President Trump pledged to maintain tariff pressure on China, as he pushes to end America's steep trade deficit with its largest economic competitor.
During a combative interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, Trump said he sees little reason to dial back 145% tariff rates right now because China's economy is buckling.
"They said today they want to talk. Look, China, and I don't like this. I'm not happy about this. China's getting killed right now," Trump told Welker.
"They're getting absolutely destroyed. Their factories are closing. Their unemployment is going through the roof. I'm not looking to do that to China now. At the same time, I'm not looking to have China make hundreds of billions of dollars and build more ships and more Army tanks and more airplanes."
While Trump has signaled that he sees an off-ramp in the future, he made it clear to Welker that America will not make the first move. And he warned that some tariffs would remain permanent in order to incentivize companies to build in America long-term.
China has already exempted a range of U.S.-made goods, including some pharmaceuticals and microchips, from its 125% tariff rates.
"You're not dropping the tariffs against China to get them to the negotiating table?" Welker asked.
Trump responded, "No."
"At some point, I'm going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them. And they want to do business very much. Look, their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing."
Trump objected early and often to Welker's "dishonest" framing as she needled Trump on the perceived downsides of his tariff war, at one point asking if Americans could expect to see "empty store shelves" in the future. Trump rebuked her for ignoring positive developments like a drop in gas prices.
"This is such a dishonest interview already. Prices are down on groceries. Prices are down for oil prices are down for oil. Energy prices are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline," Trump said.
Trump repeated his now-familiar argument about trade-offs, conceding Americans may need to pay more for certain "junk" products from overseas during a "transition period" towards a more resilient economy.
"I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs — that’s 11 years old — needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China," Trump said.
When Welker pushed Trump to rule out a recession, Trump rejected the premise as absurd.
"Anything can happen," Trump said. "But I think we're going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country. I think we're going to have the greatest economic boom in history."
Country music legend Dolly Parton was married to her husband for 60 years, so it's not surprising that she opened up about how hard it is to be without him after his death earlier this year.
According to Fox News, Parton recently reflected on her life with Carl Dean on "Today," and became emotional when she opened up about the difficulties she's experienced in the wake of his passing.
Parton, now 79, held nothing back as she reminisced on her life with Dean, whom she met at 18 and fell in love with quickly.
The Nashville legend admitted that she's "fine" but has to learn how to adjust to new habits and routines now that Dean is gone. He died in March of this year, shocking the country music world.
Parton admitted that she -- understandably -- gets emotional when people bring up Dean's death, but manages to work through it and remember what they had.
"Oh, you know what, I get very emotional when people bring it up," Parton shared as she teared up. "But we were together 60 years. I’ve loved him since I was 18 years old."
She also revealed that she misses him dearly and praised him for being a wonderful husband and partner, especially throughout what one could only imagine to be an extremely hectic -- and successful -- music career.
"It’s a big adjustment just trying to change patterns and habits," Parton continued. "I’ll do fine, and I’m very involved in my work and that’s been the best thing that could happen to me."
She added, "But I’ll always miss him, of course, and always love him. He was a great partner to me."
Fox News noted:
The 10-time Grammy winner went on to express her gratitude for the love and support that she had received in the wake of Dean's death.
"I’m so thankful. I’ve gotten so many cards, letters, flowers, from all over the world," Parton said. "I had no idea Carl Dean was so famous," she joked of her spouse.
Carl Dean might have been married to one of the most recognizable and popular people in the world, but chose to stay far out of the public spotlight.
"My career being separate from my marriage is perfectly natural for us," she said during a 1977 interview. "We like it that way. It’s too right and too natural and too comfortable and too secure for it to ever be anything else."
Dean rarely gave interviews to the press, but when he did, he always spoke highly of his talented wife.
The two met at a laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1964, and married two years later. The rest was history.
Hunter Biden has dropped a lawsuit against a pair of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers who alleged he received favorable treatment from the Justice Department.
Without explaining why, Hunter apparently decided he had no choice but to voluntarily dismiss the case "with prejudice," meaning it cannot be filed again. The son of former President Joe Biden filed the lawsuit in 2023 against former IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler.
