Raw Story

President Donald Trump revealed on Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast an executive order instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek out and prosecute "anti-Christian bias."

"To confront such weaponization and religious persecution, today I'm signing an executive order to make our Attorney General, who's a great person — she's going to be a great Attorney General — Pam Bondi the head of a task force, brand new, to eradicate anti-Christian bias," Trump said. "About time, right? Anti-Christian bias. Yeah, never heard of that one before, right?"

"So many times you hear, but you don't hear the anti-Christian bias," he continued. "The mission of this task force will be to immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible."

Trump suggested the FBI and IRS were "terrible" for targeting Christians.

"In addition, the task force will work to fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide," he added. "You've never had that before, but this is a very powerful document I'm signing."

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"You get it now. First time you've had it. If we don't have religious liberty, then we don't have a free country. We probably don't even have a country."

Watch the video below from Newsmax or click the link here.

by Joris Fioriti with Cecil Morella in Manila and Joe Jackson in London

The freeze in aid funding by Donald Trump's new U.S. administration has left humanitarian workers seeing a large proportion of their budget cut off and fearing millions will be affected as programs are suspended.

On January 24, four days after Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a first letter asking them to cease all activities funded by the agency.

A week later, a second letter, seen by AFP, authorized them to resume certain missions intended for "life-saving humanitarian assistance".

But the terms used are vague and the NGOs say they feel lost.

The new administration has launched stinging attacks on USAID -- which Trump claimed was "run by radical lunatics" and his ally and advisor, the world's richest person Elon Musk, has described as a "criminal organization".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now its acting director, vowing to put an end to its "insubordination".

Global and regional NGOs told AFP in interviews that the effect to their work has been immediate and warned the move could also erode US influence worldwide.

- Solidarites International -

Kevin Goldberg, director of French NGO Solidarites International, said that the move has already forced the pausing of certain aid operations in countries including Mozambique, Syria and Yemen.

"Today, the United States is debating the future of its development agency. But this subject concerns the entire planet," he said.

"We know that this is a sector that, in any case, must innovate," he said.

"But to stop everything overnight, to not take into account at all the fact that we are talking about millions of human lives, that's crazy."

He said the unclear instructions from the U.S. administration could prevent some charities from risking going ahead with programs in case they then had to foot their costs themselves.

"It's like trying to drive with a massive spoke in the wheel," he said.

- Oxfam America -

Daryl Grisgraber, humanitarian policy lead for Oxfam America, said that change was likely to be drastic.

"It really will have a potentially life or death consequences for millions of people.

"At the end of those 90 days, it's very likely there are going to be huge cuts on what aid can continue to move.

"So there is effectively a pause on all future funding as well," he said.

"We have been looking at it as really basically a cynical power play. This is going to put lives in danger and it's unacceptable as a representation of United States values and interest in the world."

- Balay Rehabilitation Center -

The centre, which provides psycho-social counseling and other help for survivors of torture in the conflict-plagued southern Philippines, said it was already feeling the effects of Trump's policy.

"We are still in limbo as to whether this project will continue or not," said executive director Josephine Lascano.

She said she had already been forced to suspend a program that was helping "about 20" victims of violence.

The Philippines received close to $190 million in USAID funding in 2023.

- MSI Reproductive Choices -

Beth Schlachter, senior director of US external relations at sexual and reproductive healthcare provider MSI Reproductive Choices, said it was fully aware that nearly 10 percent of its budget from the US government could disappear.

"There's a lot of chaos that's going to play out, or starting to play out already, at the country level," she said.

"Our... colleagues who are running these programs in the countries are already feeling just the fear and the chaos of not knowing what will be supported and what will go away.

"Money is power... You can't just wield this kind of destruction and then expect to still have a seat at the table and to have the kind of influence that you want to have."

- InterAction -

Tom Hart, CEO of InterAction, an alliance of NGOs and partners in the United States, said bringing life-saving programs to a halt was "counterproductive to this administration's own stated goals".

"Where we stand today is children going without education and mothers not receiving prenatal care," he added.

© Agence France-Presse

The U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C., ruled Thursday morning that Elon Musk and his team of coders have been blocked from further accessing government databases.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approved the temporary restraining order outlining the conditions.

Kollar-Kotelly previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) and was appointed by the late conservative Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist.

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Norm Eisen posted on Blue Sky a "big win by us at the State Democracy Defender's Action and our partners, including Public Citizen."

The case alleged that Musk and his team had access to the personal information of government employees and others without having the proper security clearance and congressional oversight.

The ruling barred "any person who is an employee (but not a Special Government Employee) of the Department of the Treasury and who has a need for the record or system of records in the performance of their duties."

"This Order shall remain in effect until such time as the Court rules on the Plaintiffs' forthcoming Preliminary Injunction Motion," the ruling said.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) is increasingly angering many of his House Republican colleagues by antagonizing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over the plan to pass President Donald Trump's agenda, The Daily Beast reported.

