Secretary Pete Hegseth pulled senior Defense Department officials from the Aspen Security Conference for promoting the ‘evil of globalism.’ 

Military commanders were set to speak at the conference, which begins on Tuesday, as has been tradition through Republican and Democratic administrations. 

But Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson told Just the News the secretary’s office believes the conference ‘promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States.’

Wilson added that DoD ‘has no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home.’ 

The forum will host other Trump administration officials: Adam Boehler, presidential envoy for hostage response, and Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Syria. 

It will also hear from some contentious Biden administration officials – Jake Sullivan, former national security advisor, and Brett McGurk, a former National Security Council coordinator. 

Mark Esper, Trump’s former acting defense secretary, and David Petraeus, who was briefly CIA director under President Barack Obama, will also be speaking, along with Condoleezza Rice, a national security advisor and secretary of state during the Bush years. 

‘Senior Department of Defense officials will no longer be participating at the Aspen Security Forum because their values do not align with the values of the DoD,’ chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. 

‘The Department will remain strong in its focus to increase the lethality of our warfighters, revitalize the warrior ethos, and project Peace Through Strength on the world stage. It is clear the ASF is not in alignment with these goals.’

The Aspen Institute said in a statement on the Pentagon withdrawal: ‘For more than a decade, the Aspen Security Forum has welcomed senior officials – Republican and Democrat, civilian and military – as well as senior foreign officials and experts, who bring experience and diverse perspectives on matters of national security.’

‘We will miss the participation of the Pentagon, but our invitations remain open.’

Former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is poised to face members of the Senate Tuesday to get the ball rolling on his nomination to represent the U.S. at the United Nations.

Waltz’s appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee comes months after he exited his job at the White House amid controversy surrounding his role in a Signal group chat with other top administration officials. 

Waltz is expected to call for reforms at the U.N. and is expected to say that it’s time to redirect the organization’s focus back to peacekeeping, according to his opening statement shared exclusively with Fox News Digital. Waltz’s statement says that the U.S. has footed the bill for missions that have endured for decades, and amount to nation-building rather than peacekeeping. 

Likewise, Waltz is expected to promise to turn up the heat on countering China and vow to work with the State Department to mitigate Chinese influence. 

‘Countering China is critical,’ a draft of Waltz’s statement says. ‘It’s absurd that the world’s second-largest economy is treated as a developing nation throughout UN agencies that gives China favorable status.’

Waltz’s prepared remarks also urge weeding out ‘pervasive’ antisemitism in the U.N., and claims that the U.N. passed ‘154 resolutions against Israel versus 71 against all other nations combined.’

Additionally, Waltz’s statement calls for slimming down the U.N. with staff cuts, due to an overlap in missions and ‘wasteful’ resources throughout the U.N.’s more than 80 agencies. 

‘It’s worth remembering that, even with cuts, the US is by far the most generous nation in the world,’ Waltz’s draft statement says. 

Democrats vowed to grill Waltz during his confirmation process in the aftermath of the Atlantic magazine’s reporting about a Signal group chat that his team had set up to discuss strikes against the Houthis in March.

Even so, the tough questioning from Democrats on the so-called ‘Signalgate’ issue isn’t expected to derail Waltz’s confirmation to the post, given that Republicans hold a 53–47 majority in the Senate. 

‘It’s all theater — you know he’s going to get confirmed,’ a GOP foreign relations source told Fox News Digital. ‘If Signalgate’s a big thing against him, it wasn’t enough to get anyone else fired or impeached or anything like that.’ 

Waltz, a former congressman who represented Florida’s 6th congressional district, is a retired Army National Guard colonel and former Green Beret. During his time in uniform, he served four deployments to Afghanistan and earned four Bronze Stars — the fourth-highest military combat award, issued for heroic service against an armed enemy.

Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were both entangled in the Signal chat that Waltz’s team created where members of the Trump administration discussed strike plans against the Houthis. 

Waltz in March said he took ‘full responsibility’ for the Signal group chat, and the Trump administration has maintained that no war plans were shared in the chat. The Atlantic published the full exchange of messages, which included certain attack details such as specific aircraft and times of the strikes from Hegseth. 

On May 1, President Donald Trump announced Waltz’s departure from his role as national security advisor and hours later unveiled the former Florida congressman’s nomination to represent the U.S. at the U.N. 

Democrats called for Hegseth’s resignation as a result of the chat and warned that Waltz would face the heat during the confirmation process for U.N. ambassador. 

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said in a May interview with CBS News that Waltz could count on a ‘brutal, brutal hearing’ from senators, and described his nomination as ‘failing up.’ 

