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Tag: Trump

Hiding kids’ ‘gender identity’ from parents is common in blue state fighting Trump on trans issues

More than 50 school districts in Maine have policies that allow minors to hide their gender identity from their parents, according to a new watchdog report.

Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization tracking gender ideologies in schools across the country, filed public records requests to confirm that at least 57 of the state’s 192 school districts have policies excluding parents from knowing whether their children identify as another gender.

The report comes after President Donald Trump chastised Democrat Maine Gov. Janet Millis last week over her refusal to enforce Trump’s “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order.

TRUMP VOWS TO CUT OFF FEDERAL FUNDING TO MAINE OVER REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH ‘NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS’ ORDER

President Trump and the Department of Education building. (Getty Images)

“It was totally unsurprising to see the governor of Maine go to the mat to keep males in women’s sports when over 50 school districts in Maine have written policies to deceive parents about their own child,” PDE spokesperson Erika Sanzi told Fox News Digital Friday.

“We have seen a groundswell of parents in Maine speaking out about this now that they are aware of it, and it is our hope that districts begin to roll back these policies, not only because of the executive orders from the Trump administration but because nearly 80% of their constituents oppose them,” she said.

In one example from the state’s largest district, Portland Public Schools, district policy on “transgender and gender expansive students” requires that if “a student and their parent or legal guardian do not agree with regard to the student’s gender identity or gender expression, the school shall abide by the wishes of the student with regard to their gender identity and gender expression while at school.

“School staff shall comply with the student’s wishes regarding disclosure of their transgender status to others, including but not limited to parents or guardians, students, volunteers or other school staff, unless the student has explicitly authorized the disclosure or unless legally required to do so.”

MAINE FEMALE ATHLETE ‘GRATEFUL’ FOR TRUMP’S FOCUS ON TRANS COMPETITORS AFTER LOCAL LEADERS ‘FAILED’ GIRLS

A student leads a group of demonstrators in Knoxville, Tenn., in protest of the state’s 2022 transgender athlete ban. (Saul Young/Knoxville News-Sentinel /USA Today)

Policies like Portland’s are also still in place after Trump signed an executive order at the end of January, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which states that “steering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent or involvement or allowing males access to private spaces designated for females may contravene Federal laws that protect parental rights.”

Trump has already threatened to cut off Maine’s federal funding if it continues to defy his orders.

“I heard men are still playing in Maine,” Trump told to a gathering of Republican governors in Washington last week.

“I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to give them any federal money. They are still saying, ‘We want men to play in women’s sports,’ and I cannot believe that they’re doing that. … So, we’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up.”

MAINE STATE REP TALKS ‘EXTREME’ TRANSGENDER ATHLETE POLICY

President Donald Trump told Maine Gov. Janet Mills her state needs to comply with an executive order on transgender athletes in school sports during a Feb. 21, 2025, event at the White House. (Reuters Photos | Pool)

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Trump signed the executive order barring men from women’s sports earlier this month, which directs federal agencies to review grants, programs and policies that fail to align with efforts to block male participation in women’s sports “as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.” The order mandates strict enforcement of Title IX and threatens to revoke federal funding from noncompliant educational institutions and athletic organizations.

After the order, several other blue states indicated they would not be complying with it, including California and Minnesota.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Maine Department of Education for comment.

Jamie Joseph is a U.S. Politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering transgender and culture issues, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and stateside legislative developments.

March 2, 2025
Democrats say Musk and Trump ‘must be stopped’ after over 800 fired from weather agency

The country’s top weather and climate monitoring agency has become the latest target of layoffs within the federal government, according to Democratic lawmakers speaking out against the Trump administration.

At least 880 workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the country’s national weather service, were fired Thursday, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in a press release as the Trump administration works to downsize and cut federal costs.

“The firings jeopardize our ability to forecast and respond to extreme weather events like hurricanes, wildfires and floods — putting communities in harm’s way,” Cantwell added.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., in a post on X Thursday, seconded Cantwell’s claim, writing, “Today, we learned that Trump and Musk are firing HUNDREDS of vital NOAA employees — another blatantly illegal action that must be stopped.”

