Tag: admin

CA Republicans urge Trump admin to fight state’s attack on natural gas: ‘It’s sick’

California’s top Republican leaders are asking the Trump administration “to intervene” against their own state’s push to get rid of traditional energy sources, especially gas, with one lawmaker telling Fox News Digital the push to ban gas appliances was particularly “sick” of the state’s liberal leadership.

In a letter sent to the Department of Energy Secretary Christopher Wright, California Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher and state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones urged the DOE to look at California’s efforts to “ban natural gas and gas appliances” and “evaluate these actions and their impact on issues of energy sufficiency, energy independence, and national security.”

“It’s a sick philosophy that tells fire victims we’re going to control how you build your home, we’re going to tell you all the things that you can and cannot have,” Gallagher told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.

“This also has a lot of huge implications for the cost of living in California,” Gallagher said. “Let’s once and for all decide that you cannot ban gas appliances. People need these. They like having these. They’re more affordable. Let’s make sure that this is not going to get any further down the road.”

‘DEI ACTIVISM’: REPUBLICAN AGS PRAISE TRUMP SEC MOVE TO REVERSE BIDEN CLIMATE RULE THEY FOUGHT IN COURT

California Republican leaders like Assemblyman James Gallagher are asking the Trump Energy Department to intervene against the state’s climate agenda push to ban natural gas resources. (Getty Images | Fox News Digital)

California has intensified efforts to phase out natural gas appliances in recent years for what lawmakers claim will cut greenhouse gas emissions and improve indoor air quality. In 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved a plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered space and water heaters by 2030, requiring homes and businesses to transition to zero-emission alternatives like electric heat pumps. The state’s 2023 energy code also encourages all-electric construction, making it more costly for developers to install gas appliances.

“I hope the federal government weighs in and restores consumer choice in California,” Gallagher said. “We should be able to choose whether or not we want electric or gas, and we especially need to make those choices so we can ensure that we can afford to live in this state, because right now, electricity, because of [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and the Democrats policies, has exploded the prices through the roof.”

The Republicans are also requesting that the DOE “engage legally with any California jurisdiction violating EPCA [Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975] in order to enforce the federal preemption of any state or local gas bans.”

“In light of these actions by a number of California state agencies, local governments, and regulatory bodies, we ask the Department of Energy to intervene where appropriate to overturn these overreaching policies,” the letter stated.

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PRO-ENERGY AGENDA WILL UNLEASH AMERICAN JOBS AND ENERGY SECURITY

President Donald Trump has vowed to unleash American energy, including oil and natural gas. (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has directed the DOE to implement policies to bolster natural gas production and exports. Late last month, he signed an executive order declaring a national energy emergency, which includes measures to enhance domestic energy production.

“Expanding consumer choice and removing burdensome restrictions on household appliances is a key component of President Trump’s agenda for reducing costs for the American people,” DOE spokesperson Ben Dietderich told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

While California — which has been a beacon of progressive environmental policies for other liberal states — participates in the federal government’s Appliance Standards Program, in some cases, the state’s stringent standards exceed federal requirements. Dietderich said the department is “conducting a comprehensive review and is working to advance a commonsense approach that prioritizes affordability and choice for all Americans” when asked about the California Republicans’ letter.

“Any standards should include a cost-benefit analysis considering the upfront cost of purchasing new products and reflecting actual cost savings for American families,” Wright said in a statement last week while announcing his first secretarial order.

NEW YORK ‘POLLUTERS PAY’ LAW BACKCHARGING OIL, GAS COMPANIES FACES REPUBLICAN AGS’ LAWSUIT: ‘DEVASTATING’

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (AP/Alex Brandon)

More than 70 cities in the Golden State, starting with Berkeley in 2019, enacted local ordinances prohibiting natural gas hookups in new buildings. However, a 2024 federal court ruling overturned Berkeley’s ban, prompting some municipalities to reconsider their policies. Meanwhile, the state legislature passed a bill requiring warning labels on gas stoves, citing health risks linked to indoor emissions. If signed into law, California would become the first state to ban gas appliances.

And California’s Democratic majority has the backing of Gov. Gavin Newsom. In recent years, Newsom signed laws restricting new oil and gas wells near certain sites and signed off on neighborhoods to transition to all-electric systems. Additionally, in December 2024, state regulators approved a plan to reduce reliance on a major natural gas storage facility.

In a recent interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown earlier this month, Newsom said homeowners who lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires “can’t rebuild the same, so we have to rebuild with science, we have to rebuild with a climate reality in mind […].”

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Fox News Digital did not hear back from Newsom’s office by time of publication.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 13, 2025
DOGE chair Joni Ernst keeping close contact with Elon Musk as Trump admin slashes spending

Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus Chairwoman Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she talks to Trump-aligned billionaire Elon Musk every couple of days as he spearheads the administration’s effort to slash wasteful spending.

