Democratic Rep. Al Green, the Houston, Texas, congressman who made three attempts to impeach President Donald Trump during his first term, initiated his first impeachment effort in 2025.
Green rose to address the House on Wednesday and said "ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not a joke, especially when it emanates from the President of the United States."
"And [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] should be ashamed, knowing the history of his people, to stand there and allow such things to be said."
Green went on to say his formal impeachment articles are for "dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done."
Trump had announced Tuesday the U.S. would "take over" war-torn Gaza and allow Palestinians to relocate while it is being essentially repaired.
"I also rise to say that the impeachment movement is going to be a grass up movement, not a top down… I did it before, I laid the foundation for impeachment, and it was done. Nobody knows more about it than I," Green went on.
"And I know that it time for us to lay the foundation again. On some issues, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all on this issue. I stand alone. But I stand for justice."
Other Democrats appeared lukewarm to Green’s current bid.
"It’s not a focus of our caucus," said House Democratic Caucus Chair Peter Aguilar, D-Calif.
Green’s previous attempts were separate from those successful impeachments forwarded by now-California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and others – which related to Trump’s 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the 2021 Capitol riot.
One Green resolution centered on 2019 Trump tweets deriding members of the left-wing Squad, wherein the president remarked "they [should] go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing at the time of one of Green’s previous impeachment attempts, Republican staff posted a banner of the Democrat’s own words:
"I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected," Green had said.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins – then the panel’s ranking member – listed Green’s comments as one of several in remarks criticizing Democrats for trying to usurp the power of the voting booth through political maneuvering.
"For Democrats, it has been and will always be, to paraphrase Lewis Carroll: ‘Sentence first, verdict later,’" Collins said at the time.
During the Obama administration, the late Rep. Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C., similarly repeatedly called for President Barack Obama’s impeachment over issues ranging from the use of drones to troop casualties in Syria.
Fox News Digital reached out to Green’s office and was told "it is a matter of time" when the articles would be filed.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Singer and songwriter Joy Villa, well-known for her contentious attire at Grammy Award shows, strutted the red carpet once again on Sunday in a gown that served up a strong message.
Villa was spotted at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in a gold dress and necklace dispersed with images of the DOGE Shiba Inu dog meme, a necklace featuring his face and a red hat that read "The hat stays on."
"I was kind of a walking meme," Villa told Fox News Digital. "Obviously, I’m a MAGA girl and MAGA and crypto are starting to bridge the gap."
"Cryptocurrency represents freedom," she added. "We can disengage from the big banks. As artists, we can dictate our own financial independence."
The dress was tailored by atelier dress designer Andre Soriano, who also curated the controversial "Make America Great Again" dress Villa first wore to the 2017 Grammys.
"I’ve had people try to snatch my MAGA hats off," Villa said.
Villa said that among the vicious rhetoric she has received since expressing her support for President Donald Trump and his policies eight years ago are threats of sexual assault and death in addition to racial slurs. Despite having experienced vocal and physical backlash, Villa said the hat sends a message of her courage, resilience and vibrancy.
"I don’t worship Trump, but I worship Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, and I know that God gave me a voice to speak in Hollywood as an artist, as an actress, as a musician," Villa told Fox News Digital. "The red carpet is my battlefield."
A focal point of Villa’s conservative messaging at high-profile events is her religious devotion.
"I shared Jesus Christ with every single person I interviewed and none of them posted that," she said.
"America needs to bless God because the fight is not over yet," she added. "We got to stop aborting babies. We got to put prayer back in schools. Nobody needs to have their religion demonized and, for some reason, you can say every other name at the Grammys or the red carpet awards except for Jesus Christ."
While Villa’s remarks about religion were passed over by the media, her message in support of the deportations of illegal immigrants in the U.S. was publicized.
"I’m a proud Afro-Latina," she said. "I know being in the Latina community, being a woman of color, I know how much illegal immigration hurts us, and people won’t talk about that."
Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has acted on his promise of mass deportations and cracked down on illegal immigration. This has included ending deportation protection for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and deporting thousands of illegal immigrants to Mexico.
