NationalWatch

Countries in Europe are slamming the brakes on asylum cases filed by Syrian migrants in the wake of the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, but it is not yet clear whether the U.S. will take similar action.

The U.K. and Norway, along with E.U. countries of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Finland, Ireland and Sweden, have suspended applications from Syrians after the fall of the Assad regime.

While it does not necessarily mean those people will be returned to Syria, it puts those applications in limbo in a continent that saw a massive surge of Syrian migration during the 2015 European migration crisis.

TRUMP’S PLEDGE AGAINST ‘FOREVER WARS’ COULD BE TESTED WITH SYRIA IN HANDS OF JIHADIST FACTIONS 

The European Union has also said that conditions are not currently in place for the safe return of nationals to Syria.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, seen during the Signing of the comprehensive program of strategic and long-term cooperation between Iran and Syria, on May 3, 2023, In Damascus, Syria. (Photo by Borna News/Matin Ghasemi/Aksonline ATPImages/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

While Europe has seen a considerably more sizeable influx of migrants from Syria than the U.S., it is not clear how those cases in the U.S. will change, if at all, given the changing political dynamics in the Middle Eastern country.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services handle asylum cases, and asylum officers are instructed to consider changes in circumstances when considering those cases. So, if an applicant’s country becomes more stable, then the consideration of that case changes dynamically. Therefore, if Syria stabilizes, it may make it harder for Syrians to receive a positive ruling on their cases.

US GROUP LOOKS FOR KIDNAPPED AMERICANS IN SYRIA AFTER FALL OF ASSAD REGIME: WON’T ‘LEAVE A STONE UNTURNED’ 

But so far, there have been no pauses of Syrian asylum cases announced by the Biden administration. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.

Migrants and refugees line up at the central registration center for refugees and asylum seekers LaGeSo (Landesamt fuer Gesundheit und Soziales – State Office for Health and Social Affairs) LaGeSo in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. ((AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File))

One factor that could change in the next year is Temporary Protected Status, which grants deportation protection and work permits for nationals of countries deemed unsafe. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended and redesignated Syria for TPS in January, and that lasts until September 2025.

Should the Trump administration choose not to extend or redesignate Syria for TPS, it would require those who are no longer protected from deportation and who do not have another legal status to leave the U.S. or face deportation.

However, the number of Syrians protected under TPS is relatively few, compared to other nationalities and the situation in Europe. DHS estimated that around 8,000 Syrians were eligible for TPS in January.

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The Center for Immigration Studies cited statistics showing that the number of Syrians granted asylum between 2011 and 2023 was just over 7,000. Meanwhile, data obtained by Fox News Digital this week shows that there are 741 Syrians with deportation orders on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) non-detained docket. In Europe, around 183,000 Syrians applied for asylum in 2023, according to the Associated Press.

The U.N. refugee agency has called for “patience and vigilance” for Syrian migrants, arguing that much will depend on whether Syria’s new government is respectful of law and order.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A controversial judicial advocacy organization funded by left-wing nonprofits continues to work with judges and experts involved in climate change litigation despite publicly downplaying the extent of those connections.

“CJP doesn’t participate in litigation, support or coordinate with any parties in litigation, or advise judges on how they should rule in any case,” the Environmental Law Institute Climate Judiciary Project President Jordan Diamond wrote in a recent letter to The Wall Street Journal in response to criticism of the project. 

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Law Institute (ELI) created the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) in 2018, establishing a first-of-its-kind resource to provide “reliable, up-to-date information” about climate change litigation, according to the group. The project’s reach has extended to various state and federal courts, including powerful appellate courts, and comes as various cities and states pursue high-profile litigation against the oil industry.

A Fox News Digital review shows that several CJP expert lawyers and judges have close ties to the curriculum and are deeply involved in climate litigation.

DARK MONEY FUND POURED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO ECO ACTIVIST GROUPS BLOCKING HIGHWAYS, DESTROYING FAMOUS ART

According to NPR, people worried about climate change are turning to “eco-chaplains” to deal with their anxiety. (Barbara Alper/Getty Images)

Princeton University professor Michael Oppenheimer contributed to the CJP curriculum and presented “Evidence of Change: Judging Climate Litigation” with CJP’s Sandra Nichols Thiam at the 2022 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference July 20, 2022. 

Oppenheimer has a long history of filing climate-related amicus briefs from 2019-2022 in litigation across several states.

Robin Kundis Craig, a professor at the University of Utah’s Law School, wrote a module for CJP in 2022 and has also filed several amicus briefs showing she is active in court cases. 

One example occurred in 2023, when Craig is listed on an order granting legal scholars’ request to file amicus, which was signed by Justice Mark Recktenwald, who, Fox News Digital previously reported, quietly disclosed last year that he presented for an April course in collaboration with the Environmental Law Institute Climate Judiciary Project. 

Recktenwald co-presented at a December 2022 National Judicial College webinar sponsored by CJP, “Hurricanes in a Changing Climate and Related Litigation.” In 2023, he co-presented with Professor Robert DeConto at a National Judicial College seminar, “Rising Seas and Litigation: What Judges Need to Know about Warming-Driven Sea-Level Rise.”

RADICAL CLIMATE ACTIVIST ENDORSES BLOWING UP PIPELINES IN STARTLING INTERVIEW, ADMITS PEOPLE COULD BE KILLED

President Ali pushed back on suggestions his country was harming the environment by claiming Guyana has the lowest deforestation rate in the world. (Adobe Stock)

In October 2023, Recktenwald’s Hawaii Supreme Court denied an appeal from oil companies to toss a Honolulu climate misinformation suit.

Craig also filed an amicus in Hawaii state court in July 2022, where an order was signed by Judge Jeffrey Crabtree allowing the brief to be filed. Crabtree is a member of the National Judicial College Curriculum Development Committee, which creates curricula for “Environmental Law Essential for the Judiciary.”

“Don’t underestimate the importance of the role of state court judges in environmental law,” the curriculum’s website states.

Ann Carlson, who joined the Biden administration in 2021, served on ELI’s board of directors for years while also “providing pro bono consulting” for Sher Edling, an eco law firm representing a number of jurisdictions, on litigation against oil companies, financial disclosures showed. Sher Edling counsel Michael Burger has also participated in multiple ELI events, and former Sher Edling lawyer Meredith Wilensky was previously an ELI Public Interest Law Fellow.

BIDEN ADMIN REPORT COULD SLOW TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO UNLEASH DOMESTIC NATURAL GAS, EXPERTS SAY

Burger is the executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and an ELI presenter who has filed amicus briefs in support of plaintiffs in climate cases across the United States. 

UCLA’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment hosted a talk in October 2017 with Sher Edling’s Vic Sher, “Suing Over Climate Change Damages: The First Wave of Climate Lawsuits.” Ann Carlson was the moderator for that discussion.

John Dernbach, listed as an expert on CJP’s website, filed an amicus brief in 2019 as part of a brief of legal scholars in support of plaintiffs in City of Oakland v BP. 

In this June 1, 2017, file photo, protesters gather outside the White House in Washington to protest President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate change accord.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

“Judges attending Climate Judiciary Project events are advised that they are walking into a left-wing lobbying shop,” American Energy Institute President Jason Isaac told Fox News Digital. “Under the guise of ‘judicial education,’ CJP uses activist academics to give a pro-plaintiff sneak peek at climate change lawsuits. This kind of politicking underlines that the climate change lawsuits themselves are a left-wing attack on our quality of life.

“The Supreme Court will have an opportunity early next year to hear a case asking whether blue states and far-left mayors like Brandon Johnson can sue energy providers for climate change. Let us hope the court takes the case and ends Green New Deal lawfare.”

Fox News Digital previously reported that since it was founded more than five years ago, the project has crafted 13 curriculum modules and hosted 42 events, and more than 1,700 judges have participated in its activities. And multiple judges serve as advisers at CJP, potentially having an impact on its curriculum and modules.

“So-called ‘climate change lawsuits,’ lawsuits claiming that private companies should be monetarily liable for damage to public infrastructure allegedly caused by climate change, have exploded in the past five years,” GOP Sen. Ted Cruz wrote in a letter to Environmental Law Institute earlier this year.

