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Several senior Justice Department officials resigned in protest Thursday rather than comply with an order to drop a bribery case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

The resignations came amid President Donald Trump’s effort to overhaul the agency, which he said has been weaponized against political opponents.

The six resignations include Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, Trump’s pick to temporarily lead the office prosecuting Adams, who resigned her post on Thursday, according to the memorandum by Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a Trump appointee.

‘I remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached,’ Sassoon wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi. 

Adams, a Democrat who said he was targeted by the Biden administration, has been willing to work with the Trump administration crackdown to curb illegal immigration. Adams pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted bribes from Turkish officials. 

‘Rather than be rewarded, Adams’s advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case,’ Sassoon wrote to Bondi. 

Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro said in an email to Reuters that the charges against his client are a ‘sham.’

‘If SDNY had any proof whatsoever that the mayor destroyed evidence, they would have brought those charges—as they continually threatened to do, but didn’t, over months and months,’ Spiro wrote. ‘This newest false claim is just the parting shot of a misguided prosecution exposed as a sham.’

In his Thursday memo, Bove wrote that Sassoon had refused to comply with what he called his office’s finding that the case against Adams amounted to weaponization of the justice system. 

‘Your resignation is accepted…you lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the DOJ,’ he wrote. 

‘Your office has no authority to contest the weaponization finding,’ wrote Bove, Trump’s former personal criminal defense lawyer. ‘The Justice Department will not tolerate the insubordination.’

After Sassoon refused to dismiss the case, the Trump administration directed John Keller, the acting head of the Justice Department’s public corruption unit, to do so, according to people familiar with the matter.  

Keller also resigned on Thursday, two people familiar with the matter said, as well as Kevin Driscoll, a senior official in the department’s criminal division. 

Three other deputies in the Justice Department’s public corruption unit – Rob Heberle, Jenn Clarke, and Marco Palmieri – also resigned on Thursday over the Adams case, a person familiar with the matter said.

A Justice Department official confirmed Keller’s and Driscoll’s resignations, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the other three.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House. Since taking office in January, Trump has fired more than a dozen federal prosecutors who pursued cases against him.

In a statement to Fox News, Bove said he concluded that the prosecution against Adams had to be dismissed in order to ‘prioritize national security and public safety over continuing with a case that has been tainted from the start by troubling tactics.’

‘There is no room at the Justice Department for attorneys who refuse to execute on the priorities of the Executive Branch – priorities determined by the American people,’ he said. ‘I look forward to working with new leadership at SDNY on the important priorities President Trump has laid out for us to make America safe again.’

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report. 


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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a page from President Donald Trump’s playbook during a joint press conference Thursday, saying he wants to make India great again, or ‘MIGA.’

Modi met with Trump at the White House, where the world leaders discussed a range of issues, including trade, the economic relationship between India and the United States and military sales. 

During a press conference, Modi said Indian people were focusing on their heritage and ways to ensure his nation is developed by 2047. 

‘Borrowing an expression from America, our vision for a developed India is to make India great again, or MIGA,’ he said through a translator. ‘When America and India work together, that is, when it’s MAGA plus MIGA, it becomes a mega partnership for prosperity.

‘And it is this mega spirit that gives new scale and scope to our objectives.’ 

At the beginning of the press conference, Trump announced the United States would be providing India F-35 fighter jets and increasing military sales to the country by billions of dollars. 

Trump also said his administration approved the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, one of the plotters of a deadly 2008 terrorist attack that killed 160 people. 

‘I’m pleased to announce that my administration has approved the extradition of one of the plotters and one of the very evil people of the world having to do with the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack to face justice in India,’ Trump said. 

In addition, Modi said India would accept illegal Indian immigrants in the United States who are deported back home. 

‘Anybody who enters another country illegally,’ Modi said, ‘they have absolutely no right to be in that country.

‘And as far as India and the U.S. is concerned, we have always been of the same opinion. And that is that any verified Indian who is in the U.S. illegally, we are fully prepared to take them back to India.’


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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the new secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), hours after being confirmed in the Republican-controlled Senate Thursday by a close vote of 52-48 that was almost entirely along party lines.

