TribCast: Texas and the second Trump administration
Matthew Choi, our Washington correspondent, joins the gang to discuss what lies ahead with Trump back in the White House.
Reverend asks Trump to have ‘mercy’ on immigrants, LGBTQ children who ‘fear for their lives’
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance looked visibly irritated during the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday when the sermon took a political turn. Among the faith leaders who spoke was Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, who had been a vocal critic of Trump and the U.S. government following George Floyd’s death. On Trump’s first full day back in office, Budde, of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, delivered a sermon focused on “unity,” but her remarks grew pointed when she brought up immigrants and LGBTQ youth. The reverend spoke directly to the president, saying “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic and Republican and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.” TRUMP NOMINEES COLLINS, STEFANIK TO FACE SENATE GRILLING AS VA, UN PICKS; BESSENT GETS COMMITTEE VOTE “And the people – the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meet packing plants, who wash the dishes at their restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors,” Budde said. “They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues… and temples.” The reverend asked Trump to have “mercy on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones of persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome, our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to a stranger.” The vice president and second lady leaned over and whispered to one another during the sermon. At the start of her remarks, Budde began to “pray for unity as people and nation, not for agreement, political or otherwise, but for the kind of unity that fosters community across diversity and division, a unity that serves the common good.” “Unity, in this sense, is a threshold requirement for people to live in freedom and together in a free society,” she said. “Rather,” Budde continued, “Unity is a way of being with one another, and it encompasses and respects differences that teaches us to hold multiple perspectives and life experiences as valid and worthy of respect that enables us in our communities to genuinely care for one another, even when we disagree.” TRUMP BRINGS BACK DIET COKE BUTTON TO WHITE HOUSE OVAL OFFICE She went on to say, “Those of us gathered here, we are not naive about the realities of politics when power and wealth and competing interests are at stake, when views of what America should be are in conflict. When there are strong opinions across a spectrum of possibilities and starkly different understandings of what the right course of action is there, there will be winners and losers when those witness decisions made that set the course of public policy and the prioritization of resources.” “Not everyone’s prayers will be answered in the way we would like. But for some, the loss of their hopes and dreams will be far more than political,” she said, adding that “all the faiths represented here affirm the birthright of all people as children of our one God. In public discourse, honoring each other’s dignity means refusing to mock and model, discount, demonize those with whom we differ, choosing instead to respect, respectfully, to make our differences, and whenever possible, to seek common ground.” In his inaugural address, Trump asserted that there are “two genders, male and female,” to thunderous applause. “I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” he said. “We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit based.” The president has promised mass deportations of criminal illegal immigrants and further sparked controversy by signing an executive order eliminating birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. It’s not the first time Budde made her left-leaning political views known. A video clip from 2020 shows Budde speaking to an ABC News reporter while protesting in Washington, D.C. “It is a message for a call to justice – for swift justice for George Floyd,” Budde, wearing a face mask, said at the time. “For systemic justice for all brown and Black people who have been under the knee of this country in ways that we have witnessed time and time again.” She went on to say, “This is wrong, and this rising up – this spontaneous uprising of people mostly half my age or younger, they are the ones we should be listening to.” Budde also testified before Congress regarding a June 1, 2020, confrontation between demonstrators and law enforcement near St. John’s Church in Lafayette Square. She said “our government resorted to acts of violence against peaceful protesters” and said the Episcopal church believes the issues of “racial and social justice are core tenants of the Christian faith.” Budde also condemned Trump for holding up a Bible outside the church following the unrest. Testifying virtually at the time, she told a House committee, “When the President held up a Bible outside our church as if to claim the mantle of spiritual authority over what had just transpired, I knew that I had to speak. Nowhere does the Bible condone the use of violence against the innocent.” Trump revisited that same church on Monday morning before he was sworn in as the 47th president. Fox News’ Sarah Tobianski contributed to this report