“We communicate back and forth every few days or so,” she told Fox News Digital in an interview. “I’ll send additional ideas that we come up with.”

According to Ernst, during a meeting at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in November, she gave Musk “an eight-page memorandum blueprint with a number of cost-saving ideas.”

SCOOP: TRUMP BUDGET CHIEF VOUGHT TELLS GOP SENATORS $175B NEEDED ‘IMMEDIATELY’ FOR BORDER SECURITY

Elon Musk and Joni Ernst have been staying connected on DOGE. (Reuters/ Getty Images)

“He literally is taking that and running with it,” the Iowa Republican remarked.

She said she simply sends new ideas directly to Musk, and “pretty soon you’ll see a tweet out on X.”

When asked whether she thought she would ever be working to audit the government with the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the owner of X, Ernst laughed, “Never in a million years.”

TRUMP ON VERGE OF NEXT CABINET VICTORY WITH LATE-NIGHT TULSI GABBARD SENATE VOTE

The Congressional DOGE Caucus now has over 100 members, Fox News Digital was told. (House of Representatives/Getty)

Since Trump took office last month, DOGE has taken swift action to audit agencies and departments within the executive branch, rooting out contracts, programs and spending that Trump and Musk consider unnecessary or wasteful.

The effort has been met by Democrats with protests, as lawmakers have shown up outside the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Treasury and the Department of Education to demonstrate. Some Democrats have even attempted to enter the buildings, but were prevented.

NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS

Protesters descended on the building that once housed USAID. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

On the other hand, Republicans have cheered the initiative. For example, Ernst told Fox News Digital that DOGE’s actions so far have been “tremendous.”

As for criticisms of how DOGE’s staffers are conducting their audit and what information they are gaining access to, the Iowa Republican maintained that it is completely legal in her opinion. “This is the executive branch and they are scrutinizing the executive branch. So, of course, it’s legal,” she said.

LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER: THE LITTLE-KNOWN TRUMP NOMINEE WHO MAY NEED TO RELY ON DEMS

Joni Ernst is chairwoman of the DOGE caucus. (Reuters)

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“There is nothing in the Constitution that says the president cannot scrutinize the expenditures, especially when those dollars are going to programs that members here in Congress did not anticipate,” she noted, referencing jaw-dropping programs being uncovered by DOGE, showing significant money going towards Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), among other initiatives.

Fox News Digital reached out to Musk’s DOGE for comment.

Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.

Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to [email protected].

February 12, 2025

Airlines ask Trump admin to end review of payments for flight disruptions

Travel + Leisure Co. CEO Mike Brown reacts to the announcement on ‘The Claman Countdown.’

A trade group representing three major U.S. airlines is asking the Trump administration to abandon a review over whether they should be required to pay passengers compensation over flight disruptions.

Airlines for America, which represents American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) this week, Reuters reported.

The letter urged the Trump administration to end the review launched in December to take public comments on whether U.S. airlines should give cash as compensation for carrier-caused disruptions, as is done in the European Union and Canada.

“Airlines do not need further incentive to provide quality service,” the group wrote, according to Reuters, arguing that the DOT does not have the authority to do this, and that the requirement would drastically increase airlines’ costs – and ticket prices.

JETBLUE HIT WITH $2M FINE FOR CHRONIC FLIGHT DELAYS

An American Eagle Embraer ERJ 170-200 takes off at Los Angeles international Airport on July 30, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images / Getty Images)

Last month, the DOT imposed a $2 million penalty on JetBlue Airways after a federal investigation revealed that it was “operating multiple chronically delayed flights.”

The DOT’s order required JetBlue to stop chronic flight delays., Of the $2 million penalty, half was to go directly to the U.S. Treasury, with the other half to be used to compensate passengers who were impacted by the chronically delayed flights or any future flight disruptions of three hours or more caused by JetBlue within the next year, the DOT said.

TRAVELING BY PLANE FOR THE HOLIDAYS? HOW AIRLINE REFUND RULES CAN HELP WHEN FLIGHTS ARE CANCELED, DELAYED

Several Delta Air Lines airplanes on a tarmac

Delta Air Lines planes are seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport on the July 4th weekend in Queens, New York City, U.S., July 2, 2022. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo / Reuters Photos)

The future compensation must be valued at a minimum of $75 for each harmed passenger, the DOT said.

Before the 2024 holiday season kicked off, the Biden administration’s new rules, which require automatic cash refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights, took effect.

BIDEN ADMIN’S NEW AIRLINE RULES TO REQUIRE CASH REFUNDS FOR CANCELED FLIGHTS, FEES DISCLOSED UP FRONT

United Airlines airplanes proceed to a runway at Newark Liberty International Airport in front of the skyline of midtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building in New York City on January 27, 2024, in Newark, New Jersey. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The new automatic refund rule, first laid out in April by the DOT, created a universal standard for when airline passengers on flights to, from or within the U.S. are owed refunds.

