‘Wokest hospital in America?’: Top hospital hit with blistering ad exposing ‘political agenda’
FIRST ON FOX: Consumers’ Research, a leading non-profit dedicated to consumer information, is launching a campaign targeting the Cleveland Clinic over what it says is a history of the organization prioritizing woke politics over patients. The campaign, dubbed “Cleveland Clinic Exposed”, asks the public whether the clinic is “the wokest hospital in America” and will involve an ad titled “Exposed,” which will run in Ohio during the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors game on Wednesday. “Is Cleveland Clinic the wokest hospital in America?” the 30-second ad asks. “They prioritize care based on skin color. Perform child sex changes. Push transgender propaganda on vulnerable kids. Insert DEI into everything they do.” “And spend millions on climate activism. The CEO admits it: Healthcare is only a part of their mission. Cleveland Clinic. Focused on a political agenda. Not what’s best for patients.” TRUMP ORDER RESTRICTING SEX-CHANGE PROCEDURES FOR MINORS IN LINE WITH ‘DO NO HARM,’ DOCTOR SAYS The ad campaign will also be featured on ClevelandClinicExposed.com, and mobile billboards will be seen outside the Ohio state capitol building, Cleveland Clinic main campus and the Florida state capitol building. Additionally, a targeted digital campaign and a “woke alert” is being sent out calling on the clinic to “stop injecting politics into patient care.” “Attention Floridians,” one of the alerts states. “Cleveland Clinic opened a sex change clinic in your backyard.” TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER RESTRICTING ‘CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL’ SEX-CHANGE PROCEDURES FOR MINORS The ad, in part, references a letter from Cleveland Clinic’s CEO suggesting that providing healthcare services is not the sole focus of the organization. “Providing high-quality healthcare is only a part of our mission,” Cleveland Clinic CEO Tom Mihaljevic wrote in a post on the hospital’s website. “We have an obligation to uplift the many communities we call home. We must improve our neighbors’ wellbeing, quality of life and opportunities to succeed. We must operate in sustainable ways that are good for our planet. We must embrace diversity, champion human rights and lead with humility and inclusiveness.” Cleveland Clinic has faced accusations of promoting a “woke” agenda in the past, including a complaint filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty alleging, “race-based discrimination and segregation of patients.” The Cleveland Clinic’s website also contains several posts promoting climate initiatives, including a plan for “greening” its operating rooms. In 2022, the Cleveland Clinic hired Jacqui Robertson as chief of diversity and inclusion, and announced in a post that has since been deleted that she will “lead efforts that will further diversity and inclusion across the health system.” Robertson stated in a 2023 interview, “I don’t believe that diversity and inclusion should ever be a standalone strategy. It has to be embedded in everything that we do. And so that’s our processes, that’s our metrics.” In a June 2023 post that also appears to have been deleted from the Cleveland Clinic website, the clinic explained “How To Support a Child Who’s Questioning Their Gender Identity.” Also in June 2023, the clinic put out a press release labeling racism as a “public health crisis.” “Cleveland Clinic is committed to addressing structural racism and bias in our community,” the organization said in a December 2020 press release announcing a plan to “join a coalition of 37 of the largest U.S. employers, to train, hire and promote one million Black Americans into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement.” CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Despite past press releases and statements on the Cleveland Clinic’s website highlighting its agenda, a Cleveland Clinic spokesperson pushed back against the campaign. “The advertisement contains false statements, and we are concerned there are serious inaccuracies in their claims. Our services are available for everyone, and we do not discriminate based on race, gender or any other category,” the spokesperson said. “By its own shocking words and deeds, Cleveland Clinic has quite possibly become the wokest hospital in America,” Will Hild, Consumers’ Research executive director, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The clinic’s leadership alarmingly proclaims that DEI ‘has to be embedded in everything that we do.’ Such a sentiment plagues the entire hospital system and should frighten every patient in need of its services.” “From unethical race-based care to transgender mutilation surgeries on kids to bowing at the altar of climate extremism, Cleveland Clinic seems hell-bent on satisfying every woke fixation while cost-reduction for patients is a distant afterthought. It is wrong when any company prioritizes woke objectives over its consumers, but it is especially disturbing when the perpetrator is a medical facility and consumers are patients. Cleveland Clinic must reverse course, shun woke radicalism, stop spending resources in the wrong places, and make affordable quality care its only focus.”
