President Donald Trump floated a joint meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming he wants all countries to move toward denuclearization. 

Trump on Thursday told reporters he plans to advance these denuclearization talks once ‘we straighten it all out’ in the Middle East and Ukraine, comments that come as the U.S., Russia and Ukraine are actively pursuing negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 

‘There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,’ Trump said Thursday at the White House. ‘You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.’

‘We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive,’ he said.

The U.S. is projected to spend approximately $756 billion on nuclear weapons between 2023 and 2032, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released in 2023. 

Additionally, Trump said that he was aiming to schedule meetings with Xi and Putin early on in his second term and request that the countries cut their military budgets in half. The president said he believes ‘we can do that,’ and remained indifferent about whether he traveled to Xi or Putin, or if they visited the White House. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. has dramatically reduced its nuclear arsenal since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. 

The U.S. maintains 3,748 nuclear warheads as of September 2023, a drop from the stockpile of 22,217 nuclear warheads in 1989, according to the Department of Energy. The agency reported the U.S. owned a maximum of 31,255 nuclear warheads in 1966. 

In comparison, Russia has an estimated stockpile of roughly 4,380 nuclear warheads, while China boasts an arsenal of roughly 600, according to the Federation of American Scientists. 

Trump’s remarks build on previous statements he made in January at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where he signaled interest in talks on denuclearization with both Russia and China. 

‘Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it,’ Trump said on Jan. 23. 

Previous talks between the U.S., Russia and China fell through in 2020 during Trump’s first administration after he refused to sign an extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia to impose limits on each country’s nuclear arsenals. The treaty ultimately was renewed under the Biden administration and now expires in 2026, but Russia suspended its participation. 

On Thursday, Trump accused these negotiations of falling apart due what he called the ‘rigged election’ in 2020. 

Trump also said on Thursday that Putin wants peace after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, comments that followed back-to-back calls with the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday. 

Trump, who met with Zelenskyy in New York in September 2024, urged Putin to cease the war — or face sanctions — in a post on Truth Social on Jan. 22. 

‘Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,’ Trump wrote. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.’

Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts blasted Elon Musk on Wednesday and argued that his DOGE efforts are undermining the ‘values’ of the United States, and promised to ‘fight’ against them. 

Elon Musk has probably never stepped into a public school, his kids will get private tutors, he doesn’t understand it, he has no idea what this is all about,’ McGovern, who represents the 2nd Congressional District of Massachusetts, told Fox News Digital after a rally against DOGE cuts to the Department of Education.  

‘Our teachers do an incredible job. They deserve to be respected. The Department of Education is more than just a line item,’ he continued. ‘It represents real people, and it represents our future. And so, yeah, I’m pissed.’

McGovern explained that ‘not a single’ Democrat protesting is upset about cutting fraud or waste, but said that education is not the place to start. 

‘I use colorful language because I can’t believe we’re at this moment, and I’m really pissed at my Republican colleagues who are sitting there twiddling their thumbs, afraid to say anything because they’re afraid they might get a primary challenge,’ the House Democrat continued. ‘But you know what? Being in Congress is about helping people, not screwing people. And it’s about time they grew a backbone and came out here and joined us and pushed back against this nonsense.’

McGovern argued that the Department of Education is ‘not a line item’ and that it ‘represents real people’ who could lose important funding for their children in schools. 

‘I’d like to start with the Department of Defense first, McGovern said, ‘where I can tell you there’s tons and tons of waste. They’ve never been audited successfully. All these other departments and agencies have been audited. But here’s the deal. This is not about rooting out fraud, waste, or abuse. This is about them shutting down important agencies of departments so they can have money to give billionaires and big corporations a tax break, and I’m just sick and tired of the well-off and the well-connected to this country, getting whatever the hell they want while everybody else gets screwed. We can’t stand for that.’

‘I mean, when is the last time Musk ever walked into a public school?’ McGovern said. ‘When’s the last time you walked into a supermarket? When’s the last time he actually talked to, like, real people? And as far as this DOGE thing, I don’t even know what kind of clearances Musk has or the young minions that he has around him.’

