Happy New Year 2025

Category: Politics

Putin sending foreign minister to Saudi Arabia for talks with Trump officials

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dispatched a group of senior officials to Saudi Arabia for meetings with the U.S. about a potential peace deal for Ukraine, the Kremlin announced Monday.

The officials, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, will meet with U.S. counterparts on Tuesday. The groups plan to discuss a restoration of diplomatic ties between Washington and Moscow, as well as a Ukrainian peace deal and a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Putin.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the U.S. delegation, accompanied by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz, the state department confirmed Monday.

The meeting comes just days after Trump revealed he had spoken to Putin in a phone call last week. Trump said he and Putin “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.”

TRUMP SAYS RUSSIA AGREES TO ‘IMMEDIATELY’ BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS TO END WAR IN UKRAINE

President Donald Trump (center), Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right). (Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto via Getty Images | Contributor/Getty Images | Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met the effort with skepticism, urging Trump not to trust Putin in a separate call last week.

“I said that [Putin] is a liar,” Zelenskyy recounted of his phone call to Trump. “And he said, ‘I think my feeling is that he’s ready for these negotiations.’ And I said to him, ‘No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want any peace.’”

PUTIN VIEWED AS ‘GREAT COMPETITOR’ BUT STILL A US ‘ADVERSARY’ AS UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS LOOM, LEAVITT SAYS

Zelenskyy nevertheless said he believes Putin is a “little bit scared” of Trump.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia this week. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Trump’s representatives have declined to offer details about the negotiations, such as whether the U.S. would support a deal where Ukraine is forced to give up a sizable amount of its pre-war territory.

FREED AMERICAN HOSTAGE MARC FOGEL LANDS IN US AFTER YEARS IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY

“Those are details, and I’m not dismissive of the details, they’re important. But I think the beginning here is trust-building. It’s getting everybody to understand that this war does not belong continuing, that it should end. That’s what the president has directed us to do,” Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday.

Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer has confirmed that he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its security as part of a peace deal.

“I do not say that lightly,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way.”

“But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country,” he added.

War has continued to rage in Ukraine in recent days despite a phone call between Trump and Putin discussing a possible peace deal. (Anatolii STEPANOV / AFP, ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images)

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Zelenskyy added in his interview that he will not accept any negotiation hashed out by just the U.S. and Russia.

“I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine. Never.… The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses. And we are thankful for all the support, unity between U.S.A. – in U.S.A. around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we’re thankful for all of this. But there is no… leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us about us,” he said.

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.

February 17, 2025
Duffy says SpaceX workers will visit Air Traffic Control System Command Center

SpaceX workers will visit the Air Traffic Control System Command Center on Monday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted in a Sunday post on X, in which he also mentioned former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with whom he recently engaged in a social media spat.

“America deserves safe, state-of-the-art air travel, and President Trump has ordered that I deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world,” Duffy declared, noting that he’d welcome assistance from American developers or businesses.

“To do that, I need advice from the brightest minds in America. I’m asking for help from any high-tech American developer or company that is willing to give back to our country.

SEAN DUFFY TELLS HILLARY CLINTON TO ‘SIT THIS ONE OUT’ AFTER SHE CHIMES IN ON HIS DOGE ANNOUNCEMENT

Left: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy speaks to reporters about the collision of an American Airlines flight with a military Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C.; Right: Hillary Clinton at the Navalny Screening held at the Museum of Modern Art on Jan. 30, 2025 in New York, N.Y. (Left: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Right: Lexie Moreland/WWD via Getty Images)

“Tomorrow, members of @elonmusk’s SpaceX team will be visiting the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in VA to get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system.”

He then brought up Clinton.

“Because I know the media (and Hillary Clinton) will claim Elon’s team is getting special access, let me make clear that the @FAANews regularly gives tours of the command center to both media and companies.”

SENATE CONFIRMS TRUMP PICK SEAN DUFFY FOR TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY

In the post on Sunday, Duffy also said that he will visit the FAA Academy this week.

“Later in the week, I will travel to the FAA Academy in Oklahoma to meet with air traffic controller instructors and students to learn more about their education and how we can ensure that only the very best guide our aircrafts,” he noted.

“My door at @USDOT is open to any and all patriotic developers or companies who want to help our country in this incredible, game-changing mission. I hope to hear from any company committed to ushering in America’s golden age of travel!”

President Donald Trump tapped business magnate Elon Musk to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to uncover federal government waste, fraud, and abuse.

