Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, submitted her resignation Thursday, according to a source familiar with the move. Multiple members of the office where the case was to be reassigned have resigned as well.

Sassoon sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi informing her of her decision to resign.

Sassoon’s resignation followed days of tension between the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and leaders in the Justice Department over the bribery and campaign finance case against Mayor Eric Adams.

On Jan. 31, Sassoon was drawn into a conversation at DOJ headquarters in Washington about the future of the case. The meeting included the mayor’s defense attorney, Alex Spiro.

On Monday, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo that told Sassoon, “You are directed, as authorized by the Attorney General, to dismiss the pending charges in United States v. Adams.”

To date, the office has not filed a motion to dismiss with the court.

The failure to immediately heed the directive irked DOJ leadership, including Bove and Bondi.

“That case should be dropped. It was dead at the directive of Emil so that case should be dropped,” Bondi told reporters on Wednesday.

The Justice Department planned to remove the prosecutors handling the mayor’s case and reassign it to the Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C. However, as soon the Public Integrity Section was informed it would be taking over, John Keller, the acting head of the unit, and his boss, Kevin Driscoll, the senior most career official in the criminal division resigned, according to multiple sources.

It is now unclear who will take over the Adams case and how soon it might be dropped, the sources said.

Adams had pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that accused him of accepting years of luxury travel gifts in exchange for, among other things, persuading the fire department to approve the opening of the new Turkish consulate in Manhattan despite the lingering safety concerns of inspectors.

In a letter to the Southern District of New York on Monday, Bove questioned the timing of when the charges were brought, suggesting the case was part of the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department, according to sources at the time.

Bove also said the case adversely affected Adams’ ability to help the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the sources added.

Federal prosecutors were instructed to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning it could come up again. However, Bove wrote nothing could happen until after this year’s mayoral election.

Despite that threat, Spiro expressed confidence Adams would not be prosecuted.

“There is no looming threat,” Spiro said at a press conference Wednesday. “This case is over.”

Any motion to dismiss the case would have to be formally filed in court and reviewed by the judge.

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(WASHINGTON) — When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is sworn in as the nation’s next health secretary Thursday, his first order of business will be to investigate America’s problem with chronic illnesses.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that President Donald Trump will sign an executive order creating a “Make America Health Again” commission and direct Kennedy “to investigate this chronic crisis plaguing our country and the minds and the bodies of the American people.”

What that will mean exactly remains to be seen. But here are three things to watch for as Kennedy takes the helm, based on what he and Trump have said in the past:

More study on food dyes or other food additives?

MAHA has easily emerged as a deeply popular slogan by Kennedy as much of America struggles with obesity and chronic diseases. The question though is how to do that in a way that won’t weigh down the federal budget or trigger an avalanche of legal challenges from the food and drug industry.

One possible avenue for Kennedy could be to call for additional safety studies of certain ingredients used by manufacturers, including food dyes.

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration revoked its authorization of one type of red food dye. “Red Dye No. 3” is known to cause cancer in laboratory animals but was allowed to be used by manufacturers for years because scientists didn’t believe it raised cancer risk in humans at the level typically consumed. The FDA, under President Joe Biden, acted after longtime pressure by consumer advocates.

But a different type, Red Dye No. 40, remains on the market and hasn’t been studied by the FDA in more than 20 years. FDA and health officials say there is no evidence though that it’s harmful, and food manufacturers say they need to be able to rely on ingredients generally recognized as safe.

Still, health advocates argue more can be done to look at the health impacts and or do the kind of post-market monitoring of food more common in Europe.

All of those efforts though will take significant federal resources and rely on a workforce that Trump has promised to cut.

Rewriting discrimination rules for hospitals, doctors and insurers to exclude transgender protections

Kennedy hasn’t personally focused much on the question of transgender rights. But eliminating federal rules at Health and Human Services that President Barack Obama and Joe Biden pushed to protect transgender Americans is a major priority for Trump and the conservative party.

Federal law prohibits sexual discrimination, but it’s up to the executive branch to spell out specific rules that schools, insurers and hospitals must follow if they want to retain access to federal aid.

