The Trump administration is receiving an outpouring of support from animal advocacy groups, lawmakers and others for recent announcements to end animal testing within programs at the FDA and EPA. 

‘PETA applauds the FDA’s decision to stop harming animals and adopt human-relevant testing strategies for evaluating antibody therapies,’ Kathy Guillermo, PETA senior vice president, said in a statement.

‘It’s a significant step towards meeting the agency’s commitment to replace the use of animals – which PETA has worked hard to promote. All animal use, including failed vaccine and other testing on monkeys at the federally-funded primate centers, must end, and we are calling on the FDA to further embrace 21st-century science,’ the PETA statement continued. 

PETA’s statement followed the Food and Drug Administration announcement on Thursday that it is phasing out an animal testing requirement for antibody therapies and other drugs in favor of testing on materials that mimic human organs, Fox Digital first reported. 

‘For too long, drug manufacturers have performed additional animal testing of drugs that have data in broad human use internationally. This initiative marks a paradigm shift in drug evaluation and holds promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans while reducing animal use,’ FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, said in comments provided to Fox News Digital. 

‘By leveraging AI-based computational modeling, human organ model-based lab testing, and real-world human data, we can get safer treatments to patients faster and more reliably, while also reducing R&D costs and drug prices. It is a win-win for public health and ethics.’ 

Dogs, rats and fish were the primary animals to face testing ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Fox Digital learned. 

The phase-out focuses on ending animal testing in regard to researching monoclonal antibody therapies, which are lab-made proteins meant to stimulate the immune system to fight diseases such as cancer, as well as other drugs, according to the press release. 

Instead, the FDA will encourage testing on ‘organoids,’ which are artificially grown masses of cells, according to the FDA’s press release.

Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin announced on the same day that the agency would reinstate a 2019 policy from the first Trump administration to phase out animal testing at that federal agency. The EPA said in comment that the Biden administration moved away from phasing out animal testing, but that Zeldin is ‘wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing.’

‘Under President Trump’s first term, EPA signed a directive to prioritize efforts to reduce animal testing and committed to reducing testing on mammals by 30% by 2025 and to eliminate it completely by 2035. The Biden administration halted progress on these efforts by delaying compliance deadlines. Administrator Zeldin is wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing,’ EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou told the Washington Times. 

The EPA’s and FDA’s recent announcements also received praise from animal rights groups, including the White Coat Waste Project, which reported in 2021 that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases spent hundreds of thousands of dollars under Dr. Anthony Fauci’s leadership to test beagle dogs with parasites via biting flies.

‘Thank you @DrMakaryFDA for your years of advocacy & outstanding leadership to eliminate FDA red tape that forces companies & tax-funded federal agencies to conduct wasteful & cruel tests on dogs & other animals!’ the group posted to X last week. 

‘White Coat Waste made historic progress under Trump 45 to cut wasteful and cruel animal testing at the EPA and FDA, some of which was undone by the Biden Administration,’ Justin Goodman, senior vice president at White Coat, told Fox News Digital on Sunday. 

‘We applaud Administrator Zeldin and Commissioner Makary for picking up where Trump left off and prioritizing efforts to cut widely-opposed and wasteful animal tests. This is great news for taxpayers and pet owners as it sends a message to big spending animal abusers across the federal government: Stop the money. Stop the madness!’

Other animal rights groups and lawmakers praised the Trump administration for its recent moves to end animal testing. 

‘We’re encouraged to see the EPA recommit to phasing out animal testing – a goal we’ve long championed on behalf of the animals trapped in these outdated and painful experiments,’ Kitty Block, president and CEO of Humane World for Animals, said in a press release. ‘But promises alone don’t spare lives. For too long, animals like dogs, rabbits and mice have endured tests that inflict suffering without delivering better science. It’s time to replace these cruel methods with modern, humane alternatives that the public overwhelmingly supports.’

Other groups have come out and warned that there is not yet a high-tech replacement for animals within the realm of biomedical research and drug testing, and that humane animal testing is still crucial to test prospective drugs for humans. 

‘We all want better and faster ways to bring lifesaving treatments to patients,’ National Association for Biomedical Research President Matthew R. Bailey said in a press release provided to Fox Digital. ‘But no AI model or simulation has yet demonstrated the ability to fully replicate all the unknowns about many full biological systems. That’s why humane animal research remains indispensable.’

Under his first administration, Trump took other steps to protect animals, including signing the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act into law in 2019, which made intentional acts of cruelty a federal crime.

The Department of Government Efficiency launched a website where Americans can directly report and suggest how to deregulate policies within the federal government, Fox News Digital learned. 

‘Your voice in federal decision making,’ reads the website Regulations.gov, ‘Impacted by an existing rule or regulation? Share your ideas for deregulation by completing this form.’

