Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is preparing to deliver a speech Saturday on rebuilding the “Arsenal of Freedom” at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.

Ahead of the keynote address, Hegseth shared a video on X touring facilities in California. 

“The era of vendor-locked, prime-dominated, closed architecture, cost plus over. We’re going to compete, we’re going to move fast, we’re going to do open architecture, we’re going to innovate, we’re going to scale, we’re going to do it at cost. Because this is a commitment to a mission,” Hegsteh said in the video. 

“Whether you’re a vet or not who served already, all of you are serving the Department of War, the American people, and the Arsenal of Freedom,” Hegseth said. “I need you to understand that yes, we’re here for the war fighters who are out there pulling triggers on the behalf of our nation right now. Everybody here’s touched someone who serves at some point. But they can’t succeed without you.”

WAR DEPARTMENT REFOCUSES ON AI, HYPERSONICS AND DIRECTED ENERGY IN MAJOR STRATEGY OVERHAUL 

The secretary told those building the Department of War’s arsenal that American troops would not be able to do what’s required of them “in far-flung places, in dangerous moments, in the dead of night without the capabilities that you will underwrite for them.”

“So, this Arsenal of Freedom is built not just with men and women in camouflage. But it’s in folks in civilian clothes all across the country. Who are also putting in the work 24/7, to out-compete, out-innovate and out-manufacture our opponents,” Hegseth declared.

Hegseth’s speech is set to begin around 2:50 p.m. ET, according to a Reagan National Defense Forum schedule. He will be joined at the event by other leaders from the U.S. military.

“We are rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom,” Hegseth wrote on X alongside the video. 

SAUDI ARABIA IS ALREADY AMERICA’S TOP ARMS BUYER AND NOW TRUMP WANTS TO ADD F-35S

The event is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

“The Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF) brings together leaders from across the political spectrum and key stakeholders in the defense community, including Members of Congress, current and former Administration officials, senior military leadership, industry executives, technology innovators, and thought leaders,” the Forum said on its website.

“Their mission is to review and assess policies that strengthen America’s national defense in the context of the global threat environment,” it added.

Notable speakers at the event so far on Saturday included Russell Vought, the Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, Rep. Adam Smith, D- Wash., who is the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Emil Michael, the U.S. Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering and Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is preparing to deliver a speech Saturday on rebuilding the “Arsenal of Freedom” at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.

Ahead of the keynote address, Hegseth shared a video on X touring facilities in California. 

“The era of vendor-locked, prime-dominated, closed architecture, cost plus over. We’re going to compete, we’re going to move fast, we’re going to do open architecture, we’re going to innovate, we’re going to scale, we’re going to do it at cost. Because this is a commitment to a mission,” Hegsteh said in the video. 

“Whether you’re a vet or not who served already, all of you are serving the Department of War, the American people, and the Arsenal of Freedom,” Hegseth said. “I need you to understand that yes, we’re here for the war fighters who are out there pulling triggers on the behalf of our nation right now. Everybody here’s touched someone who serves at some point. But they can’t succeed without you.”

WAR DEPARTMENT REFOCUSES ON AI, HYPERSONICS AND DIRECTED ENERGY IN MAJOR STRATEGY OVERHAUL 

The secretary told those building the Department of War’s arsenal that American troops would not be able to do what’s required of them “in far-flung places, in dangerous moments, in the dead of night without the capabilities that you will underwrite for them.”

“So, this Arsenal of Freedom is built not just with men and women in camouflage. But it’s in folks in civilian clothes all across the country. Who are also putting in the work 24/7, to out-compete, out-innovate and out-manufacture our opponents,” Hegseth declared.

Hegseth’s speech is set to begin around 2:50 p.m. ET, according to a Reagan National Defense Forum schedule. He will be joined at the event by other leaders from the U.S. military.

“We are rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom,” Hegseth wrote on X alongside the video. 

SAUDI ARABIA IS ALREADY AMERICA’S TOP ARMS BUYER AND NOW TRUMP WANTS TO ADD F-35S

The event is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

“The Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF) brings together leaders from across the political spectrum and key stakeholders in the defense community, including Members of Congress, current and former Administration officials, senior military leadership, industry executives, technology innovators, and thought leaders,” the Forum said on its website.

