Category: USA Politics

Most Americans, including majorities of Republicans and self-identified MAGA Republicans, say keeping the United States in NATO is important to the nation’s security and prosperity, according to a new poll. 

The Reagan Institute Summer Survey found that 73% of Americans say remaining in NATO matters to U.S. security and prosperity, including 64% of Republicans and 61% of MAGA Republicans. Fox News Digital obtained a preview of the survey, which will be made public Sunday.

The poll also found bipartisan support for NATO’s collective defense principle. After respondents were told that NATO members are obligated to come to one another’s defense if attacked, 76% of Democrats, 71% of Republicans and 69% of MAGA Republicans said they would support the U.S. responding with military force if a NATO ally were attacked. 

The findings come as President Donald Trump continues to press NATO allies to shoulder more of the burden for the alliance’s collective defense. During a White House meeting Wednesday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump criticized several European allies for what he described as insufficient support during the recent U.S. operation against Iran, even as Rutte praised Trump’s leadership and credited him with pushing NATO members to boost defense spending.

NEW POLL REVEALS AMERICANS SEE TWO PATHS ON IRAN — AND SUPPORT BOTH ALMOST EQUALLY

The Reagan Institute Summer Survey was conducted May 26 through June 3 among 1,555 respondents nationwide and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. The survey used a mixed-mode methodology that included live telephone interviews, an online panel and text-to-web responses.

To better reflect the U.S. population, the results were weighted using demographic benchmarks from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey, including age, gender, race, region and education levels. The poll also included an oversample of 331 MAGA Republicans under age 30, a group with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The Reagan Institute is a Washington-based policy organization that advocates the Reagan foreign-policy tradition of “peace through strength” and sustained American leadership abroad.

Trump met with Rutte Wednesday, who once again offered effusive praise for the American president during their White House meeting.

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“I really want to make clear how important it is what you are doing on Iran,” Rutte told Trump. “This is first of all about the nuclear capability Iran was very near to getting its hands on,”

Trump, meanwhile, criticized several European allies for what he described as insufficient support during the U.S. operation against Iran.

“I was disappointed with Italy. I was disappointed with the UK,” he said. “We were disappointed with Germany and France. We’re disappointed with most of them. Spain is a horror show.”

“We don’t need their money, we don’t need anything. We have the most powerful military in the world by far, but I just want loyalty,” Trump said.

NATO’s collective defense principle, known as Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, has been invoked only once in the alliance’s 77-year history. NATO allies unanimously invoked the provision after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, declaring the attacks on the United States an attack on all members of the alliance. 

Trump has long criticized NATO members for failing to meet alliance defense spending commitments — at times even threatening to pull out of the alliance — arguing the U.S. has carried a disproportionate share of its security burden. 

During both his first and second terms, he has pushed allies to significantly increase military spending while warning that the U.S. should not bear the costs of Europe’s defense alone.

The White House and NATO could not immediately be reached for comment. 

A group of conservatives is vowing to grind the House floor to a halt until Republicans pass the SAVE America Act. 

“There’s going to be no votes this week, and it’s going to be as long as it takes,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who is leading the effort, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

The hardball tactics led House Republican leadership to pull a series of votes on Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is expected to put legislation that had already been teed up for a vote Thursday, but it is unclear whether he will be able to convince Luna and other conservatives to end their blockade, effectively freezing the House floor. 

“The president’s been very clear,” Luna told Fox News Digital. “He’s not playing these games anymore, and I’m going to fully back him, and I have the votes to do it.”

REPS. FINE, SELF, HARRIS, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: WE’LL BLOCK THE SENATE UNTIL THE SAVE ACT PASSES

President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted the SAVE America Act is his top legislative priority. The sprawling legislation, which would enact voter ID requirements, crack down on mail-in voting and ban sex change procedures for minors, has stalled in the Senate amid widespread opposition from Democrats. 

House conservatives are pressuring their Senate colleagues to fight for the bill, but a version that incorporates all the president’s priorities has yet to receive a vote in their chamber.

Johnson is scheduled to meet with Trump later Thursday in a likely attempt to break the logjam. Given the speaker’s razor-thin majority, just a few dissenting Republicans can have an outsize impact on whether legislation can be advanced through the House. 

