Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading the U.S. delegation to the high-profile Munich Security Conference — one year after Vice President JD Vance took the German stage in a speech that stunned many in Europe and became one of the defining moments of Trump’s early second term abroad. 

‘President Trump has assembled the most talented team in history, including Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio, who are working in lockstep to notch wins for the American people,’ White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital ahead of Rubio’s speech. 

‘The President and his team have flexed their foreign policy prowess to end decades-long wars, secure peace in the Middle East, and restore American dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The entire administration is working together to restore peace through strength and put America First.’

The Munich Security Conference is an annual high-level forum in Germany that draws hundreds of senior decision-makers — including heads of state, top ministers, military leaders and policy influencers — for closed-door and public talks on global security crises. 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California are among notable Democrats attending the conference, in addition to Rubio. 

Vance became one of the central figures at the 2025 Munich gathering after a widely publicized speech that drew heavy attention and applause from conservatives following the Biden administration. It also sparked backlash among some European officials who viewed his remarks as confrontational. 

Rubio’s attendance at the 2026 meeting follows a lengthy history of the State Department chief earning a series of different roles under the second administration, including acting national security advisor, secretary of state, acting archivist of the United States and acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

Amid rising trans-Atlantic tension, the secretary of state issued a warning to Europe as he departed for his trip to Germany Thursday. 

‘The Old World is gone,’ Rubio told reporters as he departed for Europe Thursday. ‘Frankly, the world I grew up in, and we live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be.’

President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly have put Europe on notice for allegedly devolving into a culture of political correctness, speech policing, and a security system that heavily relies on U.S. funding and military might. Amid the rhetoric on Europe, the administration has continued to underscore the importance of U.S.-Europe relations, including Rubio on Thursday. 

‘We’re very tightly linked together with Europe,’ he told reporters. ‘Most people in this country can trace both, either their cultural or their personal heritage, back to Europe. So, we just have to talk about that.’

Vance used his Munich Security Conference speech to deliver a blunt warning to Europe’s political class 2025, arguing the continent’s biggest danger is not Moscow or Beijing, but what he described as internal democratic decay that has festered due to political correctness and censorship. 

He accused European governments and institutions of drifting toward censorship, citing policies he said police speech, curb religious expression and pressure online platforms. He also argued elites allegedly were trying to manage elections and debate by dismissing unwelcome outcomes and branding dissent as ‘misinformation’ to sideline populists and blunt voter backlash.

‘What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values — values shared with the United States of America,’ Vance said in 2025 in the speech that left many European leaders stunned, according to reports at the time. 

Vance also is overseas this week, holding meetings with Armenia and Azerbaijan, including signing a peaceful nuclear cooperation with Armenia and a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan. 

That trip followed both Vance and Rubio joining a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earlier in February in Italy, and Vance leading a delegation that included Rubio during the Olympics’ opening ceremony in Milan. 

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that there were never plans for the vice president to attend the 2026 conference in Munich. 

Vance’s foreign policy footprint became subject of political media scrutiny earlier in 2026 when the U.S. military successfully captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Vance was not among high-profile U.S. leaders who joined Trump at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, resort to monitor the operation, unlike Rubio who was with the president. 

The VP’s office brushed off media alarm over his absence, citing  Trump and Vance limit the ‘frequency and duration’ of time they spend together outside the White House due to ‘increased security concerns.’ 

The vice president is by no means is expected to attend the Munich Security Conference each year, with former Vice President Mike Pence, for example, attending the conference twice under the first Trump administration, and former Vice President Kamala Harris attending three times under the Biden administration. Previous secretaries of state such as John Kerry, Antony Blinken and Hillary Clinton have attended and addressed the body in previous years. 

Vance additionally attended a separate Munich Security Conference event, the Leaders Conference, in Washington, D.C., in May 2025.

Trump praised Vance’s 2025 speech as ‘brilliant’ in a statement to reporters at the time, remarking that ‘they’re losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech’ in Europe and that Vance made a strong case against much of Europe’s lax immigration polices. 

