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LAS VEGAS — When Susana Pacheco accepted a housekeeping job at a casino on the Las Vegas Strip 16 years ago, she believed it was a step toward stability for her and her 2-year-old daughter.

But the single mom found herself exhausted, falling behind on bills and without access to stable health insurance, caught in a cycle of low pay and little support. For years, she said, there was no safety net in sight — until now.

For 25 years, her employer, the Venetian, had resisted organizing efforts as one of the last holdouts on the Strip, locked in a prolonged standoff with the Culinary Workers Union. But a recent change in ownership opened the Venetian’s doors to union representation just as the Strip’s newest casino, the Fontainebleau, was also inking its first labor contract.

The historic deals finalized late last year mark a major turning point: For the first time in the Culinary Union’s 90-year history, all major casinos on the Strip are unionized. Backed by 60,000 members, most of them in Las Vegas, it is the largest labor union in Nevada. Experts say the Culinary Union’s success is a notable exception in a national landscape where union membership overall is declining.

“Together, we’ve shown that change can be a positive force, and I’m confident that this partnership will continue to benefit us all in the years to come,” Patrick Nichols, president and CEO of the Venetian, said shortly after workers approved the deal.

Pacheco says their new contract has already reshaped her day-to-day life. The housekeeper no longer races against the clock to clean an unmanageable number of hotel suites, and she’s spending more quality time with her children because of the better pay and guaranteed days off.

“Now with the union, we have a voice,” Pacheco said.

These gains come at a time when union membership nationally is at an all-time low, and despite Republican-led efforts over the years to curb union power. About 10% of U.S. workers belonged to a union in 2024, down from 20% in 1983, the first year for which data is available, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.

President Donald Trump in March signed an executive order seeking to end collective bargaining for certain federal employees that led to union leaders suing the administration. Nevada and more than two dozen other states now have so-called “right to work” laws that let workers opt out of union membership and dues. GOP lawmakers have also supported changes to the National Labor Relations Board and other regulatory bodies, seeking to reduce what they view as overly burdensome rules on businesses.

Ruben Garcia, professor and director of the workplace program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas law school, said the Culinary Union’s resilience stems from its deep roots in Las Vegas, its ability to adapt to the growth and corporatization of the casino industry, and its long history of navigating complex power dynamics with casino owners and operators.

He said the consolidation of casinos on the Las Vegas Strip mirrors the dominance of the Big Three automakers in Detroit. A few powerful companies — MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts — now control most of the dozens of casinos along Las Vegas Boulevard.

“That consolidation can make things harder for workers in some ways, but it also gives unions one large target,” Garcia said.

That dynamic worked in the union’s favor in 2023, when the threat of a major strike by 35,000 hospitality workers with expired contracts loomed over the Strip. But a last-minute deal with Caesars narrowly averted the walkout, and it triggered a domino effect across the Strip, with the union quickly finalizing similar deals for workers at MGM Resorts and Wynn properties.

The latest contracts secured a historic 32% bump in pay over the life of the five-year contract. Union casino workers will earn an average $35 hourly, including benefits, by the end of it.

The union’s influence also extends far beyond the casino floor. With its ability to mobilize thousands of its members for canvassing and voter outreach, the union’s endorsements are highly coveted, particularly among Democrats, and can signal who has the best shot at winning working-class votes.

The union’s path hasn’t always been smooth though. Michael Green, a history professor at UNLV, noted the Culinary Union has long faced resistance.

“Historically, there have always been people who are anti-union,” Green said.

Earlier this year, two food service workers in Las Vegas filed federal complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the union of deducting dues despite their objections to union membership. It varies at each casino, but between 95 to 98% of workers opt in to union membership, according to the union.

“I don’t think Culinary Union bosses deserve my support,” said one of the workers, Renee Guerrero, who works at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip. “Their actions since I attempted to exercise my right to stop dues payments only confirms my decision.”

But longtime union members like Paul Anthony see things differently. Anthony, a food server at the Bellagio and a Culinary member for nearly 40 years, said his union benefits — free family health insurance, reliable pay raises, job security and a pension — helped him to build a lasting career in the hospitality industry.

“A lot of times it is an industry that doesn’t have longevity,” he said. But on the Strip, it’s a job that people can do for “20 years, 30 years, 40 years.”

Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer and lead negotiator, said the union calls this the “Las Vegas dream.”

