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Lawsuits targeting DOGE are meant to stop Trump’s agenda, experts say

With countless legal challenges to the Trump administration’s federal spending actions, legal experts say plaintiffs in these suits are attempting to block President Donald Trump’s agenda as the courts navigate conceivably new territory.

“I think this is a continuation of the warfare that we’ve seen over the past four-plus years during the Biden administration,” Zack Smith, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital.

“The only difference now is that the instigators of the lawfare are outside of government, and they’re trying to use different advocacy groups, different interest groups to try to throw up obstructions to Donald Trump’s actions.”

LAWSUIT TRACKER: NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS

The Trump administration so far has become the target of more than 90 lawsuits since the start of the president’s second term, many of which are challenging the president’s directives. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Trump administration so far has become the target of more than 90 lawsuits since the start of the president’s second term, many of which are challenging the president’s directives.

Plaintiffs ranging from blue state attorneys general to advocacy and interest groups are specifically challenging Trump’s federal spending actions, including the administration’s attempt to halt federal funding to various programs and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to slash excess government spending.

Smith said he suspects these plaintiffs are attempting to “slow down” the Trump administration’s progress and agenda via these lawsuits “even if they know or suspect their lawsuits will ultimately not be successful.”

UC Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo told Fox News Digital that the plaintiffs in the spending cases are showing “political weakness” by seeking judicial recourse rather than going to Congress.

“I think that what you’re seeing is political weakness, because, if they had popular support, they should go to Congress,” Yoo said. “That’s the branch for which the Founders expected to be responsible in containing or reacting to any expansion of presidential power that went too far.”

JUDGE BLOCKS DOGE FROM ACCESSING EDUCATION DEPARTMENT RECORDS

Despite the public outcry from conservatives that judges blocking Trump’s federal spending actions are “activist judges,” Yoo said the judges are “confused.”

“There’s a lot of confusion going on in the lower courts,” he said. “I think they misunderstand their proper role.”

Smith said that in the cases at hand, many judges are “interposing their own views of what [are] appropriate actions for the executive branch of government,” saying this is “not the proper role of a judge.”

Plaintiffs ranging from blue state attorneys general to advocacy and interest groups are specifically challenging Trump’s federal spending actions. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)

“And yet you see some of these judges who are issuing these TROs, they’re being very aggressive, and they’re impeding on core executive branch functions when it really should be the president and his advisers who get to make important decisions,” Smith said.

Smith added he hopes the Supreme Court is “taking a skeptical eye towards some of these actions by these judges.”

Both Smith and Yoo said they expect these challenges to eventually make their way up to the Supreme Court, with Smith saying the high court “is going to have to confront some questions that it’s been trying to skirt for several years now.”

JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP OFFICIALS TO SIT FOR DEPOSITIONS IN LAWSUIT OVER DOGE ACCESS TO FEDERAL DATABASES

“This has to go to the Supreme Court because you’re seeing confusion in the lower courts about what is the proper procedural way to challenge spending freezes,” Yoo said.

On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts paused a federal judge’s order that required the Trump administration to pay around $2 billion in foreign aid funds to contractors by midnight. Smith called the move by Roberts “actually pretty stunning.”

Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday paused a federal judge’s order that required the Trump administration to pay around $2 billion in foreign aid funds to contractors by midnight. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

“And I think a reasonable interpretation of that would be that the justices, particularly the Chief Justice, is kind of sending a shot across the bow to some of these judges that, ‘Look, if you keep this up, we’re going to step in and intervene,’” Smith said.

Yoo said he expects the Trump administration to ultimately prevail on many of the suits launched against him, saying that “he’s really, in many ways, following the decisions of the Roberts Court itself about how far executive power goes.”

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“Now, just because Trump won an election doesn’t mean he gets to do whatever he wants — he has to achieve his mandate through constitutional processes, which I think he’s doing,” Yoo said.

“He’s litigating, he’s appearing at the Supreme Court, so he’s not ignoring the courts. He’s doing what you should do if you’re the president and you have the responsibility to execute the law,” Yoo continued.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

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

March 1, 2025
Will you get a tax refund this year? Experts have ideas on how to use the money

Check out what’s clicking on FoxBusiness.com.

The Internal Revenue Service has doled out millions of tax refunds amid the ongoing 2025 tax filing season.

More than 8 million tax refunds have gone out during the 2025 season as of Feb. 7 and, according to the IRS, those refunds have averaged $2,065 each.

When taxpayers receive their refunds, addressing debt, socking away money in an emergency fund and contributing to retirement are some good avenues for using those funds, experts said.

TAX TIP: DON’T FILE UNTIL YOU GET ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS

Debt

Jonathan Ford Jr., president of JFJ Advisory Services, said paying high-interest debt “would be one of my top recommendations” for people looking to put their tax refund to use.

“Any outstanding credit card debt would be very good to pay down, personal loans, anything financed at especially double-digit percentage rates but anything really above the current market rates could be a really good target for paying down,” he told FOX Business.

Meanwhile, Karla Dennis, the CEO and founder of tax strategy firm KDA, Inc., said tackling high credit card debt, specifically, could be a good use of someone’s tax refund.

