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Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that it needs to be determined within days whether achieving a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is “doable in the short term,” warning that he thinks the U.S. will “move on” if it is not achievable.

Rubio said that if it is “not possible,” he thinks President Donald Trump is “probably at a point where he’s gonna say, ‘Well, we’re done.'”

But Rubio noted that the U.S. will help if either or both sides are “serious about peace.”

REPUBLICAN USES GEORGE WASHINGTON, AMERICAN REVOLUTION TO REJECT NOTION UKRAINE SHOULD SURRENDER TO RUSSIA

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on upon his arrival at the Quai d’Orsay, France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs before a bilateral meeting with his French counterpart in Paris on April 17, 2025.  (JULIEN DE ROSA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“If it’s not gonna happen, then we’re just gonna move on,” Rubio declared.

“@POTUS has been clear: The time to end the war between Russia and Ukraine is now. Today in Paris, @SE_MiddleEast, @SPE_Kellogg and I met with leaders from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ukraine to talk about how we can stop the killing and reach a just and sustainable peace,” Rubio noted in a post on X. 

RUBIO ANNOUNCES CLOSURE OF STATE DEPARTMENT EFFORT THAT ‘WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD ALREADY’

The war continues to rage, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring in a post, “This is how Russia began this Good Friday – with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shaheds – maiming our people and cities.”

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., staunchly supports Ukraine and wants the U.S. to provide the Eastern European nation with arms to bolster its war effort.

JD VANCE BLASTS ZELENSKYY’S ‘60 MINUTES’ COMMENTS AS ‘ABSURD,’ ‘NOT PRODUCTIVE’

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“European Allies and U.S. should arm Ukraine to the max and help them defend their country against the Russians, and now the North Koreans and Chinese,” Bacon said in a recent tweet.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that China has been reaching out “a lot” ever since he nearly tripled U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, and he suggested to reporters that the two nations could reach a deal in as soon as three to four weeks. 

During a gaggle with reporters after signing executive orders related to deregulating the seafood industry, Trump was asked about his ongoing negotiations with Chinese officials and, in particular, whether he has yet spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the ongoing trade battle.

“They have reached out a number of times,” Trump said, referring to high-level Chinese officials. When asked how frequently they’ve been in touch since last week – after Trump tripled his Chinese tariff increase from 54% to 145% – the president responded, “A lot.”

GORDON CHANG: TRUMP TARIFFING CHINA AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME FOR XI JINPING

Trump shows a chart of his new tariffs this month, which have since been raised on China to 145%. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

His comments come amid media reports that Trump has indicated he is unwilling to reach out to China first amid the ongoing trade war. According to sources close to Trump, U.S. officials have been urging the Chinese to initiate a call between Xi and Trump, but so far they have not.    

When asked if he had spoken to Xi yet, Trump would not confirm one way or the other.

“I’ve never said whether or not [it’s] happened, but I have a very good relationship with President Xi, and I think it’s going to continue. They have reached out a number of times,” Trump told reporters. 

TALKING TARIFFS: TRUMP TOUTS TRADE NEGOTIATIONS AS HE MEETS WITH ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER

The press then quickly pounced on Trump’s response, requesting the president to clarify if he was referring to Xi or other Chinese officials when he said, “They have reached out a number of times.”

“I view it very similar,” Trump responded. “It would be top levels of China, and if you knew [Xi], you would know that if they reached out, he knew exactly – he knew everything about it. He runs it very tight, very strong, very smart. And, yeah, we’re talking to China.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump (Pedro Pardo/Pool/Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The president said that while some have urged him to fast-track his negotiations, he believes there is “plenty” of time left to make a deal with China and expects it will eventually come to fruition.

UK URGED TO ALIGN WITH TRUMP ON CHINA OR LOSE FAVORED STATUS IN WASHINGTON 

“I would think over the next three or four weeks, I think maybe the whole thing could be concluded,” Trump told reporters Thursday. 

President Trump said he expects a deal to be sealed between the U.S. and China over tariffs, telling reporters it could come as soon as three to four weeks. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

The president added that if a deal cannot be reached, things will “be fine.”

“At a certain point, if we don’t make a deal, we’ll just set a limit. We’ll set a tariff. We’ll set some parameters, and we’ll say, ‘Come in and shop,'” Trump said. “They always have a right not to do it, so they can say, ‘Well, we don’t want it, so we’re not going to shop there, we’re not going to shop in the store of America.’ We have something that nobody else has, and that’s the American consumer.”

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The Trump administration placed roughly 75% of full-time AmeriCorps employees on administrative leave on Wednesday as the administration looks to rebuild the Clinton-era volunteer agency from scratch, Fox News Digital learned.

A total of 535 full-time AmeriCorps employees out of the agency’s 700 staff were placed on leave, an administration official confirmed to Fox News Digital Thursday.

Volunteers with AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps, a program that focuses specifically on volunteer opportunities for youth between the ages of 18–26, were preemptively pulled out of the field ahead of the Trump administration placing the agency’s full-time staffers on leave Wednesday, Fox Digital learned. Roughly $250 million in AmeriCorps contracts have also been canceled. 

AmeriCorps is expected to remain in existence, according to the admin official, but the operations will essentially restart from scratch.

IRS CUTTING ITS WORKFORCE BY 25%, ELIMINATING AGENCY’S CIVIL RIGHTS OFFICE

Then-President Bill Clinton with AmeriCorps youth during an event at the University of Maryland. (Getty Images)

Former President Bill Clinton created the AmeriCorps National Service Program in 1993, during his first year in office, as a volunteer arm of the government to help aid communities nationwide. 

The agency has received roughly $1 billion in taxpayer funds every year, the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee previously found, but had failed eight consecutive audits across the past decade. 

“Unfortunately, AmeriCorps has a long history of abusing taxpayer dollars,” chair of the House subcommittee, Republican Utah Rep. Burgess Owens, said in a statement in December 2024. 

“AmeriCorps is entrusted with over $1 billion of taxpayer funds every year, with the result of failure of eight consecutive audits,” he continued. “In 2023, the AmeriCorps Inspector General issued a ‘Management Challenges’ report detailing significant challenges AmeriCorps faces. This includes being unable to detect fraud. We have no real idea when AmeriCorps will be able to have a clean audit again. In fact, this year’s audit includes 78 recommendations still open, even after AmeriCorps said it addressed 20 last year.” 

Then-President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden pose with members of AmeriCorps on arrival at Joint Base Charleston in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Jan. 19, 2025.  (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital examined AmeriCorp’s budget in recent years and found its 2023 fiscal year budget stood at $1,312,806, which included $99,686,000 in expenses and salaries, while fiscal year 2024 saw a budget of $1,262,806, which included the same figure for expenses and salaries. The Biden administration proposed a budget of $1,342,093,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

The agency’s annual management report for fiscal year 2024 showed that it had $3.7 billion in assets, including over $1.5 billion in investments.

Diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change initiatives have been a top priority for the volunteer-focused agency, with the 2024 annual management report identifying “advancing racial and economic equity” as one of its top priorities, Fox Digital found. 

President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd at a campaign event on July 1, 2023 in Pickens, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

“AmeriCorps has a decades-long commitment to advancing racial and economic equity through national service and volunteering,” the report stated. “These efforts are designed to expand pathways to opportunity for all Americans. Racial and economic equity will be central to AmeriCorps’ planning and implementation of all priorities, ensuring AmeriCorps members and volunteers reflect the diversity of the American people and the communities in which they serve.” 

Owens said in 2024 that while some of the agency’s programs are “well-intentioned,” taxpayers should not continue funding the office and called for it to land on the Department of Government Efficiency’s chopping block.

