Summary
Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
Donald Trump spoke at the White House’s Black History Month reception, alongside golfer Tiger Woods, where he struck an uneasy tone celebrating Black History Month while also criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Later in the day, the president addressed a meeting of the Republican Governors Association, where he reiterated his desire to make Canada the 51st state and said he would endorse congressman Byron Donalds if he decides to run to replace Florida governor Ron DeSantis when DeSantis’ term expires next year.
Elon Musk spoke at the Conservative Political Action Committee this evening, wielding a chainsaw gifted to him by far-right Argentinian president Javier Milei. Musk reiterated the president’s criticism of Ukraine, referenced his and the president’s plan to send Americans dividends from the so-called “department of government efficiency”, and repeated his and the president’s false claim that dead people are receiving social security payments.
The Senate confirmed Kash Patel as the next FBI director, handing oversight of the nation’s law enforcement agency to an official who has declined to explicitly say whether he would use his position to pursue Trump’s political opponents.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican senator from Kentucky, announced he will not run for re-election next year. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon celebrated McConnell’s retirement during his address to CPAC later in the day.
Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy should sign a deal handing over half of the country’s mineral wealth to the US.
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s mass firings of federal workers can continue while the lawsuit moves forward.
Trump will host his first official cabinet meeting at the White House next Wednesday. The president will also host the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, on Thursday.
New York governor Kathy Hochul will not immediately remove the embattled New York City mayor Eric Adams from office, but will instead advocate greater oversight of City Hall, she announced at a press conference today.
More than 50,000 people could by laid off at the defense department under the Trump administration’s mass firings, CNN reports, citing an unnamed US official.
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Donald Trump says he expects he will be sued by the Associated Press for blocking the news organization’s access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, but that it “doesn’t matter”.
“Maybe they’ll win,” he said. “It’s just something that we feel strongly about.”
Trump’s statement came the same day that dozens of major news organizations – including Fox News, CNN and the Washington Post – sent a letter to the White House, asking the president to lift his ban on the wire service.
Trump first barred the Associated Press from the White House press pool on 11 February over the outlet’s decision to continue using Gulf of Mexico rather than Trump’s preferred “Gulf of America.”
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As protesters gathered outside the headquarters of US health agencies to call attention to mass layoffs devastating the federal service in recent days, Guardian reporter Melody Schreiber spoke with four employees at the CDC who were terminated in recent days:
When one CDC employee attempted to log into their laptop on Wednesday morning, they received an error message and realized they were locked out of the system, unable to communicate with their team or even say goodbye. They’d been laid off overnight and because they have not yet received a letter, they don’t know the reason for their termination. This employee had years of experience and excellent performance reviews, and was not probationary.
Here’s the full story:
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During his address to the Republican Governors Association this evening, Donald Trump once again voiced his desire to make Canada the 51st US state.
“I think ultimately they’ll be praising the national anthem. We’ll have to work out some deal ... because I do like the ‘O Canada’ all right,” Trump said. “It’s a beautiful thing. I think we’re going to have to keep it for the 51st state.”
He then went on to call the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, “Governor Trudeau.”
Trudeau announced he would resign as the leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal party just before Trump’s inauguration. The president’s subsequent threats to levy tariffs against Canada thrust Trudeau into the negotiating spotlight, as he works to prevent the president from implementing such tariffs.
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Senators are preparing to stay up all night to vote on the Republican budget, a $340bn package, which includes an allowance for $175bn in border security measures, including mass deportations and work on a border wall.
If approved, the budget won’t go into affect immediately. Senate committees must then approve the budget while the House votes on its own package.
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A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore foreign aid funding, but declined to hold the administration in contempt after ignoring his previous order.
The US district judge Amir H Ali said the administration has “continued their blanket suspension of funds” despite his prior order and must stop withholding foreign aid while the case proceeds.
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Ahead of his speech at the Republican Governors Association this evening, Donald Trump said he’d endorse congressman Byron Donalds if he decides to run to replace Florida governor Ron DeSantis when DeSantis’ term expires next year.
“Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida and, should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Donalds has not yet announced his candidacy.
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Drug company executives and lobbyists met with Donald Trump today, as pharmaceutical skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr takes over leadership at Health and Human Services. News of the meeting came the same day that, while speaking at a Black History Month reception, Donald Trump announced Pfizer executive Albert Bourla was in the audience. Bourla was vocally booed by many attendees, a symbol of the right’s opposition to the Covid-19 vaccine developer.
Speaking about the meeting with Trump, the vice-president of public affairs for the drug industry lobbying group PhRMA, Alex Schriver, said: “We expressed our commitment to strengthening American leadership in biopharmaceutical innovation, revitalizing domestic manufacturing and lowering costs for patients.”
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Speaking at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association this evening, Donald Trump celebrated former Republican governors and now cabinet members – the interior secretary Doug Burgum and the energy secretary Chris Wright.
The president again hinted at his desire to run for an unconstitutional third term.
“We raised $608m in three weeks. Can you believe it? So we’ve got that money, and I got to spend it somewhere. and they tell me, I’m not allowed to run. I’m not sure, is that’s true?” Trump said. “I guess it means I’m going to be spending it on some of my friends.”
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Today so far
Thanks for joining our coverage of US politics today, one month into Donald Trump’s second term. This afternoon has been packed with headlines from the Conservative Political Action Conference, where tech billionaire and head of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) Elon Musk spoke earlier today. Donald Trump, who spoke from the White House in honor of Black History Month this morning, is expected to speak at the Republican Governors Association’s meeting shortly.
In the meantime, here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Donald Trump spoke at the White House’s Black History Month reception, alongside golfer Tiger Woods, where he struck an uneasy tone celebrating Black History Month while also criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Elon Musk spoke at the Conservative Political Action Committee this evening, wielding a chainsaw gifted to him by far-right Argentinian president Javier Milei. Musk reiterated the president’s criticism of Ukraine, referenced his and the president’s plan to send Americans dividends from the so-called Doge, and repeated his and the president’s false claim that dead people are receiving social security payments.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon took the stage following Musk, where he celebrated Mitch McConnell’s retirement and Kash Patel’s confirmation.
