A pro-Trump legal group founded by White House aide Stephen Miller is suing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts — a long-shot move as Trump allies fight court rulings blocking key actions from the Oval Office.

The lawsuit was filed by the America First Legal Foundation against Roberts in his capacity as the official head of the U.S. Judicial Conference and Robert J. Conrad, who serves as the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. 

The complaint accuses both the U.S. Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts of performing certain regulatory actions that go beyond the scope of resolving cases or controversies, or administratively supporting those actions, which they argue are the ‘core functions’ of the judiciary.

It also argues that records held by the Roberts-led U.S. Judicial Conference should therefore be subject to the Freedom of Information Act requests, or FOIA requests, as a result.

AFL cited in its lawsuit recent actions taken by both the Judicial Conference and Administrative Office in 2023 to ‘accommodate’ requests from Congress to investigate allegations of ethical improprieties by Justices Thomas and Alito, and subsequently to create or adopt an ‘ethics code’ for justices on the high court.

‘Under our constitutional tradition, accommodations with Congress are the province of the executive branch,’ AFL said, adding: ‘The Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office are therefore executive agencies,’ and must therefore be overseen by the president, not the courts.

The U.S. Judicial Conference is the national policymaking body for the courts. It is overseen by the Supreme Court’s chief justice, and tasked with making twice-yearly recommendations to Congress as needed.

The Administrative Office for the U.S. Courts, meanwhile, operates under the guidance and supervision of the Judicial Conference. Its role is to provide administrative support to the federal courts on certain administrative issues and for day-to-day logistics, including setting budgets and organizing data, among other things.

Plaintiffs for AFL, led by attorney Will Scolinos, argued in their lawsuit that the Judicial Conference’s duties are ‘executive functions,’ and functions they allege must be supervised by executive officers ‘who are appointed and accountable to other executive officers.’ 

Further, AFL argued, ‘Courts definitively do not create agencies to exercise functions beyond resolving cases or controversies or administratively supporting those functions.’  

In their view, this is also sufficient to put the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts — as it is overseen by the Judicial Conference — under the executive branch as well. 

Scolinos argued that AFL’s proposed framework ‘preserves the separation of powers but also keeps the courts out of politics.’

U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, a Trump appointee, has been assigned to preside over the case. 

President Donald Trump on Monday said he held a ‘productive’ call with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on a range of topics, including the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump shared details of the call in a post on his TRUTH Social platform.

‘I just had a very good and productive telephone conversation with the President of Turkey, Recep Erdoğan, concerning many subjects, including the War with Russia/Ukraine, all things Syria, Gaza, and more,’ Trump wrote.

The president added that he is looking forward to working with Erdogan to end the ‘ridiculous, but deadly’ Russia-Ukraine war.

Trump has vowed to end the three-year war between Russia and Ukraine, though the U.S. has tempered expectations regarding recent peace talks it’s brokering between the warring nations.

Gaza has also been a major issue for the Trump administration as Israel works to get its hostages returned after Hamas led a deadly attack on Oct. 7, 2023. As the fighting in Gaza has escalated, Trump has pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘to be good to Gaza’ because the people there ‘are suffering.’

Trump noted that his relationship with Erdogan during his first term was ‘excellent,’ adding that the Turkish leader invited him to Turkey at a future date. Trump said Erdogan will also visit Washington, D.C., though no date was immediately provided.

Trump also highlighted that he and Erdogan had ‘worked together closely on numerous things,’ including the return of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who Trump said was freed ‘immediately upon my request.’

Brunson was imprisoned and detained in Turkey for 735 days on terror and treason charges in October 2016 over his alleged ties to an outlawed group after a massive government crackdown following a failed coup months earlier.

– BOSTON – He is out of power, but former Vice President Mike Pence does not feel powerless. 

Pence, the once loyal vice president who broke with President Donald Trump as he defied his one-time boss’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, pledged to be a vocal GOP critic when Trump, during his second tour of duty in the White House, veers from the ‘conservative agenda’ that defined the Trump-Pence administration.

‘When you look at those Trump-Pence years, they were years that we governed on a conservative agenda,’ the former vice president said in an exclusive national digital interview with Fox News minutes after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on Sunday night.

Pence said he gives ‘President Trump all the credit in the world for an historic victory last November, and for sparing the country one more liberal Democrat administration.’

