‘Climate cult’ on notice as lawmakers push to let feds hop blue-state roadblocks to ‘US energy dominance’
EXCLUSIVE: The left-wing “climate cult,” as one lawmaker put it, will have fewer avenues to throw roadblocks in front of domestic energy production and President Donald Trump‘s efforts to obtain “American energy dominance” if a landmark effort between members of both the House and Senate is successful. “I am an energy guy from an energy-rich state,” West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice told Fox News Digital on Thursday before introducing a bill to prevent state governments less supportive than Charleston from getting in the way of the development, transmission and distribution of reliable energy sources. His House counterpart in the effort, Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., hails from such a place. Langworthy said that, in contrast to lawmakers in Justice’s state, New York Democrats have “waged an extremist crusade” against developing a crucial multi-state natural gas deposit ironically named for a town in the Empire State. The Energy Choice Act has drawn 37 co-sponsors across the House and Senate and gained backing from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who has been touring Alaska this week promoting similar energy development goals. WV LAWMAKER ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY THREATENING TO KILL ENTIRE REGION’S DELEGATION OVER CAUCUS BEEF The bill would prohibit state and local governments from placing restrictions on the connection, re-connection, modification, installation, transportation, distribution, or expansion of a source of energy that is sold in interstate commerce and/or is to be delivered to an end-user. Justice, when he served as governor, signed multiple bills boosting his state’s own renowned coal industry, including slashing severance taxes, and said the U.S. energy crisis is “too great” to allow the “luxury of picking the winners and losers.” “Americans ought to have the right to choose what is best for their energy needs.” Tens of thousands of square miles of the massive Marcellus Shale formation runs through New York, but development has been under a state-sanctioned ban for more than a decade. Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, meanwhile, continue to develop their major caches of Marcellus Shale gas, while the piece of the formation in the Maryland panhandle also remains off-limits. Those bans, according to Langworthy, have sent home energy costs “through the roof” in places like New York, which he said is “teetering on the edge of an energy crisis—all to satisfy the radical fantasies of the far-left climate cult.” “New York has been ground-zero for the Green New Deal, where common sense goes to die and working families get stuck with the bill,” said the lawmaker, a former NYSGOP chairman. FLASHBACK: JUSTICE IN THE SENATE – WV GOVERNOR VERY INTERESTED IN CHALLENGING JOE MANCHIN That disparity led him to draft the House version of the bill, hoping, in his words, to “restore sanity” to U.S. energy policy and give Americans the choice of affordable and reliable power. They should not be “forced into rolling blackouts to please eco-activists who don’t live in the real world,” he quipped. “I thank Senator Justice for introducing this bill in the Senate and urge its swift action.” Meanwhile, Justice’s state remains the second-largest coal producer in the nation, and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, also signed onto the bill. “America needs more energy, and our state and local governments shouldn’t discriminate against baseload energy generation that increases security, affordability, and creates good paying jobs across the country, simply because it doesn’t align with their political agendas,” she told Fox News Digital. Alabama’s Black Warrior Basin is another area of the country home to a vast coal power potential developed over several decades. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Gov. Kay Ivey in 2025 signed the Powering Growth Act seeking to streamline the permitting process in the Yellowhammer State, and Sen. Tommy Tuberville – who hopes to succeed the term-limited governor – is another top sponsor of the bill. “Energy security is national security,” Tuberville has said. “For four years, Joe Biden and woke Democrats took a sledgehammer to American energy production. We need to rein-in blue states who caved to the climate cult and imposed ridiculous regulations that are deeply unpopular with hardworking Americans,” he said.
