NationalWatch

Elon Musk’s remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday drew praise from those who were pleased with the cuts being made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“I wasn’t really that interested in being political. It’s just like there was at a certain point no choice,” Musk said at the event in Maryland while wearing a black MAGA hat and sunglasses. “The actions that we’re taking, with the support of the president and the support of the agencies, is what will save Medicare, what will save Social Security.”

“That’s the reason I’m doing this,” he added. “Because I was looking at the big picture here, and it’s like, man, it’s getting out of control.” 

ELON MUSK MAKES SURPRISE APPEARANCE AT CPAC

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

“A country is no different from a person,” he continued. “[A] country overspends, a country goes bankrupt in the same way as a person who overspends usually goes bankrupt. So, it’s not optional to solve these things, it’s essential.”

Matthew Kochman, a New York Real Estate broker, said that DOGE cuts “probably saved the country from financial collapse.” 

“I thought it was all just common sense,” Kochman said of Musk’s comments.

When attendees were asked about the proposal to use 20% of the money from the cuts across the board to go toward a stimulus check for American taxpayers, some raised questions about whether the funds should help pay down over $36 trillion in national debt. 

DOGE STIMULUS CHECKS: JOHNSON SIDE-STEPS QUESTION ON TRUMP PLAN, SAYS US HAS ‘GIANT DEFICIT’

FILE – Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“I’m not sure I agree with the sending money back. I would just assume money going to pay down our debt, because it is an existential threat,” Angie Carrai, of Vienna, Virginia, said, adding that Musk’s comments have “tapped into what a lot of people feel” about taxes being wasted on “ridiculous” programs.

However, Kochman said he believes that taxpayers should get some of their money back but thinks it should also help pay off the debt.

Speaker Mike Johnson has also raised concerns about the pitch from Musk and Trump, saying that the United States needs to “pay down the credit card” with the $2 trillion objective amount to be slashed through DOGE. 

Pat Dennis, President of the left-wing American Bridge 21st Century opposition research firm, told Fox News Digital after watching Musk’s remarks that he’s concerned about cuts to programs that benefit Americans.

“He was talking about cutting programs that everyday Americans rely on, things like Medicaid,” Dennis said. “The implication that massive percentages of these programs just can be unilaterally cut because they’re fraud is not real.”

Demonstrators rally in support of federal workers outside of the Department of Health and Human Services, Friday, Feb. 14, in Washington.  (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

“People rely on these, voters rely on these, families rely on these, people in Republican districts rely on these,” he added.

DOGE made headlines in recent weeks for taking aim at spending through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as grants doled out through various cabinet agencies. 

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo and Liz Elkind contributed to this report. 

Conservative voters believe Vice President JD Vance will become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in the 2028 election cycle, a straw poll conducted at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) found. 

“You guys are the conservative movement, you guys are the thought leaders, the opinion leaders. We asked folks who they thought would be the Republican nominee, who they preferred for the Republican for president in 2028. And who is it?,” Jim McLaughlin, president of McLaughlin & Associates Polls, said Friday from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Saturday. 

“JD Vance. And why? Because he’s viewed as the closest thing to Donald Trump,” McLaughlin added, he did not provide additional data on Vance’s support among CPAC attendees. 

Steve Bannon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others were also viewed by the attendees as the potential Republican nominee behind Vance, the full CPAC straw poll results posted to X found. 

The straw poll was conducted among more than 1,000 attendees of the conservative conference, which kicked off on Wednesday and wraps up on Saturday following President Donald Trump’s planned speech. 

‘SAVED THE COUNTRY’: CPAC ATTENDEES SEE SILVER LINING AFTER ELON MUSK’S DOGE SPEECH

Trump greets Vance at an election night watch party in Palm Beach, Fla.  (AP/Evan Vucci)

McLaughlin noted that the straw poll has accurately predicted conservatives’ views and voting trends in previous years, including that Trump would win the 2024 primary and general election. 

“You know how I knew Donald Trump was going to win the people in this room? Because when we did the CPAC polls over the years, and you had the mainstream media saying, you know, ‘Donald Trump couldn’t win again.’ Donald Trump was winning overwhelmingly, not by a little bit, overwhelmingly in every single CPAC poll. You guys knew he was going to win the primary. You all knew that he was going to win the general election, no matter what the Democrats threw at us,” he said. 

This year’s straw poll overwhelmingly focused on Trump’s approval ratings since taking office, with a handful of results finding Trump’s approval sitting at 99% on various issues. 

“The first few weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency have been the best for the modern conservative movement in my lifetime. What do you think about that?” McLaughlin said of one of the poll questions. “Well, 99% agreed with that. Think about that. We don’t see 99% numbers.”

KAROLINE LEAVITT OFFERS WORDS OF WISDOM TO YOUNG WOMEN AT CPAC: ‘JUST BELIEVE IN YOURSELF’

“But 99% say this is the best … in modern conservative history,” McLaughlin, who was joined on stage by CPAC chair Matt Schlapp on stage to announce the results, added. 

Donald Trump waves to supporters in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Ninety-nine percent of respondents also reported in the poll that Congress rapidly passing Trump’s agenda is important to them, while another 99% reported that Trump is doing a better job now than his first administration. All in, Trump’s job approval rating sits at 99%, according to the poll. 

VP JD VANCE SPEAKS ON ‘FUNDAMENTAL GOAL’ OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AT CPAC ADDRESS

“It’s amazing. I’ve been working as a pollster now … going on four decades. . . . We’ve never seen numbers like this. We’ve never seen anybody unite the conservative movement the way Donald Trump has done this,” McLaughlin added of Trump’s high marks. 

Trump also earned support for his comments regarding the U.S. potentially establishing a national security and an economic alliance with Greenland. 

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks during a campaign rally Sept. 28, 2024, in Newtown, Pa. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

“Ninety-three percent of you approve of that, because it just makes sense for economic reasons, for national security reasons,” McLaughlin said of Trump’s support for establishing an alliance with Greenland. “And by the way, we do a little bit of work over in Europe and whatnot. They also think it’s a very good idea. Donald Trump again, being a visionary.”

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The straw poll comes just roughly one month into Trump’s second administration, which has been working at a break-neck pace as administration officials work to gut the federal government over overspending, while also stamping out potential fraud and mismanagement. 

Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ public dust-up with President Donald Trump during a White House meeting with most of America’s state leaders didn’t live up to governors’ collective goal of “disagree[ing] better,” the National Governors Association chairman said Saturday.

Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis was asked about the exchange – in which Trump challenged Maine to comply with his executive order on transgender athletes in school sports, and Mills told Trump “see you in court.” The president remarked that any state that does not align its scholastic athletics with biological sexes will not receive federal funding.

“As governors, we have our prior initiative that we continue to work on is to disagree better,” Chairman Polis said.

“We always hope that people can disagree in a way that elevates the discourse and tries to come to a common solution around . . . what the issue is. I don’t think that that disagreement is necessarily a model of that,” he continued, adding that some governors may not have known the origins of the fiery exchange at the time.

SLASHING ENERGY DEVELOPMENT RED TAPE, BEATING CHINA IN ‘AI ARMS RACE’ TOP PRIORITIES FOR NATION’S GOVERNORS

OK Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks as Gov. Jared Polis listens at the NGA in Washington (Fox News/Charlie Creitz)

Polis said governors do have the right to sue the federal government but that there are also other ways to understand where respective parties are coming from.

“It was a little uncomfortable in the room,” added NGA Vice Chairman Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma’s GOP governor.

“But like, like Governor Polis said, I wasn’t sure exactly what the backstory was behind the conflict there. Apparently, there had been some things that both sides have said.”

Stitt remarked that the exchange may have been “good politics” for both Mills and Trump with their respective bases.

HOCHUL DOES APPARENT ABOUT-FACE ON NATURAL GAS AS NYC UTILITY SIGNALS MAJOR RATE HIKES

He added that he personally agrees with Trump’s stance and noted that he led a push in 2022 to ensure that scholastic athletes are competing against people of their own biological sex in Oklahoma.

“The NCAA has followed that, I think the Olympics have. And then you have a governor saying that they’re not going to follow that. So, I don’t know what legal background she has, but they talked about seeing each other in court. And we’ll we’ll see what happens on it.”

Polis added that Mills maintained that she is following current federal law under her current stance.

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Later, Stitt said that Trump had invited all governors to give him a call, and had quipped that if a Democrat and a Republican call at the same time, he will take the Democrat’s call first.

