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Trump repeals landmark climate rule, axing emissions rules for vehicles
This feels like a quiet policy shift.

The Trump administration has reversed a landmark environmental finding that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to public health, resulting in weakened standards on vehicle emissions.

The effort is the most aggressive action yet to undo rules imposed by Democratic presidents that environmentalists argue are key to curbing climate change but that Republicans say have harmed domestic industries and forced consumers into expensive electric vehicles.

President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced at the White House Thursday that the agency has finalized a rule, proposed last year, that would repeal the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which concluded that six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane pose a threat to public health and welfare. The repeal will immediately roll back emissions regulations for autos and will set the stage for further cuts to regulations on emissions from power plants and factors.

“The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” Zeldin said in a press release.

“As EPA Administrator, I am proud to deliver the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history on behalf of American taxpayers and consumers,” he said.

The 2009 Endangerment Finding was issued during the Obama administration in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA. affirming that greenhouse gas emissions are considered pollutants under the Clean Air Act. The finding has served as a legal basis for the EPA to regulate vehicles.

As part of the proposal to repeal the Endangerment Finding, the EPA has also finalized a rule to eliminate tailpipe emission standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines. 

The emission standards were implemented by the Biden administration, which gave auto manufacturers several options to meet emission targets, including by producing electric vehicles, hybrids, or advanced technology vehicles.

Cars and trucks are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. 

The Trump administration has sought to repeal policies imposed by the Biden administration that promote electric vehicle adoption, which the Trump team has derided as an “EV mandate.” For instance, the administration has repealed an arrangement that allowed California impose its own emissions regulations and eventually ban sales of gas cars. It also repealed subsidies for …

Trump continues to lash out at ‘RINO’ GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt
Is this competence or optics?

President Donald Trump on Thursday continued to personally attack Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt over a debacle regarding the upcoming annual governors’ weekend in Washington.

"We will soon have a Governor in Oklahoma who knows how to accurately write a Press Release to the Public, in this case, to state that I invited, not happily, almost all Democrat Governors to the Governor’s Dinner at the White House,” Trump wrote in a Thursday Truth Social post. “Stitt, a wiseguy, knew this, but tried to get some cheap publicity by stating otherwise.”

Trump’s latest criticism against the Republican comes after Stitt, who serves as chair of the National Governors Association, became embroiled in a back-and-forth over whether Democrats would be invited to the routinely bipartisan governors event. Stitt at one point announced that a bipartisan business meeting with the president would be removed from the NGA’s agenda for the weekend because the White House said Democrats would be excluded from the event.

After a conversation with Trump, Stitt informed governors on Wednesday that all governors would be invited to the meeting, attributing the dispute to a “misunderstanding in scheduling,” according to a letter viewed by POLITICO.

But that wasn’t enough to salve the president’s displeasure: In a Wednesday afternoon social media post — after Democrats had begun receiving invitations to the meeting — Trump took to Truth Social to lament that “as usual with him, Stitt got it WRONG!”

All governors were welcome at the event, Trump wrote, except two Democrats: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore — the latter of whom had already received a formal invitation to the meeting at the time of the post, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In the Thursday morning post, Trump took credit for Stitt’s victory in his last race for governor, writing that the Republican “was massively behind his Opponent in his previous Election for Governor” and “called me to ask for help.”

Trump added: “I Endorsed him (Barely!), and he won his Race,” but the president eagerly anticipated the arrival of the governor’s successor. Stitt is term-limited and cannot seek another term when his current one expires in 2027.

A spokesperson for Stitt’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for the NGA declined to comment on the post.

Stitt’s position atop the NGA has put him at odds with the president on at least one other occasion, when the Oklahoma Republican broke with his party to criticize the administration’s cross-state National Guard deployments last year.

The dispute regarding the upcoming NGA weekend has reignited tensions within the association, with 18 Democratic governors vowing to boycott a bipartisan dinner over the White …

DHS on brink of prolonged shutdown after Senate Democrats block funding over ICE
Who's accountable for the results?

