PALM BEACH, Florida, Dec 29 (Reuters)—U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programs and warned Hamas of severe consequences if it does not disarm. Speaking beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump suggested Tehran may be working to restore its weapons programs after a massive U.S. strike in June. “I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites,” Trump told reporters during a press conference. “We know exactly where they’re going, what they’re doing, and I hope they’re not doing it because we don’t want to waste fuel on a B-2,” he added, referring to the bomber used in the earlier strike. “It’s a 37-hour trip both ways. I don’t want to waste a lot of fuel.” Trump, who has broached a potential nuclear deal with Tehran in recent months, said his talks with Netanyahu focused on advancing the fragile Gaza peace deal he brokered and addressing Israeli concerns over Iran and over Hezbollah in Lebanon. WATCH IN FULL: President Donald J. Trump holds a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pic.twitter.com/DI9XjmucRT— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 29, 2025 Iran, which fought a 12-day war with Israel in June, said last week that it had conducted missile exercises for the second time this month. Netanyahu said last week that Israel was not seeking a confrontation with Iran, but was aware of the reports, and said he would raise Tehran’s activities with Trump. A Second Phase in Gaza? Trump said he wanted to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached in October after two years of fighting in Gaza, a progression that entails international peacekeeping forces deployed in the Palestinian enclave. Israel and Hamas accuse each other of major breaches of the deal and look no closer to accepting the much more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase. Hamas, which has refused to disarm, has been reasserting its control as Israeli troops remain entrenched in about half the territory. Israel has indicated that if Hamas is not disarmed peacefully, it will resume military action to make it do so. During his Monday comments, Trump heaped the blame on the militant group for not disarming more promptly, arguing that Israel had lived up to its side of the deal and warning that Hamas was inviting grave consequences. “There will be hell to pay,” Trump warned when asked what he will do if Hamas does not lay down its arms. He has made similar statements at previous intervals during the fighting. Israel has never had a friend in the White House like President Trump. His leadership, clarity, and unwavering support for Israel are exceptional.True friendship is proven in moments of challenge, and President Trump has stood with Israel every step of the way. ????… pic.twitter.com/KwLGtatNsC— Benjamin Netanyahu – ?????? ?????? (@netanyahu) December 29, 2025 Netanyahu said this month that Trump had invited him for the talks, as Washington pushes to establish transitional governance for the Palestinian enclave amid Israeli reluctance to move forward. The deployment of the international security force was mandated by a Nov. 17 U.N. Security Council resolution. While Washington has brokered three ceasefires involving its longtime ally—between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, and Israel and Lebanon—Netanyahu is wary of Israel’s foes rebuilding their forces after they were considerably weakened in multiple wars. Overall, Trump’s comments suggested he remains firmly in Netanyahu’s camp, even as some aides have privately questioned the Israeli leader’s commitment to the Gaza ceasefire. His comments also suggested he is willing to risk additional hostilities related to Gaza and Iran, even as Trump has taken credit for resolving Israel’s wars in both places. Trump struck a warm tone as he greeted Netanyahu before their meeting, going so far as to say that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges—a conversation Herzog’s office immediately denied took place. Netanyahu reciprocated, telling reporters after the meeting that he was gifting Trump the country’s Israel Prize, which he said has historically been reserved for Israelis. Next Steps in Gaza Ceasefire Plan Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war ultimately calls for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory and Hamas to give up its weapons and forgo a governing role. The first phase of the ceasefire included a partial Israeli withdrawal, an increase in aid and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian detainees and prisoners. An Israeli official in Netanyahu’s circle said that the prime minister would demand that the first phase of the ceasefire be completed by Hamas returning the remains of the last Israeli hostage left in Gaza, before moving ahead to the next stages. The family of the deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, joined the prime minister’s visiting entourage. Israel has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, also a condition of Trump’s plan, saying it will only do so once Gvili’s remains are returned. Trump said that he and Netanyahu did not agree fully on the issue of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but the Republican leader did not lay out what the disagreement was. Turkey, Syria Also Discussed Before the meeting, Trump told reporters he would talk to Netanyahu about the possibility of stationing Turkish peacekeepers in Gaza. That is a fraught subject—while Trump has frequently praised Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Israel and Turkey have a much more circumspect relationship. While the fighting in Gaza has abated, it has not stopped entirely. Although the ceasefire officially began in October, Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 Palestinians—most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials—and Palestinian militants have killed three Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel was keen to ensure a peaceful border with Syria, and Trump said he was sure Israel would get along with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took power after longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad was deposed last year. But Israel has been suspicious of the new leader, who was once a member of al-Qaeda, going so far as to bomb government buildings in Damascus this July. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Palm Beach, Maayan Lubell and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicut; Writing by Simon Lewis and Gram Slattery; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Howard Goller) The post Trump Warns Iran of Possible Strike, Urges Hamas to Disarm After Meeting Netanyahu appeared first on The Daily Signal.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Utah Fourth District Court Judge Tony Graf ordered on Monday that audio and transcripts of a closed hearing surrounding Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, can be released with redactions. In a virtual hearing, Graf ruled that the transcript of a hearing that took place in October can be issued with some redactions in the coming weeks, according to WRAL News. He detailed which lines of the transcript can be redacted, which included security measures. The judge said that transparency to the public and media was “foundational” to the judicial system, according to WRAL News. Lawyers for media outlets wrote in a recent filing that allowing full press access “safeguards the integrity of the fact-finding process” while properly conducting judicial proceedings, according to WRAL. Graf previously ordered that the media could not publish photographs of Robinson in shackles and stopped a livestream of a hearing earlier in December. Robinson is charged with one count of aggravated murder, one count of felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, two counts of obstruction of justice for hiding the rifle and discarding his clothing, two counts of witness tampering for instructing a roommate to delete texts, and one count of committing a violent offense in front of children.  Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray confirmed in September that prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. During his first in-person hearing on Dec. 11, Robinson could be seen smirking while he talked with his attorneys. The hearing focused on transparency and how much information should be shared to the public in order to ensure a fair trial, which prompted Graf to close part of the hearing to the public. Kirk’s widow, Erika, has pushed for the trial to be open to the public to ensure transparency. “We deserve to have cameras in there,” Kirk told Fox News in November. “Why not be transparent?” Two days after killing Kirk, the alleged assassin turned himself in to authorities on Sept. 12 after his parents recognized him in security footage released to the public. Robinson then confessed to the murder and threatened to commit suicide rather than turn himself in, prompting his father to contact a youth pastor who had previously been a law enforcement official. That former law enforcement official then contacted Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby. Brooksby said during a Sept. 18 press conference that law enforcement promised a “peaceful” surrender as a condition for Robinson turning himself in. Robinson then agreed and arrived at his office with his parents and the youth pastor. Originally published by Daily Caller News Foundation. The post Judge Hands Media Major Win in Charlie Kirk Murder Trial appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Minnesota Somali fraud scandal somehow manages to get worse and worse as the legacy media mostly ignore the issue and Democrats shrug. At the heart of this scandal lies the larger crisis facing the West. On Friday, independent journalist Nick Shirley released a 42-minute YouTube documentary detailing his efforts to undercover what exactly is going on in Minnesota and how a ring of mostly Somali scammers squelched billions of dollars from taxpayers under the noses of Gov. Tim Walz and state authorities. ? Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountableWe ALL… pic.twitter.com/E3Penx2o7a— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 26, 2025 Vice President JD Vance praised the video on X and wrote that Shirley did more important journalism than all the recent Pulitzer Prize winners. This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes. https://t.co/Ip6f9IedjL— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 27, 2025 The video is certainly worth watching. Among the big findings uncovered is a series of so-called day care centers and other facilities being funded in the state that have no children in them at all. In one of the most remarkable scenes, Shirley arrived at a location called the “Quality Learing Center.” Yes, “Learing,” which was obviously misspelled. The center had been licensed for 99 children, but none were there. In front of the building a woman kept shouting “don’t open up, ICE.” Shirley informed her that he was merely a journalist, but she ignored him and kept shouting. Amazing. This