Happy New Year 2025

Tag: Trump

TikTok suppressed content critical of Trump, exclusive report alleges

EXCLUSIVE: As the Trump administration works to keep TikTok legally available in the United States, the wildly popular app has suppressed content critical of President Donald Trump, according to a new report shared exclusively with Fox News.

TikTok maintains the report has reached a false conclusion, and that the researchers used terms subjected to additional safety measures because they’ve been associated with election misinformation or profanity.

The report, from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutgers University, contained findings that “highlight TikTok’s ability to act as a powerful influence tool, adaptable to partisan politics, but with no inherent incentive for transparency or accountability.”

CHINESE AI STARTUP DEEPSEEK FACING HACK, BLOCKS QUESTIONS ABOUT COMMUNIST PARTY TIES

“What you’re seeing is not sweeping policies around content moderation that can be battle tested by the public or by researchers,” said Adam Sohn, an NCRI board member. “TikTok seems to be just sort of picking and choosing their policies based on political expediency, and that’s a big concern.”

President-elect Trump is pictured in front of the TikTok logo. (Getty Images)

NCRI said it analyzed TikTok, X, and Instagram “to evaluate their handling of specific hashtags associated with the 2020 election controversy” and that researchers received a response that “explicitly indicated content suppression based on TikTok’s enforcement of its community standards.”

The group said terms such as “#RiggedElection,” “#VoterFraud,” “#StopTheSteal,” and “#StolenElection” returned no results on TikTok in the U.S. Researchers said that when they searched using software that swapped their domestic location for one overseas, those terms produced video results.

Screen grabs provided by NCRI show a Jan. 24 TikTok search for “#F***JoeBiden” that returned 37,000 results. A search the same day for “#F***Trump” returned none. Three days later, Fox News replicated the search and there were videos listed under both.

REPUBLICAN STATE AGS AWAIT TRUMP-BROKERED TIKTOK DEAL, REMAIN SKEPTICAL ON APP SAFETY

“The concern is that the Chinese Communist Party and Bytedance and TikTok itself can consistently tweak its algorithm to cover up its tracks,” Sohn said.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 23, 2023 in Washington, DC. The hearing was a rare opportunity for lawmakers to question the leader of the short-form social media video app about the company’s relationship with its Chinese owner, ByteDance, and how they handle users’ sensitive personal data. Some local, state, and federal government agencies have been banning the use of TikTok by employees, citing concerns about national security. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Our policies and algorithms haven’t changed in the last week,” said a TikTok spokesperson.

The company maintains hashtags regarding the 2020 election controversies have promoted election misinformation, which is why they’ve been unavailable. TikTok contends that because the anti-Trump and anti-Biden search terms contain profanity, the app can limit those results. The company also says it’s experiencing technical issues as it’s trying to return its service to normal.

Last year, Congress passed a bipartisan law that would ban TikTok if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, failed to sell the app by Jan. 19. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law. ByteDance still owns TikTok, but Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban’s enforcement for 75 days while his administration tries to negotiate an agreement for the app to comply with the law and keep it operating in the U.S.

NCRI has issued several reports on TikTok, concluding its search algorithm produced results to construct a favorable view of China’s government. TikTok has denied that allegation, calling NCRI’s work “flawed” and “clearly engineered to reach a false, predetermined conclusion.” In its arguments against TikTok, the Justice Department under the Biden administration cited NCRI’s reports.

A screenshot of an update in the TikTok app on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (Fox News Digital)

Cybersecurity experts told Fox that algorithms for apps like TikTok are held closely by their parent companies and can be difficult to evaluate.

“Doing sort of this community management of these vast social media platforms, especially TikTok, which is so popular, is a Herculean task,” said Theresa Payton, a cybersecurity expert and the White House Chief Information Officer in the George W. Bush administration. “It could be that as they were making tweaks to handle capacity, to be able to more closely evaluate things that could be perceived as election interference, things that are considered hate speech.”

Others note social media companies have sizable teams working with automated software to moderate content on their platforms.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Someone interprets something as in terms of a violation [that] may not match with someone else – it all sort of has to add up to a pattern,” said Pete Pachal, the Founder of The Media Copilot, a newsletter on AI changing media and journalism. “In the report, they do a very good job of showing that this pattern of supposed repression … content not appearing in searches does tend to happen more in one direction, and that should arouse a certain amount of suspicion.”

Rich Edson currently serves as a senior national correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the FOX Business Network (FBN) as a Washington correspondent in October 2007 and transitioned to FNC in 2015.

