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Tag: harm

Judge denies Democrat-led effort to block DOGE access, citing lack of proven harm

A federal judge on Tuesday declined to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data or firing federal employees.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that plaintiffs – who represented more than a dozen Democratic-led states – failed to show the necessary evidence of harm caused by DOGE’s access in order to be granted a temporary restraining order.

The decision from Chutkan, an Obama appointee, is a blow to the coalition of 14 attorneys general who sued last week to temporarily restrict DOGE’s access to federal data personnel information about government employees.

Plaintiffs argued that the leadership role held by Musk, a private citizen, represents an “unlawful delegation of executive power” and threatened what they described as “widespread disruption” to employees working across various federal agencies and government contractors.

DOGE SCORES BIG COURT WIN, ALLOWED ACCESS DATA ON 3 FEDERAL AGENCIES

People rally against the policies of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, Feb. 12. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

“There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual,” said the lawsuit, filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez.

Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington also joined him in the request.

While Judge Chutkan at times appeared sympathetic to the views brought by Torrez and other plaintiffs during Monday’s hearing, she also suggested she was not convinced that plaintiffs had adequately satisfied the high legal standard of “imminent harm” required for a temporary restraining order.

“The things I’m hearing are troubling indeed, but I have to have a record and findings of fact before I issue something,” Chutkan said Monday.

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

Elon Musk carries his son X Æ A-Xii on his shoulders while speaking in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2025. (Jim WatsonAFP via Getty Images)

The hearing is the latest in a growing flurry of emergency lawsuits filed across the country seeking to block or restrict DOGE’s access to sensitive government data.

Similar legal challenges are playing out in federal courts across the country, from New York and Maryland to Virginia and D.C, with plaintiffs citing fears of privacy breaches, layoffs, and possible retaliation from DOGE.

‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’: DOGE’S TOP FIVE MOST SHOCKING REVELATIONS

DOGE, the Musk-led agency, was created via executive order earlier this year. Its status as a temporary organization within the White House gives DOGE and its employees just 18 months to carry out its goals of optimizing the federal government, streamlining its operations, and of course, doing it all at a lower cost.

DOGE’s wide-ranging mission, combined with its lack of specifics, have sparked fresh concerns from outside observers, who have questioned how, exactly, the group plans to deliver on its ambitious optimization goals in such a short amount of time.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler speaks at a rally against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) outside the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. (Kena Betancur/VIEWpress)

But Musk and his allies have wasted little time racing to do just that. They’ve spent the past month racing to deliver on what they see as one of President Donald Trump’s biggest campaign trail pledges: reducing bloated federal budgets, aggressively slashing government waste, and firing or putting on ice large swaths of federal employees.

The Justice Department, for its part, argued on Monday that the DOGE personnel in question are “detailed” U.S. government employees who are entitled to access the government data under provisions of the Economy Act.

Recent court victories have also buoyed DOGE’s operations – allowing them, at least for now, to continue carrying out their sprawling operation.,

As Judge Chutkan noted Monday, fears and speculation alone are not enough to curtail DOGE access: plaintiffs must prove clearly, and with evidence, that their workings have met the hard-to-satisfy test of permanent, or “irreparable” harm.

Late last week, U.S. District Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, also rejected a request to block DOGE from accessing records of three government agencies, writing in his own opinion Friday that plaintiffs “have not shown a substantial likelihood that [DOGE] is not an agency.”

TRUMP TEMPORARILY THWARTED IN DOGE MISSION TO END USAID

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

For plaintiffs, the TRO defeats have made it increasingly unclear what, if any, hope they might have to secure near-term injunctive relief.

Plaintiffs representing the 14 Democratic states argued Monday that DOGE’s broad agency access violates the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

That clause requires Cabinet and other high-level leaders in the U.S. government to be nominated by a president and confirmed by a Senate majority vote – a lengthy process designed to help vet an individual’s fitness to perform in the role to which they were appointed.

They argued that the “expansive authority” granted to DOGE is not “merely academic.”

Already, plaintiffs said, Musk has “cut billions of dollars from agency budgets, fired agency personnel, and that he has moved to, in his words, ‘delete’ entire agencies.”

Trump “does not have the constitutional authority to unilaterally dismantle the government,” the attorneys general said. “Nor could he delegate such expansive authority to an unelected, unconfirmed individual.”

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And while Judge Chutkan appeared to share in plaintiffs’ assertion that at least some of DOGE’s actions appear to be “serious and troubling,” she maintained that a deliberate fear is not enough to grant the request to block their access immediately.

“You’re talking about a generalized fear,” she said of their DOGE complaints. “I’m not seeing it so far.”

Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.

February 18, 2025
USAID’s green energy programs have maximized harm to the developing world, according to former official

USAID’s green energy programs may have done more “harm” to developing nations than anything else, according to a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“I can’t think of anything that’s harmed the developing world more than the climate agenda,” said Max Primorac, a top USAID official under President Donald Trump’s first administration, when asked about programs that had run afoul of American interests throughout the world.

“The strong counter-China infrastructure that we developed over at USAID was simply dismantled by the next administration,” he told lawmakers at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing entitled, “USAID Betrayal.”

“[USAID] has pushed all of these countries, especially in Africa, to go green. Solar, wind, EV: who produces all of those materials? It’s China. Then, on top of it, we tell them, ‘No, you can’t develop your own fossil fuel industry because it’s, it’s anti-green.’ So, what happens? They can’t generate the revenues to create good jobs at home. They can’t generate the revenues in order to finance their own health, education and other needs.”

USAID MISSIONS OVERSEAS ORDERED TO SHUT DOWN, STAFF BEING RECALLED: REPORT

“I can’t think of anything that’s harmed the developing world more than the climate agenda,” Max Primorac, a top USAID official under President Donald Trump’s first administration, said when asked about U.S. AID programs that had run afoul of U.S. interests throughout the world. (Getty Images)

Primorac claimed that green energy infrastructure in developing countries “increases the price of energy.”

According to Primorac, 19 of the top 20 countries receiving USAID are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, securing aid from the CCP in exchange for influence.

Primorac said that developing nations “want more trade, they want more investment,” but “resentment” is building in conservative countries who don’t want “woke things.”

The Trump administration, upon assuming office, instituted a 90-day pause on all foreign aid. Trump fired USAID’s inspector general Paul Martin this week after he wrote a report claiming Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s efforts to dismantle USAID had prevented him from conducting oversight on unspent aid of up to $8.5 billion. Martin’s report claimed that about $500 million worth of food aid is at risk of spoiling as it sits in ports while USAID staff in other nations have been called back and placed on leave.

USAID has now been placed under the purview of the State Department and is in the process of whittling down its staff from 10,000 to fewer than 300.

USAID INSPECTOR GENERAL FIRED DAYS AFTER PUBLISHING REPORT CRITICAL OF AID PAUSE

Protesters interrupted Max Primorac to demand funds for PEPFAR, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. (Getty Images )

Republican witnesses at the hearing largely agreed that foreign aid was important to fighting global disease outbreaks and securing U.S. interests throughout the world, but USAID’s reputation had been “tarnished” by “mission creep,” as former GOP Rep. Ted Yoho, Fla., said.

But Yoho, who said he came to Congress to slash foreign aid before realizing its importance throughout the world, and Andrew Natsios, USAID administrator under President George W. Bush, warned that a blanket freeze on aid throughout the world would be detrimental.

“By pausing U.S. international assistance, a vacuum is created. China, Russia, or others are already moving in to fill those voids,” said Yoho.

“Not being effectively present can be arguably worse than pausing a program. And all you have to do is look at South and Central America and look at how much we’ve ceded to China and their influence from Russia, China and Iran. That has to be dealt with immediately. That’s a national security threat.”

Natsios said he was “appalled” by how the Biden administration had roped USAID into “culture wars.”

“It’s a failure,” he said. “All of the things I did at AID, I tried to do it in a way that would not alienate the Democratic Party when I left.”

GOP CHAIRMAN RESPONDS AFTER PROTESTERS ARE TOSSED FROM USAID SPENDING HEARING

Primorac went on: “[USAID] has pushed all of these countries, especially in Africa, to go green. Solar, wind, EV: who produces all of those materials? It’s China.” (Getty Images)

But he noted that “woke” programs were a “small percentage” of the USAID budget, and the agency gives $1 billion per year to Christian NGOs.

Republicans claim there is a waiver process, but aid advocates have said NGOs and charities do not know how to apply for the waiver, and if they receive one, no one at USAID is operating the payment systems that dole out funds.

“I’ve met with these Christian groups, even though they have the waivers, the Phoenix system is not operating,” said Natsios, referring to the agency’s financial program. “Please do something about it.”

During the hearing, Republicans also pointed to USAID-funded NGOs that were conducting abortions, a program that sent millions of taxpayer dollars to dole out condoms in Afghanistan and Mozambique, $20 million for drag shows in Ecuador and $500,000 to promote atheism in Nepal.

“All of these programs gave USAID a black eye and that’s unfortunate,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, a former chairman of the committee who claimed USAID “blew through” his holds on their controversial programs.

Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast agreed. “When done right, foreign aid can be one of the best tools. It can help strengthen our relationships with our allies and help countries realize America is the best for them,” he said.

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He promised that more aid oversight was to come.

“We are going to bring in individuals who were responsible for putting these horrible policies in place and reveal all the receipts, videos – all of it – for the American people to see.”

February 13, 2025
THC vapes recalled in Michigan, agencies cite potential harm to lungs

Multiple THC vapes have been voluntarily recalled in Michigan after the Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) found they contain an oil that could potentially harm lungs.

The BLOOM Classic and BLOOM Live vape cartridges allegedly include Medium Chain Triglyceride Chain (MCT) oil, which has led to the recent recall of several vape cartridges, according to a report from affiliate FOX 2 Detroit.

A man smokes an electronic cigarette on June 2, 2022, in Krakow, Poland. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Images / Reuters Photos)

D.E.A. WARNS GEORGIA TO CANCEL PLANS TO BECOME FIRST STATE TO ALLOW PHARMACIES TO SELL MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Recalled vapes include: Alien Jack; Blue Dream; Cereal Milk; Champagne Kush; Durban Gelato; Face Off OG; Forbidden Fruit; Green Crack; Jack Herer; Maui Wowie; Pineapple Express; Pineapple Sherbert; Rainbow Runtz; Skywalker; and White Widow.

While MCT oil, a non-THC oil, is commonly found in oral supplements and naturally occurs in foods like cheese and yogurt, FOX 2 reported it can cause respiratory issues when inhaled.

Michigan’s CRA started targeted testing for MCT oils in vapes last fall, and is working with dispensaries to retrieve and dispose of products, according to the report.

A high school student uses a vaping device near a school campus in Cambridge, Mass. A new study released Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, found another jump in how many U.S. teens vape nicotine-tinged electronic cigarettes. About 25% of high school seniors

LOOK WHO’S EXPERIMENTING WITH MARIJUANA TODAY MORE THAN ANY OTHER AGE GROUP

In January, RWB Michigan LLC and the CRA voluntarily recalled Platinum Vape brand vape cartridges over the same concerns.

Platinum Vape flavors included: Garlic Cookie, Blazing Blue Cheese, Banana Candy, and Grape Valley Kush.

Vaping remains popular despite health warnings. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Customers should check BLOOM vapes purchased after Sept. 1 and Platinum vapes purchased after March 4 to ensure they are not part of the recall. Affected products can be returned to the place of purchase or thrown away.

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Fox 2 Detroit’s Amber Eikenberry contributed to this report.

February 11, 2025
SJSU lets go of volleyball coach who filed complaint over transgender player’s alleged plot to harm teammate

EXCLUSIVE: Former San Jose State University assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose’s contract with the university expired Friday, and she has been told that it will not be renewed, she exclusively told Fox News Digital.

Her departure comes after a season plagued by a scandal involving a trans athlete, in which Batie-Smoose took a firm stance to oppose the university’s defense of that athlete. She and her family initially moved to California from the East coast to accept the job in 2023.

“We didn’t make the decision to move our family across the country lightly, but I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I was meant to be at San Jose State to stand up for these young women and do everything I could to protect future generations. In my 30 years of coaching, this is one of the most amazing groups of young women that I’ve been around. Their strength and resiliency during a difficult season was inspiring and one of the reasons why I had to take a stand,” she told Fox News Digital.

San Jose State declined to comment on Batie-Smoose’s contract situation when contacted by Fox News Digital.

“SJSU does not comment on personnel matters,” a university spokesperson said.

Batie-Smoose was suspended from the program on Nov. 2 after she filed a Title IX complaint against the university regarding its alleged handling of a situation involving former transgender player Blaire Fleming. The complaint included allegations that Fleming had conspired with an opponent to have Slusser hit in the face during a match in October.

“I spoke up for the young women on the team who were being silenced and gaslit while dealing with having a male athlete in their locker room, on the court and rooming with them on the road. I could not be silenced and manipulated any longer so I had to stand up for what was right,” she said.

“Speaking out to protect these young women and future women was too much to ignore. This has cost me my job, but we need more coaches to stand up for what is right. I just have to pray that by doing the right thing that justice will prevail and I will be able to continue to do what I was meant to do.”

Batie-Smoose is also currently engaged in a lawsuit against San Jose State and the Mountain West alongside 11 current and former conference players.

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The lawsuit is led by former San Jose State co-captain Brooke Slusser, who alleges that she had been made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with Fleming for an entire season while the university withheld the truth about Fleming’s birth sex from her and other players.