“In tandem with this unprecedented litigation, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) launched a ‘first-of-its-kind effort’ to provide judges with ‘education on climate science, the impacts of climate change, and the ways climate science is arising in the law.’ It appears that ELI’s goal in providing this ‘education,’ however, may be to influence judges to side with plaintiffs in climate change cases.”

The letter went on to label Carlson as “one of the program’s architects” and requested “information to allow the Committee to evaluate the efforts of both Ms. Carlson and ELI to influence the federal judiciary in its adjudication of climate litigation.”

Cruz alleged that “ELI intends to accomplish via the courts what it cannot get enacted into law: a radical environmental agenda.”

“To help judges reach those ‘appropriate’ decisions, the Project developed the ‘Climate Science and Law for Judges Curriculum’ (the Curriculum). While ELI claims the Project is ‘neutral’ and ‘objective,’ the Curriculum reads like a playbook for judges to find in favor of plaintiffs in artificial climate change cases against traditional energy companies: it includes courses that ‘show how climate science is built on long-established scientific disciplines’ and ‘explore the human-caused component of [global] warming,’ such as the ‘causal connections between emissions’ and ‘changes in the climate.’”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, talks with reporters after Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., attended the Republican Senate luncheon in the U.S. Capitol Nov. 1, 2023 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

An American Energy Institute report earlier this year alleges CJP “hides its partnership with the plaintiffs because they know these ties create judicial ethics problems.”

AEI says Sandra Nichols Thiam, an ELI vice president and director of judicial education, acknowledged as much in a 2023 press statement, saying, “If we even appeared biased or if there was a whiff of bias, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing.”

“Taken together, it appears CJP made the thinnest possible disclosures to create the appearance of rectitude,” AEI states. “But their admissions confirm that CJP exists to facilitate informal, ex parte contacts between judges and climate activists under the guise of judicial education. And secrecy remains essential to their operation, whose goal, as Thiam has said, is to develop ‘a body of law that supports climate action.'” 

AEI, a group self-described as “dedicated to promoting policies that ensure America’s energy security and economic prosperity,” says CJP’s work is “an attack on the rule of law.”

Climate activists protest in Washington, D.C. (Fox News Digital)

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“In America, the powerful aren’t allowed to coax and manipulate judges before their cases are heard,” the report states.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, an ELI spokesperson said, “CJP doesn’t participate in litigation, support or coordinate with any parties in litigation, or advise judges on how they should rule in any case. Our courses provide judges with access to evidence-based information about climate science and trends in the law.

“Of course, experts in the field are welcome to provide their expertise to CJP programs while separately and independently providing that same expertise in another setting that is unrelated to the CJP program. It is routine and encouraged for judges to participate in continuing education that exposes them to expertise in a wide variety of disciplines.”

Fox News Digital’s Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report

President Biden is facing increasing pressure from Senate Democrats to make a last-minute move to extend protections from deportations for some illegal immigrants, before the incoming Trump administration launches a mass deportation operation next year.

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., held a press conference this week with immigration activists to renew calls to urge Biden to make moves for illegal immigrants currently protected by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

TPS allows nationals who are living in the U.S. and are from countries designated unsafe for them to return to, to obtain work permits and be shielded from deportation. DACA is a 2012 Obama-era executive order that allowed for some illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to remain in the country free from deportation. 

TRUMP CLAIMS GOP ‘VERY OPEN’ TO KEEPING ‘DREAMERS’ IN US, TAKES SHOT AT ‘VERY DIFFICULT’ DEMS

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., holds a Border Patrol challenge coin as she speaks about Republicans abandoning the bipartisan border deal during the Senate Democrats press conference in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, February 6, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The incoming Trump administration is expected to allow TPS to expire for many countries, as it attempted to do in the first administration. Republicans have been deeply critical of the use of TPS, accusing the Biden administration of abusing the tool. A bill introduced by Sen.-elect Jim Banks in the House would restrict TPS designations by requiring Congress to approve them for 12-month terms, and requiring additional moves by Congress to extend them. 

However, Trump has expressed willingness to make a deal with Democrats to allow DACA recipients to remain in the U.S. 

“I will work with the Democrats on a plan, and if we can come up with a plan, but the Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to the Dreamers. The Dreamers, we’re talking many years ago. They were brought into this country many years ago, some of them are no longer young people, and in many cases, they become successful,” Trump said this week.

DEM SENATOR URGES BIDEN TO EXTEND PROTECTIONS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BEFORE TRUMP ADMIN: ‘NOBODY IS SAFE’

But Trump’s campaign was defined by a promise to launch a mass deportation campaign, and with that looming, Democrats want Biden to act before it takes effect.

“The president has legal authority to act to give these long-term immigrant communities certainty, and he should use it,” Cortez Masto said at the press conference.

“We know the incoming administration is going to try to implement chaotic immigration policies that tear our families apart,” she said.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the latest developments in Syria from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on December 8, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

She was also skeptical of Trump’s promise to protect DACA administration, given what she said were his actions in the first Trump administration: “We brought him a bipartisan bill to protect our Dreamers — he killed it.”

“President Biden, you have the chance to cement your legacy on the economy as well as your humanitarian legacy, use this moment to protect long-term immigrants and strengthen our nation’s economy,” Padilla said.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

The press conference came days after a letter from Democrats led by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., which expressed “deep concern about the threat the incoming administration poses to immigrants in our communities.”

“We write now because the window to secure and finalize your administration’s policies is closing rapidly. We urge you to act decisively between now and the inauguration of the President-elect to complete the important work of the past four years and protect immigrant families,” they said.

FIREBRAND GOP LAWMAKERS DEMANDS MAYORKAS PRESERVE BORDER CRISIS RECORDS FOR TRUMP ADMIN: ‘UNDO THE DAMAGE DONE’ 

So far, there have been no indications that Biden is planning any such action on DACA. TPS extensions and redesignations are typically announced by the Department of Homeland Security. The White House did not respond to requests for comments from Fox News Digital.

The Trump administration pushed unsuccessfully to end DACA, being blocked by the Supreme Court. The matter remains in court, with a lawsuit challenging the legality of the policy under review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

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In 2019, Trump proposed an additional three years of protection for DACA recipients and others in exchange for money to build a wall along the southern border. Democrats rejected that deal as “hostage taking.”

The premier of a key oil region in Canada is threatening to cut off energy and critical mineral exports to the U.S. if President-elect Donald Trump implements a sweeping tariff on all Canadian products. 

Trump recently threatened a 25% tariff on all Canadian and Mexican exports in an effort to stop the flow of illegal immigration and illicit drugs coming into the U.S.

Just days after Trump’s announcement, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, said that he would consider retaliatory measures against the U.S. if the incoming president acted on his promise.

“We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy – going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin,” Ford, who represents a region known for its crude oil production, told reporters. 

TRUMP TAUNTS TRUDEAU WITH NEW TITLE AS HE CONTINUES TARIFFS PUSH: ‘GREAT STATE OF CANADA’

Doug Ford, Ontario, Canada’s premier, listens during a news conference following the Canada’s Premiers meeting in Toronto on Monday, Dec. 2, 2019. (Cole Burston)

The premier added that other officials in the country are reportedly identifying ways they can hurt U.S. exports if Trump enacts a tariff.

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL ISSUE EXECUTIVE ORDER TO CHARGE CANADA, MEXICO 25% TARIFF ON GOODS UPON TAKING OFFICE

“Some premiers proactively identified products that their provinces produce and export to the United States and which the U.S. relies on, and which should be considered as part of the Canadian response. This included some critical minerals and metals,” Ford said.

Canada was reportedly the largest source of U.S. energy imports in 2019, according to the Energy Information Administration. 

President-elect Donald Trump threatened a 25% tariff on Canada. (Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)

“Canadians get hurt, but I can assure you one thing: the Americans are going to feel the pain as well, and isn’t that unfortunate?” Ford said.

Ford is also reportedly considering barring American-made alcohol from being sold in Ontario. 

Ford, however, might not be able to unilaterally cut off the province’s energy supply to the U.S., according to a Canadian political science professor.

