This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Senate Republicans rammed through the first procedural hurdle on their road to confirming nearly 100 of President Donald Trump's nominees on Wednesday. Once Republicans clear this latest package, they will have confirmed over 400 of Trump's picks during the first year of his second term. That benchmark would place him well ahead of former President Joe Biden, who at the same point in his presidency had 350 of his nominees confirmed. Among the list of nominees are former Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., to serve as inspector general at the Department of Labor, and two picks for the National Labor Relations Board, James Murphy and Scott Mayer, among several others across nearly every federal agency. The inclusion of Murphy and Mayer in the package comes after Trump fired National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox, a move that was ultimately found to be legal by the Supreme Court earlier this year. It's also Senate Republicans' second attempt to move this package after Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., objected last week in a bid to derail the process. Senate Republicans went nuclear and changed the rules surrounding the confirmation process in a bid to break through Senate Democrats' monthslong blockade of Trump's nominees and limited the scope to only sub-Cabinet-level positions that would be advanced through a simple, 50-vote majority. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., attempted to derail Senate Republicans' bid to confirm dozens of President Donald Trump's nominees. But one of the nominees in the original package, Sara Carter, a former Fox News contributor whose legal name is Sara Bailey, was considered a "Level 1" nominee, meaning she would hold a Cabinet-level position. Trump tapped Carter in March to be his drug czar as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Carter's inclusion in the package meant that if Republicans wanted to confirm the 87 other nominees and her, they would have to break the 60-vote filibuster threshold. That outcome was highly unlikely, given Senate Democrats' near-universal disapproval of several of Trump's picks and accusations that many were not qualified to serve in the positions they had been tapped to fill. Senate Republicans took advantage of the opportunity, however, and moved instead to offer a new, more beefed-up package that added nine more nominees. Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials who opposed President Donald Trump's extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor's approval to further his immigration enforcement efforts. But he also put the decision on hold until Monday. The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops, but that number had dropped to several hundred by late October, with only a 100 or so troops remaining in the Los Angeles area. But the Republican administration extended the deployment until February while also trying to use California Guard members in Portland, Oregon as part of its effort to send the military into Democratic-run cities despite fierce resistance from mayors and governors. Campaigning as a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan race, Higgins on Tuesday defeated a Republican endorsed by Trump, ending Democrats' nearly three-decade losing streak leading the Hispanic-majority city. Higgins said she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has kicked off a series of meetings with British and Australian counterparts in Washington that are aimed at moving forward with the large nuclear submarine building and technology sharing pact between the three nations known as known as AUKUS. “Those reviews are now done,” U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey told reporters Wednesday. He added that “all three of us are now determined to reboot AUKUS with a new commitment and a new determination in particular to deliver.” It includes the sale of three U.S.-built nuclear-powered submarines to Australia starting in 2032. “I'm absolutely delighted that Jasmine Crockett is running for Senate in Texas,” Johnson said, eagerly rubbing his hands together. He said, “I want her to have the largest, loudest microphone that she can every single day,” he said, “and we look forward to having that election down there.” The Republican speaker said he missed the classified briefing with Hegseth and Rubio this week because he was working with House GOP lawmakers on their emerging health care proposals. Marco Rubio has ordered that all diplomatic correspondence must return to the more traditional Times New Roman font. It reverses a Biden-era shift to the less formal typeface that Rubio said was wasteful, confusing and unbefitting the dignity of official U.S. government documents. Rubio's cable, obtained by The Associated Press, said Blinken's switch “was promised to mitigate accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities.” A three-year extension of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits would increase federal deficits by nearly $83 billion over the next decade, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. Gross premiums, the amount consumers would pay before a tax credit is applied, have already been set for 2026. Protesters stand off against California National Guard soldiers at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles during a “No Kings” protest on Saturday, June 14, 2025. U.S. National Guard are deployed around downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following an immigration raid protest the night before. Trump took command in June following protests over his efforts to carry out mass deportations. California sued, and Breyer issued a temporary restraining order that required the administration to return control of the Guard members to California. Then in September, Breyer ruled after a trial that the deployment was illegal. Other judges have blocked the administration's deployments to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago. Breyer granted a preliminary injunction against Trump's extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor's approval. The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops. By late October, only a 100 or so remained in the Los Angeles area. Justice Department lawyers said they are still needed to protect federal personnel and property. Secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking case can be made public, a judge ruled Wednesday, joining two other judges in granting the requests involving investigations into the late financier's sexual abuse. U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman reversed his earlier decision, citing a new law that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell. Different judges ordered the release of records from Maxwell's 2021 sex trafficking case and from an abandoned Epstein federal grand jury investigation in the 2000s. The Epstein Files Transparency Act Trump signed last month created a narrow exception to rules that normally keep grand jury proceedings confidential. According to a Harris aide, the 2024 Democratic nominee's national tour will not focus as heavily on her defeat to Trump and her resulting campaign memoir, “107 Days.” Instead, Harris will talk about the state of the country, what she's heard from voters during the first leg of her book tour and future solutions to national