U.S. household credit card debt amounted to a collective $1.21 trillion at the end of December, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

A woman holding credit cards. (iStock / iStock)

“The cost of their debt is eating away at the money that they could be spending on something else so I would definitely pay down all of my credit card debt” if possible, Dennis said.

Emergency Fund

“The next thing that I would do with the refund is, I would make sure I had some emergency money, at least $1,000 of emergency cash,” Dennis said.

Emergency funds give people the ability to “purchase things in the event of an emergency,” she said.

“If you maybe this month can’t make your rent, you can pull from your emergency fund,” Dennis continued. “With the price of consumer goods going up, especially food, you can utilize your emergency fund for that, but it really does need to be for an emergency-type situation. I think a lot of consumers look at saved money as ‘oh, let me use this money for want.’ It really needs to be a need.”

As record high inflation has prompted consumer prices to soar, many U.S. households are feeling uneasy about their emergency savings, a new survey released by Bankrate finds. (iStock / iStock)

Ford said putting money in an emergency fund “would probably be [his] top” recommendation for a tax refund, especially if someone doesn’t already have one or hasn’t fully funded theirs.

A recent U.S. News survey indicated 42% of Americans lack one.

“The emergency fund is pretty much always the number one thing that I have to look at before I come up with any plan, is make sure that we’re building out the emergency savings,” he explained. “The benefit of having the emergency fund is just being able to sleep at night and if you do have a $1,000 or $2,000 expense pop up … then you can pay that expense, and it doesn’t interrupt any other aspect of your financial life.”

He said he tells his clients to try to sock away “three to six months” in an emergency fund because it “provides a little deeper safety net.”

Retirement

Both Ford and Dennis also said tax refund recipients should consider setting some aside for retirement.

“Once I established my emergency fund, I would then invest some of that money, maybe in an IRA or a Roth IRA, even if I only put in a couple hundred bucks or $500,” Dennis told FOX Business. “I think consumers need to know that investing builds up over time, and you may or may not have the full contribution amount of, say, $7,000 or $6,000, to fully fund your retirement account, but if you could start building a nest egg now, which is putting in a little amount, I think that would be very helpful.”

Ford said he often tells clients to invest in a Roth IRA.

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“There’s additional tax savings there because in the Roth you only pay taxes on the money you contribute,” he explained. “Whereas with the traditional, you pay on the money you withdraw, and so you’re getting taxes on the growth as well, whereas you don’t in the Roth.”

Businessman in suit is holding piggy bank. Finance Savings concept (iStock / iStock)

More than 42% of U.S. households had some form of IRA in 2023, according to a report from the Investment Company Institute.

Should tax refunds be used on things other than finances?

With the arrival of one’s tax refund, there may be a desire to use some of it on something other than improving your finances.

“I do recommend, and I have myself always recommended, taking a small, small percentage of that – maybe less than 25% – and maybe treat yourself to something nice, if there’s something you’ve been having your eye on for a while,” Ford told FOX Business. “I do think buying something to make yourself happy is an important step in making sure you are able to stay on track with your financial goals.”

Dennis said it “depends on what your finances look like” whether you should treat yourself with your tax refund.

“Tax refund money is your money that you’ve allowed the government to keep all year,” she said. “You really need to establish a budget and, within your budget, there should be an allocation of a certain amount of money to go for fun things if you can afford it. But I think a lot of taxpayers are under the misnomer ‘Oh, this is extra money coming in to me.’ No, it’s your money that the government has kept.”

How long does it take for the IRS to distribute refunds?

The time it takes to receive a tax refund can vary, depending on how one filed their taxes, the IRS said.

TAXPAYERS LEAVING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON THE TABLE AT TAX TIME: EXPERT

Taxpayers who filed electronically usually get them within 21 days, the agency’s website said. For amended or paper tax returns, refunds usually take four weeks or longer.

The IRS has a webpage where taxpayers can check up on the status of their refund.

February 18, 2025
Israeli military experts weigh in on Trump’s ‘all hell’ threat to Hamas and what it could look like

TEL AVIV, Israel — As the first phase of the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement nears completion, Israel is mulling its next steps against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to unleash “hell” unless all the hostages are released.

Fox News Digital spoke to Israeli military experts to see how they viewed what would be in store for Hamas if the ceasefire deal collapses.

“The only alternative is the resumption of the war in Gaza with all the forces that can be allocated,” Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror (res.), a former Israeli National Security Council chief and currently a fellow at the Washington-based JINSA think tank, told Fox News Digital.

“Because we have a ceasefire in Lebanon, we can use huge forces inside Gaza to end Hamas. This is one of the reasons why Hamas didn’t break the truce until now, they understand the alternative is a full-blown war for which they are not ready,” he added.

RUBIO, NETANYAHU AFFIRM ‘COMMON STRATEGY’ FOR GAZA, SET SIGHTS ON IRAN IN JOINT STATEMENT

IDF forces are seen operating in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip. (IDF Spokesman’s Office)

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem and insisted that the two countries were working in lockstep.

“We have a shared strategy, which cannot always be detailed to the public, including when the gates of hell will open. And they will open if all our hostages are not returned, every last one of them,” Netanyahu said.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus (ret.), a former IDF international spokesperson and now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says Hamas’s refusal to return all the hostages, coupled with the prevailing political realities in the Middle East and Trump’s willingness to reshuffle the deck, will necessitate the IDF’s resumption of fighting in Gaza “at a higher intensity and with less restrictions and limitations.”