He also praised Trump ‘not only for his victory, but for securing our southern border, for restoring morale and recruitment in our military, for taking the fight to the Houthis.’

However, he argued that ‘I truly do believe that some of the other steps the president is taking away from that conservative agenda should be a concern that would work against his legacy and ultimately the success of our party or our country. And so we’re going to continue to be a voice against them.

‘I really do believe that for prosperity…for the success of our country, we need to stick to those time-honored principles of strong defense, American leadership on the world stage, less government, less taxes, traditional moral values, and the right to life, and I’m going to be a voice for that,’ added Pence, long a champion of social and fiscal conservative values.

On the suggestion in recent weeks by some House Republicans to raise taxes on the wealthy to help pay for Trump’s second-term agenda, an idea some in the White House contemplated before the president came out against the proposal, Pence was clear in his opposition.

‘Any suggestion that I’ve heard among some in and around the administration that we raise the top margin rate, the so-called millionaires tax, would be an enormous tax increase on small business owners across America,’ Pence said.

He additionally emphasized that ‘It needs to be opposed. Let’s make all the Trump-Pence tax cuts permanent. That’s a way to really lay a foundation to grow the economy in the days ahead.’

The former vice president, a proponent of a muscular U.S. foreign policy, has criticized the president’s upending of longstanding U.S. foreign policy and has urged Trump to stand with longtime international allies.

Pence received a standing ovation from the audience at Boston’s JFK Presidential Library when, in his acceptance address, he stressed that the U.S. ‘must continue to stand with Ukraine.’

Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of ‘populism’ in the party, as he bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as part of a large field that unsuccessfully challenged Trump.

While Pence, who became the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss, regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off. 

Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after launching it.

When asked if there was another political chapter ahead, and possibly another bid for national office, Pence told Fox News Digital, ‘I leave that up to the American people.’

He reiterated that he intends to ‘be a voice’ for traditional and conservative values and ‘we’ll let the future take care of itself.’

As for Trump’s repeated flirtations the past three months with seeking a third term in office in 2028 – which is forbidden by the 22nd Amendment in the U.S. Constitution – Pence said, ‘I think there’s no higher priority for a president or any elected official to keep faith with the Constitution of the United States.’

‘Every single one of us takes the same oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and my hope and my prayer is for the president on down, Republicans and Democrats, will take that oath to heart, because that’s the pathway forward for our country and all the American people,’ he added.

Pence spoke with Fox News Digital after receiving the Profile in Courage Award, which is named for a book the late John F. Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president.

The annual award honors public officials who take principled stands despite the potential political or personal consequences. Among the previous recipients were former Presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

Pence was honored with the award for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, during the attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists — including some chanting ‘hang Mike Pence’ — who stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification of the 2020 election.

Hours later, after the rioters were cleared from the Capitol building, Pence resumed his constitutional duties by overseeing congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

‘Vice President Pence put his life, career and that of his family on the line to execute his constitutional responsibilities. His actions preserved the fundamental democratic principle of free and fair elections, and we are proud to honor him,’ former Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the late President Kennedy’s daughter, said in presenting Pence with the award.

Pence, in accepting the annual award, emphasized that it is a ‘distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.’

The former vice president, pointing to his actions on Jan. 6, said to a standing ovation, ‘I will always believe by God’s grace that I did my duty that day.’

Additionally, Pence, in his interview, noted that ‘in all my travels across the country in the last four years, I’ve been deeply humbled by how many Americans have come up to me and just taken a point to encourage us and support us, and it convinces me that the American people know that what ever differences we may have, the Constitution is the common ground on which we stand.’

President Donald Trump will host a Russian-American ballerina at the White House on Monday, roughly a month after the Trump administration secured her release from a Russian prison, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Ksenia Karelina, a former ballerina, was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian penal colony in 2024 for treason. The 33-year-old was released and returned to the U.S. on April 10 through a U.S.-Russian prison swap, Fox Digital previously reported. 

‘Mr. Trump, I’m so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for [the] American government. And I never felt more blessed to be American, and I’m so, so happy to get home,’ Karelina said in a video posted by Trump deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka on April 11 upon her return to the U.S. 

