Fox News Channel's chief political anchor Bret Baier will conduct a wide-ranging interview with President Donald Trump during the Fox Super Bowl Sunday pregame show on February 9. 

The pre-taped interview took place at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and will air in the 3 p.m. ET hour on Super Bowl Sunday. During the interview, Baier asked Trump about the changes the administration has enacted since the Inauguration and the first 100 days of his presidency, as FOX is set to broadcast Super Bowl LIX from in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET. 

Trump announced new tariffs through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) on Saturday, which will impose a 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China.

Additional portions of the interview will air during the Monday, February 10 edition of "Special Report with Bret Baier." The interview will be Baier's first one-on-one interview with Trump since June 2023. 

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Baier has played a pivotal role in coverage of every major political event since joining Fox News as an Atlanta-based reporter in 1998. 

During the 2024 presidential election, Baier interviewed both Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and hosted a town hall with then-candidate Trump. Additionally, Baier co-anchored the network’s "Democracy 2024" coverage of all political events and breaking news, including election night, the Democratic National Convention, the Republican National Convention and Super Tuesday, among others. 

Trump sat down with Fox News' Sean Hannity in January, his first interview since returning to the White House. 

Trump has signed dozens of executive orders since he was sworn into office, advancing his administration's goals on issues from illegal immigration to withdrawing from the World Health Organization.

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Baier's "Special Report" has averaged 3.5 million viewers and 422,000 in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54 in 2025 to date, beating CNN and MSNBC combined. Fox News' premier newscast is also watched by more democrats and independents than any other 6 p.m. ET program on cable news.

Baier has also established the Common Ground segment this past election cycle, featuring political leaders from across the aisle discussing the issues of the day with the goal of finding middle ground, featuring guests such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Kevin Cramer, Sen. John Fetterman, along with Sen. Katie Britt, Gov. Wes Moore and Rep. Andy Harris.

After Democrats lost in every swing state to President Donald Trump, some party members have been struggling with how to recapture voters, according to a recent report. 

"Twenty big cities, Aspen and Martha’s Vineyard—that’s what’s left of the Democratic Party," former congressional candidate Adam Frisch told The Wall Street Journal. "And I’m not exactly sure those 20 big cities are getting the best version of the Democratic Party."

Democrats have struggled to define a coherent message for voters after their loss to Trump, with some leaders in the party arguing that Democrats should focus on their economic messaging. 

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"I’m frustrated by the way in which we utilize identity to break ourselves apart," former Bernie Sanders' campaign advisor Faiz Shakir said. "Listen, I worked at the ACLU. I’m supportive of diversity, equity and all the rest," he said. "But we’re competing over the wrong thing when we should be joining together to fight together."

"I think the Democratic brand is hurting because people feel that you cannot, with conviction and integrity, tell me what you honestly feel about some hard issues," he said. 

The recently elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Ken Martin, told party members that Democrats must lead the political battle to beat Trump. 

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"If it’s not us, who is it?" Martin told Democrats after winning his election for leader of the institutional Democratic Party. "Who’s going to be out there actually taking on Donald Trump? It has to be the Democratic Party. We have to get into this fight."

Martin's election is a sign that the Democratic Party leadership continues to focus its attention primarily on opposition to Trump, with Martin once having called for the president to be tried for treason. 

"We have one team, one team, the Democratic Party," Martin said following his victory. "The fight is for our values. The fight is for working people. The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country."

Fox News' Hanna Panreck and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Chicago political leaders are encouraging local residents' efforts to defy the federal government as it attempts to carry out mass deportations in the city, vowing to "hold the line and push back every single time."

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has faced pushback from local groups aiding illegal immigrants as its agents are sweeping the city as part of a nation-wide illegal immigration crackdown, the Chicago Tribune reported. Windy City non-profits have launched Facebook groups, apps and have put up flyers across the city with instructions on how to avoid being detained by ICE. Left-wing political leaders are cheering the acts of resistance, as ICE is estimated to have detained some 100 migrants so far.

"The actions coming from the White House are rooted in xenophobic, nativist and racist lies. We must hold the line and push back every single time — as we’ve done before," Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García said at an event at Malcolm X College on Wednesday. "People are exercising their rights."

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Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan has blasted Chicago and other sanctuary cities, claiming that they are obstructing the administration’s efforts to deport criminal illegal migrants from the country.

"Sanctuary cities are making it very difficult to arrest criminals. For instance, Chicago, very well-educated, they’ve been educated (on) how to defy ICE, how to hide from ICE. And I’ve seen many pamphlets from many of the (nongovernmental organizations). … They call it ‘Know Your Rights.’ I call it how to escape arrest. There’s a warrant for your arrest — they tell you how to hide from ICE," Homan said in a CNN interview.

Illinois State Rep. Delia Ramirez, however, considers those resisting Trump’s mass deportation program to be "courageous."

"We have shown them that we are courageous. We have shown them that we are organized. And we have shown them that they will not break us," she said.

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Illinois is home to 300,000 of the 11 million total illegal immigrants in the U.S. as of 2022, according to Pew Research Data. ICE claims it has made 710 immigration arrests per day from January 23 through January 27. 

