‘First day’: Trump vows to act ‘very quickly’ to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, says Liz Cheney and House select committee members ‘should be in jail’ in first TV interview since election

President-elect Donald Trump on "Meet the Press" Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 (NBC News/YouTube).

President Donald Trump on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 (NBC News/YouTube).

A federal court in Rhode Island issued an order temporarily halting the Trump administration’s funding freeze on federal aid programs just a few hours after the White House rescinded the memo responsible for setting off a chaotic series of events that left nonprofits and federal assistance programs scrambling.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell on Wednesday became the second federal judge to block the policy in less than 24 hours.

During a hearing on Wednesday, McConnell said that the White House sabotaged its own attempt to walk back the “hugely ambiguous” directives in the memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), meaning the order was still subject to the court’s jurisdiction at least for the moment, according to a report from Politico.

“I’m inclined to grant the restraining order,” McConnell reportedly said during the hearing. “I fear … that the administration is acting with a distinction without a difference.”

The OMB memo, which was sent out Tuesday morning, stated the following (bold in original):

“[T]o the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”

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