‘I don’t know what kind of clearances they have going through all this stuff. But we should be worried. They’re undermining our democracy here. They’re undermining, you know, our values. And as I said, if they want to fight, I’ll give them a goddamn fight. We’re ready for this fight.’

When asked whether he wants Musk to answer questions before Congress, McGovern said he’d like to see the Tesla and Space X CEO testify under oath.

‘I do, I want him to come before Congress. I want them to be sworn in. So he can’t lie. I mean, I saw that press conference, and It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean, these guys, this is. You can’t make this stuff up.’

DOGE’s spending cuts have drawn the ire of numerous Democrats in recent weeks prompting rallies where lawmakers have pledged to fight Musk’s efforts.

The Department of Education, which Trump pledged to eliminate when he was on the campaign trail, has been a particularly heated subject, and Trump recently suggested that he still intends to get rid of it and send education decisions to the states.

‘Oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately. Look at the Department of Education. It’s a big con job,’ Trump said this week. ‘They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.’

USAID’s green energy programs may have done more ‘harm’ to developing nations than anything else, according to a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

‘I can’t think of anything that’s harmed the developing world more than the climate agenda,’ said Max Primorac, a top USAID official under President Donald Trump’s first administration, when asked about programs that had run afoul of American interests throughout the world.   

‘The strong counter-China infrastructure that we developed over at USAID was simply dismantled by the next administration,’ he told lawmakers at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing entitled, ‘USAID Betrayal.’

‘[USAID] has pushed all of these countries, especially in Africa, to go green. Solar, wind, EV: who produces all of those materials? It’s China. Then, on top of it, we tell them, ‘No, you can’t develop your own fossil fuel industry because it’s, it’s anti-green.’ So, what happens? They can’t generate the revenues to create good jobs at home. They can’t generate the revenues in order to finance their own health, education and other needs.’

Primorac claimed that green energy infrastructure in developing countries ‘increases the price of energy.’ 

According to Primorac, 19 of the top 20 countries receiving USAID are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, securing aid from the CCP in exchange for influence. 

Primorac said that developing nations ‘want more trade, they want more investment,’ but ‘resentment’ is building in conservative countries who don’t want ‘woke things.’

The Trump administration, upon assuming office, instituted a 90-day pause on all foreign aid. Trump fired USAID’s inspector general Paul Martin this week after he wrote a report claiming Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s efforts to dismantle USAID had prevented him from conducting oversight on unspent aid of up to $8.5 billion. Martin’s report claimed that about $500 million worth of food aid is at risk of spoiling as it sits in ports while USAID staff in other nations have been called back and placed on leave. 

USAID has now been placed under the purview of the State Department and is in the process of whittling down its staff from 10,000 to fewer than 300. 

Republican witnesses at the hearing largely agreed that foreign aid was important to fighting global disease outbreaks and securing U.S. interests throughout the world, but USAID’s reputation had been ‘tarnished’ by ‘mission creep,’ as former GOP Rep. Ted Yoho, Fla., said. 

But Yoho, who said he came to Congress to slash foreign aid before realizing its importance throughout the world, and Andrew Natsios, USAID administrator under President George W. Bush, warned that a blanket freeze on aid throughout the world would be detrimental. 

‘By pausing U.S. international assistance, a vacuum is created. China, Russia, or others are already moving in to fill those voids,’ said Yoho. 

‘Not being effectively present can be arguably worse than pausing a program. And all you have to do is look at South and Central America and look at how much we’ve ceded to China and their influence from Russia, China and Iran. That has to be dealt with immediately. That’s a national security threat.’ 

Natsios said he was ‘appalled’ by how the Biden administration had roped USAID into ‘culture wars.’ 

‘It’s a failure,’ he said. ‘All of the things I did at AID, I tried to do it in a way that would not alienate the Democratic Party when I left.’ 

But he noted that ‘woke’ programs were a ‘small percentage’ of the USAID budget, and the agency gives $1 billion per year to Christian NGOs. 

Republicans claim there is a waiver process, but aid advocates have said NGOs and charities do not know how to apply for the waiver, and if they receive one, no one at USAID is operating the payment systems that dole out funds. 

