President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, was interrupted by at least three protesters during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday. 

‘Veterans are committing suicide and are homeless, but we send money to bomb children in Gaza,’ one female protester wearing fatigues shouted as she was escorted from the hearing, Fox News Digital video shows. 

Hegseth appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday morning, when he was grilled by lawmakers ahead of a committee vote and final confirmation vote on his nomination as secretary of Defense. 

An elderly man who was handcuffed with zipties was also seen being escorted out of the hearing. Another man, also appearing to wear fatigues, was seen being carried out by Capitol Police. 

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has spent his days in recent weeks on Capitol Hill meeting with senators to rally support as he battled allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking and mismanaging a veterans nonprofit organization. Hegseth has denied the allegations and vowed that he won’t drink ‘a drop of alcohol’ if confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked Hegseth about the protesters during his hearing, including regarding the war in Israel that has been ongoing since 2023. 

‘Another protester, and I think this one was a member of Code Pink, which, by the way, is a Chinese communist front group these days, said that you support Israel’s war in Gaza. I support Israel’s existential war in Gaza. I assume, like me and President Trump, you support that war as well,’ Cotton said. 

‘I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,’ Hegseth responded. 

‘And the third protester said something about 20 years of genocide. I assume that’s our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do you think our troops are committing genocide in Iraq and Afghanistan?’ Cotton continued. 

‘Senator, I do not. I think … our troops, as you know, as so many in this committee know, did the best they could with what they had. … And tragically, the outcome we saw in Afghanistan under the Biden administration put a stain on that, but it doesn’t put a stain on what those men and women did in uniform, as you know full well, Senator,’ Hegseth responded. 

Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who initially did not publicly back Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of Defense, publicly questioned the nominee on Tuesday morning on her three ‘very important issues’ surrounding the military. 

‘I want to know, again, let’s make it very clear for everyone here today, as Secretary of Defense, will you support women continuing to have the opportunity to serve in combat roles?’ Ernst asked former Fox News host Hegseth on Tuesday, saying women serving in the military was one of her top three concerns. 

‘Senator, first of all, thank you for your service. As we discussed extensively as well, and my answer is yes, exactly the way that you caveated it. Yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, combat roles given the standards remain high, and we’ll have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded,’ Hegseth responded. 

Ernst sits on the ​​Senate Armed Services Committee, which held its hearing on Hegseth’s nomination Tuesday morning. She initially withheld public support of the Trump nominee before later signaling she endorsed his nomination.

The Iowa senator said in her opening remarks that she is known for not keeping ‘anything hidden, pull no punches,’ while thanking Hegseth for joining the committee for the hearing. She explained that she had three top issues to ask Hegseth, including an audit of the Department of Defense, women serving in combat roles and ‘making sure that we are combating sexual assault in the military.’

On the point of a DOD audit, Hegseth said he has long called for an audit and supports one, before moving onto his view of women serving in military combat roles and combating sexual assault in the military. 

‘A priority of mine has been combating sexual assault in the military and making sure that all of our service members are treated with dignity and respect. This has been so important. Senator Gillibrand and I have worked on this, and we were able to get changes made to the uniform code of military justice to make sure that we have improvements, and on how we address the tragic and life altering, issues of rape, sexual assault. It will demand time and attention from the Pentagon under your watch, if you are confirmed,’ Ernst said. 

‘So, as secretary of Defense, will you appoint a senior level official dedicated to sexual assault prevention and response?’ she asked. 

Hegseth said that, as they had previously discussed, he would appoint an official to such a role. 

Late last year, Ernst initially withheld committing to voting in favor of Hegseth before backtracking and saying she would support the nominee as the Trump orbit was anticipated to ramp up criticisms against Ernst. 

‘It’s really this simple: If you oppose President Trump’s nominees, you oppose the Trump agenda and there will be a political price to pay for that. We are well aware that there are certain establishment Senators trying to tank the President’s nominees to make him look weak and damage him politically, and we’re just not going to allow that to happen,’ a top Trump ally told Fox News Digital as Ernst hesitated about offering her endorsement.  

Ernst said in comments last month that she supported his nomination. 

‘As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources,’ Ernst said at the time. 

Ernst’s questions followed Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kirsten Gillibrand grilling the candidate about similar issues surrounding women in the military. 

‘You’ve made a number of surprising statements about women in the military,’ Shaheen told Hegseth, before noting that women comprise roughly 18% of U.S. military personnel. 