"It is a crime to come here illegally," Villa said. "I’ve traveled to 39 countries and in every single one of them I had to get the proper documentation and show my ID."
Villa scrutinized actress Selena Gomez for taking to social media recently to cry about President Trump’s swift action removing illegal immigrants.
"Girl, sit all the way down," Villa said. "You are an American citizen and those are not your people."
"Deport everyone who's coming here illegally," she said.
Collins scored one of the widest bipartisan votes of any Trump Cabinet nominee so far: 77 to 23. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confirmed 99-0.
The Air Force Reserve chaplain served in Congress from 2013 to 2021, where he defended President Donald Trump during the 2019 impeachment inquiry.
Collins also passed through the Veterans’ Affairs Committee on a wide bipartisan vote – only Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, voted against him.
Collins will now head an agency marred by budget shortfalls, millions paid out to executives who weren’t eligible to receive them, and complaints from veterans about long wait times for care. It’ll be his first time leading an organization as sprawling as the VA, with its 400,000 employees and 1,300 health facilities.
"I do not come into this with rose-colored glasses. This is a large undertaking that I feel called to be at," Collins said. "When a veteran has to call a congressman or senator’s office to get the care they have already earned, it’s a mark of failure."
In response to questions about Trump’s focus on budget cuts and a hiring freeze, Collins said he would work to ensure that did not come at the expense of veterans’ care.
"I'm gonna take care of the veterans. That means that we're not gonna balance budgets on the back of veterans benefits."
Collins said he aligned with Trump on allowing veterans choice for their healthcare. Trump during his first term pushed through the Mission Act, which allowed veterans to choose the VA or private care in their communities.
"I believe you can have both. I believe you have a strong VA as it currently exists and have the community care aspect," he said.
Democrats repeatedly asked Collins to promise not to privatize the VA, so many times that Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., asked him to "pinky swear" not to do it. Collins held up his pinky to promise that would not happen.
President Trump's political opponents have called him cruel and authoritarian and dictatorial. They've accused him of rewriting the Constitution and trampling on basic rules of government. But one thing that's been missing in all the early vitriol over his first 10 days is the I-word.
President Donald Trump fired 17 independent watchdogs at various federal agencies late Friday, a Trump administration official confirmed to Fox News, as he continues to reshape the government at a blistering pace.
Trump dismissed inspector generals at agencies within the Defense Department, State Department, Energy Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department of Veterans Affairs and more, notifying them by email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, the Washington Post first reported.
"It’s a widespread massacre," one of the terminated inspector generals told the Post. "Whoever Trump puts in now will be viewed as loyalists, and that undermines the entire system."
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that Trump's action may violate federal law that requires the president to give 30 days' notice to Congress of his intent to fire any independent watchdog, the Associated Press reported.
"There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so," Grassley said in a statement. "I’d like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the 30 day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Inspector generals at federal agencies are called on to investigate government waste, fraud and abuse. They operate independently and can serve in multiple administrations.
The mass firing is Trump's latest attempt to force the federal bureaucracy into submission after he shut down diversity, equity and inclusion programs, rescinded job offers and sidelined more than 150 national security and foreign policy officials. Trump began his second term with the intent of purging any opponents of his agenda from the government and replacing them with officials who would execute his orders without hesitation.
Among those spared from Trump's wrath was Department of Justice inspector general Michael Horowitz, the New York Times reported. Horowitz led the investigation of the FBI's Russian collusion probe, which exposed at least 17 "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in the FBI's application for a FISA warrant in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., slammed Trump's firings, calling them a "purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night."
"President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption," Warren posted on X.
During his first term, Trump fired five inspectors general in less than two months in 2020. This included the State Department, whose inspector general had played a role in the president's impeachment proceedings.
Last year, Trump's predecessor Joe Biden fired the inspector general of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, after an investigation found the official had created a hostile work environment.
In 2022, Congress passed reforms that strengthened protections for inspectors general and made it harder to replace them with political appointees, requiring the president to explain their removal.
Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming, who aims to unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., during the Bayou State's 2026 U.S. Senate contest, assailed the incumbent as a "RINO Republican" during an interview with Fox News Digital, using the acronym that abbreviates the phrase "Republican in name only."
Fleming, who served as a U.S. House lawmaker from early 2009 through early 2017, was one of the founding members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2016 and held several posts during the first President Donald Trump administration. In 2023, with Trump's endorsement, he won election to serve as the Pelican State's treasurer.
When asked by Fox News Digital to name some lawmakers he largely aligns with ideologically, Fleming mentioned GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris of Maryland, as well as Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah.
When asked whether there are any federal departments or entities that he would like to see fully abolished, Fleming replied that if there are any federal entities he thinks should be eliminated, he said, "First on my list would be the Department of Education."
Regarding the debt ceiling, he said if he were in office, he would seek to "leverage" debt ceiling increases to lower spending, adding, "I don't think we should raise the debt ceiling."
Fleming indicated that he supports foreign aid in some cases.
"I do believe in some level of foreign aid, particularly military foreign aid, when it's in the best interest of the people of the United States," he noted, suggesting that the U.S. should assist Taiwan and Israel.
Fleming said that America must "be careful about" involving itself in affairs abroad. Pointing to Afghanistan and Iraq, he said, "We seem to win the wars but lose the peace."
Fleming indicated that he is supportive of the TikTok ban that passed last year, because he does not believe it is "wise for us to allow the Chinese or any other foreign power, or even our own government, to spy on us through our social media." He opined that the social media platform should be banned until it is no longer under the influence of the Communist Chinese Party government of China.
In Louisiana's jungle primary system, candidates of various parties run against each other, and if any candidate wins the majority, they win election to the role — but if no candidate gets the majority, the top two finishers compete in a runoff.
When Cassidy ran in 2014, he placed second in a field that included seven other candidates, advancing along with incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu to a runoff, which Cassidy won.
When Cassidy was re-elected in 2020, he won the majority and avoided a runoff, defeating a field of more than a dozen other candidates.
Cassidy was one of the seven GOP senators who voted to convict President Trump after the 2021 House impeachment in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump had already departed from office by the time of the February Senate vote, and the number of senators who voted to convict ultimately fell short of the threshold necessary for conviction.
During a CNN appearance that the outlet shared on social media in 2023, Cassidy said he thought Trump should drop out of the presidential contest, though the lawmaker noted that the decision was up to Trump, who he said would lose to President Joe Biden based on the polls at the time.
After Trump had become the presumptive GOP presidential nominee last year, Kristin Welker asked Cassidy on "Meet the Press" whether he would endorse Trump. The senator responded by saying that he planned to vote for a Republican for president.
Cassidy in June pledged to work with Trump if the candidate returned to the White House.
"Just met with my colleagues and President Trump. I was elected to work for Louisiana and the United States of America. I commit to working with President Trump if he is the next president—and it appears he is going to be—to make things better for all," the senator said in a statement at the time.
He congratulated Trump and Vice President JD Vance on their inaugurations earlier this week.
"Today, the American people start winning again. Republicans are going to secure the border, unleash American energy, and protect American manufacturing," he noted in the statement. "Congratulations to President Trump and Vice President Vance. Let’s get to work!"
The lawmaker, who has served in the U.S. Senate for just over a decade, previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Trump endorsed Cassidy when the senator sought re-election in 2020, thanking him for supporting the Make America Great Again agenda, and praising his "outstanding" work representing Louisianans and Americans at large.
"THANK YOU @BillCassidy for all of your support with our #MAGA Agenda. You are doing an outstanding job representing the people of Louisiana & the U.S.A. You have my Complete and Total Endorsement!" Trump declared in a post.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Cassidy campaign spokesman said of Fleming, "He came in 5th place last time he ran for Senate in 2016 and currently has $500k in campaign debt."
According to a Cassidy campaign press release, the senator "raised another $1 million across his reelection, leadership, and joint fundraising committees in the fourth quarter of 2024, bringing his campaign cash-on-hand to over $6.5 million."
