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A federal judge pushed back the deadline for President Donald Trump’s buyout offer for federal workers on Thursday.

Trump’s administration initially told federal workers they needed to decide whether to accept the buyout offer by Thursday. The new ruling delays the deadline to at least Monday, with another hearing on the issue scheduled for that day.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. did not express an opinion on the legality of Trump’s buyback program.

Several labor unions have sued over Trump’s plans, which were orchestrated by Elon Musk, a top adviser. The Republican president is trying to downsize and reshape the federal workforce.

Under the buyout offer, employees were to stop working this week and receive pay benefits through Sept. 30. Exempt from the offer are public safety employees, like air traffic controllers.

During Trump’s first week in office, he issued several directives to the federal workforce, including a requirement that remote employees must return to in-person work.

With a deadline quickly approaching, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and two other unions filed a complaint, claiming the buyout offer is ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and ‘violates federal law.’

The unions allege the administration cannot guarantee the plan will be funded and has failed to consider the consequences of mass resignations, including how it may affect the government’s ability to function.

On Tuesday, AFGE filed a lawsuit calling for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt the Trump administration’s ‘Fork Directive’ deadline of Feb. 6 and require the government to articulate a policy that is lawful, not arbitrary and unlawful.

The buyouts do not apply to military personnel of the armed forces, postal service employees, positions related to immigration enforcement and national security, and any other positions specifically excluded by the agency the federal workers are employed by.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

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Two dozen House Republicans from across the political spectrum are backing a resolution to formally recognize Taiwan – a break from current U.S. policy that would rankle leaders in Beijing.

The resolution, put forth by Reps. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and Scott Perry, R-Pa., would encourage President Donald Trump to abandon the U.S.’s long-standing ‘One China’ policy and formally recognize Taiwan as autonomous. 

‘Taiwan has never been under the control of the People’s Republic of China – not even for a single day. It is a free, democratic, and independent nation, and it is past time for U.S. policy to reflect this undeniable objective truth,’ Tiffany said in a statement

The resolution implores Trump to support Taiwan’s entry into international trade organizations and negotiate a bilateral U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement.

The U.S. had established diplomatic relations with Taiwan until 1979, when President Jimmy Carter cut off formal ties with Taipei and recognized the Communist regime in Beijing.

Congress then passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which created legal authority for unofficial relations with Taiwan and continued military aid. 

Currently, only 12 independent countries recognize the Taipei government. A change in U.S. policy would likely be viewed as a threat by Beijing. When the U.S. sent a military aid package to Taiwan in December, China’s foreign ministry warned Washington was ‘playing with fire’ and called for a stop to ‘dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.’

U.S. military analysts have projected 2027 as the year by which China would be fully equipped for a military invasion of Taiwan. And the U.S. has long followed a policy of refusing to say whether it would come to the island’s defense under such a scenario. 

Trump slapped an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese goods last week, and China responded in kind with its own export levies. At the same time, Trump has demanded the U.S. take over the Panama Canal to counter Chinese influence. 

READ THE HOUSE RESOLUTION BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

But Trump’s comments on the campaign trail suggest that he would not be willing to put boots on the ground to face another global superpower in defense of the island democracy. 

‘I think Taiwan should pay us for defense,’ Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek in June. 

‘You know, we’re no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn’t give us anything,’ he added.

Taiwan and China separated amid civil war in 1949 and China says it is determined to bring the island under its control by force if necessary. China is increasingly encroaching in the region in recent days with military activity in the Taiwan Strait. 

The legislation has both interventionist and America First cosponsors, including Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, and Kat Cammack of Florida.

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Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney was ripped by conservatives on social media after she defended her previous work at USAID, which became the most prominent target of DOGE in recent days, in an exchange on X that drew the attention of DOGE’s leader, Elon Musk.

‘Damn right, @Elon,’ Cheney said on X in response to Musk, tagging an account that does not belong to Musk, on Wednesday. ‘I’m proud of what America did to win the Cold War, defeat Soviet communism, and defend democracy. Our nation stood for freedom. You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen.’

