Republicans fail to attach SAVE America Act to party-line funding package

April 23, 2026 3:23pm EDT / Fox News

Four Republican senators joined Democrats in voting against a citizenship verification measure early Thursday morning

By Alex Miller Fox News

House lawmakers protest Senate bills over SAVE Act

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, joins ‘Saturday in America’ to discuss divisions on Capitol Hill over the SAVE Act.

A cohort of Senate Republicans joined Democrats to sink a late-night attempt to attach a version of voter ID and citizenship verification legislation to the GOP’s bill funding federal immigration enforcement.

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all voted against a modified version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act early Thursday morning.

Their defection came during the Senate’s marathon “vote-a-rama,” where lawmakers could force votes on any number of amendments, regardless of whether they mesh with the underlying budget blueprint.

The amendment’s 48-to-50 failure crystallized what several Republicans had warned for weeks before launching a quasi-floor takeover to debate the SAVE America Act last month — it didn’t have the support among the GOP to pass.

SENATE GOP RAMS THROUGH BLUEPRINT TO BANKROLL ICE, BORDER PATROL THROUGH END OF TRUMP ERA

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined Senate Democrats to kill a late-night attempt to attach the SAVE America Act to the GOP’s immigration enforcement funding plan.(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Photo by Li Ying/Xinhua via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

It appears the proposal was doomed even if Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., launched an oral filibuster to advance the measure with a simple 50-vote majority.

Still, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pushed his version of the SAVE America Act after threatening to hold up the process until Thursday.

Kennedy acknowledged that his effort may not comport with the strict Senate rules that guide the reconciliation process, known as the Byrd Rule, but countered that critics of his move “can’t predict the future.”

“I respect everybody in this body, everybody,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor. “If you vote against this bill, I’m not going to say a word. And I’m sure as hell not going to go on social media and call you an ignorant slut. That’s not the way I roll, unless I’m pushed too far.”

SENATE GOP LAUNCHES ALL-NIGHT VOTE-A-RAMA TO FUND ICE, BORDER PATROL THROUGH END OF TRUMP’S TERM

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg)

Had Kennedy’s bid been successful, it could have instructed the Senate Rules Committee to craft legislation that would require voter ID to register and cast ballots in federal elections, limit voting to Election Day only and require that ballots be counted within 36 hours of an election.

It also would have set a $10 billion ceiling for the committee to use in crafting and implementing the legislation.

Notably, McConnell chairs the Senate Rules Committee and would have been tasked with creating the new legislation if Kennedy’s idea worked out.

Collins previously said she would support the SAVE America Act, but rejected this version of the legislation. Meanwhile, Murkowski and Tillis pushed back against the proposal ever since Republicans launched their floor takeover.

SENATE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL IMMIGRATION FUNDING PLAN WITH $140 BILLION PRICE TAG AS DIVISIONS SIMMER

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for passage of the SAVE America Act. Last month he vowed not to sign any other bills until it gets through, and said he wouldn’t approve of a “watered down version.”

Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat from California, speaks during a news conference with immigration experts, DACA recipients, and Dreamers in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 2025.(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

Top Senate Rules Committee Democrat Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., charged that Kennedy’s amendment was a “solution in search of a problem.”

“We’ve already gone down this road for several weeks now to debate the so-called SAVE America Act,” Padilla said. “But I think, despite how you felt about the SAVE America Act, which certainly cannot pass the Senate, even my Republican colleagues would say the measure suggested by our colleague from Louisiana is an even more extreme version.”

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Kennedy’s failed attempt comes as debate over the SAVE America Act has taken a back seat in the Senate in recent weeks.

The GOP’s reconciliation gamble, reauthorizing the nation’s controversial spy powers, and the war in Iran have all dominated the Senate floor. Still, Republican leadership has no immediate plans to end its floor takeover.

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

US FTC settles case against anesthesia company

April 23, 2026 4:21 PM UTC Updated 1 hour ago / Reuters

节点运行失败

A view of signage at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

April 23 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is settling its case against a ​private equity portfolio company it says was used to buy ‌up anesthesiology practices and raise prices in Texas, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

The FTC sued U.S. Anesthesia Partners (USAP) under the Biden administration in a ​major move by antitrust regulators to tackle private equity rollups, ​or purchases of many small businesses that allegedly decrease competition ⁠across an industry. Private equity firms will look closely at ​the terms of the settlement, which have not yet been made public.

