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NBA trade deadline rumors: Durant’s future, Warriors want Vucevic?

Even if no more deals are completed before the NBA trade deadline comes and goes Thursday afternoon, this will go down as perhaps the most memorable trade deadline since this arbitrary date became a popular mid-season event on the calendar.

Teams have until 3 p.m. ET to complete trades, but already some of the biggest names in basketball have been dealt in recent days. The action began over the weekend, of course, when the Dallas Mavericks stunned the sports world by trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. Then the Sacramento Kings traded De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs in a three-team trade that also sent Zack LaVine from the Chicago Bulls to Sacramento to reunite with former Bulls teammate DeMar DeRozan.

Another wave of significant trades occurred Wednesday. Jimmy Butler finally found a new home after the Miami Heat executed a complicated four-team trade that sent Butler to the Golden State Warriors and Andrew Wiggins to the Heat. The Milwaukee Bucks traded guard Khris Middleton to the Washington Wizards in exchange for a package revolving around forward Kyle Kuzma. The New Orleans Pelicans dealt Brandon Ingram to the Toronto Raptors and the Lakers traded for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams.

But there’s still time for more trades and the rumors are flying around league circles that another flurry of deals could arrive soon. Contenders are looking to add to their rotations for the stretch run and bottom dwellers are looking to offload contracts for draft assets.

USA TODAY Sports is keeping track of all the latest here:

Kevin Durant will remain with the Suns

As the deadline passes, Shams Charania announced on ESPN that Kevin Durant is not expected to be moved. For the moment, the other momentous trades the NBA supplied this week will have to do.

NBA teams ‘making aggressive calls on Kevin Durant’

Kevin Durant turned down Golden State Warriors reunion

Th behind-the-scenes maneuvering that preceded and eventually facilitated the trade of Butler from the Heat to the Warriors on Wednesday is beginning to trickle out. As had been hinted in recent days, conversations surrounding Butler and Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant became interconnected once it became clear Suns guard Bradley Beal was not going to waive his no-trade clause. And Steph Curry even got involved.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on ‘Get Up’ Thursday morning that ‘this was close to being Jimmy Butler in Phoenix, Kevin Durant in Golden State.’ But Durant, according to Windhorst, ‘stepped up and made it known he did not want a reunion and once that deal fell apart, Golden State pivoted.’

The Warriors then got Butler from Miami in a four-team trade that also included the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz. Butler also signed a 2-year, $121-million contract extension with the Warriors as part of the deal. But this was never straightforward, not once Butler made his trade request with the Heat and Pat Riley and not towards the end when the Warriors tried to get Durant.

The Athletic’s Anthony Slater led his analysis piece about Butler’s addition to Golden State with this fascinating nugget:’At some point in the last several days, Stephen Curry had a conversation with Kevin Durant that convinced him a reunion was extremely unlikely, no matter how much the Golden State Warriors ownership group and front office collectively ‘underestimated’ Durant’s coldness toward a return, as one team source put it.’

Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls discussing Nikola Vucevic

The Warriors might not be done adding to their roster after the Butler trade.

Though Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic told reporters after Wednesday’s 127-108 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves that he didn’t expect much to happen ahead of the trade deadline, reports Thursday suggest otherwise. Longtime Bulls insider K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network reports trade discussions surrounding Vucevic between the Bulls and Warriors are ongoing.

Memphis Grizzlies are talking to teams about Marcus Smart

NBA insider Ian Begley at SNY reports several teams have spoken with the Memphis Grizzlies about a trade involving guard Marcus Smart. Memphis was also mentioned as a potential suitor for guard Lonzo Ball before he signed a two-year contract extension with the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.

Smart returned Wednesday from a finger injury that had sidelined him for more than a month. He’s averaging 8.7 points and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 35.8% from the field in a bench role for Memphis. The 30-year-old has played in just 39 of 133 games since joining the Grizzlies via trade in June 2023 due to a variety of ailments. Smart has one year left on his contract after this season with a salary cap hit of more than $21.5 million.

Atlanta Hawks could trade De’Andre Hunter

A name to watch the next few hours is Hawks wing De’Andre Hunter, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, with the Cleveland Cavaliers emerging as a potential front-runner to get him.

Hunter has emerged as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate coming off the bench for the Hawks. He’s averaging a career-best 19.0 points and shooting 39.3% from 3-point range. The 6-8 forward has two years left on his contract after this season with salary cap hits of $23.3 million and $24.9 million.