“The aim will be to defeat Hamas and to take control over the Gaza Strip. I believe that Hamas’s center of gravity is the distribution of humanitarian aid and in the next round of fighting Israel will seek to take ownership of that,” he added.

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answer questions during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House on Feb. 4, 2025. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

Former IDF military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin similarly told Fox News Digital that “never in history have two entities been at war and one is helping the other survive with food, fuel and everything else.”

He also noted that the Biden administration had “basically embargoed heavy bombs, [but] Trump has already lifted this and will not limit Israel in using them.”

Israel received a U.S. shipment of 2,000-pound MK-84 munitions overnight Saturday, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying the development “serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States.”

ISRAEL’S UN AMBASSADOR SLAMS PALESTINIAN PLAN FOR GAZA, DEMANDS PA FIRST ‘CONDEMN HAMAS’

Hamas terrorists take up positions ahead of a hostage release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Feb. 8, 2025. (AP)

Trump’s words and deeds have given the impression that he will fully back Israel’s goal to defeat the Palestinian terror group militarily, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Giora Eiland, a former head of the Israeli National Security Council, told Fox News Digital.

“But this misses the point, as we have already been fighting there for 16 months. The only significant leverage left, which was prevented by the Biden administration, is to interrupt all flow of equipment, fuel, food, water and other essential matters into the enclave,” Eiland said.

“This is the only thing that can cause real concern in Gaza and which might persuade the leadership to agree to release the hostages.”

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces has increased troop reinforcements and mobilized reservists in the Southern Command to prepare for “any scenario.” When asked to share with Fox News Digital information regarding Hamas’s remaining weapons stockpile, the IDF declined to comment.

Hamas initially possessed an estimated 17,000 mid- and long-range missiles, with the former able to hit targets between seven and 14 kilometers away and the latter beyond 15 kilometers, according to Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman (res.), executive director of the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies and another former head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.

TRUMP’S GAZA RELOCATION PROPOSAL SPARKS HEATED DEBATE AMONG PALESTINIANS: ‘NO LIFE LEFT HERE’

Israeli combat engineers have worked to destroy terrorist targets and locate terrorist tunnels in the “Philadelphia Corridor” along a small strip of land at the border between Egypt and Gaza. (TPS-IL/File)

“In terms of Hamas’s long-range missiles, the current capabilities are minor, if at all. Mid-range was probably reduced to approximately less than 100 total, and for short-range capabilities such as mortars and drones, it’s hard to estimate,” he told Fox News Digital.

Hayman agrees that “all hell” might entail President Donald Trump giving carte blanche to Israel to use 2,000-pound bombs or greater leeway to demolish swaths of territory using bulldozers and other heavy machinery to prevent Hamas from regenerating.

Israel might also change its fighting strategy to ensure Hamas is no longer able to regroup by retaking territory evacuated by troops in Gaza, according to Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser (res.), a former head of research in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.

“Israel could mount an attack in a different way than we saw till now. Instead of taking control of areas and then leaving them, we would keep control, minimizing Hamas’s ability to rule over the population in Gaza and thus its ability to survive,” he told Fox News Digital.

Palestinians return to their homes in Gaza City, Feb. 2, 2025, after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The long-term presence of Israeli boots on the ground would likely be a precondition for actualizing Trump’s vow to “take over” and transform Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” an assertion Trump made alongside Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 4.

Meir Ben Shabbat, head of the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy and former head of the Israeli National Security Council, told Fox News Digital that Israel must push for “the collapse of Hamas rule, the demilitarization of Gaza and the creation of conditions to prevent this area from posing a threat to the security of Israeli citizens.”

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He said these conditions are “essential to ensure that this round of fighting will be the last,” he added. “To achieve this, Israel will have to resume fighting at a time that suits it.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu informed special envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting that he would convene the Security Cabinet on Monday to discuss phase 2 of the agreement.

Amelie Botbol is a freelance journalist based in Tel Aviv. Her articles have appeared in the New York Post, Canada’s National Post, and the Washington Times. Amelie can be followed on X @DatReporter

February 17, 2025
Will tariffs reduce trade deficits? Experts weigh in

The Claman Countdown panelists Keith Fitz-Gerald and David Kudla unpack the pressure of tariffs.

President Donald Trump has spent his first few weeks in office rolling out his trade agenda, which has thus far focused on increasing tariffs. Part of that strategy is Trump’s belief that tariffs will help reduce trade deficits.

After his initial announcement of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, Trump said the countries “have to balance out their trade” with the U.S. for him to consider not implementing those tariffs, which are currently delayed until at least March after the two countries announced border security measures.

“We have deficits with almost every country – not every country, but almost – and we’re going to change it,” the president added about America’s broader trade deficit. Trump has also announced higher tariffs on products imported from China and is planning to impose reciprocal tariffs on foreign trading partners after a review that’s expected to conclude by April 1.

