President Donald Trump continued his successful Cabinet confirmation roll on Wednesday, with Tulsi Gabbard officially being approved by the Senate to become his director of national intelligence (DNI). 

She became his 14th Cabinet confirmation following the 52-48 Wednesday vote. The vote was party-line, with the exception of former GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who opposed Gabbard. 

Despite an uphill battle before her first hurdle in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the former Democratic representative managed to come back and get key Republicans to support her in her bid to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies. 

With the coordinated and persuasive assistance of Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Vice President JD Vance, crucial senators who had lingering concerns about Gabbard were convinced to back her in the crucial committee vote last week, including Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Todd Young, R-Ind.

Her success came despite the impassioned plea of Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Democrats, who all opposed Trump’s DNI pick. 

‘We need leaders in the Intelligence Community and throughout government who are prepared to stand up to short-sighted attempts to attack our workforce at the expense of our national security. Unfortunately, I do not believe Ms. Gabbard is such a leader. Nor is she well-suited, by dint of experience or judgment, to serve as director of national intelligence,’ he explained on the chamber floor on Monday. 

But Warner failed to persuade any Republicans, and Gabbard’s nomination advanced past its last obstacle on Monday evening. The vote passed by a party-line margin of 52-46. 

Gabbard’s Senate comeback was achieved despite concerns regarding her past meeting with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, her previous FISA Section 702 stance and her past support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. 

Trump announced his selection of Gabbard for DNI in November shortly after being elected. ‘I am pleased to announce that former Congresswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Tulsi Gabbard, will serve as Director of National Intelligence (DNI),’ he said in a statement at the time. 

‘For over two decades, Tulsi has fought for our Country and the Freedoms of all Americans. As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties – She is now a proud Republican! I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength. Tulsi will make us all proud!’

Gabbard notably left the Democratic Party and subsequently endorsed Trump in the 2024 election. 

Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was looking into a limestone mine in Pennsylvania, where the cost-cutting organization says federal employee retirements are processed manually using a system that could take months. 

Musk told reporters about the mine on Tuesday during an appearance with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, as the president prepared to sign an executive order concerning the billionaire’s work leading DOGE.

‘And then we’re told this is actually, I think, a great anecdote, because we’re told the most number of people that could retire possibly in a month is 10,000,’ Musk said.

‘We’re like, well, what? Why is that? Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper,’ he continued. ‘It’s manually calculated and written down on a piece of paper. Then it goes down to mine and like, what do you mean, a mine?’

DOGE wrote on X that an old limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, is where about 700 workers operate more than 230 feet underground to process about 10,000 federal retirement applications per month.

The applications are processed by hand using paper, and are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes, DOGE said.

The Washington Post described the facility as a ‘sinkhole of bureaucracy’ in a 2014 article. At the time, the report said the total spending on the retirement system was $55.8 million. 

Multiple attempts to digitize the system have been made since 1987, according to the report. Each attempt largely failed and was eventually scrapped, with reported costs totaling over $130 million.

Musk said the facility was started in 1955 and looks ‘like a time warp.’ He noted the slow processing speed, which DOGE says can take multiple months.

‘And then the speed, the limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move, determines how many people can retire from the federal government,’ Musk said. ‘And the elevator breaks down and sometimes, and then you can’t, nobody can retire. Doesn’t that sound crazy?’

Musk said the flawed system of ‘carrying manila envelopes to, you know, boxes in a mine shaft’ could be remedied with ‘practically anything else.’

‘That’s an example, like at a high level, if you say like, how do we increase prosperity is we get people to shift from roles that are low to negative productivity to high productivity roles,’ he said.

In recent weeks, Democrats have largely criticized the work of Musk and DOGE to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending and trim the more than 2 million-person federal workforce.

Musk has pushed back, telling reporters Tuesday that ‘the people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get.’ 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Europeans this week that ‘realities’ prevent the U.S. from being its security guarantor, and to expect a drawdown of U.S. forces in the region. 

‘We are focusing on security of our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific,’ Hegseth told a meeting of a Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Belgium on Wednesday. 

