Five months into Vice President JD Vance’s tenure inside the White House, Fox News Digital spoke to several of his colleagues about his specific role and accomplishments, including some that his peers say have been overlooked by most media outlets. 

Several in Vance’s political circle used words like ‘Swiss army knife’ and ‘utility player’ to describe a vice president, who they say flexibly steps into a variety of roles, including being a key voice on Capitol Hill guiding the president’s Cabinet nominees successfully through the Senate.

‘He was very much involved in that, he made phone calls, he listened to people, he provided advice and thoughts and would talk things out with people,’ GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn said, adding that Vance does not get enough credit for the ‘level of engagement’ with his former colleagues in the Senate. 

Ohio GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno told Fox News Digital that Vance has been an ‘enforcer’ in the Senate, not just when it came to confirming President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in a heated political climate, but also playing a significant role helping the president’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ make its way through Congress. 

If he [Trump] needs help with nominees, he is going to come over and do that, if he needs help with a Big Beautiful Bill, because obviously President Trump has got a lot on his plate, he’ll come over to talk to his colleagues,’ Moreno said. ‘If he has to lobby one on one, he’s built good relationships.’

Moreno, who ran against Vance for Senate in 2022 before dropping out and endorsing him and then running successfully in 2024 with Vance’s endorsement, went on to say that he has not heard ‘one negative comment’ from Republicans in the Senate about Vance’s performance.

In fact, one senator said to me today that their impression after the lunch yesterday was that he really started to look really presidential and how impressive he is,’ Moreno said. 

A senior White House official praised Vance’s ‘direct impact’ in the Senate when it comes to legislative efforts and Cabinet confirmations, adding that Trump’s domestic agenda is where his ‘impact has been felt the most.’ 

JD Vance throughout the whole transition, was always going to bat for Hegseth and for different nominees,’ the official said. ‘So he played a very active role making sure all the various Cabinet officials got confirmed.’

Vance’s influence has been felt on the foreign policy front, as well as the vice president making high-profile trips to India, the Vatican and Germany outlining the president’s ‘America First’ agenda. 

In India, Vance was involved with and touted progress made toward a U.S.-India trade deal, saying a partnership between the Trump administration and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would ensure a 21st century that’s ‘prosperous and peaceful.’ 

Vance delivered a speech in Germany in February when he directly called out the organizers of the Munich conference, who he said had ‘banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations.’

The speech sparked a social media firestorm, drawing criticism from some and praise from others, including Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley, who described Vance’s remarks as a ‘Churchillian’ moment for free speech. 

As the war between Russia and Ukraine raged on, Vance took an active role in the dialogue between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and was front and center in the viral White House blowup between the two leaders, calling out the Ukrainian leader for ‘lack of respect.’

Vance, who has been labeled as an ‘attack dog’ for Trump dating back to the campaign trail last year, gave several interviews outlining his belief that, at the time, Zelenskyy was impeding the peace process. 

Former Trump senior advisor Jason Miller told Fox News Digital that Vance has been influential when it comes to helping promote the president’s foreign policy agenda.’

That influence was on full display in recent weeks as the United States bombed several nuclear sites in Iran, causing a stir with conservatives on social media on the merits of getting involved in a foreign conflict after Trump and Vance campaigned against drawn-out foreign wars of the past. 

‘Going into the conflict with Iran, I think was pretty notable for a couple of things. One, just the fact that the way he was elevated and was at the president’s side for the entire time, really how he had a seat at the table as part of the decision-making and the driving force for what happened,’ Miller said. 

‘But then also, the fact that the vice president played such an important role of talking to people from across the MAGA coalition, people who are very much into America First and may have initially been skeptical with regard to Iran and being kind of the one of the main people in the admin who can kind of talk with both camps,’ he continued. ‘And as we saw with his Twitter posts both before the action and then even afterwards being able to really articulate, lay out the rationale for what President Trump is doing and make sure that the people across the coalition have a clear understanding of it.’

Vance was front and center following the strike on Iran, sitting down for an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier on ‘Special Report’ outlining the reasoning for the strike as news broke that a ceasefire had been negotiated with the countries involved. 

