State Dept says DOGE’s changes will be permanent amid Musk’s departure
Elon Musk may no longer be the top dog at DOGE, but his reforms at the State Department will remain permanently in place, a senior agency official told Fox News Digital Thursday. As Musk’s 130-day mandate as a “special government employee” comes to an end, the billionaire entrepreneur announced his departure from DOGE in a post on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday night. During Musk’s time as the head of DOGE, he helped usher in big reforms at the State Department, which included an effective dismantlement of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), staff reductions, and the cancellation of various foreign aid programs due to lack of oversight, inefficiency, and other reasons. WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE AFTER ELON MUSK’S DEPARTURE? ‘ONLY JUST BEGUN’ The indication that Musk’s DOGE-related work at the State Department will continue was reinforced by a new reorganization effort at the Department of State announced by Secretary Marco Rubio on Thursday. The new reorganization plans are expected to cut or consolidate more than 300 of the State Department’s offices and bureaus as part of a massive overhaul aimed at streamlining the department, according to agency officials. The agency currently has about 700 offices, meaning the reorganization effort will slash, or join, more than 40% of its offices. “We have too many godd— offices,” a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital. “We’re trying to shrink offices rather than create them.” WHITE HOUSE DISCLOSES WHO WILL LEAD DOGE EFFORTS AFTER MUSK’S DEPARTURE The State Department submitted a notice to Congress Thursday disclosing plans for the reorganization overhaul, which senior State Department officials said will be the largest restructuring for the agency since the Cold War. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added Thursday that many DOGE employees will remain part of the Trump administration, despite Musk winding down his work. “Surely the mission of Doge will continue,” Leavitt told reporters Thursday. “Many Doge employees are now political employees.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP One of Musk’s DOGE associates, Jeremy Lewin, has recently been tapped for a top role within the State Department. In April, he was placed at State for a different role. For his part, Lewin, however, disputes that he ever did any direct work for Musk’s DOGE.
Conservative legal experts slam latest Mahmoud Khalil ruling
A federal district judge on Wednesday said that the Trump administration’s effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil may be unconstitutional, but some conservative legal experts are not buying it. Khalil is a pro-Palestine, anti-Israel activist who led protests at Columbia University. An immigration judge recently said he could be deported, but U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz for the District of New Jersey said that the order is likely to be dismissed as “unconstitutionally vague.” Still, Khalil will remain in custody. “The district court held what we already knew: Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio’s weaponization of immigration law to punish Mahmoud and others like him is likely unconstitutional,” lawyers for Khalil said after the judge’s ruling. FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS ATTEMPTED DEPORTATION OF ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL MAY BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL However, various conservative legal experts disagree with the judge. “A judge just handed Hamas a win on American soil. Mahmoud Khalil lied his way into our country, concealed ties to a foreign regime, and then led a pro-Hamas takeover at Columbia University. Now, a judicial activist wants to block his deportation? That’s not justice — it’s national suicide. President Trump has both the constitutional authority and the moral obligation to remove threats like Khalil,” Republican attorney Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital in a statement. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “The Supreme Court has made this power crystal clear. In Kleindienst v. Mandel (1972), the Court upheld the executive’s broad discretion in immigration matters. That authority was reaffirmed in Trump v. Hawaii (2018), where the Court ruled that the President has sweeping power to exclude noncitizens deemed detrimental to U.S. interests,” she continued. ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL’S FREE SPEECH LAWSUIT AGAINST US GOVERNMENT MUST BE HEARD: JUDGE “By declaring the Immigration and Nationality Act ‘unconstitutionally vague,’ Judge Farbiarz isn’t interpreting the law — he’s rewriting it. That violates the separation of powers and dangerously ties the hands of our Commander in Chief. Citizenship is a privilege — not a sanctuary for liars and Hamas sympathizers. I am confident this will be overturned on appeal,” Cooke added. Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said it is a “ridiculous, meritless claim by a rogue federal judge,” and said that even though Kahlil is a legal resident of the U.S., he can still face consequences. “Aliens have no constitutional right to be in the U.S. Moreover, under federal immigration law, 8 U.S.C. 1227, aliens like Khalil, including permanent resident aliens, can be removed if the alien ‘endorses or espouses terrorist activity’ or support ‘a terrorist organization.’ Khalil’s blatant support for Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, makes him immediately deportable. This is another biased, partisan judge refusing to abide by federal immigration law and interfering in the president’s constitutional and statutory authority,” he told Fox News Digital in a statement. LAWYERS FOR COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST MAHMOUD KHALIL BLAST RUBIO EVIDENCE LETTER: ‘TWO PAGES, THAT’S IT’ The White House also condemned the ruling, continuing its frequent clashes with federal judges over immigration policy. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Mahmoud Khalil was given the privilege of coming to America to study, but he squandered that opportunity by siding with Hamas terrorists and organizing protests that disrupted college classes and harassed Jewish-American students. Secretary of State Rubio has the right to revoke green cards or visas for any individuals who are adversarial to United States foreign policy and national security interests,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
FBI Director Patel says he’s had to divert resources to investigate ‘copycats’ of Comey ’86 47′ post
FBI Director Kash Patel said he has been forced to divert agents to investigate “copycats” of potential threats to President Donald Trump as a result of former FBI Director James Comey’s “86 47” social media post. Bureau officials told Fox News Digital it needs to be focused on “public safety, not cleaning up after political stunts.” Patel sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier and revealed that the FBI has had to investigate “copycats” because of Comey’s “beachside venture.” FORMER FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY MEETS WITH SECRET SERVICE AFTER CONTROVERSIAL ’86 47′ POST “Do you know how many agents I’ve had to take offline from chasing down child sex predators, fentanyl traffickers, terrorists because everywhere across this country, people are popping up on social media and think that a threat to the life of the president of the United States is a joke and they can do it because he did it?” Patel said. “That’s what I’m having to deal with every single day, and that’s what I’m having to pull my agents and analysts off because he thought it was funny to go out there and make a political statement,” he continued. An FBI official told Fox News Digital that they cannot disclose the number of “copycat” incidents due to ongoing investigations but described the number to Fox News Digital as “significant.” Comey met with Secret Service officials in Washington this month for an interview about his “86 47” Instagram post, two sources briefed on the meeting told Fox News. Comey is under investigation for the now-deleted Instagram post that showed seashells arranged on a beach to read “86 47.” “Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” he wrote along with the post. Some have interpreted the post to mean “86” – get rid of – “47,” or Donald Trump, the 47th president. TRUMP ADDRESSES COMEY’S ‘8647’ MESSAGE: ‘HE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT IT MEANT’ “What people need to understand is that every copycat threat forces the FBI to divert time, agents and resources; resources that should be spent saving lives and taking criminals and deadly drugs off our streets,” an FBI official told Fox News Digital. “This kind of chaos was normalized by someone who knows better, and the director reminds lawmakers, especially in places like California and New York that have defended Comey, that we should be focused on public safety, not cleaning up after political stunts.” Comey offered an explanation for the post after he received backlash on social media. “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message,” the subsequent post from Comey said. “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The president, in a separate May interview with Baier, didn’t accept Comey’s explanation. “He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant,” Trump told Baier. “If you’re the FBI director, and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination,’ and it says it loud and clear.”
