The policy agenda of President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans is keeping Democrats up at night.

Literally.

If you snooze, you lose.

Or at least you might have missed the recent nocturnal front mounted by Democrats to oppose the GOP’s budget package.

It was the second overnight session in three weeks for the Senate. 

While you were sleeping last Thursday night – drifting into Friday – Democrats hoped their resistance to the president wasn’t a legislative lullaby.

In the overnight Senate session, Democrats forced two dozen votes over nearly nine hours on every subject under the moon.

‘The right to IVF,’ was an amendment offered by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. 

‘Deficits and debt,’ came the proposal from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Budget Committee.

‘Public lands,’ was the focus for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

‘Deadly and devastating wildfires,’ caught the attention of Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. 

‘The cost of housing,’ was the issue for Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. 

‘Tax cuts,’ declared Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

‘The FAA,’ said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the leading Democrat on the Appropriations panel.

However, Republicans threw a shuteye shutout.

The GOP-controlled Senate rejected every Democratic proposal all night long. 

Marathon voting sessions – often called ‘vote-a-ramas’ in the Senate – present an opportunity for the party out of power to engineer challenging votes for the other side. They like to put the majority on the spot with tough votes. Some amendments are even drafted with a specific senator in mind. Especially someone who might face a competitive bid for re-election in the next cycle.

Democrats tried to trip up Republicans with votes on tax cuts. They even compelled Republicans to weigh in on their support – or lack thereof – for Ukraine.

‘This amendment ensures continued support for the government of Ukraine to stand firm against Russian aggression. For three years, Ukraine has fought tooth and nail for its very survival heroically,’ said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. 

Reed’s plan scored a brushback from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

‘There’s no greater supporter of Ukraine in this Senate than I am. But this is not the right vehicle,’ argued Wicker on the floor at 12:34 a.m. ET Friday. ‘Passage of this amendment – though members might wish to – will make it harder to pass this very valuable budget.’

But it was lights out for Democrats as Republicans passed their budget framework just before dawn Friday.

The vote was 52-48. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone GOP nay.

‘We’re going to vote all night long to set up a bill to increase spending by $340 billion,’ argued Paul in a floor speech Thursday. ‘Senate Republicans are coming forward today to pass a budget to allow them to raise federal spending.’

Paul asserted that senators should vote on his amendment to cut spending rather than greenlight an outline to actually spend more on the military and border security. He also reminded his colleagues that the budget plan wasn’t binding. It was just an aspiration with no real money or spending reductions.

‘The talk of the savings is ephemeral. It isn’t real. Until Congress has the courage to vote on it, it has to be certified by a vote. If Congress doesn’t vote, it sort of wishes and washes around in the ether. And it may or may not wind up being savings,’ said Paul.

Democrats claimed they shined a spotlight on Republican political vulnerabilities via the overnight exercise. 

‘One amendment at a time, Democrats exposed Republicans’ true colors here on the Senate floor,’ bragged Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

But in the middle of the night. 

Did anyone see it?

Did anyone pay attention?

If a tree falls in the woods…

But now it’s up to the House to approve its plan. It tackles the same provisions which are in the Senate package. But it emphasizes tax cuts. It also has the support of Trump.

It will be hard to advance anything through the House.

‘If we don’t do our job, everyone’s taxes are going up. And so that is absolutely going to be catastrophic to the American people,’ said Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., on FOX Business.

Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House. It’s about the math. They can only lose a vote or two on any given day. And keep in mind that a key demand in this bill is to drive up military and border spending – but also reduce overall spending. Plus, renew tax cuts.

That’s why some skeptics say the only way is to tackle the entitlements. So-called ‘mandatory’ spending. This is spending that Congress doesn’t approve for each year. Based on laws passed years ago, the money for mandatory spending just floods out the door – based on what the government owes (such as interest on the debt) and who qualifies for particular entitlements. That’s why there’s a serious hunt for the triumvirate of ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ in federal spending. There simply isn’t enough money to trim from the ‘discretionary’ side of the ledger. That’s the money which Congress allocates on an annual basis to run the government. Mandatory spending dwarfs discretionary spending.

‘If we cut all of that, we still won’t balance the budget. We have a deficit of $2 trillion. We have got to touch our mandatory spending,’ said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., on FOX Business.

That’s why securing an agreement to advance the package through the House is so tough. And the House and Senate must both advance the same plan to use budget reconciliation to skip over the filibuster.

