This live coverage is ending now, thanks for following along.
Here are today’s key developments:
The Trump administration fired hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency housed within the Department of Commerce, the Guardian learned. On Thursday afternoon, the commerce department sent emails to employees saying their jobs would be cut off at the end of the day. Other government agencies have also seen huge staffing cuts in recent days.
A federal judge in California has ruled that the office of personnel management must rescind memos directing agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees, stating that the agency exceeded its legal authority. OPM is also required to inform other federal agencies that it had no power to issue such a directive.
The Donald Trump administration has taken down the online application form for several popular student debt repayment plans, causing confusion among borrowers and likely creating complications for millions of Americans with outstanding loans.
The Social Security Administration is expected to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, the Associated Press reported. The workforce reduction could be as high as 50%, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Those seeking payment plans are unable to access the applications for income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), which cap what borrowers must pay each month at a percent of their earnings, as well as the online application to consolidate their loans on the US Department of Education website.
Donald Trump suggested Vladimir Putin can be trusted in the peace talks with Ukraine because “we had to go through the Russian hoax together”. “I’ve known him for a long time now, and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word,” Trump said during his Oval Office meeting with Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister. For more updates from Trump’s press conference with Starmer, follow the UK politics live blog.
Trump announced he would move forward with imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada next week, after he initially delayed that policy by one month. In a post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Mexico and Canada for allowing illegal drugs to flow into the US, writing: “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
The top Democrat on the Senate finance committee warned that Trump’s tariffs threats are “driving the US economy straight into a wall”. “Slapping tariffs on everything Americans buy from Canada, Mexico, and China will mean higher prices on groceries, gas and cars, with fewer jobs and lower pay when our closest trading partners respond to Trump’s trade war by buying fewer American products,” senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, said in a statement.
Democrats on the Senate foreign relations committee slammed the Trump administration over a decision to eliminate as much as 90% of USAid’s foreign aid contracts. “It is clear that the Trump Administration’s foreign assistance ‘review’ was not a serious effort or attempt at reform but rather a pretext to dismantle decades of US investment that makes America safer, stronger and more prosperous,” the Democrats said in a joint statement.
The US justice department released additional files related to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The justice department gave a statement on Thursday evening, saying the release largely contained documents that had been “previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the US government”.
Refugee aid groups said in a federal court filing Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be trying to circumvent a ruling this week that blocked his efforts to suspend the nation’s refugee admissions program, the Associated Press reports.
US Postal Service employees should ignore rumors and reports that Trump could unilaterally seize control of the agency, Post Office Operator General Louis DeJoy said in a video seen by Reuters on Thursday.
Iowa lawmakers became the first in the nation to approve legislation removing gender identity protections from the state’s civil rights code Thursday, despite massive protests by opponents who say it could expose transgender people to discrimination in numerous areas of life.
Iowa lawmakers approve legislation removing gender identity protections
Iowa lawmakers became the first in the nation to approve legislation removing gender identity protections from the state’s civil rights code Thursday, despite massive protests by opponents who say it could expose transgender people to discrimination in numerous areas of life.
The measure raced through the legislative process after first being introduced last week. The state Senate was first to approve the bill on Thursday, on party lines, followed by the House less than an hour later. Five House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it.
The bill would remove gender identity as a protected class from the state’s civil rights law and explicitly define female and male, as well as gender, which would be considered a synonym for sex and “shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.”
The measure would be the first legislative action in the US to remove nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity, said Logan Casey, director of policy research at the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights thinktank.
The bill now goes to Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, who signed earlier policies banning sports participation and public bathroom access for transgender students. A spokesperson for Reynolds declined to tell the Associated Press whether she would sign the bill. If she does, it will go into effect on 1 July.
Delegates from across the world have cheered a last-gasp deal to map out funding to protect nature, breaking a deadlock at UN talks seen as a test for international cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions.
Rich and developing countries on Thursday hammered out a delicate compromise on raising and delivering the billions of dollars needed to protect species, overcoming stark divisions that had scuttled their previous Cop16 meeting in Cali, Colombia last year.
The Cop16 agreement on Thursday is seen as crucial to giving impetus to that deal. The talks were also seen as a bellwether for international cooperation more generally.
The meeting comes as countries face a range of challenges, from trade disputes and debt worries to the slashing of overseas aid – particularly by the Trump administration.
Washington, which has not signed up to the UN’s convention on biological diversity, did not send representatives to the meeting.
US postal chief says employss should ignore reports Trump could seize control of agency
US Postal Service employees should ignore rumors and reports that President Donald Trump could unilaterally seize control of the agency, Post Office Operator General Louis DeJoy said in a video seen by Reuters on Thursday.
DeJoy told the Postal Service’s 640,000 employees that the agency was created by a federal law.
“Laws can be changed – the president and the members of Congress and designated officials work together to decide whether any change is required in the structure of our organization within the federal government,” DeJoy said.
“I’m asking you to stay focused on the job at hand. Don’t get distracted by news articles or speculation or rumors.”
On Friday, Trump said he was considering merging the Postal Service with the US Commerce Department, a move Democrats said would violate federal law. Trump has mused publicly about privatising the Postal Service.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News this week the Postal Service could help shrink costs at the Commerce Department by providing workers to conduct the US census, which takes place every 10 years and costs around $40bn, and handle tasks performed by 20,000 Social Security employees.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas on the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire began Thursday, Egypt says, averting a collapse ahead of Saturday’s expiration of the agreement’s first phase.
US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, was expected in the region in the coming days.
Officials from Israel, Qatar and the United States started “intensive discussions” on the ceasefire’s second phase in Cairo, Egypt’s state information service said.
“The mediators are also discussing ways to enhance the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, as part of efforts to alleviate the suffering of the population and support stability in the region,” its statement said.
Phase 2 talks are meant to negotiate an end to the war, including the return of all remaining hostages in Gaza who are alive, and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the territory. Return of remaining deceased hostages would happen in phase 3.
Refugee aid groups say Trump administration trying to circumvent court ruling
Refugee aid groups said in a federal court filing Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be trying to circumvent a ruling this week that blocked his efforts to suspend the nation’s refugee admissions program, the Associated Press reports.
US District Judge Jamal Whitehead in Seattle had determined on Tuesday that while the president has broad authority over who comes into the country, he cannot nullify the law passed by Congress establishing the US Refugee Admissions Program.
Whitehead, a 2023 appointee of former President Joe Biden, said Trump’s actions amounted to an “effective nullification of congressional will,” and from the bench, he granted the aid groups’ request for a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s executive order suspending the refugee resettlement program. He promised a written ruling in the next few days.