‘I’ve met with these Christian groups, even though they have the waivers, the Phoenix system is not operating,’ said Natsios, referring to the agency’s financial program. ‘Please do something about it.’ 

During the hearing, Republicans also pointed to USAID-funded NGOs that were conducting abortions, a program that sent millions of taxpayer dollars to dole out condoms in Afghanistan and Mozambique, $20 million for drag shows in Ecuador and $500,000 to promote atheism in Nepal. 

‘All of these programs gave USAID a black eye and that’s unfortunate,’ said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, a former chairman of the committee who claimed USAID ‘blew through’ his holds on their controversial programs.

Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast agreed. ‘When done right, foreign aid can be one of the best tools. It can help strengthen our relationships with our allies and help countries realize America is the best for them,’ he said. 

He promised that more aid oversight was to come. 

‘We are going to bring in individuals who were responsible for putting these horrible policies in place and reveal all the receipts, videos – all of it – for the American people to see.’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that as the U.S. aims to ‘revive the warrior ethos,’ European members of NATO also should follow suit and bolster defense efforts. 

‘NATO should pursue these goals as well,’ Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels on Thursday. ‘NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future, our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense.’  

‘We must make NATO great again,’ he said.  

As of 2023, the U.S. spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending — totaling $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the U.S., while other allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years. 

Hegseth urged European allies to bolster defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product, as President Donald Trump has long advocated. 

NATO comprises more than 30 countries and was originally formed in 1949 to halt the spread of the Soviet Union. 

Hegseth pointed to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who advocated for a strong relationship with European allies. But he noted that eventually Eisenhower felt that the U.S. was bearing the burden of deploying U.S. troops to Europe in 1959, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian. Eisenhower reportedly told two of his generals that the Europeans were ‘making a sucker out of Uncle Sam.’ 

Hegseth said that he and Trump share sentiments similar to Eisenhower’s. 

‘This administration believes in alliances, deeply believes in alliances, but make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker,’ Hegseth said.

‘We can talk all we want about values,’ Hegseth said. ‘Values are important, but you can’t shoot values, you can’t shoot flags, and you can’t shoot strong speeches. There is no replacement for hard power. As much as we may not want to like the world we live in, in some cases, there’s nothing like hard power.’

Hegseth’s comments come as the Trump administration navigates negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict between the two countries. On Wednesday, Trump called both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv.

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are slated to meet with Zelenskyy Friday at the Munich Security Conference.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has come under scrutiny for the negotiations, fielding criticism that Ukraine is being pressured to give in to concessions after Hegseth said on Wednesday that it isn’t realistic for Ukraine to regain its pre-war borders with Russia. 

‘Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more,’ Brett Bruen, director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital. 

Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, also shared concerns in a social media post on X on Wednesday, claiming that Trump was delivering Russia a ‘gift.’ 

But Hegseth said he rejected similar accusations. 

‘Any suggestion that President Trump is doing anything other than negotiating from a position of strength is, on its face, ahistorical and false,’ Hegseth said Thursday. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump met with Marc Fogel’s mother on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, and vowed to bring her son home if elected, just before an assassination attempt nearly took his life. 

Rep. Mark Kelly, R-Pa., was there for the meeting between Trump and Malphine Fogel before the president took the stage. 

‘The president survived the assassination attempt on July 13 in Butler, and he fulfilled his commitment to Mrs. Fogel that he would get her son home,’ Kelly told Fox News Digital. ‘It is an incredible, providential story.’ 

During the rally, after his meeting with Fogel’s mother, Trump was showing off a chart highlighting how illegal immigration skyrocketed under the Biden-Harris administration. As he turned toward the chart, he was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear by the now-deceased would-be-assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. Trump credits the chart for saving his life. 

Kelly likened the situation to the classic movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ 

‘The theme of the movie was that George Bailey was very frustrated, but he was given a glimpse of life and what would have happened if he hadn’t been there – if he hadn’t been born,’ Kelly recalled. ‘And if I go back to July 13, this is all providential.’ 