“Their mission is to review and assess policies that strengthen America’s national defense in the context of the global threat environment,” it added.

Notable speakers at the event so far on Saturday included Russell Vought, the Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, Rep. Adam Smith, D- Wash., who is the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Emil Michael, the U.S. Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering and Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

The final report from a government watchdog tasked with overseeing Afghanistan reconstruction efforts declared that “U.S. taxpayer-funded equipment, weapons, and facilities” left behind during the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal have now “formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus.” 

The 137-page document released this week from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) states that Congress provided approximately $144.7 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction between 2002 to 2021, as part of a mission promising to bring stability and democracy to the country, “yet ultimately delivered neither.” 

“Due to the Taliban takeover, SIGAR was unable to inspect any of the equipment provided to, or facilities constructed for, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) following the Afghan government’s collapse,” the report said. “However, DOD determined that the United States left behind approximately $7.1 billion in material and equipment it had given to the ANDSF.” 

“Similarly, any remaining ANDSF facilities that were not destroyed, can be assumed to be under Taliban control. These U.S. taxpayer-funded equipment, weapons, and facilities have formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus,” it added.

TALIBAN KILLS INTERNET ACROSS AFGHANISTAN, CITING MORALITY CONCERNS AS UN PROTESTS

The U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan concluded in August 2021 under the Biden administration. 

A Pentagon watchdog found the following year that, “Afghan forces had 316,260 weapons, worth $511.8 million, as well as ammunition and other equipment in their stocks when the former government fell, though the operational condition of these items was unknown.” 

“The DoD reported that the U.S. military removed or destroyed nearly all major equipment used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period in 2021,” the Pentagon watchdog said at the time.

SENATE REPUBLICANS DEMAND VETTING OVERHAUL AFTER SHOOTING OF NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS

In the SIGAR report released this week, Gene Aloise, the Acting Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote that, “Multiple factors contributed to the failure of the U.S. effort to transform a war-torn, underdeveloped country into a stable and prosperous democracy.” 

“For example, early and ongoing U.S. decisions to ally with corrupt, human-rights-abusing powerbrokers bolstered the insurgency and undermined the mission, including U.S. goals for bringing democracy and good governance to Afghanistan,” he wrote in a letter attached to the report. “Efforts to improve Afghanistan’s economic and social conditions also failed to have a lasting impact. And, despite nearly $90 billion in U.S. appropriations for security-sector assistance, Afghan security forces ultimately collapsed quickly without a sustained U.S. military presence.” 

The SIGAR report said the “ANDSF remained reliant on the U.S. military in part because the United States designed the ANDSF as a mirror image of U.S. forces, which required a high degree of professional military sophistication and leadership.

“This created long-term ANDSF dependencies. As a result of those dependencies, the decision to withdraw all U.S. military personnel and dramatically reduce U.S. support to the ANDSF destroyed the morale of Afghan soldiers and police,” the watchdog said. 

“Despite Afghanistan falling to the Taliban in 2021, the United States continued to be the nation’s largest donor, having disbursed more than $3.83 billion in humanitarian and development assistance there since,” it also revealed. “In the March 2025 quarter alone, disbursements totaled $120 million.” 

The final report from a government watchdog tasked with overseeing Afghanistan reconstruction efforts declared that “U.S. taxpayer-funded equipment, weapons, and facilities” left behind during the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal have now “formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus.” 

The 137-page document released this week from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) states that Congress provided approximately $144.7 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction between 2002 to 2021, as part of a mission promising to bring stability and democracy to the country, “yet ultimately delivered neither.” 

“Due to the Taliban takeover, SIGAR was unable to inspect any of the equipment provided to, or facilities constructed for, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) following the Afghan government’s collapse,” the report said. “However, DOD determined that the United States left behind approximately $7.1 billion in material and equipment it had given to the ANDSF.” 