The White House official told Fox News Digital that when the president ‘calls a play,’ Vance ‘makes sure it’s run’ even if the two may have a different perspective, which is a sentiment that Miller echoed, saying that Trump promotes a ‘team environment’ to get perspective from all sides, even though he is ultimately the one who makes the final decision.

I think that the president and the vice president are very much in lockstep when it comes to the ultimate goals that they’re trying to accomplish,’ Miller said. 

In terms of the media’s portrayal of the relationship between Trump and Vance, Moreno told Fox News Digital that ‘any story that says there’s daylight between what Trump believes and what JD believes can be rejected out of hand, because it’s not actually how it works.’

‘JD doesn’t view himself as the person who’s there to enact his agenda. He’s there to enact President Trump’s agenda.’

When it comes to Vance’s accomplishments on foreign and domestic policy in the first five months of the administration, both Miller and Moreno expressed the belief that the vice president has gotten more done in half a year than former Vice President Kamala Harris accomplished in four years. 

You’re talking about literally polar opposites between her and JD,’ Moreno said. ‘Even a mentally diminished Biden understood what a great liability Kamala Harris was, he basically froze her and put her in the basement. President Trump realizes, because he’s a very smart guy, because he’s the one that made the decision to pick JD Vance realizes that JD is very effective for him and isn’t looking to overshadow or take the spotlight, but rather move his agenda forward.’

Miller agreed, saying that ‘Vice President Vance is easily the best vice president and most notable Vice President we’ve had in the last 30 plus years and is light years of improvement over Kamala Harris.’

While speculation has run rampant about what the Republican Party will look like after Trump completes his second term and whether Vance is the heir apparent in a crowded Republican field, Miller told Fox News Digital that Vance is not focused on that but has been ‘crushing it’ on the campaign trail raising money for the party. 

He’s a huge draw out on the midterm fundraising trail and he’s someone who many people view as the future of the movement,’ Miller said. 

Ultimately, Moreno told Fox News Digital that he does not think Vance gets enough credit for being one of the most ‘grounded’ politicians he has encountered who genuinely cares for his friends and family and always keeps his humble beginnings in Middletown, Ohio, at the forefront of the decisions he makes. 

‘America First, and I said it when I nominated him in Wisconsin, it’s not a political slogan, it’s his North Star,’ Moreno said. ‘It’s why he is doing what he’s doing. I don’t think people realize that. I think people don’t know enough about him as a man.’

Conservative lawmakers were infuriated on Thursday morning after the Senate’s de facto ‘scorekeeper’ for President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ ruled that key parts of the GOP agenda bill must be stripped out.

‘The Senate Parliamentarian is not elected. She is not accountable to the American people. Yet she holds veto power over legislation supported by millions of voters,’ Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., wrote on X. ‘It is time for our elected leaders to take back control.’

He called on Vice President JD Vance to ‘overrule the Parliamentarian and let the will of the people, not some staffer hiding behind Senate procedure, determine the future of this country.’

The Constitution names the vice president as president of the Senate as well, though it is a largely ceremonial role save for when they are needed to cast a tie-breaking vote in the chamber.

The Senate parliamentarian is typically appointed by the Senate majority leader and serves at their pleasure, with no term limit. 

Their role is to make apolitical judgments about Senate rules and procedure. In the budget reconciliation process, which Republicans are working through now, the parliamentarian’s job is to rule on whether aspects of the bill fall within the necessary guidelines to qualify for reconciliation’s simple majority passage threshold.

However, with several rulings that found key portions of Trump’s agenda do not fall into reconciliation’s budgetary guidelines, Republicans on the other side of Capitol Hill – in the House of Representatives – are urging the Senate to break norms and disregard several of the parliamentarian’s decisions.

‘They ought to heed the advice of the president – don’t change the bill,’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital earlier this week. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., even called for the parliamentarian to be fired.

‘The Senate Parliamentarian also ruled that ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are eligible for federal student loans. Does she not realize that our student loan crisis is already out of control??? ZERO taxpayer dollars should go towards student loans for ILLEGALS,’ he wrote on X.

‘THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP.’

And Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital, ‘The House Freedom Caucus fought tooth and nail for Medicaid reforms that would save taxpayers billions and protect the program for those who truly need it. But now, the unelected parliamentarian has struck down key provisions of [the bill.]’