House Dem expects first DOGE subcommittee meeting to be ‘full-on combat’
Sparks are expected to fly at Congress’ first Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee meeting Wednesday, according to one Democratic lawmaker in the House of Representatives. Democrats have blasted billionaire Elon Musk, who President Donald Trump tapped to lead DOGE, over the past week for trying to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending and trim the more than 2-million-person federal workforce. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, told Axios that she plans to use the hearing to “clarify for the American people” why DOGE’s actions are “illegal” and why “Elon Musk has no official role to do this.” “I think it’s going to be a sh–show. I don’t really anticipate anything productive coming out of this,” Crockett said. “I don’t anticipate that it’s going to be nice. I anticipate full-on combat, because DOGE is clearly the devil right now.” DOGE SLASHES OVER $100M IN DEI FUNDING AT EDUCATION DEPARTMENT: ‘WIN FOR EVERY STUDENT’ DOGE subcommittee chair Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told the outlet she has “high hopes” that Republicans and Democrats will engage productively during the hearing, which she said will focus on “Medicaid improper payments.” “We’re going to be talking about solutions, there are going to be big savings,” she said, adding that she feels the issue is bipartisan. ‘THIS HAS TO STOP’: HOUSE DEM FACES BACKLASH FOR ‘PROMOTING PHYSICAL VIOLENCE’ AT DOGE PROTEST On Tuesday, Musk appeared with Trump in the Oval Office as the president prepared to sign an executive order concerning the billionaire’s work leading DOGE. Musk, in some of his first public comments on leading DOGE, told reporters that there are some good people in the federal bureaucracy, but that they need to be accountable, and the budget deficit needs to be addressed. He also pushed back against critics who have accused him of mounting a hostile takeover of the government, saying he wants to add “common-sense controls” to federal spending and that cutting government waste is not “draconian.” “The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk said. “That’s what democracy is all about.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Pope blasts Trump admin over mass deportation plan, directs ire at Vance’s religious defense for policies
Pope Francis on Tuesday issued a major rebuke of the Trump administration’s plans for the mass deportations of migrants, stressing that the forceful removal of people simply for their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.” Francis wrote a letter to U.S. bishops, in which he appeared to criticize Vice President JD Vance’s religious argument in defense of the deportation policies. U.S. border czar Tom Homan responded to the pope, saying that the Vatican is a city-state surrounded by walls and that Francis should leave immigration enforcement to him. Homan, a Catholic, also said Francis should focus on fixing the Catholic Church rather than U.S. immigration policies. “He wants to attack us for securing our border. He’s got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?” Homan told reporters. “So he’s got a wall around that protects his people and himself, but we can’t have a wall around the United States.” DOZENS OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS SUE TO STOP TRUMP ADMIN FROM ARRESTING MIGRANTS IN PLACES OF WORSHIP As the first Latin American pope, Francis has long held the position of caring for immigrants, pointing to the biblical command to “welcome the stranger” in calling on countries to welcome, protect, promote and integrate people fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters. Francis and President Donald Trump have long butted heads over the issue of immigration, including prior to Trump’s first term, when Francis said in 2016 that anyone who builds a wall to keep migrants out was “not a Christian.” In his letter, Francis acknowledged that governments have the right to defend their countries and keep their communities safe from criminals, but he added the deportation of people who fled their countries due to various difficult circumstances damages their dignity. “That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he wrote. Pointing to the Book of Exodus in the Bible and Jesus Christ’s experience, Francis emphasized the right of people to seek shelter and safety in other lands and said the Trump administration’s deportation plan was a “major crisis.” Anyone educated in Christianity, he said, “cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.” “What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” he continued. POPE FRANCIS CALLS TRUMP’S DEPORTATION PLAN A ‘DISGRACE’ The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, thanked the pope for his letter. “With you, we pray that the U.S. government keep its prior commitments to help those in desperate need,” Broglio wrote. “Boldly I ask for your continued prayers so that we may find the courage as a nation to build a more humane system of immigration, one that protects our communities while safeguarding the dignity of all.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that more than 8,000 people had been arrested since Trump took office Jan. 20 as part of the president’s plan to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally, although hundreds of those arrested have since been released back into the U.S. Others have been deported, are being held in federal prisons or are being held at the Guantánamo Bay Cuba, detention camp. Vance, a Catholic convert, has defended the administration’s deportation plans by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris,” which he has said describes a hierarchy of care: prioritizing the family first, then the neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those from other regions. However, Francis sought to fact-check Vance’s understanding of the concept. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” Francis wrote in his letter. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” As Homan referenced, the Vatican is a walled-in, 108-acre city-state inside Rome, and it recently increased sanctions for anyone who enters illegally. The law, approved in December, calls for people to face up to four years in prison and a fine of up to 25,000 euros, or $25,873, if they enter with “violence, threat or deception,” including by evading security checkpoints. The U.S. bishops conference had already released a statement condemning Trump’s immigration policies after his first executive orders. Anyone “focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us,” the statement said. Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago praised Francis’ letter, telling Vatican Media that it showed the pope viewed “the protection and advocacy for the dignity of migrants as the preeminent urgency at this moment.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Dozens of religious groups sue to stop Trump admin from arresting migrants in places of worship
A coalition of 27 Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration action allowing federal immigration enforcement to make arrests in places of worship. The federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, was brought on behalf of a range of religious groups, including the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists. The lawsuit challenges an order by President Donald Trump that reversed a Biden administration policy barring agents from arresting illegal migrants in sensitive places like churches, schools and hospitals. According to the lawsuit, Trump’s new policy has sparked fear of raids, which has led to lower attendance at worship services and other church programs. Because of this impact on attendance, the lawsuit argues the policy infringes on the groups’ religious freedom, particularly their ability to minister to migrants, including those in the U.S. illegally. ‘SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES’: TED CRUZ DELIVERS STRONG WARNING TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FLEEING BORDER PATROL “We have immigrants, refugees, people who are documented and undocumented,” the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, told The Associated Press. “We cannot worship freely if some of us are living in fear,” he added. “By joining this lawsuit, we’re seeking the ability to gather and fully practice our faith, to follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves.” A similar lawsuit was filed Jan. 27 by five Quaker congregations that was later joined by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh temple. That case is currently pending in U.S. District Court in Maryland. The new lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security and its immigration enforcement agencies as defendants. “We are protecting our schools, places of worship, and Americans who attend, by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and take safe haven there because these criminals knew that under the previous Administration that law enforcement couldn’t go inside,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement. “DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs,” she said. A memorandum filed Friday by the Department of Justice, opposing the argument in the Quaker lawsuit, could also apply to the new lawsuit. The DOJ claims that the plaintiffs’ request to block the new immigration enforcement policy is based on speculation of hypothetical future harm, which the department says makes for insufficient grounds for the courts to side with the Quakers and issue an injunction. In the memo, the DOJ said that immigration enforcement affecting places of worship had been allowed for decades and that the new policy announced last month stated that field agents should use “common sense” and “discretion” but could now carry out immigration enforcement operations in houses of worship without pre-approval from a supervisor. One part of that memo may not apply to the new lawsuit, as it argued the Quakers and their fellow plaintiffs have no basis for seeking a nationwide injunction to protect all religious groups against the new policy. NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS “Any relief in this case should be tailored solely to the named plaintiffs,” the DOJ memo said, arguing that any injunction should not apply to other religious organizations. The plaintiffs in the new lawsuit represent a significantly larger number of American worshipers, including more than 1 million followers of Reform Judaism, around 1.5 million Episcopalians, more than 1 million members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the estimated 1.5 million active members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, among others. “The massive scale of the suit will be hard for them to ignore,” lead counsel Kelsi Corkran, who is a lawyer with the Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, told The Associated Press. Corkran said the plaintiffs joined the lawsuit “because their scripture, teaching, and traditions offer irrefutable unanimity on their religious obligation to embrace and serve the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst without regard to documentation or legal status.” Before Trump’s change to federal policy, Corkran said immigration agents generally needed a judicial warrant or other special authorization to conduct operations in locations like places of worship, schools and hospitals. “Now it’s go anywhere, any time,” she said. “Now they have broad authority to swoop in — they’ve made it very clear they’ll get every undocumented person.” The lawsuit outlined how some of the plaintiffs’ operations may be affected. Some, including the Union for Reform Judaism and the Mennonites, said many of their synagogues and churches host on-site foodbanks, meal programs, homeless shelters and other support services for illegal migrants who may now be fearful of participating. One plaintiff, the Latino Christian National Network, described the fear among migrants in the wake of the new Trump administration policy. “There is deep-seated fear and distrust of our government,” the network’s president, Rev. Carlos Malavé, a pastor