Category: Labor and Working

Trump administration rescinds funding freeze. States pledge to proceed with lawsuits

Statesman Journal

Trump administration rescinds funding freeze. States pledge to proceed with lawsuits

Anastasia Mason, Salem Statesman Journal – January 29, 2025

(This story has been updated with new information.)

The Trump administration rescinded a federal grant freeze on Wednesday that Oregon leaders said caused confusion and chaos.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s other executive orders on federal funding issued since Inauguration Day will “remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments.”

Oregon joined 22 other states and Washington, D.C. in filing a new suit, Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced Tuesday afternoon. The states’ request for a preliminary injunction will be considered Wednesday afternoon in Rhode Island.

Leavitt said the administration’s rescission “should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the President’s orders on controlling federal spending.”

However, Jenny Hansson, spokesperson for Rayfield’s office, said “everything is still on. We’re suing to stop these actions, and given the chaos of recent days we don’t trust the administration when it says it’s going to stop these actions.  Also, as a legal matter, voluntarily ceasing conduct doesn’t moot out a lawsuit.”

The states intend to seek “permanent injunctive and declaratory relief, to ensure that their residents are protected against the damage and chaos that would be caused by the funding freeze,” Rayfield’s office said in a press release.

A federal judge issued a temporary halt Tuesday afternoon on the Trump administration’s efforts to pause some federal funding.

Disbursement of federal grants and loans to Oregon were scheduled to stop at 5 p.m. Tuesday and remain paused for review, as directed by the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ordered the Trump administration not to halt grant funding until at least Feb. 3, when another hearing will be held on the dispute.

The judge said her temporary ruling was intended to “maintain the status quo.” It does not block the Trump administration from freezing funding to new programs, or require it to restart funding that has already ended.

The announcement of the pause order led to “chaos and uncertainty” and impacted the state’s federal reimbursement portals for programs such as Medicaid and Head Start, said Gov. Tina Kotek, who urged Oregonians to continue using the services as usual.

“This does not impact you today. This is about how money is coming back to the state to pay for the services that you’re using, but do not delay care,” Kotek said during a joint press conference with Rayfield.

“There is complete confusion right now from the Trump administration about what they’re doing and what it means for Americans across the country,” the governor said.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Attorney General Dan Rayfield speak during a press conference about President Donald Trump's order pausing federal funding.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Attorney General Dan Rayfield speak during a press conference about President Donald Trump’s order pausing federal funding.

Rayfield said: “What we’re hearing from the White House is not what we’re experiencing on the ground.”

In a statement earlier Tuesday Rayfield said he was “deeply concerned” by the pause and “will explore any and all legal actions to challenge this harmful order from President Trump.” He said the DOJ’s child support portal also was affected.

Last week, Oregon joined suit with three other states against an executive order by President Donald Trump that would end birthright citizenship. A judge issued a temporary pause on the order.

U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, condemned the pause, saying, “if the president gets his way, children and seniors will go hungry, parents will pay more for child care, small businesses won’t be able to meet payroll, veterans will lose access to housing and health care, and rural communities won’t get the relief they need to prepare for and recover from wildfires and other disasters.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, criticized what he called a “cruel order” saying it was “blatantly unconstitutional.”

“The president is not a king, and the laws Congress passes are not suggestions,” Merkley, a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement. “This cruel order will force schools, hospitals, food banks, and other community organizations to stop offering vital services. The list goes on and one thing is remarkably clear: President Trump’s Great Betrayal of working families knows no limit.”

Memo directing federal agencies to pause federal financial assistance

The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a memo Monday directing federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance,” Reuters reported.

The purpose of the pause is so agencies can “review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities,” the memorandum reads.

The memo pointed to a legal definition of federal financial assistance, which includes grants, cooperative agreements, surplus donations, loans and interest subsidies. It exempts assistance received directly by individuals, including Medicare and Social Security benefits.

In a post on X, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, reported issues with Medicaid access.

“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed,” the post said.

Asked whether Medicaid was cut off as part of OMB’s funding pause and whether there was a guarantee that individuals on Medicaid would not be affected, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said: “I’ll check back on that and get back to you.”

“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration,” Leavitt said during a briefing Tuesday. “The reason for this is to ensure that every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions that this president has taken.”

Ways and Means co-Chair Sen. Kate Lieber, D-Beaverton, issued a statement that said: “We have a long history of partnering with the federal government to the betterment of all Oregonians and it is unconscionable for the current administration to play politics with people’s lives.”

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” the memo says.

The memo refers to an executive order Trump signed on Jan. 20, which ordered department and agency heads to “immediately pause” new programs and disbursements of development assistance to foreign countries. The Department of State announced the pause on Sunday.

