MAGA loyalists take aim at GOP senator as key Trump defense post sparks controversy: ‘Why the opposition?’
A key Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee is reportedly on the fence about one of President Donald Trump‘s Defense nominees over his stance on a nuclear Iran – a potential roadblock to his confirmation given the GOP’s slim Senate majority. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is reportedly hesitant about the nomination of former Defense official Elbridge Colby to serve as the under secretary of defense for policy, a key Defense post that remains unmanned amid the ongoing confirmation process. “Senator Cotton is focused on ensuring all defense nominees commit to supporting President Trump’s position that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon, and Cotton will be addressing this in meetings and hearings with the nominees,” a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital as they await Colby’s paperwork to proceed with the nomination process. Colby has previously suggested that the U.S. living with a nuclear Iran is more plausible than countering the country’s nuclear assets, a position that reportedly is causing concern from the key Senator whose support could determine his confirmation. MCCONNELL’S MENTAL ACUITY TARGETED BY TRUMP AFTER EX-SENATE LEADER JOINS DEMS AGAINST CABINET NOMINEES Cotton’s potential opposition to the Trump nominee sparked debate among prominent MAGA figures on social media. RUMP’S KEY TO CABINET CONFIRMATIONS: SENATE-TURNED-VP VANCE’S GIFT OF GAB “Why the opposition to Bridge? What does he think Bridge will do?” Elon Musk wrote in a post on X of reports that Cotton was not on board with the nomination. “The effort to undermine President Trump continues in the US Senate @SenTomCotton is working behind the scenes to stop Trump’s pick, Elbridge Colby, from getting confirmed at DOD,” Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, said on X. “Colby is one of the most important pieces to stop the Bush/Cheney cabal at DOD. Why is Tom Cotton doing this?” “Is Tom Cotton’s resistance to Bridge Colby more about IRI than anything else? As in maybe Cotton’s blocking Colby ain’t that principled. . .” American Majority CEO Ned Ryun posted on X. “Cotton has other problems that he doesn’t want exposed. He’ll support Colby,” former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn claimed on X. Vice President JD Vance expressed support for the Trump nominee, writing that “Bridge has consistently been correct about the big foreign policy debates of the last 20 years.” “He was critical of the Iraq War, which made him unemployable in the 2000s era conservative movement. He built a relationship with CNAS when it was one of the few institutions that would even hire a foreign policy realist,” Vance said. Colby, who worked in the Pentagon during Trump’s first term, has also received endorsements from other members of the Senate. “.@ElbridgeColby is a fighter who will execute President Trump’s mandate to end decades of DC foreign policy failures and stop forever wars abroad—The reason the establishment fears him is because he’s 100% aligned with Trump’s agenda,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wrote on X. “Senate Republicans should confirm him ASAP!” Colby’s Senate confirmation hearing remains unscheduled as the chamber works to confirm more of Trump’s cabinet nominees. Fox News Digital reached out to Colby for comment.
