Vice President JD Vance on Thursday teased a ‘great’ healthcare plan that the Trump administration has in the works to help bring costs down for American families, saying President Donald Trump cares about fixing a broken system, not playing political games with Democrats.

Vance made the remarks during a fireside chat with Breitbart’s Matt Boyle in Washington, D.C., when asked about Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies expiring at the end of the year and the high costs of healthcare prices and premiums.

‘I don’t want to get ahead of the President … because we had a very, very good meeting in the Oval Office yesterday,’ Vance said. ‘I think that we have a great healthcare plan coming together. I think that it’s going to get Republican and Democrat support. And I think the president, look, right now, American people, the American people get crap healthcare and they pay way too much for it.’

Americans could see sharp increases in healthcare premiums in 2026 as ACA subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025, with their extension uncertain. Those using the ACA marketplace are already projected to face a 26% premium hike. If subsidies lapse, monthly payments for subsidized patients could jump by 114%, according to an October analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Vance described the healthcare system as ‘broken,’ claiming it was the Democrats who ‘broke it,’ but said the Trump administration still wants to work together if Democrats are ‘willing to fix it.’ He touted Trump’s leadership, saying that the president cares more about doing what is right for American families than playing politics.

‘People come to the president and say, ‘No, no, no, don’t talk about healthcare. That’s a graveyard for Republicans. Republicans always lose on healthcare,’’ Vance said. ‘And the president’s like, ‘I don’t care about the politics of it. This system is screwed up for the American people. We need to fix it. So let’s go and do it. Politics be damned.’’

He added: ‘I love that. That’s leadership. And that’s exactly what we should want coming from the White House.’

Republicans and Democrats clashed over whether to extend expiring ACA subsidies, triggering a shutdown that lasted more than 40 days — the longest in U.S. history.

Democrats initially refused to support a funding measure without a provision to make the subsidies permanent but eventually backed a short-term bill that did not include the extension. However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to hold a vote in December on legislation to continue the credits.

Trump has signaled he would not back continuing the subsidies and said in a social media post Tuesday that Congress should not ‘waste’ its time on negotiating an extension.

‘THE ONLY HEALTHCARE I WILL SUPPORT OR APPROVE IS SENDING THE MONEY DIRECTLY BACK TO THE PEOPLE,’ Trump said in the post.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

Congressional Democratic leaders warned Thursday that President Donald Trump’s posts accusing several Democrat senators of sedition, ‘Punishable by DEATH,’ would encourage political violence against lawmakers.

Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that six congressional Democrats featured in a viral video calling on members of the military and intelligence community to refuse to carry out ‘illegal’ orders from higher-ups was ‘really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.’

‘Their words cannot be allowed to stand,’ Trump said. ‘SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP??? President DJT.’

He later posted, ‘SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!’ and reposted a user who wrote ‘HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD.’ 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor that Trump was explicitly calling ‘for the execution of elected officials. This is an outright threat, and it’s deadly serious.’

‘Every time Donald Trump posts things like this, he makes political violence more likely,’ Schumer said.

‘When Donald Trump uses the language of execution and treason, some of his supporters may very well listen,’ he continued. ‘He is lighting a match in a country soaked with political gasoline.’

And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in a joint statement with his House Democratic leadership team, condemned Trump’s ‘disgusting and dangerous death threats against Members of Congress’ and urged House Republicans to follow suit.

‘We have been in contact with the House Sergeant-at-Arms and the United States Capitol Police to ensure the safety of these Members and their families,’ Jeffries said. ‘Donald Trump must immediately delete these unhinged social media posts and recant his violent rhetoric before he gets someone killed.’

Trump’s posts, and the response from Congress’ top Democrats, come after a video featuring Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Reps. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Chris Deluzio, D-Pa., went viral for calling on military service members to refuse to follow unlawful orders.

Republicans and members of the Trump administration pounced on the video, with some demanding that the lawmakers provide specifics.

