Former Vice President Kamala Harris took veiled jabs at President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk during her first major speech since her election loss in November. 

After several months out of the public spotlight, Harris stepped onto the stage at the 56th NAACP Image Awards on Saturday in the Los Angeles-area to accept the NAACP’s Chairman’s Award.

The former Democratic presidential candidate called for a ‘sense of urgency,’ asserting that ‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’ as she urged the Pasadena crowd to ‘stay alert, to seek the truth and to actively participate in the fight for America’s future.’ 

‘The organization came into being at a moment when our country struggled with greed, bitterness and hatred. And those who forged the NAACP legacy, those who carried its legacy had no illusions about the forces they were up against. No illusions about how stony the road would be. But some look at this moment and rightly feel the weight of history,’ Harris said. ‘Some see the flames on our horizons, the rising waters in our cities, the shadows gathering over our democracy and ask, what do we do now? But we know exactly what to do because we have done it before, and we will do it again. We use our power. We organize, mobilize. We educate, and we advocate. Because you see, our power has never come from having an easy path.’ 

Harris, who formerly served as a U.S. senator from California and the state’s attorney general, continued, ‘Our strength flows from our faith. Faith in God, faith in each other and our refusal to surrender to cynicism and destruction. Not because it is easy, but because it is necessary. Not because victory is guaranteed, but because the fight is worth it.’

‘And while we have no illusions about what we are up against in this chapter in our American story, this chapter will be written not simply by whoever occupies the Oval Office, nor by the wealthiest among us,’ Harris said, appearing to reference Trump and Musk, who is the wealthiest person in the world. ‘The American story will be written by you, written by us, by we, the people.’ 

Her speech comes at a time when the Democratic Party is in a messaging crisis after Trump soundly defeated Harris in November’s presidential election.

Like former President Joe Biden did earlier this month, Harris signed with the powerful Hollywood talent agency, Creative Artists Agency, days ago. The agency said in its announcement on Instagram that it would focus on ‘speaking engagements and publishing,’ and work closely with Harris ‘on her post-White House initiatives, creating strategic opportunities that expand her platform in support of the issues she has championed through her decades-long career in public service.’ 

In his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump referenced Harris as Biden’s border czar, telling the Washington, D.C., area crowd, ‘I haven’t said that name in a while.’

The U.S. State Department and Department of the Treasury reimposed what they describe as ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions on Iran’s ‘shadowy’ oil trade on Monday as tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high after President Donald Trump took office last month.

The State Department designated 16 entities and vessels part of a ‘network of illicit shipping facilitators’ that ‘obfuscates and deceives its role in loading and transporting Iranian oil for sale to buyers in Asia,’ spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a written statement.

The State Department, along with the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), are concurrently sanctioning a total of 22 people and identified 13 vessels ‘as blocked property, across multiple jurisdictions, for their involvement in Iran’s oil industry,’ the statement said.

Bruce said those involved in the shadowy network have ‘shipped tens of millions of barrels of crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars.’

‘Today’s action represents an initial step to realize President Trump’s campaign of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime,’ she said. ‘It disrupts efforts by Iran to amass oil revenues to fund terrorists’ activities.’

Those facing sanctions include oil brokers in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, tanker operators and managers in India and the People’s Republic of China, the head of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company, and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company, whose operations help finance Iran’s destabilizing activities, the OFAC said in a statement.

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said the U.S. will continue to identify and go after anyone involved in the illicit network with Iran.

‘Iran continues to rely on a shadowy network of vessels, shippers, and brokers to facilitate its oil sales and fund its destabilizing activities,’ Bessent said in a written statement. ‘The United States will use all our available tools to target all aspects of Iran’s oil supply chain, and anyone who deals in Iranian oil exposes themselves to significant sanctions risk.’

After Trump signed an executive order reinstating the campaign earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said ‘maximum pressure is a failed experiment, and trying it again will only lead to another failure.’

The return of the maximum pressure campaign comes as tensions flare in the Middle East between Iran-backed Hamas and Israel, and Tehran’s icy relationship with Washington under the Trump administration.

The U.S. Department of Justice last year charged the Islamic Republic with an assassination attempt against Trump, presumably in retaliation for the military strike that eliminated IRGC General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Iran’s president, however, denied the claim during an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt in Tehran. 

Iranian officials have also pushed back on all U.S. efforts to curtail its nuclear ambitions.

Fox News Digital’s Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is teaming up with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting department to draw back environmental grants issued by the former Democratic administration. 

The EPA and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Donald Trump’s newly formed department aimed at cutting federal spending, recently revealed that the Biden administration earmarked $77.1 million in ‘environmental justice’ grants to 20 recipients.

DOGE, as part of its sweep of government ‘waste,’ revealed that they are canceling $67.4 million of the unspent funds, the EPA confirmed to Fox News Digital.

‘Good work,’ DOGE wrote in a post on X regarding the recent spending cut.

The new developments, first reported by the New York Post, revealed that one recipient, the San Diego State University Foundation, would stand to lose $4.2 million in funding for bringing ‘environmental justice’ to ‘tribal, indigenous and Pacific Island communities.’