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“It makes no sense to expand this agency or give it more money when it continuously fails to meet basic accountability standards,” he said. “Every time its representatives come before this Committee, AmeriCorps assures us that they will implement reforms, and year after year nothing changes. We can tell AmeriCorps to modernize and reform until we are blue in the face, but nothing will change unless we recognize the system is built on a flawed idea. It is time to admit that this is a failed program that needs a complete overhaul or elimination. It should be on DOGE’s chopping block.” 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a Biden-era plan to counter domestic terrorism that called for greater information-sharing with tech companies and a legislative push to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Developed in 2021 after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the plan outlined a government-wide effort to track how foreign actors use disinformation to radicalize Americans and urged coordination with private industry on domestic threats. It also called for measures to curb in-prison radicalization and study extremism within the military.

Among its proposals was a plan to “develop awareness training for active service military members, DOD employees and contractors, and those service members separating or retiring from the military on the threat posed by domestic terrorism, the potential targeting of those with military training by violent extremist actors, and relevant reporting mechanisms.” 

TRUMP THREATENS IRAN OVER NUKES AS DNI GABBARD CLAIMS TEHRAN IS NOT BUILDING BOMBS

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a Biden-era plan to counter domestic terrorism that called for information-sharing with tech companies and pushing for a legislative ban on assault weapons.  (Reuters )

The strategy had a four-part goal: “Understand and Share Domestic Terrorism-Related Information,” “Prevent Domestic Terrorism Recruitment and Mobilization to Violence,” “Disrupt and Deter Domestic Terrorism Activity” and “Confront Long-Term Contributors to Domestic Terrorism.”

The Biden administration plan encouraged “teaching and learning of civics education that provides students with the skill to fully participate in civic life,” and promoted “literacy education for both children and adult learners and existing proven interventions to foster resiliency to disinformation.”

It also called for advancing “inclusion” in the Covid-19 response and addressing “hate crime reporting barriers faced by disadvantaged communities by promoting law enforcement training and resources to prevent and address bias-motivated crimes; improve federal hate crimes data and analysis to eliminate hate crimes underreporting; mitigate xenophobia and bias.”

DEMS WHO HAVE SPOKEN PASSIONATELY AGAINST DOMESTIC TERRORISM GO SILENT AS TESLA TORCHERS ARE CHARGED

The Biden administration launched the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism in 2021, identifying domestic terrorism as a major national security threat in the wake of the Capitol riot. (Screenshot/Biden speech)

Former President Joe Biden’s administration launched the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism in 2021, identifying domestic terrorism as a major national security threat in the wake of the Capitol riot. 

Gabbard declassified the strategy after prompting from conservative groups like America First Legal.

The group wrote to Gabbard earlier this month, asking her to declassify the strategy amid concerns of “weaponization” of power by “censoring disfavored speech on the Internet by labeling such speech ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ ‘hate speech,’ ‘domestic terrorism.'”

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Biden’s summer 2021 counterterrorism strategy garnered criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union, which said it “reflects the government’s ever-expanding authority to surveil and monitor American communities; law enforcement guidance that permits profiling on the basis of race, religion, or national origin; and the use of abusive tools such as the watchlisting system against people for constitutionally protected speech and association.”

After visiting the controversial Salvadoran mega-prison known as the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT), freshman Congressman Riley Moore, R-W.Va., says he is “even more determined” to support the president’s efforts to secure the U.S. from criminal illegal aliens.

This comes as the Trump administration’s scheme of sending the “worst of the worst” migrant gang members to CECOT has caused national controversy, with some outraged Democrats accusing President Donald Trump of “kidnapping” people for deportation.

Moore said that while at CECOT he came face to face with some of the country’s “most brutal criminals, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and terrorists,” and “extremely violent criminals recently deported from the U.S.”

After his visit to El Salvador, he said: “I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland.”

‘MARYLAND MAN’ KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA EXPOSED IN POLICE RECORDS AS ‘VIOLENT’ REPEAT WIFE BEATER

Rep. Riley Moore visits the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador which houses some 14,000 gang members and criminals, including several hundred deported gang members from the U.S. At left, an MS-13 gang member with the letters “MS” tattooed on his chest. (Office of Rep. Riley Moore)

Moore told Fox News Digital he visited the prison with a congressional delegation led by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo. The delegation toured the prison this week and spoke with several inmates.

“These are dangerous individuals,” he said. “We had several of them tell us, and they were not afraid to share it, [that] they are killers and committed homicides.”  

“It’s not something that it seems that they regret one way or the other, from what I could glean from it,” he explained.

While touring the prison, Moore said he spoke with two deportees from the U.S., both of whom were originally from El Salvador and had been deported from Virginia and California. He said one had been in the U.S. for 20 years and was a high-ranking member of the brutal gang MS-13. According to Moore, both deportees “were not afraid to admit” that they had killed people.

TOM HOMAN ‘DISGUSTED’ BY DEM SENATOR’S TRIP TO BRING HOME ALLEGED MS-13 GANG MEMBER

Moore told Fox News Digital he visited the prison with a congressional delegation led by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith. The delegation toured the prison this week and spoke with several inmates.

He said there is a lot of misinformation about the prison, leading the American public to believe that it is a kind of “death camp” for deportees.

“That is not true,” he said, pointing out that of approximately 14,000 inmates in CECOT, only a few hundred were deported from the United States.

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“They are in austere conditions in that prison, there’s no doubt about that,” he explained, adding, “to be clear, they don’t have the death penalty in El Salvador.”

That being said, Moore said the impact of CECOT and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gang crime has been “miraculous” for the people of El Salvador.

BUKELE SAYS TRUMP HAS 350 MILLION AMERICANS TO ‘LIBERATE’ BY ENDING CRIME, TERRORISM

While touring the prison, Moore said he spoke with two deportees from the U.S., both of whom were originally from El Salvador and had been deported from Virginia and California. He said that one who had been in the U.S. for 20 years was a high-ranking member of the brutal gang MS-13. According to Moore, both deportees “were not afraid to admit” that they had killed people.

He said he spoke with ordinary people on the streets of El Salvador’s capital city, San Salvador, who told him that “they were living in a terror state, being terrorized by these gangs and controlling their lives and taking their lives many times.”

Now, he said, “they have their lives back.”

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That is why Moore’s resolve to support the Trump administration’s crackdown on gang terrorism is stronger than ever.

“It is very tragic that all of these young people have just thrown their lives away because they decided to basically not only destroy themselves, to destroy their own country and community and people’s lives… It’s hard to really wrap your mind around,” he said. “[But] the fundamental building block of any nation state is security. If you don’t have security, you can’t have economic opportunities, civil society, justice, any of those things. The bedrock of it is security. That has to be provided.”

President Donald Trump said the late President Jimmy Carter could die peacefully knowing he wasn’t the worst U.S. president because that title belongs to former President Joe Biden. 

Trump issued the remarks to reporters during a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who visited the White House on behalf of European nations to assist in brokering a trade deal between the U.S. and the European Union.

“Worst administration in the history of our country,” Trump said on Thursday. “Worse than Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter died a happy man. You know why? Because he wasn‘t the worst. President Joe Biden was.”

CRITICS PILE ON BIDEN FOLLOWING ABC INTERVIEW, BLAST HIS REFUSAL TO COMMIT TO COGNITIVE TEST: ‘DISQUALIFYING’

President Donald Trump meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office on April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump has routinely railed against Biden and the former president’s mental fitness, and the remarks coincide with multiple books detailing Biden’s cognitive function while in office. One White House aide said that staff isolated Biden and allowed his faculties to “atrophy” in the book, “Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History.” It was released on April 8. 

A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Trump’s comments come days after Biden slammed the Trump administration for creating so much “damage” during the early days of the administration. 

EX-BIDEN AIDE SAYS FORMER PRESIDENT WAS ‘FATIGUED, BEFUDDLED, AND DISENGAGED’ PRIOR TO JUNE DEBATE: BOOK

Former President Joe Biden gives a speech at the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled conference in Chicago on April 15, 2025.

