Donald Trump Poll News

President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration is “pretty close” to striking a deal with Ukraine for rights to access its natural resources in exchange for the United States’ billions of dollars in support for the country against Russia. 

“You know, I think they want it, and they feel good about it,” Trump told reporters on Friday in the Oval Office after the swearing-in ceremony of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “And it’s significant. It’s a big deal. But they want it, and it keeps us in that country. And they’re very happy about it.

“We get our money back. They should have been signed long before we went in. They should have been signed by Biden. But Biden didn’t know too much about what he was doing. The war should have never happened, No. 1. When it did happen, it could have been settled. 

“The first week or two weeks after that, it got bad. It got really bad, but it should have been, it should have never happened. And it should have been settled, and it could have been settled very easily at the beginning. Now it’s tougher, but we’ll get it settled.”

TRUMP CALLS UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY A ‘DICTATOR WITHOUT ELECTIONS’ AS RIFT WIDENS 

During his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, Trump’s National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, said, “Here’s the bottom line: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term.” 

Waltz also told “Fox & Friends” this week that Ukraine should “tone down” its criticism of Trump and “come back to the table” to work out an economic deal with the U.S.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump are “pretty close” to striking a deal with Ukraine to access its natural resources. (Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance/Curtis Means/Daily Mail/Bloomberg)

The deal for U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals is part of broader negotiations to end the war in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in 2022. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News Wednesday Trump is creating a “win-win” partnership between the United States and Ukraine with the deal days after meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

“Part of my trip was to go and tell the Ukrainian people that we wanted an economic partnership with them,” Bessent told Bret Baier on “Special Report.” 

“So, President Trump’s vision is [to] bring the Ukrainian people and the American people closer together economically, show the Ukrainian people that we support them, show the American people that the money that is going into Ukraine, that there is going to be a return, that there’s going to be a long-term partnership.”

REPUBLICAN SENATORS BACK TRUMP’S DEMAND FOR UKRAINE ELECTIONS, BUT WON’T CALL ZELENSKYY ‘DICTATOR’ 

The Trump administration is seeking to recoup the cost of aid sent to the war-torn country by gaining access to rare earth minerals like titanium, iron and uranium.

The delay also comes amid rising tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy as the U.S. works with Russian officials to broker a peace deal in the ongoing war. 

Trump argued on Fox News Zelenskyy has “no cards” to negotiate leverage for a deal as the pair have publicly hurled insults at one another in recent days. 

“I’ve been watching this man for years now as his cities get demolished, as his people get killed, as his soldiers get decimated,” Trump told Fox News co-host Brian Kilmeade.

U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak during a news conference in Kyiv Feb. 12. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP via Getty Images)

“I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards, and you get sick of it,” he added. “You just get sick of it, and I’ve had it.”

Trump argued Zelenskyy is a poor negotiator, noting Bessent traveled to Ukraine last week to broker a mineral agreement, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but said the pair “couldn’t even come close” to a deal.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The president said the trip was dangerous for Bessent and a waste of time. 

The deal would have helped U.S. investment in the war-torn nation and also provided “the best security guarantee they could ever hope for,” according to Waltz.

Fox News’ Bailee Hill contributed to this report.

A federal judge on Friday granted a preliminary injunction over parts of the Trump administration’s executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

The injunction largely blocks the sections of President Donald Trump’s orders that seek to end federal support for programs deemed to be DEI-related, and prevents the Trump administration from canceling contracts that they believe promote diversity, equity or inclusion. 

U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore, a Biden nominee, ruled that parts of the executive orders likely violate the Constitution and free speech.

“The harm arises from the issuance of it as a public, vague, threatening executive order,” Abelson said in a hearing this week, adding that it would discourage businesses working with the government from openly supporting DEI. 

FEDERAL JUDGE TEMPORARILY STOPS TRUMP ADMIN FROM FIRING 11 INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS ASSIGNED TO DEI PROGRAMS

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The ruling comes after the city of Baltimore, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the American Association of University Professors and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United – which represents restaurant workers – sued the Trump administration over the executive orders, calling them presidential overreach and anti-free speech. 

“Ordinary citizens bear the brunt,” attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint. “Plaintiffs and their members receive federal funds to support educators, academics, students, workers, and communities across the country. As federal agencies make arbitrary decisions about whether grants are ‘equity-related,’ Plaintiffs are left in limbo.”

They argued that Trump was encroaching on Congress’ powers in order to champion his personal beliefs. 

“But the President simply does not wield that power,” they wrote in the complaint. “And contrary to his suggestions otherwise, his power is not limitless.”

TRUMP SCORES BIG LEGAL WIN AGAINST PULITZER PRIZE BOARD MEMBERS AS LAWSUIT MOVES TO DISCOVERY

Trump signed an order on his first day in office directing federal agencies to terminate all “equity-related” grants or contracts. He signed a follow-up order requiring federal contractors to certify that they don’t promote DEI. 

A federal judge on Friday granted a preliminary injunction over parts of the Trump administration’s executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion. (Fox News)

The Trump administration argued in a Wednesday hearing that the president was only banning DEI programs that violate federal civil rights laws. 

“What’s happening is an overcorrection and pulling back on DEI statements,” attorney Aleshadye Getachew said in a hearing. 

A second federal lawsuit was also filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday targeting Trump’s DEI executive orders. The new complaint was filed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal on behalf of nonprofit advocacy organizations. 

The lawsuit is aimed at Trump’s executive orders: “Ending Radical and Wasteful DEI Programs and Preferencing,” “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” 

President Trump with members of his Cabinet in the Oval Office.  (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

White House spokesman Harrison Fields said both lawsuits represented “nothing more than an extension of the left’s resistance,” adding in a statement to the New York Times that the administration was “ready to face them in court.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Radical leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump to advance his wildly popular agenda,” Fields said.

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday paused the Trump administration’s efforts to dismiss the head of an independent agency charged with investigating whistleblower claims as the president seeks to remake the federal government. 

The decision allows Hampton Dellinger, a Biden appointee, to remain as head of the Office of Special Counsel at least through Feb. 26. The high court kept that deadline in place and won’t take any further action until then.

The Trump administration asked the court to overturn a lower court’s temporary reinstatement of Dellinger. A district court hearing is scheduled to consider whether to extend the pause on Dellinger’s firing. 

 FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ADMIN TO RESTORE PUBLIC HEALTH WEB PAGES

President Donald Trump and Hampton Dellinger. Trump is trying to dismiss Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel. (AP; Reuters)

Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson voted to outright deny the administration’s request to OK the firing.

Conservative justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissented, saying the lower court overstepped, and they cast doubt on whether courts have the authority to restore to office someone the president has fired. While acknowledging that some officials appointed by the president have contested their removal, Gorsuch wrote in his opinion that “those officials have generally sought remedies like backpay, not injunctive relief like reinstatement.” 

The dispute over Dellinger is the first legal challenge to reach the Supreme Court after several firings under the Trump administration.

HOUSE DEMS ORGANIZE RAPID RESPONSE TASK FORCE AND LITIGATION GROUP TO COMBAT TRUMP AGENDA

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Dellinger sued the Trump administration in Washington, D.C., federal court after his Feb. 7 firing.

“I am glad to be able to continue my work as an independent government watchdog and whistleblower advocate,” Dellinger said in a statement after Friday’s proceedings. “I am grateful to the judges and justices who have concluded that I should be allowed to remain on the job while the courts decide whether my office can retain a measure of independence from direct partisan and political control.”