A White House official confirmed to Fox Digital on Monday that Karelina will visit the White House on Monday afternoon. 

Karelina, who is a U.S. citizen, was born in Russia and had been living and working in Los Angeles at the time of her arrest. She was visiting her family in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2024 when Russia’s Federal Security Service – the country’s top security agency – inspected her phone and found she donated about $50 to a U.S.-based charity that works to aid Ukraine, Fox Digital previously reported. 

She was initially detained for ‘petty hooliganism,’ but the charge was later upgraded to treason as Russian officials claimed she raised money for the Ukrainian army and took part in actions that supported Ukraine while in the U.S. 

Karelina was returned to the U.S. in exchange for the U.S. releasing Arthur Petrov, a dual German Russian citizen who was accused of exporting sensitive U.S. electronics to the Russian military. He was arrested in 2023 and charged with crimes such as conspiracy and violating export controls, Reuters previously reported. 

Karelina’s family celebrated her release last month, with her former stepmother Eleonra Srebroski telling Fox News at the time that she was ‘euphoric’ over the prisoner swap while praising Trump for the release. 

‘My spirit is high. We are extremely happy. This is beyond any emotion…This is healing,’ Srebroski said. ‘We were putting a lot of hope in the Trump administration, and we knew she would be next after Marc Fogel. We support Trump even more.’

Karelina’s boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, told the New York Post upon her release in April that the couple was eager to meet Trump and thank him. 

‘We really need to thank him personally. When the time’s right, she’d love to meet him and I would love to shake his hand for bringing back the love of my life. And I’m not into politics,’ Van Heerden told the outlet at the time. 

‘I was begging the Biden administration for a whole year to bring Ksenia back. About seven months I realized that’s not going to happen. They’re not going to do it for me. I had faith and I truly believed when President Trump came into power, he could do it and he did it,’ he added. 

Karelina’s release follows the Trump administration striking another prisoner swap deal with Russia in February that saw the release of U.S. citizen and teacher Marc Fogel, who had been in Russian custody since 2021 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana at an airport. 

Some Republican leaders are hoping they can pass a massive bill codifying President Donald Trump’s agenda into federal law by the Fourth of July.

It means the sweeping policy overhaul could reach Trump’s desk for a signature by the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding.

‘I’ve said all along, my goal is, is for the president to sign this one big, beautiful bill on July 4th,’ House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., told ‘Fox News Sunday.’

It comes as House Republicans struggle to reconcile differences on clean energy and Medicaid in talks to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to pay for Trump’s tax policies.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters days earlier on Capitol Hill, ‘We’ve got three legs to the President’s economic agenda: trade, tax and deregulation, and we hope that we can have this tax portion done by Fourth of July.’

Republican lawmakers are working on a multitrillion-dollar piece of legislation aimed at advancing Trump’s policies on tax, defense, energy, immigration, border security and at raising the debt limit.

Trump’s tax policies, a cornerstone of his platform and the costliest portion of the bill, include extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and retirees’ social security.

Republican leaders and tax hawks have warned that failing to extend TCJA by the time its provisions expire at the end of this year could result in a tax hike of over 20% for millions of families. 

House GOP leaders said in a letter to lawmakers dated April 5, ‘Immediately following House adoption of the budget resolution, our House and Senate committees will begin preparing together their respective titles of the reconciliation bill to be marked up in the next work period. As always, this will involve input from all Members and will keep us on track to send a bill to the President’s desk by Memorial Day.’

However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has since somewhat walked that goal back, telling reporters he believes the House can finish its portion by Memorial Day.

‘We are on track to pass the bill out of the House. As we’ve said from the very beginning, and get it over, to the next stage by Memorial Day,’ Johnson said during a press conference last week.

He was optimistic about beating the early July goal after meeting with Bessent and other top lawmakers last Monday, however.

‘He says July 4 because that’s a big, big birthday for us. And everybody knows that,’ Johnson said of Bessent’s comments. ‘But I think – and I hope, and believe – that we can get it done sooner than that.’

A House GOP leadership aide told Fox News Digital that Johnson ‘stated his goal is to move the bill through the House by Memorial Day’ and that it was ‘not in conflict’ with sending a bill to Trump by July 4.

When asked if that goal was feasible, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital, ‘It’s gonna have to be.’

