The Justice Department (DOJ) has removed its pardon attorney from an internal ‘Weaponization Working Group,’ even as officials say the politically sensitive panel is now meeting more frequently, Fox News has learned.

Ed Martin currently serves as the DOJ’s pardon attorney, a role appointed by President Donald Trump that involves reviewing clemency applications and advising the White House on pardons and commutations. He had also participated in the department’s internal Weaponization Working Group.

A DOJ spokesperson confirmed to Fox News on Monday that Martin had been removed from the working group, though it was not immediately clear why.

‘President Trump appointed Ed Martin as Pardon Attorney and Ed continues to do a great job in that role,’ a DOJ spokesperson said.

Trump nominated Martin, a former defense attorney who represented Americans charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in February of last year.

But after concerns from lawmakers stalled Martin’s confirmation, Trump withdrew the nomination.

Trump instead nominated Jeanine Pirro for the role, and she was ultimately confirmed.

Martin was appointed to serve as U.S. pardon attorney on May 14, 2025, and was named by Trump at the time to serve as director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, a role he held until his removal was announced Monday.

The working group was formed in early 2025 and is now meeting more frequently, with the goal of eventually meeting daily. It is an internal review body created to examine claims that federal law enforcement and prosecutorial powers were misused for political or partisan purposes.

Martin has previously drawn scrutiny over his actions involving New York Attorney General Letitia James. In August, a lawyer representing James criticized Martin for visiting her Brooklyn residence and publicly suggesting she resign, calling the visit a ‘made-for-media stunt.’

Martin later said he visited the property to ‘lay eyes on it’ and shared images of the visit on social media.

He was subsequently granted special prosecutorial authority to pursue mortgage fraud investigations involving James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., both of whom have denied wrongdoing and described the probes as politically motivated.

Martin also urged James to step down in a letter he described as ‘confidential’ but later shared publicly on X.

Costa Ricans have elected conservative populist Laura Fernández as their next president, according to preliminary results, making her the latest right-leaning leader to win office in Latin America.

With results from 96.8% of polling places counted, Fernández of the Sovereign People’s Party won 48.3% of the vote, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal reported.

Her closest challenger, economist Álvaro Ramos of the National Liberation Party, trailed with 33.4%, the Associated Press reported. 

Ramos conceded the race on election night, with Fernández, 39, to begin her four-year term in May.

A former government minister, Fernández is the chosen successor of outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, who is constitutionally prohibited from seeking re-election.

She campaigned on continuing Chaves’ populist agenda, which reshaped Costa Rican politics by arguing against traditional parties and promising tougher action on crime.

Fernández served as minister of national planning and later as minister of the presidency, giving her a central role in Chaves’ administration.

Crime had dominated the campaign in Costa Rica amid sharp rises in homicides, gang activity and drug trafficking by cartels.

The murder rate had increased by 50% over the last six years, according to reports.

Fernández pledged a hard-line security strategy, including increased cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and tougher measures against organized crime.

She has also floated controversial proposals inspired by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele.

This included construction of a special prison for gang leaders, the Associated Press reported.

‘My hand won’t shake when it comes to making the decisions we need to restore peace in Costa Rican homes,’ Fernández said during the campaign.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Fernández in a statement Monday.

‘Under her leadership, we are confident Costa Rica will continue to advance shared priorities to include combating narco-trafficking, ending illegal immigration to the United States, promoting cybersecurity and secure telecommunications, and strengthening economic ties,’ Rubio said.

‘I hope that we can immediately lower the flags of whichever political party and start working only in favor of the Costa Rican flag,’ Fernández said after the result. 

‘I believe the Costa Rican people expect nothing less of us,’ she added.

President Donald Trump is trying to quell a growing rebellion against the funding deal he negotiated with Senate Democrats as a growing number of House conservatives threaten to sink the legislation if a key demand is not met.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is walking a tightrope with House Republicans demanding the inclusion of election integrity legislation to the Trump-backed deal, which he negotiated with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., last week. 

The government is in its third day of a partial shutdown. Adding the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, to the package would send the legislation back to the Senate, where Schumer has already vowed to block it. 

That would likely extend what was intended to be a temporary closure.

