Happy New Year 2025

Category: Politics

Planned Parenthood appears to scrub Instagram as fears of DOGE cuts loom

Planned Parenthood caught the internet’s attention on Thursday after all of its Instagram posts were deleted within hours of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary RFK Jr.’s swearing in.

The organization, in an apparent nod to this move, posted a pair of eyes on a black background on its Instagram story with no explanation.

On Friday, Planned Parenthood posted another story, an animated gif with the words “I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me,” and later there were just three posts on its Instagram page, all about condom use.

As speculation swirled about the mysterious disappearance of the posts, many pro-life advocates started to call for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. This also comes just days after a conservative watchdog nonprofit founded by former President Mike Pence, urged the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut federal spending on Planned Parenthood.

DOGE MUST ‘DEFUND’ PLANNED PARENTHOOD, MIKE PENCE’S WATCHDOG GROUP URGES MUSK

Photo illustration shows a woman with a phone and a Planned Parenthood (FreshSplash/AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

“For the sake of the American people and generations yet unborn, the time has come for the United States to finally defund the largest abortion provider in America,” Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom, wrote in a letter to Elon Musk.

Planned Parenthood health centers received nearly $22 billion in HHS grants and $53 billion from public health programs from 2019 to 2021, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

Pro-life and pro-choice demonstrators gathered outside of the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court amid arguments over mifepristone. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Women’s March)

RFK JR TELLS LAWMAKERS THAT ‘EVERY ABORTION IS A TRAGEDY’ AT CONFIRMATION HEARING

During his confirmation hearing, Kennedy said that he believes “every abortion is a tragedy,” and expressed support for President Donald Trump’s assertion that states should handle the issue.

“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy said. “I agree with him that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year. I agree with him that the states should control abortion. President Trump has told me that he wants to end late-term abortions, and he wants to protect conscience exemptions.”

Kennedy, who has expressed support for abortion in the past, vowed to implement Trump’s policies.

With Kennedy at the helm of HHS and Elon Musk at DOGE, pro-choice advocates fear that Planned Parenthood will be on the chopping block.

Pins are pictured outside a Planned Parenthood mobile clinic near the United Center, the host venue of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Vincent Alban)

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On Feb. 3, Planned Parenthood Federation of America put out a statement warning that “defunding” the organization could put patients at risk of losing access to “sexual and reproductive care.”

Planned Parenthood Federation of America said that in 2022 the organization treated 2.05 million patients. The services mentioned in the organization’s included more than 4.6 million STI tests, nearly 213,000 breast exams and more. However, no data on the number of abortions performed in that time was listed.

Planned Parenthood did not respond to a Fox News request for comment.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

February 15, 2025
Department of Education warns that public schools must remove DEI policies or lose federal funding

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The Department of Education is warning state education departments that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding.

A letter from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights was sent to the departments of education in all 50 states, notifying them that they have no more than 14 days to comply. The letter was shared on social media by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, said in the letter.

The letter said the “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions” will no longer be tolerated.

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

The U.S. Department of Education building is seen in Washington, Nov. 18, 2024. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

It argues that a Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which found that affirmative action in Harvard University’s admission process violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, should apply more broadly.

“The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent,” the letter reads.

DEMS SPAR OVER DOGE CUTS WITH TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON

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

Trainor said the Department of Education will “vigorously enforce the law on equal terms as to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance.”

The letter urges state education departments to “ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law … cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends” and “cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race.”

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

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The letter comes after President Donald Trump signed executive orders directing agencies to provide a plan to eliminate federal funding for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.” He also signed orders to end DEI programs in federal agencies.

The Department of Education previously announced the removal of mention of DEI from documents and websites. The department also placed employees that led DEI initiatives on leave and dissolved its Diversity & Inclusion Council.

February 15, 2025
Eric Adams to sue Trump admin over revoked $80M in FEMA migrant shelter funding for New York City

New York City mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, plans to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration after the federal government secretly revoked more than $80 million in funding for the city’s migrant shelters.