Musk had written ‘interesting’ in response to a post from Foundation For Freedom Online Executive Director Mike Benz, who had written that Cheney was ‘spawned’ out of USAID, citing her previous position as an officer for the embattled and now seemingly shuttered agency.

Cheney spent time at USAID working within embassies related to efforts in Poland, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine.

Several conservatives on social media took issue with Cheney’s comment and defended Musk against any implication that he is ‘unfamiliar’ with U.S. history.

‘He is an American by choice instead of by birth, which is a weird thing to insult someone over, but more importantly, he didn’t commit so many crimes against the country that he had to be pardoned by Joe Biden, so he’s got that going for him,’ Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway posted on X.

‘You care more about illegals coming to this country stealing from this country than @elon giving to this country,’ former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones posted on X.

‘Ya, but he was around when your daddy was making the military industrial complex billions sending me and my buddies to die chasing the ghosts of WMDs in Iraq,’ Fox News contributor Joey Jones posted on X. 

‘Love the anti-immigrant sentiment from Liz,’ Right Turn Strategies President Chris Barron posted on X. ‘Funny how they always end up being everything they claim their opponents are.’

‘The fact Elon said a single word and was able to set you off tells me a lot, Liz,’ Twitchy.com editor Samantha Janney posted on X. ‘What’s also revealing is your connection to USAID. Damn proud of WY for firing you.’

‘What a xenophobe,’ Breitbart senior editor Joel Pollak posted on X. ‘Pure bigotry.’

‘From Liz Cheney to Barack Obama, a lot of people still don’t appreciate how much of America’s political aristocracy class grew up in USAID families,’ Benz posted on X earlier this week.

The online debate about Cheney’s time at USAID comes after Musk’s DOGE efforts have resulted in the agency being effectively shut down over what the Trump administration argues is wasteful spending. 

‘For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,’ the White House said Monday. 

The future of USAID remains unclear, though the doors to its headquarters were closed Monday, and thousands of employees across the globe sat waiting to hear whether they still had jobs after the apparent Musk takeover.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named the acting director, and he agreed Monday with the White House that the agency needed an overhaul.

‘The president made me the acting administrator,’ he told Fox News. ‘I’ve delegated that power to someone who is there full time, and we’re going to go through the same process at USAID as we’re going through now at the State Department.’

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday, in response to its May 2024 arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The order unveils financial sanctions and visa restrictions against ICC officials and their family members who support ICC investigations against U.S. citizens and allies. 

The White House also signed executive orders on Thursday instructing the Justice Department to establish a task force dedicated to weeding out ‘anti-Christian bias,’ and a review of all nongovernmental organizations that accept federal funds. 

The ICC is an independent, international organization based in The Hague and established under the Rome Statute, an international treaty that took effect in 2002. The court oversees global issues including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. 

The Trump White House claims that the U.S. and Israel are not subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC because the court poses threats to U.S. sovereignty and constitutional protections. Additionally, the White House has accused the ICC of politicization and said it has targeted Israel without holding regimes like Iran to the same standards.  

In September 2018, Trump said that ‘as far as America is concerned, the ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority.’

In May 2024, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, from the U.K., asked for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, whom Netanyahu fired in November 2024. The warrant paved the way for their arrest, should they visit any of the 124 countries that are party to the Rome Statute, including the U.K., France and Austria. 

Khan also issued arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif, who have all since been killed by Israeli forces. 

Khan said he issued these warrants against Hamas leaders for war crimes including murder, taking hostages as a war crime, torture and other inhumane acts, following the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Khan also said he issued the warrants against the Israeli leaders due to war crimes including starvation of civilians, directing attacks against a civilian population, persecution and other inhumane acts. 

In January, after Trump’s inauguration, the House also passed legislation that would sanction the ICC, but the measure failed to advance in the Senate.

Trump welcomed Netanyahu for a visit at the White House on Tuesday, where Trump signed an executive order reinstating his ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran. Trump also unveiled plans to rebuild Gaza, and described Netanyahu as the ‘right leader’ for Israel. 

‘He’s done a great job and we’ve been friends for a long time,’ Trump told reporters. ‘We do a great job also, and I think we have a combination that’s very unbeatable, actually.’

Netanyahu also voiced appreciation for his friendship with Trump and his support for Israel and the Jewish people.

