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Trump administration hit with over 100 lawsuits since inauguration

March 6, 2025 by WDNY Radio

As Donald Trump seeks to reshape the federal government at breakneck speed, his administration has encountered a flood of litigation challenging the legality of its early actions in office.

With more than 100 federal lawsuits filed since the inauguration, Trump and his administration have effectively been sued three times for every business day he has occupied the Oval Office.

Approximately 30 of the 100 lawsuits relate to Trump’s immigration policies, while more than 20 of the cases directly challenge the actions of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Ten of the cases challenge Trump policies relating to transgender people, and more than 20 cases oppose the president’s unilateral changes to federal funding, government hiring and the structure of agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

With Trump signing more than 75 executive orders since taking office, the unprecedented flood of litigation has yielded mixed results in blocking the president’s unilateral efforts to reshape the federal government. His attempts to freeze funding or rewrite longstanding laws have generally been blocked, but some federal judges have implicitly given him the green light to carry out part of his plan to reshape the federal workforce.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour — who was nominated to the bench by Ronald Reagan — handed the Trump administration one of its first legal defeats by blocking Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship and offered one of the fiercest criticisms of his presidency’s early actions.

“It has become ever more apparent that to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals,” Judge Coughenour said. “There are moments in the world’s history when people look back and ask, ‘Where were the lawyers, where were the judges? In these moments, the rule of law becomes especially vulnerable. I refuse to let that beacon go dark today.”

But other judges have stopped short of fully blocking policies they believe might be unlawful, demonstrating how a slower-moving judiciary can be outpaced by a rapidly moving administration. In a case challenging the Trump administration’s effort to fire thousands of probationary employees, U.S. District Judge William Alsup rebuked the administration’s actions but did not step in to stop the indiscriminate firing of employees, despite acknowledging its ongoing harm.

“That’s just not right in our country – that we run our agencies with lies like that and stain somebody’s record for the rest of their life? Who is going to want to work in a government that would do that to them? Probationary employees are the lifeblood of our government,” he said.

The number of lawsuits appear to have tested the limits of the court’s ability to hear emergency applications, particularly in the District Court in D.C., where 51 of the cases have been brought. During one contentious hearing, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes threatened to sanction a lawyer who pushed the court to accept an emergency appeal while court staff had been “working around the clock on really monumental time sensitive issues,” Reyes said.

“Why on earth could you not have figured that out with the defendants before coming and burdening me and burdening the defendants and burning my staff on this issue?” Reyes told Seth Waxman, a former U.S. Solicitor General under President Bill Clinton who is now representing eight former inspectors general fired by Trump.

Lawsuits challenging the Trump administration have reached the Supreme Court twice, and the Department of Justice has begun their appeals to the Circuit Court in approximately a dozen cases.

While no judge has found that the president has openly defied a court order, the Trump administration has found itself in hot water for failing to comply with multiple court orders, including orders to stop unilaterally freezing funding to states and holding back more than $1.9 billion in foreign aid.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court narrowly denied the Trump administration’s request to block that payment, marking the first time during this administration that the Supreme Court ruled against the president who nominated three of the court’s nine justices. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel Alito remarked that he was “stunned” by the decision.

“Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars? The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise,” Alito said.

Alito’s criticism comes as Trump’s allies including Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk have criticized the power of judiciary to slow some of the administration’s agenda. Vance publicly suggested defying a court order, and Musk is increasingly calling for the judges who block the administration to be impeached.

“The only way to restore rule of the people in America is to impeach judges. No one is above the law, including judges,” Musk said in a recent post on X.

While the first two months of the Trump administration has yielded a torrent of lawsuits, the cases themselves are expected to take months and potentially years to play out as the courts weigh the limits of Trump’s authority.

Russian strike kills 4 in Ukraine amid US aid, intelligence freeze

March 6, 2025 by WDNY Radio

LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there can be “no pause” in pressure on Russia after another night of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, the latest barrage coming the day after the U.S. confirmed it had stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv.

President Donald Trump’s decision to pause all U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing has raised concerns that Ukraine’s air defenses will become less effective in the days, weeks and months to come.

The pause followed last week’s explosive Oval Office meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump. White House officials have suggested the freeze may be lifted if Ukraine takes concrete steps towards a peace deal with Russia to end Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion.

