California school district informs parents period products are in bathrooms for ‘any student who menstruates’
A California school district contacted parents via email on Thursday to let them know that all public schools containing grades 3 through 12 will have menstrual products in girls’ bathrooms, all-gender bathrooms and at least one boys’ bathroom. California law previously required the same thing of all public schools that teach grades 6 through 12, but that order now extends to include schools with grades 3 through 5. An email allegedly sent from the Long Beach Unified School District to parents, guardians and caregivers said the system is “committed to reducing barriers to learning and fostering a supportive environment for all students.” The availability of period products in girls’ bathrooms and at least one boys’ bathroom is to “ensure that any student who menstruates-including transgender boys and nonbinary students-can access these necessary products with dignity and discretion,” per the email. CALIFORNIA REQUIRES MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Long Beach USD asked for patience as dispensers are “currently being installed in restrooms across our school sites.” It also encouraged families to discuss “appropriate and safe” use of period products with their children. The email concluded with, “Thank you for your support in fostering a healthy, equitable and inclusive learning environment for all students.” EMERSON COLLEGE ADDS PERIOD PRODUCTS TO MEN’S RESTROOMS, MEETING GROUP’S DEMAND FOR ‘MENSTRUAL EQUALITY’ The “Menstrual Equality for All Act,” which was passed in October 2023, said the changes must be enacted on or before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. The following text was added to the state’s education code when the bill was passed: “On or before the start of the 2024–25 school year, a public school, including a school operated by a school district, county office of education, or charter school, maintaining any combination of classes from grades 3 to 12, inclusive, shall stock the school’s restrooms at all times with an adequate supply of menstrual products, available and accessible, free of cost, in all women’s restrooms and all-gender restrooms, and in at least one men’s restroom.” Menstrual products were defined in the bill as pads and tampons specifically “for use in connection with the menstrual cycle.” The bill also said it is the state legislature’s intent “to promote period equity through adequate access to menstrual products in schools also serving grades 3 to 5, inclusive.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the Long Beach Unified School District for comment.
Senate border budget triumphs after all-night session while Trump-backed House bill lags
Senate Republicans scored a win over their House counterparts in the early morning hours of Friday, officially passing their preferred budget resolution to tackle some of President Trump’s priorities, such as securing the southern border. After hours of back-to-back voting on Democratic amendments, the bill to fund border security, energy and defense finally got its vote on the chamber floor. “[T]his particular budget resolution… addresses the president’s priority, top priority, which is securing the border and implementing and putting in place his immigration policies, rebuilding our military, and creating energy dominance for this country,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Wednesday, previewing the eventual vote. The leader and Republicans in the upper chamber started to move forward with the all-important budget reconciliation process earlier this month, pushing their preferred plan through a key committee and clearing a procedural hurdle. EXCLUSIVE: DEMS TO FORCE VOTES ON MEDICAID AS IT BECOMES SORE POINT IN SENATE BUDGET FIGHT The move came despite House Republicans being expected to take the lead on passing a budget bill first. Thune and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also pressed on even after Trump came out in support of the House’s proposal, endorsing it earlier this week on Truth Social. The decision to move forward with the Senate’s alternative budget plan, which is two-pronged as opposed to the House’s effort to pass one large bill, was blessed by Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, a source told Fox News Digital. Trump himself did not seem bothered by their effort either, posting on Truth Social, “Thank you to Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, for working so hard on funding the Trump Border Agenda. We are setting records, the likes of which have never been seen before, on stopping criminal illegals aliens from entering our Country. Put simply, we are delivering for the American People, far faster and, more successfully, than anyone thought possible. Your work on funding this effort is greatly appreciated!” SCOOP: REPUBLICAN DANIEL CAMERON BLASTED BY LIKELY GOP OPPONENT AS MCCONNELL SUCCESSOR FIGHT BEGINS The Senate’s procedural vote earlier in the week triggered a 50-hour debate clock that ended on Thursday night. Then, a marathon of votes, known as a “Vote-a-Rama,” began. Senators were able to introduce an unlimited number of amendments, of which many received floor votes. The process forced Republicans to take many potentially uncomfortable votes teed up by their Democratic counterparts. “Tonight, one amendment at a time, Democrats exposed Republicans’ true colors here on the Senate floor. For the first time this year, Senate Republicans were forced to go on record and defend their plans to cut taxes for Donald Trump’s billionaire friends. What happened tonight was only the beginning. This debate is going to go on for weeks and maybe months. Democrats will be ready to come back and do this over and over again, because Americans deserve to know the truth,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement following the budget resolution’s passage. “Again and again and again, Republicans sent a clear and consistent message from the Senate floor: under their agenda, billionaires win, and American families lose. If Republicans continue with this reckless plan to help their billionaire buddies at the expense of American families, Democrats will make sure the American people know the truth at every opportunity,” the Democratic leader continued. In the Senate Republicans’ budget plan, the first reconciliation bill includes Trump’s priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense. The second bill, to be drawn up later in the year, would focus on extending Trump’s tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The cuts begin to expire at the end of 2025. SUSAN COLLINS VOWS TO OPPOSE TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL AHEAD OF CRITICAL VOTE 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. The process is crucial for Republicans, who have a trifecta in Washington, to get key Trump goals accomplished. KASH PATEL’S CONFIRMATION AS TRUMP FBI PICK ‘WILL HAUNT YOU,’ SENATE DEMS WARN GOP AHEAD OF VOTE House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has claimed that the Senate’s first budget bill, along with its two-pronged approach, would be dead on arrival in the lower chamber. He has remained committed to including tax cuts in the bill with border security and other priorities. The House has managed to move their version through the appropriate committee, but a floor vote has yet to be scheduled.
EXCLUSIVE: Red state governor says DOGE aligns with GOP’s ‘fiscal sanity’
EXCLUSIVE: Governors from across the country are descending upon Washington, D.C., this week for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting. Among them is Gov. Tate Reeves, R-Miss., who said the Department of Government Efficiency has renewed Republican governors’ optimism in the federal government. Reeves, who was elected governor of Mississippi in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the Republican Governors Association that DOGE aligns with Republican governors’ “fiscal sanity.” “There’s no doubt that Republican governors lead the nation in fiscal responsibility and, quite frankly, in fiscal sanity. Part of that is because, as governors, we have to balance our budgets back home. For us to see the efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency, by Elon Musk and his team with the support of President Trump, it gives us great reason for optimism, because we think that there are literally billions and billions of dollars in spending in the federal government that should not be spent, that are for waste, fraud and abuse,” Reeves said. The second-term governor said most Americans appreciate DOGE’s audit and Republicans won’t allow the federal government to spend American taxpayer dollars on “some of the crazy things that have been identified in the last several weeks.” SURPRISING NEW POLL NUMBERS RELEASED ON TRUMP’S PERFORMANCE SO FAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE “We believe that we ought to treat the taxpayers’ money exactly the way we would treat our own money. We’re not going to allow our own money to be spent on things that don’t make sense. We don’t think we ought to use the taxpayers’ money, spending them on things like what has been found in the last couple of three weeks,” Reeves added. MUSK WEIGHS A ‘DOGE DIVIDEND’ TO SEND AMERICANS CHECKS USING SAVED FUNDS Meanwhile, Reeves can’t wrap his head around Democrats’ rejection of government efficiency. “I’m really perplexed as to why Democrats have not actually supported these efforts,” Reeves said. “There was a time in America where all politicians of reasonable stripes would say we ought to try to make government more efficient. We ought to ensure that government money is being spent in the right way.” Reeves questioned who benefited from the misuse of taxpayer dollars during President Joe Biden’s administration. “The Democrats’ opposition to these audits is really beyond my ability to comprehend. The reality is that they are fighting for waste, fraud and abuse in government. It’s almost as if they want that waste, fraud and abuse. It drives you to the question of who’s benefiting from the way in which the Biden administration spent these dollars in the last four years.” Democrats have called DOGE’s ongoing layoffs and President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders a “constitutional crisis.” Reeves said Trump is doing exactly what he was elected to do. “When you talk about their claims of a constitutional crisis, a duly elected president managing the executive branch of government is not a constitutional crisis. In fact, it is exactly what the duly elected executive is supposed to do. President Trump is doing exactly what he got the mandate to do when he was elected overwhelmingly in the election in November. He got that mandate in large part because the Democrats have gone so far to the left that most people in the middle don’t even recognize the Democrat Party of today, and they’re just continuing down that path in deciding that government efficiency is not something they want to support,” Reeves said. Reeves added Trump’s return to the White House has empowered governors’ voices on both sides of the political aisle, drawing a stark contrast between President Joe Biden’s and Trump’s presidencies. “Having President Trump in office is a big plus, not only for me or for our Republican governors, but really for all governors,” Reeves said. “The first thing I would say about President Trump is that it is just completely different than what we saw during the Biden years, regardless of politics, regardless of policy views. President Trump respects and wants to hear from governors. He wants to know what other chief executives are doing in the states. We have a voice and that’s incredibly important.” Reeves said, unlike what he saw during Biden’s administration, Trump genuinely values all governors’ opinions, and having access to the president again is encouraging. “I think even some of those governors on the other side of the political aisle will recognize that it’s certainly something that President Trump values is our opinion. That’s something that we’re going to see over the next few days, having multiple opportunities to sit down and visit with the president, so that’s encouraging.” Reeves said Trump’s return to Washington is building on Mississippi’s momentum in education, artificial intelligence and manufacturing. “We want to work with President Trump in his efforts to onshore more manufacturing. That’s something that’s important to Mississippi’s economy. Many states across the country gave up on manufacturing 20 years ago. Mississippi never gave up on manufacturing. And that’s the reason we have a workforce that is ready for tremendous economic growth and prosperity. We’re going to take advantage of that,” Reeves said.