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CONTEXT

The ​FTC under President Donald Trump has made healthcare a priority, but at the same time has emphasized it is willing to settle on terms it finds ​adequate to remove any problems.

Private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & ​Stowe, which created USAP, was sued by the FTC, but settled with the agency after winning ‌a ⁠bid to dismiss claims against it.

BY THE NUMBERS

The FTC said the rollup involved more than a dozen anesthesiology practices, 1,000 doctors, and 750 nurses.

THE RESPONSE

The FTC said the settlement is currently confidential “to facilitate ​the negotiations USAP ​must undertake,” but ⁠that the deal would “restore a competitive market structure and will be consistent with longstanding FTC settlement best ​practices.” If USAP fails to fully execute the ​settlement, the ⁠FTC will resume its case, the agency said.

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USAP Chairman Scott Holliday said in a statement that while the company believes it has ⁠operated ​responsibly in Texas, “it was important to resolve ​this now so that USAP can remain laser-focused on providing high-quality anesthesia services.”

Reporting by ​Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Rod Nickel and Paul Simao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Big-name Republicans are balking at Trump taking a stake in Spirit Airlines. Here’s why

2026-04-23 12:33 PM ET / CNN

Analysis by Aaron Blake

3 hr ago
PUBLISHED Apr 23, 2026, 12:33 PM ET

Donald Trump Aviation news

A Spirit Airlines Airbus A320 lands at Hollywood Burbank Airport on April 17.

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

For more than a year, Republicans in Washington have largely stood by as President Donald Trump staged a series of remarkable government interventions into private business.

The moves flew in the face of decades of conservative, free-market-capitalist orthodoxy. Some of them have even sounded a lot like, well, socialism.

But the administration’s interest in Spirit Airlines is testing the GOP’s laissez-faire approach.

Some prominent Republicans have quickly delivered an apparent brushback pitch against the Trump administration’s idea to bail out the troubled airline with $500 million. Importantly, CNN reports the administration’s proposal is expected to include the federal government taking a stake in Spirit, as it has in several other companies over the past year.

“This is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea,” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas posted on X, comparing it to the 2008 bank bailouts. “The TARP corporate bailouts were a huge mistake & the government doesn’t know a damn thing about running a failed budget airline (that the Biden admin killed).”

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas was a little less adamant, but still raised concerns.

“If Spirit’s creditors or other potential investors don’t think they can run it profitably coming out of its second bankruptcy in under two years, I doubt the US Government can either,” Cotton said. “Not the best use of taxpayer dollars.”

And Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina said that Americans “shouldn’t be on the hook for another failing business as its competition thrives.”

Even Trump’s own transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, hasn’t sounded particularly thrilled by this idea.

After Trump seemed to float the government buying Spirit during an interview Tuesday morning on CNBC, Duffy said: “The president says take a look, and he is my boss, and so we will take a look.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks alongside President Donald Trump and others, in the Oval Office of the White House on December 3, 2025.

Brian Snyder/Reuters/File

In an interview with Reuters, Duffy pointed to the potential pitfalls of not only the bailout but also the government taking ownership of the company.

“There’s been a lot of money thrown at Spirit, and they haven’t found their way into profitability. And so would we just forestall the inevitable and then own ⁠that?” ​Duffy said. “We can’t make dumb investments.”

Duffy then added: “If no one else wants to ​buy them, why would we buy them?”

There are valid reasons for the Trump administration to not want Spirit to fail. Perhaps doubly so since the airline industry is currently dealing with surging jet fuel costs due to the Iran war, which are forcing airlines to cut back on routes and raise prices.

But it’s one thing to bail them out; it’s another to buy a stake in the airline.

Of course, this has become one of Trump’s go-to strategies.

Over the past year, his administration has taken stakes in more than a dozen companies, totaling more than $20 billion, according to new data this week from the Council on Foreign Relations.

Many of the deals are aimed at protecting US supply chains and the American technological industry, as well as contending with an increasingly important battle for critical minerals. The CFR labels it the largest US government acquisition of private equity stakes since World War II.

Oftentimes, the shares have been relatively modest — around 10% of the companies. But in some instances, they’ve given the federal government major control over private businesses.