He has argued that, by law, he can only be dismissed from his position for job performance problems, which were not cited in an email dismissing him from his post.

Trump began his second term in the White House with a flurry of executive orders and directives that have since been targeted by a flood of legal challenges.

The Trump administration dismissed multiple federal officials (Donald Trump/Truth Social)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Since Jan. 20, dozens of lawsuits have been filed over the administration’s actions, including the president’s birthright citizenship order, immigration policies, federal funding freezes, federal employee buyouts, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and legal action against FBI and DOJ employees.

A federal judge on Friday granted an injunction requested by 19 attorneys general to prevent the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from having access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas extends the pause by issuing a preliminary injunction, a legal step that blocks access to the records while the case is litigated on the merits.

In her 64-page decision, Vargas noted she was granting the preliminary injunction preventing DOGE from accessing the payment records because of the possible disclosure of the states’ bank records. However, she also said the plaintiffs “have not demonstrated that they are entitled to the broad and sweeping relief they seek, which would far exceed the scope of the present TRO (Temporary restraining order).”

TRUMP ISSUES WARNING ABOUT WASTEFUL SPENDING, ORDERS ‘RADICAL TRANSPARENCY’ AMID DOGE PROBES, REVELATIONS

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

Vargas is giving Trump administration attorneys the chance to fix any defects so that the sensitive information will be protected.  

A report is due March 24. Last week, a federal judge extended a temporary order to block DOGE from accessing Treasury payment systems. 

A lawsuit filed by the 19 AGs claims DOGE illegally accessed the Treasury Department’s central payment system at the Trump administration’s behest. The payment systems have information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits; tax refund information; and much more. 

Lawyers for the administration argued that the temporary restraining order “causes ongoing constitutional harm to the Treasury Department’s ability to make management decisions within its lawful discretion.”  

TREASURY ‘MISTAKENLY’ GAVE MUSK DOGE WORKER ABILITY TO CHANGE PAYMENTS SYSTEM: COURT DOCS

The U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)

Defense attorneys argued that there is nothing unlawful about the Treasury Department’s actions. Treasury officials have denied violating privacy laws, saying only two members of the DOGE team had been given “read-only” access to information in the payment systems. 

The lawsuit was filed in New York by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a vocal Trump critic. 

It includes attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. 

“We just won a court order stopping DOGE and unauthorized, unelected, and unvetted individuals like Elon Musk from accessing people’s private data and blocking federal funds,” James wrote Friday on X. “We will keep fighting to protect all Americans from this administration’s destruction.”

The AGs argue that granting DOGE access to the payment system puts Americans’ sensitive, personal information, such as bank account details and Social Security numbers, at risk.

Fox News’ William Mears and Maria Paronich contributed to this report. 

“It shouldn’t take longer to approve an [energy] project than it takes to build it,” said National Governors Association Vice Chair Kevin Stitt at Friday’s conference in Washington.

That, the Oklahoma Republican said, is the collective picture painted of all the problems with government bureaucracy at all levels that imperils the U.S.’ ability to stay ahead of China in terms of cyberthreat-prevention and energy dominance.

Permitting reform is one of the most important things to address with a new administration and new state government sessions beginning, the governors collectively expressed.

There was bipartisan consensus at the NGA that America must move responsibly toward a future secure from malign foreign actors in both cybersecurity and energy development.

NJ RESIDENTS HIT WITH DOUBLING BILLS AS LAWMAKERS FUME OVER MURPHY’S ‘ENERGY DISASTER PLAN’

Govs. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) and Josh Shapiro (D-PA) found common ground on energy development and permitting reform (Getty)

“Permitting reform is one of those issues where both Republicans and Democrats recognize the problem, we largely agree on solutions,” Stitt said, adding it is a national security issue that the U.S. must streamline permitting.

“Our allies need affordable, reliable energy and the US has the resources to provide that,” he said.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum spoke at length on that matter, saying America is in competition with foreign rivals like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea whether they like it or not.

“It’s key that we win the AI arms race with China,” he said, citing bot-powered attacks that can be much more effective than human hackers.

“They would have the ability to take down the electric grid. They have the ability to disrupt everything that we know in our country. And they wouldn’t have to put a single soldier on the ground, but it could completely disrupt us and our economy. So, winning that AI arms race doesn’t just take software developers, it takes more electricity.”

“We’re in a competition… against other countries that aren’t slowing themselves down with the level of bureaucracy that we have,” Burgum said, citing the threat of cyberattacks from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

Burgum and the governors discussed the promise of nuclear energy and new technology that allows for the portability of such operations, where plants that generate power can be placed much closer to where that power is needed.

Stitt remarked that when Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued an order mandating his own government to rule on infrastructure permit applications within two weeks or give the applicant their money back, he didn’t want to get “beat by a Democrat” in that idea so he quickly issued his own order.

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

An oil pumpjack operates in the drive-thru area of a McDonald’s in Bradford, Pennsylvania, U.S. 2017. (Reuters)

Shapiro also said Pennsylvania conducted an audit of permit applications earlier in his term and found 3,400 – leading him to order there be cataloging going forward.

Despite Bethlehem Steel’s stacks laying dormant 25 years on, and the massive St. Nicholas Breaker coal processor long gone, Pennsylvania remains the nation’s second-largest energy net-exporter – a fact noted by the governor.

The first North American discovery of oil occurred in the mid-1800s in Venango County, and some of the longest-producing wells remain active in Pennsylvania, though the Commonwealth has been far surpassed in that regard by Texas, Alaska and other states.

“We’re proud of our legacy as a national energy leader,” Shapiro said. “We’ve got to get to-market quickly [regarding] energy projects.”

Pennsylvania produced more than 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2023. But there has been a push-pull effect of former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell banning fracking on state parkland, Republican Gov. Tom Corbett reversing that, and Shapiro’s Democratic predecessor Tom Wolf then restoring Rendell’s moratorium.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Shapiro indicated Friday he would be taking a more measured approach to responsibly developing the Commonwealth’s resources. 

He cited the bipartisan SPEED Act out of Harrisburg, which provides for third-party permitting review while also accelerating the overall process.

Burgum called the work of a governor one of the hardest, but remarked that it is about to “become more fun than it’s ever been” with the accessibility of the Trump administration.

In that regard, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster described how cabinet secretaries had shared their own personal contact information following a Friday White House meeting – and that President Donald Trump invited calls as well but did not share his own number.

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

Colorado lawmakers spent hours Friday afternoon considering a Democrat-led resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 prisoners while the state grapples with an estimated $1.2 billion budget shortfall for the 2025-26 fiscal year. 

“With skyrocketing costs, a $1 billion budget deficit, rising crime and an affordability crisis pushing families to the brink, it is appalling that the majority is more focused on passing meaningless, partisan resolutions instead of addressing the real concerns of Coloradans,” Republican minority leader Rep. Rose Pugliese told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

Pugliese also called the resolution “political theater” to “divide rather than deliver results for our communities.”

The measure passed by a 41-23 vote in the Democrat-controlled state House of Representatives. Rep. Lisa Feret, a Democrat, voted against the resolution.

COLORADO POISED TO BAN SALE OF AR-15S, OTHER RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS WITH EXTENDED MAGS

Colorado Republicans turned their chairs around in protest Friday when the assembly considered a resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons. (Rep. Jarvis Caldwell; Getty Images)

Republicans, who spent time providing public comment against the bill, also turned their chairs around to face away from the assembly speaker during the hearing. Lawmakers tried to introduce several amendments to the resolution to change some of the phrasing used in the bill, but they were rejected.

