to increase.’

The Biden administration has already taken steps to ramp up its campaign against ISIS, hitting more than 75 sites in a significant strike earlier this month on known ‘ISIS leaders, operatives and camps,’ U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed.

The operation coincided with the fall of Damascus on Dec. 8 following a sweeping takeover of Aleppo, Hama and Homs by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was aided by the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).

In addition, CENTCOM on Thursday killed ISIS leader Abu Yusif aka Mahmud using a precision airstrike in eastern Syria — an area where, according to Syrian news outlets, ISIS has been able to seize weapons depots belonging to the former Syrian military under the Assad regime amid the ‘chaos.’

SDF forces in an attempt to clamp down on ISIS uprisings captured 18 ISIS terrorists and suspected collaborators on Sunday near the city of Raqqa, which was once an ISIS stronghold, according to ANF News.

The campaign was reportedly done ‘in cooperation with the international coalition forces,’ but CENTCOM has not yet confirmed whether the U.S. was involved. 

But concern remains high that the SDF could see its operational abilities divided as attacks from the Turkey-backed SNA coalition forces increase — which could spell trouble for the upcoming Trump administration as it looks to prevent another resurgence of ISIS, while balancing U.S. relations with Turkey, which is further expected to exercise outsized influence over the new Syrian government.

‘We continue to monitor the situation in Syria,’ Brian Hughes, Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson said in response to questions from Fox News Digital. ‘President Trump is committed to diminishing threats to peace and stability in the Middle East and to protecting Americans here at home.’

The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the head of Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

In exchange, al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, agreed to a U.S. demand not to allow terrorism groups in Syria to threaten the U.S. or Syria’s neighbors. 

‘We had a good, thoroughgoing discussion on a range of regional issues,’ Barbara Leaf, the U.S.’s top envoy to the Middle East, told reporters of her Friday meeting with al-Sharaa. 

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) drove Assad out of Damascus earlier this month. While other rebel factions remain throughout the country, HTS has amassed control over much of Syria. 

HTS was founded as an offshoot of al Qaeda but broke away from the group in 2016. It evolved from the Nusrah Front, which was designated as a terrorist group in 2012, and in 2018 the U.S. added HTS’ terrorism designation. 

‘It was a policy decision… aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS,’ Leaf explained. 

‘So if I’m sitting with the HTS leader and having a lengthy detailed discussion about the interests of the US, interests of Syria, maybe interests of the region, it’s suffice to say a little incoherent then to have a bounty on the guy’s head.’

The group has been trying to shake its extremist reputation and the designation, with al-Sharaa claiming he does not want Syria to become the next Afghanistan and he believes in education for women.

‘We’ve had universities in Idlib for more than eight years,’ Sharaa told BBC, referring to Syria’s northwestern province that HTS has held since 2011. 

‘I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60%.’ 

‘He came across as pragmatic,’ Leaf said. ‘It was a good first meeting. We will judge by deeds, not just by words.’

U.S. officials have visited Syria to push for a pragmatic government and to find information on the whereabouts of detained U.S. journalist Austin Tice. 

The U.S. has had a mixed relationship with HTS due to its militant Islamist roots. 

Al-Sharaa has said HTS is not a terrorist group because it does not target civilians or civilian areas, and they consider themselves to be the victims of the crime of Assad’s regime. 

The U.S. has launched an aggressive campaign of airstrikes in northeastern Syria to take out ISIS militants, fearing a resurgence amid the upheaval in Syria which could lead to the release of more than 8,000 IS prisoners, ‘a significant security concern,’ according to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon revealed on Thursday that the U.S. doubled the number of its forces from 900 to roughly 2,000 to fight IS before Assad’s fall. 

A leading progressive House Democrat is commending President Biden’s sweeping commutation order for people on the federal death row, calling the death penalty itself ‘racist.’

‘The President’s decision to commute the death sentences of 37 individuals on federal death row is a historic and groundbreaking act of compassion that will save lives, address the deep racial disparities in our criminal legal system, and send a powerful message about redemption, decency, and humanity,’ Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said in a statement on Monday.

‘The death penalty is a racist, flawed, and fundamentally unjust punishment that has no place in any society.’

Pressley argued the death penalty has overwhelmingly targeted Black and Brown communities ‘and failed to make America any safer.’

The Massachusetts lawmaker, a member of the hardline-left group of House Democrats dubbed the ‘Squad,’ has been on the forefront of the progressive push to abolish the death penalty.

Biden’s clemency order affects nearly everyone on the federal death row in the United States.

 Just three of 40 inmates remain – Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina in 2015; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was found guilty for carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshipers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.