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Is New Orleans tempting fate after power outage at city’s last Super Bowl?

New Orleans may be tempting fate.

Entergy, the power company based in New Orleans and at least partly responsible for the incident, is not hiding in shame. In fact, Entergy is a founding partner of the New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee.

“The issue that caused the partial power outage at the beginning of the second half of Super Bowl XLVII was addressed in 2013 and the necessary repairs and upgrades were made at that time,’’ Entergy said in a statement recently provided to USA TODAY Sports. ”We discontinued using the protection relay equipment that led to the partial outage.’’

The whereabouts of the offending relay equipment is not publicly known and it is not available for public inspection. It was ‘decommissioned and taken out of service in 2013,” Entergy told USA TODAY Sports. Could that be fodder for Ray Lewis, the Hall of Fame linebacker?

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At the 2013 Super Bowl, Lewis helped the Baltimore Ravens stave off the San Francisco 49ers, who rallied after power was restored before the Ravens prevailed 34-31.

‘I’m not gonna accuse nobody of nothing — because I don’t know facts,’ Lewis said after that game, his second Super Bowl win. ‘But you’re a zillion-dollar company, and your lights go out? No. (Laughs). No way.’’

Lewis did not respond to USA TODAY Sports’ request for comment before Super Bowl 59.

Ray Lewis conspiracy theory: Does anyone believe him?

After the 2013 Super Bowl, Lewis expounded on his theory about why the power went out with 13:22 left in the third quarter and the Ravens leading, 28-6.

‘Now listen, if you grew up like I grew up — and you grew up in a household like I grew up — then sometimes your lights might go out, because times get hard. I understand that,’’ he said. “But you cannot tell me somebody wasn’t sitting there and when they say, ‘The Ravens (are) about to blow them out. Man, we better do something.’ … That’s a huge shift in any game, in all seriousness. And as you see how huge it was because it let them right back in the game.’

But Torrey Smith, a retired receiver who had two catches for 35 yards for the Ravens that night, said beliefs among NFL players are not always grounded in fact.

“You think about guys on the team, some of the guys believe the earth is flat,’’ Smith told USA TODAY Sports. “So I mean, you’re going to hear some crazy things at all times, especially when it happens in that type of moment.’’

On second thought, the power went out less than two minutes after Ravens speedster Jacoby Jones opened the second half with a 108-yard kickoff return.

Said Smith, “I mean, no one had been in a stadium where the power went out and then you have this crazy momentum and literally Beyoncé just performed (during the halftime show). And the thing that I always remember was Jacoby saying, man, this place didn’t even lose power when (Hurricane) Katrina hit. And that stuff was, I was like, oh, you do have a point.’’

And the 49ers?

‘We weren’t tripping,” said Frank Gore, who had 110 yards rushing and a touchdown for San Francisco that night.

What does Entergy say about the power outage?

ASM Global, the company that manages the SuperDome, and the Super Bowl Host Committee referred questions about the power outage to Entergy, which provided written statements.

One says, “Entergy New Orleans has worked closely with Caesars Superdome officials to install significant upgrades and additional redundancy to the stadium’s electrical and lighting systems.’’

In 2013, Entergy and other officials blamed the power outage on ‘an abnormality” that resulted in an automatic shutdown, partially cutting power. The lights went out on the side of the stadium where the San Francisco 49ers bench, TV and radio booths and press box are located. Backup generators kicked in before the power was restored, leaving some light in the stadium.

Later, Entergy announced a third party would be hired to conduct an assessment of the cause of the power outage.

As evidence of success, Entergy cited high-profile events held at the Superdome during a 12-year run without power outages. Those include the College Football Playoff, the men’s Final Four, WrestleMania, three nights of Taylor Swift concerts and, interestingly enough, a Beyoncé concert.

Beyoncé’s performance, coupled with Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams at halftime of the 2013 Super Bowl, at the time fueled speculation that her powerful production resulted in the power outage.

Entergy has given no credence to that theory – or to any fear that a power outage could disrupt Super Bowl 59, where Kendrick Lamar is scheduled to perform.

“Entergy is prepared to deliver power to the Superdome and the entire city of New Orleans during Super Bowl LIX weekend,’’ the company said in a statement. “Entergy’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel Marcus Brown is the chair of the New Orleans Super Bowl LIX Host Committee, and Entergy’s teams have been working closely with the Host Committee, Caesars Superdome officials and city officials for over a year now.’’

