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A federal appellate court declined to issue a stay on a lower court’s orders in a suit challenging the Trump administration‘s authority to deport Venezuelan nationals via a 1798 wartime law. 

In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, a three-judge panel sided with the plaintiffs in the suit, further blocking the Trump administration’s ability to move forward with its deportation agenda. 

Judges Karen Henderson, Patricia Millett, and Justin Walker of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals presided over Monday’s oral arguments, which they agreed to hear last week on an expedited basis. 

The back-and-forth Monday was dominated primarily by Millett, an Obama appointee, who seemed to be clearly on the plaintiffs’ side. She sparred with Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign over the Trump administration’s implementation of the law in question, and whether the administration violated constitutional due process protections in possibly failing to allow individuals targeted for deportation enough time to seek habeas protections.  

In a concurring opinion of the ruling, Henderson, a Bush appointee, said: “At this early stage, the government has yet to show a likelihood of success on the merits. The equities favor the plaintiffs. And the district court entered the TROs for a quintessentially valid purpose: to protect its remedial authority long enough to consider the parties’ arguments.

‘WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT’: US JUDGE REAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR DAYS-LATE DEPORTATION INFO

The Trump administration had attempted to invoke a 1798 wartime authority to deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), for a period of 14 days. (Getty Images)

“Accordingly, and for the foregoing reasons, the request to stay the district court’s TROs should be denied.”

Their decision could ultimately be kicked to the Supreme Court for further review.  

Attorney General Pam Bondi sharply criticized lower court judges for involving themselves in immigration issues, vowing in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” to appeal the case to the Supreme Court for review if necessary.

“This is an out-of-control judge, a federal judge, trying to control our entire foreign policy, and he cannot do it,” Bondi said of the lower court decisions. 

At issue was the Trump administration’s authority to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law, to immediately deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, from U.S. soil. 

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order last weekend blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals, citing the need to better consider the merits of the case — and prompting the administration to file an emergency request for the U.S. appeals court to intervene. 

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TELLS FEDERAL JUDGE IT MIGHT INVOKE STATE SECRETS ACT ON HIGH-PROFILE DEPORTATION CASE

“The government isn’t being forthcoming… but I will get to the bottom of if they complied with my order and who violated the order, and what the consequences are,” Boasberg said during a hearing.  (Getty)

Boasberg also issued a bench ruling ordering the Trump administration to return any planes to the U.S. that were carrying Venezuelan nationals or any other migrants subject to deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

Despite his order, planes carrying hundreds of U.S. migrants, including Venezuelan nationals removed under the law, arrived in El Salvador hours later.

The Trump administration had filed an emergency appeal of Boasberg’s order that same day, describing his restraining order as a “massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose threats to the American people” in its initial filing. 

During Monday’s hearing, Justice Department lawyers were pressed by the appellate judges over the timing of the deportations, and whether the individuals deported under the law had any time to seek relief or challenge their status as a TdA member in the form of a habeas petition before they were sent to El Salvador. 

Millett told Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign that it appeared that there was not much time between Trump’s signing of a proclamation that authorized the use of the Alien Enemies Act to immediately deport Venezuelan nationals believed to be members of TdA and its first wave of deportation flights to El Salvador.

TRUMP DOJ HAMMERS JUDGE’S ‘DIGRESSIVE MICROMANAGEMENT,’ SEEKS MORE TIME TO ANSWER 5 QUESTIONS

Judges Karen Henderson, Patricia Millett, and Justin Walker of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals presided over oral arguments on March 24 after the Trump administration appealed Boasberg’s March 15 order.  (David Ake/Getty Images)

If the Trump administration’s argument is that the restraining order handed down by a lower court judge last week is “an intrusion on the president’s war powers, and [that] the courts are paralyzed to do anything, then that’s a misreading of precedent,” Millett said. 

“And it’s a misreading of the text of the Alien Enemies Act. The president has to comply with the Constitution and laws like everybody else,” she added.

Boasberg had ordered the Trump administration last week to submit more information to the court about its deportation flights as part of a fact-finding hearing to determine whether they knowingly defied his court order that blocked the deportations. 

The Justice Department repeatedly declined to do so, even after he offered the opportunity for them to do so under seal, prompting a scathing response from Boasberg last week. 

The video depicts suspected members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13. (@nayibbukele via X)

In a reply brief filed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the Trump administration argued that the district court is “continuing to attempt to pry sensitive information from the Government,” describing the requests from Boasberg as “intrusive inquiries” and ones they said “could hamper negotiations in the future.”

Boasberg wrote that the government had submitted a six-paragraph declaration from a regional ICE office director in Harlingen, Texas, which notified the court that Cabinet secretaries are “actively considering whether to invoke the state secrets [act] privileges over the other facts requested by the Court’s order.”

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In a separate district court hearing, Boasberg pressed the government’s attorneys, at one point questioning them on their credibility. 

“So, your clients had you come argue this but kept you in the dark about it,” Boasberg said. “I often tell my clerks before they go out to practice law, that the most valuable thing they have is their reputation and their credibility. I would ask that your team retain that lesson.”

“The government isn’t being forthcoming… but I will get to the bottom of if they complied with my order and who violated the order, and what the consequences are,” Boasberg said during the hearing. 

Colorado District Attorney George Brauchler is speaking out against activist judges and sanctuary policies in his state that he says enabled abolish ICE activist and illegal immigrant Jeanette Vizguerra to evade capture for over a decade, “making a mockery of the rule of law.”

Colorado law prohibits local and state law enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities to remove illegals.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Brauchler, who is the district attorney for Colorado’s 23rd District, said the policies being pushed by Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and the Democratic-controlled legislature have made it so that the state has “embraced illegal immigrants over the laws of the country.”

He said the policies have stunted local and state law enforcement’s ability to keep dangerous illegal criminals off the streets.

BLUE STATE LEADER SOUNDS ALARM ABOUT ‘PERFECT STORM’ OF DEM IMMIGRATION POLICIES DECIMATING PUBLIC SAFETY

Colorado District Attorney George Brauchler is speaking out against activist judges and sanctuary policies in his state that he says enabled abolish ICE activist and illegal immigrant Jeanette Vizguerra to evade capture for over a decade, “making a mockery of the rule of law.” (Getty Images)

“Local law enforcement all say the ‘right’ thing publicly, and that is, ‘Hey, we’re not arms of the federal government. We don’t work for ICE. That’s not why we were hired.’ But they also say behind the scenes, ‘Dang, we have lost the ability to rid this community of the criminal element when we create these kinds of barriers with ICE.’”

In the case of Vizguerra, who just won a temporary ruling by a federal judge in Colorado guaranteeing ICE cannot deport her while her case is ongoing, Brauchler said that far-left sentiments in the state allowed U.S. immigration laws to be openly flouted.

“Let’s be honest man, Colorado has shifted so far to the pro-illegal immigrant side of things, that it’s created a very permissive environment where you can be here for a long time, be illegal, be even contacted by local law enforcement, and remain free out on the streets,” he said. “So, it’s not a shock to me that there’s a person that is like this in the system.”

He noted that he is sympathetic to Vizguerra having to leave after establishing a life and family in Colorado, but said, “We are either going to be a nation and a state that is governed by laws that we hold each other accountable for, or we’re going to be guided by emotion and whatever the politics of the day are.”

HOMAN BLASTS BLUE STATE AS REPORT SHOWS IT RELEASING ILLEGALS CHARGED WITH ‘HORRIFIC’ CRIMES ON LOW BAILS

Jeanette Vizguerra, who is in the U.S. illegally took sanctuary at First Baptist Church of Denver, holds her son Santiago on May 12, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. Vizguerra was arrested and detained by immigration authorities this month.  (Getty Images)

“That doesn’t seem to me to be the America that was ever intended and not the one I grew up in,” he went on. “We have to admit that the first step for any person who claims to want to be an American cannot be to violate America’s laws. And she fits that bill.”

In addition to the Colorado judge’s ruling, Brauchler also questioned a growing string of other rulings by federal judges inhibiting the Trump administration’s immigration actions across the country.  

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He said the decision of “one single district court judge in a handpicked venue by the people that think they’re going to get the outcome that they want, to issue a nationwide ban that freezes the federal government from border to border, coast to coast, seems to me to be abuse of judicial discretion.”

He pointed to cases such as D.C. Circuit Court Judge James Boasberg, who recently issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport a group of suspected immigrant gang members. By issuing a temporary restraining order rather than a permanent or temporary injunction, Brauchler said that activist judges guarantee their rulings cannot be appealed, effectively freezing the administration from seeking a review by an appellate court.  

