Several Republican senators have taken issue with the American Bar Association (ABA) and are calling for President Donald Trump to take drastic action against the group. In a letter to ABA President William Bay, lawmakers said the group, which plays a key role in judicial nominations, had become "biased and ideologically captured." Now, those lawmakers want President Trump to "remove the ABA from the judicial nomination process entirely."
Sen. Eric Schmitt, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Bernie Moreno and Sen. Mike Lee are also calling on their fellow senators to "disregard the ABA’s recommendations."
In the explosive letter there are allegations, including that the ABA has taken political stances against the Trump administration and that the group has been quiet about its taking funds from USAID. The federal aid group has been a target of the Trump administration, something the ABA has criticized.
"The ABA states, ‘Americans expect better.’ But President Trump won both electoral and popular votes. It seems Americans expect — and want — the Trump administration," the senators’ letter reads.
Sen. Schmitt tweeted out the letter along with several criticisms of the ABA’s recent actions and statements. In particular, Schmitt took issue with statements the ABA published on Feb. 10 and March 3, both of which were critical of the Trump administration.
"It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law," the ABA wrote in its Feb. 10 statement. Additionally, the Feb. 10 statement condemns the "dismantling of USAID."
The senators reference this statement in their letter, saying that the ABA made "inflammatory claims" against the Trump administration "without citing legal reasoning for those arguments." One of these claims is that the "dismantling of USAID" is illegal, but the senators note that the ABA does not explain why these actions are not permitted under the law.
"It is questionable whether the ABA is committed to defending liberty or its own sources of funding," the senators wrote, referring to the organization’s defense of USAID.
The lawmakers also criticized the ABA’s March 3 statement in which the group slams purported "efforts to undermine the courts." In their letter, the lawmakers note that the association did not issue any statements against former President Joe Biden when he defied the Supreme Court on student loan forgiveness.
In their letter, the senators call out the ABA’s implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which the Trump administration has been working to root out of the government.
Congressional negotiators have released a bill that, if passed, will avert a partial government shutdown during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's term.
The 99-page legislation would roughly maintain current government funding levels through the beginning of fiscal year (FY) 2026, which begins Oct. 1. The current deadline to avert a shutdown is Friday, March 14.
House GOP leaders are confident that they can pass a bill to keep the government funded with Republican votes alone, something that has not been achieved since they took over the chamber majority in January 2023.
But on a call with reporters on Saturday morning, House Republican leadership aides emphasized that the bill was "closely coordinated" with the White House – while stopping short of saying Trump backed the measure completely, noting he has not reviewed the specific pages yet.
It includes an additional $8 billion in defense dollars in an apparent bid to ease national security hawks' concerns, while non-defense spending that Congress annually appropriates would decrease by about $13 billion.
There's also an added $6 billion for healthcare for veterans.
The White House has requested additional spending in areas that were not present in the last government funding extension, known as "anomalies."
Aides said the funding is meant to meet "an operations shortfall that goes back to the Biden administration."
"That money, most of that, has already been obligated prior to the start of this administration. So that request reflects an existing hole," a source said.
The bill also ensures that spending caps placed under a prior bipartisan agreement, the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), are followed. The FRA mandated no more than a 1% federal spending increase in FY 2025.
Cuts to non-defense discretionary spending would be found by eliminating some "side deals" made during FRA negotiations, House GOP leadership aides said. Lawmakers would also not be given an opportunity to request funding for special pet projects in their districts known as earmarks, another area that Republicans are classifying as savings.
Overall, it provides for $892.5 billion in discretionary federal defense spending, and $708 billion in non-defense discretionary spending.
"Discretionary spending" refers to dollars allocated by Congress on an annual basis, rather than mandatory spending obligations like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
The bill is what's known as a continuing resolution (CR), which differs from Congress' annual appropriations bills in that it just extends the previous fiscal year's government funding levels and priorities.
It would be the third and final CR extending FY 2024 numbers, through the remainder of FY 2025. Republicans believe it will put them in the best possible position to negotiate conservative government funding priorities in time for Oct. 1.
The previous two extensions were passed under the Biden administration, when Democrats controlled the Senate.
And while some Democratic support is needed to reach the Senate's 60-vote threshold, it's very possible Republicans will have to carry it through the House alone with their razor-thin majority.
House Democrats traditionally vote to avoid government shutdowns. Now, however, Democratic leaders are directing lawmakers in the lower chamber to oppose the Republican CR.
In a joint letter to colleagues sent on Friday, House Democratic leaders accused Republicans of trying to cut Medicare and Medicaid through their CR – despite it being the wrong mechanism to alter such funds.
"Republicans have decided to introduce a partisan continuing resolution that threatens to cut funding for healthcare, nutritional assistance and veterans benefits through the end of the current fiscal year," the statement said. "House Democrats would enthusiastically support a bill that protects Social Security, Medicare, veterans health and Medicaid, but Republicans have chosen to put them on the chopping block to pay for billionaire tax cuts."
But House GOP leaders will need to work to convince nearly all Republican lawmakers to support the bill – despite a history of dozens of conservative defections on CRs over the last two years.
At least one Republican has already signaled he will oppose it. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who has voted against CRs previously, wrote on X last week, "I am a NO on the CR. Congress needs to do its job and pass a conservative budget! CR’s are code for Continued Rubberstamp of fraud, waste, and abuse."
GOP leaders are hoping their close coordination with the White House and a blessing from Trump, however, will be enough to sway remaining holdouts.
While he has not weighed in on the specific bill, Trump posted on Truth Social this week, "I am working with the GREAT House Republicans on a Continuing Resolution to fund the Government until September to give us some needed time to work on our Agenda."