‘FIRED ME ILLEGALLY’: EMOTIONAL EX-USAID EMPLOYEES LEAVE BUILDING WITH BELONGINGS AFTER MASS LAYOFFS

Democratic lawmakers say Musk is behind the layoffs at NOAA. (Getty Images)

Another Democrat, Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., also reported “unconscionable” mass firings at the weather agency.

‘IF YOU DON’T ANSWER … YOU’RE FIRED’: TRUMP STANDS BEHIND MUSK’S DOGE PRODUCTIVITY EMAIL

“Once again, the reckless Trump Administration is inflicting tremendous harm upon the American people. Today, hundreds of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including weather forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS), were given termination notices for no good reason,” Meng wrote in a statement.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center Feb. 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (Andrew Harnik)

The reported layoffs come just weeks after Van Hollen said he heard reports that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was “targeting” the weather agency in early February.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, wrote the cuts were “profoundly alarming” and affected “meteorologists, data and computer scientists responsible for maintaining and upgrading weather predictive models, and technicians responsible for maintaining the nation’s weather instrumentation network.

Over 800 employees were reportedly fired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week. (AP Images)

“This is not, in short, an acceptable setting in which to ‘move fast and break things.’”

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A NOAA spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Per long-standing practice, we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters,” adding the agency “remains dedicated to its mission, providing timely information, research and resources that serve the American public and ensure our nation’s environmental and economic resilience.”

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

March 1, 2025
President Donald Trump pumps up Rep. Byron Donalds in race to succeed Florida Gov. DeSantis

President Donald Trump is making it very clear whom he would support in the blockbuster 2026 gubernatorial race to succeed term-limited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“I am hearing that Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is considering running for Governor of Florida, a State that I love, and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024,” Trump, a Florida resident, wrote in a social media post on Thursday.

And the president emphasized that Donalds, a longtime Trump friend, ally and supporter, “would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida.”

Trump added that Donalds, “should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!”

WHAT BYRON DONALDS SAID ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY

Byron Donalds speaks inside the Capital One arena at an event for President Donald Trump, on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington D.C., on January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Segar (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Donalds, a conservative former state lawmaker who has represented parts of southwest Florida’s 19th District in Congress for four years, has been eyeing a potential gubernatorial bid for nearly a year.

“I’ve thought about it. I don’t really rule anything out,” Donalds said in a Fox News Digital interview last spring when asked about a possible run for governor.

Sources confirmed to Fox News last month that Donalds had been telling potential donors and Florida political players that he intends to run for governor.

WHY TRUMP IS PRAISING ONE-TIME PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY RIVAL DESANTIS

Another signal also came last month, when Donalds hired prominent Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio’s research firm. Fabrizio was a top pollster in Trump’s 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns.

Sources in Florida tell Fox News that Donalds, behind the scenes, continues to make moves towards launching a gubernatorial campaign.

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida speaks during Day 1 of the Republican National Convention, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

And a source in Donalds’ political orbit told Fox News on Thursday that the congressman has been pushing hard for a Trump endorsement, in an effort to crowd out potential rivals for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Another prominent Florida Republican who’s seriously considering a run for governor is state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, the former president of the state Senate.

There’s also been some speculation that DeSantis’ wife, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, was potentially considering a run to succeed her husband in Tallahassee. A poll released earlier this week, which suggested Casey DeSantis would be favored in the race, grabbed plenty of attention.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who was Trump’s first choice for attorney general in his second administration before dropping out amid controversy, late last year made some noise about potentially running for governor. But there’s been little buzz in recent weeks about a possible Gaetz campaign.

Dan Eberhart, a Florida-based oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor who’s raised big bucks for Trump and DeSantis in recent years and who is also in Donalds’ political orbit, told Fox News that Donalds, if he runs, would “bring a fresh conservative vision for Florida’s future that will be hard to beat.”

The social media post by Trump was his second this week to pump up Donalds.

Trump on Monday showcased a screen grab of a poll conducted by a group aligned with Donalds that indicated the congressman leading in a hypothetical 2026 Florida gubernatorial match-up.

Trump has been talking up Donalds for over a year when it comes to a possible run for governor. At a closed-door fundraiser in New York City last spring, Trump suggested that if Donalds ran for Florida governor, he’d have “many friends in the race.”

Donalds, speaking with Fox News Digital soon after Trump made the comments, said “it’s really cool that people back home in Florida consider me to be able to be the state’s next governor. It’s really an honor. It’s honestly surreal thinking about it because I’m 45 and my journey through politics has been a really fruitful one.”

