Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday revealed his decision on the House’s forthcoming vote on forcing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Johnson told reporters at his weekly press conference that he would vote in favor of the bill, despite concerns about what he saw as lackluster protections for victims and other innocent people whose names may be released against their own wishes.

‘I’m going to vote to move this forward,’ Johnson said.

‘I think it could be close to a unanimous vote, because everybody here, all the Republicans, want to go on record to show their from maximum transparency.’

The vote is expected on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m.

The legislation is a bipartisan product by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky. Massie has been known to be a frequent critic of both Johnson and President Donald Trump.

Despite that, Trump gave House Republicans his blessing to vote for the bill on Sunday night. 

House GOP leaders had vehemently opposed the legislation for months, arguing it was written in a way that did not provide sufficient protections for innocents while also claiming it was unnecessary given the ongoing bipartisan investigation into Epstein’s crimes.

That probe, led by the House Oversight Committee, has produced tens of thousands of pages of documents both from the DOJ and Epstein’s estate.

Johnson made clear he still held concerns about the bill’s language and said he hoped it would be changed when the legislation was sent to the Senate.

‘We stated our opposition as long as possible, but we’re also for maximum transparency. So what am I to do as a leader in a situation like this?’ the speaker said.

‘I’m very confident that when this moves forward in the process, if and when it is processed in the Senate — which there’s no certainty that that will be — that they will take the time methodically to do what we have not been allowed to do in the House, to amend this discharge petition and to make sure these protections are there.’

He warned it could have a ‘chilling effect’ on future investigations as well.

‘Who’s going to want to come forward if they think Congress can take a political exercise and reveal their identities? Who’s going to come talk to prosecutors? It’s very dangerous. It would deter future whistleblowers and informants,’ he said. ‘The release of that could also publicly reveal the identity, by the way, of undercover law enforcement officers who are working in future operations.’

Johnson said he brought his concerns to Massie and Khanna but was told, in essence, ‘Jump in the Potomac.’

Massie and Khanna, for their part, held a press conference alongside one of the bill’s GOP supporters, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Tuesday morning.

‘Don’t muck it up in the Senate. Don’t get too cute. We’re all paying attention,’ Massie warned. ‘If you want to add some additional protections for these survivors, go for it. But if you do anything that prevents any disclosure, you are not for the people, and you are not part of this effort. Do not muck it up in the Senate.’

Rap star Nicki Minaj is garnering praise for using her platform to shed light on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

Ahead of Minaj’s scheduled appearance at the United Nations with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Knox Thames, a human rights lawyer, thanked the rapper for the attention that she and other stars, like Bill Maher, have brought to the issue.

‘The challenges in Nigeria have been happening for decades, and they’ve largely been ignored. So I welcome these unsuspecting allies shining a light on this,’ Thames said of the celebrities.

Thames, who served as a State Department special advisor for religious minorities under former President George W. Bush, former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, said that in Nigeria, ‘the body count is just too high to ignore.’ While he would not say definitively that what is happening in Nigeria is a genocide, he said it is something that must be addressed.

‘This question of, ‘is there a Christian genocide happening?’ It’s a legal question. Genocide is defined by international law, and scholars will debate that. But what’s undeniable is that in the last 20 years, thousands of Christians have been killed, and the body count is just too high to ignore,’ Thames said.

Trump announced in late October that he was designating Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern,’ citing the widespread killings of Christians in the West African nation.

‘Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Oct. 31. ‘The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our great Christian population around the world!’

Following the announcement, Minaj said the president’s statement made her ‘feel a deep sense of gratitude.’

‘Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God. No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion. We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other,’ Minaj wrote.

On Tuesday, Minaj will address the United Nations on the issue of the persecution of Nigerian Christians.

Waltz, who said he was a fan of the rapper, said on X, ‘I’m grateful she’s leveraging her massive platform to spotlight the atrocities against Christians in Nigeria, and I look forward to standing with her as we discuss the steps the President and his administration are taking to end the persecution of our Christian brothers and sisters.’

Minaj replied, ‘Ambassador, I am so grateful to be entrusted with an opportunity of this magnitude. I do not take it for granted. It means more than you know. The Barbz and I will never stand down in the face of injustice. We’ve been given our influence by God. There must be a bigger purpose.’