“He is a businessman. He is not ideological. He wants to get things done,” Stitt said.

At the White House meeting, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey successfully asked cabinet officials to share their direct lines, to better facilitate cooperation between states and the Trump administration. 

That nugget was revealed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who quipped that the president had also offered governors an open line – but did not explicitly publicize his number.

“I’ve got it, but I’m going to hold onto it,” McMaster joked.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘King Coal’ still reigns as one of the most affordable, reliable and transportable sources of energy – and the U.S. still has a lot of it, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey told Fox News Digital in an interview at the National Governors Association’s winter meeting.

Morrisey acknowledged America’s ongoing race with China to be the most powerful nation in terms of both energy development and AI technology. West Virginia, he said Saturday, seeks to lead the way.

“I’m still very hopeful that there’s a future for coal,” Morrisey said. “Let me explain why: We’re right now about to embark on an information technology arms race with China.”

MOUNTAIN STATE CRACKDOWN: WV GOV’S ORDER LEADS TO 60 SUSPECTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINAL DETENTIONS

Travelers are greeted by a West Virginia welcome sign after crossing the East River Mountain Tunnel on I-77 in Princeton. (Charles Creitz)

“And we have to catch up to what they’re doing in terms of the Chinese use of coal and many, many different types of fuel sources, because we can’t let them get ahead of us as they’re building capacity in AI, superintelligence, robotics and advanced manufacturing.”

While both nations are likely to rely on advances in nuclear energy and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, there remain the “resiliency, availability and affordability of coal,” he said.

“I think there’s an opportunity … to increase the capacity of some of the coal-fired power plants that have been slowed down in recent years. Because if we don’t do that, we’re not going to compete with the Chinese.”

The governor said that one of his top priorities is to bring the Mountain State’s coal infrastructure and industry back to a higher capacity.

“I think that it’s sorely needed from a national security perspective.”

West Virginia produced 89 million tons of coal in 2021, according to the latest data recorded by the state miners’ office. That figure is down sharply from the 1940s through the late 1990s, when the state averaged upwards of 130 million tons per year.

WV LAWMAKER ARRESTED AFTER THREATENING TO KILL ENTIRE REGION’S DELEGATION OVER CAUCUS BEEF

Wyoming remains tops in U.S. coal production, followed by West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Illinois.

“West Virginia is America’s energy state. We’re so rich in resources: coal and natural gas and water. And we have a lot of opportunities in front of us,” Morrisey went on, adding that he was heartened by the substantive bipartisan discussions at the NGA in regard to speeding up the energy-permitting process at the state and federal levels.

“So when you’re thinking about how to take advantage of those opportunities, you think of transmission, you think of permitting,” he said, echoing Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of neighboring energy powerhouse Pennsylvania, who pledged Friday to refund applicants if there are delays or if things go awry.

In terms of the Mountain State’s role in what Morrisey and other governors at the NGA called the “AI arms race” with China, the state is predicted to build on Morrisey’s predecessor, now-Sen. Jim Justice’s efforts to grow the state’s tech industry.

“I’ve said over and over that we need to do everything possible to add these kinds of high-tech companies and jobs in West Virginia,” Justice said in 2019. “We have so many people in this state who are gifted beyond belief and who will be able to fill these spots and do incredible work. It’s truly a pipeline of talent.”

On Saturday, Morrisey also reflected on his group meeting with President Donald Trump, Cabinet secretaries and his fellow governors at the White House.

“They understand that you can’t move energy at the speed of slow. And so we’re eager to partner with them,” he said, adding that Trump pledged to the governors that he would seek to eliminate 10 regulations for every one that his administration adds.

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Trump rallies in Charleston (Reuters)

“I think states like West Virginia and Pennsylvania and many other states have a chance to work closely with the Trump administration. It’s going to be a lot easier, because they know how important it is to reassert American energy dominance – if you get the permitting right.”

Morrisey also spoke about his response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs across the southern border.

Last month, Morrisey issued an executive order aimed at illegal immigrants in his state, which led to five dozen people being detained pending immigration status verification in the state’s regional jail system.

The governor noted West Virginia’s unfortunate spot as the state with the most drug overdose deaths per capita and said that both his and Trump’s immigration policies are needed to fix that systemic crisis.

“We’re working hand in hand with ice to identify illegal aliens and make sure that they can get deported. And this is really important to do, because, as President Trump said yesterday, when you actually remove a lot of these illegal aliens from the system, you’re going to see a reduction in crime.”

“It takes states working with the federal government to make sure that we’re kind of reasserting our position and stopping all the horrific consequences of what happened with the illegal immigrants coming in. I know in West Virginia we really felt the impact of that through the massive amount of death that flowed from fentanyl flood[ing] in from China [via] the Mexican drug cartels.”

Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Saturday announced it was launching a compliance review of the University of Maine “following the State of Maine’s blatant disregard for President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14201, ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.’” 

The review follows investigations launched by the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services in the last 24 hours after a tense exchange between President Trump and Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills over transgender student-athletes playing in women’s sports. 

“President Trump has made it abundantly clear: taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars will not support institutions that discriminate against women,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital Saturday. 

TRUMP’S DECISIVE RESPONSE TO MAINE’S GOVERNOR ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES IS HOW IT SHOULD BE: RILEY GAINES

“USDA is committed to upholding the president’s executive order, meaning any institution that chooses to disregard it can count on losing future funding.”

The University of Maine receives more than $100 million in USDA funding, according to the USDA. 

Maine Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump at the White House Friday. (Getty Images)

Trump and Mills clashed Thursday at the White House during a bipartisan meeting of governors when the president told her she must follow his executive order or “you’re not going to get any federal funding.” 

“We’ll see you in court,” Mills replied.

The blue state is one of several defying Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports. Trump threatened Thursday to cut off federal funding to Maine before clashing with Mills at the bipartisan meeting of governors. 

“Are you not going to comply with that?” Trump asked Mills.

“I’m complying with state and federal laws,” she responded.

“Well, we are the federal law,” Trump said. “You better do it. You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”

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

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

“And, by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal, although I did very well there, your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports. So, you better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding,” Trump added.

“We’ll see you in court,” Mills snapped. 

“Good, I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one,” Trump replied. “And enjoy your life after governor because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

Mills released a statement Friday, saying, “The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the President’s threats.

“If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides.” 

After the exchange on Friday, the Department of Education launched an investigation into Maine schools. 

University of Maine campus in Orono. (Denis Tangney Jr. via Getty Images)

“Today the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent a letter to the Maine Department of Education Commissioner Pender Makin announcing that OCR is initiating a directed investigation of the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) amid allegations that it continues to allow male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics and that it has denied female athletes female-only intimate facilities, thereby violating federal anti-discrimination law,” the Department of Education said in a news release Friday. 

Trump reiterated his plan to cut off federal funding to the state at a meeting with Republican governors Thursday. 

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

“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.”

Trump also continued his criticism of Maine on Saturday while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference. 

“The governor of Maine. She’s fighting to keep men in women’s sports. You ever see what happens to a woman when a woman boxes? A man who transitioned to womanhood? Did you ever see what happens? … It’s not pretty. It’s not pretty,” Trump said. 

“Let her do that fight. Let them all do that fight. Because I think that’s about a 90/10 issue, and I can’t figure out who the 10% are. Nobody can.”

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“The University of Maine System appreciates the media making us aware of the USDA’s letter, which recognizes our flagship’s record of success in securing funding from that agency but notably makes no allegations of any wrongdoing,” the university told Fox News Digital in a statement Saturday. “Maine’s public universities will continue to comply with all relevant State and Federal laws and cooperate with any compliance reviews to ensure postsecondary educational opportunities and high-impact research continue to benefit our students, the state and this nation.”

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

FBI Director Kash Patel will be tapped to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), two sources confirmed to Fox News Digital Saturday. 

The news comes a day after Patel was sworn in as the ninth FBI director in a narrow Senate vote. 

Former FBI Director Christopher Wray resigned at the end of former President Joe Biden’s term, and Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF general counsel, Pamela Hicks, Thursday. 

FBI NOMINEE KASH PATEL CONFIRMED IN NARROW SENATE VOTE

Kash Patel, director of the FBI, speaks during a swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., Friday.  (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Earlier today, I was served official notice from the Attorney General of the United States that I was being removed from my position as the Chief Counsel of ATF and my employment with the Department of Justice terminated,” Hicks posted on her LinkedIn page Thursday, confirming her termination. 