Two illegal migrants were charged in the murder of a 63-year-old man whose body was found tied up at his Chicago home on Sunday, the same day that Homan led an immigration enforcement operation in the city. 

Middlebury College’s student commencement speaker encouraged her fellow graduates and alumni to pull their donations and instead support the people of Gaza during her speech.

Film, media, culture and environmental studies major Faith Wood was chosen among a committee of students to represent the graduating class on Saturday with a final address. She spoke to the class wearing a rainbow scarf and keffiyeh and largely mourned the state of Gazan cities.

She suggested holding the school accountable for what she claims is the school's culpability in the suffering of Gaza through their pocketbooks. 

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"Being an alum of Middlebury College gives you power in this world. Leveraging that collective power in this room can be that difference. First step, Middlebury. Then, in the world," Wood said. "Here's one thing you can do. Open up the pamphlets people have been handing out and pledge to donate any money you would have to Middlebury to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency." 

She concluded, "Until Middlebury demonstrates its commitment to prioritizing education here and everywhere over profit through divestment from war profiteering, there is nothing as whole as a broken heart. Loving Middlebury means holding it and ourselves accountable to our promises. To love means to grow together. That is what it's going to take."

Earlier in her speech, Wood called out the school for standing "tall and pretty" while schools in Gaza are destroyed.

"There is simply nothing we as students at one of the eleven NESCACs (New England Small College Athletic Conference) deserve that students of the eleven institutions of higher education in Gaza do not also deserve," Wood said.

She also lamented the "heartbreaking" situation she and her fellow students find themselves in after President Donald Trump returned to office.

"We are literally graduating the same month a fascist has taken office. Within 11 days, he has pulled out of Paris Climate Agreement for the second time, denied the existence of trans people and unleashed a slew of ICE agents to arrest an average thousand people every single day since they began," Wood said.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Middlebury College for a comment.

Last year, Fox News Digital reported that the StandWithUs (SWU) organization filed a lawsuit against Middlebury College alleging that the school "failed egregiously to provide adequate protection for Jewish students seeking to remedy persistent antisemitic bigotry on campus." Students at Middlebury also requested to remain anonymous on their comments out of fear of retaliation.

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A former Costco executive is fed up with attacks on the grocery club’s DEI policies, saying that critics don’t understand the company’s culture. 

"The term DEI didn’t even exist to us, it was the way we ran our business… it’s who we are," former Costco International Division Senior Vice President Roger Campbell told Fox News Digital.

Campbell, 82, who retired from the company in 2015, began his career at Costco as a store manager trainee in 1986 and worked his way up the executive ranks. He spent 29 years at Costco and is fiercely defensive of it as the grocery chain faces an onslaught of attacks for its refusal to jettison its DEI initiatives. 

The former executive claims that Costco has always valued the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, even before the term "DEI" existed. Costco executives see the company’s culture as a key factor in its success and that, to his ears, DEI is synonymous with the way the company has always done business. 

While Campbell emphasized he does not speak for the company or any current executive or board member, he feels the reason Costco has been stalwart in defense of its DEI policies is because the board sees attacks on them as attacks on the business itself.

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"Our whole idea was taking care of the employee. Our whole idea was a very simple thing — if you hire good people, pay them good wages and give them good benefits, then likely good things are going to happen," Campbell said.

Costco board members recently shot down a shareholder proposal to analyze the risks of its DEI policies. In response, 19 states’ attorneys general issued a letter to Costco CEO Ron Vachris demanding the company drop their DEI programs to conform with President Trump’s recent executive order banning DEI from the federal government. 

Trump’s executive order comes in the wake of numerous companies announcing that they’re terminating their DEI initiatives following intense public backlash, with Facebook, McDonald’s, Boeing, Harley-Davidson and others all rolling back or outright nixing the programs. 

But Costco, unlike other companies, has the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion hardwired into its DNA, Campbell claims, and feels no need to drop the programs despite the fact that they are no longer politically fashionable.

"It was the rules at some point in time. Somebody said ‘okay everybody has to get into DEI’ and you saw all these companies get into it and then get out of it because they never had one to start with," Campbell claims, "Call it what you want to call it, but we had something that worked."

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Campbell said that when it came to hiring, Costco always sought to ensure the employees at their warehouses and stores reflected the communities they were located in demographically. He says that Costco had no trouble achieving this goal, and never had to consciously alter its hiring practices to meet a certain quota.

"Diversity was a word that was used, but it was never ‘My gosh, we need to get a program. We need to train diversity.’"

Costco based its promotions on merit, not race or gender, Campbell claimed, adding that he had never heard anyone complaining they lost an opportunity because they were a White man. However, he conceded that when he decided on promotions he would take race into account if both candidates were "equally qualified" for the job.

"If I absolutely was looking at a promotion, and there were two people where either one of those two could do this job, I think, internally, there could be a couple times where I said, ‘you know what, I need to give this diverse person an opportunity instead of holding them back,’" Campbell admitted.

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Costco introduced its formal DEI initiatives as Campbell was leaving the company, but in practice he had not observed nor heard of any changes to the company’s core values.