That includes a “golden share” in US Steel Corp that gives the government (Trump) veto power over investment and production decisions. It also includes a deal with Westinghouse in which the government can force it to launch an initial public offering if its value rises over a certain point, and can also buy a larger share at a discounted price at a later date.

Those aren’t the only ways Trump has run afoul of conservative free-market orthodoxy.

There’s also his protectionist global tariffs — many of which were recently struck down by the Supreme Court. He’s effectively bullied private businesses to bend the knee by wielding threats of using government power, like forcing ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel. And his quest to lower prescription drug prices has included the launch of a direct-to-consumer, government-run drug platform called TrumpRx.

Still, to this point, the pushback from the right has been very limited.

Some prominent conservative and free-market activists in February wrote a letter opposing some of Trump’s prescription drug efforts. Cruz also strenuously objected to the Kimmel pressure. And a handful of Republican lawmakers balked at Trump taking a stake in Intel last summer.

“The U.S. federal government should not be buying companies,” Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said back in August.

That’s certainly not an outlandish position to take in the modern Republican Party — or at least, the version that existed before Trump. But it’s a principle that very few Republicans have vocalized lately.

So why might that change with Spirit?

For one, it’s looking like the government could take a much larger share of Spirit than of those other companies, giving it much more ownership. Second, the situation doesn’t involve issues that the government could argue directly impact national security, like strategically important minerals.

But don’t undersell how much Trump’s historically low popularity could have to do with this.

So much of Trump’s second-term approach is predicated on having the political capital to bully people and steamroll the traditional guardrails of politics — to deter potential objectors from speaking out, for fear of the consequences.

But that’s much more difficult when there are indicators that the GOP base has soured on the president. Some people who might have held their tongue before could feel emboldened to stand up for their principles.

And this would seem to be a logical spot for conservatives, many of whom genuinely abhor socialistic policies, to make a stand. After all, just think about the big-government precedents Trump is setting that the next Democratic president could exploit.

Not to mention, politically it makes it more difficult for Republicans to argue Democrats are the socialists when the Trump administration is literally giving the government a historic amount of ownership of private companies.

Republicans have largely stood by while Trump took a wrecking ball to several party principles. But the Spirit Airlines saga could be a breaking point.

Howard Lutnick shuts down Dem questions over Jeffrey Epstein at budget hearing

April 23, 2026 3:48pm EDT / Fox News

Trump has dismissed calls for his Commerce secretary’s resignation amid scrutiny over Epstein ties

By Amanda Macias Fox News

‘I have nothing to hide’: Secretary pushes back as lawmaker questions Epstein meetings

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faces questions about past contact with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, he insists he has “nothing to hide” while declining to address specifics during a tense Capitol Hill exchange. (Credit: C-SPAN)

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick repeatedly shut down questions about his past ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein during a budget hearing Thursday.

He refused to address discrepancies in his statements and insisted the setting was “not” the place to discuss them because he was appearing before the House Appropriations Committee to discuss the budget.

Lutnick deflected as Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., pressed him on why he claimed to have cut off contact with Epstein in 2005 despite evidence they remained in touch for years afterward, amid mounting calls for his removal from the Trump administration.

TRUMP COMMERCE SECRETARY HOWARD LUTNICK TO APPEAR FOR HOUSE EPSTEIN PROBE, COMER SAYS

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifies during a during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on the Commerce Department 2027 budget request in Washington, DC on April 22, 2026.(Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The clash underscores intensifying scrutiny over Lutnick’s past relationship with Epstein and raises fresh questions about the consistency of his account, as lawmakers weigh oversight of the Commerce Department and demand greater transparency from senior officials tied to the late financier’s network.

During the hearing, Meng pointed to reports that Lutnick visited Epstein’s private island in 2012 and exchanged business emails as recently as 2018.

She asked why Lutnick had previously said he was never “in a room” with Epstein after 2005.

Lutnick did not answer her inquiries, instead saying he had agreed to address “any and all questions” in a separate session with lawmakers in the coming weeks. “Today I am here to testify about the budget,” he said, repeating that he had “nothing to hide.”

HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS BID TO CENSURE DEMOCRAT OVER EPSTEIN LINKS GOES DOWN IN FLAMES

Documents included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed on Jan. 2, 2024.(Jon Elswick/AP)

The same pattern played out later in the hearing when Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., confronted Lutnick more forcefully, accusing him of lying about the extent of his relationship with Epstein and pressing him on past business ties.

