A top conservative grassroots group is launching a six-figure ad campaign to support the swift confirmation of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

The $150,000 static digital ad campaign will target nine states with a ‘soft appeal’ to voters who might, in turn, contact their senators and express how Trump ‘has a mandate from the American people,’ Heritage Action for America Vice President Ryan Walker said Thursday.

Walker said the $150,000 is the first tranche of $1 million the group has allocated through Inauguration Day to push for Americans to ask their senators to support the nominees.

The first ad of the campaign sought to bolster Defense Secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth, and the overall initial ad buy will last through Dec. 31.

Other ads have or will highlight former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Kash Patel and former Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi – all of whom are Trump Cabinet nominees.

This initial buy, Walker said, focuses on Alaska, Maine, Louisiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, South Dakota and Washington, D.C.

While most similar advertising campaigns may seek to appeal to voters in ‘swing states’ or in a particular region of the country, the states included here have a unique link, Walker said.

Some of the states included in the first ad buy are home to senators who either appear on the fence or have not stated a solid commitment for or against nominees like Hegseth, Gabbard and Patel.

Alaska and Maine are represented by two high-profile moderate Republicans – Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, respectively. 

Both women voted to impeach Trump, but both also were supportive of some of the president-elect’s policies as well. 

‘[Trump has] really about 18 months to get a substantial amount of his agenda through before the midterms. And time is of the essence in getting these folks, these Cabinet nominees, in a timely manner,’ Walker said.

‘Uniting the Republican conference around them is what we’re trying to accomplish here.’

Walker said Heritage Action is focusing on public commentary from senators in the target states, and also is very much in tune with which nominees are in the news or spending time on Capitol Hill on certain days.

Last week and this week, Hegseth made the rounds seeking support for his confirmation, so the campaign began with the former Fox News host, Walker suggested.

Next week, Health and Human Services Secretary-nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to visit Washington for the same purpose, and the advertising campaign is ready to pivot to focus on the Democratic Party scion if necessary.

‘We want to remain flexible in this campaign to be able to highlight in different states… or different nominees, depending on what the conversation is in the Senate,’ Walker said, adding a direct-text-message campaign will also follow this initial advertising endeavor.

‘Then we’re likely to do a television ad,’ he said, adding he hopes to air it on national media on Inauguration Day.

Heritage Action also employs grassroots activists nationwide to forward conservative principles at the state-government level.

President Biden slammed Republicans for not understanding how advancing women’s health not only improves the lives of women but also the prosperity of the entire nation. He made the remark during a first-of-its-kind conference on women’s health research at the White House Wednesday afternoon.   

‘The fact is, the health of our moms, and grandmothers, sisters and daughters, friends and colleagues, affects not just women’s well-being but the prosperity of the entire nation,’ Biden said at the conference. ‘That’s a fact – we haven’t gotten that through to the other team yet. I mean it – across the board.’

Republicans, meanwhile, questioned whether Democrats understand the need to protect women, citing, in particular, Biden administration policies that sought to allow transgender women to use biological women’s spaces and play on women’s sports teams.

‘Is any Democrat willing to stand up and defend girls and protect girls in private, in their private spaces, and protect girls in sports – not to force girls to participate in sports against men?’ asked Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of the conservative nonprofit Moms for Liberty. ‘The idea that Democrats protect women or respect women is just absolutely nonsense.’ 

Justice pointed to Biden’s appointment of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, ‘who was unwilling to define what a woman was’ when pressed on the matter during her confirmation hearings.

The Heritage Foundation’s Sarah Perry, a civil rights attorney who has extensive experience litigating Title IX issues, noted that Biden’s remarks had an underlying tone of ‘abortion is health care,’ which was a hot-button issue for Republicans during this year’s election.

‘This is an administration that has made a name for itself in advancing the most radical ideologue policies,’ Perry said. ‘I mean, he’s got a man in a dress at HHS telling us what health care is. That is the specious nature of those kinds of representations.’

Colin Reed, a GOP strategist, added that the electoral success seen last month by Republicans was an indication that the American people reject these sorts of arguments from Democrats.

‘The Democratic Party has become a one-trick pony trying to speak to voters facing across-the-board challenges,’ he said. ‘Until Democrats start meeting voters where they are at, they will continue losing elections.’