Hicks had served as ATF’s chief counsel since 2021 during the Biden administration and served as deputy chief counsel for ATF during President Donald Trump’s first administration. She spent 23 years overall as an attorney within the Department of Justice (DOJ), she posted to LinkedIn. 

AG Pam Bondi, right, and former ATF official Pamela Hicks. (ATF/Getty Images)

VP JD VANCE SPEAKS ON ‘FUNDAMENTAL GOAL’ OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AT CPAC ADDRESS

“Serving as ATF Chief Counsel has been the highest honor of my career and working with the people at ATF and throughout the Department has been a pleasure,” Hicks continued in her post. “I thank my colleagues for their friendship and partnership over the years.” 

Kash Patel is sworn in as FBI director by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building Friday. (Reuters/Leah Millis)

“These people were targeting gun owners,” Bondi told Fox News Thursday of the ATF. “Not gonna happen under this administration.” 

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Both the FBI and ATF are part of the DOJ. 

President Donald Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Saturday about a variety of issues, ranging from the war in Ukraine to U.S. border security.

In a statement released Saturday evening, the White House said Trump and Trudeau began the call by discussing the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament that Canada won, and both leaders “expressed pride in the excellence of both nations’ teams that faced off in a hard-fought hockey championship.”

“The discussion turned to Monday’s G7 call that will mark the third anniversary of the invasion and war in Ukraine,” the statement added. “Prime Minister Trudeau echoed President Trump’s desire to see an end to the war and acknowledged that President Trump is the only world leader who can push through a just and lasting peace.

“President Trump reminded the prime minister that the war should never have started and would not have had he been president at the time.”

TRUMP IMPOSES TARIFFS ON IMPORTS FROM CANADA, MEXICO AND CHINA: ‘NATIONAL EMERGENCY’

Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump had a recent phone call, according to the White House. (Getty Images)

The leaders also discussed U.S. border security, a sensitive subject for Canadian officials since Trump imposed tariffs in response to drug trafficking at the U.S.-Canadian border. Trump agreed Feb. 3 to pause the tariffs for 30 days, meaning the tariffs are expected in early March.

During the call, Trudeau claimed Canada has achieved a 90% reduction in fentanyl crossing into the U.S. from Canada and said his country’s border czar will be in Washington next week for meetings with U.S. border chief Tom Homan.

Trump and Trudeau have had a strained relationship in recent weeks, due to both the tariffs and Trump’s stated interest in securing Canada as a U.S. territory. Earlier in February, Trudeau said he believes Trump is serious about turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state.

CANADA WILL NOT BE ’51ST STATE,’ AMBASSADOR PROTESTS AMID TRUMP TARIFF THREAT

President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)

“I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have, but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” Trudeau said, according to CBC. “They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those.”

Trump previously complained about the trade deficit the U.S. has with Canada, claiming “there is no reason” for such an imbalance.

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“We don’t need anything they have,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true!

“Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State,” Trump added. “Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada – AND NO TARIFFS!” 

On Thursday, Trudeau posted a cheeky retort after Canada won the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participates in a cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall Dec. 20, 2024, in Ottawa. (Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images)

“You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau wrote on X.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

A top advisor to former President Joe Biden said the Democratic Party “melted down” after his poor performance in the June 2024 debate against President Donald Trump and insisted Biden should have remained the party’s candidate.

Biden’s rough performance and weak voice at the CNN Presidential Debate sparked immense fear about his re-election odds, and the left’s top leaders called on him to withdraw from the race.

Biden was replaced as the Democratic candidate by Vice President Kamala Harris less than a month later on July 21. She lost to Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

President Joe Biden, right, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, participate in the CNN Presidential Debate at CNN Studios June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

MEDIA CALLS FOR BIDEN TO WITHDRAW FROM 2024 RACE AFTER ‘DISASTER’ CNN DEBATE PERFORMANCE: ‘IT’S OVER’

“Now, lots of people have terrible debates,” former Biden senior advisor Mike Donilon said during a discussion at Harvard University. “Lots of people have terrible debates. Usually the party doesn’t lose its mind, but that’s what happened here. It melted down.”

CNN and the BBC ran headlines calling the performance “disastrous” and “incoherent.”

“If Joe Biden loses November’s election, history will record that it took just 10 minutes to destroy a presidency,” CNN senior reporter Stephen Collinson wrote in an article. “It was clear a political disaster was about to unfold as soon as the 81-year-old commander in chief stiffly shuffled on stage in Atlanta.”

President Joe Biden participates in the CNN Presidential Debate at CNN Studios June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Collinson went on to describe Biden giving the weakest performance in televised debate history.

New York Times columnist and Biden supporter Thomas Friedman wrote the debate made him “weep” and called on Biden to step aside.

“I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election,” Friedman wrote.

BIDEN RIPPED FOR ‘OLD’ APPEARANCE, ‘WEAK’ VOICE DURING FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: ‘DEEPLY ALARMING’

Donilon, who has known Biden for more than four decades, described the Democratic Party’s reaction as “insane.”

“I think the party lost its mind,” he said. “If you ask people about this period of time, they’ll tell you Biden was losing the polls, he was going to lose. … They were saying this in a margin-of-error race.”

He added he had never seen a situation where a candidate was down three points nationally in the summer of a general election and his party decided he could not win.

President Trump was broadly considered the winner of the Atlanta debate. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

“But that’s what happened, right?” Donilon said. “If you actually go and look at the polling in the first couple of days after the debate, the margin between Trump and Biden got closer. It didn’t get bigger.”

He discussed focus groups that convened on the night of the debate, noting while they believed Trump won overall, they voiced concerns about both candidates.

“They will say they’re worried about Biden’s age, but they’ll also say something else,” Donilon said. “They were really worried about Trump. They were worried about the fact he said he wouldn’t accept the results of the election. They were worried that he said, ‘I had nothing to do with Jan. 6.’ The sense from him was that he was not on the side of people.”

President Joe Biden at the White House Dec. 13, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

What really happened, according to Donilon, was not as devastating as the conventional wisdom became. 

“I said this to Biden the morning after the debate: Sometimes you can lose the campaign about the campaign,” he said. “And that’s what happened to us.”

He insisted the former president was not mentally impaired but acknowledged the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 and inflation contributed to Biden’s downfall.

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Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

Tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that all federal employees are being instructed to report their productivity in a new Trump administration initiative.

In a post Saturday on X, Musk said the report will come in the form of an email that will give federal workers a chance to report how productive they were the previous week.

If the email is ignored, Musk said, the federal government will interpret that as a resignation.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk wrote. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

WHITE HOUSE OUTLINES WHERE DOGE SAVINGS COULD GO AFTER TRUMP FLOATS RETURNING 20% TO AMERICANS

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

A spokesperson from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) confirmed Musk’s plans in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“As part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce, OPM is asking employees to provide a brief summary of what they did last week by the end of Monday, CC’ing their manager,” the official said. “Agencies will determine any next steps.”

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung voiced support for the initiative later on Saturday, sharing a screenshot of the email in a post on X.

“This is such a good idea and even White House staffers can list all of the great things they’ve done this week, just like everyone in the Administration should do as well,” Cheung wrote.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) labor union condemned Musk’s plans in a post on X, writing that it plans to “challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country.”

“It is cruel and disrespectful for federal employees to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,” the AFGE wrote.

$1,300 COFFEE CUPS, 8,000% OVERPAY FOR SOAP DISPENSERS SHOW WASTE AS DOGE LOCKS IN ON PENTAGON

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The productivity reports came as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues slashing suspected waste across the federal government. In an X post Tuesday, DOGE said it discovered 4 million active credit cards on the U.S. government’s books.

“The US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for  ~$40B of spend[ing] in FY24,” DOGE said in a post on X Tuesday. 

President Donald Trump has been supportive of Musk’s work with DOGE. On Saturday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that though Musk is “doing a great job,” he should be “more aggressive.”

“ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE. REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. MAGA!,” Trump wrote.

Musk responded with an enthusiastic “Will do, Mr. President!” hours after Trump posted. 

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump arrive to attend a SpaceX Starship rocket launch Nov. 19, in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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

Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

Two governors, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, found common ground at a National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C., on one of President Donald Trump’s most critical goals.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat and chairman of the National Governors Association, and Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt told Fox News Digital they want states to have a say in immigration enforcement and issuing work permits.

“We want to make sure we’re at the table in that with regard to immigration,” Polis told Fox News Digital.