TRUMP CALLS FOR JUDGE IN DEPORTATION LEGAL BATTLE TO BE IMPEACHED

Brauchler pointed to cases such as D.C. Circuit Court Judge James Boasberg (pictured above), who recently issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport a group of suspected immigrant gang members. (Getty)

“What judges should do at the federal level is, if they think that something should be enjoined, they should limit that enjoinder to their own jurisdiction and let the rest of this play out across the country,” he said.

Turning back to Colorado, Brauchler emphasized that the “bottom line” is “if we don’t like our immigration laws, well by God change them, Congress, and fix them. … But the answer to ‘I disagree with our federal immigration laws’ cannot ever be — for a people that claim to adhere to the rule of law — it cannot ever be, ‘Well, let’s just ignore them or find a way to thwart them by creating barriers between local law enforcement and the feds.’”

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“Our extreme left-wing progressive legislature, dominated by the Democrat Party out here, has a bill they’re waiting to drop that would prohibit every attorney in the criminal justice system, from the judge to the prosecutor, to the defense attorney, to interns in from law school, in my office — no joke — from sharing any information ever about any individual with ICE.”

“That’s where Colorado’s going,” he said. “They’re not making us safer. They’re not making us better. They’re not making us more just. And they’re making a mockery of the rule of law.”

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is drawing comparisons to “The Godfather” after vetoing nearly 160 bills from the Democrat-controlled legislature Wednesday.

“You could call him ‘Veto Corleone’,” a Republican strategist told Fox News Digital in comments later Wednesday, after 159 bills were killed upon reaching his desk.

Virginia’s General Assembly passed bills this session that would have prevented prayer in front of abortion clinics, required the commonwealth to implement a comprehensive “environmental justice” strategy and adjusted criminal bond policies.

All of those bills were vetoed by Youngkin, and the legislature’s Democratic majority is far from veto-proof – with two-seat margins in each chamber.

YOUNGKIN WALKS POLITICAL TIGHTROPE WITH SUPPORT FOR DOGE, MEGA-JOB FAIR

Other vetoed bills included two pertaining to gun control legislation, restricting the purchase or transfer of firearms and the like.

Ten of the bills were considered “soft on crime” legislation by critics, and about a dozen would have raised costs on Virginians, according to Republicans.

The governor also nixed a proposal to raise the state minimum wage to $13.50 per hour, and later to $15.

In a statement, Youngkin highlighted legislation supported by some in the Trump administration – such as a bill to keep school lunches free of artificial dyes, which he signed and which mirrors an initiative from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

YOUNGKIN INVITES NEW TRUMP ADMIN TO SETTLE IN VA OVER MD, DC; TOUTING OLD DOMINION’S BIGGEST DRAWS

“I have completed my actions on the more than 900 bills sent to me during the 2025 legislative session,” Youngkin said.

“The legislation that I’ve signed into law and the budget amendments I’ve put forward this year will go a long way to helping ensure Virginia remains a great place to live, work, and raise a family.  

“I have returned many bills with recommended amendments, hoping that we can come together next week with a common purpose to advance these bills,” he added.

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Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando in a scene from “The Godfather.” (Bettmann/ UPI/Getty Images)

Of his veto choices, Youngkin said those bills collectively would “take the commonwealth backward by raising the cost of living, hurting our strong job growth, stifling innovation, undermining our All-American All-of-the-Above Power and Energy Plan or making our communities less safe.”

On X, formerly Twitter, observers contrasted Youngkin’s veto prowess with his predecessors.

The incumbent is one veto away from hitting 400, while Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, only vetoed 18 bills in his four years as governor.

Fellow Republican Bob McDonnell vetoed a similar amount to Warner, while the nearest governor of the 21st century in veto usage was Democrat Terry McAuliffe, with more than 110 vetoes.

House Democratic lawmakers reacted to the detention of anti-Israel activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil amid outrage that he could potentially be deported.

“Free Mahmoud Khalil!” Rep. Deila Ramirez, D-Ill., said at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who has also been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s decision to detain him.

“The idea that this government believes that they can target people because they dare to dissent, and they don’t agree with what the president is doing for this specific. While we may not all we may not agree with everything he may or may have not said as a student at Columbia, I think you should be asking yourself, perhaps you don’t agree with me. I don’t agree with you. Or should you be criminalized for daring to speak up for what you believe is injustice?” Ramierz said following the news conference.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS DETENTION OF COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTER YUNSEU CHUNG

People demonstrate outside the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse on the day of a hearing on the detention of Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City on March 12, 2025. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

Other lawmakers told Fox News Digital that there is a need for due process regardless of Khalil’s stances. 

“We’ve done some letters and stuff,” Rep. Ami Bera said. “I think we’ve gotta give everyone due process rights, you know, especially folks that are legally here as the Columbia students. Obviously let’s uphold the law,” he added.

Others, such as Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., has expressed disagreements with Kahlil’s views but still believes that his detainment is cause for concern.

“I don’t like his position. I don’t like what he has said. I don’t like the disruptive students trying to go to school, but I will say this: This is a country. We’re supposed to be a democracy. Freedom of speech is in our constitution,” she said.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT PROTESTER SUES TRUMP ADMIN TO PREVENT DEPORTATION

Risa Lieberwitz, professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University and president of the Cornell chapter of the AAUP, spoke at an “emergency vigil” outside Columbia University’s gates to protest recent policy changes. (FOX)

“And before anybody is arrested, you should have good probable cause. Absolutely before anybody is held and deported, there absolutely has to be full legal rights and due process,” she continued.

Khalil, a 30-year-old green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on March 8. In a court brief dated Sunday, the U.S. government outlined its arguments for keeping Khalil in custody while his removal proceedings continue.

The department says Khalil fraudulently applied to change his immigration status without fully disclosing his “membership in certain organization,” which could be grounds for deportation.

The Justice Department said Sunday that the fact he allegedly lied on his application provided an “independent basis” to deport him, overriding free speech rights.

“Regardless of his allegations concerning political speech, Khalil withheld membership in certain organizations and failed to disclose continuing employment by the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he submitted his adjustment of status application,” they said. “It is black-letter law that misrepresentations in this context are not protected speech.”

President Donald Trump himself has backed the decision as a result of his administration’s crackdown, thanking Immigration and Customs Enforcement for taking Khalil into custody in a Truth Social post on March 10.

COLUMBIA FACULTY HOLD ‘EMERGENCY VIGIL’ TO PROTEST UNIVERSITY RESPONSE TO TRUMP

Anti-Israel protestors hang signs from Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

“Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” Trump posted.

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“Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply. Thank you!” the president added.

The Trump White House took away $400 million in federal funding for Columbia University as a result of its encampment-style protests that made waves last year, as the university is taking strides to earn the money back. Another alleged Columbia protester, Ranjani Srinivasan, self-deported back to India after having her student visa nixed, and Leqaa Kordia was arrested for allegedly overstaying their student visa.

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report. 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the Signal chat texts published by The Atlantic Wednesday revealing the so-called “attack plans” targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels prove he “did not transmit classified information.” 

Ratcliffe, speaking during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, told lawmakers “With regard to that article, I also would appreciate the opportunity to relay the fact that yesterday I spent four hours answering questions from senators as a result of that article that were intimating that I transmitted classified information because there were hidden messages.” 

“Those messages were revealed today and revealed that I did not transmit classified information, and that the reporter who I don’t know, I think intentionally intended it to indicate that,” Ratcliffe continued. “That reporter also indicated that I had released the name of an undercover CIA operative in that Signal chat. In fact, I had released the name of my chief of staff who was not operating undercover. That was deliberately false and misleading.” 

“I used an appropriate channel to communicate sensitive information. It was permissible to do so. I didn’t transfer any classified information. And at the end of the day, what is most important is that the mission was a remarkable success is what everyone should be focused on here, because that’s what did happen, not what possibly could have happened,” he also said. 

ATLANTIC REPORTER PUBLISHES MORE TEXTS ABOUT ATTACK ON HOUTHI TARGETS 

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and U.S. Air Force Lt. General and Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Jeffrey Kruse attended a House Intelligence Committee hearing about worldwide threats on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 26. (Reuters/Leah Millis)

In messages published Wednesday, The Atlantic quoted Hegseth as saying in the Signal group text chat “TEAM UPDATE: TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch. 1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package). 1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s),” Hegseth apparently wrote in a screenshot of a text message released Wednesday by The Atlantic.  

 “1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package). 1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets). 1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched,” Hegseth reportedly continued, before adding “we are currently clean on OPSEC [operational security]” and “Godspeed to our Warriors.” 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard vowed during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday that there was “no classified material” in the messages. 

