Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss is ready to bring the ‘conservative revolution’ home from the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference, telling Fox News Digital her plan to ‘Make the West Great Again.’

World leaders took center stage at CPAC this week, telling the crowd of American conservatives they’re ready to see President Donald Trump’s agenda on the world stage. Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, said world leaders are envious of Trump’s second term and his Department of Government Efficiency. 

‘There’s a lot of momentum, and people are very envious of what’s happening in the U.S. We’d love to be able to get the truth from government departments about what’s actually being spent,’ Truss told Fox News Digital. 

Truss praised Elon Musk’s DOGE as a ‘playbook for what needs to happen’ in the United Kingdom, but she said that a DOGE UK would be unrealistic under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. 

‘What Musk is doing, going straight to the payment system, is a fantastic idea that we need to adopt in Britain, but the reality is that is not going to happen under the current government, because the current government are part of the problem. They are defenders of the deep state. They’re not going to be investigating themselves. I think this is something that has to happen when there’s a change of government. We are watching very closely what Elon Musk is doing. It’s a fantastic playbook for what needs to happen in the U.K.’

DOGE’s revelations about America’s federal funding and the mass layoffs of government employees have shaken up Washington this past month. Truss said that Musk is even holding the British government accountable. 

‘Sometimes I say that Elon Musk is the leader of the opposition in Britain, because he’s the one actually on X, challenging Keir Starmer’s policies, talking about issues like the grooming gangs, the appalling gangs who have been raping girls as young as 12. It’s Elon Musk that’s been taking the fight to Keir Starmer,’ she said. 

Musk and Trump’s ability to seize the social media narrative and America’s growing independent media space inspired Truss to establish a ‘new free speech media network’ in the United Kingdom. 

‘We have a massive problem with free speech in Britain,’ Truss said. ‘People are being locked up for posts on Facebook and on X, which is extraordinary. We’re the country that invented freedom of the press back in 1695. It was almost 100 years before the First Amendment. And now we are, as a country, locking people up for saying things online.’ 

‘This needs to change. So, what I’m establishing is a new free speech media network, which will enable people in Britain to hear what is actually going on, and people across Europe to hear what’s going on.’ she continued. ‘I think that’s really important. If you look at the Trump revolution, independent media was a major part of that.’

Trump leaned on new media during his 2024 presidential campaign, posting TikTok videos from the campaign trail, spending nearly three hours with the widely popular podcaster Joe Rogan and using Truth Social as a direct line to his core base. 

Truss said that Trump is leading a ‘conservative revolution’ and attended CPAC this year to learn how she can model his American success back in the United Kingdom. 

‘What we’re seeing happening in America is a revolution. It’s a conservative revolution. All of the problems we have in our societies in the West, the leftist ideology that’s taken over, whether it’s wokeism or extreme environmentalism or anti-capitalism, all of those are being taken on by President Trump. And I want to see a similar revolution in Britain, which is why I’m here to learn about how they’re doing it, to talk about how we build that kind of movement in Britain,’ Truss said. 

The former prime minister said she agrees with Trump on ‘everything from deporting illegal migrants; to cutting taxes; to drill, baby, drill; to being clear that men can’t be in women’s bathrooms.’ She said Britain needs to implement these policies and fire the ‘permanent bureaucrats who are part of the problem.’

‘The big difference with Britain is our bureaucracy is more powerful than the American bureaucracy. Most people working in government are career bureaucrats, and that’s what I think we need to learn from America. We need to change,’ Truss added. 

Truss said she has had productive conversations with European and world leaders this week, strategizing about how to broaden their conservative coalition and create policies to bring energy prices down and boost the economy. Truss even said she had plans for a British CPAC. 

Truss resigned as British prime minister after 49 days in office in 2022 after her large tax cut plan destabilized the economy. She was one of three prime ministers in the United Kingdom within a four-month period in 2022. 

‘I recognize that, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,’ Truss said in her resignation.