Trump, China’s Xi invite each other on state visits amid trade fight, US president says
President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday in a lengthy call amid economic and national security friction regarding trade between Washington and Beijing. “I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal,” Trump said in a Thursday Truth Social post. “The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.” Trump said that the conversation focused “almost entirely” on trade, and that Xi invited the U.S. president and first lady Melania Trump to visit China. Trump also said he extended an invitation to Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan. Chinese media first reported the call between the two leaders Thursday, and claimed that the call occurred per Trump’s request. White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett had told ABC News Sunday that Trump was expected to talk with the Chinese president this week. The call comes nearly a week after Trump condemned China for violating an initial trade agreement that the U.S. and China hashed out in May, and a day after Trump said Xi was “extremely hard to make a deal with” in a Truth Social post. The negotiations led both countries to agree that the U.S. would ramp down its tariffs against Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, and China would cut its tariffs against U.S. imports from 125% to 10%. But Trump accused China on Friday of not holding up its end of the bargain, although he refrained from disclosing specifics. “The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US,” Trump said in a social media post Friday. “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” ‘NO REASON’ FOR NEW NUKES: TRUMP FLOATS DISARMAMENT TALKS WITH CHINA, RUSSIA U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday in an interview with CNBC that China had failed to lift its non-tariff barriers, as outlined in the deal. “The United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow-rolling their compliance which is completely unacceptable and has to be addressed,” Greer said Friday. Meanwhile, China pressed the U.S. to reverse course and urged the U.S. to address its own mistakes. “China once again urges the US to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva,” Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a Friday statement. Meanwhile, Trump’s invitation to Xi and Peng to visit the U.S. comes as Trump’s administration cracks down on student visa holders in the U.S. and as Trump has threatened to “aggressively” rescind student visas from those from China. TRUMP SIGNALS CHINA ‘VERY MUCH’ INTERESTED IN SECURING TRADE DEAL AHEAD OF SWITZERLAND NEGOTIATIONS
Trump touts ‘very positive’ breakthrough with Xi after slamming China for trade violation
President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday in a lengthy call amid economic and national security friction regarding trade between Washington and Beijing. “I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal,” Trump said in a Thursday Truth Social post. “The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.” Trump said the conversation focused “almost entirely” on trade, and that Xi invited the U.S. president and first lady Melania Trump to visit China. Trump also said he extended an invitation to Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan. Chinese media first reported the call between the two leaders Thursday, and claimed that the call occurred per Trump’s request. White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett had told ABC News Sunday that Trump was expected to talk with the Chinese president this week. The call comes nearly a week after Trump condemned China for violating an initial trade agreement that the U.S. and China hashed out in May, and a day after Trump said Xi was “extremely hard to make a deal with” in a Truth Social post. The negotiations led both countries to agree that the U.S. would ramp down its tariffs against Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, and China would cut its tariffs against U.S. imports from 125% to 10%. But Trump accused China on Friday of not holding up its end of the bargain, although he refrained from disclosing specifics. “The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US,” Trump said in a social media post Friday. “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” ‘NO REASON’ FOR NEW NUKES: TRUMP FLOATS DISARMAMENT TALKS WITH CHINA, RUSSIA U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday in an interview with CNBC that China had failed to lift its non-tariff barriers, as outlined in the deal. “The United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow-rolling their compliance, which is completely unacceptable and has to be addressed,” Greer said Friday. Meanwhile, China pressed the U.S. to reverse course and address its own mistakes. “China once again urges the US to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva,” Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a Friday statement. But Trump later indicated that the two leaders ironed out their differences. “We had a very good talk, and we’ve straightened out any complexity, and it’s very complex stuff, and we straightened it out,” Trump said Thursday during an Oval Office press briefing with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “I think we’re in very good shape with China and the trade deal,” Trump said. “We have a deal with China, as you know, but we were straightening out some of the points … I would say we have a deal, and we’re going to just make sure that everybody understands what the deal is.” Meanwhile, Trump’s invitation to Xi and Peng to visit the U.S. comes as Trump’s administration cracks down on student visa holders in the U.S. and as Trump has threatened to “aggressively” rescind visas of students from China. On Thursday, Trump appeared to take a softer approach though and said that he did want foreign students to come to the U.S. — he just wants them to undergo proper vetting. “We want to have foreign students, but we want them to be checked,” Trump said from the White House. TRUMP SIGNALS CHINA ‘VERY MUCH’ INTERESTED IN SECURING TRADE DEAL AHEAD OF SWITZERLAND NEGOTIATIONS
