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The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm the nomination of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration (SBA). 

Kelly Loeffler, a prominent business executive and philanthropist who served as a senator from Georgia for two years, will now lead the agency. She unveiled plans during her confirmation hearing to reduce regulatory burdens on small business owners, and enhance access to SBA-backed loans and grants. 

The agency aims to provide small business owners with counseling, capital and contracting expertise to advance their businesses. 

Loeffler appeared before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Jan. 28 to outline her vision and promised that Trump’s policies would “restore the small business economy” that would lead to a “golden era of prosperity and growth.” 

TRUMP’S SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION NOMINEE ADVANCES TO THE SENATE FLOOR 

“That’s exactly what the America First agenda does — by ending inflation, cutting taxes, unleashing American energy dominance, slashing regulation, and reining in fraud, waste, and abuse across government,” Loeffler said in her opening remarks. 

Loeffler and her husband, Jeff, created a Fortune 500 financial services and technology company together, and she has told lawmakers she intends to donate her annual $207,500 salary as SBA administrator to charity.

Loeffler, whose net worth is estimated at roughly $1 billion, previously donated her annual Senate salary of $174,000 between 2019 and 2021 to more than 40 Georgia charities and nonprofits. 

Those organizations included food banks, faith groups and organizations opposed to abortion, foster care/adoption groups as well as organizations promoting health care, agriculture, education, law enforcement and disaster relief.

The Senate voted Thursday by a 51–43 margin to advance Loeffler’s nomination for the final confirmation vote.

Chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, backed Loeffler’s nomination, citing Loeffler’s “zero-tolerance policy for waste, fraud and abuse” within the agency. 

Additionally, Ernst voiced support for Loeffler’s plans to conduct a full-scale audit of the SBA to weed out any wasteful spending. 

TRUMP CABINET NOMINEE LOEFFLER PLEDGED TO DONATE SALARY IF CONFIRMED 

“Senator Loeffler is immensely qualified for this role,” Ernst said on the Senate floor Thursday. “As a successful businesswoman, it is abundantly clear that Senator Loeffler truly understands what it takes to be an entrepreneur and will be an effective voice for small businesses across America.”

However, ranking member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, pushed back on Loeffler’s nomination amid concern that her confirmation would pave the way for the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to “illegally cut off funding” for small business owners. As a result, he said that Trump is looking to fill his cabinet with those that will follow his “illegal bidding.” 

Markey and Loeffler also sparred during her confirmation hearing in January after the Trump administration announced Jan. 27 that it would freeze federal funds and grants that aimed to eradicate “wokeness” and the “weaponization of government.” 

TRUMP SIGNS ORDER INSTRUCTING DOGE TO MASSIVELY CUT FEDERAL WORKFORCE

While the White House rescinded the memo on Jan. 29, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the federal funding freeze remained in effect. 

As a result, Markey pressed Loeffler on whether she believed the move was lawful or not, following backlash from members of Congress that the Trump administration attempted to illegally circumvent Congress and withhold funds. 

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“I fully agree with President Trump’s decision to stop wasteful spending,” Loeffler told Markey. “It resulted in a landslide victory that many Americans were waiting for relief against excessive government spending.” 

The Trump administration has frozen applications for three Biden-era migrant parole programs, including for Ukrainians and migrants from Latin America, as it continues to crack down on what conservatives say was an abuse of parole by the prior administration.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has implemented an agency wide administrative pause on all pending benefit requests for migrants filing under the three programs.

“This is an administrative hold on all pending USCIS Benefit Requests filed by Parolees Under the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) Process, Processes for Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) Process, or Family Reunification Parole (FRP) Process,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

“This is pending the completion of additional vetting to identify any fraud, public safety, or national security concerns,” they said.

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

President Donald Trump had already ordered an end to multiple parole programs on his first day in office, which was quickly enacted. The DHS has also allowed for those in the U.S. on parole processes to have their parole status canceled. 

However, CBS News first reported that a Feb. 14 memo also pauses pending requests already allowed into the U.S. under three programs. The first program is Uniting for Ukraine, which used humanitarian parole to allow in Ukrainians in the wake of the Russian invasion.

The CHNV program was highly controversial and allowed for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to receive travel authorization and fly into the United States under parole. Over 500,000 migrants flew in under that program. It was briefly paused last year after DHS discovered fraud in sponsor applications, a development first reported by Fox News Digital.

The third program impacts the family reunification parole process, which was opened up to nationals from countries including Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba and Haiti, and allowed nationals who have relatives who are U.S. citizens or green card holders to enter the U.S. for parole as they also apply for a green card.

“The Family Reunification Parole process promotes family unity consistent with our laws and our values,” then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in 2023. 

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

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

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A DHS memo from last month said that parole “has been repeatedly abused by the Executive Branch over the past several decades in ways that are blatantly inconsistent with the statute.”

“Most important, the parole statute does not authorize categorical parole programs that make aliens presumptively eligible on the basis of some set of broadly applicable criteria,” it says.

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

The new pause is the latest in a slew of measures to overhaul the immigration system and shake off programs championed by the Biden administration. The Trump administration has suspended refugee resettlement and has also ended the use of the CBP One app to allow migrants to be paroled into the U.S. at ports of entry.

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That is connected to a mass deportation operation launched by the administration on day one, as well as a rapid-fire series of moves to increase border security. The administration has also ordered a review of parole programs, and has also taken limits off the use of expedited removals in order to quickly remove recently-arrived illegal immigrants. 

House Democrats have a new coordinated pressure campaign aimed at restricting Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), based on leveraging the GOP’s razor-thin majority.

Recent days have seen Democratic lawmakers take to both traditional and social media to publicly urge “just three House Republicans” to cross the aisle and vote for a bill designed to stop Musk from accessing U.S. citizens’ records in the Department of Treasury. 

“I’m supporting the Taxpayer Data Protection Act because it will protect Americans’ private data from Elon Musk and his reckless DOGE employees,” Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., wrote on X. “Republican leadership has to let us vote. If they don’t, it only takes three lone Republicans to join us and make it happen.”

Generally, legislation needs to have the blessing of majority party leaders to get a House-wide vote. 

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But Lee’s comments appear to signal that House Democrats are prepared to use a discharge petition to end-run GOP leaders’ likely opposition. It’s a mechanism to force legislation up for a House-wide vote, provided the petition gets signatures from a majority of House lawmakers.

Meanwhile, in an MSNBC interview earlier this week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., suggested Democrats’ highlighting of Republicans’ thin majority could be a running theme in the 119th Congress.

“What we’ve been saying to our Republican colleagues is that on any issue that the American people are concerned about, it only takes three Republicans to break with the other side of the aisle, join the 215 Democrats, and we can stop them in their tracks. It only takes three,” Jeffries said.

“Meanwhile, they’re in the witness protection program as it relates to the things that are taking place – don’t want to take a stand, don’t want to offend Elon Musk, don’t want to offend Donald Trump, but they’re really offending the people that they were elected to represent.”

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

He stopped short of endorsing any specific legislation, however. Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ office to ask if he would be supportive of a discharge petition.

Other Democrats were more targeted in their approach, like progressive Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., who wrote on X, “It’s not rocket science: an unelected billionaire should NOT have access to your personal financial info!”

