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House GOP moves to block DC from stopping Trump tax cuts for tipped, overtime workers

The legislation is led by Rep Brandon Gill, a Republican from Texas

By Elizabeth Elkind
Fox News

Published February 4, 2026 4:14pm EST

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday aimed at stopping the Washington, D.C., local government from blocking parts of President Donald Trump’s new tax law.

D.C.’s progressive city council passed a local measure to stop certain parts of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act from going into effect due to their expected effect of cutting city revenues.

Policies that would have been blocked include Trump’s elimination of taxes on tipped and overtime wages, as well as certain tax cuts aimed at businesses.

The legislation was led by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who told Fox News Digital he did not expect any Democrats to support his bill. It passed the House entirely along party lines in a 215 – 210 vote.

GOP UNVEILS PLAN TO CUT DEFICIT BY $1 TRILLION WITH SECOND ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

President Donald Trump signs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act during a picnic with military families to mark Independence Day, at the White House on July 4, 2025.(Ken Cedeno/Reuters)

“Republicans want more money to be in the hands and in the pockets of working-class families, and Democrats want that money to be in the hands of government,” Gill said.

The D.C. government generally conforms with large swaths of the federal tax code, as a federal territory itself.

But according to local officials, including non-voting Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., enacting the full Trump tax bill would amount to a $600 million revenue loss for the city.

TRUMP SIGNS ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL’ BILL IN SWEEPING VICTORY FOR SECOND TERM AGENDA, OVERCOMING DEMS AND GOP REBELS

Rep. Brandon Gill leaves the House Republican Conference caucus meeting in the Capitol, May 6, 2025.(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“This resolution is nothing short of unprecedented and deliberate administrative and fiscal sabotage of D.C.,” Norton said in a statement.

But Republicans, including Gill, argue that the capital’s progressive officials are blocking Trump’s signature legislation for political reasons at the cost of working-class residents.

“Whenever we passed that tax law, we expected Washington, D.C., to conform to those [tax provisions. And unfortunately, they decided that they were going to try to separate from them,” Gill said.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton arrives for a subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., July 23, 2025.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“So to give you a few examples, you have no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime pay, a variety of pro-growth, pro-business tax provisions that they decided they wanted to decouple from. So what we’re saying is, we think that that’s bad policy on D.C.’s part, and we’re gonna stop them.”

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Congress has the ability to overturn most local laws set by D.C. thanks to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973.

If passed by both the House and Senate, however, Republicans’ bill could complicate the tax season for D.C. residents who have already begun filing for their annual returns.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Whistleblower complaint centers on sharing of classified intelligence and reporting of a potential crime, watchdog says

2026-02-04T20:01:08.279Z / CNN Politics

By

[Natasha Bertrand]

2 hr ago

PUBLISHED Feb 4, 2026, 3:01 PM ET

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard looks on during a press briefing at the White House on July 23, 2025.

Kent Nishimura/Reuters/File

A complaint filed last year by a US intelligence community whistleblower that is now being scrutinized by lawmakers includes claims that the distribution of a highly classified intelligence report had been “restricted for political purposes” and that an intelligence agency lawyer had failed to report a potential crime to the Justice Department, a government watchdog told lawmakers earlier this week.

The Intelligence Community Inspector General provided the broad outline in a Monday letter to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees of the whistleblower complaint it received in May 2025 concerning Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

The letter from Christopher Fox was released by Gabbard’s office late Tuesday. Fox did not detail the substance of the intelligence report or the alleged crime referenced by the whistleblower. The intelligence report at issue is the “most sensitive to date” that has ever been received by the IC inspector general as part of an “urgent concern” complaint, Fox wrote, and would ordinarily only be briefed verbally to the Gang of 8 composed of the top Democrats and Republicans in each chamber of congress and the leaders of the intelligence committees.

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The existence of the complaint was first reported by the Wall Street Journal and Gang of 8 lawmakers [were given access to the complaint itself on Tuesday].