‘The Senate must act quickly to correct this failure,’ Burlison said.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., wrote on X on Wednesday evening, ‘Respecting the rules matters, but so does respecting the voters. They didn’t give an unelected staffer the power to decide what is in the budget—that’s the job of Congress.’

‘It doesn’t have to be this way. The Republicans senators are not required to adhere to anything she says,’ Van Drew said.

Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, said on the platform, ‘The rogue Senate Parliamentarian should be overruled, just like activist judges.’

Despite calls from irate House Republicans and some senators, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has stood firm in his position that he would not seek to overrule the parliamentarian.

‘That would not be a good outcome for getting a bill done,’ he told reporters. 

When asked about the parliamentarian’s ruling on the provider taxes, Thune said that there were things that Republicans can do to get ‘to that same outcome.’ 

‘I mean, we may not have everything that we want in terms of provider tax reforms, but if we can get most of the reforms there, get the savings that come with it,’ he said. ‘This is all about saving taxpayers money and reforming these programs in a way that makes them not only more fiscally sustainable long-term, but strengthening and getting rid of the waste, fraud, and abuse in the programs.’

Senate Democrats vowed to inflict as much pain as possible through the process known as the ‘Byrd Bath,’ which tests if each provision, line-by-line, is compliant with the Byrd Rule that governs the budget reconciliation process. 

So far, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled several key provisions, including oil and gas leasing, public land sales, changes to the cost-sharing formula for food benefits, among others, as being out of compliance with the Byrd Rule. 

However, it was a slew of rulings unveiled Thursday morning the gutted numerous changes Senate Republicans made to the widely-used Medicaid program that triggered conservatives. 

Among the axed provisions was the Senate GOP’s harsher crackdown on the Medicaid provider rate, or the amount that state Medicaid programs pay to providers on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, which proved even a divisive policy among some in the conference. 

Other provisions that were nixed included denying states Medicaid funding for having illegal immigrants on the benefit rolls, preventing illegal immigrants from participating in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and preventing Medicaid and CHIP funding from going toward gender-affirming care. 

Republicans viewed those as key cost-saving changes, and their removal has likely set back their plan to put the mammoth bill on Trump’s desk by July 4. 

A Senate Republican wants to see the Senate parliamentarian fired and plans to introduce a resolution that would require the position to be term-limited.

Fury erupted among conservatives Thursday morning following the news that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled several key reforms and tweaks to Medicaid in the Senate GOP’s version of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ did not pass muster with Senate rules.

That means that the current provisions that do not comply with the Byrd Rule must be stripped, but Republicans can still scramble to rewrite and resubmit the policy to the parliamentarian.

However, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., wants immediate action taken against the parliamentarian.

‘In 2001, Majority Leader Trent Lott fired the Senate parliamentarian during reconciliation,’ Marshall told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s 2025 during reconciliation, and we need to again fire the Senate parliamentarian.’

He argued that, based upon early reports, the parliamentarian’s rulings against myriad provisions in the bill may erase up to $500 billion in spending cuts, which could hamper the bill’s survival among fiscal hawks and miss the goal of hitting up to $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has made clear that he did not intend to overrule the parliamentarian. Fox News Digital reached out to the top Senate Republican for comment.

Marshall, like other congressional Republicans, was particularly incensed over the parliamentarian’s rulings that gutted numerous changes Senate Republicans made to the widely-used Medicaid program that triggered conservatives.

Among the axed provisions was the Senate GOP’s harsher crackdown on the Medicaid provider rate, or the amount that state Medicaid programs pay to providers on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, which proved a divisive policy among some in the conference.

Other provisions that were nixed included denying states Medicaid funding for having illegal immigrants on the benefit rolls, preventing illegal immigrants from participating in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and preventing Medicaid and CHIP funding from going toward gender-affirming care.

Republicans viewed those as key cost-saving changes, and their removal has likely set back their plan to put the mammoth bill on Trump’s desk by July 4.

The parliamentarian is chosen by the Senate majority leader and serves without term limits in the role.

Marshall wants to put an end to that practice and plans to introduce a resolution on Thursday that would only be allowed to serve one, six-year term.