“If just three House Republicans join us, we can pass a bill that stops Musk from accessing your private info. But the [House GOP] is siding with their favorite billionaire donor over everyday Americans,” Pocan wrote on Tuesday.

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., said on the site, “This isn’t complicated: allowing access to these sensitive IRS records by an unelected businessman is dangerous. We can protect your privacy if just three House Republicans join us to pass legislation that stops accessing your private information.”

It will likely be an ongoing theme for the next two years as Republicans navigate a majority of less than a handful of House seats.

The number three also coincides with how many House Republicans won districts that former Vice President Kamala Harris prevailed over Trump in last year. 

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Those Republicans – Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Don Bacon, R-Neb. – are likely to be main targets for Democrats.

The vast majority of House Republicans have been supportive of Musk’s DOGE efforts, however, even as Democrats sound alarm bells about the billionaire’s lack of government experience and accuse him of possible conflicts of interest.

Republicans have argued that the $36 trillion national debt amounted to a fiscal crisis that called for extraordinary measures.

President Donald Trump‘s return to the White House appears to have sparked a change in tune on K Street, the heart of lobbyist influence in Washington, D.C., as several prominent lobbyist voices are now pledging to work with the new president after previously criticizing him.  

“Manufacturers are ready to work with @realDonaldTrump to roll back the federal regulatory onslaught, unleash American energy and build on the success of the pro-growth Trump Tax Cuts,” Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), posted on X after Trump’s victory, adding in a press release that he congratulates Trump on “on his historic victory and strong performance across manufacturing intensive states.”

The praise of Trump comes after years of vigorously criticizing him, including after the January 6 riot, when he said that Trump “incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy.”

Additionally, Timmons called on then-Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office.

NEW POLL REVEALS WHICH TRUMP POLICIES AMERICANS LOVE AND HATE

“What we saw on January 6th was absolutely one of the most horrifying things that any of us who love America could have ever witnessed,” Timmons said.

Timmons also said that Trump’s handling of the coronavirus appeared to have been “weaponized, and it became a political tool.”

Timmons also had a long history of praising the Biden administration for its accomplishments, saying that he “built a substantial legacy” in four years and celebrating Biden’s work on the coronavirus when he was elected by saying “it is fantastic to have a partner in the White House”, adding that “we felt like we were fighting this fight, frankly, all alone for the last year.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a NAM spokesperson said, “President Trump wants to grow manufacturing in the United States. The NAM is working with him to do that.” 

Shortly after Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race, NAM put out a press release saying that Biden “Has Rallied the World to the Cause of Democracy.”

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Stephen Ubl, president and chief executive officer of PhRMA, also spoke out about January 6, calling it “appalling,” and took issue with some aspects of Trump’s agenda items, including his executive order push to “Buy American,” which Ubl said would create “even more barriers to innovation and efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.”

Ubl’s company, along with other organizations, filed a lawsuit in 2020 “against the Trump administration’s new rules for lowering drug prices.”

Ubl, who has donated at least $15,000 to Democrats, has struck a more positive tone since Trump’s victory, posting on X that he is “committed to working with the Trump administration and the new Congress to make our health care system work better for patients while preserving our unique ecosystem that enables greater innovation and lower costs for patients.” 

Ubl met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in early December, and PhRMA donated funds to Trump’s inauguration. 

“With President Trump now officially sworn into office, I look forward to working with his administration to address key challenges facing our industry and fighting for solutions to help patients access and afford the treatments they need,” Ubl posted on X in January. 

Neil Bradley, the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, said after January 6 that Trump’s words and actions “have no place in a free and Democratic society” and the New York Times reported that he said the chamber is “evaluating how lawmakers voted last week during the electoral vote certification process and how they vote in the coming days when the House moves to impeach Mr. Trump when making decisions about donations.”

Bradley was also critical of President Trump’s decision to end DACA, saying in 2017 that it “runs contrary to the president’s goal of growing the U.S. economy.”

Bradley, a Democratic donor who donated to former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney after she voted to impeach Trump, said after Trump’s election that “his actions are a long overdue change in direction that will help unleash the American economy, resulting in more innovation and faster growing paychecks for American workers.”

Shortly after Trump’s victory, the Business Roundtable (BRT) put out a press release saying that it “congratulates President-elect Donald Trump on his election as the 47th President of the United States.”

“We look forward to working with the incoming Trump Administration and all federal and state policymakers.”

Before Trump’s re-election, several members of the BRT were highly critical of Trump, including CEO Joshua Bolten, who called Trump unfit for office in 2016, before he joined BRT in 2017, and donated to prominent Trump critic Liz Cheney in 2021 and 2022. 

Bolten also donated to Trump critic and former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger in 2021 after he voted to impeach Trump. 

Kristen Silverberg, president and COO of BRT, signed a letter opposing Trump’s election in 2016, before she joined BRT in 2019, and donated several thousand dollars to Cheney’s re-election efforts after she voted to impeach Trump, FEC records show. 

Records also show that Silverberg donated multiple times to Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign against Trump in the Republican primary in 2023, as well as Chris Christie’s campaign in the same primary. 

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BRT hosted President Trump twice during CEO Quarterly Meetings with Bolten and Silverberg at the helm, and the group also met with then-vice presidential candidate JD Vance during their Q3 2024 meeting with CEOs in September. 

The organization pointed to Bolten and Silverberg making no public anti-Trump statements since 2016 and said they have worked “closely” with both Trump administrations on important policy initiatives. The organization also said that donations to Cheney, a former colleague, were for her reelection and not her anti-Trump efforts.

“Business Roundtable worked with President Trump to advance tax reform and USMCA during his first term, and we look forward to working together in his second to continue advancing economic policies that expand opportunity for all Americans,” BRT spokesperson Michael Steel told Fox News Digital. “Those policies include extending and strengthening the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, securing major regulatory and permitting reforms, and ensuring a skilled U.S. workforce.”

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) still employs more people than it did in 2019, despite “Democrat hysteria” over recent cuts within the department’s agencies, Fox News Digital exclusively learned. 

A senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital that there have been 6,000 departures from HHS since Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. The agency, however, still employs nearly 6,000 more people than it did in 2019, including more than 2,000 employees at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relative to 2019 numbers, and 1,200 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Hiring at HHS ballooned between fiscal year 2019 and 2024, the senior Trump administration official said, with 17% more full-time employees by 2024. Fifty percent of overall jobs in the U.S. that were created in 2024 were indirect or direct government jobs, the official added. 

“Democrat hysteria about essential offices in HHS being culled — again, every operating division has either more or roughly stagnant headcount relative to” fiscal year 2019, a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital. 

ACADEMIC UNIONS PLAN DEMONSTRATIONS OUTSIDE HHS BUILDING, AT MED SCHOOLS, TO PROTEST TRUMP RESEARCH CUTS

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed and sworn-in as the nation’s 26th secretary of Health and Human Services on Thursday, when President Donald Trump also signed an executive order creating the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which is “investigating and addressing the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis.” The commission initially will focus its investigations into childhood chronic diseases, such as autism. 

News reports spread shortly after Kennedy’s confirmation that widespread layoffs were headed to HHS employees, including within the CDC and FDA. The Trump administration is in the midst of working to streamline the federal government by cutting overspending and stamping out potential fraud or mismanagement, which has included mass layoffs at various agencies. 

