President Donald Trump delivered a resounding endorsement of NATO this week, marking a sharp turnaround in his years-long, often contentious relationship with the alliance.

Once known for blasting allies over defense spending and even threatening to pull out of NATO altogether, Trump now appears to have had a change of heart. 

‘I left here differently. I left here saying that these people really love their countries,’ Trump said after the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague.

The pivot comes as NATO nations more than doubled their collective defense spending target – raising the bar from 2% to 5% of GDP.

From Hostile Rhetoric to Royal Receptions

The president’s renewed embrace of the alliance follows years of friction, high-profile clashes with world leaders and controversial comments. Yet at this year’s summit, the tone was strikingly different.

Trump was welcomed by Dutch royals, praised by the NATO secretary-general – who even referred to him as ‘daddy’ – and returned home lauding European allies for their patriotism. ‘It’s not a rip-off, and we’re here to help them,’ Trump told reporters.

The transformation is as dramatic as it is unexpected.

The Iran Factor: Military Action with Global Impact

Trump arrived at the NATO summit on a high note, following U.S. strikes that crippled Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. According to American and allied intelligence sources, the operation set back Tehran’s nuclear ambitions by several years.

The strike was widely seen as both a show of strength and a strategic warning – not just to Iran but to NATO adversaries like Russia and China.

‘He really came in from this power move,’ said Giedrimas Jeglinskas, a former NATO official and current chairman of Lithuania’s national security committee.

‘Among some, definitely Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Nordic Europe, this attack, the use of those really sophisticated weapons and bombers, was the rebuilding of the deterrence narrative of the West, not just of America.’

Timeline: Trump’s Rocky Road with NATO

2016 Campaign Trail

Trump repeatedly called NATO ‘obsolete,’ questioning its relevance and slamming allies for failing to pay their ‘fair share.’

‘It’s costing us too much money… We’re paying disproportionately. It’s too much,’ he said in March 2016.

He criticized NATO for lacking focus on terrorism, later taking credit when it created a chief intelligence post.

February 2017 – Early Presidency

Trump softened his tone after becoming president. 

‘We strongly support NATO,’ he said after visiting Central Command. ‘We only ask that all members make their full and proper financial contribution.’

He continued to push for members to meet the 2% target by 2024.

2018 Brussels Summit

Trump privately threatened to pull the U.S. from NATO unless allies increased spending.

‘Now we are in World War III protecting a country that wasn’t paying its bills,’ he warned.

Despite the posturing, he called NATO a ‘fine-tuned machine’ after extracting new spending commitments. He also accused Germany of being a ‘captive of Russia’ over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

2019 London Summit

The drama continued, this time with French President Emmanuel Macron calling NATO ‘brain-dead.’ 

‘NATO serves a great purpose. I think that’s very insulting,’ Trump responded.

He also clashed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – calling him ‘two-faced’ after Trudeau was caught mocking Trump on camera.

2020 – Troop Withdrawal from Germany

Trump ordered 12,000 U.S. troops out of Germany, citing Berlin’s defense shortfalls.

February 2024 – Russia Controversy

Trump ignited backlash after suggesting he’d let Russia ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to NATO countries that failed to meet spending obligations.

The remark sparked urgent contingency talks among European leaders about the future of the alliance if the U.S. did not step up to its defense. 

June 2025: A Different Trump, a Different NATO

The 2025 summit in The Hague unfolded with surprising calm. Trump’s hosts rolled out the red carpet. ‘He’s the man of the hour and the most important man in the world,’ Jeglinskas said.

Jeglinskas credited Trump’s blunt diplomacy – however unorthodox – for helping drive real reform ‘He’s brought in tectonic change to the alliance’s capabilities by… being himself,’ he added. ‘It’s a gift for the alliance.’

Two Forces Behind NATO’s Revival: Russia and Trump

Experts agree NATO’s recent revitalization stems from two major catalysts: Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Trump’s relentless pressure on allies to boost defense.

President Trump is riding high this week with two major foreign policy victories,’ said Matthew Kroenig, vice president at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center, referencing NATO and the recent U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program. ‘It’s terrific. I hope he can keep it up.’

He added, ‘Every president since Eisenhower has complained that NATO allies aren’t doing their fair share.’

Now, Trump was the one who finally got them to listen, he said. 

Following the uncovering of a massive bribery scandal at USAID, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is ordering a full audit of all government contracting officers who have exercised grant-awarding authority under the agency’s business development program over the last 15 years.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the scale of the USAID fraud is a ‘damning reflection of systemic failures in oversight and accountability.’ She further said that the fraud ‘was not an isolated incident.’

