The White House News

Former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who President-elect Trump announced as his selection to be attorney general during his second term, is making calls to Senate Republicans ahead of his confirmation hearing next year. 

Several GOP senators told reporters this week that they spoke with Gaetz by phone since Trump picked him to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ). 

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that the former congressman “is dedicated to winning the support of senators for his nomination for the attorney general,” noting that “he has been working the phones.”

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Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said Monday night that he spoke with Gaetz days prior. “He called me,” he said. “Very brief conversation.”

The senator would not divulge any additional information about their call. Mullin and Gaetz have had a tense relationship in the past, and the senator slammed him in an interview at the time, bringing up allegations that he had slept with an underage girl. 

“There’s a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor… of the girls that he had slept with. He’d brag about how he would crush [erectile dysfunction] medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night,” he said at the time. 

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Gaetz denied Mullin’s claim when he made it. Gaetz has not been convicted of charges related to these allegations. He was previously under a yearlong investigation by the DOJ that was prompted by allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a minor. However, the DOJ ultimately decided against pressing any charges. 

The comments came amid former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s removal, which Gaetz was partially credited with. 

Mullin recently said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” the Senate should “absolutely” have access to the House Ethics report that probed allegations into Gaetz, including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts. 

Not every Republican senator has been willing to go as far, with many being vague about whether senators should see it or will ultimately see the report during a confirmation hearing. 

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Mullin, a close ally of Trump in the Senate, said he hasn’t spoken to the president-elect about the selection of Gaetz.  

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also said he spoke to Gaetz. “Had a nice chat with Matt Gaetz over the weekend,” he revealed on Monday. “He wants to have the chance to clear his name in a hearing. And I think that’s a great idea.”

“And I think we ought to have a hearing. I think we ought to move to it as quickly as we can in the new Congress.”

“The other night, before I left for the weekend, I don’t know about 10:30 or 11, I got a phone call from Congressman Gaetz, and I congratulated him, and he said, ‘Will I get a fair shake in the Senate?’” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. 

“And I said, ‘Absolutely. Just come on over, answer all the questionnaires, tell us the truth, tell us what your plans are for the agency, and I’m looking forward to it, and I hope you are too.'”

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Kennedy said the conversation was quick and that the two don’t have plans for an in-person meeting yet. 

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Vice President-elect JD Vance is planning to make the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, scheduling meetings with key Republican senators and Trump Cabinet nominees Gaetz and Pete Hegseth, who was selected by the preisdent-elect to run the Department of Defense (DOD.)

“President Trump’s incoming administration is moving at an accelerated schedule in order to make good on getting key nominees confirmed in order to start delivering for the American people. Rep. Collins (VA), Rep. Gaetz (DOJ), Pete Hegseth (DOD), and Rep. Stefanik (UN) will all begin their meetings this week with additional Hill visits to continue after the Thanksgiving recess,” Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance Transition spokesman, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Gaetz faces an uphill battle when it comes to a potential confirmation in the Senate, as it would take just a handful of Republican votes to deny him. The Senate GOP will only have a 53-person majority next year and several GOP senators have already expressed concerns about Gaetz. 

“He will never get confirmed,” a Republican senator, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital after Trump’s selection was revealed.

One Senate Republican source simply said, “Ain’t gonna happen,” about the prospect of Gaetz’s confirmation. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson declined to answer whether transgender Rep-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., is a man or a woman, vowing to “treat all persons with dignity and respect.” 

At the House GOP weekly press conference on Tuesday, a reporter asked Johnson, “Is freshman elect Sarah McBride a man or a woman?” 

“Look, I’m not going to get into this. We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people,” Johnson responded. “I believe it’s a… command that we treat all persons with dignity and respect, and we will. And I’m not going to engage in… silly debates about this. There’s a concern about uses of restroom facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before. And we’re going to do that in a deliberate fashion, with member consensus on it. And we will accommodate the needs of every single person.” 

Fox News Radio Capitol Hill and White House correspondent Ryan Schmelz posed a follow-up question to Johnson, asking if he plans on bringing up a resolution brought by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol “and putting that into the rules package”? 

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“I’m not going to address the plans on any of that,” Johnson said. “I just told you what I’m going to say about the issue. I’m not going to engage in this. We don’t look down upon anyone. We treat everybody with dignity and respect. That’s a principle that I’ve pursued my whole life. And we will take care of this, you know, issue – a first impression for Congress – as we will any other thing. We will provide the appropriate accommodation for every member of Congress.” 

