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      White House denies some reporters access to Trump cabinet meeting – live

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      The White House on Wednesday reportedly denied reporters from Reuters, the AP, and other news organizations access to President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting in keeping with the administration’s new policy regarding media coverage.Reuters is reporting that the White House denied access to an Associated Press photographer and three reporters from Reuters, HuffPost and Der Tagesspiegel, a German newspaper.TV crews from ABC and Newsmax, along with correspondents from Axios, the Blaze, Bloomberg News and NPR were permitted to cover the event.This comes as on Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would take control of the White House press pool, stripping the independent White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) of its longstanding role in deciding which journalists have access to the president in intimate settings.The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has urged the Trump administration to strike down a key scientific finding that has served as the foundation for US climate change policy, The Washington Post reports.In a report submitted to the White House, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin recommended revising the agency’s 2009 determination that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare.This report, established under the Clean Air Act, provides the legal basis for various climate regulations affecting motor vehicles, power plants, and other major pollution sources.Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, urged President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security to adopt a firm approach toward China, pointing to concerns over Chinese startup DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence technology, Reuters reports.Warren called on nominee Jeffrey Kessler to strengthen AI chip regulations introduced by former President Joe Biden’s administration in January.“In light of DeepSeek, we must reinforce our controls on (China),” Warren wrote, calling for a series of other actions on Chinese tech efforts.Several Democratic senators made dramatic returns to Washington to vote against Republicans’ budget blueprint on Tuesday night.California Congressman Kevin Mullin, who had been absent while recovering from a blood clot and infection following knee surgery, went straight to the airport after being discharged from the hospital, while Colorado Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen returned to teh House floor with her newborn son, Sam, nestled in her arms.Their dramatic – and surprise – appearances were part of an effort by Democrats to block Republicans’ plan to advance major pieces of Donald Trump’s tax cut and immigration agenda.“I have a message for Donald Trump: nobody fights harder than a mom,” Petterson wrote on X. “Republican leadership may have denied my ability to vote by proxy but that didn’t stop us from voting against this disastrous budget that strips away health care and food for seniors, veterans, kids and families across Colorado — all to give tax breaks to billionaires like Elon Musk.”The bill ultimately passed in a 217-215 vote. Only one Democrat, Arizona congressman Raúl Grijalva, who has cancer, returned for the vote. But up until the moment the vote ended, Republicans were working to overcome unified Democratic opposition to the plan, which would likely result in steep cuts to social safety net programs, including Medicaid.“After three surgeries, a blood clot, an infection and being hospitalized for over a week, the moment I was discharged I immediately rushed to the airport so I could get on a plane to D.C. and vote NO on Republicans’ disastrous budget plan,” Mullin said in a statement after the vote. “They are trying to make the most devastating cuts to Medicaid the nation has ever seen – $880 billion – all so they can give more tax cuts to billionaires and corporations.”On board the flight, Mullin’s wife, Jessica Stanfill-Mullin, helped administer IV antibiotics to him.Here are some photos coming in from the wires showing demonstrators gathered on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, protesting cuts to USAid funding.Organized by ActUp’s Health Global Access Project, the protesters temporarily occupied the rotunda before Capitol Police arrested 21 of them.One of the big moments of today came from Donald Trump’s first officials cabinet meeting. Here were some of the key moments during the public portion of Trump’s first official cabinet meeting of his second term:

      Trump announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Washington DC to sign the rare earth minerals agreement. He praised Doge, claiming, without evidence, that it has saved billions.

      Elon Musk also delivered remarks and warned that without cost-cutting, the country could go “bankrupt” describing himself as “tech support”. He acknowledged mistakes made by Doge, such as when they accidently cancelled an Ebola prevention effort, but he said, they “restored it immediately and there was no interruption”.

      Trump also mentioned that the Environmental Protection Agency might cut up to 65% of its employees and declined to comment in response to a question about whether he would ever allow China to take control of Taiwan by force.

      Trump said that tariffs on Canada and Mexico will continue, and that a 25% tariff on the European Union was coming soon.

      Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy said that two people had died from a measles outbreak, but did not provide details about the deaths. Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported that one child had died of measles.
      Other news that happened today:

      UK prime minister Keir Starmer left for Washington today prior to his meeting with Donald Trump set for Thursday in what will be his biggest diplomatic test to date.

      US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins said that the US will invest up to $1bn to combat the spread of bird flu, including increasing imports of eggs.

      President Donald Trump threatened to sue journalists and authors who use “anonymous” sources in their reporting.

      Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will not run for Minnesota’s newly open US Senate seat, according to his spokesperson.

      The US abstained from World Trade Organization condemnation of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

      California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he is launching his own podcast.

      The US supreme court heard oral arguments in a case that could radically transform workplace discrimination claims.

      New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked a federal judge to toss out the corruption case against him.

      A meeting between EU foreign policy chief and US secretary of state Marco Rubio was cancelled, with both sides citing scheduling conflicts.

      Trump urged Apple to end its diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

      The Trump administration issued a memo directing federal agencies to plan for sweeping layoffs of government employees, according to the Associated Press and other news agencies.

      A US judge has briefly extended an order reinstating the head of a federal watchdog agency responsible for protecting whistleblowers who had challenged his firing by Trump.

      The Trump administration said that New York City must end its congestion pricing program by 21 March, according to Reuters.

      Trump announced that his administration is reversing concessions given to Venezuela on an oil transaction agreement by former president Joe Biden.

      The Trump administration will require undocumented immigrants aged 14 and older to register with the federal government or face possible fines or prosecution.