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

There’s no business quite like the U.S. arms business and no audience roars louder in approval than Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump is expected to close several deals with Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a visit that could see billions more in U.S. weapons flow to one of the world’s most prolific importers of military hardware.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that the U.S. will likely move forward with a deal to sell F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia.

The F-35, the crown jewel in Lockheed Martin’s portfolio, is among the most advanced fighter jets in the world and one of the most sought-after symbols of U.S. military might.

Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich monarchy is one of America’s most crucial strategic partners in the Middle East and one of the U.S. defense industry’s most dependable customers.

For Washington, the partnership means billions in defense revenue and a key ally in the Gulf. For Riyadh, it’s a pipeline to the world’s most advanced military technology and a symbol of its ambition to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s military powers in a volatile region.

According to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, between 2020 and 2024, Saudi Arabia was the top buyer of American-made arms, accounting for 12% of all U.S. weapons exports, followed by Ukraine (9.3%) and Japan (8.8%). The U.S. was also by far the kingdom’s main supplier, providing 74% of all Saudi arms imports during that period.

That level of spending underscores Saudi Arabia’s regional military ambitions, but globally, it’s the U.S. that dominates by an extraordinary margin.

With $997 billion in defense spending in 2024, the U.S. outspent every other nation several times over, investing more than triple what China, the world’s second-largest spender, devoted to its military.

Beyond defense spending, the U.S. also leads the world in arms exports, responsible for nearly half of all major weapons sold globally between 2020 and 2024. In total, 162 nations purchased major weapons systems, but just five importers, Ukraine, India, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, accounted for 35% of global imports, highlighting how concentrated the world’s arms trade remains.

The crown prince serves as the kingdom’s powerful understudy to his 89-year-old father, King Salman. Widely regarded as Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, he manages nearly all daily affairs of state and frequently represents the kingdom in international summits and diplomatic meetings.

Tuesday’s meetings will mark the crown prince’s first visit to the White House in more than seven years. 

The two last met in May, when Trump made his first state visit of his second term to Riyadh. He was welcomed with a fighter jet escort, an honor guard wielding golden swords and a parade of Arabian horses flanking his limousine.

It was a scene that captured the enduring spectacle of U.S.–Saudi ties, a partnership as opulent as it is strategic and one that remains vital to both nations’ ambitions.

The House Freedom Caucus is rallying behind one of its own members’ push to impeach U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, introduced an impeachment resolution against Boasberg last month for his role in Arctic Frost, a code name for ex-special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into President Donald Trump and the 2020 election.

Gill argued Boasberg acted in a partisan fashion when he signed off on subpoenas and gag orders related to the investigation, including subpoenas for phone records from several Republican legislators in Congress — the news of which was made public in documents released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, this year.

But it’s not immediately clear whether the push to impeach Boasberg is strong enough to launch an actual pressure campaign on House GOP leaders.

‘It absolutely should be done,’ House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital last week. ‘I think this is levels above what we thought was going on. His bias is pretty clear, someone with that kind of bias cannot exist in the federal judiciary.’

But Harris signaled it would not be an issue the conservative group would pressure House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on anytime soon.

‘No, we have other issues as well. We’re concentrated right now on the fiscal issues,’ Harris said when asked if he would bring the issue to House leaders. ‘But we have discussed that, and there is broad support to impeach the judge.’

Still, his conservative caucus appears largely supportive.

‘I think there’s considerable movement over here, particularly in light of, actually the genesis here, Arctic Frost … the massive concerns we have with what the judge is doing — just making up facts out of thin air and assumptions based on motives that have no basis,’ House Freedom Caucus Policy Chairman Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who is also running for governor of South Carolina, told Fox News Digital, ‘I hope so,’ when asked if this impeachment push would be stronger than the last.

‘He’s so partisan. He’s one of the rogue judges that exist today,’ Norman said. ‘There are consequences for what he did.’

Meanwhile, Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., pointed out that he was one of the earliest supporters of impeaching judges who conservatives saw as casting overly partisan rulings in the Trump era.

‘I think a lot of these judges have gone way out of bounds and violated their oaths. I’m in support of it, yeah,’ he told Fox News Digital.