The United Kingdom’s current prime minister and leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, ended 14 consecutive years of Conservative party rule when he was elected in 2024. 

There is a UK DOGE movement gaining traction on social media for revealing wasteful British spending. The Procurement Files is an X account that combs through more than 300,000 contracts on the United Kingdom’s public government database to reveal mismanagement of British taxpayer money, much like the official US DOGE account does.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK party leader who initiated Britain’s departure from the European Union, has explicitly called for a UK DOGE. Despite the discontent from conservative leaders on British government efficiency, the prime minister’s office said that it has created initiatives to cut government waste.

‘The Chancellor has asked all departments to deliver savings and efficiencies of 5% of their current budget as part of the first zero-based Spending Review in seventeen years,’ an HM Treasury spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

‘Every pound of government spending is being interrogated, to root out waste and get the best value for taxpayers as we deliver on their priorities set out in the Plan for Change. We have also created an Office for Value for Money that is underpinning our work driving out waste and inefficiency, alongside cutting out hundreds of millions of pounds worth of consultancy spending in government over the next few years,’ the spokesperson added. 

Sacked United States Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers left their Washington, D.C., offices for the last time on Friday, with some carrying boxes scrawled with messages that seemed to be directed at President Donald Trump, who is slashing the agency’s workforce.

Thousands of staffers were notified weeks ago of their pending dismissals, while a federal judge on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to follow through with the mass layoffs as it aims to eliminate waste throughout the federal bureaucracy.

‘We are abandoning the world,’ read one message on a box being hauled out by a grinning staffer as she walked out of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs office.

Another smiling staffer’s box had a more upbeat tone, with her message reading: ‘You can take the humanitarians out of USAID but you can’t take the humanity out of the humanitarians.’

The staffers were greeted outside the offices by a small group of well-wishing supporters and former USAID workers who carried signs reading, ‘We love USAID’ and ‘Thank you for your service, USAID.’

Other workers were seen leaving the offices in tears.

The Trump administration plans to gut the agency and intends to leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of the current 8,000 direct hires and contractors. 

They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run the few life-saving programs that the administration says it intends to keep going for the time being.

USAID has come in for particular criticism under the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for alleged wasteful spending. 

For instance, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, recently published a list of projects and programs she says USAID has helped fund over the years, including $20 million to produce a Sesame Street show in Iraq. 

Several more examples of questionable spending have been uncovered at USAID, including more than $900,000 to a ‘Gaza-based terror charity’ called Bayader Association for Environment and Development and a $1.5 million program slated to ‘advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.’

Trump has moved to gut the agency after imposing a 90-day pause on foreign aid. He also has appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the acting director of USAID.

Government employee unions had sued to stop the mass layoffs, but U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols on Friday lifted a temporary restraining order he had issued at the outset of the case and declined to issue a longer-term order keeping the employees in their posts.

Nichols, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, also wrote that because the affected employees had not gone through an administrative dispute process, he likely did not have jurisdiction to hear the unions’ case or consider their broader arguments that the administration is violating the U.S. Constitution by shutting down an agency created and funded by Congress.

The judge said the issue was jurisdictional, that federal district courts should not be involved at this stage, and that the matter should be handled administratively under federal employment laws.

‘In sum, because the Court likely lacks jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims, they have not established a likelihood of success on the merits,’ the judges ruling stated, in part.

‘The court concludes that plaintiffs have not demonstrated that they or their members will suffer irreparable injury absent an injunction; that their claims are likely to succeed on the merits; or that the balance of the hardships or the public interest strongly favors an injunction.’

The unions can now go to the Washington, D.C., federal appeals court for emergency relief to have the TRO put back into place, or possibly a preliminary injunction.

Fox News’ Bill Mears, Andrew Mark Miller, Aubrie Spady, Deirdre Heavey, Morgan Phillips and Emma Colton as well as Reuters contributed to this report.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) spent another week slashing hundreds of millions in spending by the federal government, while dodging various legal attempts to block its cost-cutting efforts.