But Wednesday, aid groups, including Church World Service and the Jewish refugee resettlement organization HIAS, received notifications that their “cooperative agreements” with the state department had been canceled.
The groups on Thursday asked Whitehead for an emergency hearing to discuss the impact of the termination notices, or to make clear that his ruling also applies to those newly issued notices. The groups called the administration’s actions a “flagrant attempt” to evade the court’s ruling.
“Defendants are continuing to implement their defunding of the USRAP, and an emergency hearing is necessary to ensure that Defendants are not permitted to evade this Court’s bench ruling and the forthcoming written order with antics designed to confuse the state of play,” the motion said.
Whitehead set a hearing for Monday.
More on the firings at the US climate agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).
“This will cost American lives,” said the congresswoman and ranking member of the House science, space and technology committee, Zoe Lofgren, in a written statement. Her comments were issued alongside Congressman Gabe Amo’s, the ranking member of the subcommittee on environment, after news of the firings broke.
“By firing essential staff who work tirelessly on behalf of the American people, President Trump and Elon Musk are playing politics with our national security and public safety,” Amo said. “Leaving Noaa understaffed will inevitably lead to additional chaos and confusion – I call on them to rehire these public servants immediately before preventable tragedy strikes.”
Following that news of hundreds being fired at Noaa, it is worth noting that Project 2025 outlines plans to “break up” the agency.
According to the document, a conservative blueprint released by a rightwing thinktank called the Heritage Foundation, suggested that a new administration should:
“Break Up NOAA,” and, “Ensure Appointees Agree with Administration Aims.”
Its justification for this was, in part, that, “Scientific agencies like NOAA are vulnerable to obstructionism of an Administration’s aims if political appointees are not wholly in sync with Administration policy. Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area.”
This is Helen Sullivan taking over the Guardian’s live US politics coverage.
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Trump fires hundreds at US climate agency Noaa
The Guardian’s Dharna Noor and Gabrielle Canon report:
The Trump administration has fired hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency housed within the Department of Commerce, the Guardian has learned.
On Thursday afternoon, the commerce department sent emails to employees saying their jobs would be cut off at the end of the day. Other government agencies have also seen huge staffing cuts in recent days.
The firings specifically affected probationary employees, a categorization that applies to new hires or those moved or promoted into new positions, and which makes up roughly 10% of the agency’s workforce.
“The majority of probationary employees in my office have been with the agency for 10+ years and just got new positions,” said one worker who still had their job, and who spoke to the Guardian under the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “If we lose them, we’re losing not just the world-class work they do day to day but also decades of expertise and institutional knowledge.”
Another anonymous staffer called the laid-off workers “dedicated, hard-working civil servants who came to Noaa to help protect lives and keep our blue planet healthy”.
“These indiscriminate cuts are cruel and thoughtless,” the second worker said.
Updated
Jeffrey Epstein: more files released related to late sex offender and financier
The US justice department has released additional files related to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The justice department gave a statement on Thursday evening, saying the release largely contained documents that had been “previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the US government”.
“This Department of Justice is following through on President Trump’s commitment to transparency and lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,” said the US attorney general, Pam Bondi.
In recent weeks, Bondi had indicated that the justice department would release files related to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Updated
Today so far
That’s all from me, Coral Murphy Marcos. I’ll be handing the blog over to my colleague Maanvi Singh. Here’s where things stand:
A federal judge in California has ruled that the office of personnel management must rescind memos directing agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees, stating that the agency exceeded its legal authority. OPM is also required to inform other federal agencies that it had no power to issue such a directive.
The Donald Trump administration has taken down the online application form for several popular student debt repayment plans, causing confusion among borrowers and likely creating complications for millions of Americans with outstanding loans.
The Social Security Administration is expected to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, the Associated Press reported. The workforce reduction could be as high as 50%, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Those seeking payment plans are unable to access the applications for income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), which cap what borrowers must pay each month at a percent of their earnings, as well as the online application to consolidate their loans on the US Department of Education website.
Donald Trump suggested Vladimir Putin can be trusted in the peace talks with Ukraine because “we had to go through the Russian hoax together”. “I’ve known him for a long time now, and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word,” Trump said during his Oval Office meeting with Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister. For more updates from Trump’s press conference with Starmer, follow the UK politics live blog.
Trump announced he would move forward with imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada next week, after he initially delayed that policy by one month. In a post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Mexico and Canada for allowing illegal drugs to flow into the US, writing: “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
The top Democrat on the Senate finance committee warned that Trump’s tariffs threats are “driving the US economy straight into a wall”. “Slapping tariffs on everything Americans buy from Canada, Mexico, and China will mean higher prices on groceries, gas and cars, with fewer jobs and lower pay when our closest trading partners respond to Trump’s trade war by buying fewer American products,” senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, said in a statement.
Democrats on the Senate foreign relations committee slammed the Trump administration over a decision to eliminate as much as 90% of USAid’s foreign aid contracts. “It is clear that the Trump Administration’s foreign assistance ‘review’ was not a serious effort or attempt at reform but rather a pretext to dismantle decades of US investment that makes America safer, stronger and more prosperous,” the Democrats said in a joint statement.
Updated
Republican lawmaker Don Bacon of Nebraska said in an interview with C-Span that the GOP budget plan would lead to Medicaid cuts, but that these reductions would not affect the “quality of care”.
His comments come as the House speaker, Mike Johnson, has repeatedly said that Republicans will not “touch” Medicaid, Medicare or social security, instead focusing on finding “efficiencies” and eliminating “fraud, waste, and abuse”.
Here’s more context on the Republican budget blueprint:
Updated
Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration's mass firings of federal workers
A federal judge in California has ruled that the Office of Personnel Management must rescind memos directing agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees, stating that the agency exceeded its legal authority.
OPM is also required to inform other federal agencies that it had no power to issue such a directive.
While the ruling does not prevent individual agencies from terminating probationary employees at their discretion, the judge emphasized that OPM cannot mandate such actions.
Updated
A former land manager and Idaho lumber executive has been named the new head of the US department of agriculture’s forest service.
Tom Shultz will serve as the 21st chief of the forest service, replacing Randy Moore, US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins announced Thursday.
Moore’s retirement, announced Tuesday, comes amid widespread dismissals made by the Trump administration as part of efforts to reduce the size of federal agencies.
In a message to Forest Service employees, Moore described the past several weeks as “incredibly difficult” and urged his colleagues to support one another.