He was more cautious when asked if it would yield results. ‘I don’t tend to have confidence in anything around here until I see action taken. Talk is cheap,’ Crane said.

Gill was one of several House Freedom Caucus members to introduce impeachment resolutions against Boasberg this past spring, when he issued an order temporarily blocking Trump’s deportation flights to El Salvador. 

At the time, however, Johnson warned Republicans that impeachment was not the most practical way to curb ‘rogue judges’ — pointing out that removal would require support in the Senate that simply was not there.

Instead, House GOP leaders rallied around a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., subcommittee chair of the House Judiciary panel’s subcommittee on courts.

That legislation, aimed at limiting the power of district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions, passed the House in early April but was never taken up in the Senate.

Issa himself cautioned against moving too quickly toward impeachment when asked by Fox News Digital last week.

‘We have a number of rogue judges, and I think before we talk about impeachment, with so many people seeing wrongdoing, both the House and the Senate need to hold appropriate hearings and evaluate just what the proper definition of good behavior is and whether not just one, but multiple judges, may have clearly violated that,’ Issa said. ‘I think that’s the right way to approach it.’

Issa said he was ‘looking at’ holding a hearing on the matter when lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill after Thanksgiving.

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. Courts system, which declined to comment for this story.

House Republicans are cautiously supportive of a bipartisan bill aimed at forcing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all its files on Jeffrey Epstein’s case after President Donald Trump gave the bill his stamp of approval on Sunday night.

GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital Monday evening said they would vote for the bill and were optimistic their colleagues would as well — though many of them said they still had concerns about how it was written.

It comes after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who had been against the bill but pushing parallel transparency efforts in Epstein’s case, said he hoped it would undergo material changes when it reached the Senate to give more protection for innocent people whose names may appear in the files against their wishes.

‘I have real concerns about the discharge language in the House draft,’ Johnson said. ‘But I do have some comfort that, I think if and when it’s processed in the Senate, that they’ll be able to correct some of those concerns, if we have the protection of victims and whistleblowers and all the rest.’

The legislation is coming to the House floor on Tuesday afternoon via a mechanism called a discharge petition led by Rep Ro. Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. The latter has found himself at odds with both Johnson and Trump on several key issues this year.

A discharge petition allows a bill to get a House-wide vote against leaders’ wishes, provided the petition gets support from most lawmakers in the chamber — which in this case, it did last week.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a Trump ally who is running for governor in Florida, said he would vote for the bill but shared Johnson’s concerns.

‘Number one, Congress has never released criminal files ever in the history of Congress. Two, there are victims, and I know we’re supposed to be trying to do what we can to sanitize their names or cover their names or redact their names, but you know, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be foolproof,’ Donalds said.

‘You could have victims that don’t want to be released, be identified, and then they have to go relive this again. What about those women? What if those women have kids now? What if those women have husbands now and they don’t want to go through this? So I think there’s a reason why political bodies don’t release criminal files.’

Donalds said he would vote to release the files, however, to move past this chapter and help victims get closure.

‘It’s become such a huge distraction here on Capitol Hill. And I do want to see justice for those victims, if they were abused,’ he said.

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Fla., said, ‘I’m gonna vote in favor of it, but it’s not perfect, and there’s a lot of things that need to be addressed.’

‘Transparency is key. My district needs transparency. The president has nothing to hide, but things that need to be fixed, have to be fixed in the Senate,’ Pfluger, who pledged to support the bill before Trump’s blessing, said.

Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., said she had similar concerns ‘from the start.’

‘Once it goes to the Senate, if the Senate believes they need to have broader or, you know, bigger protections, then I think that’ll be up to the Senate to decide, but I’m ready to vote this out of the House and send it over to the Senate and get moving on it,’ Houchin said.

A member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., questioned whether such a move by Congress could get in the way of the DOJ’s active probes into Epstein.

‘I have concerns as well. I mean, you have the Department of Justice investigations taking place. Are we inadvertently interfering?’ he posed.

Ogles said, however, that he believed most House Republicans like himself would back the bill.

‘With the president coming out in support of it, I think that sends a clear message that he’s not afraid of what’s in it, the Democrats should be,’ he said.