If the House adopts its plan, the House and Senate could then work to sync up. The chambers could try to merge their respective plans in what’s called a conference committee. The House and Senate then must vote again to approve a blended measure, called a ‘conference report.’ Then they can go to the actual bill. And the House and Senate must also approve the same version of that.

Or, the sides could get involved in what we call parliamentary ping-pong. The Senate has passed its resolution. So it pings it over to the House The House then OKs its version, and pongs that over to the Senate. They bounce the ball back and forth across the Capitol Dome until one body or the other finally accepts one measure – whichever one it is.

Only then can they get to the actual substance of the underlying bill.

Quite a process to achieve a solitary ‘big, beautiful bill’ the president is pushing.

This enterprise is far from over.

And there’s another problem around the corner:

A bill to avoid a government shutdown is due by March 14. That’s where the real dollars can be found. Real spending can conceivably either go up, down or stay the same in that bill. A problem with government funding could disrupt the goal of the ‘big, beautiful bill.’

So while the action overnight was important, this enterprise is far from over.

And while last Thursday night – bleeding into Friday – was a long night, it likely means there are dozens of other very long nights ahead over the next few months.

Elon Musk, who is leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), warned federal workers on Monday morning that those who fail to return to the office will be placed on administrative leave.

‘Those who ignored President Trump’s executive order to return to work have now received over a month’s warning,’ Musk wrote on X, the platform which he also owns. ‘Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave.’ 

Musk’s warning comes after he announced Saturday that federal employees must report their accomplishments from the last week or face losing their jobs.

Musk said on Saturday that federal employees would receive an email directing them to list their accomplishments from the week prior, with the DOGE leader adding later that day that the assignment should take less than five minutes to accomplish. Employees have until 11:59 pm on Monday to send the list or lose their employment, according to emails regarding Musk’s directive that were sent by the Office of Personnel Management.

Mass confusion followed on the eve of the deadline as some agencies resisted the order, others encouraged their workers to comply, and still others offered conflicting guidance.

Several key U.S. agencies, including the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security and the Pentagon, which instructed their employees over the weekend not to comply.

The Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., instructed its roughly 80,000 employees to comply shortly after acting general counsel, Sean Keveney, had instructed some not to. Later Sunday evening, agency leadership issued new instructions that employees should ‘pause activities’ related to the request until noon on Monday.

Officials at the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security were more consistent.

The State Department reportedly told employees on Saturday that department officials ‘will respond on behalf of the Department,’ according to a message sent by Ambassador Tibor P. Nagy, who serves as acting under secretary of state for management.

The Department of Defense (DOD) told its civilian workforce to ignore the billionaire’s request, while Kash Patel, who was confirmed by the Senate last week as the new director of the FBI, also told employees to stand down.

While Musk and DOGE have been criticized for how they’re going about cutting federal spending, President Donald Trump on Saturday wrote on Truth Social that though Musk is ‘doing a great job,’ he should be ‘more aggressive.’

‘ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE. REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. MAGA!,’ Trump wrote.

Musk responded with an enthusiastic ‘Will do, Mr. President!’ hours after Trump posted.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Andrea Margolis, along with The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

House Republicans are eyeing reforms to federal benefits that would impose work requirements on a wider swath of Americans.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., chair of the right-wing pragmatist Main Street Caucus, is planning to introduce the ‘America Works Act of 2025,’ Fox News Digital has learned.

The bill would mandate that single, able-bodied Americans on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) – colloquially known as food stamps – between the ages of 18 and 65 take on at least 20 hours per week of work or work-related education.

Adults with a dependent child under age 7 would be exempt, according to a summary provided to Fox News Digital.

‘Able-bodied people who can work should work if we want to continue to have our welfare programs be pathways out of poverty,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘There is no reliable path out of poverty that doesn’t have work, training and education at its core.’

It comes as House Republicans get ready to negotiate on how to meet spending cut targets in their plans to move President Donald Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process.

By leveling the threshold for passage in the House and Senate at a simple majority, reconciliation allows the party in power to pass budgetary or other fiscal priorities in a massive piece of legislation with zero support from lawmakers on the opposing side. The threshold for passage in the Senate is otherwise two-thirds for most items.

GOP lawmakers are looking to accomplish a wide swath of Trump policies, from more funding for the border wall and detention beds to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages.