President Trump has loosened restrictions on US commanders, granting them greater authority to approve airstrikes and special operations raids beyond traditional battlefields, officials told CBS News.
The changes expand the range of potential targets and mark a significant shift in counterterrorism strategy.
This reversal dismantles Biden-era policies and signals a return to the more aggressive approach Trump first introduced during his initial term.
The policy change prioritizes flexibility and allows commanders more discretion in selecting targets while scaling back the multi-layered approval process that former President Joe Biden had imposed on airstrikes and special operations.
Attorney general Pam Bondi is set to release flight logs and other government documents related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday.
The files are not expected to reveal new details about the high-profile sex trafficking case that has fueled widespread speculation and conspiracy theories.
According to the Justice Department, the documents, slated to be posted online later Thursday, primarily consist of records that have already circulated publicly since Epstein’s death in 2019. He died by suicide in a Manhattan federal jail a month after his arrest.
Five former defense secretaries urge Congress to hold hearings on Pentagon firings
Five former secretaries of defense are urging Congress to hold immediate hearings on Donald Trump’s recent firings of the chair of the joint chiefs of staff and other senior military leaders, the Associated Press reported.
The bipartisan group, which served under both Republican and Democratic administrations over the past three decades, described the dismissals as deeply concerning. They warned that the moves raised “troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military” and stripped away legal checks on the president’s authority.
Late last week, Trump dismissed the air force general CQ Brown Jr as chair of the joint chiefs. Shortly after, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, removed admiral Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations; the general Jim Slife, vice-chief of the air force; and the judge advocates general for the military branches.
Updated
Republican senators raise concerns over Trump's freeze on foreign aid and cuts to USAid
Several Republican senators have raised concerns over the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid and cuts to USAid, joining Democratic lawmakers, the Washington Post reported.
GOP senators Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, the chair of the Senate appropriations committee, joined their Democratic colleagues in writing a letter earlier this month to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, arguing that the state department has failed to comply with legal requirements to notify and consult Congress during the process.
Although they acknowledged the secretary of state’s authority to review federal programs and eliminate waste, lawmakers are concerned that neither Rubio nor the state department had followed legal requirements to notify and consult with Congress while slashing USAid funding and canceling aid programs.
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Trump administration quietly shutters online form for student debt repayment
The Donald Trump administration has taken down the online application form for several popular student debt repayment plans, causing confusion among borrowers and likely creating complications for millions of Americans with outstanding loans.
Those seeking payment plans are unable to access the applications for income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), which cap what borrowers must pay each month at a percent of their earnings, as well as the online application to consolidate their loans on the US Department of Education website.
The quiet removal came after a federal appeals court decision earlier this week that continued a pause on Joe Biden’s Save program, an income-driven plan for loan forgiveness that would have forgiven debts after as few as 10 years of payments.
Biden’s Save program has been on hold since last summer after a group of Republican state attorneys general brought forward a lawsuit against the forgiveness features. As a result, about 8 million borrowers who enrolled in Save before it was halted currently have their loans in limbo as the litigation is ongoing.
It is currently unclear how borrowers who were already enrolled in income-driven plans are supposed to submit their annual paperwork to certify their incomes. It is also uncertain when or if the payment plan applications will be back up on the website.
The continued setbacks on the path towards student loan forgiveness have caused concern among those with debt, and loan-forgiveness activists. Critics also point out that removing payment plan options was not a part of the previous litigation.
Read Marina Dunbar’s full report:
Updated
The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, reports on Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump:
How the tables have turned. Once upon a time, visitors had to fawn over mad King George III and maintain the great pretence that everything was normal. Now, it was the British prime minister’s turn to show deference to a capricious, erratic US president who might blow it all up.
First, Keir Starmer, the 58th British prime minister (does Liz Truss really count?), and Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th US president, sat side by side before the fireplace in the Oval Office. Trump stretched credulity by claiming they “get along famously”. Starmer thanked Trump for “changing the conversation” on Ukraine.
Then the prime minister reached into his jacket breast pocket and produced a letter from King Charles and handed it over (take that, Macron!).
But, the theatre came unstuck as a baffled Trump asked: “Am I supposed to read it right now?” Like a schoolchild trying to impress his parents with exam results, Starmer replied: “Yes, please do!”
There was a long, agonising silence as Trump studied the letter. Oddly, he wanted to make sure it was signed.
“That’s quite a signature isn’t it – beautiful!” he said.
Starmer told the gathering that the letter contained an invitation for Trump’s second state visit to Britain. Trump nodded at someone as if to impress them with how important it was. Starmer gushed: “This is really special. This has never happened before.”
Then, placing a hand on Trump’s right arm for effect: “This is unprecedented!”
But there was still some anxiety swimming in the prime minister’s stomach. “What I haven’t got yet is your answer,” he said.
Trump responded: “The answer is yes!”
Rejoice! Rejoice! Corks pop, confetti swirls and fireworks explode. Prepare to bring the Trump baby blimp out of retirement.
Starmer calculated correctly that the puff and pageantry of a state visit with King Charles was bound to appeal to a man who, when he recently wrote on social media, “LONG LIVE THE KING!”, had only himself in mind.
Read the full analysis here:
Updated
King Charles invites Donald Trump for unprecedented second state visit to UK
King Charles has invited Donald Trump to make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK in a letter handed to the US president by Keir Starmer.
Queen Elizabeth II hosted Trump on a state visit in 2019. Precedent for second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
Trump received the invitation during a meeting at the White House on Thursday, with Starmer presenting the letter from the king.
In the letter, which Trump showed to the cameras in the Oval Office, Charles suggested he and Trump could meet beforehand at Dumfries House or Balmoral, which are near Trump’s golf courses in Scotland, to discuss the plans for the much grander visit.
The letter, partially obscured by Trump’s hand, read: “I can only say that it would be … pleasure to extend that invitation once again, in the hope that you … some stage be visiting Turnberry and a detour to a relatively near neighbour might not cause you too much inconvenience. An alternative might perhaps be for you to visit Balmoral.
“There is much on both estates which I think you might find interesting, and enjoy – particularly as my foundation at Dumfries House provides hospitality skills-training for young people who often end up as staff on your own establishments!”
The letter continued: “Quite apart from this presenting an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest, it would also offer a valuable chance to plan a historic second state visit to the United Kingdom.
“As you will know this is unprecedented by a US President. That is why I would find it helpful for us to be able to discuss, together, a range of options for location and programme content.”
Read the full story:
Updated
Social Security Administration could layoff up to 50% of its workforce
The Social Security Administration is expected to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, the Associated Press reported.