RFK JR’S HEALTH AGENDA GAINS POPULARITY AMONG STATE LAWMAKERS

The head of the FDA’s food division, Jim Jones, submitted his resignation letter Monday, according to various news reports, arguing the administration’s “indiscriminate firing” of staff in his division will be a “roadblock to achieving the Secretary’s stated objectives of making America healthy again.”

“I was looking forward to working to pursue the Department’s agenda of improving the health of Americans by reducing diet-related chronic disease and risks from chemicals in food,” Jones said. “It has been increasingly clear that with the Trump Administration’s disdain for the very people necessary to implement your agenda, however, it would have been fruitless for me to continue in this role.”

Federal employees also staged a protest outside HHS in Washington, D.C., on Friday, while a cohort of academic unions around the country are rallying the science community to join another protest outside HHS on Wednesday, billed as a “National Day of Action.”

TRUMP’S ‘MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN’ COMMISSION TO TARGET AUTISM, CHRONIC DISEASES

The Trump administration explained to Fox News Digital that those who were terminated over the weekend included probationary employees — who are individuals recently hired by the agency and still under consideration for long-term employment. 

“Not people carrying longtime essential ‘institutional’ knowledge,” the admin official said of those terminated. 

The recent HHS culling over the weekend did not include key personnel focused on emergency preparedness and response within the Administration for Strategy Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the CDC and other divisions of HHS, nor did it cull research scientists at the CDC or National Institutes of Health, or frontline healthcare providers at the Indian Health Service, employees working on Medicare and Medicaid at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or those reviewing and approving drugs or conducting inspections at FDA. 

Additionally, employees working on refugee resettlement within the Administration of Children and Families were exempt from the weekend layoffs. 

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO BLOCK FEDERAL MONEY FOR SCHOOLS, UNIVERSITIES WITH COVID VACCINE MANDATES 

“Cuts we made at HHS over the weekend did not compromise health and safety of Americans,” the admin official added.

Kennedy vowed during his Senate confirmation hearings that he would scrutinize the department’s previous modus operandi, remove potential financial conflicts and ensure tax dollars were spent on both bolstering healthy foods for Americans, and providing “unbiased” scientific reports. 

“We will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove the financial conflicts of interest in our agencies,” he told the Senate Finance Committee in describing his goals. “We will create an honest, unbiased, science-driven HHS, accountable to the president, to Congress, and to the American people.”

Both Kennedy and Trump pledged on the campaign trail to “Make America Healthy Again,” including directing their focus on autism among youths in recent years. The recently minted MAHA commission will investigate chronic conditions for both adults and children, including those related to autism, which the White House said affects one in 36 children.

The commission is expected to publish “an assessment that summarizes what is known and what questions remain regarding the childhood chronic disease crisis, and include international comparisons,” within 100 days of the commission’s founding. Within 180 days, it is expected to “produce a strategy, based on the findings of the assessment, to improve the health of America’s children,” Fox Digital reported. 

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Since Kennedy’s confirmation, state-level lawmakers have introduced a wave of bills aimed at advancing priorities championed by Kennedy and the MAHA movement, including prohibiting junk food like candy and soda from school lunches and other bills aimed at amending state vaccine rules. 

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

An Arizona state bill would allow local and state authorities to shoot down drones used by drug cartels.

House Bill 2733, sponsored by Republican state Rep. David Marshall, would provide qualified immunity to authorities for injuries that may be caused by taking out an “unmanned” drone within 30 miles of the southern border. Cartels regularly use drones as a tool to monitor law enforcement activity around the border in hopes of evading them in their own smuggling operations, even using the technology to send their drugs into the country.  

Although the situation at the border is calming down, there are still plenty of issues to tackle when it comes to crime, according to one sheriff. 

BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER DOUBLES DOWN ON ICE RESISTANCE: ‘WE DON’T ENFORCE’ DETAINERS

“As the border gets more secure under President Trump’s new administration, we didn’t think for a second that drug cartels were just gonna go away,” Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes, who is the president of the Arizona Sheriffs’ Association, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“They’re getting more creative now – drone technology for smuggling drones over the border and dropping them, you know, external loads out in the desert to be picked up. They’ve been doing that for a while, but it’s increasing in frequency. And so local law enforcement can literally see these things fly through the air, but you don’t know where they’re going,” he continued.

HOMAN TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CROSSINGS PLUMMET DURING TRUMP ADMIN: ‘HE IS DELIVERING’

The use of small aircraft is becoming a key concern for not only local and state authorities, but also federal border agents, as an expert recently told Fox News Digital that the cartels are trying to find ways to keep the cash flowing in despite the recent border crackdown.

The state-level legislation is co-sponsored by a mix of Republicans and Democrats, which is a rare moment of bipartisanship, as some of the state’s leaders are bitterly divided on the new administration’s border and immigration policies. Still, drug interdiction has been a point of common ground in the Grand Canyon State.

ILLEGAL-SMUGGLING COYOTES NOW ADVERTISING AT CANADA BORDER AMID TRUMP MIGRANT CRACKDOWN: REPORT

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“This bill gives them the tools they need to do exactly that. Let’s empower Arizona law enforcement to disable these cartel drones. Let’s give our sheriffs the authority to fight back by passing this bill. And let’s work together to take back our border from the Mexican drug cartels,” Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes said at a news conference on Monday, as she’s been asking for a policy to be enacted on the issue as of last spring.

If the bill passes the Republican-majority legislature, it will then head to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ desk. The governor’s office did not respond in time to comment on whether she plans to sign the legislation. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lashed out at President Donald Trump on Wednesday, suggesting that Trump is in a “disinformation space” regarding peace talks with Russia.

Zelenskyy made the comments to reporters in Kyiv after canceling a trip to Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. and Russia held peace talks earlier in the week. 

“Unfortunately, President Trump – I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us – unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky said.

Zelenskyy’s canceled trip to Saudi Arabia was widely seen as a rebuke of the agreements Trump’s team made with Russian counterparts during their Tuesday meeting there. Trump also followed up the meeting with aggressive criticism of Zelenskyy and Ukraine.

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“Today I heard, ‘Oh well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should’ve ended it after three years. You should’ve never started it. You could’ve made a deal,” Trump said, appearing to suggest Ukraine was at fault in the war.

PUTIN VIEWED AS ‘GREAT COMPETITOR’ BUT STILL A US ‘ADVERSARY’ AS UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS LOOM, LEAVITT SAYS 

Trump envoy Keith Kellog, a retired 3-star general, arrived in Kyiv to hold talks with Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Ukrainian officials have emphasized that any peace deal will require U.S. security guarantees in order to ensure Russia does not continue the violence.

“We understand the need for security guarantees,” Kellog told Ukrainian media.

“It’s very clear to us the importance of the sovereignty of this nation and the independence of this nation as well…. Part of my mission is to sit and listen,” he added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio led the U.S. delegation in Saudi Arabia, meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce also confirmed that Rubio’s team agreed to “lay the groundwork for cooperation” with Russia on various issues in addition to Ukraine. They also agreed to appoint “high-level teams” to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine.

Their proposed framework for a peace agreement would see a ceasefire, followed by elections in Ukraine and the signing of a final agreement.