“It’s always been our goal to make sure that this town is a union town,” he said.

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris is back in the national spotlight with her forthcoming book about her short-lived 2024 White House campaign, and she is generating a buzz about whether she’ll try again in 2028.

While politicos are keenly watching Harris for her next moves, she’s also being eyed by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., who is investigating whether top Biden administration officials covered up evidence of a mental decline in former President Joe Biden.

Comer all but guaranteed his committee would be contacting Harris during an appearance on ‘The Ingraham Angle’ last week. He joined Fox News Channel just after Harris announced she would not be running for governor of California, as some have speculated, and will instead embark on a listening tour to hear from Americans and try to boost fellow Democrats across the country. 

‘I think that that’s another great thing about Kamala Harris not running for governor – she’s gonna have more time to come before the House Oversight Committee and testify about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline,’ Comer said. ‘So I think that the odds of Kamala Harris getting a subpoena are very high.’

During a recent appearance on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,’ Harris distanced herself from any immediate electoral ambitions. She emphasized she wanted to hear from all voters, however, not necessarily ruling out a future presidential run.

‘I believe, and I always believed, that as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles. And I think right now that, they’re not as strong as they need to be,’ Harris said.

‘And I just don’t want to for now, I don’t want to go back in the system. I want to, I want to travel the country. I want to listen to people. I want to talk with people. And I don’t want it to be transactional, where I’m asking for their vote.’

Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor and professor at George Washington University Law School, told Fox News Digital the optics of a congressional subpoena would be less than ideal for a potential 2028 candidate.

‘This is a tough question for Harris, who clearly has aspirations to run again,’ Turley said when asked if he would advise Harris to appear. ‘The committee can compel her to appear. However, the optics of forcing a subpoena are not exactly optimal for someone who wants to run again for this office.’

He added, however, that Harris would be a ‘natural’ target for Comer’s probe.

‘Harris held a unique spot within the inner circle of the White House,’ Turley said.

But both he and former House Oversight Committee ChairTrey Gowdy, R-S.C., now a Fox News Channel host, were doubtful that bringing Harris in would yield much new information.

‘Is it worth investigating? Absolutely. Is it worth getting her take on it? Yeah. Is she going to cooperate? No,’ Gowdy told Fox News Digital. 

The former South Carolina congressman, who also served as a federal prosecutor, predicted that Harris’ lawyers would seek to bury any potential appearance in a quagmire of legal proceedings stemming from executive and/or presidential privilege claims.

‘That privilege has been invoked by both parties repeatedly during congressional investigations,’ Gowdy said.

‘Leaving the names out of it, just for the sake of an analogy, I can’t think of an advisor that would be closer to a president than his or her vice president. So, by the time you’re litigating the issue of whether or not you can compel a vice president to talk about conversations that he or she had with a chief of staff, with a spouse, with the president, with the president’s physician – you’ll be as old as I am by the time that’s litigated.’

Turley said House investigators would have to be armed with ‘specific’ questions to avoid someone like Harris being able to answer with ‘a matter of opinion.’

Gowdy agreed Harris was a ‘legitimate’ witness to bring in and that the issue of Biden’s autopen use, particularly for pardons, ‘warrants further scrutiny.’

He warned, however, that a potent subpoena comes with consequences for noncompliance.

‘Prosecutors can send cops and have [people] brought in. Congress can’t do that. Judges can send the marshals or the sheriff’s deputies out to bring a witness in if the witness is recalcitrant. Congress can’t do that,’ Gowdy said. ‘So your power is only as good as what you can do to enforce it.’

A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment on Comer’s subpoena threat when reached by Fox News Digital.

Spokespeople for Harris and House Oversight Committee Democrats did not return requests for comment.

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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz says the Trump administration plans to invest more than $200 billion ‘more dollars’ into Medicaid following the passage of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill.’ 

‘I’m trying to save this beautiful program, this noble effort, to help folks, giving them a hand up,’ Oz told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ on Sunday.

‘And as you probably gather, if Medicaid isn’t able to take care of the people for whom it was designed, the young children, the dawn of their life, those who are twilight of their lives, the seniors, and those who were disabled living in the shadows, as Hubert Humphrey said, then we’re not satisfying the fundamental obligation of a moral government,’ he continued. 