of two churches in Virginia, told The Associated Press. “People fear going to the store, they are avoiding going to church. … The churches are increasingly doing online services because people fear for the well-being of their families.” One religious group that did not join the new lawsuit is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which leads the nation’s largest denomination, although it has criticized Trump’s mass deportation plan. On Tuesday, Pope Francis criticized the administration’s immigration policies, saying that the forceful removal of people because of their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and that doing so, he argued, “will end badly.” Many conservative faith leaders and legal experts across the country, however, share no concerns about immigration enforcement targeting places of worship to arrest migrants. “Places of worship are for worship and are not sanctuaries for illegal activity or for harboring people engaged in illegal activity,” Mat Staver, founder of the conservative Christian legal organization Liberty Counsel, told The Associated Press. “Fugitives or criminals are not immune from the law merely because they enter a
Ex-NY Giants player is helping deported migrants in Guatemala, blames Biden for the problem
EXCLUSIVE: Retired New York Giants safety Jack Brewer and his global ministry are on the ground in Guatemala City this week, helping officials receive migrant families deported from the U.S., providing food, support and prayer as they essentially start life anew. Brewer and his Jack Brewer Foundation have years of experience working in impoverished areas of the world like Haiti, Malawi and Central America, which Brewer said has allowed him to work closer than most and interact with the returning families. While it is President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan enforcing U.S. law and deporting illegal immigrants, Brewer said it is clear former President Joe Biden’s “broken” policies are truly to blame for the heartache and hardship. “Three years ago, I started to follow the fatherlessness crisis that is happening right here in Guatemala, where a lot of men were leaving their households and coming to Joe Biden’s open borders – and just seeing it literally devastate families.” CHARITY LEADERS SLAM BIDEN ADMIN RESPONSE TO US PLANES SHOT IN HAITI AMID CHAOS Brewer said Guatemala was losing much of its workforce and that a lot of those poor families trying to get to the U.S. actually did not know a “legal” immigration route existed, and they instead took the cartels and others at their word and paid thousands of dollars to be trafficked north. “They’ve been told by coyotes and different people that you can just come [to the U.S.], and if you come here, if you bring your child, they’ll just let you in,” Brewer said. “And so, you know, there’s a huge education gap there on the ground.” Brewer also met with Raul Berrios from CONAMIGUA – the National Council for Attention to Migrants of Guatemala – as well as Sergio Samuel Vela-Lopez, head of the Guatemala Penitentiary Department. Berrios, Lopez and others are trying to create an effective system for welcoming the migrants and processing those who are innocent families versus those who may have criminal records or other issues requiring government attention, according to Brewer. FORMER NFL SAFETY JACK BREWER TORCHES CA’S COSTLY REPARATIONS PUSH Many families returning to the capital city live hundreds of miles into the countryside and have no established way of getting there. Some buses, however, have been hired to take migrants closer to home, and Brewer visited one of them and spoke to its driver. “It’s really a unique perspective, I think, and just some of the things that we’ve witnessed since we’ve been here,” he said, adding stories ranged from familial hardships to reports that more than a dozen people have been burnt alive by Mexican cartels for failing to pay for passage. “It’s just pretty tough to see and witness and watch.” When a U.S. military plane arrived carrying migrants, Brewer was on the tarmac. HEGSETH, HOMAN TOUR BORDER “We were able to provide them with food and, most importantly, with Bibles, and we preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Brewer said the Guatemalan Migration Authority is focusing its efforts on children ages 8 and under. Many of these children have been “lied to,” Brewer said. “They’re told it’s their life’s mission to migrate to the U.S. illegally,” he said, recounting stories told by some returning migrants of children on the backs of cartel coyotes and others drowning in rivers. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris made her own trip to Guatemala City in March 2024, seeking to understand the “root causes” of illegal migration. “When you look at the root causes, we’re also looking at issues of corruption. Again, we’re looking at the issue of climate resiliency and then the concern about a lack of economic opportunity,” Harris said in 2021. Brewer rejected that Harris’ work made any difference, saying she and her then-boss’s policies “empowered human traffickers” and that half of Guatemala still lives in extreme poverty with little education. He said the former leadership at the State Department “misguided resources” through USAID, a practice that Trump is now aggressively cutting back on. “We need to first put our resources into addressing the issues that are fueling a multibillion-dollar human trafficking industry. Walls, deportations and enforcement are a must, but educating indigenous populations on the truths of coyotes will deliver a devastating blow to the modern human slave trade,” Brewer said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Guatemala is not enforcing their migration issue in the country. Haitians and Venezuelans are warned of the dangers of migrating, but there is no enforcement at the time.” “There needs to be arrest and enforcement, but they require resources. Guatemala prisons are already overcrowded, and they don’t have immigration beds available for enforcement,” added Brewer, who said he also visited those prisons and saw conditions for himself.
