White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Democrats Wednesday for their criticism of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), calling it ‘unacceptable’ and ‘incredibly alarming.’ 

‘Some elected Democrats are so steamed about DOGE – Congresswoman LaMonica McIver says we are at war. Ilhan Omar says we might actually see somebody get killed. And Chris Van Hollen says we have to fight this in the Congress, we have to fight this in the streets. So what now?’ Leavitt was asked by Fox News’ senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy. 

‘It’s unacceptable, the comments that have been made by these Democrat leaders, and frankly, they don’t even know what they’re talking about, because President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to make this government more efficient,’ Leavitt responded. 

‘He campaigned across this country with Elon Musk vowing that Elon was going to head up the Department of Government Efficiency and the two of them with a great team around them were going to look at the receipts of this federal government and ensure it’s accountable to American taxpayers. That’s all that is happening here,’ Leavitt continued. ‘And for Democrat officials to incite violence and encourage Americans to take to the streets, is incredibly alarming, and they should be held accountable for that rhetoric.’ 

Leavitt also said during her daily White House press briefing, ‘If you heard that type of violent, enticing rhetoric from our side of the aisle, from Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, I think there would be a lot more outrage in this room today.’ 

On Tuesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said, ‘What we are witnessing here is the biggest heist in American history.’ 

‘This is the most corrupt bargain we’ve ever seen in American history: Elon Musk gives $250 million to elect Donald Trump, and Donald Trump turns over the keys to United States government to Elon Musk and his billionaire friends and his cronies,’ Van Hollen said during a protest outside the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. 

‘Are we going to let that stand? Hell no, we are not going to let that stand,’ Van Hollen added, later vowing, ‘We have to fight this in the courts, we have to fight this in the Congress, we have to fight this in the streets. We need to fight this all over America.’ 

‘Shut down the city! We are at war!’ Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., shouted into a microphone. 

On Monday morning, hundreds of employees for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) reported they were locked out of the agency’s computer system and that its headquarters in Washington, D.C., was closed on Monday.  

The agency’s fate is hanging in the balance as DOGE is working on an apparent overhaul of the agency. 

‘The level of disrespect actually is criminal because there are crisis response teams that are around the world that really rely on having access to their emails – having access to apps that they can utilize if there’s danger to them,’ Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., told MSNBC, according to The Hill. ‘All of those accesses are cut off.’  

‘So we might actually see somebody get killed. An American who works for the American government might be harmed in some of those countries that they’re operating in,’ she reportedly added. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

The Senate chair of the DOGE Caucus is exposing a ‘demonstrated pattern of obstructionism’ at the U.S.’ top aid agency in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, outlined how the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been ‘stonewalling’ her office for years as she sought documents to ensure taxpayer dollars weren’t wasted at the agency, which is now under the microscope of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

‘USAID’s spending shows a blatant disregard for the wishes of American taxpayers, and it is time to disrupt the system,’ Ernst told Fox News Digital. ‘The agency has been wasting millions of tax dollars on things like tourism in Lebanon, Sesame Street in Iraq, sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week and so much more.’

In one instance, the Iowa Republican claims USAID misled her staff to believe that details about funds going to businesses in Ukraine were classified, funds that in some instances were used for travel to fashion shows and film festivals. 

In 2024, after months of delays, USAID finally agreed to offer Ernst’s staff a review of recipients of taxpayer-funded assistance to businesses in Ukraine, according to the letter. 

But the agency insisted the documents be reviewed in a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF), suggesting the records would be classified. 

‘These requirements were all presented to my staff under the false pretense that this data was classified,’ Ernst wrote to Rubio. ‘Only after demanding to speak to your USAID Office of Security, my staff uncovered that this data was, in fact, unclassified.’

Ernst said that based on her staff’s review, it appears that over 5,000 Ukrainian businesses received U.S. taxpayer-funded assistance, with awards of up to $2 million each. 

That trade assistance was in some instances used to bankroll business owners attending glamorous film festivals and fashion shows in cities like Berlin, Paris and Las Vegas. 