Upon reviewing the complaint last June, Fox’s predecessor Tamara Johnson determined that it would meet the “urgent concern” threshold if it were true, a determination meaning that the Gang of 8 would need to be briefed, Fox wrote. But Johnson was unable to determine the credibility of the claims at the time, according to the letter.

The whistleblower then elected to share their complaint directly with the congressional intelligence committees, an option protected under [federal law]. Before sharing a complaint, whistleblowers are required to get security guidance from ODNI to transmit classified complaints securely.

On June 9, 2025, Johnson issued a memo after receiving new evidence finding that while the first allegation by the whistleblower — that a report was withheld for political reasons — did not appear credible, she was unable to assess the credibility of the second allegation, that the IC had failed to report a crime to Department of Justice. The whistleblower still sought to transmit the complaint to lawmakers and the IG kept inquiring “at least monthly” to ODNI since June about how to do so securely, the letter says.

When he was confirmed in October, Fox says he was told by ODNI’s general counsel that “complexity in the classification” of the complaint had contributed to the delay in providing the whistleblower with the necessary security guidance to send it to Congress. Fox says he continued to push for the guidance, and that when he met with Gabbard in December she said she had been unaware of the issue “and committed to providing the guidance as soon as practicable.”

The whistleblower’s lawyer told CNN on Tuesday night that he has yet to receive security guidance on sharing the complaint with the broader intelligence committees, beyond just the Gang of 8.

“They’re also flagging executive privilege concerns, and for me, executive privilege concerns means that this somehow involves the White House,” Andrew Bakaj said.

The day after the Monday Wall Street Journal report on the whistleblower report, the Gang of 8 was given access to a copy of the complaint.

Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on House intelligence committee, told CNN after seeing the complaint that he had “ongoing concerns about both the contents and the delay in it being reported to Congress. I will continue to pursue this matter to ensure that proper oversight is conducted.”

CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report

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EEOC investigating Nike over alleged discrimination against White workers

February 4, 2026 / 4:52 PM EST / CBS News

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination,said Wednesday that it is investigating Nike over allegations that the athletic apparel manufacturer discriminated against White workers.

The EEOC alleges in a court filing on Wednesday that Nike may have engaged in “a pattern or practice of disparate treatment against White employees, applicants and training program participants” with respect to hiring, promotion, workplace development and layoffs.

“Unusual escalation”

A Nike spokesperson said the company has provided the agency with information in an effort to “engage constructively” with the EEOC, calling the probe a “surprising and unusual escalation.”

“We are committed to fair and lawful employment practices and follow all applicable laws, including those that prohibit discrimination,” the spokesperson said. “We believe our programs and practices are consistent with those obligations and take these matters seriously. We will continue our attempt to cooperate with the EEOC and will respond to the petition.”

The EEOC, which filed the subpoena enforcement action in federal court in Missouri, said it is looking into allegations of discrimination tied to Nike’s diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, objectives for 2025. The agency said in astatement Wednesday that it filed the legal action after the company failed to provide information it had subpoenaed.

The agency said it has asked Nike for information dating back to 2018, including the criteria it used to select employees for layoffs and information on how the company tracks workers’ race and ethnicity data.

The EEOC was created under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination.

“Thanks to President Trump’s commitment to enforcing our nation’s civil rights laws, the EEOC has renewed its focus on evenhanded enforcement of Title VII,” said Andrea Lucas, whom President Trump nominated as chair in November 2025.

DEI probes

The EEOC’s investigation follows a series of other probeslaunched by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump administration into organizations and state governments that relied on DEI programs.

Several former DOJ employeestold CBS News last monththat the department’s focus is shifting toward efforts to protect White people against alleged “reverse discrimination.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department defended the probes, telling CBS News that DEI initiatives have led to “blatant, widespread race and sex discrimination in violation of federal law.”