Supreme Court rules unanimously in favor of straight Ohio woman who claimed discrimination
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of an Ohio woman who claimed she was discriminated against for job promotions in favor of gay candidates on Thursday. The ruling, Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, finds that members of majority groups in protected classes do not need to meet a higher standard of evidence in order to establish discrimination. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the opinion of the court in the 9-0 decision. “The Sixth Circuit has implemented a rule that requires certain Title VII plaintiffs—those who are members of majority groups—to satisfy a heightened evidentiary standard,” Jackson wrote. “We conclude that Title VII does not impose such a heightened standard on majority group plaintiffs. Therefore, the judgment below is vacated.” The woman in the case, Marlean Ames, is a heterosexual woman who had worked for the Ohio Department of Youth Services since 2004. She argued she was discriminated against on the basis of her sexual orientation after she was passed over for a promotion in 2019 in favor of a lesbian woman, and was then later replaced in her own role by a gay man. SCOTUS TO HEAR STRAIGHT WOMAN’S DISCRIMINATION CASE THAT COULD RESHAPE EMPLOYMENT LAW “Ames was qualified, had been denied a promotion in favor of a gay candidate, and was later demoted in favor of another gay candidate—evidence that would ordinarily satisfy her prima facie burden—before it specifically faulted Ames for failing to make the ‘requisite showing of “background circumstances.”‘” Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Thursday’s ruling strikes down the Sixth Circuit Court’s “background circumstances” rule, which had required majority groups in protected classes to show special evidence of discrimination. Thursday’s order does not fully resolve the case in Ames’ favor, however. The court notes that Ohio had “alternative arguments” for why the Ohio government’s treatment of Ames was justified. The justices said they are not weighing in on those alternative arguments, merely striking down the “background circumstances” rule. “We granted review to consider the validity of the “background circumstances” rule, and we reject that rule for the reasons set forth above. We leave it to the courts below to address any of Ohio’s remaining arguments on remand,” Jackson wrote. Ames’ case was supported by the Justice Department, the American First Legal Foundation and the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund was among the major groups backing Ohio in the case.
Migrant deported to third country returned to US after Trump admin yields to judge’s order
A Guatemalan man who was deported to Mexico by the Trump administration was returned to the U.S. this week, his lawyers confirmed to Fox News on Thursday, marking the first known instance of the Trump administration complying with a judge’s orders to return an individual removed from the U.S. based on erroneous information. The individual, identified only as O.C.G, was returned to the U.S. via commercial flight, lawyers confirmed, after being deported to Mexico in March. The news comes one week after lawyers for the Justice Department told U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy that they were working to charter a plane to secure the return of the individual, identified only as O.C.G., to U.S. soil. Murphy had ruled that O.C.G., a Guatemalan migrant, had been deported to Mexico earlier this year without due process and despite his stated fears of persecution, and ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return. TRUMP FOE JUDGE BOASBERG RULES DEPORTED MIGRANTS CAN CHALLENGE REMOVALS, IN BLOW TO ADMIN Additionally, Murphy told laywers for the administration that O.C.G. had not been given the chance to contest his removal to a country where he could face threats of torture, a right afforded under U.S. and international law. O.C.G. was previously held for ransom and raped in Mexico but was not afforded the chance to assert those fears prior to his removal, Murphy noted in his order, citing submissions from O.C.G.’s attorneys. “In general, this case presents no special facts or legal circumstances, only the banal horror of a man being wrongfully loaded onto a bus and sent back to a country where he was allegedly just raped and kidnapped,” Murphy said earlier this month, noting that the removal process “lacked any semblance of due process.” US JUDGE ACCUSES TRUMP ADMIN OF ‘MANUFACTURING CHAOS’ IN SOUTH SUDAN DEPORTATIONS, ESCALATING FEUD “The return of O.C.G. poses a vanishingly small cost to make sure we can still claim to live up to that ideal,” Murphy said in his order. Lawyers for the Trump administration told the court last week that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations Phoenix Field Office made contact over the weekend with O.C.G.’s attorneys and are “currently working with ICE Air to bring O.C.G. back to the United States on an Air Charter Operations (ACO) flight return leg.” That appears to have happened, and O.C.G. was flown via commercial airline to the U.S. on Wednesday. The news comes amid a broader court fight centered on Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act – an 18th-century wartime law it invoked earlier this year to deport certain migrants more quickly. Many were sent to CECOT, El Salvador’s maximum-security prison. To date, the Trump administration has not complied with federal court orders to facilitate the return of those individuals to the U.S., even individuals who were deported in what the administration has acknowledged was an administrative error. Unlike the migrants at CECOT, however, O.C.G. had not been detained in Mexico. The Trump administration did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment. They did not immediately respond to questions about whether the administration plans to follow suit in other cases in which a federal judge ordered the administration to return an individual deemed to have been wrongfully deported. The news comes just hours after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to provide all migrants removed to CECOT under the Alien Enemies Act an opportunity to seek habeas relief to contest their removal, as well as the opportunity to challenge their alleged gang status, which was the basis for their removal under the law. WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS? Judge Boasberg also gave the Trump administration one week to submit to the court information explaining how it plans to facilitate the habeas relief to migrants currently being held at CECOT. That ruling is almost certain to provoke a high-stakes legal standoff with the administration, and comes as Trump officials have railed against Judge Boasberg and others who have ruled in ways seen as unfavorable to the administration as so-called “activist judges.” Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment earlier this year, prompting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare public statement of rebuke. “America’s asylum system was never intended to be used as a de facto amnesty program or a catch-all, get-out-of-deportation-free card,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement over the weekend.
Supreme Court rules Wisconsin unconstitutionally discriminated against Christian charity
The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a Wisconsin-based Catholic charity group in a case centered on unemployment tax credits for religious institutions – delivering a victory for faith-based institutions, who argued that the state’s decision had violated the religious clauses under the First Amendment. In a unanimous opinion, justices on the high court agreed that the state had engaged in an “unnecessary entanglement” in attempting to define whether religious groups should be entitled to an otherwise-available tax exemption based on the state’s criteria for religious behavior. “When the government distinguishes among religions based on theological differences in their provision of services, it imposes a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, writing for the majority. 100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT “Because Wisconsin has transgressed that principle without the tailoring necessary to survive such scrutiny, the judgment of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.” The decision could clear the way for more states to broaden their tax-exempt status for religious organizations, with ripple effects that could stretch far beyond Wisconsin. The Catholic Charities Bureau asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that had required them to pay Wisconsin’s unemployment tax, after the state determined the group’s activities were “primarily charitable and secular,” and therefore not subject to the exemptions. Lawyers for the Catholic Charities Bureau argued the ruling was an unconstitutional violation of religious freedoms and amounted to viewpoint-based discrimination, and argued that “gospel values and the moral teaching of the church.” SUPREME COURT RULES UNANIMOUSLY IN FAVOR OF STRAIGHT OHIO WOMAN WHO CLAIMED DISCRIMINATION The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the group must pay the tax since the nature of their work was primarily secular, since it was not “operated primarily for religious purposes,” and serves and employs non-Catholics. “There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one,” Sotomayor said on Thursday. “When the government distinguishes among religions based on theological differences in their provision of services, it imposes a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny.” The decision comes as the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has, in recent years, ruled in favor of religious institutions, including in cases like this one, which center on allowing taxpayer funds to be allocated to some religious organizations to provide “non-sectarian services.”