January 29, 2025
President Donald Trump to deport Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, defund CRT with new executive orders

President Donald Trump is expected to order a law enforcement crackdown on antisemitism on college campuses, including removing pro-Hamas activists with student visas from the country, Fox News has learned.

Trump’s directive gives all federal agencies a 60-day window to identify civil and criminal authorities available to combat antisemitism and deport anti-Jewish activists who broke any laws.

“Immediate action will be taken by the Department of Justice to protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities,” a White House fact sheet obtained by Fox News states.

Additionally, Trump is expected to sign two education-related executive orders: one that will strip federal funding from K-12 schools that teach Critical Race Theory or radical gender ideology and another that will support school choice.

COACH SUSPENDED AFTER HANGING UP PALESTINIAN FLAG, REFUSING TO SHAKE HANDS WITH JEWISH COACHES

Police officers set up fences at the scene of the anti-Israel protest at Columbia University. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)

House Republicans released report last month that urged the federal government to do more to combat antisemitism, including by conditioning federal aid to colleges to incentivize more strict policies against anti-Jewish bias, the New York Post reported.

The report came after Columbia University and other major schools were host to anti-Israel encampments on campus, where numerous antisemitic incidents were reported in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks in southern Israel.

Republicans accused Biden’s State Department and Department of Homeland Security of stonewalling requests for the number of visa holders among those anti-Israel agitators, the GOP report said, according to the Post.

“Immediately after the jihadist terrorist attacks against the people of Israel on October 7, 2023, pro-Hamas aliens and left-wing radicals began a campaign of intimidation, vandalism, and violence on the campuses and streets of America,” the Trump White House fact sheet states.

WASHINGTON POST CRITICIZES PRO-PALESTINIAN GROUP US GOVERNMENT DECLARED A ‘SHAM CHARITY’ FOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

Anti-Israel demonstrators deface property on the day of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2024. (Katie Pavlich)

The White House said the previous administration turned a “blind eye” to campus antisemitism and a “coordinated assault on public order” that Trump has promised to reverse.

His selection of Israel ally Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has already signaled strong support for the Jewish state against Israel’s critics around the world.

Since 2023, Stefanik has served as a conservative firebrand who has repeatedly grilled “morally bankrupt” college leaders over their handling of antisemitism on campus following the Hamas terror attacks on Israel.

Most notably, Stefanik grilled Ivy League college administrators from Penn and Harvard, her alma mater, in December 2023 regarding whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates the respective school’s codes of conduct. The school leaders, however, waffled in their responses.

ISRAELI COLUMBIA PROFESSOR WANTS TRUMP TO BLOCK CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS FROM RECEIVING FEDERAL FUNDING

Anti-Israel protestors hang signs from Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Columbia announced earlier today that its campus would remain closed “until circumstances allow otherwise”, after students occupied Hamilton Hall early this morning. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

“It can be, depending on the context,” Harvard’s then-President Claudine Gay responded when asked if “calling for the genocide of Jews” violated school conduct rules.

“Antisemitic speech when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation – that is actionable conduct, and we do take action,” Gay said when pressed to answer “yes” or “no” if calls for the genocide of Jews breaks school rules.

Both Gay and Penn’s then-President Liz Magill resigned from their high-profile positions shortly after the hearing, while footage of the exchanges spread like wildfire on social media.

Trump’s attempt to crack down on funding for schools that fail to fight antisemitism or promote Critical Race Theory comes amid intense controversy over an Office of Management and Budget memo announcing a temporary freeze to all federal aid and assistance programs – with potentially trillions of taxpayer dollars halted.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

A federal judge on Tuesday paused the freeze in response to a lawsuit brought by nearly two dozen Democratic attorneys general.

In his first term, Trump threatened to strip federal funding from cities that failed to stop anti-police riots that followed the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, but he left office before he could make good on that threat, the Post reported.

Chris Pandolfo is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

January 29, 2025
Howard Lutnick, Trump Commerce secretary pick, says it’s ‘nonsense’ that tariffs cause inflation

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Commerce Department Howard Lutnick told senators the argument that tariffs cause inflation is “nonsense” during a confirmation hearing.

“The two top countries with tariffs, India and China, do have the most tariffs and no inflation,” Lutnick noted.

“A particular product’s price may go up,” he conceded, while arguing that levies would not cause broad inflation. “It is just nonsense to say that tariffs cause inflation. It’s nonsense.”

Lutnick testified before members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Wednesday ahead of an impending committee and full Senate floor vote to confirm him to the Cabinet position.