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With Florida, which was once a top general election battleground state, now firmly red, the slowly emerging GOP gubernatorial nomination fight will be greatly impacted by Trump’s endorsement in his adopted home state.

But not to be discounted is any possible endorsement by DeSantis in the race to succeed the governor.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.

February 21, 2025
‘I didn’t know that’: Musk surprises Trump with revelation about his 2024 endorsement

DOGE chief Elon Musk revealed details about his thought process on endorsing President Trump during a sit-down interview with Trump and Fox News anchor Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that the president said he had not heard before.

“I was going to do it anyway,” Musk said during the interview that aired Tuesday night when Hannity mentioned that his endorsement of Trump came after an attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania on the campaign trail.

“That was it?” Hannity said.

“That was a precipitating event,” Musk said.

KAROLINE LEAVITT: TRUMP, ELON MUSK’S DOGE TEAM ARE DOING WHAT DEMOCRATS PROMISED ‘FOR DECADES’

Musk endorsed Trump shortly after the assassination attempt on his life (AP/Gene J. Puskar/Julia Nikhinson)

“That sped it up a little bit?” Trump then said to Musk. “I didn’t know that.”

Musk responded, “It sped it up, but I was going to do it anyway.”

EXPERT REVEALS MASSIVE LEVELS OF WASTE DOGE CAN SLASH FROM ENTITLEMENTS, PET PROJECTS: ‘A LOT OF FAT’

Elon Musk speaks during an event in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP Images)

Musk announced that he “fully supports” former President Trump after gunshots rang out at his Pennsylvania rally in July in a move that many, including some Democrats, believe played a significant role in Trump’s campaign.

“Not even just that he has endorsed [Trump], but the fact that now he’s becoming an active participant and showing up and doing rallies and things like that,” Dem. Sen. John Fetterman told the New York Times in October, explaining that the enormously successful Tesla and SpaceX CEO is an attractive figure for the kinds of voters Harris needs to win.

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US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after landing at the Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 16, 2025 (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)

“I mean, [Musk] is incredibly successful, and, you know, I think some people would see him as, like, a Tony Stark,” said Fetterman, referencing the popular Marvel Comics character. “Democrats, you know, kind of make light of it, or they make fun of him jumping up and down and things like that. And I would just say that they are doing that at our peril.”

In an interview with CNN, Fetterman added, “Endorsements, they’re really not meaningful often, but this one is, I think. That has me concerned.”

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

February 19, 2025
Battle of the chambers: Trump budget test vote cleared in Senate as House GOP lags behind

‘Kudlow’ panelists Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, and Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., discuss delivering on President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The Senate pressed on with its effort to pass a key President Donald Trump agenda item before the Republicans in the House of Representatives get a chance to do it their way.

Republicans advanced a budget resolution in a 50-47 vote to tackle part of Trump’s goals on Tuesday night after moving it through the all-important budget committee last week.

“It’s time to act on the decisive mandate the American people gave to President Trump in November. Securing the border, rebuilding our defense, and unleashing American energy. That starts this week with passing Chairman [Sen. Lindsey Graham’s] budget. Let’s get it done,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., wrote in a post on X ahead of the vote.

MCCONNELL’S MENTAL ACUITY TARGETED BY TRUMP AFTER EX-SENATE LEADER JOINS DEMS AGAINST CABINET NOMINEES

The Senate maneuvered past a procedural hurdle on its preferred Trump budget bill after leapfrogging the House Republicans who were expected to take the lead on the process. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

The progress on the Senate GOP’s preferred two-pronged budget reconciliation approach adds fuel to the growing dispute between the upper and lower chambers on how to proceed. The House and Senate GOP’s have favored different ways to use the crucial reconciliation process to achieve Trump’s priorities quickly, and up until recent weeks, the lower chamber was expected to take the lead.

The reconciliation process lowers the threshold to advance a bill in the Senate from 60 votes to just 51. And with a 53-vote majority in the upper chamber, Republicans are poised to push policies through with only support from the GOP conference.

In the Senate Republicans’ plan, the first reconciliation bill would include Trump’s priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense. The second bill, drawn up later in the year, would focus on extending Trump’s tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The cuts begin to expire at the end of 2025.