Edited by Aimee Picchi

Ryan Routh sentenced to life in prison for attempted assassination of Trump in 2024 at Florida golf course | CNN Politics

By Margaret Given, CNN

Published 3:58 PM EST, Wed February 4, 2026

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SCOOP: Thousands of violent illegal immigrants arrested in Minnesota as admin vows ‘we will not back down’

Operation Metro Surge has targeted murderers, pedophiles, rapists and gang members since launching in late 2025

By Emma Colton
Fox News

Published February 4, 2026 4:00pm EST

EXCLUSIVE:The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that federal law enforcement officials have arrested more than 4,000 illegal immigrants in Minnesota since launching Operation Metro Surge in late 2025.

“President Trump’s commonsense immigration enforcement policies are delivering the public safety results the American people demanded, with more than 4,000 dangerous criminal illegal aliens already arrested in Minnesota since Operation Metro began,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital on Wednesday in response to DHS’ announcement.

“Democrats opened our borders and allowed vicious criminals, including murderers, rapists, gang members, and terrorists, to invade our communities. President Trump is reversing that horrific damage and removing these threats from our country,” she continued.

Operation Metro Surge is an ongoing immigration crackdown operation that focused on the Twin Cities, as well as Minnesota at large, as part of the administration’s ongoing mission to deport illegal immigrants, most notably violent offenders.

GUN-WIELDING ICE AGENTS BRUSH BACK MINNEAPOLIS AGITATORS

A man in handcuffs runs to avoid being detained by federal immigration agents on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Minneapolis.(Adam Gray/AP Photo)

DHS shared a handful of arrests made on Tuesday alone, including: a criminal illegal alien from Ecuador with a criminal history of sexual conduct with a minor and domestic assault; a criminal illegal alien from Honduras convicted of domestic abuse, disorderly conduct and driving while intoxicated; a criminal illegal alien from Mexico arrested for assault/domestic battery, larceny,driving under the influence and possession of drugs; and a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador convicted of trespassing.

“Despite coordinated attacks of violence against our law enforcement, our officers have made more than 4,000 arrests of illegal aliens including murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists in Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge began,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

“We need sanctuary politicians to cooperate with us by notifying us before releasing public safety threats back onto the streets to commit more crimes and create more victims. We will not back down from our mission to remove criminal illegal aliens from American neighborhoods.”

Federal officers stand outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building during a protest on Jan. 17, 2026, in Minneapolis.(AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Federal law enforcement converged on Minnesota in late 2025 and early 2026 as massive welfare and social services fraud schemes came to light. The schemes have led to dozens of arrests, most of whom are from the state’s large Somali population.

CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ALLEGEDLY RAMS ICE VEHICLE IN MINNESOTA AS ATTACKS ON AGENTS SURGE

The immigration crackdown in the state sparked agitators and protesters to take to the streets, which included chaotic confrontations, including agitators storming into a church in the Twin Cities and disturbing Sunday services. Two Americans have been fatally shot amid protests by federal law enforcement in two separate cases in the Twin Cities, heightening criticisms against the Trump administration that the federal government allegedly had blood on its hands.

DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin(dhs.gov)

President Donald Trump deployed border czar Tom Homan to the Twin Cities in January, following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents, to continue the operation.

The border czar announced Wednesday that 700 law enforcement officers would depart the city as he works for a “complete drawdown” of federal presence while local officials increasingly work with the administration. Most notably, local jails are communicating with federal officials regarding illegal immigrants currently in custody, allowing for speedy arrests at the jail as opposed to within communities.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: CONVICTED MURDERERS, CHILD SEX ABUSERS AMONG ILLEGAL ALIENS NABBED BY ICE ACROSS US

“We currently have an unprecedented number of counties communicating with us now and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets. Unprecedented cooperation,” Homan said Wednesday. “I’ll say it again: This is efficient, and it requires only one or two officers to assume custody of a criminal alien target, rather than eight or 10 officers going into the community and arresting that public safety threat.”

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Leavitt told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that Homan’s drawdown plan follows the operation’s success in arresting the more than 4,000 illegal aliens from Minnesota.

“At President Trump’s direction, Tom Homan’s commitment to draw down forces in Minneapolis today follows these achievements and the new, unprecedented cooperation from state and local officials in Minnesota. Commitments like these from elected officials to work with the president and federal law enforcement produce tremendous outcomes that help keep Americans safe,” Leavitt said.

