NationalWatch

Elon Musk’s tirade against President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” has forced House Republicans to scramble to respond on Wednesday.

GOP lawmakers who had spent months praising Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts are now working to avoid a war of words with the tech billionaire as he calls on them to scrap months of work in favor of a new budget reconciliation bill.

“He didn’t make it any easier for the bill,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital. 

He noted that the bill also had its opponents in the Senate, where at least three fiscal hawks are calling for deeper cuts than the recent version passed by the House, which rolls back roughly $1.5 trillion in federal spending over 10 years. Fitzgerald questioned, however, what Musk’s endgame was.

SCOOP: HOUSE GOP MEMO HIGHLIGHTS REPUBLICAN WINS IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was “surprised” by Elon Musk’s criticism of the “Big Beautiful Bill.” (Associated Press)

“If it was to truly kill the bill, then – I get it, he’s not an elected official – but you never really make such a bold statement without having a Plan B, and clearly, there’s no Plan B,” he said.

House GOP lawmakers have for the most part, however, appeared in agreement on Musk ultimately having little impact on their actions. 

“I don’t think he carries the same kind of gravitas that he did,” Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said.

Another House Republican told Fox News Digital, “When he’s not standing by the president’s side, he doesn’t have the same weight.”

Congressional Republicans are working to pass a mammoth bill advancing Trump’s priorities on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt via the budget reconciliation process.

Reconciliation allows the party in power to totally sideline opposition – in this case, Democrats – to pass a sweeping piece of fiscal legislation by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51.

But there are rules and limitations for what can be included in the budget reconciliation process. House GOP leaders say they will seek to codify spending cuts identified by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) via the annual congressional appropriations process.

That has not stopped Musk from unleashing his fury against the bill over the money it could add to the already $36 trillion-and-counting federal debt.

“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL,” Musk wrote on X, among other posts.

President Donald Trump is pushing Republicans to pass his agenda (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The Tesla founder made a veiled threat against lawmakers’ seats as well, “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.”

House GOP leaders and the White House, meanwhile, have closed ranks around the bill.

“I want Elon and all my friends to recognize the complexity of what we’ve accomplished here. This extraordinary piece of legislation – record number of savings, record tax cuts for the American people and all the other benefits in it,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters in response to Musk.

“We worked on the bill for almost 14 months. You can’t go back to the drawing board, and we shouldn’t. We have a great product to deliver here.”

But Musk’s comments appear to have created a difficult political situation for some fiscal hawks who aired concerns about the bill before ultimately voting for it after GOP leaders made some last-minute changes tightening Medicaid work requirements and green energy subsidy cutbacks.

MIKE JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP GET ‘BIG, ‘BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE

“I wish [Musk] had been cheering from the stands before we had the vote, that would have helped us, but we are where we are,” House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., who fought for more conservative changes, told reporters.

He side-stepped a question on whether he was worried about election threats from Musk.

“I’m going to be – I hope that Elon continues to stay in this fight because I’m philosophically aligned with him, with his effort to try to balance this budget,” Burlison said.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, meanwhile, said he believes Musk is wrong but conceded his opinion mattered to at least part of the GOP base.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said Musk has ‘created a bigger challenge’ ((Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images))

“The challenge is, he’s a he’s a credible guy, and he’s done, a patriotic service,” Arrington said, referring to DOGE. I just think he’s just wrong about his comments that mischaracterize the one big, beautiful bill.”

“So to say that it’s a problem or that it has created a bigger challenge for us, is true. Because he’s got a big voice, he’s got a big audience. And more importantly, it’s a credible voice. But he’s wrong on this issue.”

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Conservative Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said, “I would have preferred that he not go the direction that he went…maybe it was to encourage Congress to get on the ball with these rescissions packages that are coming.”

The White House, meanwhile, has stood by the bill.

“The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

President Donald Trump‘s “big, beautiful bill” is projected to increase the debt by $3 trillion, with interest, or $5 trillion if made permanent, according to estimates. 

An estimate of the House-passed bill by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects it would add more than $2.4 trillion to primary deficits before interest over 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a nonprofit public policy organization.

As of Wednesday, the national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors, was $36.2 trillion, and the national deficit, which occurs when the federal government’s spending exceeds its revenues, was $1 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. 

The massive spending package being considered by a Republican-controlled Congress aims to address a number of issues, including tax policy, border security and immigration, defense, energy production, the debt limit, and adjustments to SNAP and Medicaid.

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES RESISTANCE FROM REPUBLICAN SENATORS OVER DEBT FEARS

The White House launched a new website tabulating how much the “big, beautiful bill” is anticipated to save Americans. A public policy group estimates the bill would increase the debt by trillions of dollars, based on estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. (White House)

“Based on CBO’s estimate, the House-passed bill includes roughly $5.3 trillion of tax cuts and spending partially offset by $2.9 trillion of revenue increases and spending cuts,” a CRFB statement said. “Most significantly, the policies put forward by the Ways & Means Committee would increase deficits by $3.8 trillion, on net, while the policies in the Energy & Commerce title would reduce deficits by $1.1 trillion. With interest, the bill would add nearly $3.0 trillion to the debt through 2034 – or $5.0 trillion if various temporary provisions are made permanent.”

“OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) would add far too much to the debt as written and could lead to far more fiscal damage than reported if temporary provisions are extended as intended,” the group said. 

It noted that the bill would boost near-term inflation, increase interest rates, add unnecessary complexity to the tax code as well as weaken market confidence and slow long-term economic growth.

It urged the Senate to make the bill “more responsible.”

PRICE TAG ESTIMATE FOR HOUSE GOP TAX PACKAGE RISES TO $3.94T

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Monday said he is still opposed to President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” despite discussions with him. (Getty Images)

Despite the bill passing in the House, some lawmakers have voiced opposition to the legislation, most notably Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. 

“We have never raised the debt ceiling without actually meeting that target,” Paul told reporters this week. “So you can say it doesn’t directly add to the debt, but if you increase the ceiling $5 trillion, you’ll meet that. And what it does is it puts it off the back burner. And then we won’t discuss it for a year or two.”

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Top Democrats recently said the bill would cause the deaths of an estimated 51,000 Americans due to changes to the federal healthcare system and the broader reconciliation legislation. Also against the bill is Elon Musk, Trump’s former head of the Department of Government Efficiency.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House.

A federal appeals court refused to grant the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) request to put a temporary halt on a district judge’s preliminary injunction last week, preventing the Trump administration from moving ahead with plans to dismantle the department.

Washington, D.C., and two states previously requested the court to halt the announced DOE and Trump administration’s planned Reduction in Force (RIF) of half of the remaining employees at the DOE, as well as the closure of the department.

The dismantling was announced on March 11, 2025, and two days later, the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump and others were sued in the District of Massachusetts.

Following suit, five labor organizations and two school districts did the same.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SCOTUS TO APPROVE DEI-RELATED EDUCATION CUTS

The plaintiffs requested the court for an injunction against the transfer of certain functions out of the Department, which Trump announced on March 21.

