The Senate votes late Thursday morning to break a filibuster on the nomination of Kash Patel to run the FBI. 

Senators will vote to confirm him around 1:45 p.m. ET, with the final result due after 2 p.m ET. He will be confirmed along party lines. 

Then the Senate returns to the budget framework to advance parts of President Donald Trump’s policy agenda.

The Senate began its 50-hour debate on the the budget Tuesday night.

The budget process is lengthy and arduous. It culminates in a marathon vote series – known as a vote-a-rama Thursday night through Friday – if not the wee hours of Saturday morning.

The last such vote-a-rama consumed 41 consecutive votes and took more than a day in real time to complete. 

This onerous exercise is all to get to that final product that enables Republicans to bypass the Senate filibuster later. However, the proposal must be fiscal in nature and not add to the deficit over a 10-year period.

Here’s something important to know:

The mechanics just spelled out create nothing more than a shell. This is a legislative ‘chassis.’ BOTH the House and Senate must have this in place to eventually debate substantive and ‘binding’ provisions of legislation down the road – be it border security or massive tax cuts. No ‘chassis,’ then no final bill.

So this is an important phase in moving the president’s agenda, but not the end result. 

House Republicans will try to advance their own plan next week. It focuses more on tax cuts and has the blessing of the president. But the House and Senate must still get on the same page. And so far, they are working at cross purposes. 

DOGE administrator Elon Musk may soon be taking a page out of the book of legendary TV newsman Geraldo Rivera by hosting a livestream opening up Fort Knox to see if America’s gold is really still there.

Quite well, do those of us of a certain age remember that night in 1986 when Rivera cracked open a long-forgotten vault at a Chicago hotel where notorious gangster Al Capone had lived, only to find, with no small degree of embarrassment, that it was all but empty.

In those days, without Netflix or 62,000 cable channels, 20 million Americans tuned in live, there were medical examiners present in case bodies were found, IRS agents on hand to seize any ill-gotten treasure. But in the end, all they found was the biggest sad trombone moment in the history of television.

Fast-forward to Fort Knox, where a reported $425 billion worth of government gold is reportedly stored.

In 1936, the federal government decided to send about half of the physical gold that our nation owns to a fortified facility in Kentucky for safe-keeping. Almost instantly it became a metaphor for two things, one, wealth, as in, ‘all the gold in Fort Knox,’ and the other, security, as in, ‘harder to get into than Fort Knox.’

Nobody really doubts the security of the compound. It almost certainly remains as impregnable as ever, even to Musk. But are the guards there to protect the gold, or to hide an embarrassing secret?

Now let’s be clear, there is no reason, beyond conspiracy theories, to believe that the gold isn’t there, or that Treasury employees are busy painting red bricks yellow in anticipation of the DOGE visit. 

Newly minted (so to speak) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has assured Americans that ‘All the gold is present and accounted for.’ But some Republicans, like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul want more, as he told Fox News, ‘the more sunlight the better, the more transparency the better.’

President Donald Trump concurs. At a gaggle on Air Force One on Wednesday, he told reporters, ‘We hope everything is fine with Fort Knox, but we’re going to go into Fort Knox, the fabled Fort Knox, to make sure the gold is there.’

The fabled Fort Knox indeed. Get your popcorn. Lights, camera, action.

It would be pure historical poetry if Geraldo Rivera was once again tapped to host the live coverage of the unearthing of the Fort Knox vault, and with such an amusing twist, for this time, it’s not a full vault that would be the big story, but an empty one.

It’s actually difficult to comprehend what would happen if sometime in the next few days cameras show us that the gold is gone, not just for the financial system, but for our general faith in the government. It’s the kind of lie that you can’t really come back from.

Hundreds if not thousands of people would have to be complicit in this canard, including powerful figures such as Bessent. If there’s no gold at Fort Knox then Katy bar the door, because everything the government told us after would be deeply suspect, as if it isn’t already.

Even if the outcome of this special live event is banal and expected, even if we are simply treated to the vision of shimmering stacks of glorious gold that are supposed to be there, Sen. Paul is right that such transparency would put a lot of conspiracy theories to bed.

In and of itself, Trump’s dedication to radical transparency is a great move forward for a country that has lost faith that its leaders are telling them the truth, that will no longer simply take for granted that things really are the way they are supposed to be.

It can be argued that this distrust of the government, so pervasive on all political sides, is actually the greatest threat we as Americans face. Not the border, not China, not inflation, but a total lack of confidence that our will is being done in the halls of power.