The workforce reduction could be as high as 50%, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
It’s unclear how the layoffs will directly impact benefits of the 72.5 million Social Security beneficiaries, which include retirees and children who receive retirement and disability benefits.
Advocates and Democratic lawmakers warn that layoffs will reduce the agency’s ability to serve recipients in a timely manner.
Updated
A federal judge has ordered Trump administration officials involved in Elon Musk’s “opaque” department of government efficiency (Doge) to testify under oath in a lawsuit regarding the agency’s access to sensitive government databases.
US District Judge John Bates ruled on Thursday that limited questioning of officials connected to Doge could help clarify the group’s activities and assess whether it poses the data security risks that government employees have raised concerns about.
The judge’s order allows unions and liberal groups suing the agency to depose four officials: one from Doge’s White House headquarters and one each from the labor department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Doge’s aggressive push to streamline bureaucracy has triggered over a dozen lawsuits, and this order marks the first time that people involved in the project will be required to answer questions from lawyers outside the government.
Updated
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Donald Trump suggested Vladimir Putin can be trusted in the peace talks with Ukraine because “we had to go through the Russian hoax together”. “I’ve known him for a long time now, and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word,” Trump said during his Oval Office meeting with Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister. For more updates from Trump’s press conference with Starmer, follow the UK politics live blog.
Trump announced he would move forward with imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada next week, after he initially delayed that policy by one month. In a post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Mexico and Canada for allowing illegal drugs to flow into the US, writing: “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
The top Democrat on the Senate finance committee warned that Trump’s tariffs threats are “driving the US economy straight into a wall”. “Slapping tariffs on everything Americans buy from Canada, Mexico, and China will mean higher prices on groceries, gas and cars, with fewer jobs and lower pay when our closest trading partners respond to Trump’s trade war by buying fewer American products,” senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, said in a statement.
Democrats on the Senate foreign relations committee slammed the Trump administration over a decision to eliminate as much as 90% of USAid’s foreign aid contracts. “It is clear that the Trump Administration’s foreign assistance ‘review’ was not a serious effort or attempt at reform but rather a pretext to dismantle decades of US investment that makes America safer, stronger and more prosperous,” the Democrats said in a joint statement.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Senator Ruben Gallego, a freshman Democrat of Arizona, has introduced a resolution condemning the Trump administration’s rejection of a United Nations resolution denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, the US joined Russia, Belarus and North Korea in voting against the EU-Ukrainian resolution, which was intrdouced to coincide with the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Let’s be clear on this: this is a war that Russia started. Ukraine did not ask for it. They did not ask to go to war with a nuclear superpower, and they did not ask for their cities to be reduced to rubble,” Gallego said in a speech today on the Senate floor.
“They didn’t ask for their children to be displaced and families to be torn apart. If Ukraine had its way, this war would have ended years ago.”
He warned that the US position on the UN resolution “puts us on the same side as Russia and North Korea,” adding, “That’s not just embarrassing, it is dangerous.”
Trump expresses trust in Putin because 'we had to go through the Russian hoax together'
Donald Trump made some eyebrow-raising comments about Russia during his Oval Office meeting with Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, just a few moments ago.
Trump suggested that Vladimir Putin could be trusted to follow through on the terms of any peace agreement signed with Ukraine, saying he expected the Russian leader to “keep his word”.
“I’ve spoken to him. I’ve known him for a long time now,” Trump said.
“You know we had to go through the Russian hoax together [the claim that Russia colluded with Trump to rig the 2016 election]. That was not a good thing …
“I’ve known him for a long time now, and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word.”
For more updates and analysis from Trump’s press conference with Starmer, which is expected to get underway soon, follow the Guardian’s UK politics live blog:
Kash Patel, the controversial new FBI director, has proposed teaming up with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a way to improve agents’ physical fitness, ABC News reported.
Patel reportedly floated the potential collaboration on teleconference Wednesday with the heads of the FBI’s 55 field offices. Dana White, the CEO and founder of the mixed-martial arts entertainment company, is a prominent Trump supporter and major booster of his re-election campaign.
Kash’s appointment has rattled the agency, amid widespread concern that he would use the historically independent bureau to pursue Trump’s political opponents – something he declined to rule out in his confirmation hearing.
Asked about self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, flying to the US, reportedly after the US urged Romania to lift the travel ban that was preventing them from leaving the country, Trump said he “doesn’t know anything about it”.
The pair, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, arrived in Florida from Romania on Thursday by private jet, after prosecutors suspended their travel ban and a court lifted a precautionary seizure on some of their assets. The brothers, are staunch Trump supporters.
On Thursday, Ron DeSantis, the state’s Republican governor, said: “Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air.”
The Tate brothers were arrested in Romania in 2022 and face trial on charges of rape, sex with a minor, people trafficking and money laundering.
Attending the anti-war protest in solidarity with Barnard and Columbia students is Raymond Lotta, a spokesperson for Revolutionary Books in Harlem.
“We are here specifically today because we are standing in solidarity with the students here at Barona and Columbia who are being punished severely for standing in support of the Palestinian people and calling out this university for being complicit in war crimes, and now two students have been expelled…they must be reinstated. This is a just and a righteous demand,” Lotta said.
He added: “And we are here to stand in solidarity and also to help people to understand that we’re now fighting in a new situation with Trump MAGA fascism in power and their agenda is horrific. I mean, across the board, you know, terrorizing and rounding up immigrants, attempting to erase LGBTQ people. This is fascism and, you know, they are attempting to use the military to suppress protest in dissent, and the struggle here is a struggle that has inspired students across the country.”
The protesters have issued a list of four demands to Barnard president Laura Rosenbury.
The demands stated are: “Immediate reversal of the two Barnard students’ expulsions…Amnesty for all student students disciplined for pro-Palestine, action or thought…a public meeting with Dean Leslie Grinage, and president Laura Rosenbery and abolition of the corrupt Barnard disciplinary process and complete transparency for current past and future disciplinary proceedings.”
“Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will rest,” the students chant.
“Barnard College go to hell,” others yell before going into, “1, we are the students! 2, we won’t stop fighting! 3, we want divestment now now now!”
NYPD have set up more barricades outside Barnard as a verbal altercation between the student protestors and counter protestors broke out with both sides yelling at each other.
Elon Musk again criticized Verizon as the Federal Aviation Administration reportedly considers canceling a $2.4bn contract with the telecommunications company. On deck to supplant Verizon: The tech mogul’s own satellite internet company, Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX.
In a post on his X social media platform, Musk said the “Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly”.