“Similarly, any remaining ANDSF facilities that were not destroyed, can be assumed to be under Taliban control. These U.S. taxpayer-funded equipment, weapons, and facilities have formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus,” it added.

TALIBAN KILLS INTERNET ACROSS AFGHANISTAN, CITING MORALITY CONCERNS AS UN PROTESTS

The U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan concluded in August 2021 under the Biden administration. 

A Pentagon watchdog found the following year that, “Afghan forces had 316,260 weapons, worth $511.8 million, as well as ammunition and other equipment in their stocks when the former government fell, though the operational condition of these items was unknown.” 

“The DoD reported that the U.S. military removed or destroyed nearly all major equipment used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period in 2021,” the Pentagon watchdog said at the time.

SENATE REPUBLICANS DEMAND VETTING OVERHAUL AFTER SHOOTING OF NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS

In the SIGAR report released this week, Gene Aloise, the Acting Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote that, “Multiple factors contributed to the failure of the U.S. effort to transform a war-torn, underdeveloped country into a stable and prosperous democracy.” 

“For example, early and ongoing U.S. decisions to ally with corrupt, human-rights-abusing powerbrokers bolstered the insurgency and undermined the mission, including U.S. goals for bringing democracy and good governance to Afghanistan,” he wrote in a letter attached to the report. “Efforts to improve Afghanistan’s economic and social conditions also failed to have a lasting impact. And, despite nearly $90 billion in U.S. appropriations for security-sector assistance, Afghan security forces ultimately collapsed quickly without a sustained U.S. military presence.” 

The SIGAR report said the “ANDSF remained reliant on the U.S. military in part because the United States designed the ANDSF as a mirror image of U.S. forces, which required a high degree of professional military sophistication and leadership.

“This created long-term ANDSF dependencies. As a result of those dependencies, the decision to withdraw all U.S. military personnel and dramatically reduce U.S. support to the ANDSF destroyed the morale of Afghan soldiers and police,” the watchdog said. 

“Despite Afghanistan falling to the Taliban in 2021, the United States continued to be the nation’s largest donor, having disbursed more than $3.83 billion in humanitarian and development assistance there since,” it also revealed. “In the March 2025 quarter alone, disbursements totaled $120 million.” 

The final report from a government watchdog tasked with overseeing Afghanistan reconstruction efforts declared that “U.S. taxpayer-funded equipment, weapons, and facilities” left behind during the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal have now “formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus.” 

The 137-page document released this week from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) states that Congress provided approximately $144.7 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction between 2002 to 2021, as part of a mission promising to bring stability and democracy to the country, “yet ultimately delivered neither.” 

“Due to the Taliban takeover, SIGAR was unable to inspect any of the equipment provided to, or facilities constructed for, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) following the Afghan government’s collapse,” the report said. “However, DOD determined that the United States left behind approximately $7.1 billion in material and equipment it had given to the ANDSF.” 

“Similarly, any remaining ANDSF facilities that were not destroyed, can be assumed to be under Taliban control. These U.S. taxpayer-funded equipment, weapons, and facilities have formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus,” it added.

TALIBAN KILLS INTERNET ACROSS AFGHANISTAN, CITING MORALITY CONCERNS AS UN PROTESTS

The U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan concluded in August 2021 under the Biden administration. 

A Pentagon watchdog found the following year that, “Afghan forces had 316,260 weapons, worth $511.8 million, as well as ammunition and other equipment in their stocks when the former government fell, though the operational condition of these items was unknown.” 

“The DoD reported that the U.S. military removed or destroyed nearly all major equipment used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period in 2021,” the Pentagon watchdog said at the time.

SENATE REPUBLICANS DEMAND VETTING OVERHAUL AFTER SHOOTING OF NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS

In the SIGAR report released this week, Gene Aloise, the Acting Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote that, “Multiple factors contributed to the failure of the U.S. effort to transform a war-torn, underdeveloped country into a stable and prosperous democracy.” 