President Trump urged to pardon 76-year-old grandmother, others in prison for pro-life activism
Amid newly inaugurated President Donald Trump’s pardon of nearly 1,500 January 6 protesters, anti-abortion groups are calling on the president to pardon a 76-year-old grandmother and 20 others who were imprisoned and prosecuted for pro-life protests under the Biden Department of Justice. One group, the Thomas More Society, a law firm specializing in pro-life cases, filed a petition to the new president in which it laid out the legal grounds for him to issue pardons and pointed out how President Joe Biden abused the justice system to target these pro-life activists. Steve Crampton, a senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, told Fox News Digital that it is “absolutely vital” these activists be pardoned to restore equality under the law. “We hope by President Trump’s actions here that he will restore some sanity and rule of law to the approach of the Department of Justice and the FBI, but also help move this culture back toward a culture of life rather than one of death,” said Crampton. “This small act on his part would, in fact, serve to kind of ignite a momentous movement toward restoring a respect for life in this nation that’s so desperately needed.” WHITE HOUSE HINTS AT ‘MASSIVE’ ANNOUNCEMENT FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP ON FIRST FULL DAY IN OFFICE Trump indicated several times during his campaign that he is open to issuing pardons for some of these pro-lifers who were prosecuted under a federal law called the Freedom of Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The activists were convicted of FACE Act violations for participating in various “sit-in” protests inside abortion clinics in Washington, D.C., Nashville, Detroit, Long Island and Manhattan. According to the Thomas More Society, Biden’s Department of Justice used the FACE Act to increase sentences for crimes that would otherwise have been simple trespassing charges. The group says Biden sought to make examples of these pro-lifers, prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law, despite their sit-in protests inside abortion clinics being entirely peaceful and with no threat of violence or intimidation. Now that Trump is back in the White House, the Thomas More Society believes he can restore justice for these 21 activists and, in so doing, help restore confidence and trust in the justice system among the American people. “In my lifetime, I’ve never seen a president honor his campaign promises the way this president has,” said Crampton. “So, we’re very hopeful that he will do so again in this case. And for these people who are really just salt of the earth, the best kind of folks that ought to be in their communities doing good rather than behind bars.” TRUMP PARDONS NEARLY EVERY JAN 6 DEFENDANT BUT SAYS HE’S JUST GETTING STARTED Of the 21 activists prosecuted under the Biden administration’s use of the FACE Act, nine are currently in prison. Several of those in prison are elderly, with three, Jean Marshall, Paullette Harlow and Joan Andrews Bell, in their 70s. The eldest is Bell, who, at 76, has seven adult children and seven grandchildren. She was sentenced to over two years in prison. One activist, Heather Idoni, 59, who was sentenced to two years, has undergone serious health difficulties and suffered a minor stroke while in prison. The longest prison sentence went to 31-year-old Lauren Handy, who is currently serving a nearly five-year sentence for her role in organizing a 2020 sit-in protest at the Washington, D.C., Surgi-Clinic run by Dr. Cesare Santangelo. Also facing prison time is 89-year-old Eva Edl, a survivor of a communist concentration camp, who has been active in the pro-life movement for decades. LEADERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD REACT TO PRESIDENT TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE RETURN “Down is up and up is down in this case,” said Crampton. “These people are folks who, some of them, have adopted several special-needs children from places like Ukraine. Some are missionaries to China and Ukraine and the worst places on the planet, going out of their way to do good to people that are in desperate need. These are folks that ought to be receiving those citizenship medals that President Biden is handing out to the likes of George Soros, who is trying to destroy our nation.” “We must restore the rule of law,” he went on. “The questioning of Mr. Trump’s Cabinet appointees this past week, ironically enough, from the left, points again and again, back to the need not to single out political opponents for prosecution and so forth.” “We have recently undertaken a disrespect for the rule of law that has undermined any respect for authority in general, let alone the law in particular,” he said. “So, I really think that this also is a small step back to restoring that absolutely essential respect for the rule of law that we must have if America is to survive.”