Trump took to Truth Social to lower the temperature among House Republicans, and noted that he was ‘working hard with Speaker Johnson to get the current funding deal, which passed in the Senate last week, through the House and to my desk, where I will sign it into Law, IMMEDIATELY!’

‘We need to get the Government open, and I hope all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this Bill, and send it to my desk WITHOUT DELAY,’ Trump said. ‘There can be NO CHANGES at this time.’ 

‘We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown that will hurt our Country so badly — One that will not benefit Republicans or Democrats,’ he continued. ‘I hope everyone will vote, YES!’

A cohort of House Republicans, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wants to see the SAVE Act attached to the five-bill funding package plus short-term extension for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

It would require states to obtain proof of citizenship in-person when people register to vote and remove non-citizens from voter rolls.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital on Monday that he was leaning against voting to advance the funding deal if the SAVE Act was not attached. Reps. William Timmons, R-S.C., and Eric Burlison, R-Mo., have foreshadowed similar threats.

It’s legislation that has long been shelved since advancing from the House last year. Its passage in the upper chamber is even more unlikely because of the 60-vote filibuster threshold and Senate Democrats’ reticence to even consider supporting it. 

Their demands come as the House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper for most legislation to get a chamber-wide vote, is set to meet Monday evening to consider the funding deal. Johnson met with Rules Committee members on Monday afternoon ahead of their scheduled meeting.  

Tacking on the SAVE Act would likely kill any chance of the spending deal earning support from House Democrats, who are already resistant to the deal. 

And if it were to make it to the Senate, Democrats in the upper chamber are primed to block it.

Without it, however, the group of House conservatives could kill the spending deal during a procedural hurdle called a ‘rule vote.’ The House Rules Committee advancing the bill sets up a chamber-wide rule vote, which if successful would unlock debate and set up a final vote on passage. 

Rule votes generally fall along partisan lines. And with a one-vote majority after the swearing-in of a new House Democrat who won a special election in Texas over the weekend, Johnson can afford little dissent.

Schumer laid out an edict on Monday against the idea, where he accused Republicans of pushing legislation ‘reminiscent of Jim Crow-era laws,’ that he argued would act as a means to suppress voters rather than encourage more secure elections. 

‘It is a poison pill that will kill any legislation that it is attached to,’ Schumer said in a statement. ‘If House Republicans add the SAVE Act to the bipartisan appropriations package it will lead to another prolonged Trump government shutdown.’

Nearly half of state attorneys general will demand the House Judiciary Committee expand its probe into climate policy-related influence on federal judges to include a gold-standard guide judges use to examine subjects they are not typically versed in.

The development comes after a Fox News Digital report highlighted criticisms of the latest edition of the Federal Judicial Center’s (FJC) 1,600-page ‘Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence.’ Critics said the traditionally apolitical reference guide is now rife with climate change–related ideological bias, citing extensive footnotes drawn from left-leaning and climate-alarmist sources.

The Federal Judicial Center itself is the research and education agency of the federal judiciary, and its governing board is chaired by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is leading the effort, writing to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, urging them to expand their improper-influence probe to include what they call an ‘inappropriate attempt to rig case outcomes in favor of one side.’

The latest edition was published December 31 and includes a foreword by Justice Elena Kagan before delving into subject matter footnoted to environmental law expert Jessica Wentz, climatologist Michael Mann, and a slew of others involved in climate change research and advocacy.

‘Those same improper influence concerns apply to the Federal Judicial Center and its new ‘Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence’,’ the attorney generals wrote in part.

They noted that Kagan’s foreword said previous editions of the manual helped ‘bring about better and fairer legal decisions,’ but argued her words would not echo the same in the latest edition.

‘Like [the] Climate Judiciary Project that the Committee is investigating, the new chapter presents a highly biased, agenda-driven view favoring radical interests pursuing lawsuits against producers and users of traditional forms of fossil fuel energy,’ the attorneys general argued, citing the inclusion of findings from Jessica Wentz, a climate change advocate at Columbia University, among other names.

They cited a court brief crafted by Wentz in opposition to the Willow drilling project in Alaska, where she was quoted as saying ‘the world needs to phase out fossil fuels as rapidly as possible in order to avert potentially catastrophic levels of global warming and climate change.’

The prosecutors also pointed to the inclusion of work from an attorney who represented the city of Honolulu in cases against traditional energy firms.