New law clamps down on homeless as blue city advocate admits the ‘frustration’ is justified
A blue California city voted last week to impose a strict ban on camping on public property, including penalties such as fines or jail time for those “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, or concealing” homeless encampments. While activists argue the ordinance “criminalizes” homelessness, one advocate — who himself once struggled with drug addiction and a period of homelessness — tells Fox News Digital that the Fremont City Council’s actions reflect a growing “frustration” with the escalating crisis affecting cities across the state. “This entire ordinance was born out of frustration regarding their inability to mitigate the homeless issue, and because politicians are afraid or lack political will, in many cases, to make the hard choices that need to be made,” Tom Wolf, founder of the San Francisco Bay-area nonprofit Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery, told Fox News Digital in an interview. Wolf, who himself was homeless for six months while addicted to fentanyl and heroin in 2018, said that Fremont’s ordinance is “not criminalizing homelessness,” but rather it is “criminalizing the behaviors that are exhibited by people who happen to be experiencing homelessness and are also struggling with drug addiction.” CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY ALARMED BY HOMELESS CAMPS FOUND IN UNDERGROUND CAVES: ‘HUGE SAFETY HAZARD’ “It’s not as controversial as people and the media are blowing it up to be controversial, because it’s a departure from the approach that we’ve been taking for the last eight to 10 years in California, which is, ‘Oh, everyone just needs a home,’ Wolf said, referring to the state’s “Housing First” model adopted several years ago, which prioritizes providing shelter and temporary housing units to homeless without requiring sobriety or wraparound drug addiction services to people. The Fremont City Council voted 6-1 last week in a lengthy session in favor of banning camping on any public property “including any street, sidewalk, park, open space, waterway, or banks of a waterway or any private property not designated and equipped for such camping” as well as “any land designated as a high fire risk area.” Fremont is roughly 40 miles south of San Francisco. The new ordinance states that anyone “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing” encampments shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subjected to either a $1000 fine or up to six months in jail. Violators may also be subjected to a temporary seizure of personal property. CALIFORNIA CITY PASSES SWEEPING HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT BAN ON ALL PUBLIC PROPERTY “Fremont is not a conservative city,” conservative think tank California Policy Center expert Edward Ring told Fox News Digital. “It’s part of one of the most liberal regions in the country. So, the fact that they’re doing this, it’s not a reflection of some sort of harsh conservative mentality.” “It’s a bipartisan conclusion, a non-partisan conclusion, that the city council has come to, and they’ve apparently decided that just a ban isn’t going to be sufficient, because there are so many groups associated with the homeless nowadays that call themselves advocates for the homeless,” Ring added. “But what they’re basically doing by aggressively protecting the right of people to camp in public spaces, for example, is perpetuating homelessness,” he said. These groups include nonprofits and homeless outreach workers who offer services to homeless people. These services include optional substance abuse treatment, housing, temporary shelter, tents, and even “safe” supplies for drug use, in line with the state-sanctioned “Harm Reduction” model, which focuses on preventing overdoses and infections rather than stopping drug use altogether. Wolf said he takes issue with much of the Harm Reduction’s strategy because “people are going to still continue to use because they’re out there on the street addicted to drugs.” As of the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, which provides a snapshot of homelessness on a single night completed annually, Fremont reported 612 homeless individuals, marking a 21% decrease from the previous count in 2022. California’s homeless population was estimated at approximately 187,000 after last year’s PIT count, making it the highest in the nation for unsheltered homeless people. The 2025 count is currently underway across the state’s cities. CALIFORNIA PLANS TO