Here are some of DOGE’s big wins this week:

1. Judge shoots down request to stop federal worker firings 

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, shot down a request from several federal labor unions, including the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), to pause the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration.

NTEU and four other labor unions representing federal employees filed a complaint Feb. 12 challenging the firing of probationary employees and the deferred resignation program, which gives workers the option to agree to work from an office or resign. 

Cooper denied the request to stop the firings, saying the court lacked jurisdiction over the unions’ claims.

Instead, Cooper ruled the unions must pursue their challenges through the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, which provides for administrative review by the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

2. Judge says DOGE can keep digging

DOGE was handed another victory by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who denied a request to issue a temporary restraining order preventing Musk and DOGE from accessing data systems at the Department of Education, Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce. 

The agencies were asking Chutkan to forbid both Musk and DOGE from terminating, furloughing or putting on leave any of their employees. 

Chutkin ruled that DOGE can continue to operate as it is now.

The judge also issued a court briefing schedule for plaintiffs and defendants to file motions for discovery, preliminary injunctions and dismissals, which stretches through April 22.

3. Judge allows DOGE access to data on 3 federal agencies

DOGE scored a win in court after a federal judge declined a request to temporarily block Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing sensitive data from at least three federal agencies.

Unions and nonprofits attempted to stop Musk’s DOGE from accessing records at the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The efforts were blocked by District Judge John Bates, who wrote in an opinion that the government was likely correct in categorizing DOGE as an agency, thereby allowing it to detail its staff to other government departments. 

Musk praised the decision on X with the caption: ‘LFG,’ an abbreviation for ‘Let’s [expletive] go.’ 

4. DOGE finds a nearly untraceable budget line item responsible for $4.7T in payments

Earlier this week, DOGE announced it had discovered an identification code linking U.S. Treasury payments to a budget line item, which accounts for nearly $4.7 trillion in payments, that was oftentimes left blank.

‘The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process),’ DOGE wrote in a post on X. 

‘In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible. As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going.’

The agency thanked the U.S. Treasury for its work in identifying the optional field.

According to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which is under the Treasury, TAS codes are used to describe any one of the account identification codes assigned by the Treasury and are also referred to as the ‘account.’

5. Caesars Palace, MLB stadium, an ice cream truck: DOGE reveals how schools spent billions in COVID relief funds

Schools spent hundreds of billions of COVID relief funds on expenses that had ‘little’ impact on students, such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and the purchase of an ice cream truck, according to the Trump administration’s cost-cutting department.

DOGE revealed Thursday that schools have spent nearly $200 billion in COVID relief funds ‘with little oversight or impact on students.’

Granite Public Schools in Utah spent COVID relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas Casino, while Santa Ana Unified spent $393,000 to rent a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE.

The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 in COVID relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck.

6. Hegseth working with DOGE to cut the ‘BS’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is working with DOGE to make cuts within his department, saying he believes it will find waste ‘not core to our mission.’

‘They’re here, and we’re welcoming them,’ Hegseth said in a recent video released Thursday. ‘They’re going to have broad access, obviously, with all the safeguards on classification.

‘They care just like we do, to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities — the DEI, the woke, the climate change B.S., that’s not core to our mission, and we’re going to get rid of it all.’

Hegseth, who said many DOGE workers are veterans, met with Musk’s team and said they have already started their review of the Department of Defense.

7. DOGE uncovers over 4M government credit cards responsible for 90M transactions

DOGE revealed on Tuesday that the U.S. government has more than 4 million active credit cards on its books.

‘The US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for ~$40B of spend[ing] in FY24,’ DOGE said in a post on X.

The cost-cutting department broke down multiple federal agencies and their credit card use, with the DOD leading the way in both the number of transactions, about 27.2 million, and the number of individual accounts, roughly 2.4 million.