Others who spoke with Fox News Digital were more skeptical.

A senior House Republican aide told Fox News Digital, ‘Deadlines are so arbitrary in Congress. Passing the bill by Memorial Day was always a long shot, but moving the goalposts from Easter to Memorial Day to July 4 just shows weakness.’

‘We better stick with this one, because the next federal holiday isn’t until September!’ the aide said.

Republicans are not only racing the clock on the TCJA deadline, but also the possibility of a national credit default. The U.S. is expected to run out of cash to pay its debts sometime this summer, according to several projections – a somewhat murky deadline based on a number of factors, including yearly tax filings.

Hitting that date without acting on the debt limit would send domestic and global financial markets into turmoil.

Republicans are looking to move Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party in power to sideline the opposition, in this case Democrats, while passing legislation focused on spending, taxes and debt.

After both the House and Senate passed budget ‘frameworks’ earlier this year, the relevant committees named in the frameworks are working to write policy in line with the spending cut or surplus they are granted.

Seven of 11 House committees have completed their work so far. However, three critical panels – the committees on Ways & Means, Agriculture, and Energy & Commerce – had to delay initial tentative plans to advance their portions this week.

Republicans in blue states, who GOP leaders view as critical to keeping the majority, have raised alarms about cutting too deeply into Medicaid. It is under the jurisdiction of the Energy & Commerce Committee, which is tasked with finding $880 billion of the $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.

Negotiators have insisted they are only interested in going after waste, fraud and abuse in the system, but it has not stopped Democrats from accusing the GOP of trying to cut critical healthcare programs for millions of Americans.

Meanwhile, the committee is also going to have to decide on an ongoing battle between conservatives and blue state Republicans over whether to repeal some or all of the former Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) green energy tax subsidies.

In March, 21 House Republicans signed a letter urging their colleagues to preserve the green energy tax credit.

‘Countless American companies are utilizing sector-wide energy tax credits – many of which have enjoyed broad support in Congress – to make major investments in domestic energy production and infrastructure for traditional and renewable energy sources alike,’ they wrote.

The anti-IRA Republicans, however, said in a letter last week that the U.S.’ growing green energy sector was the product of government handouts rather than genuine sustainable growth.

‘Leaving IRA subsidies intact will actively undermine America’s return to energy dominance and national security,’ they said. ‘They are the result of government subsidies that distort the U.S. energy sector, displace reliable coal and natural gas and the domestic jobs they produce, and put the stability and independence of our electric grid in jeopardy.’

Negotiations are expected to continue this week.

When reached for comment on whether the Senate could meet the Independence Day goal, a spokesperson for Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., pointed Fox News Digital to a recent interview where he signaled openness to the idea.

‘We have a similar target. And I think the House is, you know, they would like to, the speaker would like to have it out of the House by Memorial Day. And the Senate has a more complicated procedure that we have to go through when it comes to reconciliation that makes it harder and more complicated and takes a little bit longer time,’ Thune said.

‘But there’s been a ton of work done already, and we’re working closely with our counterparts in the House on all the relevant authorizing committees that have been instructed.’

– BOSTON – He is out of power, but former Vice President Mike Pence does not feel powerless. 

Pence, the once loyal vice president who broke with President Donald Trump as he defied his one-time boss’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, pledged to be a vocal GOP critic when Trump, during his second tour of duty in the White House, veers from the ‘conservative agenda’ that defined the Trump-Pence administration.

‘When you look at those Trump-Pence years, they were years that we governed on a conservative agenda,’ the former vice president said in an exclusive national digital interview with Fox News minutes after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on Sunday night.

Pence said he gives ‘President Trump all the credit in the world for an historic victory last November, and for sparing the country one more liberal Democrat administration.’

He also praised Trump ‘not only for his victory, but for securing our southern border, for restoring morale and recruitment in our military, for taking the fight to the Houthis.’

However, he argued that ‘I truly do believe that some of the other steps the president is taking away from that conservative agenda should be a concern that would work against his legacy and ultimately the success of our party or our country. And so we’re going to continue to be a voice against them.

‘I really do believe that for prosperity…for the success of our country, we need to stick to those time-honored principles of strong defense, American leadership on the world stage, less government, less taxes, traditional moral values, and the right to life, and I’m going to be a voice for that,’ added Pence, long a champion of social and fiscal conservative values.