Mace introduced a resolution on Monday that moves to prohibit members, officers and employees of the House from using “single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.” It asserts that “allowing biological males into single-sex facilities, such as restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms designed for women jeopardizes the safety and dignity of Members, officers, and employees of the House who are female.” 

In X posts on Monday, McBride derided the resolution as “a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.” 

“Every day Americans go to work with people who have life journeys different than their own and engage with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster that same kindness,” McBride wrote.

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“The radical left is calling me an extremist for being a feminist fighting to protect the rights of women and girls,” Mace said in a follow-up video message shared to X on Tuesday. “If being a feminist makes me an extremist or bigot or a monster, I am totally here for it because I am going to fight like hell for every woman and every little girl across this country to protect you and to keep you safe.” 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said Tuesday that she asked the men in the House Republican Conference what they were going to do to prevent biological males from using spaces reserved for biological females at the U.S. Capitol. 

“You know, Sarah McBride, as he calls himself, formerly Tim McBride, is a biological man, and he should not be using any of our restrooms in the Capitol, and that in our office buildings. But Nancy Mace’s resolution doesn’t go far enough,” Greene told reporters. “America gave a mandate at this election and said, not only are they sick of the open borders, the invasion, the out of control inflation, foreign wars, but they’re sick of the trans ideology being shoved down our throats. And it’s an attack on women and children all over the country.” 

Meanwhile, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., told reporters that the Democratic caucus supports McBride “100%,” and condemned the resolution brought by Mace. 

“It’s just disgusting,” Garcia told reporters. “I was actually sick to my stomach when I read that yesterday. And I think it’s really unfortunate that someone is being attacked. She just got to Congress. She is going to use whatever restroom that she needs to use. This is just sick that we’re having to have this conversationn… I’ve heard disgust, to be honest, on both sides of the aisle. And so I hope that this just moves forward and let’s let her legislate and move on.” 

A Connecticut university is roiled in controversy after a report revealed that the school was attempting to find “creative ideas” to offer undocumented students payment for their internships.

“They’re prioritizing citizens over noncitizens, and that’s the problem,” Connecticut GOP Chairman Ben Proto told Fox News Digital.

The comments come after a Connecticut Inside Investigator report revealed that Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) officials searched for ways to pay undocumented students “in a way that doesn’t mention ‘employment’ or require a social security number,” according to emails obtained by the outlet through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“The President’s Undocumented Student Committee is looking for creative ideas for helping undocumented (or underdocumented) students find paid internships/experiential learning opportunities,” CCSU career coach Audra Mika wrote in one email, dated Sept. 13, 2024. “Other universities have set up grants, scholarships, fellowships, and stipends to pay these students in a way that doesn’t mention ‘employment’ or require a social security number.”

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“PJ and I want to see what is possible,” the email, which was sent to the university’s grants department, continued. “Thank you for any suggestions you might have for helping our undocumented students find paid jobs.”

That email was replied to by Kathleen Moore of the CCSU’s Office of Post-Award Grants with a warning that the idea would be “morally wrong” and “illegal” and also noted that grants were awarded via competitive application process and require anyone paid with grant money to be a U.S. citizen.

“If you were told that other universities are using grants ‘to pay these students’ you were misled, or those individuals are doing something illegally and, in my opinion, have no morals,” Moore’s reply read.

Moore’s email was later forwarded to CCSU Associate Vice President Carmen Veloria by Director of the Career Development Office Paul Rossitto, who wrote, “FYI, we have some people that work at the university that don’t believe we should help all students.”

Meanwhile, the initial request garnered responses from officials at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), who noted that there is a scholarship fund for “Dream Scholars,” though that scholarship only covers “Dreamers” under the controversial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and not for all undocumented migrants.

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SCSU officials also noted that they offer the Monarch Scholarship and funds “for undoc [sic] students who work on campus doing an academic internship,” while officials from another state school, Eastern Connecticut State University, suggested the institution encourage students to get Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN), but warned doing so “does not provide work authorization or legal status” to the migrant.

CCSU officials ran with that idea, encouraging undocumented students to obtain ITINs and then approach local businesses in order to gauge if they would be interested in “hiring/supporting undocumented students as interns” or work with the school’s Student Affairs Department, “to create fellowships, funding opps, stipends for undoc student workers (on and off campus); and to find and teach ‘allies’ what these measures could mean for CCSU.”

