President Donald Trump endorsed Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., calling the lawmaker ‘a Great Man, and TREMENDOUS Senator’ in a post on Truth Social.

‘I love Montana, won every one of my Races there by a landslide, and would only recommend the best to represent you in the Senate!’ the president declared. 

‘Senator Steve Daines, of the Great State of Montana, has my Complete and Total Endorsement — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!’

Daines served as National Republican Senatorial Committee chair prior to current chair, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

‘As Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Steve worked tirelessly with me in the last Election to help elect smart, tough, and sincere America First Patriots. In the Senate, Steve is fighting hard to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes, Secure the Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Military/Vets, Unleash American Energy Dominance, Restore PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment,’ Trump declared in his post.

Daines, who has served in the Senate since 2015, thanked Trump for the endorsement.

‘I’m honored to have your support as we fight to protect Montana values, secure our border, cut taxes, and Make America Great Again! Together, we’ll deliver results for our state and nation,’ Daines noted in a tweet. 

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., also backed Daines for re-election.

‘Steve Daines is a champion for the America First agenda and hardworking Montanans. Working with President Trump, he helped deliver our Republican Senate majority and is fighting to cut taxes, secure the border, unleash American energy, and lower costs for families in The Treasure State,’ Sheehy said in a post on X.

‘I’m proud to join @realDonaldTrump in endorsing my friend @SteveDaines so he can keep fighting for Montana,’ the senator noted.

President Trump indicated Monday – following news of Pope Francis’s death – that he and first lady Melania Trump will be attending the Pope’s funeral at the Vatican, despite the president’s somewhat contentious history with the late leader of the Catholic Church.

Traditionally, papal funerals take place four to six days following their death, so Francis’s funeral is expected to take place before the end of the month. Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told reporters that the General Congregation of Cardinals will occur Tuesday morning, during which an exact date for the funeral should be decided.

‘Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome,’ Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday afternoon. ‘We look forward to being there!’

Trump’s announcement that he would be traveling to Rome for the ceremony followed a separate announcement he made earlier in the day indicating that he had ordered all American flags on government grounds, including military installments and embassies abroad, to fly at half-staff until sunset Monday.

Trump’s relationship with Pope Francis over the years was one marked by ideological differences and – at times – tension.

Amid Trump’s first run for office, Pope Francis criticized one of Trump’s signature campaign promises of building a wall along the southern border, calling the move ‘not Christian’ in 2016.

‘A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,’ Francis told reporters during a mid-flight interview on his way to Mexico in 2016, according to a translation from the Associated Press.

Trump, meanwhile, shot back at the pontiff’s remarks, arguing it was ‘disgraceful’ for the Pope, or any religious leader for that matter, to question another person’s faith. 

‘If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened,’ Trump said in a statement released by his team following the Pope’s criticism. ‘ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians.’

During Francis’s life he also took aim at increasing nationalistic sentiments around the world, criticism that implicitly targeted Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda. 

Francis was also a believer in climate change posing a major problem for society, something Trump also differed with him on. In both Trump’s first and second terms, he has pulled the U.S. out of the international Paris Climate Accords, which is an international initiative aimed at mitigating global warming. 

Trump, who considers himself a Christian but is not a Catholic, only met with Francis once during his first term. By contrast, Joe Biden, who is a confirmed Catholic, met with Francis in-person on multiple occasions throughout his single-term presidency. 

Trump’s Vice President J.D. Vance, a Catholic himself, was notably one of the Pope’s last visitors, seeing him on Easter Sunday – one day before Francis passed.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.  

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., on Monday signaled he wouldn’t tolerate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly once again sharing sensitive information about military operations in a Signal group chat. 

‘If the reporting is true, this is unacceptable. I would never tell the White House what to do, but I wouldn’t tolerate it,’ Bacon told Fox News Digital, reiterating his comments first reported by Politico. 

Bacon, a retired military officer and Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said it would be ‘unacceptable’ if Hegseth sent classified information in a Signal chat about a mission in Yemen targeting the Houthis. The New York Times reported on Sunday that Hegseth shared information about the March 15 strikes in Yemen in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, claiming they were essentially the same plans shared in the separate Signal chat that included an editor of The Atlantic. 