DOGE worked with the Government Services Administration, an independent agency tasked with helping support the functioning of other federal agencies, and the Office of Management and Budget, which is the federal office frequently charged with overseeing deregulation efforts, to launch the website earlier this month, Fox Digital learned. 

‘DOGE is combining the administration’s goals of adding transparency and slashing waste, fraud, and abuse by offering the American people the unique opportunity to recommend more deregulatory actions. This DOGE-led effort highlights President Trump’s priority to put the people first and government bureaucrats last,’ White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox Digital. 

The website’s main page directs users to a form where they can report ‘deregulatory suggestions,’ which provides users with more than a dozen prompts regarding their issue. 

The prompts include describing which federal agency had promoted a regulation at issue, if the regulation is finalized or in the midst of the rule-making process, justification for the deregulation, the history of how the regulation operates, and the title and name of the agency’s leader, as well as other detailed information on the regulation. 

The form prompts users to provide their name, but the box is not mandatory to complete before submission. The person who submits a deregulatory suggestion could see the Trump administration name the rescission to the rule after the individual. 

‘Only answer if you would like the rescission to be named after you or your organization. Providing your name does not guarantee that it will appear on any final agency action, and we reserve the right to refrain from using names that are inappropriate or offensive,’ the prompt asking for the user’s name states. 

DOGE’s public leader, Elon Musk, has railed against government regulations for months, including when he joined President Donald Trump’s campaign in key battleground states to rally support. 

In a Pennsylvania rally ahead of the election, Musk recounted how his company SpaceX was wrapped up in ‘bunch of nutty stories’ related to government overregulation, including studying the probability of the company’s Starship rocket hitting a whale or shark and facing lofty fines from the EPA for ‘dumping fresh water on the ground.’ 

‘I’ll tell you like a crazy thing, like we got fined $140,000 by the EPA for dumping fresh water on the ground. Drinking water. It’s crazy. I’ll just give you an example of just how crazy it is. And we’re like, ‘Well, we’re using water to cool the launch pad during launch. You know, we’re going to cool the launch pad so it doesn’t overheat. And in excess of caution, we actually brought in drinking water, so clean, super clean water,’’ Musk said to the audience in Folsom, Pennsylvania, last year. 

‘And the FAA said, ‘No, you have to pay a $140,000 fine.’ And we’re like, ‘But Starbase is in a tropical thunderstorm area. Sky water falls all the time,’’ Musk recounted, referring to SpaceX’s headquarters in Texas. ”That is the same as the water we used’ So, and it’s like… there’s no harm to anything. And they said, ‘Yeah, but we didn’t have a permit.’ We’re like, ‘You need a permit for fresh water?’’ Musk recounted. 

Trump went on a deregulation blitz targeting energy and climate regulations last week in a series of executive orders aimed to ‘unleash’ the power of coal energy in the U.S., including ending a pause to coal leasing on federal lands, promoting coal and coal technology exports, and encouraging the use of coal to power artificial intelligence initiatives. 

‘President Trump knows that the bureaucracy is built to regulate, not deregulate. The result is an ever-increasing number of regulations that stifle innovation and limit American freedom,’ the White House said in a fact sheet on the EOs last week. 

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro brushed off concerns about a feud between him and billionaire Elon Musk, arguing the two administration advisors had a ‘great’ relationship.

‘First of all, Elon and I are great. It’s not an issue,’ Navarro said during an appearance on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday.

The comments come after Navarro and Musk got tangled in a public war of words last week after Navarro said in an interview that Musk’s Tesla is more of a ‘car assembler’ than ‘car manufacturer’ that relies on parts from other countries.

‘We all understand in the White House (and the American people understand) that Elon’s a car manufacturer. But he’s not a car manufacturer – He’s a car assembler,’ Navarro said on CNBC. ‘In many cases, if you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engines that he gets (which in the EV case are the batteries) come from Japan and come from China. The electronics come from Taiwan.’

The point seemingly didn’t sit well with Musk, who took to X to defend his auto company.

‘Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,’ Musk said.

‘Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks,’ Musk added in a subsequent post.

But Navarro downplayed the public war of words Sunday, praising Musk’s contributions to the Trump administration.

‘Everything’s fine with Elon,’ Navarro said. ‘And look, Elon is doing a very good job with his team, with waste, fraud and abuse. That’s a tremendous contribution to America. And no man doing that kind of thing should be subject to having his cars firebombed by crazies.’

The White House has also downplayed concerns between them, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt arguing the feud shows that President Donald Trump is willing to hear vastly different views at the highest level.

‘These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and tariffs. Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue,’ she said during a press briefing last week. ‘You guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history.’

An American missionary who was detained in Tunisia for over a year was released on Sunday.