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s mass firings of federal workers can continue while the lawsuit moves forward.
A vaccine policy committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not meet as scheduled next week, just days after vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr was sworn in as head of Health and Human Services.
New York governor Kathy Hochul will not immediately remove the embattled New York City mayor Eric Adams from office, but will instead advocate greater oversight of City Hall, she announced at a press conference today.
More than 50,000 people could by laid off at the defense department under the Trump administration’s mass firings, CNN reports, citing an unnamed US official.
Updated
More than 50,000 people could be laid off at defense department starting as early as Friday – report
More than 50,000 people could by laid off at the defense department under the Trump administration’s mass firings, CNN reports, citing an unnamed US official.
The department has approximately 55,000 probationary employees – the type of worker Trump and his advisor Elon Musk have been targeting in their sweeping cuts of federal workers.
CNN reports that the firings are expected to begin as early as Friday.
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New York governor won't remove embattled mayor Eric Adams from office – for now
New York governor Kathy Hochul will not immediately remove the embattled New York City mayor Eric Adams from office, but will instead advocate greater oversight of City Hall, she announced at a press conference today.
Hochul said she has “concerns about disruption and chaos that such a proceeding could bring to the residents of this great city” while “New York is facing a grave threat from Washington”, she said. “The Trump administration is already trying to use the legal jeopardy facing our mayor as leverage to squeeze and punish our city.”
Hochul said she plans to propose legislation that would require City Hall to follow new guidance, in hopes doing so would “reestablish trust” with the people of New York. Those policies include establishing a new deputy inspector general focused on New York City affairs; a mechanism for the city’s comptroller, public advocate and council speaker to launch lawsuits against the federal government; and more money for the state comptroller to step up oversight of the city.
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The Trump administration is rolling back deportation protections that shield nearly half a million Haitians, Homeland Security announced today.
The humanitarian relief, called Temporary Protected Status, allows many Haitian immigrants to work, but does not provide a pathway to citizenship. Without TPS, thousands of Haitians will become eligible to be deported as early as 3 August.
The decision marks another step by the Trump administration to deliver on the president’s campaign promise that he would oversee the “largest deportation operation in American history”.
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During his conversation with NewsMax host Robb Schmitt at CPAC this evening, Elon Musk suggested that Democrats directed funding to “illegal immigrants” because “every one of them is a customer”, or potential voter.
“They took money from Fema, meant for helping Americans in distress, and sent that money to luxury hotels for illegal immigrants in New York,” Musk said, repeating a false claim that Fema aid was redirected from red-leaning states after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“You just need to look at basic incentives,” he added. “If the probability that an illegal is going to vote Democrat at some point, whether it’s cheating, but eventually they can become citizens, if the probability is like 80, 90% just look at California, which is super majority Dem. Then the incentive is to maximize the number of illegals in the country.”
Musk briefly worked illegally in the US after abandoning a graduate studies program in California, according to a Washington Post report.
“That is why the Biden administration was pushing to get as many illegals as possible and spend every dollar possible to get as many, because every one of them is a customer, every one is a voter,” he said.
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Bannon celebrates McConnell retirement and Patel confirmation in CPAC address
Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon took the stage following Elon Musk at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“You bring out the world’s wealthiest guy, Superman, I’m supposed to follow it,” Bannon joked.
Earlier this week, Bannon called Musk a “parasitic illegal immigrant”.
Bannon also celebrated Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell’s retirement, criticizing the conservative senator for his vote to continue aid to Ukraine.
Additionally, Bannon saluted Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees who’ve been confirmed by the Senate, including Kash Patel, and suggested the Trump administration should honor the members of the January 6 attack on the Capitol who were released from prison under Trump.
“I think the J6 choir is going to play the Kennedy Center for a night and honor their families,” Bannon said.
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Elon Musk said Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the country’s front lines are dying “for the biggest graft machine that I’ve ever seen in my life”.
“Trump is so pragmatic on this, he’s just looking at it, and he’s saying, it’s Ukraine, it’s not our country, it’s not a Nato ally. I just want to see people not dying,” he added.
The tech billionaire’s comments come as Donald Trump has escalated his attacks on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in recent days, repeating Russian talking points, including that Ukraine started the war (which began after Russia invaded the country).
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Elon Musk is repeating his and the president’s false claim that dead people are receiving social security payments.
Speaking at CPAC, he told NewsMax host Rob Schmitt that he and Donald Trump found that a person who was 300-years-old was receiving social security payments.
“Are there indications that there were checks going to those people?” Schmitt asked. “I get the Social Security Administration is dumb, but are they paying these people? Are they that dumb?”
“I don’t know. A bunch of money is going out for the Social Security Administration,” Musk said.
A July 2024 report from social security’s inspector general states that from fiscal years 2015 through 2022, the agency paid out almost $8.6tn in benefits, including $71.8bn – or less than 1% – in improper payments. Most of the erroneous payments were overpayments to living people.
Part of the confusion comes from social security’s software system based on the Cobol programming language, which has a lack of date type. This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference point of more than 150 years ago. The news organization Wired first reported on the use of Cobol programming language at the Social Security Administration.
Additionally, a series of reports from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general in March 2023 and July 2024 state that the agency has not established a new system to properly annotate death information in its database, which included roughly 18.9m social security numbers of people born in 1920 or earlier but not marked as deceased. This does not mean, however, that these individuals were receiving benefits.
The agency decided not to update the database because of the cost to do so, which would run upward of $9m.
A July 2023 social security OIG report stated: “Almost none of the numberholders discussed in the report currently receive SSA payments.” And, as of September 2015, the agency automatically stops payments to people who are older than 115 years old.
Elon Musk again referenced his and the president’s plan to send dividends from the so-called “department of government efficiency” to Americans during his appearance at CPAC this evening.
“Let’s talk about these Doge dividend checks that everybody’s talking about this week,” NewsMax host Rob Schmitt said.
“It’s money that’s taken away from things that are destructive to the country,” Musk said. “As we’re finding savings, that’s going to translate directly to reductions in tax.”
