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Pence bills himself top Republican willing to challenge Trump

Former Vice President Mike Pence is positioning himself as a “constructive force for the conservative agenda” during President Donald Trump’s second term as one of the few Republicans willing to challenge him.

“Well, for me, it’s always principles first. It’s not personal,” Pence said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Despite publicly falling out with Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Pence said he would support the new Trump administration on issues he agreed with, but would challenge others.

Pence’s political advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, spent nearly $1 million on ads opposing Trump’s newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

DOGE MUST ‘DEFUND’ PLANNED PARENTHOOD, MIKE PENCE’S WATCHDOG GROUP URGES MUSK

Former Vice President Mike Pence during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The former vice president said he and those who work for him received “a lot of quiet encouragement” in opposing Kennedy. Pence described finding it necessary to speak out on finding the “nomination of an abortion rights supporter to be secretary of HHS to be a dramatic departure from 50 years of strong pro-life leadership at HHS under Republican administrations.”

Asked why Republicans might be reluctant to oppose Trump publicly, Pence said, “I never speculate on motives. You know, I’m not new to town. I’ve waged lonely battles before.”

“But you know, you have to be willing to step out and lead,” the former vice president said. “My hope is that when the next issue of life comes up, that people will have been encouraged, emboldened to know that they’re not alone.”

Regarding RFK Jr.’s nomination, Advancing American Freedom President Tim Chapman told Fox News Digital that the group believed “it would be an abdication of duty and responsibility if nobody said anything about the life issue in particular, let alone some of the other concerns.”

“I think it’s more likely now that he’s better on life than if we had not engaged in the issue at all,” Chapman said. “Part of being constructive is weighing in and sending a market signal when the administration or Republican leadership might try to go in a direction that’s not tethered to conservative principles. And so you’re not always going to win all those fights. And in fact, we don’t even view it as our job to win all those fights. We view it as our job to start the conversation.”

In the second Trump term, Chapman argued, “there is a far stronger echo chamber on the outside that is currently encouraging and sometimes, you know, doing more than encouraging Republicans and outside groups to stay in line with the administration.” He said it’s “creating an atmosphere where some people who may disagree with a nominee or with a policy decision are choosing to bide their time and not make that disagreement public.”

“Time will tell whether that environment remains permanent and time will also tell whether that echo chamber serves the president well or ends up not serving him well. For various reasons, we don’t feel the pressure from that echo chamber to stay silent if we disagree,” Chapman told Fox News Digital. “We’ll do our best to constructively, you know, make our points. And when we disagree, try to pull the administration towards our view on policy. But then, you know, when we agree, be totally there running beside them and trying to help them push their priorities over the finish line.”

Advancing American Freedom is now lobbying against Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s pick for labor secretary, accusing her of being pro-union. While Pence’s group plans to spend the coming months pushing to increase military spending, shrink the deficit, and make permanent the Trump 2017 tax cuts, as well as trying to convince Trump to stop implementing tariffs on allies, the former vice president and those who work for him insist they won’t take on the “Never Trump” mantle.

Pence has been delivering speeches urging Trump to stand with long-standing foreign allies and lobbying members of Congress, while his aides write letters and opinion columns. Advancing American Freedom says they intend to praise the administration when they agree with it, while raising concerns when they don’t, advocating for longtime conservative principles that they believe have taken a back seat to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” brand of populism.

“We’re calling balls and strikes here,” Pence told the AP. “I think that the way we want to approach this is with integrity to principle. And I’m very encouraged. I think the Trump administration is off to a great start… I’m very pleased about the president undoing Biden’s border policies and putting back into place the policies that we had negotiated and established that secured the border.”

Pence said he believes “some of the prominent voices in the party have embraced a more populist thinking” but that “the overwhelming majority of people that ever vote Republican think any differently than they thought during our administration when we hewed to a conservative agenda or the years before or since.” To support his opinion, the former vice president recalled an interaction he had with a farmer at a campaign stop in Iowa in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.

President-elect Donald Trump greets former Vice President Mike Pence at the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 9, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Despite the farmer saying he agreed with “absolutely everything” that Pence stumped about regarding “strong American support for Israel, strong American leadership in the world, continued support for Ukraine in their fight and limited government and bringing about reforms to put our fiscal house in order and right to life,” the former vice president recalled how the farmer said he could not vote for him in 2024 and that “I got to be for Trump this time.”

“And he goes, ‘But I’ll see you in four years. You’re going to be a great president someday,’” said Pence, who briefly pursued the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. “I said, ‘Would you mind telling me, you know, why?’ And he said words I never forgot, which was in effect: He lamented Biden’s failed record. And I saw that he was drawn to the need for a rematch. And then he said, ‘Plus, if they can do that to a former president, they can do that to me.’ And the ‘lawfare’ stuff went into higher relief.”

