White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the Kennedy Center’s board voted unanimously to rename the institution to the ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ in recognition of what she described as President Donald Trump’s efforts to save the building over the past year.

‘Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur,’ said Levitt.

During a visit to the Kennedy Center in early December, Trump was asked whether he believed the performing arts center would eventually bear his name. 

‘I don’t know. I hear that, but I don’t know,’ he said, adding that any such decision would be made by the center’s ‘very prestigious’ board.

The current Kennedy Center board includes numerous figures closely aligned with Trump, from current administration officials to media personalities and political advisers, according to the center’s website.

‘The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to name the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. The unanimous vote recognizes that the current Chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction,’ Vice President of public relations Roma Daravi told Fox News Digital on Thursday.

‘The new Trump Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center for generations to come,’ she added.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended an event at the Kennedy Center on December 7, highlighting the work of stars like Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor, George Strait, Michael Crawford and KISS band members Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss.

An official with the center told Fox News Digital the name change follows recent precedent, pointing to the State Department’s decision earlier in December to add Trump’s name to the U.S. Institute of Peace and to past presidential administrations that have renamed military bases.

The official also pointed to Trump’s record on arts policy, noting that during his first term he signed the Music Modernization Act, supported emergency funding to help venues through Save Our Stages,as well as more recent measures to crack down on ticket scalping, and his backing of the American Music Fairness Act.

Second lady Usha Vance worked to ensure a provision limiting the use of cellphones in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) classrooms was included in the National Defense Authorization Act, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The Senate passed the NDAA Wednesday — a bill that authorizes $901 billion for the Department of Defense, provides a pay raise for U.S. troops, and more.

‘Education is foundational to a child’s future, and the Second Lady has long believed that classrooms should be places of focus, curiosity, and meaningful connection,’ a spokesperson for Vance told Fox News Digital.

‘She was proud to support efforts to ensure the National Defense Authorization Act included provisions that limit cellphone use in DoDEA classrooms, recognizing that reducing distractions is essential for young learners,’ the spokesperson said. ‘This issue reflects her deep passion for early education and her commitment to giving children the best possible environment to learn, grow, and thrive.’

DoDEA schools were created by the U.S. military after the end of World War II for the children of service men and women.

DoDEA is one of the only two federally operated school systems and is responsible for planning, directing, coordinating and managing pre-K through 12th grade educational programs on behalf of the Department of Defense. DoDEA serves more than 67,000 children of active duty military and DoD civilian families.

Vance worked with Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., to have the provision included. The two senators had introduced a bipartisan measure that was aimed at prohibiting smartphone use during instructional hours in DoDEA schools.

Vance collaborated and worked with Banks’ team, the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to ensure the provision would be included in the final NDAA.

With the addition of the provision in the final NDAA, DoDEA schools will update and standardize cellphone policies to ensure that mobile devices are used in a limited capacity during school hours.

During her time in the Trump administration, the second lady has spearheaded a number of projects — like her Summer Reading Challenge — to focus directly on improving early childhood literacy.

Fox News Digital has learned that the second lady plans to continue championing child literacy by expanding efforts that help young learners build strong reading foundations early in life.

The second lady is expected to work closely with educators, families and community partners to support innovative programs and collaborations that improve literacy outcomes for children across the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday called for the U.S. and other allies to respond to bellicose ‘signals’ from Russia.

‘Today, we again heard signals from Moscow that they are preparing to make next year a year of war. These signals are not only for us. It is crucial that our partners see them, and not only see them but also respond — especially partners in the United States, who often say that Russia wants to end the war,’ Zelenskyy asserted in a post on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

‘Yet the signals coming from Russia are the exact opposite, taking the form of official orders to their army. This Russian mindset must be recognized — and acted upon. When Russia is in this mindset, it will also undermine diplomacy — seeking, through diplomatic language and pressure over specific points in documents — to merely mask its desire to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians, and the desire to legitimize Russia’s theft of our land. And then come other countries in Europe, which someone in Russia might one day label their so‑called ‘historical lands,” he asserted in the post.