CONTINUE ALLOWING TRANS ATHLETES TO COMPETE IN GIRLS’ SPORTS DESPITE TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER “The purpose of this chapter is to maintain streets, parks and other public and private areas within the city in a clean, sanitary and accessible condition and to adequately protect the health, safety and public welfare of the community, while recognizing that, subject to reasonable conditions, camping and camp facilities associated with special events can be beneficial to the cultural and educational climate in the city,” the ordinance reads. It continued, “The use of streets and public areas within the city for camping purposes or for storage of personal property interferes with the rights of the public to use these areas for which they were intended. Such activity can constitute a public health and safety hazard that adversely impacts residential neighborhoods and commercial areas. Camping without the consent of the owner and proper sanitary measures adversely affects private property rights, public health, safety, and welfare of the city. Nothing in this chapter is intended to interfere with otherwise lawful and ordinary uses of public or private property.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Beyond California, cities like Washougal, Washington, have also adopted anti-camping restrictions, though Fremont’s is unique due to its penalties. The anti-camping law comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that local governments have the authority to ban camping on public property, allowing cities to clear homeless encampments. The decision came after the Court declined to review a lower court ruling that upheld Boise, Idaho’s ban on camping, effectively setting a precedent for other municipalities to follow. Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
Federal judge orders Trump admin to comply with previous order to lift foreign aid freeze
A federal judge on Thursday ordered Trump administration officials to comply with his previous order to temporarily lift a freeze on nearly all foreign aid, temporarily restoring it to programs worldwide. In his order, Judge Amir H. Ali, a Biden appointee, said Trump administration officials had used his Feb. 13 order to temporarily lift the freeze on foreign aid to instead “come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension” of funding. Despite the judge’s order to the contrary, USAID Deputy Secretary Pete Marocco, a Trump appointee, and other top officials had “continued their blanket suspension of funds,” Ali said. Still, the Washington, D.C. district court judge declined a request by nonprofit groups doing business with the U.S. Agency for International Development to find Trump administration officials in contempt of his order. TRUMP’S DOGE STAYS ON TRACK AFTER PAIR OF FEDERAL JUDGE RULINGS Ali’s ruling comes in a lawsuit by the nonprofit groups challenging the Trump administration’s month-old cutoff of foreign assistance through USAID and the State Department, which shut down $60 billion in annual aid and development programs overseas almost overnight. Even after Ali’s order, USAID staffers and contractors say the State Department and USAID still have not restored payments, even on hundreds of millions of dollars already owed by the government. Marocco and other administration officials defended the nonpayment in written arguments to the judge this week. They contended that they could lawfully stop or terminate payments under thousands of contracts without violating the judge’s order. The Trump administration says it is reviewing all State Department and USAID foreign assistance programs on a case-by-case basis to see which ones meet the Trump administration’s agenda. TRUMP’S DOGE STAYS ON TRACK AFTER PAIR OF FEDERAL JUDGE RULINGS Aid organizations, current and former USAID staffers in interviews and court affidavits, say the funding freeze and deep Trump administration purges of USAID staffers have brought U.S. foreign assistance globally to a halt, forced thousands of layoffs and is driving government partners to financial collapse. Led by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s efforts at the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the department has been what Musk characterizes as a crusade to cut government spending and downside the federal workforce. DOGE so far claims to have saved some $55 billion via cuts to USAID, the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But many of DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts have brought legal challenges.