In 2024, the U.S. trade deficit in goods grew by 14% in 2024 to reach a record of $1.2 trillion, while America’s trade surplus in services grew 5.4% to $293 billion – leading to a net trade deficit for goods and services of $918 billion last year, up $133 billion from the prior year. With the trade deficit growing and the president aiming to narrow it, FOX Business spoke with expert economists about whether trade deficits are a problem that tariffs can fix.

US TRADE DEFICIT HITS RECORD THAT WILL BE A TRUMP TARGET

President Donald Trump has taken issue with U.S. trade deficits with other countries and touted tariffs as a way to narrow them. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told FOX Business that people buying goods and services from overseas is because they “value what they get more than the money they give up.”

He added that trade balances don’t “say anything about a country’s economic health, good or bad, it just means a lot of people are making beneficial decisions,” while noting that the U.S. has run trade deficits for more than 50 years.

“The U.S. has run a trade deficit every year since the 1970s, yet living standards are better by almost every measure, whether it’s income, unemployment rate, life expectancy, percentage of low-income households with air-conditioning, internet and other goods, or nearly any other measure. If the trade deficit were harmful, much of what we see all around us every day should not exist,” Young said. “Trump gives a lot of reasons for his tariffs. Trade deficits should not be one of them.”

TRUMP SIGNS RECIPROCAL TARIFF PLAN: ECONOMISTS WEIGH IN ON HOW IT COULD WORK

Scott Lincicome, VP of general economics at the Cato Institute, told FOX Business that Trump’s first term tariffs on China can serve as an example of how they impact bilateral trade between the two countries as well as the overall trade deficit.

“Trump imposed a ton of tariffs on steel and aluminum and on Chinese goods – and the U.S.-China bilateral trade balance did shrink a bit. But the overall U.S. trade deficit didn’t change, as a share of GDP it was basically flat,” Lincicome said, noting that trade deficits with countries like Vietnam grew as the China trade deficit decreased.

President Trump has touted the U.S. dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency and recently threatened tariffs on countries in the BRICS alliance if they attempt to end that role. However, the dollar’s status also contributes to the trade deficit.

President Donald Trump has signed several executive orders related to trade and tariffs since returning to the White House. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images / Getty Images)

TARIFFS COULD FACTOR INTO FED’S RATE-CUT PLANS AMID INFLATION CONCERNS, EXPERTS SAY

“The United States can run large trade deficits for a somewhat unique reason, and that is the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency,” Lincicome said. “Because the dollar is in demand abroad, that actually increases the dollar’s value… generally, a stronger dollar increases imports and decreases exports.

“So in that case, the trade deficit itself is a symptom of a good thing for the U.S. economy and something Trump likes,” he added.

Steven Kamin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in macroeconomics and international finance, told FOX Business that deploying tariffs as a means of bringing back manufacturing jobs is unlikely to lead to a significant number of jobs being reshored.

“A lot of the destruction of manufacturing jobs was caused by technological change, not by import competition,” Kamin said. “A lot of that basically hemorrhage of manufacturing jobs to very low cost countries like China, like Mexico, was kind of inevitable. We were never going to keep those jobs, and more importantly, imposing tariffs at this point will bring some, but not very many jobs.”

The U.S. has run trade deficits since the 1970s. ((Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images) / Getty Images)

ECONOMIST OFFERS BIPARTISAN PLAN TO AVOID FINANCIAL CRISIS BY STABILIZING AMERICA’S SURGING NATIONAL DEBT

Kamin also noted that the federal government’s fiscal budget deficit plays a role in contributing to the U.S. trade deficit.

“If you look at the private sector of the United States – households and businesses – they actually earn more than they spend on consumption and investment. So basically, on the whole, our private sector is running a small surplus. It’s the government that’s running a big deficit,” Kamin said. “So if you were serious about reducing the trade deficit, you would reduce the fiscal deficit.”

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“The trade deficit does not matter, the fiscal deficit does matter. The reason for that is because the fiscal deficits lead to higher government debt,” Kamin said. “As that debt grows, it competes with the private sector for borrowing funds and pushes up interest rates. And if that debt grows large enough, interest rates could go sky high – and this is something way far in the future – could lead to a financial crisis.”

February 14, 2025
Judicial pushback against Trump agenda likely to go to Supreme Court, experts say

President Donald Trump’s agenda has been met with a wave of lawsuits since he took office in January, and legal experts say many of them will likely end up in the Supreme Court’s hands.

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

Trump kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive orders and directives that have since been the targets of a flood of legal challenges. Since Trump’s day 1, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed over the administration’s actions, including the president’s birthright citizenship order, immigration policies, federal funding freezes, federal employee buyouts, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and legal action against FBI and DOJ employees.

“Many of these cases may end up on the Supreme Court, but certainly the birthright citizenship,” Malcolm said. “If there ends up being a split among the courts, that issue will certainly be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ADMIN TO RESTORE PUBLIC HEALTH WEB PAGES

President Donald Trump’s agenda has been met with a wave of lawsuits since he took office in January, and legal experts say many of them will likely end up in the Supreme Court’s hands. (Getty Images)

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean at UC Berkeley School of Law, said Trump “has issued a myriad of orders violating the Constitution and federal laws” and noted that “Many already have been enjoined by the courts.”