‘The current parliamentarian has been in office since 2012, appointed by Harry Reid,’ Marshall said. ‘This is NOT an elected position. Power tends to corrupt,  and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Term limits on a person with this absolute power need be implemented.’

A group of House Republicans is demanding details on how government agencies are addressing the growing threat of unauthorized drone incursions on U.S. military installations. 

In letters sent Thursday, the Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs requested a trove of documents and communications from the Departments of Defense (DoD), Transportation (DOT), and Justice (DOJ). 

The letters note that in 2024 alone, there were 350 drone incursions at over 100 U.S. military bases. 

Lawmakers believe many of the responses to the illegal incursions, including an instance where a group of drones traipsed over Langley Air Force Base for over two weeks in December 2023, have been insufficient and fragmented. 

Under current rules, base commanders must establish ‘hostile intent’ before taking action — a threshold the lawmakers say is ill-suited to fast-moving and ambiguous drone threats.

Coordination between military installations, the DOJ, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and local law enforcement is often ‘improvised and bureaucratically delayed,’ the letter states, leaving gaps that adversaries could exploit.

To assess the issue, Republicans are asking the agencies to turn over documents by July 10, including: all interagency policies and agreements on drone detection and mitigation; a list of all facilities protected under Title 10 Section 130(i); communications involving DoD, DOJ, FAA, and others about drone threats and authority gaps; all incident reports related to drone incursions since January 2022; any internal reviews assessing current legal frameworks and recommending reforms; plans for a joint federal-state-local task force on counter-drone coordination.

Fox News Digital has reached out to DoD, DOJ, and DOT for comment.

The lawmakers frame their demands as part of a broader push for legislative reform and operational clarity in the face of escalating drone threats to national security. ‘This is a rapidly evolving threat that requires a unified and proactive response,’ the letter states, emphasizing the need for better data sharing and resource allocation between agencies.

The threat comes at a time when the lethal capabilities of modern drone warfare have been proven on the ground in Ukraine and in the Middle East. 

READ THE LETTER BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

From the early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been deployed with devastating effect by both Russian and Ukrainian forces, transforming how battles are fought and how intelligence is gathered. What began as surveillance and artillery-spotting platforms has evolved into a full-scale integration of explosive-laden loitering munitions, or ‘kamikaze drones,’ capable of precision strikes deep behind enemy lines.

One of the most notorious platforms is the Iranian-made Shahed-136, a low-cost, GPS-guided drone that Russia has used in swarms to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and strike civilian infrastructure, including power stations and residential areas. These drones, launched in waves, have been used to sow terror and inflict strategic damage while costing a fraction of conventional missiles. Ukraine, for its part, has responded with creative adaptations, converting consumer camera drones into improvised bombers and launching strikes on Russian trenches, vehicles, and even naval assets in the Black Sea.

Israel used drones alongside warplanes to assault top generals and key military and nuclear facilities in Operation Rising Lion this month. Iran fired back its own onslaught of drones toward Israel.

Military analysts have said Ukraine represents the first major war where drones are central to strategy, not just supporting tools. Their widespread deployment has forced a tactical rethink, prompted innovations in electronic warfare and counter-UAS systems, and prompted debate about how quickly drones may outpace manned aircraft in aerial combat. 

Senate Republicans pushed back against a leaked report that President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran did not obliterate the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, but still wanted more information on the full extent of the damage done to the key facilities.

A widely reported ‘low confidence’ assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) suggested that the weekend strikes, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, did not completely destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Trump has remained firm that the sites were ‘totally obliterated,’ and the White House has strongly pushed back against the report. And both the Israeli and Iranian governments agree that the sites were badly damaged.

Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee told Fox News Digital that they were confident in the president’s assessment and pushed back against the DIA’s findings.

‘First of all, one of the things I’d consider is the DIA said that Ukraine would be wiped out in three days,’ Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told Fox News Digital. ‘And second, whatever the damage to Fordow is, the damage to the [nuclear] capabilities of Iran are devastating.’

Cramer said that the effectiveness of the bombing, which was carried out by several B-2 bombers armed with bunker-busting bombs, could not be ‘overstated,’ and warned that lingering questions surrounding the effectiveness of the operation were just ‘fodder for political discussion.’