‘I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again,’ Netanyahu said Tuesday. ‘You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. And that’s why the people of Israel have such enormous respect for you.’

Trump previously issued sanctions against ICC officials in 2020, signing off on an asset freeze and family entry ban against them stemming from an ICC investigation into alleged U.S. actions in Afghanistan. 

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. 

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The fight for control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections will be fought on a limited battlefield, a leading nonpartisan political handicapper predicts.

The Cook Political Report, as it unveiled its first rankings for the next midterm elections on Thursday, listed 10 Democrat-held seats and eight Republican-controlled seats as toss-ups. 

The GOP, when at full strength, will hold a razor-thin 220-215 majority in the House, which means the Democrats only need a three-seat gain in 2026 to win back the chamber for the first time in four years.

‘Another Knife Fight for the Majority’ is the headline the Cook Report used to describe the House showdown ahead.

And Cook Report publisher and editor-in-chief Amy Walter spotlighted in a social media post that a ‘Small playing field + volatile political climate = epic battle for House control.’

The 10 House Democrats whose re-elections are listed as toss-ups are: Reps. Adam Gray of California (CA-13); Derek Tran of California (CA-45); Jared Golden of Maine (ME-02); Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico (NM-02); Laura Gillen of New York (NY-04); Don Davis of North Carolina (NC-01); Marcy Kaptur of Ohio (OH-09); Emilia Sykes of Ohio (OH-13); Vicente Gonzalez of Texas (TX-34); and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington State (WA-03).

The eight Republicans spotlighted by the Cook Report as vulnerable are: Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona (AZ-01); Juan Ciscomani of Arizona (AZ-06); Gabe Evans of Colorado (CO-08); Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa (IA-01); Tom Barrett of Michigan (MI-07); Don Bacon of Nebraska (NE-02); Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania (PA-07); and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania (PA-10).

President Donald Trump recaptured the White House, the Republicans flipped control of the Senate, and the GOP held on to its fragile House majority in November’s elections.

That means Republicans will not only defend a razor-thin majority – when all 435 House seats are once again up for grabs in 2026 – but are also facing plenty of history, as the party in power traditionally faces electoral headwinds in the midterms.

But the Cook Report’s Erin Covedy and Matthew Klein noted that ‘though their majority is dangerously thin, in some ways, Republicans are starting out in a stronger position than they were in 2018. Trump’s latest victory was broad; he clawed back ground in suburbs that had lurched to the left since 2016 and made massive inroads in urban areas.’

They added that ‘almost all of the most competitive House districts moved to the right between 2020 and 2024 (Washington’s 3rd District was the lone exception).’

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella touted in a statement that ‘the math is in our favor, and it’s clear House Republicans are on offense for 2026.’

He also asserted that ‘House Democrats are in shambles — they don’t have a clear message and they’re incapable of selling voters on their failed agenda. We will work tirelessly to hold the Democrat Party accountable and grow our Republican majority.’

Courtney Rice, communications director for the rival Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, emphasized that ‘voters will hold House Republicans accountable for failing to lower costs while fostering a culture of corruption that benefits their billionaire backers.’

‘The political environment is in Democrats’ favor heading into 2026 — and with stellar candidates who are focused on delivering for their districts, House Democrats are poised to take back the majority in 2026,’ Rice predicted.

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Editor’s note: President Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911. The following essay is excerpted from ‘Making Reagan.’

Shooting a movie during a pandemic is truly a surreal experience like no other. Part of the fun of making a movie is the joy of being together—of going to restaurants and local haunts and generally hanging out with cast and crew. 

When I first landed in Guthrie, Oklahoma, I went straight to our COVID Coordinator, Emily O’Banion, and asked her what the rules were for my stay there. The conversation went like this:

‘Can I go to a restaurant?’

‘No.’

‘What about Walmart?’

‘That’s absolutely the most dangerous place of all.’

‘How am I supposed to eat?’ I asked.

She just stared at me.

Eventually, we made a plan, and Walmart groceries were delivered to my door daily. We were living in a rental—my 92- year-old mother, my wife, my kids, a caregiver, and an assistant. While I was off at work, the kids were doing Zoom school, and we were trying hard to make normal out of chaos. 