Among those whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment are Thomas Sanders, who kidnapped and killed a 12-year-old girl; Jorge Avila-Torrez, who sexually assaulted and stabbed two young girls to death and strangled a 20-year-old female Naval officer four years later; and Anthony Battle, who murdered an Atlanta prison guard with a hammer 30 years ago.

Democrats had been mounting pressure on Biden to use his clemency powers after the controversial and broad pardon he granted to his son, Hunter Biden, just weeks before he was expected to be sentenced on federal gun charges.

Biden heeded that pressure earlier this month when he commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 Americans in the largest such single-day order. 

It comes as President-elect Trump has touted plans for months to expand the death penalty to drug traffickers, child rapists and illegal immigrants who kill U.S. citizens.

At the tail end of his first term, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) performed the first federal executions in 20 years, carrying out sentences for 13 federal prisoners on death row.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a top Trump ally, blasted Biden for his order on Monday.

‘Once again, Democrats side with depraved criminals over their victims, public order, and common decency,’ Cotton wrote on X.

‘Democrats can’t even defend Biden’s outrageous decision as some kind of principled, across-the-board opposition to the death penalty since he didn’t commute the three most politically toxic cases. Democrats are the party of politically convenient justice.’

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is suing to block the release of a House Ethics Committee report on his alleged behavior.

In a complaint filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., the Republican’s attorneys maintain Gaetz’s innocence, say that the conduct detailed in the report is untrue, and claim the committee does not have jurisdiction over him because he is no longer in office.

The House Ethics Committee’s multi-year investigation into Gaetz, involving allegations of sex with a minor and illicit drug use, came to an abrupt halt last month after he resigned from Congress hours after President-elect Trump tapped him to be his attorney general. Gaetz later withdrew his nomination.

‘The anticipated statements and release of information by Defendants is expected to include reference and make conclusions that Plaintiff engaged in conduct amounting to ‘misconduct’ or was otherwise unethical,’ the complaint says. ‘The anticipated statements and information is false, factually incorrect, and untrue because Plaintiff did not violate any criminal code or other standard of ethics within the jurisdiction of Defendants.’ 

‘Once released, the damage to Plaintiff’s reputation and professional standing would be immediate, severe and irreversible, particularly because: a. The Committee’s findings would carry the imprimatur of official Congressional action; b. Media coverage would be immediate and widespread; c. The allegations would permanently remain in the public record; d. No adequate remedy exists to retract or correct information once released,’ it adds.

The report could be released by the House Ethics Committee as early as Monday.

The filing says, ‘After Plaintiff’s resignation from Congress, Defendants improperly continued to act on its investigation, and apparently voted to publicly release reports and/or investigative materials related to Plaintiff without proper notice or disclosure to Plaintiff.’

‘The Committee’s apparent intention to release its report after explicitly acknowledging it lacks jurisdiction over former members, its failure to follow constitutional notions of due process, and failure to adhere to its own procedural rules and precedent represents an unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,’ it also states.

Last week, after the committee voted to release the report, Gaetz wrote on X, ‘I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED.’

‘Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me. Then, the very ‘witnesses’ DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys. I’ve had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued,’ Gaetz said.

‘In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18,’ he continued. ‘Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court – which is why no such claim was ever made in court.’ 

‘My 30’s were an era of working very hard – and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life,’ Gaetz concluded. ‘I live a different life now.’

The House Ethics Committee did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment by Fox News Digital. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar told Fox News Digital that President-elect Donald Trump is the ‘perfect leader’ to negotiate and deliver the ‘deal of the century’ to keep TikTok available in the U.S.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments on Jan. 10, 2025 on the law that requires a divestment of TikTok from foreign adversary control. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a company based in Beijing and connected to the Chinese Communist Party. 

That legislation, which was signed into law in the spring, requires a sale of TikTok from ByteDance by Jan. 19. If ByteDance does not divest by the deadline, Google and Apple are no longer able to feature TikTok in their app stores in the U.S.

Supreme Court Justices said they will hold a special session on Jan. 10 to hear oral arguments in the case — an expedited timeline that will allow them to consider the case just nine days before the Jan. 19 ban is slated to take effect. The law allows the president to extend the deadline by up to 90 days if ByteDance is in the process of divesting. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Moolenaar, R-Mich., said he has been meeting with top investors, and that he has ‘full confidence’ that Trump ‘will be able to make a great deal for America.’ 

‘It will be the deal of the century,’ Moolenaar said, noting that the divestment ‘could happen in phases.’ 

‘First with a buyout and then a massive IPO—probably the largest IPO in history,’ he said. ‘And I believe President Trump is the perfect leader to negotiate and deliver this win.’ 