Musk made the comment in a repost of a tweet linking to the Washington Post’s report that the FAA was “close to canceling” Verizon’s contract in favor of Starlink, setting up a major conflict-of-interest test for the administration as Musk leads its cost-cutting effort. Staff with Musk’s Doge have already infiltrated the aviation agency, according to multiple reports.
“The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk,” Musk said on X. “The Starlink terminals are being sent at NO COST to the taxpayer on an emergency basis to restore air traffic control connectivity. The situation is extremely dire.”
On X, Musk said a “total overhaul” of the air traffic control system was needed, an assessment many at the agency would agree with. Handing the contract to Starlink, however, would compound existing conflicts of interest involving SpaceX and the FAA.
Protest erupts at Barnard University in New York
The Guardian’s Maya Yang is at New York’s Barnard University, where students wearing keffiyehs in solidarity with Palestine are gathered outside on the campus, chanting a series of anti-war slogans amid a heavy New York police department (NYPD) presence.
“Free, free Palestine!” the students chant as well as some hold up handwritten signs that read: “No more Zionist occupation”‘and “Amnesty now.”
Around 100 or so students appear gathered outside the gated campus of Barnard, where only students and faculty with ID cards are allowed in.
Around eight student counter-protestors have gathered across from the Barnard and Columbia students protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza.
One student, with a shirt that says “Fuck Hamas, I stand with Israel” started playing Israeli music with others waving an Israeli and an IDF flag. Another student wore a white hoodie with the words: “Columbia University students supporting Israel.”
Since Hamas’s 7 October attacks which killed 1,200 Israelis and took over 200 survivors hostage, Israeli forces have waged a deadly war on Gaza, killing over 48,000 Palestinians while forcibly displacing nearly 2 million survivors amid severe shortages in food, fuel and medical supplies due to Israeli aid restrictions.
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Democrats have tapped Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan to deliver the party’s response to Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress next week.
BIG: I’m announcing @SenatorSlotkin will deliver our Democratic response to Trump’s Joint Address.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 27, 2025
Nothing short of a rising star in our party—she’s dedicated her life to our country.
She will layout the fight to tackle the deep challenges we face and chart a path forward. pic.twitter.com/wcvy1lkQjP
Slotkin’s victory in battleground Michigan, which Trump won, was one of the few bright spots for Democrats on election night 2024.
I'm looking forward to speaking directly to the American people next week. The public expects leaders to level with them on what’s actually happening in our country.https://t.co/If2Zzl6ATp pic.twitter.com/Wq7wgQfPRJ
— Sen. Elissa Slotkin (@SenatorSlotkin) February 27, 2025
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Trump and UK's Starmer meet at the White House
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is at the White House on a major mission to try to persuade Trump to provide security guarantee for European peacekeepers in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
Our UK live blog will cover every twist and turn of the meeting. Follow along here.
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Jeffries also accused House Republicans of “lying to the American people” when they claim that their budget plan won’t result in steep cuts to Medicaid.
Republicans are facing a growing backlash after they advanced a fiscal blueprint that would almost certainly require major reductions to social safety net programs to offset the cost of Trump’s signature tax breaks.
The Republican budget authorizes up to $880bn in cuts to Medicaid by directing the Energy and Commerce Committee to find those spending cuts,” Jeffries told reporters on Capitol Hill, referring to the committee that handles Medicaid health care spending. “Everybody knows, who has had any connection to the Congressional Budget, that if you are directing the Energy and Commerce Committee to find up to $880bn, if not more, in spending cuts, that means Medicaid. That will hurt children, hurt families, hurt everyday Americans with disabilities and hurt seniors. I can’t say it any other way. Republicans are lying. Prove me wrong.”
In an earlier interview on CNN, Johnson accused Democrats of exaggerating the scale of the cuts that would be needed and insisted that Americans would “like the final product”.
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If Doge is committed to rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, it should begin by scrutinizing Musk’s own federal contracts, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said during a press conference on Thursday.
“Elon Musk has about $8m in federal contracts per day. Per day. The average Social Security recipient in this country receives $65 per day,” Jeffries said. “Elon Musk and House Republicans are interested in identifying waste, fraud and abuse, start with his contracts if this was really a serious effort.”
He questioned why Musk’s Doge needed access to sensitive personal and financial information to conduct their work and vowed that Democrats would continue to try to block the tech mogul’s efforts.
Democrat slams tariffs announcement: 'Trump is driving the US economy straight into a wall'
Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon and the ranking member of the Senate finance committee, excoriated Donald Trump over his announcement that he would move forward with his planned tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada.
“Trump is driving the U.S. economy straight into a wall and expecting American families to serve as human crash test dummies,” Wyden said in a statement.
“Slapping tariffs on everything Americans buy from Canada, Mexico, and China will mean higher prices on groceries, gas and cars, with fewer jobs and lower pay when our closest trading partners respond to Trump’s trade war by buying fewer American products.”
Wyden described Trump’s expected tariffs as a betrayal of the voters who carried him to the White House, predicting that the policy would have a chilling effect on all US alliances.
“Anyone who voted for Donald Trump because they wanted lower prices and a fairer economy has a right to feel betrayed by his economic sabotage,” Wyden said. “And it is hard to see why any foreign leader would make a deal with someone who changes his mind daily and can’t stick to agreements from month to month.”
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A judge denied a request by CIA employees to block the Trump administration from firing them as part of a government-wide purge of work related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs, NBC News reports.
The workers sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency from eliminating their roles or placing them on leave without pay.
According to Gary Grumbach of NBC News, Judge Anthony J Trenga of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, called it a “difficult situation”.
The Judge said if fairness and morals were the standard of which he had to rule, it might be a different decision, but the law dictates otherwise.
— Gary Grumbach (@GaryGrumbach) February 27, 2025
“They had the misfortune of being last assigned to a DEI program,” Judge Trenga said, calling it a “difficult situation.”
Some of the plaintiffs addressed the CIA’s attorneys as they left the courtroom, he reported.
Ten “John Doe” and “Jane Doe” plaintiffs were in court today, along with family members. As we were walking out of courtroom, several of them told the CIA’s attorneys they should be ashamed of themselves. “That was sick,” one man said. “You are really disgusting,” another said.
— Gary Grumbach (@GaryGrumbach) February 27, 2025
Former Republican Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer inched closer to becoming the US labor secretary this morning, when the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) committee sent her nomination to the floor for a full vote.
The panel voted 13-9 to recommend Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation by the full Senate. Three Democrats approved of her nomination, while one Republican voted against it.