Johnson floated Wednesday incorporating a narrow version of the SAVE America Act into a third budget reconciliation package. The provision would create a grant program encouraging states to require federally verified REAL IDs at the ballot box.

But Luna indicated to Fox News Digital that the speaker’s proposal was an inadequate fix. 

“I want to warn the American people that you cannot get SAVE America Act on reconciliation,” Luna said, referring to a potential third party-line package. “It’s not possible to be done, so we’re not drinking the Kool-Aid on that. Unless the Senate decides to fire the parliamentarian, nothing will change.”

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The impasse is not expected to resolve soon, with the Senate leaving Wednesday to begin a two-week recess around the July 4 holiday.

No senators objected to starting the planned break early. 

Luna also dismissed the significance of the bipartisan housing bill that passed the lower chamber this week. Republicans have pointed to the legislation — aimed at expanding the nation’s housing stock — as crucial to their affordability messaging ahead of November’s midterm elections. 

“They don’t get to go home and say that they’re getting wins for the American people when they’re not even able to deliver on that 80/20 issue,” Luna said, referring to the SAVE America Act. 

“And I really applaud the president for saying that he’s not going to sign it into law. I think that he reserves the right to veto,” the Florida lawmaker continued.

Luna and the band of conservatives opposed the sweeping housing bill as part of their pledge to vote “no” on every piece of legislation that comes over from the Senate until the SAVE America Act passes.

“In us shutting down the floor, it’s showing that … they’re not going to be able to get done what they want to get done,” Luna said.

The socialist backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani who won Tuesday night’s primary election in New York’s 13th Congressional District founded a group in college that called for the total destruction of the West. 

Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, a Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress who made career out of “community organizing,” wrote in her biography for an opinion piece in independent news outlet The Electronic Intifada that she “helped launch the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign Columbia University Apartheid Divest.”

“We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization,” the group said in a now-deleted 2024 Instagram post.

In May 2024, eight years after she graduated from Columbia, Chevalier was back on campus advocating alongside the group she founded, known as CUAD, wearing a keffiyeh and a t-shirt emblazoned with the group’s name.

Avila Chevalier was interviewed by the Associated Press at the school’s infamous encampment against Israel that year, which was later broken up by police.

MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST WITH HISTORY OF ANTI-AMERICAN RHETORIC WINS VICIOUS DEM PRIMARY RACE

Only months after that, CUAD, caused a firestorm when it reportedly posted its goal of eradicating Western Civilization.

“We stand in full solidarity with every movement for liberation in the Global South,” the post continued. “Our Intifada is an internationalist one — we are fighting for nothing less than the liberation of all people.”

“We reject every genocidal, eugenicist regime that seeks to undermine the personhood of the colonized,” the group added.

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Columbia University has roundly denounced CUAD, and says it is not affiliated in any way with the school.

Avila Chevalier was born in Florida to Dominican immigrants. She converted to Islam in recent years.

‘PARTY OF ZOHRAN’: MAMDANI EMERGES AS DEMOCRATIC KINGMAKER AFTER SOCIALIST ALLIES SWEEP NYC PRIMARIES

The surfacing of her affiliation with the group has sparked intense online backlash, including from elected Democrats.

“Anti-Israel. Anti-America. Anti-Western Civilization. Why am I the only Democrat in the U.S. Senate that refuses to excuse this or defend any of those self-identified communists?” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said on X Wednesday evening.

Avila Chevalier also infamously expressed anti-white women and anti-American sentiments in deleted social media posts, one time calling her home country “a f—ing disgrace.”

LETITIA JAMES FUMES AS MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALISTS SWEEP NEW YORK PRIMARIES

“I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me,” she said in another deleted post.

“This lady founded an organization with a stated goal of Eradicating Western civilization, & a bunch of rich white progressives who know she means them, said ‘please do,’” X personality Sean Fitzgerald said.

“The real ‘country over party’ test isn’t going to be about Trump,” said RealClearInvestigations writer Mark Hemingway. “It’s going to be over communist Congress members who literally say they want to eradicate Western civilization.”

In a deeply blue district, Avila Chevalier is likely to waltz her way into Congress in November.