There were plenty of signs around describing the kind of town Guthrie once was: lots of pubs, references to it being a place of refuge during Prohibition. As I walked, I came upon our assassination scene. The Washington Hilton hotel wall near the spot where Reagan almost lost his life was perfectly re-created by our design team. The next day, Dennis Quaid, who was starring at the 40th president, was in front of the wall reenacting the amazing moment and we were off to the races.

Dennis had a long day that began with that scene and then moved to a variety of pickups, including a talk with his aging mother Nelle, who was played by an old friend of mine, Jennifer O’Neill. The scene was a beautiful one that found 40-year-old Reagan telling his mom he was washed up, divorced, and feeling lost.

As Dennis and I discussed this scene, he said he wanted to change some of the lines. I asked him if he had a similar conversation with his mom and he quickly said yes, around the time he and Meg Ryan were getting a divorce. ‘Let’s just riff off that,’ I told him, and he did so brilliantly, telling Jennifer’s character Nelle that he hasn’t lived a perfect life in Hollywood and that maybe he can’t do the great things she told him he was going to do someday. 

After we were shut down by COVID for a second time the previous fall and we had finished our shoot and returned to L.A., I felt sometimes as though I had PTSD. But now I was looking forward to finishing strong.

We moved on to the final scene of the night and Dennis’s last of our shoot, when Reagan was in Las Vegas. This was the moment when Reagan was at the end of his rope, smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer, as voices from his promising past swirled around in his head. The scene culminated with him throwing the beer bottle against a wall backstage at the show he was forced to perform to pay his mortgage. It was a scene we had crafted carefully.

I had called up his old friend Pat Boone and asked him: If Reagan was down and out in Vegas, how low could he go? Would he have reached for the bottle? Would he have thrown it in anger? 

I had posed the same question to a Reagan biographer who had assured me that Reagan would have done no such thing and that Reagan had specifically said of the Vegas show that it was difficult but still part of God’s plan for him. 

Pat would have none of it, and we went with his note. Even if Reagan later saw it as part of the Divine Plan, in the moment it would have been a huge disappointment, and yes, he might have taken a drink and lost his cool. 

So that’s how we played it. 

It was near midnight when we finished, and as Dennis walked down the stairs, we hugged one last time. We had been on a long, arduous journey, through countless peaks and valleys, and now we were nearly finished.

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American voters overwhelmingly elected President Donald Trump to carry out his ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda despite Democrats calling him a ‘threat to democracy.’ Now that Trump is back in the White House, Dems are delaying key cabinet appointments and vowing to ‘blow this place up’ in the name of democracy.

Several Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are calling for a halt to all of Trump’s cabinet nominations. Protests hosted by lawmakers have erupted in Washington, D.C., this week as Democrats rally against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

‘God d—it shut down the Senate!’ Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., said during an anti-DOGE protest in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. ‘We are at war!’

While Democrats spent 2024 promising Americans they were the party who would protect democracy and uphold the rule of law in a post-Jan. 6 world, they are dancing to the beat of a new drum in 2025 by practicing civil disobedience. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told the crowd Tuesday, ‘We are here to fight back.’ 

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

Democrats have doubled down on their call to action this week after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Americans to ‘fight’ Trump’s agenda ‘in the streets’ last week. 

‘We have to stand up and protest,’ Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, said at another rally in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. ‘When we come back here the next time, there should be hundreds of thousands and millions of people descending on Washington, D.C.’

‘We will fight their violation of civil service laws. We will fight their violation of civil rights laws. We will fight their violations of separation of powers. We will fight their violations of our Constitution of the United States of America. We will not shut up. We will stick up. We will rise up,’ Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., added. 

Democrats held an all-night session Wednesday protesting Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 

Russell Vought, who served as OMB director during Trump’s first term, was a key architect of Project 2025. Democratic candidates and surrogates during the 2024 campaign cycle pointed to Project 2025 as proof of Trump’s ‘threat to democracy.’ Trump maintained he had nothing to do with it. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Vought is a ‘horrible, dangerous man’ at the rally Tuesday.