How bad was Alex Pretti’s killing for the Trump administration? New data tells us

2026-02-04T21:06:37.429Z / CNN Politics

Analysis by

Aaron Blake

Updated 44 min ago

Updated Feb 4, 2026, 4:56 PM ET

PUBLISHED Feb 4, 2026, 4:06 PM ET

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A federal agent aims his pepper spray during an immigration raid in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Tuesday.

Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration on Wednesday delivered its surest sign yet that it’s de-escalating its highly controversial immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

Tom Homan, the White House border czar who recently took over the operation, said the administration is “immediately” drawing down 700 federal officers — a huge chunk of the 3,000 agents that have been sent. Homan cited more cooperation from local authorities in apprehending undocumented immigrants from jails, but those local authorities have disputed the claims about their supposed lack of cooperation.

Indeed, the more likely reason for the drawdown appears to be politics — the killing of Alex Pretti a week and a half ago in an encounter with federal agents made the situation untenable for the administration — and now it’s backing off, at least somewhat.

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Trump said Wednesday he’d learned his administration could possibly use a “softer touch.”

“I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough. These are criminals, we’re dealing with really hard criminals,” he told NBC News in an interview.

And for the first time since Pretti’s death, we have hard data to back that up.

Two new polls from Ipsos and Quinnipiac University are the first high-quality surveys conducted completely after Pretti’s death. The first shows Americans overwhelmingly view his killing as involving “excessive force,” while the second shows voters overwhelmingly see the shooting as “not justified” — with those responses even more pronounced than after Renee Good’s killing by an ICE agent earlier in January.

And importantly: It was actually Republicans who shifted the most against the federal government’s actions between those two events.

The Ipsos poll showed 55% of Americans said Pretti’s killing involved “excessive force,” compared to just 16% who said the use of force was “necessary.” That’s a roughly 3-to-1 verdict against the federal agents involved.

That’s even more lopsided than the already-lopsided verdict on Good’s killing. Back in mid-January, an Ipsos poll showed Americans said 52%-25% that the force used in Good’s killing was “excessive” rather than “necessary.”

(A CNN poll, similarly, showed US adults said 56%-26% that the agent’s use of force in Good’s killing was “inappropriate.”)

As those numbers show, the big difference in reactions to Good’s and Pretti’s killings seems to be the percentage of people willing to vouch for the force used by the federal agents involved.

And the reason that percentage has dropped is almost wholly due to Republicans.

A woman holds a

DHS fires back after Dem billionaire David Trone claims ICE is ‘executing people’

Former State Del Neil Parrott, a Republican considering running against David Trone, said the Democrat’s comments are no way to represent a moderate district

By Charles Creitz
Fox News

Published February 4, 2026 6:00am EST | Updated February 4, 2026 2:41pm EST

FIRST ON FOX: DHS threw cold water on a snowy video of Total Wine billionaire David Trone — who is seeking to recapture his Maryland congressional district from fellow Democrat Rep. April McClain-Delaney — standing outside a warehouse in Washington County while ridiculing ICE’s operations.

The former Democratic congressman, who gave up the seat last term to mount an ultimately unsuccessful bid against now-Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., for that open Senate seat, stood outside a Hagerstown-area warehouse and lambasted ICE’s immigration enforcement operations.

“Today we’re just outside the city limit of Hagerstown, stopping by what’s going be a future ICE facility. We know one thing, we don’t need another ICE prison here or anywhere else in America,” Trone said, standing beside the snowy site in Williamsport.

Trone said that “since day one,” ICE has been taking prisoners, “literally executing people on the streets” in “not just Minneapolis… all over the United States.”

TOP DEM LAMBASTED FOR DEMANDING CONGRESS BAN ICE FROM POLLING PLACES: ‘WAIT, WHY…?’

Total Wine co-founder David Trone is running for his old congressional seat in the Maryland panhandle.(Robb Hill/Getty Images)

“ICE has to go and we sure don’t want them in Washington County.”