In response, Loeffler instructed Associate Administrator Tre Pennie, who oversees government contracts awarded by SBA, to ‘act decisively’ to crack down on any potential similar abuses in the agency.

Loeffler instructed Pennie to immediately initiate a full-scale audit of the agency’s awarding officers back to 2010.

‘The role of federal government contracting officers is not ceremonial or self-dealing; rather, it is a position of immense authority and fiduciary responsibility,’ said Loeffler. ‘The contracting process must be transparent and built on merit, not personal gain.’

This comes after USAID, an agency tasked with administering civilian foreign aid, was essentially dismantled by the DOGE waste, fraud and abuse cuts made under Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. The move was met with massive protests from Democrats who claimed that cutting USAID would impoverish and harm recipients across the globe.

Despite claims of how much good the agency was doing, it was recently discovered that an influential contracting officer at USAID named Roderick Watson was able to carry out a massive, long-term bribery scheme dating all the way back to 2013.

Watson, 57, pleaded guilty to ‘bribery of a public official,’ according to a DOJ press release.

According to the DOJ, Watson sold his influence starting in 2013, with contractors Walter Barnes, owner of Vistant, and Darryl Britt, owner of Apprio, funneling payoffs through subcontractor Paul Young to hide their tracks. 

A DOJ press release said that Britt and Barnes ‘regularly funneled bribes to Watson, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives. The bribes were also often concealed through electronic bank transfers falsely listing Watson on payroll, incorporated shell companies, and false invoices.’

The statement said that Watson is alleged to have received bribes ‘valued at more than approximately $1 million as part of the scheme.’

Vistant was awarded in November 2023, as part of a joint venture, a contract worth up to $800 million with one of the focuses of that contract being to address ‘a variety of issues affecting the root causes of irregular migration from Central America to the United States,’ an issue that President Joe Biden tasked then-Vice President Kamala Harris with during his presidency.

Several days later, that contract was canceled after USAID published a notice that said Vistant was excluded from government contracting due to ‘evidence of conduct of a lack of business honesty or integrity.’

The joint venture then successfully sued the government over being put on that exclusion list and was re-awarded the contract and given a $10,000 payment in August 2024. 

In her letter, Loeffler said the USAID scandal ‘represents a collapse in the very safeguards that are supposed to protect American taxpayer dollars and ensure fair access for legitimate small businesses.’

She slammed the Biden administration for awarding the $800 million contract to Vistant despite the business being labeled by USAID as lacking ‘honesty and integrity.’

‘The fact that a federal official was able to act as the linchpin of a persistent, large-scale fraud operation speaks to a failure in internal controls and a breakdown in the contracting environment that demands immediate correction,’ said Loeffler.

She said that SBA plays a ‘critical role’ in federal contracting and ‘will no longer stand by while abuses are perpetrated at the expense of taxpayers and deserving small businesses.’

Loeffler said the agency’s audit will begin with high-dollar and limited competition contracts within SBA’s 8(a) business development program. The findings will be referred to the U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the DOJ.

Any officials or businesses found in violation of the SBA’s ethical standards or who have committed criminal misconduct will be referred to the appropriate authorities and SBA will assist the DOJ in recovering misappropriated funds, Loeffler said.

‘We will not allow public trust to be quietly eroded by backdoor deals and unchecked discretion,’ said Loeffler.

‘We owe it to America’s small businesses to get this right,’ she went on. ‘Your office has the authority, and now the mandate, to act decisively.’ 

Those who leaked a preliminary assessment — rejected by the White House — on the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities will face justice for sharing the document, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

President Donald Trump and multiple leaders are saying that the strikes destroyed three Iranian nuclear sites.  

A leaked report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, published by CNN and the New York Times, cast doubt on that though, saying that the strikes only set back Iran’s nuclear program by several months. CNN first reported the assessment’s findings, citing seven people who were briefed on the report. The outlet reported the findings were based on a battle damage assessment from U.S. Central Command. 

Leavitt pushed back on the early assessment’s credibility, claiming the report was ‘flat-out wrong.’ 

‘Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,’ Leavitt said in a Tuesday statement. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the FBI is conducting an investigation to get to the bottom of the matter and who shared the document with the media. 

Additionally, Leavitt told reporters that leaking classified information is a criminal offense and that those who fail to follow the law ‘need to be held accountable for that crime.’ 

‘This administration wants to ensure that classified intelligence is not ending up in irresponsible hands, and that people who have the privilege of viewing this top secret classified information are being responsible with it,’ Leavitt told reporters Thursday. 

‘Clearly, someone who had their hands on this and it was a very few people, very few number of people in our government who saw this report,’ Leavitt said. ‘That person was irresponsible with it. And we need to get to the bottom of it. And we need to strengthen that process to protect our national security and protect the American public.’ 