“Fewer than 100 days, this administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. It’s kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon,” Biden said in his first public speech post-presidency on Tuesday. Biden delivered the speech during a disability advocacy conference in Chicago.

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On Thursday, Trump and Meloni said they were confident the U.S. and Europe could hash out a trade deal. Trump unveiled 20% tariffs on European Union goods coming into the U.S. on April 2, but he announced on April 9 the tariffs would remain at 10% for 90 days to allow the U.S. and the EU to strike a deal.

“There will be a trade deal, 100%,” Trump told reporters. “Of course there will be a trade deal, they want to make one very much, and we’re going to make a trade deal. I fully expect it, but it’ll be a fair deal.”

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

–Supreme Court sets May date to hear oral arguments in birthright citizenship case

-Conservatives sound alarm over Trump admin’s REAL ID rollout

–Veteran suicide crisis targeted in VA bill by bipartisan House coalition

Bashing the boomers

A move by a top Democratic Party official to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to primary-challenge some older Democrats in blue districts is further igniting intra-party tensions that have rocked the party since President Donald Trump’s convincing election last November.

The reverberations started instantly after Leaders We Deserve, a political organization led by recently elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chair David Hogg, announced on Wednesday that it will spend $20 million to help elect younger Democrats. The effort includes supporting primary challengers to House Democrats in safe seats that Hogg argues “are asleep at the wheel.”

The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the horrific shooting seven years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in south Florida, to spend money against fellow Democrats is seen as an unprecedented action by a DNC official…Read more

Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg speaks to Michigan State University students as they gather to protest gun violence a week after a mass shooting at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., February 20, 2023. REUTERS/Emily Elconin (REUTERS/Emily Elconin)

White House

DECLASSIFIED: Gabbard declassifies Biden domestic counterterrorism plan

CUTTING AMERICORPS: Trump admin guts AmeriCorps, Clinton-era volunteer agency that failed 8 consecutive audits

OUT OF ORDER: Trump admin seeks emergency relief of Boasberg contempt threat

‘RUMORS ARE TRUE’: CAIR panelist accuses Trump admin of using AI and antisemitism against free speech

World Stage

LOCKED DOWN: Trump says ‘100 percent’ chance US will strike trade deal with Europe as Italy PM visits Washington

‘ARM UKRAINE TO THE MAX’: Republican uses George Washington, American Revolution to reject notion Ukraine should surrender to Russia

BIGGEST US THREAT EVER?: CIA director says China is #1 priority, poses biggest challenge from adversary in US history

Chinese President Xi Jinping listens as Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, not pictured, speaks during their meeting at the Office of the Party Central Committee in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Monday, April 14.  (AP/Minh Hoang)

Capitol Hill

DEPORTATION DOMINOES: More Dems work to join Sen. Van Hollen in El Salvador to push for alleged gang member’s return to US

RACE TO WATCH: Fierce Israel critic launches Senate bid in Michigan high-stakes 2026 midterm race

‘CHAMPAGNE SOCIALISTS’: ‘Champagne socialists’ Sanders and AOC flying private on ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour

A photo captured by a source on the ground and shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, confirmed Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., boarded the luxury Bombardier Challenger private jet at the Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, Calif., on Tuesday afternoon between stops on his “Fighting Oligarchy” event with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. (Getty/Fox News Digital)

TROLLING TRUMP: Pence urges Republicans to hold the line on tax hikes for the rich as Trump weighs options

WHAT IS A WOMAN?: LGBTQ Christians invoke ‘righteous rage’ at Capitol during Holy Week

Across America

‘UNDERREPORTED’: Texas measles cases are underreported, response hurt by funding cuts, CDC scientist says

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

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who flew to El Salvador this week to meet with deported illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia before being denied multiple times, was granted his request on Thursday night.

“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar,” Van Hollen said in a post on X. “Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”

Garcia, a 29-year-old illegal immigrant living in Maryland, was deported to the El Salvadoran megaprison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) last month, and officials acknowledged in court his deportation was an administrative error, although now some top Trump officials say he was correctly removed and contend he’s a member of the notorious MS-13 gang. Both a federal court and the Supreme Court have ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his release and return to the U.S. for proper deportation proceedings.

Van Hollen announced on Tuesday he was going to El Salvador to visit Garcia on Wednesday, and other Democratic lawmakers announced they planned to visit him as well.

LIBERAL SENATOR SAYS HE IS FLYING TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, OTHER DEMS PLANNING TRIPS

Kilmar Abrego Garcia meets with Sen. Van Hollen (X / @ChrisVanHollen)

But when Van Hollen arrived, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele was out of the country, and the senator from Maryland met with Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay instead.

“I asked the vice president if I could meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia, and he said, ‘well, you need to make earlier provisions to go visit CECOT,’” Van Hollen said.

He told Ulloa that he was not interested in taking a tour of CECOT and that he just wanted to meet with Abrego Garcia.

BLUE STATE SENATOR FLIES TO EL SALVADOR TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, ONLY TO BE DENIED

Kilmar Abrego Garcia meets with Sen. Van Hollen (X / @nayibbukele)

“He said he was not able to make that happen,” Van Hollen said of Ulloa.

The senator was also told he could not be promised a visit if he came back next week, nor could he arrange for Abrego Garcia to speak with his family over the phone.

On Thursday, Van Hollen continued to push for entry into CECOT, but he was denied.

“We were there for one simple reason: to check on his well-being, which his family and lawyers have not been allowed to do,” Van Hollen said on X. “We won’t stop fighting.”

APPEALS COURT DENIES DOJ BID TO BLOCK RETURN OF KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA FROM EL SALVADOR PRISON

His goal of meeting with Abrego Garcia was later granted, and images of the two men show them sitting at a table in the tropics with water and coffee. Other photos shared by Bukele showed water glasses with seasoned rims and cherry garnishes, and Sen. Van Hollen shaking hands with Abrego Garcia.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture,’ now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” Bukele exclaimed in a post on X.

In another post, Bukele wrote, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”

‘MARYLAND MAN’ KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA EXPOSED IN POLICE RECORDS AS ‘VIOLENT’ REPEAT WIFE BEATER

Kilmar Abrego Garcia meets with Sen. Van Hollen (X / @nayibbukele)

A federal appeals court earlier in the day denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to block a judge’s order requiring the U.S. government to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to lift a judge’s order to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from CECOT, but the court on Thursday rejected the request.

The three-judge panel included Judge Harvie Wilkinson, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, along with Judges Robert King and Stephanie Thacker, appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, respectively. 

KRISTI NOEM CRITICIZES ‘LIBERAL LEFT’ FOR TURNING ACCUSED GANG MEMBER INTO ‘MEDIA DARLING’

Kilmar Abrego Garcia meets with Sen. Van Hollen (X / @nayibbukele)

In the court’s opinion, Wilkinson repeatedly referred to Abrego Garcia as a “resident,” even though Abrego Garcia is not a lawful U.S. resident.

The court said the DOJ’s request was “extraordinary and premature” and that it would not interfere with the district judge’s efforts to carry out the Supreme Court’s decision.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Abrego Garcia would not be allowed back into the U.S. unless El Salvador were to decide otherwise. “He is not coming back to our country.”

The Trump administration released information on Wednesday indicating that Abrego Garcia’s wife has accused him of repeated abuse of her. 

Fox News obtained the written domestic violence allegations filed in court against 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez, in 2021.

In the filing, written in Vasquez’s own handwriting, she alleges Abrego Garcia repeatedly beat her, writing: “At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me.”

The Department of Homeland Security also released documents that it says prove Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, which the Trump administration has declared a foreign terrorist organization. 

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Bill Mears contributed to this report.

Embattled New York Attorney General Letitia James is hitting up supporters for big bucks just days after the Trump administration accused her of alleged fraud involving several homes she owns.