The District Court merged the two cases, and after reviewing the factual findings, issued an order to place a stop on the president’s actions.

The Trump administration appealed the decision and requested a temporary stop to the district court’s order, but on Wednesday that request was denied.

WASHINGTON AG JOINS COALITION SUING TO BLOCK TRUMP’S ORDER TO DISMANTLE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing in ceremony for interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro in the Oval Office of the White House on May 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump has announced Pirro, a former Fox News personality, judge, prosecutor, and politician, after losing support in the Senate for his first choice, Ed Martin, over his views on the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“What is at stake in this case, the District Court found, was whether a nearly half-century-old cabinet department would be permitted to carry out its statutorily assigned functions or prevented from doing so by a mass termination of employees aimed at implementing the effective closure of that department,” the court of appeals wrote. “Given the extensive findings made by the District Court and the absence of any contrary evidence having been submitted by the appellants, we conclude that the appellants’ stay motion does not warrant our interfering with the ordinary course of appellate adjudication in the face of what the record indicates would be the apparent consequences of our doing so. The appellants’ motion for a stay is denied.”

Republican senators, in April, introduced the “Returning Education to Our States Act” after Trump signed an Executive Order to close the DOE in March.

If passed, the bill would redirect portions of the department to other federal agencies, such as the Departments of Interior, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor, Defense, Justice and State.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SIGNIFICANTLY DISMANTLED IN NEW TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER

Education Secretary Lina McMahon announced the department would cut nearly 50% of its workforce. ((Getty Images/Reuters/Fox News Digital))

“The Department of Education was created to collect education data and advise state and local organizations on best practices,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, told Fox News Digital at the time. “Since then, it has grown into an oversized bureaucracy that dictates one-size-fits-all policies, standards and practices for students across the nation.”

The bill came amid widespread support among Republicans to eliminate the agency, including the current sitting Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, who detailed her “vision for eliminating the Department of Education” in a Fox News op-ed. 

McMahon and Rounds recently held a meeting where the “Returning Education to Our States Act” was discussed. 

DEM AGS SUE OVER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LAYOFFS

In addition to eliminating the agency, the legislation would also make key changes to education compliance requirements, making it so that schools would no longer be required to administer standardized tests to identify struggling schools (CSI and TSI). The bill would also allow schools more autonomy to set teacher certification standards and professional development plans.

The executive order issued by President Donald Trump directs the department to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities,” but it takes an act of Congress to formally abolish the department.

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The Republican-led bill could potentially accompany President Donald Trump’s executive order and campaign promise to reshape the American education system as it heads to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for debate.

Fox News Digital’s Preston Mizell contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead an investigation into whether certain individuals working for former President Joe Biden conspired to deceive the public about his mental state while also exercising his presidential responsibilities by using an autopen.

In a memo on Wednesday, Trump said the president of the U.S. has a tremendous amount of power and responsibility through the signature. Not only can the signature turn words into laws of the land, but it also appoints individuals to some of the highest positions in government, creates or eliminates national policies and allows prisoners to go free.

“In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority,” Trump wrote. “This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.”

He continued, saying Biden had suffered from “serious cognitive decline” for years, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently concluded that Biden should not stand trial, despite clear evidence he broke the law, because of his mental state.

EXCLUSIVE: COMER HAILS DOJ’S BIDEN PROBE AS HOUSE INVESTIGATION HEATS UP

President Trump called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch an investigation into whether former President Biden’s team used an autopen and covered up the former president’s cognitive decline. (Trump: Reuters / Autopen: AP)

“Biden’s cognitive issues and apparent mental decline during his presidency were even ‘worse’ in private, and those closest to him ‘tried to hide it’ from the public,” Trump said. “To do so, Biden’s advisors during his years in office severely restricted his news conferences and media appearances, and they scripted his conversations with lawmakers, government officials, and donors, all to cover up his inability to discharge his duties.”

Still, during the Biden presidency, the White House issued over 1,200 Presidential documents, appointed 235 judges to the federal bench and issued more pardons and commutations than any administration in U.S. history, Trump said.

The president wrote about Biden’s decision just two days before Christmas 2024, to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 most dangerous criminals on federal death row, including mass murderers and child killers.

TRUMP SAYS BIDEN DIDN’T FAVOR HIS ADMIN’S LAX BORDER SECURITY POLICY, SUGGESTS AUTOPEN PLAYED A ROLE

A new book describes President Joe Biden’s cabinet meetings as “scripted” and “uncomfortable.”  (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Care Can’t Wait Action)

“Although the authority to take these executive actions, along with many others, is constitutionally committed to the President, there are serious doubts as to the decision-making process and even the degree of Biden’s awareness of these actions being taken in his name,” Trump wrote. “The vast majority of Biden’s executive actions were signed using a mechanical signature pen, often called an autopen, as opposed to Biden’s own hand. This was especially true of actions taken during the second half of his Presidency, when his cognitive decline had apparently become even more clear to those working most closely with him.

“Given clear indications that President Biden lacked the capacity to exercise his Presidential authority, if his advisors secretly used the mechanical signature pen to conceal this incapacity, while taking radical executive actions all in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the Presidency, a circumstance that would have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions undertaken in Biden’s name,” he added.

TRUMP HAS NOT DIRECTED ADMIN TO DECLASSIFY BIDEN DOCS ON HEALTH ‘COVER-UP’

President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden at Trump’s inauguration in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

The memo goes on to call for an investigation that addresses if certain individuals, who are not named in the document, conspired to deceive the American public about the former president’s mental state and “unconstitutionally” exercised the president’s authority and responsibilities.

Specifically, Trump called on the attorney general’s investigation to look at any activity that purposefully shielded the public from information about Biden’s mental and physical health; any agreements between his aides to falsely deem recorded videos of Biden’s cognitive ability as fake; and any agreements between Biden’s aides to require false, public statements that elevated the president’s capabilities.

The investigation will also look at which policy documents the autopen was used for, including clemency grants, executive orders, and presidential memoranda, as well as who directed Biden’s signature to be affixed to those documents.

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Trump said last week that he thinks Biden did not really agree with many of his administration’s lax border security policies, instead suggesting that those surrounding the former president took advantage of his declining faculties and utilized the autopen to pass radical directives pertaining to the border.

House Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, launched an investigation earlier last month aimed at determining whether Biden, who was in declining health during the final months of his presidency, was mentally fit to authorize the use of the autopen. Comer said last week he was “open” to dragging Biden before the House to answer questions about the matter if necessary. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening…

• Top Dems claim 51,000 people will die annually from the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ and its Obamacare freeze
• Federal judge delivers one-two punch to Trump in Abrego Garcia case
• Trump DOJ takes ‘unprecedented’ step admonishing foreign judge in free speech case centered on Rumble

Convicted Trump Tax Leaker Pleads the Fifth 

A man serving in prison for leaking President Donald Trump’s and thousands of others’ confidential tax records recently asserted his Fifth Amendment right to the House Judiciary Committee and declined to testify before the panel, Fox News Digital has learned.