“My answer yesterday was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof on the details that were posted there. What was shared today reflects the fact that I was not directly involved with that part of the signal chat and replied at the end, reflecting the effects, the very brief effects that the national security advisor had shared,” Gabbard said Wednesday when asked about the matter. 

“So it’s your testimony that less than two weeks ago, you were on a Signal chat that had all of this information about F-18s and MQ-9 Reapers and targets on strike. And you, in that two-week period, simply forgot that that was there. That’s your testimony?” Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., asked her. 

TRUMP TEAM’S SIGNAL CHAT LEAK SPARKS DEBATE OVER SECURE COMMUNICATIONS 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, joined at center by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, testifies as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Tuesday, March 25. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

“My testimony is I did not recall the exact details of what was included there,” Gabbard said. 

“That was not your testimony,” Himes responded. “Your testimony was that you were not aware of anything related to weapons, packages, targets and timing.” 

“As the testimony yesterday continued on, there were further questions, related to that, where I acknowledged that there was conversation about weapons,” Gabbard said. “And, I don’t remember the exact wording that I used, but I did not recall the specific details that were included.” 

At one point in Wednesday’s Senate hearing, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said there were “operational details” in the Signal messages. 

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., also joined other Congressional Democrats calling for the resignation of Secretary of State Pete Hegseth over the leak. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, left, is one of many Democrats calling for President Trump to fire Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, right. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

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“There can be no fixes. There can be no corrections until there is accountability. And I’m calling on the administration to move forward with accountability,” Crow said.

West Virginia will begin prohibiting certain synthetic dyes and additives used in food items sold in the state following the passage of a bill that marks the most comprehensive effort to regulate food ingredients at the state level. 

Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, on Monday signed House Bill 2354 into law, which will implement the ban on a tiered basis. 

Starting Aug. 1, seven different artificial food dyes will no longer be allowed for use in school lunches. Beginning Jan. 1, 2028, the same food dyes and two additional food preservatives will not be allowed in any food products sold in the state.

Red Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2 and Green Dye No. 3 will all be banned from school lunches starting in August. The same food dyes, plus the preservatives butylated hydroxyanisole and propylparaben, will then be banned from all food items sold in the state beginning in 2028. 

RFK JR TARGETS COMPANIES MAKING BABY FORMULA AFTER SHORTAGES ROCKED BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

While several states have introduced or passed similar bills, West Virginia’s marks the broadest and most sweeping action on this issue by any state, per local and national media reports. Proponents of the West Virginia bill have suggested the move will help improve health outcomes, particularly for children, but those who are against it argue the move will lead to higher food prices.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed House Bill 2354, which will implement the ban on a tiered basis. (Getty Images/Fox News)

“West Virginia ranks at the bottom of many public health metrics, which is why there’s no better place to lead the Make America Healthy Again mission,” Morrisey said after signing the new bill. “By eliminating harmful chemicals from our food, we’re taking steps toward improving the health of our residents and protecting our children from significant long-term health and learning challenges.” 

Morrisey also thanked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration “for helping us launch this movement right here in West Virginia.”

Earlier this month, Kennedy instructed FDA officials to explore potential changes to its “Substances Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)” standards that apply regulatory classification to substances added to food. Kennedy has long been a proponent of food safety and said as HHS secretary he wants to promote “radical transparency” on the issue. 

RFK Jr. and various fruits and vegetables (Getty/iStock)

“We want the dyes out of the food,” Kennedy told Fox News earlier this month. 

The issue isn’t entirely a Republican one, either. In January, under former President Joe Biden, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked its authorization of Red Dye No. 3 following pressure from consumer advocates.

NUTRITIONISTS REACT TO THE RED FOOD DYE BAN: ‘TOOK FAR TOO LONG’

However, American Beverage, a leading national trade organization representing the nation’s top non-alcoholic beverage companies, said the new West Virginia bill will significantly limit consumer choices, raise grocery store prices, impact jobs and impose new costs on businesses.

American Beverage said the new West Virginia bill will significantly limit consumer choices and raise grocery store prices. (iStock)

“We want to be really clear about the impact of this sweeping ban, it will hurt West Virginians, both consumers, workers and the overall economy, all over ingredients that have been proven safe,” said Meridith Potter, American Beverage senior vice president.

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“West Virginians deserve choice, information and facts, not fear,” Potter added. “The fact is, this bill will take away choices from West Virginians by eliminating products in nearly every aisle of the grocery store.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

FIRST ON FOX: More than 150 state and national pro-life coalitions signed a letter sent to Congress Wednesday morning urging lawmakers to cut Medicaid funding to “Big Abortion,” primarily Planned Parenthood, through budget reconciliation.

Budget reconciliation is a special legislative process used in Congress to make changes to spending, revenue and the federal debt limit.

While the coalition acknowledged the Trump administration’s efforts to stop former President Joe Biden’s “abortion agenda” and cut government waste through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, the group said a “Republican trifecta presents the opportunity to bolster these efforts” even further.

DOGE MUST ‘DEFUND’ PLANNED PARENTHOOD, MIKE PENCE’S WATCHDOG GROUP URGES MUSK

A sign is pictured at the entrance to a Planned Parenthood building in New York on Aug. 31, 2015. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

After President Donald Trump’s electoral victory and his subsequent pardoning of pro-life individuals charged under the Biden administration’s Department of Justice, pro-life conservatives are now redirecting their efforts within the movement to cut off abortion providers’ access to widespread federal funding.

“Republican reconciliation bills in 2015 and 2017 included a provision to stop giving hard-earned American tax dollars to Big Abortion,” the groups wrote. “In 2025 it is even more urgent to cut funding for this industry that endangers women and unborn children and spends tens of millions of dollars to promote woke policies and candidates. Planned Parenthood and groups like it were among those first identified for cost saving measures by Elon Musk who singled them out in the Wall Street Journal last November.”

Trump has “already rolled back” funding for abortion groups abroad through his executive order reinforcing the Hyde Amendment, a law that prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortions.

“Congressional action is necessary to stop the biggest source of taxpayer cash for the domestic abortion industry – Medicaid,” the letter states.

While the Hyde Amendment sets the federal limits on abortion funding, individual states have the authority to expand or restrict Medicaid coverage beyond these exceptions. Some states choose to use state funds to provide Medicaid coverage for abortion services beyond the cases allowed under the Hyde Amendment, while others do not.

Several lawmakers in the House and Senate have already introduced bills to rollback federal support for Planned Parenthood. Introduced by Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., in January, the “Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2025” proposes a one-year moratorium on federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., and its affiliates. 

ARIZONA SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS NEAR-TOTAL ABORTION BAN

A Planned Parenthood Mobile Clinic is seen here in an undated photo.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also introduced the End Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Providers Act in January, seeking to defund Planned Parenthood and similar abortion providers nationwide. Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., along with six other lawmakers, reintroduced this legislation in January.

In 2024, Planned Parenthood – the nation’s leading provider of abortion services – spent nearly $70 million to support pro-abortion candidates and abortion ballot measures across the country through its political action arm. Abortion was one of the major party platform issues for Democrats in 2024, with Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri and Montana voting to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions.

“Their massive pro-abortion political arm, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, pushes all-trimester abortions and promotes fearmongering lies that put women and girls at needless risk,” the letter said.

FEDS GAVE $700M TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD DURING YEAR OF RECORD ABORTIONS

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Both the House and Senate adopted separate budgets for FY 2025 last month, and both are expected to pass their reconciliation packages by April or May. The Trump administration also plans to freeze $27.5 million in federal family-planning grants to organizations, including Planned Parenthood, while reviewing their use of funds for diversity, equity and inclusion, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

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“Women and children deserve better care. In an era of reexamining federal funding, Congress should start by cutting funding for Big Abortion in the upcoming reconciliation bill,” the groups said.

Among the 150 major pro-life coalitions who signed the letter include Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, AAPLOG Action, ACLJ Action, Advancing American Freedom and AFA Action.

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, will hold a hearing next week on federal judges’ use of nationwide orders to throttle the Trump administration’s actions, which will take place back to back with an identical hearing in the lower chamber. 

In an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital, Grassley said, “District judges’ abuse of nationwide injunctions has hobbled the executive branch and raised serious questions regarding the lower courts’ appropriate jurisdictional realm.”

“Since the courts and the executive branch are on an unsustainable collision course, Congress must step in and provide clarity,” he explained. “Our hearings will explore legislative solutions to bring the balance of power back in check.”