Fox News Digital reached out to Avila Chevalier’s campaign.

FIRST ON FOX: Following a string of high-profile victories by socialist candidates, New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman warned the Democratic Party has veered too far left and predicted establishment Democrats will increasingly back Republicans.

Speaking exclusively to Fox News Digital in the wake of Tuesday’s wins, Blakeman said the results underscored the growing influence of the party’s progressive wing and exposed a widening divide within the Democratic coalition.

“The lunatic left has taken over the Democratic Party,” he said just hours after three socialists backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani won their primaries in New York districts. “They’ve lost control of their party.”

The rise of socialist victories against traditional Democrats have intensified debate over the Party’s future and the growing influence of its far-left flank. Republicans have seized on those wins as evidence the party is moving away from moderate voters on issues such as taxes and public safety.

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Blakeman, who is running to unseat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, argued that socialists have effectively taken control of the Democratic Party, creating an opening for Republicans among moderate and working-class voters in the state.

“They’ve offered everybody free stuff,” Blakeman told Fox News Digital, adding that progressive candidates are making unrealistic promises to voters. “They’re never going to do what they say they’re going to,” he continued, warning that such proposals would ultimately prove impossible to deliver.

He argued voters are being sold an unrealistic vision in which “everything in New York could be free,” while longtime Democrats increasingly feel disconnected from the party’s recent direction.

“The traditional Democrats are going to vote for Republicans this year,” Blakeman predicted. “They know their party has gone off the deep end.”

The Republican hopeful pointed to Mamdani’s meteoric rise as evidence of what he described as the growing influence of socialists within the party. Blakeman acknowledges that proposals such as government-run grocery stores and other publicly funded programs may be politically popular but claims they would ultimately fail to deliver on their promises.

“Free grocery stores, I mean, that’s complete nonsense,” Blakeman said. “Government should not be competing with the private sector.”

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Blakeman said many of the policies being championed by progressive candidates could harm small businesses and accelerate the outflow of residents and employers from New York. Instead, he argued, the state should focus on lowering taxes, reducing utility costs and creating a more business-friendly environment.

During his interview with Fox News Digital the night after sweeping socialist victories in New York, Blakeman accused Hochul of being just as radical and failing to stand up to the Democratic Party’s left flank as progressive figures like Mamdani gain prominence.

“They’re in league together,” Blakeman said of Hochul and Mamdani. “I now call her Comrade Kathy.”

Though he ran uncontested, Blakeman’s campaign received a boost earlier this year when he secured President Donald Trump‘s endorsement as he seeks to unseat Hochul in deep blue New York, the president’s longtime home state.

Asked about Trump’s support, Blakeman said it’s valuable but urged voters to focus on shared concerns such as affordability, public safety and lowering taxes.

Blakeman argued that the Democratic Party’s growing embrace of socialist candidates could ultimately benefit Republicans, particularly among suburban and working-class voters who he believes feel increasingly disconnected from the party’s priorities.

“Traditional Democrats see their party going off the deep end. They don’t like it,” Blakeman said. “They’re going to come on board with us because it’s the only way to stop their party from becoming an extinct party.”

Mamdani’s office and Hochul’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: It is “only a matter of time” before the type of drone attacks seen on battlefields overseas reach the United States, FBI Deputy Director Chris Raia warned in an interview with Fox News Digital — as investigators race to prepare for rapidly evolving technology that could eventually allow operators thousands of miles away to pilot aircraft targeting Americans.

“I think the biggest threat right now, kind of the five-yard target, if you will, is going to be that threat from a drone,” Raia said.

Federal officials increasingly have become concerned that advances in commercially available drone technology are giving individuals and small groups capabilities once associated with larger organizations, lowering the barriers to carrying out potentially devastating attacks.

“I’m less concerned about a mass 9/11-style attack than I am a lone single person, a single attacker,” Raia said.

Raia’s warning comes as federal authorities grapple with the rapid proliferation of inexpensive drone technology, lessons learned from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and an alleged domestic plot targeting the White House UFC event that prosecutors say involved plans to use explosive-laden drones. The FBI is also in the midst of securing the FIFA World Cup, one of the largest domestic security operations in recent U.S. history.

