House DOGE subcommittee chair Greene threatens criminal referrals over foreign aid spending
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., chair of the House Oversight DOGE subcommittee, threatened potential “criminal referrals” during a hearing Wednesday on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “This committee, based on this hearing and witness testimonies, will consider recommending investigations and criminal referrals,” Greene said, beginning a line of questioning after several witnesses made opening remarks to the committee. The congresswoman reiterated that Hunter Biden was on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma when his father, Joe Biden, was vice president. “The prosecutor general of Ukraine at the time, Viktor Shokin, was investigating Burisma for corruption. Biden threatened, and it’s on video, to withhold 1 billion of USAID grant to Ukraine if Shokin wasn’t fired,” Greene said, before questioning one of the witnesses, former USAID official and Heritage Foundation senior research fellow, Max Primorac. MUSK TELLS CABINET THAT DOGE EMAIL WAS ‘PULSE CHECK’ FOR WORKERS, WARNS US WILL ‘GO BANKRUPT’ WITHOUT ACTION “Is USAID supposed to be used as leverage by a president to protect his son?” she asked. Primorac responded, “No, we call that corruption.” “In your estimation, roughly what percentage of USAID funding is doled out to bad actors or to efforts that don’t have the best interests of Americans in mind?” Greene added. Primorac said it was discovered through the work of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that USAID has been paying out over 50% to overhead charges and the inspector general of USAID “criticized the agency for not knowing the overhead charges being handed out to all of these actors for $142 billion of disbursements.” “That is extremely troubling,” he added. Another witness, Middle East Forum Executive Director Gregg Roman, said in his opening statement that he was there to testify “because there’s a fox loose in the henhouse of our foreign aid system – a system intended to uplift lives abroad that instead has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to radical and terrorist-linked organizations.” “If we don’t fix these fences now, we risk fueling violence against our allies, our troops, and potentially ourselves,” he said, later adding: “I urge this committee to make a formal criminal referral to the Department of Justice regarding USAID’s systemic failure to prevent taxpayer dollars from reaching terrorist organizations. USAID’s reckless bureaucrats should be dragged not just in front of this committee, but before a criminal court judge who can get to the bottom of this travesty and lock up any government official who risked the lives of innocent people around the world to advance these radical anti-American pet projects.” HOUSE DOGE HEARING ERUPTS OVER DEMOCRAT DEEMING TRUMP ‘GRIFTER IN CHIEF,’ REFERRING TO ‘PRESIDENT MUSK’ Greene did not specify who would potentially be the recipients of the criminal referrals. The chairwoman said that the “Democrat-run USAID should not get to use our federal government – our U.S. taxpayer dollars – as their party piggy bank to push their radical agenda in countries that we have no business giving money to.” Greene said 95% of all political contributions from USAID employees go to Democratic Party candidates or PACs. “The revolving door between USAID employees and NGOs that receive USAID funding is undeniable. Maybe we should consider investigating whether USAID funding has made it back to Democrat campaigns?” she later asked. In her closing remarks, Greene again posed bringing criminal referrals in connection to USAID funding. “What we have heard today is that USAID has been used as a tool by Democrats to brainwash the world with globalist propaganda to force regime changes around the world,” she said. “But if USAID funded terrorism that resulted in the death of Americans,” Greene added, “then this committee will be making criminal referrals.” Committee Democrats spent the hearing arguing that the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID was illegal, and is “reordering the global stage” to favor foreign adversaries and “undermining global democracy.”
LPG prices, UPI transactions, FD: 5 major changes that will impact middle class from March 1, 2025
The rules coming into effect from March 1, 2025, could impact your daily life. Investors should understand the new FD regulations and plan accordingly. Meanwhile, potential changes in LPG, CNG, and PNG prices could affect household budgets.