The former first son claimed that the duo had "targeted and sought to embarrass Mr. Biden via public statements to the media in which they and their representatives disclosed confidential information about a private citizen’s tax matters.”
In a statement, Shapley and Ziegler said Biden's reversal speaks volumes, with the pair noting, "It’s always been clear that the lawsuit was an attempt to intimidate us,” the two men said. “Intimidation and retaliation were never going to work. We truly wanted our day in court to provide the complete story, but it appears Mr. Biden was afraid to actually fight this case in a court of law after all.”
“His voluntary dismissal of the case tells you everything you need to know about who was right and who was wrong," they added.
The IRS whistleblowers went public in 2023 with claims of obstruction in the investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes. The men also claimed they faced retaliation for sharing their concerns.
The allegations fed Republican criticism of Biden's family and the "weaponization" of government in favor of Democrats. Hunter Biden would later accuse the DOJ of giving in to political pressure to file criminal charges against him, but Biden's claims of selective prosecution were rejected in court.
Biden almost received an infamously generous plea deal that later fell apart in front of a skeptical judge. He later pled guilty to felony tax evasion on over $1 million in foreign income from his business deals, only to receive a blanket pardon from his father, President Joe Biden.
In addition to battling criminal charges, Hunter has been involved in a number of civil legal vendettas against individuals and entities who have exposed him and his business dealings to scrutiny.
Hunter Biden recently won his bid to drop a lawsuit that he started against former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler (no relation to Joe Ziegler), successfully pleading financial hardship.
Lawyers for Joe Ziegler and Gary Shapley declared vindication over Hunter Biden's dismissal of his case against them.
"Hunter Biden brought this lawsuit against two honorable federal agents in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the preferential treatment he was given,” the lawyers said in a statement.
“Shapley and Ziegler did nothing wrong, never had to seek a pardon, and their actions have now been entirely vindicated once again," they added.
President Donald Trump appointed Gary Shapley to serve as acting IRS commissioner in April, but he was replaced just three days later.
Residents in South Chicago are up in arms over plans to build a luxury hotel near Barack Obama's presidential center, as locals fear being priced out by soaring rents.
The 26-story hotel would be located a short distance from the Obama Presidential Center - and right next to an affordable housing complex.
The development plans have poor tenants in South Shore and Wood Lawn worried about getting squeezed out by gentrification.
“When you got people’s rent going from $850 to $1,300. You’re telling people you don’t want them in the neighborhood,” said Dixon Romeo, an organizer with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition.
Obama - a former "community organizer" - has long fought to build a monument to his ego in the city where he launched his political career. His plans have plodded forward over the objections of local community groups concerned about displacement.
After years in limbo, the Obama Presidential Center is due to finally open in 2026. But the worst fears of the locals are already coming true.
One man who attended a protest Tuesday, Philon Green, said he was forced to move after rent nearly doubled.
"The rent went from $850 or $835 to $850 to now $1,300; that ain't right. That ain't right for really to upgrade in the apartment itself," the former Woodlawn resident said.
The investment firm behind the hotel, Aquinnah Investment Trust, wants to put it next to Island Terrace, an affordable housing complex. The hotel would have up to 250 rooms, retail and office space, 118 parking spaces, and 12 bicycle spaces, according to documents filed with the city.
The developer submitted an application in March to rezone the area, which is currently a shopping center.
“When you can fast-track a luxury hotel — while everyone around that hotel lives in blight, knowing that that’ll raise the price to push them out — you’re intentionally trying to gentrify a neighborhood,” Romeo said.
The hotel hasn't been approved by the city yet, but the developer has a powerful connection. Allison Davis, the head of Aquinnah Investment Trust, was Obama’s first boss out of Harvard Law School.
Obam, who now owns multiple homes - including one in Hyde Park, Chicago - has long presented himself as a champion of social justice and fairness for the poor.
But those ideals have proven to be quite shallow indeed, as the former president's notorious vanity takes precedence.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia bragged that he could kill his wife and never go to jail, according to a newly unearthed protective order.
The bombshell evidence supports President Trump's dark portrayal of the illegal alien from El Salvador, who has been widely described as a "Maryland man" in the press.