‘The U.S. is prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific. Recognizing the reality of scarcity and making the resourcing trade-offs to ensure deterrence does not fail. Deterrence cannot fail.‘

This was Hegseth’s first trip to the headquarters of the NATO alliance. 

The U.S. defense secretary called on Europe to ‘take ownership of conventional security on the continent.’

‘European allies must lead from the front,’ he went on. ‘Together, we can establish a division of labor that maximize our comparative advantages in Europe and Pacific, respectively.’

Hegseth said on Tuesday the U.S. has no active plans to draw down forces in Europe but remains committed to analyzing U.S. troop postures across the globe. Speaking at U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, he said the U.S. is committed to having a presence in Europe while emphasizing the continent should not rely on that presence for security. 

‘The European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighborhood investing the most in that defense,’ he said. ‘That’s common sense. You defend your neighborhood, and the Americans will come alongside you in helping in that defense.’

Roughly 100,000 U.S. troops are deployed across Europe, about a third of which are in Germany, according to Defense Department figures. Some 375,000 U.S. forces are assigned to the Indo-Pacific Command. 

During his first term, President Donald Trump began pulling thousands of troops out of Europe. 

Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has begun to bolster its troop presence on the southern border. Some 1,500 more U.S. troops deployed to the southern border last week, bringing the total up to 3,600. 

Hegseth also said that any European peacekeeping forces sent to help Ukraine win the war against Russia must not be from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and would not be protected under Article 5, a provision that states an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. 

The defense secretary said the U.S. does not believe allowing Ukraine into NATO is a ‘realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.’

Hegseth also called on NATO countries to step up after Trump recently called on them to boost defense spending to 5%. 

‘The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency.’

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy suggested that security guarantees for Ukraine without the U.S. are ‘not real security guarantees.’ 

‘There are voices which say that Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americans, and I always say no,’ he told The Guardian. ‘Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees.’

President Donald Trump is on the cusp of seeing his 14th Cabinet member confirmed in former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. 

Gabbard is slated for a final Senate confirmation vote to be Trump’s director of national intelligence (DNI) on Wednesday morning, after the planned midnight vote was scrapped due to a snowstorm in Washington.

The 30 hours of post-cloture debate officially expired on her nomination just after midnight. 

Frequently, the debate between the cloture motion and the final vote is minimized in what’s referred to as a ‘time agreement’ between Republicans and Democrats. But with the controversial nature of Gabbard’s nomination and ongoing frustrations with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its government audit, no such agreement is expected. 

Gabbard is expected to be confirmed and has already amassed support from hesitant Republicans who voted against Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, requiring Vice President JD Vance to break the tie in the upper chamber. 

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who are often considered the conference’s moderate members, have both already come out in support of Gabbard. Both lawmakers voted against confirming Hegseth. 

Collins is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and voted in favor of the nomination, helping advance it to the full Senate floor. 

Gabbard also snagged the backing of key Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Todd Young, R-Ind., despite the latter being uncertain before the committee vote. 

Young is also on the Intel Committee and ultimately voted to advance her to the floor, but only after some prodding and discussions with Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Vance, who operated rigorous operations to ensure the nomination got through. 

Some concerns that followed Gabbard through her confirmation hearing were her past meeting with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, her previous FISA Section 702 stance and her past support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. 

But these worries were apparently quelled by her answers and the persuasive support of both Cotton and Vance.

The United States is releasing Russian prisoner Alexander Vinnik as part of the deal to secure Marc Fogel’s freedom, a Trump administration official told Fox News on Wednesday.

Fogel, an American teacher who had been detained in Russia since 2021, was freed on Tuesday. A plane carrying him landed in the U.S. late last night. 

Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges. He was later extradited to the United States where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said the Russian prisoner’s name would be revealed when he returns home. 

‘Recently, work has been intensified through the relevant agencies, there have been contacts,’ Peskov said in a conference call with reporters, according to the Associated Press. ‘And these contacts have led to the release of Fogel, as well as one of the citizens of the Russian Federation, who is currently being held in custody in the United States. This citizen of the Russian Federation will also be returned to Russia in the coming days.’ 