On the domestic side, the federal government issues grants for everything from road building to scientific research.

It was unclear which categories would be affected. While the directive is broad, including all federal financial assistance, the memo also includes a caveat that the pause can only affect federal assistance “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”

USA TODAY and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Hegseth cutting Milley’s security detail, eyes stripping him of star

The Hill

Hegseth cutting Milley’s security detail, eyes stripping him of star

Ellen Mitchell – January 28, 2025

Hegseth cutting Milley’s security detail, eyes stripping him of star

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce the immediate rescission of the personal security detail and security clearance for former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, several news outlets are reporting.

The Trump administration is also aiming to demote Milley in retirement. Hegseth is expected to direct the Pentagon’s new acting Inspector General to conduct a review board to see if enough evidence exists for the four-star general to be stripped of a star based on his actions to “undermine the chain of command” during President Trump’s first term, multiple senior administration officials told Fox News, which first reported on the plan.

Additionally, a second portrait of Milley inside the Pentagon will be removed as soon as Tuesday night. That portrait sits in the Army’s Marshall Corridor on the third floor and honors Milley’s service as a former chief of staff of the Army. The first portrait of him, which was removed just hours after Trump was sworn into his second term on Jan. 20, depicted his time as the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Taking down both Milley portraits means there will be no imagery of him inside the Pentagon.

Defense Department officials declined to comment on the potential directives, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump and Milley have long had an acrimonious relationship, starting in Trump’s first term, when Milley apologized for accompanying the president for a photo opportunity at Lafayette Square near the White House in 2020 during racial justice unrest in the nation’s Capitol.

Later, in the final days of Trump’s first term, Milley reportedly — without Trump’s knowledge — reassured Chinese officials there would be no threat to China amid fears of instability within the White House. The incident infuriated Trump to the point that he posted on Truth Social that Milley was “treasonous,” suggesting he be executed.

Since then, Trump has often vowed to take revenge against his enemies, naming Milley often as one such foe.

But Trump might be hard-pressed to stick Milley with any criminal charges, as the retired general was given a preemptive pardon issued by former President Biden on Jan. 20, his last day in office.

Milley — who in public and private has reportedly called Trump unintelligent and a “fascist to the core” — had been assigned personal security details since 2020, when Iran vowed revenge for the Trump-ordered drone strike killing of Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani.

The removal of Milley’s security detail follows Trump’s decision last week to also end protective security details for his former national security adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his onetime deputy Brian Hook.

Trump administration orders sweeping freeze of federal aid

Politico

Trump administration orders sweeping freeze of federal aid

Jennifer Scholtes and Nicholas Wu – January 27, 2025

One week in, the Trump administration is broadening its assault on the functions of government and shifting control of the federal purse strings further away from members of Congress.

President Donald Trump’s budget office Monday ordered a total freeze on “all federal financial assistance” that could be targeted under his previous executive orders pausing funding for a wide range of priorities — from domestic infrastructure and energy projects to diversity-related programs and foreign aid.

In a two-page memo obtained by POLITICO, the Office of Management and Budget announced all federal agencies would be forced to suspend payments — with the exception of Social Security and Medicare.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” according to the memo, which three people authenticated.

The new order could affect billions of dollars in grants to state and local governments while causing disruptions to programs that benefit many households. There was also widespread confusion over how the memo would be implemented and whether it would face legal challenges.

While the memo says the funding pause does not include assistance “provided directly to individuals,” for instance, it does not clarify whether that includes money sent first to states or organizations and then provided to households.

The brief memo also does not detail all payments that will be halted. However, it broadly orders federal agencies to “temporarily” stop sending federal financial assistance that could be affected by Trump’s executive actions.

That includes the president’s orders to freeze all funding from the Democrats’ signature climate and spending law — the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure package enacted in 2021. It also imposes a 90-day freeze on foreign aid.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement decried the announcement as an example of “more lawlessness and chaos in America as Donald Trump’s Administration blatantly disobeys the law by holding up virtually all vital funds that support programs in every community across the country.”

The New York Democrat urged the administration to lift the freeze.

“They say this is only temporary, but no one should believe that,” he said. “Donald Trump must direct his Administration to reverse course immediately and the taxpayers’ money should be distributed to the people. Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law.”

Bobby Kogan, who worked at the White House budget office during the Biden administration, called the memo a “big, broad, illegal” order that violates impoundment law, which blocks presidents from unilaterally withholding money without the consent of Congress.