“I do not believe Ontario could unilaterally stop electricity exports to the U.S. without Ottawa’s approval. Similarly, Michigan cannot unilaterally stop the flow of western Canadian natural gas to eastern Canada without Washington’s approval,” University of Toronto political science Professor Nelson Wiseman told Now Toronto in response to Ford’s retaliatory threat.

President-elect Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently met in Palm Beach, Florida.   (Nicholas Kamm)

Trump responded to the threats, saying “that’s okay if he does that.”

“The United States is subsidizing Canada, and we shouldn’t have to do that,” Trump told CNBC at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. “And we have a great relationship. I have so many friends in Canada, but we shouldn’t have to subsidize a country.”

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After Trump threatened a tariff on the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to West Palm Beach, Florida, to meet with the incoming president at Mar-a-Lago. Trump called it a “very productive meeting.” 

CHARLES TOWN, W.V. – A West Virginia state delegate-elect was arrested Thursday after allegedly threatening to kill multiple lawmakers, reportedly after being informed he might be dropped from his GOP caucus position.

Del-elect Joseph de Soto, a medical doctor from Gerrardstown – about 100 miles west of Washington, D.C. – allegedly threatened several other delegates, including the Speaker of the House, on Tuesday, reportedly expressing outrage over being told to step down.

De Soto was listed in state jail records for Berkeley County as having been booked as a “pretrial felon” for making terroristic threats. 

Fox News Digital has learned that De Soto was advised of a vote removing him from a position for “undisclosed reasons,” and that “he was upset” after hearing the news. 

DOZENS OF STATES LOBBY EPA TO DENY CALIFORNIA WAIVER FORCING OUT OF STATE TRUCKS TO COMPLY WITH MANDATE

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

De Soto then threatened to kill several fellow Eastern Panhandle lawmakers as well as House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay.

“I am focused on four people who are evil … not angry, but at peace what I need to do,” De Soto said, according to the criminal complaint. When an individual tried to stop de Soto from threatening people, his response was “I did say I am going to kill people. I said I am going (sic) what is necessary to put them (sic) from office.”

De Soto said he had a vision from the Mormon Angel of Moroni to “destroy” Wayne Clark, R-Charles Town, and Dels. Michael Hite, Joe Funkhouser and Charles Horst, all R-Martinsburg. He also claimed to have been told by God to kill another lawmaker from Weirton.

“They play stupid games, they are getting stupid awards,” de Soto wrote in an email to a person who complained to police, according to a law enforcement report obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“Eastern Panhandle delegates … can all go to Hell. I will send them there as commanded.” 

In an interview Friday, one such delegate – Clark – said he received a call early in his five-hour commute home from Charleston to Charles Town that his family should relocate immediately due to a threat.

TRUMP, GOP CELEBRATE JOE MANCHIN RETIREMENT

Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, in the Eastern Panhandle. ( (UCG/Getty))

“I was driving straight into a snowstorm. So, I didn’t get to meet up with my family until almost 7 p.m., and I got the call at 3 p.m.,” Clark said.

Clark praised the Charles Town Police Department and the Jefferson and Berkeley County sheriff’s offices for acting quickly to secure his family. He also said he hopes de Soto gets personal help.

“He obviously needs some sort of help because of some things that happened in his life prior. I don’t know,” he said.

The lawmaker said he understands that running for office means your identity and votes and comments are out in the public, but maintained that one’s family should never be.

“Having someone make threats that are now affecting my family, I don’t know if you ever had that call: ‘Hey, Wayne. Get your family in a safe place’. Whoa. Okay. That’s a tough one to deal with.”

De Soto had been elected as a Republican in the 91st District, which includes the suburbs of Martinsburg. However, he reportedly filed to change his affiliation to Democratic just before his arrest.

That change could set up a partisan or legal fight as to how he is replaced, as West Virginia law provides that if a delegate vacancy exists, the outgoing lawmaker’s party’s county committee “shall appoint a member of the party” to the seat. The West Virginia State House is currently 89-11 Republican.

De Soto had reportedly been recently investigated for allegedly falsifying information about his medical career, which led to Republicans’ concerns, according to Huntington’s CBS affiliate.

West Virginia Democratic Party chair Del. Mike Pushkin said the party’s thoughts are with the affected delegates and their families.

“No one—especially those working in public service—should ever have to fear for their safety or the safety of their loved ones,” Pushkin, of Kanawha, said in a statement. “These allegations are deeply serious and should be treated with the full weight of the law.”

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In a statement, WVGOP Chairman Matt Herridge said the party is aware of the allegations and facts of the case, “as well as the steps the House GOP Caucus has taken toward [de Soto’s] expulsion.”

“Our elected officials sacrifice a lot to serve their communities, and it is a travesty for anyone to face the additional burden of threats made against themselves and their families. The West Virginia Republican Party supports our House leadership and their expulsion efforts.”

“We disavow and condemn the behavior of the former Republican Delegate-elect and continue to thank all those who are willing to serve their communities and state, in spite of the serious challenges it too often poses.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the West Virginia State Police for additional comment on de Soto’s arrest.

A call to a number listed for de Soto was not returned.

The Biden administration is seeking to rapidly disperse climate funds to cement the president’s green energy agenda before President-elect Donald Trump assumes the Oval Office in January.

In a memo released by the White House, Jeff Zients, White House Chief of Staff, said that the administration is going to “sprint to the finish line and get as much done as possible for the American people” in the remaining weeks of President Joe Biden’s term.

The top Biden official said that they plan to “obligate as much funding as possible before the end of the term,” including dishing out unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to support climate-related projects.

The White House also said that Americans can “expect more action” on funding from the IRA – the Democrats’ climate legislation.

BIDEN ADMIN REPORT COULD SLOW TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO UNLEASH DOMESTIC NATURAL GAS, EXPERTS SAY

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the latest developments in Syria from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Dec. 8, 2024 in Washington, D.C.  (Pete Marovich)

Trump has suggested that he would “undo” the IRA when he becomes president, legislation he has described as the “greatest scam in history.”

Though some House Republicans, who secured a majority in the chamber in the next Congress, have also signaled support for reworking the climate bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told CNBC that “you’ve got to use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer” on the legislation.

It’s unlikely, however, that the IRA would be completely overturned, given that nearly all the funds have already been awarded.

TRUMP TO INSTALL ‘ENERGY CZAR’ TO DISMANTLE BIDEN CLIMATE RULES: REPORT

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates warned against Republicans and the incoming administration attempting to undo Biden’s agenda. 

President-elect Donald Trump will assume the presidency on Jan. 20, 2025. (Peter Kramer/NBC)

“Repealing President Biden’s signature laws would be an historic redistribution of wealth from working Americans to Big Pharma and China,” Bates said in a memo first obtained by NBC News, adding that despite potential pushback, projects under the IRA “have been locked-in.”

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Bates also suggested that Republican districts are benefiting from the IRA.

“That includes the creation of over 330,000 clean energy jobs — disproportionately in House districts represented by Republicans,” Bates wrote. “Because of the Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve already saved more than 3.4 million Americans $8.4 million on clean energy upgrades to their homes, and more than 300,000 Americans have saved over $2 billion upfront on [electric vehicle] purchases.”

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., claimed that people should be terrified that President-elect Donald Trump will possess the power to initiate a nuclear attack. 

In a post on X, Markey noted, “Come January, Donald Trump will have the sole authority to launch a nuclear strike. This should terrify you. That’s why @RepTedLieu and I are urging @POTUS to put guardrails on presidential authority to start nuclear war.”

Trump — who trounced Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 White House contest by winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote — previously served as president from early 2017 through early 2021. And during his Oval Office tenure, he never used nuclear weapons.

BIDEN ADMIN SETS NEW TARGET TO TRIPLE US NUCLEAR CAPACITY FROM 2020 LEVELS

Left: Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., attends the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago, Ill.; Right: President-Elect Donald Trump reacts during his meeting with Prince William, Prince of Wales at the Embassy of the United Kingdom’s Residence on Dec. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (Left: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Right: Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

He has also been outspoken about the massive danger posed by nuclear weapons.

“To me, we have one really major threat: That’s called nuclear weapons,” Trump said earlier this year. “This isn’t Army tanks going back and forth and shooting at each other. This is obliteration,” he said of the powerful weapons. “We have incredible stuff, so does Russia. China has much less but” will “catch up,” Trump said, calling the issue the “single biggest threat by far to civilization.”