"Conservatives will love this Bill, because it sets us up to cut Taxes and Spending in Reconciliation, all while effectively FREEZING Spending this year," Trump wrote.
A federal judge has ruled against the Denver public schools system’s attempts to block immigration officials from carrying out raids on school grounds, marking a win for the Trump administration as it looks to ramp up its deportation efforts.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said Denver Public Schools failed to prove that a recent drop in student attendance at schools was due to the Trump administration reversing a 2021 Biden-era policy of protecting schools — and other sensitive areas like churches — from ICE raids. There are currently more than 1.4 million individuals on ICE's final order of removal docket.
Denver Public Schools filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for reversing the policy, claiming the district was "hindered in fulfilling its mission" to students who didn’t turn up to school for fear of immigration enforcement.
Denver Public Schools had sought a preliminary injunction barring the federal government from making arrests at sensitive locations, which was denied. Domenico also denied a request that he grant a nationwide preliminary injunction forcing immigration officials to revert to the 2021 guidance.
Besides a drop in attendance, Denver Public Schools said it had to divert resources to respond to fear among students and families over the lifting of longtime rules.
The school system also argued that rescinding the policy had caused schools to devote time and resources to teaching students and staff how to remain safe from immigration enforcement. Denver Public Schools has trained staff on how to handle ICE officers if they show up at school, telling them to deny agents entry if they don't have a warrant signed by a judge.
Domenico, a Trump appointee and Colorado’s former solicitor general, said that it wasn’t clear how much of the fear surrounding possible enforcement actions in schools was really due to the new rules as opposed to broader concerns of increased immigration actions.
He also pointed out that Denver Public Schools had not yet experienced any raids and noted that the head of ICE also issued a directive to its officers that immigration arrests at sensitive places still had to be approved by supervisors.
The fear over the new rules, as well as the belief that the old rules provided protection to schools, both seem to be "overstated," Domenico said.
It wasn’t clear how much of the fear surrounding possible enforcement actions in schools was really due to the new rules as opposed to broader concerns of increased immigration actions, he said.
Denver Public Schools issued a statement expressing disappointment with the ruling, while asserting that its lawsuit was successful in making public details of the Trump administration rules.
The lawsuit was brought by the school district, not the city of Denver, which is a sanctuary city. The lawsuit stated that there were more than 90,000 students in the Denver Public Schools system during the 2023-2024 school year, and approximately 4,000 were immigrants.
The ruling came just days after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and the Democratic leaders of other cities were grilled by Republican members of Congress about their so-called sanctuary city policies that they see as undermining Trump’s immigration and mass deportation efforts, as well as making such cities more dangerous.
Since Jan. 20, ICE has arrested and deported thousands of people in the U.S. illegally – most of them being criminals with convictions in the U.S. or their home countries.
Denver has seen a massive population jump in recent years as the city predicts nearly 43,000 people have arrived in the area from the southern border, the lawsuit said.
The ruling also comes as the Trump administration has restarted the detention of illegal alien families that have deportation orders.
Parents are now being detained, including with their children, at two ICE facilities in Texas. These are families who have already had their cases heard and have been ordered removed.
Fox News is told ICE is now actively going into the interior of the U.S. and arresting migrant families that crossed the border illegally in years prior and have been ordered deported from the U.S. by a Justice Department immigration judge. This is known as a final order of removal, of which there are currently more than 1.4 million individuals on ICE's docket.
Border Patrol data shows more than 2 million migrant family units were apprehended while crossing the southern border illegally during the Biden administration.
Fox News’ Bille Melugin and Elizabeth Pritchett as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Democratic strategists argue it would have been better for Democratic lawmakers to skip President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress than to cause disruptions, which have since reportedly caused tensions with party leadership.
"I think it would have been smarter to just boycott the speech," Jim Manley, a Democratic political strategist, told Fox News Digital. "Showing up gave Trump legitimacy that he doesn’t deserve."
Asked if he thought the Democrats interrupting the president's speech was a good strategy, Andrew Bates, who served as senior White House deputy press secretary for former President Joe Biden, told Fox News Digital "no."
"The protests preached to the choir, when we need to grow the congregation — like [Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa] Slotkin did when she said Republicans will make you pay more "in every part of your life" in order to cut taxes for the rich," Bates said.
Democratic House leadership is reportedly "very unhappy" with the interruptions made by lawmakers during the speech, which included yelling and holding up paddles that read "Musk steals," and called on several of them to attend a "come to Jesus meeting" to discuss their behavior, a House Democrat told Axios.
"I didn't think the Democratic reaction in the room went very well. It just contributed to the theatrics," Brad Bannon, president of Bannon Communications Research, a political consulting firm, told Fox in an interview. "No one can beat Trump at theatrics. I'm sorry, I love my congressional Democrats, but when it comes to theatrics, they don't come close."
"It would have made more sense, in my opinion, to let Trump's words soak in and not act as a distraction to the lies and falsehoods he told," Bannon added. "So I don't think the Democratic reaction in the room was good."
One strategist shared with Fox that they saw private data demonstrating that voters did not like the protests.
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, stood up during Trump's address and refused to sit down, leading to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ordering the Sergeant at Arms to remove him from the chamber.
Democratic strategist David Axelrod told Politico that Green's protest likely "got plenty of attaboys from the base," but didn't resonate with most Americans.
"But with many other Americans — and not just Republicans — it was no more appealing than [GOP Reps.] Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert heckling Biden," Axelrod said in an interview. "It’s just not particularly helpful."
