Closing summary
We have reached the end of another busy day chronicling week four of the second Trump term, but will be back on Thursday to resume our live coverage. In the meantime, here are some of the day’s developments:
Donald Trump said he is willing to accept Russia’s longstanding objection to Ukraine joining Nato. “They’ve been saying that for a long time, that Ukraine cannot go into Nato, and I’m OK with that,” the president said. He also revealed that he and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, had spoken for more than an hour to begin the process of ending the war in Ukraine and that the two men expected to meet in person in Saudi Arabia soon. Trump said he later spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and hinted that the Ukrainian president could be defeated in elections after the war ends.
Tulsi Gabbard was sworn in as Trump’s director of national intelligence.
Pam Bondi the attorney general, announced that the Trump administration was suing New York state over its immigration policies, accusing state officials of choosing “to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens”.
In a striking departure from White House briefing room tradition, at least 10 of the reporters that the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called on during her news conference on Wednesday work for partisan, rightwing outlets that helped to elect Donald Trump president.
The White House again barred an Associated Press reporter from the Oval Office for refusing to say the magic words: “Gulf of America.”
The trustees of the Kennedy Center elected Donald Trump as their chair.
The ACLU and a coalition of immigrants’ rights organizations has sued the Trump administration for access to undocumented immigrants held at Guantánamo Bay.
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attacked judges who have blocked Donald Trump’s executive orders. “The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges and liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block president Trump’s basic executive authority,” Leavitt said.
Speaking at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the defense secretary Pete Hegseth called the return of Russian-occupied Crimea to Ukraine “unrealistic”.
Three people, including one American, were released from Belarus, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Updated
Press secretary transforms White House briefing room into a safe space by calling on reporters from pro-Trump outlets
In a striking departure from White House briefing room tradition, at least 10 of the 18 reporters press secretary Karoline Leavitt called on during her news conference on Wednesday work for partisan rightwing outlets that helped to elect Donald Trump president.
Leavitt began by taking a question from the seat now reserved for invited White House guests representing “new media”. In this case, it was Chris Pavlovski, the founder and CEO of the conservative video-streaming site Rumble, whose early investors included JD Vance, the current vice-president. Pavlovski, who has visited Mar-a-Lago and offered technical advice to Trump’s own media company, duly tossed Leavitt a softball question, asking how the administration would defend companies like Rumble, which, he said, had been targeted by foreign countries that “oppose free speech”.
During the rest of the briefing, Leavitt took questions from a handful of non-partisan news outlets, but more frequently called on reporters from partisan, far-right outlets. They responded by teeing her up to repeat administration talking points or launch political attacks on Democrats.
The reporters included:
Brian Glenn of Real America’s Voice, who used the opportunity to ask Leavitt to comment on the success of Marjorie Taylor Greene in supposedly finding $2.7tn in fraudulent government spending. Glenn, who is dating Greene, was frequently called on by Trump at news conferences during the election campaign when his questions often included undisguised attacks on Kamala Harris.
Daniel Baldwin of the far-right One America News (OAN) channel, who asked Leavitt whether the administration’s effort to “claw back” payments made by “Fema activists” for immigrants to be housed in New York hotels might send a signal to “any federal bureaucrats that are thinking about obstructing the president’s agenda”.
Monica Paige, a former OAN reporter now working for the pro-Trump political organization Turning Point USA, who began her question with the comment: “It’s clear that this administration is dedicated to both truth and transparency.” She then asked whether more information on the two attempted assassinations of Trump in 2024 would be forthcoming. Levitt suggested that some information on those attempts might have been withheld from the public.
Mary Margaret Olohan of Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire, who teed Leavitt up to repeat her attack on the legal authority of judges who have issued temporary injunctions blocking aspects of Trump’s executive orders.
Jordan Conradson of the conspiratorial blog Gateway Pundit, who offered Leavitt the opportunity to take a swipe at Democratic criticism of Elon Musk by asking: “Does Elon Musk have [the] power of the presidency?” When Leavitt responded: “Absolutely not. That’s a ridiculous question,” Conradson added: “I asked that question because the Democrats have been hurling insults at Elon Musk … saying that he somehow usurped the power of the presidency.” He then invited Leavitt to knock down the charge.
Leavitt also took questions from reporters from more mainstream but still clearly pro-Trump outlets, including James Rosen of Newsmax; Diana Glebova of the New York Post; Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News and Philip Wegmann of Real Clear Politics. Leavitt also called on the former Fox News correspondent Jon Decker.
Several other reporters in the room who did not get to ask Leavitt a question this time also represent pro-Trump outlets: Reagan Reese of the Daily Caller; Bradley Devlin of the Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal; and Iris Tao of NTD/Epoch Times.
Updated
Pam Bondi, the attorney general, announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration is suing New York state over its immigration policies, accusing state officials of choosing “to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens”.
Although the suit is civil, not criminal, Bondi caused widespread confusion by saying that the justice department had “filed charges” against the state of New York and its governor, Kathy Hochul, and its attorney general, Letitia James.
As Tom Dreisbach of NPR pointed out, the federal government filed a civil lawsuit, not criminal charges.
Bondi said she was out to end New York’s “green light” law, which allows people in the state to get a driver’s license without citizenship or legal residency status. “It stops,” Bondi said. “It stops today.”