“This is as bad as we feared it would be,” said Kogan, who also served as a Democratic aide to the Senate Budget Committee and is now a director at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

The president of the National Council of Nonprofits, Diane Yentel, said in a statement that the order “could decimate thousands of organizations and leave neighbors without the services they need.”

The funding pause, first reported by journalist Marisa Kabas, is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Tuesday, a day after the memo was sent to agencies.

Carmen Paun and Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.

Trump demands apology, criticizes bishop’s prayer service remarks

The Hill

Trump demands apology, criticizes bishop’s prayer service remarks

Alex Gangitano – January 22, 2025

Trump demands apology, criticizes bishop’s prayer service remarks

President Trump early Wednesday morning slammed the reverend at a National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration who called on him to have mercy on transgender children and immigrant families.

Trump, in a lengthy post on Truth Social, called Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s remarks “nasty” and not smart.

“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” he said.

“She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions,” the president added. “It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one.”

Trump also called on her and the church to apologize to him.

“She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”

Hours earlier, Budde made a plea to Trump during her sermon as he was sitting in the first pew at the service.

“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared. There are gay, lesbian, transgender children, Democratic, Republican, independent families — some who fear for their lives,” she said.

“The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals — they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” she added.

During her comments about migrants, Budde noted migrant workers “pay taxes” and are “faithful members” of U.S. churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, arguing their children “fear their parents are going to be taken away.” And, she called on Trump to aid people fleeing war zones and persecution.

Budde also told Trump that people in our country are scared of his presidency.

When Trump returned to the White House after the prayer service, he told reporters it “wasn’t too exciting.”

“They can do much better,” he added.

Others have joined Trump in criticizing the Bishop’s remarks, including Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who said on the social platform X that “the person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”

Trump signed a flurry of executive orders Monday, including one recognizing only two sexes — male and female — and others restricting immigration, carrying out his campaign promise to target migrants, especially those who have committed crimes in the U.S.

He signed an order effectively pausing refugee admissions for a minimum of three months, signed an order that seeks to boost detention capacity in the U.S. to house migrants and said he would end birthright citizenship for children born to people living without legal status in the U.S.

He also reinstituted the “Remain in Mexico” program, which requires asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court date, and he shut down the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) One app that facilitated appointments for immigration proceedings.

Chef José Andrés responds to President Trump’s ‘dismissal’ weeks after earning Presidential Medal of Freedom

Good Morning America

Chef José Andrés responds to President Trump’s ‘dismissal’ weeks after earning Presidential Medal of Freedom

Kelly McCarthy – January 21, 2025

Humanitarian and chef José Andrés spoke out Tuesday after President Donald Trump claimed he had “fired” Andrés from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition shortly after being sworn in for his second term.

Andrés served as co-chair of the federal advisory committee for two years, having been appointed to the position on March 23, 2022.

Trump posted what he called a “Official Notice of Dismissal” on social media early Tuesday morning, stating that his office would be “identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again.”

“Let this serve as Official Notice of Dismissal for these 4 individuals, with many more, coming soon: Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council — YOU’RE FIRED!” he wrote.

Andrés responded in his own social media post later on Tuesday morning, stating that he had already submitted his resignation earlier in the month, at the conclusion of his two year term.

“I submitted my resignation last week…my 2 year term was already up 🤷‍♂️😅,” the James Beard Award winner wrote on X.

He continued, “I was honored to serve as co-chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. My fellow council members – unpaid volunteers like me – were hardworking, talented people who inspired me every day. I’m proud of what we accomplished on behalf of the American people…like a historic partnership between the White House and every major sports league to increase access to sports and health programs for kids.”

Andrés concluded his post by expressing his hope that Trump “exercises his presidential authority so the Council can continue to advocate for fitness and good health for all Americans.”

“These are bipartisan issues…nonpartisan issues,” he wrote. “May God give you the wisdom, Mr. President, to put politics and name calling aside…and instead lift up the everyday people working to bring America together. Let’s build longer tables….”

Less than three weeks ago, the Spanish American chef and World Central Kitchen founder was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in part due to his work providing relief to “communities affected by natural disasters and conflict around the world,” the White House stated at the time.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Chef and head of World Central Kitchen Jose Andres in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2025. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters)
PHOTO: President Joe Biden presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Chef and head of World Central Kitchen Jose Andres in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2025. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters)More

As he was presented the highest civilian honor in the East Room of the White House, Andrés took a moment to point upward as a way to honor the lives of his WCK colleagues and aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza last year.

Trump has moved quickly to exact ‘retribution.’ More revenge could come: ANALYSIS

ABC News

In a new interview for the latest episode of his “Longer Tables” podcast, Andrés’ longtime friend and esteemed chef Eric Ripert asked while hosting the live taping at the Cayman Cookout about the emotional moment in the White House.