“To Hell with your concerns about cost of living, crime, and other important issues,” Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell wrote on X. “Democrats are running another January 6th resolution. We turned our chairs in protest, and now we’re having a debate about it.”

State Republican Rep. Ryan Gonzalez also posted on X, saying, “The majority, instead of addressing issues the voters sent us to do—are instead passing messaging resolutions aimed *indirectly* at the sitting President.”

The Colorado House GOP X account posted that “not one life in Colorado will be saved by this resolution.”

Another X post said, “Democrats could be working on real solutions to our 1 BILLION dollar budget deficit. Instead, they are playing political games.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House, tweeted, “Will Colorado Dems playing partisan politics lower the cost of eggs?”

The measure, sponsored by state Democratic senators Nick Hinrichsen and Matt Ball, passed along party lines in the state Senate earlier this month in a 21-12 vote. The Democratic lawmakers condemned Trump’s pardons and the mass firings of FBI agents assigned to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. 

Democratic representatives Sean Camacho and Michael Carter were the sponsors of the state House version.

“Colorado House Republicans have now launched a full-throated defense of the January 6th rioters,” state Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Democrat, wrote on Bluesky Social, an X-like social media platform favored by progressives. “They can turn their backs on America—but we see them, and we know the truth.”

DAS MAY TRY TO CHARGE JAN. 6 PARTICIPANTS GRANTED CLEMENCY BY TRUMP WITH NEW CRIMES ON STATE, LOCAL LEVELS

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Democratic state Rep. Lorena Garcia also wrote on Bluesky Social saying, “While this resolution will pass, today is a wake up call to all Coloradans who believe in freedom, that the republican party is not a party that believes in freedom. It is the party of authoritarianism, it’s the party of fascism.”

All the Jan. 6 defendants — more than 1,500 — were pardoned by Trump as one of his first executive actions in January. 

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, was sworn in on Friday after a narrow Senate confirmation vote Thursday. 

Patel was sworn in at the Eisenshower Executive Office Building by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the ninth-ever FBI director, succeeding Christopher Wray. Patel, who is Indian-American, is the first person of color to become FBI director. 

“I am living the American dream,” Patel said after taking his oath of office. “And anyone that thinks the American dream is dead: just look right here. You’re talking to a first-generation Indian kid who’s about to lead the law enforcement community of the greatest nation on God’s green earth. That can’t happen anywhere else.” 

FBI NOMINEE KASH PATEL CONFIRMED IN NARROW SENATE VOTE

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, was sworn in on Friday after a narrow Senate confirmation vote Thursday.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Patel also made a promise to the lawmakers who confirmed him and those who opposed his nomination.

“There will be accountability within the FBI and outside of the FBI, and we will do it through rigorous constitutional oversight starting this weekend.” 

Patel has been a longtime Trump ally and a fierce opponent of the investigations into the president. During his confirmation hearing last month, Patel vowed he would not engage in political retribution against agents who worked on the Trump classified documents case and other politically sensitive matters.

He faced a rocky path to confirmation – similar to other fellow Trump picks – despite the Republican-majority chamber. Democrats on the panel used their political weight to delay Patel’s confirmation vote earlier this month. 

TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL PICKS UP SUPPORT FROM KEY GOP SENATOR

On the Senate floor, top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin claimed Patel had been behind recent mass firings at the FBI. Durbin cited what he described as “highly credible” whistleblower reports that indicated Patel had personally directed the ongoing FBI employee purge prior to his confirmation.

On the Senate floor, top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin claimed Patel had been behind recent mass firings at the FBI.  (AP/Reuters)

Patel brings to the office an extensive background in national security and intelligence. He previously engaged in personally carrying out dangerous missions in the Middle East in an effort to bring home U.S. hostages and also implemented counterterrorism strategies against America’s most-wanted terrorists. 

4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING

Current and former U.S. national security officials and lawmakers told Fox News Digital previously that he, “objectively,” is “one of the most experienced people ever to be nominated” to lead the bureau. 

Patel’s confirmation to head the office comes at a time when the FBI’s activities are under extreme scrutiny for possible political motivations, including its own leadership and decisions. 

Patel’s confirmation to head the office comes at a time when the FBI’s activities are under extreme scrutiny for possible political motivations, including its own leadership and decisions.  (AP/Ben Curtis)

Previously, thousands of FBI agents as well as their superiors were ordered to fill out a questionnaire detailing their roles in the Jan. 6 investigation, prompting concerns of retaliation or retribution. 

“There will be no politicization at the FBI,” Patel said during his confirmation hearing. “There will be no retributive action.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Patel previously served as deputy assistant to the president and as senior director for counterterrorism under the first Trump administration, wherein he worked on presidential missions aimed at decimating al-Qaeda senior leadership and ISIS command and control.

Patel was also involved in planning the mission to take out Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, among others. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch, Morgan Phillips, and Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

A Biden-appointed judge extended a temporary restraining order Friday against the Trump administration’s cuts to National Institutes of Health research funding. 

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts – who issued the initial restraining order last week – comes in response to separate lawsuits filed by a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions nationwide.  

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced earlier this month it would be cutting billions in costs associated with federally funded research grants that go to various institutions, as part of a wider move by the Trump administration to slash wasteful spending. 

The NIH, the main funder of biomedical research, awarded more than 60,000 grants last year totaling about $35 billion. The total is divided into “direct” costs – covering researchers’ salaries and laboratory supplies – and “indirect” costs, the administrative and facility costs needed to support that work. 

TRUMP SPARKS BACKLASH AFTER CUTTING BILLIONS IN COSTS FROM NIH RESEARCH GRANTS 

Medical researchers from various universities and the National Institutes of Health rally at Health and Human Services headquarters to protest federal budget cuts on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP/John McDonnell)

The Trump administration had dismissed those expenses as “overhead” but universities and hospitals argue they’re far more critical. They can include such things as electricity to operate sophisticated machinery, hazardous waste disposal, staff who ensure researchers follow safety rules and janitorial workers, according to The Associated Press. 

The states and research groups argue that the cuts are illegal, pointing to bipartisan congressional action during Trump’s first term to prohibit them. 

“Yet here we are again,” attorneys argued in a court motion, saying the NIH is “in open defiance” of what Congress decreed. 

In its own written arguments, the Trump administration said NIH has authority to alter the terms after awarding grants and that Kelley’s courtroom isn’t the proper venue to arbitrate claims of breach of contract. 

States and researchers “have failed to show that they would suffer an irreparable injury,” according to the administration motion. 

SCIENTISTS EXPECT MAJOR ‘MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS’ DESPITE TRUMP’S CAP ON NIH RESEARCH FUNDING 

The National Institutes of Health under President Donald Trump put a cap on indirect costs associated with agency research grants, as part of a wider move to reduce wasteful government spending. (Alamy/Getty Images)

If the new policy stands, indirect costs would be capped at 15% immediately, for already awarded grants and new ones. NIH calculated that would save the agency $4 billion a year. 

Officials at Johns Hopkins University said the cuts would end or require significantly scaling back research projects, potentially including some of the 600 NIH-funded studies open to Hopkins patients. 

“The care, treatments and medical breakthroughs provided to them and their families are not ‘overhead,’” university president Ron Daniels and Hopkins Medicine CEO Theodore DeWeese wrote to employees. 

The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has applauded the moves. 

Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, on Thursday, Feb. 20, in Oxon Hill, Md. Musk has praised the Trump administration’s NIH funding cuts. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

“Can you believe that universities with tens of billions in endowments were siphoning off 60% of research award money for ‘overhead’?” Musk posted on social media. “What a ripoff!” 

Fox News’ Alec Schemmel and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday the Jeffrey Epstein client list is “sitting on my desk right now” and she is reviewing the JFK and MLK files as well after President Donald Trump’s earlier directives. 

“It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” Bondi told America Reports’ John Roberts on Friday. “That’s been a directive by President Trump.”

Bondi also stated she is “reviewing” the JFK and MLK files, which the president signed an executive order to declassify at the start of his second term. 

JEFFREY EPSTEIN FILES: TRUMP’S ELECTION COULD EXPOSE NAMES ON ‘BLACK BOOK’ LIST

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday the Jeffrey Epstein client list is “sitting on my desk right now” and is reviewing the JFK and MLK files after President Donald Trump’s earlier directives.  (AP)

“That’s all in the process of being reviewed, because that was done at the directive of the president from all of these agencies,” Bondi said. 

When asked if she had “seen anything,” Bondi responded, “Not yet.”

Trump’s return to the Oval Office came with the prospect of the public finally being able to see Epstein’s long-awaited “black book” amid inqueries into the deceased financier and sex trafficker.  

Epstein, a 66-year-old millionaire financier with a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and mansions around the country, died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

FBI UNCOVERS THOUSANDS OF UNDISCLOSED RECORDS CONNECTED TO JFK’S ASSASSINATION

Bondi herself advocated for the release of the Epstein list in 2024, telling Sean Hannity at the time, “It should have come out a long time ago.” 

Shortly after kicking off his second term, Trump signed an executive order to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. 

Epstein, a 66-year-old millionaire financier with a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and mansions around the country, died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)

“Everything will be revealed,” Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office.

Trump had previously promised on the campaign trail to declassify the documents upon entering his second term, saying at the time, “When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination-related documents. It’s been 60 years, time for the American people to know the TRUTH!”

TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO DECLASSIFY FILES ON JFK, RFK AND MLK ASSASSINATIONS

Shortly after kicking off his second term, Trump signed an executive order to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.  (Associated Press)

Earlier this month, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the attorney general reached their deadline to release their proposed plan for the declassification of the JFK files. 

The FBI announced shortly thereafter that it had uncovered thousands of records connected to the JFK assassination. Axios initially reported that the agency had released 2,400 records tied to the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of Kennedy, which were not provided to the board that reviewed and disclosed the files.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

It was upon DNI’s plan submission to release the files that it reportedly disclosed the records’ existence. 

Fox News confirmed at the time with a person familiar with the records that the files were uncovered during the review.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner and Patrick Ward contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump sparred with Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills over transgender women in sports, telling her at the White House that she must follow his executive order or “you’re not going to get federal funding,” to which she replied, “we’ll see you in court.” 

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

“You better do it because you’re not going to get federal funding,” Trump told her.  

“We’re going to follow the law sir. We’ll see you in court,” she responded. 

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

President Donald Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills clashed Friday at the White House over executive order compliance. (Pool via AP/Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Enjoy your life after governor because I don’t think you’ll be an elected official afterwards,” Trump then said. 

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

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

Trump told a gathering of Republican governors in Washington on Thursday that “I heard men are still playing in Maine.” 

“I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to give them any federal money, they are still saying ‘we want men to play in women’s sports’ and I cannot believe that they’re doing that… So we’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up,” he also said. 

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

President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, on Friday, Feb. 21. (Pool via AP)

Trump’s executive order, which was signed on Feb. 5, instructed all federal agencies to review grants, programs and policies that fail to comply with the administration’s efforts to end “male competitive participation in women’s sports… as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.” 

The order also instructed strict Title IX enforcement against any educational institutions or athletic associations that do not comply and demands federal assistance be taken away in such cases. 

Shortly after the order was signed, multiple states, including Maine, California, Minnesota and others run primarily by Democrats, indicated that they would not comply with Trump.  

President Donald Trump arrives at the governors working session in the State Dining Room of the White House on Friday, Feb. 21. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

The executive director of the primary governing body for high school sports in the state of Maine said athletic teams will continue to determine eligibility based on a student’s stated gender identity, despite the president’s executive order seeking to keep “men out of women’s sports.” 

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report. 

Rumors swirled this week that Secretary Pete Hegseth is prepping a list of top Pentagon brass for the chopping block, but it’s not the first time an administration has cleaned out top military commanders to align with new political goals.

Five months into office in 2009, President Barack Obama relieved Army Gen. David McKiernan as the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan – making McKiernan the first wartime commander to be dismissed since Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1951.

He was replaced by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who had led special operations forces in Iraq, on the advice of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who wanted “fresh eyes” in the drawn-out Afghanistan conflict. 

“We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. I believe that new military leadership is also needed,” Gates said at a news conference. 

OFFICIALS PUSH BACK ON CLAIMS OF ‘LIST’ OF GENERALS HEGSETH PLANS TO FIRE AT PENTAGON

Obama replaced Gen. Stanley McChrystal with David Petraeus, right, in Afghanistan.  (Reuters/Larry Downing )

Days before he was summoned to meet with Obama about the job, McChrystal had given a speech in London on the need for a military buildup in Afghanistan. Shortly afterward, Obama authorized the deployment of 33,000 troops to Afghanistan. 

Only a year into his command, McChrystal resigned, pushed out by Obama after reportedly badmouthing White House officials, and was replaced by Gen. David Petraeus.

Obama also fired Gen. James Mattis as head of U.S. Central Command – and Trump once quipped that the “only thing” he and Obama had in common was “the honor of firing Jim Mattis.”

Obama and Mattis fell out over the withdrawal from Iraq. “Central Command, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the new Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, who had replaced Bob Gates, continued to recommend to the White House retaining a residual force, as did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” Mattis wrote in his book ‘Call Sign Chaos.’

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

Obama, who promised to “finish the job” in Afghanistan after he withdrew troops from Iraq in 2011, surged as many as 100,000 troops into Afghanistan, then drew them out at a rapid-fire pace that many in the military advised against, finishing his term in 2017 with 8,400 American troops on the ground. Ending the war also evaded the subsequent Trump administration, which set a removal deadline that fell under the following Biden administration and resulted in the messy withdrawal in August 2021 and the deaths of 13 U.S. troops.

But the Obama presidency was marred by reports of a schism between the White House and the military. 

One general, upon returning from Afghanistan, reportedly said he felt that the Obama White House wanted the military to be “seen and not heard.” 

In his memoir, “Duty,” Gates blamed then-Vice President Joe Biden, who had pushed against the initial surge in Afghanistan, for Obama’s poor relationship with the military.

Trump quipped that the “only thing” he had in common with Obama was firing Jim Mattis.  (Reuters/Yuri Gripas)

“I thought Biden was subjecting Obama to Chinese water torture, every day saying ‘the military can’t be trusted,’ ” he wrote.

In 2012, the Navy removed and replaced Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette as commander of an aircraft carrier strike group deployed in the Middle East over allegations of inappropriate leadership judgment. The Navy Inspector General later found that Gaouette had made racially insensitive remarks in emails. The Navy denied assertions that Gaouette had been dismissed for providing assistance during the Benghazi attack without orders. 