Josh Barnett, who lost in a Republican primary for an Arizona state Senate seat earlier this year, responded to Markey’s post by writing, “LOL he had the authority the last four years he was in office.” 

PUTIN SIGNS REVISED DOCTRINE LOWERING THRESHOLD FOR NUCLEAR RESPONSE IF RUSSIA IS ATTACKED

President-elect Donald Trump speaking. (Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)

Others made the point as well.

“Hey buddy, he was already president once,” Tom Gillis, who describes himself on X as a “Former PGA tour player,” declared in response to the lawmaker’s post.

“He had the power before and didn’t use it,” another individual, Shonathan Perrius, tweeted.

In a letter to President Joe Biden Markey and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., declared that during his waning time in office the commander-in-chief could “safeguard the system against Donald Trump or any future unstable president, and make it constitutional.

“We urge you to announce that henceforth it will be the policy of the United States that it will not initiate a nuclear first strike without express authorization from Congress. In a situation where the United States has already been attacked with nuclear weapons, the president would retain the option to respond unilaterally,” the two Democrats declared in their letter to the president.

US MUST EXPAND NUCLEAR ARSENAL IN FACE OF RUSSIA AND CHINA THREAT, WARNS TOP OBAMA DEFENSE ADVISER

Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu, D-Calif., speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Building following their weekly caucus meeting on May 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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The lawmakers have long advocated for the policy shift, repeatedly pushing legislation on the issue.

“As the coauthors of the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act — proposed legislation that prohibits any U.S. president from launching a nuclear first strike without prior congressional authorization — we urge you, in your remaining time in office, to change this unconstitutional policy,” they said in their letter to Biden.

“We first introduced this act during the Obama administration not as a partisan effort, but to make the larger point that current U.S. policy, which gives the president sole authority to launch nuclear weapons without any input from Congress, is dangerous. As Donald Trump prepares to return to the Oval Office, it is more important than ever to take the power to start a nuclear war out of the hands of a single individual and ensure that Congress’s constitutional role is respected and fulfilled,” Markey and Lieu noted.

As FBI Director Christopher Wray is slated to resign after seven years of service in his 10-year tenure, questions about the bureau’s “political weaponization” have been reignited, with critics like President-elect Trump citing bias in domestic terrorism and civil rights probes.

While Wray, who was appointed by Trump in his first term, has faced scrutiny from conservatives for a kind of political bias in the bureau, FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin said the FBI’s shift toward politicized agendas within its field offices began in the post-9/11 era when sweeping reforms and surveillance powers were granted the agency.

“What people are seeing is the natural outgrowth of letting FBI agents, or FBI senior management, forecast what they think the crime is going to be in the country, being incentivized to be correct, because they’re going to be paid a monetary bonus at the end of it if they’re right, and then they go out and find that crime,” Seraphin told Fox News Digital.

FBI DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER WRAY ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

FBI Director Christopher Wray (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall/File)

“And so it looks very politicized,” he added. “But I think that’s actually just a mistake of the correlation. In reality, what’s going on is the FBI is serving the interests of the senior management, which is that they want to get paid, and the easiest way to get paid is to go round up MAGA people, which they fall under this category of … anti-government, anti-authority, violent extremists.”

Over the last four years, the FBI has intensified its focus on domestic terrorists and targeting white supremacist activities. Between spring 2020 and September 2021, the FBI’s domestic terrorism caseload more than doubled, rising from approximately 1,000 to around 2,700 investigations, according to the Government Accountability Office. Wray testified in September 2020 that white supremacy is the largest category within domestic terrorism. 

Over the last four years, the FBI has increased its focus on domestic terrorism, particularly targeting white supremacist activities. The agency’s caseload more than doubled from about 1,000 to 2,700 investigations between spring 2020 and September 2021, according to the Government Accountability Office. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in September 2020 that white supremacy constitutes the largest domestic terrorism category.

Critics, however, have questioned the FBI’s definition of domestic terrorism. Seraphin said a New Mexico field office prioritized “anti-abortion extremists” as the state’s third-highest national security threat. Separately over the summer, a Texas doctor was charged with four felonies for exposing alleged transgender surgeries on children at a hospital.

“Everybody assumes that it’s about politics because the FBI has some really politically motivated leads,” Seraphin said. “The current deputy director, Paul Abbate, is very politically motivated, and he’s very hard leading to the left.”

Seraphin blamed the FBI’s seemingly political bias on an integrated program management, a McKinsey & Company-designed system rewarding executives with large bonuses for meeting self-set metrics, including domestic extremism and terrorism.

In December 2023, the House Judiciary Committee released a report titled “The FBI’s Breach of Religious Freedom: The Weaponization of Law Enforcement Against Catholic Americans.” The report followed Seraphin’s disclosure of an FBI memo labeling certain Catholic Americans as potential violent extremists.

GRASSLEY RIPS WRAY’S ‘FAILED’ LEADERSHIP AT FBI WITH 11 PAGES OF EXAMPLES IN BLISTERING ‘NO CONFIDENCE’ LETTER

(Richard Sheinwald/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)

“They use national security words to go after domestic individuals, and they have national security tools to look through your email to grab access to your comms, your phone calls, your text messages, your emails and so on,” Seraphin said. “They have the ability to look into your bank account and check out your financial records. And should they find evidence of a crime that is not related to what they’re searching for, the threat that they’re actually looking for?”

“Do we want people to get away with crime? No, but we want the government to be accountable to the freaking Bill of Rights,” Seraphin said.

In a December interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump said, “I can’t say I’m thrilled with him,” when asked if he would fire Wray upon entering his second non-consecutive presidential term. 

“He invaded my home,” Trump said, referencing the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Trump announced at the end of November his nomination of Kash Patel – a Trump ally and previous chief of staff to the secretary of defense – as the next FBI director. Patel has been critical of the FBI’s handling of investigations relating to Trump.

Seraphin, who said he has spoken to Patel about the bureau, said he may be “the most qualified” nominee for the role.

“He understands what the FBI does to directors in order to maintain their status quo,” Seraphin said. “That makes him a very potentially disruptive force to the status quo. But I actually think he’ll be if he’s able to achieve the things that he said, which is going out there and rooting out the corruption, taking away the political things, making sure that the FBI is subservient to the Constitution.”

WHO IS KASH PATEL? TRUMP’S PICK TO LEAD FBI HAS LONG HISTORY VOWING TO BUST UP ‘DEEP STATE’

FBI Director Christopher Wray, left, and Kash Patel (Brandon Bell/Getty Images/File)

Wray made his resignation announcement during an FBI virtual town hall from Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, during which thousands of FBI employees across the country were expected to attend online.

“After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down,” Wray said during the town hall. “My goal is to keep the focus on our mission: the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day. In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.”

Wray also said his focus is and always has been on the FBI doing what is right.

“When you look at where the threats are headed, it’s clear that the importance of our work – keeping Americans safe and upholding the Constitution – will not change. And what absolutely cannot, must not, change is our commitment to doing the right thing, the right way, every time,” Wray said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI but did not hear back by the publication deadline.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and David Sprunt contributed to this report.

A former high-ranking Venezuelan military officer is sounding the alarm about the migrant gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) being used as a tool of the Venezuelan government to sow violence and discord throughout the United States.

Tren de Aragua, which means “Train from Aragua,” is a massive criminal and terrorist organization that originated a decade ago in a Venezuelan prison and is already present in more than 30 major U.S. cities.

José Gustavo Arocha, a former lieutenant colonel in the Venezuelan army, told Fox News Digital that socialist Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro is behind much of TdA’s growth and rapid expansion, first in Latin America and now in the U.S.

VIOLENT VENEZUELAN GANG TREN DE ARAGUA SPREADS TO ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST REMOTE STATES

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix/File)

Arocha fled Venezuela to the United States in 2015 after being imprisoned by the Maduro regime for eight months. Since then, he said the situation has only worsened with Maduro asserting ever more control over the region. This year, Maduro retained control of the country by prevailing in a hotly contested election that was widely believed to be fraudulent. 