“We lost some friends working with WCK — especially somebody like Zomi [Frankcom], who’s a woman I spent many years working with on many missions and in many emergencies, and this was a way to say, ‘This medal is for you all,'” Andrés said. “It was a very simple way to say you are the ones that deserve this.”

Democratic attorneys general prep for role as last line of defense in Trump era

Oregon Capitol Chronicle

Democratic attorneys general prep for role as last line of defense in Trump era

Ben Botkin – November 18, 2024

Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, on stage at the annual Oregon Leadership Summit in Portland on Dec. 11, 2023.
Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, on stage at the annual Oregon Leadership Summit in Portland on Dec. 11, 2023.

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways

Then-Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, on stage at the annual Oregon Leadership Summit in Portland on Dec. 11, 2023. Rayfield, elected Oregon attorney general, will be one of 23 Democratic attorneys general during the next Trump administration. (Michael Romanos/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

After Donald Trump entered the White House in 2017, Democratic attorneys general in the U.S. quickly started conference calls every Tuesday morning to strategize and map out legal steps.

Within weeks, that quickly turned into legal action, when Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson launched a lawsuit challenging Trump’s travel ban that barred most people from predominantly Muslim nations from entering the U.S., even if they had valid visas. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum joined the lawsuit, which led to a court action that blocked Trump’s executive order within about a week of its passage. 

As Trump prepares for a new term in office, 23 Democratic attorneys general will be a watchdog against any Trump-led initiatives that they believe are unconstitutional, illegal or both. The landscape has changed: Rosenblum is retiring from the role and former Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield will become the next attorney general. Ferguson was elected governor of Washington. The two are the last Democratic attorneys general who were in office when Trump started his first term.

In the second Trump term, attorneys general now have a four-year history of court actions that their predecessors took on wide-ranging issues like immigration, health care and the environment. And they often prevailed in court, an outcome that highlights the remarkable power that attorneys general have, through the court system, to unravel executive orders and directives from the most powerful elected leader in the world. 

“We kind of have a track record and a set of expectations of how he has operated in the past,” Rayfield said in an interview with the Capital Chronicle. “The attorneys general are just a check and balance on that power. When he oversteps and pursues, whether it’s discriminatory or unlawful policies, you are that backstop for that.”

Oregon worked closely with Washington and other states during the first Trump term, as Democratic attorneys general collaborated. Ferguson sued the first Trump administration nearly 100 times, losing only three times, the Washington State Standard reported. Oregon joined many of those cases, as did other states.

Among the cases, all with more than a dozen states participating: Oregon sued in 2017, when Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency head delayed a designation of what regions of the country met new ground-level ozone pollution standards. In 2018, Oregon sued to block the federal government from asking people about their citizenship status during the 2020 census. Oregon also joined a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s immigration policy of separating children from families that crossed the border of Mexico without documentation. 

During that first Trump administration, there were a lot of things that just came out of the blue. So you have to be ready under those scenarios.

– Oregon Attorney General-elect Dan Rayfield

Rayfield said the legal fight for states to set stricter emissions controls for vehicles than federal standards — opposed by Republican attorneys general — is an example of an issue where he would fight for Oregon’s right to do so. 

Another key issue is reproductive health and preserving access to care, including the abortion medication mifepristone, Rayfield said. 

Attorneys general also serve as a watchdog of federal actions regardless of whether a member of their party is president. For example, Rosenblum and other attorneys general have sued the federal Food & Drug Administration during the Biden administration for its restrictions on mifepristone. 

Rayfield said he understands the fears about what impact a Trump administration will have on immigration. It’s one issue among many that he’ll keep tabs on with his Oregon Department of Justice attorneys. 

“Those concerns are very real and scary in those communities,” he said. “But what I’d like to do is be able to see where Trump begins to move in that direction, and then see how that unfolds.”

At the same time, Rayfield said his role as attorney general is not simply to be a foil to Trump. The role exists regardless of who the president is, he said. 

“You have to be firing on all cylinders,” he said.

That’s because the attorney general does much more than decide when to sue the federal government. Oregon’s attorney general leads the Oregon Department of Justice, which has nearly 1,500 workers statewide and an annual budget of about $406 million. The attorney general defends state agencies from lawsuits and advocates on behalf of residents in areas like consumer protection, help with collecting child support and raising public awareness about scammers. 

Yet Rayfield said it’s important to be ready for the unexpected. 

