Fani Willis ‘thinks she’s above the law,’ says Georgia lawmaker in subpoena fight
A Georgia state subcommittee and its attorney expressed during a hearing Wednesday that having Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis arrested for flouting subpoenas remains an option, though they fell short of saying they’d take that action yet. The Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations had its attorney, Josh Belinfante, provide an update on the months of back-and-forth in the courts and with Willis’ lawyers on a subpoena for documents related to her investigation into President Donald Trump for alleged election interference, as well as a second subpoena for her to testify. Willis has been challenging the subpoenas since Sept. 3, 2024, but the court has ruled the subpoenas are lawful. FANI WILLIS ORDERED TO PAY $54K FOR VIOLATING OPEN RECORDS LAWS IN TRUMP CASE Committee Chair Sen. Bill Coswert instructed Belinfante to reach out to Wade’s counsel again and “suggest either a Thursday or Friday at the beginning of the last week of April or the first two weeks of May.” “And if they will agree to a date, then we’ll issue the subpoena, and I think they will honor their word. If not, we’re going to have a whole other problem,” he said. “And same thing on the documents, just say we’ve hit the end of our road. We need them by April 15th. You’ve already agreed to give them to us, and if they say they won’t, we’re going to have to circle back with you.” Sen. Steve Gooch asked what would typically happen if a district attorney, such as Willis, issued a subpoena for someone to show up in court and if that person neglected to appear. “That person could be held in criminal contempt,” Belinfante said. “Arrested?” Gooch asked. To that, the attorney replied, “Could be.” Members, including Sen. Greg Dolezal, stressed that the committee had already been given the runaround as Willis had challenged their subpoenas and the court backed them, then she challenged them again. “The DA has thumbed her nose at this committee, she has thumbed her nose at Georgia’s open record law, and I just have limited confidence that she’s acting in good faith. So I do believe that we may be at the point that we do need to escalate this to the next step,” he said. GEORGIA APPEALS COURT DISQUALIFIES DA FANI WILLIS AND HER TEAM FROM TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE The hearing comes as the Daily Mail obtained photos of Willis and former special prosecutor in the Trump case Nathan Wade traveling together at Los Angeles’ airport. “What is our legal obligation to show deference to her personal travel schedule?” Dolezal said. “There’s not one,” Belifante said. Dolezal said the courts, in a separate open records case, called her office “openly hostile” and “substantially groundless and vexatious.” “I think that we have here is an individual who thinks she’s above the law, and I don’t think that the people of Georgia want this committee to wait for her to decide that she wants to appear based on her travel schedule with Mr. Wade, her travel schedule otherwise,” he said. Belifante said that in December, as repeated judges recused themselves from the case and it was passed to a different county, the committee assured Willis that they would not send the sergeant at arms or consider her in contempt. But months have passed since then. Belifante said Willis’ attorney told him this month her “travel schedule” meant she wouldn’t be available to testify until late April or May. The attorney testified that some of the documents the committee is seeking Willis has already handed over to the U.S. House of Representatives and Court of Appeals, and her counsel has no further legal avenue to appeal the subpoenas. “That has expired and there is no appealable order at this time because we reached [an] agreement with them. There is nothing to appeal on the prior documents subpoena. It is moot because there is that agreement,” Belifante said. “On the witness, we think they’ve waived the argument long ago, and so that time is gone and even then, it would take both superior courts to decide whether to allow an appeal to proceed, but that time is gone. There’s no final order right now.”