In October 2013, the Air Force fired the two-star general in charge of 450 nuclear missiles, Michael Carey, due to “loss of trust and confidence in his leadership and judgment.” That same week, Obama fired the number-two nuclear commander, Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, from U.S. Strategic Command after he was involved in a criminal investigation into using counterfeit gambling chips in a poker game at a western Iowa casino.

Former Trump National Security Advisor and retired three-star Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn speaks during the AmericaFest 2024 conference sponsored by conservative group Turning Point in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 20, 2024. Reuters/Cheney Orr

Obama fired Army Gen. Michael Flynn as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 over “insubordination,” which Flynn claimed had stemmed from criticisms he had made about Obama not being tough enough on Islamic extremism.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Obama’s moves to slim down the armed forces and reinvent social policies to protect minority groups proved contentious among military brass. Critics claimed that his abrupt troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan had allowed for ISIS to gain ground, while supporters painted him as a Nobel Peace Prize winner who had kicked off a reorientation of the U.S. from the Middle East theater to the Indo-Pacific. 

Wildfire-like rumors swirled around Washington on Thursday of a “list” of names Hegseth has reportedly circulated among congressional leaders of generals and admirals he planned to fire. But members and staff of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees had seen no such list. 

Ahead of his swearing-in as FBI director on Friday, Kash Patel laid out his top priorities for the agency in a letter to subordinates obtained by Fox News Digital, vowing to bolster the bureau’s resources and “rebuild the American people’s trust in the FBI.” 

“I am honored to have been nominated and confirmed as your new Director,” Patel wrote to colleagues. “While I’m new to the Bureau’s ranks, I’ve spent my career in government service and the past decade in national security, working shoulder to shoulder with the FBI and many of its partners throughout the law enforcement and intelligence communities. My commitment has always been — and always will be — to pursuing justice and upholding the rule of law, and I look forward to continuing that commitment alongside all of you.”

Patel also reiterated that keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad, is a “no-fail mission” that the FBI must continue to support in the coming months.

FBI NOMINEE KASH PATEL CONFIRMED IN NARROW SENATE VOTE

Kash Patel is sworn in during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be FBI director, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The letter continued, “As I take on this new role, my priorities for our organization are twofold. First is to provide you with the tools and resources you need to keep our communities safe. This will include streamlining our operations at Headquarters while bolstering the presence of field agents across the nation and collaborating even more closely with our essential partners in state and local law enforcement.

“Second is to ensure we rebuild the American people’s trust in the FBI. We’ll do that by committing ourselves to full transparency with the people’s representatives in Congress and by upholding the highest standards in all that we do, ensuring rigorous obedience to the Constitution and a single standard of justice for all.”

“I know that you, the dedicated men and women of the FBI, are courageous warriors of justice,” he wrote. “I will always have your backs, because you have the backs of the American people. I look forward to serving with you in the years to come.”

TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL PICKS UP SUPPORT FROM KEY GOP SENATOR

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Patel – nominated by President Donald Trump – was confirmed as the ninth FBI director in a narrow Senate vote on Thursday, succeeding former Director Christopher Wray. He is set to be sworn in on Friday afternoon.

During the first Trump administration, Patel worked as a deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism. He played a key part in missions to take down high-ranking al Qaeda and ISIS leaders, including planning the operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in these positions. Patel also contributed to efforts to capture some of the most-wanted terrorists and bring them to the U.S. for prosecution.

 4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, arrives for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Patel was the principal deputy at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where he helped with the transition of leadership between acting DNI Ric Grenell and John Ratcliffe prior to his role as deputy to Trump and on the National Security Council. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He also focused on intelligence related to counter-narcotics and transnational threats. Prior to ODNI, Patel served as national security advisor and senior counsel for counterterrorism on the House Intelligence Committee. There, he led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, exposing FISA abuse and illegal surveillance of Americans, including Trump campaign members.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

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

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk to purge wasteful government spending, revealed on Thursday that schools have spent nearly $200 billion in COVID-relief funds “with little oversight or impact on students.”

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

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

DOGE PUTS DEI ON CHOPPING BLOCK WITH TERMINATION OF OVER $370M IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRANTS

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

“All of this money was drawn with zero documentation,” DOGE wrote in a post on X.

DOGE highlighted that the Trump administration is implementing more thorough requirements for dishing out the $4 billion left from the funds, requiring that all grantees must “provide receipts for every purchase before funding is released.”

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

While the Trump administration reworks the Department of Education’s issuing of funds, the revelations about where money has been spent have sparked outrage from local leaders and education groups across the country.

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

“Recall those school board meetings when the ruling elites of Covidstan branded mothers as selfish disruptors simply for challenging their interpretation of “The Science” and scrutinizing how they allocated ESSER Funds? Never let them forget that we were right about everything,” Moms for Liberty said in response to the findings.

Will O’Neil, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, called the funds being spent on renting the MLB stadium “an absolute joke.”

“This is outrageous,” wrote the Republican Party of Bexar County.

Department of Education Building. (iStock)

DOGE has taken specific aim at cutting spending by the Department of Education (DoEd), slashing $370 million in taxpayer dollars being spent on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) just last week.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The department terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department, including one that funded training for teachers to “engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets,” DOGE said.

A group of migrants is suing the Trump administration for ending a deportation shield for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the U.S., claiming that the move was illegal and driven by race.

The 48-page federal suit names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. government for revoking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 600,000 Venezuelans.

TPS grants protection from deportation and allows work permits for nationals living in the U.S. from countries deemed unsafe for them to be returned. Then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced extensions for TPS for Venezuela, as well as El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine, for an additional 18 months in the final few days of the Biden administration. That move, if left in place, would have complicated President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport large numbers of those nationalities.

President Donald Trump attends a town hall, moderated by then-South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on October 14, 2024.  (IM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

KRISTI NOEM JOINS IMMIGRATION RAID TO CATCH ‘DIRTBAGS’ IN MAJOR SANCTUARY CITY

“These actions have the effect of robbing 600,000 Venezuelan TPS holders of the right to live and work in this country for the next 18 months,” the lawsuit reads. 

Without the protection, at least 350,000 Venezuelan TPS holders stand to lose their legal status on April 7 and their work authorization as soon as April 2, per the lawsuit.

Another 257,000 will also be affected by September, according to the Miami Harald. Venezuelans were among the top nationalities coming into the U.S. at the height of the 2021-2024 border crisis, with many also coming in through a separate parole policy for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans—a program now ended by the Trump administration.

The program for TPS for Venezuelans was put in place amid the severe economic and political crises ongoing in the country, which has seen millions flee.

The suit takes aim at Noem and comments she made when announcing the decision to revoke the TPS. 

“The Secretary’s decisions also were motivated at least in part by racial animus, in contravention of the Fifth Amendment,” the suit reads. “That is clear from statements the Secretary made when announcing the decisions themselves, labeling Venezuelan TPS holders as ‘dirtbags’ —an expression of racism made by the official decisionmaker as part of her explanation for the decision.”

Noem made the comments while referring to a criminal illegal alien who had been apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on kidnapping, assault and burglary charges.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem participates in an immigration session in New York City. (Department of Homeland Security)

TRUMP ADMIN ENDS DEPORTATION PROTECTIONS FOR MASSIVE NUMBER OF VENEZUELANS AMID ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

“Making matters worse, that statement is just one among a torrent of similar racist statements that Secretary Noem, President Trump, and members of the Trump campaign and administration have made to attack and marginalize nonwhite immigrants generally, and the Venezuelan TPS community in particular,” the suit continues.