Musk’s team became the subject of mockery this week after the New York Times reported that Doge claimed it had cut an $8bn contract that was actually only worth $8m.
Even if Musk could reach his $2tn target, questions remain over the implications of sending checks to every US household.
Here’s Joan E Greve with more on the proposal:
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Elon Musk praises Doge efforts to cut federal workforce
Speaking at CPAC this evening, Elon Musk praised his and the president’s efforts to cut the federal workforce while NewsMax host Rob Schmitt indicated the Trump administration may shutter the Internal Revenue Service.
“We’re finding savings, that’s going to translate directly to reductions in tax,” Musk said.
“Yeah. I mean, I think they fired 6,000 people at the IRS today. And I think, [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick said last night that they’re talking about shutting down the IRS,” Schmitt said.
During an appearance on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime last night, Lutnick said Trump’s “goal is to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay”.
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NewsMax host Rob Schmitt welcomed tech billionaire and Doge-head Elon Musk on stage at the Conservative Political Action Committee this evening. The pair were joined by far-right Argentinian president Javier Millei, who gifted Musk with a “chainsaw for bureaucracy”.
“I am become meme,” Musk said, noting that Doge began as a meme, featuring a dog, which then became a cryptocurrency, before finally becoming the so-called “department of government efficiency.”
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Trump administration can move forward with mass firings of federal works, judge rules
The Trump administration’s mass firings of federal workers can continue while the lawsuit moves forward, a federal judge ruled today.
US district judge Christopher Cooper found the five unions suing the administration on behalf of thousands of federal workers must bring their case under federal employment law, and not in district court.
While the unions argued the president’s mass layoffs challenge Congress’ power to shape federal agencies through the purse strings, attorneys for the Trump administration said the unions failed to show the layoffs justified an emergency restraining order.
Since taking office one month ago, Donald Trump and his advisor, tech billionaire Elon Musk, have overseen the firings of thousands of federal workers across defense, veterans affairs, health, the treasury, the consumer financial protection bureau and other agencies.
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Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, heaped praise on Donald Trump, JD Vance and Elon Musk and told the CPAC audience: “American trends we tend to follow. You occasionally follow some of our trends. You gave us ‘woke’ and we gave you Prince Harry.”
As some in the audience booed, Farage quipped: “No, you keep him, you keep him!”
He argued that the Brexit vote in 2016 paved the way for Trump’s election win that year whereas Trump’s win in 2024 is “producing a wave that is now coming the other way across the Atlantic.
“I am now leading Reform UK and we are now topping every opinion poll in Britain and we are going to win the next general election and save our country.”
Farage claimed that the Trump administration is cracking down on government waste and defending free speech – and Britain ought to follow suit. “We should be allowed to say whatever the hell we want.
“We will make sure that those who come to Britain legally subscribe to our shared values. In fact, in many ways, what we’re fighting for is a very similar agenda to the one that you just fought for and the one that you have just succeeded with.”
He rounded off to cheers and applause: “You’re going to make America great again and we in turn will make Britain great again!”
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A vaccine policy committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not meet as scheduled next week, just days after vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr was sworn in as head of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy criticized the panel, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, during his confirmation hearings. The committee is currently on a list of advisory groups currently under review, according to an executive order issued by Trump yesterday.
Kennedy, who promised Senator Bill Cassidy that he would not touch the childhood vaccine schedule during the confirmation process, told HHS employees they would investigate the schedule when he began work this week. The vaccine schedule includes shots that prevent measles, polio and other dangerous diseases.
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Attendees of the White House’s Black History Month reception have broken out into cheers of “four more years”, referring to Donald Trump’s suggestion that he should extend his presidency beyond the constitutionally allowed two terms.
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Donald Trump has announced he will install a new statue of Prince Estabrook, an enslaved man who was wounded at the Battle of Lexington, in “our new National Garden of American Heroes”.
He added that “the Garden will predominantly feature incredible women like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Coretta Scott King” alongside “some of the most beautiful works of art in the form of a statue for men like Frederick Douglass, Booker T Washington, Jackie Robinson, what a great athlete, Martin Luther King Jr, Muhammad Ali … and the late Kobe Bryant.”
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Addressing guests at the White House, Donald Trump struck an uneasy tone celebrating Black History Month while also criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
“We now have more Black Republicans serving in the US House than at any time since 1870,” he said. As the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding approaches, he added “we’re going to look forward to honoring the contributions of countless Black Americans who fought to win, and protect and expand American freedom from the very, very beginning.”
Trump went on to say, “The last administration tried to reduce all of American history to a single year, 1619, but under our administration, we honor the indispensable role Black Americans have always played in the immortal cause of another date 1776.”
Trump’s mention of 1619 appeared to be a reference to the New York Times’ 1619 Project which marked the year enslaved Africans arrived in the Americas.
Trump speaks alongside Tiger Woods at Black History Month reception
Donald Trump has just taken the stage at the White House’s Black History Month reception, alongside golfer Tiger Woods.
Woods said “it was an honor” to be at the White House with Trump. Trump gave Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019, which Woods was wearing at the reception today.
“Today we pay tribute to the generations of Black legends, champions, warriors and patriots who helped drive our country forward to greatness. And you really are great, great people. What a great, nice group of … ,” Trump said.
Trump also shouted out Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner, and Senator Tim Scott.
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One of the more intriguing groups at CPAC this year is the Third Term Project, which says it is exploring the case for reconsidering presidential term limits – in other words, changing the constitution so Donald Trump can run again.
“Drawing on historical examples like Franklin Delano Roosvelt’s four-term presidency and international cases such as Viktor Orban in Hungary, the discussion will highlight how sustained leadership fosters policy continuity, national stability, and long-term progress,” the project said ahead of a press conference on Thursday.
Republican congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee has already put forward a bill proposing a constitutional amendment allowing for a president to serve up to three terms, provided that they did not serve two consecutive terms prior to running for a third.
Wearing a “Trump 2028” sticker, Amber Harris of the Third Term Project said: “You need more than four years to enact some of the things he wants to do and giving him the two consecutive terms to do it could get this country back on track.”