Reports from multiple foreign diplomatic sources say forcing Ukraine to hold new elections could be a key part of a peace deal. Both the U.S. and Russia believe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a low chance of winning re-election, the sources say.

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“Putin assesses the probability of electing a puppet president as quite high and is also convinced that any candidate other than the current President of Ukraine will be more flexible and ready for negotiations and concessions,” the diplomatic sources said in a readout of the meeting.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a pro-union Republican, will go before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Wednesday for a confirmation hearing to be the next Secretary of Labor. 

President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Labor will be questioned by committee senators beginning at 10 a.m. 

Chavez-DeRemer has already found an opponent in Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is a member of HELP.

“Her support for the PRO Act, which would not only oppose national right to work, but it would preempt state law on right to work,” he previously told reporters. “I think it’s not a good thing, and it’d be sort of hard for me since it’s a big issue for me to support her. So I won’t support her.”

MCCONNELL’S MENTAL ACUITY TARGETED BY TRUMP AFTER EX-SENATE LEADER JOINS DEMS AGAINST CABINET NOMINEES

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) is a piece of legislation designed to protect union workers and was introduced in Congress several years ago. It would effectively kill state-level laws that prohibit employers and unions from requiring workers to pay union dues as a condition of their employment. Republicans have traditionally supported such Right-to-Work laws, and many have opposed the PRO Act for that reason.

As of the night before the confirmation hearing, Paul was still planning to oppose Trump’s pick. “If she wanted to make a public statement saying that her support for the PRO Act was incorrect and she no longer does, then I’d think about her nomination,” he told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

 Fox News Digital asked a representative for Chavez-DeRemer whether her support for the bill had changed but did not receive a response. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., foreshadowed the questions Chavez-DeRemer would face while speaking with reporters recently. 

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“[S]upport for the PRO Act is not something that most Republicans have tolerated in the past, but I think she’s attempted to address that, and my hope is that she can further clarify her position on some of those issues when she goes through the hearing process,” Thune said.  

If Paul chooses to vote “no” or abstain from voting at the committee level, Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination could fail to get a majority of “yes” votes or end up tied. However, it could still be reported and scheduled for a floor vote, without a favorable recommendation from the committee. In this case, she would need to amass 60 votes in the full Senate to move on to confirmation. 

TRUMP AGRICULTURE PICK CONFIRMED AS PRESIDENT RACKS UP CABINET WINS

Following his election in November, Trump announced Chavez-DeRemer as his choice to lead the Labor Department. 

“Lori has worked tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America,” he said in a statement at the time. “I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand Training and Apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs. Together, we will achieve historic cooperation between Business and Labor that will restore the American Dream for Working Families.”

TULSI GABBARD SWORN IN AT WHITE HOUSE HOURS AFTER SENATE CONFIRMATION

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“Lori’s strong support from both the Business and Labor communities will ensure that the Labor Department can unite Americans of all backgrounds behind our Agenda for unprecedented National Success — Making America Richer, Wealthier, Stronger and more Prosperous than ever before!”

Medicaid is quickly emerging as a political lightning rod as House Republicans negotiate on a massive bill to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Some Republican lawmakers are worried about the level of spending cuts being sought by fiscal hawks to offset the cost of Trump’s policies, arguing the current deal could force potentially unworkable cuts on Medicaid and other federal safety net programs.

“I’m concerned that $880 billion out of [the House Energy & Commerce Committee] is likely very steep cuts to Medicaid – and it’s the very thing President Trump asked us not to do,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

GOP lawmakers are working to pass a broad swath of Trump policies – from investments in defense and border security to extending his 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips – via the budget reconciliation process. The mechanism allows the party in control of both houses of Congress to pass a tax and budget bill without help from the opposing party.

KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

But conservative spending hawks are looking for deep cuts in federal dollars to offset money going toward Trump’s priorities. The current resolution advancing through the House would aim to cut government spending by at least $1.5 trillion, while allocating $4.5 trillion toward Trump’s tax cuts.

An amendment added after conservatives balked at that deal would cut funding going toward Trump’s tax cuts by $500 billion if at least $2 trillion total spending cuts were not reached. 

Even before the additional cuts, however, some Republicans like Bacon are concerned that the $880 billion that the Energy & Commerce Committee is tasked with cutting will negatively impact their constituents.

Conservatives have pushed back, arguing that significant cuts could be found in Medicaid work requirements. But skeptics of that argument say that the level of spending cuts being sought go past what work requirements can cover.

“We want to ensure that it’s not going to hurt… our hospitals, or our organizations that serve the developmentally disabled, and we’re asking for clarity on where the $880 billion in savings come from,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., the only House Republican representing part of New York City, told Fox News Digital.

She did agree with GOP rebels that there was “mismanagement” and waste to root out in those programs.

Malliotakis and other Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee tasked with writing tax policy are also uneasy about the new amendment that could cut funds allocated to their panel.

“I don’t think that is doable without affecting beneficiaries, and I’ve expressed that concern to leadership and in talking to some of my colleagues,” Malliotakis said.

Another House Republican who declined to be named told Fox News Digital that “there’s a bunch of us” who think the proposed cuts “are too big.”

“They’re trying to sell us $1.5 trillion, but in reality, there’s another $500 billion attached to it that they’re trying to cut. And it’s not going to pass,” the GOP lawmaker said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., who unseated a Democrat in a close race last year, wrote on X over the weekend, “I ran for Congress under a promise of always doing what is best for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. If a bill is put in front of me that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on, I will not vote for it.”

GOP LAWMAKER CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL HEARING OVER DC PLANE CRASH

The budget reconciliation process allows legislation to advance with only GOP votes by lowering the threshold for Senate passage from two-thirds to a simple 51-seat majority. The House already operates on a simple majority.

But currently, Republicans can lose just one vote in the House to pass anything on party lines – meaning they can afford almost no dissent to get their reconciliation bill over the line.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a conservative on the House Budget Committee who would not have supported the resolution last week without the last-minute amendment, told reporters last week, “Medicaid’s got to be in it. You don’t get to the [$1.5 trillion figure], much less two, without it.”

“And it’s not cuts to Medicaid. Work requirements have an $800 billion savings on it… able-bodied 40-year-old men who can work don’t need to be on Medicaid,” Norman said.

Democrats are waiting to pounce on the discord.

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The House Majority PAC, which is aligned with House Democratic leadership, released a memo on Tuesday accusing Republicans of seeking to make “deep cuts” to Medicaid “to fund $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to Elon Musk and other billionaires.”

“In battleground congressional districts across the country, House Republicans are putting Medicaid on the chopping block – a move that would rip life-saving health care away from tens of thousands of their own constituents – roughly half of whom are children,” the memo said.

But according to Ways & Means Republicans, the average American household could see taxes raised by over 20% if the Trump tax cuts expired.

Bipartisan Virginia lawmakers are putting forward a criminal justice reform bill proponents say is modeled after a 2022 Florida law that featured the unlikely pairing of Gov. Ron DeSantis and rap mogul Jay-Z.

State Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart, is spearheading the effort that already garnered the support of the entire Democratic majority in Virginia’s lower House earlier this month.

The Democratic-majority state Senate is set to vote on its version of the legislation on Wednesday, after which it will then be conferenced into a final bill for Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s review.