4 states sue to block illegal migrants from census count used to assign congressional seats, electoral votes
The attorneys general of Louisiana, Kansas, Ohio and West Virginia are suing to block the U.S. Census Bureau from including illegal immigrants in the count used to apportion congressional seats and electoral votes. The lawsuit filed in Louisiana federal court on Sunday – the day before President Donald Trump took office – alleges that the Biden administration decided to include illegal immigrants counted in the 2020 census as part of the population tally to apportion congressional seats and electoral votes. That allegedly resulted in Ohio and West Virginia each losing a congressional seat and an electoral vote to other states with larger populations of illegal immigrants and temporary visa holders living there. The lawsuit says Texas gained one congressional seat and one electoral vote, and California kept a congressional seat and an electoral vote “that it would have otherwise lost.” The attorneys general argue Louisiana and Kansas are each likely to lose a congressional seat and an electoral vote in the 2030 reapportionment if the practice continues. TRUMP SIGNS ORDER ENDING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP FOR CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS “We shouldn’t lose representation in Congress due to the presence of illegal aliens harbored by other states,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. “Counting Illegal Aliens in the census to determine Congressional seats and electoral votes is unlawful. We have sued to stop it.” In February 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau developed criteria for the 2020 census, dubbed the “Residence Rule,” stating that foreign nationals living in the U.S. are counted in the census and allocated to the state where their “usual residence” is located. The lawsuit notes how that was regardless of whether those foreign nationals are lawfully present in the U.S. and “regardless of whether any visa they may possess is temporary.” After the 2020 census, the lawsuit says former President Biden’s Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, as well as the Census Bureau and its director, Robert Santos, decided to include “illegal aliens and aliens holding temporary visas (‘nonimmigrant aliens’) in the census figures used for determining the apportionment of the House of Representatives and Electoral College votes.” The lawsuit says the Residence Rule violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal representation principle by “robbing the people of the Plaintiff States of their rightful share of political representation, while systematically redistributing political power to states with high numbers of illegal aliens and nonimmigrant aliens,” as well as Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution by “necessitating an unconstitutional distribution of Electoral College votes among the states.” TRUMP TO DEPLOY MILITARY TO BORDER, END BIDEN PAROLE POLICIES IN FLURRY OF DAY ONE EXECUTIVE ORDERS “The Residence Rule also breaches the federal government’s constitutional obligation to conduct an ‘actual Enumeration’ of the number of “persons in each State,” the lawsuit says. “The phrase ‘persons in each State’ was understood at both the Founding and in the Reconstruction era to be restricted to United States citizens and permanent resident aliens who had been lawfully admitted to the body politic constituted by the Constitution.” It continues, “Aliens who are unlawfully or temporarily present in the United States did not qualify because they are not entitled to political representation. It has long been understood that foreign diplomats temporarily in the U.S. also did not qualify.” “But, in any case, the Fourteenth Amendment separately requires that illegal aliens who have been denied the right to vote be excluded from state apportionment,” the lawsuit says. “Thus, the actual enumeration of the population of the states cannot include such aliens. Only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (“LPRs,” also known as “green card holders”) can be included.” The attorneys general argue that illegal immigration “affects the distribution of seats in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College because the illegal alien population is both large and highly concentrated in a minority of states.” The lawsuit goes on to summarize research suggesting there are about 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., stating that over the last three decades, the United States “has been undergoing the largest wave of immigration in American history.”
‘Unlawful DEI-motivated’ workplace discrimination to be rooted out by Trump’s new acting EEOC chair
President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) vowed to make rooting out illegal DEI practices in the workplace a priority, she said. “Consistent with the President’s Executive Orders and priorities, my priorities will include rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination; protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination; defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single-sex spaces at work; protecting workers from religious bias and harassment, including antisemitism; and remedying other areas of recent under-enforcement,” Andrea Lucas said in a press release provided to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. Lucas was appointed to the EEOC as a commissioner in 2020 under the first Trump administration and has served in the role since. The EEOC is the federal government’s only agency authorized to investigate and sue private companies and employers over employment discrimination. “I am honored to be chosen by President Trump to lead the EEOC, our nation’s premier civil rights agency enforcing federal employment anti-discrimination laws,” Lucas said of her appointment. “I look forward to restoring evenhanded enforcement of employment civil rights laws for all Americans. In recent years, this agency has remained silent in the face of multiple forms of widespread, overt discrimination.” FEDERAL COMMISSIONER FIRES BACK AT MARK CUBAN FOR DIVERSITY CLAIM, DELIVERS WARNING ABOUT DEI: ‘MORE PROBLEMS’ Trump signed a bevy of executive actions and orders on Monday after he was sworn in as the nation’s 47th president, including ones related to diversity, equity and inclusion, better known as DEI programs. “The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,” Trump’s executive order on ending “radical and wasteful” DEI programs states. “This was a concerted effort stemming from President Biden’s first day in office.” “That ends today,” the executive order reads. “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.” EEOC COMMISSIONER RESPONDS TO SUPREME COURT RULING AGAINST RACE-BASED COLLEGE ADMISSIONS Lucas echoed Trump’s views on DEI programs within the federal government and beyond in her statement Tuesday, championing that the nation “must reject the twin lies of identity politics.” TRUMP PRAISED FOR EXECUTIVE ACTIONS ON BORDER, DEI, ENERGY: ‘COMMON SENSE DAY IN AMERICA’ “Our employment civil rights laws are a matter of individual rights,” Lucas said. “We must reject the twin lies of identity politics: that justice is measured by group outcomes and that civil rights exist solely to remedy harms against certain groups.” “I intend to dispel the notion that only the ‘right sort of’ charging party is welcome through our doors and to reinforce instead the fundamental belief enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and our civil rights laws—that all people are ‘created equal.’ I am committed to ensuring equal justice under the law and to focusing on equal opportunity, merit, and colorblind equality.”