‘Mrs. Fogel has a chance to talk to the president, and she talks about what is happening to Marc. The president vows to get him home,’ Kelly continued. ‘It is a take-off of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and the opportunity, or the dilemma, that if you were never born, what would the consequences have been?’ 

‘If President Trump did not survive the assassination attempt on July 13, Marc Fogel wouldn’t be home today,’ Kelly said.  

Fogel, an American teacher from Western Pennsylvania, returned to the United States late Tuesday, after Trump secured his release. Fogel was arrested in 2021 at an airport in Russia for possession of medical marijuana and was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison. 

Kelly told Fox News Digital that ‘it is all about faith.’ 

‘Having been there and witnessed it, I think to myself, ‘Oh my goodness, that tiny fraction of an inch, or whatever it was, is the difference between Marc Fogel being home and Marc Fogel not being home,’’ he said. ‘Between making a promise to his mother and being able to keep it, as opposed to making a promise and never getting a chance to fulfill it.’ 

Malphine Fogel recalled the Butler meeting with Trump on Fox News Channel’s ‘America Newsroom.’ 

‘I met with President Trump, and he was just as cordial as he could be,’ she said. ‘He told me three different times, ‘If I get in,’ he said, ‘I’ll get him out’ and I really think he’s been instrumental.’ 

Malphine Fogel told Fox News that ‘it was a total surprise’ when she heard from her son from the Moscow airport. 

‘So, that meant that (they) had taken him out of the prison to Moscow…. The last week or so, for some crazy reason, I had a better feeling about things, but I hadn’t heard from him in a week, so I thought that was odd and when he called…  it was just a total shock,’ she said. 

Meanwhile, Kelly told Fox News Digital, ‘There is a certain time in people’s lives where you realize you don’t have forever, you have right now, and you need to get it done.’ 

‘Politically, there is no one on either side of the aisle that could look at what happened with Marc Fogel and not somehow say, this is truly providential – this is not a political move,’ Kelly said. ‘This doesn’t do anything for the president. He’s already elected. He did this to keep a promise to a mother in her mid 90s – the only thing she wanted to see before she died was her son one more time.’ 

Kelly added: ‘This is a promise made. Promise kept. It is truly providential. It is. It is a wonderful life.’ 

Europe must reinstate harsh United Nations sanctions on Iran, U.S. lawmakers insisted in a new resolution that accused Tehran of repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration.  

The bipartisan legislation calls on the U.K., France and Germany to invoke ‘snapback’ sanctions on Iran through the UN Security Council immediately – and follow the U.S.’s lead under President Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ executive order to isolate Iran over its nuclear activity. 

‘Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and their actions have led to the murder of American servicemembers,’ said Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., the number two Republican on Senate Foreign Relations Committee and lead sponsor of the bill, which has 11 cosponsors in the Senate. 

‘Iran’s possession of a nuclear weapon would threaten our security and the security of our allies. Snapback sanctions are key to ensuring that President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign is successful.’ 

Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., issued companion legislation in the House. 

Under the 2015 Iran deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran evaded U.N., U.S. and E.U. sanctions in exchange for promises not to pursue a nuclear weapon. But Iran eventually cut off independent inspectors’ access to its sites and resumed nuclear activities. 

A ‘snapback’ provision of the agreement said that any of the nations privy to the deal – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, U.S. or Germany – could demand the export controls, travel bans and asset freezes be reimposed. 

But the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear deal entirely under President Donald Trump’s first administration and imposed its own ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions regime. The Biden administration subsequently issued sanctions waivers and toyed with the idea of returning to a nuclear deal with Iran, but ultimately those efforts faltered.

Tenney urged the European nations to invoke the snapback sanctions before the deal expires in October 2025. 

‘Invoking snapback sanctions will restore all the UN sanctions on Iran that were lifted by the Obama administration’s failed Iran nuclear deal,’ she said. 

Iran is ‘dramatically’ accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, below the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon, according to U.N. nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi. Western states have said there is no civilian use for 60% uranium. 

Britain, France and Germany told the U.N. Security Council in December they were ready to trigger the snapback of all international sanctions on Iran if necessary. 