Oz, the 17th administrator for CMS, said the government wants ‘an appropriate return’ on the Medicaid investment. He addressed the difference in drug costs between the U.S. and Europe, adding that work is being done by the administration in an attempt to bring drug prices down.  

Last week, the Trump administration announced it is launching a new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech companies, promising that this will make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness.

CMS will be in charge of maintaining the system, and officials have said patients will need to opt in for the sharing of their medical records and data, which will be kept secure.

Those officials said patients will benefit from a system that lets them quickly call up their own records without the hallmark difficulties, such as requiring the use of fax machines to share documents, that have prevented them from doing so in the past.

‘We’re going to have remarkable advances in how consumers can use their own records,’ Oz said during the White House event.

CMS already has troves of information on more than 140 million Americans who enroll in Medicare and Medicaid. Earlier this month, the federal agency agreed to hand over its massive database, including home addresses, to deportation officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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President Donald Trump alleged that Senate Democrats are possibly delaying his nominees in exchange for money in a heated post on Truth Social Sunday night.

In the post, Trump accused Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of slowing down the confirmations of more than 150 executive nominees.

‘Democrats, lead[sic] by Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, are slow walking my Nominees, more than 150 of them. They wanted us to pay, originally, two billion dollars for approvals. The Dems are CRAZED LUNATICS!!!’ the post read.

He implied that Democrats were leveraging the process to extract funding agreements — a tactic his associates have described as ‘political extortion.’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., met with Schumer recently to discuss an offer during ongoing negotiations, but they have not readdressed it directly since choosing to communicate through intermediaries, according to Thune.

While Trump has urged the Senate to make quick moves, Democrats continue to block more nominees than normal.

‘I think they’re desperately in need of change,’ Thune said of Senate rules Saturday after negotiations with Schumer and Trump broke down. ‘I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that.’

Historically, nominees have been confirmed unanimously or by voice vote quickly, but Senate Dems have been reportedly forcing roll-call votes on many of the current nominees.

Thune told Fox News Digital that not much headway was being made as ‘the Dems are dug in on a position that’s just not working.’

Senate Republicans want to strike a deal that would send nominees with bipartisan support through committee to lightning-fast votes on the floor, but Schumer has not relented.

Trump’s claims come after the Senate left Saturday for a month-long August recess without coming to a deal on advancing dozens of nominees, which prompted him to post on Truth Social that Schumer could ‘GO TO HELL.’

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.

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House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is investigating whether former President Joe Biden’s closest aides worked to conceal evidence of mental decline in the octogenarian Democrat during his White House term, and whether an autopen was used for executive decisions without his knowledge.

Biden himself asserted to the New York Times that he ‘made every decision’ regarding autopen pardons specifically, and his allies have dismissed the GOP-led probe as a partisan show.

Several ex-senior White House officials are due in the coming weeks, including former press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and ex-White House chief of staff Jeff Zeints.

But Comer’s staff have also met with a number of people so far – some who have said very little, while others have given no information at all.

Below are the eight people who have sat down with House investigators so far:

Neera Tanden

Former White House staff secretary Neera Tanden appeared for a voluntary interview on June 24.

A source familiar with Tanden’s interview said she described having ‘minimal interaction’ with Biden during her sit-down with investigators.

Tanden also said she would submit requests for autopen signatures to members of Biden’s team, but was not aware of what actions or approvals occurred between the time she sent the memo and the time she received it back with the president’s approval, the source said.

Tanden’s lawyer told Fox News at the time that she ‘consistently followed a protocol’ that was used by both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past.

‘That same protocol existed in the Clinton and Obama administrations, which Ms. Tanden learned in discussions with previous staff secretaries from those administrations. She further understood and believed that the same process was followed in the Trump 1 and Bush administrations,’ the lawyer said.

Tanden had been tapped to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) early in Biden’s term, but she withdrew after bipartisan pushback in the Senate.

Kevin O’Connor

Former White House physician Kevin O’Connor was the second ex-Biden administration official to appear when he came in on July 9, and the first to appear under subpoena.

Before serving as White House doctor, however, O’Connor was known to be a close associate of the Biden family for years. 

Investigators were hoping to learn whether O’Connor knowingly obscured signs of advanced aging or loss of mental acuity in Biden. He notably met with a Parkinson’s Disease expert at the White House at one point, according to the New York Times – though the revelations were downplayed by the White House at the time.