Botched late-term abortion spurs lawsuit in blue-state court: ‘Horrific’
An anonymous woman filed a rare medical negligence lawsuit last week against an Illinois abortionist after a late-term abortion took a “horrific” turn when an emergency hospital visit revealed “half of a deceased pre-born human being” was found left inside her. Chicago injury attorney Richard Craig filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jane Doe from Indiana, naming both the Champaign-based Equity Clinic and its founder, Dr. Keith Reisinger-Kindle, as defendants. Craig told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday he’s “never been presented” with a case like this. DEFUND ‘BIG ABORTION’ INDUSTRY THAT THRIVED UNDER BIDEN, 150 PRO-LIFE GROUPS URGE CONGRESS The suit alleges that during a 22-week abortion performed in April 2023, Reisinger-Kindle left parts of the fetus inside the woman’s body, leading to severe complications. After the procedure, when the woman reported persistent cramping, Reisinger-Kindle allegedly advised her to take over-the-counter pain relievers and laxatives. She later underwent emergency surgery to remove the body parts. Doe is seeking damages for medical negligence and emotional distress. “This is someone who performed an abortion that at 22 weeks of gestation – which at that point renders a two-day process – and then on the second day, when most of the work is done, at the culmination of his work, he entered a note, saying, these are his words, ‘products of conception were visibly inspected and confirmed to be complete,’” Craig said. “That’s his note. Well, clearly that didn’t happen.” “When she presented to the emergency room two days later, they found what they described to be as a half of a pre-deceased fetus,” Craig said. “And the films that are in the records actually suggests more like two-thirds. So, how could he say that he visibly inspected her?” Doe, a mother of four, also alleged that Reisinger-Kindle refused to provide pertinent information to the attending surgeons without her consent. In a medical report included in the lawsuit filings, an obstetrician/gynecologist asserts that Reisinger-Kindle “deviated from a reasonable standard of care” during the abortion by perforating the plaintiff’s uterus and failing to recognize the injury. DOGE MUST ‘DEFUND’ PLANNED PARENTHOOD, MIKE PENCE’S WATCHDOG GROUP URGES MUSK The report also states that Reisinger-Kindle “failed to adequately examine the fetal parts” after the procedure. According to the lawsuit, there was a hole in the woman’s uterus roughly the size of a large coin. The report notes that if Reisinger-Kindle “performed an adequate exam of the remains, it should have been obvious that fetal parts were left behind.” In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving it up to states to decide on abortion, Illinois has solidified its position as a haven for the procedure, enacting a series of legislative measures to shield both providers and out-of-state women seeking abortion services from lawsuits. FEDS GAVE $700M TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD DURING YEAR OF RECORD ABORTIONS Reisinger-Kindle, who was featured in a Chicago Tribune article, was one of many providers who opened abortion clinics in the Midwest following the high court’s ruling. Craig – who said taking the case won’t make him “any friends in Illinois” – also alleged Reisinger-Kindle didn’t administer any pain-relief medication to the fetus, which would have stopped its heartbeat, prior to its dismemberment. “The current laws would prevent me, for instance, from pursuing a claim against this doctor on behalf of the child for what had to be excruciating pain that the child underwent while he was being dismembered piece by piece, without any pain relief,” Craig said. “And so those laws do, in fact, prevent me, or anybody from taking that position and seeking redress for that on the behalf of the child.” Fox News Digital has reached out to Reisinger-Kindle for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.
Blue state sanctuary laws enabled illegal ‘abolish ICE’ activist to evade capture, says local DA
Colorado District Attorney George Brauchler is speaking out against activist judges and sanctuary policies in his state that he says enabled abolish ICE activist and illegal immigrant Jeanette Vizguerra to evade capture for over a decade, “making a mockery of the rule of law.” Colorado law prohibits local and state law enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities to remove illegals. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Brauchler, who is the district attorney for Colorado’s 23rd District, said the policies being pushed by Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and the Democratic-controlled legislature have made it so that the state has “embraced illegal immigrants over the laws of the country.” He said the policies have stunted local and state law enforcement’s ability to keep dangerous illegal criminals off the streets. BLUE STATE LEADER SOUNDS ALARM ABOUT ‘PERFECT STORM’ OF DEM IMMIGRATION POLICIES DECIMATING PUBLIC SAFETY “Local law enforcement all say the ‘right’ thing publicly, and that is, ‘Hey, we’re not arms of the federal government. We don’t work for ICE. That’s not why we were hired.’ But they also say behind the scenes, ‘Dang, we have lost the ability to rid this community of the criminal element when we create these kinds of barriers with ICE.’” In the case of Vizguerra, who just won a temporary ruling by a federal judge in Colorado guaranteeing ICE cannot deport her while her case is ongoing, Brauchler said that far-left sentiments in the state allowed U.S. immigration laws to be openly flouted. “Let’s be honest man, Colorado has shifted so far to the pro-illegal immigrant side of things, that it’s created a very permissive environment where you can be here for a long time, be illegal, be even contacted by local law enforcement, and remain free out on the streets,” he said. “So, it’s not a shock to me that there’s a person that is like this in the system.” He noted that he is sympathetic to Vizguerra having to leave after establishing a life and family in Colorado, but said, “We are either going to be a nation and a state that is governed by laws that we hold each other accountable for, or we’re going to be guided by emotion and whatever the politics of the day are.” HOMAN BLASTS BLUE STATE AS REPORT SHOWS IT RELEASING ILLEGALS CHARGED WITH ‘HORRIFIC’ CRIMES ON LOW BAILS “That doesn’t seem to me to be the America that was ever intended and not the one I grew up in,” he went on. “We have to admit that the first step for any person who claims to want to be an American cannot be to violate America’s laws. And she fits that bill.” In addition to the Colorado judge’s ruling, Brauchler also questioned a growing string of other rulings by federal judges inhibiting the Trump administration’s immigration actions across the country. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE He said the decision of “one single district court judge in a handpicked venue by the people that think they’re going to get the outcome that they want, to issue a nationwide ban that freezes the federal government from border to border, coast to coast, seems to me to be abuse of judicial discretion.” He pointed to cases such as D.C. Circuit Court Judge James Boasberg, who recently issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport a group of suspected immigrant gang members. By issuing a temporary restraining order rather than a permanent or temporary injunction, Brauchler said that activist judges guarantee their rulings cannot be appealed, effectively freezing the administration from seeking a review by an appellate court. TRUMP CALLS FOR JUDGE IN DEPORTATION LEGAL BATTLE TO BE IMPEACHED “What judges should do at the federal level is, if they think that something should be enjoined, they should limit that enjoinder to their own jurisdiction and let the rest of this play out across the country,” he said. Turning back to Colorado, Brauchler emphasized that the “bottom line” is “if we don’t like our immigration laws, well by God change them, Congress, and fix them. … But the answer to ‘I disagree with our federal immigration laws’ cannot ever be — for a people that claim to adhere to the rule of law — it cannot ever be, ‘Well, let’s just ignore them or find a way to thwart them by creating barriers between local law enforcement and the feds.’” “Our extreme left-wing progressive legislature, dominated by the Democrat Party out here, has a bill they’re waiting to drop that would prohibit every attorney in the criminal justice system, from the judge to the prosecutor, to the defense attorney, to interns in from law school, in my office — no joke — from sharing any information ever about any individual with ICE.” “That’s where Colorado’s going,” he said. “They’re not making us safer. They’re not making us better. They’re not making us more just. And they’re making a mockery of the rule of law.”
Hegseth says no classified information was shared in Signal group chat: ‘Nobody’s texting war plans’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down Wednesday that no war plans or classified information were shared during a Signal group chat of Trump administration officials about possible strikes on Houthi targets, which was mistakenly shared with a journalist. The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, published a story this week detailing the group chat messages, prompting pushback from the administration and calls from Democrats for Hegseth and other defense officials to resign. “Nobody’s texting war plans,” Hegseth said Wednesday before boarding a plane in Hawaii. “I noticed this morning out came something that doesn’t look like war plans. And as a matter of fact, they even changed the title to attack plans because they know it’s not war plans.” TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH “There’s no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information,” he added, saying no sensitive information was divulged in the chat. Hegseth said he was keeping President Donald Trump’s national security team informed in real time. “My job, as I said, on top of that, everybody’s seen it now,” Hegseth said. “[The] team update is to provide updates in real time – general updates in real time. Keep everybody informed. That’s what I did. That’s my job.” Goldberg said he received a request to join the group chat on the encrypted messaging service Signal on March 11 from what appeared to be National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. Goldberg released screenshots of some of the message exchanges he observed. TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK He reported that officials were discussing “war plans” but didn’t publish some of the highly sensitive information he saw, including precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing, due to potential threats to national security and military operations. Earlier in the day, Hegseth scolded Goldberg in a post on X, who he said has never “seen a war plan.” “So, let’s me get this straight. The Atlantic released the so-called “war plans” and those “plans” include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information,” he wrote. “Those are some really sh—y war plans.” “This only proves one thing: Jeff Goldberg has never seen a war plan or an “attack plan” (as he now calls it). Not even close,” he added. Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Elon Musk tapped to help lead investigation into Signal chat leak: White House
Elon Musk is helping lead the investigation into the Signal chat leak involving top national security leaders and the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, the White House press secretary said Wednesday. “The National Security Council, the White House Counsel’s Office, and also, yes, Elon Musk’s team” will be leading the investigation into the Signal leak, press secretary Karonline Leavitt said during Wednesday’s White House press conference. “Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this, to figure out how this number was inadvertently added to the chat – again, to take responsibility and ensure this can never happen again,” she continued. The Trump administration is facing backlash from Democrats and other critics after the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed in an article published Monday that he was added to a Signal group chat with top national security leaders, including national security advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. JUDGE FIGHTING TRUMP OVER EL SALVADOR DEPORTATIONS ASSIGNED TO LAWSUIT OVER SIGNAL CHAT LEAK Signal is an encrypted messaging app that operates similarly to texting or making phone calls, but with additional security measures that help ensure communications are kept private to those included in the correspondence. The Atlantic’s initial report characterized the Trump administration as texting “war plans” to one another. The Trump administration has maintained that no classified material was transmitted in the chat, with President Donald Trump defending Waltz amid the fallout. Trump revealed Tuesday that a member of Waltz’s office invited Goldberg to the chat, but did not provide additional information. TRUMP ADMIN DECLARES THE ATLANTIC’S SIGNAL ARTICLE A ‘HOAX’ AFTER IT DROPS ‘WAR PLANS’ RHETORIC Waltz joined Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” Tuesday, where he took responsibility for the inadvertent addition of Goldberg to the chat, arguing he believed the account belonged to someone else. “I built the group. My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated,” Waltz said. “Of course I didn’t see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else,” Waltz added. “The person I thought was on there was never on there.” Waltz also said during the interview that he had just spoken to Musk about the matter and that the “best technical minds” would look into it. Musk is helping lead the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been poring through federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud and mismanagement. “If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well,” Leavitt continued. “And there’s arguably no one in the media who loves manufacturing and pushing hoaxes more than Jeffrey Goldberg.” TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH Following Monday’s report in the Atlantic concerning the Signal chat, Goldberg published a Wednesday follow-up story that included messages directly from the chat. The article notably did not characterize the correspondence as “war plans,” instead opting to refer to them as “attack plans” in the headline. The Trump administration responded that the follow-up story proved that there were “no war plans” in the correspondence, taking a victory lap that the story was exposed to be a “hoax.” “The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans,’” Leavitt posted to X Wednesday morning. “This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.” HEGSETH FENDS OFF REPORTER’S QUESTIONS ABOUT SIGNAL CHAT LEAK Waltz posted to X Wednesday, “No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent. BOTTOM LINE: President Trump is protecting America and our interests.” A spokesperson for the Atlantic defended that the outlet did expose a “war plan” in its Wednesday report, pointing Fox News Digital to a screenshot included in the piece of Hegseth’s messages related to F-18s and drone strikes that were accompanied by timestamps for the operation. “If this information – particularly the exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen – had fallen into the wrong hands in that crucial two-hour period, American pilots and other American personnel could have been exposed to even greater danger than they ordinarily would face,” the report stated. Leavitt said during the press conference that Signal is an “approved app” for government employees, citing that the “CIA has it loaded onto government phones because it is the most secure and efficient way to communicate.”
