Official peace talks between the U.S. and Ukraine on ending the Ukraine war moved to a productive phase Sunday – but only after President Zelenskyy sent a new-look team to Florida, according to a former Ukrainian government official.

With Rustem Umerov now leading Zelenskyy’s team and longtime adviser and chief of staff Andriy Yermak out, the source claimed the move signaled Kyiv was reassessing its ‘uncompromising’ stance.

The official, who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity, said the personnel choice represented a move away from the approach that has shaped Ukraine’s diplomatic strategy for years.

‘Yermak had been teaching Zelenskyy to be a ‘Father of the Nation’ and until now, the Ukrainian side has been pushing for an unachievable and uncompromising position,’ the former official said.

‘Umerov is not a very impressively strong individual in politics, but he wants to achieve results and is known to be aligned with compromise.’

Ukraine’s new delegation also included Andrii Hnatov, head of the armed forces; Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister; and Umerov, who is head of the country’s security council.

After the meeting, Umerov offered a brief assessment to reporters, saying: ‘We are grateful to American people, American leadership and a great team with, state secretary, Steve, with both Jared Kushner for their tremendous work with us,’ he said.

‘Our objective is a prosperous, strong Ukraine. We will [be] discussing [sic] the future of Ukraine. We discussed all the important matters that are important for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people. And the U.S was super supportive.’

‘We already had a successful meeting in Geneva, and today we can continue this success. So at the moment, this meeting was productive and successful in the later stages.’

The new team traveled to Florida for discussions aimed at refining President Trump’s proposed framework and his push to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Sunday’s negotiations also took place after a leak published by Bloomberg News, revealed a transcript of an Oct. 14 call where special envoy Steve Witkoff allegedly offered advice to Russian officials on how to sell a peace plan to Trump.

‘The Ukrainian side had in some way undermined peace negotiations and Donald Trump’s efforts, not mentioning that it prolongs the war,’ the former official said.

The same former official said the shift in Kyiv’s delegation followed the dramatic resignation of Yermak, after anti-corruption investigators raided his home on Friday.

‘Yermak was deeply distrusted by many actors, including Western actors including the U.S. administration and including Biden’s administration,’ the source added.

Despite his exit, the official warned that Yermak’s influence may still be shaping the Ukrainian team.

‘Mr. Yermak is still there and, in fact, all the delegation that came to Florida includes Mr. Yermak’s people, his loyal people, very close personally to him –  people who [have] been serving him faithfully for years.’

‘Yermak has not disappeared and might be on the telephone or online and ruling the agenda behind the scenes,’ they added.

They said Yermak’s long-standing governing style still influences Kyiv’s political posture:

‘In Ukraine, as in many post-Soviet countries, there is still the so-called ‘telephone rule’, when a powerful person can influence the outcome of any formal decision-making despite lacking formal powers and in contradiction with the law.’

‘Yermak has been doing this for the last six and a half years,’ the source added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Witkoff, and senior advisor Jared Kushner led the American side in Sunday’s session.

Rubio told reporters after the meeting: ‘We had another very productive session. Building off Geneva, building off the events of this week,’ he said.

‘As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war,’ he continued. ‘But it’s more than just to end the war. We don’t just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever. So never again will they face another invasion. And equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity.’

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he had spoken to Rubio and Witkoff and that they were ‘doing well.’

‘Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,’ Trump said. ‘They have some difficult problems. But I think Russia would like to see it end and I think Ukraine… I know Ukraine would like to see it end.’

He also said he thinks there is ‘a good chance we can make a deal.’

In a post shared on X, Zelenskyy highlighted Umerov’s work in Florida as the head of the Ukrainian delegation.

‘Today, following the work of the teams in the United States, head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov reported on the main parameters of the dialogue, its emphases, and some preliminary results,’ he said.

‘It is important that the talks have a constructive dynamic and that all issues were discussed openly and with a clear focus on ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and national interests. I am grateful to the United States, to President Trump’s team, and to the President personally for the time that is being invested so intensively in defining the steps to end the war. We will continue working. I look forward to receiving a full report from our team during a personal meeting.’