“Why did you lie about your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?” she pressed, urging the Commerce secretary to respond publicly rather than in a closed-door setting.

Lutnick again declined to engage, pointing to a future appearance before another committee and refusing to answer directly. Dean cut him off, saying, “Let the record reflect—you’re dodging the question. The cover-up continues,” before raising the possibility that President Donald Trump could remove him from his post.

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Howard Lutnick joined the second Trump administration in 2025 after co-chairing Trump’s transition team.(Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Lutnick has sought to downplay his past relationship with Epstein amid pressure from the public for the late sex offender’s associates to be revealed.

The two lived next door to each other in New York, but Lutnick told Congress he “barely had anything to do with that person.”

The Trump administration has so far dismissed calls for his resignation, even as questions about his past ties continue to mount, and Lutnick is expected to face more direct questioning from lawmakers in May.

Amanda covers the intersection of business and politics for Fox News Digital.

Justice Department watchdog launches probe into compliance with Epstein files law

2026-04-23T13:35:00-0400 / CBS News

Washington— The Justice Department’s internal watchdog said Thursday that it will audit the department’s compliance with the law that required the release of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, following months of bipartisan criticism over how the agency handled the disclosure.

The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General said in a statement that it will “evaluate the DOJ’s processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the” Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law last November. The bill required the Justice Department to release all files related to Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days of becoming law, a deadline the department failed to meet.

The watchdog office said the probe will review the processes behind the department’s “identification, collection, and production of responsive material.” It will also examine how the department determined what material would be redacted or withheld under the law, as well as the “processes for addressing post-release publication concerns.”

The statement said that the office will issue a public report with the audit’s results once the review is complete.

The Justice Department published an initial batch of files within 30 days of the bill being signed, but that release did not encompass the full scope of material covered by the statute. Days later, the department released a massive tranche of more than 11,000 files, totaling nearly 30,000 pages of photos, court records, emails, news clippings, videos and other material.

On Jan. 30, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the Justice Department was releasing more than 3 million pages of records related to its investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, its final disclosure.

Blanche said the Trump administration collected more than 6 million pages in response to the Epstein-related law but withheld a portion of them for various reasons, including because they contain survivors’ personal information or would jeopardize an active federal investigation.

“I can assure that we complied with the statute, we complied with the act and we did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect or not protect anybody,” Blanche said at a news conference announcing the final release. “There’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

Blanche has since been elevated to acting attorney general after the departure of Pam Bondi. In an interview with Fox News after he was elevated to his new role, Blanche said that the Epstein files “should not be a part of anything going forward” at the Justice Department.

A CBS News analysis found that the Justice Department removed tens of thousands of files after they were initially published, leaving the number of public documents at 2.7 million pages. As of late February, the review found that the Justice Department has taken down more than 47,000 files comprising about 65,500 pages. Links to those files now return a “page not found” error on the department’s website.

The rolling release and repeated publishing and unpublishing of documents left survivors and members of Congress alike calling for an independent review of the department’s handling of the files.

The two lawmakers who led the push to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, have also pushed for an independent review.

In a December 2025 letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general, Epstein survivors and a group of Democrats in Congress asked the watchdog office to independently review the files to determine whether any of the records were “tampered” with.

On Tuesday, President Trump nominated a career government attorney, Don Berthiaume, to serve as the Justice Department’s next inspector general. Berthiaume had been serving as the department’s acting watchdog since late last year.

节点运行失败

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/what-happens-with-the-jeffrey-epstein-files-after-pam-bondis-firing/

7 hearings in 7 days: The takeaways from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s week of congressional testimony

2026-04-23T17:28:56.530Z / CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:28 PM EDT, Thu April 23, 2026

7 hearings in 7 days: The takeaways from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s week of congressional testimony

Inside Politics

Dana Bash and the “Inside Politics” panel analyze the political fallout of a week of fiery congressional hearings with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., where lawmakers pressed him on vaccines. Abby Livingston tells Bash, “So much of the midterms are going to be about independent voters… and independent voters tend to support vaccines.”

5:18 • Source: CNN

‘Queen of DEI’ running for Congress ripped her rural state as ‘backwards’ on podcast

April 23, 2026 12:08pm EDT / Fox News

Christina Bohannan also said she was ‘glad’ a Republican bill banning the 1619 Project failed in Iowa

By Elaine Mallon

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Christina Bohannan, a Democratic candidate in a battleground Iowa district, is facing scrutiny from Republicans over past remarks in which she said the state would be viewed as “backwards” without diversity training in schools and argued the nation’s founders were motivated by preserving slavery during the Revolutionary War.