SENATE CONFIRMS DR MARTY MAKARY AS TRUMP’S FDA CHIEF

Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley is holding a hearing next week, back to back with the House, to look at the judges throttling President Trump’s agenda.  (Reuters)

The hearing is slated to take place on April 2, one day after the House’s hearing. 

“We plan to have hearings starting next Tuesday on this broad subject,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning.

It will be titled “Rule by District Judges II: Exploring Legislative Solutions to the Bipartisan Problem of Universal Injunctions.”

Specifically, the committee will look at both the constitutional and policy issues that are raised by judges issuing nationwide injunctions, particularly the uptick brought on by the Trump administration. It will further examine what harm the wide-ranging orders have posed to each branch of government, and what kind of solutions are on the table for Congress. 

GOP SENATOR SAYS DR OZ IGNORED HIS QUESTIONS ON TRANSGENDER ISSUES, ABORTION

Donald Trump, Judge James Boasberg, Amir Ali, Ana Reyes (Bloomberg via Getty Images/U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia/SenatorDurbin via YouTube/Bill Pugliano via Getty Images)

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican majority has invited witnesses Samuel Bray and Jesse Panuccio to testify at the hearing. 

Bray is the John N. Matthews Professor of Law at Notre Dame and is an expert on nationwide injunctions. He has written and testified on the subject extensively already. He notably penned a Harvard Law Review article, titled, “Multiple Chancellors: Reforming the National Injunction.”

Panuccio is a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner and was previously the acting associate attorney general at the Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as the chairman of the DOJ’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and vice chairman of the DOJ’s Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud. He also spent time as then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s general counsel.

This is not the first time lawmakers have expressed concerns over the ability of federal judges to stop actions nationwide in their tracks. At a hearing in 2020, led by former committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., it was discussed at length by bipartisan senators. 

TOP DEM USED SAME APP USED IN ATLANTIC SCANDAL TO SET UP CONTACT WITH STEELE DOSSIER AUTHOR

Grassley chairs the powerful committee. ( Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Several Republicans have already introduced bills in the House and Senate aimed at restricting the ability of federal judges to kneecap the administration. The president himself has already expressed interest in one such measure, led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Fox News Digital reported last week. 

According to two sources familiar with the discussions, top White House aides told senior Capitol Hill staff members last week, “the president wants this.” They also said the White House felt that time was of the essence when it comes to the judicial issue and Trump wants Congress to expedite the matter. 

While the hearings have been promptly scheduled for next week, there is no word on whether legislation on the issue will be brought to the Senate floor. 

The office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., did not provide comment to Fox News Digital when asked if he had ideas for policy regarding the injunctions, or whether he believed Congress needed to act. 

When asked by Fox News earlier this week about calls to impeach judges, Thune noted that Grassley was examining the issue and said, “At the end of the day, there is a process, and there’s an appeals process. And, you know, I suspect that’s ultimately how it’s going to be ended.”

‘STOP THEM!’: DEMOCRAT CLASHES WITH TRUMP SOCIAL SECURITY NOMINEE OVER DOGE ACCESS

Thune has not committed to any action on judges. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

During a floor speech Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said, “When partisan, unelected district court judges try to micromanage the President of the United States, it isn’t judicial review. It isn’t checks and balances. It is purely partisan politics – and it is wrong.” 

But the No. 2 Republican didn’t call for any specific legislation on the subject. 

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Critics of the GOP’s cautious approach toward federal judges making such wide-ranging orders include Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who asked why bills weren’t already teed up at the start of the Congress. 

“Congress has the authority to strip jurisdiction of the federal courts to decide these cases in the first place,” the governor said on X earlier this month. 

“The sabotaging of President Trump’s agenda by ‘resistance’ judges was predictable — why no jurisdiction-stripping bills tee’d up at the onset of this Congress?” he asked. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday will tour El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, where hundreds of alleged criminal illegal aliens are being held after the Trump administration deported them earlier this month.

Noem will tour the prison with the Salvadoran Minister of Justice, Héctor Gustavo Villatoro, before meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, according to a Homeland Security statement. Noem’s visit is part of a three-day trip that will also see her travel to Colombia and Mexico.

Bukele opened the prison in 2023 as El Salvador wages a crackdown on powerful street gangs causing mayhem in the country. The facility has eight sprawling pavilions and can hold up to 40,000 inmates. As many as 65 to 70 prisoners are packed into each cell.

Prisoners are never allowed outside and can’t have visitors. There are no workshops or educational programs.

HIGH-RANKING TREN DE ARAGUA GANGSTER MURDERED TWO AMERICAN WOMEN, CAPTURED ACROSS COUNTRY: FEDS

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits the Mariposa Port of Entry on March 15 in Nogales, Arizona. On Wednesday, Noem will visit El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, where hundreds of alleged criminal illegal aliens are being held after the Trump administration deported them earlier this month. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A senior Trump administration official confirmed to Fox News this month that a total of 261 illegal aliens were deported to El Salvador on March 15. The majority of them were deported via the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows for the expulsion of an enemy nation’s natives and citizens without a hearing.

More than 100 of the migrants were Venezuelans removed via Title 8, while 21 others were Salvadoran MS-13 gang members, the official added. Two were MS-13 ringleaders and “special cases” for El Salvador.

In this photo provided by El Salvador’s presidential press office, prison guards transfer deportees from the U.S. alleged to be Venezuelan gang members to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Sunday, March 16. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)

Video released by El Salvador’s government after the deportees’ arrival showed men, shackled at their hands and ankles, exiting airplanes onto an airport tarmac lined by heavily armed officers in riot gear.

EXCLUSIVE: GOP MOVES TO AUTHORIZE TRUMP TO WAGE WAR ON CARTELS THROUGH MILITARY FORCE

The men were later shown at the prison kneeling on the ground as their heads were shaved before they changed into the prison’s all-white uniform — knee-length shorts, T-shirt, socks and rubber clogs — and placed in cells.

A prison guard transfers deportees from the U.S. to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Sunday, March 16. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)

El Salvador has been operating under a state of emergency that suspends fundamental rights for nearly three years as Bukele deals with the street gangs. Some 84,000 people have been arrested so far, accused of gang ties and jailed, often without due process.

Bukele offered to hold U.S. deportees in the prison when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited in February.

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In a March 16 post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump wrote that the U.S. “will not forget” Bukele’s partnership, and thanked the leader for his “understanding of this horrible situation, which was allowed to happen to the United States because of incompetent Democrat leadership.”

Fox News Digital’s Adrea Margolis and Emma Colton, along with The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

The Democratic Party will take control of the Pennsylvania State House after securing an additional seat in a special election on Tuesday night.

Democrat Dan Goughnor won out over Republican Charles Davis in a landslide 63-to-35-point victory. Control over the Pennsylvania Senate remains up in the air, with the race uncalled-for as Democrat James Malone leads Republican Josh Parsons by less than one percent.

The Pennsylvania State House had been deadlocked, with Republicans and Democrats both controlling 101 seats prior to Tuesday’s election.

Democrats had lost their razor-thin majority in January after the death of state Rep. Matt Gergerly.

DEMOCRATS FAR FROM THRILLED ON POSSIBLE BIDEN POLITICAL REEMERGENCE

Democrats won back control of the Pennsylvania State House in a special election on Tuesday. (Fox News)

The House race is the fifth straight special election that Democrats have won so far in 2025, despite the party performing dismally in polls.

POLL POSITION: DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S NUMBERS PLUNGE TO ALL-TIME LOWS

The party’s favorable rating sank to all-time lows in separate national polls conducted this month by CNN and NBC News. Those numbers followed a record low for Democrats in a Quinnipiac University survey in the field in February. 

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin faces a struggle to dig Democrats out of low poll numbers. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Additionally, the latest Fox News National poll, which was released last week, indicated that congressional Democrats’ approval rating at 30%, near an all-time low. And Democrat activists are irate over their party’s inability to blunt President Donald Trump’s agenda.

While Democrats were heavily favored in Tuesday’s state House race, they had less of an advantage in the state Senate race.

GOP state Sen. Ryan Aument stepped down in December to work as state director for newly elected U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a fellow Republican.

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Regardless of the election results, the GOP will continue to control the state Senate, where they currently hold a 27-22 majority.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

While reports indicate that the Wisconsin state Supreme Court election is nonpartisan, partisan battle lines have been clearly drawn, with former President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump backing opposing candidates in the contest.

Obama named Judge Susan Crawford as the “only one candidate ready to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites,” in a tweet on Tuesday, urging voters to cast their ballot early, rather than waiting until the April 1 Election Day.

But while Obama is supporting the candidate backed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Trump has endorsed the state’s former Republican Attorney General Judge Brad Schimel.