Sunday’s talks came just hours after another deadly Russian strike on Kyiv killed at least one person and wounded 19, including four children, Euronews reported.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the war has left huge areas of Ukraine devastated and roughly 20% of its territory under occupation.

Congress will return to Washington, D.C., next week entering into a dead sprint to wrap up work before the year’s end, to cap off a blistering, often dramatic year on the Hill.

Both chambers will have three working weeks before again fleeing from the growing chill in Washington to their respective districts and states. And lawmakers have some of the biggest challenges of the year left to finish.

Perhaps the biggest looming legislative fight will be how lawmakers approach the expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which dominated the recently-ended government shutdown.

Neither side has produced a fulsome plan on how to tackle the subsidies, though some solutions from Republicans, like funneling the subsidy funding into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), have been floated.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged last week that producing a solution would be a steep hurdle, and reiterated his commitment to Senate Democrats that they would get a vote on whatever proposal they produce no later than the second week in December.

Thune noted that ‘the one thing that unites’ the GOP is the belief that the subsidies need to be reformed and that rising healthcare costs need to be dealt with.

‘I think the affordability issue is a big issue,’ Thune said. ‘I think it’s been exacerbated by the way that Obamacare has been structured through the years, including the way that enhanced subsidies were structured by going directly to insurance companies and incentivizing them to enroll people without their knowledge.’

And the White House also has its own plan, which was expected to be rolled out earlier this week, but sidelined over reportedly disgruntled Republicans who disliked the proposed language.

When asked about specifics of the plan, and it was scrapped, a White House official told Fox News Digital that ‘there was never a healthcare announcement listed on [Monday’s] daily guidance.’

But the rumblings of a plan from President Donald Trump and the administration have encouraged some Senate Democrats.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who originally proposed legislation to extend the subsidies, said that she was glad that the president was making an effort to ensure the credits don’t sunset by the end of the year.

‘I’ve had constructive conversations with many of my Republican colleagues who I believe want to get this done,’ Shaheen said in a statement. ‘They understand that the vast majority of people who benefit from these tax credits live in states the President won, and that the President’s own pollsters have underscored the enormous political urgency of Republicans acting.’

But the Obamacare issue is not the only issue Congress faces. Lawmakers are eyeing passage of the annual National Defense Authorization Act by the end of the year, the Senate is considering another package of Trump’s nominees and another package of spending bills is expected on the horizon, too.

That package of four bills, which is expected to include the Defense, Labor, Transportation and Commerce funding bills, would be a massive step toward averting yet another deadline to fund the government by Jan. 30, 2026.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said earlier this month that there was also an ‘interest on the House side’ to move the bills.

‘The more appropriations bills that we’re able to pass, the better off we’re going to be, the better off the American people will be served,’ she said.

There are also some lingering issues that could pose surprises before the year’s end, including how Congress will handle Russia sanctions and the controversial provision in the package that reopened the government that would allow senators to sue for upwards of $500,000 if their records were requested without notification.

On the sanctions front, the Senate has overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation that Trump appears to support, but there’s a possible disconnect between Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on where the legislation should originate.

Thune believed it’d be better suited in the House given that it’s a revenue-geared bill, while Johnson warned that it would be time-consuming to pass the bill in the lower chamber because of how many different committees it would have to move through.

Some in the Senate are already looking ahead to next year, when lawmakers will be in full midterm election mode. Another crack at budget reconciliation, the process used to pass Trump’s marquee ‘big, beautiful bill,’ has been floated, but whether there is broad buy-in from congressional Republicans remains in the air.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said that it would be ‘legislative malpractice’ to not undertake the grueling process once more.

‘It’s just exquisitely dumb,’ Kennedy said. ‘Why would you not take advantage of an opportunity to pass something with 51 votes? That doesn’t mean that our Democratic colleagues can’t join with us, but if they don’t, they can’t filibuster. Did I mention it’s exquisitely dumb?’