The Senate failed to advance a stopgap spending measure Thursday for the Department of Homeland Security, all but ensuring funding will lapse on Saturday and cause a partial government shutdown.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are bracing for a prolonged shuttering of the department that oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a deal on Democratic demands to restrict President Donald Trump’s deportation operations and Congress’s recess next week.

A vote requiring support from 60 senators failed 52-47, mostly along party lines, in the GOP-controlled chamber. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the lone Democratic “yes.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) argued that a DHS shutdown offers Democrats “exactly zero changes to the status quo.”

“What is it … that Democrats want? Policy changes or is it a political issue?” Thune said. “Democrats are never going to get their full wish list. That’s not the way this works.”

Homeland Security is the only department not yet funded by Congress for the remainder of the fiscal year that runs through September, after Democrats last month forced Republicans to split the DHS from a broader spending agreement so the two sides could negotiate immigration enforcement policies. Affected agencies that will shut down under the DHS beyond those handling deportations include the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Coast Guard.

The Trump administration’s conclusion of its enhanced Minnesota deportations, announced Thursday by White House border czar Tom Homan, failed to move the needle for Democrats as they stood firm on demands that policy changes be etched into law.

“Without legislation, what Tom Homan says today could be reversed tomorrow on a whim from Donald Trump,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “Without legislation, Donald Trump could choose to put a rogue force in any city they want and have them operate without any guardrails.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) arrives for a classified briefing on Jan. 5, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)

Despite implications of shuttering a department with sweeping national security duties, neither side faces imminent pressure to reach a compromise on ICE provisions that Democrats want, such as unmasking federal agents, requiring judicial warrants for deportations, and use-of-force rules mirroring those for local police.

HOMAN: TRUMP APPROVED WRAPPING UP ICE …

DHS funding bill fails after Schumer rejects Trump’s ICE reform offer
What's the endgame here?

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blocked Senate Republicans’ attempt to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the rest of the year, teeing up a likely shutdown.
The upper chamber tried and failed to pass the original DHS funding bill Thursday, testing Senate Democrats’ resolve as the deadline to fund the agency approaches Friday.
The bill failed largely along party lines, save for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who joined Republicans in their attempt to fund DHS. 
SCHUMER, DEMS CHOOSE PARTIAL SHUTDOWN AS NEGOTIATIONS HIT IMPASSE
Senate Democrats have demanded a stringent list of reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They weren't persuaded by border czar Tom Homan that operations in Minneapolis would be drawn down as negotiations continue.
"The administration doesn't actually want to reform ICE," Schumer said. "They never do it on their own. That is why we need — we are fighting for — legislation to rein in ICE and stop the violence."
It was a déjà vu moment from months earlier, when Thune repeatedly tried to peel Democrats away from Schumer during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history but failed to break their blockade.
Failure to send the full-year DHS funding bill to President Donald Trump’s desk leaves Congress with few options as the midnight Friday deadline looms. 
The Senate is now expected to take another shot at preventing a partial shutdown with a short-term extension of DHS funding. Republicans are eyeing at least four more weeks of funding for the agency, though that plan is also expected to fail.
SHUTDOWN CLOCK TICKS AS SCHUMER, DEMOCRATS DIG IN ON DHS FUNDING DEMANDS
Still, negotiations are ongoing in the background, and Thune said there was some progress despite Democrats continuing to publicly reject Republicans' offers.
"They're posturing right now, I think," Thune said. "But I do think the progress has been real. I think the concessions on the part of the administration have been real."
Senate Democrats received the legislative version of Republicans and the White House’s counteroffer Wednesday night, but many said it was "not sufficient." Several Democrats leaving a closed-door meeting Thursday morning said a deal remains out of reach.
"We’re still looking at it, but no, not today," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said. "They have not addressed most of our major concerns at all."
Murray signaled Democrats would present their own counterproposal to the White House, a sign negotiations are ongoing, though likely not fast enough to avert …

Nicki Minaj calls on ‘Barbz’ to tell their senators to pass the SAVE Act
Are they actually going to vote on something real?

