President Xi Jinping declared China’s ‘great rejuvenation’ unstoppable on Wednesday as he used the country’s largest-ever military parade to hint at reunification with Taiwan and to flaunt advanced weapons designed to rival American power.

Xi said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would ‘resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,’ underscoring Beijing’s ambitions toward Taiwan. ‘The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable,’ he added.

The 70-minute spectacle marked the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Thousands of troops goose-stepped through Tiananmen Square, followed by columns of tanks, missile carriers and drones.

Xi has repeatedly set 2027, the 100th anniversary of the PLA, as a deadline for military modernization — a timeline U.S. officials warn could coincide with preparations for an invasion of Taiwan.

China showed off its full nuclear triad — missiles launched from land, sea and air. That included the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of traveling 12,400 miles, putting the U.S. mainland within range.

Analysts paid special attention to what appeared to be a new DF-61 hypersonic missile carried on a WS2400 truck. The weapon is believed to be designed to outpace U.S. missile defenses. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles and long-range bombers rounded out the display of nuclear muscle.

The PLA also rolled out stealth drones — like the GJ-11 ‘Sharp Sword’ UCAV and other ‘loyal wingman’ drones — alongside AI-enhanced tanks, hypersonic weapons, underwater drones and other futuristic systems.

Amphibious assault vehicles hinted at preparations for a Taiwan contingency. Beijing also highlighted cyber and space capabilities, signaling ambitions beyond conventional battlefields.

Xi watched the procession flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — a not-so-subtle signal of solidarity among America’s adversaries.

After the parade, Putin and Kim met behind closed doors for two hours. Putin thanked Kim for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, Chinese state media reported.

President Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social, addressing Xi directly: ‘Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.’

Around two dozen world leaders watched from the stands, including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Only two heads of state from Europe — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico — accepted China’s invitation, as Western allies largely stayed away.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te dismissed the spectacle as ‘psychological intimidation.’ 

The show of force came just months after the U.S. staged its own military parade in Washington to mark the Army’s 250th birthday, in a signal that China intends to match and eventually surpass American military power.

Eight fighter jets will conduct a flyover when Polish President Karol Nawrocki arrives at the White House Wednesday morning, Fox News Digital has learned. 

President Donald Trump’s meeting with Nawrocki, whom Trump backed in the Polish elections earlier in 2025, comes amid ongoing negotiations between Poland’s neighboring Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict between the two countries. 

‘President Trump is looking forward to welcoming President Nawrocki to the White House, who recently won a historic election in Poland,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a Tuesday statement to Fox News Digital. The ‘spectacular flyover will honor the memory of a brave Polish fighter pilot whose life was tragically taken too soon and capture the special relationship between our two countries.’

Four F-16 fighter jets are slated to perform a missing man formation Wednesday to honor a Polish army F-16 pilot who died in an August crash during a rehearsal for an airshow in Radom, Poland. 

Additionally, four F-35 fighter jets will also fly over the White House to recognize the relationship between the U.S. and Poland. The U.S. sells F-35 fighter jets to allies, including Poland, and the State Department signed off on a potential $1.85 billion sale of sustainment equipment for the F-35 to Poland in August. 

Likewise, the U.S. started training Polish aviators to operate the F-35 in May at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Arkansas. 

All crew members participating in the flyover are American. Those flying the F-16 aircraft are from the D.C. Air National Guard based out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, and the F-35 pilots are from Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. 

A missing man formation occurs during a flyover when one aircraft breaks off from the rest, recognizing the missing or fallen service member. 

This isn’t the first time a flyover has occurred when the Polish president has visited the White House. One was also conducted in 2019 during Trump’s first term when then-Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in Washington. 

Nawrocki’s visit comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated his attacks against Ukraine, despite a meeting in August with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, in an attempt to advance a peace deal. 

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has sought to work with European allies in recent weeks on nailing down various security guarantees for Ukraine to safeguard against Russian aggression again. 

While Trump initially said a trilateral meeting with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in the works following his meeting with Putin, Russia has shown disinterest in such a meeting.

