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EPA urged to axe funds for ‘radical’ climate project accused of training judges, state AGs rally
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First on Fox: Nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin Tuesday, calling on him to cancel funding to a left-wing environmental group accused of training and lobbying judges on climate policy, Fox News Digital exclusively learned.
«As attorney general, I refuse to stand by while Americans’ tax dollars fund radical environmental training for judges across the country,» Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen told Fox News Digital of his push to encourage the EPA to end its funding of the Climate Judiciary Project.
«The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project is using woke climate propaganda, under the guise of what they call ‘neutral’ education, to persuade judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system,» he said. «I commend President Trump’s efforts to cut waste and abuse during the first eight months of his presidency, and I am optimistic that his Administration will do the right thing and halt all funding to ELI.»
Knudsen spearheaded the letter sent to Zeldin Tuesday, which included the signatures of 22 other Republican state attorneys general, calling for the EPA to axe its funding to the left-wing environmental nonprofit, called the Environmental Law Institute, which oversees the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP).
TOP ENERGY GROUP CALLS FOR PROBE INTO SECRETIVE ‘NATIONAL LAWFARE CAMPAIGN’ TO INFLUENCE JUDGES ON CLIMATE
Montana Attorney General Knudsen spearheaded a letter sent to EPA chief Lee Zeldin Aug. 26, 2025, calling for the EPA to end its funding to the Environmental Law Institute. (Getty Images)
The Environmental Law Institute founded the Climate Judiciary Project in 2018, which pitches itself as a «first-of-its-kind effort» that «provides judges with authoritative, objective, and trusted education on climate science, the impacts of climate change, and the ways climate science is arising in the law.»
The group, however, has been accused of trying to manipulate judges to make them more amenable to left-wing climate litigation.
The letter sent Tuesday called on the EPA specifically to end any grants and awards endowed to the group.
«We write to bring to your attention grants made by EPA to the Environmental Law Institute (‘ELI’),» the letter reads. «According to its 2024 financial statements, ELI received approximately 13% of its revenue in 2023, and 8.4% in 2024, from EPA awards. ELI also apparently still expected to receive funds from the federal government; its financial statement warned that the collectability of federal grant funds ‘is subject to significant uncertainty related to collectability and continual funding due to (the federal grant) funding freeze or other federal actions.’»
CLIMATE GROUP SCRUBS JUDGES’ NAMES FROM WEBSITE AFTER UNEARTHED CHATS UNMASKED COZY TIES
The Environmental Law Institute received $637,591 from the EPA in 2024 and $866,402 in 2023 from the EPA, according to nonprofit tax documents published by ProPublica detailing the group’s federal expenditures that year.
«The Climate Judiciary Project’s mission is clear: lobby judges in order to make climate change policy through the courts,» 23 state attorneys general wrote in the letter. «An alumni magazine profile said the quiet part out loud, writing that the Climate Judiciary Project co-founder was ‘explaining the science of climate change to a group of people with real power to act on it: judges.’ The Climate Judiciary Project’s tampering raises serious legal and ethical questions.»
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin’s office was sent a letter Aug. 26, 2025, by 23 state attorneys general calling on the EPA to end funding to the Environmental Law Institute and its Climate Judiciary Project. (Al Drago)
The Environmental Law Institute, however, in recent comment to Fox News Digital, has maintained that its educational programs through Climate Judiciary Project are in accordance with the standards established by national judicial education institutions.
Climate Judiciary Project educational events are done «in partnership with leading national judicial education institutions and state judicial authorities, in accordance with their accepted standards,» a spokesperson for the group said in an emailed statement in July. «Its curriculum is fact-based and science-first, grounded in consensus reports and developed with a robust peer review process that meets the highest scholarly standards.»
«CJP’s work is no different than the work of other continuing judicial education organizations that address important complex topics, including medicine, tech and neuroscience,» an Environmental Law Institute spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital when asked about its educational programs.
The call for EPA to slash any funds to the Environmental Law Institute was celebrated by leading groups such as the American Energy Institute and the Alliance for Consumers, who lamented in comment to Fox Digital that taxpayer funds should not be used to fund the group and that «courtroom maneuvering» threatens day-to-day life.