Williams’ legislation will offer convicts on supervised probation the ability to fulfill certain criteria in exchange for lighter treatment.

One example is that probates who can prove they are holding a job, seeking educational opportunities or partaking in rehabilitation programs for several months could see their probationary period shortened.

Those provisions and others in the bill are similar to DeSantis’ legislation from three years ago that had been championed by the Jay-Z-founded criminal justice “REFORM Alliance.”

The Florida law, authored by a Tampa Republican, allows probates to earn education and workforce credits that in turn get them out of the system faster, according to Axios.

In Virginia, Williams told Fox News Digital he was inspired both by Florida’s law and the fact that reform initiatives like the First Step Act on the federal level have been key priorities for President Donald Trump.

YOUNGKIN TO DRAFT SANCTUARY CITY BAN, MAKING STATE FUNDING CONTINGENT ON COOPERATION

“Virginia [is] offering conservative solutions that emphasize rehabilitation and second chances,” Williams said.

“Virginia’s approach mirrors Florida’s successful model, focusing on providing individuals under supervision the opportunity to reduce their probation terms by engaging in rehabilitative programs like job training, education, and mental health services.”

While typically viewed as a liberal or Democratic bailiwick, Williams added that Virginia’s legislation proves conservatives can create a consensus on reforms that also align with their values while remaining compassionate.

“By focusing on rehabilitation and offering individuals the chance to prove their commitment to change, the state has demonstrated that reducing recidivism, lowering costs, and promoting public safety are achievable goals,” he said.

Crime and reform were top issues in the last gubernatorial election, with Youngkin and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe trading barbs, including about Democrats’ “defund the police” group that had endorsed the Democrat and purportedly “criminals-first” appointees McAuliffe had made to the parole board.

YOUNGKIN INVITES NEW TRUMP ADMIN TO SETTLE IN VA OVER DC, MD

Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, the front-running Republican gubernatorial candidate in November’s race, heartily endorsed the legislation in comments to conservative radio host John Fredericks this week.

“What I’m talking about is we have about 50,000 men and women who are on probation. And if we can give them incentives, we can get them engaged, get them education; then if you have a job, of course, then there’s something about work that dignifies the soul,” Sears said. 

“And all work, of course, is dignified. This is America, where dreams come to see the realization of it. It’s where you can say to your children, ‘You can make it in America.’”

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“So I’m all for lifting up that soul,” Sears concluded.

Top Democratic candidate, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, has also been a proponent of some criminal justice reforms, vociferously supporting the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act while in Congress.

A spokesperson for Youngkin told Fox News Digital the “governor will review any bills that come to his desk.”

In 2024, he vetoed a similar bill, HB-457, which would decrease probationary periods and establish criteria for reduction of such.

The first openly gay federal judge in D.C. spent hours Tuesday grilling the Trump administration over its attempt to codify terms of service for transgender service members in the U.S. military, seeking to determine the extent of potential harm to transgender military personnel.

At issue is a Jan. 27 executive order signed by President Donald Trump requiring the Defense Department to update its guidance regarding “trans-identifying medical standards for military service” and to “rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.” 

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes harshly questioned the Trump administration at length over the order, demanding to know whether it was a “transgender ban” and if the government’s position is that being transgender is an “ideology.” 

Civil rights groups this month sued to block the order on behalf of six transgender U.S. service members, arguing that the order is discriminatory and unconstitutional. They alleged it threatens U.S. national security as well as years of training and financial investments by the Department of Defense.

JUDGE DENIES DEMOCRAT-LED EFFORT TO BLOCK DOGE ACCESS, CITING LACK OF PROVEN HARM

Tuesday’s court hearing focused largely on how, or to what extent, the order might cause harm to transgender service members. While Trump has instructed that “radical gender ideology” be banned from all military branches, the executive order stopped short of detailing how the Pentagon should do this, prompting a flurry of questions and concerns from plaintiffs and the judge.

Reyes, a Biden appointee, spent much of the hearing Tuesday asking how the order would be implemented and whether the transgender service members named in the lawsuit would be removed from their roles or separated from their units.

LAWSUIT TRACKER: NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS

“Can we agree that the greatest fighting force that world history has ever seen is not going to be impacted in any way by less than 1% of soldiers using a different pronoun than others might want to call them,” she asked DOJ attorney Jason Lynch. 

At another point in the hearing, she challenged lawyers for the Justice Department to find her a declarant or any commissioned officer who would get on the stand and tell the court that they’ve been harmed by the pronoun use of transgender military members. 

“I’ll get you a box of cigars,” Reyes told Lynch.

“If you can find someone who will tell me we’re less prepared because we have to use pronouns for a few thousand people … have at it.”

 DOGE SCORES BIG COURT WIN, ALLOWED ACCESS DATA ON 3 FEDERAL AGENCIES

Lynch noted in response that the administration is awaiting further guidance on the terms of the transgender executive order, which will determine its impact on personnel, including the six transgender plaintiffs named in the case.

That answer did little to assuage concerns of Reyes, who told Lynch the government must inform the court by Wednesday whether they can ensure that the named service members would not be removed from their roles in the military or face discrimination as a direct result of the executive order.

Should they fail to do that, the judge said, the court will reconvene Friday to consider plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order.

Beyond the facts of the case, Reyes did little to disguise her displeasure with the order itself.

At one point during the hearing, she posed a hypothetical to the Justice Department’s attorney by asking, “If you were in a foxhole” with another service member, “you wouldn’t care about their gender ideology, right?”

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She went on to suggest Lynch would be happy to be next to someone with their commendations and bravery.

Lynch agreed he doubted that gender identity would be on his mind in that situation.

The Senate confirmed Howard Lutnick on Tuesday to serve as President Donald Trump’s secretary of commerce. 

The Republican-controlled Senate voted to confirm Lutnick on Tuesday, less than a week after senators voted to invoke cloture on his nomination. He needed a simple majority for a full Senate confirmation, getting confirmed on a 51- 45 tally on Tuesday.

Lutnick passed his procedural vote last week after the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted 16-12 to motion for cloture on Feb. 5. 

Lutnick said he aligns with Trump’s “trade and tariff agenda,” which seeks to remedy trade imbalances by imposing reciprocal tariffs. His confirmation indicates a milestone for Trump’s America First policy agenda. 

US WILL BE ‘FLOODED WITH JOBS’ AS FOREIGN NATIONS AVOID TARIFFS, TRUMP SAYS

Lutnick, chair and CEO of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, is one of the wealthiest people to serve in a presidential administration. Lutnick vowed to divest his financial interests upon confirmation to remain impartial. 

TRUMP’S BILLIONAIRE COMMERCE SECRETARY PICK VOWS TO SELL ALL HIS BUSINESS INTERESTS IF CONFIRMED

“My plan is to only serve the American people. So I will divest, meaning I will sell all of my interests, all of my business interests, all of my assets, everything,” Lutnick said. “I’ve worked together with the Office of Government Ethics, and we’ve reached agreement on how to do that, and I will be divesting within 90 days upon my confirmation.”

During his confirmation hearing on Jan. 29, Lutnick said he would sell his businesses and elect someone else to lead them once confirmed. Lutnick aligned closely with Trump’s trade and tariff policies during the hearing. He said it’s “nonsense” that tariffs create inflation and advocated for reciprocity. 