Both Slusser’s lawsuit and Batie-Smoose’s Title IX complaint allege that Fleming conspired with Colorado State volleyball player Malaya Jones ahead of the match between the two programs on Oct. 3. The complaint alleges Fleming provided a scouting report to Jones to ensure a Colorado State competitive advantage, and established a plan to set up Jones with a clear lane to spike Slusser in the face during the contest.

NEVADA VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WERE PRESSURED WITH ‘LEGAL ISSUES’ TO PLAY SJSU TRANS PLAYER DURING FEUD WITH SCHOOL

Colorado State University police behind the San Jose State University Spartans bench monitor Moby Arena during an NCAA Mountain West women’s volleyball game between the Spartans and the Colorado State Rams in Fort Collins, Colo., on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Slusser was never spiked in the face during that match, but Colorado State did win in straight sets.

A Mountain West investigation into Batie-Smoose’s allegations did not find sufficient evidence to assign discipline to any player who was named in the allegations, which was stated in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital that was addressed to San Jose State athletic director Jeff Konya and Colorado State athletic director John Weber from Mountain West Deputy Commissioner Bret Gilliland.

That letter did not address allegations in Slusser’s lawsuit that provided further context on the incident, nor did it address the specific notion of an alleged conspiracy to have Slusser hit in the face. The letter simply referred to all the allegations listed in the complaint as “manipulation of the competition.”

Gilliland claimed that any evidence to back the claims in the complaint was insufficient, but did not explicitly state that the allegations were false, according to the letter.

The letter stated that the conference’s investigation included interviews with coaches and student-athletes at both San Jose State and Colorado State. However, the letter did not specifically state which individuals had been interviewed. The conference declined to provide any details on the individuals who had been interviewed when asked by Fox News Digital.

WHO IS BLAIRE FLEMING? SJSU VOLLEYBALL PLAYER DOMINATING FEMALE RIVALS AND ENRAGING WOMEN’S RIGHTS GROUPS

Slusser’s attorney Bill Bock later provided a statement to Fox News Digital insisting that the investigation had been “infected with bias.”

“Because the MWC’s investigation was inadequate, and anything but thorough, and because the MWC’s close-out letter is riddled with errors, the undersigned is issuing this rebuttal and demands that the MWC immediately and publicly release: (1) the investigative report prepared by its investigator(s), and (2) all documents connected to the MWC’s claimed ‘thorough investigation’ and upon which the MWC’s decision not to proceed further was based,” read the statement from Bock.

Slusser previously told Fox News Digital she has been spiked in the face by a volleyball in the past, and that the experience “stings, but you kind of just brush it off.” However, in their first season together in 2023, Slusser said she took one of Fleming’s spikes to her thigh, then had to nurse dark bruises on her thigh for an entire week after that. Slusser says she did not even know that Fleming was a trans athlete back then.

Slusser also previously told Fox News Digital that Batie-Smoose’s suspension left some of her teammates in tears.

SJSU TRANS PLAYER AND TRAUMATIZED TEAMMATE HAD THANKSGIVING DINNER IN LAST TRIP TOGETHER AS LAWSUITS RAGE ON

SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)

“After we found out that she was released, a lot of the team just kind of broke down and was kind of freaking out, and even one of my teammates was like, ‘I don’t feel safe anymore,’ because there’s no one now that we feel like we can go and talk to about our concerns or our actual feelings and can actually speak freely in front of,” Slusser said.

Slusser said she did not feel safe speaking with anyone else involved in the program, especially head coach Todd Kress.

“You can’t truly voice how you’re feeling without them just trying to cover it up or act like it’s all OK. With Melissa, you could voice how you felt, and she could comfort you and validate your feelings and at least make you feel heard, compared to the other coaches,” Slusser said.

SJSU went on to play in the conference championship game against Colorado State on Nov. 30 but lost. The loss kept Fleming, Slusser and the rest of the Spartans out of the NCAA tournament. Batie-Smoose was at the match in Las Vegas, Nevada, that weekend to support her former players, despite being suspended by the program.

Nearly every one of the players on SJSU’s 2024 team that has remaining NCAA eligibility has entered the transfer portal, Fox News Digital previously reported.

“I think that it speaks volumes that the majority of the team transferred because they did not want to be subjected to the mental anguish the university put them through. They had had enough of the lies and manipulation, and I wish them the best,” Batie-Smoose told Fox News Digital.

Meanwhile, Slusser’s lawsuit against the school and conference has not yet gone to trial. Slusser is also engaged in Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA over its policies on gender ideology that allows trans athletes to compete in women’s sports.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 1, 2025