Evening Report — Trump tussles with the courts

Evening Report

TRUMP FIRST 100 DAYS

Trump locked in court battles as Dems fear 'constitutional crisis'

IT'S PRESIDENT TRUMP VS. THE COURTS, as Democrats worry a “constitutional crisis” is on the horizon due to the growing tensions between the executive and judicial branches of government.

The Trump administration is the subject of more than 50 lawsuits touching on most of what the president has sought to enact either by executive action or through sharp cuts implemented by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Trump has flooded the zone in the first few weeks of his second term with dozens of executive orders. And the lawsuits to combat them have been coming at breakneck speed, so much so that judges are having a hard time keeping track and have been left flat-footed.

“It’s hard for me to keep up. I don’t know whether you have been able to keep up,” U.S. District Judge John Bates said Monday at a hearing about online health data scrubbed by the current administration.

Democrats fear Trump will ignore court efforts to restrain his administration, while Republicans argue the decisions are politically motivated judicial overreach.

The test case:

Federal Judge John J. McConnell Jr. accused the White House of defying his order to unfreeze all federal loans and grants that were paused by executive order.

“The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country,” McConnell wrote.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) immediately appealed the judge’s order to unfreeze the federal grants.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow “we’ve got our toes right on the edge of a constitutional crisis.”

“My view right now is the courts are where we are hanging on to our constitutional structure,” she said.

Republicans are pointing to the judge’s history of political donations to Democratic campaigns as evidence of bias.

Republicans have also cited a different judge’s order preventing Musk from accessing Treasury Department payment systems, arguing that the order was so broad it blocked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from the systems.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas clarified that ruling Tuesday, saying it does not apply to Bessent, but would remain in place for political appointees, such as Musk.

Vice President Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have accused the judicial branch of overreach in seeking to rein in Trump’s actions.

“I wish the courts would allow the executive and the legislative branches to work, but we’ll see how all that develops,” Johnson said.

Some Republicans are beginning to speak out over what they fear is a growing appetite by the Trump administration to flout the courts.

“The White House should comply with court rulings," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

"If you don’t like the ruling, you can appeal the ruling and you can follow that through," she added. "But we are a nation of laws and it is not necessarily for you or I to be the final arbiter here. This is why we entrust the judiciary with this responsibility.”

LATEST COURT ACTION

• A judge ordered health agencies to restore data scrubbed by the Trump administration.

• Another judge temporarily reinstalled the head of the whistleblower protection office who Trump fired over the weekend.

• The federal employee government buyout offer deadline has been extended as the courts considers its legality.

• A federal judge ordered a temporary pause on plans by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to slash research payments to universities and medical centers. This comes after a different judge granted a restraining order on NIH funding cuts. Some Republicans have raised concerns about the move to slash billions in research at public universities.

CRIMINAL CASES CONCLUDE

Several criminal cases involving Trump and his allies are winding down now that there’s a new administration in charge of the DOJ:

• A federal appeals court dismissed the classified documents case against Trump, ending an appeal of the decision that toppled special counsel Jack Smith. The dismissal, which was requested by the Trump DOJ, effectively ends the criminal case against Trump and his two co-defendants.

• The DOJ ordered prosecutors to drop the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D). Adams has grown closer to Trump in recent months, and he used a defense attorney who also represents Musk.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), a centrist Democrat, responded on X:

“The Mayor of New York City has been compromised. The fear of a renewed federal prosecution after the 2025 election keeps him perpetually under the thumb of Donald Trump. The City of New York has been all but reduced to a subsidiary of the Trump Administration.”

• Former White House adviser Steve Bannon pleaded guilty in a fraud case pertaining to money he raised to privately build a wall along the Southern border. The deal will allow him to avoid jail time.

💡Perspectives:

• The Nation: Trump is outdoing himself.

• The Hill: What’s behind Donald Trump’s plastic straws move.

• The Liberal Patriot: How Democrats lost their way on immigration.

• Quillette: Trump and the DEI counter revolution

• Salon: After the big loss, what's next?

• Unherd: Progressives should cheer Trump’s FBI purge.