“During that first Trump administration, there were a lot of things that just came out of the blue,” he said. “So you have to be ready under those scenarios. I think it is a state of really knowing what our values are here in Oregon, and then being ready to partner with other attorneys general to make sure that we’re upholding those values. Because it is a team effort in kind of being that last line of defense.”

It was a lot of tweets. We weren’t really used to a president that personally tweeted, so we had a lot of clues from that and, of course, the executive orders themselves.

– Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum speaks about House Bill 2005, which bans undetectable firearms, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, at a ceremonial bill signing. Rosenblum, who is retiring, co-chaired a national group of Democratic attorneys general during the first Trump term. (Ben Botkin/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum speaks about House Bill 2005, which bans undetectable firearms, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, at a ceremonial bill signing. Rosenblum, who is retiring, co-chaired a national group of Democratic attorneys general during the first Trump term. (Ben Botkin/Oregon Capital Chronicle)More
Rosenblum reflects

For Rosenblum, the early days of monitoring the Trump administration in 2017 quickly showed the need for organization. Rosenblum, who served as co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association during the Trump administration, helped lead those early efforts.

The organization hired a staffer to help track policy changes coming from the White House. And of course, Trump’s prolific tweets — before the social media company now known as X  banned him — offered hints about what was ahead. Current owner Elon Musk, a Trump supporter who the president-elect named as head of a quasi-governmental “Department of Government Efficiency,” restored Trump’s account in 2022, but Trump continues to primarily use his own social media company, Truth Social.

“It was a lot of tweets,” Rosenblum said. “We weren’t really used to a president that personally tweeted, so we had a lot of clues from that and, of course, the executive orders themselves.”

The group realized that to preserve resources, they needed to work together and coordinate on cases. 

“We realized that, ideally, in order to conserve resources and also to address issues that were not specific to our states, but that were harming our own constituents in terms of their rights and their freedoms, that we needed to really step it up and work together,” Rosenblum said. “So we did that on pretty much everything that came our way.”

That helped keep costs down during the four-year Trump term, and Rosenblum said her office never needed to hire outside legal counsel to handle the cases. It also helped to have help from states with better-staffed offices, including Washington, California, New York and Illinois, she said.

The weekly conference calls continued, even after Trump exited office and during the Biden administration. Rosenblum said they were a good way to communicate and collaborate on potential national lawsuits and other issues.

Rosenblum said she expects the office will have a smooth transition through Rayfield. Like Rayfield, she said the role of watchdogging the federal government does not replace an attorney general’s role in pocketbook issues like consumer protection. 

“You definitely don’t stop doing your daily bread and butter work of what being attorney general is, and that’s really important to the people of Oregon,” Rosenblum said. 

MSNBC: Chris Hayes: With executive actions, Trump bets the courts are on his side. That’s a risky gamble.

USA Today: USDA inspector general escorted out of her office after defying White House

Trump’s track record of disaster misinformation as he casts blame over California wildfires

ABC News

Trump’s track record of disaster misinformation as he casts blame over California wildfires

LaLee Ibssa – January 11, 2025

Trump’s track record of disaster misinformation as he casts blame over California wildfires

As deadly wildfires burn through Southern California, President-elect Donald Trump has spent the week attacking Democratic officials and continuing a pattern of spreading misinformation about natural disasters.

“I think that Gavin is largely incompetent, and I think the mayor is largely incompetent, and probably both of them are just stone-cold incompetent,” Trump said of California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday night while hosting Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Since the fires broke out, Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and President Joe Biden have faced criticism over a lack of preparedness, budget cuts to the fire department and a lack of water to fight the fires. Trump has pointed fingers at all three, spreading false claims about California’s water policy and federal assistance.

MORE: Trump keeps saying send water from the north to LA fires, but officials say that’s not the problem

For example, Trump blamed Biden as he falsely claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had “no money” to help California despite Congress recently passing a disaster relief supplemental totaling $29 billion.

PHOTO: President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (Evan Vucci/AP)
PHOTO: President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (Evan Vucci/AP)

The president-elect also pushed exaggerated claims as he accused Newsom of refusing to sign a “water restoration declaration,” saying he instead diverted water resources in order to protect the endangered Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta’s smelt fish.

“He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

While there are regulations that limit the amount of water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to protect the species, the governor’s office said there was no such declaration, calling the accusation “pure fiction.”

Newsom said he has not heard from Trump since the fires broke out, but the president-elect’s rhetoric isn’t helping.

“I don’t know what he’s referring to when he talks about the Delta smelt in reservoirs. The reservoirs are completely full, the state reservoirs here in Southern California,” he said. “That mis- and disinformation I don’t think advantages or aids any of us,” Newsom said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Newsom said that Trump has not called him since the fires, or since the elections. When asked whether Newsom was worried that aid would be held back, Newsom said he was. He added that he hopes he can have the “same relationship and that same spirit” with Trump as he did with Biden.