‘He’s not qualified for the job, just by nature of the fact that he participated in this Signal chain,’ Duckworth, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CBS News. 

Duckworth, who served in the Illinois Army National Guard as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot and lost both of her legs during a 2004 deployment to Iraq, told Fox News Digital Monday that Waltz’s involvement in the group chat should disqualify him from serving as U.N. ambassador. She also said that every official included in the chat should be fired. 

‘As a retired Soldier, Waltz should have shut the unclassified chain down as soon as he saw Hegseth share such classified information that could’ve gotten our pilots killed,’ Duckworth said in a statement. ‘It’s clear Waltz cannot be trusted to make critical and sensitive national security decisions, and I look forward to pressing him on his conduct and holding him accountable.’

Duckworth has pinned most of the blame on Hegseth for Signalgate. Prior to Trump’s announcement on Waltz’s U.N. ambassador nomination, Duckworth said in a May post on X that of ‘all the idiots in that chat, Hegseth is the biggest security risk of all — he leaked the info that put our troops in greater danger.’ 

In addition to Waltz and Hegseth, administration officials including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were part of the group chat. 

Additionally, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Chris Coons, D-Conn., said that Waltz could brace for a meticulous confirmation hearing before the committee’s members. 

‘I look forward to a thorough confirmation hearing,’ Coons said in a post on X in May. 

A spokesperson for Coons did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The GOP foreign relations source described the fallout from Signalgate a ‘huge nothing burger,’ and pointed out that Democrats’ previous efforts to use Signalgate against Waltz and Hegseth have proven unsuccessful. 

‘If this was their deathly bullet, it would have killed Hegseth, and it would have killed Waltz, but they’re both left standing,’ the source told Fox News Digital. 

A Senate aide told Fox News Digital that while Waltz took the brunt of the blame for Signalgate because his team created the chat, Democrats’ expected questioning of the group chat during the hearing is actually about finding a new avenue to go after Trump. 

‘I don’t think he’s the target. He’s just the mechanism to go after the target,’ the Senate aide said. ‘At the end of the day, Democrats want to criticize and go after the president, so these guys are just a mechanism to get there.’ 

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have voiced support for Waltz, with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, calling him a ‘great choice’ for the position in a post on X in May. Additionally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said at the time that the Senate would ‘for sure’ confirm Waltz. 

‘Some things I know for sure: the sun rises in the East, sets in the West and Mike Waltz will be confirmed as the next UN Ambassador,’ Graham said in an X post in May. ‘He is highly qualified, well-positioned, and will be a strong voice for our nation at the UN.’

Since Waltz’s departure as serving as national security advisor, Rubio has stepped in to fill that role. 

Trump previously nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to represent the U.S. at the U.N. However, her nomination was pulled in March, and Trump claimed at the time that the House could not give up another Republican seat with its slim 220–212 Republican majority. 

If confirmed as U.N. ambassador, Waltz would be responsible for representing U.S. interests at the U.N.’s New York headquarters, weighing in on resolutions, treaties and other global matters.  

Waltz could not be reached for comment by Fox News Digital. 

The 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly is scheduled for Sept. 9, providing a window of time for Waltz’s nomination to make it through the entire confirmation process beforehand. 

‘The hope is to have him in place before the U.N. General Assembly is in session,’ the GOP foreign relations source told Fox News Digital. 

A group of House conservatives is warning the Senate to leave President Donald Trump’s rescissions package intact as the deadline to consider the spending cuts looms large.

Republicans have until the end of Friday to deal with the bill, the legislative version of the White House’s request to claw back roughly $9.4 billion in funds already allocated by Congress.

Senate Republicans have signaled the bill could change somewhat, however, after passing the House last month.

‘In order to facilitate President Trump’s voter mandate, the Senate must pass the entire $9.4 billion of spending cuts in the rescission bill. Weakening any of these provisions would undermine both his leadership and the discipline our budget urgently demands,’ the letter said.

‘This week, the Senate has a chance to prove its commitment to the voters by passing the long-overdue cuts targeting wasteful, ideologically driven spending programs that have no place in a responsible budget.’

The letter is being led by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, and signed by 14 other Republican lawmakers.

The bill that passed the House in mid-June would rescind $1 billion in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which doles out federal funding to NPR and PBS. The remaining $8.4 billion targets the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The cuts are part of some $190 billion that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formerly led by Elon Musk, identified as part of its mission to slash government waste. 

