U.S. District Judge George O’Toole, who Bill Clinton appointed, has blocked the transfer of a “transgender” biological male from a women’s prison to a male facility.

The inmate, identified under the pseudonym “Maria Moe,” filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” executive order, which removed men from women’s prisons and stopped the facilities from providing “any medical procedure, treatment, or drug” for “conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”

The lawsuit claimed the order infringes on his “due process rights” under the Fifth Amendment and is tantamount to “cruel and unusual punishment,” which is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.

The Hill reports:

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole issued the temporary restraining order Sunday while the case was sealed. At a hearing in Boston on Thursday, O’Toole confirmed from the bench that the inmate, identified in court filings by the pseudonym Maria Moe, is back in general population after prison officials moved her to a “special housing unit” and receiving her hormone therapy, her lawyers said.

O’Toole, an appointee of former President Clinton, ordered the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) not to change from that position until he decides whether to issue a longer injunction.

Reuters obtained and reported on the lawsuit before it was placed under seal.

The lawsuit claims:

Consistent with this standard of care, Maria Moe has lived as a woman and has taken hormones continuously since she was a teenager. During her term of incarceration, she has always been treated as a woman by federal correctional officials and her peers. She has never been housed in a men’s facility and has never stopped taking hormones. Until January 23, 2025, publicly available records from the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) identified her sex as “female.” On January 25, the same records classified her as “male” because of the Executive Order.

The complaint also states that Moe was placed in solitary to prepare to be moved to a men’s prison just one day after the order was issued on inauguration day.

“BOP officials informed her that because of the Order, she was being transferred to a men’s facility. Maria Moe remains in the SHU pending transfer. She has not been permitted to have contact with others for at least four days,” the suit alleges.

‘Transgender’ Inmate Sues Trump Administration Over Order Removing Men from Women’s Prisons

The lawyers representing Moe claim that if he is moved to a male facility, he "will not be safe."

"She will be at an extremely high risk of harassment, abuse, violence, and sexual assault," the complaint reads. "She may be subject to strip searches by male correctional officers. She may be forced to shower in full view of men who are incarcerated. And she will predictably experience worsening gender dysphoria, which can lead to serious harm, including dramatically increased rates of suicidality and depression."

Approximately 15 percent of the inmates in women's prisons are biological males who claim to be "transgender," according to the Bureau of Prisons. Just 750 female prisoners identify as "male" and are in men's prisons.

The post Clinton-Appointed Judge Blocks ‘Transgender’ Inmate Being Moved to Men’s Prison, Defying Trump’s Executive Order appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Arizona State Representative Alex Kolodin called Arizona’s illegitimate Democrat governor out in a letter to her office Thursday after $339 million “disappeared” from the state budget.

Kolodin told The Gateway Pundit, “Maybe somebody’s siphoning off some funds.” He clarified, “Maybe some are mistakes. Who knows? But they don’t match up.”

This is not the first, nor the second, time Hobbs has come under scrutiny for mismanagement or corruption involving large sums of money.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, in November, Hobbs was in the spotlight after her Office of Tourism awarded a $700,000 contract to create a hideous new state logo to a company with close ties to the agency’s director.

“Hobbs’ fake director of tourism has been caught funneling MASSIVE contracts to her own brother,” State Senator Jake Hoffman said. “Katie Hobbs continues to exploit her office, break the law, and take advantage of the people of Arizona.”

UPDATE: Arizona Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes to Launch Criminal Investigation into Gov. Katie Hobbs for Bribery and Fraud

Previously, Hobbs came under fire for other questionable contract decisions after accepting significant donations made to a dark money group that was used for Hobbs’ inaugural events in 2023 and appeared to influence state contract decisions. Hobbs reportedly received $400,000 from a company that later made millions in return.

Former Arizona Attorney General Democrat Terry Goddard even agreed that an investigation by law enforcement is warranted, and the Democrat Attorney General and Republican Maricopa County Attorney launched probes into the apparent quid pro quo.

Kolodin notes in his letter to Hobbs that the apparent pay-for-play scheme involving her inaugural fund "remains under investigation by the Attorney General's and Maricopa County Attorney's office."

"This missing money was, seems like it could be connected to the inaugural fund, which has already been a subject of legislative investigation," Kolodin told us. "It at least raises the appearance of a quid pro quo. The legislature is going to have to dig into this more to figure out whether it is, and if so, what changes we need to make to our budget process to account with the fact that we're dealing with this administration."