‘Real protection is needed against this Russian case history of madness, and we will continue working with all partners to ensure that protection is in place. Security measures are needed, financial measures are needed — including actions on Russian assets — political measures are needed. And the courage of all partners is required: to see the truth, acknowledge the truth, and act accordingly. I want to thank everyone who supports Ukraine,’ his post concluded.

Zelenskyy also conveyed the message in a Ukrainian-language video.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared during a Defense Ministry board meeting on Wednesday that Russia will accomplish its goals, either through diplomacy or military force.

‘The goals of the special military operation will undoubtedly be achieved. We would prefer to accomplish this and address the root causes of the conflict through diplomatic means. However, if the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive dialogue, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means. The task of creating and expanding a security buffer zone will also be carried out consistently,’ Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a staunch proponent of U.S. support for Ukraine, asserted in a post on X, ‘Again… the U.S. should send 200 long-range and extremely accurate cruise missiles to Ukraine. Maybe then, Putin will get serious and seek peace. Putin started this war, and he’ll stop this war once he realizes he cannot win and that the cost of war is too high.’

President Donald Trump’s administration has been attempting to help broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Congress may be winding down for the year, but senators are making one last push for the Trump administration to follow the law and release its trove of files and documents related to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Lawmakers last month passed legislation that compels the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all materials related to Epstein, and the deadline is Friday. Senate Democrats are already prepared to act in case the DOJ doesn’t follow through.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that if the administration withholds documents, or abuses ‘narrow exemptions to hide the truth,’ there would be legal and political consequences.

‘Stop hiding, stop delaying,’ Schumer said. ‘Come clean with the American people. And if you don’t, the question will only get louder and louder and louder. Trump, ‘What the hell are you trying to hide?’’

Trump signed the bill shortly after it passed unanimously in the Senate — at Schumer’s behest — and it easily glided through the House.

Prior to the vote, Trump shifted his position to backing the release of the documents after a firestorm erupted in Congress, particularly the House, for several months after the FBI announced that it ‘is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,’ of materials related to the late financier after reviewing troves of documents in the DOJ’s possession.

The bill requires that the DOJ release all unclassified records related to Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, known associates and entities linked to Epstein and Maxwell, internal DOJ decision-making on the Epstein case, records on destroying or tampering with documents, and all documents on his detention and death.

There are some instances where the DOJ could choose to withhold certain documents, including materials that reveal victims’ identities or medical files, child sex abuse materials, information that could jeopardize active investigations, images of graphic death or injury, or classified national security information.

But the law lacks an actual enforcement mechanism to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the desired documents. Still, Republicans are confident that the DOJ will follow through.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital that he ‘voted to release the Epstein files every single time that we’ve had an opportunity to do it across administrations.’

‘I think I presume good faith on the part of the DOJ,’ he said. ‘I mean, listen, the president signed the law. I mean, he’s called on them to be released. So I think I will be shocked if they didn’t release them. We’ll find out pretty soon.’

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital that he believed Congress had been clear about its demands for the files and had ‘no reason to believe that they wouldn’t submit or provide the information.’

When asked about Schumer’s legal threats, he called the top Senate Democrat a ‘liar.’

‘That’s my response to anything Chuck Schumer says,’ Schmitt said. ‘He’s one of the worst senators in the history of the country.’

Other Republicans are more apathetic about the files’ expected release but are still intrigued by what new information they could hold.

‘I don’t really care. I’m as curious as anybody else,’ Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital. ‘Do I think there are going to be bombshells? We’ll see what we’re going to get. It’s not my issue. It’s not my top priority. It’s way down there on the list.’

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a sweeping package of proposed regulatory actions Thursday to end ‘sex-rejecting procedures’ on minors as part of President Donald Trump’s January executive order calling on the department to protect children from ‘chemical and surgical mutilation.’

‘Today, we are taking six decisive actions guided by gold standard science and the week one executive order from President Trump to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation,’ HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a press conference Thursday afternoon announcing the proposed actions.

HHS is rolling out a series of policy updates and regulatory actions that effectively would defund hospitals that provide gender transition procedures, according to an HHS official. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rolled out policy proposals that would bar hospitals from carrying out performing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and certain surgeries on patients under 18 as a ‘condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs.’ The majority of U.S. hospitals participate in Medicare and Medicaid, according to HHS. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released another proposed rule that would block federal Medicaid funding for procedures aimed at altering the sex of a child under the age of 18, which HHS said also will apply to federal funding to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for the same procedures on individuals under the age of 19. 