This is the second known protective order that was filed against Abrego Garcia over spousal abuse by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. A previously reported protective order from 2021 said Abrego Garcia punched, scratched, and grabbed her.
The 2020 protective order details numerous additional incidents of explosive violence, which included grabbing his wife by the hair in the car, smashing his kids' devices, pushing his wife against a wall, and threatening to kill her.
"I also have a [recording] that [he] told my ex-mother-in-law that even if he kills me no one can do anything to him,” Vasquez Sura wrote at the time.
The past reports of domestic abuse have come back to haunt Abrego Garcia, his wife - who is now advocating for his return to the U.S. - and Democrats who have rushed to defend the "Maryland father."
Trump and his White House team have described Abrego Garcia as a domestic abuser and criminal gang member. Police records from 2019 note that he was detained with suspected MS-13 members outside of a Home Depot, and officers interpreted his clothing as gang-affiliated. A police informant also identified him as a member of the gang.
Two immigration judges found the evidence of Abrego Garcia's gang ties persuasive, but he obtained limited relief from deportation back to El Salvador, where he claimed he was facing persecution by a rival gang of MS-13.
The Trump administration's decision to send him back to El Salvador - and Trump's refusal to bring him back - is at the heart of the current controversy.
The Trump administration has also pointed to a traffic stop in 2022 that led police to suspect Abrego Garcia was involved in human trafficking. Abrego Garcia was speeding in a truck owned by a convicted smuggler, and eight men were found in the vehicle with no luggage. But he was never charged over the incident.
The Supreme Court has said Trump must "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return, but the justices also reeled in a lower court that ordered Trump in no uncertain language to "effectuate" Abrego Garcia's return.
Trump's critics say Abrego Garcia, and other alleged gang members removed under the Alien Enemies Act, have been deported without due process. But Trump has said he is doing what he was elected to do by swiftly cracking down on illegal immigration and crime.
"The media continues to call him [Abrego Garcia] a victim while ignoring the real victims: the women he battered, the children he terrorized, and the communities he endangered," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.
"Let us be crystal clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never be on American streets again."
Massachusetts politics was rocked this week after state Democratic lawmaker was charged and arrested for fraud.
According to Fox News, Massachusetts state Rep. Christopher Flanagan, 37, now faces five counts of wire fraud and one count of falsification of records according to a bombshell press release from the Department of Justice.
Flanagan allegedly stole tens of thousands of dollars from a local trade association that he used to fund various personal expenses and political expenses.
He allegedly began stealing funds from the trade organization after experiencing difficult financial issues, according to the charges.
Flanagan's alleged illegal activities were committed through the Cape Cod-based Home Builders Association.
Fox News noted:
Flanagan served as the executive officer of the Home Builders Association in Cape Cod and received a salary and benefits ranging from $65,800 to $81,600 from 2019 to 2024, when he was working there. Flanagan also received $97,546 and $100,945 in 2023 and 2024, from his position as a legislator.
Flanagan reportedly began facing financial troubles in late 2021, which is when he allegedly stole 36,000 from the organization through a series of wire transfers.
Fox News added:
From Nov. 18, 2021 and Jan. 28, 2023, Flanagan wired anywhere from $1,500 and $10,000 on several separate occasions. The Justice Department said Flanagan used the funds to pay mortgage bills, pay down debt, and even used it to pay for personal psychic services.
Receipts show that Flanagan spent the money for personal and political reasons, including shopping trips to Best Buy and several other stores using the alleged stolen funds.
He was also accused of obstructing an investigation by the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance "when he attributed the source of a campaign mailer to 'Jeanne Louise,' a false persona that he allegedly created," the outlet added.
Christopher Flanagan, a 37-year-old Democratic State Rep from Massachusetts representing Cape Cod, was arrested on April 11, 2025, on federal charges of fraud. He faces 5 counts of wire fraud & 1 count of falsifying records, each carrying a potential 20yr sentence. 1 out of 250👀 pic.twitter.com/iwWEhFLMoh
— Meisha Tele (@frnnkdlxx) April 11, 2025
Users across social media reacted to the news of Flanagan's arrest.