Bondi made the announcement alongside Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter was killed in Aberdeen, Maryland, in July 2022 by someone from El Salvador who had entered the country illegally months earlier in Texas. The assailant, then 16, was released to a first cousin to pursue asylum.
Bondi also told reporters that she was unaware that the corruption charges against the New York mayor, Eric Adams, had not been dropped two days after the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, directed prosecutors to dismiss the charges “as soon as is practicable”. Bove claimed that the case was politically motivated and interfering with the mayor’s ability to assist in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and crime.
“That case should be dropped,” Bondi said. “I didn’t know that it hadn’t been dropped yet, but I’ll look into that.”
Updated
White House again bars Associated Press reporter from Oval office for refusing to say the magic words: ‘Gulf of America’
The White House doubled down on its attempt to compel the Associated Press to use the name ‘Gulf of America’ for the body of water known to the rest of the world as the Gulf of Mexico, by refusing to let an AP reporter into the Oval office for a second straight day, according to Brian Stelter of CNN.
The AP, a non-profit collective with clients around the world, advised its journalists to use the Gulf’s historic name, but acknowledge Donald Trump’s order for federal agencies to use the new name he bestowed on it in an executive order signed on his first day back in office.
At a White House news conference on Wednesday, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, defended the effort to strong-arm the AP in response.
“It is a privilege to cover this White House”, Leavitt said. “Nobody has the right to go into the Oval office and ask the president of the United States questions. That’s an invitation that is given”.
Although there are multiple examples around the world of bodies of water or land masses that are known by different names to different nations, like the Persian Gulf known to some as the Arabian Gulf, Leavitt cast the AP’s refusal to abide by Trump’s order as either a factual error or a lie.
“I was very up front in my briefing on day one, that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable,” Leavitt said, without mentioning that on that same day she herself had falsely claimed that the previous administration had planned to spend $50 million to send condoms to the besieged Gaza Strip.
“It is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America”, Leavitt insisted. “And I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that”.
The press secretary did not address the fact that the gulf is, as the pilot of Air Force One explained during the president’s trip to the Super Bowl on Sunday, not in the US, but in international waters.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told his people on Wednesday that he had had “very substantive negotiations” with the United States president and treasury secretary on Wednesday.
In a video address posted in full on X, Zelenskyy called his conversation with Donald Trump “long and detailed” and also briefed Ukrainians on in-person talks with Scott Bessent, the new treasury secretary, who was dispatched to Kyiv by Trump on Tuesday.
The part of the video about Trump was posted on YouTube by the Associated Press:
Zelenskyy cast the talks as a discussion of “shared opportunities and how we can bring about real peace together”, and said that Trump had briefed him on what Vladimir Putin had said about ending the war. “We believe that America’s strength, together with Ukraine and all our partners, is enough to push Russia to peace,” Zelenskyy said.
Although the Ukrainian president gave no signal that the end of US support for his nation’s struggle to repel the Russian invasion force was at hand, Trump himself framed Bessent’s trip to Ukraine as the beginning of the end of American spending on its ally. “This war MUST and WILL END SOON,” the president wrote on his own social media platform on Tuesday. “The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump said he was “OK with” acceding to Russia’s longstanding demand that Ukraine be denied Nato membership.
Updated
Chrystia Freeland, who is running to be Canada’s next prime minister, and has stressed her willingness to stand up to Donald Trump’s threats to her country’s sovereignty, called for Nato to make Ukraine a full member.
Freeland’s statement, made on the social media platform X in three languages, English, French and Ukrainian, came the same day that Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, essentially ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine. Trump told reporters that he “is OK with” Russia’s demand that Ukraine should be kept out of the alliance.
“Canada stands steadfast with Ukraine and the brave people of Ukraine who are on the front lines of the fight against tyranny,” Freeland wrote. “It is in the interest of all democracies to support them. Ukraine must become a full NATO member.”
Freeland, whose maternal grandparents were born in Ukraine is also an expert on Russia. Before entering Canadian politics, and rising to deputy prime minister, she was a journalist who served as Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times in the 1990s. In 2000, she wrote a book about Russia’s chaotic transformation from communism to capitalism, Sale of a Century: The Inside Story of the Second Russian Revolution.
Updated
Judge lifts block on Trump 'buyout' program for federal workers
The Trump administration had a rare victory in court on Wednesday, as a federal judge in Boston ruled that the “Fork in the Road” deferred resignation program, can resume.
US District Judge George O’Toole, who was nominated by the president Bill Clinton in 1995, rejected a request by unions representing more than 800,000 federal employees for an order blocking implementation of the program.
The unions have called the administration’s offer to federal civilian employees unlawful, but the judge ruled that the unions lacked standing to sue and his court didn’t have jurisdiction over the dispute.
Updated
Today so far
It is another busy afternoon in Donald Trump’s Washington. We will continue to cover events as they unfold, but here are some of the developments we’ve reported on so far:
Donald Trump told reporters that he is willing to accept Russia’s longstanding objection to Ukraine joining the Nato alliance. “They’ve been saying that for a long time, that Ukraine cannot go into NAato, and I’m OK with that,” the president said. He also revealed that he and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, spoke for more than an hour to begin the process of ending the war in Ukraine and the two men expect to meet in person in Saudi Arabia soon. Trump said he later spoke with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump denied that he was “freezing out” Zelenskyy, but he hinted that the Ukrainian president could be defeated in elections after the war ends.