Collectively, according to the HHS official, the actions would ensure no federal funds directly support gender transition procedures on children.

‘On my watch, HHS will stand for radical transparency and informed consent,’ said Kennedy. ‘We follow the evidence. We employ gold standard science. We honor the moral obligation to do no harm. There is divine worth in every person. It shines most brightly in our children that was commanded us to protect them.’ 

The announcement comes after HHS released a peer-reviewed report in November that found medical procedures to alter a child’s biological sex pose serious long-term dangers to children.

The report was released through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and found that operations working to reject a child’s biological sex — including the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical operations — ‘are significant, long term, and too often ignored or inadequately tracked.’

The November report was an update to HHS’ May report that reviewed the evidence and best practices for children with gender dysphoria, which was criticized by a handful of medical groups for not identifying the study’s authors and allegedly misrepresenting a medical consensus on the matter. 

In another Thursday crackdown, Kennedy signed a declaration that such procedures on children do not meet professional medical standards, based on the study, which warns ‘practitioners who perform sex-rejecting procedures on minors would be deemed out of compliance with those standards.’

‘They betrayed their Hippocratic Oath to do no harm,’ Kennedy said Thursday. ‘So-called gender-affirming care has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people. This is not medicine. It is malpractice. We’re done with junk science driven by ideological pursuits, not the well-being of children.’ 

The Food and Drug Administration additionally announced Thursday, as part of the crackdown on trans medical issues for minors, that it sent warning letters to 12 manufacturers and retailers behind the ‘illegal marketing of breast binders to children.’ 

At the civil rights level, HHS is moving to undo a Biden-era effort to treat gender dysphoria as a disability under federal law. A newly proposed revision to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 would clarify that the definitions of ‘disability’ and ‘individual with a disability’ exclude ‘gender dysphoria’ that is not the result of a physical impairment. 

‘The Biden-era amendment is designated gender dysphoria as a disability, serve the commercial interests of a predatory, multibillion dollar industry that betrayed the original intention of those laws engendered widespread public resentment against those laws among the American people, and discredit the statutes in the public mind,’ Kennedy said during the press conference Thursday. 

The announcement is expected to be met with pushback from left-wing Democrats, who have continued championing ‘gender-affirming care’ for kids. 

Transgender issues became a political football toward the end of Trump’s first administration and into the Biden administration, which repeatedly declared support for the trans community and trans youth. In November, 130 Members of Congress, for example, filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court in November for a pair of cases focused on transgender students playing on a school sports team opposite their biological sex.  

Supporters of medical procedures aimed at altering a child’s sex argue preventing such medical care can lead to depression and anxiety, and even suicide and must be protected. 

President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against trans procedures for children as an ‘act of abuse’ since before his reelection in 2024. 

The president and the Make America Healthy Commission he established earlier in 2025 have doubled down that there are only two biological sexes, including Trump signing an executive order declaring the U.S. only recognizes male and female sexes while also ending a ‘radical and wasteful’ diversity, equity and inclusion program within the government. 

A pair of conservative lawmakers is launching a new group in the House of Representatives to ‘protect Western civilization in the United States,’ according to one of its founders.

Reps. Keith Self, R-Texas, and Chip Roy, R-Texas, are starting the ‘Sharia Free America Caucus,’ Fox News Digital learned first.

‘Anytime you go to a fight, you bring as many friends with you as you can. I’m a military guy,’ Self told Fox News Digital. ‘So what we need to do is build this caucus now so that we can start educating the American people to the dangers of Sharia in the United States.’

Self said it was ‘fundamentally incompatible with the U.S. Constitution.’

The caucus also has support in the Senate from Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who Self said he hoped could help push some of its legislative goals forward through both chambers.

