Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday personally stripped the Justice Department’s walls of portraits of former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and her own predecessor, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, saying it was ‘ridiculous’ for the portraits to still be hanging nearly three weeks into President Donald Trump’s tenure

Bondi’s role in personally removing the portraits, first shared on X by the New York Post’s Miranda Devine, was confirmed to Fox News Digital by a Justice Department official.

Bondi ‘saw portraits of Garland, Biden, Harris were still up, and she took the initiative to take them off the walls herself and stack them in the corner,’ the official told Fox News. 

The actions come after Bondi, who was sworn in earlier this month, vowed during her confirmation hearing in January not to politicize the Justice Department. 

Bondi, a longtime state prosecutor in Florida and two-time state attorney general, used her roughly five-hour confirmation hearing last month to vow that, if confirmed, the ‘partisanship, the weaponization’ at the Justice Department ‘will be gone.’ 

‘America will have one tier of justice for all,’ she said. 

Trump, for his part, praised Bondi during her swearing-in ceremony earlier this month as ‘unbelievably fair and unbelievably good,’ and someone who he said will ‘restore fair and impartial justice’ at the department. 

‘I know I’m supposed to say, ‘She’s going to be totally impartial with respect to Democrats,” Trump told reporters then, ‘and I think she will be as impartial as a person can be.’

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has dominated headlines during President Donald Trump’s second term. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK party leader who initiated Britain’s departure from the European Union, has been taking notes. 

Farage posted a social media video on Tuesday proclaiming, ‘Britain needs its own DOGE!’ He said it was the ‘first in a series’ of videos that will highlight the misuse of British taxpayer money. 

‘Do you ever wonder where your taxes go, whether your money is being spent properly?’ Farage asked. ‘Well, have a look at what’s come across my desk. Oh, you’ll like this. The environmental impact of filmmaking using Star Wars to improve sector sustainability practices. No, I’m not even making it up – over £200,000. Try this. The cultural legacies of the British Empire, classical music’s colonial history 1750-1900 – £1.2 million funded by U.K. Research and Innovation, a non-departmental government body.’

Farage said Elon Musk’s DOGE investigations inspired him to reevaluate where British taxpayer money is going. Farage said programs, like studying the impact of Star Wars on the environment, are a waste of federal funds and keep workers ‘in jobs who don’t deserve them.’

‘When you see what they’re doing in America, do you get the feeling we ought to be doing it here? This is all a complete waste of your taxpayer money. It’s keeping people in jobs who don’t deserve to have them.’

In December 2024, The Times of London first reported Musk was considering a $100 million donation to Farage’s Reform UK Party. A photo at Mar-a-Lago of Musk, Farage and Nick Candy, the party’s treasurer, released by Reform UK confirmed talks were underway. 

On Jan. 5, Musk created a rift when he advocated for the release of Tommy Robinson, a British political figure controversial for his views on free speech. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is imprisoned for releasing a documentary with defamatory comments about a Syrian refugee. 

Farage was quick to distance himself from Musk’s view on Robinson, maintaining that ‘Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform.’ In response, Musk called for a new leader of Reform, saying Farage ‘doesn’t have what it takes.’

Despite the social media tension, Farage was one of several European political leaders at Trump’s inauguration in January. He joined Éric Zemmour of France, Tom Van Grieken of Belgium and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Washington, D.C.

Farage’s post aligns with the growing ‘woke waste’ movement in the United Kingdom, a group advocating for government transparency and a DOGE of their own. Since the end of 2024, The Procurement Files has been searching through over 300,000 contracts on the United Kingdom’s public government database to show Brits where their taxpayer money is going. 

Operating much like DOGE’s X account, The Procurement Files searches the government’s database to reveal wasteful spending. Much like we’ve seen play out with Musk cutting DEI and USAID spending, many posts spotlight spending on sustainability initiatives and international humanitarian aid. 

One post revealed U.K. taxpayers spent £50,000 to study ‘shrimp health in Bangladesh.’ Another post highlighted a £15.5 million U.K. investment in a ‘Climate Smart Jobs Programme in Uganda.’ 