The Cheverly-born billionaire founded the liquor superstore chain Total Wine & More with his brother in 1991 and would be the wealthiest member of Congress if he returned to Washington.

In response to Trone’s video, a DHS official told Fox News Digital exclusively that DHS had indeed purchased land and a facility near Hagerstown, but that they will not be simply warehousing anyone.

“[These] will be very well-structured [detention facilities] meeting our regular detention standards,” the DHS official said.

“Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space.”

The official added that ICE is targeting the most “vicious” of illegal immigrants, as Trone’s Maryland was also ground zero for the Kilmar Abrego-Garcia saga.

DEMS BLASTED FOR TRYING TO ‘DEPORT’ ICE FROM SWING COUNTY, REFERENCING ‘BLOOD MONEY’ RENT

“Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities,” the official said, in apparent reference to the newest purchase.

It reportedly sold for $102 million.

DHS also purchased another massive property in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania, across Interstate 78 from the former Roadside America tourist attraction for reportedly similar reasons.

DEM SENATOR WARNER ADMITS BIDEN ‘SCREWED UP’ THE BORDER, BUT CLAIMS ICE NOW TARGETING NON-CRIMINALS

Del. Neil Parrott, left., former Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., right.(Tom Williams/Getty Images)

While Trone said that Hagerstown does not need ICE’s intervention, the agency disagreed.

The official pointed to two recent captures of violent illegal immigrants in the city, which is sandwiched between the Mason-Dixon Line and Potomac River.

Jose Antonio Rodas-Ortes, a criminal illegal immigrant, was recently detained in the Washington County seat, with a rap sheet including sex offenses.

MINNESOTA SHAKEUP SHIFTS LEADERSHIP NOT STRATEGY, WHITE HOUSE SAYS, PUSHING BACK ON ‘RETREAT’ CLAIM

Another illegal immigrant, Mohamed Bah, was captured with a record including aggravated assault with a gun, cocaine-related charges, assault, and illegally possessing a weapon – while Allan Garcia-Pinto was picked up by ICE with a prior drug trafficking conviction.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trone said that in the past year, the Trump administration has gone “much further” than just targeting criminals.

“They’ve detained children as young as 5 years old, American citizens, and military veterans. ICE only needs to expand its detention space because reprehensible legislation was passed by Congress—with the support of Rep. April McClain Delaney—that strips due process rights and expands this Administration’s ability to carry out this cruel agenda,’ Trone said.

“After DHS has repeatedly lied to the public about its actions,including the lawless killing of Alex Pretti, every American has the responsibility to question these authorities and hold them accountable for what is happening in our communities,” he added.

[Trone’s election] this year is a complex contest, as he faces McClain-Delaney in the primary while Republicans have a slightly stronger hand amid redistricting.

For decades, the seat ran throughout the “Mountain Maryland” and the panhandle and into relatively rural Carroll County north of Washington.

MIKE DAVIS: WHY SURRENDER IS NOT AN OPTION FOR ICE’S MINNESOTA MISSION

Then-Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., lost his 2010 contest after Carroll was removed, and the district was adjusted to include a slice of dense, liberal Montgomery County – going from a 28-point Bartlett win to a 20-point Bartlett loss in one cycle.

The 2014 race was the closest Republicans have come to taking back the seat, when former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino lost to McClain-Delaney’s husband John by one point.

Since 2022’s latest map, some of the district’s less-Washingtonian confines have been returned, but it still is rated as Democrat-favored.

FAR-LEFT DC SUBURB TELLS RESIDENTS TO CALL 911 IF THEY SEE ICE

Former state Del. Neil Parrott, R-Hagerstown, formed an exploratory committee and is considering a fourth attempt to win the seat. Marine veteran and small business owner Chris Burnett of Gaithersburg is currently declared.

Parrott told Fox News Digital that Trone’s rhetoric is “very disappointing” as he runs to represent what is geographically a moderate district.

“This is not the way to bring our country together or represent District 6. You have very conservative Garrett and Allegany counties, moderate Frederick and liberal Montgomery.”