To offset the cost of that spending, the House’s reconciliation framework directs several committees to find areas for spending cuts. The House Committee on Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, must aim to cut at least $230 billion in spending.

The new bill gives the Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees food stamps, the ability to exempt people who live in counties where the unemployment rate exceeds 10%.

Two sources familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital that Johnson’s bill closely resembles what will end up in Republicans’ reconciliation bill.

When asked about cost projections, however, Johnson emphasized that his bill was motivated by social rather than fiscal change.

‘It would be expected to be a major cost-savings, and while I think that’s important, my primary motivator is how much work requirements have proven to improve lives as opposed to how much money they save,’ he said. ‘I want people to escape poverty.’

Currently, adults aged 18 to 54 can receive three months of SNAP benefits in three years at most before a requirement kicks in to work at least 80 hours per month.

Johnson’s bill would also strip present exemptions for young adults who recently aged out of foster care and for veterans. Those were included during bipartisan negotiations on raising the debt limit in 2023, as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

‘The concessions we had to make in the Fiscal Responsibility Act to get things done were not helpful changes,’ Johnson said when asked about the change.

‘It was just telling all veterans and all young adult former foster kids that the work requirements didn’t apply to them, and that’s not actually helpful to getting them to a better financial path.’

He pointed out there would still be exceptions for pregnant women, people with disabilities, people living in high-unemployment counties, and others.

‘My bill would go back to the way it was before, which is the same eligibility requirements applied to veterans and foster kids are applied to everybody else,’ he said.

A watchdog group focused on getting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) out of medicine found that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is actively spending millions of grant dollars to boost the number of racial minorities in the cancer workforce. 

This funding, uncovered by the nonprofit watchdog Do No Harm, shows that $218 million in NCI grants for ‘underrepresented’ groups – mainly racial minorities – is actively dispersed by the NCI. Prior to President Donald Trump taking office, during the Biden administration, around 3% of the NCI’s total grant funding every year went to institutions so that they can hire more faculty members and scientists who are minorities, according to Do No Harm.

The revelation comes as Elon Musk’s DOGE puts a slew of funds related to DEI on the chopping block amid efforts to slim down government spending. Trump and fellow Republicans have pushed hard against DEI policies throughout the government in recent weeks, making the case that public programs should instead focus on meritocracy. 

Among the NCI’s DEI grants that remain active under Trump are two totaling more than $10.5 million, awarded to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. These grants support hiring initiatives aimed at ‘inclusive excellence’ and programs that promote advancing the careers of racial minorities.

One of the grant’s descriptions explicitly calls for the recruitment of 12 scientists from ‘underrepresented groups,’ while the other grant’s description includes, alongside its recruitment and hiring goals, a plan to ‘modify the Mount Sinai Health System Task Force To Address Racism Roadmap for Change with key strategies as the basis for an Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Roadmap for Inclusive Excellence.’ 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb said the NCI must ‘stop promoting a politically motivated DEI agenda.’

‘The National Cancer Institute has been taking advantage of taxpayers to push a DEI agenda on the medical field,’ Goldfarb said. ‘They dole out $218 million each year for grants prioritizing ‘underrepresented’ in medicine, which has generally been defined as anyone from a racial minority group, except Asian Americans. The National Cancer Institute should not be rewarding racial discrimination with taxpayer money. Racial discrimination has no place in medicine.’

Under former President Joe Biden, the NCI’s website was filled with statements and sources about programs tied to DEI, but, following Trump’s executive order demanding an end to DEI in the federal government, much of that has come down. Fox News Digital reached out to the NCI to question whether it had any plans to terminate any of its active grants promoting DEI hiring, but did not receive a response by press time. 

Fox News Digital also inquired about the sub-agency’s Equity Council, established in 2021 under Biden, but did not receive a response. The council is a steering committee for the NCI’s equity and inclusion efforts.

DOGE claims it has already addressed hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in DEI-related contract cuts, including $350 million at the Department of Education. 

Last month, DOGE announced that taxpayers would see just over $1 billion in savings through the elimination of 104 DEI contracts.

‘We are way closer to the beginning than we are to the end,’ former CIA Moscow station chief Dan Hoffman said as Ukraine entered a fourth year of war on Monday. 