Counsel for the Adams administration sent a letter Friday to city Comptroller Brad Lander saying that the city’s Law Department planned to take legal action by the end of next week to have the $80.5 million in FEMA payments taken earlier this week returned, according to the New York Post. Lander is running against Adams in June’s Democrat primary election for the city’s mayor.

“The Law Department is currently drafting litigation papers with respect to this matter,” corporation counsel Mureil Goode-Trufant told Lander in a letter, the outlet reported.

“We intend to initiate legal action by February 21, 2025. As the Law Department is representing the City of New York in this matter, there is no need for an authorization for the Comptroller’s Office to engage external legal counsel,” the letter reads.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MOVES TO DROP CASE AGAINST NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS

New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City on Friday, November 1, 2024. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital )

The letter came after Lander urged the Adams administration to either file a lawsuit or authorize him to hire his own attorneys to sue Trump and Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency.

“Given the gravity of the situation, we cannot afford to waste any more time. If the Mayor would prefer to spend his days advancing President Trump’s agenda instead of fighting for New Yorkers, then the Law Department must allow me to do so,” Lander said in a statement Friday.

“Recovering these funds is imperative, and any action, or non-action, allowing the Trump administration to proceed without consequence would set a dangerous precedent and make our City a target for the next four years,” he added.

The revocation of FEMA funds from New York City’s accounts happened Tuesday and was first discovered by Lander the following day.

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SAYS HE WILL RUN FOR RE-ELECTION AS A DEMOCRAT

New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City on Friday, November 1, 2024. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital )

“Let’s be crystal clear: This is highway robbery. Elon Musk, with no legal authority, illegally seized federal funds from New Yorkers,” Lander said Wednesday.

Musk claimed that DOGE found a $59 million FEMA payment to New York City was being used on luxury hotels to house illegal migrants. Trump later repeated Musk’s claim and argued that “massive fraud” was happening.

New York City was awarded two separate grants during the Biden administration — one for $58.6 million and another for $21.9 million — as the city attempted to pay to house migrants, many of whom were sent by Texas officials who were frustrated with the Biden administration’s handling of the influx of migrants entering the U.S. through the Southern Border.

The payments were made under the Shelter and Services Program that Congress appropriated $650 million for last year to help local governments respond to the migrant crisis.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs federal court in Lower Manhattan on Friday, September 27, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

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The FEMA money, which was funded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, paid $12.50 a night reimbursement for each hotel room. The city said most of the hotels used to house migrants are not luxurious. The remainder of the funds went toward security, food and other services for migrants.

This came after the Department of Justice ordered prosecutors to drop their federal corruption case against Adams, who had been indicted on charges of fraud, bribery and soliciting campaign contributions from foreigners. Some have raised concerns that Adams may be beholden to the president because his case was dropped.

February 15, 2025
Trump’s 2023 mugshot spotted hanging in ornate frame near Oval Office

A copy of a New York Post front page featuring President Donald Trump’s mugshot was spotted hanging in an ornate gold frame near the Oval Office in the White House during a news conference this week.

The photo was snapped at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia after Trump turned himself in Aug. 24, 2023, and appeared on the front page of newspapers across the globe the next day.

Trump told Fox News Digital at the time Georgia officials “insisted” his mugshot be taken during processing at the jail and that doing so was “not a comfortable feeling — especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.”

A framed copy of President Donald Trump’s 2023 mugshot from the New York Post is framed in an office just outside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

TRUMP SAYS GEORGIA INDICTMENT COMES DURING ‘DARK PERIOD’ FOR US, VOWS TO FIX IT BY WINNING

A photo of the new artwork, shared by Margo Martin, Trump’s special assistant and communications advisor, went viral on social media.

Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff, later posted a video to X providing context on the frame’s placement.

President Donald Trump’s framed mugshot hangs just outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY,” Scavino wrote in the accompanying post. “WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL OVAL OFFICE @WHITEHOUSE.”