The Trump administration harshly criticized the United Kingdom over its handling of mass immigration and the long-running rape gang scandal that has victimized white girls across the country.

In a statement posted to X, the U.S. State Department called on its Europe-based diplomats to track the effects of rampant immigration. While the statement zeroed in on the U.K., it also highlighted similar problems in Germany and Sweden.

‘The State Department instructed U.S. embassies to report on the human rights implications and public safety impacts of mass migration,’ the statement read. ‘Officials will also report policies that punish citizens who object to continued mass migration and document crimes and human rights abuses committed by people of a migration background.’

The statement referenced the so-called ‘grooming gangs’ made up of mostly Pakistani men who have victimized young girls for decades, with little action taken by the government.

‘In the United Kingdom, thousands of girls have been victimized in Rotherham, Oxford, and Newcastle by grooming gangs involving migrant men,’ the State Department said. ‘Many girls were left to suffer unspeakable abuse for years before authorities stepped in.’

A day after the statement, GB News reported that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters at the G20 in South Africa that the national inquiry would ‘leave no stone unturned.’

The State Department’s warning comes weeks after several victims — who were members of the independent inquiry — resigned over what they claimed was a continuation of a cover-up. 

One abuse survivor, Ellie Reynolds, told cable channel GMB that the existence of grooming gangs has been ‘brushed under the carpet’ and that ‘our voices have been silenced.’

She was supported by fellow survivor Fiona Goddard, who was groomed from the age of 14, and said that when she spoke out for help she was dismissed as a ‘child prostitute’ by authorities.

Goddard resigned to protest the cover-up, saying members of the grooming gangs near Bradford were in the ‘vast majority … Pakistani men.’

Successive governments — both Conservative and Labour — have been dealing with the revelations for years that a number of grooming gangs, often consisting mostly of men of South Asian or Pakistani heritage, have sexually exploited girls for decades across the north of England.

Prior to the inquiry, Starmer had commissioned a national audit led by Baroness Louise Casey earlier this year. 

On the hot-button issue of the backgrounds of the criminals, the Casey report stated in part, ‘We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data.’

It continued: ‘Despite the lack of a full picture in the national data sets, there is enough evidence available in local police data in three police force areas which we examined which show disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation, as well as in the significant number of perpetrators of Asian ethnicity identified in local reviews and high-profile child sexual exploitation prosecutions across the country, to at least warrant further examination.’

Her audit also identified other perpetrators, including White British, European, African or Middle Eastern individuals.

The results of the audit produced 12 recommendations to the government, which have been implemented, including a national inquiry to ‘direct local investigations and hold institutions to account for past failures.’ 

But the Starmer government has been set back by a failure to appoint a chair for the inquiry, and it has faced resignations as critics have accused the Labour government of covering it up for political reasons.

Alan Mendoza, founder of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that ‘successive governments’ have allowed ‘gangs of largely South Asian Muslims to target white British girls, claiming, ‘the Labour government doesn’t want to be seen as stigmatizing demographics or potentially losing votes.’

‘I hope that the inquiry will focus more specifically on the real issue plaguing the U.K. over the last 20 years,’ Mendoza added.

The point person for the government’s inquiry is Labour member of Parliament Jess Phillips, who has served as the parliamentary undersecretary of state for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls since July 2024.

However, Phillips is facing heavy scrutiny over how she’s handling the set-up of the inquiry.

Asked in Parliament about the nature of the inquiry and whether it will address the perpetrators’ ethnicity, she vowed to be transparent.

‘There is absolutely no sense that ethnicity will be buried away,’ Phillips said. ‘Every single time that there is an apparently needless delay — even though it took seven months to put in place chairs for both the COVID inquiry and the blood inquiry, and nobody moaned about that — it gets used to say that we want to cover something up. That is the misinformation I am talking about. It will not cover things up. We are taking time to ensure that that can never happen.’