Trump’s DOGE stays on track after pair of federal judge rulings
Two federal judges declined this week to stop the Trump administration from firing federal workers and conducting mass layoffs, allowing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to remain on track with finding and slashing wasteful government spending. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper shot down a request from several federal labor unions, including the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), to issue a pause on the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration. NTEU and four other labor unions representing federal employees – the National Federation of Federal Employees; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers; and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America – filed a complaint on Feb. 12, challenging the firing of probationary employees and the deferred resignation program. The resignation program presented federal employees with a fork in the road, meaning they could either return to the office or they could resign from their positions and continue to get paid through September, though they had to decide by Feb. 6. That date was ultimately deferred to Feb. 12, then subsequently closed that day. ‘GET BACK TO WORK’: HOUSE OVERSIGHT TO TAKE ON GOVERNMENT TELEWORK IN 1ST HEARING OF NEW CONGRESS The unions moved for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and preliminary injunction to prevent the firing of probationary employees across all federal agencies and furtherance of the resignation program on Feb. 14, and the next day it was sent to Cooper’s court. Cooper denied the request, though, saying the court lacks jurisdiction over the unions’ claims. Instead, Cooper ruled the unions must pursue their challenges through the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, which provides for administrative review by the Federal Labor Relations Authority. JUDGE EXTENDS RESTRAINING ORDER TO BAN TRUMP ADMIN BUYOUT OFFER TO FEDERAL WORKERS In a separate case, 14 states asked U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to issue a TRO preventing billionaire Elon Musk and DOGE from accessing data systems at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Education, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce for 14 days after the order is issued. The plaintiffs also asked Chutkan’s order to forbid Musk and DOGE from terminating, furloughing, or putting on leave, any federal officers, or employees in those agencies. JUDGE ISSUES RESTRAINING ORDER AFTER TRUMP BLOCKS FEDERAL FUNDS FOR YOUTH SEX CHANGE OPERATIONS This week, Chutkan wrote, “The court is aware that DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for Plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents.” She ultimately ruled that DOGE can continue to operate as it is now and keep the status quo. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Chutkan also, on Friday, issued the court briefing schedule for plaintiffs and defendants to file motions for discovery, preliminary injunctions and dismissals, which stretches through April 22.
Trump appoints Alice Marie Johnson ‘pardon czar’ during Black History Month event at White House
President Donald Trump on Thursday appointed Alice Marie Johnson, a woman he pardoned during his first term, as “pardon czar.” The announcement came during a Black History Month event at the White House. The “pardon czar” will be responsible for making recommendations about who should be granted clemency. TRUMP SAYS CRIMINAL TRIAL IS HAVING A ‘REVERSE EFFECT,’ AS HE CAMPAIGNS AT NEW YORK BODEGA, VOWS TO SAVE CITY The New York Times first reported Trump was thinking about naming Johnson “pardon czar.” Johnson was convicted of nonviolent drug trafficking in Memphis, Tennessee, and after serving 21 years, her life sentence was commuted by Trump. Reality television star Kim Kardashian West met with Trump at the White House a week prior to her release to discuss the great-grandmother’s case. WHO IS ALICE MARIE JOHNSON, THE GREAT-GRANDMOTHER TRUMP GRANTED CLEMENCY TO? She was arrested in 1993 and convicted of drug conspiracy and money laundering in 1996. A series of unfortunate events, including the death of her son, financial troubles and a divorce, led her to involvement with cocaine dealers. “Back in the 1990s, I was a single mother about to lose my house,” Johnson wrote in a Fox News Digital opinion article. “In a desperate moment, I made a life-altering bad decision to become a low-level player in a drug operation. When law enforcement authorities broke up the drug operation, I was prosecuted and sentenced to life in prison.” While Johnson claims she never “touched, saw or sold a single drug,” she admitted to assisting in communications. While in prison, she worked in the prison hospice, volunteered in the prison church, became an ordained minister, and started writing and directing plays. After being pardoned, she remained under federal supervision for five years. KIM KARDASHIAN WEST ADVOCATES FOR ALICE JOHNSON, OTHERS WHO ARE JAILED She became a champion for overburdened case officers and has fought against unnecessary supervision post-incarceration. Her work on criminal justice reform led her to launch “Taking Action For Good,” which advocated for clemency and pardons for over 100 people. She also published a book and partnered with the philanthropic organization, Stand Together. Fox News Digital’s Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Emma Colton and Alice Marie Johnson contributed to this report.