Musk delivered a speech to conservatives Thursday in which he touted the accomplishments of DOGE and, at one point, stood on the stage holding a golden chainsaw given to him by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, symbolizing the cuts being made to government spending, to the delight of the crowd of conservatives at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. 

‘We’re fighting Matrix big time here,’ Musk said. ‘It has got to be done.’

Fox News’ Alex Nitzberg, Emma Woodhead, Michael Lee, Greg Wehner, and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Elon Musk’s remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday drew praise from those who were pleased with the cuts being made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

‘I wasn’t really that interested in being political. It’s just like there was at a certain point no choice,’ Musk said at the event in Maryland while wearing a black MAGA hat and sunglasses. ‘The actions that we’re taking, with the support of the president and the support of the agencies, is what will save Medicare, what will save Social Security.’

‘That’s the reason I’m doing this,’ he added. ‘Because I was looking at the big picture here, and it’s like, man, it’s getting out of control.’ 

‘A country is no different from a person,’ he continued. ‘[A] country overspends, a country goes bankrupt in the same way as a person who overspends usually goes bankrupt. So, it’s not optional to solve these things, it’s essential.’

Matthew Kochman, a New York Real Estate broker, said that DOGE cuts ‘probably saved the country from financial collapse.’ 

‘I thought it was all just common sense,’ Kochman said of Musk’s comments.

When attendees were asked about the proposal to use 20% of the money from the cuts across the board to go toward a stimulus check for American taxpayers, some raised questions about whether the funds should help pay down over $36 trillion in national debt. 

‘I’m not sure I agree with the sending money back. I would just assume money going to pay down our debt, because it is an existential threat,’ Angie Carrai, of Vienna, Virginia, said, adding that Musk’s comments have ‘tapped into what a lot of people feel’ about taxes being wasted on ‘ridiculous’ programs.

However, Kochman said he believes that taxpayers should get some of their money back but thinks it should also help pay off the debt.

Speaker Mike Johnson has also raised concerns about the pitch from Musk and Trump, saying that the United States needs to ‘pay down the credit card’ with the $2 trillion objective amount to be slashed through DOGE. 

Pat Dennis, President of the left-wing American Bridge 21st Century opposition research firm, told Fox News Digital after watching Musk’s remarks that he’s concerned about cuts to programs that benefit Americans.

‘He was talking about cutting programs that everyday Americans rely on, things like Medicaid,’ Dennis said. ‘The implication that massive percentages of these programs just can be unilaterally cut because they’re fraud is not real.’

‘People rely on these, voters rely on these, families rely on these, people in Republican districts rely on these,’ he added.

DOGE made headlines in recent weeks for taking aim at spending through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as grants doled out through various cabinet agencies. 

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo and Liz Elkind contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump and his administration continued to advance negotiations with Ukraine and Russia his fifth week in office in an attempt to reach a peace deal to end the conflict between the two countries. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz met with Russian officials in Riyadh Tuesday to discuss ways to end the war, while U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg met with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv about a peace deal Wednesday. 

The meetings increased tension between the U.S. and Ukraine when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in Turkey that ‘nobody decides anything behind our back,’ claiming Ukraine wasn’t invited to the meeting between the U.S. and Russia. Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine won’t agree to a deal unless Ukraine is part of the talks. 

In response, both Trump and Zelenskyy exchanged barbs. Although Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Trump insinuated that Ukraine started the war and called Zelenskyy a ‘dictator.’ Meanwhile, Zelenskyy claimed Trump was dispersing Russian ‘disinformation.’ 

Even so, the Trump administration has defended its decision to meet with Russia, claiming it’s necessary to advance the negotiations. 

‘How are you going to end the war unless you’re talking to Russia?’ Vice President JD Vance said at the Conservative Political Action Conference near the nation’s capital Thursday. ‘You’ve got to talk to everybody involved in the fighting. If you actually want to bring the conflict to a close.’

Here’s what also happened this week at the White House:

Weeding out unconstitutional regulations

Trump signed an executive order Wednesday requiring federal agencies to assess regulations that could violate the Constitution as the administration seeks to cut red tape. 