Inflation, which ticked as high as 9.1% in June 2022 under the Biden administration, became a defining issue in the 2024 election as Trump promised to bring household prices back down.

Lutnick also said he prefers “across-the-board” tariffs on a “country-by-country” basis, rather than ones aimed at particular sectors or products.

A VICTORY FOR TRUMP’S ‘FAFO’: HOW THE WHITE HOUSE STRONG-ARMED ONE-TIME CLOSE ALLY COLOMBIA OVER IMMIGRATION

Howard Lutnick, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be commerce secretary, testifies before a Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

“I think when you pick one product in Mexico, they’ll pick one product. You know, we pick avocados, they pick white corn, we pick tomatoes, they pick yellow corn. All you’re doing is picking on farmers.”

“Let America make it more fair. We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better,” Lutnick went on.

“We can use tariffs to create reciprocity.”

He said Trump, a longtime friend, was of a “like mind” that tariffs need to be simple.

“The steel and aluminum had 560,000 applications for exclusions,” said Lutnick. “It just seems that’s too many.”

Trump recently signed an executive order directing the Commerce Department and the office of the US Trade Representative to conduct a review of U.S. trade policy and tariff models, with a focus on China. Trump has said he intends to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 amid concerns of mass migration and drug trafficking. He also said he would increase tariffs on China by 10%.

Lutnick also sounded off about Europe treating U.S. industry unfairly.

AOC ROASTED OVER POST ABOUT COLOMBIA TARIFFS AND COFFEE PRICES THAT ‘AGED LIKE HOT MILK’

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks next to CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and Trump’s nominee for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 16, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

“I think our farmers and ranchers and fishermen are treated with disrespect overseas,” he said.

“Europe, for example, comes up with all these sort of policies, that our ranchers can’t sell steak. If you if you saw European, steer and an American steer, it’s laughable. The American steers are three times this size. The steaks are so much more beautiful.”

“But they make up this nonsensical set of rules so that our ranchers can’t sell there.”

Lutnick said Chinese tariffs “should be the highest.” “But the fact that we Americans cannot sell an American car in Europe is just wrong. And it needs to be fixed.

Trucks travel across the World Trade International Bridge in Laredo, Texas, U.S., on Monday, June 10, 2019. (Photographer: Callaghan O’Hare/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“While they’re an ally, they are taking advantage of us and disrespecting us. And I would like that to end.”

His comments echoed those of Trump last week.

“The European Union is very, very bad to us,” he said. “So they’re going to be in for tariffs. It’s the only way … you’re going to get fairness.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The governments of Mexico, Canada and nations in Europe have prepared a list of their own U.S. imports that will face tariffs in a tit-for-tat trade war if Trump follows through on taxing their own goods as they’re brought into the U.S.

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said Monday that European nations needed to united to use their collective economic force against the U.S. if needed.

“As the United States shifts to a more transactional approach, Europe needs to close ranks,” she said at a news conference in Brussels. “Europe is an economic heavyweight and geopolitical partner.”

January 29, 2025
Lee Zeldin faces vote to lead key environmental agency in Trump administration

The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to confirm former Rep. Lee Zeldin to head the government’s leading agency on environmental rules and regulations.

President Donald Trump tapped Zeldin, who previously served as a congressman from New York’s 1st Congressional District from 2015 to 2023, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under his administration. During his tenure in Congress, Zeldin, an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, launched a campaign for governor in New York, when he trailed only five percentage points in the largely Democratic state.

Zeldin underwent a confirmation hearing earlier this month, when he was questioned on climate change by members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

The Senate held a cloture vote for Zeldin on Wednesday afternoon, which ended the debate over his nomination. The chamber will now proceed to a final floor vote.

ZELDIN GRILLED BY DEMOCRATS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, TRUMP’S STANCE ON CARBON EMISSIONS DURING EPA HEARING

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, appears before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

If confirmed on Wednesday, Zeldin will head the agency that surveys environmental issues, provides assistance to wide-ranging environmental projects, and establishes rules that align with the administration’s views on environmental protection and climate change.

During his confirmation hearing, Zeldin pledged that if confirmed, he would “foster a collaborative culture within the agency, supporting career staff who have dedicated themselves to this mission. I strongly believe we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of our environment for generations to come.”

Lee Zeldin, former New York representative, with athlete Riley Gaines, outside the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. (J. Conrad Williams, Jr./Newsday RM)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The latest round of voting comes as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., continues to advance the confirmation process to push through Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

January 29, 2025
Smelt test: Trump order overrides California’s fish-protecting rules to maximize water supply

Trump surveys California wildfire damage

A panel including Branden Williams, Bill Essayli, and Kevin Kiley joins ‘Fox News @ Night’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s visit to California to assess damage from the wildfires.