To Proto, the story is just the latest example of government officials, employees and lawmakers in the state prioritizing the needs of migrants over the legal citizens of Connecticut.

“Where is the state focusing its energy? Should it be focusing its energy on the citizens of the state of Connecticut, or should it be focusing its energy on those people who are here illegally in violation of our laws,” Proto said. “When you have the attorney general running around since election day telling everyone that he’s going to protect illegal immigrants… it seems like his priorities are in the wrong place.”

In a statement to Connecticut Inside Investigator, CCSU spokeswoman Jodi Latina said that there had been “no intent to mislead or circumvent any laws.”

“This email message was misinterpreted by the receiver. The committee member was exploring avenues to support students within the confines of what is permissible under the law,” Latina told the outlet. “The requester was inquiring as to whether there are any avenues we aren’t already exploring that exist legally for undocumented students.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Latina said that the university “has not and will not ever condone any activities that circumvent the law, and this committee was implemented only to coalesce legal means to support these students, as we endeavor to do for our entire Central Family.”

Latina also shared a letter sent by university President Zulma Toro, who stressed that the school’s efforts were limited to lawful programs.

“Our undocumented students are eligible for various sources of aid from private donors and/or the state of Connecticut. They are not, however, entitled to federal financial assistance, to participate in federal work study grants, become employed, and are prohibited from participating in many programs and experiential learning opportunities that require background checks and social security numbers,” read the letter that was sent out to members of the CCSU community. 

“This University has not and will not ever condone any activities that circumvent the law, and this committee was implemented only to coalesce legal means to support these students, as we endeavor to do for our entire Central Family.”

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin endorsed Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears for governor ahead of the state’s November 2025 gubernatorial contest. Youngkin and Sears are both Republicans.

The governor took office in early 2022, but the state constitution blocks governors from serving two consecutive terms, so he cannot run for re-election in 2025. The race will be one of the first significant races since President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 victory.

Merle Rutledge is also running for governor as a Republican, while Rep. Abigail Spanberger is a candidate on the Democratic side.

“Winsome has been an outstanding Lt. Governor, and she will be a great Governor,” Youngkin said in social media posts. 

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“She has been an outspoken advocate for commonsense conservative principles and policies, a passionate voice for our military and veterans, and a relentless advocate for educational freedom and economic opportunity. She brings the fighting spirit of a Marine to the office every single day,” he declared.

Sears noted that she is “deeply grateful” for Youngkin’s endorsement. 

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Spanberger blasted former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard after President-elect Donald Trump tapped her to serve as director of national intelligence. 

“As a former CIA case officer, I saw the men and women of the U.S. intelligence community put their lives on the line every day for this country — and I am appalled at the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to lead DNI,” Spanberger declared in a post on X.

Gabbard, who served in the House of Representatives as a Democrat, announced last month that she was joining the GOP.

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Youngkin also endorsed Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares for re-election.

“As Attorney General, Jason vigorously defends the laws of the Commonwealth, stands with law enforcement every single day while leading our shared fight to end the free flow of opioids and fentanyl into our communities, and has been a constant advocate for victims of human trafficking and domestic violence,” Youngkin said in his social media posts.

President-elect Donald Trump’s first Department of Education (DOE) secretary, Betsy DeVos, has been floated as one of the potential candidates for the position again. However, if she does not get the job, DeVos has some ideas about who would be a good fit to carry the mantle Trump started in 2017.

“There’s a whole host of Republican governors who have led on issues around at K-12 education, in particular, and in other cases, higher education,” DeVos told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“They have great backgrounds and could do a great, great job in carrying out the policies of a second Trump administration. Which I believe, as President Trump has said, should definitely include every effort to depower the federal agency and turn control and power back over to states, local, districts and parents.”

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GOP-dominated legislatures in Florida, Iowa, Arkansas and elsewhere passed bills significantly expanding school vouchers last year. 

On the campaign trail, Trump said one of the first things he’ll do is “closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work it needs back to the states.”

DeVos said the budget and investments in education would not change, but through “block granting.”

“Let’s talk about eliminating the bureaucracy, not the budget, and ways in which that can be done,” DeVos said. “Very simply, block granting the money back to the states, so that it goes to states and ideally directly it to families who need it most.”