Rapper Nicki Minaj is asking her fanbase to call their legislators on Thursday to urge them to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.

The SAVE America Act passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday, but it is unlikely to pass the Senate, where Republicans only have a three-seat majority — nowhere near the 60 votes needed to pass it via the filibuster.

Minaj, who has emerged as an ally to the Trump administration, is now urging her fans, whom she refers to as “Barbz,” to get the legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk.

“Barbz, get your pretty little fingers out & call your senators. I’ll bribe you if I have to,” Minaj said on X.

Barbz, get your pretty little fingers out & call your senators. I’ll bribe you if I have to.
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) February 12, 2026

Minaj posted again on X, telling her fans to call their senators and post “#SaveAct.” She also posted a video of herself walking down a hallway as a “bribe” to her fans. 

“If you all do it, I’ll let you choose between a new look & Spaces. The choice is yours,” Minaj said.

The White House reposted Minaj’s video on X, writing “Barbz- find your senators.”

TO DEMOCRATS, THE SAVE ACT IS POLITICAL KRYPTONITE

Prior to Minaj’s call to action, billionaire and X owner Elon Musk reposted an X user’s graphic showing Republican senators who are “holdouts” on the SAVE America Act.

Musk also asked his followers to call their senators and “ask for voter ID to be passed.”

Please call your senator and ask for voter ID to be passed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 12, 2026

Washington Examiner investigations editor Sarah Bedford said Republicans could pursue a “talking filibuster” to get the SAVE America Act passed, as this would “force Democratic members” to explain in “hours-long speeches” why they oppose this voter identification bill being passed.

Bedford also said the SAVE Act being “dead on arrival” in the Senate would be “a real failure” for Senate Republican leadership

‘You Ought to Be in Jail’: GOP Senator Accuses Minnesota Attorney General of Enabling Fraud  
Are they actually going to vote on something real?

Sen. Josh Hawley accused Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison of having knowledge of massive welfare fraud in his state yet enabling the fraud to continue.

“I should call you prisoner because you ought to be in jail,” Hawley, R-Mo., told Ellison in a heated exchange during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday.

Hawley specifically pressed Ellison on an alleged conversation the attorney general had with leaders of the Minneapolis nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which orchestrated a massive fraud scheme.

The organization claimed to be working with caterers and restaurants to provide meals to schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the group was found to have submitted fake invoices and meal count sheets while receiving more than $250 million in federal child nutrition assistance.

In November 2025, the Department of Justice announced one of the individuals involved in the fraud scheme had been sentenced to 10 years in prison “for his role in the $300 million Feeding Our Future case, the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the United States.”

Hawley claimed the leaders of Feeding Our Future met with Ellison at the end of 2021 and asked the attorney general for “help in getting investigators off their backs.”

“They complained to you for upwards of an hour about state investigators going after them, and they begged you to help them, and you agreed to it, amazingly, and we know you did because it’s all caught on tape,” Hawley said.

Hawley proceeded to read a portion of what he claimed was a transcript of the meeting between Ellison and the representatives of Feeding Our Future.

“You said to them, ‘Send me the names of all these folks who are investigating [Feeding Our Future] … and I’ll take that list, and I’ll call the person over at Education who’s investigating them,’” Hawley read.

Ellison accused Hawley of “cherry-picking quotes” from the conversation.

Hawley repeatedly asked Ellison why he helped Feeding Our Future.

“I didn’t help them,” Ellison responded, adding, “my team assisted with the information that led to the prosecution and conviction of these people.”

“No, you didn’t, you didn’t lift a finger to prosecute them,” Hawley retorted.

“Yes, we did,” Ellison responded, noting it was a federal prosecution, which Hawley called “BS.”

Hawley also accused Ellison of taking $10,000 from Feeding Our Future, referring to reports that Ellison received $10,000 in contributions from members of the organization.

“That’s a lie,” Ellison shot back.

The exchange continued before Hawley told Ellison he should resign.