BIG-MONEY WI HIGH COURT RACE WILL HAVE NATIONAL EFFECTS, AS REDISTRICTING, UNIONS, TRANS ISSUES AT STAKE

Former President Barack Obama speaks with President-elect Donald Trump before the State Funeral Service for former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on Jan. 9, 2025. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

And like Obama, Trump has urged Wisconsinites to vote early.

“Brad Schimel is running against Radical Left Liberal Susan Crawford, who has repeatedly given child molesters, rapists, women beaters, and domestic abusers ‘light’ sentences. She is the handpicked voice of the Leftists who are out to destroy your State, and our Country — And if she wins, the Movement to restore our Nation will bypass Wisconsin. All Voters who believe in Common Sense should GET OUT TO VOTE EARLY for Brad Schimel,” Trump declared in a Truth Social post last week.

TRUMP MAKES ENDORSEMENT IN ‘IMPORTANT’ WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT RACE

Elon Musk is also backing Schimel.

“Vote for Brad Schimel in Wisconsin!” the business magnate declared in a tweet.

MUSK PAC STEPS DEEPER INTO WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT ELECTION WITH $100 OFFER TO VOTERS

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The Musk-founded America PAC is supporting Schimel, and offering Wisconsin registered voters $100 to sign a petition opposing “Activist Judges,” and $100 per signer they refer.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday fended off a reporter’s questions about a leaked Signal chat group involving Trump administration officials discussing forthcoming strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. 

Hegseth was asked during a press gaggle in Hawaii if the information was declassified before he put it in the Signal chat and if he was using the messaging platform to discuss operations as sensitive as the strikes against the Houthis on a government or a personal device.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said he received a request to join the group chat on the encrypted messaging service Signal on March 11 from what appeared to be the president’s National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. Goldberg released screenshots of some of the message exchanges he observed.

Goldberg reported that officials were discussing “war plans” in the group chat called “Houthi PC Small Group,” but he decided not to publish some of the highly sensitive information he saw, including precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing, due to potential threats to national security and military operations.

TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he knew “exactly” what he was doing after a journalist was mistakenly added to a group chat with senior officials. (REUTERS/Yves Herman)

Speaking in Hawaii Tuesday, Hegseth said the strikes against the Houthis that night were “devastatingly effective.” 

“I’m incredibly proud of the courage and skill of the troops. And they are ongoing and continue to be devastatingly effective,” he said. “The last place I would want to be right now is a Houthi in Yemen who wants to disrupt freedom of navigation, so the skill and courage of our troops is on full display.”

“It’s a complete opposite approach from the fecklessness of the Biden administration,” he continued.

The secretary also repeated his claims that “nobody was texting war plans,” pushing back on Goldberg’s assertion.

“As I also stated yesterday, nobody’s texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said.

Pressed by a reporter about whether he regrets leaking information in the Signal chat that could have put the lives of U.S. troops at risk, Hegseth claimed he has everything under control.

“Nobody’s texting war plans,” he reiterated. “I know exactly what I’m doing, exactly what we’re directing, and I’m really proud of what we accomplished, the successful missions that night and going forward.”

Goldberg reported that 18 people were listed in the Signal group, including Hegseth, Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK

Jeffrey Goldberg reported that administration officials were discussing “war plans” in a Signal group chat called “Houthi PC Small Group.” ( Jemal Countess/Getty Images for The Atlantic)

Ratcliffe also put the name of a CIA undercover agent into the Signal chat, Goldberg reported.

The editor has described Hegseth’s denial as a “lie,” citing messages he read that laid out a specific time for the attack, human targets, weapon systems and weather reports. He has also said he is considering whether to publish more messages to back up his reporting, as Hegseth and other Trump administration officials seek to discredit him.

Hegseth had earlier criticized Goldberg as “a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again, to include the … hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia, or the fine people on both sides hoax or suckers and losers hoax. So this guy is garbage.”

But the White House has confirmed that the group chat “appears to be an authentic message chain.”

“This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement. “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”

The article said 18 people were listed in the Signal group, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

The Signal chat has been panned as a massive breach of national security, and many have noted that senior officials are not supposed to discuss detailed military plans outside special secure facilities or protected government communications networks.

Watchdog group American Oversight has sued Hegseth and other officials who were in the group chat, arguing that they failed to meet their obligations under the Federal Records Act by using Signal to communicate and plan active military operations.

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Also on Tuesday, amid scrutiny over the Signal chat, Hegseth participated in some physical training with Navy SEALs.

“Kicked off the day alongside the warriors of SDVT-1 at @JointBasePHH,” he wrote on X. “These SEALs are the tip of the spear, masters of stealth, endurance, and lethality. America’s enemies fear them—our allies trust them. Proud to spend time with America’s best.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing the FBI to immediately declassify files concerning the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the agency probe launched in 2016 that sought information on whether Trump campaign members colluded with Russia during the presidential race. 

After signing the order, Trump said that now the media can review previously withheld files pertaining to the investigation — although he cast doubt on whether many journalists would do so. 

TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL ‘INSTRUMENTAL IN UNRAVELING’ RUSSIA COLLUSION HOAX, FORMER CHAIR SAYS

“You probably won’t bother because you’re not going to like what you see,” Trump said. “But this was total weaponization. It’s a disgrace. It should have never happened in this country. But now you’ll be able to see for yourselves. All declassified.”

The FBI on July 31, 2016, opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump, then a presidential candidate, or members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 election. That investigation was referred to inside the bureau as “Crossfire Hurricane.”

FBI IGNORED ‘CLEAR WARNING SIGN’ OF CLINTON-LED EFFORT TO ‘MANIPULATE’ BUREAU FOR ‘POLITICAL PURPOSES’

Hillary Clinton was the Democrat nominee for president that year. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

The opening of the investigation came just days after a July 28 meeting during which then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed then-President Barack Obama on a purported proposal from one of Hillary Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisors “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.” Clinton was the Democrat nominee for president that year.

By January 2017, then-FBI Director James Comey had notified Trump of a dossier, known as the Steele dossier, that contained salacious and unverified allegations about Trump’s purported coordination with the Russian government, a key document prompting the opening of the probe. 

The dossier was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer, and commissioned by Fusion GPS. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign hired Fusion GPS during the 2016 election cycle.

Then-CIA Director John Brennan speaks at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2015. 

HOUSE INTEL TRANSCRIPTS SHOW TOP OBAMA OFFICIALS HAD NO ‘EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE’ OF TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION

It was eventually determined that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded the dossier through the law firm Perkins Coie.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017. Days later, Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel to take over the “Crossfire Hurricane” probe and investigate whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election cycle.

While Mueller investigated, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence opened its own investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion. 

By February 2018, Kash Patel — then chief investigator for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and now the FBI Director — had uncovered widespread government surveillance abuses, including the improper surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

Patel was an integral part of the creation of a memo released by Nunes in February 2018, which detailed the DOJ’s and FBI’s surveillance of Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Nunes and Patel revealed that the infamous anti-Trump dossier funded by Democrats “formed an essential part” of the application to spy on Page.

The memo referred to closed-door testimony from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who said that “no surveillance warrant would have been sought” from the FISA court “without the Steele dossier information.”

By February 2018, Kash Patel — then chief investigator for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and now the FBI Director — had uncovered widespread government surveillance abuses, including the improper surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But when applying for the FISA warrant, the FBI omitted the origins of the dossier, specifically its funding from Hillary Clinton, then Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent.

The memo also said Steele, who worked as an FBI informant, was eventually cut off from the bureau for what the FBI described as the most serious of violations, “an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI.”

FLASHBACK: DNI DECLASSIFIES BRENNAN NOTES, CIA MEMO ON HILLARY CLINTON ‘STIRRING UP’ SCANDAL BETWEEN TRUMP, RUSSIA

The memo noted that the FBI and DOJ obtained “one initial FISA warrant” targeting Page and three FISA renewals from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The statute required that every 90 days a FISA order on a U.S. citizen “must be reviewed.”

The memo revealed that Comey signed three FISA applications for Page, while McCabe, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente signed at least one.

The memo was widely criticized by Democrats but was ultimately correct.

The Justice Department inspector general, Michael Horowitz, reviewed the memo and confirmed the dossier served as the basis for the controversial FISA warrants obtained against Page.