Power outage sparked fear

On the radio broadcast for the 2013 Super Bowl, Kevin Harlan was doing the play-by-play and Boomer Esiason, the former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, was doing the color commentary.

“He had this look on his face when the lights went out,’’ Harlan told USA TODAY Sports in a recent interview.

According to Harlan, Esiason’s concern stemmed from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. An office for The Boomer Esiason Foundation on the 101st floor of the Trade Center’s North Tower was empty when the two airplanes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the twin towers.

The possibility that a terrorist attack caused the power outage also was a concern in the NFL control room, according to Frank Supovitz, then the NFL’s senior vice president of events.

“The law enforcement team that was up there, the security team that was up there, we’re looking after that question,’’ Supovitz said. “Did we have a terror attack? Was it a cyber terror attack? Was there a fire? Was there any danger to public safety?

“And happily, the answer to that was very quickly determined to be no.’’

Thanks to backup landline phones, Harlan said, he and Esiason were able to deliver the news to the radio audience.

“Now that I’m going over it, in my mind, I wouldn’t be lying if I said I wasn’t shaken by his reaction,’’ Harlan said of Esiason.

What happened on the Superdome field?

Steve Stelljes, the head linesman on the officiating crew at the 2013 Super Bowl, said he was on the Ravens sideline when the power went out. He recalled an exchange with head coach John Harbaugh.

“He comes over to me and he says, ‘What are you going to do about this?’ ” Stelljes said. “And I go, ‘Well, John, it’s real simple. I’m going to sit down and let the experts take care of it.’ ”

Whereupon Stelljes sat down, according to the linesman.

Solomon Wilcots, a sideline reporter for the TV broadcast, also said he interacted with Harbaugh as the players tried to stay loose. He said he pointed across the field at Harbaugh’s brother, Jim, then the head coach for the 49ers.

“I said, ‘Look at him. He’s got his guys over there, man. You better get your guys together and talk to ’em about what to anticipate when this game resumes,’ “ Wilcots said.

It was too late.

When the game resumed, the 49ers were rolling.

“I look back on it from a sports science standpoint now, for what I know now and didn’t know then,” John Harbaugh told USA TODAY Sports. “We didn’t get our guys ready the right way. We did some static stretching, rather than dynamic stretching. Now I’ve learned since then because the science has gotten better. But we didn’t warm our guys up the right way. And I think it hurt us. I don’t know if that’s why we sucked for the next 15 minutes.”

The 49ers pulled within two points in the fourth quarter, and the Ravens weren’t the only ones on edge.

Up in the NFL control room, Supovitz said, he braced for another possible power outage.

“It was like, ‘Clock, tick as fast as possible so we don’t experience this again,’ “ Supovitz said.

As Super Bowl 59 approaches, the clock is ticking again.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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President Trump’s on-again, off-again relationship with the NFL

President Donald Trump’s appearance at Sunday’s Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans will go down in history as the first sitting commander-in-chief to attend the National Football League’s title game, in which the Kansas City Chiefs will go for an unprecedented “three-peat” against the Philadelphia Eagles.What isn’t historic is his on-again/off-again decades-long feud with the NFL and its players since the 1980s.

While Trump and the NFL seem to be on the same page now, their relationship has been rocky over the decades. Here is a breakdown of Trump’s long and complicated history with the league.

Trump, the NFL and DEI

Trump will attend the big game on Sunday following the NFL’s recent decision to remove the “End Racism” message from the end zones for the first time since 2021. Instead, the league will use phrases like “Choose Love” and “It Takes All of Us.” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told USA TODAY Sports that the change is in response to deadly tragedies throughout the U.S. so far this year.

The NFL’s phrase change comes after Trump signed an executive order last month “terminating radical DEI” to “protect the civil rights of all Americans and expand individual opportunity,” according to the White House.

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“Our policies have been designed to be well within the law, well within the practice,” Goodell said on Monday. “There are no quotas in our system. This is about opening that funnel and bringing the best talent into the NFL.”

Donald Trump criticized NFL players over national anthem protests

When former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began a controversial social movement by kneeling during the national anthem before games, other NFL players followed suit, causing an outcry from Trump and several conservatives. Kaepernick said he was protesting racial inequality and the oppression of Black people in the U.S.

In September 2017, during Trump’s initial term, he made a speech in Alabama criticizing the NFL players who were kneeling during the anthem.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a (expletive) off the field right now? Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” Trump said at a rally for former Republican Sen. Luther Strange of Alabama.