The Fleming campaign responded to the Cassidy spokesperson's comment in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"The senate campaign loan is 100% owed to Treasurer Fleming, personally," Fleming's campaign noted. "With regard to placement, Sen Cassidy ran against a weak Republican and a politically-wounded Democrat who had voted for Obamacare among other things. And, he had the backing of the entire Republican Party."
"Treasurer Fleming ran in an open seat against 23 opponents of all parties, some of whom divided his political base geographically as well as ideologically," the statement continued. "Sen. John Kennedy ultimately won Fleming's senate race as he was also the Louisiana State Treasurer and had run for the Senate before as Fleming is currently. What truly matters at this time is that Senator Cassidy voted to convict President Trump in the second impeachment trial during Trump's first term. Had Trump been convicted, it would have foreclosed any possibility to reelect Trump leading to either a second Biden term or a Kamala Harris Presidency."
Donald Trump is a Russian asset, whether willing or unwilling. His obsequiousness toward Russian strongman Vladimir Putin during his first term wasn’t just embarrassing—it became a grave national security threat.
Trump literally sided with Putin over his own intelligence agencies. And why wouldn’t he? Russia was a major factor in his 2016 election victory.
Meanwhile, Trump’s first impeachment was literally centered on his effort to blackmail Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, drumming up a fake Hunter Biden investigation in exchange for anti-tank weapons to try to stave off a looming Russian invasion.
Last year, Trump repeatedly promised to end Russia’s war in Ukraine within “24 hours” of taking office, which many took to mean pulling U.S. support for Ukraine and freezing the conflict in its current state—something Russia desperately needs.
Yet a funny thing has happened. Trump slobbered over Putin, believing that he and Russia are strong and mighty, serving as an example for his own imperialist and undemocratic designs. But Russia is not strong and mighty. In fact, Russia has run out of tools to prop up its failing economy. And out-of-control inflation, sky-high interest rates, and lower global energy prices have put Putin in a precarious position.
Somehow, Trump noticed this, and his disdain couldn’t be clearer. We just might have somehow lucked into a pro-Ukraine Trump presidency.
Trump shared his thoughts about Russia’s war in Ukraine on Truth Social Wednesday morning.
I’m not looking to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin - and this despite the Radical Left’s Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX. We must never forget that Russia helped us win the Second World War, losing almost 60,000,000 lives in the process. All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a “deal,” and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries. Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better. It’s time to “MAKE A DEAL.” NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!
How does Trump always manage to get so much wrong?
Russia didn’t lose 60 million lives in World War II; it lost 27 million. And, really, seven million of those were Ukrainian, as that total is for the Soviet Union, not Russia. That’s a lot, so why the need to exaggerate it? Probably because the total number of people killed in World War II is around 60 million, and Trump is just too stupid to know the difference—or to fact check.
Furthermore, tariffs don’t mean shit to Russia, since the U.S. doesn’t really trade with them. In 2022, the United States imported just $15 billion in Russian goods and services. Thanks to deep sanctions, what little we exported, like intellectual property (movies and such), was either appropriated by Moscow or just stolen.
But sanctions are something that could be hiked up, which would be a welcome response from the Trump administration.
If Trump really wants the war to end (and to take credit and have statues raised all over Ukraine in his honor), then he needs to do what former President Joe Biden was loath to do: open up the arms spigot and remove all restrictions on their usage.
More specifically, he needs to flood Ukraine with aircrafts—Ukraine now flies F-16s—and long-range missiles.
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump
Russia has endless manpower to incrementally take ground in Ukraine. In October 2024, U.S. intelligence agencies estimated Russian casualties for the entire war at more than 600,000, including those killed and wounded. And that pace has increased year over year as Russia runs out of armor but continues to send soldiers on foot, motorcycle, and even civilian vehicles.
Yet manpower continues to be sourced from Russia’s poorest, more remote regions, insulating the oligarch elites in Moscow and St. Petersburg from direct consequences.
That economic instability, on the other hand, hits those oligarchs in the only place it matters, and a continued 10% inflation rate is taking a bite out of everyone’s earning power.