"[The board is] associating DEI with the history of our company," he said. "If it's in our books or its in our program it’s just because it existed. We just never called it DEI, we just always thought of it as our culture."

Costco, which is facing a potential strike from unionized employees in some of its stores, has always had a pro-worker image. The grocery chain lays claim to an 8% turnover rate according to Harvard Business Review, and its average hourly rate is reportedly $31.

The grocery club’s Chairman of the Board, Hamilton E. James, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic-aligned PACs in the last election cycle, with several other board members following suit. 

Campbell, who identifies as a conservative, rejects the idea that the board forces its politics on the business.

Though Campbell maintains that Costco’s commitment to diversity has been longstanding, it has not seemed to translate to the highest ranks within the company. Of its top managers, 72% are men and 81% White, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"We need more diversity at the top levels," Campbell conceded. 

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A pro-life protester who was sentenced to over three years in prison told Fox News Digital she is still processing President Donald Trump’s pardon. 

"To be pardoned by the President of the United States is something that I'm still trying to register," Bevelyn Beatty Williams told Fox News Digital. "I don't think I can fathom in my mind how big this is because I don't see myself as… the celebrity that people like to call me. I'm just like regular, old Bevelyn."

On Friday, Trump pardoned 23 pro-life prisoners who were convicted by President Joe Biden’s administration of violating the FACE Act, a federal law which bans the use of force on those accessing abortion clinics and other reproductive healthcare facilities. 

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Trump told the media Friday that "We released 23 people that were unjustly put in and having to do with pro-life. And, they will be released, and they'll be out very shortly. It was disgraceful what happened."

In June 2020, Williams organized a protest outside a Planned Parenthood in Manhattan, and allegedly pushed the door closed on the hand of a worker opening the door for a volunteer, injuring the worker’s hand. 

A press release from the United States Attorney’s office of the Southern District of New York reads that, "On June 19, 2020, and June 20, 2020, WILLIAMS threatened and used force against patients and staff members at a reproductive health center located in Lower Manhattan (the "Health Center") and blocked patients and staff members from accessing the Health Center."

The press release describes one occasion where she "pressed her body against the door of the Health Center’s patient entrance and refused to move, preventing a Health Center volunteer from entering the Health Center. As a Health Center staff member ("Victim-1") attempted to open the door for the volunteer, WILLIAMS purposefully leaned against the door, crushing Victim-1’s hand."

On July 24, 2024, Williams was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon to 41 months in prison, who said that Williams "repeatedly intimidated and interfered with individuals seeking and providing critical reproductive health services. She did so by physically blocking access to clinics, threatening staff, and by force."

"I was indicted and sentenced to three and a half years in prison for ministering in front of an abortion clinic and practicing my First Amendment right," Williams told Fox News Digital. "And they accused me of being loud and threatening and obstructing and violent, all things that were not true. And they sent it to me in federal prison for three and a half years."

Williams, 33, president and co-founder of At the Well Ministries, said her views on abortion changed when former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law in 2019 that legalized abortion up to birth in most cases.

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"I've had three abortions in my past, and so I did not start off pro-life," Williams said. "I think what ignited my fight for life was when Gov. Cuomo legalized abortion up to nine months… Once I became a Christian, I realized that abortion was wrong, and I always knew it was wrong. I never in my mind thought, okay, abortion is healthcare… But at the same time, when Gov. Cuomo legalized abortion up 'til nine months, it hit me that this is really murder and these poor, innocent babies are being tortured for convenience."

She said that her sentencing was especially hard on her husband. 

"My husband was devastated," Williams said. "My husband cried and cried that night after the sentencing. And it was just every day was like a clock counting down until the day I had to turn myself in. My daughter, who's two, was not aware of what was going on. But she did feel my absence. And my husband, he says now he can tell the difference in her joy and happiness, seeing that mommy's home." 

She said that she does not know what is next, but wants to foster communication and dialogue. 

"For me, this is not the time to settle. I feel like the fight is still on now," Williams said. 

"Am I going to continue to protest," she added. "I feel like… my demeanor was met for the proper season. And I understand when to shift. You know, when I was protesting and preaching against certain things, there was Covid going on, rights were being taken away. You had BLM militias and Antifa running amok in the streets and destroying cities. You know, there was a reason for me to raise my voice the way that I did at that time. I feel like in this season, people are a lot more reasonable. And I think this is a time to start having conversations that may have been tough as they have in the past."

Newsweek’s profile of a former death row inmate and convicted murderer, who is transitioning into a woman, shocked readers who called it "puff piece." 

Steven Joseph Hayes was previously sentenced to death in 2010 for the killing of a Connecticut mother and her two daughters after an attempted burglary. Hayes’ death sentence was later commuted to life without parole in 2015.

Since being convicted, Hayes has transitioned to Linda Mai Lee and gave exclusive comments to Newsweek, claiming to finally feel "comfortable living as a woman."

"For the first time in my life I am happy to be alive and do not want to die," Lee told Newsweek.

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The article was criticized as a "puff piece" about a convicted murderer because the inmate was transgender.

