Noem, Hegseth, Bondi plead with Congress for more border funding amid large-scale deportations
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump‘s newly sworn-in top Cabinet members are asking Congress to provide more resources to continue the administration’s full court press to secure the border and facilitate large-scale deportations. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi penned a letter to top appropriators in the House and Senate, pleading with them to designate more funds to the cause of securing the U.S. southern border. “The American people strongly support sealing our borders and returning to a lawful immigration system,” Noem, Hegseth and Bondi told the lawmakers in the letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER: THE LITTLE-KNOWN TRUMP NOMINEE WHO MAY NEED TO RELY ON DEMS “Even if the price of some of these measures may seem high, they are nothing when compared to the costs our country is facing in the long term of continuing the status quo,” they explained. According to the Trump Cabinet officials, their departments need a variety of resources to continue securing the border at the current level. These include additional law enforcement officers; military personnel, including Active Duty and State and National Guard; aircraft and additional means of transportation to facilitate deportations; both materials and workers to finish construction of “a permanent barrier” at the border; additional immigration judges to quickly decide cases and clear the backlog; and more facilities to detain illegal immigrant waiting for deportation. TRUMP NOMINEE TULSI GABBARD CLEARS LAST HURDLE, HEADS FOR FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE The correspondence to congressional leaders comes as a March 14 spending bill deadline approaches, and the chambers are expected to lay out a new spending deal to avoid a partial government shutdown. Passing a spending bill next month with satisfactory border funding could prove difficult, however, because 60 votes will be needed in the Senate. That means the Republican conference cannot pass it single-handedly and will need the support of several Democrats to get it done. SCHUMER REVEALS DEM COUNTER-OFFENSIVE AGAINST TRUMP’S DOGE AUDIT The letter from Noem, Hegseth and Bondi also coincides with congressional Republicans’ efforts to put together a budget deal with provisions for border security and pass it in an expeditious manner. However, the House and Senate GOP have begun to butt heads on how to go about the key budget reconciliation process and whether to pursue one big bill with all of Trump’s priorities or to use a two-bill approach, with another being passed later in the year to address Trump’s tax agenda. By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, reconciliation allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Senate Committee on the Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said, “Without new funding, President Trump’s bold border security plan will hit a wall. The administration needs the funding now and without delay.” He pointed to the $175 billion being allocated for border security measures in his recently-unveiled first reconciliation bill that will go through his committee this week. “Importantly, these necessary investments will be paid for by making spending cuts to other areas of the federal government,” Graham explained. “$175 billion is a fraction of the cost of an out of control illegal immigration system that’s poisoning America and allowing violence to reign. It’s the best money we could ever spend – and it will be paid for,” the senator concluded. TRUMP’S KEY TO CABINET CONFIRMATIONS: SENATOR-TURNED-VP VANCE’S GIFT OF GAB Fox News Digital reached Senate Committee on Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ranking Member Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Senate Committee on the Budget Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., but did not immediately receive responses.
‘We can teach children AI but…’: Sudha Murty urges govt to provide funds to schools to promote…
She stressed that children should be taught values to make them good citizens.