«The State Attorneys General are right to call for the elimination of taxpayer funding for the Environmental Law Institute and its Climate Judiciary Project,» Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told Fox Digital. «This is a coordinated campaign to advance the Green New Deal through the judiciary using so-called climate litigation in the courts. Its curriculum is developed by climate alarmist allies of the plaintiffs and delivered to judges behind closed doors. Public funds should never be used to finance political advocacy disguised as judicial education.»
O.H. Skinner, the executive director of Alliance for Consumers, which is a nonprofit focused on advocating on behalf of American consumers, remarked that «as we have long warned, the left has a plan to reshape American society by using lawsuits in courts all across the country, especially in places like Hawaii and other coastal enclaves.»
«The new wave of revelations about ELI is further concerning evidence of how committed the left is to imposing mandatory Progressive Lifestyle Choices through this courtroom maneuvering and how big a threat it really is to all our ways of life,» Skinner added.
A climate protester scales the Wilson Building as part of an Earth Day rally against fossil fuels April 22, 2022. (Getty Images)
CLIMATE LAWFARE CAMPAIGN DEALT BLOW IN SOUTH CAROLINA
The Tuesday letter specifically argued: «State consumer protection laws prohibit deceptive and misleading statements to market a product. ELI is representing its training as objective when reality shows that it is not. State Attorneys General are responsible for protecting consumers, and we are concerned by ELI’s statements.»
The EPA has taken a hatchet to millions of dollars doled out under the Biden administration to left-wing groups and other programs deemed a waste of taxpayer funds upon Zeldin’s Senate confirmation as EPA chief in January.
The EPA under the Trump administration has canceled $20 billion in grants under the Inflation Reduction Act — which has led to an ongoing court battle. Zeldin said in March that the $20 billion in U.S. tax dollars were «parked at an outside financial institution in a deliberate effort to limit government oversight, doling out your money through just eight pass-through, politically connected, unqualified, and in some cases brand-new NGOs.»
The state attorneys general reflected on the previous cuts in their call to Zeldin to do the same to ELI funding.
«Under President Trump’s bold leadership, federal agencies and the Department of Government Efficiency have saved an estimated $190 billion, including terminating more than 15,000 grants that saved approximately $44 billion,» the letter states. «You have heeded President Trump’s directive and achieved monumental savings for taxpayers. You canceled $20 billion in climate grants under the Inflation Reduction Act. You cancelled another $1.7 billion in diversity, equity, and inclusion grants.3 And you canceled 800 environmental justice grants.»
CHINA’S CLIMATE LAWFARE SHOULD COME UNDER BONDI’S MICROSCOPE, KANSAS AG SAYS
Climate Judiciary Project and the Environmental Law Institute previously have come under fire from lawmakers such as Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who accused the groups of working to «train judges» and «make them agreeable to creative climate litigation tactics.»
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The Texas Republican recently has argued there is a «systematic campaign» launched by the Chinese Communist Party and American left-wing activists to weaponize the court systems to «undermine American energy dominance.»
Climate Judiciary Project is a pivotal player in the «lawfare» as it works to secure «judicial capture,» according to Cruz, Fox Digital has previously reported.
environment,republicans elections,2020 presidential election
El presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, denunció este martes lo que calificó como una “decisión irresponsable” por parte del gobierno de Donald Trump tras la revocación de la visa estadounidense de su ministro de Justicia, Ricardo Lewandowski. Según medios brasileños presentes en una reunión de gabinete celebrada en Brasilia, el mandatario expresó su solidaridad tanto con Lewandowski como con otros magistrados brasileños afectados por restricciones similares.
“Estas actitudes son inaceptables, no sólo contra el ministro Lewandowski, sino también contra magistrados del Tribunal Supremo o cualquier autoridad brasileña”, declaró Lula durante el encuentro transmitido en directo, en referencia también a otras restricciones impuestas anteriormente por Washington a miembros clave del poder judicial brasileño.
Hasta la noche del martes, el Departamento de Estado estadounidense no emitió ninguna respuesta oficial a las consultas realizadas sobre la revocación de la visa del ministro de Justicia ni de otras autoridades brasileñas. Según las informaciones difundidas, la decisión de Estados Unidos se produce en el marco de una serie de sanciones y restricciones que la administración de Donald Trump ha implementado en los últimos meses, principalmente en respuesta al proceso judicial por intento de golpe de Estado contra el ex presidente Jair Bolsonaro, quien gobernó el país entre 2019 y 2022.