Federal agency in DOGE’s crosshairs played key role in Harris’ strategy to curb migrant crisis
When the Biden administration launched its strategy to tackle “root causes” of migration at the southern border during a time of rapidly rising and historic illegal immigration, the now-frozen United States Agency for International Development (USAID) played a significant role. During the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked with leading diplomacy in Latin America to tackle the root causes, identified as issues like gang violence, climate change and poverty. It consisted of both government initiatives and funding from private organizations. USAID, which was frozen in recent days over concerns about misspending, played a key role in the distribution of funds. While certain operations have been halted to get a full picture of USAID funding to the region, it is possible to get a glimpse of the help it provided. JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP FROM PLACING 2,200 USAID WORKERS ON LEAVE In 2021, the first year of the Biden administration, USAID announced Centroamérica Local, a 5-year, $300 million initiative that funded organizations in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to address the root causes of migration to the U.S. “Under this new initiative, Centroamérica Local, USAID intends to invest up to $300 million, subject to the availability of funds, toward engaging, strengthening, and funding local organizations to implement programs to advance sustainable and equitable economic growth, improve governance, fight corruption, protect human rights, improve citizen security, and combat sexual and gender-based violence,” USAID said in a statement at the time. “These programs are being carried out under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Root Causes Strategy and deliver on the Agency’s goal to foster greater engagement with local organizations and communities in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and advance stability in the region.” More was still to come. TOP DEM STRATEGISTS WARN USAID FUNDING FIGHT IS A ‘TRAP’ FOR THE PARTY In 2022, USAID announced programs in Central America to end gender-based violence, including a $6.5 million program in Guatemala and a $2.7 million program in Honduras. That built off a program announced in El Salvadaor. In March last year, Harris met with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and announced a planned investment of $135 million in USAID funding, alongside $170 million to aid development, economic health and security assistance. Included in the announcement was an expansion of the Central American Service Corps, which was created in 2022 at the Summit of Americas. The expanded program was funded by USAID and aimed to reach 2,800 people seen at most risk of migrating by engaging them with volunteer work, employment and training. Also announced for Guatemala was a USAID-implemented “Feed the Future” program to strengthen the capacity of research and education entities to scale agricultural technologies and to support research and education related to “climate smart” agriculture. USAID was also to implement a new “Guatemala Biodiversity Conservation” program to promote the conservation of biodiversity and strengthen protected areas and other areas of ecological importance. In September, USAID announced an additional $10.75 million in funding for Guatemala. USAID STAFFERS STUNNED, ANGERED BY TRUMP ADMIN’S DOGE SHUTDOWN OF $40B AGENCY That came after USAID invested over $153 million in Guatemala in 2023 to allegedly support the government in efforts to strengthen democracy and improve opportunities. According to a release, funded activities included “integrated rural and agricultural development, sustainable economic growth, support for the construction of climate-resilient infrastructure, and digital development and e-governance.” Harris was dogged by the “border czar” title throughout her unsuccessful presidential bid as she largely dropped the root causes emphasis and instead focused on the Biden administration’s efforts to secure the border. President Donald Trump’s administration has demonstrated a skepticism of the root causes strategy, both in its leaning in on border security and interior enforcement and also its moves to cut or freeze funding abroad. In his first week in office, Trump also rescinded Biden’s 2021 executive order creating a “comprehensive regional framework to address the causes of migration, to manage migration throughout North and Central America and to provide safe and orderly processing of asylum seekers at the United States border.” He also revoked an executive order to rebuild and enhance programs to resettle refugees and plan for “the impact of climate change on migration.”