The State Department did not immediately respond Wednesday morning to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fogel, a history teacher from Pennsylvania, was serving a 14-year prison sentence after his arrest in August 2021 at a Russian airport for being in possession of drugs, which his family and supporters said were medically prescribed marijuana. 

Anne Fogel, his sister, told ‘Fox & Friends’ on Wednesday that she is ‘so happy to have this massive boulder’ lifted off her shoulders with her brother’s release. 

‘I am so incredibly grateful to the president,’ she added. ‘Just amazing.’ 

Fogel said her brother’s situation has ‘taken a toll’ on her family but they ‘can’t even believe that he is safe and at home and can get medical attention.’ 

After his arrival in the U.S., Fogel met with President Donald Trump at the White House and called him a hero for securing his release. 

‘I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all. And President Trump is a hero,’ Fogel said after meeting Trump. 

‘These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes,’ Fogel continued. ‘The senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor – they got me home – they are heroes.’ 

When asked by reporters on Tuesday whether the U.S. had given up anything in return for Fogel, Trump replied ‘not much’ without offering additional details. 

Fox News’ Pat Ward, Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Dozens of activist and legal groups, elected officials, local jurisdictions and individuals have launched more than 50 lawsuits against the Trump administration since Jan. 20 in response to his more than 60 executive orders, as well as executive proclamations and memos, Fox News Digital found. 

Trump long has been a legal target, which hit a fever pitch during the 2024 election cycle when Trump faced four criminal indictments, including a criminal trial in Manhattan in the spring of 2024 when he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. 

Trump has maintained his innocence in the four cases, pointing to them as evidence of lawfare at the hands of Democrats working against his political efforts. 

Upon Trump’s election win in November 2024, state attorneys general, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, publicly said they would ready legal battles against the Trump administration for actions they view as illegal or negatively impact residents. 

‘We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back,’ James, who repeatedly has leveled suits against Trump, said following his win. ‘And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.’

Just roughly three weeks back in the Oval Office, Trump’s administration has been hit with at least 54 lawsuits working to resist his policies. 

Fox News Digital compiled a list of the groups, state attorneys general, cities or states, and individuals who have launched lawsuits against the Trump administration’s executive actions. The list includes the various groups and individuals challenging the Trump administration in court, as well as the executive order or proclamation that sparked the suit. 