“We have to understand also something of the Tren de Aragua, the TdA. It’s a state-sponsored Maduro regime organization,” he said. “The real boss of the Tren de Aragua is in Caracas, Venezuela. It is the Maduro regime, because they created TdA, and they use the TdA as a blackmail [tool] for any situation.”

Arocha said the Maduro dictatorship’s counterintelligence agency – the Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, also known as “DGCIM” – has been using TdA as an asymmetrical warfare tool, giving itself “plausible deniability.”

EX-ICE OFFICIAL WARNS TREN DE ARAGUA HAS GROWN FASTER INSIDE US THAN MURDEROUS RIVAL GANG: ‘PUT THEM OUT NOW’

Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez/File)

Tren de Aragua first burst onto the scene in the U.S. when several members of the gang violently took control of an apartment building in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado. Since then, the gang has been responsible for a steady stream of violent attacks and gang-related crimes, including the high-profile murder of nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia.

While some media reports have portrayed TdA as a simple gang, Arocha said the group has been trained and enabled by the Venezuelan government and DGCIM to advance a specific agenda and criminal ideology. Even the name “train from Aragua,” he said, evidences the group’s intent to transport its ideology throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Arocha said the Venezuelan government has already used TdA to inflict crippling crime waves in surrounding countries, helping to usher in a slate of socialist-friendly governments in Colombia, Peru and Chile.  

“They want to create all sorts of chaos in countries in order to shape the contours of the borders and also to create a sensation of instability [and] criminality,” he said. “This kind of culture they are exporting outside from Venezuela, first of all [to] Latin America, and right now the U.S.”

Migrants enter the U.S. in Lukeville, Ariz. (Fox News/File)

VENEZUELAN NATIONAL AND TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBER ARRESTED IN TRUMP’S BACKYARD

According to Arocha, the Venezuelan government has seized on the historic migrant crisis under the Biden administration as a “big opportunity” to “create roots” in the U.S. The administration further worsened the situation by temporarily lifting key oil sanctions previously in place against Maduro.

“Just imagine, there are more or less 8 million Venezuelan migrants. It’s a huge number,” he said. “If you look at that, it’s like a wall where it’s spreading all over the states. And when you take into consideration the bussing of the migrants from Texas to other states, they are spreading like a disease, like a virus, all over the country.”

With President-elect Donald Trump soon to replace Biden, Arocha said Trump must put the destruction of Tren de Aragua at the “top” of the list of day-one priorities. While acknowledging that it’s crucial to close the southern border, Arocha said Tren de Aragua will simply return if the U.S. does not “contain” Maduro.

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President-elect Donald Trump (Allison Robbert/Pool via AP/File)

“Just imagine that, OK, you take all of Tren de Aragua and send [them] to Venezuela or whatever country. It’s going to come back. That’s not going to finish the disease,” he said. “You have to combat the cause of TdA. The cause of the TdA is the behavior of the Maduro regime that is trying to hurt the American people by using this asymmetrical tool.”

“The rule is to not give Maduro the ability to continue in Venezuela,” Arocha said. “What I mean is that if you let Maduro to have oil revenues, have the access to resources, you have to have TdA here in the United States.”

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is putting himself forward as a contender to be the next chair of the House Rules Committee, an influential panel that acts as the last gatekeeper for most bills before they get a House-wide vote.

“I will defer to the speaker on that,” Roy said when asked about the chairmanship on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast this week. “Obviously, I have put my name out there.”

It would be an astonishing ascent for a lawmaker who has been a vocal critic of House leadership on certain issues, particularly on government spending.

More recently, however, the GOP rebel – and current policy chair of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus – has gained a reputation for being a conduit between GOP leaders and the lawmakers usually known for bucking their directives.

REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE’S MUSK, RAMASWAMY

Rep. Chip Roy could be in contention to be House Rules Committee chair ((Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images))

Roy got a seat on the House Rules Committee as part of a deal with ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in January 2023 to expand conservative representation – a piece of a wider compromise for McCarthy to win his short-lived House speakership.

The Texas Republican was not one of the eight Republicans who later voted to oust McCarthy despite his early criticism – and was even publicly skeptical of his colleagues’ decision to do so.

The House Rules Committee is the final stop for bills before a House-wide vote. The committee and its chair are responsible for dictating the terms of debate on a bill and what, if any, amendments will also get a vote.

After a bill passes the House Rules Committee, it is then subject to a House-wide “rule vote” to allow for debate on the legislation before a vote on final passage.

In his two years on the committee, Roy has voted against several House rules, which could put his hopes for the role in jeopardy.

DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER

That decision is up to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

He’s scored support from multiple colleagues, however – Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital on Thursday, “He’d be great. I support him 100%.”

Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, wrote on X that Roy “will build the conservative coalition in the House needed to support President Trump’s priorities as Rule Committee chairman.”

But unlike other committees, whose chairpersons are selected by a wider group of lawmakers, only the House speaker gets a say for the House Rules panel.

“I think it’s important to have a rules chairman, whoever that may be, that will support leadership,” one GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak freely said about Roy’s bid. 

“The speaker is going to get his agenda passed one way or the other, and so whoever he appoints to that – that’s going to be the deal. Because he can remove them and then replace them.”

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN

Current House Rules Committee Chairman Michael Burgess is retiring at the end of this year (Getty Images)

Another GOP lawmaker said, “He’s one of the brightest and knows procedure, but most won’t trust him in that role.”

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Rumors are swirling that current House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., is also in contention for the role.

Current House Rules Committee Chairman Michael Burgess, R-Texas, is retiring at the end of this year. 

The House passed a once-bipartisan bill on Thursday that authorizes 63 new permanent district judgeships over the next 10 years, 22 of which President-elect Trump can fill during his next term. 

The White House released a statement earlier this week that President Biden would veto the bill if it came to his desk. 

The Senate in August passed the “Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act” or the “JUDGES Act of 2024,” which staggers the 63 new permanent judgeships the president may choose over the next 10 years. Citing how courts are burdened by heavy caseloads, the bill says the president shall appoint 11 of those permanent judgeships in 2025 and 11 more in 2027. The president would tap another 10 judges in 2029, 11 in 2031, 10 in 2033 and 10 more in 2035, the bill says. 

BIDEN, DEMOCRATS BACK AWAY FROM BILL THAT WOULD GIVE TRUMP MORE FEDERAL JUDGES TO APPOINT

Now, however, key Democrats are backing away from the bill after Trump won the presidency, decrying how it was not voted on until after Election Day. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., released a statement after the JUDGES Act passed. (Getty Images)

“Today, the House passed the JUDGES Act to authorize additional federal judges to ensure the American people receive timely and fair justice,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. “This important legislation garnered broad, bipartisan support when it unanimously passed the Senate in August because it directly addresses the pressing need to reduce case backlogs in our federal courts and strengthen the efficiency of our judicial system.” 

“At that time, Democrats supported the bill — they thought Kamala Harris would win the Presidency,” he added. “Now, however, the Biden-Harris Administration has chosen to issue a veto threat and Democrats have whipped against this bill, standing in the way of progress, simply because of partisan politics. This should not be a political issue — it should be about prioritizing the needs of the American people and ensuring the courts are able to deliver fair, impartial, and timely justice.”

The proposal passed the House on Thursday by a 236 to 173 vote, with 29 Democrats voting in favor of it. 

The White House released a statement earlier this week that President Biden would veto the bill if it came to his desk. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

DC COUNCILMAN A STEP CLOSER TO FACING EXPULSION AFTER LAW FIRM FINDS HE VIOLATED CODE OF CONDUCT

The bill’s Democratic co-sponsor in the House, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said in a floor speech Thursday before the vote that he now opposes the measure. 

“You don’t get to pick the horse, after that horse has already won the race. But that’s exactly what my Republican colleagues are seeking to do today,” he said. 

On Tuesday, the White House said while “judicial staffing is important to the rule of law,” the JUDGES Act is “unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice.” 

“The bill would create new judgeships in states where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,” the statement said. “Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now. In addition, neither the House nor the Senate fully explored how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships.”

“Further, the Senate passed this bill in August, but the House refused to take it up until after the election. Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the judges are allocated,” the White House added. 

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Todd Young, R-Ind., co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. 