President Donald Trump is taking executive action to override California’s “actively harmful” state and local environmental policies in an effort to maximize water supply in the aftermath of January’s deadly wildfires.

In an executive order issued Sunday, Trump called on federal agencies to overrule California regulations on endangered species to create more water availability, expedite the removal of debris in the areas affected by the fires, and conduct investigations into the city of Los Angeles’ use of federal grants.

The president’s order overrides environmental regulations potentially limiting water availability in the area, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which seeks to minimize water infrastructure to protect certain fish species, such as the Delta smelt. The order comes just weeks after Trump accused Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., of caring more about protecting an endangered fish species than the state’s residents amid the wildfires.

Trump also called on the Interior Department to immediately override existing regulations in California that “unduly burden efforts to maximize water deliveries” to the Central Valley Project (CVP), a water management effort in the state.

TRUMP MEETS WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, FIRE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO SEE LA WILDFIRE DAMAGE FIRST HAND

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tour a fire-affected area in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

The order calls on several federal agencies to conduct reviews of environmental programs in the state.

The director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will also conduct a review of all federal programs, projects and activities relating to land management, water availability, water supply, water storage, water infrastructure, and disaster preparedness and response, according to the executive order.

NEWSOM THANKS TRUMP FOR COMING TO CALIFORNIA TO TOUR FIRE DAMAGE IN TARMAC FACE-OFF

Additionally, Trump called on Cabinet secretaries to “expeditiously take all measures, consistent with all applicable authorities, to ensure adequate water resources in Southern California,” and issue a report within 15 days on all resources and authorities available to “fight and prevent” wildfires in the area.

Specifically, the Interior and Commerce departments will designate an official to investigate any “regulatory hurdles” under current environmental protection laws “that unduly burden each respective water project,” and propose a plan to suspend or revise any regulations.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk with California Gov. Gavin Newsom at Los Angeles International Airport, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump also asked the attorney general to launch an investigation into Los Angeles’ “misuse” of federal preparedness grants. “These Federal preparedness grants shall not be used to support illegal aliens,” the executive order reads.

The city was recently criticized for cutting the fire department budget by $17 million while hundreds of thousands of dollars were allocated to fund programs such as a “Gay Men’s Chorus” and housing for the transgender homeless.

The White House suggested that the order would “deliver more water and produce additional hydropower, including by increasing storage and conveyance, and jointly operating federal and state facilities, to high-need communities, notwithstanding any contrary state or local laws.”

Kevin Marshall sifts through his mother’s fire-ravaged property in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited the areas devastated by the Los Angeles fires on Friday, pledging federal assistance to the victims during a roundtable with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other state officials.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I don’t think you can realize how rough, how devastating it is until you see it,” Trump said of the wildfire damage. “The federal government is standing behind you, 100%.”

Fox News’ Alex Schemmel contributed to this report.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

January 29, 2025
Justice Department moves to prosecution of Trump co-defendants, ending classified documents case

The Justice Department filed a motion Wednesday to drop all criminal proceedings against two former Trump co-defendants charged in the special counsel’s classified documents case, putting a final end to the probe more than two years after it began.

The request for the charges to be dropped was filed Wednesday by the acting U.S. attorney in Miami, Hayden O’Byrne, without explanation.

The co-defendants, Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago property manager, and Walt Nauta, a valet at the property, were charged alongside President Donald Trump in the classified documents case led by former Special Counsel Jack Smith.

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY DEFENDS TRUMP’S FIRING OF INSPECTORS GENERAL

Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to offer remarks on an indictment including four felony counts against former President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Smith was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate both the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as his keeping of allegedly classified documents at his Florida residence after leaving the White House.

Both investigations were halted shortly after Trump won election for the second time in 2024, in keeping with long-standing Justice Department policy against investigating a sitting president.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LOOKING TO WIND DOWN TRUMP CRIMINAL CASES AHEAD OF INAUGURATION

Photos from Mar-a-Lago that were included in the special counsel indictment of former President Donald Trump. (U.S. Department of Justice)

But the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira still stood.

Attorneys for two of Trump’s former co-defendants in the classified documents case filed an emergency motion to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to block the report’s publication earlier this year, alleging that their civilian clients would “irreparably suffer harm” as a result of its release.

A U.S. Coast Guard boat patrols outside the Mar-a-Lago Club on Nov. 8, 2024, across from West Palm Beach, Florida. ( Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Both had been charged with conspiring with Trump to obstruct an investigation, and making false statements to the FBI.

Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the 2024 election and other national news.

January 29, 2025
Former Trump Cabinet members launch group to promote president’s energy agenda

FIRST ON FOX: Two former Trump administration Cabinet secretaries are launching a nationwide coalition to back the president’s “energy dominance” agenda, which aims to boost oil and gas production and scale back climate change policies.

Former U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt are launching the Restoring Energy Dominance Coalition on Wednesday, which will rally conservatives behind President Donald Trump’s broad energy approach, a central theme of his 2024 campaign.

According to the nonprofit’s website, the organization is made up of “a group of concerned citizens and policy experts who understand that American energy production — of all kinds — is essential for unleashing domestic energy dominance.”

EXPERTS SAY FIRST WEEK OF ‘TRUMP EFFECT’ IS DERAILING GLOBAL CLIMATE MOVEMENT’S ‘HOUSE OF CARDS’

Former Trump Cabinet members are forming a new group to support President Donald Trump’s energy agenda and roll back the Biden administration’s focus on climate change. (Getty Images)

Brouillette said the coalition will ensure Trump garners the support he needs for his all-of-the-above energy agenda, which is “essential to lowering costs, creating good-paying jobs, and bolstering America’s national security.”

All of the above energy involves a mix of energy sources, like fossil fuels, nuclear energy and renewable energy, to promote energy independence.

“The first step to improving our economy and lowering the cost of living for American families is to restore our energy dominance,” Bernhadt said in a statement. “President Trump is spot on about needing all forms of energy to meet our current challenges and America’s new golden age will only be possible if we make the president’s energy platform from his 2024 campaign a reality.”

Following Trump’s campaign promise to “drill, baby drill,” Trump issued an executive order on Inauguration Day declaring a national energy emergency, invoking the National Emergencies Act, to bolster domestic energy production and reduce reliance on foreign energy sources. The Trump White House argues it will lower energy costs.

ENERGY EXPERTS WEIGH IN AFTER CANADIAN PREMIER SAYS SHE WANTS TO DISCUSS KEYSTONE PIPELINE 2.0 WITH TRUMP

President Donald Trump has vowed to unleash American energy. (Getty Images)

The order directs federal agencies to “expedite the leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources,” including on federal lands.

“The policies of the previous administration have driven our Nation into a national emergency, where a precariously inadequate and intermittent energy supply, and an increasingly unreliable grid, require swift and decisive action,” the executive order reads. “Without immediate remedy, this situation will dramatically deteriorate in the near future due to a high demand for energy and natural resources to power the next generation of technology.”

TRUMP ELIMINATING LNG PAUSE TO HAVE ‘QUICKEST EFFECT’ ON ENERGY INDUSTRY: RICK PERRY

Trump also issued a sweeping executive order rolling back environmental regulations – which sought to reduce emissions 61-66% by 2035 – that the Biden administration created in December. The order reverses several climate-focused policies and prioritizes fossil fuel expansion, mineral extraction and deregulation.

The directive calls for increased oil, gas and coal production on federal lands and waters, while revoking multiple executive orders that supported renewable energy initiatives. It also eliminates the federal electric vehicle (EV) mandate, removes subsidies favoring EVs, and prevents states from imposing stricter emissions standards.

President Donald Trump after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

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

January 29, 2025
Trump White House fires 2 Democrat EEOC commissioners as admin targets DEI

President Donald Trump reportedly fired two of the three Democratic commissioners on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), as his administration continues its pledge to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from government bureaucracy.

The two now-former EEOC commissioners, Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, said in statements Tuesday that they were fired late Monday night. Both said they were exploring options to challenge their dismissals, calling their removal before the expiration of their five-year terms an unprecedented decision that undermines the agency’s independence.

Burrows, who has been an EEOC commissioner since 2015, said in her statement Tuesday that the dismissal of two Democratic commissioners before their terms ended “undermine the efforts of this independent agency to do the important work of protecting employees from discrimination, supporting employers’ compliance efforts, and expanding public awareness and understanding of federal employment laws.”

Samuels, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, and then was nominated by former President Joe Biden for a second term, said her removal “violates the law, and represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the EEOC as an independent agency – one that is not controlled by a single Cabinet secretary but operates as a multi-member body whose varying views are baked into the Commission’s design.”

TRUMP ADMIN TO PAUSE GRANTS, FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS FOLLOWING EXECUTIVE ORDERS

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Miami to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Jan. 27, 2025, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt listens. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

“The President’s action undermines the stability and continuity of the EEOC’s critical work to advance equal opportunity and fair treatment,” she said.