During his speech, Trump also attributed the NFL’s dip in ratings at the time to several rule changes that were implemented to make the game less violent and limit concussions and other head injuries.

“The NFL ratings are down massively,” Trump said. “Now the No. 1 reason happens to be they like watching what’s happening … with yours truly. They like what’s happening because, you know today, if you hit too hard, 15 yards! Throw him out of the game!”

Donald Trump tried to purchase the Buffalo Bills in 2014

Trump tried to buy the Buffalo Bills football team in 2014, but he may not have even had the funds to do so at the time, the president’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, testified in 2019 before the House Oversight Committee.

Cohen said Trump inflated his net worth by $4 billion in financial documents, raising it from $4.26 billion to $8.66 billion from 2011 to 2013.

“Mr. Trump is a cheat,” Cohen said. “It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.”

After Cohen’s testimony in 2019, Trump described his former attorney’s words as ‘shameful’ and accused him of lying frequently.

Ultimately, Trump was outbid by Terry Pegula, a billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer, and his wife, Kim. The Pegulas’ $1.4 billion bid beat out Trump’s and a group led by singer Jon Bon Jovi.

NFL players receive backlash for supporting Trump, MAGA

Several NFL players who have openly supported Trump and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) campaign have received backlash over the years, including San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa.

Bosa disregarded the NFL’s rule against wearing or messaging political slogans when he crashed an NBC postgame interview last year and pointed to his “Make America Great Again” cap.

The NFL fined Bosa $11,255 for violating the uniform and equipment rules policy by “wearing a hat that contained a personal message.”

According to NFL rules: “Throughout the period on game-day that a player is visible to the stadium and television audience (including in pregame warm-ups, in the bench area, and during postgame interviews in the locker room or on the field), players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.”

In response to the fine, Bosa, who agreed to a five-year $170 million contract extension in September 2023 with the 49ers, said: “It was well worth it,” the Associated Press reported.

Other former and current NFL players and owners have supported Trump’s presidency over the years, including his longtime friend Herschel Walker, now-retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady, former NFL offensive lineman Richie Incognito, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, former NFL head coach Rex Ryan, legendary New York Jets center Nick Mangold, former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, former NFL quarterback Brett Favre and former NFL coach Mike Ditka.

Donald Trump’s dance takes the NFL by storm

Throughout Trump’s second presidential campaign, he often did a dance that became quite popular among NFL players.

“I’ve seen everyone do it,” Bowers told USA TODAY Sports in November. “I watched the UFC fight [Saturday] night, and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC, so I saw it and thought it was cool.”

The dance is simple: It involves bending one’s elbows, closing one’s fists, and moving one’s arms back and forth, as Trump did during his campaign rallies. Head-tilting and facial expressions can be added for some extra oomph.

Aside from Bosa, the other players who did the Trump dance did not openly support Trump. The president did shout out to Bosa for his performance of the dance in a Truth Social post in November, calling him “A GREAT PLAYER!”

“I think you know the answer to that question,” Bosa told the San Francisco Chronicle in November about his inspiration for the Trump dance. “All the guys wanted me to do it. I wasn’t even going to do it, but the boys reminded me. And it was fun.”

Donald Trump led USFL’s anti-trust lawsuit against NFL

In the mid-1980s, Trump spent less than $10 million to become the owner of the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League (USFL), CNBC reported.

“I don’t know about the rest of you people, and I don’t know how much money you guys have, but I have the money to get into the NFL. And that’s where I plan on being,” Trump told his fellow USFL owners at a meeting in 1984, the outlet said, citing the book “Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL.”

Instead, Trump spent $6 million in 1983 to buy New Jersey Generals as part of the new United States Football League and led a lawsuit against the NFL to attempt to force a merger. According to ESPN, it was “widely considered” Trump’s strategy for the league that led to its demise in 1985.

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Senate DOGE Republican pushes bill to bring government computer systems ‘out of the stone age’

As the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) works to slash government waste, a bipartisan bill in Congress is aiming to bring the federal government’s computer systems ‘out of the Stone Age.’ 

ThebipartisanStrengthening Agency Management And Oversight Of Software Assets (SAMOSA) Act passed the House in December, and Sen. Joni Ernset, R-Iowa, is leading efforts to get it passed in the upper chamber. 

Ernst, the chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, said the SAMOSA Act will ‘bring Washington out of the Stone Age and into the 21st century.’ 