Kennedy stood in the Oval Office alongside his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, and accompanied by his children, while he placed his hand on a Bible and swore the oath of office. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch swore in Kennedy.

After the ceremony, Kennedy told attendees about his first visit to the Oval Office. 

‘My first time in this Oval Office was in … 1962. I came here, and I had a meeting with my uncle who was president then, where we talked about the environment. He was involved very deeply, as we all know, in restoring physical fitness in this country.

‘For 20 years, I got on my knees every morning and prayed that God would put me in a position where I could end the childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country,’ Kennedy said.

‘On Aug. 23 of last year, God sent me President Trump. He’s kept every promise he’s made to me. He’s kept his word in every account and gone way beyond it. … I’m so grateful to you, Mr. President.’ 

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against Kennedy’s nomination. McConnell, the former longtime GOP Senate leader, had polio as a child and is a major proponent of vaccines.

Kennedy, the well-known vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump, needed a simple majority to be confirmed by the Senate.

‘I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,’ McConnell said after the Kennedy vote.

Kennedy, whose outspoken views on Big Pharma and the food industry have also sparked controversy, has said he aims to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases.

The push is part of his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ campaign.

Trump regularly criticized Kennedy during his independent presidential bid, accusing him of being a ‘radical left liberal’ and a ‘Democrat plant.’

Kennedy fired back, claiming in a social media post that Trump’s jabs against him were ‘a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims.’

However, Kennedy made major headlines again in August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. 

Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, who were both assassinated in the 1960s. Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders due in part to his high-profile vaccine skepticism.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report


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Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts blasted Elon Musk on Wednesday and argued that his DOGE efforts are undermining the ‘values’ of the United States, and promised to ‘fight’ against them. 

Elon Musk has probably never stepped into a public school, his kids will get private tutors, he doesn’t understand it, he has no idea what this is all about,’ McGovern, who represents the 2nd Congressional District of Massachusetts, told Fox News Digital after a rally against DOGE cuts to the Department of Education.  

‘Our teachers do an incredible job. They deserve to be respected. The Department of Education is more than just a line item,’ he continued. ‘It represents real people, and it represents our future. And so, yeah, I’m pissed.’

McGovern explained that ‘not a single’ Democrat protesting is upset about cutting fraud or waste, but said that education is not the place to start. 

‘I use colorful language because I can’t believe we’re at this moment, and I’m really pissed at my Republican colleagues who are sitting there twiddling their thumbs, afraid to say anything because they’re afraid they might get a primary challenge,’ the House Democrat continued. ‘But you know what? Being in Congress is about helping people, not screwing people. And it’s about time they grew a backbone and came out here and joined us and pushed back against this nonsense.’

McGovern argued that the Department of Education is ‘not a line item’ and that it ‘represents real people’ who could lose important funding for their children in schools. 

‘I’d like to start with the Department of Defense first, McGovern said, ‘where I can tell you there’s tons and tons of waste. They’ve never been audited successfully. All these other departments and agencies have been audited. But here’s the deal. This is not about rooting out fraud, waste, or abuse. This is about them shutting down important agencies of departments so they can have money to give billionaires and big corporations a tax break, and I’m just sick and tired of the well-off and the well-connected to this country, getting whatever the hell they want while everybody else gets screwed. We can’t stand for that.’

‘I mean, when is the last time Musk ever walked into a public school?’ McGovern said. ‘When’s the last time you walked into a supermarket? When’s the last time he actually talked to, like, real people? And as far as this DOGE thing, I don’t even know what kind of clearances Musk has or the young minions that he has around him.’

‘I don’t know what kind of clearances they have going through all this stuff. But we should be worried. They’re undermining our democracy here. They’re undermining, you know, our values. And as I said, if they want to fight, I’ll give them a goddamn fight. We’re ready for this fight.’

When asked whether he wants Musk to answer questions before Congress, McGovern said he’d like to see the Tesla and Space X CEO testify under oath.