Chavez-DeRemer is viewed as relatively pro-labor compared to her past Republican predecessors, a reflection of Trump’s support from union members in the 2024 presidential election. Yet some Democrats have vowed to oppose all of Trump’s remaining cabinet nominees as a way to protest his administration’s efforts to dramatically downsize the US government. During her confirmation hearing, she was grilled by anti-union Republicans and Democrats over her views on labor organizing and worker rights.
The US labor department is one of the agencies being targeted by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team at Doge for access to federal data systems, according to lawsuits.
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Democrats slam USAid cuts: 'jeopardizes millions of lives and creates a power vacuum'
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations committee have slammed the Trump administration over a decision to eliminate as much as 90% of USAid’s foreign aid contracts and $60bn in overall US assistance around the world.
“It is clear that the Trump Administration’s foreign assistance ‘review’ was not a serious effort or attempt at reform but rather a pretext to dismantle decades of U.S. investment that makes America safer, stronger and more prosperous,” the Democrats said in a joint statement, that included ranking member, New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen.
The Democrats accused secretary of state, Marco Rubio, of failing to conduct a “program-by-program review of the more than 9,000 awards” or to consider the national security implications of slashing these efforts. They called for Rubio to come before the committee and defend the decision.
“Ending programs first and asking questions later only jeopardizes millions of lives and creates a power vacuum for our adversaries like China and Russia to fill,” they said, noting that the cuts would not only be felt abroad but also by Americans at home.
“The impact will be felt by American farmers who will no longer get top dollar for their crops to feed the hungry, churches who will no longer have the support of the US government in their missions, American families who fall sick when diseases like Zika, Ebola and Malaria once again reach our shores and US biotech companies who will no longer sell their drugs to treat the vulnerable overseas.”
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Donald Trump said the ice hockey legend and a longtime friend, Wayne Gretzky, does not want to see his native Canada become America’s 51st state. The president also claimed that the former athlete hasn’t publicly shared his disapproval of Trump’s proposal to merge the two North American neighbors because “he wants to make me happy.”
“Wayne Gretzky is a fantastic guy! They call him, ‘The Great One,’ and he is. He could run for any political office in Canada, and win,” Trump wrote in his TruthSocial account. “Wayne is my friend, and he wants to make me happy, and is therefore somewhat ‘low key’ about Canada remaining a separate Country, rather than becoming a cherished and beautiful 51st State, paying much Lower Taxes, a Free and Powerful Military, NO TARIFFS, and having a Booming Economy.”
Gretzky has faced a backlash in Canada over his perceived disloyalty toward his home country. The Hall of Famer, who has publicly supported Trump, was publicly mum on the president’s tariffs threat against Canada and his desire to make the country a part of the US.
In the post, Trump declared Gretzky a “free agent” and that he didn’t “want anyone in Canada to say anything bad about” about his friend.
“He supports Canada the way it is, as he should, even though it’s not nearly as good as it could be as part of the Greatest and Most Powerful Country in the World, the Good Ole’ U.S.A.!”
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The Senate will convene this morning; and this afternoon, the chamber will hold a key procedural vote on the nomination of Linda McMahon to be the next secretary of education.
Given Republicans’ 53-47 advantage in the Senate, McMahon, founder of the World Wrestling Entertainment, is likely to be confirmed, even as she has voiced agreement with Donald Trump’s suggestion to shutter the department of education.
“President Trump believes that the bureaucracy in Washington should be abolished so that we can return education to the states, where it belongs,” McMahon wrote in a letter responding to two Democratic senators’ questions. “I wholeheartedly support and agree with this mission.”
Senator Andy Kim, a Democrat of New Jersey, framed McMahon’s response as a clear warning of how she would undermine the department’s mission and harm American families.
“Linda McMahon has made clear her top responsibility is complete and total loyalty to President Trump, including her openness to dissolve the very department she would be confirmed to run,” Kim wrote.
“As the administration’s illegal funding freeze threatens already scarce resources for schools and critical programs, her blind loyalty is dangerous. Instead of treating education as a public good that is a foundation for our society, the Trump administration is trying to demonize it and change it in ways that will leave many children vulnerable. We cannot let them.”
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Tariffs on Mexico and Canada are broadly unpopular with the American people, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted earlier this month.
The poll found that 35% of Americans support imposing a 25% tariff on most products from Mexico, while 59% of Americans oppose it. About 3 in 10 Americans, or 31%, support imposing a 25% tariff on most products from Canada, and 64% oppose it.
Tariffs on China are more popular, with 50% of Americans supporting a 10% increase in tariffs on most of the country’s products.
Donald Trump indicated his plans to move forward with the tariffs on Mexico and Canada during his cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday.
“I’m not stopping the tariffs,” Trump told a reporter. “Millions of people have died because of the fentanyl that comes over the border.”
“Even with the 90% drop in border crossings though, this last month compared to about a year ago?” the reporter asked.
Trump replied, “Yeah, they’ve been good, but that’s also due to us – mostly due to us. It’s right now very hard to come through the border, but look: the damage has been done. We’ve lost millions of people due to fentanyl. It comes mostly from China, but it comes through Mexico, and it comes through Canada.”
Trump predicted the consequences of the tariffs would be “amazing,” adding, “We’ve been taken advantage of, as a countrty, for a long period of time.”
Trump says Mexico and Canada tariffs will go into effect next week
Donald Trump said his administration would move forward with imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada next week, a policy that could cause prices to rise in the US.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Mexico and Canada for allowing illegal drugs to flow into the US and confirmed that the delayed tariffs would go into effect next Tuesday.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He added, “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date. The April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect.”
Trump had previously called for imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, but he delayed the policy by one month after speaking to the leaders of the two nations.
As the AP reports: “The prospect of escalating tariffs has already thrown the global economy into turmoil — with consumers expressing fears about inflation worsening and the auto sector possibly suffering if America’s two largest trading partners in Canada and Mexico are slapped with taxes.”
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The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, criticized Donald Trump for jeopardizing Americans’ retirement benefits in response to reports that the Social Security Administration has shuttered offices and put hundreds of employees on leave.
“Social Security is an earned benefit. Every day, every month and every year, hardworking Americans have paid into Social Security in order to retire with grace and dignity,” Jeffries said in a new statement.
“Enabled by House Republicans, the Trump administration is putting Social Security benefits at risk by firing the staff who help beneficiaries and closing down the offices that serve communities across the country.”
Jeffries praised the Social Security program as a “critical lifeline for older Americans and people with disabilities”, accusing Republicans of gutting their constituents’ benefits to advance tax cuts for “their super rich donors and big corporations”.
