NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel has hired the president’s daughter, Lara Trump, to be host of a new weekend show on the network.

Trump was a contributor who made appearances on Fox in 2021 and 2022, after President Donald Trump lost his bid for a second term, then served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

Her hour-long show, “My View with Lara Trump,” will air at 9 p.m. on Saturday nights, Fox announced on Wednesday.

Fox said in its announcement that Trump’s show “will focus on the return of common sense to all corners of American life as the country ushers in a new era of practicality.”

The Associated Press

Washington D.C. (AP) — A D.C. Superior Court Judge has awarded an historic Black church control over the Proud Boys trademark after the group defaulted on a $2.8 million judgment.

The Monday ruling grants rights to the trademark of the far-right group’s name to the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church as well as barring the Proud Boys members from selling any merchandise with the group’s name or symbols without the church’s consent. The ruling also allows the church to try to seize any money made from selling the group’s merchandise.

The church filed the lawsuit to try to recoup damages from vandalism made by group members after a December 2020 pro-Donald Trump rally. Black Lives Matter banners were torn down and burned at two churches, including Metropolitan African Methodist. There were also violent clashes between opposing protesters and arrests were made that night.

Enrique Tarrio, then the leader of the Proud Boys, confessed to participating in the burnings and was later sentenced to more than five months in jail on those and other charges. Tarrio was later sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for orchestrating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump granted pardons, commutations or vowed to dismiss cases against the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol— including Tarrio.

In a lengthy statement posted to X, Tarrio wrote, “The presiding judge has denied due process to myself and the other defendants, preventing us from presenting a proper defense.” Tarrio also suggested in separate posts that the Proud Boys rename themselves, “African Methodist Episcopal Boys” and asked for suggestions on a new name.

Case records show the lawsuit was served to Tarrio at the federal prison where he was housed when it was filed, as well as to at least one other address associated with him and another member. The church lawsuit called the actions on Dec. 12, 2020 “acts of terror” and said they were meant to intimidate the members of the church.

A default judgement was awarded to the church in June 2023. After no payments were been made and no responses were filed by the Proud Boys or their representatives, lawyers for the church filed a motion in December seeking rights to the trademark.

An attorney representing the church in the civil action did not respond to a request for comment. Nayib Hassan, Tarrio’s attorney, declined to comment.

Associated Press, The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Callers are getting busy signals and voicemail inboxes are full at many U.S. Senate offices as people try to reach out and voice their opinions on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, executive orders and moves to dismantle various federal programs.

A memo distributed to Senate staff on Tuesday said there was a higher number of calls than usual and that some callers were having trouble getting through.

“The Senate is experiencing an unusually high volume of inbound calls. External callers may receive a temporary busy signal when phoning a Senate office,” according to the memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The influx of phone calls comes as Trump and ally Elon Musk are working to shrink the federal government during the president’s first weeks in office. They are shuttering agencies, temporarily freezing funding and pushing workers to resign, all while staffers with Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency infiltrate departments in a stated effort to root out fraud and abuse.

One popular post making the rounds on social media urged opponents of those actions to call their lawmakers six times a day, every day — two calls each to their two senators and two to their House member. “You should NOT be bothering with online petitions or emailing,” it said. The post urged use of a smartphone app that would make the task of making multiple calls per day easier.

Caitlin Christman, an institutional support contractor in Wisconsin furloughed last week from the U.S. Agency for International Development, said it took her four attempts over five days to successfully leave a message for her senator, Republican Ron Johnson, after dealing with an overloaded voicemail box, grainy recorded greetings and a busy signal.

“I wanted to express my concern with dismantling USAID without any sort of review, and to relay my experience with its work, which I believe has been in our country’s best interest,” she said, noting that she expects to be fired later this week.

Meryl Neiman of Ohio Progressive Action Leaders and others within her network sought to draw attention to the fact that they were having trouble reaching both her state’s senators — Republicans Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted — by phone or in person at their field offices before Wednesday’s nationwide protests against Trump and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society.

Both senators are close with Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, and were with him as recently as Monday, during a tour of the 2023 derailment site in East Palestine.

Those frustrated by Trump’s actions shared similar stories with the AP of being unable to reach their lawmakers. They seemed to be experiencing particular barriers to connecting with the Senate offices of Trump’s fellow Republicans, who may be more inundated than Democrats because Republicans hold the chamber’s majority and are more likely to have the president’s ear.

Lawmakers were frustrated, too, as they seek to maintain operations amid the barrage. Senate voicemail boxes only hold about 1,000 messages before becoming full and needing to be catalogued and emptied.

Moreno’s spokesperson, Reagan McCarthy, said helping Ohioans in need is his top priority.

“While the Senate has been dealing with an exceptionally high volume of calls, our office is committed to responding to each and every Ohioan in need of assistance and working through all requests as quickly as possible,” she said in a statement.

Julie Carr Smyth, The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Democrats in suburban New York are suing a Republican county executive over his creation of an armed unit of volunteer residents, saying it amounts to an “illegal, taxpayer-funded civilian militia.”

Nassau County Democratic lawmakers argue in their complaint filed Wednesday that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman lacked the legal authority to form a cadre of special sheriff’s deputies with “authority to use deadly force and make arrests under color of law.”

They say state law authorizes local sheriffs to deputize only trained law enforcement officers from other agencies in emergencies — not private citizens.

“New York State law is clear: only professional, sworn officers can wield police powers,” said Kelner, whose firm Kelner & Kelner filed the lawsuit on behalf of Democratic lawmakers. “Blakeman’s militia is illegal and a clear threat to public safety.”