Charlotte Gill, who runs DOGE UK on social media, is working alongside The Procurement Files to reveal government waste and misuse of taxpayer money. Trump granted Musk the executive authority to investigate and implement the DOGE agenda to ‘maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.’ Gill has created an online community in the absence of an official DOGE UK. 

When Mete Coban, the deputy mayor of London for environment and energy, announced a program giving away 70,000 trees, Gill took her frustration to social media.

The United Kingdom proposed government spending regulations in November 2024. With a goal of saving £1.2 billion by 2026, the new plan increases government oversight to cut unnecessary spending. 

‘We’re taking immediate action to stop all non-essential government consultancy spend in 2024-25 and halve government spending on consultancy in future years, saving the taxpayer over £1.2 billion by 2026,’ Georgia Gould, parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, announced in November. ‘It comes alongside our work to develop a strategic plan to make the Civil Service more efficient and effective, with bold measures to improve skills and harness digital technology.’

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer referenced Trump’s long-standing commitment to ‘draining the swamp’ during a speech promising ‘change and reform’ for the United Kingdom in December 2024. 

‘I don’t think there’s a swamp to be drained here, but I do think too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline,’ Starmer said. 

DOGE UK, Farage and Starmer did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

The Biden administration slow-walked its designation of American Marc Fogel as a ‘wrongful detainee’ in Russia, Republicans and officials who previously worked on the effort to free Fogel told Fox News Digital.

‘Marc Fogel was viewed by the Biden administration as just an average White guy from flyover country in Western Pennsylvania,’ House Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital Tuesday. ‘He didn’t have any celebrity status; he wasn’t a military veteran; he wasn’t a journalist. So, the Biden administration overlooked him, and I think that’s absolutely appalling.’ 

Fogel, an American teacher from Western Pennsylvania, returned to the United States late Tuesday, after President Donald Trump secured his release. 

Fogel had been arrested at an airport in Russia in 2021 for possession of medical marijuana and was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison. 

The Biden administration did not designate Fogel a wrongful detainee until October 2024 and did not make that designation public until December 2024 – weeks after Trump was elected and the month before his inauguration. 

Reschenthaler was first notified in 2021 of Fogel’s detention and began leading efforts with congressional colleagues to work with the Biden administration to bring Fogel home. 

Along with a group of bipartisan lawmakers from Pennsylvania – including Reps. Brendan F. Boyle, Mike Doyle, Dwight Evans, Fred Keller, Mike Kelly, Conor Lamb, Dan Meuser, Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, Susan Wild, and Sen. Pat Toomey — Reschenthaler penned an August 2022 letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to classify Fogel as having been ‘wrongfully detained.’ 

The lawmakers argued that Fogel’s case was similar to that of WNBA player Brittney Griner, who had been imprisoned for a drug offense in Russia in February 2022. Griner, however, quickly was designated as being wrongfully detained and was returned home in December 2022. 

Reschenthaler told Fox News Digital he spoke to Blinken ‘multiple times’ about Fogel but said the secretary of state ‘refused to give me or my colleagues any kind of explanation for why (Fogel) was not put on wrongfully detained status.’ 

When determining whether an American is wrongfully detained, the individual’s case is measured against criteria established by the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act. There were 11 criteria established by that law, and lawmakers said Fogel had met at least six of the criteria. 

But the secretary of state has discretion over designations.

‘There are a lot of things that President Trump brings to the table that secured the release of Fogel,’ Reschenthaler told Fox News Digital. ‘For one, the Biden administration knew that Marc Fogel was going to be put on wrongfully detained status under Trump – and they didn’t want to give him the win, so they went ahead and did it on their way out the door.’ 

But Reschenthaler said Trump ‘has a lot more gravitas in talking to foreign leaders and adversaries.’

‘Because when President Trump talks – when he makes a threat or draws a red line – he will actually deliver on that promise,’ Reschenthaler said. ‘Biden would not make bold assertions, and there was nothing to back them off. The Russians did not take Biden or Tony Blinken seriously – and there was nothing to compel them to release Fogel.’ 