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., similarly said he believed Trump’s support alleviated some difficulties for Republicans.

‘I think it releases any angst they might have when we’re voting for it,’ McCormick said. ‘I think most people will vote for it, I don’t think it’s going to be a controversial bill at all.’

Houchin told Fox News Digital, ‘I think he moved the needle tremendously, just to say, you know, let’s have a vote on it and let’s stop talking about it.’

But Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., disagreed that Trump’s support had a significant effect on shifting the tide.

‘I mean, maybe a little bit, but I think people were largely there anyway,’ Fry said. ‘We talked about this on the campaign trail, The guy was a total dirtbag, did unspeakable atrocities on women in our country, and the public wants closure…this has been the most transparent Congress and administration on this subject in the country’s history.’

Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night, ‘House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax.’

It appeared to lead to Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who notably said he would oppose the measure on Friday, changing his mind as of Monday night. He told reporters ‘everybody’ would vote in favor of the bill and pointed out, ‘Donald Trump made a decision.’

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who was leading the Johnson-backed probe into Epstein, appeared similarly resigned on Monday.

‘At this point, I just think the best thing to do — there’s so much media frenzy and curiosity about this, and you know, the survivors act like they want everything to come out. I want everything to come out….any other villains in this, we’ll try to figure out what we can,’ he said.

And Massie told reporters that same evening that he would be open but cautious about any changes to his bill in the Senate.

‘If the Senate wants to improve this bill without limiting the disclosure, that would be fine by me. But if they try to monkey it up, I think those senators are gonna get in front of a freight train and be in a lot of trouble with their supporters,’ he warned.

Massie told Fox News Digital of Johnson’s concerns, ‘He needs to be for it or against it. I think he’s going to vote for it, so he must think there’s more good than bad.’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has not yet said what he would do if the bill passed the House on Tuesday.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday adopted a U.S.-backed resolution to end the Gaza war and deploy an international stabilization force after Ambassador Mike Waltz urged members to support what he called ‘a bold, pragmatic blueprint’ born from President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

In an address to the council, Waltz described Gaza as ‘a hell on earth’ after two years of conflict, saying the resolution offered the world a chance to replace ‘rubble where schools once stood’ with ‘a path to peace.’ The measure passed 14–0, with two abstentions — including Russia — and was adopted.

‘Voting yes today isn’t just endorsing a plan,’ Waltz said. ‘It’s affirming our shared humanity. A vote against this resolution is a vote to return to war.’

The plan, developed through U.S.-led diplomacy with Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia, establishes a multinational stabilization force to secure Gaza, oversee demilitarization and protect civilians as Israel gradually withdraws.

Waltz said many of the peacekeepers will come from Muslim-majority nations, including Indonesia and Azerbaijan.

He credited Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff with brokering the deal, which has already produced what he called ‘tangible results’ — a holding ceasefire and the release of 45 hostages by Hamas. Waltz said the United States remains committed to ensuring the return of the remaining hostages still believed to be held in Gaza.

‘This resolution charts a path for Palestinian self-determination after the Palestinian Authority completes key reforms,’ Waltz said. ‘It dismantles Hamas’s grip and ensures Gaza rises free from terror’s shadow — prosperous and secure.’

Following the vote, Waltz thanked Council members for what he called ‘a historic and constructive resolution’ and praised the coalition of nations that supported Trump’s plan.

He said the Board of Peace, which will be led by the president, ‘remains the cornerstone of our effort’ to rebuild Gaza and establish accountable local governance.

The board will coordinate humanitarian assistance, oversee reconstruction, and support a technocratic Palestinian committee responsible for day-to-day administration while the Palestinian Authority implements its reforms. Waltz said the stabilization force will ‘dismantle terrorist infrastructure, decommission weapons, and maintain the safety of Palestinian civilians.’

‘The path to prosperity requires security first,’ Waltz said. ‘Security is the oxygen that governance and development need to live and thrive.’

Russia abstained from the vote after circulating a rival draft. Waltz said hesitation and delay would only ‘cost lives,’ adding that ‘every day without this force, aid trucks lie idle, children starve, and extremists regroup.’