So bring on the telestream, live from Fort Knox, build up the fanfare and line up the pundits, let us all see together if the good word of The Treasury Department should be given our full faith and credit, or if the biggest scam of the past century has somehow occurred.

And I’m serious, who better to guide us through it than the original himself? It’s time for Geraldo to get another bite at the apple and see if this time he actually finds the treasure. 

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

South Carolina House Rep. Brandon Guffey gave powerful testimony in Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Children’s Safety in the Digital Era. Guffey knows the dangers facing children online all too well. Nearly three years ago, Guffey lost his teenage son, Gavin, to suicide in an apparent sextortion scheme.

‘Protecting youth from online dangers and holding big tech companies responsible is now my life’s mission,’ Guffey told the committee. He also issued a stark warning, saying ‘big tech is the big tobacco of this generation.’

In his testimony, a visibly emotional Guffey recounted the night his son took his own life and the fallout.

A scammer posing as a girl convinced Gavin to turn on ‘vanish mode’ and send explicit photos in an Instagram chat. ‘Vanish mode’ allows messages to disappear once they are received. The scammer then threatened to release the photos unless he received money from Gavin, who sent the online predator $25, saying it was all he had in his account. This wasn’t enough for the scammer, who continued to demand more money. Tragically, Gavin took his own life as a result.

The predator, however, was not done with the Guffey family. The state lawmaker told the committee that the scammer proceeded to harass himself, his son and his teen cousin. Guffey says this is because Meta took down the account that tormented his son Gavin and left the rest of the scammer’s accounts up.

Hassanbunhussein Abolore Lawal, who was indicted by a Grand Jury in October 2023, was extradited to the United States from Lagos, Nigeria. He faces the possibility of life in prison.

Within a few months of taking office, Guffey was able to pass a law bearing his son’s name. Gavin’s Law makes sextortion, the act of blackmailing someone using explicit images or videos, a felony in South Carolina. The offense can be upgraded to an aggravated felony if the victim is a minor or if there are other mitigating circumstances, which are outlined in the law. Additionally, Gavin’s Law requires South Carolina schools to teach students about the dangers of sextortion.

‘Sextortion is now taught throughout the State and every kid at least has some awareness so they don’t feel alone like my son did that night,’ Guffey told the Senate committee on Wednesday.

Guffey does not have faith in Big Tech’s ability to reform itself. He recalled attending a January 2024 hearing in which Mark Zuckerberg offered what he called ‘a forced, pathetic apology.’

Guffey is demanding lawmakers take action on Section 230, which he believes will ‘go down as one of the greatest disasters.’

Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act distinguishes Big Tech platforms from those that would be treated as a ‘publisher.’ This absolves online platforms of legal liability for what users post.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle discussed the need for legislation to create new industry standards for Big Tech aimed at protecting America’s children.

While Guffey is advocating for federal legislation, he is also calling for a cultural shift.

‘I believe that in this country we’ve lost grace, and we have too often kicked people for the mistakes that they make, and we tell our kids that ‘everything you do online will stay with you forever.’ Well, imagine if you just took your darkest moment and posted it online,’ Guffey said to the committee.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) says it received more than 26,710 reports of financial sextortion in 2023. NCMEC says it has seen ‘an overwhelming increase in reports of sextortion from children and teens.’ The center advises parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of sextortion, but also to let them know that they need to get help and not immediately pay or comply with the blackmailer. 

President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains higher than at any point during his first term in office, according to a new poll from CNN.

The Thursday poll shows Trump at 47% approval rating with 52% disapproval. The poll found that a plurality of Americans, 28%, say Trump’s ‘single most significant’ action has been securing the border, followed by his slashing of government with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency at 12%.

Meanwhile, many Americans say they want Trump to do more to address everyday prices. According to the poll, 62% of Americans say he hasn’t gone far enough on the issue, including 47% of Republicans, 65% of independents and 73% of Democrats.

CNN conducted its poll from Feb. 13-17, surveying 1,206 U.S. adults in both English and Spanish. The poll advertises a margin of error of 3.1%.

CNN’s poll comes on the heels of three other polls that were released Wednesday.

Forty-five percent of voters questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey said they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, with 49% disapproving.

That’s down from a 46%-43% approval/disapproval in a Quinnipiac poll conducted in late January, during the president’s first week back in office following his inauguration.