Tulsi Gabbard was sworn in as Trump’s director of national intelligence.
The trustees of the Kennedy Center have elected Donald Trump as their chairman, the Washington Post reports.
The ACLU and a coalition of immigrant rights organizations has sued the Trump administration for access to undocumented immigrants held at Guantánamo Bay.
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at legal scholars concerned that Donald Trump’s efforts to freeze federal spending have sparked a constitutional crisis, saying that the administration is acting lawfully. “The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges and liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block president Trump’s basic executive authority,” Leavitt said.
Speaking at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine, which the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been pushing for. Hegseth also called the return of Russian-occupied Crimea to Ukraine “unrealistic”.
Three people, including one American, were released from Belarus, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday. The US envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, told reporters at the White House that the individual wishes to remain private.
Updated
Donald Trump told reporters that he plans to have a news conference on Thursday devoted to what he says are examples of “tremendous fraud” in government spending.
Pressed as to when the White House would be providing real evidence of fraud, Trump said: “What we’re going to do is, tomorrow I’m having a news conference. I’m going to read to you some of the names that hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars have been given to”.
“When you look at the kind of money, billions and billions of dollars being thrown away, illegally,” Trump said, “there’s no chance, I’m going to say it in front of our our attorney general, there’s no chance that there’s not kickbacks or something going on.”
We will see what examples Trump comes up with on Thursday, but so far, several of the examples cited by the president and Elon Musk of supposed waste, fraud or abuse, have been either misleading or entirely fictional.
Given that extending the tax cuts for wealthy Americans he passed in his first term is a priority for Trump’s second term, the all-out effort to deride government spending as wasteful or fraudulent serves an obvious political purpose.
Updated
Trump suggests Zelenskyy might not be president of Ukraine for long
Asked by a reporter if, by discussing an end to the war in Ukraine directly with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, he was “freezing out president Zelenskyy in this process. Isn’t there danger of that?” Donald Trump hinted that Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s days as president of Ukraine might be numbered.
“No, I don’t think so – as long as he’s there. But, yeah, at some point, you’re gonna have to have elections too” in Ukraine.
Removing Zelenskyy from power has long been a primary goal for Putin.
For Trump’s part, he is unlikely to have forgotten that he was impeached in 2019 over his failed effort to coerce Zelenskyy into opening a bogus investigation of his rival Joe Biden, and into the conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Since that time, Russian propaganda smearing Zelenskyy with false claims of hidden corruption have been eagerly shared by diehard Trump supporters.
Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Zelenskyy hired the Ukrainian investigative journalist Sergii Leshchenko to debunk Russian propaganda on social media. In August of 2016, it was Leshchenko who publicized a ledger of secret payments to Paul Manafort from the party of Ukraine’s former pro-Russia president, Viktor Yanukovych’s former political adviser. The revelation forced Manafort to resign from Trump’s presidential campaign the next day.
Updated
Trump says he is 'OK with' Russian demand to keep Ukraine out of Nato
Asked if he is opposed to Nato membership for Ukraine, Trump said that he is willing to accept Russia’s longstanding objection to Ukraine joining the alliance.
“I don’t think it’s practical to have it, personally” Trump said of Ukraine’s bid for Nato membership. “I know that our new secretary of defense, who is excellent, made a statement today saying that he thinks it’s unlikely or impractical. I think probably that’s true. I think long before President Putin, they said there’s no way they’d allow that. This has been going on for many, many years. They’ve been saying that for a long time, that Ukraine cannot go into Nato, and I’m OK with that.”
Updated
Trump says he will meet Putin, 'probably in Saudi Arabia' to talk about ending war in Ukraine
Speaking to reporters in the Oval office after Tulsi Gabbard’s swearing in as his intelligence director, Donald Trump said that he had “a great call” with President Vladimir Putin of Russia that lasted for “over an hour this morning” on the subject of ending the war in Ukraine. “I also had a call with President Zelensky, a very good call after that, and I think we’re on the way to getting peace”.
After again claiming that as many as 1.5 million soldiers had been killed in the war, a vastly larger number than either nation, or independent experts estimate, Trump said that a meeting between his Vice President, JD Vance and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky this week at the Munich Security Conference would be part of the peace talks.
“I’ll be dealing with President Putin, largely on the phone, and we ultimately expect to meet. In fact, we expect that he’ll come here, and I’ll go there, and we’re going to meet also, probably in Saudi Arabia. The first time we’ll meet in Saudi Arabia, to see if we get something done”.
Trump suggested that the meeting would be arranged by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Saudi crown prince and the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, were involved in negotiations for the release of American teacher Marc Fogel from a Russian prison, a source close to the negotiations between Russia and the United States told Reuters earlier on Wednesday.
Trump says he wants to close the Department of Education 'right away', reports say
Donald Trump was just asked during the Oval Office ceremony to swear in Tulsi Gabbard how soon he would like the Department of Education to be closed.
Jennifer Jacobs of CBS News reports on X that he replied: ‘right away’.
“It’s a con job” the president said.
