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On the first day of the federal government shutdown, New York City is learning just how costly its commitment to \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d policies could be under President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
The projects affected are among the most significant in New York\u2019s long-term transportation planning. One is the Hudson Tunnel Project, which would add a new passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson River, a vital corridor for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. The other is the long-delayed Second Avenue Subway expansion, a project that has been discussed for decades and is seen as critical to easing congestion on Manhattan\u2019s East Side.<\/p>\n
In a follow-up post, Vought confirmed both projects are on ice, immediately sparking debate over whether the freeze was primarily about DEI or about politics.The Associated Press noted that the timing suggested more than policy. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has made the Hudson Tunnel Project one of his signature priorities. In 2023, Schumer locked in a $6.88 billion federal grant for the tunnel. At the time, he acknowledged the funding was partly a safeguard in case Trump returned to the White House and Republicans reclaimed the Senate<\/p>\n
Both of those things have now happened.House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents Brooklyn, also has a stake in the projects and has been one of Trump\u2019s most vocal opponents in Congress.<\/p>\n
The decision to freeze funding hits directly at the priorities of both New York Democrats who are central to the shutdown fight.<\/p>\n
CBS News highlighted how the move reverberated beyond policy debates. For Schumer and Jeffries, it was a political gut punch delivered on the same day Democrats were already facing pressure for allowing the shutdown to drag on.<\/p>\n
The broader context is that Trump has made rolling back DEI spending a cornerstone of his second administration.<\/p>\n
During his first term, Trump signed an executive order restricting DEI training in federal agencies, though it was later rescinded by President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
Now, with Trump back in office and Republicans holding a Senate majority, the administration is applying that principle to billions of dollars in federal spending.<\/p>\n
Vought framed the decision as a matter of constitutional principle. Supporters of the freeze argued online that taxpayers should not be forced to fund projects or programs that prioritize ideological commitments over core infrastructure needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what accountability looks like,\u201d one Trump supporter wrote on X. \u201cNo more DEI slush funds disguised as public works.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics, however, accused the White House of weaponizing federal funding to punish political opponents. Some Democrats argued that the timing \u2014 the very first day of the shutdown \u2014 made it clear the freeze was aimed squarely at Schumer and Jeffries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t about DEI, it\u2019s about Donald Trump flexing power,\u201d one Democratic strategist said.<\/p>\n
For New Yorkers, the practical implications are serious. The Hudson Tunnel Project is part of the larger Gateway Program, which seeks to modernize a century-old rail system that millions of commuters depend on.<\/p>\n
Delays in federal funding could set the project back years, raising costs and leaving existing tunnels vulnerable to breakdowns. The Second Avenue Subway, meanwhile, has been in the works since the 1920s and has already been plagued by delays and cost overruns.<\/p>\n
New disclosures from the government\u2019s \u201cCrossfire Hurricane\u201d investigation into the 2016 election, otherwise known as alleged \u201cTrump-Russia collusion,\u201d have revealed a\u00a0<\/p>\n
A newly declassified\u00a0memo, released Friday by Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, shows that U.S. intelligence officials concluded Russia did not play a significant role in Donald Trump\u2019s victory over Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
Paul Sperry, a senior reporter for Real Clear Investigations, took to X to report that sources informed him that there are damning text messages and emails showing coordination between the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 campaign aides.<\/p>\n
\u201cDEVELOPING: I\u2019m told there are texts\/emails indicating Hillary Clinton campaign aides directly coordinated with the Obama White House, NSC, State Dept and Intelligence Community officials in efforts to dig up dirt tying Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin in July 2016 \u2026developing\u2026\u201d Perry wrote on X.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0documents\u00a0released by Gabbard are the clearest proof yet that officials within the Obama administration had serious doubts about Russian interference, even as they proceeded with the investigation.<\/p>\n
The memo, dated 2016, told then-President Barack Obama directly that \u201cRussian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
While acknowledging prior reports about a possible breach of Illinois voter rolls and failed targeting attempts in other states, the memo clearly states that those efforts never compromised voting systems\u2014and didn\u2019t come close to altering results.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe targeting of infrastructure not used in casting ballots makes it highly unlikely it would have resulted in altering any state\u2019s official vote,\u201d the document reads. It goes further: \u201cCriminal activity also failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The disclosure is a major vindication for Trump, who has long argued that the Russia collusion narrative was a hoax pushed by the Clinton campaign and Obama intelligence officials to sabotage his presidency before it began.<\/p>\n
And now the pressure is turning on the people who pushed it.<\/p>\n
FBI officials are preparing the groundwork for a possible criminal investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, and others involved in launching and running the Crossfire Hurricane probe.<\/p>\n
According to a release from current CIA Director John Ratcliffe, career intelligence officials say Brennan deliberately kept parts of the investigation secret from other agencies and aggressively pushed to include the now-debunked Steele dossier.<\/p>\n
This document\u00a0falsely claimedconnections between\u00a0Trump and Russian agents.<\/p>\n
A 200-page congressional audit has been compiled after a secret meeting last weekend between the DOJ and intelligence officials. They\u2019re now looking at whether to declassify even more documents, including Crossfire Hurricane notes and transcripts from special counsel John Durham\u2019s investigation, which concluded in 2023 that the Trump\u2013Russia connection was baseless.<\/p>\n
Gabbard\u2019s disclosure appears to be the first step in a broader transparency effort.<\/p>\n
Officials are also looking at whether Brennan may have perjured himself in testimony to Congress, when he denied using the Steele dossier in the intelligence community\u2019s final assessment. Although the statute of limitations on perjury may have expired, officials believe he could still face charges for conspiracy to commit perjury.<\/p>\n
\u201cObama ordered the ICA to set Trump up and knock him off balance before he could even get started,\u201d one senior official said. \u201cThis was an influence operation far more consequential than anything Putin cooked up. Obama and Hillary schemed the op, and the CIA and FBI ran it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comey is also under renewed scrutiny. He recently stirred controversy after posting a cryptic message to social media that many saw as dangerously suggestive. According to sources, he was visited by the Secret Service earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the first day of the federal government shutdown, New York City is learning just how costly its commitment to \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d policies could be under President Donald Trump\u2019s administration….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t