IRS to slash nearly 7K employees starting Thursday: reports
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is planning to slash approximately 7,000 probationary workers in Washington, D.C., and across the U.S. starting Thursday, according to reports. The layoffs will affect probationary workers who have been employed for one year or less and have not been able to secure full civil service protection, The Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the plans. Reuters also reported about the expected layoffs, citing a person familiar with the matter who said about 6,700 IRS workers, or 7% of the tax agency’s roughly 95,000-person workforce, would be eliminated. The source told Reuters that those employees on the chopping block included those holding positions that ranged from revenue agents, to specialized auditors to IT specialists across all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. TRUMP SIGNS ORDER INSTRUCTING DOGE TO MASSIVELY CUT FEDERAL WORKFORCE It is unclear how the layoffs will affect tax collection services at the IRS, which is expected to receive more than 140 million returns this year, according to the AP. The source told Reuters that the IRS will keep several thousand probationary employees who are considered critical for processing tax returns, including workers tasked with supporting and advocating for taxpayers. The AP’s source, meanwhile, reportedly said the job cuts will largely impact the employees in compliance. The compliance department oversees whether taxpayers are filing their returns, paying their taxes and meeting other tax obligations in full and on time by the April 15 due date. The IRS has not confirmed the reported layoff plan. Fox News Digital reached out to the IRS and the Department of Treasury for comment Thursday but did not immediately hear back. Laying off probationary federal employees comes as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to increase government efficiency and eliminate wasteful federal spending. The Department of Government Efficiency has been tasked with trimming the federal workforce, which includes laying off nearly all recent hires. The announcement comes after President Donald Trump stated on Jan. 29 that federal employees must return to in-person work by early February or face termination. IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were also told earlier this month that they were not eligible to accept the Trump administration’s buyout offer until mid-May, after the taxpayer filing deadline, the AP reported. LAWMAKERS FROM STATE WITH MOST FEDERAL WORKERS PER CAPITA WARN AGAINST TRUMP BUYOUT BID Trimming the workforce will partially undo the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which devoted $80 billion to employing 87,000 new IRS agents, according to a September 2023 report from the House Oversight Committee. The funds were used to hire agents who specifically targeted middle-class Americans, the oversight committee claimed. The Biden administration, however, argued that staffing up the IRS would help the federal government better ensure wealthy Americans were paying their fair share of taxes. Service performance and phone wait times at the IRS have improved in the past two filing seasons, according to a statement from the IRS in January. “This has been a historic period of improvement for the IRS, and people will see additional tools and features to help them with filing their taxes this tax season,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel wrote in the statement. “These taxpayer-focused improvements we’ve done so far are important, but they are just the beginning of what the IRS needs to do. More can be done with continued investment in the nation’s tax system.” Fox News’ Alexandra Koch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kash Patel’s confirmation as Trump FBI pick ‘will haunt you,’ Senate Dems warn GOP ahead of vote
Democrats on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee claimed their GOP counterparts would “rue the day” they confirm FBI Director nominee Kash Patel, who is slated for a final vote Thursday afternoon and is expected to be approved. “There’s no question here he is unqualified and unprepared,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said outside the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday morning. “The only question is whether my Republican colleagues will do the right thing.” FETTERMAN LOSES TWO TOP STAFFERS AS HE MAKES WAVES BY BUCKING DEMOCRATIC PARTY He warned that a vote in favor of Patel’s nomination “will haunt you.” “You will rue the day of this vote if it’s in favor of Kash Patel, because the American people will hold you accountable, and we will make sure that the American people know about this vote,” he concluded. The Senate will vote to end debate on Patel’s nomination in the late morning and conduct a final confirmation vote in the afternoon. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Judiciary Committee ranking member, led the morning press conference, telling reporters, “My Senate Republican colleagues are willfully ignoring myriad red flags about Mr. Patel, especially his recurring instinct to threaten retribution against his perceived enemies.” SCOOP: TOP GOP SEN. COTTON TO MEET WITH EMBATTLED TRUMP DEFENSE NOMINEE AS DOUBTS SWIRL “This is an extremely dangerous flaw for someone who seeks to lead the nation’s most powerful domestic investigative agency for the next 10 years,” he added. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., added, “Kash Patel, mark my words, will cause evil in this building behind us, and Republicans who vote for him will rue that day.” BATTLE OF THE CHAMBERS: TRUMP BUDGET TEST VOTE CLEARED IN SENATE AS HOUSE GOP LAGS BEHIND Durbin and the committee’s Democrats echoed claims they made earlier in the month about Patel directing terminations at the FBI already and allegedly lying during his confirmation hearing about it. They said “highly credible” whistleblower reports pointed to Patel “personally directing the ongoing purge of FBI employees prior to his Senate confirmation for the role.” But a representative for Patel’s nomination effort categorically denied the accusation and pushed back on Durbin’s claims that Patel had any involvement. The direction to begin terminating some FBI employees and identify all current and former bureau personnel assigned to Jan. 6 and Hamas cases for an internal review was handed down to acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll last month, the day following Patel’s confirmation hearing. Democrats pointed to the fact that Patel denied during the hearing having any knowledge about planned terminations of those involved in investigations involving former President Donald Trump. According to a senior transition team official for Patel, the nominee had departed the capital the night of his hearing, flying home to Las Vegas, where he had “been sitting there waiting for the process to play out.” MCCONNELL’S MENTAL ACUITY TARGETED BY TRUMP AFTER EX-SENATE LEADER JOINS DEMS AGAINST CABINET NOMINEES “Mr. Patel has been going through the confirmation process, and everything he has done since his nomination has been above board,” the official said in an interview earlier this month with Fox News Digital. “And any insinuation otherwise is false.” In addition to his trip home to Vegas, Patel has also spent time hunting away from Washington, the official said, providing photographic evidence of Patel’s activities.
Texas House unveils its private school voucher bill
Families participating in the program could receive about 85% of the amount public schools collect for each attending student from the state and local sources.
Wrestling mogul and Trump education pick McMahon clears Senate committee in heavyweight decision
The consideration of Linda McMahon to run the Department of Education (DoEd) will head to a full Senate vote after the Trump nominee advanced in a heavyweight decision on Thursday. McMahon testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee during her confirmation hearing last week, where she was grilled on recent spending cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), potentially dismantling the DoEd, and Title IX. “We need a strong leader at the department who will get our education system back on track,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said ahead of the committee vote. “Mrs. McMahon is the partner this committee needs.” On Thursday, the committee voted to advance the nomination of McMahon for Education Secretary to a full Senate vote. TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON SAYS SHUTTING DOWN DOE WOULD ‘REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION’ Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., spoke in opposition to her nomination during the vote on Thursday. “I like her personally. I respect the work she has done in building a large and successful business. But I think the main point that has to be made at this particular point in history is that it really doesn’t matter who the secretary of education or the secretary of labor is, because those people will not be calling the shots,” Sanders said, taking aim at President Donald Trump during his remarks. McMahon’s nomination now heads to the Senate floor where the entire chamber will vote on her nomination. At this time, the floor vote has not been scheduled. DEMS SPAR OVER DOGE CUTS WITH TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON Before entering the political scene, McMahon worked as the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon. During Trump’s first term, Linda McMahon also served as administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) before stepping down in 2019 to “return to the private sector.” McMahon is now being considered to head the Education Department, which Trump has said he wants to close “immediately.” “It’s a big con job,” Trump said the day before McMahon’s confirmation hearing. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.” The president said that if confirmed, he wants McMahon to “put herself out of a job.” The Education Department has been under the national spotlight in recent weeks, as DOGE, the department led by Elon Musk to slash federal costs, has cut hundreds of millions of spending on DEI programs being funded by DoEd. On Friday, DOGE announced that in just 48 hours, the department terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department, which totaled over $370 million.
