Judge weighing whether to compel Trump administration to unfreeze FEMA funds
Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge is weighing whether to compel the Trump administration to unfreeze millions of dollars in previously allocated FEMA funds.
A coalition of 22 Democratic attorneys general says the administration is illegally withholding the funds despite a court order requiring their payment.
The attorneys general have asked the judge to compel the Trump administration to unfreeze the payments, alleging that at least 16 states have been unable to access money from 140 FEMA grants.
According to their motion filed in federal court on Friday, programs whose funds have been frozen include wildfire prevention, emergency management, terrorism prevention, cybersecurity, and flood mitigation.
“The safety of our residents is not a game and should not be subject to partisan politics and retribution from the President and his appointees,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, one of the 22 attorneys general who filed the motion.
In January, a federal judge in Rhode Island prohibited the Trump administration from unilaterally freezing federal funding. While the Trump administration unfroze some of the funds, the attorneys general allege that the federal government continues to withhold millions in FEMA funding.
Their court filing included multiple examples of FEMA’s payment system showing the grants continuing to be frozen.
The dispute about the FEMA funds comes as the Trump administration is considering reshaping or abolishing FEMA. In January, Trump signed an executive order to begin the process to reform or consider “getting rid of” the agency tasked with disaster relief.
president Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump are seen arriving at the Pope’s Funeral at the Vatican in Rome, Italy on 26 April, 2025. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(ROME) — President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met privately in Rome on Saturday before attending the funeral for Pope Francis.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the press pool traveling with Trump that the two men had a “very productive session.” More details about the meeting “will follow,” he said.
“Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one,” Zelenskyy posted on X after the meeting. “Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”
This was the first meeting between the two men since their contentious encounter in the White House Oval Office in late February.
Late Friday, following special envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier in the day, Trump posted that it was “a good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine,” and he suggested it’s now time for the two sides to meet at “very high levels.”
“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to “finish it off,” he wrote on his social media site.
“Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!” Trump added in the post, but provided no additional information about the apparent progress.
Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, were seated about seven people away from Trump and the first lady Melania Trump, according to the press pool.
Former President Biden and former first lady Jill Biden were about four rows behind them.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, the federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from deporting noncitizens — Venezuelan immigrants that it alleges are members of the gang Tren de Aragua — without due process accused the Justice Department of evading “its obligations” to comply with his order for more information on the deportation flights, per a new filing on Thursday.
Boasberg said in an order Thursday that after a noon deadline, Justice Department attorneys filed a written declaration from an acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field officer, which repeated general information about the deportation flights and that Cabinet secretaries were still weighing whether to invoke the states secret privilege, a move that allows the head of an executive department to refuse to produce evidence in a court case on the grounds that the evidence is secret information that would harm national security or foreign relation interests if disclosed, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights.
“This is woefully insufficient,” Boasberg said in response.
Boasberg ordered more information about the deportation flights, which the administration carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime authority. Boasberg ordered that they turn around two flights the administration said were deporting the alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador. Officials failed to turn those flights around.
The Trump administration has not yet released the names of the alleged gang members who were deported.
The Department of Justice initially refused to provide more information about the flights, citing national security concerns.
Boasberg said Thursday that he is requiring the government to show cause by March 25 on why its responses thus far and the failure to return the undocumented migrants to the U.S. did not violate his temporary restraining orders.
Additionally, he asked the government to file a sworn declaration by 10 a.m. Friday by an individual involved in Trump’s Cabinet discussions over the state secrets privilege — and to say by March 25 whether they plan to invoke the privilege.
On Thursday, ABC News’ Karen Travers asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt why the administration wasn’t turning over the information regarding the deportation flights if they are confident that they complied with the judge’s order.
“We are confident that we’ve complied, and as I’ve said from the podium, all of the flights that were subject to the written order of the judge took off before the written order was pushed in the courtroom,” Leavitt said. “And the president is all within his article, his Article II power and his authority under the Alien Enemies Act to make these decisions.”
Earlier this week, Trump and some House Republicans called to impeach Boasberg, with Trump calling the judge “radical left.”
Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts issued a rare statement on the impeachment threat, signaling a stark difference in opinion between the judicial and executive branches.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in the statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
(WASHINGTON) — He was the first Democrat to call for impeachment during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House and now Rep. Al Green is believed to be he first lawmaker in modern history to be thrown out of a Joint Session of Congress or a State of the Union address, according to a presidential historian.