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During Trump’s first term, DeVos strongly advocated for school choice policies and expanding school voucher programs and tax credit scholarships to allow public funding to be used for private and religious school tuition.

She also rescinded federal guidance on the use of bathrooms by transgender students in schools, arguing it should be a state and local decision. 

DeVos scaled back federal oversight and programs in K-12 education, including the scope of civil rights investigations conducted by the DOE.

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“This is unfinished business from the first term, when we introduced with President Trump’s support and urged a freedom, a tax credit freedom bill to establish a pool of funds that individuals could designate money to at the federal level, but it would go alongside what states are already doing,” DeVos said. 

“Many states have passed education freedom policies to support families making those choices in that state, and other states have not yet done that, but this would allow for kids in every state through scholarship granting organizations to experience more education, freedom and choices and options, and that is a really important piece that should be addressed. And I believe this new Congress is ready to jump into it,” she added.

On the contrary, President Biden increased funding for public schools, particularly in low-income areas, through the American Rescue Plan during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Throughout his presidency, Biden pushed for college student debt relief, despite being blocked by the Supreme Court.

Biden’s Education Department is trying to push through a new federal rule in the final weeks before President-elect Trump takes over to provide additional student loan forgiveness for 8 million borrowers who face financial hardships. 

If finalized, the new rule would authorize student debt forgiveness on a one-time basis for people who the department considers to have at least an 80% chance of defaulting on loans based on a “predictive assessment using existing borrower data.”

The rule would also allow people, including potential “future borrowers,” to apply for relief that will be awarded based on “a holistic assessment of the borrower’s hardship.”

“There is every argument for if the taxpayers are going to be funding student lending, there better be ways to oversee it and actually do it effectively and efficiently,” DeVos said. “And it has not been happening. It is a huge mess, and it needs to be rethought and re-examined, and frankly, the private sector, private sector lending needs to come back into it and be an option.”

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

New York prosecutors are requesting a stay until at least 2029 in New York v. Trump, as the president’s defense attorneys prepare to move to dismiss the case entirely.  

Prosecutors wrote a letter to Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday, who agreed last week to grant a stay on all deadlines associated with the conviction proceedings against Trump in the final months before he takes office. 

Merchan granted the request, which issues a stay on all deadlines, including the Nov. 26 sentencing date, to consider the effect of his election as president.

Prosecutors had asked for the pause in proceedings, which they said would allow them to better evaluate the impact of Trump’s new status as president-elect.

“As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, Defendant’s inauguration as President will occur on January 20, 2025,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote to Merchan on Tuesday. 

“Given the need to balance competing constitutional interests, consideration must be given to various non-dismissal options that may address any concerns raised by the pendency of a post-trial criminal proceeding during the presidency, such as deferral of all remaining criminal proceedings until after the end of Defendant’s upcoming presidential term,” Bragg wrote. 

Trump, who will be sworn into office as the 47th President of the United States on Jan. 20, 2025, will be the commander-in-chief until 2029. 

Bragg said his team would not oppose Trump’s request to stay further proceedings pending his attorneys’ motion to dismiss. 

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital that “this is a total and definitive victory for President Trump and the American People who elected him in a landslide.” 

“The Manhattan DA has conceded that this Witch Hunt cannot continue,” Cheung, who was tapped to serve as White House communications director, said. “The lawless case is now stayed, and President Trump’s legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all.”

Bragg noted that New York prosecutors plan to oppose Trump defense attorneys’ motion to dismiss entirely, 

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Trump’s attorneys, who had filed a motion to vacate the charges completely, also backed the stay. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree but was found guilty in May after a six-week-long unprecedented criminal trial in New York. 

Trump’s attorneys have requested that Merchan overturn the guilty verdict, citing the United States Supreme Court’s decision that former presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office. Trump’s legal team argued that certain evidence presented by Bragg and New York prosecutors during the trial should not have been admitted, as they were “official acts.” 

Specifically, Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued that testimony from former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks; former Special Assistant to the President Madeleine Westerhout; testimony regarding The Special Counsel’s Office and Congressional Investigations and the pardon power; testimony regarding President Trump’s response to FEC Inquiries; his presidential Twitter posts and other related testimony was impermissably admitted during trial. 

Trump attorneys also pointed to Trump’s disclosures to the Office of Government Ethics as president. 