A public defender wrote to the Republican-led committee on behalf of Charles Littlejohn, a former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) contractor serving out a five-year sentence in Illinois, that because Littlejohn was appealing his sentence, he did not have to testify before Congress.

“The testimony that you seek from Mr. Littlejohn directly implicates his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination,” the public defender wrote on Saturday. “Mr. Littlejohn validly exercises that Constitutional right in declining to testify.”…READ MORE

Former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn was seen Monday after a judge sentenced him to five years in prison for leaking the tax returns of former President Donald Trump and other wealthy people. (Fox News | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

White House

‘QUASI-TOTALITARIAN’: Vance compares Harvard to North Korea as he takes aim at school’s ‘ideological diversity’

‘GOOD CONVERSATION’: Putin tells Trump Russia will respond to Ukrainian attack on warplanes

World Stage

‘DECISIVE ACTION’: ICE arrests Russian national accused of being member of Al Qaeda

‘IGNORES’ HAMAS: Israeli officials object to expected UN Security Council ceasefire resolution

TOUGH ON CHINA: Trump says Xi is ‘very tough’ and ‘extremely hard to make a deal with’

Will the tariff truce with China give President Donald Trump a political bounce? (Fox News)

PUTIN’S PRICE TAG: Senate sanctions on Russia: bargaining chip for Trump’s negotiations with Putin or joker card

Capitol Hill 

BEHIND THE CURTAIN: Comer widens Biden ‘cover-up’ probe, seeks interviews with Anita Dunn and Ron Klain

MASSIE’S MOVE: Massie calls on Elon Musk to fund primary challenges against Republicans who backed Trump tax bill

REVOLVING DOOR: Fetterman dismisses questions as another top staffer reportedly jumps ship

Across America 

DEMS DENIED: US judge dismisses DNC election commission lawsuit, in a victory for Trump

BUDGET WATCHDOGS: Radical new DOGE transparency powers could hit Congress after Elon Musk exit

Elon Musk looks on as President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Nine Democratic candidates took the stage in New York City Wednesday for the first of two debates ahead of the June 24 mayoral primary, and the claws were out for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

Cuomo’s COVID-19 scandal was front and center just minutes into the debate as moderators asked the candidates how they would stand up to President Donald Trump if elected mayor.

The former governor dismissed the legitimacy of the Justice Department’s investigation into his alleged false congressional testimony about decisions made during COVID-19 when pressed by moderator Sally Goldenberg of Politico. 

“That’s the Trump line, the MAGA line, because this was during the Trump re-election,” Cuomo said when asked repeatedly whether he had a role in producing a contested COVID-19 report. 

ANDREW CUOMO THE BIGGEST TARGET AS NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL PRIMARY SHIFTS INTO HIGH GEAR

Andrew Cuomo, candidate for New York City mayor, during a Democratic mayoral primary debate in New York Wednesday, June 4, 2025.  (Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Cuomo said the Justice Department’s investigation is another example of the pandemic’s game of “political football.”

DOJ INVESTIGATING ANDREW CUOMO FOR ALLEGEDLY LYING ABOUT COVID DECISIONS, SOURCE CONFIRMS

“This is what Mr. Trump does, right? He started an investigation against me, against Kathy Hochul, against Sen. Chuck Schumer, against Hillary Clinton. This is one of his tactics,” Cuomo said. 

Also joining Cuomo on the debate stage Wednesday night were City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, city Comptroller Brad Lander, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer, former state Assemblyman Michael Blake from the Bronx, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie from Brooklyn, state Sen. Jessica Ramos from Queens and former hedge fund executive Whitney Tilson.

The winner of the Democratic Party mayoral primary will be seen as the overwhelming favorite to win November’s general election in the blue city. Early voting in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City begins June 14 and runs through June 22.

Cuomo is the clear polling and fundraising frontrunner in the Democratic primary given his name recognition and experience.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is running for re-election as an independent this year.  (AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has found unlikely common ground with the Trump administration in efforts to combat illegal immigration, is running as an independent. The Justice Department made the unusual decision earlier this year to dismiss an indictment against Adams on federal corruption charges.

“I know how to deal with Donald Trump because I’ve dealt with him before,” Cuomo said on the debate stage. 

Cuomo touted his experience as governor, particularly in challenging Trump’s agenda during his first term as president. 

“I am the last person on this stage that Mr. Trump wants to see as mayor, and that’s why I should be the first choice for the people of this city to have as mayor,” Cuomo said. 

(Left to right): Democratic mayoral candidates Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie, Andrew Cuomo, Whitney Tilson and Zohran Mamdani participate in a Democratic mayoral primary debate at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Center studios in New York June 4, 2025. (Yuki Iwamura/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

When again pressed by the moderators and his competitors, Cuomo said he told Congress the truth about the number of nursing home deaths in New York during COVID-19, the basis of the Department of Justice’s investigation. 

“No, I told Congress the truth,” Cuomo said. “No, we did not undercount any deaths.”

Still, Cuomo refused to answer whether he was involved in the production of the contested COVID-19 report. 

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The former governor was grilled by Republican lawmakers last year about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. House Republicans subsequently recommended the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against him. They accused him of intentionally lying to Congress during the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the excessive number of nursing home deaths.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation to student visas for foreigners seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University, the move in the ongoing feud between the White House and the Ivy League school. 

The proclamation directs the State Department to “consider revoking” existing academic or exchange visas of any current Harvard students who meet certain criteria. 

“Admission into the United States to attend, conduct research, or teach at our Nation’s institutions of higher education is a privilege granted by our Government, not a guarantee,” Trump said. “That privilege is necessarily tied to the host institution’s compliance and commitment to following Federal law.  Harvard University has failed in this respect, among many others.”

The proclamation doesn’t apply to foreign nationals attending other universities’ Student Exchange Visa Program (SEVP) and exempts others whose entry is deemed in the national interest.

STATE DEPARTMENT NOW SCRUTINIZING ALL VISA HOLDERS ASSOCIATED WITH HARVARD

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation Wednesday to suspend student visas at Harvard University. (Getty Images)

Last month, the State Department said that it would begin scrutinizing all visa holders associated with Harvard University, not just student visa holders. The investigation is aimed at identifying potential security vulnerabilities or other abuses of the visa system.

Wednesday’s proclamation cited Harvard’s history “concerning foreign ties and radicalism.”

Harvard is suing the Trump administration over its attempts to reign in the university.  (Fox News)

“Harvard has failed to provide sufficient information to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about foreign students’ known illegal or dangerous activities, reporting deficient data on only three students,” it said. 

It said Harvard has also developed “extensive entanglements with foreign adversaries,” while receiving more than $150 million from China alone. 

In exchange, Harvard has “hosted Chinese Communist Party paramilitary members and partnered with China-based individuals on research that could advance China’s military modernization.”

TRUMP SAYS HARVARD’S FOREIGN STUDENTS ARE FROM COUNTRIES PAYING ‘NOTHING’ FOR THEIR EDUCATION

Pro-Palestinian protests at Harvard University.  (Getty Images )

The Trump administration has accused Harvard of failing to stamp out antisemitism on campus, among other issues.  