A former Biden administration official pushed back and defended Biden and Blinken’s work. 

‘Whether someone is designated or not doesn’t change our level of advocacy, which is how we brought home over 70 people who’d been detained abroad,’ the former official told Fox News Digital. ‘We fought day after day to secure Marc’s release and we celebrate his return home.’ 

By June 2023, two years into Fogel’s detention without the wrongful detainee designation, Reschenthaler, Rep. Mark Kelly, R-Pa., and Pennsylvania Democrat Reps. Chris Deluzio and Brendan Boyle introduced the Marc Fogel Act, which would require the State Department to provide Congress with copies of documents and communications on why a wrongful determination had or had not been made in cases of U.S. nationals detained abroad within six months of arrest. 

‘When you talked to career State Department officials, they understood what they were waiting for was a green light from the executive branch – but they could never say why they wouldn’t do these things,’ Kelly told Fox News Digital Tuesday. ‘They would say, ‘Well, we’re working on it. We’re working on it.’ But the stopping point was that they would not designate him the right way, and it seemed like they had no interest in getting it at all.’ 

Kelly told Fox News Digital that, within the ‘political State Department,’ there ‘just didn’t seem to be any energy toward getting that designation done.’ 

‘There have been so many things since I’ve been in Congress that you get stonewalled on, and that was just one of those things I felt at the beginning – we were just getting stonewalled,’ Kelly said. ‘They were just giving us conversation.’ 

Kelly said, though, that he could ‘feel that the career State Department personnel wanted to do something.’ 

‘But the political State Department was disinterested,’ Kelly said. 

It wasn’t just Republican and Democratic lawmakers trying to aid the Biden administration in securing the return of Fogel to the United States. 

Former White House national security advisor Robert O’Brien, who served during the first Trump administration, also got involved. 

O’Brien told Fox News Digital that he sent a letter to the Russian ambassador as ‘a humanitarian gesture.’ 

‘I sent a letter to the Russian ambassador during the Biden years asking if they would consider a humanitarian release of Mr. Fogel,’ O’Brien told Fox News Digital. ‘The Russian ambassador sent a cordial, but non-committal, letter of response.’ 

O’Brien told Fox News Digital that he informed Ambassador Roger Carstens, Biden’s special envoy for hostage affairs, of his outreach. O’Brien told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration encouraged that outreach. 

Carstens told Fox News Digital that he was ‘well aware that O’Brien sent the letter on Marc Fogel’s behalf.’ 

‘Robert O’Brien and his predecessor, Jim O’Brien, and I all worked together quite closely over the last four years to keep doing the hard work of bringing Americans home,’ Carstens, who also served during the final year of the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital. 

‘Robert’s efforts on Marc’s behalf, and his efforts on behalf of others that are unsung, showcase the bipartisan nature of these efforts and the importance that the senior leadership in this country places on bringing Americans home,’ Carstens said, calling O’Brien a ‘good personal friend and mentor.’ 

‘We worked hand-in-hand throughout my entire time in the Biden administration to devise ways to bring people home,’ Carstens said. 

But as for Fogel, Carstens told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration did ‘work tirelessly to bring home Marc Fogel on the sides of negotiations of humanitarian release; negotiated separately as humanitarian release; and when designated, we included him in ongoing negotiations with the Russians.’ 

‘Fogel’s return is fantastic news, and the Trump administration is to be commended for bringing this American home and bringing so many Americans home in just the last few weeks from places like Venezuela, Gaza and now Russia,’ Carstens told Fox News Digital. 

He added: ‘Bringing Americans home might very well be the last nonpartisan issue in this country and any administration that brings an American home should be congratulated for their efforts and their successes.’ 

And O’Brien, reacting to the news of Fogel’s return to the United States, told Fox News Digital: ‘If you asked me to define ‘America First,’ I’d define it as President Trump’s commitment to bringing Americans who were held overseas home.’ 

Meanwhile, Reschenthaler was at the White House Tuesday night with Trump to welcome Fogel back to the United States. 