Jill Biden should have to answer for ‘cover up’ of former president’s decline, White House says
Former first lady Jill Biden should have to answer for her role in the “cover up” of her husband and former President Joe Biden’s mental decline, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Multiple books published in 2025 have detailed the deterioration of Biden’s mental faculties while in the White House, including in the book “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” released May 20. “The former first lady should certainly speak up about what she saw in regard to her husband and when she saw it and what she knew, because I think anybody looking again at the videos and photo evidence of Joe Biden with your own eyes and a little bit of common sense can see this was a clear cover up,” Leavitt said. “And Joe, by, Jill Biden was certainly complicit in that cover up.” ‘THE KAMALA EXCUSE’: TENSIONS BETWEEN BIDEN AND HARRIS PLAGUED THEIR CAMPAIGNS, NEW BOOK REVEALS “There’s documentation, video evidence of her clearly shielding her husband away from the cameras that were just on ‘The View’ last week,” Leavitt told reporters Thursday. “She was saying, ‘Everything is fine.’ She’s still lying to the American people. She still thinks the American public are so stupid that they’re going to believe her lies. And frankly, it’s insulting and she needs to answer for it.” A spokesperson for Jill Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. “Original Sin,” authored by journalists Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios, includes stories about how former President Joe Biden struggled to handle fairly routine aspects of a campaign. For example, the book says his team attempted to film a campaign video for ads on television in a high school gym, and have people ask questions akin to a town hall meeting. BIDEN STRUGGLED TO FILM 2024 CAMPAIGN VIDEOS AMID DECLINING HEALTH, NEW BOOK CLAIMS: ‘THE MAN COULD NOT SPEAK’ “The campaign was trying to make it look like the president was out there taking off-the-cuff questions from voters in public,” the book said. “But the event was closed to reporters, and the campaign had the full list of questions that people would ask.” Even so, former President Joe Biden encountered so much “trouble” answering questions that his team decided to cut the footage. Some blamed the poor lighting in the gym, but the book said that others said the real problem remained with the former president. NEW BOOK REVEALS BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE WORRIED ABOUT HIS AGE YEARS BEFORE BOTCHED DEBATE PERFORMANCE Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s team has pushed back on the material in “Original Sin,” which chronicles the 2024 election cycle and how his team allegedly plotted a cover-up to hide just how severely his mental faculties had declined. “There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover-up or conspiracy,” a Biden spokesperson previously said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the President wasn’t otherwise engaged in the important matters of the Presidency. In fact, Joe Biden was an effective President who led our country with empathy and skill.”
DOGE staffing shakeup as Elon Musk hangs up his hat, White House confirms
A White House official confirmed to Fox News on Thursday that in addition to billionaire Elon Musk, multiple other staffers and special government employees from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are departing. Musk has been heading DOGE since President Donald Trump took office in January. The department was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget through efforts to slash spending, government programs and federal workforce. Musk announced his departure from DOGE late Wednesday. “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk said on X. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.” LESS THAN HALF OF DOGE-TERMINATED CONTRACTS CAN BE PUBLICLY TRACKED, ONLY ABOUT A QUARTER OF GRANTS: WATCHDOG Along with Musk, advisor Steve Davis, advisor and spokesperson Katie Miller, and attorney James Burnham are leaving their posts within DOGE, a White House spokesperson confirmed to Fox News. With Musk’s departure, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing Thursday that Trump and members of his Cabinet will now spearhead DOGE’s efforts. WHITE HOUSE DISCLOSES WHO WILL LEAD DOGE EFFORTS AFTER MUSK’S DEPARTURE “The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government,” Leavitt said. “The entire Cabinet understands the need to cut government waste, fraud and abuse,” she continued. “And each Cabinet secretary at their respective agencies is committed to that. That’s why they were working hand in hand with Elon Musk. And they’ll continue to work with their respective DOGE employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies. “So surely the mission of DOGE will continue, and many DOGE employees are now political appointees and employees of our government.” WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE AFTER ELON MUSK’S DEPARTURE? ‘ONLY JUST BEGUN’ While DOGE was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the budget, its efforts led to roughly $175 billion in savings due to asset sales, contract cancellations, fraud payment cuts and other ways to eliminate costs, according to an update on DOGE’s website. The savings translate to about $1,087 in savings per taxpayer, the website notes. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP A senior White House official told Fox News Digital previously that DOGE is now part of the “DNA” of the federal government, and it will continue to operate as it had under Musk. Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Murray and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
Trump ally announces record-shattering fundraising haul in bid for Alabama governor
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is showcasing his fundraising prowess as he launches his bid for Alabama governor. Tuberville’s gubernatorial campaign on Thursday announced that it raked in $2,064,723 in fundraising during the first 24 hours after the senator declared his candidacy, “far surpassing its initial goal and shattering the previous Alabama record.” The senator, a strong supporter and ally of President Donald Trump, is considered the frontrunner in the 2026 race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Kay Ivey in the Republican-dominated state. “There are two universal truths in the Yellowhammer state right now: Alabamians love President Trump and they want Coach Tuberville to be their next governor,” Jackie Curtiss Cox, fundraiser for Tuberville’s campaign, said. “I’ve never seen momentum like this in my more than 10 years in Alabama politics.” TOMMY TUBERVILLE MAKES A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT And Cox spotlighted that “these were not from PAC donations — every dollar came from small business owners, entrepreneurs, workers, and retirees.” This week’s announcement from Tuberville, a former longtime college football coach who spent 10 years as head coach at Auburn University in Alabama, ended months of speculation about his ambitions to run for governor in his home state. WHY TOMMY TUBERVILLE IS TAKING AIM AT MAINE’S GOVERNOR Tuberville, launched a campaign website that touts his “conservative Alabama values.” And in his first interview after launching his campaign, Tuberville said on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show” that “I’m doing this to help this country and the great state of Alabama. I’m a football coach. I’m a leader. I’m a builder. I’m a recruiter, and we’re going to grow Alabama.” TUBERVILLE SPOTLIGHTS TRUMP IN EFFORT TO SAVE COLLEGE SPORTS A source familiar told Fox News a couple of weeks ago that an endorsement from Trump would be a “done deal” if Tuberville decided to run for governor. And Tuberville, in his Fox News interview, said Trump was “fully supportive” of his gubernatorial run. He is also backed by the politically influential and deep-pocketed Club for Growth, a fiscal conservative group that takes sides in GOP primaries. Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, who had been expected to run to succeed Ivey, last week announced that he would not seek the office. Tuberville was first elected to the Senate in 2020, running as an outsider who was closely aligned with Trump. In the Republican primary, he topped former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a longtime senator from Alabama, before resigning in 2017 to serve as Trump’s attorney general. Tuberville went on to defeat incumbent Sen. Doug Jones, who was the first Democrat elected to the Senate in Alabama in decades. Tuberville’s move to run for governor sets up an open Senate seat in Alabama in next year’s midterm elections.
West Point decision to cut ‘duty, honor, country’ from mission statement under fire again
EXCLUSIVE: A United States Military Academy mission statement swap from “duty, honor, country” to “Army Values” is coming under fire again — this time by a conservative judicial and government watchdog group who claims the school engaged in a “cover up” scheme when it altered its mission statement in 2024 as part of an effort to advance a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda. On March 11, 2024, West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland publicly announced that West Point would update its mission and insert the term “Army Values” in lieu of “duty, honor, country.” Even so, Gilland stressed that “duty, honor, country” would remain West Point’s motto as it has been since 1898. Judicial Watch obtained documents via a Freedom of Information Act request seeking all emails regarding the removal of “duty, honor, country” from the mission statement between officials at West Point. HEGSETH QUIPS ‘99.9%’ OF DEI INITIATIVES ARE GONE FROM THE MILITARY UNDER TRUMP’S WATCH Among the documents Judicial Watch obtained is a document from Gilland detailing mission statement talking points for Founders Day speakers that was sent on March 23, 2024. The memo instructs speakers to “AVOID saying ‘removed,’ ‘replaced,’ ‘deleted’—just refer to the ‘updated mission statement and reinforce that the motto remains unchanged.’” The memo does not explicitly connect the mission statement change to any DEI initiatives. However, Judicial Watch argues that the talking points document it obtained implies DEI was a factor in the mission statement change because the document also contains an FAQ section that appears to downplay the role of DEI, claiming only five to eight students each year complete West Point’s Diversity and Inclusion Studies minor. “These records detail how the DEI agenda helped change the mission statement of West Point — and how leadership under the Biden administration tried to cover it up,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital. But in the memo outlining mission statement talking points, Gilland urged speakers to push back against the narrative that the mission statement change was done for political purposes. “EMPHASIZE the actual seven values as some in the audience don’t realize Army Values is a defined term and to counter the social media narrative that the Army Values change for political reasons. AVOID comparing DHC to AV—it’s not either/or,” the mission statement talking points document said. NAVAL ACADEMY CLOSING DEI OFFICES TO ALIGN WITH TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS: MEMO “AVOID the perception that the External Review Team was political or made the decision. The Academy selected them. They advised. Academy leadership made Decisions,” the document said. The term “Army Values” keeps “duty” and “honor” within its core set of values, but also includes the following: loyalty, respect, selfless service, integrity and personal courage. Gilland said in a statement announcing the change that “country” is reflected in the term “loyalty.” “The Army Values include Duty and Honor, and Country is reflected in Loyalty, bearing truth faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit, and other Soldiers,” Gilland said in an announcement about the mission statement change. Gilland also said that “duty, honor, country” is “foundational to the United States Military Academy’s culture and will always remain our motto.” An Army spokesperson directed Fox News Digital to Gilland’s original announcement where he wrote: “Our absolute focus on developing leaders of character ready to lead our Army’s Soldiers on increasingly lethal battlefields remains unchanged.” West Point is one of several U.S. military academies that trains students to become military officers. Meanwhile, West Point’s mission statement has been changed nine times in the past century, and the words “duty, honor, country” didn’t make it into West Point’s mission statement until 1998. As of March 2024, West Point’s mission statement is: “To build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and Nation.” WEST POINT DISBANDS GENDER-BASED, RACE CLUBS IN TRUMP’S DEI SWEEP West Point’s previous mission statement, first adopted in 2005, remained: “To educate, train and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.” West Point’s superintendent at the time, Lt. Gen. William Lennox, requested the change in 2005 and then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker approved the change. Meanwhile, Republicans have pushed to incorporate “duty, honor, country” back into the mission statement. For example, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spearheaded legislation in January to add the words back to the military academy’s mission statement. “For centuries, the United States Army has set the global standard for military excellence because its leaders embrace a lifetime of selfless service and embody the values of ‘Duty, Honor, Country.’ West Point’s removal of these core values from its mission statement risks eroding the foundation of American military leadership,” Cruz said in a statement in January.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Elon’s Exit
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… –Elon Musk criticism of Trump tax bill frustrates some Republicans: ‘No place in Congress’ -Rubio spearheads massive State Department reorganization set to eliminate, merge more than 300 offices -Federal judge says attempted deportation of anti-Israel ringleader Mahmoud Khalil may be unconstitutional Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk bid farewell to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a Wednesday night X post, ending his tenure as the face of the agency as it shifts to a new phase in President Donald Trump‘s second term. “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk said on X. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.” Musk has been the public face of DOGE since Trump signed an executive order establishing the office on Jan. 20. DOGE has since ripped through federal government agencies in a quest to identify and end government overspending, corruption and fraud…READ MORE BLUE AMBITIONS: 21 Democrats who may try to succeed Trump in the 2028 presidential election DEEP CUTS: Trump’s drastic NSC cuts spark debate: Does fighting the ‘Deep State’ put national security at risk? JUDICIAL PUSHBACK: Federal judge orders Trump admin to resume migrant ‘parole’ applications COURT WIN: Federal judge sides against copyright leader who claimed Trump was wrong to fire her ‘MOMENT MEANS A LOT’: Rapper thanks Trump for pardon on gun conviction SAVED BY THE PEN: Trump commutes sentence of major political donor in latest round of clemency ‘INFLECTION POINT’: Hamas faces ‘legitimacy crisis’ as desperate Gazans flock to US-backed aid centers ‘PATH’ FOR PEACE: Franklin Graham meets with Zelenskyy in Berlin, offers prayer amid escalating Russia-Ukraine war FIGHTING BACK: Former Navy Seal Jared Hudson mounts Senate bid to ‘crush the woke agenda’ as Tuberville seeks governorship UPPER BRACKET BOOST: Here are the changes to the SALT tax deduction in the ‘big, beautiful bill’ DOCTOR DEMOCRAT: Lindsey Graham draws Democratic Senate challenger who previously lost congressional race FUNDING FEUD: GOP rails against ‘blatantly false’ Dem claims about Medicaid reform in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ ‘POLITICAL SCANDAL’: GOP push for new House committee to probe Biden decline ‘cover-up’ gains steam CLOCK’S TICKING: 85-year-old longtime House Democrat facing primary challenger who’s making age the issue RED TAPE CUT: Supreme Court limits judges’ authority to block infrastructure projects over environmental concerns SPLASH SHOWDOWN: Riley Gaines challenges ex-ESPN host to race after he says she was a ‘worse swimmer’ than she is ‘MAGA stooge’ RACE HEATING UP: Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger releases first TV ad, slams ‘political nonsense’ ‘CRUSH THE WOKE AGENDA’: Former Navy Seal Jared Hudson mounts Senate bid to ‘crush the woke agenda’ as Tuberville seeks governorship FAITH-BASED LEARNING: Pro-life leader praises bill requiring Ten Commandments in Texas schools: ‘A step in the right direction’ Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
GOP lawmaker defends Trump tax bill to angry crowds at back-to-back town halls
An Iowa congresswoman touted her support for President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill in back-to-back town halls on Wednesday, even as members of the audience jeered and disrupted her speech. “They were booing when I was saying, you know, ‘We’re preserving tax cuts,’ and I can’t believe people would boo tax cuts for themselves,” Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “I think there are a number of people who just show up to these town halls who want to disrupt. They didn’t care what I had to say. They just want to boo and yell and be angry.” And there were a significant number of such people at both her town halls in Elkader and Decorah on Wednesday. SCOOP: HOUSE GOP MEMO HIGHLIGHTS REPUBLICAN WINS IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ At both events, Hinson touted her support for Trump and House Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill and promoted the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts. Both issues drew largely negative reactions from people there, save for some exceptions. At one point in the first town hall, a woman named Linda stood on behalf of another woman, Nicole, who was in a wheelchair and had “difficulty speaking.” Nicole, who relied on federal health and food programs, was concerned about any cuts to those programs making her life more difficult, Linda said. The crowd then cheered as Hinson pledged that Republicans were only reforming those programs, “so that people like you can continue to have access to the treatments and medications you need.” The goodwill was short-lived, however, when the next questioner accused Republicans of cutting university funding in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy – despite Hinson pointing out the bill does not change income tax brackets. MIKE JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP GET ‘BIG, ‘BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE “It’s an absolute crime,” the man shouted. The boos grew louder when Hinson accused top universities of “letting men play in girls’ sports.” People in the crowd could be heard screaming “stop it” and “stop spinning.” At her second town hall, the crowd jeered as Hinson emphasized her support for Trump. “The president is, I believe, fighting for you and fighting for me. I’m fighting alongside of him. I think God saved President Trump’s life in Butler,” Hinson said before briefly pausing as the boos swelled. “I think He saved his life in Butler, Pennsylvania for a reason. I think he is helping us to save this country,” she continued. Hinson was still unfazed by the protesters when she spoke with Fox News Digital the next day. “I did exactly what I said I was going to do,” Hinson said. “I feel good about what I was able to communicate and correct the record yesterday. And I will not only defend this agenda and answer any questions any day, any time of the week, but I think it is really important that I’m out there on offense, correcting the record.” The congresswoman said the disruptions grew so loud that it prompted a Vietnam War veteran to address her after one of the events and tell her, “I couldn’t hear over all that, and I think that’s a shame because I wanted to hear what you had to say.” “That’s really the disservice. Again, these people who their only intent is to disrupt, someone like that man who served our country, who wanted to come hear what I had to say, had trouble hearing me,” Hinson said. “People there want to be able to have civil discourse and ask the questions and hear my answers.”
Chicago mayor calls DOGE ‘an act of war,’ compares second Trump term to Third Reich
Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson laid into DOGE and President Donald Trump’s economic policies during his weekly press availability, drawing parallels between the Third Reich in Germany and the mogul’s second term. Johnson said the Windy City is the most “pro-worker” city in the U.S. but faces “hostility” from Washington: “The fact that the President of the United States of America is cutting off food supply and medicine to working people and families across this country — that is an act of war,” Johnson fumed. “And we’re going to need leaders who are prepared and willing to stand up for working people because this battle has reached our front doors all across America where people are struggling and suffering. And in order to alleviate that pain and discomfort, it’s going to require bold leadership. We can’t tippy toe.” PROPOSED CHICAGO POLICE RESOURCE CUTS COULD LAND CITY IN COURT, TOP OFFICIALS WARN Addressing a reporter who had asked how to work with the Trump administration for the benefit of the city from such an adversarial position, Johnson cited Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s State of the State address in February, which referenced how it “took the Nazi’s one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a Constitutional Republic.” “Governor Pritzker… offered up a warning,” Johnson said. “You have a president that is cutting off medicine and food, a president that is working to erase culture. I mean, you can’t make this up. He’s doing it in plain sight.” Pritzker had compared the rise of former German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to Trump’s popularity — in that the eventual national-socialist dictator was seen as the answer to “inflation and [the public] looking for someone to blame.” CHICAGO DEMOCRAT GOES OFF ON CITY’S HANDLING OF MIGRANT CRISIS In his remarks, Johnson noted how people have wondered how Germany could have descended into Nazism and anti-Semitism so quickly and dreadfully – saying that Trump is “carry[ing] out the playbook that was done against an entire people-group.” “He’s doing it right here in this country, against working people, erasing Black folks from museums and the history and the culture — So, when you ask how we balance that. You have to fight it and resist it with everything that’s in you.” “The President of the United States of America is capturing the hopes and aspirations of working people and holding us hostage as he works to implement and annihilate democracy,” he said, returning to comment on lawsuits the city has joined to halt DOGE-type efforts. Chicago is party to a lawsuit filed by several municipalities, including Baltimore, Santa Clara, and the county that encompasses Houston, which seeks to stop DOGE’s slashing of the federal bureaucracy. “Congress created these federal agencies. It funded them. But the president is trying to fire all these people and gut these agencies that Congress created,” Chicago Deputy Corporation Counsel Steve Kane told the city’s ABC affiliate, calling the situation unconstitutional. DOGE-driven cuts affecting the Windy City have included the Energy Department’s 2025 Small Business Expo originally pinned for June. The cut came as part of billions in spending reductions for cabinet agencies, and other closures of clean-energy-centric operations have affected the city, according to reports. Earlier in May, Chicago hired Ernst & Young – an international consulting firm – to find ways to bridge its own budget gaps, according to Bloomberg. The Trump administration has threatened to withhold funding from sanctuary cities, a definition within which Chicago falls. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP While city-specific data was not immediately available for DOGE-related cuts, the Trump administration saw the Department of Health & Human Services cut their regional office in Illinois, which served 28,000 low-income families. Efforts to consolidate federal real estate and office space affected America’s third-largest city as well: The Federal Transit Administration, SEC, Labor Relations Authority and Civil Corps of Engineers all saw their offices there shut down. A federally-owned art collection in Chicago also sees some of its staffing on the chopping block, according to Axios. Fox News’ Remy Numa and Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.