      The Senate confirmed Trump’s pick for US trade representative, Jamieson Greer.
      The US Securities and Exchange Commission has told unionized employees they will have to return to the office in mid-April, unless they have certain exemptions, per a memo seen by Reuters.In the memo, SEC Chief Operating Officer Ken Johnson told staff that they will be required to work on-site beginning 14 April 2025 and said that the return-to-work directive would “best position the SEC to fulfil the agency’s mission.”In response, the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 239, which represents SEC employees, said in an email to members seen by Reuters, that the SEC’s action “plainly violates” the union contract and called the order illegal.“Like you, the union only received notice of this order by the SEC management moments ago,” the email reportedly said. Reuters is reporting that the union’s 2023 collective bargaining agreement outlines telework options for approved employees and that the agreement lasts three years.This comes as similar efforts have occurred at the agency with non-unionized staff, and across the federal workforce, in response to a mandate by President Donald Trump that officials fire remote or hybrid work arrangements.A US judge has briefly extended an order reinstating the head of a federal watchdog agency responsible for protecting whistleblowers who had challenged his firing by Donald Trump.According to Reuters, US district judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington said Hampton Dellinger, the head of the office of special counsel, could remain in his post through at least Saturday.Jackson said the extension would give her time to draft a permanent ruling in the case.Last week, the US supreme court temporarily kept Dellinger on the job as the head of the federal agency that protects government whistleblowers, in its first word on the many legal fights over the agenda of Trump’s second presidency.The justices said in an unsigned order that Dellinger could remain in his job at least until Wednesday. And now, that has been extended to at least Saturday, per Reuters.The Trump administration says in a letter made public on Wednesday that New York City must end its congestion pricing program by 21 March, according to Reuters.Last week, the transportation department announced that it intends to rescind federal approval of New York City’s congestion pricing program, that is designed to reduce traffic and raise money to upgrade ageing subway and bus systems.Two New York City transit agencies have filed suit to block the decision.The letter today comes as this week it was reported by the New York Times that New York’s congestion pricing plan raised $48.6m in tolls during its first month and that it has exceeded expectations and is on track to raise billions of dollars for the New York’s transit system.The revenue numbers were the latest sign that the tolling plan was working.President Donald Trump’s stated plan to slap a 25% tariff on exports from the European Union to the United States will result in a serious trade conflict, Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Store said today to news agency NTB. Norway is not a member of the European Union but it closely integrated with the bloc on trade.A planned meeting between European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and US secretary of state Marco Rubio was reportedly abruptly cancelled on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.Both sides blamed scheduling challenges, the AP said, but European officials said they were caught off-guard.In other news today, Utah is poised to become the first state in the US to ban fluoride from its water systems with a bill now before its Republican governor, Spencer Cox. The bill outlaws the adding of fluoride to water “in or intended for public water systems”, and adds that it repeals any previous laws “including sections about providing fluoridated water upon resident request and under emergency circumstances”.Cox has not publicly indicated support or opposition to the bill. If he signs it, fluoride would be banned across Utah starting 7 May, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.Although the bill would remove fluoride from public taps, it would also allow pharmacists to prescribe fluoride supplements to individuals.The bill, HB81, was approved last Friday. “I’m pleased to announce that HB81 has passed both the House and senate and is headed to the governor for his signature,” wrote Stephanie Gricius, the Republican who sponsored it, on social media. “I’m so grateful to everyone who helped push this policy.”Read more about it here:The White House on Wednesday reportedly denied reporters from Reuters, the AP, and other news organizations access to President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting in keeping with the administration’s new policy regarding media coverage.Reuters is reporting that the White House denied access to an Associated Press photographer and three reporters from Reuters, HuffPost and Der Tagesspiegel, a German newspaper.TV crews from ABC and Newsmax, along with correspondents from Axios, the Blaze, Bloomberg News and NPR were permitted to cover the event.This comes as on Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would take control of the White House press pool, stripping the independent White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) of its longstanding role in deciding which journalists have access to the president in intimate settings.Trump has announced that his administration is reversing concessions given to Venezuela on an oil transaction agreement by former president Joe Biden.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that he ordered that the agreement, “dated November 26, 2022” be terminated “as of the March 1 option to renew”.Additionally, Trump said, that Venezuela’s “regime has not been transporting the violent criminals that they sent into our Country (the Good Ole’ U.S.A.) back to Venezuela at the rapid pace that they had agreed to.“I am therefore ordering that the ineffective and unmet Biden ‘Concession Agreement’ be terminated as of the March 1st option to renew” he added.The Trump administration will require undocumented immigrants aged 14 and older to register with the federal government or face possible fines or prosecution.The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that under the “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” executive order signed by Donald Trump last month undocumented immigrants must also provide their fingerprints, while parents must ensure children under 14 are registered. The department will provide “evidence” of their registration and those 18 and over must carry that document at all times.The announcement comes as Trump has sought to harshly crackdown on immigration and implement a mass deportation campaign. Since taking office, his administration has attempted to suspend a refugee resettlement program (a judge blocked the cancellation), moved to cut off legal aid for immigrant kids (although it later walked back that decision), sought to allow immigration raids in schools and churches (another judge blocked such efforts in some houses of worship) and has begun sending undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo.Under the program announced this week, undocumented immigrants 14 and older in the US for 30 days or more will be required to register and undergo fingerprinting. Parents and guardians must register children under 14, and once children reach that age they must reapply and be fingerprinted, DHS said on its website. Those who do not comply can face criminal penalties, including misdemeanor prosecution, and fines.More on this story here:The Trump administration announced it will take control of the White House press pool, stripping the independent White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) of its longstanding role in deciding which journalists have access to the president in intimate settings.The move has immediately triggered an impassioned response from members of the media – including a Fox News correspondent who called it a “short-sighted decision”.The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, made the announcement during Tuesday’s press briefing, framing the move as democratizing access to the president.“A group of DC-based journalists, the White House Correspondents’ Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States,” Leavitt said.“Not any more. Today, I was proud to announce that we are giving the power back to the people.”The announcement upends over 70 years of established protocol of journalists themselves – not government officials – determining the rotating reporters who travel with the president on Air Force One and cover events in the Oval Office or Roosevelt Room.You can read more on this story here:Senate confirms Donald Trump’s pick for US trade representativeIn a 56-43 vote, Jamieson Greer was confirmed as the country’s top trade negotiator.Of those who voted in favor of Greer’s confirmation, five were Democrats: Senators John Fetterman, John Hickenlooper, Gary Peters, Elissa Slotkin and Sheldon Whitehouse.Greer is a former lawyer for the air force and served as the chief of staff for Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative during Trump’s first term. Greer will play a key role in Trump’s tariff plans.Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate finance committee, opposed Greer’s confirmation and said: “Mr Greer will be a rubber stamp for the Trump Tax, the kneejerk decision to slap tariffs on nearly everything Americans buy and make high prices even higher.”Here were some of the key moments during the public portion of Trump’s first official cabinet meeting of his second term.

      Trump opened his meeting by announcing that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Washington DC on Friday to sign an agreement regarding rare earth minerals.

      Trump spoke about the costs of eggs, and how his administration was working to “get the prices down”.

      During the meeting, Trump praised Doge and said, without evidence, that the initiative had cut billions and billions of dollars.

      Trump then asked Elon Musk to stand up and deliver some remarks about his work with Doge. In his remarks, Musk thanked the administration for its support and claimed that if costs don’t get cut, the country will go “bankrupt”. Musk also described himself as “tech support” and said that Doge was doing lots of work to “fix the government computer systems”.

      Musk acknowledged that Doge “won’t be perfect” and said that Doge accidently cancelled an Ebola prevention effort, but “restored it immediately and there was no interruption”.

      Musk said that Doge will send another ultimatum email to federal workers. “We want to give people every opportunity to send an email,” Musk said. Trump also told the room that the federal employees who have not responded so far are “on the bubble” and later added, “maybe they’re going to be gone”.

      Trump said that the Environmental Protection Agency plans to cut up to 65% or so of its employees.

      Trump declined to comment in response to a question about whether he would ever allow China to take control of Taiwan by force. The US president then went on to say that he has a great relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

      Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, spoke about the new “gold card” plan and said that 200,000 of them could add up to $1tn.

      During the meeting, Trump heavily criticized former president Joe Biden, and criticized the Afghanistan withdrawal and the southern border.

      Trump once again said that he wanted Canada to become the 51st US state.

      Trump said that he will not be stopping tariffs on Canada or Mexico and that he will be announcing tariffs on the European Union soon. “It’ll be 25% generally speaking,” Trump said. “And that’ll be on cars and all other things.”

      Trump described Putin as a “very cunning person” and a “very smart guy”. He also said that he thinks “we are going to have a deal” regarding the war in Ukraine and said that Putin will “have to” make concessions.

      Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy, said that two people had died from a measles outbreak, but did not provide details about the deaths. Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported that one child had died of measles.
      Trump says that the US has “gotten bloated and fat and disgusting and incompetently run” before criticizing former president Joe Biden calling him the “worst president in the history of our country”. More

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      ‘Against everything this country stands for’: ex-NFL player Chris Kluwe takes his local anti-Maga protest national

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      Last week the former NFL player Chris Kluwe was arrested at a city council meeting in his home town of Huntington Beach, California, for approaching councilmembers after making an impassioned speech likening the Maga movement to nazism. This came after the council approved a plaque commemorating the city library’s 50th anniversary. Writ largest on the plaque are the words “Magical Alluring Galvanizing Adventurous” – an acrostic of Maga.Kluwe ranked among the NFL’s top punters while playing for the Minnesota Vikings in the early 2000s. During his career he was as well known for calling out NFL immorality and championing civil rights causes like same-sex marriage and racial justice as he was for pinning the opposition against their own goalline with his booming right leg.Retirement hasn’t dampened the 43-year-old’s impassioned rhetoric. “Maga stands for resegregation and racism,” he said in his council address. “Maga stands for censorship and book bans. … Maga is a profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy and most importantly, Maga is explicitly a Nazi movement. You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat but that is what it is.”After dropping the mic to cheers from the gallery, Kluwe stepped forward from his public podium toward the city council dais and gave himself up as police swarmed to arrest him. He was eventually charged with a misdemeanor for disrupting an assembly.“I had seen at previous city council meetings that this city does not listen to its community,” Kluwe said in a phone interview two days after his arrest, with characteristic wryness. “They want attention so that they can get more power. But they don’t want to do the actual work of making the community better.”He assumed that his booking would be fairly straightforward, but the police held him for two and a half hours, “because they were waiting for something to charge me with”, he says. “Now I have a court date in April, so we’ll see what happens. There’s a possibility the ACLU might get involved. Some people have been telling me they’re looking to challenge this because they think it might not be legal.”View image in fullscreenKnown as “the surfing capital of the world”, Huntington Beach is 40 miles down the coast from Los Angeles in Orange county – California’s historically conservative heartland. Kluwe, who grew up in nearby Seal Beach and has called Huntington Beach home for the past 15 years, has seen the town’s political attitude shift with the tides. “Skinheads and ‘surf Nazis’ were a known part of Huntington Beach,” he says. “But the government wasn’t necessarily like that. They were conservative. But it was small-c, don’t want to pay taxes or build new houses conservatism. But then [in the past decade] you saw the community start shifting more leftwards. When I moved back here, this was a cool beach community, a good place to live.”But in the last few years, the community has been jerked back to the right as Maga Republicans have overtaken city politics. The former city attorney, Michael Gates, stepped down from that position this year to join Donald Trump’s justice department. Maga candidates swept last November’s elections to lock out all seven of Huntington Beach’s city council seats. After their victory they posed for pictures inside city hall wearing “Make Huntington Beach Great Again” red caps and dubbed themselves the “Maga-nificent 7”.“A lot of people thought that Maga would help them, and they trusted the city council to look out for their best interests. They didn’t realize that this council is only here to make themselves famous and try to move upwards in the political echelon,” Kluwe says.One of the new Maga cohort is Gracey Van Der Mark, the former mayor who won a city council seat in November. As mayor, she spearheaded a slew of initiatives including prohibitive voter ID laws, resisting California’s Covid mandates and eliminating references to hate crimes in the city’s declaration on human dignity. To regulate the city library, she pushed a resolution for a “parental advisory board” to pre-screen library books, and even considered privatizing the library’s operations. Both proposals were met with considerable backlash from the city’s liberal, independent and anti-Trump Republican residents. The library plaque includes an unattributed quote – “Through hope and change, our nation has built back better to the golden era of Making America Great Again” – which mashes up slogans from Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Trump’s presidential campaigns. But the overall tone of the tribute makes clear whose vision of America is most prized.“The library’s name is in the smallest font on the plaque,” Kluwe says. “So, to me, it’s like, what are you really celebrating?”Kluwe was bound to figure in the Huntington Beach resistance. During the 2011 NFL lockout, he called Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and other star members of his players union “greedy douchebags” for reportedly seeking individual carveouts from the league at the expense of a collectively bargained agreement. Two years later, Kluwe joined up with the Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo to file a supreme court amicus brief expressing their support of the challenge to California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. When the Vikings cut Kluwe in spring 2013, he wrote a Deadspin article attributing his release to his support of same-sex marriage and called his positions coach, whom he accused of repeatedly using homophobic language, a bigot. (After a months-long internal investigation, the Vikings settled with Kluwe by making a sizable donation to LGBTQ+-focused organizations.)After retiring from football, he advocated for NFL players’ right to protest during the social justice movement and vocally supported Colin Kaepernick. All the while, Kluwe made a smooth transition into a career as a memoirist and sci-fi author.But he says he’s finding the current administration stranger than fiction, particularly when he saw the photoshopped magazine cover of Trump wearing a crown that was posted on the White House’s official Instagram account. “I cannot think of anything more profoundly un-American than a picture of an American president with a crown,” he says. “That goes against everything this country stands for.”Kluwe hopes his protest will inspire other concerned citizens across the country to take a stand and motivate Democratic lawmakers in particular to fight harder. “Right now, the Democratic party is contributing nothing to trying to defend our nation,” says Kluwe, who had been on the phone with party operatives before clicking over to talk to me. I asked whether he was interested in running for office himself, but he said he was more interested in the power of civil disobedience.He hopes his stand against the Huntington Beach city council will be a reminder to the rest of the world of the many Americans who didn’t vote for Trump. “These countries have been our friends and allies for decades. It’s up to us to show the world that the 25% of people who cast their votes for him do not represent the American people, nor do they represent the American dream, which is one of inclusion, diversity and respect, both home and abroad. We may not always achieve it, but I think it is an ideal worth striving towards.” More

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      Trump defends Musk as backlash to federal workers ultimatum grows