New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support; League of United Latin American Citizens; Make the Road New York (Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
O. Doe; Brazilian Worker Center, Inc.; La Colaborativa (Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
State of New Jersey; Commonwealth of Massachusetts; State of California; State of Colorado; State of Connecticut; State of Delaware; District of Columbia; State of Hawai’i; State of Maine; State of Maryland; Attorney General Dana Nessel for the People of Michigan; State of Minnesota; State of Nevada; State of New Mexico; State of New York; State of North Carolina; State of Rhode Island; State of Vermont; State of Wisconsin; City and County of San Francisco (Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
CASA, Inc; Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (​​Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
State of Washington; State of Arizona; State of Illinois; State of Oregon (Executive Order: ​​Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates (Executive Order: ​​Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
County of Santa Clara (Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
Organized Communities Against Deportation; Brighton Park Neighborhood Council; Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Raise the Floor Alliance (Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion)
City and County of San Francisco (Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion)
Make the Road New York (Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion)
Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (Presidential Proclamation Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion)
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center (Executive Order: Securing Our Borders)
Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, American Gateways, Florence Immigrant Refugee Rights Project, Estrella Del Paso, Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, National Immigrant Justice Center, NW Immigrant Rights Project, PA Immigration Resource Center, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Center (Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion)
Luis Eduardo Perez Parra, Leonel Jose Rivas Gonzalez, Abraham Josue Barrios Morales, and M.R.R.Y (Presidential Memorandum: Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity)
HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Community Services Northwest (​​Executive Order: Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program)
National Treasury Employees Union (Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce)
Government Accountability Project and National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce)
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce)
American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (‘AFGE’); American Federation Of State, County And Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (‘AFSCME’) (Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce)
Public Citizen, Inc.; State Democracy Defenders Fund; American Federation of Government Employees (Executive Order: Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency)
National Security Counselors, Inc. (Executive Order: Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency)
American Public Health Association; American Federation of Teachers; Minority Veterans of America; VoteVets Action Fund; The Center for Auto Safety, Inc.; Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Executive Order: Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’)
Center for Biological Diversity (Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’)
Jane Does 1-2 (Executive action on the solicitation of information from career employees)
Alliance for Retired Americans, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
State of New York; State of Arizona, State of California, State of Colorado, State of Connecticut, State of Delaware, State of Hawaii, State of Illinois, State of Maine, State of Maryland, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of Minnesota, State of Nevada, State of New Jersey, State of North Carolina, State of Oregon, State of Rhode Island, State of Vermont, and State of Wisconsin (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, American Federation of Government Employees, AFLCIO, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Economic Policy Institute (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
University of California Student Association (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
National Treasury Employees Union (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
American Federation of Teachers, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, National Federation of Federal Employees (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 3707, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, National Association of Government Employees, Inc. (Executive action related to Office of Personnel Management directive on deferred resignation offer to federal employees)
Gwynne Wilcox, former National Labor Relations Board member (Executive action related to removal of independent agency leaders)
State of New York; State of California; State of Illinois; State of Rhode Island; State of New Jersey; Commonwealth of Massachusetts; State of Arizona; State of Colorado; State of Connecticut; State of Delaware; The District of Columbia; State of Hawai’i; State of Main; State of Maryland; State of Michigan; State of Minnesota; State of Nevada; State of North Carolina; State of New Mexico; State of Oregon; State of Vermont; State of Washington; State of Wisconsin (Executive action related to the temporary pause of grants, loans and assistance programs)
National Council of Nonprofits, American Public Health Association, Main Street Alliance, SAGE (Executive action related to the temporary pause of grants, loans and assistance programs)
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Attorney General Dana Nessel on behalf of the people of the State of Michigan, State of Illinois, State of Arizona, State of California, State of Connecticut, State of Colorado, State of Delaware, State of Hawai’i, State of Maine, State of Maryland, State of Minnesota, State of New Jersey, State of New York, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of North Carolina, State of Oregon, State of Rhode Island, State of Vermont, State of Washington, and State of Wisconsin (Executive Action related to the reduction in indirect cost reimbursement rate for research institutions, such as National Institutes of Health)
American Foreign Service Association, American Federation of Government Employees (Executive order: Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid)
National Treasury Employees Union (Executive action related to the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
Maria Moe, transgender federal inmate (Executive Order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
Jane Doe; Mary Doe; Sara Doe, transgender federal inmates (Executive Order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
Nicolas Talbott, Erica Vandal, Kate Cole, Gordon Herrero, Dany Danridge, Jamie Hash, Koda Nature, and Cael Neary, transgender U.S. military members or those seeking to enlist (Executive Order: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness)
Commander Emily Shilling; Commander Blake Dremann; Lieutenant Commander Geirid Morgan; Sergeant First Class Cathrine Schmid; Sergeant First Class Jane Doe; Staff Sergeant Videl Leins; Matthew Medina; and Gender Justice League (Executive Order: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness)
PFLAG, Inc and American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, Inc. (Executive Orders: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation)
State of Washington, State of Minnesota, State of Oregon, Physician 1, Physician 2, and Physician 3 (Executive Orders: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation)
Ashton Orr, Zaya Perysian, Sawyer Soe, Chastain Anderson, Drew Hall, Bella Boe, and Reid Solomon-Lan (Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, New England Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Inc., Adelphi Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Richmond Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Executive action related to ​​immigration enforcement in places of worship)
John and Jane Doe 1-9, employees and agents of the FBI (Executive Order: Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government)
Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association; seven John and Jane Doe plaintiffs (Exectuive Order: Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government)
National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education; American Association of University Professors; Restaurant Opportunities Centers United; Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Maryland (Executive Orders: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity)
Doctors for America (Executive order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
Aids Vaccine Advocacy Coalition; Journalism Development Network, Inc (Executive Order: Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid)
​​Global Health Council; Small Business Association for International Companies; HIAS; Management Sciences for Health; Chemonics International, Inc; Dai Global, Llc; Democracy International, Inc; American Bar Association (Executive Order: Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid)
Electronic Privacy Information Center (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
Hampton Dellinger, special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (Executive action related to government employment termination)
Mennonite Church USA; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; Central Atlantic Conference United Church of Christ; the Central Conference of American Rabbis; Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Church of the Brethren, Inc; Convención Bautista Hispana De Texas; the Episcopal Church; Fellowship Southwest; Friends General Conference; General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.s.a.); General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church; Latino Christian National Network; Massachusetts Council of Churches; the New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church; New York State Council of Churches; North Carolina Council of Churches; the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church; the Rabbinical Assembly; Reconstructing Judaism; Rhode Island State Council of Churches; Union for Reform Judaism; Unitarian Universalist Association; the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church; Wisconsin Council of Churches; Wisdom, Inc. (Executive action related to ​​immigration enforcement in places of worship)