Democrats were also criticized for not standing up while the president introduced DJ Daniel, a 13-year-old cancer survivor, during the joint address.
"You know, that is a very individual thing. And aren't there a lot of other things we can be focusing on, as I would think?" Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said when asked why Democratic members did not stand for Daniel. "The word ‘betrayal’ comes to mind with regard to the president."
Another Democrat, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told Fox News Digital that it "was a moving story," but that "what Trump left out, of course, is he's cutting research for cancer, which is pretty, pretty bad."
However, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., broke with his party on the issue.
"I don't know why we can't fully celebrate," Fetterman told Nicholas Ballasy for Fox. "I mean, I have a 13-year-old myself, and thank God she's never had cancer, but I think that's something we can all celebrate there. And I think it was a touching moment. And, like I said, that's part of the best of the American experience."
Multiple Republicans in Georgia aren't ruling out running for Senate in 2026 to take on vulnerable Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff—but they're making it very clear that the nomination belongs to popular GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, if he wants it.
"We always consider everything. I'm a moneyball kind of guy," Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital.
He pointed to Republicans' overperformance in his district, part of which is located in the Atlanta suburbs. "Most people realize that we have the highest voter participation in Georgia in our district," the congressman said. "So of course we're going to be discussed in this conversation."
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., also isn't taking himself out of the equation.
"If options come about, like this seat that I hold right now, and I see that I can win, and I see that I can make a difference, then, sure, you're going to take a hard look at it," he told Fox News Digital.
However, both men stated in no uncertain terms that if Kemp chooses to run, the nomination is his. "He could win that seat very easily. He could walk away with it," said Collins.
"If Governor Kemp gets involved in that race, hands down, I'll support him," McCormick explained. "He would win that race both in the primary and the general. So, I want to be very, very specific on that."
Ossoff's Senate seat is rated a "Toss Up" by nonpartisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report. Coming off of President Trump's significant win in Georgia in 2024, Republicans are preparing to spare no expense on winning the Senate seat back.
Kemp is the GOP favorite to compete with Ossoff for the battleground state's Senate seat, but he hasn't said whether he wants to launch a bid for it.
"The governor has been clear and consistent on his timeline for making a decision about the U.S. Senate race in 2026. There is no doubt that Georgia Republicans will be united to defeat Jon Ossoff and finally have a voice that reflects our state's values in the U.S. Senate," Cody Hall, a senior advisor to Kemp, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Kemp explained, "I'm in the middle of my legislative session. We've got a big tort reform fight going on. I'm chairing the Republican Governors Association. I made a commitment on that."
"I know I can't keep holding out forever, so we'll have something to say on that down the road," he added.
In case Kemp doesn't choose to run, both McCormick and Collins signaled their own candidacy as possibilities.
"But at the end of the day, you know, if he doesn't run, the nominee that'll get it will be the one that Donald Trump picks," Collins predicted.
As to whether President Trump will weigh into the Georgia Senate Republican primary, as he did previously, former Trump campaign political director James Blair, now White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs, did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
In 2022, Trump endorsed gubernatorial candidate David Perdue over Kemp, with whom he has had a strained relationship over the years. Kemp ultimately still won the nomination and the governorship, surviving the battle against a Trump-endorsed candidate, which many have fallen to.
Trump also involved himself in the Georgia Senate race, endorsing former NFL player Herschel Walker early on to face now-Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. Warnock won a runoff election against Walker, 51.37% to 48.63%.
"It's going to be a fight," McCormick previewed the 2026 race. "It's going to be maybe a half-billion-dollar race, which means a lot of money and a lot of things are gonna be said."
"We need to make sure our message is clear and that what we're trying to represent appeals to the Georgia voters," he added.
Ossoff's campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.
The White House is calling out "rogue bureaucrats" at a small federal agency for attempting to bar members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from entering their headquarters this week.
Elon Musk's DOGE team members and acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Peter Marocco, in accordance with President Donald Trump's executive order to downsize the federal government, sought to enter the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) building on Wednesday, but were denied entry after reportedly being intentionally locked out by members of the staff.
The cost-cutting team returned to USADF the next day with U.S. marshals after the Department of Justice (DOJ) determined that they had a right to enter the building, a White House official told Fox News Digital, prompting a lawsuit from USADF President Ward Brehm, who asked a district court to bar the administration from removing him from his position.
Brehm, who admitted to directing employees to deny DOGE entry, is attempting to block DOGE from entering the USADF offices, but the White House responded that "entitled, rogue bureaucrats have no authority to defy executive orders by the President of the United States or physically bar his representatives from entering the agencies they run."
"President Trump signed an executive order to reduce the federal bureaucracy, which reduced the USADF to its statutory minimum, and appointed Peter Marocco as acting Chairman of the Board," White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
In the lawsuit, filed on Thursday, Brehm alleges "unlawful overreach" from DOGE and asks the court to give him a "clear entitlement to remain in his office as the President of USADF" after Trump, according to the White House, appointed Marocco to serve as acting Chairman of the Board.
"The threatened termination of Brehm from his position as President of USADF, whether by Marocco, President Trump, Director Gao, or any of the remaining Defendants, is unlawful," the 26-page complaint reads.
On Friday, District Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington, D.C., issued a temporary restraining order preventing Brehm's removal.
Trump has applauded DOGE's efforts to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in "waste" from the federal government as he makes "bold and profound change" within the federal government.
"My administration will reclaim power from this unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true democracy to America again," Trump said during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
"Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office immediately, because we are draining the swamp. It's very simple," the president said. "The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over."