Circuit court puts final nail in the coffin for Biden’s $500M student loan forgiveness plan
The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals put a final end to former President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan on Tuesday. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey originally sued the Biden administration over its $500 million effort to wipe away student loans, known as the SAVE plan. The court’s Tuesday ruling found that Biden’s secretary of education had “gone well beyond this authority by designing a plan where loans are largely forgiven rather than repaid.” Bailey noted in a statement that the ruling has no active impact beyond blocking future presidents from attempting Biden’s maneuver. “Though Joe Biden is out of office, this precedent is imperative to ensuring a President cannot force working Americans to foot the bill for someone else’s Ivy League debt,” Bailey said in a statement. SENATE DEM IN KEY BATTLEGROUND RACE FLIP-FLOPPED ON STUDENT DEBT UNDER BIDEN: NO ‘MAGIC WAND’ The Supreme Court of the United States denied the Biden administration’s request to lift a block on the SAVE plan last year. A federal appeals court in Missouri had earlier blocked the entire SAVE program from being enforced while litigation over the merits continues in the lower courts. The Department of Justice, which is part of the Biden administration, most recently asked the high court for emergency relief. DEM STAFFER BLASTED FOR SPENDING HABITS AFTER GOING VIRAL FOR THANKING BIDEN FOR ERASING $8K STUDENT DEBT The Biden administration argued the court went too far when it issued a nationwide injunction, which effectively put a temporary freeze on the SAVE plan. FEDERAL COURT BACKS MISSOURI AG MOTION TO BLOCK BIDEN’S ‘ILLEGAL’ STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT PLAN “Our Administration will continue to aggressively defend the SAVE Plan – which has helped over 8 million borrowers access lower monthly payments, including 4.5 million borrowers who have had a zero dollar payment each month,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time. “And, we won’t stop fighting against Republican elected officials’ efforts to raise costs on millions of their own constituents’ student loan payments.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Biden introduced SAVE after the Supreme Court struck down his initial student loan forgiveness plan. The White House said that the SAVE plan could lower borrowers’ monthly payments to zero dollars, reduce monthly costs in half and save those who make payments at least $1,000 yearly. Additionally, borrowers with an original balance of $12,000 or less will receive forgiveness of any remaining balance after making 10 years of payments. Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Vice President JD Vance to speak at CPAC’s opening day
Vice President JD Vance is no stranger to the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, better known by its acronym CPAC. But on Thursday, at the opening session at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside the nation’s capital, Vance will address CPAC for the first time since his inauguration last month as vice president of the United States. Vance has been a regular at the conference in recent years, dating back to his successful 2022 campaign for the Senate in Ohio. And last October, as he crisscrossed the national campaign trail as Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, Vance also spoke at a CPAC-hosted townhall in battleground Arizona. WATCH: JD VANCE SITS DOWN WITH FOX BUSINESS’ MARIA BARTIROMO CPAC, which dates back to 1974, is the nation’s oldest and largest annual gathering of conservative leaders and activists. In the years since Trump first won the White House in 2016, it has been dominated by legions of MAGA loyalists and America First disciples who hold immense sway over the GOP. The vice president is expected to use his address to highlight and promote the avalanche of activity – both domestically and overseas – by the Trump-Vance administration during its first month in office. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS’ REPORTING, ANALYSIS, OPINION ON VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE Vance, who served two years in the Senate before being elected vice president, has been considered a key player in helping the GOP-controlled chamber confirm Trump’s Cabinet nominees at a brisk pace. And Vance made major headlines earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, when he used his first major speech as vice president to deliver a blistering address directed at Europe’s political class. Trump’s naming last summer of Vance – a former venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” before running for elective office – as his running was seen as a sign that the now 40-year-old politician was the heir apparent to Trump and his movement. Trump praised Vance in a recent interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on “Special Report” for “doing a fantastic job,” WATCH: VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE SITS DOWN WITH FOX NEWS’ BRET BAIER ON “SPECIAL REPORT” But asked by Baier if he viewed Vance as his successor and the Republican nominee in 2028, the term-limited Trump said, “No, but he’s very capable.” “It’s too early. We’re just starting,” Trump added. Questions about 2028 may be hanging over Vance at CPAC, which has long held a closely watched GOP presidential nomination straw poll. Vance, in an interview earlier this month with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” was asked about the next White House race. “We’ll see what happens come 2028, but the way I think about this is the best thing for my future is actually the best thing for the American people, which is that we do a really good job over the next three and a half years,” the vice president said. Vance noted that “we’ll cross that political bridge when we come to it. I’m not thinking about running for president. I’m thinking about doing a good job for the American people and I think the best way to do that is to make sure that President Trump is a success.”