The mugshot closely resembles the President’s official White House portrait, which debuted in January.

A split of President Trump’s official White House portrait, left, and mugshot. (Trump-Vance Transition Team; Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP )

The unprecedented charges stem from accusations that Trump attempted to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, a case that is still unresolved.

At the time of the indictment, the Trump campaign said the case was a “continued pathetic attempt by the Biden crime family and their weaponized Department of Justice.”

TRUMP SAYS TAKING MUGSHOT WAS ‘NOT A COMFORTABLE FEELING, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG’

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse Feb. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer-Pool/Getty Images)

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who filed the charges, is appealing a Georgia Court’s ruling that disqualified her and her office from prosecuting the case.

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A new prosecutor has not yet been assigned to the case.

Four co-defendants have accepted plea deals in the case, including Scott Hall, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and FOX 5 Atlanta contributed to this story.

Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.

February 15, 2025
Here’s what happened during President Donald Trump’s 4th week in office

President Donald Trump and his administration forged ahead with its foreign policy priorities in meetings and calls with heads of state and advanced discussions surrounding the end of the Russia-Ukraine war this week.

Trump spoke with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where leaders agreed to launch negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,” Trump posted to Truth Social Wednesday after speaking with Putin. “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now.”

“I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful,” Trump said.

Additionally, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday, and Vice President JD Vance also met with Zelenskyy Friday at the Munich Security Conference.

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

Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, New York, Sept. 27, 2024. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has come under scrutiny for the negotiations, fielding criticism that Ukraine is being pressured to give in to concessions after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that it wasn’t realistic for Ukraine to regain its pre-war borders with Russia.

“Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more,” Brett Bruen, director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital.

But Hegseth shut down comments like these, and told NATO members in Brussels on Thursday: “Any suggestion that President Trump is doing anything other than negotiating from a position of strength is, on its face, ahistorical and false.”

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again.

Here’s what also happened this week at the White House:

Meeting Jordan’s king

Trump welcomed Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House Tuesday, a visit that comes amid contentious discussions between the U.S. and Arab nations about relocating Palestinian refugees to Jordan and other neighboring Arab countries to rebuild Gaza.

Trump unveiled plans on Feb. 4 that the U.S. would seek to “take over” the Gaza Strip in a “long-term ownership position” to deliver stability to the region during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, Trump’s proposal prompted swift backlash from Arab countries, including Jordan, and Egypt announced plans on Sunday for an emergency Arab Summit to discuss “new and dangerous developments” regarding the resettling of Palestinians on Feb. 27.

TRUMP MEETS WITH JORDAN’S KING AMID TENSE TALKS ABOUT RESETTLING PALESTINIANS

When asked how he felt about Trump’s plans for the future of Gaza, Abdullah remained tight-lipped and said he would wait for the Egyptians to take the lead on a proposal moving forward as they negotiate with the U.S.

“I think let’s wait until the Egyptians can come and present it to the president and not get ahead of us,” Abdullah said.

Abdullah did reveal plans to accept 2,000 sick Palestinian children to Jordan.

“I think one of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children that are either cancer children or in a very ill state, to Jordan as quickly as possible,” Abdullah said. “And then wait for … the Egyptians to present their plan on how we can work with the president to work on the cause of challenges.”

Denuclearization talks with China, Russia

Trump floated a joint meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Putin, claiming he wants all countries to move toward denuclearization.

Trump on Thursday told reporters he plans to advance these denuclearization talks once “we straighten it all out” in the Middle East and Ukraine, comments that come as the U.S., Russia and Ukraine are actively pursuing negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Trump said Thursday at the White House. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive,” he said.

The U.S. is projected to spend approximately $756 billion on nuclear weapons between 2023 and 2032, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released in 2023.

Cuts to federal workforce

Trump signed an executive order Tuesday instructing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to coordinate with federal agencies and execute massive cuts in federal government staffing numbers.