She dismissed concerns over Trump turning into an emperor or king as “fearmongering” and was unworried by the fact he would be 82 in 2028. “I’m not an ageist kind of person. I don’t worry about somebody’s age if they’re mentally competent to do the job. I would fully support it.”
However, an unscientific Guardian survey of eight CPAC attendees found little enthusiasm for the proposal, with most preferring the idea of Trump passing the torch to a rising star such as Vice-President JD Vance.
Summary of the day so far
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The Senate confirmed Kash Patel as the next FBI director, handing oversight of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency to an official who has declined to explicitly say whether he would use his position to pursue Donald Trump’s political opponents. The Senate voted to confirm Patel in a 51-49 vote, with senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republicans to oppose Patel.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican senator from Kentucky, announced he will not run for re-election next year. McConnell formally announced his retirement in a Senate floor speech on Thursday, on his 83rd birthday, bringing an end to a decades-long career for a Republican leader who marshaled his party through multiple administrations with a singleminded focus on power that enraged his critics and delighted his allies.
Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy should sign a deal handing over half of the country’s mineral wealth to the US. Trump is “obviously very frustrated” with Zelenskyy, Walz said, adding that “some of the rhetoric” and “insults” about Trump were “unacceptable”. Waltz also noted that the US “fully supports” Article 5 of the Nato alliance but that its European partners need to increase their spending.
Donald Trump will host his first official cabinet meeting at the White House next Wednesday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed that Trump will host the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, on Thursday.
JD Vance marked the Trump administration’s one month since its return to power with a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The vice-president claimed uncontrolled immigration was “the greatest threat” to both Europe and the US, and suggested that the US’s military commitment to European allies could be contingent on their domestic policies, particularly targeting Germany.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will lay off thousands workers in Washington and around the country beginning on Thursday, according to reports. The layoffs reportedly affect probationary employees with roughly one year or less of service at the agency and largely include workers in compliance departments.
A Senate committee voted to advance Linda McMahon’s nomination as Donald Trump’s education secretary. The Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions voted 12-11 along party lines to advance the nomination of McMahon, the billionaire co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), to the Senate floor.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, whose 18-year prison sentence following the 6 January 2021 attack was commuted by Donald Trump, is roving the corridors of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Wearing a black patch on his eye and a Trump tattoo on his arm, Rhodes told reporters:
I’m the new spokesman for Condemned USA to advocate for the other J6ers who are still in prison and then other political prisoners like Tina Peters, the election worker in Colorado, once again targeted simply for exercising her rights to question an election.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes: “I’m the new spokesman for Condemned USA to advocate for the other J6ers who are still in prison.” pic.twitter.com/HKpdofD4SF
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) February 20, 2025
Last year Peters, a local elections official in Colorado, was sentenced to nine years in prison for leading a voting system data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that fraud altered the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Rhodes, 59, from Granbury, Texas, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy, told the Guardian that he owns the trademark for the Oath Keepers. “I can do what I want with it,” he said. “We’ll see what I want to do with it. I’m thinking about it.”
Richard Barnett, a January 6 rioter who put his feet on House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk and was sentenced to more than four years in prison, showed off his “certificate of pardon” from Trump.
The 64-year-old retired firefighter, wearing a sweater emblazoned with “J6” “political prisoner” and “376369”, said of Trump’s first month in office:
“Awesome, baby. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. Absolutely. Let’s get some arrests on the books. There’s a lot of treason going on in this country. It’s time to clean it up.
January 6 rioter Richard Barnett on Donald Trump’s first month in office: “Awesome, baby. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. Absolutely. Let’s get some arrests on the books. There’s a lot of treason going on in this country. It’s time to clean it up.” pic.twitter.com/ctiI9DaoL2
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) February 20, 2025
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Donald Trump has appeared to embrace a proposal to share a portion of the cuts in US government spending made by Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) with all US households in the form of checks.
Trump addressed the idea in a speech at an investment conference in Miami on Wednesday, telling attendees:
There’s even under consideration a new concept, where we give 20% of the Doge savings to American citizens, and 20% goes to paying down debt.
Trump suggested the policy would incentivize Americans to “participate in the process of saving us money” by reporting suspected government waste to boost their own share of the funding cuts.
The greatest challenge for recent FBI directors has been the delicate balance of retaining Donald Trump’s confidence while resisting pressure to make public pronouncements or open criminal investigations that are politically motivated or that personally benefit the president.
Kash Patel is unlikely to have difficulties, such is his ideological alignment with Trump on a range of issues including the need to pursue retribution against any perceived enemies like former special counsel Jack Smith and others who investigated him during his first term.
The new leadership at the FBI comes as questions about the far-reaching nature of his loyalty to Trump remain unresolved. At his confirmation hearing, Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee tried in vain to elicit answers about his role as a witness in the criminal investigation into Trump’s mishandling of classified documents.
During the investigation, Patel was subpoenaed to testify about whether the documents the FBI seized at Mar-a-Lago had been declassified under a “standing declassification order”, as he had represented in various public comments at the time.
The Guardian reported at the time that Patel initially declined to appear, citing his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. He later testified after the chief US district judge in Washington authorized Patel to have limited immunity from prosecution, which forced his testimony.
That loyalty, to resist federal prosecutors, endeared him to Trump and is understood to have played a factor in him ultimately getting tapped for the FBI director position after Trump struggled for weeks to decide who he wanted at the bureau, a person familiar with the matter said.
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Two Republican senators voted against Patel's nomination
As we reported earlier, Kash Patel has been narrowly confirmed by the Senate as the next FBI director.
The Senate voted to confirm Patel by a 51-49 vote. Two moderate Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined all Democrats in opposing Patel.
Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, who earlier today announced he was not seeking re-election, voted to confirm Patel. He has voted against three of Trump’s most controversial nominees.
In a statement before the vote, Collins said Patel had made “numerous politically charged” statements discrediting the FBI.
These statements “cast doubt on Mr Patel’s ability to advance the FBI’s law enforcement mission in a way that is free from the appearance of political motivation”, she said.
Murkowski’s statement said her reservations with Patel “stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership”.