‘I think the mission was accomplished,’ he said.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., had not yet read the report, but called the DIA’s finding and subsequent news reports ‘bogus.’ Wicker’s sentiment came just after Senate Republicans met behind closed doors with Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter.

‘We just spoke to the Israeli ambassador to the United States just a few moments ago, and his assessment is that their capability has been destroyed for years,’ Wicker said.

Still, just how damaged the nuclear facilities are, particularly the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant buried deep under layers of rock, is a question lawmakers want answered and believe would only come from a true boots-on-the-ground assessment.

Senators are set to receive a briefing Thursday afternoon from Trump officials on the strikes, and expect to learn more about the true extent of the damage.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that he’d seen all the evidence and there was not ‘an inconsistency’ between the president’s assertions and the materials he had seen.

He said that the briefing would allow lawmakers ‘a chance from multiple sources to glean what’s actually down deep underneath,’ but noted that until more clear information was available, absolute confirmation of the total damage wrought by the bombs was not complete.

Whether another strike should be authorized should further intelligence show that the program was not fully destroyed, Rounds said, ‘another strike depends on what the other options would be.’

‘I don’t think you ever take anything off the table for the president, but there might be other ways of handling it as well, because we’ve really opened that place up now,’ he said.  

Mossad Director David Barnea thanked the men and women working for the agency after the success of Israel’s Operation Rising Lion.

He also expressed his appreciation to the U.S. — particularly the CIA — for their work in countering Iran’s nuclear program.

‘These are historic days for the people of Israel. The Iranian threat, which endangered our security for decades, has been significantly thwarted thanks to the extraordinary cooperation between the IDF, which led the campaign, and the Mossad, which operated alongside it, with the support of our ally, the United States,’ Barnea said.

The Mossad, Israel’s equivalent of the CIA, had personnel in Iran ready for the launch of Operation Rising Lion, something that was revealed in unprecedented fashion when the agency released video of its operatives at work.

Ahead of the U.S. strikes in the early hours of Sunday morning, Iranian time, there was speculation whether Washington and Jerusalem were coordinating. President Donald Trump made it clear after the strikes that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been working together behind the scenes.

‘I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team — like perhaps no team has ever worked before — and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel,’ Trump said in his address to the nation following the strikes on Iran.

While Barnea expressed his gratitude to Israeli and American forces alike, he also said that ‘the mission is not yet complete.’

‘The Mossad will continue, with determination, to monitor, track, and act to thwart the threats against us — just as we always have — for the sake of the State of Israel and its people,’ Barnea said.

Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, said on Tuesday that the country was assessing the damage and preparing to restore the facilities, according to Reuters. He added that Iran’s ‘plan is to prevent interruptions in the process of production and services.’

Both Trump and Netanyahu vowed to respond if Iran rebuilds its nuclear program.

A controversial change to the Medicaid provider tax rate in Senate Republicans’ version of the ‘big, beautiful bill’ has been knocked out by Senate rules.

Senate Budget Committee Democrats announced on Thursday that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled against a slew of core provisions within President Donald Trump’s colossal bill, including tweaks to Medicaid that divided Republicans in the upper chamber.

Indeed, MacDonough ruled that the harsher Medicaid provider tax rate crackdown in the Senate’s version of the bill did not comport with the Byrd Rule, which provides guardrails for the budget reconciliation process.

That ruling and the stripping out of other provisions that included denying states Medicaid funding for having illegal immigrants on the benefit rolls, preventing illegal immigrants from participating in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and preventing Medicaid and CHIP funding from going toward gender-affirming care, among others, has gutted many of Republicans’ key cost-saving Medicaid changes and likely set back their plan to put the mammoth bill on Trump’s desk by July 4.

Senate Democrats vowed to inflict as much pain as possible on Republicans through the ‘Byrd Bath,’ where provisions are gone through line-by-line to see whether they comply with the Byrd Rule.

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., accused Republicans of ‘scrambling to rewrite parts of this bill’ as more and more provisions are knocked out by the parliamentarian.

‘Democrats are continuing to make the case against every provision in this Big, Beautiful Betrayal of a bill that violates Senate rules and hurts families and workers,’ Merkley said in a statement. ‘Democrats are fighting back against Republicans’ plans to gut Medicaid, dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and kick kids, veterans, seniors, and folks with disabilities off of their health insurance – all to fund tax breaks for billionaires.’