Elon Musk weighed in on the matter in a series of X statements earlier this year, stating that Phillips, was a ‘rape genocide apologist’ and the world was witnessing ‘the worst mass crime against the people of Britain ever.’ 

Philips told the BBC that his comments were ‘disinformation’ and ‘endangering’ her, but said it was nothing compared to what the victims of the abuse had faced. 

Commentators say the challenge for the government now is to find those credible and willing to bring justice and lasting change so it won’t happen again.

Fox News Digital reached out to Phillips’ office but received no response.
 

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, an elected Democrat, is a disgrace to her office and the legal profession. She to bring down President Trump with a politically motivated indictment, but her vendetta came crashing to a pitiful end on Wednesday. Now, it is time for Willis to face maximum legal accountability.

Trump vigorously objected to the results of the 2020 presidential election in several states and during the Congressional certification process. He offered no bribes and made no threats of violence; indeed, he urged his supporters to march ‘peacefully’ to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day of the certification. Yet, Willis—a leftist hack—secured an indictment against Trump and many of his allies with an overwhelming Democrat grand jury in Atlanta. These included Trump’s loyal White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Jeff Clark, an exceptional former top Justice Department official who is facing a disgraceful disbarment effort by the District of Columbia Bar; and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, America’s greatest mayor who served as one of President Trump’s attorneys. Willis alleged a vast RICO conspiracy that could have landed President Trump and his supporters in prison for decades.

Willis had ethical issues even before her indictment. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was one of her targets, but she never got the chance to persecute him. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney disqualified Willis because she had fundraised for Jones’ Democrat opponent. This disqualification was an easy call; indeed, McBurney expressed incredulity as to what Willis possibly could have been thinking. Pete Skandalakis, head of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia (PACGA), took over the case and dismissed it after determining that Jones had not acted with criminal intent. This shameful episode would not be Willis’s most shocking lapse in judgment during this fiasco.

Willis hired her secret (and married) boyfriend Nathan Wade, who had never tried a felony case. He had been a lawyer in private practice and a municipal court judge. Somehow, he found his way onto Willis’s team, raking in $250 an hour from Fulton County taxpayers. He billed eight-hour days constantly, and he even billed 24 hours on one occasion. He wound up taking home almost $700,000. He made far more money than John Floyd, Georgia’s preeminent expert on the RICO statute. The mystery of Wade’s involvement was solved thanks to Ashleigh Merchant, an excellent attorney who represented one of Trump’s co-defendants and American patriotic warrior Mike Roman.  Merchant alleged that Willis and Wade had been having an affair and filed a motion for their disqualification.

Leftist legal analysts like the insufferable Norm Eisen scoffed at Merchant when she filed her motion. The prosecution even sought sanctions. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee did not issue sanctions; instead, he held an evidentiary hearing. The hearing was a national disgrace. Willis could not control her rage, and McAfee had to caution her to stop her antics. The proceedings degenerated into an episode of Jerry Springer, and the salacious details of the affair were broadcast for the nation to see. Wade paid for lavish trips to the Caribbean and other luxurious places. Willis claimed that she had reimbursed Wade with cash that she kept in her house at the direction of her father, a prominent Black Panther. There are no records of any of these purported reimbursements. Willis also claimed the affair had nothing to do with the indictment, testifying that it only started after Wade’s appointment.

McAfee used the phrase ‘odor of mendacity’ to describe the testimony of Willis and Wade. He sadly split the baby, ruling that one of them would be disqualified. Wade resigned that day, meaning that Willis could stay on the case. President Trump and most codefendants appealed the decision not to disqualify Willis, and an appellate court agreed with the defendants. Willis sought review by the Georgia Supreme Court, but the justices rebuffed her earlier this year. The case was then reassigned to PACGA. Skandalakis could not find a prosecutor to take it over, so he assigned it to himself. The day before Thanksgiving, McAfee granted Skandalakis’ motion to dismiss the case in its entirety. Willis secured a few plea deals to misdemeanor charges, a pathetic result given the fanfare that the indictment initially received. Willis promised that ‘[t]he train is coming,’ but her staggering corruption, arrogance, and incompetence derailed the train.