How long can the czar remain in power if his people are starving?
Meanwhile, the country’s banking system is on the verge of collapse as Moscow forces them to lend to the military industrial complex—at levels that far exceed their ability to cover the risk. With their inability to access foreign reserves due to sanctions, they are isolated and exposed. Wary of being caught up with retaliatory sanctions from the United States and the European Union, China is steering clear.
While Russia still has significant financial reserves to cover its massive defense-related budget deficits, they are on pace to be depleted by 2030, according to an analysis by Janes—and that’s assuming energy prices don’t crater.
Saudi Arabia has been threatening to open the spigot, and if Trump’s policy to encourage additional domestic drilling pans out, global prices might further tumble to Russia’s great peril. And additional Western sanctions on oil and on countries that help Russia circumvent sanctions (cough, cough, looking at you, India) will further tighten the noose.
Long-range missiles would help accelerate Russia’s economic woes. Ukraine’s biggest war gains the past year came from systematically targeting Russian economic engines like refineries and factories. On the ground, Ukraine needs to merely hold the line, extracting a steep price on Russian advances. But if they want to win the war, it will be with long-range missiles.
Unfortunately, Trump didn’t threaten that, but once Putin ignores Trump’s demands for “A DEAL,” it would be a logical next step to ratchet up the pressure. Someone might even whisper in his ear—with their fingers crossed behind their back—that if he helps end the war, a Nobel Peace Prize is on the table.
Trump’s 180-degree turn on Putin clearly stems from Russia’s weakness not only in Ukraine, but also in Syria following the country’s humiliating defeat.
One Russian Telegram channel claimed that secret negotiations between Russia and Trump representatives in December failed when the Americans made demands that Putin was unwilling to meet.
All media, public authorities and controlled leaks of [Russian] economic data not only abroad, but also inside the country, the main goal was to convince first the ruling group of Biden, and in the last few months of Trump, about the normal state of the Russian economy, its moderate growth, the absence of critical problems, and the ability of the Russian Federation to continue the confrontation as long as necessary.
For example, our group had all the real indicators of the Russian Federation – a growing decline in GDP by 1-4%, inflation growth of up to 25% over the last year, etc. The main figures for the public space were carefully adjusted, the emerging holes were quietly filled with reserves from the National Wealth Fund. While there was a high probability of reaching an agreement with the US by demonstrating ‘muscles’, it was much more profitable and cheaper to demonstrate them with hidden doping.
There was a categorical ban not only on discussing serious restrictions and deprivations for the population, but also on actually working out such measures – because of possible leaks and confirmation of the ‘weakness’ of the Russian economy for US analysts.
The main scenario assumed that the newly elected U.S. president, who had his hands ‘untied’ at the beginning of his term, would be convinced of Russia's ability to continue the conflict throughout his presidency would want to resolve the crisis quickly, and that this would be the best time for agreements.
There were tense secret negotiations between Russia and Trump's representatives through almost all of December, but the conditions put forward by the Americans were completely unacceptable for the pro-Chinese elite group in Russia, which at this stage has the greatest weight [...]
China will not allow an agreement with the US (probably, China leaked the real data of the Russian economy to the US, hence such tough conditions from their side), it will not only receive resources below the cost price and supply its products with 200-300% markup but it will also solve its geopolitical task – talking about friendship and partnership of the Russian Federation, Russia's forehead will hit the US and the EU, bargaining for agreements for itself and preventing its open conflict with the US.
That is quite the conspiracy theory.
The United States doesn’t need China to know the state of the Russian economy. Heck, I’ve linked to a bunch of Western media sources and analysts who have had their finger on Russia’s true economic situation throughout the entire war.
But the underlying point is quite interesting. Not only is it against China’s interests for the war to end, but Russia is also reliant on it for just about everything right now. Plus, China loves to see EU and U.S. dollars and assets spent on Putin’s theater rather than on Taiwan.
The end result is a weak Russia and a pathetic Putin, groveling before North Korea for weapons and manpower. And if there’s one thing Trump abhors, it’s weakness.