MIKE PENCE, OTHER FORMER TOP TRUMP OFFICIALS FEATURED IN HARRIS CAMPAIGN AD SLAMMING TRUMP AS ‘DANGEROUS’

“So I didn’t see in this last election a Republican Party that was embracing big government or a vision to pull back from America’s commitments on the world stage or marginalizing the right to life,” Pence told the AP. “I didn’t see that traveling all over the country and I still don’t see it. I think there were other factors that gave the former president a decided advantage in the election. He’d earned it. He’d won it. And then he won it in the fall. But I don’t think the party’s changed.”

In his interview with Fox News Digital, Chapman agreed. “I think he’s seen firsthand, and all of us have who’ve traveled the country, when you look at Republican voters and what they believe just on the issues, there’s not a lot of change going on in the party,” Chapman said. “The average Republican voter still feels very strongly about limited government, feels very strongly about traditional values and about pushing back against the left’s, you know, progressive attack on traditional values and feels very strong about a strong national defense. Like these are baseline concepts for conservative voters that have not changed in any way, shape or form.”

“Many of the reasons that they wanted Trump back were because of how successful the first Trump administration was on those issues,” he continued. “The policy set has not changed… there was a reaction to the left’s out of control lawfare and out of control cancel culture and that Trump was seen as the object of that. And so there was a very, very natural and very frankly, commendable instinct from the American people and Republican voters to say, you know what? We’re going to stick it to him. We’re not taking this anymore.

Pence told the AP that he went to Trump’s inauguration last month and “was very moved in the outpouring of kind words and expressions of appreciation from former colleagues, including many members of the new administration who I encountered in hallways.” When he saw Trump’s new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Pence said he gave him a hug and “told him how proud I was of him.”

“We had praised him from here when he was selected,” Pence told the AP. “I must have seen or interacted with about half the incoming Cabinet.”

At the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, Pence said he had a “very cordial exchange” with Trump. When Trump was coming down the front row of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Pence recalled him saying, “Hi, Mike.” Pence said he extended his hand to Trump and said, “Congratulations, Mr. President,” and “I could see his countenance softened. And he said, ‘Thanks.’” Pence said he also congratulated first lady Melania Trump.

Al Gore, Mike Pence and Karen Pence sit behind Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. and Laura Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald and Melania Trump at the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“You know, the people that know me know it’s not personal,” Pence told the AP. “I’ve long since forgiven the president for any differences that we had at the end of our administration. We still have those differences as the president still holds the view that, to my knowledge, that I had some authority that I did not have under the Constitution or laws of the country. But from my heart, I’ve prayed often for the president.”

The AP also asked Pence about the viral moment at the funeral in which his wife, former second lady Karen Pence, refused to acknowledge President-elect Trump or shake Melania Trump’s hand.

“My wife loves her husband. And I love my wife and I have great respect for her. And so – but I’ve been really moved at how many people around the country have thanked us both for that day,” Pence said. “But again, you know, I want to emphasize, we’re eyes forward here. You know, I’d always thought the president was going to come around on the position he took on Jan. 6.”

In his book, Pence said, he describes how he and Trump “actually parted on very amicable terms, very good terms,” but in the spring, when Trump “returned to the rhetoric about how I could have done something that neither the Constitution nor the law would ever permit any vice president to do, then I just decided it was important to go our separate ways.”

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“But hope springs eternal,” Pence said. “And we want to be a constructive force for the conservative agenda. I think that’s good for the administration. It’s good for the Congress. More importantly, it’s good for America.”

Chapman reiterated to Fox News Digital that Pence’s work during Trump’s second term was not personal in nature, pointing to Pence back when he served in Congress “was often a lone voice, you know, agitating against Republican leadership for a course correction to a more conservative vision for governing.”

“What you’re seeing him do now is almost a return to form,” Chapman said. “So I definitely think there’s nothing personal there.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

February 18, 2025
President Donald Trump unified the Republican Party, Rep. Marlin Stutzman says

Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., has spent the better part of the last decade in Indiana, running various businesses and coaching his sons’ baseball team.

Before that, he had a front-row seat for most of the Obama administration, followed by the meteoric and unprecedented rise of now-President Donald Trump. Stutzman was a part of political history himself, having been one of the original members of the House Freedom Caucus — a group that has grown to be known as a bastion of ideological conservatism and, at times, a thorn in the side of House GOP leaders.