The plaintiffs accuse Noem of conflating many TPS holders as being members of the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) who have been terrorizing communities across the country. The plaintiffs claim that TdA’s threat to the U.S. are “overblown.

They also accuse Noem of a “baseless assertion” that Venezuela emptied its mental health facilities and sent them to the United States.

Additionally, they claim that she does not have the legal authority to revoke the TPS order.

The plaintiffs are calling on the courts to cancel Noem’s actions and reinstate the extension.

The suit was filed in San Francisco by the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network on behalf of eight Venezuelan TPS holders.

The plaintiffs include two university students, a factory worker with a 12-year-old daughter and an instructional coach who’s been living in the U.S. for 12 years. The latter’s mother, father, brother, sister and nephews all live in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens, per the lawsuit.

Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, move into Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 20, 2023. (Fox News)

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The lawsuit goes on to accuse Trump and his administration officials of embracing racist talking points, specifically White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who they accuse of supporting white nationalism and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio espoused an exaggerated depiction of TdA. 

“During President Trump’s first term, every federal district court to consider the question found ‘evidence that President Trump harbors an animus against non-white, non-European aliens which influenced his (and thereby the Secretary’s) decision to end the TPS designation[s]’ for El Salvador, Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua in 2017 and 2018,” the suit reads.

“The evidence adduced in those cases further illustrates that the conduct challenged here is part of a premeditated effort to terminate TPS without regard to applicable law or standards, and to further a racist agenda.”

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

READ THE LAWSUIT BELOW: APP USERS CLICK HERE

­

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem signed a memo this week deputizing up to 600 State Department officials as immigration officers, as part of a government-wide push to ramp up deportations and secure the border.

Noem signed an order that deputized up to 600 special agents in the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service to help with the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants.

“Under President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security will use every tool and resource available to secure our border and get criminal illegal aliens out of our country,” Noem said in a statement. “The safety of American citizens comes first.”

TRUMP’S DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY LOOKING TO DEPUTIZE IRS AGENTS FOR IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

ICE agents arrested seven illegal immigrants during a workforce operation raid. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

The move is the latest effort by the department to expand the number of officials involved in immigration enforcement, amid a push by the Trump administration to aggressively increase the arrests and deportation of illegal immigrants.

DHS has deputized IRS employees, law enforcement components of the Justice Department and law enforcement officials with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

“It is DHS’s understanding that the Department of Treasury has qualified law enforcement personnel available to assist with immigration enforcement, especially in light of recent increases to the Internal Revenue Service’s work force and budget,” Noem said last week.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. (Getty)

Fox News Digital reported last week that interior arrests have skyrocketed compared to the same period in 2024, while numbers of crossings of illegal immigrants at the border have continued to trend downward. According to Department of Homeland Security data, there were 11,791 interior ICE arrests from Jan. 20 to Feb. 8, compared to 4,969 during the same period in 2024. That is a 137% increase.

The administration has said it is trying to target the “worst of the worst,” focusing on criminal illegal immigrants and gang members but has also stressed that it is not ruling anyone out of contention. 

TRUMP FLOATS GUTTING THE IRS, MOVING AGENTS TO THE BORDER ARMED WITH GUNS

Meanwhile, the administration has secured additional cooperation at the border from Mexico and Canada, as well as agreements from Venezuela and Colombia to take back their nationals.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

DHS has also moved to shut down Biden-era parole programs and the use of Temporary Protected Status to allow migrants to avoid deportation. The administration is also tapping into the resources of the Pentagon by deploying the military to the border and is also using Guantanamo Bay to house illegal immigrants. 

Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers have launched an effort to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations, amid concern that the international humanitarian and human rights organization fails to promote American interests and align with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda. 

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced legislation Thursday called the Disengaging Entirely From the United Nations Debacle Act of 2025, which would terminate U.S. membership in the U.N. and its affiliated bodies, and funding to those groups. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is co-sponsoring the measure in the upper chamber. 

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is poised to introduce the measure in the House Friday, claiming that the U.N. and its bodies don’t advance the interests of Americans. 

TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN 

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., introduced legislation in the Senate that would cut U.S. involvement from the United Nations.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“The United Nations has devolved into a platform for tyrants and a venue to attack America and her allies,” Lee said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital. “We should stop paying for it. As President Trump revolutionizes our foreign policy by putting America first, we should withdraw from this sham organization and prioritize real alliances that keep our country safe and prosperous.”

The U.S. provides more funding than any other country to the U.N., donating more than $18 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. foreign policy think tank the Council on Foreign Relations. That makes up roughly a third of the U.N.’s entire collective budget. 

“The United Nations has enjoyed American tax money while often undermining our interests, attacking our allies and bolstering our adversaries,” Roy said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital.

“What has the United Nations achieved?” Roy said. “Despite all of the money and the attention, this corrupt globalist organization has, for decades, failed to prevent wars, genocides, human rights violations and even pandemics.”

HEAD OF UN WATCHDOG SAYS UNRWA HIRED PEOPLE ‘WHO WERE SUPPORTING TERRORISM’

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, will introduce the measure in the House on Feb. 20, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Specifically, Roy pointed to U.N. groups like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which assists Palestinian refugees and their descendants. 

However, the organization has come under scrutiny after a U.N. investigation found that UNRWA employees may have been involved in Palestinian-militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The U.S. temporarily halted funding for UNRWA in January 2024 in response to the report. 

“No sane country would stand for this,” Roy said in his statement. 

Republican Reps. Mike Rogers of Alabama, Eli Crane of Arizona, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia co-sponsored the legislation. 

The legislation also specifies that the U.S. may not participate in peace negotiations with the U.N., and bars the executive branch from entering any agreements for membership with the U.N. or its subsidiaries without Senate approval. 

DAYS BEFORE TRUMP HALTED FUNDING, AN EX-ISRAELI HOSTAGE WAS HELD AT UNRWA SCHOOL IN GAZA, SHE REVEALS

Co-sponsors of the measure in the House include the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama.  (Getty Images)

The U.N. also has received pushback from Democrats amid the Israel–Hamas conflict. For example, 11 Democrats joined Republican counterparts in sending a letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in October 2024, claiming the U.N. has failed to remain neutral and has “definitively taken sides against Israel.” 

The lawmakers pointed to a resolution the United Nations General Assembly passed that Israel return all land and assets it settled in the Palestinian Territories since 1967.

“We will not accept the U.N.’s ongoing hostility to our ally Israel,” the lawmakers wrote.

The American people remain divided on their views of the U.N. For example, more than 70% of Democrats and liberal-leaning independents reported they maintained a favorable view of the U.N., compared to 34% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, according to a Pew Research Center survey released in April 2024. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump sought to cut or reduce funding to U.N. groups during his first term, and he has also done so in his second term. He signed an executive order in February pulling the U.S. out of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council and cutting funding for UNRWA. 

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Trump administration officials to comply with his previous order to temporarily lift a freeze on nearly all foreign aid, temporarily restoring it to programs worldwide. 

In his order, Judge Amir H. Ali, a Biden appointee, said Trump administration officials had used his Feb. 13 order to temporarily lift the freeze on foreign aid to instead “come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension” of funding. 

Despite the judge’s order to the contrary, USAID Deputy Secretary Pete Marocco, a Trump appointee, and other top officials had “continued their blanket suspension of funds,” Ali said.

Still, the Washington, D.C. district court judge declined a request by nonprofit groups doing business with the U.S. Agency for International Development to find Trump administration officials in contempt of his order.