DEMS TORCHED OVER DOGE SECURITY CLAIMS AFTER ALLOWING ‘WIDE-OPEN’ BORDER, ‘EMPOWERING IRAN’

House Republicans have long-favored one large reconciliation bill that includes all of Trump’s agenda items, from border security to tax cuts.

However, the lower chamber failed to move before its Senate counterpart.

“I’m afraid it’s a nonstarter over here. And, you know, I’ve expressed that to him. And there is no animus or daylight between us. We all are trying to get to the same achievable objectives. And there’s just, you know, different ideas on how to get there,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., previously said of the Senate’s bill.

Johnson said the bill would be dead on arrival in the House. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Ahead of the Senate’s Tuesday test vote, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., called on Republicans to pass the House bill, “It’s time to act on ALL of the powerful mandates the American people gave to [Trump] in November: Securing the border, opening up American energy to lower costs, keeping tax rates low (including no tax on tips), strengthening our national defense, a two-year extension of the debt ceiling, and passing into law DOGE’s identified waste in government.”

“All of Trump’s priorities in one big, beautiful bill start moving when we pass [Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington’s] budget. Let’s go Make America Great Again!” Scalise added.

TRUMP AGRICULTURE PICK CONFIRMED AS PRESIDENT RACKS UP CABINET WINS

In the upper chamber, facing pressure as the Senate Budget Committee chairman, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., brought up the first bill of two in his committee last week as Trump officials stressed an urgent need for border funding to Congress. The House GOP recently moved its own large bill through committee.

Republicans in the lower chamber have held that taking on two bills as opposed to one would leave them vulnerable to failure when it comes to passing tax cuts later in the year. With a slim and sometimes unruly Republican majority, the House Republicans expect they would have better odds with a one-bill reconciliation approach.

Graham moved the budget bill through his committee last week. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Despite this, the Senate appears to be pressing forward on its two-pronged bid, setting up a potential “vote-a-rama” in the coming days.

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The Senate budget vote triggered a 50-hour clock for debate on the reconciliation measure. A marathon of votes on an unlimited number of amendments is expected to follow at some point during the days-long debate. Senators can offer up as many amendments as they want to the resolution, forcing Republicans to take a large number of potentially uncomfortable votes.

As long as senators keep offering amendments, the Senate has to keep voting on them, one after another. Once the budget debate clock runs out, the Senate can vote on actually passing the reconciliation resolution.

February 19, 2025
Trump orders all Biden-era US attorneys to be fired: ‘We must clean house immediately’

President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department to fire all U.S. attorneys left over from the Biden administration.

“We must “clean house” IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.” America’s Golden Age must have a fair Justice System – THAT BEGINS TODAY!”

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates.

February 19, 2025
First openly gay DC federal judge rakes Trump admin over military trans ban

The first openly gay federal judge in D.C. spent hours Tuesday grilling the Trump administration over its attempt to codify terms of service for transgender service members in the U.S. military, seeking to determine the extent of potential harm to transgender military personnel.

At issue is a Jan. 27 executive order signed by President Donald Trump requiring the Defense Department to update its guidance regarding “trans-identifying medical standards for military service,” and to “rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyers harshly questioned the Trump administration at length over the order, demanding to know whether it was a “transgender ban” and if the government’s position is that being transgender is an “ideology.”

Civil rights groups sued earlier this month to block the order on behalf of six transgender U.S. service members, arguing that the order is both discriminatory and unconstitutional, and alleging it threatens U.S. national security, as well as years of training and financial investments made by the Department of Defense.

JUDGE DENIES DEMOCRAT-LED EFFORT TO BLOCK DOGE ACCESS, CITING LACK OF PROVEN HARM

E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse is seen after former President Donald Trump’s arraignment on August 3, 2023, in Washington, D.C. ((Photo by Sha Hanting/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images))

Tuesday’s court hearing focused largely on how, or to what extent, the order might cause harm to transgender service members. While Trump has instructed that “radical gender ideology” be banned from all military branches, the executive order stopped short of detailing how the Pentagon should do this, prompting a flurry of questions and concerns from plaintiffs and the judge.

Reyes, a Biden appointee and first openly gay member of the D.C. federal bench, spent much of the hearing Tuesday asking how the order would be implemented and whether the transgender service members named in the lawsuit would be removed from their roles or separated from their units.