As a result, Trump said Tuesday there would be consequences if Putin failed to meet with Zelenskyy. 

‘We’re going to see what happens,’ Trump told reporters Tuesday. ‘We’re going to see what they do and what happens. I’m watching it very closely … I want to see it end.’ 

Nawrocki is slated to arrive at the White House at 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. 

More than 1,000 current and former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed a letter calling on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign on Wednesday.

The employees cited Kennedy’s recent ousting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Susan Monarez. They also accused Kennedy of appointing ‘political ideologues’ to positions of authority.

‘We believe health policy should be based in strong, evidence-based principles rather than partisan politics. But under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, HHS policies are placing the health of all Americans at risk, regardless of their politics,’ the letter says.

‘Should he decline to resign, we call upon the President and U.S. Congress to appoint a new Secretary of Health and Human Services, one whose qualifications and experience ensure that health policy is informed by independent and unbiased peer-reviewed science. We expect those in leadership to act when the health of Americans is at stake,’ the letter continues.

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

The letter comes just days after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also called on Kennedy to resign, citing his actions at the CDC. The Trump administration announced the removal of Monarez last week, less than a month after she was confirmed, after she refused Kennedy’s directives to adopt new limitations on the availability of some vaccines, including for approvals for COVID-19 vaccines.

Four other senior CDC officials resigned in protest after Monarez’s ouster, pointing, in part, to anti-vaccine policies pushed by Kennedy. Hundreds of workers at the agency also walked out of the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta in support of their former colleagues.

Sanders wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times that Kennedy is ‘endangering the health of the American people now and into the future,’ and accused the secretary of firing Monarez because she refused ‘to act as a rubber stamp for his dangerous policies.’

‘Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, Secretary Kennedy has continued his longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts,’ Sanders wrote.

‘It is absurd to have to say this in 2025, but vaccines are safe and effective,’ he added. ‘That, of course, is not just my view. Far more important, it is the overwhelming consensus of the medical and scientific communities.’

The Trump administration has defended Monarez’s ouster, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Thursday that the president has the ‘authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission.’

‘The president and Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring trust and transparency and credibility to the CDC by ensuring their leadership and their decisions are more public-facing, more accountable, strengthening our public health system and restoring it to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases, investing in innovation to prevent, detect and respond to future threats,’ Leavitt told reporters.

Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report

For decades, Democrats have clung to James Carville’s mantra: ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’ It became the default excuse for every campaign message, every strategy and every setback.  

We need to retire that phrase from our political lexicon. 

My fellow Democrats forget that Carville’s first rule on his whiteboard in Little Rock wasn’t the economy, stupid. It was ‘Change vs. more of the same.’ Voters still want change — not numbers, not excuses. And if President Donald Trump offers change while Democrats defend the system as it is, Democrats will lose. 

Today, my party is jumping onto a shiny substitute considered to be the winning message that unites all — ‘affordability’ — as if the idea that lower prices are better than higher ones is a revelation. Has a candidate ever campaigned on the reverse? 

During the Biden administration, consumer costs inflated on our watch, but now we are asking midterm voters to give us the keys back to the car anyway.  

When is my party going to learn that politics is about culture and connection, not charts and spreadsheets? It’s about being relevant to the lives of ordinary people, not proving to them that we are right. 

Voters aren’t sitting in some academic economics lecture. They don’t care about GDP growth, labor-force participation rates, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics when they feel prices are too high. They don’t want to hear that homicides, robberies and carjackings have decreased according to the latest stats, when they feel unsafe. Sending in the National Guard won’t be a solution to ending crime in our inner cities, but it does make communities feel protected.  

Are Democrats so disconnected from reality that we’ve unlearned the most basic political principle of all, that perception and politics go hand-in-glove?  

Voters are not looking to be informed by candidates, especially when they sound like human calculators, vomiting out numbers. Being informed isn’t the same as feeling informed and telling voters that how they feel isn’t real, because numbers say otherwise, isn’t a winning message. Shaming Trump voters for their choice last year or lecturing them that this isn’t what they voted for, offends them rather than persuades them. Patronizing voters is not a strategy. 