DEMS SAY THEY’RE AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE, BUT THEY HATE DOGE MORE

He said the idea that the states should have a seat at the table regarding immigration decisions “has a lot of support (among) both Democratic and Republican governors.”

Polis said states know what their labor needs are and could grant work permits after careful vetting.

“Let us be able to grant those based on free background checks … and that’ll help our economic growth,” Polis said.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks as Gov. Jared Polis listens at the NGA in Washington. (Fox News/Charlie Creitz)

Polis, whose state has been ground zero for criminal activity and violence by the migrant gang Tren de Aragua, said “varying degrees of cooperation” between state and federal authorities are necessary.

Colorado has several sanctuary-style laws limiting law enforcement cooperation with federal authorities, but Polis insisted its relationship with federal law enforcement agencies is strong.

COLORADO CITY HELPS DOZENS OF FAMILIES RELOCATE AFTER TREN DE ARAGUA APARTMENT INFESTATION

Alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang who overtook an apartment building in Aurora, Colo, charging rent in exchange for “protection.” (Edward Romero, left, and Aurora Police Department)

Stitt said he would encourage Trump to consider giving states the ability to grant workforce visas.

“I’ve been an advocate for workforce visas at the state level,” Stitt said. “Matching employers with employees is something that governors should be able to do, whether it’s in the construction industry, the agricultural industry, engineering, aviation, whatever.”

OKLAHOMA SUPERINTENDENT WHO BRAWLED WITH CNN OVER ICE ENTERING SCHOOLS DOUBLES DOWN: ‘DEPORTED TOGETHER’

ICE officers take Jorge Carvajal Castrejon, 36, into custody in Houston Jan. 28. (ICE)

He joked that the U.S. is “like [a team in] the NFL with the No. 1 draft pick.”

“We should be able to choose the very best and brightest to our country. But we’re just being silly how we do it right now. Let’s close the border. Let’s make sure we have the very best and brightest that come into our country,” Stitt said.

Stitt also touted his state’s Operation Guardian, which he launched earlier this month to empower state and local law enforcement to better work with the Trump administration and ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens.

“I put my commissioner of public safety in charge to say, ‘How many people do we currently have in prison in the state of Oklahoma who are here illegally that have committed crimes? And then how can we work with the Trump administration to get them out of our state, out of our country and off of the taxpayer rolls in Oklahoma? So, I think that’s probably the first step,” Stitt said.

NOEM MAKES AGGRESSIVE NEW MOVE TO RAMP UP ARRESTS, DEPORTATIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

This photo shows migrants at the southern border encountered in Arizona. (U.S. Border Patrol)

However, Stitt said there is a limit to what states should be doing to enforce immigration law. He proceeded to knock a recent effort by the Oklahoma State Department of Public Instruction to check the immigration status of children enrolled in public schools.

ALLEGED FENTANYL-SMUGGLING IMMIGRANTS LEAD POLICE ON DANGEROUS CORNFIELD CHASE

Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters speaks during a special state Board of Education meeting April 12, 2023, in Oklahoma City.  (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

“In Oklahoma, I also said, ‘Listen, we’re not going to ask for immigration status for 6, 7, 8-year-old kids in school,” he said.

But Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, also a Republican, responded by saying Stitt’s stance on not checking school children’s immigration status undermines Trump’s agenda.

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“It is unfortunate that Gov. Stitt is thwarting President Trump’s America First agenda,” Walters told Fox News Digital. “We cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand like Democrats and ignore the cost of illegals to taxpayers. President Trump was clear, Oklahoma voters were clear and we will defend the will of the president and Oklahomans.” 

President Donald Trump celebrated his whirlwind first four weeks back in the Oval Office in a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday afternoon, mentioning what he called “flagrant scams” uncovered by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. 

“I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency — you probably haven’t heard of it — which is now waging war on government waste, fraud and abuse. And Elon is doing a great job,” Trump said at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center Saturday in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside the nation’s capital. “He’s doing a great job.”

Musk is leading DOGE as investigators scrutinize various federal agencies in an effort to curb government overspending and stamp out fraud. DOGE’s work has become a lightening rod for criticism among Democratic lawmakers and government employees, who have filed a number of lawsuits attempting to end the investigations and audits. 

“Here are some of the flagrant scams that, as an example, they’ve spent money on, and we’ve been able to recapture a large dose of it at least. Five hundred and 20 million dollars for a consultant … [on] environmental, social governance and investments in Africa,” he said. 

CPAC STRAW POLL REVEALS WHO CONSERVATIVES BELIEVE WILL BE 2028 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE

President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting in National Harbor, Md., Feb. 22, 2025.  (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

“Twenty-five million dollars to promote biodiversity conservation and socially responsible behavior in Colombia. This is Colombia, South America, not Columbia University. Of course, that might be worse. … Forty million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants.

“Forty-two million for social and behavior change in Uganda. Ten million for Mozambique medical male circumcisions. Why are we going to Mozambique to do circumcisions?” Trump asked, before continuing to rattle off a handful of other pricey initiatives funded by taxpayers uncovered by DOGE. 

‘SAVED THE COUNTRY’: CPAC ATTENDEES SEE SILVER LINING AFTER ELON MUSK’S DOGE SPEECH

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

CPAC is an annual conference of conservative lawmakers, leaders and voters, which kicked off on Wednesday and wraps up Saturday after Trump’s speech. 

KAROLINE LEAVITT OFFERS WORDS OF WISDOM TO YOUNG WOMEN AT CPAC: ‘JUST BELIEVE IN YOURSELF’

Earlier in the day, Trump sent a message on his Truth Social platform calling on Musk to “get more aggressive” with his DOGE work. 

“Will do, Mr. President!” Musk responded just a few hours ahead of Trump’s CPAC speech. 

Musk later added on X, “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

“We have a very corrupt group of people in this country, and we’re finding them out,” Trump said during his speech. “We’re removing all of the unnecessary, incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats from the federal workforce.”

VP JD VANCE SPEAKS ON ‘FUNDAMENTAL GOAL’ OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AT CPAC ADDRESS

Trump said he and Musk will head to Fort Knox in Kentucky to ensure the United States Bullion Depository still houses a reported $425 billion in government gold. The Trump administration and Republican allies have called for more transparency about the vault.

President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting in National Harbor, Md., Feb. 22, 2025.  (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the vault in 1943, which was followed by Treasury Secretary William Simon opening the vault to journalists and lawmakers in 1974 and again during the first Trump administration when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, inspected the vault.

“We are also going to Fort Knox. I’m going to go with Elon. And would anybody like to join us? Because we want to see if the gold is still there. We want to see,” Trump said. 

Fort Knox in Kentucky  (Getty Images)

“Wouldn’t that be terrible? We open [it] up, and this Fort Knox has got nothing. It’s just solid granite that’s five feet thick. The front door, you need six musclemen to open it up. I don’t even think they have windows. Wouldn’t that be terrible if we opened it up and there was no gold there? So, we’re going to open those doors, we’re going to take a look. And if there’s 27 tons of gold, we’ll be very happy,” he added. 

“I don’t know how the hell we’ll measure it, but that’s OK.”

President Donald Trump attends the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting in National Harbor, Md., Feb. 22, 2025.  (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

Trump ended his first full month back in the White House this week, which has included a breakneck pace of executive orders and actions. 

He took a victory lap for his whirlwind first month, touting in his speech the administration’s work to end the “weaponization” of the government under the former Biden administration, his plan to soon impose reciprocal tariffs on foreign trading partners and celebrating the deportation of illegal immigrants from communities across the nation. 

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“We’re liberating communities like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, that have been occupied by illegal alien criminals from all over the world,” Trump said. 

“We’re rescuing the Americans whose jobs have been stolen, whose wages have been robbed and whose way of life has been absolutely destroyed. And, under the Trump administration, our country will not be turned into a dumping ground.” 

Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan warned criminal aliens Saturday that they would all be arrested and said he would make good on his promise to immigrant terror groups to “wipe you off the face of the earth.”

Homan, who previously served as the acting director of ICE and currently leads the Trump administration’s border efforts, told a rapt audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that the number of illegal immigrant “gotaways” is down by 95%.  

“We had about 1,800 a day in 2023. You know how many we had yesterday? Forty-eight,” he said. “You’re talking about 2,000 miles of border, and only 48 people escaped. But that’s 48 too many. I’m not going to be happy till that number’s zero.”