Top conservative group vows to ‘work closely’ with Trump on 2026 GOP primaries despite past clashes
EXCLUSIVE – A leading conservative organization that is already a big spender in Republican primary politics is looking to up its game in the 2026 election cycle as it aligns with President Donald Trump and his political team. “Our goal is going to be even bigger and do more,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh emphasized in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. The Club for Growth is a political advocacy organization which pushes a fiscally conservative agenda, including a focus on tax cuts and other economic issues. Its political arm, the Club for Growth Action super PAC, has been a major player in GOP primary showdowns. THIS TOP REPUBLICAN SENATE RECRUIT HINTS AT WHEN HE’LL MAKE A 2026 DECISION Club for Growth Action says it and its affiliated super PACs raised $163 million in the 2024 election cycle, and touts that it won 73% of the races where it made political investments. The group says it aims to up the ante in the 2026 cycle, and it works to strengthen the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. McIntosh said that when it comes to increasing its investments this year and next year, “a lot of that depends on the members. We’re dependent on our donors to help us fund these races.” However, he added, “we’ve got some very good, generous people who support us in that.” SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS HOW MANY SEATS HE’S GUNNING FOR IN NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERMS “One of the key factors,” McIntosh emphasized, “is going to be President Trump and his endorsement. That literally trumps everything else. So what we would do is recommend to him and his political team what candidates that we think would support his agenda, the free market, limited government conservatives that we could support together.” McIntosh and the Club have had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. They opposed Trump as he ran for the White House in 2016 before embracing him as an ally. In the 2022 cycle, Trump and the Club teamed up in some high-profile GOP primaries but clashed over combustible Senate nomination battles in Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Additionally, the Club was on the outs with Trump as the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race got underway. Trump repeatedly criticized McIntosh and the Club, referring to them as “The Club for NO Growth,” and claimed they were “an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers.” However, Trump and McIntosh made peace about a year ago, with Trump saying in March 2024, as he was wrapping up the GOP presidential nomination, that they were “back in love” after the protracted falling out. TRUMP, CLUB FOR GROWTH, MAKE PEACE AHEAD OF 2024 ELECTIONS “I think you’ll see Club for Growth PACs work closely with President Trump, his political team,” McIntosh told Fox News. “We’re definitely going to be working closely with his policy team to get the tax bill through, a lot of the legislation that we both agree is really important for turning things around in the country.” Club officials say that they are planning an eight-figure federal advocacy campaign to support what they call the pro-growth, free-market initiatives proposed by the Trump administration. A top item their campaign will spotlight is the push to expand and permanently codify the Trump tax cuts passed during his first term in the White House. The group is also advocating for federal school freedom legislation, which would allow parents “to use federal tax dollars to send their students to the public, private, charter, or homeschool that best fits their learning needs.” Club for Growth Action last year teamed up with allied groups to target and defeat 10 GOP incumbent state lawmakers in Texas who had opposed the so-called school choice legislation. The group also spent big bucks in Tennessee on a similar mission, and this year is continuing its crusade in five other states where school choice bills are being considered. The Club on Thursday kicks off its annual donor retreat for top-dollar contributors, which is held each year at an exclusive beachfront resort in the upper crust seaside community of Palm Beach, Florida. Some of the best-known names on the right will be speaking at the confab, as they mingle with big-pocketed donors. Among the politicians attending are Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Tim Scott of South Carolina (who is the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm), Rick Scott of Florida and freshman lawmaker Bernie Moreno of Ohio. Among the House members attending are House Speaker Mike Johnson and Reps. Byron Donalds, who is moving towards a 2026 run for governor in Florida, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who is also mulling a gubernatorial bid. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is also attending, as is Vivek Ramaswamy, who earlier this week launched a 2026 campaign for Ohio governor.
Madhya Pradesh seals Rs 30.77 lakh crore in MoUs at GIS 2025, attracts global attention
With MoUs worth Rs 30.77 Lakh Crore and a clear focus on industrial development, GIS 2025 has solidified Madhya Pradesh’s place as a key investment hub. The summit highlighted the state’s potential for sustainable economic growth and innovation, setting the stage for continued progress.
Trump administration cutting 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts, documents show
The sheer scale of cuts the Trump administration is looking to carry out at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been revealed, with nearly 15,000 grants worth $60 billion set to be eliminated, according to internal documents. The grants amount to about 90% of foreign aid contracts and come after a review on spending by the State Department. USAID aid became an early target of the Trump administration, with the president being a longtime critic of overseas spending, arguing that it does not benefit the American taxpayer and going so far as to call those who run the top agency “radical lunatics.” USAID INSTRUCTIONS FOR FIRED EMPLOYEES GIVES THEM 15 MINUTES TO GATHER BELONGINGS FROM SHUTTERED DC BUILDING Republicans argue it is wasteful, promotes liberal agendas and should be enfolded into the State Department, while Democrats say it saves lives abroad and helps U.S. interests by stabilizing other countries and economies. In all, the Trump administration said it will eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multi-year USAID contract awards, for a cut of $54 billion. Another 4,100 of 9,100 State Department grants were being eliminated, for a cut of $4.4 billion, according to a State Department memo reviewed by the Associated Press. The