O’Connor’s lawyers had attempted to delay his scheduled deposition date over concerns that the scope of the committee’s investigation would violate doctor-patient confidentiality.

He ultimately did appear when Comer rejected his delay request, but O’Connor was in and out of the committee room in less than an hour after pleading the Fifth Amendment to all questions, save for his name.

Ashley Williams

Ashley Williams is a longtime Biden advisor who still works for the former president, according to her LinkedIn. She appeared for a voluntary transcribed interview on July 11.

The close Biden ally’s time with him goes back to assisting then-second lady Jill Biden during the Obama administration, according to a 2019 profile of Biden staffers.

She served as his trip director for the 2020 campaign before being hired to the White House as deputy director of Oval Office Operations and a special assistant to the president.

Williams repeatedly told committee staff during her sit-down that she did not ‘recall’ various things ‘an untold number of times,’ but that she believed Biden was fit to be president today, a source told Fox News Digital.

‘Examples include she could not recall if she spoke with President Biden in the last week, if teleprompters were used for Cabinet meetings, if there were discussions about President Biden using a wheelchair, if there were discussions about a cognitive test, if she discussed a mental or physical decline of President Biden, if she ever had to wake President Biden up and how she got involved with his 2020 campaign,’ the source said.

Anthony Bernal

Anthony Bernal, who was nicknamed Jill Biden’s ‘work husband’ for their close relationship, was the second person subpoenaed to appear. 

Like O’Connor, Bernal’s July 16 deposition lasted less than an hour after he pleaded the Fifth Amendment to investigators.

Bernal served as former Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the First Lady. He also still appears to work for the Bidens, according to LinkedIn, which says he works for Jill Biden specifically.

‘During his deposition today, Mr. Bernal pleaded the Fifth when asked if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the President and if Joe Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health,’ Comer said in a statement after Bernal’s deposition.

Annie Tomasini

Former Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations Annie Tomasini had been scheduled to appear for a transcribed interview, before her counsel requested a subpoena from Comer shortly before her July 18 appearance.

Tomasini followed O’Connor and Bernal’s lead in pleading the Fifth Amendment, which people coming in voluntarily cannot do.

‘During her deposition today, Ms. Tomasini pleaded the Fifth when asked if Joe Biden, a member of his family, or anyone at the White House instructed her to lie regarding his health at any time,’ Comer said in a statement after her deposition.

‘She also pleaded the Fifth when asked if she ever advised President Biden on the handling of classified documents found in his garage, if President Biden or anyone in the White House instructed her to conceal or destroy classified material found at President Biden’s home or office, and if she ever conspired with anyone in the White House to hide information regarding the Biden family’s ‘business’ dealings.’

She first worked for Biden as a press secretary when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as a U.S. senator from Delaware.

Ron Klain

Ron Klain served as Biden’s chief of staff for the first two years of his White House term and played a key role in preparing him for his disastrous 2024 presidential debate against former President Donald Trump.

Klain told investigators that he believed Biden’s memory got worse over time, but he still had the ability to govern, a source familiar with his interview told Fox News Digital.

The source said Klain also claimed to have heard concerns about Biden’s political viability from both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Biden’s own national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, by 2024, though it’s not clear if those concerns are tied to his mental acuity nor that they spoke to Klain together.

A spokesperson for Sullivan vehemently denied the account.

Klain also told investigators that Biden appeared tired and ill before the 2024 debate, the source said.

In a letter requesting his appearance, Comer quoted Klain as cutting Biden’s debate prep short last year, ‘due to the president’s fatigue and lack of familiarity with the subject matter,’ adding that Biden ‘didn’t really understand what his argument was on inflation,’ citing a POLITICO report from earlier this year. 

Steve Ricchetti

Former counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti sat down with House investigators earlier this week on voluntary terms.

Unlike the vast majority of others before him, who did not acknowledge media gathered outside the committee room, Ricchetti told Fox News’ Chad Pergram that ‘of course’ Biden was up to the job of president.

Ricchetti’s interview was also the longest by far – running roughly eight hours on Wednesday.

A source familiar with Ricchetti’s sitdown described him as ‘combative and defensive’ during exchanges with House Oversight staff.

Ricchetti asserted he had personal relationships with Jill Biden and Hunter Biden in addition to the former president, the source said.

His own family had relationships with the Biden administration as well – three of his four children worked in the Treasury, State Department and in the White House.