Bohannan, a law professor and former Iowa state representative, is making her third attempt to unseat incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, in the state’s 1st Congressional District after losing by less than a percentage point in 2024. The razor-thin margin has set up a high-stakes rematch this cycle, as Republicans work to defend one of their most competitive seats while highlighting Bohannan’s past positions on diversity, equity and inclusion.

“DEI Queen Christina Bohannan thinks George Floyd is a role model, and George Washington should be cancelled,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Zach Kraft said in a statement to Fox News Digital.”Iowans will channel the spirit of 1776 to reject this two-time loser once again so she can return to her day job calling everyone and everything racist.”

Bohannan made the remarks now under GOP fire on the podcast “Under the Dome” in 2021.

CROCKETT’S POTENTIAL SUCCESSOR HAS REPEATEDLY RAILED AGAINST US IN REPARATIONS PUSH: ‘IT’S BEEN EVIL’

Christina Bohannan, candidate for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, holds a press conference following a visit to the Washington County Hospitals & Clinics July 30, 2025, in Washington, Iowa.(Julia Hansen / Iowa City Press-Citize)

Bohannan, then a state representative, said she was “really concerned” about a bill in the Iowa legislature banning diversity training, including implicit bias training, from being taught at public schools and universities. She said that implicit bias, an unconscious attitude a person may have toward someone based on race, is “very real,” and is “serious.”

“I think that it is going to be very divisive if passed,” Bohannan said at the time. “I think that it’s going to send a very bad message about Iowa and that it is going to seem like are kind of this backwards state that doesn’t understand there are things like systemic racism.”

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed that bill into law in June 2021.

Bohannan also said on the podcast that she was “glad” that a Republican-backed bill banning the 1619 Project, a New York Times initiative that suggests slavery is central to the nation’s founding, failed during the legislative session.

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER SUGGESTS ‘SLAVE MENTALITY’ BEHIND HISPANIC TRUMP VOTERS

Christina Bohannan, candidate for Iowa’s first congressional district, listens during a roundtable on affordable housing Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Iowa City, Iowa.(Iowa City Press-Citizen)

The 1619 Project focuses “on the fact that there were some Revolutionary leaders who became supportive of that Revolution because they wanted to preserve the institution of slavery,” Bohannan said, noting there were other reasons for the revolution, such as taxation.

Fox News Digital reached out to Bohannan for comment.

Bohannan has supported diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as police reform and migrant rights groups, for years.

DEMOCRAT IN KEY SENATE PRIMARY SAYS SHE ‘REGRETS’ VOTE ON LAKEN RILEY ACT, DRAWS GOP BACKLASH

While in the Iowa legislature, she co-sponsored a bill requiring implicit bias training for health professionals, but the bill never made it out of committee.

As chairwoman of the University of Iowa law school’s DEI Committee, she pushed students to support the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. In a letter to students, she listed five different funds students can donate to, including the Minnesota Freedom Fund and the National Bail Out Fund, which both support defunding the police.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 16, 2025.(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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During a candidate forum in 2020, at the time of Bohannan’s first congressional campaign, she said she was “very active” in Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, a group focused on abolishing ICE, the Washington Free Beacon reported. A year prior, Bohannan donated money to the Prairieland Freedom Fund to help bail illegal immigrants out of jail. The Prairieland Freedom Fund seeks to establish a “world without police.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Miller-Meeks’ campaign for comment.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

Trump praises ousted Navy Secretary Phelan amid tensions with Pentagon leadership

April 23, 2026 3:42pm EDT / Fox News

Navy insiders say Hegseth grew frustrated that Phelan at times bypassed him and took issues directly to Trump

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

John Phelan replaced as Navy secretary in Pentagon shakeup

Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports as Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been replaced, effective immediately, amid Pentagon shakeup.

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Listen to this article

5 min

Navy Secretary John Phelan was removed from his post after months of tensions with senior Pentagon leadership, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Multiple officials told Fox News Digital that both War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg had concerns with Phelan’s leadership, and tensions had simmered for months. One flashpoint came after Hegseth fired Phelan’s chief of staff, John Harrison, in October 2025, according to sources.