Arizona State Representative Alex Kolodin fired off a letter "Re: Mismanagement of State Funds and Agencies; Pressing Budget Questions" to Hobbs on Thursday.

"$339m disappeared from Arizona's budget, and I have questions for Katie Hobbs!" Kolodin said on X:

$339m disappeared from Arizona's budget and I have questions for Katie Hobbs! pic.twitter.com/1xTJHUrwcA

— Rep. Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) January 30, 2025

In his letter, Kolodin outlines his surprise that "the Legislature was informed the State has several insolvent agencies and requires a $339 million bailout to close out the current Fiscal Year." He continues, "Since your liaisons dedicated to briefing members of the Legislature failed to provide detail on how we got here, I am putting my request in writing: Arizonans deserve to know the details."

Much of the controversy surrounds an expansion to the state's Medicaid agency, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCS), which Kolodin says Hobbs did "unilaterally" without informing the legislature during budget negotiations.

"In the last budget cycle, when she submitted her draft budget when the legislature was negotiating her budget with her, she never told us that she was intending to approve a major expansion of ACCHS, which somehow she can do unilaterally, at least, to approve the expansion," Kolodin told The Gateway Pundit. "As a consequence, that expansion was never budgeted for. But once the budget got passed, she did it and started sucking that money out of the state treasury for that expansion. So, it siphoned off a whole bunch of money that was supposed to go to other things."

He added, "She didn't tell us when we were negotiating the budget because she was trying to be sneaky and go around us."

Also concerning is the resignation of Hobbs' budget director contemporaneous with the new discovery. "Somebody had to take the fall," said Kolodin. He continued, "From talking to colleagues and staff about the budget process and about this year's budget process, it's become very apparent to me that the line between malice and incompetence, with respect to the Hobbs administration's capabilities to competently negotiate a budget with us, is a line that is hard to parse."

"Her office, either they have no idea what they're doing, or they're like incredibly evil with a tinge of stupidity. And it's very hard to tell the difference, but essentially, they make basic accounting mistakes that lead to absolutely huge divergences between her budget and reality."

Hobbs again "refused to account for" an additional $60 million in state liabilities for Arizona schools, which "everybody knew about," including Hobbs, said Kolodin. Still, she failed to account for this large obligation in her budget negotiations and spending.

Kolodin asks the following questions to Hobbs:

Why did you mislead the legislature about the spending you intended to approve?

Why did your budget team refuse to work with us to budget for a known cost?

Who in your orbit is profiting off of Arizona's children?

Why has your budget director taken the fall?

"I think it's probably time for at least a a first step in a more formal investigation," Kolodin told us, noting that he needs a legislative committee chair to back him up and launch a formal investigation.

This is a developing story. 

The post EXCLUSIVE: Democrat Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs Under Fire After $339 Million “Disappeared” from State Budget as Hobbs’ Budget Director Mysteriously Resigns appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Friday addressed video of massive flooding at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland just outside of Washington, D.C., saying the flooding was caused by deferred maintenance by the Biden administration and vowed that President Trump would provide the “best care” to troops.

The catastrophic damage at the hospital center occurred in mid-January right as Biden left office. A steam system failure and frozen pipes damaged a reported fifty rooms and six elevators, causing patients to be moved to other rooms and hospitals, surgeries to be put off, and reducing the ability to handle a mass casualty event.

Hegseth was responding to shocking video obtained by national talk radio host Buck Sexton posted to X Thursday night. Sexton had commented, “This flooding is inside Walter Reed National Military Medical center- source tells me following years of neglect, a critical steam system failure has crippled all non-emergency operations. Critical situation at military medicine’s flagship institution.”

This flooding is inside Walter Reed National Military Medical center- source tells me following years of neglect, a critical steam system failure has crippled all non-emergency operations. Critical situation at military medicine’s flagship institution. pic.twitter.com/rnmNDITHc0

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) January 31, 2025

Hegseth posted a statement on X Friday afternoon, “We looked into this – it’s real and unacceptable. This is a result of deferred maintenance under the last administration. My staff is prioritizing fixing this, and under this President our troops will only receive the best care.”

We looked into this – it’s real and unacceptable.