State Department memo described the administration as spurred by a federal court order that gave officials until the end of the day Wednesday to lift the Trump administration’s monthlong block on foreign aid funding. “In response, State and USAID moved rapidly,” targeting USAID and State Department foreign aid programs in vast numbers for contract terminations, the memo said. The memo said officials were “clearing significant waste stemming from decades of institutional drift.” More changes are planned in how USAID and the State Department deliver foreign assistance, it said, “to use taxpayer dollars wisely to advance American interests.” U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts on Wednesday paused a federal judge’s order that required the Trump administration to pay around $2 billion in foreign aid funds to contractors by midnight. SECRETARY OF STATE RUBIO CONFIRMS BECOMING ACTING USAID CHIEF The ruling comes after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to block the release of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding, which the federal judge had required by midnight. Officials had said they would not be able to comply with the judge’s order. USAID was set up in the early 1960s to act on behalf of the U.S. to deliver aid across the globe, particularly in impoverished and underdeveloped regions. The agency now operates out of 60 nations and employs some 10,000 people, two-thirds of whom work overseas – though most of the on-the-ground work is contracted out to third-party organizations funded by USAID, according to a BBC report. But the agency has come in for considerable criticism as Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) look to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Musk likened the agency to “not an apple with a worm in it,” but “just a ball of worms.” “You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair,” Musk wrote on X earlier this month. Trump has moved to gut the agency after imposing a 90-day pause on foreign aid. The Trump administration plans to gut the agency and intends to leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of the current 8,000 direct hires and contractors. He has also appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the acting director of USAID. The news comes as thousands of staffers were notified weeks ago about pending dismissals. Some were seen leaving Washington, D.C., offices for the last time on Friday carrying boxes scrawled with messages that seemed to be directed at President Donald Trump. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, recently published a list of questionable projects and programs she says USAID has helped fund over the years, including $20 million to produce a Sesame Street show in Iraq. Several more examples of questionable spending have been uncovered at USAID, including more than $900,000 to a “Gaza-based terror charity” called Bayader Association for Environment and Development and a $1.5 million program slated to “advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.” Fox News’ Bill Mears, Andrew Mark Miller, Aubrie Spady, Deirdre Heavey, Caitlin McFall, Morgan Phillips and Emma Colton as well as Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Uttar Pradesh: Class 3 Moradabad student suffers vision loss after alleged beating by principal, claims mother
Authorities have initiated an inquiry into the incident that happened on Tuesday at Bhogpur Mithoni Primary School after the victim’s mother, Jyoti Kashyap, lodged a complaint against the principal, Geeta Karal, to the District Magistrate.
Texas Legislature proposes $400 million cut to higher ed as Dan Patrick threatens university budgets over DEI
At a public event last week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said higher ed would get less funding if they don’t “kick DEI out of their schools,” a few weeks after lawmakers proposed a massive cut to public universities.
A shortage of criminal defense attorneys threatens indigent right to counsel in rural Texas
Texas’ indigent defense commission wants lawmakers to spend $35 million on public defender offices in rural areas, but some say that isn’t nearly enough to ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution.
Trump admin won’t tolerate antisemitism in schools, says Leo Terrell as NYC schools under microscope
FIRST ON FOX: In a Jan. 29 executive order, President Donald Trump directed additional measures to fight antisemitism, noting that Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel spawned “an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.” Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights who is heading up a new Justice Department Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, told Fox News Digital that the president has directed his task force “to use every tool in our toolbox as Department of Justice to stop this antisemitic behavior.” He added that Attorney General Pam Bondi “has been following President Trump’s directive. … She has given me the green light to do everything possible and use the power of the federal government to stop this.” Terrell said that since Oct. 7, the country “has turned its back on Jewish Americans at schools in day-to-day life,” with Jewish Americans not being “protected like other citizens,” including at colleges and in K-12 schools. Antisemitic prejudice appears to be thriving within New York City Public Schools. A pressure group called the New York Public Schools Alliance, a network of concerned teachers, students and administrators led by co-founder Karen Feldman, undertook an investigation into alleged anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-American prejudice within the city’s public schools in October 2024. The group said its findings demonstrate a failure to protect teachers and students against discrimination, the presence of implicitly and explicitly biased materials in education and curriculum development, and an atmosphere of political activism in schools that has “deepened divisions.” TRUMP EDUCATION DEPT LAUNCHES PROBE INTO ‘EXPLOSION OF ANTISEMITISM’ AT 5 UNIVERSITIES’ Multiple sources who spoke to Fox News Digital noted with particular concern the atmosphere of antisemitism at the Susan E. Wagner High School in Staten Island, which was the subject of a Fox News Digital report last spring. New York City Council member David Carr told Fox News Digital that many parents of Susan E. Wagner students contacted him with concerns about what they perceived as hatred on display at the school’s International Festival in January. Carr said the event is typically a “wonderful celebration” by the school’s “incredibly diverse student body,” but this year there were people in the audience who shouted “Free Palestine” as the Israeli Student Club finished each