Trump admin updates: White House asks court to stay order to ground deportation flights

A U.S. pardon attorney was fired after refusing to recommend actor Mel Gibson have his gun rights restored following a domestic violence conviction years ago, a spokesperson told ABC News.

Elizabeth G. Oyer, the attorney, said in an interview with The New York Times that she was not given the exact reasoning for her dismissal but said she believes it was because she refused to bless Gibson’s rights to purchase, own or use guns.

A spokesperson for Oyer confirmed her comments to ABC News. A DOJ official told ABC News the disagreement over Mel Gibson played no role in the dismissal.

Gibson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge in Los Angeles in 2011.

-ABC News’ Pierre Thomas

A federal judge on Monday determined that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, handing a win to an independent watchdog group that sought to shed light on the budget-slashing agency.

U.S. District Judge Chris Cooper determined that DOGE must respond to an information request that sought to learn more about the group’s role in perpetuating mass firings and restructuring the federal government, ordering the agency to preserve any relevant records.

President Donald Trump’s executive orders, his public statements about DOGE, and the agency’s “substantial authority over vast swathes of the federal government” were enough to prove to Judge Cooper that the group should be subject to FOIA, which gives the public the right to access records from the federal government.

The ruling could open the door to the public, media entities and nonprofits to begin accessing records to better understand DOGE's unprecedented influence across the federal government.

-ABC News' Peter Charalambous

A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump's administration to pay nearly $2 billion in foreign aid but stopped short of blocking the State Department from conducting a review of foreign aid payments.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali partially granted a preliminary injunction that blocks the Trump administration’s sweeping 90-day foreign aid freeze, requiring the Trump administration to pay for any foreign aid completed before Feb. 13.

The judge's decision effectively blocks the Trump administration from freezing foreign aid payments but allows the president to determine how the money is spent in accordance with the law, with the decision seemingly acknowledging the limitations of federal courts in restraining the president.

The judge also criticized the Trump administration for overstepping its authority by attempting to usurp Congress’s ability to appropriate aid, writing that the president has adopted “an unbridled view of Executive power that the Supreme Court has consistently rejected.”

The State Department and USAID must file a report by March 14 laying out how the government is complying with the order.

-ABC News' Peter Charalambous

President Donald Trump shared a video on Monday of the removal of the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C.

The mural was created following the murder of George Floyd, which elicited protests across the country.

It was painted a few days after federal authorities cleared protesters in front of the White House so Trump could walk to the historic St. John's Episcopal Church and pose for photographs while holding a Bible.

-ABC News' Hannah Demissie