‘I was honored to be alongside President Trump at the White House to welcome Fogel back to the United States,’ Reschenthaler told Fox News Digital. ‘President Trump promised to bring him home and kept his word – building on the already great success of his weeks-old presidency.’  

Reschenthaler added: ‘While President Biden refused to prioritize this Pennsylvanian, President Trump delivered and secured his release. The American people are overjoyed to have strong and skilled leadership back in charge.’ 

President Donald Trump’s new Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard, was sworn in at the White House on Wednesday, just hours after being confirmed by the Senate. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during her briefing, ‘Senate Republicans continued to confirm President Trump’s exceptionally qualified nominees, most recently Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who will be joining us later at the White House for her swearing-in ceremony.’

‘It’s imperative that the remainder of the president’s Cabinet nominees are confirmed as quickly as possible,’ she added. 

Gabbard was sworn in by Attorney General Pam Bondi in the Oval Office. The event took place just after 4 PM and Trump was in attendance for the ceremony. 

The Senate confirmed Gabbard in a 52-48 vote. The divide was along party lines, with the exception of former GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who opposed her. 

‘In my assessment, Tulsi Gabbard failed to demonstrate that she is prepared to assume this tremendous national trust,’ McConnell said in a lengthy statement on his vote. 

‘The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the president receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment.’ 

Gabbard notably faced scrutiny over her past meeting with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, her previous FISA Section 702 stance and her past support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. 

But those  concerns were mostly quelled by Gabbard herself, in coordination with the significant efforts of Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Vice President JD Vance, who worked behind the scenes to get party members on board. 

She is the 14th Cabinet official to be confirmed in Trump’s second term. 

Next up will be Trump’s similarly controversial pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is nominated to be secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). He will get a vote early Thursday morning after clearing his last procedural hurdle Wednesday afternoon. 

Russian missiles struck Kyiv in the early hours of Wednesday, killing at least one civilian, Ukrainian officials said. 

The barrage of ballistic missiles hit hours before Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited the Ukrainian capital, the first Cabinet-level Trump official to do so, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aide Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram. 

Bessent is visiting the city to meet with Zelenskyy and discuss President Donald Trump’s demand for access to $500 billion worth of rare Earth minerals as payment for U.S. military aid to Ukraine. He is also expected to talk about energy, having promised to ramp up sanctions on Russia’s oil sector. 

Zelenskyy said the recent attack proved Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in pursuing peace. 

Reporters from the French newswire AFP heard explosions ring out early Wednesday before discovering the body of one person killed, covered with a black plastic sheet. Zelenskyy said at least one person was killed, and four others were wounded – including a child. He said the attack damaged apartments and office buildings.

Russia’s defense ministry claimed it had conducted a ‘group missile strike’ on Ukrainian sites producing drones and added that all targets were hit. 

Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is expected to visit Kyiv next week as he hashes out a plan for peace with Russia. 

Kellogg, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are all traveling to Europe for the Munich Security Conference this week, when they will discuss peace options with Ukrainian and European officials.

In the region north of Kyiv, Chernihiv, local Gov. Vyacheslav Chaus said Russians had targeted critical infrastructure and at least two were wounded. 

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down six missiles and 71 of 123 drones, which included Iranian-designed Shahed attack vehicles.

House Republicans have released their framework for a massive conservative policy overhaul to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda, just as the Senate advances its own version of the plan.

House and Senate GOP lawmakers have been at odds over how to go about executing Trump’s policy goals, and an earlier delay by House GOP leaders to kick-start the process in their chamber frustrated Senate Republicans, who released a narrower version of the House’s proposal.

Both chambers are aiming to advance their proposals on Thursday, with the Senate beginning its process Wednesday.

House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use the budget reconciliation process to pass a broad range of Trump policy goals, from border security to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages.

By lowering the threshold for passage in the Senate from two-thirds to a simple majority, it will allow the GOP to use their razor-thin majorities to get legislation signed into law with zero Democratic support, provided the measures included relate to the budget and other fiscal matters.