“President Trump, Elon Musk and House Republicans must keep their hands off Social Security,” Jeffries said. “Any bipartisan spending agreement has to protect the administration of these earned benefits.”
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The House speaker, Republican Mike Johnson, is forcefully pushing back against Democrats’ warnings that his budget blueprint will result in drastic cuts to Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income families.
“It is merely a framework to set up what will come the reconciliation process,” Johnson told CNN last night. “It’s going to take us five or six weeks, probably, to dig through all those details and come up with the final proposal. So, everybody just reserve judgment, watch us work, and you’ll like the final product.”
Johnson noted that the blueprint bill does not mention the word “Medicaid”, and he accused Democrats of needlessly spreading alarm across the country.
“That is not part of this equation. We’re talking about finding efficiencies in every program but not cutting benefits for people who rightly deserve that,” Johnson said.
However, the budget blueprint does instruct the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880bn in government spending through 2034, and most of those cuts are expected to come from Medicaid.
“The House Republican budget resolution will set in motion the largest Medicaid cut in American history,” the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said Tuesday.
“It’s outrageous. Children will be devastated. Families, devastated. People with disabilities, devastated. Older Americans, devastated. Hospitals, devastated. Nursing homes, devastated.
“The reckless Republican budget will cut taxes up to $4.5tn for the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected, and then they are sticking working-class Americans, middle-class Americans and everyday Americans with the bill.”
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Trump to decide tariff policies after study published on 1 April
Donald Trump will decide on tariff policies after a study comes out on 1 April, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC in an interview on Thursday, Reuters reports.
Ontario heads to polls for snap election in face of looming Trump tariffs
Voters in Canada’s most populous province head to the polls on Thursday to elect a new premier who may have to face the task of preserving Ontario’s economy in the face of punishing US trade tariffs.
Doug Ford, the Progressive Conservative party leader who has been the province’s premier since 2018, called the snap election last month, arguing that he needs a “strong mandate” to steer the province through any trade war with the US.
Ford’s opponents have argued the vote is a cynical move to distract attention from an ongoing criminal probe into how his government handled a now-rescinded plan to develop on protected lands.
Lydia Miljan, a political science professor at the University of Windsor in Ontario, said Ford had likely already been planning an election for several months.
Read the full report here:
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Trump is using the presidency to seek golf deals. Hardly anyone’s paying attention
In his first month in office, Donald Trump destroyed federal agencies, fired thousands of government workers and unleashed dozens of executive orders. The US president also found time to try to broker an agreement between two rival golf tournaments, the US-based PGA Tour and the LIV Golf league, funded by Saudi Arabia.
If concluded, the deal would directly benefit Trump’s family business, which owns and manages golf courses around the world. And it would be the latest example of Trump using the presidency to advance his personal interests.
On 20 February, Trump hosted a meeting at the White House between Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, and Yasir al-Rumayyan, chair of LIV Golf and head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, along with the golf star Tiger Woods. It was the second meeting convened by Trump at the White House this month with PGA Tour officials involved in negotiating with the Saudi wealth fund.
A day before his latest attempt at high-level golf diplomacy, Trump travelled to Miami to speak at a conference organized by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which is managed by Al-Rumayyan but ultimately controlled by the kingdom’s de facto ruler and crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump’s sports diplomacy in the Oval Office and cozying up to Saudi investors in Miami did not get much attention compared with his whirlwind of executive orders and new policies. But these incidents encapsulate Trump’s transactional and corrupt approach to governing – and the ways that wealthy autocrats including Prince Mohammed will be able to exploit the US president. While Trump will often boast he is making good deals for the US, his relationship with Saudi Arabia and its crown prince is largely built on benefits for Trump’s family and its extensive business interests.
You can read the full report here:
Putin says first contacts with US inspire hope
Vladimir Putin told the FSB security service on Thursday that initial contacts with the administration of Donald Trump gave grounds for hope, Reuters is reporting.
The Russian president said in televised comments that Russia and the United States were ready to establish cooperation but some Western elites would seek to undermine the dialogue between them.
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French finance minister Eric Lombard said on Thursday that the European Union would “do the same” if the United States maintains 25% tariffs announced by Donald Trump, Agence France-Presse reports.
On the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers meeting in Cape Town, Lombard said:
It is clear that if the Americans maintain the tariff hikes, as President Trump announced, the EU will do the same.
Even if it is not in the general interest, we too must protect our interests and the interests of the countries of the Union.
Diplomats from the G7 countries spoke to Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, on Thursday morning, telling him that “tariff wars lead to inflation, lower growth and are not a solution”, Lombard said.
Bessent did not travel to Cape Town for the G20 talks, but attended the G7 meeting virtually.
“Minister Bessent told us that negotiations would start on April 2,” Lombard said, adding the EU would “represent the European countries with the aim of reaching a fair agreement”.
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Elon Musk’s conflicts of interest ‘should scare every American’, experts say
As Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk work zealously to slash tens of billions in federal spending by axing thousands of jobs and gutting some government agencies, Musk faces mounting claims he has conflicts of interest and no oversight, legal and ethics experts say.
Trump’s largest campaign donor and the world’s wealthiest man, Musk was tapped by the president to lead the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) in a radical and opaque cost-cutting drive that allows him to keep control of SpaceX, Tesla and other huge companies with billions of dollars in federal contracts.
Critics note that Doge, which Musk touted broadly to Trump in August as he was writing seven figure checks to help him win, is gutting agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has investigated complaints about the car company’s debt collection and loan policies.
Meanwhile, Tesla, SpaceX and other Musk businesses have been investigated or fined by about a dozen regulatory agencies including the CFPB, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration, which suggest how Doge’s work at these agencies and others could benefit Musk financially, say critics.
Read the full report here:
More on the Russia-US meeting taking place in Istanbul.
Russia says it expects Thursday’s talks between Russian and US diplomats to be the first in a series of meetings that will bring the two countries closer to solving problems in their relationship, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Zakharova, briefing, reporters, said the purpose of the talks in Turkey was to remove “irritants” in relations, Reuters reports.
She said:
We expect that today’s meeting will be the first in a series of such expert consultations that will bring us closer to overcoming the disagreements that have arisen with the American side, strengthening confidence-building measures.
The talks are focusing on ways to normalise the operation of their respective embassies after rounds of diplomats’ expulsions in the past years.
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Donald Trump’s pick to oversee a consumer watchdog is due to face a grilling from Democrats in the US Senate on Thursday as the White House presses ahead with aggressive efforts to dismantle the agency, Reuters reports.
Jonathan McKernan, nominated to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on his selection, Reuters reports.