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY REASSURES PUBLIC ABOUT AIR TRAVEL SAFETY AFTER DEADLY CRASH: ‘SAFEST FORM OF TRAVEL’

Left: Sean Duffy, US secretary of transportation, during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025; Right: In this photo illustration a SpaceX logo seen displayed on a smartphone (Left: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Right: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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“The safety of air travel is a non-partisan matter. SpaceX engineers will help make air travel safer,” Musk wrote in response to Duffy’s tweet.

Earlier this month, Clinton and Duffy engaged in a back and forth on X after Duffy noted that the DOGE team would help upgrade the aviation system.

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

February 17, 2025
Effort in ‘red’ swath of Oregon to join Idaho gets new life, as political secession has had mixed results

During the anti-police riots of 2020, Oregon was front-and-center as protesters vandalized Portland and made a dayslong violent stand in front of the Mark Hatfield Federal Courthouse.

But in the eastern two-thirds of Oregon, the conservative geographic majority of the state did not ideologically align with their urban brethren.

Over the past several years, the Greater Idaho movement has tried to create the conditions needed for about 13 counties to join the conservative Gem State next door.

Greater Idaho began putting such measures up for votes in various counties in 2020 and this month saw Republican lawmakers file a bill in the state legislature that would create a task force to study “moving” the border.

State Rep. Mark Owens, R-Malheur, put forward HB 3844, a measure that creates and directs a task force to document the impacts of relocating the Idaho border and requires a report be presented to lawmakers in Salem.

GREATER IDAHO MOVEMENT GAINS MOMENTUM

Owens did not respond when reached for requests for comment.

Greater Idaho president Mike McCarter said in a statement: “We are encouraged to see the representatives of Eastern Oregon coming together to advocate for their voters by bringing these bills to the Legislature. The people of Eastern Oregon have made clear they want to explore moving the border and joining Idaho.

“This movement has always been about the people of Eastern Oregon, getting their voice heard and helping those communities get the kind of state-level governance they actually want.”

“If the Oregon Legislature truly believes in democracy, they will honor those voters’ wishes and move forward on making a border change happen,” executive director Matt McCaw told Fox News Digital.

“Both bills have been moved into committee and are awaiting further action there.”

By shifting the border, proponents believe both states have a “win-win” – in that the people living in each would better reflect the established political majority and lower political tension.

NY LAWMAKER CALLS FOR STATEN ISLAND TO SECEDE

In New York City’s Staten Island, there has been a movement afoot for decades seeking to break from the Big Apple. (AP Photo)

A report in the Central Oregonian noted an “interstate compact” is part of what is required to move the line, and cited other border-shifting bills in other states.

One would forward the cause of adding several rural Illinois counties that don’t see eye-to-eye with Springfield or Chicago to more closely aligned Indiana. Another in Iowa would allow the same movement for counties in the Land of Lincoln that are closer to the Hawkeye State line.

Idaho GOP Gov. Brad Little and Oregon Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek did not respond to requests for comment.

So far, only a few such movements regarding either secession or redrawing of state lines have been successful.

The now-55 counties of West Virginia voted to secede from the then-Confederate Virginia and independently ratified the U.S. Constitution on June 20, 1863.

A Washington Post story on the matter said Mountaineers split from Virginia as a way of “defending the ‘United States’… rather than the ‘seceded states’.”

In New York City’s Staten Island – the “forgotten borough” as many locals call it – there has been a movement afoot for decades seeking to break from the Big Apple.

Already geographically distant on the “New Jersey side” of the Hudson River, the borough is also separated from the Garden State by the Kill Van Kull and Arthur Kill.

Efforts to reestablish the reliably-red borough as the city of Richmond (after its coterminous county) or other names began with a favor from then-Gov. Mario Cuomo in the 1980s.

Cuomo enraged city leaders but endeared himself to the working-class voters on the island by approving state Sen. John J. Marchi’s push for a secession referendum.

Marchi, who died in 2006 and now has a Staten Island Ferry named in his honor, saw his borough vote nearly 2-1 to secede in 1993 – only to have their desires quashed by Albany’s Democratic majority.

And while the 1995 election of Mayor Rudy Giuliani calmed secession tensions, the drumbeat began anew in recent months.

“I think it’s time to secede,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told The New York Post as Gov. Kathy Hochul was touting her congestion-priced driving fee that now double-taxes Staten Island commuters.