Judge blocks Trump order limiting ‘indirect’ NIH research costs after public outcry
A judge temporarily halted a directive by the Trump administration that imposed a cap on overhead costs that go to universities and other institutions that host federally funded research projects. The directive, which went into effect Monday, sparked an outcry of criticism from research institutions that argued the new rule would have devastating consequences. It was immediately challenged in court by 22 Democratic state attorneys general, as well as by several leading research universities and related groups in a second lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley subsequently ruled in favor of the 22 state attorneys general, granting their request for a temporary restraining order that prohibits agencies from taking any steps to implement, apply or enforce the new rule that imposed a cap on facilities and administrative costs that are part of federally funded research grants. ‘WHAT A RIPOFF!’: TRUMP SPARKS BACKLASH AFTER CUTTING BILLIONS IN OVERHEAD COSTS FROM NIH RESEARCH GRANTS The rule capped overhead costs associated with National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research grants at 15%. When a grant is awarded to a scientist by the NIH, an additional percentage, on top of the allocated research funding, goes to the facility housing their work to cover these “indirect costs.” According to an announcement about the new funding cap from the Trump administration, that percentage has historically been around 27% to 28% for each grant. But in some cases, negotiated rates can be even higher, such as at the University of Michigan where the negotiated rate for indirect costs is 56%. The lawsuit from the attorneys general argued the move violated federal law governing the procedures federal agencies must follow when implementing new regulations. They also argued that the move usurped the will of Congress, which, in 2018, passed legislation prohibiting the NIH or the Health and Human Services Department from unilaterally making changes to current negotiated rates, or implementing a modified approach to the reimbursement of indirect costs. UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR HAILS THAT SCIENCE ‘THRIVED’ UNDER HITLER IN ATTACK ON TRUMP’S NIH CUTS Kelley’s temporary restraining order requires the Trump administration agencies that are impacted by the new rule to file reports within 24 hours to confirm the steps they are taking to comply with her order. Meanwhile, Kelley set an in-person hearing date on the matter for Feb. 21. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the restraining order, but did not hear back at press time. However, after the directive went into effect on Monday, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News Digital, “Contrary to the hysteria, redirecting billions of allocated NIH spending away from administrative bloat means there will be more money and resources available for legitimate scientific research, not less.” Earlier on Monday, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell said the Trump administration had violated his order halting a federal aid funding freeze that sought to pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” to ensure federal disbursements aligned with the president’s executive actions. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP McConnell ordered the government to “immediately restore frozen funding,” noting that plaintiffs had provided adequate evidence to show the Trump administration “in some cases [has] continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds,” despite his “clear and unambiguous” order lifting the freeze.
‘Deregulatory flavor’: JD Vance lays out vision in Paris for the future of AI under Trump
Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) systems must not become tainted with “ideological bias” and cautioned against coordinating with “hostile foreign adversaries” on AI capabilities. Vance appeared Tuesday at the AI Action Summit in Paris, where world leaders, top tech executives and policymakers teamed up to hash out tech policy and its intersection with global security, economics and governance. The appearance marked his first foreign trip as vice president. While the Trump administration has signaled it plans to take an approach that favors deregulation of AI, Vance’s appearance at the summit coincides with recent attempts from the European Union to enforce harsher regulations aimed at promoting greater safety. Meanwhile, the U.S. and the UK abstained from signing an international document at the conference signed by 60 other countries that aims to prioritize “ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy.” It was immediately unclear why both countries chose not to sign the document. Here is what is known from Vance’s remarks about the Trump administration’s priorities for the future of AI. First, Vance called for AI systems developed in the U.S. to remain free of “ideological bias” and vowed that the U.S. would “never restrict our citizens’ right to free speech.” That is because Vance said he trusted Americans to create their own thoughts and opinions, absorb information and exchange those thoughts in the “open marketplace of ideas.” VANCE TELLS WORLD LEADERS AI MUST BE ‘FREE FROM IDEOLOGICAL BIAS,’ AMERICAN TECH WON’T BE CENSORSHIP TOOL “We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” Vance said Tuesday. Vance also pushed for a “deregulatory flavor” to emerge at the conference while cautioning against the pitfalls of “excessive regulation” that could hamper a transformative industry. He also vowed that the U.S. would back pro-growth AI policies. “We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off, and we’ll make every effort to encourage pro-growth AI policies and I’d like to see that deregulatory flavor making its way into a lot of the conversations at this conference,” he said. Other world leaders who attended the AI Action Summit include