Since the Nov. 5, 2024, re-election of President Donald Trump, the Western world has been scrambling to understand what the future holds for Russia’s war in Ukraine as Washington looks to re-establish ties with Moscow in a move to end the conflict and secure a peace deal.

In the span of a week, Trump held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin; Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov; retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sparked international debate by pronouncing that Ukraine would unlikely be permitted to join NATO.

But far from bringing a sense of optimism that an end to the brutal war in Ukraine could be on the horizon, questions erupted across the globe as the geopolitical atmosphere descended into a state of confusion.

‘What a ceasefire would look like? I have no idea,’ Hoffman said, highlighting the numerous and almost indeterminable factors that will shape whether Moscow and Kyiv agree to terms under a deal.

‘It’s getting the Russians to stop. That’s the key,’ he explained. ‘The Russians are intrigued by the idea that they could make a grand bargain with this administration and eliminate the sanctions that are causing so much harm. 

‘But what hangs over this is Vladimir Putin – he’s a KGB guy. He hates Donald Trump just as much as he hates Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, and every one of us, because the United States is the main enemy,’ Hoffman explained. ‘He’s going to try to get a great deal. 

‘Putin’s going to try to frame negotiations as if Russia is going toe to toe with the United States, he will want to make it look like Russia got the better of us, to enhance his own image and the Kremlin’s [to] throw weight against us globally, including in the MIddle East and Africa,’ Hoffman explained. 

Some of the biggest factors that will be involved in negotiating a ceasefire will be security guarantees for Ukraine, including whether Russia has the right to influence who can be permitted into the alliance. 

‘Ukraine’s NATO membership should not be a negotiation tactic, because we don’t want Russia to have, you know, de facto veto power over who joins NATO,’ Catherine Sendak, director of transatlantic defense and security with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), said during a discussion on Ukraine on Thursday. 

Some nations like Britain and France have said they may be willing to send in troops to serve as a deterring force should a ceasefire be agreed to, though Russian officials have already said NATO forces in Ukraine would be unacceptable to Moscow.

Though even with European forces in Ukraine, it remains unclear in what capacity as a deterring force they would serve.

Questions over whether European forces would help police Ukrainian borders shared with Russia or merely act as air and naval support for Kyiv remain.  

Experts involved in the CEPA discussion were unanimous in their agreement that the U.S. should be involved, though the Trump administration has already suggested that not only will the possibility of the U.S. sending in troops to Ukraine not be an option, but it may look to remove American forces currently positioned around Europe. 

‘Many European nations just have not had any experience in leading a force of that size,’ said William Monahan, senior fellow with CEPA and former deputy assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs during the previous Trump administration.

‘Determining where the U.S. could be providing key enablers, I think, would be an essential element of any force, and determining its credibility and deterrence capability,’ he added.

Putin has made clear that his latest war objective is the ownership of four Ukrainian regions, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which he illegally ‘annexed’ in 2022 but none of which have his forces been able to fully seize.

Zelenskyy has said he will not agree to cede any land to Russia, including Crimea, which Russia has illegally occupied since 2014, but which Hegseth said this month would be an ‘unrealistic’ objective at the negotiating table. 

Though some Western experts have argued that Ukraine does not necessarily need to cede land in order to reach a ceasefire agreement. 

This proposal suggests that the Ukrainian territory would remain internationally recognized as ‘occupied’ by Russia, which would allow the fighting to stop, though Kyiv and its international partners would then need to attempt to renegotiate land releases at a later time. 

What has become clear is the Trump administration’s push for Europe to be more heavily involved in providing military support to Ukraine. But as European nations look to ramp up defense on the continent without Washington’s support, security experts are warning this is changing geopolitical views of the U.S. and its reliability as an ally.

‘I think there is a group of European countries now, I think increasingly, including the U.K. potentially, and France, that actually are beginning to see the U.S. as part of the problem,’ said Sam Green, director of democratic resilience at CEPA and professor of Russian politics at King’s College London.

Green said European nations may need to come up with their own solution to counter a U.S.-Moscow proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. 

Ultimately, the security experts warned that the increasingly apparent divisions between Washington under the Trump administration and Europe are playing into one of Putin’s longtime chief aims.