Democratic leaders and their constituents have spent all week protesting in major cities across the country. From Texas to California, protesters are speaking out against Trump’s ICE raids and federal government layoffs and the administration’s stance that there are two genders. 

Despite the Democrats’ protests, the Trump administration said it is following through on the agenda the American people voted for, and those who ‘incite violence’ should be held accountable. 

‘President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to make this government more efficient,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. ‘For Democratic officials to incite violence and encourage Americans to take to the streets is incredibly alarming, and they should be held accountable for that rhetoric.

‘If you heard that type of violent, enticing rhetoric from our side of the aisle, from Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, I think there would be a lot more outrage in this room today. It’s unacceptable.’

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Despite Democratic tactics to delay the confirmation vote, the Senate confirmed Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Republicans backed Vought’s nomination, arguing he proved a qualified candidate for the role since he previously held the position during President Donald Trump’s first term. Democrats, however, raised multiple concerns about his nomination and said his views on the Impoundment Control Act, which reinforces that Congress holds the power of the purse, disqualified him from the role. 

Democrats held a 30-hour-long protest against Vought’s nomination, delivering speeches in the middle of the night on Wednesday in an attempt to delay the confirmation vote. 

The Senate, in a chaotic final floor vote on Thursday evening, voted to confirm Vought to lead the OMB, 53 to 47.

Democratic senators repeatedly injected themselves during the confirmation vote, protesting the nomination until the last second.

‘No debate is permitted during a vote,’ Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., told the lawmakers.

The OMB is responsible for developing and executing the president’s budget, as well as overseeing and coordinating legislative proposals and priorities aligned with the executive branch. 

Vought appeared before the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for confirmation hearings, where he defended statements asserting that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional. 

The law, adopted in 1974, stipulates that Congress may oversee the executive branch’s withholdings of budget authority. But Vought encountered criticism from Democrats for freezing $214 million in military aid for Ukraine in 2019 — a decision that ultimately led to Trump’s first impeachment.  

‘You’re quite comfortable assuming that the law doesn’t matter and that you’ll just treat the money for a program as a ceiling … rather than a required amount,’ Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said Wednesday. ‘Well, the courts have found otherwise.’ 

In the 1975 Supreme Court ruling Train v. New York, the court determined the Environmental Protection Agency must use full funding included in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, even though then-President Richard Nixon issued orders to not use all the funding. 

Even so, Vought told lawmakers that Trump campaigned on the position that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional — and that he agrees with that. 

Vought’s statements on the issue left Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., ‘astonished and aghast’ during one confirmation hearing. 

‘I think our colleagues should be equally aghast, because this issue goes beyond Republican or Democrat,’ Blumenthal said on Jan. 15. ‘It’s bigger than one administration or another. It’s whether the law of the land should prevail, or maybe it’s up for grabs, depending on what the president thinks.’

Vought also faced questioning from Democrats on his views regarding abortion as an author of Project 2025, a political initiative conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation released in 2023 that called for policy changes that would implement a national ban on medication abortion. 

Other proposals included in Project 2025 include eliminating the Department of Education; cutting diversity, equity and inclusion programs; and reducing funding for Medicare and Medicaid. 

‘You have said that you don’t believe in exceptions for rape, for incest, or the life of the mother,’ Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said during a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. ‘Is that your position?’

‘Senator, my views are not important,’ Vought said. ‘I’m here on behalf of the president.’ 

Trump repeatedly has stated that he backs abortion in certain instances, and stated that ‘powerful exceptions’ for abortion would remain in place under his administration.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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The now-archived website for the virtually shut down United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has a page devoted to pushing DEI which a former employee whistleblower told Fox News Digital was part of a larger Biden administration effort. 

‘Each of us has a responsibility to address bigotry, gender discrimination, and structural racism and uphold individual dignity… This isn’t just one of our values; it’s our mission—one hand extended out to another to meet people where they are and treat others as equals,’ former USAID administrator Samantha Power, who previously served multiple roles in the Obama administration, is quoted as saying on the archived websites DEI page. 