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Karoline Leavitt, Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman, noted that Trump campaigned on ‘making ALL Americans’ healthy again, including women, adding that Trump ‘will deliver on that promise.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday declared himself a ‘proud feminist’ as he lamented Vice President Harris’ loss to President-elect Trump in the 2024 presidential election as just one recent example of a setback for women’s progress.

Trudeau delivered remarks in Ottawa at a gala for Equal Voice, an organization that works to improve gender representation in Canada’s politics. 

‘We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult, march towards progress,’ Trudeau said. ‘And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president.’

‘Everywhere, women’s rights and women’s progress is under attack, overtly and subtly,’ Trudeau continued. ‘I want you to know that I am, and always will be, a proud feminist. You will always have an ally in me and in my government.’

Trudeau’s remarks come as relations between the U.S. and Canada grow tense over immigration and the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.

Trudeau jetted into Mar-a-Lago unannounced on Nov. 29, just days after Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products. Trump is threatening to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over failures by both nations to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs from those countries into the U.S. 

Both Trump and Trudeau called the meeting ‘very productive.’

Sources later told Fox News that Trudeau had told Trump he cannot levy the tariff because it would kill the Canadian economy completely. Trump retorted by asking, so your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion? 

Trump then suggested to Trudeau that Canada become the 51st state, which caused the prime minister and others to laugh nervously, sources told Fox News.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Former FBI source Alexander Smirnov has struck a plea agreement with the office of special counsel David Weiss, agreeing to plead guilty on several counts.

The document notes that Smirnov is agreeing to plead guilty to ‘Count Two of the indictment in United States v. Alexander Smirnov … which charges defendant with causing the creation of a false and fictitious record in a federal investigation … ‘ and agreeing to plead guilty to charges of tax evasion.

Smirnov is accused of providing false information to the FBI.

He signed off on a statement of facts in support of the plea agreement, which echoes allegations that had been made against him in an indictment.

Smirnov allegedly ‘provided false derogatory information to the FBI about Public Official 1, an elected official in the Obama-Biden Administration who left office in January 2017, and Businessperson 1, the son of Public Official 1, in 2020, after Public Official 1 became a candidate for President of the United States of America.’ 

The allegation apparently refers to President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, though the two are not specifically identified by name.

Smirnov had served as a ‘confidential human source’ with the FBI.

The material also alleges that Smirnov ‘claimed executives associated with Burisma, including Burisma Official 1, admitted to him that they hired Businessperson 1 to ‘protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,’ and later that they had specifically paid $5 million each to Public Official 1 and Businessperson 1, when Public Official 1 was still in office, so that ‘[Businessperson 1] will take care of all those issues through his dad,’ referring to a criminal investigation being conducted by the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General into Burisma and to ‘deal with [the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General].”

‘The events Defendant first reported to the Handler in June 2020 were fabrications. In truth and fact, Defendant had contact with executives from Burisma in 2017, after the end of the Obama-Biden Administration and after the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General had been fired in February 2016 — in other words, when Public Official 1 could not engage in any official act to influence U.S. policy and when the Prosecutor General was no longer in office,’ the statement of facts asserts. 

‘Defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy.’

China is denying a new report linking it to four bases in Cuba that a think tank says allows the CCP to spy on the U.S. 

The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report last week detailing facilities in Cuba that it claims China may be using to gather signal intelligence (SIGINT) on the U.S. 

‘The cooperation between China and Cuba is aboveboard, not targeting any third party, and does not allow any malicious slander from third parties,’ Chinese foreign minister Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday. 

Cuban foreign minister Carlos de Cossio claimed reports of Chinese spying hubs in Cuba originate from ‘Cuba’s enemies’ in the U.S. ‘as a way of justifying the criminal policy of economic aggression. It is absolutely false.’

CSIS analyzed over a dozen ‘sites of interest’ in Cuba and four stuck out as most likely to be supporting China and its spying ambitions. 

‘These sites have undergone observable upgrades in recent years, even as Cuba has faced increasingly dire economic prospects that have drawn it closer to China,’ the report’s authors said. 

Each of the four sites had ‘observable SIGINT instrumentation,’ clear physical security infrastructure and other signs of intelligence collection. 

One such station located on a hill overlooking Havana, Bejucal, has been suspected of ties to Chinese intelligence for years. The complex gained notoriety for housing Soviet missiles during the Cuban missile crisis. 