The longtime Democratic operative and lobbyist was one of two longtime trusted aides reportedly with Biden in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, when he drafted his bombshell letter announcing he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

Mike Donilon

Former senior advisor to the president Mike Donilon is the latest member of Biden’s inner circle to appear before House investigators, sitting down with them voluntarily on Thursday for roughly five hours.

Donilon first began working for Biden in 1981 as a pollster when Biden was the junior U.S. senator from Delaware.

Alongside Ricchetti, he was one of two Biden aides who were present when he drafted his announcement dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

Donilon told investigators he received $4 million to work for Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign and would have gotten $4 million more if Biden had won, a source told Fox News Digital.

He staunchly defended Biden during his interview, the source said, accusing Democrats of overreacting in the wake of Biden’s debate.

Donilon told investigators Biden is ‘a leader who was deeply engaged and in command on critical issues,’ according to his opening statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

‘Every president ages over the four years of a presidency and President Biden did as well, but he also continued to grow stronger and wiser as a leader as a result of being tested by some of the most difficult challenges any president has ever faced,’ Donilon said.

Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

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The typical time that broadcast networks report on the advertising world is just before Super Bowl Sunday, to give viewers an advance peek at what companies will be shelling out millions to display. The clothing company American Eagle just scored a marketing coup with ad with White actress Sydney Sweeney making a sly joke about her ‘genes’ and her jeans. 

‘Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,’ cooed the actress. ‘My jeans are blue.’ This quickly spurred outrage from purple-haired TikTokers and leftist websites complaining about ‘centering Whiteness’ and ‘fascist propaganda.’ 

On Tuesday, July 29, ABC’s ‘Good Morning America First Look’ was already employing the word ‘backlash.’ Anchor Rhiannon Ally began: ‘Time to check the pulse, we begin with the backlash over a new ad campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney.’ Co-anchor Andrew Dymburt added ‘in one ad, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress talks about genes as in DNA being passed down from her parents.’ 

Then Ally lowered the boom: ‘The play on words is being compared to Nazi propaganda with racial undertones.’ Robin Landa, a professor of advertising at Kean University in New Jersey, brought the leftist theme: ‘The pun ‘good genes’ activates a troubling historical association for this country. The American Eugenics Movement and its prime between 1900 and 1940 weaponized the idea of good genes just to justify White supremacism.’ 

In other interviews, Landa took the eugenics thing to its illogical conclusion, that one could suspect the American Eagle company was not just promoting ‘White genetic superiority,’ but a movement that ‘enabled the forced sterilization of marginalized groups.’ Most people just saw them selling their jeans as sexy. 

At least Dymburt suggested the backlash wasn’t economic: ‘Despite that backlash, American Eagle stock has been soaring.’ 

But was there any serious ‘backlash’ beyond the Left? TMZ.com cited anonymous sources inside American Eagle claiming ‘the ad campaign is creating tremendous buzz and their independent polling shows the vast majority of folks — around 70% — find the commercial appealing.’ 

On the CBS News streaming channel, business reporter Jo Ling Kent relayed ‘American Eagle’s new ad campaign, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, is coming under fire for what was supposed to be a clever play on words.’ It couldn’t be ‘clever’? 

Did this company know and expect that purple-haired leftists would cry Nazi and that would lead to an avalanche of social-media impressions and debates? It’s hard to argue they stumbled into this, not knowing what a blonde, White actress using wordplay about ‘genes’ could cause. 

On NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ on Wednesday, co-host Steve Inskeep discussed the Sweeney ads with Metaforce marketing guru Allen Adamson. Inskeep explained ‘There was some social media commentary. ‘Oh, there’s something racist about this.’ And I get that, I understand people raising that. But I think there’s also something real here — isn’t it? — in that advertisers do think about the race and ethnicity, the look of the people they choose to pitch their products to us.’ 

Adamson claimed: ‘For years, the tide was flowing in a different direction. There was a pressure on advertisers to diversify, to show people in ads that usually were not shown in ads because that was unusual. All the ads had a sort of ‘Leave It to Beaver’ old-fashioned look.’ 

The ‘Beaver’ line is overdoing it, but advertisers after the George Floyd riots absolutely worked hard to diversify the actors in their ads. It’s not offensively ‘woke’ to have minorities of all kinds selling you Eggo waffles or McDonald’s burgers. That’s all still too capitalist for the left-wingers. But having a White actress joke about race clearly grabbed attention. 