The website explains that the USAID was ‘committed to a diverse, equitable, inclusive workplace where everyone has an opportunity to thrive’ and that it has implemented a DEI strategy that ‘commits USAID to improving and enhancing diversity throughout the Agency, enhancing inclusion and equity for everyone in the workplace, and strengthening accountability for promoting and sustaining a diverse workforce and an inclusive Agency culture.’

Mark Moyar, a USAID whistleblower who worked in the department from 2018 to 2019, spoke to Fox News Digital about how Power and others in the department made DEI a top priority. 

Samantha Power’s emphasis on DEI was part of a larger Biden administration effort to infuse DEI into every federal agency and we saw this with very negative effects all over the place and you have people taking time off from their jobs to attend these indoctrination sessions and clearly pushing the message that people are divided into oppressor groups and victim groups and that there’s this white rage and white extremism running all over the place, which is basically not non existent,’ Moyar explained. 

Moyar told Fox News Digital that ‘far left theories’ were given ‘legitimacy’ in the wake of the George Floyd movement in 2020 and that when DEI became a ‘central’ focus at USAID it resulted in other countries taking the United States less seriously. 

‘It’s particularly disturbing that not only were they pushing within the organization, they were actually funding DEI events all over the world, you know, DEI comic books or DEI workshops and so I think this can only undermine our image abroad because most people outside of this country recognized DEI for the silliness that it is and the divisiveness that it causes,’ Moyar, author of the book ‘Masters of Corruption: How the Federal Bureaucracy Sabotaged the Trump Presidency’, said. 

‘We also saw this as well with women’s empowerment that everything for Samantha Power had to be viewed through a gendered lens. So you had all these gender consultants as well as DEI consultants taking huge amounts of taxpayer money to do this sort of analysis. And I don’t think they really have anything to show for it and I think you’ll find what we found in other places where this has been pushed, that DEI only makes things worse. It divides people and group tensions between groups are worse than they were before.’

USAID found itself on the chopping block in recent weeks as part of President Trump’s plan to rid the federal government of waste along with his campaign pledges to rid DEI from the federal bureaucracy. 

‘For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,’ the White House said Monday.

Musk has meanwhile slammed the agency as a ‘viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,’ and reported in an audio-only message on X on Sunday that ‘we’re in the process’ of ‘shutting down USAID’ and that Trump reportedly agreed to shutter the agency.

Democrats have slammed the Trump administration’s efforts on USAID. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., accused Trump of starting a dictatorship while she protested outside USAID headquarters on Monday. 

‘It is a really, really sad day in America. We are witnessing a constitutional crisis,’ Omar said. ‘We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one. And here we are. This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like when you gut the Constitution, and you install yourself as the sole power. That is how dictators are made.’

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report

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Chipotle Mexican Grill said Tuesday that it does not expect costs to rise much if tariffs on key imported ingredients go into effect next month, noting that only about half of its avocados come from Mexico.

A day earlier, President Donald Trump paused his plans for 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports. If implemented after the one-month suspension, imports such as avocados and beef would be more expensive for restaurants, which would likely try to pass on the increased cost to their diners.

But Chipotle executives shook off the tariff fears during the company’s earnings conference call on Tuesday. If tariffs aimed at Mexico, Canada and China all go into effect, Chipotle expects that its cost of sales would rise about 60 basis points, or 0.6 percentage points, according to Chief Financial Officer Adam Rymer.

Chipotle only sources about 2% of its sales from Mexico, importing produce such as avocados, tomatoes, limes and peppers, Rymer said.

In fact, while Mexico supplies roughly 90% of the avocados eaten in the U.S., Chipotle buys about half of its avocado supply from Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic, according to CEO Scott Boatwright. In recent years, Chipotle has taken steps to buy more of its avocados outside of Mexicohe told analysts.

Looking beyond Chipotle’s guacamole supply, less than 0.5% of Chipotle’s sales are sourced from Canada and China. Trump has already imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports.

In recent quarters, Chipotle has shown that it has pricing power, even as diners become more value-conscious.

For the fourth quarter, the company reported same-store sales growth of 5.4%, fueled by a traffic increase of 4%. Chipotle’s earnings topped Wall Street estimates, but a conservative forecast for its same-store sales growth sent shares down 5% in extended trading.

The outlook did not include the effect of any tariffs.

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