Fox News Digital is told the bill could potentially save $750 million annually for taxpayers by consolidating federal agencies’ cloud computing software licenses. A source close to the proposal said ‘fixing federal IT procurement will be a key part of her sweeping efforts as chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus to downsize government and eliminate more than $2 trillion in waste.’ 

‘If the government allowed meaningful competition in bidding for software, taxpayers could save up to $750 million a year,’ Ernst said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘Let’s pass my bill to force federal agencies to take commonsense steps when purchasing software, instead of throwing away taxpayer dollars like monopoly money.’

The legislative proposal has the support of industry groups. 

‘The SAMOSA Act is a vital step toward modernizing the federal IT infrastructure, ensuring fair software licensing practices in its procurement and saving money for taxpayers,’ Ryan Triplette, Executive Director of the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘There aren’t many areas in Congress where we see bipartisan support, but ensuring our IT infrastructure is as efficient, secure and cost-effective as possible is one of them. The Coalition for Fair Software Licensing will continue working with partners in Congress to get the SAMOSA Act across the finish line and signed into law.’

The bill gives the Chief Information Officer of every government agency no more than 18 months to organize a ‘comprehensive assessment’ of the software paid for or deployed throughout the agency. The review should include an inventory of all the current software, identify contracts for the use of the software and their expiration dates and list additional fees or costs, including fees or costs for the use of cloud services, not included in the initial costs of the contract. The review should then give each agency the information necessary to ‘consolidate software entitlements of each agency,’ reduce unnecessary costs and ‘develop criteria and procedures for how the agency will adopt cost-effective acquisition strategies.’ 

On the House side, the SAMOSA Act was introduced by Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., and co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 20 members of Congress.  

Ernst penned a letter in November to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (who has since exited DOGE while reportedly weighing a potential Ohio gubernatorial bid), outlining ‘a trillion dollars’ worth of ideas for trimming the fat and reducing red ink.’ 

Among the options, Ernst said ‘consolidating agencies’ cloud computing software licenses could save $750 million every year.’ 

She cited a study by Michael Garland,software and government procurement industry expert, that found Microsoft and Oracle, the world’s two largest software companies, received 25% to 30% of their contracts ‘without meaningful competition.’ 

Citing one example of ‘vendor-lock,’ the study found the government spent $112 million more to buy Microsoft Office than Google Workspace ‘in order to avoid perceived costs to switch.’

‘A five percent improvement in price performance, due to enhanced software competition, could produce savings up to $750 million annually,’ the report said. 

It also described how the U.S government spent almost $2 trillion on Information Technology (IT) since 1994, and about $300 billion of that expenditure has been on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software. 

‘On an annual basis, the government collectively spends $10 to $15 billion on new software and for the maintenance and support of previously purchased software. Unfortunately, the majority of the COTS software spend has been destined for only a limited set of software companies who have managed to create a largely vendor-locked COTS software estate,’ Garland wrote. ‘Until now, the government has had little visibility into how resoundingly its incumbent software estate has been captured by so few. As a result, an oligarchy of software companies has been free to use fear, uncertainty, and sometimes questionable business practices to make authentic competitions against incumbent software applications relatively rare.’ 

Ernst’s letter also pointed to how the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified 10 critical federal IT legacy systems – or systems that are outdated or obsolete – that were most in need of modernization in 2019. The legacy systems were said to provide ‘vital support to agencies’ missions’ but ranged from about eight to 51 years old and ‘collectively cost about $337 million annually to operate and maintain.’ 

Several of the systems used older languages, such as Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL). 

‘The government runs on ancient computers & software. Needs an upgrade!’ Musk wrote on X in November.

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‘AI powerhouse’: White House encourages Americans to provide ideas for artificial intelligence strategy

The White House is opening its artificial intelligence plan up to Americans to contribute policy ideas to the Trump administration to ensure that the United States is ‘the undeniable leader’ in AI technology. 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the end of January on artificial intelligence, which White House officials say shows that he is ‘dedicated to America’s global leadership in AI technology innovation.’ 

That order directed the development of an AI Action Plan. 

On Thursday, the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy encouraged the American people to share policy ideas for the AI Action Plan by March 15. 

‘The Trump Administration is committed to ensuring the United States is the undeniable leader in AI technology,’ Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Lynne Parker said in a statement. ‘This AI Action Plan is the first step in securing and advancing American AI dominance, and we look forward to incorporating the public’s comments and innovative ideas.’ 

Americans can share their proposals on the Federal Register’s website through the middle of March.  

White House officials said they are seeking input from interested public parties, including academia, industry groups, private sector organizations, state, local and tribal governments, and others. 