AOC backs rising progressive candidate in NYC Dem primary in push to defeat frontrunner Cuomo
Progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York is weighing in on New York City’s Democratic mayoral race, with a long-expected endorsement coming less than three weeks before the city’s June 24th primary. Ocasio-Cortez, the four-term lawmaker who represents a congressional district in the Bronx and Queens and New York City’s most prominent leader on the left, backed state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani for mayor on Thursday. “Assemblymember Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement to The New York Times, which was first to report the news. “In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that.” CUOMO DINGED BY FELLOW DEOMCRATS AT NYC MAYORAL PRIMARY DEBATE Mamdani has been rising in the most recent public opinion polls and is now a clear second to frontrunner and former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the latest surveys. With multiple progressive candidates in the primary race, the endorsement of Mamdani by Ocasio-Cortez is seen as a move to unite fractured progressive voters towards a single candidate in an attempt to block the more moderate Cuomo from returning to power. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING, ANALYSIS, AND OPINION ON ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ The now-35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez made history in 2018 with her defeat of a longtime House Democrat and then grabbed national attention in the ensuing years as the most-visible member of a small but growing group of younger, diverse, progressive House members known as “The Squad.” And her endorsement of Mamdani seems to fit her mold. The 33-year-old assembly member from Queens is a person of color and a democratic socialist who is originally from Uganda. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a once-in-a-generation leader who has led the fight for working people in Congress. In 2018, she shocked the world and transformed our politics,” Mamdani said in a social media post after news of the endorsement. And he predicted, “On June 24, with @AOC’s support and this movement behind us, we will do the same.” Mamdani says he wants to make riding on city buses free, freeze increases in rent on rent-stabilized apartments and open city-run grocery stores. He would pay for his platform by implementing a $10 billion tax hike on businesses and the ultra-wealthy. Four years ago, New York City’s progressives failed to unite behind a single candidate, which allowed now-Mayor Eric Adams, a moderate Democrat, to win the primary and eventually the general election. With his poll numbers plummeting, Adams announced in early April that he would run for re-election as an independent candidate rather than seek the Democratic Party nomination. Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement came nine days before early voting in the primary kicks off on June 14, and the morning after the first of two Democratic mayoral primary debates was held. Mamdani and many of his rivals for the nomination took aim at Cuomo during Wednesday night’s volatile debate. Cuomo pushed back at Mamdani, characterizing him as too far to the left and inexperienced. Cuomo, a former three-term governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals, is aiming for political redemption as he works to pull off a campaign comeback.
DHS says Democratic senator’s husband removed from Biden TSA watchlist despite flying with possible terrorist
The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday sounded the alarm on alleged Transportation Security Administration (TSA) “corruption,” accusing a longtime Democratic senator of lobbying the Biden administration to have her husband removed from a watchlist despite him allegedly flying with a “known or suspected terrorist.” New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s husband, William “Billy” Shaheen, “traveled with a known or suspected terrorist three times in a single year,” DHS said in a statement. The Trump administration on Wednesday cited evidence “detailing the politicization of TSA’s watchlisting program under the Biden administration.” DHS says that evidence includes discovered documents, correspondence and timelines that clearly highlight the Biden administration’s “inconsistent application of Silent Partners Quiet Skies and watchlisting programs, circumventing security policies to benefit politically aligned friends and family at the expense of the American people.” DHS claims Sen. Shaheen “directly lobbied” former TSA administrator David Pekoske. Pekoske afterward allegedly “gave repeated, explicit direction” to exclude the senator’s husband from the Silent Partner Quiet Skies list. Fox News Digital reached out to Sen. Shaheen’s office, but they did not immediately provide a response to the allegations. GABBARD SLAMS ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’ SURVEILLANCE AS EFFORT TO ‘INTIMIDATE’ HER FOLLOWING CRITICISM OF HARRIS “Pekoske granted Billy Shaheen a blanket Silent Partners Quiet Skies exemption despite Shaheen flying with a Known or Suspected Terrorist on three occasions,” DHS said Wednesday. “All the while, Tulsi Gabbard, and many