The money bid is in the form of an invitation to an event on Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. calling for contributions starting at $500 and climbing to an eye-popping $18,000, the maximum allowed by New York law, in support of her 2026 re-election bid.

The invite features a photo of James framed by a circular gay pride flag.

EXPERT SAYS NEW YORK AG’S LONG-RUNNING VENDETTA AGAINST TRUMP IS BLOWING UP IN HER FACE

The high-dollar fundraiser will be hosted at the home of left-wing activists Rod Grozier and Rob Smith, the latter of whom is the CEO and founder of The Phluid Project, a gender-neutral clothing company.

“Letitia James is fighting for our rights every single day. This is our opportunity to show Letitia that we have her back,” the event page on lefty fundraising website ActBlue reads.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James makes an announcement at the Office of the New York Attorney General about a major Medicaid fraud investigation committed by transportation companies. Office of AG secured more than $10 million from those companies and won convictions of 11 individuals. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The New York AG this week became the subject of a federal criminal referral over allegations she falsely claimed in official public documents in August 2023 that her “principal residence” was a home in Norfolk, Va.

James, who also has a home in Brooklyn, bought the Virginia property with her niece that year, when she was already in office as attorney general of New York.

SUPREME COURT POISED TO MAKE MAJOR DECISION THAT COULD LIMIT POWER OF DISTRICT JUDGES

New York requires its AGs to live in the state for at least five years before being elected and also while in office.

A document involving power of attorney for the Virginia purchase and viewed by The Post was signed by James in August of that year complete with the declaration, “I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference, Sept. 21, 2022, in New York.   (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

The Post spoke to several of James’ alleged Virginia neighbors Wednesday, none of whom reported ever seeing her at the property.

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte detailed these and other allegations of James playing fast and loose with residency requirements in a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ADAMS EXPLAINS TO LARA TRUMP WHY HE’LL WORK WITH THE PRESIDENT

The criminal referral also accused James, whose salary is $220,000, of misrepresenting the number of apartments for a building she owns in Brooklyn — saying it has four units, when city Department of Buildings records say it has five. That’s a key distinction because buildings with four or fewer units qualify for mortgages with better terms.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Pulte said these issues could amount to criminal charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution.

In a previous statement, James’ office has lashed out at the Trump administration for “weaponization of the federal government” and provided some details about her ownership of the properties.

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But her spokesman did not specifically deny the allegations against her.

Her camp did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment on the fundraiser.

The Trump administration’s criminal referral targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James for reported mortgage fraud likely never would have unfolded if not for the Democrat’s years of targeting the president in court, a New York City real estate attorney and expert told Fox News Digital. 

“To be perfectly frank, this is a retaliatory case brought by the president for what the attorney general did to him over the last several years,” New York City attorney Pierre Debbas, partner and founding member of real estate law firm Romer Debbas, told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview Thursday morning. “Both cases, quite honestly, are very weak cases.

“The attorney general’s case that was brought against Donald Trump was honestly a pure manipulation of the legal system, and it was laughable,” he continued, referring to the civil fraud case she brought against Trump. “Something that’s never taken place in the history of New York that was isolated at one particular person for a politically driven purpose.

“Now, on the flip side, this serves the same purpose, right? This is the president’s way of seeking retaliation against the attorney general for something that, in reality, is, while it’s considered mortgage fraud, it’s not criminal,” he continued. “And it’s not something that would have been brought upon had the attorney general not pursued a similar case with low merit against the president a few years back.” 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REFERS NY AG LETITIA JAMES FOR POSSIBLE PROSECUTION OVER ALLEGATIONS OF MORTGAGE FRAUD

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference Sept. 21, 2022, in New York.   (Brittainy Newman, File/The Associated Press )

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), an independent federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice Monday arguing the attorney general appeared to have falsified mortgage records to obtain more favorable loans. 

At the heart of the case is a Norfolk, Virginia, home James purchased in 2023, which she identified on mortgage documents and a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac form as a property that would serve as her primary residence, according to the FHFA letter dated Monday. James is legally required to live in New York as a statewide elected official in the Empire State, the letter adds. 

Identifying a home as a primary residence versus a secondary home or vacation home comes with financial incentives, Debbas explained, because banks will offer lower interest rates to primary residences, with homeowners less likely to default on such loans compared to a second home. 

“As a real estate attorney, we represent every major lending institution in the country,” he said. “And a common underwriting requirement for banks is to solidify what the use of the property is going to be, meaning, is it a primary residence, second home or investment property.

“And the reason banks do that is that clearly there’s a higher rate of default when it comes to investment properties and second homes as opposed to primary residences.”

The Trump administration’s criminal referral targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James for reported mortgage fraud likely never would have unfolded if not for the Democrat’s years of targeting the president in court, a New York City real estate attorney and expert told Fox News Digital.  (Seth Wenig, Pool/The Associated Press)

“The reason being is people, you know, don’t want to leave their homes,” he said. “Now, a second home investment property, you may be a little more inclined to throw the keys to the bank.” 

COURT NAMES NEW JUDGE IN TRUMP CIVIL FRAUD CASE BEFORE REASSIGNING PREVIOUS JUDGE HOURS LATER

The bank then requires the borrower to sign an affidavit confirming that the home being acquired will be used as a primary residence, he explained. 

“Now, if that is not the intent or that is in fact inaccurate, and you sign that agreement, you are in fact committing mortgage fraud,” he said. “And the bank relies on that agreement in giving you the loan. Now, would they have given you a loan if it were a second home? Potentially, but the difference is the interest rate would be significantly higher.” 

The bank’s recourse when discovering such mortgage fraud related to misidentifying a property as a primary residence to obtain more favorable loan terms is “simply to call the loan,” he said. 

State Attorney General Letitia James is a longtime political foe of President Donald Trump who campaigned for the attorney general job in 2018 by vowing to aggressively pursue legal charges against Trump if elected.  (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“They would call the loan, force you to pay it off by a certain date,” he said. “If you’re unable to sell the property or take other liquidity that you have to pay off the loan, they have the right to pursue a foreclosure action. They’d be legally granted this right. It would be very difficult to contest under those circumstances because, technically speaking, this is a default and this is fraud.” 

The New York City real estate attorney added that this type of fraud is common. 

LONGTIME TRUMP FOE LETITIA JAMES REVIEWING POSSIBLE INSIDER TRADING OVER PRESIDENT’S TARIFF PAUSE

“What extent is it fraud? To be quite honest with you, this is a very common thing that does take place in the real estate market,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying Letitia James … the full extent of the law shouldn’t be applied to her. But it is something that takes place. Because if the loan is current, the bank hasn’t really suffered any detriment, but it’s still mortgage fraud. So that doesn’t take away the fraud component to this.” 

Debbas argued this type of fraud does not rise to the level of criminal activity because the bank can call the loan, take back the property or force it to be liquidated.

“The attorney general’s case that was brought against Donald Trump was honestly a pure manipulation of the legal system, and it was laughable,” New York City attorney Pierre Debbas said, referring to the civil fraud case she brought against Trump. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

James’ office told The New York Times that a separate loan application for the 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home purchase reportedly indicated she would not live at the property full time, and that her mortgage agreement did not require her to occupy the property as her primary residence. 

James is a longtime political foe of Trump’s who campaigned for the attorney general job in 2018 by vowing to aggressively pursue legal charges against Trump if elected, adding she’d expose the “con man” after her win that year. 

Her office leveled nearly 100 legal challenges against the first Trump administration and added after his second presidential win in 2024 that she would continue challenging him in the courts to “defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law.”

NY AG LETITIA JAMES SKEWERED FOR ‘DISTASTEFUL’ REMARKS AFTER TRUMP VICTORY: ‘UTTER ARROGANCE’

Most notably, James pursued a civil fraud case against Trump and the Trump Organization for inflating the values of properties to obtain more favorable loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions, which resulted in a $454 million judgment in 2024. 