French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Shri Modi and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing. Vance also issued a warning to other foreign governments about “tightening the screws” on U.S. tech companies with international footprints, claiming the Trump administration would not tolerate such limitations. He also cautioned against working with adversaries who have “weaponized A.I. software to rewrite history, surveil users and censor speech.” Vance said Tuesday that the U.S. will block such efforts, and ensure that American AI and chip technology is protected from theft and misuse. ELON MUSK AND TECH LEADER SAM ALTMAN GET INTO WAR OF WORDS OVER AI INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT “I would also remind our international friends here today that partnering with such regimes — it never pays off in the long term,” Vance said. While Vance said that the U.S. wants to partner with other nations on this front, Macron said Europe could take a “third way” approach in AI innovation and not rely on either the U.S. or China. Macron also called for enhanced “international governance” on AI policy. “We want a fair and open access to these innovations for the whole planet,” Macron said. Vance’s comments coincide with some recent actions from the Trump administration to advance AI in the U.S. In January, Trump unveiled a new $500 billion AI infrastructure project called Stargate, a datacenter joint venture between investment holding company Softbank, and tech companies OpenAI and Oracle that Trump labeled the “largest AI infrastructure project in history.” The project includes an initial investment of $100 billion that is slated to grow to $500 billion over Trump’s term in office, and will build “colossal” data centers in the U.S. to power AI. The Associated Press and Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
Steven Bannon pleads guilty to scheme to defraud in border wall fundraiser, avoids jail time
Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a charge that he defrauded donors who gave money to a private campaign to build a wall along the U.S. southern border. Bannon pleaded guilty to one scheme to defraud count and was sentenced to three years conditional discharge. He will avoid jail time as part of a plea agreement as long as he stays out of trouble. When reporters asked Bannon how he felt as he left the courtroom, he responded: “Like a million bucks.” Bannon’s lawyer told reporters outside the court that there was no way his client could get a fair trial. TRUMP ALLY STEVE BANNON PLEDGES TO ‘TAKE… DOWN’ ELON MUSK Another condition of the plea agreement states Bannon is barred from fundraising for or serving as “an officer, director, or in any other fiduciary position” for any charitable organization with assets in New York state. He also cannot use, sell or possess any data gathered from donors to the “We Build the Wall” scheme. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, praised the plea agreement. “This resolution achieves our primary goal: to protect New York’s charities and New Yorkers’ charitable giving from fraud,” Bragg said in a statement. He added: “New York has an important interest in rooting out fraud in our markets, our corporations, and our charities, and we will continue to do just that.” BONDI’S DOJ DAY 1 DIRECTIVES: FIGHT WEAPONIZATION OF JUSTICE, ELIMINATE CARTELS, LIFT DEATH PENALTY BAN Bannon, 71, pleaded not guilty in September 2022 to a state court indictment charging him with money laundering, fraud and conspiracy in the border wall scheme. He was accused of falsely promising donors that all money given to the We Build the Wall campaign would go toward building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, prosecutors alleged the money was used to enrich Bannon and others involved in the project. After Trump pardoned Bannon during the final hours of his first term in office in 2021, Bragg charged Bannon in state court on the same allegations. The plea comes days after Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the Justice Department to investigate what the president called the “weaponization of prosecutorial power” – cases she said appear to have been motivated by “political objectives or other improper aims,” including Bragg’s pursuit of criminal charges against Trump. Speaking to reporters outside court, Bannon called on Bondi to begin an immediate criminal investigation into Bragg and New York Attorney General Leticia James. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
GOP lawmakers set sights on PBS, NPR amid Trump’s DOGE crackdown
FIRST ON FOX: Republicans lawmakers are renewing efforts to gut federal funding to NPR and PBS amid the Trump administration’s upheaval of the federal bureaucracy. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., is leading a bill in the House of Representatives that would halt taxpayer dollars from going to either media broadcaster and reroute existing federal funds to reducing the national debt, according to legislative text previewed by Fox News Digital. “As a former newspaper owner and publisher, I understand the vital role of balanced, non-partisan media. Unfortunately, these taxpayer-funded outlets have chosen advocacy over accuracy, using public dollars to promote a political agenda rather than report the facts,” Tenney told Fox News Digital. SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN The legislation’s Senate counterpart is being led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who told Fox News Digital, “Americans have hundreds of sources of news and commentary, and they don’t need politically biased, taxpayer-funded media choosing what they should see and hear. PBS and NPR are free to compete in the marketplace of ideas using donations, but their public subsidy should end.” Republicans have long targeted NPR and PBS, accusing both outlets of sharing a liberal bias while receiving government funding. Less than 1% of NPR’s funding comes directly from the federal government, though other