“There’s no real value in being part of this city or the state. We didn’t vote for this mayor; we didn’t vote for this governor; and we didn’t vote for this president, but we’re always the ones getting screwed,” she said.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].

February 17, 2025
Academic unions plan nationwide demonstration to protest Trump NIH research cuts

The science community is clapping back at President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut facilities and administrative costs that go out to institutions when the federal government disperses money for publicly funded research projects.

A cohort of academic unions around the country has called on scientists, researchers, clinicians, academics and “allies” to protest in front of the Health and Human Services Department building and at different universities across the country on Wednesday, calling it a “National Day of Action.” The Feb. 19 event follows protests outside the HHS building Friday, during which demonstrators locked arms in front of the building and chanted, “We are not leaving!”

Trump’s move to cap these costs at 15% has garnered criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, who argue the spending limit will severely impact the country’s world-leading research apparatus. But, while much of that criticism has been online and in the media, it is starting to spill over into the streets.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS SHOW SIGNIFICANT DISAPPROVAL OF DEMOCRATIC ANTICS AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP

Protesters demonstrate in support of federal workers outside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Feb. 4, 2025 in Washington, DC. Organizers held the protest to speak about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts. (Getty Images)

“We are joining academic unions across the country in a National Day of Action,” the RSVP form for the event reads. “We are demanding the administration stop the attack on science, medicine, and public health research by rescinding the cuts and restrictions.”

The form says that Trump’s directive is “restrict[ing] and censor[ing]” critical research and subsequently preventing “potential treatments and cures” from coming to fruition, while also reducing the nation’s global competitiveness when it comes to “scientific world power.”

Union members from Johns Hopkins, George Washington University and the University of Maryland are slated to attend, according to the RSVP form. A separate online advertisement for the event indicated that additional protests would take place on Wednesday at Rutgers, the University of Washington, Oregon Health & Science University, the University of Illinois – Chicago, and other places. Fox News Digital reached out to organizers of the Feb. 19 demonstrations to glean more details about expected numbers, but did not receive a response.

TRUMP NOMINEES DEBUT NEW SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL AIMED AT SPURRING SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE, INCREASING TRANSPARENCY

During a protest outside HHS offices in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14, 2025, demonstrators deliver Valentine’s Day greetings with messages of support for federal workers. (Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

A “Feb. 19 toolkit,” included with the second online advertisement, also implored interested demonstrators to protest outside congressional offices and at public meetings where legislators are present. It included messaging prompts on how demonstrators should respond to push back as well, and implored them to take a lot of pictures and videos.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Metropolitan Police Department to determine whether any safety or security measures would be put in place, but the department declined to share specifics regarding operations, tactics or staffing. The department did iterate that it recognizes the importance of “upholding the First Amendment rights of individuals to peacefully express their views” and is committed to facilitating these events while also protecting public safety. The department added that there was no known threat to the D.C. area at that time.

A federal judge last week put a temporary restraining order on Trump’s directive, halting it nationwide. An in-person hearing date is scheduled for later this month.

JUDGE ORDERS TEMPORARY REVERSAL OF TRUMP ADMIN’S FREEZE ON FOREIGN AID

The National Institutes of Health announced a $9 billion spending cut in response to a new mandate from the Trump administration. (Alamy/Getty Images)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was confirmed as HHS secretary by the Senate last week, shared a NIH social media post explaining how much will be saved under Trump’s new spending limit, signaling that he potentially supports Trump’s cap on indirect facilities and administrative costs going to research institutions from the NIH.

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In addition to the protests on Wednesday, a “Stand Up For Science 2025” protest is also being planned for early March. Furthermore, a nationwide protest movement against Trump’s actions has also been attempting to organize protesters to show up at every major state capital on Presidents Day.

A recent survey of Independent voters showed the unaffiliated group is largely getting tired of the Democratic Party’s sometimes profanity-laced attacks on the president.

February 17, 2025
Department of Education probing some Virginia school districts over gender identity policies

The U.S. Department of Education is launching an investigation into several school districts in northern Virginia over allegations of refusing to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order banning gender identity policies.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights opened an enforcement investigation into the school districts, according to Fox 5 DC.

The districts include Arlington County Public Schools, Alexandria City Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools and Prince William County Public Schools.