Fox News Digital reached out to Brehm and USADF for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, who is facing charges of bribery and acting as a foreign agent, is now on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s "frontline list" for the 2026 election, which is gaining scrutiny from the group’s GOP rival.
Cuellar, who represents a district along the southern border, was not part of the program meant to assist Democrats at risk of losing their election in 2024, but he still won re-election in November.
"The DCCC throwing cash at Henry Cuellar, an indicted congressman facing bribery and foreign agent charges, is certainly a choice. Do other frontline Democrats stand by pumping campaign cash into defending a corrupt and sleazy politician?" NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement Thursday.
The Department of Justice under the Biden administration indicted Cuellar and his wife for allegedly taking roughly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-owned energy company and a Mexican bank, according to a news release at the time.
"I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations. Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas. Before I took any action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm," Cuellar said in a statement at the time, according to KGNS.
At the time of the indictment, President Donald Trump said it may have had to do with border politics.
"Biden just Indicted Henry Cuellar because the Respected Democrat Congressman wouldn’t play Crooked Joe’s Open Border game," Trump said in a Truth Social post at the time. "He was for Border Control, so they said, ‘Let’s use the FBI and DOJ to take him out!’ This is the way they operate. They’re a bunch of D.C. Thugs, and at some point they will be paying a very big price for what they have done to our Country."
Cuellar also recently told Fox News he's disagreed with some aspects of the Biden administration's approach on the border crisis.
In 2024, some Democrats opposed his campaign in the primary due to his belief that abortion should be a state issue, according to Punchbowl News.
His office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. Two "advisors" tied to the case have already pleaded guilty, according to The Texas Tribune.
As for Cuellar, his trial was pushed back to this year. The DCCC declined to comment.
The DCCC program has 26 incumbent members of Congress it plans to invest resources in to retain their seats.
"These 26 House Democrats are battle-tested and laser-focused on pocketbook issues. Democrats are poised to retake the majority in 2026, and these members will help us do that," the DCCC tweeted on Thursday.
Republicans have an narrow House majority they hope to defend and expand in 2026.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signaled that he wants to repeal the red flag law in the Sunshine State, arguing that it infringes on gun owners' Second Amendment rights.
The governor made his intentions known during Tuesday's State of the State Address.
The state's red flag law was signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who is now a U.S. senator, in the aftermath of the Feb. 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in which 17 people were killed.
The legislation allows law enforcement to seek a court order to confiscate firearms from someone who is considered a threat to themselves or others and prevents them from purchasing more weapons in the future. This is different from other states with red flag laws where family members and roommates can also petition the court to confiscate firearms.
The Florida law also raised the minimum legal age for purchasing guns in Florida to 21.
DeSantis argues that red flag laws, or risk protection orders, are unconstitutional. He said he would have vetoed the law if he was governor when it was signed in 2018.
"If you look at this red flag law that was passed, they can go in and say, 'this person's a danger, they should have their firearms taken away,' which is property in addition to being something connected with a constitutional right," DeSantis said. "The burden shifts where you have to prove to a court that you are not a menace or a threat. That's not the way due process works."
Nearly 10,000 risk protection order petitions have been filed by law enforcement across the state between July 2022 and the end of 2024, state records show, according to Fox 13.
President Donald Trump has used his new powers to dismiss a slew of lawsuits filed under former President Joe Biden, including challenges to state abortion bans, allegations of racism in police and fire departments, environmental and anti-whistleblower cases, and various business-related disputes. Meanwhile, he has largely left Biden-era antitrust lawsuits untouched.
The Trump administration took steps as recently as this week to drop a lawsuit challenging Idaho's abortion ban that only permits the procedures when necessary to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest. The Biden administration tried to circumvent the state ban with its lawsuit that argued the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) required doctors to provide abortions in cases when they are needed to prevent serious health consequences, not just the life of the mother.
"Democrats’ abortion extremism cost them the election," said Katie Daniel, Director of Legal Affairs & Policy Counsel at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. "With President Trump and a new administration in charge, Biden’s weaponization of the federal government is over — no more lawfare. The will of the people is clear and activist judges must not interfere."
Multiple federal civil rights cases revolving around hiring discrimination have also been dropped under Trump. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it intends to drop a 2023 case alleging anti-immigrant hiring practices at Elon Musk's SpaceX. Additionally, several federal civil rights lawsuits accusing police and fire departments of racial discrimination based on their provision of certain physical fitness tests and other requirements like credit checks have also been dropped.
"American communities deserve firefighters and police officers to be chosen for their skill and dedication to public safety — not to meet DEI quotas," U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement after dismissing the lawsuits that had been levied against multiple jurisdictions around the country.
A former DOJ civil rights attorney, Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky said that in one of the cases against a fire department in Cobb County, Georgia, a judge refused to grant a settlement proposed by the Biden administration due to a lack of evidence proving physical fitness tests and credit report checks are racially discriminatory toward minorities. Spakovsky noted that settlements are typically approved by judges, but the one in Cobb County sought to set up racial hiring quotas that the judge likened to "a racial spoils system," he said.
"Here's a direct quote from the judge: ‘The court will not approve of an agreement which may violate the rights of others without a sufficient evidentiary basis to show that such race-based action is warranted,’" Spakovsky said.
"The broad scope of all of these dropped civil rights cases," he concluded, "is that they are throwing out the ones — in my opinion — that call on defendants to violate federal laws against discrimination."
Two other high-profile lawsuits recently dropped by the Trump administration include a Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency case against local Louisiana regulators and the synthetic rubber manufacturer Denka, which alleged failure to adequately protect the predominantly minority community near its plant from cancer risks linked to air pollution.