“For example, early and ongoing U.S. decisions to ally with corrupt, human-rights-abusing powerbrokers bolstered the insurgency and undermined the mission, including U.S. goals for bringing democracy and good governance to Afghanistan,” he wrote in a letter attached to the report. “Efforts to improve Afghanistan’s economic and social conditions also failed to have a lasting impact. And, despite nearly $90 billion in U.S. appropriations for security-sector assistance, Afghan security forces ultimately collapsed quickly without a sustained U.S. military presence.” 

The SIGAR report said the “ANDSF remained reliant on the U.S. military in part because the United States designed the ANDSF as a mirror image of U.S. forces, which required a high degree of professional military sophistication and leadership.

“This created long-term ANDSF dependencies. As a result of those dependencies, the decision to withdraw all U.S. military personnel and dramatically reduce U.S. support to the ANDSF destroyed the morale of Afghan soldiers and police,” the watchdog said. 

“Despite Afghanistan falling to the Taliban in 2021, the United States continued to be the nation’s largest donor, having disbursed more than $3.83 billion in humanitarian and development assistance there since,” it also revealed. “In the March 2025 quarter alone, disbursements totaled $120 million.” 

EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood icon Lorenzo Lamas is endorsing a pro-law enforcement Republican for California governor after he says that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has had a “devastating” impact on the state.

Lamas, who is best known for his action roles in the 80’s and 90’s, told Fox News Digital he is endorsing Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco for governor, saying, “The impact on the state of California with the current [Newsom] administration is nothing short of devastating.”

Lamas said that “over the years I’ve been very careful about voicing an opinion politically,” noting that “sometimes it can affect who you work for, depending on a company’s or studio’s political point of view.”

“But I think we’re at a point now, not just in California, but I think nationwide, that we have to start at least voicing what we feel is wrong with what’s happening,” he explained.

UFC LEGEND ENDORSES PRO-LAW ENFORCEMENT PICK FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: ‘WE NEED HIS STRENGTH

Lamas said he was motivated to finally speak out after long watching his home state be mismanaged despite its enormous economy and abundant natural resources. He described the Democratic Party’s grip on California as “a sickness that’s permeated the state from the top to the bottom.”

“We have to figure out what we’re going to do with the people that are disenfranchised and living on the streets, the programs that supposedly are budgeted for these folks, where is that money? … There’s nobody that’s accounting for the millions of dollars that are spent on welfare programs that’s not benefiting anybody that can use it,” he said.

Regarding the several devastating natural disasters the state has experienced in recent years, Lamas said, “I grew up in Pacific Palisades, that fire devastated my hometown. The home I grew up in burned down. My elementary school burned down. Why? Because not enough budget was allocated to resources to fight the fire.”

“Not only that, the people that lost their homes in the Palisades. Many of them were second, third generation people. They cannot afford to rebuild in the city that they grew up in, the city that they came to love. Why? Well, because, hey, guess what? It takes years to get rebuilding plans approved. There’s just so much red tape, so much bureaucracy, and Chad wants to just eliminate it.”

ERIC SWALWELL ANNOUNCES RUN FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR, VOWS TO BE ‘PROTECTOR AND FIGHTER’

“I’ve watched the wealthiest state in the nation become completely mismanaged by the current administration,” he went on. “It’s just it’s beyond the pale what’s happened to my state.”

Meanwhile, Lamas said that he believes Bianco, who has framed his candidacy around cost of living and public safety issues, “is the man that can really turn this thing around.”

“We’ve got to have a governor that’s pro-law enforcement, that’s going to keep our moms and our daughters safe on the streets,” he said, explaining, “I have two daughters that live in Los Angeles, and there I tell them, every single day [that] their heads got to be on a swivel. You see all the crime that’s rampant, not just in California, but all around the country. It’s permeating this beautiful nation of ours, and it really makes me sick.” 

Bianco is facing a steep uphill battle to win as a Republican in deep blue California. It has been nearly two decades since a Republican won a statewide race. On the Democratic side of the aisle, California Rep. Eric Swalwell and former Rep. Katie Porter, both progressives and vocal critics of President Donald Trump, are running to replace Newsom, who is term-limited. 