Prior to the rule taking effect, airlines set their own standards for what flight changes warranted a refund. Passengers then had to “navigate a patchwork of cumbersome processes to request refunds owed to them,” the DOT said.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
DAL	DELTA AIR LINES INC.	64.75	-1.45	-2.19%
UAL	UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC.	103.31	-2.77	-2.61%
AAL	AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC.	16.41	-0.21	-1.26%

The rule was established to “address persistent issues reported by airline passengers who were trying to obtain refunds they were owed,” the DOT said.

The International Air Transport Association representing airlines worldwide separately criticized the idea, saying required compensation programs “have become wealth transfer tools that have cost airlines billions of dollars without any meaningful reduction in flight disruptions.”

Travelers wheel luggage toward Spirit Airlines check-in desk at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, in Houston. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Spirit Airlines said the idea is so extreme “it might encourage carriers to re-evaluate when they proceed with flights that should have been further delayed or canceled when potential safety related concerns exist.”

FOX Business’ Daniella Genovese and Reuters contributed to this report.

February 12, 2025

Pope blasts Trump admin over mass deportation plan, directs ire at Vance’s religious defense for policies

Pope Francis on Tuesday issued a major rebuke of the Trump administration’s plans for the mass deportations of migrants, stressing that the forceful removal of people simply for their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”

Francis wrote a letter to U.S. bishops in which he appeared to criticize Vice President JD Vance’s religious argument in defense of the deportation policies.

U.S. border czar Tom Homan responded to the pope, saying that the Vatican is a city-state surrounded by walls and that Francis should leave immigration enforcement to him. Homan, a Catholic, also said Francis should focus on fixing the Catholic Church rather than U.S. immigration policies.

“He wants to attack us for securing our border. He’s got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?” Homan told reporters. “So he’s got a wall around that protects his people and himself, but we can’t have a wall around the United States.”

DOZENS OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS SUE TO STOP TRUMP ADMIN FROM ARRESTING MIGRANTS IN PLACES OF WORSHIP

Pope Francis presides over a mass for the jubilee of the armed forces in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican, Sunday Feb. 9, 2025. (AP)

As the first Latin American pope, Francis has long held the position of caring for migrants, pointing to the biblical command to “welcome the stranger” in calling on countries to welcome, protect, promote and integrate people fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters.

Francis and President Donald Trump have long butted heads over the issue of immigration, including prior to Trump’s first term, when Francis said in 2016 that anyone who builds a wall to keep migrants out was “not a Christian.”

In his letter, Francis acknowledged that governments have the right to defend their countries and keep their communities safe from criminals, but said the deportation of people who fled their countries due to various difficult circumstances damages their dignity.

“That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he wrote.

Pointing to the Book of Exodus in the Bible and Jesus Christ’s experience, Francis emphasized the right of people to seek shelter and safety in other lands and said the Trump administration’s deportation plan was a “major crisis.”

Anyone educated in Christianity, he said, “cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”

“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” he continued.

POPE FRANCIS CALLS TRUMP’S DEPORTATION PLAN A ‘DISGRACE’

Pope Francis at his weekly audience in the Vatican on Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, thanked the pope for his letter.

“With you, we pray that the U.S. government keep its prior commitments to help those in desperate need,” Broglio wrote. “Boldly I ask for your continued prayers so that we may find the courage as a nation to build a more humane system of immigration, one that protects our communities while safeguarding the dignity of all.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that more than 8,000 people had been arrested since Trump took office Jan. 20 as part of the president’s plan to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally, although hundreds of those arrested have since been released back into the U.S. Others have been deported, are being held in federal prisons or are being held at the Guantánamo Bay Cuba, detention camp.

Vance, a Catholic convert, has defended the administration’s deportation plans by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris,” which he has said describes a hierarchy of care: prioritizing the family first, then the neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those from other regions.

But Francis sought to fact-check Vance’s understanding of the concept.

“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” Francis wrote in his letter. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”

J.D. Vance walks into the Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill on April 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

As Homan referenced, the Vatican is a walled-in, 108-acre city-state inside Rome, and it recently increased sanctions for anyone who enters illegally. The law, approved in December, calls for people to face up to four years in prison and a fine of up to 25,000 euros, or $25,873, if they enter with “violence, threat or deception,” including by evading security checkpoints.

The U.S. bishops conference had already released a statement condemning Trump’s immigration policies after his first executive orders.