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

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers remarks during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon on Feb. 5 in Arlington, Va. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Can we agree that the greatest fighting force that world history has ever seen is not going to be impacted in any way by less than 1% of soldiers using a different pronoun than others might want to call them,” she asked Lynch.

At another point in the hearing, she challenged lawyers for the Justice Department to find her a declarant or any commissioned officer who would get on the stand and tell the court that they’ve been harmed by the pronoun use of transgender military members.

“I’ll get you a box of cigars,” Reyes told Lynch.

“If you can find someone who will tell me we’re less prepared because we have to use pronouns for a few thousand people… have at it.”

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

Aerial view of the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2024. Home to the US Defense Department, the Pentagon is one of the world’s largest office buildings. (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Lych noted in response that the administration is still awaiting further guidance on the terms of the transgender executive order, which will determine its impact on personnel, including the six transgender plaintiffs named in the case.

That answer did little to assuage concerns of Judge Reyes, who told Lynch the government must inform the court by Wednesday whether they can ensure that the named service members would not be removed from their roles in the military or face discrimination as a direct result of the executive order.

Should they fail to do that, the judge said, the court will reconvene Friday to consider plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order.

Beyond the facts of the case, Reyes did little to disguise her displeasure with the order itself.

At one point during the hearing, she posed a hypothetical to the Justice Department’s attorney, asking: “If you were in a foxhole” with another service member, “you wouldn’t care about their gender ideology, right?”

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She went on to suggest Lynch would be happy to be next to someone with their commendations and bravery.

Lynch agreed he doubted that gender identity would be on his mind in that situation.

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
President Trump looks to bring manufacturing back to US with tariffs

FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti reports on how one American business owner is capitalizing on President Donald Trump’s tariff plan.

President Donald Trump is looking to boost American manufacturing and its competitiveness with tariffs.

Last week, the nation’s 47th president moved to reinstate a 25% tariff on steel imports and lift the tariff on aluminum imports to 25%, using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

The White House has argued those tariffs will help with “revitalizing the domestic steel and aluminum industries” and bring back manufacturing.

WHO GETS HIT HARDEST BY STEEL AND ALUMINUM TARIFFS?

President Donald Trump signs executive orders, imposing 25% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, the latest salvo in his ongoing effort to overhaul the U.S. trading relationship with the rest of the world. (Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty Images)

More recently, the Trump administration also unveiled a plan to develop reciprocal tariffs.

“It is fair to all, no other Country can complain and, in some cases, if a Country feels that the United States would be getting too high a Tariff, all they have to do is reduce or terminate their Tariff against us,” Trump said in a TruthSocial post about the plan. “There are no Tariffs if you manufacture or build your product in the United States.”

He also said it was time countries “treat us fairly – A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR AMERICAN WORKERS.”

FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti recently spoke to Mark Andol, the founder of Made in America Store, a business that stocks its shelves solely with products made in the U.S. and that seeks to increase American manufacturing.

“I don’t have [anything] that plugs in or takes a battery out of 15,000 products, and I said we’ve been to the moon but we can’t make a toaster. We’ve got to want. You’ve got to make ‘Made in America’ important again,” he said.

Meanwhile, Flying Bison Brewing Company founder Tim Herzog told Simonetti tariffs could negatively impact costs.

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“Where we are, the light delicate malt that’s the popular malt for beers right now is from Canada. Some is grown in northern New York state, sent to Canada to be malted, comes back over the border, so it’s going to get tariffs going over and it’s going to get tariffs coming back,” he said. “The price is going to go crazy.”

The number of manufacturing employees in the U.S. stood at a preliminary 12.76 million as of January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is millions fewer than the numbers seen in the ‘80s and ’90s.

There were nearly 403,000 private manufacturing establishments in the U.S. at the end of 2024’s second quarter, according to preliminary data from the BLS.

TRUMP’S TREASURY SECRETARY SHUTS DOWN ANY TARIFF CONCERNS, PRAISES ‘FRICTIONLESS GLOBAL TRADE’

Trump has been busy pursuing other tariffs since taking office as well.

Donald Trump (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

He inked executive orders for 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China this month. However, his administration paused the levies focused on America’s northern and southern neighbors for one month after Canada and Mexico both agreed to take steps to heighten enforcement on their borders with the U.S.