HALLE BERRY STUNS CROWD BY CRITICIZING GAVIN NEWSOM, SAYS HE ‘PROBABLY SHOULD NOT BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT’

On whether he believes California is ready to send a Republican to the governor’s mansion, Lamas answered, “What I see in Chad is a tremendous gift of being able to present his agenda with a commonsense foundation, and that’s going to appeal to anybody with half of a brain.”

“Last November 6th, America voted for commonsense. And I think it’s time that California votes for commonsense, and the only person that I really feel can bring that to our state is Chad Bianco.”

A spokesperson for Newsom brushed off Lamas’ criticism, sending Fox News Digital a one-word response, simply asking, “Who?”

Bianco has also been endorsed by UFC legends Royce Gracie and Dan Henderson. 

EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood icon Lorenzo Lamas is endorsing a pro-law enforcement Republican for California governor after he says that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has had a “devastating” impact on the state.

Lamas, who is best known for his action roles in the 80’s and 90’s, told Fox News Digital he is endorsing Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco for governor, saying, “The impact on the state of California with the current [Newsom] administration is nothing short of devastating.”

Lamas said that “over the years I’ve been very careful about voicing an opinion politically,” noting that “sometimes it can affect who you work for, depending on a company’s or studio’s political point of view.”

“But I think we’re at a point now, not just in California, but I think nationwide, that we have to start at least voicing what we feel is wrong with what’s happening,” he explained.

UFC LEGEND ENDORSES PRO-LAW ENFORCEMENT PICK FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: ‘WE NEED HIS STRENGTH

Lamas said he was motivated to finally speak out after long watching his home state be mismanaged despite its enormous economy and abundant natural resources. He described the Democratic Party’s grip on California as “a sickness that’s permeated the state from the top to the bottom.”

“We have to figure out what we’re going to do with the people that are disenfranchised and living on the streets, the programs that supposedly are budgeted for these folks, where is that money? … There’s nobody that’s accounting for the millions of dollars that are spent on welfare programs that’s not benefiting anybody that can use it,” he said.

Regarding the several devastating natural disasters the state has experienced in recent years, Lamas said, “I grew up in Pacific Palisades, that fire devastated my hometown. The home I grew up in burned down. My elementary school burned down. Why? Because not enough budget was allocated to resources to fight the fire.”

“Not only that, the people that lost their homes in the Palisades. Many of them were second, third generation people. They cannot afford to rebuild in the city that they grew up in, the city that they came to love. Why? Well, because, hey, guess what? It takes years to get rebuilding plans approved. There’s just so much red tape, so much bureaucracy, and Chad wants to just eliminate it.”

ERIC SWALWELL ANNOUNCES RUN FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR, VOWS TO BE ‘PROTECTOR AND FIGHTER’

“I’ve watched the wealthiest state in the nation become completely mismanaged by the current administration,” he went on. “It’s just it’s beyond the pale what’s happened to my state.”

Meanwhile, Lamas said that he believes Bianco, who has framed his candidacy around cost of living and public safety issues, “is the man that can really turn this thing around.”

“We’ve got to have a governor that’s pro-law enforcement, that’s going to keep our moms and our daughters safe on the streets,” he said, explaining, “I have two daughters that live in Los Angeles, and there I tell them, every single day [that] their heads got to be on a swivel. You see all the crime that’s rampant, not just in California, but all around the country. It’s permeating this beautiful nation of ours, and it really makes me sick.” 

Bianco is facing a steep uphill battle to win as a Republican in deep blue California. It has been nearly two decades since a Republican won a statewide race. On the Democratic side of the aisle, California Rep. Eric Swalwell and former Rep. Katie Porter, both progressives and vocal critics of President Donald Trump, are running to replace Newsom, who is term-limited. 

HALLE BERRY STUNS CROWD BY CRITICIZING GAVIN NEWSOM, SAYS HE ‘PROBABLY SHOULD NOT BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT’

On whether he believes California is ready to send a Republican to the governor’s mansion, Lamas answered, “What I see in Chad is a tremendous gift of being able to present his agenda with a commonsense foundation, and that’s going to appeal to anybody with half of a brain.”

