Hegseth picks up another key vote for confirmation as Trump’s defense secretary

Pete Hegseth has picked up another key vote for confirmation as President-elect Trump‘s secretary of defense.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., on Friday said he will vote to confirm Hegseth, an Army combat veteran whose nomination was under question because of his remarks questioning women’s roles in the military, sexual misconduct allegations, as well as allegations that he drank alcohol while working previous jobs.

Hegseth appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week relatively unscathed amid questions from lawmakers. 

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“The President’s pick for Secretary of Defense, Mr. Hegseth, has impressive academic qualifications, conducted himself very well in the Senate Armed Services hearing, and has a commendable record of service in uniform. He assured me he will surround himself with a strong support team,” Cassidy said in a statement. “I will vote for his confirmation.”

Hegseth has seen a wave of support from Republicans, including Sen. Joni Ernst, of Iowa, who previously expressed concerns about his nomination.

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Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said Hegseth passed his confirmation hearing with “flying colors.”

“They tried to rattle him. They brought out all these anonymous allegations. He had an answer for every one of them,” Tuberville said at the time. 

During his proceedings, protesters were hauled out in zip ties after interrupting the hearing. 

Democratic lawmakers also grilled Hegseth about his stance on women in combat roles, prompting him to push back that his argument related to women serving in the military focuses on military standards not eroding. 

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“I would point out I’ve never disparaged women serving in the military,” he told Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. “I respect every single female service member that has put on the uniform, past and present. My critiques, senator, recently and in the past, and from personal experience, have been instances where I’ve seen standards lowered.”

TikTok confirms when app will ‘go dark’ if Biden admin doesn’t ‘immediately’ intervene

TikTok on Friday said that the social media platform would “go dark” on Sunday without “definitive” assurance from the Biden administration that its ban will not be enforced. 

“The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans,” TikTok said in a statement posted to X.

It continued, “Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.”

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The White House this week said that Biden didn’t plan to enforce the ban set to take effect on Sunday, adding that it would be up to President-elect Trump, who takes office Monday. 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld the bipartisan law passed last year banning TikTok unless its Chinese-owned company ByteDance sells it by Sunday, citing national security risks because of its ties to China. 

Trump said he needed to review the ban before making his decision. 

“The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it,” he said. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!”

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During the presidential campaign, Trump said he would “never ban TikTok” after joining the platform. 

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Also on Friday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked Trump for his “commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States. This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”

Chew is expected to attend the inauguration on Monday. 

Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term in office. 

Experts erupt after Biden declares nonexistent amendment ‘law of the land’

Legal experts slammed President Biden’s announcement declaring the 28th Amendment law as “cynical and irrelevant.”

Biden on Friday released a statement saying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) should be considered ratified and a new addition to the U.S. Constitution. 

“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people. In keeping with my oath and duty to the Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex,” he said. 

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“Biden’s announcement is both cynical and irrelevant,” said former Assistant U.S. attorney and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy. “If he believed what he is saying, he would’ve said it when his administration started, not when he is on his way out the door as a failed, one-term president. 

“More importantly, the president has no constitutional role in the amendment process, so his view carries no weight.”

“President Biden seems intent on moving his administration from the odious to the absurd,” Jonathan Turley, Fox News contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital. “This was an embarrassingly pandering moment to the most extreme elements in his party. It is a position based on a long-rejected and frankly ridiculous foundation.”

When asked about the timing of the announcement by reporters, Biden said Friday, “Because I had to get all of the facts and I contacted every constitutional scholar in the world to make sure it was the right decision.”

The ERA would prohibit discrimination based on gender. It was sent to the states for ratification in 1972, with Congress setting a 1979 deadline for three-quarters of state legislatures to ratify the amendment. The deadline was later extended to 1982. 

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Virginia became the last state to pass the amendment in 2020, pushing the final number of states who had passed the amendment to a total of 38. McCarthy noted that the ERA “was not ratified by the states within the statutorily allotted timeframe.”

“The only way to get it into the Constitution would be to start all over again,” McCarthy said. “Everybody knows this, including Biden. That is why the national archivist has not published it, nor has Biden had the temerity to try to order that that be done.”

Turley also said: “Biden notably stopped short of giving the left what it wanted most: an actual executive order on the ratification. He simply made a declaration and presumably left the matter up to the archivist.”

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The national archivist is responsible for making constitutional amendments official. The archivist had previously declined to certify the amendment, citing a 2020 opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel of the DOJ (OLC) that “affirmed that the ratification deadline established by Congress for the ERA is valid and enforceable.”

“The OLC concluded that extending or removing the deadline requires new action by Congress or the courts. Court decisions at both the District and Circuit levels have affirmed that the ratification deadlines established by Congress for the ERA are valid,” the National Archives said in a statement in December. “Therefore, the Archivist of the United States cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment. As the leaders of the National Archives, we will abide by these legal precedents and support the constitutional framework in which we operate.”

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“This is just pandering,” McCarthy said. “It will have no lasting significance.”