Updated
Tulsi Gabbard vows to 'refocus intelligence community'
Moments after being sworn in as director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard promises “to refocus our intelligence community” in remarks in the Oval Office.
Here is some of what Gabbard said to the pool reporters allowed into the room, as Trump and Bondi looked on:
Unfortunately, the American people have very little trust in the intelligence community, largely because they’ve seen the weaponization and politicization of an entity that is supposed to be purely focused on ensuring our national security.
So I look forward to being able to help fulfill that mandate that the American people delivered to you very clearly in this election to refocus our intelligence community by empowering the great patriots who have chosen to serve our country in this way and focus on ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people.
As you said, Mr President, this is what I’ve dedicated my life to, and it is truly humbling to be in this position to serve in your administration help to rebuild that trust and ultimately to keep the American people safe.
Last thing I’ll mention is that in your national prayer breakfast speech, you made a statement about your legacy of wanting to be remembered as a peacemaker. I know that I can speak for many of my fellow service members who are here today, veterans, Medal of Honor recipients, how deeply that resonates with us.
For those who volunteer to put their lives on the line when duty calls, but to have a president, commander in chief who recognizes the cost of that sacrifice and ensuring that war is the last resort, not the first. So thank you for your leadership. On behalf of my friends here and all who wear the uniform, we’re grateful.
Updated
Tulsi Gabbard sworn in as national intelligence director
Tulsi Gabbard has been sworn in as Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, in an Oval Office ceremony attended by the president.
Attorney general Pam Bondi administered the oath.
Trump spoke briefly about Gabbard, calling her “an American of extraordinary courage and patriotism”. He’s scheduled to sign unspecified executive orders in a few minutes.
Kennedy Center trustees elect Trump chairman – report
The trustees of the Kennedy Center have elected Donald Trump as their chairman, the Washington Post reports, after the president made the unusual announcement that he would like to oversee the Washington DC performing arts venue.
The president had earlier this week named Ric Grenell, a diplomat and longtime associate, as the center’s interim executive director, a decision that raised fears of politicization at the venue. The Post reports that the center’s current president Deborah Rutter told staff she was stepping down, and that Trump had also ordered the firing of all of Joe Biden’s appointees to the center’s board. Here’s more on Trump’s foray into the performing arts:
Updated
Immigrant rights groups sue for access to detainees at Guantánamo Bay
A coalition of immigrant rights organizations has sued the Trump administration for access to undocumented immigrants held at Guantánamo Bay.
The group, which includes the American Civil Liberties Union and its Washington DC affiliate along with the Center for Constitutional Rights and International Refugee Assistance Project, sued on behalf of several detainees brought to the US military base under a new Trump administration policy, as well as multiple legal service providers seeking to access people held there. Also among the plaintiffs is a family member of a man detained at Guantánamo.
“The Trump administration cannot be allowed to build upon Guantánamo’s sordid past with these latest cruel, secretive, and illegal maneuvers. Our constitution does not allow the government to hold people incommunicado, without any ability to speak to counsel or the outside world,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Prison Project.
Here’s more about the Trump administration’s decision to send migrants to the base in Cuba:
White House says no 'constitutional crisis', condemns 'judicial activists' who rule against administration
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at legal scholars concerned that Donald Trump’s government-transforming executive orders have sparked a constitutional crisis, saying that the administration is acting lawfully.
“The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges and liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block president Trump’s basic executive authority,” Leavitt said at her press briefing earlier today. She then attacked federal judges who have disrupted the administration’s policies:
We believe these judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law, and they have issued at least 12 injunctions against this administration in the past 14 days, often without citing any evidence or grounds for their lawsuits. This is part of a larger concerted effort by Democrat activists and nothing more than the continuation of the weaponization of justice by president Trump.
Meanwhile, the Democratic state attorneys general who have led much of the legal pushback to Trump believe they are fighting a “dictatorship”. Here’s more on that:
The chaotic effects of Donald Trump’s drive to dismantle USAid continue to be uncovered, with Reuters reporting that 17 labs in 13 states have had to halt farm research as the agency unraveled.
That could set back efforts to stay on top of emerging threats to agriculture in the United States, researchers who spoke to Reuters said. Here’s more:
The lab closures are another hit to U.S. agriculture from President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the federal government, by blocking research work designed to advance seed and equipment technology and develop markets abroad for U.S. commodities. Farmers have already seen disruptions to government food purchases for aid, and to agricultural grant and loan programs.
Land-grant universities were founded on land given to states by the federal government.
“For U.S. farmers, this is not good,” said Peter Goldsmith, who leads the University of Illinois’ Soybean Innovation Lab, one of the affected labs.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The network of 17 laboratories was funded by USAID through a program called Feed the Future Innovation Labs, and pursued research in partnership with countries such as Malawi, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and Rwanda, the lab directors said.
Their research helps U.S. farmers because programs conducted overseas can develop production practices that may be useful in the U.S. or provide advance warning of pests, directors said.
“It really reduces our capacity to help farmers fight pests and diseases and help American farmers prevent incursions,” said David Hughes, director of the USAID Innovation Lab on Current and Emerging Threats to Crops at Penn State University.
One study that has been halted was working to control a viral disease spread by an aphid that was hurting banana crops in Tanzania, Hughes said.