“We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better. We can use tariffs to create reciprocity,” Lutnick said.

Trump last week directed federal agencies to explore the implementation of reciprocal tariffs to remedy tariff imbalances imposed by countries that sell American products. The presidential memorandum directed Lutnick to study reciprocal trade relations within 180 days. Lutnick said Thursday he will have the report ready by April 1. 

Trump also announced last week a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports from all countries, adding up to a 35% tariff for Chinese steel and aluminum imports. The tariffs are set to begin March 12. 

Trump nominated Lutnick to serve as commerce secretary two weeks after he was elected. Lutnick was a co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential transition team. 

“I am thrilled to announce that Howard Lutnick, Chairman & CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my Administration as the United States Secretary of Commerce. He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said in the announcement.

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Trump praised Lutnick’s leadership during the presidential transition and said he “created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen.”

The Senate voted Tuesday along party lines to advance the nomination of Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director, clearing a procedural hurdle to set up a final vote on the controversial Trump ally to lead the federal law enforcement agency.

Lawmakers in the Upper Chamber voted 48-45 to advance Patel’s nomination, as Democrats hold concerns that he would operate as a loyalist for the president and target the administration’s political enemies.

This sets up a final confirmation vote later in the week. Some of Trump’s other more controversial picks — including new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — have received enough support from Republican lawmakers seeking to fall in line to push the president’s agenda.

KASH PATEL’S NOMINATION TO LEAD FBI CLEARS FIRST MAJOR SENATE HURDLE

A former intelligence and Defense Department official in Trump’s first term, Patel has supported reshaping the FBI, including by expanding its role to carry out Trump’s mission targeting immigration.

He has been a vocal critic of past FBI investigations into Trump, including on Trump’s mishandling of classified documents, his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and debunked allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Patel has been panned for his lack of management experience compared to past FBI directors and for his many incendiary past statements, including calling investigators who probed Trump “government gangsters” and claiming that at least some defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot were “political prisoners.”

Democrats have also criticized Patel for supporting false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election and his refusal to affirm that former President Joe Biden defeated Trump in that year’s election. But Patel has still received support from many Republicans, including moderates.

“I’ve spoken to multiple people I respect about Kash Patel this weekend—both for and against. The ones who worked closely with Kash vouched for him. I will vote for his confirmation,” Louisiana GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy said Tuesday on X.

PATEL CAMP DECRIES DURBIN ACCUSATIONS AS ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’ ATTEMPT TO DERAIL FBI CONFIRMATION

Patel said at his confirmation hearing last month that Democrats were taking some of his comments out of context or misunderstanding his point, including when he proposed shutting down the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. and turning it into a museum for the “deep state.” Patel also denied the accusation that his book’s inclusion of a list of government officials who he claimed were part of the “deep state” constituted an “enemies list,” pushing back on that allegation as a “total mischaracterization.”

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The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines last week to advance his nomination to the full Senate.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

DOGE’s Elon Musk opened up in an interview alongside President Trump with Fox News Sean Hannity about a dinner party where he said he realized how “real” Democratic animosity toward Trump can be.

“I happened to mention the president’s name and it was like they got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained like methamphetamine and rabies,” Musk said in the Tuesday night interview while recounting a situation where he mentioned Trump’s name at a dinner party and quickly received pushback.

Musk imitated people at the party going crazy and questioned why they couldn’t have a normal conversation.

“It’s like they’ve become completely irrational,” Musk said, adding in the interview that he didn’t realize the severity of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” was until he attended that dinner party.

ELON MUSK SAYS MILLIONS IN SOCIAL SECURITY DATABASE ARE BETWEEN AGES OF 100 AND 159

During another point in the interview, Hannity asked if Musk would recuse himself from DOGE efforts if there was ever a conflict of interest.

“If there’s a conflict he won’t be involved,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t want that and he won’t want it.”

EXPERT REVEALS MASSIVE LEVELS OF WASTE DOGE CAN SLASH FROM ENTITLEMENTS, PET PROJECTS: ‘A LOT OF FAT’

“Right, and also I’m getting sort of a daily proctology exam,” Musk added. “It’s not like I’ll be getting away for something in the dead of night.”

Musk and Trump sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Hannity where they discussed the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) work, the first 100 days of the Trump administration and more. It marks the duo’s first joint television interview.

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“He’s been so unfairly attacked,” Musk said of Trump during the interview. “It’s really outrageous.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time with the President, and not once have I seen him do anything mean or cruel or wrong.”

DOGE chief Elon Musk revealed details about his thought process on endorsing President Trump during a sit-down interview with Trump and Fox News anchor Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that the president said he had not heard before.

“I was going to do it anyway,” Musk said during the interview that aired Tuesday night when Hannity mentioned that his endorsement of Trump came after an attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania on the campaign trail.

“That was it?” Hannity said.

“That was a precipitating event,” Musk said. 

KAROLINE LEAVITT: TRUMP, ELON MUSK’S DOGE TEAM ARE DOING WHAT DEMOCRATS PROMISED ‘FOR DECADES’

“That sped it up a little bit?” Trump then said to Musk. “I didn’t know that.”

Musk responded, “It sped it up, but I was going to do it anyway.”

EXPERT REVEALS MASSIVE LEVELS OF WASTE DOGE CAN SLASH FROM ENTITLEMENTS, PET PROJECTS: ‘A LOT OF FAT’

Musk announced that he “fully supports” former President Trump after gunshots rang out at his Pennsylvania rally in July in a move that many, including some Democrats, believe played a significant role in Trump’s campaign.

“Not even just that he has endorsed [Trump], but the fact that now he’s becoming an active participant and showing up and doing rallies and things like that,” Dem. Sen. John Fetterman told the New York Times in October, explaining that the enormously successful Tesla and SpaceX CEO is an attractive figure for the kinds of voters Harris needs to win.

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“I mean, [Musk] is incredibly successful, and, you know, I think some people would see him as, like, a Tony Stark,” said Fetterman, referencing the popular Marvel Comics character. “Democrats, you know, kind of make light of it, or they make fun of him jumping up and down and things like that. And I would just say that they are doing that at our peril.”

In an interview with CNN, Fetterman added, “Endorsements, they’re really not meaningful often, but this one is, I think. That has me concerned.”

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report

In a lawsuit filed on Monday, multiple taxpayer and union groups alleged Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violated multiple laws in its quest to unearth and eliminate wasteful government spending.

The groups claim DOGE launched a “sweeping campaign to access highly-sensitive information systems” and violated laws that limit executive power, protect civil servants, and guard citizens’ data held by the government.

The agency, which was created by an executive order earlier this year, remains a temporary organization within the White House and is tasked with optimizing the federal government, streamlining operations, and slashing spending in just 18 months.

LAWSUIT TRACKER: NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS

Noting recent DOGE action at the Treasury, Labor, Education and Health departments, as well as at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management and Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the suit alleges DOGE’s access to sensitive information systems “lacks statutory authority.”

Specifically, it claims DOGE violated the Tax Reform Act, Privacy Act and Administrative Procedures Act.

“The results have already been catastrophic,” according to the suit.

Without the court’s intervention, the groups said they were concerned about DOGE having access to sensitive information including social security numbers, individuals’ finances, and bank account information.