Now he’s back as one of several first-term House Republicans, succeeding Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., as a member of a perilously thin House GOP majority.

But according to Stutzman, who previously served in Congress from 2010 to 2017, he sees Republicans as more aligned with each other than before.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana served in Congress from 2010 to 2017 and is back for another term. (Getty Images)

“I feel like it’s different. I don’t think the GOP conference is as far apart — you know, moderates to conservatives — as it was back in 2010,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“I was looking at the membership in 2010, and there were true moderates. I think we’re actually much closer together now than what we were back then. And, of course, we had large majorities. So that creates other challenges. So having a tight majority is not a bad thing at all. It actually makes you unify.”

He credited that re-alignment in large part to Trump, pointing out that he and other Republicans were first elected in 2010 as a backlash against former President Barack Obama rather than in support of the leading party’s agenda.

“We won the 2010 election because it was a reaction to Obama. And in 2020 — I mean, you could say every election is a reaction to the incumbent party, but I think in this case, after the Biden years, the American people elected Trump because they believed he could move the country forward,” Stutzman said.

Stutzman with former House speakers Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy in 2012. (Getty Images)

“And so we have a leader that is casting a vision and is clear in his messaging, and it gives us the chance to, you know, coalesce behind his leadership. So that’s a huge help, compared to 2010.”

He also disputed the notion that the Freedom Caucus was founded to be “obstructionist” to House GOP leaders, despite members of the group leading well-known coups against senior Republicans in the past.

“There’s a lot of smart people that wanted to just be part of a group that looked at things from every angle and was really being productive. And so that’s why I wanted to join it, because I wanted to be at a place that I could learn, I could really dive deep and learn from other people and staff that were part of the caucus to really understand the policy, but also talk through the strategy,” he said.

“It was never designed to be an obstructionist caucus. There have been times that it’s definitely been labeled that and accused of that . . . any obstruction was to stop bad things from happening. Not to obstruct the good things from moving forward.”

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS

Stutzman credits President Trump with unifying Republicans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Stutzman said that being a private citizen running businesses for eight years gave him perspective on the value of consensus-building, allowing him to return to Congress with an emphasis on the “big picture.”

“You’re never going to get everything you want. You know, find a way to support the team and find a way to support us to a yes,” Stutzman reflected.

“Now, look, there’s going to be times when you just say no, And that’s just part of negotiating. But I think the main thing is just fight hard, offer everything you have. But then at the end of the day, let’s take a win and then move on to the next fight.”

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

February 16, 2025
Death tax repeal effort gets more than 200 Republican lawmakers on board

FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers are mounting a massive effort to repeal the federal inheritance tax, colloquially known as the “death tax.”

Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, is leading more than 170 House Republicans on the “Death Tax Repeal Act,” which is also backed by the House’s top tax writer, Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.

An inheritance or estate tax is levied upon the beneficiary who receives assets upon a person’s death. Republicans have long criticized the estate tax as a needless financial burden on grieving families, particularly hitting small family-owned businesses.

It comes as Republicans work on extending President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, whose provisions expire at the end of this year. Among the measures sunsetting in 2026 is a doubling of the estate tax exemption.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

Rep. Randy Feenstra and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are leading a new effort to repeal the federal estate tax (Getty Images)

Supporters of the federal estate tax point out that it affects a relatively small number of estates. Penalties are triggered for estates worth roughly $13.9 million at the time of death, according to the latest IRS data.

A counterpart bill in the Senate is being led by Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and is backed by 44 senators.

Both Feenstra and Thune argued it was an unnecessary tax that unfairly affected family farms and small businesses in their home states of Iowa, South Dakota and elsewhere.

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS

It comes as Republicans work to extend President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts (AP/Alex Brandon)

“The death tax is an egregious double tax that unfairly targets American family farms and small businesses and directly threatens long-held farming traditions in rural Iowa and across the country,” Feenstra told Fox News Digital. “It is ridiculous that the federal government sends grieving families a massive tax bill when a loved one passes away.”

He said it amounted to “double taxation.”

“Family farms and ranches play a vital role in our economy and are the lifeblood of rural communities in South Dakota,” Thune told Fox News Digital.

“Losing even one of them to the death tax is one too many. It’s time to put an end to this punishing, burdensome tax once and for all so that family farms, ranches and small businesses can grow and thrive without costly estate planning or massive tax burdens that can threaten their viability.”

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If Republicans fail to extend Trump’s tax cuts before the end of this year, the estate tax would affect any estates worth roughly $7 million or more, according to Modern Wealth Law.

House Ways & Means Committee Republicans shared a memo late last year that said everyday American households could see taxes rise by over 20% if the tax cuts expired.