Obama triggered a fierce legal fight in his second term when he issued federal regulations aimed at protecting transgender people from discrimination in schools and medical settings. Under rules written by Obama’s Health aand Human Services Department, doctors and hospitals were told couldn’t decline care for a person because of their gender identity. Insurance companies also were specifically prohibited from offering different benefits to certain groups, including transgender individuals and people with HIV.

Trump quickly dropped Obama’s rules in his first term, writing new rules that granted exceptions for medical providers on discrimination rules if they cited religious objections.

President Joe Biden tried to resurrect Obama’s initial rules but was swiftly challenged in court by Republican states, tossing the issue back to Trump. It’ll now be up to HHS under Kennedy, if he’s confirmed, to decide what those federal rules should say.

Making it easier for parents to send unvaccinated kids to public schools

School vaccine requirements are up to the states, and currently all 50 states have laws requiring certain vaccines for students to attend public schools.

But HHS sets the recommendations for childhood vaccines followed by schools, while the Education Department provides vital grant money to schools used to teach low-income or children with disabilities.

On the campaign trail, Trump threatened to revoke spending for schools that mandate vaccines currently recommended by public health experts and HHS.

“I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” Trump declared last year.

Such a move could have big implications for public health. According to the nonpartisan KFF, routine vaccination rates for kindergarten children is on the decline while exemptions are on the rise, including non-religious exemptions.

While running for president before aligning with Trump, Kennedy rejected the numerous studies finding that childhood vaccines are safe, including several studies that debunked a myth that vaccines cause autism. During his Senate confirmation, Kennedy insisted he doesn’t oppose vaccines but wants more study.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican doctor from Louisiana, said he was concerned by Kennedy’s past in “undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments.” Facing a Republican primary next year, Cassidy decided to back Trump’s pick after getting Kennedy to agree the two would work together closely.

“Ultimately, restoring trust in our public health institution is too important, and I think Mr. Kennedy can help get that done,” Cassidy said.

ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart, Molly Nagle and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.

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(PORT SAID, Egypt) — The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a large merchant vessel Wednesday night in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea.

“The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 11:46 p.m. local time, Feb. 12, while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea,” a statement from the U.S Navy’s Sixth Fleet said.

The collision involved a rare collision of two large vessels as the 100,000-ton aircraft carrier collided with the 53,000-ton merchant vessel Besiktas-M, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship.

There are no reports of injuries, nor is there flooding, aboard the carrier, which carries a crew of 5,000 sailors, and the incident is under investigation.

The Truman is powered by two nuclear reactors and four propulsion systems, and the Sixth Fleet’s statement said the ship’s propulsion plants were unaffected and were said to be in “a safe and stable condition.”

The aircraft carrier and its strike group had been operating in the Red Sea since mid-December as part of the mission to thwart Houthi militant attacks launched from Yemen at commercial vessels transiting the vital waterway.

The carrier had arrived at a naval base in Crete earlier in the week, a rare break for the strike group that has been in constant operations, though the pace had ebbed as Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas took effect in mid-January.

The Houthis have claimed their attacks on shipping were being carried out in support of Hamas.

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(WASHINGTON) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services was narrowly confirmed by the Senate on Thursday.

The final vote was 52 to 48.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, who overcame polio at a young age, was the sole Republican to oppose Kennedy and vote no. Democrats were unanimous in their opposition to Kennedy.

In a statement outlining his decision, McConnell cited his childhood experience with the disease and said he will “not condone the re-litigation of proven cures.”

“Mr. Kennedy failed to prove he is the best possible person to lead America’s largest health agency,” McConnell said. “As he takes office, I sincerely hope Mr. Kennedy will choose not to sow further doubt and division but to restore trust in our public health institutions.”

Kennedy’s confirmation comes after months of controversy and debate, largely focused on his past comments casting doubt on the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

An environmental lawyer with no experience working in health administration or medicine, Kennedy will now oversee a sprawling network of agencies that provide health coverage to millions of Americans, regulate the food industry and respond to global health threats.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during an appearance on Fox News, said Kennedy is expected to be sworn in later Thursday at the White House. Leavitt also said Trump is expected to sign an executive order establishing a “Make America Healthy Again” commission.