DESPITE ACQUITTAL, DURHAM TRIAL OF SUSSMANN ADDED TO EVIDENCE CLINTON CAMPAIGN PLOTTED TO TIE TRUMP TO RUSSIA

Meanwhile, Special Counsel Robert Mueller completed his investigation into a possible Trump-Russia connection in April 2019. The extensive probe yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller completed his investigation into a possible Trump-Russia connection in April 2019.  (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

After Mueller’s report was made public, then-Attorney General Bill Barr tapped John Durham, a U.S. attorney for Connecticut, to serve as special counsel to investigate the origins of “Crossfire Hurricane” itself. 

Durham, in his final report released in May 2023, said he found, after years of investigating, that the FBI did not have any actual evidence to support the start of that investigation. He also found that the Department of Justice and FBI “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law” when it launched the Trump-Russia investigation. 

Durham also found that the FBI “failed to act” on a “clear warning sign” that the bureau was the “target” of a Clinton-led effort to “manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes” ahead of the 2016 presidential election. 

Durham was referring to intelligence suggesting that the Clinton campaign had a plan to link Trump to Russia, potentially as a distraction from the ongoing investigation into her use of a private email server and alleged handling of classified information.

FLASHBACK: DNI DECLASSIFIES BRENNAN NOTES, CIA MEMO ON HILLARY CLINTON ‘STIRRING UP’ SCANDAL BETWEEN TRUMP, RUSSIA

Durham found that Brennan “realized the significance” of the intelligence that Clinton was stirring up a plan to tie Trump to Russia — so much so, that he “expeditiously” briefed Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and other top national security officials.

Special Counsel John Durham said he found, after years of investigating, that the FBI did not have any actual evidence to support the start of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.  (Julia Nikhinson/Reuters)

But nothing came of that briefing or of his subsequent referral of the information to the FBI, according to Durham’s final report.

“The aforementioned facts reflect a rather startling and inexplicable failure to adequately consider and incorporate the Clinton Plan intelligence into the FBI’s investigative decision-making in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation,” Durham’s report states.

“Indeed, had the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation as an assessment and, in turn, gathered and analyzed data in concert with the information from the Clinton Plan intelligence, it is likely that the information received would have been examined, at a minimum, with a more critical eye,” the report continued.

This is a breaking story. 

The Senate Committee on Finance voted along party lines Tuesday afternoon to advance Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump‘s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to a full confirmation vote. 

The party-line vote, which saw 14 GOP senators vote in favor of Oz’s nomination and 13 Democrats vote against it, follows two hearings by the Senate Finance Committee that probed Oz over his plans for the federal healthcare programs, his views on abortion, potential conflicts of interest in the healthcare industry and more.

“Dr. Oz has years of experience as an acclaimed physician and public health advocate. His background makes him uniquely qualified for this role, and there is no doubt that he will work tirelessly to deliver much-needed change at CMS,” Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the chairman of the committee, said Tuesday. 

HAWLEY SKEPTICAL OF TRUMP PICK OZ: ‘I HOPE HE’S CHANGED HIS VIEWS’

Dr. Mehmet Oz greets Sen. Marsha Blackburn before his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Oz graduated from Harvard University and received medical and business degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a former heart surgeon who saw his fame rise through his appearances on daytime TV and 13 seasons of “The Dr Oz Show.”

Oz later transitioned into politics, launching an unsuccessful bid for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat in 2022. He ultimately lost to John Fetterman, then the state’s lieutenant governor. 

If confirmed by the full Senate, Oz would be in charge of nearly $1.5 trillion in federal healthcare spending. Medicare, a federal healthcare program for seniors aged 65 and up, currently provides coverage for about 65 million Americans, according to the Center for Medicare Advocacy. Medicaid, which assists people with low incomes, covers roughly 72 million Americans, according to Medicaid.gov.

DR. OZ BATS BACK DEMOCRATIC ATTEMPTS TO PAINT HIM AS A ‘SNAKE OIL’ SALESMAN IN SENATE HEARING

Oz’s leadership would direct decisions related to how the government covers procedures, hospital stays and medication within the federal healthcare programs, as well as the reimbursement rates at which healthcare providers get paid for their services.

Senate candidate Mehmet Oz is greeted by Donald Trump at a rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Sept. 3, 2022, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Earlier this month, Trump’s pick to lead the NIH and FDA, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Dr. Marty Makary, respectively, were also approved in committee and are awaiting full confirmation votes in the Senate scheduled for later Tuesday. It is unclear when Oz’s full Senate vote will take place.

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Around the same time that Bhattacharya and Makary won committee approval, Trump withdrew his nomination of former Florida Rep. David Weldon to run the CDC, over fears he did not have the GOP support to clear full confirmation. On Monday, the Trump administration named Susan Monarez, acting director of the CDC, as its new nominee.

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…

-HUD joins forces with DHS to ensure federal housing resources go to US citizens, not illegal immigrants

-Top Dem used same app in Atlantic scandal to set up contact with Steele dossier author

-Trump admin cuts additional $1M in federal funding for ‘transgender animal’ experiments

Pardons from Trump

President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Hunter Biden’s former business associate, Devon Archer. 

“Many people have asked me to do this. They think he was treated very unfairly. And I looked at the records, studied the records, and he was a victim of a crime, as far as I’m concerned. So we’re going to undo that. … Congratulations, Devon,” Trump said on Tuesday ahead of signing the pardoning. 

Archer was a business associate of former first son Hunter Biden at Burisma Holdings. Archer was convicted in 2018 of defrauding a Native American tribe in a scheme that involved the issuance and sale of fraudulent tribal bonds.

President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden. (Getty Images)

White House

‘PERSONAL DIGNITY’: A second judge rules against Trump’s removal of transgender troops

FULL FORCE: Staffing reductions at Education Department haven’t hit FAFSA office amid Trump cuts, agency says

HHS REORGINIZATION: Trump administration to shutter HHS’ long Covid office

‘NO IMPACT AT ALL’: Trump reveals who was behind Signal text chain leak

LOCK THEM UP?’: ‘The View’ hosts gleeful over Trump officials’ texting debacle, suggest some should face jail time

‘CURIOUS TO ME’: Rosie O’Donnell questions validity of Trump’s 2024 election win, wants Musk’s influence ‘investigated’

World Stage

MISSING CHILDREN: State Dept says data on Ukrainian orphans is ‘secure’ despite concerns it was lost following Trump funding cut

‘HAMAS’ PROPAGANDA ARM’: Israeli hostage families sue Mahmoud Khalil, ‘Hamas propaganda arm’ at Columbia University campus

Capitol Hill

SENATE SPARS OVER TEXT CHAIN LEAK: CIA Director Ratcliffe hits back on Dem senator’s group chat allegations: ‘I didn’t say any of those things’

CROCKETT CRACKDOWN: Jasmine Crockett hit with House censure threat for mocking paraplegic Texas governor as ‘hot wheels’

TESLA TANTRUM: Democrat decries FBI task force to crackdown on Tesla attacks: ‘Political weaponization of the DOJ’

‘UNDERMINE OUR WORKERS’: GOP senator threatens ‘real consequences’ if universities hire illegal immigrants

‘FUTILE EXERCISE’: House GOP push to impeach judges blocking Trump fizzles out

THE LOUDEST SILENCE: Dems who railed against domestic terrorism still silent as Trump floats 20-year jail sentence for Tesla vandals

‘BOILING POINT’: Progressive grassroots group says liberal base at ‘boiling point’ over Democratic strategy to oppose Trump

Across America 

PAGING PAM: CT ballot fraud saga leads GOP to alert Bondi as 150 charges lodged, Dem reforms ‘miss the mark’

‘FREE PALESTINE!’: Anti-Israel protesters interrupt Huckabee hearing, attack Trump nominee’s faith

COLLEGE TRY: Teachers union sues Trump administration over $400M cuts to Columbia University

BUYER BEWARE: Illegal immigrant in Texas who purchased thousands of rounds for Mexican drug cartel gets 5 years in prison

FRAUD FINDERS: Nevada investigates more than 300 potential voter fraud cases from 2024 election

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

The federal office in charge of ensuring cybersecurity at all levels of the government cited the use of encrypted messaging app Signal as a “best practice” for “highly targeted” government officials, the Biden-era document shows. 

Fox News Digital found that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) outlined in a guide for federal employees late last year that encrypted messaging platforms such as Signal better protected officials against foreign enemy hackers amid a Chinese-linked cyber breach. CISA is an office under the Department of Homeland Security’s umbrella that is charged with ensuring cybersecurity across all levels of government. 

Under the Biden administration in 2024, CISA released a “Mobile Communications Best Practice Guidance” for “highly targeted individuals,” who were defined as high-ranking government officials or politicians who are “likely to possess information of interest to these threat actors.” The document specifically addressed high-targeted politicos and officials, though it noted the guide was “applicable to all audiences.” 