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      Donald Trump has stepped in to defend Elon Musk from a mounting backlash in his own administration after some cabinet members told US federal workers to ignore the billionaire entrepreneur’s demand that they write an email justifying their work.The US president was driven to intervene amid the first signs of internal dissension over the disruptive impact of Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), which Trump has authorised to seek mass firings in the federal workforce and reduce supposed waste and corruption.Newly confirmed cabinet officials, including the FBI director, Kash Patel, and Tulsi Gabbard, the national intelligence director, told underlings not to comply with a weekend order from Musk for all staff to send an email detailing their past week’s work by midnight on Monday or face termination.As other government departments added to the pushback, the office of personnel management (OPM) issued a statement advising employees to respond but removed the sacking threat, while giving agency heads the authority to excuse staff from Musk’s demand.“Agency heads may exclude personnel from this expectation at their discretion and should inform OPM of the categories of the employees excluded and reasons for exclusion,” the OPM wrote in a statement. “It is agency leadership’s decision as to what actions are taken.”Cabinet officials will face Musk on Wednesday as the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that the tech billionaire will join Trump’s first cabinet meeting despite not being a member of the cabinet.He will be “talking about all of Doge’s efforts and how all of the cabinet secretaries are identifying waste, fraud and abuse at their respective agencies”.With his wealthiest and most high-profile lieutenant threatened with loss of face and authority, Trump used a meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Monday to deliver a vote of confidence.“What he’s doing is saying: ‘Are you actually working?’ Trump said. “And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired, because a lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.“I thought it was great because we have people that don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government.”On Tuesday Trump added further to the confusion regarding Musk’s demand for an emailed response while talking to reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s somewhat voluntary,” he said, but added that “if you don’t answer, I guess you get fired”.Musk’s original post at the weekend had come after Trump had praised Doge’s work but urged him to “get more aggressive”.Intelligence-related bodies, including the FBI, CIA and the National Security Agency, argued that employees could risk divulging classified information if they complied.There was also resistance from other agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon – both run by key Trump loyalists Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth respectively, and which told employees not to respond. The Department of Justice told its staff that they need not do so “due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the department’s work”.The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) – headed by one of Trump’s most contentious nominees, Robert F Kennedy Jr – told workers to be vague if they wished to answer.“Assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors and tailor your response accordingly,” staff were told in an email.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA more audacious sign of dissent was on display at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud), where television monitors played what appeared to be AI-generated false images of Trump sucking Musk’s toes in a loop, with “long live the real king” written over the footage, according to the Washington Post, citing people working at the department.The episode crystallised an air of rebellion at many government agencies amid a mounting spate of court actions challenging the legality of Doge’s actions.“There’s a full revolt going on right now,” Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a centre-right thinktank, told the Washington Post. “Doge’s stated objective was to reorganize the agencies to meet their goals, but Cabinet heads want to run their own agencies, and they are objecting to the across-the-board cuts coming from Musk’s team.”Despite the backlash, Musk took Trump’s comments as a signal to again threaten workers with the sack.“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,” he posted on his own social media platform, Twitter/X, on Monday.A later post mocked the resistance to his original email. “Absurd that a 5 min email generates this level of concern!” he wrote. “Something is deeply wrong.”The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union representing about 800,000 of the 2.3 million-strong federal workforce, said Musk’s original email was a cynical ploy aimed at intimidating workers into resigning.“If we took the time to comment on each and every ridiculous thing that Elon Musk tweets out, we’d never get any work done,” Brittany Holder, a union spokesperson said. “AFGE will challenge any unlawful discipline, termination or retaliation against our members and federal employees across the country.” More

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      White House claims ‘more than 1 million’ federal workers responded to Doge’s ultimatum email – live

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      Asked when is the deadline referred to in Elon Musk’s deadline second email to federal workers, Leavitt says agency heads will “determine the best practices for their employees at their specific agencies”.“The secretaries are responsible for their specific workforce, and this is true of the hirings and the firings that have taken place,” she says.She adds that unless their agency has told them not to, workers should reply to the email.She claims more than a million workers have so far responded, including herself.
      It took me about a minute and a half to think of five things I did last week. I do five things in about ten minutes, and all federal workers should be working at the same pace that President Trump is working.
      Edward Wong of the New York Times reports that Trump appointees at USAid have sent recently-fired employees a list of more than 100 weapons they are prohibited from bringing when returning to the office to collect their belongings.Firearms, axes, martial arts weapons, including nunchucks and throwing stars, were in the list, as well as spearguns and dynamite.Staff will collect their personal belongings at the Ronald Reagan Building this Thursday and FridayThere have been no known recent incidents of aid agency employees making weapon-related threats, Wong reports.President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday instructing the commerce secretary Howard Lutnick to launch an investigation into whether foreign copper production and imports threaten US economic and national security.According to White House officials, the investigation could lead to new tariffs on foreign copper, a material essential to manufacturing and construction, as well as critical to the US military and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.The administration said it intends to move quickly on the investigation, but no timeline was given.

      ‘More than one million’ federal workers have responded to Elon Musk/Doge’s ultimatum email, the White House has claimed. Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also said agency heads will “determine the best practices” for dealing with the ‘what did you do last week’ email in terms of whether people should respond and who, if anyone, would get fired. NBC News reported that responses to the email will reportedly be fed into an artificial intelligence system to determine whether their jobs are necessary.

      In a significant shift of journalistic power, the White House press team will now decide which journalists and media outlets will make up the White House press pool. Leavitt said legacy outlets will still be allowed to join and participate in the press pool, but the “privilege” will also be extended to “new voices” from “well-deserving outlets”. It builds on the decision to revoke the Associated Press’s full access to presidential events over its continued use of “Gulf of Mexico” as opposed to “Gulf of America”.

      Some 40% of the federal contracts that the Trump administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows. Doge last week published an initial list of 1,125 contracts that it terminated in recent weeks across the federal government. Data published on Doge’s “wall of receipts” shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 417 in all, are expected to yield no savings.

      Elon Musk will attend Trump’s first official cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Leavitt confirmed at the White House press briefing.

      Meanwhile, more than 20 civil service employees resigned from Doge, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services. “We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”

      House speaker Mike Johnson hinted that the planned budget vote might not go ahead this evening. The budget resolution is on thin ice after at least four GOP lawmakers have come out against it, amid internal ideological turmoil in the party over proposed cuts to Medicaid. Given the slim majority in the House, Johnson can’t afford to lose more than one Republican vote, assuming both parties are in full attendance.

      A federal judge in Seattle blocked the Trump administration’s effort to halt the nation’s refugee admissions system. US district judge Jamal Whitehead said in his ruling after the hearing on Tuesday that the president’s actions amounted to an “effective nullification of congressional will” in setting up the nation’s refugee admissions program. “The president has substantial discretion … to suspend refugee admissions,” Whitehead told the parties. “But that authority is not limitless.”

      A US judge extended an order blocking the Trump administration from instituting a sweeping freeze on trillions of dollars in federal funding by pausing grants, loans and other financial support. US district judge Loren AliKhan in Washington wrote that while some funds had become unfrozen since she first temporarily blocked the administration’s spending pause, there remained a risk the administration might again try to shut off funding. The judge said for those reasons she agreed with groups representing nonprofits and small business that a preliminary injunction was necessary blocking a further funding freeze.

      A federal judge in Washington has ordered the Trump administration to pay foreign aid funds to contractors and grant recipients by 11.59pm on Wednesday night, saying there was no sign that it had taken any steps to comply with his earlier order that the funds be unfrozen.