"This man held a family of four hostage in their home for hours, beating them, raping the 11 year old daughter and the mother, then strangling the mother, and finally setting the house on fire, killing both children from smoke inhalation. Newsweek now publishes a puff piece on how he is now happy and at peace since he came to terms with his gender confusion. They claim his ‘former anger’ had been fueled by this distress. Now he is seeking treatments to feminize his appearance. (Undoubtedly funded by taxpayers.) You don’t hate the media enough," civil liberties attorney Laura Powell wrote.

Live Action founder Lila Rose wrote, "A man convicted for the murder and rape of a mother and her two young daughters has a puff piece in Newsweek today about how happy he is now that he has ‘transitioned’ and gets to live in a WOMEN’S prison and wear lipstick and ‘panties.’ Unbelievable evil."

Author Helen Joyce asked, "He raped an 11 year old and her mother, and murdered both, as well as the 11 year old's sister. And we're supposed to pity him because his crimes were supposedly because of his confusion about his gender identity? And to give a toss that he's ‘happy to be alive’?"

"He murdered a mother and her two daughters and raped two of them before doing so. But now he's kind of sorry for what he did, but he’s also at peace with it. The feel-good story of the year," National Review columnist Becket Adams wrote.

"’I raped and murdered a little girl and her mother, and murdered the teenage daughter, because of my feminine gender identity’ Siri show me the definition of ‘misogynistic garbage.’ Shame on Newsweek for publishing this repulsive crap," British columnist Hadley Freeman wrote.

"Newsweek is total trash. Used to be a respected and respectable. No more," former professional tennis player Martina Navratilova wrote.

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In the Newsweek piece, Lee (formerly Hayes) described the murders as "wrong on every level" and "the behavior of someone deeply mired in addiction and gender identity issues." Newsweek similarly reported on how Lee was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at the age of 16 and how "intolerance" likely contributed to the crimes.

"Had Lee accepted herself earlier, Hawke-Petit and her daughters may still be alive, she said," the article read.

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Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman said Canadians were disappointed and perplexed by President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on imports from the country during an interview on Sunday.

"Canadians are perplexed, I think disappointed. We view ourselves as your neighbor, your closest friend, your ally, you know, a country whose citizens have fought and died with you around the world in defense of values that we share, who come to the aid of the Los Angeles fires, most recently, and I think are really perplexed by this move. So I don’t think anybody will need to tell Canadians what to do. I think that they will make their decisions on their own," she told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. 

Trump signed an executive order authorizing the tariffs on Saturday, which will go into effect Tuesday, consisting of a 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China.

Stephanopoulos asked Hillman if the Canadian citizens felt betrayed.

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"I think they’re confused. I don’t think they understand where this is coming from. I think they know the degree to which we have made every effort to address the president’s concerns, and so they just don’t understand where this is coming from, and probably there’s a little bit of hurt, right?" she responded. 

Hillman said Canada and the U.S. had people who travel back and forth between the two countries and touted a partnership between them.

"We have 400,000 to 500,000 people that move back and forth between our two countries every day. Businesses, tourists, students, workers, and there’s a sense of partnership, of family, of being each other’s best, as I say, best customer, best friend. So I think that this is something that we really don’t, the Canadians don’t understand," Hillman added.

The Canadian ambassador said that Trump likely does value the U.S. partnership with Canada, and said "I think that we’re going to have to see where this takes us."

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Trump said Friday that he was not worried about American consumers taking a hit and said the tariffs will ensure that other countries treat the U.S. "fairly." 

"There may be temporary, short-term disruption, and people will understand that," Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the tariffs were due to illegal fentanyl. 

"The president will be implementing tomorrow a 25% tariff on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada, and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans," Leavitt told reporters on Friday. "These are promises made and promises kept."

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Trump's executive order for the tariffs said, "Gang members, smugglers, human traffickers, and illicit drugs of all kinds have poured across our borders and into our communities."

"Canada has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources or meaningfully coordinate with United States law enforcement partners to effectively stem the tide of illicit drugs," the order continued.

President Trump's decision to "hold Mexico accountable" by invoking a 25% tariff on imports is "exactly right," border czar Tom Homan said Sunday, slamming Mexican officials for failing to take measures to halt the relentless flow of fentanyl coming across the U.S. southern border.

"[Drug cartels have] been operating for decades in Mexico. They're operating freely. We know that, and I'm not going to say every official in Mexico is corrupt, but many are, and we just we simply know that, so he's going to hold Mexico accountable," he told "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo.

"They've got to take action against these cartels, and stop the flow of fentanyl and, not only that, [but also] the sex trafficking of women and children across the border. It is illegal in Mexico to [sex] traffick women and children, but they're not stopping it. It's illegal for anybody from around the world to transit through Mexico without a transit visa, but they're allowing it."

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Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Saturday after pressuring the countries to crack down on the "invasion of illegal fentanyl." 

The administration imposed a 10% tariff on China the same day for sourcing fentanyl that had been distributed in the U.S.

"This is exactly why President Trump has designated the criminal cartels in Mexico as terrorist organizations… I [have] said that… these cartels have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world combined, so President Trump did the right thing. 