“CISA strongly urges highly targeted individuals to immediately review and apply the best practices below to protect mobile communications. Highly targeted individuals should assume that all communications between mobile devices – including government and personal devices – and internet services are at risk of interception or manipulation. While no single solution eliminates all risks, implementing these best practices significantly enhances protection of sensitive communications against government-affiliated and other malicious cyber actors,” the guide reads. 

The document, published in December, details that highly-targeted government officials should use “end-to-end encrypted communications” as part of its “best practices” advice. End-to-end encryption is understood as a secure method of communication, where a sender’s message is encrypted and can only be decrypted by the recipient of the message. 

TRUMP REVEALS WHO WAS BEHIND SIGNAL TEXT CHAIN LEAK

Signal uses end-to-end encryption and is available for free via digital app stores. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The CISA guidance specifically cited that government officials should download “end-to-end encrypted communications” platforms to their cellphones and computers, specifically citing Signal as an app to download to comply with the best practices. 

TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH

National security advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the White House on Feb. 24. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

“Adopt a free messaging application for secure communications that guarantees end-to-end encryption, such as Signal or similar apps,” the guidance states. “CISA recommends an end-to-end encrypted messaging app that is compatible with both iPhone and Android operating systems, allowing for text message interoperability across platforms. Such apps may also offer clients for MacOS, Windows, and Linux, and sometimes the web. These apps typically support one-on-one text chats, group chats with up to 1,000 participants, and encrypted voice and video calls. Additionally, they may include features like disappearing messages and images, which can enhance privacy.” 

Signal is an encrypted messaging app that operates similarly to texting or making phone calls, but with additional security measures that help ensure communications are kept private to those included in the correspondence. 

Signal’s popularity grew in the last few months, after it was discovered that Chinese-linked hackers were targeting cellphone data in the U.S., including data belonging to President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance during the campaign, Politico reported this week. 

President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington on Feb. 28, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“CISA is releasing this best practice guidance to promote protections for mobile communications from exploitation by PRC-affiliated and other malicious cyber threat actors,” the CISA guidance states, referring to the Chinese cyber breach in 2024. 

Fox News Digital reached out to CISA for additional comment or information on the use of Signal among government employees, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

WILL CAIN SHARES HIS TAKEAWAY ON THE ATLANTIC’S STORY ON THE TRUMP ADMIN’S ‘WAR PLANS’ TEXT

The guidance was released months before the Trump administration came under fire from Democrats and other critics after it was revealed top national security officials discussed a planned strike in Yemen against terrorist forces in a Signal group chat that also included the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic. 

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published a first-hand account on Monday of what he read in the Signal group chat, called “Houthi PC Small Group,” after he was added to the chain on March 13 alongside high-ranking federal officials stretching from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to national security advisor Mike Waltz and Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles. 

The Atlantic’s report set off condemnation among Democratic lawmakers, who have slammed the Trump administration for risking national security by using an app to communicate about a planned attack on Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen. 

TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK

Jeffrey Goldberg speaks on stage during the “Nancy Pelosi on The Art of Power” panel for The Atlantic Festival on Sept. 19, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for The Atlantic)

“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech on Monday. 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday morning for an annual hearing on the global threats facing the U.S., and was also grilled about the Signal group chat. 

The CIA chief confirmed he was in the group chat that included the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, adding that Signal was already downloaded on his computer when he was sworn in as director in January, and that the app has a long history as a communication platform for government employees that stretched to the Biden administration. 

President Trump and former President Biden (Win McNamee/Pool via Reuters | Getty Images)

“One of the first things that happened when I was confirmed as CIA director was Signal was loaded onto my computer at, the CIA, as it is for most CIA officers, one of the things that I was briefed on very early, Senator, was by the CIA records management folks about the use of Signal as a permissible work use,” he said. 

“It is, that is a practice that preceded the current administration to the Biden administration,” he continued. 

A former Biden national security official confirmed to the Associated Press that the previous administration used Signal if a staffer was granted permission to download the app on their White House-administered phones. The staffers, however, were told to use it sparingly, according to the report. 

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on March 7, 2025. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“It is my understanding that the Biden administration authorized Signal as a means of communication that was consistent with presidential recordkeeping requirements for its administration, and that continued into the Trump administration,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday morning. 

A Department of Defense memo from 2023 under the Biden administration detailed that while Signal was approved for some use by government officials, they could not use the platform to “access, transmit, process non-public DoD information.” CISA’s guidance related to Signal was released after the Department of Defense guidance. 

DEM SENATOR CALLS FOR WALTZ, HEGSETH TO RESIGN AS GABBARD SAYS NO CLASSIFIED MATERIAL SHARED IN SIGNAL

The Trump administration has defended the group chat, saying it did not include sensitive information, and that the Atlantic’s story “is nothing more than a section of the NatSec establishment community running the same, tired gameplay from years past.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted to X on Tuesday that “no classified material was sent to the thread” and that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed.”

White House communications director Steven Cheung slammed the Atlantic’s coverage in an X post on Tuesday afternoon as an example of “anti-Trump forces” trying to “peddle misinformation.” 

“From the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoax of the first term to the fake documents case of the last four years… at every turn anti-Trump forces have tried to weaponize innocuous actions and turn them into faux outrage that Fake News outlets can use to peddle misinformation,” Cheung posted to X. 

Trump told NBC News on Tuesday that a staffer in Waltz’s office included the journalist in the high-profile group chat, but did not reveal the staffer’s identity or if the individual would face disciplinary action. 

“It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview when asked how Goldberg was added to the high-profile chat.

Trump defended Waltz in comment to Fox News earlier on Tuesday, as well as during his NBC interview. 

“He’s not getting fired,” Trump told Fox News of Waltz. The president said the incident was a “mistake,” though there was “nothing important” in the Signal text thread. 

“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said in the NBC interview. 

The president added that Goldberg’s inclusion in the group chat had “no impact at all” on the strike in Yemen. 

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The Signal group text leak comes roughly 10 years after news broke that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a private email server for official government correspondence. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for additional comment on the Signal chat leak, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

EXCLUSIVE: A Wisconsin woman was removed from a town hall hosted by Democratic Minnesota Gov. Gov. Tim Walz in Eau Claire last week after she filmed organizers blocking Trump supporters from entering. 

Wisconsin voter Katrina Patterson told Fox News Digital she wanted Walz to address potential cuts to Social Security and Medicare, but she was told to leave, met by law enforcement and locked outside before the town hall began. 

Patterson, who said she “knew that it was wrong,” filmed event organizers denying three men in “Make America Great Again” hats from entering Walz’s town hall. While she was registered for the event, Patterson only took her seat for a few minutes before she was also told to leave. 

“Tim Walz and the Democrats are claiming that my congressman won’t listen to his constituents, but yet we’ve got proof of them blocking Republicans from coming into their town hall,” Patterson said. “It’s really hypocritical. It makes it abundantly obvious that their town halls aren’t real. For lack of a better word, they’re fake town halls because they only want to hear from Democrats.”

DEM LEADER SWINGS THROUGH GOP-HELD DISTRICTS AFTER ‘CLOWN SHOW PROTESTS’ HALTED TOWN HALLS

A Wisconsin woman was removed from a town hall hosted by Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Eau Claire last week after she filmed organizers blocking Trump supporters from entering.  (Getty/Fox News Digital)

The former vice presidential candidate was one of the first Democrats to announce town halls in Republican-held congressional districts after the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the political campaign committee tasked with electing more Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives, advised against town halls after ongoing disruptions by Democratic protesters discontent with President Donald Trump’s second term. 

TIM WALZ SAYS HE WAS JOKING WHEN HE MOCKED TESLA’S FALLING STOCK: ‘THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR’

“Clearly, this political theater was designed to only engage Democrats with no real interest in listening to voters who rejected their out-of-touch agenda. Yet another embarrassing charade on Walz’s walk of shame,” NRCC spokesman Zach Bannon told Fox News Digital after Walz’s Eau Claire town hall. 

When Walz announced his red state tour, he framed the town halls as an opportunity for constituents in Republican districts to “make their voices heard.”

“I’m hitting the road, traveling to red states across the country to lend a megaphone to the people. Your congressman may not want to listen, but they’re going to hear from us anyway,” Walz said in a post. 

A Wisconsin voter said she was removed from Gov. Tim Walz’s town hall for recording a video of event staffers denying entry to Trump supporters. Law enforcement officers were on site to usher her out, and the doors were locked behind her.  (Fox News Digital)

Patterson said it’s “hypocritical” for Democrats to claim they are willing to listen when they’re blocking Republicans from entering. 

