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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
Newsom to veto California bill blocking prisons from working with ICE: report

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is vowing to veto a bill that would block his state’s prison system from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a report says.

Assembly Bill 15 argues that “when California’s jails and prisons voluntarily and unnecessarily transfer immigrant and refugee community members eligible for release from state or local custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigration detention and deportation purposes, they subject these community members to double punishment and further trauma.”

“The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall not detain on the basis of a hold request, provide an immigration authority with release date information, or respond to a notification request, transfer to an immigration authority, or facilitate or assist with a transfer request any individual who is eligible for release,” reads some of the language of the bill.

However, Newsom’s office told KCRA 3 that the governor would veto the bill if it ever lands on his desk this year. Currently, the legislation has been referred to the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, the station added.

CALIFORNIA CITY PASSES SWEEPING HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT BAN ON ALL PUBLIC PROPERTY

California Gov. Gavin Newsom waits for President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump to step off Air Force One upon their arrival at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles on Jan. 24. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

A spokesperson for Newsom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on Friday. The bill is sponsored by Mike Gipson, a Democratic lawmaker who represents Los Angeles.

Two years ago, Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 1306, which called for similar actions.

“This bill prohibits the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from providing any information or responding to a request for coordination from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal law enforcement agency, regarding the imminent release of an incarcerated non-citizen, if the person is being released under specific circumstances,” Newsom wrote at the time.

TRUMP-SUPPORTING CALIFORNIA SHERIFF TO LAUNCH REPUBLICAN BID FOR GOVERNOR IN RACE TO SUCCEED NEWSOM: SOURCES

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement knocks on the door of an alleged suspect during a recent operation in Chicago, Ill. Assembly Bill 15 would prevent California’s prison system from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“The bill would prevent information sharing and coordination upon a person’s release from CDCR custody for a significant number of people and, as a result, would impede CDCR’s interaction with a federal law enforcement agency charged with assessing public safety risks,” he continued.

“I believe current law strikes the right balance on limiting interaction to support community trust and cooperation between law enforcement and local communities. For this reason, I cannot sign this bill,” Newsom concluded.

A California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officer holds a pair of handcuffs at the Short-Term Restricted Housing Unit of California State Prison, Sacramento. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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More than 10,500 California inmates have been transferred into ICE custody since Newsom took office in 2019, KCRA 3 reported, citing prison system data.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

February 14, 2025
Trump 100% disagrees with federal judge’s ‘crazy’ ruling blocking DOGE from Treasury system

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President Donald Trump “100 percent” disagrees with a federal judge’s ruling on Saturday that bars the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury Department, he said during an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier.

“Nineteen states attorneys general filed a lawsuit, and early Saturday a judge agreed with them to restrict Elon Musk and his government efficiency team, DOGE, from accessing Treasury Department payment and data systems. They said there was a risk of ‘irreparable harm.’ What do you make of that? And does that slow you down and what you want to do?” Baier asked Trump in the interview clip.

“No, I disagree with it 100%. I think it’s crazy. And we have to solve the efficiency problem. We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse, all the things that have gone into the government. You take a look at the USAID, the kind of fraud in there,” Trump responded.

U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Paul Engelmayer, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued a temporary restraining order Saturday that sided with 19 Democratic state attorneys general who claimed that giving DOGE “full access” to the Treasury’s payment systems violates the law. The lawsuit was spearheaded by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

JUDGE’S ‘HOPELESSLY AMBIGUOUS’ ORDER BARRING DOGE FROM TREASURY SPARKS CONCERN BESSENT MAY ALSO BE LOCKED OUT

Fox News host Bret Baier will sit down with President Trump for an interview on Super Bowl Sunday. (Fox New)

The judge’s sweeping order, issued Saturday, bars DOGE from accessing the Treasury system until at least Feb. 14, when Engelmayer scheduled a hearing to revisit the matter.

The language of the order specifically bars “political appointees, special government employees, and any government employee detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department access to Treasury Department payment systems or any other data maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information.” Trump, Secretary Scott Bessent and the U.S. Treasury are named as defendants in the case.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS ELON MUSK’S DOGE FROM ACCESSING TREASURY RECORDS AFTER DEMOCRATIC AGS FILE LAWSUIT

President Trump speaks (Fox News)

Musk, Vice President JD Vance and other conservatives aligned with Trump have slammed the order.

“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance posted to X on Sunday of the order.

Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump spoke with Baier in an exclusive interview with Fox News ahead of the Super Bowl, which Trump will attend. The pair discussed the president’s long love of sports and football, as well as politics and DOGE.

“We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of money that’s going to places where it shouldn’t be going,” Trump said when asked about what DOGE has found while auditing federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud and corruption.