funding comes indirectly from grants and dollars allocated to local member stations who then pay fees back to NPR. More than a third of its funding comes from corporate sponsorships. PBS also gets a mix of federal funds through other avenues. However, the GOP’s demands to end federal allocations to both outlets now come at a time when the executive branch is fervently searching for places to block government spending that does not align with the Trump administration’s agenda. Elon Musk, who is leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, has been critical of NPR in the past. “Defund NPR. It should survive on its own,” Musk wrote on his X platform earlier this month. ‘WE’RE THE GOLD STANDARD’: GOP LAWMAKER CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL HEARING OVER DC PLANE CRASH Soon after he acquired X, Musk briefly hit NPR with a “State-Affiliated” media label, which is normally reserved for the media arm of authoritarian governments. Tenney’s bill is one of multiple efforts targeting NPR and PBS during this Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who chairs the DOGE subcommittee under the House Oversight Committee, said she wants the heads of each organization to come testify before her new panel.
More than half a million law enforcement personnel back Patel as FBI director
FIRST ON FOX: More than 680,000 law enforcement personnel have urged the Senate to confirm President Donald Trump‘s FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, as quickly as possible – a show of support that comes as Democrats on the panel have moved to delay his confirmation ahead of a planned vote this Thursday. The total number of supporters from law enforcement agencies was shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, and includes state, local and federal backers from groups including the National Sheriffs’ Association, the National Police Association and more than 370,00 members of the national Fraternal Order of Police, which announced their support for Patel Monday night. “Throughout the course of his federal career, Mr. Patel has become very well acquainted with our national security apparatus and the threats the United States faces abroad,” the group said in the letter to the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. This group touted Patel’s experience as a trial attorney for the Justice Department’s National Security Division, at the National Security Council and later at the Department of Defense, where he previously served as chief of staff to the department’s acting secretary. DEMS DELAY PATEL COMMITTEE VOTE, DERIDE TRUMP FBI PICK AS DANGER TO US SECURITY They also cited a “broad-ranging conversation” the group had with Patel, in which they said he “made a compelling case about his commitment to public safety and ways in which the FBI can support state and local law enforcement agencies.” “He has committed to building on the level of trust and collegiality the FBI enjoys with the law enforcement community, and we will all benefit from the enhanced impact the FBI can have on public safety in our communities.” The groups have praised what they described as Patel’s “unwavering commitment” to upholding the rule of law, defending justice, and protecting the American people. BONDI SWORN IN AS ATTORNEY GENERAL WITH MISSION TO END ‘WEAPONIZATION’ OF JUSTICE DEPARTMENT The endorsements come just days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote to advance Patel’s nomination to be FBI director – a vote that has come under fresh scrutiny from Judiciary Democrats, who have cited recent efforts by the Trump administration to investigate FBI personnel involved in the Jan. 6 investigations. Trump also touched off new concerns and criticism last week when he said he planned to fire at least some of the FBI officials involved in the Jan. 6 investigation, telling reporters that at least some of the agents, in his view, “were corrupt.” “Those people are gone, or they will be gone,” Trump said of the agents, adding that it will be done “quickly and very surgically.” The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on what, if any, new information Trump had received about the allegedly corrupt activity of the bureau, or the number of personnel that could be impacted. FBI AGENTS GROUP TELLS CONGRESS TO TAKE URGENT ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST POLITICIZATION Patel, for his part, used his confirmation hearing late last month to assure lawmakers he would protect agents against political retribution or efforts to weaponize the bureau. “All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution,” Patel told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., during that hearing. Last week, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee succeeded in temporarily postponing Patel’s confirmation hearing – pushing the committee vote to Thursday, Feb. 13 – as they demanded a second hearing from the Trump-aligned former Defense Department official seeking clarity on his previous remarks and his candor. Democrats criticized Patel for both his previous actions and his remarks made on podcasts, social media and in his book, saying that in their view, Patel failed to assuage any of their concerns last week during his confirmation hearing – primarily, questions of whether he would take moves to ensure the bureau can continue to act without political interference. Still, the opposition has been sharply contested by the panel’s chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Grassley chastised attempts by Democrats to force Patel to testify again in a statement last week, dismissing the effort as “baseless.” He noted that Patel had already sat through a nearly six-hour Senate confirmation hearing, submitted “thousands of pages” of records to the panel, and nearly 150 pages of responses to lawmakers’ written questions. Barring any unexpected opposition, Patel is expected to clear both the committee vote Thursday morning and the full vote in the Republican-led chamber.