On the suggestion in recent weeks by some House Republicans to raise taxes on the wealthy to help pay for Trump’s second-term agenda, an idea some in the White House contemplated before the president came out against the proposal, Pence was clear in his opposition.

‘Any suggestion that I’ve heard among some in and around the administration that we raise the top margin rate, the so-called millionaires tax, would be an enormous tax increase on small business owners across America,’ Pence said.

He additionally emphasized that ‘It needs to be opposed. Let’s make all the Trump-Pence tax cuts permanent. That’s a way to really lay a foundation to grow the economy in the days ahead.’

The former vice president, a proponent of a muscular U.S. foreign policy, has criticized the president’s upending of longstanding U.S. foreign policy and has urged Trump to stand with longtime international allies.

Pence received a standing ovation from the audience at Boston’s JFK Presidential Library when, in his acceptance address, he stressed that the U.S. ‘must continue to stand with Ukraine.’

Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of ‘populism’ in the party, as he bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as part of a large field that unsuccessfully challenged Trump.

While Pence, who became the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss, regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off. 

Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after launching it.

When asked if there was another political chapter ahead, and possibly another bid for national office, Pence told Fox News Digital, ‘I leave that up to the American people.’

He reiterated that he intends to ‘be a voice’ for traditional and conservative values and ‘we’ll let the future take care of itself.’

As for Trump’s repeated flirtations the past three months with seeking a third term in office in 2028 – which is forbidden by the 22nd Amendment in the U.S. Constitution – Pence said, ‘I think there’s no higher priority for a president or any elected official to keep faith with the Constitution of the United States.’

‘Every single one of us takes the same oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and my hope and my prayer is for the president on down, Republicans and Democrats, will take that oath to heart, because that’s the pathway forward for our country and all the American people,’ he added.

Pence spoke with Fox News Digital after receiving the Profile in Courage Award, which is named for a book the late John F. Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president.

The annual award honors public officials who take principled stands despite the potential political or personal consequences. Among the previous recipients were former Presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

Pence was honored with the award for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, during the attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists — including some chanting ‘hang Mike Pence’ — who stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification of the 2020 election.

Hours later, after the rioters were cleared from the Capitol building, Pence resumed his constitutional duties by overseeing congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

‘Vice President Pence put his life, career and that of his family on the line to execute his constitutional responsibilities. His actions preserved the fundamental democratic principle of free and fair elections, and we are proud to honor him,’ former Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the late President Kennedy’s daughter, said in presenting Pence with the award.

Pence, in accepting the annual award, emphasized that it is a ‘distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.’

The former vice president, pointing to his actions on Jan. 6, said to a standing ovation, ‘I will always believe by God’s grace that I did my duty that day.’

Additionally, Pence, in his interview, noted that ‘in all my travels across the country in the last four years, I’ve been deeply humbled by how many Americans have come up to me and just taken a point to encourage us and support us, and it convinces me that the American people know that what ever differences we may have, the Constitution is the common ground on which we stand.’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., expressed her frustrations on a variety of political topics on Friday, stating in a post on X that she represents the Republican base and if she’s unhappy, the base is too.

The congresswoman suggested that the situation does not bode well for future elections, as President Donald Trump will not be on the ballot.

‘I represent the base and when I’m frustrated and upset over the direction of things, you better be clear, the base is not happy,’ Greene wrote. ‘When you are losing MTG, you are losing the base. And Trump isn’t on the ballot in the future, so do the math on that.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Greene’s office for a comment on her post, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

‘I campaigned for no more foreign wars. And now we are supposedly on the verge of going to war with Iran. I don’t think we should be bombing foreign countries on behalf of other foreign countries especially when they have their own nuclear weapons and massive military strength,’ the lawmaker wrote.

She has expressed staunch opposition to the minerals deal the Trump administration struck with Ukraine last week. 

The White House indicated that the ‘partnership between the United States and Ukraine establishes a fund that will receive 50% of royalties, license fees, and other similar payments from natural resource projects in Ukraine.’

Ukrainian official Yulia Svyrydenko noted, ‘the Fund will be financed exclusively from NEW licenses,’ and the U.S. ‘will contribute to the Fund. In addition to direct financial contributions, it may also provide NEW assistance — for example, air defense systems for Ukraine.’