NEW: Full, very heated exchange between Sen. @HawleyMO (R-MO) & Minnesota AG Keith Ellison about the Minnesota fraud scandal that ended with Hawley telling Ellison he should be in prison & Ellison responding by essentially saying good luck with that.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 12, 2026

The Daily Signal contacted Ellison’s office for a response to Hawley’s accusations. Brian Evans, Ellison’s press secretary, told The Daily Signal that Ellison already addressed the meeting Hawley referred to in an op-ed for the Star Tribune published in April 2025.

In the op-ed, …

Federal judge upholds temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants
This affects the entire country.

A federal judge on Thursday upheld her order postponing the termination of temporary protected status for around 350,000 Haitians in the United States.
The Justice Department appealed U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes' stay to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit but simultaneously requested that she rescind her order. Judge Reyes heard arguments from both sides on Thursday and said that she is denying the government’s motion and would issue a written order before Feb. 19, which is the next deadline in the appellate court case. 
Reyes' order pauses Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BLOCKED FROM ENDING TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR HAITIANS
"During the stay, the Termination shall be null, void, and of no legal effect," she wrote. "The Termination therefore does not affect the protections and benefits previously conferred by the TPS designation, including work authorization and protection from detention and deportation, and the valid period of work authorization extends during the stay."
At the end of Thursday's hearing, Reyes said she had something "important" to put on the record.
"People are entitled to their views," said Reyes, who is both the first Latina and openly LGBTQ person to serve in Washington, D.C., as a district court judge.
LEFT-WING COURT HANDS KRISTI NOEM BIG WIN IN ‘UNVETTED IMMIGRATION’ CASE
"I am an immigrant. I did not hide that from the president of the United States … or from the U.S. Senate," Reyes said, adding that she has heard questions about "how someone like me, an immigrant and a lesbian could get this job."
Reyes remarked that she doesn't hear anyone talking about how she was magna cum laude at Harvard Law and practiced law at a top firm for 22 years.
Reyes then went on to read threats that have been emailed to her chambers. "I don't mind being called the C-word," Reyes said, before quoting from various threats she said she has received.
"I hope you lose your life by lunchtime … God d*** you. I hope you die today … The best way you could help America is to eat a bullet," Reyes quoted. Judge Reyes also quoted from social media posts about her, including one which read, "Hang the b****."
"Many of my colleagues have received threats," she said, adding there have been threats to the families of judges as well. "To those who would threaten judges … we will act without fear or favor. … We will continue to do our jobs. … We will not be intimidated."

Judge Weighs in on War Department Censure of Sen. Mark Kelly Over Video
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

A federal judge stopped War Secretary Pete Hegseth–at least temporarily–from censuring Sen. Mark Kelly for his role in a video telling American soldiers to refuse illegal orders.

Judge Rich Leon, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, on Thursday ruled in favor of Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired Navy captain, who had joined five other Democrat members of Congress telling service members to refuse “illegal” orders, without giving a clear definition of illegal.  

Hegseth had moved to reduce Kelly’s Navy rank and retirement pay as a consequence. Judge Leon issued the order in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., blocking the move.

“Today a federal court made clear Pete Hegseth violated the Constitution when he tried to punish me for something I said,” Kelly said in a post on X.

“This is a critical moment to show this administration they can’t keep undermining Americans’ rights. I also know this might not be over yet, because Trump and Hegseth can’t admit when they are wrong.”

Today a federal court made clear Pete Hegseth violated the Constitution when he tried to punish me for something I said.

This is a critical moment to show this administration they can't keep undermining Americans' rights.

I also know this might not be over yet, because Trump…
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) February 12, 2026

President Donald Trump slammed the Democrat video as “seditious behaviors, punishable by death.” He called them “traitors.” 

Leon’s opinion said Kelly had the First Amendment right to make the comments in the video.  

Leon acknowledged, “military service members enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections given the fundamental obligation for obedience and discipline in the armed forces.” 

The post Judge Weighs in on War Department Censure of Sen. Mark Kelly Over Video appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Supreme Court urged to weigh in on Pennsylvania’s mail ballot dating law
Why resist verification?