Federal appeals court dismisses classified records case against former Trump co-defendants
A federal appeals court dismissed the appeal charges brought against President Donald Trump aides Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira by former Special Counsel Jack Smith in his classified documents case, Fox News Digital has learned. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case against Nauta and De Oliveira on Tuesday morning, two weeks after the Justice Department moved to drop the charges. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIRES MORE THAN A DOZEN KEY OFFICIALS ON FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S TEAM Nauta, Trump’s valet, and De Oliveira, the property manager of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, had pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging they conspired to obstruct the FBI investigation into classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. The Justice Department had filed a motion in January to drop all criminal proceedings against Nauta and De Oliveira, putting an end to Smith’s probe more than two years after it began. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith, a former Justice Department official, as special counsel in November 2022. Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the DOJ’s public integrity section, led the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether the former president obstructed the federal government’s investigation into the matter. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MOVES TO DROP PROSECUTION OF MAR-A-LAGO STAFF IN TRUMP CLASSIFIED DOCS CASE Smith also was tasked with overseeing the investigation into whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021. Smith charged Trump in both cases, but Trump pleaded not guilty. The classified records case was dismissed in July 2024 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request. Both cases were dismissed. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Justice Department, in January, fired more than a dozen key officials who worked on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team prosecuting the president, after then-Acting Attorney General James McHenry said they could not be trusted in “faithfully implementing the president’s agenda.” Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove has also directed acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll to identify agents involved in Jan. 6 prosecutions for internal review.
Former Biden cabinet member Deb Haaland launches New Mexico gubernatorial bid
Former Interior Sec. Deb Haaland has announced a New Mexico gubernatorial bid. The politician, who served in a cabinet post during most of former President Joe Biden’s White House tenure, previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives. “But the problems we face now are bigger than ever, and we must be fierce to solve them. That’s why I am running for governor of the great state of New Mexico,” she said in a video. STRANGE LAWS IN NEW MEXICO, INCLUDING TROUBLE FOR TRIPPING A HORSE “New Mexico is rich in tradition and spirit, rich in natural resources. So why can’t our families pay our bills? Crime, poverty, homelessness, addiction — they will keep pulling us down if we do the same things and expect a different result,” she declared. Last month on Jan. 20 — the day President Donald Trump was inaugurated — Haaland suggested in a post on X that the new administration does not care about “regular people.” VIDEO CAPTURES COURTROOM BRAWL AS TWO MEN ATTACK MURDER SUSPECT DURING HEARING “With the inauguration of President Trump, there’s a lot at stake. He surrounds himself with super-rich people who look down on us and our communities. We will need to do the hard work of getting important things done and pushing back against an administration that couldn’t care less about regular people,” Haaland tweeted. Current New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who has served as governor since 2019, is not eligible to run in 2026. 2028 WATCH: HERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY EVENTUALLY JUMP INTO THE NEXT WHITE HOUSE RACE The state went to Democrats in the 2008 through 2024 presidential elections. But its prior governor, Susana Martinez, was a Republican.