In removing her, Samuels said, the White House “also critiqued my views on DEIA initiatives and sex discrimination, further misconstruing the basic principles of equal employment opportunity.”

The ex-commissioner argued that DEI initiatives “protect all people on the basis of race, sex, gender and religious belief, and other characteristics,” but the Trump administration has contended the so-called protections ushered in by the Biden administration actually veer into discrimination. For example, the EEOC last April published guidance describing how an employer could be found liable for harassment if they mandate an employee use a bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex, prompting backlash.

“This Administration’s demonization of transgender individuals is both cruel and inconsistent with the law,” Samuels wrote Tuesday.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment Wednesday.

Then-Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Jocelyn Samuels speaks during a press conference on Sept. 30, 2013, in Washington, D.C. (Kris Connor/Getty Images)

The EEOC was created by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as a bipartisan five-member panel to protect workers from discrimination on the basis of race, gender, disability and other protected characteristics. The U.S. president appoints the commissioners and the Senate confirms them, but their terms are staggered and are meant to overlap presidential terms to help ensure the agency’s independence.

The two firings leave the agency with one Republican commissioner, Andrea Lucas, who Trump appointed acting EEOC chair last week, one Democratic commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal, and three vacancies that Trump can fill.

STATE DEPT PULLS MILLIONS IN FUNDING FOR ‘CONDOMS IN GAZA,’ AS TRUMP ADMIN LOOKS TO TRIM SPENDING

Another Republican commissioner, Keith Sonderling, resigned after Trump appointed him deputy secretary of labor.

Lucas, the new acting EEOC chair, issued a statement last week saying that she would prioritize “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination; protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination; defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single‑sex spaces at work.”

In contrast, the three Democratic commissioners all issued statements last week condemning a slew of executive orders aimed at ending DEI practices in the federal workforce and private companies, along with “protections” for transgender workers. Their statements also emphasized that U.S. anti-discrimination laws remained intact despite Trump’s orders and that the EEOC must continue enforcing them.

Charlotte Burrows, chair of The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) poses for a photo at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., on May 14, 2021. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)

The EEOC panel investigates and imposes penalties on employers found to have violated laws that protect workers from racial, gender, disability and other forms of discrimination. The agency also writes influential rules and guidelines for how anti-discrimination laws should be implemented, and conducts workplace outreach and training.

In recent years, the agency’s Democratic and Republican commissioners have been sharply divided on many issues. Both Republican commissioners voted against new guidelines last year stating that “misgendering” transgender employees, or denying access to a bathroom consistent with their gender identity, would violate anti-discrimination laws. The Republican commissioners also voted against regulations stating that employers must give workers time off and other accommodations for abortions under the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

National Labor Relations Board member Gynne A. Wilcox and General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo were also fired late Monday night, the agency confirmed.

Wilcox was the first Black woman to serve on the Board since its inception in 1935, according to the NLRB website.

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.

January 29, 2025
Top law firm Sullivan & Cromwell to represent Trump in ongoing legal matters

EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump has retained counsel from top law firm Sullivan & Cromwell to represent him in his ongoing appeal efforts in the cases brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, Fox News Digital has learned.

The move comes after his original legal team on the cases joined his administration in top roles.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIRES MORE THAN A DOZEN KEY OFFICIALS ON FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S TEAM

President Donald Trump has retained counsel from top law firm Sullivan & Cromwell to represent him in his ongoing appeal efforts. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The president will be represented by Sullivan Cromwell co-chair and partner Robert J. Giuffra Jr.

Giuffra has been at the firm since 1989 after serving as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Giuffra currently focuses on securities, white collar criminal, product liability, commercial, insurance, banking and tax litigation.

Trump also will be represented by Matthew Schwartz, a partner of the firm who joined in 2007 after clerking for Justice Samuel Alito; Jeffrey Wall, another partner who served as an acting U.S. solicitor general and has argued more than 30 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court; James McDonald, a partner who served as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York; and Morgan Ratner, a partner who has argued nine cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and who served in the Office of Solicitor General at the Justice Department.

Fox News Digital has learned that Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s top legal advisor, is continuing his role as senior counsel, coordinating a wide array of legal fronts and matters for the president.

“President Donald J. Trump’s appeal is important for the rule of law, New York’s reputation as a global business, financial and legal center, as well as for the presidency and all public officials,” Giuffra told Fox News Digital. “The misuse of the criminal law by the Manhattan DA to target President Trump sets a dangerous precedent, and we look forward to the case being dismissed on appeal.”