Plaintiff in CNN defamation trial celebrates ‘vindication’ following courtroom drama

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young is celebrating the “vindication” he received after a jury found that CNN had defamed him, concluding the intense two-week court battle. 

“I’m glad it’s over,” Young told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Feeling very, very, very good.”

After more than eight hours of deliberation, the six-person jury ruled Young was to be awarded $4 million in lost earnings, $1 million in personal damages such as pain and suffering and said that punitive damages are warranted against CNN. But as the second phase of the trial was underway, lawyers for both Young and CNN told 14th Judicial Circuit Court Judge William S. Henry they had reached a settlement. 

“It’s been a long three years, and to have the outcome that we wanted, which was vindication publicly, is an incredible feeling. And I’m glad that it’s over, and we don’t have to spend more years and more time arguing about the meaning of a word,” Young said. 

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The settlement amount was not disclosed, but it came after an expert witness suggested $150 million was a fair amount to punish CNN. 

Following the years-long legal battle with CNN, Young tells Fox News Digital he doesn’t have “any animosity” towards the network.

“I think that this was a good outcome for both of us,” Young said. “I’m able to get on with my life now, and I hadn’t been able to even imagine what that would look like or feel like for a very long time. I’m still kind of wondering what that is gonna feel like when the dust settles. But in terms of animosity towards CNN, I don’t have any at all.” 

“I hope that they learn something from this experience,” he continued. “I hope that they take this as an opportunity to look in the mirror and realize that, you know, there is room for change and improvement, and if that’s the outcome that it has on CNN and maybe others in the media also can see that as something that’s positive.”

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Vel Freedman, Young’s lead counsel in the defamation lawsuit against CNN, also touted the legal win.

“We were able to clear Zak’s name, get a verdict, and then settle so he can avoid protracted appeals and move on with his life,” Freedman told Fox News Digital. “So, as a lawyer, it’s just exactly what you want to do.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for CNN said, “We remain proud of our journalists and are 100% committed to strong, fearless and fair-minded reporting at CNN, though we will of course take what useful lessons we can from this case.” 

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Young accused CNN of smearing him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during the Biden administration’s military withdrawal from the country in 2021. Young believed CNN “destroyed his reputation and business” by branding him an illegal profiteer who exploited “desperate Afghans” during the November 2021 segment.

Young’s legal team obtained damning CNN internal messages through discovery repeatedly showing staffers expressing overt hostility towards the Navy veteran. Among those presented to the jury include one calling him a “s—bag” an “a–hole” one saying he has a “punchable face.”

It was also revealed that Alex Marquardt, the CNN correspondent who led the on-air report, told a colleague “we’re gonna nail this Zachary Young mf—er,” a message often cited throughout the trial.

Bill Maher calls for liberals to revolt against Democrat leaders over wildfire response

Liberal talk show host Bill Maher argued that liberals who usually politicize tragedies are silent when Democratic leaders are to blame.

Many California residents, including celebrities, have lost their homes in the Pacific Palisades area as wildfires continue to rage there and elsewhere in Los Angeles County, burning more than 27,000 acres, destroying over 10,000 structures and killing at least 25 people, according to local officials.

While LA Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have taken some criticism for their management before and during the devastating fires, Maher argued in a TMZ interview that more critics need to speak out and hold liberal leaders responsible.

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“I’m with the people who want to hold politicians accountable,” Maher said to the news outlet.

The comedian highlighted that many liberals are saying, “We shouldn’t talk about it now,” describing them as “hypocritical.”

“It’s so funny to hear that coming out of the mouths of liberals, because they hate it when conservatives say that after a gun tragedy, which is what conservatives always say after a mass-shooting. ‘This is not the time to politicize it.’ And then it never is,” Maher said. “It is absolutely the time to talk about it.”

While he said that there are some other factors making some level of the disaster inevitable, such as global warming, he stood by his assertion that “errors” were made.

“Was it always going to be bad? Of course,” Maher said. “Their arguments are not wrong. We built the city in a terrible place to build a city. Global warming absolutely does make hot stuff and weather worse. Winds were ridiculous. Yeah, I get all that. And they also made a lot of errors.”

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Maher added that “If you held Bush accountable for Katrina” then “you have to have some intellectual honesty in criticizing your team when they don’t do it right. And they’ve had a long time to get this right-er.”

The HBO host also stressed that somehow such disasters “always seem to be the worst they possibly could be” – a sign that more should be expected of leaders.

“I think we should demand better,” Maher argued.

Israeli government approves cease-fire and hostage agreement with Hamas

U-Haul full of Chinese migrants found in US after security guard notices something suspicious

A group of more than 30 migrants, most of them Chinese citizens, was found inside a U-Haul truck Friday after a report of an alleged abduction, Florida authorities said. 

The discovery began when a security guard for a homeowners association in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables reported seeing an abduction around 9:35 a.m., Coral Gables Police Chief Edward James Hudak Jr. told reporters. 