ACTIVISTS IN MEXICO REPORT FLOW OF MIGRANTS HAS ‘ENORMOUSLY DECREASED’ ONE MONTH INTO TRUMP ADMIN

Former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Thomas Homan speaks during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

The border czar also announced that in Trump’s first month in the Oval Office, ICE arrested 21,000 illegal aliens.

“I’m happy with the numbers, but I’m not going to be satisfied until every criminal alien gang member, every criminal alien, every Tren de Aragua is eradicated from this country and [we’ve] sent their ass to Gitmo, where they belong,” he said.

Addressing criminal migrant groups like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and El Salvador’s MS-13 – which the Trump administration just designated “foreign terrorist organizations” – Homan said the Trump administration is making good on its promise to stamp them out.

“He’s going to wipe you off the face of the earth,” he said. “You have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world combined. You are now a terrorist organization. So, word out to anybody that assists them, anybody that sells their drugs on a street, anybody assists these cartels in any way, you are helping a terrorist organization.”

TRUMP ADMIN REVEALS LIST OF CARTELS AND GANGS TO BE DESIGNATED TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

Tren de Aragua (TdA) members arrested in Texas (Tren de Aragua (TdA) members arrested in Texas)

“We’re going to save lives, because when 95% less people [are] coming across the border, how many women aren’t being raped? How many Americans aren’t dying from fentanyl overdoses? How many … terrorists aren’t getting in the country? How many women and children aren’t sex-trafficked in this country? When you have a border lockdown, we’re saving lives,” he said.

Addressing criticism from Democrats and the media that ICE has arrested illegal aliens without criminal charges, along with criminal aliens, Homan said, “Yeah, damn right we did. Because you’re in a country illegally, which happens to be a violation of our law.”

“Entering this country illegally is a crime, and we’re not going to forgive it,” he said.

And addressing self-proclaimed “sanctuary” cities and states, where local and state governments refuse to cooperate with ICE, Homan said his now-familiar line: “Game on.”

MAGA LAW GROUP FILES BRIEFS IN SUPPORT OF TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER ENDING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

Trump Border Czar Tom Homan; Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox. (Reuters/Getty)

“Sanctuary cities are a sanctuary for criminals,” he said. “We’re enforcing the laws enacted by Congress, and we’re not going to apologize for it, not under this administration.”

Homan singled out Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, who recently doubled down on the city’s sanctuary policies and said his officers would not assist ICE with deportation operations.

“You said you doubled down on not helping the law enforcement officers of ICE. I’m coming to Boston, and I’m bringing hell with me,” he said. “I looked at the numbers this morning, I counted, I stopped counting at nine. Nine child rapists that were in jail in Massachusetts, but rather than honoring an ICE detainer, you released them back into the street. You’re not a police commissioner. Take that badge off your chest. Put it in the desk drawer. Because you became a politician. You forgot what’s it’s like to be a cop.”

‘RAMPANT’ ABUSE IN BLUE STATE MIGRANT SHELTER SYSTEM, SAYS FORMER DIRECTOR: ‘COLOSSAL MESS’

A U.S. Border Patrol agent stands on a cliff looking for migrants who crossed the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico near the city of Sasabe, Arizona, on Sunday, January 23, 2022.  (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Homan also took a few moments to express his gratitude to the men and women of federal law enforcement agencies like ICE and Border Patrol.

“God bless the men and women of ICE. God bless all the DOJ components, we’ve got the U.S. marshals, DEA, FBI, ATF, all these five agencies helping us,” he said.

And to the men and women of Border Patrol, Homan said, “I love each and every one of you wearing that green uniform. You are the finest 1% of this country.”

CPAC is an annual gathering of conservatives from across the country. This year, the conference took place in National Harbor, Maryland, and saw the participation of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and several other top Trump Cabinet officials and Republican leaders.

The Kennedy Center will usher in the “Golden Age of the Arts” in Washington, D.C., as its new leadership under President Donald Trump plans to roll out productions that will “sell tickets” and appeal to the public, interim Executive Director Richard Grenell told Fox News Digital. 

“This will be the Golden Age of the Arts,” Grenell told Fox News Digital in an exclusive comment on the matter. “The Kennedy Center has zero cash on hand and zero dollars in reserves – while taking tens of millions of dollars in public funds. We must have programs that sell tickets. We can’t afford to pay for content that doesn’t at least pay for itself right now. I wish we didn’t have to consider the costs of production, but we do.” 

“The good news is that there are plenty of shows that are very popular, and therefore the ticket sales will pay for themselves,” Grenell added. 

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts serves as the national cultural center of the U.S. and is now led by President Donald Trump as its chairman, Grenell and its board of trustees. 

TRUMP ENVOY RICHARD GRENELL SECURES FREEDOM FOR 6 AMERICANS FOLLOWING MEETING WITH MADURO IN VENEZUELA

Ric Grenell, special presidential envoy for special missions of the United States, arrives at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on Friday. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The center came under scrutiny this week as the media and liberal critics spotlighted that a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus and National Symphony Orchestra slated for May as part of Washington, D.C.’s gay pride celebrations was canceled, with critics attempting to tie the cancelation to the Trump administration. The chorus and orchestra were scheduled to perform a show titled “A Peacock Among Pigeons,” which is based on an LGBT-themed children’s book. 

TRUMP FIRES KENNEDY CENTER BOARD MEMBERS CITING DRAG SHOWS, APPOINTS HIMSELF CHAIRMAN

The performance, however, was put on the chopping block weeks before the center’s leadership change and was canceled due to lack of ticket sales, Fox News Digital learned. The center’s new leadership has not canceled any shows since taking the reins of the cultural center, a source familiar with the Kennedy Center’s operations told Fox Digital. 

Reflected in the Potomac River, the exterior of the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts building is lit up in multiple colors in Washington, D.C.

“Artists who have pulled down their shows are only punishing themselves and the patrons. It shows the artists have an intolerance to engage with those of differing opinions. Republicans are patrons, too, they should remember that,” the source said of recent left-leaning performers and celebrities who have pulled out of shows. 

Grenell, who also serves as special presidential envoy for special missions under the second Trump administration, joined the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday, where he pushed back that the production had been canceled over Trump. 

“Suddenly it was, the Gay Men’s Chorus was dropping out because of Trump. That wasn’t true,” Grenell added. “It was replaced with with some other things, that happens all the time.”

A production of “The Wizard of Oz” replaced the planned performance of “A Peacock Among Pigeons,” the executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra said earlier this week, underscoring that the planned performance had been canceled before the leadership change and was due to financial issues. 

President Donald Trump serves as the Kennedy Center’s board chair.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Before the leadership transition at the Kennedy Center, we made the decision to postpone Peacock Among Pigeons due to financial and scheduling factors. We chose to replace it with ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ another suitable program for World PRIDE participation,” the orchestra’s Executive Director, Jean Davidson, said in a statement earlier this week. 

ACTRESS ISSA RAE CANCELS SOLD-OUT KENNEDY CENTER SHOW AFTER TRUMP NAMED CHAIRMAN OF VENUE

“Program changes are a common practice. We were unable to announce the replacement program until we had secured the rights to present it, but in the interest of transparency, we removed the original program from the website to prevent further ticket sales. The Gay Men’s Chorus was to be contracted as a guest artist for Peacock Among Pigeons,” Davidson added. 

Grenell previewed during his remarks at CPAC that the Kennedy Center will now focus on performances “the public want to see,” such as Christmas-focused productions in December. 

“We have to do the big productions that the masses and the public want to see, we want to have really good programming,” he said. “So the first thing that we’re doing … you’ve got to be at the Kennedy Center in December, because we are doing a big, huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas. How crazy is it to think that we’re going to celebrate Christ at Christmas with a big traditional production to celebrate what we are all celebrating in the world during Christmastime, which is the birth of Christ.”

Pedestrians walk up a sidewalk to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

Trump fired a handful of the center’s previous board members earlier this month, arguing that they did “not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.” He replaced the former members with 14 other members, including allies such as second lady Usha Vance and “God Bless the USA” singer lee Greenwood. 

“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Feb. 7. 

Trump indicated that the motivation behind firing the former board members was due to the Kennedy Center’s drag show performances under the Biden administration that targeted children.

“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!” Trump said on Truth Social earlier this month. 

TOP TRUMP OFFICIAL RALLIES BEHIND PRESIDENT AMID BACKLASH FOR ‘DICTATOR’ ATTACK ON ZELENSKYY

Ric Grenell, former acting Director of National Intelligence, during the closing campaign event with former President Donald Trump, at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. (Sarah Rice/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” he added. 