The shift comes after the president tapped his former lawyers on the cases to top roles in his administration.

Trump appointed his attorney Todd Blanche to serve as deputy attorney general and John Sauer as solicitor general of the United States.

Emil Bove, also a Trump attorney tapped for a top role at the Justice Department, is serving as the acting deputy attorney general, but if Blanche is confirmed, Bove will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general.

D. John Sauer, Trump’s former attorney, has been tapped as U.S. solicitor general in the Trump administration. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

DONALD TRUMP SENTENCED WITH NO PENALTY IN NEW YORK CRIMINAL TRIAL, AS JUDGE WISHES HIM ‘GODSPEED’ IN 2ND TERM

Will Scharf, who also represented the president in these cases, was appointed to serve as staff secretary at the White House.

Blanche, Sauer, Bove and Scharf successfully defended the president in former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Jan. 6, 2021, and alleged interference in the 2020 election as well as in his classified records case.

Sauer argued the case on presidential immunity before the U.S. Supreme Court, leading the high court to rule that presidents have immunity for nonofficial presidential acts.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears with his legal team Todd Blanche and Emil Bove ahead of the start of jury selection at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15, 2024, in New York City. (Jabin Botsford-Pool/Getty Images)

Smith’s classified records case was dismissed in July 2024 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.

Smith charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request.

From left: Will Scharf, President Donald Trump and Emil Bove, during a 2024 news conference at Trump Tower in New York. (Cheney Orr/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Both cases were dismissed.

The new legal team will take over Trump’s appeals in both Bragg’s case and James’ case.

Trump was sentenced earlier in January by Judge Juan Merchan to an unconditional discharge after being found guilty on charges of falsifying business records. Merchan did not sentence the president to prison, but rather did not impose any punishment at all — no jail time, fines or probation.

TRUMP TO TAKE MORE THAN 200 EXECUTIVE ACTIONS ON DAY ONE

That sentence preserves Trump’s ability to appeal the conviction — which Sullivan & Cromwell will take over.

From left to right: Judge Juan Merchan, former President Donald Trump, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. (Getty Images, AP Images)

As for James’ case against Trump, New York Judge Arthur Engoron, after a weekslong nonjury civil fraud trial, ruled in 2024 that Trump and defendants were liable for “persistent and repeated fraud,” “falsifying business records,” “issuing false financial statements,” “conspiracy to falsify false financial statements,” “insurance fraud,” and “conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.”

But before the trial began, Engoron issued a summary judgment against Trump, making the subsequent trial a case over the penalty to be paid.

Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump appealed the $454 million judgment. The appeal is pending before the New York Appeals Court.

Judges on the New York appeals court appeared receptive in 2024 to the possibility of reversing or reducing the $454 million civil fraud judgment.

Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.

January 29, 2025
India’s Modi speaks with ‘dear friend’ President Trump amid hopes of furthering ties

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.

Please enter a valid email address.

Having trouble? Click here.

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has sent ripples across the globe, but India remains largely optimistic about his second term. Just over a week into Trump’s presidency, India is signaling its readiness to adapt to his transactional style of diplomacy.

Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a “productive call” Monday, focused on “expanding and deepening cooperation.”

According to a White House readout, the leaders discussed geopolitical issues and bilateral trade. Trump emphasized the importance of India increasing its purchases of American-made security equipment to help balance the trade relationship between the two countries. The call is believed to be among the first Trump has taken from foreign leaders since his return to office.

TRUMP’S TARIFF THREATS GO BEYOND ‘TRADE AGREEMENT’ TO ADVANCE AMERICAN INTERESTS: EXPERT

“Expectations are high for U.S.-India relations with Trump having taken office. He and Modi have a strong chemistry, given their similar worldviews and governance styles,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center told Fox News Digital.

Modi has enjoyed a strong rapport and personal bond with Trump. “We have a very good relationship with India,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One after his call with Modi.

In 2020, Modi threw a massive rally for Trump in his home state of Gujarat, where both leaders spoke admiringly of each other in front of a crowd exceeding 110,000 people. The previous year, Trump likened Modi to Elvis Presley for his ability to draw large crowds at a joint rally in Texas. However, Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown is raising some concerns for Indians.

According to the Pew Research Center, India is one of the top sources of illegal immigration to the United States. An estimated 725,000 Indians were residing in the U.S. illegally as of 2022. Furthermore, Customs and Border Patrol encountered nearly 90,500 Indian citizens in fiscal year 2024 alone. The immigration unease also comes as H-1B visas, one of the most common legal pathways of entry for Indians, have been a hotly contested topic by Trump’s supporters. On Monday, however, Trump dismissed immigration concerns, expressing confidence India will “do what is right.”