Another dropped case involved a medical whistleblower, Dr. Eithan Haim, who faced prosecution from Biden's DOJ after he leaked documents to the media revealing Texas Children's Hospital in Houston was performing transgender medical procedures on minors, even after it said it had stopped complying with new state regulations.
Trump has also dropped a number of consumer protection and cryptocurrency lawsuits, but has done little in the way of disrupting the Biden administration's antitrust enforcement, something tech professionals were expecting after the last administration challenged Big Tech companies aggressively for allegedly building monopolies.
"It's a big plus for the crypto and fintech sector as a whole, because you just see them celebrating, like you see social posts online of a lot of these executives at those companies that just missed lawsuits who are really happy," said Kison Patel, a financial tech entrepreneur and the host of "M&A Science," a podcast about mergers and acquisitions. "It seems like there's going to be less scrutiny and regulations around that sector."
Patel added that while mergers and acquisitions were expected to ramp up this year, he isn't so sure anymore considering the approach Trump has signaled towards antitrust enforcement.
"I think there's still a lot to watch in the antitrust area," said Patel, who pointed to a new case the Federal Trade Commission has brought against a medical device company on antitrust grounds. "But, the take home is there doesn't appear to be a big shift in position in the realm of regulations around antitrust."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the Justice Department for comment on this story, but did not hear back by press time.
The American dream is "surging" and "America is back," according to President Donald Trump.
Trump launched the week telling Americans that his administration would work to take "America’s destiny into our own hands" and vowed that "this will be our greatest era" during a joint address to Congress Tuesday.
Additionally, Trump shared in the address that Ukraine was prepared to sign off on a rare-earth minerals deal and continue peace negotiations to end the war with Russia after talks came to a fiery halt Feb. 28. Trump also disclosed that his administration caught the terrorist behind the 2021 Afghanistan attack that resulted in the death of 13 U.S. troops.
"Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity," Trump said Tuesday. "And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice."
Additionally, Trump urged lawmakers Tuesday to bolster funding for border security to foot the bill for deportations and along the U.S. southern border, claiming that his administration has "launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history."
Trump also promised to work to end the war in Ukraine, days after a tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the role of diplomacy to end the conflict with Russia. Hours earlier, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to come to the negotiating table, despite the disagreement at the White House.
"It's time to end this senseless war," Trump said, adding that it's important to talk to both sides to end wars.
In response to his joint address, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., blasted Trump’s foreign policy agenda, claiming that Trump would have lost the Cold War if he’d been president in the 1980s.
"We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity," said Slotkin, who was tapped to deliver the official Democratic Party response to Trump’s address. "As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War."
Here’s what also happened this week:
Trump indicated that a nuclear deal with Iran could emerge in the near future, following his administration’s effort to reinstate a "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran in February.
Trump told reporters Friday that the U.S is "down to the final moments" negotiating with Iran, and said he’d prefer to move forward in a peaceful fashion rather than utilize military intervention.
"It’s an interesting time in the history of the world. But we have a situation with Iran that something is going to happen very soon, very, very soon," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "You’ll be talking about that pretty soon, I guess. Hopefully, we can have a peace deal. I’m not speaking out of strength or weakness, I’m just saying I’d rather see a peace deal than the other. But the other will solve the problem."
Trump also disclosed that he sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pushing for Tehran to agree to a nuclear agreement or otherwise Tehran could expect military consequences, according to a clip released Friday from an interview with Fox Business that is set to air Sunday.
"I would rather negotiate a deal," Trump told Fox Business. "I'm not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily."
Trump also signaled that he might impose harsher sanctions on Russia, after Russia reportedly fired 67 missiles and 194 drones in an overnight attack striking Ukraine’s energy and gas infrastructure, according to Reuters.
"Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED," Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday. "To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!"
Additionally, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told reporters that Trump prepared to use "carrots or sticks" to encourage both countries to reach a peace deal.
Trump also signed an executive order Thursday to pull security clearances and access to certain federal resources for Perkins Coie. The law firm hired the company responsible for crafting the so-called "Steele dossier" containing salacious material about Trump’s alleged connections to Russia, which the president has denied.
"This is an absolute honor to sign," Trump told reporters Thursday. "What they’ve done, it’s just terrible. It’s weaponization. You could say weaponization against a political opponent, and it should never be allowed to happen again."
The executive order suspends security clearances for Perkins Coie employees until a further review evaluating its access to sensitive information is complete to determine if it aligns with the national interest.
Perkins Coie told Fox News Digital it has reviewed the executive order and plans to challenge it.
Marc Elias, the former chair of the firm's political law practice, hired opposition research firm Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research into presidential candidate Trump in April 2016 on behalf of Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee.
Fusion GPS then brought on the help of former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who composed the so-called "Steele dossier," which featured scandalous and mostly unverified allegations. However, the document was used to secure surveillance applications against former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page for the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Fox News’ Rachel Wolf and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled a grant worth $600,000 for the study of menstrual cycles in transgender men, Secretary Brooke Rollins said Friday.
"The first occurrence of menstruation occurs at approximately 12 years of age and ends with menopause at roughly 51 years of age," the grant description reads. "A woman will have a monthly menstrual cycle for about 40 years of her life, averaging to about 450 periods over the course of her lifetime."
"It is also important to recognize that transgender men and people with masculine gender identities, intersex and non-binary persons may also menstruate," the description adds. "At any given moment about 26% of the world’s population is menstruating."
The study seeks to "address growing concerns" related to menstruation, including the potential use of natural fibers, such as hemp, in feminine hygiene products.
The grant had been scheduled to remain in progress until April 2027.