This comes as the House and Senate continue to wrestle over the best way to move forward with the legislative calendar; the House and Trump largely want to pass a single, large bill containing energy, border security, and tax cuts, as a bargaining chip to reach a grand compromise with the far-right Freedom Caucus, while the Senate would like to split the tax cuts into a second bill to maximize the chance at least some of Trump's agenda will pass.

Donalds, according to one anonymous GOP lawmaker, is irritating the rest of the caucus by attacking Johnson over the slow pace of lawmaking: “Byron Donalds is more and more frequently being obnoxious towards the speaker. Angry at the time it’s taking. Parroting [Rep.] Chip [Roy]. I don’t mind making one’s point but the rudeness is uncalled for,” said the lawmaker, who added, “He did the same in Miami,” at the House GOP's retreat at Trump's property.

Donalds, well known as a rising pro-Trump star who is considering a run for governor of Florida, told the Beast he is unconcerned with this complaining: “Everybody’s frustrated. If they think it’s rude to have a direct conversation with the leadership, as opposed to everybody slapping each other on the back, then so be it.”

Moreover, Donalds is not the only one angry about the lack of progress, with another lawmaker telling the Beast, “This isn’t rocket science,” and they're sick of “listening sessions over and over and over again” from House GOP leadership.

As all of this is unfolding, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is handling much of the budget talks on the Senate side, has unveiled his own proposal for a $300 billion budget resolution on defense and the border.

Sen. Ron Wyden is calling foul on the Trump administration's insistence that it's not letting X owner Elon Musk run roughshod over congressional checks and balances.

In an interview with the New Republic's Greg Sargent, Wyden casts doubt on a letter sent from the Treasury Department to Congress this week claiming that Musk and his minions are simply undertaking an "audit" of the federal government and are not making unilateral decisions to destroy government agencies despite Musk's claim over the weekend that he put the United States Administration of International Development (USAID) into a "wood chipper."

“This letter reeks of a cover-up,” Wyden told Sargent. “It doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Sargent then goes on to dissect the letter, which claims Musk underline Tom Krause merely has “read-only access” to “coded data” of Treasury’s payment systems and is not authorized to cut off payments on a whim.

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However, Wyden tells Sargent that his staff have talked with former Treasury officials who say there is no precedent from previous administrations for the kind of scope and access to data that have been granted to outsiders such as Musk.

“We have no indication that this story about an ongoing audit of the payment system is legit,” Wyden told me. “There is no good reason for political operatives to get into these systems.”

Wyden also raised concerns about Musk, who is himself a government contractor thanks to his ownership of SpaceX, gaining access to secret information about his competitors.

"“The possibilities for corruption are endless,” he said. “Whistleblowers are needed now more than any time in my time in public service.”

The chair of the Libertarian Party's National Committee suddenly resigned last month as embezzling allegations swirled around her — and she quickly accepted a job in Donald Trump's administration.

Angela McArdle stepped down from the national organization on January 24, three days after Jack Porter, a former Libertarian candidate for Iowa governor, went public with his investigation into a company called Freedom Calls LLC. He claims the party chair had used it to direct more than $45,000 in party funds to her domestic partner Austin Padget, who had apparently set up the company, reported Reason.

"Porter discovered that McArdle's domestic partner and father of her child, Austin Padgett, was the incorporator of record for that entity," Reason reported. "The operation's website says it offers phone banking, canvassing, and website and email services, but the 'Who are you?' squib merely says they are 'a radical group of individuals who've come together to change the system. We are futurists. The tech industry is full of disrupters and secret dissidents.' No names are provided. Porter says he could find no Federal Elections Commission records of any other entities paying Freedom Calls."

"The LNC had previously decided to suspend a series of monthly payments directly to Padgett in January 2024," Reason added. "The payments to Freedom Calls began the following month."

The party requires that contracts or agreements for payments with legal relatives, domestic partners and business associates be disclosed to the committee and then approved by a vote, which didn't happen in this case. McArdle levied a series of accusations against other party members on her way out the door before eventually finding herself a job with the Trump administration.

"The LNC is reacting as best they can in the face of constant attacks by unstable litigants like Caryn Ann Harlos, and my cyber stalkers Todd Hagopian and Jake Porter," McArdle told Reason in a statement. "I have retained an attorney to deal with the aggressive cyberstalking by these men."

"I will be working with new appointees in the Trump administration to find out if the FBI and State Dept have been involved in the attacks on the LP and me," McArdle added. "There are lots of unclassified documents on Reason Magazine and yourself, Brian Dougherty [sic], in the State Dept archives. We know the feds have a strong interest in disrupting the Libertarian movement, especially at a moment like now when we have freed Ross Ulbricht - the biggest political victory the LP has ever achieved."

McArdle claims that she persuaded Trump to pardon Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road online black market, and she angered other Libertarians last spring by inviting the now president to speak at their national convention.