By aligning himself against China, Republicans’ favorite geopolitical boogeyman du jour, Trump is further susceptible to influence from pro-Ukraine voices inside the GOP and his administration.
If he wants to end the war, Trump needs to give Ukraine the means and permission to further target Russia’s failing economic engine. Long-range missiles are the way to do it.
Democratic lawmakers grilled President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on a series of issues Wednesday, ranging from abortion to the constitutionality of the Impoundment Control Act.
While Republicans argue that Russell Vought is qualified for the role because he served as Trump’s OMB director during the president's first term, Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have labeled Vought an "ultra-right" ideologue.
Vought appeared before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday for a confirmation hearing and defended his previous statements that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional — an issue Democrats claim should disqualify him from leading the Office of Management and Budget.
The law, adopted in 1974, stipulates that Congress may oversee the executive branch’s withholding of budget authority, and affirmed that Congress holds the power of the purse. Ultimately, the law bars the executive branch from circumventing Congress and withholding appropriated funds.
The first Trump administration and Vought have come under fire after the Office of Management and Budget held up $214 million in military aid for Ukraine in 2019, a decision that ultimately led to Trump’s first impeachment.
"You’re quite comfortable assuming that the law doesn’t matter and that you’ll just treat the money for a program as a ceiling… rather than a required amount," Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley said. "Well, the courts have found otherwise."
Additionally, the Supreme Court also ruled in 1975 that the executive branch cannot impound funds without congressional oversight.
In that case, Train v. City of New York, the Supreme Court determined the Environmental Protection Agency must use full funding included in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, even though then-President Richard Nixon issued orders not to use all the funding.
Lawmakers have pointed to this case in Vought's confirmation hearings as further evidence that the executive branch cannot tie up funding Congress has approved.
Even so, Vought told lawmakers in multiple exchanges he believes the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional, because presidents historically could spend less than what Congress had approved prior to the Impoundment Control Act, and that Trump campaigned on that position.
Democrats aren’t the only ones worried about Vought’s views on the Impoundment Control Act. Senate Budget Committee chair Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he also shared some concerns and would disclose them at a markup hearing for Vought’s nomination.
Vought also faced questioning on his views regarding abortion, given his connection as an author of Project 2025, a political initiative The Heritage Foundation released in 2023 that called for policy changes, including instituting a national ban on abortion medication.
Other proposals included in Project 2025 include eliminating the Department of Education, cutting DEI programs, and reducing funding for Medicare and Medicaid.
"You have said that you don’t believe in exceptions for rape, for incest, or the life of the mother," said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. "Is that your position?"
"Senator, my views are not important. I’m here on behalf of the president," Vought said.
Trump has repeatedly stated that he backs abortion in certain instances, and stated that "powerful exceptions" for abortion would remain in place under his administration.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pressed Vought on whether healthcare is a "human right." Sanders has previously introduced legislation called the Medicare for All Act that would establish a federal, national health insurance program.
"Do you think we should join every other major country on Earth and say, ‘You know what? Whether you’re poor, you’re rich, you’re young, you’re old, healthcare is a human right,’" Sanders said. "We have the richest country in the history of the world. Do you think we should do what every other major country on Earth does?"
Vought declined to disclose specifics, but said that he believed it's critical to provide "legitimate, evidence-based outcomes for people within the healthcare system, and to make sure that we tailor all of the dollars that are spent toward that."
After serving as director of the Office of Management and Budget under the first Trump administration, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America in 2021. The organization claims its mission is to "renew a consensus of America as a nation under God," according to its website. Vought also served as the vice president of Heritage Action for America.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said his meeting with Vought only exacerbated his concerns about the nomination.
"I walked out of the meeting even more deeply troubled," Schumer said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. "Of all the extremists President Trump could have picked for OMB, he picked the godfather of the ultra-right."
Vought has repeatedly told lawmakers that he would uphold the law and that his personal views aren’t important — carrying out Trump’s vision is what matters.
The OMB is responsible for developing and executing the president’s budget, as well as overseeing and coordinating legislative proposals and priorities aligned with the executive branch.