Another national poll from Gallup indicated the president at 45% approval and 51% disapproval, down from 47%-48% approval/disapproval late last month.

And according to a Reuters/Ipsos national survey also released on Wednesday, the president stood at 44% approval and 51% disapproval. Trump registered at 45%-46% approval/disapproval in the previous poll by Reuters/Ipsos, which was conducted late last month during the first week of the president’s second administration.

The latest Quinnipiac poll was conducted Feb. 13-17, with Gallup in the field Feb. 3-16, and Reuters/Ipsos conducting their survey Feb. 13-18.

New surveys this week from other polling organizations indicate Trump’s approval ratings remain above water.

Trump has kept up a frenetic pace during his opening weeks back in the White House, with an avalanche of executive orders and actions. His moves not only fulfilled some of his major campaign trail promises, but also allowed the returning president to flex his executive muscles, quickly put his stamp on the federal government, make major cuts to the federal workforce, and also settle some longstanding grievances.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney lambasted President Donald Trump in a tweet on Wednesday, asserting that he is the ‘antithesis’ of all that Ronald Reagan, America’s 40th president, ‘stood for.’

She claimed that Trump ‘is aligning’ the U.S. with the opponents of liberty.

‘Trump – with his devotion to Putin, abandonment of Ukraine, and lies about history- is the antithesis of everything Ronald Reagan stood for. He is aligning America with the enemies of the very freedom that generations have fought and died to defend,’ Cheney declared in the post on X. 

‘History will not be kind to those who are helping him, especially those who call themselves Reagan Republicans while they pretend not to see what’s happening,’ she added.

The former congresswoman, who was one of the House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, has been a vociferous Trump critic over the years.

Her post on Wednesday came after Trump excoriated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a Truth Social post, referring to the foreign figure as ‘A Dictator without Elections,’ who ‘has done a terrible job.’ 

The U.S. has doled out billions worth of aid to assist Ukraine as the Eastern European nation has warred against Russia in response to a 2022 Russian invasion.

‘You shoulda never started it. You could’ve made a deal,’ Trump said on Tuesday.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who served alongside Trump during the president’s first term in office, pushed back in a post on Wednesday. 

‘Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth,’ Pence tweeted.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a member of the newly created Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) senatorial caucus, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that one of the first hearings he wants to hold as chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations would focus on ‘the corruption of science’ within the public health system.

Johnson said he hopes the MAHA caucus will ‘restore integrity’ to the scientific community while adhering to recently confirmed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s other agenda items.

‘That’s just foundational, we have to do that first,’ Johnson said. ‘I think we need to give the … COVID injection injured a fair hearing.’

Created in December by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas – who is also a physician – the MAHA caucus ‘will focus on nutrition, access to affordable, high-quality-nutrient-dense foods, improving primary care, and addressing the root causes of chronic diseases,’ acting as a congressional arm for implementing RFK Jr.’s agenda.

So far, the only other members of the caucus are Republicans, but Johnson said the MAHA movement is largely nonpartisan. Other issues Johnson hopes the coalition will explore are the childhood vaccine schedule and potential theories behind the cause of autism.

‘We haven’t even been allowed to ask these questions,’ Johnson said. ‘I’d like to hold a hearing on what questions remain unanswered, what science needs to be conducted with integrity to start answering these questions.’

‘We can certainly reveal the fact that there are legitimate questions that are outstanding that the American people want answers to in a completely nonpartisan way,’ he said.

Johnson said the HHS and scientific community were ‘captured by Big Pharma’ and Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci is currently facing the ire of Republicans for unanswered questions about taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research.

He said MAHA’s goal is ‘to end that corporate capture of federal health agencies’ and ‘reinstall in federal agencies their real mission, which is on behalf of the American public.’

And a new bill he said he may introduce could address that by restoring ‘doctors to the top of the treatment pyramid’ instead of having their hands tied by associations and health groups.

‘We should have a bill, and I would call it ‘Right to Treat,’’ Johnson said. ‘Right now, they’re being crushed at the bottom of the pyramid, and the pyramid starts with people like Anthony Fauci, basically non-practicing physicians, telling doctors how to take care of their patients. That’s completely backwards. We need to re-establish doctors at the top of the treatment pyramid.’

RFK Jr. was confirmed by the Senate last week in a 52-48 vote, nearly entirely along party lines. Kennedy’s controversial hearings focused on his previous public statements about vaccines. Kennedy has been critical of ‘Big Pharma’ and ‘Big Food’ on the campaign trail during his own independent bid for the presidency and continues in the MAHA movement under Trump’s administration.

