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Tag: filing

Musk is not DOGE employee, has no more authority than other WH staff, new filing says

The Trump administration clarified in a late-night Monday court filing that Elon Musk is not a DOGE employee, and instead serves as a White House advisor, in a similar vein as former Biden advisor Anita Dunn.

The filing comes after D.C. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan heard remarks in the case filed by 14 state attorneys general against Musk and the Trump administration. The states argue that Musk and the administration have engaged in illegal executive overreach.

Chutkan expressed that she wasn’t convinced by the arguments on Monday after asking what harm the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) imposed, as well as whether any federal employee terminations took place at the end of last week.

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Following the remarks, Joshua Fisher, director of the Office of Administration, submitted a signed declaration clarifying that Musk “is an employee of the White House Office,” where he holds the position of “a non-career Special Government Employee.”

The Trump administration clarified in a late-night Monday court filing that Elon Musk is not a DOGE employee, and instead serves as a White House advisor, in a similar vein as former Biden advisor Anita Dunn. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“In that job, Mr. Musk is a Senior Adviser to the President,” Fisher wrote. “It is not uncommon for the President to have Senior Advisors who are SGEs.”

Fisher compared Musk’s White House role to that of former top Biden advisor Anita Dunn. Dunn, who has longtime ties to former President Barack Obama, left the Biden White House in 2024 to join a top Democratic super PAC to support its efforts to elect Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 2024 election.

DOGE’S ACCESS TO CRITICAL IRS SYSTEM CONTAINING TAXPAYER INFORMATION IS IMMINENT

Dunn served as a political strategist and advisor to Biden on his 2020 campaign and in the White House.

Fisher continued on to say that Musk “has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors” and, as such, has no “actual or formal authority” to make government decisions.

A protester holds up a “NO MUSK” sign at the “No Kings on Presidents Day” protest in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)

“Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives,” Fisher wrote.

Fisher clarified that DOGE is a separate entity from the White House, continuing on to state that Musk is “not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization.”

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At issue in the case are DOGE’s actions within seven federal agencies, the Office of Personnel Management and the Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce.

The state AGs announced they were filing the suit last week, in which they are “challenging the unlawful delegation of executive power to Elon Musk,” according to a statement released at the time. (Getty Images)

The state AGs announced they were filing the suit last week, in which they are “challenging the unlawful delegation of executive power to Elon Musk,” according to a statement released at the time.

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“Empowering an unelected billionaire to access Americans’ private data, slash funding for federal student aid, stop payments to American farmers and dismantle protections for working families is not a sign of President Trump’s strength, but his weakness,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in the statement.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, Anders Hagstrom, Bill Mears, and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

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

February 18, 2025
Disney drops woke program from their DEI section in latest SEC filing

MDB Capital president and chief marketing strategist Lou Basenese joins ‘Cavuto: Coast to Coast’ to discuss Disney’s recent turnaround.

The Walt Disney Company appears to be scaling back its DEI initiatives according to its latest SEC filing – and activist investors are pushing the entertainment conglomerate to go even further.

Disney dropped its “Reimagine Tomorrow” program from their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion section of its 2024 SEC 10-K report. The program was mentioned in the 2023 report, which defines the program as “the Company’s digital destination for amplifying underrepresented voices and features some of Disney’s DE&I commitments and actions.” The program hosted a controversial 2022 leaked “all-hands” meeting in which a Disney executive touting her “not at all secret gay agenda.”

“On my little pocket of Proud Family Disney TVA, the showrunners were super welcoming… our leadership over there has been super welcoming to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda… they’re going hard… I don’t have to be afraid to have these two characters kiss in the background. I was just, wherever I could, adding queerness,” executive producer Latoya Raveneau said at the time.

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Disney appears to be backing away from woke policies (Fox News Digital / Fox News)

Disney’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” webpage, which is still active, says its mission is “amplifying underrepresented voices and untold stories as well as championing the importance of accurate representation in media and entertainment.”

The page also lists racial and gender breakdowns of their content and workforce as of 2021 and boasts of their Business Employee Research Groups which represent employees from different ethnic backgrounds.

“The Walt Disney Company Has Established Business Employee Resource Groups Across 10 Dimensions: Asian/ Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander, Black/ African American Disabilities Hispanic/ Latin X Jewish, LGBTQ+, Multicultural, Native American/ Indigenous Veterans/ Military, Women,” the website boasts.

“Disney dropping [Reimagine Tomorrow] from their DEI section could mean they’re walking back their DEI investments, or it could signal they’re hiding them,” Stefan Padfield, director of the Free Enterprise Project for the National Center for Public Policy Research, told Fox News Digital. “Either they recognize that more litigation is coming, or it could be part of a vibe shift.”

Target was recently hit with a lawsuit related to its DEI initiatives as shareholders contend the retailer failed to be transparent about the risks posed by their DEI policies and Pride displays.

“Where is your data that shows DEI serves the bottom line?” Padfield asked of companies that still employ DEI measures.

“The concern about the scrutiny about these questions is built into this movement we’re seeing across companies. The Trump administration announced they’ll investigate nine companies for their DEI practices, and you’re seeing corporations scramble to not be among those nine,” he said.