      The Senate confirmed Daniel Driscoll, an Iraq war veteran and adviser to JD Vance, as secretary of the army.
      Donald Trump was scheduled to sign yet another round of executive orders in the Oval Office at 3pm ET today but he’s running behind. We’ll bring you updates as we get it.The White House announcement this morning did not say what topics will be covered or how many will be signed.Since taking office last month Trump has signed 73 executive orders, according to the office of the federal register – that’s more than any president since FDR in 1937.This report is from Reuters.
      A federal judge in Washington has ordered the Trump administration to pay foreign aid funds to contractors and grant recipients by 11.59pm on Wednesday night, saying there was no sign that it had taken any steps to comply with his earlier order that the funds be unfrozen.
      US district judge Amir Ali’s order came in a telephone hearing in a lawsuit brought by organizations that contract with and receive aid from the US Agency for International Development and the State Department. It applies to work done before 13 February, when the judge issued his earlier temporary restraining order.
      It was the third time Ali had ordered the administration officials to release foreign aid funds that were frozen after Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid, throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.
      Plaintiffs in the lawsuit have said they will have to shut down completely if they are not paid soon. They allege that the administration has violated federal law and the US constitution in refusing to pay out the funds and in dismantling USAid.
      The foreign aid agency on Sunday said that all of its staff except certain essential workers would be put on paid administrative leave, and that 1,600 positions in the US would be eliminated.
      You can read more about USAid and what the freeze means for millions of people around the world here:This report is from Reuters.
      A US judge on Tuesday extended an order blocking the Trump administration from instituting a sweeping freeze on trillions of dollars in federal funding by pausing grants, loans and other financial support.
      US district judge Loren AliKhan in Washington wrote that while some funds had become unfrozen since she first temporarily blocked the administration’s spending pause, there remained a risk the administration might again try to shut off funding.
      The judge said for those reasons she agreed with groups representing nonprofits and small business that a preliminary injunction was necessary blocking a further funding freeze.
      “The injunctive relief that defendants fought so hard to deny is the only thing in this case holding potentially catastrophic harm at bay,” she wrote.
      Those groups sued after the White House’s Office of Management and Budget on 27 January issued a memo directing federal agencies to temporarily pause spending on federal financial assistance programs.
      That memo said the freeze was necessary while the administration reviewed grants and loans to ensure they are aligned with Trump’s executive orders, including ones ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and directing a pause on spending on projects seeking to combat climate change.
      OMB later withdrew that memo after it became the subject of two lawsuits, one before AliKhan and another before a judge in Rhode Island by Democratic state attorneys general. But the plaintiffs argued the memo’s withdrawal did not mean the end of the policy itself.
      They pointed to a social media post on X by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shortly after the memo was withdrawn saying: “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.”
      This report is from the Associated Press.
      A federal judge in Seattle has blocked Donald Trump’s effort to halt the nation’s refugee admissions system.The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by major refugee aid groups, who argued that Trump’s executive order suspending the federal refugee resettlement program ran afoul of the system Congress created for moving refugees into the US.Lawyers for the administration argued that Trump’s order was well within his authority to deny entry to foreigners whose admission to the US “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States”.US district judge Jamal Whitehead said in his ruling after the hearing on Tuesday that the president’s actions amounted to an “effective nullification of congressional will” in setting up the nation’s refugee admissions program.“The president has substantial discretion … to suspend refugee admissions,” Whitehead told the parties. “But that authority is not limitless.”Justice Department lawyer August Flentje indicated to the judge that the government would consider whether to file an emergency appeal.The plaintiffs include the International Refugee Assistance Project on behalf of Church World Service, the Jewish refugee resettlement agency HIAS, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and individual refugees and family members. They said their ability to provide critical services to refugees – including those already in the US – has been severely inhibited by Trump’s order.Some refugees who had been approved to come to the US had their travel canceled on short notice, and families who have waited years to reunite have had to remain apart, the lawsuit said.
      Peter Baker of the New York Times has compared the White House’s decision to take control of the press pool covering the president and its banning the Associated Press from key White House spaces to treatment of the press under the Kremlin. He wrote on X:
      Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin’s reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access.
      The message is clear. Given that the White House has already kicked one news organization out of the pool because of coverage it does not like, it is making certain everyone else knows that the rest of us can be barred too if the president does not like our questions or stories.
      Every president of both parties going back generations subscribed to the principle that a president doesn’t pick the press corps that is allowed in the room to ask him questions. Trump has just declared that he will.
      Important to note, though: None of this will stop professional news outlets from covering this president in the same full, fair, tough and unflinching way that we always have. Government efforts to punish disfavored organizations will not stop independent journalism.
      House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed “not one” Democratic vote on the Republican budget proposal that could come to the floor as early as this evening.Jeffries declared from the steps of the US Capitol, surrounded by Democratic lawmakers and advocates:
      Let me be clear, House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget. Not one, not one, not one.
      The press conference was intended to be a show of protest against the Republican bill – the legislative vehicle for enacting Trump’s tax cut and immigration agenda. The minority leader is under pressure to stand up to the Republican majority. Activists have keyed in on the possible cuts to Medicaid, the government insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans.Jeffries said:
      The Republican budget represents the largest Medicaid cut in American history.
      Children will be devastated. Families will be devastated. People with disabilities will be devastated. Seniors will be devastated. Hospitals will be devastated, nursing homes will be devastated.
      In an earlier press conference on Tuesday, House Republicans accused Democrats of “defending and even advocating for government waste, fraud and abuse”.At a rally on Capitol Hill, progressives lawmakers and activists railed against Republicans’ plan to enact Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cut and immigration agenda. A vote could take place as early as this evening, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.Opposition to the House budget resolution has been steadily building over the last few weeks. During last week’s recess, constituent anger over Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programs as well as Elon Musk’s efforts to dismantle the federal government boiled over at town halls and Congressional offices across the country.At the Capitol Hill protest, called Tax the Greedy Billionaires and headlined by MoveOn and Indivisible, Senator Chris Murphy assailed the Republican budget bill as the “most massive transfer of wealth and resources from poor people and the middle class to the billionaires and corporations in the history of this country”.He continued:
      You’re talking about $880 billion of cuts to Medicaid. And I get it like $880 billion like, what does that mean? Right? That’s a huge number. Nobody understands. Let me tell you what that means. That means that sick kids die in this country. That means that hospitals in depressed communities and rural communities close their doors, right? That means that drug and addiction treatment centers disappear all across this country.
      Congressman Greg Casar, chair of the Progressive Caucus, compared the moment to the early days of Trump’s first term, when Congressional Republicans, newly in the majority, attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The effort prompted a widespread backlash and ultimately failed in the Senate, with a dramatic thumbs-down vote by the Arizona Republican John McCain.“The American people won and those House Republicans lost,” Casar said. “We’re right back in the same situation, because today, something is happening in America. Americans are rising up to say, ‘We want a government by and for the people, not by and for the billionaires.’”More on opposition to the Trump administration here:Asked why Dan Bongino was named deputy director of the FBI rather than a current special agent, as is normal practice, Leavitt claims Bongino got the job because he understands the depth of “past corruption” at the agency.The press briefing is over now. More

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      House Republicans to vote on spending deal that could slash Medicaid funding