Officials said the AI Action Plan will ‘define priority policy actions to enhance America’s position as an AI powerhouse and prevent unnecessarily burdensome requirements from hindering private sector innovation.’

‘With the right governmental policies, continued U.S. AI leadership will promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security,’ the White House said in a statement. 

The Trump administration says its focus on AI was a campaign promise of the president’s, after vowing to revoke former President Joe Biden’s executive order that they said hindered AI innovation and imposed ‘unnecessary government control’ over AI development. Under Trump’s executive order, AI in the U.S. ‘must be free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas.’ 

The order and focus on AI is not new for Trump. 

During his first administration, in 2019, Trump signed the first-ever executive order on artificial intelligence, recognizing the importance of American leadership in the space and for the economic and national security of the U.S. 

Trump also took executive action in 2020 to establish the first-ever guidance for federal agency adoption of AI to deliver services to the American people and ‘foster public trust’ in the technology. 

White House officials said the Trump administration’s renewed focus on AI is rooted in ‘free speech and human flourishing.’ 

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US ally accuses Biden admin of using USAID as a ‘tool to interfere with domestic issues’

President Donald Trump’s second administration has made the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) a prime target for spending cuts. Under Trump, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, is taking a serious look at the foreign aid agency — and America’s allies and enemies alike are taking notice.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at the United Nations, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó didn’t hide his disdain for USAID. While insisting that he was not interested in interfering with US domestic issues, Szijjártó did speak about what he saw from the agency under former President Joe Biden.

‘The former administration couldn’t digest that we weren’t ready to give up our national positions. We were not ready to give up representing our national interests,’ Szijjártó told Fox News Digital. ‘And we were not ready to give up our non-liberal, patriotic, conservative type of approach.’

Szijjártó also accused the Biden administration of using USAID to ‘destabilize the situation in other countries’ and to fund ‘programs which were totally alien and strange compared to the culture and the heritage of other countries.’

‘If you ask me whether it’s good to us that there’s a revision period of 90 days when it comes to payments regarding USAID and others, we are very happy,’ Szijjártó added.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a longtime ally of Trump, also ripped USAID after it was reported that the agency was funding Politico.

Prime Minister Orbán followed up in another tweet saying, ‘We had to endure for years that the ultra-progressive, self-proclaimed human rights champions of the mainstream media demonized Patriotic political forces for years. They did it because they were paid to do so by USAID and the previous, left-wing US administration. I agree with President [Trump]: this is too big and too dirty to hide from.’

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed during Wednesday’s press briefing that ‘more than $8 million taxpayer dollars’ went to Politico, adding that DOGE is ‘working on canceling those payments.’ However, the publication denied that it has ever been a ‘beneficiary of government programs.’

Musk, who is heading up Trump’s cost-cutting efforts through DOGE, described the agency as a ‘viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.’

On Monday, Trump’s White House issued a list of examples of ‘waste and abuse’ at USAID. This included $6M to fund tourism in Egypt, $1.5M in funding for DEI programs in Serbia’s workplaces, $47,000 for a ‘transgender opera’ in Colombia and more.

The White House also accused the agency of spending ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ on ‘irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,’ adding that this was ‘benefiting the Taliban.’

At the end of its list, the White House noted that the highlighted examples were part of a longer list of projects.

‘Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW,’ the White House added.

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Trump’s Gaza ‘takeover’ rankles America First conservatives, allies suggest negotiator-in-chief is at work

President Donald Trump’s comments about the U.S. ‘taking over’ Gaza sent shock waves through Washington – but allies suggest the negotiator-in-chief is using the suggestion as a tactic to apply pressure on the region and find workable solutions to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. 

‘The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,’ Trump said Tuesday in remarks that set off a media firestorm. ‘We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.’

He suggested that Palestinians be cleared out of Gaza and taken in by neighboring nations like Egypt and Jordan – an idea Arab leaders have roundly rejected. 

Trump’s proposal would be a momentous departure from current policy – and run afoul with America First conservatives who want to see the U.S. less involved in the Middle East, not more. 

‘I thought we voted for America First,’ Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wrote back to the president’s suggestion on X. ‘We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers’ blood.’

The idea of a U.S. takeover of Gaza originated with Trump himself, who questioned why Palestinians would want to live among the rubble, and was not formally mapped out by his aides before he announced it next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Sources told the New York Times that Trump had been toying with the suggestion for weeks, and his thinking was reaffirmed when Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff returned from Gaza and described the dismal conditions there. 

