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Trump admin aims for killing blow to independence of ‘Deep State’ agencies

Trump admin aims for killing blow to independence of ‘Deep State’ agencies

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is seeking to overturn a landmark Supreme Court case in an effort to give the president greater control over independent three-letter agencies. In a move that could allow Trump to more easily fire officials who refuse to implement his policies, the acting U.S. solicitor general sent Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin a letter on Wednesday, notifying him of the Justice Department’s plans to ask the Supreme Court to overturn a key precedent that limits the president’s power to remove independent agency members.  The letter, penned by Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, says the DOJ has determined “that certain for-cause removal provisions” that apply to certain administrative agency members are unconstitutional, and the department would “no longer defend their constitutionality.” TRUMP’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ORDER TO DROP CHARGES AGAINST NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SPARKS RESIGNATIONS Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, the case in question, is a 1935 Supreme Court case that narrowed the president’s constitutional power to remove agents of the executive branch.  Harris cited a previous case, Myers v. United States, which held that the Constitution granted the president sole power to remove executive branch officials.  “The exception recognized in Humphrey’s Executor thus does not fit the principal officers who head the regulatory commissions noted above,” Harris wrote in the letter.  “To the extent that Humphrey’s Executor requires otherwise, the Department intends to urge the Supreme Court to overrule that decision, which prevents the President from adequately supervising principal officers in the Executive Branch who execute the laws on the President’s behalf, and which has already been severely eroded by recent Supreme Court decisions,” Harris continued.  Durbin called the letter a “striking reversal of the Justice Department’s longstanding position under Republican and Democratic presidents alike,” in a statement to Fox News Digital. He added that the request is “not surprising from an administration that is only looking out for wealthy special interests – not the American people.”  BONDI ANNOUNCES NEW LAWSUITS AGAINST STATES ALLEGEDLY FAILING TO COMPLY WITH IMMIGRATION ACTIONS: ‘A NEW DOJ’ However, conservative legal theorists supported the Trump administration’s move, arguing that overturning Humphrey’s Executor would move the federal government closer to the original intent of the Constitution’s framers. Trump notably posed his presidential campaign against former President Joe Biden as a contest between the “deep state” and democracy, saying at the time, “Either we have a deep state or we have a democracy. We’re going to have one or the other. And we’re right at the tipping point.” “Congress makes the laws, it’s the president’s duty to carry out and enforce those laws under the unitary executive theory,” Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “That means that the president, since he’s the head of the executive branch, has complete control over the executive branch, and that includes the hiring and firing of everyone in the executive branch, most particularly, and most importantly, the heads of all the different offices and departments within the executive branch.” Von Spakovsky says the exception carved out by the Court in Humphrey’s Executor “does not apply to these federal agencies.” In her letter, Harris specifically mentioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  Earlier this month, a former NLRB member sued Trump over her termination, arguing that federal law protects her from being arbitrarily dismissed. The Trump administration has also become the target of various other lawsuits involving federal employee dismissals.  PATEL CAMP DECRIES DURBIN ACCUSATIONS AS ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’ ATTEMPT TO DERAIL FBI CONFIRMATION “My take on what’s going on with the Trump agenda right now is that they’re itching to get up to the higher federal court level, including the Supreme Court, to press just this kind of question,” Ronald Pestritto, Graduate Dean and Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, told Fox News Digital.  Pestritto says some of the administration’s actions “contradict existing civil service law, existing protections, for example, against removing the NLRB commissioners.” “And so, clearly, they know they’re going to lose a lot of that at the lower court level. And they want to push them up into the Supreme Court, because they think they might get a reconsideration of it,” Pestritto said.  Von Spakovsky stated that independent agencies are “unaccountable” as a result of Humphrey’s Executor, saying “you make them accountable to voters by putting them back where they belong, which is under the authority of the president.” Trump’s lawyers are likely to lose in the lower court, Pestritto says, where he expects judges to apply the Supreme Court’s precedent in their own decisions. But even so, the Trump administration can appeal higher and higher to attempt to get Supreme Court review, where Humphrey’s Executor could be overturned.  “[Democrats] are going to win injunctions very often, first of all, because they know it’s easy to judge-shop for sympathetic district judges. And number two, the district judges are basically going to go by the existing Supreme Court precedent,” Pestritto said. “And so the real tale of the tape will be when these initial rulings get appealed up the appellate ladder and ultimately up to the Supreme Court, which certainly has many justices who I think understand Article II of the Constitution properly and may be open to a reconsideration of Humphrey’s.”

NYC Mayor Adams refuses to resign in sermon: ‘I have a mission to finish’

NYC Mayor Adams refuses to resign in sermon: ‘I have a mission to finish’