“I cannot imagine a worse choice,” Democratic senator Dick Durbin said before the vote this afternoon.
Another Democratic senator, Richard Blumenthal, said he was “absolutely sure of this one thing: this vote will haunt anyone who votes for him. They will rue the day they did it.”
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Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse had some harsh words for Kash Patel and his Republican colleagues who voted for his confirmation earlier today.
Whitehouse said Patel is the “first senior law enforcement official in American history to have plead the fifth, and he’s been unwilling to even explain to the judiciary committee what crimes it was that he was concerned about that caused him to plead the fifth.
“Kash Patel, mark my words, will cause evil in this building behind us. Republicans who vote for him will rue that day.”
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Kash Patel’s confirmation was a close one.
If more than three Republican senators voted against him, Patel wouldn’t have been confirmed.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski announced earlier today on X that she planned to vote against Patel’s nomination, largely due to his refusal to cooperate with January 6 investigations.
“My reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership,” Murkowski wrote.
“The FBI must be trusted as the federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores. I have been disappointed that when he had the opportunity to push back on the administration’s decision to force the FBI to provide a list of agents involved in the January 6 investigations and prosecutions, he failed to do so.”
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US Senate confirms Kash Patel as next FBI director
The US Senate has confirmed Kash Patel as the next FBI director, handing oversight of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency to an official who has declined to explicitly say whether he would use his position to pursue Donald Trump’s political opponents.
Patel was narrowly confirmed on Thursday in a 51-49 vote, a reflection of the polarizing nature of his nomination and what Democrats see as his unwillingness to keep the bureau independent from partisan politics or resist politically charged requests from the president.
Notably, at his confirmation hearing, Patel refused to commit that he would not use his position to investigate officials he portrayed as Trump’s adversaries in his book, and affirmed that he believed the FBI was answerable to the justice department and, ultimately, the White House.
Patel’s responses suggest that his arrival at FBI headquarters will usher in a new chapter for the bureau as a result of his adherence to Trump’s vision of a unitary executive, where the president directs every agency, and willingness to prioritize the administration’s policy agenda.
You can read more about Patel’s confirmation here:
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Academics and scientists who work with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said the Trump administration’s orders have severely disrupted work – delaying projects and casting the future of research funding and jobs into doubt as chaos in the agency reigns.
An array of orders seeks to fundamentally reshape the NIH, the world’s largest public funder of biomedical and behavioral research, in the Trump administration’s image. The agency’s work is the wellspring of scientific advancement in the US, and helped make the country a dominant force in health and science.
“They will have drastic effects on all of us – this is not hyperbole, this is fact,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors and an anthropologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
The orders “will kill”, Wolfson said, as advances in the treatment of diseases as diverse as cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes are delayed.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk are taking a sledgehammer to the greatest biomedical infrastructure in the world to extend tax cuts,” Wolfson said.
Here’s more on this story:
Waltz says Ukraine must sign deal handing over half its mineral wealth to US
Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy needs to sign a deal handing over half of the country’s mineral wealth to the US.
The deal proposes giving Washington $500bn worth of natural resources, including oil and gas to recognize the amount of aid that the US has provided it with.
“He needs to come back to the table,” Waltz said of Zelenskyy.
It comes after the Ukrainian leader rejected US demands for $500bn in mineral wealth from Ukraine to repay Washington for wartime aid. Zelenskyy has pointed out that the US had provided $69.2bn in assistance under the Biden administration – far less than the figure the new White House is demanding. He said an agreement depended on the US giving security guarantees for a post-war settlement.
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Trump 'very frustrated' that Zelenskyy 'hasn't been willing' to take 'opportunity' of US peace talks, says aide
Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, said Donald Trump’s “frustration” with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “multifold”.
Waltz, at a White House briefing, said Trump was “obviously very frustrated” with Zelenskyy.
“The fact that that he hasn’t come to the table, that he hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered,” he said.
Waltz said “some of the rhetoric” and “insults” about Trump were “unacceptable”. Waltz said:
There needs to be a deep appreciation for what the American people, what the American taxpayer, what President Trump did in his first term.
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Trump aide says US supports Nato article 5
Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, said the US fully supports Article 5 of the Nato alliance but that its European partners need to increase their spending.
“It is unacceptable that the United States and the United States taxpayer continues to bear the burden of the cost of the war in Ukraine [and] the defense of Europe,” Waltz said.
We fully support our Nato allies. We fully support the Article Five commitment, but it’s time for European partners to step up.
Waltz said he spoke with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte about how a third of Nato member countries were still not meeting the 2% GDP in defense requirement.
Somebody else needs to pay. We’ve got other domestic priorities. It’s unacceptable.
Article 5 says an attack on one member will be considered an attack on all members of Nato.
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'If anyone can go toe to toe with Putin, Xi and Kim Jong-un, it's Trump', says aide
National security adviser Mike Waltz was asked whether he was confident in the Trump administration’s competence to go “toe to toe” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Waltz, at the White House briefing, said there was “no question” that Donald Trump is the commander in chief.
If there’s anybody in this world that can go toe to toe with Putin, that could go toe to toe with Xi [Jinping], that could go toe to toe with Kim Jong Un … It’s Donald J Trump.
He said the world should have no doubt that Trump has the ability to “handle” Putin and to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.
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Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, said US foreign policy has seen a “sea change” since Donald Trump’s return to the White House last month.
Waltz described Trump’s first term as a “world of peace and prosperity”, and said Trump is a “president of peace”.
“We are all all honored to be serving under his leadership and his vision,” Waltz said.
He said he was in the Oval Office when Trump spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. Waltz said:
Only President Trump could bring both sides to the table, and only President Trump could stop the horrific fighting going on now for the better part of four years, and only President Trump could drive the world back to peace.
Kevin Hassett, director of the national economic council, accused Joe Biden of allowing inflation to get “completely out of control” with policies “that made no sense”.
Hassett, at the White House briefing, spoke about the Trump administration’s plans to fight inflation at “every level”.
“We’re cutting spending in negotiations with people on the Hill. We’re cutting spending with the advice of our IT consultant Elon Musk,” he said.
