Deep Dive
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The federal judge doubles down. Elisa Brady, Fox News. The same federal judge who already ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze some federal spending now says there's evidence some federal grants and loans are still not going out, ordering today that the money be released.
The administration has said the pause was necessary to ensure federal spending fits with the president's agenda. This as the lawsuits keep coming. A fired federal official now suing President Trump. The head of the Office of Special Counsel, Hampton Dellinger, was nominated by President Biden to serve a five-year term just about 18 months ago. His office oversees government whistleblower complaints.
Before the November election, Dellinger wrote an op-ed explaining what he hoped to become a new policy, make whistleblower allegations public with their permission in the hopes those allegations would be investigated more quickly. But he was informed Friday that he's being fired. Now he's filed a lawsuit saying special counsels can only be removed for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance. Fox's Jessica Rosenthal. Those are not the same as special counsels appointed by the attorney general for investigations.
Hamas says it's delaying the next planned hostage release. Hamas says Israel has violated the ceasefire agreement. The militants accused the Israelis of delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, targeting them with shelling and gunfire and blocking the entry of some humanitarian aid.
More Israeli hostages were due to be released this coming Saturday as part of the first phase of the deal that stopped 15 months of war in Gaza. Fox's Jonathan Savage, the condition of three hostages freed last weekend raising alarm with President Trump indicating he's losing patience with the current deal. One senior Hamas official tells Fox News the new U.S. administration is unclear about its Mideast objectives.
Egypt's foreign minister is urging the international community to unify behind a political vision to resolve the Palestinian crisis. America is listening to Fox News. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy, host of the Trey Gowdy podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox News podcast dot com.
One artificial intelligence program is now banned from state government devices in New York as Governor Kathy Hochul takes aim at DeepSeek. Governor Hochul said DeepSeek, created by a Chinese-based stock trading firm, sparks concerns including the potential for surveillance by foreign governments. She said this continues her pledge to protect New Yorkers from foreign and domestic threats.
Governor Hochul banned TikTok from state government devices five years ago, then and now citing public safety as her top priority. Australia, Italy and Taiwan are nations that have banned deep seek. So far, New York and Texas are the only U.S. states to keep it off government issued devices.
Grinnell Scott, Fox News. Just getting word that President Trump is expected to pardon former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich five years after commuting his sentence on corruption charges. Blagojevich, a former Celebrity Apprentice contestant, served eight years in prison on charges stemming from his effort to sell President Obama's vacated Senate seat.
The U.S. Transportation Chief is hoping to save some money while restoring a stretch of interstate highway washed away by Hurricane Helene's flooding in North Carolina. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the rebuild of Interstate 40 near Asheville, North Carolina will take billions of dollars and lots of time, but that can be shortened and made less expensive by sourcing local rock to rebuild the roadbed. The Forest Service can partner with us, and we think they're really close, just about a mile and a half over this mountain.
we can get access to rock that'll drive down the cost and the time frame for which it'll take to rebuild this road. That stretch of I-40 was destroyed by Helene's floods, impacting further recovery efforts. Eben Brown, Fox News. Stocks are higher. The Dow's up 149. The Nasdaq up more than 200. Oil prices also rising, back over $72 a barrel. Alisa Brady, Fox News.