‘I think there’s a need to get a coordinated approach that brings in our allies and partners [and] maintains that source of strength,’ Monahan said. ‘I think Putin is very happy he has been able to achieve one of his strategic goals, which is create disunion and division among the United States and its allies in the transatlantic relationship.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if some of the controversial comments made by Trump, like calling Zelenskyy a dictator, claiming he has low internal approval ratings and seeming to suggest he was to blame for Russia’s illegal invasion, are aiding Putin in his negotiating calculus, Hoffman said, ‘I don’t know what damage, if any, it’s causing, but the intelligence community can assess that.’

‘What Vladimir Putin thinks about the U.S. and Ukraine, about Zelenskyy and Trump going, rhetorically at least, toe to toe in the Octagon against each other – it’s not a great look,’ he added. 

‘[Putin] thinks he can break Europe. He doesn’t think Europe is going to be strong enough without the United States,’ Hoffman argued. ‘That’s certainly the past. The history during the Soviet-Evil Empire, it was the U.S. strength, our nuclear umbrella, that deterred the Soviet Union from expanding.

‘NATO has always been an alliance to deter Russian aggression,’ he said. ‘We’re nowhere close to knowing how all this is going to play out. 

‘Right now, you’re just hearing a lot of noise,’ Hoffman cautioned. 

President Donald Trump announced that Dan Bongino will serve as the next deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

‘Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday night. ‘Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel.’

The president said Bongino has a Master’s Degree in Psychology from the City University of New York and an MBA from Penn State.

‘He was a member of the New York Police Department (New York’s Finest!), a highly respected Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, and is now one of the most successful Podcasters in the Country, something he is willing and prepared to give up in order to serve,’ Trump wrote. ‘Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations Dan!

‘Another aspect of the life of Dan Bongino that I think is very important. He has a great wife, Paula, and two wonderful daughters who truly love their dad,’ Trump later wrote. ‘What an incredible job Dan will do!!!’

Bongino is also a former Fox News host.

Shortly after the announcement, Bongino responded on X, saying, ‘Thank you Mr. President, Attorney General Bondi, and Director Patel.’

Patel was sworn in to serve as the ninth FBI director on Friday, after a narrow senate vote of 51-49.

Patel, a vociferous opponent of the investigations into Trump and one who served at the forefront of Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims, vowed during his confirmation hearing last month that he would not engage in political retribution against agents who worked on the classified documents case against Trump and other politically sensitive matters.

But his confirmation comes at a time when the FBI’s activities, leadership and personnel decisions are being closely scrutinized for signs of politicization or retaliation.

Patel held a number of national security roles during Trump’s first administration — chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, senior advisor to the acting director of national intelligence and National Security Council official. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed images of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, during an address at a combat officers’ graduation ceremony on Sunday, delivering a solemn message.

‘I want to show you something. I want to show you this picture of Shiri Bibas and her tender children, Ariel and Kfir Bivas. This picture says it all; I ask that you engrave it on the board of your hearts, so that you will always remember what we are fighting for and against whom we are fighting,’ Netanyahu told the graduates, according to Fox News’ translation of the Hebrew speech. ‘We are fighting to secure our existence against man-monsters who have risen to annihilate us.’ 

‘Already in the first days of the war, they murdered Shiri and her children in cold blood; they strangled the tender children with their own hands,’ Netanyahu said, holding up a photo of the Bibas family. ‘And if they could, they would have killed us all with the same cruelty, until our very last man. Against this we fight, and these monsters we must and can defeat – and defeat them we will. This is our mission, and this is your mission!’ 

‘As the defenders of our homeland, each of you is imbued with purpose, wielding sword and shield,’ he added. ‘We have high expectations of you, but I know that above all, you have expectations of yourselves.’ 

Hamas handed over the bodies of the two young brothers on Thursday, but initially returned the wrong remains for Shiri in what Netanyahu had decried as a ‘brazen violation of their agreement.’ The Israeli mother’s actual remains were handed over on Saturday and identified by Israeli forensic authorities to be Shiri following a standoff with the terrorist group. Also returned was the body of Oded Lifshitz, a fellow resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and who Israel says was murdered in captivity. The Israel Defense Forces said the boys’ bodies proved they were ‘murdered by terrorists in cold blood,’ despite Hamas previously claiming the brothers were killed in an airstrike.

In his speech Sunday, Netanyahu said President Donald Trump ‘sees eye to eye with us on everything related to Gaza.’ 

‘We support President Trump’s groundbreaking plan to allow free exit for Gazans, and to create a different Gaza,’ Netanyahu told the graduating combat officers. 