David Tschirley, who runs an agency-funded lab at Michigan State University and is chair of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab Council, which represents the lab network, said about 300 people are employed by the labs, and they have as many as 4,000 collaborators abroad.
“It presents an American face to the world that is a very appreciated face,” he said, adding that such work benefits national security.
Hegseth rules out Nato membership for Ukraine
Speaking at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine, which the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been pushing for.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” Hegseth said, adding that the expectation Ukraine’s borders could revert to their 2014 status before the annexation of Crimea is “unrealistic.”
Updated
White House says an American being released from Belarus
Three people, including one American, are being released from Belarus, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday. The US envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, told reporters at the White House that the individual wishes to remain private.
The news comes shortly after American schoolteacher Marc Fogel was released by Russia after being imprisoned since 2021. Fogel was arrested in Moscow after Russian authorities found less than an ounce of marijuana in his luggage.
Updated
The White House said on Wednesday that it was not aware of any preconditions for US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit each other’s countries.
“Not that I’m aware of. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, when asked at a press briefing if there were conditions for Trump’s and Putin’s visits.
“I was just talking with the president and our national security team, I wasn’t made aware of any conditions,” she added.
Updated
The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was heckled during a visit to a US military installation in Germany as military families protested against the Trump administration’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
About two dozen adults who live at the military base chanted “DEI” and booed at Hegseth as he arrived to the US European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, NBC News reported.
Separately, a group of students attending the Patch middle school, also in Stuttgart, held a walkout, according to a letter from the school obtained by the Washington Post.
Updated
Trump says he spoke to Zelenskyy after Putin call
As promised, Donald Trump said he has spoken to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy after earlier in the day calling his adversary, Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s readout of the call was lighter on details than his recounting of the conversation with Putin, but he did say to expect a big meeting on Friday. Here’s more, from Truth Social:
I just spoke to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The conversation went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE. We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the War, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation. I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!
Updated
The day so far
The Senate voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, and put Robert F Kennedy Jr on the path to soon being confirmed as health and human services secretary. Democrats had decried both candidates for their fringe views on the issues they’d be dealing with, but the Republican Senate majority was unmoved, with neither candidate facing much resistance. Meanwhile, Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin and said the two countries would open negotiations over Ukraine. In the courts, a group of inspectors general sued over their firing at the hands of Trump, as did a Democratic member of a board that deals with disciplining federal workers. We’ll hear more from Trump this afternoon, when he signs unspecified executive orders at 2.30pm.
Here’s what else has been going on:
US inflation came in higher than expected in January, in a sign that the economic force that bedeviled Joe Biden’s presidency is far from quelled.
Trump said he’d be imposing more tariffs, and also called for interest rates to come down – which is something he does not have control over.
Pete Hegseth, addressing Ukraine’s western allies, downplayed the possibility of the country regaining control of all of its territory, and said Europe needed to step up its defense assistance.
Republicans have generally shrugged off concerns about Tulsi Gabbard’s statements supporting Russia and other US adversaries, and said they are comfortable with her serving in the role tasked with overseeing the US intelligence community.
Here’s Brian Mast, the chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, with a typical sentiment:
Tulsi Gabbard is a patriot who believes in putting AMERICA FIRST. She believes in President Trump’s agenda, and we trust her to be a great director of national intelligence. Today is a WIN for America.
After her confirmation, Democratic national committee chair Ken Martin warned that Gabbard was “unfit and untrustworthy”:
Donald Trump is putting our national security at risk, and Senate Republicans are enabling him. Tulsi Gabbard is an ally to Vladimir Putin and Russian-backed disinformation propagandists but she’s no ally to the American people or to our actual allies around the world. Tulsi Gabbard is unfit and untrustworthy, and Americans deserve better.
The only Republican senator to vote against Gabbard’s confirmation was Mitch McConnell, the party’s former leader in the chamber. In a statement, he said:
The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the President receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment.
Edward Snowden’s treasonous betrayal of the United States and its most sensitive lawful intelligence activities endangered sources, methods, and lives. Japan is among America’s closest treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific, and the risk of conflict in the region is the product of Chinese aggression, not western ‘threat inflation’. Russia’s escalation of its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine threatens American interests and is solely the responsibility of Vladimir Putin.
Entrusting the coordination of the intelligence community to someone who struggles to acknowledge these facts is an unnecessary risk. So is empowering a DNI who only acknowledged the value of critical intelligence collection authorities when her nomination appeared to be in jeopardy.
Senate advances Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead health and human services department
The Senate has voted to limit debate on Roberty F Kennedy Jr’s nomination as secretary of health and human services, a key step that paves the way for his confirmation in the days to come.
The vote fell along party lines, with all 53 Republicans in support and all 47 Democrats opposed.
Updated
Back in the Senate, lawmakers are voting to limit debate on Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination as secretary of health and human services.
That will set a up a final vote on his confirmation in the coming days which is expected to succeed, despite concerns from the Democrats over Kennedy’s embrace of various conspiracy theories, particularly when it comes to vaccines.
The prospect of Kennedy becoming one of the most powerful health officials in the country has delighted skeptics of modern medicine and terrified doctors, the Guardian’s Jessica Glenza reports:
That Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have agreed to negotiate over Ukraine, and will even visit each other’s countries, is sure to ring alarm bells in Kyiv.