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Homan has been at the forefront of the Trump administration's illegal immigration crackdown, spearheading mass deportation efforts in major cities across the U.S. since Trump took office on Jan. 20. 

As the Democratic Party continues to grapple with former Vice president Kamala Harris' loss to President Trump, some leaders in the party think they should focus on their economic messaging and creating a coherent message to respond to the president.

"We have no coherent message," Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, told The New York Times on Sunday. "This guy is psychotic, and there’s so much, but everything that underlines it is white supremacy and hate. There needs to be a message that is clear on at least the underlying thing that comes with all of this."

The DNC elected Minnesota party leader Ken Martin on Saturday, who said during his victory speech they needed to "to rebuild our coalition."

"The policies that we support and the message that we have is not wrong," Martin told the NYT. "It is a messaging problem and a brand problem. Those voters are not connecting our policies with their lives."

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said the messaging should focus on the economy.

"There are people in the middle — and trust me, there’s a lot of them — that wanted costs to go down," Klobuchar said. "Instead, what they see is chaos going up, corruption going up with the firing of the inspector generals, and guess what else is going up? Egg prices."

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said Democrats needed to focus their message on lowering costs.

"Within the party, we need to make sure we have a very clear direction to go," he said. "We need to have our own ideas. We’ll never win again if we are just playing defense."

The New York Times reported that former President Obama compared this to when the Democratic Party had lost Congress and the presidency in 2005.

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Others suggested not honing in on everything the president said.

"We cannot get caught up in every egregious thing he says, every insult he hurls, every ally he attacks and every executive order," Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, told the NYT. "There’s just too much."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently pledged that Democrats would fight against Trump "in the streets."

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"Right now, we're going to keep focus on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors, and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working class Americans across the country with the bill," Jeffries said.

"That's not acceptable. We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We're going to fight it in the streets."

Nontraditional media and several TikTok influencers who use the social media platform to talk about news said they would be applying to be a reporter in the briefing room this week after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced there would be a designated seat in the briefing room for independent or new media.

"The idea of opening the White House press briefings to organizations beyond the legacy media is the right thing to do," ex-CNN journalist Chris Cillizza wrote in a Substack post. 

As several journalists have opted to utilize Substack, others have used TikTok to share news or talk about news. Leavitt also suggested that podcasters apply to what she described as the "new media" seat.

"I very much hope, however, that the Trump White House doesn’t just (or mostly) approve only news creators who are predictably in favor of their partisan views. If they want to do a one and one as they did on Tuesday — one partisan news outlet (Breitbart) and one more nonpartisan outlet (Axios) — that would be fine with me. In fact that would be great — whether I was ever the representative for the nonpartisan media," Cilizza wrote.

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Leavitt told reporters during her first briefing these changes were being made to keep in line with President Donald Trump's "revolutionary media approach" that he deployed during his campaign in speaking to popular podcast hosts and social media influencers.

"In keeping with this revolutionary media approach that President Trump deployed during the campaign, the Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room," she explained.

The Daily Wire reported that the White House had received over 7,000 applications for the new media seat after the announcement.

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Democratic influencer Harry Sisson, a vocal supporter of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, posted on TikTok that he was applying for a press pass, but had his doubts about whether he would be allowed in the briefing room.

Sisson argued that independent media should have a seat at the table, but wondered how the White House would decide who would get the new media seat, and whether he, a Democrat, would be allowed to ask a question.

Host of "The Ruthless Podcast," Josh Ashbrook, became the first podcaster to ask a question in the briefing room. Ashbrook asked Leavitt if the media was out of touch.

"In your first briefing, the media went after this administration for deporting illegal immigrants they claimed were not criminals," Ashbrook began. "The question is, do you think they're out of touch with Americans demanding action on our border crisis?"

Ashbook, a former campaign strategist to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shed light on what it was like to be in the briefing room during an appearance on "The Will Cain Show" that afternoon. 

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"I've interacted with a lot of these same reporters as a press secretary back in the day. So, when I walked into the room, I saw a lot of eye rolls and a lot of smirks and that is exactly what I was hoping for, Will," Ashbrook told Fox News' Will Cain. 

Ashbrook also praised the White House's embrace of "new media," saying Leavitt and her team are making sure that "we the people have a voice inside that room." 

"It's a brand-new day in the media," he said. Others also praised the move on social media.

Other influencers, such as Ivan Gutierrez, a TikToker with 1.2 million followers who posts regularly about the news, also announced they would be applying to have a seat in the briefing room. 

Gutierrez said he was hopeful to post a video directly from the briefing room should his application get accepted. 

Another TikTok news account, UnderTheDeskNews, run by V Spehar, who has collaborated with Biden and former President Barack Obama on the social media app, also praised the seat, but announced they would not be applying for a pass.

"But what I will say is having a new media seat in that room is incredibly smart, and very clever and definitely needed," Spehar said in the post. "And I think the White House Correspondence Association and their attempt to constantly stiff-arm new media missed an opportunity here, because that seat should have been overseen by the White House Correspondence Association. It should have been a peer-led offering, but it's not." 

A Latino pastor said churches are fearful of mass deportations at services as President Donald Trump's administration rapidly cracks down on illegal immigration.