Among the bills they’re hoping to push is a ban on foreign nationals who ‘adhere to Sharia’ from entering the U.S., and a measure that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

‘America is facing a threat that directly attacks our Constitution and our Western values: the spread of Sharia law,’ Roy said in a statement. ‘From Texas to every state in this constitutional republic, instances of Sharia adherents masquerading as ‘refugees’ — and in many cases, sleeper cells connected to terrorist organizations — are threatening the American way of life.’

Sharia broadly refers to a code of ethics and conduct used by devout Muslims. Sharia law more specifically often refers to the criminal code used in non-secular Islamic countries, like Iran.

In its most extreme cases, such as when ISIS-controlled parts of the Middle East, charges like blasphemy could carry the death penalty.

But guarantees of religious freedom in the Constitution mean that Sharia law can not be carried out on any governmental level in the U.S.

The Republicans’ caucus appears largely symbolic in nature, but it’s evidence of the continued culture war raging in the country.

Self also pointed to countries like the U.K. and France, where growing unrest between Muslim refugees and the current populace has dominated headlines in recent years.

Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, who announced on Wednesday that he will be departing from his role in January, later replied to FBI Director Kash Patel, who gave him a glowing review.

‘Dan is the best partner I could’ve asked for in helping restore this FBI. He brought critical reforms to make the organization more efficient, led the successful Summer Heat op, served as the people’s voice for transparency, and delivered major breakthroughs in long unsolved cases like the pipe bomb investigation. And that’s only a small part of the work he went about every single day delivering for America,’ Patel said in a post on X.

‘He not only completed his mission – he far exceeded it. We will miss him but I’m thankful he accepted the call to serve. Our country is better and safer for it,’ Patel added.

Bongino replied, thanking Patel.

‘Thank you my friend, it’s been the honor of a lifetime to serve beside you,’ he wrote.

Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who stepped aside from his work hosting a popular show as a conservative commentator to join the FBI, will depart the federal law enforcement agency less than a year after his swearing-in ceremony, which occurred in March 2025.

Prior to Bongino’s announcement on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said, ‘Dan did a great job,’ noting that he thinks Bongino wants to return to his show.

Attorney General Pam Bondi shared Bongino’s announcement post, commenting, ‘Americans are safer because of @FBIDDBongino’s service. Thank you, Dan.’

The House passed a bill on Wednesday that would criminalize gender transition treatment for minors.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., passed by a 216-211 vote with some bipartisan support.

Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, and Don Davis, D-N.C., voted with most Republicans for the bill, while Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Mike Kennedy, R-Utah, voted with most Democrats against the measure.

‘Children are NOT experiments. No more drugs. No more surgeries. No more permanent harm. We need to let kids grow up without manipulation from adults to make life-altering decisions! Congress must protect America’s children!!!’ Greene wrote on X ahead of the vote.

Greene had reached a deal with House leadership to bring her bill to the floor in exchange for her backing a rule last week to advance the National Defense Authorization Act.

The bill faces a significant hurdle to pass the Senate, as Republicans would need Democrat support to approve the legislation in the Upper Chamber.

The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the House passage, saying the measure ‘would have immediate and devastating effects on the lives and transgender youth and their families across the country.’

‘Politicians should never prohibit parents from doing what is best for their transgender children,’ Mike Zamore, National Director of Policy & Government Affairs at the ACLU, said in a statement. ‘These families often spend years considering how best to support their children, only to have ill-equipped politicians interfere by attempting to criminalize the health care that they, their children, and their doctors believe is necessary to allow their children to thrive.’

‘But this bill also creates an incredibly dangerous precedent far beyond the specific care at issue, criminalizing care based on ideology and placing Washington politicians between families and their doctors,’ he continued. ‘We strongly condemn the passage of this measure and urge members of the Senate to do everything in their power to prevent it from ever becoming law.’

Greene and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, butted heads over the bill before its passage. The Georgia congresswoman, set to resign next month, had criticized Roy, who sits on the House Rules Committee, for introducing an amendment she argued would ‘gut the commerce clause.’

Roy’s amendment attempted to modify the bill to limit federal criminal liability under certain circumstances ‘by defining when prohibited conduct falls within federal jurisdiction,’ according to the Rules Committee.

But Greene contended that her bill ‘criminalizes ALL pediatric gender affirming care (transgender surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormones) NOT just those receiving federal funds and protects ALL children allowing them to grow up before they make permanent changes to their body that they can never undo!!!’