The proclamation said Harvard has seen a “drastic rise in crime in recent years while failing to discipline at least some categories of conduct violations on campus.”

Harvard officials have said the Trump administration is retaliating against the university with moves to freeze taxpayer-funded research grants, an attempt to revoke its ability to enroll international students, to end it’s tax-exempt status and to open an investigation into whether it discriminated against white, Asian, male or straight employees or job applicants.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to Harvard for comment. 

President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping order blocking travel to the U.S. from nearly 20 countries identified as high-risk for terrorism, visa abuse and failure to share security information.

The new travel restrictions — announced under Executive Order 14161 — apply to nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen, all deemed “very high risk” due to terrorist activity, weak or hostile governments, and high visa overstay rates. 

TRUMP ADMIN MULLS NEW TRAVEL BAN, BUT NO DECISIONS MADE YET

President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Feb. 22, in Oxon Hill, Md.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Seven more countries, including Venezuela, Cuba, and Laos, face partial restrictions.

“President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm,” said White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson to Fox News Digital. 

She called the restrictions “commonsense” and targeted at countries that “lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information.”

In a video posted Wednesday night, President Trump said, “The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don’t want them.”

TRUMP VISA POLICY ‘FAR MORE RESTRAINED’ THAN BIDEN POLICY TARGETING ISRAELIS THAT FLEW UNDER THE RADAR: EXPERT

President Donald Trump walks from the Oval Office to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, March 28, in Washington, D.C.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

“In the 21st century, we’ve seen one terror attack after another carried out by foreign visa overstayers from dangerous places all over the world,” he added. “Thanks to Biden’s open-door policies, today there are millions and millions of these illegals who should not be in our country.”

Trump said his first-term travel restrictions were “one of our most successful policies” and “a key part of preventing major foreign terror attacks on American soil.”

President Donald Trump speaks during an event on energy production in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Afghanistan, for example, has a student visa overstay rate of 29.3% and is controlled by the Taliban, a designated global terrorist group. 

Iran remains a state sponsor of terrorism and has refused cooperation with U.S. authorities. Libya, Somalia, and Yemen all lack functioning governments capable of issuing secure documents.

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“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,” Trump said.

“That is why today I am signing a new executive order placing travel restrictions on countries including Yemen, Somalia, Haiti, Libya, and numerous others,” he concluded. “We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm, and nothing will stop us from keeping America safe.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump had nominated two high-ranking military officials to lead the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and U.S. African Command (AFRICOM).

Trump nominated Navy Vice Adm. Charles B. Cooper II to be promoted to admiral and be assigned as commander of CENTCOM at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

The president also nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson to be promoted to general and assigned as commander of AFRICOM in Stuttgart, Germany.

TRUMP’S PICK FOR JOINT CHIEFS CHAIR DANIEL ‘RAZIN’ CAINE SET FOR SENATE GRILLING

Navy Vice Adm. Charles B. Cooper II has been nominated to command CENTCOM at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. (U.S. Navy)

According to the CENTCOM website, Vice Adm. Cooper built a career as a surface warfare officer, in which he served on guided-missile cruisers, guided-missile destroyers, aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.

From land, he served in several executive, military assistant and special assistant roles for the White House, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, AFRICOM and the U.S. Pacific Fleet headquarters.

WHO IS DANIEL ‘RAZIN’ CAINE? AIR FORCE GENERAL TAPPED FOR TOP ADVISOR ROLE IN PENTAGON UPHEAVAL

Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson has been nominated to command AFRICOM in Stuttgart, Germany. (U.S. Air Force)

Cooper has also served as the principal U.S. Advisor to the Interior Minister of Afghanistan and Director of Surface Warfare Officer assignments.

Lt. Gen. Anderson currently serves as the director for Joint Force Development, Joint Staff at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

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He has flown the KC-135R, MC-130E, and U-28A operationally across the globe. Anderson’s career also includes commanding a special operations squadron, expeditionary squadron, operations group, special operations wing, and Special Operations Command, Africa.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against Texas to block the state’s two-decade-old law that provides in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

The complaint was filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Texas against the State of Texas and several Texas officials to get Texas to comply with federal requirements.

Under federal law, higher education institutions are prohibited from providing benefits to illegal aliens not offered to U.S. citizens.

The DOJ’s complaint aims to enjoin the enforcement of a Texas law requiring colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates for immigrants who maintain residency in Texas, regardless of whether they are in the U.S. legally.

TRUMP ADMIN SUES COLORADO, DENVER OVER ‘SANCTUARY LAWS,’ ALLEGED INTERFERENCE IN IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

According to the DOJ, the laws in Texas “blatantly” conflict with federal law, putting them in conflict with the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”

The lawsuit was filed in response to two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump since returning to the Oval Office in January.

ATTORNEY GENERAL BONDI ISSUES STARK WARNING FOR ILLINOIS AND NY GOVERNORS TO ‘COMPLY’ WITH FEDERAL LAW

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, D.C.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The executive orders were signed to ensure illegal immigrants cannot receive taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment.

One of the orders, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” ordered all agencies to “ensure, to the maximum extent permitted by law, that no taxpayer-funded benefits go to unqualified aliens.”

The other order, “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens,” directs officials to “take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable, including State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens.”

TURLEY PREDICTS ‘FEROCIOUS’ COURT BATTLE, BUT SAYS TRUMP ADMIN HAS ‘STRONG CASE’ ON ICE DEPORTATIONS IN NY

The Justice Department filed a complaint against Texas to block the state’s law that provides in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital has reached out to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office for comment.

Widely known as the Texas Dream Act, the legislation being targeted by the Trump administration was introduced in February 2001, when federal courts ruled that a child’s immigration status should not prevent the child’s access to primary and secondary schools.

But when it came to higher education, federal immigration status could have prevented some children born outside the U.S. from getting a college education from a public institution because of higher rates charged to nonresidents.

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When children born outside the U.S. graduated from Texas high schools, those students were required by previous state law to pay a higher rate to Texas public colleges or universities, as if they were from out of state or were international students.

The legislation, signed by Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, June 16, 2001, removed federal immigration status as a factor in determining eligibility to pay in-state tuition at Texas public colleges and universities for students who graduate from a Texas high school and who meet the minimum residency, academic and registration criteria.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to provide all non-citizens deported from the U.S. to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador to be afforded the opportunity to seek habeas relief in court, and challenge their alleged gang status— the latest in a heated fight centered on President Donald Trump‘s use of the 1789 Alien Enemies Act to deport certain migrants.”

In short, the Government must facilitate the Class’s ability to seek habeas relief to contest their removal under the Act,” Judge Boasberg said in the order, filed late Wednesday afternoon. “Exactly what such facilitation must entail will be determined in future proceedings. Although the Court is mindful that such a remedy may implicate sensitive diplomatic or national-security concerns within the exclusive province of the Executive Branch, it also has a constitutional duty to provide a remedy that will “make good the wrong done.”