TRUMP SAYS HE’S NOT CHANGED HIS MIND ON H-1B VISAS AS DEBATE RAGES WITHIN MAGA COALITION

President Donald Trump, center, with first lady Melania Trump, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tour Gandhi Ashram, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in Ahmedabad, India. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trade is another possible point of contention that could affect U.S.-India relations.

Just a day after Trump held his call with Modi, he denounced India, China and Brazil as “tremendous tariff maker(s).” Speaking to House Republicans in Florida, Trump emphasized that the nations harm the U.S. with high tariffs. He highlighted plans to target the countries, asserting, “we’re not going to let that happen any longer because we’re going to put America first.”

Trump threatened high tariffs on imported goods throughout his presidential campaign and slammed India as a “very big abuser.” During his first term, Trump dubbed India the “tariff king” amid trade disagreements. In 2019, he revoked India’s special trade privileges. In retaliation, India slapped tariffs on more than two dozen U.S. goods.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS CLEAR PATH FOR TRUMP TO ACT ON TARIFF PLANS

Modi is casting India as a rising global player and seeks to enhance trade ties with the U.S., especially in the face of Trump’s international tariff threats. Trump has proposed a “universal” tax of 10% or 20% on all international imports, and India would be no exception. India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, aims to boost bilateral trade with the U.S. while reducing dependence on China. The two countries are India’s top trading partners.

Recent legal allegations have also tested the burgeoning relationship between India and the U.S. Last year, American prosecutors charged Indian government agents with what they said was a plot to assassinate an American citizen on U.S. soil. Months later, the Justice Department indicted Indian tycoon Gautam Adani on fraud and bribery charges. Despite these challenges, the bilateral relationship has endured.

INDIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL CHARGED IN MURDER-FOR-HIRE PLOT ON SIKH SEPARATIST LEADER IN NEW YORK CITY

“There will be challenges to navigate, for sure, both those inherited from the Biden administration – like the Justice Department investigation of an alleged Indian government involvement in a murder-for-hire plot in New York, and new ones like trade,” Kugelman explains. “But we can see from New Delhi’s recent signaling that it’s prepared to act preemptively to lower the risk of tensions.”

In the days since Trump took office, India has said it would explore lowering tariffs, taking back some of the illegal Indian migrants and importing more U.S. oil to reduce imports from Russia.

President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pictured here, held a joint press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, on Monday, June 26, 2017. (Sipa USA via AP)

As India works to bolster defense, technology and trade ties with the United States, the nation is expressing confidence that it is better positioned than others to weather Trump’s “America First” administration. “I know today a lot of countries are nervous about the U.S., let’s be honest about that. We are not one of them,” Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar said days after the November election.

Washington views India, the world’s largest democracy, as a counterbalance to China’s growing assertiveness. Additionally, Trump is largely unconcerned with Modi’s policies, which have been deemed problematic by many global leaders. The two align in style and rhetoric, particularly when it comes to national pride.

Kugelman told Fox News Digital, “the U.S. and India will continue to share a number of strong policy and strategic convergences, chief among them countering China.”

FORMER TRUMP OFFICIALS REJECT WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIM THAT FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL BROKE HOSTAGE PROTOCOL

Trump’s administration also features prominent Indian-Americans. His pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, faces a high-stake Senate confirmation hearing this week. If confirmed, he will be the FBI’s first Indian American leader, as well as its youngest director. Trump has also picked Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for director, National Institutes of Health and Harmeet K. Dhillon as assistant attorney general for Civil Rights. Others, like former 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and senior policy adviser for AI, Sriram Krishnan, already hold significant advisory roles in the administration. While they brought hope to many Indian immigrants, Krishnan, a first-generation Indian, has become a MAGA lightning rod. Additionally, while not a member of the cabinet, Vice President JD Vance’s wife, Usha, is the first woman of Indian origin to be second lady.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

India remains optimistic about strengthening its relationship with the United States under Trump’s leadership, viewing it as an opportunity to further its strategic interests on the global stage. Modi is expected to meet with Trump as soon as next month. Meanwhile, Trump is expected to visit India later this year to attend a Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by New Delhi.

“The fact that India, with its nationalist government and strong confidence as a rising power, would so quickly and publicly acknowledge a willingness to consider making concessions to the U.S. says a lot about just how much it wants its partnership with Washington to work in the second Trump administration,” Kugelman said.

January 29, 2025