The study was first uncovered by the conservative nonprofit American Principles Project, which has identified more than 340 federal grants issued during the Biden administration to various institutions — including colleges and hospitals — that totaled more than $128 million in federal funds.
"Duke will play a pivotal role as we strengthen Peace, Freedom, and Prosperity for both of our Countries," Trump wrote. "Congratulations to Duke and his wonderful family!"
Trump named Lynda Blanchard the next U.S. ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy.
"During my First Term, Lynda did a great job as U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia," the president wrote. "She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Science from Auburn University and, alongside her husband, she helped build a very successful Real Estate company. I know she will work incredibly hard for our Nation. Congratulations Lynda!"
The final announcement named Michel Issa as U.S. ambassador to Lebanon.
"Michel is an outstanding businessman, a financial expert, and a leader with a remarkable career in Banking, Entrepreneurship, and International Trade," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Friday night. "I have no doubt that he will serve our Country with Honor and Distinction. Congratulations Michel!"
The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors Friday voted to close its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office after President Trump’s executive orders against DEI efforts in the federal government.
"DEI is done at UVA," Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote on X Friday. "Today, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted for commonsense saying NO to illegal discrimination and YES to merit-based opportunity. Students at Mr. Jefferson’s University—and across America—deserve unlimited intellectual freedom, not ideological gatekeeping."
The university's Board of Visitors is made up of 17 voting members appointed by the governor.
"This is a huge step to restoring the values of Mr. Jefferson, who founded the university, who understood that we are all created equal, and that’s exactly what this is about — ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity," Youngkin said on the "Ingraham Angle" Friday.
He said the university’s resolution also eliminates "any program that violates the Constitution, the Civil Rights Act or, of course, President Trump’s executive order that laid all of this out and prohibits moving these programs someplace else where they would be hidden or using third-party contractors."
Youngkin said his administration has been working against DEI efforts in the state since his election.
"We, of course, embrace the idea that we come from a diverse society, diverse experiences, and, of course, diverse views, and that, of course, is one of our strengths as a nation, but we have to eliminate illegal discrimination," he explained.
"And now we’re in a moment where we have our flagship university make a very clear statement that DEI is done at the University of Virginia," he added.
The resolution said the "University’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships is hereby dissolved," adding the school "shall immediately transfer permissible programs to a new organizational home."
The resolution didn’t specify what would count as a "permissible" program.
The resolution added that the university’s president would update the board on compliance within 30 days.
The board cited the university’s mission statement, which "includes a commitment to [developing] the full potential of talented students from all walks of life" in its resolution.
It continued by saying that the board "highly values diversity, including diversity of thought and experience, and fosters an inclusive environment, encouraging a culture of opportunity for all, which immensely enriches our Grounds, and is committed to providing every student an education that is free from discrimination and grounded in merit."
An illegal immigrant who once served as an aide to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has reportedly self-deported to Colombia, praising the "freedom of movement" in the South American nation after working in Congress despite being in the country illegally.
Diego de la Vega was born in Ecuador and immigrated to the United States as a 7-year-old in 2001 on a visitor’s visa that he overstayed, Migrant Insider reported.
The news raises thorny questions about his employment status for the Queens-based congresswoman.
"It’s bittersweet. I hadn’t left the country in 23 years — from age seven to age 30," de la Vega told Migrant Insider. "Now, I can’t go back to the U.S. It feels like exile. It’s a very permanent move. But my wife and I are confident we made the right decision. And, after some time, it’s been a real pleasure to be here.
"It feels surreal to not be illegalized anymore. I don’t have to live in the shadows or constantly worry about paperwork," he added. "That freedom of movement is incredibly satisfying."
De la Vega became politically active after the failure of the Dream Act in 2010, when the legislation fell just five votes short in the Senate.
After working for an immigrant rights group, he served as communications director for Robert Rodriguez, then a member of the New York State Assembly, who currently serves as president and CEO of the New York State Dormitory Authority, according to his LinkedIn page.
In 2021, de la Vega was hired by Ocasio-Cortez’s re-election campaign and eventually became her deputy communications director.
"Diego is amazing," Ocasio-Cortez told the news outlet. "We love him."
De la Vega worked for Ocasio-Cortez despite not being a U.S. citizen. DACA recipients are barred from paid positions in congressional offices.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the congresswoman's office.
"We were always honest with voters in New York City," de la Vega said of working with Ocasio-Cortez. "We didn’t dumb it down or tell them what they wanted to hear. We engaged with them honestly. We listened, then explained that Alexandria was fighting for reform, but Republicans were blocking it."
He noted that he became frustrated with how the immigration movement was going.
"Protections are going away, regardless of who is in the White House. The strategy hasn’t adapted to the modern era," he said. "Biden had a trifecta — the House, Senate and White House, but dropped the ball."
As a child, de la Vega said he lived in fear but said he had a good childhood in New York. He said he may not be able to return to the U.S. "for many years" but that "it feels fulfilling to be home."
A federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of Missouri in the state’s $24 billion lawsuit against China’s Communist Party that accused it of hoarding protective supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.
"This is a landmark victory for Missouri and the United States in the fight to hold China accountable for unleashing COVID-19 on the world,"Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement.
"China refused to show up to court, but that doesn’t mean they get away with causing untold suffering and economic devastation. We intend to collect every penny by seizing Chinese-owned assets, including Missouri farmland."
Bailey's office said the judgment was six times larger than the previous largest judgment in the state's history.