Ukraine’s air force reported 112 drones and two missiles launched into the country overnight, with 68 drones shot down and 43 lost in flight.

The air force reported damage in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

In Dnipropetrovsk, a ballistic missile hit a hotel in the city of Kryvyi Rih — Zelenskyy’s hometown.

“A ballistic missile struck an ordinary hotel,” the president wrote on social media. Four people were killed with more than 30 others injured, he added. The attack came shortly after a group of foreign humanitarian volunteers checked into the hotel, Zelenskyy said. None were hurt.

Sources told ABC News that two U.S. citizens were among the volunteers who survived the strike, working for the Charity fund Freedom Trust and Ukraine Relief organization.

“There must be no pause in the pressure on Russia to stop this war and terror against life,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Russian missiles and drone attacks are a nightly occurrence in Ukraine. The country has become largely reliant on Western anti-air weapons to defeat incoming projectiles.

U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine had allowed Kyiv to give warnings to targeted areas ahead of Russian drone and missile strikes, tracking Russian aircraft taking off, drones being launched and missiles being fired.

A Ukrainian intelligence official told ABC News on Wednesday that the intelligence sharing pause included a halt in sharing U.S. satellite imagery through the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Brussels, Belgium, to meet with European leaders on Thursday, as he seeks further Western military and political support. The president has consistently requested more air defenses, an issue now more pressing amid the U.S. aid freeze.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that Trump had asked for a “pause” and is committed to peace. The pause, Ratcliffe suggested, prompted Zelenskyy’s statement that he was ready to revive talks over a potential peace deal.

“And so I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause that allowed that to happen, I think will go away,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly — and falsely — blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia while seeking to undermine Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as president. The White House is pushing Kyiv to accept a deal to end the fighting and to sign an agreement giving the U.S. access to Ukrainian mineral resources.

In a Tuesday statement, Zelenskyy said the disastrous White House meeting was “regrettable.”

“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” the president said. “Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”

ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko, Nataliia Popova, Ellie Kaufman and Guy Davies contributed to this report.

Idaho college killings: Kohberger lawyers seek to block talk of ‘bushy eyebrows’

March 6, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Lawyers for the man accused of killing four Idaho college students are asking the judge in his capital murder case to ban a key witness from using the phrase “bushy eyebrows” to describe the assailant she saw the night of the bloody attack.

That request was included in roughly 100 pages of court filings unsealed Tuesday as preparations continue in advance of the August trial of Bryan Kohberger, who’s charged in the November 2022 killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

A roommate of the victims, who lived at the off-campus Moscow, Idaho, home where the killings occurred originally told detectives that the masked male intruder she saw on the night of the killings had a singular physical attribute: “bushy eyebrows.” That phrase has rocketed around the world as the headline-grabbing case has moved slowly toward a trial in Boise, Idaho.

Kohberger’s defense attorneys argued the superficial description will unfairly point the finger at him and potentially bias the jury.

“The description provided by [the roommate] is unreliable and should be excluded,” defense lawyer Elisa Massoth wrote. “Although she has never identified Mr. Kohberger, testimony by [the roommate] from the witness stand, describing bushy eyebrows while Mr. Kohberger sits as the accused at trial, will be as damning as her pointing to him and saying, ‘he is the man that did this.'”

The roommate’s varying accounts and self-confessed sleepy intoxication that night make her memory fickle, Kohberger’s lawyers have argued. And, they argued, she seemed preoccupied with bushy eyebrows even before her friends were killed.

When police photographed the crime scene right after the killings, her room was found to have “many pictures of eyes with prominent eyebrows” on the walls in her room, Kohberger’s lawyers said.

“Many of which she had drawn. Some of the eyebrows are heavy, voluminous, puffy, or perhaps subjectively bushy,” and there was “artwork of human figures with an emphasis upon the eyes and eyebrows were pinned to corkboards,” they said.

Kohberger’s defense attorneys have also asked the judge to bar words like “murder,” “psychopath” and “sociopath” during the trial.