‘Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,’ Kennedy said of the increase in chronic illnesses. ‘And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.’

Since RFK Jr.’s swearing-in, Trump has issued sweeping firings across several federal departments, including HHS, leading to a protest led by federal employees outside HHS in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

– Vice President JD Vance is expected to spotlight President Donald Trump’s avalanche of activity since returning to the White House a month ago, as he kicks off the Conservative Political Action Conference, better known by its acronym CPAC.

Vance is no stranger to CPAC, but on Thursday morning at the opening session at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside the nation’s capital, he’ll address the confab for the first time since his inauguration last month as Vice President of the United States.

‘The Vice President is expected to emphasize the historic rate of achievement during President Trump’s first month in office,’ a source familiar shared first with Fox News ahead of Vance’s CPAC appearance.

According to the source, the vice president is expected to focus on the Trump/Vance administration’s efforts towards ‘securing the homeland and deporting violent illegal immigrants, unleashing American energy & fueling our economy, protecting American workers & promoting domestic manufacturing,’ and ‘re-establishing American strength at home & abroad.’

The vice president will make his points as he takes part in a fireside chat with Mercedes Schlapp, the veteran Republican political and communications strategist who is a senior fellow at the American Conservative Union, the group that hosts CPAC.

Vance has been a regular at the conference in recent years, dating back to his successful 2022 campaign for the Senate in Ohio. And last October, as he crisscrossed the national campaign trail as Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, Vance also spoke at a CPAC-hosted townhall in battleground Arizona.

CPAC, which dates back to 1974, is the nation’s oldest and largest annual gathering of conservative leaders and activists. In the years since Trump first won the White House in 2016, it has been dominated by legions of MAGA loyalists and America First disciples who hold immense sway over the GOP.

Vance, who served two years in the Senate before being elected vice president, has been considered a key player in helping the GOP-controlled chamber confirm Trump’s Cabinet nominees at a brisk pace.

And Vance made major headlines earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, when he used his first major speech as vice president to deliver a blistering address directed at Europe’s political class.

Trump’s naming last summer of Vance – a former venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling memoir, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ before running for elective office – as his running was seen as a sign that the now 40-year-old politician was the heir apparent to Trump and his movement.

Trump praised Vance in a recent interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on ‘Special Report’ for ‘doing a fantastic job,’

But asked by Baier if he viewed Vance as his successor and the Republican nominee in 2028, the term-limited Trump said, ‘No, but he’s very capable.’

‘It’s too early. We’re just starting,’ Trump added.

Questions about 2028 may be hanging over Vance at CPAC, which has long held a closely watched GOP presidential nomination straw poll.

Vance, in an interview earlier this month with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on ‘Sunday Morning Futures,’ was asked about the next White House race.

‘We’ll see what happens come 2028, but the way I think about this is the best thing for my future is actually the best thing for the American people, which is that we do a really good job over the next three and a half years,’ the vice president said.

Vance noted that ‘we’ll cross that political bridge when we come to it. I’m not thinking about running for president. I’m thinking about doing a good job for the American people and I think the best way to do that is to make sure that President Trump is a success.’

CPAC announced on Wednesday night what was widely expected, that Trump will close out the conference with a Saturday address, where he’ll likely take a victory lap for his convincing 2024 presidential election victory, which cemented his massive grip over the Republican Party.

The president, long a major draw at CPAC, returns in triumph thanks to his recapturing of the White House, along with the GOP’s flipping the Senate majority from blue to red, and the party’s successful defense of their fragile control of the House.

Trump has been a regular at CPAC since 2011, since the then business mogul and reality TV star gave his first speech at the confab, in what would be an appetizer for his first White House campaign four years later.

Trump used his 2011 speech to tease a potential 2012 presidential run that never materialized, telling the crowd that if he did run, ‘our country will be great again.’

‘CPAC is where he developed his antennae. He appeared for several years while he was the host of ‘The Apprentice,” former longtime CPAC communications director Ian Walters noted. ‘He learned how to arouse the crowd, how to toss red meat.’

And Trump, at an extreme political low point after leaving the White House in January 2021 following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of former President Biden’s 2020 election victory, gave his first post-presidency speech at CPAC.

Walters told Fox News that the address, where Trump teased a 2024 White House run, ‘provided him a reliable and predictable opportunity with an audience largely of his supporters.’