Senior administration officials told Fox News Digital the order is first of its kind and an attempt to ensure the government isn’t weaponized against the American people. It will require agencies to submit a list to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within the next 60 days of all regulations that could be unconstitutional.

OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will oversee the effort and examine federal agencies’ regulations. 

DOGE officials at federal agencies will compose an inventory of regulations that could violate the Constitution and deliver the list to OMB. After the 60 days, the OIRA will go through the list of regulations and make individual decisions on which are unconstitutional and will launch the process of repealing the regulations on a case-by-case basis. 

OIRA oversees executive branch regulations, while the newly created DOGE aims to eliminate government waste, fraud and spending.

Expanding IVF coverage 

Trump signed an executive order Tuesday requesting the Domestic Policy Council to examine ways to make in vitro fertilization, known as IVF, more affordable and accessible for Americans. 

‘Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options, as the cost per cycle can range from $12,000 to $25,000,’ the executive order said. ‘Providing support, awareness, and access to affordable fertility treatments can help these families navigate their path to parenthood with hope and confidence.’

The assistant to the president for domestic policy will provide policy recommendations with the goal of ‘protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment’ within 90 days. 

Ending taxpayer funding for illegal immigrants 

Trump also signed an executive order that ensures taxpayer benefits do not go toward illegal immigrants, in an attempt to better protect the interests of American citizens. 

The directive requires federal agencies to determine if any federally funded programs are providing financial benefits to illegal immigrants and immediately take ‘corrective action’ so that these federal funds don’t bolster illegal immigration. Likewise, the order instructs agencies to implement stricter eligibility verification to ensure that these benefits don’t go to those in the U.S. illegally. 

The order did not identify specific benefits, and notes that illegal immigrants are largely barred from qualifying for welfare programs. However, the order states without providing evidence that past administrations have ‘repeatedly undercut the goals of that law, resulting in the improper expenditure of significant taxpayer resources.’

‘My Administration will uphold the rule of law, defend against the waste of hard-earned taxpayer resources, and protect benefits for American citizens in need, including individuals with disabilities and veterans,’ the order states.

‘President Trump is committed to safeguarding Federal public benefits for American citizens who are truly in need, including individuals with disabilities and veterans,’ a White House fact sheet on the executive order said.

Call it Sen. Tim Scott’s 55-seat strategy.

Scott, the conservative senator from South Carolina, told Fox News Digital soon after taking over late last year as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) he aimed to expand the GOP’s current 53-47 majority in the Senate.

And Scott, in a Fox News Digital interview this week on Capitol Hill, is standing by his goal.

‘One hundred percent. It’s my stretch goal,’ the senator reiterated. ‘The bottom line is, I believe that we can defend our current seats while adding at least two more seats to our numbers.’

Scott, who last month became the longest-serving Black senator in the nation’s history, launched a campaign two years ago for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before dropping out and endorsing Donald Trump.

The senator, who was a top Trump surrogate on the campaign trail last year, emphasized that ‘the good news is, with President Donald Trump leading this country, the field is wide open, which means that we have more places to play, and the game is on.’

Scott added the NRSC needs ‘to focus on the mechanics of making sure that the Donald J. Trump brand is reflected in our candidates.’

Senate Republicans enjoyed a favorable map in the 2024 cycle as they flipped four seats from blue to red to win back control of the chamber.

But the party in power — clearly the Republicans right now — traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterm elections. Nevertheless, an early read of the 2026 map indicates the GOP may be able to go on offense in some key states.

Republicans will be targeting battleground Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters recently announced he won’t seek re-election next year, as well as Georgia, another key battleground state, where first-term Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is considered vulnerable.

And in swing state New Hampshire, longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has yet to say whether she’ll seek another term in the Senate when she’s up for re-election next year.

Days before Scott was interviewed by Fox News Digital, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith in blue-leaning Minnesota announced she wouldn’t run again in 2026.