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In Ukraine, relatively inexpensive drones have transformed warfare, carrying out surveillance, targeting and attack missions once reserved for sophisticated military systems. Similar tactics also have appeared in conflicts across the Middle East, where armed groups have used drones to strike military and civilian targets.

Investigators are particularly focused on the next generation of drones, which could operate via 5G and LTE cellular networks rather than relying solely on short-range radio-frequency links that generally require operators to remain nearby.

“We have seen that overseas, and it’s only a matter of time before somebody brings that type of attack, that threat vector here to the United States,” Raia said.

Most commercially available drones today rely on direct radio-frequency links, Wi-Fi-style connections or other short-range communications that generally require operators to remain relatively close to the aircraft. But Raia said the FBI is increasingly preparing for systems that could be controlled from much greater distances.

“That means somebody in China can control a drone over New Orleans,” he said.

Such a shift, he warned, could make it more difficult for investigators to identify operators and disrupt attacks before they occur.

He encouraged the public to keep calling in tips of suspicious drone activity. 

“Especially all these drone hobbyists out there that are flying drones for non-nefarious purposes,
 Raia said. “They know better what somebody out of the ordinary looks like than we do.”

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The FBI’s focus on drones has intensified during the FIFA World Cup, which federal authorities have described as one of the largest security operations in recent U.S. history.  Agents have already seized more than 300 drones and made eight arrests tied to unauthorized drone activity during the tournament, according to Raia. 

Federal prosecutors say concerns about drone misuse are not merely theoretical. Court records allege members of the alleged UFC conspiracy discussed using explosive-laden drones to trigger a mass evacuation, while a newly charged defendant allegedly exchanged messages about acquiring drones, payloads and specialized equipment for the operation.

Newly unsealed court records suggest investigators also were examining whether members of the alleged UFC conspiracy discussed targeting a FIFA World Cup match scheduled for July 3 in Kansas City, Missouri. In one affidavit, an FBI agent wrote that he believed messages exchanged among alleged conspirators referenced the event and preparations for travel to Missouri.

Federal officials worry both about what bad actors can do with increasingly capable drone technology, and also how they organize, recruit and plan attacks out of public view.

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The alleged UFC conspiracy highlighted another challenge for investigators: encrypted communications platforms that are largely hidden from law enforcement scrutiny.

“That is a gap for us in encrypted communications platforms,” Raia said.

Raia said the bureau attempts to overcome that challenge through confidential human sources, undercover operatives and public tips. But he acknowledged investigators do not have visibility into every encrypted conversation where criminal activity may be occurring.

“I think I would be foolish to think that we’re in every single one of those rooms,” he said.

In the alleged UFC conspiracy, investigators got a rare break.

According to Raia, the case began with a concerned parent.

FBI REVEALS WHY TRUMP WHITE HOUSE UFC EVENT WENT AHEAD DESPITE ALLEGED TERROR PLOT

“We had a concerned parent that really launched this entire UFC 250 case off,” Raia said.

The tip from Tycen Proper’s mother reportedly prompted investigators to take a closer look at her son’s online activity. After obtaining a warrant for Proper’s phone, investigators uncovered what prosecutors describe as an alleged network of encrypted chats discussing drone operations, sniper positions, rendezvous points and attack planning tied to the White House event.

Court records show Proper’s phone allegedly contained a primary Signal chat with approximately 19 participants, along with smaller operational chats organized by role and location.

For investigators, the case underscored how emerging technology and encrypted communications can allow small groups of individuals to coordinate sophisticated attack plans while remaining largely hidden from public view — a threat landscape the FBI believes will only continue to evolve.

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino recently issued a similar warning, arguing that the rapid evolution of commercially available drone technology is outpacing traditional security assumptions.

“This technology is evolving on probably weekly, if not monthly cycles now,” he told Fox News June 16. “And don’t think that people looking to commit malicious acts, terrorists and others, haven’t picked up on this. It’s cheap. It’s very difficult to defeat.” 

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., was immediately reminded of how he served his 9-month pregnant wife with divorce papers in 2016 as he now attempts to fend off campaign finance scrutiny with family-friendly characterizations.