‘Women in our military, as I have said publicly, have and continue to make amazing contributions across all aspects of our battlefield,’ Hegseth responded. 

‘What I’m confused about, Mr. Hegseth, is why should women in our military— if you were the secretary of defense— believe that they would have a fair shot and an equal opportunity to rise through the ranks? If, on the one hand, you say that women are not competent, they make our military less effective— and on the other hand, you say, ‘Oh, now, now that I’ve been nominated to be the Secretary of Defense, I’ve changed my view on women in the military.’’ 

Hegseth responded that his concern revolves around standards used for women in combat roles and those standards getting watered down. 

‘I would be honored to have the opportunity to serve alongside, shoulder to shoulder, men and women; black, white; all backgrounds with a shared purpose,’ Hegseth said.

​​Trump nominated Hegseth, a former National Guard officer, as secretary of Defense in November following his election win, saying ‘with Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.’ Hegseth was a host on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ before Trump’s nomination.

Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the inauguration of President-elect Trump on Monday, which will mark the second absence in two weeks from a gathering of former presidents and their spouses. Obama was not in attendance at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral last week.

Former President Barack Obama is scheduled to attend the Jan. 20 inauguration event along with former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and their spouses. 

‘Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration,’ reads a statement from the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama that was shared with The Associated Press.

It is unclear why former first lady Michelle Obama is skipping Trump’s inauguration.

Former presidents Trump, Bush and Clinton and their spouses all attended Carter’s funeral on Jan. 9 at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., as did former President Barack Obama. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband also attended, along with former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife. 

Former President Bill Clinton will attend next week’s swearing-in ceremony, a person familiar with the former president’s schedule confirmed to the AP. Former first lady Hillary Clinton will also attend, a spokesperson said. The Office of George W. Bush said he and former first lady Laura Bush are attending.

At Carter’s funeral, Trump and Obama appeared to put their political differences aside and were seen chatting and laughing together despite the former Democrat president’s history of political animosity with the returning Republican.

All three former presidents and their wives attended Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, including Hillary Clinton, after she lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump. Carter also attended.

President-elect Trump and former first lady Melania Trump did not attend President Biden’s inauguration in 2021.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Obama Foundation for comment. 

WATCH: Melania Trump talks Amazon documentary, second transition during sit-down interview

The news of Michelle Obama sidestepping the inauguration comes a day after former first lady Melania Trump revealed that she and her husband did not get enough information from the Obama administration about moving into the White House back in January 2017, for the beginning of the first Trump administration. 

‘The difference is, I know where I will be going. I know the rooms where we will be living. I know the processes,’ the former first lady told ‘Fox & Friends’ co-host Ainsley Earhardt on Monday. 

‘The first time was challenging. We didn’t have much of the information, the information was upheld from us from the previous administration. But this time I have everything. I have the plans. I could move in. I already packed. I already selected the furniture that needs to go in. So it’s very different a transition this time, second time around.’

The inauguration events will feature performances by Carrie Underwood, the Village People and Lee Greenwood. Underwood, the 2005 ‘American Idol’ winner, will be singing ‘America the Beautiful’ and will be joined by the Armed Forces Choir and the United States Naval Academy Glee Club.

A Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee spokesperson told Fox News Digital Underwood will perform during the swearing-in ceremony for President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

The ’70s disco group Village People have been a staple during Trump’s rallies over the past year, with hits like ‘Y.M.C.A’ and ‘Macho Man’ being played. 

The group is slated to perform at one of Trump’s inaugural balls and a rally he’s holding in Washington the day before his inauguration.

Along with Greenwood, opera singer Christopher Macchio is set to make a performance during Trump’s inauguration festivities, The Associated Press reported. 

Fox News’ Janelle Ash, Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden on Tuesday signed an ambitious executive order that he says will keep both national security and climate change in mind while fast-tracking large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the United States. 

Biden said in a statement released by the White House that the executive order will ‘accelerate the speed at which we build the next generation of AI infrastructure here in America, in a way that enhances economic competitiveness, national security, AI safety, and clean energy.’ It directs the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy ‘to lease federal sites where the private sector can build frontier AI infrastructure at speed and scale.’ 

‘The United States leads the world at the frontier of artificial intelligence (AI). Cutting-edge AI will have profound implications for national security and enormous potential to improve Americans’ lives if harnessed responsibly, from helping cure disease to keeping communities safe by mitigating the effects of climate change. However, we cannot take our lead for granted,’ Biden said. ‘We will not let America be out-built when it comes to the technology that will define the future, nor should we sacrifice critical environmental standards and our shared efforts to protect clean air and clean water.’ 