The Senate Finance Committee’s changes to the provider tax rate were a stark departure from the House GOP’s version of the bill. Senate Republicans went further than the House’s freeze of the rate, or the amount that state Medicaid programs pay to healthcare providers on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, for non-Affordable Care Act expansion states and included a provision that lowers the rate in expansion states annually until it hits 3.5%.

Those changes angered a handful of Republicans, like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who have warned not to make revisions to the healthcare program that could shut down rural hospitals and boot working Americans from their benefits.

The parliamentarian argued in her ruling that ‘ending states’ ability to tax healthcare providers would severely limit states’ ability to provide healthcare to millions of Americans who depend upon Medicaid for their care.’

In order for Senate Republicans to ram the president’s agenda through the Senate with a reduced 51-vote threshold, provisions within the bill have to adhere to the Byrd Rule, which requires that policy changes must have a budgetary and spending impact.

News of the provision’s removal comes as lawmakers were floating a possible fix to the crackdown in the form of a stabilization fund for rural hospitals. One proposal floated by the Senate Finance Committee would start a fund that distributes a total of $15 billion over the next five fiscal years to states that apply for the program. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth excoriated reporters at a Pentagon press briefing on Thursday, accusing them of rooting for the failure of President Donald Trump and the military’s recent strikes against Iran’s three key nuclear sites.

Hegseth addressed recent media reports citing a leaked low-confidence preliminary report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) that suggested U.S. strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months.

‘You, the press, specifically you, the press corps, because you cheer against Trump so hard,’ he said. ‘It’s like in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad. You have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes. You have to hope maybe they weren’t effective.’

A DIA source previously told Fox News that the ‘low confidence’ assessment was based on just ‘one day’s worth of intelligence reporting’ and more intelligence has been gathered in the days since through other sources and methods.

Hegseth accused the press of misrepresenting the facts. 

‘Maybe the way the Trump administration is represented isn’t true. So let’s take half truths, spun information, leaked information, and then spin it,’ Hegseth said of the media. ‘Spin it in every way we can to try to cause doubt and manipulate the mind, the public mind, over whether or not our brave pilots were successful.’

He also criticized the media for not shining a light on the American service members who carried out the strikes on Saturday and defended Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar from Iran’s counterattack.

Hegseth then chided reporters, alleging ‘the fake news’ of acting irresponsibly with their coverage, saying ‘classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad.’

‘What’s really happening is you’re undermining the success of incredible B-2 pilots and incredible F-35 pilots and incredible refueling and incredible air defenders who accomplished their mission, set back a nuclear program in ways that other presidents would have dreamed,’ he said. ‘How about we celebrate that?’

Hegseth described the Iranian nuclear sites targeted in Operation Midnight Hammer were ‘destroyed,’ ‘defeated,’ and ‘obliterated’ in what he called ‘a historically successful attack.’

‘We should celebrate it as Americans, and it gives us a chance to have peace, chance to have a deal and an opportunity to prevent a nuclear Iran, which is something President Trump talked about for 20 years,’ he said. ‘And no other presidents had the courage to actually do so.’

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

A decade after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in the United States, some Republican leaders still believe in the traditional definition of marriage between a man and a woman. 

Fox News Digital spoke with Republican lawmakers on the 10th anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark decision that required all states to lawfully recognize and license same-sex marriages. 

Ten years later, some Republican lawmakers still don’t support gay marriage, but they say preventing same-sex couples from getting married is no longer a legislative agenda. 

‘My belief is that a marriage should be a man and a woman,’ Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. ‘I think that’s the basis of all civil societies and all strong nations. It doesn’t mean I don’t love my fellow Americans who take a different view, and clearly there are plenty that do. And whether they are part of same-sex marriages or they just support them, I respectfully disagree.’

Arrington said he is a ‘rule of law guy’ and compared the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that constitutionally protected a woman’s right to abortion for nearly half a century. 

‘Just like with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, that’s the new law of the land. There are a lot of Democrats that have problems with that philosophically, and they’re gonna express that.’

The Texas Republican, a Christian, said he may have his ‘philosophical differences on what defines marriage, but the court has spoken.’