problems. That's where she announced her unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2019. She dropped out before nominating contests began but Joe Biden tapped her as his running mate in 2020, and she was elected as the first woman to hold national office. Rep. Haley Stevens said in a video posted on X Wednesday that the Health and Human Services secretary “has got to go.” Stevens, who is running for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, calls Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “the biggest, self-created threat to our health and safety,” citing “skyrocketing” health care costs and the “gutting” of research. Stevens, who represents a suburban Detroit district, is part of House Democrats' 2019 freshman class that flipped dozens of Republican-held seats to deliver a Democratic majority that reshaped Trump's first presidency, including twice impeaching him. Narrowly defeating her opponent in 2020, she cruised to reelection in 2022 and 2024 after her district was redrawn and became more favorable to Democrats. FairSquare, a London-based human rights nonprofit, said Tuesday it filed requests for investigations into Infantino's alleged breaches of FIFA's statutory duty to be politically neutral. But it's unclear if FIFA's current ethics investigators and judges will take up the case — they're seen by some observers to operate with less independence than their predecessors a decade ago when then-president Sepp Blatter was removed from office. The outgoing comptroller of New York City is challenging U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman in a Democratic primary for a liberal district in lower Manhattan and northwest Brooklyn. Brad Lander, a progressive ally of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, in a video and social media posts promised Wednesday to offer “courageous leadership in the face of Donald Trump's attacks on New Yorkers.” Lander and Mamdani endorsed one another during the mayoral primary in an effort, as part of the city's ranked choice voting system, to join forces against former Gov. A Dallas congresswoman opened her Senate campaign by telling voters that she “has gone toe to toe with Donald Trump.” Her Democratic primary opponent insisted that Americans are tired of “politics as a blood sport.” The divergent approach highlights how U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are navigating a race where Democrats hope to break a three-decade losing streak in Texas. It also reflects a broader divide within the party, with some candidates continuing to focus on Trump while others barely mention his name. Figuring out the best approach will be critical for Democrats who are seeking control of Congress next year and already maneuvering for the 2028 presidential race. ▶ Read more about how Trump features in races around the country. For Americans struggling with high borrowing costs for homes, cars, and other large purchases, rate cuts could reduce those costs over time — though it's not guaranteed. This week's meeting could presage a much cloudier path ahead. The government shutdown delayed two months of jobs and inflation data, leaving the Fed with much less information on hiring and inflation. Mega billionaire Elon Musk says he would not run the Department of Government Efficiency again, and he assesses the overall effort as only “somewhat successful.” Musk made his comments to Katie Miller, a conservative operative who works for Musk and is married to Trump adviser Stephen Miller. “I don't think so,” Musk said when she asked on her podcast whether he'd start the now-shuttered agency again. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO, who also owns X, said he'd focus on business instead. Musk said DOGE identified billions in “zombie payments” but wasn't able to enact his promised sweeping reduction of the federal footprint. Musk acknowledged that his businesses, especially Tesla, faced backlash because of DOGE's unpopularity. Things turned in his favor after he left the Trump administration. Tesla shareholders approved a pay package that could make Musk the world's first trillionaire. Emboldened by recent elections, Democrats are adding more Republican-held House districts to 2026 midterm target list. Several additions result from recent gerrymandering by state legislatures: Republican Darrell Issa's California district, North Carolina seats held by Republicans Greg Murphy and Chuck Edwards, and a newly drawn open seat in Texas. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also added Florida Republican Laurel Lee's district. Republicans in Florida have found strong support from voters with heritage from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as they likened Democratic leaders to the governments they fled. “Hispanics married President Trump, but they are only dating the GOP.” Democrat David Jolly, running for Florida governor, celebrated the results in Miami: “Change is here. Voters elected Eileen Higgins by a margin of about 19 percentage points on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party's nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms. “We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech in the Hispanic-majority city that may become the home of Trump's presidential library. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.” “Tonight's result is yet another warning sign to Republicans that voters are fed up with their out-of-touch agenda that is raising costs,” Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin said in a statement. Public flight tracking websites showed a pair of U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter jets fly over the Gulf and spending more than 30 minutes flying over water. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, could not say if the jets were armed but noted that they stayed in international airspace during their flight. President Donald Trump says land attacks are coming soon but has not offered any details on location. Not long after Trump took office in January, staff at CentroNía bilingual preschool began rehearsing what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials came to the door. In October, the school scrapped its beloved Hispanic Heritage Month parade. ICE had begun stopping staff members, all of whom have legal status, and school officials worried about drawing more unwelcome attention. Trump's push for the largest mass deportation in history has had an outsized impact on the child care field, which is heavily reliant on immigrants and already strained by a worker shortage. Immigrant child care workers and preschool teachers, the majority of whom are working and living in the U.S. legally, say they are wracked by anxiety over possible encounters with ICE officials. Trump admitted Tuesday that he used the slur “shithole countries” to disparage Haiti and African nations during a 2018 meeting with lawmakers, bragging about a comment that sparked global outrage during his first term. Back then, Trump had denied making the contemptuous statement during a closed-door meeting, but on Tuesday, he showed little compunction reliving it during a rally in Pennsylvania. He went on to further disparage Somalia as “filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.” Trump was boasting in his speech that he had last week “announced a permanent pause on Third World migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries,” when someone in the crowd yelled out the 2018 remark. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to release the full video of an attack on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors, even as he faced intensifying demands from Congress for disclosure. Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at the Capitol. Schumer said Hegseth's response was: “We have to study it.” AP Morning Wire curates the most important stories and sends them straight to your inbox.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Miami Republican Committeewoman Angie Wong explains how President Trump's backing of mayoral hopeful Emilio Gonzalez has turned a sleepy Miami race into a proxy fight over keeping the city red, voter turnout and Democratic momentum. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller has been re-elected to lead New Mexico's largest city, according to the unofficial results from the Bernalillo County clerk's office. While officially nonpartisan, Tuesday's runoff carried a clear ideological split as Keller faced a challenge from his right in former Sheriff Darren White, who cast himself as the law-and-order candidate promising to restore public safety. Keller defended his record on crime and homelessness, ultimately securing a third term to continue leading the blue city through the next four years as it confronts public safety and housing challenges. Keller and White advanced from a 7-candidate field on Election Day on Nov. 5, 2025, when other high-stakes mayoral races were playing out across the United States, from Seattle to New York City. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller greets then-Vice President Kamala Harris at the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Despite Albuquerque's officially nonpartisan mayoral election, Keller aligns with the Democratic Party while White is a Republican. I'm honored to earn your trust for another historic term, and I'm ready to keep delivering progress for every community in our city. Let's get back to work, together," Keller said Tuesday night after securing a third term. Both candidates made public safety and housing central to their campaigns as Albuquerque has struggled with some of the highest violent-crime rates in the region and a homelessness crisis. Keller is a former state senator and auditor who has served as mayor of Albuquerque since 2017, while White is the programming manager for a local radio station, the former chief public safety officer for Albuquerque and lost a congressional race as a Republican in 2008. According to Keller's campaign website, he ran for re-election, in part, because Albuquerque "needs strong, reliable leadership" to "stand up" against President Donald Trump's sweeping, second-term agenda. Then-U.S. House candidate Darren White speaks at the New Mexico's Republican Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 15, 2008. Earlier this year, Keller issued an executive order "reaffirming Albuquerque's longstanding commitment as an immigrant-friendly city and outlined specific actions to safeguard the rights and safety of immigrant and refugee communities," amid Trump's nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration. "He's done the real work to repair decades-long challenges holding our city back. Now we know what's working — and it's time to press the pedal down and move Albuquerque forward through these tough times," Keller touted on his campaign website, as he pointed to "tough times" locally and nationally. The mayor also highlighted his initiatives to reform the city's emergency response system, invest in neighborhoods, fight for survivors of sexual violence, modernize the economy, leadership on "climate action" including a commitment to being "100% renewable by 2025," expanding youth programs and "leading with courage" through the COVID-19 pandemic, per his campaign website. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller delivers remarks at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Meanwhile, White emphasized his law enforcement experience as a U.S. Army veteran who has served as "the head of the New Mexico State Police and Sheriff of Bernalillo County," according to his own campaign website. Drawing a contrast to Keller's own record, White campaigned on cleaning up homeless encampments and addressing "the homeless crisis with policies that work." Other campaign promises included partnering with businesses to create jobs and boost the economy and prioritizing government efficiency by cutting the waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars, per his campaign website. "I have a proven record of fighting crime, protecting our communities, and upholding law and order," White said. "I'll unshackle the police, end Mayor Keller's failed sanctuary policies, clean up homeless encampments, and restore safety to Albuquerque's streets, parks, and businesses while cutting government waste and making our city a place where families and businesses can thrive again." Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives to join Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol to brief lawmakers on the military strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat and its crew in the Caribbean near Venezuela Sept. 2, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered diplomatic correspondence to stop using the Calibri font and return to the more traditional Times New Roman effective Wednesday, reversing a Biden administration shift to the less formal typeface that he called wasteful, confusing and unbefitting the dignity of U.S. government documents. “Typography shapes how official documents are perceived in terms of cohesion, professionalism and formality,” Rubio said in a cable sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates abroad Tuesday. In it, he said the 2023 shift to the sans serif Calibri font emerged from misguided diversity, equity and inclusion policies pursued by his predecessor, Antony Blinken. Rubio ordered an immediate return to Times New Roman, which had been among the standard fonts mandated by previous administrations. “The switch was promised to mitigate accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities,” the cable said, asserting that it did not achieve that goal and had cost the department $145,000 but did not offer any evidence. Since taking over the State Department in January, Rubio has systematically dismantled DEI programs in line with President Donald Trump's broader instructions to all federal agencies. The Trump administration says the goal is to return to purely merit-based standards. “Although switching to Calibri was not among the department's most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of DEI it was nonetheless cosmetic,” according to Rubio's cable obtained by The Associated Press and first reported by The New York Times. “Switching to Calibri achieved nothing except the degradation of the department's correspondence,” he said, adding that it also clashed with the typeface in the State Department letterhead. According to a separate memo sent to department employees, the return to Times New Roman takes effect Wednesday and all templates for official documents are to be updated to remove the offending Calibri font. The only exceptions are documents prepared for international treaties and for presidential appointments, which are required to use Courier New 12-point font, the memo said.