‘Not surprisingly, given the strong biases of its authors, reviewers, and sources, the climate change chapter presents as settled the very methodologies that plaintiffs rely on to impose liability on fossil-fuel defendants,’ the letter reads.

‘The chapter presents this science as authoritative without acknowledging contrary views or disclosing the many conflicts of the authors, reviewers, and sources. Ethics experts have noted that these issues raise serious ethics concerns.’

In comments to Fox News Digital, Hilgers said the FJC’s new science manual should present complex evidence impartially, but instead ‘appears to embed the views of climate activists and diversity, equity, and inclusion ideologues into what is presented as neutral guidance.’

‘When the same advocates and experts who are actively litigating climate cases help write and review a chapter that will be used by federal judges behind the scenes, it raises obvious and serious concerns about the impartiality of the judicial system,’ Hilgers said.

‘Nebraskans, and all Americans, deserve courts that are neutral and fair.’

The letter was also signed by Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and their fellow state prosecutors in Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming.

‘We’ve seen ridiculous legal warfare grow across the country — politically motivated groups, using our courts and liberal justices to push their climate agenda. That’s bad enough,’ McCuskey told Fox News Digital, saying it is time to prevent the influence of ‘junk science.”

‘We… must protect our judicial system and its impartiality,’ he said.

McCuskey also fired off a missive to the FJC itself, co-signed by Marshall, Uthmeier, Cox and others.

He told the center’s director — Obama-appointed federal judge Robin Rosenberg of Florida — that the manual’s ubiquity must remain trusted.

‘At least up to this point, [FJC] has been careful to stress that the Manual merely ‘describes basic principles of major scientific fields… Instead, the Fourth Edition places the judiciary firmly on one side of some of the most hotly disputed questions in current litigation: climate-related science and ‘attribution’.’

‘Such work undermines the judiciary’s impartiality and places a thumb on one side of the scale,’ McCuskey said.

American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaac added that the FJC wrongly used taxpayer funds to publish a reference manual that ’embeds disputed, plaintiff-driven climate alarmist theories into materials judges consult.’

‘That is not education, it is outcome-shaping, and it directly undermines judicial impartiality,’ Isaac said.

O.H. Skinner of Alliance for Consumers called the development ‘the woke lawfare playbook in action’ and said climate change activists see the courtroom as their best chance to bring permanence to their ideology.

When reached for comment on the matter of her footnotes coming under scrutiny, Wentz replied, ‘no comment.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Jordan and Grassley for comment, as well as the FJC.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that if House Republicans try to jam voter ID legislation into the Trump-backed funding deal, it would be dead on arrival in the Senate.

House Republicans want to walk away from the current spending fight with a victory of sorts, despite President Donald Trump taking the lead and negotiating a temporary funding truce with Schumer and Senate Democrats. 

They’re demanding that the five-bill funding package, which stripped out the controversial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill in favor of a two-week funding extension, also include the House Republicans’ updated Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act, dubbed the SAVE America Act. 

But doing so is a bridge too far for Schumer. The top Senate Democrat argued that the legislation, which has been sitting on the shelf in the House for months, is ‘reminiscent of Jim Crow-era laws,’ and would act as a means to suppress voters rather than encourage more secure elections. 

‘I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, the SAVE Act would impose Jim Crow-type laws to the entire country and is dead on arrival in the Senate,’ Schumer said in a statement. 

‘It is a poison pill that will kill any legislation that it is attached to. If House Republicans add the SAVE Act to the bipartisan appropriations package it will lead to another prolonged Trump government shutdown,’ he continued. 

The updated version of the SAVE Act would require that people present photo identification before voting, states obtain proof of citizenship in-person when people register to vote and remove non-citizens from voter rolls.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who is leading the push to attach the voter ID legislation to the funding package, countered Schumer’s accusation in a post on X.

‘If you are a minority that wants a voter ID, apparently you are for racist policies according to [Schumer],’ she said.

Schumer’s edict touches on the reality of the partisan divide in the Senate and the nature of passing any legislation in most cases. In order for the SAVE Act to become law, it would have to get at least 60 votes in the upper chamber. And given Senate Democrats’ disdain for the bill, that is unlikely. 

And adding the bill would further disincentivize House Democrats, who are already leery of the deal. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., may need their support given the anger simmering in his conference. 