Bacon told Politico he had reservations about Hegseth’s experience since his nomination, and while a spokesperson for Bacon’s office emphasized to Fox News Digital that he would not tell President Donald Trump to fire Hegseth, Bacon said he ‘wouldn’t tolerate’ the latest Hegseth reporting if he was the commander in chief. 

White House officials have joined Hegseth in denying the reporting. 

‘No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same nonstory, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared. Recently fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the president’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable,’ White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.

Trump himself shut down the reporting, calling it ‘fake news’ and touting recruitment rates and Hegseth’s leadership of the armed forces.

‘The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News on Monday. 

Hegseth lamented ‘disgruntled employees’ and ‘anonymous smears’ when pressed by reporters during the White House Easter Egg roll about the latest Signal controversy.

‘This is why we’re fighting the fake news media. This group right here is full of hoaxsters,’ Hegseth said.

The Trump administration has maintained that no classified material was transmitted in the Signal chat reported by The Atlantic. Signal is an encrypted messaging app with additional security measures that keep messages private to those included in the correspondence.

Fox News Digtal’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Antisemitism in Canada has exploded in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, reaching record numbers last year and becoming a central issue for the country’s Jewish community ahead of an April 28 federal election.

Last week, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, the main challenger to Prime Minister Mark Carney accused pro-Hamas protesters of staging ‘hate marches’ and vowing to deport antisemitic foreigners from Canada.

‘The rampaging chaos that we see in our streets, the targeting of synagogues and Jewish schools with hate, vandalism, violence, fire bombings … these things were unheard of 10 years ago,’ Poilievre said. 

He also had a warning for foreign agitators. ‘Anyone who is here on a visitor visa who carries out lawbreaking will be deported from this country,’ Poilievre said.

‘To Canada’s Jewish community,’ Poilievre added, ‘you are not alone, you have friends. Canadians stand with you. You have the right to wear your Star of David, your kippah, and have your mezuzah on your door. You should feel proud to be Jewish and should never have to hide your Jewishness in order to stay safe.’

On Friday, Poilievre shared on X the Montreal Jewish Community Council’s call for Jewish voters to endorse him. In the video, the group’s executive director, Rabbi Saul Emanuel, referencing Poilievre’s support for the community, stated, ‘We remember who stood with us when it mattered most, and now we can all make a difference.’

Emanuel noted that Jewish voters could play a decisive role in as many as 14 districts in Canada. ‘Our vote matters, our voice matters. That’s why I am proud to support Pierre Poilievre and I urge you to do the same,’ he said.

Carney has also used social media to condemn antisemitism. In a tweet wishing Jewish Canadians a happy Passover, he condemned the growing incidents, stating in part, ‘Together, we must confront and denounce the rising tide of antisemitism, and the threat it poses to Jewish life and safety in communities across Canada.’

Yet despite his strong words against antisemitism, Carney recently faced criticism following a campaign rally in Calgary, where someone yelled at the Liberal Party leader, ‘There’s a genocide happening in Palestine.’

‘I’m aware,’ Carney replied. ‘That’s why we have an arms embargo [on Israel].’

The next day, Carney, who in March replaced longtime Premier Justin Trudeau, claimed he had not heard the anti-Israel demonstrator correctly.

His backtracking did not stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from entering the fray. He posted on X that ‘Canada has always sided with civilization. So should Mr. Carney.

‘But instead of supporting Israel, a democracy that is fighting a just war with just means against the barbarians of Hamas, he attacks the one and only Jewish state,’ Netanyahu posted.

According to an annual audit released this month by B’nai Brith Canada, the total number of reported cases of Jew hatred in the country hit 6,219 in 2024, a 7.4% increase over 2023 and the highest number since the survey’s inception in 1982.

Antisemitic incidents in Canada have skyrocketed by 124.6% since 2022.

‘Over the last 18 months, a new baseline has been established for antisemitism in Canada, and it’s having a detrimental effect on the lives of Jewish people,’ Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy at B’nai Brith Canada, told Fox News Digital. ‘We are seeing an increase in certain forms of antisemitism, specifically anti-Zionism.’

Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister and attorney general of Canada for the Liberal Party, told Fox News Digital ‘antisemitism has become mainstream, normalized and legitimized in the political, popular, academic, media, entertainment and sport cultures. All this happened in the absence of outrage,’ he said.