"We're called as pastors to serve all communities," Reverend Dr. Gabriel Salguero told Fox News Digital. "So we don't ask, as pastors, whether people are immigrants and what their status is. We don't have the bandwidth, and we're not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. We're not police. But we're deeply concerned about how these policies are going to affect children in our Sunday schools and for families that are in our worship service."

Salguero is pastor of The Gathering Place in Orlando, Florida, and president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, (NaLEC), which represents thousands of Latino evangelical churches and faith leaders across the nation. 

Since returning to office, President Trump has rapidly begun to fulfill his campaign promise to curb the illegal immigration crisis and deport violent criminal migrants, issuing several executive orders aimed at overhauling U.S. immigration law and policy.

FLASHBACK: TOP DEMOCRATS TOUT DEPORTATIONS, TOUGH IMMIGRATION POLICIES

Thousands of violent criminals have been detained by ICE, according to the White House, with 962 criminal illegal immigrant arrests recorded on Wednesday alone.

Trump has authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to roll back guidelines that restricted ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement at "sensitive" locations, like schools, churches and hospitals.

"Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest," the DHS said in a statement on January 21 announcing the changes. "The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense."

Salguero's group, NaLEC, has come out against these policy changes, calling them "harmful" and an attack on religious liberty.

The church coalition is supportive of Trump's actions to deport violent criminals, but also has concerns about other immigrants being targeted.

"We want to make sure that in this kind of enforcement, there's not a chill sent up the spine of Latino evangelical churches and communities for those people who are not violent criminals, but are people who are starting small businesses, who are going to school," Salguero told Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP OUTPERFORMING 2020 SUPPORT AMONG HISPANICS, WHO PREFER HIM ON IMMIGRATION, POLL SHOWS

"We're looking for a sober approach that deals to violent criminals, secures the border, but finds a way to integrate the majority of immigrants who are trying to do good to this country," he continued.

Fears over Trump's immigration policies had caused attendance and church participation to decline, according to Salguero.

"They said, 'We can't go to church. We don't feel safe. We're not sure how this is going to work out,'" he told Fox News Digital of comments he'd heard.

The faith leader acknowledged that ICE and other immigration officials have a right to enter their worship spaces to enforce the law and should be treated respectfully. His group is training spokespersons for each church who can respond in a calm way if immigration officers visit their church. They are also giving parishioners information about their rights.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

He believes that Latino pastors have a responsibility to both follow the nation's laws and keep their biblical commitment to serving all people.

"For us, this is not a partisan issue. This is a pastoral issue. Christ has called us to walk alongside these families, to love them," he said.

Salguero is a registered independent, but emphasized that Latino evangelicals are not a "monolith" and share a variety of opinions on Trump's immigration plans.

He said NaLEC has spent the past two decades calling on Congress for "common sense, bipartisan immigration reform."

In a press release, NaLEC asked the Trump administration to "reconsider these harmful policies while continuing to work with Congress toward comprehensive immigration reform that is grounded in justice, compassion, and respect for the dignity of all people, regardless of their immigration status." 

At Friday's press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, referencing a New York Times poll showing "83%" of Americans supported deportations of violent criminal illegal immigrants, and "97%" of the deportations carried out by the Trump administration so far had deportation orders from the previous administration, according to ICE. 

The Department of Homeland Security and White House did not return a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

A former women’s volleyball coach suspended for fighting back against a university's handling of a transgender athlete on the women's team praised President Trump's changes to Title IX on Sunday, calling them "a great first step in the right direction."

"Now we need to continue it, and… the laws [have to] change and the NCAA has to make those changes necessary so that we save women's sports and that we continue to have women's sports," Melissa Batie-Smoose, former San Jose State University volleyball coach, told "Fox & Friends Weekend's" Charlie Hurt.

Batie-Smoose was suspended last year over a Title IX complaint she filed against the school regarding transgender athlete Blaire Fleming, alleging Fleming conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and injure teammate Brooke Slusser.

SUSPENDED SAN JOSE STATE COACH EMBROILED IN TRANSGENDER CONTROVERSY SOUNDS ALARM ON WOMEN'S SPORTS

Slusser lamented that her coach's suspension "took away the only safe space we had."

Now Batie-Smoose's contract has expired, and the school is not rehiring her.

"It's just been a long two years and standing up for what's right, and making sure we're continuing to support women and women's sports is what I stood up for and now currently, after 30 years in my career, [I] have been let go," she said Sunday.

SAN JOSE STATE'S BROOKE SLUSSER REACTS TO COACH'S SUSPENSION: ‘THEY TOOK AWAY THE ONLY SAFE SPACE WE HAD’

"The people around them [the girls on the team], were not supporting them. The administration, the athletic department, the head coach were all protecting the male and pretty much gaslighting everybody involved," she added.

"It was a very tough situation for all of them. Very traumatic what they had to go through, and it's unfortunate they have four years to play collegiate volleyball, and their last two years were affected so much and not being able to play some of their matches."

San Jose State was unable to comment on the situation, citing personnel matters.

Fox News' Ryan Gaydos and Claudia Cowan contributed to this report.