Notably, the order also includes Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadorian migrant and alleged MS-13 member who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March in what administration officials have acknowledged was an administrative error. That case alone had touched off a heated court fight, which prompted intervention from the Supreme Court in April.

WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?
 

A split image of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, left, and U.S President Donald Trump, right.  Judge Boasberg will hear from Trump lawyers and plaintiffs in an amended Alien Enemies Act case on Wednesday, a high-profile hearing likely to spark fresh ire from Trump. Photos via Getty Images (Getty Images)

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg made headlines earlier this year for granting the first emergency restraining order blocking the Trump administration from invoking a 1798 law to immediately deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the violent gang Tren de Aragua, in March. 

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He also ordered that plane carrying migrants removed by the law in question be “immediately” returned to the U.S., which did not happen.The Trump administration is currently facing multiple court challenges over those deportation flights it conducted in March under the Alien Enemies Act, which Judge Boasberg had ordered to be immediately returned.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

Less than a week after leaving his position as head of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk is calling on Americans to urge their senators and representatives to “kill” the “big, beautiful” budget bill backed by President Donald Trump.

Musk has grown increasingly critical of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,, claiming that if passed, it would increase the U.S. budget deficit by $5 billion.

On Wednesday afternoon, Musk posted an image of the 2003 Uma Thurman movie “Kill Bill,” appearing to reference his call to nix the Trump-backed bill.

“We need a new bill that doesn’t grow the deficit,” Musk said on X. 

In another post, Musk urged: “Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.” 

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES RESISTANCE FROM REPUBLICAN SENATORS OVER DEBT FEARS

Musk has grown increasingly critical of Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, claiming that if passed, it would increase the U.S. budget deficit by $5 billion. (Getty Images)

Musk said Tuesday afternoon that he “just can’t stand it anymore.”

“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Musk said. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

Musk previously criticized the bill during an interview with CBS, noting he was “disappointed” in the spending bill because “it undermines” all the work his DOGE team was doing.

The bill passed the House in late May, ahead of Memorial Day, largely along party lines. However, two Republicans did vote against the measure, citing insufficient spending cuts and a rising national debt. GOP Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has also signaled he likely will not vote in favor of the bill in its current form, citing a debt ceiling increase that is a red line for him. 

TRUMP WARNS RAND PAUL HE’S PLAYING INTO ‘HANDS OF THE DEMOCRATS’ WITH ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ OPPOSITION

Elon Musk looks on as President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Trump has lashed out at Paul and others for opposing the bill, but so far he has taken a more measured approach to Musk’s criticism.

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“Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Tuesday afternoon briefing when asked about Musk’s most recent criticism.

“It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill and he’s sticking to it,” she said. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

New legislation aims to set a limit on the number of immigration parolees allowed into the United States annually.

The “Preventing the Abuse of Immigration Parole Act” would cap parole admissions into the U.S. at 3,000 people a year starting in fiscal year 2029.  

It would also “establish congressional findings” that parole for people trying to enter the country should only be conducted “case-by-case.” It would also now allow those from “a country of concern” like Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, and Russia to be given parole unless there is special permission granted by the Department of State.

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

Addison McDowell, US Republican House candidate for North Carolina, arrives ahead of a “Get Out The Vote” rally with former US President Donald Trump in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Saturday, Mar. 2, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Biden’s open-border bureaucrats abused immigration parole to serve their free-lunch agenda—exposing the United States to one of the greatest national security vulnerabilities we’ve seen in years,” North Carolina Republican Rep. Addison McDowell, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement on Wednesday.

“When vetting procedures are ignored and the floodgates are opened, it’s hard to believe it wasn’t deliberate. They showed no regard for the American families left to deal with the fallout of their failed policies. My bill, the Preventing the Abuse of Immigration Parole Act, caps parole entries and closes the side door that’s been exploited to bypass our borders,” the Republican continued.

McDowell’s bill was inspired by the congressional U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations & Accountability’s finding that 2.8 million individuals were given parole while former President Joe Biden was in office under the purview of former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

‘RESTORE ORDER’: BILL TO LIMIT BIDEN-ERA IMMIGRATION POWERS GETS RENEWED PUSH UNDER TRUMP

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks to the media about an overview of public safety plans for Super Bowl week at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on Feb. 7, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Candice Ward/Getty Images)

“The systemic abuse of parole for aliens outside the United States is a threat to national security and future abuse should be prevented,” the bill text states.

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The 2.8 million figure includes the roughly half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans admitted under a parole program that the Trump administration seeks to end. 

A recent stay by the Supreme Court indicates that they could ultimately be successful in the effort to end the CHNV parole program, as the Department of Homeland Security can deport people while the legal battle continues, DHS said in a news release.

BIDEN ADMIN FACES MOUNTING PRESSURE TO DISMANTLE MIGRANT PAROLE PROGRAM AMID ‘STRESS’ ON SMALL TOWNS

The U.S. Supreme Court is shown at dusk on Jun. 28, 2023, in Washington, DC (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“Today’s decision is a victory for the American people. The Biden Administration lied to America,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on May 30 about the Supreme Court’s decision.

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“They allowed more than half a million poorly vetted aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and their immediate family members to enter the United States through these disastrous parole programs; granted them opportunities to compete for American jobs and undercut American workers; forced career civil servants to promote the programs even when fraud was identified; and then blamed Republicans in Congress for the chaos that ensued and the crime that followed,” she added. 

The proposal comes as the House recently passed the reconciliation bill, which includes additional funding for immigration enforcement – and it’s currently on the Senate side before it could hit President Donald Trump’s desk. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he was “surprised” by Elon Musk’s criticism of the “big, beautiful bill” after the two of them discussed the legislation. 

While the speaker expressed confidence in the bill, he acknowledged that it took Congress “decades” to reach a point where the national debt has crept past $36.2 trillion and that it would take more than one bill to fix the situation.

“The Trump administration needs four years to do all this reform, not two years. The Biden administration, Biden-Harris, made such a disaster of every metric of public policy, it’s going to take us more than one bill to fix it all,” Johnson said.

NATIONAL DEBT TRACKER: AMERICAN TAXPAYERS (YOU) ARE NOW ON THE HOOK FOR $36,214,400,664,854.53 AS OF 6/3/25

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was surprised by Elon Musk’s criticism of the “big, beautiful bill.” (Associated Press)

ELON MUSK WARNS EXCESSIVE SPENDING WILL PLUNGE US ‘INTO DEBT SLAVERY’

The Republican House leader said he and Musk, whom he considers a “friend,” had a “great conversation” about the “big, beautiful bill” Monday. The tech billionaire apparently joked that the bill could not be “big and beautiful,” to which Johnson replied, “Oh, yes it can, my friend. It’s very beautiful.”

“Elon and I left on a great note. We were texting one another — you know, happy texts,” Johnson told reporters. The speaker added he was surprised when Musk came out against the bill the next day. 

“I think he’s flat wrong,” Johnson said. “I think he’s way off on this, and I’ve told him as much.”

Johnson also praised the “obviously brilliant” tech billionaire for his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut government waste.