The video came on the heels of rising questions among lawmakers about the legality of President Donald Trump’s authorization of strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, and in the wake of the administration’s deployment of the National Guard to blue cities across the country.

It also follows an uptick in political violence in the country over the last few years, notably two attempted assassinations against Trump, the assassination of Charlie Kirk and a dramatic increase in threats against members of Congress.

Fox News Digital reached out to each of the six congressional Democrats and the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back.

The United States and Russia have drawn up a plan to end the bitter fighting in Ukraine, which would require major concessions from Kyiv.

Exactly what all the concessions that would be made of Ukraine were not clear, but some include demands Moscow has repeatedly made since the start of the 2022 invasion of its neighbor, according to The Associated Press, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Included in the framework would be the halting of attacks from Russia. 

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff has been quietly working on the plan for a month, receiving input from both Ukrainians and Russians on terms that are acceptable to each side, a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity told Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the plan and supports it, the person said. The official said both sides, not just Ukraine, would have to make concessions. 

‘President Trump has been clear since day one that he wants the war between Russia Ukraine to end, and he has grown frustrated with both sides for their refusal to commit to a peace agreement. Nevertheless, the President and his team never gives up, and the United States has been working on a detailed and acceptable plan for both sides to stop the killing and create a durable, lasting peace.’ said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Under the terms of the proposal, which could still be changed, Ukraine would cede territory to Russia and abandon certain weaponry, according to the person who had been briefed on the contours of the plan.

It would also include the rolling back of some U.S. military assistance.

Russia would take control of the entire eastern Donbas region. Russian President Vladimir Putin has listed the capture of the Donbas as the key goal of the invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out ceding territory to Russia. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said officials will ‘continue to develop a list of potential ideas’ for ending the war based on input from both sides. 

‘Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas,’ he wrote on X late Wednesday. ‘And achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions.’

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that ‘there are no consultations per se currently underway’ with the U.S. on ending the war in Ukraine. 

‘There are certainly contacts, but processes that could be called consultations are not underway,’ he told reporters.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The White House reiterated Thursday that the U.S. will not send a delegation to the upcoming G20 conference in South Africa, calling reports claiming the opposite ‘fake news.’ 

President Donald Trump said earlier in November that U.S. officials would skip the annual conference, which brings together 19 nations to discuss global economic stability and development, over South Africa’s reported human rights abuses. 

Media reports and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, however, have claimed that the U.S. will send a delegation to the summit, which begins Saturday. 

When approached for comment on claims the U.S. backtracked and will send a delegation, a White House official said such claims were ‘fake news.’ 

‘This is fake news. The chargé d’affaires in Pretoria will attend the handover ceremony as a formality, but the United States is not joining G20 discussions,’ a White House official told Fox News Digital Thursday. 

Trump wrote on Truth Social Nov. 7,  ‘Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.’ 

Ramaphosa, speaking Thursday at a G20 event in Johannesburg, told delegates and media, ‘We have received notice from the United States, a notice where we are still in discussions with them, about a change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other in the (G20) Summit.

‘So, the discussions are still ongoing, it’s come at a late hour before the summit begins, so it needs to engage in those type of discussions to see how practical it is, and what it finally really means.

‘In a way, I see this as a positive sign, very positive, because, as I’ve often said, boycott politics never works.’ 

Ramaphosa later said if the U.S. does not take part, it is ‘outside the tent.’

He added, ‘The United States needs to be here, so it’s pleasing to hear that there is a change of approach, and so we are still discussing how that will manifest.’  

Fox News Digital reached out to Ramaphosa’s office for a response to the White House official’s statement Thursday but did not immediately receive a reply. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added during Thursday’s news conference that ‘there is not a shift’ of plans to attend. 

‘The United States is not participating in official talks at the G20 in South Africa,’ she said. ‘I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the United States and the president of the United States earlier today, and that language is not appreciated by the president or his team.

‘The ambassador or the representative of the embassy in South Africa is simply there to recognize that the United States will be the host of the G20,’ Leavitt continued. ‘They are receiving that send-off at the end of the event. They are not there to participate in official talks despite what the South African president is falsely claiming.’ 