TRUMP’S DOGE STAYS ON TRACK AFTER PAIR OF FEDERAL JUDGE RULINGS

Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Ali’s ruling comes in a lawsuit by the nonprofit groups challenging the Trump administration’s month-old cutoff of foreign assistance through USAID and the State Department, which shut down $60 billion in annual aid and development programs overseas almost overnight.

Even after Ali’s order, USAID staffers and contractors say the State Department and USAID still have not restored payments, even on hundreds of millions of dollars already owed by the government.

President Donald Trump waves as he walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Marocco and other administration officials defended the nonpayment in written arguments to the judge this week. They contended that they could lawfully stop or terminate payments under thousands of contracts without violating the judge’s order.

The Trump administration says it is reviewing all State Department and USAID foreign assistance programs on a case-by-case basis to see which ones meet the Trump administration’s agenda.

TRUMP’S DOGE STAYS ON TRACK AFTER PAIR OF FEDERAL JUDGE RULINGS

Aid organizations, current and former USAID staffers in interviews and court affidavits, say the funding freeze and deep Trump administration purges of USAID staffers have brought U.S. foreign assistance globally to a halt, forced thousands of layoffs and is driving government partners to financial collapse.

FILE: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk delivers remarks as he joins U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Led by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s efforts at the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the department has been what Musk characterizes as a crusade to cut government spending and downside the federal workforce. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

DOGE so far claims to have saved some $55 billion via cuts to USAID, the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But many of DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts have brought legal challenges.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A blue California city voted last week to impose a strict ban on camping on public property, including penalties such as fines or jail time for those “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, or concealing” homeless encampments. 

While activists argue the ordinance “criminalizes” homelessness, one advocate — who himself once struggled with drug addiction and a period of homelessness — tells Fox News Digital that the Fremont City Council’s actions reflect a growing “frustration” with the escalating crisis affecting cities across the state.

“This entire ordinance was born out of frustration regarding their inability to mitigate the homeless issue, and because politicians are afraid or lack political will, in many cases, to make the hard choices that need to be made,” Tom Wolf, founder of the San Francisco Bay-area nonprofit Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Wolf, who himself was homeless for six months while addicted to fentanyl and heroin in 2018, said that Fremont’s ordinance is “not criminalizing homelessness,” but rather it is “criminalizing the behaviors that are exhibited by people who happen to be experiencing homelessness and are also struggling with drug addiction.”

CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY ALARMED BY HOMELESS CAMPS FOUND IN UNDERGROUND CAVES: ‘HUGE SAFETY HAZARD’

Homeless and fentanyl split image (Getty Images)

“It’s not as controversial as people and the media are blowing it up to be controversial, because it’s a departure from the approach that we’ve been taking for the last eight to 10 years in California, which is, ‘Oh, everyone just needs a home,’ Wolf said, referring to the state’s “Housing First” model adopted several years ago, which prioritizes providing shelter and temporary housing units to homeless without requiring sobriety or wraparound drug addiction services to people.

The Fremont City Council voted 6-1 last week in a lengthy session in favor of banning camping on any public property “including any street, sidewalk, park, open space, waterway, or banks of a waterway or any private property not designated and equipped for such camping” as well as “any land designated as a high fire risk area.”

Fremont is roughly 40 miles south of San Francisco.

The new ordinance states that anyone “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing” encampments shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subjected to either a $1000 fine or up to six months in jail. Violators may also be subjected to a temporary seizure of personal property.

CALIFORNIA CITY PASSES SWEEPING HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT BAN ON ALL PUBLIC PROPERTY

A homeless encampment in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, Wednesday, January 8, 2025. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

“Fremont is not a conservative city,” conservative think tank California Policy Center expert Edward Ring told Fox News Digital. “It’s part of one of the most liberal regions in the country. So, the fact that they’re doing this, it’s not a reflection of some sort of harsh conservative mentality.”

“It’s a bipartisan conclusion, a non-partisan conclusion, that the city council has come to, and they’ve apparently decided that just a ban isn’t going to be sufficient, because there are so many groups associated with the homeless nowadays that call themselves advocates for the homeless,” Ring added.

“But what they’re basically doing by aggressively protecting the right of people to camp in public spaces, for example, is perpetuating homelessness,” he said.

These groups include nonprofits and homeless outreach workers who offer services to homeless people. These services include optional substance abuse treatment, housing, temporary shelter, tents, and even “safe” supplies for drug use, in line with the state-sanctioned “Harm Reduction” model, which focuses on preventing overdoses and infections rather than stopping drug use altogether.

Wolf said he takes issue with much of the Harm Reduction’s strategy because “people are going to still continue to use because they’re out there on the street addicted to drugs.”

As of the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, which provides a snapshot of homelessness on a single night completed annually, Fremont reported 612 homeless individuals, marking a 21% decrease from the previous count in 2022.

California’s homeless population was estimated at approximately 187,000 after last year’s PIT count, making it the highest in the nation for unsheltered homeless people. The 2025 count is currently underway across the state’s cities.

CALIFORNIA PLANS TO CONTINUE ALLOWING TRANS ATHLETES TO COMPETE IN GIRLS’ SPORTS DESPITE TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER

Oakland Homeless encampment (Getty Images)

“The purpose of this chapter is to maintain streets, parks and other public and private areas within the city in a clean, sanitary and accessible condition and to adequately protect the health, safety and public welfare of the community, while recognizing that, subject to reasonable conditions, camping and camp facilities associated with special events can be beneficial to the cultural and educational climate in the city,” the ordinance reads.

It continued, “The use of streets and public areas within the city for camping purposes or for storage of personal property interferes with the rights of the public to use these areas for which they were intended. Such activity can constitute a public health and safety hazard that adversely impacts residential neighborhoods and commercial areas. Camping without the consent of the owner and proper sanitary measures adversely affects private property rights, public health, safety, and welfare of the city. Nothing in this chapter is intended to interfere with otherwise lawful and ordinary uses of public or private property.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Beyond California, cities like Washougal, Washington, have also adopted anti-camping restrictions, though Fremont’s is unique due to its penalties.

The anti-camping law comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that local governments have the authority to ban camping on public property, allowing cities to clear homeless encampments. The decision came after the Court declined to review a lower court ruling that upheld Boise, Idaho’s ban on camping, effectively setting a precedent for other municipalities to follow.

Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans scored a win over their House counterparts in the early morning hours of Friday, officially passing their preferred budget resolution to tackle some of President Trump’s priorities, such as securing the southern border. 

After hours of back-to-back voting on Democratic amendments, the bill to fund border security, energy and defense finally got its vote on the chamber floor. 

“[T]his particular budget resolution… addresses the president’s priority, top priority, which is securing the border and implementing and putting in place his immigration policies, rebuilding our military, and creating energy dominance for this country,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Wednesday, previewing the eventual vote. 

The leader and Republicans in the upper chamber started to move forward with the all-important budget reconciliation process earlier this month, pushing their preferred plan through a key committee and clearing a procedural hurdle. 

EXCLUSIVE: DEMS TO FORCE VOTES ON MEDICAID AS IT BECOMES SORE POINT IN SENATE BUDGET FIGHT

Thune succeeded McConnell as Republican leader. (Getty Images)

The move came despite House Republicans being expected to take the lead on passing a budget bill first. Thune and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also pressed on even after Trump came out in support of the House’s proposal, endorsing it earlier this week on Truth Social. 