Democrats, who are the minority in the county legislature, also complain Blakeman’s office has ignored their public records requests seeking basic details of the program, including who is being recruited, the scope of their training, the specific weapons they will carry and the total taxpayer cost of the program.

Blakeman didn’t immediately respond to the secrecy claims, but in a statement dismissed the suit as “frivolous” and suggested Democrats were defaming the volunteer deputies, many of whom are retired military and law enforcement officers.

He has said the armed deputies are required to be licensed gun owners, must complete 12 hours of classroom instruction and practice on the firing range.

He’s also stressed the deputies would only be called on when the county, located just east of the New York City borough of Queens, faces a natural disaster or other major emergency.

The deputies would be assigned to protect government buildings, hospitals and critical infrastructure, and not be used to quell protests or patrol streets, as Democrats and other critics have suggested, according to Blakeman.

A spokesperson for the county didn’t provide an update Wednesday but as of last summer about two dozen had completed training with plans to have about 50 total in place.

Democrats, in their suit, note the county already has one of the largest local police forces in the nation, with some 2,600 sworn officers. State troopers also serve Nassau County and dozens of local villages have their own police forces.

The county can also call up hundreds of unarmed civilian volunteers through the Nassau County Auxiliary Police and the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management Community Emergency Response Team, according to the litigation.

“Defendants have not publicly explained how a group of less than one hundred armed civilians would materially aid the thousands of trained, registered, sworn, and armed police and peace officers available to meet the needs of Nassau County residents in the event of an emergency,” the lawsuit states. “Authorizing minimally trained private citizens to wield force on behalf of the government – and during an emergency no less – poses clear and obvious safety risks, both to trained law enforcement and the public at large.”

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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press

A movement to protest the early actions of President Donald Trump’s administration took off Wednesday, as thousands of demonstrators gathered outside a federal courthouse in Philadelphia and at state capitols in Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Protesters waved signs decrying Trump; billionaire Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency; and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport! Do something,” said a sign held aloft by one demonstrator in Philadelphia.

The protests were a result of a movement that has organized online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day. Websites and accounts across social media issued calls for action, with messages such as “reject fascism” and “defend our democracy.”

Outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, a crowd of about 500 people gathered in freezing temperatures. They denounced everything from Trump’s plans for Gaza to the rollback of rights for transgender neighbors and recent efforts to deport people who are in the U.S. illegally.

Catie Miglietti, from the Ann Arbor area, said Musk’s access to the Treasury Department data was especially concerning to her. She painted a sign depicting Musk puppeteering Trump from his outraised arm — evoking Musk’s straight-arm gesture during a January speech that some have interpreted as a Nazi salute.

“If we don’t stop it and get Congress to do something, it’s an attack on democracy,” she said.

Kelsey Brianne, a key organizer of the Michigan rally, learned about the protest movement Sunday night and has been coordinating speakers and safety protocols.

“I want to look back at this time and say that I did something and I didn’t just sit back,” Brianne said on the eve of the protests.

Trump has signed a series of executive orders in the first couple of weeks of his new term on everything from trade and immigration to climate change. As Democrats begin to raise their voice in opposition to Trump’s agenda, protests have also begun.

On Sunday, thousands of people marched against Trump’s plan for large-scale deportations in Southern California, including in downtown Los Angeles, where protests shut down a major freeway for hours. ___

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, and Gabriel Sandoval in Phoenix contributed to this report. Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Morgan Lee, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scott Turner was confirmed Wednesday as the housing secretary, a role central to President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda at a time when most Americans say the cost of living around necessities are a top concern.

The former NFL player, Texas state representative and White House senior aide was confirmed in a 55-44 vote.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is tasked with enforcing and coordinating federal housing law. The vast majority of HUD’s budget goes toward housing assistance for lower-income families, the elderly and disabled as well as community development and homelessness programs. The department will be at the forefront of issues ranging from rising housing costs to spurring economic development in struggling cities and lowering homelessness rates, especially among veterans.

Turner will be the second professional football player to lead HUD, after former Congressman Jack Kemp served in the role under President George H. W. Bush. Turner is the only Black American member of Trump’s Cabinet; Ben Carson, who served as HUD secretary of Trump’s first term, was the only Black American member of that Cabinet.

Trump promised on the campaign trail to lower housing costs through mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and called for the creation of futuristic “freedom cities” built on federal land, proposals that would significantly overlap with Turner’s portfolio.

“As a country, we are not building enough homes. We need millions of homes, all kinds of homes — multifamily, single family, duplex, condo, manufacturing housing, you name it — we need housing in our country for individuals and families to have a roof over their head and to call home,” Turner said during his confirmation hearing last month.

During Trump’s first term, Turner served as the Executive Director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, where he helped direct the “opportunity zone” program that aims to boost private investment in struggling cities. Investors who participate can defer taxes on gains made into qualifying low-income neighborhoods until the program expires in late 2026.

The policy was championed by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and enacted in Trump’s 2017 tax cuts law. Turner has said he wants to expand the program’s efforts.

“I saw firsthand the impact of this initiative, as it gave Americans living in underserved communities an opportunity, a foundation to start businesses, to live in better homes, to be self-sustaining, to be confident, and to unleash that promise and potential that the lord has given each of us in our country,” Turner said during his confirmation hearing.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., touted that the program under Turner’s leadership “secured $50 billion in private investments” for struggling communities.

“These investments helped to revitalize many forgotten communities,” Barrasso said. “Scott Turner was instrumental in their success. He is the right man to help ensure opportunity now.”

Matt Brown, The Associated Press