Nationwide protests are set to take place Saturday in opposition to the Trump administration and its allies, with leaders vowing to stand up to push back against the “most brazen power grab in modern history.”

The “Hands Off!” rallies are taking place in more than 1,000 cities across all 50 states, and nearly 400,000 people have signed up to attend them, according to the progressive organization Indivisible, which is one of the almost 200 groups partnering to organize the movement.

Other partner organizations include the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and various advocacy groups focusing on issues like climate change and voting rights.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them,” the movement’s website states. “They’re taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we’re taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!”

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A federal judge ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump's administration violated a court order by halting the disbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to states.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, sided with Democratic state attorneys general in finding that the funding pause violated his injunction blocking the administration's earlier sweeping pause of federal grants, loans and other financial aid.

Those attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia said that FEMA had been halting disbursements since early February to conduct a "manual review" of grants without clearly explaining when the process would end.

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Here in New York, Jewish students chained themselves to Columbia University’s gates Wednesday to demand the school reveal the names of trustees and Columbia officials who collaborated with federal immigration authorities in the arrest last month of student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil.

Carly: “We, as Jewish students, demand transparency in that process. … You know, as Jewish students and to the Jewish people at large, being political pawns in a game is not a new occurrence, and that’s something that we very much so are here to say, 'Hey, you cannot weaponize antisemitism to harm our friends and peers.'”

Students continued their action into the early hours of this morning, even after Columbia security and NYPD arrived on the scene to cut the chains and forcibly remove protesters. We’ll hear more of their voices later in the broadcast.

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