“Well, I mean, he’s done it in Utah. He’s done it in Michigan, did it in Puerto Rico. He did it to California back before I was even governor in 2018, until he found out folks in Orange County voted for him and then he decided to give the money. So he’s been at this for years and years and years. It transcends the states, including, by the way, Georgia he threatened similarly. So that’s his style. And we take it seriously to the extent that in the past it’s taken a little bit more time,” Newsom said on NBC.

Biden and other emergency officials have also rejected Trump’s claims, maintaining the fire was caused by fierce winds and extremely dry conditions and that the initial water shortage occurred due to power being shut off in order to avoid sparking additional fires.

Still, Trump has long pushed these claims, suggesting while on the campaign trail that he’d withhold aid for California if Newsom didn’t reinstate Trump’s policies.

PHOTO: The devastation of the Palisades Fire is seen in the early morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 10, 2025. (John Locher/AP)
PHOTO: The devastation of the Palisades Fire is seen in the early morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 10, 2025. (John Locher/AP)

Trump’s administration in his first term signed a memorandum that redirected millions of gallons of water to farmers living in the Central Valley and Southern California, pumping it out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

“The water coming here is dead. And Gavin Newsom is going to sign those papers, and if he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t give him money to put out all his fires, and we don’t give him the money to put out his fires. He’s got problems,” Trump said at a press conference at his Los Angeles golf course in September.

After a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Wednesday, Trump continued to criticize Newsom’s handling of the wildfires while ultimately asserting that the two would need to work together.

“So, what’s happened is a tragedy, and the governor has not done a good job,” Trump told ABC News’ Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott.

“With that being said, I got along well with him — when he was governor, we worked together very well, and we would work together,” Trump said. “I guess it looks like we’re going to be the one having to rebuild it.”

It isn’t the first time Trump has gone after emergency officials in the wake of disasters. When hurricanes caused devastation in parts of Georgia and North Carolina last year, Trump quickly pivoted his campaign schedule to focus on those areas.

During those visits, Trump repeatedly spread misinformation about FEMA’s response, incorrectly casting blame on federal officials in the Biden administration and falsely claiming that the administration had drained funds from FEMA to house illegal migrants.

“They got hit with a very bad hurricane, especially North Carolina and parts of Georgia. But North Carolina really got hit. I’ll tell you what, those people should never vote for a Democrat, because they held back aid,” Trump claimed in an October interview.

Local and federal officials warned Trump about how his politically motivated rhetoric could be causing harm as the areas hit attempted to rebuild; however, the president-elect often refused to backtrack.

While visiting Asheville, North Carolina, Trump refused to address threats of violence against FEMA workers, instead saying, “I think you have to let people know how they’re doing. If they were doing a great job, I think we should say that, too, because I think they should be rewarded. But if they’re not doing — does that mean that if they’re doing a poor job, we’re supposed to not say it?”

MORE: Biden says federal government to cover 100% of costs for initial LA fire recovery

Even while in office, Trump received pushback at times for peddling misinformation.

PHOTO: Donald Trump, listens to a question as he visits Chez What Furniture Store which was damaged during Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 in Valdosta, Georgia. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
PHOTO: Donald Trump, listens to a question as he visits Chez What Furniture Store which was damaged during Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 in Valdosta, Georgia. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)More

In 2019, Trump claimed that Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian, causing the National Weather Service to issue a public service announcement refuting Trump’s claims. Then, that same year, when senators first failed to pass disaster relief aid to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, Trump blamed local leaders as he spread false claims, saying repeatedly that Puerto Rico had received “more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before.”

MORE: FEMA assistance available for those affected by Los Angeles fires

“The people of Puerto Rico are GREAT, but the politicians are incompetent or corrupt,” Trump posted at the time.

Republican governors came to Trump’s defense on Thursday night, touting his leadership skills as president during disasters.

“You could criticize the president-elect, but I think you also have to hold these other people accountable,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters at Mar-a-Lago.

“I worked well with Biden during his time at natural disasters, but I work well with Donald Trump, so I’m very confident as a state that knows we face these that a Trump administration is going to be very strong and is going to be there for the people, regardless of party,” DeSantis added.

Despite Trump’s harsh words, Los Angeles officials say they haven’t heard from the president-elect directly but have been in touch with members of his team and they expect Trump to visit the area after sending him an invitation on Saturday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom slams Trump’s disinformation about California wildfires

NBC News

Gov. Gavin Newsom slams Trump’s disinformation about California wildfires

Alexandra Marquez – January 12, 2025

California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted President-elect Donald Trump’s response to the California wildfires in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” recorded Saturday, saying, “Mis- and disinformation I don’t think advantages or aids any of us.”