Feenstra and Thune’s bill would abolish the tax altogether, however.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

February 13, 2025
Republican AGs fight ‘freedom’s front line’ for Trump admin facing Dem lawsuits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

February 11, 2025
Judge to weigh Trump federal employee buyout backed by Republican AGs

Jack Otter and the ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panelists discuss how DOGE is shaking up Washington, D.C.

As Big Labor challenges President Donald Trump’s federal employee buyout order, Republican attorneys general from 22 states came to the administration’s defense late Sunday.

On Monday, a federal judge in Boston will weigh the legality of the Trump administration’s U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) “Fork Directive.”

Federal employees have until 11:59 p.m. Monday to decide if they are submitting their deferred resignation in return for eight months of paid leave.

On Feb. 2, 2 million federal employees received an email after business hours closed advising them of a “fork in the road” – they were told they could accept eight months of paid leave if they agreed to resign by Feb. 6. The buyout offer, which came as part of Elon Musk’s effort to reduce federal waste at the Department of Government Efficiency, prompted a swift blow back from federal labor unions, which argued the Fork Directive is unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act and Antideficiency Act and that they will suffer “irreparable harm.”

Montana Attorney General Austen Knudsen – joined by the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia – challenged those arguments brought by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in court.

SENATE DOGE REPUBLICAN PUSHES BILL TO BRING GOVERNMENT COMPUTER SYSTEMS ‘OUT OF THE STONE AGE’

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The late Sunday amicus curiae brief filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said the federal labor unions “complain” about Trump’s executive orders about the federal workforce and allege the president is eliminating offices and programs supported by congressional appropriations, but “do not challenge the authority to issue the Fork Directive or its constitutionality” because “such a challenge would inevitably fail.”

“Courts should refrain from intruding into the President’s well-settled Article II authority to supervise and manage the federal workforce,” the filing said. “Plaintiffs seek to inject this Court into federal workforce decisions made by the President and his team. The Court can avoid raising any separation of powers concerns by denying Plaintiffs’ relief and allowing the President and his team to manage the federal workforce.”

The Republican attorneys general asked the court to deny the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order.

The Fork Directive reports that Trump is reforming the federal workforce around four pillars: return to office, performance culture, more streamlined and flexible workforce, and enhanced standards of conduct. It is intended to “improve services that the federal workforce provides to Americans” by “freeing up government resources and revenue to focus on better serving the American people,” the filing said.

The filing noted that 65,000 federal workers had already accepted the voluntary deferred resignation offer by its original Feb. 6 deadline.

Protesters rally outside the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on Feb. 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images / Getty Images)

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr., who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, on Thursday temporarily blocked the deferred resignation offer until Monday’s hearing, and the Trump administration pushed back the deadline to 11:59 p.m. Monday.

DOGE CANCELS FUNDING FOR FAUCI MUSEUM EXHIBIT

In a statement, AFGE said the Fork Directive “is the latest attempt by the Trump-Vance administration to implement Project 2025’s dangerous plans to remove career public service workers and replace them with partisan loyalists.” The federal labor union said the directive “amounts to a clear ultimatum to a sweeping number of federal employees: resign now or face the possibility of job loss without compensation in the near future.”

“We are grateful to the judge for extending the deadline so more federal workers who refuse to show up to the office can take the Administration up on this very generous, once-in-a-lifetime offer,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News last week.

Further defending the Trump administration, the Republican attorneys general wrote that the Fork Directive – which takes similar language used during Musk’s mass layoffs when he took over Twitter – also is in line with public opinion, citing recent polling supporting that “Americans’ confidence in the federal government has reached depths not seen since the Vietnam War” and that “a majority of Americans believe the federal government is too large, inefficient, and wasteful.”

The Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is seen on Feb. 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“The American people elected a president who repeatedly made clear his desire for a more efficient, smaller government,” they wrote. “The Fork Directive is consistent with those desires. Thus, when weighing the equitable factors, the public interest weighs strongly against Plaintiffs’ requested relief.”

The federal labor unions requested a temporary restraining order so that the OPM could review the legal basis of the directive – something the GOP attorneys general said “makes no sense.”

“If the Fork Directive is unlawful (it’s not), then why are they asking—even in the alternative—for it to be implemented under more relaxed timelines?” they wrote.

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The filing also said the plaintiff’s claim of “irreparable harm” in lost membership and revenues did not hold water, arguing that extending the deadline would increase the harm to the unions by allowing additional employees to participate.

February 10, 2025
House Republican introduces transgender lawmaker as ‘the gentleman … Mr. McBride’ for floor speech

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., referred to Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del. — who identifies as a transgender woman — as “Mr. McBride.”