• Defense bill: The House is expected to take up a vote on the annual defense policy bill today, with GOP congressional leaders facing hurdles to muscle the bill through a narrow majority. • Boat strikes: Tucked into the bill is a provision that would limit Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget unless he provides the House and Senate Armed Services committees with unedited video of US strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, the House committee chair is prepared to end his panel's investigation into the September double-tap strike after viewing footage, an aide told CNN. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is holding out a long-shot possibility that a bipartisan compromise could be reached to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies before they expire at the end of the year. Such an effort would require a dramatic shift in positions from members of both parties and would have to come quickly as the Senate is only scheduled to be in session through next week. Or are they going to succumb to their leadership and probably their far left base and just make this a political issue.” Thune pointed to conversations between bipartisan rank-and-file members trying to find a path forward that might have success after votes on competing Democratic and Republican health care bills fail Thursday. I mean, obviously, we don't have a lot of time,” he said. Thune was asked if he would support using a partisan tool known as reconciliation to pass a GOP health care bill without Democratic votes. The Republican leader said he would prefer a bipartisan compromise that could get 60 votes to overcome a filibuster because the resulting legislation is “more durable,” but he added: “I wouldn't rule anything out.” House Speaker Mike Johnson declined to comment on whether the full video of September's “double-tap” strike in the Caribbean should be released after missing a Gang of Eight briefing Tuesday where leadership and heads of the Intelligence committees were shown the video and briefed by Cabinet officials. “So, my admission here is that I was not in the Gang of Eight briefing,” he said, citing meetings on health care being scheduled at the same time. “I told Secretary [of Defense Pete] Hegseth and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio I wouldn't make it, so they're going to meet with me individually. So, I have not yet seen that,” he said Republican leaders touted “productive” discussions on health care in their Wednesday morning conference meeting that would lead to a package coming to the floor next week as Americans are facing jumps in their premiums due to expiring Covid-era Affordable Care Act tax credits. You will see that laid out,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said while not revealing many details of the forthcoming package. We think we can get it all wrapped up by the end of that deadline of January 30th, and you'll see that process continue over the days and weeks ahead as well,” he added. Johnson indicated any plan Republicans would put on the floor would not include extending the ACA subsidies, saying it “would be a dereliction of duty to just extend subsidies without massive reforms to them.” The measure sets out the nation's defense policy agenda and authorizes nearly $900 billion in funding for military programs, including a 3.8% pay raise for service members. “If S. 1071 was presented to the President in its current form, he would sign it into law.” Tucked into the bill is a provision that would limit Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget unless he provides the House and Senate Armed Services committees with unedited video of US strikes on alleged drug boats. The House Armed Services chairman is prepared to end his panel's investigation into the September double-tap strike after viewing footage, a committee aide told CNN. President Donald Trump spoke today with top European leaders amid intensive efforts to broker peace in Ukraine, a person familiar with the call says. Trump's conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also comes amid deteriorating ties between the US and Europe, as Trump blasted the continent's leaders as “decaying” in an interview this week. The three European leaders met this week in London with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as proposals go back and forth with Russia on ending its war. A Downing Street spokesperson reiterated these points, writing that the leaders “agreed that this was a critical moment – for Ukraine, its people and for shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region.” Trump said in the Politico interview on Monday that Zelensky needed to “get on the ball” and “start accepting things,” and criticized the Ukrainian leader for not reading his multi-point peace plan. Delegations from Ukraine and the US will today talk about plans for the reconstruction and economic development of Ukraine after the war with Russia ends, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. “This week may bring news for all of us and an end to the bloodshed,” he said. “We believe that there is no alternative to peace, and the key questions are how to force Russia to stop the killings and what specifically will deter Russia from a third invasion.” House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers is prepared to end his panel's investigation into the September double-tap strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a committee aide tells CNN. But he's also been clear that we need a classified briefing where the rest of HASC's members can see the video, and we expect that to happen next week,” the committee aide told CNN. House Speaker Mike Johnson and his committee chairs today are proposing a handful of smaller-scale measures to lower health care costs — without addressing the billions of dollars in expiring subsidies that is causing panic among GOP battleground members, according to multiple people familiar with the plans. But GOP centrists have been vocal that any plan that doesn't address those subsidies — which will lead to steep premium hikes for millions of Americans in a midterm year — is not sufficient. Energy Secretary Chris Wright argued that President Donald Trump understands Americans' worries over high prices and reiterated the president's claims that the Biden administration is to blame. And the president fully gets that, and I think in a live audience like that, everyone there knows it,” Wright said, referring to Trump's speech in Pennsylvania last night. “Everything he does is to drive prices down, to grow supply, drive prices down, remove regulations, remove barriers, set Americans free. So, when he sees people and the press beating up on him for high prices, of course, he's bothered by the high prices,” Wright said. For context: A recent CNN fact check showed that average grocery prices rose 0.3% from August to September. And average grocery prices were about 2.7% higher than last year in September. One Pennsylvania resident, Frank Fiore, told CNN's Alayna Treene outside a grocery store this week, “It's all bullsh*t. Nothing has come down. While the country has seen lower gas prices, Wright blamed higher diesel prices on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia exports two main things, crucial, that people refine and diesel. So those diesel exports out of Russia are down, and it's made the diesel market much tighter, tighter than the gasoline market,” Wright said. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency was only “a little bit successful,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on a podcast yesterday, adding that he would not lead the project again. The billionaire was a major donor to Trump's presidential election campaign and became a close ally and adviser to his administration. And they wouldn't have been burning the cars,” Musk said on the podcast with former Trump administration official Katie Miller. Asked if he would go back and lead DOGE again, Musk said: “No, I don't think so.” Musk's work for DOGE also sparked concerns among investors that he was not paying enough attention to Tesla as it faced slowing sales. Some background: DOGE has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate, the Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters this month. DOGE claimed to have slashed tens of billions of dollars in expenditures, but it was impossible for outside financial experts to verify that because the unit did not provide a detailed public accounting of its work. President Donald Trump's first public event today is at 2 p.m. ET, he is set to greet pastors in the Oval Office. As we've reported, Trump made a winding, insult-ridden speech in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, yesterday while delivering remarks on how his administration will improve its standing when it comes to affordability. Turning now to foreign policy, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to President Donald Trump's remarks during an interview with Politico, where Trump said it was time for an election in Ukraine. CNN's Victoria Butenko, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Hira Humayun, Christopher Lamb and Jim Sciutto contributed to this reporting. He also veered off topic in his long-winded speech, complaining that his prepared remarks were boring, setting off on several expletive-riddled tangents. He also touted his initiative to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime hours. Blame game: Trump sought to debut a new economic message: Democrats drove up prices, “and we're bringing them down.” But he also called concerns about affordability “a hoax” before acknowledging that he'd been encouraged not to say that because it would be misconstrued. He also maintained that blame for high prices rested on former President Joe Biden, relentlessly mocking his predecessor. Attacking the Fed: Trump renewed attacks on the central bank, seeming to suggest that Fed governors who were appointed under Biden may be illegitimate. From the stage, Trump then asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to look into what could be done. The Fed is expected to announce a third consecutive rate cut today. CNN's Adam Cancryn, Alayna Treene and Samantha Delouya contributed reporting.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. President Donald Trump brought Americans who said they were beneficiaries of his economic policies on stage during a speech focused on affordability in Mount Pocono, Pa. FIRST ON FOX: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday criticized several Democrat-led states for refusing to adopt key provisions of President Donald Trump's landmark One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), the sweeping tax bill. Bessent argued that states such as Colorado, New York and Illinois and the District of Columbia are "deliberately blocking their own residents from receiving" the tax relief provided under the law, calling the move "a blatant act of political obstructionism" and a "direct assault on the very families and workers liberal politicians claim to champion." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2025. "By denying their residents access to these important tax cuts, these governors and legislators are forcing hardworking Americans to shoulder higher state tax burdens, robbing them of the relief they deserve and exacerbating the financial squeeze on low- and middle-income households," Bessent said.In a separate post on X, Bessent circulated a meme casting New York's Kathy Hochul, Colorado's Jared Polis, and Illinois' JB Pritzker as "the Grinches Who Stole Christmas." The offices of Hochul, Polis and Pritzker did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. It is not immediately clear which deductions the governors are blocking.He said Trump's legislation, which was signed into law on July 4, represents "the most pro-worker, pro-family tax reform in a generation," noting that it puts more money directly into the pockets of hardworking Americans through measures such as, "No Tax on Tips" for service-industry employees, "No Tax on Overtime" and a new tax deduction for seniors who rely on Social Security. He urged the remaining holdout states "to immediately conform and stop punishing their citizens for partisan games," arguing that "the American people voted for bold change, not bureaucratic roadblocks." Bessent added that the Treasury stands ready to work with any state committed to delivering on that promise, "but we will not stand idly by as this obstructionism drags down the national recovery." Amanda covers the intersection of business and geopolitics for Fox News Digital. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Jennifer Shah leaves federal court in New York on Jan. 6, 2023. Jennifer Shah, a former star on “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” has been moved from a federal prison into a community confinement program after serving less than half of her sentence for defrauding thousands of people. A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson confirmed that Shah was transferred Wednesday morning from the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas to the program overseen by the Phoenix Residential Residential Reentry Management Office. The transfer means that Shah is either being held in home confinement or in a halfway house. “For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any individual, including reasons for transfers or release plans, nor do we specify an individual's specific location while in community confinement,” BOP spokesperson Emery Nelson wrote in an email to The Associated Press. At the time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman said she was the most culpable of more than 30 defendants accused of participating in the nationwide fraud targeting people who were often vulnerable, older or unsophisticated electronically. The fraud involved bogus services that were promoted as enabling people to make substantial amounts of money through online businesses. Shah pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in July 2022, and during her sentencing she apologized to the “innocent people” she said she'd hurt and pledged to pay $6.5 million in restitution and forfeiture once she is released from prison. Prosecutors said she used profits from the fraud to live a life of luxury that included living in a nearly 10,000-square-foot mansion in Utah dubbed “Shah Ski Chalet,” an apartment in midtown Manhattan and leasing a Porsche Panamera. The government said she also seemed to mock the charges against her by claiming that the “only thing I'm guilty of is being Shah-mazing” and then she profited from it by marketing “Justice for Jen” merchandise after her arrest. “I alone am responsible for my terrible decisions. It was all my fault and all my wrongdoing,” Shah said, later continuing, “I wish I could have stood outside myself and seen the harm I was causing and changed course. I am profoundly and deeply sorry.”