President Donald Trump embraced Kennedy on the campaign trail after the scion of America’s most famous Democratic dynasty dropped his own independent bid for president and endorsed Trump.

Shortly after the election, Trump tapped Kennedy to lead HHS and promised to let him “go wild” on health.

During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy was grilled on his past claims about vaccinations, including his unfounded claims linking them to autism.

In a shift from previous statements, Kennedy voiced support for polio and measles immunizations. He told lawmakers he was not “anti-vaccine” but rather “pro-safety.” Though, he still refused to say that vaccines were not linked to autism or that COVID-19 vaccines saved lives.

But the comments appeared enough for some skeptical Republican senators to come to his side. Trump and Vice President JD Vance also called senators to rally support for Kennedy.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a longtime physician and vaccine advocate who openly struggled with Kennedy’s nomination, voted to report his nomination out of committee and to the Senate floor.

Cassidy said he received several commitments from Kennedy, including meetings several times a month and advance notice to Congress if HHS plans to seek any changes to vaccine programs.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, considered another swing vote, earlier this week announced she’d vote for Kennedy after raising concerns about the Trump administration’s directive for the National Institutes of Health to cut support for health research at universities. (The policy has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge).

“He said he would re-examine them and seemed to understand,” Collins said of Kennedy.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had made a final plea to his colleagues shortly before the vote to oppose Kennedy.

“A vote to confirm Mr. Kennedy is a vote to make America sicker,” Schumer said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Months after she was announced to be President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Education, Linda McMahon is on the hot seat in Capitol Hill Thursday as she faces senators over the future of the agency, which the president has vowed to kill.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is holding its hearing to grill McMahon, a businesswoman with close ties to Trump who has no teaching experience.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Department of Education has been mismanaged and has damaged education, calling it a “con job” during a news conference Wednesday. The president is expected to sign an executive order directing McMahon to submit a proposal for diminishing the department, and then the president said she should “put herself out of a job,” even though such an action would require an act of Congress.

Democratic senators have said they intend to scrutinize the nomination based on 76-year-old McMahon’s lack of experience in public education.

McMahon was interrupted by protesters during her opening statement where she defended her nomination and pushed for more school choice.

“If confirmed I will work with Congress to reorientate,” she said.

McMahon confirms that only Congress can shut down DOE

At an executive order signing event last week, President Trump said, “I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.’”

“I want her to put herself out of a job,” Trump added.

The president has maintained that states should have control over their schools.

However, abolishing the agency can only be done if Congress passes legislation to eliminate it. Experts say it is illegal to dismantle the department without congressional authorization, which would require 60 Senate votes in favor of doing so.

HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., and ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., both pressed McMahon on whether she believes dismantling the agency can be done without Congress. McMahon responded that only Congress would be able to do so.

“The it is set up by the United States Congress, and we work with Congress. It clearly cannot be shut down without it,” McMahon told Sanders.

However, she told Cassidy she was “all for the president’s mission of returning education back to the states” and that the states would still receive federal funding.

“We want to be working with Congress. We’d like to do this right. We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators can get onboard with and our Congress would get on board with that would have a better-functioning Department of Education. But it certainly requires congressional action,” McMahon said.

McMahon’s journey from WWE matriarch to DOE nominee

McMahon co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and is also the company’s former president and CEO.

Trump said he chose McMahon for being a “fierce advocate” for parental rights in education who will fight “tirelessly” to expand school choice and “spearhead” his effort to send education decisions back to the states, according to the president’s official nomination statement. The president also praised McMahon’s leadership and “deep understanding” of both education and business.

McMahon’s personal financial wealth is unclear but she reported owning assets that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and which could potentially surpass $1 billion. The Trump loyalist was co-chair of his presidential transition team and is a long-time donor who has given tens of millions of dollars to support pro-Trump causes.

McMahon previously worked in the first Trump administration as head of the Small Business Administration (SBA). She had previously made two unsuccessful bids for U.S. Senate when she ran against current Senate Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy in 2010 and 2012, respectively. She is also Chair of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) board but will leave that position if confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Education.