There, he will face off against Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the panel who also helped establish the watchdog after its creation in 2010.
Thursday’s hearing will mark the first time Democrats, incensed at the dismantling of an agency they view as a critical safeguard for consumers using financial products, will be able to directly press a Republican official on the future of the agency.
Under the acting leadership of Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, the CFPB has been effectively shuttered, with the agency’s doors locked and most staff placed on administrative leave.
Signs on the agency’s headquarters next to the White House have been removed, and its lease is being cancelled in a bid to create a more “streamlined” agency, according to court filings. The agency has also begun dropping lawsuits it had filed against financial firms under previous leadership.
Republicans terrified of crossing Trump due to physical threats, Democrat says
Republicans on Capitol Hill are shying away from criticising Donald Trump’s policies over fears for their physical safety and that of their families, a Democratic member of Congress has said.
Eric Swalwell, a Democratic representative from California, said his Republican colleagues were “terrified” of crossing Trump not only because of the negative impact on their political careers, but also from anxiety that it might provoke physical threats that could cause personal upheaval and require them to hire round-the-clock security as protection.
Swalwell’s comments came in a webinar chaired by the journalist Sidney Blumenthal in response to a question on whether Republicans might be driven to rebel against or even impeach Trump.
“I have a lot of friends who are Republicans,” he said. “They are terrified of being the tallest poppy in the field, and it’s not as simple as being afraid of being primaried and losing their job. They know that that can happen.
“It’s more more personal. It’s their personal safety that they’re afraid of, and they have spouses and family members saying, ‘Do not do this, it’s not worth it, it will change our lives forever. We will have to hire around-the-clock security.’ Life can be very uncomfortable for your children.
“That is real, because when [Elon] Musk [Trump’s most powerful ally] tweets at somebody, or Trump tweets at somebody, or calls somebody out, their lives are turned upside down.
You can read the full report here:
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Europe needs to respond firmly but proportionately to Donald Trump’s latest tariffs threats, French industry minister Marc Ferracci said on Thursday, adding that these threats were “worrying but not surprising”.
Ferracci was speaking at a news conference on the future of the European steel industry in Paris.
Donald Trump threatened to slap 25% tariffs on the European Union at his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, saying he would release details soon.
“We have made a decision and we’ll be announcing it very soon. It’ll be 25%,” he said.
You can read more about Trump’s tariffs threats here:
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, on Thursday rejected Donald Trump’s remark that the European Union “was formed in order to screw the United States.”
Tusk said on X:
The EU wasn’t formed to screw anyone. Quite the opposite. It was formed to maintain peace, to build respect among our nations, to create free and fair trade, and to strengthen our transatlantic friendship. As simple as that.
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Russia believes that dialogue with the United States can move forward with political will on both sides, but there are no quick and easy solutions, the Kremlin said on Thursday.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin welcomed what he called US President Donald Trump’s willingness to listen, Reuters reports.
Peskov said on Thursday:
What we are seeing is that President Trump himself speaks and is ready to listen to others.
No one expects solutions to come easily and quickly. The problem at hand is too complex and neglected. But with the two countries’ political will, with a willingness to hear and listen to each other, I think we will be able to get through this working process.
Peskov also said that one topic of possible US-Russia cooperation would be the extraction of resources in the Arctic.
UK PM Starmer to meet Trump for Ukraine talks
UK prime minister Keir Starmer is in Washington where later today where he will have his first meeting with President Trump since the inauguration.
With Trump aligning with Moscow even more explicitly than he did during his first administration, and threatening to wind down the Nato guarantees that have underpinned the security of western Europe since the second world war, the stakes could not be higher.
Starmer, despite leading a party whose activists mostly loathe Trump and everything he represents, has managed to establish a warm relationship with the president and today will give some clues as to what extent he can sustain that, and protect the UK from the tariff warfare that Trump is threatening to unleash on the EU.
But Starmer is one of three European leaders in Washington this week (Emmanuel Macron was there on Monday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is there tomorrow) and today’s meeting is also part of a wider story about the fracturing of the US/Europe alliance. It is definitely in trouble; but what is not yet clear is whether after four years of Trump it will still be functioning effectively.
Starmer spoke to reporters on his flight to the US on Wednesday. Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s UK political editor, was on the plane and, as she reports, Starmer said he wants Trump to agree that, in the event of a peace settlement in Ukraine, the US will offer security guarantees that will make it durable. He has already said that Britain would contribute troops to a European so-called “tripwire” peace-keeping force, there to defend Ukraine and deter Russia. But European soldiers would need US air and logistical support to be effective, and Starmer is looking for assurances on this topic.
You can follow all the latest from Starmer’s DC visit in our dedicated live blog:
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Supreme court backs Trump administration on withholding USAid cash
The US supreme court has backed the Trump administration in an action over payments due by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), with chief justice John Roberts issuing an “administrative stay” that means the $1.5bn worth of payments can still be delayed.
Donald Trump had ordered the payments to be stopped, but a federal judge had set a deadline for the agencies to release funds for work already carried out. Roberts responded to an emergency appeal by the administration by allowing the payments freeze to continue.
Workers at the agency have described Trump’s proposed cuts as a “catastrophic blow” which will lead to “shuttering life-saving and important programs forever.”
Associated Press reports that after USAid placed 4,080 staffers who work across the globe on leave Monday some have been told they are being given a brief window Thursday and Friday to clear out their workspaces. Each worker is being given just 15 minutes at their former workstation.
Virginia Democratic Rep Gerald Connolly said in a statement that the attack on USAid employees was “unwarranted and unprecedented”.
Welcome and opening summary …
Welcome to the Guardian’s rolling coverage of US politics and the second Donald Trump administration. Here are the headlines …
Thousands of US Agency for International Development (USAid) workers who have been fired or placed on leave as part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency are being given a brief window Thursday and Friday to clear out their workspaces.
The Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of USAid contracts and $60bn in overall US assistance around the world. The supreme court hasbriefly paused a lower court’s ruling ordering the administration to pay for $1.5bn of work already carried out.
Trump used the first full cabinet meeting of his second term to emphasize his administration’s focus on drastically reducing the size of the federal government, and signed an executive order expanding the power of Elon Musk’s Doge “agency”.
Trump may be pursuing a mineral rights deal with Vladimir Putin and Russia as well as with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, a top Senate Democrat has warned.
Transgender service members will be separated from the US military unless they receive an exemption, according to a Pentagon memo filed in court on Wednesday.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer is due to visit the White House to discuss Trump’s efforts to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine directly with Russia.
Diplomats from Russia and the US will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss the operation of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington.