On the CBS News streaming channel, business reporter Jo Ling Kent relayed ‘American Eagle’s new ad campaign, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, is coming under fire for what was supposed to be a clever play on words.’ It couldn’t be ‘clever’? 

The NPR anchor suggested Trump was part of the formula: ‘So if people were going for diversity in past years, are advertisers going for some other look now that the politics of the country are a little different?’ Adamson said yes, because ‘advertising needs to disrupt the norm.’ 

On Wednesday night’s ‘Late Show’ on CBS, Stephen Colbert actually hinted that the leftist backlash was a little strident. ‘Some people look at this and they’re seeing something sinister, saying that the genes-jeans denim wordplay in an ad featuring a White blond woman means American Eagle could be promoting eugenics, White supremacy and Nazi propaganda. That might be a bit of an overreaction — although Hitler did briefly model for Mein Kampfort Fit Jeans.’ Colbert added: ‘How do you say ‘badonk’ in German?’ 

The broadcast networks didn’t launch too heavily into this ad campaign, perhaps suspicious of being part of a sneaky advertising plot, as Brian Stelter tried to call it a ‘nontroversy.’ Sometimes, an ad for jeans is all about selling jeans. 

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President Donald Trump wrapped up his second term’s 28th week in office announcing he would reposition two nuclear submarines amid increased tension with Russia, after just adding new tariffs to a host of countries. 

On Monday, Trump unveiled a new deadline for Russia to end its conflict with Ukraine, and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the announcement is an additional ‘step towards war.’ 

In response, Trump made a rare announcement Friday that he would reposition two submarines to best respond to the escalated tension between the two countries. 

‘Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,’ Trump said in a Friday post on Truth Social. 

Trump did not disclose any additional details regarding the submarines, and defense officials rarely comment on submarine placement given the highly classified nature of their operations. 

Here’s what also happened this week:

New tariffs

Trump also signed several executive orders Thursday related to tariffs, including raising the tariffs on Canada from 25% to 35%. 

The president raised the tariff rate due to Canada’s contribution to the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the U.S., according to the Trump administration. However, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney challenged that assessment. 

‘Canada accounts for only 1% of U.S. fentanyl imports and has been working intensively to further reduce these volumes,’ Carney said in a Friday statement.  

Trump also modified reciprocal tariffs on a series of countries Thursday, bumping up the tariff rate on Brazil to 50%. 

Meanwhile, Trump reached a trade deal on Thursday with South Korea, driving down tariffs against South Korea from 25% as pitched in the spring to 15%. Additionally, Trump agreed Thursday to continue trade talks with Mexico for another 90 days. 

Veterans housing legislation

Trump also signed the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act into law Wednesday, which would make permanent a partial claims program that seeks to keep veterans from losing their homes to foreclosure. 

The new partial claims program under the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ (VA) Home Loan Program permits veterans who are behind on mortgage payments to tack on those payments to the tail end of their loans, while also offering them an interest-free loan in the interim. 

 

‘This legislation provides desperately needed relief to veterans and their families who have fallen behind in their mortgages,’ Trump told reporters Wednesday. ‘It’s a really sort of an amazing situation, and it helps keep our promise to end veterans homelessness. And, we’re going to do that for America. We’re going to do that for our great veterans.’

Estimates suggest the partial claim program could assist up to 3.7 million veterans, according to Trump. 

‘It’s common sense legislation,’ Trump said. ‘My administration is committed to doing everything possible to ensure that our veterans are treated with respect and treated as well as anybody in this country.’

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Officials from the first Trump administration are alleging they received notices from Google shortly before they returned to office that they were being probed by the FBI under the Biden administration and the web giant was unable to tell them because of a court order. 

Dan Scavino, who is now White House Deputy Chief of Staff and assistant to the president, described the matter as ‘Biden lawfare’ kicking in after he ‘patriotically and proudly’ served during Trump’s first term. 

‘Google received and responded to a legal process issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation compelling the release of information related to your Google account. A court order previously prohibited Google from notifying you of the legal process…’ Scavino shared on X from an email he said he received from Google five weeks before Trump returned to the White House. 

‘I’ve never shared this — but this is a small taste of the INSANITY that many of us went through — right here in the United States of America. LAWFARE at its finest. A Complete and Total Disgrace!!!!!’ he added. 