Trump nominees debut new science journal aimed at spurring scientific discourse, increasing transparency
President Donald Trump‘s nominees to run the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are part of a group of scientists who just launched a new research journal focused on spurring scientific discourse and combating “gatekeeping” in the medical research community. The journal, titled the Journal of the Academy of Public Health (JAPH), includes an editorial board consisting of several scientists who complained of facing censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAPH’s co-founders include Martin Kulldorff, a former Harvard Medical School professor who is a founding fellow at Hillsdale College’s Academy for Science and Freedom, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of health policy at Stanford University who is also Trump’s nominee to be the next NIH director. Kulldorff and Bhattacharya became known during the pandemic for authoring The Great Barrington Declaration, which sought to challenge the broader medical community’s prevailing notions about COVID-19 mitigation strategies, arguing that – in the long run – the lockdowns that people were facing would do more harm than good. CDC STAFF TOLD TO REMOVE TERMS LIKE ‘NON-BINARY,’ ‘THEY/THEM,’ ‘PREGNANT PEOPLE’ FROM PUBLIC HEALTH MATERIAL Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon and public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, who is Trump’s nominee to be the next director of the FDA, is on the journal’s editorial board as well. JAPH is adopting a novel approach by publishing peer reviews of prominent studies from other journals that do not make their peer reviews publicly available. The effort is aimed at spurring scientific discourse, Kulldorff said in a paper outlining the purposes of the journal’s creation. The journal will also seek to promote “open access” by making all of its work available to everyone in the public without a paywall, he said, and the journal’s editorial leadership will allow all scientists within its network to “freely publish all their research results in a timely and efficient manner,” to prevent any potential “gatekeeping.” “Scientific journals have had enormous positive impact on the development of science, but in some ways, they are now hampering rather than enhancing open scientific discourse,” Kulldorff said. “After reviewing the history and current problems with journals, a new academic publishing model is proposed – it embraces open access and open rigorous peer review, it rewards reviewers for their important work with honoraria and public acknowledgment and it allows scientists to publish their research in a timely and efficient manner without wasting valuable scientist time and resources.” ‘WHAT A RIPOFF!’: TRUMP SPARKS BACKLASH AFTER CUTTING BILLIONS IN OVERHEAD COSTS FROM NIH RESEARCH GRANTS Kulldorff, Bhattacharya, Makary and others on the new journal’s leadership team have complained that their views about the COVID-19 pandemic were censored. These were views that were often contrary to the prevailing ideas put forth by the broader medical community at the time, which related to topics such as vaccine efficacy, natural immunity, lockdowns and more. “Big tech censored the [sic] all kinds of science on natural immunity,” Makary said in testimony to Congress following the pandemic. During his testimony, Makary also shared how one of his own studies at Johns Hopkins during the pandemic that promoted the effectiveness of natural immunity, which one scientific journal listed as its third most discussed study in 2022, “was censored.” “Because of my views on COVID-19 restrictions, I have been specifically targeted for censorship by federal government officials,” Bhattacharya added in his own testimony to Congress the same year. Kulldorff, who has also complained about censorship of his views on COVID-19, argued he was asked to leave his medical professorship at Harvard that he held since 2003, for “clinging to the truth” in his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates. CONSERVATIVE LAW FIRM LAUNCHES PROBE INTO FIVE MAJOR UNIVERSITIES FOR ALLEGED ‘CENSORSHIP REGIME’ “The JAPH will ensure quality through open peer-review, but will not gatekeep new and important ideas for the sake of established orthodoxies,” Andrew Noymer, JAPH’s incoming editor-in-chief told Fox News Digital. “To pick one example, in my own sub-field of infectious disease epidemiology, we have in the past few years seen too little published scholarship on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. Academic publishing as it exists today is too often concerned with preservation of what we think we know, too often to the detriment of new ideas.” Bhattacharya and Makary did not wish to comment on this article.