“My daughter Isla was born right in the middle of my Senate campaign. One of the most competitive races in the country. And instead of staying out there campaigning, I took two months off,” Gallego said in a video he posted on social media.

“My wife had just been through an unplanned C-section. I wanted to be there for her, and for our newborn because being a husband and a father matters more to me than any campaign, or any job,” he continued. 

Conservatives and a former Jill Biden spokesperson quickly fired back on his portrayal, which comes amid a whirlwind of questions around whether he used donor cash as a personal slush fund, and comes as Gallego is reportedly eyeing a presidential 2028 bid.

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“He’s either terribly arrogant or has zero self awareness,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said on X. “Probably both. And who’s running his comms operation that thought this post would go over well? 

“Just unbelievably bad instincts to post this given what everybody knows about his history. The ratio was entirely predictable and now even more people will learn about his behavior,” GOP consultant Matt Wolking said on X.

“Do you think people are unaware that you left your first wife when she was about to deliver your baby?” Matt Whitlock, a former adviser to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said on X. 

The campaign account for Kari Lake, once a Republican challenger to Gallego, also fired back.

“To clarify: this child is from your second marriage, after you left your first wife nine months pregnant to be with your lobbyist mistress — correct?” the account said in a post. 

Gallego’s controversial divorce was exposed after the Washington Free Beacon spent almost a year in court to get his divorce records unsealed. Court records reveal that Gallego’s then-wife was “likely to give birth any day” when he served the divorce papers.

“You literally gave your wife divorce papers when she was 9 months pregnant. You think people are just not gonna call you on that???” Matt Van Swol, a former nuclear scientist at the Department of Energy, said on X.

Katie Miller, the wife of White House policy advisor Stephen Miller, also chimed in.

“Ruben Gallego served his wife divorce papers when she was nine months pregnant. He then entered into a relationship with a 25-year-old lobbyist,” Miller said.

SWALWELL FRIEND GALLEGO DEFENDS CAMPAIGN FUNDED SUPER BOWL, MIAMI TRIPS: ‘GO WHERE THE MONEY IS’

Shortly after Fox News Digital reached out to Gallego’s office Wednesday, Gallego’s current wife, Sydney Gallego, told Miller on X to “Check your facts.” 

“Ruben & I didn’t even meet until years later. Our whole family has a strong relationship. Wish I was surprised that Katie Miller’s lying about us. But these are the same sick people who want ICE ripping families apart. It’s not about family at all.”

“Thanks Katie for providing that clarification that Ruben and I met over a year and a half after his divorce, not while he was still married. Maybe once and for all the lies about the origin of our relationship will subside. Appreciate your help making that happen,” Gallego’s wife wrote in a separate post.

In addition to conservatives, former Jill Biden spokesperson Michael Larosa ripped Gallego on X.

“Yes, Ruben Gallego was so vital to his wife’s maternal health that when she was pregnant, he didn’t take time off to support her—he served her with divorce papers ahead of delivery,” he said. “What man doesn’t do that to improve his wife’s recovery?”

Gallego has fended off allegations of donor-funded travel and luxury purchases by arguing that he is a regular parent who sometimes brings his kids and family to fundraising functions.

“Are these at nice venues? Yes, it’s where the donors are and it’s part of campaigning,” Gallego wrote online on Monday.

But observers noted that recent reporting from Politico suggested Gallego used campaign funds for family travel, Disneyland and Super Bowl tickets — items that don’t seem to fall neatly under campaign activities.

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“The Super Bowl was in Arizona, I represent Arizona,” Gallego told Fox News Digital. “We threw a Super Bowl fundraiser in Arizona where we raised money for my election in 2023. That’s what you do.” 

“You have to go where the money is to raise money,” Gallego added.

New York City and New York state are funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in new funding toward the New York City Abortion Access Hub.

Press releases from the offices of Big Apple Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Empire State Gov. Kathy Hochul declared that the two figures were announcing that the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the state’s Department of Health are infusing $495,000 to expand the program’s “referral network.”

“The expansion will allow the Hub to connect callers with a broader network of abortion providers and support organizations outside the five boroughs, helping more people access reproductive health care regardless of where they live,” the releases noted.