Key Republican governor applauds Trump frenetic pace, says DOGE needed to ‘right size’ Washington
One month into President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is giving Trump a thumbs up for “moving fast and quick.” Trump has kept up a frenetic pace during his opening weeks back in the White House, with an avalanche of executive orders and actions. His muscular moves – applauded by Republicans and criticized by Democrats – have pushed the limits of executive power as the president has quickly put his stamp on the federal government. “It’s good to see somebody that just brings common sense policy back to the White House, but also is just doing what they promised the American people they would do,” Kemp, the popular conservative two-term governor of Georgia, emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview. CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS Kemp, the chair of the Republican Governors Association, faced political jabs earlier this decade from Trump over perceived grievances, but Trump made peace with the governor of the key southeastern battleground state last summer as he ran to win back the presidency. “From my perspective, it’s good to have somebody that we could work with back in the White House on a lot of things that we care about,” Kemp added. ONE MONTH IN TO HIS SECOND TERM, NEW POLLS SUGGEST TRUMP’S POLL NUMBERS SLIPPING Kemp is also applauding Trump’s creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with a mission to overhaul and downsize the federal government. Trump named Elon Musk – the world’s richest person and the chief executive of Tesla and Space X – to steer the organization. DOGE has swept through federal agencies since Trump was inaugurated a month ago, rooting out what the White House argues was billions in wasteful federal spending. It has also taken a meat cleaver to the federal workforce, resulting in a massive downsizing of employees. The moves by DOGE have triggered a slew of lawsuits in response. “I think everybody agrees that, you know, we needed some right sizing in the federal government,” Kemp said when asked about DOGE’s efforts. ” We cannot continue to spend like we’ve been spending, when you look at where interest rates are, debts and deficits, and there’s going to have to be some hard choices made. But that’s what they [Trump] campaigned on, so I applaud them for doing what they said.” Some of the cuts implemented by DOGE have affected the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which is based in Atlanta. “The CDC has 13,000 employees, so I think this is talking about dealing with 1,000 people. So, you know, in the realm of things, it’s not a tremendous cut,” Kemp argued. The governor added that “even Elon Musk himself said, ‘look, we’re going to make mistakes along the way.’ When we do that, we’re going to admit those and fix those.’ But they’re also going to find a lot of efficiencies, and I think that’s what they’ll do at the end of the day.” Kemp emphasized that “I think everybody understands there needs to be a right sizing in government, even at places like the CDC.” Kemp also spotlighted that the cost-cutting efforts by DOGE are similar to what Republican governors have been doing for years in their states. “That’s been going on in the States for a long time, especially in Republican states, where…great Republican governors have been making state government efficient, balancing our budgets,” he noted. “It’s been going on for a long time, just maybe wasn’t the same name.” Additionally, Kemp stressed that GOP governors “have prided ourselves on making government smaller, more efficient, making sure that we’re working for the people in our state.”