Since then, Trump’s team repeatedly has echoed the same critique in official channels, including a State Department push that has blasted European speech restrictions and targeted the European Union’s Digital Services Act as ‘Orwellian’ censorship, alongside new visa restrictions aimed at foreign officials accused of censoring Americans online.

Just in December 2025, Trump blasted European nations for not being ‘recognizable’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, teeing up what could be another fiery speech from Americans on European soil on Saturday. 

‘I don’t want to insult anybody and say I don’t recognize it,’ Trump said during his special address in Davos. ‘And that’s not in a positive way. That’s in a very negative way. And I love Europe and I want to see Europe do good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment on the address Friday. 

After a self-imposed political exile to Ireland after President Donald Trump’s re-election, Rosie O’Donnell quietly returned to the United States.

During an interview with Chris Cuomo on his new show, ‘SiriusXM’s Cuomo Mornings,’ the 63-year-old actress revealed she recently returned to the country to visit her family. The actress moved to Ireland with her teenage daughter in January 2025, just prior to President Trump’s second inauguration. 

‘I was recently home for two weeks, and I did not really tell anyone,’ she told Cuomo. ‘I just went to see my family. I wanted to see how hard it would be for me to get in and out of the country. I wanted to feel what it felt like. I wanted to hold my children again. And I hadn’t been home in over a year.’

She then shared that she ‘wanted to make sure that it was safe’ for her and her daughter to come back over the summer so that they could be with family during her break from school.

When speaking to Cuomo, she went on to discuss how America ‘feels like a very different country’ to her than when she lived here because she hasn’t ‘been watching the news’ or keeping up with ‘American culture television’ while living in Ireland.

‘I’ve been in a place where celebrity worship does not exist,’ she explained. ‘I’ve been in a place where there’s more balance to the news. There’s more balance to life. It’s not everyone trying to get more, more, more. It’s a very different culture. And I felt the United States in a completely different way than I ever had before I left.’

O’Donnell claimed she doesn’t ‘regret leaving at all’ and feels she did ‘what I needed to do to save myself, my child and my sanity.’

‘And I’m very happy that I’m not in the midst of it there because the energy that I felt while in the United States was — if I could use the most simple word I can think of — it was scary,’ she added. ‘There’s a feeling that something is really wrong, and no one is doing anything about it.’

The bad blood between O’Donnell and President Trump goes back 20 years, when she criticized him while on ‘The View.’ They continued to throw jabs at each other over the years, with O’Donnell telling the Irish radio show ‘Sunday with Miriam,’ ‘He uses me as a punching bag and a way to sort of rile his base.’

After announcing she had moved to Ireland, the star shared she was applying for Irish citizenship during an interview with the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph in October 2025.

‘What great news for America!’ White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital about the news at the time.

President Trump had previously threatened to revoke O’Donnell’s American citizenship twice before through posts on Truth Social.

‘Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,’ he wrote in July 2025. ‘She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!’

He later renewed the threats in September 2025, writing, ‘She is not a Great American and is, in my opinion, incapable of being so!’

O’Donnell fired back against the president’s threats, using the Constitution as her defense against the President.

‘He can’t do that because it’s against the Constitution, and even the Supreme Court has not given him the right to do that. … He’s not allowed to do that. The only way you’re allowed to take away someone’s citizenship is if they renounce it themselves, and I will never renounce my American citizenship,’ the ‘Now and Then’ star said. ‘I am a very proud citizen of the United States.

‘I am also getting my citizenship here so I can have dual citizenship in Ireland and the United States because I enjoy living here,’ she added. ‘It’s very peaceful. I love the politics of the country. I love the people and their generous hearts and spirit. And it’s been very good for my daughter. But I still want to maintain my citizenship in the United States. My children are there. I will be there visiting and go to see them. And I have the freedom to do that, as does every American citizen.’