Ramaphosa lashed out at Trump from the sidelines of a G20 event Thursday, reportedly saying, ‘We will not be bullied. We will not agree to be bullied by anyone.’

Trump had a fiery Oval Office moment with Ramaphosa in May when he confronted the South African president over claims White Afrikaner South African farmers were being slaughtered in the nation. The White House played video footage for Ramaphosa and his cohort that showed white crosses marking alleged graves lining a road in South Africa. 

‘Now this is very bad. These are burial sites right here. Burial sites — over a thousand — of White farmers,’ Trump said during the tense Oval Office moment. ‘And those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning. Each one of those white things you see is a cross. And there is approximately a thousand of them. 

‘They’re all White farmers. The family of White farmers. And those cars aren’t driving. They are stopped there to pay respects to their family member who was killed. And it’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it. On both sides of the road, you have crosses. Those people are all killed.’ 

‘Have they told you where that is, Mr. President? I’d like to know where that is. Because this I’ve never seen,’ Ramaphosa then asked Trump. 

‘I mean, it’s in South Africa, that’s where,’ Trump responded. 

‘We need to find out,’ Ramaphosa said.  

That same month, the State Department announced that the U.S. was welcoming South African refugees who were victims of ‘government-sponsored racial discrimination’ in their homeland. 

The South African government has slammed the Trump administration’s refugee efforts, arguing claims of White genocide in the country have been discredited. 

‘The South African Government wishes to state, for the record, that the characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical. Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution, is not substantiated by fact,’ the South African government said in a statement on Nov. 8 in response to Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the U.S. would skip the summit. 

China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Argentina’s Javier Milei are also skipping the summit but are sending delegations in their place, The Associated Press reported. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Tilsley, Morgan Phillips and Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin — who clapped back after House Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett said that he and others had taken money from someone by the name of Jeffrey Epstein — took to social media again after Crockett defended her comments and claimed that she was not seeking to ‘mislead’ anyone.

Zeldin began his Wednesday post on X with an exploding head emoji and then declared, ‘When you find yourself in a hole, it’s best to stop digging.’

‘The public FEC report Crockett referenced on the House floor very clearly states that the Jeffrey Epstein who donated to my past campaign was a physician, and the donation date was well AFTER the [drum emoji] other [drum emoji] Jeffrey [drum emoji] Epstein [drum emoji] WAS [drum emoji] ALREADY [drum emoji] DEAD!!!’ he exclaimed.

The dust-up originated because Crockett, during remarks on Tuesday, listed figures and entities she said had taken money from ‘somebody’ with the name Jeffrey Epstein. Noting that she had her ‘team dig in very quickly,’ she ran through the following list: ‘Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin, George Bush, WinRed, McCain-Palin, Rick Lazio.’

Zeldin fired back on X, pointing out that the donation was not from the notorious Jeffrey Epstein, but from a completely different individual.

‘Yes Crockett, a physician named Dr. Jeffrey Epstein (who is a totally different person than the other Jeffrey Epstein) donated to a prior campaign of mine,’ Zeldin wrote. ‘NO [clap emoji] FREAKIN [clap emoji] RELATION [clap emoji] YOU [clap emoji] GENIUS!!!’

Meghan McCain, who is the daughter of the late Republican senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, also fired back at Crockett.

‘My Dad has been dead 7 years @RepJasmine. He never met Jeffrey Epstein, let alone took money from him. The Jeffrey Epstein you are referencing is an entirely different human being. Do you have mashed potatoes for brains, you absolute joke?!’ she wrote in a Wednesday post on X.

When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins confronted Crockett on Wednesday about Zeldin’s Tuesday post that pushed back against the notion that he had accepted a donation from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Texas Democrat said that she ‘never said that it was that Jeffrey Epstein.’ 

‘Unlike Republicans, I at least don’t go out and just tell lies,’ she later said.