“The crucial question is whether the president will defy these orders,” Chemerinsky told Fox News Digital.

“Almost without exception, throughout American history, presidents have complied with Supreme Court orders even when they strongly disagree with them.”

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

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

“Judges ordering the federal government to spend billions of dollars when the administration is saying that that is not in the best interests of the United States, I would expect that issue to be on a fast track to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Malcolm said.

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

Despite the variety of ongoing legal challenges, Malcolm said he believes the Trump administration is on more solid footing when it comes to cases concerning firing political appointees. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

“Judge shopping is nothing new,” Malcolm said. “So I’m not at all surprised that these lawsuits challenging the Trump administration are being filed, for the most part, in the bluest of blue areas where the odds are high that the judge who’s going to be considering the issue has a liberal orientation.”

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

“Almost without exception, throughout American history, presidents have complied with Supreme Court orders even when they strongly disagree with them,” Chemerinsky said. (AP Photo)

Despite the variety of ongoing legal challenges, Malcolm said he believes the Trump administration is on more solid footing when it comes to cases concerning firing political appointees. On Monday, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden to lead the Office of Special Counsel, sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court after he was fired on Friday.

Malcolm said Trump’s second term will continue to see a wave of litigation as he continues to implement his agenda, similar to his predecessors, including Biden.

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Malcolm particularly noted the Biden administration’s efforts to redefine sex in Title IX as “gender identity.” A Kentucky federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s attempt in early January.

“There are a lot of these issues that end up coming up,” Malcolm said, looking back on Biden’s Title IX legal challenges. “And I suspect that the same sorts of issues will come up during the Trump administration, and they’ll be full employment for lawyers throughout his entire term.”

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

February 13, 2025
Tariffs could factor into Fed’s rate-cut plans amid inflation concerns, experts say

Charles Schwab & Co. chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders analyzes the January CPI report on ‘Making Money.’

A hotter-than-expected inflation report from January and uncertainty over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff plans on consumer prices could factor into the Federal Reserve’s rate-cut decision, expert economists said.

The Labor Department on Wednesday released the consumer price index (CPI) for January, which showed that inflation was 3% on an annual basis, up from 2.9% a month ago, after a larger than anticipated 0.5% monthly increase.

The uptick in inflation comes after the Fed opted against a fourth consecutive interest rate cut at its meeting last month. Uncertainty surrounding Trump’s plans for tariffs, which are taxes on imported products, and their implementation timelines could lead to a longer wait for more rate cuts than anticipated.

“Today’s data reaffirms Powell’s decision to put rate cuts on the back burner for an extended period of time,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management. “Overall, today’s inflation data should force market participants to re-think the Fed’s ability to cut rates this year, especially considering the rise in prices is likely unrelated to any tariff activity from the White House.”

INFLATION RISES 3% IN JANUARY, HOTTER THAN EXPECTED

Bill Adams, chief economist of Comerica Bank, said that the hot inflation pressure serves as “confirmation that price pressures continue to bubble beneath the economy’s surface” and will “reinforce the Fed’s inclination to at least slow and possibly even end rate cuts in 2025.”

“The Fed is also watching the impact of higher tariffs, more restrictive immigration policies and tax cut plans,” Adams added. “These policies could all add to inflation as their effects ripple through the economy, causing the Fed to keep interest rates higher than they would have been under the status quo.”

TRUMP CALLS FOR LOWER INTEREST RATES TO GO ‘HAND-IN-HAND’ WITH TARIFFS: ‘LETS ROCK AND ROLL, AMERICA’

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed is waiting to see how tariff policies are implemented before accounting for any inflationary impact. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Seema Shah, chief global strategist for Principal Asset Management, said the inflation report “will make for very uncomfortable reading for the Fed” given the price growth and noted that the “government’s policy agenda threatens to raise inflation expectations” — a dynamic that could lead to inflation risks becoming “too heavily weighted to the upside to permit the Fed to cut rates at all this year.”

EY chief economist Gregory Daco said that his firm’s view is that the Fed “will maintain a wait-and-see approach over the coming months” and that he currently sees only two Fed rate cuts in June and December. “The risk is tilted toward less easing if the administration’s policy mix fuels inflation and inflation expectations,” Daco explained.

TRUMP BLASTS FED FOR NOT CUTTING INTEREST RATES

President Donald Trump has imposed new tariffs on China and has threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as reciprocal tariffs on other trading partners. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, noted that the additional tariffs on China and other threatened tariffs have “yet to make their way into the inflation data.”

“The Fed’s response to tariffs isn’t straightforward, but we don’t believe tighter monetary policy is likely as it would magnify the drag on the economy from tariffs,” Sweet said. “The Fed needs time to gauge how the tariffs are affecting both sides of its dual mandate, keeping it paralyzed until December, when we think its attention will shift from inflation to its full employment mandate, leading to aggressive easing in 2026.”

“The monetary policy implications are clear but it’s unclear whether the January CPI will give some in the Trump administration pause about moving forward quickly with some of the proposed tariffs. Tariffs can still be used as a bargaining tool to get some concessions from other countries, but the political optics of putting even a little upward pressure on consumer prices via tariffs wouldn’t be great for the Trump administration,” he explained.