McMahon has advocated for apprenticeship and workforce training programs, school choice and parental rights. Although she is not currently an educator she received her teaching certification from East Carolina University and sat on the Connecticut state board of education before her first unsuccessful senate bid. She has also served two stints on the Board of Trustees at Connecticut’s Sacred Heart University, where she is currently the treasurer.

McMahon’s scandals cast shadow over nomination

Meanwhile, McMahon’s years as a wrestling executive came with their share of alleged scandals, which has brought her experience with young people under scrutiny.

A 2024 lawsuit brought by five plaintiffs – John Does who served as the WWE ringside crew when they were teens – accused her and her husband, Vince McMahon, of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse by an announcer and executives at the company. If confirmed by the Senate, McMahon would be tasked with overseeing sexual misconduct investigations within education programs.

The McMahons have denied the claims.

Laura Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s attorney, told ABC News that the FBI investigated the decades-old allegations at the time and found no grounds to further investigate them, calling the lawsuit “baseless.”

McMahon’s allies believe she will be an agent of change, a disrupter, and the dismantler that the Department of Education needs. Skeptics also claimed that the federal agency spends too much on education without adequate academic results.

But many in the education community fear that if McMahon helps Trump abolish the agency, it could adversely impact the millions of students who rely on critical programs overseen by the department that are intended to help vulnerable students succeed, like Title I funding for students from low-income communities.

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(WASHINGTON) — The head of the Federal Communications Commission said he is seeking an investigation of NBCUniversal and its parent company Comcast over the firm’s corporate diversity initiatives.

In a post on X, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he is concerned the companies “may be promoting invidious forms of DEI that do not comply with FCC regulations & civil rights laws.”

Carr — who, since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, has been wielding his agency’s power over broadcasters to a degree that has no modern precedent — said diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies are “by their very definition, odious to a free people whose institutions are founded on a commitment to equality.”

In a Feb. 11 letter to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, posted online by Carr, the FCC chairman points to Comcast’s corporate website, which lists diversity, equity and inclusion as “a core value of our business.” Carr also cites public reports of DEI days and DEI training as part of what the letter calls “an entire ‘DEI infrastructure'” in the entertainment company.

Carr said the inclusion efforts amount to discrimination, which, he says, “cannot be squared with any reasonable interpretation of federal law” and “can only deprive Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law.”

The FCC has long held radio and television stations to a robust set of Equal Employment Opportunity rules, which Carr says he is now using as the basis for his investigation. Last year, over Carr’s objection, then-President Joe Biden’s administration FCC moved to reinstate regulations that would force broadcasters to publicly disclose data on the race, gender and ethnicity of their employees. Those rules are now being challenged in court.

In addition to the NBC-owned television stations, Carr’s letter notes a wide range of Comcast’s businesses fall under his agency’s jurisdiction, ranging from cable and internet to wireless service. Carr says that’s one reason he’s targeting Comcast first — to serve as a shot across the bow of the entire communications industry.

“I expect that every entity the FCC regulates will be complying with our civil rights laws,” Carr said in his X post.

Democratic FCC commissioner Geoffrey Starks — one of two Democrats on the panel — said he is not on board with the investigation.

“Then-Commissioner Carr blasted the prior administration for acting in a way that ‘gives the FCC a nearly limitless power to veto private sector decisions,'” Starks said in a statement. “From what I know, this enforcement action is out of our lane and out of our reach. I have asked for a briefing to understand the Enforcement Bureau’s theory of the case, the authority relied upon, and any prior precedent. This action gives me grave concern.”

In a statement provided to ABC News, a Comcast spokesperson said, “We have received an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission and will be cooperating with the FCC to answer their questions. For decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers.”

Since taking office, Trump has taken aim at DEI efforts, signing an executive order to disband such programs in the federal government and cracking down on DEI initiatives in programs that receive federal funding.

Carr confirmed last week that his agency was investigating a local radio news report in San Francisco that included depictions of ICE raids in Northern California. And in what he depicted as an effort to enhance transparency in an ongoing complaint against CBS alleging “news distortion,” Carr opened the matter to public comment and directed the posting of raw outtakes from an interview Kamala Harris gave to CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”

That controversy was sparked last October by CBS’s use of two different answers by Harris to the same question from Whitaker — in a preview clip that aired on “Face the Nation” and the interview as it aired in full on “60 Minutes” that night. A right-wing group known as the Center for American Rights filed a complaint, alleging violations of the FCC’s news distortion policy, a rarely-enforced doctrine that dates to the late 1960s and was designed to prohibit hoaxes and the staging of news events.