The order will ‘ensure that the infrastructure needed for advanced AI operations—including large-scale data centers and new clean power infrastructure—can be built with speed and scale here in the United States,’ Biden said, adding, ‘These efforts are designed to accelerate the clean energy transition in a way that is responsible and respectful to local communities, and in a way that does not impose any new costs on American families.’ 

‘Building AI infrastructure in the United States is a national security imperative,’ Biden said. ‘As AI’s capabilities grow, so do its implications for Americans’ safety and security. Domestic data centers for training and operating powerful AI models will help the United States facilitate AI’s safe and secure development, harness AI in service of national security, and prevent adversaries from accessing powerful systems to the detriment of our military and national security.’ 

‘It will also help prevent America from growing dependent on other countries to access powerful AI tools,’ he added.

Vice President Harris, who attended the first-ever global AI summit hosted in London in November 2023, said in a statement on Tuesday the ‘significant electrical power needs of large-scale AI operations also present a new opportunity for advancing American leadership in clean-energy technology, which will power our future economy.’ ‘By activating the full force of the federal government to speed up and scale AI operations here in the United States, we are securing our global leadership on AI, which will have a profound impact on our economy, society, and national security for generations to come,’ she added. 

Under the new rules, the departments of Defense and Energy will each identify at least three sites where the private sector can build AI data centers. The agencies will run ‘competitive solicitations’ from private companies to build AI data centers on those federal sites, senior administration officials said.

Developers building on those sites will be required, among other things, to pay for the construction of those facilities and to bring sufficient ‘clean power’ generation to match the full capacity needs of their data centers. Although the U.S. government will be leasing land to a company, that company would own the materials it creates there, officials said.

Developers selected to build on government sites will be required to pay all costs of building and operating AI infrastructure so that development does not raise electricity prices for consumers, the administration said.

The orders also direct construction of AI data centers on federal sites to be done with public labor agreements. Some of the sites are reserved for small and medium-sized AI companies, according to government officials.

Government agencies will also complete a study on the effects of all AI data centers on electricity prices, and the Energy Department will provide technical assistance to state public utility commissions regarding electricity tariff designs that can support connecting new large customers with clean energy.

As part of the order, the Interior Department will identify lands it manages that are suitable for clean energy development and can support data centers on government sites, administration officials said.

‘The volumes of computing power, electricity needed to train and operate frontier models are increasing rapidly and set to surge even more,’ Tarun Chhabra, deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for technology and national security, told the Associated Press. ‘By around 2028, we expect that leading AI developers will be seeking to operate data centers with as much as five gigawatts of capacity for training AI models.’

Deploying AI systems at scale also requires a broader network of data centers across different parts of the country, he said.

The executive order comes on the heels of the Biden administration’s proposed new restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence chips, an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries. The Biden White House announced its ‘final rule’ on AI diffusion Monday, receiving blow-back from chip industry executives as well as officials from the European Union over export restrictions that would affect 120 countries.

‘We’re trying to strike the right balance between ensuring that the frontier of AI stays in the United States of America and our close allies, while also ensuring that the rest of the world can benefit from AI and get the hardware that they need to power AI applications going forward,’ National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House Monday. ‘We think this is, in a bipartisan spirit, the way to best preserve and protect America’s lead when it comes to artificial intelligence.’ 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Congressional Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus is holding its second-ever meeting on Wednesday, where its leaders are expected to unveil a set of ‘principles’ to guide the group in its mission to cut government waste.

They outlined eight goals, some practical while others more symbolic, in a bid to ensure the caucus is in sync with the DOGE advisory panel set up by President-elect Donald Trump.

‘The federal government must serve the interests of taxpayers, and taxpayers are best served by a lean, efficient, transparent, and accountable bureaucracy,’ the first principle read, according to a draft memo obtained by Fox News Digital.

The document also suggested both lofty and smaller-scale goals. ‘No amount of waste, fraud, abuse, duplication, or administrative bloat is too small or too large to fix.’ DOGE Caucus leaders had previously put an emphasis on ‘low-hanging fruit’ to start their mission with, like unused federal office space held by agencies with remote work policies.

The memo puts such employees on notice, noting that they and any federal regulations or agencies ‘must demonstrate effectiveness for and responsiveness to taxpayers while also not creating unnecessary costs or burdens.’

Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., who co-founded the caucus, told Fox News Digital, ‘We’ve articulated our vision in a transparent manner that is both concise and consumable for every American.’

