A lawyer who represented a government whistleblower in a case that led to President Donald Trump’s first impeachment sued the Trump administration on Monday for ‘unconstitutional retaliation’ after his security clearance was revoked.

Lawyer Mark Zaid argued that the administration’s decision to pull his clearance in March was in retaliation for representing former Department of Homeland Security intelligence chief Brian Murphy, who was key to Trump’s 2019 impeachment.

Murphy filed a whistleblower complaint in 2019 alleging Trump, amid his re-election campaign, pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate then-U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine. 

The U.S. House of Representatives voted later that year to impeach Trump for abusing the power of his office and obstructing Congress, but he was later acquitted by the Senate.

Zaid’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., claims the decision to rescind his security clearance represents a ‘dangerous, unconstitutional retaliation by the President of the United States against his perceived political enemies’ that ‘eschews any semblance of due process.’

The complaint accuses the Trump administration of violating the Administrative Procedures Act, the First Amendment and parts of the Fifth Amendment.

‘No American should lose their livelihood, or be blocked as a lawyer from representing clients, because a president carries a grudge toward them or who they represent,’  Zaid said in a statement. ‘This isn’t just about me. It’s about using security clearances as political weapons.’

The lawsuit cites a 2019 incident in which Trump called Zaid a ‘sleazeball’ at a Louisiana rally and told reporters that the lawyer was a ‘disgrace’ who ‘should be sued.’

The move to pull Zaid’s clearance was ‘a bald-faced attack on a sacred constitutional guarantee: the right to petition the court or federal agencies on behalf of clients,’ the lawsuit says, noting that an ‘attack on this right is especially insidious because it jeopardizes Mr. Zaid’s ability to pursue and represent the rights of others without fear of retribution.’

Trump has also revoked clearances of several other political foes, including former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his own former national security advisor John Bolton, as well as attorneys at other law firms.

Zaid urged the court to rule that Trump’s revocation decision was unconstitutional and reinstate his clearance. He has had access to classified information since 1995 and a security clearance since 2002.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump unveiled a budget blueprint last week that includes roughly $6 billion in federal funding cuts to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 

Despite the multibillion-dollar slash, a senior official at the space agency told Fox New Digital that the reduction in funding is actually beneficial for efficiency and exploration.

‘The reductions in the President’s blueprint budget counterintuitively represent an opportunity to truly innovate in how we conduct our space missions,’ senior NASA official Ryan Whitley told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement. 

‘Now is the time to reduce the bureaucracy at NASA and turn our attention to the execution of bold new human missions to the Moon and Mars.’

The proposed plan would cut roughly 24% of NASA’s entire budget, and could phase out some major projects like the Artemis moon program. Artemis, which was conceptualized by Trump in his first term, was designed to push the U.S. to return to moon exploration and came after President Barack Obama canceled the Constellation program in 2011.

The original timeline of the Artemis program included a mission to land astronauts on the moon by 2024 via the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, but technical challenges have delayed the undertaking several years, and it is now set for at least September 2026 should the program survive the cuts. 

While funding reduction threatens some existing programs, the White House touted new investments that would bolster the agency in an effort to beat Chinese space innovations.  

‘By allocating over $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs, it ensures that America’s human space exploration efforts remain unparalleled, innovative, and efficient,’ the White House topline preview reads. ‘To achieve these objectives, the Budget would streamline the NASA workforce, IT services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, and construction and environmental compliance activities.’

Aligning with the Trump administration’s movement to improve government efficiency, the White House clarified that the budget ‘refocuses [NASA] funding on beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars.’

With a heavy reduction in federal funding, it is most likely that outside contractors and companies like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX will most likely play a bigger role in launching rockets and exploring space.

SpaceX has conducted 479 launches thus far, and Blue Origin has conducted 31.

As the current head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), though he has announced his intention of leaving the agency to focus more on Tesla and his other ventures, Musk clarified he had no involvement in NASA budget discussions in a post on X last month.

The budget blueprint and the funding changes to NASA still have to make their way through the legislative process, but the U.S. space agency has stood fast in its position that the current proposal will bolster innovation and exploration.

‘We have accomplished the impossible time and time again, but even the best organizations need to take a hard look in the mirror,’ Whitley told Fox News Digital.

‘For the past 25 years, NASA has had access to billions of dollars to advance human exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit. Despite that, in all that time, the United States has only successfully conducted one—uncrewed—test flight around the Moon,’ he said. ‘We know we are capable of accomplishing much more.’

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

Friedrich Merz, the conservative leader who was poised to become Germany’s next chancellor, failed to win enough votes to secure the country’s top position.

This leaves German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in power even though he had already delivered a farewell address. Merz’s loss marks a historic moment, as it is the first of its kind in post-war Germany.