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told churchgoers on Sunday that he’s on a mission from God and won’t resign from office as he faces allegations of a quid pro quo with President Donald Trump’s administration. Adams made the remarks during a sermon at Maranatha Baptist Church in Queens, telling the gathering, “I am going nowhere,” the New York Post reported. “I have a mission to finish, the mission that God put me on many years ago,” Adams said, adding that “God has fortified me.” Adams told “Fox & Friends” in an interview on Friday that he plans to run for re-election as a Democrat. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SAYS HE WILL RUN FOR RE-ELECTION AS DEMOCRAT Adams, a Democrat who said he was targeted by the Biden administration, was indicted in September on charges including bribery, soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, wire fraud and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The decision to drop the case against Adams came as part of Trump’s effort to overhaul the Justice Department, which he said has been weaponized against political opponents. Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the decision to drop the case, telling Fox News in an interview Friday that Adams was targeted after he criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Several senior Justice Department officials resigned in protest Thursday rather than comply with an order to drop a bribery case against Adams. After the charges were dropped, Adams was accused of a quid pro quo over his willingness to work with the Trump administration crackdown to curb illegal immigration, and has faced calls to resign. “I just find it so amazing — the most sanctified among us are calling for me to step down,” Adams told the church gathering. “I’m not going to step down. I’m going to step up. NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS PROMISES TO REOPEN ICE OFFICE ON RIKERS ISLAND AFTER MEETING WITH TRUMP BORDER CZAR New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday evening that she was considering removing Adams from office amid the allegations of a quid pro quo. “The allegations are extremely concerning and serious, but I cannot as the governor of this state have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction like a lot of other people are saying right now,” she said. Hochul is the only state official who has the power to remove Adams from his position. Hochul further stated, “I have to do what’s smart, what’s right and I’m consulting with other leaders in government at this time.” Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Putin sending foreign minister to Saudi Arabia for talks with Trump officials

Putin sending foreign minister to Saudi Arabia for talks with Trump officials

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dispatched a group of senior officials to Saudi Arabia for meetings with the U.S. about a potential peace deal for Ukraine, the Kremlin announced Monday. The officials, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, will meet with U.S. counterparts on Tuesday. The groups plan to discuss a restoration of diplomatic ties between Washington and Moscow, as well as a Ukrainian peace deal and a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Putin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the U.S. delegation, accompanied by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz, the state department confirmed Monday. The meeting comes just days after Trump revealed he had spoken to Putin in a phone call last week. Trump said he and Putin “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” TRUMP SAYS RUSSIA AGREES TO ‘IMMEDIATELY’ BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS TO END WAR IN UKRAINE Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met the effort with skepticism, urging Trump not to trust Putin in a separate call last week. “I said that [Putin] is a liar,” Zelenskyy recounted of his phone call to Trump. “And he said, ‘I think my feeling is that he’s ready for these negotiations.’ And I said to him, ‘No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want any peace.’”  PUTIN VIEWED AS ‘GREAT COMPETITOR’ BUT STILL A US ‘ADVERSARY’ AS UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS LOOM, LEAVITT SAYS  Zelenskyy nevertheless said he believes Putin is a “little bit scared” of Trump. Trump’s representatives have declined to offer details about the negotiations, such as whether the U.S. would support a deal where Ukraine is forced to give up a sizable amount of its pre-war territory. FREED AMERICAN HOSTAGE MARC FOGEL LANDS IN US AFTER YEARS IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY “Those are details, and I’m not dismissive of the details, they’re important. But I think the beginning here is trust-building. It’s getting everybody to understand that this war does not belong continuing, that it should end. That’s what the president has directed us to do,” Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday. Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer has confirmed that he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its security as part of a peace deal. “I do not say that lightly,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way.” “But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country,” he added. Zelenskyy added in his interview that he will not accept any negotiation hashed out by just the U.S. and Russia. “I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine. Never.… The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses. And we are thankful for all the support, unity between U.S.A. – in U.S.A. around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we’re thankful for all of this. But there is no… leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us about us,” he said.

Duffy brings up Clinton while noting SpaceX workers will visit Air Traffic Control System Command Center

Duffy brings up Clinton while noting SpaceX workers will visit Air Traffic Control System Command Center

SpaceX workers will visit the Air Traffic Control System Command Center on Monday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted in a Sunday post on X, in which he also mentioned former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with whom he recently engaged in a social media spat. “America deserves safe, state-of-the-art air travel, and President Trump has ordered that I deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world,” Duffy declared, noting that he’d welcome assistance from American developers or businesses. “To do that, I need advice from the brightest minds in America. I’m asking for help from any high-tech American developer or company that is willing to give back to our country. SEAN DUFFY TELLS HILLARY CLINTON TO ‘SIT THIS ONE OUT’ AFTER SHE CHIMES IN ON HIS DOGE ANNOUNCEMENT “Tomorrow, members of @elonmusk’s SpaceX team will be visiting the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in VA to get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system.” He then brought up Clinton. “Because I know the media (and Hillary Clinton) will claim Elon’s team is getting special access, let me make clear that the @FAANews regularly gives tours of the command center to both media and companies.” SENATE CONFIRMS TRUMP PICK SEAN DUFFY FOR TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY In the post on Sunday, Duffy also said that he will visit the FAA Academy this week. “Later in the week, I will travel to the FAA Academy in Oklahoma to meet with air traffic controller instructors and students to learn more about their education and how we can ensure that only the very best guide our aircrafts,” he noted. “My door at @USDOT is open to any and all patriotic developers or companies who want to help our country in this incredible, game-changing mission. I hope to hear from any company committed to ushering in America’s golden age of travel!” President Donald Trump tapped business magnate Elon Musk to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to uncover federal government waste, fraud, and abuse. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY REASSURES PUBLIC ABOUT AIR TRAVEL SAFETY AFTER DEADLY CRASH: ‘SAFEST FORM OF TRAVEL’ “The safety of air travel is a non-partisan matter. SpaceX engineers will help make air travel safer,” Musk wrote in response to Duffy’s tweet. Earlier this month, Clinton and Duffy engaged in a back and forth on X after Duffy noted that the DOGE team would help upgrade the aviation system.