This comes after the conservative nonprofit America First Legal filed a complaint accusing several schools in Virginia of keeping policies promoting gender identity in place in violation of the president’s mandate.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WARNS THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST REMOVE DEI POLICIES OR LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING

The U.S. Department of Education building is seen on August 21, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

The complaint argues that the districts are violating Title IX of the higher education act of 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and Trump’s executive order titled “Ending Racial Indoctrination in K-12 Schools,” which called on some federal agencies to develop a plan to eliminate the “instruction, advancement or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology” in K-12 schools receiving federal funding.

America First Legal stresses that the federal government prohibits “instruction, advancement or promotion of gender ideology” — as mentioned in Trump’s order — and argues that allowing biological boys to use girls’ restrooms and locker rooms is covered in this language.

TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON SAYS SHUTTING DOWN DOE WOULD ‘REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION’

The U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

The group described the districts named in the complaint as radical and lawless and that the districts would rather “deny biology than teach it and one family agrees.”

Arlington Public Schools said it stands firmly behind its non-discrimination policies and remains committed to providing safe and welcoming schools for all students, according to Fox 5 DC. The district said it follows all federal laws with respect to Title IX.

Prince William County Public Schools said it will “cooperate with the investigation and remains committed to providing a welcoming, nurturing learning environment where all of our students feel safe and supported mentally, physically, and emotionally.”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on February 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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Alexandria City Public Schools said it “will respond to this investigation in accordance with applicable law.” Loudoun County Public Schools made a similar statement.

Fairfax County Public Schools said its policies “align with state and federal anti-discrimination laws and binding court precedent.”

February 17, 2025
Expert reveals what should happen next with Biden DOJ’s lingering ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ election lawsuit

As President Donald Trump’s administration continues to form and top officials are confirmed, questions remain about the future of a highly publicized and pending Biden administration lawsuit against Georgia’s election laws that then-President Joe Biden famously referred to as “Jim Crow 2.0.”

The Biden administration sued Georgia in 2021 over its election integrity laws, arguing that it contains “racially discriminatory provisions” that were “adopted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race” and “particularly” harmed Black voters.

“The right of all eligible citizens to vote is the central pillar of our democracy, the right from which all other rights ultimately flow,” then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release at the time.

“This lawsuit is the first step of many we are taking to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote; that all lawful votes are counted; and that every voter has access to accurate information.”

LAWMAKERS DEMAND BONDI’S DOJ INVESTIGATE BIDEN’S POST-ELECTION DAY DISMISSAL OF GREEN ENERGY FRAUD LAWSUIT

The Biden administration sued Georgia in 2021 over its election integrity laws, arguing that it contains “racially discriminatory provisions” (Getty)

In October 2021, Biden described the law as “Jim Crow in the 21st Century” and later repeated that claim by calling the law “Jim Crow 2.0.”

Since that lawsuit, which court filings show is currently on appeal in the 11th Circuit, Georgia has experienced record voter registration and turnout in several elections.

“The Trump administration should immediately dismiss this lawsuit,” the Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies Hans von Spakovsky told Fox News Digital.

“It had no merit and there was no evidence justifying its filing. Events since then, including record registration and turnout in the 2022 and 2024 elections, with all of the reforms in place that DOJ was attacking, prove what a sham this lawsuit is. DOJ filed it for political reasons because Joe Biden was calling the commonsense Georgia reforms ‘Jim Crow 2.0,’ an outrageous claim that was clearly wrong and simply made to try to scare voters.”

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT DISMISSES CLASSIFIED RECORDS CASE AGAINST FORMER TRUMP CO-DEFENDANTS

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky/File)

Last week, Georgia’s secretary of state called for the lawsuit to be dropped.

“The Biden Administration and Stacey Abrams created a false narrative regarding Georgia’s elections,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a press release.

“The DOJ should never be leveraged for political purposes, and I hope Attorney General Bondi will join us in ending this frivolous lawsuit against the state of Georgia, and release documents exposing the coordination between the Biden DOJ and the liberal left.”

Raffensperger’s press release came days before Trump’s Justice Department dropped another high-profile Biden-era investigation into New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The Justice Department declined to comment when contacted by Fox News Digital.

Democrat criticism of the law from Biden, former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and others resulted in a negative economic effect on Georgia residents after Major League Baseball announced it was moving its the All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to the law.

That move cost the majority-Black city an estimated $70 million or more in revenue, Fox Business previously reported. Major League Baseball later decided to hold the game in Atlanta in 2025 where the election law remains the same as when the game was pulled.