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Anyone “focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us,” the statement said.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago praised Francis’ letter, telling Vatican Media that it showed the pope viewed “the protection and advocacy for the dignity of migrants as the preeminent urgency at this moment.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

February 12, 2025
Religious groups sue to stop Trump admin from arresting migrants in places of worship

A coalition of 27 Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration action allowing federal immigration enforcement to make arrests in places of worship.

The federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, was brought on behalf of a range of religious groups, including the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists.

The lawsuit challenges an order by President Donald Trump that reversed a Biden administration policy barring agents from arresting illegal migrants in sensitive places like churches, schools and hospitals.

According to the lawsuit, Trump’s new policy has sparked fear of raids, which has led to lower attendance at worship services and other church programs. Because of this impact on attendance, the lawsuit argues the policy infringes on the groups’ religious freedom, particularly their ability to minister to migrants, including those in the U.S. illegally.

‘SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES’: TED CRUZ DELIVERS STRONG WARNING TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FLEEING BORDER PATROL

Fatima Guzman prays during a church service at the Centro Cristiano El Pan de Vida, a mid-size Church of God of Prophecy congregation in Kissimmee, Florida, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP)

“We have immigrants, refugees, people who are documented and undocumented,” the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, told The Associated Press.

“We cannot worship freely if some of us are living in fear,” he added. “By joining this lawsuit, we’re seeking the ability to gather and fully practice our faith, to follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

A similar lawsuit was filed Jan. 27 by five Quaker congregations that was later joined by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh temple. That case is currently pending in U.S. District Court in Maryland.

The new lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security and its immigration enforcement agencies as defendants.

“We are protecting our schools, places of worship, and Americans who attend, by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and take safe haven there because these criminals knew that under the previous Administration that law enforcement couldn’t go inside,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement.

“DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs,” she said.

A memorandum filed Friday by the Department of Justice, opposing the argument in the Quaker lawsuit, could also apply to the new lawsuit.

The DOJ claims that the plaintiffs’ request to block the new immigration enforcement policy is based on speculation of hypothetical future harm, which the department says makes for insufficient grounds for the courts to side with the Quakers and issue an injunction.

In the memo, the DOJ said that immigration enforcement affecting places of worship had been allowed for decades and that the new policy announced last month stated that field agents should use “common sense” and “discretion” but could now carry out immigration enforcement operations in houses of worship without pre-approval from a supervisor.

One part of that memo may not apply to the new lawsuit, as it argued the Quakers and their fellow plaintiffs have no basis for seeking a nationwide injunction to protect all religious groups against the new policy.

NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS

A congregant kneels in prayer at the Centro Cristiano El Pan de Vida, a mid-size Church of God of Prophecy congregation, in Kissimmee, Florida, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP)

“Any relief in this case should be tailored solely to the named plaintiffs,” the DOJ memo said, arguing that any injunction should not apply to other religious organizations.

The plaintiffs in the new lawsuit represent a significantly larger number of American worshipers, including more than 1 million followers of Reform Judaism, around 1.5 million Episcopalians, more than 1 million members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the estimated 1.5 million active members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, among others.

“The massive scale of the suit will be hard for them to ignore,” lead counsel Kelsi Corkran, who is a lawyer with the Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, told The Associated Press.

Corkran said the plaintiffs joined the lawsuit “because their scripture, teaching, and traditions offer irrefutable unanimity on their religious obligation to embrace and serve the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst without regard to documentation or legal status.”

Before Trump’s change to federal policy, Corkran said immigration agents generally needed a judicial warrant or other special authorization to conduct operations in locations like places of worship, schools and hospitals.

“Now it’s go anywhere, any time,” she said. “Now they have broad authority to swoop in — they’ve made it very clear they’ll get every undocumented person.”

The lawsuit outlined how some of the plaintiffs’ operations may be affected. Some, including the Union for Reform Judaism and the Mennonites, said many of their synagogues and churches host on-site foodbanks, meal programs, homeless shelters and other support services for illegal migrants who may now be fearful of participating.

One plaintiff, the Latino Christian National Network, described the fear among migrants in the wake of the new Trump administration policy.

“There is deep-seated fear and distrust of our government,” the network’s president, Rev. Carlos Malavé, a pastor of two churches in Virginia, told The Associated Press. “People fear going to the store, they are avoiding going to church. … The churches are increasingly doing online services because people fear for the well-being of their families.”

Jean-Michel Gisnel cries out while praying with other congregants at the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, Sunday, January 26, 2025, in Springfield, Ohio. (AP)

One religious group that did not join the new lawsuit is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which leads the nation’s largest denomination, although it has criticized Trump’s mass deportation plan.

On Tuesday, Pope Francis criticized the administration’s immigration policies, saying that the forceful removal of people because of their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and that doing so, he argued, “will end badly.”

Many conservative faith leaders and legal experts across the country, however, share no concerns about immigration enforcement targeting places of worship to arrest migrants.