Under the United States Constitution, a president does not have the power to strip the citizenship of someone born in the country, meaning since O’Donnell was born in New York, her citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment.

Heated racial rhetoric in Texas is flaring this primary season, as Democratic contenders lean into identity-focused messaging that Republicans say is divisive and a clinic in ‘wokeness at its worst.’

Texas Democrats are heading into primary season with an intraparty fight that is increasingly spilling into race and identity. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who is running for the Senate, has suggested racism would be to blame if she loses, while former Rep. Colin Allred accused Crockett rival and Austin state Rep. James Talarico of calling him ‘a mediocre Black man’ in a political spat affecting races in the Senate and House.

‘These disgusting comments are wokeness at its worst and the silence is deafening from Democrats,’ RNC spokesman Zach Kraft said of the recent rhetoric out of Texas in recent months.

Crockett, who is running for the Senate to replace Republican Sen. John Cornyn, offered a fiery response.

‘You think I didn’t know I was a black woman when I woke up and decided that I was going to run for the U.S. Senate? You think I didn’t factor in and make sure we had enough room to account for that?’

Racially focused flare-ups have broken out in recent weeks as Democrats eye high-profile races and try to energize blue voters in the red state.

‘Look no further than the Senate primary to see how the woke mind virus has spread like wildfire among the ranks of Texas Democrats. James Talarico spent last week apologizing for his ‘white privilege,’ and Jasmine Crockett is taking a page out of Kamala Harris’ playbook by preemptively blaming racism and sexism for why she will lose,’ Kraft told Fox News Digital.

Just this month, Texas Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu, the minority leader of the Texas House, drew backlash over a resurfaced clip from a 2024 interview in which he described white Americans as ‘oppressors’ of ‘non-whites.’

‘That there is a sense of, ‘America really just belongs to White people,’ that this was that a lot of people believe that God gave America to White people to rule, and that any time that immigrants, minorities make progress in this country, that that is seen as a slight against them,’ Wu, of Houston, said in 2024 on ‘Define American’ podcast with Antonio Vargas.

Wu, who was born in Guangzhou, China, added that Latinos, Asians and Black Americans — ‘everybody’ — are kept divided because powerful forces have spent time and money ensuring they do not unite. Instead, he argued, those groups are pushed to see each other as rivals even though they share the same oppressor, and he claimed the oppression ‘comes from one place.’

‘I always tell people the day the Latino, African-American, Asian and other communities realize that they are — that they share the same oppressor is the day we start winning, because we are the majority in this country now,’ he continued. ‘We have the ability to take over this country and to do what is needed for everyone and to make things fair.’

The clip set off swift condemnation from Texans as it circulated online, including Republican Sen. Ted Cruz saying, ‘The Democrat party is built on bigotry.’

Allred recently told former DNC chairman Jaime Harrison of South Carolina on his podcast that Talarico made another disparaging comment about him in private while the former Tennessee Titans linebacker was still a candidate in the Senate race.

Allred has since dropped out and is seeking a newly drawn 33rd Congressional District near Dallas. The current 33rd District in the Metroplex is represented by Democratic Rep. Marc Veasey.

‘He’s said some things to me that I don’t like. He said to me before he got into the race that he thought that he would be a better candidate because he doesn’t have a family, and that… he could spend more time campaigning,’ Allred said.

‘As you know, Jaime, like I didn’t know my dad, so I’m like all about being a father to my two boys, right? I was like, no, no, no, I run because of my family.’

A TikTok influencer named Morgan Thompson originally claimed Allred made the ‘mediocre Black man’ comments, recounting the conversation from a Talarico rally in Plano.

‘James Talarico told me that he signed up to run against a mediocre Black man, not a formidable and intelligent Black woman,’ Thompson said, adding she now supports Crockett.

Talarico released a statement soon after calling the situation a ‘mischaracterization of a private conversation’ and said he was talking about Allred’s ‘method of campaigning,’ not his life.