‘I thank President Trump for his directive to supply Israel with vital weapons,’ Netanyahu said. ‘The new defensive and offensive arms will greatly aid us in achieving absolute victory. At the same time, we have approved enormous budgets for the domestic development of weapon systems – systems that will enhance our ability to stand up to our enemies on our own.’ 

The prime minister also laid out his government’s objectives. Netanyahu said Israeli forces ‘have eliminated most of Hamas’s organized strength’in Gaza. 

‘But let there be no doubt: we will complete the war objectives, including this one, to the very end,’ he said. ‘It can be achieved through negotiation, and it can also be achieved by other means. From the start of the war, the conditions we set for its conclusion were clear – and they remain clear. All of our abductees, without exception, will return home. Hamas will not govern Gaza. Gaza will be purged, and its combat capability will be dismantled.’ 
 

Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said he plans to return to the region on Wednesday to negotiate an ‘extension’ of Phase One of the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. 

Phase Two, Witkoff noted, includes ensuring Hamas will never return to government leadership in Gaza, which he predicts will not be a safe living environment for another 15 to 20 years and will require a lengthy reconstruction plan. 

Fox News’ Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump celebrated on Sunday after German conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz claimed victory in a national election, ousting Social Democrat incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

‘LOOKS LIKE THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN GERMANY HAS WON THE VERY BIG AND HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ELECTION,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. ‘MUCH LIKE THE USA, THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY GOT TIRED OF THE NO COMMON SENSE AGENDA, ESPECIALLY ON ENERGY AND IMMIGRATION, THAT HAS PREVAILED FOR SO MANY YEARS.

‘THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR GERMANY, AND FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF A GENTLEMAN NAMED DONALD J. TRUMP,’ he added. ‘CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL — MANY MORE VICTORIES TO FOLLOW!!!’

Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won Sunday’s national election, with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) finishing a strong second, according to exit polls.

The snap election came as the European nation grapples with illegal immigration and a souring economy. CDU leader Merz is expected to take a harder line than Scholz on immigration, though not as much as AfD supporters have called for.

Merz, whose party got about 29% of the vote, must form a coalition with one or more of the other parties, but has said he will not do so with AfD.

Merz has said he will execute a 15-point plan to tackle immigration, including tightening the borders and deporting rejected asylum seekers. AfD wants to deport migrants en masse.

While the AfD may be frozen out of the incoming coalition, it doubled its vote total from the last election.

Endorsed by Trump and Elon Musk, and led by Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, the party believes it has built momentum for the next election, expected in 2029.

President Donald Trump is set to have another busy week meeting with foreign leaders in the nation’s capital as administration leaders continue working out a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. 

Trump will meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in his fifth week back in the Oval Office, national security advisor Mike Waltz said on Fox News’ ‘America Reports.’ The announcement follows Macron calling for an emergency meeting of world leaders after the Trump administration excluded Europe from sitting at the negotiating table to settle the war between Ukraine and Russia.

‘Just a few months ago, everyone was talking about this war as though it would never end,’ Waltz said on ‘America Reports’ after confirming Starmer and Macron will visit Washington, D.C. ‘In just a very short amount of time, President Trump has us, everyone – the Ukrainians, the Russians, the Europeans – talking about it now and debating.… Only President Trump could drive that shift in conversation. And we have to acknowledge that that’s happened.’

Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met in Riyadh last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov to hash out ways to end the conflict. Ukraine was absent from the negotiations in Saudi Arabia. 

Ukraine’s lack of involvement sparked President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy to double down on the stance that his nation will not accept a peace deal unless they are a part of the negotiation process. 

Zelenskyy told reporters Tuesday in Turkey that ‘nobody decides anything behind our back,’ after stressing in recent days that Kyiv will not agree to a peace negotiation without Ukraine’s input.

Trump amplified his rhetoric against Zelenskyy last week, including arguing Zelenskyy is a poor negotiator and that he’s ‘sick of it.’ 

‘I’ve been watching this man for years now as his cities get demolished, as his people get killed, as his soldiers get decimated,’ Trump told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade last week. ‘I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards, and you get sick of it,’ he continued. ‘You just get sick of it, and I’ve had it.’