‘So, number one, I made sure that I was clear that it was a Jeffrey Epstein, but I never said that it was specifically that Jeffrey Epstein,’ Crockett said later during the interview.

President Donald Trump loves a deal and few partners have proven more willing or more powerful than Saudi Arabia.

This week, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to channel $1 trillion in investments from the oil-rich kingdom into the U.S. 

Trump embraced the announcement as validation of his close ties with Riyadh and proof that international money is eager to flow back into the U.S. economy. Yet beneath the impressive headline figure lies a familiar reality: much of the promised investment exists only on paper, and experts caution that the actual cash flow could take years to materialize.

‘The term investment implies long-term capital, but in this case it really means purchases like aircraft, tanks, even computer chips,’ said Simon Henderson, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. ‘And those figures, $600 billion, a trillion, who really knows how accurate they are, or over what time frame?’

‘Perhaps the real story is that Saudi finances are in bad shape,’ added Henderson, who specializes in the Gulf region and energy policy. ‘Oil prices are too low, they need about $100 a barrel, and extravagant spending on prestige projects like The Line and NEOM are being scaled back.’

The Line is a proposed 105-mile car-free city and NEOM is a $500 billion futuristic mega-development on the Red Sea. Both are part of the crown prince’s ‘Vision 2030’ plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil.

Others note that Saudi Arabia’s short-term fiscal strains don’t necessarily preclude large-scale investments over time.

‘It’s perfectly within the realm of possibilities that Saudi Arabia could make a $1 trillion investment into the United States over many years,’ explained E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, citing the kingdom’s vast oil wealth and long-term economic ambitions.

Antoni noted that much depends on how such an investment ultimately takes shape. For now, the White House has offered few details about what exactly the Saudi funds would be directed toward or when they might arrive.

‘What does it look like in practice? It could take a whole host of different forms,’ he said. ‘We don’t know yet if this is going to look like an investment in infrastructure and even if it is, in what industry?’

He pointed to petrochemicals as one possible fit but said other sectors could also attract Saudi money.

‘In terms of beneficiaries, clearly you have the American taxpayer, who’s going to benefit from a larger economy,’ Antoni continued. ‘That broadens the tax base and reduces the overall tax burden on each individual. So that’s very, very positive.’

He added that while such deals can stimulate confidence and markets in the short term, their most meaningful returns often unfold over years, well beyond a single presidential term.

‘Most of what President Donald Trump has done is to accrue benefits that will not appear until after he has already left office,’ Antoni told Fox News Digital. 

‘That’s not to say there are no initial gains, there clearly are. Every time another company announces more investment in the United States, it helps buoy the stock market, because equity prices are ultimately based on future earnings and those earnings rise when there’s additional investment coming.’

For now, the pledge bolsters Trump’s economic narrative but also sets up a long-term test of U.S.–Saudi relations, one whose true impact may not be clear for years.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were not invited to the funeral for former Vice President Dick Cheney, Fox News has confirmed.

Cheney’s funeral is scheduled for mid-morning on Thursday at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. It is traditional for sitting U.S. presidents to attend funerals for past presidents and vice presidents, but Trump has had a uniquely poor relationship with Cheney’s family in recent years. News of the president’s exclusion was first reported by Axios.

Cheney’s daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., helped lead the House investigation into Trump’s role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Both Liz and her father endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign.

The elder Cheney, who went from the plains of Casper, Wyoming, to a decades-long public career as a Republican congressman, Defense secretary, White House chief of staff and one of the most powerful American vice presidents ever, died at age 84 earlier this month.

‘Richard B. Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, died last night, November 3, 2025. He was 84 years old. His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed,’ his family said in a statement obtained by Fox News. ‘The former Vice President died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.’

‘For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States,’ the statement continued.

‘Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,’ his family said. ‘We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.’

Cheney had a long history of cardiac problems, including five heart attacks. He received a heart transplant on March 24, 2012, at a Virginia hospital after nearly 21 months on a waiting list.

Cheney, who served as vice president for two terms under President George W. Bush, was one of the most powerful and controversial men ever to hold that position. He was a driving force behind America’s ‘war on terror,’ including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is demanding specifics from a group of congressional Democrats who urged military service members to ‘refuse illegal orders.’

Graham sent letters to a cohort of congressional Democrats, all with backgrounds in the military or intelligence community, featured in a now-viral video where they urge service members to refuse illegal orders.

The six lawmakers featured in the video were Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., along with Reps. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H.; Jason Crow, D-Colo.; Chris Deluzio, D-Pa.; and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.

They reiterated the lines, ‘You can refuse illegal orders,’ or ‘You must refuse illegal orders,’ as they went on to charge that service members do not have to carry out orders from higher-ups that they believe violate the Constitution.

Notably, none of the lawmakers dove into which orders they believed were illegal in the video.

Graham, who served three decades in the Air Force and worked as an Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG), wrote in six letters to each of the lawmakers that he took ‘the issue of unlawful orders very seriously.’

‘I cannot find a single example of an illegal order during this administration, but as a Member of Congress, I believe you owe it to the country to be specific as to which orders you believe are unlawful,’ Graham said.

‘However, to say that I am disturbed by your video encouraging service members and Intelligence Community professionals to refuse ‘unlawful orders’ is an understatement,’ he continued. ‘In that regard, could you please provide clarity on what orders, issued by President Trump or those in his chain of command, you consider illegal?’

The video, and Graham’s letters, come on the heels of rising questions among lawmakers about the legality of President Donald Trump’s authorization of strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, and in the wake of the administration’s deployment of the National Guard to blue cities across the country.

Members of the military have an obligation to follow lawful orders from their superiors, but they can ignore orders deemed illegal, according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice — the standardized military justice system enacted in 1951.

When asked to get into specifics, Slotkin’s office pointed Fox News Digital to an interview the senator had with TMZ, where she explained that the video was made in response to service members ‘reaching out to us saying, ‘I don’t know what to do if the commander in chief orders me to do something that is illegal.’’

Slotkin, who was a CIA officer, said service members aren’t ‘trained in police techniques. They’re not trained in arresting, detaining American citizens, crowd control, raids on homes, and they were worried that they could be asked to do those things, that protests could get bad in a place like Chicago, and they could be asked to do these things.’

Fox News Digital reached out for comment from Kelly, Crow, Houlahan, Goodlander and Deluzio but did not immediately hear back.

U.S. taxpayers are footing nearly $250 million a year in SNAP benefits spent on fast-food meals across just nine states, most of which are blue states, according to Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst.

Nine states, including Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia — all of which are Democrat-run states except for Virginia — are opted into a SNAP program called the Restaurant Meals Program (RMP), which has spent nearly $250 million a year on hot meals, including fast-food, Ernst’s office found. 

The modern day Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was established in 1964 under the Food Stamps Act to provide basic food needs such as meats and fruits and vegetables to financially vulnerable Americans. Hot foods or foods ready for immediate consumption were not eligible for purchase under the program as its main mission was to provide staple foods to be prepared at home. 

A 1977 loophole, however, allowed states to opt into a program called the Restaurant Meals Program, which was established to allow homeless individuals who do not have a kitchen to purchase prepared meals using SNAP benefits, according to Ernst’s office. The eligibility for the program expanded in the following years to include disabled individuals, the elderly and their spouses, according to the office. 

Nine states are opted into the program, which requires participating restaurants to sign an agreement with the state that is then authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the SNAP program writ large. Restaurants that participate in the program were historically a small group but have since expanded, most notably in California in the Biden era, Ernst’s office said. 

California expanded its program statewide, for example, in 2021 that allowed restaurants to accept CalFresh benefits via SNAP at a swath of top fast-food chains stretching from McDonald’s to Domino’s Pizza to Jack in the Box. 