Newsom appeared to be referring to Trump’s posts on Truth Social blasting Newsom, President Joe Biden and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass since the fires broke out Tuesday.

In one post, the president-elect baselessly claimed Newsom had blocked a measure that would have allowed water to flow from Northern California to Southern California.

Image: Powerful Winds Fuel Multiple Fires Across Los Angeles Area gavin newsom (Eric Thayer / Getty Images)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, tours the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote, using an insulting nickname for Newsom.Advertisement

In that post, Trump added that Newsom “wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!)” and “he is the blame for this.”

“Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would spend another month,” Newsom told NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff. “I’m very familiar with them. Every elected official that he disagrees with is very familiar with them.”

He added that Trump was “somehow connecting the delta smelt to this fire, which is inexcusable because it’s inaccurate. Also, incomprehensible to anyone that understands water policy in the state.”

In another post, Trump wrote, “NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANKS JOE!” and appeared to falsely claim, as he did last year in the aftermath of several hurricanes, that money had been drained from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

At least 16 people have died in devastating wildfires across the greater Los Angeles area.

On Friday, Newsom wrote a letter to Trump inviting him to come to his state and tour the destruction.

“I invite you to come to California again — to meet with the Americans affected by these fires, see the devastation firsthand, and join me and others in thanking the heroic firefighters and first responders who are putting their lives on the line,” the governor wrote.

Newsom told Soboroff on Saturday that he had not received a response to the letter.

He added that he’s worried the president-elect may make good on his threats to withhold disaster aid from the state after his inauguration.

Newsom cited Trump’s past efforts to withhold federal disaster aid from states with leaders he was feuding with.

“He’s done it in Utah. He’s done it in Michigan, did it in Puerto Rico. He did it to California back before I was even governor, in 2018,” Newsom said.

“So he’s been at this for years and years and years. It transcends the states, including, by the way, Georgia he threatened similarly. So that’s his style. And we take it seriously to the extent that in the past it’s taken a little bit more time [to get federal aid],” the governor added.

Trump’s pick to lead EPA was paid tens of thousands to write op-eds criticizing climate policies and ESG

Business Insider

Trump’s pick to lead EPA was paid tens of thousands to write op-eds criticizing climate policies and ESG

Bryan Metzger – January 12, 2025

How Trump's transition could open the floodgates for buying influenceScroll back up to restore default view.

  • Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to lead the EPA, made $186,000 from paid op-eds and speeches.
  • Some of those op-eds criticized climate policies and ESG.
  • The former NY congressman also made $45,475 from gambling at casinos.

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, has made millions of dollars in recent years from consulting, speaking fees, and paid op-eds, according to a financial disclosure made public on Saturday.

That includes tens of thousands of dollars to write about environmental and climate change-related topics. In one instance, Zeldin was paid $25,000 for an op-ed in which he likened environmental, social, and governance investing, or ESG, to the practices of disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.

A staunchly pro-Trump Republican first elected to Congress in 2014, Zeldin left office after mounting an unsuccessful bid for governor of New York in 2022. As retiring lawmakers in both parties often do, Zeldin cashed in, establishing a consulting firm to advise corporate clients while enmeshing himself in the well-funded world of conservative political advocacy.

It’s paid off. According to the disclosure document, which covers Zeldin’s major financial activities since the beginning of 2023, the ex-congressman has made a total of $775,000 in salary income and between $1 million and $5 million in dividends from his main firm, Zeldin Consulting.

He’s also received $144,999 from America First Works, a pro-Trump nonprofit where he has a board seat, along with $65,500 from paid speeches and $15,000 from an entity called “Plymouth Union Public Research.”

He also got lucky — literally — winning a combined $45,475 in the last two years from gambling at the Golden Nugget, Venetian, and Atlantis casinos.

“All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies,” Trump-Vance Transition Spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.

Zeldin did not respond to a request for comment.

$120,500 for writing op-eds

The ex-congressman’s disclosure reveals a variety of income streams, including substantial speaking fees from GOP organizations in Florida and California, a Long Island synagogue, and a Turning Point USA event in Michigan in June. In multiple instances, Zeldin was paid over $10,000 for a single appearance.

He also disclosed a combined $26,775 in payments from Fox News and Nexstar Media Group for “use of media studio.”

The document lists payments from several public relations firms for paid op-eds, listing the news outlet and the date of publication. The titles of those opinion pieces are not listed, but Business Insider identified several that matched the publication and date included in the disclosure.