Taking over ownership of Gaza would suggest U.S. forces on the ground to ensure security – and require Congress to get on board with appropriating funds to rebuild the territory. 

Trump explained his idea further in a Truth Social post Thursday morning. 

‘The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,’ he wrote, calling out the Senate’s Jewish Democratic leader. 

‘They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free. The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also sought to quiet fears from the briefing podium. 

‘I would reject the premise of your question that this forces the United States to be entangled in conflicts abroad,’ she told a reporter on Wednesday. ‘The president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza. He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza.’

‘This is an out-of-the-box idea. That’s who President Trump is. That’s why the American people elected him. And his goal is lasting peace in the Middle East for all people in the region.’

Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who typically finds little common cause with Trump, told Puck News his idea is a ‘provocative’ way to ‘to kind of shake things up and to start a very more honest conversation of Gaza.’

‘Trump is speaking the language of the Middle East,’ Simone Ledeen, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East during Trump’s first term, told Fox News Digital. 

‘Middle East negotiations, they often happen in public, and public posturing is kind of part of the process. This is not President Trump’s messaging to the U.S., he is messaging to the Middle East… [that] the paradigm has failed, and so we need new ideas.’

‘I think it’s going to bring the entire region to come with their own solutions,’ national security advisor Mike Waltz mused about the comments on CBS on Wednesday.

Waltz went on: ‘He’s not seeing any realistic solutions on how those miles and miles and miles of debris are going to be clear, how those essentially unexploded bombs are going to be removed, how these people are physically going to live there for at least a decade, if not longer, it’s going to take to do this.’ 

More than 46,000 Palestinians had been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry as of last month. Nearly 2 million have been displaced from their homes. 

An Israeli official suggested that Trump’s idea may not actually be met with opposition by Gaza’s neighbors. 

‘Egypt and Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates that in the end of the day are threatened by Hamas would not shed a tear to see that the United States is actually taking control over the Gaza strip, because they don’t really want to do that,’ Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and Arab affairs adviser for Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital. 

‘They will not, of course, express formally, because it will be breaking the cause of unity in the Arab world.’ 

‘Trump is being presented right now a construct of a ceasefire deal that is headed for a train wreck,’ said Rich Goldberg, president of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, adding that there is a ‘fundamental disconnect’ between what Israelis will accept and what Hamas will accept. 

‘So he’s moving the Overton window, changing the strategic paradigm.’

Goldberg said the first priority was convincing other Muslim nations in the region to take in Palestinians. 

‘The Egyptians and the Jordanians should be honest with the world. We don’t want the Gaza population. We’re afraid of the Gaza population. We think they may be radicalized. We think they might bring down our government. Or we don’t want to give up the political weapon against Israel.’ He suggested Trump could leverage U.S. relationships with Middle Eastern countries – offering those who accept Palestinians major-non-NATO status and threatening to revoke such a status for countries who don’t. ‘The status itself is gravitized in the world.’ 

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Federal judge delays Trump administration’s buyout deadline for federal workers

A federal judge pushed back the deadline for President Donald Trump’s buyout offer for federal workers on Thursday.

Trump’s administration initially told federal workers they needed to decide whether to accept the buyout offer by Thursday. The new ruling delays the deadline to at least Monday, with another hearing on the issue scheduled for that day.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. did not express an opinion on the legality of Trump’s buyback program.

Several labor unions have sued over Trump’s plans, which were orchestrated by Elon Musk, a top adviser. The Republican president is trying to downsize and reshape the federal workforce.

Under the buyout offer, employees were to stop working this week and receive pay benefits through Sept. 30. Exempt from the offer are public safety employees, like air traffic controllers.

During Trump’s first week in office, he issued several directives to the federal workforce, including a requirement that remote employees must return to in-person work.

With a deadline quickly approaching, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and two other unions filed a complaint, claiming the buyout offer is ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and ‘violates federal law.’

The unions allege the administration cannot guarantee the plan will be funded and has failed to consider the consequences of mass resignations, including how it may affect the government’s ability to function.

On Tuesday, AFGE filed a lawsuit calling for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt the Trump administration’s ‘Fork Directive’ deadline of Feb. 6 and require the government to articulate a policy that is lawful, not arbitrary and unlawful.