She also accused the agency of ‘misleading’ her office on the costs of indirect aid. Negotiated indirect cost agreements (NICRA) allowed contractors to use more than 25 percent of the total award on costs like ‘rent for a partner’s corporate headquarters, advocacy costs, and other miscellaneous expenses.’

READ ERNST’S LETTER BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

Ernst said her staff reached out in November 2022 asking USAID for information on NICRAs with grant recipients. The agency responded, ‘USAID does not have a system to track or report on this data, as it is not possible to compare indirect costs between for-profit and nonprofit organizations,’ according to Ernst. 

In February 2023, Ernst followed up with a link to a publicly reported NICRA database that USAID confirmed does exist.

The agency then said that it ‘protects the confidential business information of its implementing partners, including NICRAs… outside the scope of a formal oversight request by a committee of jurisdiction.’

Then, Ernst partnered with former House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul to give USAID the request from a ‘committee of jurisdiction.’ 

‘Even then, USAID refused to permit my staff to acquire the documents or take substantive notes on the NICRA rates. The lack of transparency was alarming because the NICRA rates far exceeded staff’s expected range of indirect costs allowed.’

Ernst said: ‘In the wake of this series of significant misjudgments and oversight obstruction by USAID, it is of the utmost importance to conduct a full and independent analysis of the recipients of USAID assistance.’

She also pointed to Chemonics, a government contractor that USAID’s inspector general found over-billed the U.S. government by $270 million through fiscal year 2019. Chemonics led a $9.5 billion USAID project to improve global health supply chains that, ‘led to 41 arrests and 31 indictments related to illicit resale of USAID funded commodities on the black market, and fueled ongoing allegations that Chemonics falsely portrays its projects’ outcomes to secure future contracts with USAID,’ Ernst wrote. 

‘No more stonewalling,’ said Ernst. ‘We need to scrutinize every last dollar being spent by this rogue agency.’

In a notice posted on its website Tuesday night, USAID announced that all direct hire staff would be placed on leave globally, except for designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs. 

The Trump administration is now exploring merging the agency with the State Department and Rubio has been appointed its acting director. 

Rubio told reporters in El Salvador the ‘functions of USAID’ must align with foreign policy and called it a ‘a completely unresponsive agency.’

Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, staged a protest outside the USAID headquarters on Tuesday, arguing that the agency is essential for flexing U.S. soft power throughout the world, preventing and monitoring disease outbreaks, and safeguarding U.S. national security.

‘USAID is the backbone of America’s soft power, helping to stabilize fragile regions and protect U.S. interests abroad,’ said Reps. Greg Meeks, top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sara Jacobs,Calif., top Democrat on the Africa subcommittee. 

‘Weakening it will fuel global crises, endanger American security, embolden other nations like China and Russia, and leave the Trump Administration solely responsible for the fallout.’ 

: The Senate will look to beat House Republicans to the punch next week on plans to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process.

Ahead of a weekly lunch meeting hosted by Senate Steering Committee Chairman Rick Scott, R-Fla., a plan was unveiled by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to push for a committee vote next week on a first bill, with plans for an additional reconciliation bill later in the year, a Senate Republican source told Fox News Digital. 

The first bill would include Trump’s priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense. The second bill would focus on extending Trump’s tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

Senior White House staffers were also present at the Wednesday lunch, the source said.

It comes amid some infighting within the House GOP about what level of spending cuts to seek in order to offset the costs of Trump’s priorities. An expected vote this week to advance a resolution through the House Budget Committee is now likely poised for next week as well.

The first step in the reconciliation process is marking up and advancing a bill through the Senate and House budget committees.

House leaders had intended to make the first move in the process. The Senate passing their own bill first, however, would essentially force the lower chamber to contend with whatever product comes from the other side of Capitol Hill rather than start from a position of their own choosing.

It would also shift gears to a two-pronged reconciliation bill blueprint, something opposed by the House Ways & Means Committee and House GOP leaders.