The 78-year-old Texas congressman was escorted out of the House Chamber at the Capitol Building Tuesday night by the House sergeant at arms after he stood and shook his cane at Trump, and refused to obey House Speaker Mike Johnson’s order to sit down and refrain from interrupting the president’s speech by shouting criticisms.
“I can’t think of another lawmaker being taken out. In modern history, I can say with some level of confidence that the answer is no,” said presidential historian Mark Updegrove, CEO of the President Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation.
In advance of Trump’s speech, members of the House Freedom Caucus called on the sergeant at arms to take action against any member of Congress who violated House rules during the address.
“The President’s address to tonight’s joint session of Congress is a constitutional obligation — not a sideshow for Democrats to use noisemakers, make threats, throw things or otherwise disrupt,” the Freedom Caucus said in a statement posted on social media. “Our colleagues are on notice that the heckler’s veto will not be tolerated. You will be censured. We expect the Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police to take appropriate action against any Members of Congress or other persons violating House rules.”
On Wednesday morning, the group of hardliners said they would censure Green, but moderate GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington beat them to it. Newhouse formally introduced a measure on the House floor to censure Green, which is expected to be voted on Thursday.
Members of the Freedom Caucus include Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado.
During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speeches between 2022 and 2024, Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Georgia, heckled the former president. During Biden’s 2023 State of the Union speech, Greene stood and yelled “liar” multiple times at the former president, but was not escorted out of the House Chamber.
Updegrove, an ABC News contributor, noted that Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, yelled “You Lie” during former President Barack Obama’s 2009 address to a joint session of Congress on health care. At the time, the House of Representatives, with the Democrats holding the majority, voted to reprimand Wilson, who later issued an apology to Obama.
“The Joe Wilson episode was kind of the introduction of greater hostility in Congress, at least in modern times,” Updegrove said.
After lashing out at Trump, yelling, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid,” Green was removed from the chamber Tuesday night. He later told ABC News he’d welcome any consequences from his disruption, saying he was “following the wishes of conscience.”
“There are times when it is better to stand alone than not stand at all,” Green said.
Green doubled down on his protest of Trump’s speech on Wednesday, saying if given the chance, “I would do it again.”
“I am not angry with the speaker. I am not angry with the officers. I am not upset with the members who are going to bring the motions or resolutions to sanction. I will suffer the consequences,” Green told ABC News.
Green added, “What I did was from my heart. People are suffering. And I was talking about Medicaid. I didn’t just say you didn’t have a mandate. I said you don’t have a mandate to cut Medicaid.”
Green said he has not spoken to Democratic leadership about his Tuesday night outburst.
It’s not the first time that Green, who has represented Texas’ 9th congressional district since 2005, has been a thorn in Trump’s side.
In May 2017, Green presented the first articles of impeachment against Trump, citing the firing of FBI Director James Comey. In July 2019, he called for Trump’s impeachment again, citing the president’s attack on four Democratic congresswomen of color. The house voted to table Green’s resolution, effectively killing it.
And just last month, Green announced on the floor of Congress that he intends to again file articles of impeachment against Trump, citing the president’s suggestion that the United States take over the Gaza Strip.
“The movement to impeach the president has begun,” Green said on the House floor. “I rise to announce that I will bring articles of impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done.”
In February 2024, Green, temporarily left his hospital bed in a wheelchair after undergoing intestinal surgery to vote against the Republican-led impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, then Biden’s secretary of Homeland Security, over his handling of a crisis at the southern border. The house ended up voting 214–216 not to impeach Mayorkas.
“I wanted to do all that I can because I know Secretary Mayorkas. He’s a good, decent man and I didn’t want to see his reputation tarnished,” Green said at the time.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Green moved to Houston, Texas, in the 1970s to attend the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, where he earned a law degree, according to a biography published on his website. He later founded and co-managed the law firm Green, Wilson, Dewberry, and Fitch.
Green also served as the Justice of the Peace for Harris County, Texas, for 26 years, retiring in 2004 to run for Congress. He also served for 10 years as president of the Houston branch of the NAACP.
During his tenure in Congress, Green has focused on fair housing and fair hiring practices for the poor and minorities. While in Congress, he has served on the House Financial Services Committee and the Committee on Homeland Security, and chaired the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee.
On his website, Green credits his family for teaching him “righteous resistance to overcome persistent injustice.”