Read more:

• Trump, allies ramp up attacks on courts

• Biden viewed least favorably among living presidents: Gallup.

• House Budget chair floats new budget framework.

• Dems step up talk about using shutdown as leverage against Trump.

CATCH UP QUICK

The Trump administration negotiated the release of Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who has been detained in Russia on drug charges since his arrest in 2021.
About 126 million people tuned in for the Super Bowl, making it the most-watched ever.

NEWS THIS AFTERNOON

Trump, Musk dig deep for new avenues of disruption

President Trump and Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk are scouring the government to come up with new ways to upend the status quo.

Musk and one of his sons visited with Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, where Musk described the federal bureaucracy as an “unelected” fourth branch of government.

The latest:

• Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop enforcing a law meant to prevent the corruption of foreign government officials. The order pauses enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

“It sounds good on paper, but in practicality, it’s a disaster,” Trump said. “It means that if an American goes over to a foreign country and starts doing business over there — legally, legitimately or otherwise — it’s almost a guaranteed investigation indictment, and nobody wants to do business with the Americans because of it.”

Trump also fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics, who was confirmed by the Senate in November to a five-year term.

• The battle is raging over the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), with Democrats livid over the Trump administration’s efforts to halt activity there.

“We’re about to get annihilated,” a CFPB employee told The Hill’s Julia Shapero.

Three top officials left the agency Tuesday amid the work stoppage.

“I think people need to know that these are the elements of a coup,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said on MSNBC.

• The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the Department of Education, is facing funding cuts. It has so far canceled more than 160 contracts.

• Every day brings new battles in Washington and beyond, from small ones over paper straws and who will lead the Kennedy Center, to big ones involving immigration and border security.

• Pope Francis rebuked the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of migrants.

“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he wrote.

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan fired back:

“Pope ought to fix the Catholic Church.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: A quick way to cut $1 trillion in federal spending.

• The Hill: The richest man on the planet attacks the poorest.

• USA Today: Dems picked the wrong fight on immigration.

• The Hill: Federal employees deserve respect — not Elon Musk.

• The Wall Street Journal: The truth about Trump’s steel tariffs.

IN OTHER NEWS

Roundup: Trump meets with King of Jordan as Gaza ceasefire hangs in the balance

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is hanging by a thread.

Israel is outraged over the physical condition of the hostages that have been released thus far. And Hamas says it will postpone the release of more hostages, accusing Israel of breaking conditions of the ceasefire.

Israel has moved troops to the Gazan border and is threatening military action if hostages aren’t released by the weekend. On Monday, Trump said he’d “let all hell break out” if hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at noon.

Trump also said he’d withhold aid from Arab allies if they refuse to take in Palestinian refugees.

In a Tuesday meeting at the White House, King Abdullah II of Jordan urged patience, saying Arab nations expect to present a proposal to the U.S. soon.

“This is something that we as Arabs will be coming to the United States with, something that we’re going to talk about later to discuss all these options,” Abdullah said.

Abdullah pledged to take in 2,000 sick Palestinian children, leading Trump to back away from his threat to withhold aid.

However, Trump doubled down on his claims that the U.S. will take Gaza and that Palestinians will have to relocate.

“We’re going to have Gaza," Trump said. "We don’t have to buy. There’s nothing to buy. We will have Gaza."

• Vice President Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich this week as the Trump administration pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine.

Zelensky has said he’s open to a deal providing minerals to the U.S. in exchange for military aid. Zelensky has also proposed a territory exchange with Russia.

💡Perspectives:

• Politico: The shutdown fight that could play right into Trump’s hands.

• Financial Times: At work, a quiet AI revolution is under way.

• The Hill: Trump shouldn't be using heavy-handed diplomacy against allies.

Read more:

• Hostage accounts raise alarm.

• Trump’s proposal for Gaza entangles Arab allies.

• EU vows ‘firm and proportionate’ response to Trump’s tariffs.

• Gabbard poised for confirmation as Senate tees up final vote.

• Mace alleges sexual abuse, rape in stunning House floor speech.

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