Among the most notable were a series of paid op-eds on climate issues — Zeldin could soon lead the agency responsible for the federal government’s environmental policies.

In an op-ed for Real Clear Policy published in March 2023 entitled “How Congress Can Stop the Next FTX,” Zeldin called on Congress to investigate ESG practices and the nonprofit watchdog Better Markets, arguing that companies may use ESG to avoid regulatory scrutiny in the same manner that Bankman-Fried used political contributions to curry favor with Washington.

The disclosure indicates that Zeldin was paid $25,000 to write that op-ed. He also appears to have made an additional $10,000 for another Newsday op-ed in August about ESG and $3,000 for a Fox News op-ed in July that criticized New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s climate policies and called on her to lift the state’s fracking ban.

Zeldin was also paid to write about other topics, including $10,000 for a New York Post op-ed criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris’ housing policy proposals, $10,000 for a Washington Times op-ed calling on regulators to crack down on China-linked financial platforms, and $15,000 for a Washington Examiner op-ed accusing the Biden administration of targeting Republican-run states via Medicaid regulations.

In some cases, Zeldin was paid even when the articles never saw the light of day. His disclosures list two op-eds that were never published, for which he received $10,000 and $30,000.

In total, Zeldin reported $120,500 in op-ed payments. The original clients who made those payments are unclear, and Zeldin and the Trump-Vance transition did not respond to a question about the original sources.

As with other nominees, Zeldin has agreed to divest himself from his consulting business if he’s confirmed as the next EPA administrator, according to his ethics agreement. His confirmation hearing is set for Thursday, January 16.

‘Apocalyptic’: ghastly remains of Malibu come into focus

‘Apocalyptic’: ghastly remains of Malibu come into focus

Andrew Marszal – January 10, 2025

Multi-million dollar mansions in Malibu have vanished entirely, seemingly swept into the Pacific ocean by the force of the Palisades Fire (JOSH EDELSON)
Multi-million dollar mansions in Malibu have vanished entirely, seemingly swept into the Pacific ocean by the force of the Palisades Fire (JOSH EDELSON)JOSH EDELSON/AFP/AFPMore

Flying south through smoky skies down the famous Malibu coast, at first the burnt-out mansions are the exception — solitary wrecks, smoldering away between rows of intact, gleaming beachfront villas.

But draw closer to Pacific Palisades, the ground zero of Los Angeles’s devastating fires, and those small scorched ruins become sporadic clusters, and then endless rows of charred, crumpled homes.

From the air, the extent of the devastation wrought by the Palisades Fire on these two neighborhoods is starting to come into focus: whole streets in ruins, the remains of once-fabulous houses now nothing but ash and memories.

Access to this area of utter devastation has been largely closed to the public and even to evacuated residents since the fire began Tuesday.

The biggest among multiple blazes covering Los Angeles, the inferno has now ripped through over 19,000 acres (7,700 hectares) of Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

A preliminary estimate of destroyed structures was “in the thousands,” city fire chief Kristin Crowley told Thursday’s conference.

There have been at least two separate reports of human remains found in this fire alone, though officials have yet to confirm the fatal toll.

“It is safe to say that the Palisades Fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” said Crowley.

For AFP reporters surveying the scenes from a helicopter Thursday, it was hard to argue with that view.

On some of these highly coveted Malibu oceanfront plots, beloved by celebrities, skeletal frames of buildings indicated the lavish scale of what has been destroyed.

Other multi-million dollar mansions have vanished entirely, seemingly swept into the Pacific Ocean by the force of the Palisades Fire.

And looming above Malibu, a thin sliver of luxurious waterfront property, is Pacific Palisades itself — an affluent plateau of expensive real estate, now deserted.

Not the entire hilltop is blackened. Several grand homes stand unscathed. Some streets have been spared entirely.

Lack of water is hampering LA fire battle. Why not use ocean water to fight fires?

USA TODAY

But toward the southern end of the Palisades, grids of roads that were until Tuesday lined with stunning homes now resemble makeshift cemeteries.

Where row upon row of family homes once stood, all that remain are occasional chimneys, blackened tree stumps and charred timber.

At a press conference on Thursday, Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hochman described walking through Pacific Palisades to the remains of his sister’s home as “apocalyptic.”

“Not since the 1990s when Los Angeles was hit with the fires, the flood, the earthquake and the riots, have I seen such disaster occur here in our city,” he said.

“This is crazy,” agreed Albert Azouz, a helicopter pilot who has flown these skies for almost a decade, observing the destruction from above on Thursday.

“All these homes, gone.”