Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker accused President Donald Trump of being too incompetent to lead the country because he suggested the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) prioritization of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) played a role in the tragic Washington, D.C., aircraft collision on Wednesday.

‘We face the unfortunate reality that we must be honest with the nation about: Donald Trump is unfit to lead during moments of crisis like this,’ Pritzker said in a statement Thursday night. 

The blue state governor, whom Trump evoked on the campaign trail as an example of the downfall of Democrat-run states, urged the Trump administration to respond to the American Airlines crash with ‘information and facts to instill confidence in our nation’s aviation safety.’

‘Before victims have even been identified, Trump is blaming people with disabilities,’ Pritzker said, referring to FAA DEI hiring practices. ‘He’s blaming the U.S. service members in the Blackhawk helicopter. He’s blaming hiring programs he can’t even name or offer examples of. The buck stops with him — yet he is failing to demonstrate his role as protector of the American people and head of our government.’

The second-term governor is among the long list of Democrats considering a 2028 presidential run. Pritzker has seized opportunities over the past two weeks to play a leadership role in Democrat opposition to Trump, refusing, for example, to follow Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. 

Pritzker’s comments Thursday were the latest in a long-standing feud between the two. 

‘Sloppy J.B. Pritzker… has presided over the destruction and disintegration of Illinois at levels never seen before in any State,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social in June. ‘Crime is rampant and people are, sadly, fleeing Illinois. Unless a change is made at the Governor’s level, Illinois can never be Great Again!’

Trump’s attacks have veered into the ad hominem, labeling Pritzker a ‘rotund Governor from the once great State of Illinois, who makes Chris Christie look like a male model.’

In his statement, Pritzker demanded the Trump administration answer his ‘critical questions,’ including why the control tower was not fully staffed during the crash; why the Trump administration fired members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee; whether the president now understands fully staffing federal agencies is a ‘matter of life and death’; and whether he plans to reverse federal workforce cuts. 

Pritzker questioned whether Elon Musk played a role in the removal of the former FAA director; why a replacement for FAA director was not named until after the crash; whether the federal government authorized the Blackhawk helicopter to fly on a commercial flight path; and if the government will continue allowing helicopters to fly at the same altitude as commercial planes.

‘Will the President, Vice President, Defense Secretary, and Transportation Secretary cooperate with the independent NTSB investigation and correct any misinformation they spread about the crash?’ Pritzker demanded to know.

Trump on Thursday listed headlines about Biden-era FAA DEI hiring that he suggested weakened the agency.

‘Here’s one,’ Trump said in the White House briefing room. ‘The FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing. And then it says the FAA says people with severe disabilities, the most underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in. They can be air traffic controllers. I don’t think so.’

‘This was on January 14th, so that was a week before I entered office,’ Trump said, seeking to push blame onto the Biden administration. ‘They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA’s program.‘

Trump then expanded his list of conditions allowed among controllers: ‘Hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.’

The president drew a stark contrast between Democratic policies and his own first-week executive orders that halted DEI programs in the federal government and restored ‘the highest standards of air traffic controllers.’

‘Brilliant people have to be in those positions,’ he stated.

When asked how he came to the conclusion that diversity had something to do with the crash, the president said, ‘Because I have common sense.’

Pritzker is not the only potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender who took issue with Trump’s comments. After Trump called former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a ‘disaster,’ Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic primary candidate, called Trump’s comments ‘despicable.’

‘As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,’ he wrote on X. ‘We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe.’

President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, has traveled to Venezuela to deliver an in-person message to socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro about accepting violent criminals deported from the United States.

On a call with reporters Friday, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy to Latin America, said Grenell will tell Maduro to take back all the Venezuelan criminals and Tren de Aragua gang members that have been ‘exported to the United States, and to do so unequivocally and without condition.’ 

Grenell will also demand that Venezuela immediately release American hostages being held in that country, Claver-Carone said.

The trip ‘focuses on two very specific issues. That we expect that Venezuelan criminals and gangs will be returned, as they are, to every country in the world, without conditions, and two, that American hostages need to be released immediately, unequivocally,’ he explained. 

‘This is not a quid pro quo. It’s not a negotiation in exchange for anything. President Trump himself has made that very clear.’ 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Friday that Grenell had arrived in Venezuela on orders from the president. 

Despite widespread belief among Venezuelans and much of the international community that Maduro lost the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election to opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, he was sworn into his third six-year term earlier this month.