What voters in this midterm election want is some cultural common sense, and to borrow a bullet from the Democratic talking points, Democrats have not been meeting voters where they are — yet.  

Voters want to hear us acknowledge that crime is bad and say we need more cops on the street, but not necessarily troops. They want our candidates to give a straight answer and plainly state that boys shouldn’t compete in girls’ sports as a matter of fairness. It’s okay for Democrats to say they believe in merit-based hiring instead of DEI and box-checking quotas.  

Most Americans feel this way — and Democrats lose credibility when they dodge these conversations or give evasive answers.  

Democrats avoid going where the news and conversations are happening. Our leaders and candidates too often duck and cover. When issues turn culturally sensitive, they play hide and seek. We need to run straight into the culture war fires, not away from them. Those are the conversations voters are having and we need to join them.  

My old boss, President Joe Biden, learned this lesson the hard way. Biden’s presidency illustrates this danger for Democrats on the ballot everywhere in 2026. At the very moments when Americans were craving leadership — like a national debate over college campus unrest and violent antisemitism — Biden was absent. Scranton Joe, who built his career on a chip-on-the-shoulder authenticity that connected with ordinary people, became the first non-Ivy League president in decades. Yet, he was silent when he could have drawn the sharpest contrast from the elites.  

Biden told Americans the economy was the envy of the world, and then his Baghdad Bobs in the White House told us he was as sharp as ever. Polls said Americans felt otherwise, still his instinct was to retreat further.  Voters saw fewer unscripted moments, such as interviews or news conferences, smaller steps off Air Force One and a greater reliance on teleprompters. In a political age where imagery shapes public opinion, Biden looked feeble, distant and disconnected. He followed an outdated media strategy that led him into a political death spiral.  

Trump, by contrast, dives headfirst into every news cycle and runs into every cultural fire — from campus protests to celebrity dust-ups like Sydney Sweeney’s jeans or Cracker Barrel’s new logo. He doesn’t hesitate, he doesn’t duck, he doesn’t wait for the perfect poll-tested phrase. Love him or hate him, voters can’t miss that he shows up with an opinion and a position. He doesn’t keep them guessing.  

Democrats don’t need to copy Trump’s style. But they do need his guts. If voters are talking about trans athletes, immigration, DEI or crime — and they stay silent or pivot — then they’re absent from the conversations Americans outside the Beltway are having with friends, family and their neighbors. It’s these social conversations that are shaping political identity, not stats and charts. 

Voters will tune out any type of hell Democrats try to raise about prices, tariffs or cuts to Medicare if they think we don’t ‘get’ them on culture. 

The way out of the wilderness isn’t another slogan about affordability. It’s courage and common sense. Stop hiding behind statistics. Start running into the fire. Only then will Democrats earn back voters’ trust. 

Business magnate Elon Musk suggested that anti-white male propaganda is ‘a major driver of’ members of that demographic adopting transgender identity.

‘My observation is that a major driver of white males becoming trans is the relentless propaganda portraying white men as the worst human beings,’ Musk wrote in a post on X. 

‘If those lies land, especially during vulnerable teen years, and they are given an option to be a ‘celebrated’ group, some will do it,’ he added.

Someone responded to Musk’s post by writing, ‘Interesting theory. It may also explain why so many white women support trans mania despite the harm it causes them and their children.’

Musk replied with the 100 emoji, apparently expressing agreement.

One of Musk’s children identifies as transgender.

‘They call it deadnaming for a reason,’ Musk previously said during an interview with Jordan Peterson, saying, ‘my son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus.’

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of conspiring against the U.S. after the three world leaders met in Beijing during a military parade.

‘The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

‘Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory,’ he continued. ‘I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice! May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.’

The parade attended by the three U.S. adversaries commemorated the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, highlighting Beijing’s efforts to showcase military power and deepen alliances at a time of heightened global tensions.

Kim’s attendance at the parade was his first trip to Beijing since 2019, as Pyongyang seeks to bolster ties with both China and Russia.