Trump himself said he was ‘torn’ over a recent executive order that triggered harsh sanctions on Iran’s oil sector, adding that he was ‘unhappy to do it.’

‘Hopefully, we’re not going to have to use it very much,’ Trump told reporters.

But he reiterated, ‘We’re not going to let them get a nuclear weapon.’

Trump suggested first trying a ‘verified nuclear peace agreement’ over military escalation. ‘I would much rather do a deal that’s not gonna hurt them,’ the president told Fox News on Monday, adding that ‘I’d love to make a deal with them without bombing them.’

Iran viewed the president’s remarks as a threat and took negotiations off the table. 

​​’No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,’ said Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khameni, citing past ‘experience.’ 

He called for the country to further develop its military capabilities. 

‘We cannot be satisfied,’ Khamenei said. ‘Say that we previously set a limit for the accuracy of our missiles, but we now feel this limit is no longer enough. We have to go forward.’

‘Today, our defensive power is well known, our enemies are afraid of this. This is very important for our country,’ he said.

A D.C. federal judge sided with USAID workers Thursday, granting their request to extend a restraining order that prevents the Trump administration from effectively shutting down the foreign aid agency. 

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, said he would extend by one week the temporary restraining order, with plans to issue a final decision on a request to block President Donald Trump’s action on Feb. 21. 

His new order instructs the government to reinstate any USAID employees put on administrative leave and forbids the Trump administration from implementing any new administrative leave on USAID employees.

The hearing Thursday centered on the level of ‘irreparable harm’ alleged against Trump’s executive action in court. Nichols asked plaintiff’s attorneys detailed questions about the impact of a stop work order that placed virtually every USAID employee on leave. 

Karla Gilbride, representing the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees, told the judge that USAID employees had suffered harm both due to their own safety concerns and concerns for their well-being.

‘These are not a few isolated incidents, this is an unprecedented dismantling of a congressionally created agency,’ she said. Plaintiffs ‘are being harmed by actions that are unconstitutional… This is a coordinated and unconstitutional effort to dismantle the agency.’

Meanwhile, the Justice Department attorney, Eric Hamilton told Nichols that the USAID grievances are a matter of ‘personnel nature,’ arguing that they should be handled via the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) appeals process, rather than the federal court system.

Hamilton also pushed back on the claims of ‘irreparable harm,’ telling Nichols that the government is ‘committed to their safety.’

‘98% of those placed on administrative leave were in the US and the remaining were in developed nations like the UK,’ Hamilton said. 

He pointed to a Wednesday night ruling from U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Massachusetts allowing the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program – colloquially known as the ‘fork in the road’ resignation offer – to stand, arguing that this action is similar.

Last week, Nichols granted a request from U.S. Agency for International Development employees to temporarily block the Trump administration’s order, which would have placed some 2,200 USAID employees on leave as of last Friday, and given all employees living abroad just 30 days to return to U.S. soil at government expense. 

The order also temporarily reinstated some 500 employees that had been placed on administrative leave by Trump. 

Nichols said in his decision last week that, barring court intervention, the abrupt order would cause ‘irreparable harm’ to employees affected by the withdrawal orders. 

He had paused the Trump administration’s plans through Friday, Feb. 14, which Nichols said would allow for ‘expedited’ arguments to help the court determine the legality of the actions. 

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., penned a letter to newly sworn-in Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, warning that the United Kingdom’s reported new order demanding backdoor Apple data jeopardizes Americans.

The letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, referenced recent press reports that the U.K.’s home secretary ‘served Apple with a secret order last month, directing the company to weaken the security of its iCloud backup service to facilitate government spying.’ The directive reportedly requires the company to weaken the encryption of its iCloud backup service, giving the U.K. government the ‘blanket capability’ to access customers’ encrypted files. 

Reports further state that the order was issued under the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016, commonly known as the ‘Snoopers’ Charter,’ which does not require a judge’s approval. 

‘Apple is reportedly gagged from acknowledging that it received such an order, and the company faces criminal penalties that prevent it from even confirming to the U.S. Congress the accuracy of these press reports,’ Wyden and Biggs note. 