Greene asked in her post, ‘Why on earth would we go over and occupy Ukraine and spend an untold amount of future American taxpayer dollars defending and mining their minerals as well as potentially putting American lives at risk and future war? Why don’t we just mine our own rare earth minerals that are tied up on federal lands that the government confiscated years ago?’

Another issue Greene expressed frustration with is the coronavirus pandemic, specifically the COVID-19 vaccines.

‘I also campaigned on accountability for the communist and tyrannical acts made by the government during Covid. Yet the Covid vaccine still has FDA approval even though there are millions reported injuries and deaths, and this mRNA vaccine is known to have horrific side effects and DOES NOT STOP PEOPLE FROM CATCHING COVID. And to this day, it’s still on the childhood vaccine schedule, why on earth is this happening?’ she asked.

BOSTON, Mass. – Former Vice President Mike Pence was honored on Sunday night for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, in defying his then-boss, President Donald Trump.

Pence received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his refusal to honor Trump’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, and instead oversaw congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

‘Vice President Pence put his life career and that of his family on the line to execute his constitutional responsibilities. His actions preserved the fundamental democratic principle of free and fair elections and we are proud to honor him,’ former ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the late President Kennedy’s daughter, said in presenting Pence with the award.

Pence, in accepting the annual award, emphasized that it’s a ‘distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.’

And the former vice president, pointing to his actions on Jan. 6, said to a standing ovation, ‘I will always believe by God’s grace that I did my duty that day.’

In a Fox News Digital interview minutes after the awards ceremony, Pence said, ‘in all my travels across the country in the last four years, I’ve been deeply humbled by how many Americans have come up to me and just taken a point to encourage us and support us, and it convinces me that the American people know that what ever differences we may have, the Constitution is the common ground on which we stand.’

The now-65-year-old Pence was Indiana’s governor when Trump named him his running mate in 2016. For four years, Pence served as the loyal vice president to Trump during the president’s first term in the White House.

However, everything changed on Jan. 6, 2021, as right-wing extremists — including some chanting ‘hang Mike Pence’ — stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification, overseen by Pence as part of his constitutional duties as vice president, of Biden’s Electoral College victory.

The attack on the Capitol took place soon after Trump spoke to a large rally of supporters near the White House about unproven claims that the 2020 election was ‘rigged’ due to massive ‘voter fraud.’

Pence has long described the violent attack on the Capitol as ‘tragic’ and dishonoring to ‘the millions of people who had supported our cause around the country.’ He has emphasized that he did ‘the right thing’ and performed his ‘duty under the Constitution.’ He has also noted a number of times that he and Trump may never ‘see eye to eye on that day.’

While Pence, his family and top aides were hastily moved by Secret Service agents as rioters roamed the halls of the Capitol, Trump argued in a social media post that ‘Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.’

Pence rejected the advice of the Secret Service that he flee the Capitol, and after the rioters were eventually removed from the Capitol, he resumed his constitutional role in overseeing the congressional certification ceremony.

The former vice president has repeatedly refuted Trump’s claim that he could have overturned the presidential election results. Despite that, hardcore Trump loyalists have never forgiven Pence, whom they view as a traitor, for refusing to assist the president’s repeated efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Pence in June 2023 launched a presidential campaign of his own, joining a large field of challengers to Trump gunning for the 2024 GOP nomination, becoming the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss.

Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of ‘populism’ in the party. 

Among the slim anti-Trump base of the Republican Party, Pence received praise for his courage during the attack on the Capitol, often receiving thanks at town halls during his campaign for standing up to Trump. 

While Pence regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off. Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after declaring his candidacy.

The Profile in Courage Award is named for a book the late John F. Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president.

The award honors public officials who take principled stands despite the potential political or personal consequences. Among the previous recipients were former Presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, who introduced the former vice president at the awards ceremony, said Pence ‘saved America that day.’

Caroline Kennedy, in honoring the former vice president, noted her ‘political differences’ with Pence, but emphasized that ‘political courage is not outdated in the United States.’

And Pence, a well-known fiscal and social conservative, joked about speaking in front of an audience dominated by Democrats, saying that he was ‘the minority in this room.’