Willis’s sham indictment devastated many lives. People with not nearly the resources of Trump faced indictment and had to shell out massive amounts to pay lawyers. They had their lives destroyed. The dismissal cannot be the last word here, and Trump’s attorney, the brilliant Steve Sadow, has made that clear. He will move for attorney’s fees and costs under Georgia Code § 17-11-6. Such fees are proper because Willis was disqualified for improper conduct, and the case was fully dismissed. Every other defendant should join Sadow’s motion. Additionally, Willis and Wade must face severe criminal accountability by the U.S. Justice Department for a conspiracy against rights under 18 U.S.C. § 241. Wade visited the Biden White House, billing 16 hours of his time to the taxpayers of Fulton County. What happened here is obvious. Willis and Wade were coordinating their farcical prosecution with Team Biden. It could not have been for any other reason, as Wade was hired as a special counsel just for this case. If Wade were billing his time to Fulton County taxpayers for his Biden White House meeting for an unrelated matter to the Trump case, Wade committed fraud. Willis hired her lover, who kicked back some of his unearned salary to finance lavish trips for himself and Willis. The U.S. Justice Department has subpoenaed records from Willis, and a grand jury must promptly investigate and indict these corrupt public (dis-)servants.

President Trump objected to an election he thought had been stolen. Democrats did the same in 1969, 2001, 2005, and 2017—yet, none faced indictment. Such objections are allowed under the First Amendment and the Electoral Count Act. It is only illegal to object to elections in third-world Marxist hellholes. Willis and Wade were neck-deep in the Republic-ending lawfare conspiracy against Trump that tore apart our nation. They failed, but they cannot walk away from their despicable actions. Justice must come their way swiftly and severely. They could not wait to post President Trump’s mugshot, and the time has come for theirs.

Lawyer up, Fani. Justice is coming. Nobody is above the law.

The Trump administration announced a sweeping federal civil-rights agreement Friday with Northwestern University, requiring the school to pay $75 million and protect students and staff from any ‘race-based admissions practices’ and a ‘hostile educational environment directed toward Jewish students.’

The Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Education (DOE) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement the agreement was intended to safeguard Northwestern from unlawful discrimination’ and calls for the university to ‘maintain clear policies and procedures relating to demonstrations, protests, displays, and other expressive activities,’ as well as the implementation of mandatory antisemitism training.

‘Today’s settlement marks another victory in the Trump Administration’s fight to ensure that American educational institutions protect Jewish students and put merit first,’ Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. ‘Institutions that accept federal funds are obligated to follow civil rights law — we are grateful to Northwestern for negotiating this historic deal.’

Northwestern will pay its $75 million to the United States through 2028.

The new agreement comes after the Trump administration previously secured a $221 million settlement with Columbia University to resolve multiple federal civil rights investigations. That deal includes a $200 million payment over three years for alleged discriminatory practices and $21 million to settle claims of antisemitic employment discrimination against Jewish faculty after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel. 

DOE Secretary Linda McMahon called the Northwestern agreement ‘a huge win for current and future Northwestern students, alumni, faculty, and for the future of American higher education.’

‘The deal cements policy changes that will protect students and other members of the campus from harassment and discrimination, and it recommits the school to merit-based hiring and admissions,’ she said in a statement. ‘The reforms reflect bold leadership at Northwestern and they are a roadmap for institutional leaders around the country that will help rebuild public trust in our colleges and universities.’

Northwestern directed Fox News Digital to a statement made by university president Henry Bienen reacting to the agreement, saying it would restore hundreds of millions of dollars in critical research funding.

‘This is not an agreement the University enters into lightly, but one that was made based on institutional values,’ Bienen stated. ‘As an imperative to the negotiation of this agreement, we had several hard red lines we refused to cross: We would not relinquish any control over whom we hire, whom we admit as students, what our faculty teach or how our faculty teach. I would not have signed this agreement without provisions ensuring that is the case.’