‘I hope that whichever party gets elected, we will see deliverables in combating specific hate crime, hate speech, harassment, assault, vandalism and all the things you find reported in the [B’nai Brith] annual report. From my experience, even those statistics are not telling the true story. They are underreported.’

‘The community of democracies must act because the security of our collective freedom is at stake,’ Cotler warned.

Israeli Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed told Fox News Digital many local Jews ‘feel vulnerable, unsafe and unprotected by law enforcement bodies, governments and education systems that have stood by as antisemitism reached crisis levels.’ 

He noted that Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people, is obligated to act when Jews in the Diaspora are in distress.

‘Equipping teachers with the resources to teach about antisemitism and the Holocaust is essential to ensure future generations understand the dangers of hatred and continue to embrace peace, tolerance and equality,’ he added.

The antisemitism survey highlighted numerous incidents, ranging from Quebec daily La Presse publishing a cartoon depicting Netanyahu as Nosferatu, a vampire associated with Jews in Nazi-era propaganda and a pro-Hamas protester at the University of Toronto shouting at a Jewish student that Hitler should have ‘murdered all of you.’

In May, an arsonist ignited a fire at the entrance to the Schara Tzedeck Synagogue in Vancouver as prayers concluded. The same month, shots were fired at the Bais Chaya Mushka girls’ school in Toronto, and the school has since been targeted twice more by gunfire. In August, a bomb threat affected Jewish institutions across the country. In December, a firebomb struck Congregation Beth Tikvah in Montreal, the second such attack since Oct. 7, 2023.

Thereafter, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the Canadian government to take action to ‘stamp out’ antisemitism. 

‘The world must wake up. Words are not enough. Synagogues burned. Jews attacked. Never again is now,’ he said, employing the adage stressing a commitment to preventing another Holocaust.

Anthony Housefather is the MP in the House of Commons for Mount Royal, an area with a large Jewish population held by the Liberals since 1940 being viewed as a bellwether for where the community stands.

‘The alarming numbers [of antisemitic incidents] make it clear as to why every level of government in the country needs to work together to implement all the recommendations set out in the justice committee report of last December and the commitments made at the national summit on antisemitism in March,’ Housefather told Fox News Digital.

Trudeau, who was widely panned for failing to adequately address the groundswell of antisemitism, had announced the summit within hours of Herzog’s condemnation.

Neil Oberman, the Conservative Party candidate running against Housefather, told Fox News Digital that in Mount Royal ‘personal safety and security have become serious issues.

‘It’s a stark reminder of the urgent need for a federal government consisting of adults implementing actions instead of putting together summits and position papers and blaming everybody else to combat hate and protect vulnerable communities,’ Oberman said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary Easter ceasefire in his country’s war with Ukraine, the Kremlin said Saturday.

The war has raged for more than three years and cost the lives of tens of thousands of people on both sides. 

‘Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 to 00:00 from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce,’’ Putin said in a video posted by the Russian ministry of Foreign Affairs.

‘I order that all military actions be stopped for this period.’

In the video, Putin is joined by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

The move appeared to be scoffed at by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who said shortly after the announcement that air raid alerts were ringing out across Ukraine.

‘As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives—at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine,’ Zelenskyy wrote on X while giving an update on troop positions. It wasn’t entirely clear of he was addressing the truce.

‘At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies. Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already begun working to protect us. Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life.’

Zelenskyy wrote that Ukrainian forces were battling in the Kursk region and holding their positions. 

‘In the Belgorod region, our warriors have advanced and expanded our zone of control,’ he wrote.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, however, said its forces pushed Ukrainian troops from one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops staged a surprise incursion last year.

The temporary ceasefire comes after President Donald Trump on Thursday said an 80-page minerals deal will be signed with Ukraine in one week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later amended that it would likely be signed on April 26. 

Details on the agreement still remain relatively unknown, though recent reporting by Bloomberg has suggested the U.S. has eased back its demands of repayment for its aid in Ukraine’s fight against Russia from $300 billion to $100 billion. 

On Friday, Trump said the U.S. will ‘just take a pass’ at peace efforts for Ukraine if Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to agree to ceasefire terms. 

‘If for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass,’ Trump told reporters. ‘But hopefully we won’t have to do that.’

Fox News’ Caitlin McFall and The Associated Press contributed to this report.