During the 2016 presidential debates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called on Cuba to ‘[kick] out this Chinese listening station in Bejucal.’

According to CSIS findings, satellite imagery shows that the site was active as of March 2024 and had been for some time. There are at least five entrances to underground facilities at the base, but what the facilities contain could not be discerned by satellite imagery. Antennas dot the ground, including satellite antennas used for intercepting satellite communications. 

With Havana situated just 100 miles off the coast of Florida, the site could potentially be used to collect data on U.S. rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

The U.S. and China are locked in a space race and rocket launches that deliver U.S. satellites to space will likely garner a high level of interest within the CCP. 

On another site on the opposite side of the island, east of the city of Santiago de Cuba, a large radio signal finding technology project is under construction, one capable of detecting signals between 3,000 and 8,000 nautical miles away. 

Cuba has a history of allowing U.S. adversaries to use its soil to snoop on U.S. communications. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union operated a SIGINT facility at the Lourdes Signals Intelligence Complex near Havana. That site monitored U.S. satellites and intercepted sensitive military and commercial telecommunications. 

In recent decades, the alliance between China and Cuba has grown – and China has provided around $7.8 billion in development financing to the island nation. 

The House passed a once-bipartisan bill on Thursday that authorizes 63 new permanent district judgeships over the next 10 years, 22 of which President-elect Trump can fill during his next term. 

The White House released a statement earlier this week that President Biden would veto the bill if it came to his desk. 

The Senate in August passed the ‘Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act’ or the ‘JUDGES Act of 2024,’ which staggers the 63 new permanent judgeships the president may choose over the next 10 years. Citing how courts are burdened by heavy caseloads, the bill says the president shall appoint 11 of those permanent judgeships in 2025 and 11 more in 2027. The president would tap another 10 judges in 2029, 11 in 2031, 10 in 2033 and 10 more in 2035, the bill says. 

But now key Democrats are backing away from the bill after Trump won the presidency, decrying how it wasn’t voted on until after Election Day. 

‘Today, the House passed the JUDGES Act to authorize additional federal judges to ensure the American people receive timely and fair justice,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. ‘This important legislation garnered broad, bipartisan support when it unanimously passed the Senate in August because it directly addresses the pressing need to reduce case backlogs in our federal courts and strengthen the efficiency of our judicial system.’ 

‘At that time, Democrats supported the bill – they thought Kamala Harris would win the Presidency,’ he added. ‘Now, however, the Biden-Harris Administration has chosen to issue a veto threat and Democrats have whipped against this bill, standing in the way of progress, simply because of partisan politics. This should not be a political issue—it should be about prioritizing the needs of the American people and ensuring the courts are able to deliver fair, impartial, and timely justice.’

The proposal passed the House on Thursday by a 236 to 173 vote, with 29 Democrats voting in favor of it. 

The bill’s Democratic co-sponsor in the House, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said in a floor speech Thursday before the vote that he now opposes the measure. 

‘You don’t get to pick the horse, after that horse has already won the race. But that’s exactly what my Republican colleagues are seeking to do today,’ he said. 

On Tuesday, the White House said while ‘judicial staffing is important to the rule of law,’ the JUDGES Act is ‘unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice.’ 

‘The bill would create new judgeships in states where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,’ the statement said. ‘Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now. In addition, neither the House nor the Senate fully explored how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships.’

‘Further, the Senate passed this bill in August, but the House refused to take it up until after the election. Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the judges are allocated,’ the White House added. 

Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Todd Young, R-Ind., co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. 

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

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed its annual defense spending bill Wednesday, including a key culture-war caveat: a ban on transgender medical treatments for minor children of U.S. service members.

The provision in the 1,800-page bill states that ‘medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18,’ referring to the transgender children of military personnel. 

Republicans argued that taxpayer dollars should not fund potentially experimental and harmful procedures for minors.

House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., praised the passage of the defense measure, though it now heads to the Senate for approval in the Democrat-run chamber.

‘Our men and women in uniform should know their first obligation is protecting our nation, not woke ideology,’ Johnson said in a statement after the measure passed.