The lawsuit also asserted DOGE will have access to confidential business information, tax records and IRS investigations, which “could include investigations or reports pertaining to Mr. [Elon] Musk’s businesses or those of his competitors.”

“No other business owner on the planet has acces to this kind of information on his competitors, and for good reason,” lawyers wrote in the suit.

DOGE SCORES BIG COURT WIN, ALLOWED ACCESS DATA ON 3 FEDERAL AGENCIES

The groups — the Center for Taxpaper Rights, Main Street Alliance, National Federation of Federal Employees, and Communications Workers of America — are seeking a temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo until the court has an opportunity to review DOGE and Musk’s actions.

Following the review, plaintiffs asked the court to declare DOGE’s access unlawful, halt its use of IRS systems, order that information obtained illegally be deleted, and establish new security protections.

The lawsuit was filed prior to a federal judge’s ruling on Tuesday to not block DOGE from accessing government data or firing federal employees. 

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a request for a temporary restraining order, pointing to the absence of evidence showing the agency’s access caused “irreparable harm.”

However, Chutkan did question what “appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual,” referencing Musk.

She also expressed concerns about DOGE’s accountability to Congress.

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

Last week, more than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general sued to temporarily restrict DOGE’s access to federal data about government employees, citing concerns about Musk’s access and power.

“There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual,” according to the lawsuit, filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez.

Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington also signed onto the suit.

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Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

West Virginia lawmakers on Monday introduced a bill that bans “woke words” and agendas from state government content, citing concerns about the terms being “sexist” and “exclusionary.”

The changes, which center around “accurate, female-affirming alternatives,” would restrict wording used in state government documents, websites, literature and in-person, according to legislators.

Specific terms included in the bill include using “pregnant women” instead of “pregnant people,” using “woman” instead of “womxn or womyn,” and using “woman” instead of “birth-giver.”

LGBT ACTIVISTS MOBILIZE TO CHALLENGE TRUMP’S ‘EXTREME GENDER IDEOLOGY’ EXECUTIVE ORDERS

The phrases were designed for gender inclusivity, as some people do not identify with their biological anatomy.

Other wording changes noted in the bill relate to breastfeeding and other pregnancy-related topics.

Legislators suggested using “breastfeeding” as opposed to “chestfeeding,” “breast fed” as opposed to “body fed” or “person fed,” and “breast milk” instead of “human milk.”

While supporters claim the gender-neutral terminology can “streamline” communication about various topics, critics allege the wording is “made up” and can lead to confusion.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2023 posted advice on its website for transgender and non-binary people wishing to “chestfeed” their children.

Portions of the guidance detailed instructions for those who had breasts removed in gender-reassignment surgery or for biological men taking hormones to grow breasts on how to feed their newborns.

Several doctors criticized the information, claiming the CDC failed to gauge the risks posed to children drinking milk produced by chemicals used in gender-reassignment medical operations.

FEDS SPENT MILLIONS STUDYING TRANS MENSTRUATION, STRENGTHENING GAY RIGHTS IN THE BALKANS, DATABASE REVEALS

House Bill 2406, which is sponsored by 11 delegates, would take effect on June 1.

On Feb. 7, CDC researchers were told to remove words frequently associated with gender ideology from research manuscripts that they intend to publish.

A screenshot of a leaked internal email sent out to CDC staff, obtained by the newsletter Inside Medicine, showed a list of terms and phrases that must be removed from scientific manuscripts produced by the agency’s researchers and intended for publication. 

Those terms included: “gender,” “transgender,” “pregnant person,” “pregnant people,” “LGBT,” “transsexual,” “non-binary,” “nonbinary,” “assigned male at birth,” “assigned female at birth,” “biologically male” and “biologically female.” According to the Washington Post, the list includes about 20 terms. They indicated that the directive also ordered the removal of any use of “they/them.”

West Virginia University is the latest education institution to curb its diversity, equity and inclusion office due to reverse-discrimination claims.

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

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Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department to fire all U.S. attorneys left over from the Biden administration.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the agency has been “politicized like never before.”

“Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining “Biden Era” U.S. Attorneys. We must ‘clean house’ IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence,” Trump wrote. “America’s Golden Age must have a fair Justice System – THAT BEGINS TODAY!”

Terminating U.S. attorneys from previous administrations is generally standard procedure. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Justice Department. 

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates. 

Governor Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., met with “key leaders” in New York City on Tuesday to discuss the “path forward” for Mayor Eric Adams, D-N.Y., following a slew of City Hall resignations after the Justice Department dropped bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy charges against Adams last week. 

Protesters gathered outside Hochul’s Manhattan office during her meetings on Tuesday, chanting: “Governor Hochul, fight back, remove Eric Adams.”

City Hall sources tell Fox News that Hochul met with the City’s Inability Committee as pressure mounts for Hochul to use her constitutional powers to remove Adams. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Rev. Al Sharpton and other community leaders met with Hochul this afternoon. 

Lander, a 2025 mayoral candidate, told Fox News he discussed with Hochul whether Adams could even do his job anymore, given the controversy surrounding his office and the logistical imperative of four deputy mayor resignations. 

NY GOV. HOCHUL TO MEET WITH ‘KEY LEADERS’ TO DISCUSS ‘PATH FORWARD’ AMID ERIC ADAMS TURMOIL

“I do think the mayor should resign,” Lander said outside Hochul’s office on Tuesday. “The mayor is not able, in my opinion, to devote his full-time and attention to the needs of New Yorkers.”

NY JUDGE ORDERS ERIC ADAMS, TRUMP DOJ OFFICIALS TO COURT OVER MOTION TO DISMISS CORRUPTION CHARGES

Sharpton, the civil rights activist, said he is also concerned with Adams’ ability to govern, telling Fox News Hochul will continue to deliberate with city leaders and see what the judge decides tomorrow. 

U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho ordered a status conference on Wednesday to discuss why the Justice Department filed a motion to drop indictment charges against Adams on Friday. Adams has maintained his innocence throughout legal proceedings, claiming the trial was politically motivated. 

“Despite our pleas, when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics. I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target — and a target I became,” Adams said following his indictment on Sept. 27, 2024. 

Adams was critical of President Joe Biden’s handling of the migrant crisis, particularly as New York City struggled to keep up with the busloads of migrants entering the city’s overwhelmed shelter system. Adams said opposition to Biden’s leadership on the migrant crisis made him a target of political persecution.

Adams’ chief campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs’ home was raided in connection to Adams’ indictment charges in Nov. 2023. Adams was on his way to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with Biden White House officials to discuss the migrant crisis when news of the raid broke. Adams canceled his meetings and abruptly returned to New York City before those meetings could happen. 

“Through all the negative headlines, rumors and criticism, I have remained clear: I’m not stepping down, I’m stepping UP. No matter what you read, no matter what you see – they may want to fight me, but I’m always fighting for you,” Adams said on Sunday. 

Adams, who has developed a relationship with Trump and held private meetings with the president down in West Palm Beach, met with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan on Friday. Homan and Adams sat for a joint interview with Fox & Friends to discuss their plans to crackdown on illegal immigration in New York City. 

Homan said he would hold Adams to his commitments, telling Fox & Friends: “If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City, and we won’t be sitting on the couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?'”