The guard reported seeing a Toyota and a U-Haul truck involved in the incident and immediately alerted a patrol officer, the chief said. The officer then issued a BOLO, a be on the lookout alert, for the vehicles. 

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The vehicles were stopped by officers, and the woman who was allegedly abducted was taken from the Toyota. Officers then began investigating the U-Haul truck, which had 16 Chinese females, 15 Chinese males, one male from Cuba and a female from Ecuador, according to police.

“Officers opened the back of the truck, which revealed 21 predominantly Chinese nationals,” Hudak said.

In addition to the migrants in the Toyota were a Cuban man, a Brazilian woman and a man from Ecuador, police said.

“We do believe these individuals were brought here by the water,” the chief said. “They were probably dropped off, we’re assuming somewhere around the southern end of Coral Gables and approached on foot to the van where they were loaded into.”

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Investigators were looking into whether the woman who was possibly being abducted was trying to escape her alleged smugglers. The Coral Gables Fire Department responded to provide medical care to the migrants, who were “tired” but in good condition, police said. 

“Today’s event is a prime example of why FDLE is supportive of the governor’s proposed special session to tackle illegal immigration immediately,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass said. “The actions of law enforcement are an integral part in preventing these smuggling ventures that happen too frequently on our southern border.”

The migrants were handed over to the U.S. Border Patrol, and four others were taken into police custody related to the incident. 

“This started off as a crime,” Hudak said. “The police department responded to that alleged crime by a very alert citizen. By that, I mean I think we’ve saved some lives.”

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Authorities patrolling the waters near the city stopped several vessels but have not identified the boat in which the migrants were transported, authorities said. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the police and U.S. Border Patrol. 

Five foods experts agree should never see the inside of your microwave

Leftovers can be perfect for easy-to-plan lunches, afternoon snacks, late-night bites — or all of the above. 

While it’s tempting to rely on the microwave for reheating these leftovers, food experts say that might not be the best move to make.

Microwave ovens can cook food unevenly and leave “cold spots,” allowing harmful bacteria to survive during the reheating process, according to Michigan State University. 

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In addition, reheated microwave food doesn’t always taste good. Leftovers can become dry or overcooked.

Food experts weighed in with original thoughts to Fox News Digital about when rush-hour reheating in the microwave should be skipped — and what foods to avoid reheating this way.

Some of these might be surprising.

1. Hard-boiled eggs

Known as protein powerhouses, hard-boiled eggs are a smart and portable snack. Yet food experts suggest eating them cold rather than using a microwave to take the chill away.

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“Never microwave a hard-boiled egg,” said Amanda Holtzer, a registered dietitian in Nutley, New Jersey. “Doing so causes steam and pressure to build in the egg white — and can lead to an eruption when the egg is cut into.”

“This eruption can happen in the microwave, on your plate or, frighteningly, in your mouth when you bite into the egg,” Holtzer told Fox News Digital.

2. Vitamin C-rich foods 

Because vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that’s very sensitive to heat, skip using a microwave for foods that are rich in this vitamin, Holtzer said. 

“When exposed to heat, vitamin C is degraded and destroyed,” she said. 

Foods rich in vitamin C include broccoli, bell peppers, berries and leafy greens. 

“To maintain the integrity of the vitamin C in these foods, I recommend consuming them raw as often as possible,” Holtzer said.

3. Chicken

From a food safety perspective, reheating chicken is usually perfectly safe, Holtzer stated. 

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“However, from a quality-control perspective, I would recommend against reheating chicken,” she said.

“When chicken is stored in the refrigerator after cooking, the fats in the meat can oxidize, which can change the chemical structure of the chicken and therefore the taste.”

“Then, when reheated, any moisture that was in the chicken evaporates, thus leaving you with chicken that has both an off taste and texture.”

Instead, with leftover chicken, Holtzer suggested repurposing it into a recipe that does not require reheating, such as a chicken salad sandwich or wrap.

4. Seafood

Reheating seafood isn’t a good catch, Holtzer said. 

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“Fish is one food I recommend you do not reheat at all,” she said. 

“The high heat from a microwave can cause the moisture in fish to quickly evaporate, which can cause a very dry, rubbery texture.” 

From a culinary perspective, Jim Nuetzi, corporate executive chef for Valor Hospitality in Atlanta, Georgia, agreed that nuking seafood won’t reel in the best results. 

“Seafood is an absolute no-go for me,” Nuetzi told Fox News Digital. “It is really difficult to reheat any seafood without suffering some adverse effects, but reheating seafood in a microwave in particular will dry it out.”

5. Steak

If you have some steak left over from a night out at a nice restaurant and want to reheat it in the microwave the next day, you won’t be enjoying the same gourmet experience on day two or three, the experts say.

“Reheating steak can cause it to lose its tender texture and flavor as the additional heat tends to dry out the meat and make it tough,” Nuetzi said. 

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“Additionally, reheating often results in an uneven temperature. Parts of the steak may become overcooked, while others remain cold.”