College football country seeks key tax exemption for athletes to enhance recruitment, boost team continuity
Whether their fans are cheering “Roll Tide,” “War Eagle,” “Go Dawgs” or even “Texas, Fight!”, lawmakers across the Deep South are working on legislation to exempt student-athletes’ name-image-likeness (NIL) income from taxation. Proponents say the move will boost recruitment abilities for their schools – thereby bringing in the needed financial boost to academics – and also level the playing field for colleges that are not in states which have no income tax in general. In Alabama, the state lawmaker representing Auburn told Fox News Digital he’s put forth legislation that would exempt any NIL income from the state’s income tax. GOP state Rep. Joe Lovvorn said that with Georgia working on similar legislation, it was important for him to get Alabama on track to do the same. ALABAMA GOV SIGNS ‘WHAT IS A WOMAN’ ACT “Until there is some level of uniformity across the board, states will need to do whatever they can to ensure their colleges and universities are in a position to succeed,” Lovvorn said. “I hope this situation serves as another reminder to Congress and the NCAA that national standards governing NIL and the transfer portal are needed sooner rather than later.” Just across the Chattahoochee River, Georgia lawmakers are continuing to pursue their legislation, with one noted Dawgs-fan lawmaker saying he was happy to see the state’s Saturday rival follow suit. State Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, quipped that college football is a “religion” in the Southeast, particularly among the SEC schools. “As far as the athletes being paid, the genie is out of the bottle… We just need to make sure we have some guardrails or something and so on in place to make sure that it’s just not the Wild, Wild West. And that’s what’s going on right now,” said Beach, who is leading Georgia’s version of the legislation. MIGRANT CONTROVERSY HITS HEARTLAND AS ALABAMA COUNCIL MEETING BOILS OVER Another consideration in Atlanta is the fact that other SEC schools are located in states without an income tax at all – including Tennessee and Texas A&M. “I’m not saying that’s the reason they made the college playoffs, but they are able to get five-star athletes and be competitive and put a good product on the field — what I want to do is, provide a good product to offer.” Beach said that, as of late, too many star athletes are transferring schools, comparing that dynamic to the past when players were iconically associated with their schools because of their longevity with the program. He cited Eli Manning and Ole Miss, Peyton Manning and Tennessee, and Matthew Stafford and Georgia, in that regard. Conversely, he cited reports the tax factor played into college quarterback Carson Beck’s transfer from the Bulldogs to the University of Miami Hurricanes. “You will pay zero income tax in the state of Florida on that $4 million of [NIL] income. In Georgia, you pay 5.3% — $230,000.” Meanwhile, a source familiar with negotiations over state NIL bills said there is some hesitation to move forward until Congress weighs in – in hopes of standardizing tax relief for NIL income across the board. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP A prominent constituent of Lovvorn’s who spent years as the face of the Tigers’ front office said that federal lawmakers are indeed looking to bring about the clarity and consistency that state officials have asked for. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who engineered 80 wins in his decade as Auburn’s coach, quipped that the idea of tax-free NIL money makes him want to go back and work his way through the collegiate system again as a player. “A lot of these kids make a lot of money,” Tuberville said, adding that while he does not want to interfere with state legislators, he and Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Cruz of Texas have been trying to “make all 50 states the same.” Tuberville said there should not be an advantage for one state over the other, and that if action is not taken on NIL, “you’re going to lose a lot of sports and it’s just unfortunate.” He noted the importance college sports play in training U.S. Olympians, and suggested the issue needs legislative clarity before the games come to Los Angeles in a few years.
Disputed DOD nominee is ‘best person’ to implement Trump and Hegseth agenda, key conservative group says