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      House Republicans are planning to vote on Tuesday on a spending blueprint central to Donald Trump’s agenda, but the package faces potential derailment over nearly $1tn in Medicaid cuts that could fracture their slim majority.The fiscal year 2025 proposal includes approximately $4.5tn in tax cuts alongside increased spending for defense and border security. To offset these costs, the plan tasks congressional committees with finding about $2tn in spending reductions over the next decade.But some lawmakers are warning that the budget could include an estimated $800bn in potential cuts from Medicaid, a federal program providing healthcare coverage to more than 72 million Americans. Though the resolution doesn’t explicitly target Medicaid, skeptical lawmakers warn there are few alternatives to achieve the $880bn in cuts assigned to the energy and commerce committee.If the budget measure doesn’t pass by the 14 March deadline, the government faces a shutdown – and Democrats are committed to not voting it through.“Let me be clear, House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget,” said the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, from the steps of the US Capitol on Tuesday surrounded by Democratic lawmakers and advocates protesting the vote. “Not one, not one, not one.”With Democrats united in opposition, House speaker Mike Johnson’s slim Republican majority cannot afford more than one defection. Several moderate Republicans from vulnerable districts have expressed concerns, particularly those with constituents heavily reliant on Medicaid.Eight House Republicans, including the California representative David Valadao and the New York representative Nicole Malliotakis, warned in a letter to Johnson last week that “slashing Medicaid would have serious consequences, particularly in rural and predominantly Hispanic communities”.The Nebraska Republican Don Bacon, representing a district that backed Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate in November, has demanded leadership to prove the proposal “won’t overly cut Medicaid”.Opposition to the House budget resolution has been steadily building over the last few weeks. During last week’s recess, constituent anger over Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programs as well as Elon Musk’s efforts to dismantle the federal government boiled over at town halls and congressional offices across the country.At an earlier Capitol Hill rally on Tuesday, Senator Chris Murphy assailed the Republican budget bill as the “most massive transfer of wealth and resources from poor people and the middle class to the billionaires and corporations in the history of this country”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHe continued: “You’re talking about $880bn of cuts to Medicaid … That means that sick kids die in this country. That means that hospitals in depressed communities and rural communities close their doors, right? That means that drug and addiction treatment centers disappear all across this country.”The vote comes after the Senate passed its own budget bill last week – a less contentious one that Trump does not support as much as the House’s. House leadership must now navigate competing demands within their caucus: some members want deeper tax cuts while others seek steeper spending reductions or protection for social programs.“There may be more than one [defector], but we’ll get there,” Johnson said on Monday. “We’re going to get everybody there. This is a prayer request. Just pray this through for us because it is very high stakes, and everybody knows that.” More

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      Trump pits immigrants against other working people. But we have a common enemy | Alejandra Gomez and Greisa Martínez Rosas

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      Over the last few years, we have witnessed some leaders of the Democratic party retreat from delivering bold policies that would address people’s struggles and aspirations, from a pathway to citizenship for all to a higher federal minimum wage, in favor of Republican-light talking points about the border and those seeking asylum – which only eroded trust with the American people.Right now, 60% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck. Families are drowning in debt, whether it be from trying to pay for unaffordable childcare, exorbitant student loans, costly medical bills or months of missed rent payments. Homelessness has skyrocketed. Millions are struggling to survive another day and are penny-pinching to be able to afford rent and groceries, while billions of our taxpayer dollars are being spent on turbocharging mass abductions of our neighbors through raids and deportations, all in service of filling detention centers that make the CEOs of companies like GeoGroup and CoreCivic richer by the minute.Barely a month into the Trump administration and already we have seen senators from both parties support the Laken Riley Act, a highly exploitative, anti-immigrant bill that Trump signed into law, opening the floodgates to his mass detention and deportation agenda. As we speak, Congress is pushing forward a massive budget resolution that would gut billions in funding for vital resources such as education, healthcare and food assistance programs like Snap, while pouring $350bn towards targeting immigrants.As immigrants and as organizers, our obligation at this moment is to radically shift the public’s consciousness in such a way that centers our interdependence as working people – immigrants and non-immigrants alike. We must wield our collective power against our common enemy and recognize that we have never been in competition with one another, despite what corporations, billionaires and some elected officials would like us to believe. Rather, our fights are the same.Progressive young leaders and organizations like ours are working to bring together a vast multiracial coalition of workers across the country who recognize immigrants cannot be left behind. Trump’s crusade is an opportunity we cannot miss to come together stronger than ever before. We have a shared enemy in the billionaire forces who have bought their way into our government and Trump’s good graces and whose interests elected officials on both sides of the aisle protect over ours.It’s time to get real about the fact that the wealthiest 1% in this country has kicked their feet up and watched the vast majority of people suffer and fight over breadcrumbs. They have planted and watered hateful seeds of division and individualism to sell communities the lie that we should only look out for ourselves and that our neighbors, especially immigrants, are not our comrades.Take, for instance, the myth that Trump and rightwing billionaires have sown that American workers are losing at the expense of undocumented workers. The issue is not a lack of jobs in this country or that undocumented people came to the US in search of an overall better life. Past crackdowns on immigrants are proof that this has never resulted in more jobs for US-born workers; it hasn’t made life better or easier. In fact, it’s made life more expensive for everyone.Agriculture, for example, is an industry in which about 70% of crop workers were born outside the United States and at least 40% are undocumented. Mass deportations would assuredly result in supply chain breakdowns and soaring food prices. But rich corporations benefit from letting animosity brew between working-class communities; they benefit from keeping immigrant workers and US-born workers in contention with one another. If they can continue to exploit millions of undocumented people who are desperate to survive, they will also be able to underpay their US-born workers who are demanding higher wages by simply showing that there are desperate people willing to work for less. At the end of the day, executives have chosen to make a buck at the expense of all their workers, undocumented and otherwise.The real solution is to level the playing field for all workers and families in the US and to grow our collective labor power. Undocumented workers don’t want to be exploited. They have shared dreams with US-born workers: to make a dignified living, provide for their families, and improve their quality of life. A high minimum wage for all workers, in conjunction with a pathway to citizenship, ensures that companies cannot massively underpay and exploit undocumented people and cut jobs and wages to natural-born citizens at the same time.As organizations led by Black, brown, immigrant young people, our commitment is to represent our members and build political power to counter that of Super Pacs and billionaire donors. To advance this work requires deeper community organizing and relationship building to bridge the trust gap between American workers, everyday people and undocumented communities. Together, we must build a shared understanding that we need each other. Immigrants have always been key to breakthroughs in climate justice, housing justice, labor power, LGBTQ+ justice and so much more.The only way forward is for masses of everyday people across race, age, gender and geography to rise up together in a shared fight; whether we are fighting for a pathway to citizenship, higher wages or affordable housing, we cannot win any of these on our own.This vision – our movement’s vision – is not just for immigrants. It is for everyone.

      Alejandra Gomez is executive director of Living United for Change in Arizona (Lucha). Greisa Martínez Rosas is executive director of United We Dream Action. More

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      ‘He believes he is the law’: anti-Maga conservatives view Trump as threat to constitution