Kathy Hochul does apparent about-face on natural gas as NYC utility signals major rate hikes
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has approved permits to expand capacity on a major bi-state pipeline despite years of pushing green policies like bans on natural gas use in new construction. The Hochul administration signed off on permits to expand capacity in the Iroquois Pipeline – a crucial 414-mile route from St. Lawrence County — near the border with Cornwall, Ontario, – running down the Adirondacks, through western Connecticut, under Long Island Sound and forking toward Commack, Long Island, or Hunts Point, Bronx. That move comes as the state Department of Environmental Conservation admitted the approvals are “inconsistent with” statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits imposed in recent years, according to the New York Post. Hochul said this week that just as she is trying to institute $500 “inflation refunds” for middle-to-low income families, that money is going “right out the door” to Consolidated Edison (ConED). REPUBLICANS RIP HOCHUL’S INFLATION REFUNDS: BRIBE TO MAKE NYERS LIKE HER ConEd, the main utility provider in New York City and Long Island, is planning to implement 11.5% increases in electric rates and 13% increases in gas rates – amounting to about $500 per year – unless the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) steps in, according to FOX-5. The PSC is already under pressure from Hochul to audit the salaries of ConED executives amid chatter about the rate hikes. Hochul’s actions come after years of crackdowns on fossil fuel production and consumption by New York Democrats. In 2019, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act from then-Sen. Todd Kaminsky, D-Long Beach, which moved the state away from fossil fuels and established a net-zero goal by 2040. Two years later, the state shuttered the massive Indian Point nuclear energy production facility on the Hudson River opposite Haverstraw. Cuomo said at the time that he had been concerned for years about the safety of the plant. “It does not belong on the Hudson River and in close proximity to the most densely populated area in the country… This is a victory for the health and safety of New Yorkers, and moves us a big step closer to reaching our aggressive clean energy goals.” Albany Democrats, led by Hochul, have since banned furnaces and gas heating in new construction. The governor also announced a “cap and invest” program to force Big Oil to invest in green energy by paying for emissions. According to the Post, a report from the PSC also indicated ConED and fellow utility National Grid were also “barely able to provide adequate [energy] supply” during a recent Arctic storm that brought temperatures near 0 degrees Fahrenheit to the Empire State. HOCHUL’S CHRISTMASTIME BOAST OF SAFER SUBWAYS CAME AMID STRING OF VIOLENT ATTACKS As for Hochul’s efforts to audit ConED, Republicans agreed the rate hikes are and have been outrageous, but that particular move would not help. “Natural gas is a proven, reliable source of energy and vital for consumers in the Northeast,” said State Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay. “The green dreams of environmental extremists are meaningless if people can’t heat their homes in mid-February. It’s incredible to see radical liberals protest a necessary measure that allows New Yorkers to stay warm in the winter. But reliability, affordability, and common sense have never been priorities of New York’s climate cult.” Additionally, the state’s natural-gas-rich Southern Tier – a 200-mile area roughly running from Jamestown to Hancock along the Pennsylvania border – has been affected by a statewide ban on fracking, which state lawmakers representing the area have fought yet-unsuccessfully to undo. This, even as communities just a few miles southward in Pennsylvania continue to extract natural gas from the same Marcellus Shale Range on their side of the line. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Hochul added to the ban by further prohibiting a new, safer form of fracking using carbon dioxide instead of liquids. While former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf enacted a moratorium on state parkland fracking, there has been no fracking activity to speak of along the NY-17 corridor for many years. After then-Gov. David Paterson announced the state’s original fracking moratorium in 2008 – later becoming an outright ban under Cuomo – some Southern Tier villages whose economies depended on energy production considered trying to “secede” to Pennsylvania. Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul and ConED for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
Red state lawmakers look to punish local governments defying Trump’s immigration crackdown
The Indiana House Judiciary Committee voted to advance a bill that gives the governor authority to punish local governments that fail to comply with federal immigration authorities. Indiana House Bill 1531, which allows local law enforcement agencies the ability to carry out federal immigration laws and threatens to withhold funding from local governments who fail to comply with federal immigration laws, passed through the committee on a party line vote after hours of tense testimony and now moves to the full House, according to a report from the Indy Star Monday. The bill would also allow the state’s attorney general to impose civil penalties if a local government agency fails to comply with a federal immigration detention request, requires state judges to report any non-U.S. citizen convicted of a crime to federal authorities, prohibits employers from recruiting or hiring illegal immigrants, and grants