While the provision was a win for Republicans that could further push President-Elect Donald Trump’s policy agenda, the measure did not incorporate several other Republican-backed provisions related to social issues. Notably absent were efforts to ban TRICARE, the military’s health program, from covering transgender treatments for adults and a proposal to overturn the Pentagon’s hotly-debated policy of reimbursing travel expenses for service members seeking abortions stationed in states where the procedure is restricted.

Democrats were largely outraged by the provision to strip TRICARE from service members’ transgender children, with the House Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith, vowing to vote against the bill on Tuesday despite helping on other portions of the package. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not advise his party members to vote for or against it.

The measure also drew the ire of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (HRC), which called it an ‘attack’ on military families.

‘This cruel and hateful bill suddenly strips away access to medical care for families that members of our armed forces are counting on, and it could force service members to choose between staying in the military or providing health care for their children,’ HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.

The Senate’s response to the transgender treatment provision will be pivotal in determining the final content of the defense policy for the upcoming fiscal year. If it passes, it would align with Trump’s criticisms of the military’s ‘woke’ policies. 

The Supreme Court also heard oral arguments last week for a first-of-its-kind case involving Tennessee’s ban on transgender medical procedures for minors, which could place further restrictions on the procedures.

The $884 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policies for the Defense Department, was passed in a 281-140 vote, with 124 Democrats and 16 Republicans voting against it. 

Other provisions also place limits on diversity, equity and inclusion-based recruitment and the teaching of critical race theory in military-run schools. Other policies include a 14.5% pay boost for junior enlisted troops, expanded child care access and enhanced job assistance for military spouses, reflecting a year of bipartisan focus on addressing record recruitment struggles.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

While a majority of American voters questioned in a new Fox News poll say they are hopeful about the re-election of President-elect Donald Trump, they are divided when it comes to the president-elect’s top nominees who will likely serve in his upcoming second administration.

Fifty-four percent of respondents in the survey, which was conducted Dec. 6-9 and released on Wednesday, said Trump’s election victory last month in the White House race over Vice President Kamala Harris made them hopeful.

However, when asked about the president-elect’s cabinet selections, which include some unconventional nominees, 47% of those polled said they approved, with 50% disapproving.

It was the same response when asked about billionaire Elon Musk serving as a close adviser to the president-elect during the transition from President Biden’s administration to the Trump administration, with 47% approving and 50% disapproving.

Two other polls also conducted in recent days and released on Wednesday shed additional light on how Americans feel about the incoming administration and how Trump’s handling the process of building out his government.

According to a CNN poll, 54% of Americans say they expect Trump to do a good job as president once he takes over the White House. 

Additionally, 55% said they largely approve of how the president-elect is handling the transition.

That is a higher percentage compared to eight years ago, when Trump first won the White House, but it is still well behind other recent presidents, according to CNN polling.

Meanwhile, 47% of people questioned in a Marist Poll gave the former and future president a thumbs up when it comes to how he is handling the transition, with 39% disapproving and 14% unsure.

Not surprisingly, the polls point to a massive partisan divide on the question. In the Marist survey, 86% of Republicans approved of how the GOP president-elect is handling the transition. However, 72% of Democrats disapproved. Among independents, 43% disapproved and 38% approved.

‘Although more people support Trump’s transition than oppose it, more independents are taking a wait-and-see position than more partisan voters,’ Marist Institute for Public Opinion Director Lee Miringoff said.

Miringoff added that ‘a note of caution for President-elect Trump is that fewer voters approve of the transition than gave a thumbs up to either Biden or Obama at this point.’

The release of the polls came as Trump’s cabinet picks continued to meet with senators on Capitol Hill ahead of confirmation hearings starting next month.

Trump named his nominees for his cabinet and his choices for other top administration officials at a faster pace than he did eight years ago after his first White House victory.

However, his transition has already faced some setbacks, including his first attorney general nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, ending his bid for confirmation amid controversy over allegations he paid for sex with underage girls.

Trump last weekend made his first international trip since winning last month’s election, and he was courted by world leaders during a stop in Paris.

Trump will be inaugurated Jan. 20.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

As President-elect Trump and his transition team steer his cabinet nominees through the landmines of the Senate confirmation process, top MAGA allies are joining the fight by putting pressure on GOP lawmakers who aren’t fully on board.

‘There will be no resource that we won’t use to go after those U.S. senators that vote against Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks or his other nominees,’ longtime Trump outside adviser Corey Lewandowski told Fox News this week.