Further complicating matters is that if the modified package with the SAVE Act were to make it out of the House, it would have to go back to the Senate, creating a virtual ping-pong between the chambers as what was meant to be a short-term partial government shutdown drags on.

Still, House Republicans aren’t backing off of their demands and have backup in the upper chamber from Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, and a co-sponsor of the updated SAVE Act.

‘House Republicans shouldn’t let Schumer dictate the terms of government funding,’ Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., said on X. ‘If Dems want to play games, no spending package should come out of the House without the SAVE Act attached — securing American elections must be a non-negotiable.’

Rapper Nicki Minaj voiced support for voter ID laws in a Sunday post on X, questioning why the issue remains a subject of debate in the United States.

‘What sensible forward thinking cutting edge leading nation is having a DEBATE on whether or not there should be VOTER ID?!?!!!! Like?!?!? They’re actually fighting NOT to have ppl present ID while voting for your leaders!!!!!’ she wrote. ‘Do you get it?!?!!!! Do you get it now?!?!!!’ 

Minaj’s comments quickly drew attention online, with some supporters praising her stance as common sense, while others argued that voter ID requirements already exist in various forms across the country.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., responded to the post, writing, ‘Ty.’

Luna has been a vocal proponent for passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, commonly known as the SAVE Act.

The SAVE Act would require individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. 

Under the bill, states would be barred from accepting or processing voter registration applications unless applicants present approved documentation showing they are U.S. citizens.

On Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced a revised version of the legislation, known as the SAVE America Act.

The updated bill would expand the original proposal by adding a nationwide voter ID requirement for federal elections, requiring voters to present an eligible photo identification document when casting a ballot.

The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan policy institute based in New York City, has sharply criticized the SAVE Act, arguing in a 2025 analysis that the legislation could disenfranchise tens of millions of eligible American voters.

The group said the bill’s requirement that voters present citizenship documents like a passport or birth certificate when registering or re-registering to vote would disrupt widely used registration methods and disproportionately affect voters who lack ready access to those documents.

Since his return to office, President Donald Trump has undertaken a series of changes aimed at reshaping the look and feel of the White House and other iconic Washington landmarks.

Over the weekend, the president announced in a Truth Social post that the Trump Kennedy Center will close later this year for a two-year renovation.

He said the decision followed a yearlong review involving contractors, arts experts and other advisers. He added that the temporary closure would allow the renovations to be completed faster and at a higher quality than if construction were carried out while performances continued. It was not immediately clear what renovations were planned, how much it would cost and what would happen to the scheduled performances.

The Trump Kennedy Center renovations are the latest in a series of design projects the former real estate developer has pursued since returning to the White House. Read on to learn more about how the world’s most famous real estate developer is leaving his mark on Washington.

‘Arc de Trump’

In October, Trump unveiled a new monument dubbed the ‘Arc de Trump,’ which is planned to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.

At a White House ballroom fundraising dinner, Trump shared additional details about the newest monument planned for the nation’s capital. He said he was presented with three arch models in varying sizes — small, medium and large — and said his preference was for the largest one. 

If Trump chooses the largest proposed design, the arch would rise 250 feet, eclipsing the height of the Lincoln Memorial and rivaling the U.S. Capitol dome.

The monument, a near twin of Paris’s iconic Arc de Triomphe, is meant to welcome visitors crossing the Memorial Bridge from Arlington National Cemetery into the heart of the nation’s capital.

The opulent Oval Office

Trump’s taste for opulence is unmistakable in the Oval Office, where golden accents now decorate the nation’s most iconic workspace, a reflection of his personal style. Last March, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham during a tour of the Oval Office that the room ‘needed a little life’ when asked about the gold details.

‘Throughout the years, people have tried to come up with a gold paint that would look like gold, and they’ve never been able to do it,’ Trump told Ingraham. ‘You’ve never been able to match gold with gold paint, that’s why it’s gold,’ Trump added.

Since then, Trump has added gold accents throughout the Oval Office to include decorative details along the ceiling and around the doorway trim. Even the cherubs inside the door frames were given a gilded makeover.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle previously told Fox News Digital that the gold Trump added to the Oval Office ‘is of the highest quality,’ declining to provide further details. 

The spokesperson also said that Trump personally covered the cost of the gold accents, though they did not specify how much gold was added or how much Trump spent.