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and was asked about the impact of tariffs on Americans’ cost of living and the central bank’s efforts to tame inflation, and the chairman noted that the Fed doesn’t comment on policy decisions it doesn’t have discretion over.

“The Fed has no role in setting tariffs and, you know, we don’t comment on decisions made by those who do have that authority,” Powell said. “We try to stick to our own knitting. In this particular case, it’s possible that the economy would evolve in ways that because of tariffs, or partly because of tariffs, that we would need to do something with our policy rate. But we can’t know what that is until we actually know what policies are enacted.”

February 13, 2025
Medical experts explain why Trump’s cap on NIH research funding is a good idea

The Trump administration’s decision to slash overhead costs linked to federally funded research has sparked an immense backlash. But some doctors are praising the move, suggesting it will help “optimize” how taxpayer dollars are used when it comes to scientific research.

A new rule from the Trump administration that went into effect Monday, capped facilities and administrative costs, also known as “indirect costs,” at 15% for federally funded research grants provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 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 as high as 70 to 90%, according to doctors who spoke with Fox News Digital.

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“If that money is cut to 15%, what that means is there’s actually going to be more grants given out to do science. You get more money back to the NIH to give out more science,” said Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.

“It’s about time,” said Dr. Erika Schwartz, the founder of Evolved Science, which is a concierge medical practice in New York City with more than 1,500 active patients.

“While infrastructure support is necessary, there’s room for more efficient cost management. A reformed funding model could redirect more resources to direct research activities while maintaining essential support services. This could potentially increase the number of funded research projects and accelerate medical breakthroughs, ultimately benefiting patients more directly.”

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Dr. Erika Schwartz is the founder of a New York City-based practice, Evolved Science, which utilizes new therapies to improve patient results.

Prasad posited that universities and research institutions have negotiated “sweetheart deals” that allow them to rake in funds that sometimes aren’t even necessary to the research at hand. To demonstrate his point, he explained the numbers for a research institution that has negotiated a 57% rate for indirect costs:

“Let’s say I get $100,000 [for a research project] and I need a laboratory… I get $100,000, and then they still get the $57,000 to the university that goes to the administrators, and presumably the fact that I have a lab bench, and the lights, etc. But now let’s say I do the same $100,000 project, but my project is we’re going to analyze genomic sequences from an online repository. So, I just have a laptop… but they still get the $57,000 even though there’s literally no space being given to this person. There’s no bench, there’s no desk, there’s nothing.”

Prasad added that another “fundamental problem” with these negotiated rates is that the money is not formally budgeted, so “the American people don’t know where that money is going.”

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“A famous researcher once said to me, an NIH dollar is more valuable than any other dollar because they can use it for whatever purpose they want. Although, nominally, they’re supposed to use it to keep the lights on and, you know, make the buildings run, but that’s not always the case,” he said.

Dr. Vinay Prasad is a hematologist-oncologist and professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.

David Whelan, a former healthcare writer for Forbes who has spent time working in hospitals and now works in the healthcare consulting space, echoed this concern in a post on X that claimed universities have used indirect research grant payments “to pocket money.”

“Indirects are just ways for wealthy academic hospitals to pocket money that their investigators won and then create slush for those who are incapable of getting funded on their own,” Whelan wrote. “It’s a huge grift and great place for cuts.”

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The Trump administration’s cap on indirect funding associated with NIH research grants was immediately challenged in court with lawsuits from 22 Democratic state attorneys general and a cohort of universities, which argued the move will “devastate critical public health research at universities and research institutions in the United States.”

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)

“Once again, President Trump and Elon Musk are acting in direct violation of the law. In this case, they are causing irreparable damage to ongoing research to develop cures and treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, ALS, Diabetes, Mental Health disorders, opioid abuse, genetic diseases, rare diseases, and other diseases and conditions affecting American families,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee. “The Trump Administration is attempting to steal critical funds promised to scientific research institutions funded by the NIH, despite an explicit legal prohibition against this action.”

In response to the lawsuit from Democratic state attorneys general, a federal judge imposed a temporary restraining order prohibiting NIH agencies from taking any steps to implement, apply or enforce the new rule.

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The judge’s order also required 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 the ruling. Meanwhile, an in-person hearing date on the matter has been scheduled for Feb. 21.

February 11, 2025
Experts weigh in on how Trump’s tariffs might impact healthcare costs

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China have raised significant concern over their potential impact on healthcare costs, but while the move could have a broad effect on the industry, it is likely they will not produce the devastating results that some may be expecting, health policy and trade experts say.

A survey by market research group Black Book Research found that 84% of the healthcare consumers they questioned said they expect to see higher costs due to increased pricing on medical treatments and drugs as a result of Trump’s new tariffs. But health policy expert Chris Pope posited that healthcare is “not a very highly tradable sector” and that the sectors that do rely on trade relations, like pharmaceutical drugs or medical devices, will hinge on the magnitude of any Trump tariffs.

“There’s not much international trade for most of healthcare. The biggest parts of healthcare – physician services, these are all provided domestically already, and hospitals are a domestic part of healthcare, so you take out those two things, and you’ve kind of ruled out almost three-quarters of all healthcare spending,” Pope said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “So, for the most part, we’re talking about drugs and devices, which are, at most, about a quarter of healthcare spending.”