Fueled by grassroots support for Trump and his nominees, the president-elect’s political team and allies are cranking up the volume.

Exhibit A: Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.

Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, is considered a pivotal vote in the confirmation battle over Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary.

Hegseth, an Army National Guard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who until last month was a longtime Fox News host, has been the focus of a slew of media reports spotlighting a series of drinking and sexual misconduct allegations, as well as a report alleging he mismanaged a veterans nonprofit organization that he once led.

Hegseth has denied allegations that he mistreated women, but did reach a financial settlement with an accuser from a 2017 incident to avoid a lawsuit. He has vowed that he won’t drink ‘a drop of alcohol’ if confirmed as defense secretary.

Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee, which will hold Hegseth’s confirmation hearings, took plenty of incoming fire after last week publicly expressing hesitance over Hegseth’s nomination.

While Trump publicly praised Hegseth late last week, as the nomination appeared to be teetering, top allies of the president-elect took aim at Ernst, who is up for re-election in 2026 in red-state Iowa.

Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s oldest son and MAGA powerhouse, took to social media to target Ernst and other potentially wavering Republican senators.

‘If you’re a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin [President Biden’s defense secretary], but criticize @PeteHegseth, then maybe you’re in the wrong political party!’ he posted.

Top MAGA ally Charlie Kirk quickly took aim at Ernst with talk of supporting a primary challenger to her.

‘This is the red line. This is not a joke.… The funding is already being put together. Donors are calling like crazy. Primaries are going to be launched,’ said Kirk, an influential conservative activist and radio and TV host who co-founded and steers Turning Point USA.

Kirk, on his radio program, warned that ‘if you support the president’s agenda, you’re good. You’re marked safe from a primary. You go up against Pete Hegseth, the president, repeatedly, then don’t be surprised, Joni Ernst, if all of a sudden you have a primary challenge in Iowa.’

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a top Trump supporter in last January’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, wrote a column on Breitbart urging Hegseth’s confirmation.

While she didn’t mention Ernst by name, Bird took aim at ‘D.C. politicians’ who ‘think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years.’

And longtime Iowa-based conservative commentator and media personality Steve Deace took to social media and used his radio program to highlight that he would consider launching a primary challenge against Ernst.

Ernst, who stayed neutral in the Iowa caucuses before endorsing Trump later in the GOP presidential primary calendar, may have gotten the message.

After meeting earlier this week for a second time with Hegseth, Ernst said in a statement that her meeting was ‘encouraging’ and that she would ‘support Pete through this process.’

But Ernst’s office told Fox News that ‘the senator has consistently followed the process, which she has said since the beginning, and doing her job as a United States senator.’

It’s not just Ernst who has faced the fire from Trump allies and MAGA world.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of four remaining GOP senators who voted in the 2021 Trump impeachment trial to convict him, is also up for re-election in 2026 in a reliably red state. Cassidy is now facing a formal primary challenge from Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, a senior adviser in the first Trump administration.

Sen. Mike Rounds, another Republican up for re-election in two years in GOP-dominated South Dakota, has also been blasted by Kirk, as well as by top Trump ally and billionaire Elon Musk.

And staunch Trump supporter Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama had a warning for Republican Senate colleagues who may oppose the president-elect’s nominees.

‘Republicans: If you’re not on the team, get out of the way,’ he told FOX Business.

Whether these early threats from Trump allies turn into actual primary challenges in the next midterm elections remains to be seen. And ousting a senator is no easy feat. It’s been a dozen years since an incumbent senator was defeated during a primary challenge.

But Trump’s team and allies are playing hardball in the wake of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the president-elect’s first attorney general nominee, ending his confirmation bid amid controversy.

There has been a full-court press by Trump’s political orbit to bolster Hegseth — in order to protect him and some of the president-elect’s other controversial Cabinet picks.

‘If Trump world allowed a couple of establishment senators to veto a second nominee, it would have led to a feeding frenzy on Trump’s other nominees, and so the thinking in Trump world was we have to defend Pete not just for the sake of defending Pete, but also for the sake of defending our other nominees,’ a longtime Trump world adviser, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News.

Fox News’ Emma Colton, Cameron Cawthorne, Julia Johnson, Tyler Olson and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.