We have a live blog covering the latest out of Europe, including the conflict in Ukraine. You can follow it here:
Trump says he spoke with Putin, will open negotiations over Ukraine
Donald Trump said he spoke today with Vladimir Putin, and the two leaders agreed to open negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the conversation as “lengthy and highly productive” and added he and Putin both agreed to visit each other’s countries. Here’s the post, in full:
I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many! We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.” We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now. I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful. Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost! I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon!
No US president has visited Russia since Barack Obama in 2013, while Putin has not been to the United States since 2015, during a UN general assembly meeting.
Senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence
The Senate has confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence.
The vote was 52 in favor and 48 against, with all Democrats and Republican senator Mitch McConnell opposing her nomination.
Mitch McConnell, formerly the top Republican in the Senate, broke with his party to vote against confirming Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.
She is still expected to be confirmed, though voting is ongoing. Since stepping down as Republican leader last year, McConnell – who played a major role in enabling Trump during his first term and setting the stage for him to return to the White House – has repeatedly said he does not support the sorts of foreign policies that Gabbard has appeared sympathetic to.
Senate voting on Tulsi Gabbard's nomination as intelligence director
The Senate has started voting on confirming Tulsi Gabbard as Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.
The former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii is expected to win the assent of the Republican-controlled chamber, despite concerns from Democrats regarding Gabbard’s views on Ukraine, Russia and Syria. Hillary Clinton once alluded to Gabbard as someone who is “the favourite of the Russians”, and the then-congresswoman’s decision to visit Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad and question his well-documented use of chemical weapons was roundly criticized.
But at her confirmation hearing, it wasn’t those statements that raised the most eyebrows among the Republicans whose votes she needed. Instead, it was her refusal to describe US government whistleblower Edward Snowden as a “traitor”. Nonetheless, she overcame that skepticism and saw her nomination advanced by the Senate intelligence committee. Here’s a look back at that:
Donald Trump is also being sued by a Democratic member of the board that hears federal employees’ appeals of their discipline or dismissal who he attempted to fire, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit by Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, comes after Trump on Monday fired another Democratic member of the board, Ray Limon, Reuters reports.
Trump has fired several Democratic members of independent agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In an interview with the Guardian, Jocelyn Samuels, an EEOC commissioner removed by Trump, said she believes her firing was illegal and part of a plan to install a Republican majority on the board, which will then sanction conservative policies in workplaces nationwide:
Inspectors general sue over firings by Trump
Eight federal government inspectors general have filed a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump’s order to fire them, Reuters reports.
Days after taking office, the president dismissed 18 officials charged with independent oversight of federal agencies, including the departments of state, energy and defense. The firings appeared to contradict federal law that requires Congress be given 30 days notice of such removals. Here’s more:
Donald Trump will sign more executive orders at 2.30pm today, the White House said.
Yesterday, he signed an executive order directing federal agencies to work with Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency”, and announced the news in the Oval Office with the Tesla billionaire by his side. Here’s a look back on that:
Democratic state attorneys general have taken the lead in challenging Donald Trump’s executive orders in court. At a conference in Los Angeles, the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino reports that some of these top prosecutors fear the country is on the verge of “dictatorship”:
Several Democratic state attorneys general warned that the country was in the grip of a full-blown constitutional crisis, as they battle Donald Trump in court over actions they argue are lawless and in some cases brazenly unconstitutional.
“We are on the brink of a dictatorship, and America has never been in a more dangerous position than she is today,” Kris Mayes, the attorney general of Arizona, said at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Mayes alleged Trump’s stunning power grabs, his disregard for the rule of law, his alliance with – and reliance on – billionaire Elon Musk, and his attacks on judges and journalists amounted to “an ongoing coup against American democracy”.
“He was elected president, but no one put a crown on this guy’s head,” said Delaware’s attorney general, Kathy Jennings, co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, which convened its quarterly policy conference in Los Angeles. The state attorneys general spoke to reporters during a round table on the sidelines of the event.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, Tulsi Gabbard set for key Senate votes today
The Senate is expected to today take crucial votes on Donald Trump’s controversial nominations of conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr and former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s to his cabinet.
At around 11am ET, the Republican-controlled chamber will vote on confirming Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Lawmakers will also take a preliminary vote on Kennedy’s nomination as secretary of health and human services, which will tee up a final confirmation vote in the days to come.
Democrats loudly condemned both nominees, saying their fringe and extreme views on the issues they would have to deal with, if confirmed, could do real harm. But Republicans decided not to fight the new president over his cabinet picks, and have confirmed just about everyone he has nominated. Here’s more about that:
Updated
Donald Trump’s zeal for tariffs may make the United States’s housing affordability crisis worse, the Guardian’s Callum Jones reports:
Pressing ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico risks exacerbating the US housing crisis and threatening the broader economy, dozens of congressional Democrats have warned Donald Trump.
The US president, after threatening to hit imports from the US’s two biggest trading partners with a 25% tax, is weighing how to proceed after approving a one-month delay.
In a letter to Trump seen by the Guardian, Democrats noted that the US imports key construction materials worth billions of dollars – from lumber to cement products – from Canada and Mexico each year.
“Given the severe housing shortage, compounded by rising construction costs, persistent supply chain disruptions, and an estimated shortfall of 6m homes, these looming tariffs, while intended to protect domestic industries, risk further exacerbating the housing supply and affordability crisis while stifling the development of new housing,” they wrote.