‘Minnesota is an open seat. That’s a four-point state,’ Scott said as he pointed to Trump’s better-than-expected performance in the state in November’s presidential election.

‘We can actually make gains there and bring home another red seat in Minnesota for the first time in a long time,’ Scott predicted.

Asked about GOP recruitment efforts in Minnesota, Scott responded, ‘I’m pleasantly surprised. We’ve already talked to two very highly qualified candidates and more to come.’

Pointing to the current political landscape across the country, Scott touted that ‘we have a map that is wide open. All we need is time. Time is on our side right now. So, we’re excited about what’s going to happen over the next several weeks.’

But Republicans are also playing defense in the 2026 cycle.

Democrats plan to go on offense in blue-leaning Maine, where GOP Sen. Susan Collins is up for re-election, as well as in battleground North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is also up in 2026. 

Scott acknowledges that the GOP will have to spend big bucks to defend those two seats, as well as in Ohio, where Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was appointed last month to succeed Vice President JD Vance in the Senate. Husted will run next year to finish out Vance’s term.

Pointing to a likely price tag of well over $1 billion in those three races, Scott acknowledged that ‘we need to continue to have strong fundraising numbers and support our candidates as we defend our seats.’

The NRSC recently announced a record $8.5 million in fundraising in January, which the committee says is its best ever off-year January haul.

Asked if the NRSC could keep up the pace, Scott said, ‘Absolutely we can. The good news is we’re already on pace for February to have another record-breaking month.’

And pointing to the president, Scott argued that ‘Trump brings a lot of enthusiasm. He made promises on the campaign trail, and now, as president, he’s keeping those promises. What does that convert to? Cash is king. People love a man who says what he’s going to do, he gets a job, he goes to work doing those things. It makes our job infinitely easier at the NRSC.’

In the 2022 election cycle, when the Republicans blew a chance to win back the majority, NRSC Chair Rick Scott of Florida was criticized for a hands-off approach in the GOP Senate primaries. 

Last cycle, NRSC Chair Sen. Steve Daines of Montana got involved in Senate Republican nomination battles.

Asked what he’ll do when it comes to contested GOP Senate primaries this cycle, Scott answered, ‘Whatever is in the best interest of the voters in each state, I will make a state-by-state decision on how we play and where we play.’

A federal judge on Friday granted a preliminary injunction over parts of the Trump administration’s executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

The injunction largely blocks the sections of President Donald Trump’s orders that seek to end federal support for programs deemed to be DEI-related, and prevents the Trump administration from canceling contracts that they believe promote diversity, equity or inclusion. 

U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore, a Biden nominee, ruled that parts of the executive orders likely violate the Constitution and free speech.

‘The harm arises from the issuance of it as a public, vague, threatening executive order,’ Abelson said in a hearing this week, adding that it would discourage businesses working with the government from openly supporting DEI. 

The ruling comes after the city of Baltimore, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the American Association of University Professors and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United – which represents restaurant workers – sued the Trump administration over the executive orders, calling them presidential overreach and anti-free speech. 

‘Ordinary citizens bear the brunt,’ attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint. ‘Plaintiffs and their members receive federal funds to support educators, academics, students, workers, and communities across the country. As federal agencies make arbitrary decisions about whether grants are ‘equity-related,’ Plaintiffs are left in limbo.’

They argued that Trump was encroaching on Congress’ powers in order to champion his personal beliefs. 

‘But the President simply does not wield that power,’ they wrote in the complaint. ‘And contrary to his suggestions otherwise, his power is not limitless.’

Trump signed an order on his first day in office directing federal agencies to terminate all ‘equity-related’ grants or contracts. He signed a follow-up order requiring federal contractors to certify that they don’t promote DEI. 

The Trump administration argued in a Wednesday hearing that the president was only banning DEI programs that violate federal civil rights laws. 

‘What’s happening is an overcorrection and pulling back on DEI statements,’ attorney Aleshadye Getachew said in a hearing. 