After dropping his own bid for the White House, Pence declined to endorse Trump, even after Trump clinched the GOP nomination last spring, though he did congratulate his former running mate after his victory last November.

Trump and Pence were seen shaking hands at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in early January – their first public appearance together in nearly four years.

Pence has emerged as a rare vocal Republican critic of Trump so far during the president’s second tour of duty in the White House.

He has critiqued Trump’s controversial and haphazard implementation of massive tariffs on America’s largest trading partners, which initially sparked a massive stock market sell-off, and raised concerns of increased inflation and talk of a recession.

He has also criticized the president’s upending of longstanding American foreign policy and has urged Trump to stand with longtime international allies.

Pence’s public advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, also campaigned against the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the nation’s health agencies.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to appoint a new national security advisor in about six months, telling reporters the former advisor, Mike Waltz, did not resign, but was instead tapped for an upgraded position as the administration’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump spoke with reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night, where he was asked about several topics, including the trade deals, Mexican cartels and the national security advisor position.

One reporter asked the president about Waltz’s exit as the national security advisor, which the president said he was being selected for what he called a ‘higher position,’ or an ‘upgrade.’

Trump also said Waltz did not make any mistakes, and, as the ambassador to the UN, he would do a good job.

‘I didn’t lose confidence in him,’ Trump said. ‘He’s going to the United Nations for a reason. To me, I think it’s personally, if I had assurance for myself… I’d rather have that job than the other.’

He also reiterated that Waltz did not resign, but instead, Trump moved him.

‘There was no resignation,’ the president said.

Waltz and other National Security Council staffers were ousted from their office on Thursday in the most high-profile executive office exits of the second Trump administration. Trump’s announcement on naming Waltz as U.N. ambassador unfolded just hours after the news began circulating. 

Trump told reporters Sunday that he plans to appoint someone to the national security advisor position within six months, saying there are a lot of people who want the job, which works into Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s – the interim national security advisor – current responsibilities.

The president was specifically asked if White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller was being considered for the role.

‘Stephen Miller at the top of the totem pole? I mean, I think he sort of indirectly already has that job… because he has a lot to say about a lot of things,’ Trump said. ‘He’s a very valued person in the administration, Stephen Miller.’

The president was also asked if any trade deals would be announced this week, answering that there could be some coming.

But when pressed if he could say more about the deals, Trump held back.

‘Nobody understands,’ he said. ‘We’re negotiating with many countries. But at the end of this, I’ll set my own deals because I set the deal. They don’t set the deal. I set the deal.’

Trump said he is meeting with almost all of the countries regarding trade deals, including China.

Explaining the process further, Trump said he will set the tariff, and a country could agree to it or not.

‘They don’t have to deal with us, which is ok, because we lost under Biden. We’re losing $5 billion a day,’ he said. ‘Think of it. $5 billion a day. Now we’re not dealing with China at all because of the tariffs… Because of that, we’re saving billions of dollars.’

During the gaggle, a reporter also asked if it was true that he offered to send U.S. troops to Mexico to take care of the cartels.

‘It’s true because they should be. They are horrible people that have been killing people left and right,’ Trump said. ‘They’ve made a fortune in selling drugs and destroying other people.’

He explained that the cartels are responsible for importing fentanyl into the U.S., which has killed over 300,000 people this year.

Trump called the cartel members ‘bad news.’

‘If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honored to go in and do it,’ Trump said ‘I told [Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum] that I would be honored to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country. They’re evil.’

The offer was ultimately rejected, which Trump said was because Sheinbaum is afraid of the cartels, so afraid that she ‘can’t even think straight.’

President Donald Trump decried the state of the motion picture industry in a social media post on Sunday while announcing plans to implement a Hollywood-related tariff.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump wrote that the ‘Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death.’

‘Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,’ Trump claimed. ‘Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.’

The president said that the situation was a ‘concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat.’

‘It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!’ Trump wrote.

The Republican said that his plans to institute a tariff are in the works, and he authorized the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative ‘to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.’

‘WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!’ Trump concluded.

The comments come after several of Trump’s tariff plans have been paused in recent months due to market turmoil and backlash. On Sunday, Trump said that he would not drop tariffs on China to get Beijing to come to the negotiating table.

‘At some point, I’m going to lower them, because otherwise you could never do business with them,’ Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker. ‘And they want to do business very much like their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.