Sometimes in life, it is only once a crisis passes that we can truly see just how awful and harmful it was. This week, in these pages, Joseph Wulfsohn offered a long read, detailing the prevarications of the mainstream media in the Joe Biden era, and its complicity in the lie of the century.

You should read the whole damning thing, as only now journalists begin to admit their duplicitous role in propping up Biden. I applaud Wulfsohn for persevering. I would have thrown a coffee mug through my laptop about halfway through writing it out of sheer anger.

SHIELDING BIDEN: JOURNALISTS SHED LIGHT ON THE MEDIA'S COVER-UP OF A WEAKENED PRESIDENT

The story begins at the beginning with the cover-up of the Hunter Biden laptop, and here is what Marc Caputo, then at Politico, had to say about his coverage of the first son's crime-scene-on-a-hard-drive being quashed:

"...I wrote what would have been a classic story…That story was killed by the editors. And they gave no explanation for that either," Caputo said on the "Somebody's Gotta Win" podcast.

I’d like to offer Caputo the explanation he was denied. You see, the people who signed Caputo’s checks back then, along with 90% of corporate media, wanted Donald Trump to lose and Biden to win. If that meant killing true stories and smearing honest journalists then so be it.

And it wasn’t just Politico burying the laptop. Wulfsohn has the receipts and shows that Jake Tapper and Brian Seltzer, who both still pontificate from CNN daily, also hid the story, as did NPR, and almost every major newspaper in the country that isn’t called the New York Post.

As bad as the lies surrounding the laptop were, they paled in comparison to what would come next, an all-out, no-holds barred effort by the liberal media to conceal Biden’s obvious and dangerous mental decline. 

Just weeks before Biden’s disastrous debate performance, NBC News was warning its viewers not to believe their lying eyes about Grandpa Joe’s decline, writing, "Experts have warned that while advanced technology like generative artificial intelligence can spread misinformation, so-called ‘cheap fakes’ that often use only minor or selective editing can be more effective at spreading false narratives."

Never forget that they really tried to pull this on you.

And do not accept the Johnny-Come-Lately excuses we now hear from the exposed liars in the news media, such as the Manchester Guardian’s David Smith, who said recently, "There was perhaps, even on an unconscious level, the notion that if you focus so much on Joe Biden's age, you are somehow helping Donald Trump." 

An unconscious level? What the hell does this even mean? Biden would regularly stumble around a stage shaking hands with the air and all the liberal reporters in the country just couldn’t see it because they had some Freudian mind block, or something?

Here is how The New York Times’ Peter Baker addressed the lies about Biden fitness: "It's very personal. Anybody who's had a father or mother who is aged, and you talk to them by taking away their keys, these are not easy issues…I can sit down and make the case that we did too little about it. I can make the case we did too much. I can play it either way. But the truth is, it's an important issue."

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This so-called journalist claims he can make the case that too much was made of Biden’s age in the media. It is abject madness, and it is infuriating, because it shows that they have learned absolutely nothing, and they plan to continue with their lies.

Hiding Biden’s infirmity, the fact that he was by no means actually in charge of the country, is the lie of the century. Every journalist who perpetuated it through their dishonesty or negligence should never work in the industry again.

The liberal news media, which is the vast majority of the nation’s news media, didn't just get the laptop story wrong or simply miss the signs of Biden’s decline. They intentionally misled the American people in a desperate, dishonest, and thankfully failed, effort to defeat Trump. 

That is not forgivable.

Sadly, these Democratic Party propaganda machines posing as news outlets still have no shame or self awareness, and show no signs of righting their sinking ships. But the good news is that Americans are hip to the lies now, almost laughably so.

The liberal media can continue fooling itself, giving each other awards, talking gravely about the importance of truth in the age of Trump. But they themselves are the biggest liars of that age and now the American people, thanks in part to real journalists like Joseph Wulfsohn, damn well know it.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DAVID MARCUS

PETA is proposing a "weather reveal" cake in place of groundhog Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day this year. 

The organization, known for its animal advocacy, believes that Phil is being exploited on the annual winter holiday. In response, they sent a letter to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, asking them to let Phil retire ahead of this year's celebration on February 2. 

Instead of Phil, PETA has offered to send a vegan "weather reveal" cake, similar to a gender reveal cake, each Groundhog Day. The proposed cake when cut would show one of two colors: blue, signifying six more weeks of winter, or pink, indicating an early spring.

PETA CALLS OUT NYC MAYOR FOR ‘VILLAINIZING RATS'

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk explained her offer in the letter: "Retire Phil to a reputable sanctuary with his family, and every year we’ll provide a giant vegan ‘Weather Reveal’ cake (it would be the first in the world this year) to share with revelers at Gobbler’s Knob."

"If the inside of the cake is blue, there will be six more weeks of winter. If it’s pink, there will be an early spring," she added. "This would allow you to still make tourism dough while showing Phil a slice of decency. It would be as least as accurate as asking a groundhog what to expect in a way that doesn’t even reflect his nature."

She reiterated that they "batter believe" that Groundhog Day is no piece of cake for Phil. 