“To label Mr. Kohberger as a ‘murderer,’ the alleged weapon consistent with an empty sheath as a ‘murder weapon’ or to assert that any of the four decedents was ‘murdered’ by Mr. Kohberger denies his right to a fair trial and the right to be presumed innocent,” the defense said.

Prosecutors allege that in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger broke into an off-campus home and stabbed the four students to death. He was arrested in late December, after a six-week manhunt, at his parents’ Pennsylvania home and indicted in May 2023.

He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. At his arraignment, he declined to offer a plea, so the judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.

If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty. But not if his lawyers get their way.

Defense attorneys cite autism in bid to strike death penalty

Among the flurry of new filings, the defense also argued his life should not be on the line — because he has been diagnosed with autism, and so his impairments in communication, problems with social skills and impulse control mean he is “insufficiently culpable to be executed.”

His diagnosis however should not be wielded against him, the defense said — arguing prosecutors should not be allowed to use it “by criminalizing his status as a disabled person.”

Even if this does not work to strike the death penalty, his diagnosis could resurface in the sentencing phase if Kohberger is convicted, where his lawyers will likely raise it again as a mitigating factor.

This is not the first time his lawyers have attempted to get the death penalty taken off the table.

In their argument about his condition now, Kohberger’s lawyers shed new light on what has been a heretofore little-known person to the public.

“Mr. Kohberger displays extremely rigid thinking, perseverates on specific topics, processes information on a piece-meal basis, struggles to plan ahead, and demonstrates little insight into his own behaviors and emotions” and “his tone and cadence are abnormal, his interactions lack fluidity, and his language is often overinclusive, disorganized, highly repetitive, and oddly formal,” they argued.

He “frequently shifts the topic back to himself even when it is inappropriate. He uses abrupt, matter-of-fact phrases that would be considered rude. He carries on about topics in a circular manner and perseverates about specific, non-essential details,” they said, adding his autism is “also accompanied by obsessive-compulsiveness, and an eating disorder. Since childhood, Mr. Kohberger has exhibited compulsions around getting things in his eyes, hand-washing and other germ avoidant behaviors.”

Musk’s PAC launches $1 million TV ad buy touting Trump’s first 6 weeks in office

March 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Musk’s PAC launches million TV ad buy touting Trump’s first 6 weeks in office

Musk’s PAC launches $1 million TV ad buy touting Trump’s first 6 weeks in office — Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — Billionaire Elon Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, has placed its first-ever nationwide TV ad, a $1 million ad buy that touts President Donald Trump’s first few weeks in office following Tuesday’s joint address to Congress, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The 60-second ad will run this week in the Washington, D.C., media market and across the country, the source told ABC News.

The ad begins by attacking former President Joe Biden, showing clips of him stumbling on the stairs while boarding Air Force One. A voiceover says, “After four long years of humiliation, of failure at home and embarrassment abroad, our long national nightmare is finally over.”

The ad then echoes some of what Trump highlighted in his joint address, saying the president has “delivered the lowest level of illegal immigration in history.”

Musk, who spent roughly $250 million supporting Trump during the 2024 election, has been leading the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency’s massive effort to slash federal spending by cutting government programs, laying off federal workers, selling off government buildings and attempting to close down numerous federal agencies.

Critics say Musk is carrying out his cuts without congressional authority, that his efforts are politically motivated, that DOGE is not being transparent about its work, and that it has unnecessarily accessed sensitive government data.

The America PAC ad does not mention DOGE or Musk by name, but it appears to allude to their work, saying of Trump, “He’s draining the swamp, slashing billions in waste at home, while closing the spigot of American tax dollars to foreign regimes.”

Ex-FEMA official who was fired over migrants staying in ‘luxury’ hotels files lawsuit

March 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A former top FEMA official who was removed as part of the political blowback over payments to New York City for housing migrants in what critics called “luxury hotels” has sued the Trump administration, alleging she was “unlawfully terminated from her position” without due process.

Mary Comans, who served as the FEMA’s chief financial officer since 2017, claims in the suit that her firing led to her being “falsely condemned online” by prominent individuals including tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been overseeing government cost-cutting measures as the head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency.

Comans’ lawsuit, filed in the District of Columbia on Tuesday, claims she was terminated “without any warning.” The suit says the government “failed to undertake any process to enable Ms. Comans to appropriately respond” to the allegations, and then put out a press release that she claims was in violation of the privacy act.

