Trump nominates radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier as surgeon general
Nicole Saphier attends the Patriot Awards, December 5, 2024 in Greenvale, New York. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is nominating Dr. Nicole Saphier to be the next surgeon general.
Trump made the announcement on social media, calling Saphier a “STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention.”
Saphier is the director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth in New Jersey and a regular medical contributor on Fox News.
According to her profile on the Memorial Sloan Kettering website, she has experience “performing minimally invasive, image-guided procedures of the breast, kidney, pancreas, liver, thyroid and lymph nodes.”
Her nomination comes just two months after Trump’s previous nominee, Dr. Casey Means, appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee for her confirmation hearing.
During the hearing, Means indicated she supports vaccines but stopped short of recommending certain shots.
Means, who has a medical degree but does not hold an active medical license, appeared hesitant to say that some vaccines, such as the flu vaccine, prevent serious disease.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the HELP committee and is a physician, noted that two children died last year from measles and pushed Means on whether she would encourage parents to vaccinate their children with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Means initially stressed personal autonomy and responded that she supported vaccination and that every patient should have a conversation with their doctor about getting vaccinated.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing in the Oval Office of the White House on February 03, 2026 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump shared on his social media platform late Thursday night a video that included a racist animation of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama depicted with the bodies of apes.
After backlash, the White House at about noon Friday said the post had been taken down from the president’s page.
The roughly minutelong video, shared by Trump at 11:44 p.m. ET on Thursday, largely focused on debunked claims about the 2020 election.
At the end of the video, the Obamas’ faces appear abruptly and without explanation for seconds with the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” playing over it. The video then ends back on similar imagery of the conspiracy video footage.
The Obamas had no comment when ABC News reached out to their representatives for a response.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when first asked for comment early Friday, had said, “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Though later Friday afternoon, a White House official told ABC News that a “staffer erroneously made the post.”
The video reposted by Trump overnight included only imagery of the Obamas.
The meme video referenced by Leavitt was shared in October by the Hardin County Republican Party of Kentucky on Facebook, which led the chairman to issue an apology and deleted the post after swift backlash noting the long history of racist tropes depicting Black people as apes or monkeys — a tool of slave traders and segregationists to dehumanize them.
Trump’s overnight repost was condemned by lawmakers on Capitol Hill, some of whom had called for it to be taken down and for the president to apologize.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black leader of a party in Congress, wrote on X: “President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans. They represent the best of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder.”
“Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump’s disgusting bigotry,” Jeffries wrote.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and also the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, posted on X: “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.”
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker wrote in a post: “This is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, wrote in a post: “Racist. Vile. Abhorrent. This is dangerous and degrades our country — where are Senate Republicans? The President must immediately delete the post and apologize to Barack and Michelle Obama, two great Americans who make Donald Trump look like a small, envious man.”
U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) arrives to testify during a confirmation hearing to be the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 18, 2026 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to be the secretary of Homeland Security narrowly cleared a committee vote Thursday morning with the help of Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, teeing the Oklahoma Republican’s nomination up for a final vote on the Senate floor as soon as next week.
Mullin’s nomination advanced out of committee by a vote of 8-7. He needed a simple majority of votes to clear the committee.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner speaks after the President held a signing ceremony for the “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 22, 2026, in Davos, Switzerland. The US-backed “Board of Peace” is intended to administer the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after the war between Israel and Hamas. The final makeup of the board has not been confirmed. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a real estate developer, on Thursday unveiled some of the Trump administration’s “master plan” for rebuilding war-torn Gaza that includes waterfront developments and other luxury buildings.
Kushner, whop spoke alongside President Donald Trump at his Board of Peace signing in Davos, Switzerland, said the plans for Gaza will emulate what other newly redeveloped Middle Eastern cities will look like.
Kushner, who has been part of the Gaza peace negotiations, suggested the construction would be done in just two or three years. The Board of Peace estimates that the plan would require more than $25 billion to develop modern utilities and public services.
“We’ve developed ways to redevelop Gaza. Gaza, as President Trump’s been saying, has amazing potential, and this is for the people of Gaza,” he said.
Kushner, who showed slideshows with concept art of his “master plan” said that the plan includes development done in zones.
“In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying, Let’s build a free zone, and then we have a Hamas zone. And then we said, You know what? Let’s just plan for catastrophic success. We have mass signed a deal, demilitarized. That is what we are going to enforce,” he said.
Kushner displayed a “master Plan” that depicts four phases: Rafah, or “city 1”; Khan Younis or “city 2”; Center Camps or “city 3”; and Gaza City or “city 4.”
In “New Rafah,” Kushner put up a slide that claims there will be over 100,000 permanent housing units, 200 education centers, 180 cultural, religious and vocational centers and 75 medical facilities.
A section shows “coastal tourism” with 170 towers with areas for residential areas and industrial complex data centers and advanced manufacturing behind it, split up by parks, agriculture and sports facilities.
The “coastal tourism” renderings show flashy high-rises, hotels and luxury villas on shimmering waters.
Kushner said the next 100 days will be focused on sending humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, with quantities consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove the estimated 68 million tons of rubble and to open roads.
“We continue to be focused on humanitarian aid, a humanitarian shelter, but then creating the conditions to move forward,” he said.
Increasing the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip is a key element of the overall ceasefire deal. While international aid organizations have reported being able to operate more freely in parts of Gaza where Israeli troops have withdrawn, it is hard to quantify how much aid has entered the strip since Oct. 10, when the first phase of the ceasefire deal went into effect.
International aid organizations still report more aid is needed across the Strip – from food to medical supplies to shelter.
Winter storms have made the situation on the ground in Gaza even more difficult, as heavy rains have caused flooding in displacement camps and lower temperatures have made living conditions even more difficult. About 1 million Palestinians currently need shelter assistance, according to the UN. Ten children have died of the cold, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health has said.
The 100 Day plan also accounts for reconstruction, suggesting improved temporary housing in transition until permanent housing is ready, a Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created, synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will “create jobs, opportunity, and hope for future Gaza,” according to Kushner.
A special economic zone would be established, with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries, he added.
Kushner said that many of the funds for this project will come from the private sector, touting “amazing investment opportunities.”
Trump, who also spoke at the conference, contended the war in Gaza “was really coming to an end” and praised the redevelopment plan.
“I’m a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location, and I said, look at this location on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property, what it could be for so many people,” he said.
“People that are living so poorly are going to be living so well,” he added.
Over 90% of residential buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and subsequent war that followed, according to the UN.
While the ceasefire has largely held, there have been intermittent incidents of violations from both sides. At least 483 people have been killed since the first phase of the ceasefire went into effect, the Hamas-run Gaza Government Media Office said.
Last year, Trump boasted that the U.S. would “take over” the Gaza Strip, “level the site” and rebuild it.
When asked by a reporter during the Feb. 4, 2025, during a White House news conference with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Palestinians relocated would have the right to return, Trump responded, “Why would they want to return?”
When another reporter asked who would live in Gaza, Trump responded, “the world’s people,” saying, “the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable.”
“History, as you know, just can’t let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don’t want to be cute. I don’t want to be a wise guy. But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so … magnificent,” the president said during the news conference.
The president was criticized later that month over a AI generated video that he shared on social media that depicted him and Netanyahu sunbathing in a location dubbed “Trump Gaza,” which showed a luxury resort.