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Joe Biden (Susan Walsh/AP)

“Opponents of SB 202 previously called for economic boycotts against Georgia, most notably the relocation of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game following advocacy efforts led by Stacey Abrams,” Raffensperger’s press release stated. “Despite these efforts, Georgia’s voting laws remain unchanged, and the 2025 MLB All-Star Game is set to return to Atlanta.”

“Recent data underscores the effectiveness of Georgia’s election reforms. A 2022 University of Georgia poll found that 99% of voters reported no issues casting their ballots, and a follow-up poll in 2024 reflected a similarly high satisfaction rate, with 98% of voters experiencing no problems at the polls.”

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

February 17, 2025
Trump admin seeks permission to fire head of the Office of Special Counsel

The Trump administration has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, hoping to get permission to fire the head of the federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers.

The emergency appeal, obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday, could likely be the start of a steady stream of court filings by lawyers of President Donald Trump and his administration aimed at reversing lower court rulings that have delayed his priorities for his second term in office.

The appeal seeks to prevent Hampton Dellinger from resuming his role as the head of the Office of Special Counsel.

A lower court judge previously temporarily reinstated Dellinger to his position, which he was appointed to by former President Joe Biden. Now, the Department of Justice is calling on the high court to lift the judge’s order.

AS DEMOCRATS REGROUP OUTSIDE DC, GOP ATTORNEYS GENERAL ADOPT NEW PLAYBOOK TO DEFEND TRUMP AGENDA

United States Supreme Court (front row L-R) Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan, (back row L-R) Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Dellinger has argued that by law, he can only be dismissed from his position for job performance problems, which were not cited in an email dismissing him from his post.

The Trump administration’s petition came hours after an appeals court refused to lift the order on procedural grounds, which was filed last Wednesday and is expected to expire on Feb. 26.

The case is not expected to be placed on the docket until the Supreme Court returns after the Presidents’ Day holiday weekend. Once filed, the earliest the justices will be able to act will be Tuesday.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ADMIN TO RESTORE PUBLIC HEALTH WEB PAGES

The Trump administration filed an appeal with the Supreme Court with hopes of getting permission to fire the head of the Office of Special Counsel. (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

Dellinger sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court last Monday following his firing on Feb. 7.

The Trump administration has been met with a wave of lawsuits since Inauguration Day, and legal experts say many of them will likely end up in the Supreme Court’s hands.

“President Trump is certainly being aggressive in terms of flexing executive power and not at all surprised that these are being challenged,” John Malcolm, vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital last week.

HOUSE DEMS ORGANIZE RAPID RESPONSE TASK FORCE AND LITIGATION GROUP TO COMBAT TRUMP AGENDA

President Donald Trump’s second term kicked off with a flurry of executive orders and directives that have since been targeted by legal challenges, some of which will likely end up in the Supreme Court’s hands. (AP Photo)

Trump kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive orders and directives that have since been targeted by a flood of legal challenges.

Since Trump’s first day back in the Oval Office, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed over the administration’s actions, including the president’s birthright citizenship order, immigration policies, federal funding freezes, federal employee buyouts, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and legal action against FBI and DOJ employees.

In one of the most recent developments, a Rhode Island federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds, claiming the administration did not adhere to a previous order to do so. The Trump administration appealed the order to the First Circuit shortly thereafter, which was ultimately denied.

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Many of these lawsuits have been filed in historically left-leaning federal court jurisdictions, including D.C. federal court. Various challenges have already been appealed to the appellate courts, including the Ninth and First Circuits, which notably hand down more progressive rulings. The Ninth Circuit, in particular, has a higher reversal rate than other circuit courts.

Fox News Digital’s Haley Chi-Sing and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @GregWehner.

February 17, 2025
FCC chair brings receipts on Biden admin’s ‘expertise in incompetence’ in blistering message to Buttigieg

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr slammed former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for claiming Trump administration “incompetence” is putting Americans “at risk,” pointing to a multi-billion dollar project under the Biden administration that he said yielded no results.

“You worked for an Administration that got $42 billion to connect millions of Americans to the Internet,” Carr said in an X post on Saturday responding to Buttigieg. “1,163 days later, that Admin exited without connecting even 1 person & without turning even 1 shovel worth of dirt.”

“If we need expertise in incompetence, will reach out,” he added, accompanied by the peace sign emoji.

Carr was responding to a message Buttigieg posted on Friday that took issue with the Department of Government Efficiency, which has become a common target of Democrats as Elon Musk and the DOGE team work through federal government agencies in its quest of extinguishing government fraud and overspending.