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Blanche said that “official-acts evidence” that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg presented to the grand jury “contravened the holding in Trump because Presidents ‘cannot be indicted based on conduct for which they are immune from prosecution,'” the motion read. “The Presidential immunity doctrine recognized in Trump pertains to all ‘criminal proceedings,’ including grand jury proceedings when a prosecutor ‘seeks to charge’ a former President using evidence of official acts.”

Blanche argued that Bragg “violated the Presidential immunity doctrine by using similar official-acts evidence in the grand jury proceedings that gave rise to the politically motivated charges in this case.” 

“Because an Indictment so tainted cannot stand, the charges must be dismissed,” Blanche argued. 

Blanche also explained that the Supreme Court’s decision does not allow for an “overwhelming evidence” or “harmless error” exception to “the profound institutional interests at stake.” 

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on presidential immunity came from a question that stemmed from charges brought against Trump in a separate, federal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith related to the events on Jan. 6, 2021 and any alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in that case. 

Smith is winding down his cases against Trump following his election as the 47th President of the United States. 

Smith’s classified records case against Trump was dismissed by a federal judge in Florida earlier this year, who ruled that the special counsel was unlawfully appointed. 

Illinois’ Democratic attorney general and a court-appointed monitor are among those warning Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson that his administration’s proposed cuts to police resources may land the crime-wracked city in litigation.

During a status hearing last week, monitor Maggie Hickey told Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that cuts to the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD’s) Constitutional Policing division could “could be a devastating blow to the future of CPD reforms” under a legally-mandated consent decree, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

State Attorney General Kwame Raoul separately warned Johnson that adopting cuts proposed in his new budget would place Chicago “at significant risk of being held in contempt of court for failing to comply with the consent decree.”

In 2017, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, then-Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and then-Illinois Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan entered into the consent decree after the Justice Department reportedly found evidence of systemic civil rights violations within CPD.

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Verbal warnings for use-of-force and requirements to render first aid were among the other agreed upon terms besides the funding. The decree came after Madigan sued Chicago for oversight of its police department, which effectively mooted a separate plan from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who reportedly opposed consent decrees — according to NBC News.

In his letter to the mayor, Raoul credited Police Superintendent Larry Snelling with working diligently to deliver on the decree’s commitments to the state and the court, and overseeing a simultaneous decrease in gun violence and homicides.

“I am writing to you today because of my grave concern over your proposed budget cuts to the CPD — the deepest of which target units within CPD responsible for implementing the consent decree’s reforms. I strongly urge you to reconsider these proposed cuts,” Raoul wrote in a letter to Johnson obtained by the Sun-Times.

“Now is not the time to undermine the progress the department is making through unwise budget cuts.”

He told the mayor that while the progress in Chicago may be frustratingly slow, it remains “quiet and steady” through his work in Springfield.

In comments to Fox News Digital, Raoul signaled CPD itself is working in earnest toward the decree’s goals.

“Superintendent Snelling and his leadership team at CPD are building momentum toward effective, constitutional policing and, ultimately, a safer Chicago.”

“I have had positive conversations with the corporation counsel and believe the right leadership team is in place at CPD,” Raoul said.

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“Now is the time to build on their momentum, not to pull the rug out from under CPD’s progress. Certainly, the city at large is facing budgetary concerns; however, targeting court-ordered reform work for budget cuts is simply not an option.”

Both Snelling and Raoul separately pointed to the police department’s handling of the Democratic National Convention in August as an example of the strides it has made in effective policing.

“We have to make sure the allocation of resources reflects the trends we have seen,” Snelling said.

“As evidenced during the DNC, no matter what challenges we are presented with, we will get the job done with the highest levels of dedication and professionalism,” he said at a City Council meeting on Friday.

Snelling added that the buck stops with him when it comes to police accountability and that he will not back away from public criticism.

“I don’t fear it,” he said.

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After resources were used to create a robbery task force earlier this year, the number of such crimes has gone down by 1,400 over previous statistics, he added.

Snelling responded to an alderman’s question by saying he convinced Johnson to reverse one of the cuts: a nine-job bloc for mental health clinicians in precincts currently lacking them.

“The consent decree is extremely important,” CPD Chief Angel Novalez added at the meeting, noting he meets with Pallmeyer and the court monitor’s team on a regular basis.

Johnson’s budget includes a reduction of about 450 police vacancies in areas the Chicago Sun-Times reported would greatly affect the consent decree’s reforms.

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office, as well as the CPD which referred back to a stream of Snelling’s City Council testimony.