A spokesperson for James’ office told Fox Digital Thursday that “multiple times during the attorney general’s trial against President Trump and the Trump Organization for years of financial fraud, President Trump’s attorneys repeatedly made the argument that the attorney general’s lawsuit was politically motivated.

“Every single time, the judge rejected that argument and even sanctioned the attorneys for making it,” the spokesperson added. “Attorney General James won her lawsuit, and the judgment against President Trump now exceeds half a billion dollars.” 

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley noted the irony of Trump’s criminal referral over allegations of James fudging numbers to obtain more favorable loans after pursing Trump for something similar. 

“This is a person who prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress, and among the charges that were brought in New York, in not just the civil but the criminal case, was making false or misleading statements to financial institutions,” the legal scholar said on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” Tuesday. “As for James, if we apply the Letitia James standard that she created, there’d be little question here. This seems pretty straightforward.”

The administration is looking into the allegations put forth by the FHFA while underscoring that “no one is above the law,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields said on Newsmax Wednesday. 

“With the Democratic Party, they love to throw stones in glass homes when they realize that they’re committing the crimes that they’re actually trying to go against,” Fields said. 

“So, this is now a criminal referral that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi will have to look at,” he added. “The allegations from the FHFA are very serious. We’re going to look at them, and no one is above the law. And Tish James, she’d like to say that about the president, but she should look in the mirror and realize that if you have skeletons in your closets about abusing the law and doing illegal things, maybe you shouldn’t be purveying around like some justice queen, because you’re not.” 

NY AG LETITIA JAMES RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS OF MORTGAGE FRAUD

The criminal referral also cited past reported issues with James’ properties, including a 2001 purchase of a Brooklyn property. The certificate of occupancy lists the property as a five-unit residence, while James’ mortgages list the property as four units. 

Debbas explained that five-unit properties are identified as commercial properties, which would require a commercial loan that has higher interest rates than a residential loan. However, the banks carry the burden of confirming whether a building is commercial or residential. 

“If the borrower has the ability to tell the bank or convince the bank that it’s actually four units, it’s to their financial benefit,” he said. “Now, when you look at a certificate of occupancy, certificate of the occupancy is issued by the Department of Buildings, which tells you the legal use of the building.

Letitia James’ office leveled nearly 100 legal challenges against the first Trump administration and said after his second presidential win in 2024 she would continue challenging him in the courts to “defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law.” (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

“This is a five-family dwelling,” he said. “Now, this is unequivocally a commercial property. The burden was on the bank to confirm this, but if the borrower did, in fact, have concrete knowledge … an argument can be made that mortgage fraud did take place in the application of this law.” 

James’ office told The New York Times a rider attached to the Brooklyn mortgage stated the building was four units, not five. 

Debbas added that before the 2008 market crash, there was a lot of “shadiness” in the world of mortgages. 

“As an elected official … there should be a heightened standard for honesty and obliging by your legal requirements not falsifying documents or committing fraud,” Debbas said. 

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While reflecting specifically on the Virginia home alleged mortgage fraud, he added, “Now, how would this impact her seating as attorney general of the state of New York? At the end of the day, that’s going to be determined largely based on how many enemies she’s created. But from a purely mortgage standpoint, it is certainly mortgage fraud, but, in my opinion, it does not warrant any criminal activity.”

A spokesperson for James’ office said Wednesday morning she has been “focused every single day on protecting New Yorkers, especially as this administration weaponizes the federal government against the rule of law and the Constitution. She will not be intimidated by bullies — no matter who they are,” Fox Digital previously reported. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pointed out that only half of its D.C. headquarters is being used after the agency’s building was added to a list of federal properties marked for sale by the Trump administration Thursday.

HUD’s headquarters became the first major federal agency building to be added to the General Services Administration’s list of “assets identified for accelerated disposition” amid GOP efforts to slim down the government’s real estate portfolio and potentially relocate agency headquarters outside the nation’s capital. 

Simultaneously, Democrats have taken steps to block these efforts, including through the introduction of legislation in Congress. 

Last month, the GSA retracted a list of 440 “non-core” assets, including the HUD headquarters and more than a dozen other federal buildings it had initially listed for sale or disposal, according to the Federal News Network. The GSA subsequently posted a new list, but HUD is the first major executive agency headquarters to be included. 

DEM ACCUSES TRUMP ADMIN OF ‘FIRE SALE APPROACH’ AS GOP AIMS TO LOWER FEDERAL GOV’S REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO

The Robert C. Weaver Federal Building in Washington, D.C.  (Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump campaigned on relocating federal agencies outside the nation’s capital in 2024 as part of his wider efforts to clean up waste, slim down the federal government and “dismantle the deep state.” 

Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order rescinding two prior executive actions put into effect under the Carter and Clinton administrations, which the president said in his directive “prevented agencies from relocating to lower-cost facilities.” Trump’s directive also points out that by moving federal agencies closer to the people they are serving, rather than being centrally located in the nation’s capital, it will help the departments more successfully carry out their missions. 

“HUD’s focus is on creating a workplace that reflects the values of efficiency, accountability and purpose,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said Thursday. “We’re committed to rightsizing government operations and ensuring our facilities support a culture of optimal performance and exceptional service as we collaborate with our partners at GSA to deliver results for the American people.”

HUD indicated Thursday the timeline and final location for the headquarters relocation is still being considered.  (Getty Images; Fox News)

SEN. DICK DURBIN: CLOSING FEDERAL OFFICES PUNISHES EVERYDAY AMERICANS

HUD indicated Thursday the timeline and final location for the headquarters relocation were still being considered. But the agency did note that the Washington, D.C., metro area remains one of the top options under consideration.  

The HUD headquarters is located inside the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, which is in the Southwest part of D.C. According to HUD, the building is facing $500 million in “deferred maintenance and modernization needs,” which the agency said costs taxpayers more than $56 million annually in rent and operations expenditures.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development headquarters in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2025. (Getty Images; Fox News)

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Media reports earlier this month indicated the Department of Agriculture has been putting together plans to relocate its federal headquarters outside D.C., according to several officials briefed on the plans.

The Supreme Court has agreed to examine the Trump administration’s challenge to judges issuing nationwide injunctions, setting a date for a case that could have a major impact on the president’s ability to carry out his agenda as well as on the entire country.  

This comes after three federal judges issued separate nationwide injunctions blocking an executive order by President Donald Trump ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. 

On Thursday, the court consolidated the three cases into one and set oral arguments to examine the fundamental question of whether district judges can issue rulings that affect the entire country. 

The court will hear oral arguments for the case at 10 a.m. on May 15, which is about two weeks after the court normally stops hearing oral arguments ahead of its recess, which begins in July.

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ORAL ARGUMENTS IN BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP CASE

The Supreme Court has agreed to examine the Trump administration’s challenge to judges issuing nationwide injunctions, setting a date for a case that could have a major impact on the president’s ability to carry out his agenda as well as on the entire country.   (Donald Trump: Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images | Supreme Court: Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Nationwide injunctions are court orders that prevent the federal government from implementing a policy or law that has a cascading effect impacting the entire country, not just the parties involved in the court case. 

Since Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January, his administration has faced hundreds of lawsuits targeting his executive orders and actions, some of which have resulted in nationwide injunctions, stalling key portions of his agenda, including immigration enforcement. 

NEARLY 2 DOZEN STATES SUE TRUMP ADMIN OVER BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER: ‘UNPRECEDENTED’

FILE – The Supreme Court of the United States is seen in Washington, March 26, 2024.   (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)

In March the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to narrow three injunctions that were issued to halt Trump’s nullification of birthright citizenship. The emergency appeal requested the injunction only cover individuals directly impacted by the relevant courts. 

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The administration’s acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued in the emergency appeal that nationwide injunctions have hit “epidemic proportions” under the second Trump administration, noting that the federal government faced 14 universal injunctions in the first three years of the Biden administration compared to 15 leveled against the Trump admin in one month alone. 