He warned that “some memory of Biden’s inflation” will continue. “It’s not going to go away in a month.”
Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, said no American president has “come close to what Donald Trump has achieved over just the last 30 days”.
Miller, at the White House briefing, said the “consequentiality” and “transformative nature” of the actions that Trump has taken in his first month back in office “truly defies description”.
Trump has ended all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the federal government, Miller said, claiming the country has been “plagued and crippled” by DEI policies.
Trump has ended the “weaponization” of the federal government, and “restored the department of justice to its true mission”, Miller said.
Miller notes that Trump restored the death penalty as a toll by the justice department. “The death penalty is back,” he said. “Law and order is back.”
The White House has announced that Donald Trump will host his first official cabinet meeting at the White House next Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed that Trump will host the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, on Thursday.
Today’s briefing is also being attended by national security adviser Mike Waltz, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and national economic council director Kevin Hassett.
Senators applaud McConnell as Republican vows to keep working until end of term in 2026
Senators applauded Mitch McConnell on the floor this afternoon after the Republican senator announced his decision to retire next year.
McConnell vowed to complete his work on several remaining fronts. “Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well under way when I arrived in the Senate,” he said.
But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to.
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Summary of the day so far
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Mitch McConnell, the Republican senator from Kentucky, announced he will not run for re-election next year. McConnell formally announced his retirement in a Senate floor speech on Thursday, on his 83rd birthday, bringing an end to a decades-long career for a Republican leader who marshaled his party through multiple administrations with a singleminded focus on power that enraged his critics and delighted his allies.
JD Vance marked the Trump administration’s one month since its return to power with a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The vice-president claimed uncontrolled immigration was “the greatest threat” to both Europe and the US, and suggested that the US’s military commitment to European allies could be contingent on their domestic policies, particularly targeting Germany.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will lay off roughly 7,000 workers in Washington and around the country beginning on Thursday, according to reports. The layoffs reportedly affect probationary employees with roughly one year or less of service at the agency and largely include workers in compliance departments.
The Senate is set to vote this afternoon on whether to confirm Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s controversial nominee as FBI director. The Senate voted 51-47 on Thursday morning to end debate on Patel’s nomination. Susan Collins was the only Republican senator to oppose Patel’s confirmation, claiming that Patel’s previous public statements cast doubt on his ability to advance the FBI’s mission “in a way that is free from the appearance of political motivation”.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth could move soon to fire more than half a dozen generals and flag officers. A list of those who could be fired reportedly includes Gen CQ Brown, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top admiral.
A Senate committee voted to advance Linda McMahon’s nomination as Donald Trump’s education secretary. The Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions voted 12-11 along party lines to advance the nomination of McMahon, the billionaire co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), to the Senate floor.
A federal appeals court in San Francisco denied the Trump administration’s request to reinstate a ban on birthright citizenship. The appeals court’s decision leaves in place an injunction issued by a federal court in Washington state, and sets up a battle at the supreme court.
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Pete Hegseth called for the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen CQ Brown, to be fired before he was nominated to lead the department of defense.
“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the joint chiefs,” Hegseth said in November.
Any general that was involved – general, admiral, whatever – that was involved in any of the DEI woke shit has got to go.
On his first day as defense secretary, Hegseth was warmly greeted on the steps of the Pentagon by Brown.
Asked if he might fire Brown, Hegseth joked: “I’m standing with him right now. I look forward to working with him.”
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Joint chiefs chair CQ Brown on list of generals and admirals under consideration to be fired by Hegseth – reports
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth could move soon to fire more than half a dozen generals and flag officers, according to reports.
A list of those who could be fired was recently shared with Republican lawmakers, suggesting the dismissals could be imminent, CNN reports, citing sources.
Among the list includes Gen CQ Brown, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, according to multiple outlets. Lisa Franchetti, the navy’s top admiral, is also reportedly on the list.
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Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director, has cleared the last procedural hurdle before a final vote on his nomination.
The Senate voted 51-47 this morning to end debate on Patel’s nomination. Susan Collins was the only Republican senator to oppose Patel’s confirmation.
A confirmation vote is scheduled for 1.45pm ET.
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Mitch McConnell announces he will not seek re-election in 2026
Mitch McConnell, the Republican senator from Kentucky, has announced that he will not seek re-election next year.
McConnell announced his decision in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, marking his 83rd birthday.
“Seven times my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” he said.
Every day, I’ve been humbled by the trust they placed in me to do their business right here, representing our commonwealth has been the honor of lifetime.
“I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last,” he said.
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We reported earlier that Elon Musk is scheduled to address the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Musk is expected to meet with Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, who is in Washington to attend the rightwing conference, Associated Press reports.
Milei is a prominent fan of Donald Trump who became the first foreign leader to meet with him after his election victory. He was one of three Latin American presidents to attend Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol, alongside El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa.
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Republican senator Mitch McConnell is expected to deliver a speech later today announcing that he will not seek re-election in 2026.
“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said in prepared remarks provided in advance to the Associated Press.
Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.
McConnell, first elected in 1984, intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027, the news agency reports.
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Mitch McConnell to announce retirement from Senate
Mitch McConnell, the Republican senator from Kentucky, will announce that he won’t seek re-election next year, according to multiple reports.
McConnell is the longest serving Senate party leader in US history. He told the Associated Press of his decision before he was set to address colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.
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Republican senator Susan Collins says she will oppose Patel nomination as FBI director
Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine, said she will be voting against the confirmation of Kash Patel as FBI director.
The Senate is scheduled to vote this afternoon on whether to confirm Patel, after he cleared the Senate judiciary committee last week by a 12-10, party-line vote.
In a statement, Collins said Patel’s nomination comes at a time where is “compelling need” for an FBI director who is “decidedly apolitical”.
Patel has made numerous politically charged statements in his book and elsewhere discrediting the work of the FBI, the very institution he has been nominated to lead. These statements … cast doubt on Mr Patel’s ability to advance the FBI’s law enforcement mission in a way that is free from the appearance of political motivation.
Patel’s recent political profile “undermines his ability to serve in the apolitical role of Director of the FBI”, she said, concluding:
“Therefore, I will vote against his nomination.”