Judge Stephen Limbaugh said in his ruling that the "Court finds that Missouri has provided evidence satisfactory to the Court to establish each Defendant’s liability to Missouri under Count IV of Plaintiff’s Complaint. The Court therefore enters a judgment against Defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $24,488,825,457.00, plus postjudgment interest."
The People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party of China, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, the People’s Government of Hubei Province, the People’s Government of Wuhan City, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences were all named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Bailey also wrote on X Friday, "Hey China, You owe Missouri $24 BILLION. I just won a judgment in court. Pay up — or we start seizing assets and farmland."
The ruling comes five years after former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued China for "obstructing the production, purchase, and export of critical medical equipment, including PPE, during the pandemic," Bailey’s office wrote.
A court of appeals ruled in Missouri’s favor in January, overturning a lower court ruling that threw out the lawsuit.
The appeals court ruled, however, that the lawsuit must be limited to accusations of supply hoarding after the lawsuit previously accused China of hiding information about the origins of the pandemic.
Lang’s indictment, filed Tuesday, said he had threatened to "take the life of, to kidnap, and to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States."
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating the allegations.
"Ensuring the safety of the President and all of our protectees is not just a duty for the Secret Service - it is a responsibility we uphold with unwavering commitment," Secret Service Communications Chief Anthony Guglielmi told Fox News Digital in a statement. "We are grateful to our special agents and support teams for their work and especially the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for their partnership and invaluable assistance in this case."
He added, "We also urge anyone with knowledge of potential threats against public officials to immediately report these to local law-enforcement. Vigilance and cooperation are critical to maintaining the security of those who serve our nation."
Lang is scheduled to next appear in court for a March 14 bond hearing.
Last year, Lang filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for president as a Republican, but he was not on the Republican primary ballot in South Carolina or anywhere else, and the only donation he received was for $6,000 from himself, according to FEC filings.
He could face up to five years in prison, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported, citing the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina.
Lang’s Facebook page still says "Travis Lang for President," and his picture on his social media accounts is a split of his face and Abraham Lincoln.
He has also been critical of former President Joe Biden, at one point in 2023 writing on Facebook that Congress should begin articles of impeachment against him.
A U.S. attorney this week told a judge that Lang had previously made multiple threats to both Trump and Biden, the newspaper reported, adding that the Secret Service had visited him to tell him to stop making threats.
Lang referenced the Secret Service visit on his social media, claiming it was sent there because Biden got "scared" when Lang decided to run for president.
The threats come after Trump faced two assassination attempts last year, including when he was grazed in the ear by a bullet while speaking at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Lexington County Sheriff's Office and the Secret Service for comment.
Politicians have the power to dictate time. Down to the hour and the minute of what time it is. That’s why we spring forward this weekend. And when you lose your hour of sleep, you know who to blame.
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to "fix the Standard of Weights and Measures."
That’s listed right next to Congressional authority over bankruptcies and punishment for counterfeiters.
After all, we lose an hour this weekend like a thief in the night.
Congress formally established Daylight Saving Time with the Uniform Time Act of 1966. It also established time zones in the 1880s to help the railroads coordinate. Before that, time hinged on whatever locals said it was. That led to 144 distinct local times in the U.S. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul even went by different clocks, despite only being separated by the Mississippi River.
So, lawmakers are kind of like "Time Lords" from Doctor Who. But while they have not waged the Last Great Time War, for some lawmakers, time has expired for the biannual time change.
"I haven't had anybody come to me and say, ‘This is something that benefits our society.’ Why do we have it around anymore? Let's get rid of the antiquated stuff that hold us back from advancement," said Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga.
Florida lawmakers push especially hard to codify the time change in law. After all, Florida is the Sunshine State. Much of the state’s economy is based on what you can do outdoors. Sunbathe. Golf. Walk on the beach. Go to amusement parks.
"In tourism, it's huge," said Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla. "Instead of getting dark at 5:39, it gets dark at 6:30. It makes a big difference. A lot of times the weather's nice (people) like to be outside eating."
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., pushed time change legislation when he served as governor of the Sunshine State. He’s authored a bill which he believes will give all states more sunshine – by effectively freezing time.
"It will lock the clock. So stop going back and forth between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time," said Scott.
Former Sen. and now Secretary of State Marco Rubio, R-Fla., authored a bill to mandate Daylight Saving Time year-round several years ago. To everyone’s surprise, the Senate approved the bill by unanimous consent in 2022. But the bill then died in the House.
Congress approved the Standard Time Act to create the first version of Daylight Saving time in 1918 during World War I. Proponents of the legislation argued that there was "wasted light" at the beginning of the day. Shifting the clocks would reward Americans with "extra" hours of daylight in the evening.
"I used to think my state legislature had the foolishiest ideas in the world," said Rep. Robert Thomas, D-Ky., of the measure at the time. "But it never tried to change the sun in its orbit."
Farmers and residents of the west opposed the plan.
President Woodrow Wilson wanted to keep the time change. But Congress voted to repeal it. Wilson then vetoed the bill.
What comes next is one of the most fascinating aspects of time legislation, Congress and the presidency. There have only been 112 successful overrides of a presidential veto in American history. One of them is on a piece of time legislation. Congress overrode Wilson’s veto and gave back the hour it picked up during World War I.
Presidents have tinkered with changing the time via executive order to maximize daylight during times of crisis.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt shifted the clocks during World War II. President Richard Nixon did the same during the OPEC oil shocks of the 1970s.
It was thought that President Trump may wade into the time waters. He’s berated the seasonal time changes for years now, dating back to his first term in office. Mr. Trump posted about the time switch on Truth Social as recently as mid-December.
"The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation," wrote the president.