“The chair recognizes the gentleman from Delaware, Mr. McBride, for five minutes,” Miller said in the House chamber on Thursday.

“Thank you, Madam Speaker,” McBride replied, before proceeding to deliver a speech.

While McBride did not respond to Miller’s comment, when Miller next recognized Rep. Nanette Barragán, D- Calif., to deliver a speech, Barragán began by saying, “Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”

TRANSGENDER CONGRESS MEMBER ‘MYSTIFIED’ THAT GOP ‘PRIORITIZES’ TRANS ATHLETE BANS IN GIRLS SPORTS

Left: U.S. Rep. Mary Miller hosts the Illinois Republican Party Delegation Breakfast in Oak Creek, Wisc., on July 16, 2024; Right: Rep. Sarah McBride at the Human Rights Campaign Greater New York Dinner held at New York Marriott Marquis on Feb. 1, 2025 in New York, N.Y. (Left: E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Right: Nina Westervelt/Variety via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to McBride’s office to request a comment from the lawmaker on Friday — a spokesperson pointed to McBride’s full floor speech, which is featured in a post on the @Rep_McBride X account.

“This morning, I delivered my first speech on the floor of the house,” the Feb. 6 tweet begins.

During the speech, the Democrat declared, “Piece by piece, department by department, the Trump administration is defunding critical federal services, purging employees, consolidating power, and cutting and gutting programs that Delawareans rely on. They are trying to decimate the federal government and sell it for parts to line the pockets of donors at the expense of working people.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON MAKES CLARIFICATION AFTER STATEMENT REGARDING TRANSGENDER HOUSE MEMBER

“They do not want to make government more efficient. They want to prove that government can’t work, by making it not work,” McBride asserted.

Miller, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, declared in a post on X that she had “refused to deny biological reality” on the chamber floor.

FIRST OPENLY TRANS REP-ELECT CLAIMS GOP SPOTLIGHTING TRANSGENDER ISSUES AN ‘ATTEMPT TO DISTRACT’ VOTERS

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“President Trump restored biological truth in the federal government, and I refuse to perpetuate the lie that gender is open to our interpretation. It is not,” the Republican added.

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

February 7, 2025
New York ‘polluters pay’ law backcharging oil, gas companies faces Republican AGs’ lawsuit: ‘Devastating’

FIRST ON FOX: In one of his first major moves, newly-elected West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey is suing New York over the state’s new “devastating” law that retroactively charges energy companies billions of dollars for pollution from 2000 to 2018.

“This bill is an attempt by New York to step into the shoes of the federal government to regulate something that they have absolutely no business regulating, and we are more than happy to step in and tell the rest of the country, along with our incredible other state partners, that this is unconstitutional and it won’t stand,” McCuskey told Fox News Digital in an interview.

The lawsuit alleges the law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, known as the Climate Change Superfund Act, unfairly targets traditional energy producers—regardless of whether they operate in New York—by imposing massive financial liabilities.

“These energy choices—and the benefits that come with them—entail necessary tradeoffs. All energy use, including energy deriving from ‘renewable’ sources, creates some pollution,” the 59-page lawsuit reads. “Traditional energy is no different.”

HOCHUL SIGNS BILL THAT WILL CHARGE OIL AND GAS FIRMS $75B, BUT CRITICS SAY CUSTOMERS WILL REALLY FOOT THE TAB

Recently-elected West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey is filing a multi-state lawsuit against New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul over its controversial polluter’s pay bill. (Getty Images)

According to the complaint, the burden of these costs won’t fall on New York consumers but will instead be forced onto producers and consumers in other states. The suit also alleges that New York is using these funds to subsidize its own infrastructure projects, such as a new sewer system in New York City, that have been damaged by extreme weather events.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York Albany Division, cites New York AG Letitia James, Sean Mahar, the Interim Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Amanda Hiller, the Acting Tax Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

“When you live in the real world, like I do, and you live in a place like West Virginia, where the values of the people indicate that we pay our bills, we’re humble, we’re modest, and we’re respectful of the people around us,” McCuskey said. “These kind of things hit us a lot harder. And so, you know, this is really a fight between the the elites and the people that make this country run on the back end.”

Attorneys general for Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wyoming also joined the lawsuit. The West Virginia Coal Association, the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia and the Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc., are also joining the complaint.

The bill, first introduced under the Biden administration, is a “landmark legislation shifts the cost of climate adaptation from everyday New Yorkers to the fossil fuel companies most responsible for the pollution,” according to the governor’s December 2024 press release.

TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER FORCES NEW JERSEY TO CANCEL ITS FIRST OFFSHORE WIND FARM

President Donald Trump enacts major reforms aimed at increasing American energy independence. (Getty Images)

“By ensuring those responsible for historic climate-altering emissions bear the costs of the significant health, environmental, and economic impacts already being passed on to New Yorkers, this law will complement the State’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help communities adapt to the climate-driven impacts experienced today, and leverage the significant investments the Governor is making in climate resilience,” Mahar, the state’s Environmental Conservation Interim Commissioner said in the press release.

The law mandates that fossil fuel companies collectively contribute $75 billion over the next 25 years into a dedicated “superfund” that would then help rebuild climate change-induced infrastructure damage.

“This liability could be devastating to traditional energy producers,” the lawsuit states. “Indeed, the ruinous liability that the Act promises—especially when paired with similar efforts that might arise in other States—could force coal, oil, and natural gas producers to shutter altogether.”

FORMER TRUMP CABINET MEMBERS LAUNCH GROUP TO PROMOTE PRESIDENT’S ENERGY AGENDA

DCOR LLC’s Edith offshore oil and gas platform, right, and Beta Operating Company LLC’s Eureka oil and gas platform stand in the Beta Field off the coast of Long Beach, California, U.S., on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. Photographer: Tim Rue/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Tim Rue)

In total, 38 firms – including American oil giants Exxon and Chevron, the UK’s Shell and BP, and Brazil’s Petrobras – categorized as “carbon polluters” could be on the receiving end of hefty bills, Fox News Digital previously reported.

New York’s effort to hold energy producers accountable comes at a time when the Trump administration is moving in the opposite direction, rolling back climate commitments through a recent executive order.

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Trump signed two executive orders last month dramatically reshaping U.S. energy and environmental policy from the Biden administration’s priorities. The “Unleashing American Energy” order aims to boost domestic fossil fuel production by cutting regulations and expediting permits for oil, gas, and coal projects. Meanwhile, “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements” withdraws the U.S. from global climate commitments, including the Paris Agreement, and halts funding for international climate initiatives. This is the second time under a Trump presidency that the U.S. has exited the Paris Agreement.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the New York governor’s, attorney general’s, and acting tax commissioner’s offices as well as the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for comment.

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

February 6, 2025
First on Fox: Pro-Democrat outside group targets Republican lawmakers with ‘Hands off Medicaid’ blitz

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EXCLUSIVE: A leading nonprofit public advocacy group that focuses on healthcare and aligns with Democrats is launching an ad blitz targeting Republican House lawmakers as part of what it touts as its $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign.

The group, called Protect Our Care, says their push aims to expose what they say is the choice for members of Congress between protecting Medicaid “or giving away new tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.”

The media launch was shared first with Fox News on Thursday.

Protect Our Care says its ads will run on cable news in Washington, D.C., so they can target Republican congressional offices as the House GOP aims to assemble a sweeping budget resolution to pass parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

GOP REBELS PUSH FOR $2.5 TRILLION IN CUTS IN TRUMP BUDGET BILL

A leading nonprofit public advocacy group that focuses on healthcare and aligns with Democrats is launching an ad blitz targeting Republican House lawmakers as part of what it touts as its $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign. (iStock)

And the spots will also run digitally in the districts of Republican Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona (AZ-01), David Valadao of California (CA-22), Young Kim of California (CA-40), Ken Calvert of California (CA-41), Nick LaLota of New York (NY-01), Andrew Garbarino of New York (NY-02), Mike Lawler of New York (NY-17), Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania (PA-07), Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania (PA-08) and Dan Newhouse of Washington state (WA-04).

The GOP lawmakers – in competitive districts – may face difficult re-elections in the 2026 midterms as Republicans defend their current fragile majority in the chamber.

FIRST ON FOX: GOP SENATORS LEAPFROG HOUSE REPUBLICANS IN TRUMP BUDGET BILL BATTLE

The group says the ads will run through next week as House Republicans work to finish their budget resolution, which the group argues could lead to tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and cuts to Medicaid and other critical programs for working class and low-income people.

“It’s unfathomable why anyone would want to gut Medicaid, but Republicans are openly floating cuts to care for seniors, working people and kids., Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach charged in a statement to Fox News.

Dach claimed that “the American people overwhelmingly support Medicaid and will not stand for these extreme attempts to rip away coverage from those who need it most just to give billionaires another tax cut.”

And the narrator in one of the two commercials the group is launching asks, “Which do you think should happen? A billionaire gets a bigger yacht or this child has Medicaid to get the healthcare they need?”