The House’s 45-page legislation directs $300 billion in new spending for homeland security, defense and the judiciary, while directing at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts for other areas of the federal government.

The text also calls for $4.5 trillion in new spending for the House Ways & Means Committee, aimed at extending measures in Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that are expiring at the end of this year.

The bill notably lifts the debt ceiling by $4 trillion – a key demand by Trump after projections showed the U.S. could run out of cash to pay its debts in the middle of this year if Congress does not act.

The bill would also set a goal of reducing mandatory spending by $2 trillion, with the caveat that a failure to find $2 trillion in savings would result in a reduction to the $4.5 trillion sum aimed toward Trump’s tax cuts. All sums are factored over a 10-year window. 

Senate Republicans had advocated for a two-bill strategy, arguing that separating border, defense and energy priorities from taxes would enable Trump to score a quick victory on issues that Republicans broadly agree on.

House Republicans are concerned that the significant political capital needed to pass a reconciliation bill with razor-thin majorities will mean Trump’s tax cuts will expire before the GOP can reckon with them this year.

The plan being advanced by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., includes new funding for border security and defense while offsetting those costs by rolling back green energy policies and other progressive Biden administration priorities.

Graham has dismissed multiple public pleas by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to allow the House to go first in the process. The House had delayed initial plans to advance a resolution last week after GOP fiscal hawks demanded deeper spending cuts than what leaders initially offered, between $300 billion and $600 billion.

Johnson said this week that Graham’s bill is a ‘nonstarter’ in the House.

It’s not clear as of Wednesday afternoon, however, whether all the House’s differences are resolved.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a fiscal hawk on the budget panel, told reporters that conservatives were still seeking additional items to be included in the resolution before the scheduled meeting to advance it on Thursday morning.

‘It’s dependent on what we add to it,’ Norman said when asked if he would support the bill on Thursday. ‘And it’s not just coming from me, it’s others too.’

He said of the public bill text, ‘We had to get this out as a skeleton. We’ve got to fill the skeleton in. And a lot of us have some real feelings, strong feelings, about what’s being included.’

Meanwhile, Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee are concerned that $4.5 trillion may not be enough to enact Trump’s tax policies over the next 10 years.

‘I have some concerns regarding Ways & Means not being provided with the largest amount to cover President Trump’s tax cuts – especially [State and Local Tax deduction (SALT)] relief and a tax reduction for senior citizens, which are both also priorities of mine,’ committee member Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. 

‘We will need to play with the parameters to see what we can come up with to satisfy members of our committee and conference,’ Malliotakis said.

House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, told reporters that Republicans needed to be realistic about their expectations.

‘We may not have every tax benefit. Everybody’s going to have to give,’ Moore said.

President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Jamieson Greer, advanced out of the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday.  The vote was 15-12, with all Republicans on the panel voting for Greer, as well as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

His appointment now moves on to the full Senate for final confirmation.

Greer, who previously served as chief of staff to former USTR Robert Lighthizer during Trump’s first term, has been credited with assisting in imposing tariffs on China and renegotiating the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico during the first administration. He is also a lawyer and Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps veteran with one deployment to Iraq.

Greer’s first confirmation hearing last week came amid new announcements that Trump would impose tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada.

If confirmed by the entire Senate, Greer will be responsible for pursuing U.S.-international trade agreements that align with President Trump’s agenda to support well-paying American jobs and bolster supply chain resilience, which includes boosting domestic manufacturing and industrial jobs and diversifying sources for essential goods and reducing dependence on foreign suppliers. 

‘If the United States does not have a robust manufacturing base and innovative economy, it will have little in the way of hard power to deter conflict and protect Americans,’ Greer said in last week’s hearing. ‘Trade policy can play an important role in ensuring that we have the economic security that leads to strong national security. I am convinced that we have a relatively short window of time to restructure the international trade system to better serve U.S. interests.’ 

Greer also noted he would seek out a balanced U.S. trade system with countries like Vietnam, which has a trade surplus in the country, to ‘have better reciprocity.’ 