FCC COMMISSIONER HITS BIDEN ADMIN FOR $42 BILLION IN UNSPENT HIGH SPEED INTERNET FUNDS

Federal Communication Commission chairman Brendan Carr has opened an investigation into radio station controlled by left-wing billionaire George Soros. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Incompetence in Washington puts every American at risk, no matter how you voted. No one should be happy that the DOGE team – the same folks who randomly published classified U.S. security information online today – wants access to your bank account & Social Security numbers,” Buttigieg posted to X on Friday, referring to accusations DOGE posted classified information to its website, which the White House has refuted.

FCC LAUNCHES PROBE INTO NBC NEWS PARENT COMCAST ‘TO ROOT OUT INVIDIOUS FORMS OF DEI DISCRIMINATION’

The Biden administration in 2021 approved a $42.5 billion provision in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was directed to a program intended to deliver internet to underserved and rural areas of the nation. Four years later, however, the program has not connected users to the internet, the Washington Policy Center found in a report last year.

Former President Biden, FCC chair Brendan Carr, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. (Getty Images)

States were required to submit plans to the federal government by 2023 related to the investment and deployment of the internet services. Former President Joe Biden, upon the states submitting their plans, celebrated the internet initiative as similar to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1936 Rural Electrification Act, which brought electricity to homes nationwide.

“What we’re doing is, as I said, not unlike what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did when he brought electricity to nearly every American home and farm in our nation. Today, Kamala and I are making an equally historic investment to connect everyone in America — everyone in America to high-speed Internet by — and affordable high-speed Internet — by 2030,” Biden said at the White House in June of 2023.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks during a press conference on June 28, 2021, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Carr has frequently taken issue with the $42.5 billion program, including citing it in X posts before President Donald Trump’s election win in November, and the president subsequently appointing the Republican FCC commissioner as chair of the government agency.

FCC CHAIR SAYS IT’S ‘REALLY CONCERNING’ THAT A SOROS-BACKED RADIO STATION EXPOSED UNDERCOVER ICE AGENTS

“In 2021, the Biden Administration got $42.45 billion from Congress to deploy high-speed Internet to millions of Americans,” wrote on X back in June “Years later, it has not connected even 1 person with those funds. In fact, it now says that no construction projects will even start until 2025 at earliest.”

President Joe Biden speaks about his administration on Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Carr explained to Fox Business back in June that while the funds were allocated to states to deliver internet services through the program, the Biden administration was at fault for the lack of progress.

“There’s no question that the 2021 law put some process in place, but the Biden administration decided to layer on top of that a Byzantine additional set of hoops that states have to go through before the administration will approve them to actually get these funds and start completing the builds,” Carr told FOX Business in an interview in June.

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He added that while some high-speed internet projects had connected people during the Biden administration, none were funded through the $42.5 billion allocation from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

Fox News Digital’s Breck Dumas contributed to this report.

February 17, 2025
Trump nominates judge to serve as next US attorney for Southern District of Florida

President Donald Trump announced three new members of his administration on Sunday, including Judge Jason Reding Quiñones, who the president has nominated as the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

“A former Federal prosecutor and Justice Department National Security Official, Judge Reding Quiñones currently serves as a highly respected State Trial Judge in Miami, and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “As the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Reding Quiñones will restore Law and Order, prosecute violent crimes and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN.”

Along with Quiñones, the president announced that Jim Byron will serve as the senior advisor to the acting national archivist, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Having already worked with the NARA, Trump said Byron understands the responsibility that goes into preserving the country’s history.

TRUMP LANDS KEY TULSI GABBARD CONFIRMATION FOLLOWING UPHILL SENATE BATTLE

President Donald Trump nominated Judge Jason Reding Quiñones to serve as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida on Sunday. (Florida Courts)

In his role, Byron will manage the archives on a day-to-day basis as the Trump administration continues its search for a full-time archivist.

Trump also nominated John Jovanovic to serve as the chairman and CEO of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM).

TRUMP’S NOMINEE FOR SMALL BUSINESS CHIEF PRIMED FOR FINAL VOTE AFTER CLEARING PROCEDURAL HURDLE

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Jan. 7, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“John will utilize his extensive experience in finance, investments, and business building across the Energy, Commodities, and Critical Infrastructure sectors to Make America Energy and Manufacturing DOMINANT Again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Jovanovic is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his master’s in business administration in finance and management.