Officials gained the release of U.S. citizen Robert Vieira on Sunday afternoon, according to a Reuters report citing U.S. special envoy Adam Boehler.

Boehler told the outlet that Vieira was doing missionary work when he was detained by Tunisian authorities 13 months ago.

Officials reportedly suspected Vieira of espionage.

Tunisia, a North African country bordered by Algeria and Libya, was amenable to Vieira’s release after Boehler worked closely with its foreign minister, Mohamed Ali Nafti.

After being released on Sunday, Vieira flew back home to the U.S. alongside his family.

‘We appreciate the government of Tunisia’s decision to resolve this case and allow Mr. Vieira to reunite with his family after more than 13 months of pre-trial detention,’ Boehler said.

Boehler credited his collaboration with Nafti for securing the detainee’s release.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for additional comment but did not immediately hear back.

Reuters contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump declared ‘HAPPY EASTER!’ in a Truth Social post on Palm Sunday, which falls a week before Easter Sunday.

‘This Holy Week, Christians around the World remember the Crucifixion of God’s Only Begotten Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and, on Easter Sunday, we celebrate His Glorious Resurrection and proclaim, as Christians have done for nearly 2,000 years, ‘HE IS RISEN!’’ the president declared in the social media post.

‘Through the pain and sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, we saw God’s boundless Love and Devotion to all Humanity and, in that moment of His Resurrection, History was forever changed with the Promise of Everlasting Life,’ he continued.

‘As we approach this Joyous Easter Sunday, I want to wish Christians everywhere a Happy and very Blessed Holiday. America is a Nation of Believers. We need God, we want God and, with His help, we will make our Nation Stronger, Safer, Greater, more Prosperous, and more United than ever before. Thank you, and HAPPY EASTER!’

The president also spoke out on the topic in a ‘Presidential Message on Holy Week, 2025’ that the White House issued on Sunday.

‘This Holy Week, Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity,’ the message begins.

In the message, the president pledged that his ‘Administration renews its promise to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government. We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square.’

Trump, who narrowly escaped assassination last year, has previously said that he believes his life was saved by God.

‘I was saved by God to make America great again. I believe that,’ he said last month during his address before a joint session of Congress.

The president recently underwent an annual physical exam and has been deemed to be ‘in excellent health,’ by the physician to the president.

President Donald Trump ramped up steep tariffs against Chinese imports to the U.S. this week while alleviating them for other countries during trade negotiations this week. He also signed a series of executive orders aimed at repealing Biden-era restrictions. 

The Trump administration announced Wednesday it would lower reciprocal tariffs on other countries, while also revealing that the administration would immediately hike tariffs on Chinese goods to 145%. In response, China has raised its tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%. 

Trump disclosed historic tariffs in a ceremony at the White House’s Rose Garden for a ‘Make America Wealthy Again’ event on April 2, asserting that these new duties would generate new jobs for U.S. workers.

The tariff plan established a baseline tax of 10% on all imports to the U.S., along with customized tariffs for countries that place higher tariffs on U.S. goods. The baseline tariffs of 10% took effect Saturday, while the others took effect Wednesday at midnight.

But Trump announced in a post on Truth Social Wednesday that reciprocal tariffs announced last week would remain paused for 90 days, during which period the countries would only face the baseline 10% tariff. 

‘At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,’ Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform on Wednesday. 

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said that the tariffs suggest that China is at odds with the rest of the world. 

‘China is the most imbalanced economy in the history of the modern world,’ Bessent told reporters Wednesday. ‘They are the biggest source of the U.S. trade problems, and indeed they are the problem for the rest of the world.’ 

Here’s what also happened this week: 

Shipbuilding, water pressure executive orders

Trump also signed an executive order this week aimed at reinvigorating the shipbuilding industry in the U.S., amid concerns that China is outpacing the U.S. in production. 

China is responsible for more than 50% of global shipbuilding, compared to just 0.1% from the U.S., according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

The executive order requires agencies to craft a Maritime Action Plan and instructs the United States Trade Representative to provide a list of recommendations to deal with China’s ‘anticompetitive actions within the shipbuilding industry,’ among other things. 

Trump also signed an executive order to reverse Obama- and Biden-era conservation measures that limited water pressure in showers in an attempt to ‘make showers great again.’ Former President Barack Obama initially imposed the water pressure restrictions, and Trump sought to ease some of them during his first term. 

However, former President Joe Biden reinstated the measure, which limited multi-nozzle shower heads from releasing more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute. 

‘I like to take a nice shower, take care of my beautiful hair,’ Trump said Wednesday. ‘I have to stand in the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. Comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.’

Gearing up for talks with Iran 

The Trump administration also unveiled plans this week for upcoming talks to negotiate with Iran on Saturday. While Trump has reiterated that these discussions will be ‘direct’ nuclear talks, Iran has pushed back on that description and characterized them as ‘indirect’ negotiations instead. 