DOGE leader Elon Musk has been the subject of 96% negative coverage on ABC, NBC and CBS evening newscasts, according to the Media Research Center.  (Brendan Smialowski /AFP via Getty Images)

GOP SENATORS EXPRESS ‘CONCERNS,’ ‘SKEPTICISM’ OVER TRUMP’S SPENDING BILL AFTER MUSK RANT

Despite seemingly ending his tenure with the Trump White House on good terms last week, Musk came out swinging against the “big, beautiful bill,” calling it a “disgusting abomination.” 

“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” Musk tweeted.

Musk also retweeted multiple pleas from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, for the Senate to improve the bill and avoid saddling Americans with more government spending. 

On Wednesday, during a weekly press briefing, House Republican leadership advocated for the “big, beautiful bill,” saying it was necessary for funding the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Multiple leaders, including Johnson and House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., cited the antisemitic attack in Colorado allegedly carried out by an illegal immigrant as an example why the bill’s funding is needed.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., speaks during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center after a meeting of the House Republican Conference Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., right, and Rep. Mark Messmer, R-Ind., also appear. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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“We need to go find the other Solimans and get them out of America,” Johnson said in reference to suspected Boulder, Colorado, attacker Mohamed Soliman, the Egyptian national accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of people calling for the release of hostages being held in Gaza. 

Now that the bill has passed the House, it’s up to Senate Republicans to meet President Donald Trump’s July 4 deadline.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is widening his investigation into the alleged “cover-up” of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline by seeking interviews with five more former White House aides.

Comer sent letters to five more top former Biden staffers, putting his total outreach in the investigation to 10 people so far.

The latest round of letters are being sent to former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, former senior communications advisor Anita Dunn, former top advisors Michael Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, and former Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Bruce Reed.

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the role of former senior White House officials in possibly usurping authority from former President Joe Biden and the ramifications of a White House staff intent on hiding his rapidly worsening mental and physical faculties,” Comer wrote to the five former aides.

HOUSE GOP TARGETS ANOTHER DEM OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING ICE AMID DELANEY HALL FALLOUT

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., right, is widening his probe into former President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File and Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“The Committee has been investigating this issue for nearly a year. The Committee seeks to understand who made key decisions and exercised the powers of the executive branch during the previous administration, possibly without former President Biden’s consent. The Committee requests your testimony to evaluate your eye-witness account of former President Biden’s decline.”

Each letter also detailed specific reasons the committee is seeking to speak to each person.

“You served as Chief of Staff for former President Biden. Before departing the White House in 2023, you had been by former President Biden’s side ‘for more than three decades.’ You returned to the former president’s side in 2024 to aid his campaign and prepare him for the June 27, 2024, debate with President Donald Trump,” the letter to Klain read, citing a recent Politico article.

“According to an interview, you cut short the debate prep ‘due to the president’s fatigue and lack of familiarity with the subject matter’ and said that the former president ‘didn’t really understand what his argument was on inflation.’ The scope of your responsibilities—both official and otherwise—and personal interactions within the Oval Office cannot go without investigation.”

Ron Klain, former White House chief of staff, is being contacted by Rep. James Comer. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

To Dunn, Comer wrote, “Former President Biden confided in you extensively over the past decade. The Committee seeks to understand your observations of former President Biden’s mental acuity and health as one of his closest advisors.

“If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition—or to perform his duties—Congress may need to consider a legislative response,” the letter said.

Comer has asked each of the five aides to appear for closed-door transcribed interviews. 

He told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that it was a more effective investigation tactic than a public hearing that could easily devolve into an unproductive spectacle.

MIKE JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP GET ‘BIG, ‘BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE

Rep. James Comer also reached out to Anita Dunn.

“You’ve got one hour, you’re not interrupted, you don’t have to go five minutes back and forth,” Comer said. “So to extract information, we’re going to go with the interviews.”

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Comer previously reached out to former Biden doctor Kevin O’Connor and former White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear. 

The committee said it expects the witnesses to voluntarily comply with the investigation and will release transcribed interview dates later this week. Comer has not ruled out the threat of subpoenas, however, if talks go awry.

A federal judge granted a request Wednesday from more than a dozen major news outlets and publishers to unseal certain records in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadorian migrant and alleged MS-13 member who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March in what administration officials have acknowledged was an administrative error.

Separately on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis granted a request from Abrego Garcia’s legal team to file a motion for sanctions against the Trump administration. That filing is due June 11, she said in an order. 

The one-two punch from Xinis could give plaintiffs new ammo to pursue more formal punishments against the Trump administration if officials are found to have been acting in bad faith or knowingly defying court orders. 

It will also give new access to media outlets covering the case. Xinis agreed to grant in part a request from a group of 14 major media outlets and publishers – including Fox News, NBC News, CBS News, New York Times, the Washington Post and NPR – who filed a motion to unseal records in the Abrego Garcia case, citing concerns over the lack of public access, as well as over government efforts, or lack thereof, to facilitate his return to the U.S.

JUDGE PRESSES TRUMP DOJ ON ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION; ANSWERS LEAVE COURTROOM IN STUNNED SILENCE

Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump, and Pam Bondi during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In her order, Xinis agreed with the contention of the news outlets – referred to jointly as the “Press Movants” – that the public “enjoys a presumptive right to access court records, overcome only when outweighed by competing interests.”

As such, Xinis ordered the Trump administration to unseal a handful of documents that have so far been filed under seal, as part of a protracted legal battle over the status of Abrego Garcia.

Xinis also ordered them to unseal a transcript from an April 30 hearing in his case. 

“The right to public access of court records remains critical to promoting ‘trustworthiness of the judicial process, to curb judicial abuses, and to provide the public with a more complete understanding of the judicial system, including a better perception of fairness,’” she said Wednesday.

The order comes amid a months-long court fight over the status of Abrego Garcia, who remains in El Salvador. 

Xinis in April ordered the Trump administration to comply with an expedited discovery schedule to determine whether they were complying with the directive to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., which was upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Since then, she has struggled to ascertain the status of Abrego Garcia, or efforts made to return him to the U.S.

TRUMP’S REMARKS COULD COME BACK TO BITE HIM IN ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION BATTLE

A protester is seen holding a sign protesting CECOT prisons in El Salvador during a demonstration against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in Houston. (AFP via Getty)

Trump officials, for their part, have repeatedly alleged that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though any formal ties remain unproven. 

Lawyers for the government and Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have sparred with Xinis in court over what exactly it means to “facilitate” his return – a months-long fight that Xinis most recently described as beating a “frustrated and dead horse.”

Xinis previously took aim at what she deemed to be the lack of information submitted to the court as part of an expedited discovery process she ordered last month, describing the government submissions as “vague, evasive and incomplete” responses, and which she said demonstrated “willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations.”

The order is the latest development in the ongoing feud between Trump officials and the courts over the use of the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law used earlier this year to quickly deport migrants from the U.S. 

Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, in March to protest the continued detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Breanne Deppisch for Fox News Digital)

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To date, the Trump administration has not knowingly complied with any court orders to return migrants who were removed and sent to El Salvador in the early wave of deportation flights, despite earlier court orders from Xinis, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and others.