FIRST ON FOX: An influential conservative group is throwing its weight behind Elbridge Colby’s nomination to serve in a top position at the Defense Department. The Heritage Foundation said, in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital, that Colby is “without question the most influential defense policy thinker in over twenty years.” “For far too long, the United States has employed the Department of Defense – and the men and women of the U.S. military – to engage in activities that were not central to American interests,” the letter read. “From peacekeeping operations in far-flung theaters, to nation-building among cultures riddled with ethno-sectarian and religious strife, to democracy building in areas with no history of the rule of law, the Department of Defense has spent much of the post-Cold War era expending resources and American lives in conducting operations that are tangential to U.S. interests.” TOP GOP SEN. COTTON TO MEET WITH EMBATTLED TRUMP DEFENSE NOMINEE AS DOUBTS SWIRL MAGA loyalists have muscled Republicans who are hesitant of Colby’s nomination to serve as undersecretary of defense for policy, mostly over his realist worldview. Colby has suggested that the U.S. living with a nuclear Iran is more plausible than countering the country’s nuclear assets, a position that has reportedly prompted concern among Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a member of the Armed Services Committee, which will vote on Colby’s nomination first. Colby is “the single best person to implement President Trump’s and Secretary Hegseth’s policies within the Department of Defense and ensure that American lives and resources are used judiciously against prioritized threats,” according to Heritage. The current acting undersecretary of defense for policy, Alex Velez-Green, was plucked for the administration while working as a policy advisor for the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense. MAGA LOYALISTS TAKE AIM AT GOP SENATOR AS KEY TRUMP DEFENSE POST SPARKS CONTROVERSY: ‘WHY THE OPPOSITION?’ Vice President JD Vance expressed support for the Trump nominee, writing that “Bridge has consistently been correct about the big foreign policy debates of the last 20 years.” “He was critical of the Iraq War, which made him unemployable in the 2000s era conservative movement. He built a relationship with [the Center for a New American Security] when it was one of the few institutions that would even hire a foreign policy realist,” Vance said. Colby, who worked at the Pentagon under Trump’s first term, has long asserted the U.S. should limit its resources in the Middle East and refocus on China as the bigger threat. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Ala., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told Roll Call Colby’s nomination posts “a concern to a number of senators.” Colby served in the first Trump administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development and was the primary author of the 2018 U.S. National Security Strategy. Donald Trump Jr. wrote of Colby in an op-ed for Human Events on Tuesday: “He starts off in exactly the right place – with the concrete interests of the American people, not abstractions like ‘the rules based international order’ or spreading democracy in the Middle East.” Meanwhile, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk accused Cotton over the weekend of “working behind the scenes” to kill Colby’s nomination. “Colby is one of the most important pieces to stop the Bush/Cheney cabal at DOD,” Kirk wrote in a post on X. “Why is Tom Cotton doing this?” Elon Musk echoed Kirk’s post: “Why the opposition to Bridge? What does he think Bridge will do?” Cotton will meet with Colby in the coming days before making up his mind on how to vote, sources told Fox News Digital. Fox News’ Julia Johnson and Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to confirming Kash Patel and the marathon Senate voting session to tee up Trump era
The Senate votes late Thursday morning to break a filibuster on the nomination of Kash Patel to run the FBI. Senators will vote to confirm him around 1:45 p.m. ET, with the final result due after 2 p.m ET. He will be confirmed along party lines. Then the Senate returns to the budget framework to advance parts of President Donald Trump’s policy agenda. TRUMP APPROVAL RATING HITS 47%, AS AMERICANS NAME HIS MOST SIGNIFICANT MOVE SO FAR: POLL The Senate began its 50-hour debate on the the budget Tuesday night. The budget process is lengthy and arduous. It culminates in a marathon vote series – known as a vote-a-rama Thursday night through Friday – if not the wee hours of Saturday morning. The last such vote-a-rama consumed 41 consecutive votes and took more than a day in real time to complete. This onerous exercise is all to get to that final product that enables Republicans to bypass the Senate filibuster later. However, the proposal must be fiscal in nature and not add to the deficit over a 10-year period. LAWMAKER WHO LOST SON TO SUICIDE WARNS SENATE THAT ‘BIG TECH IS THE BIG TOBACCO OF THIS GENERATION’ Here’s something important to know: The mechanics just spelled out create nothing more than a shell. This is a legislative “chassis.” BOTH the House and Senate must have this in place to eventually debate substantive and “binding” provisions of legislation down the road – be it border security or massive tax cuts. No “chassis,” then no final bill. So this is an important phase in moving the president’s agenda, but not the end result. House Republicans will try to advance their own plan next week. It focuses more on tax cuts and has the blessing of the president. But the House and Senate must still get on the same page. And so far, they are working at cross purposes.