“Additionally, the defendants falsely, deliberately, and publicly portrayed Ms. Comans’ actions in such a manner that third parties have asserted her conduct to have been criminal, which is defamation per se, thereby further contributing to the damages she has suffered,” the filing states.

The lawsuit says the press release led to her action being “widely, publicly, and falsely condemned” by online influencers including Musk. The lawsuit includes a screenshot of one of Musk’s tweets replying to a post about Comans, in which he wrote she had committed “A criminal action.”

“Prior to her termination, Ms. Comans was an exemplary employee with absolutely no disciplinary history and had received “Achieved Excellence” ratings for every year that she served as an SES,” the filing states.

Comans has asked a judge for a declaration that DHS and FEMA’s actions were illegal, and has requested monetary damages.

Stock market surges after Trump permits carmakers 1-month tariff exemption

March 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The stock market surged on Wednesday afternoon after the Trump administration granted automakers a one-month exemption from tariffs imposed a day earlier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed about 550 points, or 1.3%; while the S&P 500 jumped 1.25%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 1.5% on Wednesday.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump had ordered the delay of auto tariffs after a request from the Big 3 U.S. automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep and Chrysler.

“The president is giving them an exemption for one month so they’re not at an economic disadvantage,” Leavitt said during a press conference at the White House.

The tariffs are expected to pose a challenge for U.S. automakers, many of which depend on a supply chain closely intertwined with Mexico and Canada.

While easing some tariffs, Trump criticized Canada on Wednesday for what he described as failure to take the steps necessary for the United States to withdraw all of the tariffs imposed a day earlier.

Trump said he held a call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday during which the two leaders discussed a path to U.S. withdrawal of the tariffs, Trump said, noting such an outcome would require sufficient action by Canada to address drug trafficking.

A week ago, Trump alleged that illicit drugs such as fentanyl had continued to enter the U.S. through Mexico and Canada despite agreements reached last month to address the issue.

In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said, “nothing has convinced me” that the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. had stopped.

“[Trudeau] said that it’s gotten better, but I said, ‘That’s not good enough.’ The call ended in a ‘somewhat’ friendly manner!” Trump said.

Since September, nearly all fentanyl seized by the U.S. came through the Southern border with Mexico, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, or CBP, a federal agency. Less than 1% of fentanyl was seized at the Northern border with Canada, CBP found.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sharply criticized the tariffs on Tuesday, calling them a “dumb” policy that does not “make sense.”

The reason for the tariffs is based on a false allegation about Canada as a major source of drugs entering the U.S., Trudeau added.

Persistent tensions between the U.S. and Canada emerged after China issued a warning on Tuesday night that it stands ready for any “type of war” with the United States in the aftermath of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

The U.S. slapped 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as 10% tariffs on imports from China. The fresh round of duties on Chinese goods doubled an initial set of tariffs placed on China last month.

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said the tariffs would not lead to a resolution of U.S. concerns about fentanyl originating in China.

“If the U.S. truly wants to solve the fentanyl issue, then the right thing to do is to consult with China on the basis of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit to address each other’s concerns,” Chinese spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press conference late Tuesday.

“If the U.S. has other agenda in mind and if war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” the spokesperson added.

The comments came soon after the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as 10% tariffs on imports from China. The fresh round of duties on Chinese goods doubled an initial set of tariffs placed on China last month.

Within minutes of the new U.S. tariffs taking effect, China unveiled on Tuesday its initial response by placing additional 10% to 15% tariffs on imported U.S. goods, like chicken, wheat, soybeans and beef.

“The retaliatory tariffs that China is imposing is very specific and directly targeted at American farmers, who are mostly in red states and mostly voted for Trump,” Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, told ABC News.

“So China is trying to create pain where it matters for Trump, and it’s hoping to get Trump to the negotiating table and offer relief for this group of Trump supporters,” Thomas added.

The recent duties will be placed on top of similar tariffs imposed by China during the first Trump administration’s trade war in 2018. Some of those tariffs are already at 25%, though Beijing issued some waivers as a result of the 2020 “phase one” trade deal.

The new Chinese tariffs are set to come into effect for goods shipped out March 10.