of its three performances. Carr said there were additional antisemitic remarks made about the students before they took the stage during their final performance. Carr said the spectators “were escorted out of the venue and … have been banned from returning for future events.” A student from Susan E. Wagner High School who spoke on condition of anonymity told Fox News Digital that the students who were removed from the building called out “stinky Jews” as dancers with the Israeli Club made their way to the stage. The student was not aware of the repercussions for the audience members but said that school personnel apologized to offending audience members while escorting them from the facility. Carr said he has “spoken to the school leadership, and we’re going to be talking again” with the goal of creating “an atmosphere where everybody feels comfortable.” He added that “it clearly needs to be an ongoing conversation.” “It’s unacceptable that students be subjected to hate speech,” Carr said. “Antisemitism is the most pernicious form of hate, I think, in human history,” he explained. “It needs to be stood up to whenever it rears its ugly head.” The Susan E. Wagner student who shared their concerns with Fox News Digital said students have not only endured hate speech in their school, but multiple staff members have worn pro-Palestine paraphernalia. Though some teachers “never said anything” discriminatory, the student said that “you still know what they think.” EXPERTS SLAM UN ACTION PLAN FOR COMBATING ANTISEMITISM: ‘PHONY EXERCISE IN FUTILITY’ Wagner administrators have also allegedly participated in programming that promotes a one-sided interpretation of the Israel-Gaza conflict. In April 2024, the Wagner Arab Student Association posted on Instagram that it hosted a “survivor of the ongoing genocide in Gaza” to speak to students, with teachers and Principal David Cugini present. The student said that in an environment of anti-Israel sentiment, “[N]obody wants to say anything, because they’re so sure that nothing will get done. That’s what the school has done. It has pretty much shown these kids that no matter what you do … Jewish kids are just going to be at the bottom of the food chain.” Part of this silencing also appears to involve mislabeling reported incidents of antisemitic hate. The New York City Public School Alliance showed Fox News Digital five New York City school occurrence reports that described acts of alleged anti-Israel or antisemitic hate reported by staff and students at a variety of public schools. Each was recorded as not being bias-related. Fox News Digital asked interim Superintendent Roderick Palton and Cugini about a number of the aforementioned incidents, the methods of recording antisemitic incidents and whether Jewish students have a safe learning environment at the Susan E. Wagner High School. They did not respond. A New York City Department of Education spokesperson told Fox News Digital that New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) were taking part in training and workshops to “foster respectful and empathetic classroom conversation on difficult topics.” The spokesperson mentioned that “our Hidden Voices curricular resources highlight the diverse communities and experiences of New Yorkers, including the AAPI community, LGBTQ community, Americans with Disabilities, and the Global African Diaspora. To meet this moment across our city, we are currently expanding Hidden Voices to include both the Jewish American and Muslim American communities.” The NYCPS Alliance report cites the Hidden Voices curriculum as containing lessons that “emphasize resistance to colonialism, oppression, and marginalization.” The report says “the tendency to present incomplete or one-sided narratives may contribute to biased worldviews, potentially fostering a hostile learning environment for Jewish students. These materials raise concerns about whether the school
AG Bondi dismisses DEI lawsuits brought against police, fire departments under Biden administration
The Department of Justice has dismissed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) lawsuits brought against various police and fire departments across the country under the Biden administration, which deemed aptitude tests in certain cases as discriminatory. The lawsuits, which the DOJ said did not show evidence of intentional discrimination, were filed in efforts to require race-based hiring after statistical disparities between applicants of different races and genders. “American communities deserve firefighters and police officers to be chosen for their skill and dedication to public safety – not to meet DEI quotas,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. GROUP OF DEI WORKERS SUE TO STOP TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS Typically acknowledged in the proposed consent decrees, the departments used neutral selection tools, such as credit checks, exams and physical exercises, to choose candidates for the open positions, and White men tended to score or perform better. For example, a case filed in October against the City of Durham (North Carolina), alleged “unintentional” discrimination against Black applicants because they did not pass the written test with a score of 70% or better as often as White candidates did, which resulted in fewer Black employees. The complaint proposed getting rid of the neutral written test and “back pay and/or preferential hiring to Black candidates who were not hired because of the written exam” as solutions. The cost would have been around $980,000 in monetary relief, according to the case. OPINION: LAWFARE AND THE DEATH OF DEI AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION In a different case filed against Maryland State Police in October 2024, it was suggested that the agency not use its current selection tools, which consisted of a written test with a score of 70% or better and a physical test that involved push-ups, sit-ups, a flexibility reach, a trigger pull and a 1.5-mile run. “Because Black applicants passed the test less often than White applicants and because women passed the physical test less often than men, the Civil Rights Division concluded that Maryland was illegally discriminating against Black applicants and women,” the case said. The suggested changes involved ditching the prior selection tools and providing a total of $2.75 million in monetary relief to Black candidates who were not hired because of written test results and women who were not hired because of physical test results. The DOJ said similar cases were also brought against the cities of South Bend, Indiana, and Cobb County in Georgia. Cases dismissed on Wednesday marked “an early step toward eradicating illegal DEI preferences across the government and in the private sector,” the DOJ said.