“Last November 6th, America voted for commonsense. And I think it’s time that California votes for commonsense, and the only person that I really feel can bring that to our state is Chad Bianco.”

A spokesperson for Newsom brushed off Lamas’ criticism, sending Fox News Digital a one-word response, simply asking, “Who?”

Bianco has also been endorsed by UFC legends Royce Gracie and Dan Henderson. 

Former President Joe Biden, when he served as a Delaware senator, railed against foreign narco-terrorists flooding the U.S. with highly addictive substances, calling for an “international strike force” against the drug traffickers in a fiery 1989 speech. 

“Let’s go after the drug lords where they live with an international strike force. There must be no safe haven for these narco-terrorists and they must know it,” then-Sen. Biden said in an 1989 video speech addressing then-President George H.W. Bush’s efforts to combat the narcotics flooding U.S. streets. 

The remarks have resurfaced on social media as the Trump administration currently faces outrage from Democrats over its strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean. 

Biden’s address was billed as the Democrat Party’s official response to then-President H.W. Bush’s Sept. 5, 1989, address on his administration’s efforts to tackle the crack cocaine epidemic and rampant use of cocaine, C-SPAN footage reported. Bush had announced that the administration would double federal assistance to state and local law enforcement to tackle the drug problem, $65 million emergency assistance to nations such as Colombia to “fight against the cocaine cartels,” an overall $1.5 billion increase in drug-related federal spending on law enforcement and other initiatives. 

EXPERT REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE FOR TRUMP TO DEPLOY TROOPS TO VENEZUELA: ‘POSSIBILITY OF ESCALATION’

Biden, in the Democrat Party’s response, called for “another D-Day” to end the war on drugs. 

“The president says he wants to wage a war on drugs, but if that’s true, what we need is another D-Day, not another Vietnam, not another limited war fought on the cheap and destined for stalemate and human tragedy,” Biden said in his response. 

Biden railed that the H.W. Bush administration was failing to take stronger actions on drugs at a time when cocaine from Colombia flooded the nation and U.S. cities were rocked by the crack epidemic that persisted through the 1980s and early 1990s, when crystal meth and heroin became the drugs of choice. 

“We speak with great concern about the drug problem in America today, but we fail to appreciate or address it for what it really is, the number one threat to our national security,” Biden said during his 1989 address on the war on drugs. “It affects the readiness of our army, the productivity of our workers and the achievement of our students and the very health and safety of our families.”

“America is under attack, literally under attack by an enemy who is well financed, well supplied and well armed and fully capable of declaring total war against a nation and its people, as we’ve seen in Colombia. Here in America, the enemy is already ashore, and for the first time, we are fighting and losing the war on our own soil,” Biden continued before arguing the U.S. should “go after the drug lords where they live.”

CAPITOL HILL REVOLT THREATENS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA PLAYBOOK AMID CARIBBEAN STRIKE OVERSIGHT

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office Friday inquiring if he stands by his 1989 address or has any additional comment to include, but did not immediately receive a response. 

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has come under fire for carrying out a series of military strikes on boats suspected of trafficking narcotics from Venezuela in the waters off of Central and South America. The administration has carried out at least 22 fatal strikes on the boats since September, killing dozens of suspected drug traffickers. 

The administration has defended the strikes, saying the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels after the groups evolved into transnational terror organizations.

Trump has said the strikes are part of an effort to curb drugs flooding into the U.S., while experts have weighed in that the pressure on Venezuela is likely also to force Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s ouster and end his regime in the country. 

US CARRIES OUT 22ND STRIKE ON ALLEGED DRUG VESSEL OPERATED BY A DESIGNATED TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

Democrats have taken issue with a pair of strikes on Sept. 2 against an alleged drug boat from Venezuela. The White House confirmed the military carried out an initial strike on the boat before firing off a second that killed two suspected traffickers, sparking Democrats to claim the administration committed potential war crimes. 

“If the reports are true, Pete Hegseth likely committed a war crime when he gave an illegal order that led to the killing of incapacitated survivors of the U.S. strike in the Caribbean,” Nevada Democratic Sen. Sen. Jacky Rosen said in a statement earlier in December. 