PRESIDENT TRUMP PREDICTS ELON MUSK WILL FIND ‘HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS’ IN WASTE IN NEXT DOGE DIRECTIVES

“Where if I read a list, you’d say, this is ridiculous, and you’ve read the same list and there are many that you haven’t even seen, it’s crazy. It’s a big scam. Now there’s some good money and we can do that through, any one of a number. I think I’d rather give it to Marco Rubio over at the State Department. Let him take care of the few good ones. So, I don’t know if it’s kickbacks or what’s going on, but the people. Look, I ran on this, and the people want me to find it. And I’ve had a great help with Elon Musk, who’s been terrific,” he continued.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Friday Nov. 29, 2024 to discuss topics like the economy, illegal immigration and a proposed 25% tariff. (Justin Trudeau X)

Baier also asked Trump about his recent comments about Canada becoming the U.S.’ 51st state and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeay saying last week that Trump’s desire to acquire the nation is a “a real thing.”

TRUDEAU SAYS TRUMP IS SERIOUS ABOUT CANADA BECOMING 51ST STATE: REPORTS

“Yeah, it is,” Trump said when asked about Trudeau’s remark. “I think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada, and I’m not going to let that happen. It’s too much. Why are we paying $200 billion a year essentially in subsidy to Canada? Now, if they’re our 51st state, I don’t mind doing it.”

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Trump will spend his Sunday evening in New Orleans, where the Chiefs and Eagles will face off in the Super Bowl. Trump is expected to return to the White House on Sunday evening following the game.

Baier’s full interview with Trump will air Monday during “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

February 10, 2025
House passes bill blocking future presidents from banning oil drilling without Congress’ approval

The Republican-led House passed legislation to block future administrations from enacting bans on oil and gas drilling without congressional approval.

In a vote on Friday, lawmakers passed the “Protecting American Energy Production Act” to prohibit the president from “declaring a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing unless Congress authorizes the moratorium.”

There were 118 Democrats who voted against the legislation, while Republican House members unanimously voted in favor of its passage.

Since the campaign trail, President Donald Trump has vowed to unleash American-made energy as part of his ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda. (Getty Images)

The bill comes after former President Joe Biden enacted several regulations on oil and gas during his term, including banning future oil and gas drilling along 625 million acres of coastal and offshore waters just weeks before he left office.

HOUSE PASSES BILL TO PERMANENTLY CLASSIFY FENTANYL AS SCHEDULE 1 DRUG

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, introduced the ‘Protecting American Energy Production Act.’ (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the Republican who introduced the bill, said concerns over potential fracking bans during the Biden administration was what prompted the legislation.

ENERGY SEC. WRIGHT ISSUES DAY-1 ORDERS TARGETING OIL RESERVES, APPLIANCE RULES, ‘NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE’

“When President Biden took office, his administration took a ‘whole of government’ approach to wage war on American energy production, pandering to woke environmental extremists and crippling this thriving industry,” Pfluger said in a statement following the bill’s passage.

President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“My legislation that passed today is a necessary first step in reversing Biden’s war on energy by preventing the federal government from banning the use of hydraulic fracturing,” he said.

Since the campaign trail, President Donald Trump has vowed to unleash American-made energy as part of his “drill, baby, drill” agenda.

Work continues at a shale gas well drilling site in St. Mary’s, Pa., March 12, 2020. (Keith Srakocic, File)

The legislation, if signed by the president into law, would prevent future administrations from banning the drilling method.

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On Monday, Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum stripped the energy sector of “coercive” climate policies and oil lease bans enacted under the Biden administration, launching internal investigations into agency actions that “burden” energy development.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

February 7, 2025
Trump admin appeals ruling blocking birthright citizenship order

The Trump Justice Department appealed a Thursday order blocking the president’s birthright citizenship order, hours after the ruling was issued.

The Justice Department filed its appeal to the Ninth Circuit on Thursday evening. The move came shortly after U.S. District Judge John Coughenour extended a temporary restraining order he had previously issued. Coughenour notably scolded the Trump administration in the Washington courtroom, accusing the administration of ignoring the rule of law for political and personal gain.

“It has become ever more apparent that, to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals. The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain,” Coughenour said while announcing his ruling.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER: ‘UNEQUIVOCAL CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT’

The appeal will now go up to the Ninth Circuit, which covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Guam. The Court of Appeals notably issues more progressive rulings with a higher reversal rate than other circuit courts.

The Washington ruling came only a day after a Maryland federal judge also blocked Trump’s executive order.

President Donald Trump issued the executive order, titled, “Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship,” on Inauguration Day. (Getty)

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman, a former President Joe Biden appointee, noted the Washington ruling that had previously paused Trump’s order from going into effect.

Boardman said citizenship is a “national concern that demands a uniform policy,” continuing on to say that no court has yet sided with the administration on the matter.