“Places of worship are for worship and are not sanctuaries for illegal activity or for harboring people engaged in illegal activity,” Mat Staver, founder of the conservative Christian legal organization Liberty Counsel, told The Associated Press.

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“Fugitives or criminals are not immune from the law merely because they enter a place of worship,” he said. “This is not a matter of religious freedom. There is no right to openly violate the law and disobey law enforcement.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

February 12, 2025
‘Playing with the courts’: Trump admin hit with dozens of suits after years of president condemning ‘lawfare’

President Donald Trump’s court battles have not ended now that he’s back in the Oval Office — instead, dozens have piled up against his administration as Democrats and activists vow to fight Trump and his policies in the judicial system.

Trump faced four criminal indictments during the interim of his first and second administrations, which landed accusations of “lawfare” on the national stage as Trump maintained his innocence and slammed the cases as efforts by the Democratic Party to hurt his political chances for re-election during the 2024 cycle. Despite the left-wing efforts to ensnare Trump in a web of legal cases, Trump was re-elected president — with a resume that now includes “convicted felon” and a famous mugshot frequently displayed on pro-Trump apparel.

Upon Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20, he has issued near-daily executive orders and actions to shift the federal government to fall in line with his “America First” policies, including snuffing out government overspending and mismanagement, banning biological men from competing in women’s sports, and deporting thousands of illegal immigrants who flooded the nation under the Biden administration.

Trump has signed more than 60 executive orders, in addition to other executive actions, as of Tuesday, which has resulted in at least 49 lawsuits against Trump and his administration, Fox News Digital has found.

‘ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY’: LEGAL EXPERTS SHRED NY V. TRUMP AS ‘ONE OF THE WORST’ CASES IN HISTORY

New York Attorney General said she is “prepared” to ask the judge to seize former President Donald Trump’s assets if he cannot pay the $354 million judgment handed down in his civil fraud case. (ABC News/Screenshot | Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images)

The lawsuits come as Democratic elected officials fume over the second Trump administration’s policies, most notably the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is investigating various federal agencies in the search of cutting government spending fat, corruption and mismanagement of funds.

“Right now, we’re going to keep focus on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working-class Americans across the country with the bill,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in January.

CLIMATE LAWFARE IS RUNNING INTO A POWERFUL FORCE LIBERALS DIDN’T EXPECT

“That’s not acceptable,” he said. “We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We’re going to fight it in the streets.”

President Donald Trump has signed more than 60 executive orders, in addition to other executive actions, as of Tuesday, which has resulted in at least 49 lawsuits against Trump and his administration. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es, and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said at a protest over DOGE and its chair, Elon Musk, earlier in February.

With just over three weeks back in the Oval Office, at least 49 lawsuits have been filed against Trump or the federal government over Trump’s policies and executive actions. Among the list of plaintiffs are a handful of groups that brought forth suits against Trump in previous years, most notably New York Attorney General Leitita James, as well as labor unions and left-wing advocacy groups.

James, a former city council member in New York and public defender, launched her run for New York attorney general during the 2018 cycle, while emphasizing that if she were elected she would aggressively pursue legal charges against Trump.

HOW TRUMP, AG BONDI CAN PERSUADE DEMOCRATS TO ABANDON LAWFARE

“I’m running for attorney general because I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president when our fundamental rights are at stake,” James declared in September 2018. “From the Muslim ban, to efforts to deport immigrants, to denying transgender students the ability to choose whatever bathroom they want, rolling back regulations to protect our planet, colluding with foreign powers, putting profits over people, dividing us in ways we haven’t seen in generations.”

“And what is fueling this campaign, what is fueling my soul right now, is Trump and his abuses, abuses against immigrants, against women, against our environment. We need an attorney general who will stand up to Donald Trump,” she said during a debate in August 2018.

James won her election that year, about two years into Trump’s first administration, and took a victory lap while vowing to expose the “con man.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James launched her run for New York attorney general during the 2018 cycle, while emphasizing that if she were elected she would aggressively pursue legal charges against President Donald Trump. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)

James brought forth a civil fraud suit against Trump, the Trump Organization and its senior leadership in 2022, frequently sitting in the courtroom throughout the proceedings, and celebrated the prosecution of Trump in the Manhattan criminal trial over the 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump was ordered to pay a $454 million civil fraud judgment in James’ lawsuit against him, which is currently on appeal.

All in, James said back in November 2024 that her office took nearly 100 legal actions against Trump’s first administration — vowing to restart the efforts during the second administration.

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

“We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result. And my office has been preparing for several months because we’ve been here before,” James said following Trump’s election win in November 2024. “We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.”

So far in 2025, James has spearheaded at least five legal actions against the Trump administration, including leading a coalition of state attorneys general to sue the federal government to halt DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s internal systems, as well as another lawsuit related to the Trump admin slashing grant funding to research institutions and universities.