Bienen added, ‘Northwestern runs Northwestern. Period.’

The university president also said the $75 million payment ‘is not an admission of guilt, but simply a condition of the agreement.’ He noted that Northwestern ‘has not been found in violation of any laws and expressly denies liability regarding all allegations in the now-closed investigations.’

In its statement announcing the agreement, DOJ said federal agencies would close their pending investigations and treat Northwestern as eligible for future grants, contracts and awards.

The Trump administration previously put a freeze on approximately $790 million from Northwestern University and over $1 billion in federal funding from Cornell University over potential civil rights investigations at both prestigious schools.

President Donald Trump announced on Friday he is terminating all documents allegedly signed by former President Joe Biden with the autopen.

In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed 92% of documents signed during Biden’s presidency were done so with the device.

‘The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States,’ Trump wrote. ‘The Radical Left Lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him.’

Trump said he is canceling all executive orders and ‘anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.’

The autopen device, which holds a real pen and signs paper using a handwriting template, automatically reproduces a person’s signature with high accuracy.

The U.S. government has used autopens since the Truman administration, and the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel previously confirmed use of the device is legal for presidential signatures on legislation and executive acts, so long as it is authorized by the president.

However, Trump claimed Biden did not approve the signatures, and threatened to charge him with perjury if he says he was involved in the autopen process.

During Biden’s presidency, he signed 162 executive orders, in addition to hundreds of memoranda, proclamations and notices.

Though Trump signed an executive order in January rescinding nearly 80 Biden-era executive orders, some of those that appear to remain in full force, and may now be subject to cancelation, include: Executive Order 14087, which lowers prescription drug costs in the U.S.; Executive Order 14096, which centers around environmental justice; and Executive Order 14110, which cracks down on the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI).

It is unclear who will validate the signatures on documents allegedly signed by Biden.

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

The end of the shutdown delivered something rare in Washington: a second chance to get healthcare right. As part of the agreement to reopen the government, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., committed to holding a vote in December on extending the enhanced premium tax credits in the individual market. That creates an opportunity to avoid steep premium hikes and to begin building a system that works better for patients. 

For Democrats who voted to end the shutdown, the incentives are straightforward. They want to show that their compromise leads to real relief for families facing higher premiums. They will look for a deal that solves the problem in front of them, but they will back away if Republicans turn the bill into another fight over repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The task now is to fix what is broken, not revisit old conflicts. 

This moment also gives Republicans a chance to show they can govern. Healthcare costs are a major driver of the affordability crisis facing families. They reduce take-home pay, increase the price of goods and services, and push both households and governments deeper into debt. Employers, who carry most of the cost of coverage for people under 65, feel the pressure directly, and workers feel it in their wages. 

President Donald Trump has already outlined an important principle: instead of routing federal subsidies through insurance companies, direct that support to individuals so they can choose the care and coverage that work best for them. Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott has made a similar argument, calling on Republicans to fix Obamacare. Combined with growing bipartisan support for price transparency, these ideas point toward a practical strategy that empowers patients and employers and encourages a more competitive market.

Today’s system moves in the other direction. Prices are hidden, administrative layers keep expanding and incentives are misaligned in ways that guarantee prices will rise year after year. These problems are especially severe in the individual market, which has fewer participants, a less healthy risk pool and limited plan competition. Making this market functional again requires more enrollment, more choices and more transparency. 

The December vote is the right moment to begin that shift. A package that addresses the immediate subsidy issue and lays the groundwork for long-term reform is both achievable and necessary. There are practical solutions already developed by center-right institutions such as the America First Policy Institute, the Paragon Institute, leaders in Congress and Trump’s policy proposals. 

The first step is a responsible phase-out of the enhanced premium tax credits through 2026. This avoids an abrupt cutoff and gives the rest of the reforms time to take effect.