Durante la reunión ministerial, Lula expresó públicamente su respaldo a Lewandowski y calificó la revocación como “una vergüenza para ellos, no para” el ministro. “Debería estar orgulloso de lo que ha hecho, que ha llevado a estos tipos a odiar tanto a Brasil”, agregó el mandatario. El jefe de Estado también hizo referencia a la última política estadounidense de incremento de aranceles, asegurando que Brasil no admitirá “insultos de nadie” y exhortó a sus ministros a defender la soberanía nacional de manera firme.
“Estamos dispuestos a sentarnos a la mesa en igualdad de condiciones. Lo que no estamos dispuestos es a que nos traten como si fuéramos subordinados. No aceptaremos eso de nadie. Es importante saber que nuestro compromiso es con el pueblo brasileño”, enfatizó Lula.
En las últimas semanas, Washington retiró la visa y sancionó también al juez del Supremo, Alexandre de Moraes, quien está a cargo del proceso judicial por el intento de golpe contra Bolsonaro. Estas medidas incluyeron la aplicación de la denominada ley Magnitsky, que supone el bloqueo de activos en territorio estadounidense y la prohibición a ciudadanos o empresas de ese país de mantener relaciones comerciales con los funcionarios sancionados. Sin embargo, fuentes judiciales brasileñas aseguraron que Moraes no posee bienes en Estados Unidos.
El contexto de las sanciones estadounidenses incluye presiones ejercidas por figuras de la oposición brasileña radicadas en Estados Unidos, como Paulo Figueiredo y Eduardo Bolsonaro, hijo del ex presidente. Según destaca la información, ambos lideran esfuerzos de lobby ante el ejecutivo estadounidense para lograr acciones más contundentes contra las autoridades judiciales de Brasil. Lula denunció estos hechos: “Es probablemente una de las peores traiciones que ha sufrido la patria”, afirmó durante la misma reunión, y apuntó directamente contra quienes, según sus palabras, “infunden mentiras e hipocresía en otro estado contra Brasil”.
Además de la cancelación de visas, la administración Trump impuso recientemente aranceles punitivos de hasta el 50% a variados productos brasileños, argumentando la existencia de una “caza de brujas” contra el ex presidente Bolsonaro y sus aliados. Bolsonaro se encuentra actualmente bajo prisión domiciliaria preventiva, acusado de conspiración y obstrucción de la justicia en el caso relacionado con el fallido intento de golpe de Estado en 2022. El Supremo Tribunal Federal de Brasil tiene previsto anunciar su veredicto definitivo sobre Bolsonaro a partir del próximo 2 de septiembre.
La escalada de tensiones se da en un contexto de fuerte polarización política, donde el bolsonarismo mantiene apoyo de sectores de la comunidad brasileña en Estados Unidos. En el transcurso de la última semana, la Policía Federal brasileña recomendó la imputación de Jair Bolsonaro y su hijo Eduardo por supuesta obstrucción del proceso penal.
Durante la reunión referida, Lula y algunos de sus ministros lucieron gorras azules con el lema “Brasil es de los brasileños”, en lo que pareció ser un gesto simbólico de reafirmación nacionalista ante las presiones externas.
El retiro de los visados y la imposición de sanciones han puesto de manifiesto la compleja relación bilateral bajo la administración Trump, así como la defensa de la soberanía y la independencia judicial por parte del gobierno de Lula da Silva.
(Con información de AFP, EP y Reuters)
INTERNACIONAL
Trump ignites conservative backlash after opening door to 600,000 Chinese students: ‘What is this madness?’
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President Donald Trump’s plan to allow 600,000 Chinese student visas to be issued sparked backlash from the right on Monday and Tuesday.
«I hear so many stories that we’re not going to allow their students,» Trump told reporters as trade talks with China are ongoing.
«We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important. But we’re going to get along with China,» he continued.
Trump expanded on his comments during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday.
«I think it’s very insulting to say students can’t come here because they’ll go out and start building schools and they’ll be able to survive it. But I like that their students come here. I like that other countries’ students come here. And you know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly. And it wouldn’t be the top colleges, so it’d be colleges that struggle on the bottom. And you take out 300,000 or 600,000 students out of the system,» Trump said.