Less than a half-hour after Scavino’s post, FBI Director Kash Patel responded to him saying ‘I got one of those too…’ 

Jeff Clark, the current acting administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, then chimed in Saturday morning, saying that he, too, received a similar message.

‘Indeed, a whole Jack Smith team was assigned to go through my emails after there was a privilege review,’ Clark wrote on X in reference to the former special counsel. 

‘But that group of lawyers ignored my religious pastor privilege, marital privilege, and other privileges and basically shipped all they could to Jack Smith. But it still cost me tens of thousands to try to protect my communications,’ he added. 

Smith was tapped by former Attorney General Merrick Garland to probe allegations that Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election results, and later investigated the handling of classified documents that were uncovered during a raid at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound. 

‘My medical records and other private communications had nothing to do with the 2020 election. They were no one’s business. But it didn’t matter to these thugs with law degrees and the willingness to abuse government power,’ Clark said Saturday.  

‘They were trying to bait me to go to court to get them to destroy their secret copies of the emails, so they could try to break even my lawyer-client privilege with President Trump. But my team and I didn’t fall for it,’ Clark also said. ‘Moreover, the whole thing was a blatant attempt to intimidate me. It didn’t work and I didn’t fold under the pressure.’ 

The FBI did not immediately respond Saturday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report. 

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The path to a deal on confirming a slew of President Donald Trump’s nominees appeared shaky at best in the Senate Saturday, as Republicans and Democrats sparred over terms and conditions to find a way forward.

Senators were supposed to be long gone from Washington by now, but Trump’s demands to ram his nominees through Senate Democrats’ historic blockade have kept lawmakers in town. But by late afternoon, not much progress had been made.

When asked if any headway had been made, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital, ‘Unfortunately, not really, no.’

‘The Dems are dug in on a position that’s just not working,’ he said.

Negotiations have been ongoing among Republicans, Democrats and the White House. Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., met last night to discuss an offer from Democrats. The two have not spoken directly since then, instead communicating through intermediaries, Thune said. However, he expected they would talk again later Saturday.

Senate Republicans want to strike a deal that would see nominees that made it through committee with bipartisan support get lightning-fast votes on the floor, but Schumer has not relented.

A source familiar with negotiations said Senate Democrats are looking for deals on the release of funding withheld by the White House and a guarantee that there will be no future rescissions packages — a particular sticking point for them heading into the looming deadline to fund the government. In exchange, they are offering a tranche of nominees to go ahead now, and another round later in the fall.

But Trump, who is at his Bedminster, N.J., golf course, has demanded that lawmakers stay in town and pass the entire slate of nominees on the Senate calendar, which has ballooned to over 150.

The president lauded Senate Republicans in a post to Truth Social on Saturday ‘for fighting, over the Weekend and far beyond, if necessary, in order to get my great Appointments approved, and on their way to helping us MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’

‘The Radical Left Democrat Senators are doing everything possible to DELAY these wonderful and talented people from being approved,’ he said. ‘If George Washington or Abraham Lincoln were up for approval, the Dems would delay, as long as possible, then vote them out.’

While Republicans have confirmed well over 100 of the president’s nominees, the only pick to make it to the floor without objection was Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Not a single one of Trump’s nominees has gotten a voice vote or gone through unanimous consent, two floor actions that have been routinely used to advance nominees in the upper chamber throughout the years. At this point four years ago, 49 of former President Joe Biden’s picks had been confirmed by voice vote.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., explained that Republicans have three options that they have enough support among the conference to move forward with: reach a deal with Democrats; adjourn the Senate and give the president runway for recess appointments and finally, a rules-change package, which some Republicans consider the ‘nuclear option.’

On recess appointments, a move floated since before Trump took office, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., contended it would be up to Democrats whether Republicans actually went through with it.

‘The Democrats’ obstruction is leading to, in very short order, us taking the necessary actions to give the President power to make recess appointments,’ he said.

While it would be a touchy move that would set off a firestorm among Democrats, Republicans aren’t afraid to move ahead with a rules change. When asked if a rule change should be done before lawmakers leave town, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said ‘I think that’d be best.’

But the preference is to strike a deal, preferably on a potential package on over 60 nominees that were advanced out of committee in a bipartisan fashion.

‘The reason why we’re that way is because Schumer led us down this road,’ Mullin said. ‘He didn’t have to do it this way.’

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