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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took to X on Wednesday to rage against state appeals court judges after they paused discovery in his case, trying to shut down fundraising for former Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke's organization, Powered By People.

O'Rourke, a multiple-time unsuccessful Democratic candidate for statewide office in Texas, helped fundraise the effort by Democratic state representatives to walk out of the state, denying a quorum for two weeks as Republicans passed a Donald Trump-ordered redistricting plan that would make five Democratic seats more favorable to Republicans.

President Donald Trump's increasingly tight leash on the Federal Reserve — most clearly exemplified by his efforts to remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook on unproven fraud allegations — is a massive threat to the stability of the dollar and the economic system generally, Nobel laureate economist turned political analyst Paul Krugman told MSNBC's Ari Melber on Wednesday evening.

"We actually quoted you the very night this news broke and your comparison to other countries that have done what Trump wants to do and why it's backfired for the economy," said Melber. "Explain what you meant by that."

A top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced his resignation in a lengthy social media post in which he delivered a blistering rebuke of the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for undermining science and endangering public health.

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, announced on X his resignation effective end of day Thursday. His announcement came amid an exodus of top scientists from the CDC following the ouster of its director, Susan Monarez.

A prominent lawyer revealed on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's recent stunt could backfire on him.

Trump recently posted a letter on Truth Social where he said he was removing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook from her job "for cause." Cook and her attorneys have said they will challenge her termination in court and that she is not resigning.

The Justice Department plans to scrap longstanding rules and qualifications for immigration judges and create a new policy where it can appoint any lawyer it wants to temporarily preside over cases, reported Government Executive on Wednesday.

"The change gives Attorney General Pam Bondi wide latitude in selecting officials to oversee asylum and other cases pending before the Executive Office of Immigration Review, the Justice Department agency that runs the nation’s immigration courts," said the report. "That authority could provide President Trump with additional power to withhold legal status from immigrants and expedite his mass deportation efforts."

Lawyers who represent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director responded on Wednesday to allegations that their client had been fired from her job.

Earlier in the day, the Department of Health and Human Services posted on X saying that Dr. Susan Monarez was "no longer" CDC director. The Washington Post followed up on the post and reported that Monarez was removed because she refused to change the CDC's vaccine standards without consulting advisors.

A former White House national security advisor was taken aback by the Trump administration's most recent cabinet meeting.

Jake Sullivan, who served as former President Joe Biden's national security advisor, discussed the meeting on a recent episode of The Bulwark's podcast on YouTube. He described the meeting as one taken from a "Kim Jong-Un documentary," referring to the dictatorial leader of North Korea.

A fuming President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening attacked a court ruling in Utah that found the State Legislature's congressional redistricting maps were unconstitutional.

A judge on Monday ordered state lawmakers to redraw new congressional maps that comply with a 2018 voter-approved ballot initiative. The ruling permanently blocked the use of the GOP's 2021 congressional map, which was found to have unlawfully gerrymandered districts to benefit Republicans and overrode an independent redistricting commission.

If President Donald Trump follows through with one of his recent threats to punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, the result could be "staggering" inflation, reported NBC News.

Specifically, Trump has levied 50 percent tariffs on India in retaliation for purchasing oil from Russia, with the idea being to force it and other Russian trading partners to isolate the Kremlin. That took effect on Wednesday. Previously, Trump had planned tariffs on India to be set at 25 percent, already a massive increase, and five rounds of trade negotiations with India have yielded no progress.

The firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez on Wednesday set off an internet frenzy as scientists roundly condemned the move.

Monarez was confirmed as the CDC director on July 29 after President Donald Trump withdrew a nominee who faced significant pushback due to his skepticism about vaccines. Some advocates hoped Monarez, a career public health professional, would be a check on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday moved to rescind a conservation policy dating back nearly 25 years that has protected more than 45 million acres of pristine public lands, as the Trump administration announced a public comment period of just three weeks regarding the rollback of the "Roadless Rule."

The rule, officially called the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, has protected against the building of roads for logging and oil and gas drilling in forest lands, including Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest national woodland.

Multiple scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted their resignations on Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump fired the recently confirmed CDC director.

The Department of Health and Human Services posted on its official X account that Susan Monarez is "no longer director" of the agency, which happened about one month after she was confirmed for the job. The Washington Post reported that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked Monarez to leave because she would not change the agency's vaccine policies.

President Donald Trump's federal takeover of D.C. has the local courts stretched to breaking point, CNN reported on Wednesday.

Trump's D.C. U.S. Attorney, former Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro, "has encouraged its prosecutors to bring more cases to federal court with the most serious charges they can pursue. Defense attorneys across the city believe weaker cases are now being brought into the system as smaller infractions are bumped up to more serious charges," reported Katelyn Polantz, Marshall Cohen, Holmes Lybrand, and Casey Gannon.