Amid the flurry of lawsuits against Trump and his administration, Democratic elected officials and government employees have spoken out against the orders and the Trump agenda overall. 

Democrats and government employees also have staged protests as the Department of Government Efficiency investigates various federal agencies as part of its mission to cut government overspending and weed out corruption and mismanagement of taxpayer funds. 

‘That’s not acceptable,’ House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., declared in January. ‘We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We’re going to fight it in the streets.’ 

‘We will see you in the court, in Congress, in the streets,’ Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at a rally outside the Treasury Department earlier in February. 

‘We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es, and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it,’ Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said at the same rally. 

Trump joined Fox News’ Bret Baier for an exclusive interview ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, where he was asked about a lawsuit filed by attorneys general to restrict DOGE and its chair, Elon Musk, from accessing the Treasury Department’s systems and a judge temporarily blocking the DOGE team from the data. 

‘Nineteen states attorneys general filed a lawsuit, and early Saturday a judge agreed with them to restrict Elon Musk and his government efficiency team, DOGE, from accessing Treasury Department payment and data systems. They said there was a risk of ‘irreparable harm.’ What do you make of that?’ Baier asked Trump in the interview clip. ‘And does that slow you down and what you want to do?’ 

‘No, I disagree with it 100%,’ Trump said. ‘I think it’s crazy. And we have to solve the efficiency problem. We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse, all the things that have gone into the government. You take a look at the USAID, the kind of fraud in there.’  

‘We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of money that’s going to places where it shouldn’t be going,’ Trump said when asked about what DOGE has found while auditing federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud and corruption.

This tracker will be updated with additional lawsuits as they are confirmed.

The Republican National Committee has staffed up with new senior leadership to support President Trump’s agenda and work to elect Republican candidates ‘who will fight to Make America Great Again,’ Fox News Digital has learned. 

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley brought on a slate of new senior staff at the GOP—all bringing campaign expertise stemming from several election cycles and experience in the private sector. 

‘After a historic victory in 2024, taking back the White House and securing majorities in both chambers of Congress, Republicans are just getting started delivering on promises made,’ Whatley told Fox News Digital. 

‘As America enters the new golden age under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, I am thrilled to announce our extraordinary RNC team, who will work around the clock to support President Trump’s agenda and elect Republican candidates who will fight to Make America Great Again,’ he said. 

The RNC has brought on Mike Ambrosini to serve as chief of staff. Ambrosini previously served as the director of the RNC’s State Party Strategies. He also served in the first Trump administration and held roles in Congress, the private sector, and served as the executive director of the Michigan Republican Party. 

RNC officials told Fox News Digital that Ambrosini is ‘the perfect person to bring everyone to the table, navigate challenges, and implement a winning strategy.’ 

Whatley has also brought on Rob Secaur as the new RNC political director. Secaur served as deputy political director for the 2024 Trump campaign, after serving as an RNC regional political director. 