The Republican National Committee asked the Supreme Court to hear a case over Pennsylvania’s law requiring mail ballots to be dated by the voter, warning that an appeals court ruling that struck down the law continues a dangerous precedent of courts intervening in election rulemaking.

The RNC will be before the high court next month, when it argues in Watson v. RNC over the legality of laws that allow states to count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. It also filed a petition to the Supreme Court this week, asking the justices to take up its challenge to an appeals court ruling over another mail ballot law in Pennsylvania, this one requiring voters to write the correct date on their mail-in ballot for the state to count it. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled last year that the law did “not pass constitutional muster,” leading the GOP to appeal to the high court.

“The panel declared unconstitutional perhaps the least burdensome voting rule imaginable: Pennsylvania’s requirement that voters who choose the convenience of mail voting write a date in a specified field on the ballot-return envelope,” the RNC said in its petition.

“This decision continues the alarming trend of courts wielding the so-called Anderson-Burdick framework to anoint themselves, rather than state legislatures, as the ‘bear[ers of] primary responsibility for setting election rules,'” the petition continued.

The RNC argued that the Anderson-Burdick framework, a combination of two prior Supreme Court rulings that outline how courts should look at balancing the interests of the state with the burden an election law imposes on the voter, was misapplied in a vague manner that would leave virtually any voting rule vulnerable to being struck down.

“If that holding is left uncorrected, no voting or ballot-casting rule will be safe from open-ended, standardless federal judicial review—and even invalidation. No burden on voters will be too minimal to escape the federal courts’ notice, and every state interest must be supported by evidence sufficient to satisfy federal judges,” the RNC said in its petition.

“State legislatures will have no latitude to innovate with new voting regimes, including those that make voting easier,” the petition continued.

The RNC also warned that the third circuit ruling “upends the Constitution’s careful balance between States’ authority to regulate elections and the right to vote,” by giving a political victory to people who “lost …

Federal judge blocks Trump's bid to move Biden-commuted death row inmates to ‘Alcatraz of the Rockies’
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from transferring 20 former death row inmates to the federal "supermax" prison in Colorado, ruling the move likely violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights.
The 35-page ruling from U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sets up a dispute between executive authority and prisoners’ procedural rights. 
Under Article II’s "Take Care" clause, the president is charged with executing federal law, and the Bureau of Prisons — overseen by the attorney general — has broad discretion to determine where inmates serve their sentences. But Kelly said the administration could not transfer the inmates without first giving them a meaningful opportunity to challenge the move.
TONY HAWK, TAIWAN AND A FLASHLIGHT: TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT’S BIZARRE DEFENSE
Kelly, a Trump appointee, stressed that his ruling had no bearing on the nature of the crimes committed by the ex-death row inmates, many of whom he noted have been convicted of "some of the most horrific crimes imaginable."
"The placement of an inmate with a life sentence at ADX Florence raises no constitutional concerns so long as the inmate is afforded adequate process," he said. 
Instead, the ruling focused narrowly on whether the inmates were given a real opportunity to contest the transfer, which Kelly said they were not. The order is a temporary blow to the Trump administration's effort to counter sweeping clemency actions Biden took during his final month in office — moves critics described as a political "Hail Mary" that lacked proper vetting.
"The Constitution requires that whenever the government seeks to deprive a person of a liberty or property interest that the Due Process Clause protects — whether that person is a notorious prisoner or a law-abiding citizen — the process it provides cannot be a sham," Kelly said.
Next steps in the case were not immediately clear, and the Justice Department declined to respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on whether it would seek to appeal the ruling.
The effort comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration have sought to reverse Biden's sweeping clemency actions, including the commutations of 37 death row inmates, many of whom have been convicted of particularly heinous and violent crimes. 
One individual was convicted of murdering a married couple who were camping in the Ouachita National Forest in July 2003.
Another was convicted of kidnapping, robbing, and murdering a 51-year-old local bank president by tying him to a concrete block and chain hoist, and tossing him …