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“In a bipartisan vote, the House just passed my JUDGES Act to address the shortage of federal judges and the severe delays Americans are experiencing. I urge President Biden to do the right thing for our judicial system and sign it into law,” Young wrote Thursday on X. “The legislation is widely supported by leading legal organizations and advocates across our country.” 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is apologizing after an employee mistakenly said Pete Hegseth was not accepted by the historic military college, and now a lawmaker is seeking accountability.

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., accused West Point administrators of trying to “sabotage” Hegseth’s nomination to be President-elect Trump’s secretary of defense.

Banks is now demanding information on how the error was allowed to occur.

“As you know, ProPublica reporter Jesse Eisinger had been preparing to publish a story falsely claiming that nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, was lying when he said that he was admitted into West Point but decided not to attend,” Banks wrote.

“To preempt the publication of a blatantly false story, Hegseth published his West Point acceptance letter, proving the veracity of his claim and leading ProPublica to kill the story. Eisinger defended his reporting, claiming that West Point OPA told him ‘twice on the record’ that Hegseth had not even applied to West Point.”

AFTER SECOND MEETING WITH HEGSETH, ERNST HINTS AT WHETHER SHE WILL OR WON’T SUPPORT CONFIRMATION

Rep. Jim Banks, left, is demanding to know how West Point was able to tell a reporter in “error” that Pete Hegseth was not accepted. (Getty Images)

“It is outrageous that West Point officials would so grossly interfere in a political process and make false claims regarding a presidential nominee,” he continued.

“Even in the unlikely scenario of OPA mistakenly making false claims not once but twice, it is an unforgivable act of incompetence that OPA did not make absolutely sure their information was accurate before sharing it with a reporter.”

Banks asked the school to hand Congress “all communication and documentation regarding how West Point OPA falsely accused Hegseth of lying about his application.”

When reached for comment, West Point apologized for the error and said the academy’s records indicate Hegseth was accepted in 1999 but did not attend.

PETE HEGSETH SAYS HE WILL BE ‘STANDING RIGHT HERE IN THIS FIGHT’ AFTER MEETING WITH SENATORS

President-elect Trump tapped Hegseth to be his defense secretary. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“An incorrect statement involving Hegseth’s admission to the U.S. Military Academy was released by an employee on Dec. 10, 2024. Upon further review of an archived database, employees realized this statement was in error. Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the Class of 2003. The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error,” the West Point directorate of communications said.

Hegseth is a veteran of the Army National Guard who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It comes as he has continued meeting with senators as part of the confirmation process to join the next Trump administration.

CONSERVATIVE GROUP COMPILES LIST OF ‘WOKE’ SENIOR OFFICERS THEY WANT PETE HEGSETH TO FIRE

Banks, an Army veteran, has been a staunch ally of Hegseth’s. His support will be critical next year, having won a landslide victory in November to be Indiana’s next senator.

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Eisinger, an editor at ProPublica, defended the outlet’s handling of the situation in a lengthy series of posts on X.

“No, we are not publishing a story. This is how journalism is supposed to work. Hear something. Check something. Repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as needed. The end,” he said.

Banks told Fox News Digital, “Pete Hegseth will shake up the DOD and eliminate wokeness from our military and military academies. This upsets the bureaucrats at West Point, who now seem to be trying to sabotage his nomination.” 

Every Member of Congress will have a DOGE in the fight.

As in DOGE, the incipient but still unofficial “Department of Government Efficiency.” Congress hasn’t voted to create such a department. There’s been no presidential executive order. But quasi-President Trump-elect advisers Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are spearheading the enterprise.

“It’s unclear to me what exactly the objective is related to this so-called DOGE initiative,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

Incoming President Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy say the goal is to cut spending. Perhaps by as much as $2 trillion in the next two and a half years. Slates of congressional Republicans met with Musk and Ramaswamy on Capitol Hill late last week. The message? ‘Tis the season to be frugal.

“Elon and Vivek talked about having a naughty list and a nice list for members of Congress and senators and how we vote and how we’re spending the American people’s money,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

TIDE TURNS IN FAVOR OF TRUMP DOD PICK PETE HEGSETH AFTER MATT GAETZ FAILURE

Elon Musk, Co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), left, and Vivek Ramaswamy, chairman and co-founder of Strive Asset Management, on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.  (Left: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Right: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Republican expectations for DOGE are stratospheric.

“We need to start cutting our budget and cutting it soon,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla.

“Every single Republican wants to get about the business of cutting fraud, waste and abuse,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

“We can’t just continue to do everything for everyone,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.

But Republican political aspirations for DOGE and spending cuts could soon slam into legislative reality.

“It’s going to require not only statutory authority to do it, which means it’ll have to go to the committees of jurisdiction. But then it has to go to where everything gets funded,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. “And how we can get enough votes to actually put it into force.”

Cuts don’t just happen magically in Congress. There’s no magic wand. Implementation of everything requires votes on the floor. And Republicans barely control the House.

“It’s clear that the incoming House Republican majority will not be able to do much without us,” said Jeffries.

House Republicans begin the new Congress in January with a 219-215 advantage over the Democrats. But that slips to a margin of one vote in late January after Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., leaves to become National Security Adviser. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., will depart after the Senate confirms her for United Nations Ambassador. So Republicans have no votes to spare to do things on their own. 

Plus, many Democrats aren’t enamored with Elon Musk.

“Elon Musk has largely proved himself to be an efficient liar and self-serving plutocrat. And so I don’t have high hopes for him having anything other than pretty awful ideas,” said Rep. Greg Casar, D-Tex., the incoming chairman of the House Progressive Caucus. 

Musk and Ramaswamy are political icons. But this is not the first ambitious effort to slice substantial federal spending. Some “blue ribbon” commissions lacked the star power wattage of the dynamic duo of Musk and Ramaswamy.

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

One of the most ballyhooed – and successful – efforts to pare the federal government came in 1993. President Clinton and Vice President Gore promised they were “reinventing government” and planned to change things in Washington. Their initiative wasn’t focused so much on debt reduction – but reducing the size and scope of federal influence. 

“At the end of six months, we will have real results and real proposals to offer,” said Gore in March, 1993. “Write it down. Check back with us. We’ll be checking back with you. We don’t need another report to put on the shelf to collect dust. We do need a real plan for action.”

In the end, the Clinton-Gore approach sliced more than 400,000 federal jobs and shrank the size of 13 of 14 federal departments. But over time, those jobs crept back up to where they are today. The federal government currently employs about three million workers.

In 2010, late Sen. and Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and late Clinton Budget Director Alice Rivlin assembled a budget plan known as “Domenici-Rivlin” in the Washington vernacular. The package was designed to help the U.S. recover from the 2008 recession and curb the debt. They tried to address exploding health care costs. Lawmakers adopted a few components of their recommendations over the years, but the impact was minimal.

In 2011, the U.S. faced a debt ceiling crisis. Congress created a “supercommittee” comprised of bipartisan, bicameral lawmakers to concoct a plan to reduce spending – or force a set of Draconian, mandatory cuts known as “sequestration.” It would chop about $1 trillion in federal spending each year. Well, the committee failed to forge an agreement. Thus, the panel became “the committee, formerly known as super.” The automatic sequestration spending cuts then set in. 

President Obama signed an executive order to establish the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Former Senate Majority Whip Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles co-chaired the commission. Its proposals were known simply as “Simpson-Bowles.” The panel recommended a host of cuts, including a reduction in military spending and tax hikes – plus a levy on gasoline. Congress later adopted a few individual recommendations from Simpson-Bowles. The House even soundly defeated a budget modeled on Simpson-Bowles in 2012. 

But what about cutting actual spending? Expect some lawmakers to attempt to dodge the DOGE. Denting the debt could mean trimming popular programs. On Meet the Press, NBC’s Kristen Welker asked President-elect Trump about his plans for the most expensive government programs: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

“We’re not touching Social other than we make it more efficient. But the people are going to get what they’re getting,” said the next president.

“So the entitlement’s off the table?” asked Welker.

“And we’re not raising ages or any of that,” replied Mr. Trump.

“Off the table?” followed up Welker.

“I won’t do it,” said the President-elect. 