Second, Congress should adopt a proposal from the Paragon Institute to restore and reform the Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments in Obamacare, giving qualifying enrollees the option to receive their CSR subsidies directly into a health savings account (HSA). This one change addresses several problems at once. 

It lowers premiums and reduces federal costs. When CSR payments were halted in 2017, insurers responded by sharply raising premiums on silver plans, a practice known as ‘silver loading.’ Because premium tax credits are tied to the price of silver plans, this increased federal spending. A 2018 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found that restoring CSR funding would reduce the federal deficit by about $30 billion over a decade. Providing the funding is less expensive than continuing the current workaround. 

It also creates the budget space needed to phase out the enhanced premium tax credits in a responsible way. The savings could be used to fund the phase-out or to provide more generous HSA contributions from the CSRs to strengthen support for lower-income Americans. 

Most importantly, it empowers patients. According to Paragon, the typical annual HSA contribution for someone receiving CSR assistance would be about $2,000. That is meaningful support that families can control directly. If they remain healthy, unused dollars stay in the account and continue to grow. If they get sick, they can use the funds for out-of-pocket costs. Because the money belongs to them, they have a clear incentive to compare prices and choose high-value care, which encourages greater competition among providers.

Next, Congress should strengthen the individual market’s risk pool by expanding affordable choices. That means allowing any health plan approved by the state insurance commissioner to be included in the exchanges, expanding access to copper plans, adjusting age-rating rules so younger people pay less, and modernizing individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs) so more small businesses can offer coverage. Practical changes, such as letting employees choose between an ICHRA and a traditional group plan, allowing workers to contribute pretax dollars to close premium gaps and removing unnecessary COBRA requirements, would make ICHRAs more attractive.  

The first step is a responsible phase-out of the enhanced premium tax credits through 2026. This avoids an abrupt cutoff and gives the rest of the reforms time to take effect.

Finally, these reforms should be paired with the bipartisan Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, sponsored by Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and Colorado Democrat Sen. John Hickenlooper. The bill would strengthen enforcement of price transparency rules so small businesses, self-funded employers and new purchasing groups can contract directly with providers and transparent pharmacies. This would reduce costs, remove middle men, and increase competition.

This is a moment for practical governing. The shutdown deal did not only reopen the government. It opened a door. If Republicans take this opportunity, they can solve a real problem for millions of Americans and begin a long-overdue transition to a health system that puts patients, not bureaucracies, in charge. 

December’s vote could be the start of that transition. It should be. 

Disclaimer: Gingrich 360 has consulting clients in the healthcare industry which may be impacted by changes to healthcare laws. 

President Donald Trump pardoned two turkeys Tuesday — Gobble and Waddle — as part of an annual tradition that has occurred at the White House for more than 35 years. 

The Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning is a ceremony originating from the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation dating back to the 1940s, when the National Turkey Federation would present the president with a live turkey for Thanksgiving. 

President John F. Kennedy is often credited with pardoning the first turkey in 1963, when he said that he would ‘let this one grow.’ Although Kennedy didn’t use the word ‘pardon,’ the L.A. Times reported on the matter with the headline, ‘Turkey gets presidential pardon,’ according to an NBC News archive. 

President Ronald Reagan also made a joke about pardoning that year’s turkey, Charlie, in response to a question from a reporter, according to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum.

‘If they’d given me a different answer on Charlie and his future, I would have pardoned him,’ Reagan said in 1987. 

However, the tradition was codified during George H.W. Bush’s administration, according to the White House Historical Association. Bush used the word pardon, and the tradition continued each year afterward. 

‘But let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy — he’s presented a presidential pardon as of right now — and allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here,’ Bush said in 1989. 

Gobble and Waddle clocked in at 50 pounds and 52 pounds each, and traveled from North Carolina to the Washington’s Willard InterContinental Hotel for the annual tradition. Following the pardoning, they will head to North Carolina State University’s Prestage Department of Poultry Science.