In a series of social media posts last month, Trump said he would place tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China for hosting the manufacture and transport of illicit drugs that end up in the U.S.

During an address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Trump also sharply criticized tariffs imposed by the Chinese government on U.S. goods.

“President Trump continues to demonstrate his commitment to ensuring U.S. trade policy serves the national interest,” the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday afternoon that Trump may soon offer Canada and Mexico a pathway to relief from tariffs placed on some goods covered by North America’s free trade agreement.

Lutnick did not mention a potential compromise with China.

ABC News’ Selina Wang, Kevin Shalvey, Karson Yiu and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

‘Blood on your hands’: Mayors from ‘sanctuary cities’ grilled during House hearing

March 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Democratic mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City on Wednesday pushed back against House Republicans’ claims that they are harboring dangerous immigrants and violating immigration laws as so-called “sanctuary cities.”

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and New York City Mayor Eric Adams all defended their actions on immigration enforcement in their respective cities as Republicans on the committee accused them of increasing crime and impeding on law enforcement actions.

Chairman James Comer, a Republican, said these mayors lead towns that have policies that only create “sanctuary for criminals” and promised to hold them accountable for “their failure to follow the law and protect the American people.” Comer and other Republicans on the committee suggested that the mayors should be doing more to cooperate with the Trump administration and its deportation efforts.

Sanctuary cities still enforce U.S. federal immigration laws, but the term often refers to a limited collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while enacting policies that are more favorable to undocumented people.

“As mayor, I do not control who enters or remains in our country, but I do have to manage the population that is within our city,” said Adams, who said as New York City mayor he is working with the Trump administration on immigration aid. “In order to carry out this function without having long term negative ramification, I must create an atmosphere that allows every law-abiding resident, documented or not, to access vital services without fear of being turned over to federal authorities.”

Wu said that the Trump administration is making “hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing residents afraid to live their lives.”

“A city that scared is not a city that’s safe. A land ruled by fear is not the land of the free,” Wu said.

Democrats immediately criticized the Trump administration, arguing the overreach of federal officials has led to unlawful detentions and created fear in communities.

“Let’s be clear, the state and local laws that Republicans have issue with today are in full compliance with federal law. They do not obstruct ICE from carrying out its duties, and they are backed by evidence demonstrating that they keep people safe,” Ranking Member Gerry Connolly said.

Wednesday’s committee hearing comes as President Donald Trump’s administration officials have ramped up their immigration enforcement efforts with Attorney General Pam Bondi shutting down federal grants to sanctuary cities and multiple threats from “border czar” Tom Homan toward these mayors if they refuse to comply.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, Homan criticized Boston and its police commissioner, saying he’ll be “bringing hell” to the city over its sanctuary city policy.

“Let’s talk about Tom Homan,” Wu said Wednesday. “Shame on him for lying about my city, for having the nerve to insult our police commissioner who has overseen the safest Boston’s been in anyone’s lifetime. Bring him here under oath, and let’s ask him some questions.”

The mayors pushed back heavily on assertions from Republicans that they are welcoming criminals into their cities, blaming the Trump administration for labeling immigrants as criminals and pushing misleading crime statistics.

“If you wanted to make us safe, pass gun reforms,” Wu later added. “Stop cutting Medicaid. Stop cutting cancer research. Stop cutting funds for veterans. That is what will make our cities safe.”

Many Republican lawmakers pointed to specific incidents in each of the mayor’s cities about U.S. citizens getting injured or killed at the hands of undocumented people, attempting to dispel the mayors’ arguments.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan got in a contentious back-and-forth with Johnston involving a Venezuelan gang member who injured officers during an arrest. Due to the state’s sanctuary city policy, police were forced to arrest the man in public rather than travel into the jail to detain him, something the Republicans criticized.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace had harsh words for the mayors, saying “you all have blood on your hands” over deaths and injuries at the hands of these undocumented people.

“All of the mayors here today are actively working to harm the American people you represent,” Mace said. “You all have blood on your hands.”

Trump says Canada has not taken steps necessary to end tariffs

March 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump criticized Canada on Wednesday for what he described as failure to take the steps necessary for the United States to withdraw tariffs imposed a day earlier.