Those were implemented in response to the “extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs” that the Trump administration said were coming across the borders, according to a White House press release.

February 18, 2025
Trump warns agency leaders against ‘wasteful spending’ in new memo

President Donald Trump issued an unsmiling warning to bureaucrats on Tuesday, ordering that leaders of government agencies begin to be “radically transparent” about spending.

The White House published a memo entitled “Radical Transparency About Wasteful Spending” on Tuesday afternoon, directed at the heads of executive departments and agencies.

The memo begins by arguing that the American government “spends too much money on programs, contracts, and grants that do not promote the interests of the American people.”

“For too long, taxpayers have subsidized ideological projects overseas and domestic organizations engaged in actions that undermine the national interest,” the note continues. “The American people have seen their tax dollars used to fund the passion projects of unelected bureaucrats rather than to advance the national interest.”

HOMAN TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CROSSINGS PLUMMET DURING TRUMP ADMIN: ‘HE IS DELIVERING’

U.S. President Donald Trump steps from Air Force One upon arrival in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 16, 2025. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

“The American people have a right to see how the Federal Government has wasted their hard-earned wages.”

Trump continued the memo by ordering that all heads of executive departments and agencies must “take all appropriate actions to make public, to the maximum extent permitted by law…the complete details of every terminated program, cancelled contract, terminated grant, or any other discontinued obligation of Federal funds.”

“Agencies shall ensure that such publication occurs in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the underlying contract, grant, or other award,” Trump continued.

EMMANUEL MACRON CALLS ‘EMERGENCY MEETING’ FOR EUROPEAN LEADERS TO DISCUSS TRUMP: REPORT

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, where he signed an executive order, on Thursday, Feb. 13. (AP/Ben Curtis)

The memo came as Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) commission continues to audit government agencies with a mission to reduce waste. On Monday night, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared on “Hannity” to express support for DOGE’s audits.

“[L]isten to the words from those Democrat politicians, you would think you are listening to President Trump, Elon Musk and our entire administration, who are saying the exact same things that Democrat politicians promised the American people they would do for decades,” Leavitt said. “President Trump is just the first president in our lifetimes to actually do it.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C. on January 31, 2025. (BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

“And now you see the Democrat Party and the mainstream media spiraling out of control about a very simple promise: rooting out waste, fraud and abuse from our federal bureaucracy,” she continued. “This is a promise President Trump campaigned on. He is now delivering on it.”

Andrea Margolis is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can send story tips to [email protected].

February 18, 2025
Trump signs executive order to make IVF more affordable and accessible

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other fertility treatments through the reduction of out-of-pocket costs.

IVF has become unaffordable for many Americans, and Trump’s executive order directs the Domestic Policy Council to find ways to make IVF and other fertility treatments more affordable.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted about the order shortly after it was signed.

“PROMISES MADE. PROMISES KEPT: President Trump just signed an Executive Order to Expand Access to IVF!” she wrote on X. “The Order directs policy recommendations to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments.”

JUDGE DENIES DEMOCRAT-LED EFFORT TO BLOCK DOGE ACCESS, CITING LACK OF PROVEN HARM

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., expressed gratitude on X after learning the president had expanded access to IVF.

“Thank you, @POTUS! Yet another promise kept,” Britt wrote. “IVF is profoundly pro-family, and I’m proud to work with President Trump on ensuring more loving parents can start and grow their families.”

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

Trump pledged on the campaign trail that if he won a second term, he would mandate free in vitro fertilization treatment for women.

“I’m announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment,” Trump told the crowd at Alro Steel in Potterville, Michigan, back in August. “Because we want more babies, to put it nicely.”

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

Boston, MA – March 15: A microscopic view of a cryo solution during embryo prep in the IVF lab at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

IVF treatments are notoriously expensive and can cost tens of thousands of dollars for a single round. Many women require multiple rounds, and there is no guarantee of success.

Trump’s announcement, which was short on details, came after he faced intense scrutiny from Democrats for his role in appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, sending the issue of abortion back to the states.

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Trump has tried to present himself as moderate on the issue, going as far as declaring himself “very strong on women’s reproductive rights.”

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

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @GregWehner.

February 18, 2025