The U.S. does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate head of state of Venezuela.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado has called on Venezuelan citizens to protest the Maduro regime and demand that González be installed as the rightful president of Venezuela.

As many as 10 Americans are currently detained in Venezuela, although the State Department has not declared them wrongfully detained. Three are U.S. citizens who allegedly participated in a plot to destabilize the country, according to Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.

The State Department has denied any U.S. involvement with a plot to overthrow Maduro. 

It remains unclear how many Americans are currently held in Venezuela following the significant prisoner swap in 2023 when Washington and Caracas negotiated the release of dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, in exchange for Colombian businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of Maduro.

Saab was arrested during the first Trump administration on charges related to a $350 million bribery scheme. 

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director, claimed Thursday that he won’t stand for federal law enforcement needing a warrant for surveillance in some scenarios because it’s plainly impractical in real-time practices. Despite lawmakers’ surprise at his opposition, legal experts say his take is far from unusual within the law enforcement arena.

Patel was peppered with questions Thursday on a provision called Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. When asked if he believed that a warrant requirement is ‘practical and workable or even a necessary element of 702,’ Patel said he had issues with ‘those that have been in government service and abused it in the past.’ Patel said that because of the viability of abuse, ‘we must work with Congress to provide the protections necessary for American citizens dealing with these matters.’

‘Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizenry,’ Patel said during his Senate hearing. ‘I’m all open to working with Congress on finding a better way forward. But right now, these improvements that you’ve made go a long way.’

‘The fact that the soon-to-be head of the nation’s, sort of, top law enforcement agency takes the position that is favored by law enforcement shouldn’t surprise anybody,’ former assistant district attorney and criminal defense attorney Phil Holloway told Fox News Digital. 

‘When Mr. Patel answered the question the way that he did, that answer is adverse to the public positions taken by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.’ 

Patel, throughout his testimony, emphasized his interest in working with Congress if he were to head the FBI.

‘Some lawmakers have absolutely called for the necessity of a warrant in these situations. And so it makes sense that the senators would ask the nominee to run the FBI whether or not he has an opinion on it,’ Holloway continued. ‘But, ultimately, it’s not his call.’

‘I’ve always thought that there’s a middle ground here where you don’t have to. And I think there are some situations that warrant a warrant and deserve a warrantless search,’ Palm Beach County, Fla., state attorney Dave Aronberg told Fox News Digital. ‘And I think Patel’s remarks show that he thinks the same way.’

Aronberg noted that under U.S. law, there is a warrant exception under exigent circumstances, i.e. emergency situations, where it is impractical to obtain a warrant. 

‘What Kash Patel is saying is that there may be some situations that may be in that gray area where you shouldn’t have to get a warrant,’ Aronberg said. ‘And I am encouraged by his comments because I do think that law enforcement needs flexibility when it comes to national security matters, especially with the very real threat of terrorism here on our shores.’

Congress voted to pass a renewal of FISA’s Section 702 last April. The legislation serves as a governmental tool in gathering intelligence on foreign subjects using the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers. 

If the renewal had not been passed, the expiration would have meant companies would not be forced to comply with the government’s requests for surveillance aid under the bill. 

Without the FISA section’s reauthorization, the government would be required to seek a warrant to compel any such assistance, which is a process that can span extended periods of time. 

Earlier this month, a federal district court ruled that the federal government had violated the Fourth Amendment when it searched the communications of an Albanian citizen residing in the U.S. at the time of his arrest without a warrant. The information had been collected under FISA’s Section 702. 

‘The individual rights of people in the United States under our Constitution come first,’ Holloway said. ‘So having constitutional requirements that sort of frustrate or perhaps slow down law enforcement, this is a tension that is not new at all. And so what we’re seeing is this playing out.’

Fox News Digital’s Liz Elkind and Julia Johnson contributed to this report. 

A documentary about bridging the political divide in one of the most hotly contested battleground counties in the United States debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this week, leading some to conclude that the historically liberal festival is moving toward the center. 

‘One of the things that is fascinating about ‘Bucks County, USA’ being chosen as an official selection at Sundance is it appears, in the era of Trump being re-elected, the well-known left-leaning Sundance Film Festival is moving to the middle,’ Paul Martino said. ‘There is a new openness to dialogue,’ 

Martino, the founder of Bullpen Capital, told Fox News Digital about the documentary series ‘Bucks County, USA’ being screened at Sundance, a Utah festival known for screening films promoting liberal causes and being a place for anti-Trump demonstrations.

