Vice President JD Vance brushed off a report from Vanity Fair that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles called him a ‘conspiracy theorist’ on Tuesday.

Vance made the comments while taking questions from the press in Pennsylvania, leaning in on his conspiratorial side and suggesting Wiles didn’t intend the comment to be critical.

‘Sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true,’ Vance told reporters. ‘Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that for a long time. For example, I believed in the crazy conspiracy theory back in 2020 that it was stupid to mask three-year-olds at the height of the COVID pandemic, that we should actually let them develop some language skills. You know, I believed in this crazy conspiracy theory that the media and the government were covering up the fact that Joe Biden was clearly unable to do the job.’

‘So, at least on some of these conspiracy theories, it turns out that a conspiracy theory is just something that was true six months before the media admitted it,’ he added.

Vance went on to defend Wiles more generally, saying that she is an extremely effective chief of staff whose loyalty to President Donald Trump is guaranteed.

‘I’ve never seen Susie Wiles say something to the president and then go and counteract him. Or subvert his will behind the scenes. And that’s what you want in a staffer. Because as much as I love Susie, the American people didn’t elect any staffer. They elected the president of the United States,’ Vance said. ‘Susie Wiles, we have our disagreements. We agree on much more than we disagree. But I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States, and that makes her the best White House chief of staff that I think the president could ask for.’

Wiles herself blasted the Vanity Fair article in her own statement on social media, arguing it was ‘disingenuously’ framed and lacked ‘significant context.’

The article quotes Wiles as saying Vance was a conspiracy theorist and that he had begun supporting Trump out of political expediency rather than true support. She was also quoted giving frank descriptions of other White House officials, including saying Trump has ‘an alcoholic’s personality.’

‘The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history,’ Wiles wrote on X Tuesday.

‘Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team,’ she continued.

‘The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade,’ she added.

Lawyers for the Trump administration and a historic preservation group are slated to appear in court Tuesday afternoon in a bid to halt — at least temporarily — President Donald Trump’s plan to continue building out a $300 million White House ballroom on the site of the now-demolished East Wing. 

‘No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,’ the National Trust said in its lawsuit, filed late last week with U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.

The group argued that Trump’s project has already caused ‘irreversible damage’ to the White House, and asked Leon to grant both a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block the Trump administration from commencing or continuing further work on the ballroom project until the necessary federal commissions have reviewed and approved the plans.

The suit alleges violations of multiple statutes, including the Administrative Procedure Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, and says the ballroom cannot move forward without authorization from Congress, the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts. Trump fired all six members of the CFA in October; the panel remains vacant.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the Justice Department argued in a separate filing on Monday that Trump does have the statutory authority to modify the structure as president.

‘The President possesses statutory authority to modify the structure of his residence, and that authority is supported by background principles of Executive power,’ the Justice Department told the court on Monday in a separate filing. 

They cited Trump’s personal involvement in the project, and noted that he has regularly taken part in meetings and discussions ‘regarding design and footprint and personally selecting the architect for the project,’ among other things. 

Lawyers for the Trump administration also argued that abruptly halting construction on the project would create ‘security concerns’ at the White House, an argument it is expected to seize on further during Tuesday afternoon’s hearing. 

They also included a declaration from Secret Service deputy director Matthew Quinn that said improvements to the site ‘are still needed before the Secret Service’s safety and security requirements can be met.’

‘Any pause in construction, even temporarily, would leave the contractor’s obligation unfulfilled in this regard and consequently hamper the Secret Service’s ability to meet its statutory obligations and protective mission.’

Trump in July first announced his plans to proceed with constructing the sprawling, 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which he estimated at the time would cost around $200 million. Trump has insisted it will be funded ‘100% by me and some friends of mine.’

President Donald Trump will give an address to the nation live from the White House on Wednesday night, he announced on Tuesday.

Trump teased the address in a statement on social media, saying the speech will take place at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday. He has not clarified a topic for the address.

‘My Fellow Americans: I will be giving an ADDRESS TO THE NATION tomorrow night, LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, at 9 P.M. EST. I look forward to ‘seeing’ you then. It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!’ Trump wrote.

Trump last formally addressed the nation in November after two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot in the nation’s capital.

The Trump administration has touted its economic agenda throughout the closing months of the year. Trump himself has highlighted his tariff agenda and pushed last month for Americans to receive payment checks funded by tariff revenues. He vowed that ‘hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money’ would be distributed as dividends by mid-2026.

‘We’ve taken in hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money. We’re going to be issuing dividends probably by the middle of next year, maybe a little bit later than that,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

The president first floated the idea in early November, saying he would use tariff revenue to send $2,000 payments to low- and middle-income Americans, with any remaining funds directed toward paying down the nation’s soaring debt.

With the nation’s debt hovering just north of $38 trillion, revenue from tariffs amount to little more than a rounding error: billions collected against trillions owed.