immunity to government bodies or employees for action taken on immigration detainer requests. RED STATE AG PROMISES LEGAL FIGHT WITH ICE-RESISTING LOCAL GOVERNMENTS “We’ve been doing as much as we can with existing authority under labor trafficking laws to go after this issue of illegal aliens being employed in the state,” Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Blake Lanning told the Indy Star. “But in many ways, Indiana law was not designed for this problem, to address this problem.” Lanning said the attorney general’s office worked closely with the state’s GOP legislature to craft the bill, which comes after Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita threatened to sue local jurisdictions who do not comply with federal immigration orders. “Now that’s a problem in Indiana, particularly because there’s an Indiana state statute that I enforce that says what you have got to give, whatever level of cooperation is allowed by federal law, you shall give it as a state or local law enforcement official,” Rokita told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday. “And, so, that’s what’s happening here. That defiance I need to look into now.” ‘CLAWED BACK’: DHS CHIEF NOEM SECURES EYE-POPPING SUM SENT TO NYC FOR MIGRANT HOTELS DOGE PUTS DEI ON CHOPPING BLOCK WITH TERMINATION OF OVER $370M IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRANTS The push comes as President Donald Trump has intensified efforts to both secure the border and deport immigrants already in the country illegally. However, some of those efforts have been hindered by so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, which ban local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Indiana’s legislation faces stiff opposition from Democrats and outside groups, who question the constitutionality of the bill. “This is unprecedented to have this many anti-immigrant bills in one legislative session for Indiana. So it really is kind of a race to be the most racist. Any argument against that is just disingenuous,” Carolina Castoreno, the co-founder of the Alliance for Latino Migrant Advocacy, told the Indy Star after testifying against the bill. “The rhetoric that they are continuing to use in these rooms — the mentioning of cartels, the mentioning of Hispanic men, talking about the Spanish speaking language,” Castoreno added. “They’re not talking about Ukrainian immigrants. They’re not talking about immigrants from any other part of the world, except for Latin America.” However, efforts to defeat the legislation face an uphill battle in Indiana, where Republicans enjoy supermajorities in both the state House of Representatives and Senate as well as control the governor’s office.
Ed Department cuts $600M in taxpayer-funded grants pushing ‘divisive ideologies’
The Department of Education (DOED) is pulling the plug on the use of taxpayer dollars to fund “divisive” and “inappropriate” training programs for educators, announcing hundreds of millions in cuts as the Trump administration cleans house on “wasteful” spending within the federal government. On Monday, the DOED announced the cancelation of $600 million dollars in grants funding programs that teach educators “divisive ideologies” such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the “instruction on White privilege and White supremacy.” The latest spending cut comes just days after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk to cut government spending, announced the slashing of over $370 million in DEI training programs from the Education Department. The grants that were terminated included funding for training programs “requiring practitioners to take personal and institutional responsibility for systemic inequities (e.g., racism) and critically reassess their own practices,” according to the DOED. DOGE PUTS DEI ON CHOPPING BLOCK WITH TERMINATION OF OVER $370M IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRANTS Also slashed in the cost-cutting sweep was funding to one program that provided “spaces for critical reflection to help educators confront biases and have transformative conversations about equity,” and another that worked on “building historical and sociopolitical understandings of race and racism to interrupt racial marginalization and oppression of students in planning, instruction, relationship building, discipline and assessment.” DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PROBING SOME VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS OVER GENDER IDENTITY POLICIES “Less money on DEI nonsense means more money to make sure teachers know how to teach students to read! #MakeAmericaLiterateAgain,” Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice said in a post on X. The move also received a thumbs up from Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, who expressed her support on social media. According to the DOED, many of the grants also included teacher and staff recruiting strategies that were “implicitly and explicitly based on race.” “The Department of Education has canceled $600 million in ‘teacher training grants,’ which do little more than promote left-wing race and gender ideologies,” Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said of the announcement. “It’s time to shut it all down.” President Donald Trump‘s administration has made axing DEI programs in education a focal point of their efforts to reform the department, ordering all 50 state education departments last week to remove DEI policies within 14 days or risk losing federal funding. The president has signaled his intention to eventually abolish the department during his term to allow individual states to make decisions about their own education departments.