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(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of Linda McMahon’s hearing to become the next secretary of the Department of Education, America’s state teachers of the year for 2024 have said they worry the future of public education is under direct attack.

De’Shawn C. Washington, the 2024 Massachusetts teacher of the year, said he will be heartbroken if the Department of Education is dismantled under McMahon.

“This is a great opportunity to invest even more in our children right now, instead of retracting,” Washington told ABC News. “To pull further in, to watch those seeds grow and become a harvest, so that our country could thrive.”

President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to abolish the Department of Education. The order, which has not been signed yet, reportedly calls for the education secretary to submit a proposal to diminish the department and urges Congress to pass legislation to get rid of it.

McMahon has vowed to carry out the president’s policies, and her allies have said they believe she has the business acumen to make budget cuts as she sees fit.

The looming department changes could be devastating for vulnerable students, according to Jeff Keller of Virginia. Keller warned shuttering the federal agency could mean students will have less protections and schools will have less oversight.

“When I think about what the Department of Education means, it means safeguarding kids’ civil rights,” Keller told ABC News.

“Whether that’s students with disabilities having the ability to get into the building and to get around the building … whether that’s safeguarding, you know, racial minorities to make sure that educational outcomes are equitable for them — I mean, I think it’s across the board,” Keller said.

Colorado’s Jessica May said she fears her students’ basic needs won’t be met if the department is abolished.

“What I am most afraid of is they are not going to get the attention and the care and the dedication that they need to survive, to live,” May said.

However, abolishing the Department of Education can only be done if Congress passes legislation to eliminate it. Clare McCann at American University said it is illegal to “uncreate” the department without congressional authorization — and it would require 60 votes in favor of the legislation in the Senate to pass.

Still, these teachers, who were all awarded their states’ top teaching honors in 2024, said they’re a nervous group right now.

Zach Arenz, the New York teacher of the year, predicted lost educators, increased class sizes and a widening achievement gap in which wealthy communities get wealthier through school voucher programs.

“All of these things are going to lead to a weak public education system,” he told ABC News. “If our public education system isn’t successful, there is no future.”

Arenz said he hopes teachers are listened to moving forward. Kentucky’s Kevin Dailey said he is also worried about student opportunities, arguing a conservative school voucher push would privatize the public school system and enrich private businesses.

“Kentucky schools receive over $1 billion a year in federal funds [from the Department of Education] in order to facilitate the growth of our communities,” Dailey told ABC News. “Kentuckians, not just teachers, not just public school students, but Kentuckians believe in strong public schools.”

McMahon is ‘in over her head’

McMahon, the president’s pick to carry out his vision for injecting school choice throughout the nation’s schools, will go before lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Her nomination to become the next secretary of the Department of Education has been loathed by many top educators.

“She’s well in over her head,” Greg Kester, the 2024 Missouri teacher of the year, told ABC News. Kester has been teaching over 30 years and said McMahon is a step down from billionaire Betsy DeVos, Trump’s first education chief, arguing education isn’t McMahon’s “calling.”

However, McMahon earned a teaching certification from East Carolina University before pivoting to the wrestling arena. McMahon spent most of her career as a business executive and wrestling mogul, and the president has praised her for her knowledge of both business and education.

But Indiana’s Eric Jenkins told ABC News there’s a distinct difference between the two fields.

“There are similarities between business and education, but the core difference — the purpose,” Jenkins said. “So the purpose of a business is to increase profits. The purpose of education is to increase opportunity for all students.”

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency made sizable cuts to the Department of Education this week, slashing critical independent research contracts at the department’s Institute of Education Sciences worth nearly $900 million. Jenkins said he embraces a department that works to create efficiency — so long as the budget cuts don’t hamstring students.

“What brings us together, these different state teachers, regardless if they’re blue or red, is that we see those numbers actually as our students’ faces,” Jenkins said. “I think that’s where we’re coming from, is that we truly see the faces and the impacts that cuts are going to make.”