I do, I want him to come before Congress. I want them to be sworn in. So he can’t lie. I mean, I saw that press conference, and It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean, these guys, this is. You can’t make this stuff up.’

DOGE’s spending cuts have drawn the ire of numerous Democrats in recent weeks prompting rallies where lawmakers have pledged to fight Musk’s efforts.

The Department of Education, which Trump pledged to eliminate when he was on the campaign trail, has been a particularly heated subject, and Trump recently suggested that he still intends to get rid of it and send education decisions to the states.

‘Oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately. Look at the Department of Education. It’s a big con job,’ Trump said this week. ‘They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.’


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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday her government was deciding whether to initiate a lawsuit against Google for renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America on Google Maps. 

‘We are going to wait. We are already seeing, observing what this would mean from the perspective of legal advice, but we hope that they will make a revision,’ Sheinbaum said, according to Reuters. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Google. 

Google renamed the body of water after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to change it. Now, Google Maps users in the United States will see ‘Gulf of America’ in the app, and users outside the U.S. and Mexico see both terms, the company said.

‘We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory,’ Trump said Tuesday. ‘The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate.’

Sheinbaum has decried the move, saying the Gulf of Mexico name has long been recognized internationally.

‘All we are asking of Google is to look at the decree that the White House released and that President Donald Trump signed. You’ll see in that decree that it does not refer to the whole gulf,’ Sheinbaum said.

‘If necessary, we will file a civil suit,’ she added. ‘Our legal area is already looking into what that would mean, but we hope that (Google) reconsiders.’

Aside from Google, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sent out a charting notice confirming that its systems were in the process of updating the name, in addition to updating the newly named Mount McKinley in Alaska, formerly known as Denali.

‘Please be advised that the FAA is in the process of updating our data and charts to show a name change from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and a name change from Denali to Mount McKinley. This will be targeted for the next publication cycle,’ the notice said.


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President Donald Trump floated a joint meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming he wants all countries to move toward denuclearization. 

Trump on Thursday told reporters he plans to advance these denuclearization talks once ‘we straighten it all out’ in the Middle East and Ukraine, comments that come as the U.S., Russia and Ukraine are actively pursuing negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 

‘There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,’ Trump said Thursday at the White House. ‘You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.’

‘We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive,’ he said.

The U.S. is projected to spend approximately $756 billion on nuclear weapons between 2023 and 2032, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released in 2023. 

Additionally, Trump said that he was aiming to schedule meetings with Xi and Putin early on in his second term and request that the countries cut their military budgets in half. The president said he believes ‘we can do that,’ and remained indifferent about whether he traveled to Xi or Putin, or if they visited the White House. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. has dramatically reduced its nuclear arsenal since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. 

The U.S. maintains 3,748 nuclear warheads as of September 2023, a drop from the stockpile of 22,217 nuclear warheads in 1989, according to the Department of Energy. The agency reported the U.S. owned a maximum of 31,255 nuclear warheads in 1966. 

In comparison, Russia has an estimated stockpile of roughly 4,380 nuclear warheads, while China boasts an arsenal of roughly 600, according to the Federation of American Scientists. 

Trump’s remarks build on previous statements he made in January at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where he signaled interest in talks on denuclearization with both Russia and China. 

‘Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it,’ Trump said on Jan. 23. 

Previous talks between the U.S., Russia and China fell through in 2020 during Trump’s first administration after he refused to sign an extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia to impose limits on each country’s nuclear arsenals. The treaty ultimately was renewed under the Biden administration and now expires in 2026, but Russia suspended its participation. 

On Thursday, Trump accused these negotiations of falling apart due what he called the ‘rigged election’ in 2020. 

Trump also said on Thursday that Putin wants peace after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, comments that followed back-to-back calls with the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday. 

Trump, who met with Zelenskyy in New York in September 2024, urged Putin to cease the war — or face sanctions — in a post on Truth Social on Jan. 22. 

‘Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,’ Trump wrote. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.’


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USAID’s green energy programs may have done more ‘harm’ to developing nations than anything else, according to a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

‘I can’t think of anything that’s harmed the developing world more than the climate agenda,’ said Max Primorac, a top USAID official under President Donald Trump’s first administration, when asked about programs that had run afoul of American interests throughout the world.   