“As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law,” James said of the DOGE suit. “President Trump does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress. Musk and DOGE have no authority to access Americans’ private information and some of our country’s most sensitive data. I am taking action to keep our information secure, and to prevent any unconstitutional freeze on essential funding that Americans rely on every day.”

Trump slammed New York as the “most corrupt State in the Union” in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, calling on even-handed judges and elected officials to crush the “lawfare” in the Empire State.

“We need great Judges and Politicians to help fix New York, and to stop the kind of Lawfare that was launched against me, from falsely valuing Mar-a-Lago at $18 Million Dollars, when it is worth, perhaps, 100 times that amount (The corrupt judge was replaced by another judge, only to be immediately put back on the case when the Democrat political leaders found out that a change of judges was made. It has become a great embarrassment for the New York Judicial System!),” he posted to Truth Social, referring to James’ civil fraud case against Trump.

Labor unions that previously sued the first Trump administration are also back in court. (Jabin Botsford/Pool via USA TODAY NETWORK)

“To a woman that I had no idea who she was, making a FAKE and ridiculous accusation, to a ‘case’ that was made up by a corrupt and highly conflicted Judge in order to criminally attack me for political purposes,” he continued, referring to two-year E. Jean Carroll court cases.

Labor unions that previously sued the first Trump administration are also back in court, including the American Federation of Teachers suing over DOGE’s access to private information at the Education and Treasury departments, and the American Federation of Government Employees suing the administration in at least two cases related to DOGE and federal employment policies under the 47th president.

“We wouldn’t bring so many lawsuits if they wouldn’t break the law so often,” Andrew Huddleston, American Federation of Government Employees’ director of communications, told Fox News Digital when asked about the lawsuits.

TRUMP HAS HIGHER APPROVAL RATING THAN AT ANY POINT DURING FIRST TERM: POLL

While the American Civil Liberties Union — which took at least 400 legal actions against the first Trump administration — filed a lawsuit against the second Trump administration earlier in February regarding an executive order that prevents transgender and nonbinary individuals from changing their passports to reflect their gender identity and not their biological sex.

REPUBLICAN AGS BACK TRUMP FEDERAL EMPLOYEE BUYOUT AS JUDGE DECIDES ‘FORK IN THE ROAD’ DIRECTIVE’S FATE

Another nonprofit, the State Democracy Defenders Fund, recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of FBI agents who investigated Trump-related cases in an effort to block the DOJ from releasing their names. The State Democracy Defenders Fund previously was involved in other Trump-related cases, including filing an amicus brief in January advocating that Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan sentence Trump in the Manhattan case just days ahead of his inauguration.

President Donald Trump repeatedly seethed that “lawfare” was running amok of American politics, including, left to right, former Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis. (Getty Images)

Ahead of taking office, Trump repeatedly seethed that “lawfare” was running amok of American politics, frequently targeting James, Merchan, as well as former special counsel Jack Smith, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and others.

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“They’re playing with the courts, as you know, they’ve been playing with the courts for four years,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago after Congress had certified his election win in January. “Probably got me more votes because I got the highest number of votes ever gotten by a Republican by far, actually, by a lot. And, you know, we had a great election, so I guess it didn’t work. But even to this day, they’re playing with the courts and their friendly judges that like to try and make everybody happy… It’s called lawfare. It’s called weaponization of justice.”

February 12, 2025
Federal judge orders Trump admin to restore public health web pages

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to restore web pages and datasets that were taken down in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order.

Under U.S. District Judge John Bates’ order, HHS, the CDC and the FDA are required to restore data sets and pages that were “removed or substantially modified” last month “without adequate notice or reasoned explanation.”

Earlier this month, Doctors for America, represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, filed a lawsuit against the Office of Personal Management (OPM), the CDC, the FDA and HHS for removing information that it says was used by doctors and researchers.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls’ sporting events, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

RILEY GAINES: THE ALL-OUT WAR ON FEMALE ATHLETES ENDS NOW, THANKS TO PRESIDENT TRUMP

“Removing critical clinical information and datasets from the websites of CDC, FDA, and HHS not only puts the health of our patients at risk, but also endangers research that improves the health and health care of the American public,” Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a member of the board of directors for Doctors for America, said in a statement on the organization’s website. “Federal public health agencies must reinstate these resources in full to protect our patients.”

“These federal agencies exist to serve the American people by protecting public health,” Zach Shelley, an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel on the case, said in the same statement. “Removing this vital information flouts that mandate. Our lawsuit seeks to hold them to their responsibilities to the people of this country.”

President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

LGBT ACTIVISTS MOBILIZE TO CHALLENGE TRUMP’S ‘EXTREME GENDER IDEOLOGY’ EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Doctors for America alleged in its complaint that the removal of the web pages and data sets created a “dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks.”