A second federal lawsuit was also filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday targeting Trump’s DEI executive orders. The new complaint was filed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal on behalf of nonprofit advocacy organizations. 

The lawsuit is aimed at Trump’s executive orders: ‘Ending Radical and Wasteful DEI Programs and Preferencing,’ ‘Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,’ and ‘Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.’ 

White House spokesman Harrison Fields said both lawsuits represented ‘nothing more than an extension of the left’s resistance,’ adding in a statement to the New York Times that the administration was ‘ready to face them in court.’

‘Radical leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump to advance his wildly popular agenda,’ Fields said.

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration is ‘pretty close’ to striking a deal with Ukraine for rights to access its natural resources in exchange for the United States’ billions of dollars in support for the country against Russia. 

‘You know, I think they want it, and they feel good about it,’ Trump told reporters on Friday in the Oval Office after the swearing-in ceremony of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. ‘And it’s significant. It’s a big deal. But they want it, and it keeps us in that country. And they’re very happy about it.

‘We get our money back. They should have been signed long before we went in. They should have been signed by Biden. But Biden didn’t know too much about what he was doing. The war should have never happened, No. 1. When it did happen, it could have been settled. 

‘The first week or two weeks after that, it got bad. It got really bad, but it should have been, it should have never happened. And it should have been settled, and it could have been settled very easily at the beginning. Now it’s tougher, but we’ll get it settled.’

During his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, Trump’s National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, said, ‘Here’s the bottom line: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term.’ 

Waltz also told ‘Fox & Friends’ this week that Ukraine should ‘tone down’ its criticism of Trump and ‘come back to the table’ to work out an economic deal with the U.S.

The deal for U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals is part of broader negotiations to end the war in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in 2022. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News Wednesday Trump is creating a ‘win-win’ partnership between the United States and Ukraine with the deal days after meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

‘Part of my trip was to go and tell the Ukrainian people that we wanted an economic partnership with them,’ Bessent told Bret Baier on ‘Special Report.’ 

‘So, President Trump’s vision is [to] bring the Ukrainian people and the American people closer together economically, show the Ukrainian people that we support them, show the American people that the money that is going into Ukraine, that there is going to be a return, that there’s going to be a long-term partnership.’

The Trump administration is seeking to recoup the cost of aid sent to the war-torn country by gaining access to rare earth minerals like titanium, iron and uranium.

The delay also comes amid rising tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy as the U.S. works with Russian officials to broker a peace deal in the ongoing war. 

Trump argued on Fox News Zelenskyy has ‘no cards’ to negotiate leverage for a deal as the pair have publicly hurled insults at one another in recent days. 

‘I’ve been watching this man for years now as his cities get demolished, as his people get killed, as his soldiers get decimated,’ Trump told Fox News co-host Brian Kilmeade.

‘I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards, and you get sick of it,’ he added. ‘You just get sick of it, and I’ve had it.’

Trump argued Zelenskyy is a poor negotiator, noting Bessent traveled to Ukraine last week to broker a mineral agreement, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but said the pair ‘couldn’t even come close’ to a deal.

The president said the trip was dangerous for Bessent and a waste of time. 

The deal would have helped U.S. investment in the war-torn nation and also provided ‘the best security guarantee they could ever hope for,’ according to Waltz.

Fox News’ Bailee Hill contributed to this report.

The body of a woman who was presumed to have been one of four slain hostages murdered in cold blood by Hamas and handed over to Israel this week was allegedly turned over by the terror group on Friday.  

Hamas handed over a coffin allegedly carrying the remains of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross.The coffin was then turned over to Israeli authorities, who will transport it to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification. 

The development follows Israel’s demand for the return of Bibas’ body after discrepancies were found in a previous transfer on Thursday. 

Bibas was initially believed to have been one of four hostages handed over to Israel on Thursday, following confirmation by Hamas. However, Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine could only verify the identities of her two children.  