Martino, who is featured in the film, told Fox News Digital that the five-part docuseries is ‘all about the political divisions that happen in the United States focused on where I live, Bucks County, USA.’

It is about all of the post-COVID policies and all of the things that happened at the school board level once a lot of the parents’ rights movement started, and the film dives into a lot of detail about the political division that happened, and it focuses, ironically, on the friendship of my daughter and her best friend, who is what I would describe as my political rival’s daughter,’ Martino explained. 

Martino, a conservative, told Fox News Digital walking around Sundance was a ‘fascinating’ experience and that he encountered many people who seemed to be open to the movie’s message of listening to the other side.

‘Obviously, it is a rather left-leaning crowd in general. But even the people behind Sundance, the people who pick the films this year, said that they felt this film, ‘Bucks County, USA,’ was very important because it was in a Trump re-elected era,’ Martino said. 

‘Understanding and speaking to the other side and understanding who the other side is is important.

‘One of the amazing stories told by one of the filmmakers at Sundance was there’s a guy sitting next to me in a MAGA hat who I would have never talked to on the plane had I not made this movie and realized he had a lot to say to me. And the fact that this film affected even the filmmakers, I think, is a really interesting and important lesson for the rest of the country.’

While many people at Sundance were receptive to the film, Martino told Fox News Digital he did encounter some opposition from people at a question-and-answer session after the screening. 

‘I would say one of the only disappointments of the experience was I felt that some people in the crowd, you know, it’s an honor to be in the Q&A at the end of the series and, look, we had everybody up there. We had people who really don’t like each other, who disagree vehemently, and I think it was lost on the audience that all of us were standing there,’ Martino said. 

‘The fact that we all agreed to be part of this, the fact that we were all there and I got asked a question or two that were directed in my direction that I felt were a little bit inflammatory and I kind of chuckled to myself thinking, ‘Did you just watch the movie? And did you just see the fact that we’re all here? Maybe you missed a little something there.”

Since taking office, President Donald Trump and his administration have become the target of multiple lawsuits over the president’s agenda and policies. 

The Trump White House has faced numerous legal challenges, including deportation policies, an executive order to end birthright citizenship and a directive to freeze federal funding.

Birthright citizenship 

On the day of his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, with many legal experts arguing that the right is enshrined in the Constitution under the 14th Amendment.

‘The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift,’ Trump says in the order, titled, ‘Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.’

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration that same day ‘on behalf of organizations with members whose babies born on U.S. soil will be denied citizenship under the order.’ The ACLU also claimed the order is unconstitutional and against congressional intent and Supreme Court precedent.

Eighteen Democrat-led states then launched their own lawsuit, also claiming the order is unconstitutional and ‘unprecedented.’ 

‘The President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth,’ the lawsuit reads.

Attorneys general from New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and others signed on to the suit, along with the city and county of San Francisco, Calif., and Washington, D.C.

A U.S. district judge also temporarily blocked Trump’s order in a separate lawsuit filed by the states of Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington, describing the action as ‘blatantly unconstitutional.’

Mass deportations

Several Chicago sanctuary city groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its mass deportation policy, saying it violates their First Amendment rights. 

The suit, filed by Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Organized Communities Against Deportations, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Inc., and Raise the Floor Alliance, states that ‘the threat of ICE agents flooding into communities has already impacted Chicagoans and chilled their rights to freely exercise their religion and assemble.’

Ending DEI policies

Trump also signed an executive order ending all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. On Monday, the president signed an order stating that the ‘adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.’

Six transgender military members filed suit against the Trump administration, arguing that the order is unconstitutional and violates the Equal Protection component of the Fifth Amendment.

‘Rather than being based on any legitimate governmental purpose, the ban reflects animosity toward transgender people because of their transgender status,’ the suit claims. 

Freezing federal aid funding 

The Office of Management and Budget issued a memo on Monday with a directive to pause all federal grants and loans aiming to eradicate ‘wokeness’ and the ‘weaponization of government’ in an effort to improve government efficiency. The memo claims that nearly $3 trillion was spent in 2024 on such assistance programs. 

The White House shortly thereafter insisted that the freeze did not affect programs such as Social Security, Medicare or other entitlement payments.

Alongside Senate Democrats announcing a coordinated response with Democratic governors, blue state attorneys general, along with advocacy and non-profit groups, filed their own suits over the directive. 

On Tuesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 22 other attorneys general suing to stop the implementation of the memo.

Likewise, a handful of non-profit organizations and health associations, including a LGBTQ+ advocacy group, filed a lawsuit Tuesday over the directive.

A federal judge on Tuesday imposed a stay on Trump’s action, delaying it until Monday.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw, Breanne Deppisch and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump will execute tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China starting Saturday.

Trump’s economic plan during his campaign called for extending the 2017 tax cuts and imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 20% on all imported goods. For countries like China, that number could go up to 60%.

These countries will face these tariffs because they have allowed an ‘unprecedented invasion of illegal fentanyl that is killing American citizens,’ according to Leavitt. 

‘The president will be implementing tomorrow a 25% tariff on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada, and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans,’ Leavitt told reporters at a Friday White House press briefing. ‘These are promises made and promises kept.’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Canada was prepared to respond to any tariffs executed, and warned there could be ‘disastrous consequences’ for American workers and consumers. 

‘We’re ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response,’ Trudeau said. ‘It’s not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act.’

Meanwhile, Leavitt said that the tariffs are not expected to spark a trade war with Canada and that Trump would respond to Trudeau in ‘due time.’ 

‘The president is intent on doing this,’ Leavitt said. ‘And I think Justin Trudeau would be wise to talk to President Trump directly before pushing outlandish comments like that to the media.’

When asked if Mexico, Canada or China could offer any concessions to remove these new tariffs, Leavitt said Trump would decide at a later date. 

‘If the president at any time decides to roll back those tariffs, I’ll leave it to him to make that decision,’ Leavitt said. ‘The president is intent on ensuring that he effectively implements tariffs while cutting inflation costs for the American people.’ 

House Republicans moved to reintroduce the U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act on Jan. 24, a measure that would permit Trump to unilaterally impose trade taxes on both adversaries and allies. 

Trump previously praised the measure in 2019, claiming it would ‘give our workers a fair and level playing field against other countries.’

Meanwhile, House Democrats Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and Don Beyer, D-Va., also introduced their own legislation in January that would block Trump from using emergency powers to implement tariffs, amid concerns that American consumers would end up footing the bill.

‘The American people have clearly and consistently said that the high cost of living is one of their top concerns,’ DelBene said in a statement on Jan. 15. ‘Not only would widespread tariffs drive up costs at home and likely send our economy into recession, but they would likely lead to significant retaliation, hurting American workers, farmers, and businesses.’

The Associated Press and Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

The White House is blasting House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries after pledging to fight Republicans’ agenda ‘in the streets.’

‘While President Trump remains focused on uniting our country and delivering the mandate set by the American people, the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, incites violence calling for people to fight ‘in the streets’ against President Trump’s agenda,’ White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai told Fox News Digital.

‘This unhinged violent rhetoric is dangerous. Leader Jeffries should immediately apologize.’

Republicans are hammering Jeffries, D-N.Y., for his comments at a press conference in Brooklyn on Friday. 

The Democratic leader appeared beside Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., to criticize Trump’s handling of the recent deadly aircraft collision in Washington, D.C., and his administration’s policies freezing federal funding.

At one point, Jeffries was asked about Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ lack of pushback against Trump, and whether it made him a ‘good fit’ to lead the Big Apple.

Jeffries avoided weighing in directly on Adams, however, responding, ‘I’ll have more to say about the future of the mayorship of the city of New York at the appropriate time.’

‘Right now, we’re going to keep focused on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors, and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working class Americans across the country with the bill,’ Jeffries said.

‘That’s not acceptable. 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.’

When asked for clarification, Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson told Fox News Digital, ‘The notion that Leader Jeffries supports violence is laughable. Republicans are the party that pardons violent felons who assault police officers. Democrats are the party of John Lewis and the right to petition the government peacefully.’

She posted similar comments on X, where she signaled the comments were referring to ‘nonviolent protest.’

But GOP lawmakers immediately called on Jeffries to apologize, accusing him of using inflammatory language in an already-tense political environment.

‘House Minority Leader [Jeffries] should promptly apologize for his use of inflammatory and extreme rhetoric. President Trump and the Republicans are focused on uniting the country; Jeffries needs to stop trying to divide it,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., wrote on X.

Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, did not mention Jeffries but said Americans were emphatically behind Trump’s agenda.