Beyond impacting the question of birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, the court’s ultimate decision will likely have the even larger impact of finally answering the limits of federal judges’ power to decide questions of national and international policy. 

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

The Trump administration announced sanctions against the International Bank of Yemen Y.S.C. (IBY) on Thursday for its financial support of Houthi terrorists.

Along with the bank, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning key leaders of IBY, like its Chairman of the Board of Directors Kamal Hussain Al Jebry; Executive General Manager Ahmed Thabit Noman Al-Absi and Deputy General Manager Abdulkader Ali Bazara. By sanctioning IBY, the U.S. hopes to stop Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

“Financial institutions like IBY are critical to the Houthis’ efforts to access the international financial system and threaten both the region and international commerce,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender said. “Treasury remains committed to working with the internationally recognized government of Yemen to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to secure funds and procure key components for their destabilizing attacks.”

Based in Sana’a, Yemen, the IBY is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis and provides the group with access to the bank’s Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) network to make international financial transactions, the Treasury said.

TRUMP TAKES SWIPE AT BIDEN, SAYS US WILL SUPPORT SOMALIA AGAINST HOUTHIS

Houthi followers burn the Israeli and American flags during a tribal gathering on January 14, 2024 on the outskirts of Sana’a, Yemen. Houthi followers gathered to protest against the U.S.-U.K. airstrikes on positions in areas under their control.  (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

The IBY, for instance, has allegedly aided Houthi businesses and officials to pursue oil on the SWIFT network, while also facilitating attempts by the terrorist group to evade sanctions oversight.

Under Thursday’s sanctions, all property and interests in property of the leaders named, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Additionally, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.

TRUMP TOUTS AIRSTRIKE ON HOUTHIS, SHOWING VIDEO: WILL ‘NEVER SINK OUR SHIPS AGAIN’

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce sent a warning to those who support foreign terrorist organizations like the Houthis. (State Department)

OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within, or transiting, the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. 

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce spoke about the sanctions during a press briefing Thursday, sending a message to anyone who supports foreign terrorist organizations like the Houthis.

US FORCES CARRY OUT AIRSTRIKE IN SOUTHERN SOMALIA, KILLING 3 AL-SHABAAB TERRORISTS

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday, Nov. 1.  (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

“The United States is committed to disrupting the Houthi financial networks and banking access as part of our whole-of-government approach to eliminating Iran’s threat network,” she said. “Moreover, we can confirm the reporting that Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company Limited (CGSTL) is directly supporting Iran-backed Houthi terrorist attacks on U.S. Interests. Their actions and Beijing’s support of the company, even after our private engagements with them, is yet another example of China’s empty claims to support peace.

She continued, urging partners of the U.S. to judge the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese companies on their actions, and not just their words.

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“Restoring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea is a priority to President Trump,” Bruce said. “Beijing should take this priority seriously when considering any future support of CGSTL. The United States will not tolerate anyone providing support to foreign terrorist organizations such as the Houthis.” 

A federal appeals court on Thursday denied the Trump administration‘s emergency request to block a judge’s order requiring the U.S. government to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador with a violent criminal history and alleged gang ties, who was deported to the El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) last month.

The ruling allows the lower court’s order to move forward for now.

The case involves Garcia, a “Maryland man” who was deported but whose return was ordered by a district judge after a recent Supreme Court decision. The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a judge’s order to “facilitate” Garcia’s return from CECOT, but the court Thursday rejected the request.

The three-judge panel included Judge Harvie Wilkinson, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, along with Judges Robert King and Stephanie Thacker, appointed by Presidents Clinton and Obama, respectively. 

‘MARYLAND MAN’ KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA EXPOSED IN POLICE RECORDS AS ‘VIOLENT’ REPEAT WIFE BEATER

As Democrats and media outlets clamor for the return of a supposedly innocent Salvadoran migrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, left, who was deported to a maximum-security prison in his home country, publicly available domestic violence court records cast doubt on the media narrative about his innocence. (Alex Peña/Getty Images; Fox News)

In the court’s opinion, Wilkinson repeatedly referred to Garcia as a “resident,” even though Garcia is not a lawful U.S. resident.

“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” Wilkinson wrote.

“This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”

KRISTI NOEM CRITICIZES ‘LIBERAL LEFT’ FOR TURNING ACCUSED GANG MEMBER INTO ‘MEDIA DARLING’

Court documents and police records show Garcia has a history of domestic violence, including repeated physical abuse against his wife. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has also identified him as a member of the MS-13 gang, using the street name “Chele.”

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to the El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) last month. (Fox News)

The court said the DOJ’s request was “extraordinary and premature” and that it would not interfere with the district judge’s efforts to carry out the Supreme Court’s decision.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi said Garcia would not be allowed back into the U.S. unless El Salvador decided otherwise. “He is not coming back to our country.”

The DOJf Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next month in the case challenging President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, in what is likely to be one of the most highly anticipated cases to be reviewed by the high court since Trump took office.

The justices said Thursday that they would hear arguments on the consolidated cases on May 15, roughly four weeks from now.

The Trump administration in March asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow a narrow version of the president’s executive order ending birthright citizenship to proceed. Trump signed the order on his first day in office and was immediately met with a flurry of lawsuits across the country.

The administration’s appeal concerns three nationwide injunctions brought in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state.

TRUMP ADMIN APPEALS RULING BLOCKING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor attend the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

All three states had issued nationwide injunctions blocking the birthright citizenship ban from taking force – a move that lawyers for the Trump administration argued in their Supreme Court filing was overly broad.

Acting U.S. Solicitor General Sarah Harris asked the justices to limit the scope of the rulings to cover only individuals directly impacted by the relevant courts. 

“These cases – which involve challenges to the President’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order concerning birthright citizenship – raise important constitutional questions with major ramifications for securing the border,” Harris wrote in their appeal. 

To date, no court has sided with the Trump administration’s executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship, though multiple district courts have blocked it from taking effect. 

NINTH CIRCUIT REJECTS TRUMP’S BID TO REINSTATE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER

Supreme Court justices attend the State of the Union address by President Joe Biden at the Capitol on March 7, 2024. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

Implementation of Trump’s executive order was initially set for Feb. 19. The policy would have affected hundreds of thousands of children born in the U.S. each year.

The order sought to reinterpret the 14th Amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Under the Trump administration’s proposed interpretation – later blocked by federal courts – children born to illegal immigrants or to those who were here legally but on temporary non-immigrant visas, are not citizens by birthright.

More than 22 U.S. states and immigrants’ rights groups quickly sued the Trump administration to block the change to birthright citizenship, arguing in court filings that the executive order is both unconstitutional and “unprecedented.”

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The states have also argued that the 14th Amendment does, in fact, guarantee citizenship to persons born on U.S. soil and naturalized in the U.S.

The U.S. is one of roughly 30 countries where birthright citizenship applies.

Several more congressional Democrats have made statements or issued requests to leadership to travel to El Salvador in hopes of bringing imprisoned deportee and accused MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to Maryland.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., remained in the Central American country as of Thursday morning, after Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa rejected his entreaties to contact or free the alleged gang member on Wednesday.

A representative for Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday that the freshman lawmaker would be taking a trip to El Salvador to essentially aid Van Hollen’s efforts.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be home in Maryland right now,” Ansari said in a separate statement. “His illegal abduction and the subsequent complete dismissal of the Supreme Court ruling is deeply disturbing. Our rights shouldn’t be revoked to propagate Trump’s authoritarian agenda. This is a constitutional crisis.”