To run messaging, Whatley tapped Zach Parkinson as RNC communications director. Parkinson served as the RNC’s research director and deputy communications director overseeing the GOP’s opposition research and rapid response efforts. 

Parkinson also provided research to the Trump 2024 campaign; served as deputy communications director for the Trump 2020 campaign; and worked in communications and research roles at the Trump White House from 2017 to 2019. 

Meanwhile, to run GOP finance, Mallory Gerndt has been elevated to finance director from her current role on the RNC finance team, where she has served since 2017. 

Gerndt was the deputy finance director for the RNC throughout the 2024 election cycle. 

RNC officials told Fox News Digital that Gerndt has a reputation for ‘setting and meeting fundraising goals to help deliver for President Trump’s America First agenda.’ 

Whatley also announced Zach Imel as RNC data director. Imel served as director of external data & voter contact for Team Trump during the 2024 campaign. Previously, Imel oversaw RNC data efforts during the 2022 and 2020 cycles. 

Whatley also brought on Brent Brooks to serve as digital director. Brooks, according to GOP officials, has played ‘a key role’ in raising millions of dollars and developing ‘VotePro,’ which the RNC billed as a ‘crucial app that empowered millions of Republican voters to get involved, take action, cast their ballots, and win in 2024.’ 

As for RNC efforts across the nation, Whatley has tapped Tom Smithfield to serve as State Party Strategies Director. 

Smithfield served as State Party Strategies deputy director during the 2024 cycle and as deputy national field director in 2022. Smithfield also served as deputy state director for Trump Victory in Pennsylvania in 2020 and for the Pennsylvania GOP in 2018. 

Whatley told Fox News Digital that as Trump ‘delivers on his promises,’ Republicans plan to also ‘look to the future.’ 

‘The RNC will play a pivotal role,’ Whatley said. ‘Our team will continue to grow the party, get out the vote, secure our elections and keep on winning.’ 
 

The United Nations said Monday it suspended its humanitarian operations in the stronghold of Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they detained eight more U.N. staffers, affecting the global response to one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

In a statement, the U.N. said the ‘extraordinary’ decision to pause all operations and programs in northern Saada province was due to the lack of necessary security conditions and guarantees.

A spokesman for the Houthis didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The rebels in recent months have detained dozens of U.N. staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the once-open U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. None of the U.N. staffers has been released.

The U.N. statement said the pause in operations is meant to give the Houthis and the world body time to ‘arrange the release of arbitrarily detained U.N. personnel and ensure that the necessary conditions are in place to deliver critical humanitarian support’ in rebel-held areas.

It said the latest detained U.N. staffers — taken late last month — included six working in Saada, on Yemen’s northern border with Saudi Arabia.

Seven U.N. agencies operate in Saada, including the World Food Program, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, along with several international aid organizations, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency.

The U.N. late last month suspended all travel into Houthi-held areas.

The war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians. The Iranian-backed Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they descended from their stronghold in Saada and took control of Sanaa and most of the north.

The U.N. had projected that over 19 million people across Yemen will need humanitarian assistance this year as many deal with climate shocks, malnutrition, cholera and the economic effects of war.

The rebels have imprisoned thousands of people during the war. In recent months, they also intensified their crackdown on dissent, including recently sentencing 44 people to death.

In January, the Houthis unilaterally freed 153 war detainees as one of several overtures to ease tensions after the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Such prisoner releases have been viewed as a means to jump-start talks over permanently ending Yemen’s war.

A team member for President Donald Trump’s FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, pushed back Wednesday on allegations that Patel played a role in the firings of bureau personnel just hours after swearing not to do so during his confirmation hearing late last month – dismissing accusations from the panel’s top Democrat as a politically motivated effort to derail his confirmation. 

A senior transition team official for Patel refuted the allegations made by the ranking Senate Judiciary Committee Democrat, Dick Durbin, that Patel had orchestrated the firings after his confirmation hearing. 

This person told Fox News that Patel had left Washington the night of his confirmation hearing to fly home to Las Vegas, where he has ‘been sitting there waiting for the process to play out.’