The military parade in Beijing featured thousands of troops marching through Tiananmen Square in a 70-minute display showcasing China’s latest weaponry.

Meeting ahead of the event in Beijing, Putin championed the ‘unprecedentedly high’ ties between himself and Xi amid the Russia-Ukraine war that began with a Moscow invasion in February 2022.

The meeting reaffirmed the increased unity the two countries have pursued following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Fox News’ Caitlin McFall and Emma Bussey contributed to this report.

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., allowed a Biden-appointed member of the Federal Trade Commission to keep her job, at least for now, as part of a lawsuit centered on President Donald Trump’s authority to remove members of independent agencies without cause.

A three-judge panel said Tuesday that a lower court’s decision that Trump unlawfully fired FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter could remain in place and that the firing was squarely at odds with Supreme Court precedent. 

‘The government has no likelihood of success on appeal given controlling and directly on point Supreme Court precedent,’ the panel wrote in an order.

Slaughter was abruptly fired after Trump took office, rehired when Judge Loren AliKhan ruled in her favor last month, and then re-fired days later when the appellate court briefly paused Ali Khan’s decision.

The three-judge panel, comprising two Obama appointees and one Trump appointee, lifted that pause on Tuesday, which allows Slaughter to return to work. The Trump administration can appeal the decision.

Department of Justice attorneys had argued for the appellate court to grant the Trump administration a stay, pointing to the Supreme Court’s decision to do the same in a recent separate case involving other independent agencies.

‘The court’s reinstatement of a principal officer of the United States—in defiance of recent Supreme Court precedent staying similar reinstatements in other cases—works a grave harm to the separation of powers and the President’s ability to exercise his authority under the Constitution,’ the attorneys wrote.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The House Oversight Committee released a tranche of thousands of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s case on Tuesday night.

The surprise file dump came ahead of an expected House-wide vote to formalize the committee’s Epstein inquiry on Wednesday afternoon.

That vote, while largely symbolic, would also direct the House Oversight Committee to release the Epstein files sent by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Nearly 34,000 pages are being released that include the DOJ’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell and videos that appear to show the inside of Epstein’s Palm Beach home.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the DOJ in early August for all documents pertaining to its investigation of Epstein and Maxwell. 

The subpoena was directed by a bipartisan vote during an unrelated House Oversight Committee hearing in late July.

‘This is the most thorough investigation into Epstein and Maxwell to date, and we are getting results,’ Comer said during a House Rules Committee meeting on Tuesday evening.

‘We have already deposed former Attorney General Bill Barr, the Department of Justice provided nearly 34,000 pages of documents and will produce more, which are being made public as we speak.’

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee, claimed that some 97% of those documents were already public, however.

The sudden release appears to be a bid to neutralize an effort by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., to force a vote on their own bill to make the DOJ release information on Epstein.

The bipartisan pair is spearheading what’s known as a discharge petition — a rare procedural move that allows lawmakers to circumvent leadership if a majority of House members sign on. 

Such a vote could put Republican lawmakers, who are also pushing for more transparency, in a difficult position, forced to decide between the political ramifications of bucking the vote or defying their own leaders.

Massie told Fox News Digital earlier this week he expected enough signatures to hit that threshold by the end of this week, however.

‘I think there’s a real good chance of that,’ he said.

But Comer said the committee was ‘way ahead’ of Massie and Khanna’s move.

‘We’re going to go beyond it. We’re already getting the documents from the administration,’ Comer said. ‘I don’t think [the discharge petition is] necessary at all.’

In addition to deposing Barr and subpoenaing the DOJ, Comer’s panel also sent subpoenas to former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, ex-FBI Director James Comey, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Senate teed up a colossal package to authorize funding for the Pentagon on Tuesday, marking the first legislation to hit the floor since lawmakers returned from August recess.

Lawmakers advanced the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on a largely bipartisan 84 to 14 vote, setting up the bill for debate before a later vote to advance it from the Senate.

This year’s version of the bill isn’t as divisive as its predecessor, given the lack of provisions targeting ‘woke’ policies at the Pentagon, which became a major target for Republicans when they gained power in the House during the latter half of former President Joe Biden’s first term.