DOGE team welcomed at the Pentagon but some remain skeptical
The Department of Defense has received a list of DOGE officials tasked with cutting 8% from next year’s budget. “We welcome DOGE to the Pentagon,” said Secretary Pete Hegseth. “And I hope to welcome Elon to the Pentagon very soon.” The Pentagon employs 3.7 million personnel with a budget exceeding $850 billion, but it has never passed an audit. Tara Dougherty, CEO of Govini, a defense software company, worked for three Defense secretaries going back to Robert Gates. She says the biggest savings will be found in overhauling the decades-old weapons acquisition process, which still uses manual spreadsheets and fax machines. ACTING HEAD OF SOCIAL SECURITY QUITS AFTER CLASH WITH DOGE OVER DATE “I would put a big red bull’s eye on the process by which we manage weapons systems and military platforms,” Dougherty said in an interview with Fox News. “The defense acquisition process is massively broken…. It’s too slow. I mean, the United States is issuing missile purchases through fax machines. It’s using spreadsheet sheets and data calls in order to get nuclear capable platforms off of production lines.” As a result, fifth-generation stealth fighter jets, the F-35, can’t get out of depot because they’re missing parts and the defense industrial base in the U.S. doesn’t produce what they need. The next generation intercontinental ballistic missile, a key part of the nuclear triad, is $35 billion over budget. And the cost of the B-21 nuclear bomber is rising and behind schedule. “A lot of the weapons systems and the ships, jets, tanks and other capabilities that the department relies on for the military have such complex supply chains that the Department of Defense doesn’t actually know where all of those parts are coming from. And because they’re using spreadsheets to manage the programs overall means they have no ability to see if there are foreign suppliers or in some cases, Chinese suppliers of critical components like microelectronics in our military systems. This is the kind of thing that Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Trump administration are saying, this is no longer acceptable, and that’s what they’re going to root out,” Dougherty said. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR SAYS PUTIN, ZELENSKYY AGREE ‘ONLY PRESIDENT TRUMP COULD GET THEM TO THE TABLE’ To get ahead of the DOGE team, the Navy is considering cutting its fleet of frigates, while the Army is looking for savings by eliminating outdated drones and surplus vehicles. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., says it is about time. “I, for one, as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, welcome, DOGE coming in to the Pentagon and helping us cut red tape, make the acquisition process more efficient and spend our dollars better,” Wicker said in an interview with Fox’s Maria Bartiromo. But not everyone is happy that DOGE is coming to the Pentagon, where there are many classified systems and a lot of secret information that U.S. adversaries would like to gain access to. “We’ve already seen that this DOGE, I call it the Department of Government inefficiencies, is causing a reign of terror chaos across the federal government,” Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., told CNN. “Just this week, they released classified information about a U.S. intelligence agency. They have access to the American people’s personal information, bank accounts and things like that that they’re frankly not entitled to. And so I have a major, major concern about them going into the Department of Defense and sitting around with, you know, the internal systems there and U.S. national security.” Concern that the DOGE team will move too fast at the expense of national security materialized after it purged 2,000 federal workers from the Department of Energy, including 350, many of whom oversaw the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Many of these federal workers were working at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, reassembling nuclear warheads, one of the most sensitive jobs that requires the highest level of security clearance. The administration did an about-face last week and quickly tried to locate and rehire the Department of Energy employees overseeing the nukes. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency announced the dismissal of over 1,000 employees, following DOGE guidance. Veterans Affairs employees joined Democratic lawmakers outside the D.C. headquarters to protest DOGE’s actions at the VA last week.