The official also refuted the notion that Patel has had anything to do with the firings of bureau personnel, as alleged by Durbin in Senate floor remarks the previous day. 

‘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 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, this person said, providing photographed evidence of Patel’s activities. 

The news comes one day after Durbin’s team cited ‘highly credible’ whistleblower reports his office had received in recent days, which they said indicated that Patel had been ‘personally directing the ongoing purge of FBI employees prior to his Senate confirmation for the role.’

Durbin’s staff also sent a letter Tuesday to the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, requesting an investigation into these allegations. 

‘I have received highly credible information from multiple sources that Kash Patel has been personally directing the ongoing purge of career civil servants at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,’ Durbin said in the letter to Horowitz. 

‘Although Mr. Patel is President Trump’s nominee to be FBI Director, he is still a private citizen with no role in government.’

If true, Durbin has alleged that Patel’s reported actions could put him on the hook for perjury. 

Patel claimed during his Senate confirmation hearing late last month that he would use his role to protect agents against efforts to weaponize the bureau. 

‘All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution,’ Patel told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., during that hearing. 

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have sought to discredit Patel’s confirmation in the days and weeks ahead of his confirmation – which they reiterated last week in a press conference, after announcing they would delay his committee confirmation vote by a full week. 

Durbin told Fox News last week that their aim in delaying the hearing is to raise more public awareness about Patel’s previous actions, in hopes that doing so will shore up new opposition from some Republicans in the chamber.

Ultimately, lawmakers noted they can only delay Patel’s committee vote through next week. Beyond that, they said, it is up to Republicans.

Federal judges have blocked President Donald Trump’s executive orders related to stemming the flow of illegal immigration, as well as slimming the federal bureaucracy and slashing government waste. 

‘Billions of Dollars of FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE, has already been found in the investigation of our incompetently run Government,’ Trump wrote on TRUTH Social on Tuesday. ‘Now certain activists and highly political judges want us to slow down, or stop. Losing this momentum will be very detrimental to finding the TRUTH, which is turning out to be a disaster for those involved in running our Government. Much left to find. No Excuses!!!’ 

Judges in U.S. district courts – the lowest level in the three-tier federal court system – have mostly pushed back on Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. Here are the six times judges have blocked Trump’s executive orders so far:

Federal Funding Pause

The Trump administration quickly pushed to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money sent to New York City to house migrants, saying it had ‘significant concerns’ about the spending under a program appropriated by Congress. The Justice Department had previously asked the appeals court to let it implement sweeping pauses on federal grants and loans, calling the lower court order to keep promised money flowing ‘intolerable judicial overreach.’

McConnell, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, is presiding over a lawsuit from nearly two dozen Democratic states filed after the administration issued a memo purporting to halt all federals grants and loans, worth trillions of dollars. 

‘The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional,’ McConnell wrote, ‘and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country.’

The administration has since rescinded that memo, but McConnell found Monday that not all federal grants and loans had been restored. He was the first judge to find that the administration had disobeyed a court order.

The Democratic attorneys general allege money for things like early childhood education, pollution reduction and HIV prevention research remained tied up even after McConnell ordered the administration on Jan. 31 to ‘immediately take every step necessary’ to unfreeze federal grants and loans. The judge also said his order blocked the administration from cutting billions of dollars in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

The Boston-based First Circuit Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s effort to reinstate a sweeping pause on federal funding. 

The federal appeals court said it expected U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island to clarify his initial order.

DOGE Treasury Department access

U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, on Monday ordered lawyers to meet and confer over any changes needed to an order issued early Saturday by another Manhattan judge, Obama-appointee Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, that banned Elon Musk’s DOGE team from accessing Treasury Department records. Vargas instructed both sides to file written arguments if an agreement was not reached. 

The order was amended on Tuesday to allow Senate-confirmed political appointees access to the information, while special government employees, including Musk, are still prohibited from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment system.

On Friday, 19 Democrat attorneys general, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, sued Trump on the grounds that Musk’s DOGE team was composed of ‘political appointees’ who should not have access to Treasury records handled by ‘civil servants’ specially trained to protect sensitive information like Social Security and bank account numbers. 