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The releases say “New York State’s annual investment… will support the Hub’s coordination with abortion providers outside New York City and organizations that assist patients with travel, financial support and lodging associated with obtaining care.”

While the city’s press release places this “annual investment” from the state at $220,000, the state’s press release puts that figure at $250,000.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s and governor’s offices about the discrepancy.

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The announcement about the funding came on the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

“The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” that ruling declared.

The press releases note that “The NYC Abortion Access Hub is a confidential hotline that connects callers to abortion care and related services, including financial assistance, insurance enrollment, transportation and lodging. The Hub was launched in response to the Dobbs decision. Since its launch, the Hub has answered more than 10,400 calls and nearly 5,000 live chat messages. More than half of callers seek medication abortion services, while one-quarter of calls come from outside New York state.”

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“Four years ago, the disastrous Dobbs decision stripped away a fundamental right and put reproductive health care out of reach for millions of Americans across this country,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Since then, New York has led the fight to protect abortion care. On this anniversary, we are expanding the successful Abortion Access Hub so that anyone seeking care can more easily find it. Together with New York State, we are strengthening a lifeline that connects people to abortion care, medication, transportation, lodging and support. Because abortion is health care. And health care is a human right.”

“As we commemorate four years since the Supreme Court’s disastrous Dobbs decision, New York is sending a clear message to the rest of the country: We’re not going to let Washington Republicans take us backwards,” Hochul noted in a statement. “Thanks to our support, we are expanding the reach of this vital resource so more people have access to safe reproductive health care.”

FIRST ON FOX: The Senate’s newest member is reviving an issue that has echoed through the halls of Congress for years, and one that, if successful, could turbocharge energy production in the U.S.

Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-Okla., who was appointed to replace Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin earlier this year, has one priority in the few months that he has been the Sooner State’s junior Senator: permitting reform. 

It’s not one of the sexy, bombastic issues on the Hill, but it’s one that has percolated among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for years. And one that has never quite made it to the finish line. 

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But for Armstrong, who stepped down as CEO of the Oklahoma-based natural gas processor and transporter Williams Companies before joining the Senate until the end of the year, the only issue that matters is gutting red tape and legal hurdles for new energy infrastructure projects that proponents argue, in the long run, could provide a boom in America’s economic competitiveness, particularly against China.

“There’s no magic, overnight fix to lower prices, but comprehensive, meaningful permitting reform will ensure that the U.S. remains the global leader in energy,” Williams said in a statement. “When we can build our own infrastructure and produce our own supply, our allies will be far less reliant on adversarial sources for their energy.” 

“The U.S. cannot afford to remain idle while our global competitors move ahead, and the cost of inaction will be paid directly by American consumers through higher utility bills,” he continued. 

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Williams has produced a package of bills geared toward permitting reform that combines ideas from the House and Senate, dubbed the American Energy and Mineral Infrastructure Act of 2026.

The package would ultimately alleviate time and money spent on the permitting process for pipeline developers, liquid natural gas (LNG) export companies and natural gas producers, among others, as they navigate the dense and slow-moving permitting process. 

Armstrong’s legislation, which so far has the backing of Republican Sens. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Rick Scott of Florida, and Katie Britt of Alabama, along with nearly two dozen oil and gas companies, would make the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency (FERC) the lead agency in approving interstate pipelines and LNG terminals, a change in current law that would prevent a single state from blocking a federally approved interstate project. 

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It would also require “evidence-based” review when it comes to environmental-based decisions in the permitting process, and would expand the usage of Nationwide Permits under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create a broader standardized approval process for certain projects. 

The package also creates standardized requirements for projects that affect wetlands and waterways and would make it easier for mining, particularly of critical minerals, to take place on federal lands.

And it would broadly reform the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that requires federal agencies to study environmental impacts before approving many projects to narrow what agencies analyze, clarify that NEPA is largely a procedural law, limit expansive environmental analyses and establish clearer rules for review in court. 

“America has got to be able to build again, or else we are leaving our kids a worse country than the one we inherited from previous generations,” Armstrong said. “I’m glad that my presence in the Senate these last few months has reinvigorated this conversation, and rest assured, I won’t be stepping off the gas.”