He added: ‘President Trump has the opportunity to make the deal of the century because of the leverage of the TikTok legislation passed by Congress.’ 

Moolenaar predicted that the sale of TikTok could be completed quickly after it exhausts its appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court decides the case. He said a ‘massive’ IPO could occur ‘later, as one piece of the solution.’ 

‘I think TikTok and ByteDance have been dragging their feet,’ Moolenaar said. ‘Once they realize they’re required to follow U.S. law, I believe this will move forward fairly quickly.’ 

TikTok and ByteDance filed an emergency application to the high court earlier this month asking justices to temporarily block the law from being enforced while it appealed a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

Lawyers for TikTok have argued that the law passed earlier this year is a First Amendment violation, noting in their Supreme Court request that ‘Congress’s unprecedented attempt to single out applicants and bar them from operating one of the most significant speech platforms in this nation’ and ‘presents grave constitutional problems that this court likely will not allow to stand.’

But Moolenaar warned that without divestment, the CCP could attempt to ‘manipulate perceptions in the United States,’ and said they have ‘access to Americans’ data’ through TikTok. 

‘It is very profitable, very popular, and it is a major inroad for the CCP to influence American culture,’ said Moolenaar.

But as for CCP access to the data of U.S. citizens, TikTok created its ‘Project Texas’ initiative, which is dedicated to addressing concerns about U.S. national security. 

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew says ‘Project Texas’ creates a stand-alone version of the TikTok platform for the U.S. isolated on servers in Oracle’s U.S. cloud environment. It was developed by CFIUS and cost the company approximately $1.5 billion to implement.

Chew has argued that TikTok is not beholden to any one country, though executives in the past have admitted that Chinese officials had access to Americans’ data even when U.S.-based TikTok officials did not.

TikTok claims that the new initiative keeps U.S. user data safe, and told Fox News Digital that data is managed ‘by Americans, in America.’

But Moolenaar says that even ‘Project Texas’ ‘really is not enough.’ 

‘When you consider that ByteDance is affiliated with the CCP, and they call the shots for TikTok, the TikTok algorithm is very different in the U.S. than it is in China,’ he explained. ‘There needs to be a divestment, and we need to know either an American company or a company affiliated with like-minded nations, friendly nations, not adversarial nations, is in charge of this app.’ 

He added: ‘Only that will satisfy the law and protect our national security.’ 

Moolenaar said that, until now, the Chinese Communist Party ‘didn’t have a reason to allow the sale of TikTok.’ 

‘But that has changed, and President Trump knows from experience that the only language the CCP speaks is hardball,’ Moolenaar said. ‘He is an incredible negotiator, and our legislation is giving him the leverage he needs to make this historic deal.’ 

Yet, Trump has signaled support for TikTok. Earlier this month, he met with Chew at Mar-a-Lago, telling reporters during a press conference ahead of the meeting that his incoming administration will ‘take a look at TikTok’ and the looming U.S. ban.

‘I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,’ Trump told reporters.

Panama’s president has responded to President-elect Trump’s idea that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal.

After Trump said Sunday that the United States ‘foolishly gave it away’ and is now ‘being ripped off’ at the waterway, Panama’s conservative President José Raúl Mulino released a video declaring that ‘every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong’ to his country.

Without mentioning Trump by name, Mulino addressed Trump’s complaints over rising fees for ships crossing the canal, saying they are set by experts who take into account operational costs, and supply and demand factors.

‘The tariffs are not set on a whim,’ Mulino said. He noted that Panama has expanded the canal over the years to increase ship traffic ‘on its own initiative,’ and added that shipping fee increases help pay for improvements.

‘Panamanians may have different views on many issues,’ Mulino said. ‘But when it comes to our canal, and our sovereignty, we will all unite under our Panamanian flag.’

Trump then took to his social media site to offer in response, ‘We’ll see about that!’ He also posted a picture of a U.S. flag planted in the canal zone under the phrase, ‘Welcome to the United States Canal!’

Trump had previously addressed the canal in a Saturday Truth Social post, where he complained at length about the fees levied on U.S. ships going through the Big Ditch. The Panama Canal’s tolls can range from three to six figures depending on how large a vessel is and how much cargo it carries, with the largest ships being charged as much as $500,000.

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.

The canal depends on reservoirs to operate its locks and was heavily affected by 2023 Central American drought that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships using the canal each day, administrators also increased the fees that are charged all shippers for reserving a slot.

With the weather returning to normal in the later months of this year, transit on the canal has normalized, but price increases are still expected for next year.

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and the Associated Press contributed to this report.