In a statement, the White House claimed Trump would use tariffs to “usher in a new era of growth and prosperity” for the US.
Hegseth says Europe must provide ‘overwhelming share’ of aid to Ukraine
Addressing a meeting of Ukraine’s western allies in Brussels, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration expects European nations to pay for the “overwhelming share” of Ukraine’s defense.
We have a live blog covering the event, and you can follow it here:
US consumers saw more inflation than expected in January
Consumer price inflation was higher than forecast in the United States last month, just-released government data confirms, potentially reducing the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will heed Donald Trump’s call to reduce interest rates.
The data is also a warning sign for the new president that the deeply unpopular economic force, which played a major role in sinking Joe Biden’s public standing, is not quelled. Here’s more on the price growth, from the Guardian’s Callum Jones:
Trump says more tariffs coming, calls for lower interest rates
Donald Trump has called for interest rates to be lowered, and said they would “go hand in hand” with tariffs he plans to announce.
He made the quip on Truth Social:
Interest Rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!! Lets Rock and Roll, America!!!
While tariffs are in a president’s wheelhouse, interest rates are not. Those are controlled by the independent Federal Reserve, and though presidents appoint the central bank’s leaders, they usually don’t push for them to lower rates – except for Trump, who did this sort of thing in his first term.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that he agrees with Donald Trump on the need for more burden sharing between the US and its European allies on aid for Ukraine, Reuters reports.
“I agree with him that we must equalize security assistance to Ukraine,” Rutte told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday ahead of a gathering of officials dedicated to discussing help for Ukraine.
Nato members agreed last year to provide Ukraine with 40bn euros in security assistance within a year but ended up sending over 50bn, with over half coming from European allies and Canada, according to the alliance.
‘On the brink of a dictatorship’: Democratic state attorneys general condemn Trump’s actions
Several Democratic state attorneys general warned that the country was in the grip of a full-blown constitutional crisis, as they battle Donald Trump in court over actions they argue are lawless and in some cases brazenly unconstitutional.
“We are on the brink of a dictatorship, and America has never been in a more dangerous position than she is today,” Kris Mayes, the attorney general of Arizona, said at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Mayes alleged Trump’s stunning power grabs, his disregard for the rule of law, his alliance with – and reliance on – billionaire Elon Musk, and his attacks on judges and journalists amounted to “an ongoing coup against American democracy”.
“He was elected president, but no one put a crown on this guy’s head,” said Delaware’s attorney general, Kathy Jennings, co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, which convened its quarterly policy conference in Los Angeles. The state attorneys general spoke to reporters during a round table on the sidelines of the event.
“We have three branches of government,” Jennings continued. “He thinks there’s one. We have separation of powers. He thinks there is none.”
You can read the full report here:
Donald Trump is scheduled to attend a meeting of global financiers and tech executives hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in Miami later in February, Reuters reports, citing several people with knowledge of the event.
Trump’s participation would come after Saudi Arabia condemned his call to displace Palestinians from Gaza as part of a US–led rebuilding plan.
It also follows Trump’s call in January for Riyadh to invest $1tn in the US - a figure about matching the size of the Saudi PIF sovereign fund’s assets.
According to the people, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, Trump is scheduled to deliver an in-person address at the gathering.
A Riyadh-based representative for the FII Priority summit, scheduled for February 19 to 21, declined to comment. Representatives for the US embassy in Riyadh didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Updated
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Moscow’s release of American Marc Fogel, but refused to identify them until they arrive in Russia.
Fogel, a history teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, was released and returned to the US on Tuesday in what the White House described as a diplomatic thaw that could advance negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
When asked what the United States gave up in exchange for Fogel, Trump told reporters: “Not much” and called the release a show of good faith from the Russians.
He added: “We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we an end that war.”
Fogel was arrested in August 2021 and was serving a 14-year prison sentence.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the unidentified Russian individual would return to Russia “in the coming days,” and their name would be revealed once they are on the Russian soil.
Updated
Misleading Ice data ‘laying groundwork’ for mass deportations, advocates say
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) arrested more than 8,200 people between 22 January and 31 January, according to data the department is releasing on social media.
The figures are the first public data into the new Trump administration’s promised mass-deportation efforts and are part of a new tactic from the administration to promote its efforts to fulfill Donald Trump’s campaign promise to detain and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The posts highlight the daily number of arrests and detainers, which are requests to local law enforcement agencies to hold someone so that Ice can detain them.
As of 10 February, the agency hasn’t released any new figures in 10 days. But on average, the administration has been arresting 826 people a day since the president was inaugurated on 20 January.
If Ice continues to arrest people at this rate, the administration is on track to arrest nearly 25,000 in its first 30 days, more than any other month in the last 11 years.
You can read the full report here:
Updated
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth arrived for his first meetings at Nato headquarters on Wednesday looking to push European nations over support for Ukraine and ramping up military spending.
Washington’s allies are waiting nervously for clarity from president Donald Trump’s administration after he demanded Nato more than double its spending target and vowed to end the war in Ukraine.
Hegseth’s two days of talks in Brussels with his counterparts from Nato and Ukraine are part of a series of visits to Europe this week by top US officials, AFP reports. They will culminate with vice-president JD Vance meeting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a security conference in Munich on Friday.