PETA TARGETS KANSAS MERRY-GO-ROUND MAKE OVER ANIMAL-THEME CAROUSELS 

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST MEDIA AND CULTURE NEWS

"Groundhogs are shy prey animals who, when allowed, actively avoid humans," she said. "Yet, year after year, Phil is transported to Gobbler’s Knob, whisked on stage, and subjected to a noisy announcer, screaming crowds, and flashing lights against all his natural instincts."

"If approached in his natural habitat, he would run away in fear, not volunteer to live year-round in captivity, unable to do anything that’s natural and important to him like hibernate or burrow—just to be a town’s once-a-year fake meteorologist," she added. 

This isn't the first time PETA has tried to remove Phil from the festivities. In 2023, the group offered to replace him with an enormous, golden, weather-predicting coin.

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"We’d be happy to send you a large thermometer for Gobbler’s Knob instead that reads, ‘If it’s still cold, it’s still winter,’ which would aptly represent the absurdity of the current form of this tired old spectacle. We look forward to hearing from you, as always," Newkirk concluded in this year's letter. 

Karla Sofía Gascón, the first openly trans actor to be nominated for an Oscar, apologized and ditched X after multiple controversial tweets were resurfaced.

Gascón, who is currently a contender for the Academy Award for "Best Actress" after starring in the movie "Emilia Pérez," faced backlash for old social media posts about Islam and George Floyd. 

In one 2020 post that was reportedly viewed and translated from Spanish by Variety magazine, Gascón shared a photo of a Muslim family in a restaurant, and wrote, "Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY."

This was not the only post from the performer criticizing Islam, however, as Gascón also proposed in 2020, "Until we ban religions that go against European values and violate human rights, such as Islam, under the protection of freedom of worship, we will not end part of the huge problem we face."

DEMI MOORE'S OSCAR NOMINATION MARKS CAREER HIGH AFTER NEARLY QUITTING HOLLYWOOD

TEEN GIRLS OPEN UP ON TRANS ATHLETE SCANDAL THAT TURNED THEIR HIGH SCHOOL INTO A CULTURE WAR BATTLEGROUND

The performer slammed other religions by name, writing in a 2021 post, "I am so sick of so much of this sh--, of islam, of christianity, of catholicism and of all the f---ing beliefs of morons that violate human rights."

In a post from 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd, the performer wrote, "I really think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys Without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. They’re all wrong."

The Academy Awards nominee had also criticized the Oscars in 2021, "More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala."

Since then, Gascón appears to have ditched the X platform and apologized for the controversial statements, telling The Hollywood Reporter in Spanish, "I’m sorry, but I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect neither my family nor me anymore, so at their request I am closing my account on X." 

The performer also claimed to have been "threatened with death, insulted, abused and harassed to the point of exhaustion."

"I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt," Gascón said in a statement provided by Netflix. "As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness."

Fox News Digital reached out to Gascón's management and did not receive an immediate reply.

Multiple social media accounts attached to the Trump administration slammed actress Selena Gomez for posting a video of herself crying over deportations of illegal immigrants.

Both the official White House X account and press secretary Karoline Leavitt called out the "Only Murders in The Building" star after she wept on Instagram in response to the ICE raids that the Trump administration ordered

"Kayla Hamilton, Jocelyn Nungaray, and Rachel Morin were murdered by illegal aliens. Their courageous mothers had something to say to @SelenaGomez and those who oppose securing our borders," the White House account posted on Friday, along with a clip of the aggrieved mothers blasting the pop star.

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Gomez uploaded a now-deleted video of her crying to her Instagram page on Monday, where she lamented the nationwide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids targeting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in the United States. 

"All my people are getting attacked, the children. I don’t understand. I’m so sorry. I wish I could do something, but I can’t," she said to her 422 million Instagram followers. 

"I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise."

Gomez’s video was slammed by conservatives on social media, as well as by prominent Trump administration officials like border czar Tom Homan, who responded to the celebrity from Fox News Channel’s "Hannity" on Monday.

"We got a half a million children who were sex trafficked into this country, separated from their families, put in the hands of criminal cartels to be smuggled into the country. This administration can't find over 300,000. Where's the tears for them?"

TRUMP’S ICE NABS CHILD SEX OFFENDERS AMONG 530+ ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAUGHT IN SINGLE DAY

In the clip shared by the White House account, the mothers of the victims – Tammy Nobles, Alexis Nungarary, and Patty Morin – asked why Gomez wasn’t crying for the victims of illegal immigrants.

"What about our children who were brutally murdered and raped and beat to death and left on the floor by these illegal immigrants?" Nobles, the mother of Hamilton, asked Gomez. 

Nungaray was featured saying, "Seeing that video it’s hard to believe that it’s actually genuine and real because she’s an actress."

Later in the clip, she added, "My daughter was a child. There’s many other children whose lives were taken due to people who cross here illegally."

"I just feel like it’s a ruse to deceive people and garner sympathy for lawlessness," Morin said, later adding, "No one has stood up except for us mothers to cry out about our children."

As noted by Mediaite, Leavitt shared the clip to her official government account on Friday night, tagging Gomez’s account to make sure she saw it. 

Fox News Digital’s Alexander Hall contributed to this report.