Day 10 of the 2025 Space Telescope Advent Calendar Day 10 of the 2025 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: A Cosmic Tornado. The James Webb Space Telescope captured this image of Herbig-Haro 49/50, about 630 light-years from Earth. Energetic jets from a nearby newly-forming star are plowing into a region of dense gas and dust, heating it up and creating an almost tornado-like shape in the night sky. The object visible at the “tip” of the tornado is actually a much more distant spiral galaxy, unrelated to the closer Herbig-Haro object. See the full advent calendar here, where a new image will be revealed each day until December 25. TheAtlantic.com © 2025 The Atlantic Monthly Group. All Rights Reserved. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Alain Hamel, the father of deceased UCSB student Liz Hamel, discusses the investigation into how his daughter fell from her college dorm on ‘America Reports.' Nearly 10 months after UC Santa Barbara freshman Elizabeth "Liz" Hamel suffered a fatal fall from a campus residence hall balcony, police say the case is closed as an accident. The UC Santa Barbara Police Department (UCPD) told Fox News Digital in a new statement that after conducting a months-long investigation, the department concluded Hamel died as the result of an accidental fall. "Following a thorough investigation into the tragic passing of one of our students outside a residence hall in February 2025, UCPD forwarded its findings to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office for review," the department said. Liz Hamel, 18, was found unconscious outside a dorm on the campus of the University of California Santa Barbara Feb. 14 after apparently falling from a breezeway. The department said it met regularly with Hamel's immediate family and extended condolences. Out of respect for the privacy of the family, we do not have any additional information to share." Hamel, an 18-year-old biology and chemistry student from Bellevue, Washington, was discovered around 10:26 p.m. on Feb. 14, 2025, beneath a third-floor walkway at UC Santa Barbara's San Rafael Residence Hall. She died six days later at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. The Hamel family, through their attorney, provided a statement to Fox News Digital expressing disagreement with the police conclusion and concern over unanswered questions. "We are aware of UCSB Police's conclusion, but we still have unanswered questions about how Liz died. We will continue working with our counsel and the appropriate authorities to ensure that all available evidence is carefully reviewed." "On the human side, my wife and I are devastated. Liz was our only child and we are still trying to understand how to go on without her." Family attorney Tyrone Maho and private investigator Michael Claytor told Fox News Digital they disagree with the police department's conclusion and believe the evidence does not support closing the case. They said there is still critical information missing and flagged what they view as inconsistencies in the investigative record that "remain unaddressed." They also raised concerns about UCPD handling the investigation, saying there may be a "potential conflict of interest" in having the university police department investigate the death of one of its own students. According to SFGATE, Hamel's father and Maho held a news conference in June at the spot where she was found, pleading for information, particularly about the unidentified man who was last seen with her the night she died. At the news conference, Maho told reporters that Hamel had spent nearly two hours at Lao Wang Noodle Bar in Isla Vista with the man, whom she appeared to be "very close with" inside the restaurant. She apparently left her phone and identification behind, which friends later recovered. Liz Hamel died earlier this year after a fall from a dorm breezeway at UC Santa Barbara. SFGATE reported that the pair did not walk toward San Miguel, Hamel's freshman dorm, but instead headed toward San Rafael, another residence hall on campus. "One doesn't just stumble across this dorm. It's not the first place one would go," Maho said, adding that they believe the man may have known someone there or may have been staying in the building. At 10:26 p.m., a passerby, not the man who left the restaurant with her, found Hamel critically injured beneath a third-floor walkway outside San Rafael Residence Hall. She was still alive when first responders arrived and died six days later in the hospital. She was also a member of Pi Beta Phi's California Zeta chapter, which publicly mourned her death in March. A Washington state father is pressing for answers about the investigation into his 18-year-old daughter's death at UC Santa Barbara earlier this year. "With heavy hearts, we share the passing of our beloved California Zeta sister Liz Hamel," the chapter wrote. "Sending Pi Phi Love and support to her family, loved ones, and our sisters at Pi Beta Phi UCSB during this time." "Liz Hamel was a loved and cherished member of Pi Beta Phi. Her father expressed the family's grief in his earlier interview with Fox News. … We were so lucky to have 18 years with her. As prosecutors continue their review and the family presses for answers, the events leading to Hamel's fatal fall remain unclear. Fox News Digital's Brie Stimson contributed to this report. Stepheny Price is a Writer at Fox News with a focus on West Coast and Midwest news, missing persons, national and international crime stories, homicide cases, and border security. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Not long after President Donald Trump took office in January, staff at CentroNía bilingual preschool began rehearsing what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials came to the door. As ICE became a regular presence in their historically Latino neighborhood this summer, teachers stopped taking children to nearby parks, libraries and playgrounds that had once been considered an extension of the classroom. And in October, the school scrapped its beloved Hispanic Heritage Month parade, when immigrant parents typically dressed their children in costumes and soccer jerseys from their home countries. ICE had begun stopping staff members, all of whom have legal status, and school officials worried about drawing more unwelcome attention. All of this transpired before ICE officials arrested a teacher inside a Spanish immersion preschool in Chicago in October. The event left immigrants who work in child care, along with the families who rely on them, feeling frightened and vulnerable. Trump's push for the largest mass deportation in history has had an outsized impact on the child care field, which is heavily reliant on immigrants and already strained by a worker shortage. Immigrant child care workers and preschool teachers, the majority of whom are working and living in the U.S. legally, say they are wracked by anxiety over possible encounters with ICE officials. At CentroNía, CEO Myrna Peralta said all staff must have legal status and work authorization. “That really dominates all of our decision making,” Peralta said. Schools and child care centers were once off limits to ICE officials, in part to keep children out of harm's way. But those rules were scrapped not long after Trump's inauguration. Instead, ICE officials are urged to exercise “common sense.” The proportion of immigrants in some places, particularly large cities, is much higher: In the District of Columbia, California and New York, around 40% of the child care workforce is foreign-born, according to UC Berkeley's Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. Those from Latin America help satisfy the growing demand for Spanish-language preschools, such as CentroNía, where some parents enroll their kids to give them a head start learning another language. Preschools like CentroNía conduct rigorous background checks, including verifying employees have work authorization. Since January, the number of immigrants working in child care has dropped by 39,000, according to a report published Wednesday by New America, a left-leaning think tank. This, in turn, made it more challenging for U.S.