During the ceremony in the Rose Garden, Trump also took aim at former President Joe Biden, and said Biden used the autopen to pardon the 2024 turkeys, and as a result those pardons were ‘totally invalid.’ 

As a result, Trump quipped that he had pardoned those turkeys too, and said he ‘saved them in the nick of time.’

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would not invite South Africa to the 2026 G-20 summit in Florida, citing alleged ‘horrific human rights abuses.’

‘To put it more bluntly, they are killing white people and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them,’ Trump alleged in a Truth Social post. ‘At my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G-20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year,’ he added.

The Embassy of South Africa did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Clayson Monyela, head of diplomacy for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, dismissed the notion that South Africa could be shut out.

‘South Africa is a founding member of the G-20. We don’t get invited to G-20 meetings and leaders summit. Those are gatherings of members. If other members allow this then the G-20 will die,’ Monyela told Fox News Digital.

‘Other countries have already told us that they too will boycott the U.S. G-20 if South Africa is excluded,’ Monyela added.

If carried out, the move would break with more than two decades of precedent and mark the first time a member has been formally excluded from the gathering of the world’s major economies.

The G-20, which brings together major advanced and emerging economies and accounts for roughly 80% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population, has historically operated on the principle of inclusion.

That tradition already was strained after the U.S. boycott of the 2025 meeting held in Johannesburg earlier in November.

The Trump administration argued that the country’s government had failed to address violence and discrimination it claimed was occurring in rural farming communities. Additionally, the U.S. objected to the meeting’s focus on climate and development issues rather than core economic priorities.

The boycott marked a notable break from past U.S. engagement, leaving the world’s largest economy missing from a key forum for global economic policymaking.

Trump also said in the same Truth Social post that he would halt U.S. payments to South Africa.

‘South Africa has demonstrated to the world they are not a country worthy of membership anywhere and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately,’ Trump wrote.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for further details.

It remains unclear how the move will affect the country’s standing within the G-20 or broader U.S.–South Africa relations ahead of the 2026 summit in Florida.

Relations between Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have steadily deteriorated in recent months.

In February, Trump suspended U.S. aid to South Africa, alleging discrimination against White farmers. Tensions escalated again in March when the State Department expelled the South African ambassador, labeling him ‘persona non grata.’

In May, the two leaders clashed in the Oval Office when Trump pressed Ramaphosa over allegations that White Afrikaners were being targeted and killed in South Africa. 

Ramaphosa pushed back, telling Trump he had seen no evidence to support those claims.

Paul Tilsley contributed to this report from Johannesburg, South Africa.

A local Namibian politician named Adolf Hitler Uunona is widely expected to retain his council seat in the country’s latest round of regional elections, drawing international attention for a name he says carries no ideological meaning.

A longtime member of Namibia’s ruling SWAPO party, he is running again in the Ompundja constituency in the northern Oshana region. 

While final tallies have not yet been released, several international outlets report he is projected to win by a wide margin, consistent with previous elections. SWAPO, which has governed Namibia since independence in 1990, has shifted from its socialist liberation roots toward a more centrist, market-oriented governing approach.

His German dictator-linked name — ‘Adolf Hitler’ — was given to him by his father, he told the German outlet Bild, who he claimed did not understand the historical weight the name carried.

‘It was a perfectly normal name for me when I was a kid,’ Uunona told Bild. ‘It wasn’t until I grew older that I realized this man wanted to subjugate the whole world and killed millions of Jews.’

He said his childhood name reflected no political intent and stressed that he has never held extremist beliefs. 

‘The fact I have this name does not mean I want to conquer Oshana,’ he said, adding in earlier interviews he generally goes by Adolf Uunona in daily life.

Namibia was a German colony from 1884 to 1915, and Germanic names and place names remain common in some communities. Historians note that this legacy sometimes results in unusual or jarring combinations by modern standards, though they carry no inherent ideological meaning.

According to official information from the Oshana regional government, the Ompundja constituency has 4,659 inhabitants, 19 administrative centers and covers 466 square kilometers.