Hegseth wrote on X:
Arrived at NATO HQ. Our commitment is clear: NATO must be a stronger, more lethal force - not a diplomatic club. Time for allies to meet the moment.
On Wednesday the Pentagon chief will sit down with an international coalition of Ukraine’s backers before huddling with the 31 other defence ministers from Nato on Thursday.
Updated
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor advocates for courts to proceed 'cautiously'
US supreme court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, without directly mentioning the new administration, advocated on Tuesday evening for US courts to move cautiously to maintain a system of checks and balances with the executive.
“By and large, we have been a country who has understood that the rule of law has helped us maintain our democracy,” she said on Tuesday. “But it’s also because the court has proceeded cautiously, and has proceeded understanding that it has to proceed slowly.”
Speaking at an event hosted by the Knight Foundation, she said:
Court decisions stand, whether one particular person chooses to abide by them or not. It doesn’t change the foundation that it’s still a court order that someone will respect at some point.
She said that it was especially a responsibility of the supreme court to “make it clear to the society, to presidents, to Congress, to the people, that we are doing things based on law, and the constitution, as we are interpreting it fairly.”
“We must be cognizant that every time we upset precedent, we upset people’s expectations and the stability of law. It rocks the boat in a way that makes people uneasy about whether they’re protected or not protected by the law,” she said, adding “And if you’re going to undo precedent, do it in small measures. Let the society absorb the steps.”
Last year, in a stark dissent from the conservative-majority opinion granting Donald Trump some immunity from criminal prosecution, Sotomayor said the decision was a “mockery” that makes a president a “king above the law”.
Trump lost in federal court again on Tuesday when the first circuit court of appeals declined his administration’s request to lift a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge that bars Trump from freezing spending at federal agencies.
Earlier this week vice-president JD Vance hit out at the legal challenges against Trump’s executive orders, saying on social media “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
Updated
Jon Henley is the Guardian’s Europe correspondent, based in Paris
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has sparked a “remarkable shift” in Europeans’ view of the US, according to a survey, with even the most America-friendly no longer seeing Washington primarily as an ally.
The polling, of 11 EU member states plus Ukraine, Switzerland and the UK, found most people now regard the US as merely a “necessary partner”. An average of 50% of Europeans across the member states surveyed view the US this way, the study revealed, with an average of only 21% seeing it as an ally, leading the report’s authors to urge a more “realistic, transactional” EU approach.
The figures “speak to a collapse of trust in Washington’s foreign policy agenda” and heralded “the potential death knell of the transatlantic alliance” said Arturo Varvelli, co-author of the report, by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
You can read Jon Henley’s report in full here: Most Europeans see Trump’s US as more a necessary partner than ally, poll finds
Court action over Trump's gutting of USAid agency to continue on Wednesday
US district judge Carl Nichols will hear arguments on Wednesday after a request from USAid employee groups to keep blocking the Trump administration’s move to put thousands of staffers on leave, Associated Press reports.
Nichols, an appointee of president Donald Trump, dealt the administration a setback Friday in its dismantling of the agency, temporarily halting plans to pull all but a fraction of USAid staffers off the job worldwide.
Trump and Elon Musk’s cost-cutting “department” have hit USAid particularly hard as they look to shrink the size of the federal government, accusing its work of being wasteful and out of line with Trump’s agenda. “The President’s powers in the realm of foreign affairs are generally vast and unreviewable,” government lawyers argued.
USAid staffers and supporters have called the aid agency’s humanitarian and development work abroad essential to national security. The administration has claimed USAid is rife with “insubordination” and must be shut down in order to decide what pieces could be salvaged.
Updated
A judge has ordered Louisiana State University to fully reinstate a professor who was removed from his teaching duties last month after he used vulgar language to criticise Gov Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump during a lecture, Associated Press reports.
Tenured law professor Ken Levy was recorded by students saying about November’s election “I can’t believe that fucker won”. An anonymous student complaint led to him being relieved from his teaching responsibilities. During two days of testimony, law students and another professor spoke about the “chilling effect” Levy’s removal had on them, and that it exacerbated fears over speaking freely in the classroom.
“Everyone was vulnerable if I lost this,” Levy said outside of the Baton Rouge courthouse Tuesday night, specifically speaking about other university faculty members and students. “So my win is their win.”
Welcome and opening summary …
Welcome to the Guardian’s rolling coverage of US politics and the second Donald Trump administration. Here are the headlines …
The White House fired Paul Martin, the independent inspector general for the US Agency for International Development (USAid) on Tuesday, one day after he issued a damning report detailing the impact of the sudden dismantling of the agency.
Elon Musk claimed in the Oval Office on Tuesday that his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) was providing maximum transparency, contradicted by the reality of how he has operated in deep secrecy.
Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro has claimed Australia is “crushing” and “killing” America’s manufacturing sector with its imports of aluminium
The Associated Press said it was barred from sending a reporter to Tuesday’s Oval Office executive order signing in an effort to “punish” the agency for its style guidance on upholding the use of the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is heading to Washington for high-stakes talks in an attempt to avoid a trade war. India is considering tariff cuts in at least a dozen sectors in the hope of dodging US tariffs.