Meanwhile, the U.S., Israel and Iran’s Foreign Ministry have all said that the three nuclear sites U.S. forces struck have encountered massive damage. 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei told Al Jazeera Wednesday that the country’s nuclear facilities were ‘badly damaged,’ and Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission said the U.S. strikes were ‘devastating.’

On Sunday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said that initial battle damage assessments suggest ‘all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.’

Trump issued a word of caution to Iran Wednesday, should it attempt to repair its nuclear program once more, and said the U.S. wouldn’t hesitate to launch another strike against Iran. 

Trump personally called for the firing of one of the reporters who authored the story about the initial assessment, claiming in a Wednesday Truth Social post that the reporter should be ‘IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out ‘like a dog.’’

Even so, CNN came to the defense of the reporter, Natasha Bertrand. 

‘We stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand’s journalism and specifically her and her colleagues’ reporting of the early intelligence assessment of the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities,’ CNN said in a Wednesday statement. ‘CNN’s reporting made clear that this was an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence. We have extensively covered President Trump’s own deep skepticism about it.’

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump recognized a third-generation autoworker from Michigan Thursday while speaking at the ‘big, beautiful event,’ noting he was a lifelong Democrat who now supports the president because of vehicle loan interest tax benefits.

The president spoke about the ‘big, beautiful bill’ from the East Room of the White House with a group of people standing behind him who represented various trades, including food delivery, farmers and automotive workers.

One of the workers standing behind Trump was James Benson, a third-generation autoworker from Belleville, Michigan, who has been with Ford Motor Company for 26 years.

Trump introduced Benson, noting that Ford has ‘a lot of plants’ in the U.S.

‘If you have plants in this country, you’re going to make a lot of money,’ the president said, adding that he loves autoworkers.

Trump also said Benson was a lifelong Democrat until 2017, when he saw the benefits of the tax laws.

Trump then spoke about his latest plan to benefit car owners by making interest on car payments fully tax-deductible.

But the deduction would only be for cars made in the U.S., Trump said, adding if it was made someplace else, ‘we don’t care.’

Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ would create a new deduction of up to $10,000 for qualified passenger vehicle loan interest in a given taxable year. The deduction would phase out when a taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income exceeds $100,000.

Applicable passenger vehicles include cars, trucks, vans, SUVs and motorcycles that have been manufactured for use on public streets, roads and freeways and for which the final assembly occurs in the U.S.

The bill defines the final assembly as the process by which the manufacturer produces a vehicle and delivers it to a dealer with all the parts necessary for operation.

As is the case with the overtime and tips deductions, the auto loan provision would be in effect for tax years 2025 through 2028.

Trump reiterated to those in attendance that the tax benefit is only for vehicles made in the U.S.

‘Remember that, James. We’re going to keep those Michigan auto factories roaring,’ the president said.

FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.

A group of House Republicans is demanding to know how the U.S. is ready to protect its own domestic assets in the event of a potential attack on the homeland.

‘We write to inquire with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about the current state of drone attack countermeasures for our military installations, government buildings, embassies, and consulates, both domestic and abroad,’ the GOP lawmakers wrote in a letter.

‘The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have demonstrated that large-scale, highly coordinated mass-drone attacks can be highly effective if the defender lacks adequate counter-drone defenses.’

The letter was sent late Thursday, days after Israel and Iran declared a ceasefire following days of escalating attacks within one another’s borders.

Just before President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned the Middle East conflict was ‘causing a heightened threat environment in the United States.’

House lawmakers will be briefed behind closed doors on the situation with Iran at 9 a.m. Friday.

‘Since 9/11, our nation has not suffered a major coordinated attack on our own soil. While the government has done good work in preventing an attack like 9/11 from happening again, we want to ensure that we are preparing for a new paradigm in which relatively cheap drones can quickly and effectively wipe out core military and government infrastructure,’ the lawmakers wrote Thursday.

‘While American threat projection globally is strong among all the branches of the military, we need to be prepared for a new paradigm of covert, but potentially disastrous, threats to our core military interests, including our nuclear triad in the homeland.’

The letter is led by Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio.

The lawmakers are asking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem if counter-drone technology is being factored into Trump’s plans for a Golden Dome defense system in the U.S.

They’ve also asked whether there is ‘a concern of any sort of weaponized drone buildup already happening in the United States from drones that may have been smuggled in due to the former administration’s open border policies.’

Noem and Hegseth were also questioned on whether they are ‘aware of or actively working to deter potential threats posed by foreign-owned land near critical military and infrastructure sites in the United States that could be a launching point for a mass drone attack like we saw in Russia by Ukrainian forces.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Pentagon and DHS for comment.