Chip Roy leads House Republicans in effort to repeal law used by Biden administration to prosecute pro-lifers
FIRST ON FOX: More than 20 House Republicans are backing a bill that would repeal the law used by former President Biden’s administration to prosecute dozens of pro-life activists. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is leading the effort to repeal the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, or FACE Act, which Republicans argue has been selectively invoked to target pro-lifers who have protested outside of abortion clinics. He shared data his office obtained from the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland that showed 97% of FACE Act prosecutions in the last 20 years were against abortion opponents. “Americans just spent the last four years being targeted by a weaponized justice system. The FACE Act was one of the primary weapons of abuse – being used to politically target, arrest, and jail pro-life Americans for speaking out and standing up for life,” Roy said in a statement. TRUMP URGED TO PARDON 21 PRO-LIFE PROTESTERS PROSECUTED BY BIDEN’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT “Now that we have a Republican trifecta in the House, Senate, and White House, Congress should move quickly to repeal this law and ensure that no future president can weaponize it against pro-lifers ever again.” The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use “threats of force, obstruction or inflict property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services.” The 1994 law has been used by President Biden’s Justice Department to aggressively prosecute pro-life activists since the fall of Roe v. Wade, a landmark abortion rights case, in June 2022. It has rarely been used against those who have attacked pro-life organizations and pregnancy resource centers. According to Roy’s office, there have been at least 90 such attacks since May 2022, when draft text from the Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade leaked to the public. The Biden administration prosecuted only five individuals for attacks on pro-life facilities, while many incidents targeting Catholic churches and pro-life centers were never prosecuted. In contrast, FACE Act prosecutions of pro-life activists like Mark Houck, who was later acquitted, inflamed the right and prompted accusations that the Biden DOJ was both overzealous and politically biased against abortion opponents. A SWAT team of around 25 people arrested Houck, a Catholic father of seven, in front of his children at their Pennsylvania home in October 2021. Conservative groups have petitioned President Donald Trump to pardon at least 21 other pro-life activists who had demonstrated at abortion facilities. PRO-LIFE ACTIVISTS’ YEARS-LONG PRISON SENTENCE SHOCKS SOCIAL MEDIA: ‘TWO-TIERED JUSTICE SYSTEM’ Ten defendants convicted of violating the FACE Act received prison sentences ranging from 10 months to 57 months for their participation in a 2020 “blockade” of an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. In May, Paulette Harlow, 75, was issued a 2-year prison sentence, while Lauren Handy, 30, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Trump has criticized the Biden administration for prosecuting these pro-life protesters and signaled he would consider granting them pardons. Tom McClusky, director of government affairs for CatholicVote, called the prosecutions of pro-lifers under Biden “unfair” and praised Roy for introducing the repeal bill. “Now that we have a President who will sign the bill into law it is time to pass Rep. Chip Roy’s FACE Act Repeal,” McClusky said in a statement. FOUR MORE PRO-LIFE PROTESTERS FACE PRISON TIME AFTER BEING CONVICTED FOR VIOLATING FACE ACT Students for Life Action also called on Congress to repeal the FACE Act, labeling the law “a weapon for the Department of Justice to use against those who peacefully protest against the human rights abuse of our day – abortion.” “In ignoring violent pro-abortion protesters to focus on peaceful pro-life prayer warriors, the hypocrisy couldn’t be clearer. The FACE Act represents viewpoint discrimination, as punishments are supersized because of the beliefs of those targeted by the government. This abuse of prosecutorial pro-abortion aggression must end,” said Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life Action & Students for Life of America. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Roy expressed his hope that the Congress and administration would work quickly to advance his bill and pardon those he believes were unfairly treated. “While President Trump and his team are already fast at work reversing the damage of the J6 political prosecutions and persecutions through pardons and commutations, I am hopeful those targeted under the FACE Act will be given similar relief,” Roy said. “But importantly, we in Congress need to do our part to eliminate the laws used for the weaponization, including the FACE Act. ” “No more excuses, let’s get it done.”