‘The strong counter-China infrastructure that we developed over at USAID was simply dismantled by the next administration,’ he told lawmakers at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing entitled, ‘USAID Betrayal.’

‘[USAID] has pushed all of these countries, especially in Africa, to go green. Solar, wind, EV: who produces all of those materials? It’s China. Then, on top of it, we tell them, ‘No, you can’t develop your own fossil fuel industry because it’s, it’s anti-green.’ So, what happens? They can’t generate the revenues to create good jobs at home. They can’t generate the revenues in order to finance their own health, education and other needs.’

Primorac claimed that green energy infrastructure in developing countries ‘increases the price of energy.’ 

According to Primorac, 19 of the top 20 countries receiving USAID are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, securing aid from the CCP in exchange for influence. 

Primorac said that developing nations ‘want more trade, they want more investment,’ but ‘resentment’ is building in conservative countries who don’t want ‘woke things.’

The Trump administration, upon assuming office, instituted a 90-day pause on all foreign aid. Trump fired USAID’s inspector general Paul Martin this week after he wrote a report claiming Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s efforts to dismantle USAID had prevented him from conducting oversight on unspent aid of up to $8.5 billion. Martin’s report claimed that about $500 million worth of food aid is at risk of spoiling as it sits in ports while USAID staff in other nations have been called back and placed on leave. 

USAID has now been placed under the purview of the State Department and is in the process of whittling down its staff from 10,000 to fewer than 300. 

Republican witnesses at the hearing largely agreed that foreign aid was important to fighting global disease outbreaks and securing U.S. interests throughout the world, but USAID’s reputation had been ‘tarnished’ by ‘mission creep,’ as former GOP Rep. Ted Yoho, Fla., said. 

But Yoho, who said he came to Congress to slash foreign aid before realizing its importance throughout the world, and Andrew Natsios, USAID administrator under President George W. Bush, warned that a blanket freeze on aid throughout the world would be detrimental. 

By pausing U.S. international assistance, a vacuum is created. China, Russia, or others are already moving in to fill those voids,’ said Yoho. 

‘Not being effectively present can be arguably worse than pausing a program. And all you have to do is look at South and Central America and look at how much we’ve ceded to China and their influence from Russia, China and Iran. That has to be dealt with immediately. That’s a national security threat.’ 

Natsios said he was ‘appalled’ by how the Biden administration had roped USAID into ‘culture wars.’ 

‘It’s a failure,’ he said. ‘All of the things I did at AID, I tried to do it in a way that would not alienate the Democratic Party when I left.’ 

But he noted that ‘woke’ programs were a ‘small percentage’ of the USAID budget, and the agency gives $1 billion per year to Christian NGOs. 

Republicans claim there is a waiver process, but aid advocates have said NGOs and charities do not know how to apply for the waiver, and if they receive one, no one at USAID is operating the payment systems that dole out funds. 

‘I’ve met with these Christian groups, even though they have the waivers, the Phoenix system is not operating,’ said Natsios, referring to the agency’s financial program. ‘Please do something about it.’ 

During the hearing, Republicans also pointed to USAID-funded NGOs that were conducting abortions, a program that sent millions of taxpayer dollars to dole out condoms in Afghanistan and Mozambique, $20 million for drag shows in Ecuador and $500,000 to promote atheism in Nepal. 

‘All of these programs gave USAID a black eye and that’s unfortunate,’ said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, a former chairman of the committee who claimed USAID ‘blew through’ his holds on their controversial programs.

Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast agreed. ‘When done right, foreign aid can be one of the best tools. It can help strengthen our relationships with our allies and help countries realize America is the best for them,’ he said. 

He promised that more aid oversight was to come. 

‘We are going to bring in individuals who were responsible for putting these horrible policies in place and reveal all the receipts, videos – all of it – for the American people to see.’


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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that as the U.S. aims to ‘revive the warrior ethos,’ European members of NATO also should follow suit and bolster defense efforts. 