A public university in the American heartland spent more than two decades educating executives tied to China’s military-industrial complex through a business program that allegedly received taxpayer support, a new watchdog report claims. 

The report, titled Heartland for Hire, compiled by the geopolitical research firm Strategy Risks, alleges that Missouri State University (MSU) operated an MBA and Executive MBA pipeline that trained more than 1,500 Chinese executives, government officials and state-owned enterprise managers beginning in 2001, including personnel connected to China’s defense sector. 

Graduates of the program, according to the report, included executives linked to Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), China’s largest state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate. AVIC has been designated by the U.S. Defense Department as a Chinese military company and has faced U.S. sanctions and investment restrictions over its ties to Beijing’s military establishment.

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The report’s authors argue the program occupied a blind spot in Washington’s scrutiny of U.S.-China academic ties, which Fox News Digital has extensively reported on.

“Congressional and executive branch attention to American universities’ ties to the CCP has been focused almost entirely on three areas: STEM research theft, issues involving free speech and harassment of Chinese students, and Chinese military-affiliated graduate students in defense-relevant doctoral programs,” the report states. “This cadre training problem falls into a gap between existing oversight frameworks.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Missouri State University said the school was aware of the report and denied that any taxpayer dollars were used to fund the program. 

“As the report further acknowledges, the students studied a ‘conventional business curriculum’ with no evidence of espionage, intellectual property theft, misconduct, false affiliations or complaints of harassment,” the spokesperson said. “Students admitted to the program were required to comply with all student visa regulations administered by the U.S. State Department.”

The report also alleges that participants were largely recruited and selected through Chinese government agencies, state-owned enterprises and CCP-linked organizations rather than through the university’s standard admissions process.

“One of the most significant features of this program is that the CCP – and not MSU – selected the students,” the report said.

According to the report, Chinese government documents described the partnership as a “China-U.S. state-to-state cooperation project.” The report also identified graduates who later held positions at U.S.-restricted organizations, including AI company iFLYTEK. It alleges the partnership continued after some participating entities were added to U.S. restriction lists.

The report cited Chinese recruiting materials that described portions of the program’s costs as being covered by U.S. government or Missouri state-supported subsidies, potentially amounting to tens of millions of dollars. However, the report acknowledges that no public U.S. records confirm those taxpayer-funded payments and that the total amount cannot be independently verified.

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“What we uncover instead is evidence of China’s state apparatus using a public American university, American accreditation, and American taxpayer dollars to enhance the management and technical capabilities of the individuals who run the CCP’s defense industrial base,” according to the report.

The report concludes that the Missouri State program reflects a gap in oversight.

“No comparable attention has reached degree-granting pipelines, defense industry participants, or the regional public universities under which the system actually took place,” the report said.

Amid growing alarm over Chinese influence in higher education, the report raises fresh questions about national security risks and foreign interference on college campuses.

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A December report from Strategy Risks and the Human Rights Foundation warned that top U.S. universities, including MIT, Stanford, Harvard and Princeton, have partnered with Chinese AI labs tied to Beijing’s surveillance state and, in some cases, co-authored thousands of papers with entities linked to efforts targeting Uyghur Muslims.

Last year, the House Select Committee on China launched an investigation into universities partnering with PRC’s China Scholarship Council (CSC), citing concerns that the program serves as a covert pipeline for Beijing to gain access to sensitive American research and technology and contributes to “systemic CCP infiltration” in U.S. academia. In a September report, American universities were found to be educating thousands of Chinese nationals with ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Two months later, multiple Chinese nationals were charged in November with conspiring to smuggle biological materials into the United States while working at a University of Michigan laboratory, prompting renewed calls for stronger safeguards at U.S. research institutions.

Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged the National Science Foundation in March to review a $67 million research security initiative over universities’ ties to Chinese military-linked institutions.

Lawmakers have also introduced legislation aimed at limiting Chinese influence. In June, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, introduced the Espionage Protection Act, which would prohibit federal funding for university intelligence-related programs if schools maintain relationships with organizations alleged to have ties to the CCP.

Following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, President Donald Trump said he is not in favor of banning Chinese students from studying in the United States, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the move would strain relations with China.