‘I would never attack him on the basis of race,’ Talarico said. ‘As a Black man in America, Congressman Allred has had to work twice as hard to get where he is. I understand how my critique of the Congressman’s campaign could be interpreted given this country’s painful legacy of racism, and I care deeply about the impact my words have on others,’ Talarico said, according to the Texas Tribune.

Talarico recently announced that he raised $7.4 million in the first six weeks of the quarter in his contest against Crockett.

He did not respond to a request for comment. Crockett’s campaign also did not respond to an inquiry left in its campaign inbox, which is separate from her official congressional office due to the Hatch Act.

Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.  

The federal government has entered its third partial shutdown of the last half-year after Congress failed to reach an agreement on all 12 of its annual spending bills.

Unlike past shutdowns, however, this one just affects the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It comes after Democrats walked away from a bipartisan deal to fund the department amid uproar over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

And while some 97% of the federal government has been funded at this point, a DHS shutdown will still have effects on everyday Americans — effects that will become more apparent the longer the standoff continues.

Air travel delays

Disruptions to the TSA, whose agents are responsible for security checks at nearly 440 airports across the country, could perhaps be the most impactful part of the partial shutdown to Americans’ everyday lives.

Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday that around 95% of TSA employees — roughly 61,000 people — are deemed essential and will be forced to work without pay in the event of a shutdown.

‘We heard reports of officers sleeping in their cars at airports to save money on gas, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet,’ she said of the last shutdown.

But it would take some time before TSA funding could translate to delays. TSA agents, like other essential federal workers, received back pay once the shutdown was over. Those who did not miss shifts also got a $10,000 bonus for added relief.

TSA paychecks due to be issued on March 3 could see agents getting reduced pay depending on the length of the shutdown. Agents would not be at risk of missing a full paycheck until March 17.

If that happens, however, Americans could see delays or even cancellations at the country’s busiest airports as TSA agents are forced to call out of work and get second jobs to make ends meet.

Natural disaster reimbursement

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is one of the largest and most critical recipients of federal funding under DHS.

Associate Administrator of the Office of Response and Recovery Gregg Phillips told lawmakers on Wednesday that FEMA has enough funds to continue disaster response through a shutdown in the immediate future, but that its budget would be strained in the event of an unforeseen ‘catastrophic disaster.’

That means Americans hit by an unexpected natural disaster during the shutdown could see delayed federal reimbursement for their homes and small businesses.

Others who have already lived through a natural disaster in the last year but still have not received their checks — FEMA is currently working through a backlog worth billions of dollars — could see that relief delayed even further during the shutdown.

‘In the 45 days I’ve been here … we have spent $3 billion in 45 days on 5,000 projects,’ Phillips said. ‘We’re going as fast as we can. We’re committed to reducing the backlog. I can’t go any faster than we actually are. And if this lapses, that’s going to stop.’

Worker visa processing

American business owners who rely on certain types of worker visas could see processing times extended during a DHS shutdown.

That’s because United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) programs are run under DHS and are responsible for processing most immigration applications as well as temporary visas.

The majority of those programs are funded by fees and are largely untouched. However, areas like e-Verify, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program, Conrad 30 J-1 doctors, and non-minister religious workers all rely on funding appropriated by Congress, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

USCIS could allow employers to use alternate processes if e-Verify is disrupted during a shutdown, but it’s not clear how much time it would add to business owners’ day-to-day responsibilities to learn a new route for that paperwork.

Emboldened congressional Democrats are expanding their battleground map for this year’s midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their razor-thin majority in the House.

But the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chairman, Rep. Richard Hudson, isn’t buying it.

‘I mean, I’ve read fiction my whole life, and I recognize it when I see it,’ Hudson said in an exclusive with Fox News.

Republicans currently control the House 218-214, with two right-tilting districts and one left-leaning seat currently vacant. Democrats need a net gain of just three seats in the midterms to win back the majority for the first time in four years.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) this week added five more offensive opportunities in Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, South Carolina and Virginia to their list of what they consider are vulnerable Republican-held House districts.