THE SPEAKER’S LOBBY: THERMONUCLEAR FRACAS

Entitlements consume more than 60% of all federal spending. And despite what Trump says, multiple congressional Republicans have called for altering the retirement age for eligibility for programs. It’s believed that such an approach would stabilize entitlements, making them more solvent.

“There is some waste, abuse and fraud in Medicare,” said Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo. “And on the front end on Social Security, I think there’s a way when people are living longer, they’re retiring later that on the front end, we can move that retirement age back a little bit.” said Alford.

Half of all money Congress allocates annually goes to the Pentagon. Congressional Republicans want to even boost military funding next year. 

Rep. Chip Roy attends a press conference on the debt limit and the Freedom Caucus’s plan for spending reduction at the U.S. Capitol on March 28, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Democrats say there’s not enough money available to cut from other areas to make up the difference.

“You’re not going to be able to extract the kind of savings that you need to actually balance the budget just from government efficiency,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., on Fox. 

Still, the GOP says it must get serious about spending cuts and not just talk about it.

“You can’t campaign on freedom and limited government and low taxes and low spending and cutting the deficit and then not do it,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tex.

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That’s why congressional budget cutters face tough challenges. Voters will watch what lawmakers keep. And what they eliminate. And there could be political consequences for cutting too much. Or not keeping promises.

The Biden administration announced a new $500 million military aid package to Ukraine Thursday, weeks before President-elect Trump takes office. 

“The United States is providing another significant package of urgently needed weapons and equipment to our Ukrainian partners as they defend against Russia’s ongoing attacks,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The package announced Thursday includes drones; High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) artillery and ammunition; armored vehicles; nuclear, chemical and radiological protective equipment; and other equipment. 

ZELENSKYY FEARS DANGER IF UKRAINE LOSES UNITY, DEFEAT IF US CUTS FUNDS, 1,000 DAYS AFTER WAR BEGAN 

President Biden welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington Dec. 21, 2022. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque )

The newest round of aid follows Biden’s announcement of a $988 million military aid package to Ukraine earlier this week. 

TRIUMPHANT TRUMP AT NOTRE DAME SIGNALS AMERICA AND THE WEST ARE BACK

A member of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a self-propelled howitzer toward Russian forces during Russia’s attack on Ukraine near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Nov. 18, 2024.  (Oleg Petrasiuk/Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters )

Trump’s election victory has raised questions about whether he will continue to aid Ukraine with billions in assistance. 

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance criticized the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine, and the former president said on the campaign trial he would bring an end to the war before even entering office.

Vance made headlines this year after he suggested the best way to end the war was for Ukraine to cede the land Russia has seized and for a demilitarized zone to be established, a proposal Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flatly rejected. 

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, poses with President-elect Trump, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee Palace Dec. 7, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

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During his visit to Paris last weekend, Trump met with Zelenskyy, where the pair were expected to discuss the ongoing conflict. 

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.  

A top conservative grassroots group is launching a six-figure ad campaign to support the swift confirmation of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

The $150,000 static digital ad campaign will target nine states with a “soft appeal” to voters who might, in turn, contact their senators and express how Trump “has a mandate from the American people,” Heritage Action for America Vice President Ryan Walker said Thursday.

Walker said the $150,000 is the first tranche of $1 million the group has allocated through Inauguration Day to push for Americans to ask their senators to support the nominees.

The first ad of the campaign sought to bolster Defense Secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth, and the overall initial ad buy will last through Dec. 31.

CONSERVATIVE GROUP REGISTERS 50K VOTERS IN SWING STATES

Several of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet picks for his second term. (Getty Images)

Other ads have or will highlight former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Kash Patel and former Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi – all of whom are Trump Cabinet nominees.

This initial buy, Walker said, focuses on Alaska, Maine, Louisiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, South Dakota and Washington, D.C.

While most similar advertising campaigns may seek to appeal to voters in “swing states” or in a particular region of the country, the states included here have a unique link, Walker said.

Some of the states included in the first ad buy are home to senators who either appear on the fence or have not stated a solid commitment for or against nominees like Hegseth, Gabbard and Patel.

Alaska and Maine are represented by two high-profile moderate Republicans – Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, respectively. 

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Kash Patel and President-elect Trump (Getty Images)

Both women voted to impeach Trump, but both also were supportive of some of the president-elect’s policies as well. 

“[Trump has] really about 18 months to get a substantial amount of his agenda through before the midterms. And time is of the essence in getting these folks, these Cabinet nominees, in a timely manner,” Walker said.

“Uniting the Republican conference around them is what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

Walker said Heritage Action is focusing on public commentary from senators in the target states, and also is very much in tune with which nominees are in the news or spending time on Capitol Hill on certain days.

Last week and this week, Hegseth made the rounds seeking support for his confirmation, so the campaign began with the former Fox News host, Walker suggested.

Next week, Health and Human Services Secretary-nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to visit Washington for the same purpose, and the advertising campaign is ready to pivot to focus on the Democratic Party scion if necessary.

“We want to remain flexible in this campaign to be able to highlight in different states… or different nominees, depending on what the conversation is in the Senate,” Walker said, adding a direct-text-message campaign will also follow this initial advertising endeavor.

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Trump and RFK Jr. (Getty)

“Then we’re likely to do a television ad,” he said, adding he hopes to air it on national media on Inauguration Day.

Heritage Action also employs grassroots activists nationwide to forward conservative principles at the state-government level.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he and incoming border czar Tom Homan have the same desire to go after illegal immigrant criminals following a Thursday meeting between the pair. 

Adams met with Homan to discuss cooperation between local and federal authorities on deporting violent criminals once the Trump administration takes office on Jan. 20.

“We’re not going to be a safe haven for those who commit repeated violent crimes against innocent migrants, immigrants and longstanding New Yorkers,” Adams said after the meeting. “From what I heard from the incoming head of ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is that we have the same desire to go after those who are committing violent acts, repeated violent acts among innocent New Yorkers and among migration asylum seekers. That’s what I heard from him. And I was pleased to hear that, because we share the same desire.”

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Incoming border czar Tom Homan, left, met with New York City Mayor Eric Adams in the Big Apple on Thursday, and they discussed the city’s migrant crisis and ways of deporting criminal illegal migrants who have been terrorizing the city’s streets. (Getty Images)

The mayor noted that the city doesn’t allow itself to be a safe haven for American citizens committing crimes, “and we’re not going to do it for those who are undocumented.”

The meeting came as Homan plans to implement President-elect Trump’s mass deportation plan once he takes office. 

Homan has warned leaders in sanctuary cities to either cooperate with immigration authorities or step aside. Earlier this week, Adams announced the closing of dozens of migrant shelters as the “sanctuary” city continues to see a drop in arrivals.

In total, 25 shelters are being closed in the next few months. New York has seen more than 225,000 migrants arrive since 2022. The surge coincided with a spike at the southern border, compounded by a strategy by Texas to bus migrants to sanctuary cities to relieve pressure on the border state.

Even before Thursday’s meeting between Adams and Homan, immigration activists accused the mayor of “collaborating” with the new administration. 

“It’s despicable that Mayor Adams continues to shirk his responsibilities to uphold New York City’s existing policies and values as a sanctuary city by collaborating with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan,” Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement.

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been critical of the federal government’s handling of illegal immigration. (Getty Images)

Adams has been deeply critical of the federal government’s handling of the migrant crisis and has taken a tougher stance on illegal immigration than many of his Democratic contemporaries, who have vowed to resist the incoming Trump administration’s plan to deport illegal migrants. 

Currently, there are 170 crimes that allow New York officials to communicate and collaborate with ICE after a migrant is convicted of a crime, said Adams. 

“We need to examine them and see what is my authority, using executive orders, to ensure that I keep New Yorkers safe. That’s my only goal. I cannot make any clearer. In pursuing that goal, my years and years of advocating for immigrants that are here and attempting to find the American dream, if that demonizes me, then I’m going to take it. But I’m going to save lives in this city,” he said. 

The mayor criticized those he said have attempted to cast him as switching his position on illegal immigration. 

Incoming border czar Tom Homan spoke with Dr. Phil about the Trump administration’s plan to deport illegal migrants. (The Dr. Phil Podcast YouTube channel)

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“People are trying to push their own agenda. I have one agenda. I’ve never lied about the agenda,” he said. “Everybody, everyone in this city should be protected and should not be the victims of violent crimes. And that was a conversation I had with the incoming border czar. We shared that same belief, and we’re going to pursue that same belief.”