Conservatives such as Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, said McMahon has the business mindset to create innovative solutions for all students.

However, Virginia’s Keller said he disagrees, noting the nation’s next education chief should run the country’s public school system like it’s the “backbone” of society, not a corporation.

“I don’t think you got to be a K-12 teacher, but I do think you have to have a mindset that understands schools don’t exist for the benefits of teachers or the benefit of students: They exist for the benefit of society,” Keller said. “It’s not a business. We’re not in business. That’s not what schools are.”

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(WASHINGTON) — During her first full day as director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard will travel to Germany for the Munich Security Conference, where she will hold 30 bilateral meetings with counterparts, including key U.S. allies Great Britain, France, Australia, and Germany, Alexa Henning, deputy DNI for strategy and communications told ABC News.

Gabbard, who was to be sworn into office Wednesday afternoon shortly after the Senate voted to confirm her, is expected to deliver remarks at a luncheon during the conference. She will be joined by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who are also attending.

During her confirmation hearing in January, Gabbard previewed her priorities as head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), stating that President Donald Trump’s reelection was aimed at breaking the cycle of failure within the intelligence community, ending “the weaponization/politicization of the IC and begin to restore trust in those who have been charged with the critical task of securing our nation.”

To assess the global threat environment, Gabbard will identify “where gaps in our intelligence exist, integrate intelligence elements, increase information-sharing, and ensure unbiased, apolitical, objective collection and analysis to support the president and policymakers’ decision-making,” according to a list of priorities obtained by ABC News.

Her priorities also emphasize the need to end polarization of the intelligence community, stating that her goal is to “ensure clear mission focus to the IC on its core mission of unbiased, apolitical collection and analysis of intelligence to secure our nation.”

The DNI also stresses that rebuilding “trust through transparency and accountability,” is a national security imperative, according to the document.

Like many government agencies in the second Trump administration, Gabbard’s focus is on reforming ODNI, which was created in response to intelligence failures leading up to 9/11. She aims to “assess and address efficiency, redundancy, and effectiveness across ODNI to ensure focus of personnel and resources is focused on our core mission of national security,” according to the document.

During the confirmation process, the former Hawaii congresswoman met with more than half of the Senate over two months. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed frustration with recent intelligence failures, according to sources with knowledge of proceedings. Gabbard continued meeting with senators on Capitol Hill up until the eve of her nomination.

Gabbard was grilled by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle about her reversal on a key surveillance tool, Section 702 of the FISA, and her refusal to label former National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden a traitor during contentious confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill last month.

The Senate confirmed her nomination, 52-48, on Wednesday. Gabbard, a former Democrat turned Republican, received no Democratic votes. The only Republican to vote against her was former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said, “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.”

Another key “no” vote came from independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose presidential campaign Gabbard endorsed in 2016 after stepping down as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

According to the document obtained by ABC News, Gabbard plans to work with lawmakers to ensure responsiveness to their requests for intelligence. Issues of concern include the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack in Israel; the 2024 Syrian rebel takeover; failures to identify the source of the COVID-19 outbreak, Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs), also known as “Havana Syndrome,” Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) — objects in air, sea or space that defy scientific explanation — drones and more.

Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, has served 22 years in the Army National Guard and Reserve, including deployments to Iraq, Kuwait, and Djibouti. She is the first female DNI to have served in the military and plans to continue to serve in the Reserve, which ODNI regulations permit.

She plans to use her experience in the military and in Congress to bring “fresh eyes” as she assumes the role of America’s top intelligence official, according to the document.

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(WASHINGTON) — As courts block parts of his agenda, President Donald Trump and his allies are ramping up criticism of judges and continuing to question judicial oversight of the executive branch.

While he’s said he would abide by their rulings — but also appeal them — he kept up the effort to undermine the authority of the courts on Wednesday, alleging in a social media post that a “highly political, activist judge” wanted to stop the work of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk’s aggressive and controversial cost-cutting effort has faced several lawsuits, one resulting in his team being temporarily restricted from accessing the Treasury Department’s vast federal payment system containing sensitive information of millions of Americans.