other Americans, were placed on the Silent Partners’ Quiet Skies list with little to no visibility, awareness, explanation or oversight.” President Donald Trump tapped Gabbard as his director of national intelligence during his second term. The Trump administration claims Billy Shaheen “was hardly the only high-profile individual that was placed on this exclusion list,” which also allegedly included members of foreign royal families, political elites, professional athletes, and journalists. DHS said Billy Shaheen’s “blanket exemption has since been revoked.” “It is clear that this program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration – weaponized against its political foes and to benefit their well-heeled friends,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “This program should have been about the equal application of security, instead it was corrupted to be about political targeting. The Trump Administration will restore the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans, including aviation screening.” FEDERAL AIR MARSHALS SURVEILLED TRUMP CABINET MEMBER GABBARD IN 2024, RAND PAUL SAYS DHS said the program has for far too long “yielded little to no measurable security impact and lay at the expense of the American traveler.” According to DHS’s timeline of events, Billy Shaheen was a “TSA Random Selectee” on his flights from Boston Logan International Airport to Washington-Reagan International Airport and then from Washington Dulles International Airport back to Boston on July 20, 2023. “Billy Shaheen was flagged for the first time as Co-Traveler with a Known or Suspected Terrorist (KST),” DHS said. Shortly after his trip, Sen. Shaheen’s office “made an inquiry to TSA about the senator’s husband receiving enhanced screening on these two flights,” DHS said. He was flagged a second time as a co-traveler of a known or suspected terrorist again on Oct. 18, 2023, and Sen. Shaheen afterward met with Pekoske about her husband “being on a watchlist,” according to DHS. “TSA did not disclose any information on watchlisting,” DHS noted. On Oct. 20, 2023, Nancy Nykamp, then-assistant administrator for intelligence and analysis, approved Billy Shaheen to be added to the “Secure Flight Exclusion List.” That means he was “excluded from any future TSA Random Selectee designation, and Rules-based Selectee designation, such as Quiet Skies, Association Based Rule Selectee designation, or Silent Partner Selectee designation,” according to the Trump administration. Nykamp notably departed TSA in March 2025. DHS said TSA Legislative Affairs communicated with Nykamp on Oct. 24, 2023, and referred to the action taken to add Shaheen to the Secure Flight Exclusion List. Billy Shaheen stayed on the Secure Flight Exclusion List for 18 months until current TSA leadership removed him. Shaheen, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced in March that she is not seeking re-election in 2026, but her daughter, Stefany Shaheen, just last week announced that she’s running for a key House seat. Stefany Shaheen addressed the allegations against her father during a New Hampshire local radio interview Thursday. “It clearly had to be a misunderstanding,” Stefany Shaheen told WGIR. “My father is a patriot. Everyone who knows him knows how patriotic he is. He is a former Army captain, he was a U.S. Attorney, he’s been a judge for 17 years, he’s been a lawyer for his entire professional life, so there was clearly a misunderstanding here, and I think the question was just how to get to the bottom of how the misunderstanding started.” “I don’t think there was anything inappropriate here,” she added, again emphasizing that her father is a “longstanding lawyer” and a veteran. “There was certainly just an attempt to get to the bottom of where this misunderstanding started.”
NAACP handing out ‘justice’ awards to school board members who defy Trump’s anti-DEI rules: leaked video
FIRST ON FOX: A top NAACP official in Cleveland was captured on video explaining how her organization will be giving “justice” awards to school board members in the state who openly defy the Trump administration’s federal push to ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in schools. “We have some school board members all over the country, but especially in Ohio, we have school board members who understand what their job is and that’s to put students first and so some school board members in Ohio have defied that, what I call, an immoral suggestion from the president, to sign anti-DEI, anti Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion directives,” Meryl Johnson, NAACP Cleveland education committee chair, said during a Teach Truth Day of Action briefing earlier this month in Zoom footage obtained by Ohio.news. “And so at our Teach Truth Day of Action, we’re calling it a finding joy teach-in, we are going to be giving what we call Guardian of Justice Awards to school board members who stood up and said no, we’re not signing that. Who believe that their students are the most important thing and that they are going to look out for their students because that’s their job.” Several school districts in Ohio have joined districts across the country in signing a statement to the federal government stating that they are not complying with “illegal DEI practices,” Fox News Digital previously reported, likely assuring them they are not at risk of losing federal funding as part of President Donald Trump’s executive orders prohibiting DEI. Other districts have not and are being praised by the NAACP for that action. HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN TAX MONEY GOES TO CONTRACTS FOR DEI GROUPS, WATCHDOG FINDS: ‘TOTAL RACKET’ The NAACP will host, along with the Zinn Education Project, its Teach Truth Day of Action on June 7 and, as part of its promotion of the event, has advertised the award given to “Ohio school board members who refused to sign the anti-DEI pledge.” “So, I’m wearing the pin now,” Johnson said on the Zoom call. “I hope you can see it, it’s the Guardian of Justice award. We’re going to be giving awards to school board members along with a certificate. So long we have three districts that are going to be showing up, including Cincinnati, Shaker Heights school district, and the Cleveland Heights, University Heights district. They are going to come to our event on June 7, and we’re going to hold onto the awards and as we continue to hear from more school board members we will mail them their Guardian of Justice Awards and certificates.” “We want to encourage people, don’t be intimidated, don’t be afraid, okay? We have a democracy to protect and it’s our job to do that.” Fox News Digital reached out to the NAACP and Zinn Education Project for comment. “As a mother, an attorney, and Ohioan, I am appalled by this disturbing new video showing Meryl Johnson, a representative of the NAACP Cleveland, openly encouraging school board members to defy a binding executive order aimed at eliminating divisive DEI mandates from our classrooms,” attorney Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital. ‘LOVE BREAKING RULES’: RED STATE DEAN OUSTED AFTER ADMITTING ON HIDDEN CAM SHE WAS SECRETLY PUSHING DEI “This is not just reckless—it’s a direct attack on our children’s future.” The Trump Department of Education has warned state education departments in all 50 states that they must remove DEI policies or risk losing federal funding if not in compliance with Trump’s previous executive orders. In January, Trump issued the “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” executive order, which prohibits K-12 schools from teaching materials considered anti-American or promoting “gender ideology” and critical race theory. The order mandates that law enforcement investigate educational institutions suspected of promoting such content and criminally prosecute educators who assist in the social transition of minors. “Defying federal law puts critical funding—like Title I for disadvantaged students and IDEA for children with disabilities—at serious risk,” Cooke told Fox News Digital. “That money isn’t political, it’s essential. It keeps the lights on in struggling schools, pays for reading intervention, and supports the very students DEI ideologues claim to protect. Pulling that rug out just to virtue signal is sheer negligence in my book.” “This isn’t about equity—it’s about control. And playing politics with children’s education is a guaranteed path to generational failure. It’s time to hold every defiant district accountable: strip their funding, notify parents, and demand a return to academics—not activism—in our schools.”
Trump admin seeking to pull funding from local governments slapped with judge’s preliminary injunction
A federal judge in Washington state on Tuesday granted Denver and other local governments a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s threats to withhold federal funding for transportation programs. Denver and dozens of other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in May, claiming that the Trump administration’s threats to withhold an estimated $4 billion in critical federal grants exceed the Executive Branch’s authority and were thereby “unlawful and politically motivated funding conditions,” according to the injunction order. The judge ruled that the Trump administration likely violated the Separation of Powers doctrine, and that its threats to cut funding constitute harm. “It is this looming risk itself that is the injury, and one that Plaintiffs are already suffering,” the order stated. “Courts evaluating similar circumstances have recognized that this injury of acute budgetary uncertainty is irreparable.” FEDERAL APPEALS COURT THROWS ROADBLOCK AT TRUMP’S EDUCATION REFORM AGENDA The lawsuit was filed after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a memo in April that warned recipients of federal funding that they could lose grants if they did not adhere to the Trump administration’s stance on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Duffy’s memo further stated that failure to help enforce federal immigration policy could also lead to loss of funding. FEDERAL JUDGE RULES AGAINST TRUMP ORDER HALTING SEX CHANGE PROCEDURES IN PRISONS Denver Mayor Mike Johnston praised the judge’s decision on Wednesday. “Denver follows all laws — federal, state, and local — and it should not be so much to ask the White House to do the same,” Johnston said in a statement. “We appreciate the court’s swift and precise ruling protecting the federal funding that Denverites deserve.”