Trump administration asks SCOTUS to approve DEI-related education cuts
The Trump administration has filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court seeking approval to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in grants from the Education Department as part of its efforts to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the department. The Justice Department is asking the court to lift a nationwide injunction which is preventing it from terminating the grants under two federal programs. Earlier this month, Boston-based U.S. District Judge Myong Joun ordered the Trump administration to restore the grants – via a temporary restraining order — which are disseminated via the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) programs. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SIGNIFICANTLY DISMANTLED IN NEW TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER Days later the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to pause Joun’s order, leading to today’s filing. Joun was appointed by former President Joe Biden. Eight states, including California, accused the Linda McMahon-led department of illegally terminating the grants that Congress had established as a solution to critical teacher shortages, especially in rural and underserved communities. The grants provide more than $600 million in grants for teacher preparation programs, often in subject areas such as math, science and special education, the states have argued. The Trump administration blasted the injunction in its filing and argued that federal courts were exceeding their jurisdiction. “This case exemplifies a flood of recent suits that raise the question: Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) millions in taxpayer dollars?” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote. “Unless and until this court addresses that question, federal district courts will continue exceeding their jurisdiction by ordering the executive branch to restore lawfully terminated grants across the government, keep paying for programs that the executive branch views as inconsistent with the interests of the United States, and send out the door taxpayer money that may never be clawed back.” TRUMP STILL NEEDS CONGRESS’ HELP WITH PLAN TO ABOLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT The filing argues that the case presents an “ideal candidate” for the Supreme Court to impose restraint on federal courts and the Justice Department argues that its case will likely succeed on the merits. “This court should put a swift end to federal district courts’ unconstitutional reign as self-appointed managers of executive branch funding and grant-disbursement decisions,” Harris wrote. The appeal will go to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson based on jurisdiction and she will likely ask her colleagues to weigh in. A briefing schedule will be set and an order on temporary enforcement will follow. The Supreme Court is requesting a response by the opposing parties by Friday at 4 p.m. As well as the state of California, the opposing parties are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin. The Education Department previously said the programs teach “divisive ideologies” such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the “instruction on white privilege and white supremacy.” The Republican president signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Education Department, and his administration has started overhauling much of its work, including cutting dozens of contracts it dismissed as “woke” and wasteful. A wave of lawsuits has slowed down the Trump administration’s agenda with the Justice Department filing four other emergency appeals of court rulings, including in relation to birthright citizenship and an appeal to halt an order requiring the rehiring of thousands of federal workers. The justices previously rejected a bid to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid and did not immediately allow Trump’s firing to proceed of the head of a federal watchdog agency. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Rep Jasmine Crockett refuses to apologize for ‘Gov Hot Wheels’ comment
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, refused to apologize for referring to Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, as “Governor Hot Wheels” on Wednesday. Crockett refused to apologize multiple times in an interview with Fox News before growing frustrated and ending the conversation. The lawmaker put out a statement regarding her comment earlier this week, but it did not include an apology. “I do have a statement. Why would I apologize when I put out a statement? My statement was clear,” Crockett said when confronted on the matter. “But you didn’t apologize for calling him ‘Governor Hot Wheels’ when he gets around in a wheelchair, you don’t understand how that’s offensive to people?” Fox Business reporter Hillary Vaughn pressed. PAM BONDI ON JASMINE CROCKETT’S COMMENTS: WORDS HAVE CONSEQUENCES | FOX NEWS VIDEO “I don’t understand how many times you need me to repeat this to you,” Crockett responded. “Right. But why won’t you apologize?” Vaughn said. “I put out a statement,” Crockett repeated. JASMINE CROCKETT DESCRIBES DEMOCRATIC DONOR TALK ON SCHUMER ‘REMINISCENT’ OF BIDEN BEING TAKEN DOWN “That didn’t have an apology in it,” Vaughn countered. “You don’t feel bad about making fun of someone who is in a wheelchair?” “Okay, well. I’m done here,” Crockett said as she began to walk away. “I’m done. I’m done with this.” Speaking at a benefit for the Human Rights Campaign in Los Angeles, Crockett mocked Abbott, whose legs were paralyzed in a running accident in 1984. “We in these hot a– Texas streets, honey. Y’all know we got Governor Hot Wheels down there, come on now! And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot a– mess, honey!” she said, laughing. Crockett issued a statement on social media regarding her comments, arguing that she had not been referring to Abbott’s paralysis. “I wasn’t thinking about the governor’s condition—I was thinking about the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by Black mayors, deliberately stoking tension and fear among the most vulnerable. Literally, the next line I said was that he was a ‘Hot A** Mess,’ referencing his terrible policies. At no point did I mention or allude to his condition,” she wrote.