Those frustrations were in part fueled by concerns over Phelan’s execution of major shipbuilding programs, one source confirmed.

But President Donald Trump struck a different tone publicly, praising Phelan in a post on Truth Social Thursday afternoon.

NAVY SECRETARY DEPARTS IMMEDIATELY AS UNDERSECRETARY TAKES OVER IN ACTING ROLE

“John Phelan is a long time friend, and very successful businessman, who did an outstanding job serving as my Secretary Of The Navy for the last year,” Trump wrote. “John helped my Administration rebuild Sleepy Joe Biden’s rapidly depleted, and almost abandoned, Navy. Now, because of John, and all of the Great Men and Women lovingly and tirelessly involved, we have the strongest Navy in the World — BY FAR!”

Trump added that he would “certainly like to have him back within the Trump Administration sometime in the future” and said Phelan “decided to move on,” a characterization at odds with what other administration officials have told Fox News Digital.

A senior administration official said Trump and Hegseth “agreed new leadership at the Navy is needed.”

The official added that Hegseth informed Phelan of the decision before Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the move in a post on X Wednesday.

The leadership shakeup comes at a critical moment for the Navy, as U.S. forces confront escalating tensions amid a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian attacks and mine threats have disrupted a vital global oil choke point. It also comes as Trump has pushed the Navy into a “wartime footing” for expanding the nation’s lagging shipbuilding capacity.

Navy Secretary John Phelan was removed from his post this week after months of tensions with senior Pentagon leadership, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.(Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.(Alex Brandon/AP)

Phelan, a billionaire and former fundraiser for Trump, and his wife, Amy, hosted a bridal shower for Donald Trump Jr’s fiancé at Mar-a-Lago in mid-April.

Other Navy insiders described the tensions as more personal, saying Hegseth grew frustrated that Phelan at times bypassed him and took issues directly to Trump.

Phelan declined to comment to Fox News Digital. Hegseth aides could not be reached for comment on the tensions.

Phelan is the second senior level Pentagon official to lose his job in April after Army chief of staff Randy George, in the midst of the U.S. operation against Iran. His exit also comes amid a broader Cabinet shakeup: Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer all departed their roles since March.

Phelan’s departure also comes amid heightened pressure on the Navy to address persistent shipbuilding challenges. The Navy’s Columbia-class submarine program — its top priority — remains behind schedule and over budget, with delivery of the lead vessel now expected to be delayed by roughly 17 months into 2029.

“John Phelan is a long time friend, and very successful businessman, who did an outstanding job serving as my Secretary Of The Navy for the last year,” Trump said.(Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)

More broadly, major Navy shipbuilding programs have continued to face delays and cost pressures during Phelan’s roughly yearlong tenure, even as he made shipbuilding a central focus of his leadership. He launched reviews of major programs and pushed changes aimed at accelerating production, while the Navy has invested heavily in efforts to address workforce shortages and production bottlenecks, including a $900 million initiative in 2026 to automate submarine manufacturing.

Tensions escalated as Feinberg moved to centralize oversight of major shipbuilding programs, in some cases stripping Phelan of authority over key efforts, according to New York Times reporting citing a congressional official.

Phelan also drew scrutiny in recent days after suggesting the Navy could explore alternatives such as outsourcing shipbuilding as it grapples with capacity constraints.

“Everything’s on the table,” Phelan said at the Sea-Air-Space conference Monday. “We just need to look at it, understand it, understand the implications behind it and decide if we think that makes sense or not.”

ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF ORDERED TO RETIRE IMMEDIATELY AS HEGSETH CONTINUES PENTAGON SHAKEUP

Phelan is the second senior level Pentagon official to lose his job this month, in the midst of the U.S. operation against Iran.(Sahar AL ATTAR / AFP via Getty Images)

Hung Cao, the Navy’s under secretary, has stepped in as acting Navy secretary following Phelan’s removal, bringing a sharply different background and leadership profile to the role. Unlike Phelan, a businessman, Cao is a retired Navy captain and special operations officer who served more than two decades in the military, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, before entering politics and later joining the Pentagon’s civilian leadership.

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Cao has also emerged as a prominent voice within the Trump administration on military culture and readiness, taking a hardline stance on recruiting and force standards.