That brings the total number of districts Democrats are hoping to flip to 44. The DCCC notes that all five of the new districts they’re adding to their list of ‘offensive targets’ were carried by President Donald Trump by 13 points or fewer in the 2024 elections.

‘Democrats are on offense, and our map reflects the fact that everyday Americans are tired of Republicans’ broken promises and ready for change in Congress,’ DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene emphasized earlier this week.

And DCCC Spokesperson Viet Shelton told Fox News Digital, ‘In a political environment where Democrats are overperforming by more than 17 points in congressional special elections, it’s pretty clear we’re poised to re-take the majority. Momentum and the American people are on our side while Republicans are running scared.’

Asked about the DCCC’s move, Hudson scoffed.

‘They’ve got to have a list they can present to their donors,’ he said as he pointed to the DCCC. ‘But it’s not realistic. I mean, if you look at the map, there are very few seats up for grabs, and the majority of those seats are held by Democrats, but they’re seats that Donald Trump has carried or came very close….if you look at the seats that we’ll be competing for this fall. They’re they’re all favoring Republicans.’

The House GOP campaign chair added, ‘If you look at the map, it’s a Republican map. We just got to go out and win those races.’

The move by the DCCC comes as Democrats are energized, despite the party’s polling woes. Democrats, thanks to their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation, scored decisive victories in the 2025 elections and have won or over performed in a slew of scheduled and special ballot box contests since Trump returned to the White House over a year ago.

Republicans, meanwhile, are facing traditional political headwinds in which the party in power in the nation’s capital normally suffers setbacks in the midterm elections. And the GOP is also dealing with Trump’s continued underwater approval ratings.

The latest national surveys, including the most recent Fox News poll, indicate the Democrats ahead of the Republicans by mid-single digits in the so-called generic ballot question, which asks respondents whether they’d back the Democratic or GOP candidate in their congressional district without offering specific candidate names.

Asked about the polls, Hudson said, ‘We almost never lead in the generic ballot. But a single digit generic ballot, we do very well.’

And the House GOP campaign chair added he remains ‘very bullish.’

Cost of living concerns helped boost Trump and Republicans to sweeping victories in 2024, but affordability and overall economic concerns may work against them this year.

While the latest AP/NORC national poll indicated the GOP with a slight advantage over Democrats on handling the economy, a bunch of surveys, including the latest Fox News poll, indicate many Americans feel things are worse off than they were a year ago and remain pessimistic about the economy.

But on Friday the latest government numbers indicated that inflation eased during January.

And Hudson says the economy is still a winning issue for Republicans.

Pointing to the numerous tax cuts kicking in this year in the GOP’s sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law last summer, Hudson touted ‘we put policies in place that are going to bring prosperity to the American people, and they’re starting to feel it.’

‘And as we move into tax season…folks who work overtime, folks who work for tips, they’re going to see a lot more money in their pocket thanks to no tax on tips, no tax on overtime,’ he added.

The GOP is also dealing with a low propensity issue: MAGA voters who don’t always go to the polls when Trump’s name isn’t on the ballot.

‘Our voters tend to be more working-class voters, and you have to put in extra effort to get them to the polls,’ Hudson said. ‘We know that’s our challenge. President Trump knows that’s the challenge, and he’s committed to helping us.’

Pointing to the NRCC’s annual fundraising gala, which Trump will once again headline this year, Hudson said this dinner will be a great kickoff for this year. We raised a whole lot of money with President Trump last year. We plan to raise a lot of money in March with President Trump, and then he’s going to get out on the campaign trail and help us turn out those voters and make that case.’

Asked about midterm election predictions, Hudson shied away from giving any hard numbers.

‘Not going to give you a number, but we’re going to hold the majority,’ he predicted. ‘President Trump was elected with a very specific agenda. We delivered almost his entire domestic agenda, and we’re going to go back to the voters and say promises made, promises kept, and they’re going to keep this House majority.’