‘I get tired of listening to it,’ Trump responded. ‘I’ve seen it enough, and then he complains that he’s not at a meeting that we’re having with Saudi Arabia trying to intermediate peace. Well, he’s been at meetings for three years with a… president who didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He’s been at the meetings for three years and nothing got done, so I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you. He’s been there for three years. He’s he makes it very hard to make deals.’

Trump added on Friday that Macron and Starmer ‘haven’t done anything’ since 2022 to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. 

Trump’s recent remarks on Zelenskyy have apparently alarmed European leaders who have backed Ukraine throughout the war. Macron previewed in remarks on Thursday that he will reportedly take a tough tone with Trump during their meeting. 

‘Trump, I know him. I respect him and I believe he respects me,’ Macron, who will meet with Trump on Monday, said during a question-and-answer session on social media. ‘I will tell him: deep down you cannot be weak in the face of President (Vladimir Putin). It’s not you, it’s not what you’re made of, and it’s not in your interests.’

Starmer, who is slated to meet with Trump on Thursday, said on Sunday in Scotland that there cannot be peace talks without Ukraine’s input. 

‘Nobody wants the bloodshed to continue. Nobody, least of all the Ukrainians,’ he said Sunday, according to Reuters. 

‘But after everything that they have suffered, after everything that they have fought for, there could be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine must have a long-term secure future.’ 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke to members of the media on Saturday following CPAC, saying a peace deal could be reached as soon as this week. 

‘The president, his team are very much focused on continuing negotiations with both sides of this war to end the conflict, and the president is very confident we can get it done this week,’ she said. 

Fox News Digital’s Bailee Hill, Morgan Phillips and Diana Stancy contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said Sunday that he would aim to negotiate an ‘extension’ of Phase One of the Israel-Hamas hostage release and ceasefire deal when he returns to the region this week. 

‘We have to get an extension of Phase One. And, so I’ll be going into the region this week, probably Wednesday, to negotiate that,’ Witkoff said during an appearance on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ ‘And we’re hoping you have the proper time to finish off to begin Phase Two and finish it off and get more hostages released. And move this – move the discussion forward.’ 

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close confidante of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly met with Witkoff in Washington, D.C., last week. 

In regard to the meeting, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Witkoff if he believes Netanyahu ‘wants to move forward with the ceasefire, or does he want to resume the war to try to eliminate Hamas?’

Witkoff said he believes the prime minister ‘is well-motivated’ and wants to see ‘the hostages released,’ as well ‘to protect the state of Israel.’ 

‘And so he’s got a red line,’ Witkoff said. ‘And he said what the red line is, and that is that Hamas cannot be involved in a governing body when this thing is resolved.’ 

‘They can’t be any part of governance in Gaza,’ the U.S. envoy said of Hamas. ‘And, you know, as to existing, I’d leave that – that detail to the prime minister.’ 

In another Sunday show appearance on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation,’ Witkoff said he would arrive ‘probably Wednesday evening’ in the Middle East and would visit various countries, including Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. He added that the last remaining living American hostage, Edan Alexander, remains a top priority in negotiations.

‘He’s front and center for us,’ Witkoff said. ‘I know his parents. We talk all the time. He’s critical. It’s one of President Trump’s most important objectives is to get all Americans home. And we’re going to be successful in getting Edan home, I believe.’ 

According to the May 27 protocol agreement, Witkoff explained that Phase Two involves both ‘a permanent ceasefire, a cessation of all violence,’ as well as ‘the fact that Hamas cannot be allowed to come back into the government’ in Gaza. 

‘And I think the way you square that circle is that Hamas has to go. They’ve got to leave,’ Witkoff said, adding, ‘I would say physically, that’s correct.’ The envoy said he was not at liberty to say which countries might take in people from Gaza during ongoing negotiations, but stressed that Gaza would not be a safe living environment for another 15 to 20 years following the war and requires an extension reconstruction plan.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced Saturday night that ‘in light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes, it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies.’ 

In a video message Friday, Netanyahu condemned how Hamas ‘brutally murdered’ two young Israeli boys, whose bodies were initially returned to Israel without the remains of their mother, Shiri Bibas. In what Netanyahu decried as a ‘brazen violation of their agreement,’ Hamas initially handed over the wrong body for Bibas, whose actual remains were later returned and identified Saturday following an intense standoff with the terrorist group. 

Hamas handed over another six Israelis on Saturday in the latest scheduled release of living hostages.