The United Kingdom has been increasingly cracking down on British citizens for opposition commentary, especially online posts and memes opposing mass migration. As riots broke out in the U.K. last August after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event left three girls dead and others wounded, London’s Metropolitan Police chief warned that officials could also extradite and jail U.S. citizens for online posts about the unrest. 

The letter, however, described the threat of China, Russia and other adversaries spying on Americans.

Wyden, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Biggs, who chairs a House Judiciary subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, asked Gabbard to ‘act decisively to protect the security of Americans’ communications from dangerous, shortsighted efforts by the United Kingdom (U.K.) that will undermine Americans’ privacy rights and expose them to espionage by China, Russia and other adversaries.’ 

The Washington Post was among the outlets to report about the U.K. order. 

‘These reported actions seriously threaten the privacy and security of both the American people and the U.S. government,’ Wyden and Biggs wrote. ‘Apple does not make different versions of its encryption software for each market; Apple customers in the U.K. use the same software as Americans. If Apple is forced to build a backdoor in its products, that backdoor will end up in Americans’ phones, tablets, and computers, undermining the security of Americans’ data, as well as of the countless federal, state and local government agencies that entrust sensitive data to Apple products.’ 

The letter also references a Chinese hacking operation known as ‘Salt Typhoon.’ Last year, the Biden White House admitted the Chinese hacked at least nine U.S. telecommunications companies. 

‘The Salt Typhoon hack of U.S. telephone carriers’ wiretapping systems last year – in which President Trump and Vice President Vance’s calls were tapped by China – provides a perfect example of the dangers of surveillance backdoors,’ the letter says. ‘They will inevitably be compromised by sophisticated foreign adversaries and exploited in ways harmful to U.S. national security. As the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI confirmed last November, People’s Republic of China (PRC)-affiliated actors were involved in ‘copying of certain information that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders.’’ 

‘While the U.K has been a trusted ally, the U.S. government must not permit what is effectively a foreign cyberattack waged through political means. If the U.K. does not immediately reverse this dangerous effort, we urge you to reevaluate U.S.-U.K. cybersecurity arrangements and programs as well as U.S. intelligence sharing with the U.K.,’ the letter says.

Citing a December 2023 report by the U.K. Parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, the letter states that the U.K. benefits greatly from a ‘mutual presumption towards unrestricted sharing of [Signals Intelligence]’ between the U.S. and U.K. and that ‘[t]he weight of advantage in the partnership with the [National Security Agency] is overwhelmingly in [the U.K.’s] favour.’ 

‘The bilateral U.S.-U.K. relationship must be built on trust. If the U.K. is secretly undermining one of the foundations of U.S. cybersecurity, that trust has been profoundly breached,’ Wyden and Biggs wrote. 

At her confirmation hearing, Gabbard stated that ‘backdoors lead down a dangerous path that can undermine Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights and civil liberties.’ In written responses to senators’ questions, she also said, ‘mandating mechanisms to bypass encryption or privacy technologies undermines user security, privacy, and trust and poses significant risks of exploitation by malicious actors.’

‘We urge you to put those words into action by giving the U.K. an ultimatum: back down from this dangerous attack on U.S. cybersecurity, or face serious consequences,’ Wyden and Biggs wrote.

The letter asks Gabbard specifically whether the Trump administration was made aware of the reported order, either by the U.K. or Apple, prior to the press reports and, if so, when and by whom. They also ask what the Trump administration’s understanding is of U.K. law ‘and the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement with regard to an exception to gag orders for notice to the U.S. government.’ Wyden and Biggs asked what the Trump administration’s understanding is ‘of its obligation to inform Congress and the American public about foreign government demands for U.S. companies to weaken the security of their products, pursuant to the CLOUD Act?’ The letter asked that unclassified answers be provided by March 3. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Apple and the White House regarding the letter, but neither immediately responded.

President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, passed a key procedural vote in the Senate on Thursday, clearing the path for his final confirmation vote. 

The Senate’s vote this afternoon to invoke cloture ended the debate on Lutnick’s nomination and paved the way for his confirmation as Commerce secretary. Senators advanced his nomination by a 52-45 vote. Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 majority. 

Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald and a co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential transition team, needed a majority vote to bring his final confirmation vote to the Senate floor. 

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted 16-12 on February 5 to advance Lutnick to the procedural vote. Lutnick testified for over three hours before the Senate Commerce Committee on January 29. 

If confirmed, Lutnick will become one of the wealthiest people to serve in a presidential administration, along with Elon Musk and Trump himself. During Lutnick’s confirmation hearing, he committed to selling all of his interests and assets if confirmed. 

‘My plan is to only serve the American people. So I will divest — meaning I will sell all of my interests, all of my business interests, all of my assets, everything,’ Lutnick said. ‘I’ve worked together with the Office of Government Ethics, and we’ve reached agreement on how to do that, and I will be divesting within 90 days upon my confirmation.’

Lutnick said selling his businesses would prevent a conflict of interest. 

‘Upon confirmation, my businesses will be for sale and someone else will lead them going forward,’ Lutnick added. 

Trump announced Lutnick’s nomination two weeks after he was elected president. 

‘I am thrilled to announce that Howard Lutnick, Chairman & CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my Administration as the United States Secretary of Commerce. He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,’ Trump said. 

Trump applauded Lutnick’s leadership during the presidential transition, saying he ‘created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen.’

With Lutnick teed up to lead Trump’s ‘Tariff and Trade agenda,’ he faced questions during his confirmation hearing about tariff policy. Lutnick said the argument that tariffs create inflation is ‘nonsense.’ 

‘We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better. We can use tariffs to create reciprocity,’ Lutnick said.

Lutnick testified that he shares Trump’s stance on tariffs, adding he prefers an ‘across-the-board’ strategy to ‘country-by-country’ tariffs. 

Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports from all countries, adding up to a 35% tariff for Chinese steel and aluminum imports. The tariffs are set to go into effect on March 12. 

Roughly 75,000 federal employees have accepted President Donald Trump’s deferred resignation program, after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management offered more than two million federal civilian employees buyouts in January to leave their jobs or be forced to return to work in person.

Employees who accepted the so-called ‘fork in the road’ offer will retain all pay and benefits and be exempt from in-person work until Sept. 30, a move that’s part of a broader attempt by the Trump administration to downsize the federal government. 

‘We have too many people,’ Trump told reporters Tuesday in a press briefing. ‘We have office spaces occupied by 4% — nobody showing up to work because they were told not to.’ 

The White House confirmed to Fox News Digital that numbers had climbed to 75,000 as of Thursday morning. 

It previously said it expected 200,000 people to accept the offer.

The Trump administration’s offer faced scrutiny, and a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s plan from advancing amid challenges from labor union groups who voiced concerns that the law didn’t require the Trump administration to hold up its end of the deal.

However, U.S. District Judge George O’Toole of Massachusetts ruled in favor of the White House Wednesday evening, asserting the plaintiffs in the case aren’t directly impacted by the Trump administration’s offer. 

They ‘allege that the directive subjects them to upstream effects including a diversion of resources to answer members’ questions about the directive, a potential loss of membership, and possible reputational harm,’ O’Toole wrote.

‘The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees,’ O’Toole wrote. ‘This is not sufficient.’

The Trump administration praised the court’s decision, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it as ‘the first of many legal wins for the president.’ 

‘The court dissolved the injunction due to a lack of standing,’ Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities.’

The buyout program is one of several initiatives the Trump administration has unveiled to cut down the federal workforce. On Tuesday, Trump also signed an executive order instructing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to coordinate with federal agencies and execute massive cuts in federal workforce staffing numbers. 

The order instructs DOGE and federal agencies to work together to ‘significantly’ shrink the size of the federal government and limit hiring new employees, according to a White House fact sheet on the order. Specifically, agencies must not hire more than one employee for every four that leave their federal post. 

Agencies also are instructed to ‘undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force’ and evaluate ways to eliminate or combine agency functions that aren’t legally required, the fact sheet said. 

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis, Jake Gibson, Jacqui Heinrich and Patrick Ward contributed to this report.