Citing Maryland’s failure to secure FEMA funds after Potomac tributaries ravaged Westernport and Luke last year, Parrott said it is “no surprise” given how Democrats in the district go “over the top attacking the president and [showing] no intention to work with Republicans at all.”

In December, Trone told Politico that opposition to President Donald Trump will be key to his campaign, saying that the president and his party are committing an “assault on democracy” and weaponizing government.

“Our fundamental freedoms are being dismantled piece by piece,” he said.

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Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

Judge to Trump lawyers trying to move hush money appeal to federal court: ‘You sought two bites at the apple’

2 hr ago | PUBLISHED Feb 4, 2026, 4:00 PM ET | CNN Politics

By

[Kara Scannell]

President Donald Trump arrives for the world premiere of “MELANIA” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.

Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg/Getty Images

A federal judge was skeptical of President Donald Trump’s argument to try to move the appeal of his hush money conviction to federal court — after lawyers already took their shot in two other courts.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein suggested Trump’s attorneys missed their chance by first taking the US Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity to the state court judge who oversaw the criminal trial and not to a federal judge until almost two months later.

“You made a choice. You sought two bites at the apple,” Hellerstein told Trump’s lawyers Wednesday.

He also quizzed Trump’s lawyer over the argument that the case should move to federal court because Trump could claim as a defense that he has immunity. Calling the arguments “provocative,” he said he would issue a ruling later.

Trump’s attorneys are trying to get the appeal of his hush money conviction moved into federal court where the judges could interpret challenges involving federal preemption and presidential immunity. Removal would also plow a quicker path to have the appeal heard by the US Supreme Court.

Trump was convicted in 2024 of 34 state charges of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

During oral arguments on Wednesday, Hellerstein said Trump’s attorneys appeared to make a strategic decision to bring the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity first to Judge Juan Merchan, the state judge who oversaw the trial, before trying to move the case to federal court which it did 58 days after the decision came down.

Jeffrey Wall, an attorney for Trump, pushed back against Hellerstein’s comment that he was trying to get another bite at the apple.

“It would have been disrespectful in spades” to Judge Merchan if they bypassed him, Wall said. He said they had to move quickly before the state judge because Trump was set to be sentenced by him 10 days later.

Hellerstein said Trump’s attorneys missed the 30-day window allowed under the statute to move the case into federal court and their burden now was whether there was “good cause” to allow them to try again.

“All your doing is saying your good cause is you’re afraid to anger the state court and you want to give the state court the first chance” to rule on the Supreme Court decision before trying the argument in federal court, the judge said.

“You’ve made a strategic decision. You’re seeing where you can get a better decision and that is indicative of the intent,” the judge said.

“My thesis is that was fatal to you,” Hellerstein said.

[Related article U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on June 10, 2025. Nathan Howard/Reuters Federal appeals court wrestles with Trump effort to fight hush money conviction 4 min read]

Trump is simultaneously appealing his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 presidential election in state court. That appeal can ultimately be brought to the US Supreme Court but it has additional layers of review.

Hellerstein had previously rejected Trump’s effort to move the case into federal court, finding the argument that Trump had presidential immunity didn’t apply. Trump later tried again after the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. He argued the use of evidence, including testimony from Trump’s former White House advisor Hope Hicks and his tweets while in office, were improperly used and his conviction should be overturned.

At the time Hellerstein denied that motion for removal, writing, “Private schemes with private actors, unconnected to any statutory or constitutional authority or function of the executive, are considered unofficial acts.”

Trump appealed and in November the Second Circuit Court of Appeals sent it back to Hellerstein to conduct further analysis considering the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.

On Wednesday, Wall, the attorney for Trump, argued when the Manhattan district attorney’s office introduced evidence of what they argued were official acts — such as Trump’s tweets, trial testimony from his former White House aide Hope Hicks, and testimony about conversations Trump had with his attorney general — it changed the case and now it should be moved into federal court.

“The district attorney held those keys in his hand. He didn’t have to introduce that evidence at trial to prove up his case. Once he did this became a prosecution relating to those official acts,” Wall argued.