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      Michael Fanone, the former police officer who defended the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, looked out at the attendees of the Principles First summit and denounced Donald Trump in the strongest possible terms for pardoning roughly 1,500 people who participated in the insurrection.“He pardoned them because he wants people to know that if you commit crimes on his behalf, he’s got your back,” Fanone said on Saturday. “They are operating under the assumption that, if they commit violent criminal acts on Donald Trump’s behalf, that he will pardon them for future violence.”Fanone’s words appeared prescient later that afternoon, when he and three other officers were confronted by Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys group. Tarrio received a prison sentence of 22 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to his role in the insurrection, but Trump pardoned him last month. In a video that Tarrio shared on social media, he taunted Fanone and the other officers – Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan police department and former Capitol police officers Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn – as “fucking cowards”.The intimidation continued the next day at the summit, when an email account bearing the name “Enrique T” sent a bomb threat to the organizers of the conference. The threat specifically named several summit speakers, including Fanone, as the targets of four pipe bombs. Tarrio denied any involvement in the incident, which turned out to be a false alarm, but still forced attendees to evacuate the conference room hosting the summit for about two hours as police officers conducted a security sweep.The threats underscored a message shared by nearly every speaker at the Principles First summit, which is considered a center-right alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference. One by one, speakers took the stage to voice their shared belief that Trump represents a fundamental threat to the rule of law and the integrity of the US constitution.“President Trump has diminished the rule of law in America,” Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican presidential candidate, said on Saturday. “President Trump, because the supreme court gave him immunity, believes he is the law.”Multiple speakers cited Trump’s recent clash with Janet Mills, the Democratic governor of Maine, as evidence of his autocratic tendencies. In a combative exchange that went viral online, Trump asked Mills, who was attending a White House event alongside other governors, whether she intended to comply with his executive order on transgender athletes.“I’m complying with state and federal laws,” Mills replied.Trump responded: “We are the federal law.”Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey who served as a close adviser to Trump before becoming one of the president’s most vocal Republican critics, described that comment as “the most important thing he has said in the last two weeks because that tells you exactly what he thinks”.“He believes that the attorney general of the United States is his personal lawyer,” Christie said at the Principles First summit on Saturday. “He believes the Department of Justice is to do what he instructs them to do.”Even as summit speakers warned of the serious threat that Trump and his allies pose to the foundations of US government, they implored attendees to stand up for their principles.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“I know these people. They are cowards,” said Tim Miller, a writer for the Bulwark and communications director for Republican former presidential candidate Jeb Bush. “Speaking out right now is a good in itself … Our job is to say no to this, to stand up to them and to not be afraid because they want you to be afraid, and you have no reason to be fearful of these little men.”Multiple speakers predicted Trump will eventually violate court orders and they urged any American who supported a robust democracy to protest the president’s unconstitutional acts when they occur.“People need to be in the streets. People need to be strongly reacting against it,” said Gregg Nunziata, executive director of the Society for the Rule of Law. “We really do need conservatives and Republicans to be in that number for this to work.”Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur who is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028, but who told the conference on Saturday he does not plan on running, suggested that the “chaos” unleashed by Trump’s first month in office may provide an opening for the president’s critics to present an alternative vision for the country’s future.“The opportunity for the Democrats and businesspeople, and you for that matter, is to stand up and look for ways to create calm and order out of chaos,” Cuban said. More

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      Judge blocks Trump immigration policy allowing arrests in churches for some religious groups – live

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      A federal judge blocked immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for some religious groups, the Associated Press reported. US district judge Theodore Chang found that the Trump administration policy could violate their religious freedom and should be blocked while a lawsuit challenging it plays out.

      Trump said the US and Ukraine are “very close” to coming to terms on a rare earth minerals agreement, in comments made during a visit from French president Emmanuel Macron amid European concerns over the US position on Ukraine. Follow the latest from the leaders’ joint press conference here.

      The Trump administration said it was placing all but a handful of USAid personnel around the world on paid administrative leave and eliminating about 2,000 of those positions in the US, as the rapid dismantling of the organization appears to move into its final phases.

      Attorneys for federal workers said in a lawsuit that billionaire adviser to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, had violated the law with his weekend demand that employees explain their accomplishments or risk being fired. An updated lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in California and was provided to the Associated Press, is trying to block mass layoffs.

      Many federal government departments, including the FBI, have told staff not to comply with the Musk directive to list their accomplishments in the past week by 11.59 pm ET tonight. But the US Transportation Department has told workers they should respond to the demand by Donald Trump’s adviser.

      A federal judge has blocked the government downsizing team Doge from accessing sensitive data maintained by the US Education Department and the US Office of Personnel Management. US district judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland issued the temporary restraining order at the behest of a coalition of labor unions.
      Although a US-based Associated Press reporter was barred from the joint news conference between Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, a France-based AP reporter was allowed it.The French press corps decided the France-based AP reporter should be allowed to ask the first question.The administration blocked AP reporters from the White House press pool after the news agency said it would continue to refer to the “Gulf of Mexico” in its articles, instead referring to the body of water as the “Gulf of America,” following Trump’s order to rename it.The AP has sued over its exclusion from the press conferences, but a judge denied the AP’s emergency motion to restore its access.A federal judge who blocked the Federal Bureau of Prisons from carrying out Donald Trump’s executive order that would transferred three incarcerated trans women into men’s facilities earlier this month, has extended protections for nine additional women.US district judge Royce Lamberth in Washington said the court “sees no reason to change its legal conclusions” from its previous order. On 4 February, Lambeth issued a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s executive order seeking to erode trans rights behind bars.My colleague Sam Levin reported earlier this month:
      Lambeth ruled that Trump’s order discriminates against transgender people and violates their constitutional rights.
      The Federal Bureau of Prisons must “maintain and continue the plaintiffs’ housing status and medical care as they existed immediately prior to January 20”, he wrote.
      The judge said the trans women had “straightforwardly demonstrated that irreparable harm will follow” if they are denied healthcare and forced into men’s institutions.
      US officials “have not so much as alleged that the plaintiffs in this particular suit present any threat to the female inmates housed with them”, the judge added. The family of one plaintiff said her life would be threatened if she were moved.
      The judge said there were only 16 trans women housed in women’s facilities, and the ruling applies to all of them.
      On 26 January, a federal judge in Boston issued a restraining order in a separate challenge to the same executive order. That order was limited to one transgender woman in a woman’s prison.
      The Washington Post reports that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) which functions as the the government’s HR department, has told federal agency leaders they can ignore Elon Musk’s threat to fire employees who do not send in the bullet-pointed list of accomplishments that he requested.The Post, citing anonymous sources, reports that OPM told agency chief human capital officers on a Monday call that they could ignore Musk’s threat. Per the Post:
      Another person briefed on the call said that OPM is also looking at weekly reporting for government departments, the person said. But the person said that OPM was unsure what to do with the emails of employees who responded so far, and had “no plans” to analyze them.
      As my colleagues at the Guardian reported earlier, Musk’s ultimatum to federal workers has been causing chaos.
      Musk’s ultimatum was sent out on Saturday in a mass email to federal employees from the office of personnel management (OPM), one of the first federal organs Musk and his team on the so-called “department of government efficiency” infiltrated after Trump was sworn in. The message gave all the US government’s more than 2 million workers barely 48 hours to itemize their accomplishments in the past week in five bullet points, and in a post on X, Musk indicated that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation”.
      The order provoked instant chaos across the government, with Trump’s own appointed leadership in federal agencies responding in starkly different ways. Workers in the Social Security Administration and the health and human services department were told to comply with the email, and CNN reported that the Department of Transportation ordered all its employees to respond to the Musk email by its deadline. That included air traffic controllers who are currently struggling with severe understaffing and a spate of recent accidents.

      A federal judge blocked immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for some religious groups, the Associated Press reported. US district judge Theodore Chang found that the Trump administration policy could violate their religious freedom and should be blocked while a lawsuit challenging it plays out.

      Trump said the US and Ukraine are “very close” to coming to terms on a rare earth minerals agreement, in comments made during a visit from French president Emmanuel Macron amid European concerns over the US position on Ukraine. Follow the latest from the leaders’ joint press conference here.

      The Trump administration said it was placing all but a handful of USAid personnel around the world on paid administrative leave and eliminating about 2,000 of those positions in the US, as the rapid dismantling of the organization appears to move into its final phases.