The buyouts do not apply to military personnel of the armed forces, postal service employees, positions related to immigration enforcement and national security, and any other positions specifically excluded by the agency the federal workers are employed by.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

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‘Damn right’: Liz Cheney’s past USAID employment faces backlash after lashing out at Elon Musk

Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney was ripped by conservatives on social media after she defended her previous work at USAID, which became the most prominent target of DOGE in recent days, in an exchange on X that drew the attention of DOGE’s leader, Elon Musk.

‘Damn right, @Elon,’ Cheney said on X in response to Musk, tagging an account that does not belong to Musk, on Wednesday. ‘I’m proud of what America did to win the Cold War, defeat Soviet communism, and defend democracy. Our nation stood for freedom. You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen.’

Musk had written ‘interesting’ in response to a post from Foundation For Freedom Online Executive Director Mike Benz, who had written that Cheney was ‘spawned’ out of USAID, citing her previous position as an officer for the embattled and now seemingly shuttered agency.

Cheney spent time at USAID working within embassies related to efforts in Poland, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine.

Several conservatives on social media took issue with Cheney’s comment and defended Musk against any implication that he is ‘unfamiliar’ with U.S. history.

‘He is an American by choice instead of by birth, which is a weird thing to insult someone over, but more importantly, he didn’t commit so many crimes against the country that he had to be pardoned by Joe Biden, so he’s got that going for him,’ Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway posted on X.

‘You care more about illegals coming to this country stealing from this country than @elon giving to this country,’ former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones posted on X.

‘Ya, but he was around when your daddy was making the military industrial complex billions sending me and my buddies to die chasing the ghosts of WMDs in Iraq,’ Fox News contributor Joey Jones posted on X. 

‘Love the anti-immigrant sentiment from Liz,’ Right Turn Strategies President Chris Barron posted on X. ‘Funny how they always end up being everything they claim their opponents are.’

‘The fact Elon said a single word and was able to set you off tells me a lot, Liz,’ Twitchy.com editor Samantha Janney posted on X. ‘What’s also revealing is your connection to USAID. Damn proud of WY for firing you.’

‘What a xenophobe,’ Breitbart senior editor Joel Pollak posted on X. ‘Pure bigotry.’

‘From Liz Cheney to Barack Obama, a lot of people still don’t appreciate how much of America’s political aristocracy class grew up in USAID families,’ Benz posted on X earlier this week.

The online debate about Cheney’s time at USAID comes after Musk’s DOGE efforts have resulted in the agency being effectively shut down over what the Trump administration argues is wasteful spending. 

‘For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,’ the White House said Monday. 

The future of USAID remains unclear, though the doors to its headquarters were closed Monday, and thousands of employees across the globe sat waiting to hear whether they still had jobs after the apparent Musk takeover.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named the acting director, and he agreed Monday with the White House that the agency needed an overhaul.

‘The president made me the acting administrator,’ he told Fox News. ‘I’ve delegated that power to someone who is there full time, and we’re going to go through the same process at USAID as we’re going through now at the State Department.’

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report

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Chipotle downplays looming Trump tariffs, says only half of its avocados are from Mexico

Chipotle Mexican Grill said Tuesday that it does not expect costs to rise much if tariffs on key imported ingredients go into effect next month, noting that only about half of its avocados come from Mexico.

A day earlier, President Donald Trump paused his plans for 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports. If implemented after the one-month suspension, imports such as avocados and beef would be more expensive for restaurants, which would likely try to pass on the increased cost to their diners.

But Chipotle executives shook off the tariff fears during the company’s earnings conference call on Tuesday. If tariffs aimed at Mexico, Canada and China all go into effect, Chipotle expects that its cost of sales would rise about 60 basis points, or 0.6 percentage points, according to Chief Financial Officer Adam Rymer.

Chipotle only sources about 2% of its sales from Mexico, importing produce such as avocados, tomatoes, limes and peppers, Rymer said.

In fact, while Mexico supplies roughly 90% of the avocados eaten in the U.S., Chipotle buys about half of its avocado supply from Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic, according to CEO Scott Boatwright. In recent years, Chipotle has taken steps to buy more of its avocados outside of Mexico, he told analysts.

Looking beyond Chipotle’s guacamole supply, less than 0.5% of Chipotle’s sales are sourced from Canada and China. Trump has already imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports.

In recent quarters, Chipotle has shown that it has pricing power, even as diners become more value-conscious.

For the fourth quarter, the company reported same-store sales growth of 5.4%, fueled by a traffic increase of 4%. Chipotle’s earnings topped Wall Street estimates, but a conservative forecast for its same-store sales growth sent shares down 5% in extended trading.

The outlook did not include the effect of any tariffs.

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