Co-founder Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said, ‘The mandate is clear: every dollar spent in Washington must deliver a direct benefit to the people it serves, while prioritizing transparency, accountability, and efficiency.’

The caucus also called for the elimination of ‘existing federal agencies, programs, rules, regulations, or functions that do not provide value to taxpayers,’ if they cannot be reformed.

DOGE Caucus leaders are also signaling a significant focus on rolling back the regulatory state with the point, ‘All rules and regulations should be grounded in statute. Congress enacts public policy, not unelected bureaucrats.’

The group’s third co-chair, Vice Chair of the House GOP Conference Blake Moore, R-Utah, said of their outline, ‘The DOGE Caucus has wasted no time organizing our members and crafting a clear vision for what we hope to achieve, and these principles underscore how we plan to get there. The time is now to rein in wasteful federal spending, streamline our bureaucracy, and make Washington work better for Americans.’

Caucus members gathered for their first meeting in mid-December, which lawmakers said was largely introductory.

The push to slash government waste has been met with surprising enthusiasm by members on both sides of the political aisle. Several Democrats have already joined the caucus, and at least three were said to have attended the first meeting.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were on Capitol Hill late last year to discuss goals for their DOGE panel with lawmakers.

A nonprofit organization with the goal of ‘preserving freedom and bringing ideological balance back to public corporations’ released a database outlining a list of Fortune 100 companies that are financially dependent on China and could lose large sums of money if sanctions were ever put in place.

‘In this current political climate, there are discussions of the imposition of severe trade tariffs on Chinese goods,’ 1792 Exchange explained in a new report released this week. ‘In addition to tariffs, American sanctions may be placed on American companies doing business in China. For example, if China invades Taiwan, it may result in sanctions like the ones imposed on Russia after the Ukraine invasion. If imposed, our assessment is that American businesses, and investors, could lose a substantial amount of funds.

‘This raises a number of serious questions that beg for clear answers. What would the financial impact to these companies be if the U.S. imposes sanctions or tariffs that put both assets and revenue streams at risk? What compromises are being exacted by the CCP in order for these companies to invest in China and do business there? How do those conditions influence their U.S. policies and operations? How do companies reconcile potential moral incongruence when their public policy stance in China is at odds with their U.S.-based behavior?’

The report highlights over 80 companies that currently operate in China and estimates the amount of sanctions they could potentially face in the future, which was calculated ‘based on balance sheet data, trade data, and sanctions calculation.’

Dozens of companies are included in the report, including Citigroup, Intel, Boeing, Disney, Nike and John Deere.

While many of the companies listed have not fully disclosed the full scope of their China business dealings, some have and in those cases, 1792 Exchange estimated the potential financial liability those companies face from potential sanctions in China during the upcoming Trump administration. 

In Boeing’s case, the report states that the company earns just under $5 billion annually from China and could face $1 billion in sanctions over a three-year period on average.

Intel, according to the report, earns $18 billion per year from China, which represents 26.54% of its total annual revenue. Sanctions in China could mean $5 billion in penalties for Intel over a three-year period on average, the report concludes.

Citigroup is listed in the database as potentially facing $16 billion per year in sanctions on average from its almost $5 billion per year revenue in China. 

Fox News Digital spoke to Daniel Cameron, former Kentucky Republican attorney general and 1792 Exchange CEO, about the report, and he said he hopes people take away from the data the ‘staggering amount of money our Fortune 100 companies could lose in the event of sanctions imposed on China.’

Cameron told Fox News Digital he is optimistic that the incoming Trump administration will implement policies that drive American independence from China. 

‘My hope is that we’re able to bring a lot of jobs back to this country and more businesses and then make a judgment, a decision to park their operations within the United States,’ Cameron said. ‘That’s good for the American worker and I think particularly through some of the information that we’ve been able to share as it relates to this China risk database, I’m hopeful that again, yes, optimistic that President Trump is going to do right by the United States. He’s going to do right by the American worker and consumer and I’m hopeful that the information that we’ve provided will help the administration, but it will also help CEOs and board leadership and investors be wise about their relationship with China.’

Overall, the companies listed in the report generate over $600 billion in revenue from China on average and would face sanctions totaling over $150 billion on average. 

‘Far too many of America’s largest corporations are shielding from the public their involvement with an oppressive communist regime. This failure to provide any corporate transparency is a glaring threat to America’s future,’ Cameron said about the data in the report. ‘Enough is enough. American workers, consumers, and investors should be aware of where these major liabilities lie.’