According to the complaint, the pages and data sets that were either taken down or modified included a report on an HIV medication, pages on “environmental justice,” pages on HIV monitoring and testing and a CDC guide on contraceptives, among others. Doctors for America claim that these pages and reports were either removed or modified to “combat what the president described as ‘gender ideology.’”

President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders at the White House on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Getty)

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The web pages in question were taken down in accordance with President Trump’s order on “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” In the order, President Trump outlines precise definitions of “woman,” “man,” “female,” “male” and other gendered words, establishing the recognition of two genders as official U.S. policy.

“The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system. Basing federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself,” the order reads.

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

February 11, 2025
American teacher Marc Fogel released by Russia, Trump admin says

An American teacher detained by Russia is heading back to American soil, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.

“Today, President Donald J. Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are able to announce that Mr. Witkoff is leaving Russian airspace with Marc Fogel, an American who was detained by Russia,” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said in a statement.

Lisa Hyland, left, and other family members of Marc Fogel, who has been detained in Russia since August 2021, rally outside the White House for his release, July 15, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (AP)

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

February 11, 2025
Republican AGs fight ‘freedom’s front line’ for Trump admin facing Dem lawsuits

GOP state attorneys are taking on a renewed role during President Donald Trump’s second administration as “freedom’s front line,” Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) incoming executive director Adam Piper told Fox News Digital, arguing that Democrats – deflated from losing control of both houses of Congress – are turning to left-leaning state attorneys to “undermine” the White House’s America First agenda.

Right now, there are 29 Republican attorneys general in the United States who are “uniquely qualified to be the tip of the spear, to be freedom’s front line and be a foundation for the future and a foundation for freedom every single day,” Piper told Fox News Digital. “These men and women are working tirelessly to ensure their states are the safest places possible. But they’re also working tirelessly to defend freedom, to help President Trump to ensure the American people have the system of government they voted for, they expect, and they deserve one that is free and one that is fair.”

In Trump’s first three weeks in office, Democratic attorneys general have sued the Trump administration on several matters related to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). That includes New York Attorney General Letitia James leading 19 state attorneys in suing over DOGE leader Elon Musk’s access to Treasury Department records. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction in that case Saturday.

TRUMP HAS HIGHER APPROVAL RATING THAN AT ANY POINT DURING FIRST TERM: POLL

President Donald Trump speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 6, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Democratic attorneys general also partnered with the country’s largest federal labor unions to sue over Trump’s deferred resignation offer that would allow workers eight months of paid leave if they agree to leave their jobs voluntarily.

In turn, Montana’s Republican attorney general, Austin Knudsen, led 22 states in an amicus brief Sunday asking the court to deny a motion for a temporary restraining order and allow Trump to manage the federal workforce how he sees fit. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston federal court on Monday proceeded to push back the deadline a second time on Trump’s “Fork in the Road Directive,” which gives most federal employees the option to resign with pay and benefits until Sept. 30.

“During the Biden administration, Republican AGs were the last line of defense. We were the goal line stand, keeping the equivalent of a ‘tush push’ out of the end zone,” Piper told Fox News Digital.

“During the Trump administration, we have to play offense, defense and special teams,” he continued. “We have to be freedom’s front line. Working with the administration to ensure this DOGE regulatory reform agenda gets done, that we return to America’s Golden Age. But we also have to play defense and special teams. You’re going to see Democratic AGs take our playbook, bastardize it, and push back on the Trump administration. You will see states like New York and California get more aggressive, and Republican AGs are there to defend the rule of law, to promote freedom, and to ensure we work with President Trump to return America’s Golden Age.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks following a verdict against former U.S. President Donald Trump in a civil fraud trial on Feb. 16, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

As for the DOGE injunction led by James, Piper said it equates to “partisan gamesmanship from Democratic attorneys general who want to do everything possible to thwart President Trump’s agenda.”

“This is why Republican attorneys general are so critical to the success of the Trump administration in pushing back against Democratic attorneys general and their attempts to crowbar what President Trump and his team are trying to accomplish in Washington, D.C., which is returning freedom to the American people, returning government efficiency, eliminating fraud, waste and abuse,” he said.

REPUBLICAN AGS BACK TRUMP FEDERAL EMPLOYEE BUYOUT AS JUDGE DECIDES ‘FORK IN THE ROAD’ DIRECTIVE’S FATE

Regarding James, in particular, Piper noted how New York’s attorney general led cases against Trump during his 2024 re-election campaign that are now defunct and have failed.