Dept of Ed spending soared 749% despite downsizing, new DOGE-inspired initiative reveals
FIRST ON FOX: A new initiative is tracking government agency spending in comparison to growth, and a conservative fiscal watchdog group has discovered what it deems to be an alarming trend. According to OpenTheBooks, staff levels at the Department of Education have decreased since 2000, but the agency’s spending grew by 749%. OpenTheBooks says the calculation is “even more galling” after recent statistics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that student achievement has still not recovered since it saw big drops during the COVID-19 pandemic. OpenTheBooks’ data on the Department of Education is part of a wider initiative being unveiled by the group on Thursday to chart agency outlays versus agency spending in an effort to provide the public with “a clearer picture of the government as it stands.” As OpenTheBooks tracked agency spending versus size, it found that federal agency spending has far outpaced the rate at which these agencies have grown over time. In a report announcing the new initiative, the fiscal watchdog group cited complaints about purported cost-saving efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its leader, tech billionaire Elon Musk, questioning the need for spending cuts in the face of a federal workforce that has largely remained static in terms of size. In some cases, such as with the Department of Education, the group found as much as a sevenfold increase in spending while staff headcounts remained relatively static or even went down. At the National Institutes of Health, for example, staff levels appreciated by 21.5%, but spending grew 301%. TRUMP ISSUES WARNING ABOUT WASTEFUL SPENDING, ORDERS ‘RADICAL TRANSPARENCY’ AMID DOGE PROBES, REVELATIONS Savannah Newhouse, a Department of Education spokesperson, slammed past administrations for “frivolously spending taxpayer dollars on priorities that do nothing to help our students learn.” Newhouse cited programs such as “DEI training in teacher prep programs and ‘Equity Assistance Centers,’” at the department, adding that the agency’s lack of focus on student outcomes was evidenced by recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. “Under President Trump, the department is aggressively auditing our spending to ensure maximum impact for students and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” she said. In addition to tracking outlays versus agency growth, OpenTheBooks also found that at least 75 federal agencies listed in the Federal Register are effectively “defunct or obsolete,” as they have become subsumed by other entities, renamed or in some cases no longer even exist. The group noted that records of these “defunct” agencies are frequently out of date, making it hard for the public to ascertain a complete picture of the federal government. “In many federal agencies, spending has outpaced not just inflation but also growing headcounts – often many times over. This begs an important question: Where is the money going?” OpenTheBooks CEO John Hart said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Taxpayers deserve to see the growth in spending in each agency so they can decide how many we need … If the excessive waste and fraud we’ve uncovered over the years — and DOGE is highlighting — is any guide, taxpayers may be better served by far fewer than 441 agencies, including the ones that are defunct.” ‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’: DOGE’S TOP FIVE MOST SHOCKING REVELATIONS So far, OpenTheBooks has charted 50 federal agencies as far back as the data goes, and the group has created an accessible database that gives the public “a clearer picture of the government as it stands.” As the group charts more agencies, it will periodically release their findings. Other notable examples the fiscal watchdog group highlighted include the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Agency for International Development (USAID). At FEMA, staffing levels grew roughly 290% over the last quarter-century, but spending ballooned more than seven times faster at a rate of 2,096%. At USAID, staffing levels grew roughly 218% while spending grew about 468%.