“They’ve got people going to some of the Republican town halls and intentionally starting chaos and trouble, and then they turn around and block Republicans from going into their town halls. It’s just horrible and hypocritical. It really is,” Patterson said. 

She said it felt like a “secret society” where Democrats don’t want to let in “Republicans to hear what they have to say or to speak up and give their views and opinions.”

‘CHAOS AND CONFUSION’: HOW DEMOCRATS INFILTRATED ‘THUNDEROUS’ GOP TOWN HALLS

Wisconsin voter Katrina Patterson recorded video of event staffers blocking Trump supporters from entering Gov. Tim Walz’s town hall.  (Fox News Digital)

“The only reason they had to kick me out was the fact that I was catching them on camera, doing something wrong that they knew they shouldn’t do,” Patterson added.

While Patterson did not get the opportunity to voice her concerns at the Walz town hall, she said Rep. Derrick Van. Orden, R-Wis., is “really reachable,” and she hasn’t had an issue getting in touch with him despite what the Democratic Party says. 

“Tim Walz and Democrats have been just really running him through the mud and giving him a hard time for doing virtual town halls,” Patterson said. “I watched one the other day and got to throw in some comments there. I did have one question that didn’t get answered during that one, but I’m just planning to ask him again the next time around.”

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Democrats launched a coordinated effort to host “People’s Town Halls” in all 50 states after disruptive protests led Republican leadership to advise against hosting in-person town halls. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic state parties held a total of 22 events in 13 states during the first week, the DNC told Fox News Digital Friday. The events were billed as “open, inclusive and built to amplify your voice.”

Walz did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.  

President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Johns Hopkins School of Medicine professor Dr. Marty Makary, was confirmed in the Senate on Tuesday.

His confirmation was cemented just hours after he cleared one last procedural test vote earlier in the evening. 

The Senate voted 56-44 to invoke cloture on the nomination prior to his final confirmation.

Makary, a former Fox News medical contributor, went before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) earlier this month and answered various questions on vaccines, chronic illness, food safety and abortion. 

TOP DEM USED SAME APP USED IN ATLANTIC SCANDAL TO SET UP CONTACT WITH STEELE DOSSIER AUTHOR

Fox News contributor Dr. Marty Makary was officially confirmed to lead the FDA in Trump’s second administration after a vote on Tuesday night. (Reuters)

During his hearing, the nominee faced scrutiny over an FDA vaccine meeting that was reportedly postponed at the last minute. 

“So if you are confirmed, will you commit to immediately reschedule that FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting to get the expert views?” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., asked Makary at the time. 

He responded that he “would reevaluate which topics deserve a convening of the advisory committee members on [Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee] and which may not require a convening.” 

When this response wasn’t good enough for Murray, Makary flipped the question, telling her to confront the Biden administration. “Well, you can ask the Biden administration that chose not to convene the committee meeting for the COVID vaccine booster,” he said. 

‘STOP THEM!’: DEMOCRAT CLASHES WITH TRUMP SOCIAL SECURITY NOMINEE OVER DOGE ACCESS

Dr. Marty Makary, left, pointed out the Biden administration’s decision to skip key committee meetings when authorizing vaccines in response to Sen. Patty Murray, right. (Reuters)

He was referring to the Biden administration in 2021 pushing through FDA approval for a COVID-19 booster for everyone over the age of 18. 

“The FDA did not hold a meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on these actions,” read a press release at the time, “as the agency previously convened the committee for extensive discussions regarding the use of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines and, after review of both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s EUA requests, the FDA concluded that the requests do not raise questions that would benefit from additional discussion by committee members.”

CAN CONGRESS DEFUND FEDERAL COURTS WITH KEY TRUMP BUDGET PROCESS?

Signage is seen outside the FDA headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, on Aug. 29, 2020.  (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo)

Committee member Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, criticized the administration’s move, saying, “We’re being asked to approve this as a three-dose vaccine for people 16 years of age and older, without any clear evidence if the third dose for a younger person when compared to an elderly person is of value.”

CHUCK SCHUMER FACING ‘UPHILL FIGHT’ AMID LEADERSHIP DOUBTS: ‘MATTER OF WHEN, NOT IF’

President Joe Biden receives a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot inside the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington on Oct. 25, 2022. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Makary has long been a critic of the administration he will now lead. He wrote an opinion piece in 2021, calling for “fresh leadership at the FDA to change the culture at the agency and promote scientific advancement, not hinder it.”

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“We now have a generational opportunity in American healthcare,” he said at his hearing. “President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s focus on healthy foods has galvanized a grassroots movement in America. Childhood obesity is not a willpower problem, and the rise of early-onset Alzheimer’s is not a genetic cause. We should be, and we will, be addressing food as it impacts our health.”

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order requiring people to provide proof of American citizenship when they register to vote and demanding that all ballots be reviewed by Election Day.

The order requires government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship on its voter registration forms, directs the attorney general to enter into information-sharing agreements with state election officials to identify cases of election fraud or other election law violations and conditions federal election-related funds on states complying with federal election integrity measures.

“There are other steps that we will be taking in the coming weeks,” Trump said just before signing the order. “We think we’ll be able to end up getting fair elections.”

BLUE STATE’S TOP COURT STRIKES DOWN LAW ALLOWING NONCITIZENS TO VOTE

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. (Pool)

“It’s an honor to sign this one,” he added. “I sign all of them, but to sign this one is a great honor.”

The U.S. has failed “to enforce basic and necessary election protections,” the order states. 

Election experts immediately criticized the move, saying it would disenfranchise millions of voters. 

“This executive order would block tens of millions of American citizens from voting,” the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University wrote on X. “Presidents have no authority to do this. This order, like the SAVE Act now before Congress, would hurt voters and suppress the vote.”

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act, is a bill being pushed by Republicans that would make sweeping changes to voter registration, including requiring voters to present documents proving U.S. citizenship.

PA WOMAN CHARGED WITH TRYING TO REGISTER DEAD PEOPLE, INCLUDING OWN FATHER, TO VOTE

Proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections includes a U.S. passport, a REAL ID and military and state and federal-issued identification indicating American citizenship. (Getty Images)

Documentary proof of citizenship includes a U.S. passport, a REAL ID or military, state or federally-issued identification indicating American citizenship.

“Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic,” the order states. ” Yet the United States has not adequately enforced Federal election requirements that, for example, prohibit States from counting ballots received after Election Day or prohibit non-citizens from registering to vote.”

“I Voted” stickers for people who cast a ballot on Election Day. (Dan Powers/USA Today Network-Wisconsin)

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Under the terms of the order, Trump directed the Election Assistance Commission to change the federal voter registration form to require government-issued proof of citizenship. 

The order also attempts to bar states from counting mail ballots election officials receive after Election Day.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., on Tuesday urged House lawmakers to stop “making fun” of President Donald Trump‘s renaming of the Gulf of America, suggesting Washington, D.C., could face the same fate. 

Boebert made the remarks during a legislative hearing on the Gulf of America Act to support Trump’s executive order.

“I would caution my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to refrain from making fun of the Gulf of America because next up may end up being the District of America that we are working on,” she said during a Water, Fisheries and Wildlife Subcommittee hearing.

GOOGLE MAPS UPDATE: GULF OF AMERICA, MOUNT MCKINLEY WILL BE IN AFTER TRUMP ORDERS NAME CHANGES

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., on Tuesday urged House lawmakers to stop making fun of President Donald Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of America, suggesting Washington could face the same fate.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“So just, you know, keep the jokes at bay, and maybe we’ll just stick with the Gulf of America for now,” she added. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Boebert’s office. 

Trump changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico days after taking office. He also reversed the name of Alaska’s Denali mountain back to Mount McKinley.

WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL BOARD LINKS DC MAYOR’S DECISION TO REMOVE BLM ART TO A ‘VICTORY FOR THE CITY’

Google Maps has begun referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. (AP/Google Maps)

Trump has often criticized D.C. leaders for their inability to rid the city of violent crime. 

“We’re cleaning up our city,” Trump said during a speech at the Justice Department earlier this month. “We’re cleaning up this great capital, and we’re not going to have crime. And we’re not going to stand for crime. And we’re going to take the graffiti down. And we’re already taken to tents down there.”

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered the removal of Black Lives Matter Plaza across the street from the White House after being pressured by Republicans. 

Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House in Washington, D.C., May 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

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The large yellow letters spelling out “Black Lives Matter” were first painted in the summer of 2020 during Trump’s first term after days of chaotic protests at that location after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and Breonna Taylor by Louisville Police officers.