‘More than 77 million Americans — including patriotic Iowans I’m proud to represent — sent a clear mandate by electing President Trump and Republican majorities to Congress. They want secure borders, a strong economy, energy dominance, and safe communities,’ Feenstra told Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign a memo Friday to lift the collective bargaining agreements (CBA) former President Joe Biden put into effect before leaving office, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The president’s memo will direct federal agencies to reject last-minute collective bargaining agreements issued by the Biden administration, which White House officials said were designed to ‘constrain’ the Trump administration from reforming the government. 

The memo prohibits agencies from making new collective bargaining agreements during the final 30 days of a president’s term. It also directs agency heads to disapprove any collective bargaining agreements that Biden put through during the final 30 days of his term. 

The White House said collective bargaining agreements enacted before that time period will remain in effect while the Trump administration ‘negotiates a better deal for the American people.’ 

Biden’s Social Security Administration Commissioner, Martin O’Malley, in December 2024 came to an agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees guaranteeing that the agency’s 42,000 employees would not have to work in office during the Trump administration. 

The White House told Fox News Digital that the new policy ‘ensures the American people get the policies they voted for, instead of being stuck with the wasteful and ineffective Biden policies rejected at the ballot box.’ 

‘The outgoing Biden administration negotiated lame-duck, multi-year collective bargaining agreements — during the week before the inauguration — in an attempt to tie the incoming Trump administration’s hands,’ a White House fact sheet on the memo obtained by Fox News Digital states. 

The White House pointed to the Biden administration’s Department of Education’s agreement that prohibited the return of remote employees and agreements for the Biden Small Business Administration and Federal Trade Commission. 

‘These CBAs attempt to prevent President Trump from implementing his promises to the American people, such as returning Federal employees to the office to make government operate more efficiently,’ the fact sheet states. ‘President Biden’s term of office ended on January 20th. Under this memorandum, he and future Presidents cannot govern agencies after leaving office by locking in last-minute CBAs.’ 

The president’s new memo is also aimed to ensure that federal government agencies operate under similar rules as private sector unions and employers. 

The memo comes after the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directed agency and department heads to notify employees by the new return to in-person work order. That order required employees to work full-time in the office unless excused due to disability or qualifying medical conditions. 

Additionally, OPM sent emails this week to the full federal workforce offering the option of resignation with full pay and benefits until Sept. 30 if they do not want to return to the office. Those workers have until Feb. 6 to decide. 

The federal workers who did not get that option include postal workers, military immigration officials, some national security officials and any positions agencies decide to carve out. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is being criticized by Republicans after pledging Democrats would fight President Donald Trump’s agenda ‘in the streets.’

‘Right now, we’re going to keep focus on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors, and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working class Americans across the country with the bill,’ Jeffries said.

‘That’s not acceptable. 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.’

Republicans blasted Jeffries for his choice of words, accusing him of inflaming political tensions in an already-tense political climate.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., immediately demanded that Jeffries apologize.

‘House Minority Leader [Jeffries] should promptly apologize for his use of inflammatory and extreme rhetoric,’ Emmer wrote on X. ‘President Trump and the Republicans are focused on uniting the country; Jeffries needs to stop trying to divide it.’

A senior White House official told Fox News, ‘Hakeem Jeffries must apologize for this disgraceful call to violence.’

Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson told Fox News Digital, ‘The notion that Leader Jeffries supports violence is laughable. Republicans are the party that pardons violent felons who assault police officers. Democrats are the party of John Lewis and the right to petition the government peacefully.’

She also referred to the comments as promoting ‘nonviolent protest’ on X.

The House Democratic leader was holding a press conference in Brooklyn on Friday aimed at criticizing Trump’s federal funding freeze and his handling of the tragic aircraft collision in Washington, D.C., earlier this week.

Jeffries credited Democrats with stopping the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze.

‘As was demonstrated this week, House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Democratic governors, and everyday Americans all across the country rose up in defiance as it relates to the illegal, unlawful, and extreme federal funding freeze that is part of the Republican rip-off agenda,’ Jeffries said. ‘We fought it, we stopped it, and we will never surrender.’

The Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued an order earlier this week pausing most federal funding while directing agencies to conduct thorough reviews of where taxpayer dollars are being spent.

The White House later clarified the memo to mean funding going toward progressive causes that Trump had explicitly blocked through executive orders. 

Nevertheless, it was still blocked by a federal judge, and hours later, the memo was rescinded.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the OMB memo was rescinded in light of the court order but clarified that funding blocks set up by Trump’s executive orders were still in effect.