«I like having, and I told this to President Xi that we’re honored to have their students here. Now, with that, we check in with careful and we see who’s there,» he added.
TRUMP OPENS DOOR TO 600,000 CHINESE STUDENTS AMID BEIJING TRADE TALKS
Donald Trump says 600,000 Chinese students could be allowed into the U.S. to study at its colleges pending a potential trade agreement with China. (Fox News)
Some immigration groups and conservative voices on social media voiced their opposition to the proposal.
«We should not let in 600,000 CHINESE students to attend American colleges and universities that may be loyal to the CCP,» Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted on X late Monday night. «If refusing to allow these Chinese students to attend our schools causes 15% of them to fail then these schools should fail anyways because they are being propped up by the CCP.»
«Granting 600,000 student visas to Chinese nationals threatens to put foreign students ahead of U.S. graduates,» Joe Chatham, director of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
«The focus now must be on reforms to limit access to sectors crucial to our economy and national security that have repeatedly been the target of corporate espionage and intellectual property theft—not expanding access to hostile countries. Educating foreign nationals should never be put before the interests of U.S. citizens and ensuring that our nation thrives,» he continued.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick delved further into the Trump administration’s view on the matter when pressed on «The Ingraham Angle.»
TRUMP SUSPENDS FOREIGN STUDENT VISAS AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY AMID NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office of the White House on Aug. 6, 2025. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«The president’s point of view is that what would happen if you didn’t have those 600K students is that you’d empty them from the top, all the students would go up to better schools, and the bottom 15% of universities and colleges would go out of business in America.»
«He’s taking a rational economic view, which is classic Donald Trump,» Lutnick added.
Many suggested that the free market should come into play with these colleges that could be at a potential financial risk.
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«Let them go under, then! What is this madness? NO. WE DON’T WANT MORE CHINESE STUDENTS. We actually don’t want any,» conservative commentator Kira Davis wrote.
«15% going under isn’t a bad thing,» writer Ryan Girdusky posted to X.
«Trump’s team is not capable of defending his Chinese student visa program,» conservative lawyer Marina Medvin posted on X. «That’s because they don’t actually want it either. It’s hard to sell something you don’t like.»
TRUMP SAYS HE WANTS FOREIGN STUDENTS WHO DON’T ‘CAUSE TROUBLE,’ SLAMS HARVARD FOR BEING ‘A BIG SHOT’
Banners on the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 27, 2025. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg)
«So this is essentially a subsidy for academia. Got it. American universities shouldn’t need an influx of foreign students in order to stay afloat. If they can’t survive on American enrollment, then let them go under. Plus, Chinese students steal our research and send it home,» Josh Peterson, a full stack developer and investigative journalist, posted.
Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler unleashed on the Trump White House, saying these Chinese students should be banned.
«Chinese ‘students’ are all spies for the Chinese Communist Party. They’re forced to be. They steal our intellectual property. They steal our tech. They steal our intel. They cozy up to our military,» Wheeler posted on X. «Trump should ban all Chinese students from U.S. universities. Deport them all.»
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«This is the dumbest explanation I’ve heard. By all means, put colleges & universities out of business!» Wheeler said in response to Lutnick’s defense of Trump’s policy. «Their business is indoctrinating students into hardened revolutionary Marxists. If you want to save America, you’ll have to raze the university system. Perfect chance to start.»
Others agreed with Lutnick’s perspective on the issue, saying that it could actually help the United States bring in more talent domestically.
«This is not as horrible as people are making it out to be. Chinese students on U.S. visas aren’t average kids. They represent the top tier of China’s youth,» podcast host Joshua Reid posted to X.
«On the other side, we are hosting China’s future leaders, scientists, and innovators. Which also means that American culture returns home with them. When you start to think about emergent tech, this is actually a great idea. Bring the top level students over the US. This is talent that is pulled away from China and now becomes a national asset,» Reid added.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this report.
immigration,china,education
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A United Nations-backed report declaring famine in areas of Gaza has sparked a war of words over the conditions in the enclave.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released a report on Friday in which it declared for the first time that the Gaza Governorate is experiencing a famine. Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis are meanwhile in severe crisis. Conditions in Northern Gaza are estimated to be as severe as those in the Gaza Governorate or worse. The IPC report does not touch on conditions in Rafah, as it is largely considered to be depopulated.