‘I’m going to honor that, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna change my values and my beliefs on what defines marriage,’ Arrington said. ‘To me, there are higher laws than the laws of our country, and those spiritual laws that I follow supersede them.’

Several House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital agreed with Arrington’s sentiment that while they might disagree with gay marriage, they have accepted the ruling as the law of the land. 

‘If you ask Cory as Cory, a person who believes that our Constitution was framed upon our Christian, Shenandoah beliefs, then it’s very clear that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman,’ Rep. Cory Mills, R-Florida, said.

But Mills added, ‘I don’t see where the federal government should be involved in everyone’s bedroom.’

Republican lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital also emphasized it’s a personal choice. 

Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, said he is a devout Roman Catholic, so he doesn’t personally believe in gay marriage. 

‘But I do believe we live in America, and when you’re over 18, you have a right to choose,’ Rulli said. ‘We always support when the Supreme Court has a ruling like that.’

‘Quite frankly, we all have to make our own choices,’ Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., said.’Not everybody believes that it’s a Christian value.’

Like many of his Republican colleagues, McCormick clarified that, despite his personal Christian beliefs, ‘The Supreme Court has decided on that, and I stick to that.’

The Medicaid debate among Senate Republicans continues to rage on, but a new proposal geared toward sating concerns over the survivability of rural hospitals could help to close the lingering fissures within the conference.

Senate Republicans are sprinting to finish their work on President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ which is filled with key priorities like making his first-term tax cuts permanent, funding his immigration and border security agenda, and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse across a variety of programs.

But lawmakers are still at odds over changes made in the Senate’s version of the bill to the Medicaid provider tax rate and the effects that it could have on rural hospitals, threatening to derail the legislation near the finish line.

A proposal making the rounds from the Senate Finance Committee obtained by Fox News Digital would create a separate stabilization fund that would go toward aiding and upgrading rural healthcare.

The committee’s proposal would allocate $3 billion annually to states that apply to the program over the next five fiscal years.

But that amount is too low for some senators and far too much for others.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has been working on a similar proposal but would prefer a much higher fund of $100 billion. That number is unlikely to pass muster with her colleagues and still isn’t high enough for her.

‘I don’t think that solves the entire problem,’ she said. ‘The Senate cuts in Medicaid are far deeper than the House cuts and I think that’s problematic as well.’

Collins would prefer a return to the House GOP’s proposed changes to the provider tax rate, rather than the Senate’s harsher crackdown.

The Senate changes to the provider tax rate hit close to home for Collins, whose state’s rural hospitals are already in jeopardy because the state of Maine failed to advance its budget in time, leaving roughly $400 million in Medicaid funding that would have gone to rural hospitals in limbo.

‘Obviously any money is helpful. But no, it is not adequate,’ she said.

Indeed, the changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate, which were a stark departure from the House GOP’s version of the bill, angered the Republicans who have warned not to make revisions to the health care program that could shut down rural hospitals and boot working Americans from their benefits.

The Senate Finance Committee went further than the House’s freeze of the provider tax rate, or the amount that state Medicaid programs pay to healthcare providers on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, for non-Affordable Care Act expansion states and included a provision that lowers the rate in expansion states annually until it hits 3.5%.

However, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and some Senate Republicans have argued that the provider tax rate is a scam rife with fraud that actually harms rural hospitals more than it helps.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., was in the same camp, and has argued that the rate should be nixed completely. He has similarly pushed for a separate fund but wasn’t keen on the cost of the current proposal.

‘I don’t know that we need $15 billion,’ he said. ‘But this needs to be run by CMS.’

And others wanted to see more money injected into a stabilization fund.

‘I think $5 billion a year would more than make them whole,’ Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said.

He contended that, as the only lawmaker who has run a rural hospital, there are only roughly 12 million people on Medicaid in rural America, and that lawmakers should ‘tighten things up’ when it comes to funding the health care program.

He said that being on Medicaid was ‘not the same as having healthcare,’ and added that ‘at best, two thirds of doctors accept Medicaid, and even many of the specialists, when they say they do, they won’t give you an appointment for six months or a year.’

‘Medicaid is not the solution,’ he said. ‘It’s the most broken federal system up here.’