Trump praised the U.N. Security Council’s passage of the Gaza peace resolution Monday, calling it ‘one of the biggest approvals in the history of the United Nations.’

In a post on Truth Social, Trump congratulated world leaders and said the creation of the Board of Peace, which he will chair, represents ‘a moment of true historic proportion.’

Trump said the board will include ‘the most powerful and respected leaders throughout the world’ and pledged to announce additional members in the coming weeks. He thanked both Security Council members and partner nations — including Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Turkey, and Jordan — for backing the plan.

‘This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the history of the United Nations,’ Trump wrote. ‘It will lead to further peace all over the world and is a moment of true historic proportion.’

Trump’s message echoed the themes laid out by Waltz, who credited the president’s leadership and diplomacy for uniting regional powers behind the peace initiative.

‘President Trump’s historic 20-point plan marks the beginning of a strong, stable, and prosperous region,’ Waltz said. ‘Under President Trump’s bold leadership, the United States will continue to deliver results alongside our partners to make lasting peace a reality.’

Facilities designed to discourage abortion have seen tens of thousands of additional clients in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs ruling, according to a study published Monday.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the pro-life organization SBA Pro-Life America, found in its annual report that the facilities, often known as pregnancy resource centers, surpassed one million clients for the first time in 2024.

That total is up from 974,965 in 2022, when the high court scrapped the federal right to abortion and flipped the issue back into the hands of states. The study looked at data from roughly 3,000 facilities nationwide.

The centers poured nearly half a billion dollars into supporting their clients, and the dollar value of material goods, such as diapers, strollers and cribs, provided to clients rose 48% from 2022.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, told reporters on Monday the centers were an answer to the prevalence of abortion since Dobbs that the Charlotte Lozier Institute has attributed, at least in part, to easy access to abortion pills, which people can purchase by mail.

Pregnancy resource centers have ‘become even more important, especially with the horrific national policy that we have on the abortion drug which has led to the increase of abortions to around 1.1 million,’ Dannenfelser said.

‘You have a Planned Parenthood organization and a big abortion movement that, to the problem of addiction, says when she enters a clinic, or she goes online, ‘Here’s your pill. Have a nice life,’’ Dannenfelser said.

‘Pregnancy centers, with the support of care workers, are going to the roots of the problem, to addiction, domestic abuse, homelessness, of the problem of just physically getting to your job so that you can do your job and support your family, the question of finishing school that you find yourself needing more resources and community and help at a moment where you want to say yes to your child and you also want to say yes to your own life and its trajectory,’ she said.

Pregnancy centers have faced criticism, largely from the left, that they deceive their clients and donors into thinking they are not firmly against abortion and mislead clients about their ability to practice medicine. A lawsuit centered on that fight is pending before the Supreme Court; the high court will hear oral arguments in the case next month.

The report showed that clinics offer a range of services, from providing tangible items to adoption agency services, counseling and a variety of medical services, including abortion pill reversal, pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and STD screening.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute also said it found that more than 60% of women who have had abortions would rather have given birth if they had had more emotional and financial support.

‘When we have the courage to ask the questions of real women in the real world, this is what we find over and over and over again,’ Dannenfelser said.

President Donald Trump blamed his hoarse voice on a tense discussion with a foreign nation who attempted to renegotiate the terms of their trade deal. 

Trump sported a raspy voice during a meeting with the White House’s task force on the FIFA World Cup 2026, prompting a reporter to ask if he felt alright.

‘I feel great. I was shouting at people because they were stupid about something having to do with trade and a country, and I straightened it out, but I blew my stack at these people,’ Trump told reporters Monday.

When pressed about which country, Trump did not specify which nation sparked his ire and only said that he wasn’t pleased.

‘A country wanted to try and renegotiate the terms of their trade deal,’ Trump said. ‘And I wasn’t happy about it.’

When asked again which country, Trump said: ‘Why would I say that to you?’

The U.S. has engaged in trade talks with a number of countries in recent months, including Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia. Additionally, Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea in October, where the two hammered out some negotiations on trade between the two countries.

For example, Trump said he agreed to cut tariffs on Chinese imports by 10% — bring down the rate from 57% to 47% — because China said it would work with the U.S. on addressing the fentanyl crisis.