The new board elected Trump as chairman on Feb. 12. Trump appointed Grenell – who became the U.S.’s first openly gay cabinet member under the first Trump administration when he served as acting director of national intelligence – as interim executive director amid the board shakeup. 

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“I think the frustration that President Trump had is that the Kennedy Center has no cash on hand, no reserves, and they have been paying for the salaries with the debt reserves, while taking around $40 million of public money,” Grenell said at CPAC on Friday. 

President Donald Trump unleashed an earthquake on the U.S. immigration system during his first full month in office, quickly overturning Biden-era policies and overhauling how authorities conduct enforcement in the interior and at the border.

An order late Wednesday, which was implemented a day ahead of the administration’s one-month mark, directed all federal agencies to identify all federally funded programs currently providing any financial benefits to illegal immigrants and “take corrective action.” The order is intended to ensure that any federal funds to states and localities “will not be used to support sanctuary policies or assist illegal immigration.”

But it was just the latest in what has been a battery of overhauls to the U.S. immigration system.

TRUMP FREEZES APPLICATIONS FOR BIDEN-ERA MIGRANT PROGRAMS AMID FRAUD, NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS

President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. (Pool via AP)

Day One

Trump, who ran his campaign centered on border security and cracking down on illegal immigration, got to work on day one of his administration — signing executive orders that declared a national emergency at the border and deployed the U.S. military. He also signed orders ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, suspending refugee admissions and also ending the use of the CBP One app at the southern border to admit migrants via humanitarian parole.

Other orders included moves to restart border wall construction, which had ended under the Biden administration.

It wouldn’t take long before the moves were followed up by additional decisions from Cabinet agencies. The Pentagon quickly deployed troops to the southern border and also opened up Guantánamo Bay to flights of migrants.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also issued orders that ended limits on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) imposed by the Biden administration on “sensitive” places, and also took limits on the use of expedited removal, allowing the rapid-fire removal process to be used more broadly after being limited by the prior administration. Another order allowed ICE to review the parole status of migrants brought in under parole, opening them up to deportation.

DHS has also gone after federal funding to migrant causes. Most recently, four Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees were fired and tens of millions of dollars taken back from New York City designated for hotels where migrants are being housed.

“Secretary [Kristi] Noem has clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Raids

Meanwhile, the administration quickly moved to ramp up interior arrests and deportations. A number of high-profile raids were quickly launched across the U.S., particularly in “sanctuary” cities that do not cooperate with ICE agents. Daily arrests quickly moved above 1,000 a day, and officials pointed to a number of criminals and gang members that were picked up in the process.

According to DHS data, obtained by Fox News Digital, there were 11,791 interior ICE arrests from Jan. 20 to Feb. 8, compared to 4,969 during the same period in 2024. That’s a 137% increase.

Arrests of aliens with criminal histories have soared by nearly 100% from 4,526 in the same period in 2024 to 8,993 under Trump this year. Arrests of fugitive aliens at-large, meanwhile, have gone up from 2,164 to 5,538, a 156% increase. Arrests of criminal aliens in local jails have risen 59%.

DHS SAYS IT ‘CAN, SHOULD AND WILL’ ADMINISTER POLYGRAPH EXAMS AMID ICE RAID LOCATION LEAKS

ICE and DEA conduct migrant raids in New York City. (Drug Enforcement Administration New York)

Biden-era efforts quashed

The new Trump era has seen the rapid unwinding of a number of Biden-era programs. Fox News Digital confirmed on Wednesday that DHS has now paused pending applications for three Biden-era programs: Uniting for Ukraine; parole processes for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV); and family reunification programs.

Trump had already ordered an end to the use of some Biden-era parole programs on day one, including CHNV. He had also ordered the end to the practice of paroling migrants at ports of entry who had made appointments on the CBP One app. 

At the time, the Biden administration touted the expansion of “lawful pathways,” claiming they were part of an effort to reduce illegal crossings, but Republicans accused the administration of abusing limited parole power and allowing in migrants who should not legally have entered. 

The Trump administration has also suspended refugee resettlement, which had expanded under the Biden administration. It has also frozen funding to foreign nations, which was a cornerstone of the “root causes” strategy championed by the prior administration.

International diplomacy

Migration strategies often require foreign cooperation, and the Trump administration used diplomacy and tariff threats to secure additional cooperation with neighbors and other countries in the region. 

Both Canada and Mexico agreed to ramp up their border security efforts after Trump floated new tariffs on incoming goods from their countries. Meanwhile, both Venezuela and Colombia agreed to take back their immigrants being deported, with Colombia’s president backing down after a public clash with President Trump. 

Guatemala, separately, agreed to accept deportees from other countries as part of a deal hashed out with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

Having an effect?

So far, there are indications that border numbers continue to trend lower with the new administration. 

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended just 29,116 illegal immigrants along the southern border during the month of January, down from 47,000 in December and hitting a low mark not seen since May 2020, when 32,349 arrests were made at ports of entry, according to a White House press release.

Meanwhile, border czar Tom Homan said this week that Border Patrol “has encountered a total of 229 aliens across the entire southwest border” in a single day and rallied around President Trump, saying, “He is delivering.”

“That is down from a high of over 11,000 a day under Biden,” he said. “I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984, and I don’t remember the numbers ever being that low.”

Fox News’ Michael Lee and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, is facing backlash for introducing a budget recommendation that changes the word “mother” to “inseminated person,” and “paternity” to “parentage” in certain parts of state law.

The Evers administration’s budget recommendation for the 2025-2027 fiscal period advises several other gendered terms be changed, as well. References to “wife” or “husband” are changed to “spouse” in the proposal. In other places, the word “father” is changed to “parent,” and “mother” is swapped out for the phrase “parent who gave birth to the child.”

The budget was introduced by the state Senate’s Joint Committe on Finance on Tuesday.

JUDGE BLOCKS PARTS OF TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS TARGETING DEI, CITING FREE SPEECH 

Wisconsin radio host Dan O’Donnell noted the language change in a post on X, calling it “beyond parody.” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, commented on the post, writing simply “red flag!”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers during a campaign event with then-President Joe Biden, not pictured, in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday, July 5, 2024. (Mustafa Hussain/Bloomberg)

The Republican Governors Association (RGA) issued a statement in response to the language changes.

Evers’ “latest left-wing push” is “offensive to mothers,” RGA executive director Sara Craig said in a statement. “Being a mother is the greatest privilege I will have in my lifetime, and every mother I know feels the same. If Tony Evers can reduce motherhood to an ‘inseminated person’ then our society is lost.”

When introducing the budget proposal, Evers said his plan would eliminate income tax on tips, prevent homeowners from seeing property tax increases and improve the state’s infrastructure, among other things. However, he made no mention of the language in the bill.

Progress Pride Flags and Trans Pride Flags (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images)

WISCONSIN BANS TRANS ATHLETES FROM GIRLS’ SPORTS, FOLLOWING TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER 

The cultural battle over gendered language has raged for the last few years with debates over the use of terms like “chestfeeding” instead of “breastfeeding” or “birthing person” instead of “mother.”

On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump attacked the issue head-on with an executive order called “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

In the order, President Trump makes it official government policy “to recognize two sexes, male and female,” saying they are “not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” The order also explicitly states that “’sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender ideology.’” 

President Donald Trump holds a document on the day he issues executive orders and pardons for Jan. 6 defendants in the Oval Office at the White House, Jan. 20, 2025. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

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Earlier this month, Trump issued another order on gender ideology called “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports.” The order is designed to prevent transgender athletes from competing against women. 

On Friday, during an event at the White House, the president had a heated exchange with Gov. Janet Mills, D-Me., in which he threatened to pull federal funding if the state does not comply with his order. The exchange ended with both saying they would see the other in court over the issue.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Evers’ office for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss is ready to bring the “conservative revolution” home from the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference, telling Fox News Digital her plan to “Make the West Great Again.”

World leaders took center stage at CPAC this week, telling the crowd of American conservatives they’re ready to see President Donald Trump’s agenda on the world stage. Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, said world leaders are envious of Trump’s second term and his Department of Government Efficiency. 

“There’s a lot of momentum, and people are very envious of what’s happening in the U.S. We’d love to be able to get the truth from government departments about what’s actually being spent,” Truss told Fox News Digital. 

Truss praised Elon Musk’s DOGE as a “playbook for what needs to happen” in the United Kingdom, but she said that a DOGE UK would be unrealistic under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. 