Justice Department attorneys from Washington and New York told Vargas in a filing on Sunday that the ban was unconstitutional and a ‘remarkable intrusion on the Executive Branch’ that must be immediately reversed. They said there was no basis for distinguishing between ‘civil servants’ and ‘political appointees.’

They said they were complying with the Saturday order by Engelmayer, but they asserted that the order was ‘overbroad’ so that some might think even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was banned by it. 

‘Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the President,’ DOJ attorneys wrote, adding that the ban on accessing the records by Musk’s team ‘directly severs the clear line of supervision’ required by the Constitution.

Over the weekend, Musk and Vice President JD Vance reacted to the escalating conflict between the Trump administration and the lower courts. 

 ‘If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal,’ Vance wrote broadly. ‘Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.’ 

Musk said Engelmayer is ‘a corrupt judge protecting corruption,’ who ‘needs to be impeached NOW!’

‘Fork in the Road Directive’

Boston-based U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr., who was nominated by former President Bill Clinton, kept on hold Trump’s deferred resignation program after a courtroom hearing on Monday. 

O’Toole on Thursday had already pushed back the initial Feb. 6 deadline when federal workers had to decide whether they would accept eight months of paid leave in exchange for their resignation. 

A ‘Fork In the Road’ email was sent earlier last week telling two million federal workers they could stop working and continue to get paid until Sept. 30. The White House said 65,000 workers had already accepted the buyout offer by Friday. 

The country’s largest federal labor unions, concerned about losing membership, sued the Office of Personnel Management, asking the court to delay the deadline and arguing the deferred resignation program spearheaded by Musk is illegal.

Eric Hamilton, a Justice Department lawyer, called the plan a ‘humane off ramp’ for federal employees who may have structured their lives around working remotely and have been ordered to return to government buildings.

Birthright Citizenship

The Trump administration on Tuesday said it is appealing a Maryland federal judge’s ruling blocking the president’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for people whose parents are not legally in the country.

In a filing, the administration’s attorneys said they were appealing to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s the second such appeal the administration has sought since Trump’s executive order was blocked in court.

The government’s appeal stems from Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman’s grant of a preliminary injunction last week in a case brought by immigrant rights groups and expectant mothers in Maryland. Boardman said at the time her court would not become the first in the country to endorse the president’s order, calling citizenship a ‘precious right’ granted by the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

The president’s birthright citizenship order has generated at least nine lawsuits nationwide, including suits brought by 22 states.

On Monday, New Hampshire-based U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, said in relation to a similar lawsuit that he wasn’t convinced by the administration’s arguments and issued a preliminary injunction. It applies to the plaintiffs, immigrant rights groups with members who are pregnant, and others within the court’s jurisdiction.

Last week, Seattle-based U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, who was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan, ordered a block of Trump’s order, which the administration also appealed.

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

The Trump administration is expected to argue before a federal judge Wednesday that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is rife with ‘insubordination’ and must be shut down for the administration to decide what pieces of it to salvage.

The argument, made in an affidavit by political appointee and deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco, comes as the administration confronts a lawsuit by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees – two groups representing federal workers.

Washington-based U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, on Friday ordered a temporary block on plans by the Trump administration to put 2,200 USAID employees on leave. He also agreed to block an order that would have given just 30 days for the thousands of overseas USAID workers the administration wanted to place on abrupt administrative leave to move their families back to the U.S. at the government’s expense. 

Both actions by the administration would have exposed the workers and their families to unnecessary risk and expense, according to the judge.

The judge reinstated USAID staffers already placed on leave but declined to suspend the administration’s freeze on foreign assistance.

Nichols is due to hear arguments Wednesday on a request from the employee groups to keep blocking the move to put thousands of staffers on leave as well as broaden his order. They contend the government has already violated the judge’s order. 

In the court case, a government motion shows the administration pressing arguments by Vance and others questioning if courts have the authority to check Trump’s power.

‘The President’s powers in the realm of foreign affairs are generally vast and unreviewable,’ government lawyers argued.

Fox News’ Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.