The White House announced this month a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, citing an ‘invasion of illegal fentanyl,’ along with a 10% tariff on Canadian energy and all Chinese imports. Tariffs on China took effect Tuesday, while those on Mexico and Canada were delayed at least a month following border security talks.

An American is one of three hostages released from Belarus, the White House has announced. 

The identity of the hostage has not been released as the person wishes to remain private, U.S. Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler said. 

‘He’s made bringing hostages home a top priority and people respect that,’ Boehler said of President Donald Trump while announcing the releases. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hailed the releases as another example of the president’s strong leadership skills. 

‘That speaks to President Trump’s dealmaking ability,’ Leavitt said. 

Leavitt said the two other prisoners released were Belarus nationals, one of whom is a journalist for Radio Liberty, a U.S. government-funded media organization. The outlet named the journalist as Andrey Kuznechyk, who worked for the outlet’s Belarus service. 

Radio Liberty said that Kuznechyk had been detained initially for 10 days on hooliganism charges and then kept in prison on accusations that he had created or participated in an extremist organization. The outlet said the charges were politically motivated. 

‘It’s a remarkable victory on the heels of Marc Fogel returning to America last night,’ Leavitt said. 

Fogel, an American who had been detained in Russia since 2021, landed back in the U.S. on Tuesday. The history teacher was working at the Anglo-American School in Moscow and returned to the U.S. after his release from Russia following talks with the Trump administration. 

He was serving a 14-year sentence after his arrest in August 2021 at a Russian airport for possession of drugs, which his family said was medically prescribed marijuana.

Wednesday’s announcement came just moments after Trump posted to Truth Social that he had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Those discussions included the Russian leader agreeing to ‘immediately’ begin negotiations over the war in Ukraine.

Last month, American Anastassia Nuhfer was also released from a Belarus prison. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the release at the time and said that she had been ‘taken’ under the Biden administration. 

It wasn’t clear why she was detained, but a former high-ranking Belarusian diplomat indicated that her detention was connected to the 2020 protests in Belarus. The exact nature of her involvement remains unclear.

Fox News understands today’s release was the second part of a two-part deal, with Nuhfer’s release being the first part. 

Belarus, formerly part of the Soviet Union, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe that is closely allied with Russia. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. 

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko extended his more than three decades in power last month in what political commentators say were orchestrated elections.

Current and former state attorneys general are praising the Trump administration’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its ‘common sense’ decision to roll back a Biden-era climate rule requiring companies to disclose their carbon emissions.

‘We’ve led multiple common letters over the years against this radical Biden climate fiasco, and we’ve taken multiple steps to try to ensure that all of the federal agencies act consistent with the law,’ West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. ‘So we’ve always had deep concerns about the legality of what the SEC was trying to do and the burdens that would it would impose on public companies. So this is a great day for the rule of law and against federal overreach, and I think it shows again, what happens when you have people in leadership positions that are willing to do the right things and not fall prey to the radical climate agenda.’

As the then-West Virginia attorney general, Morrisey led a coalition of more than a dozen states — including Iowa, Georgia, Alabama and Alaska — in a lawsuit challenging the climate rule last year. Within 10 days of its passage, the rule faced over nine legal petitions. Among the challengers were Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant Services.

Liberty Energy was founded by Chris Wright, who now serves as President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Energy.

The SEC acting chairman, Mark Uyeda, issued a statement Tuesday calling the Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors rule – which was implemented in March 2024 but immediately racked up multiple lawsuits that were eventually consolidated into Iowa v. SEC – ‘deeply flawed and could inflict significant harm on the capital markets and our economy.’

Uyeda added that the ‘the proposed rules overstepped the SEC’s regulatory authority’ and that the SEC’s filings ‘previously submitted in the cases consolidated in the Eighth Circuit do not reflect my views.’ Because of recent changes in the SEC’s leadership and President Donald Trump’s directive to freeze new regulations, Uyeda instructed SEC staff to inform the court of these developments and request a delay in the case while the agency reconsiders its stance. 