-born mothers of children under 6 to work. Beyond the deportation efforts, the Trump administration in recent months has stripped legal status from hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Many of them had fled violence, poverty or natural disasters in their homes and received Temporary Protected Status, which allowed them to live and work legally in the U.S. But Trump ended those programs, forcing many out of their jobs — and the country. Just last month, 300,000 immigrants from Venezuela lost their protected status. CentroNía lost two employees when they lost their TPS, Peralta said, and a Nicaraguan immigrant working as a teacher left on his own. Tierra Encantada, which runs Spanish immersion preschools in several states, had a dozen teachers leave when they lost their TPS. At CentroNía, one staff member was detained by ICE while walking down the street and held for several hours, all the while unable to contact colleagues to let them know where she was. She was released that evening, said the school's site director, Joangelee Hernández-Figueroa. Another staff member, teacher Edelmira Kitchen, said she was pulled over by ICE on her way to work in September. Kitchen, a U.S. citizen who immigrated from the Dominican Republic as a child, said she refused and they eventually let her go. “I felt violated of my rights,” Kitchen said. Hernández-Figueroa said ICE's heightened presence during the federal intervention in the city, has taken a toll on employees' mental health. When the city sent mental health consultants to the school earlier this year as part of a partnership with the Department of Behavioral Health, school leadership had them work with teachers rather than students, worried their anguish would spill over to the classroom. It's not just adults who are feeling more anxious. After pulling over a father who was driving his child to the school, officials encountered him in the school parking lot and tried to arrest him. She said what unfolded at her school underscored that even wealthy communities, like the one the school serves, are not immune from exposure to these kinds of events. “With the current situation, more and more of us are likely to experience this kind of trauma,” she said. “That level of fear now is permeating a lot more throughout our society.” The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The US has indicted a Ukrainian woman for her alleged involvement with Russia-backed cybercriminal groups that have caused disruptions at American water and meat processing facilities, the Justice Department has said. The case against Victoria Dubranova, 33, who was extradited to the US earlier this year and pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday, is a counterpunch from US law enforcement following years of cyberattacks on US victims from two shadowy groups of hackers that gained notoriety following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Another attack by the group spoiled thousands of pounds of meat at a processing facility in Los Angeles in November 2024, causing an ammonia leak, the Justice Department said. US prosecutors allege that Russia's GRU intelligence agency founded and funded CARR. The other hacking group, called NoName057, drew from members of an IT organization established by Putin's order in 2018, according to the Justice Department. Indictments in the US Central District of California charge Dubranova with conspiracy to damage protected computers and tamper with public water systems, among other charges. She has pleaded not guilty, the Justice Department said. An attorney for Dubranova was not listed in court records. “This is not a norm for us … to be able to obtain pro-Russian hacktivists and then have them successfully extradited to the United States,” Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, told reporters on Wednesday. Thai authorities in November arrested a Russian man at the FBI's request for allegedly supporting Russian cyber-espionage campaigns against US organizations. Dubranova's alleged role in the pro-Russian hacking groups highlights how Russia has allegedly co-opted tech-savvy Ukrainians who are sympathetic to Moscow to support the Kremlin's interests. The two pro-Russian hacking groups have targeted unsecured industrial computers that allow the hackers to interact with water pumps and other critical machinery. The groups often boast about their exploits on a Telegram channel while posting pro-Russia content. It's partly a psychological operation designed to drum up interest in the group and spread panic among targets. US government agencies on Tuesday warned that such pro-Russian hacking groups are “actively engaging in opportunistic, low-sophistication malicious cyber activity across multiple sectors.” “While these attacks may be relatively unsophisticated, they pose real risks to our water systems, food supply and energy sectors,” Leatherman said. Tuesday's actions show the Justice Department's “commitment to disrupting malicious Russian cyber activity — whether conducted directly by state actors or their criminal proxies — aimed at furthering Russia's geopolitical interests,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said in a statement. In their public persona, CARR's members often lend the appearance of a grassroots, patriotic Russian organization. “The GRU is increasingly leaning into willing accomplices to hide their own hand in destabilizing physical and cyberattacks in Europe and the US,” John Hultquist, chief analyst at Google Threat Intelligence Group, told CNN.“It's important that we never take an adversary's word for it when they tell us who they are. But even today, the FBI's Leatherman said, US law enforcement and security officials still pass information to their Russian counterparts when it makes sense.

For a second time this year, a federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to end its deployment of federalized California National Guard troops in Los Angeles and return the troops to state control. Breyer, a nominee of former President Bill Clinton who sits in San Francisco, said he would delay enforcement of his order until Monday at noon PT. We look forward to ultimate victory on the issue,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. How Trump is intensifying his crackdown on every form of immigration to the US Gavin Newsom – as protests against immigration raids were roiling Los Angeles and surrounding communities. Breyer initially ruled this summer that Trump unlawfully called the troops into federal service and ordered the president to return control of them to the governor, but that first victory for Newsom was short-lived. “Congress did not intend for the service period to last forever – just long enough to address the present emergency,” Breyer wrote. Attorneys for the Trump administration have defended deploying Guard troops in multiple cities, saying the protests against immigration enforcement authorities amount to a rebellion and prevent agents from carrying out immigration law. “Every protest, and indeed any large gathering of people in public, carries with it a risk of violence, however unlikely,” wrote Breyer. At its peak, the federal government had 4,119 members of the California National Guard under its command, according to a court filing, but that number has since dwindled to 300 as the situation in Los Angeles has calmed. How federal agencies' roles have shifted in Trump's immigration battle “Today's ruling is abundantly clear – the federalization of the National Guard in California is illegal and must end,” Newsom said in a statement Wednesday. “The President deployed these brave men and women against their own communities, removing them from essential public safety operations.” Breyer also rejected the administration's claim that courts have no power to review a president's decision to take control of state National Guard units during an emergency, saying this was an overly expansive view of executive authority. “The founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one,” Breyer said. This story and headline been updated with additional developments.