‘Veto Corleone’: Youngkin kills left-wing dreams with record-setting bill nixing spree
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is drawing comparisons to “The Godfather” after vetoing nearly 160 bills from the Democrat-controlled legislature Wednesday. “You could call him ‘Veto Corleone’,” a Republican strategist told Fox News Digital in comments later Wednesday, after 159 bills were killed upon reaching his desk. Virginia’s General Assembly passed bills this session that would have prevented prayer in front of abortion clinics, required the commonwealth to implement a comprehensive “environmental justice” strategy and adjusted criminal bond policies. All of those bills were vetoed by Youngkin, and the legislature’s Democratic majority is far from veto-proof – with two-seat margins in each chamber. YOUNGKIN WALKS POLITICAL TIGHTROPE WITH SUPPORT FOR DOGE, MEGA-JOB FAIR Other vetoed bills included two pertaining to gun control legislation, restricting the purchase or transfer of firearms and the like. Ten of the bills were considered “soft on crime” legislation by critics, and about a dozen would have raised costs on Virginians, according to Republicans. The governor also nixed a proposal to raise the state minimum wage to $13.50 per hour, and later to $15. In a statement, Youngkin highlighted legislation supported by some in the Trump administration – such as a bill to keep school lunches free of artificial dyes, which he signed and which mirrors an initiative from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. YOUNGKIN INVITES NEW TRUMP ADMIN TO SETTLE IN VA OVER MD, DC; TOUTING OLD DOMINION’S BIGGEST DRAWS “I have completed my actions on the more than 900 bills sent to me during the 2025 legislative session,” Youngkin said. “The legislation that I’ve signed into law and the budget amendments I’ve put forward this year will go a long way to helping ensure Virginia remains a great place to live, work, and raise a family. “I have returned many bills with recommended amendments, hoping that we can come together next week with a common purpose to advance these bills,” he added. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Of his veto choices, Youngkin said those bills collectively would “take the commonwealth backward by raising the cost of living, hurting our strong job growth, stifling innovation, undermining our All-American All-of-the-Above Power and Energy Plan or making our communities less safe.” On X, formerly Twitter, observers contrasted Youngkin’s veto prowess with his predecessors. The incumbent is one veto away from hitting 400, while Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, only vetoed 18 bills in his four years as governor. Fellow Republican Bob McDonnell vetoed a similar amount to Warner, while the nearest governor of the 21st century in veto usage was Democrat Terry McAuliffe, with more than 110 vetoes.
Top agency staffer trying to block crucial Trump directive once managed DEI team
EXCLUSIVE: Republicans on Capitol Hill are fuming that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) general counsel who shut down President Donald Trump‘s request to supersede California’s aggressive gas emissions laws once managed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for the agency. Republicans have dismissed the decision penned by GAO General Counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez, because she once served as the agency’s “Managing Director of Opportunity and Inclusiveness (O&I).” According to the GAO’s official website, the O&I office includes advising senior staff on equal employment opportunities and promoting a “work environment that is fair, unbiased and inclusive.” “A far-left radical whose main job is pushing DEI nonsense is trying to undermine American prosperity. What a surprise. These bad actors should be removed from government swiftly,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana., told Fox News Digital in a statement. While some Republicans discredit Emmanuelli Perez’s decision as “DEI nonsense,” other Republicans denied the “democratic legitimacy” of banning California’s gas vehicles without a vote. Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital the House will move forward with a Congressional Review Act resolution regardless of the GAO decision. EPA GRANTS CALIFORNIA PERMISSION TO BAN NEW GAS CAR SALES BY 2035 “The GAO’s conclusion that California can ban 95 percent of the state’s cars, without a vote of the Legislature and with no recourse from Congress, defies basic notions of democratic legitimacy and common sense. We will be moving forward with our Congressional Review Act resolution to reverse this insane ban and restore choice for California consumers,” Kiley said in a statement. TRUCKING EXEC ‘HOPEFUL’ AS TRUMP EPA TARGETS BLUE-STATE EMISSIONS REGS: ‘LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL’ Emmanuelli Perez shut down any insinuation from Republicans that she ruled independently on the case, telling Fox News Digital in a statement that the GAO’s decisions are “institutional, not individually authored, products.” “In response to a Congressional request, we summarized relevant, established case law related to the Congressional Review Act and waivers under the Clean Air Act. We stand behind our work, as all GAO products go through our extensive quality assurance process,” Emmanuelli Perez said. The GAO released its decision earlier this month in response to a request from Congress on whether EPA waivers that grant California permission to enforce its 2035 gas car ban are subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The GAO determined that California’s EPA waiver is not subject to the CRA, so Congress cannot use the CRA to overturn California’s aggressive zero-emission goals. Kiley, however, has committed to moving forward with the CRA despite the GAO’s ruling. Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced last month the creation of a National Energy Dominance Council, in which the EPA will send President Joe Biden-era EPA rules to Congress for review. Those Biden-era EPA waivers included “allowing California to preempt federal car and truck standards promulgated by EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.” The Trump administration announced the EPA waiver transmitted to Congress included “California’s Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and Omnibus NOx rules,” arguing the waivers on trucks increased the cost of vehicles, goods, and therefore, the cost of living for Americans. “The Biden Administration failed to send rules on California’s waivers to Congress, preventing Members of Congress from deciding on extremely consequential actions that have massive impacts and costs across the entire United States. The Trump EPA is transparently correcting this wrong and rightly following the rule of law,” Zeldin said alongside the president in the Oval Office. Following Zeldin and Trump’s announcement, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., requested a legal decision from the GAO on whether the EPA’s decision to grant California waivers under the Clean Air Act could be overturned using the CRA. The Democratic senators championed the GAO’s ruling and slammed the Trump administration for trying to eliminate the “California emission standards [that] have protected generations of Americans against fossil fuel emissions.” “By ignoring decades of precedent and the plain text of the Congressional Review Act, the Trump EPA is attempting to sell out our nation’s public health and environmental protections to the same polluting industries that bankrolled much of Trump’s campaign,” the senators said following the GAO’s decision. However, Trump campaigned on eliminating such regulations, and on his first day back in the White House, the president signed an executive order “unleashing American energy.” The executive order eliminated the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” to promote consumer choice. While the litigation is tied up in the congressional branch, with the stroke of a pen on day one, Trump moved to terminate “state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles.” Trump also campaigned on a day-one commitment to eliminating DEI in the federal government. On his Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive order “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and referencing,” which rolled back Biden-era DEI policies and initiatives in the federal government.
CIA director blasts Democrat’s ‘offensive line of questioning’ about Hegseth’s ‘drinking habits’
CIA Director John Ratcliffe blasted a California Democrat Wednesday for asking him “whether Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information” in a Signal chat group, calling his words an “offensive line of questioning.” Rep. Jimmy Gomez sparked the testy exchange during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, where Ratcliffe appeared alongside Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and other top Trump administration officials. “The main person who was involved in this thread that a lot of people want to talk to is, Secretary of Defense Hegseth. And a lot of questions were brought up regarding his drinking habits in his confirmation hearing. To your knowledge, do you know whether Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information?” Gomez asked Gabbard, to which she responded, “I don’t have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth’s personal habits.” When Gomez then asked Ratcliffe the same question, telling him it was either a “yes or no” answer, Ratcliffe fired back, saying “You know, no. I’m going to answer that. I think that’s an offensive line of questioning.” ATLANTIC REPORTER PUBLISHES MORE TEXTS ABOUT ATTACK ON HOUTHI TARGETS “The answer is no. I find it interesting…” Ratcliffe continued before Gomez began shouting “Hey, I yield back, this is my time, director! Director!” “You asked me a question, do you want an answer?” Ratcliffe said. “You don’t want to focus on the good work that the CIA is doing, that the intelligence community…” “Director, I reclaim my time. Director, I reclaim my time,” Gomez then said. “I have huge respect for the CIA, huge respect for men and women in uniform. But this was a question that’s on the top of the minds of every American, right?” “He stood in front of a podium in Europe holding a drink,” Gomez then claimed. “Was his performance compromised because of a successful strike?… you think he should accept responsibility for a successful strike to make Americans safer?” Ratcliffe started saying as Gomez again interrupted him in an attempt to get the situation under control. RATCLIFFE SAYS NEW SIGNAL TEXTS SHOW HE ‘DID NOT TRANSMIT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION’ Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., followed Gomez’s questioning and allowed Ratcliffe to speak without interruption. “I appreciate that, Congressman. I guess, you know, just a general reflection here again, that, for the last two days, members of the intelligence community have been asking questions about a Signal messaging group and not asking questions — from Democrats either in the Senate or the House — on China, Russia, Iran and the real threats, that are going on the United States,” the CIA director said. “No one’s asked me about my second day on the job here, where I lit the fuse that led to a foreign government participating with us to capture one of the senior planners of the Abbey gate bombing that killed 13 Americans,” he added, “But instead, we’re getting questions about whether or not someone has drinking habits.”