RAND PAUL JOINS DEMS ON ‘WAR POWERS RESOLUTION’ CLAIMING TRUMP ADMIN COULD SOON STRIKE VENEZUELAN TERRITORY

Several Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration has been well within its rights to act against Maduro’s regime. They added that they’re eager for more information after several strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug boats and Trump’s heightened rhetoric targeting Maduro.

Trump campaigned on ending the flow of narcotics flowing across U.S. borders in 2024, vowing after his election win to deploy the Navy to assist in the effort. 

“To stop the deadly drugs that are poisoning our people, I will deploy the U.S. Navy to impose a full fentanyl blockade on the waters of our region.…The drug cartels are waging war on America, and we will destroy those cartels!” Trump wrote on Truth Social a day before his inauguration.

 Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

Former President Joe Biden, when he served as a Delaware senator, railed against foreign narco-terrorists flooding the U.S. with highly addictive substances, calling for an “international strike force” against the drug traffickers in a fiery 1989 speech. 

“Let’s go after the drug lords where they live with an international strike force. There must be no safe haven for these narco-terrorists and they must know it,” then-Sen. Biden said in an 1989 video speech addressing then-President George H.W. Bush’s efforts to combat the narcotics flooding U.S. streets. 

The remarks have resurfaced on social media as the Trump administration currently faces outrage from Democrats over its strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean. 

Biden’s address was billed as the Democrat Party’s official response to then-President H.W. Bush’s Sept. 5, 1989, address on his administration’s efforts to tackle the crack cocaine epidemic and rampant use of cocaine, C-SPAN footage reported. Bush had announced that the administration would double federal assistance to state and local law enforcement to tackle the drug problem, $65 million emergency assistance to nations such as Colombia to “fight against the cocaine cartels,” an overall $1.5 billion increase in drug-related federal spending on law enforcement and other initiatives. 

EXPERT REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE FOR TRUMP TO DEPLOY TROOPS TO VENEZUELA: ‘POSSIBILITY OF ESCALATION’

Biden, in the Democrat Party’s response, called for “another D-Day” to end the war on drugs. 

“The president says he wants to wage a war on drugs, but if that’s true, what we need is another D-Day, not another Vietnam, not another limited war fought on the cheap and destined for stalemate and human tragedy,” Biden said in his response. 

Biden railed that the H.W. Bush administration was failing to take stronger actions on drugs at a time when cocaine from Colombia flooded the nation and U.S. cities were rocked by the crack epidemic that persisted through the 1980s and early 1990s, when crystal meth and heroin became the drugs of choice. 

“We speak with great concern about the drug problem in America today, but we fail to appreciate or address it for what it really is, the number one threat to our national security,” Biden said during his 1989 address on the war on drugs. “It affects the readiness of our army, the productivity of our workers and the achievement of our students and the very health and safety of our families.”

“America is under attack, literally under attack by an enemy who is well financed, well supplied and well armed and fully capable of declaring total war against a nation and its people, as we’ve seen in Colombia. Here in America, the enemy is already ashore, and for the first time, we are fighting and losing the war on our own soil,” Biden continued before arguing the U.S. should “go after the drug lords where they live.”

CAPITOL HILL REVOLT THREATENS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA PLAYBOOK AMID CARIBBEAN STRIKE OVERSIGHT

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office Friday inquiring if he stands by his 1989 address or has any additional comment to include, but did not immediately receive a response. 

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has come under fire for carrying out a series of military strikes on boats suspected of trafficking narcotics from Venezuela in the waters off of Central and South America. The administration has carried out at least 22 fatal strikes on the boats since September, killing dozens of suspected drug traffickers. 

The administration has defended the strikes, saying the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels after the groups evolved into transnational terror organizations.

Trump has said the strikes are part of an effort to curb drugs flooding into the U.S., while experts have weighed in that the pressure on Venezuela is likely also to force Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s ouster and end his regime in the country. 

