U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in a Thursday ruling permanently blocked two memos issued by the Trump administration that threatened schools with funding cuts for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.  

Earlier in the year, the Trump administration issued a “Dear Colleague” letter for universities threatening to take funding if they don’t end “illegal” DEI efforts. Soon after, K-12 districts got a memo to certify they have no DEI practices in their schools.

The American Federation of Teachers, Democracy Forward and others sued over both of the memos, arguing the administration did not go through the proper procedures and violated the rights of schools. 

“Plaintiffs have shown that neither challenged agency action was promulgated in accordance with the procedural requirements of the APA, and that both actions run afoul of important constitutional rights,” wrote Gallagher, who was appointed by President Trump.

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Just as California Gov. Gavin Newsom was announcing a special election for state redistricting at a cultural center in Downtown Los Angeles, numerous federal agents showed up nearby.

While Newsom was inside the Japanese American National Museum on Aug. 14, stating his proposed changes to California’s congressional districts to counter Texas Republicans' plans to create more GOP-friendly districts in their state, a group of federal agents was conducting immigration enforcement patrols in L.A.'s Little Tokyo district.

Newsom and his press office both took to social media to announce the agents’ presence, with an homage to President Donald Trump's punctuation and rhetoric.

“BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!” the post said.

U.S. Border Patrol Sector Commander Gregory Bovino told KNBC-TV that the agency was conducting roving immigration enforcement patrols in the area. Bovino told the station that one person was taken into custody and detained for being in the U.S. illegally.

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A federal appeals court handed President Trump a victory on Wednesday. The court ruled that the administration can continue to freeze or terminate billions of dollars that Congress had earmarked for foreign aid spending.

In a 2-to-1 vote, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the plaintiffs in the case, a group of international aid groups, did not have the legal standing to bring a lawsuit.

The foreign aid freeze was an action the President took on his very first day in office in January.

The money in question includes nearly $4 billion for global health programs through September and more than $6 billion for HIV and AIDS programs through 2028.

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The White House confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday that EJ Antoni, the conservative economist Donald Trump has chosen to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was in the crowd of Trump supporters that surrounded the Capitol on January 6 2021.

A man of Antoni’s appearance, wearing a red varsity jacket, was caught on video posted on the conservative social network Parler walking through the crowd of Trump supporters massed outside the west side of the Capitol about 10 minutes before the mob broke through police lines and into the building.

That video, archived by ProPublica, shows the man in what appears to be a varsity jacket with the University of Pennsylvania crest on it walking away from that entrance to the Capitol at about 1.51 pm that day.

According to NBC News, the man also appears in other footage recorded on the east side of the Capitol building during the riot.

Approached for comment by NBC News, the White House confirmed that the man in the images was Antoni.

“These pictures show EJ Antoni, a bystander to the events of January 6th, observing and then leaving the Capitol area,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers wrote to NBC News. “EJ was in town for meetings, and it is wrong and defamatory to suggest EJ engaged in anything inappropriate or illegal.”

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