This is a result of deferred maintenance under the last administration. My staff is prioritizing fixing this, and under this President our troops will only receive the best care. https://t.co/evnYMarGRz

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 31, 2025

The Defense Health Agency, which oversees Walter Reed, issued a statement Friday:

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Facilities Challenges

In January, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center experienced facilities challenges, beginning with frozen pipes bursting from extremely cold weather in the National Capital Region, then two incidents leading to water damage. Overall, fifty rooms and six elevators were damaged. Patients were safely moved to other locations within the medical center or transferred to other hospitals when necessary. Clean-up is complete and repairs are underway. Walter Reed continues to deliver care and admit patients to all wards.

We are grateful for our partners at the Navy Installation Command and the Naval Support Activity Bethesda in addressing these incidents in a timely manner. We remain committed to delivering the high quality, patient-focused care to our service members, retirees, and families.

Walter Reed hospital flooding, steam failure causes chaos for patient care. Great story by @AlexHortonTX and @bydanielgilbert. No paywall here: https://t.co/1A6tatBx91

— Tom Jackman (@TomJackmanWP) January 31, 2025

The Washington Post reported Friday afternoon that patient care was affected (excerpt):

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has experienced widespread flooding in recent days and outages of its steam system vital for equipment sterilization, significant infrastructure failures that threaten to disrupt patient care for months to come, The Washington Post has learned.

The medical facility in Maryland, responsible for the care of U.S. presidents and severely wounded service members among others, experienced the utility problems beginning in mid-January. Since then, there have been multiple breakdowns that have left the hospital unable to handle a large influx of patients should a crisis occur, according to internal emails and imagery obtained by The Post, and two Walter Reed staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation.

The source of the flooding, a burst sprinkler pipe, spewed 60,000 gallons of water before it was contained — enough “to fill a 25×50 foot swimming pool,” according to an email sent to Walter Reed staff on Monday from the medical center’s director, Navy Capt. Melissa C. Austin. Five buildings and dozens of rooms and hallways were affected, the email says. Video and other imagery obtained by The Post show water gushing from pipes, soaked ceiling tiles that crumbled and fell to the floor, and a constant drip of liquid falling like rain from the rafters.

Another infrastructure failure, the breakdown and leak of the hospital’s steam system, happened around Jan. 18 and has compromised staff’s ability to sterilize surgical equipment while sharply reducing the number of surgeries performed there, said one of Walter Reed’s employees.

The sterile processing department has become “nonfunctional,” according to a recent briefing slide shared with Walter Reed staff and obtained by The Post. The document says a concurrent release of steam has created “unbearable conditions” in the general surgery department, with temperatures reaching to 112 degrees.

The Post also reported that hospital director Capt. Melissa Austin appeared to downplay concerns about mold at the hospital after the flooding:

Austin, the hospital’s director, has appeared to downplay concerns from workers about a potential for mold growth after so much water penetrated the facility and the threat that could pose to patients and staff, her emails show. It’s true there may be a “funky” smell, she wrote in one message to staff, but that doesn’t mean mold is present. Mold, she wrote, is part of the “tapestry of life” in Maryland and any overgrowth would be targeted by industrial hygiene workers brought in to clean affected spaces, she wrote.

Navy Captain Melissa Austin took over as hospital director in July of 2023.

BETHESDA, Md. (July 5, 2023) — Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — U.S. Navy Capt. Melissa Austin assumed directorship of Walter Reed during a change of directorship ceremony in Memorial Auditorium. She assumes the helm of the world’s most revered military hospital, often referred to as “The President’s Hospital,” during a period of transformation for the historic campus.

“To whom much is given, much is required,” emphasized Austin in thanking her mentor outgoing Walter Reed director U.S. Navy Capt. Felix A. Drew Bigby. “That’s why my goal is that each of you have the same passion, purpose, and pride for military medical service that I do,” pledged Austin – promising to embrace the challenges of leading the military’s flagship hospital by empowering creativity and collaboration each and every day.

Austin joins Walter Reed after serving as the first commanding officer of the Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) at Fort Belvoir, a command that was previously a NMRTC under Bethesda. Austin previously served as the executive officer, NMRTC Portsmouth; deputy director, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth; and as the commanding officer for Expeditionary Medical Facility Juliet.

Austin, the daughter of a career Army officer, graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering and earned a commission through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) in 1996. She spent seven years in the surface warfare community before earning her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and completing her residency training in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of Washington Medical Center.

The post SecDef Hegseth: Deferred Maintenance by Biden Admin Caused Massive Flooding at Walter Reed Military Hospital in January; Vows Trump Will Only Give Troops the Best Care appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.