The order will instruct DOGE and federal agencies to work together to “significantly” shrink the size of the federal government and limit hiring new employees, according to a White House fact sheet on the order. Specifically, agencies must not hire more than one employee for every four that leave their federal post.

TRUMP SIGNS ORDER INSTRUCTING DOGE TO MASSIVELY CUT FEDERAL WORKFORCE

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump talk about DOGE’s efforts to investigate wasteful U.S. government spending from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Agencies will also be instructed to “undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force” and evaluate ways to eliminate or combine agency functions that aren’t legally required.

The order builds on another directive Trump signed after his inauguration implementing a federal hiring freeze, as well as an initiative from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management offering more than two million federal civilian employees buyouts if they leave their jobs or return to work in person. The White House told Fox News Digital Thursday that more than 75,000 employees have accepted the buyout.

Eliminate the penny?

Trump unveiled plans Sunday to halt production of the penny — but getting that initiative underway requires a few additional steps and possibly congressional approval.

Additionally, while Trump said he instructed the Treasury Department to stop minting them due to their high costs, supporters of the penny claim it’s wiser to evaluate changes to the nickel instead.

“For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”

In fact, producing pennies is even more expensive than Trump’s numbers. It costs nearly 3.69 cents to mint a single penny, according to a 2024 U.S. Mint report. The coins are primarily made of zinc and then covered in copper.

While the waters are a little murky on the next steps, experts say Congress likely would need to become involved and pass legislation to fulfill Trump’s wishes.

“The process of discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is a little unclear. It would likely require an act of Congress, but the Secretary of the Treasury might be able to simply stop the minting of new pennies,” Robert Triest, an economics professor at Northeastern University, told the Northeastern Global News.

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.

February 15, 2025
With Trump in White House, Democrats increasingly say their party must moderate

After the Democratic Party’s well-publicized setbacks in November’s elections, a new national poll indicates Democrats increasingly want their party to moderate by moving toward the center.

And the survey, from Gallup, also suggests an increasing percentage of Republicans support the GOP staying the same ideologically.

A plurality of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents — 45% — who were questioned in the survey said they want their party to become more moderate.

That’s up 11 percentage points since 2021, at the start of former President Biden’s single term in the White House.

DEMOCRATS FORCED TO DEFEND ANOTHER OPEN SENATE SEAT IN 2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin speaks after winning the vote at the DNC Winter Meeting at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

“At the same time, Democrats’ and leaners’ desire for a more liberal party has declined five points, to 29%, and preferences for no change in party ideology have fallen nine points, to 22%,” the release from Gallup noted.

The poll was conducted Jan. 21-27 in the immediate aftermath of President Donald Trump’s inauguration and at the start of his second tour of duty in the White House.

WHAT AMERICANS THINK ABOUT TRUMP’S FIRST THREE WEEKS IN OFFICE

Trump recaptured the presidency in November, and Republicans won back the Senate majority while the Democrats failed to win back control of the House of Representatives from the GOP. Republicans made significant gains among Black and Hispanic voters, as well as younger voters, all traditional members of the Democratic Party’s base.

President Donald Trump with first lady Melania Trump at an election night victory celebration in West Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 6, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Gallup notes that the Democrats’ “current sentiment may very well be a reaction to their losses in 2024, as they look ahead to 2026.”

The Gallup poll indicates that support among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents for the party to stay ideologically the same jumped nine points, from 34% in 2021 to 43% now.

Meanwhile, those desiring a more conservative party plunged 12 points, to 28%.

“The 27% of Republicans and leaners who now prefer moderation for their party is not significantly different from 2021,” the poll’s release noted.

But the poll indicates that two-thirds of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters self-identify as conservative, with 31% seeing themselves as moderate and just 2% calling themselves liberal.

Since his first election to the presidency in 2016, Trump has held immense sway over Republicans and has transformed the GOP from a conservative-dominated party to a more populist party of loyalists who strongly support Trump’s “America First” agenda.