DOJ INDICATES TRUMP ADMIN NOT OBLIGATED TO RETURN MAN DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR, PUSHING BACK ON JUDICIARY

From left, Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Robert Garcia and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (Getty Images)

“He’s already said that he’s ready and willing to illegally deport ‘home-growns’ and American citizens. If this can happen to Mr. Garcia, it can happen to any of us. My parents fled an authoritarian regime in Iran where people ‘disappeared’ – I refuse to sit back and watch it happen here, too. That’s why I plan to join my colleagues in traveling to El Salvador to visit Mr. Garcia and make sure Trump’s war on our Constitution and due process stops here.”

Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Robert Garcia, D-Calif., also wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., requesting a former CODEL (congressional delegation) authorization to visit Tecoluca, El Salvador, where the infamous El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) is located.

“Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national legally living and working in Maryland, was subject to a 2019 withholding order from an immigration judge prohibiting his removal to El Salvador,” Frost and Garcia wrote.

“A Congressional delegation would allow Committee Members to conduct a welfare check on Mr. Abrego Garcia, as well as others held at CECOT.”

Additionally, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is reportedly planning to travel to CECOT, according to reports from Politico and Axios. His office did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry.

NOT A MARYLAND MAN: GOP BLASTS DEMOCRAT SENATOR FIGHTING FOR RETURN OF SALVADORAN NATIONAL

Fox News Digital reached out to Comer’s office for comment, and whether other lawmakers had contacted him seeking CODEL authorization.

“Squad” member Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., also wrote to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., demanding her own CODEL to El Salvador, “given that the Administration’s use of CECOT for illegal and unconstitutional deportations is rife with ‘administrative errors.’”

While not party to the letter to Comer, Ansari tweeted Monday that “we need answers now” from either government.

She said she is ready to join Van Hollen – and Frost and Garcia if they go – to “demand” the man’s release.

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR: ‘END OF THE STORY’

Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., also suggested to Axios that travel to El Salvador may be necessary.

“We have to do similar kinds of things for the others who are victims of this dystopian attack on our Constitutional rights. This president is dangerous and we can’t let this go,” she said.

Meanwhile, at least two Republicans have also traveled to CECOT, albeit for different reasons.

Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., tweeted a photo from the prison, saying he just finished a tour and that many inmates were “extremely violent” recent U.S.-deportees.

“I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland,” Moore said.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., appeared to comment on Van Hollen’s trip in his own post from the prison, writing:

“It is unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are urging the release of more foreign criminals back into our country.”

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Homeland Security released new documents this week that it says definitively prove Abrego Garcia, who is imprisoned at CECOT after his deportation from the U.S., is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, which his lawyers deny.

Abrego Garcia also allegedly has a record of being a “violent” repeat wife beater, according to records filed in a Prince George’s County, Maryland, district court by his wife.

Fox News Digital reached out to Booker, Frost, Balint, Ramirez and Garcia for further comment.

Democrats are now defending elite universities like Harvard and Columbia from threats to their federal funding and tax-exempt status for allegedly violating public policy despite once championing the same legal precedent now being used against them.

The left championed the 1983 Bob Jones University v. United States ruling, which upheld the IRS’ decision to revoke tax benefits from a religious college that banned interracial dating. At the time, Democrats agreed with the federal government’s argument that no institution engaging in discrimination should receive public funds, even on religious grounds. 

Now, as the Trump administration cites that very precedent in urging the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status over claims the university is tolerating antisemitism and campus unrest, the left is accusing the administration of violating free speech laws to target ideological opponents.

‘SAFER WITHOUT HIM’: COLUMBIA STUDENT CLAIMS CLASSMATE ARRESTED BY ICE ‘HATES AMERICA’

Democrats are defending elite universities like Harvard and Columbia from threats to their federal funding and tax-exempt status. (Reuters/Nicholas Pfosi)

“The Bob Jones case is a very strong precedent in the government’s corner on this,” Joe Bishop-Henchman, vice president of tax policy and litigation at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“The Bob Jones precedent makes it a hard case for Harvard to win. It’d be a lot easier if that case wasn’t there, because I think they’ll have to argue that they’re being singled out, that this is politics,” he said. “If the administration can argue that it’s a violation of public policy, then the Bob Jones precedent follows.”

Today, Bob Jones University, a Christian liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, has a student body of more than 2,700. In 1983, it had policies banning interracial dating and marriage among students and expelled students who violated that policy. The IRS said that because of those racially discriminatory policies, the school did not qualify for tax-exempt status.

TRUMP ADMIN ASKS IRS TO REVOKE HARVARD’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS

The Trump administration announced it was freezing over $2 billion in grants and contracts after Harvard University said it would not comply with federal demands regarding antisemitism. (AP Images)

The school argued that revoking its tax-exempt status violated its religious freedom and that it was being punished for adhering to sincerely held beliefs. However, the government countered that it should not subsidize organizations—through tax breaks—that defy established public policy, particularly laws against racial discrimination.

The Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in favor of the federal government in the landmark Reagan-era case. The justices determined the IRS was allowed to deny tax-exempt status to schools that practice racial discrimination since it was against public policy. Even though the school claimed religious freedom, fighting racial discrimination was a “compelling government interest.”

“That is the letter of what Bob Jones said, but maybe it shouldn’t just be one university,” Henchman said. 

A drone view shows anti-Israel protestors voluntarily packing up their encampment in the Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 14, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

The high court held that the institutions failed to provide the “beneficial and stabilizing influences in community life” required to receive special tax status supported by taxpayers, according to the judicial archive Oyez. Because of their bans on interracial relationships, the schools could not meet that standard.

The justices concluded that racial discrimination in education conflicted with a “fundamental national public policy.” While acknowledging the schools’ religious beliefs, the Court found that the government may limit religious liberties when it is necessary to serve an “overriding governmental interest,” in this case, prohibiting racial discrimination. As the court noted, “not all burdens on religion are unconstitutional.”

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As such, the Trump administration argues that Harvard’s handling of antisemitism on campus should disqualify the university from keeping its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The IRS is expected to make a final decision soon, according to a report from CNN, which first broke the story.

A move by a top Democratic Party official to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to primary-challenge some older Democrats in blue districts is further igniting intra-party tensions that have rocked the party since President Donald Trump’s convincing election last November.

The reverberations started instantly after Leaders We Deserve, a political organization led by recently elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chair David Hogg, announced on Wednesday that it will spend $20 million to help elect younger Democrats. The effort includes supporting primary challengers to House Democrats in safe seats that Hogg argues “are asleep at the wheel.”

The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the horrific shooting seven years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in south Florida, to spend money against fellow Democrats is seen as an unprecedented action by a DNC official.

FIRST ON FOX: REPUBLICAN PARTY SHOWCASES MASSIVE HAUL

Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg is causing a stir in the party with his efforts to primary incumbents he believes are insufficiently progressive. (Reuters/Emily Elconin)

“There are strong opinions on both sides,” a DNC voting member told Fox News Digital.

The voting member, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely, said that “behind the scenes, people are expressing their strong opinions towards each other. There’s certainly not a consensus.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S FAVORABLE RATINGS DROP TO HISTORIC LOWS

DNC chair Ken Martin, who along with Hogg and other party officials, were elected to their positions at the beginning of February, praised Hogg in a statement but also spotlighted the DNC’s longstanding position of staying neutral in primaries.

“David Hogg is a passionate advocate and we are grateful for his service to the Democratic Party, whether it be in his role as a DNC Vice Chair or in an outside capacity,” Martin said in his statement.

Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin speaks after winning the vote at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, on Feb. 1, 2025.  (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

But Martin added, “In order to ensure we are as effective as possible at electing Democrats to office, it is the DNC’s longstanding position that primary voters — not the national party — determine their Democratic candidates for the general election.”

The move by Hogg comes as the party’s base is angry, and very energized, in fighting back against Trump’s sweeping and controversial moves, since returning to the White House three months ago, in upending the federal government and longstanding national policies. That anger is directed not only at Trump and Republicans, but also at Democrats many in the party’s base feel haven’t been effective or vocal enough in pushing back against the president.