He also attended Princeton University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in politics.

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“He will work tirelessly to protect all of the gains from our strong Tariff Policies, guarantee that our Exports receive fair treatment, and always put American companies, and our Energy exports, FIRST,” Trump said. “Congratulations John!”

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @GregWehner.

February 16, 2025
All eyes on Russia-Ukraine as Trump kicks off fourth week back in the Oval Office

President Donald Trump and his administration are set to have another busy week as negotiations over ending the Russia-Ukraine war get underway.

Trump is sending a handful of U.S. officials to Saudi Arabia this week to begin negotiating a potential peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told Fox News on Sunday morning that he and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also set to travel to Saudi Arabia after his attendance of the international Munich Security Conference last week and meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday.

The meeting in Saudi Arabia comes after Trump announced last Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to “immediately” begin peace talks.

“Next week, there’s a meeting in Saudi Arabia,” Trump told the media during a press conference on Thursday. “Not with myself nor President Putin, but with top officials. And Ukraine will be a part of it, too. And we’re going to see if we can end that war. That was a horrible war. It’s a vicious, bloody war. We want to end it.”

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since February 2022, when Russia first invaded its neighboring nation. Trump had said while on the 2024 campaign trail that he would end the war if re-elected, while claiming it would never have begun if he had been in the Oval Office at the time.

TRUMP WILL DETERMINE IF PUTIN IS ‘SERIOUS ABOUT NEGOTIATIONS’ TO END UKRAINE WAR, RUBIO SAYS

Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump (Contributor | Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Trump charged his team of U.S. officials to hold the peace meetings at his direction in Saudi Arabia, Witkoff said on Sunday to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo.

HOW SAUDI ARABIA’S CROWN PRINCE BECAME A CENTRAL PLAYER IN US-BROKERED PEACE TALKS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE

“I am going tonight. I’ll be traveling there with the national security advisor, and we’ll be having meetings at the direction of the president. And hopefully we’ll make some really good progress with regard to Russia, Ukraine,” Witkoff said.

Waltz, Ratcliffe, Rubio and Witkoff (Getty Images)

RUSSIA CLAIMS TRUMP, PUTIN TALK BROUGHT WORLD FROM ‘BRINK OF APOCALYPSE,’ EU WARNS OF ‘DIRTY TRICKS’

Stateside, Trump spent his weekend in Mar-a-Lago in Florida before heading to the Daytona 500, where fans erupted into cheers when Air Force One flew over Daytona International Speedway. Trump is the first sitting president to attend two Daytona 500 races at Daytona International Speedway, previously attending the 2020 race.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Trump’s schedule this week could also include meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who requested a visit with the president at the White House.

Trump told the media on Friday that he did speak with the U.K. prime minister and that he accepted a request to meet at the White House.

“We’re going to have a friendly meeting, very good. We have a lot of good things going on. But he asked to come and see me, and I just accepted his asking,” Trump said.

NASCAR FANS CHEER AS TRUMP ARRIVES FOR DAYTONA 500 IN AIR FORCE ONE

Trump said the meeting would be held “very soon,” suggesting it would happen either this coming week or the following week. No details have been revealed as to what the upcoming meeting will focus on, though it comes on the heels of Trump announcing a “reciprocal tariff” plan on Thursday that will impose “fair and reciprocal” tariffs on all major U.S. trading partners.

“On trade, I have decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them, no more, no less. In other words, they charge us a tax or tariff, and we charge them the exact same tax or tariff, very simple,” Trump said at the White House of the tariff plan.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer (AP)

On the energy policy front, Trump created the National Energy Dominance Council on Friday, which is expected to “unleash” energy independence.

TOP TRUMP AGENCY RECOVERS EYE-POPPING SUM AFTER LAUNCHING DOGE TASK FORCE

“We have more energy than any other country, and now we are unleashing it,” Trump said Friday from the Oval Office when he signed an executive order establishing the energy council. “I call it liquid gold under our feet, and we’re going to utilize it.”

Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council under the second Trump administration, previewed that the council will quickly work to make the U.S. energy dominant, even with actions as early as this coming week.

“What I expect you to see, sir, is action as early as next week that is going to shock people about how good it is for Americans,” Hassett told Trump from the Oval Office on Friday.

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Trump’s fourth week in office follows him already signing 65 executive orders, including 26 on his first day in office alone.

February 16, 2025