TRUMP ADMIN HITS BACK AS ACLU LAUNCHES LAWSUIT ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: ‘READY TO FACE THEM’

“Citizenship is a most precious right, expressly granted by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,” she wrote in her ruling.

Trump issued the executive order, titled, “Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship,” on Inauguration Day. The order seeks to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and was one of several orders he signed that day to overhaul U.S. immigration policy and border security.

The executive order seeks to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and was one of several orders President Donald Trump signed to overhaul U.S. immigration policy and border security. (Getty Images)

Supporters and opponents of the order disagree over the meaning of the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The primary disagreement is over the clause, “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

TRUMP’S HOUSE GOP ALLIES PUSH BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL AFTER PROGRESSIVE FURY AT PRESIDENTIAL ORDER

Some legal experts argue that such a move is a constitutional change and cannot be made via executive order. Trump advisers and other conservative legal scholars have previously argued that the idea of giving birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants is based on a misreading of the amendment.

The bill was introduced by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), Katie Britt (AL), and Ted Cruz (TX), left. (Getty Images)

Senate Republicans recently introduced a bill that would reform U.S. law to end birthright citizenship in light of the executive order. The bill, titled, the “Birthright Citizenship Act of 2025,” would end the practice of automatically conferring citizenship status on people born in the U.S. of parents who are either illegal immigrants or who are in the country legally on a temporary basis.

The bill was introduced by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Katie Britt of Alabama, and Ted Cruz of Texas.

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The bill’s sponsors said in a statement that the measure would address what they called “one of the biggest magnets for illegal immigration,” which they believe poses a weakness to national security.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano, Adam Shaw and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

Haley Chi-Sing is a Writer for Fox News Digital. You can reach her at @haleychising on X.

February 7, 2025
Dem who called Trump ‘existential threat to democracy’ now blocking his nominees

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., disrupted Senate Republicans’ plans to quickly confirm President Donald Trump’s national security nominees on Tuesday night when he objected to bypassing lengthy procedural votes that are routinely skipped.

“Unfortunately, we were at the point of almost having a consent agreement to have a vote on the confirmation of John Ratcliffe to be the CIA director tomorrow. Not today, not yesterday, when it should have happened, but tomorrow,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on the chamber floor. “But the senator from Connecticut has decided to object at the last minute.”

“I don’t really understand the objection to Mr. Ratcliffe. He was confirmed by the Senate to be the director of National intelligence. He was fully vetted through the bipartisan process in the Senate Intelligence Committee. We voted him out yesterday on a 14 to 3 vote,” Cotton, also the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, continued.

HEGSETH LAWYER SLAMS ‘FLAWED AND QUESTIONABLE AFFIDAVIT’ FROM EX-SISTER-IN-LAW

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., left, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. (Reuters)

During his objection, Murphy said there were “serious concerns” from some Democrats about Trump’s CIA pick John Ratcliffe. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask to make sure that we have a full, real debate that lasts two days on the Senate floor,” he said.

The Connecticut Democrat notably previewed Trump’s eventual second presidency over the summer. “There’s a lot of anxiety in the country and in the party today, and that’s because the stakes are so high,” he said.

“That’s because Donald Trump presents an existential threat to democracy. He has advertised he is going to transition this country from a democracy to a dictatorship,” Murphy claimed in a July appearance on CNN.

REPUBLICAN LEADERS STILL AT ODDS ON RECONCILIATION DEBATE AFTER TRUMP MEETING

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., chairs the intelligence committee. (Getty Images)

Murphy’s Tuesday night objection to speeding through the routine procedural votes is the first case of Democrats using the strategy Republicans employed while in the Senate minority to gain leverage to negotiate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., expressed his frustration with the objection on the floor, saying, “OK, so 14 to 3 coming out of the committee. And we’ve now wasted a whole day where we could have been acting on that nomination.”

“And so really, I think the question before the House is, do we want a vote on these folks on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that’s what we’re going to do,” he said, threatening weekend votes in the upper chamber.

NEW SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO PAUSES REFUGEE OPERATIONS, RAMPS UP VISA VETTING

John Ratcliffe is President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the CIA. (Getty Images)

“This can be easy or this can be hard.”

Murphy foreshadowed this type of defiance while speaking to reporters last week.

“I think Republicans changed the rules here over the last two years,” he said. “They used extraordinary powers to block nominees and to lengthen every process.”

NEW OHIO AND FLORIDA SENATE-APPOINTEES SWORN IN AS VANCE AND RUBIO’S REPLACEMENTS

Murphy foreshadowed the move last week. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“The rules are different now, they changed the way the Senate works,” he reiterated.

Thune took the necessary actions to tee up eventual votes on Ratcliffe; Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth; and Trump’s pick for Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem. Since there is no agreement with Democrats to limit debate and bypass certain procedural votes, the nominations will not ripen for confirmation votes for more than a day.

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].

January 23, 2025