Ernst’s office found that from June 2023 to May 2025, more than $475 million in taxpayer dollars funded Restaurant Meals Program meals at fast-food establishments. During that same time period, $524 million in taxpayer funds were spent through the Restaurant Meals Program overall, meaning California accounted for more than 90% of the nation’s total Restaurant Meals Program funds from June 2023 to May 2025, according to the office. 

‘The ‘N’ in SNAP stands for nutrition not nuggets with a side of fries,’ Ernst told Fox News Digital. ‘I wish I was McRibbing you but $250 million per year at the drive-through is no joke and a serious waste of tax dollars. I hate to be the one to say McSCUSE ME, but something needs to be done because taxpayers are not lovin’ it.’

The data found that between June 2023 and May 2025 $41.4 million funds went through Restaurant Meals Program in Arizona, $3.6 million in New York, $1.3 million in Michigan, $995,900 in Rhode Island, $649,000 in Massachusetts, $479,000 in Illinois, $308,500 in Virginia and $8,600 in Maryland. 

Ernst’s introduced legislation Thursday, dubbed the McSCUSE ME Act, to rein in the scope of the Restaurant Meals Program. Specifically, the bill would continue allowing homeless, elderly and disabled individuals to continue using the program, but ending spousal eligibility. 

The legislation also would reel in which vendors are able to participate in the program, specifically restricting fast-food vendors in favor of grocery stores that have hot bars to better ensure availability of healthy prepared food options. The legislation would also require states to produce public annual reports showing how many vendors participate in the Restaurant Meals Program, the number of participating beneficiaries and total costs for the program, Fox News Digital learned. 

The report and legislation comes after the U.S. government just emerged from the longest government shutdown in history, at 43 days, that included putting the food assistance program under heightened scrutiny over fraud and concern as recipients saw disruptions to their access. 

Upon the reopening of the government, the Trump administration is requiring all SNAP beneficiaries to reapply for the program in an effort to prevent fraud. 

Federal spending on SNAP overall climbed to record highs under the Biden administration, Fox News Digital previously reported, at $128 billion in 2021 and $127 billion in 2022 during the pandemic. By the Biden administration’s final year, SNAP cost $99.8 billion.

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

A U.S. citizen jailed in Saudi Arabia for criticizing the royal family online was freed Wednesday by Saudi authorities, ending a four-year ordeal in the country, according to media reports.

Saad Almadi’s release came just a day after President Donald Trump met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Washington, D.C., per the New York Post.

Almadi, 75, a retired engineer and U.S. resident since 1976, was detained in 2021 during a family visit to Riyadh and later sentenced to more than 19 years in prison on terrorism charges tied to a series of posts online.

The charges were reduced to cyber crimes, and although he was released from prison in 2023, Almadi was held in the country under an exit ban which prevented him from going back home to the U.S.

The Almadi family issued a statement Wednesday celebrating the good news and thanking Trump.

‘Our family is overjoyed that, after four long years, our father, Saad Almadi, is finally on his way home to the United States!’ they said.

‘This day would not have been possible without President Donald Trump and the tireless efforts of his administration. We are deeply grateful to Dr. Sebastian Gorka and the team at the National Security Council, as well as everyone at the State Department.’

A third portion of the statement expressed appreciation to others who had supported the case over the years.

‘We extend our thanks to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh for keeping our father safe, and to the nonprofit organizations and members of Congress who fought for his freedom,’ the statement read.

Almadi’s case also drew attention from human rights groups and U.S. lawmakers after he was accused of terrorism over 14 social media posts.

One suggested that a street in Washington be renamed after Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

U.S. pressure to lift Almadi’s exit ban had also intensified since Trump’s May visit to Saudi Arabia.

The president’s national security advisor, Sebastian Gorka, also met with Almadi’s son at the White House.

The Foley Foundation, which advocates for Americans detained overseas, praised the news Wednesday, saying it was ‘so excited’ the family’s fight had finally succeeded.

Per reports, Almadi was flying to the U.S. from Riyadh on Wednesday, according to his family, after Trump and the crown prince set foot on stage at a forum in Washington.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Sebastian Gorka, the Department of State and The White House for comment.