Proponents of the one-bill approach are concerned about leaving Trump’s tax cuts, which expire at the end of this year, on the back burner. House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., previously referenced the fact that Republicans have not passed two reconciliation bills in one year since the 1990s, when they had a much larger majority.

Trump has said he prefers ‘one big, beautiful bill,’ but would be open to two.

Graham has notably been liaising with the House Freedom Caucus leaders on the subject all week, two sources told Fox News Digital. The caucus has preferred a two-pronged approach, in line with many Senate Republicans. 

By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, reconciliation allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold.

But with razor-thin margins in the House and Senate, Republicans can afford precious little dissent to still get their priorities over the finish line.

Spending hawks on the House Budget Committee had balked at multiple offers by GOP leaders on a ‘floor’ for cutting back federal funding, calling for the baseline to be set at least at $2 trillion.

They’re also seeking assurances that House GOP leaders have a firm plan in place for those cuts.

Multiple House Republicans leaving their Wednesday morning conference meeting signaled they were growing anxious about the Senate jamming them with their own reconciliation bill.

‘I think there’s a lot of frustration right now,’ one House GOP lawmaker said. ‘There’s some concern now that if we don’t move forward with something soon, that the Senate is going to jam us.’

‘What we’re worried about is losing the opportunity. I think we’re more likely to cut than they are,’ a second GOP lawmaker said.

Johnson brushed off concerns that the Senate will act first in comments to reporters earlier this week, maintaining the House will take the initial step.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump isn’t committing to deploying U.S. troops to Gaza after suggesting on Tuesday that the U.S. would ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip. 

‘It’s been made very clear to the president that the United States needs to be involved in this rebuilding effort, to ensure stability in the region for all people,’ Leavitt told reporters Wednesday at a White House press briefing. ‘But that does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza. It does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort. It means Donald Trump, who is the best dealmaker on the planet, is going to strike a deal with our partners in the region.’

Leavitt said that Trump is an ‘outside-of-the-box thinker’ who is ‘a visionary leader who solves problems that many others, especially in this city, claim are unsolvable.’ 

Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. would ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip in a ‘long-term ownership position’ to deliver stability to the region. 

‘The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,’ Trump said Tuesday evening in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ‘We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.’

‘Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,’ he said. ‘Do a real job. Do something different. Just can’t go back. If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for 100 years.’

Trump said that ‘all’ Palestinians would be removed from Gaza under his plan. But Leavitt described their removal as ‘temporary’ during the rebuilding process and said that Trump and his team were sorting out specific details with allies in the region regarding next steps. 

‘Again, it’s a demolition site right now,’ she said. ‘It’s not a livable place for any human being. And I think it’s actually quite evil to suggest that people should live in such dire conditions.’ 

But the proposal for the U.S. to take over Gaza has sparked massive backlash, including from the Palestinian, Iran-backed militant group Hamas, designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. 

‘What President Trump stated about his intention to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip outside it and the United States’ control over the Strip by force is a crime against humanity,’ a senior Hamas official told Fox News on Wednesday.

Trump’s statements also left Democratic lawmakers in shock. 

‘I’m speechless, that’s insane,’ Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told Jewish Insider. ‘I can’t think of a place on Earth that would welcome American troops less and where any positive outcome is less likely.’

Some Republicans also voiced caution, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Jewish Insider that the proposal ‘might be problematic,’ but that he would ‘keep an open mind.’ 

‘We’ll see what our Arab friends say about that,’ he said. ‘I think most South Carolinians would not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza.’ 

Meanwhile, Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., didn’t appear fazed by the remarks. 

‘I think he wants to bring a more peaceful, secure Middle East and put some ideas out there,’ Thune told reporters on Wednesday. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and has gained access to payment and contracting systems in search for potential fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Trump’s DOGE has already gutted USAID, but Musk argued on X that Medicare and Medicaid are where the ‘big money fraud’ is happening.