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The White House said national security adviser Mike Waltz, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and national economic council director Kevin Hassett will address reporters as part of the press briefing today.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the officials will be at the briefing “to discuss the President’s accomplishments so far”, on the one month anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Senate committee advances Linda McMahon as Trump's nominee for education secretary
The Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions have voted 12-11 along party lines to advance Linda McMahon’s nomination to serve as Donald Trump’s education secretary.
McMahon, the billionaire co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), was co-chair of Trump’s transition team and served in his cabinet in his first administration as the administrator of the Small Business Administration.
McMahon chaired America First Action, a Super Pac that backed Trump’s re-election campaign. McMahon is the former chief executive of WWE, which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon.
Her nomination now advances to the Senate floor.
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JD Vance, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), was asked about efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“Everything is on the table,” the vice-president said, adding that Donald Trump “wants to bring last peace to Europe”.
How are you going to end the war unless you’re talking to Russia? You’ve got to talk to everybody involved in the fighting.
“Peace is in the interest of Russia. It’s in the interest of Ukraine. It’s in the interest of Europe. But most importantly, peace is in the interest of the American people,” he added.
Vance described Trump as the “president of peace”.
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JD Vance received a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) for his speech last week at the Munich security conference.
“I’ll take a standing ovation for a speech I already gave,” Vance said to the audience in Maryland. “I think not everybody liked it.”
Vance stunned European leaders last Friday during a brutal chastising speech accusing leaders of suppressing free speech, failing to halt illegal migration and running in fear from voters’ true beliefs.
His remarks were met with shock at the conference and were later condemned by the EU and Germany.
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JD Vance kicks off CPAC
JD Vance has taken to the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the National Harbor in Maryland.
The vice-president said it was “hard to believe” that he and Donald Trump had only been in office for a month.
“We’ve done more in a month than [Joe] Biden in about four years,” he said. “It’s been a hell of a lot of fun the past month.”
CPAC organizers announced earlier that Elon Musk was scheduled to address the conference.
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Donald Trump’s involvement in professional golf’s peace talks have ramped up further, with Tiger Woods among those due to be afforded an audience with the US president at the White House this afternoon.
Woods is expected to join the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, fellow board member Adam Scott and representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in a meeting hosted by Trump amid increasing hopes the fractured sport can unite over the coming months.
Trump holds a significant role not only because of his love for golf but because of influence he can exert on the US Department of Justice, which under Joe Biden’s presidency was seen as a potential stumbling block to the PGA Tour and Saudis forming alliance.
The meeting is slated to begin at 12pm ET today.
US envoy cancels press conference with Zelenskyy in Kyiv
The US envoy Keith Kellogg has cancelled his press conference following a meeting with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Kellogg would not be taking questions from the press, Ukrainian officials said, and would only appear for a photocall and protocol handshake.
The cancellation means we will not hear from either of the two leaders after today’s Ukraine-US talks in Kyiv, at least for now, as they were meant to hold a joint press conference.
Kellogg’s three-day trip to Kyiv came as Donald Trump accused Zelenskyy of being a “dictator” and blamed him for his country’s war with Russia. Zelenskyy had suggested on Wednesday Trump was living in a Russian “disinformation bubble”.
One senior Ukrainian source described Zelenskyy as engaged and “highly motivated”. He said it was unclear if Kellogg would take up the president’s invitation to visit the frontline together. Kellogg is due to leave Kyiv on Friday evening.
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IRS to lay off 7,000 workers beginning today – report
We reported earlier that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is expected to fire thousands of its employees starting today.
About 7,000 IRS workers in Washington and around the country will be laid off beginning Thursday, Associated Press reports, citing a source.
The layoffs affect probationary employees with roughly one year or less of service at the agency and largely include workers in compliance departments, the news agency reports.
The reported layoffs come in the middle of tax filing season and it is unclear how they may affect tax collection services this year.
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Liz Truss, the former British prime minister, told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that her country was “failing” and needed a Donald Trump-style “Maga” movement to save it.
Truss was speaking at the rightwing conference at the National Harbor in Maryland on Wednesday, alongside rightwing populists from around the world planning deeper ties and cooperation.
“We now have a major problem in Britain that judges are making decisions that should be made by politicians,” the ex-prime minister said, claiming that the judiciary is “no longer accountable” because of reforms by her predecessor Tony Blair, who gave power to an “unelected bureaucracy”. She continued:
There’s no doubt in my mind that until those changes are reversed, we do not have a functioning country. The British state is now failing, is not working. The decisions are not being made by politicians.
Truss, who was prime minister for only 49 days and lost her seat in last year’s general election, has become an increasingly marginal figure in British politics but found safe harbour at CPAC, a once mainstream conservative gathering that has embraced Trump’s brand of nativist-populism.
JD Vance is set to kick off this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with a speech to begin shortly. We’ll follow it live and bring you the key moments of his speech.
Other speakers scheduled to speak at the conference include attorney general Pam Bondi, House speaker Mike Johnson, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at CPAC on Saturday.
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Donald Trump signed another round of executive orders onboard Air Force One last night, among them one aimed at ending federal benefits for people in the country illegally.
The order seeks to end “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens”, according to the White House, although it was not clear which benefits will be targeted.
People in the country illegally generally do not qualify except for emergency medical care. Children are entitled to a free K-12 public education regardless of immigration status under a 1982 supreme court ruling.
The order is the latest in a blizzard of moves by Trump to crack down on immigration. Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration on his first day in office. They included ending automatic citizenship for people born in the US and asylum at the southern border.
As we reported earlier, the birthright citizenship order has been temporarily halted in court.
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Appeals court denies Trump’s plea to reinstate birthright citizenship ban
A federal appeals court in San Francisco denied the Trump administration’s request to reinstate a ban on birthright citizenship.
Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that ordered an end to birthright citizenship for children for whom neither parent is a US citizen or legal permanent resident.
Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the 14th amendment to the constitution. Civil rights groups argue an end to birthright citizenship would create a “permanent underclass” of stateless people denied basic protections.