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The energy has been evident at town halls this winter and early spring held by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress. And progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have drawn very large crowds to their “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies across the country over the past six weeks.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., acknowledge the cheering crowd during a “Fighting Oligarchy” event in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and other politicians who are leading the fight against Trump — including Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut — have seen a surge in their fundraising over the past three months.

Another leader on the left who has been among those vocal in their resistance to the Trump administration, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview that “we have to have a whole rebrand of the Democratic Party with a coherent platform and a future-oriented platform, and many leaders need to do that, new leaders, not the old guard. And I hope to be part of that.”

Khanna, who was interviewed on Tuesday, ahead of Hogg’s news, added that “we need Democrats speaking out, not just on the economy. We need them speaking out on civil liberties, on the rights of immigrants and on the rights of universities.”

While Democrats are increasingly energized to resist Trump, a slew of national polls earlier this year indicated the favorability ratings of the Democratic Party sinking to all-time lows.

Hogg, in a series of social media posts, pointed to one of those polls as he explained his move.

“The party has hit an all-time low approval rating of 27%,” Hogg wrote on X.

And he argued that “too many elected leaders in the Democratic Party are either unwilling or unable to meet the moment and are asleep at the wheel while Trump is demolishing the economy, challenging the foundations of our democracy, and creating new existential crises for our country by the day.”

Pointing to Democrats whom his group may target, Hogg said “through all of this, some incumbents will rise to the challenge and emerge stronger. Others will demonstrate why they should be replaced. Either way, we all win. Especially when we are not challenging frontline Democratic incumbents — we all want the House back.”

A Democratic Party operative who works on campaigns and who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital that “this is unusual, but we do need some better Democrats in office and there’s been a push to have a new generation come in and replace the 70- and-80-year-olds who have been in elective positions and shown that they’re not up to the fight.”

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DNC vice chair David Hogg is critical of incumbent Democrats he sees as ‘asleep at the wheel’ in their opposition to President Donald Trump. (AP/IMAGN)

Chris Moyer, a Democratic strategist and communicator who is a veteran of presidential and statewide campaigns, noted the timing of Hogg’s move.

“It’s all about how you break through, and the old ways of doing things have not worked. And this is an inflection point,” Moyer said. “So it’s understandable that there’s a desire to get some new blood into important roles and take the party in a more effective direction.”

But a DNC voting member who was granted anonymity to speak more freely said that “because we are so close to winning the [House] majority, having that money spent picking up seats to win the majority is probably a better use of the funds.”

The Trump administration on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to review a lower court order that threatened to hold officials in contempt over March 15 deportation flights – the latest flashpoint in a wave of immigration disputes playing out in federal courts nationwide.

The emergency request came hours after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said he found probable cause that administration officials had violated court directives to return those flights.

In his ruling, Boasberg threatened criminal contempt charges and directed the administration to submit additional declarations by April 23 explaining why such proceedings should not move forward.

Boasberg said that if officials fail to submit the declarations, the court will consider holding further hearings and potentially refer the matter for prosecution.

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

The Trump administration is appealing an order from Judge James E. Boasberg that could lead to administration officials being found in contempt. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Trump administration filed its appeal with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday night.

The Trump administration’s brief appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court does not include any new details, as the facts of the case have already been heard by the district and appellate court. 

The appellate court last month ruled 2-1 to uphold Boasberg’s temporary restraining order.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled 5-4 last month that the Trump administration could resume its deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act, so long as individuals subject to removal under the law were given due process protections, and the opportunity to pursue habeas relief – or the ability to have their case heard by a U.S. court prior to their removal.

Boasberg said Wednesday that the court found that the Trump administration had demonstrated a “willful disregard” for his March 15 emergency order, which temporarily halted all deportation flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 statute providing for such deportations during “a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion” by a foreign nation.

“The Court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt,” Boasberg said Wednesday.

Boasberg said he will give government officials the opportunity to propose “other methods” of coming into compliance, which he will evaluate.

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

Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Public Security Héctor Villatoro, pointing, accompanies Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Boasberg had scolded the Trump administration, including Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign, for failing to comply with repeated requests for information from the court about the individuals deported on the flights – and who in the administration knew about the restraining order handed down, and when. 

The lack of information provided had sparked frustration from Boasberg, who described their compliance last month in a blistering order as “woefully insufficient.”

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The Trump administration, for its part, had argued in an earlier emergency appeal that Boasberg’s actions amounted to a “massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens,” whom they alleged “pose threats to the American people.”

“If you really believed everything you did that day was legal and would survive a court challenge, you would not have operated the way that you did,” Boasberg told Ensign earlier this month.

A community of LGBTQ+ Christians began Holy Week with a proclamation of “righteous rage and holy hope” at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Monday. 

Fox News Digital asked attendees at the Collective of Queer Christian Leaders event how “woman” should be defined in 2025. While some spoke about gender fluidity, spirituality and inclusivity, activists called for politicians to focus less on pronouns and more on delivering for Americans. 

“While the right is interested in litigating biology, I’m interested in litigating humanity,” the Rev. Don Abram, the founder of Pride in the Pews, told Nicholas Ballasy of Fox News Digital. Abram pivoted from the question to saying God is in everyone, and all people are “deserving of rights, protections, resources and safety,” regardless of identity. 

The pastor and member of Pride in the Pews, which is a Black LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said conservatives focusing on gender ideology is a distraction from the issues Americans care most about, like whether Medicaid will be cut or how tariffs will affect the economy. 

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A community of LGBTQ+ Christians began Holy Week with a proclamation of “righteous rage and holy hope” at the U.S. Capitol. Fox News Digital asked  event attendees to define “woman” in 2025. (Fox News Digital)

“I think the conversation on gender and who identifies, how they identify, it’s just a scapegoat for them to not focus on the real issues and the real problems that are affecting all of us,” Abram said. 

WHITE HOUSE PLANS ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ HOLY WEEK AS TRUMP HONORS EASTER WITH ‘THE OBSERVANCE IT DESERVES’

Guthrie Graves, an ordained Baptist deacon, said Americans might disagree on the fluidity of sex and gender, but “what we can all agree on is nobody should fear for their safety, or fear losing their job or face violence on the street.” He said a foundation of human rights should predicate debates about “human sexuality and gender.”

Other attendees, who answered the question more literally, said definitions of sexuality and gender are not so rigid. 

“From a faith perspective, we are all children of God, and if someone identifies as transgender and claims that as their identity, then who is anyone else to argue with that?” Jan Lawrence, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network, an LGBTQ+ justice organization within the United Methodist Church, told Fox News Digital. 

U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., the first transgender member of Congress, walks through the U.S. Capitol before the start of the 119th Congress in Washington Jan. 3, 2025.  (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress in November. Debates over which bathroom McBride was permitted to use dominated her first few weeks on the job after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., advocated for a ban on transgender women using the women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol. 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson later announced the U.S. House would institute a bathroom ban, stating all single-sex bathrooms were reserved for individuals of that biological sex. Johnson noted that every member of Congress has an office with a private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol. 

“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” McBride said in a statement in November. 

President Donald Trump, on his first day back in the Oval Office, issued an executive order establishing only two sexes, male and female. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington April 16, 2025.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a lawsuit against Maine Wednesday for allowing transgender women to continue playing women’s sports. Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills has refused to comply with Trump’s executive order restricting biological men from playing in girls and women’s sports. 

Nearly two months ago, Trump and Mills sparred during a bipartisan meeting of governors at the White House during which Trump promised Mills he’d “see you in court.”

Last year, President Joe Biden proclaimed March 31, which fell on Easter Sunday, Transgender Day of Visibility to show “transgender and nonbinary Americans that we see them, they belong and they should be treated with dignity and respect.” 

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This year, Trump’s new White House Faith Office has announced a robust Holy Week schedule to celebrate Easter.