“Some in Congress want to cut their care to pay for this,” the narrator argues. “Call your member of Congress. Tell them to protect Medicaid.”

As congressional Republicans aim to reduce the nation’s massive budget deficit and enact Trump’s domestic agenda, some conservative members are mulling changes to Medicaid, the nearly 60-year-old federal government program that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited incomes.

HOUSE DELAYS KEY VOTE ON TRUMP BUDGET BILL AFTER CONSERVATIVE FURY OVER SPENDING CUTS

That could potentially put some congressional Republicans at odds with the new president.

Trump, on the presidential campaign trail the past two years and the past couple of weeks since returning to power in the White House, has repeatedly pledged not to cut Medicaid, except for cases of fraud and abuse.

President Donald Trump (Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty Images)

And House Speaker Johnson has made clear he doesn’t seek to reduce any benefits.

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“We’re not talking about in any way reducing benefits,” Johnson said recently as he discussed potential changes to Medicaid, along with Medicare and Social Security. “What we’re talking about is efficiencies in the programs to make them work better for the people who receive those benefits and to make them longer lasting to sustain the programs.”

Fox News’ Kelley Phares and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

February 6, 2025
USAID has ‘demonstrated pattern of obstructionism,’ claims top DOGE Republican in letter to Rubio

FIRST ON FOX: The Senate chair of the DOGE Caucus is exposing a “demonstrated pattern of obstructionism” at the U.S.’ top aid agency in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, outlined how the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been “stonewalling” her office for years as she sought documents to ensure taxpayer dollars weren’t wasted at the agency, which is now under the microscope of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“USAID’s spending shows a blatant disregard for the wishes of American taxpayers, and it is time to disrupt the system,” Ernst told Fox News Digital. “The agency has been wasting millions of tax dollars on things like tourism in Lebanon, Sesame Street in Iraq, sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week and so much more.”

In one instance, the Iowa Republican claims USAID misled her staff to believe that details about funds going to businesses in Ukraine were classified, funds that in some instances were used for travel to fashion shows and film festivals.

‘VIPER’S NEST’: USAID ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION, MISMANAGEMENT LONG BEFORE TRUMP ADMIN TOOK AIM

Ernst is chairwoman of the DOGE caucus. (Reuters)

In 2024, after months of delays, USAID finally agreed to offer Ernst’s staff a review of recipients of taxpayer-funded assistance to businesses in Ukraine, according to the letter.

But the agency insisted the documents be reviewed in a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF), suggesting the records would be classified.

“These requirements were all presented to my staff under the false pretense that this data was classified,” Ernst wrote to Rubio. “Only after demanding to speak to your USAID Office of Security, my staff uncovered that this data was, in fact, unclassified.”

Ernst said that based on her staff’s review, it appears that over 5,000 Ukrainian businesses received U.S. taxpayer-funded assistance, with awards of up to $2 million each.

WHAT IS USAID AND WHY IS IT IN TRUMP’S CROSSHAIRS?

That trade assistance was in some instances used to bankroll business owners attending glamorous film festivals and fashion shows in cities like Berlin, Paris and Las Vegas.

She also accused the agency of “misleading” her office on the costs of indirect aid. Negotiated indirect cost agreements (NICRA) allowed contractors to use more than 25 percent of the total award on costs like “rent for a partner’s corporate headquarters, advocacy costs, and other miscellaneous expenses.”

READ ERNST’S LETTER BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

Ernst said her staff reached out in November 2022 asking USAID for information on NICRAs with grant recipients. The agency responded, “USAID does not have a system to track or report on this data, as it is not possible to compare indirect costs between for-profit and nonprofit organizations,” according to Ernst.

In February 2023, Ernst followed up with a link to a publicly reported NICRA database that USAID confirmed does exist.

The agency then said that it “protects the confidential business information of its implementing partners, including NICRAs… outside the scope of a formal oversight request by a committee of jurisdiction.”

USAID is the top U.S. international aid agency, but Republicans argue its funds have been misappropriated. (AP Photo/Desmond Tiro)

Then, Ernst partnered with former House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul to give USAID the request from a “committee of jurisdiction.”

“Even then, USAID refused to permit my staff to acquire the documents or take substantive notes on the NICRA rates. The lack of transparency was alarming because the NICRA rates far exceeded staff’s expected range of indirect costs allowed.”

USAID CLOSES HQ TO STAFFERS MONDAY AS MUSK SAYS TRUMP SUPPORTS SHUTTING AGENCY DOWN

Billionaire Elon Musk, the chair of DOGE, has been leading an investigation into USAID’s spending practices as the agency comes to a standstill. (Getty Images)

Ernst said: “In the wake of this series of significant misjudgments and oversight obstruction by USAID, it is of the utmost importance to conduct a full and independent analysis of the recipients of USAID assistance.”