Leader behind migrant flight to Martha’s Vineyard tapped to head red state’s new immigration board
The man who helped organize a planeload of illegal immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard during the Biden administration has been tapped to lead Florida’s new immigration enforcement board. Larry Keefe, a longtime trial attorney who served previously as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s “public safety czar” since 2021, will have $250 million at his discretion to help bolster the state’s immigration enforcement efforts. Keefe was at the center of helping private contractor Vertol Systems Company earn a $1.5 million contract to fly dozens of mostly Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to the ritzy Massachusetts island in 2022. At the time, illegal crossings along the southern border were surging under the leadership of former President Joe Biden, with more than 2 million during FY 2022. TRUMP GREENLIGHTS SOME PRO-IMMIGRANT MOVES AMID BROADER ANTI-MIGRANT CRACKDOWN The new board that Keefe will be heading was created during a recent special legislative session, called by DeSantis last month, to advance efforts at implementing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. The group held an emergency meeting Monday, during which Attorney General James Uthmeier nominated Keefe to be the new board’s executive director just hours after being appointed himself by the governor. “For several years, I had the pleasure of working alongside [Keefe] when he was the state’s public safety czar. In that position, Larry worked with law enforcement all across the state to spearhead interdiction efforts. He also helped us with executive actions to collect data and better understand the real harms and taxes that the state faces as a result of an influx of illegal immigrants,” Uthmeier said at Monday’s meeting. “He also helped organize some relocation flights that I think some of you might have heard about, including one to Martha’s Vineyard.” Desantis said during Monday’s meeting that Keefe’s work on the migrant flights, in particular the one to Martha’s Vineyard, “changed the dynamic of the whole debate” from immigration simply being an issue for border states, to an issue for all states. TOP FEDERAL AGENCY EXPOSED FOR SPENDING BILLIONS ON MIGRANTS IN A SINGLE YEAR “They thought it was fine to have tens-of-thousands overrunning these border towns, but the minute you had 50 show up in Martha’s Vineyard, they had massive spasms about this. They called out the National Guard, they were doing a state of emergency,” Desantis said. “And then you started to see New York City and California and Chicago trips, and all of that I think helped bring this issue to a crescendo and resulted in the 2024 election.” Fox News Digital reached out to DeSantis’ office and was directed to his comments during the Monday meeting and on social media. DeSantis said Keefe “is a great public servant” and “will do a fantastic job” leading the state’s immigration enforcement.
Musk is not DOGE employee, has no more authority than other WH staff, new filing says
The Trump administration clarified in a late-night Monday court filing that Elon Musk is not a DOGE employee, and instead serves as a White House advisor, in a similar vein as former Biden advisor Anita Dunn. The filing comes after D.C. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan heard remarks in the case filed by 14 state attorneys general against Musk and the Trump administration. The states argue that Musk and the administration have engaged in illegal executive overreach. Chutkan expressed that she wasn’t convinced by the arguments on Monday after asking what harm the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) imposed, as well as whether any federal employee terminations took place at the end of last week. DOGE SAYS IT FOUND NEARLY UNTRACEABLE BUDGET LINE ITEM RESPONSIBLE FOR $4.7T IN PAYMENTS Following the remarks, Joshua Fisher, director of the Office of Administration, submitted a signed declaration clarifying that Musk “is an employee of the White House Office,” where he holds the position of “a non-career Special Government Employee.” “In that job, Mr. Musk is a Senior Adviser to the President,” Fisher wrote. “It is not uncommon for the President to have Senior Advisors who are SGEs.” Fisher compared Musk’s White House role to that of former top Biden advisor Anita Dunn. Dunn, who has longtime ties to former President Barack Obama, left the Biden White House in 2024 to join a top Democratic super PAC to support its efforts to elect Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 2024 election. DOGE’S ACCESS TO CRITICAL IRS SYSTEM CONTAINING TAXPAYER INFORMATION IS IMMINENT Dunn served as a political strategist and advisor to Biden on his 2020 campaign and in the White House. Fisher continued on to say that Musk “has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors” and, as such, has no “actual or formal authority” to make government decisions. “Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives,” Fisher wrote. Fisher clarified that DOGE is a separate entity from the White House, continuing on to state that Musk is “not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization.” OBAMA-APPOINTED JUDGE WHO BECAME TRUMP RIVAL DURING ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE OVERSEEING PIVOTAL DOGE HEARING At issue in the case are DOGE’s actions within seven federal agencies, the Office of Personnel Management and the Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce. The state AGs announced they were filing the suit last week, in which they are “challenging the unlawful delegation of executive power to Elon Musk,” according to a statement released at the time. “Empowering an unelected billionaire to access Americans’ private data, slash funding for federal student aid, stop payments to American farmers and dismantle protections for working families is not a sign of President Trump’s strength, but his weakness,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in the statement. Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, Anders Hagstrom, Bill Mears, and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
Elon Musk protests to target lawmakers, Tesla dealerships as progressives decry ‘extremist cuts’
A progressive activist group is urging liberals to take advantage of the House of Representatives’ current weeklong recess to stage demonstrations against Elon Musk across the country. Indivisible, an organization founded by former Democratic congressional staffers, published a “tool kit” with recommendations for protesting at town halls and lawmakers’ district offices. A section on how to “take the fight to Elon” includes steps for planning and executing a demonstration at Tesla dealerships, showrooms and factories. “Members of the House of Representatives will be back on your home turf from Friday, February 14th, through Sunday, February 23rd, and it’s our opportunity to remind them who they work for,” the group’s website states. “Fighting back against the Trump-Musk coup is going to take all of us.” BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS The House is currently out of session to mark Presidents Day this past Monday. These periods normally see lawmakers holding events with constituents or otherwise participating in their communities. Indivisible is urging progressives to take advantage of that time to protest across the U.S. “Recess is when Members of Congress go back home to host town halls, meet with constituents, and try to paint themselves as responsive to the people who elected them. It is also when MoCs think they can avoid public scrutiny—especially Republicans who want to dodge tough questions about their complicity in Trump and Musk’s coup,” the site said. “House Republicans use this time to meet with lobbyists and donors while hoping their constituents stay silent. House Democrats, meanwhile, need to hear from us to remind them that they have power—and that we expect them to use it to fight back.” SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN It comes amid widespread left-wing outrage over Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), at the direction of President Donald Trump, spearheading efforts to significantly crack down on the size and scope of various federal agencies. Democrats have also pushed back on Musk’s DOGE workers getting access to sensitive government-owned data despite a lack of clarity on how they were vetted. However, Republicans have met Musk’s work with enthusiasm, arguing that tough measures are needed to mitigate the effects of the U.S. national debt blowing past $36 trillion. “This recess, we’re making sure every single Republican feels the heat for their complicity and pays a political price for selling out their constituents,” the Indivisible website said. “At the same time, House Democrats have power—if they use it. But they need to be reminded. We need to show up for the ones fighting, celebrate their courage, and remind them to hold the line. We’ll push them to commit to voting NO on any budget that gives Musk and Trump control over our government’s spending or includes extremist cuts.” Under a section titled, “planning your Tesla town hall,” the group said, “To fight back, we have to meet Musk where he operates—across the country at Tesla showrooms, factories, and dealerships. A Tesla protest is a powerful way to expose his deep ties to the Trump coup and demand accountability.” At the same time, it urges activists to remain on public property and refrain from “business targeting.” “Indivisible is not advising and does not condone any actions that directly interfere with the daily operations or activities of any business or entity,” it said.