DeSantis cites ‘Gulf of America’ in winter storm order after Trump rebranding
On the same day President Donald Trump announced a plan to formally change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” one fellow Republican took the cue in a winter weather emergency order on Monday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued Executive Order 25-13 in response to a historic 1,500-mile long meteorological system pushing rainy and blizzard conditions east along the gulf and the Interstate 10 corridor. “Whereas, an area of low pressure moving across the Gulf of America, interacting with Arctic air, will bring widespread impactful winter weather to North Florida beginning Tuesday, January 21, 2025…,” DeSantis’ order began. “…therefore, I, Ron DeSantis… promulgate the following executive order to take immediate effect…,” the order went on, listing out an expansive series of actions to be taken by state, local and other authorities. TRUMP PLEDGES DITCHING ‘DENALI’ IN FAVOR OF MT MCKINLEY, AS ALASKA LAWMAKERS PAN PLAN The ice and snow totals are projected to be “meager, by northern standards,” according to FOX Weather, but are likely to lead to “paralyzing impacts across the [affected] region,” which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Depending on the location, residents are in for one to five inches of snow in an area that is more accustomed to tropical cyclones than a whiteout. DeSantis’ order appeared to be released just prior to Trump signing his own executive order fulfilling his earlier pledge. In the federal executive order: “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” Section 4 rebrands the “area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico… an integral asset to our once burgeoning nation …and an indelible part of America” – as the “Gulf of America.” FLASHBACK: DESANTIS, NEWSOM DEBATE Trump noted the gulf spans more than 1,000 miles from South Padre Island, Texas; arching along Pascagoula, Mississippi; Orange Beach, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida, and down to the Straits of Florida. Florida’s gulf shoreline is the longest of any state – from the famous FloraBama Lounge on Perdido Key and arcing 775 miles down to the “Southernmost Point in the Continental United States” marker in Key West. On Monday, Trump ordered the Interior Department to take appropriate actions to change the name within 30 days. His predecessor also engaged in a slew of landmark rebranding – mostly U.S. military bases from Virginia and farther south. Fort Lee in Petersburg, Virginia, named for Gen. Robert E. Lee, became Fort Gregg-Adams. Fort Bragg in North Carolina, named for Gen. Braxton Bragg, became Fort Liberty. Fort A.P. Hill in Bowling Green, Virginia, named for Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill, became Fort Walker, and Fort Hood in El Paso, Texas, named for Gen. John Bell Hood, became Fort Cavazos. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Those name changes came amidst a push by the political left to dispatch memorials and other reminders of the Confederacy. In Trump’s case, he also reverted the name of the continent’s highest peak – Denali, in Talkeetna, Alaska — to Mount McKinley after fellow Republican President William McKinley — the one rare change that ruffled feathers on his own side of the aisle. In his order, Trump said it is in the nation’s interest to promote American heritage and honor the contributions of “visionary and patriotic Americans.” A representative for DeSantis declined comment.