New York City leaders did not appreciate the remark, questioning on Tuesday if Adams’ was still aligned with their views on immigration. 

“I’m very concerned that Mr. Homan came in here and acted like he could make Adams do what he wants, or he’d be up his butt. I can’t believe someone would say that on national television,” Sharpton said. 

“It’s one straightforward test of where his loyalties lie: with New Yorkers or with Donald Trump?” Lander added. 

In Dec. 2024, Trump said he would “look at” a pardon for Adams, claiming he was “treated pretty unfairly” by federal prosecutors and compared Adams’ indictment to his own “political persecution.”

As Hochul decides whether to remove Adams as mayor, she said the “alleged conduct at City Hall” over the past two weeks cannot be ignored. 

Fox News contributor Byron York questioned why Hochul would choose now to consider removing Adams as mayor. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a lawsuit last week against Hochul for allowing illegal immigrants to obtain a driver’s license and restricting the DMV from releasing their information to immigration authorities without a warrant. 

“She didn’t seek to remove him before he was indicted. Not after the indictment, either. But the prospect of Adams not resisting enforcement of federal immigration law is just too much,” Fox News contributor Byron York said in a post. 

“The calls for Mayor Adams’ removal now reek of political maneuvering,” What has changed since September until now? Comptroller Brad Lander must recuse himself from any discussions on the mayor’s status, including any role in the Inability Committee if it convenes. These decisions must be free from political bias. I also urge the Department of Investigation and the Conflicts of Interest Board to examine Lander’s apparent misuse of city resources. Using official letterhead and staff to draft a politically charged letter that benefits his own mayoral ambitions is a clear abuse of public trust. New Yorkers deserve better.”

Hochul, who has the authority under New York State law to remove Adams as mayor, said the resignation of four deputy mayors in New York City on Monday raised “serious questions about the long-term future” of Adams’ administration. 

“I recognize the immense responsibility I hold as governor and the constitutional powers granted to this office. In the 235 years of New York State history, these powers have never been utilized to remove a duly-elected mayor; overturning the will of the voters is a serious step that should not be taken lightly. That said, the alleged conduct at City Hall that has been reported over the past two weeks is troubling and cannot be ignored,” Hochul said. 

The deputy mayors submitted their resignations on Monday in the fallout of the Justice Department dropping Adams’ corruption case, leaving a gap in Adams’ governing ability. Torres-Springer served as First Deputy Mayor; Joshi as Deputy Mayor for Operations; Williams-Isom as Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, and Chauncey Parker as Deputy Mayor for Public Safety. 

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“I spoke with First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer to express my gratitude for her years of service to New York City,” Hochul said. “She, along with Deputy Mayors Anne Williams-Isom, Meera Joshi and Chauncey Parker, have been strong partners with my Administration across dozens of key issues. If they feel unable to serve in City Hall at this time, that raises serious questions about the long-term future of this Mayoral administration.”

Fox News’ Kirill Clark and Kitty Le Claire contributed to this report.

After being attacked by an immigrant rapist, Jon Fetherston, a former Massachusetts migrant shelter director, is blowing the whistle about the “rampant” abuse in the Massachusetts migrant shelter system, which he said is “just a big, colossal mess.”

Fetherston, who served as the director of the Marlborough migrant shelter from 2023 to 2024, said that the amount of crime, domestic abuse and child neglect that takes place in the Massachusetts migrant shelter system is “mind-boggling.” In an interview with Fox News Digital, Fetherston revealed that he was grabbed and attacked by a Haitian immigrant after he was confronted about raping and impregnating his own teenage daughter.

The Maine Wire first broke the story about the Haitian migrant, Ronald Joseph, 42, impregnating his then 13-year-old daughter. Joseph repeatedly raped and impregnated his daughter while staying at a government-funded migrant shelter at a Holiday Inn in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

MASSACHUSETTS SHELTER PROGRAM THAT HOUSES MIGRANTS HAS HAD OVER 300 ‘SERIOUS INCIDENT’ REPORTS THIS YEAR

A report by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities obtained by Fox News Digital says that after being informed he would lose access to his daughter, Joseph “got very agitated and started yelling” at Fetherston that “this was all his fault, and he was to blame.”

Fetherston told Fox News Digital that as soon as Joseph heard he was losing custody of his daughter, he “reached across the table and grabbed me and got angry with me and started cursing and yelling and screaming and swinging at me because he realized what was happening.”

“I’m going to be honest; the entire experience has shaken me to my core,” said Fetherston.

MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENT CONDEMNS RIGHT-TO-SHELTER LAW TURNING BAY STATE INTO ‘DESTINATION FOR MIGRANTS’

He clarified that “it’s not so much the lunging at me and swinging” but rather the conversation that jarred him the most.

“The conversation was probably the most jarring conversation I’ve ever had in my life,” he said. “His justification for having sex with his daughter was — and he did say it through an interpreter; he didn’t say it in English — that in his country — which his country of origin was Haiti — if a woman bled, meaning if she had her period, you could have sex with her and that was his justification for having sex with his daughter.”

Rather than arresting Joseph immediately, Fetherston was directed by authorities to order the immigrant a Lyft ride to another shelter in Worcester County. Joseph was not arrested until eight months later when Marlborough police finally apprehended him earlier this month.

“The Marlborough police came and calmed him down and actually had me transfer him to another shelter,” he explained. “I asked the Marlborough police like: ‘Why isn’t he being arrested? He admitted to this. At least why aren’t you just detaining him at the very least?’ And they’re like: ‘We’ll figure it all out.’ It took them eight months to figure it all out.”

BLUE STATE FACES SPIKE IN MIGRANT SEX CRIMES AS TOP CITY PLEDGES RESISTANCE TO TRUMP DEPORTATIONS

Though this case was particularly egregious, Fetherston said that “there is a lot of undocumented violence that goes on” and that rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking, drug dealing and other crimes are so commonplace in the Massachusetts shelter system that many incidents simply fall through the cracks.

“I will tell you, unfortunately, that it happens a lot,” he said. “There were times when I was running the shelter that there probably should have been times when I should have done more reporting, you just didn’t have the time to do it.”

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“It’s just a big, colossal mess,” Fetherston added. “I’ve been in public service most of my adult life, either through elective office or volunteering. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the migrant shelters would be the chaos that it is… It’s a systematic problem, that there is chaos in these communities and the public has the right to know what is going on.”

The former shelter director said that before quitting his job he brought his concerns about the widespread abuse to Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll — both Democrats — but neither gave him the time of day. Although Healey recently vowed to reform the shelter system and begin mandatory background checks on residents, Fetherston said there have yet to be any real changes.

ICE ARRESTS ‘PREDATOR’ MIGRANT CONVICTED OF SECRETLY RECORDING OTHERS IN BATHROOM

Despite promises of reform, the legislature renewed shelter funding at $425 million through June with no new changes.

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“People are frustrated from top to bottom,” he said. “The governor has spent over $3.5 billion just of the taxpayers’ money just on the migrant hotels [and]… just last week the Senate and House passed [a bill] to fund this migrant program until July of this year, zero reform, zero mandatory checks.”

“The governor says that all this stuff is coming,” he concluded, “and ultimately, at the end, there was no reform put in the package. It was just the approval to fund the shelters through the end of July. So, there is no reform.”