"Massachusetts politicians should be preemptively thrown in jail upon election and only released after heavy consideration," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "Maybe in the future, report on a Mass Dem that’s not a corrupt scum bag."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making waves due to his stance on eliminating junk food from the American diet, and specifically the ability to purchase such food and drink on welfare programs such as the food stamp program.
According to Live Now Fox, Kennedy recently announced at a Martinsburg, West Virginia event that states will now have the authority to ban people from buying sugary soft drinks on the food stamp program, otherwise known as SNAP.
The effort to give states the power to make the decision comes as part of his "Make America Healthy Again" mission, which has been both widely celebrated and criticized from all angles.
However, he's not the only one calling for the ban, as several members of Congress already have bills in the works to accomplish similar outcomes.
Kennedy, who was chosen by President Donald Trump to lead the Health and Human Services department, made his stance on the issue clear in an X post.
"I commend the 24 states pushing MAHA bills to clean up our food system, improve school lunches, submit waivers to SNAP, and promote patient choice," Kennedy said on X.
"This state leadership adds leverage to the Trump administration’s drive to Make America Healthy Again. I urge every Governor to follow West Virginia’s lead and submit a waiver to the USDA to remove soda from SNAP. If there’s one thing we can agree on, it should be eliminating taxpayer-funded soda subsidies for lower income kids. I look forward to inviting every Governor who submits a waiver to come celebrate with me at the White House this fall."
Thank you @WVGovernor Morrisey and legislators for leading the nation in passing a bill to clean up our food supply and submitting a waiver to remove soda from SNAP. I commend the 24 states pushing MAHA bills to clean up our food system, improve school lunches, submit waivers to…
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) March 28, 2025
Oklahoma Republican Rep. Josh Breechan agrees, saying that taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for the unhealth lifestyles of those on food stamp programs.
"If someone wants to buy junk food on their own dime, that’s up to them," he said. "But what we’re saying is, ‘Don’t ask the taxpayer to pay for it and then also expect the taxpayer to pick up the tab for the resulting health consequences.'"
Many social media users cheered Kennedy for making the announcement.
"Thank you @SecKennedy for making America healthy again, I never realized how our own food companies and pharmaceutical companies were literally killing U.S. with the crap they put in our foods/medicines until you came along. We appreciate all that you do!!!" one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "A critical milestone achieved in the fight to Make America Healthy Again with West Virginia being the first trail blazing state to pass SNAP reform. Looking forward to seeing more states follow their lead!"
Only time will tell if additional states enact similar policies.
The Senate has confirmed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, placing the former TV personality in charge of two health programs used by millions of Americans.
The vote to confirm Oz fell along party lines, with 53 Republicans for and 45 Democrats against. Democrats have criticized Oz as a potential threat to Medicaid as Republicans consider cuts to the program, which provides health insurance at low or no cost to poor people.
Oz has said he plans to tackle waste and fraud in the healthcare system, and he has echoed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s emphasis on reducing the cost of healthcare by confronting an epidemic of obesity and chronic disease.
“We have a generational opportunity to fix our health care system and help people stay healthy for longer,” Oz said during his confirmation hearing last month.
President Trump, while nominating Oz, said "there may be no physician more qualified and capable... to make America healthy again."
Trained as a heart surgeon, Oz became a household name as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show before launching his own talk show, which ran from 2009 to 2022. He is known for his advocacy of alternative medicine and a holistic approach to wellness that emphasizes diet and lifestyle.
Democrats have criticized Oz as a quack who has peddled dubious treatments, and they say he will advance an agenda to privatize government health insurance that poor and vulnerable people depend on.
Oz deflected questions about Medicaid cuts when grilled by the Senate last month, but he pledged to tackle insurance fraud in Medicare Advantage, a privately run version of Medicare that Oz had long supported in his career as a TV personality.
The doctor was critical of the use of "upcoding" to jack up the cost of treatment by listing questionable diagnoses. He also suggested using automation to reduce delays and costs tied to prior authorization, which insurance companies require to certify the medical necessity of certain procedures.
"If you're going to have a knee replacement and you can bend your knee more than 120 degrees, you don't get to get the knee replacement -- or whatever number you want to put in there,” he said. “And then, if we know those numbers ahead of time, like a credit card -- credit card approval doesn't take you three months – you know immediately whether the transaction's approved or not. We will be able to do something similar so that pre-authorization could happen rapidly.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which Oz now leads, has an annual budget of $2.6 trillion and oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, which collectively provide health coverage to about half of Americans.