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., reacted to the cost-cutting decision, writing on social media that ‘Biden’s EPA’ equals ‘Embezzling Public Assets.’

The EPA has been clawing back millions in environmental grants issued under the Biden administration, recently revealing that the Biden administration was allowing just eight entities to distribute $20 billion of taxpayer dollars ‘at their discretion.’ 

The agency found that part of the funds were $2 billion to a climate group linked to high-profile Democrat Stacey Abrams in what was described by the administration as a ‘scheme’ of ‘wasteful’ spending.

The grant was given to Power Forward Communities, an Abrams-tied nonprofit that sought to ‘reduce our impact on the climate’ by financing the replacement of household appliances in lower-income communities with green alternatives.

Some House Republicans have felt heat back home this past week after progressive groups urged Americans to protest the GOP’s handling of government spending.

At least six lawmakers saw protests at their district offices as they spent time with constituents during last week’s recess to mark President’s Day. Several others were confronted during town hall events held during the same period.

The demonstrations largely centered on Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to slash $2 trillion in federal spending. 

‘They have control of all of our personal information, and I don’t know that anyone except them knows what they’re going to be doing with it,’ a protester outside the office of Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., said in a video captured by AZ Central. ‘I think it’s a terrible breach of security for everyone in this country.’

A photo compilation by the Desert Sun showed dozens of people protesting at the office of Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., with signs like, ‘You work for us, not Musk.’

People were also concerned about potential cuts to Medicaid and other federal programs as GOP lawmakers work to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process. 

Lawmakers are looking to cut billions in federal spending to offset the cost of extending Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as well as border security and national defense priorities.

Constituents outside the office of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., last week pleaded with him to reject Medicaid cuts, according to local outlet WGAL. ‘I hope he doesn’t touch Medicaid. I hope he does not defund it or try to cut it or anything like that,’ one demonstrator told the outlet.

Perry told the outlet in response to the protest, ‘Congressman Perry supports the right to protest. While Congress has yet to see a detailed plan to get our Country back on the path to fiscal solvency, Congressman Perry, as always, will keep the concerns and views of the 10th District at the forefront as he determines his vote on their behalf.’

Other Republicans who saw protests at their district offices last week included Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., and House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis.

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., was among the Republican lawmakers who faced critics that jeered him at a town hall last week.

It comes after progressive group Indivisible put out a memo encouraging activists to use last week’s recess to protest House lawmakers at their home offices amid the left’s backlash against Musk’s work.

‘Recess is when Members of Congress go back home to host town halls, meet with constituents, and try to paint themselves as responsive to the people who elected them. It is also when MoCs think they can avoid public scrutiny — especially Republicans who want to dodge tough questions about their complicity in Trump and Musk’s coup,’ the group’s site said.

Meanwhile, left-wing group Working Families Power and Opportunity Wisconsin organized the demonstration outside of Steil’s office, an online event notice showed.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a pro-life challenge against protest restrictions around abortion clinics in Illinois, as activists argued the laws infringe on their First Amendment rights, a decision met with a fiery dissent by Justice Clarence Thomas.

The court rejected appeals from Coalition Life, which describes itself as ‘America’s Largest Professional Sidewalk Counseling Organization’ in New Jersey and Illinois, which had challenged previous lower court rulings that dismissed their lawsuits. 

Pro-life activists in the case argued that ‘buffer zones’ – which were established after a previous Supreme Court decision in Colorado to shield patients from harassment – around abortion clinics violate their First Amendment rights to free speech.

Thomas and fellow conservative Justice Samuel Alito dissented, with Thomas arguing SCOTUS should have taken up the case, Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois. Alito did not explain his reasoning in writing.

The votes of four justices are required to grant a writ of certiorari to bring a case up for review.

Thomas said Hill v. Colorado ‘has been seriously undermined, if not completely eroded, and our refusal to provide clarity is an abdication of our judicial duty.’ He added that he would’ve used the Coalition Life case to override the Hill decision.

‘This case would have allowed us to provide needed clarity to lower courts,’ Thomas wrote in his dissent.

In that case, decided in 2000, the Supreme Court upheld a Colorado statute that prohibited individuals from ‘knowingly’ approaching within eight feet of another person within 100 feet of a healthcare facility entrance, without consent, for purposes such as passing out literature, displaying signs, or engaging in oral protest, education, or counseling. 

The court determined this law was a content-neutral regulation of the time, place and manner of speech, serving the state’s interest in protecting individuals entering healthcare facilities from unwanted communication. The decision was 6-3, with Justices Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy dissenting.

The City of Carbondale, in southern Illinois, saw an uptick in pro-life protests after two clinics opened following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. As such, the city passed ordinances modeled after Colorado’s statutes.

Urging the court to revisit the Hill precedent, Thomas quoted from an excerpt in Alito’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center – the case that overturned Roe v. Wade – where he noted that abortion-related cases on other legal precedents had ‘distorted First Amendment doctrines.’

One key case that followed Hill v. Colorado is McCullen v. Coakley, where the Supreme Court ruled in 2014 on a Massachusetts law that established a 35-foot buffer zone around abortion clinics. The high court found that while the state had a legitimate interest in protecting patients and staff from harassment, the law was overly broad, included too much space and infringed on free speech rights.