‘MR. BREXIT’ ADVOCATES FOR UK DOGE OVER ‘COMPLETE WASTE’ OF TAXPAYER MONEY

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Liz Truss speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center on February 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Maryland.  (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“What Musk is doing, going straight to the payment system, is a fantastic idea that we need to adopt in Britain, but the reality is that is not going to happen under the current government, because the current government are part of the problem. They are defenders of the deep state. They’re not going to be investigating themselves. I think this is something that has to happen when there’s a change of government. We are watching very closely what Elon Musk is doing. It’s a fantastic playbook for what needs to happen in the U.K.”

DOGE’s revelations about America’s federal funding and the mass layoffs of government employees have shaken up Washington this past month. Truss said that Musk is even holding the British government accountable. 

CHAINSAW-WIELDING ELON MUSK MAKES ‘DARK MAGA’ APPEARANCE WITH JAVIER MILEI AT CPAC

Liz Truss said during a Fox News Digital interview that she often says that “Elon Musk is the leader of the opposition in Britain, because he’s the one actually on X, challenging Keir Starmer’s policies.” (Musk: Reuters / Money: iStock / Trump: Getty)

“Sometimes I say that Elon Musk is the leader of the opposition in Britain, because he’s the one actually on X, challenging Keir Starmer’s policies, talking about issues like the grooming gangs, the appalling gangs who have been raping girls as young as 12. It’s Elon Musk that’s been taking the fight to Keir Starmer,” she said. 

Musk and Trump’s ability to seize the social media narrative and America’s growing independent media space inspired Truss to establish a “new free speech media network” in the United Kingdom. 

“We have a massive problem with free speech in Britain,” Truss said. “People are being locked up for posts on Facebook and on X, which is extraordinary. We’re the country that invented freedom of the press back in 1695. It was almost 100 years before the First Amendment. And now we are, as a country, locking people up for saying things online.” 

“This needs to change. So, what I’m establishing is a new free speech media network, which will enable people in Britain to hear what is actually going on, and people across Europe to hear what’s going on.” she continued. “I think that’s really important. If you look at the Trump revolution, independent media was a major part of that.”

Trump leaned on new media during his 2024 presidential campaign, posting TikTok videos from the campaign trail, spending nearly three hours with the widely popular podcaster Joe Rogan and using Truth Social as a direct line to his core base. 

Truss said that Trump is leading a “conservative revolution” and attended CPAC this year to learn how she can model his American success back in the United Kingdom. 

“What we’re seeing happening in America is a revolution. It’s a conservative revolution. All of the problems we have in our societies in the West, the leftist ideology that’s taken over, whether it’s wokeism or extreme environmentalism or anti-capitalism, all of those are being taken on by President Trump. And I want to see a similar revolution in Britain, which is why I’m here to learn about how they’re doing it, to talk about how we build that kind of movement in Britain,” Truss said. 

Liz Truss, former UK prime minister, during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025.  (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The former prime minister said she agrees with Trump on “everything from deporting illegal migrants; to cutting taxes; to drill, baby, drill; to being clear that men can’t be in women’s bathrooms.” She said Britain needs to implement these policies and fire the “permanent bureaucrats who are part of the problem.”

“The big difference with Britain is our bureaucracy is more powerful than the American bureaucracy. Most people working in government are career bureaucrats, and that’s what I think we need to learn from America. We need to change,” Truss added. 

Truss said she has had productive conversations with European and world leaders this week, strategizing about how to broaden their conservative coalition and create policies to bring energy prices down and boost the economy. Truss even said she had plans for a British CPAC. 

Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss addresses the media in Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Truss resigned as British prime minister after 49 days in office in 2022 after her large tax cut plan destabilized the economy. She was one of three prime ministers in the United Kingdom within a four-month period in 2022. 

“I recognize that, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” Truss said in her resignation.

The United Kingdom’s current prime minister and leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, ended 14 consecutive years of Conservative party rule when he was elected in 2024. 

There is a UK DOGE movement gaining traction on social media for revealing wasteful British spending. The Procurement Files is an X account that combs through more than 300,000 contracts on the United Kingdom’s public government database to reveal mismanagement of British taxpayer money, much like the official US DOGE account does.

FEBRUARY 6: Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives an interview during a visit to Springfields (Preston Lab), National Nuclear Laboratory facility on February 6, 2025, in Preston, England.  (Photo by Oli Scarff – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK party leader who initiated Britain’s departure from the European Union, has explicitly called for a UK DOGE. Despite the discontent from conservative leaders on British government efficiency, the prime minister’s office said that it has created initiatives to cut government waste.

“The Chancellor has asked all departments to deliver savings and efficiencies of 5% of their current budget as part of the first zero-based Spending Review in seventeen years,” an HM Treasury spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

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“Every pound of government spending is being interrogated, to root out waste and get the best value for taxpayers as we deliver on their priorities set out in the Plan for Change. We have also created an Office for Value for Money that is underpinning our work driving out waste and inefficiency, alongside cutting out hundreds of millions of pounds worth of consultancy spending in government over the next few years,” the spokesperson added. 

Sacked United States Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers left their Washington, D.C., offices for the last time on Friday, with some carrying boxes scrawled with messages that seemed to be directed at President Donald Trump, who is slashing the agency’s workforce.

Thousands of staffers were notified weeks ago of their pending dismissals, while a federal judge on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to follow through with the mass layoffs as it aims to eliminate waste throughout the federal bureaucracy.

“We are abandoning the world,” read one message on a box being hauled out by a grinning staffer as she walked out of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs office.

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

Another smiling staffer’s box had a more upbeat tone, with her message reading: “You can take the humanitarians out of USAID but you can’t take the humanity out of the humanitarians.”

Recently fired U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staff carry boxes with a message as they leave work and are applauded by former USAID staffers and supporters during a sendoff outside USAID offices in Washington, D.C., on February 21, 2025.  (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

The staffers were greeted outside the offices by a small group of well-wishing supporters and former USAID workers who carried signs reading, “We love USAID” and “Thank you for your service, USAID.”

Other workers were seen leaving the offices in tears.

The Trump administration plans to gut the agency and intends to leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of the current 8,000 direct hires and contractors. 

They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run the few life-saving programs that the administration says it intends to keep going for the time being.

Recently fired USAID staffers leave the USAID offices in Washington, D.C., on February 21, 2025.  (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

USAID has come in for particular criticism under the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for alleged wasteful spending. 

For instance, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, recently published a list of projects and programs she says USAID has helped fund over the years, including $20 million to produce a Sesame Street show in Iraq. 

Several more examples of questionable spending have been uncovered at USAID, including more than $900,000 to a “Gaza-based terror charity” called Bayader Association for Environment and Development and a $1.5 million program slated to “advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

SECRETARY OF STATE RUBIO CONFIRMS BECOMING ACTING USAID CHIEF

Trump has moved to gut the agency after imposing a 90-day pause on foreign aid. He also has appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the acting director of USAID.

Government employee unions had sued to stop the mass layoffs, but U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols on Friday lifted a temporary restraining order he had issued at the outset of the case and declined to issue a longer-term order keeping the employees in their posts.

Tearful staffers leave USAID building in Washington, D.C. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Nichols, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, also wrote that because the affected employees had not gone through an administrative dispute process, he likely did not have jurisdiction to hear the unions’ case or consider their broader arguments that the administration is violating the U.S. Constitution by shutting down an agency created and funded by Congress.

The judge said the issue was jurisdictional, that federal district courts should not be involved at this stage, and that the matter should be handled administratively under federal employment laws.

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“In sum, because the Court likely lacks jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims, they have not established a likelihood of success on the merits,” the judge‘s ruling stated, in part.

“The court concludes that plaintiffs have not demonstrated that they or their members will suffer irreparable injury absent an injunction; that their claims are likely to succeed on the merits; or that the balance of the hardships or the public interest strongly favors an injunction.”

Retired United States Agency for International Development worker Julie Hanson Swanson, left, joins supporters of USAID workers outside the USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian affairs office in Washington, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The unions can now go to the Washington, D.C., federal appeals court for emergency relief to have the TRO put back into place, or possibly a preliminary injunction.

Fox News’ Bill Mears, Andrew Mark Miller, Aubrie Spady, Deirdre Heavey, Morgan Phillips and Emma Colton as well as Reuters contributed to this report.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) spent another week slashing hundreds of millions in spending by the federal government, while dodging various legal attempts to block its cost-cutting efforts.

