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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave away a major bargaining chip on Ukraine even before negotiating a settlement to end its war with Russia, according to some experts.

The Pentagon chief spoke Wednesday morning before a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and said the possibility of the war-torn nation joining NATO was unrealistic and announced that the U.S. would prioritize its own security against China over its European allies and Ukraine, reported CNN.

Talks to form Austria's first far right-led government stalled on Wednesday, with the negotiating parties airing disagreements over key posts.

The far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) -- which topped national polls for the first time ever in September -- has been negotiating with the long-ruling conservative People's Party (OeVP) since early January.

CNN host Kate Bolduan confronted Republican Scott Jennings for questioning her integrity during a feisty segment on Wednesday morning about Elon Musk's appearance in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

After sharing clips of Musk attempting to explain what his controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been doing while claiming he has been "transparent," Boldaun asked the conservative CNN contributor if he agreed.

Instead, Jennings began by pointing out that Musk was working for free as if that had anything to do with her question.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk's DOGE boys think this is a video game as Trump plots his 2nd coup

"He could be doing anything else," Jennings attempted. "He's got companies, he's the richest guy in the world, doesn't need to do this. He has decided to give his own time to a government of a country that he loves, that has given him all this opportunity."

"I take him at his word that he wants to be transparent, that he invites transparency," he added. "Obviously, everybody in the English-speaking world, media is looking into him every single day."

"The definition of it is he's not been on the front end of this so far, he has not been transparent. I mean, there maybe they ––," Bolduan shot back only to have Jennings talk over her with, "They are making routine announcements about the things they are finding, and they are inviting questions about the things they are finding every single day."

"But by definition, he's not being transparent, they're not, they're not providing data for the things that they say they have found evidence of. They just aren't," the CNN host corrected him.

"I mean, the White House has provided––," Jennings replied.

"You can make announcements, and he also did admit that he actually––," Bolduan stated.

"You just don't believe it," Jennings interrupted again "I mean, they are providing information. You just choose not to believe that it's true."

"No no no," Bolduan shot back. "I don't think anyone should just believe that it's true. Do you think that people have taken kickbacks of tens of millions of dollars from USAID?"

"Don't accuse me of just ––," the CNN host complained as Jennings cut her off with, "I'm just asking you, do you believe that there is any level of fraud, waste, fraud and abuse?"

"No, no, no, that's not what you're asking me and I'm going to ask the questions; don't accuse me of just ––," she exclaimed.

"If you believe that, do you believe that it's possible that they are finding and producing information about it?" Jennings interrupted again.

"Of course," the host replied. "That wasn't my question. My question was by definition, they're not being transparent."

"What do you want them to do?" the conservative asked.

"Provide data, if they're firing, if they're providing data that they have found people, everyone would want to know if someone has received kickbacks to the tune of tens of millions," she informed him.

Watch below or at the link here.

American Marc Fogel is back on US soil Wednesday after being released from a Russian prison, in what US President Donald Trump said he hoped was the start of warming ties between Washington and Moscow.

Several US citizens remain in Russian prisons. Here are some of the most high-profile cases.

President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk's efforts to unilaterally overhaul the federal bureaucracy have faced a number of legal setbacks and NBC News Supreme Court reporter Lawrence Hurley has identified what he believes is the exact reason why.

In his latest piece, Hurley pinpoints the Administrative Procedure Act, which was adopted all the way back in 1946, as a consistent roadblock to all of Trump's schemes.

Ukraine's defense minister Rustem Umerov appeared to come away unimpressed from his meeting with U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth, according to a national security reporter.

The newly installed Pentagon chief held talks with U.K. defense secretary John Healey before a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, and CNN's Natasha Bertrand read between the lines on official summaries issued about Hegseth's meeting with his counterparts.

Multiple stories in recent days have highlighted the turmoil that President Donald Trump's policies of steep tariffs and the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development have been bringing American farmers.

Ben Palen, a Kansas farmer and agricultural consultant, has written a column for the Kansas Reflector in which he chides his fellow farmers for being "played for suckers" by the president during the 2024 campaign.

Elon Musk's staggering wealth has exploded since the election, and a Democratic lawmaker cast suspicion on his motives for gaining control of the federal government's payment system.

The tech billionaire and his DOGE lackeys have gained access to the Treasury Department's system for issuing payments, infiltrated the General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel Management and proposed sweeping cuts across government agencies and the federal workforce, and Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) told CNN that he's concerned about what Musk is up to.

Reacting to the Oval Office press conference in Tuesday where Donald Trump sat at his desk and let billionaire Elon Musk soak up all the attention and answer a flurry of questions, the panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" were stunned to see the president let someone else be the center of attention.

After sharing clips of Musk fielding questions while his young son joined Trump in being a passive observer, co-host Jonathan Lemire promoted guest John Heilemann, "Weigh in, if you will, on that body language in the Oval Office –– It's so striking. When was the last time Donald Trump was in a press availability where he only got a couple questions and Elon Musk got the vast majority. It didn't seem to be sitting too well with the commander-in-chief."

"Well I think if there was any question about, Jonathan, who is the president right now and who is the co-president, at least the semiotics of that scene made the pretty clear," he replied. "Musk in the position of total dominance. The notion that they standing next to each other doesn't really give an accurate picture of what was happening. I mean, you had Musk towering over Trump. Trump at his desk kind of looking at Musk's kid, barely contributing to the conversation."

ALSO READ: Elon Musk's DOGE boys think this is a video game as Trump plots his 2nd coup

"Way Too Early" host Ali Vitali contributed, "I'm glad we drilled down deeper on the optics of what was happening in the Oval yesterday, because it was striking to see Musk standing the attention of the room seemingly oriented around him. The tone that he used, I think, was also instructive: this flippant tone of we're doing things quickly, we may be wrong. But there are real impacts to that flippant tone and the fast pace that they're trying to enact here–– so that's the optics and the tone."

According to journalist Mark Leibovich, that may be the last time such a press conference will occur.

"I don't think a scene like what we saw yesterday is going to be repeated anytime soon, certainly without, you know, a kind of split-screen scenario with Donald Trump sitting there," he explained. "And I mean ... the bizarre sort of spectacle that it was. But yeah, taken alone, this could be a piece of real political hay that Democrats could make here."

Watch below or at the link here.

House speaker Mike Johnson downplayed president Donald Trump's defiance of court decisions blocking his executive orders, but a legal expert said his claims were completely off base.

The Louisiana Republican expressed agreement with vice president J.D. Vance's position that "judges aren’t allowed to control the executive branch’s legitimate power," which Johnson justified by claiming that former president Joe Biden had "literally trampled over the rule of law," but former U.S. attorney Michael Moore told CNN the comparison was invalid.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, are ignoring the obvious as they attempt to gut federal research funding, an ex-prosecutor said Wednesday.

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance weighed in on the Trump administration's recent budget cuts, specifically noting that one of the targeted cuts affects her own daughter's work.

by Danny KEMP

Elon Musk made his debut public appearance with Donald Trump at the White House Tuesday to announce fresh powers to overhaul the US government -- even if the tech tycoon's son tried to steal the show.