It is unclear whether Xinis plans to begin contempt proceedings against the administration, though the federal judge in D.C. said earlier this year that he had found probable cause to do so.

Vice President JD Vance accused Harvard University of having a lack of “ideological diversity,” comparing the academic institution to North Korea amid the Trump administration’s continuing battle against the school. 

Vance said Tuesday that he estimated, without evidence, that “probably” 95% of Harvard’s faculty voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, and said that universities have become these “almost quasi-theocratic, or quasi-totalitarian societies.”

“Right. Very brilliant. Kamala Harris, of course,” Vance said at the American Compass anniversary gala in Washington. “But if you ask yourself a foreign election, a foreign country’s election, you say 80% of the people voted for one candidate, you would say, ‘Oh, that’s kind of weird, right? That’s like, not a super healthy democracy.’ If you said, ‘Oh, 95% of people voted for one party’s candidate,’ you would say, ‘That’s North Korea, right… That is impossible in a true place of free exchange for that to happen.'” 

Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP ADMIN ASKING FEDERAL AGENCIES TO CANCEL REMAINING HARVARD CONTRACTS

Vice President JD Vance speaks with American Compass founder Oren Cass at the American Compass’s the New World Gala in Washington, Jun. 3, 2025.

The Trump administration has been at odds with Harvard as it’s pushed for the academic institution to install changes to its governance and admissions process in response to incidents of bias on campus targeting Jewish students since October 2023. 

But Harvard University President Alan M. Garber said in April that the Trump administration included additional requests for reform that go beyond addressing antisemitism on campus, and the institution would not comply because the demands were unconstitutional.

WHITE HOUSE SLAMS IVY LEAGUE INSTITUTIONS FOR ‘EGREGIOUS ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR’ AMID TRUMP FEUD WITH HARVARD

Harvard President Alan Garber acknowledges an extended round of applause during Harvard University’s commencement ceremonies, May 29, 2025, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  (Charles Krupa/The Associated Press )

Specifically, Garber said the new requests “direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard,” including auditing viewpoints of students, faculty and staff members on campus, and eliminating all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, offices and initiatives at Harvard. 

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“It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner,” Garber wrote in an April letter. “We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement.”

Since then, the Trump administration has warned it will pull all federal funding from the school, amounting to a total of $100 million in contracts. That’s on top of the $3.2 billion in grants and contracts the administration has previously frozen. 

TRUMP ADMIN SLASHES OVER $2.2B IN FUNDING TO HARVARD AFTER SCHOOL DEFIES DEMANDS

Harvard is suing the Trump administration (Fox News)

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sent an unprecedented letter to a Brazilian Supreme Court justice in May, admonishing the judge for ordering American-based video platform Rumble to restrict the free speech of a user on U.S. soil, describing the orders as international overreach that lack enforceability. 

Rumble, a popular U.S.-based video-sharing platform that bucks censorship efforts frequently found on other video and social media platforms, is at the center of an international battle to protect free speech that has been ongoing for months.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of Rumble in the South American country back in February over claims the U.S. company did not comply with court orders, including removing the accounts of a Brazilian man living in the U.S. and seeking political asylum.

“If you look at what’s happening around the world, it’s clear we’re living through a perilous moment for anyone who believes in freedom of expression — a fundamental human right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and recognized globally, even by the United Nations,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski exclusively told Fox News Digital Tuesday following the DOJ’s May letter. 

RUMBLE, TRUMP MEDIA DECLARE ‘COMPLETE VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH’ IN WIN AGAINST BRAZILIAN JUDGE

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. (Evaristo SA/AFP via Getty Images)

“The fact that Rumble has become a central player in this global fight for free speech is a powerful validation of our mission. We’re proud to stand at the front lines of this effort and grateful that President Trump and his administration have made this battle a foreign policy priority.” 

Moraes is now in the U.S. government’s crosshairs after the DOJ sent a letter to him in May outlining his reported international overreach into U.S. law affecting the First Amendment, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealing in a congressional hearing that the Brazilian judge could face U.S. sanctions. 

Moraes had ordered Rumble to remove a user from its platform as he stands accused of spreading false information online and is considered a fugitive in Brazil. Rumble refused and was threatened with financial penalties for the lack of cooperation. 

Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski. (Rumble/Fox News)

TRUMP-BACKED MEDIA COMPANY SUES BRAZILIAN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, CLAIMS HE’S ILLEGALLY CENSORING FREE SPEECH

The DOJ letter, dated May 7 and made public Thursday, argued that Moraes’ orders are not enforceable in the U.S. 

“These purported directives to Rumble are made under threat of monetary and other penalties,” the letter, signed by DOJ official Ada E. Bosque, reads. “We take no position on the enforceability of the various orders and other judicial documents directing Rumble to act within the territory of Brazil, which is a matter of Brazilian law. However, to the extent that these documents direct Rumble to undertake specific actions in the United States, we respectfully advise that such directives are not enforceable judicial orders in the United States.” 

The DOJ did not have additional comment to provide when approached about the letter Tuesday. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Pavlovski described to Fox Digital that the letter is “unprecedented” and draws a clear line to foreign nations that they cannot attempt to thwart U.S. laws and the First Amendment. 

“The letter from the U.S. Department of Justice to a foreign judge over censorship orders is unprecedented,” Pavlovski said. “It draws a bright red line: foreign officials cannot issue censorship orders that violate the First Amendment or bypass U.S. law. That kind of extraterritorial overreach is incompatible with American sovereignty. And that’s good news, not just for Americans, but for free societies everywhere.” 

RUMBLE REVEALS CENSORSHIP DEMANDS FROM SURPRISING LIST OF COUNTRIES AS CEO TO TESTIFY ON FREE SPEECH THREATS

Rumble is in the midst of a free speech battle on the world stage. (Chesnot / Contributor)

The letter continued that there are established channels for international legal proceedings, which the DOJ said the judge bypassed, and directed the Brazilian judge to various proper procedures he could take regarding the court orders. 

Rumble facing restrictions in foreign nations is hardly new, with the platform currently disabled in China, Russia and France, as well as Brazil. It has also previously received censorship demands in nations such as the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, but has maintained its free speech objective. 

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is set to face trial in Brazil over coup allegations. (Andressa Anholete/Getty Images)

The DOJ’s letter comes as Rubio revealed in a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing in May that the State Department is considering sanctions against Moraes under the Magnitsky Act. The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act authorizes the U.S. government to sanction individuals overseas if determined responsible for human rights abuses or corruption.

“We’ve seen pervasive censorship, political persecution targeting the entire opposition, including journalists and ordinary citizens,” Republican Florida Rep. Cory Mills asked Rubio at the hearing in May. “What they’re now doing is imminent, politically motivated imprisonment of former President Bolsonaro. This crackdown has extended beyond Brazil’s borders, impacting individuals on U.S. soil., the 2023 Financial Times article actually talked about this. What do you intend to do? And would you be looking at Supreme Court justice sanctioning of Alexandre de Moraes under the Global Magnitsky Act?”