Here are some of DOGE’s big wins this week:

1. Judge shoots down request to stop federal worker firings 

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, shot down a request from several federal labor unions, including the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), to pause the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration.

NTEU and four other labor unions representing federal employees filed a complaint Feb. 12 challenging the firing of probationary employees and the deferred resignation program, which gives workers the option to agree to work from an office or resign. 

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Elon Musk’s DOGE claimed victory in several battles this week. (Getty)

Cooper denied the request to stop the firings, saying the court lacked jurisdiction over the unions’ claims.

Instead, Cooper ruled the unions must pursue their challenges through the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, which provides for administrative review by the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

2. Judge says DOGE can keep digging

DOGE was handed another victory by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who denied a request to issue a temporary restraining order preventing Musk and DOGE from accessing data systems at the Department of Education, Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce. 

The agencies were asking Chutkan to forbid both Musk and DOGE from terminating, furloughing or putting on leave any of their employees. 

Chutkin ruled that DOGE can continue to operate as it is now.

The judge also issued a court briefing schedule for plaintiffs and defendants to file motions for discovery, preliminary injunctions and dismissals, which stretches through April 22.

The White House on Wednesday outlined where the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency dividend checks could go after President Donald Trump floated the idea of giving 20% of savings back to Americans.   (Musk: Reuters / Money: iStock / Trump: Getty)

3. Judge allows DOGE access to data on 3 federal agencies

DOGE scored a win in court after a federal judge declined a request to temporarily block Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing sensitive data from at least three federal agencies.

Unions and nonprofits attempted to stop Musk’s DOGE from accessing records at the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The efforts were blocked by District Judge John Bates, who wrote in an opinion that the government was likely correct in categorizing DOGE as an agency, thereby allowing it to detail its staff to other government departments. 

Musk praised the decision on X with the caption: “LFG,” an abbreviation for “Let’s [expletive] go.” 

DEFENSE SECRETARY HEGSETH WORKING WITH DOGE TO CUT THE ‘BS’

4. DOGE finds a nearly untraceable budget line item responsible for $4.7T in payments

Earlier this week, DOGE announced it had discovered an identification code linking U.S. Treasury payments to a budget line item, which accounts for nearly $4.7 trillion in payments, that was oftentimes left blank.

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington.  (Alex Brandon)

“The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process),” DOGE wrote in a post on X. 

“In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible. As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going.”

The agency thanked the U.S. Treasury for its work in identifying the optional field.

According to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which is under the Treasury, TAS codes are used to describe any one of the account identification codes assigned by the Treasury and are also referred to as the “account.”

5. Caesars Palace, MLB stadium, an ice cream truck: DOGE reveals how schools spent billions in COVID relief funds

Schools spent hundreds of billions of COVID relief funds on expenses that had “little” impact on students, such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and the purchase of an ice cream truck, according to the Trump administration’s cost-cutting department.

DOGE reveals how COVID relief funds have been spent by schools. (Getty Images)

DOGE revealed Thursday that schools have spent nearly $200 billion in COVID relief funds “with little oversight or impact on students.”

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Granite Public Schools in Utah spent COVID relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas Casino, while Santa Ana Unified spent $393,000 to rent a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE.

The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 in COVID relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck.

6. Hegseth working with DOGE to cut the ‘BS’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is working with DOGE to make cuts within his department, saying he believes it will find waste “not core to our mission.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers a press statement after a meeting at the Ministry of Defense. (Omar Marques)

“They’re here, and we’re welcoming them,” Hegseth said in a recent video released Thursday. “They’re going to have broad access, obviously, with all the safeguards on classification.

“They care just like we do, to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities — the DEI, the woke, the climate change B.S., that’s not core to our mission, and we’re going to get rid of it all.”

Hegseth, who said many DOGE workers are veterans, met with Musk’s team and said they have already started their review of the Department of Defense.

7. DOGE uncovers over 4M government credit cards responsible for 90M transactions

DOGE revealed on Tuesday that the U.S. government has more than 4 million active credit cards on its books.

“The US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for ~$40B of spend[ing] in FY24,” DOGE said in a post on X.

President-elect Donald Trump greets Elon Musk as he arrives to attend a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Nov. 19, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas (Brandon Bell)

The cost-cutting department broke down multiple federal agencies and their credit card use, with the DOD leading the way in both the number of transactions, about 27.2 million, and the number of individual accounts, roughly 2.4 million.

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Musk delivered a speech to conservatives Thursday in which he touted the accomplishments of DOGE and, at one point, stood on the stage holding a golden chainsaw given to him by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, symbolizing the cuts being made to government spending, to the delight of the crowd of conservatives at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. 

“We’re fighting Matrix big time here,” Musk said. “It has got to be done.”

Fox News’ Alex Nitzberg, Emma Woodhead, Michael Lee, Greg Wehner, and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

New York City filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday seeking to wrestle back more than $80 million previously sent to the city via the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house migrants.  

The suit argues that the funds were previously approved and then paid out by FEMA, only to be removed from a city bank account on Feb. 11 without notice or administrative process.

The funding had been revoked after Elon Musk claimed that the Department of Government Efficiency found a $59 million FEMA payment to New York City that was being used on luxury hotels to house illegal migrants. Trump later repeated Musk’s claim and argued that “massive fraud” was happening.

New York City was awarded two separate grants during the Biden administration – one for $58.6 million and another for $21.9 million – as the city attempted to pay to house migrants, many of whom were sent by Texas officials who were frustrated with the Biden administration’s handling of the influx of migrants entering the U.S. through the southern border.

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SAYS HE WILL RUN FOR RE-ELECTION AS A DEMOCRAT

New York City filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday seeking to wrestle back more than $80 million previously sent to the city via FEMA to house migrants. Mayor Eric Adams left, President Donald Trump, right, and migrants outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, left | Stephen Maturen/Getty Images, right | Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images, inset)

The payments were made under the Shelter and Services Program (SPP) that Congress appropriated $650 million for last year to help local governments respond to the migrant crisis. There are currently fewer than 45,000 migrants staying at taxpayer-funded shelters in New York City, up from a high of 69,000 more than a year ago.

Friday’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by the city’s law department, which handles the city’s legal affairs, against President Donald Trump, the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The lawsuit accuses the federal government of violating federal regulations and the terms of the SSP grant, as well as abusing the federal government’s authority and obligations to implement congressionally approved and funded programs. ­

Elon Musk, advisor to President Donald Trump, is leading the government efficiency push. (AP Images)

The suit argues that on Feb. 19, the federal government belatedly provided the city with a “noncompliance” letter that did not identify any noncompliance by the city. 

“Rather, it announced ‘concerns,’ which are unfounded and do not comport with how the city has managed the unprecedented crisis brought to its doorstep,” the law department said.

Citing the government’s actions as a “money grab,” the law department said the letter was a “mere cover” to mask the federal government’s real purpose, which is to permanently withhold the funds because it opposes their use on migrants.

The city is looking to recoup the funds and is seeking a motion for a preliminary and permanent injunction, and motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO).

New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended and supported the lawsuit in a series of posts on X late Friday, writing that the $80 million was approved, paid for and then rescinded – all while the city spent more than $7 billion of its own taxpayer money to tackle the crisis over the last three years.

Mayor Eric Adams said the city has housed more than 231,000 migrants during the crisis. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images, left, Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images, right.)

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MOVES TO DROP CASE AGAINST NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS

“We are going to work to ensure our city’s residents get every dollar they are owed,” Adams wrote in on post. 

“Without a doubt, our immigration system is broken, but the cost of managing an international humanitarian crisis should not overwhelmingly fall onto one city alone. We have skillfully shouldered the cost of this humanitarian crisis almost entirely on our own, with more than 231,000 people entering our city seeking shelter.”

Meanwhile, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander claimed the suit came about after he forced Adams’ hand on the matter. Adams has come under fire from New York Democrats over his decision to be more cooperative with federal immigration agencies in apprehending criminal illegal migrants amid the Justice Department efforts to dismiss corruption charges against him.

“After my office discovered that Elon Musk and his DOGE goon squad stole $80 million out of the City’s coffers, we successfully pressured Mayor Adams to allow the City’s lawyers to sue the federal government to get our money back,” Lander said in a statement. 

“The lawyers who are standing up to President Trump and Eric Adams’ collusion deserve praise and we look forward to Donald Trump returning the money he stole from New York.”

Lander is running against Adams in the mayoral election later this year.

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Fox News’ Landon Mion, Maria Paronich and Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report.