The court struck down the law, distinguishing it from the Hill decision.

In 2019, New York upheld a 15-foot buffer zone law outside of clinics, and similar laws have been debated in states like California, Maryland and Washington.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Coalition Life for comment. 

The U.S. is pushing United Nations (U.N.) member states to back its resolution marking the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war that does not underscore Kyiv’s territorial integrity. 

The U.S. draft resolution, put forward on Friday, pits the U.S. against Ukraine and its European allies, who pitched a lengthier resolution that lays blame on Russia for the invasion and demands Moscow remove its troops from Ukrainian territory. 

While the U.S. resolution mourns ‘the tragic loss of life’ throughout the conflict, it reasserts that the U.N.’s purpose is to ‘maintain international peace and peacefully settle disputes.’ It also ‘implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.’ 

‘This resolution is consistent with President Donald Trump’s view that the U.N. must return to its founding purpose, as enshrined in the U.N. Charter, to maintain international peace and security, including through the peaceful settlement of disputes,’ State Department Secretary Marco Rubio said in a statement Friday. 

‘If the United Nations is truly committed to its original purpose, we must acknowledge that while challenges may arise, the goal of lasting peace remains achievable. Through support of this resolution, we affirm that this conflict is awful, that the U.N. can help end it, and that peace is possible.’

The U.S. is pushing allies to get on board by telling them the U.S. is committed to ending the war, but Ukraine’s resolution is an impediment to lasting peace, according to a European diplomat. 

It is also urging the U.N. General Assembly to oppose any amendments, including one proposed by Russia that calls for addressing the ‘root causes’ of the Russia-Ukraine war, so the last line of the U.S. resolution would read ‘implores a swift end to the conflict, including by addressing root causes and further urges a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.’ 

The U.S. called on Ukraine to withdraw its resolution, but it refused, according to The Associated Press. The resolutions will go up for a vote in front of the 193-nation assembly on Monday. 

‘We strongly believe that this is the moment to commit to ending the war,’ Rubio added in his Friday statement. ‘This is our opportunity to build real momentum toward peace. We urge all U.N. member states to join the United States in this solemn pursuit.’

The growing rift between the U.S. and Ukraine has been underscored by the Trump administration’s decision to exclude Ukraine and Europe from recent peace talks between Russia and the U.S. Last week, Trump warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who he has labeled a ‘dictator,’ that he ‘better move fast’ to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, or risk losing the country.

During a discussion with reporters in Kyiv on Sunday, Zelenskyy said he is prepared to ‘give up’ his presidency in exchange for either peace in Ukraine or an invitation for it to formally become a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).   

‘If to achieve peace you really need me to give up my post — I’m ready,’ Zelenskyy said during the press conference. ‘I can trade it for NATO membership, if there are such conditions,’ he added.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during talks last week with the U.S. that Russia was unwilling to negotiate any path forward that includes bringing Ukraine into NATO.

Germany’s chancellor-elect, Friedrich Merz, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party, said his ‘absolute priority’ upon taking up the top job will be to secure Europe so that it can ‘achieve independence’ from Washington.

‘I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show but, after Donald Trump’s remarks last week… it is clear that this government does not care much about the fate of Europe,’ Merz said on Sunday, according to multiple reports.

‘My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,’ Merz added.

The comments by the incoming chancellor – who has been described as an ardent ‘Trans-Atlanticist’ – are significant because they could signify a major shift from previous post-World War II relations between the U.S. and Europe.

In speaking about the upcoming NATO summit in June, Merz suggested the NATO alliance ‘in its current form’ is in jeopardy and said European nations may ‘have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly,’ reported the BBC.

Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, reaffirmed the U.S. position on NATO last week, saying, ‘We fully support our NATO allies. We fully support the Article 5 commitment.’

‘But it’s time for our European allies to step up,’ he said, noting the Trump administration’s repeated position in its demand that European countries increase their defense spending.

But concern has also mounted over whether the U.S. will pull troops stationed in Europe, particularly after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said earlier this month that though he has no short-term plans to withdraw troops, NATO allies shouldn’t make the ‘assumption that America’s presence will last forever.’ 

European leaders over the last few weeks have increasingly demanded a unified answer from the Trump administration on what its strategy is when it comes to Russia.

Concern escalated after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke last week, followed by a meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart in Saudi Arabia, in which the administration’s push to re-establish diplomatic ties was revealed.

Trump’s negative comments toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have also prompted international ire and Washington’s position on securing a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is expected to be a major topic of discussion this week as French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer travel to Washington to meet with Trump.

Merz, who appears to be attempting to once again make Germany a top player when it comes to geopolitics, on Monday emphasized his support for Ukraine. 

‘Three years of Russian war of aggression against [Ukraine]. Three years of war in Europe,’ he highlighted in X. ‘For three years, we have been accompanied by the terrible images of destruction and war crimes. Europe remains firmly on the side of Ukraine. 

‘Now more than ever, we must put Ukraine in a position of strength. For a just peace, the attacked country must be part of peace negotiations,’ Merz said.