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Democrats have taken issue with a pair of strikes on Sept. 2 against an alleged drug boat from Venezuela. The White House confirmed the military carried out an initial strike on the boat before firing off a second that killed two suspected traffickers, sparking Democrats to claim the administration committed potential war crimes. 

“If the reports are true, Pete Hegseth likely committed a war crime when he gave an illegal order that led to the killing of incapacitated survivors of the U.S. strike in the Caribbean,” Nevada Democratic Sen. Sen. Jacky Rosen said in a statement earlier in December. 

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Several Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration has been well within its rights to act against Maduro’s regime. They added that they’re eager for more information after several strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug boats and Trump’s heightened rhetoric targeting Maduro.

Trump campaigned on ending the flow of narcotics flowing across U.S. borders in 2024, vowing after his election win to deploy the Navy to assist in the effort. 

“To stop the deadly drugs that are poisoning our people, I will deploy the U.S. Navy to impose a full fentanyl blockade on the waters of our region.…The drug cartels are waging war on America, and we will destroy those cartels!” Trump wrote on Truth Social a day before his inauguration.

 Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

The Senate is quietly winning the battle over states’ abilities to craft their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations, but there is still a desire to chart out a rough framework at the federal level. 

The issue of a blanket AI moratorium, which would have halted states from crafting their own AI regulations, was thought to have been put to bed over the summer. But the push was again revived by House Republicans, who were considering dropping it into the annual National Defense Authorization Act. 

However, Republicans in the lower chamber have pulled back from that push, even as the White House has pressed Congress to create a federal framework that would make regulations more cohesive across the country. 

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A trio of Senate Republicans, Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who banded together to block the original proposal, cheered the provision’s apparent rise from the grave.

Hawley told Fox News Digital that it was good news that the provision would not be included in the defense authorization bill, but warned that “vigilance is needed, and Congress needs to act.”

“I mean, for everybody out there saying, ‘Well, Congress needs to act and create one standard,’ I agree with that,” he said. “And we can start by banning chat bots for minors.” 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee, initially pushed for a moratorium to be included in Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill. His position on the issue has been to unchain AI to give the U.S. a competitive edge against foreign adversaries like China.

But that attempt was nearly unanimously defeated over the summer and stripped from the bill. And Cruz hasn’t given up.

“The discussions are ongoing, but it is the White House that is driving,” Cruz told Fox News Digital. 

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged that getting the moratorium into the defense authorization bill would be difficult earlier in the week.

“That’s controversial, as you know,” Thune said. “So, I mean, I think the White House is working with senators and House members for that matter to try and come up with something that works but preserves states’ rights.”

Trump declared last month that the U.S. “MUST have one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes,” and argued that over regulation at the state level was threatening the investment, and expected growth, of AI. 

The White House reportedly drafted an executive order that would have blocked states from regulating AI that would have withheld certain streams of federal funding from states that didn’t comply with the order, and enlisted the Department of Justice to sue states that crafted their own regulations.

So far, Trump has not taken action on the order. 

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Blackburn, who was the leading player in thwarting Cruz’s previous attempt to assert an AI moratorium into Trump’s marquee tax bill, also wants some kind of federal framework, but one that is designed to “protect children, consumers, creators, and conservatives,” a spokesperson for Blackburn told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“Senator Blackburn will continue her decade-long effort to work with her colleagues in both the House and Senate to pass federal standards to govern the virtual space and rein in Big Tech companies who are preying on children to turn a profit,” the spokesperson said.

And Johnson, another key figure in blocking the moratorium earlier this year, argued to Fox News Digital that it was an “enormously complex problem. It’s my definition of a problem.” 

But unlike his counterparts, he was more skeptical about Congress producing a framework that he would be comfortable with.

“I’m not a real fan of this place,” Johnson said. “And I think we’d be far better off if we passed a lot fewer laws. I’m not sure how often we get it right. Look at healthcare, look at how that’s been completely botched.” 

“What are we gonna do with AI? Hard to say, but we just don’t go through the problem-solving process,” he continued. “And again, I’m concerned, the real experts on this have got vested interests. Whatever they’re advising is, can you really trust them?”