More than 260,000 Chinese students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities during the 2024–25 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report.

There appears to be a growing number of global leaders embracing President Donald Trump’s mold, with one of the leading candidates to be the next United Nations secretary general even vowing to “make the U.N. great again.”

Macky Sall, the former president of Senegal, is one of the leading candidates under consideration for the top administrator role at the U.N. He is also a supporter of Trump’s foreign policy. In an interview with Breitbart, he called Trump “a peace builder” despite “some problems today with Iran.”

Sall lauded the U.S. as “the first power in the world to be with the U.N.,” while emphasizing, “They need to be with the UN.” At the same time, he admitted that “the U.N. also should be reformed to be efficient,” saying, “With other member states together we can build a better UN, or to MUNGA — we can Make the UN Great Again.”

Sall is not the only one holding this sentiment. According to Hugh Dugan, a U.N. insider with decades of experience in the body, the “MUNGA” slogan, first coined by Trump’s U.N. ambassador Mike Waltz, has become a familiar rallying cry at the global organization.

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Dugan served as a U.S. delegate to the U.N. for 26 years and advised 11 U.S. ambassadors during that time. He served on the National Security Council during Trump’s first term and currently leads Multilateral Accountability Associates, a nonprofit dedicated to holding the U.N. and other international bodies accountable. 

He explained that the MUNGA push is feeding on a growing dissatisfaction by U.N. member states over the body being mired in bureaucracy and unable to fulfill its core functions of maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly international relations and promoting international cooperation.

“It’s a clever slogan to say MUNGA, but I think the fact is that there’s been a long-time dissatisfaction among the broader membership at the U.N. on this very matter,” he explained.

The current U.N. secretary general, former Portuguese Prime Minister António Guterres, will be leaving office in 2027 after taking office in 2017. During his 10 years as U.N. secretary general, the world underwent some of the most intense conflicts and problems in decades, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Throughout this period, Trump has been highly critical of the U.N. during both of his terms. In an address to the U.N. in New York City last September, Trump went so far as to ask, “What is the purpose of the United Nations?”

Trump stated the U.N. “has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential. For the most part, at least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up.”

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Yet, despite these criticisms and media reports suggesting otherwise, he believes the president is “not migrating away from the U.N.”

“He sent his very strongest team he could there, and he remains very strongly engaged,” said Dugan, pointing to Trump’s decision last week to resume U.S. funding to the U.N.’s humanitarian work to the tune of $1.8 billion.

“So, this idea of distancing from the U.N., it’s something that his opponents and antagonists want to promote. But in fact, it’s not the case,” he said.

In the meantime, Dugan said many at the U.N. share Trump’s frustrations. He likened it to “still operating with an abacus when everybody else is on a supercomputer.” In line with this, he emphasized that there is broad support for the next secretary-general to be someone “who can demonstrate effectiveness and efficiency in the role.”

In his interview with Breitbart, Sall said that he is uniquely positioned because he has witnessed U.N. waste firsthand.

“Because I was in Africa, I saw how sometimes these [U.N.] peace operations are wasting money, and they have no efficiencies.”

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He cast himself as the candidate who could enact these reforms.

“I have the capacity as a political leader,” Sall told Breitbart, adding, “Of course, we need to reform, we need to optimize the management, and to cut the cost that I’m sure if I have the support of United States, I can work very closely and put them together with the other partners — particularly Europe, Asia, China and Russia and Africa.”

At the end of the day, the next secretary general will have to gain broad enough support and avoid a veto from any one of the members of the “P5” Security Council: the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom.

After serving as president of Senegal for 12 years and president of the African Union from 2022 to 2023, Sall said, “I am able first to talk to all the leaders from the West, and from the East.”

Dugan framed the selection of the next secretary-general as “the most consequential decision for the future relevance of the U.N. [on whether] … the corporate culture of the U.N. will be at the service of its member states and not to be its own deep state with entitled bureaucrats.”

“The big word in the end that I think encompasses all of this is the word accountability,” he said. “In a major corporation, they have to be accountable to shareholders and the market and interest rates … The UN bureaucracy doesn’t feel those pressures, and therefore, we need to create a culture of enhanced accountability among the international civil service for the use of resources.”