is just the latest in what is without a doubt one of the biggest scandals in American history. Somalians in Minnesota have stolen more taxpayer dollars than what the Lehman Brothers lost in 2008 which triggered the Great Financial Crisis pic.twitter.com/7m7PAy7wrO— OkinawaMoongazer (@joeybeastmarket) December 29, 2025 According to some estimates, Somali scammers have taken more money from taxpayers in the last few years than the entire GDP of Somalia. Also, according to the New York Post, the stolen money “accounts for roughly half of the $18 billion in total federal funds provided to the Minnesota-run services since 2018.” It wasn’t long ago that Walz was bragging about how he was sending more money to these childcare programs in the vice-presidential debate against Vance. Walz and most Democrats seem to be, at most, slightly bothered that they have to talk about this story at all and have tried to make this out to be a “bipartisan” issue that must simply be managed. But it wasn’t Republicans who run the state of Minnesota, it wasn’t Republicans creating these massive entitlement programs. And while there are Republicans who embrace the kind of open-ended immigration that enabled the Somali fraud scandal, they are at least much less prominent in the age of President Donald Trump. No, this is a problem created by the Left, one that Democrats are apparently unwilling to confront with any level of urgency. Let’s take a step back here and get back to the rub of this Somali scammer problem at its source. It’s not just about a broken immigration system with perverse incentives, though we’ve certainly had that. What the Somali fraudsters did was a matter of greed and crookedness, a replication of the kind of schemes that allow one to get ahead in their homeland. It’s immoral, but easy to understand in a basic sense. It’s the kind of corruption that ruins countries the world over, but it isn’t remarkable. Now let’s say you really are an old school New Deal Democrat, who believes strongly in the power of government and a robust welfare state. You should be the most enraged by what’s happened, right? After all, these apparently well-meaning programs have become the means by which our modern-day Visigoths have essentially sacked the capital city and turned their programs into a complete mockery of the whole system. But outrage hasn’t materialized on the Left. If anything, they’re miffed they have to talk about the Somali fraud story at all. A few legacy media outlets have covered it, including CBS News under new management, but they hardly seem to want to make this story part of the “national conversation.” Why is that? When Fox News columnist David Marcus went to Minnesota to find out what the feeling was in the state about the whole mess, I think he got to the heart of the matter. He found mostly apathy and indifference from the local liberal voters.  “It’s hard to care much about it when ICE is disappearing Somalis on the streets,” said “Anne,” who David described as a white woman in her mid-30s working in tech. Other people he spoke to had similar feelings. “Just as neat, necktied Portlanders are happy to step over dead junkies en route to brunch, Minnesotans don’t feel the impact of the fraud connected to the community,” Marcus wrote. I imagine this apathetic attitude is common among the Democratic Party’s most engaged base voters. New Deal liberalism is dead. In its place is a warped ideology, a new religion. Many blue state programs have been converted into quasi-religious enterprises, fueling what appears to be virtually unmitigated graft the depth of which we are only beginning to understand. The government is no longer there to give all Americans a leg up. It’s there to enact an identitarian form of social justice, to sort out the winners and losers of its largesse based on a mystical hierarchy of oppression only fully understood in the inner sanctums of the federally funded ivory tower. That money was siphoned away by illegal means wasn’t really so terrible according to this thinking. It was just the product of a mandated secular tithe to soothe the modern liberal conscience made no less noble by its seedy application. What the oppressed groups do with the money justly given isn’t the biggest problem, after all. This whole scheme will eventually come crashing down at some point. But for now, it can be safely ignored. The real problem right now, so this thinking goes, is that bigoted Americans noticed the scandal and might not be so keen about bringing in waves of more Somalis, who are the real victims here. At worst, this is a temporary embarrassment, a story that needs to just go away so they can keep up the narrative that all people brought to America are really much better than the current, unworthy occupants of our stolen land. These unfortunate, oppressed people need to be protected from the meanies on the Right by any means necessary even if it means the big government programs they created go bust. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says all of Boston’s accomplishments are thanks to Somalians pic.twitter.com/m8TKofpMfp— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 23, 2025 It’s that pervasive mentality, the one exhibited by the woman standing in front of the “Learing” center shouting about ICE that is the real, existential problem we now face. This toxic, civilizationally suicidal impulse of misguided, self-destructive “empathy” mixed with self-loathing is costing us far more than the billions of dollars already pillaged from state coffers. In the end, it may cost us everything. The post Latest in Minnesota Somali Fraud Scandal Reveals Heart of the Problem appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. This content was recorded by Victor Davis Hanson prior to his Dec. 30 medical operation. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. I’d like to talk about a different topic, if I could. It’s this new phenomenon of artificial intelligence using a person’s face or body, using a person’s voice, using a person’s background setting, and then putting in their mouths a different message that they never said, and they not necessarily would agree, and in fact, often would disagree. And it’s kind of an intellectual, not kind of, but is an intellectual theft. It’s like plagiarism or copyright violations. And I speak from personal anguish because there’s about six VDH channels out there where it looks—it is me and my face. It is this setting that I’m in right now, the same bookcases, same clothes, somewhat same voices, but the lips don’t quite sync, and every single thing that comes outta my mouth is something I’ve never said. I’ve never attacked Vice President JD Vance. I’ve never used the F-word in public. I don’t criticize people in the way that these videos suggest. So, what’s wrong with what’s going on? The first of it is, of course, it’s theft. It’s dishonest. And the people who generate this—and we don’t know really who they are. Are they people on the left? Are they foreigners? Are they just entrepreneurial people who wanna make a quick buck without any investment? But the problem is it is theft. And you know it’s theft because if they have these ideas that they wanna promulgate, it’s a free country, why don’t they just go out and sit here like I’m talking to you and give their ideas? But instead, they’re parasitical. They want to use somebody who may have a higher profile than themselves and use their investment and steal it. That is their exposure. The second thing they’re doing is they’re greedy. If you look at these, in my case, these VDH fake channels and fake videos—and I should ask that every single video, with one exception, the Ultra on my own website, comes from The Daily Signal. From four to five weekly, five- to six-minute videos, and four hour to an hour-and-a-half podcasts, all of them have to originate with The Daily Signal. That’s one way you know the difference. But what they’re doing is they have huge audiences, 40,000, 50,000, 60,000, 100,000 people, and they have subscribers, and they have a big budget. So, our audience really has been fragmented to genuine people, like you who are listening, and people who think that it’s me, but they are helping profit a pirate, a thief. The other thing about—not only are these people greedy and not only are they unlawful and amoral, but they also put ideas into my head that I would never say myself. So, they’re using—it would be one thing to say that they’re trying to amplify, like, what Victor says with maybe a cleaner presentation that’s computer-simulated or aided or adjusted, but they’re not. They’re putting their ideas. And I can tell you a lot of them I don’t agree with. The other thing is, and this is really dishonest, for one microsecond, they flash on this little legal disclaimer that says under no circumstances are you to believe that this is the real Victor Hanson or Victor Hanson’s face or his views. We are using a technology that puts our idea—and then they make it disappear. If they really believe that, they really believe they wanted to distinguish their videos that are fake from ours that are genuine, then they would leave that up in the corner. But they don’t. They’re just doing that because they think it gives them some legal pretension and that they can fall back and say, well, we warn people legally, and then you can’t sue them. The other thing is they try to exploit our video. So, they will put headlines with the F-U-word, the F-bomb, and they’ll put it as the headline. Or they’ll say Hanson attacks JD Vance or Hanson does this when we don’t do that. We don’t try to get clicks by being controversial. We try to get audiences by trying to inform them and bring history, politics, sociology, literature, all within a unique package for the erudition and entertainment of our audience. The final thing is there’s no laws against us that I can tell. I’ve had legal counsel and they’re doing their best, but X won’t take them down. And YouTube argues and Google argues. So, apparently, the Silicon Valley brotherhood feels that these people who must have learned their skills out of that nexus, they’re not doing anything wrong. They’re just taking a product. And it’s very, it’s very ironic because, you know, all of these people have copyrights on their technologies how to do this, if Victor all of a sudden takes their technology and steals it and uses it to simulate something and doesn’t pay a fee for using it, I would be sued in a second. So, it’s very hypocritical. All of their things that they use are copyrighted or patent, but not the ideas that they steal, they apparently think. And so, until we get some legal action to stop these people who are very greedy and making a lot of money, I don’t know what else to tell you, other than caveat emptor, buyer beware, and always look for a Daily Signal imprint. And a final, I don’t know who they are. I do not know who they are. I do not know if they’re leftists that are trying to confuse the conservative movement. I don’t know if they’re Chinese or Russian hackers who may be angry at things we’ve said. I don’t know if they’re apolitical and they just wanna make a buck. But whoever they are, they’re doing things that are bad and wrong, and they should be stopped. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Beware: AI Is Putting Words Into My Mouth appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Public affairs experts are weighing in to highlight the top issues that will impact the 2026 midterm elections. “Prices are going to be the top issues that voters care about. But beyond that, voters also care about safety, security, those will be top on the ballot as well,” Matt Terrill, the managing partner of Firehouse Strategies, told The Daily Signal. Terrill is a top public affairs expert having worked for both the National Republican Committee and the 2016 presidential campaign of then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. He noted some of the positive signs in the economy under the Trump administration. “You’re seeing inflation down. You’re seeing egg prices down,” he said.  One notable cost that affects millions of Americans is the price of gasoline, which according to Consumer Affairs, has declined by about 21 cents per gallon from where it was in December 2024. Diesel has also been trending downward in recent weeks. Terrill emphasized the need for a holistic approach to reduce energy costs in the U.S.  When asked about what the GOP should do regarding messaging around those critical issues, Terrill emphasized that there would still be opportunities for Americans to receive economic relief in the upcoming months.  “Remind Americans, if you’re President [Donald] Trump and Republican candidates in 2026 about the deregulation efforts being done under President Trump’s watch, and remind Americans about what President Trump has been doing to bring investment into the U.S. economy,” Terrill explained, also noting the tax cuts that were enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill.  “I think obviously the tax cuts on tips and overtime. That’s going to help with the affordability,” Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., who is running to represent Alabama in the Senate, added in an interview with The Daily Signal. “I think part of this is just countering the narratives being pushed out by Democrats right now, and really the White House is drilling home what they’re doing to bring down energy costs, what they’re doing to bring down health care costs,” Terrill stated. “I mean, D.C. is the only entity in America that creates inflation. And when we print dollars in D.C., it’s just, it’s ink on paper, and we can print it pretty fast, but if you’re out there trying to earn that money by the hour, our printed dollars compete against the ones that you actually earn in the market, and it just makes it difficult for families to survive,” Moore told The Daily Signal.  Moore contended that voters would also be concerned about the recently uncovered fraud perpetuated against American taxpayers in Minnesota that could tally as high as $9 billion. “These people are taking tax dollars and stealing them from the Treasury, and so there has to be an accountability level there,” the Alabama congressman stated. “Some people need to be removed from this country. They need to be denaturalized as citizens. Things that we can do to show the American people that we’re going to protect the overall national security, and the funds that they’re sending to us to manage without just letting these blue states and some of these places just waste their money,” Moore said. The congressman also emphasized the importance of combatting crime as a way to alleviate costs on Americans.  “Things that we can do to lower crime and to also lower the theft of products and services makes things more affordable in the long haul,” Moore stated. He cited Trump’s deployment of the National Guard as an example of Republican success at combatting crime. Such was the resounding effect of the troops in Washington that even the city’s mayor acknowledged the subsequent decline in several categories of crime. “When the American people are seeing National Guard members being attacked, or they’re seeing a young woman on a train in Charlotte being attacked, or what they’re seeing related to crime in Chicago, the issue of national security is top of mind,” Terrill said.  Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former State Department appointee during the first Trump administration, noted the many factors related to the affordability of housing.  “You had COVID where you had people fleeing cities towards the suburbs, and you saw the prices go sky high. And then you had inflation. The cost of building just was tremendously high. And then combine that all with interest rates. That’s a recipe for disaster,” Bartlett said. He contended that members of Congress would have to “incentivize this without furthering expenses or giving more to the demand side” to help alleviate the issue but also noted that much of the problem stems from local governance like permitting land use.  “We can’t just run on the status quo. I think we absolutely need some new ideas, whether it’s from Congress, whether it’s from the White House, as to give a goal to the American voter and the American public towards the economy and society that we want to live in,” Bartlett said.  “There’s so many other aspects, including addiction, and that continues to be a plague in society with drugs, as this White House has highlighted, whether it is fentanyl or cocaine addiction, where it starts, how it’s trafficked,” Bartlett explained. The post Experts Talk Top Midterm Election Issues appeared first on The Daily Signal.