The United Center is packed on the first night of the Democratic National Convention as President Biden addresses the crowd Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)

The release of the Gallup poll comes a couple of weeks after another national survey spelled trouble for the Democrats.

Only 31% of respondents in a Quinnipiac University survey conducted last month had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, with 57% seeing the party in an unfavorable light.

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“This is the highest percentage of voters having an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party since the Quinnipiac University Poll began asking this question,” the survey’s release noted.

Meanwhile, 43% of those questioned had a favorable view of the GOP, with 45% holding an unfavorable opinion, which was the highest favorable opinion for the Republican Party ever in Quinnipiac polling.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.

February 15, 2025
Agriculture Dept. announces millions in cuts including $230K for ‘Brazilian forest and gender consultant’

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on Friday that the department has terminated nearly 80 contracts, including for a Brazilian forest and gender consultant and a Central American gender assessment consultant.

Rollins said the 78 contracts active under the Biden administration totaled more than $132 million, and more than 1,000 contracts are still under review for potential termination.

The findings come after a review from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, which Rollins said will help the Agriculture Department to stop wasteful spending.

“I welcome DOGE’s efforts at USDA because we know that its work makes us better, stronger, faster, and more efficient. I will expect full access and transparency to DOGE in the days and weeks to come,” Rollins said.

DOGE SAYS IT DUG UP $1.9 BILLION IN TAXPAYER MONEY ‘MISPLACED’ BY BIDEN ADMIN

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins speaks to members of the press outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 14, 2025. (Getty Images)

The $132 million in terminated contracts includes $374,000 for a diversity, equity, and inclusion onboarding specialist, $254,000 for diversity dialogue workshops, $298,000 for international development for historically underrepresented communities, $229,000 for a Brazilian forest and gender consultant, $121,000 for a women and forest carbon initiative mentorship program and $29,000 for a Central American gender assessment consultant.

Rollins previously issued a memo to officially rescind all diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs to instead focus on unity, equality and meritocracy.

Now, the Agriculture Department has canceled 948 employee trainings, 758 of which focused solely on DEI. The other canceled trainings covered topics including environmental justice and gender ideology.

Brooke Rollins speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (Getty Images)

Another terminated contract was an “African and Middle Eastern and Latin America and Caribbean Regions for training, education, and access to professional and economic opportunities for women and increasing their participation in climate change adaptation activities” totaling $91,000.

There was also a neighborhood electric vehicle utility van for $33,000 and a Hawaii conference room rental for a 100-person Agriculture Department meeting on biodiversity for $11,000.

The Agriculture Department also cut $277 million for media contracts, including subscriptions to POLITICO Pro, a news and information service that offers resources such as tracking legislation. POLITICO said the overwhelming majority of subscribers to POLITICO Pro were in the private sector.

TRUMP AGRICULTURE PICK CONFIRMED AS PRESIDENT RACKS UP CABINET WINS

A sign of the Department of Agriculture is seen on the USDA entrance in Washington D.C., on December 18, 2022. (Celal Gunes / Anadolu Agency)

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Federal agencies and lawmakers, including Republicans in Congress, have been subscribed to POLITICO Pro, but the White House recently announced that the administration would be eliminating subscriptions to some news organizations as part of a plan to reduce government spending.

The Agriculture Department, Rollins said, is also seeking to optimize its workforce by eliminating positions that are no longer necessary, requiring its workers to return to the office and relocating employees into the nation’s heartland.

February 15, 2025
Judge extends order blocking Musk’s DOGE team from Treasury payment system

A federal judge on Friday extended a temporary order that blocks Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team from accessing payment systems within the Treasury Department.

The extension comes after 19 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over DOGE’s access to the payment system, which has information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, tax refund information, and much more.

The lawsuit claims the Musk-run agency illegally accessed the Treasury Department’s central payment system at the Trump administration’s behest.