The appeals court denied the administration’s request for an emergency appeal, saying that the justice department has not made a strong case that it would succeed on merits. A concurring opinion written by a Trump-appointed judge said the administration had not convinced her it was an emergency.
The appeals court’s decision leaves in place an injunction issued by a federal court in Washington state, and sets up a battle at the US supreme court.
Pete Hegseth orders Pentagon to prepare for major budget cuts
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered senior leaders at the Pentagon and throughout the US military to develop plans for cutting 8% from the defense budget in each of the next five years, according to a reports on Wednesday.
The memo, dated Tuesday, orders a number of branches within the military and the Pentagon to turn in budget-cutting proposals by next Monday.
“President Trump’s charge to DoD is clear: achieve peace through strength,” Hegseth wrote in the memo obtained by the Washington Post.
The time for preparation is over – we must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and re-establish deterrence. Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit.
The memo listed some 17 exceptions that the Trump administration wants exempted, among them operations at the southern US border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense and acquisition of one-way attack drones and other munitions.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) workers slated for termination received emails on Wednesday afternoon instructing them to report to the office and bring with them their government-issued equipment.
“Under an executive order, IRS has been directed to terminate probationary employees who were not deemed critical to filing season,” according to an email seen by multiple outlets.
“We don’t have many details that we are permitted to share, but this is all tied to compliance with the executive order.”
The reported layoffs come in the middle of tax filing season and follow years of effort by the Biden administration to beef up the agency’s workforce, modernize its technology and improve customer service using tens of billions from the Inflation Reduct Act – money that Republicans have aimed to cut.
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IRS to reportedly fire thousands of workers
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is expected to fire thousands of its probationary employees as early as today, according to reports on Wednesday.
About 6,000 IRS employees are reportedly slated for termination, with further reductions in the size of the agency expected as part of the Trump administration’s push to downsize the federal work force.
The terminations will reportedly target relatively recent hires who do not enjoy as much job protection. They are described as largely auditors and support workers involved in compliance work, CNN reports.
The move would come during peak tax-filing season in the US.
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If confirmed in a Senate vote this afternoon, Kash Patel would take over an FBI gripped by turmoil while facing allegations that he played a key role in a purge of the bureau’s agents while his nomination was pending.
Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, claimed last week that he had “highly credible information” that Patel had given orders to sack senior personnel when he had no power to do so as a private citizen.
Durbin called the alleged misconduct “absolutely beyond the pale” and demanded an immediate investigation. “Although Mr Patel is President Trump’s nominee to be FBI Director, he is still a private citizen with no role in government,” Durbin wrote in a letter to the justice department inspector general, Michael Horowitz.
It is unacceptable for a nominee with no current role in government, much less at the FBI, to personally direct unjustified and potentially illegal adverse employment actions against senior career FBI leadership and other dedicated, nonpartisan law enforcement officers.
Senate to vote on confirmation of Kash Patel as FBI director
The Senate is set to vote this afternoon on whether to confirm Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s controversial nominee as FBI director.
Patel, a longtime Trump adviser who served in his first term, is expected to be confirmed unless more than three Republican senators vote against him, which is seen as unlikely. He cleared the Senate judiciary committee last week by a 12-10, party-line vote.
During his confirmation hearing last month, Patel faced questions about previous provocative public remarks attacking the FBI and his ability to resist political pressure from the White House.
Critics have said Patel, one of Trump’s most loyal lieutenants, would weaponise the FBI against the president’s political opponents if he becomes the agency’s director.
Trump’s first month in office could be described as whiplash-inducing – and his flurry of executive actions have drawn criticism from several quarters.
But how do Trump voters view the whirlwind start to his second term?
My colleague Joseph Gedeon spoke to some Trump voters in Georgia to find out. Here’s what one of them, construction worker Jeff Clay, told him:
“He’s coming at everything just a whirlwind. You don’t know what he’s going do next. I mean, he’s basically covered about everything he said he was going to do, or he’s trying, and I’m sure there’s more that could be done. He needs to drain the swamp up there at the Capitol.”
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Donald Trump is receiving widespread backlash after he likened himself to a “king” on social media following his administration’s decision to rescind New York City’s congestion pricing program.
On Wednesday, following a letter issued by his transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, to the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, that ended the transportation department’s agreement with New York over a new congestion pricing program for Manhattan, Trump wrote on Truth Social:
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
The White House then proceeded to share Trump’s quote on social media, accompanied with a computer-generated image of Trump grinning on a fake Time magazine cover while donning a golden crown, behind him the skyline of New York City.
In response to Trump’s comments, Hochul issued a statement, saying: “We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king.” She added: “Public transit is the lifeblood of New York City and critical to our economic future – as a New Yorker, like president Trump, knows very well.”
Court rejects DoJ appeal against block of Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship
Good morning US politics readers. Today marks a full month since Donald Trump’s inauguration – and in that month the 47th president and his administration have fundamentally reshaped the federal government and driven a truck through international relations.
Trump is sure to celebrate at this year’s CPAC, which is held at the National Harbor in Maryland. As my colleagues David Smith writes, the conference will be a vivid demonstration of how his “Make America great again” (Maga) movement has gone from the margins to the mainstream.
The vice-president, JD Vance, is expected to address the conference at 10am ET. We’ll follow it live and bring you the key moments of his speech.
Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship may be headed to the supreme court after an appeals court declined to grant a justice department request that would have lifted a lower court’s order blocking the president’s executive order.
The US 9th circuit court of appeals decision means the case may be headed to the nation’s highest court, one month after Trump signed the executive order.
Here’s what else is happening today:
After Trump escalated his rift with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, Ukraine’s president is trying to move the difficult conversation with the US forward ahead of today’s meeting with Trump envoy Keith Kellogg. In his regular video update on Wednesday night, he said it was “crucial that this discussion and our overall cooperation with the US remains constructive”. We’re covering the latest developments in our Europe live blog:
Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, is set to be confirmed today around 1.45pm.
At 1pm, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will brief reporters.
At 3pm, Trump is expected to address a White House reception for Black history month.
At 7.20pm Trump speaks at a reception for Republican members of the National Governors Association.
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