Medicaid provides health coverage at low or no cost for poor people, while Medicare covers people above age 65 and younger people who are disabled.
About 300 CMS employees are facing layoffs as part of Secretary Kennedy's restructuring of the Health and Human Services Department, which includes CMS. While thousands of workers have been fired across HHS, Kennedy has said Medicare and Medicaid won't be impacted.
The White House confirmed that Elon Musk will leave the Trump administration in the coming months, once his "incredible work with DOGE is complete."
Musk's cost-cutting work with DOGE has been at the center of controversy during the early months of Trump's second term. Democrats have attacked Musk repeatedly, while accusing Trump of empowering a shadowy "oligarchy" that caters to the super rich.
In fact, Musk's company, Tesla, has suffered from the backlash to his government role.
Both Trump and Musk have said that the Tesla CEO will step down in the near future, when DOGE's work is finished. Musk is a "special government employee," a status that is limited to 130 days.
The president's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, dismissed a report from Politico that said Musk is considered a "liability" within the Trump administration.
"This 'scoop' is garbage. Elon Musk and President Trump have both *publicly* stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete," Leavitt said.
Musk added, "Yeah, fake news."
Musk previously told Fox News' Brett Baier that 130 days was enough for him to finish his job.
"I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that time frame," he said.
Trump expressed regret this week as he acknowledged the coming end of Musk's tenure.
"Well, I think he's … amazing. But I also think he's got a big company to run. And so, at some point he's going to be going back. He wants to," Trump said earlier this week.
"I'd keep him as long as I can keep him," Trump said. "He's a very talented guy. You know, I love very smart people. He's very smart. And he's done a good job," the president added. "DOGE is, we've found numbers that nobody can even believe."
While Musk is soon going to be leaving his government position, Vice president J.D. Vance says the critical work of DOGE will continue - and Musk will remain a "friend and adviser" to the Trump team.
“The work of DOGE is not even close to done. The work of Elon is not even close to done,” Vance told Fox and Friends. “DOGE has got a lot of work to do … that work is going to continue after Elon leaves."
President Trump put his national security adviser Mike Waltz on the spot, blaming him for the Signal leak that has led to criticism of the president's national security team.
"It was Mike, I guess. I don’t know, I always thought it was Mike," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
Still, Trump maintained that the controversy over the leaked chats is a "witch hunt" and he offered no indication he wants Waltz to resign.
Trump's latest comments mark a shift in tone after he fulsomely defended Waltz and blamed a staffer for the situation. Waltz has taken responsibility for accidentally adding a liberal journalist to a Signal chat about military strikes in Yemen.
The chat group included Waltz, Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other top officials. Also included was Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the anti-Trump magazine The Atlantic.
Democrats have demanded that Waltz and Hegseth resign, but Trump and his top allies have said the criticism of the leak is overblown, pointing to the success of the mission against Houthi rebels.
“How do you bring Hegseth into it? He had nothing to do — look, look, it’s all a witch hunt,” Trump said Wednesday.
The leak has placed Waltz's relationship with Goldberg under scrutiny. Golberg has played a significant role in spreading anti-Trump narratives, such as the sticky claim that Trump called soldiers "suckers and losers," which continued to dog Trump in 2024, four years after Goldberg first shared it.
A photo that resurfaced this week shows Waltz and Goldberg at the same event at the French Embassy in 2021. But Waltz has said he never met Goldberg, suggesting the "loser" journalist somehow broke into the chat.
“I know him by his horrible reputation, and he really is the bottom scum of journalists. And I know him in the sense that he hates the president, but I don’t text him. He wasn’t on my phone. And we’re going to figure out how this happened," Waltz told Fox News' Laura Ingraham.
According to reports, Trump is angry that Waltz had Goldberg in his phone, but the president is reluctant to fire Waltz and hand a victory to The Atlantic, which publishes articles attacking the president on a daily basis.
Trump defended Waltz as a "very good man" and called Goldberg a "total sleazebag" when asked about the Signal leak Tuesday.