Defense Secretary Hegseth working with DOGE to cut the ‘BS’
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth released a video Thursday detailing oncoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts and restructuring that will take place within the Pentagon. On the date of filming, Hegseth said he met with DOGE and they are beginning their review. “They’re here, and we’re welcoming them,” Hegseth said. “They’re going to have broad access, obviously, with all the safeguards on classification.” TRUMP ISSUES WARNING ABOUT WASTEFUL SPENDING, ORDERS ‘RADICAL TRANSPARENCY’ AMID DOGE PROBES, REVELATIONS He added that many DOGE workers are veterans, and it is a “good thing” that they will find deficiencies. “They care just like we do, to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities — the DEI, the woke, the climate change B.S., that’s not core to our mission, and we’re going to get rid of it all,” Hegseth said. DOGE’s stop at the Department of Defense comes after reviews of the Treasury, Labor, Education and Health departments, as well as at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The temporary organization has faced an enormous amount of scrutiny over the last few weeks, with some accusing President Donald Trump of giving department head Elon Musk too much power. Numerous lawsuits have also been filed in an attempt to block DOGE’s access to sensitive information. $1,300 COFFEE CUPS, 8,000% OVERPAY FOR SOAP DISPENSERS SHOW WASTE AS DOGE LOCKS IN ON PENTAGON The Defense Department has already slashed 8%, or $50 billion, from former President Joe Biden‘s budget. “It’s not a cut,” Hegseth said. “It’s refocusing and reinvesting existing funds into building a force that protects you, the American people.” The budget will be “refocused” on Trump’s priorities, and key programs will not be eliminated, he added. The department is also reevaluating its probationary workforce, a government-wide action ordered by the president. “Bottom line, it is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical,” Hegseth said. “We start with poor performers amongst our probationary employees, because that is common sense, and you want the best and brightest.” DOGE fired 3,600 probationary Health and Human Services employees, and 7,000 are expected to be slashed from the IRS amid tax season. It is unclear how many defense employees will lose their jobs. There will also be a hiring freeze as the defense department reviews its needs. “Ever since I’ve taken this position, the only thing I care about is doing right by the war fighters, by the troops,” Hegseth said. “In short, we want the biggest, most bad a– military on the planet, on God’s green Earth.”
Trump says this congressman would have his ‘Total Endorsement’ if he runs for Florida governor
President Donald Trump is making it very clear whom he would support in the blockbuster 2026 gubernatorial race to succeed term-limited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “I am hearing that Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is considering running for Governor of Florida, a State that I love, and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024,” Trump, a Florida resident, wrote in a social media post on Thursday. And the president emphasized that Donalds, a longtime Trump friend, ally and supporter, “would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida.” Trump added that Donalds, “should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!” WHAT BYRON DONALDS SAID ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY Donalds, a conservative former state lawmaker who has represented parts of southwest Florida’s 19th District in Congress for four years, has been eyeing a potential gubernatorial bid for nearly a year. “I’ve thought about it. I don’t really rule anything out,” Donalds said in a Fox News Digital interview last spring when asked about a possible run for governor. Sources confirmed to Fox News last month that Donalds had been telling potential donors and Florida political players that he intends to run for governor. WHY TRUMP IS PRAISING ONE-TIME PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY RIVAL DESANTIS Another signal also came last month, when Donalds hired prominent Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio’s research firm. Fabrizio was a top pollster in Trump’s 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns. Sources in Florida tell Fox News that Donalds, behind the scenes, continues to make moves towards launching a gubernatorial campaign. And a source in Donalds’ political orbit told Fox News on Thursday that the congressman has been pushing hard for a Trump endorsement, in an effort to crowd out potential rivals for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Another prominent Florida Republican who’s seriously considering a run for governor is state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, the former president of the state Senate. There’s also been some speculation that DeSantis’ wife, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, was potentially considering a run to succeed her husband in Tallahassee. A poll released earlier this week, which suggested Casey DeSantis would be favored in the race, grabbed plenty of attention. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who was Trump’s first choice for attorney general in his second administration before dropping out amid controversy, late last year made some noise about potentially running for governor. But there’s been little buzz in recent weeks about a possible Gaetz campaign. Dan Eberhart, a Florida-based oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor who’s raised big bucks for Trump and DeSantis in recent years and who is also in Donalds’ political orbit, told Fox News that Donalds, if he runs, would “bring a fresh conservative vision for Florida’s future that will be hard to beat.” The social media post by Trump was his second this week to pump up Donalds. Trump on Monday showcased a screen grab of a poll conducted by a group aligned with Donalds that indicated the congressman leading in a hypothetical 2026 Florida gubernatorial match-up. Trump has been talking up Donalds for over a year when it comes to a possible run for governor. At a closed-door fundraiser in New York City last spring, Trump suggested that if Donalds ran for Florida governor, he’d have “many friends in the race.” Donalds, speaking with Fox News Digital soon after Trump made the comments, said “it’s really cool that people back home in Florida consider me to be able to be the state’s next governor. It’s really an honor. It’s honestly surreal thinking about it because I’m 45 and my journey through politics has been a really fruitful one.” With Florida, which was once a top general election battleground state, now firmly red, the slowly emerging GOP gubernatorial nomination fight will be greatly impacted by Trump’s endorsement in his adopted home state. But not to be discounted is any possible endorsement by DeSantis in the race to succeed the governor.
Chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk makes ‘Dark MAGA’ appearance with Javier Milei at CPAC
Donning his “Dark Gothic MAGA” hat, a black coat and sunglasses, and wielding a chainsaw, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Thursday evening. Musk spoke on a wide range of topics, including the latest DOGE updates, the Democratic and media hatred towards him and the importance of reducing waste and abuse in the federal government. He also mentioned that he is in talks with President Donald Trump about issuing tax refunds to U.S. citizens from the money saved by DOGE. ‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’: DOGE’S TOP FIVE MOST SHOCKING REVELATIONS At the start of his speech, the DOGE chief was joined by Argentinian President Javier Milei, who is also known for dramatically slashing the size of government in his country. The two men wielded a chainsaw hearkening back to a viral video of Milei and symbolizing their shared goals of cutting down government waste. “I wasn’t really that interested in being political. It’s just like there was at a certain point no choice,” Musk explained. “The actions that we’re taking, with the support of the president and the support of the agencies, is what will save Medicare, what will save Social Security.” “That’s the reason I’m doing this,” he said. “Because I was looking at the big picture here and it’s like, man, it’s getting out of control.” “A country is no different from a person,” he went on. “[A] Country overspends, a country goes bankrupt in the same way as a person who overspends usually goes bankrupt. So, it’s not like optional to solve these things, it’s essential.” TRUMP ISSUES WARNING ABOUT WASTEFUL SPENDING, ORDERS ‘RADICAL TRANSPARENCY’ AMID DOGE PROBES, REVELATIONS Musk confirmed he is in talks with the president about the possibility of issuing “DOGE dividends” to U.S. taxpayers from the savings from cutting government waste. “I talked to the president, and he’s supportive of that and so it sounds like, you know, that’s something we’re going to do,” he said. “So, as we’re finding savings, that’s going to translate directly to reductions in tax.” He also criticized the Biden administration and entrenched government bureaucrats for what he called a “very obvious” scheme to use taxpayer dollars for their own ideological agenda, which he said included importing voters through mass immigration. “You don’t actually have to assume some grand conspiracy, you just need to look at basic incentives,” he said. “If the probability [is] that an illegal is going to vote Democrat at some point … then the incentive is to maximize the number of illegals in the country. That is why the Biden administration was pushing to get in as many illegals as possible and spent every dollar possible to get as many [as they could] because every one of them is a customer.” TRUMP FREEZES APPLICATIONS FOR BIDEN-ERA MIGRANT PROGRAMS AMID FRAUD, NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS Since Trump returned to the White House, Musk has been the center of much of Democratic and media vitriol because of his role with DOGE and work gutting wasteful government programs, many of which have been rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and other favorite liberal causes. DOGE claims that it has already cut $44 billion in previously wasted taxpayer dollars. “People ask me, what’s the most surprising thing that you’ve encountered when you got to DC?” he said. “Well, the most surprising thing is the scale of the expenditures and actually, how easy it is to – when you add caring and competence where it was absent before – you can actually save billions of dollars sometimes in the span of an hour. Like it’s wild.” “It just shows that they really lack empathy for the average taxpayer who’s working hard, paying taxes and then and then they say: ‘Oh: ‘$1 million doesn’t matter.’ I’m like: ‘I think it matters a lot to people.’” DOGE UNCOVERS OVER 4M GOVERNMENT CREDIT CARDS RESPONSIBLE FOR 90M TRANSACTIONS He made light of the widespread criticism against him from the media and the left. “They’re always saying like ‘threat to our democracy.” But if you just replace democracy with bureaucracy, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. It makes perfect sense, big threat to the bureaucracy,” he said laughing. Musk also explained some of his personal motivations for caring about fixing government overspending. “I grew up in South Africa, but my morality was informed by America. I read comic books, you know, played Dungeons and Dragons and I watched American T.V. shows, and it seemed like America cared about being the good guys, you know? About doing the right thing,” he said. “So, I was like, yeah, you want to be on the side of good, you want to care about what’s right.”