“Is that enough to make it a federal case? I think the answer to that is obviously yes,” Wall said.

The attorney added, “I don’t think you have to get to the bottom of this. It’s all for the Second Circuit.”

Wall said that the judge doesn’t have to decide the merits of the argument on immunity, only that they have what is called a “colorable defense” to move the case into federal court.

Steven Wu, an attorney for the district attorney’s office, argued that a fight over evidence is not a defense to criminal charges.

“The defendant seems to assume that because evidence of official acts is introduced that somehow transforms the nature of the criminal action. That’s just not true. The charges arise out of conduct that is wholly unofficial and private,” Wu said.

During Wednesday’s argument, while the judge was skeptical of many of Trump’s legal arguments, he acknowledged a technical maneuver that appealed to him.

“That’s a delicious thought because I then dump the whole problem on the Court of Appeals,” Hellerstein said.

Trump-signed shutdown bill sends $4M to children’s hospitals under federal probe for transgender care

Published February 4, 2026 3:15pm EST | Updated February 4, 2026 2:22pm EST

In passing the $1.2 trillion megabill to end the government shutdown Tuesday, lawmakers sent $4 million in funding to two children’s hospitals under investigation by President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for their track record of providing transgender healthcare to minors.

The allocations to Seattle Children’s Hospital in Washington state and the Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago can be found in the $1.2 trillion package that funds several agencies, including HHS, that Trump signed into law Tuesday, ending the latest partial government shutdown.

The hospitals are among several the administration has put under a spotlight with HHS probes in Trump’s bid to halt “chemical and surgical mutilation” against minors.

CHILDREN’S NATIONAL HOSPITAL IN DC TO END GENDER TRANSITION MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2025.(Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The $4 million in congressionally directed spending, Capitol Hill jargon for earmarks, was requested by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured $3 million for Seattle Children’s Hospital, which did not respond to a request for comment on how the funding might be used.

Murray told Fox News Digital the funding was meant “to provide a safe and comfortable space for kids in crisis, kids who may seriously harm themselves or take their own life.”

“It has nothing to do with President Trump’s hateful crusade against transgender children,” Murray said. “It’s disgusting to see a witch hunt against funding for a project that enjoys broad support from across the community — all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, understand that we need more investments to tackle the mental health crisis in this country.”

The remaining $1 million is slated for Lurie Children’s Hospital, which paused its transgender care for minors amid the Trump administration’s ongoing investigation.

Durbin’s office told Fox News Digital, “Senator Durbin is proud to have secured $1 million for the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to support the expansion of the new hospital-based violence recovery program, serving pediatric victims of violence with trauma-informed mental health and recovery services.

“We are fortunate to have the expertise of the professionals at Lurie Children’s applied to the complex challenges that too many children in Chicago are exposed to from community violence, child abuse, and mental health needs.”

When asked for Trump’s reaction to the $4 million in earmarks to the hospitals, White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital, “The American people gave President Trump a resounding mandate to restore common sense in America, and the Trump administration is exploring other tools to crack down on child mutilation procedures.”

President Donald Trump speaks during the launch of a program known as Trump Accounts at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium Jan. 28, 2026, in Washington.(Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

Earmark spending — pork barrel spending as it’s often known — has long been a heated debate on Capitol Hill. The practice was banned for roughly a decade but reinstated a handful of years ago, with limits.

The earmarks for the hospitals are among several that fiscal hawks like Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, blasted from the Senate floor last week.

“They do a lot, including spending on woke, wasteful and unjustified spending: puberty blockers for kids,” Lee said as he listed his opposition to a number of earmarks in the bill.

“We don’t need this; we don’t want this. It’s unacceptable. It must end.”

Some Senate Republicans have for years railed against earmarks, going so far as to permanently ban them within their own conference in 2019. Still, that ban does not encompass the entire Senate, and, ultimately, is more of an honor system among individual members.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, who oversees the process of putting together spending bills before they hit the floor, argued that earmarks, known as congressionally directed spending (CDS), are mostly requests made by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle tailor-made for a lawmakers’ state.