New resistance battling Trump’s second term through onslaught of lawsuits taking aim at EOs
Dozens of activist and legal groups, elected officials, local jurisdictions and individuals have launched at least 49 lawsuits against the Trump administration since Jan. 20 in response to his more than 60 executive orders, as well as executive proclamations and memos, Fox News Digital found. Trump long has been a legal target, which hit a fever pitch during the 2024 election cycle when Trump faced four criminal indictments, including a criminal trial in Manhattan in the spring of 2024 when he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump has maintained his innocence in the four cases, pointing to them as evidence of lawfare at the hands of Democrats working against his political efforts. Upon Trump’s election win in November 2024, state attorneys general, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, publicly said they would ready legal battles against the Trump administration for actions they view as illegal or negatively impact residents. TRUMP HATING NY ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES VOWS WAR WITH PRESIDENT-ELECT IN DIVISIVE NEWS CONFERENCE “We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back,” James, who repeatedly has leveled suits against Trump, said following his win. “And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.” Just roughly three weeks back in the Oval Office, Trump’s administration has been hit with at least 49 lawsuits working to resist his policies. Fox News Digital compiled a list of the groups, state attorneys general, cities or states, and individuals who have launched lawsuits against the Trump administration’s executive actions. The list includes the various groups and individuals challenging the Trump administration in court, as well as the executive order or proclamation that sparked the suit. Amid the flurry of lawsuits against Trump and his administration, Democratic elected officials and government employees have spoken out against the orders and the Trump agenda overall. Democrats and government employees also have staged protests as the Department of Government Efficiency investigates various federal agencies as part of its mission to cut government overspending and weed out corruption and mismanagement of taxpayer funds. “That’s not acceptable,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., declared in January. “We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We’re going to fight it in the streets.” ‘LOSING THEIR MINDS’: DEM LAWMAKERS FACE BACKLASH FOR INVOKING ‘UNHINGED’ VIOLENT RHETORIC AGAINST MUSK “We will see you in the court, in Congress, in the streets,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at a rally outside the Treasury Department earlier in February. “We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es, and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said at the same rally. TRUMP 100% DISAGREES WITH FEDERAL JUDGE’S ‘CRAZY’ RULING BLOCKING DOGE FROM TREASURY SYSTEM Trump joined Fox News’ Bret Baier for an exclusive interview ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, where he was asked about a lawsuit filed by attorneys general to restrict DOGE and its chair, Elon Musk, from accessing the Treasury Department’s systems and a judge temporarily blocking the DOGE team from the data. “Nineteen states attorneys general filed a lawsuit, and early Saturday a judge agreed with them to restrict Elon Musk and his government efficiency team, DOGE, from accessing Treasury Department payment and data systems. They said there was a risk of ‘irreparable harm.’ What do you make of that?” Baier asked Trump in the interview clip. “And does that slow you down and what you want to do?” “No, I disagree with it 100%,” Trump said. “I think it’s crazy. And we have to solve the efficiency problem. We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse, all the things that have gone into the government. You take a look at the USAID, the kind of fraud in there.” “We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of money that’s going to places where it shouldn’t be going,” Trump said when asked about what DOGE has found while auditing federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud and corruption.
Oregon congresswoman determined to protect federal workers with Stop Musk Act
An Oregon congresswoman is determined to protect federal workers from possible retaliation by introducing new legislation that focuses on “federal workers who stand up against Elon Musk’s grotesque seizure of critical government agencies.” Representative Maxine Dexter has proposed the “Stop Musk Act” which states, “No Federal employee may be retaliated against, including any retaliation occurring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, for resisting, circumventing, or preventing Elon Musk or individuals he oversees from taking unlawful or unconstitutional actions relating to Federal agencies.” The bill addresses, what Dexter alleges, is Musk’s recent seizing of control of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s payment system, exposing Oregonian’s personal financial information, shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) putting the lives of millions of people at risk. PRESIDENT TRUMP PREDICTS ELON MUSK WILL FIND ‘HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS’ IN WASTE IN NEXT DOGE DIRECTIVES She alleges that the billionaire has “the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) undermining our work to combat the climate crisis. This is only the beginning. Under this legislation, federal employees who resist, circumvent, or prevent Musk’s takeover would be protected against any present or future retaliation for their efforts.” The bill comes as Musk, along with the Department of Government Efficiency, has forced leave of U.S. Agency for International Development staffers. “The world’s richest man should not have the power to unilaterally dismantle the federal government and the critical services it provides Oregonians. Federal employees are at the forefront of fighting Elon Musk’s power grab, and we must protect them. TRUMP DEFENDS MUSK’S DOGE AMID DEMS’ RESISTANCE EFFORTS | FOX NEWS VIDEO President Trump continues to defend DOGE’s work alongside Musk and has predicted that he will find billions in fraud and abuse. Meanwhile, his actions have been met with outrage from some Democrats. “I’m going to tell him very soon… to go check the Department of Education. He’s going to find the same thing. Then I’m going to go into the military. Let’s check the military. We’re going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse, and the people elected me on that.” Trump and Musk have asked federal workers to leave their jobs, and even offered a buyout to some, giving them the opportunity to quit and still get paid until Sept. 30. Dexter says she is concerned as thousands of federal workers in Oregon are voicing their opinions about cuts to federal agencies. “All week, I have heard from constituents who are demanding action. Let me be clear: we will use every legislative, judicial, and public pressure tactic to stop Musk’s takeover. This multi-front battle will be fought in the courts, the halls of Congress, and the public sphere. “We must stay loud. We must stand tight. We must press on.”