Middle East envoy Stever Witkoff will travel to Oman on Saturday and is slated to potentially meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. However, Iran has maintained that the discussions will be held through a third party instead. 

‘The ultimate objective is to ensure that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon,’ Leavitt told reporters Friday. ‘The president believes in diplomacy, direct talks, talking directly in the same room in order to achieve that goal. But he’s made it very clear to the Iranians, and his national security team will, as well, that all options are on the table and Iran has a choice to make. You can agree to President Trump’s demand, or there will be all hell to pay. And that’s how the president feels. He feels very strongly about it.’

Fox News’ Bonny Chu, Danielle Wallace, and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report. 

— In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Republican South Carolina Senator and former presidential candidate Tim Scott shared his views on his first hundred days as Senate Banking Committee chairman, breaking down a trade war with China, the future of cryptocurrency and controversial debanking policies.

With Republicans holding power in both chambers of Congress and President Donald Trump in the White House, party leaders and supporters across the country had high expectations of the GOP’s policy agenda and ability to pass critical legislation swiftly and effectively. 

However, it has not been a perfect start to the 119th Congress. Republicans in the House of Representatives hold a slim 7-seat majority, and GOP infighting has forced internal debates that have delayed key pieces of legislation, like Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill, which passed last Thursday just 216 to 214. 

On the Senate side, Republicans hold an 8-seat majority over Democrats. With just 100 members in the upper chamber, the same principle of internal harmony must exist for legislation to move forward. 

Despite the narrow margins, Scott says some of the policy goals the committee has set they have ‘been able to accomplish.’

‘I wanted within the first hundred days to have some crypto or digital asset legislation marked up and run through our committee,’ Scott told Fox News Digital. ‘Good news is the GENIUS Act is stamped. Done. Heading to the Senate floor. Number two, the FIRM Act. Focusing on debanking. Done. Heading onto the Senate Floor. Number three, our ability to listen to President Trump, the leader of not only our party, but of our country.’

Trump’s role in working with congressional leaders was first demonstrated as every cabinet member that reached the Senate so far for confirmation was approved at the fastest pace in more than 20 years.

‘We’ve been running these folks through our committee,’ said Scott. ‘It is a lightning-fast approach, but the good news is President Trump and the American people deserve his team in place. Promises made, promises kept. We are well on our way.’

Outside the nominees, several prominent issues have made their way through the banking committee in the first hundred days. And one of the hottest items in banking today is the implementation of cryptocurrency into U.S. markets and day-to-day life. Notably, the GENIUS Act, a bill ‘to provide for the regulation of payment stablecoins,’ would be a major advancement for crypto markets, showing the federal government is taking the digital asset market more seriously.

But Scott blamed the Biden administration for the lack of enthusiasm to get pro-crypto legislation signed into law. 

‘There’s no doubt that under the Biden administration and Gensler at the SEC, they just… didn’t like crypto. What I’ve said very often is simply this: we must innovate before we regulate. That means allowing innovation to happen here at home in the digital asset space is critical to American economic dominance across the globe,’ he explained. 

The GENIUS Act passed through committee in March and now heads to the Senate Floor. Scott predicted the timeline as to when the bill would be signed into law, telling Fox he believed the legislation would be ‘passed into law by August.’

The bill made its way through committee with an 18-6 as Senators Mark Warner, D-Indiana, Andy Kim, D-New Jersey, Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Pennsylvania and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Maryland all voted with Republican against the wishes of Ranking Leader Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts. 

But crypto markets, along with U.S. stocks, have been highly volatile in the past weeks, largely due to Trump’s controversial tariffs policies and trade standoffs. 

When asked about the mounting pressure between the U.S. and China, Scott backed Trump’s strategy, telling Fox News Digital, ‘This is about a country, China, that lies, cheats, and steals. Not on the watch of President Trump. He is going to use every tool in his toolkit to make sure that the Chinese government does not continue to take advantage of the American economy. I am thankful that we finally have a president with a backbone made of steel to stand up to President Xi and protect not just America’s present but America’s future.’

Scott argued that establishing economic dominance ‘requires hard conversations and a tariff regime to push China into the smallest corner of the global economy if they’re going to lie, cheat, and steal against us.’ 

He added, ‘We are not going to give them full and unfettered access to our market. That’s called common sense.’

On Friday, China raised tariffs on U.S. imports to 125%, which Trump has maintained that a 145% tariff will be placed on China’s imports.

As for the remainder of the 119th Congress and heading into what will be a critical midterm election year, Scott remains optimistic about the policies in progress and the legislation yet to come.

‘Thank God Almighty President Trump is in the White House,’ the former presidential candidate added.

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston