GOP talk on millionaire tax hike ‘makes no sense,’ Trump White House alum says
A former top aide in President Donald Trump’s first administration is arguing that Republicans raising taxes on wealthy Americans “makes no sense.” Marc Short, the former chief of staff to ex-Vice President Mike Pence, was an integral part of negotiations for Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). He also served in Trump’s first White House as director of legislative affairs from 2017 to 2018. “Raising taxes on America’s highest earners and biggest job creators makes no sense. I don’t understand why there are some inside the current administration who are pushing Congress to raise the top rate, because again, these are America’s job creators,” Short said. “So many small businesses file taxes as individuals. And so you’re actually going to be raising taxes on many small businesses, not just individuals.” SCOOP: REPUBLICANS DISCUSS DEFUNDING ‘BIG ABORTION’ LIKE PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN TRUMP AGENDA BILL Congressional Republicans are working on a massive piece of legislation that Trump has dubbed his “big, beautiful bill,” aimed at advancing his policies on tax, border security, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. The tax policy portion is expected to be the costliest, and House negotiators are working on identifying a number of areas to cut a total of at least $1.5 trillion to offset the new spending. A source familiar with Trump’s thinking told Fox News Digital he’s considering allowing the rate on individuals making $2.5 million or more to revert from 37% to the pre-2017 39.6%. It will help pay for massive middle- and working-class tax cuts as well as protect Medicaid, the source said. The TCJA lowered the tax rate for the top income bracket — currently $609,350 for single filers — to 37%, a cut that’s expiring at the end of this year. Creating a new, higher tax bracket for people earning significantly more than that would help pay for extending the 2017 tax cuts as well as implementing Trump’s new priorities: eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and retirees’ Social Security checks. But Short, who helped get the 2017 package passed, dismissed those new Trump priorities as short-sighted political sweeteners. “I feel like some of the administration’s new requirements are somewhat gimmicky. I’m not sure many Americans who earn their income based on tips are even paying taxes on those tips right now. And I think we should begin to extend that to say no tax on overtime,” he said. Short said those changes would create “a lot of additional hurdles for businesses to comply with.” “I think the no tax on Social Security, it seems like what we’re trying to do is different from 2017, when we passed the Tax Cuts and Job Act,” he said. “We tried to simplify the tax code, make it flatter and fair for all Americans, as opposed to creating carve-outs for certain constituencies.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response to Short’s remarks. MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE Some conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity are also wary of a potential tax hike for the wealthy. Richard Stern, director of the Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at the Heritage Foundation, said the group is opposed to efforts to raise tax rates to 40% or higher. “Congress needs to get its fiscal house in order, but it must do so by tightening its own belt, not by forcing American taxpayers to tighten theirs. A higher top tax rate would be counterproductive, discouraging hard work and entrepreneurship,” Stern said. Americans for Prosperity chief government affairs officer Brent Gardner said in a statement, “Raising taxes on any American should be completely off the table.”
UCLA medical school hit with class-action lawsuit for allegedly still using race-based admissions process
The University of California, Los Angeles, medical school was hit with a class-action lawsuit on Thursday for reportedly still employing a race-based admissions process despite a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that race-based programs for college admissions are unconstitutional, Fox News Digital has learned. “UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine has continually treated the Students for Fair Admissions ruling as a recommendation, rather than a binding law handed down by the highest court in the land,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chair of Do No Harm, told Fox News Digital. “Do No Harm is fighting for all the students who have been racially discriminated against by UCLA under the guise of political progress. All medical schools must abide by the law of the land and prioritize merit, not immutable characteristics, in admissions.” Do No Harm, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting against “radical progressive ideology” in the health industry, and nonprofit legal advocacy organization Students for Fair Admissions filed the class-action lawsuit Thursday afternoon on behalf of applicants who allegedly faced “intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process” at UCLA’s medical school, according to the lawsuit. WATCH: UNEARTHED FOOTAGE EXPOSES MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PLEDGING TO RESIST TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS “The numbers show that UCLA is engaged in intentional racial balancing. Between 2020 and 2023, the percentage of white and Asian applicants to Geffen was consistently around 73% of the total applicant pool. Yet, the percentage of matriculants to Geffen who are white and Asian plummeted: 65.7% in 2020, 57.1% in 2021, 57.8% in 2022, and 53.7% in 2023,” the lawsuit alleges. UCLA’s medical school is highly competitive with an acceptance rate of about 3.3%, according to U.S. News and World Report‘s college rankings. MORE THAN HALF OF AMERICAN HOSPITALS HAVE PLANS TO INCREASE RACIAL DIVERSITY AMONG LEADERSHIP, STUDY SAYS The suit names a bevy of defendants, ranging from the medical school to the governing board of the University of California’s college system to the associate dean of admissions at the medical school. Fox News Digital reached out to UCLA and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA on Thursday afternoon for comment on the lawsuit but did not immediately receive replies. The suit alleges that the medical school’s admissions process violates the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 2023 case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. The nation’s highest court ruled that it is unconstitutional to use race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions processes as it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. President Donald Trump additionally signed an executive order on Jan. 21, one day after his inauguration, that restored “merit-based opportunity” and charged federal agencies with enforcing civil rights laws and “combat” DEI practices. AG BONDI LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO DEI ADMISSIONS POLICIES AT STANFORD, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS The lawsuit alleges that whistleblowers “with first-hand knowledge” of the school’s dean of admissions rolled out an admissions process plan that requires Geffen “applicants to submit responses that are intended to allow the Committee to glean the applicant’s race, which the medical school later confirms via interviews.” The admission committee, according to the suit, additionally “routinely and openly discuss race (and racial proxies) and use race as a factor to make admission decisions.” LIBERAL IDEOLOGY ‘QUITE DANGEROUS’ IN HEALTH CARE, DO NO HARM FOUNDER SAYS: ‘POISONS THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’ The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is already facing investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services‘ Office for Civil Rights over allegations it discriminates against applicants on the basis of race, color or national origin. “This investigation reflects the Administration’s commitment to honor the hard work, excellence, and individual achievement of all students in the pipeline for the medical profession – not just those of particular racial backgrounds,” Anthony Archeval, acting director of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS, said in a press release in March announcing the investigation. The HHS investigation was sparked by multiple whistleblowers in the admissions office claiming that the school set lower standards for Black and Latino applicants compared to White and Asian counterparts, the Washington Free Beacon reported this month.
New pope is a ‘Cubs fan,’ says prominent Chicago priest
According to church leaders from the Archdiocese of Chicago, newly elected Pope Leo XIV, the first pope to hail from the United States, has a heart for the poor and is also a Cubs fan. Leo XIV’s election was announced to the entire world on Thursday, marking a historic moment in which a Chicago-born cardinal, Robert Francis Prevost, was chosen as the Catholic Church’s new leader. A member of the Augustinians, a religious order within the Catholic Church, the 69-year-old pontiff was born in Chicago, studied at Villanova University, was ordained a priest in 1982 and was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023. He had been serving as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. ROBERT PREVOST’S JOURNEY FROM CHICAGO TO BECOMING FIRST AMERICAN POPE AS LEO XIV The Chicago archdiocese celebrated the news of the pope’s election in a press conference on Thursday in which they shared some insight into what kind of leader Leo might be. Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Sullivan said that “Pope Francis was certainly someone who cared for those who are living on the fringes, who could easily be forgotten. And I strongly suspect that Pope Leo the 14th will do the same thing. He will give voice to the voiceless.” Sullivan said that Leo “brings a wide variety of perspectives,” including “what it means to have been born in Chicago, what it means to have been educated here in the United States, what it means to serve in Peru.” He said that Leo’s former leadership roles at the Vatican mean that he “has a real hands-on knowledge of what it means to serve the poor and to help those who are in need” and that he is “very familiar with the worldwide church.” TRUMP CONGRATULATES POPE LEO XIV, CALLS HIS ELECTION ‘A GREAT HONOR’ FOR THE UNITED STATES Sullivan went on to note that “the people of God are not confined to national boundaries” and that Leo “is not an American at this point. He’s a child of God, and that’s the way that he’s going to lead, taking all people into consideration.” Despite this, Father Gregory Sakowicz, rector of Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, said, “You can never deny your roots. So, I’m sure he has a love for Chicago, love for the United States. That’s part of his upbringing.” Smiling, Sakowicz said that “one burning question I have is the fact that the Pope, Leo the 14th, or the cardinal, then Robert Prevost, was born in Chicago on the South Side. Is he a Chicago White Sox fan?” Sakowicz said he did not know whether Leo was a White Sox fan but that he knows that “he’s a Cubs fan.” “I heard he’s a Cubs fan. Well, God bless him, and God bless all the fans,” said Sakowicz.
Reported Fetterman outburst at meeting reopens questions about Pennsylvania Dem’s fitness for office
An alleged outburst by Sen. John Fetterman is reopening concerns about whether the Pennsylvania Democrat is still fit for office after suffering a stroke several years ago. Fetterman, a 55-year-old Democrat perhaps best known for his distinctive habit of almost always wearing gym shorts and a hoodie, suffered a stroke in 2022 and was later admitted to Walter Reed Hospital for depression for six weeks shortly after taking office. The Associated Press reported this week that during a meeting with teachers’ union members from his state, Fetterman became agitated, began repeating himself, shouting and yelling: “Everybody is mad at me” and “Why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do?” He also reportedly slammed his hands on a desk during the outburst. The outlet reported that Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) President Aaron Chapin was present at the meeting. Neither PSEA nor Chapin responded to Fox News Digital’s request to confirm or deny the incident. FETTERMAN SLAMS ‘DUMB HIT PIECE’ ABOUT HEALTH, SAYS IT FELT LIKE BEING ‘IN GOODFELLAS’ According to the AP, an aide cut off the meeting, ushered the visitors out and proceeded to break down crying. The outburst came shortly before New York Magazine published a story detailing concerns about his mental health from several current and former staffers. The magazine reported that staffers “paint a picture of an erratic senator who has become almost impossible to work for and whose mental-health situation is more serious and complicated than previously reported.” The article extensively cites testimony from Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s former chief of staff, who voiced a plethora of concerning behavior, including “conspiratorial thinking; megalomania” and “high highs and low lows; long, rambling, repetitive and self centered monologues; lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious to everyone in the room.” The article’s author went on to state that many of the staffers are not only worried about his fitness as a senator but also that “he may present a risk to the Democratic Party and maybe even to himself.” LIBERALS WHO RALLIED BEHIND FETTERMAN POST-STROKE IN 2022 TURN ON PRO-ISRAEL SENATOR AFTER NY MAGAZINE REPORT In response to the AP report, Fetterman’s office sent Fox News Digital several comments from the senator in which he neither confirmed nor denied the outburst but instead, said: “Here’s what is true: We had a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration’s cuts to our education system.” The senator said: “As a proud product of PSEA, I will always support our teachers, and I will always reject anyone’s attempt to turn Pennsylvania’s public schools into a voucher program.” In reference to the New York Magazine article, Fetterman dismissed the concerns as “just disgruntled former staffers peddling lies and half-truths under the guise of ‘concern.’” BILL MAHER SAYS WOKE REALITY TV MOMENT EXPLAINS HOW DEMOCRATIC PARTY WILL BLOW NEXT ELECTION Fetterman said that “if those were genuine concerns, they’d pick up the phone and call me, not the press,” adding, “My ACTUAL doctors and my family affirmed that I’m very well.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The senator has previously labeled the magazine’s report “a dumb hit piece,” saying: “We’ve all moved on.”
Trump congratulates Pope Leo XIV, calls his election ‘a great honor’ for the United States
President Donald Trump congratulated the new Pope Leo XIV after he was selected Thursday, noting it is “a great honor” for the United States that an American-born cardinal was selected to be Francis’ successor. “Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform shortly after white smoke emerged from the Vatican indicating the conclave had come to a decision on who will lead the Catholic Church. “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!” PAPAL CONCLAVE: EVENTUAL NEW POPE’S CHOSEN NAME MAY SIGNAL WHAT’S AHEAD Trump added to reporters at the White House that he was “a little bit surprised” by the selection of Cardinal Prevost, but reiterated multiple times what an honor the selection was for America. “What greater honor could there be?” Trump posited to reporters. He also told them that the administration has already been in touch with the Vatican and expects to have the president visit the new pope in the future. It was not made clear how soon that meeting might take place. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, also congratulated the new pope on his selection Thursday. NY BISHOP SAYS POPE LEO XIV’S BACKGROUND WILL BE ‘INCREDIBLY BENEFICIAL’ “Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election!” Vance said on X. “I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!” Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago and prior to his papal appointment he served as the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, which advises the pope on bishop appointments across the globe. In addition to Prevost, New York City Cardinal Timothy Dolan was also floated as a potential successor to Francis. In his first address, Pope Leo XIV called on Catholics to live as missionaries and stressed that he hopes to be a builder of peace during his papacy. The new pope also asked Catholics to assist him in bringing peace to “all peoples,” and participating in dialogue and “building bridges.”
Acting FEMA administrator out after pushing back against Trump agency plans
The acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is no longer with the agency – just a day after telling lawmakers that cutting FEMA, as President Donald Trump has proposed, is a bad move. Cameron Hamilton, who previously served as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy with SEAL Team 8, has led FEMA since January. “Effective today, David Richardson is now serving as the Senior Official Performing the duties of the FEMA Administrator,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a Thursday email to Fox News Digital. “Cameron Hamilton is no longer serving in this capacity.” ‘FEMA IS NOT GOOD’: TRUMP ANNOUNCES AGENCY OVERHAUL DURING VISIT TO NORTH CAROLINA Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Troy Edgar and Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski requested Hamilton appear at Homeland Security headquarters Thursday morning and informed him of his ouster, Politico reported. While Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have voiced support for eradicating FEMA, Hamilton cautioned Wednesday against eliminating the agency. “I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton told lawmakers on the House Committee on Appropriations. Days after his inauguration in January, Trump visited North Carolina to oversee the state’s efforts to recover from Hurricane Helene, more than 120 days after the storm struck the state. On the trip, Trump floated plans to gut FEMA, which oversaw the disaster relief efforts. “I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina. “I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.”
GOP senators: Congress should vote on Trump’s potential Iran nuclear deal
A pair of hawkish, Trump-supporting Senate Republicans say that any “lasting” Iran nuclear deal would need to be approved by Congress, ideally through a two-thirds majority treaty vote. But scoring a two-thirds majority in the Senate for treaty ratification would require Iran to fulfill a series of steep demands. In addition to getting rid of all of its enriched uranium and centrifuges, GOP lawmakers say it would need to dismantle its ballistic missile program and cease all support for terrorist groups across the Middle East. “If they want the most durable and lasting kind of deal, then they want to bring it to the Senate and have it voted on as a treaty,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in response to a question from Fox News Digital. “That was one reason why President Obama’s deal was so weak,” Cotton went on. “An agreement between the American president, whoever he or she may be, and a foreign leader, can be reversed by future presidents, which President Trump rightly did seven years ago today.” TRUMP TARGETS IRANIAN OIL WITH SANCTIONS, INCREASING PRESSURE ON ISLAMIC REPUBLIC TO MAKE DEAL ON NUKES In 2015, Cotton led an open letter signed by Senate Republicans to Iranian leaders warning that any nuclear agreement not approved by Congress could be undone by a future administration. The move was widely viewed as a direct effort to undermine President Barack Obama’s ongoing negotiations. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., echoed the call for congressional oversight, saying that “at a minimum” any deal must go through the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA), which passed Congress in 2015 with resounding bipartisan support and guarantees lawmakers a chance to review any accord reached with Tehran. Graham said he had told Secretary of State Marco Rubio there was “no way” to get 67 votes to ratify a treaty agreement without Iran totally dismantling its nuclear and missile programs and support for terrorism. WHITE HOUSE CALLS YEMEN CEASEFIRE A ‘WIN’ – EXPERTS WARN HOUTHIS MAY NOT HOLD THE LINE The senators also drew a parallel with the so-called 123 agreements – the legal frameworks that govern U.S. civil nuclear cooperation with foreign nations. These agreements require strict safeguards to prevent the development of nuclear weapons. “It’s also customary in some cases for the Congress, not just the Senate, to pass ordinary legislation that supports the so-called 123 agreements,” Cotton noted, suggesting that any comprehensive deal with Iran should be treated with similar legislative rigor. Cotton and Graham spoke to reporters after introducing a resolution outlining “acceptable” terms of an Iran deal, including total cessation of uranium enrichment. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has amassed enough highly enriched uranium to potentially build several nuclear weapons if it chose to do so – though U.S. intelligence assessments maintain that Tehran has not yet made a decision to weaponize. Both U.S. and Israeli officials have ramped up their threats against the regime. Trump has made clear that if talks go south, the U.S. will engage in direct military action to thwart Iran’s nuclear program. Graham suggested the regime only has “weeks” to acquiesce to a deal. “We’re not talking about long, protracted negotiations,” the South Carolina Republican said. “We’re talking weeks, not months, not years. The potential of Iranian breakout looms large here. Israel’s desire to bring closure to this issue looms large here.”
Chief Justice Roberts doubles down on defense of courts as SCOTUS gears up to hear key Trump cases
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts used a public appearance Wednesday to stress the importance of an independent judiciary, doubling down on defense of the courts under fire by President Donald Trump and his allies, who have accused so-called “activist judges” of overstepping their bounds. Asked during a fireside chat event in Buffalo, New York, about judicial independence, Roberts responded in no uncertain terms that the role of the federal courts is to “decide cases, but in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or the executive.” That role, he added, “does require a degree of independence.” BOASBERG GRILLS DOJ OVER REMARKS FROM TRUMP AND NOEM, FLOATS MOVING MIGRANTS TO GITMO IN ACTION-PACKED HEARING Roberts’ remarks are not new. But they come as Trump and his allies have railed against federal judges who have paused or halted key parts of the president’s agenda. (Some of the rulings they’ve taken issue with came from judges appointed by Trump in his first term.) The Supreme Court is slated to hear a number of high-profile cases and emergency appeals filed by the Trump administration in the next few months, cases that are all but certain to keep the high court in the spotlight for the foreseeable future. Among them are Trump’s executive orders banning transgender service members from serving in the U.S. military, restoring fired federal employees to their jobs and a case about whether children whose parents illegally entered the U.S. and were born here should be granted citizenship. Oral arguments for that last case kick off next week. TRUMP-ALIGNED GROUP SUES CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS IN EFFORT TO RESTRICT POWER OF THE COURTS Just hours before Roberts spoke to U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo, a high-stakes hearing played out in federal court in Washington, D.C. There, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg spent more than an hour grilling Justice Department lawyers about their use of the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport hundreds of migrants to El Salvador earlier this year. Boasberg’s March 15 order that temporarily blocked Trump’s use of the law to send migrants to a Salvadoran prison sparked ire from the White House and in Congress, where some Trump allies had previously floated calls for impeachment. Roberts, who put out a rare public statement at the time rebuking calls to impeach Boasberg or any federal judges, doubled down on that in Wednesday’s remarks. “Impeachment is not how you register disagreement with a decision,” Roberts said, adding that he had already spoken about that in his earlier statement. In the statement, sent by Roberts shortly after Trump floated the idea of impeaching Boasberg, said that “for more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” he said. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” he said in the statement.
Trump considers tax hike on Americans making $2.5 million or more per year
President Donald Trump is considering a small tax increase for wealthy Americans to help pay for his priorities to boost the middle and working classes. A source familiar with Trump’s thinking told Fox News Digital that Trump is considering allowing the rate on individuals making $2.5 million or more to increase by 2.6%, from 37% to 39.6%. He quietly pushed Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on the idea in a phone call on Wednesday, two people familiar with conversations told Fox News Digital. It comes as Republicans work on a massive piece of legislation advancing Trump’s priorities on taxes, border security, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt, which the president has dubbed his “big, beautiful bill.” MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE Differing projections show the bill is likely to add trillions of dollars to the country’s deficit over the next 10 years, so fiscal hawks are looking for ways to mitigate that and set up America for a less bloated government down the line by pairing the new priorities with deep spending cuts elsewhere. The tax portion of the bill is expected to be the costliest portion. Republicans are hoping to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as well as pay for newer Trump priorities like eliminating taxes on tips, overtime wages and retirees’ Social Security. TCJA previously lowered taxes for the highest bracket from 39.6% to 37%, but that’s set to expire at the end of 2025. Trump wants to restore that top bracket, albeit for people making significantly more money than the current threshold. The current top tax bracket is $609,350 for single income earners. The source familiar with Trump’s thinking said doing so would help pay for his “massive” tax cuts for the middle and working classes, as well as protect Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans. Punchbowl News first reported details of the Trump-Johnson phone call. BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY It’s not clear yet what Republicans will decide, or even if they will ultimately decide to raise taxes on the highest earners – but details are expected to emerge in the coming days. The Ways & Means Committee, the House’s tax-writing panel, is expected to meet on Tuesday afternoon to advance that portion of Trump’s bill. Talks about potential tax hikes on the wealthy have triggered a deep rift within the Republican Party. Mainstream conservatives have balked at discussions of raising rates on anyone, arguing it would have a negative impact on job creators, while populist and more moderate Republicans have floated such ideas in order to pay for Trump’s priorities to benefit the middle and working classes. “Raising taxes on America’s highest earners and biggest job creators makes no sense,” Marc Short, a former chief of staff to ex-Vice President Mike Pence and a key part of TCJA negotiations, told Fox News Digital. “I don’t understand why there are some inside the current administration who are pushing Congress to raise the top rate, because again, these are America’s job creators.” Other Republicans told Fox News Digital in recent weeks that they believe the idea could be popular, however. “I’m open-minded to what the president or the treasury secretary may have in mind. And I would want to see some numbers behind it and how it would have an effect on the economy,” conservative Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital in late April. “What I’ve heard from people in the upper tax brackets is, you know, they’re willing to pay more as long as they know that it’s paying the debt down. They don’t want to see it go toward more spending.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Johnson’s office for comment.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers ask for more Trump admin officials to testify, possibly from White House
The lawyers representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia have asked a federal judge for permission to take three additional depositions – from representatives of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the State Department and the Department of Justice (DOJ) – regarding what steps, if any, the Trump administration has taken to facilitate the illegal immigrant and alleged MS-13 gang member’s release from custody in El Salvador. In a motion filed Wednesday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland to order the government to designate individuals from DHS, the State Department and the DOJ “who can testify about information known or reasonably available to each Department.” They cited a federal rule to prevent “bandying” of organizations, saying this way would be “the most efficient and least intrusive approach to obtain the necessary discovery.” “By allowing the Government to identify its own Rule 30(b)(6) representatives, Plaintiffs hope to avoid imposing the burden on the heads of the Departments to testify, while properly putting the onus on the Government to prepare their chosen representatives with the Departments’ complete knowledge of the narrow issues at stake in this case,” they wrote. They noted the court has already approved four depositions, three of which have already taken place, yet “plaintiffs are still in the dark about the government’s efforts to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody and return to the United States.” DEPORTATION FLIGHTS TO LIBYA WOULD VIOLATE COURT ORDER WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE, FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said they also might request that someone from the White House testify. “In fact, as seems apparent from its public statements, this case also involves decisionmaking at the White House in addition to the three Departments,” they wrote. “Accordingly, depending on the testimony obtained in any authorized Department depositions, Plaintiffs may need to seek additional testimony from an appropriately knowledgeable representative of the White House.” Fox News Digital reached out to DHS, the State Department, the DOJ, and the White House for comment, but none immediately responded. The motion is redacted in portions with excerpts of depositions that have already taken place regarding Abrego Garcia’s location and custodial status. FEDERAL JUDGE OPENS DOOR TO ALIEN ENEMIES ACT TARGETS SUING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION In a two-page order Wednesday, Xinis – who was appointed by former President Barack Obama – said the Trump administration was invoking the “state secrets privilege” to avoid answering a judge’s questions about Abrego Garcia’s deportation. The judge set a May 12 deadline for both parties to submit briefs “addressing the legal and factual bases for the invocation of those privileges,” and set a May 16 court hearing on the matter in Greenbelt, Maryland. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said that Abrego Garcia “is a citizen of El Salvador and should never have been in this country, and will not be coming back to this country.” “There is no scenario where Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again,” Noem said. “If he were to come back, we would immediately deport him again, because he is a terrorist. He’s a human smuggler, and he is a wife beater. ” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The secretary added that Abrego Garcia “is not a citizen of this country and is a dangerous individual who does not belong.” The Trump administration initially admitted that Abrego Garcia had been deported to El Salvador in error, but has since doubled down on his alleged MS-13 membership and documented abuse of his wife while living illegally in Maryland.