Stefanik excoriates Dem for Elon Musk ‘Nazi salute’ accusation at UN ambassador hearing
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy pressed New York Rep. Elise Stefanik on claims Elon Musk gave a Nazi salute at President Donald Trump’s inaugural parade when she appeared before Senate lawmakers as part of her confirmation process to serve as ambassador to the U.N. “What do you think of Elon Musk, perhaps the president’s most visible adviser, doing two heil Hitler salutes last night at the president’s televised rally?” Murphy asked Stefanik on Tuesday morning as she appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. “No, Elon Musk did not do those salutes,” Stefanik said. “I was not at the rally, but I can tell you, I’ve been at many rallies with Elon Musk, who loves to cheer when President Trump says, ‘We need to send, you know, our U.S. space program to Mars,’ Elon Musk is a visionary. I’m looking forward to his work in DOGE,” the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk attended Trump’s inaugural parade on Monday, where he spoke to supporters and was accused of giving a Hitler-style salute to the crowds. Musk has since brushed off the accusations as a tired attack from the left, saying on X that “they need better dirty tricks.” MEDIA OUTLETS ACCUSE ELON MUSK OF GIVING ‘FASCIST SALUTE’ AT TRUMP INAUGURATION RALLY The New York Republican continued in her response, “American people are smart. They see through it, they support Elon Musk. We are proud to be the country of such successful entrepreneurs. That is one of our greatest strengths as Americans.” Murphy continued pressing Stefanik on the matter, rattling off a list of “White supremacist groups and neo-Nazi groups” who had described and celebrated Musk’s gesture as a Hitler salute. “Evan Kilgore, a right-wing political commentator, wrote on X, ‘Holy crap, did Elon Musk just Heil Hitler at the Trump inauguration rally. This is incredible. We are so back.’ Andrew Torba, who’s the founder of the right-wing Christian nationalist social platform Gab, said ‘incredible things are happening,’ … as he amplified the visual, the Proud Boys chapter in Ohio posted the clip, on a Telegram channel with the text ‘Heil Trump,’” Murphy said of the examples. ELON MUSK JOINS TRUMP AT DC RALLY: ‘LOOKING FORWARD TO MAKING A LOT OF CHANGES’ “Over and over last night, White supremacist groups and neo-Nazi groups in this country rallied around that visual,” Murphy said. “Does it concern you that those elements of the neo-Nazi and White supremacist element in the United States believe that what they saw last night was a neo-Nazi salute?” Stefanik shot back that she and Trump both have a long record combating antisemitism. STEFANIK PLANS TO PUSH TRUMP’S ‘AMERICA FIRST’ AGENDA AT UN, MAKE SURE IT ‘SERVES THE INTERESTS’ OF US PEOPLE “What concerns me is this is… these are the questions you believe are most important to ask to the U.N. ambassador,” she said. “I have a very strong record when it comes to combating antisemitism. We just had a historic election where President Trump earned historic support from American voters because of his strong leadership combating antisemitism, which has been a scourge across the country, skyrocketing since Oct. 7. So I intend to bring moral clarity to this position and continue to speak out as a voice, as a beacon of light condemning antisemitism at the United Nations, which is representative of President Trump’s record and President Trump’s promises that he made on the campaign trail.” Murphy explained that he asked about Musk’s gesture “because I think that your work and the administration’s work on antisemitism only comes with real impact and credibility if it holds both right and left accountable.” “I simply don’t believe that if a member of the Squad made that same gesture last night, that there wouldn’t be commentary from you and others,” he said. “So I want to make sure that our work has credibility and credibility comes with calling antisemitism and antisemitism behavior out when it comes from both the right and the left.”