The IPC, a U.N.-backed initiative involving U.N. agencies, NGOs and technical experts, has been widely considered to be the global standard for classifying food crises.
Israel has fiercely pushed back against the report’s findings, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying it was «an outright lie.» While Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oren Marmorstein claimed the report was «tailor-made» based on «Hamas lies laundered through organizations with vested interests» and denied that a famine exists in Gaza.
DEIR AL BALAH, GAZA – AUGUST 10: Palestinians wait with pots in their hands as a charitable organization distributes food.
ISRAEL SAYS UN MISLEADS WORLD AS GAZA AID STOLEN AND DIVERTED FROM CIVILIANS
«Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation,» the prime minister’s office wrote in a thread on X that included Israeli data on the situation in Gaza.
Marmorstein also claimed that IPC «twisted its own rules and ignored its own criteria just to produce false accusations against Israel.»
In its Aug. 22 report, the IPC projected that by the end of September the famine will expand to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, leaving 641,000 people in famine conditions. The report predicts that the number of people in IPC Phase 4 (emergency) conditions will rise to 1.14 million while 198,000 will be in crisis.
In its recommendations, the IPC calls for an immediate ceasefire, a guarantee of unconditional and safe humanitarian access, protection of civilian infrastructure and large-scale humanitarian assistance.
APP USERS READ THE IPC REPORT HERE
GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE US-BACKED AID GROUP
After the report was released, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the Jewish state on X.
«This is not a mystery — it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself. Famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival,» Guterres wrote on X. «As the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law — including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population. We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity.»
Guterres ended his message with calls for a ceasefire, unfettered humanitarian access and the return of the hostages.
Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Aug. 25, 2025. (Leo Correa/AP Photo)
UNICEF OFFICIAL SAYS GAZA MALNUTRITION REACHES ‘FAMINE LEVELS’ AS HUMANITARIAN AID TRICKLES IN
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), all of which participate in the IPC, reiterated their call for an immediate humanitarian response and ceasefire.
Israel’s Coordination for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), slammed the IPC for relying on Hamas-run entities, UNRWA assessments and «unverifiable sources,» while ignoring the data from Jerusalem.
A Palestinian carries a box of food from the World Food Program as others carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 24, 2025. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo)
AS ISRAEL FACES BLAME FOR THE HUNGER CRISIS IN GAZA, UN’S OWN DATA SHOWS MOST OF ITS AID IS LOOTED
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former White House and National Security Council official during both Trump administrations, took issue with the report’s findings, calling them politically motivated.
«The ideology of destroying Israel and saving Hamas is widespread within the U.N. and far-left NGOs, leading them to change their own guidelines for declaring a famine in Gaza while they ignore an actual famine in Sudan. The data doesn’t support a famine declaration in Gaza, but that doesn’t matter when the conclusion is politically pre-ordained,» Goldberg told Fox News Digital.
Palestinians run towards parachutes carrying aid packages, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip Aug. 18, 2025. (Ramadan Abed/Reuters)
Goldberg also noted the timing of the report, which came just days after Israel said it would enter Gaza City — which is in the Gaza Governorate — was «the most telling part of it all.»
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee shared a statement from Netanyahu’s office and said that «tons of food has gone into Gaza but Hamas savages stole it, ate lots of it to become corpulent, sold it on the black market but they didn’t give it to the hostages.»
Hamas terrorists carrying clubs and firearms secure humanitarian aid trucks in the northern Gaza area of Jabaliya on June 25, 2025. (TPS-IL)
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Fifty hostages have been held in Gaza for nearly 700 days. Of those, 20 are believed to be alive while the rest are confirmed dead. Hamas is holding onto their remains. Earlier this month, the terror group released a video of hostage Evyatar David who appeared extremely thin and said he had not eaten in days.
israel,terrorism,united nations,human rights united nations
Inversores en alerta por el salto del riesgo país: cuáles son las acciones y bonos más afectados
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El fuerte cruce entre Victoria Villarruel y Mayra Mendoza por el caso de los audios