Fearing the wrath of Dear Leader, congressional Republicans are either refusing to comment on Donald Trump's disgusting pardons of violent Capitol insurrection convicts, or are flat-out lying about what Trump actually did to avoid having to criticize his behavior.
Hours after being sworn in to his second term, Trump gave unconditional pardons to 1,550 people who either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of crimes related to their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The pardons and pending dismissals also covered more than 600 rioters were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers at the Capitol, nearly 175 of whom were accused of doing so with deadly or dangerous weapons including baseball bats, two-by-fours, crutches, hockey sticks and broken wooden table legs.
Trump also commuted the sentences of members of right-wing militia groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in planning and encouraging violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021—leading to the release of those men from prison.
But multiple members of the House and Senate, including Republican congressional leaders, told reporters on Tuesday that they couldn’t make a judgement on the blanket pardons Trump issued because they haven't read up on them yet—the least believable lie on earth.
“I haven’t gone into the detail,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said.
SEN RICK SCOTT: “If you violate the law you should be prosecuted.” ABC: “What about those [Jan 6 rioters] who assaulted police officers and then were pardoned by the president?” SCOTT: “I haven’t gone into the detail.” pic.twitter.com/TlIU4sidCn
“I don't know all the cases. I certainly don't want to pardon any violent actors. But there's a real miscarriage of justice here so I'm totally supportive of it,” Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told Fox News reporter Chad Pergram, apparently unaware that Trump pardoned violent actors.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said he wouldn't be for pardoning the violent insurrectionists, but wouldn't comment because he "didn't see" if Trump did that.
Republican Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota knew that Trump issued pardons, but played dumb about what they entailed.
“My understanding, there was a range of actions that he took. And I guess I want to look and see what those are,” Hoeven said.
Other lawmakers straight-up lied about the pardons, saying Trump issued them on a "case-by-case basis."
“We’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forward,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN’s Manu Raju, adding, “I think they were case-by-case.”
“Republican senators are physically shrugging when reporters ask them what they think of Trump pardoning January 6 defendants,” Haley Byrd Wilt, a Capitol Hill reporter for the nonprofit news outlet NOTUS, wrote in a post on X.
Former Sen. Marco Rubio, who is now Trump's secretary of state, said he wouldn't comment.
"I'm not going to engage in domestic political debates," Rubio told NBC News.
In another interview with CBS, Rubio refused to comment again, saying “I work for Trump.”
“You said the images of the attacks stirred up anger in you. You said the nation was embarrassed. How do you reconcile that with the pardons?” RUBIO: “I work for Trump.” pic.twitter.com/enD3dJQRwW
“I assume you're asking me about the Biden pardons of his family,” Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa told Semafor’s Burgess Everett—a ridiculous whataboutism. “I’m just talking about the Biden pardons, because that is so selfish.”
“You've seen President Biden's preemptive pardons. Pardons of his own family. The power presidential pardons is one granted to a president and there's really no role for the Congress … it's the president's prerogative,” Cornyn said.
The pardons go against what Trump's own vice president said just a few days ago that Trump would do.
“If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” JD Vance said in a Jan. 11 appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
WATCH: @JDVance lays out President-elect Trump’s pardon process for January 6th participants. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of Shannon's exclusive interview with Vice President-elect JD Vance. pic.twitter.com/RvqXrL6rO3
“I’m disappointed to see that and I do fear the message that is sent to these great men and women that stood by us,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of the few Republicans who’s actually stood up to Trump in the past, said.
"Anybody who is convicted of assault on a police officer, I can't get there, at all. I think it was a bad idea," Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said.
“Well I think I agree with the vice president,” Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told Semafor, referring to Vance’s belief that violent insurrectionists shouldn’t have been pardoned. “No one should excuse violence. And particularly violence against police officers.”
Of course, we don’t want to praise anyone for doing the bare minimum and speaking the truth about Trump’s awful actions.
And McConnell is largely to blame for the fact that these pardons took place at all, as he refused to convict Trump in the impeachment trial in January 2021, allowing Trump to run for president again.