Trump allies are viewing it as a test run of sorts for what kind of spending cuts Congress’ perilously slim GOP majorities can stomach.

It barely passed the House in a 214 to 212 vote, with four House Republicans voting against it over various concerns, including the impact to local public news stations and funding for HIV/AIDS research in Africa, known as PEPFAR.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters last week the bill ‘needs some significant changes.’

‘For example, I want to strike the rescission of funds for PEPFAR, which has an enormous record of success, having seen some 26 million lives over the course of the program,’ Collins said. ‘I can’t imagine why we would want to terminate that program or the maternal and child health program, which is aimed at providing malnourished pregnant women with important vitamins that they need to deliver healthy babies.’

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., meanwhile, said he was ‘looking at radio stations in some of the rural areas that do a lot of emergency services’ when discussing what changes he’d want in the bill.

Biggs’ letter warned, ‘This rescission package just scratches the surface. The Left will howl, but this package only trims around the edges of a bloated federal spending apparatus. If Congress can’t even support modest clawbacks, fiscal doom isn’t speculative, it’s inevitable.’

‘President Trump has made it clear: Wasteful, unnecessary, or ideologically driven programs and spending must go. The House acted on this mandate. Now, the Senate must do the same. The House—and more importantly, the American people—will be watching,’ the lawmakers wrote.

‘This is a defining moment. Will the Senate stand firm, reject pressure to preserve the status quo, and reaffirm its commitment to leadership and fiscal responsibility? The answer will shape both the future of President Trump’s presidency and the direction of our nation. Respect the President’s plan. Preserve the cuts passed by the House.’

The rescissions process allows the president to request Congress block some of the discretionary funds it appropriates every fiscal year.

A rescissions package must pass the House and Senate within 45 days of introduction to allow those funds to remain blocked, otherwise they must be released.

However, the process also gives the party in power a fast track by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51.

House and Senate Republicans are both still dealing with razor-thin majorities of three votes each with full attendance, however, meaning any such vote is almost guaranteed to be close.

When reached for a response, Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office pointed Fox News Digital to comments the South Dakota Republican made to reporters on Monday.

‘We’re hearing people out, and we are obviously weighing what an amendment process on the floor might look like – what, if any, changes could be made in advance of the floor, but we’re hoping to have a vote to proceed to it tomorrow, and the motion to discharge vote tomorrow, so we’ll have to finalize some of the conversations we’re having with our colleagues about an amendment process prior to that,’ Thune said.

A bipartisan Senate duo want to ensure that a suicide prevention and mental health resource for farmers stays funded.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, have joined forces to introduce legislation that would see millions in new funding for the Farm and Ranch Assistance Network, a program the pair first collaborated on in the 2018 Farm Bill.

The program is designed to help create a network for farmers, ranchers and other agriculture workers to have access to stress assistance and mental health programs. There are four regional hubs in Washington, New York, Illinois and Tennessee that act as conduits to aid farmers through the grant-funded program.

‘Too often, the stress, isolation, and physical demands of this job leave them with nowhere to turn when it all gets to be too much,’ Baldwin said of the stress and mental health struggles faced by farmers and agriculture workers.

Indeed, Farmers are about three and half times more likely to die by suicide than the average U.S. population, according to a study from the National Rural Health Association.

Their bill, called the Farmers First Act of 2025, would boost funding for the program by $75 million over the next five years, of which $15 million will be made available each fiscal year starting in 2026 through 2030.

The money would go toward hiring more behavioral health specialists, establish crisis lines, and build referral relationships with health care providers, health centers and critical access hospitals.

‘Iowa farmers work tirelessly from sunrise to sundown – rain or shine – to feed and fuel the world,’ Ernst said. ‘Their work isn’t easy, and mental health issues, including suicide, are too common in our agriculture community, which is why I’m working to ensure farmers have better access to mental health resources.’

The program got a reup in funding in 2020, when a three-year tranche of over $28 million was made available to the regional hubs. That funding was again boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Congress injected an additional $28 million to allow states to maintain their own stress assistance programs. The latter funding was made available through grants of up to $500,000 to the state programs.

The bill is a bicameral effort, too. Reps. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Angie Craig, D-Minn., are pushing the bill in the House to bolster the program’s funding.

Feenstra argued that refilling the program’s cash coffers would provide ‘farmers with real support in times of crisis.’

‘Agriculture is the economic engine of Iowa, and our farmers and producers work long hours and make unseen sacrifices to feed and fuel our country and the world,’ he said. ‘Those sacrifices can take a toll on our farm producers, especially when commodity prices tumble or severe weather destroys crops.’