Instead, the measure focuses on military contracting reforms and lasers in on the Pentagon’s failure to complete, let alone pass, an audit for the last several years. It also includes a bump to service members’ pay, though not as high as in recent years. It also includes an extension to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2028, and increases authorized funding to $500 million. 

Still, the measure would authorize about 3% more funding for the Pentagon when compared to last year’s NDAA in the midst of the GOP and White House’s push to cut costs in the government.

It also comes on the heels of a $150 billion injection of defense spending passed in President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said after the bill glided through committee in July that the ‘United States is operating in the most dangerous threat environment we have faced since World War II.’

‘The bill my committee advanced today is a direct reflection of the severity of that threat environment, as well as the rapidly evolving landscape of war,’ he said. ‘My colleagues and I have prioritized reindustrialization and the structural rebuilding of the arsenal of democracy.’

And Sen. Jack Reed, the Democrat on the panel, similarly agreed that the U.S. ‘faces a global security environment unlike any in recent memory.’

‘This legislation invests in the service members, technology, and capabilities we need to deter our adversaries and defend our national interests,’ the Rhode Island Democrat said. ‘I thank Chairman Wicker and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle for advancing this bill to prioritize the safety and security of the American people.’

The Senate and House have offered competing versions of the bill, too. Lawmakers in the upper chamber leapfrogged their colleagues in the House, where their iteration of the NDAA is expected to be considered next week.

Overall, the Senate’s version of the legislation would tee up nearly $925 billion in defense spending. That total is split among the Department of Defense at over $878 billion, the Department of Energy at over $35 billion with another $10 billion allocated for ‘defense-related activities’ outside of the bill’s jurisdiction.

The House version of the bill clocked in at just over $848 billion, well below the Senate’s product but more in line with the Pentagon’s budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sharpened his criticism of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on Tuesday as the debate over how to handle transparency in the Jeffrey Epstein case rages on Capitol Hill.

‘I would describe virtually everything Thomas Massie says, as related to this issue, as meaningless,’ Johnson told reporters, delivering his harshest remarks yet against the Kentucky Republican.

The jab came minutes before Massie introduced a measure designed to bypass Johnson and force a vote on legislation compelling the release of a wide range of Department of Justice (DOJ) records tied to Epstein. Johnson, meanwhile, is backing a separate resolution authorizing the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry into the case.

Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are spearheading a discharge petition — a rare procedural move that allows lawmakers to circumvent leadership if a majority of House members sign on. 

Massie told Fox News Digital he expected enough signatures to hit that threshold by the end of this week.

‘I think there’s a real good chance of that,’ he said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition had two signatures: Massie and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

Asked about Johnson’s comments, Massie blasted House leaders’ measure as a ‘placebo resolution.’

‘He copied three pages out of my resolution. I mean, we wrote this from scratch. So if he thinks it’s meaningless, why is he copying it and taking the teeth out of it?’ Massie said. ‘He is afraid of President Donald Trump. Mike Johnson’s speakership just hangs on that thread.’

The DOJ has already begun turning over thousands of files to the Oversight Committee under a bipartisan subpoena, though at least some redactions are expected. 

Johnson argued his approach balances transparency with privacy concerns for Epstein’s victims.

He told reporters Tuesday, ‘I would not put much stock into what Thomas Massie says.’

‘The House Republicans have been very consistent about maximum disclosure and maximum transparency with the Epstein files, but we had to do it in a way that would protect the innocent victims of these horrific crimes,’ Johnson said. ‘We have achieved that. Now we have a resolution that will accomplish that desired end. And what people want to do with this for political purpose is, to me, this is really just shameful.’

Massie and Khanna plan to hold a press conference Wednesday with several of Epstein’s victims to promote their resolution. Those victims also met Tuesday with Johnson and members of the Oversight Committee.

The showdown underscores intensifying GOP divisions over how to handle the DOJ’s handling of Epstein’s case, which was reignited after an internal memo effectively declared the matter closed earlier this year.