It was discovered that the body in a coffin bearing Shiri Bibas’ name and photo was an unidentified woman, and not the kidnapped mother of two, causing widespread outrage in Israel. 

The two children were identified as Ariel and Kfir Bibas, ages four and ten months, who were killed by Hamas terrorists with their bare hands, Israel said. The fourth body was not identified but was believed to be Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist and activist.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was in contact with the Bibas family.

‘For months, we prayed for the Bibas babies to come home. Yesterday, our worst nightmare was confirmed,’ IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, ‘Kfir and Ariel were murdered in cold blood. The terrorists didn’t shoot them—they killed them with their bare hands. Then, they committed horrific acts to cover up their crimes.’

In response to the findings, the Hostages and Missing Families forum said it was ‘shaken to the core by the horrifying findings.’

‘This barbaric act is yet another undeniable testament to the unfathomable brutality of those who continue to hold our loved ones captive,’ the group said in a statement. ‘The very same hands that slaughtered Ariel and Kfir are the ones keeping our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters in unimaginable conditions.’

‘Today is a tragic day,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday. ‘It’s a day of boundless sorrow, of indescribable pain. Four-year-old Ariel Bibas, his baby brother one-year-old Kfir, and 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz were brutally murdered by Hamas savages.’

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, said that Hamas ‘continues to violate every basic moral value,’ even after the death of the two children. 

‘Instead of returning Shiri, the mother of Kfir and Ariel, Hamas returned an unidentified  body, as if it were a worthless shipment. This is a new low, an evil and cruelty with no parallel,’ he added.

The young boys and their mother were abducted from their home by Hamas terrorists during the terror group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Yarden Bibas, Ariel and Kfir’s father, tried to protect them and was abducted prior to the kidnapping of his wife and children, the IDF said.

Yarden returned as part of the agreement for the return of the hostages on Feb. 1. Netanyahu said that Hamas will pay ‘the full price’ for not following through with returning Shiri Bibas’ body.

‘God will save their blood, and we will take revenge, too,’ he said. 

Fox News’ Yonat Friling contributed to this report. 

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday said the Jeffrey Epstein client list is ‘sitting on my desk right now’ and she is reviewing the JFK and MLK files as well after President Donald Trump’s earlier directives. 

‘It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,’ Bondi told ‘America Reports’ host John Roberts on Friday. ‘That’s been a directive by President Trump.’

Bondi also stated she is ‘reviewing’ the JFK and MLK files, which the president signed an executive order to declassify at the start of his second term. 

‘That’s all in the process of being reviewed, because that was done at the directive of the president from all of these agencies,’ Bondi said. 

When asked if she had ‘seen anything,’ Bondi responded, ‘Not yet.’

Trump’s return to the Oval Office came with the prospect of the public finally being able to see Epstein’s long-awaited ‘black book’ amid inquiries into the deceased financier and sex trafficker.  

Epstein, a 66-year-old millionaire financier with a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and mansions around the country, died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Bondi herself advocated for the release of the Epstein list in 2024, telling Sean Hannity at the time, ‘It should have come out a long time ago.’ 

Shortly after kicking off his second term, Trump signed an executive order to declassify files on the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. 

‘Everything will be revealed,’ Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office.

Trump had previously promised on the campaign trail to declassify the documents upon entering his second term, saying at the time, ‘When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination-related documents. It’s been 60 years, time for the American people to know the TRUTH!’

Earlier this month, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the attorney general reached their deadline to release their proposed plan for the declassification of the JFK files. 

The FBI announced shortly thereafter that it had uncovered thousands of records connected to the JFK assassination. Axios initially reported that the agency had released 2,400 records tied to the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of Kennedy, which were not provided to the board that reviewed and disclosed the files.

It was upon DNI’s plan submission to release the files that it reportedly disclosed the records’ existence. 

Fox News confirmed at the time with a person familiar with the records that the files were uncovered during the review.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner and Patrick Ward contributed to this report.