The court action prompted swift rebuke from Musk and Trump’s team. Vice President JD Vance went so far as to suggest judges “aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

“Maybe we have to look at the judges because I think that’s a very serious violation,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon alongside Musk, who defended his team’s work.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt continued to blast the courts at Wednesday’s press briefing, claiming “each injunction is an abuse of the rule of law and an attempt to thwart the will of the people.”

“We will comply with the law in the courts, but we will also continue to seek every legal remedy to ultimately overturn these radical injunctions and ensure President Trump’s policies can be enacted,” she said.

The escalating clash between the new administration and the courts has some legal experts sounding the alarm, and is prompting fears of a potential constitutional crisis.

“The entire premise of our constitutional system of limited government of checks and balances and separation of powers involves deference to judicial determinations of what the law says and complying with it. This goes back to the beginning of the republic,” said David Schultz, a constitutional law professor at Hamline University.

Ray Brescia, a professor at Albany Law School, called the theory being pushed by Trump allies that the executive branch should operate free of judicial checks “preposterous.”

“They are velociraptors testing the fence. They’re looking for holes. They’re looking for weaknesses. They’re checking to see where they can push the envelope,” Brescia said of the Trump administration. “I think for now, the system has largely held but we’ll see as these cases get to the appellate courts, and ultimately, many of them are likely to go to the Supreme Court.”

Much of Trump and Musk’s attempt to overhaul the federal government is being met with lawsuits, including the dismantling of USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well as the buyout offer extended to tens of thousands of federal employees.

The key question is how Trump and his officials will respond as the court challenges progress.

In his first term, Trump amended his policies to comply with judicial rulings. One example was what Trump referred to as his “Muslim ban” restricting travel from several countries that have a majority Muslim population, which was rewritten several times before it passed muster with the Supreme Court.

“We thought that administration was so shocking and bending the rules on executive authority and so on, but it turns out to have been nothing compared to this one where it is seriously being discussed and contemplated whether or not the executive branch has a duty to follow the courts,” said Claire Finkelstein, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott asked Trump directly on Tuesday: “If a judge does block one of your policies, part of your agenda, will you abide by that ruling? Will you comply?”

“Well, I always abide by the courts and then I’ll have to appeal it. But then what he’s done is he slowed down the momentum,” the president responded.

If that were to ever change, however, it would be uncharted territory in the modern political era with no obvious recourse.

Judges can push back if the administration refuses to comply but their power is limited, experts said. They could hold the administration in contempt, and either impose fines or in extreme cases direct the U.S. Marshals Service to take individuals into custody.

There are complications, though. The U.S. Marshals Service falls under the Justice Department, which is unlikely to go after Trump officials.

“Presidential refusal to comply with court orders undermines the very concept of constitutional order and limited government our country is supposed to respect and if Trump were to refuse to comply, then we have a constitutional problem,” said Schultz.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, which started three years ago when Putin’s forces launched a full-scale invasion.

“I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia,” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on his conservative social media platform. “We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects.”

On Ukraine, Trump said he and Putin “agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations.”

“We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now,” Trump said. A source confirmed to ABC News that Trump and Zelenskyy were speaking by phone.

Trump added, “President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.” We both believe very strongly in it.”

The discussion between Trump and Putin lasted an hour and a half, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“President Trump spoke in favor of an early end to hostilities and a peaceful solution to the problem. President Putin, for his part, mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement can be achieved through peaceful negotiations,” Peskov told reporters.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has demanded full territorial liberation, and earlier this week signaled a willingness to swap territory with Russia.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Wednesday that a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders is an “unrealistic objective” in peace talks, as was NATO membership for Ukraine.

The comments were made at his first meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of countries working to support Kyiv, in Brussels.

“President Trump has been clear with the American people — and with many of your leaders — that stopping the fighting and reaching an enduring peace is a top priority,” Hegseth told leaders.

Trump has long maintained, and repeated in his post Wednesday, that the war in Ukraine would never have happened had he been president.

He also thanked Putin for the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher who had been serving a 14-year prison sentence in Russia after being arrested on drug charges in 2021. Fogel arrived at the White House late Tuesday night.

ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

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