By scaling back its DEI section in its SEC filing, Disney joins a growing trend of companies from Meta to John Deere that have rolled back or eliminated their DEI initiatives.

The movie, cruise and theme park behemoth has also dropped its “The Disney Look” appearance guidelines from their DEI section in their 2024 SEC filing. The 2023 SEC filing states that the guidelines were “updated to cultivate a more inclusive environment that encourages and celebrates authentic expressions of belonging among employees.”

Disney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

DISNEY ACCUSED OF MISLEADING SHAREHOLDERS WITH ‘WOKE POLITICAL AGENDA’

Disney has removed its “Reimagine Tomorrow” section from its recent SEC filing. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The moves come as Disney reportedly lost 700,000 users on its Disney+ streaming platform in the final quarter of 2024. The entertainment conglomerate has faced backlash for, what some call, its “woke political agenda.” The corporation was sued by America First Legal in March 2024 for allegedly doing “damage to Disney’s brand, properties, and commercial reputation by management’s manufactured misalignment between its woke political and social agenda and the vast majority of the Company’s customers.”

Disney’s move to distance itself from the woke initiative comes as activist investors are pressuring the company to drop its participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index.

The HRC releases a yearly survey which grades corporations on their compliance with a litany of LGBTQ initiatives, among them “Equal health coverage for transgender individuals without exclusion for medically necessary care” and “Integration of gender identity and sexual orientation in professional development, skills-based or other leadership training that includes elements of diversity and/or cultural competency.” Disney has had a perfect score on the Equality Index every year since 2007.

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LGBTQ employees and their supporters walkout of Disney Animation protesting CEO Bob Chapek’s handling of legislation in Florida in 2022. ((Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) / Getty Images)

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Padfield is attempting to get Disney to drop its participation in the survey. Padfield contends that HRC increases its requirements to achieve a perfect score on each successive evaluation, new indexes are released annually, and meeting these requirements could force companies to pursue policies that are bad for business.

“There’s a number of items in the index that in order to get the perfect score really start pushing corporations out on a radical edge,” Padfield told Fox News Digital. “It’s essentially built to work like ratchet… a lot of people’s perceptions is that these companies are just moved further and further left in terms of this radicalism.”

February 10, 2025
Republican state AGs back Trump birthright citizenship order in court filing: ‘Taxpayers are on the hook’

FIRST ON FOX: Republican attorneys general from 18 states are pushing back against lawsuits filed by Democrat AGs and legal groups nationwide challenging the Trump administration’s executive order on birthright citizenship through an amicus brief filing set to be filed Monday, Fox News Digital has learned.

“If someone comes on a tourist visa to have an anchor baby, they are not under that original meaning of the United States Constitution,” Iowa AG Brenna Bird told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday. Bird is the lead AG leading an amicus brief filing in support of the executive order on Monday.

“Oftentimes, when this has happened. It’s the taxpayers that are paying for the health care through Medicaid or through hospitals, paying for care for someone to have a child, or the state child health insurance system as well,” Bird said. “Each state has a system that helps kids without insurance, and so the taxpayers are on the hook here for all the costs.”

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

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, alongside more than a dozen state AGs, filed an amicus brief supporting President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. (Getty Images)

Bird’s amicus brief comes in response to 18 Democrat-led states who launched their own lawsuit, claiming the order is unconstitutional and “unprecedented.”

“The President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth,” the lawsuit reads.

Attorneys general from California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and others signed on to the suit, along with the city and county of San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration the same day he signed the order “on behalf of organizations with members whose babies born on U.S. soil will be denied citizenship under the order.” The ACLU also claimed the order is unconstitutional and against congressional intent and Supreme Court precedent.

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

ICE agents arrested seven illegal immigrants during a workforce operation raid. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

Bird’s brief – signed by Republican AGs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming – focuses on several arguments.

The first part of the 13-page brief claims that President Donald Trump’s executive order complies with the “original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The second portion claims Trump’s order “reduces harm to the states.”

The brief states that the “Plaintiffs’ erroneous Citizenship Clause interpretation will continue the powerful incentive for citizens of foreign countries to give birth on American soil, even if they must illegally enter this country to do so.”

“The lure of American citizenship motivates pregnant women to travel to America to give birth,” the brief reads. “Some women, desperate to give birth in the United States, cross the border the day they deliver their baby.”

A border hospital administrator described witnessing pregnant women arriving at the hospital in active labor, still wet and shivering from crossing the river, determined to give birth in the U.S., the brief, which will be filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, says.

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP EXECUTIVE ORDER FACES LEGAL CHALLENGES FROM 22 STATES

President Donald Trump, right, signs executive orders on stage at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump’s order, titled the “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” states that “the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States” when the individual’s parents are illegal immigrants living in the U.S. or if their presence is lawful but temporary. It was among the first orders he signed after taking office in early January.

“President Trump is restoring the meaning and value of American citizenship, and also making sure that if someone is breaking the law, they won’t be rewarded for that by getting citizenship,” Bird said. “And so it’s following the Constitution and making sure that we’re upholding our immigration laws.”

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Fox News Digital’s Haley-Chi-Sing contributed to this report.

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

February 3, 2025