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

President Biden’s act of clemency, the largest in a single day, has left some congressional Republicans unhappy, while a number of Democrats are hoping to see it expanded. 

“I’m not surprised at this point anymore,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said. “I think I’m still trying to get over the Hunter Biden thing after he promised America he wouldn’t do it.” 

Biden broadly pardoned his son Hunter Biden earlier this month despite promising he would not. Hunter was convicted in two separate federal cases. 

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Biden announced hundreds of commutations Thursday. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

According to Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Biden had lost whatever credibility he had left when he pardoned his son. 

“Every president at the end of their term has that same kind of act. Where’s the bar live?” asked Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas. “Nobody knows. I haven’t gone deep into the waters to see exactly who he’s touching. But it’s the United States, hey?”

The president revealed Thursday he had commuted jail sentences for nearly 1,500 people and granted 39 pardons for nonviolent offenders. 

“Does that tell you how corrupt he thinks this administration has been?” Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., wondered.

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Luna said she is still getting over the president’s pardon of Hunter. (Getty Images)

Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the Senate Judiciary ranking member, told Fox News Digital, “That’s a large number.

“He’ll have to stand by his choices. I haven’t really looked at who they are. That’s the power of the presidency.” 

Outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., reacted to Biden’s clemency grants to reporters Thursday, recalling his own limited pardon use as governor. 

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“I did very few, and I wanted to make sure if the community didn’t buy in” that the person would not receive a pardon. 

“I would make sure that my staff would go back and check in that area and do a due diligence and a deep dive,” he explained. 

Asked if Manchin trusted that Biden’s administration did it own due diligence on the people whose sentences were being commuted, he said, “I would like to think. I believe in the process. I believe in the system. So, I hope so.”

The White House released a list Dec. 12 of those who were granted clemency.

Manchin hoped Biden’s administration did due diligence.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., released a statement on Biden’s action, approving of it. 

“The president took an important step by commuting the sentences of these men and women. In far too many cases in our justice system, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. I have long advocated for criminal justice reform to address these inequities and commend President Biden for this act of mercy and for his leadership,” the senator said. 

“These individuals have successfully returned to their communities and reunited with their families. I urge the president to continue using his pardon power during his remaining time in office to address miscarriages of justice, just as the founders of this democracy intended.”

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Welch was supportive of Biden’s move. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

Other Democrats applauded the move, including Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who told reporters, “These are nonviolent offenders, and I think they represent compassion. In no way is [this] gonna jeapardize public safety. So, I support the president, what the president did.”

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., expressed an appetite for even more similar actions from Biden, saying Thursday, “We’re still hoping he will offer clemency to the people who are on death row. We’re still looking for the next list of people.”

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said he supported Biden using his pardon power, though he hasn’t looked through all the people affected. He explained it is “important to use that pardon power and clemency to even out our system and to evolve with our system as we move forward.”

The White House released a list of names of the 39 people whom President Joe Biden pardoned, as well as a list of the nearly 1,500 whose sentences he commuted, on Thursday. 

The move from Biden set a new, single-day record for clemency under any president, and it comes after he pardoned his son, Hunter, earlier this month. The controversial pardon of his son put pressure on Biden from others in the Democratic Party to issue additional pardons. 

Biden said Thursday that he plans to take more steps during the next few weeks before he exits the Oval Office.

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President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“My Administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

A list provided to Fox News Digital by the White House indicated that all 39 pardons had been given to only non-violent offenders, many of whom had been convicted of drug crimes. Drug offenders were labeled as much on the list, but no other details were given about the non-drug-related, non-violent offenses committed by the list of 39 pardons.

The list did go into extensive detail as to why each of the 39 pardons was deserved, citing examples of community engagement, professional and academic accomplishments.

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Speaking of the nearly 1,500 sentences he commuted, Biden said that their long prison sentences would have been shorter under today’s laws. All of those selected had been placed under home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, and “have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance.”  

Among those included in the sweeping action were a decorated military veteran and pilot, a nurse who helped lead vaccination efforts during the pandemic and an addiction counselor who works with young people to help them avoid drugs.

Biden has not reserved clemency and commutations for the end of his term. He first granted clemency in April 2022 to 75 people who had been convicted of drug offenses and others who were under home confinement as part of provisions of Congress’ pandemic relief bills. That action was followed up by six pardons in December of that same year, consisting of people convicted of alcohol- and drug-related crimes. 

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Between April 2023 and April 2024, Biden granted 47 additional commutations and 11 pardons to people under home confinement or convicted of non-violent drug offenses.

A conservative research group has sent a letter to President-elect Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi calling on her to fire a number of Department of Justice (DOJ) workers who it says are “woke radical leftists and donors” who cannot be trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) wrote to Bondi urging her to sack the individuals who currently work for the agency’s Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, claiming that they have pushed transgender issues, worked for George Soros-linked organizations and donated to radical left-wing politicians and groups. The voting section is tasked with enforcing federal laws that protect the right to vote.

“These people are woke radical leftists and donors who have no place in the Department of Justice,” the group writes in the letter signed by AAF President Thomas Jones. “In order to restore the American people’s trust in election integrity and a neutral civil service, they must be fired and replaced with America-first attorneys who will execute on the agenda the American People voted for in November.”

A conservative research group has sent a letter to President-elect Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi calling on her to fire a number of Department of Justice (DOJ) workers who it says are “woke radical leftists and donors” who cannot be trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images, left, and Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images, right.)

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The letter, which rails against the “deep state” terrorizing the country and “threatening democracy itself,” was also addressed to Harmett Dhillon, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Bondi is the former Florida Attorney General.

The letter zeroes DOJ employees —Janie Sitton, Catherine Meza, Daniel Freeman, John “Bert” Russ IV and Dana Paikowsky — and attempts to make a case as to why they are unfit to work at the agency. AAF also promises to share more information on “problematic staff” in the future. 

Sitton, the group says, is being singled out for her promotion of the transgender agenda and donating to leftist politicians. 

In 2000, while working for the DOJ, Sitton authored an article that called for the adoption of a new legal system deemed “transgender jurisprudence” and stated the need to “rethink” the basic known “assumptions and constructs upon which our society and laws are based.” 

Sitton even took issue with common traditions such as identifying a newborn infant as a boy or girl based on the child’s sex, arguing that society has been wrong to assume or assign a gender to infants, the AAF says.

Sitton, the group says, is being singled out for her promotion of the transgender agenda and donating to leftist politicians.  (Adobe Stock)

Paikowsky, the group says, has worked for years pushing far-left political agendas, including pushing for prisoners to vote, and has deep ties with Soros-linked organizations. 

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In addition to donating to liberal politicians, Paikowsky’s LinkedIn shows that she worked as a policy associate for the Open Society Foundations, an organization founded to the billionaire financier.

Shortly after graduating from Harvard Law School, Paikowsky then went to work for the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) as a fellow for the Equal Justice Works program while also working as a legal intern for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. The CLC has received significant funding from Soros in recent years, according to the AAF.

A 2019 law review article she wrote for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review suggested an extensive framework to turn “jails into polling places” and described numerous examples of local elections across the nation, including local district attorney races, where a small number of inmate voters could have changed the election results, according to the AAF.

The group also slams Meza, who is an attorney at the voting division, for supporting gun control while she was chief counsel for the NAACP and claiming that she had accused people of not wearing masks or observing proper social distancing rules as forms of voter intimidation in 2020. 

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Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a press conference while on a break from President-elect Trump’s hush money trial outside Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024, in New York City. (Getty)

Russ made the list for being an attorney for the DOJ who had filed a 2021 complaint against Georgia’s election integrity initiatives. The complaint accused the state of having racist intentions by prohibiting unsolicited absentee ballots from being mailed to voters, requiring voter identification and prohibiting the potential bribing of voters with food and drinks at polling places.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ’s Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Fox News Digital also asked the agency whether each of those named in the letter would like to respond.  

It’s not the first time the AAF has sought to influence the makeup of the federal government under Trump. Last week, the group compiled a list of “woke” senior officers they want Pete Hegseth to sack, should he be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

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