Democrats turn on each other over Trump address stunts
Democrats displayed their internal party divisions in the wake of President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress. Democrats who are a part of leadership or more aligned with the establishment are clashing with progressives, many of whom heckled Trump throughout his more than 90-minute speech on Tuesday. The party is facing pressure from grassroots organizations to take a more combative approach – in lieu of decorum – to the Trump administration’s dismantling of the federal bureaucracy. While moderate Democrats are frustrated over the progressives’ disruptions, progressives complained about a lack of direction and clear strategy ahead of Trump’s first joint session address to Congress since he began his second term. “People are pissed at leadership too,” one senior House Democrat told Axios. “Everyone is mad at everyone.” TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM TRUMP’S ADDRESS TO JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., told Axios he believed the outbursts were “inappropriate.” “When a president — my president, your president — is speaking, we don’t interrupt, we don’t pull those stunts,” he said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, escorted out of the chamber after the Democrat repeatedly jeered at Trump, waving his cane during the speech. Some Democrats had warned their colleagues against protesting Trump, with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying they should let him “stew in his own juice.” Democrats protested nonetheless, including remaining seated as Trump celebrated his policies, and held up signs reading “false,” “lies,” “Musk steals,” and “Save Medicaid.” Some female Democratic lawmakers wore pink suits in protest of policies they claim are anti-woman, while other Democrats were heard jeering Trump throughout the speech. A centrist, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, told Axios, “I didn’t take that approach myself, so obviously I don’t condone it.” “If anyone is thinking that it was an effective strategy, they’re probably in an echo chamber,” Golden added. “My take is that the average American thought the optics were pretty bad. “I think it was a big mistake,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., told Axios of the disruptions. “I’m an old school traditional type guy, I think we should be treating the president with deference. So I think it was inappropriate.” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., took to X to condemn the “sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.” ‘HE’S BACK’: TRUMP’S JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS TO BE BLANKETED WITH 6-FIGURE AD BUY TOUTING TAX PLAN “It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained,” he wrote of the Democrats’ outbursts. “We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to – and it may not be the winning message.” “I don’t think that’s the way forward,” Fetterman added to Axios. DJ Daniel, a 13-year-old boy who survived cancer, stole the show Tuesday evening when Trump introduced him to the audience and officially swore him in as a member of the Secret Service. Daniel received a standing ovation from a majority of the crowd, although some Democrats were seen sitting at various times while Trump was speaking about the 13-year-old. “Not standing for Trump would have been a fine strategy, but you need to separate him from the kid with cancer,” another centrist House Democrat told Axios, condemning his party’s messaging. “It would be a compliment to call it a strategy,” the lawmaker added, noting the progressives’ signs were edited online to read “TDS,” referring to the term known as “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Progressives, meanwhile, argued that a lack of direction from leadership forced them to develop their own approach. “There was definitely frustration about lack of guidance [or a] plan,” one progressive member of Congress told Axios. “People are super pissed that we didn’t get more direction from leadership,” another progressive added. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., is planning on bringing a resolution Thursday to censure Green for “breach of proper conduct,” and some Democrats, including Golden and Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., have not ruled out supporting it, Axios reported. “What [Green] did was inappropriate — and he became the story, not the price of eggs,” a centrist House Democrat told Axios. Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
GOP fights back against ‘Trump-proof’ sanctuary jurisdictions
Republicans are pushing back against so-called sanctuary cities and jurisdictions as President Donald Trump ramps up plans for mass deportations. “All of the mayors here today are actively working to harm the American people you represent,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told the mayors of four sanctuary cities during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday. “You all have blood on your hands.” The comments, which were addressed to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, come as the Trump administration continues to push the speedy deportations of illegal immigrants that the president promised on the campaign trail. But those efforts have been hindered by sanctuary jurisdictions, which have passed rules that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities, most notably by not honoring U.S. Immigration Customs and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) detainer requests. ‘SANCTUARY’ CITY MAYOR CONFRONTED AFTER GANG MEMBER ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTS FEDERAL OFFICERS The four mayors who testified at Wednesday’s hearing represented some of the largest sanctuary jurisdictions in the country, a policy that has generated controversy amid multiple high-profile crimes that have been committed by illegal immigrants. “Sanctuary mayors owe the American people an explanation for city policies that jeopardize public safety and violate federal immigration law by releasing dangerous criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets,” House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said in a press release before the hearing. One sanctuary jurisdiction that was not represented at the Wednesday hearing was California, which in 2018 passed “Trump-proof” legislation aimed at protecting the state’s illegal residents from federal immigration authorities. San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond told Fox News Digital that the law, SB 54, has severely limited what local California jurisdictions can do to fight back against illegal immigration. “They can’t do anything about it,” Desmond said of the state’s local law enforcement agencies under SB 54, adding that even if officers see suspected illegal immigrants coming ashore in boats, they are forbidden from helping enforce federal immigration laws. RED STATE LEADER CALLS FOR STATES TO STAND BEHIND TRUMP’S BAN ON FUNDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION “That’s been hindering California as far as law enforcement and