      Attorneys for federal workers said in a lawsuit that billionaire adviser to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, had violated the law with his weekend demand that employees explain their accomplishments or risk being fired. An updated lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in California and was provided to the Associated Press, is trying to block mass layoffs.

      Many federal government departments, including the FBI, have told staff not to comply with the Musk directive to list their accomplishments in the past week by 11.59 pm ET tonight. But the US Transportation Department has told workers they should respond to the demand by Donald Trump’s adviser.

      A federal judge has blocked the government downsizing team Doge from accessing sensitive data maintained by the US Education Department and the US Office of Personnel Management. US district judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland issued the temporary restraining order at the behest of a coalition of labor unions.
      House Republicans face a major test this week as the fractured and narrow caucus tries to unify around a plan to advance Donald Trump’s agenda for trillions in tax cuts and new spending on defense and border security, Reuters reports.With only a 218-215 majority in the House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Johnson can afford to lose just one vote on any measure that all Democrats vote against. He faces resistance from as many as a dozen Republicans over a budget resolution that would allow congressional committees to begin crafting full-scale legislation to enact the Trump agenda.The House budget Ccmmittee was due to take up the measure on Monday, with the possibility of a floor vote as early as Tuesday. But Johnson said timing would also depend on the outcome of Monday night meetings with wavering lawmakers.“We expect to get it done this week,” the Louisiana Republican told reporters in the Capitol. “There’s a couple of folks who just have lingering questions. But I think all those questions could be answered and we’ll be able to move forward,” he added. “We’re very optimistic. We’ll get this thing done.”The House resolution calls for $4.5tn in tax cuts – a concern to lawmakers worried about the nation’s growing $36tn in debt – and calls for $2tn in cuts to spending, which have worried some lawmakers that their constituents could lose out on key services.Republicans in both the House and Senate need to pass the measure to unlock a key part of their strategy: a parliamentary tool allowing them to circumvent the Senate filibuster and opposition from Democrats.But that is only one feat awaiting lawmakers over the coming weeks. Congress also needs to avert a partial government shutdown after 14 March, when funding runs out and then raise the nation’s debt ceiling or risk a catastrophic default at mid-year.Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who leapt on to the back of John F Kennedy’s limousine after the then president was shot, then was forced to retire early because he remained haunted by memories of the assassination, died on Friday. He was 93.Although few may recognize his name, the footage of Hill, captured on Abraham Zapruder’s chilling home movie of the assassination, provided some of the most indelible images of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on 22 November 1963.Hill received Secret Service awards and was promoted for his actions that day, but for decades blamed himself for Kennedy’s death, saying he didn’t react quickly enough and would gladly have given his life to save Kennedy.In an interview with David Smith in 2023, Hill recalled:
      From that point on, my life changed. Before that day, before I attempted to put my body up on top of the car to protect President Kennedy and Mrs Kennedy, I was just Clint Hill. But afterward, because of photographs and the Zapruder film, I was no longer just Clint Hill. I was that guy that got on to the back of the presidential vehicle and I went through life from that point on with that being said about me and of me.
      It has bothered me a great deal. I had a serious guilt complex about not being able to help him more than I did and that just grew and grew and grew from that point on.
      It was only in recent years that Hill said he was able to finally start putting the assassination behind him and accept what happened.You can read more on the remarkable story here:*scrambles to change the subject* Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron are now holding a joint news conference following bilateral talks at the White House. Trump said his meeting with Macron was an “important step forward” to achieving a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.I will post a summary here with the main lines once it’s over, but my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong is posting live updates here:An AI-generated video of Donald Trump licking Elon Musk’s toes briefly played on video screens at a US government office as staff returned to work on Monday.With a caption emblazoned over it reading “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING”, the fake footage, played on loop for several minutes throughout the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Washington headquarters, according to Marisa Kabas, an independent journalist who posted a video of the incident to social media citing an agency source.Washington Post journalist Jeff Stein also said on social media that the department’s televisions had been hijacked.Reuters was unable to establish the provenance of the video.“Another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources. Appropriate action will be taken for all involved,” department spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in an email.Just an observation; if you look closely at the fake footage, you can see it features two left feet. Was this deliberate, multi-layered messaging? I mean, equally, if you just want to keep scrolling and try to forget you ever saw this, that’s okay too.A group of Democratic and Republican US senators will offer a resolution backing Ukraine on Monday, amid fears that Donald Trump could make a deal with Moscow that leaves Kyiv on the sidelines three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.The resolution, seen by Reuters, expresses solidarity with the people of Ukraine, offers condolences for the loss of tens of thousands of its citizens and seeks a role for Kyiv in any ceasefire talks.The resolution was led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the foreign relations committee, and Republican Senator Thom Tillis. The two lawmakers visited Ukraine last week, along with Democratic Senator Michael Bennet.It has at least 12 backers, including such senior Republicans as Mitch McConnell, the party’s former Senate leader; Roger Wicker, chairman of the armed services committee, and Chuck Grassley, chairman of the judiciary committee, as well as Democrats Dick Durbin, a member of the party’s leadership, and Bennet, a Democratic foreign relations committee aide said.The resolution says:
      The Senate emphasizes that Ukraine must be a participant in discussions with the Russian Federation about Ukraine’s future.
      The measure does not specifically back Nato membership, but reaffirms US support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and “supports Ukraine’s efforts to integrate into Euro-Atlantic structures”.In an emailed statement, Shaheen said:
      As Vladimir Putin’s illegal and brutal full-scale invasion enters its fourth year, I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan resolution that clearly states our unwavering support for and solidarity with the Ukrainian people and condemns Russia’s aggression.
      In a loss for abortion opponents, the US supreme court on Monday declined to take up two cases involving “buffer zone” ordinances, which limit protests around abortion clinics and which anti-abortion activists have spent years trying to dismantle.The two cases dealt with buffer zone ordinances passed by the cities of Carbondale, Illinois, and Englewood, New Jersey. In filings to the supreme court, which is dominated 6-3 by conservatives, anti-abortion activists argued that these ordinances ran afoul of the first amendment’s guarantees of free speech. They also asked the justices to overturn a 2000 ruling called Hill v Colorado, which upheld a buffer zone law in Colorado.The justices didn’t explain why they declined to hear arguments in the cases, but the far-right justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have preferred to take them up. In a dissent outlining his desire to take the Carbondale case, Thomas wrote that he believed Hill “lacks continuing force”, in part due to recent rulings such as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v Wade and abolished the federal right to abortion.“I would have taken this opportunity to explicitly overrule Hill,” he wrote. “Following our repudiation in Dobbs, I do not see what is left of Hill. Yet, lower courts continue to feel bound by it. The court today declines an invitation to set the record straight on Hill’s defunct status.”Here is more detail on our earlier post on Donald Trump’s remarks in defence of Elon Musk’s chaos-inducing demand that federal workers document what they do, from the AP.Trump voiced support for Musk’s demand that federal employees explain their recent accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk getting fired, an edict that has spawned new litigation and added to turmoil within the government workforce.“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron. “And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired, because a lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.”The president claimed that Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” has found “hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud” as he suggested that federal paychecks are going to nonexistent employees. He did not present evidence for his claims.“If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person, or they aren’t working,” Trump said. More