TREASURY ‘MISTAKENLY’ GAVE MUSK DOGE WORKER ABILITY TO CHANGE PAYMENTS SYSTEM: COURT DOCS

A federal judge on Friday extended a temporary order that blocks Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team from accessing payment systems within the Treasury Department. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

The lawsuit was filed in New York by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office and includes attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT SAYS DOGE WILL HAVE ‘READ ONLY’ ACCESS TO PAYMENT SYSTEMS IN LETTER TO CONGRESS

The lawsuit claims DOGE illegally accessed the Treasury Department’s central payment system at the Trump administration’s behest. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan on Friday said that she wasn’t going to issue a ruling yet on the attorneys general request for a longer preliminary injunction, leaving the temporary order issued last Saturday in place.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told FOX Business last week that the concerns about DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department are not valid.

“DOGE is not going to fail,” he said. “They are moving a lot of people’s cheese here in the capital, and when you hear this squawking, then some status quo interest is not happy.”

The lawsuit was filed in New York by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ (pictured) office and includes attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)

He continued, “At the Treasury, our payment system is not being touched. We process 1.3 billion payments a year. There is a study being done — can we have more accountability, more accuracy, more traceability that the money is going where it is? But, in terms of payments being stopped, that is happening upstream at the department level.”

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The newly-created DOGE aims to cut government waste and has been given access to more than a dozen government agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Education and the Department of Labor.

February 15, 2025
DOGE finds HUD money that was ‘misplaced’ by Biden admin

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-led group tasked with eliminating wasteful spending, on Friday said it found $1.9 billion that was misplaced by the Biden administration.

The funds were from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and have been recovered.

“$1.9 billion of HUD money was just recovered after being misplaced during the Biden administration due to a broken process. These funds were earmarked for the administration of financial services, but were no longer needed,” a DOGE post on X stated.

THROUGH THE EPA, WE CAN PURSUE ENERGY DOMINANCE, LEE ZELDIN SAYS | FOX NEWS VIDEO

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen with the American flag in the background. (Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

HUD Secretary Scott Turner worked with DOGE to “fix the issue” and “de-obligated the funds which are now available for other use by the Treasury.”

On Thursday, Turner announced the creation of a DOGE task force within his agency.

“We will be very detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent in serving tribal, rural and urban communities across America,” he said in a video posted on X.

TRUMP TAPS FORMER NEW YORK REP LEE ZELDIN TO LEAD EPA

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin. (Al Drago)

Turner said his team had identified $260 million in savings just two days prior. DOGE has identified billions of dollars in questionable spending.

With the help of DOGE, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said he has canceled a Biden-era $50 million environmental justice grant to an organization that believes “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine.”

The EPA also sent $160 million to a Canadian electric bus manufacturer under the Biden administration, Zeldin said during a Thursday appearance on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” He noted that the Biden administration sent the full amount to the manufacturer, rather than making payments along the way as school buses were being produced.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Since receiving the money, he added, the company has declared bankruptcy.

February 15, 2025
Justice Department moves to case against Eric Adams

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Federal prosecutors on Friday asked a judge to drop the Justice Department’s case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, following the departure of several prosecutors who opted to resign rather than follow through with bringing the charges against Adams.

The news comes after a federal prosecutor, Hagan Scotten, resigned Friday in a scathing letter, accusing top DOJ officials of looking for a “fool.”

“Any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way,” Scotten told acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.

Adams reacted to the news of his indictment being dropped Friday, clarifying that he had not made a deal to drop his case.

“I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never,” Adam’s said in a statement released.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle called the decision to dismiss Adam’s’ indictment as “yet another indication that this DOJ will return to its core function of prosecuting dangerous criminals, not pursuing politically motivated witch hunts.”

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“The fact that those who indicted and prosecuted the case refused to follow a direct command is further proof of the disordered and ulterior motives of the prosecutors, Such individuals have no place at DOJ,” Mizelle said in a statement released Friday.

This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for updates.

February 15, 2025