However, Uyeda’s commissioner, Caroline A. Crenshaw, issued a scathing statement in opposition to his request to delay the scheduling for oral arguments in the Appeals Court, arguing he acted ‘without the input of the full Commission.’

‘I agree wholeheartedly with the acting Chairman that agencies and those who lead them must act within the boundaries of constitutional and statutory authority,’ Crenshaw said in a statement. ‘Nonetheless, I dispute with equal vigor the notion that the agency acted outside of its remit. It did not. The only things that have changed since the Rule was passed have been matters of politics and not substance. As such, I disagree with the position unilaterally taken today by the acting Chairman.’

Under then-Chairman Gary Gensler, appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2021, the climate rule mandated that publicly traded companies include detailed information about climate-related risks, greenhouse gas emissions and the potential financial impacts of climate change in their annual reports and registration statements. 

Several attorneys general who were part of the group lawsuit last year told Fox News Digital the move was a win for ‘common sense’ returning to the federal government that would save companies from extreme financial burdens. 

‘Finally, common sense is prevailing,’ Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. ‘But cost of compliance, cost of missed opportunities, again, cost to rectify if the SEC had found a violation of what these companies were going to have to do – those are jobs and investment that would have been missed by these companies just because the federal government didn’t like the way somebody was doing it, and just because they turned client the climate agenda into their own religion.’

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who was also a co-signer on the lawsuit led by Morrisey, told Fox News Digital in a statement that Uyeda’s push to roll back the climate rule ‘is another sign that common sense has returned to our nation.’ He added in part that it was a ‘huge win’ for taxpayers who ‘rightfully expect the SEC to be focused on protecting investors and financial markets rather than radical environmentalism.’

Morrisey and Carr both expect similar actions against the climate change agenda to occur under the current Trump administration, citing several executive orders issued last month dramatically reversing previous international climate commitments and promoting traditional energy sources, including withdrawing from the Paris Agreement for the second time. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House spokesman Kush Desai said Trump ‘has vocally and consistently championed dismantling ideological chokeholds over America’s institutions, entrepreneurs, and consumers to unleash our country’s unparalleled potential.’

‘The Trump administration will continue to prioritize merit, competence, and innovation over ESG and DEI activism,’ he said. 

The United States is releasing Russian prisoner Alexander Vinnik as part of the deal to secure Marc Fogel’s freedom, a Trump administration official told Fox News on Wednesday.

Fogel, an American teacher who had been detained in Russia since 2021, was freed on Tuesday. A plane carrying him landed in the U.S. late last night. 

Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges. He was later extradited to the United States where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said the Russian prisoner’s name would be revealed when he returns home. 

‘Recently, work has been intensified through the relevant agencies, there have been contacts,’ Peskov said in a conference call with reporters, according to the Associated Press. ‘And these contacts have led to the release of Fogel, as well as one of the citizens of the Russian Federation, who is currently being held in custody in the United States. This citizen of the Russian Federation will also be returned to Russia in the coming days.’ 

The State Department did not immediately respond Wednesday morning to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fogel, a history teacher from Pennsylvania, was serving a 14-year prison sentence after his arrest in August 2021 at a Russian airport for being in possession of drugs, which his family and supporters said were medically prescribed marijuana. 

Anne Fogel, his sister, told ‘Fox & Friends’ on Wednesday that she is ‘so happy to have this massive boulder’ lifted off her shoulders with her brother’s release. 

‘I am so incredibly grateful to the president,’ she added. ‘Just amazing.’ 

Fogel said her brother’s situation has ‘taken a toll’ on her family but they ‘can’t even believe that he is safe and at home and can get medical attention.’ 

After his arrival in the U.S., Fogel met with President Donald Trump at the White House and called him a hero for securing his release. 

‘I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all. And President Trump is a hero,’ Fogel said after meeting Trump. 

‘These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes,’ Fogel continued. ‘The senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor – they got me home – they are heroes.’ 

When asked by reporters on Tuesday whether the U.S. had given up anything in return for Fogel, Trump replied ‘not much’ without offering additional details. 

Fox News’ Pat Ward, Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.