‘Loud and clear’: Border state’s legislature moves to back Trump’s ICE on deportations
FIRST ON FOX: Arizona’s legislature is considering significant legislation to ensure the key border state cooperates with the mass deportation push by the new Trump administration amid questions about the extent to which states will aid the government. Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, is introducing the “AZ ICE Act,” which would require sheriff’s departments and the Arizona Department of Corrections to enter into co-operative agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agreements are based on 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers certain immigration functions, including identifying and detaining suspected illegal immigrants. TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW “The 287(g) program allows ICE — through the delegation of specified immigration officer duties — to enhance collaboration with state and local law enforcement partners to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of noncitizens who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws,” ICE’s website says. Petersen’s bill would also require law enforcement to comply with ICE detainers — which are requests that ICE be notified when an illegal immigrant is being released from state or local custody. “Sanctuary” jurisdictions do not comply with detainers. ‘NATIONAL EMERGENCY’: TRUMP DECLARES AMBITIOUS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS The bill would also direct additional funding to local law enforcement. “Ending the border crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach. This commonsense legislation will not only allow federal and local law enforcement to work together to protect our citizens, but it will also prevent government obstruction,” Petersen said in a statement. “Arizona voters spoke loud and clear last November. They overwhelmingly approved the ‘Secure the Border Act’ that Republicans referred to the ballot because they want the law enforced, and they want safe communities,” he said. “I look forward to the AZ ICE Act passing the Legislature, and I’m hopeful the Governor will listen to our citizens by signing the bill when it hits her desk.” President Donald Trump was sworn into office on Monday and immediately signed a slew of executive orders to tackle border security and illegal immigration. His administration is planning to launch a mass deportation operation and is already taking steps to make that happen. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Some local jurisdictions have pledged their support for the measures, but other officials have promised to either resist or not comply with the upcoming deportation operation. Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, told ABC News in November that she was hopeful that ongoing partnerships with the federal government can continue, but she said the state would not be complying with what she called a “misguided” deportation operation. “I am very hopeful that that partnership can continue, and that the incoming administration will listen to, not only my administration, but the experts here on the ground, the people that are doing the work about what is most needed, and what we can continue to do that will be most helpful in securing our border,” she said. She then added, “What I will unequivocally say is that, as governor, I will not tolerate efforts that are part of misguided policies that harm our communities, that threaten our communities, that terrorize our communities, and Arizona will not take part in those.”
Stefanik looks back to fiery exchanges with college leaders in Senate confirmation hearing: ‘watershed moment’
Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik touted her fiery grillings of college administrators on Tuesday when she appeared before Senate lawmakers as part of her confirmation process to serve as the ambassador to the U.N., saying it was a “watershed moment” that exposed “antisemitic rot” in the U.S. colleges. “My oversight work led to the most viewed testimony in history, in the history of Congress. This hearing with university presidents was heard around the world and viewed billions of times because it exposed the antisemitic rot in colleges and universities, and was a watershed moment in American higher education,” Stefanik said Tuesday while speaking before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Since 2023, Stefanik has served as a conservative firebrand who has repeatedly grilled “morally bankrupt” college leaders over their handling of antisemitism on campus following Hamas attacking Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. During last year’s college school year, agitators and student protesters flooded college campuses nationwide to protest the war in Israel, which also included spiking instances of antisemitism and Jewish students publicly speaking out that they do not feel safe on some campuses. AS A HARVARD JEWISH STUDENT, I KNOW ELISE STEFANIK IS THE RIGHT PERSON TO FIGHT ANTISEMITISM AT THE UN Most notably, Stefanik grilled Ivy League college administrators from Penn and Harvard, her alma mater, in December 2023 regarding whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates the respective school’s codes of conduct. The school leaders, however, waffled in their responses. “It can be, depending on the context,” Harvard’s then-President Claudine Gay responded when asked if “calling for the genocide of Jews” violated school conduct rules. STEFANIK PLANS TO PUSH TRUMP’S ‘AMERICA FIRST’ AGENDA AT UN, MAKE SURE IT ‘SERVES THE INTERESTS’ OF US PEOPLE “Antisemitic speech when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation – that is actionable conduct, and we do take action,” Gay said when pressed to answer “yes” or “no” if calls for the genocide of Jews breaks school rules. Both Gay and Penn’s then-President Liz Magill resigned from their high-profile positions shortly after the hearing, while footage of the exchanges spread like wildfire on social media. WHAT STEFANIK’S HOUSE TENURE REVEALS ABOUT WHAT TYPE OF UN AMBASSADOR SHE MAY BE President Donald Trump nominated Stefanik to serve as ambassador to the U.N. back in November, celebrating her as an “incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.” Stefanik said in her opening remarks on Tuesday that Trump sees “great promise” for the United Nations if it returns to its roots of promoting peace around the globe. “When discussing this nomination with President Trump, the President shared with me that he sees great promise in the United Nations if it focuses on its founding mission of international peace and security. President Trump has long advocated for peace and no new wars,” she said.