President Donald Trump speaks before Pam Bondi is sworn in as U.S. Attorney General in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 5, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“A lot of her push back on the Trump administration is more about political theater than it is the rule of law in a court of law,” he said. “And today and moving forward, you will see Republican attorneys general being President Trump’s best friend from a policy standpoint. We will be his best champion from a policy standpoint. There’s no more effective elected official in the United States than the state attorney general. We’re more effective than the members of Congress, more effective than U.S. senators, more effective than even governors… You know, we can push back on some of this lawfare that you’ll see from Democratic attorneys general.”

The Republican Attorneys General Association has seen alumni advance to the federal level in the Department of Justice. Most notably, that includes the newly sworn-in U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Piper said he also hopes to see the Senate confirm Aaron Rice, an alum of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, to join the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy. He noted 51 Republican attorneys general or staff alumni held Senate confirmed positions in the first Trump administration.

“Republican attorneys general and their staffs are truly America’s farm team. You know where the best incubator of talent to ensuring President Trump has known conservative fighters who are willing to fight every day for the American people,” Piper said. “And from Attorney General Bondi. There’s no better person to be the attorney general of the United States of America.”

As RAGA looks ahead, Virginia Attorney General Jason Myares is defending his office this year in what’s expected to be a competitive race, and then 30 attorneys general races will be on the ballot in 2026.

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“There’s an urban myth that Richmond goes the opposite way of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are going to make sure that myth is just an urban myth and just a fable. Attorney General Jason Myers is truly one of our best when you look at the issues across the board. We will have probably an uphill battle,” Piper said. “Virginia is a state the Republicans carried by two points four years ago. We have to have a good ground game. We have to have a good turnout operation… We have to make sure voters in the Commonwealth of Virginia understand the importance of attorney general, understand the public safety issues and understand that they need someone who every day will ensure Virginia is the safest place to live, work and raise a family.”

Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X: @danimwallace.

February 11, 2025
Judge blocks Trump admin directive capping costs tied to federal research grants

A judge temporarily halted a directive by the Trump administration that imposed a cap on overhead costs that go to universities and other institutions that host federally funded research projects.

The directive, which went into effect Monday, sparked an outcry of criticism from research institutions that argued the new rule would have devastating consequences. It was immediately challenged in court by 22 Democratic state attorneys general, as well as by several leading research universities and related groups in a second lawsuit.

U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley subsequently ruled in favor of the 22 state attorneys general, granting their request for a temporary restraining order that prohibits agencies from taking any steps to implement, apply or enforce the new rule that imposed a cap on facilities and administrative costs that are part of federally funded research grants.

‘WHAT A RIPOFF!’: TRUMP SPARKS BACKLASH AFTER CUTTING BILLIONS IN OVERHEAD COSTS FROM NIH RESEARCH GRANTS

The rule capped overhead costs associated with National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research grants at 15%.

When a grant is awarded to a scientist by the NIH, an additional percentage, on top of the allocated research funding, goes to the facility housing their work to cover these “indirect costs.” According to an announcement about the new funding cap from the Trump administration, that percentage has historically been around 27% to 28% for each grant. But in some cases, negotiated rates can be even higher, such as at the University of Michigan where the negotiated rate for indirect costs is 56%.

In fiscal year 2023, the NIH spent around $35 billion on roughly 50,000 grants that go to research institutions, such as universities and hospitals. Of that $35 billion, according to the Trump administration, $9 billion was allocated for “indirect costs” that cover expenses related to depreciation on buildings, equipment, capital improvements, interest on debt associated with certain buildings, and operations and maintenance expenses. (iStock)

The lawsuit from the attorneys general argued the move violated federal law governing the procedures federal agencies must follow when implementing new regulations. They also argued that the move usurped the will of Congress, which, in 2018, passed legislation prohibiting the NIH or the Health and Human Services Department from unilaterally making changes to current negotiated rates, or implementing a modified approach to the reimbursement of indirect costs.

UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR HAILS THAT SCIENCE ‘THRIVED’ UNDER HITLER IN ATTACK ON TRUMP’S NIH CUTS

Kelley’s temporary restraining order requires the Trump administration agencies that are impacted by the new rule to file reports within 24 hours to confirm the steps they are taking to comply with her order. Meanwhile, Kelley set an in-person hearing date on the matter for Feb. 21.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the restraining order, but did not hear back at press time. However, after the directive went into effect on Monday, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News Digital, “Contrary to the hysteria, redirecting billions of allocated NIH spending away from administrative bloat means there will be more money and resources available for legitimate scientific research, not less.”

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

Earlier on Monday, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell said the Trump administration had violated his order halting a federal aid funding freeze that sought to pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” to ensure federal disbursements aligned with the president’s executive actions.

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McConnell ordered the government to “immediately restore frozen funding,” noting that plaintiffs had provided adequate evidence to show the Trump administration “in some cases [has] continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds,” despite his “clear and unambiguous” order lifting the freeze.

February 11, 2025