CMS oversees Medicare, the health coverage program for older and disabled Americans, and Medicaid, for lower-income enrollees, which provides insurance for over 140 million U.S. citizens.

The CMS regularly deals with improper payments that represent fraud or abuse but might also be due to a state, contractor, or provider missing an administrative step.

WSJ reported, citing one of the people familiar with DOGE’s work at CMS, that Musk’s allies have not been given access to databases that include identifiable personal health information of Medicare or Medicaid enrollees.

The new campaign comes just days after DOGE targeted USAID, leading to the firing of 50 top officials and the organization being folded into the State Department.

Signs were also removed from USAID’s headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., and the DOGE team took over the computer systems, sources said. USAID is responsible for distributing civilian foreign aid and development assistance to countries around the globe.

Musk referred to the organization as a ‘viper’s nest.’ The agency managed approximately $40 billion in appropriations last year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The actions came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting on Trump’s executive order, paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and USAID.

The 90-day pause has halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide and forced aid organizations to lay off hundreds of employees because they can’t make payroll.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner, Chris Pandolfo, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has outlined eight ‘Day 1 Priorities’ he aims to accomplish, several of which he laid out in his inaugural address at the Energy Department headquarters Wednesday. 

Wright, the CEO of Colorado oilfield services company Liberty Energy, said he will prioritize refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), modernizing the U.S. nuclear stockpile, streamlining federal permitting for energy development, and abiding by the mantra: ‘Advance energy addition, not subtraction.’

In his remarks at the department’s building near Pierre L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C., Wright spoke about his childhood love of science and how that focus led him to pursue work in the field.

Wright said he met President Donald Trump about a year ago, and the two businessmen connected over their support for unleashing American energy prowess and highlighting how U.S. energy dominance positively affects many other aspects of life.

Wright said Trump had a ‘simple vision’ that ‘energy is good and that we need more’ of it, particularly domestically-sourced.

‘So we just connected. And he asked me, ‘Would you be secretary of energy?’ And I said, ‘Boy, if I’m asked to serve my country, I don’t have to think about that one.”

He called the Energy Department the gem of the American government and said he has long been entranced by contemporary advancements in the field, from German chemist Otto Hahn splitting the atom in 1938 to Adm. Hyman Rickover creating the first nuclear-powered machines in submarines.

‘I want to better energize our country, strengthen our country, advance science… and get the politics out of all of this.’

‘Energy is not political: it is the basic infrastructure that allows us to live great lives, to allow whatever our dream is, whatever our vision is,’ he said.

Wright added that there is no such thing as clean or dirty energy, and that in reality, there is ‘no free lunch’ when it comes to the byproducts of the production process: ‘It’s about tradeoffs.’

Other ‘day one’ priorities Wright has outlined include a return to ‘regular order’ on liquefied natural gas exports.

Wright has been a longtime advocate of hydraulic fracturing – famously going as far as drinking fracking fluid to prove environmentalist critics wrong about its effect on nature.

Pennsylvania and North Dakota are epicenters of fracking, while New York retains the subterranean resources to do so but is under a statewide ban.

Wright has also pledged to strengthen the power grid’s reliability and security.

There have been blackouts occasionally in recent years from overtaxed grid areas, notably in California around 2001. 

There have also been security threats to energy transmission, including from a Catonsville, Maryland, woman who conspired to destroy the region’s power grid.

Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said Sarah Beth Clendaniel ‘plotted to disable the power grid around the entire Baltimore region’ in 2018, after becoming acquainted with a Florida man who espoused White supremacist ‘accelerationist’ ideologies.

Under Wright’s tenure, the Energy Department also plans to promote home appliance affordability and choice – a break from the Biden administration’s efforts to restrict usage of gas stoves.

Former President Joe Biden also spent part of the nation’s SPR in what critics called a bid to assuage energy price spikes for political purposes. Wright said he would promote the refilling of the SPR, as well as modernize the U.S. nuclear stockpile, Fox News has learned.