Likewise, Trump said that he would not impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods that were expected to kick in Nov. 1. Trump threatened the steep hike after China announced in October it would impose export controls on rare-earth magnets, which he said China had agreed to postpone by a year.

Afterward, Trump said that a broader trade deal between the two countries would be signed in the near future.

‘Zero, to 10, with 10 being the best, I’d say the meeting was a 12,’ Trump told reporters after meeting with Xi. ‘A lot of decisions were made … and we’ve come to a conclusion on very many important points.’

China’s military buildup has reached what a new congressional report calls a ‘war footing,’ with hundreds of new missile silos and expanding nuclear capabilities that could erode America’s long-standing deterrence edge in the Indo-Pacific.

China has built roughly 350 new intercontinental missile silos and expanded its nuclear warhead stockpile by 20% in the past year, part of a sweeping military expansion that the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission says could strain U.S. readiness to counter Chinese aggression.

The commission’s 2025 annual report to Congress says Beijing’s rapid nuclear buildup, combined with new artificial intelligence-driven warfare systems, is transforming the People’s Liberation Army into a force ‘capable of fighting and winning a war against the United States’ — even without matching U.S. nuclear numbers.

According to the report, China has unveiled an AI-powered electronic warfare system capable of detecting and suppressing U.S. radar signals as far as Guam, the Marshall Islands and Alaska, and is now deploying 6G-based platforms across its armed forces.

The report says China unveiled a new 6G-based electronic warfare platform in mid-2025, capable of coordinating radar jamming and signal interception across long distances. The system reportedly uses high-speed data links and artificial intelligence to synchronize attacks on U.S. and allied radar networks — a preview of what Beijing calls ‘intelligentized warfare.’

 At a military parade in Beijing this September, China for the first time displayed a full nuclear triad — missiles launchable from land, air and sea.

The commission warns these advances, paired with China’s political crackdown and economic leverage, could allow Beijing to act ‘quickly and decisively in a crisis,’ shortening the time the U.S. and its allies would have to respond to aggression.

The commission is urging Congress to require the Pentagon to conduct a full audit of U.S. readiness to defend Taiwan, warning that Washington may no longer meet its legal obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act. The report calls for a classified and unclassified assessment of whether U.S. forces could ‘resist any resort to force or coercion’ by China — even in a scenario where the United States is also facing simultaneous aggression from Russia, Iran or North Korea.

Read the report below. App users: Click here

A war over Taiwan, the commission cautions, could wipe out up to 10% of global GDP — a shock on par with the 2008 financial crisis — and carry a ‘cataclysmic’ risk of nuclear escalation and wider conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

China now holds around 600 nuclear warheads. The Pentagon has assessed China is aiming to own 1,000 by 2030. 

The report further warns that China’s economic coercion is compounding the threat, pointing to Beijing’s dominance in foundational semiconductors, rare earth minerals, and printed circuit boards. It says these dependencies could leave the United States ‘reliant on its rival for the backbone of its modern economy and military.’

Among 28 recommendations, the commission calls for Congress to bar Chinese-made components from U.S. power grids, create a unified economic statecraft agency to enforce export controls, and reaffirm diplomatic backing for Taiwan — including its partnership with the Vatican, one of Taiwan’s few remaining formal allies that Beijing has sought to isolate through church diplomacy.

‘China’s rapid military and economic mobilization shortens U.S. warning timelines,’ the report concludes, warning that without a coordinated response, America’s deterrence posture ‘risks falling short’ against Beijing’s expanding capabilities.

The late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein discussed President Donald Trump in emails released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday.

The Democrats on the committee released three emails Wednesday that Epstein’s estate provided them — prompting Republicans to release their own stash of 20,000 pages of Epstein documents hours later, while the White House accused Democrats of seeking to distract from the government shutdown.

In response, Trump announced Friday that he would direct the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s relationship with those including former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary during the Clinton administration Larry Summers and others.

‘This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,’ Trump said in a Friday Truth Social post.

Meanwhile, Clinton has denied that he ever visited Epstein’s island, and wrote in his 2024 memoir ‘Citizen’ that he wished they’d never met. Clinton has not been accused of engaging in any sexual misconduct in connection to Epstein or his victims.