A string of election victories on Tuesday has Democrats bullish about the midterm elections, leading them to expand their target map for 2026. In an upset win, the party flipped the Miami mayorship blue, fueling Democratic confidence, while Eric Gisler's sweeping victory in a Georgia state House race stole another seat from Republicans, offering further cause for celebration. The DLCC, which serves as the campaign arm dedicated to electing Democrats to statehouses, also revealed it will seek to break and prevent Republican supermajorities in the Florida, Indiana, Missouri, and North Carolina legislatures. “The DLCC's data shows that state legislative Democrats overperformed 2025 elections in targeted districts by 4.5 points on average, which, if replicated in 2026 elections, would provide the most significant Democratic gains at this ballot level in two decades,” the committee wrote. While Democrats were enjoying the results on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump was touting the Republican message at a rally in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state for both parties. The president's appearance came as his senior advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, have pushed him to campaign for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. Their strategy follows the GOP's rough year politically, with losses in Virginia and New Jersey preceding the results in Georgia and Florida on Tuesday evening. But galvanized by their string of victories this year, Democrats hold an increasingly optimistic outlook ahead of the highly anticipated 2026 elections. “It's clear state legislative Democrats have undeniable momentum heading into the new year,” DLCC President Heather Williams said in a statement this week responding to Gisler's shock victory in Georgia. “Eric Gisler just defied expectations and flipped a deep red Trump district in Georgia,” she added, in a warning to Republicans. “This victory builds on state Democrats' momentum as we've overperformed and flipped red, blue, and purple districts across the country all year round.

Swirling underwater “storms” are aggressively melting the ice shelves of two vital Antarctic glaciers, with potentially “far-reaching implications” for global sea level rise, according to a recent study. Pine Island Glacier is near the base of this thumb. Thwaites — known as the Doomsday Glacier because of the devastating impact its demise would have on global sea level rise — sits next to it. Over the past few decades, these icy giants have experienced rapid melting driven by warming ocean water, especially at the point where they rise from the seabed and come afloat as ice shelves. The new study, published last month in Nature Geosciences, is the first to systematically analyze how the ocean is melting ice shelves over just hours and days, rather than seasons or years, its authors say. “We are looking at the ocean on very short ‘weather-like' timescales, which is unusual for Antarctic studies,” said Yoshihiro Nakayama, a study author and an assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth College. The underwater storms they focused on — called submesoscales — are fast-changing, swirling ocean eddies. “Think of these like little water twirls that spin around really fast, kind of like when you stir water in a cup,” said study author Mattia Poinelli, an Earth system science researcher at the University of California, Irvine and a NASA research affiliate. However, in the ocean, these eddies are not small — they can span up to around 6 miles. They form when warm and cold water meet. To return to the cup analogy, it's the same principle as when you pour milk into a cup of coffee and see tiny swirls spinning around, mixing everything together. The phenomenon is similar to how storms form in the atmosphere — when warm and cold air collide — and like atmospheric storms, they can be very dangerous. The scientists used computer models as well as real-world data from ocean instruments to analyze the impact of these underwater storms. “Quantifying the precise contribution of storms alone is challenging because of their chaotic nature,” Poinelli said, but these events look to have a big role over short time frames. The researchers also highlighted a worrying feedback loop. This mixes with warmer, saltier water beneath, generating more ocean turbulence, which in turn increases ice melting. “This positive feedback loop could gain intensity in a warming climate,” said study author Lia Siegelman of UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Thwaites Glacier alone holds enough water to raise sea levels by more than 2 feet. But, because it also acts as a cork holding back the vast Antarctic ice sheet, its collapse could ultimately lead to around 10 feet of sea level rise. “These kinds of studies are intriguing but they are computer models,” said David Holland, a professor of mathematics and atmosphere and ocean science at NYU, who was also not involved in the study. Much more real-world data is needed to really understand the impact of these eddies, along with other ocean weather, he told CNN. There are also many drivers of ice melt in this vast continent. The study is clear that more data is needed to understand how underwater storms may vary over seasons and years. Nevertheless, these short-term weather-like processes are “far from negligible,” Poinelli said. “Studying these fine-scale ocean phenomena is the next frontier when it comes to the ocean-ice interactions that help us understand ice loss and, ultimately, sea level rise,” Siegelman said.

MOUNT POCONO, Pennsylvania — Hundreds, if not thousands, of people braved the cold on Tuesday to attend President Donald Trump‘s economy-focused speech in northeast Pennsylvania, the informal kickoff of the president's efforts to boost Republican candidates ahead of a contentious midterm election cycle. Trump's remarks, delivered in a ballroom at a casino in Mount Pocono, came as he and GOP candidates are seeking to head off rising affordability concerns among voters. “Just over one year ago today, with your help, we saved America,” the president opened. By the way, last election, did we kick ass? That means we won three times in a row.” “Now, after just 10 months in office, I'm pleased to report that America is winning again,” he continued. “Pennsylvania is prospering again, and I will not rest until this commonwealth is wealthier and stronger than ever before. Since my inauguration, we've created nearly 60,000 new Pennsylvania jobs, including 4,000 Pennsylvania manufacturing jobs that the Democrats gave up on. On Monday, while speaking at the White House, he refrained from using that language, but on Tuesday night, he was right back at it. Though Trump did not take the stage until more than an hour after his scheduled 6 p.m. start, rally attendees started lining up around 5 a.m. to enter the concourse. The sea of Trump-branded red ball caps in the crowd was punctuated by more than a smattering of Santa hats. The White House declined to give a head count for Tuesday's rally, but shortly before Trump arrived, an announcer asked guests standing in the aisles to move into overflow viewing rooms. Trump spoke after comments from a handful of Pennsylvania lawmakers, including Rep. The bulk of Monroe County, where Mount Pocono is located, lies within Bresnahan's district. He pledged his support for the president's message while subtly acknowledging that elevated costs are hammering American households. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a rising star within Trump‘s Cabinet, warmed up the crowd with a more direct approach: tearing into former President Joe Biden and pledging that inflation will “roll down” over the next year. Republican lawmakers have subtly pressed Trump to do more to sell his economic platform amid stagnant inflation and job uncertainty. Trump's remarks can be seen in full below.