USAID inspector general fired days after publishing report critical of aid pause
The White House has fired the inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Fox News has learned. USAID Inspector General Paul Martin was fired Tuesday, though rather than coming from USAID acting administrator and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the firing reportedly came from the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. The dismissal comes days after the USAID inspector general published a report that was critical of the Trump administration’s pause on aid. It also comes a day after USAID warned that the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in humanitarian funds. DESIGNATED TERRORISTS, EXTREMIST GROUPS RAKED IN MILLIONS FROM USAID, MULTIYEAR STUDY REVEALS USAID is under fire from the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its chair, Elon Musk, investigate the agency’s spending practices and prepare to revamp and potentially shutter the agency. The agency announced on its website Feb. 4, that nearly all personnel would be placed on leave by Friday, making a few exceptions for those in roles related to “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.” Its overseas missions reportedly had also been told to shut down. USAID EMPLOYEE SAYS STAFFERS HID PRIDE FLAGS, ‘INCRIMINATING’ BOOKS WHEN DOGE ARRIVED Lawmakers, news outlets and think tanks have dug into past reports related to USAID spending amid the apparent dismantling of the agency, finding countless examples of money channeled to questionable organizations or programs, such as creating a version of “Sesame Street” in Iraq, or funding pottery classes in Morocco. This week, it was discovered that USAID provided millions of dollars in funding to extremist groups tied to designated terrorist organizations and their allies, according to a report published by Middle East Forum, a U.S. think tank. USAID was established in 1961 under the Kennedy administration, operating as an independent agency that works closely with the State Department to allocate civilian foreign aid. Under Rubio, the agency could be abolished after its reorganization over the coming days, he said in a letter to bipartisan lawmakers on Feb. 3. Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Homeland Security puts staff involved in ‘disinformation’ board on administrative leave, review coming
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Tuesday that some Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) employees who worked on “mis-, dis-, and malinformation” were put on administrative leave. In a statement to Scripps News, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote CISA needs to “refocus on its mission,” starting with election security. “The agency is undertaking an evaluation of how it has executed its election security mission with a particular focus on any work related to mis-, dis-, and malinformation,” according to the statement. SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘LACK OF LEADERSHIP’ IN BIDEN ADMIN’S HELENE RESPONSE: ‘ALARMED AND DISAPPOINTED’ As first reported by Fox News Digital, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified in April 2022 that the Department of Homeland Security was creating a “Disinformation Governance Board” to combat misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterm election. During an appearance before the House Appropriations Subcommittee, Mayorkas said a “Disinformation Governance Board” was created to address misinformation campaigns targeting minority communities. MAYORKAS RIPS ‘POLITICIZED’ ATMOSPHERE OVER FEMA DISASTER RESPONSE AMID GOP CRITICISM’ While the agency conducts the assessment, personnel who worked on the alleged “mis-, dis-, and malinformation,” as well as foreign influence operations and disinformation, will remain on administrative leave, according to the statement. The board was allegedly led by Undersecretary for Policy Rob Silvers, co-chair with principal deputy general counsel Jennifer Gaskill. Nina Jankowicz, who previously served as a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, reportedly served as executive director, Politico reported. Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.