But President Trump wasn’t inclined to turn back time when pressed about it by colleague Peter Doocy on Thursday.
"It's a 50/50 issue. And if something is a 50/50 issue, it's hard to get excited about it. I assume people would like to have more light later. But some people want to have more light earlier because they don't want to take their kids to school in the dark," said Mr. Trump.
The problem is that most people abhor changing the clocks. But they worry about it getting dark way too early in the winter. Or the sun "rising" at absurd times in the summer.
The country may harbor deep political divisions. But at least one lawmaker believes it’s time Americans rally around something.
"I'd love for us to not have to switch our clocks if that's something that actually probably can unite Americans right now," said Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J.
But at least once senior lawmaker hasn’t given the time of day to clock shifting efforts.
"You have thoughts on daylight savings?" asked colleague Ryan Schmelz of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Jeffries chuckled.
"There’s a lot going on in the United States of America. I haven’t been able to give a thought to daylight savings," replied Jeffries.
Shakespeare wrote that "let every man be master of his time." But that’s hard to do when Congress decides the time. Of course, the Bard also declared that "what is past is prologue."
And that means that despite the legislative efforts, everyone will probably have to change the clocks again in October when we fall back.
Former two-term Republican Gov. Paul LePage of Maine is considering a 2026 run for Congress.
A source on Friday confirmed to Fox News the conservative firebrand is mulling a bid in Maine's 2nd Congressional District. The mostly rural district comprises roughly 80% of the state's total land area and is the largest congressional district east of the Mississippi River.
The seat is held by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, a Marine veteran who served combat tours in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Golden is a moderate Democrat who is often at odds with his party's leadership.
LePage, first elected governor in 2010 and re-elected four years later, was prevented by term limits from seeking a third straight term in 2018.
The pugnacious LePage became known both inside Maine and across the country for stirring controversy due to his off-the-cuff remarks. He also often touted that "I was Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular."
He made an unsuccessful comeback in 2022 against his successor, losing the gubernatorial election to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.
There's speculation that Golden, who won re-election in November by a razor-thin margin, is considering a run for governor in 2026, when Mills is term-limited.
Maine is one of just two states, along with Nebraska, that divides its electoral votes in the presidential election by congressional district. And Trump won the single electoral vote at stake in Maine's 2nd Congressional District by carrying the district in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.
The GOP, when at full strength, will hold a razor-thin 220-215 majority in the House, which means the Democrats only need a three-seat gain in 2026 to win back the chamber for the first time in four years.
And Republicans are also dealing with plenty of political history because the party in power traditionally faces electoral headwinds in the midterms.
Ryan Routh, the man accused of trying to assassinate then-candidate Donald Trump in September 2024, appeared in court as his team battled with the Justice Department over evidence. The defense team and the DOJ lobbed accusations back and forth over alleged withholding of evidence as they prepared for the Sept. 8, 2025, trial.
A major point of contention between the defense and the prosecution is the issue of firearm testing. The defense is calling for the firearm, which is in the DOJ’s position, to be tested. The defense’s reason for testing is that they believe the gun was too old to fire the distance the DOJ claims it would have. However, the prosecution maintains that firearm testing is unusual, and it could destroy evidence.
"As we told defense counsel, their request to inspect the firearm in this manner was highly unusual in the experience of the FBI, but nonetheless we made it happen," the prosecution wrote in a court filing.
The DOJ apparently has 90 gigabytes of bodycam footage from their search of Routh’s home in Hawaii. The search was carried out in September, weeks after the botched alleged assassination attempt. In addition to the footage, the prosecution says it has hundreds of law enforcement reports to sift through but is confident that they will turn it over in the next two weeks.
The prosecution says in a court filing it is submitting evidence as it becomes available, but that the defense has not submitted anything. The defense team maintained that they were not under any obligation to provide evidence to the DOJ. While they had ruled out using an insanity defense, Routh’s team refrained from offering any theories, saying that they needed to go over all the prosecution’s discovery.
Now, Routh’s defense team is calling for a full list of evidence and information on where everything is located. The defense claims that when they went to try to see the firearm in question, some items that went with the gun were not in the evidence box. However, in its court filing the prosecution claims that any remaining physical evidence as at the FBI’s facility in Miramar, Fl., or is in transit on its way there.
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley told "America Reports" that Routh's defense team "has not been forthcoming" in the case. Additionally, Turley says that many of Routh's actions after being caught negate a possible insanity plea.
Routh is accused of waiting over 12 hours on the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, where he was hoping to assassinate then-candidate Trump while he was playing golf on Sept. 15, 2025. A Secret Service agent allegedly saw Routh before Trump came into range. Routh then allegedly targeted the agent before fleeing the scene. He was later arrested and indicted by a grand jury.
President Trump said he would be willing to release findings on the two assassination attempts made against him during the 2024 campaign. However, there are no firm details at this time.
-Kamala Harris reveals timetable for making major political decision in deep Blue state
President Donald Trump signaled that a nuclear deal with Iran could emerge in the near future, just over a month after his administration reinstated a "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.
Trump on Friday told reporters that the U.S. is "down to the final moments" negotiating with Iran, and that he hoped military intervention would prove unnecessary.
"It’s an interesting time in the history of the world. But we have a situation with Iran that something is going to happen very soon, very, very soon," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "You’ll be talking about that pretty soon, I guess. Hopefully, we can have a peace deal. I’m not speaking out of strength or weakness, I’m just saying I’d rather see a peace deal than the other. But the other will solve the problem."…Read more
STEELE THE SHOW: Trump cuts off federal resources for law firm that helped fuel 2016 Russia hoax