The White House ‘walk of fame’

Outside the Oval Office, the Trump administration unveiled the ‘Presidential Walk of Fame,’ a series of portraits of past presidents now displayed along the West Wing colonnade. The portrait of former President Joe Biden features his signature, created with an autopen, a machine that holds a pen and reproduces a person’s handwriting through programmed movements.

The Trump administration has also installed several large mirrors in gold frames along the walkway.

The luxe Lincoln bathroom

Trump said he renovated the Lincoln bathroom in the White House because it did not reflect the style of President Abraham Lincoln’s era. 

‘I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. It was renovated in the 1940s in an Art Deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,’ Trump wrote in an Oct. 31 Truth Social post.

‘I did it in black and white polished statuary marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and in fact could be the marble that was originally there,’ he added. 

No immediate details were available on the cost of the bathroom renovation.

A ballroom fit for the White House

Among the largest projects currently underway is a 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom designed to accommodate roughly 650 seated guests. 

On July 31, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the planned construction of the sprawling ballroom. ‘The White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders in other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building’s entrance,’ Leavitt said during a press briefing, adding the new ballroom will be ‘a much-needed and exquisite addition.’

The White House does not have a formal ballroom, and the new ballroom will take the place of the East Wing. Construction has already begun on the White House grounds, and the estimated cost is north of $200 million and will be financed by Trump and private donors.

Towering American flags on the White House lawn

Ahead of Independence Day, Trump also personally financed the installation of two 88-foot flagpoles with American flags in front of and behind the White House, each reportedly costing around $50,000. The new flags on the North and South Lawns were raised at a June 18 ceremony.

A paved Rose Garden lawn

Elsewhere on the White House grounds, Trump directed the addition of stone pavers to the Rose Garden lawn, a change designed to better accommodate press conferences and ceremonial events.

Framed by magnolia and crabapple trees, the Rose Garden has hosted everything from diplomatic welcomes to first lady initiatives.

The White House declined to say what additional renovation projects were in the works.

A Russian cargo plane typically used to transfer military equipment landed at a military airfield in Havana Sunday night, echoing flight patterns seen ahead of the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

The U.S.-sanctioned Ilyushin Il-76, operated by Russian state-linked airline Aviacon Zitotrans, was tracked landing at San Antonio de los Baños Airfield, a Cuban military installation roughly 30 miles south of Havana, according to public flight data.

Flight-tracking records show the aircraft stopped in St. Petersburg and Sochi in Russia; Mauritania, Africa; and the Dominican Republic. Each landing would have required approval from host governments, offering a window into which countries are continuing to permit Russian military-linked aviation activity despite Western sanctions.

The same aircraft conducted flights to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba in late October 2025, as tensions between Washington and Caracas escalated. That movement preceded U.S. military action in Venezuela that ultimately ended Maduro’s rule — a sequence U.S. officials and analysts have since pointed to as a warning indicator when evaluating similar Russian aviation activity in the region.

Now, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel finds himself under mounting pressure from President Donald Trump, who has sharply intensified U.S. policy toward Havana in recent weeks.

On Thursday, Trump declared a national emergency related to Cuba, asserting that the Cuban government poses an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. The administration also said it would impose penalties on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba without U.S. authorization.

Trump confirmed Sunday that the U.S. is engaged in direct talks with Cuban officials.

‘Cuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time, but now it doesn’t have Venezuela to prop it up,’ Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Florida. ‘So we’re talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, to see what happens. I think we’re going to make a deal with Cuba.’

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both have indicated support for political change in Havana, though the administration has not said whether it would pursue that objective through military action.

Russian military ties to Cuba have repeatedly triggered concern in Washington. While the Soviet Union’s footprint on the island receded after the Cold War, Moscow has steadily rebuilt defense and intelligence cooperation with Havana over the past decade. U.S. officials have warned that renewed Russian activity in Cuba could pose security risks close to the U.S. mainland.

The Il-76 is a heavy transport aircraft capable of carrying roughly 50 tons of cargo or up to 200 personnel, a capability that has drawn scrutiny given the operator’s history. Aviacon Zitotrans has been sanctioned by the United States, Canada and Ukraine for supporting Russia’s defense sector.