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“In terms of prices for the industry, whether it’s absorbed in their margins, or they do less research and development, or they pass it on to consumers … it’s not completely devastating, but it’s definitely annoying,” said Christine McDaniel, a senior economist at George Mason University’s Mercatus Institute.

Picture of President Donald Trump alongside an image of someone dispensing pills from a pill bottle. Experts say Trump’s tariffs could have a broad impact on the industry, and it is hard to predict, but added that it is likely they will not have the devastating impacts that some may think. (Fox News)

Experts told Fox News that drug prices are among the most vulnerable aspects of the healthcare system, largely due to the U.S.’ reliance on China for certain precursor chemicals and compounds that are essential for producing important medications. However, Pope said that the impact will likely only affect generic drugs and not branded drugs that are based on demand rather than supply. Generic drugs are already relatively cost-efficient, with many of them ranging under $10, he said.

Monica de Bolle is an immunologist and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. She painted a bleaker picture of how many drugs could be impacted by the tariffs.

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“If you go through a list of the kinds of things that we import from China when it comes to active drug ingredients, or anything else that goes into the making of over-the-counter drugs, everything is in there. If you look at the list, it basically spans the range of potential medications that anyone takes at any point in their lives,” said de Bolle. “It includes things like over-the-counter NSAIDS, so non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs, things like Motrin, ibuprofen, even Tylenol, because Acetaminophen is on that list.”

She added that drugs that are more dependent on China include medications for anxiety and other psychiatric disorders, such as antidepressants, and following Trump’s tariffs, “those prices are going to go up, for sure,” she said.

Rising drug costs have become a concern for many following President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, which the United States relies on for many less-advanced drugs. (iStock)

Experts say costs in healthcare could also rise due to disruptions in the supply chain for medical devices, but they noted that the impact will be a lot harder to generalize, compared to the impact on drug pricing.

“Maybe before [the supply chain] was broken up into five stages. Well, now maybe they’ve broken it up into six or seven stages. So there are certain things that they have to stay in China for, or they have to source from China, but then they do the next step in India or another nearby country . . . which is going to be more expensive,” McDaniel said.

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However, Pope argued that prices could change, depending on the device and the magnitude of Trump’s tariffs.

“It’s going to vary a lot, according to where the devices are manufactured, where the components are manufactured, what kind of subsidies are available from other countries and domestically, and the degree of retaliation,” he said.

There is a debate about whether the U.S. should wean off its dependence on Chinese-manufactured drugs, like antibiotics. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

While Trump’s tariffs might be new, the experts say that getting out of China is not. Reducing the U.S.’ dependency on Chinese products tied to healthcare, particularly drugs like antibiotics, has been talked about among lawmakers for some time due to the potential national security risks. Parallel to these discussions, companies have been preparing for future tariffs in light of increased geopolitical tensions.

“There has been a lot of discussion coming from both the Democratic camp, as well as the Republican one, about the necessity to bring some of the production of certain types of drugs back to the U.S. to reduce dependency on China,” said de Bolle. “This whole deal about drugs and medical equipment and all of that that was under discussion before Trump. So, it’s not even Trump-related.”

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“In essence, you know what’s happening now with the tariffs that Trump imposed isn’t any different from the sorts of things that these people were thinking of doing anyway.”

February 10, 2025
Energy experts blast failed billion-dollar DOE project as ‘financial boondoggle,’ ‘disaster’

A major solar power plant project that was granted over a billion dollars in federal loans is on the road to closure, with energy experts blasting the project as a “boondoggle” that harmed the environment.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under former President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in loan guarantees to finance the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, a green energy project that consists of three solar concentrating thermal power plants in California.

The facility was touted by then-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz as an “example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy.” But after 10 years, the federally funded plant is now on track to close.

“Ivanpah is yet another failed green energy boondoggle, much like Solyndra,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, an American energy advocacy group, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Despite receiving $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees, it never lived up to its promises, producing less electricity than expected while still relying on natural gas to stay operational.”

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Ivanpah Solar Power Facility (U.S. Department of Energy)

“Now, with its power contracts canceled, Ivanpah stands as a testament to the waste and inefficiency of government-subsidized energy schemes,” Isaac said.

Ivanpah consists of three individual units, two of which were contracted by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in 2009 and scheduled to run until 2039.

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In January, PG&E announced plans to cancel its agreement with Ivanpah 14 years early, determining that “ending the agreements at this time will save customers money compared to the cost of keeping them through 2039” – ultimately putting Ivanpah on notice for closure.

“The Ivanpah plant was a financial boondoggle and environmental disaster,” Julia Dowell of the Sierra Club, an environmental activism group, said of the power plant.

The $1.6 billion loan to Ivanpah was delivered under former President Obama’s administration. (AP )

“Along with killing thousands of birds and tortoises, the project’s construction destroyed irreplaceable pristine desert habitat along with numerous rare plant species,” Dowell said. “While the Sierra Club strongly supports innovative clean energy solutions and recognizes the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels, Ivanpah demonstrated that not all renewable technologies are created equal.”

This comes after another DOE-funded green energy project, Solyndra, went bankrupt in 2011 after receiving $535 million in federal loan guarantees from the Obama administration.