In a political debate while he was running for the Virginia Senate seat in October 2024, Cao said: “When you’re using a drag queen…to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we need. What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds.”

Foreign-flagged tanker ships US oil from Texas to Pennsylvania after waiver

2026-04-23 17:53:33 UTC / Reuters

HOUSTON, April 23 (Reuters) – A foreign-flagged tanker delivered a load of crude oil from Texas to a ​U.S. refinery on Thursday under ‌a temporary waiver issued by President Donald Trump to combat price increases and supply disruptions ​due to the Iran war.

​The Malta-flagged HTM Warrior loaded light, ⁠sweet Bakken crude from refiner Phillips ​66’s terminal in Beaumont, Texas, in early April ​and discharged the cargo at Monroe Energy’s Trainer refinery in Pennsylvania last week, Kpler and LSEG ​ship tracking data showed.

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The Trump administration ​in March announced a 60-day waiver of the 1920 ‌Jones ⁠Act shipping law, temporarily allowing foreign-flagged vessels to move fuel, fertilizer and other goods between U.S. ports. The rare ​waiver underscored ​the administration’s ⁠urgent response to a crisis that has led to ​a sharp rise in gasoline ​prices ⁠and disrupted critical fertilizer supplies for U.S. farmers.

The administration is considering extending ⁠the ​Jones Act waiver, Axios ​reported on Tuesday, citing U.S. officials.

Reporting by Arathy ​Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Paul Simao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

By Holmes Lybrand

Updated 1 hr 2 min ago

Updated Apr 23, 2026, 2:57 PM ET

PUBLISHED Apr 23, 2026, 1:18 PM ET

Jeffrey Epstein is seen in this image released by the Department of Justice.

Department of Justice

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog is launching a review into the DOJ’s production of files and documents related to Jeffrey Epstein as controversy continues over the handling of the case of the convicted sex offender.

The Inspector General will focus on “the DOJ’s identification, collection, and production of responsive material,” it said in a statement Thursday, as well as “processes for redacting and withholding material” and how the Justice Department addressed issues following the release of Epstein documents.

Related article Printed copies of documents released by the U.S. Justice Department in connection with court cases involving the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, are seen in this photo illustration. Taken in Brussels, Belgium, on 8 February 2026. (Jonathan Raa / Sipa USA) Strictly for editorial news purposes only (Sipa via AP Images) Jonathan Raa/Sipa USA/AP Epstein’s victims say other men abused them. Files shed little light on how investigators followed up 14 min read

The vast files collected throughout investigations related to Epstein were ordered to be released by Congress in a law that passed late last year. Some members of Congress have ridiculed the Justice Department for over-redactions and tracking their searches as they went through unredacted versions of the material.

“Men need to be perp-walked in handcuffs to the jail, and until we see that here in this country … we don’t have a system of justice that’s working,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who co-sponored the Epstein document law, told the BBC in March.

Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November after repeated failures from the Justice Department to deliver on past promises that they would be releasing information on Epstein – even material it did not have, like the long-fabled list of contacts and co-conspirators that now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed was on her desk ready to be released early last year. No such list has been produced and the Justice Department has not charged anyone beyond Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

Bondi was fired by President Donald Trump early this year in part because of her continued bungling of the Epstein investigation.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in his new role leading the department after Bondi’s ousting, argued during a press conference this month that the new DOJ under Trump’s second term “has been a lot more transparent” than past administrations.

But Blanche has also tried to hurry the Epstein scandal to the dustbin of history.

“I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward,” Blanche said in an interview with Fox News earlier this year.

“I’m not sure you totally get what people feel about that,” Fox News host Jesse Watters said later over Blanche’s answers to questions related to Epstein.

The DOJ’s Inspector General previously found that, after an investigation, Epstein killed himself in a jail cell in 2019. Maxwell, his longtime business partner, is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in conspiring with Epstein to procure minors for him to sexually abuse.

Related article Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during the 2026 Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas, on March 26, 2026. Daniel Cole/Reuters Todd Blanche takes over the Justice Department, where there’s no escaping the Epstein files shadow 6 min read

Blanche also met with Maxwell last year in Florida. She was given limited immunity so that she could discuss her criminal case, but did not promise any other benefits in exchange for her testimony, according to a transcript released by the Justice Department.

However, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp shortly after the interview was completed. DOJ has said there’s no connection between Blanche’s meeting and her transfer.