‘NATO should pursue these goals as well,’ Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels on Thursday. ‘NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future, our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense.’  

‘We must make NATO great again,’ he said.  

As of 2023, the U.S. spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending — totaling $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the U.S., while other allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years. 

Hegseth urged European allies to bolster defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product, as President Donald Trump has long advocated. 

NATO comprises more than 30 countries and was originally formed in 1949 to halt the spread of the Soviet Union. 

Hegseth pointed to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who advocated for a strong relationship with European allies. But he noted that eventually Eisenhower felt that the U.S. was bearing the burden of deploying U.S. troops to Europe in 1959, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian. Eisenhower reportedly told two of his generals that the Europeans were ‘making a sucker out of Uncle Sam.’ 

Hegseth said that he and Trump share sentiments similar to Eisenhower’s. 

‘This administration believes in alliances, deeply believes in alliances, but make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker,’ Hegseth said.

‘We can talk all we want about values,’ Hegseth said. ‘Values are important, but you can’t shoot values, you can’t shoot flags, and you can’t shoot strong speeches. There is no replacement for hard power. As much as we may not want to like the world we live in, in some cases, there’s nothing like hard power.’

Hegseth’s comments come as the Trump administration navigates negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict between the two countries. On Wednesday, Trump called both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv.

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are slated to meet with Zelenskyy Friday at the Munich Security Conference.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has come under scrutiny for the negotiations, fielding criticism that Ukraine is being pressured to give in to concessions after Hegseth said on Wednesday that it isn’t realistic for Ukraine to regain its pre-war borders with Russia. 

‘Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more,’ Brett Bruen, director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital. 

Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, also shared concerns in a social media post on X on Wednesday, claiming that Trump was delivering Russia a ‘gift.’ 

But Hegseth said he rejected similar accusations. 

‘Any suggestion that President Trump is doing anything other than negotiating from a position of strength is, on its face, ahistorical and false,’ Hegseth said Thursday. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. 


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President Donald Trump met with Marc Fogel’s mother on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, and vowed to bring her son home if elected, just before an assassination attempt nearly took his life. 

Rep. Mark Kelly, R-Pa., was there for the meeting between Trump and Malphine Fogel before the president took the stage. 

‘The president survived the assassination attempt on July 13 in Butler, and he fulfilled his commitment to Mrs. Fogel that he would get her son home,’ Kelly told Fox News Digital. ‘It is an incredible, providential story.’ 

During the rally, after his meeting with Fogel’s mother, Trump was showing off a chart highlighting how illegal immigration skyrocketed under the Biden-Harris administration. As he turned toward the chart, he was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear by the now-deceased would-be-assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. Trump credits the chart for saving his life. 

Kelly likened the situation to the classic movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ 

‘The theme of the movie was that George Bailey was very frustrated, but he was given a glimpse of life and what would have happened if he hadn’t been there – if he hadn’t been born,’ Kelly recalled. ‘And if I go back to July 13, this is all providential.’ 

‘Mrs. Fogel has a chance to talk to the president, and she talks about what is happening to Marc. The president vows to get him home,’ Kelly continued. ‘It is a take-off of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and the opportunity, or the dilemma, that if you were never born, what would the consequences have been?’ 

‘If President Trump did not survive the assassination attempt on July 13, Marc Fogel wouldn’t be home today,’ Kelly said.  

Fogel, an American teacher from Western Pennsylvania, returned to the United States late Tuesday, after Trump secured his release. Fogel was arrested in 2021 at an airport in Russia for possession of medical marijuana and was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison. 

Kelly told Fox News Digital that ‘it is all about faith.’ 

‘Having been there and witnessed it, I think to myself, ‘Oh my goodness, that tiny fraction of an inch, or whatever it was, is the difference between Marc Fogel being home and Marc Fogel not being home,’’ he said. ‘Between making a promise to his mother and being able to keep it, as opposed to making a promise and never getting a chance to fulfill it.’ 

Malphine Fogel recalled the Butler meeting with Trump on Fox News Channel’s ‘America Newsroom.’ 