‘WTF is Chip Roy doing????? And this guy wants to be attorney general of Texas but refuses to protect children??!!!’ she wrote on X.

Roy responded that ‘the constitution matters & we should not bastardize it to use ‘interstate commerce’ to empower federal authorities.’

The Texas Republican, however, said in a statement on Wednesday that he would not offer the amendment ‘to avoid any confusion about how united Republicans are in protecting children from these grotesque procedures.’

Senate Republicans inched closer to history Wednesday after blowing past yet another procedural obstacle on their way to confirming nearly 100 of President Donald Trump’s nominees.

As part of their mad dash from Washington ahead of the upcoming holiday recess, Senate Republicans advanced a tranche of 97 of Trump’s picks. The 53-47 party-line vote puts the GOP one step away from confirming the batch of nominees.

The final confirmation vote is expected Thursday, barring an agreement with Senate Democrats to speed up the process.

And if that vote is successful, which it is expected to be, Senate Republicans will have confirmed more of Trump’s picks than any other president in one year.

The current nominees package would place Trump at 415 total confirmed during the first year of his second term, which leapfrogs his total of 323 during his first term. It also blows past former President Joe Biden, who, at the same period at the end of his first year in office, had 365.

Senate Republicans have rapidly confirmed hundreds of Trump’s picks since changing the Senate’s rules for the confirmation process in September in a bid to smash through Senate Democrats’ blockade against advancing even the most low-level positions throughout the Trump administration.

The GOP went nuclear — the fourth time in the Senate’s history — to lower the threshold for certain picks to just a simple majority, rather than the typical, 60-vote filibuster.

That change has allowed Republicans to quickly move through sub-cabinet level positions at a brisk pace and to tee up Trump’s expected historic moment.

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, along with several others in nearly every federal agency.

Lawmakers also separately confirmed Trump’s choice to run NASA, billionaire Jared Isaacman, and his pick for a spot on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Douglas Weaver.

Isaacman’s confirmation sailed through on a bipartisan 67-30 vote but served as the second go-round for the upper chamber to ruminate on his ascension atop NASA.

Trump had nominated him to run the nation’s space agency in December 2024, but he was pulled earlier this year after a ‘thorough review of prior associations.’

But Isaacman was later nominated again in November for the same post, and Trump lauded his ‘passion for space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new space economy.’

More than 200 House Democrats voted against a bill aimed at criminalizing transgender medical treatment for minors Wednesday evening.

The bill passed in a 216-211 vote that had some bipartisan crossover.

Three Democrats — Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas; Don Davis, D-N.C.; and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas — voted with Republicans for the bill. 

Four Republicans — Mike Kennedy, R-Utah; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; Gabe Evans, R-Colo.; and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., voted against it.

It was widely opposed by most Democrats, however. Forty-five House Republicans signed on to formally back the legislation before the vote.

And while the majority of Republicans supported it on the House floor, it’s unclear if it will be taken up in the GOP-led Senate.

Transgender issues, particularly related to minors, have been one of the topics driving a wedge between moderate and progressive Democrats. But the severity of the bill’s language appears to have turned off a significant number of Democrats in the House.

The bill creates new federal crimes that carry up to 10 years in prison for doctors performing transgender-affirming surgeries on minors, while also making it a crime to prescribe puberty blockers.

Parents or guardians of children under 18 could also be held criminally liable if they consent to or otherwise facilitate transgender treatment for them.

‘This extreme bill puts the threat of prosecution between hundreds of thousands of families and their doctors and would put doctors behind bars for exercising their best medical judgment,’ said Mike Zamore, national director of policy & government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union 

‘Passing this bill would be a grave escalation of an already severe effort to not only push transgender people out of public life but also allow the state to control our bodies and our lives further.’

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who argued in favor of the bill on the House floor, said Wednesday, ‘It is obscene. It is disgusting. You’re seeing, in real time, Democrats wanting and defending grooming of children. And it is abhorrent.

‘There is a lie at the heart of the debate we’re having today that I have to correct. No child is born in the wrong body. There are only two sexes, male and female. There are no others.’