Group of DEI workers sue to stop Trump executive orders
A group of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) workers and civil rights organizations are suing to stop a series of President Donald Trump’s executive orders intended to restore merit back to American institutions. Earlier this month, a coalition of higher education officials, restaurant workers, and the City of Baltimore filed a federal lawsuit challenging what Democracy Forward lawyers described as Trump’s “crusade to erase” DEI and accessibility from the U.S. Plaintiff and Justice Department attorneys were in Maryland federal court regarding the complaint on Wednesday, the same day a second federal lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia targeting Trump’s DEI executive orders. The new complaint was filed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal on behalf of non-profit advocacy organizations. In what has become a familiar refrain over the past three weeks, the plaintiffs in the Maryland case, represented by Democracy Forward are seeking injunctive relief. Specifically, they want U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson to issue a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction, pausing any action connected to Trump’s Executive Order, “Ending Radical Government DEI Programs.” FEDERAL JUDGE TEMPORARILY STOPS TRUMP ADMIN FROM FIRING 11 INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS ASSIGNED TO DEI PROGRAMS The plaintiffs claim they are not challenging the president’s ability to set policy priorities, rather the constitutional limits on the president’s power. Tey further claim the executive order violates the Constitution and that terminating programs which are statutorily mandated is unlawful. After Wednesday’s hearing, Abelson took no action to pause the Trump DEI executive orders, at least for now. Abelson questioned Justice Department lawyer Pardis Gheibi, who maintained it would be a “remarkable proposition” that the judicial branch would stop the president from asking the U.S. Attorney General to come up with a strategy regarding DEI programs, contracts, and grants over the next three months. The judge asked Gheibi why he shouldn’t pause the termination of DEI contracts and grants until the government’s policy is made clear. Earlier in the hearing, Aleshadye Getachew, arguing for the plaintiffs, told Abelson the Trump administration’s executive orders on DEI are having a “chilling” effect on the First Amendment rights of her clients. “Speech was chilled almost immediately after these orders were issued,” Getachew said. Abelson seemed to agree with the plaintiffs at least on that point, stating: “What they’re saying is, we are being precluded from engaging in all kinds of speech … inclusivity, or the history of our country … being chilled from engaging in speech that we would otherwise be engaged in.” Ultimately, Abelson said he would take the motion under advisement and that he is “not in a position to rule at this time.” The judge added that he will endeavor to move as quickly as he can to address all the arguments that everyone has raised. TRUMP SCORES BIG LEGAL WIN AGAINST PULITZER PRIZE BOARD MEMBERS AS LAWSUIT MOVES TO DISCOVERY Meanwhile, the new 101-page lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court on Wednesday alleges the executive orders violate the First and Fifth Amendments, as well as constitute discrimination against Black and transgender people. Specifically, plaintiffs cite executive orders, “Ending Radical and Wasteful DEI Programs and Preferencing,” “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” “Without evidence or support, the Trump Administration is using the power and resources of the federal government to launch a fullscale assault on DEIA – not only within federal agencies, but throughout the private sector in contravention of the Constitution and other federal laws,” the complaint says. “People of color, women, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities served by Plaintiffs’ equity programs will be directly harmed by the Trump Administration’s discriminatory actions, as Plaintiffs face censorship of speech and termination of funding and activities that support and benefit vulnerable communities.” The plaintiffs reference the May 2020 in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that prompted mass demonstrations and riots across the country. “As evidenced during his first term in office by his response to the mass demonstrations against systemic anti-Black racism after the police killing of George Floyd, President Trump has sought to quell any ensuing efforts to advance racial justice, including through DEIA initiatives,” the lawsuit says. “That singular focus has continued to his current Administration: the recent Executive Orders also suggest that DEIA programs are inconsistent with merit, and do so through their text, the aggressive messaging around them, and the way the Administration has implemented them.” The plaintiffs argue that Trump’s emphasis on merit “relies on longstanding stereotypes that Black people and other underrepresented groups are inherently unqualified and lack merit despite their accomplishments.” “Rather than acknowledging the need for DEIA programs to remove unfair barriers to opportunity for Black people and other excluded groups, the Executive Orders rely on these false stereotypes to support the baseless assertion that those programs provide racial preferences to unqualified Black people and other people of color. The Executive Orders simultaneously codify preferences for white people by suggesting that efforts to address racial inequity – for example, by ‘promoting diversity’ – are, by definition, reverse discrimination.” White House spokesman Harrison Fields said both lawsuits represented “nothing more than an extension of the left’s resistance,” adding in a statement to the New York Times that the administration was “ready to face them in court.” “Radical leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump to advance his wildly popular agenda,” Fields said.