A spokesperson for Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Included in the documents released Wednesday are emails between Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and correspondence with author Michael Wolff, former President Barack Obama’s White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler, among others, where Epstein mentions Trump.

‘i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. (VICTIM) spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there,’ Epstein said in an email to Maxwell in April 2011, which was provided with other correspondence to the committee by Epstein’s estate in response to a subpoena request.

‘I have been thinking about that…’ Maxwell said in response.

The ‘VICTIM’ mentioned in the emails is redacted, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News that it was a reference to Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of facilitating sexual encounters between her and some of his influential friends, including the U.K.’s then-Prince Andrew.

Giuffre died by suicide in April, but said in her memoir that was completed prior to her death and released in October that she met Trump once at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and that he ‘couldn’t have been friendlier.’ She did not accuse Trump of any misconduct.

The emails released by both parties on the Oversight Committee lack context and are full of redactions. 

In another email from 2019, Epstein told Wolff that ‘of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop,’ referencing Trump. The president previously told reporters in July that he had prohibited Epstein from the president’s Florida Mar-a-Lago golf club because Epstein kept ‘taking people who worked for me.’

Additionally, it’s unclear from the exchange whether ‘girls’ referred to minors or not.

In a separate exchange between Wolff and Epstein from 2015, the two discussed the possibility of CNN asking Trump about his relationship with Epstein.

‘I think you should let him hang himself,’ Wolff said in an email to Epstein. ‘If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt.’

Wolff is an author who has written four books about Trump’s political career — including ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,’ which was released in 2018 and pieced together an unflattering picture of Trump’s early days in office during his first term. The White House at the time characterized it as ‘trashy tabloid fiction.’

Hours after the initial Democrat release of documents, the Republicans on the committee unveiled their own document pile, which included emails from Epstein where he also discussed Trump.

Other email exchanges released Wednesday included correspondence between Epstein and Ruemmler, who is now the chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Ruemmler shared a link to a New York Times opinion piece in August 2018, which detailed alleged hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Ruemmler said she thought Epstein would find the piece ‘interesting.’

‘I know how dirty donald is,’ Epstein emailed in response.

Trump was convicted in May 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with the alleged hush-money payments. He continues to deny the affair and maintains his innocence, calling the case a politically motivated ‘witch hunt.’

Ruemmler did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

In a separate 2017 email to Summers, Epstein said that while he’s met some ‘very bad people,’ none have been ‘as bad as trump.’

‘Not one decent cell in his body.. so yes – dangerous,’ Epstein said.

Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

While the documents themselves are authentic, Epstein’s statements in the emails remain unverified and uncorroborated. They do not allege wrongdoing by Trump; they only show Epstein referencing him. Trump has not faced formal accusations of misconduct tied to Epstein, and no law enforcement records connect Trump to Epstein’s crimes.

The White House shrugged off the release as a ‘distraction.’

‘These emails prove literally nothing,’ White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital. ‘Liberal outlets are desperately trying to use this Democrat distraction to talk about anything other than Democrats getting utterly defeated by President Trump in the shutdown fight.’

Meanwhile, Trump also said in a Wednesday social media post that the Democrats were seeking to revive discussion on the Epstein case to distract from their role in the government shutdown.

‘The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,’ Trump said Wednesday. ‘Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.’

‘There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!’ Trump said.

Trump’s connections to Epstein have come under heightened scrutiny after Trump’s Justice Department and FBI announced it would not unseal investigation materials concerning Epstein, and that their investigation into the case had closed.

Additionally, the agencies said that they did not detect a list of sexual predators with ties to Epstein, and concluded there were no new people who could face charges.

Meanwhile, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Epstein associate Maxwell in Florida in July, and the Justice Department released transcripts from their interview. In the records, Maxwell claimed that she didn’t see Trump behave in an inappropriate manner.

‘I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way,’ Maxwell said, according to the transcript the Justice Department released. ‘The President was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.’

Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial on federal charges in 2019. Maxwell has been convicted on charges including sex trafficking of a minor and is serving a 20-year sentence.

Fox News’ Patrick Ward and The Associated Press contributed to this report.