‘Aviacon Zitotrans has shipped military equipment such as rockets, warheads, and helicopter parts all over the world,’ the U.S. Treasury Department said in January 2023, when it added the airline to its sanctions list.

It remains unclear what cargo the aircraft carried on its most recent flight. During earlier operations in Venezuela, Russian state media and a Russian lawmaker said the same aircraft delivered Pantsir-S1 short-range and Buk-M2E medium-range air defense systems to Caracas. 

A new report from a Senate Republican showed that in the last year, the federal government wasted millions on transgender animal tests, lab testing beagles in China and aborted fetal tissue research. 

In his 9th annual edition of ‘Federal Fumbles,’ Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., found several instances of waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, and he laid out a game plan to address some of the shortcomings of the past year. 

Lankford noted that after the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, the Republican-controlled Congress was able to improve efficiency, save billions in taxpayer dollars and redefine spending in Washington, D.C. 

‘However, the work is far from over,’ Lankford wrote in the report.

‘Too often, the federal government is gridlocked, unresponsive and inefficient,’ he continued. ‘We must continue pushing through bureaucratic red tape to make the government work better for you, the taxpayer. We have so much still to do.’

Some of the more egregious examples of federal waste laid out in the report included a handful of grant programs from the National Institute of Health (NIH) held over from the Biden administration.

Among those were a roughly $240 million study on transgender ‘animal experiments involving mice, rats and monkeys.’ That grant program was eventually terminated by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

‘These NIH-funded studies attempted to model transgender adults and children by subjecting animals to hormone regimens and surgical procedures,’ Lankford wrote. 

In 2024, the Biden-led NIH funded $53 million worth of grants that allowed for ‘research using human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions.’ And last year it was found that 17 of those grants were still active. 

Lankford noted that the NIH canceled the grants when the money flow became public after watchdog the White Coat Waste Project found that the agency was still funding them, and that the Trump administration went a step further to cancel all research involving aborted fetal tissue. 

Still, Lankford argued that unless Congress passed a law regarding the issue, ‘another pro-abortion Administration could resume or expand such projects at any time, forcing taxpayers to fund research that is both immoral and scientifically obsolete.’

Though the sums were not as eye-popping, Lankford also found that $124,000 in taxpayer money was sent to China to conduct drug research and experiments on ‘up to 300 beagles per week.’ 

Lankford said NIH announced it would not renew the contract after national scrutiny, but that there are still ’18 Chinese animal research laboratories, including several with troubling ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, [that] still hold NIH approval to receive U.S. funding.’

The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on whether to refer former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for criminal charges.

The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most legislation gets a chamber-wide vote, is slated to consider a pair of contempt of Congress resolutions targeting the Clintons at 4 p.m. ET on Monday.

Those resolutions are expected to pass through the committee along party lines, teeing them up for final passage as early as Tuesday or Wednesday.

Both Clintons were subpoenaed to appear before the House Oversight Committee to testify for Congress’ probe into Jeffrey Epstein.

Despite months of back-and-forth between the former first couple’s lawyers and Oversight staff, they never appeared on terms dictated by Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., pushing him to initiate contempt proceedings.

‘This shows that no one is above the law,’ Comer told reporters after his panel advanced the resolutions last month. ‘I’m just real proud of the committee and look forward to hopefully getting the Epstein documents in very quickly and trying to get answers for the American people.’

The committee voted along bipartisan lines to move forward with contempt resolutions against the Clintons. Nine Democrats joined the Republicans to advance the resolution against Bill Clinton, while three voted to advance Hillary Clinton’s.

The majority of Democrats, however, have accused Comer of partisan motivations behind his Clinton contempt efforts.

The Clintons were two of 10 people subpoenaed by Comer as part of the panel’s investigation into Epstein. The subpoenas were issued following a bipartisan vote by an Oversight subcommittee panel during an unrelated hearing on illegal immigration.

Democrats on the committee have pointed out that Comer has not pushed to hold others who did not appear in contempt, nor has he made any threats against the DOJ for failing to produce all of its documents on Epstein by a deadline agreed to by Congress late last year. The department has produced a fraction of the documents expected so far.

Comer has said he is in contact with the DOJ about its document production.

If the vote this week is successful, the House will have recommended both the Clintons for prosecution by the DOJ.

A contempt of Congress charge is a felony misdemeanor that carries a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to a year in jail.