BRAZILIAN EX-PRESIDENT BOLSONARO ORDERED TO STAND TRIAL OVER ALLEGED COUP PLAN

Rubio responded, “That’s under review right now, and it’s a great, great possibility that will happen.”

Days later, Rubio posted to X that the State Department will roll out visa restrictions on foreigners found “complicit” in censoring Americans. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new policies surrounding visas. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,” Rubio wrote on X. “Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life — a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.” 

“Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country,” Rubio added, not naming specific individuals responsible for such actions. “Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.”

Moraes is also overseeing the upcoming trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of allegedly attempting to overturn his 2022 election results. 

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slammed the U.S. for threatening sanctions against Moraes in comment this week. 

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“It is unacceptable for the president of any country in the world to comment on the decision of the Supreme Court of another country,” da Silva said Tuesday, according to Reuters. 

The Brazilian president added that the U.S. should understand the importance of “respecting the integrity of institutions in other countries.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Moraes’ office Tuesday but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., clashed Tuesday with a University of Pennsylvania law professor over the number of nationwide judicial injunctions imposed by district judges against President Donald Trump’s executive actions on matters including deportations, tariffs, and cuts to federal funding and the federal workforce. 

During the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing titled “The Supposedly ‘Least Dangerous Branch’: District Judges v. Trump,” Hawley displayed a bar chart to argue that nationwide injunctions against the executive branch, which had not been used until the 1960s, surged when Trump came into office for his first term and then dramatically dropped again during former President Joe Biden’s time at the White House. 

“Now, you don’t think this is a little bit anomalous?” Hawley asked University of Pennsylvania law professor Kate Shaw. 

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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, speaks to members of the media during a vote at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday, June 2, 2025.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Shaw, a Supreme Court contributor for ABC News who previously worked for former President Barack Obama’s White House Counsel’s Office, responded, “A very plausible explanation, senator, you have to consider is that [Trump] is engaged in much more lawless activity than other presidents. Right?” 

“This was never used before the 1960s,” Hawley said. “And suddenly Democrat judges decide we love the nationwide injunction. And then when Biden comes office, no, no.” 

Shaw cited Mila Sohoni, a Stanford Law School professor, as suggesting that the first nationwide injunction came in 1913 and others were issued in the 1920s. 

“The federal government was doing a lot less until 100 years ago,” she said. “There’s many things that have changed in the last hundred or the last 50 years.” 

“So as long as it is a Democrat president in office, then we should have no nationwide injunctions?” Hawley shot back. “If it’s a Republican president, then this is absolutely fine, warranted and called for? How can our system of law survive on those principles?” 

Shaw said she believes a system where there “are no legal constraints on the president is a very dangerous system of law,” but the Republican from Missouri contended that’s not what the law professor believed when Biden was president. 

“You said it was a travesty for the principles of democracy, notions of judicial impartiality and the rule of law,” Hawley said. “You said the idea that anyone would foreign shop to get a judge who would issue a nationwide injunction was a politician, just judges looking like politicians in robes. Again, it threatened the underlying legal system. People are just trying to get the result they wanted. It was a travesty for the rule of law. But you’re fine with all of that if it’s getting the result that you want.” 

Kate Shaw, professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, testifies during a Senate Committee on the Judiciary joint subcommittee hearing to examine District Judges v. Trump, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

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Hawley cited Shaw’s stance in a specific abortion pill ruling during Biden’s presidency. In April 2023, U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction on the Biden Food and Drug Administration’s mifepristone rules, which Shaw described at the time as “a travesty for the principles of democracy, notions of judicial impartiality and the rule of law.” 

Hawley said she had failed to offer a legitimate principle for issuing nationwide injunctions now. 

“I understand you hate the president,” the senator told Shaw. “I understand that you love all of these rulings against him. You and I both know that’s not a principle. You’re a lawyer. What’s the principle that divides when issuing a nationwide injunction is OK and when it is not? When the Biden administration was subject to nationwide injunctions, you said that they were travesties for the principle of democracy.” 

“When it’s Biden, it’s OK. When it’s Biden, oh, it’s a travesty. When it’s Trump in office, it’s a no holds barred, whatever it takes,” the senator added. 

Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., greets University of Pennsylvania law Professor Kate Shaw before a subcommittee hearing about the unprecedented number of nationwide judicial injunctions against President Donald Trump on June 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Hawley said Shaw and his Democratic colleagues were raising “very principled injunctions” to nationwide injunctions issued against Biden just nine months ago and “all that’s changed in nine months is the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

“I realize that my colleagues on this side of the aisle very much dislike that individual,” Hawley said, referring to Trump. “And I realize that you think that the rulings that he has lost are fundamentally sound.”

“I disagree with all of that, but we can put that to one side. The question we’re talking about here is, ‘Should judges, single judges, district court judges be able to bind nonparties who are not in front of them?’ And you used to say no. Now you say yes,” he said. “Let’s be consistent. I would just suggest to you our system of government cannot survive if it’s going to be politics all the way down.” 

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Shaw responded that “democracy is not as simple as majority rule,” but Hawley interjected, saying, “You would have it as simple as majority rule. When you get the majority you like, you’re for the nationwide injunction. When you don’t, you’re not.” 

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had issued a detainer in Massachusetts for a criminal illegal immigrant charged with raping a child with force in a crime that was captured on video.

Lorenzo Lopez Alcario, a 30-year-old Guatemalan national accused of tying up and brutally sexually assaulting a young girl in a video that was ultimately found by the girl’s mother, had the ICE detainer placed on him this week, according to a press release from DHS. 

The press release states that Alcario first entered the United States illegally on an unknown date before being arrested in 2017 in Arlington, Virginia, for drug possession. 

Later that year, in September, Alcario was ordered by a judge to be removed by the United States and was deported by aircraft on Sept. 28, 2017. 

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However, according to DHS, Alcario re-entered the United States in June 2022 and was released into the country by the Biden administration despite his criminal history and previous deportation. 

In a statement, Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin made the case that Alcario should never have been allowed back into the United States and that the ICE detainer is aimed at ensuring Alcario does not victimize anyone else in the future. 

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits the Mariposa Port of Entry on March 15, 2025 in Nogales, Arizona. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“Lorenzo Lopez Alcario is a pedophile illegal alien from Guatemala who should’ve never been in the U.S. in the first place,” McLaughlin said. 

“Despite his previous criminal charges and deportation, President Biden released this barbaric criminal into American communities in 2022. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE lodged a detainer to ensure this criminal illegal alien will not be allowed to terrorize American citizens and will deport this child predator to prevent further victims.” 

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Then-President Joe Biden talks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Sept. 2, 2024 in Washington. D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

ICE has been active in Massachusetts in recent weeks, including via Operation Patriot, which resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,500 illegals, including murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and child sex predators, in the deep blue sanctuary city-heavy state.

Sources at ICE told Fox News that 790 of those arrested had criminal convictions or charges and 277 had final removal or deportation orders. The sources said that all the targeted criminals were roaming the streets of Massachusetts cities freely before being apprehended.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.