The decision to move forward with the Senate’s alternative budget plan, which is two-pronged as opposed to the House’s effort to pass one large bill, was blessed by Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, a source told Fox News Digital.

Trump himself did not seem bothered by their effort either, posting on Truth Social, “Thank you to Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, for working so hard on funding the Trump Border Agenda. We are setting records, the likes of which have never been seen before, on stopping criminal illegals aliens from entering our Country. Put simply, we are delivering for the American People, far faster and, more successfully, than anyone thought possible. Your work on funding this effort is greatly appreciated!”

SCOOP: REPUBLICAN DANIEL CAMERON BLASTED BY LIKELY GOP OPPONENT AS MCCONNELL SUCCESSOR FIGHT BEGINS

Trump initially said he wanted one bill. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

The Senate’s procedural vote earlier in the week triggered a 50-hour debate clock that ended on Thursday night. Then, a marathon of votes, known as a “Vote-a-Rama,” began. 

Senators were able to introduce an unlimited number of amendments, of which many received floor votes. The process forced Republicans to take many potentially uncomfortable votes teed up by their Democratic counterparts. 

“Tonight, one amendment at a time, Democrats exposed Republicans’ true colors here on the Senate floor. For the first time this year, Senate Republicans were forced to go on record and defend their plans to cut taxes for Donald Trump’s billionaire friends. What happened tonight was only the beginning. This debate is going to go on for weeks and maybe months. Democrats will be ready to come back and do this over and over again, because Americans deserve to know the truth,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement following the budget resolution’s passage. 

“Again and again and again, Republicans sent a clear and consistent message from the Senate floor: under their agenda, billionaires win, and American families lose. If Republicans continue with this reckless plan to help their billionaire buddies at the expense of American families, Democrats will make sure the American people know the truth at every opportunity,” the Democratic leader continued. 

In the Senate Republicans’ budget plan, the first reconciliation bill includes Trump’s priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense. The second bill, to be drawn up later in the year, would focus on extending Trump’s tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The cuts begin to expire at the end of 2025. 

SUSAN COLLINS VOWS TO OPPOSE TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL AHEAD OF CRITICAL VOTE

Thune and Graham moved forward with the White House’s blessing. (Getty Images)

By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, reconciliation allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold.

The process is crucial for Republicans, who have a trifecta in Washington, to get key Trump goals accomplished. 

KASH PATEL’S CONFIRMATION AS TRUMP FBI PICK ‘WILL HAUNT YOU,’ SENATE DEMS WARN GOP AHEAD OF VOTE

The House hasn’t brought their budget to the floor yet. (Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has claimed that the Senate’s first budget bill, along with its two-pronged approach, would be dead on arrival in the lower chamber. He has remained committed to including tax cuts in the bill with border security and other priorities. 

The House has managed to move their version through the appropriate committee, but a floor vote has yet to be scheduled. 

EXCLUSIVE: Governors from across the country are descending upon Washington, D.C., this week for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting. Among them is Gov. Tate Reeves, R-Miss., who said the Department of Government Efficiency has renewed Republican governors’ optimism in the federal government.

Reeves, who was elected governor of Mississippi in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the Republican Governors Association that DOGE aligns with Republican governors’ “fiscal sanity.”

“There’s no doubt that Republican governors lead the nation in fiscal responsibility and, quite frankly, in fiscal sanity. Part of that is because, as governors, we have to balance our budgets back home. For us to see the efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency, by Elon Musk and his team with the support of President Trump, it gives us great reason for optimism, because we think that there are literally billions and billions of dollars in spending in the federal government that should not be spent, that are for waste, fraud and abuse,” Reeves said. 

The second-term governor said most Americans appreciate DOGE’s audit and Republicans won’t allow the federal government to spend American taxpayer dollars on “some of the crazy things that have been identified in the last several weeks.”

SURPRISING NEW POLL NUMBERS RELEASED ON TRUMP’S PERFORMANCE SO FAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Mississippi Republican gubernatorial candidate Tate Reeves, left, stands with President Donald Trump during a “Keep America Great” campaign rally at BancorpSouth Arena on November 1, 2019 in Tupelo, Mississippi. (Brandon Dill/Getty Images)

“We believe that we ought to treat the taxpayers’ money exactly the way we would treat our own money. We’re not going to allow our own money to be spent on things that don’t make sense. We don’t think we ought to use the taxpayers’ money, spending them on things like what has been found in the last couple of three weeks,” Reeves added.

MUSK WEIGHS A ‘DOGE DIVIDEND’ TO SEND AMERICANS CHECKS USING SAVED FUNDS

Meanwhile, Reeves can’t wrap his head around Democrats’ rejection of government efficiency. 

“I’m really perplexed as to why Democrats have not actually supported these efforts,” Reeves said. “There was a time in America where all politicians of reasonable stripes would say we ought to try to make government more efficient. We ought to ensure that government money is being spent in the right way.”

Reeves questioned who benefited from the misuse of taxpayer dollars during President Joe Biden’s administration. 

“The Democrats’ opposition to these audits is really beyond my ability to comprehend. The reality is that they are fighting for waste, fraud and abuse in government. It’s almost as if they want that waste, fraud and abuse. It drives you to the question of who’s benefiting from the way in which the Biden administration spent these dollars in the last four years.”

Democrats have called DOGE’s ongoing layoffs and President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders a “constitutional crisis.” Reeves said Trump is doing exactly what he was elected to do. 

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves delivers his State of the State address to the Mississippi State Legislature, Feb. 26, 2024, at the state Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

“When you talk about their claims of a constitutional crisis, a duly elected president managing the executive branch of government is not a constitutional crisis. In fact, it is exactly what the duly elected executive is supposed to do. President Trump is doing exactly what he got the mandate to do when he was elected overwhelmingly in the election in November. He got that mandate in large part because the Democrats have gone so far to the left that most people in the middle don’t even recognize the Democrat Party of today, and they’re just continuing down that path in deciding that government efficiency is not something they want to support,” Reeves said. 

Reeves added Trump’s return to the White House has empowered governors’ voices on both sides of the political aisle, drawing a stark contrast between President Joe Biden’s and Trump’s presidencies. 

“Having President Trump in office is a big plus, not only for me or for our Republican governors, but really for all governors,” Reeves said. “The first thing I would say about President Trump is that it is just completely different than what we saw during the Biden years, regardless of politics, regardless of policy views. President Trump respects and wants to hear from governors. He wants to know what other chief executives are doing in the states. We have a voice and that’s incredibly important.”

Mississippi incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and his family speak to supporters during an election night watch party at The Refuge Hotel & Conference Center on November 7, 2023 in Flowood, Mississippi. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Reeves said, unlike what he saw during Biden’s administration, Trump genuinely values all governors’ opinions, and having access to the president again is encouraging. 

“I think even some of those governors on the other side of the political aisle will recognize that it’s certainly something that President Trump values is our opinion. That’s something that we’re going to see over the next few days, having multiple opportunities to sit down and visit with the president, so that’s encouraging.”

Reeves said Trump’s return to Washington is building on Mississippi’s momentum in education, artificial intelligence and manufacturing. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“We want to work with President Trump in his efforts to onshore more manufacturing. That’s something that’s important to Mississippi’s economy. Many states across the country gave up on manufacturing 20 years ago. Mississippi never gave up on manufacturing. And that’s the reason we have a workforce that is ready for tremendous economic growth and prosperity. We’re going to take advantage of that,” Reeves said.