MSN

The U.S. economy expanded by just 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025, a significant downgrade from the initial 1.4% projection and well below economist expectations, according to an NBC News report.

The sluggish growth represents a sharp decline from the third quarter's 4.4% and second quarter's 3.8% growth rates. A 43-day government shutdown accounted for at least 1.16 percentage points of the decline through reduced federal spending.

Vice President JD Vance insisted that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was losing her job because she had a "great opportunity" to serve in the Shield of Americas, a multinational military cooperation initiative recently dreamed up by President Donald Trump. He also said that the agency "needed new leadership" due to failures at FEMA.

During a speech in North Carolina on Friday, a local reporter pressed the vice president over the administration's slow rollout of FEMA aid to the state, which is governed by a Democrat.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is turning his focus to a new issue: purging the "woke" from U.S. war colleges.

According to Fox News, Hegseth, who styles himself "Secretary of War" due to Trump's nonbinding executive order changing the department's name, "has announced a task force to evaluate senior service colleges to ensure they are not tainted by woke ideology and offer quality education."

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth offhandedly made a remark about the Trump administration's attack on Iran during his speech on Friday that experts warned, if he's serious, could be a war crime — even just for him to say out loud.

"No quarter, no mercy for our enemies," said Hegseth. "Yet some in the press just can't stop. More fake news from CNN reports that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war's impact on the Strait of Hormuz. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better."

Terry Duffy, CEO of CME Group, which operates the U.S. oil futures exchange, warned the Trump administration against intervening in derivatives markets to lower oil prices during the Iran war.

Speaking at a conference in Boca Raton, Duffy cautioned that government pricing intervention risks a "biblical disaster" if investors lose confidence in market-set commodity prices.

The House Oversight Committee on Friday requested that Tova Noel – one of the prison guards tasked with monitoring Jeffrey Epstein during his brief 2019 detention before his mysterious death – appear before lawmakers to testify as part of its ongoing probe into the disgraced financier, a development one famed reporter described as carrying significant “gravity.”

Noel has come under scrutiny in recent days after newly released Justice Department files revealed that she had made suspicious internet searches in the moments leading up to the discovery of Epstein’s body, with his death controversially ruled a suicide. The files also revealed that she had made a “mysterious $5,000 cash deposit” 10 days before Epstein’s death, a deposit that was flagged by her own bank as suspicious.

President Donald Trump predicted that his war in Iran would be "a little winding road for a little while" but said it had to be done because the country had an "evil curse."

During an interview with controversial YouTube boxer Jake Paul this week, Trump attempted to explain his thinking on the Iran war.

Longtime campaign strategist Mark McKinnon, who advised former President George W. Bush and the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), could not contain his laughter after watching Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) being interviewed on CNN late Thursday.

Appearing on MS NOW with host Chris Jansing, McKinnon watched Jordan tell CNN's Kasie Hunt, “President Trump is committed to achieving that [Iran regime change] goal, and if that means prices go up for a time, I think Americans understand, we can live with that .But, in the end, we want all that to happen, and we want it all to happen in as quick a time as it possibly can.”

President Donald Trump admitted that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been helping Iran in its war against the U.S. and Israel — but he offered an excuse for the assistance.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff had said on Tuesday that Putin, in a phone call to Trump, denied reports that Russia was sharing intelligence with Iran about American forces in the Middle East, but the U.S. president told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on Friday that might be happening.