The result came as a major upset, as Merz was widely expected to win, thanks to a coalition deal involving his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU); its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU); and the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

In February, Merz led his party to a federal election victory and later signed the deal that many assumed would secure him the votes needed to become chancellor. However, on Tuesday, Merz received 310 votes—falling short by six—as at least 18 Members of the German Parliament in the coalition did not back him, according to Reuters.

To secure the position of chancellor, Merz would have needed to win 316 out of 630 in the Bundestag. The coalition of CSU/CDU and SPD has 328 seats, more than enough to secure a majority victory. However, Merz received 310 votes, while 307 members voted against him and nine others abstained.

Despite his unexpected loss, Merz is not out of luck. The Bundestag now has 14 days to elect the next chancellor, and Merz still has a chance of winning the position. Germany’s socialist Left Party, however, is pushing to hold another round of chancellor elections as soon as Wednesday, according to Germany-based news outlet DW.

Merz had already lined up victory trips to France and Poland on Wednesday, Reuters reported, though it is unclear whether he will proceed with the visits as planned following the defeat.

A resurfaced clip of Dem. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive ‘Squad’ in Congress, sparked a frenzy on social media this week with conservatives blasting the congresswoman over her comments regarding the ‘radicalization of White men.’

‘I would say our country should be more fearful of White men across our country, because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country,’ Omar said in a 2018 interview with Al-Jazeera while discussing the domestic terrorism threats in the United States and responding to a question on how much concern ‘jihadism’ poses to the United States. 

 ‘And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of White men.’

The clip, posted by conservative influencer accounts including Laura Loomer and LibsofTikTok with millions of impressions, sparked outrage from conservatives on social media, including from inside the White House. 

‘This isn’t just sick; it’s actually genocidal language,’ Vice President JD Vance posted on X. ‘What a disgrace this person is.’

‘This is blatant racism,’ GOP Sen. Mike Lee posted on X. ‘Who condemns it?’

‘@ilhanMN never ceases to be an embarrassment for Minnesota,’ GOP Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, posted on X. 

‘There’s never been a more anti-American member of Congress than Ilhan Omar,’ conservative influencer Paul Szypula posted on X. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s office for comment. 

The social media firestorm comes shortly after Omar sparked controversy for telling Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Myles Morell to ‘f— off’ after he asked her a question about fellow Democratic Party figures traveling to El Salvador to defend illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to the country by the Trump administration.

Omar later responded to the clip being shared on X, stating, ‘I said what I said. You and all your miserable trolls can f— off.’

The White House slammed the ‘radical left’ in a social media post Sunday, showing an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump wielding a lightsaber in celebration of May the Fourth, or ‘Star Wars Day.’

May 4 has long been regarded as a day to celebrate the iconic movie franchise as fans post on social media ‘May the Fourth be with you,’ an offshoot of the memorable Star Wars quote ‘May the force be with you.’

On Sunday, the White House took an opportunity to celebrate the popular day with a post on X, while also taking digs at the Trump administration’s biggest critics.

‘Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You’re not the Rebellion—you’re the Empire,’ the White House wrote. ‘May the 4th be with you.’

The post included an AI-generated image of Trump, who not only donned a Jedi robe and set of ripped arms but also held a red lightsaber. Behind him in the image were two bald eagles and two American flags.

The post received mixed reactions.

‘Our efforts to FOIA info about a reported ‘Death Star’ have been stonewalled. And we pulled The Honorable Darth Vader as a judge when we sued so THAT will go nowhere,’ a user wrote.

Another user asked X’s AI feature Grok what the meaning of a red lightsaber is in Star Wars. Those who follow the science fiction franchise will remember Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and others associated with the dark side or Sith powers used a red lightsaber of some sort.

The Star Wars fandom website Wookieepedia explains that in the process of making a lightsaber, negative emotions like rage, hate, fear and pain would result in a red hue.

‘How do you not have one nerd on staff to tell you what color lightsaber is good and what color is bad???’ a user asked in reaction to the White House post.

But supporters of the president were quick to respond to reactions about the color of the lightsaber Trump is holding in the image.

‘People arguing Trump using a red lightsaber equates him to evil…R ed is literally one of the three colors in our nation’s flag,’ a user wrote. ‘He is the leader of the Republican Party which is often ascribed the color Red. Context matters.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on the matter.

Still, the White House was not the only federal government agency to have fun with May the Fourth.

The U.S. Army Pacific posted an AI-generated image to social media of two soldiers with lightsabers – one holding red and the other holding a red, white and blue weapon – walking into combat at night, with the Milky Way Galaxy behind them.

‘Across every galaxy – known and unknown – no force rivals our discipline, strength, and precision,’ the post read. ‘We don’t just defend the world. We protect the future. Victory is forged not found. May the 4th be with you.’