“Members of Congress understand the needs of our constituents far better than any well-intentioned federal employee located here in Washington,” Collins said on the Senate floor. “The CDS projects provide funding for states, communities and nonprofit organizations. The process is completely open and transparent.”

Seattle Children’s Hospital and Lurie Children’s Hospital have both drawn scrutiny from health officials as the Trump administration has taken a more critical stance against sex-change procedures and their effects on children.

After announcing that HHS would bar hospitals from performing sex-reassignment procedures on children, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. targeted Seattle Children’s Hospital’s access to Medicare and Medicaid programs.

201 HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTE AGAINST BLOCKING MEDICAID DOLLARS FOR KIDS’ TRANSGENDER SURGERIES

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Jan. 29, 2025.(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“Under my leadership, and answering President Trump’s call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk,” Kennedy said in a press release in December.

A number of states, including Washington, have sued the Trump administration for its decision, arguing that HHS lacked the power to “substantively alter the standards of care and effectively ban, by fiat, an entire category of healthcare.”

Despite the ongoing litigation, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) opened a probe into Seattle Children’s activities in December.

The Lurie Children’s Hospital scaled back its transgender services in response to pressure from HHS earlier this year but has still come under recent scrutiny from the department.

HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart announced in a post on X last month that he had referred Lurie Children’s Hospital to OIG alongside four other hospitals for failing to protect “children from sex-rejecting procedures.”

In response, Lurie Children’s Hospital said it had paused its transgender care services for those under 18, according to statements made to local news outlets.

Health and Human Services Department Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington, Sept. 4, 2025.(Wi McNamee/Getty Images)

As listed on the earmarks, the $3 million in funding for Seattle Children’s Hospital would go toward “facilities and equipment to construct a behavioral health stabilization unit.”

The $1 million in funding for Lurie Children’s would go toward “health and trauma services for pediatric patients.”

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Neither hospital responded to a request for comment for more information on how that funding might be used or about their relationships with HHS.

Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.

Trump says the lesson from Minneapolis is to use a “softer touch” in federal immigration enforcement

February 4, 2026 / 4:19 PM EST / CBS News

Washington — After two Americans were fatally shot by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis last month, President Trump said the lesson he’s learned from the federal operation in Minnesota is to use a “little bit of a softer touch.”

“I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch,” the president said in an interview with NBC News airing Wednesday. “But you still have to be tough.”

Investigations continue into the deaths of Renée Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 amid a surge of immigration agents to the Twin Cities that began more than two months ago. Trump border czar Tom Homan on Wednesday announced he will cut the number of federal immigration and border patrol agents in Minneapolis by 700. Homan cited an “unprecedented” level of cooperation between counties and federal immigration enforcement officials, saying some counties have agreed to let Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents take custody of migrants directly from their jails.

Mr. Trump told NBC News he made the call to cut down the federal immigration enforcement presence.

“Yes, it did,” the president said when asked if that decision came from him. “But it didn’t come from me because I just wanted to do it. We have— we are waiting for them to release prisoners. Give us the murderers that they’re holding, and all of the bad people, drug dealers, all of the bad people.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have been critical of the administration’s immigration crackdown in the city. Last month, CBS News reported the Justice Department was investigating them both over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents, multiple sources familiar with the matter said, a significant escalation in the clash.

“I’ve called the governor, I’ve called the mayor, spoke to him, had great conversations with him, and then I see them ranting and raving out there, literally as though a call wasn’t made,” Mr. Trump told NBC News on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Good’s brothers, Luke and Brent Ganger, testified on Capitol Hill in their first public comments after their sister was shot and killed by an ICE agent while driving her car.

“The deep distress our family feels because of Nay’s loss in such a violent and unnecessary way is complicated by feelings of disbelief, distress and desperation for change,” Luke Ganger said. “In the last few weeks, our family took some consolation thinking that perhaps Nay’s death would bring about change in our country. And it has not.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/details-on-homan-plan-to-withdraw-of-700-immigration-agents-from-minneapolis/