She also pointed to Chemonics, a government contractor that USAID’s inspector general found over-billed the U.S. government by $270 million through fiscal year 2019. Chemonics led a $9.5 billion USAID project to improve global health supply chains that, “led to 41 arrests and 31 indictments related to illicit resale of USAID funded commodities on the black market, and fueled ongoing allegations that Chemonics falsely portrays its projects’ outcomes to secure future contracts with USAID,” Ernst wrote.

“No more stonewalling,” said Ernst. “We need to scrutinize every last dollar being spent by this rogue agency.”

In a notice posted on its website Tuesday night, USAID announced that all direct hire staff would be placed on leave globally, except for designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.

The Trump administration is now exploring merging the agency with the State Department and Rubio has been appointed its acting director.

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Rubio told reporters in El Salvador the “functions of USAID” must align with foreign policy and called it a “a completely unresponsive agency.”

Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, staged a protest outside the USAID headquarters on Tuesday, arguing that the agency is essential for flexing U.S. soft power throughout the world, preventing and monitoring disease outbreaks, and safeguarding U.S. national security.

“USAID is the backbone of America’s soft power, helping to stabilize fragile regions and protect U.S. interests abroad,” said Reps. Greg Meeks, top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sara Jacobs,Calif., top Democrat on the Africa subcommittee.

“Weakening it will fuel global crises, endanger American security, embolden other nations like China and Russia, and leave the Trump Administration solely responsible for the fallout.”

February 5, 2025
Trump budget bill could see ‘roughly’ $1 trillion in baseline spending cuts, top Republican says

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Republicans were eyeing $1 trillion as a rough baseline for spending cuts as they prepare a massive conservative policy overhaul.

“I think when you look at where we are, we’re close to a trillion and still working,” Scalise said in response to a question by Fox News Digital late Tuesday night. When asked by another reporter later whether Republicans were looking at a $1 trillion baseline, Scalise said, “Roughly.” No final decisions have been made, however.

Republican majorities in the House and Senate are working to codify large swaths of President Donald Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process.

By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, the maneuver allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold.

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise discussed the GOP’s goals of meeting their funding deadlines and enacting Trump policies. (Getty Images)

Disagreements over where to set the floor for spending cuts have put House Republicans behind on their ambitious schedule for reconciliation, which includes a final goal of getting a bill on Trump’s desk in May.

The House Budget Committee was expected to advance an initial resolution for reconciliation this week. That plan was derailed, however, when spending hawks on the panel balked at House GOP leaders’ initial offer of roughly $300 billion as a starting point for rollbacks to federal funding. They also rejected a higher offer nearing $900 billion in cuts, Fox News Digital was told earlier this week.

Scalise told reporters Tuesday night that leaders were now looking at next week to advance the bill out of the House Budget Committee.

Conservatives who spoke with Fox News Digital said they doubted the spending cuts would go much deeper than the agreed-upon floor, but Republican leaders have continued to insist there will be opportunities to find areas for cuts beyond whatever level they settle on.

Chairman Jodey Arrington leads the House Budget Committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Scalise also cautioned that negotiators were working against cost estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan group.

“There are a lot of numbers floating around. I mean, you know, CBO’s got their numbers, and we’ve had real issues with them, because CBO has been wrong so many times, but yet you still have to start with their numbers,” Scalise said. “And then, you know, what kind of economic growth are you gonna get if you have better energy policy and better regulatory policy? And those are real factors. And our members recognize that, but, you know, you’ve got to come to an agreement on what is that growth factor gonna be? What’s a fair number?”

GOP negotiators met on Tuesday evening to chart a path forward. A source familiar with the meeting said Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not commit to anything and discussions are still ongoing.

Republicans are hoping to use reconciliation to pass several Trump policy goals, from more funding at the border to removing taxes on tipped and overtime wages. Lawmakers are also eyeing new defense funding and pro-fossil fuel energy measures.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has not committed to any one path forward. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

House Republicans had planned to pass their reconciliation bill first, but it appears time could be running short. Senate Republicans have signaled they are ready to move ahead with their own plan if infighting delays the House GOP’s schedule.

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Asked about the prospect of the Senate moving first, Johnson told reporters on Tuesday, “Senate will not take the lead. We’re going to, and we’re right on schedule.”

Scalise similarly said that delaying the committee mark up to next week will not alter Republicans’ overall timeline.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

February 5, 2025