“Green projects have a long history of expensive taxpayer-subsidized disaster that is getting more so,” Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute and former Trump EPA transition team member, said in a statement to Fox.

Chris Wright, chief executive officer of Liberty Energy Inc., was recently confirmed to head the U.S. Department of Energy under the Trump administration. (Al Drago)

Milloy suggested that further green energy failures could come from projects funded by recent Democrat-backed legislation that aims to push the green energy agenda.

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“Soon we will be looking at failures of larger magnitude than Green New Deal spending. No green project relying on taxpayer subsidies has ever made any economic or environmental sense,” Milloy said. “It’s important that President Trump stop the taxpayer bleeding by ending what he accurately calls the Green New Scam.”

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

February 9, 2025
New report by panel of experts claims killer nurse Lucy Letby is innocent

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MANCHESTER, England — The trial of Lucy Letby made headlines around the world due to the sheer horror and scale of the crimes for which she was convicted, but some believe the neonatal nurse is innocent and the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven more at the Countess of Chester Hospital in North West England during a year-long killing spree between June 2015 and June 2016.

She was portrayed by the prosecution as a “constant malevolent presence” on the hospital’s neonatal unit and a “calculating and devious” nurse who liked “playing God.”

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In an apparent handwritten confession note found by police, she said she had killed babies “on purpose.”

She also wrote, “I am a horrible evil person” and “I AM EVIL I DID THIS.”

This undated handout issued by Cheshire Constabulary shows nurse Lucy Letby, a British neonatal nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and the attempted murder of seven others. (Cheshire Constabulary via AP)

Letby, considered to be the United Kingdom’s worst serial child killer, was sentenced to 15 life prison terms and has lost two bids to appeal her convictions.

But there has been a growing clamor among leading medical professionals, legal experts and commentators that she is innocent.

Ex-Conservative cabinet minister Sir David Davis has also spoken out and called for a new trial, telling fellow members of parliament (MPs) there was “no hard evidence” against her.

This week, a fresh report presented by a panel of 14 international experts has claimed there is “no medical evidence” she murdered or harmed any of the babies in her care.

During her first ten-month trial — Letby later faced a second trial — she was accused of murdering four of the seven babies by injecting air into their bloodstreams and attempting to kill others by the same method.

In this frame from a video provided by Cheshire Constabulary, Lucy Letby is questioned after her arrest July 3, 2018, in Chester, England. (Cheshire Constabulary via Getty Images)

The prosecution claimed other babies were harmed by insulin poisoning, being force-fed milk or by trauma to the liver.

But the experts’ report rules out any criminality and points to babies deteriorating due to natural causes or “bad medical care.”

Therefore, it’s claimed Letby is the victim of “one of the major injustices of modern times.”

Letby’s new lawyer, Mark McDonald, told The Guardian newspaper the report demolished the case against her, and there was “overwhelming evidence this conviction is unsafe.”

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This court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook from Aug. 10, 2023, shows nurse Lucy Letby at Manchester Crown Court in Manchester, England. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)

The report’s findings have been sent to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice, which is now formally examining the case.

The CCRC will also be tasked with reexamining the contentious medical evidence used to convict Letby.

In particular, questions have been raised about the prosecution’s main medical expert, Dr. Dewi Evans, who claimed babies died from having air injected into their bloodstreams, causing air embolism, a fatal condition.

During Letby’s trial, he pointed to skin discoloration in several victims as an indicator of air embolism, citing a 1989 academic paper.

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But retired Canadian neonatologist Shoo Lee, a co-author of the paper and chair of the panel, believes the research was misinterpreted by the prosecution, and Dr. Evans’ findings have “no basis in evidence.”

The panel has also cast doubt on supposed insulin poisonings after Letby’s original defense team did not dispute them.

It’s claimed that babies were not properly cared for, and there were failures to carry out “basic medical procedures, delays in their treatment and the misdiagnosis of diseases.”

Dr. Lee also claimed the hospital was overworked and inadequately staffed, saying, “If this had happened at a hospital in Canada, it would be shut down.”

The maternity ward of the Countess of Chester Hospital in the U.K., where Letby worked and is alleged to have killed seven babies between 2015 and 2016. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

It will take many months for the CCRC to review the case, and there’s no guarantee it will be referred back to the Court of Appeal. So, Letby will remain in prison for the foreseeable future, with any bail application likely to be resisted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Meanwhile, a public inquiry examining events at the hospital is due to conclude next month while prosecutors are considering bringing further charges against Letby in other baby deaths at a second hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

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A CCRC spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “We have received a preliminary application in relation to Ms. Letby’s case, and work has begun to assess the application.

“At this stage, it is not possible to determine how long it will take to review this application. A significant volume of complicated evidence was presented to the court in Ms Letby’s trials.

“We anticipate further submissions being made to us.”

Cheshire Police in the U.K. search the home of Lucy Letby in 2018. (Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

A CPS spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Two juries and three appeal court judges have reviewed a multitude of different strands of evidence against Lucy Letby. She has been convicted on 15 separate counts following two separate jury trials.

“In May 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed Letby’s leave to appeal on all grounds, rejecting her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed.”

February 8, 2025