immigration enforcement,” Desmond said. Desmond noted that some California jurisdictions have even gone further than SB 54, putting additional barriers in place to hinder immigration enforcement. “My colleagues in December voted to not allow our law enforcement in our jails to be able to notify ICE directly that this person who has been convicted and tried and sentenced and now in our jails is here illegally,” Desmond said. “They now have to get a warrant from a state or federal judge to turn anybody over to ICE,” he added, noting that the rule is “just another obstacle blocking law enforcement.” “My Democratic colleagues are trying to put more obstacles in the way of actually reporting criminals to ICE,” Desmond said. Nevertheless, Trump border czar Tom Homan has vowed to fight back against sanctuary cities, saying last month that federal authorities are “going to keep coming” no matter what road blocks are put in the administration’s way. “They’re not going to stop us,” he said during an appearance on Fox News. “It’s less efficient to arrest a bad guy in public where he’s hiding from us, and we’re trying to arrest him on his turf rather than arrest them in a county jail, which is where we should be arresting them. It takes one agent to arrest the bad guy in the county jail. It takes a whole team to find somebody that doesn’t want to be found in the neighborhoods, but we’re going to keep doing this.” That effort is being boosted by Trump’s GOP allies in Congress, who on Wednesday sought to highlight the dangers posed by sanctuary policies. “Every crime committed by someone in the United States illegally is a crime that would not have been committed. Laken Riley, Ruby Garcia, Rachel Morin, Jocelyn Nungaray, the woman set on fire in the New York subway, these are all assaults, rapes, murders and other crimes that would not have taken the lives of these people if those people were not here illegally,” Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., told the four mayors. “They were given safe harbor.”
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Federal appeals court sides with Trump on firing head of watchdog agency
A federal appeals court cleared the way for President Donald Trump to fire Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, on Wednesday. Dellinger, appointed to the role by former President Joe Biden, sued the Trump administration in Washington, D.C., federal court after his Feb. 7 firing. D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had argued in a filing last month that Dellinger’s firing was “unlawful.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sided with the Trump administration in a Wednesday ruling, however. Dellinger is likely to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. SUPREME COURT PAUSES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S EFFORT TO FIRE HEAD OF WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION AGENCY FEDERAL JUDGE HINTS SHE WILL CONTINUE BLOCKING TRUMP FROM FIRING HEAD OF WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION AGENCY Jackson claimed that the court “finds that the elimination of the restrictions on plaintiff’s removal would be fatal to the defining and essential feature of the Office of Special Counsel as it was conceived by Congress and signed into law by the President: its independence. The Court concludes that they must stand.” Dellinger has maintained the argument that, by law, he can only be dismissed from his position for job performance problems, which were not cited in an email dismissing him from his post. Earlier in February, liberal Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson voted to outright deny the administration’s request to approve the firing. Conservative justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissented, saying the lower court overstepped. They also cast doubt on whether courts have the authority to restore to office someone the president has fired. While acknowledging that some officials appointed by the president have contested their removal, Gorsuch wrote in his opinion that “those officials have generally sought remedies like backpay, not injunctive relief like reinstatement.”
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Fetterman calls out Dems’ ‘unhinged petulance’ after Trump speech: ‘We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarm’
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., called out his own party the day after President Donald Trump’s address before a joint session of Congress, warning that the Democrats are becoming like a blaring car alarm that people ignore. “A sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance. It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained. We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to—and it may not be the winning message,” the senator said in a post on X. Some lawmakers held signs up during Trump’s speech with messages including “FALSE,” “SAVE MEDICAID,” “PROTECT VETERANS” and “MUSK STEALS.” ‘COULDN’T CLAP FOR A 13-YEAR-OLD BOY’: GOP SLAM ‘CHILDISH’ DEM SILENCE ON SUPPORTING CANCER SURVIVOR Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was removed from the chamber after being disruptive. Some Democrats opted not to attend the address and a few others who did attend chose to walk out. “The Democrats should lose the Midterms based on their behavior at last night’s Joint Address to Congress,” Trump declared in a Wednesday post on Truth Social. Trump declared that “Republicans should utilize the footage provided on the total disrespect they showed to all of those that were honored that night, including young ladies who were killed by illegal migrants, people with terminal cancer, etc. They didn’t even have the common courtesy to stand, smile, or applaud. This could be, on analyzing the full tape of this Historic Event, your full CAMPAIGN TO VICTORY! In other words, Republicans can take what happened last night, and win any Race in the Country.” BILL TO PREVENT MALES FROM WOMEN’S SPORTS RECEIVES NO SUPPORT FROM SENATE DEMS: WHO WERE THEY? Fetterman on Wednesday agreed with Trump’s strong warning toward the terror group Hamas. “You can choose. Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump declared on Truth Social. “I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.” “This is your last warning! For the leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance. Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!” Fetterman, a staunch supporter of Israel, approved of Trump’s warning. “Free all the hostages or start killing Hamas members again. I fully agree with @POTUS,” the senator tweeted. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP An agreement between the terror group and Israel called for negotiations regarding a second phase during which hostages would be freed in exchange for additional Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and Israel pulling out of Gaza, according to the Associated Press. Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua said that the “best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages” is via negotiations regarding that phase, the AP reported.