‘I met with President Trump, and he was just as cordial as he could be,’ she said. ‘He told me three different times, ‘If I get in,’ he said, ‘I’ll get him out’ and I really think he’s been instrumental.’ 

Malphine Fogel told Fox News that ‘it was a total surprise’ when she heard from her son from the Moscow airport. 

‘So, that meant that (they) had taken him out of the prison to Moscow…. The last week or so, for some crazy reason, I had a better feeling about things, but I hadn’t heard from him in a week, so I thought that was odd and when he called…  it was just a total shock,’ she said. 

Meanwhile, Kelly told Fox News Digital, ‘There is a certain time in people’s lives where you realize you don’t have forever, you have right now, and you need to get it done.’ 

‘Politically, there is no one on either side of the aisle that could look at what happened with Marc Fogel and not somehow say, this is truly providential – this is not a political move,’ Kelly said. ‘This doesn’t do anything for the president. He’s already elected. He did this to keep a promise to a mother in her mid 90s – the only thing she wanted to see before she died was her son one more time.’ 

Kelly added: ‘This is a promise made. Promise kept. It is truly providential. It is. It is a wonderful life.’ 


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Europe must reinstate harsh United Nations sanctions on Iran, U.S. lawmakers insisted in a new resolution that accused Tehran of repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration.  

The bipartisan legislation calls on the U.K., France and Germany to invoke ‘snapback’ sanctions on Iran through the UN Security Council immediately – and follow the U.S.’s lead under President Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ executive order to isolate Iran over its nuclear activity. 

‘Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and their actions have led to the murder of American servicemembers,’ said Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., the number two Republican on Senate Foreign Relations Committee and lead sponsor of the bill, which has 11 cosponsors in the Senate. 

‘Iran’s possession of a nuclear weapon would threaten our security and the security of our allies. Snapback sanctions are key to ensuring that President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign is successful.’ 

Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., issued companion legislation in the House. 

Under the 2015 Iran deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran evaded U.N., U.S. and E.U. sanctions in exchange for promises not to pursue a nuclear weapon. But Iran eventually cut off independent inspectors’ access to its sites and resumed nuclear activities. 

A ‘snapback’ provision of the agreement said that any of the nations privy to the deal – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, U.S. or Germany – could demand the export controls, travel bans and asset freezes be reimposed. 

But the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear deal entirely under President Donald Trump’s first administration and imposed its own ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions regime. The Biden administration subsequently issued sanctions waivers and toyed with the idea of returning to a nuclear deal with Iran, but ultimately those efforts faltered.

Tenney urged the European nations to invoke the snapback sanctions before the deal expires in October 2025. 

‘Invoking snapback sanctions will restore all the UN sanctions on Iran that were lifted by the Obama administration’s failed Iran nuclear deal,’ she said. 

Iran is ‘dramatically’ accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, below the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon, according to U.N. nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi. Western states have said there is no civilian use for 60% uranium. 

Britain, France and Germany told the U.N. Security Council in December they were ready to trigger the snapback of all international sanctions on Iran if necessary. 

Trump himself said he was ‘torn’ over a recent executive order that triggered harsh sanctions on Iran’s oil sector, adding that he was ‘unhappy to do it.’

‘Hopefully, we’re not going to have to use it very much,’ Trump told reporters.

But he reiterated, ‘We’re not going to let them get a nuclear weapon.’

Trump suggested first trying a ‘verified nuclear peace agreement’ over military escalation. ‘I would much rather do a deal that’s not gonna hurt them,’ the president told Fox News on Monday, adding that ‘I’d love to make a deal with them without bombing them.’

Iran viewed the president’s remarks as a threat and took negotiations off the table. 

​​’No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,’ said Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khameni, citing past ‘experience.’ 

He called for the country to further develop its military capabilities. 

‘We cannot be satisfied,’ Khamenei said. ‘Say that we previously set a limit for the accuracy of our missiles, but we now feel this limit is no longer enough. We have to go forward.’

‘Today, our defensive power is well known, our enemies are afraid of this. This is very important for our country,’ he said.


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