The proposal comes at a pivotal moment, with tariff receipts climbing and the Supreme Court reviewing the legality of Trump’s trade measures.

Since Trump announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs in April, tariff revenues have climbed sharply from $23.9 billion in May to $28 billion in June and $29 billion in July. 

Total duty revenue reached $215.2 billion in fiscal year 2025, which ended Sept. 30, according to the Treasury Department’s Customs and Certain Excise Taxes report.

Fox News’ Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is being sued by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for tens of billions of dollars in damages for a lawsuit he filed against the country during his time as Missouri’s attorney general.

Schmitt is being sued by the People’s Government of Wuhan Municipality, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for roughly $50 billion, several years after the lawmaker sued the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit, first obtained by Fox News Digital, accused Schmitt, FBI co-deputy director Andrew Bailey, and the state of Missouri of damaging the reputations of China, Wuhan and the associated research facilities through ‘malicious vexatious litigation, fabricating enormous disinformation, and spreading stigmatizing and discriminating slanders.’

Schmitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he’d been ‘banned from Communist China, and now I am being sued and targeted by Communist China in a $50 billion lawfare campaign, and I’ll wear it like a badge of honor.’ 

‘China’s sinister malfeasance during the COVID-19 pandemic led to over a million Americans losing their lives, economic turmoil that rocked our country for years, and an enormous amount of human suffering, and as Missouri Attorney General I filed suit to hold them accountable,’ Schmitt said. ‘Instead of trying to defend its indefensible behavior, Communist China responded with frivolous lawfare, attempting to absolve themselves of all wrongdoing in the early days of the pandemic.’ 

‘This novel lawsuit is factually baseless, legally meritless, and any fake judgment a Chinese court issues in this lawsuit we will easily beat back and keep from being enforced against the people of Missouri or me,’ he continued. ‘This is their way of distracting from what the world already knows, China has blood on its hands.’

Schmitt, who served as attorney general for the Show-Me state from 2019 to 2023, sued the PRC, several Chinese government ministries, the Communist Party of China, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in early 2020, shortly after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, Schmitt accused the Chinese government of withholding information on the COVID-19 virus, failing to contain the outbreak of the virus, and actively hoarding high-quality personal protective equipment (PPE) while producing and selling lower-quality PPE for the rest of the world.

That case resulted in an eventual $24 billion judgment earlier this year.

The lawsuit against Schmitt, Bailey, who resigned as Missouri’s attorney general after he was tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as co-deputy FBI director in September, and Missouri contended that the preceding lawsuit, and statements published across a variety of media outlets, led to severe reputational and economic harm.

They’re demanding that apologies be published in several outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Chinese media outlets. The apologies come with a price tag, too.

Wuhan and the Chinese government demanded compensation of over 356 billion Chinese Yuan, which converts to just over $50 billion dollars.

A federal judge on Tuesday said he was ‘inclined to deny’ a bid to force the Trump administration to halt construction of the White House ballroom but warned officials not to undertake any irreversible work before a January hearing that could still stop the project.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said he will hold another hearing during the second week in January and hinted he may still order a pause.

‘Any below ground construction’ in the coming weeks that dictates above-ground work should be avoided, Leon said, adding, ‘be prepared to take that down.’

Lawyers for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the U.S. argued the case is not about the need for a ballroom but about the need to follow the law.

They said any construction on federal land requires congressional approval.

Lawyers representing the National Park Service countered that President Trump has authority to direct construction at the White House, saying ‘work must continue for national security issues.’

‘See you in January,’ Leon said as he warned the government not to pursue anything irreversible.

Attorney General Pam Bondi weighed in Tuesday evening.

‘Today @TheJusticeDept attorneys defeated an attempt to stop President Trump’s totally lawful East Wing Modernization and State Ballroom Project,’ she wrote on X. ‘President Trump has faced countless bad-faith left-wing legal attacks – this was no different. We will continue defending the President’s project in court in the coming weeks.’

On Monday, the Trump administration argued in a court filing that pausing construction would undermine national security, citing a Secret Service declaration warning that halting work would leave the site unable to meet ‘safety and security requirements’ necessary to protect President Donald Trump.

The declaration said the East Wing, demolished in October and now undergoing below-grade work, could not be left unfinished without compromising essential security measures.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued last week to stop the project, arguing the government had to follow federal review procedures before any irreversible work began.

The group said the proposed 90,000-square-foot addition, now estimated at more than $300 million, would overwhelm the Executive Residence and permanently alter the White House’s historic design.

The administration countered that the lawsuit was premature, noting regulatory reviews were still coming and above-grade construction was not scheduled to begin until April 2026.

The National Trust said early intervention was necessary, citing warnings from architectural historians who said the ballroom would mark the most significant exterior change to the White House in more than 80 years.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.